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UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  MASSACHUSETTS 

AT 
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72 

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v.l 


PUBLISHERS"    PREFACE. 


Nearly  four  years  ago  the  attention  of  the  publishers,  who  have  long  made  a  specialty 
of  this  class  of  work,  was  called  to  the  fact  that  a  history  of  Essex  County  was  needed. 
After  mature  deliberation  the  work  was  planned,  and  its  compilation  commenced.  The  best 
literary  talent  in  this  section  of  the  commonwealth  for  this  especial  work  was  engaged,  whose 
names  appear  at  the  head  of  their  respective  articles,  besides  many  other  writers  on  special 
topics.  These  gentlemen  approached  the  work  in  a  spirit  of  impartiality  and  thoroughness, 
and  we  believe  it  has  been  their  honest  endeavor  to  trace  the  history  of  the  development  of 
the  territory  embodied  herein  from  that  period  when  it  was  in  the  undisputed  possession  of 
the  red  man  to  the  present,  and  to  place  before  the  reader  an  authentic  narrative  of  its  rise 
and  progress.  The  work  has  been  compiled  from  authenticated  and  original  sources,  and  no 
effort  spared  to  produce  a  history  which  should  prove  in  every  respect  worthy  of  the  County 
represented. 

The  Publishers. 

"•^•••»  .....  ■ 

»  I-  ''  h.'i ; 

Philadelphia,  January  24th,  1888.    ;  t- '.'•"*•  ■    •' 

?  ■   ••■    *    •    •'■■■,'. 


Ill 


CONTENTS. 


GENERAL   HISTORY. 


VOLUME  I. 


Chapteks. 
I.    Introductory,    .  .  .  . 

II.    Bench  and  Bar,  .  .   . 

III.    Old  Modes  of  Travel, 


Page,  i  Chapters. 

i.  IV.    Science  in  Essex  County,  .   . 

XV.  V.    Spiiit  of  the  Early  Lyceums, 

Ix.       VI.    Miscellaneous, 


Page. 
Ixxvi. 


Ixxxiv. 
xcvii. 


CITIES  AE'D  TOWI^S. 


Chap.  Page.  |     Chap. 

I.  Salem, 1  XXXII. 

II.  "        continued.    Ecclesiastical, 17  XXXIII. 

III.  "              "             Commercial, 63  XXXIV. 

IV.  ".              "              Banking, 114  XXXV. 

V.  "               "               The  Press, 115  XXXVI. 

VI.  "               "              Educational, 129  XXXVII. 

VII.  "               "              Literature 135  XXXVIII. 

VIII.  "               "              Manufacturing, 154  XXXIX. 

IX.  "               "              Miscellaneous, 161  XL. 

X.  "               "              Societies,  etc., 1G6  XLI. 

•           XI.  "               "              Military 184  XLII. 

XII.  "              "             Civil  History, 225  XLIII. 

XIIL  Lynn 249  XLIV. 

XIV.  '•        continued.    Ecclesiastical 2G3  XLV. 

XV.  "  "              Schools,  Libraries,  Newspapers  272  XLVI. 

XVI.  "               •'              Industrial  Pursuits, 280  XLVII. 

XVII.  '■               '•              Militarj% 291  XLVIII. 

XVIII.  "               "              Burial  Places, 209  XLIX. 

XIX.  •■               "              Old  Families,  etc., 306  L. 

XX.  "  "              Taverns— Modes  of  Travel, .  .    320  LI. 

XXI.  •'               '•              Miscellaneous, 3.30  LII. 

XXII.  "               "              Short  Notes, 337  LIII. 

XXIII.  Lynnfield 377  LIV. 

XXIV.  Saugus, 391  LV. 

XXV.  "        continued, 394  LVI. 

XXVI.  "  "              One  Hundred  Years  Ago,  ...    396  LVII. 

XXVII.  "               "              Religious 399  LVIII. 

XXVIII.  "               "              Manufacturing, 407  LVIX. 

XXIX.  ■'  "              Taverns,  Modes  of  Travel,  etc.,  415  LX. 

XXX.  •'              "              Miscellaneous, 419  LXI. 

XXXI.  •'               •'              Military,       421  LXII. 


Page. 

Danvers, 424 

"        continued.    Revolutionary, 444 

"  "  Ecclesiastical, 452 

"  Educational,    ......  475 

Villages, 483 

"  "  Miscellaneous 495 

"        Industrial,  Societies,  Physicians,  518 

"  "  Civil  History 525 

Civil  War, 531 

Ipswich.    Pre-historical, 566 

"        continued.    Municipal, 569 

"  "  Ecclesiastical, 679 

"  "  Educational, 604 

'•  '■  Military, 612 

"  •■  Legal  and  Penal, 625 

"  Business, 633 

Beverly, 674 

Methuen, 769 

Georgetown, 794 

"        continued.    Early  Grants, 798 

Early  Settlers, 811 

"  "  Parish  Organization,    ....  817 

"  "  Educational, 821 

"  "  Religious  Movements,    .  .  .  825 

"  General  Town  History,  ...  830 

Religious, 835 

"  "  Manufacturing, 843 

Military, 848 

"  "  Conclusion, 852 

Lawrence, SGI 

Middleton, 929 

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THE 


History  of  Essex  Co.,  Massachusetts. 


GENERAL    HISTORY. 


CHAPTER   I. 

INTKODUCTORY. 

BY  WILLIAM  T.  DAVIS. 

The  Plymouth  Council— Massachusetts  Colony — Colonial  Courts — Essex 
County  Created — County  Courts — Barristers — County  Officers — Law- 
yers. 

On  the  20th  of  April,  1606,  King  James  issued 
letters-patent  dividing  between  two  companies,  popu- 
larly called  the  Northern  and  Southern  Virginia 
companies,  a  strip  of  land  one  hundred  miles  wide 
along  the  Atlantic  coast  of  North  America,  extending 
from  the  thirty-fourth  to  the  forty-fifth  degree  of 
north  latitude,  a  territory  which  then  went  under  the 
name  of  Virginia,  so  called  after  Elizabeth,  the  virgin 
Queen.  The  Southern  Company  was  composed  of 
knights,  gentlemen,  merchants  and  adventurers  of 
London,  and  received  a  grant  of  all  the  lands  between 
the  thirty-fourth  and  forty-first  degrees,  while  the 
Northern  Company  was  composed  of  persons  of  the 
same  description  in  Bristol,  Exeter  and  Plymouth,  and 
received  a  grant  of  the  lands  between  the  thirty-eighth 
and  forty-fifth  degrees.  That  portion  lying  between 
the  thirty-eighth  and  forty-first,  which  was  included 
in  both  grants,  was  open  to  the  company  first  occupy- 
ing it ;  and  it  was  stipulated  that  neither  company 
should  make  a  settlement  within  one  hundred  miles 
of  any  previous  settlement  of  the  other  company.  On 
the  3d  of  November,  1620,  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges  and 
his  associates,  the  members  of  the  Northern  Virginia 
Company,  received  a  new  patent,  which  passed  the 
seal  on  the  3d  of  the  following  July,  under  the 
title  of  "  The  council  established  at  Plymouth,  in  the 
county  of  Devon,  for  the  planting,  ordering,  ruling 
and  governing  of  New  England  in  America."  Under 
this  patent  the  company  was  authorized  to  hold  terri- 
tory extending  from  sea  to  sea,  and  in  breadth  from 
the  fortieth  to  the  forty-eighth  degree  of  north  lati- 
tude. This  patent  or  charter  conferred  power  to  make 
laws,  appoint  Governors  and  other  ofiicers,  and  gener- 
ally to  establish  all  necessary  forms  of  government. 


On  the  19th  of  March,  1627-28,  the  Plymouth  coun- 
cil  granted  a  patent  to  Sir  John  Roswell,  Sir  John 
Young,  Thomas  Southcoat,  John  Humphrey,  John 
Endicott  and  Simon  Whitcomb,  covering  a  territory 
extending  from  three  miles  north  of  the  Merrimac 
River  to  three  miles  south  of  the  Charles  River.  This 
patent  was  afterwards  confirmed  by  letters-patent  un- 
der the  broad  seal  of  England,  issued  on  the  4th  of 
March,  in  the  following  year.  Sir  Henry  Roswell, 
Sir  John  Young  and  Thomas  Southcoat  subsequently 
sold  their  interest  to  John  Winthrop,  Isaac  Johnson, 
Matthew  Cradock,  Thomas  GofF  and  Sir  Richard  Sal- 
tonstall,  who,  with  John  Humphrey,  John  Endicott 
and  Simon  Whitcomb,  the  remaining  original  pat- 
entees, formed  a  new  association.  The  pecuniary  in- 
terests of  the  company  were  managed  in  England,  and 
Matthew  Cradock,  who  had  been  named  in  the  charter 
by  the  King  as  Governor,  was  there  chosen  to  that  of- 
fice. John  Endicott  was,  however,  sent  out  in  the 
summer  of  1628,  and  began  a  plantation  at  Salem. 
The  charter  was  made  in  duplicate,  one  copy  being 
sent  to  Endicott  and  the  other  brought  to  New  Eng- 
land by  Winthrop  in  1630.  By  this  charter  a  corpo- 
ration was  created  under  the  name  of  "  the  Governor 
and  Company  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New  Eng- 
land," and  twenty -six  persons  were  named  in  it  as  the 
patentees.  It  provided  that  the  officers  should  consist 
of  a  Governor,  Deputy-Governor  and  eighteen  assist 
ants,  to  be  chosen  annually  by  the  freemen  at  the 
General  Court  to  be  held  on  the  last  Wednesday  in 
Easter  term.  The  General  Court,  consisting  of  the 
Governor,  assistants  and  freemen,  was  to  be  held  four 
times  in  each  year,  and  by  it  officers  were  to  be  chosen 
and  laws  and  ordinances  enacted. 

Mr.  Endicott  was  chosen  Governor  by  the  colony 
after  its  arrival  at  Salem,  but  inthe  latter  part  of  1629, 
the  character  and  plans  of  the  associates  in  England 
having  been  changed  and  an  extensive  emigration 
been  set  on  foot,  John  Winthrop  was  chosen  Governor 
in  England,  and  John  Humphrey  Deputy-Governor. 
Winthrop  sailed  in  April,  1630,  and  arrived  in  Mas- 


n 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


qachusetts  Bay  on  the  12th  of  June,  at  once  assuming 
power  as  Governor  under  the  charter,  which  he  had 
brought  with  him.  The  first  General  Court  was  held 
at  Boston,  October  19th,  and  at  its  first  session  the 
freemen  of  which  it  was  composed  made  an  important 
change  in  the  form  of  government  contemplated  in 
the  charter,  surrendering  to  the  assistants  the  election 
of  Governor  and  Deputy-Governor;  to  the  Governor 
and  deputy  and  assistants  the  enactment  of  laws,  reserv- 
ing to  themselves  only  the  election  of  the  assistants. 
Soon  after,  however,  they  resumed  the  privilege  of 
choosing  the  Governor  and  deputy  as  well  as  the  as- 
sistants, and  in  1636  the  General  Court  also  assumed 
the  exclusive  power  of  making  the  laws.  In  1634,  in 
order  to  obviate  the  inconvenience  of  convening  the 
whole  body  of  freemen,  a  law  was  passed  providing 
for  the  choice  of  delegates  with  all  the  powers  of  the 
freemen,  except  those  relating  to  the  election  of  offi- 
cers. For  this  election  the  whole  body  of  freemen 
met  annually  in  the  meeting-house  in  Boston  ;  but  the 
inconvenience  of  this  arrangement  was  felt  also,  and 
it  was  provided  that  Salem,  Ipswich,  Newbury,  Sau- 
gus,  Weymouth  and  Hingham  might  retain  as  many 
of  their  freemen  at  home  at  the  annual  elections  as 
the  safety  of  the  towns  required,  and  that  the  votes  of 
these  might  be  sent  by  proxy.  A  general  law  was  af- 
terwards passed  to  the  same  effect,  applicable  to  all  the 
freemen  in  all  the  towns. 

At  first  the  assistants  and  deputies  met  together; 
but  in  1644, — in  consequence  of  a  dispute  in  which  the 
deputies  claimed  that  a  majority  vote  of  the  whole 
court  should  rule,  while  the  assistants  claimed  con- 
current jurisdiction, — it  was  finally  agreed  that  the 
two  branches  should  sit  apart,  and  that  each  should 
have  a  negative  on  the  other.  The  Governor  presided 
at  the  Court  of  Assistants,  and  a  new  office  of  Speaker 
was  established  for  the  Deputies'  Court. 

Until  1639  the  whole  judicial  power  was  vested  in 
the  Court  of  Assistants.  In  that  year,  on  the  9th  of 
September,  it  was  enacted  that  "  for  as  much  as  the 
businesses  of  the  ordinary  Court  of  Assistants  are  so 
much  increased  as  they  cannot  be  despatched  in  such 
season  as  were  fit,  it  is  therefore  ordered  that  such  of 
the  magistrates  as  shall  reside  in  or  near  to  Boston,  or 
any  five,  four  or  three  of  them,  the  Governor  or  Dep- 
uty to  be  one,  shall  have  power  to  assemble  together 
upon  the  last  fifth  day  of  the  eighth,  eleventh,  second 
and  fifth  months  every  year,  and  then  and  there  to 
hear  and  determine  all  civil  causes,  whereof  the  debt 
or  trespass  and  damages  shall  not  exceed  twenty 
pounds,  and  all  criminal  causes,  not  extending  to  life 
or  member  or  banishment,  according  to  the  course  of 
the  Court  of  Assistants,  and  to  summon  juries  out  of 
the  neighbor  towns,  and  the  marshal  or  necessary 
officers  are  to  give  their  attendance  as  at  other 
courts." 

On  the  3d  of  March,  1635-36  it  had  already  been  en. 
acted  that  "there  shall  be   four   courts   kept   every 


quarter, — one  at  Ipswich,  to  which  Newbury  shall  be- 
long ;  two  at  Salem,  to  which  Saugus  shall  belong ; 
two  at  Newtown,  to  which  Charlton,  Concord,  Medford 
and  AVaterton  shall  belong;  four  at  Boston,  to  which 
Roxbury,  Dorchester,  Weymouth  and  Hingham  shall 
belong. 

"  Every  of  these  courts  shall  be  kept  by  such  mag- 
istrates as  shall  be  dwelling  in  or  near  the  said  towns, 
and  by  such  other  persons  of  worth  as  shall  from  time 
to  time  be  appointed  by  the  General  Court,  so  as  no 
court  shall  be  kept  without  one  magistrate  at  the 
least,  and  that  none  of  the  magistrates  be  excluded 
who  can  and  will  intend  the  same ;  yet  the  General 
Court  shall  appoint  which  of  the  magistrates  shall 
specially  belong  to  every  of  the  said  court.  Such 
persons  as  shall  be  joined  as  associates  to  the  magis- 
trates in  the  said  court  shall  be  chosen  by  the  General 
Court  out  of  a  greater  number  of  such  as  the  several 
towns  shall  nominate  to  them,  so  as  there  may  be  in 
every  of  the  said  courts  so  many  as  (with  the  magis- 
trates) may  make  five  in  all.  These  courts  shall  try 
all  civil  causes  whereof  the  debt  or  damage  shall  not 
exceed  ten  pounds,  and  all  criminal  causes  not  con- 
cerning life,  member  or  banishment.  And  if  any  per- 
son shall  find  himself  grieved  with  the  sentence  of 
any  of  the  said  courts,  he  may  appeal  to  the  next 
great  Quarter  Court,  provided  that  he  put  in  sufficient 
caution  to  present  his  appeal  with  effect,  and  to  abide 
the  sentence  of  the  magistrates  in  the  said  great 
Quarter  Court,  who  shall  see  fhat  all  such  that  shall 
bring  any  appeal  without  just  cause  be  exemplarily 
punished. 

"  There  shall  be  four  great  Quarter  Courts  kept 
yearly  at  Boston  by  the  Governor  and  the  rest  of  the 
magistrates ;  the  first  the  first  Tuesday  in  the  fourth 
month,  called  June  ;  the  second  the  first  Tuesday  in 
September ;  the  third  the  first  Tuesday  in  December ; 
the  fourth  the  first  Tuesday  in  the  first  month,  called 
March." 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  term  magistrate 
was  synonymous  with  that  of  assistant,  and  that  there- 
fore, under  these  various  enactments,  the  assistants 
retained  judicial  power.  On  the  25th  of  May,  1636, 
the  following  magistrates  and  other  persons  were  ap- 
pointed by  the  General  Court  to  hold  the  courts  re- 
ferred to  in  the  above  enactment  of  the  previous 
March,  to  wit:  For  Salem  and  Saugus,  John  Humphrey, 
John  Endicott,  magistrates  or  assistants,  Captain 
Turner,  Mr.  Scrugge  and  Mr.  Townsend  Bishopp,  asso- 
ciates, and  Ralph  Fogg,  clerk  ;  for  Ipswich  and  New- 
bury, Thomas  Dudley,  Richard  Dummer,  Simon  Brad- 
street,  magistrates,  and  Mr.  Saltonstall  and  Mr.  Spen- 
cer, associates,  and  Robert  Lord,  clerk  ;  for  Newtown, 
Charlestown,  Medford  and  Concord,  John  Haynes, 
Roger  Harlakenden,  Increase  Nowell,  magistrates, 
and  Mr.  Beecher  and  Mr.  Feakes,  associates ;  for 
Boston,  Roxbury,  Dorchester,  Weymouth  and  Hing- 
ham, Richard  Bellingham,  William  Coddington,  mag- 


INTRODUCTORY. 


Ill 


istratea,  and  Israel  Stoughton,  William  Hutchinson 
and  William  Heath,  associate;i.  Under  this  law  the 
first  Quarter  Court  of  Salem  v/as  held  June  27,  1636, 
and  the  records  of  that  session  are  well-preserved  in 
the  first  volume  of  the  Court  Records  in  the  ofiice  of 
the  clerk  of  the  courts  in  Salem.  At  that  court  one 
magistrate,  John  Endicott,  and  three  commissioners — 
Nathaniel  Turner,  Townsend  Bishopp  and  Thomas 
Scrugge — were  present.  The  following  certificate  is  a 
part  of  the  record  : 

"Thes  three,  viz.,  cp.  Nathaniel  Turner,  mr.  Tow- 
enshend  Bishop  and  mr.  Tho :  Scrugge,  did  the  day 
and  yeare  above  written  take  the  oath  of  Commis- 
sioners." 

On  the  6th  of  June,  1639,  it  was  enacted  that  "for 
the  more  speedy  dispatch  of  all  causes,  which  shall 
concern  strangers,  who  canno:  stay  to  attend  the  or- 
dinary courts  of  justice,  it  is  ordered  that  the  Governor 
or  deputy,  being  assisted  with  any  two  of  the  magis- 
trates (whom  he  may  call  to  him  to  that  end),  shall  have 
power  to  hear  and  determine  (by  a  jury  of  twelve  men 
or  otherwise  as  is  used  in  other  courts)  all  causes  which 
shall  arise  between  such  str?ngers,  or  wherein  any 
such  stranger  shall  be  a  party,  and  all  records  of  such 
proceedings  shall  be  transmitted  to  the  Secretary  (ex- 
cept himself  be  one  of  the  said  magistrates,  who  shall 
assist  in  hearing  such  causes'  to  be  entered  as  trials 
in  other  courts  at  the  charge  of  the  parties.  This 
order  to  continue  till  the  General  Court  in  the  seventh 
month  come  twelve  month  and  no  longer." 

On  the  2d  of  June,  1641.  it  was  enacted  that 
"  whereas  it  is  desired  by  this  Court  to  ease  the  coun- 
try of  all  unnecessary  travels  and  charges,  it  is  or- 
dered that  there  shall  be  four  Quarter  Courts  kept 
yearly  by  the  magistrates  of  Ipswich  and  Salem,  with 
such  others  to  be  joined  in  commission  with  them  as 
this  Court  shall  appoint,  not  hindering  any  other 
magistrates  that  will  help  them ;  this  order  to  take 
effect  after  the  next  Quarter  Courts  shall  be  ended  at 
Salem  and  Ipswich,  two  of  these  Quarter  Courts  to  be 
kept  at  Salem  and  the  other  two  at  Ipswich  ;  the  first 
Court  to  be  kept  the  last  third  day  of  the  seventh 
mouth  at  Ipswich  (and  the  next  at  the  same  time  the 
former  Courts  were),  the  next  quarter  at  Salem,  the 
third  quarter  at  Ipswich,  the  fourth  at  Salem,  and  the 
magistrates  of  Ipswich  and  Salem  to  attend  every  of 
these  Courts,  but  no  jurymen  co  be  warned  from  Ips- 
wich to  Salem,  nor  from  Salem  to  Ipswich  ;  to  each  of 
these  places  a  grand  jury  shall  be  warned  once  a  year, 
and  these  Courts  to  have  the  same  power  both  in  civil 
and  criminal  causes  the  Court  of  Assistants  hath  at 
Boston,  except  trials  for  life,  limbs  or  banishment, 
which  are  wholly  reserved  to  Boston  Court ;  provided 
it  shall  be  lawful  to  appeal  from  any  of  these  Courts 
to  Boston.  And  it  shall  be  in  the  liberty  of  any  jilain- 
tiff  that  hath  an  action  of  above  an  hundred  pounds 
principal  debt  to  try  his  cause  in  any  of  these  Courts 
or  at  Boston  ;  the  fines  of  these  Courts  to  defray  the 


charges  of  the  same,  and  the  overplus  to  be  returned 
to  the  treasurer  for  the  public.  And  Salisbury  and 
Hampton  are  joined  to  the  jurisdiction  of  Ipswich,  and 
each  of  them  to  send  a  grand  juryman  once  a  year  to 
Ipswich." 

These  enactments  show  the  precise  arrangement 
and  distribution  of  judicial  powers  at  the  time  of  the 
division  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony  into  counties,  in 
1643.  On  the  10th  of  May  in  that  year  it  was  enacted 
that  "the  whole  plantation  within  this  jurisdiction  is 
divided  into  four  shires,  to  wit : 

"Essex  Shire. — Saleni,  Linn,  Enon,  Ipswich,  Bowley,  Newbury, 
Gloucester  and  Chochicawick. 

"  SIiDDiESEX. — Charlestown,  Cambridge,  Watertown,  Sudbury,  Con- 
cord, Woburn,  Medford,  Linn  Village. 

"Suffolk. — Boston,  Roxbury,  Dorchester,  Dedham,  Bi-aintree,  Wey- 
mouth, Hingham,  Nantasket. 

"Norfolk. — Salisbury,  Hampton,  Haverhill,  Exeter,  Dover,  Straw- 
berry Bank." 

These,  of  course,  were  at  that  time  all  the  incor- 
porated towns  in  the  Massachusetts  Colony.  In  the 
shire  of  Essex,  Salem  was  incorporated  June  24, 1629, 
as  a  town,  and  March  23,  1836,  as  a  city;  Lynn,  in 
November,  1637,  as  a  town,  and  April  10,  1850,  as  a 
city;  Enon  (afterwards  Wenham),  was  incorporated 
May  10,  1643;  Ipswich,  August  6, 1634;  Eowley,  Sep- 
tember 4,  1639;  Newbury,  May  6,  1635;  Gloucester, 
May  22,  1639,  as  a  town,  and  May  26,  1871,  as  a  city; 
and  Chochicawick  (afterwards  Andover),  May  6,  1646, 
after  the  incorporation  of  Essex  County, 

In  Middlesex,  Charlestown  was  incorporated  June 
24,1629;  Cambridge,  September  8, 1633;  Watertown, 
September  7, 1630;  Sudbury,  September  4, 1639;  Con- 
cord, September  2,  1635;  Woburn,  May  18,  1642; 
Medford,  September  28,  1630;  Linn  village  (after- 
wards incorporated  as  Eeading),  May  29,  1644. 

In  Suffolk,  Boston  was  incorporated  September  7, 
1630,  as  a  town,  and  February  23,  1822,  as  a  city; 
Hoxbury,  September  28,  1630,  as  a  town,  and  March 
12,  1846,  as  a  city,  and  annexed  to  Boston  June  1, 
1867;  Dorchester,  September  7, 1630,  and  annexed  to 
Boston  June  4,  1869;  Dedham,  September  8,  1636; 
Braintree,  May  13,  1640 ;  Weymouth,  September  2, 
1635;  Hingham,  September  2,  1635;  and  Nantasket 
(afterwards  incorporated  as  Hull),  May  29,  1644, 

In  Norfolk,  Salisbury  was  incorporated  October  7, 
1640 ;  Hampton,  September  4,  1639 ;  Haverhill  in 
1645,  as  a  town,  and  March  10, 1869,  as  a  city ;  Exeter 
and  Dover  and  Strawberry  Bank  (now  Portsmouth) 
became  afterwards  a  part  of  New  Hampshire. 

In  addition  to  the  towns  above  mentioned  as  a  part 
of  Essex  County,  Amesbury  was  incorporated  April 
29,  1668  ;  Boxford,  August  12, 1685;  Beverly,  October 
14,  1668 ;  Bradford,  in  1675 ;  Danvers,  1757 ;  Essex, 
1819;  Georgetown,  1838 ;  Groveland,  1850 ;  Hamilton, 
1792;  Lawrence,  incorporated  as  a  town  April  17, 
1847,  and  as  a  city  March  21,  1853;  Lynnfield,  July 
3, 1782 ;  Manchester,  May  14, 1645 ;  Marblehead,  May 
2,  1649;  Merrimac,  April  11, 1876;  Methuen,  Decem- 


IV 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


ber8,1725;  Middleton,  June  20, 1728;  Nahant,  March 
29,  1853;  Newburyport,  January  28,  1764,  as  a  town, 
and  May  24,  1852,  as  a  city;  North  Andover,  April 
7,  1855 ;    West  Newbury,  as  Parsons,  February  18, 

1819,  and  under  its  present  name  June  14, 1820 ;  Pea- 
body,  March  18,  1855,  as  South  Danvers,  and  its 
present  name  given  April  13,  1868 ;  Rockport,  Feb- 
ruary 27,  1840;  Saugus,  February  17,  1815;  South 
Danvers,  May  18,  1855;  Swampscott,  May  21,  1852; 
Topsfield,  October  18, 1650 ;  West  Newbury,  June  14, 

1820.  As  the  towns  of  Amesbury,  Haverhill  and 
Salisbury  were  the  only  towns  in  Norfolk  County, 
outside  of  the  territory  of  New  Hampshire,  which 
became  a  royal  province  in  1679,  the  following  act 
was  jjassed  by  the  General  Court  on  the  4th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1679-80 : 

"  This  Ooiirt  being  sensible  of  the  great  inconvenience  and  charge  that 
it  will  be  to  Salisbury,  Haverhill  and  Amesbury  to  continue  their  County 
Court,  now  some  of  the  towns  of  Norfolk  are  taken  off,  and  considering 
that  these  towns  did  formerly  belong  to  Essex  County,  and  attended  at 
Essex  courts,  do  order  that  these  towns  that  are  left  be  again  joined  to 
Essex  and  attend  public  business  at  Essex  courts,  there  to  implead  and  be 
impleaded,  as  occasion  shall  be;  their  records  of  lands  being  still  to  be 
kept  in  some  one  of  their  own  towns  on  the  North  of  Merrimack,  and 
all  persons  according  to  course  of  law  are  to  attend  in  Essex  County." 

By  this  act  Norfolk  County,  as  incorporated  in 
1643,  was  extinguished,  to  be  revived  in  another  sec- 
tion of  the  State  by  an  act  of  incorporation  dated 
March  26,  1793.  The  act  above  quoted  alludes  to  a 
former  union  of  Amesbury,  Haverhill  and  Salisbury 
with  Essex,  which  never  actually  existed.  The  allu- 
sion is  probably  to  old  court  connections,  which 
existed  before  the  incorporation  of  the  county,  in  1643. 
Amesbury  was  a  part  of  the  old  town  of  Salisbury, 
Boxford  of  the  old  town  of  Rowley,  Beverly  a  part  of 
Salem  and  afterwards  of  Danvers,  Bradford  a  part  of 
Rowley,  Danvers  a  part  of  Salem,  Essex  a  part  of 
Ipswich,  Georgetown  a  part  of  Rowley,  Groveland  a 
part  of  Bradford  and  Boxford,  Hamilton  a  part  of 
Ipswich,  Lawrence  a  part  of  Andover,  North  Andover 
and  Methuen,  Lynnfield  a  part  of  Lynn,  Manchester 
a  part  of  Salem,  Marblehead  a  part  of  Salem,  Merri- 
mac  a  part  of  Amesbury,  Methuen  a  part  of  Haverhill, 
Middleton  a  part  of  Salem,  Topsfield,  Boxford  and 
Andover,  Nahant  a  part  of  Lynn,  Newburyport  a  part 
of  Newbury,  North  Andover  a  part  of  Andover,  Pea- 
body  formerly  South  Danvers  and  a  part  of  Danvers, 
Rockport  a  part  of  Gloucester,  Saugus  a  part  of  Lynn 
and  Chelsea,  Swampscott  a  part  of  Lynn  and  Salem, 
Topsfield  was  New  Meadows,  Wenham  was  Enon, 
mentioned  in  the  act  incorporating  the  county;  and 
West  Newbury  was  a  part  of  Newbury,  incorporated 
as  Parsons  and  changed  to  its  present  name  June  14, 
1820. 

Since  the  addition  to  the  county  of  the  towns  of 
Amesbury,  Salisbury  and  Haverhill,  in  1679-80,  the 
only  change  in  the  boundaries  of  the  county  is  that 
already  referred  to,  caused  by  the  annexation  of  a 
part  of  Chelsea,  in  Suffolk  County,  to  Saugus.     On  the 


22d  of  February,  1841,  it  was  enacted  that  "so  much 
of  the  town  of  Chelsea,  with  the  inhabitants  therein, 
as  is  embraced  within  the  bounds  hereafter  named  is 
hereby  set  off  from  said  town  of  Chelsea  and  annexed 
to  the  town  of  Saugus,  to  wit :  beginning  at  the  south- 
erly side  of  the  Newburyport  turnpike  on  Maiden  line 
and  running  south  26  east  51  rods  and  18  links  on 
said  Maiden  line  to  a  stake  and  stones;  thence  north 
52  east  to  Saugus  line ;  thence  by  the  line  of  Saugus 
South  Reading  and  Maiden  to  the  bounds  first  men- 
tioned; provided,  however,  that  the  inhabitants  thus 
set  off  shall  be  holden  to  pay  all  taxes  heretofore 
assessed  in  the  same  manner  as  if  this  act  had  not 
been  passed;  provided,  also,  that  all  persons  who 
shall  have  gained  a  settlement  upon  said  territory, 
and  who  are  now  chargeable  to  the  said  town  of 
Chelsea,  shall  remain  and  continue  to  be  supported 
by  said  town  of  Chelsea,  saving  and  excepting  one 
John  Burrell,  who  shall  hereafter  be  considered  as 
belonging  to  and  shall  hereafter  be  supported  by  said 
town  of  Saugus. 

"If  any  persons  who  have  gained  a  legal  settlement 
in  said  town  of  Chelsea  by  a  residence  on  said  terri- 
tory, or  by  having  been  proprietors  of  any  part 
thereof,  or  who  may  desire  such  settlement  from  any 
such  residents  or  proprietors,  shall  come  to  want  and 
stand  in  need  of  relief  and  support,  they  shall  be 
relieved  and  supported  by  the  said  town  of  Saugus  in 
the  same  manner  as  if  they  had  gained  a  settlement 
in  said  town." 

Essex  County,  of  which  Salem,  Lawrence  and  New- 
buryport are  the  shires,  is  situated  in  the  northeast 
corner  of  Massachusetts,  and  is  bounded  on  the  north- 
east by  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  on  the  southeast  by  Mas- 
sachusetts Bay,  on  the  southwest  by  Suffolk  and 
Middlesex  Counties,  and  on  the  northwest  by  New 
Hampshire.  It  contains  about  five  hundred  square 
miles  of  territory,  traversed  by  the  Merrimac  River, 
which  enters  the  county  between  Andover  and  Me- 
thuen and  flows  into  the  ocean  at  Newburyport ;  the 
Shawsheen,  which  enters  the  Merrimac  at  Lawrence; 
the  Parker  River ;  Bass  River,  navigable  to  Danvers- 
port;  and  the  Ipswich  River,  which  is  navigable  to 
Ipswich.  The  business  of  the  county  is  chiefly  that 
of  manufactures  and  the  fisheries,  though  a  by  no 
means  insignificant  portion  of  its  inhabitants  gains  a 
livelihood  from  agriculture  and  general  commerce. 
Statistics  relating  to  these  industries  will  be  included 
in  the  town  histories.  The  following  table  shows  the 
population,  valuation  and  number  of  schools  in  each 
town  according  to  the  last  published  returns  : 

rrBLic 

POPULATION.    VALUATION.    SCHOOLS. 

Amesbury 4,403  $1,.%9,835  20 

Andover 5,711  5,053,079  22 

Beverly 9,180  10,170,780  35 

IJoxford 840  055,285  fi 

Bradford 3,106  1,338,230  10 

Danvers 7,048  3,761,596  20 

Essex 1,722  96.3,121  9 


INTRODUCTORY. 


PUBLIC 

POPULATION.    VALUATION.  SCHOOLS. 

Georgetown ., 2,299  l,018,49i  10 

Gloucester 21,713  9,897,446  80 

Grnveland 2,272  880,771  10 

Hamilton 850  602,433  4 

Haverhill 21,795  11,918,280  75 

Ipswich 4,207  2,097,482  16 

Lawrence 38,845  26,670,644  104 

Lynn 45,861  25,056,583  116 

Lyunfield 766  504,496  3 

Manchester 1,638  3,827,635  7 

Marblehead 7,518  3,964,927  15 

Menimac 2,378  1,169,368  14 

Methuen 4,507  2,777,010  19 

Middleton 899  527,771  4 

Nahant 6.37  6,524,446  4 

Newbury 1,590  1,059,405  7 

Newburyport 13,710  8,321,954  29 

North  Andover 3,425  2,020,179  16 

Peabody 9,530  7,188,290  33 

Rockport 3,883  2,077,044  14 

Rowley 1,183  545,095  7 

Salem 28,084  27,765,824  84 

Salisbury 4,840  2,227,043  21 

Saugus 2,855  1,368,602  13 

Swampscott 2,471  3,955,202  10 

Topsfield 1,141  706,875  5 

"Wenham 871  540,277  5 

West  Newbury 1,899  1,159,471  11 

Total 263,694  5180,665,573  328 


It  lias  been  already  stated  that  at  the  time  of  the 
formation  of  the  counties,  in  1643,  judicial  power  was 
vested  in  the  General  Court,  the  Court  of  Assistants 
(or  Great  Quarter  Court)  the  Quarter  Courts  (held 
in  specified  towns)  and  the  Strangers'  Courts.  After 
the  formation  of  the  counties  the  above  courts  con- 
tinued, though  the  Strangers'  Courts  were  modified, 
and  the  Quarter  Courts,  in  their  respective  counties, 
were  called  County  or  Inferior  Quarter  Courts.  It 
had  also  been  provided  by  an  act  passed  September 
9,  1639,  that  records  be  kept  of  all  wills,  administra- 
tions and  inventories,  of  every  marriage,  birth  and 
death,  and  of  all  men's  houses  and  lands.  It  had,  be- 
fore the  above  date,  been  provided  by  a  law  passed 
April  1,  1634,  "  that  the  constable  and  four  or  more 
of  the  chief  inhabitants  of  every  town  (to  be  chosen 
by  all  the  freemen  there  at  some  meeting  there),  with 
the  advice  of  some  one  or  more  of  the  next  assistants, 
shall  make  a  surveying  of  the  houses,  backside,  corn- 
fields, mowing-ground  and  other  lands  improved  or 
inclosed  on,  granted  by  special  orders  of  the  court,  of 
every  free  inhabitant  there,  and  shall  enter  the  same 
in  a  book  (fairly  written  in  words  at  length,  and  not 
in  figures),  with  the  several  bounds  and  quantities  by 
the  nearest  estimation,  and  shall  deliver  a  transcript 
thereof  into  the  court  within  six  months  now  next 
ensuing;  and  the  same  so  entered  and  recorded  shall 
be  a  sufficient  assurance  to  every  such  free  inhabitant, 
his  and  their  heirs  and  assigns,  of  such  estate  of  in- 
heritance or  as  they  shall  have  in  any  such  houses, 
lands  or  frank  tenements.  The  like  course  shall  be 
taken  for  assurance  of  all  houses  and  town  lots  of  all 
such  as   shall  be  hereafter  enfranchised,  and  every 


sale  or  grant  of  such  houses  or  lots  as  shall  be,  from 
time  to  time,  entered  into  the  said  book  by  the  said 
constable  and  four  inhabitants  or  their  successors 
(who  shall  be  still  supplied  upon  death  or  removal), 
for  which  entry  the  purchasers  shall  pay  six  pence 
and  the  like  sum  for  a  copy  thereof  under  the  hands 
of  the  said  surveyors  or  three  of  them." 

A  further  provision  of  law  had  been  made  on  the 
7th  of  October,  1640,  as  follows : 

"For  avoiding  all  fraudulent  conveyances  and  that  every  man  may 
know  what  estate  or  interest  other  men  may  have  in  any  houses,  lands, 
or  otlier  hereditaments  they  are  to  deal  in,  it  is  therefore  ordered  that 
after  the  end  of  the  month  no  mortgage,  bargain,  sale,  or  grant,  here- 
after to  bo  made  of  any  houses,  lands,  rents,  or  other  hereditaments,  shall 
be  of  force  against  any  other  person  except  the  grantor  and  his  heirs,  un- 
less the  same  be  recorded  as  is  hereafter  expressed ;  and  that  no  such 
bargain,  sale,  or  grant,  already  made  in  way  of  mortgage,  where  the 
grantor  remains  in  possession,  shall  be  of  force  against  any  other  but 
the  grantor  or  his  heirs,  except  the  same  shall  be  entered  as  is  hereafter 
expressed,  within  one  month  after  the  end  of  this  court,  if  the  party  be 
within  this  jurisdiction,  or  else  within  three  months  after  he  shall  re- 
turn. And  if  any  such  grantor,  Jtc,  be  required  by  the  grantee,  kc,  to 
make  an  acknowledgement  of  any  grant,  &c.,  by  him  made,  shall  refuse 
so  to  do,  it  shall  be  in  the  power  of  any  magistrate  to  send  for  the  party 
80  refusing  and  commit  him  to  prison,  without  bail  or  mayneprise,  until 
he  shall  acknowledge  the  same. 

"  And  the  grantee  is  to  enter  his  caution  with  the  recorder,  and  this 
shall  save  his  interest  in  the  meantime  ;  and  if  it  be  doubtful  whether  it 
be  the  deed  or  grant  of  the  party,  he  shall  be  bound  with  sureties  to  the 
next  court  and  the  caution  shall  remain  good  as  aforesaid. 

"And  for  recording  of  all  such  bargains,  <tc.,  it  is  further  ordered  that 
there  shall  be  one  appointed  at  Ipswich,  for  which  BIr.  Samuel  Symonds 
is  chosen  for  that  court,  to  enter  all  such  bargains,  sales,  &c.,  of  all  lands, 
Ac,  within  the  jurisdiction  of  that  court ;  and  Mr.  Emanuell  Downing 
is  chosen  in  like  sort  for  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court  of  Salem  ;  and  all 
the  rest  to  be  entered  by  Mr.  Stephen  Winthrop,  the  recorder  at  Boston." 

The  recorder  was  the  clerk  of  the  court.  In  1641 
it  was  provided  that  in  every  town  "  a  clerk  of  the 
writs"  should  be  appointed,  and  a  part  of  his  duties 
was  to  record  all  births  and  deaths,  and  yearly  de- 
liver to  the  recorder  of  the  court  a  transcript  thereof. 
It  was  also  provided  that  every  married  man  shall 
bring  a  certificate,  under  the  hand  of  the  magistrate 
who  married  him,  to  the  clerk  of  the  writs,  to  be  re- 
corded and  returned  by  him  to  the  recorder.  Thus 
it  will  be  seen  how  extensive  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
County  Court  was  made.  Aside  from  its  ordinary 
judicial  powers,  it  had  charge  of  the  records  of  deeds 
of  probate  matters  and  the  laying  out  of  highways, 
and  included  the  departments  now  held  by  the  judge 
and  register  of  probate,  the  register  of  deeds,  the 
clerk  of  the  courts  and  county  commissioners. 

With  regard  to  treasurers,  their  duties,  up  to  1654, 
were  performed  by  the  treasurer  of  the  whole  colony 
or  of  the  country,  as  he  was  called.  In  that  year  it 
was  provided  "  that  henceforth  there  shall  be  treas- 
urers annually  chosen  in  every  county,  provided  that 
no  clerk  or  recorder  of  any  County  Court  shall  be 
chosen  treasurer  of  the  county."  The  officer  now 
called  sheriff  was,  in  the  days  of  the  colony,  called 
marshal.  There  was  a  marshal  of  the  General  Court 
alone  up  to  the  formation  of  the  counties,  in  1643, 
and  after  that  date  each   court  apparently  appointed 


VI 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


its  own  marshal,  though  it  is  possible  that  even  be- 
fore that  time  every  Quarter  Court  had  its  own  of- 
ficer bearing  that  name.  So  far  as  Essex  County  is 
concerned,  it  is  proper  to  state  that  the  present  regis- 
try of  deeds  contains  the  entire  records  from  1638, 
and  that  the  original  probate  records  prior  to  1671 
are  to  be  found  in  the  ofBce  of  the  clerk  of  the  courts, 
where  they  were  originally  kept.  The  registry  of 
probate  was  located  in  Ipswich  until  1851,  when,  un- 
der general  powers  conferred  by  law,  the  county  com- 
missioners removed  it  to  Salem, 

There  is  another  court  which  should  be  mentioned 
to  complete  the  colonial  judicial  system  so  far  as  it 
concerned  the  county.  On  the  6th  of  September, 
1638,  it  was  ordered  "  that  for  avoiding  of  the  coun- 
try's charge  by  bringing  small  causes  to  the  Court  of 
Assistants  that  any  magistrate  in  the  town  where  he 
may  hear  and  determine  by  his  discretion  all  causes 
wherein  the  debt,  or  trespass,  or  damage,  etc.,  doth 
not  exceed  twenty  shillings,  and  in  such  town  where 
no  magistrate  dwells,  the  General  Court  shall,  from 
time  to  time,  nominate  three  men  ;  two  thereof  shall 
have  like  power  to  hear  and  determine  all  such  ac- 
tions under  twenty  shillings  ;  and  if  any  of  the  parties 
shall  find  themselves  grieved  with  any  such  end  or 
sentence,  they  may  appeal  to  the  next  Quarter  Court, 
or  Court  of  Assistants.  And  if  any  person  shall 
bring  any  such  action  to  the  Court  of  Assistants  be- 
fore he  hath  endeavored  to  have  it  ended  at  home 
(as  in  this  order  is  appointed),  he  shall  lose  his  action 
and  pay  the  defendant's  costs."  The  jurisdiction  of 
this  petty  court  was  afterwards  extended  to  matters 
involving  a  sum  not  exceeding  forty  shillings.  It 
should  be  added,  however,  concerning  this  petty 
court,  that  the  selectmen  of  a  town  were  authorized 
to  try  offences  against  their  own  by-laws  where  the 
penalty  did  not  exceed  twenty  shillings,  provided  the 
by-laws  did  not  extend  to  anything  criminal.  They 
were  also  competent  to  try  cases  where  only  one 
magistrate  lived  in  a  town  and  he  was  an  interested 
party,  and  where  there  was  no  magistrate  and  one  or 
more  of  the  commissioners  were  concerned. 

Up  to  1685  the  judicial  system  of  Massachusetts 
Colony  and  its  counties  remained  as  has  been  traced 
above,  as  follows :  1st,  the  General  Court  with  legisla- 
tive powers  and  a  limited  appellate  jurisdiction  from 
the  Court  of  Assistants ;  2d,  the  Court  of  Assistants 
or  Great  Quarter  Court,  with  exclusive  jurisdiction 
in  all  criminal  cases  involving  neither  life,  limb  nor 
banishment,  and  concurrent  jurisdiction  with  the 
County  Courts  in  civil  cases  involving  not  more 
than  one  hundred  pounds,  and  appellate  jurisdiction 
from  the  County  Courts ;  3d,  the  County  Courts  or 
Inferior  Quarter  Courts,  with  jurisdiction  in  civil  and 
criminal  cases,  except  cases  of  divorce  and 
crimes  involving  life,  limb  or  banishment,  having 
power  to  summon  grand  and  petit  jurors,  and  to  ap- 
point their  own  clerks  and  other  necessary  ofiicers,  to 


lay  out  highways,  license  taverns,  to  see  that  a  proper 
ministry  was  supported,  to  prove  wills,  grant  admin- 
istration and  have  general  control  of  matters  in  pro- 
bate, and  have  appellate  jurisdiction  from  the  Commis- 
sioners' Courts ;  4th,  Strangers'  Courts,  held  at  first  by 
the  Governor  or  Deputy-Governor  and  two  magis- 
trates, or,  in  the  absence  of  the  Governor  and  deputy 
by  three  magistrates  with  the  same  jurisdiction  as  the 
County  Courts  so  far  as  strangers  are  concerned,  where 
judgments  were  final ;  5th,  Petty  Commissioners'  or 
Selectmen's  Courts  in  the  various  towns. 

On  the  18th  of  June,  1684,  a  judgment  vacating  the 
colonial  charter  was  issued,  and  a  copy  was  received 
by  the  colonial  secretary,  Edward  Rawson,  on  the  2d 
of  July  in  the  next  year.  Joseph  Dudley  was  there- 
upon appointed,  by  the  King,  President  of  Massachu- 
setts Bay,  Maine,  New  Hampshire  and  the  Narra- 
ganset  country,  and  received  the  commission  May 
15,  1686.  The  Council  appointed  by  the  King  were 
Simon  Bradstreet,  Robert  Mason,  John  Fitz  Win- 
throp,  John  Pynchon,  Peter  Bulkley,  Edward  Ran- 
dolph, Wait  Winthrop,  Richard  Wharton,  John 
Usher,  Nathaniel  Saltoustall,  Bartholomew  Gedney, 
Jonathan  Tyng,  Dudley  Bradstreet,  John  Hicks  and 
Edward  Tyng,  of  whom  Simon  and  Dudley  Brad- 
street and  Nathaniel  Saltonstall  declined.  The 
Governor  and  Council  possessed  no  legislative  power, 
except  to  establish  such  courts  as  might  be  necessary. 
They  were  a  court  of  themselves  for  the  trial  of  causes, 
and  had  authority  to  appoint  judges.  They  estab- 
lished a  Superior  Court,  with  three  sessions  a  year,  at 
Boston,  and"  Courts  of  Pleas  and  Sessions  of  the  Peace  " 
in  the  several  counties.  The  President  assumed 
probate  jurisdiction,  but  in  some  counties  appointed 
judges  of  probate.  William  Stoughton  was  appointed 
to  preside  in  the  County  Courts  of  Middlesex,  Suf- 
folk and  Essex,  and  John  Richards  and  Simon  Lynde 
were  appointed  his  assistants.  These  appointments 
were  made  July  26,  1636.  Appeals  could  be  taken 
from  these  courts  to  the  President  and  Council. 

But  the  administration  of  Dudley  was  of  short  du- 
ration. Governor  Andros  arrived  in  Boston  on  the 
19th  of  December,  16&6,  and  as  Governor  assumed 
jurisdiction  over  the  whole  of  New  England,  includ- 
ing the  Plymouth  Colony,  which  was  not  included  in 
the  commission  of  Dudley.  He  appointed  thirty-nine 
members  of  his  Council,  and  the  Governor  and  Coun- 
cil possessed  the  exclusive  power  of  making  and  exe- 
cuting the  laws,  subject  to  royal  approval.  He  gave 
to  justices  of  the  peace  eivil  jurisdiction  in  cases  not 
affecting  lands  and  not  involving  a  sum  exceeding 
forty  shillings.  He  established  next  the  "  Quarterly 
Sessions  Court,"  held  by  the  several  justices  in  their 
respective  counties,  and  next  an  "Inferior  Court  of 
Common  Pleas,"  to  be  held  in  each  county  by  a  judge 
assisted  by  two  or  more  justices  of  the  county.  Their 
jurisdiction  was  limited  to  cases  in  which  not  more 
than  ten  pounds  were  involved  and  no  question  of 


INTRODUCTORY. 


vu 


freehold,  except  in  Boston,  where  the  limit  was  twenty 
pounds.  Above  these  courts  was  the  Superior  Court 
of  Judicature,  in  which  no  action  could  be  com- 
menced involving  less  than  ten  pounds,  unless  it  re- 
lated to  a  question  of  freehold,  and  which  was  to  be 
held  in  Boston,  Cambridge,  Charlestown,  Plymouth, 
Bristol,  Newport,  Salem,  Ipswich,  Portsmouth,  Fal- 
mouth, Northampton  and  Springfield.  Joseph  Dud- 
ley was  appointed  chief  justice  of  this  court. 

In  1691  a  new  charter  was  issued,  embracing  Mas- 
sachusetts, Plymouth,  Maine,  Nova  Scotia  and  the 
intervening  territory  in  one  government,  under  the 
name  of  the  "  Province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  in 
New  England."  This  charter  reached  Boston  May 
14,  1692,  and  under  its  provisions  the  government 
consisted  of  a  Governor,  Deputy-Governor  and  secre- 
tary aiDpointed  by  the  King,  and  assistants  or  Coun- 
cilors chosen  by  the  General  Court,  and  a  House  of 
Representatives  chosen  annually  by  the  people.  The 
Governor  had  the  power  of  veto,  and  all  acts  and 
elections  by  the  General  Court  must  be  transmitted  to 
England  and  approved  or  disallowed  by  the  King. 
The  General  Court  was  authorized  "  to  erect  and 
constitute  judicatories  and  courts  of  records  or  other 
courts,"  and  the  Governor  and  Council  could  appoint 

udges,  sheriflTs,  justices  of  the  peace  and  other  officers 
of  the  courts.  The  regulation  and  management  of 
probate  matters  were  given  to  the  Governor  and 
Council,  and  delegated  by  them  to  judges  in  each 
county.  Under  this  charter  the  General  Court  no 
longer  possessed  judicial  power.  The  first  court  es- 
tablished under  the  charter  was  a  special  Court  of 
Oyer  and  Terminer,  organized  by  Governor  William 
Phipps,  the  first  Governor  of  the  province,  before  any 

aw  had  been  passed  authorizing  it,  for  the  purpose 
of  trying,  chiefly  in  Essex  County,  persons  charged 
with  witchcraft.  On  the  2d  of  June,  1692,  the  Gov- 
ernor issued  his  commission  appointing  Wm.  Stough- 
ton  chief  justice,  and  Nathaniel  Saltonstall  (who  de- 
clined and  was  succeeded  by  Jonathan  Curwin), 
John  Richards,  Bartholomew  Gedney,  Wait  Win- 
throp,  Samuel  Sewall  and  Peter  Sergeant  associate 
lustices;  Stephen  Sewall,  clerk;  Thomas  Newton, 
attorney -general  (succeeded  July  22d  by  Anthony 
Checkley) ;  George  Corwin,  sheriff.  The  first  meet- 
ing of  this  court  was  held  at  Salem  on  the  2d  of 
June,  1692,  and  its  last  meeting  on  the  17th  of  Sep- 
tember following,  after  which  the  court  was  dissolved. 
During  this  time  the  expense  of  the  court  to  Essex 
County  was  one  hundred  and  thirty  pounds,  and 
nineteen  persons  were  tried,  condemned  and  hung, 
and  one  was  pressed  to  death. 

On  the  25th  of  November,  1692,  a  law  was  passed 
establishing  Courts  of  Justices  of  the  Peace,  four 
Courts  or  Quarter  Sessions  of  the  Peace  in  each  county, 
an  Inferior  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  each  county,  a 
Superior  Court  of  Judicature  for  the  whole  province, 
and  a  High  CourtofChancery  for  the  province.  This  act 


was  disallowed.  On  the  19th  of  June,  1697,  another 
act  was  passed  establishing  County  Courts,  which  was 
also  disallowed.  On  the  26th  of  June,  1699,  three 
acts  were  passed,  establishing  in  each  county  a  Court 
of  General  Sessions  of  the  Peace  and  an  Inferior  Court 
of  Common  Pleas,  and  a  Superior  Court  of  Judicature 
for  the  province.  The  Court  of  General  Sessions  of 
the  Peace  was  authorized  to  be  held  at  specified 
times  and  places  "  by  the  justices  of  the  peace  of  the 
same  county,  who  are  hereby  empowered  to  hear  and 
determine  all  matters  relating  to  the  conservation  of 
the  peace  and  punishment  of  offenders."  The  Infer- 
ior Court  of  Common  Pleas  was  to  be  held  at  specified 
times  and  places  "by  four  substantial  persons,  to  be 
appointed  and  commissionated  as  justices  of  the  same 
court  in  each  county,  who  shall  have  cognizance  of 
all  civil  actions  arising  or  happening  within  such 
county,  provided  that  no  action  under  the  value  of 
forty  shillings  shall  be  brought  into  any  of  the  said 
Inferior  Courts,  unless  where  freehold  is  concerned  or 
upon  appeal  from  a  justice  of  the  peace."  The  Su- 
perior Court  of  Judicature  was  to  be  held  at  specified 
times  and  places  in  the  province,  by  "  one  chief  jus- 
tice and  four  other  justices,  to  be  appointed  and  com- 
missionated for  the  same,  who  shall  have  cognizance 
of  all  pleas, — real,  personal  or  mixt, — as  well  as  all 
pleas  of  the  Crown  and  all  matters  relating  to  the 
conservation  of  the  peace  and  punishment  of  offend- 
ers," etc.  This  court  was  ordered  to  be  held  for  the 
county  of  Suffolk,  at  Boston,  on  the  first  Tuesdays  in 
November  and  May ;  for  the  county  of  Essex,  at 
Salem  on  the  second  Tuesday  in  November,  and  at 
Ipswich  on  the  third  Tuesday  in  May  ;  for  the  county 
of  Middlesex,  at  Cambridge  on  the  last  Tuesday  in 
July,  and  at  Charlestown  on  the  last  Tuesday  in 
January ;  for  the  county  of  Hampshire,  at  Spring- 
field, on  the  second  Thursday  in  August;  for  the 
county  of  York,  at  Kittery,  on  the  Thursday  before 
the  Ipswich  court;  for  the  counties  of  Plymouth, 
Barnstable  and  Dukes  County,  at  Plymouth,  on  the 
last  Tuesday  in  March ;  and  for  the  county  of  Bristol, 
at  Bristol,  on  the  second  Tuesday  in  September. 

Jurisdiction  in  probate  matters  had,  during  the 
colonial  period,  been  exercised  by  the  common  law 
courts.  During  the  administration  of  Andros  it  was 
exercised  by  the  Governor,  but,  by  the  charter  of  the 
province,  it  was  conferred  on  the  Governor  and  Coun- 
cil. Claiming,  however,  thepower  of  substitution,  the 
Governor  and  Council  appointed  a  judge  of  probate  in 
each  county,  reserving  to  themselves  appellate  juris- 
diction. 

The  judges  of  the  Inferior  Court  of  Common  Pleas 
for  Essex  County  were  as  follows  : 

Appointed  December  7,   1692. — Bartholomew  Gedne}',  Samuel  Apple- 
ton,  John  Hathorne,  Jonathan  Corwin. 
1G06, — Wm.  Browne,  in  place  of  Samuel  Appleton. 
1698. — Daniel  Peirce,  in  place  of  Bartholomew  Gedney,  deceased. 
1699. — Same  appointed. 


VIll 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


1702. — Natlianiel  Saltonstall,  in  place  of  Jonathan  Corwin  ;  Jonathan 
Corwin,  in  place  of  John  Hathorne. 

1704. — John  Appleton,  in  place  of  Daniel  Peirce. 

1707. — Thomas  Noyes,  in  place  of  Nathaniel  Saltonstall. 

1708. — John  Higginson,  in  place  of  Jonathan  Corwin,  appointed  to 
the  Superior  Court. 

1715. — Samuel  Brown,  in  place  of  his  father,  Wm.  Browne. 

1720.— John  Burrill,  in  place  of  John  Higginson. 

1721-22. — Josiah  Wolcott,  in  place  of  John  Burrill. 

1729. — Timothy  Linall  and  John  Wainwright. 

1733. — Theophilus  Burrill  and  Thomas  Berry,  in  place  of  Samuel 
Brown  and  John  Appleton. 

1737. — Benjamin  Marston,  in  place  of  Theophilus  Burrill. 

1739. — Benjamin  Lynde,  in  place  of  John  Wainwright,  deceased. 

1745-46. — John  Choat,  in  place  of  Benjamin  Lynde,  transferred  to  the 
Superior  Court., 

1754. — Henry  Gibbs,  in  place  of  Timothy  Linall,  resigned ;  John 
Tasker,  in  place  of  Benjamin  Marston,  deceased. 

1756. — Benjamin  Pickman,  in  place  of  Thomas  Berry,  deceased. 

1759. — Caleb  Gushing,  in  place  of  Henry  Gibbs,  deceased. 

1761. — Stephen  Higginson,  in  place  of  Benjamin  Pickman  ;  Nathaniel 
Kopes  and  Andrew  Oliver,  in  place  of  Stephen  Higginson,  deceased, 
and  John  Tasker,  deceased. 

1766. — William  Bourn,  in  place  of  John  Choat. 

1770. — William  Browne,  in  place  of  William  Bourn,  deceased. 

1772. — Peter  Frye,  in  place  of  Nathaniel  Ropes,  transferred  to  the 
Superior  Court. 

1775. — John  Lowell,  Caleb  Gushing,  Benjamin  Greenleaf  and  Azor 
Orne. 

1779. — Caleb  Gushing,  Benjamin  Greenleaf,  John  Pickering,  Jr., 
Samuel  Holten. 

1782.—  Samuel  Phillips,  in  place  of  Caleb  Gushing. 

1798. — Ebenezer  March,  in  place  of  Benjamin  Greenleaf. 

1799. — John  Treadwell,  in  place  of  John  Pickering. 

1808. — Samuel  Holten  retired,  and  was  appointed  chief  justice  of  the 
General  Court  of  Sessions. 

The  Inferior  Court  of  Common  Pleas  continued  un- 
til July  3,  1782,  when  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas 
was  established,  to  be  held  within  each  county  at  spec- 
ified times  and  places,  with  four  judges  appointed 
by  the  Governor  from  within  the  county. 

Those  in  the  above  list,  after  1779,  were  judges  of 
this  court.  This  court  continued  until  June  21,  1811, 
when  an  act  was  passed  providing  that  the  common- 
wealth, except  Dukes  County  and  the  county  of 
Nantucket,  should  be  divided  into  six  circuits,  as  fol- 
lows :  the  Middle  Circuit,  consisting  of  the  counties  ot 
Suffolk,  Essex  and  Middlesex ;  the  Western  Cir- 
cuit, consisting  of  the  counties  of  Worcester,  Hamp- 
shire and  Berkshire  ;  the  Southern  Circuit,  consisting 
of  the  counties  of  Norfolk,  Plymouth,  Bristol  and 
Barnstable ;  the  Eastern  Circuit,  consisting  of  the 
counties  of  York,  Cumberland  and  Oxford  ;  the  sec- 
ond Eastern  Circuit,  consisting  of  the  counties  of 
Lincoln,  Kennebec  and  Somerset;  and  the  third 
Eastern  Circuit,  consisting  of  the  counties  of  Han- 
cock and  Washington.  It  further  provided  that 
there  shall  be  held  in  the  several  counties,  at  the 
times  and  places  now  appointed  for  holding  the 
Courts  of  Common  Pleas,  a  Circuit  Court  of  Common 
Pleas,  consisting  of  one  chief  justice  and  two  associ- 
ate justices,  to  whom  were  to  be  added  two  sessions 
justices  from  each  county,  to  sit  with  the  court  in 
their  county.  The  history  of  this  court  is  so  mingled 
with  that  of  the  General  Court  of  Sessions  that 
both   should   be  sketched  together.      The  Court  of 


General  Sessions  of  the  Peace  remained  substantially 
the  same  during  the  provincial  period,  and  up  to 
June  19,  1807,  when  it  was  enacted  that  it  should 
consist  of  one  chief  justice,  or  first  justice,  and  a  cer- 
tain number  of  associate  justices  for  the  several  coun- 
ties, to  be  appointed  by  the  Governor  with  the  con- 
sent of  the  Council.  These  justices  were  to  act  as  the 
General  Court  of  Sessions  in  the  place  of  the  justices 
of  the  peace  in  each  county.  On  the  19th  of  June, 
1809,  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  General  Court  of 
Sessions  were  transferred  to  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas,  and  two  years  later,  on  the  25th  of  June,  1811,  it 
was  enacted,  "  that  from  and  after  the  first  day  of 
December  next,  an  act  made  and  passed  the  19th  day  of 
June,  1809,  entitled  '  an  act  to  transfer  the  powers  and 
duties  of  the  Courts  of  Sessions  to  the  Courts  of  Com- 
mon Pleas,'  be  and  the  same  is  hereby  repealed, 
and  that  all  acts,  or  parts  of  acts,  relative  to  the 
Courts  of  Sessions  which  were  in  force  at  the  time  the 
act  was  in  force  which  is  hereby  repealed,  be  and  the 
same  are  hereby  revived  from  and  after  the  said  first 
day  of  September  next." 

Again,  on  the  28th  of  February,  1814,  it  was  en- 
acted that  the  act  of  June  25,  1811,  above  quoted, 
"be  repealed,  except  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  coun- 
ties of  Suffolk,  Nantucket  and  Dukes  County,  and 
that  all  petitions,  recognizances,  warrants,  orders, 
certificatea,  reports  and  processes  made  to,  taken  for 
or  continued  or  returnable  to  the  Court  of  Sessions  in 
the  several  counties,  except  as  aforesaid,  shall  be  re- 
turnable to,  and  proceeded  in,  and  determined  by  the 
respective  Circuit  Courts  of  Common  Pleas,''  already 
referred  to  as  having  been  established  on  the  21st  of 
June,  1811,  in  the  place  of  the  old  Court  of  Common 
Pleas.  It  further  provided,  "  that  from  and  after  the 
first  day  of  June  next,  the  Circuit  Courts  of  Common 
Pleas  shall  have,  exercise,  and  perform  all  powers, 
authorities  and  duties  which  the  respective  Courts  of 
Sessions  have,  before  the  passage  of  this  act,  exercised 
and  performed,  except  in  the  counties  of  Suffolk, 
Nantucket  and  Dukes  County ;  and  it  was  further 
provided  that  the  Governor,  by  and  with  the  advice 
of  the  Council,  be  authorized  to  appoint  two  persons 
in  each  county,  who  shall  be  session  justices  of  the 
Circuit  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  their  respective 
counties,  and  sit  with  the  justices  of  said  Circuit 
Court  in  the  administration  of  the  affairs  of  their 
county,  and  of  all  matters  within  said  county  of 
which  the  Courts  of  Sessions  had  cognizance."  The 
management  of  county  affairs  was  controlled  by  this 
court  until  February  20,  1819,  when  it  was  enacted, 
"that  from  and  after  the  first  day  of  June  next,  an 
'  act  to  transfer  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  Courts 
of  Sessions  to  the  Circuit  Courts  of  Common  Pleas,' 
passed  on  the  28th  of  February,  1814,  be  hereby  re- 
pealed ;  and  it  was  further  provided,  that  from  and 
after  the  first  day  of  June  next  the  Court  of  Sessions 
in  the  several  counties  shall  be  held  by  one  chief  jus- 


INTRODUCTORY. 


IX 


tice  and  two  associate  justices,  to  be  appointed  by  the 
Governor,  Avith  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Coun- 
cil, who  shall  have  all  the  powers,  rights  and  privi- 
leges, and  be  subject  to  all  the  duties,  which  are  now 
vested  in  the  Circuit  Courts  of  Common  Pleas  rela- 
tive to  the  erection  and  repairs  of  jails  and  other 
county  buildings,  the  allowance  and  settlement  of 
county  accounts,  the  estimate,  apportionment  and  is- 
suing warrants  for  assessing  county  taxes,  granting 
licenses,  laying  out,  altering  and  discontinuing  high- 
ways, and  appointing  committees  and  ordering  juries 
for  that  purpose." 

The  Court  of  Sessions  continued  in  the  manage- 
ment of  county  affairs  until  March  4,  1826,  when  that 
part  of  their  duties  relating  to  highways  was  vested 
by  law  in  a  new  board  of  county  officers,  termed 
"  commissioners  of  highways.''  The  act  creating 
this  board  provided  "  that  for  each  county  in  the 
Commonwealth,  except  the  counties  of  Suffolk  and 
Nantucket,  there  shall  be  appointed  and  commis- 
sioned by  His  Excellency,  the  Governor,  by  and  with 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Council,  to  hold  their 
offices  for  five  years,  unless  removed  by  the  Governor 
and  Council,  five  commissioners  of  highways,  except 
in  the  counties  of  Dukes  and  Barnstable,  in  which 
there  shall  be  appointed  only  three,  who  shall  be  in- 
habitants of  such  county,  one  of  whom  shall  be 
designated  as  chairman  by  his  commission."  The 
act  further  provided  that  the  doings  of  the  commis- 
sioners should  be  reported  to  the  Court  of  Sessions  for 
record,  and  that  said  court  should  draw  their  warrants 
on  the  county  treasury  for  expenses  incurred  by  the 
commissioners  in  constructing  roads  located  by 
them. 

On  the  26th  of  February,  1828,  an  act  was  passed 
providing  "that  the  Act  entitled,  *An  Act  to  estab- 
lish Courts  of  Sessions,'  passed  on  the  20th  day  of 
February,  1819;  also  the  Act  in  addition  thereto, 
passed  on  the  21st  day  February,  1820  ;  also  the  Act 
entitled,  'An  Act  increasing  the  numbers  and  extend- 
ing the  powers  of  Justices  of  the  Court  of  Sessions,' 
passed  on  the  6th  of  February,  1822  ;  also  the  Act  en- 
titled, 'An  Act  in  addition  to  an  Act  directing  the 
method  of  laying  out  highways,'  passed  on  the  4th 
day  of  March,  1826,  be  and  the  same  are  hereby  re- 
pealed." It  further  provided  that  "there  shall  be  ap- 
pointed and  commissioned  by  His  Excellency,  the 
Governor,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
Council,  four  persons  to  be  county  commissioners 
for  each  of  the  counties  of  Essex,  Middlesex,  Norfolk 
and  Worcester,  and  three  persons  to  be  county  com- 
missioners for  each  of  the  other  counties  of  this  Com- 
monwealth, except  the  county  of  Suffolk,"  "that  the 
Clerks  of  the  Courts  of  Common  Pleas  within  the 
several  counties  shall  be  clerks  of  said  county  com- 
missioners," and  "that  for  each  of  the  counties  in  the 
Commonwealth,  except  the  counties  of  Suffolk,  Mid- 
dlesex, Essex,  Worcester,   Norfolk   and    Nantucket, 


there  shall  be  appointed  and  commissioned  two  per- 
sons to  act  as  special  county  commissioners." 

On  the  8th  of  April,  1835,  it  was  provided  by  law 
that  in  every  county  except  Suffolk  and  Nantucket  the 
judge  of  probate,  register  of  probate  and  clerk  of  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas  should  be  a  board  of  ex- 
aminers, and  that  on  the  first  Monday  of  May,  in  the 
year  1835,  and  on  the  first  Monday  of  April,  in  every 
third  year  thereafter,  the  people  should  cast  their 
votes  for  three  county  commissioners  and  two  special 
commissioners.  The  law  remained  unaltered  until 
March  11, 1854,  when  it  was  provided,  that  the  county 
commissioners  now  in  office  in  the  several  counties, 
except  in  Suffolk  and  Nantucket,  shall  be  divided 
into  three  classes ;  those  of  first  class  shall  hold  their 
offices  until  the  day  of  the  next  annual  election  of 
Governor ;  those  of  the  second  class  until  the  same 
election  day  in  1855 ;  and  those  of  the  third  class 
until  the  same  election  day  in  1856,  the  commis- 
sioners now  in  office  determining  by  lot  to  which  each 
shall  belong,  and  that  at  such  annual  election  each 
year  thereafter,  one  commissioner  be  chosen  for  three 
years.  It  was  also  provided  that  at  the  annual  election 
in  1856,  and  each  third  year  thei'eafter,  two  special 
commissioners  be  chosen. 

Since  the  passage  of  the  law  of  1828  establishing 
Boards  of  County  Commissioners  the  following  per- 
sons have  been  appointed  members  of  the  Essex 
County  Board : 

1828-33.— Asa  W.  Wildes,  of  Newburyport ;  Joseph  Winn,  of  Salem  ; 
Stephens  Baker,  of  Ipswich  ;  Wm.  B.  Breed,  of  Lynn. 

1834.— John  W.  Proctor,  of  South  Danvers,  in  place  of  William  B. 
Breed. 

1835-37.— Moses  Newell,  of  West  Newbury,  in  place  of  Asa  W.  Wildes. 

1838-40. — Asa  T.  Newhall,  of  Lynn,  in  place  of  John  W.  Proctor. 

1841^3.— Charles  Kimball,  of  Ipswich  ;  Robert  Patten,  of  Amesbury  ; 
Wm.  Whipple,  of  Rockport. 

1844-46.  -Asa  W.  Wildes,  of  Newburyport,  and  Benj.  F.  Newhall,  of 
SaugUN,  in  place  of  Robert  Patten  and  Wm.  Whipple. 

1847-49. — John  I.  Baker,  of  Beverly,  in  place  of  Charles  Kiinliall. 

1850-54. — Benjamin  Mudge,  of  Lynn,  in  place  of  Benjamin  F.  New- 
hall. 

In  this  last  year — in  accordance  with  the  law  passed 
March  11,  1854,  providing  for  the  division  of  the 
commissioners  by  lot  into  three  classes,  one  going  out 
each  year,  and  another  chosen  by  the  people  for  a 
term  of  three  years — John  I.  Baker  drew  the  first 
class,  Benjamin  Mudge  the  second,  and  Asa  W. 
Wildes  the  third.  At  the  election  of  1854,  and  at 
subsequent  elections,  the  following  were  chosen  : 

1854.— Stephens  Baker,  of  Beverly,  in  place  of  John  I.  Baker. 

1855. — Kben  B.  Currier,  of  Lawrence,  in  place  of  Benjamin  Mudge. 

1856. — George  Haskell,  of  Ipswich,  In  place  of  Asa  W.  Wildes. 

1857. — Stephens  Baker,  rechosen. 

1858.— Ebeu  B.  Currier,  rechosen. 

1859. — Abram  D.  Wait,  of  Ipswich,  in  place  of  George  Haskell. 

1860. — James  Kimball,  of  Salem,  in  place  of  Stephens  Baker. 

1861. — Jacksim  B.  Swett,  of  Haverhill,  in  place  of  Ebeu  B.  Currier. 

1802. — Abram  D.  Wait,  rechosen. 

1803. — James  Kimball,  rechosen. 

1864. — Jackson  B.  Swett,  rechosen. 

1805. — Abram  D.  Wait,  rechosen. 

1806. — James  Kimball,  rechosen. 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


1867. — Jackson  B.  Swett,  rechosen. 

1868. — Charles  P.  Preston,  of  Danvers,  in  place  of  Abram  D.  Wait. 

1869. — James  Kimball,  rechosen. 

1870. — Jackson  B.  Swett,  rechosen. 

1871. — Charles  P.  Preston,  rechosen. 

1872. — James  Kimball,  rechosen. 

1873.-  Zacliariab  Graves,  of  Lynn,  in  place  of  Jackson  B.  Swett. 

1874. — Joseph  0.  Proctor,  of  Gloucester,  in  place  of  Chas.  P.  Preston. 

1875.^Jamp8  Kimball,  rechosen. 

1876. — Zachariah  Graves,  rechosen. 

1877. — Joseph  0.  Proctor,  rechosen. 

1878. — John  W.  Raymond,  of  Beverly,  in  place  of  James  Kimball. 

1879. — Geo.  J.  L.  Colby,  of  Newburyport,  in  place  of  Zachariah  Graves. 

1880. — Zachariah  Graves,  in  place  of  Joseph  0.  Proctor. 

18K1. — John  W.  Raymond,  rechosen. 

1882. — Edward  B.  Bishop,  of  Haverhill,  in  place  of  Geo.  J.  L.  Colby. 

188:5. — Geo.  J.  L.  Colby,  in  place  of  Zachariah  Graves. 

1884. — John  W.  Raymond,  rechosen. 

1885. — Edward  B.  Bishop,  rechosen. 

1886. — David  W.  Low,  of  Gloucester,  in  place  of  Geo.  J.  L.  Colby. 

The  Circuit  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  which  was 
established  in  1811,  was  abolished  on  the  14th  of 
February,  1821,  and  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  es- 
tablished with  four  justices,  one  of  whom  it  was  pro- 
vided by  law  should  be  commissioned  chief  justice. 
On  the  1st  of  March,  1843,  the  number  of  judges  was 
increased  to  five;  March  18,  1845,  it  was  increased  to 
six ;  May  24,  1851,  to  seven.  On  the  5th  day  of 
April,  1859,  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  was  abol- 
ished, and  the  present  Superior  Court  established, 
with  ten  judges,  which  number  was  increased,  May 
19,  1875,  to  eleven. 

The  Superior  Court  of  Judicature,  which  was  es- 
tablished June  26,  1699,  received  no  appointments  to 
its  bench  after  1775.  During  its  existence  the  fol- 
lowing judges  were  appointed: 

1G92.— Wni.  Stoughton  (Chief  Justice),  Thomas  Danforth,  Wait  Win- 
throp  (Chief  Justice,  17US),  John  Richards,  Samuel  Sewall  (Chief  Jus- 
tice, 1718). 

1695.— Elisha  Cooke. 

1700.— John  Walley. 

1701.— John  SaflBn. 

1702. — Isaac  Addington  (Chief  Justice,  1703),  John  Hathorne,  John 
Leverett. 

17t  8.— Jonathan  Curwin. 

1712. — Benjamin  Lynde  (Chief  Justice,  1728),  Nathaniel  Thomas. 

1715. — Addington  Davenport. 

1718.— Edmund  Quincy,  Paul  Dudley  (Chief  Justice,  1745). 

1728.— John  Cusbing. 

1733. — Jonathan  Remington. 

1736.— Richard  Saltonstall. 

1738.— Thomas  Graves. 

1739.— Stephen  Sewall  (Chief  Justice,  1752). 

1745. — Nathaniel  Hulibard,  Benjamin  Lynde  (Chief  Justice,  1771). 

1747.— John  Gushing. 

1752. — Chambers  Russell. 

1756.— Peter  Oliver  (Chief  Justice,  1772). 

1760. — Thomas  Hutchinson  (Chief  Justice). 

1767. — Edmund  Trowbridge. 

1771. — Foster  Hutchinson. 

1772.— Nathaniel  Ropes. 

1774.— William  Brown. 

1775.— William  Gushing  (Chief  Justice,  1777),  John  Adams  (Chief 
Justice),  Nathaniel  P.  Sargeant,  William  Reed,  Robert  Treat  Paine. 

1776.  — Jedediah  Foster,  James  Sullivan. 

1777. — David  Sewall. 

Of  these.  Judges  John  Hathorne,  Jonathan  Curwin, 
Richard  Saltonstall,  Stephen  Sewall,  Benjamin  Lynde, 


Nathaniel  Ropes,  William  Brown,  David  Sewall, 
Jedediah  Foster  and  Nathaniel  P.  Sargeant  were  Essex 
County  men.  On  the  20th  of  February,  1781,  an  act 
was  passed  establishing  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court 
as  the  successor  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Judicature. 
It  was  established  with  one  chief  justice  and  four  as- 
sociates, but  in  the  year  1800  the  number  of  associates 
was  increased  to  six,  and  the  State  was  divided  into 
two  circuits,  the  East  including  Essex  County  and 
Maine,  and  the  West  including  all  the  remainder  of 
the  State,  except  Suffolk  County.  In  1805  the  number 
of  associates  was  again  fixed  at  four,  and  so  remained 
until  1852,  when  their  number  was  increased  to  five. 
In  1873  the  number  of  associates  was  increased  to 
six,  and  of  one  chief  justice  and  six  associates  the 
court  is  now  constituted.  Those  in  the  above  list 
after  1774  were  judges  of  the  Superior  Court  of 
Judicature  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  and  not  of 
the  province.  Of  the  judges  of  the  Superior  Court 
since  its  organization,  in  1781,  the  following  have  been 
Essex  County  men :  Theophilus  Parsons,  Charles 
Jackson,  Samuel  Putnam,  Caleb  Cushing,  Wm.  C. 
Endicott  and  Otis  P.  Lord,  who  will  be  referred  to  in 
another  chapter  containing  sketches  of  the  bench  and 
bar. 

The  administration  of  probate  affairs,  as  has  been 
already  stated,  was  in  the  hands  of  the  County  Court 
during  the  colonial  period  up  to  the  accession  of  Pres- 
ident Dudley,  in  1685.  It  has  also  been  stated  that 
he  assumed  the  jurisdiction  to  himself,  but  delegated 
it  in  one  or  more  counties  to  a  judge  of  probate  ap- 
pointed by  him.  Under  the  administration  of  Andros 
the  Governor  personally  attended  to  the  settlement  of 
estates  exceeding  fifty  pounds,  and  it  is  presumed 
that  smaller  estates  came  within  the  rules  established 
by  Dudley.  After  the  deposition  of  Andros  the  old 
colonial  method  was  resumed  and  continued  until  the 
charter  of  the  province  went  into  operation,  in  1692. 
Under  the  provincial  charter  jurisdiction  in  probate 
affairs  was  conferred  on  the  Governor  and  Council, 
who  claimed  and  exercised  the  right  of  delegating  it 
to  judges  and  registers  of  probate  in  the  several  coun- 
ties. During  the  provincial  period  there  was  no  Pro- 
bate Court  established  by  law,  but  the  judge  and 
register  exercised  their  jjowers  under  authority  de- 
rived only  from  the  Governor  and  Council.  On  the 
12th  of  March,  1784,  a  Probate  Court  was  established, 
of  which  the  judge  and  register  were  appointed  by  the 
Governor  until,  under  an  amendment  of  the  Constitu- 
tion ratified  by  the  people  May  23, 1855,  it  was  provided 
after  some  previous  legislation  that  in  1856,  and  every 
fifth  year  thereafter,  the  register  should  be  chosen  by 
the  people  for  a  term  of  five  years.  In  1856  a  Court 
of  Insolvency  was  established  for  each  county,  with  a 
judge  and  register,  and  in  1858  the  ofiices  of  judge  and 
register  of  this  court  were  abolished,  as  well  as  those 
of  judge  and  register  of  probate,  and  the  ofiices  of 
judge  and  register  of  probate  and  insolvency  estab- 


INTRODUCTORY. 


XI 


lished.  In  the  same  year  it  was  provided  that  the 
register  of  probate  and  insolvency  should  be  chosen 
by  the  people,  for  a  term  of  five  years,  at  the  annual 
election  in  that  year  and  every  fifth  year  thereafter. 
In  1862  the  Probate  Court  was  made  a  court  of  rec- 
ord. The  ofiices  of  judge  and  register  have  been  held 
by  the  following  persons  since  the  provincial  charter 
went  into  operation,  in  1692  : 


A  pp. 

JUDGES. 

App. 

REGISTERS. 

1692. 

Bartholomew  Gedney 

1692. 

Stephen  Sewall. 

1698. 

Jonathan  Curwin. 

1695. 

John  Croadc. 

1702. 

John  Appletou. 

1698. 

John  Higginson. 

1739. 

Thomas  Berry. 

1702. 

Daniel  Rogers. 

1756. 

John  Choate. 

1723. 

Daniel  Appleton. 

1766. 

Nathaniel  Ropes. 

1762. 

Samuel  Rogers. 

1762. 

Benjamin  Lynde. 

1773. 

Peter  Frye. 

1779. 

Benjamin  Greenleaf. 

1779. 

Daniel  Noyes. 

1798. 

Samuel  Holten. 

1816. 

Nathaniel  Lord  (3d). 

1816. 

Daniel  A.  White. 

1852. 

Edwin  Lawrence. 

1854. 

Nathaniel  S.  Howe. 

1854. 

George  R.  Lord. 

1857. 

Abner  C.  Goodell,  Jii 

dge 

of 

1856. 

James  Ropes. 

Insolvency. 

1857. 

Jonathan  Perley,  Jr. 

1858. 

Henry  B.  Fernald,  Judge 

of 

1858. 

Abner  C.  Goodell,   Register 

Insolvency. 

of  Insolvency. 

1859. 

George  F.  Choate,  Judge 

of 

1858. 

Charles  H.  Hudson,  Register 

P.  and  I. 

1859. 
1878. 

of  P. 

Abner  C.  Goodell,  Register 
of  P.  and  I. 

Jeremiah  T.  Mahoney,  Reg- 
ister of  P.  and  I. 

The  executive  officer  of  the  court  was,  in  colonial 
times  up  to  1685,  called  marshal,  except  in  the 
very  earliest  years,  when  he  was  called  beadle.  As 
early,  however,  as  1634  the  records  show  that  James 
Penn  was  chosen  marshal.  Under  President  Dudley 
he  was  called  provost  marshal,  under  Andros  he  was 
called  sheriff",  and  after  Andros,  until  the  province  was 
established,  in  1692,  he  was  again  called  marshal.  As 
nearly  as  can  be  ascertained,  the  marshals  in  Essex 
were  as  follows : 


1663.  Samuel  Archard. 
1670.  Henry  Sherry. 
1685.  Robert  Lord. 


1686.  Jeremiah  Neale. 

1691.  John  Rogers. 

1692.  John  Harris. 


The  sheriffs  have  been  as  follows 


1692. 

George  Corwin. 

1766. 

Richard  Saltonstall. 

1696. 

William  Gedney. 

1779. 

Michael  Farley. 

1702. 

Thomas  Wainwright. 

1792. 

Bailey  Bartlett. 

William  Gedney. 

1831. 

Joseph  E.  Sprague. 

1708. 

Daniel  Denison. 

1852. 

Frederick  Robinson 

1710. 

William  Gedney. 

1854. 

Thomas  E.  Payson. 

1715. 

John  Denison. 

1856. 

James  Cary. 

1722. 

Benjamin  Marston. 

1867. 

Horatio  G.  Herrick. 

1746. 

Robert  Hale. 

Under  a  law  passed  in  1831  the  Governor  was  au- 
thorized, with  the  power  of  removal,  to  appoint  sher- 
iffs for  the  several  counties  for  five  years.  Under  the 
nineteenth  article  of  amendments  of  the  Constitution, 
ratified  in  1855,  a  law  was  passed  in  1856  providing 
that  in  that  year,  and  every  third  year  thereafter,  a 
sheriff"  should  be  chosen  by  the  peo^jle  of  each  county 
at  the  annual  election. 

The  clerks  of  the  courts  were  appointed  by  the 
courts  during  the  colonial  period.     During  the  pro- 


vincial period  the  clerks  of  the  County  Courts  and 
those  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Judicature,  and  after- 
wards of  the  Sujireme  Judicial  Court,  were  distinct 
until  1797,  and  the  clerk  of  the  latter  two  courts  had 
his  office  in  Boston.  The  appointment  lay  with  the 
courts  until  1811,  when  the  Governor  and  Council 
were  made  the  appointing  power.  In  1814  the  ap- 
pointment was  given  to  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court, 
and  there  remained  until  1856,  when  it  was  provided 
by  law  that  in  that  year,  and  every  fifth  year  there- 
after, clerks  should  be  chosen  by  the  people  in  the 
several  counties.  As  nearly  as  can  be  ascertained,  the 
following  is  a  correct  list  of  the  clerks  of  the  courts 
in  Essex  County: 


1637.  Ralph  Fogg. 

1647.  Henry  Bartholomew. 

Robert  Lord. 
1653.  Elias  Stileman. 
1658.  Hilliard  Veren. 

Bart.  Gedney. 
1G83.  Benj.  Gerrish. 
1692.  Stephen^Sewall.l 
1727.  Mitchell  Sewall. 
1750.  Jos.  Bowditch. 
1771.  Wm.  Jeffrey. 
1774.  Jos.  Blaney. 
1779.  Samuel  Osgood. 


1783.  Isaac  Osgood 
1795.  Thos.  Bancroft. 

1797.  Samuel  Holten. 

1798.  Thos.  Bancroft. 
1804.  Ichabod  Tucker. 

1812.  Jos.  E.  Sprague. 

1813.  Ichabod  Tucker. 
1828.  John  Prince,  Jr. 
1842.  Ebenezer  Shillaber. 
1852.  Asahel  Huntington. 
1872.  Alfred  A.  Abbott. 
1885.  Dean  Peabody. 


During  the  colonial  period  the  clerks  of  the  courts 
were  registers  of  deeds,  and  so  continued  until  1715, 
when  it  was  provided  "that  in  each  county  some  per- 
son having  a  freehold  within  said  county  to  the  value 
of  at  least  ten  pounds  should  be  chosen  by  the  people 
of  the  county."  In  1781  a  law  was  passed  renewing 
and  continuing  this  practice,  and  the  law  remained  in 
force  until  1855,  when  it  was  provided  that  in  that 
year,  and  every  third  year  thereafter,  a  register  of 
deeds  should  be  chosen  for  the  term  of  three  years. 
The  list  of  clerks,  therefore,  above  given  will  cover 
the  registers  up  to  1715.  Since  that  date  they  have 
been  as  follows : 


1692.  Stephen  Sewall. 

1727.  Mitchell  Sewall. 

1774.  John  Higginson. 

1780.  John  Pickering. 

1807.  Amos  Choate. 

1832.  Ralph  H.  French. 

1852.  Ephraim  Brown,  Jr. 


1870.  Ephraim  Brown,  South. 
1870.  Gibert  E.  Hood,  North. 
1875.  Ephraim  Bruwn,  South. 
1875.  Abiel  Morrison,   North. 

1878.  John  R.  Poor,  North. 

1879.  Chas.  S.  Osgood,  South. 


Up  to  1869  the  registry  of  deeds  for  the  whole 
county  was  kept  at  Salem.  But  on  the  22d  of 
June,  in  that  year,  an  act  was  passed  providing 
that  the  city  of  Lawrence  and  the  towns  of  An- 
dover,  North  Andover  and  Methuen  should  con- 
stitute a  district  for  the  registry  of  deeds,  under 
the  name  of  the  Northern  District  of  Essex,  and 
that  the  other  towns  in  the  county  should  con- 
stitute the  Southern  District.  It  also  provided  that 
the  Governor  and  Council  should,  on  or  before  the 
1st  day  of  the  following  October,  appoint  a  register 
for  the  Northern  District  to  hold  office  until  a  regis- 

1  Was  also  clerk  during  the  administration  of  Dudley,  and  probably 
during  that  of  Andros. 


Xll 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


ter  should  be  chosen  by  the  people  of  the  towns  in 
the  district  at  the  annual  election  in  1870.  It  further 
provided  that  the  register  of  deeds  then  in  office 
should  continue  until  a  register  for  the  Southern  Dis- 
trict should  be  chosen  by  the  people  of  the  district  in 
1870,  and  that  he  should  deliver  on  demand  to  the 
register  of  the  Northern  District  all  original  deeds  or 
other  instruments  recorded  and  remaining  in  his 
office  conveying  or  relating  to  land  or  estates  in  said 
Northern  District. 

After  the  formation  of  the  counties  it  was  provided 
by  law,  in  1654,  that  each  county  should  annually 
choose  a  treasurer.  This  provision  was  renewed  by  an 
act  passed  in  1692,  after  the  formation  of  the  province, 
and  continued,  it  is  believed,  up  to  1855,  when  it  was 
provided  that  a  county  treasurer  should  be  chosen  in 
that  year,  and  every  third  year  thereafter,  for  the  term 
of  three  years.  Up  to  1654,  when  provision  was  made 
for  the  election  of  county  treasurers,  the  treasurer 
chosen  by  the  General  Court  was  the  treasurer  of  the 
whole  colony.     These  were  as  follows: 


May  13, 1G29,  George  Harwood.i 
Dec.  1,  1020,  Samuel  Aldesy. 
1032.  William  Pyiichon. 
1634.  William  Coddington. 


1630.  Richard  Dummer. 
1637.  Richard  Belliughani. 
1640.  William  Tyng. 
1644  to  16.54.  Richard  Russell. 


No  further  record  of  county  treasurers  is  accessible 
before  1774.  From  that  date  they  have  been  as  fol- 
lows : 


1774.  Michael  Farley. 
1792.  Stephen  Choate. 

1813.  Bailey  Bartlett. 

1814.  Nathaniel  Wade. 


1852.  Daniel  Weed. 

1853.  Allen  W.  Dodge. 
1878.  Edward  K.  Jenkins. 


The  only  courts  connected  with  the  county  remain- 
ing to  be  mentioned  are  the  Police  and  District 
Courts.  Of  the  Police  Courts  there  are  five — those  in 
Gloucester,  Lawrence,  Lynn,  Haverhill  and  New- 
buryport.  That  of  Gloucester  is  for  that  city  alone 
and  its  officers  are  James  Davis,  justice  ;  Ellridge  G. 
Friend  and  Wm.  W.  French,  special  justices;  and 
Sumner  D.  York,  clerk.  That  of  Lawrence  is  also 
for  that  city  alone,  and  its  officers  are  Nathan  W.  Har- 
mon, justice;  Wilbur  F.  Gile  and  Charles  U.  Bc41, 
special  ju.stices  ;  and  Albert  A.  Tyler,  clerk.  That  for 
Lynn  is  for  that  city  alone,  and  its  officers  are  Rollin 
E.  Harmon,  justice  ;  Ira  B.  Keith  and  John  W.  Berry, 
special  justices;  and  Henry  C.  Oliver,  clerk.  The 
Police  Court  of  Haverhill  comprises  within  its  juris- 
diction Haverhill,  Bradford  and  Groveland,  and  its 
officers  are  Henry  Carter,  justice  ;  Ira  A.  Abbott  and 
Henry  N.Merrill,  special  justices;  and  Edward  B. 
George,  clerk.  That  of  Newburyport  comprises  New- 
buryport  and  Newbury,  and  its  officers  are  John  N. 
Pike,  justice ;  David  L.  Withington  and  Horace  I. 
Bartlett,  special  justices;  and  Edward  F.  Bartlett, 
clerk.  The  only  district  court  is  the  First  District 
Court  of  Essex,  which  comprises  within  its  jurisdic- 
tion Salem,  Beverly,  Danvers,  Hamilton,  Middleton, 
Topsfield  and  Wenham,  and  is  held  at  Salem.     Its 

'  Chosen  in  England. 


officers  are  Joseph  B.  F.  Osgood,  justice;  Daniel  E. 
SafFord  and  Nathaniel  I.  Holden,  special  justices; 
and  Samuel  P.  Andrews,  clerk.  Police  Courts  were 
originally  established  in  Salem,  1831 ;  Newburyport, 
1833  ;  Lawrence,  1848  ;  Lynn,  1849 ;  Haverhill,  1854; 
Gloucester,  1858.  That  of  Haverhill  was  re-established 
in  1867,  taking  Bradford  and  Groveland  within  its 
jurisdiction,  and  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Newburyport 
Court  was  enlarged  by  the  addition  of  Newbury,  in 
1879.  The  first  Essex  District  Court  was  established 
in  1874. 

Little  can  be  said  in  this  chapter  of  the  early  history 
of  the  Essex  bar.  Of  those  who  were  early  called  to  the 
bench  were  Nathaniel  Saltonstall,  of  Haverhill,  born  in 
1639,  and  a  graduate  of  Harvard  in  1659 ;  Bartholomew 
Gedney,  of  Salem,  born  in  1640;  Thomas  Berry,  of 
Ipswich,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  in  1712;  Andrew 
Oliver,  of  Salem,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  in  1724; 
Samuel  White,  of  Haverhill  (Harvard),  1731 ;  John 
Hathorne,  of  Salem,  born  in  1641;  Jonathan  Curwin, 
of  Salem,  born  in  1640  ;  Richard  Saltonstall,  of  Hav- 
erhill, born  in  1703  (Harvard),  1722;  Stephen  Sew- 
all,  of  Salem,  born  in  1702  (Harvard),  1721 ;  Benja- 
min Lynde,  of  Salem,  born  in  1700  (Harvard),  1718; 
Nathaniel  Ropes,  of  Salem,  born  in  1726  (Harvard), 
1745  ;  William  Brown,  of  Salem  (Harvard),  1855,— all 
of  whom  were  on  the  bench  of  the  Superior  Court  of 
Judicature,  but  not  all  educated  in  the  law.  The 
bar  was  divided  into  two  classes — barristers  and  at- 
torneys, and  this  division  continued  until  1836, 
though  after  1806  under  a  rule  of  court  counselors 
were  substituted  for  barristers. 

The  term  "  barrister  "  is  derived  from  the  Latin  word 
harra,  signifying  bar,  and  was  applied  to  those  only 
who  were  permitted  to  plead  at  the  bar  of  the  courts. 
In  England,  barristers,  before  admission,  must  have 
resided  three  years  in  one  of  the  Inns  of  Court  if  a 
graduate  of  either  Cambridge  or  Oxford,  and  five 
years  if  not.  These  Inns  of  Court  were  the  Inner 
Temple,  the  Middle  Temple,  Lincoln's  Inn  and  Gray's 
Inn.  Before  the  Revolution  this  rule  seems  to  have 
so  far  prevailed  here  as  to  require  a  practice  of  three 
years  in  the  Inferior  Courts  before  admission  as  bar- 
rister. John  Adams  says  in  his  diary  that  he  became 
a  barrister  in  1761,  and  was  directed  to  provide  him- 
self with  a  gown  and  bands  and  a  tie  wig,  having 
practiced  according  to  the  rules  three  years  in  the  In- 
ferior Courts.  At  a  later  day  the  period  of  probation 
seems  to  have  been  four  years,  and  at  a  still  later 
seven  years. 

With  regard  to  the  continuance  of  barristers  after 
the  Revolution,  the  following  entry  in  the  records  of 
the  Superior  Court  of  Judicature  may  be  interesting: 

"Suffolk,  SS.  Superior  Court  of  Judicature  at  Boston,  third  Tuesday 
of  February,  1781,  present  William  (Uiahing,  A'athaniel  P.  Sargeant, 
David  Sevvall  and  James  Sullivan  justices  :  and  now  at  this  term  the  fol- 
lowing rule  is  made  by  the  court  and  ordered  to  be  entered,  viz.:  where- 
as, learning  and  literary  accomplishments  are  necessary  as  well  to  pro- 
mote the  hajipiuess  as  to  preserve  the  freedom  of  the  people,  and  tlie 
learning  of  the   law  when  duly  encouiaged  and  rightly  directed  being 


TNTEODUCTORY. 


Xlll 


as  well  peculiaily  subservient  to  the  great  and  good  purpose  aforesaid, 
as  jnuniotive  of  public  and  private  j\istice  :  and  the  court  being  at  al^ 
times  ready  to  bestow  peculiar  marks  of  approbation  upon  the  gentlemen 
of  the  bar,  wlio,  by  a  close  application  to  the  study  of  the  science  they 
profess,  by  a  mode  of  conduct  which  gives  a  conviction  of  the  rectitude 
■of  their  minds  and  a  fairness  of  practice  that  does  honor  to  the  profes- 
sion of  the  law  shall  distinguish  as  men  of  science,  honor  and  integrity, 
Do  order  that  no  gentleman  shall  be  called  to  the  degree  of  barrister 
tintil  he  shall  merit  the  same  by  liis  conspicuous  bearing,  ability  and 
honesty  ;  and  that  the  court  will,  of  their  own  mere  motion,  call  to  the 
bar  such  persons  as  shall  render  themselves  worthy  as  aforesaid ;  and 
that  the  manner  of  calling  to  the  bar  shall  be  as  follows  :  The  gentle- 
man who  shall  be  a  candidate  shall  stand  within  the  bar  ;  the  chief  jus- 
tice, or  in  his  absence  the  senior  justice,  shall,  in  the  name  of  the  court, 
repeat  to  hiui  the  qualifications  necessary  for  a  barrister-at-law  ;  shall 
let  him  know  that  it  is  a  conviction  in  the  mind  of  the  court  of  his  being 
possessed  of  those  qualifications  that  induces  them  to  confer  the  honor 
upon  him  ;  and  shall  solemnly  charge  him  so  to  conduct  himself  as  to 
be  of  singular  service  to  his  country  by  exerting  his  abilities  for  the 
defence  of  her  Constitutional  freedom  ;  and  so  to  demean  himself  as  to 
do  honor  to  the  court  and  bar." 

The  act  establishing  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court, 
July  3,  1782,  provided  that  the  court  should  and 
might  from  time  to  time  make  record  and  establish 
all  such  rules  and  regulations  with  respect  to  the  ad- 
mission of  attorneys  ordinarily  practicing  in  the  said 
court,  and  the  creating  of  barristers-at-iaw.  Under 
the  provisions  of  this  act  the  following  rule  was 
adopted  and  entered  on  the  records  of  the  Supreme 
Judicial  Court: 

"  Suffolk  SS.  At  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  at  Boston  the  last  Tues- 
day of  August,  1783,  present  William  Gushing,  Chief  Justice,  and  Na- 
thaniel P.  Sargeant,  David  Sewall  and  Increase  Sumner,  Justices, 
ordered  that  barristers  be  called  to  the  Bar  by  special  writ  to  be  ordered 
by  the  Court,  and  to  be  in  the  following  form  : 

"commonwealth   of   MASSACHUSETTS. 

"To  A.  B.,  Esq.,  of ,  Greeting:  We  well  Itnowing  your  ability, 

learning  and  integrity,  command  you  that  you  appear  before  our  Justices 

of  our  Supreme  Judicial  Court  next,  to  be  holdeu  at ,  in  and  for  our 

county  of ,  on  the  —  Tuesday  of ,  then  and  there  in  our  said 

Court  to  take  upon  you  the  state  and  degree  of  a  Barristerat-Law. 

Hereof  fail  not.     Witness ,  Esij.,  our  Chief  Justice  at  Boston,  the 

—  day  of ,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord and  in  the year  of  our 

Independence .     By  order  of  the  Court.    ,  Clerk. 

"  which  writ  shall  be  fairly  engrossed  on  parchment  and  delivered 
twenty  days  before  the  session  of  the  same  Court  by  the  Sheriff  of  the 
same  county  to  the  person  to  whom  directed  and  being  produced  in 
Court  by  the  Barrister  and  there  read  by  the  Clerk,  and  proper  certificate 
thereon  made,  shall  be  re-delivered  and  kept  as  a  voucher  of  his  being 
legally  called  to  the  bar:  And  the  Barristers  shall  take  rank  according 
to  the  date  of  their  respective  writs." 

It  is  believed  that  no  barristers  were  called  after 
1784,  and  the  following  rule  adopted  in  1806  seems 
to  have  substituted  counselors  in  their  place : 

"Suffolk  SS.  At  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  at  Boston  for  the  coun- 
ties of  Suffolk  and  Nantucket  the  second  Tuesday  of  March,  180G,  pres- 
ent Francis  Dana,  Chief  Justice,  Theodore  Sedgwick,  George  Thatcher 
and  Isaac  Parker,  Justices,  ordered  :  First.  Ko  Attorney  shall  do  the 
business  of  a  Counsellor  unless  he  shall  have  been  made  or  admitted  ae 
such  by  the  Court.  Second.  All  Attorneys  of  this  Court  who  have  been 
admitted  three  years  before  the  sitting  of  this  Court  shall  be  and  hereby 
are  made  Counsellors  and  are  entitled  to  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of 
such.  Third.  No  Attorney  or  Counsellor  shall  hereafter  be  admitted 
without  a  previous  examination,  etc." 

In  183(5  the  distinction  between  counselor  and  at- 
torney was  abolished.  Tlie  rule  of  court  adopted  in 
1783  by  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  was  issued  under 


the  provisions  of  the  law  passed  the  year  before.  The 
rule  adopted  in  1781  by  the  Superior  Court  of  Judi- 
cature seems  to  have  been  provided  for  by  no  previ- 
ous law,  and  it  is  even  doubtful  whether  before  that 
time  any  rule  had  ever  been  made  by  the  New  Eng- 
land courts  providing  for  barristers.  Precisely  how 
early  they  were  introduced  into  our  courts  it  is  im- 
possible to  discover.  It  is  known,  however,  as  is 
stated  by  Washburne,  in  his  history  of  the  judiciary, 
that  as  early  as  1768  there  were  twenty-five  in  Massa- 
chusetts, of  whom  Daniel  Farnham,  William  Pynchon, 
John  Chipman,  Nathaniel  Peaselee  Sargeant  and 
John  Lowell  were  of  Essex.  It  is  possible  that  be- 
fore the  year  1781,  during  the  provincial  period,  the 
Et)gli,sh  rule  was  followed  and  that  the  rule  of  that 
year  was  adopted  in  consequence  of  the  new  order  of 
things  brought  about  by  the  Revolution. 

It  has  been  stated  that  the  court  termed  "the  Court 
of  General  Sessions,"  which  consisted  of  the  justices 
of  the  peace  in  each  county  and  had  existed  during 
the  provincial  period,  was  changed  to  "  the  General 
Court  of  Sessions"  in  1807.  The  judges  ajtpointed 
to  this  court  for  Essex  County  were  Samuel  Holten 
(chief  justice),  Josiah  Smith,  Wm.  Pearson,  Thomas 
Kitteridge,  John  S-iunders,  Henry  Elkins  (justices), 
and  John  Punchard  (clerk).  In  1809  this  court  was 
abolished,  and  its  powers  and  duties  transferred  to 
the  Court  of  Common  Pleas.  In  1811,  however,  it 
was  re-established,  and  its  officers  consisted  of  Sam'l. 
Holten  (chief  justice),  Thomas  Kitteridge,  Henry 
Elkins,  John  Prince  and  Joseph  Fuller  (justices)  and 
Jo.seph  E.  Sprague  (clerk). 

The  sessions  of  the  Supreme  Judicial,  Superior  and 
Probate  Courts,  as  now  provided  by  law,  are, — 

Supreme  :  Law  term  at  Salem  on  the  first  Tuesday  in  November.  Jury 
terms  at  Salem  on  the  third  Tuesday  in  April  and  the  first  Tuesday  in 
November. 

Superior:  Civil  terms  at  Salem  on  the  first  Mondays  in  June  and  De- 
cember ;  Lawrence  on  the  firet  Monday  in  March  ;  Newburyport  on  the 
first  JMonday  in  September.  Criminal  terms, — Salem  on  the  fourth 
Monday  in  January  ;  Newburyport  on  the  second  Monday  in  May  ; 
Lawrence  on  the  fourth  Monday  in  October. 

Probate:  Salem  on  the  first  Monday  in  every  month  and  on  the  third 
Monday  in  every  month,  except  August  ;  Lawrence  on  the  second 
Monday  in  January,  March,  May,  June,  July,  September,  November  ; 
Haverhill  on  the  second  Monday  in  April  and  Octiber  ;  Newburyport  on 
the  fourth  Monday  in  January,  March,  3Iay,  June,  July,  September, 
November  ;  Gloucester  on  the  fourth  Monday  in  April  and  October. 

The  record  of  admissions  to  the  bar  in  Essex  County 
begins  in  1795,  and  the  following  is  believed  to  be  a 
correct  list  up  to  1887,  inclusive  : 


1705.  Ichabod  Tuker 

1706.  Charles  Jackson 
1801.  Joseph  Story 

1804.  Joseph  Dana 
Balph  II.  French 
Daniel  A.  White 
John  Prince,  Jr. 
Samuel  Swett 

1805.  Ebenezer  Moseley 
180G.    Leverett  Saltonstall 

John  Pickering 
1S07.    Henry  A.  S.  Dearborn 


1808. 


1809. 


Wm.  B.  Sewell 
John  Pike 
Joseph  Sprague  (:jd) 
Benj.  R  Nicliols 
Wm.  S.  Titcomb 
Elisha  Macke 
Moody  Noyes 
Samuel  L.  Knapp 
Ebenezer  II  Beeckford 
Nathaniel  Sawyer 
Joseph  Hovey 
B.  L.  Oliver,  Jr. 


XIV 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


David  Cummings 

1833 

John  W.  Browne 

C.  Osgood  Morse 

Andrew  C.  Stone 

John  Miiuiice  O'Brien. 

Geo.  Lunt 

Edward  L.  Sherman 

Geo.  W.  Gate 

1810.   Jacob  Genish 

1834 

Francis  Silsbee 

Geo.  W.  Benson 

Robt.  W.  Pearson 

Larkin  Thorndike 

1835 

Wm.  Fabens 

Benj.  Bordman 

Jas.  L.  Rankin 

Samuel  Merrill 

Jonathan  C.  Perkins 

E.  P.  G.  Marsh 

Jas.  L.  Young 

Jos.  B.  Manning 

Otis  P.  Lord 

1857.  Jacob  Haskell 

1868.   Henry  P.  Moultou 

R.  W.  Swett 

1837. 

Thos.  B.  Newhall 

Wm.  H.  Paisons 

Henri  N.  Woods 

John  Gallison 

1838. 

Joseph  Couch 

Harrison  Gray 

Geo.  Holman 

Stephen  Hooper 

Wm.  Taggart 

Jos.  Eastman 

Horace  C.  Bacon 

1812.   Timothy  Hammond 

Nathl.  F.  Safford,  Jr 

H.  N.  Merrill 

Benj.  E.  Valentine 

James  C.  Merrill 

Francis  Cummins 

P.  S.  Chase 

Geo.  W.  Foster 

Wm.  Birley 

1839. 

Wm.  0.  Moseley 

John  James Ingalls 

Chas.  Webb 

Jacob  Willard 

Edward  P.  Parker 

John  B.  Stickney 

J.  Kendall  Jeuness 

John  Glen  King 

Richard  West 

Henry  Carter 

1869.  Jeremiah  T.  Mahoney 

Frederick  Howes 

Francis  H.  Upton 

1858.   Amos  Noyes  ^2d) 

Jos.  0.  Goodwin 

Ebenezer  Everett 

Jos.  U.  Gerrish 

Edgar  J.  Sherman 

Nathan  N.  Withington 

Theodore  Ames 

1840. 

H.  F.  Barstow 

Ephraim  A.  Ingalls 

John  Edwards  Leonard 

1813.  Geo.  Newton 

Win.  Williams 

Wni.  M.  Rogers 

1870.   Chas.  K.  Briggs 

Edward  Andrews 

Simon  F.  Barstow 

Chas.  Kimball                    , 

Fred.  D.  Burnhara 

Thos.  Stephens,  Jr 

1842. 

Frederick  Merrill 

David  B.  Kimball 

John  S.  Gile 

Octavius  Pickering 

Luther  A.  Hackett 

1859.  Geo.  P.  Burrill 

Hiram  P.  Harriman 

John  Scott 

Horace  Plumer 

Wm.  P.  Upham 

Chas.  G.  Saunders 

1814.   Henry  Peirce 

1843. 

Geo.  Haskell 

Benj.  H.  Smith 

1871.   Wm.  S.  Huse 

1815.  Jas.  H.  Duncan 

1844. 

Alfred  A.  Abbott 

B.  T.  Hutchinson 

Samuel  A.  Johnson 

Elisha  F.  Wallace 

Jos.  F.  Clark 

John  F.  Devereux 

James  H.  Giddings 

W.  A.  Rogers 

Wm.  L.  Rogers 

John  S.  Driver 

1872.    Ira  Anson  Abbott 

1816.   Wm.  Thorndike 

1845. 

Moses  Foster,  Jr. 

Wm.  L.  Peabody 

Chas.  W.  Richardson 

Rufus  V.  Hovey 

Wm.  F.  C.  Stearns 

Chas.  Sewall 

Fred.  P.  Byram 

1818.   Andrew  Dunlap 

David  Kimball 

Arthur  A.  Peterson 

Ira  B.  Keith 

Solomon  S.  Whipple 

Benj.  Barstow 

Thorndike  D.  Hodges 

Wm.  Henry  Gove 

John  Foster 

Jeremiah  P.  Jones 

1860.    Henry  W.  Chapman 

Leverett  S.  Tuckerman 

1819.   Ebenezer  Shillaber 

Wm.D.  Northend 

John  K.  Tarbox 

Josiah  F.  BIy 

John  W.  Proctor 

1840. 

Augustus  D.  Rogers 

John  C.  Sanborn 

Wm.  W.  Wilkins 

1820.   A.  W.  Wildes 

Daniel  Weed 

Wm.  G.  Currier 

1873.   Arba  N.    Lincoln 

1821.  Isaac  R.  How 

Isaac  Ames 

Wm.  Fisk  Gile 

Jos.  E.  Buswell 

E.  H.  Derby 

Horace  L.  Conolly 

Thos.  A.  Gushing 

Chas.  Upham  Bell 

Jos.  G.  Waters 

1847. 

W.  Augustus  Marston 

Wm.  Cogswell 

Frank  P.  Ireland 

1823.    Robt.  Cross 

1848. 

Louis  Worcester 

1861.   John  Millikin 

Chas.  A.  Benjamin 

G.  C.  Wilde 

George  R.  Lord 

Francis  H.  Berick 

Andrew  Fitz 

Wm .  Oakes 

A.  G.  White 

Micajah  B.  Mansfield 

Chas.  D.  Moore 

John  A.  Richardson 

Geo.  F.  Choate 

Alphonso  J.  Roberson 

1874.    Amos  E.  Rollins 

Rufus  Choate 

N.  S.  Howe 

Geo.  A.  Bousley 

Louis  W.  Kelley 

Thornton  Betton 

1849. 

Wm.  H.  P.  Wright 

1862.    Edward  P.  Kimball 

Chas.  H.  Parsons 

Robt.  Rantoul,  Jr. 

Jairus  W.  Perry. 

Henry  G.  Rollins 

A.  L.  Huntington 

1824.   Jos.  H.  Prince 

Nathaniel  Pierce 

Geo.  Foster 

Fred.  A.  Benton 

John  Walsh 

B.  Frank  Watson 

Geo.  Wheatland,  Jr 

Arthur  F.  Morris 

1825.   Benj.  Tucker 

1850. 

Wm.  C.  Eudicott 

1863.   Nathaniel  J.  Holden 

Chas.  Roberts  Brickett 

1826.    A.  Huntington 

E.  W.  Kimball 

Caleb  Saunders 

1875.    John  P.  Sweeney 

Moses  Parsons  Parish 

Geo.  Andrews 

Frank  Kimball 

Willis  E.   Flint 

Gilman  Parker 

Dean  Peabody. 

Minot  Tirrell,  Jr. 

Frank  W.  Hale 

Stephen  P.  Webb 

1851. 

Philo  L.  Beverly 

Chas.  S.  Osgood 

N.  D.  A.  Clarke 

J.  C.  Stickney 

Wm.  C.  Prescott 

1864.  B.  B.  Brown 

Thos.  Huse,  Jr. 

David  Roberts 

Stephen  G.  Wheatland 

H.  L.  Sherman 

1876.   Edward  B.  George 

W.  S.  Allen 

John  B.  Clarke 

A.  R.  Sanborn 

Wilson  S.  Jenkins 

1827.   Samuel  Phillips 

Stephen  B.  Ives,  Jr. 

John  W.  Porter 

Samuel  H.  Hodges 

1828.    David  Black 

Ammi  Brown 

Geo.  H.  Poor 

David  L.  Withington 

Nathaniel  J.  Lord 

Jacob  W.  Reed 

II.  W.  Boardman 

Francis  H.  Pearl 

Geo.  Wheatland 

Daniel  E.  Safford 

W.  H.  Dalrymple 

Frank  P.  Allen 

Ellis  Gray  Loring 

1852. 

Sidney  C.  Bancroft 

Chas.  A.  Sayward 

Jerome  H.  Fiske 

John  Tenuey 

Caleb  Lamson 

Solomon  Lincoln,  Jr. 

Henry  F.  Chase 

Edward  L.  Le  Breton 

J.  A.  Gillis 

N.  Mortimer  Hawkes 

1877.    Henry  T.  Croswell 

Nathaniel  P.  Knapp 

Joseph  H.  Robinson 

1866.   David  M.  Kelly 

David  C.  Bartlett 

N.  W.  Hazen 

Abner  C.  Goodell,  Jr. 

Elbridge  T.  Buriey 

Jas.  E.  Breed 

1830.    John  Codman 

John  N.  Pike 

Porter  T.  Roberts 

Wm.  F.  M.  Collins 

John  S.  Williams. 

1853. 

Chas.  J.  Thorndike 

John  P.  Adams 

Peter  W.  Lyall 

18J1.   Alfred  Kittridge 

Chas.  H.  Stickney 

Eben  A.  Andrews 

Newton  P.  Frye 

Chas.  Mi  not 

1854. 

Michael  B.  Mulkins 

Wm  L.  Thompson 

Chas.  F.  Caswell 

Francis  B.  Crowninshield 

Hiram  0.  Wiley 

1866.    Wm.  E.  Blunt 

Moses  H.  Ames 

Henry  Field 

1855. 

Francis  S.  Howe 

John  W,  Berry 

Eben  F.  P.  Smith 

Chas.  A.  Andrew 

C.  W.  Upham 

0.  A.  Phillips 

Geo.  F.  Means 

1832.   N.  Devereux 

Wm.  G.  Choate 

Walter  Parker 

Thos.  C.  Simpson,  Jr. 

Kphraim  T.  Miller 

G.  A.  Peabody 

Thos.  F.  Hunt 

Geo.  Galen  Abbott 

Joshua  H.  Ward 

Robt.  S.  Rantoul 

Wm.  S.  Knox 

Chas.  A.  Tobin 

Geo.  H.  Devereux 

18:G. 

Harrison  G.  Johnson 

Warren  H.  Mace 

Boyd  B.  Jones 

Wm.  G.  Woodward 

.Jos.  H.  Bragdon 

1867.    Wm.  C.  Fabens 

1878.   John  A.  Page 

INTRODUCTORY. 


XV 


Geo.  J.  Carr 
Hiram  H.  Browne 
Wni.  11.  Moody 
Dennis  W.  Quill 
Thos.  F.  Gallagher 
Vim.  F.  Moyes 
John  C.  M.  Bayley 
Horace  I.  Bartlett 
Daniel  N.  Crowley 
Patrick  I.  McCuskin 
Geo.  B.  Ives. 

1879.  Frank  H.  Clarke 
Edward  P.  Usher 
Joseph  V.  Sweeney 
Michael  J.  MoNeirny 
Joseph  V.  Hannan 
Forrest  L.  Evans 
Charles  Leighton 
Edwin  F.  Cloutman 
Charles  D.  Welch 
Frank  V.  Wight 
Jacob  Otis  Wardwell 
Charles  G.  Dyer 
Charles  H.  Synionds 
Edward  E.  Frye 
Theodore  M.  Osborne 
N.  Sumner  BIyrick 
Daniel  J.  M.  O'Callaghan 
Charles  A.  Russell 
Charles  Howard  Poor 

1880.  Benj.  Newhall  Johnson 
Josiah  F.  Keene 
Jonathan  Lamson 
Wm.  W.  Butler 
Frank  C.  Skinner 
Charles  S.  Wilson 
Frank  E.  Farnham 
Henry  C.  Durgin 
Alden  P.  White 
Charles  E.  Todd 
William  Perry 
Calvin  B.  Tuttle 

G.  BI.  Stearns 
John  K.  Baldwin 
Samuel  Merrill 
Benj.  K.  Prentiss,  Jr. 
Frederick  G.  Preston 
Edward  C.  Battia 

1881.  Charles  A.  De  Coiircy 
Albert  Birnay  Tasker 
John  Milton  Stearns 
Alfred  L.  Baker 


1882.  Wm.  F.  Noonau 
Wm.  H.  Lucie 
Charles  F.  Sarggnt 
Wm.  D.  T.  Trefry 
James  W.  Goodwin 
Edward  H.  Browne 
Benjamin  C.  Ames 
Edward  H.  Rowell 
John  C.  Pierce 
Nathaniel  C.  Bartlett 
Edwin  A.  Clark 
George  L.  Weil 
Tristram  F.  Bartlett 
Nathaniel  N.  Jones 
Isaac  A.  Lamson 

1883.  Marshman  W.  Hazen 
Charles  A.  Weare 
Thomas  H.  Ronayne 
Sumner  D.  York 
Frank  C.  Richardson 
Wm.  A.  Pew,  Jr. 
George  E.  Batchelder 
Melville  P.  Beckett 
Edmund  B.  Fuller 

1884.  Samuel  A.  Fuller 
Eugene  T.  McCarthy 
Wm.  T.  McKone 
Joseph  F.  Quinn 

1885.  John  R.  Poor 
George  H.  Eaton 
Warren  B.  Hutchinson 
John  J.  Flaherty 
Jeremiah  E.  Bartlett 
Byron  E.  Crowell 
Robert  O'Callaghan 
Cornelius  J.  Rowley 
Robert  T.  Babson 
Thomas  Keville,  Jr. 
Richard  E.  Hines 
John  C.  Donavan 

1886.  Harry  J.  Cole 
Winfield  S.  Peters 
Edward  P.  Morton 
Horace  M.  Sargent 
Wm.  O'Shea 

Wm.  C.  Endicott,  Jr. 
Wm.  R.  Rowell 

1887.  George  H.  Williams 
Benjamin  G.  Hall 
Andrew  Ward 
Rufus  P.  Tapley,  Jr. 
Archibald  N.  Donahue 


There  remains  little  to  be  included  within  this 
sketch  of  Essex  County.  The  details  concerning  the 
jails  of  Ipswich,  the  first  of  which  was  built  in  1652 ; 
of  the  court-house  and  probate  building  in  that  town, 
the  latter  of  which  was  built  in  1817,  and  held  the 
records  until  they  were  removed  to  Salem ;  of  the 
erection  of  a  jail  and  house  of  correction  in  Law- 
rence in  1853,  and  of  the  erection  of  a  court-house 
in  that  city  in  1859,  and  of  the  county  buildings  in 
Newburyport  and  Salem,  consisting  in  the  latter  city 
partly  of  a  granite  court-house,  built  in  1841,  and  a 
brick  court-house  built  in  1861,  will  be  included  in 
the  town  histories.  There  are  various  corporations, 
associations  and  societies  which  would  properly  come 
within  the  scope  of  these  histories,  but  in  case  they 
may  be  omitted  it  may,  perhaps,  be  well  to  refer  to 
them  at  least  by  name.  Those  best  known  are  the 
Essex  Institute,  at  Salem,  established  in  1821  and  in- 


corporated in  1848 ;  the  Essex  County  Natural  History 
Society  at  Salem,  incorporated  in  1836;  the  Peabody 
Academy  of  Science,  established  at  Salem  in  1867  with 
a  fund  of  $140,000,  of  which  the  sum  of  $40,000  was  ex- 
pended in  the  purchase  of  the  hall  and  museum  of  the 
East  India  Marine  Society ;  the  Essex  Agricultural 
Society,  founded  by  Colonel  Timothy  Pickering,  in 
1818 ;  the  Essex  North  and  Essex  South  Medical  Socie- 
eties,  and  the  Essex  County  Homoeopathic  Medical 
Society;  the  Merrimac  Valley  Dental  Association; 
the  Veteran  Odd  Fellows'  Association,  of  Essex 
County ;  the  Teachers'  Association,  incorporated  in 
1827,  and  Unitarian  Conference  and  Congregational 
Club. 

This  sketch,  feared  by  the  author  to  be  imperfect, 
more  especially  in  its  enumeration  of  the  early  offi- 
ces and  their  incumbents,  concerning  whom  the 
records  are  often  confused,  will  close  with  a  list  of  the 
present  officers  of  the  county  : 

Judge  of  Probate  and  Insolvency,  George  F.  Choate,  of  Salem  ;  Reg- 
ister of  Probate  and  Insolvency,  Jeremiah  T.  JIahoney,  of  Salem  ;  Clerk 
of  the  Court,  Dean  Peabody,  of  Lynn  ;  County  Treasurer,  E.  Kendall 
Jenkins,  of  Andover;  Sheriff,  Horatio  G.  Herrick,  of  Lawrence  ;  Regis- 
ter of  Deeds  (North  District),  John  R.  Poor,  of  Lawrence  ;  (South  Dis- 
trict), Charles  S.  Osgood,  of  Salem  ;  County  Commissioners,  John  W. 
Raymond,  of  Beverly,  until  1887  ;  Edward  B.  Bishop,  of  HaTerhill, 
until  18S8  ;  David  W.  Low,  of  Gloucester,  until  1889  ;  Special  Commis- 
sioners, Aaron  Sawyer,  of  Amesbury,  until  1889  ;  Ivory  Emmons,  of 
Swampscott,  ui,iil  1889  ;  Commissioners  of  Insolvency,  Sherman  Nelson, 
of  Georgetown  William  L.  Thompson,  of  Lawrence ;  Horace  I.  Bart- 
lett, of  Newburyport ;  Trial  Justices,  J.  Scott  Todd,  of  Rowley  ;  Na- 
thaniel F.  S.  York,  of  Rockport  ;  William  M.  Rogers,  of  Methuen  ; 
Orlando  B.  Tenny,  of  Georgetown  ;  George  H.  Poor,  of  Andover  ; 
George  W.  Cate,  of  Amesbury  ;  Amos  Blerrill,  of  Peabody  ;  Orlando  S. 
Bailey,  of  Amesbury  ;  William  Nutting,  Jr.,  of  Marblehead  ;  Wesley  K. 
Bell,  of  Ipswich  ;  Stephen  Gilman,  of  Lynnfield  ;  and  Joseph  T.  Wilson, 
of  Nahant. 


CHAPTER    II, 


THE   BENCH  AND  BAR. 


BY  WILLIAM  T.   DAVIS. 


The  preceding  chapter  contains  matter  which 
might,  perhaps,  properly  be  included  in  this.  That 
chapter  contains,  in  connection  with  a  sketch  of  the 
courts  of  Essex  County,  a  list  of  persona  admitted 
to  the  bar,  chiefly  copied  from  the  records  in  the 
clerk's  office  in  Salem.  The  present  chapter  will  be 
devoted  principally  to  sketches  of  the  bench  and  bar, 
many  of  them  necessarily  short,  but,  perhaps,  suf- 
ficient, if  not  to  do  justice  to  the  subjects  them- 
selves, to  at  least  demonstrate  the  fruitfulness  of  the 
county  from  its  organization,  in  1643,  in  eminent 
men.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  no  county  in  the 
State  can  furnish  so  distinguished  a  list  of  men  edu- 
ucated  to  the  law  among  its  native  citizens. 


XVI 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Among  those  on  the  bench  in  the  colonial  and 
early  provincial  periods  few  of  the  judges  were  law- 
yers. Up  to  the  Revolution  only  four  judges,  edu- 
cated in  the  law,  had  been  appointed  to  the  bench 
of  the  Superior  Court  of  Judicature, — Benjamin 
Lynde,  Paul  Dudley,  Edmund  Trowbridge  and  Wil- 
liam Gushing.  Few  lawyers  found  their  way  across 
the  ocean,  and  fewer  still  pursued  a  professional 
study  here.  A  prejudice  against  them  existed,  and 
the  inducements  to  enter  the  profession  were  small. 
The  General  Court  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony  re- 
flected this  prejudice  by  ordering,  on  October  21,  1663, 
"  that  no  usual  and  common  attorney  in  any  Inferior 
Court  shall  be  admitted  to  sit  as  Deputy  in  this 
Court."  In  1685,  or  immediately  after  that  date, 
during  the  reign  of  James  II.,  Edward  Randolph 
wrote  to  England  that  there  were  only  two  attorneys 
in  Boston,  and  asked  to  have  sent  "  two  or  three 
honest  attorneys,  if  any  such  in  nature.'"' 

A  Bar  Association  was  formed  in  1806,  and  at  that 
time  there  were  probably  only  twenty-three  members 
of  the  bar  in  Essex  County,  while  to-day,  as  the  list 
at  the  end  of  this  chapter  shows,  there  are  two 
hundred  and  three.  These  twenty-three  were  John 
Pickering,  Timothy  Pickering,  Benjamin  Pickman, 
John  Prince,  Jr.,  Samuel  Putnam,  Leverett  Salton- 
stall,  Joseph  Story,  William  Prescott  and  Samuel 
Swett,  of  Salem  ;  Joseph  Dana,  Michael  Hodge,  Ed- 
ward Little,  Edward  St.  Loe  Livermore,  Ebenezer 
Moseley  and  Daniel  A.  White,  of  Newburyport ;  Ste- 
phen Minot  and  John  Varnum,  of  Haverhill ;  Nathan 
Parks,  of  Gloucester ;  Ralph  H.  French,  of  Marble- 
head  ;  Asa  Andrews,  of  Ipswich  ;  Nathan  Dane,  of 
Beverly ;  and  Samuel  Farrar,  of  Andover. 

This  association  probably  dissolved  about  the  year 
1812,  and  in  1831  another  association  was  formed, 
whose  records  show  that  at  the  time  of  its  formation 
there  were  fifty-two  members  of  the  bar.  Leverett 
Saltonstall  was  the  first  and  probably  its  only  presi- 
dent, as  it  existed  only  a  few  years.  Ebenezer  Shilla- 
ber  was  its  secretary,  and  Ebenezer  Moseley,  Jacob 
Gerrish,  John  G.  King,  Ruins  Choate  and  Stephen 
Minot  composed  its  standing  committee.  The  pres- 
ent Bar  Association  was  formed  at  the  court-house 
in  Lawrence  October  20,  1856,  and  its  constitution 
was  adopted  at  a  meeting  held  at  the  court-house  in 
Salem  December  16,  1856.  Its  presidents  have  been 
Otis  P.  Lord,  Asahel  Huntington,  William  C.  Endi- 
cott,  Stephen  B.  Ives  and  the  present  incumbent, 
William  D.  Northend. 

Samuel  Appleton,  born  in  Waldingfield,  Eng- 
land, in  1624,  came  to  New  England  with  his  father, 
Samuel,  in  1635  and  resided  in  Ipswich.  He  was 
named  in  the  charter  of  1692  as  one  of  the  Council, 
and  was  one  of  the  first  judges  appointed  in  1692  to 
the  bench  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  Essex, 
holding  his  seat  until  his  death.  May  15,  1696.  He 
married  Hannah,  daughter  of  William  Paine,  of  Ip- 


swich, and  for  a  second  wife,  Mary,  daughter  of  John 
Oliver,  of  Newbury. 

Daniel  Pierce  is  believed  to  have  been  a  native 
of  Newbury.  In  1698  he  was  appointed  judge  of  the 
Essex  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  held  his  seat  until 
his  death,  January  22,  1704. 

William  Browne  was  the  son  of  William  Browne, 
and  was  born  perhaps  in  Salem  in  1639.  In  1689,  after 
the  accession  of  William  and  Mary,  he  was  one  ot 
the  Committee  of  Safety.  He  was  appointed  to  the 
bench  of  the  Essex  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  1696, 
and  died  while  in  office,  February  14,  1716. 

John  Appleton,  nephew  of  Samuel  Appleton 
above-mentioned,  and  son  of  John,  was  probably  born 
in  Ipswich  in  1652.  He  was  town  clerk  of  that  town 
in  1697 ;  deputy  to  the  General  Court  in  1697 ;  a 
member  of  the  Council  from  1698  to  1702,  from 
1706  to  1715  and  from  1720  to  1722.  He  was  appoint- 
ed to  the  Essex  Common  Pleas  bench  in  1704  and  re- 
moved by  Governor  Belcher  in  1732.  He  was  in  the 
same  year  made  judge  of  probate  for  Essex,  and  held 
that  office  until  his  death,  in  1739.  He  married,  Novem- 
ber 23,  1681,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  John  Rogers, 
president  of  Harvard  College. 

Thomas  No  yes  was  probably  born  in  Newbury  in 
1649.  He  was  appointed  to  the  bench  of  the  Essex 
Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  1707,  and  held  that  office 
until  1725.     He  died  April  12,  1730. 

John  Higginson,  the  son  of  Rev.  John  Higgin- 
son,  and  grandson  of  Rev.  Francis  Higginson,  ot 
Salem,  was  a  merchant  by  profession,  and  appointed 
to  the  Essex  Common  Pleas  bench  in  1708,  and  held 
that  office  until  his  death,  in  1720,  at  the  age  of  sev- 
enty-three years. 

John  Burrill  was  born  in  Lynn  in  October,  1658. 
He  represented  that  town  for  many  years  in  the 
General  Court  and  during  ten  years  was  Speaker  of 
the  House.  He  was  crown  counselor  and  appointed 
to  the  Common  Pleas  bench  in  1720,  and  died  Decem- 
ber 10,  1721. 

Samuel  Browne,  son  of  Judge  William  Browne 
already  mentioned,  was  born  in  Salem,  October  8, 
1669.  He  succeeded  his  father  on  the  Common  Pleas 
bench  in  1716,  and  as  associate  and  chief  justice 
continued  on  the  bench  until  his  death,  June  16, 1731. 

Bartholomew  Gedney  was  a  physician,  and  prob- 
ably born  in  Salem  in  1640.  He  was  one  of  the  jus- 
tices of  the  Court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer,  organized 
in  1692  by  Governor  Phipps,  for  the  trial  of  the 
witches.  He  was  appointed  in  1692  judge  of  probate 
for  Essex  County,  under  the  authority  assumed  by 
Governor  Phipps  to  delegate  probate  power  vested  in 
him.  In  the  same  year  he  was  appointed  one  of  the 
judges  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas.  He  seems  to 
have  mingled  military  with  judicial  occupations,  and 
commanded  an  expedition  against  the  Indians  in  1696. 
He  died  February  28,  1698-99. 

Jonathan  Corwin  was  a  native  of  Salem,  born  in 


THE  BENCH  AND  BAR. 


XV 11 


November,  1G40.  In  1692,  on  the  resignation  by  Na- 
thaniel Saltonstall  of  his  seat  on  the  bench  of  the 
Court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer,  organized  by  Governor 
William  Phipps  for  the  trial  of  the  witches,  he  was 
appointed  in  his  place.  After  the  union  of  the  col- 
onies he  was  appointed  one  of  the  judges  of  the  Court 
of  Common  Pleas  for  Essex  County,  and  in  1715  was 
appointed  to  the  bench  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Judi- 
cature, holding  the  office  until  his  death,  in  June, 
1718. 

William  Hathorne  came  in  the  "Arbella  "  with 
Winthrop  in  1630,  and  first  settled  in  Dorchester.  In 
1636  he  received  a  grant  of  lands  from  Salem,  and 
took  up  his  residence  there.  He  was  commissioned 
speaker  of  the  House,  counsel  in  court,  judge  and 
soldier. 

Johnson,  in  his  "  Wonder- Working  Providence,'' 
says:  "Yet,  through  the  Lord's  mercy  we  still  retaine 
among  our  Democracy  the  Godly  Captaine  William 
Hathorne,  whom  the  Lord  has  imbued  with  a  quick 
comprehension,  strong  memory  and  Rhetorick,  and 
volubility  of  speech,  which  has  caused  the  people  to 
make  use  of  him  often  in  Public  Service,  especially 
when  they  have  had  to  do  with  any  foreign  govern- 
ment." He  was  the  American  ancestor  of  Nathaniel 
Hawthorne. 

John  Hathorne,  son  of  William  Hathorne  above- 
mentioned,  was  born  in  Salem  August  4,  1641.  Be- 
for  the  union  of  the  Massachusetts  and  Plymouth 
Colonies  he  was  a  representative  or  delegate  to  the 
General  Court,  and  one  of  the  assistants.  At  the  acces- 
sion of  William  and  Mary  to  the  throne,  after  the 
deposition  of  Andros,  he  was  one  of  the  Council 
assuming  the  government  of  the  colony.  When  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  Essex  County  was  estab- 
lished he  was  appointed  one  of  its  judges,  and  in  1702 
was  promoted  to  the  bench  of  the  Superior  Court  of 
Judicature.  While  on  the  bench  he  was  a  member 
of  the  Council,  and,  under  the  direction  of  Lieutenant- 
Governor  Stoughton,  commanded  an  unsuccessful  ex- 
pedition against  the  French  and  Indians  on  the 
Penobscot  River.  He  continued  on  the  bench  of  the 
Sujjerior  Court  until  his  resignation,  in  1712,  and  died 
on  the  10th  of  May,  1717. 

Benjamin  Lynde  was  born  in  Boston  September 
22,  1666,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1686.  He 
studied  law  at  the  Temple  in  London,  and  was  admit- 
ted as  a  barrister  before  his  return  to  America. 
Washburn,  in  his  "Judicial  History  of  Massachu- 
setts," says  that  he  was  the  first  regularly  educated 
lawyer  ever  appointed  to  the  bench  of  the  Superior 
Court.  In  1699,  or  thereabouts,  he  removed  to  Salem, 
and  made  that  place  his  residence  until  his  death,  on 
the  28th  of  January,  1749.  He  was  appointed  one 
of  the  justices  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Judicature 
in  1712,  and  in  1728,  on  the  resignation  of  Samuel 
Sewall,  was  appointed  chief  justice. 

Benjamin  Lyndb  (2d)  was  the  son  of  the  above- 
named   Benjamin   Lynde,  and  was  born   in  Salem 
ii 


October  5,  1700.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1718, 
and,  though  not  a  lawyer,  was  appointed  in  1734  a 
special  justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for 
Suffolk,  and  in  1739  one  of  the  standing  judges  of 
that  court  for  Essex.  He  was  appointed  to  the  bench 
of  the  Superior  Court  in  1745,  and  on  the  appoint- 
ment of  Chief  Justice  Thomas  Hutchinson  to  the 
office  of  Governor,  in  1771,  he  was  commissioned  in 
his  place,  resigning  his  seat  in  1772.  He  was  then  ap- 
pointed judge  of  probate  for  Essex  County,  which 
office  he  held  until  his  death,  October  9,  1781. 

Richard  Saltonstall  was  the  son  of  Richard 
Saltonstall,  of  Haverhill,  and  was  born  in  that  town 
June  14,  1703.  He  was  the  grandson  of  Major  Na- 
thaniel Saltonstall,  great-grandson  of  Richard  Sal- 
tonstall, and  great-great-grandson  of  Sir  Richard  Sal- 
tonstall, one  of  the  original  patentees  of  the  colony 
of  Massachusetts  Bay.  The  subject  of  this  sketch 
graduated  at  Harvard  in  1722,  and  at  the  age  of 
thirty-three  was  appointed  a  judge  of  the  Superior 
Court  of  Judicature.  It  is  not  known  that  he  Avas 
educated  to  the  law,  nor  was  it  in  either  the  days  of 
the  Massachusetts  Colony  or  of  the  province  the  custom 
to  confine  judicial  appointments  to  those  of  the  legal 
profession.  At  the  age  of  twenty-three  he  held  a 
commission  as  colonel  of  the  provincial  troops,  and 
in  1737,  while  on  the  bench,  he  was  the  commander 
of  the  Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery  Company. 
He  was  a  man  of  scholarly  habits,  of  considerable 
learning,  of  refined  tastes  and  was  conspicuous  for 
the  generous  hospitality  which  his  ample  means 
enabled  him  to  dispense. 

Judge  Saltonstall  held  his  seat  on  the  bench  until 
his  death,  which  occurred  at  his  residence  in  Haver- 
hill, October  20,  1756.  He  married  three  wives,  the 
last  of  whom  was  a  daughter  of  Elisha  Cooke,  one  of 
the  judges  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  Suffolk 
County,  and  granddaughter  of  Judge  Elisha  Cooke, 
one  of  the  judges  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Judica- 
ture, who  married  a  daughter  of  Governor  John 
Leverett.  He  left  three  sons — Richard  Saltonstall,  a 
graduate  of  Harvard  in  1751,  who  died  in  England 
in  1785;  Nathaniel,  a  physician,  living  in  Haverhill, 
a  graduate  of  Harvard  in  1766,  who  died  in  1815  ;  and 
Leverett,  a  captain  under  Cornwallis,  who  died  in 
New  York  in  1782.  He  left  also  two  daughters, 
one  of  whom,  Abigail,  was  the  first  wife  of  Colo- 
nel George  Watson,  of  Plymouth,  and  the  other  the 
wife  of  Rev.  Moses  Badger,  of  Providence. 

Caleb  Cushing,  of  Salisbury,  was  made  Common 
Pleas  judge  in  1759,  and  after  the  Revolution,  when 
the  Common  Pleas  Court  was  reorganized,  he  was 
appointed  chief  justice. 

Stephen  Higginson  was  born  in  Salem  in  1716. 
He  was  appointed  judge  of  the  Common  Pleas  in 
1761,  and  died  in  the  same  year. 

Andrew  Oliver,  of  Salem,  was  one  of  the 
"Mandamus  Counsellors."  He  graduated  at  Har- 
vard in  1749,  and  was  appointed  Common  Pleas  judge 


XVlll 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUXTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


in  1761,  and  held   office  until  the  Eevolution.    He 
died  in  1799. 

William  Bourne  was  the  son  of  Sylvanus  Bourne, 
of  Barnstable,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1743. 
He  settled  in  Marblehead,  and  was  made  judge  of 
the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  1766,  holding  his 
office  until  his  death  in  August,  1770. 

Peter  Frye  was  born  in  Andover  in  1723,  and 
graduated  at  Harvard  in  1744.  He  was  register  of 
probate  and  judge  of  the  Common  Pleas  Court,  to 
which  office  he  was  appointed  in  1772,  and  which  he 
held  until  the  Eevolution.  He  died  in  England 
in  1820. 

William  Browne  was  born  in  Salem  February 
27,  1737,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1755.  In 
1764  he  was  appointed  collector  of  Salem,  and  in 
1770  was  made  a  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  for  Essex.  He  was  confirmed  as  judge  of  the 
Superior  Court  of  Judicature  June  15,  1774,  and 
in  the  same  year  was  made  a  "Mandamus  Counsellor." 
He  was  a  Loyalist,  and,  retiring  from  the  country  in 
1778,  was  made  Governor  of  Bermuda  in  1781,  and 
died  in  England  February  13,  1802. 

Samuel  Sewall  was  born  in  Bishop-stoke,  Eng- 
land, March  28,  1652,  and  died  in  Boston  January 
1,  1730.  His  grandfather,  Henry  Sewall,  born  in 
1576,  came  to  New  England  and  lived  in  Newbury, 
where  he  died  about  1655.  His  father,  Henry  Sew- 
all, came  to  New  England  in  1634,  and  after  begin- 
ning a  settlement  in  Newbury,  returned  to  England. 
In  1659  he  again  came  to  New  England,  and  after 
making  a  permanent  settlement  in  Newbury,  was  fol- 
lowed by  his  wife  and  children  in  1661.  The  son, 
Samuel,  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1671,  and  after 
studying  divinity  preached  for  a  time.  On  the  28th 
of  February,  1676,  he  married  Hannah,  daughter  of 
John  Hull,  a  goldsmith  of  wealth  in  Boston,  by  whom 
he  secured  ample  means  of  support  without  the 
drudgery  of  a  minister's  life.  He  was  made  an  assistant 
in  1684,  and  continued  in  office  until  the  arrival  of 
Andros.  In  1688  he  went  to  England,  resuming  on 
his  return,  in  1689,  the  office  of  assistant,  and  from 
1692  to  1725  was  a  member  of  the  Council.  In  1692 
he  was  made  a  judge  of  the  Court  of  Oyer  and  Term- 
iner and  subsequently  an  associate  judge  of  the  Su- 
perior Court  of  Judicature,  which  position  he  held 
until  1718,  when  he  was  made  chief  justice.  He  was 
also  judge  of  probate  for  Suffolk,  and  resigned  both 
offices  in  1728  on  account  of  old  age.  He  had  been 
a  firm  believer  in  witchcraft,  and  was  one  of  the 
judges  before  whom  the  alleged  witches  were  tried, 
but  on  the  14th  of  January,  1697,  Rev.  Samuel  Wil- 
lard  read  a  "  bill,"  as  it  was  called,  before  his  congre- 
gation, in  which  the  judge  exprtssed  his  abhorrence 
of  the  acts  in  which  he  had  been  engaged,  and  peni- 
tently asked  the  forgiveness  of  God  and  man, 

Stephen  Sewall,  son  of  Major  Stephen  Sewall, 
was  born  in  Salem  December  18,  1704,  and  graduated 
at  Harvard  in  1721.     He  was  for  a  short  time  tutor  at 


Harvard,  and  afterwards  taught  school  in  Marble- 
head.  He  was  appointed  associate  judge  of  the  Su- 
perior Court  of  Judicature  in  1739,  and  in  1752  was 
promoted  to  chief  justice.  He  held  his  seat  until  his 
death,  which  occurred  September  10,  1760. 

Samuel  Sewall  was  born  in  Boston  December 
11,  1757,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1776.  In  1808 
he  received  the  degree  of  LL.D.  from  his  alma 
maier.  He  studied  law  with  Francis  Dana,  of  Cam- 
bridge, and  practiced  in  Marblehead,  which  town  he 
represented  in  the  Legislature.  He  was  a  member 
of  Congress  from  1797  to  1800,  and  in  the  latter  year 
was  appointed  associate  justice  of  the  Supreme 
Judicial  Court.  In  November,  1813,  he  was  made 
chief  justice,  and  died  in  Wiscasset,  Me.,  June  8, 
1814.  He  married,  December  8, 1781,  Abigail,  daugh- 
ter of  Dr.  Humphrey  Devereux,  of  Marblehead. 

JosiAH  Walcott,  a  merchant  in  Salem,  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  bench  of  the  Essex  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  in  1722.  He  continued  on  the  bench  until  his 
death,  February  2,  1729. 

Timothy  Linall  was  born  in  Salem  November  4, 
1677,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1695.  He  was 
Speaker  of  the  Hou.se  of  Representatives  in  1720,  and 
in  1729  was  appointed  to  the  Common  Pleas  bench. 
He  held  his  seat  until  1754,  and  died  October  25, 
1760. 

John  Wainwright  was  a  merchant  of  Ipswich, 
and  graduated  at  Harvard,  in  1709,  at  the  age  of 
eighteen.  He  was  appointed  to  the  Common  Pleas 
bench  in  1729,  and  held  his  seat  until  his  death,  Sep- 
tember 1,  1739. 

Theophilus  Burrill,  of  Lynn,  was  a  nephew  of 
Judge  John  Burrill,  aud  was  appointed  to  the  Com- 
mon Pleas  bench  in  1733,  and  died  in  office  in 
1737. 

Thomas  Berry,  a  physician  of  Ipswich,  was  born 
in  Boston  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1712.  He 
was  judge  of  probate  of  Essex  County,  as  well  as 
judge  of  the  Common  Pleas  Court,  to  which  office  he 
was  appointed  in  1733,  and  which  he  held  until  his 
death,  in  1756, 

Benjamin  Marston  was  born  in  Salem,  but  in  his 
later  years  lived  in  Manchester.  He  married  Eliza- 
beth, daughter  of  Isaac  Winslow,  of  Marshfield,  and 
great-granddaughter  of  Governor  Isaac  Winslow,  of 
the  "Mayflower."  He  was  sheriff  of  Essex  County,  and 
was  appointed  to  the  bench  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  in  1737,  which  office  he  held  until  his  death,  in 
1754.     He  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1689. 

John  Choate,  of  Ipswich,  was  judge  of  probate 
for  Essex  County,  and  chief  justice  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas.     He  died  while  in  office,  in  1766. 

Henry  Gibbs,  a  native  of  Watertown,  w^as  born  in 
1709,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1726.  He  settled 
in  Salem  as  a  merchant,  and  was  appointed  to  the 
Common  Pleas  bench  in  1754,  aud  continued  on  the 
bench  until  his  death,  in  1759. 

John  Tasker,  of  Marblehead,  was  made  Common 


THE  BENCH  AND  BAR. 


XIX 


Pleas  judge  in  1755,  and  died  in  office  November  9, 
17CA. 

Benjamin  Pickman,  of  Salem,  was  born  in  1708, 
and  was  a  merchant.  He  was  appointed  to  the  Com- 
mon Pleas  bench  in  1756,  holding  his  office  until  1761. 
He  died  August  20,  1774. 

William  Prescott  was  born  in  Pepperell  August 
19, 1762,  and  was  the  son  of  Colonel  William  Prescott, 
who  distinguished  himself  at  the  battle  of  Bunker 
Hill.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1783,  and  after 
teaching  school  for  a  time  in  Brooklyn,  Conn.,  he  en- 
tered the  law-office  of  Nathan  Dane,  in  Beverly,  where 
he  afterwards  began  to  practice.  He  subsequently 
removed  to  Salem  and  married  a  daughter  of  Mr. 
Hickling,  American  consul  at  St.  Michael's,  from 
^^hora  the  late  distinguished  historian,  William  Hick- 
ling  Prescott,  the  son  of  William  Prescott,  derived  his 
middle  name.  While  in  Salem  he  was  a  member  of 
both  the  House  and  Senate  in  the  State  Legislature. 
He  removed  to  Boston  in  1808,  and  before  his  removal, 
in  1806,  and  afterwards,  in  1813,  he  was  offered  a  seat 
on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court,  which  he 
declined.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Executive  Coun- 
cil from  Suffi)lk  County,  a  delegate  to  the  Hartford 
Convention  in  1814,  and  in  1818  accepted  the  appoint- 
ment of  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  the 
county  of  Suffolk.  He  died  in  Boston  December  8, 
1844,  and  at  his  death  a  meeting  of  the  bar  was  held 
in  the  Supreme  Court  room,  at  which  Mr.  Webster 
offered  resolutions  of  respect,  which  were  responded 
to  by  Chief  Justice  Shaw,  at  that  time  holding  the 
court. 

Nathaniel  Saltonstall,  son  of  Richard  and 
grandson  of  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,  one  of  the  six 
patentees  of  the  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  was 
born  in  Ipswich  in  1639,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in 
1659,  afterwards  settling  in  Haverhill,  on  an  estate 
still  known  as  the  "Saltonstall  seat."  He  was  chosen 
an  assistant  in  1679,  and  on  the  arrival  of  President 
Dudley,  in  1685,  was  offered  a  place  as  member  of  his 
Council,  which  he  declined.  He  took  an  active  part 
in  deposing  Andros,  and  under  the  charter  of  1692  was 
appointed  one  of  His  Majesty's  Council.  At  the 
breaking  out  of  the  witchcraft  delusion.  Governor 
William  Phipps,  without  authority  of  law,  established 
a  special  Court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer  to  try  the 
witches,  and  bj'  commissions  dated  June  2,  1692,  ap- 
pointed Wm.  Stoughton  chief  justice,  and  Nathaniel 
Saltonstall,  John  Richards,  Bartholomew  Gedney, 
Wait  Winthrop,  Samuel  Sewall  and  Peter  Sergeant 
associate  justices. 

Judge  Saltonstall,  like  many  other  judges  of  the 
time,  was  not  bred  to  the  law,  but  he  was  a  man  of 
strong  mind  and  sound  sense,  and  not  easily  imbued 
with  the  bigotry  and  fanaticism  prevailing  at  the  time. 
He  left  the  bench  evidently  disgusted  with  the  work 
it  was  called  on  to  perform,  his  place  being  taken  by 
Jonathan  Corwin.  He  married  a  daughter  of  Rev. 
John  Ward,  of  Haverhill,  and  died   May  21,  1707, 


leaving  three  sons,— Gurdon,  the  Governor  of  Con- 
necticut ;  Richard,  the  father  of  Richard,  whose  sketch 
is  given  below ;  and  Nathaniel,  who  graduated  at  Har- 
vard in  1695,  and  died  young. 

James  Gushing  Merrill  was  the  son  of  Rev. 
Giles  Merrill  and  Lucy  (Gushing)  Merrill,  and  was 
born  in  Haverhill  September  27,  1784.  He  married 
Anna,  daughter  of  Dr.  Nathaniel  Saltonstall,  of 
Haverhill,  and  died  in  Boston  October  4,  1853.  He 
fitted  for  college  at  Exeter  and  graduated  at  Harvard 
in  1807.  He  studied  law  with  John  Varnum,  of 
Haverhill,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1812  at  the 
September  term  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Common 
Pleas,  held  at  Salem.  He  not  long  after  removed  to 
Boston,  where  he  continued  to  reside  until  his  death. 
For  many  years  he  was  a  justice  on  the  bench  of  the 
Police  Court  of  Boston,  resigning  in  1852  on  account 
of  feeble  health.  Previous  to  his  appointment  to  the 
bench  he  was  a  member  of  the  Senate  and  House  of 
the  State  Legislature.  He  was  a  scholar  as  well  as 
a  jurist,  and  his  proficiency  in  Greek  literature  was 
recognized  by  his  alma  mater  by  his  continuance  for 
thirty  years  on  its  examining  committee  for  Greek. 

Joseph  Gilbert  Waters  was  born  in  Salem  July 
5,  1796,  and  was  the  son  of  Captain  Joseph  and  Mary 
(Dean)  Waters.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1816, 
and  after  completing  his  law  studies  in  the  office  of 
John  Pickering,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Salem  at 
the  October  term  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  in 
1821.  In  1818  he  went  to  Mississippi,  where  he  spent 
several  years,  and  returned  to  Salem,  where  for  a 
short  time  he  was  the  editor  of  the  Salem  Observer. 
In  1825  he  married  Eliza  Greenleaf,  daughter  of 
Captain  Penn  Townsend.  He  was  appointed  special 
justice  of  the  Police  Court  in  Salem  in  1831,  and 
afterwards  held  the  office  of  standing  justice  of  the 
same  court  from  1842  until  1874.  In  1835  he  was  a 
member  of  the  State  Senate,  and  died  in  1878. 

Benjamin  Merrill  was  born  in  Conway,  New 
Hampshire,  in  1784,  and  fitting  for  college  at  Exeter, 
graduated  at  Harvard  in  1804.  He  studied  law  with 
Mr.  Stedman,  of  Lancaster,  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  Worcester  County.  Removing  to  Lynn  in 
1808  to  enter  into  practice,  he  was  required  under  the 
court  rules  to  study  one  year  within  the  county,  and 
entered  the  office  of  Samuel  Putnam,  whose  partner 
he  afterwards  became.  He  received  the  degree  of 
LL.D.  from  Harvard  in  1845,  and  died  at  Salem  July 
30,  1847,  at  the  age  of  sixty-three.  When  he  settled 
in  Lynn  he  was  the  first  lawyer  who  had  ever  opened 
an  office  in  the  town,  and  after  a  few  months'  resi- 
dence there,  it  is  said  that  he  was  told  that  the  pres- 
ence of  a  lawyer  would  be  prejudicial  to  the  interests 
of  the  community,  and  that  he  was  requested  to 
leave. 

Joseph  Perkins  was  born  in  Essex  July  8,  1772, 
and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1794,  In  1801  he  was 
appointed  county  attorney,  and  died  in  Salem  Febru- 
ary 28,  1803. 


XX 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUxVTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


AsAHEL  Huntington  was  bora  in  Topsfield  July 
23,  1798,  and  graduated  at  Yale  in  1819.  He  was 
county  and  district  attorney,  clerk  of  the  courts  and 
twice  representative  from  Salem  to  tlie  General  Court. 
In  1853  he  was  mayor  of  that  city,  and  died  Septem- 
ber 5,  1870. 

Theophilus  Parsons. — Among  the  eminent  law- 
yers of  the  last  century.  Chief  Justice  Theophilus 
Parsons  stands  pre-eminent,  and  to  his  autobiography 
l)y  his  son,  Theophilus  Parsons,  we  are  indebted  for 
this  sketch  of  his  life  as  a  lawyer,  statesman  and 
judge.  His  judicial  knowledge  and  legal  acumen 
won  for  him  the  title  of  "giant  of  the  law,"  and  his 
intimate  knowledge  of  the  structure  of  the  Greek  lan- 
guage, and  acquaintance  with  its  literature,  in  which 
he  delighted,  and  to  which  he  turned  for  recreation 
from  his  legal  duties,  caused  Mr.  Luzac,  the  then 
Professor  of  Greek  in  the  University  of  Leyden,  to 
say  of  Mr.  Parsons,  that  he  should  be  called  "  The 
giant  of  Greek  criticism." 

Chief  Justice  Theophilus  Parsons  was  born  in  By- 
field,  Massachusetts,  1750,  and  his  father,  Rev.  Moses 
Parsons,  was  a  settled  minister  in  that  place.  His 
first  youth  was  passed  at  Dunmer  Academy,  of  By- 
field,  under  the  Rev.  Mr.  Moody,  and  he  entered  Har- 
vard College  in  1765.  The  minister's  stipend  was 
small,  and  his  family  large,  so  that  when  the  young 
Theophilus  was  ready  to  enter  college  pecuniary  diffi- 
culties stood  in  his  way.  So  general,  however,  was 
the  accepted  idea,  that  his  natural  ability  promised 
great  things,  great  exertions  were  made  to  send  him  ; 
one  of  the  maid  servants  offered  to  give  him  a  year's 
salary,  twelve  pounds,  to  help  him.  This  offer  was 
of  course  refused,  but  the  assistance  proffered  by 
friends  and  parishioners  was  gladly  accepted.  Theo- 
philus was  an  insatiable  student,  but  after  his  lessons 
were  learned  would  turn  for  recreation,  to  a  novel  or 
self-imposed  mathematical  problem  with  equal  relish, 
which  practice  he  followed  in  after  years,  adding  a 
devotion  to  scientific  studies.  He  graduated  in  17(59, 
and  went  to  Portland,  Maine,  then  called  Falmouth, 
where  he  taught  a  grammar  school ;  when  not  occu- 
pied with  his  school  duties,  he  studied  in  the  office  of 
the  eminent  lawyer.  Judge  Theophilus  Bradbury. 
Here  he  applied  for  admission  to  the  bar.  The  com- 
mittee for  examination  to  whom  he  referred  himself, 
construed  the  rule  that  three  years  of  preparatory 
study,  meant  three  years  of  consecutive  study,  and 
that  his  employment  of  school-teaching  prevented  that 
from  being  so  considered.  However,  the  committee 
yielded  to  his  solicitations,  and  his  examination 
proved  so  entirely  satisfactory,  he  was  admitted  to 
practice  in  Falmouth.    This  was  in  1774. 

The  following  year  Admiral  Graves,  commander  of 
the  British  squadron  in  Boston  Bay,  despatched  some 
ships  of  war  to  Falmouth  with  orders  to  destroy  it, 
and  it  was  almost  totally  burned.  Mr.  Parsons  then 
returned  to  his  home,  greatly  disaj^pointed  and  cast 
do>yn  ;    but  he   found  at  his   father's  house,   Judge 


Trowbridge,  and  his  learned  help  and  counsel  was  as 
eagerly  sought  and  received  by  Mr.  Parsons  as  he  was 
ready  to  give  it.  The  latter  remained  in  Byfield  a 
considerable  time,  and  when  he  found  that  Mr.  Par- 
sons was  to  be  his  companion  and  student,  he  ordered 
thither  all  his  library,  which  was  not  only  the  best, 
but  probably  the  only  thoroughly  good  one,  then  in 
New  England. 

He  found  in  Mr.  Parsons  an  intelligent  student,  of 
devoted  industry  prepared  by  previous  habits,  as  well 
as  by  previous  knowledge,  to  profit  by  this  golden  op- 
portunity. 

Edmund  Trowbridge  died  in  Cambridge,  in  1793, 
at  the  age  of  ninety-four,  and  during  half  of  his  long 
life,  he  was,  by  common  consent,  regarded  as  the 
most  learned  lawyer  of  New  England.  In  the  seventh 
volume  of  the  Massachusetts  Reports  (page  20),  Mr. 
Parsons  speaks  of  his  excellence  as  a  common-law 
lawyer,  and  says :  "  The  late  Judge  Trowbridge  was 
an  excellent  common -law  lawyer,  of  whose  friendly 
assistance  in  my  early  professional  studies  I  cherish 
the  most  grateful  remembrance,"  and  Chancellor 
Kent,  in  his  commentaries  calls  him  "  the  oracle  of 
the  common-law  of  New  England." 

About  the  time  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
the  formation  of  a  Constitution  became  a  matter 
of  much  moment  to  many  of  the  colonies  which  had 
just  become  States.  In  Massachusetts  the  system  of 
government  went  on  with  few  alterations,  although 
the  charter  had  lost  all  force.  In  June,  1776,  it  was 
proposed  in  the  general  court  to  prepare  a  form  of 
government,  or  constitution, — to  be  presented  to  the 
people.  In  1778,  a  constitution  was  agreed  upon  by 
the  General  Court,  and  offered  to  the  people,  but  was 
rejected  by  them  by  a  vote  of  five  to  one.  These  were 
the  reasons  for  its  rejection  : 

The  draft  was  imperfect,  evidently  drawn  up  with- 
out due  care  and  consideration  ;  the  people  preferred 
that  it  should  be  made  by  a  committee  chosen  for  that 
express  purpose  and  not  by  the  Legislature.  A  Bill 
of  Rights,  clearly  defining  to  the  people  what  were 
their  inalienable  rights,  was  not  prefixed,  and  lastly, 
the  constitution  so  carefully  avoided  a  strong  govern- 
ment, the  power  of  the  executive  was  a  mere  cipher. 
It  was  this  last  objection  which  weighed  most  with 
many  people. 

The  conflict  for  the  adoption  or  rejection  of  the 
constitution  seemed  to  be  the  early  manifestation  that 
a  new  question  was  bi'ought  before  the  minds  of  men 
which  threatened,  or  seemed  to  threaten,  the  disruj}- 
tion  of  civil  society,  and  has  continued  to  this  day  to 
divide,  not  politicians  only,  but  the  whole  people; 
and  will  ever  do  so.  This  question  is,  which  shall 
prevail  of  the  two  great  parties,  into  one  or  the  other 
of  which  every  man  is  forced  by  nature,  habit,  taste, 
education  or  circumstances.  These  are  the  parties  of 
progress  and  conservatism ;  of  those  who  love  the 
"  largest  liberty "  with  more  regard  to  its  quantity 
than  its  quality,  and  those  who  dtsire  only  the  best 


Oy^tTTtf 


THE  BENCH  AND  BAK. 


XXI 


liberty,  and  dread,  as  the  greatest  of  evils,  its  corrup- 
tion into  license.  To  all  men  of  this  last  class  the 
constitution  offered  to  the  people  was  wholly  worth- 
less ;  and  to  this  large  party  Mr.  Parsons  belonged. 
His  home  was  in  Essex  County,  and  there  he  was 
sustained  by  the  warm  sympathy  of  excellent  men, 
and  perhaps,  young  as  he  was,  strengthened  their 
love  of  order  or  their  fear  of  anarchy.  A  meeting  of 
these  men  took  place  in  Essex  County,  in  1778,  in 
Newburyport ;  a  committee  was  appointed  and  then  it 
adjourned  to  Ipswich  ;  and  there  it  met  in  the  last 
week  of  April  of  that  year,  when  a  term  of  the  Su- 
preme Judicial  Court  was  held  there.  At  this  ad- 
journed meeting  a  pamphlet  was  presented  by  the 
committee,  approved  and  adojited  by  it  and  by  its 
order  published. 

It  contained  eighteen  distinct  articles,  setting  forth 
the  leading  oVyections  to  the  Constitution  proposed. 
Its  title  was:  "The  result  of  the  Convention  of 
Delegates  holden  at  Ipswich,  in  the  County  of  Essex, 
who  were  deputed  to  take  into  consideration  the 
Constitution  and  form  of  government  proposed  by 
the  Convention  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts  Bay." 
It  was  called  the  "  E>sex  Result."  It  went  very 
fully  into  the  consideration  of  the  objects  and  prin- 
ciples which  should  be  regarded  in  the  formation  of 
a  constitution  ;  it  not  only  made  the  rejection  of  the 
proposed  constitution  far  more  decisive,  but  exerted 
an  important  influence  on  the  structure  of  that  Con- 
stitution which  was  soon  after  framed  and  adopted  by 
the  people. 

Mr.  Parsons  wrote  this  pamphlet,  which  is  now  very 
rare,  but  is  reprinted  in  the  Appendix  to  his  auto- 
biography. The  proof  that  he  wrote  it  lies  in  the 
assertion  of  Chief  Justice  Parker,  who  says  in  his 
address  to  the  grand  jury  after  Judge  Parsons'  death  : 
"  The  Report  was  undoubtedly  his,  though  he  was 
probably  aided  by  others,  at  least,  with  their  ad- 
vice." This  elaborate  Report  is  called  "  The  Essex 
Result."  No  doubt,  he  obtained  all  the  assistance, 
by  advice  and  suggestion,  which  could  be  rendered 
to  him  in  a  matter  of  this  importance  by  the  wise 
men  with  whom  he  acted.  But  he  wrote  every  word 
of  it,  and  this,  perhaps,  proved  that  the  young  man 
was  already  recognized  by  them,  who  were  certainly 
among  the  ablest  and  most  venerable  men  of  the 
county,  as  one  with  whose  work  they  were  satis- 
fied, and  one  whom  they  could  trust  to  speak  for 
them.  Among  the  most  distinguished  peculiarities 
of  the  actual  institutions  and  government  of  this 
country  is  the  singular  blending  of  the  progressive 
and  conservative  principles  in  such  a  way  that  they 
do  not  so  much  neutralize  each  other  as  promote  each 
other's  activity,  while  they  compensate  for  each  other. 
While  our  fathers  were  making  history,  there  were  some 
whose  love  for  liberty  had  degenerated  into  a  love  of  li- 
cense, and  whose  idea  of  happiness  was  to  run  riot 
through  the  fields  of  life ;  they  balanced  and  checked 
and  were  balanced  and  checked  by  the  stern  lovers  of 


order,  who  appeared,  in  their  extremity  of  opinion, 
to  think  that  the  first  use  of  legs  is  to  wear  fetters, 
while  walking  is  but  a  secondary  and  conditional  pur- 
pose. Happily,  there  were  wise  men  who  were  able 
to  bring  these  extremes  into  compromise,  and,  by 
means  of  compromise,  into  union.  The  "Essex  Re- 
sult" was  regarded  as  a  very  early  encounter  with 
the  great  question  then  dawning  upon  this  country 
and  upon  the  world.  It  was  an  earnest  endeavor  to 
discover  and  declare  how  progress  and  conservatism, 
liberty  and  order,  might  be  so  adjusted  in  human  in- 
stitutions, that  freedom  should  be  secure,  and  peace 
and  happiness  be  the  children  of  freedom. 

The  Old  Confederation  of  the  United  States  was 
formed  November  15,  1777,  in  the  midst  of  war  and 
danger  and  effort;  and  while  these  lasted  their  pres- 
sure kept  it  together.  But  with  the  relaxati  .n  of 
peace  its  debility  and  insufficiency  became  apparent. 
In  May,  therefore,  1787,  a  convention  of  delegates 
from  the  states  assembled  at  Philadelphia  for  the 
purpose  of  forming  a  Federal  Constitution,  and  at 
once  the  new  parties  of  the  country — the  Liberty 
party  and  the  Government  party — started  into  full 
life. 

The  two  antagonistic  principles  entered  into  imme- 
diate, constant  and  energetic  conflict ;  and  the  good 
sense  and  caution  and  love  of  peace,  and  the  pro- 
found conviction  that  union  would  be  impossible  if 
not  then  consummated,  and  that  without  union  there 
must  be  destruction — all  these  were  in  perpetual 
requisition,  and  were  only  able  to  reconcile  these 
hostile  sentiments  and  principles  so  far  as  to  produce 
the  Constitution,  which  was  throughout,  and  in  al- 
most every  paragraph  and  every  provision,  a  com- 
promise. After  the  Constitution  was  framed,  the 
man  who  most  loved  peace  and  union  labored  stren- 
uously to  procure  for  it  the  signatures  of  all  the  dele- 
gates, that  it  might  go  to  the  people  with  the  advan- 
tage of  their  unanimous  consent.  And  all  did  sign 
but  three — Randolph  and  Mason,  of  Virginia,  and 
Elbridge  Gerry,  of  Massachusetts,  afterwards  gover- 
nor of  the  State.  The  Cons-titution  contained  a  pro- 
vision that  it  should  go  into  effect  as  soon  as  nine 
states  should  accept  it.  It  was  adopted  by  the  Con- 
vention that  framed  it  on  the  17th  of  September, 
1787;  then  by  Delaware,  December  7,  1787;  by 
Pennsylvania,  December  12,  1787  ;  by  New  Jersey, 
December  18,  1787  ;  by  Georgia,  January  2,  1788  ; 
and  by  Connecticut,  January  9,  1788.  Then  came 
the  question  whether  the  Commonwealth  of  Massa- 
chusetts should  accept  it.  It  was  feared  that  Massa- 
chusetts would  be  hostile,  and  that  her  example 
would  operate  with  much  power  upon  New  York, 
Maryland  and  Virginia  for  good  or  for  evil.  Janu- 
ary 9,  1788,  the  convention  of  delegates  from  the 
towns  of  Massachusetts  assembled  in  Boston  to  de- 
termine whether  the  Constitution  should  be  adopted 
or  rejected  by  that  State.  The  debates  of  this  con- 
vention were  republished  by  the  Legislature  of  Mas- 


XXll 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


sachusetts  in  1856.  The  editorial  care  of  this  volume 
W51S  entrusted  to  Messrs.  Bradford  K.  Pierce  and 
Charles  Hale.  In  their  preface  these  gentlemen  say  : 
"The  proceedings  of  the  Convention  were  of  great 
importance,  and  were  so  regarded  throughout  the 
country  at  that  time.  It  is  quite  certain  that,  if 
Massachusetts  had  refused  her  assent  to  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States,  that  well-devised  scheme 
of  government,  the  careful  work  of  the  patriots  and 
statesmen  of  the  last  century,  under  which  the  nation 
has  enjoyed  so  large  a  degree  of  prosperity,  would 
have  failed." 

John  Hancock  and  Samuel  Adams  were  two  of  the 
most  important  members  of  the  convention.  Both 
were  doubtful,  but  it  was  generally  supposed  that 
while  they  were  not  friendly  to  each  other,  they 
agreed  in  a  decided  leaning  against  the  C  -nstitu- 
tion.  General  Knox,  after  the  Constitution  was 
adopted,  writes  to  Washington  as  follows  :  "  The  op- 
position has  not  arisen  from  a  consideration  of  the 
merits  or  demerits  of  the  thing  itself,  as  a  i>o]itical 
machine,  but  from  a  deadly  principle  levelled  at 
the  existence  of  all  government  whatever.  ...  It 
is  a  singular  circumstance  that,  in  Massachusetts,  the 
property,  the  ability  and  the  virtue  of  the  State  are 
almost  solely  in  favor  of  the  Constitution.  .  .  ." 
The  Massachusetts  convention  was  of  the  opinion  that 
certain  amendments  and  alterations  in  the  Constitu- 
tion would  remove  the  fears  and  quiet  the  apprehen- 
sions of  the  people  of  the  commonwealth  and  more 
effectually  guard  against  an  undue  administration  of 
the  Federal  Government.  These  amendments  were 
often  called  in  the  histories  of  the  times,  the  "  Con- 
ciliatory Resolutions,"  and  they  were  eminently  so. 
It  was  their  purpose  to  reconcile  conflicting  opinions 
and  to  procure  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution. 
Samuel  Adams  at  once  arose  and  declared  himself 
satisfied  with  the  Constitution  with  these  amend- 
ments, and  seconded  them,  and  Hancock  withdrew 
his  opposition.  They  were  referred  to  a  committee 
and  reported  with  little  change.  After  some  discus- 
sion, in  which  one  or  two  of  the  opponents  of  the 
Constitution  spoke  of  the  amendments  as  reconciling 
them  to  it,  the  Constitution  was  adopted  by  a  vote 
of  one  hundred  and  eighty-seven  yeas  to  one  hundred 
and  sixty-eight  nays.  Mr.  Parsons  wrote  these  amend- 
ments, and  it  is  always  said  that  these  "  Conciliatory 
Resokitions  "  saved  the  country. 

Mr.  Parsons  was  now  living  with  his  wife  in  New- 
buryport  in  Green  Street.  He  married  Elizabeth 
Greenlief,  daughter  of  Judge  Greenlief,  and  he  used 
to  say  that  the  suit  in  which  he  won  his  wife  was 
worth  all  the  others  he  ever  gained.  In  1800  he  re- 
moved to  Boston.  When  he  left  Newburyport  for 
Boston,  gentlemen  in  the  town  gave  him  a  farewell 
dinner,  at  which  Eobert  Treat  Paine  gave  him  an  en- 
thusiastic toast:  "  Theophilus  Parsons,  the  oracle  of 
law,  the  pillar  of  politics,  the  bulwark  of  government." 
To  which  Mr.  Parsons  replied:   "  The  town  of  New- 


buryport ;  may  the  blessing  of  Heaven  rest  upon  it  as 
long  as  its  shores  are  washed  by  the  Merrimac."  I 
will  pause  here  to  mention  a  ti'ait  of  character  in 
which  he  did  not  stand  alone  in  his  profession.  He 
made  it  an  imperative  rule,  from  which  he  never 
swerved  during  his  professional  career,  never  to  make 
any  charge  against  or  accept  any  fee  from  a  widow  or 
a  minister  of  the  goapel. 

In  1806  Chief  Justice  Dana  resigned  on  account  of 
the  infirmities  of  age,  and  Mr,  Parsons  was  invited  to 
become  the  Chief-Justice,  which  office  he  accepted 
and  held  until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1813. 

The  last  words  of  a  distinguished  man  are  often 
worthy  of  commemoration,  for  they  not  only  fre- 
quently witness  that  his  thoughts  are  occupied  with 
the  duties  of  his  profession,  but  sometimes  seem  to 
bear  a  certain  relation  to  the  life  upon  which  he  is 
about  to  enter.  Judge  Parsons' were:  "Gentlemen 
of  the  jury,  the  case  is  closed  and  in  your  hands.  You 
will  please  retire  and  agree  upon  your  verdict." 
Judge  Parsons  always  maintained  that  the  authentic- 
ity of  the  gospels  was  proven  by  the  fact  of  their  una- 
nimity in  all  essentials  and  disagreement  in  unessen- 
tial details.  After  death  his  face  wore  an  expression 
of  triumph.  It  was  that  which  he  might  have  worn 
when  he  exhibited  to  a  jury  indisputable  evidence  of 
some  great  fact  which  he  had  asserted  and  others  had 
denied.  The  expression  was  as  if  he  said  in  words  like 
these  :  "  See  there  the  proof.  I  have  believed  ;  and 
when  I  could  not  believe  I  have  hoped ;  and  through 
all  objection,  uncertainty  and  despondency  I  have 
kept  my  belief  and  my  hope  ;  and  now  there  is  the 
proof  that  I  was  right." 

Benjamin  Pickman,  the  son  of  Benjamin  and 
Mary  (Tappan)  Pickman,  was  born  at  Salem  Septem- 
ber 30,  1763,  and  married,  October  20,  1789,  Anstiss, 
daughter  of  Elias  Hasket  and  Elizabeth  (Crownin- 
shield)  Derby.  He  studied  law  with  Theophilus  Par- 
sons at  Newberyport,  and  settled  permanently  at 
Salem.  He  was  at  various  times  Representative  and 
Senator  in  the  State  Legislature,  a  member  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention  of  1820,  a  member  of  the 
Executive  Council,  and  from  1809  to  1811  a  member  of 
the  national  House  of  Representatives.  He  died  at 
Salem  August  16,  1843. 

Timothy  Pickering  was  born  in  Salem  July  17, 
1745,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1768.  He  was  a 
graduate  of  Harvard  in  1763,  and  received  a  degree 
from  New  Jersey  College  in  1798.  He  commanded  a 
regiment  in  the  Revolution,  was  adjutant-general  of 
the  army  in  1777,  and  was  quartermaster-general  in 
1780.  After  the  war  he  settled  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
between  1791  and  1800  was  Postmaster-General,  Sec- 
retary of  War  and  Secretary  of  State.  He  returned 
to  Salem  in  1801,  was  chief  justice  of  the  Essex 
County  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  United  States  Sen- 
ator from  1803  to  1811,  and  a  Representative  in  Con- 
gress from  1815  to  1817.  He  died  in  Salem  January 
29,  1829. 


jjiuf-j-t  fiTirt 


THE  BENCH  AND  BAR. 


XXlll 


John  Pickering  was  born  in  Salem  February  17, 
1777.  He  was  a  son  of  Colonel  Timothy  Pickering, 
and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1796.  After  several 
years'  residence  in  Europe,  he  returned  to  Salem  in 
1801,  and  was  admitted  to  the  Essex  bar  in  1806.  In 
1827  he  removed  to  Boston,  and  in  1829  was  appointed 
city  solicitor,  and  held  that  office  until  his  death,  at 
Boston,  May  5,  1846.  He  was  equally  distinguished 
as  a  lawyer  and  a  scholar,  achieving  in  the  latter 
capacity,  however,  his  chief  fame.  His  Greek  and 
English  Lexicon,  his  studies  and  publications  in 
philology,  his  proficiency  in  the  languages,  with  more 
than  twenty  of  which  he  was  familiar,  including  He- 
brew, Chinese  and  the  Indian  languages  of  America, 
made  him  an  authority  universally  respected,  and 
whenever  appealed  to,  considered  decisive.  He  re- 
ceived the  degree  of  LL.D.  from  Bowdoiu  College  in 
1822,  and  from  his  alma  mater  in  1835. 

Theophilus  Bradbury,  a  descendant  from  Thomas 
Bradbury,  of  Salisbury,  was  born  in  Newbury  Novem- 
ber 13,  1739.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1757,  and 
for  a  time  taught  a  grammar  school  in  Falmouth  (now 
Portland)  Me.,  where  he  afterwards  opened  a  law- 
office  and  practiced  law  from  May,  1761,  to  1779.  He 
then  removed  to  Newbury,  where  he  resided  until  his 
death,  September  6, 1803.  He  was  at  various  times 
Senator  and  Representative  in  the  State  Legislature, 
a  member  of  Congress  from  1795  to  1797,  and  in  the 
latter  year  was  appointed  associate  justice  of  the 
Supreme  Judicial  Court. 

Nathan  Dane  was  born  at  Ipswich,  in  the  parish 
then  called  the  "  Hamlet,"  now  the  town  of  Hamilton, 
on  the  29th  of  December,  1752.  He  was  descended 
from  John  Dane,  of  Berkhamstead,  England,  who 
came  to  New  England  before  1641,  and  died  at  Rox- 
bury  in  1658.  The  American  ancestor,  by  a  first  wife, 
whose  name  is  unknown,  had  John,  probably  bora  in 
Berkhamstead  about  1612  ;  Elizabeth,  who  married 
James  Howard  ;  Francis,  born  about  1616,  who  had 
three  wives,  Elizabeth  Ingalls,  Mary  Thomas  and 
Hannah  Abbot.  The  son  John  had  a  first  wife,  Eleanor 
Clark,  and  a  second  named  Alice.  His  children  were 
John  and  Philemon,  who  married  Mary  Thompson  and 
Ruth  Converse.  He  died  in  Ipswich  September  29, 
1684.  His  son,  John,  married  Abigail  Warren  and 
had  John  ;  Daniel  ;  Susan,  born  March,  1685-86 ; 
Nathaniel,  born  June,  1691  ;  Abigail  ;  Rebecca ;  and 
Elizabeth.  Daniel  married  (1st)  Lydia  Day,  and  (2d) 
Mary  Annable,  and  had  Daniel,  born  about  1716; 
John,  about  1719;  Mary,  about  1721;  Lydia,  about 
1725 ;  and  Nathan,  about  1727.  His  son  Daniel, 
born  in  Ipswich,  probably  in  1716,  married,  in 
1739,  Abigail  Burnham,  and  was  the  father  of 
the  subject  of  this  sketch.  He  worked  on  his 
father's  farm  until  he  was  of  age,  when  he  prepared 
himself  for  college,  and  entered  Harvard  with  the 
class  which  graduated  in  1778.  He  then  taught  school 
at  Beverly,  pursuing  at  the  same  time  his  law  studies 
in  the  office  of  Judge  AVctmore,  of  Salem.      In  1782 


he  began  the  practice  of  law  in  Beverly  and  made 
that  town  his  residence  until  his  death,  February  15, 
1835.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  House 
of  Representatives  from  1782  to  1785,  of  Congress 
from  1785  to  1787  and  for  five  years,  between  1790  and 
1798,  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Senate.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Electoral  College  in  1812,  and  a 
member  of  the  State  Constitutional  Convention  in 
1820.  In  1794  he  was  appointed  justice  of  the  Court 
of  Common  Pleas  for  Essex  County,  but  resigned  his 
place  almost  immediately  after  its  acceptance.  In  1814 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Hartford  Convention. 

Mr.  Dane  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Temperance  Society,  and  for  several  years  its 
president.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts 
and  Essex  Historical  Societies,  and  of  the  American 
Antiquarian  Society,  and  received  the  degree  of  LL.D. 
from  Harvard  in  1816.  In  1829  he  founded,  in  Har- 
vard University,  the  law  profe«sorship  that  bears  his 
name,  and  at  a  later  date  was  a  liberal  contributor  for 
the  erection  of  the  Dane  Law  College.  He  was  a 
diligent  student  and  his  authorship  of  "  A  General 
Abridgment  and  Digest  of  American  Law  "  gave  him 
a  fame  in  the  profession  which  time  has  not  dimmed. 
As  a  statesman,  the  identification  of  his  name  with  the 
ordinance  of  1787  for  thegove  rnment  of  the  territory 
northwest  of  the  Ohio,  drafted  by  him,  will  give  him 
a  place  in  history  as  long  as  the  institution  of  slavery, 
whose  spread  and  power  that  ordinance  checked,  has 
a  record  in  the  annals  of  the  land. 

So  long,  too,  as  the  famous  sjieech  of  Mr.  Webster 
in  reply  to  Robert  Young  Hayne,  in  the  United  States 
Senate,  January  26  and  27,  1830,  shall  be  read,  Mr. 
Dane  will  be  kept  in  memory  by  the  eulogy  which 
Mr,  Webster  uttered  in  his  splendid  effort.     He  said  : 

"In  the  course  of  my  observations  the  other  day,  Mr.  President,  I 
paid  a  passing  tribute  of  respect  to  a  very  worthy  man,  Mr.  Dane,  of 
Massachusetts.  It  so  happens  that  he  drew  the  ordinance  of  1787  for  the 
government  of  the  northwest  territory.  A  man  of  so  much  ability  and 
so  little  pretence,  of  so  great  a  capacity  to  do  good  and  so  unmixed  a  dis- 
position to  do  it  for  its  own  sake,  a  gentleman  who  had  acted  an  import- 
ant part  forty  years  ago  in  ameasure  the  influence  of  what  is  still  deeply 
felt  in  the  very  matter  which  was  the  subject  of  debate,  might,  I  thought, 
receive  from  me  a  commendatory  recognition.  But  the  honoralde  Sena- 
tor was  inclined  to  be  facetious  on  the  suii.ject.  He  was  rather  disposed 
to  make  it  matter  of  ridicule  that  I  had  introduced  into  the  debate  the 
name  of  one  Nathan  Dane,  of  whom  he  assures  us  he  had  never  betore 
heard.  Sir,  if  the  honorable  member  had  never  before  heard  of  Mr. 
Dane,  I  am  sorry  for  it.  It  shows  him  less  acquainted  with  the  public 
men  of  the  country  than  I  had  supposed.  Let  me  tell  him,  however, 
that  a  sneer  from  him  at  the  mention  of  the  name  of  Mr.  Dane  is  in  bad 
taste.  It  may  well  be  a  high  mark  of  ambition,  sir,  either  with  the  hon- 
orable gentleman  or  myself,  to  accomplish  as  much  to  make  our  names 
known  to  advantage  and  remembered  with  gratitude  as  Mr.  Dane  has 
accomplished." 

Those  readers  of  this  imperfect  sketch  of  Mr.  Dane 
who  may  wish  to  know  what  he  said  himself  concern- 
ing his  connection  with  the  ordinance  of  1787,  are  re- 
ferred to  an  interesting  letter  from  him  to  Daniel 
Webster  dated  Beverly,  March  26,  1830,  which  may 
be  found  in  the  "  Proceedings  of  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society  from  1867  to  1869,"  page  475. 

William  Wetmore  was  born  in  Connecticut  in 


XXIV 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS 


1749,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1770.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1780,  and  began  to  practice  in 
Salem.  After  a  few  years,  having  property  in  Maine, 
which  came  to  him  through  his  wife,  who  was  a  Wal- 
do, he  removed  to  Hancock  County,  where  for  some 
years  he  held  the  office  of  judge  of  probate.  In  1804 
he  removed  to  Boston,  where  he  hell  a  seat  on  the 
bench  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and 
died  in  1830.  The  wife  of  Judge  Joseph  Story  was 
a  daughter  of  Judge  Wetmore. 

Daniel  Farnham  was  born  in  York,  Me.,  in 
1719,  and  was  the  son  of  Daniel  Farnham,  a  native 
of  Andover,  Mass.  He  was  fitted  for  college  by 
Rev.  Samuel  Moody,  of  York,  and  graduated  at  Har- 
vard in  1739.  He  studied  law  with  Edmund  Trow- 
bridge, of  Cambridge,  who  was  considered  the  best 
lawyer  of  his  time,  and  who,  in  1759,  became  chief 
justice  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Judicature.  Only  a 
year  after  leaving  college,  in  July,  1740,  he  married 
Sybil  Angler,  daughter  of  Rev.  Samuel  Angier,  of 
Watertown,  and  granddaughter  of  Uriah  Oakes,  the 
fourth  president  of  Harvard  College.  Soon  after 
marriage  Mr.  Farnham  took  up  his  permanent  resi- 
dence in  Newburyport,  and  began  practice.  At  that 
time  there  was  no  lawyer  east  of  Salem  in  Essex 
County,  and  the  field  was  one  in  which  a  man  of 
less  ability  would  have  won  success.  But  Mr.  Farn- 
ham was  a  man  not  only  of  learning,  but  of  indomi- 
table energy  and  activity,  and  soon  stood  in  the  front 
rank  at  the  Essex  bar.  In  1768  he  was  one  of  five 
barristers  in  Essex  County,  the  others  being  Wm. 
Pynchon,  John  Chipman,  Nathaniel  Peaselee  Sargent 
and  John  Lowell.  The  house  which  he  built  and  oc- 
cupied was  a  fine  specimen  of  that  style  of  domestic 
architecture  which  Harrison,  the  English  architect, 
who  came  to  this  country  with  Bishop  Berkely,  in- 
spired, and  which  was  freely  adopted  in  Salem,  Mar- 
blehead,  Portsmouth  and  Newburyport.  The  house 
stood  where  the  Kelly  School-house  now  stands,  and 
is  remembered  by  many  of  the  present  generation. 

Mr.  Farnham,  or,  as  he  is  better  known,  Colonel 
Farnham,  having  received  a  commission  from  Governor 
Bernard  in  1769  as  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Essex 
Regiment,  continued  in  active  and  successful  practice 
until  the  Revolution.  His  attachment  to  the  King 
was  strong,  and  after  all  hope  of  a  peaceable  adjust- 
ment of  the  controversy  with  Great  Britain  was  aban- 
doned, though  he  had  taken  an  active  part  in  opposing 
the  Stamp  Act  and  other  measures  of  the  home  gov 
ernment,  he  remained  a  persistent,  earnest  and  out- 
spoken adherent  of  the  crown.  He  was  the  only  one 
in  Newburyport  who  had  the  courage  to  avow  loyal 
sentiments,  and  after  his  death,  which  occurred  in 
1776,  it  was  the  boast  of  the  town  that  it  had  been 
purified.  There  is  some  ground  for  the  suspicion  that 
his  death  was  the  result  of  abusive  treatment  at  the 
hands  of  the  patriots.  Dr.  Samuel  Peters,  in  a  letter 
dated  June  19,  1783,  says  :  "  Messerve  (collector  of 
Portsmouth)    and   Porter,  a  lawyer  of  Salem,  agree 


that  there  never  was  known  to  be  in  Newburyport 
more  than  four  loyal  subjects,  one  of  whom  went  ofl 
to  Scotland,  Colonel  Farnham  was  killed  by  the 
rebels,  and  Mr.  Bass  and  Dr.  Jones  gave  satisfaction 
to  the  rebels  and  remained  there." 

Though  the  patriotic  citizens  of  Newburyport 
looked  upon  the  death  of  Colonel  Farnham  as  a 
purifying  event,  it  is  certain  that  during  his  long  res- 
idence in  that  town,  up  to  the  Revolutionary  period, 
he  was  an  honored  lawyer  and  citizen,  prominent  in 
every  good  work,  and  a  means  of  purification  to  all 
who  came  within  the  sphere  of  his  example  and  in- 
fluence. In  his  domestic  relations  he  was  a  loving 
husband  and  a  tender  father.  After  his  death  the 
copy  of  a  prayer  which  was  found  in  his  pocket-book, 
and  which  he  was  in  the  daily  habit  of  repeating, 
shows  him  to  have  been  a  devout  and  faithful  Chris- 
tian. 

William  Pynchon  was  born   in    Springfield  in 

1725,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1743.  In  1745  he 
removed  to  Salem,  where  he  studied  law  with  Stephen 
Sewall,  one  of  the  judges  of  the  Superior  Court  of 
Judicature.     He  died  in  Salem  in  March,  1789. 

John  Chipman  was  the  son  of  Rev.  John  Chip- 
man,  of  Marblehead,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in 
1738.  He  died  in  Falmouth  (now  Portland)  in  July, 
1768. 

Nathaniel  Peaselee  Sargent  was  born  in 
Methuen  November  2,  1731,  and  graduated  at  Har- 
vard in  1750.  He  practiced  law  in  Haverhill.  He 
was  the  son  of  Rev.  Christopher  Sargent,  of  Methuen. 
In  1776  he  was  appointed  judge  of  the  Superior 
Court  of  Judicature,  and  in  1789  chief  justice  of  that 
court,  holding  the  place  until  his  death,  in  October, 
1791. 

John  Lowell,  the  last  of  the  five  Essex  County 
barristers  in  1768,  was  not  long  identified  with  his  native 
county.  He  was  born  in  Newbury  in  1743,  and  gradu- 
ated at  Harvard  in  1760,  receiving  the  degree  of  LL.D. 
in  1792.  He  studied  law  in  Boston  in  the  office  of 
Oxenbridge  Thacher,  and  after  a  short  term  of  prac- 
tice in  Newburyport  removed  to  Boston,  and  finally 
to  Roxbury,  where  he  died  in  May,  1802.  In  1781  he 
was  chosen  a  member  of  Congress,  and  in  1782  was 
appointed  one  of  the  three  judges  of  the  Court  of 
Appeals  from  the  Court  of  Admiralty.  In  1789  he 
was  appointed  judge  of  the  United  States  District 
Court,  and  in  1801  was  made  chief  justice  of  the 
First  Circuit  of  the  United  States  Court,  and  held  the 
office  until  the  law  establishing  the  court  was  re- 
pealed, in  1802. 

Nathaniel  Ropes  was  born    in  Salem  May  20, 

1726,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1745.  In  1766  he 
was  appointed  judge  of  probate  for  Essex,  and  chief 
justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  the  same 
county.  He  lived  in  Salem  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  March  19,  1774. 

Tristram  Dalton,  son  of  Michael  Dalton,  was 
born  in  Newburyport  May  28,  1738,  and  graduated  at 


*^^ 


*^ 


THE  BENCH  AND  BAR. 


XXV 


Harvard  in  1755.  He  studied  law  in  Salem  and  mar- 
ried a  daughter  of  Robert  Hooper,  of  Marblehead. 
He  was  a  representative  from  Newburyport  and 
Speaker  of  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Representa- 
tives, and  a  member  of  the  State  Senate.  With 
Caleb  Strong,  he  represented  Massachusetts  in  the 
United  States  Senate  from  1789  to  1791  in  the  first 
Congress  after  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution.  He 
invested  largely  in  propertj'^  at  Washington,  and  re- 
moved to  that  city,  but  eventually  sustained  serious 
losses.  He  was  appointed,  in  1815,  surveyor  of  the 
ports  of  Boston  and  Charlestown,  and  died  in  Boston 
May  30,  1817.  The  house  in  which  he  lived  in  New- 
buryi)ort  is  still  standing  on  State  Street,  a  gambrel- 
roof  house,  a  little  above  the  Public  Library,  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  street. 

OcTAVius  Pickering,  son  of  Colonel  Timothy 
Pickering,  was  born  in  Wyoming,  Pa.,  September  2, 
1792,  during  the  temporary  residence  of  his  father  in 
that  place.  His  father  returned  to  Salem,  his  native 
town,  in  1801,  and  Octavius  was  a  Salem  youth  of 
fourteen  years  when  he  entered  Harvard,  in  1806. 
He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Salem  at  the  October 
term  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  1818, 
but  very  soon  removed  to  Boston,  where  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  Suffolk  bar  March  6,  1816.  From  that 
time  until  his  death,  October  29,  1868,  he  was  no 
longer  identified  with  Essex  County.  He  published, 
in  1867,  the  life  of  his  father,  and  engaged  in  other 
literary  works,  but  his  twenty-four  volumes  of  Mas- 
sachusetts decisions,  known  as  "  Pickering's  Re- 
ports," are  his  best  title  to  a  lasting  remembrance. 

John  Gai>lison  was  born  in  Marblehead  in  Oc- 
tober, 1788,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1807.  He 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Salem  in  1810,  at  the  Sep- 
tember term  of  Court  of  Common  Pleas.  After  a 
short  practice  in  Marblehead  he  removed  to  Boston, 
where  he  published,  in  1807,  two  volumes  of  Circuit 
Court  reports  and  engaged  in  literary  work.  lie  died 
December  25,  1820. 

Hon.  Daniel  Appleton  White,  for  thirty-eight 
years  judge  of  probate  for  Essex  County,  was  born  in 
Methuen,  on  ground  now  at  the  heart  of  the  present 
city  of  Lawrence,  June  7,  1776.  He  was  the  sixth 
son  and  eleventh  child  of  John  White,  a  gentleman 
farmer  of  that  day,  and  was  descended  in  the  sixth 
generation  from  William  White,  one  of  the  founders 
of  Newbury  and,  in  1640,  one  of  the  original  gran- 
tees of  Haverhill,  his  mother  being  Elizabeth,  daugh- 
ter of  Joseph  Haynes.  It  was  a  happy  country 
home  of  the  best  class  in  which  his  early  years  were 
passed,  abounding  in  comfort,  plenty,  intelligence 
and  alfection,  with  high-minded  parents  and  a  large 
family  of  brothers  and  sisters  united  by  ties  of  unu- 
sual strength,  and  amid  surroundings  of  natural 
beauty,  on  a  noble  farm  of  nearly  three  hundred 
acres,  bounded  by  the  Merrimac  and  the  Spicket 
Rivers.  As  in  most  New  England  families,  the  boy 
of  less  physical  strength  and  of  a  studious  bent  was 
ill 


selected  by  these  qualities  for  an  education,  and  he 
entered  the  academy  at  Atkinson,  N.  H.,  in   June, 

1792,  and  Harvard  College  in  the  freshman  class  of 

1793,  having  completed  his  preparation  in  seven  and 
a  half  months  of  actual  study  of  from  fourteen  to 
sixteen  hours  a  day.  Although  Cambridge  has  reared 
a  host  of  loyal  students,  the  college  has  rarely  trained 
so  devoted  a  son  as  he  jifoved  to  be.  Learning  was, 
indeed,  at  a  low  ebb  there  in  the  last  years  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  the  apparatus  of  knowledge  small 
and  the  opportunities  were  scanty,  and  in  morals  and 
religion  the  unsettling  effect  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion was  marked  ;  but  it  was  a  place  to  train  a  strong 
character  and  to  knit  worthy  friendships.  In  a  class 
of  exceptional  talent,  young  White  graduated  the 
first  scholar,  in  1797,  and,  after  two  years  spent  in 
teaching  the  public  grammar-school  in  Medford,  in 
August,  1799,  returned  to  Cambridge  as  tutor  in 
Latin,  a  position  then  of  great  responsibility  and 
influence,  in  which  he  was  enabled  to  be  of  much 
service  to  the  college.  Perhaps  the  four  years  thus 
occupied  were  the  happiest  part  of  his  life,  with  his 
marked  academic  tastes  and  aptitudes.  In  Septem- 
ber, 1803,  however,  resigning  his  tutorship,  he  re- 
moved to  Salem  to  complete,  in  the  office  of  Mr. 
(afterwards  Judge)  Samuel  Putnam,  the  studies  for 
the  bar,  which  he  had  been  pursuing  while  tutor. 
Here,  with  Mr.  John  Pickering,  eminent  later  as  a 
philological  scholar,  he  prepared  an  edition  of  Sal- 
lust,  "the  first  edition  of  an  ancient  classic  ever 
published  in  the  United  States  which  was  not  a  pro- 
fessed re-impression  of  some  former  and  foreign  edi- 
tion," the  sheets  of  which  Avere  unfortunately  de- 
stroyed by  fire  on  the  eve  of  publication,  in  1805. 
Having  been  admitted  to  the  bar  in  June,  1804,  Mr. 
White  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  New- 
buryport with  success  and  distinction  as  a  lawyer  and 
citizen,  residing  in  that  town  for  thirteen  years.  Of 
strong  political  convictions  as  a  Federalist,  he  became 
prominent  in  that  party  in  Massachusetts  during  the 
administrations  of  Jefferson  and  Madison,  being  a 
member  of  the  State  Senate  from  1810  to  1815,  and 
taking  a  leading  part  in  public  affairs,  and  in  No- 
vember, 1814,  being  nominated  for  Congress  as  the 
Federal  candidate  in  the  Essex  North  District,  he  was 
elected  by  a  nearly  unanimous  vote,  the  expression  of 
a  constituency  not  of  his  own  party  alone  of  the  general 
respect  and  trust  in  which  he  was  held.  At  this  junc- 
ture, on  the  threshold  of  a  conspicuous  public  career, 
the  oflfer  by  Governor  Strong  of  the  office  of  judge  of 
probate  for  the  county  of  Essex  altered  the  course  of 
his  life.  He  accepted  this  position,  and  resigned  his 
commission  as  Representative  in  the  spring  of  1815, 
against  the  judgment  of  many  friends,  who  felt  that 
he  did  not  estimate  his  qualifications  for  high  public 
service  at  their  full  worth ;  but  he  was  led  to  this 
decision  by  considerations  such  as  appealed  with  pe- 
culiar force  to  a  lofty  and  unworldly  character.  De- 
voted to  the  principles  of  his  party,  he  yet  could  not 


X<Vl 


HISTOKY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


be  its  slave;  his  strong  taste  for  literary  studies  and 
for  a  life  of  scholarly  freedom  from  engrossing  pro- 
fessional cares  found  an  opportunity  for  satisfaction ; 
but  the  controlling  motive  with  him  was  due  to  the 
bereavement  of  his  home.  He  had  married  Mrs. 
Mary  Van  Schalkwyck,  daughter  of  Dr.  Josiah  Wil- 
der, of  Lancaster,  May  24,  1807.  whose  early  death, 
June  29,  1811,  had  left  him  with  two  young  daugh- 
ters, a  care  and  duty  which  the  life  of  a  public  man 
at  Washington  would  have  compelled  him  to  sacrifice. 
In  giving  up  the  opportunity  of  a  conspicuous  public 
career  he  did  not,  however,  turn  aside  from  a  large 
sphere  of  honorable  service.  The  office  of  judge  of 
probate,  when  held  for  the  length  of  time  during 
which  Judge  White  exercised  its  duties,  brings  its 
holder  into  important  relations  with  the  whole  com- 
munity, and  enables  him  to  stand  to  the  widow  and 
the  orphan  for  the  justice  of  the  commonwealth  in 
their  hour  of  need.  Moreover,  a  special  reason  for 
the  appointment  of  a  judge  of  such  weight  of  char- 
acter and  high  reputation  had  been  the  fact  that  the 
methods  of  several  of  the  probate  courts,  and  partic- 
ularly that  of  Essex  County,  needed  revision  and 
reform.  To  this  task  Judge  White  addressed  himself 
with  results  which  made  the  court  a  model  of  admin- 
istration, which  was  followed  in  the  other  probate 
courts  of  the  State.  Still,  the  necessary  changes 
which  he  introduced  led  to  serious  misunderstandings 
for  a  time  in  a  public  accustomed  to  loose  and  easy- 
going methods,  and  the  feeling  culminated  in  1821  in 
a  memorial  addressed  to  the  Legislature  by  sundry 
persons  in  complaint  against  the  judge  and  the  reg- 
ister of  probate  in  Essex  County.  His  former  politi- 
cal opponents  found  this  a  favorable  occasion  of 
attack,  and  the  special  committee  appointed  by  the 
House  of  Representatives  held  an  ex  parte  investiga- 
tion, without  giving  the  officers  who  were  thus  assailed 
any  opportunity  to  vindicate  their  action.  Yet  the 
committee  were  compelled  to  do  so  in  their  own  re- 
port, unanimously  adopted  by  the  Legislature,  which 
stated  that  the  changes  which  had  been  introduced 
were  "  some  of  them  expressly  required  by  different 
statutes,  others  by  the  Supreme  Court  adjudged  to  be 
necessary,  and,  as  far  as  they  could  find,  all  of  them 
useful."  Judge  White  took  this  occasion  to  publish, 
in  1822,  a  careful  historical  account  of  the  course  of 
probate  law  and  procedure  from  the  earliest  times  in 
this  commonwealth,  with  an  account  of  the  former 
practice  in  Essex  County  and  the  changes  which  had 
been  introduced.  This  little  work,  entitled  "A  View 
of  the  Jurisdiction  and  Proceedings  of  the  Courts  of 
Probate  in  Massachusetts,  with  Particular  Reference 
to  the  County  of  Essex,"  and  which  concluded  with 
a  dignified  and  just  animadversion  upon  the  mode  in 
which  the  legislative  investigation  had  been  con- 
ducted, became  an  authorit}^  on  the  subject.  The 
reforms  which  he  had  introduced  were  adopted  in  the 
courts  of  other  counties,  while  fixed  salaries  were 
substituted   for   fees.     When    Judge  White  resigned 


his  office,  July  1,  1853,  in  his  seventy-eighth  year, 
but  with  his  physical  and  mental  powers  unabated, 
nearly  every  estate  in  the  county  had  passed  under 
his  care,  and  his  fidelity  and  justice  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  his  duties  had  been  crowned  with  universal 
respect  and  honor.  The  opportunities  of  leisure 
which  his  judicial  position  affiDrded  enabled  him  to 
meet  the  demands  for  those  services  which  naturally 
devolve  on  a  public-spirited  citizen  holding  such  a 
position  in  the  community.  He  was  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Essex  County  Lyceum,  the  pioneer 
in  the  system  of  public  lectures  which  promised  and, 
for  a  time,  fulfilled  the  promise  to  be  potent  among 
the  educational  and  moral  influences  of  the  time, 
being  its  president,  and  also  the  first  president  of  the 
Salem  Lyceum.  Of  the  Essex  Institute  he  was  pres- 
ident from  its  formation,  in  1848,  until  his  death. 
Addresses  on  public  occasions,  as  at  the  dedication  of 
Harmony  Grove  Cemetery,  and  the  eulogies  on  Dr. 
Bowditch,  in  Salem,  and  Hon.  John  Pickering,  in 
Boston,  were  given  by  him.  Harvard  College  he 
served  with  unwearied  devotion  for  many  years  in 
the  board  of  overseers  and  on  various  committees, 
receiving  from  the  university  in  1843  the  honorary 
degree  of  LL.D.,  and  in  1844  delivering  the  address 
before  its  Association  of  Alumni.  But  his  delight 
was  in  his  noble  library,  rich  specially  in  the  ancient 
classics,  historical  works  and  English  belles-lettres, 
where  his  happiest  hours  were  spent  in  his  favorite 
studies.  These  bore  fruit  especially  in  his  writings 
concerning  theological  subjects  and  congregational 
polity.  His  early  bent  had  been  to  the  profession  of 
the  Christian  ministry,  from  which  he  had  been  de- 
terred by  the  difference  of  his  convictions  from  those 
of  his  honored  parents,  who  were  earnest  members  of 
the  Baptist  communion,  while  his  own  sympathies 
were  with  the  liberal  Christian  movement,  which 
took  form  in  the  Unitarian  denomination,  in  which 
he  became  one  of  the  most  prominent  laymen  ;  and 
his  special  interest  in  studies  more  congenial  to  the 
sacred  profession  than  to  that  of  the  law  never  waned. 
In  the  earnest  debate  between  the  two  branches  of 
the  Congregational  body  he  took  part  with  his  pen, 
publishing  in  1832  an  elaborate  work,  marked  by 
much  learning,  entitled  "  Correspondence  Between 
the  First  Church  and  the  Tabernacle  Church,  in 
Salem,  in  which  the  Duties  of  Churches  are  Dis- 
cussed, and  the  Rights  of  Conscience  Vindicated," 
and  the  studies  of  many  years  were  gathered  up  by 
him  in  his  old  age  in  his  volume  on  "  New  England 
Congregationalism  in  its  Origin  and  Purity,"  pub- 
lished in  1861,  just  before  his  death.  In  these  studious 
labors,  however,  he  was  no  recluse,  but  his  fine  old 
mansion  was  the  seat  of  a  large  and  wide  hospitality 
to  friends  and  kindred  and  strangers.  This  had  be- 
come his  home  when,  after  his  removal  to  Salem,  he 
had  married,  August  1,  1819,  Mrs.  Eliza  Wetmore, 
daughter  of  William  Orne,  Esq.,  a  prominent  mer- 
chant,  whose   early   death,   March    27,  1821,    again 


THE  BENCH  AND  BAR. 


xxvu 


darkened  his  domestic  happiness.  His  subsequent 
marriage,  January  22,  1824,  to  Mrs.  Ruth  Rogers, 
daughter  of  Joseph  Hurd,  Esq.,  of  Charlestown, 
placed  once  more  at  the  head  of  his  home  a  refined 
and  charming  lady,  who  shared  and  graced  its  hospi- 
talities, surviving  him  to  die  November  28,  1874,  at 
the  age  of  more  than  ninety  years. 

In  puch  serene  and  happy  occupations  the  closing 
years  of  Judge  White's  life  were  spent  after  the  resig- 
nation of  his  judicial  office,  which  he  continued  able 
to  have  filled,  if  he  had  so  chosen,  to  his  death, 
March  30,  1861,  near  the  close  of  his  eighty-fifth 
year,  with  undimmed  powers  of  body  and  mind,  and 
with  a  spirit  ever  young.  His  brethren  of  the  Essex 
bar  expressed  the  feeling  of  the  community  in  reso- 
lutions adopted  at  a  meeting  called  for  the  purpose 
after  the  death  of  Chief  Justice  Shaw  and  of  Judge 
White,  which  recorded  their  "  appreciation  of "  his 
"  fine  intellectual  and  moral  traits,  of  that  elegant 
and  varied  scholarship,  and  that  thorough  and  exact 
learning  of  which  a  brilliant  university  career  gave 
promise,  and  which  the  experience  of  so  long  a  life 
did  not  disappoint;  of  his  fidelity  to  his  professional 
and  judicial  duties;  of  the  services  which  he  has 
rendered  to  the  probate  law  by  his  faithful  adminis- 
tration and  his  published  treatise  ;  of  the  pure  and 
simple  course  of  his  daily  life  ;  of  the  unswerving 
integrity,  the  exquisite  religious  sensibility,  the  large 
philanthropy  and  the  unbounded  and  generous  sym- 
pathy for  all  around  him,  which  ennobled  his  life, 
even  to  its  extreraest  close,"  and  commemorating, 
"  with  affectionate  pride,"  "  the  influence  of  his  ex- 
ample." Two  enduring  memorials  in  gifts  ampler 
than  are  often  bestowed  by  men  of  far  larger 
estate  remain  to  perpetuate  his  memory.  The  first  is 
that  by  which  he  bestowed  on  the  Essex  Institute,  in 
Salem,  the  greater  part  of  his  library,  amounting  in 
all  to  over  eight  thousand  books  and  ten  thousand 
pamphlets.  The  other  is  the  noble  White  Founda- 
tions in  the  city  of  Lawrence,  which  now  covers  the 
green  fields  of  what  was  his  father's  farm  in  Methuen. 
In  selling  to  the  Essex  Company  his  portion  of  this 
territory,  he  had  reserved  six  acres,  including  a  fam- 
ily burial  lot,  with  the  restriction  that  it  should  not 
be  built  upon  without  the  consent  of  that  company. 
With  this  consent,  in  1852,  he  vested  this  property 
in  three  trustees,  who  were  directed  to  make  proper 
provision  for  the  burial-place,  after  which  the  pro- 
ceeds of  sales  of  the  land  were  to  be  inve-*ted  and  the 
income  applied  to  the  establishment  and  support  of 
an  annual  course  of  lectures  and  in  the  purchase  of 
books  for  the  Public  Library,  any  further  surplus  to 
be  used  "  in  such  manner  as  they,  in  the  exercise  of 
a  sound  judgment  and  discretion,  shall  consider  best 
adapted  to  promote  the  moral,  intellectual  and  Chris- 
tian advancement  and  instruction  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  town  of  Lawrence,  earnestly  requesting  the 
said  trustees  constantly  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  great 
object  intended  to  be  promoted  and  accomplished  is 


the  education  and  training  up  of  the  young  in  habits 
of  industry,  morality  and  piety,  and  in  the  exercise 
of  true  Christian  principles,  both  in  thought  and 
action."  From  the  income  of  this  fund  annual 
courses  of  lectures  since  1864-65  have  been  given  in 
Lawrence,  free  to  the  industrial  classes,  and  filling 
the  largest  hall  in  the  city  to  overflowing,  and  since 
1872  a  regular  appropriation  of  one  thousand  dollars 
annually  has  been  applied  to  the  purchase  of  care- 
fully-selected books  for  the  Public  Library,  while  it 
is  estimated  that  the  principal  of  the  fund  will  event- 
ually amount  to  one  hundred  thousand  dollars, — a 
worthy  fulfillment  of  a  wise  and  comprehensive  plan 
for  enduring  public  benefit.  The  two  daughters  of 
Judge  White  by  his  first  marriage  were  married  to 
Hon.  William  Dwight,  of  Springfield,  and  Hon. 
Caleb  Foote,  of  Salem,  while  two  sons  survived  him, 
the  children  of  his  second  and  third  marriages,- — 
Rev.  William  Orne  White  and  Dr.  Henry  Orne 
White.     All  of  these  children  have  descendants. 

Simon  Greenleaf  was  born  in  Newburyport 
December  5,  1783,  and  educated  at  the  Latin  school 
in  that  town.  While  he  was  a  boy  his  father  re- 
moved to  New  Gloucester,  Maine,  where  he  received 
his  early  education  at  the  common  schools.  Without 
the  advantage  of  a  college  career,  at  the  age  of 
eighteen  he  entered  the  law-office  of  Ezekiel  Whit- 
man, of  Portland,  and  after  a  five  years'  course  of 
study  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Cumberland  Coun- 
ty in  1806.  He  began  to  practice  at  Standish,  Maine, 
removing,  after  a  short  time,  to  Gray,  and  from 
thence,  in  1818,  to  Portland. 

In  1820  he  was  appointed  reporter  of  decisions  of 
the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  of  Maine,  and  held  office 
twelve  years,  during  which  time  he  issued  nine  vol- 
umes of  reports,  which  laid  the  foundation  of  his 
reputation  and  future  distinguished  legal  career.  He 
published  at  an  early  day  a  volume  of  "  Overruled 
Ca«es,"  and  later  in  life  a  treatise  on  the  "  Law  of 
Evidence."  This  work,  with  his  "  Reports,"  assures 
him  a  lasting  fame. 

In  1817  he  received  from  Bowdoin  College  the  de- 
gree of  Master  of  Arts,  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws 
from  Harvard  in  1834,  and  from  Amherst  in  1845.  In 
1834  he  was  appointed  Royal  Professor  of  Law  in 
Harvard  University  as  the  successor  of  Professor 
Ashmun,  and  after  the  death  of  Judge  Story  he  was 
appointed  to  the  Dane  Professorship  in  1846.  He 
was  induced  by  ill  health  to  resign  in  1848,  when  he 
was  honored  with  the  title  of  Emeritus  Pi'ofessor  of 
Law  in  the  University.  He  died  at  Cambridge  Octo- 
ber 6.  1853. 

Asa  Waldo  Wildes  was  born  (1786)  in  Topsfield  and 
graduated  at  Dartmouth  in  1809.  After  leaving  col- 
lege he  taught  school  in  Newburyport  and  Washing- 
ton, and  finally  returned  to  Newburyport  and  entered 
as  a  student  the  law-office  of  Stephen  W.  Marston. 
He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1820,  and  began  in 
Newburyport  the  practice  of  law,  which  he  continued 


XXVlll 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


until  1826.  In  that  year  that  part  of  the  duties  of 
the  Court  of  Sessions  which  related  to  highways  was 
transferred  to  a  new  board,  "  called  commissioners 
of  highways,"  consisting  of  five  members  appointed 
by  the  Governor.  Mr.  Wildes  was  appointed  by  Gov- 
ernor Lincoln  a  member  of  the  board,  with  Robert 
Rantoul,  of  Beverly  ;  Stephen  Barker,  of  Andover ; 
Joseph  Winn,  of  Salem  ;  and  William  B.  Breed,  of 
Lynn,  as  his  associates. 

In  1828  the  Board  of  Highway  Commissioners  was 
abolished,  and  the  Board  of  County  Commissioners 
established.  Mr.  AVildes  was  appointed  by  the  Gov- 
ernor chairman  of  the  new  board,  and  held  office  by 
successive  appointments  until  1835,  when  the  office 
was  made  elective  ;  and  again  by  election  until  1856, 
with  tbe  exception  of  one  term  of  three  years,  from 
1842  to  1845. 

Mr.  Wildes  was  peculiarly  fitted  for  the  place  he 
so  long  occupied,  and  his  prolonged  incumbency  was 
as  creditable  to  the  people  of  Essex  County  as  to 
himself  They  appreciated  his  legal  knowledge  and 
sound  judgment,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  call  him 
into  their  service.  He  died  in  Newburyport,  Decem- 
ber 4,  1857. 

Stephen  W.  Marston  was  born  in  Fairlee,  Vt., 
in  1787.  He  graduated  at  Dartmouth,  and  after  com- 
pleting his  law  studies  with  Judge  White,  of  Salem, 
settled  in  Newburyport.  He  was  well  read  in  the 
law,  and  at  an  early  day  took  high  rank  at  the  Essex 
bar.  He  was  one  of  the  junior  counsel  in  the  cele- 
brated Goodridge  robbery  case,  in  which  Daniel 
Webster  was  senior.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  mas- 
terly management  and  skill  of  Mr.  Webster,  aided  by 
the  thorough  work  of  his  assistants,  the  Kenistons, 
Jackman  and  Pearson,  the  defendants  would  doubt- 
less have  been  convicted  of  a  crime  which  had  never 
been  committed.  There  had  been  no  robbery,  but 
Goodridge  had  been  so  ingenious  in  the  arrangement 
of  his  plot  and  of  the  evidence  to  sustain  it,  that  the 
proof  against  the  parties  charged  seemed  almost  con- 
clusive. An  account  of  this  trial,  perhaps  the  must 
remarkable  one  in  the  annals  of  the  State,  was  pub- 
lished in  a  pamphlet,  and  is  worthy  of  examination 
by  all  who  are  interested  in  the  administration  of 
criminal  law. 

In  1833  Mr.  Marston  was  appointed  justice  of  the 
Police  Court  at  Newburyport,  and  continued  in  office 
until  1866,  when  the  increasing  feebleness  of  age  in- 
duced him  to  resign.  His  duties  on  the  bench  were 
conscientiously  performed,  and  his  decisions,  which 
were  rarely  reversed,  were  always  marked  by  a  sound 
judgment  as  well  as  an  exact  perception  of  legal  jjrin- 
ciples.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature  in  early 
life,and  the  Whig  candidate  for  Congress  in  opposition 
to  Caleb  Gushing  in  that  gentleman's  first  great  con- 
test for  the  national  legislature.  He  died  at  his  resi- 
dence August  27,  1873. 

Samuel  L.  Knapp  was  a  native  of  Newburyport. 
He  was  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College,  and  studied 


law  at  Newburyport  with  Theophilus  Parsons,  and 
became  a  practicing  lawyer  in  his  native  town.  He 
afterwards  removed  to  Boston,  where  he  edited  the 
Boston  Galaxy,  and  for  a  short  time  the  Commercial 
Gazette.  He  again  removed  to  Washington,  where  he 
was  engaged  as  editor  of  the  National  Journal,  and 
finally  to  New  York,  where  he  edited  the  Commercial 
Advertiser.  He  was  one  of  the  junior  counsel  with 
Daniel  Webster  in  the  famous  Goodridge  robbery 
case,  and  would  have  attained  high  rank  at  the  bar 
had  not  a  fondness  for  general  literature  enticed  him 
away  from  his  prnfession.  He  died  at  Hopkinton 
Springs  in  July,  1838. 

Henry  Alexander  Scammell  Dearborn,  son 
of  General  Henry  Dearborn,  of  the  Revolution,  was 
born  in  Exeter,  N.  H.,  March  3,  1783,  and  died  in 
Portland,  Me.,  July  29,  1851.  He  graduated  at  the 
College  of  William  and  Mary  in  1803,  and  studied 
law  with  Joseph  Story,  in  Salem,  where  he  entered 
into  practice,  having  been  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1807.  He  was  brigadier-general  in  command  of 
troops  in  Boston  harbor  in  the  War  of  1812,  collector 
of  the  ports  of  Boston  and  Charlestown  from  1812  to 
1829,  a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of 
1820  and  a  member  of  Congress  from  1831  to  1833. 
In  1834  he  was  made  adjutant-general  of  Massachu- 
setts by  Governor  John  Davis,  and  removed,  in  1843, 
by  Governor  Marcus  Morton,  for  loaning  the  State  arms 
to  Rhode  Island  to  suppress  the  rebellion.  He  was 
mayor  of  Roxbury  from  1847  to  1851,  the  year  of  his 
death.  He  was  the  author  of  several  works  which 
added  materially  to  an  already  well-established  repu- 
tation. 

Gayton  Pickman  Osgood  was  born  at  Salem, 
July  4,  1797,  and  was  the  son  of  Isaac  and  Rebecca 
T.  (Pickman)  Osgood.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  in 
1815,  and  studied  law  with  Benjamin  Merrill.  He 
began  practice  in  Salem,  and  afterwards  removed  to 
Andover,  at  which  place  his  parents  had,  while  he  was 
young,  taken  up  their  residence.  He  was  in  the  Legis- 
lature, and  was  a  member  of  Congress  from  1833  to 
1835.  He  married,  March  24,  1859,  Mary  Farnham, 
of  North  Andover,  and  died  in  that  town  June  26,  1861. 

RuFiJS  King,  son  of  Richard  and  Isabella  (Brag- 
don)  King,  was  born  in  Scarboro',  Me.,  March  24, 
1755,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1777.  His 
father  had  removed  to  Scarboro'  from  Watertown^ 
Mass.,  in  1746.  He  studied  law  with  Theophilus 
Parsons,  of  Newburyport,  whose  office  was  on  the 
corner  of  Green  and  Harris  Streets,  and  commenced 
practice  in  that  place. 

From  1784  to  1786  he  was  a  member  of  Congress, 
and  it  is  said  that  in  consequence  of  his  disappoint- 
ment at  the  selection  of  Tristram  Dalton  for  United 
States  Senator  in  1788,  removed  to  New  York.  His 
career  there  is  well  known,  and  forms  no  part  of  the 
history  of  Essex  County.  He  died  at  Jamaica,  Long 
Island,  April  29,  1827.  William  King,  the  first 
Governor  of  Maine,  was  the  son  of  Richard  King,  by 


THE  BENCH  AND  BAR. 


XXIX 


his  first  wife,  Mary,   daughter  of  Samuel  Blake,  of 
Scarboro',  and  half  brother  of  Rufus. 

Nathaniel  Cogswell,  son  of  Thomas  Cogswell, 
was  born  in  Haverhill  January  19,  1773,  and  gradu- 
ated at  Dartmouth  in  1794.  He  studied  law  with 
Ebenezer  Smith,  of  Durham,  N.  H.,  and  began  prac- 
tice in  1805.  In  1808  he  established  himself  at  New- 
buryport,  and  died  at  the  Rapids  of  the  Red  River 
August,  1813. 

IcHABOD  Tucker  was  born  at  Leicester  April  17, 
1765,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1791.  He  re- 
ceived a  degree  from  Yale  in  1804,  and  from  Bowdoin 
in  1806.  He  began  the  practice  of  law  in  Haverhill, 
having  been  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1795,  and  re- 
moved to  Salem,  where  he  held  the  ofl5ce  of  clerk  of 
the  courts  for  Essex  County  for  many  years.  He 
was  the  son  of  Benjamin  and  Martha  (Davis)  Tucker, 
of  Leicester,  and  wns  twice  married, — first,  September 
16,  1798,  to  Maria,  daughter  of  Dr.  Joseph  and 
Mary  (Leavitt)  Orne,  and  second,  October  13,  1811, 
to  Esther  Orne,  widow  of  Joseph  Cobat  and  daugh- 
ter of  Dr.  William  and  Lois  (Orne)  Paine.  He  died 
at  Salem  October  22,  1846. 

William  Cranch,  son  of  Richard  Cranch,  who 
was  born  in  England  in  November,  1726,  was  born 
in  Weymouth,  Mass.,  July  17,  1769,  and  graduated  at 
Harvard  in  1787,  receiving  the  degree  of  LL.D. 
from  his  alma  mater  in  1829.  After  his  admission 
to  the  bar  he  practiced  first  in  Braintree,  and  after- 
wards in  Haverhill.  In  October,  1794,  he  removed 
to  Washington,  and  was  appointed  in  1801,  by  Presi- 
dent Adams,  associate  judge  of  the  Circuit  Court  of 
the  District  of  Columbia,  of  which  he  was  chief  jus- 
tice from  1805  to  his  death,  which  occurred  Septem- 
ber 1,  1855.  He  published  nine  volumes  of  reports 
of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  and  six  volumes 
of  reports  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  District  of  Col- 
umbia. 

Joseph  E.  Sprague  was  the  son  of  William  and 
Sarah  (Sprague)  Stearns,  and  took  his  mother's 
maiden-name.  He  was  born  at  Salem  September  9, 
1782,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1804.  He  studied 
law,  and  was  postmaster  of  Salem  from  1815  to  1829. 
In  September,  1880,  he  was  appointed  sheriff  of  Es- 
sex County,  and  continued  in  office  until  1851.  He 
was,  at  various  times,  Senator  and  Representative  in 
the  State  Legislature,  and  died  February  22,  1852. 

Joseph  Story  was  born  in  Marblehead  Septem- 
ber 18,  1779,  and  was  the  son  of  Dr.  Elisha  Story,  a 
native  of  Boston  and  a  surgeon  in  the  Revolution. 
He  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1798,  and  received  de- 
grees of  LL.D.  from  Brown  (1815),  Harvard  (1821)  and 
Dartmouth  (1824).  Among  his  classmates  were  Wm. 
Ellery  Channing,  John  Varnum,  and  Sidney  Willard. 
His  education  before  entering  college  was  received  in 
Marblehead,  under  the  direction  of  Rev.  Dr.  William 
Harris,  afterwards  president  of  Columbia  College. 
He  began  his  law  studies  in  the  office  of  Chief  Justice 
Samuel  Sewall,  in  Marblehead,  but  on  his  appoint- 


ment to  the  bench  he  entered  the  office  of  Judge 
Samuel  Putnam,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of 
Essex  County  in  July,  1801.  He  was  a  Democrat  in 
politics,  and  as  such  stood  almost  alone  among  the 
lawyers  of  the  county.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Massachusetts  House  of  Representatives  in  1805,  '06, 
'07,  a  member  of  Congress  in  1808,  again  a  member  of 
the  Legislature  from  1809  to  1812,  and  was  chosen 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  in  Janu- 
ary, 1811. 

In  1806  he  advocated  in  the  Legislature  an  increase 
of  the  salaries  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  in  op- 
position to  the  prejudices  of  his  party  against  high  ju- 
dical salaries,  and  more  especially  against  Theophilus 
Parsons,  whom  it  was  proposed  to  place  on  the 
bench,  but  who  could  not  afford  to  relinquish  a  prac- 
tice often  thousand  dollars  for  a  position  having  at- 
tached to  it  the  paltry  salary  of  twelve  hundred  dol- 
lars. Mr.  Parsons  was  especially  obnoxious  to  the 
Democrats,  but  Mr.  Story,  with  that  sturdy  indepen- 
dence which  always  characterized  him,  advocated 
and  carried  a  bill  to  increase  the  salary  of  the  chief 
justice  to  two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars,  and  of 
the  associates  to  two  thousand  four  hundred  dollars, 
and  Mr.  Parsons  was  appointed  and  accepted  the  aj>- 
pointment.  In  1809  he  advocated  and  was  largely 
the  means  of  securing  a  further  increase  of  the  sal- 
aries of  the  chief  justice  and  the  associates  to  three 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars  and  three  thousand 
dollars,  respectively. 

On  the  18th  of  November,  1811,  he  was  appointed 
by  Madison  associate  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States,  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the 
death  of  William  Cushing,  which  occurred  on  the 
13th  of  September,  1810.  The  appointment  had  been 
previously  offered  to  John  Quincy  Adams,  who  de- 
clined it.  Mr.  Story  was  then  only  thirty-two  years 
of  age,  and  his  appointment  reflects  credit  on  the  sa- 
gacity of  Mr.  Madison,  who  discovered  in  so  young  a 
man  the  signs  of  promise  which  his  career  afterwards 
fully  verified.  In  1820,  at  the  time  of  the  separation 
of  Maine  from  Massachusetts,  he  was  a  delegate  from 
Salem  to  the  Constitutional  Convention.  In  1828 
Nathan  Dane,  who,  in  founding  the  Law  School  at 
Cambridge,  had  reserved  to  himself  the  appointments 
to  its  professorships,  appointed  Judge  Story  Dane 
professor  of  law  and  John  Hooker  Ashmun,  Royal 
professor  of  law,  and  in  the  next  year,  1829,  he  re- 
moved from  Salem  to  Cambridge,  where  he  continued 
to  reside  until  his  death,  on  the  10th  of  September, 
1845. 

Aside  from  his  learning  in  the  law  and  that  won- 
derful fluency  in  the  use  of  language,  both  spoken  and 
written,  which  made  his  learning  available,  nothing 
distinguished  him  more  than  his  industry.  With  the 
labors  of  the  judge  constantly  pressing  upon  him  and 
the  cares  of  his  professorship,  the  press  was  kept  busy 
in  supplying  the  law  libraries  of  the  land  with  his 
commentaries   and  treatises  and  miscellaneous    pro- 


XXX 


HISTORY  OP  ESSEX  COUxVTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


ductions.  His  first  publication  seems  to  have  been  a 
poem  entitled  the  "  Power  of  Solitude,"  published  in 
Salem  in  1804.  In  1805  appeared  "Selection  of 
Pleadings  in  Civil  Actions  with  Annotations."  In 
1828  he  edited  the  Public  and  General  Statutes 
passed  by  Congress  from  1789  to  1827,  and  in  1836 
and  1845  supplements  to  these  dates.  In  1832  appeared 
"  Commentaries  on  the  Law  of  Bailments,  with  Illus- 
trations from  the  Civil  and  Foreign  Law;"  in  1833, 
"Commentaries  on  the  Constitution;"  in  1834, 
"Commentaries  on  the  Conflict  of  Laws,  Foreign  and 
Domestic,  in  Regard  to  Contracts,  Rights  and  Reme- 
dies, and  Especially  in  Regard  to  Marriages,  Divorces, 
Wills,  Successions  and  Judgments."  In  1835  and 
1836  appeared  "  Commentaries  on  Equity  Jurispru- 
dence as  Administered  in  England  and  America;" 
in  1838,  "  Commentaries  on  Equity  Pleadings  and  the 
Incidents  Thereto,  according  to  the  Practice  of  the 
Courts  of  Equity  in  England  and  America  ;  "  in  1839, 
"  Commentaries  on  the  Law  of  Agency  as  a  Branch 
of  Commercial  and  Maritime  Jurisjirudence,  with  Oc- 
casional Illustrations  from  the  Civil  and  Foreign 
Law;"  in  1841,  "Commentaries  on  the  Law  of 
Partnership  as  a  Branch  of  Commercial  and  Maritime 
Jurisprudence,  with  Occasional  Illustrations  from  the 
Civil  and  Foreign  Law;"  in  1843,  "Commentaries on 
the  Law  of  Bills  of  Exchange,  Foreign  and  Inland, 
as  Administered  in  England  and  America,  with  Oc- 
casional Illustrations  from  the  Commercial  Law  of 
the  Nations  of  Continental  Europe; ''  in  1845,  "Com- 
mentaries on  the  Law  of  Promissory  Notes."  His 
decisions  in  the  First  Circuit,  from  1812  to  1815,  are  in 
"  Gallison's  Reports ;  "  from  1816  to  1830,  in  "  Mason's 
Reports;"  from  1830  to  1839,  in  "Sumner's  Re- 
ports ;  '•■  and  from  1839  to  1845,  in  Story's  "  Reports." 
Among  his  numerous  other  publications  were  an 
"  Eulogy  on  Washington  at  Salem,"  1800  ;  "An  Eulogy 
on  Captain  James  Lawrence  and  Lieutenant  Lud- 
low," 1813;  "Sketch  of  Samuel  Dexter,"  1816; 
"  Charges  to  Grand  Juries  in  Boston  and  Providence," 
1819;  "Charge  to  Grand  Jury  at  Portland,"  1820; 
"  Address  before  the  Suffolk  Bar,"  1821 ;  "  Discourse 
before  the  Phi  Beta  Society,"  1826;  "Discourse  be- 
fore the  Essex  Historical  Society,"  1828 ;  "  Address 
at  his  own  Inauguration  as  Professor,"  1829;  "Ad- 
dress at  the  Dedication  of  Mount  Auburn,"  1831 ; 
"  Address  at  the  Funeral  Services  of  Professor  John 
Hooker  Ashmun,"  1833;  "Eulogy  on  John  Mar- 
shall," 1835;  "Lectures  on  the  Science  of  Law," 
1838;  "  Address  before  the  Harvard  Alumni,"  1842; 
and  his  "  Charge  to  the  Grand  Jury  of  Rhode  Island 
on  Treason,"  in  1845.  In  addition  to  this  long  list  of 
his  works  might  be  mentioned  a  large  number  of  essays 
and  articles  in  magazines  and  reviews,  and  three  un- 
printed  manuscript  volumes,  finished  just  before  his 
death,  entitled  "  Digest  of  Law  Supplementary  to 
Comyns,''  which  are  deposited  in  the  Harvard  Col- 
lege library. 

John  Varnum  was  born  in  Dracut  in   1783,  and 


graduated  at  Harvard  in  1798.  He  practiced  law  in 
Haverhill,  and  there  married,  October  9,  1806,  Mary 
Cooke,  daughter  of  Dr.  Nathaniel  Saltonstall,  of  Hav- 
erhill. He  represented  Haverhill  in  the  State  Legis- 
lature, and  was  also  a  member  of  the  Senate.  He 
was  a  member  of  Congress  from  December  5,  1825,  to 
March  3,  1831.  His  law  studies,  before  admission  to 
the  bar,  were  pursued  in  the  office  of  Judge  Smith,  of 
Exeter.     He  died  July  23,  1836. 

John  Glen  King,  son  of  James  and  Judith 
(Norris)  King,  was  born  in  Salem  March  19,  1787, 
and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1807.  He  studied  law 
with  William  Prescott  and  Joseph  Stoiy,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1812,  at  the  November  term  of 
the  Supreme  Judicial  Court,  sitting  at  Salem.  He 
was  Representative  and  Senator  and  the  president  of 
the  first  City  Council  of  Salem  after  its  incorporation 
as  a  city,  in  1836.  Aside  from  legal  attainments, 
which  were  universally  recognized  as  of  a  high  order, 
he  was  proficient  in  historical  study,  and  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  and  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  Essex  Historical  Society.  He 
married,  November  10,  1815,  Susan  H.,  daughter  of 
Frederick  Oilman,  of  Gloucester,  and  died  July  26, 
1857. 

Mr.  King's  baptismal  name  was  John  King,  but  by 
an  act  of  the  Legislature  passed  June  21,  1811,  it  was 
changed  to  John  Glen  King.  He  was  descended 
from  William  King,  who  came  from  England  in  the 
"  Abigail  "  in  1635.  Though  he  graduated  in  1807,  he 
did  not  receive  his  degree  until  1818,  having  been  one 
of  those  engaged  in'the  famous  Commons  Rebellion, 
which  occurred  in  his  senior  year.  While  a  member 
of  the  House  of  Representatives  he  was  appointed  in 
the  Prescott  impeachment  case  to  make  the  impeach- 
ment at  the  bar  of  the  House,  in  the  name  of  the 
House  and  the  people,  and  also  one  of  seven  members 
to  conduct  the  impeachment  before  the  Senate.  He 
was  chairman  of  the  committee  and  made  the  opening 
argument. 

A  letter  from  Boston,  in  the  Salem  Gazette,  at  the 
time  of  his  death,  paid  the  following  tribute  to  hia 
memory:  "The  Hon.  John  Glen  King,  whose  death, 
at  the  ripe  age  of  seventy  years,  has  been  announced, 
was  a  gentleman  universally  respected  for  his  private 
worth  and  public  services  and  example.  All  who 
have  had  the  pleasure  of  an  intimate  acquaintance 
with  him  have  been  blest  by  his  social  qualities,  his 
urbanity  of  manner  and  his  kindness  of  heart.  The 
odor  of  his  virtues  will  long  endure  among  his 
friends.     Truly  a  good  man  has  departed." 

Nathaniel  Lord,  Jr.,  though  not  a  member  of  the 
bar,  was  so  long  register  of  probate  of  Essex  County, 
and  came  in  such  close  contact  with  lawyers  in  the 
performance  of  their  professional  duties,  as  to  deserve 
an  honorable  place  in  this  record.  He  was  descended 
from  Robert  Lord,  who  came  to  New  England  in  1636 
and  settled  in  Ipswich.  Robert  had  five  sons — Rob- 
ert,  Thomas,   Samuel,   Joseph   and   Nathaniel.     Of 


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THE  BENCH  AND  BAR. 


XXXI 


these,  Robert  had  six  sons, — Robert,  1657 ;  John, 
1659  ;  Thomas  ;  Joseph,  1674;  Nathaniel,  about  1675; 
and  Jamen,  1676.  Of  these,  James  had  James,  Joseph 
and  Nathaniel.  Of  these,  Nathaniel  married  Eliza- 
beth Day,  and  had  Nathaniel,  1747  ;  Abraham,  1751 ; 
Isaac,  1753.  Of  these,  Isaac,  by  wife,  Susanna,  had 
Isaac,  1777  ;  Joseph,  1778  ;  Nathaniel,  the  subject  of 
this  sketch,  September  25,  1780  ;  and  Levi.  1794.  Of 
these  Nathaniel,  by  his  wife  Eunice,  had  Nathaniel, 
James,  Otis  Phillips,  Isaac,  and  George  Robert.  Of 
these,  George  Robert,  by  his  wife  Mary,  had  George 
Robert  and  four  daughters,  Mary  L.,  Anna  M.,  Ella 
K.,  and  Elizabeth  F. 

Mr.  Lord  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1798,  and  be- 
came first  connected  with  the  probate  office  as  clerk 
of  Daniel  Noyes,  who  had  been  register  many  years. 
In  May,  1815,  he  was  appointed  register  by  Governor 
Caleb  Strong,  and  continued  in  ofiice  until  he  was  re- 
moved by  Governor  Boutwell,  in  1851.  In  1851  Edwin 
Lawrence  succeeded  him,  and  in  the  next  year  the 
registry  was  removed  to  Salem. 

After  leaving  college  and  before  going  into  the 
registry  as  clerk  he  taught  school  a  few  years  in 
York,  Me.,  and  was  also  for  a  short  time  an  assistant 
in  the  Dummer  Academy.  He  married,  in  Decem- 
ber, 1804,  Eunice,  daughter  of  Jeremiah  and  Lois 
(Choate)  Kimball,  of  Ipswich,  and  sister  of  Colonel 
Charles  Kimball,  of  that  town.  His  three  sons,  Na- 
thaniel James,  Otis  Phillips  and  George  Robert,  of 
whom  only  the  last  is  living,  owed  many  of  their 
strong  mental  and  physical  traits  to  their  father. 
Sketches  of  the  first  two  may  be  found  in  another 
place  in  this  record.  To  George  Robert  Lord,  who, 
at  one  time,  was  register  of  probate,  and  is  now  the 
courteous  and  efficient  assistant  clerk  of  the  courts  at 
Salem,  the  writer  of  these  sketches  is  indebted  for 
facilities  in  the  examination  of  records,  which  he 
most  generously  afforded. 

Too  much  praise  can  scarcely  be  awarded  to  Nathan- 
iel Lord  for  the  fidelity,  thoroughness  and  courtesy 
with  which  he  performed  the  duties  of  register  during 
his  incumbency  of  thirty-six  years.  Very  many  now 
living  have  cause  to  remember  his  kindness  of  heart, 
his  timely  counsel  and  his  honorable  deportment, 
both  in  business  and  social  life,  and  the  admirable 
method  and  system  of  the  office  under  its  present 
management  is  largely  due  to  the  high  standard 
which  he  set  up,  while  it  was  occupied  by  him. 

David  Cummixs  was  the  son  of  David  and  Mehita- 
bel  (Cave)  Cummins,  of  Topsfield,  and  was  born  in  that 
town  August  14,  1785.  He  graduated  at  Dartmouth 
in  1806,  and  after  completing  his  law  studies  in  the 
office  of  Samuel  Putnam,  of  Salem,  was  admitted  to 
the  Essex  bar  at  Salem  in  1809,  at  the  September  term 
of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas.  He  began  practice  at 
Salem,  afterwards  removing  to  Sj^ringfield,  and  finally 
to  Dorchester,  where  he  died  March  30,  1855.  He 
was  appointed  justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas 
in  1828,  and  remained  on  the  bench  until  1844.     He 


was  twice  married, — first,  August  13,  1812,  to  Sally, 
daughter  of  Daniel  and  Sarah  (Peabody)  Porter,  of 
Topsfield ;  and  second,  to  Catherine,  daughter  of 
Thomas  Kittridge,  of  Andover. 

Samuel  Porter,  of  Salem,  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  of  Essex  County  before  the  Revolution.  He 
studied  law  with  Daniel  Farnhara,  of  Newburyport, 
and  became  a  Loyalist  refugee  and  ended  his  days  in 
England. 

Nathan  W.  Hazen  was  born  in  Bridgeton,  Maine, 
July  9,  1800.  He  there  received  his  education  in  the 
public  schools  and  in  the  Bridgeton  Academy.  He 
studied  law  with  Leverett  Saltonstall,  of  Salem,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1828.  He  settled  in  An- 
dover, where  he  secured  a  large  practice.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Representa- 
tives in  1834,  and  at  a  later  day  a  member  of  the 
Senate.  He  died  in  Andover,  March  19,  1887,  the 
oldest  member  of  the  Essex  bar. 

Benjamin  Ropes  Nichols,  son  of  Ichabod  and 
Lydia  (Ropes)  Nichols,  was  born  in  Portsmouth,  New 
Hampshire,  May  18,  1786,  and  graduated  at  Harvard 
in  1804.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Essex  County 
in  1807,  and  for  many  years  practiced  law  in  Salem. 
He  married,  April  12, 1813,  Mary,  daughter  of  Colonel 
Timothy  and  Rebecca  (White)  Pickering,  of  Salem. 
She  was  born  in  Pliiladelphia  November  21,  1793, 
during  her  father's  temporary  residence  in  that  city, 
and  outliving  her  husband  many  years,  died  in  West 
Roxbury  March  22,  1863.  Mr.  Nichols  removed  to 
Boston  in  1824,  where  he  died  April  30,  1848.  He 
was  a  man  of  culture,  and  as  an  antiquary  won  more 
than  common  distinction.  In  1820  he  was  appointed 
by  the  General  Court  on  a  commission,  with  Rev. 
James  Freeman,  of  Boston,  and  Samuel  Davis,  of 
Plymouth,  to  superintend  the  work  of  copying  such  a 
portion  of  the  New  Plymouth  records  as  they  might 
think  desirable.  Under  the  direction  of  this  commis- 
sion, six  volumes  of  court  proceedings,  one  volume  of 
deeds,  one  volume  of  judicial  acts  and  one  volume  of 
laws  were  copied,  and  the  copies  were  deposited  in  the 
office  of  the  secretary  of  the  commonwealth,  where  they 
still  are.  The  original  records  were  also  put  in  proper 
condition  for  preservation,  and  to  the  intelligent  i)er- 
formance  of  the  duties  of  the  commission  the  present 
state  of  the  Old  Colony  records  is  largely  due. 

RuFUS  Choate,  the  son  of  David  and  Miriam 
(Foster)  Choate,  was  born  on  Hog  Island,  in  the  town 
of  Essex,  October  1,  1799.  He  began  the  study  of 
Latin  in  1809  with  Dr.  Thomas  Sewell,  and  continued 
his  studies  with  Rev.  Thomas  Holt,  Wm.  Cogswell 
and  Rev.  Robert  Crowell.  He  afterwards  spent  seven 
months  at  Hampton  Academy,  then  in  charge  of 
James  Adams,  and  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College  in 
1819,  from  which  college  he  at  a  later  day  received  the 
degree  of  LL.D.  Degrees  were  also  awarded  to  him 
by  Yale  in  1844  and  Harvard  in  1845.  After  leaving 
college  he  studied  law  in  the  office  of  William  Wirt, 
at  Washington,  and  at  the  Dane  Law  School  in  Cam- 


XXXll 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


bridge,  and  was  admitted  to  the  Essex  bar,  in  Salem, 
at  the  September  term  of  the  C(mrt  of  Common  Pleas 
in  1823.  He  began  practice  in  Danvers,  where  he  re- 
mained until  1834.  During  his  residence  in  Danvers 
he  was  a  State  Representative  in  1825,  State  Senator 
in  1827,  and  member  of  Congress  from  1832  to  1834. 
In  the  latter  year  he  removed  to  Boston  In  1841  he 
succeeded  Daniel  Webster  in  the  United  States  Sen- 
ate, when  that  gentleman  resigned  his  seat  to  become 
Secretary  of  State  under  President  Harrison.  In 
1853  he  succeeded  John  H.  Clifford  as  attorney- 
general  of  Massachusetts,  and  in  the  same  year  was 
a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention.  In  1858, 
in  consequence  of  ill-health,  he  gave  up  professional 
labor,  and  in  1859  sailed  for  Europe.  At  that  time 
the  Cunard  steamers  from  Boston  touched  at  Halifax, 
Nova  Scotia,  and  when  reaching  that  port  he  was  too 
feeble  to  proceed,  and  landing,  died  in  that  city  July 
13,  1859. 

Mr.  Choate,  before  he  removed  to  Boston,  had  been 
distinguished  at  the  bar ;  and  after  the  death  of  Mr. 
Webster,  in  1852,  he  was  universally  recognized  as 
standing  at  the  head  of  the  bar  of  Massachusetts.  In 
legislative  fields  he  seemed  out  of  his  element.  In 
the  dominion  of  law,  to  which  he  gave  his  heart  and 
soul  and  strength,  he  was  supreme.  Though  an  ora- 
tor of  the  first  class,  his  greatest  forensic  efforts  were 
before  a  jury,  and  no  gladiatorial  show  ever  exceeded 
in  interest  the  continuous  exhibition  of  logic  entwined 
with  wreaths  of  eloquence  in  which  he  indulged  be- 
fore a  reluctant  jury,  until  one  after  another  of  the 
panel  yielded  to  him  his  judgment  and  was  ready,  as 
he  triumphantly  saw,  to  give  him  his  verdict.  The 
writer  has  seen  him  address  himself  for  an  hour  to  a 
single  juryman,  until  he  saw  at  last  that  he,  with  the 
rest,  was  secure.  He  was  a  man  of  large  frame,  broad 
shoulders  and  upright  figure,  surrounded  by  a  head 
and  face  which  it  is  as  impossible  to  describe  as  the 
flash  of  the  lightning  in  the  cloud  or  the  aurora  in  the 

sky. 

Though  contrasting  strongly  with  Mr.  Webster  in 
every  movement  and  feature,  he  was  perhaps  as 
striking  in  appearance,  and  in  an  uncovered  crowd 
would  have  been  as  likely  to  arrest  the  attention  of 
the  stranger.  There  was  a  fascination  about  him 
which  always  won  the  sympathy  of  visitors  to  the 
court-room  where  he  was  engaged  for  the  side  in 
whose  interest  he  was  acting.  The  juror  could  no 
more  easily  escape  this  fascination  than  the  visitor, 
and  to  this  may  be  attributed  a  part  of  his  success. 
The  writer  was  in  court  at  Mr.  Webster's  last  appear- 
ance before  a  jury  in  Boston,  and  Mr.  Choate  was  op- 
posed to  him.  It  was  one  of  the  many  contests  in 
which  the  heavy-moulded  dray-horse,  which  would 
only  exhibit  his  strength  when  he  had  tons  to  draw, 
was  pitted  against  the  racer.  The  racer  won  the  case 
because  there  were  no  tons  to  draw,  and  because 
activity,  alertness,  swiftness  and  grace  alone  were 
needed. 


Few  lawyers  in  Massachusetts  have  been  so  much 
beloved  as  Mr.  Choate.  To  the  young  members  of  the 
bar  he  was  always  courteous  and  kind ;  to  his  peers 
he  was  always  considerate  and  liberal.  His  death  was 
felt  as  a  public  loss,  and  not  only  the  various  societies 
and  the  bar  to  which  he  belonged  put  on  record 
their  tributes  to  his  memory,  but  the  citizens  of  Bos- 
ton met  in  Fanueil  Hall  and  passed  resolutions  in  his 
honor. 

Charles  Jackson,  born  in  Newburyport  May  31, 
1775,  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1793  and  received  the 
degree  of  LL.D.  from  his  alma  mater  in  1821.  He 
was  a  son  of  Jonathan  Jackson,  of  Newburyport,  who 
afterwards  removed  to  Boston  and  there  died  March 
5,  1810.  He  studied  law  with  Theophilus  Parsons 
and  was  admitted  to  the  Essex  bar  in  1796.  In  1803 
he  removed  to  Boston  and  attained  very  soon  a  high 
rank.  In  1813  he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Strong 
associate  justice  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court,  and 
left  the  bench  in  1823.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention  of  1820,  and  in  1833  was 
appointed  one  of  the  commissioners  to  codify  the 
State  laws.     He  died  in  Boston  December  13,  1855. 

Stephen  Minot  was  born  in  Concord,  Mass.,  Sep- 
tember 28,  1776,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1801. 
He  studied  law  with  Samuel  Dana,  of  Groton,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Middlesex  County  in  1804. 
He  practiced  for  a  short  time  in  New  Gloucester  and 
in  Minot,  Maine,  and  finally  settled  in  Haverhill.  He 
was,  from  December,  1811,  to  June,  1821,  judge  of  the 
Circuit  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  county  attorney 
from  1824  to  1830.  He  died  in  Haverhill  April  6, 
1861. 

Samuel  Putnam,  LL.D.,  A.A.S.^ — "  Samuel  Put- 
nam was  born  in  Danvers,  on  the  13th  of  April,  1768. 
He  was  the  son  of  parents  of  superior  intelligence 
and  worth,  the  line  of  his  ancestry  in  that  place  run- 
ning back  into  our  greatest  American  antiquity.  His 
father.  Deacon  Gideon  Putnam,  amid  the  emergencies 
of  an  early  settlement,  seems  to  have  exercised  a 
variety  of  those  needful  functions  which  devolved 
upon  men  of  most  native  sense  and  energy.  His 
mother,  who  united  to  keen  wit  most  acute  feelings, 
having,  of  ten  children,  only  this  one  spared,  would 
often  betray  the  smile  and  tear  in  the  same  moment, 
and  this  only  one  left  of  her  offspring  was  naturally 
of  so  very  slender  constitution  that  faintly  indeed 
in  his  youth  could  his  after  career  have  been  antici- 
pated, and  only  a  bold  casting  of  the  horoscope  have 
meted  out  to  him  his  coming  years  or  attainments. 
Samuel  went  to  school  in  Beverly,  whither  for  a  time 
the  family  removed,  and  afterwards,  at  the  age  of 
ten  years,  he  studied  in  the  academy  at  Andover. 
He  saw  the  soldiers  under  Arnold  as  they  were  going 
down  to  attack  Quebec,  and  they  were  pleased  that 
the  little  boy — who  appears  to  have  had  melody  born 

1  This  sketch  is  taken  almost  wholly  from  a  sermon  delivered  in  1853, 
by  Rev.  A.  C.  Bartol,  D.D.     (Contributed.) 


SAMUEL   PUTNAM. 


THE  BENCH  AND  BAR. 


XXXtll 


in  him,  even  at  his  tender  age,  so  rarely  cultivated 
was  his  faculty — could  play  the  fife  for  them  as  they 
marched  by. 

"Before  the  Revolution,  too,  he  had  seen  a  regi- 
ment of  soldiers  in  command  of  General  Gage,  the 
British  governor.  He  was  himself  distantly  related 
to  the  celebrated  General  Israel  Putnam.  But  his 
vocation  was  not  to  the  turbulence  of  battle,  but  to 
the  serener  air  of  peaceful  studies,  and  having  en- 
tered Harvard  College,  with  others,  a  class-mate  of 
John  Quincy  Adams,  he  received  his  graduation  in 
July,  1787,  and  continued  an  enthusiastic  friend  of 
his  alma  mater  to  the  end  of  his  days. 

"  His  father  had  destined  him  to  be  a  teacher,  but, 
moved  by  the  inspiration  and  other  destiny  of  his 
own  nature  to  a  different  sphere  of  greater  intellectu- 
al study  among  men,  he  went  to  Newburyport  to 
study  law  with  the  distinguished  Judge  Parsons, 
yet  was  by  him — his  class  of  pupils  being  full — direct- 
ed to  Master  Bradbury,  as  he  was  called,  a  sound 
and  learned  lawyer.  He  established  himself  in  the 
practice  of  his  profession,  soon  very  extensively  at 
Salem ;  held  a  leading  rank  as  an  advocate,  and, 
against  eminent  opponents,  was  prompt,  acute,  ready, 
and  able,  with  all  the  ingenuity  at  command  needful, 
to  serve  his  client.  No  advocate  of  the  time  is  under- 
stood to  have  been  better  versed  than  he  in  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  common  law.  He  had  peculiar  skill  and 
fame  in  the  branch  of  mercantile  or  commercial  law, 
which  was  a  rare  reputation  at  that  period,  so  that  the 
great  Samuel  Dexter,  in  an  important  case  sent  his 
client  to  Essex,  to  Mr.  Putnam,  as  the  man  to  consult 
in  that  early  school  of  the  law  in  Massachusetts." 

So  late  as  the  year  1885,  Lord  Esher,  the  present 
distinguished  Master  of  the  Rolls,  pronouncing  the 
judgment  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  of  England  in  an 
important  commercial  case  said:  "The  first  case  to 
be  dealt  with  is  the  American  case  of  Brooks  vs.  The 
Oriental  Insurance  Co.  It  came  before  a  judge  whose 
decisions  I  have  often  read  with  admiration,  and  from 
whom  I  have  certainly  received  great  assistance,  Mr. 
Justice  Putnam." 

"  The  renowned  Justice  Story,  who  had  been  his 
scholar,  dedicated  one  of  his  works  to  his  former 
teacher,  with  a  high  tribute  to  his  sagacity  and 
knowledge,  as  well  as  unspotted  integrity.  He  took 
a  decided  and  ardent  part  in  the  political  questions 
of  the  time,  but  it  is  believed,  in  all  the  fire  of  parties 
that  during  his  early  manhood  so  hotly  blazed  out, 
he  had  no  zeal  that  was  not  matched  by  his  fairness, 
or  at  the  core  and  in  the  seed  outdone  by  his  charity. 
But  so  did  he  retain  his  earnestness,  and  so  deter- 
mined was  he  in  his  opinions,  that  he  always,  to  the 
close,  considered  it  a  duty,  even  at  personal  inconve- 
nience, to  cast  his  vote. 

"  Upon  the  death  of  Chief  Justice  Sewall,  in  1814, 

he  was,  by  Governor  Strong,  for  whom  he  had  a  great 

reverence,  appointed  judge  of  the  Supreme  Judicial 

Court  of  this  Commonwealth,  and   he   continued   to 

iv 


exercise  this  high  oflBce  for  twenty-eight  years.  I 
state  what  is  in  the  cognizance  of  those  familiar  with 
the  subject,  in  saying  he  had  the  respect  of  all  good 
men  for  the  manner  in  which  he  performed  its  sol- 
emu  and  responsible  duties.  No  man  ever  held  the 
scales  of  justice  more  even.  None  was  ever  more  in- 
tent on  making  righteous  decrees;  none  ever  more 
fearless  and  independent  in  his  decisions ;  none  more 
solicitous  for  the  deliverance  of  the  wrongfully  ac- 
cused, and  none  more  indignant  against  all  trickery, 
lying  and  fraud.  Members  of  the  bar  join  with  his 
compeers  on  the  bench  to  declare  that  no  opinions  or 
judgments  of  a  high  tribunal  were  ever  more  like- 
ly to  be  sound,  sober,  practical,  and  to  the  point, 
than  his,  as  they  are  recorded  in  the  books. 

"  He  adhered  with  great  conservative  firmness  and 
inflexibility  to  his  principles  ;  but  one  of  his  associ- 
ates told  me  his  principles  were  good  to  adhere  to. 
It  is  the  award  of  another  sincere  observer  of  his 
course  that,  engaged  as  he  had  been  in  politics,  with 
his  whole  heart  espousing  one  side,  on  his  becoming 
judge  he  put  the  politician  entirely  off",  and,  in  his 
place,  knew  no  distinction  of  fellow  or  foe.  It  is  an 
unequivocal  sign  of  the  goodness  of  his  heart,  that, 
while  nobody  could  suspect  he  was  at  all  influenced 
by  any  regard  to  human  favor — so  clearly  and  evi- 
dently above  all  personal  regards  and  consequences 
was  he  in  his  duty — he  yet  carried  into  the  execution 
of  that  duty  the  singular  urbanity  which  stamped  his 
whole  deportment  in  private  life. 

"  In  1825  he  received  from  the  University  in  Cam- 
bridge the  title  of  Doctor  of  Laws.  In  1842,  while 
still  able  to  accomplish  well  the  work  falling  to  him 
in  his  lofty  sphere,  he  retired  into  private,  there  to 
prove  completely  that  no  role  of  oflice,  but  what  was 
solid  and  genuine,  gave  him  his  real  consequence  in 
the  world.  I  am  persuaded  from  every  quarter  will 
be  confirmed  the  assertion,  that  he  bore  himself  with 
admirable  fidelity  and  acceptance  in  all  the  relations 
he  sustained.  He  was  exceedingly  hospitable,  kept 
open  door,  cordially  invited  his  friends  to  come  in, 
delighted  to  serve  them  at  his  table,  and  forgot  not — 
how  could  he  with  his  inclination? — to  send  a  portion 
to  the  stranger  and  the  poor,  or  to  some  humble 
neighbor,  after  whose  comfort  his  benevolence 
yearned.  He  was  glad  to  go  with  his  guests  over  his 
old  paternal  estate,  which  it  was  a  special  pleasure  to 
him  to  increase  and  improve.  He  cherished  and 
fondled  his  farm,  but  had  not  the  ambition  of  some  to 
accumulate  wealth.  He  loved  to  set  out  trees,  whose 
growth  and  full  flourishing  only  his  posterity  could 
see.  I  remember  he  once  showed  me  how  much  a 
limb  had  grown  on  one  of  his  trees;  he  had,  I  think, 
brought  the  branch  to  town,  assuring  me  it  afforded 
him  as  much  satisfaction  as  another  man  would  de- 
rive from  a  dividend. 

"He  desired  kindly  constructions  of  the  deeds  and 
motives  of  others,  and  would  allow  no  ill  intent  to  be 
ascribed   where  any  excuse   was  possible,  while  all 


XXXIV 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


unfairness  everywhere  met  his  steady  disapproval. 
Eespecting  harshness  of  remark  he  often  quoted  a 
saying  of  his  own  father:  "That  may  be  true,  my 
son,  but  you  should  not  say  so."  This  love  of  all 
that  is  spiritually  accordant  was  naturally  connected 
with  or  issued  in  a  great  love  of  music,  especially  of 
sacred  music,  under  his  own  roof  or  in  the  temple. 
He  had  a  very  sensitive  ear  to  the  precision  of  the 
note ;  could  scarce  abide  any  falseness  of  tune,  was 
never  more  pleased  than  when  some  beloved  old 
hymn  rang  up  to  heaven,  and  when  not  listening  to 
the  anthems  of  the  sanctuary,  or  the  voices  kindred 
and  dear  to  him,  found,  what  was  to  him,  a  delicious 
feast  in  the  minstrelsy  of  the  birds.  There  was,  in 
truth,  an  infinite  sweetness  in  him ;  his  face  was 
favor,  his  look  an  invitation,  and  he  could  not  keep 
his  hand  from  blessing  the  head  of  a  child  as  he  went 
along.  He  was,  I  think,  a  very  happy  man,  not  ex- 
empt from  trial,  tasting  some  pain  and  sadness  as  the 
springs  of  health  and  life  were  broken  up,  but  finding 
in  existence  a  large  boon  for  overrunning  thanksgiv- 
ing. He  had  favorite  books  and  authors,  and  found 
in  reading,  and  in  hearing  his  friends  read,  the  pleas- 
ant occupation  of  much  time.  The  enjoyment  which 
a  good  old  age  has  of  youth  was  his  to  an  uncommon 
degree.  The  first  time  I  saw  him  was  with  the 
young  all  around,  evidently  both  attracted  by  his 
love  for  them,  and  overflowing  him  with  the  tokens 
of  their  own,  so  that  in  their  looks  and  motions  they 
seemed  to  make  one  life  together ;  and  I  remember 
well  his  presence,  like  a  blessing,  once,  on  occasion 
of  the  usual  gathering  of  the  children  of  our  own  so- 
ciety on  the  afternoon  of  Fast  Day.  I  have  heard  it 
repeatedly  said,  in  gratitude  to  him  or  commendation 
of  him,  that  he  loved  to  encourage  young  men  in 
their  commencing  efforts,  and  by  a  word  or  a  line 
from  the  desk  of  his  tribunal  would  cheer  and  stim- 
ulate them. 

"  During  the  stormy  period  of  our  public  affairs, 
before  and  after  1812,  he  was  among  the  stirring  spi- 
rits. He  repeatedly  represented,  in  both  branches 
of  the  Legislature,  his  section  of  the  State,  and,  we 
may  not  doubt,  uttered  always,  without  compromise, 
the  deliberate  conclusions  of  a  thoughtful  mind,  and 
the  deep  sentiments  of  a  guileless  heart." 

Judge  Putnam  was  married  October  28,  1795,  to 
Sarah  Gooll,  of  Salem,  who  survived  him  by  eleven 
years.  He  had  three  sons  and  five  daughters,  who 
lived  to  grow  up.  All  were  married,  and  all  but  one 
survived  their  father.  He  died  July  3,  1853,  in  his 
86th  year. 

Leverett  SA.LTONSTALL  was  born  in  Haverhill 
June  13, 1783.  It  is  probable  that  no  native  of  Essex 
County  who  has  held  his  residence  through  life 
within  its  limits  has  been  so  conspicuous  and  so  uni- 
versally respected  and  beloved.  It  may  be  said,  too, 
with  perfect  truth,  that  no  family  in  New  England 
can  boast  of  a  more  extended  pedigree  or  more  gen- 
l    c  blood  than  that  whose  name  he  bore  and  whose 


fame  he  contributed  so  much  to  maintaiu.  He  was 
the  son  of  Dr.  Nathaniel  Saltonstall,  of  Haverhill, 
and  Anna,  daughter  of  Samuel  White,  of  Haverhill, 
a  descendant  of  William  White,  a  settler  in  Ipswich 
in  1635,  and  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  Haverhill  in 
1640.  Dr.  Nathaniel  Saltonstall,  born  February  10, 
1746,  was  the  son  of  Richard  Saltonstall,  of  Haver- 
hill, and  his  third  wife,  Mary,  daughter  of  Elisha 
Cooke,  whose  wife,  Jane  Middlecott,  was  a  great- 
granddaughter  of  Governor  Edward  Winslow,  of  the 
Old  Colony.  Mary  Cooke  was  also  great-granddaugh- 
ter of  Governor  John  Leverett.  Richard  Saltonstall, 
born  June  24,  1703,  was  the  son  of  Richard  Salton- 
stall, of  Haverhill,  and  Mehitabel,  daughter  of  Cap- 
tain Simon  Wainwright,  of  Haverhill.  The  last- 
mentioned  Richard  Saltonstall,  born  April  25,  1672, 
was  the  son  of  Nathaniel  Saltonstall,  of  Haverhill, 
who  was  appointed  in  1692,  by  Governor  William 
Phipps,  one  of  the  judges  of  the  Oyer  and  Terminer 
Court  to  try  the  witches,  and  refused  to  serve,  and 
his  wife,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Rev.  John  Ward,  of 
Haverhill.  Nathaniel  Saltonstall,  born  in  Ipswich 
in  1639,  was  the  son  of  Richard  Saltonstall  and 
Muriel,  daughter  of  Brampton  Gurdonand  Muriel 
(Sedley)  Gurdon,  of  Assington,  County  of  Suffolk,  in 
England.  Richard  Saltonstall,  born  at  Woodsome, 
County  of  York,  England,  in  1610,  came  to  New 
England  with  his  father.  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,  in 

1630,  returned  in  1631,  married  in  England  about 
1633,  and  coming  back  to  New  England  in  1635,  set- 
tled in  Ipswich.  He  died  on  a  visit  to  England,  at 
Hulme,  April  29,  1694.  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,  of 
Huntwick,  Knight,  baptized  at  Halifax,  England, 
April  4,  1586,  was  lord  of  the  manor  at  Ledshara. 
He  was  the  son  of  Samuel  Saltonstall,  and  his  first 
wife,  Anne,  daughter  of  John  Ramsden,  of  Longley. 
He  married  three  wives, — first,  Grace,  daughter  of 
Robert  Kaye,  of  Woodsome,  who  was  the  mother  of 
the  son  Richard;  second,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir 
Thomas  West,  Baron  de  la  Warre ;  and  third,  Martha 
Wilford.  He  was  one  of  the  original  patentees 
of  the  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  after  his 
first  wife  died  he  came  to  New  England  with  Win- 
throp  in  1630,  bringing  his  children.  He  began  the 
settlement  of  Watertown,   returned   to    England   in 

1631,  and  there  died  about  1658,  giving  in  his  will  a 
legacy  to  Harvard  College.  Samuel  Saltonstall,  the 
father  of  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,  the  date  of  whose 
birth  is  unknown,  died  January  8,  1612-13,  and  was 
buried  in  Holy  Trinity  Church,  Hull.  He  married 
three  wives, — first,  Anne  Ramsden,  above  mentioned, 
who  was  the  mother  of  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall ;  sec- 
ond, Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Thomas  Ogden ;  and 
third,  Elizabeth  Armine,  widow  of  Hugh  Armine, 
mayor  of  Hull.  Gilbert  Saltonstall,  the  father  of 
Samuel,  had  a  seat  at  Rooke's  Hall,  in  Hipperholme. 
He  died  in  1598  and  was  buried  at  Halifax  Decem- 
ber 29th.  In  his  will  he  mentioned  his  wife,  Isabel, 
and    left  legacies  to  the  Halifax  Church  and   the 


El^g  ^-hyJ^JJ,  Ritcl'M 


THE  BENCH  AND  BAR. 


XXXV 


Halifax  Grammar  School.  It  is  unnecessary  to  follow 
the  pedigree  further  in  detail.  It  is  sufficient  to  say 
that  beyond  Gilbert,  above  mentioned,  through  two 
Kicbards,  another  Gilbert  and  two  other  Richards,  it 
goes  back  to  either  John  or  Richard,  the  sons  of 
Thomas  De  Saltoustall,  of  the  West  Riding  of  York- 
shire, who  flourished  about  the  year  1300.  Every 
generation  has  been  distinguished  for  the  eminent 
men  it  has  produced,  and  in  the  direct  line  of  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  every  ancestor  back  to  Richard, 
who  came  with  his  father  in  1630,  has  been  a  gradu- 
ate of  Harvard.  To  this  list  of  graduates  the  names 
of  Mr.  Salstonstall  himself,  and  of  his  son,  Colonel 
Leverett  Saltonstall,  the  present  collector  of  the  port 
of  Boston,  may  be  added. 

Nor  is  the  Saltonstall  pedigree  the  only  ancient 
one  to  which  the  family  of  Mr.  Saltonstall  may  lay 
claim.  The  family  of  Gurdons,  one  of  whom,  Muriel, 
daughter  of  Brampton  Gurdon,  married  Richard 
Saltonstall,  who  came  to  New  England  with  his 
father  in  1G30,  has  a  recorded  pedigree  inthehands  of 
Sir  William  Brampton  Gurdon  reaching  back  to  Sir 
Adam  Gurdon,  who  lived  in  the  thirteenth  century. 
The  mother  of  Muriel  Gurdon  was  Muriel  Sedley, 
and  the  Sedley  family,  too,  has  a  pedigree  which  is 
only  lost  in  the  reign  of  Edward  the  First.  And  still 
another  family  mingles  its  blood  with  that  of  the 
Saltonstalls.  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,  who  came  to 
New  England  with  his  son  in  1630  and  returned  to 
England  in  1631,  married  for  his  first  wife,  from 
whom  the  Essex  branch  of  the  family  sprang,  Grace, 
daughter  of  Robert  Kaye,  of  Woodsome,  and  the 
pedigree  of  the  Kaye  family,  as  taken  from  the  York- 
shire visitation,  published  by  the  Harleian  Society, 
reaches  through  a  plain  channel  back  to  the  time  of 
William  the  Conqueror.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that 
Mr.  Saltonstall,  besides  the  blood  of  his  own  imme- 
diate family,  carried  in  his  veins  not  only  that  of  the 
Winslows  and  Leveretts  of  New  England,  but  that  of 
some  of  the  most  ancient  families  in  Great  Britain. 

Mr.  Saltonstall  pursued  his  preparatory  studies  at 
Phillips  Academy,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in 
1802.  In  1838  he  received  from  his  alma  mater  the 
degree  of  LL.D.,  the  degree  of  A.B.,  from  Yale,  in 
1802,  and  of  A.M.  from  Bowdoin  in  1806. 

He  studied  law  with  Ichabod  Tucker,  of  Haverhill, 
and  afterwards  with  William  Prescott,  and  after  a 
short  term  of  practice  in  his  native  town,  removed  to 
Salem  in  1806.  At  that  time  the  Essex  bar  contained 
on  its  rolls  the  names  of  Nathan  Dane,  William  Pres- 
cott, Samuel  Putnam,  Joseph  Story,  John  Pickering 
and  Daniel  A.  White.  By  the  side  of  these  eminent 
men,  with  whom  he  came  constantly  in  competition, 
he  grew  step  by  step,  until  he  became  their  profes- 
sional peer.  Samuel  Putnam  was  called  to  the  bench 
of  the  Supreme  Court  in  1814,  Joseph  Story  was 
appointed  to  the  bench  of  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court  in  1811,  Nathan  Dane  gradually  relinquished 
1  ractice,  Daniel  A.  White  was  made  judge  of  probate 


and  John  Pickering  finally  removed  to  Boston.  As 
these  early  rivals,  one  after  another,  left  the  field,  Mr. 
Saltonstall  attained  the  position,  which  he  held  for 
many  years  and  until  his  death,  of  leader  of  the 
Essex  bar.  He  possessed  every  qualification  for  a 
successful  lawyer,  especially  in  a  county  like  Essex, 
made  up  of  small  towns  with  honest,  plain,  matter- 
of-fact  people,  among  whom  the  character  and  life  of 
a  professional  man  were  criticised  and  prized  as  much 
as  his  acumen  and  learning.  The  character  and  life 
of  Mr.  Saltonstall  were  singularly  pure.  Every  man 
in  Essex  County  knew  it,  and,  when  involved  in  diffi- 
culties, felt  sure  that  his  counsel  would  be  wise  and 
his  services  discreet  and  honest.  For  many  years  the 
Essex  bar  has  had  a  reputation  for  fair  and  honorable 
dealings  not  possessed  by  that  of  every  county  in  the 
State,  and  that  reputation  Mr.  Saltonstall  did  much 
to  establish  and  maintain.  The  confidence  of  his 
fellow-citizens  of  both  the  city  of  Salem  and  of  the 
county  was  many  times  and  in  various  ways  mani- 
fested. By  Hon.  Stephen  C.  Phillips,  who  knew  him 
well,  it  was  said,  that  "at  an  early  age  he  took  his 
seat  in  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Representatives, 
and  in  that  body  at  different  periods,  even  to  the  very 
close  of  his  public  life,  he  rendered  perhaps  his  most 
valuable  services,  and  was  distinguished  and  honored 
beyond  almost  any  of  his  cotemporaries.  He  was 
an  effective  debater  and  in  the  committee-room  none 
could  surpass  him  in  the  faithful,  patient  and  intelli- 
gent performance  of  all  his  duties.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Massachusetts  Senate  in  two  most  important 
political  junctures,  and  as  a  leader  of  the  majority  he 
assumed  a  full  share  of  responsibility  for  its  acts. 
As  president  of  the  Senate,  too,  he  performed  his 
duties  with  admirable  dignity  and  to  universal  accept- 
ance. In  the  political  service  of  Massachusetts  he 
felt  himself  at  home,  and  the  State  never  had  a  citi- 
zen who  maintained  her  character  with  a  nobler  pride 
or  labored  for  her  welfare  with  a  purer  zeal."  On  the 
incorporation  of  Salem  as  a  city,  March  23,  1836,  her 
citizens  did  him  and  themselves  the  honor  of  making 
him  their  first  mayor,  and  in  that  capacity  he  served 
until  1838.  In  the  latter  year  he  was  chosen  Repre- 
sentative to  Congress,  and  remained  in  office  until 
1843.  In  the  discharge  of  his  duties  as  Representa- 
tive he  was  singularly  fiiithful,  useful  and  earnest. 

During  the  latter  half  of  his  Congressional  life  he 
was  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Manufactures,  and 
on  his  shoulders  fell  the  burden  of  the  investigation 
and  inquiry,  and  of  the  preparation  of  the  report  and 
bill,  which  finally  resulted  in  the  passage  of  the  tar- 
iff of  1842.  He  was  an  active  and  honorable  member 
of  the  old  Whig  party,  conscientiously  devoted  to  its 
interests  at  a  time  when  party  policies  were  con- 
tinuously distinct;  and  sincerely  believing  that  the 
success  of  the  policy  of  that  party  would  best  promote 
the  welfare  of  the  country.  He  was  not  a  partisan  in 
the  sense  in  which  so  many  are  partisans  to-day,  and 
would  have  indignantly  refused  to  follow  his  party 


XXXVl 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


into  the  support  of  new  measures  devised  purely  for 
party  purposes,  without  reference  to  the  public  good. 
When  he  advocated  a  measure,  therefore,  he  spoke 
with  a  conviction  behind  his  words,  with  a  heart 
pouring  out  its  fullness  from  the  tongue,  and  hence 
the  impressive  and  convincing  eloquence  of  which  he 
was  a  master. 

Mr.  Salstonstall  was  conspicuous  in  other  than 
legislative  and  legal  fields.  He  was  president  of  the 
Bible  Society,  president  of  the  Essex  Agricultural 
Society  and  of  the  Essex  Bar  Association,  a  member 
of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  and  the 
American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  and  of  the 
board  of  overseers  of  Harvard  University. 

The  relations  of  Mr.  Saltonstall  with  his  family 
were  to  the  last  degree  confiding  and  tender.  To  say 
that  he  was  beloved  is  only  to  repeat  what  may  be 
said  of  nearly  every  husband  and  lather.  To  say 
that  he  was  worthy  to  be  beloved  is  a  better  and  a 
juster  tribute.  The  affection  which  is  merely  incident 
to  relationship  fades  with  time.  "  The  tears  of  his 
children,  though  forty  years  have  elapsed  since  his 
death,  still  start  when  they  recall  the  virtues  of  their 
father,  and  exemplar,  and  friend. 

Mr.  Saltonstall  married,  March  7,  1811,  Mary 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Thomas  Sanders,  of  Salem, - 
and  died  in  Salem  May  8,  1845.  On  the  8th  of  May 
a  meeting  of  the  Essex  bar  was  held  at  Ipswich,  at 
which  Benjamin  Merrill  was  chosen  president,  and 
Ebenezer  Shillaber  secretary  ;  and  resolutions  offered 
by  Joseph  E.  Sprague,  and  seconded  by  Nathaniel  J. 
Lord,  were  passed  as  a  tribute  to  his  memory.  On 
the  same  day,  in  the  Supreme  Court,  Mr.  Merrill 
presented  the  resolutions  of  the  bar,  and  addressed 
the  court.  Judge  Wilde  replied,  expressing  "his 
sympathy  with  the  feelings  of  the  bar,  and  his  regret 
at  the  loss  of  so  useful  and  excellent  a  citizen  as  Mr. 
Saltonstall,  whose  worth  and  excellence  he  had 
known  and  highly  esteemed  for  forty  years." 

On  the  10th  of  May,  at  a  special  meeting  of  the 
City  Council  of  Salem,  Mr.  Roberts  submitted  re 
solves  concerning  the  loss  sustained  by  the  city  in 
the  death  of  Mr.  Saltonstall,  which  were  unanimously 
passed. 

The  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  took  appro- 
priate notice  of  his  death  by  eulogies  spoken  by 
various  members,  and  at  a  later  day  by  a  memoir  in 
its  published  proceedings.  On  Sunday,  the  18th  of 
May,  Rev.  Dr.  John  Brazier  delivered,  in  the  North 
Church  in  Salem,  a  discourse  on  his  life  and  charac- 
ter ;  and  a  commemorative  sermon  was  also  preached 
in  the  East  Church  by  Rev.  Dr.  Flint. 

Isaac  Ridington  How,  son  of  David  How,  was 
born  in  Haverhill  March  13,  1791,  and  graduated  at 
Harvard  in  1810.  He  studied  law  with  William 
Prescott  and  continued  through  life  in  the  practice  of 
law  in  his  native  town,  where  he  died  January  15, 
1860. 

Samuel   Merrill  was  born  in    Plaistow,  New 


Hampshire,  in  1776.  His  preparatory  studies  were 
pursued  at  Phillips  Academy  under  the  instruction  of 
Joseph  S.  Buckminster,  and  with  his  brother,  James 
Cushing  Merrill,  he  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1807. 
He  studied  law  with  John  Varnum  in  Haverhill  and 
began  practice  of  the  law  in  Andover  in  partnership 
with  Samuel  Farrar.  He  was  at  various  times  a 
memberof  both  branches  of  the  Legislature,  and,  aside 
from  his  law  studies,  was  through  life  a  diligent 
scholar,  and  especially  proficient  in  Greek  and  Latin 
literature.     He  died  in  Andover  December  24, 1869. 

Michael  Hodge  was  born  in  Newburyport  in 
1780  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1799.  He  studied 
law  in  his  native  town  and  there  followed  his  profes- 
sion. Samuel  L.  Knapp  describes  him  in  his  per- 
sonal sketches  as  a  man  "  who  was  never  perfectly 
satisfied  with  his  profession,  for  in  his  character  was 
exhibited  that  moral  enigma  which  has  so  often  per- 
plexed the  metaphysicians, — great  personal  intrepidity 
united  to  a  painful  and  shrinking  modesty  ;  a  fear- 
lessness of  all  the  forms  of  danger  to  a  diffidence  in 
the  discharge  of  professional  duties."  He  married,  in 
1814,  Betsey  Hayward,  daughter  of  Dr.  James 
Thacher,  of  Plymouth,  Mass.,  and  widow  of  Daniel 
Robert  Elliott,  of  Savannah,  Georgia,  and  had  James 
Thatcher,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  in  1836,  who  was 
lost  on  Lake  Michigan  with  a  career  in  the  paths  of 
science  already  brilliant,  but  yet  full  of  hope  and 
promise.  Mr.  Hodge  died  in  Plymouth  on  the  6th  of 
July,  1816. 

Jedediah  Foster  was  born  in  Andover  October 
10,  1726,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1744.  He 
finally  established  himself  in  Brookfield  and  married 
a  daughter  of  Brigadier-General  Joseph  Dwight.  He 
was  appointed  judge  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Judica- 
ture in  1776  and  died  October  17,  1779. 

Charles  Amburger  Andrew  was  born  in  Salem 
in  1805  and  graduated  from  the  Harvard  Law  School 
in  1832.  He  also  studied  in  the  office  of  Leverett 
Saltonstall  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1831.  He 
died  at  Salem  June  17,  1843. 

Benjamin  Lynde  Oliver  was  born  in  Salem  in 
1789  and  studied  law  with  Joseph  Story  and  Samuel 
Putnam.  He  was  admitted  to  the  Essex  bar  in  June, 
1809.     He  died  in  Maiden  June  18,  1843. 

Ebenezer  Mosely,  sou  of  Ebenezer  and  Martha 
(Strong)  Mosely,  was  born  in  Windham,  Conn.,  Nov. 
21,  1781,  and  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1802.  He 
studied  law  with  Judge  Chauncey,  of  New  Haven, 
Judge  Clark,  of  Windham,  and  Judge  Hinckley,  of 
Northampton.  In  1805  he  settled  in  Newburyport, 
and  at  various  times  had  as  students  in  his  office  John 
Pierpont,  afterwards  a  clergyman ;  Governor  Dunlap, 
of  Maine;  Robert  Cross,  Asa  W.  Wildes  and  Caleb 
Cushing.  In  1813-14  he  was  the  colonel  of  the  Sixth 
Regiment,  and,  as  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Selectmen , 
welcomed  Lafayette  on  the  occasion  of  his  visit  to 
Newburyport.  From  1816  to  1820  and  from  1834  to 
1836  he  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representa- 


Sng^'byAM.RU.chie'  ■ 


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THE  BENCH  AND  BAR. 


xxxvu 


tives,  and  in  1821  and  1822  a  member  of  the  Senate. 
In  1832  he  was  a  Presidential  elector  and  threw  his 
vote  for  Henry  Clay.  On  the  17th  of  June,  1811,  he 
married  Mary  Ann,  daughter  of  Edward  Oxnard,  and 
died  at  Newburyport  August  28,  1854. 

LoNSON  Nash  came  to  the  bar  in  1807  and  settled 
in  Gloucester,  his  native  town.  He  was  a  Represen- 
tative in  1809  and  Senator  in  1812.  He  retired  in 
1860  and  died  at  Great  Barrington  February  1,  1863. 

William  Fabens,  son  of  William  and  Sarah 
(Brown)  Fabens,  was  born  in  Salem  April  14,  1810, 
and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1832.  He  early  settled 
in  Marblehead  and  was  engaged  in  law  practice  until 
his  death,  March  11,  1883.  He  was  trial  justice  from 
1860  to  1878,  a  State  Senator  in  1859,  a  trustee  of  the 
Nautical  School  during  the  entire  period  of  its  exis- 
tence, and  for  many  years  an  active  member  of  the 
School  Board  of  Marblehead. 

Caleb  Gushing. — Newburyport,  from  the  first  set- 
tlement of  the  country,  has  been  greatly  distinguished 
for  the  eminence  attained  by  her  sons,  daughters  and 
citizens,  in  letters  and  active  life.  She  can  point  to  a 
long  list  of  statesmen,  orators,  poets,  jurists,  divines, 
inventors  and  merchants,  who  do  her  honor.  One  of 
the  least  of  our  cities  in  territory  and  population, 
she  has  made  herself  famous  at  home  and  abroad,  in 
the  States  of  the  Union  and  the  nations  of  the  globe. 
Among  the  names  of  her  jurists  she  counts  Bradbury, 
Parsons,  Jackson,  Lowell,  Greenleaf,  Wilde  and  a 
host  of  others  famous  for  their  knowledge  of  common 
law  and  international  law,  as  well  as  for  their  legal 
opinions  and  decisions  uttered  in  our  courts ;  but  no 
one  of  them  in  his  varied  acquirements  aud  duties 
has  done  more  credit  to  himself  and  the  place  of  his 
birth  or  residence  than  Caleb  Gushing.  There  have 
been  in  this  century,  or  in  this  country,  few  to  com- 
pare with  him.  It  has  been  said  that  no  man  is 
great  in  everything  or  great  at  all  times ;  but  as  we 
look  back  on  his  career,  from  youth  to  old  age,  we 
discover  no  dimness,  no  weakness.  As  a  polygon 
presents  in  its  many  sides  and  angles,  in  its  roofs  and 
towers,  its  lights  and  shadows,  the  evidence  of  its 
own  strength  and  beauty  and  the  skill  and  genius  of 
its  designer  and  builder,  so  he,  in  deeds  aud  words, 
through  a  long  life  and  under  varied  circumstances, 
in  success  and  in  defeat,  stands  as  an  illustrious  ex- 
ample of  what  a  man  may  be  and  may  do,  when  he 
puts  a  human  will  and  indomitable  persistejicy  in 
what  he  undertakes  to  accomplish.  He  was  a  scholar 
lofty  in  his  attainments;  an  author  and  an  orator 
equally  expert  with  pen  or  voice ;  a  lawyer  attractive 
at  the  bar,  profound  on  the  bench  and  celebrated  as 
minister  of  justice — attorney-general  for  the  country, 
uttering  opinions  which  nations  were  bound  to  re- 
spect. He  was  a  statesman  the  compeer  of  Webster, 
John  Quincy  Adams  and  Charles  Sumner,  who  were 
his  friends  and  admirers,  and  no  man  has  shown 
greater  knowledge  of  the  science  of  government— of 
the  principles  on  which  are  based  our  own  and  for- 


eign institutions.  He  was  a  diplomatist  of  high  rank, 
negotiating  treaties  in  South  America,  Spain,  China, 
in  pressing  our  claims  before  the  extraordinary  tri- 
bunal at  Geneva,  where  sat  the  distinguished  com- 
missioners from  Germany,  Italy,  Spain,  England  and 
America,  who  listened  to  no  other  man  more  gladly. 

It  did  not  matter  where  he  was  placed,  what  duties 
he  was  to  perform  or  with  whom  he  was  to  act,  he 
never  failed  in  courage,  capacity  or  power  and  perse- 
verance. He  was  equal  to  the  occasion.  The  late 
Isaac  O.  Barnes,  many  years  United  States  marshal 
for  the  district  of  Massachusetts,  who  knew  Mr. 
Gushing  intimately,  and  was  himself  a  scholar  and  a 
wit,  being  one  day  in  the  Public  Library  of  Boston, 
was  approached  by  a  young  man,  who  inquired  where 
he  could  find  an  encyclopaedia.  Mr.  Gushing  passing 
at  the  moment.  Colonel  Barnes,  pointing  to  him,  re- 
plied: "There  is  a  living,  self-moving  cyclopedia, 
from  whom  you  can  obtain  information  upon  every 
question  that  has  interested  any  people  in  any  age  of 
the  world."  This  seems  almost  a  literal  truth.  He 
had  made  himself  personally  acquainted  by  his 
travels  with  all  the  continents  of  our  globe,  he  had 
crossed  the  oceans  and  great  seas,  climbed  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  the  Alps  and  the  Andes  and  sat  on  the 
foot-hills  of  the  Himalayas;  had  conversed  with  the 
Russian  at  St.  Petersburg,  the  German  at  Berlin,  the 
Italian  on  the  Bay  of  Naples,  the  Frenchman  at 
Paris,  the  Spaniard  at  Madrid,  the  Tartar  in  Eastern 
Asia,  each  in  his  own  tongue,  and  at  the  reception  of 
foreign  ministers  by  President  Pierce,  surprised  them 
all  in  his  facility  of  language.  He  studied  religions 
with  the  preachers  of  Geneva,  the  priests  of  Rome 
and  the  Brahmins  of  India,  and  he  had  discussed  pol- 
itics and  international  law  with  the  highest  minister 
of  state  in  China.  The  schools  had  found  him  a  most 
enthusiastic  student,  the  forum  an  eloquent  advocate, 
and  to  his  reading  of  books  there  was  no  end.  He 
was  literally  the  devourer  of  books  and  the  digester  of 
their  contents.  He  was  the  only  man  we  ever  knew 
who  could  read  a  dictionary  and  delight  in  the  study 
of  every  word ;  and  that  did  Caleb  Gushing  on  the 
first  appearance  of  Webster's  Unabridged,  containing 
one  hundred  and  fourteen  thousand  words,  and,  more 
than  that,  unsolicited  aud  without  remuneration,  like 
a  proof-reader,  he  marked  every  error  or  mistake  ;  so 
he  could  study  a  volume  of  abstract  principles  be- 
cause he  could  surround  each  statement  with  the 
children  born  from  it,  and  thus  evolve  from  naked 
truths  passages  of  beauty.  This  single  fact  of  his 
reading  we  may  cite:  "  When  called  to  the  Supreme 
Bench  he  had  long  been  out  of  the  practice  of  law, 
and  to  prepare  himself  for  duty,  read  fifty-seven 
volumes  of  the  Massachusetts  Reports — all  up  to  that 
date — in  nineteen  days,  or  three  full  volumes  per  day, 
and  so  thoroughly  did  he  the  work  that  he  was  famil- 
iar with  every  decision  they  contained.  This  he 
could  do  because  he  was  untiring  in  labor  and  needed 
little  sleep.     He  often   read   eighteen   hours   a   day 


xxxvm 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


through  many  successive  days,  and  what  he  received 
into  the  mind  he  retained  there.  It  was  not  a  mere 
reading  by  the  eye,  but  it  was  absorbed  in  the  mind, 
— transcribed  upon  the  tablet  of  memory,  and  ever 
ready  of  use.  He  h;id  a  most  remarkable  power  of 
abstracting  himself  from  the  material  world  in  which 
he  lived  and  concentrating  all  his  force  in  the  world 
of  thought.  This  gave  him  seasons  when  he  was 
uncommunicative,  followed  by  others  when  he  was 
the  most  affable  of  men. 

Coming  to  the  consideration  of  such  a  person,  the 
details  of  his  life  will  be  not  uninteresting.  He  was 
born  in  Salisbury,  a  town  at  the  mouth  of  the  River 
Merrimac,  January  17th,  1800,  and  removed  with  his 
family  to  Newburyport  two  years  later.  He  was  the 
eldest  son  of  Captain  John  N.  Cushing  by  his  first 
wife,  Lydia  Dow,  of  Salisbury.  It  is  not  always  clear 
how  much  one  inherits  from  his  ancestors,  and  how 
much  he  is  of  himself;  therefore,  we  add  that  he  was 
from  an  old  colonial  family,  not  previously  unknown 
to  fame,  whose  tendencies  in  professional  life  were  to 
the  pulpit  and  the  bar.  Among  those  bearing  the 
same  family-name  was  William  Cushing,  who  suc- 
ceeded his  father,  John,  as  a  justice  of  the  Superior 
Court  of  Massachusetts  before  the  Revolution  of 
1776,  whom  President  Washington  raised  to  the  Fed- 
eral Supreme  Court  on  the  organization  of  the  gov- 
ernment in  1789.  He  was  of  Scituate,  which  may  be 
termed  the  "home-nest"  of  the  family,  and  thence 
came  to  Salisbury,  Rev.  Caleb  Cushing  accepting  the 
pastorate  of  the  first  parish  of  that  town,  in  whose 
line  the  subject  of  this  sketch  appears.  His  father, 
though  at  his  death  the  largest  ship-owner  of  the 
Stale  and  the  most  wealthy  merchant  of  Newbury- 
port, at  the  birth  of  his  son  was  a  seaman,  poor  in 
estate  and  much  absent  on  long  voyages  at  sea.  Ca- 
leb Cushing,  therefore,  in  boyhood  owed  nothing  to 
his  surroundings  save  what  he  inherited  from  his 
father, — a  love  of  labor  and  a  desire  to  be  self  sup- 
porting and  independent.  He  was  exceedingly  for- 
tunate, however,  in  being  a  pupil  at  school  of  a  dis- 
tinguished teacher  and  mathematician,  Michael 
Walsh,  who  took  pride  in  him  and,  admiring  the 
robustness  of  the  lad,  who  then  had  within  him  the 
man  to  be  developed,  Master  AValsh  shaped  his 
course,  inspired  his  ambition  and  prepared  him  for 
college.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  at  the  early  age 
of  seventeen,  third  in  a  class  of  sixty-two,  which 
included  many  others  of  future  fame,  and  so  did  he 
excel  in  his  rhetoric  and  oratory  that  he,  one  of  the 
youngest,  was  selected  to  make  the  address  to  Presi- 
dent Monroe,  when  he  .visited  the  university  in 
1817.  After  that,  for  two  years,  in  the  same  insti- 
tution, he  was  tutor  of  mathematics  and  natural 
philosophy. 

Leaving  college  he  studied  law,  first  at  the  Harvard 
Law-school,  and  later  at  the  oflBce  of  the  Hon. 
Ebenezer  Moseley,  at  Newburyport.  Admitted  to 
the   bar  in  1822  he  rose  rapidly  and  soon  acquired  a 


lucrative  practice.  At  that  time  the  Essex  bar 
rivalled  that  of  Boston,  in  the  learning  and  skill  ot 
its  members,  and  Caleb  Cushing  and  Rufus  Choate 
stood  at  its  head,  their  friends  often  disputing  which 
should  be  first.  It  was  a  generous  rivalry,  in  which 
each  held  the  other  in  the  highest  esteem ;  Cushing 
thinking  Choate  unsurpassed  in  his  magnetic  elo- 
quence, and  Choate  declaring  that  in  law  he  feared  no 
opposing  counsel  so  much  as  Cushing. 

In  1823,  Mr.  Cushing  married  Miss  Caroline,  daugh- 
ter of  Judge  Wilde  of  the  Supreme  Court:  a  lady 
of  rare  intellectual  endowments  and  much  literary 
culture.  She  accompanied  him  on  his  two  years  tour 
of  Europe,  and  after  her  return  published  a  very  popu- 
lar volume  of  letters  on  France  and  Spain.  Her 
death,  which  occurred  in  1832, was  an  irreparable  loss, 
and  he  remained  a  widower  and  childless  for  nearly  a 
half-century  to  his  own  decease.  It  was  during  his 
European  travels — a  tour  of  inspiiction  and  study  of 
the  institutions,  laws,  manners  and  monuments  of  the 
old  world,  that  he  formed  a  strong  attachment  to 
Spain — a  love  for  its  literature  and  people,  that  went 
with  him  through  life.  On  his  return  he  wrote  his 
best  book,  "  Reminiscences  of  Spain,"  in  two  volumes. 
He  was  so  interested  that  he  became  as  familiar  with 
its  language  as  with  his  own,  so  that  later,  when  in- 
troduced to  the  Court  of  Madrid,  as  American  minis- 
ter, he  surprised  the  King  by  the  purity  of  the  Span- 
ish tongue  in  which  he  addressed  him.  The  same 
thing  was  noticeable  in  the  trial  of  cases  in  the  courts 
at  Washington.  At  the  commencement  of  President 
Pierce's  administration,  as  Attorney  General,  he  had 
to  deal  with  Mexican  claims  where  the  documents 
were  in  Spanish,  and  the  court-room  would  be  crowded 
by  ladies  and  gentlemen  who  understood  not  a  word 
of  the  language,  but  gladly  listened  to  the  music  of 
his  clear,  rich  voice,  as  he  pronounced  the  sonorous 
words ;  the  same  may  be  said,  however,  of  his  exact 
and  thorough  training  in  all  the  languages  used  by 
him.  He  would  never  allow  himself  to  mispronounce. 
After  he  was  seventy  years  old,  he  spent  months  in 
Paris  to  improve  his  pronunciation  of  French,  pre- 
paratory to  addressing  the  convention  of  Geneva,  in 
which  that  was  the  common  tongue.  Indeed,  if 
he  could  have  given  time  to  it,  he  would  have  ap- 
peared as  one  of  the  greatest  philologists  of  the  age. 

In  1825,  Caleb  Cushing  entered  political  life,  being 
elected  representative  to  the  State  legislature  from 
Newburyport.  He  was  then  in  the  pride  of  his  early 
manhood,  fully  equipped  for  the  battle  of  life.  He 
was  well-formed,  about  the  ordinary  height,  of  com- 
manding presence,  with  black  hair,  bright  eyes,  and 
in  cold  weather  wore  a  loose  cloak,  falling  from  the 
shoulders,  after  the  fashion  of  the  ancient  toga,  show- 
ing him  the  Roman  he  was.  His  appearance  was 
impressive,  and  no  one  failed  to  perceive  that  he  was 
no  ordinary  person.  He  w^as  the  most  brilliant  man 
in  the  house,  and  the. next  year  passed  to  the  Sentae. 
He  was  again  a  member  of  the  legislature  in  1833  and 


THE  BENCH  AND  BAR. 


XXXIX 


1834.  Twelve  years  after,  when  war  was  pending 
with  Mexico,  and  his  services  were  needed,  he  was  a 
fifth  time  elected,  and  subsequently  in  1850  and  in 
1869.  Indeed  as  often  as  other  duties  would  permit, 
the  people  of  Newburyport,  who  were  proud  of  him, 
and  never  failed  him  in  any  emergency,  sent  him 
to  represent  them  in  the  General  Court.  They  al- 
ways rejoiced  in  his  success,  and  always  welcomed 
him  home  with  open  arms.  There  was  never  an  hour 
when  he  had  not  so  the  confidence  and  affection  of 
neighbors  and  townsmen,  that  they  would  not  have 
elected  him  to  any  oflSce  within  their  gift.  It  was 
said  that  Napoleon  appeared  greatest  at  a  distance  ; 
Mr.  Gushing  had  it  to  his  credit  that  he  appeared 
greatest  to  those  who  knew  him  longest  and  best. 

In  1834  he  was  elected  to  congress,  from  the  district 
then  called  Essex  North.  For  colleagues,  he  had  the 
venerable  ex-president,  John  Quincy  Adams,  who  be- 
came much  attached  to  him,  and  whom  in  some  re- 
spects, especially  in  independent  politics,  he  much 
resembled  ;  Robert  G.  Winthrop,  who  alone  of  the 
ten  survives,  Levi  Lincoln,  Leverett  Saltonstall  and 
others,  making  in  the  whole,  the  most  distinguished 
delegation  that  Massachusetts  or  any  other  state  ever 
sent  to  Washington.  They  were  all  opposed  to  Gen- 
eral Jackson,  then  president,  though  Mr.  Gushing  s-ur- 
prised  some  of  his  constituents  who  declared  Jackson 
an  ill-bred  and  vulgar  frontiersman,  by  saying  that 
he  was  one  of  the  most  polite  and  gentlemanly  per- 
sons he  had  ever  met  at  home  or  abroad. 

In  Congress  Mr.  Gushing  immediately  took  high 
rank.  He  was  appointed  on  the  Committee  of  Foreign 
Affairs  with  John  Quincy  Adams,  and  they  alternate- 
ly were  the  head  of  that  committee,  and  probably  no 
two  men  in  Congress  were  so  well  versed  in  interna- 
tional law  or  in  the  history  of  our  foreign  relations. 
Daniel  Webster  said  "  that  Mr.  Gushing  had  not 
been  six  weeks  in  Congress,  before  he  was  acknow- 
edged  to  be  the  highest  authority  on  what  had  been 
the  legislation  of  congress  on  any  given  subject." 
He  held  his  seat  for  eight  years,  and  entered  heartily 
and  fearlessly  into  the  discussions  of  that  day.  It 
was,  in  the  era  of  duelling,  the  frequent  habit  of  op- 
posing parties  to  badger  new  members,  in  hopes  to 
break  them  down,  but  when  it  was  attempted  on  Mr. 
Gushing,  and  he  turned  face  to  face  with  his  oppo- 
nent, rough  old  Ben  Hardee,  of  Kentucky,  who 
was  the  terror  of  weak  and  diffident  minds,  Mr.  Gush- 
ing spoke  in  the  severest  tones  the  rules  of  the  House 
would  permit,  and  closed  by  giving  notice  that  he  held 
himself  responsible  for  his  words  there  or  any  where 
else.  The  House  rang  with  applause  and  the  galleries 
so  vociferated — the  ladies  waving  their  handkerchiefs 
and  the  men  clapping  their  hands  and  shouting,  that 
a  motion  was  made  to  clear  the  galleries,  but  that  was 
not  necessary,  for  the  people  filled  with  admiration 
that  this  young  member — it  was  his  second  speech — 
had  dared  to  beard  the  old  lion  in  his  den,  that  they 
retired  of  themselves,  and  it  was  the  talk  of  Washing- 


ton and  the  time.  There  was  no  duel  but  the  many 
added  their  belief  that  Mr.  Gushing  -meant  all  his 
words  implied. 

Mr.  Gushing  at  that  early  day,  in  1836,  if  ever,  had 
no  sympathy  with  the  Abolitionists,  but  he  protested 
against  the  idea  of  suppressing  or  restricting  Liberty 
that  slavery  might  widen  and  deepen;  and  when 
Henry  A.  Wise,  then  representative  from  Virginia? 
discussing  the  admission  of  Arkansas,  threatened  to 
plant  slavery  in  the  heart  of  the  Northern  States, 
Mr.  Gushing  broke  loose  upon  him  in  a  burning 
torrent  of  words :  "  Introduce  slavery  into  the  heart  of 
the  North!" — here  he  hesitated  and  gazed  scornfully 
into  the  face  of  Wise — "  Vain  idea  !  invasion,  pesti- 
lence, civil  war  may  conspire  to  exterminate  a  people. 
This,  in  the  long  lapse  of  ages  incalculable,  is  possi- 
ble to  happen.  You  may  raze  to  the  earth  the  thronged 
cities,  the  industrious  villages,  the  peaceful  hamlets 
of  the  North.  You  may  plant  its  soil  with  salt  and 
consign  it  to  everlasting  desolation.  You  may  trans- 
form its  beautiful  fields  into  a  desert  as  bare  as  the 
blank  face  of  Sahara.  You  may  reach  the  realization 
of  the  infernal  boast  with  which  Attila,  the  Hun, 
marched  his  barbarous  hosts  into  Italy.  .  .  .  All 
this  you  may  do,  it  is  within  the  bounds  of  physical 
possibility,  but,  I  solemnly  assure  every  gentleman 
within  the  sound  of  my  voice,  I  proclaim  it  to  the 
country  and  the  world,  that  you  can  not,  and  you  shall 
not,  introduce  slavery  into  the  North."  Here  he  stood 
immovable  from  first  to  last.  He  believed  in  self- 
government  and  in  local  State  government,  as  the 
basis  of  American  freedom  and  constitutional  liberty, 
and  he  would  preserve  the  rights  of  the  States  and  the 
liberties  of  the  republic  at  the  same  time. 

Mr.  Gushing  was  in  favor  of  extending  the  area  of 
freedom,  of  enlarging  the  republic  west  to  our  natural 
boundary,  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  north  and  south  as 
circumstances  should  require.  Hence  his  plea  for  Ar- 
kansas, his  defense  of  our  rights  in  Oregon,  and  his 
readiness  to  annex  Texas.  And  what  he  advocated  he 
was  ready  to  defend  in  the  field  if  the  occasion  de- 
manded. Therefore,  in  the  face  of  the  severest  oppo- 
sition to  the  Mexican  War,  in  Massachusetts,  he  not 
only  urged  the  measure  in  debate,  but  himself  volun- 
teered, assisted  to  raise  the  regiment  called  for,  and 
when  the  Legislature  refused  an  appropriation  of 
twenty  thousand  dollars  to  assist  them  to  reach  their 
destination,  he  advanced  the  funds  from  his  own  re- 
sources. He  led  the  regiment  as  colonel  and  was  ap- 
pointed a  brigadier-general  soon  after  landing  in 
Mexico. 

In  the  great  struggle  of  John  Quincy  Adams  for  the 
right  of  petition — the  heroic  and  the  last  contest  of 
the  venerable  sage  of  Quincy — Mr.  Gushing  was  his 
faithful  friend  and  active  coadjutor,  and  uniformly  in 
congress  was  on  the  liberal  and  progressive  side.  Rob- 
ert C.  Winthrop,  on  a  recent  occasion,  referring  to 
Mr.  Cushing's  congressional  career,  spoke  of  "  his 
varied  ability,  vast  acquirements,  unwearied  applica- 


xl 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


tion  and  his  fame  and  skill  as  a  writer  and  debater." 
"  Nor  will  I  forget,"  added  he,  "  his  very  amiable 
traits  of  character,  which  prevented  difference  of 
opinion  or  of  party,  sundering  the  ties  of  social  inter- 
course. He  knew  how  to  abandon  a  policy  or  quit  a 
party  without  quarrelling  with  those  he  left  behind." 
Thus  we  see  him,  a  Democrat,  in  the  most  friendly 
relations  with  Charles  Sumner,  at  Washington,  spend- 
ing an  evening  of  every  week  in  discussing  public  af- 
fairs and  inquiring  what  might  be  done  for  their  com- 
mon country.  Like  relations  held  he  with  Secretary 
Seward,  and  with  all  the  Eepublican  presidents  from 
Lincoln  to  Grant  inclusive. 

He  retired  from  politics,  after  the  Rebellion  broke 
out,  and  spent  most  of  his  time  at  Washington,  where 
every  administration  during  his  life  had  the  benefit  of 
his  well-formed  opinions ;  nor  was  there  a  single 
branch  of  the  government  that  did  not  avail  itself  of 
his  service.  When  not  connected  officially  with  them 
he  was  held  in  reserve  for  any  emergency  that  might 
occur.  Nothing  personal  or  political  jirevented  his 
serving  his  country.  He  was  intensely  loyal  and  pa- 
triotic; never  man  more  so;  ready  to  sacrifice  anything 
for  the  unity  and  perpetuity  of  the  government.  We 
recall  his  words  in  dismissing  the  national  Democratic 
convention,  over  which  he  was  called  to  preside  at 
Charleston,  S.  C,  when  we  stood  on  the  brink  of  the 
Rebellion:  "  I  pray  you,  gentlemen,  in  returning  to 
your  constituents  and  the  bosoms  of  your  families,  to 
take  with  you,  as  your  guiding  thought,  the  sentiment, 
the  Constitution  and  the  Union."  Those  were  the 
waymarks  and  the  guides  of  his  life. 

After  leaving  Congress  he  at  once  entered  upon  the 
duties  of  minister  to  China,  to  which  he  had  been  ap- 
pointed by  President  Tyler  to  negotiate  a  treaty.  This 
he  did,  going  east  to  China  and  returning  in  the  same 
direction,  via  Mexico,  with  the  best  treaty  to  that  date 
ever  made  with  that  ancient  people ;  perfecting  his 
work  and  circumnavigating  the  globe  in  fourteen 
months.  The  treaty  was  submitted  to  the  Senate  that 
had,  on  political  grounds,  three  times  rejected  him  as 
secretary  of  the  treasury,  and  was  so  satisfactory  as  to 
be  ratified  without  a  dissenting  voice 

His  next  important  service  w^as  as  attorney-general 
under  President  Pierce,  to  which  he  was  called  from 
the  Supreme  Bench  of  Massachusetts,  which  occa- 
sioned one  of  his  associate  judges  to  pay  him  this  com- 
pliment, "  when  he  came  to  the  bench  we  didn't  know 
what  we  could  do  with  him ;  and  when  he  left,  we 
didn't  know  how  we  could  do  without  him."  As  At- 
torney-General, he  perhaps  appeared  to  the  country 
at  large,  better  than  in  any  position  he  had  before 
held  ;  and  when  he  retired,  carried  with  him  a  higher 
reputation  for  profound  knowledge,  than  any  of  his 
predecessors.  He  was  then  at  his  maturity,  in  the 
fulness  of  physical  and  mental  strength,  and  his  labors 
were  the  most  arduous  and  varied.  It  was  not  uncom- 
mon, for  weeks  in  succession,  for  him  to  be  in  his  of- 
fice from  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  till  midnight. 


and  every  conceivable  question  on  our  relations  to 
matters  at  home  and  abroad,  wsa  submitted  to  him. 
His  opinions  fill  three  volumes,  of  the  fifteen  in  the 
whole,  to  the  date  of  his  retirement ;  and  no  less  au- 
thority than  William  Beach  Lawrence,  in  his  edition 
of  Wheaton,  declares  "  they  constitute  in  themselves 
a  valuable  body  of  international  law."  They  show 
also  his  fidelity  to  the  principles  of  the  fathers  of  the 
republic. 

In  the  short  space  allowed  this  sketch,  we  may  not 
go  into  particulars.  That  he  had  the  confidence  of 
the  country  may  be  seen  in  this :  President  Lincoln 
appointed  him  a  commissioner  to  adjust  claims  pend- 
ing between  this  country  and  Mexico,  Spain  and 
other  peoples  ;  President  Johnson  made  him  a  special 
envoy  to  the  United  States  of  Colombia ;  President 
Grant  appointed  him  minister  to  Spain,  counsel  for 
the  United  States  to  Geneva  and  would  have  made 
him  chief  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  had  not  Mr, 
Cushing  asked  him  to  withdraw  the  nomination,  not 
made  at  his  solicitation,  upon  the  dissent  of  a  single 
Senator  ;  and  at  every  point  his  action  was  endorsed 
by  the  country,  the  public  press  applauding. 

He  now  retired  to  his  home.  Though  still  strong, 
but  pressing  hard  u^jon  four-score  years,  he  could  see 
that  the  end  was  near,  and  he  heard  the  message : 
"  What  thou  hast  to  do,  do  quickly."  He  obeyed, 
turned  his  attention  to  his  private  affairs  and  sought 
rest  with  personal  friends,  in  the  town  and  by  the  river 
he  had  loved  so  well,  and  where  he  had  been  loved. 
His  mission  was  finished ;  he  had  all  the  honors  de- 
sired ;  his  fortune  was  ample;  he  had  really  nothing 
more  to  do,  than  to  be  himself,  as  he  was  to  the  end, 
and  utter  his  last  prayer  for  his  country.  He  died 
January  2,  1879,  and  was  gathered  to  his  fathers.  He 
sleeps  on  the  western  slope  of  the  hill,  where  the  n*ys 
of  the  setting  sun  longest  linger  on  the  marble  that 
bears  his  name,  and  the  name  of  her  who  was  dearest 
of  human  kind  to  him.  He  had  built  the  tomb  for 
his  wife,  and  in  it  prepared  his  own  resting  place — a 
place  for  one ;  he  determined  at  her  decease,  forty-five 
years  before,  there  should  be  no  more. 

Daniel  P.  King,  though  never  admitted  to  the 
bar,  passed  through  a  course  of  study  in  law  and  de- 
serves a  place  in  this  record.  He  was  born  in  Dan- 
vers  January  8,  1801,  and  was  the  son  of  Daniel  and 
Phebe  (Upton)  King,  of  that  town.  He  fitted  for 
college  at  Phillips  Academy  and  graduated  at  Harvard 
in  1823.  In  1824  he  married  Sarah  P.,  daughter  of 
Hezekiah  and  Sally  (Putnam)  Flint,  and  finally  set- 
tled down  at  Danvers  as  a  farmer,  following  the  occu- 
pation of  his  lather  before  him.  He  was  a  Represen- 
tative to  the  Legislature  from  his  native  town  in  1835, 
Speaker  of  the  House  in  1840  and  1841,  president  of 
the  Senate  in  1843,  and  was  chosen  in  the  last  year 
Representative  to  Congress,  continuing  in  office  until 
1849.  His  natural  gifts,  cultivated  by  his  collegiate 
and  legal  studies,  specially  fitted  him  for  legislative 
duties,  and  more  particularly  for  that  class  of  them 


:-:,IUteTviS' 


THE  BENCH  AND  BAR. 


xli 


which  attaches  to  the  responsible  position  of  presiding 
officer.     He  died  in  Danvers  July  25,  1850. 

Elias  Hasket  Derby  was  born  in  Salem  Sep- 
tember 24,  1803,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1824. 
He  studied  law  in  the  office  of  Daniel  Webster,  and 
appears  on  the  official  list  of  lawyers  admitted  to  the 
bar  to  have  been  admitted  at  Salem  in  the  year  of  his 
graduation  from  college.  He  settled  in  Boston,  and 
by  an  increasing  practice  in  railroad  cases  soon 
became  identified  with  railroad  interests,  in  the  pro- 
motion of  which  he  was  far-seeing  and  bold.  He  was 
a  prolific  writer  for  newspapers  and  magazines,  hav- 
ing in  all  his  productions  an  eye  to  the  advancement 
and  prosperity  of  Boston.  He  was  at  one  time  pres- 
ident of  the  Old  Colony  Railroad,  and  died  in  Bos- 
ton, March  31,  1880. 

George  Lunt,  son  of  Abel  and  Phoebe  Lunt, 
was  born  in  Newburyport  December  31,  1803, 
and  graduated  in  Harvard  in  1824.  He  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  Essex  bar  in  1833,  and  until 
1848  practiced  law  in  Newburyport.  In  that 
year  he  removed  to  Boston,  and  in  1849,  under  the 
new  Whig  national  administration,  was  appointed 
district  attorney  for  Massachusetts,  succeeding  Rob- 
ert Rantoul.  During  the  four  or  five  years  which  pre- 
ceded the  war  he  was  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Boston 
Courier,  and  was  earnest  in  his  opposition  to  all  the 
measures  on  the  part  of  the  North  which  tended 
to  dissatisfy  and  estrange  the  South.  His  convictions 
were  doubtless  as  sincere  and  pure  as  those  who  de- 
nounced him,  but  his  love  for  an  unbroken  union  min- 
gled with  a  timidity  which  shrunk  from  a  test  of  its 
strength,  made  him  appear  at  times  what  he  was  not, 
an  advocate  of  slavery  and  its  attendant  evils. 

Outside  of  the  columns  of  newspapers,  Mr.  Lunt's 
publications  were  chiefly  poetical,  while  the  news- 
papers themselves  contained  many  a  poetical  gem 
from  his  pen,  which  eventually  found  its  way  into  a 
public  collection.  A  volume  of  his  poems  was  pub- 
lished in  1829,  another  in  1843,  another  in  1851  and 
still  others  in  1854  and  1855.  The  last  few  years  of 
his  life  Mr.  Lunt  spent  in  comparative  retirement  in 
Scituate,  and  died  in  Boston  May  16, 1885. 

Stephen  Palfrey  Webb,  son  of  Captain  Stephen 
and  Sarah  (Putnam)  Webb  was  born  in  Salem  March 
20,  1804,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1824.  He 
studied  law  with  John  Glen  King,  of  Salem,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1826.  He  settled  in  practice 
in  Salem,  and  was,  before  1853,  Senator,  Representa- 
tive and  mayor.  In  that  year  he  went  to  San  Fran- 
cisco, where  he  was  also  chosen  mayor  in  1854,  and 
returned  to  Salem,  again  to  be  chosen  mayor  in  1860, 
'61  and  '62.  He  was  city  clerk  of  Salem  from  1863  to 
1870,  and  finally  removed  to  Brookline,  where  he 
died  in  1879.  He  married,  May  26,  1834,  Hannah 
Hunt  Beckford  Robinson,  daughter  of  Nathan  and 
Eunice  (Beckford)  Robinson. 

Robert   Rantoul,  Jr.,^  the  son  of  Robert  and 

iBy  Dr.  A.  P.  Peabody. 


Joanna  (Lovett)  Rantoul,  was  born  in  Beverly,  August 
13,  1805.  In  his  childhood  he  gave  no  doubtful 
promise  of  the  traits  of  mind  and  character  that  were 
prominent  in  his  maturer  years.  Happy  in  home  in- 
fluences, and  in  those  of  his  earliest  school-life,  he  not 
only  learned  with  wonderful  facility,  but  manifested  a 
power  of  thought  and  reasoning  so  unusual  for  his 
age,  that  there  was  never  any  purpose  other  than  of 
securing  for  him  the  best  means  of  education  attain- 
able. He  was  fitted  for  college  at  Phillips  Academy 
in  Andover,  and  entered  Harvard  in  1822,  graduating 
in  1826.  His  college  life  was  one  of  untiring  Indus  - 
try.  Fourteen  hours  out  of  the  twenty-four  were, 
oftener  than  not,  spent  in  study.  He  paid  little  at- 
tention to  the  college  curriculum,  easily  reading  Lat- 
in and  Greek  at  sight,  and  in  mental,  moral  and  polit- 
ical science  reciting  from  his  own  "  inner  conscious- 
ness," in  words  of  which  the  professor  could  find  no 
trace  or  analogue  in  the  text-book.  He  devoted  a 
great  deal  of  time  to  the  higher  literature  of  conti- 
nental Europe.  The  French  language  he  learned  by 
reading  it,  and  it  early  became  as  familiar  to  him  as 
the  Englit^h.  In  German,  under  the  tuition  of  Dr. 
Follen,  he  belonged  to  the  first  class  in  Cambridge 
that  ever  studied  that  tongue.  His  chief  aim  was  to 
become  conversant  with  the  political  history  and  in- 
stitutions of  the  European  nations,  and  with  the  his- 
tory and  science  of  government  and  legislation.  He 
was  as  intimately  acquainted  with  Grotius  and  Puff- 
endorfi",  Machiavelli  and  Beccaria,  Montesquieu  and 
Jeremy  Bentham,  as  the  foremost  of  his  classmates 
were  with  their  required  class-work.  But,  notwith- 
standing his  incessant  labor,  he  was  not  indifferent 
to  college  society,  though  he  took  part  in  it  mainly  in 
behalf  of  the  interests  which  he  held  in  the  highest  re 
gard,  and  with  the  view  of  raising  the  standard  of 
general  culture.  "  The  Institute  of  1770  "  was  formed 
by  the  union  of  three  pre-existing  societies,  one  of  which, 
while  surrendering  the  distinctive  portion  of  its  name 
insisted  on  retaining  the  index  of  its  birth-year.  This 
new  society  was  organized,  virtually  by  him,  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  literary  and  scientific  work,  and  in  its 
earlier  years  was  among  the  most  efficient  educational 
forces  in  the  university.  Mr.  Rantoul's  high  place  in 
the  esteem  of  his  classmates  was  manifested  in  his 
election  as  class-poet,  and,  although  in  after  years  he 
wrote  but  little  verse,  he  had  already  shown,  and  cer- 
tainly showed  by  that  very  poem,  a  talent  which,  with 
adequate  cultivation,  might  have  given  him  no  incon- 
spicuous place  among  American  poets.  Mr.  Rantoul, 
on  leaving  college,  entered  the  law-office  of  John 
Pickering,  and  at  a  later  period  that  of  Leverett  Sal- 
tonstall. 

He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1829,  and  established 
himself  for  a  time  in  Salem,  where  his  principal  bus- 
iness was  as  junior  counsel  for  the  Knapps  in  the 
celebrated  White  murder  trial,  in  which  he  collected 
and  prepared  the  evidence  for  the  defense.  In  1831 
he  removed  to  South  Reading,  and  in  1833  to  Glou- 


xlii 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


cester,  which  town  he  represented  in  four  successive 
Legislatures.  In  1835  he  was  appointed  on  a  com- 
mittee for  revising  the  statutes  of  Massachusetts,  and 
in  the  three  following  years  he  served  and  performed 
very  elBcient  service  on  the  Judiciary  Committee. 
He  first  distinguished  himself  in  the  Legislature  by 
his  opposition  to  the  charter  of  a  "  ten  million  bank," 
at  a  time  when  paper  money,  often  of  difficult  and 
doubtful  currency,  flooded  the  country,  and  shortly 
before  the  suspension  of  specie  payment  by  the  New 
England  banks.  His  action  was  with  the  Democratic 
party  ;  but  it  was  universally  admitted  that  it  was  his 
able  argument  (which  might  stand  now  as  an  inde- 
pendent treatise  on  the  philosophy  of  finance),  that 
won  over  a  sufficient  number  of  the  Whig  majority  in 
the  House,  though  it  was  regarded  as  a  party  measure, 
to  defeat  the  scheme.  There  was  hardly  an  important 
subject  before  the  House  on  which  he  remained  silent ; 
and  his  speeches  were  not  harangues,  but  thorough  ar- 
guments, based  on  facts,  statistics  and  principles,  and 
requiring,  in  order  to  answer  them,  if  not  an  ability 
equal  to  his  own,  at  least  an  amount  of  diligent  study 
and  careful  elaboration  which  few  legislators  were,  or 
ever  are,  willing  to  bestow. 

The  subject  of  capital  punishment,  commended  to 
him  by  his  father's  lifelong  interest  in  it,  was  among 
those  which  he  early  and  often  urged  on  the  attention 
of  the  Legislature.  As  chairman  of  committees  he 
made  three  reports  in  as  many  successive  years  in 
favor  of  the  abolition  of  the  death-penalty,  besides 
as  many  carefully  prepared  speeches,  and  not  a  few 
shorter  ones  in  the  progress  of  debate.  He  after- 
ward wrote  "  Letters  on  the  Death-Penalty,"  ad- 
dressed to  the  Governor  and  Legislature  of  Massa- 
chusetts, which  were  reprinted  by  order  of  the  Legis- 
lature of  New  York.  He  also  embraced  every  avail- 
able opportunity  for  delivering  lectures  and  addresses 
on  this  subject.  His  writings  upon  it  probably  con- 
tain all  that  has  been  or  can  be  said  in  opposition  to 
capital  punishment,  and  they  have  been  largely 
quoted  wherever  the  question  has  been  discussed  on 
either  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

In  1839  Mr.  Rantoul  opened  an  office  in  Boston, 
having  his  home  in  Beverly.  In  1843  he  was  ap- 
pointed Collector  of  the  port  of  Boston  and  Charles- 
town,  and  in  the  following  year  United  States  Attor- 
ney for  the  District  of  Massachusetts,  which  latter 
office  he  resigned  in  1849. 

During  the  period  of  his  legal  practice  in  Boston 
he  had  the  management  of  a  singularly  large  number 
of  cases  of  prime  importance,  both  for  clients  of  his 
own  and  in  behalf  of  the  government,  and  in  several 
instances  he  not  only  gained  his  cause  against  the 
strongest  possible  array  of  opposing  counsel,  but  won 
their  hearty  applause;  and  when  he  lost  a  case  he 
seldom  failed  to  have  the  verdict  of  an  intelligent 
public  fcr  what  he  had  made  to  appear  the  better 
side.  One  of  his  most  remai'kable  cases  was  that  of 
Sims,  the  fugitive  slave,  whose  defence  he  was  called 


to  undertake  without  an  hour's  previous  notice,  yet 
in  whose  behalf  he  made  an  argument  to  which,  as 
we  read  the  report  of  it  to-day,  it  seems  as  if  nothing 
could  have  been  added,  whether  on  the  score  of  con- 
stitutional law  or  of  natural  right.  A  large  propor- 
tion of  the  cases  in  which  he  appeared  as  an  advocate 
were,  like  this  last-named,  such  as  he  espoused  with 
his  whole  heart,  equally  from  feeling  and  from  prin- 
ciple, so  that  he  identified  himself  fully  and  entirely 
with  the  person  or  cause  under  trial. 

Mr.  Rantoul,  at  the  outset  of  his  public  life,  at- 
tached himself  to  the  Democratic  party  from  sincere 
conviction,  and  with  full  knowledge  that  this  was  not 
the  way  to  obtain  place  or  office,  or  even  the  recog- 
nition of  ability  or  merit,  in  Massachusetts.  But  he 
never  bore  any  part,  nor  felt  any  sympathy,  with  the 
pro-slavery  sentiment,  in  which,  for  many  years,  the 
two  great  political  parties  had  vied  with  each  other 
in  that  sordid  sycophancy  to  the  South  which  cul- 
minated in  the  Fugitive-Slave  Law.  The  passage  of 
this  law  roused  intense  indignation  in  Massachusetts, 
and  led  to  the  building  up  of  the  Free-Soil  party, 
with  which  the  leaders  of  the  Democracy  were  free 
to  form  a  coalition,  while  loyalty  to  Mr.  Webster  re- 
strained the  opposing  i^arty  from  giving  unanimity  of 
expression  to  the  feeling  which,  beyond  a  question, 
was  universal  throughout  the  State.  Mr.  Rantoul 
had  several  times  before  been  nominated  for  Congress 
and  had  received  a  very  large  minority  cf  votes.  In 
1851  he  was  elected  by  the  Massachusetts  Legislature, 
in  which  the  Free-Soil  party  held  the  balance  of 
power,  to  fill  out  Mr.  Webster's  unexpired  term  in  the 
United  States  Senate,  on  his  becoming  Secretary  of 
State,  and  in  the  same  year  he  was  chosen  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  House  of  Representatives  for  the  Essex 
South  District. 

During  the  brief  period  of  his  Senatorship  there 
was  no  occasion  which  called  upon  him  for  more  than  a 
few  short  speeches,  on  matters  of  no  permanent  im- 
portance. But  in  the  House  he  at  once  took  a  prom- 
inent part  in  debate,  not  wholly  in  connection  Avith 
the  slavery  issue,  but  on  other  subjects  of  national  in- 
terest. On  the  occasions  on  which  he  addressed  the 
House  he  showed  himself  armed  at  all  points,  whether 
for  defence  or  for  assault,  and  was  probably  the  man 
above  all  others,  whom  the  abettors  of  such  wrongs  as 
had  assumed  to  their  view  the  aspect  of  right  most 
dreaded  to  encounter. 

His  vast  learning,  his  tenacious  memory  and  his 
prompt  command  of  its  resources,  made  him  a  most; 
formidable  opponent,  while  the  same  qualities  fitted 
him  for  the  efficient  advocacy  of  measures  conducive 
to  the  national  progress  and  well-being. 

But  his  career  was  cut  short  at  the  moment  when 
he  was  winning  the  highest  distinction,  and  when  es- 
pecially the  friends  of  freedom  were  depending  on  his 
already  well-proved  strength  as  their  champion.  He 
was  preparing  a  speech  on  the  fisheries,  a  subject 
which  he  doubtless  understood  better  than  any  other 


-^^ff  ^A^HRitcUe. 


THE  BENCH  AND  BAR. 


xliii 


man  in  Congress,  when  he  was  arrested  by  an  attack 
of  erysipelas,  which,  after  a  very  brief  illness,  termin- 
ated fatally  on  the  7th  of  August,  1852. 

In  our  summary  narrative  of  Mr.  Rantoul's  profes- 
sional and  official  life,  we  have  described  but  a  small 
portion  of  his  work  in  and  for  the  community  of 
which  he  was  a  citizen.  He  was  pre-eminently  a  pub- 
lic servant,  ixnselfish  and  philanthropic,  deeming  it 
his  highest  privilege  to  advance  the  true  interest  and 
well-being  of  his  country  and  his  race.  This  was  his 
ruling  ambition,  and  it  was  an  ambition  that  gave 
him  no  rest.  He  cared  not  for  station  or  office,  except 
as  a  post  of  usefulness.  He  would  not  have  accepted 
the  highest  position  in  the  world  had  it  impaired  the 
liberty  of  speech  and  pen  ;  while  he  was  content  to  re- 
main a  private  citizen  so  long  as  he  could  make  him- 
self heard  and  felt  by  multitudes. 

Mr.  Rantoul  bore  no  small  part  in  the  creation  of 
facilities  for  travel  and  transportation.  When  the 
extension  of  the  Boston  and  Worcester  Railroad  to 
Albany  was  first  agitated,  and  the  crossing  of  the 
mountain-spine  in  Western  Massachusetts  seemed  an 
almost  hopeless  enterprise,  he  undertook  the  advo- 
cacy of  this  measure,  and  had  large  influence  in  pro- 
curing subsidy  for  it  from  the  State  and  in  winning 
for  it  the  favor  of  private  capitalists. 

Illinois  was  indebted  to  him  for  like  service,  attended 
with  no  small  personal  loss  and  sacrifice,  in  the  con- 
struction of  her  Central  Railroad,  and  his  name,  so 
beneficially  connected  with  her  history,  is  kept  in  en- 
during memory,  and  has  been  given  to  a  town  that  has 
sprung  into  being  since  his  death. 

In  the  cause  of  education  Mr.  Rantoul  held  a  fore- 
most place.  He  was  among  the  founders  of  the  sys- 
tem of  Lyceum  lectures,  and  lectured  himself  when- 
ever he  could  find  opportunity,  in  those  early  times 
when  the  lecturer  sought  only  to  instruct,  not  to 
amuse,  his  hearers,  and  had  no  compensation  other 
than  their  gratitude.  He  started  the  publication  of 
a  series  of  Lyceum  lectures  and  other  popular  tracts, 
in  successive  numbers,  under  the  title  of  "  The  Work- 
ing Men's  Library." 

He  was  one  of  the  earliest  movers  in  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Education,  and 
was  intimately  associated  with  Horace  Mann,  as  his 
defender  and  coadjutor  in  the  reform  of  the  common 
schools  of  the  State.  He  procured  the  publication  of 
two  series  of  many  volumes,  which  he  virtually  edit- 
ed, under  the  name  of  "  The  Common-School 
Ijibrary," — one  series  for  the  older,  the  other  for 
less  advanced  pupils, — both  consisting  chiefly  of 
standard  works  in  various  departments  of  knowledge, 
which  in  their  ordinary  editions  were  beyond  the 
reach  of  common  readers.  He  was  an  earnest  advo- 
cate of  the  temperance  cause,  and,  while  conforming 
himself  to  the  purest  moral  standard,  he  spared  no  ef- 
fort when,  by  public  address  or  by  private  influence,  he 
could  hope  to  bring  his  fellow-citizens  up  to  the  same 
elevated  views.  Indeed,  his  high  tone  of  character,  his 


friendly  interest  in  whatever  was  of  real  moment  to 
those  around  him,  his  perpetual  propagandism  of  the 
primal  truths  and  great  causes  that  were  dearer  to 
him  than  success,  prosperity  or  fame,  gave  him  a  com- 
manding and  beneficent  influence  over  men  of  all 
classes  and  conditions  with  whom  he  was  brought 
into  relations,  more  or  less  intimate. 

In  1831  Mr.  Rantoul  married  Jane  Elizabeth 
Woodbury,  of  Beverly.  He  had  two  sons,  both  liv- 
ing,— Robert  Samuel,  of  Salem,  a  lawyer,  who  has 
been  a  member  of  both  branches  of  the  Massachusetts 
Legislature;  and  Charles  William,  now  a  resident  of 
Florida. 

Nathaniel  James  Lord  was  born  in  Ipswich 
October  28,  1805,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1825. 
He  studied  law  in  the  law  school  at  Northampton, 
under  Judge  Howe  and  Professor  Ashmun  and  in  the 
office  of  Leverett  Saltonstall,  at  Salem,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  September,  1828.  He  was  asso- 
ciated with  Mr.  Saltonstall  in  business  until  1835, 
and  afterwards,  until  the  autumn  of  1853,  was  actively 
engaged  alone  in  the  practice  of  the  law.  After  the 
death  of  Mr.  Saltonstall,  in  1845,  he  was  the  acknowl- 
edged leader  of  the  Essex  bar.  In  his  earliest  pro- 
fessional life,  as  the  junior  partner  of  Mr.  Saltonstall, 
he  had  little  opi:)ortunity  as  junior  counsel  to  show 
his  extraordinary  ability,  but  as  soon  as  he  launched 
his  own  boat  and  assumed  command,  he  only  waited 
for  the  death  of  his  old  venerable  partner  and  the 
removal  of  Mr.  Choate  to  Boston  to  become  identified 
with  his  native  county  as  its  greatest  lawyer.  Besides 
these  two  eminent  men,  he  had  to  cope  with  John 
Glen  King,  Joshua  Holyoke  Ward,  Caleb  Cushing, 
Robert  Rantoul  and  Ebenezer  Mosely,  but  his  re- 
peated trials  of  strength  with  these  skillful  antago- 
nists, vindicated  his  claim  to  the  first  honors  of  his 
profession.  He  died  at  Salem  June  18,  1869.  On 
the  21st  a  special  meeting  of  the  Essex  Bar  Associa- 
tion was  held,  to  take  notice  of  the  death  of  their  late 
associate,  at  which  William  C.  Endicott,  the  president 
of  the  association,  delivered  an  address,  analyzing  and 
eulogizing  the  character  of  the  deceased.  He  was 
followed  by  Asahel  Huntington,  Jonathan  C.  Perkins, 
Thomas  B.  Newhall  and  William  D.  Northend.  At 
an  adjourned  meeting,  held  June  28th,  Alfred  A.  Ab- 
bott, in  behalf  of  a  committee  appointed  at  the 
previous  meeting,  presented  a  memorial  on  the  life 
and  character  of  Mr.  Lord,  which  was  accepted  and 
ordered  to  be  entered  on  the  records  of  the  associa- 
tion. 

On  the  2d  of  July,  1869,  Mr.  Abbott,  in  behalf 
of  the  Association,  read  the  memorial  in  the  Supreme 
Court,  in  session  at  Salem,  and  moved  that  it  be 
placed  on  the  records  of  the  court.  The  motion  was 
seconded  by  William  C.  Endicott,  who  was  followed 
by  Mr.  Huntington  in  a  motion  that  a  copy  be  sent  to 
the  family  of  Mr.  Lord.  Chief  Justice  Brigham 
then  addressed  the  bar,  and  in  respect  to  the  memory 
of  Mr.  Lord,  the  court  adjourned. 


xliv 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Jeremiah  Chaplin  Stickney,  son  of  John  and 
Martha  (Chaplin)  Stickney,  was  born  in  Rowley 
January  6,  1805.  He  pursued  his  education  at  the 
Bradford  Academy  and  at  the  Salem  Latin  School, 
and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1824.  He  studied  law 
with  David  Cummins,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1826.  He  was  postmaster  of  Lynn  under  President 
Jackson,  Representative  to  the  State  Legislature  in 
1839  and  1840,  reappointed  postmaster  of  Lynn  by 
President  Pierce  in  1853,  and  continued  in  ofBce-un- 
til  1858.  He  married,  December  25,  1829,  Mary, 
daughter  of  John  Frazier,  of  Philadelphia,  and  died 
August  3, 1863. 

Jonathan  Cogswell  Perkins  was  born  in  Essex 
November  21,  1809,  and  graduated  at  Amherst  in 
1832,  of  which  institution  he  was  chosen  a  trustee  in 
1850.  He  studied  law  at  the  Dane  Law  School  and 
in  the  office  of  Rufus  Choate,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  Essex  bar,  at  Newburyport,  in  1835.  In  1845 
and  1846  he  was  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts 
House  of  Representatives,  in  1847  and  1848  a  member 
of  the  State  Senate,  in  1848  president  of  the  Salem 
Common  Council,  in  1853  a  member  of  the  Constitu- 
tional Convention,  and  in  1848  was  appointed  by 
Governor  Briggs  an  associate  judge  of  the  Common 
Pleas  Court,  holding  his  seat  until  the  abolition  of 
that  court  and  the  establishment  of  the  Superior 
Court  in  1859.  He  received  from  his  alma  mater  the 
degree  of  LL.D.  in  1867.  He  edited  and  annotated 
"  Daniels'  Chancery  Practice,  with  American  Forms," 
"  Sugden  on  Vendors,"  "Arnold  on  Insurance,"  "  Ben- 
jamin on  Sales,"  "  Williams  on  Executors  and  Ad- 
ministrators," "  Pickering's  Reports,"  "  Vesey's  Re- 
ports," "Abbott  on  Shipping,"  "Angell  on  Water- 
courses," "  Jarmin  on  Wills,"  and  the  several  works 
of  Chitty  on  Contracts,  Bills,  Criminal  Law  and 
Pleading.  He  died  December  12,  1877,  in  Salem, 
where  he  had  always  lived  after  his  admission  to  the 
bar  in  1835.  After  he  left  the  bench  he  was  city  so- 
licitor of  Salem. 

Joshua  Holyoke  Ward  was  a  native  of  Salem, 
where  he  died  June  5,  1848,  at  the  age  of  thirty-nine. 
He  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1829,  and  pursued  his 
law  studies  in  the  office  of  Leverett  Saltonstall  at 
Salem,  and  at  the  Dane  Law  School  at  Cambridge, 
receiving  the  degree  of  LL.B.  in  1832.  In  1844  he 
was  appointed  one  of  the  justices  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas,  and  remained  on  the  bench  until  his 
death.  He  was  a  man  of  exceptional  ability,  with  a 
promise  universally  recognized  of  a  brilliant  judicial 
career. 

Otis  Phillips  Lord,  brother  of  Nathaniel  James 
Lord,  was  born  in  Ipswich  July  11,  1812,  and  having 
fitted  for  college  at  Dummer  Academy,  entered  Am- 
herst with  the  class  which  graduated  in  1832.  He 
was  the  son  of  Nathaniel  and  Eunice  (Kimball)  Lord, 
and  descended  from  Robert  Lord,  who  came  from 
Ipswich,  England.  He  studied  law  with  Judge 
Oliver  B.   Morris,  judge   of   probate  in    Hampden 


County  and  in  the  Dane  Law  School  at  Cambridge, 
from  which  he  graduated  in  1836.  He  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  Salem  in  December,  1835,  and  began 
practice  in  his  profession  in  his  native  town.  In 
1844  he  removed  to  Salem,  where  he  resided  until  his 
death,  March  13,  1884.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  in  1847,  '48,  '52,  '53,  '54,  in 
which  last  year  he  was  Speaker.  In  1849  he  was 
a  member  of  the  Senate,  and  in  1853  a  delegate  to  the 
Constitutional  Convention.  Upon  the  organization 
of  the  Superior  Court,  in  1859,  he  was  appointed  by 
Governor  Banks  an  associate  justice,  and  held  this 
position  until  he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Gaston, 
December  21,  1875,  an  associate  justice  of  the  Su- 
preme Judicial  Court.  The  latter  position  he  re- 
signed December  8,  1882,  and  he  died  in  Salem  on 
the  13th  of  March,  1884. 

On  the  22d  of  March,  only  a  few  days  after  his 
death,  a  meeting  of  the  members  of  the  bar  of  the 
commonwealth  was  held  in  Boston,  at  which  senti- 
ments were  expressed  containing  a  just  and  deserved 
tribute  to  his  character  and  services  as  a  jurist  and  a 
man.  Attorney-General  Edgar  J.  Sherman,  in  pre- 
senting resolutions  on  that  occasion,  said  that  "  for 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  Judge  Lord  served  the 
commonwealth  as  a  judge  of  the  highest  tribunals 
with  distinguished  ability,  and  it  was  only  when  in- 
firmities became  inexorable  that  he  reluctantly 
abandoned  the  position  which  was  dear  to  him  both 
as  the  post  of  duty  and  of  honor.  .  .  .  He  had  a  nat- 
ural instinct  for  the  law.  His  learning  was  not  ex- 
tensive, and  his  temperament  was  always  too  impa- 
tient for  much  research;  but  he  could  recognize  a 
distinction  or  detect  a  fallacy  at  a  glance.  In  his 
power  to  grasp  and  enunciate  principles,  to  analyze 
and  marshal  evidence,  to  seize  upon  and  with  re- 
morseless clearness  and  logic  to  present  the  controll- 
ing elements  of  a  case,  he  was  seldom,  if  ever,  sur- 
passed. ,  .  His  personal  character  was  one  of  marked 
individuality,  but  it  is  no  flattery  of  him  to  say  that 
its  most  prominent  features  were  the  warmth  and  sin- 
cerity of  his  friendship,  his  rugged  honesty,  and  a 
courage  which  never  paltered  with  his  convictions." 

Chief  Justice  Morton,  in  the  course  of  his  response, 
said,  "  Judge  Lord  was  a  rapid  thinker,  and  quickly 
formed  impressions  upon  any  questions  of  law  pre- 
sented to  him.  Whether  his  views  were  right  or 
wrong,  he  saw  them  clearly  and  strongly ;  and  such 
was  his  power  of  forcible  expression,  that  there  was 
at  times  danger  that  he  might  make  the  worse  the  bet- 
ter reason.  But  he  had  such  control  over  his  mind 
that  he  could  grasp  and  appreciate  any  fair  argument 
which  tended  to  refute  his  views?,  and  had  the  candor 
to  abandon  at  once  his  position  when  convinced  that 
he  was  in  error.  ...  In  every  relation  of  life  he  was 
a  man  of  marked  individuality  and  force.  In  every 
aspect  of  his  character  he  was  a  strong  man.  He 
was  fctrong  in  his  intellect,  strong  in  his  emotion-, 
strong  in  his  friendships,  strong  in  his  dislikes  and 


SifA 


cp?. 


^ 


07^.. 


THE  BENCH  AND  BAR. 


xlv 


prejudices,  strong  in  thought  and  strong  in  language, 
and,  above  all,  strong  in  his  integrity." 

Nothing  need  be  added  to  show  what  manner  of 
judge  and  lawyer  and  man  Otis  Phillips  Lord  was  be- 
lieved by  his  contemporaries  to  be. 

George  Minot,  son  of  Judge  Stephen  Minot,  of 
Haverhill,  was  born  in  that  town  January  5,  1817. 
He  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1836,  and  studied  law 
with  Rufus  Choate,  preparatory  to  his  admission  to 
the  Suffolk  bar  in  1839.  He  is  best  known  for  the 
"  Digest  of  the  Decisions  of  the  Supreme  Judicial 
Court  of  Massachusetts,"  which  he  published  in  1844, 
and  to  which  he  added  a  supplement  in  1852.  He 
died  at  Reading,  Mass.,  April  16,  1858. 

Robert  Wormsted  Trevett  was  born  in  1789, 
and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1808.  He  studied  law 
and  settled  in  Lynn  in  1813,  where  he  died  January 
13,  1842. 

Stephen  Bradshaw  Ives  was  born  in  Salem 
March  9,  1827,  and  was  the  son  of  Stephen  B.Ives,  of 
that  city.  He  received  his  early  education  in  the 
public  schools  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1848. 
Alter  leaving  college  he  taught  school  one  season  in 
Newbury,  and  afterwards  had  charge  as  principal  of 
one  of  the  Salem  grammar  schools.  He  studied  law 
in  the  office  of  Northend  &  Choate,  in  Salem,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  at  Salem  at  the  March  term  of  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  1851.  For  a  year  or  two 
he  was  clerk  of  the  Salem  Police  Court,  and  in  1853 
began  active  practice.  By  his  eminent  qualifications 
for  his  chosen  profession,  guided  and  spurred  by  an 
unusual  enthusiasm  in  its  pursuit,  he  early  secured  a 
large  business  and  won  an  enviable  reputation.  He 
died  at  Salem  February  8,  1884,  and  on  the  next  day 
a  meeting  of  the  Bar  Association  of  Essex  County 
was  held  in  the  court-house,  in  Salem,  and  a  commit- 
tee consisting  of  William  D.  Northend,  George  F. 
Choate,  A.  A.  Abbott,  Daniel  Saunders  and  Charles 
P.  Thompson  was  appointed  to  prepare  resolutions  of 
respect  to  be  presented  to  the  court. 

In  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court,  sitting  at  Salem  on 
the  24th  of  the  following  April,  a  worthy  memorial 
was  read  by  Alfred  A.  Abbott,  who  was  followed  in 
appropriate  remarks  by  Mr.  Northend,  Mr.  Thomp- 
son, Mr.  Saunders,  Charles  A.  Benjamin  and  Leverett 
S.  Tuckerman. 

Chief  Justice  Morton,  presiding,  accepted  the  me- 
morial in  behalf  of  the  court  and  added  his  testimony 
to  the  high  character,  indomitable  energy  and  pro- 
fessional skill  of  Mr.  Ives.  The  whole  bar  acknowl- 
edged the  truth  of  Mr.  Abbott's  statement  that  for 
"  thirty  years  he  pursued  a  career  which  has  had  few 
parallels  in  the  history  of  the  Essex  Bar." 

Alfred  A.  Abbott,  son  of  Amos  Abbott,  was  born 
in  Andover  May  30,  1820.  He  was  educated  at  Phil- 
lips Andover  Academy  and  entered  Yale  College  in 
1837.  At  the  end  of  his  junior  year  he  left  Yale  and 
entered  Union  College,  from  which  he  graduated  in 
1841.     In  1843  he  graduated  also  from  the  Dane  Law 


School  at  Cambridge.  His  law  studies  were  finished 
in  the  office  of  Joshua  Holyoke  Ward,  and  he  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1844.  He  commenced  practice 
in  that  part  of  Danvers  which  is  now  Peabody,  and 
made  that  his  residence  until  his  death,  October  27, 
1884.  He  represented  the  town  of  Danvers  in  the 
Legislature  in  1850-52,  and  the  county  of  Essex  in 
the  Senate  in  1853.  In  the  latter  year  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Constitutional  Convention,  and  was  ap- 
pointed district  attorney  for  the  Eastern  District. 
He  held  office  as  attorney  until  1869.  In  1870  he  was 
appointed,  upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Huntington,  clerk 
of  the  courts,  and  in  the  same  year  he  was  chosen  for 
Mr.  Huntington's  unexpired  term.  He  continued  in 
office  until  his  death,  having  been  twice  re-elected. 

In  a  memorial  read  by  William  D.  Northend,  pres- 
ident of  the  Essex  Bar  Association  in  the  Superior 
Court  at  Salem,  December  8,  1884,  Mr.  Northend 
said  :  "  Mr.  Abbott  was  something  more  than  a  law- 
yer or  clerk  of  the  courts  ;  he  was  a  man  of  broad 
culture  and  large  knowledge  and  experience  outside 
his  profession.  He  read  the  best  books  and  was  a 
thorough  student  of  English  literature.  His  occa- 
sional public  addresses  were  models  of  excellence. 
Bis  style  was  elegant  and  graceful  and  his  language 
most  felicitous.  .  .  .  He  had  a  very  sympathetic 
nature,  his  delivery  was  forcible  and  impressive  and 
as  an  orator  he  had  no  equal  in  the  county  since  the 
days  of  Rufus  Choate.  If  he  had  sought  distinction 
in  the  general  practice  of  his  profession,  there  was  no 
place  at  the  bar  or  on  the  bench  to  which  he  could 
not  have  justly  aspired  ;  or  if  he  had  cherished  polit- 
ical ambition,  he  had  the  qualities  which  would  have 
insured  him  a  high  position  and  reputation  as  a  states- 
man." 

John  K.  Tarbox  was  born  in  that  part  of  Methuen 
which  is  now  Lawrence  May  6,  1838.  His  parents, 
of  Huguenot  extraction,  were  poor,  and  at  the  age  of 
eight  years  he  was  left  an  orphan  under  the  guardian- 
ship of  Rev.  Bailey  Loring,  of  North  Andover.  He 
was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Methuen  and 
Lawrence  and  the  Franklin  Academy  of  North  Ando- 
ver, and  while  still  a  youth,  entered  as  clerk  the  drug- 
store of  Henry  M.  Whitney,  of  Lawrence.  In  1857, 
at  the  age  of  nineteen,  he  became  a  student  in  thelaw- 
oflfice  of  Colonel  Benjamin  F.  Watson,  of  Lawrence, 
whose  attention  had  been  attracted  by  his  exhibition 
of  mental  activity  and  who  advised  him  to  prepare 
himself  for  the  profession  of  law.  In  1860  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  and  also  to  a  partnership  with  Col- 
onel Watson,  and  at  a  later  day  was  a  partner  of  Ed- 
gar J.  Sherman,  the  present  attorney-general  of  the 
commonwealth.  During  a  part  of  the  war  he  was  a 
paymaster's  clerk,  and  on  the  28th  of  August,  1863, 
was  mustered  out  of  the  service  as  lieutenant  of  Com- 
pany B,  Fourth  Massachusetts  Regiment. 

After  leaving  the  service  he  became  the  political 
editor  of  the  Lawrence  American,  and  in  1864  was  a 
delegate  to  the  Democratic  National  Convention.     In 


xlvi 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


1868,  '70,  '71,  he  was  a  Representative  from  Law- 
rence, in  1873  Senator  and  in  1873-74  mayor  of  that 
city.  In  1870, '72, '76, '78,  he  was  an  unsuccessful  can- 
didate of  the  Democratic  party  for  Congress,  but  in 
1874  was  chosen  and  sat  in  the  Forty-fourth  Con- 
gress. In  1879  he  presided  at  the  Democratic  State 
Convention,  and,  in  1883,  while  city  solicitor  of  Law- 
rence, was  appointed  by  Governor  Butler  insurance 
commissioner.  He  was  reappointed  by  Governor 
Robinson  in  1886,  and  won  a  deserved  reputation,  not 
only  for  the  faithful  and  thorough  performance  of  the 
duties  of  that  office,  but  also  for  his  exhaustive  labors 
in  the  revision  and  codification  of  the  insurance  laws 
of  the  State,  in  obedience  to  a  resolve  of  the  General 
Court.     He  died  in  Boston,  May  28th,  1887. 

Nathan  W.  Harmon  was  born  in  New  Ashford, 
January  16,  1813.  His  early  life  was  spent  on  a  farm 
with  the  educational  advantages  of  the  common  schools. 
He  fitted  for  college  at  Lenox  and  graduated  at  Wil- 
liams in  1836.  In  1839  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
Berkshire  County,  and  his  name  is  on  the  list  of  ad- 
missions to  the  Essex  bar  in  1842.  After  practising 
law  a  few  years  in  Berkshire  County,  a  part  of  the 
time  as  partner  of  George  N.  Briggs,  afterward  Gov- 
ernor of  the  Commonwealth,  he  removed  to  Lawrence 
and  made  that  place  ever  afterward  his  residence.  In 
1857  he  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, and  at  a  later  time  a  member  of  the  State  Senate. 
In  1876  he  was  appointed  Judge  of  the  Police  Court 
of  Lawrence  and  held  ofiice  until  January  of  the  pre- 
sent year  (1887),  when,  on  account  of  enfeebled  health, 
he  resigned.  He  died  September  16ih,  1887,  leaving 
two  daughters,  Harriet  and  Cornelia,  and  one  son, 
Rollin  E.  Harmon,  Judge  of  the  Police  Court  of  Lynn. 

Hon.  James  Henry  Duncan  was  born  in  Hav- 
erhill, Mass.,  December  5,  1793.  On  the  paternal  side 
he  was  of  Scotch-Irish  descent.  His  great-grandfather, 
George  Duncan,  was  one  of  the  colony  that  came  from 
Londonderry,  Ireland,  and  settled  in  Londonderry, 
N.  H.,  1719.  His  grandfather,  James,  came  to  Hav- 
erhill about  1740,  where  he  established  himself  as  a 
merchant.  He  died  in  1818,  aged  ninety-two  years. 
He  had  ten  children,  the  sixth  of  whom  was  James, 
who  married  Rebecca  White,  and  died  January  5, 
1822,  aged  sixty-two  years.  He  left  two  children — 
Samuel  White,  who  died  October  21, 1824,  and  James 
Henry,  of  this  sketch. 

On  the  maternal  side  the  family  of  Mr.  Duncan 
covers  the  entire  history  of  Haverhill,  a  period  of 
more  than  two  centuries,  and  on  the  paternal  side  the 
three  generations  cover  more  than  half  of  this  period. 

Mr.  Duncan  early  evinced  a  fondness  for  books,  and 
at  the  age  of  eleven  years  he  was  sent  to  Phillips' 
Academy  at  Exeter,  N.  H.,  then  the  leading  classical 
school  in  the  country.  Here  he  was  brought  into  the 
companionship  of  Edward  Everett,  Jared  A.  Sparks, 
Buckminster,  John  G.  Palfrey  and  John  A.  Dix. 
The  stimulating  influence  of  such  companions,  aided 
by  his  own  quick  faculties,  rapidly  developed  him ; 


and  at  the  age  of  fourteen  he  entered  Harvard  Col- 
lege. He  was  graduated  in  due  course,  in  the  class  of 
1812,  with  Dr.  John  Homans,  Judge  Sprague,  Bishop 
Wainwright,  Henry  Ware,  Franklin  Dexter,  Charles 
G.  Loring  and  others.  In  college  Mr.  Duncan  held  a 
high  rank,  especially  in  the  classics,  the  careful  study 
of  which  was  strongly  apparent  in  the  smooth, 
rounded.  Latinized  style  that  marked  his  conversa- 
tion and  public  speech. 

The  career,  thus  happily  begun,  was  followed  by 
the  study  of  the  law, — first  in  the  office  of  Hon.  John 
Varnum  at  Haverhill,  and  afterwards  with  his  cousin, 
Leverett  Saltonstall,  at  Salem.  In  1815  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  Essex  bar,  and  entered  upon  practice  at 
Haverhill.  For  several  years  Mr.  Duncan  gave  his 
entire  time  to  his  profession ;  but  the  death  of  his 
father,  January  5,  1822,  left  him  in  the  charge  of  a 
considerable  estate,  which  gradually  withdrew  him 
from  its  duties,  though  he  did  not  wholly  relinquish 
practice  until  1849,  when  he  took  his  seat  in  Congress. 
It  has  been  thought  by  many  a  misfortune  for  his  own 
reputation,  that  the  cares  of  property  interfered  with 
the  ardent  practice  of  his  profession.  His  ready  and 
sympathetic  eloquence,  his  thorough  honesty  and 
comprehensive  judgment  gave  promise  of  a  brilliant 
future.  But  probably  his  life  was  more  widely  useful 
than  if  he  had  remained  an  advocate.  As  a  lawyer 
he  was  devoid  of  trickery,  and  he  instinctively  repu- 
diated those  indirect  methods  often  employed  in  the 
profession.  Though  richly  gifted  as  an  advocate,  he 
had  a  constitutional  aversion  to  litigation,  and  thus 
was  oftener  engaged  in  settling  cases  than  in  disputing 
them.  We  copy  here  from  the  resolutions  of  the  Es- 
sex bar,  passed  after  his  death  : 

"  Renolved,  That  we  desire  to  expiess  and  put  on  record  our  respect 
for  the  memcry  and  characterof  the  Honorable  James  H.  Duncan,  whose 
recent  death  was  bo  sincerely  and  deeply  lamented  in  the  particular  com- 
munity where  he  was  born  and  lived,  as  well  as  by  the  public  at  large. 
Mr.  Duncan  entered  on  the  practice  of  the  law  in  the  courts  of  this 
county,  more  than  fifty  years  ago,  after  a  thorough  preparation,  ac- 
cording to  the  usages  of  the  day,  partly  in  the  office  of  the  late  Lev- 
erett Saltonstall,  so  distinguished  here  in  his  generation,  and  his  kins 
man  and  friend.  He  pursued  his  profession  here  for  many  years,  with 
marked  fidelity  and  success,  always  trusted  and  respected  by  his  breth- 
ren, until,  having  served  his  State  honorably  and  usefully  in  both 
branches  of  the  Legislature,  he  was  called  by  the  general  voice  of  his 
fellow  citizens  into  the  public  councils  of  the  country,  now  more  than 
twenty  years  ago,  since  which  time  he  has  withdrawn  himself  wholly 
from  the  practice  of  the  profession,  and  attendance  on  the  courts.  Of 
late  years  he  has  been  known  as  a  lawyer,  to  much  the  largest  por- 
tion now  in  practice  at  this  bar,  only  by  the  '  tradition  of  the  elders,' 
among  whom,  as  well  as  in  the  courts,  he  had  obtained  and  always 
held  a  'good  report.'" 

Mr.  Duncan  lived  what  might  be  called  a  public 
life  ;  yet  it  was  through  a  certain  evident  fitness  that 
led  him  to  be  called  to  its  duties,  rather  than  from  his 
own  seeking.  A  short  time  previous  to  his  admission 
to  the  bar,  he  was  elected  major  in  the  Haverhill 
Light  Infantry  ;  and,  passing  through  the  various 
grades  of  militia  service,  he  rose  to  the  rank  of  colo- 
nel, by  which  title  he  was  afterwards  commonly  ad- 
dressed.    He  was  early  a  trustee  of  the  Essex  County 


':i^- 


Sno^, 


'if-iyA.H.Ritch-ve 


d^^-mA:/ 


(y(yn-C-€i^'^ 


THE  BENCH  AND  BAR. 


xlvii 


Agricultural  Society,  and  from  1836  to  1838  its  presi- 
dent. 

On  the  formation  of  the  National  Republican  party, 
popularly  known  as  the  Whig  party,  in  1827,  he  was 
elected  to  the  State  Legislature,  and  in  the  three  suc- 
ceeding years  to  the  Senate,  when  he  declined  re-elec- 
tion. In  1837-38,  he  was  again  found  in  the  House; 
and  in  the  two  following  years,  he  was  a  member  of 
the  Council.  In  1857  he  was  again  elected  to  the 
Legislature.  On  the  passage  of  the  State  Insolvent 
Law,  in  1838,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  Commis- 
sioners in  Insolvency ;  and  on  the  passage  of  the 
United  States  Bankrupt  Law,  in  1841,  he  wa.s  made 
Commissioner  in  Bankruptcy,  holding  the  oflSce  until 
the  law  was  repealed.  In  1839  he  was  elected  a  dele- 
gate to  the  convention  at  Harrisburg  that  nominated 
General  Harrison  for  the  Presidency.  In  1848  he  was 
chosen  to  represent  his  district,  then  the  largest  man- 
ufacturing district  in  the  United  States,  in  the  na- 
tional Congress;  and  was  re-elected  in  1850. 

Of  his  Congressional  career  Hon.  Amos  Tuck,  of 
Exeter,  at  the  time  United  States  Senator  from  New 
Hampshire,  thus  speaks : 

"  He  entered  Congress  at  the  first  session  of  General  Taylor's  adminis- 
tration, when  the  problems  in  politics  and  government,  which  grew  out 
of  the  Mexican  War  and  the  acquisition  of  California  and  Kew  Mexico, 
infused  such  intensity  of  feeling  into  the  public  mind.  The  old  Whig 
party,  with  which  Mr.  Duncan  had  long  been  honorably  connected,  was 
becoming  more  anti-slavery  ;  while  the  Democratic  party  was  gradually 
giving  way  to  the  entire  leadership  of  Southern  men,  and  becoming 
hopelessly  involved  in  the  sin,  shame  and  want  of  statesmanship,  in- 
volved in  the  advocacy  and  support  of  slavery  extension.  Mr.  Duncan 
had  relations  of  friendship  with  the  old  leaders  of  the  Whig  party,  and 
was  welcomed  into  their  fellowship  at  Washington  on  his  arrival  at  that 
city.  But  his  moral  perceptions  had  been  cultivated  beyond  what  was 
common  among  the  devotees  of  either  of  the  old  parties,  and  he  knew 
and  felt  the  force  of  the  moral  questions  which  were  discussed  through- 
out the  country  upon  the  relation  of  the  government  to  slavery.  At- 
tached to  his  party,  and  attached  to  his  honored  friends,  he  yet  could 
not  be  blind  or  deaf  or  insensible  to  the  claims  for  justice  of  the  humble 
who  could  not  even  speak  for  themselves.  He  remembered  those  in 
bonds,  as  bound  with  them,  and,  at  the  expense  of  personal  comfort, 
voted,  I  believe,  from  first  to  last,  during  his  Congressional  term  of 
four  years,  under  all  the  circumstances  of  an  excited  period  of  our  his- 
tory, on  the  slavery  question  in  all  its  phases,  only  as  his  best  friends 
could  now  wish  he  had  voted,  after  all  the  light  since  shed  upon  the  sub- 
ject. That  he  so  signally  and  uniformly  acted  on  the  side  of  wisdom 
and  right,  while  so  many  of  his  associates  were  misled  by  excitement,  or 
failed  for  other  reasons  to  see  and  maintain  what  it  is  now  apparent  they 
ought  to  have  supported,  I  attribute  in  a  great  degree  to  his  elevated 
moral  character,  to  hie  cultivated  sense  of  right,  to  his  determination 
never  to  violate  the  dictates  of  an  enlightened  conscience.  He  was  not 
a  frequent  debater  in  the  House  of  Representatives  ;  but  when  he  did 
speak,  he  commanded  more  than  common  attention.  He  was  one  whom 
to  know  was  to  love,  who  made  many  friends  and  no  enemies,  and  who 
left  Congress  possessing  universal  esteem." 

The  tribute  of  affection  and  respect  which  the  poet 
Whittier  paid  to  him  after  his  decease  makes  honor- 
able mention  of  him  as  a  man  in  public  life  and  in 
his  social  relations.  "  His  Congressional  career  was 
a  highly  honorable  one,  marked  by  his  characteristic 
soundness  of  judgment  and  conscientious  faithful- 
ness to  a  high  ideal  of  duty.  In  private  life  as  in 
public,  he  was  habitually  courteous  and  gentlemanly. 
For  many  years  the  leading  man  in  his  section,  he 


held  his  place  without  ostentation,  and  achieved  great- 
ness by  not  making  himself  great." 

Not  the  least  of  Mr.  Duncan's  public  services  were 
his  labors  in  behalf  of  the  Union  during  the  Civil 
War.  He  was  active  with  voice  and  pen  in  strength- 
ening the  hands  of  the  government.  He  cheerfully 
acted  as  the  medium  of  communication  between  the 
soldiers  in  the  field  and  their  families  at  home.  They 
sent  to  him  their  well-earned  money,  which  he  per- 
sonally distributed,  gladdening  often  many  a  humble 
home  by  his  presence  as  the  harbinger  of  good  tid- 
ings and  comfort. 

These  statements  indicate  how  constantly  Mr.  Dun- 
can was  in  public  life.  Meanwhile,  he  was  serving 
in  other  large  public  interests  not  of  a  political 
nature  ;  while  in  town  matters  his  services  were  con- 
stantly demanded.  For  fifty  years,  scarcely  an  im- 
portant item  of  municipal  business  was  transacted 
except  under  his  advice  or  leadership.  If  a  matter 
needed  to  be  brought  before  the  General  Court  he 
was  delegated  to  do  it.  He  took  the  leading  part  in 
the  erection  of  two  town  halls,  making,  at  the  dedi- 
cation of  both,  historical  addresses.  In  this  connec- 
tion Hon.  Alfred  Kittredge  says, — "  He  took  great 
interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  town^  and  frequently  ad- 
dressed his  fellow-citizens  upon  subjects  of  importance. 
He  was  listened  to  with  great  interest,  and  usually 
carried  a  majority  with  him.  In  all  discussions  he 
was  in  a  marked  degree  gentlemanly,  both  in  his 
manner  of  presenting  subjects  and  in  his  treatment 
of  those  who  differed  from  him,  stating  his  own  views 
forcibly,  and  giving  others  due  credit  for  their  own. 
He  had  a  remarkably  clear  utterance,  and  a  rich 
ringing  voice  that  gave  him  great  power  over  an 
audience.  When  in  the  Legislature,  Samuel  Allen, 
I  think,  gave  him  the  cognomen  of  the  '  silver- 
tongued  member  '  from  Haverhill. 

This  sketch  would  be  incomplete  if  it  overlooked 
Mr.  Duncan's  relation  to  the  great  religious  and 
benevolent  movements  of  his  time.  He  took  the  most 
lively  interest  in  the  cause  of  education,  and  in  the 
great  missionary  organizations  of  his  own  and  other 
Christian  denominations.  He  Avas  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Fellows  of  Brown  University  from  1835  till  his 
death.  In  1861  the  Board  conferred  on  him  the  honorary 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say 
that  his  name  and  influence  were  a  tower  of  strength  in 
the  councils  of  the  corporation.  It  is  thus  that  Barnas 
Sears,  then  president  of  the  University,  speaks  of  him 
as  he  appeared  at  its  annual  meetings,  or  in  the  larger 
gatherings  of  the  representatives  of  the  Missionary 
Union, — "  Long  will  men  remember  the  impressions 
made  on  these  and  similar  occasions  by  this  Christian 
gentleman  and  scholar,  with  his  finely-cut  features 
and  symmetrical  form,  his  graceful  and  animated 
delivery,  his  chaste,  beautiful,  and  musical  language, 
his  pertinent,  clear  and  convincing  arguments,  his 
unflinching  fidelity,  and  spotless  integrity.  So  blend- 
ed in  him  were  these  various  attributes  of  body  and 


xlviii 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


mind  that  we  can  think  of  them  only  in  their  union, 
and  it  would  seem  that  a  mind  of  delicate  mould  had 
formed  for  itself  a  bodily  organ  suited  to  its  own 
purposes.  In  him  we  see  how  much  Christianity  can 
do  for  true  culture,  and  how  beautiful  an  orna- 
ment culture  is  to  Christianity.'' 

Mr.  Duncan  during  his  whole  life  worshipped  with 
the  First  Baptist  Church  in  Haverhill,  though  he  did 
not  become  a  member  of  the  church  until  the  age  of 
forty.  His  ancestors  on  both  sides  were  among  its 
founders.  Thus  a  Baptist  by  birth  and  education  he 
afterwards  added  to  the  principles  thus  inculcated 
the  full  conviction  of  his  mature  years.  However 
attached  to  his  own  communion  he  was  not  in  the 
narrow  sense  of  the  term  a  denominationalist.  By 
nature  he  was  catholic  and  took  the  broad  and  liberal 
side  on  all  church  questions.  Every  good  cause  had 
in  him  a  friend.  He  wrought  zealously  with  all  true 
lovers  of  God  and  man.  The  cause  of  home  and  for- 
eign missions,  of  popular  education  and  the  dissemi- 
nation of  a  sound  literature  enlisted  his  earnest 
advocacy.  Indeed,  he  was  quick  in  his  response  to 
all  good  objects  by  which  humanity  could  be  elevated 
and  God  honored. 

Mr.  Duncan  remained  single  till  the  age  of  thirty- 
three,  when,  June  28,  1826,  he  married  Miss  Mary 
Willis,  daughter  of  Benjamin  Willis,  Esq.,  of  Boston. 
Thirteen  children  were  born  to  them.  Three  died 
in  early  childhood,  and  three  passed  away  after  they 
had  attained  to  adult  years,  leaving  seven, — two  sons 
and  five  daughters.  His  home,  of  which  Mr.  Dun- 
can was  pre-eminently  the  head,  was  the  centre  of 
a  liberal  culture  and  of  a  refined  and  generous  hos- 
pitality. This  hospitality  was  not  the  mere  recipro- 
cation of  society.  His  ample  mansion  was  open 
alike  to  friends  and  strangers.  If  the  town,  or  any 
religious  or  secular  interest  could  be  served  by  his 
hospitality,  it  was  proffered  without  stint.  His  house 
was  regarded  as  the  temporary  home  of  public  speakers, 
lecturers,  clergymen  and  all  others  to  whom  hospi- 
tality seemed  due.  The  grace  and  tact  and  dignity 
which  Mr.  Duncan  uniformly  exhibited  thus  in  his 
own  home  is  remembered  by  multitudes. 

Mr.  Duncan's  last  illness  was  brief,  and  its  fatal 
termination  was  a  surprise  to  all.  Although  he  was 
seventy-five  years  old  he  bore  no  marks  of  age.  A 
cold  which  caused  no  apprehensions  at  first,  suddenly 
developed  into  pneumonia,  which  after  only  a  few 
days  of  sickness  terminated  fatally,  February  8,  1869. 
The  announcement  of  his  death  passed  rapidly 
through  the  town,  and  was  received  almost  with  in- 
credulity. When  the  surprise  passed,  a  general 
sorrow  and  sense  of  bereavement  took  possession  of 
all  hearts.  Many  had  lost  in  him  a  loved  and  faith- 
ful friend,  and  all  felt  that  the  town  had  been  be- 
reaved of  its  most  useful  and  honored  citizen,  and 
that  his  place  would  not  soon  be  filled.  By  the 
general  urgent  desire  of  the  community  the  funeral 
services  were  held  in  the  church,  instead  of  the  house, 


as  was  first  intended,  and  were  attended  by  a  large 
concourse  of  people.  Though  holding  no  office  at 
the  time,  such  was  the  appreciation  of  his  services  in 
the  past,  and  such  the  sense  of  the  love  sustained  by 
his  removal,  that  the  town  adopted  most  appropriate 
resolutions  upon  the  event. 

There  are  other  deceased  members  of  the  bar  of 
whom  sketches  would  be  interesting,  if  reliable  mate- 
rials could  be  readily  obtained.  Some  of  these  will  be 
remembered  by  present  members  of  the  bar,  and  are 
as  deserving  of  a  place  in  this  record  as  many  who 
have  been  especially  mentioned.  Edward  Pulling 
(H.  C),  1775,  John  W.  Proctor,  Jacob  Gerrish,  Ellis 
G.  Loriug,  Francis  B.  Crowninshield,  George  H.  De- 
vereaux,  George  Andrews,  Hobart  Clark,  Asa  An- 
drews, Eben  Shillaber,  John  B.  Peabody,  Wm.  How- 
land,  George  Foster  Flint,  Frederick  D.  Burnham  and 
Jairus  Ware  Perry  are  some  of  those  whose  sketches 
have  been  necessarily  omitted. 

Hon.  Stephen  Heney  Phillips  ^  was  the  eldest 
son  of  the  Hon.  Stephen  Clarendon  Phillips  and  Jane 
Appleton  (Peele)  Phillips,  of  Salem.  His  paternal 
great-grandfather.  Deacon  Stephen  Phillips,  a  de- 
scendant of  the  Rev.  George  Phillips  who  reached 
Salem  with  Winthrop  in  1630,  and  settled  at  Water- 
town,  had  removed  from  his  ancestral  home  in  that 
town  to  Marblehead,  where  he  became  a  leading  citi- 
zen, taking  the  Chair  as  Moderator  of  the  tumultuous 
town-meeting  called  to  protest  against  the  Boston 
Port  Bill  of  1773,  and  was  thenceforth  an  active  pa- 
triot and  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Correspon- 
dence and  Safety.  His  grandfather,  Stephen  Phil- 
lips, was  a  well-known  citizen  and  merchant  of  Mar- 
blehead. His  father's  public  services  as  a  sturdy 
supporter  of  the  interests  of  Salem,  as  an  un- 
tiring friend  of  Freedom  in  Congress  and  elsewhere 
and  of  the  Public  School  System  of  Massachusetts, 
will  be  recounted  by  others  and  are  freshly  remem- 
bered. Other  descendants  of  the  same  Puritan  an- 
cestry have  won  distinction.  The  same  stock  produced 
the  founders  of  academies  bearing  the  name  at  Exeter 
and  at  Andover.  It  produced  the  famous  Boston  pa- 
triot of  the  Revolution,  William  Phillips  ;  his  son, 
the  first  mayor  of  Boston,  John  Phillips ;  in  the  third 
generation,  Wendell  Phillips,  a  son  of  the  latter,  our 
matchless  master  of  English  speech  ;  as  well  as  that 
much  admired  divine,  the  Rev.  Phillips  Brooks. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  at  the  family 
mansion  in  Charter  Street,  Salem,  now  occupied  as  a 
City  Hospital,  August  16,  1823.  His  school  experi- 
ence was  unique.  Before  1830  he  had  been  a  pupil  at 
the  dame's  school  of  Miss  Mehetable  Higginson, 
and  from  that  date  on  he  enjoyed  the  successive 
teachings  of  Henry  K.  Oliver,  with  whom  Jones  Very, 
David  Mack,  and  Surgeon  John  L.  Fox  of  the  Wilkes 
Exploring  Expedition  were  assistants,  in  Salem ;  of 
Frederick  P.  Leverett,  at  the  Old  South  Chapel  in  Bos- 

1  Kobert  S.  Ran  foul. 


■^'^  ^iyAKBitchie- 


THE  BENCH  AND  BAR. 


xlix 


ton  ;  of  the  Rev.  Joseph  Allen  at  his  boarding-school 
in  Northampton ;  and  of  William  J.  Adams  at  a  private 
school  in  Murray  Street,  New  York  City.  The  year 
1836  found  him  at  the  Select  Classical  School  in 
Washington,  D.  C,  founded  by  Salmon  P.  Chase 
when  a  law  student  in  the  office  of  Attorney- General 
Wirt,  and  there  Charles  Levi  Woodbury,  Alfred  Plea- 
santon,  since  known  as  a  famous  cavalry  general,  and 
Mansfield  Lovell,  the  rebel  commandant  who  evacuated 
New  Orleans  in  face  of  Farragut,  were  among  his  school- 
mates. The  next  year  he  passed  in  Salem  at  the  school 
of  Rufus  T.  King,  in  Chestnut  Street,  and  another  year 
under  Master  Oliver  Carlton,  of  the  Latin  Grammar 
School,  brought  him  a  certificate  with  which,  at  the 
exceptional  age  of  fifteen,  he  entered  Harvard  in 
1838,  taking  his  degree  in  course,  a  winter  spent  in 
the  West  Indies  in  the  senior  year  for  the  recovery  of 
his  health  depriving  him  of  the  very  high  rank  he 
had  previously  held.  Here  he  had  for  classmates  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Johnson,  of  Salem,  the  eminent  Orien- 
talist, and  a  well-known  essayist  and  magazine  writer, 
Frederick  Sheldon,  of  Newport,  R.  I.  On  graduating 
in  1842,  he  became  a  member  of  Harvard  Chapter, 
Alpha,  of  the  Society  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa,  and  was 
at  a  later  date  a  founder,  and  for  its  first  six  years 
President,  of  the  Harvard  Club  of  San  Francisco. 

The  three  years  following  his  graduation, — the  last 
three  years  of  the  life  of  its  great  patron.  Judge 
Story, — Mr.  Phillips  spent  at  the  Dane  Law  School, 
where  Charles  Sumner  was  an  occasional  lecturer 
and  Simon  Greenleaf  was  Royal  Professor.  Ex-Presi- 
dent Rutherford  B.  Hayes ;  Chief  Justice  Peters, 
of  Maine ;  Chief  Justice  Morton,  of  Massachusetts ; 
Chief  Justice  Lee,  of  the  Sandwich  Islands ;  Ex- 
Chief  Justice  Foster,  of  New  Hamjishire,  and  Ex- 
Chief  Justice  Bradley,  of  Rhode  Island,  were  among 
his  fellow  students.  After  a  further  period  of  study  in 
the  office  of  the  Hon.  Benjamin  R.  Curtis,  at  Boston,  he 
was  admitted  to  practice  at  the  Suflfolk  bar  in  April, 
1846,  and  for  the  years  1847,  '48,  '49,  '50  edited  the 
Boston  Law  Reporter. 

Having  removed  his  office  to  Salem,  Mr.  Phillips 
was  appointed  by  Governor  Boutwell,  in  1851,  District 
Attorney  for  the  County  of  Essex,  a  position  which  he 
filled  with  acceptance  and  which  he  resigned  in  1854. 
Advancing  rapidly  in  professional  and  general  esti- 
mation, and  having  formed  a  business  connection 
with  James  A.  Gillis,  since  for  many  years  City  Solic- 
itor of  Salem, — an  office  which  Mr.  Phillips  himself 
filled  for  the  years  1856,  '57, — he  had  already  achieved 
a  leading  position  at  the  Essex  bar,  when  he  was 
elected  in  the  last  named  year,  at  the  unusual  age  of 
thirty-four.  Attorney-general  of  the  Commonwealth. 
This  responsible  and  dignified  position  he  retained 
by  popular  election  through  the  three  years'  admin- 
istration of  Governor  Banks,  the  first  Republican  ad- 
ministration in  Massachusetts,  and  at  its  close,  in 
1861,  was  by  him  appointed  Judge-advocate-general 
of  the  militia  of  the  State. 
vi 


Continuing  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Boston 
and  in  Salem,  with  such  interruptions  as  no  patriotic 
citizen  could  honorably  avoid  during  the  five  troubled 
years  which  followed,  and  acting,  from  November, 
1863,  as  chairman  first  of  the  City  Water  Committee, 
charged  with  procuring  an  act  for  the  introduction  of 
a  water-supply  for  Salem,  and  then  of  the  Water 
Commission,  upon  which  devolved  the  duty  of  con- 
struction, Mr.  Phillips  in  1866  accepted  overtures 
from  Kamehameha  V.  for  a  position  as  one  of  the 
four  responsible  ministers  of  his  privy  council,  and 
temporarily  left  the  United  States  for  Honolulu. 
Under  the  Hawaiian  constitution,  modeled  largely 
on  our  own,  he  acted,  throughout  his  residence  in 
Honolulu,  as  Attorney -general,  and  for  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  time  as  Minister  of  Foreign  Affiiirs 
also.  At  times  he  added  to  these  trusts  that  of  Min- 
ister of  Finance,  and  very  generally  he  was  the  recog- 
nized head  of  the  Royal  Government  in  the  House  of 
Nobles,  King's  Cabinet  and  Privy  Council.  He  was 
at  liberty  to  practice  in  the  courts  of  law  in  causes  in 
which  the  interests  of  the  State  were  not  involved. 

A  position  as  the  responsible  head  of  a  government 
like  this  is  not  without  peculiar  difficulties.  For  rea- 
sons of  their  own,  England,  France  and  the  United 
States  had  seen  fit  to  i-ecognize  the  Sandwich  Islands 
as  an  independent  sovereignty.  But  with  a  standing 
army  of  seventy  men,  it  was  no  mean  task  to  keep  the 
peace  amongst  as  many  thousands  of  these  tawny, 
mercurial,  Malayo-Polynesian  subjects;  to  suppress  the 
occasional  armed  outbreaks  of  religious  fanaticism  or 
of  jealousy  of  foreign  influence;  to  maintain  at  all 
times  the  dignity  and  self-respect  of  a  reigning  house 
under  a  form  of  government,  nominally  constitutional, 
in  which  the  elements  of  strength  were  wanting,  and, 
while  yielding  all  that  could  safely  be  granted  to 
foreign  commercial  and  diplomatic  agents  and  foreign 
missionaries,  to  see  to  it  that  none  of  them  secured 
concessions  injurious  to  rival  denominations,  nation- 
alities or  interests,  or  to  the  State.  And  this  was  the 
task  which  confronted  Mr.  Phillips  during  his  seven 
years'  residence  at  Honolulu.  He  was  largely  instru- 
mental in  the  reciprocity  negotiations  of  1867-69,  in 
which  President  Grant  took  so  active  an  interest  as 
to  invite  him  to  a  private  interview,  and  while  secur- 
ing to  the  people  of  the  islands  a  measure  of  domes- 
tic tranquillity  and  peace  which  made  life  and  prop- 
erty as  safe  there  as  in  any  portion  of  the  civilized 
world,  he  was  able  to  apply  to  their  foreign  afiairs 
the  good,  old  American  doctrine  of  Washington's 
farewell  address, — "Friendly  relations  with  all  na- 
tions; entangling  alliances  with  none." 

Upon  the  change  of  dynasty  consequent  upon  the 
death  of  Kamehameha  V.,  Mr.  Phillips  returned  in 
1873  to  the  United  States  and  established  himself  at 
San  Francisco  as  Resident-Director  and  Solicitor  of 
the  Equitable  Life  Assurance  Society  of  the  United 
States.  During  eight  years  spent  here  in  the  practice 
of  the  law  he  was  at  times  retained  as  the  official  coun- 


1 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


sel  of  the  State  Board  of  Eailroad  Commissioners,  and 
the  California  State  Keports  show  that  he  appeared  in 
important  causes,  of  which  Estate  of  Hinckley,  58  Cal., 
457,  dealing  in  a  radical  way  with  the  State  law  of 
charities,  is  perhaps  the  most  noteworthy.  In  1881  he 
resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  the  State  of 
Massachusetts,  residing  in  Danvers.  He  had  previ- 
ously married,  at  Haverhill,  Oct.  3,  1871,  while  on  a 
temporary  absence  from  Honolulu,  Miss  Margaret  D., 
daughter  of  the  Hon.  James  H.  Duncan,  of  Haver- 
hill, a  lady  whose  acquaintance  he  had  made  in  the 
Hawaiian  Islands. 

It  will  be  seen  that,  throughout  a  somewhat  varied 
career,   Mr.  Phillips   has  only  in   a  single  instance 
been  a  candidate  for  office  before  the  people,  and  in 
that  instance  the  office  was  a  professional  one.   Never 
slow  to  respond  to  the  calls  of  good  citizenship  and 
good  neighborhood ;    never  hesitating   to   show   his 
colors  in  any  exigency  where  the  public  has  a  right 
to  his  opinions,  he  remains  first,  last  and  always  a 
lawyer.     Coming  to  the  Essex  bar,  one  of  the  ablest 
in  the  country,  at  a  time  when  the  rough  habits  of 
bluster  and  brow-beating  were  passing  out  of  vogue, 
he  made  it  his  rule  to  appeal  directly  and  with  em- 
phasis to  the  intelligence  and  convictions  of  jurors, 
and  to  the  sound,  legal  discrimination  of  the  Court, 
and  in  all  cases  to  treat  persons  whom  chance  placed 
in  his  power  on  the  witness-stand  with  the  considera- 
tion due  to  that  most  trying  and  unprotected  of  posi- 
tions.    The  thorough  preparation  which  was  insured 
to  every  cause  entrusted  to  his  hands  left  nothing  to 
be   decided  by  chance  which  could  be  foreseen  and 
provided  for,  and  the  sagacity,  energy,  discretion  and 
nerve  which  he  displayed  in  his  chosen  calling  were 
not  slow  in  meeting  their  reward.    It  came  to  be  a 
rare  occurrence  during  his  practice  at  the  Essex  bar  to 
find  a  case  of  exceptional  magnitude  on  trial  from  any 
part  of  the  county  in  which  Mr.  Phillips  did  not  appear 
on  one  side  or  the  other.     Among  the  most  interest- 
ing of  his  cases  may  be  noticed  Boston  and  Lowell 
Railroad  Corporation  vs.  Salem  and  Lowell  Railroad 
Company,  2   Gray,   1 ;    the  famous  Rockport  liquor 
case.  Brown  vs.  Perkins,  et  ux.,  12  Gray,  89;  and  a 
case  against  the  Sergeant-at-arms,  upon  writ  of  habeas 
corpus,  Burnham  vs.  Morrissey,  14  Gray,  226,  which 
settled  the  constitutional  prerogative  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  in  matters  of  contempt. 

While  Attorney-general  of  Massachusetts  Mr.  Phil- 
lips was  called  on  to  prepare  papers  for  the  removal, 
by  process  of  address  to  the  Governor,  of  the  Hon. 
Edward  Greeley  Loring  from  the  office  of  Judge  of 
Probate  for  the  county  of  Suffolk,  a  proceeding  which 
excited  the  most  intense  political  feeling  at  the  time, 
for  which  the  files  of  the  office  affijrded  no  precedent, 
and  which  did  more  than  any  other  single  event  to 
make  of  a  comparatively  unknown  lawyer,  John  Albion 
Andrew,  the  great  War  Governor  of  Massachusetts. 
He  was  also  called  to  Lynn  by  a  threatening  dem- 
onstration   of   unemployed     workmen     during    the 


feverish  period  which  succeeded  the  financial  dis- 
asters of  1857,  and  by  his  firm  bearing  and  calm, 
persuasive  address  did  much  to  avert  the  grave  dis- 
orders which  seemed  to  be  impending.  He  was  pres- 
ent, as  a  member  of  the  Governor's  staff,  at  the.  great 
Concord  muster  of  the  State  Militia  in  October,  1860, 
and  seconded  in  every  way  the  efforts  then  making  to 
put  the  Massachusetts  contingent  on  a  war  footing. 
Not  many  months  later  he  found  an  opportunity  to 
present  the  sword  there  worn  to  a  citizen  of  Marble- 
head,  marching,  in  command  of  a  company  of  his  pa- 
triotic townsmen,  the  first  company  in  the  State  to 
respond  to  the  call  of  Governor  Andrew,  to  the  relief 
of  the  capital  beleaguered  with  rampant  treason,  and 
it  received  no  stain  in  the  hands  of  Captain  Knott  V. 
Martin. 

Mr.  Phillips  was  associated  with  ex-Governor  Clif- 
ford as  Commissioner  of  Massachusetts  for  the  adjust- 
ment of  a  boundary  question  between  this  State  and 
Rhode  Island,  which  called  for  the  intervention  of  the 
Attorney-General  of  the  United  States,  and  was  in 
Washington  on  that  errand  in  the  closing  days  of  Jan- 
uary, 1861.  Brought,  in  this  way,  in  daily  contact 
with  Mr.  Stanton,  at  a  time  when  Mr.  Buchanan's 
Cabinet  was  in  the  last  stages  of  disintegration,  the 
Massachusetts  Commissioners  were  not  slow  to  divine 
the  nature  of  the  suspicions  which  distracted  him, 
and  reported  confidentially  to  Governor  Andrew,  in 
the  following  letter: 

Washington,  Wednesday  night,  January  30,  18G1. 
Dear  Sir  : — In  an  interview  we  had  to  night  with  the  Attorney-gen- 
eral of  the  United  States,  we  have  been  authorized  to  express  to  you, 
confidentialhj ,  his  individual  opinion  that  there  is  imminent,  if  not  in- 
evitable peril  of  an  attack  upon  the  city  of  Washington  between  the  4th 
and  the  15th  of  February — with  a  view  to  secure  the  symbols  of  govern- 
ment and  the  power  and  prestige  of  possession  by  the  traitors  who  are 
plotting  Ihe  dissolution  of  the  Union. 

We  have  but  a  moment  before  the  closing  of  the  mail  to  say  to  you,  in 
this  informal  way,  that  no  vigilance  should  be  relaxed  for  Massachusetts 
to  be  ready  at  any  moment,  and  upon  a  sudden  emergency,  to  come  to 
the  succor  of  the  Federal  Government. 

This  may  be  an  unnecessary  precaution,  but  we  feel  that  it  is  a  simple 
discharge  of  a  plain  duty  on  our  part  to  give  you  this  intimation  after 
what  we  have  heard  from  a  source  of  such  high  authority. 

In  great  haste,  we  are  very  truly  and  respectfully  yours, 

John  H.  Clifford. 
Stephen  H.  Phillips. 
Gov.  Andrew. 

Governor  Claflin,  in  his  address  in  Doric  Hall, 
February  14,  1871,  accepting  in  behalf  of  the  Com- 
monwealth the  Statue  of  Governor  Andrew,  says  it 
was  upon  this  letter  that  action  was  taken,  February 
5,  1861,  to  furnish  two  regiments  with  overcoats,  not 
a  company  in  the  State  being  then  ready  for  march- 
ing orders,  and  he  attributes  to  this  cause  the  ad- 
vanced state  of  preparation  which  enabled  our  troops, 
though  remote,  to  reach  Washington  with  the  fore- 
most. 

Bred  among  the  Conscience  Whigs,  so  called,  Mr. 
Phillips  became  a  Free  Soiier  from  the  start  and 
acted  with  that  party  in  the  national  campaigns  of 
1848  and  1852.     In  1856  he  represented  his  native 


THE  BENCH  AND  BAR. 


li 


district  in  the  first  national  Republican  Convention 
which  sat  at  Philadelphia  and  nominated  Fremont. 
Subsequently  he  served  as  president  of  the  local  cam- 
paign club,  which  met  weekly  at  Lynde  Hall,  Salem, 
in  support  of  that  nomination,  and  in  1864  he  sat  again 
in  the  Republican  Convention  which  named  Lincoln  for 
a  second  term.  In  1884  he  presided  at  a  county  dem- 
onstration in  Salem  in  support  of  Blaine  and  Logan. 
His  religious  affiliations  have  been  with  the  Unitarian 
body,  with  such  advanced  leaders  of  thought  as  Chan- 
ning,  Emerson  and  Parker.  Mr.  Phillips  holds  personal 
independence  above  sectarian  and  party  allegiance. 

Nathaniel  Ward  was  born  in  Haverhill,  County 
of  Suffolk,  England,  in  1570.  He  was  the  son  of  Rev. 
John  Ward,  one  of  a  long  line  in  direct  descent  be- 
longing to  the  clerical  profession.  He  graduated  at 
Cambridge  in  1603,  studied  law  in  the  Temple  and 
after  extended  travels  on  the  continent,  began  his 
professional  practice.  He  soon,  however,  abandoned 
the  law,  and  studied  divinity,  finally  settling  as  a 
clergyman  in  Standon,  in  Hertfordshire.  As  early  as 
the  year  1629  he  seems  to  have  become  disaffected  to- 
wards the  English  Church.  The  following  is  an  ex- 
tract from  the  records  of  a  meeting  of  the  "  Governor 
and  Company  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New  Eng- 
land," held  in  London,  November  2f>,  1629  : 

"  Lastly,  upon  the  mocon  of  Mr.  Whyte,  to  the  end 
that  this  business  might  bee  pceeded  in  wth  the  first 
intencon,  wch  was  cheifly  the  glory  of  God  &  to  that 
purpose  that  their  meetings  might  bee  sanctyfied  by 
the  prayers  of  some  faithfull  ministers  resident  heere 
in  London,  whose  advice  would  be  likewise  requisite 
upon  many  occasions,  the  Court  thought  fitt  to  admitt 
into  the  freedome  of  this  company  Mr.  Jo  :  Archer  & 
Mr.  Phillip  Nye,  Ministers  heere  in  London,  who,  be- 
ing heere  psent,  kindly  accepted  thereof:  also  Mr. 
Whyte  did  recoraend  unto  them  Mr.  Nathaniell 
Ward,  of  Standon." 

On  the  12th  of  December,  1631,  he  was  ordered  to 
appear  before  Bishop  Laud  and  answer  the  charge  of 
non-conformity.  In  1633  he  was  forbidden  to  preach, 
and  in  April,  1634,  sailed  for  New  England,  arriving 
in  June.  He  was  settled  at  once,  as  the  first  minister 
of  Agawam  (now  Ipswich),  with  Rev.  Thomas  Parker, 
as  the  teacher  or  assistant.  In  1636  he  resigned,  on 
account  of  ill  health,  and  seems  after  that  time,  as 
long  as  he  remained  in  New  England,  to  have  been 
engaged,  more  or  less,  in  public  affairs,  for  the  de- 
tails of  which  his  early  education  in  the  law  had  spe- 
cially fitted  him.  Winfhrop's  Journal,  first  printed  in 
1790,  says  that  "  on  the  6th  of  the  3d  month.  May, 
1635,  the  Deputies  having  conceived  great  danger  to 
our  State  in  regard  that  our  magistrates,  for  want  of 
positive  laws  in  many  cases,  might  pi'oceed  according 
to  their  discretion,  it  was  agreed  that  some  men  shall 
be  appointed  to  frame  the  body  of  grounds  of  laws  in 
resemblance  to  a  Magna  Charta,  which,  being  allowed 
by  some  of  the  ministers  and  the  General  Court, 
should  be  received  for  fundamental  laws." 


The  above  extract  does  not  appear  in  the  records  of 
the  court,  but  the  following  entry  is  found  in  the  rec- 
ord of  the  proceedings  of  the  above  date  : 

"  The  Governor  (John  Haynes),  Deputy-governor 
(Richard  Bellingham),  John  Winthrop  &  Tho  :  Dud- 
ley, E-q.,  are  deputed  by  the  Court  to  make  a  draught 
of  such  lawes  as  they  shall  judge  needfull  for  the  well 
ordering  of  this  plantation,  &  to  present  the  same  to 
the  Court." 

On  the  25th  of  May,  1636,  nothing  having  been  yet 
accomplished  in  the  matter  of  the  laws,  the  records 
state  that  "  The  Governor  (Henry  Vane),  Deputy- 
governor  (John  Winthrop),  Tho :  Dudley,  John 
Haynes,  Rich :  Bellingham,  Esq.,  Mr.  Cotton,  Mr. 
Peters  &  Mr.  Shepheard,  are  intreated  to  make  a 
draught  of  lawes  agreeable  to  the  word  of  God,  which 
may  be  the  fundamentals  of  this  commonwealth,  &  to 
present  the  same  to  the  next  Generall  Court." 

In  September,  1636,  Mr.  Cotton  reported  a  code  of 
laws,  but  no  action  was  taken  on  their  adoption.  Un- 
der the  date  of  March  12,  1637-38,  the  following  en- 
try appears  in  the  records  of  the  General  Court : 

"  For  the  well  ordering  of  these  plantations,  now  in 
the  beginning  thereof  it  having  been  found  by  the 
little  time  of  experience  we  have  here  had  that  the 
want  of  written  laws  have  put  the  court  into  many 
doubts  and  much  trouble  in  many  particular  cases, 
this  Court  hath  therefore  ordered  that  the  freemen  of 
every  town  (or  some  part  thereof  chosen  by  the  rest) 
within  this  jurisdiction  shall  assemble  together  in 
their  several  towns  &  collect  the  heads  of  such  neces- 
sary and  fundamental  laws  as  may  be  suitable  to  the 
times  and  places  where  God  by  his  providence  hath 
cast  us,  &  the  heads  of  such  laws  to  deliver  in  writ- 
ing to  the  Governor  for  the  time  being  before  the 
5th  day  of  the  4th  month,  called  June,  next  to  the 
intent  that  the  same  Governor  together  with  the  rest 
of  the  standing  counsell  &  Richard  Bellingham,  Esq., 
Mr.  Bulkley,  Mr.  Phillips,  Mr.  Peters  &  Mr.  Sheapard, 
elders  of  several  churches,  Mr.  Nathaniel  Ward,  Mr. 
William  Spencer  &  Mr.  William  Hawthorne,  or  the 
major  part  of  them,  may  upon  the  survey  of  such 
heads  of  law  make  a  compendious  abridgement  of 
the  same  by  the  General  Court  in  autumn  next,  add- 
ing yet  to  the  same  or  detracting  therefrom  what  in 
their  wisdom  shall  seem  meet." 

Winthrop's  Journal  states  that  in  December,  1641, 
"  The  General  Court  continued  three  weeks  and  es- 
tablished one  hundred  laws,  which  Avere  called  the 
Body  of  Liberties,  composed  by  Mr.  Nathaniel  Ward 
sometime  past  at  Ipswich,  who  had  been  a  minister  in 
England,  and  formerly  a  student  and  practiser  in  the 
course  of  the  Common  Law."  This  was  the  first 
code  of  laws  established  in  New  England,  and  was 
so  mingled  in  the  subsequent  codification  of  the  laws 
with  later  statutes,  that  for  a  long  period  its  precise 
provisions  were  unknown.  In  or  about  1823,  how- 
ever, Mr.  Francis  C.  Gray,  of  Boston,  found  in  the 
Boston  Athenaeum  a  manuscript  of  sixty  j^ages  which, 


lii 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


probably,  belonged  to  Elisha  Hutchinson,  who  died 
in  1717,  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven  years.  This 
manuscript  contained  a  copy  of  the  colonial  charter 
and  a  "  Coppie  of  the  Liberties  of  the  Massachusetts 
Colony  in  New  England."  This  "  Coppie"  contained 
one  hundred  distinct  articles  separated  by  black  lines, 
the  introductory  and  concluding  paragraphs  not  be- 
ing numbered.  Unlike  the  code,  which  Kev.  Mr. 
Cotton  prepared,  and  which  was  not  accepted,  it  did 
not  follow  closely  the  laws  of  Moses,  nor  did  it  cite 
Scripture  except  relating  to  punishments.  Cotton 
went  so  far  in  this  respect  as  to  add  to  the  provision 
"  that  the  Governor,  and  in  his  absence  the  Deputy 
Governor,  shall  have  power  to  send  out  warrants 
for  calling  the  General  Court  together,"  the  Scripture 
authority  contained  in  the  first  verse  of  the  twenty- 
fourth  chapter  of  Joshua,  "  And  Joshua  gathered  all 
the  tribes  of  Israel  to  Shechem  and  called  for  the 
elders  of  Israel,  and  for  their  heads,  and  for  their 
judges,  and  for  their  officers,  and  they  presented 
themselves  before  God." 

The  Body  of  Liberties  followed  the  Scriptures  so 
far  as  to  make  no  crimes  capital,  not  made  so  by  the 
Mosaic  law,  and  some  of  these  were  omitted,  such  as 
heresy,  profaning  the  Lord's  Day,  reviling  magis- 
trates, etc.  As  the  author  of  this  code,  Nathaniel 
Ward,  a  resident  in  Essex  County,  as  long  as  he  I'e- 
mained  in  New  England,  is  entitled  to  a  place  in  this 
narrative. 

Oa  the  13th  of  May,  1640,  the  General  Court 
granted  him  six  hundred  acres  of  land  at  Pentucket 
(now  Haverhill),  which  he  sold  November  26,  1646, 
to  John  Eaton.  In  1641  he  preached  the  election 
sermon.  During  the  winter  of  1646-47  he  returned 
to  England,  and  was  settled  at  Shenfield,  in  the 
county  of  Essex,  where  he  died  in  1653.  His  son 
John,  born  in  Haverhill,  England,  November  6,  1606, 
graduated  at  Cambridge  in  1630,  and  was  settled  in 
Haverhill,  Mass.,  in  1645,  where  he  died  December 
27,  1693. 

Mr.  Ward  was  an  author  of  some  notoriety,  if  not 
repute  in  other  fields  than  that  of  law.  In  1648  he 
published  a  humorous  satirical  address  to  the  London 
tradesmen,  turned  preachers,  entitled  "  Mercurius 
Anti-Mechanicus  on  the  Simple  Coblers  Boy,"  which 
was  reprinted  in  Washington  in  1844.  On  the  30th 
of  June,  1647,  he  preached  a  sermon  before  the  House 
of  Commons,  which  was  published,  and  in  the  same 
year  published  "  A  Religious  Retreat  sounded  to  a 
Religious  Army."  In  1648  he  published  "  The  hum- 
ble petitions,  serious  suggestions  and  dutiful  expos- 
tulations of  some  freeholders  of  t&e  Easterne  Associ- 
ation to  the  high  and  low  Parliament  of  England," 
and  in  1650  "Discolliminium  a  Reply  to  Bounds  and 
Bonds."  But  the  work  by  which,  next  to  the  Body 
of  Liberties,  he  is  best  known,  is  a  quaint  political 
tract  satirizing  the  affairs  and  manners  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Colony  and  the  fashionable  ladies  of  the  day, 
of  whioh  the  following  is  a  copy  of  the  title-page: 


"  The  simple  Cobler  of  Aggawam  in  America  Willing  To  help  mend 
his  native  country  lamentably  tattered  both  in  the  upper  Leather  and 
Sole  with  all  the  honest  stiches  he  can  take 

And  as  willing  never  to  be  paid  for  his  work  by  old  English  wonted 
pay. 
It  is  his  trade  te  patch  all  the  year  long  gratis. 

Therefore  /pray  gentlemen  keep  your  purses. 

By  Theodore  de  la  Guard 

In  rebus  arduis  ac  teuui  spe,  furtissima  quaeque  confllia  tutissiraa 

sunt.     Cic. 

Ill  English. 
When  boots  and  shoes  are  torne  up  to  the  lefts 
Coblers  must  thrust  their  awles  up  to  the  hefts. 
This  is  no  time  to  fear  Apellis  gramm  : 
Ne  sutor  quidem  ultra  crepidam. 

London. 
Printed  by  J.  D.  &  R.T.  for  Stephen  Bowtell  at  the  sigiie  of  the  Bible  in 

Popes  Head  Alley 

1647." 

This  work,  though  printed  in  England  after  the  re- 
turn of  Mr.  Ward,  was  written  in  New  England  in 
1645.  A  careful  reprint  was  edited  by  David  Pulsifer, 
of  Boston,  in  1847. 

Thomas  Bancroft  Newhall. — Mr.  Newhall  was 
born  in  that  part  of  Lynn  which  is  now  the  town  of 
Lynnfield  October  2,  1811.  He  is  a  lineal  descendant 
from  Thomas  Newhall,  the  first  white  child  born  in 
Lynn,  and  a  son  of  Asa  T.  Newhall,  a  prominent  and 
successful  farmer  and  magistrate. 

Mr.  Newhall  was  fitted  for  college  at  Andover  and 
Lynn  Academies,  and  graduated  from  Brown  Univer- 
sity in  1832.  He  studied  law  in  offices  in  Danvers 
and  Boston  and  at  the  Harvard  Law  School,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  at  the  March  term  of  the  Court 
of  Common  Pleas,  1837,  and  early  in  the  following 
month  established  hims^elf  in  business  in  Lynn.  He 
soon  acquired  a  very  satisfactory  practice,  in  which 
he  has  continued  during  the  intervening  fifty  years, 
and  with  the  discharge  of  the  duiies  of  various  offices 
of  a  public  and  private  character  w  ith  w'hich  he  has 
been  honored,  his  life  has  been  active,  useful  and  hon- 
orable. In  1852  he  married  Miss  Susan  S.  Putnam, 
of  Salem,  and  he  has  two  children  surviving — James 
S  Newhall,  of  Lynn,  and  Mrs.  Caroline  P.  Heath,  of 
Boston. 

William  Crowninshield  Endicott  is  descended 
from  John  Endicott,  who  came  to  Salem  in  1628  as 
Governor  of  the  Colony,  sent  out  by  the  Massachusetts 
Company.  The  family  in  his  line  has,  during  the  two 
hundred  and  sixty  years  which  have  elapsed  since 
that  date,  always  lived  in  Salem  and  its  vicinity,  and 
most  of  the  time  on  the  farm  which  included  the 
homestead  of  the  Governor.  John  Endicott  was  born 
in  Dorchester,  Dorsetshire,  England,  in  1588,  and 
married  Anna  Gouer,  who  came  with  him  to  New 
England.  She  died  in  1629,  leaving  no  children,  and 
Governor  Endicott  married,  August  17th,  1630,  Eliza- 
beth Gibson,  of  Cambridge,  England.  He  died  March 
15th,  1665,  and  his  children  were  John,  born  about 
1632,  and  Zerubbabel,  born  in  1665.  Zerubba- 
bel  married  a  wife,  Mary,  who  died  in  1677,  and  he 
afterwards  married  Elizabeth,  widow  of  Rev.  Antipas 


^'^g^'kyA.H.nuchM- 


/^_^A^^cUL 


-35^ 


^'. 


THE  BENCH  AND  BAK. 


liii 


Newman,  and  daughter  of  Governor  John  Winthrop. 
He  was  a  physician,  and  lived  in  Salem.  His  chil- 
dren, all  by  the  first  wife,  were  John,  born  1657 ; 
Samuel,  1659;  Zerubbabel,  1664;  Benjamin,  1665; 
Mary,  1667;  Joseph,  1672;  and  Sarah,  1673.  Of 
these  children  Samuel  married  Hannah  Felton  about 
1694,  and  had  John,  born  October  18,  1695;  Samuel, 
August  30th,  1697;  Ruth,  1699;  and  Hannah  1701. 
Of  these  Samuel,  who  was  christened  at  South  Dan- 
vers,  September  30th,  1716,  after  he  had  reached 
manhood,  married  his  cousin,  AnnaEndicott,  Decem- 
ber 20th,  1711,  and  widow  Margaret  (Pratt)  Foster, 
February  11,  1724.  He  died  in  1766,  and  was  buried 
in  the  family  burial-ground  at  Danvers.  His  chil- 
dren by  his  first  wife  were  John,  born  April  29th, 
1713;  Sarah,  September  19th,  1715;  Samuel,  March 
12,1717;  Sarah,  1719;  and  Robert,  1721.  By  his 
second  wife  he  had  Hannah  and  Ann,  twins,  born 
November,  1727;  Elias,  December,  1729;  Joseph, 
February,  1731;  Lydia,  1734;  and  Ruth,  1734.  Of 
the  children  of  Samuel,  John  was  christened  at  South 
Danvers,  June  9th,  1717,  and  owned  and  occupied  the 
old  Governor  Endicott  farm.  He  married  Elizabeth 
Jacobs  May  18th,  1738,  and  died  in  1783.  His  children 
were  John,  born  in  1739;  Elizabeth,  1741;  William, 
1742;  and  Robert,  1756.  Of  these,  John  was  chris- 
tened in  the  South  Church,  at  Danvers,  June  7th, 
1741,  and  lived  on  the  old  Endicott  estate.  He  mar- 
ried Martha,  daughter  of  Samuel  Putnam,  and  had 
the  following  children  :  Samuel,  born  in  June,  1763 ; 
John,  January  13th,  1765  ;  Moses,  March  19th,  1767; 
Ann,  January,  1769  ;  Elizabeth,  August,  1771 ;  Jacob, 
1773;  Martha  and  Nathan,  twins,  September,  1775; 
Sarah,  September,  1778 ;  Rebecca,  May  20th,  1780 ; 
William,  1782;  and  Timothy,  July  27, 1785.  Of  these, 
Samuel  was  christened  in  the  South  Church,  at  Dan- 
vers, November  1st,  1767,  and  was  in  early  life  a  ship- 
master. He  retired  from  the  sea  in  1805,  and,  mak- 
ing Salem  his  place  of  residence,  entered  actively  into 
mercantile  pursuits.  The  records  of  the  town  of 
Salem  show  that  he  was  prominent  in  town  affairs, 
serving  both  as  selectman  and  Representative  in  the 
General  Court.  He  married,  in  1794,  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  William  Putnam,  of  Sterling,  Mass.,  and 
with  his  brothers,  John  and  Moses,  owned  the  old 
family  estate.  He  died  May  1st,  1828,  and  his  chil- 
dren were  Samuel,  born  March,  1795;  Eliza,  who 
married  Augustus  W.  Perry ;  Martha,  who  married 
Francis  Peabody  ;  William  Putnam,  March  5th,  1803 ; 
and  Clara,  who  married  George  Peabody.  Of  these, 
William  Putnam,  who  was  christened  in  the  North 
Church,  at  Salem,  March  13,  1803,  graduated  at  Har- 
vard in  1822,  and  married,  in  February,  1826,  Mary, 
daughter  of  Hon.  Jacob  Crowninshield.  He  married 
again  in  December,  1844,  widow  Harriet  (French) 
Peabody.  His  children,  all  by  the  first  wife,  were 
William  Crowninshield,  born  in  Salem,  November 
19th,  1826;  Mary  Crowninshield,  February  4th,  1830, 
who  died  February  16,  1833 ;  George  Freilerick,  Sep- 


tember 11th,  1832,  who  died  January  11th,  1833;  and 
Sarah  Rogers,  March  3d,  1838,  Avho  married  George 
Dexter,  of  Boston. 

Of  these  children  of  William  Putnam  Endicott, 
the  eldest,  William  Crowninshield  Endicott,  is  the 
subject  of  this  sketch.  He  was  reared  and  educated 
in  Salem,  surrounded  by  families  of  wealth  and  cul- 
ture, and  carrying  in  his  veins  a  share  of  the  best 
New  England  blood.  Indeed,  few  places  can  boast 
of  the  careful  training  of  youth  for  which  Salem  has  al- 
ways been  distinguished,  and  which  has  educated 
and  developed  that  school  of  cultivated  gentlemen  of 
which  Mr.Endicott  is  a  marked  example.  He  was  fitted 
for  College  at  the  Salem  Latin  School,  and  graduated 
at  Harvard  in  1847.  No  man  ever  had  better  oppor- 
tunities for  the  study  of  his  chosen  profession,  the  law, 
than  were  afforded  to  him  in  the  office  of  Nathaniel 
J.  Lord,  of  Salem,  who  during  many  years  stood  in 
the  front  rank  of  the  Essex  Bar.  In  1850  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  practice  at  Salem,  and  in  1853  associated 
himself  with  J.  W.  Perry,  who  had  been  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1849.  It  was  not  long  before  his  abilities 
as  a  lawyer  were  recognized,  and  these  combined  with 
a  grace  of  deportment  and  dignity  of  character  at- 
tracted and  held  a  large  and  constantly  increasing 
business. 

So  marked  was  his  prominence,  both  as  a  lawyer 
and  a  man,  that  when  a  vacancy  occurred  on  the 
Bench  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  in  1873,  Gov- 
ernor William  B.  Washburne  unhesitatingly  selected 
him  from  the  political  party  opposed  to  his  own  for 
an  appointment  to  the  vacant  seat.  He  continued  on 
the  bench  until  his  resignation  in  1882,  leaving  it 
after  a  service  of  nine  years,  to  the  regret  of  members 
of  the  bar  and  his  associates,  and  carrying  with  him 
the  affection  and  esteem  of  both. 

Ifi  1884  he  was  the  candidate  of  the  Democratic 
party  of  Massachusetts  for  Governor,  and  in  1885, 
after  the  inauguration  of  Grover  Cleveland  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  was  appointed  by  him  Sec- 
retary of  War,  a  position  which  he  still  holds  with 
honor  to  himself,  his  native  State  and  to  the  nation. 

Mr.  Endicott  married  Ellen,  daughter  of  George 
Peabody,  of  Salem,  and  has  two  children,  a  daughter 
Mary,  and  a  son,  William  C.  Endicott,  Jr. 

William  H.  Niles  was  born  in  Orford,  New 
Hampshire,  December  22,  1839,  and  is  the  son  of 
Samuel  W.  Niles  and  Eunice  (Newell)  Niles,  of  that 
town.  At  the  age  of  five  years  he  removed  to  South 
Reading  (now  Wakefield),  and  afterwards  to  North 
Bridgewater  and  East  Bridgewater,  in  which  last 
place  he  grew  into  manhood.  He  pursued  the  usual 
courses  of  study  in  the  common  schools  and  for  two 
years  was  a  private  pupil  under  the  care  of  Rev.  R. 
W.  Smith,  of  East  Bridgewater,  in  whose  family  he 
lived.  He  then  pursued  a  classical  course  in  the 
Providence  Conference  Seminary,  at  East  Greenwich, 
Rhode  Island,  and  left  that  institution  in  1861  to  take 
the  situation  of  principal  of  an  academy  in  Georgia. 


liv 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


He  remained  in  the  South  until  the  latter  part  of 
1865,  when  he  came  to  Boston  and  there  engaged  in 
mercantile  business.  He  not  long  after  began  the 
study  of  law  under  the  direction  of  Caleb  Bludget, 
now  a  judge  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Massachusetts, 
and  at  the  March  term  of  that  court,  at  Lowell,  in 
1870,  he  was,  on  examination,  admitted  to  the  bar. 

He  at  once  opened  an  office  in  Lynn,  where  he  has 
since  pursued  a  successful  career.  In  March,  1878, 
George  J.  Carr,  who  bad  for  several  years  been  a  stu- 
dent in  his  office,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  and  became 
his  partner.  The  business  of  the  firm,  which  has  rap- 
idly increased  in  volume  and  importance,  is  a  general 
one,  embracing  all  branches  of  the  law.  Mr.  Niles 
has  neither  held  nor  sought  nor  desired  public  office, 
but  has  confined  himself  assiduously  to  the  labors  of 
his  profession.  He  has  rendered  willing  service  on 
the  School  Board  of  Lynn,  believing  it  to  be  one 
which  every  good  citizen  should  render,  if  called 
upon,  and  one  rather  within  the  field  of  citizenship 
than  that  of  public  life.  He  married,  on  the  19th  of 
September,  1865,  Harriet  A.,  daughter  of  L.  D.Day,  of 
Bristol,  New  Hampshire,  and  has  three  daughters, 
all  under  nineteen  years  of  age. 

Charles  Perkins  Thompson  is  descended  from 
John  Thompson,  who  came  to  Plymouth  iu  the 
"  Ann,"  or  the  "  Little  James,"  in  1623.  He  was  born 
in  Braintree,  Mass.,  July  30,  1827,  and  was  educated 
in  the  common  schools  of  that  town  and  in  the  Hol- 
lis  Institute,  which  was  established  in  Braintree  in 
1845  by  John  R.  Hollis,  and  discontinued  in  1865.  He 
studied  law  with  Benjamin  F.  Hallett,  of  Boston,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  Suffolk  bar  in  the  spring  of 
1854.  Mr.  Hallett  was  United  States  District  Attor- 
ney from  1853  to  1857,  and  Mr.  Thompson,  after  his 
admission  to  the  bar,  was  employed  by  him  as  hia 
second  assistant,  his  son,  Henry  L.  Hallett,  now 
United  States  Commissioner,  acting  as  first  assistant. 
In  the  spring  of  1857  he  removed  to  Gloucester,  and 
has  since  continued  to  make  that  place  his  residence. 
In  1871  and  1872  he  was  a  member  of  the  State 
House  of  Representatives,  and  in  1874  was  chosen  a 
member  of  the  Forty-fourth  Congress.  In  1885,  on 
the  appointment  of  William  Sewall  Gardner,  then  a 
justice  of  the  Superior  Court,  to  a  seat  on  the  bench 
of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court,  he  was  appointed  by 
Governor  George  D.Robinson  to  fill  the  vacancy. 

Judge  Thompson  has  been  for  many  years  active 
in  the  interests  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  in  1881 
was  the  candidate  of  that  party  for  Governor.  His 
warm  friends  are  far  from  being  confined,  however, 
to  that  political  organization,  and  the  number  is  not 
small  of  those  who  were  only  restrained  by  the 
shackles  of  party  from  giving  him  their  support,  and 
would  have  been  glad  to  welcome  him  as  the  chief 
executive  of  the  State. 

John  James  Marsh,^  of  Haverhill,  is  descended 

1  By  Hon.  J.  B.  D.  Cogswell. 


from  an  old  family  of  that  place,  whose  members  are 
numerous  and  widely  scattered. 

The  ancestor,  George  Marsh,  came  from  England 
in  1635  to  Charlestown,  and  settled  in  Hingbam, 
Mass.  His  son,  Onesiphorus,  settled  in  Haverhill 
iu  1672.  He  located  at  what  was  long  known  as 
"Marsh's  Hill,"  a  mile  west  of  the  village,  in  modern 
times  Wingate's  Hill. 

In  1721,  John  Marsh,  son  of  Onesiphorus,  was 
chosen  deacon  of  the  first  parish  church. 

David,  son  of  John,  was  chosen  deacon  in  1737, 
continuing  in  that  office  till  his  death,  Nov.  2,  1777. 
About  1728  he  removed  from  Marsh's  Hill  to  the 
village,  to  the  site  adjoining  on  the  north,  the  Centre 
Church,  still  occupied  by  descendants.  David  Marsh 
had  twelve  children,  who  lived  to  a  great  age.  The 
average  of  the  twelve  was  eighty-three  years,  and  the 
united  age  of  all  was  one  thousand.  They  were  all 
noted  for  industry,  temperance  and  frugality.  Two 
of  them,  Lydia  and  Abigail  Marsh,  born  in  1745  and 
1747  respectively  and  unmarried,  gave,  in  1825,  a  lot 
of  land  on  the  north  side  of  what  is  now  Winter 
Street,  for  the  Haverhill  Academy. 

Nathaniel  Marsh,  born  1739,  was  active  in  town  and 
military  affairs,  commanded  a  relief  company  which 
marched  from  Haverhill  to  Stillwater  in  the  Bur- 
goyne  campaign,  was  chosen  in  1787  to  the  State  con- 
vention to  deliberate  on  the  Federal  Constitution  and 
voted  yea  upon  the  question  of  its  adoption.  He 
was  also  a  representative  in  the  Legislature  in  1786, 
1788,  1789,  1790,  1797  and  1798. 

Moses,  sou  of  David,  had  twelve  children,  like  his 
father.  Two  of  his  sons,  David  and  John  Marsh, 
were  partners  in  business  for  nearly  fifty  years  in  a 
store  in  Merrimack  Street,  on  the  river  side. 

There  they  manufactured  hand  cards  for  carding 
wool,  before  machines  for  that  purpose,  driven  by 
water,  were  introduced  here.  After  their  introduc- 
tion, and  during  ^he  second  war  with  England,  they 
began  to  make  the  machines  also  and  the  cards  with 
them.  It  is  supposed  that  under  the  direction  of 
Abraham  Marland,  an  Englishman,  who  commenced 
woolen  manufacturing  in  Andover  as  early  as  1807, 
the  brothers  Marsh  made  the  first  carding  machine 
used  in  this  part  of  the  country.  Subsequently  they 
sent  many  into  New  Hampshire  and  Maine.  During 
their  long  career  it  has  been  said  that  the  example  of 
David  and  John  Marsh  was  proverbial,  not  only  for 
the  fairness  of  their  dealings  and  their  promptness  to 
meet  all  obligations,  but  also  for  the  brotherly  kind- 
ness which  marked  their  intercourse  with  each  other. 

Samuel  Marsh,  the  youngest  of  this  long-lived  and 
estimable  family,  was  born  iu  1786  and  died  in  1872, 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  where  he  had  resided  many 
years  and  was  largely  engaged  in  important  transac- 
tions. He  was  heavily  interested  in  the  Fox  and 
Wisconsin  Improvement  Company,  and  was  president 
of  the  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad  Company,  being 
succeeded    in    the    latter   position   by   his   nephew, 


i'2^.'?.j.  ,^  }2_P.','.C 


THE  BENCH  AND  BAR. 


Iv 


Nathaniel  Marsh,  also  a  native  of  Haverhill.  Marsh- 
field,  now  a  thriving  town  in  Wood  County,  Wiscon- 
sin, preserves  the  name  and  marks  the  foresight  of 
Samuel  Marsh. 

John  James  Marsh,  son  of  John  Marsh,  the  partner 
of  David,  was  born  at  Haverhill  May  2,  1820.  His 
early  education  was  received  in  its  schools  and  at  the 
Haverhill  Academy.  He  graduated  at  Dartmouth 
College  in  1841.  Of  his  seventy-six  classmates,  the 
largest  number  have  deceased.  Gardner  Greene 
Hubbard,  well-known  to  many  through  his  early  con- 
nection with  the  development  of  the  telephone, 
Henry  Elijah  Parker,  for  many  years  professor  of  the 
Latin  language  and  literature  at  Dartmouth,  Edward 
Reed,  son  of  "  Honest "  John  Reed,  many  years  in 
Congress  from  Massachusetts,  and  Edward  Webster, 
son  of  the  great  stateman,  Daniel  Webster,  may  be 
mentioned,  the  first  three  still  surviving.  Mr.  Marsh's 
law  studies  were  pursued  in  the  offices  of  Alfred 
Kittredge,  of  Haverhill,  and  Slossons  &  Schell,  of 
New  York  City,  and  at  the  Dane  Law  School,  Har- 
vard University.  In  1846,  he  commenced  the  prac- 
tice of  the  law  in  Haverhill,  continuing  in  it  till 
about  1872,  when  the  pressure  of  private  business 
caused  him  to  relinquish  the  profession.  Upon  the 
change  from  a  town  to  a  city  government  in  1870, 
Mr.  Marsh  consented  to  act  as  city  solicitor  in  that 
and  the  succeeding  year.  Otherwise  he  has  never 
held  public  office.  During  the  period  of  Mr.  Marsh's 
active  practice,  he  had  many  students,  of  whom  may  be 
mentioned  John  James  Ingalls,  United  States  Senator 
from  Kansas,  and  Addison  Brown,  Judge  of  the  Dis- 
trict Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern 
District  of  New  York.  He  was  always  regarded  as  a 
sound,  energetic  lawyer  and  successful  practitioner. 

The  Children's  Aid  Society  of  Haverhill,  a  most 
deserving  charity,  established  some  years  since  a 
home  upon  Kenoza  Avenue,  which  was  ill-adapted  to 
its  beneficent  purposes.  In  1883,  Mr.  Marsh  and  his 
sister,  Mrs.  Ames,  erected  upon  the  lot  on  Main 
Street,  which  had  been  previously  donated  to  the 
society  by  them  and  their  cousin,  Mrs.  Kelly,  a  sub- 
stantial and  commodious  brick  building,  which,  upon 
its  completion,  was,  with  simple  ceremonies,  trans- 
ferred to  the  society.  Being  in  memory  of  their  de- 
ceased sister  it  is  known  as  the  "  Elizabeth  Home." 

"  John  Marsh,"  as  he  is  known  in  Haverhill,  is  ac- 
tive in  his  habits  and  social  ia  his  temperament. 
Apparently  in  vigorous  health,  he  bids  fair  to  rival 
the  remarkable  longevity  in  the  past,  of  the  family 
whose  most  conspicuous  representative  he  at  present 
is.  His  residence  is  on  Summer  Street,  and  he  is  fre. 
quently  to  be  seen  driving  out  to  his  farm  in  the 
West  Parish,  on  the  shore  of  Crystal  Lake,  where  he 
takes  great  sa'tisfaction  in  the  improvement  of  his 
acres,  and  the  breeding  and  management  of  stock. 

Charles  Johnsox  Notes  is  a  lineal  descendant 
of  Rev.  James  Noyes  (one  of  the  colony  which  settled 
at  Newbury   in    1G35),    preacher    and    scholar,    who 


erected  what  is  now  known  as  the  ''old  Noyea 
house,'' standing  a  short  distance  to  the  right  of  the 
upper  green,  not  far  from  the  Old  Town  Church  in 
old  Newbury.  His  paternal  grandfather  was  Parker 
Noyes.  who  was  born  September  26,  1777,  at  Haver- 
hill, Mass.,  and  died  in  1848.  Parker  Noyes  married 
Mary  Fifield,  who  was  born  at  Hopkinton,  N.  H.,  in 
1780,  and  died  in  1810.  They  lived  for  a  time  at 
Canaan,  N.  H.,  where  Johnson  Noyes,  the  father  of 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born,  January  23,  1808. 
Johnson  Noyes,  while  a  young  man,  moved  to  Haver- 
hill, Mass.,  having  learned  the  shoemaker's  trade, 
and  was  married  to  Sally  Brickett,  daughter  of  John 
and  Abigail  Brickett,  on  the  10th  of  October,  1833. 
They  settled  at  what  was  known  as  the  North  Parish, 
in  Haverhill,  where  he  carried  on  a  country  store  and 
manufactured  shoes  to  a  limited  extent.  Here  one  of 
four  children,  Speaker  Noyes,  was  born,  August 
7,  1841,  and  lived  until  about  nine  years  of  age,  when 
his  parents  moved  into  the  main  village,  then  a  thriv- 
ing town,  now  a  city  of  twenty- four  thousand  people. 
John  Brickett  was  born  at  Newbury,  Mass,  in  1762, 
and  his  wife  at  Haverhill,  in  1763.  The  former  died 
December  27,  1845,  and  the  latter  in  the  March 
previous,  each  at  the  ripe  age  of  eighty-five  years. 

The  other  children  of  Johnson  Noyes  were  Ann 
Augusta,  who  died  when  a  mere  infant;  Sarah  B., 
who  was  born  December  10,  1834,  and  died  May  29, 
1862 ;  and  Elizabeth  C,  who  was  born  December  23, 
1845,  and  died  May  5,  1870.  After  moving  to  the 
village  Speaker  Noyes  attended  the  schools  and 
passed  through  all  the  various  grades,  graduating  at 
the  Haverhill  Academy  in  1860,  the  valedictorian  and 
president  of  his  class.  And  when,  afterward,  an 
alumni  association  was  formed,  he  became  its  first 
president  and  held  the  office  five  years,  finally  declin- 
ing a  re-election.  He  was  twice  the  class  orator  and 
chairman  of  its  senior  catalogue  committee.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  and  began 
practice  simultaneously  in  Boston  and  Haverhill  in 
1864.  The  extent  of  his  Essex  practice  soon  necessi- 
tated the  discontinuance  of  his  Boston  office.  In  the 
second  Lincoln  campaign,  that  of  1864,  Mr.  Noyes 
was  made  president  of  the  Lincoln  Club  of  Haver- 
hill, an  organization  composed  of  leading  business 
men  and  citizens,  and  on  the  assassination  of  Presi- 
dent Lincoln  he  was  selected  to  deliver  the  memorial 
oration  before  the  city  authorities.  In  the  fall  elec- 
tion of  1865  Mr.  Noyes  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  of  1866,  in  which  he  served 
on  the  committee  on  the  judiciary.  Declining  a  re- 
election to  the  House,  he  accepted  a  nomination  from 
the  citizens  of  Haverhill  as  candidate  for  the  Senate, 
and  was  elected  in  a  triangular  contest,  in  which 
George  S.  Merrill,  of  Lawrence,  and  Moses  F.  Stevens 
were  competitors. 

In  the  Senate  Mr.  Noyes  served  on  the  committee 
on  education,  library  (being  chairman),  and  on  the 
joint  special  committee  on  amendments  to  the  Con- 


Ivi 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


stitution.  At  the  close  of  the  session  he  declined 
further  political  honors  and  devoted  himself  to  his 
profession.  He  again  ojiened  an  office  in  Boston  and 
carried  on  a  successful  practice  in  the  two  counties 
until  the  business  in  Boston  required  his  whole  time. 
In  1872  he  located  his  family  in  South  Boston,  where 
he  has  since  continued  to  reside. 

In  1876  he  again  entered  the  field  of  politics  by  ac- 
cepting a  nomination  for  Representative,  and  was 
elected,  thus  re-entering  the  House  in  1877.  He 
served  that  year  as  chairman  of  the  committee  on 
mercantile  affairs  and  on  the  committee  on  Hoosac 
Tunnel  and  Troy  and  Greenfield  Railroad.  Re- 
elected in  1878,  he  served  as  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee on  harbors  and  Hoosac  Tunnel.*  In  the 
House  of  1879  Mr.  Noyes  was  a  prominent  candidate 
for  Speaker,  but  was  defeated  by  Mr.  Levi  C.  Wade, 
who  received  the  caucus  nomination  and  consequently 
an  election.  Mr.  Noyes  was  made  chairman  of  the 
committee  on  amendments  to  the  Constitution,  and  as 
such  took  charge  of  and  secured  the  adoption  in  the 
House  of  a  number  of  important  amendments.  Re- 
turning to  the  House  of  1880,  Mr.  Noyes  was  elected 
Speaker  over  a  number  of  competitors  on  the  fourth 
ballot,  receiving  one  hundred  and  twenty-one  votes. 
Chosen  to  the  House  again  the  following  autumn,  he 
was  elected  Speaker  by  a  practically  unanimous  vote. 
He  was  also  again  elected,  and  was  Speaker  in  the 
House  of  1882. 

In  the  following  summer,  when  it  became  known 
that  Governor  Long  would  decline  a  renomination,  Mr. 
Noyes'  name  was  at  once  taken  up  by  the  press  as 
one  in  every  way  suitable  for  the  head  of  the  ticket, 
and  friends  from  all  parts  of  the  State  urged  him 
to  contest  the  nomination.  After  considering  the 
matter  some  time  he  declined,  however,  to  allow  the 
use  of  his  name  in  this  connection.  Had  he  gone 
into  the  convention  as  a  candidate,  the  outcome 
would  have  been  very  different,  with  the  probabilities 
largely  in  favor  of  the  nomination  coming  to  him.  As 
it  was,  he  received  next  to  the  largest  vote  for  the 
Lieutenant-Governorship.  In  the  campaign  of  1883 
he  received  the  unanimous  nomination  for  the  Gov- 
ernor's Council  from  the  Republican  Convention  of 
the  Fourth  Council  or  District,  and,  although  the  dis- 
trict was  Democratic,  received  a  very  large  vote. 

He  now  sought  retirement  from  active  politics,  de- 
termining to  devote  himself  to  the  labor  of  his  pro- 
fession and  the  care  of  his  growing  private  interests. 
He  was  soon  after  appointed  as  special  justice  of  the 
Municipal  Court  of  the  City  of  Boston  for  the  South 
Boston  District,  which  position  he  has  continued  to 
hold.  Ill  1886,  however,  he  was  again  induced  to  be- 
come a  candidate  for  the  House,  and  though  the  dis- 
trict was  more  than  doubtful,  won.  the  election.  He 
at  once  began  an  active  campaign  for  the  Speakership, 
and,  to  the  surprise  of  the  other  candidates  and  the 
consternation  of  their  friends,  won  upon  the  first 
ballot. 


Mr.  Noyes  is  a  member  of  the  Order  of  Odd  Fel- 
lows, and  has  long  been  active  therein,  having  passed 
the  chairs  respectively  of  the  subordinate  lodge  and 
the  encampment.  He  is  also  an  active  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity.  He  is  a  member  of  Adelphi 
Lodge,  and  one  of  its  Past  Masters;  a  member  of  St. 
Matthew's  Royal  Arch  Chapter;  a  member  of  St. 
Omer  Commandery,  Knights  Templar,  and  one  of  its 
Past  Commanders ;  a  member  of  Lafayette  Lodge  of 
Perfection  ;  a  member  of  the  Giles  F.  Yates  Council, 
Princes  of  Jerusalem ;  a  member  of  Mount  Olivet 
Chapter  Rose  Croix,  and  a  member  of  Massachusetts 
Consistory.  He  has  also  taken  the  council  degrees  in 
Boston  Council,  but  has  never  taken  menibership. 
He  was  also  for  a  time  a  member  of  the  National 
Lancers 'and  of  the  Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery 
Company.  Mr.  Noyes  is  connected  with  the  directory 
of  a  number  of  business  corporations,  in  two  of  which 
he  is  president.  In  his  religious  affiliations  Mr. 
Noyes  is  Unitarian,  and  has  at  times  been  quite  ac- 
tive in  church  and  Sunday-school  work.  In  politics 
he  has  taken  an  active  part  on  the  stump  during  the 
last  fifteen  years  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  and 
in  the  Garfield  campaign  of  1880  he  spent  six  weeks 
speaking  for  the  Republican  cause  throughout  the 
States  of  North  Carolina  and  Florida. 

As  a  speaker,  Mr.  Noyes  is  fluent  in  utterance, 
easy  and  graceful  in  manner  and  remarkably  apt  in 
his  choice  of  words.  His  memorial  address  at  Wor- 
cester on  Sunday  evening,  May  28,  1882,  was  a  fin- 
ished production,  and  was  listened  to  by  an  audience 
that  packed  Mechanics'  Hall  to  its  utmost  capacity. 
It  was  published  in  the  Worcester  Gazette  of  the  fol- 
lowing evening,  and  widely  quoted  by  the  press  of 
the  State.  His  oflF-hand  eflbrts  are  always  appro- 
priate to  the  occasion  and  exceedingly  felicitous. 

As  a  presiding  officer,  Mr.  Noyes  has  few  equals 
and  no  superiors.  His  fine  presence  and  quiet  dignity 
of  manner  awe  and  hold  in  check  all  turbulent  dem- 
onstrations, while  his  unfailing  courtesy  is  felt  and 
acknowledged  by  all.  Gifted  with  keenness  of  vision 
and  a  readiness  of  apprehension,  any  movement  made 
by  a  member  to  get  the  floor  is  immediately  recog- 
nized, while  a  motion  coming  from  any  part  of  the 
House  is  caught  at  once  and  clearly  stated  to  that 
body.  Added  to  these  qualifications  is  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  parliamentary  law,  which  makes  him  at 
all  times  the  master  of  the  situation.  No  attempt  at 
resorting  to  the  most  bewildering  of  parliamentary 
tactics  can  disturb  his  equanimity,  or  make  him  for  a 
moment  lose  sight  of  the  point  in  hand;  but,  through 
all  the  intricacies  of  motions  and  amendments  and 
counter-motions,  the  debate  is  kept  under  rigid  con- 
trol, and  the  final  disposition  of  the  question  so  clear 
and  just  that  from  the  decisions  of  the  chair  there  is 
no  appeal. 

To  those  who  have  come  in  contact  with  Mr.  Noyes 
there  is  no  difficulty  in  discerning  the  occasion  of  his 
popularity.      He   possesses   in   a   high   degree    that 


THE  BENCH  AND  BAR. 


Ivii 


strong  personal  magnetism  that  at  once  draws  one  to 
him,  while  there  is  a  sincerity  and  cordiality  mani- 
fested by  him  that  makes  the  bonds  of  friendship 
enduring-.  Easily  approachable,  genial  and  sun- 
shiny by  nature,  he  makes  a  most  delightful  com- 
panion, and  his  personal  popularity  is  very  great. 

In  1864  Mr.  Noyes  was  married  to  Miss  Emily 
Wells,  the  only  surviving  daughter  of  Col.  Jacob  C. 
Wells,  a  well-known  and  successful  merchant  of  Cin- 
cinnati, O.  They  have  three  children.  The  eldest, 
Miss  Fannie  C.  Noyes,  is  a  young  lady  of  rare  artistic 
talent,  and  is  now  studying  in  Paris  as  an  animal 
painter;  the  second,  Mr.  Harry  R.  Noyes,  holds  a 
fine  position  with  a  well-known  firm  of  stock  brokers; 
and  the  youngest,  Miss  Gracie  L.,  is  still  in  school. 

Marcus  Mortok  is  the  son  of  Marcus  and  Char- 
lotte (Hodges)  Morton  and  was  born  in  Taunton,  Mass., 
April  8, 1819.  His  father  was  born  in  Freetown,  Mass., 
in  1784,  and  graduated  at  Brown  University  in  1804. 
He  received  the  degree  of  LL.D.,  from  his  alma  mater 
in  1826,  and  from  Harvard  University  in  1840.  In 
1825  he  was  appointed  justice  of  the  Supreme  Judi- 
cial Court  and  continued  on  the  bench  until  1840, 
when  he  resigned  to  assume  the  duties  of  Governor  of 
the  commonwealth,  which  office  he  held  during  that 
year  and  again  in  1843.  He  died  in  1864.  The  father  of 
Governor  Morton  was  Nathaniel  Morton,  of  Freetown, 
born  in  1758,  who  married  in  1782,  Mary  Cary,  of 
Bridgewater.  The  father  of  Nathaniel  was  Nathan- 
iel, born  in  1723,  who  married  in  1749,  Martha  Tup- 
per.  The  father  of  the  last  Nathaniel  was  Nathaniel 
of  Plymouth,  born  in  1695,  who  married,  in  1720,  Re- 
becca, widow'  of  Mordecai  Ellis,  and  daughter  of 
Thomas  Clark,  of  Plymouth.  The  father  of  the  last 
Nathaniel  was  Eleazer,  of  Plymouth,  who  married  in 
1693,  Rebecca  Marshall,  of  Boston.  The  father  of 
Eleazer  was  Ephraim,  of  Plymouth,  born  in  1623, 
who  married,  in  1644,  Ann  Cooper.  The  father  of 
Ephraim  was  George,  of  Plymouth,  who  married  in 
Leyden,  in  1612,  Julian,  daughter  of  Alexander  Car- 
penter, of  Wrentham,  England,  and  came  to  Plym- 
outh in  the  ''  Ann  "  in  1623.  Another  son  of  George 
Morton,  and  a  brother  of  Ephraim,  was  Nathaniel 
Morton,  the  secretary  for  many  years  of  the  Plymouth 
colony  and  the  author  of  "  New^  England's  Memo- 
rial." 

Thomas  Clark,  whose  daughter,  Rebecca,  married 
Mordecai  Ellis  and  afterwards  Nathaniel  Morton  above 
mentioned,  married  three  wives,  and  Rebecca  was  the 
daughterof  the  third  wife,  born  in  1698.  The  father  of 
Thomas  Clark  was  James,  born  in  1637,  who  married  in 
1657,  Abigail,  daughter  of  Rev.  John  Lathrop,  of  Barn- 
stable. The  fatherof  James  was  Thomas,  of  Plymouth, 
a  passenger  in  the  "Ann"  in  1623,  who  married  before 
1634,  Susanna,  daughter  of  widow  Mary  Ring,  and  in 
1664  widow  Alice  Nichols,  of  Boston,  and  daughter 
of  Richard  Hallet.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  this 
branch  of  the  Morton  family  is  descended  from  two 
of  what  are  called  the  "  First  Comers  "  of  Plymouth. 


The  gravestone  of  Thomas  Clark,  one  of  these,  is  still 
standing  on  Burial  Hill,  in  Plymouth. 

Marcus  Morton,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  fitted 
for  college  at  the  Bristol  County  Academy,  in  Taunton, 
then  under  the  charge  of  Frederick  Crafts,  a  graduate 
of  Brown  University,  in  1816,  and  a  recipient  of  the 
degree  of  Master  of  Arts  from  Harvard  in  1820.  He 
graduated  at  Brown  University  in  1838,  and  after 
having  studied  two  years  in  Dine  Law  School,  at 
Cambridge,  received  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws 
from  Harvard,  in  1840.  After  studying  another  year 
in  the  law  office  of  Sprague  &  Gray  he  was  admitted 
to  practice  in  Suffolk  County  in  1841.  He  practiced 
law  in  Boston  until  1848,  living  in  Boston  until  1850, 
and  then  removing  to  Andover,  in  which  place  he  has 
since  held  his  residence.  In  1853  he  was  a  member  of 
the  Constitutional  Convention  from  Andover,  and  in 
1858,  represented  that  town  in  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives. On  the  establishment  of  the  Superior  Court, 
in  1859,  he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Banks,  one  of 
its  justices,  with  Charles  Allen,  of  Worcester,  as  chief 
justice,  and  Julius  Rockwell,  of  Lenox ;  Otis  Phillip 
Lord,  of  Salem  ;  Seth  Ames,  of  Lowell ;  Ezra  Wil- 
kinson, of  Dedham;  Henry  Vose,  of  Springfield; 
Thomas  Russell  and  John  Phelps  Putnam,  of  Boston  ; 
and  Lincoln  Flagg  Brigham,  of  New  Bedford,  as  his 
associates.  In  1869  two  vacancies  occurred  on  the 
bench  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court,  in  consequence 
of  the  resignation  of  Ebenezer  Rockwood  Hoar  and 
Dwight  Foster,  which  were  filled  by  Governor  Claflin 
by  the  appointment  of  Judge  Ames,  who  had  left  the 
Supreme  bench  in  1867,  and  by  the  promotion  of 
Judge  Morton. 

In  1882  Horace  Gray,  of  Boston,  Avho  had  occupied 
a  seat  as  associate  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  from 
1864  to  1873,  and  since  1873  as  chief  justice;  he  re- 
signed the  latter  office  on  his  appointment  as  one  of 
the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  and  Judge  Morton  was  appointed  by  Governor 
Long  to  fill  the  vacancy.  In  1870  he  received  the  de- 
gree of  LL.D.  from  his  alma  mater,  and  in  1882  from 
Harvard. 

Judge  Morton  still  occupies  his  seat  as  chief  justice 
and,  in  the  performance  of  his  duties,  upholds  and 
maintains  the  high  character  for  which  the  Supreme 
Judicial  Court  of  Massachusetts  has  always  been  dis- 
tinguished. 

William  W.  Story,  son  of  Joseph  Story,  Avas 
born  in  Salem,  February  12,  1819,  and  graduated  at 
Harvard  in  1838.  He  also  graduated  from  the  Dane 
Law  School  at  Cambridge,  in  1840,  but  soon  gave  up 
the  profession  and  devoted  himself  to  sculpture,  in 
which  he  has  won  an  enviable  distinction.  Among 
his  best  known  works  are  the  statue  of  Edward  Ever- 
ett, in  the  Boston  Public  Garden,  and  the  statue  of 
Chief  Justice  Marshall,  at  the  west  front  of  the  Cap- 
itol in  Washington. 

Edgar  T.  Sherman  was  born  in  Weathersfield, 
Vermont,  November  28,  1834,  and  is  descended  from 


Iviii 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


an  early  New  England  settler,  bearing  that  name. 
He  was  educated  in  the  common  schools  of  his  native 
town,  and  in  the  Wesleyan  Academy  at  Springfield,  Vt- 
In  his  earliest  manhood  he  taught  four  years  in  the 
Academy  at  Harwich,  Mass.,  and  in  1853  went  to  Law- 
rence, where,  inthenextyear  hebegan  the  study  of  law- 
In  1858  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Essex  Co.,  and 
soon  after  took  the  position  of  clerk  of  the  police  court 
of  Lawrence,  which,  after  two  years,  he  resigned  to  be- 
come a  partner  of  Daniel  Saunders,  of  Lawrence,  in 
the  active  practice  of  law.  During  his  six  years' 
connection  with  Mr.  Saunders  he  enlisted  in  1862  in 
the  Forty-eighth  Massachusetts  Regiment,  and  after 
the  battle  of  Port  Hudson  was  breveted  major,  for 
bravery  in  the  field.  Having  served  out  his  time  he 
again  went  to  the  front  as  captain  in  the  Sixth  Mas- 
sachusetts Regiment,  and  served  until  the  end  of  the 
war.  His  active  military  career  was  supplemented 
after  the  war  by  his  appointment  as  chief  of  the  di- 
vision staff  and  assistant  adjutant-general  on  the  staff 
of  General  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  with  the  rank  of 
colonel  in  the  State  militia,  and  he  held  that  position 
until  1876. 

After  the  war  he  entered  into  a  law  partnership  of 
short  duration  with  John  K.  Tarbox,  who  had  been 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1860,  and  who  had  subsequently, 
as  well  as  Colonel  Sherman,  seen  service  in  the  field. 
In  1865-66  he  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, and  in  1868  was  chosen  district  attorney  for 
the  Eastern  District,  which  included  the  towns  of 
Essex  County.  To  this  office  he  was  chosen  for  five 
successive  terms,  of  three  years  each,  and  resigned  in 
December,  1882,  to  assume  the  duties  of  Attorney- 
general,  to  which  he  had  been  chosen  as  the  candidate 
of  the  Republican  party  at  the  November  election. 

He  was  rechosen  Attorney-general  in  1883,  '84,  '85, 
'86,  '87,  and  was,  on  the  14th  of  September  of  the  pre- 
sent year,  nominated  by  Governor  Ames  to  fill  the 
vacancy  on  the  bench  of  the  Superior  Court  caused  by 
the  promotion  of  Marcus  Perrin  Knowlton  to  the 
bench  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  to  fill  the  va- 
cancy caused  by  the  resignation  of  William  Sewall 
Gardner.  Before  the  publication  of  this  sketch  the 
nomination  of  Colonel  Sherman  will  be  confirmed, 
and  he  will  be  in  full  possession  of  his  judicial  office. 
In  1884  he  received  from  Dartmouth  College  an  hon- 
orary degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  but  neither  occupies 
nor  seeks  public  positions  outside  of  the  professional 
field  in  which  he  has  labored  faithfully,  and  is  now 
reaping  his  harvest. 

Lincoln  Flagg  Brigham,  was  born  October  4, 
1819,  in  that  part  of  Cambridge  called  the  "  Port." 
He  was  the  son  of  Lincoln  Brigham  and  Lucy 
(Forbes)  Brigham,  the  daughter  of  Elisha  and  Hannah 
(Flagg)  Forbes,  of  Weatboro,  Massachusetts.  The 
first  American  ancestor  of  the  Brigham  family  was 
Thomas  Brigham,  who  came  to  New  England  in  1635, 
and  settled  in  Cambridge,  where  he  died  in  1653. 
The  subject  of  this  sketch,  after  leaving  the  public 


schools  of  his  native  town,  entered  the  counting-room 
of  Samuel  Austin,  of  Boston,  with  a  view  to  a  com- 
mercial life.  His  plans  in  this  direction  were,  how- 
ever, after  two  or  three  years  abandoned,  and  he  fitted 
for  college  under  the  care  of  Rev.  David  Peabody, 
the  husband  of  his  eldest  sister,  and  afterwards  Pro- 
fessor of  Belles- Letters  and  Rhetoric  in  Dartmouth 
College,  and  graduated  from  Dartmouth  in  1842.  In 
1844  he  received  the  degree  of  LL.  B.  as  a  graduate 
of  the  Dane  Law  School,  at  Cambridge,  and  in  1883 
received  the  honorary  degree  of  LL.D.  from  his 
Alma-Mater.  He  finished  his  law  studies  at  New 
Bedford,  in  the  office  of  Clifford  &  Colby,  a  law  firm 
composed  of  John  H.  Clifford,  afterward  attorney- 
general  and  Governor  of  the  commonwealth,  and  Har- 
rison G.  O.  Colby,  who,  while  Mr.  Brigham  was  a 
student  in  the  office,  was  appointed  by  Governor 
George  N.  Briggs,  a  justice  on  the  bench  of  the  Com- 
mon Pleas  Court,  and  who  resigned  in  1847,  and  died 
in  1853.  Mr.  Brigham  was  admitted  to  the  Bristol 
county  bar  in  June,  1845,  and  after  the  appointment 
of  Mr.  Colby  to  the  bench,  became  in  July  of  that 
year  a  partner  of  Mr.  Clifford.  In  1853  he  was  ap- 
pointed by  Mr.  Clifford,  thea  Governor,  district-at- 
torney of  the  southern  district  of  Massachusetts,  com- 
prising the  counties  of  Bristol,  Barnstable,  Nantucket 
and  Dukes  county.  In  1856  the  office  becoming 
elective  by  a  recent  law,  he  was  chosen  attorney  by 
the  people  of  the  district,  and  held  the  office  until  he 
was  appointed  by  Governor  Nathaniel  P.  Banks  to  a 
seat  on  the  bench  of  the  superior  court,  then  first 
established.  Judge  Seth  Ames,  chief-justice  of  that 
court,  was  appointed  in  1869  by  Governor  William 
Claflin,  a  justice  of  the  supreme  judicial  court,  and 
Judge  Brigham  was  promoted  to  the  seat  of  chief- 
justice,  which  he  has  since  up  to  this  time  held. 

Judge  Brigham  married  October  20,  1847,  Eliza 
Endicott,  daughter  of  Thomas  Swain,  of  New  Bedford, 
and  has  four  sons,  one  of  whom,  Clifford  Brigham,  a 
graduate  of  Harvard  in  1880,  lives  in  Salem,  and  as  a 
partner  of  George  Burnham  Ives,  a  graduate  of  Har- 
vard in  1876,  is  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law  in 
Salem  and  Boston.  During  the  residence  of  Judge 
Brigham  in  New  Bedford,  which  terminated  in  1860, 
he  was  interested  in  military  affairs,  and  for  a  time 
was  the  efficient  and  popular  commander  of  the  New 
Bedford  Light  Infantry,  one  of  the  most  active  and 
respectable  volunteer  companies  in  the  State.  In 
1860  he  removed  to  Boston,  and  in  1866  to  Salem, 
which  place  he  has  since  made  his  residence.  From 
the  exacting  labors  of  his  official  station  he  turns  to 
music  for  his  chief  relaxation,  and  in  whatever  social 
circle  he  has  lived  he  has  done  much  to  cultivate  and 
refine  its  musical  tastes.  As  a  judge  he  has  won  not 
only  the  esteem,  but  the  affection  also  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  bar,  and  as  a  man  he  is  universally  be- 
loved. 

Samuel  Swett  was  born  in  Newburyport  June  9, 
1782.     He  was   the   son    of  Dr.  John    Barnard   and 


THE  BENCH  AND  BAR. 


lix 


Charlotte  (Bourne)  Swett,  and  entered  Harvard  Col- 
lege in  1796,  having  been  fitted  by  his  father  at  the 
eraramar-school  in  his  native  town.  He  studied  law 
in  Exeter,  N.  H.,  with  Judge  Jeremiah  Smith,  and 
afterwards  with  Judge  Charles  Jackson  and  Judge 
Edward  Livermore,  and  was  admitted  to  the  Essex 
Bar  in  1805.  He  began  the  practice  of  law  in  Salem, 
where  he  married,  August  25,  1807,  Lucia,  daughter 
of  William  Gray.  He  relinquished  practice  in  1810 
and  removed  to  Boston,  where  he  became  a  partner 
in  the  firm  of  Wm.  B.  Swett  &  Co.  In  the  last  year 
of  the  War  of  1812  he  entered  the  army  as  a  volun- 
teer on  the  staff  of  General  Izard,  and  served  as  a  to- 
pographical engineer,  with  the  rank  of  major.  He 
was  aide-de-camp  on  the  staff"  of  John  Brooks,  Gover- 
nor of  Massachusetts,  from  1816  to  1823,  and  was 
three  years  a  member  of  the  Legislature.  His  wife 
died  May  15,  1844,  and  he  died  in  Boston  October 
28,  1866. 

William  S.  Allen  was  the  son  of  Ephraim  W. 
Allen  and  born  in  Newburyport  in  1805.  He  gradu- 
ated at  Dartmouth  College  in  1825,  and  after  study- 
ing law  with  Stephen  W.  Marston,  was  admitted  to 
the  Essex  Bar  in  1827.  For  several  years  he  was  a 
partner  of  Caleb  Gushing,  and  a  representative  from 
Newburyport  in  the  General  Court.  He  was  the  first 
editor  of  the  Newburyport  Daily  Herald,  started  by 
himself  and  his  brother,  Jere.  S.  Allen,  in  1832.  At 
that  time  the  Herald  and  the  Neio  Bedford  Mercury, 
which  started  a  few  months  earlier,  were  the  only 
daily  papers  in  Massachusetts  outside  of  Boston. 
About  the  year  1835  he  removed  to  St.  Louis,  where 
he  was  elected  to  a  judgeship,  which  he  held  for  sev- 
eral years.  During  the  last  twelve  years  of  his  life 
he  was  connected  editorially  with  the  St.  Louis  Re- 
Dublican,  and  died  in  St.  Louis  in  June,  1868. 

Stephen  Hooper  was  the  son  of  Stephen  Hooper, 
a  prominent  merchant  of  JS'ewburyport,  and  was  born 
in  that  town  in  1785.  He  was  fitted  for  college  at  the 
Dummer  Academy,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in 
1808.  He  was  admitted  to  the  Essex  County  bar  in 
1810,  and  opened  an  office  in  Newburyport.  He  rep- 
resented the  town  of  Newbury,  to  which  town  his 
father  removed  while  he  was  a  youth,  and  which 
place  he  continued  to  make  his  residence  in  the  Gen- 
eral Court  when  he  was  twenty-five  years  of  age,  and 
at  the  age  of  thirty-one  he  was  chosen  a  State  Sen- 
ator. In  1818  he  removed  to  Boston,  and  there  de- 
voted himself  to  the  practice  of  his  profession.  He 
was  for  several  years  an  alderman  of  the  city,  and 
there  died  in  1825. 

Edward  St.  Loe  Livermore  was  born  in  Ports- 
mouth, New  Hampshire,  April  5,  1762.  His  father, 
Samuel  Livermore,  born  in  Waltham,  New  Hamp- 
shire, May  14,  1732,  died  at  Holderness,  New  Hamp- 
shire, in  May,  1803,  and  was  Attorney-General  of  New 
Hampshire,  member  of  the  Continental  Congress, 
member  of  the  convention  to  adopt  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution, president  of  the  Constitutional  Convention 


of  1791,  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  member  of  Con- 
gress and  United  States  Senator.  His  son  Edward 
was  a  counsellor  at  law,  and  United  States  Attorney, 
and  judge  of  the  Superior  Court  of  New  Hampshire. 
He  removed  to  Newburyport,  and  while  a  resident 
there  was  chosen  member  of  the  tenth  Congress  in 
1806.  He  removed  to  Boston  in  1813,  and  died  at 
Lowell,  September  22,  1832. 

Samuel  Sumijer  Wilde,  so  long  a  distinguished 
justice  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court, 
deserves  as  a  resident  in  Essex  County  eleven  years, 
a  place  in  this  record.  He  was  born  in  Taunton, 
Mass.,  February  5,  1771,  and  graduated  at  Dartmouth 
College  in  1789.  He  read  law  with  David  L.  Barnes, 
of  Taunton,  who  was  afterwards  judge  of  the  United 
States  District  Court  for  Rhode  Island.  He  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  1792,  and  removed  to  Maine, 
practising  his  profession  in  Waldoboro'  and  Warren 
and  Hallowell,  to  which  last  place  he  removed  in 
1799  ;  while  at  Warren  he  represented  that  town  in 
the  General  Court,  and  while  at  Hallowell  was  twice 
chosen  one  of  the  electors  of  president  and  vice-presi- 
dent, and  in  1814  was  a  member  of  the  executive 
council.  In  1815  he  was  appointed  by  Governor 
Caleb  Strong  an  associate  justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Massachusetts,  and  at  the  separation  of 
Maine  from  Massachusetts  he  removed  to  Newbury- 
port, where  he  resided  until  1831.  He  received  the 
degree  of  doctor  of  laws  from  Bowdoin  College  in 
1817,  from  Harvard  in  1841,  and  from  Dartmouth  in 
1849. 

In  early  life  he  was  an  active  Federalist,  and  lived 
to  be  the  only  surviving  member  of  the  Hartford 
Convention.  He  continued  on  the  bench  thirty-five 
years,  and  resigned  in  1850,  at  the  age  of  seventy-nine 
years.  To  those  readers  who  remember  Judge  Wilde, 
and  have  been  able  by  personal  observation  to  meas- 
ure his  abilities  as  a  jurist  and  his  high  character  as 
a  man,  the  following  letter  written  in  Hallowell  in 
1820,  with  its  estimate  of  the  judge  in  the  early  days 
of  his  judicial  life,  will  be  interesting: 

"  Hallowell,  May  31,  1820. 

"  It  is  with  much  regret  that  we  learn  tliat  Judge  Wilde  is  malting 
preparations  to  leave  the  town  and  the  State  of  Maine  in  order  to  reside 
in  Massachusetts,  and  there  exercise  the  functions  of  a  Judge  in  the 
Supreme  Court  in  that  State. 

"In  his  several  capacities  of  a  judge,  citizen,  friend  and  acquaintance, 
his  value  has  been  so  generally  known  and  felt  among  us  that  his  de- 
parture must  necessarily  be  viewed  with  concern.  On  the  bench  he  is 
conspicuous  for  his  talents  and  learning,  as  well  as  for  his  candor  and 
impartiality.  He  is  at  all  times  affable,  and  yet  he  preserves  order  ;  by 
his  industry  and  arrangement  he  despatches  business  ;  though  he  knows 
how  to  be  piitient  when  the  case  demands  it ;  to  his  mildness  lie  joins 
firmness,  and  bj'  his  personal  character  he  adds  weight  to  his  judicial 
decisions  ;  since  his  sincerity  gives  assurance  that  these  decisions  ai'e  in- 
dependent and  conscientious.  As  a  citizen  he  was  formerly  much  en- 
gaged in  public  affairs,  and  yet  he  continued  never  to  lose  his  temper  or 
to  give  personal  offence,  and  his  intentions  and  fair  dealing  never  called 
in  question  either  when  conducting  his  own  affairs  or  those  of  his 
clients.  Those  who  have  known  Judge  Wilde  as  a  friend  are  those  who 
will  most  feel  his  loss  ;  since  the  warmth  of  his  feelings,  tho  pleasant- 
ness of  his  temper,  and  his  desire  to  render  services  were  always  con- 
spicuous in  his  intercourse  with  them."     *    *    * 

Judge  Wilde  died  in  Boston,  June  22,  1855. 


Ix 


HISTOKY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


This  record  will  be  closed  with  a  list  of  the  present 
members  of  the  Essex  County  bar: 

Amesbury. — Horace  I.  Bartlett  (also  at  Newbury- 
port),  George  E.  Bachelder,  George  W.  Gate,  George 
Turner,  Frank  C.  Whiting. 

Andover. — George  W.  Foster,  George  H.  Poor. 

Beverly. — Frederick  W.  Choate,  Samuel  A.  Fuller 

D.  W.  Quill,  (also  in  Salem). 

Bradford. — Henry  Carter  (also  at  Haverhill),  Frank 
H.  Pearl. 

Danvers. — Daniel  N.  Crowley  (also  in  Salem),  Wil- 
lis E.  Flint,  Edward  L.  Hill,  Stephen  H.  Phillips 
(also  in  S^ilem),  J.  W.  Porter,  Alden  P.  White  (also 
in  Salem). 

Essex. — Frank  C.  Richardson  (also  at  Salem). 

Georgetown. — W.  A.  Butler,  Jeremiah  P.  Jones. 

Gloucester. — Archibald  N.  Donahue,  John  J.  Flah- 
erty, Wm.  W.  French,  M.  J.  McNeirny,  Wm.  A. 
Pew,  Jr.,  J.  C.  Pierce,  Charles  A.  Russell,  Edgar  S. 
Taft,  Henri  N.  Woods,  Sumner  D.  York. 

Hamilton. — Daniel  E.  SafFord. 

Haverhill.— hhhoii  &  Pearl,  N.  C.  Bartlett,  Wm.  E. 
Blunt,  B.  F.  Brickett,  Harry  J.  Cole,  Edward  B. 
George,  J.  P.  Jones,  B.  B.  Jones,  H.  N.  Merrill,  Wm. 
H.  Moody,  Moody  &  Bartlett,  John  A.  Page,  Isaac  E. 
Pearl,  Winfield  S.  Peters,  C.  H.  Poor,  H.  M.  Sargent, 

E.  B.  Savage,   Warren  Tilton,   R.  D.  Trask,  H.  H. 
Webster,  John  J.  Winn. 

Ipswich. — George  Haskell,  Edward  P.  Kimball, 
Charles  A.  Sayward. 

Laiorence. — Benjamin  C.  Ames,  M.  H.  Ames,  Charles 
U.  Bell,  T.  Burley,  Joseph  Cleaveland,  Charles  A.  De 
Courcey,  D.  F.  Dolan,  Newton  P.  Frye,  John  S.  Gile, 
W.  F.  Gile,  N.  W.  Harmon  (deceased),  H.  F.  Hopkins, 
M.  S.  Jenkins,  Wm.  S.  Knox,  P.  W.  Lyall,  D.  B.  Magee, 
J.  J.  Mahoney,  Wm.  T.  McKeone,  W.  F.  Moyes,  John 
R.  Poor,  D.  W.  Proctor,  Aretas  R.  Sanborn,  John  C. 
Sanborn,  C.  F.  Sargent,  Caleb  Saunders,  Charles  G. 
Saunders,  Daniel  Saunders,  Edgar  J.  Sherman,  John 
M.  Stearns,  Andrew  C.  Stone,  John  P.  Sweeney,  Wm. 
L.  Thompson,  George  L.  Weil. 

Lynn.—T>.  O.  Allen,  John  R.  Baldwin,  T.  F.  Bart- 
lett, John  W.  Berry,  George  J.  Carr,  N.  D.  A.  Clarke, 
Wm.  C.  Fabens  (also  at  Marblehead),  Joseph  F.  Han- 
nan,  R.  E.  Harmon,  Nathan  M.  Hawkes,  H.  F.  Hurl- 
burt.  W.  B.  Hutchinson,  Ira  B.  Keith,  Caleb  Lamsou, 
Charles  Leighton,  W.  H.  Lucie,  James  R.  Newhall, 
Thomas  B.  Newhall,  M.  P.  Nickerson,  Wm.  H.  Niles, 
Wm.  F.  Noonan,  Dean  Peabody,  E.  K.  Phillips,  T.  h! 
Romayne,  Wm.  O.  Shea,  J.  H.  Sisk,  Eben  F.  B.  Smith, 
Calvin  B.  Tuttle,  Frank  G.  Woodbury,  John  Wood- 
bury. 

Marblehead. — Wm.  D.  Trefry  (also  at  Salem). 

Merrimac. — T.  H.  Hoyt,  M.  Perry  Sargent. 

Methuen. — Wm.  M.  Rogers,  W.  R.  Rowell. 

Newburyport. — J.  C.  M.  Bayley,  Charles  C.  Dame, 
John  C.  Donovan,  Joseph  G.  Gerrish,  Frank  W. 
Hale,  Harrison  G.  Johnson,  Nathaniel  N.  Jones, 
Amos  Noyes,  Nathaniel  Pierce,  John  N.  Pike,  E.  C. 


Saltmarsh,  Thomas  C.  Simpson,  Eben  F.  Stone,  David 
L.  Withington. 

Peabody. — Sidney  C.  Bancroft,  Frank  E.  Farnham, 
Charles  E.  Hoag,  George  Holman,  Eugene  T.  Mc- 
Carthy, Benjamin  C.  Perkins,  Frederick  G.  Preston, 
Thomas  M.  Stimpson  (also  in  Salem),  Wm.  P.  Up- 
ham  (also  at  Salem),  F.  W.  Upton,  Henry  Wardwell, 
Charles  A.  Weare. 

Reading. — Solon  Bancroft,  Chauncey  P.  Judd,  E. 
T.  Swift. " 

Rowley. — George  B.  Blodgett. 

Salem. — Edward  C.  Battis,  C.  A.  Benjamin,  Clifford 
Brigham,  George  F.  Choate,  W.  F.  M.  Collins,  Forrest 
L.  Evans,  Andrew  Fitz,  James  A.  Gillis,  Wm.  H. 
Gove,  Joseph  E.  Quinn,  Richard  E.  Hines,  Nathaniel  J. 
Holden,  Thomas  F.  Hunt,  A.  L.  Huntington,  George 
B.  Ives,  Samuel  A.  Johnson,  D.  B.  Kimball,  Edward 
P.  Kimball,  George  R.  Lord,  J.  T.  Mahoney,  Eugene 
T.  McCarthy,  P.  J.  McCusker,  Henry  P.  Moulton, 
Wm.  D.  Northend,  Theodore  M.  Osborne,  Charles  S. 
Osgood,  J.  B.  F.  Osgood,  B.  C.  Perkins,  Sidney  Per- 
ley,  Wm.  Perry,  John  W.  Porter,  D.  W.  Quill,  Josiah 
F.  Quinn,  J.M.Raymond,  C.  W.Richardson,  Daniel 
E.  Saflford,  Charles  Sewall,  C.  H.  Symonds,  Charles 
P.  Thompson,  L.  S.  Tuckerman,  George  Wheatland 
A.  P.  White,  Frank  V.  Wright,  J.  C.  Wyman. 

Saugus. — Benjamin  F.  Johnson. 

Topsfield. — Benjamin  Poole. 


CHAPTER   III. 

OLD  MODES  OF  TRAVEL. 

BY  ROBERT  S.  RANTOUL. 

"  You  may  ride  in  an  hour  or  two,  if  you  will, 
From  Halibut  Point  to  Beacon  Hill, 
With  the  sea  beside  you  all  the  way, 
Through  the  pleasant  places  that  skirt  the  Bay  ; 
By  Gloucester  Harbor  and  Beverly  Beach, 
Salem  Witch-haunted,  Nahant's  long  reach, 
Blue-bordered  Swampscott  and  Chelsea's  wide 
Marshes,  laid  bare  to  the  drenching  tide, 
With  a  glimpse  of  Saugus  spire  in  the  west, 
And  Maiden  hills  wrapped  in  hazy  rest. 

"  All  this  you  watch  idly,  and  more  by  far, 
From  the  cushioned  seat  of  a  railway-car. 
But  in  days  of  witchcraft  it  was  not  so  ; 
City-bound  travellers  had  to  go 
Horseback  over  a  blind,  rough  road. 
Or  as  part  of  a  jolting  wagon-load 
Of  garden-produce  or  household  goods. 
Crossing  the  fords,  half-lost  in  the  woods, 
By  wolves  and  red-skins  frighted  all  day, 
And  the  roar  of  lions,  gome  histories  say. 
If  a  craft  for  Boston  were  setting  sail. 
Very  few  of  a  passage  would  fail 
Who  had  trading  to  do  in  the  three-hilled  town  ; 
For  they  might  return  ere  the  sun  was  down." 

— Peggy  BUgh's  Voyage,  btj  Lucy  Larcom, 

WhEoST  this  region  of  ours  was  first  colonized  by 
Europeans,   they  contented   themselves   for  a    time 


OLD  MODES  OF  TRAVEL. 


Ixi 


with  the  rude  means  of  conveyance  and  transpor- 
tation known  to  their  savage  neighbors.  The  fav- 
orite way  to  Boston,  Plymouth  and  Cape  Ann  was 
by  water.  The  "  dug-out "  was  much  in  use,  being 
a  pine  log  twenty  feet  long  and  two  and  one- 
half  feet  wide,  in  which  they  sometimes  "went 
fowling  two  leagues  to  sea."  These  "cannowes" 
seem  to  have  been  inspected  at  stated  intervals  by 
a  town  surveyor,  and  passed  or  condemned  according 
to  their  fitness  for  further  survice.  It  was  in  swim- 
ming for  one  of  these,  from  a  desire  to  visit  the 
Indian  Village  at  "  Northfield,"  that  Governor  Win- 
throp's  son  Henry,  on  the  day  after  his  arrival  at 
Salem,  was  drowned  in  the  North  River.  In  one 
of  these  rude  boats,  no  doubt,  Roger  Conant  might 
often  be  seen  making  his  way  up  Bass  River,  to 
visit  his  farm  of  two  hundred  acres,  near  the 
"great  pond  side."  And  Governor  Endicott's  little 
sloop-boat,  or  "  shallop,"  flits  across  the  pages  of  the 
ancient  records,  as,  no  doubt,  she  walked  the  waters 
of  the  bay  and  rivers,  like  a  thing  of  life. 

The  condition  of  the  trail,  which  was  the  only 
land  transit  between  Salem  and  Boston,  is  indicated 
by  two  contemporary  writers  of  the  first  authority. 
On  the  12th  of  April,  1631,  Governor  Endicott 
wrote  to  Governor  Winthrop  the  following  letter  from 
Salem  : 

"  Bight  Worshij^ful :  I  did  expect  to  have  been  with  you  in  person 
at  the  Court,  and  to  that  end  I  put  to  sea  yesterday,  and  was  driven  back 
again,  the  wind  being  stiff  against  us.  And  there  being  no  canoe  or 
boat  at  Saugus,  I  must  have  been  constrained  to  go  to  Mystic,  and  tlience 
afoot  to  Charlestown,  which  at  tliat  time  dnrst  not  be  so  bold,  my  body 
being,  at  this  present,  in  an  ill  condition  to  wade  or  take  cold.  *  *  * 
The  eel-pots  you  sent  for  are  made,  which  1  had  in  my  boat,  hoping  to 
have  brought  them  with  me."    *    *    *    * 

It  will  be  observed  that  these  worthies  were  not 
the  plodders  of  the  Colony.  Their  position  insured 
them  the  best  travelling  facilities  the  times  afforded. 
Governor  Winthrop  wrote  in  his  journal,  October 
25,  1631,  "The  Governor,  with  Captain  Underbill 
and  other  of  the  officers  went  on  foot  to  Saugus, 
and  next  day  to  Salem,  where  they  were  bounti- 
fully entertained  by  Captain  Endicott,  and  on  the 
28th  they  returned  to  Boston  by  the  ford  at  Saugus 
River  and  so  over  at  Mystic." 

In  1637  Governor  Winthrop  passed  through  Salem 
on  foot,  with  a  large  escort,  on  his  way  to  and  from 
Ipswich,  and  next  year  visited  Salem  by  water  and 
returned  by  land.  The  first  party  of  Salem  people 
who  visited  Boston  after  its  settlement  are  said  to 
have  spent  four  days  on  the  way,  and,  on  the  follow- 
ing Sabbath,  to  have  put  up  a  note  of  thanks  in  our 
First  Church  (now  restored  and  standing  in  the  rear 
of  Plummer  Hall)  for  their  safe  guidance  and  re- 
turn. 

In  1650,  as  we  learn  from  Parkman's  "  France  and 
England  in  North  America,"  the  first  essay  was  made, 
at  the  instance  of  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts,  to- 
wards negotiating  a  reciprocity  treaty  between  these 
English  settlements  and  the  French  colonies  in  Can- 
vii 


ada.  A  Jesuit  ambassador  from  Quebec  set  out  in 
company  with  a  converted  Indian  chief,  to  visit  Bos- 
ton, and  secure  the  military  aid  of  this  colony  against 
the  Iroquois,  in  consideration  of  some  privileges  of 
trade  to  be  granted  by  the  French.  He  made  his  way 
from  "  Kepane "  (Cape  Ann),  where  he  was  forced 
ashore  by  stress  of  weather,  to  Charlestown,  "  partly 
on  foot — partly  in  boats  along  the  shore,"  and  from 
that  peninsula  the  priest  crossed  by  boat  to  Boston, — 
probably  the  first  Romanist  who  ever  received  a  wel- 
come in  the  Puritan  Colony.  On  returning,  he 
stopped  at  Salem,  and  dined  with  Governor  Endicott, 
who,  he  says,  spoke  French.  * 

Some  felling  of  trees  and  hoisting  of  rocks  was  needed 
to  convert  these  muddy  trails  into  bridle-paths,  and 
then  the  colonist  moved  about  through  the  forest,  ac- 
companied by  good-wife  on  a  pillion  behind  and  fol- 
lowed perhaps  by  a  pack-horse,  sweating  under  well- 
stufFed  panniers.  "  Such  a  way  as  a  man  may  travel 
on  horseback,  or  drive  cattle,"  the  court  ordered 
laid  out  by  Richard  Brackenbury,  Mr.  Conant  and 
others  from  the  ferry  at  Salem,  to  Jeffrie's  Creek,  now 
Manchester.  Poets  sing  false,  or  the  saddle  was 
sometimes  mounted  on  the  backs  of  neat  cattle,  in 
those  early  days,  as  now-a-days  in  South  Africa  and 
San  Domingo  : 

"  Then,  from  a  stall  near  at  hand,  amid  exclamations  of  wonder, 
Alden,  the  thoughtful,  tlie  careful,  so  happy,  so  proud  of  Priscilla, 
Brought  out  his  snow-white  Bull,  obeying  the  hand  of  its  nuister, — 
Led  by  a  curd  that  was  tied  to  an  iron  ring  in  its  nostrils, — 
Covered  with  crimson  cloth  and  a  cushion  placed  for  a  saddle. 
She  would  not  walk,  he  said,  through  the  dust  and  heat  of  the  noon- 
day ; 
Nay,  she  should  ride  like  a  Queen, — not  plod  along  like  a  peasant. 
Somewhat  alarmed  at  first,  but  reassured  by  the  others, — 
Placing  her  hand  on  the  cushion,  her  foot  in  the  hand  of  her  hus- 
band,— 
Gaily,  with  joyous  laugh,  Friecilla  mounted  her  palfrey." 

After  the  bridle-paths  came  the  roads.  The  con- 
figuration of  our  surface  did  not  favor  the  use  of 
canals,  and  we  escaped  that  dreary  stage  in  the  devel- 
opement  of  transportation.  Roads  multiplied  apace, 
but  they  were  constructed  not  so  much  on  mathemati- 
cal, as  on  social  principles.  Nothing  is  more  enter- 
taining to  the  idler  than  to  trace  out  some  old  aban- 
doned lane,  wandering  between  crooked  walls — 
choked  up  with  underbrush  of  barberry,  alderberry, 
rose-bush,  fern  and  bramble — arched  with  grand  old 
elms,  and  seemingly  leading  nowhere.  Some  dilapi- 
dated cellar-wall  or  ruined  well  soon  answers  the  ques- 
tion "  whither  wilt  thou  lead  me  ?  "  The  pioneers  built 
their  homes  where  the  soil  was  tempting,  the  slopes 
attractive,  and  material  at  hand.  Villages  were  small 
and  infrequent.  Hence  roads  were  made  to  reach  the 
homesteads  of  single  colonists,  and  not  with  prime  re- 
gard to  directness  between  town  and  town.  And  as 
the  distance  around  a  hill  was  no  greater  than  over  it, 
and  the  cost  of  excavating  must  be  avoided,  these 
roads,  in  uneven  places,  became  still  more  circuitous, 
from  the  hills  they  encountered.  Their  original  cost 
has  been  expended   many  times  over,  in   widening. 


Ixii 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


straightening,  and  leveling  them,  so  that  the  curious 
observer  will  find  on  either  side  of  the  present  road, 
grass-grown  bits  of  the  old  highway  leading  oif  a  little, 
and  soon  returning  to  it. 

An  old  family  of  the  county  has  been  in  the  habit 
of  making  a  yearly  pilgrimage  from  Cape  Ann  to 
Andover,  over  the  road  as  it  was  two  or  three  genera- 
tions back,  faithfully  tracing  out,  wherever  it  was 
possible,  each  oxbow  in  the  way,  with  its  ancient  trees 
and  low-roofed  farm-house  and  well-sweep  and  brook. 
Hawthorne  has  thus  described  one  of  the  most  tempt- 
ing of  these  lovely  by-ways,  in  his  account  of 
"Browne's  Folly,"  written  for  the  "Weal-Reaf"  in 
1860: 

"Along  its  base  ran  a  green  and  seldom  trodden  lane,  with  whicli  I 
was  very  familiar  iu  my  boyhood  ;  and  there  was  a  little  brook,  which  I 
remember  to  have  dammed  up  till  its  overflow  made  a  mimic  ocean. 
When  I  last  looked  for  this  tiny  streamlet,  which  was  still  rippling 
freshly  through  my  memory,  I  found  it  strangely  shrunken  ;  a  mere  ditch 
Indeed,  and  almost  a  dry  one.  But  the  green  lane  was  still  there,  pre- 
cisely as  I  remembered  it ;  two  wheel  tracks,  and  the  beaten  path  of  the 
horses'  feet,  and  grassy  strips  between  ;  the  whole  overshadowed  by  tall 
locust  trees,  and  the  prevalent  barberry  bushes,  which  are  rooted  so 
fondly  into  the  the  recollections  of  every  Essex  man." 

These  old  roads  belonged  to  the  period  when  a 
journey  to  Boston  was  a  thing  to  be  thought  of  for 
days  before — and  only  to  be  embarked  on  in  pleasant 
weather.  Dobbin  must  be  brought  in  from  pasture — 
be  rested  and  fed  up  a  little,  and  have  his  shoes 
looked  to  ;  the  "one-hoss  shay,"  with  its  capacity  for 
stowage  like  that  of  the  ark, — 

"  Thorough-brace  bison  skin,  thick  and  wide, — 
Boot,  top,  dasher  of  tough  old  hide 
Found  in  the  pit  when  the  tanner  died,"  — 

this  lumbering  conveyance  was  to  be  cleaned  up  over 
night  and  its  wheels  put  in  order ;  the  Sunday  suit 
must  be  aired  and  dusted,  and  when  at  last  the 
eventful  morning  dawned  fresh  and  fair,  and  the 
leave-taking  of  several  generations  was  accomplished, 
the  journey  of  the  day  was  to  be  performed,  by  not 
too  burthensome  stages,  relieved  by  episodes  of  break- 
fast and  baiting  at  the  "  Creature  Comfort,"  or  some 
other  favorite  half-way  house,  and  a  scrupulous  with- 
drawal of  Dobbin  from  the  too  active  influence  of 
the  mid-day  sun. 

A  few  figures  will  show  how  much  distances  from 
point  to  point  have  been  reduced  since  these  days. 
We  find  the  following  in  "  Travis's  Almanac,"  Bos- 
ton, 1713. 

"From  Boston  fo  Portsmouth  (Ferry's  excepted),  62  Miles,  this  accounted. 

"  From  M^inisimit,  to  Oiceii-s  4  Miles,  to  Lewes's  2  &  half,  to  the  Sign  of 
the  Galley  at  SaUm  9,  to  the  Ferry  at  Beverly  1,  to  FUlces  at  Wenham  5,  to 
Cromtons  at  Ipswich  6,  to  Bennets  at  Uowley  3  &  half  (which  is  called  the 
half-way  house),  to  Sargeants  at  Xewbury,  the  upper  way  by  TliurreVs 
Bridge  8,  but  from  Rowley  the  right  hand  way  by  the  Ferry  is  but  7  to 
said  Sargeantu,  to  T)-ues,  or  to  Pikes  Gate  at  Salisbui-y  2  &  half,  to  ^forlorn 
at  Hampton  4  &  half,  to  Sherboiis  at  said  Town  2,  to  Johnsons  at  Greenland 
8  &  half,  and  to  Harvies  at  the  three  Tons  at  Portsmouth  5  Miles  &  half." 

In  April,  1775,  Col.  Pickering  marched  his  regi- 
ment from  Salem  on  the  alarm  of  the  fight  at  Lexing- 
ton.    To,  explain  his  failure  to  reach  the  scene  of  ac- 


tion, he  gives  these  distances  in  his  journal.  Salem 
to  Dan  vers,  two  miles;  to  Newell's  in  Lynn,  seven 
miles;  to  Maiden,  six  miles;  to  Medford,  three  miles; 
to  Boston,  four  miles ;  making  the  route  from  Salem 
to  Boston,  towards  the  close  of  the  last  century, 
twenty-two  miles. 

The  character  of  the  public  houses  of  the  time  is 
closely  allied  to  our  subject.  The  "  Sign  of  the  Galley 
at  Salem,"  mentioned  by  Travis,  was,  no  doubt,  the 
"  Shij)  Tavern,"  on  School  Street,  at  the  corner  of  what 
are  now  Church  and  Washington  Streets,  the  old 
Governor's  house,  brought  up  by  water  from  Cape 
Ann,  and  rebuilt  there  and  successively  occupied  by 
Conant  and  Endicott.  It  was  kept,  in  1713,  by  Henry 
Sharp,  who,  in  1701,  advertised  a  calash  to  let,  the 
first  recorded  instance  of  such  a  convenience  in 
Salem.  Modern  travelers  would  hardly  think  these 
inns  well  described  by  the  term  "ordinary,"  under 
which  they  were  licensed.  They  were  conditioned  to 
allow  no  tippling  after  nine  at  night ;  the  house  must 
be  cleared  on  week-day  lecture  of  all  persons  able  to 
attend  meeting ;  no  cakes  or  buns  to  be  sold,  this  was 
in  1637,  on  fine  of  ten  shillings,  the  prohibition  not 
to  extend  to  cakes  "  made  for  any  buryall  or  marriage, 
or  such  like  special  occation."  In  1645,  the  widow 
of  an  innholder  is  licensed  "  if  she  procure  a  fitt  man, 
that  is  Godly,  to  manage  the  business."  In  1659,  the 
law  forbids  dancing  at  taverns,  and  as  late  as  1759, 
the  sale  of  si)irits,  wines,  coffee,  tea,  ale,  beer  and 
"syder"  on  the  Sabbath. 

At  the  middle  of  the  last  century  a  New  York  mer- 
chant, supercargo  on  board  the  ship  "Tartar  Galley," 
from  New  York  for  London,  was  disabled  when  a  few 
days  out,  and  put  in  to  Boston  for  repairs.  While 
detained  there  he  seems  to  have  moved  among  what 
he  terms  the  "  best  Fashion  in  Boston."  I  make 
room  for  a  passage  from  his  Journal. 

"  October  l^th,  1750.  While  at  breakfast  Mr.  Nathaniel  Cunningham 
waited  on  me  at  Capt.  W'endell's,  agreeable  to  promise  &  furnished  me 
with  a  horse  to  go  to  Salem,  being  very  desirous  to  see  the  country. 
Sett  out  about  10  o'clock.  «  *  *  Cross'd  Charles  Towne  Ferry. 
*  *  *  About  2  miles  from  thence  we  crosst  Penny  Ferry  which  is 
better  than  ]4  mile  over.  Being  the  neighest  way  to  Salem.  From  this 
to  Mr.  Ward's  is  about  8  miles,  and  is  about  a  mile  this  side  of  Lyu 
which  is  a  small  Country  Towne  of  ab"t  200  Houses  very  pleasantly  sit- 
uated, &  affords  a  Beautifull  Rural  Prospect ;  we  came  to  Jlr.  Ward's 
about  one  o'clock  and  dynd  on  fryd  Codd.  From  this  place  is  about  7 
miles  to  Sal»m.  After  dinner  having  refreshed  ourselves  with  a  glass  of 
wine  sett  out  on  our  journey  through  a  barren  rocky  country  which  af- 
forded us  not  the  least  prospect  of  anything  but  a  desurt  country,  abound, 
ing  with  Loffty  Ragged  Rocks  a  fine  Pastering  Ground  only  for  their 
Sheep,  the  Rhoads  are  exceeding  stony  and  the  counti-y  but  thinly 
peopled. 

"  October  I'JIh.  Arrived  at  Salem  ab't  3  a  Clock  put  up  our  Horses  at 
the  Wid'o  Prats  from  whence  went  to  See  Coll.  William  Browns  where 
drank  Tea  with  his  Spouse,  after  which  Mr.  Browne  was  so  Good  as  to 
Accomodate  us  with  a  Walk  round  the  Towne,  Shewing  us  the  wharfs 
warehousas  &c.  ;  went  up  in  the  Steeple  of  the  Church,  from  whence 
had  a  Fine  View  of  the  Town,  Harbour,  &c.,  which  is  Beautifully  Sit- 
uated From  which  have  a  View  of  Mr.  Brownes  Country  Seat  which  is 
Situated  on  a  Heigh  Hill  ab't  6  Miles  Eastward  of  Salem.  Spent  the 
Evening  at  his  House  where  Joynd  in  Company  by  Parson  Appleton, 
Miss  Hetty  his  daughter,from  Cambridge,  they  Being  Acquaintence  of 
Mr.  and  >Irs.  Browne,  we  Supd  togeather  and  after  that  where  Very 
merry,  at  Whist,  <&c. 


OLD  MODES  OF  TRAVEL. 


Ixiii 


"  Oct.  20th.  Lodg'dat  Mr.  Brownes;  after  Breakfast  Saunterd  round 
tho  Towne  niayking  Our  Observations  on  the  Build's  &c.  Dynd  at  his 
House,  after  Dinner  had  a  Good  Deal  Conversation  with  liim  upon  Vari- 
ous Subjects,  he  being  a  Gent'n  of  Excellent  Parts  well  Adversed  in 
Leaturate  a  Good  Scholar  a  Great  Vertuosa  and  Lover  of  the  Liberal 
Arts  and  Sciences  haveing  an  Extraordinary  Libraiy  of  Books  of  the 
Best  Ancient  and  Modern  Authors,  about  3  a  Clock  we  Sett  out  in  his 
Coach  for  his  Country  Seat  rideing  trough  a  Pleasant  Country  and  fine 
Khoads.  we  arived  there  at  4  a  Clock  the  Situation  is  very  Airy  Being 
upon  a  Heigh  Hill  which  Over  Looks  the  Country  all  Round  and  affords 
a  Pleasant  Rural  Prospect  of  a  Fine  Country  witli  fine  woods  and  Lawns 
with  Brooks  water  running  trough  them,  you  have  also  a  prospect  of  the 
Sea  on  one  Part  an  Ou  another  A  Mountain  SO  Miles  distant  The  House 
is  Built  in  the  Form  of  a  Long  Square,  with  Wings  at  Each  End  and  is 
about  80  Foot  Long,  in  the  middle  i.s  a  Grand  Hall  Surrounded  above  by 
a  Fine  Gallery  with  Neat  turned  Bannester  and  the  Cealing  of  the  Hall 
Representing  a  Large  doom  Designed  for  an  Assembly  or  Ball  Room,  the 
Oallery  for  the  Musitians  &c.  the  Building  has  Four  Doors  Fronting  the 
N.  E.  S.  &  W.  Standing  in  the  middle  the  Great  Hall  you  have  a  Full 
View  of  the  Country  from  the  Four  Dores,  at  the  Ends  of  the  Buildings 
is  2  upper  and  2  Lower  Rooms  with  neat  Stair  Cases  Leadeing  to  them, 
in  One  the  Lower  Rooms  is  his  Library  and  Studdy  well  Stockd  with  a 
Noble  Colection  of  Books,  the  others  are  all  unfurnish'd  as  yet  Nor  is 
the  Building  yet  Compleat,  wants  a  Considerable  workman  Ship  to  Com- 
pleat  it,  so  as  the  Design  is.  But  Since  the  Loss  of  his  first  wife  who 
was  Governour  Burnetts  Daughter  of  New  Yerk  by  whome  he  has  yet  2 
Little  Daughters  Liveing,  the  Loss  of  her  he  took  much  to  heart  as  he 
was  doateingly  fond  of  her  Being  a  Charming  Ladie  when  married.  But 
Le  is  now  determind  to  Compleat  it.  we  drank  a  Glass  wine  haveing 
Feasted  our  Eyes  with  the  Prospect  of  the  Country,  Returned  to  his 
House  where  Sup'd  and  Past  the  Evening  Vastly  Agreeable  being  a  Very 
merry  Facitious  Gentlemen,  went  to  bed  Intend'g  to  Proceed  to  Marble 
head  Next  Morning. 

"  Oct.  2\st.  Haveing  Got  our  Horses  ready,  after  Breakfast  took  our 
Leave's  of  Mr.  Browne  and  Spouse.  Before  proceed  shall  Give  a  Small 
Discription  of  Salem.  Its  a  Small  Sea  Port  Towne.  Consists  of  ab't  450 
Houses,  Several  of  which  are  neat  Buildings,  but  all  of  wood,  and 
Covers  a  Great  Deal  of  Ground,  being  at  a  Conveniant  Distance  from 
Each  Other,  with  fine  Gardens  back  their  Houses,  the  Town  is  Situated 
on  a  Neck  of  Land  Navagable  on  either  Side,  is  ab't  2}^  Sliles  in  Lenght 
Including  the  build'gs  Back  the  Towne,  has  a  main  Street  runs 
■directly  trough.  One  Curch,  3  Presbiterian  and  one  Quakers  Meeting, 
the  Situation  is  Very  Pretty,  &c.  The  Trade  Consists  Chiefly  in  the  Cod 
Fishery,  they  have  ab't  60  or  70  Sail  Schooners  Employd  in  that  Branch. 
Saw  ab't  40  Sail  in  the  Harb'r  liav'g  then  ab"t  40  at  Sea.  They  Cure  all 
their  Own  Cod  for  ftlarkett ;  Saw  there  a  Vast  Number  Flakes  Cureing  ; 
in  the  Harbour  Lay  also  two  Topsail  Vessells  and  three  Sloops,  on  E.x- 
am'g  into  the  Fishery  find  it  a  very  adventag's  Branch." 

The  travellers  then  ride  to  Marblehead  "trough  a 
pleasant  country  and  good  Roades" — spend  an  hour 
there  at  breakfast  with  Mr.  Read — see  the  town, 
of  which  they  formed  no  very  flattering  impression, 
and  push  on  to  their  friend  Mr.  Ward's,  at  Lynn. 
■"  Dyned  upon  a  fine  mongrel  goose  " — proceeded  on 
their  journey  "  through  Mystic,  and  came  to  Mr. 
Wendell's  in  Boston,  ab't  8  o'clock." 

I  find  passages  illustrative  of  the  times  in  the  diary 
of  John  Adams,  written  when  the  author  was  "riding 
the  circuit"  in  the  practice  of  the  law,  at  the  age  of 
thirty,  and  residing  in  Braintree. 

"  1766,  Nov.  Zd,  Monday.  Sett  off  with  my  wife  for  Salem.  Stopped 
half  an  hour  at  Boston.  Crossed  the  Ferry  ;  at  three  o'clock  arrived  at 
Hill's,  the  tavern  in  Maiden,  the  sign  of  the  Rising  Eagle  *  *  *  where 
we  dined.  Here  we  fell  in  company  with  Kent  and  Sewall.  We  all 
oated  at  Martin's  where  we  found  the  new  Sheriff  of  Essex,  Colonel  Sal- 
tonstall.  We  all  rode  into  town  together.  Arrived  at  my  dear  brother 
Cranch's,  about  eight,  and  drank  tea  and  are  all  very  happy.  Sat  and 
heard  the  ladies  talk  about  ribbon,  catgut,  and  Paris  net,  riding-hoods, 
•cloth,  silk,  and  lace.  Brother  Cranch  came  home  and  a  very  happy 
evening  we  had.  Cranch  is  now  in  a  good  situation  for  business,  near 
the  Court  House  and  Mr.  Barnard's  meeting-house  and  on  the  road  to 


Marblehead :  his  house  fronting  the  wharves,  the  harbor  and  shipping, 
has  a  fine  prospect  before  it. 

"4.  Tuesday.  A  fine  morning  :  attended  court  all  day.  *  *  Prayer 
by  Mr.  Barnard,  Deacon  Pickering  was  foreman  of  one  of  the  juries  *  * 
his  appearance  is  perfectly  plain,  like  a  farmer.        *        *        *        * 

"  5.  Wednesday.  Attended  Court ;  heard  the  trial  of  an  action  of  tres- 
pass, brought  by  a  mulatto  woman  for  damages  for  restraining  her  of  her 
liberty.  *  *  *  Spent  the  evening  at  Mr.  Pynchon's  witli  Farnhani, 
Sewall,  Sargent,  Colonel  Saltonstall,  etc.,  very  agreably.  Punch,  wine, 
bread  and  cheese,  apples,  pipes  and  tobacco.  Popes  and  bonfires  this 
evening  at  Salem,  and  a  swarm  of  tumultuous  people  attending  them. 

"6.  Tlinrsday.  A  fine  morning.  Oated  at  Martin's,  where  we  saw  five 
boxes  of  dollars,  containing,  as  we  were  told,  about  eighteen  thousand 
of  them,  going  in  a  horse-cart  from  Salem  Custom  House  to  Boston,  in 
order  to  be  shipped  for  England.  A  guard  of  armed  men,  with  swords, 
hangers,  pistols  and  muskets,  attended  it.  We  dined  at  Dr.  Tuft's  in 
Medfurd.  *  *  *  Drank  tea  at  3irs.  Kneeland's, — got  home  before 
eiglit  o'clock." 

On  a  previous  visit  to  his  brother  Cranch  in  August, 
he  rode  after  tea  to  Neck  Gate,  then  back  through  the 
common,  down  to  Beverly  Ferry  and  about  town. 
"Scarce  an  eminence,"  he  says,  "can  be  found  any- 
where to  take  a  view.  The  streets  are  broad  and 
straight  and  pretty  clean.  The  houses  are  the  most 
elegant  and  grand  that  I  have  seen  in  any  of  the 
maritime  towns." 

On  Friday,  June  29th,  1770,  he  set  out  on  another 
"journey  to  Falmouth  in  Casco  Bay."  Dined  at 
Goodhue's  in  Salem.  Fell  in  with  a  London  merchant, 
a  stranger,  who  "  made  a  genteel  appearance," — was 
in  a  chair,  himself  with  a  negro  servant;  talked  of 
American  affairs;  thought  the  colonists  "could  not 
conquer  their  luxury,"  and  this  would  make  them  de- 
pendent on  Great  Britain.  "Oated  my  horse  and 
drank  balm  tea  at  Treadwell's  in  Ipswich."  Tread- 
well's  was  a  favorite  resort  with  him.  On  a  visit  there 
ten  days  before,  he  says, — "  Rambled  with  Kent  round 
Landlord  Treadwell's  pastures  to  see  how  our  horses 
fared.  We  found  them  in  the  grass  up  to  their  eyes  ; 
excellent  pastures.  This  hill,  on  which  stand  the 
Meeting-house  and  Court  House,  is  a  fine  elevation, 
and  we  have  here  a  fine  air  and  the  pleasant  prospect 
of  the  winding  river  at  the  foot  of  the  hill." 

On  another  visit  he  writes  : 

"Landlord  and  landlady  are  some  of  the  grandest  people  alive :  land- 
lady is  the  great  grand-daughter  of  Governor  Endicott.  *  *  As  to 
Landlord  he  is  as  happy  and  proud  as  any  nobleman  in  England." 

And  again — 

"  The  old  lady  has  got  a  new  copy  of  her  great  grandfather's.  Governor 
Endicott's  picture  hung  up  in  the  house." 

That  picture  is  now  among  the  collections  of  the 
Essex  Institute. 

Next  morning,  Saturday,  June  30th,  he  "  arose  not 
very  early,  drank  a  pint  of  new  milk  and  set  off'; 
oated  my  horse  at  Newbury,  rode  to  Clarke's  at 
Greenland  meeting-house,  where  I  gave  him  hay  and 
oats  and  then  set  oft'  for  Newington."  Dined  there 
with  his  uncle  Joseph,  minister  of  that  town,  then  in 
his  eighty-second  year,  and  set  off  for  York  over 
Bloody  Point  Ferry  *  *  "  a  very  unsentimental 
journey  excepting  this  day  at  dinner ;  have  been  un- 
fortunate enough  to  ride  alone  all  the  way  and  have 
met  with  very  few  characters  or  adventures.     I  forgot 


Ixiv 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


yesterday  to  mention  that  I  stopped  and  inquired  the 
name  of  a  pond  in  Wenham,  which  I  found,  was 
Wenham  Pond,  and  also  the  name  of  a  remarkable 
little  hill  at  the  mouth  of  the  pond,  which  resembles 
a  high  loaf  of  our  country  brown  bread,  and  found 
that  it  is  called  Peters'  Hill  to  this  day  from  the 
famous  Hugh  Peters."     *    *    * 

"Julyl.  Sunday.  Arose  early.  I  took  a  walk  to  the  pasture,  to  see 
how  my  horse  fiired.  *  *  *  My  little  mare  had  provided  for  herself, 
by  leaping  out  of  a  bare  pasture  into  a  lot  of  mowing  ground,  and  had 
filled  herself  with  grass  and  water.    *    *    *    * 

"  2.  Monday  morning.  In  my  sulky  before  five  o'clock,  Mr.  Winthrop, 
Farnham  and  D.  Sewall  with  me  on  horseback  :  rode  throngh  the  woods, 
the  tide  being  too  high  to  go  over  tlie  beach  and  to  cross  Cape  Neddick 
River:  came  to  Littlefield's  in  Wells,  a  quarter  before  eight:  stopped 
there  and  breakfasted.  *  *  *  Rode  to  Patten's  of  Arundel.  Mr. 
Winthrop  and  I  turned  our  horses  into  a  little  close  to  roll  and  cool 
themselves  and  feed  upon  white  honey-svickle.  P.  M.  Got  into  my 
chair :  rode  witli  Elder  Bradbury  through  Sir  William  Pepperell's 
woods :  stopped  and  oated  at  Milliken's  and  rode  into  l'"almoutb." 

Compare  this  picture  of  Mr.  Adams  riding  into 
Falmouth,  in  his  desobligeant,  as  he  calls  his  narrow- 
seated  chair  or  sulky,  with  an  incident  in  the  career 
of  two  statesmen  of  our  time.  During  the  negotia- 
tion of  the  British  American  treaty  which  detained 
Mr.  Webster  in  the  cabinet  of  John  Tyler,  after  his 
colleagues  had  deserted  all  the  departments  but  that 
of  State,  it  was  proposed  to  convey  him,  in  company 
with  Lord  Ashburton,  with  the  utmost  speed,  from 
Boston  to  Portland.  Alexander  Brown,  a  genial, 
trusty,  energetic  man,  was  chosen  from  among  the 
drivers  on  the  route  to  arrange  the  conveyance  by 
stage  from  the  railroad  terminus,  and  the  most 
thorough  preparations  were  made.  Relays  of  picked 
horses,  frequent  and  fresh,  awaited  him  at  every  stage- 
house,  a  groom  to  each  horse,  ambitious,  both  man 
and  beast,  to  act  well  their  parts  in  the  struggle 
against  time.  Three  minutes  were  allowed  for  each 
change  of  horses.  Mr.  Brown,  afterwards  depot- 
master  at  the  railroad  station  in  Boston,  recalled  the 
achievement  of  that  day  with  pride  until  his  death, 
and  used  to  tell  how  the  British  Ambassador  got  out 
at  a  stojiping-place  and,  watch  in  hand,  observed  the 
process  of  "  unhitching  and  putting  to,"  remarking 
that  it  was  done  as  quickly,  within  a  few  seconds,  as 
in  England.  This  was  high  commendation  from  an 
Englishman.  And  it  certainly  was  a  notable  thing, 
to  have  driven  for  eight  hours  over  American  roads, 
well  enough  to  keep  an  English  peer  in  good  humor, 
and  to  have  brought  him  into  Portland,  which  was 
the  old  time  Falmouth,  in  company  with  the  man 
described  by  Carlyle  as  a  "Parliamentary  Hercules," 
"  a  magnificent  specimen,"  whom  "  that  tanned  com- 
plexion, amorphous,  crag-like  face  and  those  dull, 
black  eyes  under  their  precipice  of  brows,  and  that 
mastiff  mouth,  lead  one  to  back  against  all  the  extant 
world,"  and  of  whom  Emerson  wrote  "  He  is  a  natu- 
ral emperor  of  men,"  and  Sidney  Smith  is  reported  to 
have  said  that  he  must  be  a  humbug,  "  for  no  man 
could  be  a  tenth  part  as  great  as  he  looked." 


Once  more,  Monday,  June  17,  1771,  Mr.  Adams 
set  out  upon  the  Eastern  Circuit. 

"I  mounted  my  horse  and  rode  to  Boston  in  a  cloth  coat  and  waist- 
coat, but  was  much  pinched  with  a  raw,  cold,  harsh,  northeast  wind. 
At  Boston  I  put  on  a  thick  flannel  shirt,  and  that  made  me  comforta- 
ble and  no  more  ;  so  cold  am  I,  or  so  cold  is  the  weather,  June  17th 
*  *  *  Came  over  Charlestown  ferry  and  Penny  ferry  and  dined  at 
Kettel's  in  Maiden.  *  *  *  Overtook  Judge  Gushing  in  his  old 
curricle  with  two  lean  horses,  and  Dick,  his  negro,  at  his  right 
hand,  driving  the  curricle.  This  is  the  way  of  travelling  in  1771, 
— a  judge  of  the  circuits,  a  judge  of  the  superior  court,  a  judge 
of  the  king's  bench,  common  pleas  and  exchequer  for  the  Province, 
travels  witli  a  pair  of  wretched  old  jades  ef  horses  in  a  wretched  old 
curricle,  and  a  negro  on  the  same  seat  with  him  driving.  *  *  * 
Stopped  at  Martin's  in  Lynn  with  Judge  Gushing  ;  oated  and  drank  a 
glass  of  wine.  *  *  •  Rode  with  King,  a  deputy  sheriff,  who  came 
out  to  meet  the  judges,  into  Salem  :  put  up  at  Goodhue's.  The  negro 
that  took  my  horse  soon  began  to  open  his  lieart.  He  did  not  like  the 
people  of  Salem  ;  wanted  to  be  sold  to  Capt.  John  Dean  of  Boston.  His 
mistress  said  he  did  not  earn  salt  to  his  porridge  and  would  not  find  him 
clothes." 

Arrived  at  Falmouth,  July  2d,  he  writes  : 

"This  has  been  the  most  flat,  insipid,  spiritless,  tasteless  journey  I  ever 
took,  especially  from  Ipswich." 

And  this  we  can  understand  better  when  we  read  of 
his  riding  alone  through  Saco  woods  after  night-fall. 

"Many  sharp,  steep  hills,  many  rocks,  many  deep  ruts,  and  not  a  foot- 
step of  man  except  in  the  road  ;  it  was  vastly  disagreeable." 

Before  great  advances  could  be  made  towards  speed, 
comfort,  safety  and  cheapness  in  travel,  fords  and 
stepping-stones  must  give  way  to  ferries, — ferry-ways 
must  yield  to  bridges,  and  turnpikes  must  supersede 
county  roads  on  the  great  thoroughfares.  Road- 
making  was  no  new  art.  It  had  been  carried  to  a 
high  point  by  the  ancients,  but  the  costliness  of  their 
works  made  the  lesson  of  little  value  to  the  new 
countries  of  the  modern  world.  The  Romans,  for  in- 
stance, had  magnificent  roads  leading  out  into  the 
provinces, — as  many  of  them  as  the  hills  upon  which 
the  eternal  city  sat.  These  roads  were  crowned  with 
a  surface  of  polished  stone,  over  which  wagons,  on 
wooden  wheels,  were  drawn  by  unshod  beasts  with 
ease  and  speed.  But  it  was  only  at  the  beginning  of 
this  century  that  McAdam  showed  us  how  to  bridge 
over  a  quagmire  with  a  crust  of  concrete  so  firm  as  to 
bear  loads  that  make  the  marshy  substratum  on  which 
it  rests  quake  like  a  jelly. 

From  1636  a  ferry  had  been  supported  between 
North  Point  or  Salem  Neck,  so-called,  and  Cape  Ann 
or  Bass  River  side,  now  Beverly.  From  time  to  time 
it  was  leased  for  the  benefit  of  the  grammar  school- 
masters of  Salem.  At  first  it  provided  only  for  the 
crossing  of  persons.  But,  in  1639,  these  were  the 
regulations :  "  Lessee  to  keep  an  horse-boate — to  have 
for  strangers'  passadge  2d.  apeice, — for  towne  dwellers 
Id.  apeice, — for  mares,  horses  and  other  great  beasts 
6c?.  apeice,  and  for  goats,  calves  and  swyne  2d.  apiece." 
For  more  than  a  century,  an  inn  known  as  the  "Old 
Ferry  Tavern,"  stood  hard  by  on  the  Salem  side.  The 
ferry  touched  at  Salem  side  near  the  present  bridge, 
but  a  little  to  the  east. 

In  1787,  Beverly,  somewhat  aggrieved  at  the  manage- 


OLD  MODES  OF  TRAVEL. 


Ixv 


ment  of  the  ferry  in  the  interest  of  Salem,  moved  for  a 
bridge.  A  charter,  now  on  deposit  with  the  Essex  In- 
stitute, was  granted  to  the  Cabots,  and  Israel  Thorn- 
dike  of  Beverly,  and  to  John  Fiske  and  Joseph  White 
of  Salem,  and  the  old  ferry-way  was  laid  out  as  a 
highway  by  the  Court  of  Sessions.  December  13th, 
the  proprietors  of  the  bridge  organized  at  the  Sun 
Tavern.  Nathan  Dane  was  moderator,  and  William 
Prescott,  clerk.  The  bridge  was  opened  for  use 
September  24,  1788.  It  was  one  of  the  modern  won- 
ders. Gen.  Washington,  on  his  northern  tour  the 
next  year,  dismounted  to  examine  it  and  observe  the 
working  of  the  draw.  And  a  Eussian  engineer  was 
specially  commissioned  to  acquaint  himself  with  its 
structure.  But  this  beneficent  work  was  not  carried 
through  without  violent  opposition,  of  which  Spite 
Bridge  was  one  of  the  fruits.  Salem  voted  to  oppose 
the  petitioners  and  invited  other  towns  to  do  so. 
Competition  was  threatened  from  a  parallel  bridge. 
The  navigation  of  North  River,  it  was  urged,  would 
be  annihilated,  and  forty  vessels  of  various  tonnage, 
then  employed  there,  would  be  driven  from  the  river. 
Orne's  Point  was  insisted  on  as  the  proper  terminus 
in  Salem.  "  Prejudices,  strong  party  feeling  and 
much  excitement"  are  spoken  of  by  Felt,  and  he 
adds  that  one  Blythe,  a  wit  of  the  time,  was  i)rompted 
to  observe  that  there  never  was  a  bridge  built  with- 
out railings  on  both  sides.  This  timely  successor  of 
the  old  ferry-way,  after  compensating  its  projectors 
for  their  risk  and  outlay,  reverted,  at  the  expiration 
of  its  seventy  years'  charter,  to  the  State.  I  may  be 
pardoned  a  personal  reminiscence  in  this  connection. 
My  grandfather  walked  over  the  bridge  on  the  day  it 
was  opened  for  travel,  being  then  a  Salem  school-boy 
ten  years  old,  and  again  in  his  eightieth  year  on  the 
day  of  the  expiration  of  its  charter  in  1858,  having 
been  president  of  the  corporation  in  the  interval. 

In  1868  the  bridge  was  surrendered  by  the  State  to 
the  towns  and  thrown  open  to  the  public,  in  accord- 
ance with  that  enlightened  social  economy  which 
teaches  that  all  needless  restraint  upon  the  inter- 
course of  neighbors  is  barbarism. 

Another  monument  of  Essex  County  enterprise  is 
the  turnpike  connecting  us  with  Boston,  now  also,  in 
the  same  liberal  spirit,  dedicated  to  free  travel. 
March  6,  1802,  Edward  Augustus  Holyoke,  Wil- 
liam Gray,  Nathan  Dane,  Jacob  Ashton  and  Israel 
Thorndike,  with  their  associates,  were  incorporated  to 
build  a  turnpike  from  Buffum's  corner,  through  Great 
Pastures,  over  Breed's  Island  in  Lynn  Marshes,  across 
Mystic  River,  and  from  a  point  near  the  Navy-yard 
to  Charles  River  Bridge.  The  Statute  Books  are  full 
of  similar  acts  at  this  period.  The  Essex  Turnpike 
from  Andover,  intended  to  bring  the  travel  of  Ver- 
mont and  New  Hampshire  through  Salem  to  Boston, 
was  chartered  the  next  spring,  as  was  also  another 
from  State  street,  Newburyport  "  by  as  nearly  a 
straight  line  as  practicable  "  to  Maiden  Bridge. 

Here  again  we  were  not  behind  the  times.     Telford 


and  McAdam  had  not  completed  their  grand  experi- 
ments nor  demonstrated  their  rival  systems  for  some 
years  later.  But  the  turnpike  corporators  used  the 
best  science  of  the  day  and  a  wonderful  road  they 
made.  In  the  famous  records  kept  at  Benjamin 
Blanchard's  Barber  Shop,  in  which  his  distinguished 
patrons  noted  current  events,  while  waiting  for  an 
empty  chair,  it  appears  that  work  began  near  "  Pick- 
ering's Pen  "  June  7,  1802.  Of  course  there  was 
vigorous  opposition  and  wild  disparagement  on  one 
side, — great  enthusiasm  on  the  other.  Dr.  Stearns, 
one  of  its  most  ardent  promoters,  is  said  to  have  de- 
clared that,  when  the  turnpike  was  done,  a  man 
might  stand  on  Buffum's  corner  and  look  straight  in- 
to Charlestown  Square.  The  extent  of  the  work  of 
building  may  be  judged  of  by  the  fact  that  a  village 
of  huts  covered  the  high  ground  now  occupied  by 
Erastus  Ware,  which  soon  became  a  resort  for  toddy 
and  tenpins,  and  that  the  material  and  tools  em- 
ployed, sold  on  the  completion  of  the  work,  brought 
at  auction,  October  27,  1803,  thirty-two  hundred 
dollars.  Captain  Richard  Wheatland  paid  the  first 
toll,  July  12,  1803,  on  his  way  to  Boston  to  take 
command  of  his  ship  for  Calcutta.  How  much  the 
new  route,  only  twelve  miles  and  a  fraction  long,  did 
to  bring  us  and  the  metropolis  together,  will  be  re- 
called with  pleasure  by  some  yet  living  who  enjoyed 
for  the  first  time,  in  the  early  years  of  the  century, 
an  evening  ride  to  Boston  with  a  ball,  a  concert,  or  a 
play  in  prospect  to  give  zest  to  the  excursion. 

The  largest  sum,  taken  in  a  year  at  "  Toil-Gate  No 
1,"  near  our  great  pastures,  was  $5300,  in  1805 ; — the 
day  of  the  greatest  travel  was  June  1,  1813.  On 
that  summer  afternoon  the  smoke  of  conflict  between 
the  "  Chesapeake"  and  "Shannon''  was  rolling  over 
the  bay.  One  hundred  and  twenty  stages,  crowded 
to  repletion,  passed  up  that  day.  Thousands  of  spec- 
tators prayerfully  watched  the  fight  from  every  hill- 
top and  gloomily  retired  when  the  issue  was  but  too 
plainly  seen. 

On  the  morning  of  November  6,  1869,  the  old 
gate-keeper  at  "No.  1,"  gets  orders  to  take  no  more 
tolls.  Gravely  he  sets  open,  for  the  last  time,  the 
last  toll-gate  in  Essex  County  and  breaks  out  in 
rhyme : 

"The  last  toll  is  taken, — I've  swung  wide  the  gate, 
The  word  has  been  spoken, — We  yield  to  our  fate  !  " 

The  distinctive  character  of  the  turnpike  among 
roads  is  departed.  It  is  as  wholly  a  thing  of  the  past 
as  that  negro  village  which  once  clustered  about  the 
entrance  at  Buff'um's  corner,  with  its  fortune-telling 
and  cake-baking  and  fiddling  and  dancing.  But  the 
great  road  will  stand.  Years  will  not  destroy  its 
traces  of  heavy  blasting  and  grading, — its  viaducts  of 
splendid  masonry  across  deep,  picturesque  ravines, 
their  granite  sides  and  terraced  buttresses  backed  up 
with  sturdy  trunks  and  roots  of  ancient  elm  and  wil- 
low, fit  types  of  the  blended  beauty  and  utility  which 
mark  its  course.     No  son  of  Salem   returning  from 


Ixvi 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


his  wanderings,  however  great  a  truant,  but  will 
pause  delighted  on  that  hill  top,  where  bursts  upon 
the  eye  the  eldest  born  of  New  England  cities, 
whether  the  morning  sun  is  touching  with  an  early- 
glory  the  score  of  spires  and  towers,  clustered  about 
that  thing  of  beauty,  the  South  Church  Steeple,  or 
whether  at  night-fall,  broadsides  of  factory  windows 
are  blazing  with  their  perpetual  illumination  in  hon- 
or of  the  triumphs  of  industry.  While  lovers  ram- 
ble and  young  limbs  are  strong, — while  Bitter-sweet 
Rocks  live  in  song,  and  Great  Pastures  find  a  place 
in  story, — so  long  shall  there  be  brisk  walking  among 
its  rugged  scenes  in  Spring  and  Autumn,  and  willing 
steeds  shall  be  urged  to  speed  over  No-bottom  Pond 
Bridge  on  the  moonlight  gallop,  so  long  as  water 
plashes  up  like  molten  silver  through  the  chinks  in 
the  planking, — until,  indeed,  the  poet  sings  to  deaf 
ears, 

"  'Tislife  to  guide  the  fiery  Barb 
Across  the  moonlit  plain  ! " 

The  first  public  conveyance  noticed  by  Felt  was  a 
"  large  stage  chair,"  or  two-horse  curricle  which  ran 
from  Portsmouth  to  Boston  and  back  each  week,  in 
1761.  "An  epidemical  distemper"  among  horses 
interfered  with  the  business  in  1768,  but,  two  years 
after,  Benjamin  Coats,  who  was  then  landlord  at  the 
Ship  Tavern  in  School  (now  Washington)  Street, 
gave  notice  that  he  had  bought  a  "  new  Stage  chaise" 
which  would  run  between  Salem  and  Boston  "  so  that 
he  will  then,  with  the  one  now  improved  in  that  bus- 
iness, be  able  to  carry  and  bring  passengers,  bundles 
and  the  like  every  day  except  Sunday."  He  has  also 
five  fall-back  chaises,  one  fall-back  curricle,  six  stand- 
ing top  chairs  and  three  sulkies  to  let.  In  December, 
1771,  Benjamin  Hart  advertises  that  "  he  has  left 
riding  the  single  horse  post  between  Boston  and 
Portsmouth  and  now  drives  the  post  stage  lately  im- 
proved by  John  Noble.  He  sets  out  from  Boston 
every  Friday  morning  and  from  Portsmouth  on  Tues- 
day morning  following.  The  above  conveyance  has 
been  found  very  useful  and  now  more  so,  as  there  is 
another  curricle  improved  by  J.  S.  Hart,  who  sets  off 
from  Portsmouth  the  same  day  this  does  from  Boston, 
by  which  opportunity  offers  twice  a  week,  for  travel- 
lers to  either  place." 

Systematic  staging  probably  began  here  about  1796, 
and  in  this  business  Benjamin  Hale,  of  Newburyport, 
seems  to  have  been  the  pioneer  on  the  route  between 
Boston  and  Portsmouth,  as  was  Seth  Paine,  of  Port- 
land, on  the  lines  further  east.  Mr.  Hale  was  a  reso- 
lute, persevering  man,  and  there  was  nothing  worth 
knowing  about  staging  which  he  did  not  know.  Many 
improvements  in  stage  springs  are  accredited  to  him, 
as  well  as  the  introduction  of  the  trunk-rack,  by 
which  means  the  passenger's  luggage  was  employed 
to  ballast  the  coach,  whereas  formerly  it  had  rested,  a 
dead  weight,  on  the  axles,  jolting  and  tossing  as 
though  sjirings  were  yet  to  be  invented.  He  had 
made  his  way  up  from  small  beginnings  against  dis- 


couragements and  trials,  but  his  single  coach,  driven 
by  his  own  hand,  in  the  early  years  of  the  century, 
had  given  place  to  a  large  establishment  of  horses, 
carriages  and  drivers.  Mr.  Paine's  career  had  not 
been  different.  He  was  a  postman  in  Maine  when 
all  the  mails  were  carried  on  horse-back;  a  man  of 
few  words,  prompt,  inflexible,  and  of  great  energy. 
He  came  to  be  the  largest  owner  and  sole  manager  of 
coaches  east  of  Portsmouth  and  government  con- 
tractor for  the  eastern  mails,  while  the  stages  on  this 
side  of  Portsmouth  were  under  the  able  and  exclusive 
management  of  Mr.  Hale.  The  proprietors,  at  this 
time,  were  few, — not  more  than  five  or  six.  Besides 
those  named,  were  Judge  Elkins,  of  Wenham  and 
Salem,  and  Samuel  Larkin,  of  Portsmouth.  Dr. 
Cleaveland,  of  Topsfield,  bought  an  interest  about 
1806.  The  profitable  character  of  the  business  could 
not  long  be  concealed.  Tributary  lines  spring  up. 
Thus  a  stage  connected  with  the  Boston  Line  set  off 
from  Salem,  August  20,  1810,  for  the  Coos  County. 
Three  were  to  be  despatched  every  week.  Competi- 
tion, of  course,  followed,  and,  in  1818,  opposing  lines 
were  absorbed  by  the  original  proprietors,  and  the 
Eastern  State  Company  was  incorporated.  It  is  not 
too  early  to  write  in  a  historic  strain  of  that  once 
familiar  visitant,  the  Stage  Coach.  And  the  books  of 
this  corporation,  now  in  possession  of  the  Essex  In- 
stitute, shed  ample  light  upon  one  of  the  largest  and 
most  successful  staging  enterprises  of  New  England. 

The  Eastern  Stage  Company  was  chartered  by  the 
State  of  New  Hampshire,  for  a  period  of  twenty 
years.  Its  act  of  incorporation,  approved  June,  1818, 
contains  three  sections,  and,  singularly  enough,  by 
no  word  except  its  title,  from  beginning  to  end,  indi- 
cates the  business  to  be  facilitated  thereby.  By  this 
act,  Samuel  Larkin,  William  Simes,  Elisha  Whidden 
and  their  associates  are  made  a  body  corporate,  the 
"  Eastern  Stage  Company,"  by  name,  are  to  sue  and 
be  sued,  have  a  common  seal,  make  rules  and  by-laws, 
and  generally  to  do  whatever  appertains  to  bodies 
corporate,  with  a  capital  stock  not  exceeding  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  shares  not  more  than 
five  hundred  in  number,  and  that  is  all.  To  one  fa- 
miliar with  the  guarded  language  of  acts  establishing 
the  railroad  lines  which  superseded  this  great  stage 
route,  the  absence  of  all  limitations  of  power  is  strik- 
ing. In  the  early  railroad  charters  every  function 
that  could  be  anticipated  is  provided  for,  even  to  the 
grade  of  the  road-bed,  the  curves  of  the  track,  and  the 
erection  of  toll  houses  and  toll-gates,  after  the  analo- 
gy of  the  turnpike,  where  trains  were  to  stop  and 
travellers  pay  fare. 

But  these  corporators  did  not  abuse  their  powers, 
however  loosely  conferred.  Their  first  meeting,  duly 
notified  in  the  Portsmouth  Oracle,  the  Boston  Centinel 
and  the  Newburyport  Herald,  was  held  at  Langmaid's 
tavern,  at  Hampton  Falls,  on  Friday,  October  9, 1818. 
They  chose  Dr.  Nehemiah  Cleaveland,  of  Topsfield, 
Moderator,  and  Samuel  Newman,  Clerk,  accepted  the 


OLD  MODES  OF  TRAVEL. 


Ixvii 


charter,  adopted  by-laws  and  fixed  their  capital  stock 
at  four  hundred  and  twenty-five  shares,  of  one  hun- 
dred dollars  each.  The  by-laws  provide  for  eight 
directors  and  a  proprietors'  clerk,  to  be  chosen  annu- 
ally by  the  share-holders,  who  were  to  throw  a  vote 
for  each  share  owned,  not  exceeding  twenty — the  di- 
rectors to  chose  a  president  from  their  number,  ap- 
point "a  principal  agent  and  treasurer"  and  such 
"  agents,  drivers  and  servants  as  they  may  find  neces- 
sary for  the  due  management  of  the  property." 
They  are  to  close  accounts  and  declare  dividends  in 
March  and  September,  and  are  allowed  two  dollars 
per  day  and  expenses  for  attendance  at  directors' 
meetings.  The  clerk  was  under  oath,  and  the  agent 
and  treasurer  under  bonds  in  the  sum  of  ten  thou- 
sand dollars. 

Article  VI.  provides  a  form  of  stock  certificate,  as- 
signable by  indorsement  and  transfer  on  the  books  of 
the  proprietors'  clerk. 

Article  VII.  "  No  person  whatever  shall  be  privi- 
leged to  ride  in  any  of  the  company's  carriages  with- 
out paying  common  stage  fare." 

They  organized  thus, — President,  Dr.  Cleaveland, — 
Proprietors'  Clerk,  Seth  Sweetser, — Directors,  Josiah 
Paine,  Stephen  Howard,  Seth  Sweetser,  Samuel  Lark- 
in,  Thomas  Haven,  Henry  Elkins,  Ephraim  Wildes. 
Col.  Jeremiah  Coleman  was  principal  agent  and 
treasurer. 

If  the  charter  said  nothing  of  the  purposes  of  this 
corporation,  their  own  by-laws  said  about  as  little. 
Nowhere  is  there  a  distinct  announcement  of  the 
function  which  they  proposed  to  discharge,  nor  any 
description  of  the  extent  nor  location  of  their  field 
of  operations.  This  is  to  be  explained,  no  doubt,  by 
the  fact  that  some  of  these  gentlemen  were,  before 
their  incorporation,  already  successful  operators  and 
proprietors  of  stages  running  over  portions  of  the 
routes  they  now  proposed  to  combine,  and  no  words 
were  needed  to  teach  them  the  duties  and  liabilities 
of  common  carriers  of  persons. 

Thus  at  the  first  directors'  meeting  we  seem  plunged 
at  once  into  the  dust  and  whirl  of  stage-coach  travel. 
The  six  o'clock  stage  from  Portsmouth  (they  vote)  is 
to  be  discontinued.  What  a  chapter  might  be  writ- 
ten on  that  early  coach,  leaving  "Wildes'  Hotel"  at 
six  o'clock  each  frosty  October  morning  or,  better 
still,  on  the  stage  which,  all  winter  long,  in  storm  or 
by  starlight,  left  Boston  for  the  East  at  five  o'clock 
in  the  morning.  The  hurried  breakfast, — the  smok- 
ing corn-cake, — the  savory  rasher, — the  potato  raked, 
glowing  hot,  out  of  its  bed  of  ashes, — the  steaming, 
creamy,  aromatic  coffee, — the  chill,  crisp  morning, — 
lanterns  flitting  ghostly  through  the  ample  stables, 
— reluctant  horse-boys  shivering  about  the  door-yard 
and  wishing  themselves  in  their  bunks  again, — the 
resonant  crack  of  the  whip, — the  clear,  sharp  click  of 
well-shod  hoofs  on  frozen  ground, — the  clatter  of 
wheels, — the  scramble  in  the  dark  for  seats, — the 
long,   dull    ride   with    fellow-travellers   chilled    and 


grim,  half  concealed  by  twilight  and  half  in  mufflers, 
— that  crying  baby,  who  seems  to  have  found  vent,  at 
that  unlucky  hour,  for  all  the  pent-up  sorrows  of  its 
little  life, — the  gradual  warmth  of  conversation  and 
day-break  stealing  at  last  over  the  coach-load, — the 
side-lights  fading  out  and  good  nature  once  more  pre- 
vailing over  cramped  legs,  sharp  elbows  and  cold 
feet  shuffling  among  the  scanty  straw, — all  these 
things  must  now  be  given  over  to  the  romancer, 
whose  ready  pen,  ever  busy  with  the  past,  will  not 
long  neglect  them. 

The  late  President  Quincy  gives  a  well-drawn  pic- 
ture of  staging  facilities  at  the  close  of  the  last  cen- 
tury. He  was  then  paying  court  to  a  New  York  la- 
dy, to  whom  he  was  privately  engaged  and  after- 
wards married.  Boston  had  twenty — New  York, 
thirty  thousand  souls.  Two  coaches  and  twelve 
horses  sufficed  the  travel  between  the  two  commercial 
centres  of  the  continent.  The  journey  was  almost  as 
rare  an  event  then  as  a  voyage  to  Europe  is  now,  and 
took  about  as  long.  To  one  bent  on  Mr.  Quincy's 
errand  the  way  no  doubt  seemed  doubly  tedious.  The 
impatient  suitor  writes : 

"The  caniages  were  old,  and  the  shackling  and  much  of  the  harness 
made  of  ropes.  One  pair  of  horses  carried  ns  eighteen  miles.  We  gen- 
erally reached  our  resting-place  for  the  night,  if  no  accident  intervened, 
at  ten  o'clock,  and  after  a  frugal  supper,  went  to  bed  with  a  notice  that 
we  should  be  called  at  three,  next  morning — which  generally  proved  to 
lie  half-past  two.  Then,  whether  it  snowed  or  rained,  the  traveller 
must  rise  and  make  ready  by  the  help  of  a  horn  lantern  and  a  farthing 
candle,  and  proceed  on  his  way,  over  bad  roads, — sometimes  with  a 
driver  showing  no  doubtful  symptoms  of  drunkenness,  which  good- 
hearted  passengers  never  failed  to  improve  at  every  stopping-place,  by 
urging  upon  him  the  comfort  of  another  glass  of  toddy.  Thus  we  trav- 
elled eighteen  miles  a  stage,  sometimes  obliged  to  get  out  and  help  the 
coachman  lift  the  coach  out  of  a  quagmire  or  rut,  and  arrived  at  New 
York  after  a  week's  hard  travelling,  wondering  at  the  ease  as  well  as  the 
expedition  with  which  our  journey  was  effected." 

Contrast  with  this  picture  an  "  Old  Driver's  Hemi- 
niscence,"  which  I  give  in  his  own  words.  The  stage 
that  left  Newburyport  for  Boston  at  8  o'clock  in  the 
morning  usually  took  the  passengers  who  had  stopped 
for  rest  over  night,  many  of  whom  were  strangers  to 
our  New  England  customs.  One  morning,  as  the 
passengers  were  about  taking  their  seats,  a  gentleman 
asked  the  driver  it  he  would  accommodate  him  with 
a  seat  on  the  box.  "  Certainly,"  says  the  driver, 
"please  step  right  up  before  another  occupies  it." 
Our  first  stop  was  at  Rowley,  a  seven  mile  drive,  dur- 
ing which  many  questions  were  asked  by  the  stranger 
and  answered  according  to  the  driver's  knowledge. 
At  this  place  we  took  some  passengers.  While  the 
driver  was  arranging  the  baggage,  the  gentleman  on 
the  box  asked  him  to  step  in  and  take  something  to 
drink.  His  reply  was,  "  No,  I  thank  you,  sir,  I  have 
no  occasion  for  anything,"  and  he  mounted  the  box 
and  drove  to  Ipswich^  where  the  horses  were  changed. 
Here  most  of  the  passengers  alighted  while  the  shift- 
ing was  taking  place.  At  the  same  time  the  stranger 
came  olf  the  box  and  urged  the  driver  again  to  take 
something  to  drink.     The  answer  was  the  same  as  be- 


Ixviii 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


fore.  When  the  horses  were  ready,  the  driver,  as 
was  the  custom,  says — "  the  stage  is  ready,  gentle- 
men ! "  and  they  take  their  seats  in  tlie  coach.  Off 
they  start  down  the  crooked  hill  and  over  the  stone 
bridge,  called  by  some  short-sighted  people  "  Choate's 
Folly."  The  next  stop  was  at  Wenham,  where  it  was 
the  usual  practice  to  take  the  fares,  it  being  the  Half- 
Way  House  to  Boston.  And  here  the  outside  pas- 
senger says  to  the  driver  again, — "Come,  now,  you 
have  accomplished  one-half  of  the  distance, — you 
must  certainly  take  a  drink  with  me."  "  No,  I  thank 
you,  sir."  "  What  kind  of  men  are  you  drivers  here 
in  this  section  of  the  country  ?  Drivers  where  I 
came  from  will  drink  at  every  stopping-place,  and  it 
is  with  much  fear  that  we  travel  there,  but  here  I  see 
that  passengers  are  perfectly  at  ease  when  seated  in 
the  coach."  "Sir,  things  have  changed  here  within 
a  few  years.  You  were  saying  that  passengers  in 
your  section  were  uneasy,  and  often  had  fears  for 
their  safety  while  riding  with  your  drivers.  Here  all 
that  is  reversed,  for  in  former  years  the  travellers 
used  every  precaution  to  keep  the  drivers  sober,  but 
now  the  drivers  by  their  example  try  to  keep  the 
passengers  sober."  "  I  will  never  ask  you  to  drink 
again,"  says  our  outside  passenger,  and  he  was  mum 
on  the  drinking  question  the  rest  of  the  way  to  Bos- 
ton. 

The  arrangements  for  the  main  route  of  the  Eastern 
Stage  Company,  in  the  winter  of  1818,  may  be 
sketched  thus  :  A  coach  left  rortsmouth  for  Boston  at 
9  A.  M.,  (the  same  carriage  running  through),  dined 
at  Topsfield,  then  through  Danversport  and  Salem  to 
Boston,  and  back  the  same  way  next  day,  dining  at 
Newburyport.  A  portion  of  the  Newburyport  turn- 
pike was  used,  and  this  made  Topsfield  quite  metro- 
politan, so  much  so  that  conventions  often  met  there. 
In  1808  a  great  caucus  was  held  at  Topsfield  to  de- 
nounce the  embargo.  The  County  Convention  which 
established  Lyceums  met  there  in  1829.  The  Essex 
Agricultural  Society,  formed  at  Topsfield  in  1818, 
held  its  annual  meetings  there  in  1820,  '22,  '23,  '24, 
'25,  '37  and  '38,  but  never  after. 

Of  course  the  records  plunge  us  at  once  into  all 
sorts  of  questions  of  law  and  policy, — they  meet  us  at 
the  threshold, — they  linger  to  the  end  ; — questions 
of  tolls  on  turnpikes  and  bridges, — conferences  ar- 
ranged with  this  and  that  corporation, — new  terms 
made  or  war  declared.  Once  it  is  voted  that  seven 
hundred  dollars  be  accepted  by  the  Newburyport 
Turnpike  as  toll  for  the  year,  or  the  stages  go  by  Old 
Town  Bridge.  Complications  grow  out  of  the  delicate 
relations  of  carriers  to  the  public.  Too  accommodat- 
ing drivers  are  induced  to  act  as  expressmen  on  their 
private  account,  and  attempts  are  made  to  hold  the 
company  liable  for  their  losses.  At  the  first  meeting 
"  Drivers  are  expressly  prohibited  from  carrying  any 
money  or  packages,  not  accounted  for  to  the  company's 
agent ;  "  and  almost  at  the  last  a  "  committee  is  con- 
sidering the  subject  of  drivers   carrying   provisions 


from  sundry  places  to  Boston  for  sale,  contrary  to  a 
vote  of  the  directors."  In  April,  1819,  "  the  company 
do  not  consider  themselves  accountable  for  the  loss 
of  any  baggage,  bundles,  or  packages  whatever,  com- 
mitted to  the  care  of  the  drivers,  or  otherwise  put  into 
their  stages."  This  sweeping  announcement,  so  like 
what  is  sometimes  read  on  the  backs  of  railroad  tick- 
ets to-day,  was  followed  up  in  the  same  spirit  in  1826 
and  1829.  Now  they  vote  that  no  driver  shall  carry 
anything,  except  in  his  pocket,  without  paying  the 
company's  agent,  on  pain  of  instant  dismissal ;  and 
again,  the  driver  must  "  agree  with  the  agent  to  ex- 
clude his  private  or  pocket  business  from  his  compen- 
sation, so  the  company  shall  have  no  participation, 
direct  or  indirect,  with  such  business  of  the  drivers, 
meaning  especially  Bills  of  any  Bank  which  may  be 
entrusted  to  them."  "  But  is  this  law?  "  ask  the  per- 
plexed proprietors  of  Benjamin  Merrill,  Esq.,  in  1832, 
and  that  eminent  counselor  finds  himself  unable  to 
give  the  desired  assurance,  but  on  the  contrary,  they 
record  a  long  opinion  advising  them  that  their  con- 
tract with  drivers  will  not  discharge  them  from  lia- 
bility, unless  notice  of  it  is  brought  home  in  each  case 
to  the  sender  of  the  bill  or  parcel.  And  accordingly  a 
notice,  drawn  by  him,  is  formally  served  in  person  on 
every  bank  president  and  cashier  on  the  route,  posted 
in  the  taverns,  and  widely  advertised  in  the  news- 
papers. 

The  record  is  rich  in  little  incidents  which  give  life 
to  the  picture  of  the  times.  A  driver  is  fined  fifty 
dollars,  the  value  of  a  horse  killed  by  his  carelessness. 
Afterwards,  for  good  conduct,  the  forfeiture  is  reduced 
to  one  month's  wages.  Owing  to  the  appreciated  state 
of  the  currency,  in  1820,  wages  were  reduced,  and 
fares  from  Boston  to  Exeter  put  at  three  dollars. 
Once  in  awhile  a  coach  is  overturned.  In  one  case,  if 
payment  of  damages  is  refused  by  the  Salem  Turn- 
pike, the  agent  is  to  enter  complaint  and  present  the 
road  to  the  grand  jury  ;  in  another,  forty  dollars  are 
received  in  liquidation.  Again,  a  director  is  to  settle 
for  damages  done  by  loose  horses  breaking  out  of  the 
Salem  stable.  And  again,  fines  imposed  by  the  post- 
office  department  for  loss  of  mails,  are  to  be  charged 
oft"  to  the  drivers  who  lost  them.  Sub-agents  were 
selected  for  the  principal  points  on  the  route,  placed 
on  salary,  and  under  bonds,  and  quartered  at  the  best 
hotels.  Blacksmith's  shops  were  established  at  many 
points,  and  extensive  stables  in  Boston  and  elsewhere, 
many  of  them  built  of  brick.  Not  more  than  seven 
shillings  were  to  be  paid  for  shoeing,  out  of  Boston, 
and  but  ten  cents  for  caulking  or  resetting  shoes.  Dri- 
vers are  forbid  taking  letters,  in  violation  of  laws  reg- 
ulating the  United  States  General  Post-office;  and  fre- 
quent embassies  are  dispatched  to  Washington  to  con- 
tract for  carrying  the  mails,  or  to  change  the  times  or 
terms  for  delivering  them.  "  Accommodating  Stages  " 
are  sometimes  to  take  mails  at  the  desire  of  govern- 
ment or  the  postmaster  at  Boston,  but  "  Mail  Stages  " 
are  regularly  designated,  and  these  make  better  speed 


OLD  MODES  OF  TRAVEL. 


Ixix 


and  collect  higher  fares  than  the  former.  Mail-con 
tracts  are  exchanged  among  different  companies,  and 
combinations  formed  with  other  lines  where  compe- 
tition would  be  ruinous,  and  sub-agents  are  withdrawn 
from  inns  which  harbor  the  books  of  hostile  compan- 
ies. In  April,  1823,  it  is  significantly  voted  that  sev- 
eral sub-agents  be  discharged,  and  hereafter  it  shall 
be  an  "  indispensible  requisite  that  their  moral  char- 
acters be  good,  and  that  they  have  no  horses  and  car- 
riages to  let."  In  August,  1823,  it  is  voted  to  "  keep 
a  horse  and  chaise  in  Boston  to  accommodate  passen- 
gers, and  carry  and  fetch  their  baggage."  This  under 
the  stress  of  a  vigorous  opposition,  when  the  exigen- 
cy called  for  unusual  efforts  and  the  running  of  ex- 
tras at  "about  the  same  time  the  opposing  stage  goes, 
but  always  a  little  before  that  conveyance  and  at  the 
same  fare."  In  October,  a  number  of  horses  and 
chaises  are  to  be  kept  on  hire  at  Newbury  port.  In 
December,  the  extras  run  a  little  before  the  opposition 
coaches  are  to  charge  but  half  fare.  The  Ann  Street 
stage-house  at  Boston  is  leased  and  furnished,  and 
Col.  Wildes  placed  there  as  landlord,  with  an  interest 
in  the  profits  not  to  exceed  one-half.  Next  summer 
the  horses  are  to  be  fed  with  cut  hay  and  meal.  April 
19,  1825,  the  directors  met  at  Gilman's  hotel,  in  New- 
buryport.  They  found  their  enterprise  thriving, — 
established  a  sinking  fund  to  be  swelled  by  semi-an- 
nual additions;  carried  one  thousand  dollars  to  that 
account ;  declared  a  semi-annual  dividend  of  four  per 
cent. ;  created  seventy-five  new  shares,  making  up  the 
full  five  hundred  to  which  they  were  limited  in 
their  charter,  and  provided  for  selling  the  new  shares 
at  not  less  than  six  dollars  premium  on  a  par  of  one 
hundred  dollars.  To  the  sinking  fund  was  afterward 
voted  the  net  income  of  the  Ann  Street  stage-house, 
and  the  agent  was  directed  to  sell  at  auction,  from 
time  to  time,  collections  of  articles  left  in  their  offices 
and  coaches  "  for  which  no  owners  can  be  found." 
The  second  dividend  for  this  year  was  six  per  cent., 
and  in  1826  eleven  per  cent,  was  divided. 

At  the  end  of  ten  years  the  prosperity  of  the  com- 
pany was  established.  It  had  now  substantial  stables, 
not  connected  with  public  houses,  at  all  the  chief 
points  of  the  route,  one  of  them  on  Church  Street,  in 
the  rear  of  the  Lafayette  Coffee-house,  in  Salem  ;  and 
it  owned  hotels,  or  a  controlling  interest  in  hotels,  at 
Boston,  Newburyport,  Exeter  and  Dover.  It  was 
sending  deputations  to  the  New  England  Stage  Asso- 
ciation, which  met  at  "  Holbrook's,"  in  Milk  Street, 
Boston,  with  a  view  to  bring  together,  at  least  once  a 
year,  representatives  of  all  the  stage  companies  of  this 
section.  In  October,  1828,  it  held  its  shares  at  a  pre- 
mium of  fifty  dollars,  and  made  a  semi-annual  divi- 
dend of  eight  per  cent.,  on  one  hundred  and  fifty  dol- 
lars per  share.  At  this  time  the  management  of  the 
stage-house  in  Ann  Street  passed  into  the  hands  of 
Mr.  Leavitt,  upon  the  death  of  Col.  Wildes  and  Col. 
Henry  Whipple  of  Salem,  became  a  director  in  place 
of  Judge  Elkins,  resigned. 


In  1830,  the  company  was  incorporated  in  Massa- 
chusetts, with  a  capital  of  one  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars. In  1832  it  sent  delegates  to  a  Mail  Contract 
Convention,  which  sat  at  "  Wyatt's  "  in  Dover,  to 
apportion  the  mail  routes  for  New  England,  and  its 
bid  shows  that  it  was  running  coaches  from  Concord 
to  Portsmouth ;  Dover,  by  two  routes,  to  Newbury- 
port ;  Portsmouth,  by  Exeter,  to  Newburyport,  Salem 
and  Boston;  from  Salem  to  Haverhill  and  Lowell; 
from  Gloucester  to  Ipswich ;  and  from  Lowell,  by  two 
routes,  to  Newburyport. 

January,  1833,  found  them  free  from  debt  and  their 
stock  higher  than  ever.  They  owned  near  five  hun- 
dred horses.  A  steamboat  had  been  built  on  Lake 
Winnepessaukee  and  they  were  running  stages  from 
Dover  to  meet  it.  At  times  they  ran  a  daily  to  Port- 
land. In  October,  1834,  the  stock  stood  at  $202.13 
per  share  on  their  books,  par  being  $100.  In  Janu- 
ary, 1835,  they  were  paying  between  eight  and  nine 
thousand  dollars  in  tolls  for  the  year,  had  bought 
turnpike,  bridge  and  bank  stocks,  and  amongst  other 
i"eal  estate  the  Dalton  House,  between  the  West  es- 
tate and  Church  Street,  in  Salem,  which  they  sold, 
retaining  a  way  out  from  the  stables  to  Church  Street. 
Up  to  this  point  their  career  must  be  considered  as 
one  of  unmixed  prosperity.  The  Eastern  Railroad 
was  not  chartered  ;  the  Boston  and  Maine  was  but  a 
spur  from  the  Boston  and  Lowell,  extending  as  far  as 
Andover.  Travel  increased  apace,  —with  it  the  run- 
ning stock  and  corps  of  employes.  The  directors' 
record-book  is  pleasant  reading  now.  They  meet  at 
comfortable  inns,  spend  two  or  three  days  together,  ex- 
amine lucrative  accounts,  pass  the  evening  over 
plethoric  way-bills,  compute  their  dividends,  make 
combinations  with  kindred  bodies  all  over  the  Eastern 
States,  and  New  York  if  need  be,  and  smile  at  com- 
petition. 

What  a  text  is  here  for  another  volume  of  pen  and 
ink  sketches, — these  old  stage  houses  which  figure  in 
the  record, — "Wildes'  Hotel"  at  Portsmouth,  "Lang- 
maid's"  and  "Wade's"  at  Hampton  Falls,  "Gilman's" 
and  the  "Wolfe"  at  Newburyport,  the  "Sun  Tav- 
ern," the  "  Lafayette  Coffee  House  "  at  Salem,  "  Ann 
Street  Stage  House"  and  "City  Tavern"  in  Boston  1 
What  pleasant  memories  start  up  at  the  recital,  as  of 
those  ancient  hostelries  of  London,  once,  as  Mr. 
Dickens  says,  "the  headquarters  of  celebrated  coach- 
es in  the  days  when  coaches  performed  their  journeys 
in  a  graver  and  more  solemn  manner  than  they  do  in 
these  times,  but  which  have  now  degenerated  into 
little  more  than  the  abiding  and  booking  places  of 
country  wagons."  Of  these  he  says,  "  there  still  re- 
main some  half-dozeo  in  the  borough,  which  have 
preserved  their  external  features  unchanged,  and 
which  have  escaped  alike  the  rage  for  public  im- 
provement and  the  encroachments  of  private  specu- 
lation. Great,  rambling,  queer,  old  places  they  are, 
with  galleries,  and  passages,  and  stair-cases  wide 
enough   and  antiquated   enough  to  furnish  materials 


Ixx 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


for  a  hundred  ghost-stories,  supposing  we  should 
ever  be  reduced  to  the  lamentable  necessity  of  in- 
venting any."  Such  was  our  own  poet's  Wayside 
Inn, 

"  Built  in  the  old  colonial  day, 
When  men  lived  in  a  grander  way 
Witli  ampler  hospitality — 
A  kind  of  old  Hobgoblin  Hall, 
Now  somewhat  fallen  to  decay, 
W^ith  weather-stains  upon  the  wall 
And  stair-ways  worn  and  crazy  doors 
And  creaking  and  uneven  floors. 
And  chimneys  huge,  and  tiled  and  tall. 
A  region  of  repose  it  seems. 
By  noon  and  night  the  panting  teams 
Stop  under  the  great  oaks  that  throw 
Tangles  of  light  and  shade  below. 
Across  the  road  the  barns  display 
Their  lines  of  stalls,  their  mows  of  hay. 
Through  the  wide  door  the  breezes  blow, — 
The  wattled  cocks  strut  to  and  fro, — 
And,  half  effaced  by  rain  and  shine, 
The  'Red  Horse  '  prances  on  the  sign." 

One  seems  to  recall  the  impatience  with  which  the 
tired  traveller  looked  forward  to  alighting  at  these  old 
inns, — to  see  again  the  village  steeple  peering  over 
the  hill,  its  gilded  cockerel  glistening  in  the  sunset, — 
to  hear  the  stage-horn  once  more  bidding  the  post- 
master expect  the  evening  mail,  the  landlord  serve 
the  welcome  meal ;  to  see  honest,  little,  nervous  Jack 
Mendum,  or  sturdy,  robust,  reliable  Robert  Annable, 
or  good-natured  Knight,  or  the  voluble  but  substan- 
tial Pike,  or  some  other  famous  whip,  gather  up  his 
reins  and  muster  his  strength  for  a  final  sweep  across 
the  tavern  yard,  the  crowning  effort  of  a  day  of  toil 
to  dusty  traveller  and  smoking,  jaded  team,  and  then 
down  go  the  steps  and  cramped  legs  are  free  at  last ! 

Or  we  seem  again  to  be  bowling  down  that  grand 
old  turnpike  from  Newburyport,  with  Ackerman  or 
Barnabee  or  Forbes,  rumbling  by  old  Gov.  Dummer's 
Academy  at  Byfield,  telling  off  the  milestones  through 
the  Topsfield  of  fifty  years  ago,  over  the  gra.ssy  hills 
and  by  the  beautiful  lake  at  Lynnfield,  on  the  coach 
that  left  "Pearson's"  at  six  every  summer  morning; 
or  to  be  whirling  by  Flax  Pond,  where,  a  cen- 
tury ago,  Mr.  Goldthwaite  asked  John  Adams  to 
a  "genteel  dinner"  of  fish,  bacon,  peas  and  incom- 
parable Madeira,  under  the  "shady  trees,  with  half  a 
dozen  as  clever  fellows  as  ever  were  born  ;"  or  to  be 
rattling  through  the  old  toll-gate  and  dashing  down 
Great  Pasture  hills  into  Saletn  town  on  the  topmost 
seat  of  the  early  Boston  Mail  Stage  which,  in  18.35, 
was  to  "breakfast  in  Salem  and  dine  at  Portsmouth," 
while  all  the  eastern  landscape  is  aglow  with  the 
tints  of  morning  and  the  dews  of  spring  make  every- 
thing in  nature  sparkle.    Or  perhaps  it  is  winter, 

"Now  the  increasing  storm  makes  all  the  plain 
From  field  to  highway  a  vast  foaming  sea  ! 
And  sculptors  of  the  air,  with  curious  skill, 
Have  graven  their  images  of  stainless  white. 
Pagodas,  temples,  turrets,  columns  raised 
From  the  exhaustless  quarries  of  the  snow, 
Afar  and  near, — the  artwork  of  the  wind  !" 

and  we  reach  perhaps  the  little  court-house  on  the 


hill  at  Ipswich,  with  the  bar  of  Southern  Essex,  to 
find  that  another  coach-load  of  jurisprudence  is  stuck 
fast  on  Rowley  Marshes,  while  judge  and  counsellor 
alike  have  committed  trespass  quare  clausimi /regit,  in 
prying  their  coach  out  of  a  snowdrift  with  the  near^ 
est  fence  rails. 

The  Hon.  Allen  W.  Dodge  writes  of  the  drivers  of 
those  days  as  follows  : — 

"  In  those  days  of  old-fashioned  winters,  there  were  many  trials  and 
difficulties  in  getting  through  the  route,  but  let  the  storm  or  the  snow 
blockade  be  ever  so  bad,  they  were  always  ready  to  do,  to  the  uttermost, 
all  that  men  could  do  to  accomplish  it.  These  drivers,  too,  were  the 
most  obliging  and  kind-hearted  men  that  ever  handled  reins,  cracked 
whip  or  sounded  stage-horn. 

"They  were  great  favorites  with  all  the  boys  who  rode  with  them. 
Many  of  us  who  were  then  at  Exeter  Academy  came  home  at  the  end  ot 
the  term  by  the  Eastern  Stage  route,  and  a  lively  time  we  used  to  have 
of  it.  Quite  a  number  of  stage  coachea  were  always  sent  on  to  take  us. 
When  they  arrived  what  a  scramble  ensued  to  see  who  should  ride  with 
Pike,  who  with  Annable,  or  Knight,  or  Forbes,  or  some  other  good- 
natured  driver,  experienced  in  stages  and  careful  of  their  young  charges 
as  if  thej'  were  all  destined  to  be  governors,  or  judges,  or  presidents. 
We  used  to  consider  it  the  seat  of  honor  on  the  outside  with  the  driver, 
there  to  listen  to  his  stories  and  to  enjoy  his  companj'.  Many  a  scrap  of 
practical  wisdom  did  we  youngsters  thus  pick  up  to  turn  to  good  account 
on  the  great  road  of  life. 

"And  then  too  what  a  gathering  at  the  old  Wolfe  Tavern  in  Newbury- 
port, when  the  noon  stage-coaches  arrived  from  Boston  !  The  sidewalk 
was  often  crowded  with  anxious  boys,  and  men  too,  to  catch  a  sight  of 
distinguished  passengers  and  the  last  fashions,  and  to  hear  the  latest 
news.  Why,  it  was  as  good  as  a  daily  paper,  or  a  telegraphic  dispatch — 
better  indeed,  for  the  living  men,  actors  sometimes  in  the  scenes  de- 
scribed, were  there  to  tell  what  had  happened." 

I  find  related  in  a  contribution  to  the  Salem  Gazette, 
one  of  those  little  incidents  that  sparkle  like  jewels  in 
the  sand : 

"Once  when  a  mere  child  it  was  necessary  for  me  to  go  from  Saco  to  a 
town  near  Boston.  This  was  quite  an  undertaking  in  those  days,  as  one 
was  obliged  to  pass  the  night  in  Portsmotith.  Being  without  a  protector, 
my  mother  confided  me  to  the  care  of  one  of  those  old,  faithful  drivers. 
It  was  evening  when  we  reached  Portsmouth  and  veiy  cold.  Everything 
was  new  and  strange  to  me.  How  carefully  was  I  taken  by  the  hand 
and  led  up  that  long  flight  of  stairs  to  the  excellent  accommodations 
which  awaited  me  !  How  well  I  remember  the  kind,  smiling  face  of 
Robinson,  as  next  morning,  wliip  in  hand,  he  appeared  at  the  parlor 
dour  and  inquired  for  the  'little  girl'  who  was  to  go  with  him!  His 
hearty  'good  morning'  and  'all  ready,  miss,'  as  I  presented  myself,  are 
still  sounding  in  my  ears.  While  changing  horses  at  Newburyport  I  was 
comfortably  seated  before  a  warm  fire  in  the  sitting-room.  Indeed,  I  do 
not  know  that  I  could  have  been  more  comfortably  attended  to  had  I 
been  the  daughter  of  the  President.  I  was  the  daughter  of  a  poor 
widow  instead,  and  an  utter  stranger  to  the  man  whose  memory  I  have 
ever  cherished  as  one  of  the  pleasant  recollections  of  my  childhood." 

What  stalwart  men  this  sturdy,  out-door  life  pro- 
duced !  Moses  Head,  of  Portsmouth,  drove  into  that 
town,  from  Boston,  the  stage  that  brought  news  of 
peace  in  1815,  with  a  white  flag  fastened  to  the  box. 
News  of  the  battle  of  New  Orleans  came  at  the  same 
time.  That  evening  there  was  a  procession  in  honor 
of  these  events.  Head,  who  was  then  Ensign  of  the 
artillery  company,  and  resembled  General  Jackson  in 
appearance  and  stature,  arrayed  himself  in  a  military 
suit  and  chapeau,  and  personated  the  hero  of  New 
Orleans  in  the  ranks  of  the  procession  to  great  accept- 
ance. He  was  born  among  the  granite  hills  of  New 
Hampshire,  and  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-two,  after 
a  sickness  of  a  day,  the  only  sickness  of  his  life. 


OLD  MODES  OF  TRAVEL. 


Ixxi 


Another  old  driver  sends  me  his  recollections  of 
"  life  on  the  road,"  and  I  insert  them  here. 

"I  began  to  drive  on  an  opposition  line  in  1823,  and  after  about  nine 
months  I  had  an  application  from  Col.  Coleman  to  come  over  to  the  old 
company.  As  I  thought  it  a  more  permanent  job,  I  came  over  to  drive 
'  Extra.'  I  had  not  been  long  at  it  before  the  travel  increased  very 
much,  so  the  directors  ordered  one  hundred  more  horses  to  be  bought, 
and  carriages  in  proportion,  to  accommodate  the  public.  The  business 
came  on  so  hard  that  I  had  all  I  bargained  for.  I  followed  the  mail 
twelve  days  in  succession,  starting  from  Boston  at  2  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing, breakfasting  in  Newburyport,  dinner  at  Portsmouth  and  back  again 
to  supper  in  Salem,  getting  into  Boston  anywhere  from  nine  to  eleven 
o'clock,  so  there  was  not  much  sleep  or  rest  for  me.  The  twelfth  day, 
when  I  drove  into  the  yard  at  Salem,  Col.  Coleman  was  there,  and  said 
he,  'young  man,  you  had  better  stop  here  and  get  a  little  rest  and  take 
your  team  in  tlie  morning  at  four  o'clock.'  So  Mr.  Rand  took  the  team 
to  Boston  and  back. 

"The  worst  of  it  was,  I  had  the  same  horses  out  and  back  every  day. 
It  was  hard  keeping  up  with  the  mail,  as  their  horses  rested  one  or  two 
days  in  the  week,  and  they  were  like  wild  ones.  Only  hold  on  and  they 
would  go  as  fast  as  any  one  wished  to  ride.  As  a  general  thing  we  made 
good  time.  I  have  been  through  Charlestown  Square  on  time,  for  three 
weeks,  not  varying  five  minutes  by  the  clock,  although  we  had  some 
trying  storms. 

"I  was  compelled  to  stop  at  Hamilton  one  night,  after  beating  with 
the  storm  from  seven  in  the  morning  till  ten  at  night,  with  a  single 
sleigh  and  two  horses,  and  so,  completely  used  up,  we  slept  w»ll.  It 
cleared  up  about  tliree  o'clock,  so  that  uncle  Robert  Annable,  with  the 
morning  coach,  came  along  pretty  well,  and  passed  us  while  we  were 
asleep,  and  took  off  his  bells  so  as  not  to  awake  us,  and  then  he  was  very 
joyous  to  think  he  had  got  ahead.  It  was  something,  to  be  sure,  that 
never  happened  before  nor  since. 

"  On  the  whole  it  was  a  very  pleasant  life,  for  every  one  on  the  road 
was  very  hospitable  to  us.  I  never  got  stuck  in  the  mud  nor  snow,  when 
all  the  people  on  the  road  were  not  willing,  night  or  day,  to  lend  a  hand. 
So  wo  felt  that  we  were  among  friends,  and  that  was  comforting  to  us. 
The  wealthy  Southerners,  who  used  to  come  east  in  summer,  would  al- 
most always  want  us  to  keep  on  and  drive  them  to  Providence  or  New 
York,  for  they  did  not  get  so  good  accommodations  at  the  South.  And 
as  we  refused  the  refreshments  they  offered  us  at  every  stopping  place, 
we  were  pretty  sure  to  get  a  handsome  present  before  they  left,  which 
was  far  more  satisfactory.  It  was  .a  verj'  pleasant  business,  and  we  had 
our  choice  of  company  outside,  and  that  wasworth  a  great  deal. 

"  When  it  was  decided  by  the  Legislature  that  there  should  be  a  Rail- 
road, you  may  depend  tipon  it  there  were  heavy  hearts.  For  we  had 
spent  so  much  time  in  staging  we  did  not  know  what  we  should  do.  But 
all  who  wished  had  something  to  do.  The  corporation  employed  a 
large  number  of  the  drivers  as  conductors,  baggage-masters  and  brake- 
men.  I  withdrew  and  took  up  the  express  business,  and  followed  that 
until  1860.     So  I  had  served  the  public  from  '2;j  to  '60." 

These  drivers,  so  freely  trusted  with  life  and  treas- 
ure, with  the  care  of  helpless  infancy  and  age,  de- 
served well  of  the  community  they  served,  and  are 
held  in  kindly  remembrance.  They  knew  of  old  the 
wants  and  habits  of  the  travelling  public,  and  railroad 
corporations  were  glad  to  secure  agents  from  among 
their  numbers. 

Has  anybody  forgotten  rare  James  Potter,  of  the 
Salem  and  Boston  Line, — active,  clear-headed,  cour- 
teous and  prompt,  who  for  forty  years  drove  with 
such  care  and  skill  to  Boston  and  back  that,  it  was 
said,  he  was  as  well  known  and  as  much  respected  by 
Salem  people  as  Dr.  Bentley?  Here  he  comes  up  the 
street  from  the  old  "  Sun  Tavern  "  with  the  seven 
o'clock  morning  coach,  his  dapple-greys  groomed  to  a 
hair  and  well  in  hand, — the  model  driver,  trusted  by 
the  banks,  by  the  old  sea-kings,  by  everybody  with 
uncounted  treasure, — the  splendid  reinsman,  chosen 
in  August,  1824,  to  bring  the  beloved  Lafayette  in 
safety  into  Salem  ! 


Has  anybody  forgotten  the  scene  in  College  yard  at 
Cambridge,  when  Peter  Ray  arrived,  at  the  end  of  the 
term,  with  his  coach  and  six  sorrels,  to  take  home  what 
might  well  be  styled  the  "flower  of  Essex!"  How  he 
displayed,  before  admiring  eyes,  his  mastery  of  curves 
and  functions,  by  turning  six-in-hand,  at  a  cheerful 
trot,  in  the  little  corner  between  Holworthy  and 
Stoughton,  and  how  the  Essex  County  boys,  cheered 
by  their  fellows  and  eager  for  the  long  vacation, 
whirled  out  of  college  gate  and  down  the  historic 
roads  by  Washington's  Elm,  and  Letchmere's  Point, 
and  Bunker  Hill,  to  their  welcome  home  !  Handsome 
Peter,  they  called  him — a  favorite  with  children  and 
ladies — for  with  him,  on  the  introduction  of  the  fam- 
ous steel-spring  coaches,  they  first  knew  what  it  was 
to  ride  comfortably  outside,  with  an  intelligent  and 
entertaining  driver,  whose  tongue  kept  pace  with  his 
team,  and  whose  castles  in  the  air  often  reached  stu- 
pendous proportions  before  half  the  distance  between 
Lynn  and  Salem  had  been  accomplished  ! 

And  here  comes  Page!  witty,  large-hearted,  strong- 
handed  Woodbury  Page,  his  two  bays  on  the  jump, 
swinging  round  the  corner  from  Beverly,  sweeping 
round  the  Common  to  the  old  stable  in  Union  Street, 
shifting  horses,  and  then  round  the  big  elm  and  oif 
again  in  a  twinkling,  with  those  very  four  milk-whites, 
with  which  he  drove  Henry  Clay,  in  October,  1833, 
from  Senator  Silsbee's  door-step  in  Washington  Square 
to  the  Tremont  House  in  sixty  minutes ! 

And  what  shall  be  said  of  the  polished  and  agree- 
able Jacob  Winchester,  favorite  driver  on  wedding 
journeys  and  pleasure  parties,  who  carried  bags  of 
specie  to  and  from  New  York,  when  our  merchants 
wanted  a  messenger  who  would  neither  play  the  rogue 
with  funds  nor  sutler  anybody  to  take  them  from  him  ; 
what  of  the  popular  driver  and  consummate  reinsman 
Lot  Peach,  who  would  get  to  Boston  about  as  soon 
with  crows'  meat  as  moderate  drivers  did  with  choice 
teams  of  horses; — what  of  Albert  Knight,  always  oo 
good  terms  with  passengers  and  steeds ; — what  of  stout, 
little,  talkative  Major  Shaw,  who  was  off  at  three  with 
the  sorrels  and  the  last  coach  up,  rather  than  not  go 
with  whom  ladies  would  often  lose  the  morning  stages 
and  some  hours  of  shopping  and  visiting  in  Boston  ; 
— what  of  stalwart,  kind-hearted,  deep-voiced  Adrian 
Low,  whose  cheerful  life  ended  in  mystery  and  an  un- 
known grave; — what,  indeed,  of  the  hundred  and  fifty 
good,  sound,  trusty  men  who,  from  first  to  last,  drove 
stages  over  these  routes  in  the  employ  of  regular  or 
opposition  lines,  whole  families  of  them,  like  the  four 
Potters,  the  three  Annables,  the  three  Akermans,  the 
brothers  Canney,  Conant,  Drake,  Knight,  Marshall, 
May,  Manning,  Patch,  Robinson,  Shaw,  Tenney,  Toz- 
zer,  Winchester,  seeming  to  have  been  born  on  wheels, 
or  descended  from  the  hippocentaurs  of  ancient  fable, 
— men  who  combined  energy  and  good  nature  in  a 
ratio  not  likely  to  be  developed  by  any  vocation  now 
in  vogue, — men  who  cracked  their  joke  as  they  swung 
their  whip, — men  who  knew  what  it  is  vouchsafed  us 


Ixxii 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


to  know  of  that  fascinating  uncertainty,  the  horse, 
and  supplemented  this  with  a  wonderfully  shrewd  in- 
sight into  the  nature  of  their  fellow- creatures  !  ^ 

And  what  shall  be  said  of  those  elegant  coaches 
built  at  the  Union  Street  shop  for  the  Salem  and  Bos- 
ton Stage  Company, — 

"Step  and  prop-iron,  bolt  and  screw, 
Spring,  tire,  axle,  and  linchpin  too, 
Steel  of  the  finest,  bright  and  blue," 

the  first  in  the  country  mounted  on  steel  springs,  and 
provided  behind  with  a  ''  dicky  "  and  trunk-rack  after 
the  English  pattern  !  And  what  of  those  noble  teams 
of  blacks  and  bays  and  buckskins  and  roans  and 
chestnuts,  clean-limbed  and  strong,  that  moved  out, 
with  coats  like  velvet,  every  afternoon  when  dinner 
■was  over,  before  the  City  Tavern  in  Brattle  Street,  the 
Ann  Street  Stage  House  or  the  Marlboro  Hotel,  sweep- 
ing the  ground  with  flowing  tails,  too  often,  it  must  be 
added,  tails  of  fiction,  in  which  the  cunning  hand  of 
Lancaster  had  eked  out  the  unsuccessful  efforts  of  na- 
ture! What  of  those  scores  of  coach-builders  and 
blacksmiths,  and  harness-makers,  who  plied  the  awl, 
and  bent  the  tire,  and  drove  the  plane,  with  such  pride 
and  spirit  in  these  old  days,  when  Harding  shod,  and 
Daniel  Manning  ran  with  orders  from  the  Sun  Tavern 
to  the  yards  in  Union  Street,  and  William  H.  Foster 
balanced  accounts  and  made  up  dividends,  and 
Mackie,  over  his  saddlery,  fought  out  the  battle  of 
Waterloo,  in  which  he  took  a  part,  and  that  shy  boy, 
since  known  to  fame  as  Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  was 
keeping  stage-books  in  his  uncle  Manning's  office! 
What  of  that  ancient  negro  hostler  at  Breed's  Hotel, 
in  Lynn,  with  his  little  competency  accumulated  from 
the  trifles  dropped  into  his  hat  for  many  a  year  by 
kindly  travellers  as  the  stage  rolled  off",  who  fell  on 
his  knees  on  the  stable  floor  and  wept  great  tears  when 
the  steam  whistle  sounded  at  last  and  he  felt  indeed 
that  he  must  say  with  his  Shakesperean  prototype, 
"Farewell!  Othello's  occupation's  gone!"  Too  many 
of  this  company  of  worthies  are  now 

"  Where  rolling  wheels  are  heard  no  more 
And  horses'  feet  ne'er  come." 

Twenty-one  surviving  drivers  of  the  Eastern  Stage 
Company  honored  themselves  and  the  memory  of  the 
agent  under  whom  they  served,  by  attending,  in  April, 
1866,  the  funeral  of  Colonel  Coleman,  the  man  to 

1  It  was  a  happy  thought  which  bi-ought  two  hundred  and  fifty  "old 
stagers"  of  the  Connecticut  Valley,— Drivers,  Proprietors  and  Agents, — 
together  at  Springfield  for  a  merry  Christmas  in  1859.  Hon.  Ginery 
Twitchell  and  James  Parker,  Esq.,  of  the  Western  Railroad,  seem  to  have 
been  promoters  of  this  "gathering  of  the  whips,"  and  two  days  were 
given  up  to  their  entertainment  in  Springfield  during  which  the  hospi- 
talities of  larder  and  stable  were  tested  to  the  utmost.  At  a  public  din- 
ner on  the  occasion  were  produced  those  spirited  lines  of  Edwin  Bynner, 
now  familiar  to  newspaper  readers,  beginning, 

"Oh  !  the  days  are  gone  when  the  merry  horn 
Awakened  the  echoes  of  smiling  morn 
As,  breaking  the  slumber  of  village  street, 
The  foaming  leaders'  galloping  feet 
Told  of  the  rattling,  swift  approacli 
Of  the  well-appointed  old  stage  coach  !" 


whose  vigorous  and  intelligent  oversight  that  enter- 
prise had  almost  owed  its  success  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century.  During  the  same  years  the  Salem  and  Bos- 
ton Company  was  under  the  courteous  management 
of  William  Manning,  another  model  stage  agent, 
known  among  the  "whips"  as  "Sir  William,"  and  to 
have  been  trusted  by  whom  they  thought  enough  for 
an  epitaph. 

We  come  now  to  the  closing  scene  of  the  Eastern 
Stage  Company.  In  July,  1835,  the  ominous  words 
"  Rail  Road  "  appear  for  the  first  time  in  their  volumi- 
nous records.     Let  us  see  what  these  words  meant. 

Passengers  had  been  transported  in  carriages  drawn 
by  steam  over  the  Darlington  and  Stockton  Railway 
in  England,  for  ten  years.  The  engines  employed 
were  stationary,  and  inventive  genius  had  been  as 
busy  with  the  problem  of  travelling  in  steam  carriages 
over  turnpikes,  as  with  the  twin  problem,  which  has 
since  completely  overshadowed  the  other,  of  locomo- 
tive machinery  for  railways.  During  the  first  ten 
years  of  the  century,  indeed,  the  steam  engine,  both 
stationary  and  locomotive,  began  to  be  applied  to 
transportation.  And  long  before  this,  the  simple  tram- 
way of  wood,  stone  or  iron,  operated  by  horse-power, 
had  been  employed  for  the  conveyance  of  passengers 
and  freight.  As  early  as  the  settlement  of  New  Eng- 
land, wooden  rails  were  in  use  between  the  coal  mines 
of  Newcastle  and  the  river,  and  these  were  so  far  per- 
fected that  in  1765  they  had  been  introduced  exten- 
sively in  England,  and  enabled  a  horse  to  drag  from 
two  to  three  tons  on  an  easy  grade.  Plates  and  wheels 
of  iron  had  still  further  and  very  largely  increased  the 
draft-capacity  of  the  horse.  On  the  Darlington  and 
Stockton  road,  trains  had  been  provided  with  stable- 
cars,  in  which  the  horses  employed  for  motive  power 
on  level  and  up  grades,  rested  and  fed  in  quiet  while 
the  momentum  of  the  train  carried  it  down  hill. 

The  use  of  the  Railway  was  no  less  familiar  on  this 
side  the  ocean.  Our  former  townsman,  Wm.  Gray, 
after  leaving  Salem,  in  1809,  owned  a  wharf  in  Boston 
on  which  trucks  were  moved  by  hand  over  a  plank- 
walk,  provided  on  its  edges  with  round  iron  bars,  on 
which  ran  grooved  wheels,  thus  forming  a  freight 
Railway  from  the  ship  in  her  dock  to  the  warehouses 
on  Lynn  (now  Commercial)  Street.  In  grading  Bea- 
con Hill  for  the  erection  of  the  State  House,  late  in 
the  last  century,  an  inclined  Railway  was  used,  on 
which  the  gravity  of  the  loaded  cars,  in  their  descent, 
served  to  bring  up  on  a  parallel  track  those  which  had 
been  emptied,  and  the  same  expedient,  also  in  use  in 
England,  was  employed  at  Quincy  when  the  blue 
sienite  of  the  quarries  began  to  supplant,  as  a  build- 
ing material,  the  familiar  gray  granite  of  our  hills, 
ledges  and  bowlders.  The  first  Railroad  charter 
granted  by  Massachusetts,  authorized,  March  4,  1826, 
the  building  of  a  Railway  from  these  quarries  to  Ne- 
ponset  River,  and  the  first  freight  transported  over  it 
was  the  corner-stone  of  Bunker  Hill  Monument.  It 
was  operated  by  horse-power. 


OLD  MODES  OF  TRAVEL. 


Ixxiii 


That  unrest  which  prognosticates  some  great  step 
in  inventive  art  was  stirring  the  public  mind  and 
bringing  to  light  every  clumsy  expedient  of  cogs  and 
ropes  and  wheels  for  mounting  grades,  and  for  moving 
by  steam  on  common  roads,  as  well  as  on  rails,  when, 
in  1829,  the  Stephensons,  father  and  son,  produced 
the  Locomotive  "Rocket,"  and  placed  it  upon  the 
Liverpool  and  Manchester  road.  Its  success  was  at 
once  complete  and  transportation  by  horse-power  was 
doomed  from  that  hour.  In  America  we  were  not 
behindhand  in  applying  steam  to  propulsion.  It  was 
already  in  use  since  1807  on  our  rivers,  canals  and 
lakes.  Indeed,  the  Hon.  Nathan  Reed,  of  Salem  and 
Danvers,  formerly  a  member  of  Congress  from  this 
district,  had  made  a  paddle-wheel  steamboat  in  1789, 
in  which  he  navigated  the  river  from  his  iron-works 
to  Essex  Bridge,  taking  Governor  Hancock,  Dr.  Prince, 
Dr.  Holyoke  and  Nathan  Dane  as  passengers  with 
him.  The  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  was  begun 
in  1827  ;  other  routes  from  New  York  and  Philadel- 
phia soon  after.  In  1829-30-31  Massachusetts  char- 
tered Railroads  from  Boston  to  Lowell,  to  Providence 
and  to  Worcester. 

In  1833,  the  Boston  and  Lowell  road  was  extended 
to  Audover  and  Wilmington,  and  to  Haverhill  in 
1835.  This  was  the  first  incursion  of  the  iron  mon- 
ster into  Essex,  but  he  rapidly  made  his  way  over  the 
county,  enfolding  in  his  fatal  coils  the  poor  struggling 
Stage  Companies,  whose  nightly  dreams  were  dis- 
turbed by  the  scream  of  the  whistle,  and  whose  waking 
eyes,  turn  where  they  might,  were  blasted  with  those 
words  of  doom,  ''Look  out  for  the  engine.^' ^  For  a 
time  our  directors  stood  up  manfully  to  their  struggle 
with  fate.  First  they  tried  to  curtail  their  expenses, 
— offered  to  sell  real  estate, — to  buy  in  their  stock  at 
par,  then  at  $60  and  then  at  $50,  and  pay  for  it  in  the 
personal  effects  of  the  company.  Fifty  horses  were  to 
be  disposed  of  at  a  stroke,  and  again  and  again  another 
fifty, — hay  and  grain  were  high, — the  aj^petites  of  live- 
stock inexorable.  To  add  to  their  embarrassment, 
travel  went  on  increasing  as  the  hour  of  dissolution 
drew  near.    More  horses  and  more  were  required,  and 


1  Mr.  Tony  Weller  lias  favored  the  English-reading  public  with  his 
views  on  the  Railway  and  its  invasion  of  his  native  Island,  in  words 
which  I  am  forced  to  recall  at  this  point.  Said  that  eminent  driver,  as 
reported  in  "Master  Humphrey's  Clock,"  "1  consider  that  the  rail  is 
unconstitutional,  and  a  inwader  o'  privileges.  As  to  the  comfort— as  an 
old  coachman  I  may  say  it— veres  the  comfort  o'  sitting  in  a  harm-chair, 
a  lookin'  at  brick  walls,  and  heaps  o'  mud,  never  comin'  to  a  public 
'ouse,  never  seein'  a  glass  o'  ale,  never  goin'  thru'  a  pike,  never  nieetin' 
a  chaoge  o'  no  kind  (bosses  or  otherwise),  but  always  comin'  to  a  place, 
ven  you  comes  to  vun  at  all,  the  werry  picter  o'  the  last !  As  to  the 
honor  and  dignity  o'  travellin',  vere  can  that  be  vithout  a  coachman, 
and  vats  the  rail  to  sich  coachmen  as  is  sometimes  forced  to  go  by  It,  but 
a  outrage  and  a  insult  !  and  as  to  the  ingen,  a  nasty,  wheezin',  creakin', 
gaspin',  puffin',  bustin'  monster,  always  out  o'  breath,  with  a  shiny 
green  and  gold  back  like  a  onpleasant  beetle  ;  as  to  the  ingen  as  is 
alvays  a  pourin'  out  red-hot  coals  at  night  and  black  smoke  in  the  day, 
the  8en.siblest  thing  it  does,  in  my  opinion,  is  ven  there's  somethin'  in 
the  vay,  and  it  sets  up  that  'ere  frightful  scream  vich  seems  to  say  'now 
eres  two  hundred  and  forty  passengers  in  the  werry  greatest  extremity 
o'  danger,  and  eres  their  two  hundred  and  forty  screams  in  vun ! '  " 


again  and  again  they  were  forced  to  replace  those 
sold.  To  sell  so  large  a  stud  at  once,  when  the  end 
came,  would  bring  prices  down  to  a  ruinous  figure, 
and  the  theory  was  generally  accepted,  that  upon  the 
establishment  of  steam  cars,  horse  flesh  would  be 
worth  little  more  than  dog's  meat.  Before  the  end  of 
1835  they  had  joined  the  other  proprietors  of  New- 
buryport  turnpike  in  offering  five  miles  of  it  for  the 
use  of  a  projected  Railroad  to  Salem.  In  1836  the 
Eastern  Railroad  was  chartered. 

Still  they  go  on  voting  to  sell  their  horses,  still 
buying  more.  Late  in  '36  they  try  adding  twenty 
per  cent,  to  their  fares.  The  directors  meet  once  a 
month  without  notice,  sometimes  at  half  past  six  in 
the  morning.  They  combine  with  thirteen  like  com- 
panies to  keep  up  prices.  Opposition  coaches  take 
the  road  and  prices  come  down  again.  Late  in  '37, 
they  try  a  reduction  of  wages,  the  peremptory  sale  of 
thirty  horses,  "  as  the  company  is  fast  approaching 
dissolution,"  they  say, — sell  the  lease  they  hold  of 
Henry  Codman,  of  the  Ann  Street  House,  and  agree 
with  the  purchaser  to  keep  their  teams  from  day  to 
day, — sell  the  Exeter  Stables,  the  Portsmouth  and 
Concord  Stages, — apply  without  success  for  a  short 
extension  of  their  charter  to  close  the  business,  and 
in  February,  '38, — their  charter  expired  in  June, — 
offer  for  sale  the  whole  remaining  assets  of  the  cor- 
poration. 

This  effort  failing,  the  shareholders  were  for  the 
last  time  summoned  to  Hampton  Falls, — detailed 
reports  submitted, — a  fruitless  effort  made  to  start  a 
new  comjiany,  and  the  property  turned  over  to  trus- 
tees for  final  administration.  And  so  this  respectable 
body-corporate  died  without  issue,  at  the  stroke  of 
midnight,  June  26,  1838.  Says  the  late  Col.  Whip- 
ple, who  had  been  a  director  for  ten  years,  and  be- 
came its  president  on  the  death  of  Dr.  Cleaveland  in 
1837,  "the  holders  of  stock,  during  twenty  years,  re- 
ceived eight  and  one-third  per  cent,  in  dividends  an- 
nually, and  after  paying  all  debts,  between  $66  and 
$67  on  each  share.  It  does  not  appear  that  a  pas- 
senger was  killed  or  injured." 

In  August,  1838,  the  steam  cars  from  Boston  reached 
Salem.  The  Register  speaks  of  immense  crowds  on 
every  arrival  and  departure,  covering  the  depot 
grounds  and  the  banks  of  the  mill-pond.  In  the 
belfry  of  the  wooden  station  house  hung  a  bell,  taken 
from  a  ruined  Spanish  convent,  and  sold  to  one  of 
our  West  Indiamen  for  old  metal,  which  was  vigor- 
ously rung  to  summon  passengers  on  the  departure  of 
a  train.  At  first,  the  cars  took  eleven  hundred  per- 
sons per  day,  but  this,  said  the  papers,  was  evidently 
due  to  their  novelty,  and  could  not  be  expected  to 
continue.  From  six  to  eight  hundred,  it  was  thought, 
could  be  relied  on.  In  about  a  month,  sixteen  hun- 
dred passengers  were  carried  in  one  day,  "  the  best 
day's  work  yet,"  said  the  press  with  enthusiasm ! 
The  Boston  Courier  stated  that  the  cars  used  were  not 
of  the  prevailing  style,  shaped  like  a  coach-body  with 


Ixxiv 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


the  door  on  the  side,  but  were  of  a  new  pattern,  in 
which  a  man  may  stand  erect  or  pass  from  one  to  an- 
other, the  whole  length  of  the  train,  while  in  motion, 
with  perfect  safety.  The  passage  from  Salem  to  the 
Boston  side  of  the  ferry  occupied  from  thirty-tive  to 
forty  minutes,  and  it  was  hoped  that  about  thirty-two 
minutes  would  be  the  average  time  consumed,  when 
all  was  completed.  The  Boston  Post  announced  that  the 
witches  came  out  of  their  graves  to  see  these  new  con- 
veyances. They  met  all  expectations,  and  Mr.  George 
Peabody,  the  first  president  of  the  road,  in  his  open- 
ing address  delivered  before  the  six  hundred  stock- 
holders and  others,  August  27th,  called  attention  to 
the  fact  that  those  doing  business  in  Boston  could 
now  live  more  cheaply  in  Salem  than  in  Boston. 
What  the  railroad  has  done  for  us,  in  common  with 
all  the  envii'ons  of  Boston,  cannot  be  briefly  stated. 
If  Boston  is  the  Hub,  the  raih-oads  seen  from  the 
State  House  dome  are  the  living  spokes,  which  bind 
it  to  an  outer  circle  of  social  and  business  relations. 
If  these  have  carried  off  our  men  of  enterprise  in 
search  of  a  larger  market,  they  have  brought  back 
the  wealth  they  accumulate  to  beautify  our  estates  and 
elevate  our  culture,  and  make  of  Massachusetts  Bay, 
from  Plymouth  to  Cape  Ann,  one  great  suburb  in 
which  the  arts  of  cultivated  life  are  brought  to  aid 
the  native  charms  of  country  living. 

Of  the  two  presidents  of  the  Eastern  Stage  Com- 
pany, the  first,  Dr.  Cleaveland,  was  a  man  of  no  com- 
mon stamp.  He  came  of  the  staunchest  Puritan  stock, 
his  great-grandfather,  Moses  Cleaveland,  having  emi- 
grated in  his  prime  from  Ipswich,  in  England,  to 
Eastern  Massachusetts  and  left  a  numerous  and  dis- 
tinguished progeny.  Some  of  them  appear  among  the 
founders  of  Connecticut;  many  of  them  adorn  the 
learned  professions  or  fill  chairs  in  the  universities. 
Dr.  Cleaveland's  father  died  on  his  77th  birthday,  in 
1799,  having  been  for  more  than  half  a  century  the 
pastor  of  Chebacco  Parish  in  this  county — a  chaplain 
in  both  the  French  and  Revolutionary  wars,  present 
with  the  army  at  Ticonderoga  in  1758,  at  Louisburg 
in  1759,  at  the  siege  of  Boston  in  1775,  on  the  Con- 
necticut shore  in  1776,  and  in  1778  in  New  York  and 
New  Jersey,  and  having  given  three  sons  to  the  Con- 
tinental army. 

Dr.  Nehemiah  Cleaveland  was  a  man  of  large 
stature,  and  of  erect,  dignified  and  commanding  as- 
pect. A  tall  stripling  of  sixteen,  he  attended  his 
father  upon  his  service  as  chaplain  during  the  siege 
of  Boston,  and  in  1777  enlisted  in  the  army  as  a  com- 
mon soldier.  The  stress  of  war  deprived  him  of  the 
collegiate  training  to  which  he  had  looked  forward 
fondly,  and  kept  him,  during  his  minority,  either  in 
the  camp  or  at  the  plow.  Having  subsequently  mas- 
tered the  science  of  medicine  he  began  i^ractice  at 
Topsfield  in  1783,  purchasing  the  stock  of  a  suc- 
cessful predecessor,  as  well  as  his  library  of  just  two 
volumes.  He  was  soon  after  complimented  with  a 
commission  as  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  began  to  in- 


terest himself  in  the  public  affairs  of  town  and  coun- 
ty. As  a  politician  he  was  earnest,  ardent  and  patri- 
otic. He  was  chosen,  through  Federalist  support,  to 
the  State  Senate  in  1811,  and  lost  his  seat  next  year, 
under  the  operation  of  that  famous  districting  sys- 
tem known  as  the  "Gerrymander."  From  1815  to 
1819  he  was  re-elected,  and  then  withdrew.  In  1814 
he  was  a  Sessions  Justice  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Com- 
mon Pleas.  From  1820  to  1822  he  was  an  Associate 
Justice  of  the  Court  of  Sessions  for  the  county,  and  in 
1823  became  its  Chief  Justice.  This  station  he  filled 
with  ability  and  firmness  until  1828,  when  he  retired 
from  public  business,  receiving  at  the  same  time  from 
Harvard  College  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Medicine. 

With  an  iron  constitution  and  health,  up  to  his 
fiftieth  year,  untouched  by  disease,  Dr.  Cleaveland 
never  laid  aside  the  practice  of  his  profession,  how- 
ever interrupted,  but  had  extended  it  to  all  the 
neighboring  towns.  And  until  his  death,  in  Febru- 
ary, 1837,  at  the  age  of  77,  he  continued  to  serve,  as 
their  trusted  physician,  the  community  with  which  he 
had  for  fifty  years  identified  himself  by  rare  activity 
in  every  enterprise  of  moment.  As  a  neighbor  he  was 
sought  for  his  willing  and  judicious  counsel,  while  his 
public  career  was  marked  throughout  by  good  judg- 
ment, sound  sense  and  solid  worth. 

He  was  twice  married  and  left  five  children,  among 
whom  the  eldest  son,  an  honored  graduate  of  Bow- 
doiu,  a  distinguished  educator,  man  of  letters  and 
Doctor  of  Laws,  perpetuates  his  name  and  title. 

Dr.  Cleaveland's  was  one  of  those  monumental 
characters  which  deserve  study  both  for  themselves 
and  because  they  are  typical  of  their  times:  Formed 
in  our  Revolutionary  period,  it  was  consolidated  like 
the  arch  by  the  pressure  which  events  imposed  upon 
it.  If  his  principles  were  austere,  he  applied  them 
as  rigidly  to  his  own  conduct  as  to  his  judgment  of 
others.  Thus  he  could  in  youth  forego,  without  a 
murmur,  the  college  training  he  had  been  promised, 
and,  at  the  last,  reject  narcotics  which  would  have 
spared  him  excruciating  torture,  because  they  might 
deaden  his  mental  and  moral  sensibilities.  Says  the 
late  Dr.  Peirson,  of  Salem,  in  the  Medical  and  Surgi- 
cal Journal,  "  He  was  a  much  respected  member  of 
the  Essex  South  District  Medical  Society.  No  man 
amongst  us  set  a  better  example  of  professional  integ- 
rity and  honor.  The  few  who  could  boast  of  his 
friendship  will  long  remember  with  pleasure  the  vir- 
tuous and  kind-hearted  old  man,  whose  influence  was 
uniformly  and  efficiently  exerted  in  support  of  good 
order  and  the  true  advancement  of  society." 

Colonel  Henry  Whipple,  the  second  and  last  presi- 
dent of  the  Eastern  Stage  Company,  has  left  us  so 
lately  that  the  mention  of  his  name  is  enough  to  re- 
call a  venerable  presence  and  an  exemplary  life.  He 
was  born  at  Douglass,  in  Worcester  County,  June  24, 
1789,  and  died  in  his  eighty-first  year,  December  2, 
1869.     He  served  his  apprenticeship  with  his  brother 


OLD  MODES  OF  TRAVEL. 


Ixxv 


Charles,  at  Newburyport,  and  opened  a  book-store  in 
the  Franklin  (then  Archer's)  Building,  in  Salem,  Oc- 
tober, 1810.  For  three-score  years  from  that  time, 
including  part  of  that  golden  era  when  the  story  of 
Salem  Commerce  reads  like  an  eastern  fiction,  Colonel 
Whipple  was  constant  at  his  post,  supplying  our  dar- 
ing navigators  with  charts  and  books  of  travel, — our 
busy  thinkers  and  bold  projectors  of  enterprises  dis- 
tant and  domestic  with  the  best  intelligence  of  the 
day.  Said  the  Danvers  Wizard,  in  July,  1861  :  "  It 
would  be  difBcult  to  point  to  a  man  now  living  so 
identified  with  the  social,  literary  and  denominational 
interests  of  Salem  as  is  Colonel  Whipple.  In  almost 
all  the  societies  of  a  social  and  benevolent  character 
he  has  been  prominent  and  active.  With  the  grace 
of  native  dignity  and  the  bearing  of  a  gentleman  of 
the  old  school,  the  suavity  of  his  manner  attracted  to 
his  place  of  business  the  elevated  and  refined  of 
Salem.  His  store  was  the  resort  and  lounging  place 
of  all  the  eminent  men  of  the  past  who  have  given  a 
name  to  Salem  in  its  modern  history.  Here  met 
Bowditch,  Story,  Prince,  Pickering,  the  elder  Wor- 
cester, Barnard  and  Hopkins.  Here  Cummins  dis- 
cussed politics  with  Glen  King  and  Saltonstall,  while 
Dr.  Flint  and  Judge  White  made  criticisms  on  the 
last  new  book." 

It  was  well  said  of  Colonel  Whipple  that  in  his 
■death  Salem  had  lost  one  whom  slander  never 
touched,  and  who  had  probably  never  made  an 
enemy, — his  religious  persuasion  a  consistent  sup- 
porter,— the  militia  a  veteran  whose  commissions 
bore  date  and  expired  before  those  of  any  officer  now 
living, — and  the  Masonic  body  its  oldest  member. 
First  from  seniority  on  the  roll  of  the  Active  Fire 
Club,  and  lately  President  of  the  Salem  Dispensary, 
— a  promoter  in  1821  of  the  Salem  and  Danvers  Asso- 
ciation for  Mutual  Protection  against  Thieves  and 
Robbers,  as  well  as  an  active  militiaman  from  his  en- 
listment in  the  ranks  of  the  Salem  Light  Infantry  in 
1811,  until  he  resigned  the  command  of  the  Artillery 
Regiment  of  Southern  Essex,  he  was,  in  earlier  as  in 
later  life,  ready  at  all  times  for  whatever  service  de- 
volves upon  the  good  citizen  and  Christian  neighbor. 
At  the  close  of  the  year  1869  he  fell  peacefully  asleep 
at  his  home  in  Salem,  alter  enjoying  for  a  while  a 
tranquil  retrospect  of  the  memories  he  was  to  leave 
behind. 

The  good  old  days  of  stage  coach  travel  are  over. 
Gone,  too,  are  most  of  those  to  whom  they  owed  their 
chai'm.  The  stage-driver, — that  next  best  man,  it 
was  quaintly  said,  to  the  minister,  out  of  jail, — we 
have  no  longer.  The  old  stage  houses  are  for  the 
most  part,  as  in  London,  closed  and  deserted,  or 
stand,  like  the  old  Bell  Tavern,  "  with  a  kind  of 
gloomy  sturdiness,  amidst  the  modern  innovations 
which  surround  them."     Never  again  shall 

"  The  windows  of  the  wayside  inu 
Across  the  meadows,  bare  and  brown, 
Gleam  red  with  firelight  through  the  leaves 


Of  woodbino,  hanging  from  the  eaves, 
Their  crimson  curtains,  rent  and  thin  !" 

Even  the  Ann  Street  Stage-House, — the  very  focus  of 
New  England  travel, — has  vanished,  and  the  name  of 
the  street  it  stood  on  is  fading  out  of  mind !  Never 
again,  about  its  hospitable  hearth,  that  well  known 
company  of  "  whips  "  shall  gather  for  a  parting  pipe, 
when  guests  are  dreaming,  and  night  coaches  in,  and 
horses  well-bestowed,  and  smouldering  embers,  in  its 
ample  fire-place,  give  a  fitful,  flickering  light.  I  see 
them  now,  in  their  quaint  old  chairs,  whiffs  of  smoke 
curling  lazily  about  their  cheerful,  ruddy,  weather- 
beaten  faces, — heavy,  wet  jack-boots  steaming  on  the 
hearth, — ample  cajjes  and  top-coats  fiung  dripping  on 
the  benches, — while  they  chat  by  turns  and  stir  the 
fire  and  laugh  at  the  storm.  There  sits  burly  Sam 
Robinson,  telling  how  he  served  the  sneak  who  stole 
a  ride  on  the  trunk-rack  every  day  as  the  noon  coach 
passed  through  Wenham,  by  driving  into  the  pond  at 
Peter's  Pulpit,  under  pretence  of  watering  his  liorses, 
and  then  making  such  vigorous  application  of  the  laah 
that  whoso  rode  behind  was  glad  to  escape  his  par- 
thian  blows  by  dropping  off  into  the  water !  Or  lit- 
tle Jack  Mendum  mounts  a  chair  to  tell  how  he  drove 
the  "mail,"  and  "something  broke,"  and  the  hungry 
passengers  were  all  out  hurrying  him  on,  and  the 
neighbors  bustled  about,  and  he  lost  his  patience,  and 
making  up  in  oaths  what  he  lacked  in  stature,  bid 
them  all  stand  aside  and  let  him  manage,  "  for  while 
I  drive  that  mail,  I  am  the  L^nited  States  of  Amer- 
ica!" Or  Peter  Ray  recounts  the  driving  of  the  first 
steel  spring  coach  to  Boston  on  its  trial  trip,  freighted 
with  the  mechanics  who  were  its  builders,  and  what  a 
stir  it  made  on  'change !  Or  Major  Shaw,  blinded  by 
his  great  popularity,  utters  his  famous  threat  of  run- 
ning the  railroad  off  the  route,  by  opposition  coach- 
es !  Or  Woodbury  Page  enjoys  the  discomfiture  of 
the  Charlestovvn  driver,  who  roughly  asked  him  to 
"  get  his  bean  pot  out  of  the  way,"  when  he  was  tak- 
ing up  a  passenger  from  that  city  for  Beverly,  and  he 
replied,  "  wait  till  I  get  the  pork  in  !"  Or  they  all 
debate,  with  the  warmth  of  conviction,  the  relative 
merits  of  the  northern  and  southern  routes  to  the 
eastward,  until  Alex.  Brown  declares  that  stage 
routes  to  the  east  are  like  different  creeds  in  re- 
ligion, for  all  creeds  lead  to  heaven,  if  faithfully  fol- 
lowed,— upon  which  reticent  little  Conant  taps  his 
pipe  on  the  great  iron  fire-dog,  and  as  the  ashes  drop 
upon  the  hearth,  puts  it  tenderly  away  in  his  waist- 
coat pocket,  remarking  that  he  would  rather  not  go  to 
heaven  at  all,  if  he  must  go  by  the  Dover  route,  and 
retires  to  bed. 

"  Each  had  bis  tale  to  tell,  and  each 
Was  anxious  to  be  pleased  and  ple»se. 
With  rugged  arts  of  liumorous  speech." 

Never  again,  in  that  quaint  old  hostelry,  shall 

"  The  fire-light  on  their  faces  glance. 
Their  shadows  on  the  wainscot  dance." 

And  the  coaches  which  once,  says  a  writer  in  the 


Ixxvi 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Lynn  Reporter,  "  raised  such  a  dust  on  the  turnpike, 
night  and  day,  that  Breed's  End  knew  no  rest,  and 
the  road  seemed  made  for  their  accommodation,  so 
much  at  home  were  they  on  it  in  their  day  of  glory," 
are  all  gone  now.  Over  Essex  Bridge,  over  the  turn- 
pike, through  Salem  streets,  horse-cars  now  rumble 
and  rattle  with  their  growing  freight.  And  at  last 
the  single  coach,  which  brought  us  daily  the  dust  and 
mail  bags  of  Cape  Ann,  has  disappeared  forever. 
Never  again  shall  we  gather  at  the  cottage  gate,  as 
the  clatter  of  wheels  and  the  cloud  of  dust  approach, 
to  welcome  the  aged  parent, — the  coming  guest, — the 
daughter  home  from  school.  Never  again  shall  we 
linger  in  the  open  doorway  of  a  New  England  home- 
stead, in  tender  parting  with  the  young  son  setting 
out  for  sea,  or  on  some  distant  westward  venture, — 
to  speed  the  lovers  starting  together  on  the  life-long 
journej', — never  again  cast  longing  glances  after  that 
receding  freight  of  dear  ones,  until  at  last  the  wind- 
ing road  and  over-hanging  elm  trees  part  us,  and  we 
sit  sadly  down  to  listen, 

"  While  faint  from  farther  distance  borne 
Are  heard  the  chmging  hoof  and  horn." 

Never  again  will  the  midnight  watcher  by  the  si- 
lent bedside  hear  the  mail-stage  arrive  and  go,  leav- 
ing its  messages  of  love  and  sorrow  for  the  sleeping 
townsfolk,  and  sing,  with  Hannah  Gould, 

"  The  rattling  of  that  reckless  wheel 
That  brings  the  bright  or  boding  seal 
To  crown  thy  hopes  or  end  thy  fears, 
To  light  thy  smiles  or  draw  thy  tears, 
As  line  on  line  is  read." 

Famous  levelers  were  these  old  stage  coaches  and 
masters  in  etiquette  also !  What  chance-medley  of 
social  elements  they  brought  about!  What  infinite 
attrition  of  human  particles, — what  jostling  of  ribs 
and  elbows, — what  '  contact  inconvenient,  nose  to 
nose ' !  What  consequent  rounding  and  smoothing  of 
angles  and  corners, — what  a  test  of  good-nature, — 
what  a  tax  on  forbearance, — what  a  school  of  mutual 
consideration  !  For  how  else  could  a  dozen  strangers 
consent  to  be  boxed  up  and  shaken  together  for  a 
day,  but  upon  condition  that  each  was  to  exhibit  the 
best  side  of  his  nature  and  that  only  ! 

To  the  next  generation  the  old  stage  coach  will  be 
as  shadowy  and  unreal  a  thing  as  were  those  which 
appeared,  musty  and  shattered,  to  the  uncle  of  the 
one-eyed  Bagman  in  Pickwick,  while  he  dozed  at 
midnight  in  the  Ediuboro'  courtyard.  "  My  uncle," 
says  the  Bagman,  in  telling  the  story,  "  rested  his 
head  upon  his  hands  and  thought  of  the  busy,  bustling 
people  who  had  rattled  about  years  before  in  the  old 
coaches  and  were  now  as  silent  and  as  changed.  He 
thought  of  the  numbers  of  people  to  whom  one  of 
those  crazy,  mouldering  vehicles  had  borne,  night  af- 
ter night,  through  all  weathers,  the  anxiously  ex- 
pected intelligence,  the  eagerly  looked  for  remittance, 
the  promised  assurance  of  health  and  safety,  the  sud- 
den announcement  of  sickness  and  death.     The  mer- 


chant, the  lover,  the  wife,  the  widow,  the  mother,  the 
school-boy,  the  very  child  who  tottered  to  the  door  at 
the  postman's  knock, — how  had  they  all  looked  for- 
ward to  the  arrival  of  the  old  coach !  And  where 
were  they  all  now  !  " 


CHAPTER   IV. 

SCIENCE  IN  ESSEX  COUNTY. 

BY  JOHN  ROBINSON. 

In  the  sketch  here  attempted  of  a  collection  of 
subjects  which  may  be  classified  under  the  general 
head  of  scientific,  no  pretence  is  made  of  complete- 
ness of  detail,  or  even  that  many  points  are  not 
omitted  which  are  as  well  worthy  of  notice  as  some 
others  which  are  included.  The  breadth  of  the  term 
scientific  might  easily  be  made  to  embrace  much  mat- 
ter which  can  be  more  properly  treated  under  the 
separate  histories  of  this  volume  by  writers  more  fa- 
miliar with  the  individual  worker  or  his  special  sub- 
ject; nor  will  space  be  given  to  the  scientific  institu- 
tions of  the  county  or  their  work,  as  they  will  be  fully 
treated  elsewhere.  It  will,  therefore,  only  be  under- 
taken to  show,  before  directly  taking  up  the  subjects 
of  natural  history,  the  principal  ground  intended  to 
be  covered  by  this  article,  that  in  science  of  almost 
every  sort  Essex  County  has  produced  workers,  and 
workers,  too,  of  no  mean  order.  In  the  special  field 
of  natural  history  a  very  remarkable  amount  has 
been  accomplished,  especially  in  the  direction  of  local 
investigation,  and,  besides,  the  county  offers  notewor- 
thy inducements  to  encourage  students  of  the  natural 
sciences. 

There  are  many  names,  to  which  we  may  point 
with  pride,  of  men  who,  at  home  and  abroad,  have 
received  high  honors,  and,  either  by  birth  or  residence, 
have  added  to  the  fame  of  Essex  County.  In  medi- 
cal science  the  name  of  Edward  Augustus  Holyoke, 
and  in  mathematics  and  astronomy  those  of  Andrew 
Oliver,  Nathaniel  Bowditch  and  Benjamin  Pierce,  are 
remembered  with  gratitude  and  respect.  In  connec- 
tion with  the  early  established  scientific  institutions 
Essex  County  held  a  prominent  place.  The  original 
membership  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and 
Sciences  included  seventeen  names,  which  may  be 
claimed  as  belonging  to  Essex  County,  and  the  initial 
volume  of  the  memoirs  of  that  institution  published 
in  1785  was  very  largely  composed  of  papers  and 
communications  from  Essex  County  scientists.  In 
chemistry  many  workers  might  be  enumerated  who 
have  contributed  their  share  towards  the  increase  of 
general  knowledge  of  the  subject. 

Dr.  James  R.  Nichols  of  Haverhill,  well  known 
through  his  long  connection  with  the  "  Boston  Journal 
of  Chemistry,"  of  which  he  was  the  editor,  has  been 
a  worker  in  science  and  a  writer  of  note.     Among  his 


SCIENCE  IN  ESSEX  COUNTY. 


Ixxvii 


published  works  are  "  Fireside  Chemistry "  and 
"  Chemistry  of  the  Farm,"  but  the  one  which  has 
probably  arrested  the  most  attention  is  a  little  volume 
printed  in  1882,  entitled  "From  Whence,  What, 
Where?"  which  has  already  passed  through  several 
editions. 

Mr.  Chas.  Toppan  is  conspicuous  as  the  inventor  of  a 
very  successful  process  for  bleaching,  and  for  the 
new  i^roducts  of  petroleum  which  he  has  introduced, 
having  also  published  accounts  of  his  experiments. 
In  this  place  should  be  mentioned  the  name  of  Fran- 
cis Peabody,  a  patron  of  the  sciences,  who  was  among 
the  first  to  become  interested  in  the  establishment  of 
the  "  Lyceum "  system  of  scientific  lectures,  and 
whose  valuable  library,  ever  open  for  the  use  of  the 
earnest  student,  now  enriches  the  shelves  of  the  Essex 
Institute,  of  which,  as  well  as  the  Peabody  Academy 
of  Science,  he  was  president.  In  physical  science 
the  record  is  interesting.  Moses  G.  Farmer,  of  Salem, 
the  well-known  electrician,  was  for  many  years  con- 
nected with  the  United  States  Government  torpedo 
station  at  Newport,  R.  I.  Prof.  Charles  Grafton  Page, 
in  1837,  made  experiments  with  magnetic  currents 
and  musical  sounds,  which  excited  much  attention 
both  in  this  country  and  abroad,  and  which  paved  the 
way  to  that  great  invention,  the  speaking  telephone, 
which  Prof.  A.  Graham  Bell,  a  resident  of  Salem 
during  the  years  of  his  experimenting,  first  publicly 
exhibited  before  a  meeting  of  the  Essex  Institute  in 
that  city  in  1877. 

With  these  brief  references  to  other  branches  of 
science,  we  will  proceed  to  consider  the  natural  his- 
tory of  the  county  and  the  work  of  students  in  its  va- 
rious departments. 

Geology  and  Mineralogy. — The  entire  absence 
of  fossils  and  the  obscure  nature  of  the  rocks  of  the 
county  render  the  study  of  these  branches  of  science 
uninteresting  to  the  beginner,  who  is  usually  attracted 
at  first,  and  led  to  more  serious  study,  by  the  beauty 
of  the  minerals  or  the  curious  forms  of  petrifactions 
It  is,  therefore,  easy  to  explain  the  rather  limited 
number  of  students  of  geology  and  mineralogy,  as 
compared  with  those  interested  in  zoology  and  botany. 
The  work,  too,  in  the  county,  although  in  many  cases 
emanating  from  prominent  sources,  has  been  carried 
on  by  many  different  persons,  no  single  student  having 
attempted  any  general  survey  of  the  whole  county,  so 
that  a  thoroughly  satisfactory  account  of  the  geology 
and  mineralogy  of  the  region  cannot  as  yet  be  given. 

A  great  number  of  papers  and  notices  of  local  inter- 
est have  been  published  in  the  scientific  journals  and 
proceedings  of  scientific  societies ;  but  as  the  larger 
portion  of  these  refer  to  a  region  of  which  Boston  is 
the  centre,  most  of  the  work  only  covers  the  southern 
and  eastern  portions  of  Essex  County,  A  very  full 
list  of  published  articles  referring  to  the  region  of 
Eastern  Massachusetts,  collected  by  Professor  M.  E. 
Wadsworth  and  printed  in  the  "  Proceedings  of  the 
Boston  Society  of  Natural  History  "  (vol.  xix.  p.  217), 
viii 


includes  upwards  of  ninety  titles  of  articles  in  the 
"Memoirs  andProceedings  of  the  American  Academy," 
"  Boston  Journal  of  Philosophy  and  Arts,"  "American 
Journal  of  Science  and  Arts,"  "  Proceedings  of  the  Bos- 
ton Society  of  Natural  History  "  and  the  "  Proceedings" 
and  "Bulletin  of  the  Essex  Institute,"  of  greater 
or  less  length, which  relate  more  especially  to  the  geolo- 
gy and  mineralogy  of  Essex  County.  Many  of  these, 
articles  are  of  course  very  brief  and  possess  only  a 
negative  value,  while  others  are  communications  of 
much  interest  and  importance. 

The  list  of  writers  of  the  earlier  articles  include  the 
names  of  Dana,  Agassiz,  Hitchcock,  C.  T.  Jackson, W. 
B.  Rogers  and  Chas.  Pickering,  while  the  papers  and 
notices  of  more  recent  date,  outside  of  the  local  work- 
ers, include  the  names  of  N.  S.  Shaler,  Alpheus  Hyatt, 
T.  Sterry  Hunt,  W.  O.  Crosby  and  M.  E.  Wadsworth. 
Among  the  residents  of  Essex  County  who  have  made 
these  subjects  a  study  and  who  have  published  the  re- 
sults of  their  work  are  Dr.  Andrew  Nichols,  of  Dan- 
vers;  B.  F.  Mudge,  Esq.,  and  C.  M.Tracy,  of  Lynn  ;  J. 
J.  H.  Gregory,  of  Marblehead ;  Rev.  S.  Barden,  of 
Rockport ;  Dr.  H.  C.  Perkins  and  Alfred  Osgood,  of 
Newburyport ;  Rev.  G.  F.  Wright,  of  Andover,  and 
D.  M.  Balch,  of  Salem. 

Taking  the  more  recently  published  work  as  a  guide, 
the  following  synopsis  of  the  underlying  rocks  has 
been  prepared  by  Mr.  J.  H.  Sears,  of  the  Peabody 
Academy  of  Science,  as  a  provisional  arrangement,  but 
one  which,  however,  a  more  careful  study  of  the  rocks 
of  the  county  now  in  progress  may  in  some  respects 
require  to  be  changed  : 

NoBiAN.  1     Naugus  Head  Series. 

■    Syenite,  Hornblendic  and  Binary,  Peabody,  Salem. 
Feldsite,  Marblehead  Neck,  Lynn,  Newbury. 
HuRONiAN.     ■     Dioryte,  Salem,  Danvers,  Peabody,  Nahant,  etc. 

Hornblendic  Gneiss,  Salem  Neck,  Danvers,  Beverly. 
Limestone,  Lynniield,  Danvers,  Newbury. 

1    Gneiss,  West  Danvers,  Andover. 
Mica  Slate,  Merrimac,  Amesbury,  HaverhiU. 
Argillite,  Middleton,  Topsfleld. 

Shawmut.        I     Amygdaloid,  Saugus,  River  Parker,  Newbury. 

(Slate,  River  Parker,  Newbury. 
Conglomerate,  River  Parker,  Kent's  Island, 
Trachyte,  Marblehead  Harbor. 

The  most  conspicuous  geological  features  of  Essex 
County  are  the  trap-dykes,  of  which  fine  specimens 
are  to  be  seen  at  Nahant,  Marblehead  and  Cape  Ann^ 
and  the  curious  drift  boulders  which  are  met  with 
in  almost  every  part  of  the  county,  and  which,  to- 
gether with  the  many  wonderful  glacial  scratchings 
and  groovings,  offer  a  most  favorable  opportunity  for 
the  study  of  this  epoch  in  geology. 

Many  of  the  drift  boulders  are  of  great  size  and 
are  often  found  in  most  remarkable  situations,  pro- 
jecting over  ledges,  mounted  upon  other  stones  or 
crowning  the  summits  of  the  hills.  Among  the 
most  noted  boulders  are  Ship  Rock,  in  Peabody, 
the   estimated   weight  of  which   is  eleven   hundred 


Ixxviii 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


tons ;  Agassiz  Rock,  in  Manchester ;  and  Phaeton  Rock, 
in  the  woods  between  Peabody  and  Lynn.  Muny  of 
these,  including  some  of  several  tons  in  weight, 
perched  upon  the  bare  hill-tops,  may  be  rocked  by 
the  hand,  some  even  by  a  child.  Were  some  of  these 
erratics  in  the  grounds  of  any  popular  summer  re- 
sort their  fame  would  be  heralded  abroad  and  thou- 
sands flock  to  see  them ;  but,  as  it  is,  the  country  boy, 
with  his  bare  feet  and  berry  pail,  or  the  infrequent 
pedestrian  on  his  woodland  rambles  are  their  only 
visitors. 

Careful  study  is  continually  bringing  to  light 
minerals  previously  unknown  in  the  county.  Many  of 
these,  although  insignificant  in  appearance,  are  of 
great  interest  to  the  student,  and  serve  to  show  the 
relations  between  the  characters  of  the  Essex  County 
rocks  and  those  of  other  regions.  The  number  of 
known  or  authentically  reported  minerals  may  be 
placed  at  fifty-nine  species. 

The  most  general  interest  is  naturally  attached  to 
those  minerals,  chiefly  the  metals,  of  value  in  com- 
merce or  the  arts.  In  the  earliest  colonial  times  bog 
iron  was  worked  at  Saugus,  and  later,  at  Topsfield 
and  Boxford,  it  was  taken  out  in  two  or  three  places 
for  mechanical  purposes.  The  history  of  the  old 
iron-works  at  Saugus  River  is  a  very  interesting  one. 
They  were  started  in  1643  and  continued  in  opera- 
tion under  many  difliculties  until  about  1688,  but  now 
only  cinder-heaps,  covered  with  soil  and  herbage, 
remain  to  tell  of  their  existence.  At  these  works  labor- 
ed Joseph  Jenks,  a  native  of  Hammersmith,  Eng- 
land, the  founder  of  a  prominent  New  England 
family.  Jenks  was  an  inventor  of  considerable  note 
in  his  day  and  deserves  to  be  remembered  as  one  of 
the  earliest  men  of  scientific  tendencies  in  the  county. 
A  bit  of  romance  attaches  itself  to  him  as  the  en- 
graver of  several  of  the  dies  from  which  the  famous  Pine 
Tree  shillings  were  struck  off"  in  1652  and  later.  Iron 
pyrites  had  been  mined  in  Boxford,  and  gold  was  at 
one  time  found  in  small  quantities  near  Hood's  Pond. 
The  so-called  Governor  Endicott  copper  mine  in 
Topsfield,  has  been  worked  within  the  century  ;  but, 
probably,  at  a  profit  too  small  to  warrant  a  continu- 
ance of  operations.  Serpentine  at  Saugus,  Lynnfield 
and  Newburyport  has  been  quarried  in  small  quan- 
tities for  ornamental  purposes  and  for  the  manufac- 
ture of  magnesia. 

But  the  most  conspicuous  effort,  however,  to  turn 
our  mineralogical  resources  to  account  was  that  at 
Newburyport,  when  the  wave  of  speculation  in  lead 
and  silver  passed  over  the  once  valueless  pastures 
of  that  locality.  The  result,  not  unexpected  to  the 
miner  of  more  practical  experience  in  other  regions, 
although  it  may  have  placed  profit  in  the  hands  of 
some  of  the  original  land-owners  or  speculators  in 
land,  proved  of  greater  interest  to  the  student  for 
whom  specimens  were  brought  to  hand  without  cost, 
than  to  those  who  were  unfortunate  enough  to  invest 
their  capital  in  the  enterprise  with  the  hope  of  large 


financial  returns.  All  attempts  thus  far  made  in  the 
direction  of  working  our  precious  metals  have  re- 
sulted, as  similar  attempts  in  the  future  are  likely 
to  result,  in  small  profit,  if  not  actual  loss.  But 
aside  from  this,  there  is  left,  however,  as  the  pride 
and  prize  of  Essex  County's  geological  and  mineralog- 
ical resources,  the  solid  granite  whose  mass  not  only 
assure  us  an  enduring  foundation  and  probably  ex- 
emption from  natural  convulsions,  but  which,  un- 
questionably, is  to  be  looked  upon  as  the  mineral  pro- 
duct of  the  greatest  commercial  value  in  the  county. 

Our  Scientific  Frontier. — From  the  fact  that 
the  geographical  boundaries  of  Essex  Co.  are  largely 
natural  ones,  it  is  possible  to  study  its  flora  apart 
from  that  of  surrounding  regions,  with  much  more 
satisfactory  results  than  is  usually  the  case  in  small 
areas  of  territory  bounded  by  arbitrary  lines.  Indeed, 
with  the  exception  of  Barnstable  County,  Mass.,  where 
the  ocean  marks  nearly  its  entire  outline,  no  county 
in  New  England  offers  better  opportunities  for  such 
work  than  our  own.  For  the  botanist,  the  Merrimac 
Valley  to  the  northwest  and  the  ocean  on  the  northeast 
and  southeast  form  most  natural  limits,  while  toward 
the  south  a  solid  mass  of  cities  separate  the  county 
from  the  region  beyond  Boston,  the  flora  of  which 
shows  many  immediate  and  marked  changes  in  char- 
acter from  that  of  Essex  County.  The  southwestern 
boundary  is,  however,  a  less  natural  one,  although 
the  line  of  hills  beginning  at  Chelsea  and  running 
through  Melrose  and  Saugus  to  Wakefield  and  Read- 
ing forms  a  natural  division  between  Essex  and  Mid- 
dlesex a  portion  of  the  distance.  The  dividing  line 
between  these  counties,  where  Andover  and  Methuen 
join  Tewksbury  and  Dracut,  is  less  satisfactory.  This 
is  but  a  short  distance,  however,  and  there  is  no 
marked  difference  in  the  character  of  the  plants  on 
the  opposite  sides  of  the  line  at  this  point. 

Botany  and  Zoology:  General  Features. — 
Essex  County  contains  upwards  of  fifty  ponds  rich  in 
water  and  marsh  plants,  while  the  deep  woods  of  Mid- 
dleton,  Boxford  and  Andover  and  those  of  Manches- 
ter and  Essex  closely  resemble  the  interesting  region 
at  the  base  of  the  White  Mountains  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  with  these  woods  the  bare  and  rugged 
shores  of  Gupe  Ann  form  a  striking  contrast. 

The  land  plants  belong  to  the  northern  flora,  and 
some  mountain  sjiecies  may  yet  be  found,  while  a 
paradox  in  the  shrubby  form  of  the  Magnolia  glauca, 
still  abundant  in  the  Gloucester  swamps,  offers  a  sub- 
ject for  speculation.  The  marine  alg£e  belong  decid- 
edly to  the  arctic  flora,  for  the  long  arm  of  Cape  Cod 
projecting  into  the  ocean  seems  to  form  a  natural  bar- 
rier to  the  farther  progress  of  southern  species  north- 
ward. At  this  point,  too,  the  warm  current  of  the 
Gulf  Stream  bears  off  to  the  eastward,  while  toward 
the  shore,  in  Massachusetts  Bay,  the  almost  expended 
influence  of  the  cold  Labrador  current  is  felt.  A 
marked  distinction  is  therefore  found  between  the 
marine  animals  and  plants  north  of  Cape  Cod  and  those 


SCIENCE  IN  ESSEX  COUNTY. 


Ixxix 


at  the  south  of  it,  although  in  favorable  situations, 
in  warm  nooks,  some  southern  species  are  found  north 
of  this  barrier,  while  some  northern  ones  retain  a  foot- 
hold south  of  it,  and  there  are  certain  cosmopolitan 
species  which  flourish  in  all  waters. 

It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  with  the  great  va- 
riety of  animals  and  plants  which  may  be  collected, 
and  the  natural  limits  which  may  be  placed  to  the 
study  of  their  distribution,  attractions  are  ottered 
which  have  proved  sufficient  to  develop  many  stu- 
dents of  botany  and  zoology  at  home,  and  to  induce 
many  others  from  abroad,  among  them  some  of  the 
most  eminent  naturalists  of  the  day,  to  come  here  to 
pursue  their  investigations. 

Introduced  Plants  — The  early  settlement  of  the 
county  and  numerous  historical  data  available  to  the 
botanist  render  this  a  particularly  favorable  region 
to  observe  the  introduced  plants.  Many  species,  such 
as  the  genista,  barberry,  white-weed  and  others  of 
European  origin,  early  established  themselves  in 
places  where  they  now  flourish  to  an  extent  it  would 
seem  difficult  for  them  to  exceed  in  their  native 
lands.  The  natural  fruits  and  vegetable  productions, 
and  such  plants  of  the  old  country  as  could  be  made 
to  succeed  in  this  soil,  were  among  the  first  things  to 
which  the  colonists  gave  their  attention,  as  early  ac- 
counts amply  testify,  and  thus  we  are,  in  many  cases, 
able  to  trace  the  date  of  introduction  of  species  now 
thoroughly  naturalized.  The  study  of  these  plants 
is  aided  by  the  little  work  entitled,  "  New  England 
Rarities  Discovered,"  by  John  Josselyn,  an  early 
traveler,  who  made  several  visits  to  this  country,  the 
most  extended  being  from  1663  to  1671,  when  he 
seems  to  have  given  much  attention  to  the  native  and 
introduced  plants.  A  reprint  of  Josselyn's  work, 
with  notes  by  Professor  Edward  Tuckerman,  is  now 
available.  In  studying  the  Essex  flora,  it  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that,  by  the  clearing  of  the  laud  and 
other  great  changes  incident  to  the  settlement,  such 
native  plants  as  were  best  able  to  endure  these 
changes,  and  those  which  the  changes  favored,  have 
now  been  given  prominent  places,  while  those  which, 
at  the  time  of  the  settlement,  may  have  been  abun- 
dant, but  which  wei'e  unable  to  endure  the  changed 
surroundings,  are  now  scarce  or  have  entirely  disap- 
peared. To  the  botanist  all  these  questions  add  in- 
terest to  the  study  of  the  local  flora,  and  perhaps  ex- 
plain why  the  plants  have  received  more  continuous 
attention  than  either  the  animals  or  the  minerals  of 
the  county. 

The  Native  Plants.— The  following  table,  taken 
from  the  catalogue  of  the  flora  of  Essex  County,  pub- 
lished by  the  Essex  Institute  in  1880,  with  addi- 
tional notes  made  from  the  herbarium  of  the  Pea- 
body  Academy  of  Science,  gives  a  fair  idea  of  the 
material  available  for  botanical  study  and  the  dis- 
tribution of  species  among  the  different  families,  as 
well  as  the  number  of  introduced  plants  to  be  found 
in  the  county : 


Table  showing  the  character  of  the  plants,  native  nnd  naturalized,  growing  in 
Essex  County,  Mass. 


C  O  oi 
9  ^  a 

•cm 
ries. 

CD 

iced  ft 
ortioii 
d  Stat 

^1 

if 

F 

g 

s 

•3  o-S 

•Sp, 

e 

o 

a 

<v 

O 

> 

t.  01  c 

■S5t= 

M    O 

^2 

^ 

>5 

Exogens 

85 

371 

855 

36 

39 

216 

157 

47 

Gj'inuosperms 

1 

7 

17 

3 

4 

10 

8 

Endogens 

17 
o 

124 
21 

372 

50 

38 
17 

6 

41 
1 

1 

Vascular  Cryptogams 

2 
2 
3 

59 

2 

115 

161 

9 

312 

12 

3 

41 

1 

Characea^ 

Thallophytes 

1 

i 

115 

699 

1776 

147 

48 

263 

168 

55 

Total  number  of  species  recorded 1776 

Species  of  Fungi  (estimated) 1200 

Species  of  fresli  water  Algse  (estimated) 200 

Diatomacea;  (estimated) 250 

Total  of  all  species  recorded  and  estimated 3426 

In  this  table  the  introduced  plants  enumerated  are 
chiefly  such  as  have  become  thoroughly  established,  al- 
though sometimes  very  locally. j|  The  Thallophytes  in- 
clude only  the  lichens,  of  which  forty-five  genera,  one 
hundred  and  fifty-seven  species,  are  recorded,  and  the 
marine  algse,  of  which  there  are  seventy  genera,  one 
hundred  and  fifty-four  species.  The  fungi  of  the 
county  have  never  been  catalogued,  owing  to  their 
great  number  and  the  difficulties  attending  their 
study  ;  but,  judging  from  the  catalogues  of  other  re- 
gions, it  is  quite  probable  that  twelve  hundred  spe- 
cies would  be  a  fair  estimate  of  their  number.  Nei- 
ther has  any  list  been  prepared  of  the  Diatoms  and 
Desmids,  a  numerous  class,  which,  together  with  a 
large  part  of  the  fungi,  are  microscopic,  and,  al- 
though numerous  in  species,  possess  but  little  value 
in  considering  the  flora  as  a  whole,  or  the  general 
distribution  or  character  of  the  plants  of  the  county. 

Prominent  Botanists. — The  study  of  botany  in  Es- 
sex County,  it  may  be  said  in  New  England,  properly 
dates  from  the  time  of  Rev.  Manasseh  Cutler,  at  the 
close  of  the  last  century.  Early  writers,  as  Francis 
Higginson,  John  Josselyn,  William  Wood,  John 
Winthrop  and  others,  refer  to  the  native  fruits  and 
flowers.  Josselyn  published  the  well-known  "  New 
England  Rarities  Discovered,"  previously  referred  to, 
and  Higginson,  in  a  letter  written  from  Salem  in 
1629-30  (Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  vol.  1.  p.  121),  speaks  of 
the  "  Flowering  Mulberry,"  or  raspberry,  and 
"Chervil,"  or  sweet  Cicely,  as  growing  near  Salem 
in  places  where,  certainly  until  a  few  years,  these  in- 
teresting historical  plants  still  flourished.  None  of 
these  writers  can,  however,  be  considered  as  Essex 
County  botanists,  and  it  is  not  until  the  close  of  the 
American  Revolution  that  we  find  any  serious  or 
scientific  study  given  to  the  plants  of  the  county. 
Manasseh  Cutler,  of  Hamilton,  after  his  varied  ser- 
vices of  Revolutionary  chaplain,  lawyer,  doctor,  pas- 
tor, reformer  and  pioneer,  found  time  to  prepare,  in 
1783-84,  as  the  the  title  of  his  paper  says,  "  An  ac- 
count of  the  vegetable  production  growing  in  this 


Ixxx 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


part  of  America,  botanically  arranged."  This  was 
published  in  the  first  volume  of  the  "  Memoirs  of  the 
American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,"  which 
was  printed  in  1785,  where  some  three  hundred  and 
fifty  species  of  flowering  plants  were  described,  and 
several  important  scientific  points  suggested,  which 
have  been  since  adopted  in  botanical  treatises.  Dr.  Cut- 
ler's paper  bears  the  date  of  presentation,  January  26, 
1784,  and  it  was  his  intention  to  extend  the  work, 
several  manuscript  volumes  now  being  in  existence 
prepared  toward  this  end. 

Following  Cutler  came  Dr.  George  Osgood  and  Dr. 
Andrew  Nichols,  both  of  Danvers.  The  former  con- 
tributed notes  for''Bigelow's  Florula  Bostoniensis," 
and  published  a  partial  list  of  plants  in  the  vicinity  of 
Danvers  and  Salem ;  and  the  latter  delivered,  in  1816,  a 
series  of  lectures  on  botany,  the  first  of  such  ever 
given  in  this  neighborhood.  Dr.  Nichols  was  one  of 
the  founders  of  the  Essex  County  Natural  History 
Society,  and  for  some  years  its  president,  and  he  thus 
had  an  important  influence  on  local  botanical  work. 
In  1823  two  young  men,  both  destined  to  be  long  re- 
membered on  account  of  their  contributions  to  botani- 
cal knowledge,  began  their  work  in  Essex  County. 
These  were  William  Oakes,  of  Danvers,  later  of  Ips- 
wich, and  Charles  Pickering,  then  spending  much  of 
his  time  at  the  homestead  of  his  grandfather.  Colonel 
Timothy  Pickering,  at  Wenham. 

Oakes,  disgusted  with  law,  his  chosen  profession, 
became  the  first  critical  botanist  of  the  region,  and 
at  this  time  converted  Dr.  Pickering  from  entomology 
and  conchology,  studies  he  had  first  chosen,  to  bot- 
any. Oakes  botanized  with  Pickering  extensively 
in  Essex  County,  particularly  in  the  Great  Swamp, 
Wenham,  a  region  then  almost  in  its  primitive  wild- 
ness.  He  afterwards  prepared  a  list  of  Vermont 
plants  for  Thompson's  history  of  that  State,  and  had 
in  contemplation  a  work  on  the  plants  of  New  Eng- 
land, which,  owing  to  the  appearance  of  Beck's  Bot- 
any, was  never  completed.  His  most  elaborate  work 
was  a. folio  volume  on  White  Mountain  scenery,  illus- 
trated by  Sprague,  which,  however,  was  not  published 
until  after  his  death,  in  1848.  Oakes  was  impulsive 
and  generous,  and  thoroughly  in  earnest  in  his  favor- 
ite study.  Like  many  men  of  note,  he  was  little  appre- 
ciated while  living,  yet  no  monument  could  have  been 
erected  to  make  his  memory  more  cherished  and  his 
labors  more  respected  by  the  present  generation  of 
botanists  than  that  which  he  left  behind, — an  exten- 
sive collection  of  beautifully  prepared  botanical  speci- 
mens determined  with  faultless  accuracy,  a  portion  of 
which  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  present  county 
botanical  cabinet,  now  in  the  hands  of  the  Peabody 
Academy  of  Science  in  Salem. 

Professor  Tuckerman  dedicated  to  him  a  pretty 
little  plant  common  in  the  region  of  Plymouth,  but 
as  this  was  afterwards  transferred  to  another  genus, 
the  name  "  Oakesia  "  has  been  given  to  the  spring 
bellwort,  a  common  Essex  County  plant,  by  Professor 


Watson,  of  Cambridge,  who,  in  his  revision  of  the 
Liliaceee,  has  thus  named  it  to  perpetuate  the  mem- 
ory of  William  Oakes. 

In  1838  Dr.  Pickering  was  appointed  naturalist  to 
the  United  States  (Wilkes)  Exploring  Expedition, 
and,  to  perfect  his  knowledge  of  animals  and  plants 
in  foreign  countries,  he  made  extensive  journeys  after 
his  return  from  that  expedition.  He  was  the  author 
of  several  works  of  great  value,  the  production  of 
which  required  untiring  research.  Among  them  are 
the  "  Geographical  Distribution  of  Animals  and 
Plants  "  and  the  "  Chronological  History  of  Plants," 
the  latter  occupying  the  last  sixteen  years  of  his  life 
in  its  preparation. 

It  is  but  right  that  Essex  County  should  claim  a 
share  of  the  honor  of  his  name,  for  it  was  here  that 
his  attention  was  drawn  to  the  study  of  botany,  and 
in  the  "  Chronological  History  of  Plants,"  page  1063, 
we  find  the  following  entry  :  "  1824.  In  this  year, 
after  an  excursion  in  1823  with  William  Oakes,  di- 
verting my  attention  from  entomology,  (I  made)  my 
first  botanical  discovery."  Dr.  Pickering  retained 
the  deepest  interest  in  botanical  work  in  Essex 
County  until  his  death,  which  occurred  at  Boston 
March  17,  1878. 

The  work  of  the  Essex  Institute  from  its  founda- 
tion, in  1848,  following  that  of  the  Essex  County 
Natural  History  Society,  from  which  it  was  in  part 
developed,  was  largely  devoted  to  botany  and  horti- 
culture, a  leading  speaker  at  its  meetings  and  con- 
tributor to  its  publications  being  Rev.  John  Lewis 
Russell,  who  made  his  home  in  Salem  in  1853. 

Mr.  Russell  devoted  himself  principally  to  crypto- 
gamic  botany,  publishing  accounts  of  his  investiga- 
tions from  time  to  time  as  he  proceeded.  He  was, 
besides,  the  author  of  many  popular  articles  on  va- 
rious families  of  plants.  He  lectured  frequently  on 
botany,  and  was  for  many  years  vice-president  of  the 
Essex  Institute,  and  contributed  much  to  the  general 
knowledge  of  botany  in  Essex  County,  but  his  most 
extensive  collections  were  made  in  other  places. 

Among  the  earlier  published  catalogues  of  the 
plants  of  portions  of  the  county  was  the  "  Studies  of 
the  Essex  Flora,"  by  Mr.  Cyrus  M.  Tracy,  of  Lynn. 
This  was  intended  to  give  a  list  of  the  flowering 
plants  found  in  the  neighborhood  of  Lynn,  and 
enumerated  five  hundred  and  forty-six  species.  Be- 
sides possessing  a  very  happy  gift  as  a  botanical  lec- 
turer, Mr.  Tracy  has  contributed  several  valuable 
articles  upon  local  botany  to  the  publications  of  the 
Essex  Institute  and  elsewhere. 

At  the  evening  and  field  meetings  of  the  Essex 
Institute  many  papers  on  botanical  subjects  have 
been  presented,  including,  in  addition  to  those  pre- 
viously referred  to,  contributions  from  George  D. 
Phippen,  S.  B.  Buttrick,  John  Robinson  and  John  H. 
Sears,  of  Salem ;  Rev.  A.  B.  Alcott,  of  Boxford ; 
Miss  Mary  N.  Plumer,  of  Newburyport ;  Miss  H.  A. 
Paine,  of  Groveland ;  and  others.     Many  students  of 


SCIENCE  IN  ESSEX  COUNTY. 


Ixxxi 


botany  are  distributed  throughout  the  county,  and 
numerous  private  herbaria  have  been  formed,  and,  at 
the  rooms  of  the  Peabody  Academy  of  Science  in 
Salem,  a  large  and  valuable  collection  of  the  plants 
of  Essex  County  is  accessible  to  botanists.  Special 
work  has  been  done  by  several  authors  and  collectors 
outside  of  the  county,  who  have  either  visited  this  re- 
gion to  study  the  plants,  or  who  have  made  compar- 
ative observation  from  specimens  sent  to  them  from 
the  county  for  the  purpose.  W.  H.  Harvey  visited 
Nahant  about  1850  to  study  the  marine  algae  in  pre- 
paring his  famous  work,  "  Nereis  Boreali-Americana," 
which  was  published  by  the  Smithsonian  Institution 
in  1852-57.  Professor  W.  G.  Farlow,  in  his  "Algae  of 
New  England,"  and  in  his  monograph  of  the  Gymno- 
sporangea,  includes  the  Essex  County  species  studied 
by  him  at  various  stations.  Dr.  B.  D.  Halstead  and 
Dr.  T.  F.  Allen  have  studied  the  Characese,  and  have 
published  articles  on  the  species  ;  Mr.  F.  S.  Collins 
has  carefully  studied  the  marine  algse,  Mr.  C.  E. 
Faxon  the  grasses,  sedges  and  mosses,  and  Mr.  C.  J. 
Sprague  the  lichens.  Rev.  A.  B.  Hervey,  now  of 
Taunton,  worked  almost  entirely  in  Essex  County  in 
preparing  his  "  Collector's  Guide  and  Introduction  to 
the  Study  of  Marine  Algse."  Nearly  all  of  the  work  of 
Essex  County  botanists  has  been  systematic  ;  at  least 
little,  if  anything,  in  the  way  of  original  research  has 
been  published  by  any  county  author  in  relation  to 
the  physiology  or  morphology  of  plants. 

Horticulture. — In  horticulture,  a  science  too  seldom 
treated  as  such,  the  citizens  of  Essex  County  have 
furnished  valuable  contributions.  The  establishment 
of  the  Essex  Agricultural  Society  and  the  horticul- 
tural department  of  the  Essex  Institute  have  doubtless 
fostered  the  interest  which  has  been  shown  from  the 
earliest  date  in  this  subject,  and  which  at  times  has 
been  given  considerable  prominence  in  the  county. 
There  are  several  names  worthy  to  be  mentioned  as 
promoters  of  the  science  of  horticulture.  Robert 
Manning,  of  Salem,  whose  death  in  the  midst  of  his 
labors  occurred  in  1812,  at  one  time  cultivated  in  his 
own  gardens,  for  the  purpose  of  critical  comparison, 
nearly  one  thousand  varieties  of  pears,  together  with 
other  fruits,  sufficient  to  make  the  total  of  two  thou- 
sand varieties,  several  of  which  he  originated.  John 
Fisk  Allen,  as  early  as  1848,  produced  some  valuable 
varieties  of  grapes,  the  famous  "Allen's  Hybrid"  be- 
ing one  of  the  number,  and  during  the  years  of  his 
experimenting  in  horticulture  he  tested  the  large 
number  of  four  hundred  varieties  of  grapes  under 
glass.  Mr.  Allen  was  the  first  person  in  New  Eng- 
land and  the  second  in  the  United  States  to  success- 
fully cultivate  the  great  water  lily  of  South  America 
(  Victoria  regia),  which  he  flowered  in  Salem  in  1853, 
and  later  he  published,  at  great  expense,  a  superbly 
illustrated  folio  work  on  its  habits  and  cultivation. 
Between  1830  and  1877  Mr.  Geo.  Haskell,  of  Ipswich, 
made  many  scientific  experiments  in  the  culture  of 
the  grape  by  grafting,  inarching  amd  hybridization, 


the  results  of  which  he  published  in  pamphlet  form 
in  1877.  During  this  time  Mr.  Haskell  produced  sev- 
eral hardy  hybrid  grapes  of  acknowledged  merit. 
Beginning  in  1861  and  continuing  for  several  years 
afterward,  Mr.  Edward  S.  Rogers,  of  Salem,  by  a 
strictly  scientific  experiment,  the  result  of  excellent 
botanical  knowledge,  produced  the  famous  hybrids 
between  the  native  fox  grape  and  the  more  tender 
hot-house  varieties,  known  as  the  "Rogers'  Grapes." 
These  have  given  to  cultivators  a  class  of  hardy 
grapes  of  rare  excellence  and  world-wide  reputation, 
and  have  won  for  the  originator  the  gold  medal  of  the 
Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society,  the  highest 
award  of  the  most  eminent  institution  of  its  character 
in  America. 

Zoology} — Though  Essex  County  has  been  a  favor- 
ite collecting  ground  for  naturalists  for  many  years, 
exact  statistics  of  its  fauna  are  lacking.  For  this 
there  are  several  reasons,  the  most  prominent  of 
which  is  that  in  recent  years  students  have  failed  to 
record  the  results  of  their  researches.  Thus,  of  the 
moUusks,  no  catalogue  has  been  published  for  half  a 
century,  while  not  a  single  group  of  insects  has  been 
thoroughly  worked  up.  In  fact,  the  only  group  con- 
cerning which  we  have  definite  statistical  knowledge 
is  that  of  the  vertebrates,  where  we  have,  thanks  to 
the  labors  of  Messrs.  Goode  and  Bean,  of  the  United 
States  National  Museum,  a  catalogue  of  all  the  fishes 
that  are  known  within  the  county  limits,  and  the  ex- 
cellent catalogue  of  the  birds  by  F.  W.  Putnam,  which, 
although  the  work  of  his  youth,  has  required  but  few 
corrections  to  bring  it  up  to  the  present  time.  Of  the 
other  vertebrates,  the  turtles,  snakes  and  batrachians 
are  comparatively  few  in  number  and  fairly  well 
known,  while  to  the  knowledge  of  the  existing  mam- 
mals but  little  can  be  added,  although  a  very  interest- 
ing chapter  could  be  written  upon  those  which  have 
disappeared,  and  whose  story  must  be  looked  for  in 
the  early  colonial  records  and  the  Indian  shell-heaps. 
We  have  many  catalogues  of  New  England  animals, 
but  it  is  a  difficult  task  for  a  student  to  predict  from 
these  exactly  what  forms  will  be  found  in  a  certain 
restricted  region.  Thus  the  land  forms  to  be  found 
in  Northern  Maine  or  on  the  White  Mountains  would 
differ  greatly  from  those  occurring  near  the  shore  of 
Long  Island  Sound,  and  from  neither  could  we  ex- 
actly tell  those  which  would  be  found  in  Essex 
County.  In  the  marine  fauna,  too,  a  similar  difficulty 
is  noted,  for  Cape  Cod  divides  the  animals  occurring 
in  the  salt  water  into  two  groups,  each  with  its  own 
facies,  although  there  are  of  course  many  species 
which  occur  on  either  side  of  that  barrier. 

The  following  estimate  of  the  number  of  species, 
although  but  rudely  approximate,  may  serve  as  a 
guide  for  the  present  and    until   further  published 


1  Th-e  writer  is  largely  indebted  to  Prof.  J.  S.  Kingsley,  of  the  State 
University  of  Indiana,  formerly  a  special  student  at  the  Peabody 
Academy  of  Science  at  Salem,  for  the  account  of  this  branch  of  the 
natural  history  of  the  county. 


Ixxxii 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


work  shall  furnish  us  with  accurate  figures  (in  some 
groups  there  are  almost  no  data  to  base  any  conclu- 
sions upon,  while  others,  however,  are  comparatively 
well  known) : 

Sponges 30 

Coelenterates 100 

Echinodenns 30 

Molluscoidea 60 

Mollusca 390 

■Worms 225 

Crustacea 250 

Insects 2500 

Vertebrates : 

Ascidia 20 

Fishes 150 

Batrachia 18 

Reptiles 22 

Birds 266 

Mammals 41      517 

4102 

In  the  above  estimate  both  the  fresh  water  and  ma- 
rine fauna  are  included.  Of  the  simplest  forms  of 
animal  life,  the  Protozoa,  no  account  is  made  for  the 
reason  that  absolutely  nothing  is  known  of  them  be- 
yond the  fact  that  the  species  are  very  abundant ; 
every  stagnant  pool  has  its  population,  while  the  mud 
near  the  shore  is  actually  alive  with  them.  Incon- 
spicuous as  they  are,  they  play  an  important  part  in 
the  food  supply  of  many  of  the  economic  fishes,  as 
well  as  in  destroying  still  smaller  forms  which  might 
otherwise  be  injurious  to  human  health.  Of  the 
sponges  of  the  county  but  little  is  known  ;  many  of 
them  are  inconspicuous,  and  none  are  of  value  for  the 
ordinary  purposes  for  which  sponges  are  used,  as  all 
lack  that  resilience  of  fibre  characteristic  of  commer- 
cial sponges.  The  finest  examples  of  sponges  in  Essex 
County  have  been  found  on  the  piles  of  Essex  bridge. 

The  marine  worms  are  very  abundant,  and  furnish 
a  large  amount  of  food  for  fishes.  While  the  ordinary 
conception  of  a  worm  is  that  of  a  disgusting  animal, 
many  of  the  marine  worms  are  marvels  of  beauty  both 
in  shape  and  color.  In  this  respect  however  they 
must  yield  to  some  of  the  Coelenterates,  a  group  which 
includes  the  jelly-fish,  sea-anemones  and  those  other 
flowers  of  the  sea  which  the  naturalist  calls  hydroids. 
None  of  these,  however,  have  the  economic  importance 
possessed  by  some  of  the  mollusks  and  Crustacea, 
groups  which  furnish  the  oyster,  clam  and  lobster. 

The  insects  are  almost  solely  terrestrial  and,  as  will 
be  seen  from  the  above  table,  include  over  half  the 
total  number  of  species  occurring  in  the  county.  Of 
these  the  beetles  are  the  most  numerous  in  species,  it 
being  estimated  that  from  twelve  to  fifteen  hundred 
can  be  found  within  the  boundaries.  Next  in  nu- 
merical importance  come  the  flies  and  bugs,  followed 
in  turn  by  the  bees  and  ants  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
butterflies  and  moths  on  the  other,  the  remaining 
forms  of  insects  being  few  in  number  of  species.  The 
vertebrates  are  so  well  known  that  they  need  no  fur- 
ther mention  than  the  figures  against  the  difierent 
orders  in  the  table  above. 


The  marine  fauna  of  Essex  County  is  decidedly 
northern.  The  majority  of  the  species  found  along 
the  coast  range  north  to  the  British  provinces,  and  not 
a  few  may  be  collected  on  the  shores  of  Europe,  mak- 
ing the  passage  by  the  way  of  the  Arctic  seas.  A 
smaller  number  range  southward  and  pass  the  bound- 
ary line  of  Cape  Cod,  though  but  few  extend  in  this 
direction  beyond  the  Jersey  shore.  The  land  animals 
are  likewise  northern  in  character,  and  Essex  County 
maybe  regarded  as  a  portion  of  the  "  Alleghaniaa 
region  "  of  the  "  Eastern  province  "  of  zoological  geog- 
raphy. 

Several  localities  in  the  county  have  become  famous 
as  zoological  centres,  either  from  the  students  who 
have  lived  near  them  or  from  the  profusion  of  the 
material  they  offer  for  study.  To  the  first  category 
belongs  Salem,  for  the  Essex  Institute  and  thePeabody 
Academy  of  Science  have  drawn  many  zoologists 
hither.  Here  Wheatland,  Putman,  Packard,  Hyatt, 
Morse,  Emerton  and  Cooke  have  labored,  while  for 
several  years  students  came  from  all  parts  of  the 
country  to  attend  the  Academy's  Summer  School  of 
Biology.  Salem  may  also  rank  among  the  places  of 
the  other  group,  for  there  are  few  spots  on  the  whole 
New  England  coast  which  furnish  better  collecting 
ground  than  that  around  Essex  (Beverly)  Bridge, 
where  the  number  of  species  to  be  found  is  very  large, 
although  indiscriminate  collecting  would  soon  deplete 
it.  Next  in  order  is  Nahant  where  the  Agassizs,  fa- 
ther and  son,  with  their  assistants  and  pupils,  did  so 
much  to  enlarge  our  knowledge  of  the  marine  life. 
More  lately  Annisquam  has  come  into  prominence 
through  the  laboratory  there  established  in  1881  by 
Professor  Hyatt  and  maintained  by  the  Women's  Ed- 
ucational Society  of  Boston. 

The  interest  in  zoological  studies  has  been  fostered 
by  the  various  scientific  societies  within  the  county, 
the  most  prominent  among  which  are  the  Essex  In- 
stitute and  thePeabody  Academy  of  Science  of  Salem. 
Besides  these  may  be  enumerated  the  Lynn  Natural 
History  Society,  the  Cape  Ann  Literary  and  Scientific 
Society,  at  Gloucester,  the  Danvers  Natural  History 
Society,  the  Bradford  Natural  History  Society,  the 
West  Newbury  Natural  History  Society,  the  Merri- 
mac  Natural  History  Society,  of  Amesbury,  and  the 
Cuvier  Club,  of  Salem,  which  last,  although  composed 
entirely  of  young  people,  gives  promise  of  good  results, 
For  two  years  the  United  States  Fish  Commission 
made  Essex  County  the  centre  of  its  explorations, 
contributing  much  information  of  value,  especially  in 
relation  to  the  deep-water  animals. 

The  fauna  of  Essex  County  has  been  made  the  sub- 
ject of  several  studies,  some  of  which  are  worthy  of 
mention  in  the  present  sketch.  Professor  Hyatt  has 
studied  the  sponges  ;  the  Agassizs,  father  and  son,  and 
the  late  H.  J.  Cook  have  investigated  the  radiates 
the  development  of  the  worms  has  been  studied  by 
Alexander  Agassiz  and  Charles  Girard  ;  the  mollusca 
have    been    investigated    by   John    Lewis   Russell 


SCIENCE  IN  ESSEX  COUNTY. 


Ixxxiii 


William  Stimpson  and  Edward  S.  Morse ;  Professor 
Morse,  also,  was  the  first  author  to  point  out  the  true 
position  of  the  brachiopods  among  the  worms,  his 
theory  now  being  adopted  by  the  most  eminent  scien- 
tists. The  Crustacea  and  their  development  have  been 
studied  by  A .  S.  Packard  and  J.  S.  Kingsley ;  the 
harvestmen  have  been  described  by  H.  C.  Wood,  and 
J.  H.  Emerton  has  made  and  published  researches  on 
the  spiders.  Among  the  insects,  the  work  of  A.  S. 
Packard,  S.  H.  Scudder  and  F.  W.  Putman  deserves 
mention.  J.  S.  Kingsley  has  described  the  develop- 
ment of  one  of  the  acsidians,  while  among  the  fishes 
the  papers  of  G.  B.  Goode  and  T.  H.  Bean  and  of  F. 
W.  Putman  upon  the  species,  and  the  investigations 
of  J.  S.  Kingsley,  H.  W.  Conn  and  B.  H.  Vantleck 
upon  the  development,  should  not  be  omitted.  F.  W. 
Putman  has  studied  the  reptiles  and  birds,  furnishing 
the  list  of  county  species  published  in  the  proceedings 
of  the  Essex  Institute  previously  referred  to.  The 
birds  have  also  been  investigated  by  Dr.  Elliot  Coues. 

In  spite  of  the  work  above  referred  to,  and  the  ex- 
cellence, even  eminence,  of  many  of  the  workers,  the 
field  is  so  large  and  the  supply  of  materials  so  great 
that  there  still  remains  an  enormous  amount  of  work 
to  be  accomplished  before  a  knowledge  which  may  be 
termed  exact  is  obtained  of  the  animals  of  the  county. 

Archaeology. — In  archteology,  a  study  but  re- 
cently given  its  proper  position  among  the  sciences, 
considerable  work  has  been  done  in  the  county.  The 
surface  relics  of  the  race  which  formerly  occupied 
this  territory  have  long  been  observed,  and,  in  a  few 
instances,  preserved  specimens  of  the  so-called  axes, 
celts  and  arrow-heads  were  placed  in  the  East  India 
Museum  in  Salem  as  early  as  1802,  and  examples 
were  figured  in  the  first  volume  of  the  American 
Academy,  published  in  1785,  from  the  cabinet  of  that 
institution.  But  it  is  only  in  comparatively  recent 
years  that  any  scientific  observations  have  been 
made  in  relation  to  the  graves,  village  sites  and 
shell-heaps  of  this  early  race.  Much  has  been  writ- 
ten of  late,  speculative  and  otherwise,  in  relation  to 
the  pre-historic  people,  which  may  be  read  by  those 
desiring  to  form  opinions  as  to  the  correctness  of  the 
various  theories  advanced,  but  it  is  sufficient  here  to 
say  that  the  most  reasonable  theories  point  to  the 
Algonquin  Indians  of  the  region  at  the  time  of  the 
settlement  of  this  country,  and  their  direct  ancestors, 
as  the  people  who  fashioned  the  implements  of  stone, 
bone  and  clay  which  are  daily  turned  up  by  the 
plough  and  occasionally  met  with  in  graves  and 
shell-heaps.  Yet  it  is  reasonable  to  accept  the  theory 
that  another  and  earlier  race  once  occupied  the 
country,  perhaps  the  ancestors  of  the  Esquimaux, 
even  ruder  in  their  way  than  the  Indians,  and  who, 
being  driven  to  the  North  by.  a  more  aggressive  race, 
left  their  relics  behind,  which  are  now  found  con- 
fused with  those  of  later  date.  It  was  supposed 
formerly  that  the  shell-heaps  found  all  along  our 
coast  were  natural  deposits,  and  not  until  recently 


were  they  connected  with  the  early  inhabitants  of 
the  county.  Professor  JeflTrys  Wyman,  of  Cam- 
bridge, investigated  the  shell-heaps  at  Ipswich,  with 
Putnam,  Cooke  and  Morse,  and  later  these  investi- 
gations have  been  continued  by  many  others. 

The  most  interesting  result  of  the  study  of  these 
shell-heaps  is  perhaps  that  learned  from  the  ex- 
amination of  a  very  old  deposit  at  Ipswich,  composed 
of  shells  of  the  oyster,  a  species  now  practically 
extinct  along  our  shore,  but  which  at  the  time  of 
the  deposit  of  this  shell-heap  must  have  been  very 
abundant.  From  the  relics  there  found,  it  was  clearly 
shown  that  cannibalism  was  practiced  by  the  people 
who  left  us  this  record  of  their  existence.  In  1867 
Mr.  J.  F.  Le  Baron  prepared  a  map  of  the  shell- 
heaps  on  Castle  Neck,  Ijiswich,  and  throughout  the 
county  are  numerous  collections  of  so-called  "Indian 
relics,"  most  of  which  may  be  classed  as  "  surface- 
finds,"  owned  by  private  individuals  and  public 
institutions.  The  largest  collection  of  pre-historic 
relics  is  that  of  the  Peabody  Academy  of  Science 
in  Salem,  which  numbers  several  thousand  speci- 
mens and  includes  many  objects  from  graves  and 
shell-heaps,  besides  skeletons  and  crania. 

Besides  the  work  of  Wyman,  Putnam  and  others 
and  the  articles  published  by  the  Essex  Institute  on 
this  subject,  Dr.  Abbott,  of  New  Jersey,  has  made 
some  field  observations  here  and  has  published  in  his 
work  entitled  "  Primitive  Industry  "  much  of  interest 
in  relation  to  the  local  archaeology,  besides  giving  fig- 
ures of  specimens  collected  in  Essex  County.  Pro- 
fessor Morse,  of  the  Peabody  Academy,  during  his 
visit  to  Japan,  made  several  explorations  in  connec- 
tion with  the  archaeology  of  that  country,  the  results 
of  his  work  being  published  in  the  memoirs  of  the 
University  of  Tokio,  Jajian. 

ArchcTology  is  now  one  of  the  most  progressive 
among  the  sciences,  and  one  of  Essex  County's  gifted 
sons,  Professor  Frederick  W.  Putnam,  formerly  of 
Salem,  now  Peabody  Professor  of  Archaeology  and  di- 
rector of  the  Archseological  Museum  at  Cambridge, 
profiting  by  his  early  training  as  a  zoologist,  is  for 
the  first  time  teaching  the  country  the  proper  and 
only  way  of  exploring  the  mysterious  mounds  of  the 
West. 

It  will  be  seen  by  this  sketch  that  a  large  portion  of 
the  scientific  work  has  centered  in  and  around  Salem. 
This  is  undoubtedly  due  to  the  facilities  there  offered 
for  study.  Museums  and  scientific  institutions  had 
early  become  established  in  Salem,  and  many  society 
and  private  libraries  and  microscopes  were  available. 
But  with  the  interest  in  these  subjects  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  good  lecture  courses  and  libraries  in 
nearly  every  city  and  town,  natural  history  and 
scientific  clubs  and  societies  have  sprung  up  in  vari- 
parts  of  the  county,  and  students  of  natural  history 
may  now  be  found  at  every  hand,  both  collectors  and 
those  who  are  pursuing  their  studies  of  the  minerals, 
the  fauna  or  the  flora,  without  forming  collections. 


Ixxxiv 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


CHAPTEE  V. 
THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  EARLY  LYCEUMS. 

BY  KOBERT  S.   EANTOUL. 

Timothy  Claxton  was  born  in  Norfolk,  England, 
August  22,  1790.  His  father  was  a  gardener,  in  the 
service  of  .the  Windham  family,  at  Earsham  Hall. 
Neither  his  father  nor  his  mother  could  read  or  write, 
but,  with  the  generous  aid  of  the  Honorable  Mrs. 
Windham,  the  mistress  of  the  house,  they  were  en- 
abled to  educate  their  children.  Timothy  was  from 
boyhood  a  marked  character,  and,  as  a  young  man, 
identified  himself  with  the  great  movement  for  the 
general  diffusion  of  knowledge,  which,  under  the  lead 
of  Henry  Brougham  and  other  less  conspicuous  and 
comprehensive  minds,  swept  over  England  and  Scot- 
land in  the  third  decade  of  the  present  century.  It  was 
in  the  year  1823  that  the  so  called  ''  Mechanics'  Insti- 
tutes "  began  to  attract  the  attention  of  all  classes  in 
Great  Britain  by  their  marked  success.  In  that  year, 
Claxton,  who  had  spent  sometime  in  Russia,  engaged 
in  the  introduction  of  fgas-works,  sailed  from  St. 
Petersburg  and  landed  at  Boston,  whence,  in  Septem- 
ber, he  removed  to  Methuen,  in  this  County,  and  con- 
nected himself  with  the  machine-shop  of  a  cotton- 
mill  established  by  Stephen  Minot,  of  Haverhill,  at 
Spicket  Falls,  and  at  that  time  operated  under  the 
supervision  and  agency  of  the  afterwards  well-known 
political  economist  and  writer,  Amasa  Walker. 

In  detailing,  in  his  autobiography  entitled  the  "  Me- 
moir of  a  Mechanic,''  the  years  passed  in  Methuen, 
this  remarkable  man  says  : 

"  In  the  spring  of  1824  an  opportunity  offered  itself  for  me  to  attempt 
the  formation  of  a  society  for  mutual  improvement.  A  small  society, 
for  reading  and  general  inquiry,  had  existed  for  about  five  years  in  the 
village,  and  was  at  a  very  low  ebb  at  that  time.  I  attended  it  and 
found  a  respectable  number  of  both  sexes,  assembled  at  the  house  ot  one 
of  the  members.  They  were  engaged  in  reading  by  turns,  and  the 
president  put  questions  to  them  as  they  proceeded.  I  inquired  what 
other  exercises  they  had.  He  told  me  that  was  all,  except  an  annual  ad- 
dress by  the  president.  I  asked  if  it  would  not  be  well  to  try  the  debat- 
ing of  questions  and  familiar  lectures  on  science  and  the  arts.  He 
thought  well  of  it.  I  told  him  I  thought  they  need  not  be  afraid,  for  I 
had  seen  persons  engaged  in  such  exercises  whose  opportunities  were  in- 
ferior to  theirs.  I  was  asked  if  I  could  give  them  a  lecture.  I  said  I 
would  try,  and  prepared  myself  accordingly.  I  had  brought  a  small 
air-pump  with  me  from  Russia,  which  I  made  from  a  piece  of  gas-tubing, 
with  a  ground  brass  plate,  on  a  mahoganj'  stand.  I  bought  a  few  glass 
articles,  which  I  ground  to  fit  the  pump-plate,  with  a  little  sand  and  wa- 
ter, on  the  hearth-stone  of  my  room.  I  procured  a  small  wash  tub  and 
fitted  a  shelf  to  it,  for  a  pneumatic  cistern.  In  this  way  I  succeeded, 
with  a  very  simple  apparatus,  in  explaining  the  mechanical  and  some  of 
the  chemical  properties  of  air.  This  put  new  life  into  the  society. 
Their  constitution  was  revised,  to  make  provision  for  a  library  and  ap- 
paratus. Debating  was  introduced  with  succeBS,  and  the  ladies  handed 
in  compositions  which  were  read  at  the  meetings.  Several  members 
were  prevailed  upon  to  give  lectures  on  subjects  connected  with  their 
professions  or  callings.  I  served  as  vice-president'  for  the  remainder  of 
my  stay  in  the  town,  a7id  took  an  active  part.  The  society  became  too 
large  for  the  members'  houses.  It  tried  the  School-House  and  then  the 
Tavern  Hall,  but,  not  satisfied  with  either,  built  a  two-story  building  for 
its  own  use,  and  continued  to  prosper.  It  held  weekly  meetings,  with  a 
routine  of  exercises  for  the  month,  comprising,  for  the  first  week,  Read- 
ing by  all  ;  for  the  second,  Reading  by  one  member  specially  designated  ; 
for  tlie  third.  Original  Lectures,  and  for  the  fourth.  Discussion." 


Here  we  have  germinating,  in  the  spring  of  1824, 
in  Essex  County,  the  root-idea  of  the  American  Ly- 
ceum. The  society,  which  Claxton  left  behind  him 
well-established  in  Methuen,  when,  in  October,  1826, 
he  removed  to  Boston,  possessed  every  characteristic 
feature  of  the  novel  organization  now  to  be  described, 
and  which,  under  the  new  name  of  "Lyceum,"  soon 
to  be  applied  to  it  by  another,  was  about  to  challenge 
the  approval  and  enlist  the  interest,  and  even  the  en- 
thusiasm of  the  best  minds  in  the  country.  I  have 
been  thus  minute  in  describing  Claxton's  enterprise, 
because  no  earlier  date  than  this  can  be  assigned  to 
the  origin  of  "the  Lyceum  system  in  America.  On 
his  removal  to  Boston,  he  became  well  known  for  his 
mechanical  ingenuity,  his  large  scientific  attainments 
and  his  whole-souled  devotion  to  the  diffusion  of  use- 
ful knowledge.  He  at  once  associated  himself  with 
Josiah  Holbrook,  who  had  just  come  there  from  Con- 
necticut, and  with  other  kindred  spirits  and  before 
the  end  of  the  year  1826  had  established  the  "  Boston 
Mechanics'  Institution."  In  1829  he  bore  an  active 
part  in  the  formation  of  the  first  Boston  Lyceum,  and 
in  1831,  with  Holbrook  and  others,  established  the 
"  Boston  Mechanics'  Lyceum,"  of  which,  for  the  next 
five  years,  Claxton  was  chosen  president.  Finally, 
having  inherited  an  estate  in  England,  he  returned 
thither  to  enjoy  it,  and  there  closed  his  life.  In  1839 
he  issued,  from  the  London  press,  a  book  of  "  Hints 
on  Self-Education,"  of  which  the  London  Civil  En- 
gineer and  Architects'  Journal  remarked,  in  a  strain  of 
high  commendation,  that  "it  had  all  the  ease  and 
simplicity  of  He  Foe,  and  the  exemplary  utility  of 
Franklin." 

Dr.  George  A.  Perkins,  of  Salem,  who  passed  his 
early  years  in  Boston,  well  remembers  Claxton  as  a 
valued  friend  of  his  boyhood,  always  genial,  gracious 
and  kind,  who  would  interrupt  his  work,  not  for 
hours  merely,  but  for  days,  in  order  that  some  willing- 
minded  youth  might  not  go  unenlightened. 

Attention  was  first  j^ublicly  called  to  the  general 
practicability  of  organizations  like  this  in  an  anony- 
mous article  which  appeared  in  the  October  number 
of  the  American  Journal  of  Education  for  1826.  It 
proved  to  have  been  written  by  one  Josiah  Holbrook, 
an  alumnus  of  Yale  College  and  a  native  of  Derby, 
Conn.,  born  in  1788.  Mr.  Holbrook  afterwards  be- 
came well  known  as  an  enthusiastic  devotee  of  popu- 
lar education  in  all  its  phases.  At  different  periods 
of  his  career  he  was  a  lecturer  upon  science,  a  maker 
of  school  apparatus,  and  a  compiler  of  school  text- 
books, and  in  1824  was  conducting  at  Derby  an  agri- 
cultural and  manual- labor  school,  in  which  he  had, 
in  some  measure,  anticipated  the  modern  theory  of 
object- teaching.  His  scheme  for  "Associations  of 
Adults  for  Mutual  Education,"  as  he  called  them,  the 
name  "Lyceum"  being  only  applied  a  little  later, 
was  introduced  to  public  notice  in  a  guarded  editorial 
indorsement  as  "of  uncommon  interest,"  as  "impor- 
tant in  a  political  point  of  view,"  as  "  intimately  con- 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  EARLY  LYCEUMS. 


Ixxxv 


nected  with  the  diffusion  of  intelligence  and  with  the 
elevation  of  character  among  the  agricultural  and 
mechanic  classes,"  as  "  a  sure  preventive  of  those  in- 
sidious inroads  of  vice  which  are  ever  ready  to  be 
made  on  hours  of  leisure  and  relaxation."  With  such 
high  hopes,  prompted  by  motives  so  unmistakably 
humane,  ingenuous  and  noble,  did  the  pioneers  in  this 
unique  undertaking  make  their  modest,  though  con- 
fident appeal  to  public  favor  ! 

On  January  7,  1879,  the  Concord  Lyceum  com- 
memorated its  fiftieth  anniversary.  The  first  name 
on  its  original  roll  and  its  first  president  had  been 
the  venerable  and  Reverend  Dr.  Ripley,  the  Revolu- 
tionary sage  who  had,  from  his  study  window  in  the 
Old  Manse,  watched  his  parishioners  defending  the 
bridge  on  that  fateful  day  when  there 

"  The  embattled  farmers  stood 
And  fired  the  shot  heard  round  the  world  !" 

The  last  of  the  original  signers  of  its  constitution 
had  been  Judge  Hoar,  then  a  lad  of  twelve,  now  be- 
come a  personage  of  the  first  distinction,  introduced 
in  1870  by  Emerson  to  Carlyle,  as  "  a  friend  whom 
you  saw  in  his  youth,  now  an  inestimable  citizen  in 
this  State,  and  lately  in  President  Grant's  Cabinet, 
Attorney-General  of  the  United  States,  He  lives  in 
this  town  and  carries  it  in  his  hand." 

Naturally  called  on  to  speak  on  such  an  occasion. 
Judge  Hoar  remarked  : — 

"  The  Lyceum  began,  as  most  things  do  tliat  are  good,  by  the  gratui- 
tous labors  of  an  enthusia.st,  Mr.  Josiah  Holbrook,  of  Boston,  a  man  who 
was  interested  in  geology  and  mineralogy,  and  went  about  the  State  de- 
livering lectures  upon  these  subjects,  and  urging  the  people  of  the  cities 
and  towns  to  form  Lyceums  for  popular  education.  His  scheme  embraced 
a  good  deal.  He  persuaded  the  people  of  various  towns  and  cities,  of 
Boston,  and  Cbarlestown,  and  Salem,  and  Worcester,  and  many  of  the 
smaller  towns  of  the  commonwealth  to  start  his  Lyceums.  There  has 
been  but  one,  however,  that  has  grown  up  into  anything  like  the  pro- 
portions of  the  institution  which  be  contemplated  and  recommended, 
and  that  'is  the  Essex  Institute  at  Salem.  It  has,  as  he  proposed  each 
Lyceum  should  have,  a  large  library,  an  extensive  collection  of  objects 
in  natural  history,  cabinets  of  mineralogy,  having  courses  of  lectures, 
and  th«  members  dividing  themselves  into  sections  for  the  prosecution  of 
the  study  of  history,  science  and  art." 

The  large  expectations  entertained  of  Holbrook's 
novel  scheme  will  appear  from  the  contemporary  ex- 
pressions of  its  prime  mover  and  his  coadjutors,  and 
from  the  sympathetic  utterances  of  the  journals  of 
the  day.  There  was  nothing  new  in  the  Debating 
Club,  the  Social  Library,  the  Literary  Circle,  the 
Union  for  General  Inquiry  and  for  Scientific  Research. 
These  had  long  been  known,  and  in  one  form  or  an- 
other had  sprung  into  a  sporadic  life  in  all  the  active 
centres  of  the  world.  Paris  and  London  had  not 
been  without  them  for  centuries,  and  Franklin  had, 
just  a  hundred  years  before,  established  his  "Junto," 
where  the  select  coterie  of  a  dozen  friends,  picked 
from  his  "  ingenious  acquaintance,"  who  spent  Fri- 
day evenings  at  the  Ale  House  in  Philadelphia  in 
1727,  discussed  curious  queries  on  points  of  morals, 
politics  or  natural  philosophy,  propounded  a  week  in 
advance  of  their  consideration,  heard  original  essays 


from  each  member  in  turn,  and  finally  established  a 
"  lending  library," — the  germ  of  the  American  Philo- 
sophical Society.  But  the  idea  of  combining  the 
functions  of  libraries  and  literary,  scientific  and  de- 
bating clubs  all  in  one  body — of  throwing  the  doors 
wide  open  and  inviting  in  all  who  would  assume  their 
share  of  the  work — of  systematically  organizing  such 
clubs  in  every  village  and  hamlet  and  then,  for  mu- 
tual encouragement  and  help,  joining  them  all  in  a 
common  league  together,  was  indeed  a  new  conceit, 
and  if  impracticable  in  its  details,  was  not  unworthy 
of  that  formative  period  which  preceded  Boards  of 
Education,  Normal  Schools  and  Teachers'  Institutes 
and  Conventions, — the  day  of  slow  mails,  stage-coach 
travel,  rare  newspapers,  scant  amusements  and  un- 
systematic teaching,  before  the  cylinder-press,  the 
electric  telegraph,  the  locomotive  engine,  the  subma- 
rine cable  and  the  ocean  steamer  had  made  the  world 
one  family, — the  day  which  ushered  in  our  "revival 
of  learning,"  when  the  depressions  resulting  from  two 
wars  waged  to  effect  our  independence  of  Great  Bri- 
tain were  happily  over,  when  a  distinctly  American 
literature  was  beginning  to  show  itself  in  the  writings 
of  Dana,  Bryant,  Irving,  Cooper  and  Halleck,  when 
Mann  and  his  co-workers  were  just  extorting  from  the 
close-locked  Teutonic  intelligence  the  secrets  of  the 
Prussian  school  system  for  the  advantage  of  our  new 
republic,  when  Bancroft,  Everett,  Ticknor  and  Hedge 
were  just  returning  from  their  first  taste  of  German 
University  culture,  burthened  like  honey-bees  with 
their  delicious  store,  and  when  the  English  speaking 
peoples  on  both  sides  of  the  water  seemed  suddenly 
waking  up  to  the  consciousness  as  of  newly  discov- 
ered truth  in  the  now  familiar  postulate  that  demo- 
cratic government,  while  it  is  the  safest  and  most  sta- 
ble of  all  if  it  rest  on  generally  diff'used  intelligence, 
becomes,  when  based  on  prevailing  ignorance,  the 
most  intolerable  of  despotisms. 

Holbrook's  confidence  in  his  scheme  was  contagious 
because  it  was  enthusiastic  and  exuberant.  He  sup- 
posed the  Lyceum  system  would  rapidly  pervade  the 
country  and  ultimately  the  world  at  large.  "  It  seems 
to  me,"  he  said  in  his  original  prospectus,  "that  if 
associations  for  mutual  instruction  in  the  sciences 
and  other  branches  of  useful  knowledge  could  once 
be  started  in  our  villages,  and  upon  a  general  plan, 
they  would  increase  with  great  rapidity  and  do  more 
for  the  general  diffusion  of  knowledge  and  for  raising 
the  moral  and  intellectual  taste  of  our  countrymen 
than  any  other  expedient  which  can  possibly  be  de- 
vised. And  it  may  be  questioned  if  there  is  any 
other  way  to  check  the  progress  of  that  monster,  in- 
temperance, which  is  making  such  havoc  with  talents, 
morals  and  everything  that  raises  man  above  the 
brute,  but  by  presenting  some  object  of  sufficient  in- 
terest to  divert  the  attention  of  the  young  from  places 
and  practices  which  lead  to  dissipation  and  to  ruin." 

In  this  initial  article  and  in  the  subsequent  allus- 
ions to  the  subject  with  which  the  public  press  and 


Ixxxvi 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


educational  periodicals  fairly  teemed,  the  general 
mechanism  of  the  proposed  organization  is  sufficient- 
ly disclosed.  Each  "  Association  of  Adults  for  Mu- 
tual Improvement "  was  to  have  its  president,  secre- 
taries, treasurer,  curators  and  other  needful  function- 
aries and  also  three  delegates  to  meet,  twice  a  year, 
delegates  from  other  branches  of  the  organization  in 
the  same  county,  for  the  furthering  of  its  various  ob- 
jects, especially  "  for  qualifying  teachers."  And  this 
board  of  delegates  for  the  county,  duly  organized, 
shall  appoint  a  representative  to  meet  representatives 
from  other  like  boards,  who  shall  be  styled  the 
"  Board  of  Mutual  Education  for  the  State."  These 
State  boards  are  to  organize  in  turn,  to  meet  annually 
for  certain  prescribed  functions,  and  to  send  delegates 
to  a  general  conclave  embracing  the  whole  country, 
whose  permanent  headquarters  were  ultimately  to  be 
established  at  Washington.  The  society  was  to  be 
open  to  all  adults  of  both  sexes  who  were  willing  to 
share  its  labors  and  its  cost,  and  the  monies  accruing 
from  fees  for  admittance  or  from  the  generosity  of 
patrons  were  to  be  applied  to  the  purchase  of  books, 
cabinets,  philosophical  and  scientific  apparatus,  the 
collection  and  exchange  among  the  Lyceums  of  the 
country  of  specimens  in  botany  mineralogy  and  natural 
history,  the  preparation  and  publication  of  town  and 
county  maps  and  histories  and  the  observing  and 
communicating  through  loublication  and  correspond- 
ence of  atmospheric,  meteorological  and  climatic  phe- 
nomena, the  chemical  analysis  of  soils,  the  character 
of  quarries,  minerals  and  mines,  and  such  other  facts 
of  importance  as  might  from  time  to  time  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  corresponding  secretaries.  Funds 
might  also  be  applied  to  the  aid  of  institutions  for 
"  practical  instruction,"  and  even  to  the  help  of  de- 
serving aspirants  in  pursuing  the  higher  branches  of 
study.  In  science  "  classes  "  were  to  be  formed,  each 
choosing  its  "  foreman,"  and  conducting  its  investiga- 
tions in  its  own  way,  and  each  in  turn  occupying  the 
floor  on  its  allotted  night  and  claiming  the  attention 
of  the  whole  Lyceum,  be  it  in  geology,  astronomy,  nat- 
ural philosophy,  chemistry  or  mechanics.  The  plan  of 
itinerant,  migratory  or  perambulating  libraries  was 
commended  to  the  attention  of  counties  and  towns. 
This  plan  consisted  in  combining  the  funds  devoted  by 
several  neighboring  towns  to  the  purchase  of  books 
for  general  circulation,  so  that  more  books  should  be 
obtained  for  the  money  expended  and  no  duplicates 
bought.  Thus  each  town  in  a  group,  say  of  five  towns 
for  instance,  would  take  possession  of  one  fifth  of  the 
books  purchased,  keep  them  for  an  agreed  period  and 
pass  them  on  to  the  next  town  of  the  group,  receiving 
a  second  fifth  at  the  expiration  of  the  stipulated 
term.  But  in  the  estimation  of  the  projectors  of  the 
Lyceum  the  library  in  all  its  forms  had  failed  as  a 
stimulant  to  independent  thinking  amongst  the  mass 
of  the  people.  Some  more  pungent  flavor  must  be 
imparted  to  general  education.  This  was  to  be 
effected  through  the  immediate  contact  and  clashing 


of  mind  with  mind  in  neighborly  bouts  over  issues  of 
real,  living,  dominating  importance.  Questions  upon 
which  all  the  townspeople  had  finally  to  pass  were  to 
be  debated  before  all  the  town  by  friends  and  neigh- 
bors who  had  serious  convictions,  pro  and  contra,  as 
to  how  these  questions  ought  to  be  determined. 
Moreover,  scholarship  was  seen  to  possess  intrinsic 
and  inherent  values  of  its  own,  quite  aside  from  the 
consideration  it  buys.  Why,  it  was  asked,  may  not 
all  men  enjoy  these  in  equitable  measure?  The 
locking  up  of  learning  in  cloisters  and  colleges  had 
been  denounced  by  our  forefathers  from  the  first,  as 
among  the  "wiles  of  Satan."  Why  not  seize,  per- 
force, upon  the  cherished  heir-loom  of  the  schools? 
If  eloquence  and  culture,  if  the  gifts  of  tongue  and 
pen  and  the  power  of  deep  thinking  were  precious 
boons,  entitling  the  possessor  to  the  deference  they 
claimed,  why,  it  was  impatiently  asked,  might  they 
not  be  more  evenly  distributed  ?  If  science  and  the 
arts  really  conduced  to  the  amelioration  of  mankind, 
why  be  longer  indebted  for  their  bles-isings  to  a  few 
favored  devotees?  Why  not  snatch  them  for  our- 
selves? Was  it  the  spirit  of  the  Renaissance  and  the 
Reformation  abroad  again?  Or  was  it  rather  the 
error  of  the  French  Encyclopaedists  masquerading  in 
a  new  disguise?  It  was  no  spirit  of  hostility  or  jeal- 
ousy towards  the  higher  learning,  for  it  assumed  that 
haj^piness  was  possible  in  the  ratio  of  the  learning 
attained.  It  was  not  proposed  to  raze  the  citadel,  but 
only  to  assault  its  keep  and  divide  its  hoarded  treas- 
ure. It  was  an  uprising  in  behalf  of  more  light. 
Perhaps  it  was  the  socialistic  principle  applied  to 
culture.  Perhaps  it  was  communism  in  brain-food 
and  brain  products.  It  wandered  far  away  from  its 
English  prototype, — so  far  that  we  find  Sir  Thomas 
Weise,  a  British  member  of  Parliament,  discussing 
the  doings  of  the  National  Lyceum  of  America  in 
1831,  with  a  view  to  adapt  its  methods  to  the  needs  of 
the  Mechanics'  Institutes  of  England.  Holbrook 
claimed  it  as  a  thoroughly  American  product,  and  it 
certainly  seemed  well  suited  to  the  genius  of  the 
country,  for  it  was  democratic  in  spirit  and  republican 
in  form;  it  was  free  and  voluntary  and  spontaneous 
in  its  origin  ;  it  was  elastic  and  self-adapting  in  its 
organization  ;  it  was  social  and  humanizing  in  its 
aims,  and  kept  before  it  the  great  and  dignified  cause 
ot  self-culture  and  mutual  improvement,  while  it  cer- 
tainly might  claim  continental  scope  and  dimensions, 
after  its  first  national  meeting  in  1831,  when  no  less 
than  eight  or  nine  hundred  town  Lyceums  were  re- 
ported in  different  parts  of  the  country,  with  fifty  or 
sixty  county  Lyceums,  as  well  as  several  State  organ- 
izations. The  end  showed  that  vitality  resided  in  the 
town  Lyceums  and  not  in  the  attempted  confedera- 
tions of  them. 

The  reader  who  finds  it  hard  to  recognize  in  all 
these  anticipations  the  lyceum  of  actual  fact  as  we 
have  known  it  for  the  last  half-century,  may  easily 
reconcile  himself  to  the  truthfulness  of  the  picture  I 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  EARLY  LYCEUMS. 


Ixxxvii 


have  drawn  by  a  little  study  of  the  journals  of  the 
day, — by  an  examination  of  the  score  of  articles  which 
appeared  in  the  first  five  volumes  of  the  American 
Journal  of  Education, — and  by  a  passing  glance  at  the 
state  of  opinion  and  conditions  of  life  which  prevailed 
in  the  New  England  of  1820-30. 

When   Claxton   was    lecturing  on   air  before  his 
townsmen  of  Methuen,  there  was  not  a  rod  of  steam 
railway  in  existence.     That  potent  leveling  and  cen- 
tralizing agency  had  not  begun  its  work.     The  ques- 
tion was  still  an  open  one  whether  horse-power  or 
steam  would  ultimately  prove  the  better  motor  for  the 
new  roadways  already  being  provided  with  rails  of 
wood,  iron  and  stone.     And  it  was  only  in  1828-29 
that  the  Stephensons  succeeded  in  applying  the  tubu- 
lar boiler  to  the  traction  engine  "  Rocket,"  and  that 
the   triumph   of    steam    was   established.     The    first 
locomotive-engine  which  invaded  Essex  County  ran 
on  a  spur  track  laid  by  the  Boston  and  Lowell  cor- 
poration to  Andover  in  1833,  and  to  Haverhill  in  1835. 
The  Eastern  Railroad  reached  Salem  in  1838.     Tops- 
field  was,  up  to  this  time,  the  recognized  centre  of  the 
county,  and  its  Academy  Hall  and  its  famous  Stage 
House,  since  removed  to  Phillips'  Beach,  Swampscott, 
and  there  consumed  by  fire,  were  the  usual  meeting- 
places  for  all  county  gatherings.     Each  town  had  then 
a  social  autonomy  of  its  own,  not  yet  impaired  by  the 
draft  on  its  active  citizenship,  necessary  to  meet  the 
business  demands  of  our  great  railroad  centres,  build- 
ing up  great  hives  of  industry  and  bringing  together 
great   swarms   of    population,    nor    by   the   superior 
attractions  of  city  art  galleries,  concert-halls,  lecture- 
rooms  and  theatres  for  our  hours  of  ease.     Each  was 
a  social  centre  for  itself, — a  planet,  as  it  were,  revolving 
with  its  own  satellites  in  its  own  sphere,  and  not  yet 
swung  out  of  its  appointed  course  by  the  disturbing 
attraction    which,    when    brought   near,   the   greater 
body,  be  it  material  or  social,  possesses  for  the  less. 
Each  had  its  traditions,  its  ancient  families,  its  lead- 
ing people, — both  those  of  approved  hospitality,  of 
the  great  house  and  the  long  purse,  and  those  who 
based  their  claims  on  superior  knowledge,  character, 
discrimination  and  taste, — its  clergymen  and  deacons, 
its  'squires,  doctors,  teachers,  ship-masters  and  own- 
ers of  shipping, — its  town  elite, — and  for  better  or 
for  worse,  its  own  townspeople  must  suffice,  in  the 
main,  for  its  own  needs. 

Our  county,  one  of  the  original  four  incorporated 
and  set  off  in  1643,  has  an  area  of  not  far  from  five 
hundred  square  miles  which,  at  the  time  we  speak  of, 
supported  a  population  of  about  eighty  thousand 
souls,  and  of  these  fifty-four  or  fifty-five  thousand 
lived  in  thirteen  large  towns,  every  one  of  them  incor- 
porated before  1650,  and  seven  of  them  as  early  as 
1640.  Of  the  towns  in  Massachusetts  possessed  of 
four  thousand  inhabitants  and  upwards,  Essex  County 
contained  nearly  one-half.  Of  our  six  prosperous 
cities  the  largest,  Lynn  and  Lawrence,  held  no  such 
places   in  the  census  tables  then.     Lynn,  now  the 


larger  of  the  two,  was  a  town  of  not  half  the  size  of 
the  Salem  of  that  day,  and  smaller  than  either  New- 
buryport  or  Gloucester,  while  Lawrence,  which  now 
bestrides  our  great  water-way  like  a  Colossus,  had 
neither  "promise"  nor  "potency"  before  1847.     In 
many  ways  ours  was  a  peculiar  county.     Nowhere  on 
this  continent,  outside  the  great  cities,  were  so  many 
people  brought  together  in  so  small  a  space.    Nowhere 
was  there  greater  average  wealth  or  more  generally 
diffused  intelligence,  independence,  comfort  and  thrift. 
Save  in  a  few  exceptional  situations,  as  of  the  counties 
of  Dukes  and  Barnstable,  there  was  nowhere  in  the 
country  a   population  living  on   an  equal  area  and 
touched  by  navigable  water  at  so  many  points.     Be- 
sides the  lordly   Merrimac,  flanked  on  either  hand 
with  growing  towns,  turning  more  spindles  than  any 
other  river  in  the  world  to-day,  and  weaving  miles 
enough  of  cloth  every  three  weeks  to  swathe  the  earth, 
which   furnished    to   our  thirty   miles   of    northern 
frontier  a   cheap    highway    for    freight,    the   county 
could  claim,  within  its  limits,  no  less  than  five  val- 
uable   and    commodious    harbors,   at    Newburyport, 
Gloucester,  Beverly,  Marblehead  and   Salem,  not  to 
omit  others  of  lesser  draught,  but  fully  equal  to  the 
more  moderate   demands  of  local   trade.     Treading 
hard    upon    the  heels    of  the    great   towns    already 
mentioned     came    Andover,    Haverhill,    Newbury, 
Ipswich  and  Danvers.     Amongst  the  counties  of  the 
State  Essex  had  no  rival. — not  even  Suffolk, — in  the 
aggregate  of  her  population,  unless,  perhaps,  Worces- 
ter,  and   probably   she   overtopped   them   all.     Her 
lands  were  held  in  small  hereditary  estates  by  the  men 
who   tilled   them.     Her   capital   and  her  enterprise 
found  ready  employment  at  home,  or  if  they  looked 
abroad,  turned  eager  glances  to  the  East,  and  not  as 
lately  toward  the  setting  sun. 

Content  in  earlier  years  with  the  hard  fare  and 
meagre  earnings  of  the  fisheries  and  the  export  trade 
in  fish,  and  later  trained  on  the  gun-decks  of  ships  of 
war,  or  of  their  own  privateers,  the  people  of  Essex 
County  had  come,  since  the  days  of  peace,  to  push 
their  ambitious  ventures  into  every  sea.  Foreign 
commerce,  which  is  in  itself  a  liberal  education,  had 
taught  them  what  the  bold  and  strenuous  life  of  the 
fishing-smack  or  the  man  of-war  could  never  have 
engrafted  upon  their  sturdy.  Puritanic  thought,  and 
they  brought  home  from  their  distant  voyaging  a 
freight  more  remunerative  than  silks,  or  gums  or  spices, 
made  up  of  broadening  views  of  life  and  liberal  esti- 
mates of  men  and  things.  Geography  and  ethnol- 
ogy they  studied  at  first  hand.  The  populations  which 
their  enterprise  employed,  and  the  trade  which  their 
successes  and  their  hospitality  invited,  built  up  large 
markets  for  the  consumption  of  all  that  the  interior 
sections  of  the  county  could  produce.  The  popula- 
tion was  singularly  homogeneous,  the  few  mills  there 
were  being  operated  by  the  sons  and  daughters  of 
Essex  County  farmers  and  mechanics,  amongst  whom 
the  average  of  intelligence  and  character  was  not  a 


Ixxxviii 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


whit  lower  than  where  mills  did  not  eyist.  This  high 
average  was  not  reduced — possibly  it  was  advanced — 
by  another  manufacture  which  formed  a  peculiar  fea- 
ture of  the  industry  of  the  oounty.  Shoes  were  then 
made  by  hand,  and  as  the  occupations  of  husbandry 
and  the  fisheries  left  much  of  the  inclement  season 
unemployed,  these  callings  were  very  generally  sup- 
plemented in  the  winter  months  by  the  making  of  a 
coarse  kind  of  shoe  for  the  southern  market.  This 
was  a  craft  which  called  for  little  capital,  since 
the  shoe-stock  was  distributed  in  weekly  portions 
from  Lynn  or  Haverhill,  the  great  centres  of  this  pe- 
culiar industry,  nor  did  it  require  any  great  degree  of 
dexterity  or  skill.  And  thus  the  frugal  yeomanry  of 
Essex,  whose  summers  were  employed  on  the  Grand 
Banks  or  on  their  ancestral  acres,  clubbed  together 
by  half-dozens  to  build  the  little  box-like  shoe-shops 
which  once  dotted  all  our  country  roads,  and  in  which 
they  wrought  lustily  all  winter  with  lapstone  and 
awl,  in  a  temperature  less  conducive  to  longevity, 
perhaps,  then  stimulating  to  cerebration.  And  here 
all  unconscious  of  the  dictum  of  Pliny — "  ne  sutor 
ultra  crepidam  " — they  were  so  effectually  over -ruling, 
as  well  as  of  the  supercilious  slurs  of  Cicero,  and 
Plautus  and  Horace  on  their  indoor  habits  and  un- 
military  pose,  they  passed  judgment  from  the  bench, 
so  to  say,  on  the  latest  sermon,  newspaper  leader,  po- 
litical harangue  and  local  gossip,  with  as  much  crit- 
ical acumen,  and  as  deep,  earnest  consideration  of 
each  passing  topic  as  though,  in  very  truth,  time's 
noblest  offspring  were  the  last. 

I  do  not  know  that  I  need  sketch  in  further  detail 
the  salient  features  of  this  sturdy  people.  General 
the  Baron  von  Riedesel's  remark  upon  the  Bay  Colo- 
ny in  Revolutionary  days, — high  praise  from  an  ene- 
my,—" the  inclination  of  the  people  is  for  commerce, 
navigation  and  the  military  art,"  as  well  described 
them  half  a  century  later,  and  no  local  community 
could  with  less  presumption  take  to  itself  the  glowing 
encomium  of  Burke  upon  the  commerce  and  fisheries 
of  New  England.  Theirs  was  the  county  which  had 
produced  the  Pickerings,  the  Cabots,  the  Crownin- 
shields,  the  Lowells, — Nathan  Dane,  Manasseh  Cut- 
ler, Rufus  King,  Theophilus  Parsons,  Joseph  Story, 
— the  Derbys,  the  Thorndikes,  the  Peabodys,  the 
Jacksons,  the  Grays,  the  Lees,  the  Pickmans,  the 
Hoopers,  the  families  of  Cleaveland  and  Phillips  and 
Bowditeh,  and,  earlier  than  all  these,  the  fine  old 
stocks  of  Lynde,  of  Sewall  and  of  Dummer.  Theirs 
was  the  sod  upon  which  Endicott  and  Higginson 
and  Saltonstall  and  Winthrop  first  stepped  ashore. 
Theirs  was  the  soil  upon  which  Gage  had  mus- 
tered his  myrmidons,  in  the  vain  hope  to  quench 
the  insurgent  spirit  flaming  \x^  in  a  Provincial 
Assembly  which  defied  his  sovereign  from  the  old 
town-house  in  Salem.  And  while  it  may  be  the 
fact  that  no  actual  collision  of  troops  ever  conse- 
crated in  blood  the  soil  of  Essex  County,  although 
we  suffered  from  Indian  butcheries  in  the  valley  of 


the  Merrimac,  and  felt  the  shots  of  British  cruisers 
along  our  seaboard,  and  saw  from  the  north  shore  of 
the  bay  the  smoke  of  battle  between  the  "  Shannon  '' 
and  her  doomed  antagonist, — that  unequal  contest 
over  which  English  school-boys  still  regale  their 
drooping  spirits  in  the  chorus, — 

"  The  Chesapeake,  so  bold,  out  of  Boston.  I  am  told, 
Came  to  take  a  British  frigate  neat  and  handy, 
And  the  people  of  the  port  came  out  to  see  the  sport, 
With  their  music  playing  '  Yankee  doodle  dandy  I '  " 

— while  all  this  may  be  true,  certain  it  is  that  no 
equal  number  of  people  had  borne  a  heavier  share  in 
Indian,  French  or  British  hostilities,  or  contributed 
more  victims  to  the  horrors  of  Mill  Prison,  Dartmoor 
and  the  slave-pens  of  Algiers,  from  the  gloomy  days 
of  Bloody  Brook,  of  the  Pequots  and  the  Narragan- 
setts, — from  the  days  of  the  brilliant  assaults  upon 
Port  Royal,  Louisburg  and  Quebec, — down  through  the 
times  when  Washington  took  command  of  the  Conti- 
nental forces  and  called  on  us,  without  waiting  for  the 
action  of  Congress,  to  improvise  a  navy, — the  times 
when  Mugford  and  Manly  and  Harraden  and  Hugh 
Hill  were  afloat, — when  Marblehead  set  her  amphib- 
ious regiment  on  foot, — down  to  that  later  day  when  all 
our  seaboard  towns  vied  with  each  other  to  do  homage 
to  the  naval  heroes  of  the  second  war  of  Independence. 
The  doubtful  claim  to  the  first  bloodshed  of  the 
Revolution  on  that  Sunday  afternoon  in  February, 
1775,  at  the  old  North  Bridge  in  Salem,  might  be 
worth  contesting  in  another  county,  but  not  here,  for 
our  people  have  twice  sought  out  and  attacked,  on 
her  own  chosen  field,  the  naval  power  which  claims 
to  rule  the  waves,  closing  with  her  wherever  they 
could  find  her,  be  it  in  the  Indian  Ocean  or  the  Irish 
Channel,  or  in  whatever  waters  her  red  flag  pro- 
claimed her  the  terror  of  the  seas,  and  giving  battle 
until  she  cried  enough.  Facts  like  these  go  far  to 
justify  the  ancient  boast  that  Essex  County  produces 
more  history  to  the  acre  than  any  equal  area  in  the 
country.  Antecedents  like  these  had  well  prepared 
the  people  of  the  county  for  the  new  educational  dis- 
pensation of  which  we  speak,  and  they  were  as  ready 
as  any  of  their  neighbors  to  distinguish  the  wheat 
from  the  chaft"  in  Holbrook's  singular  proposals. 

Enough  has  been  said  to  indicate  in  a  general  way 
what  these  proposals  were.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  the  first  scientific  survey  of  an  American  State 
was  Hitchcock's  survey  of  Massachusetts,  the  report 
of  which  became  public  in  1833  ;  that  we  had  no 
State  Board  of  Education  before  1837,  and  no  author- 
ized map  of  the  commonwealth  until  1842,  and  that 
our  first  Normal  School,  established  at  Lexington  in 
1839,  and  which  it  had  been  proposed,  the  year  be- 
fore, to  establish  at  Dummer  Academy,  was  the  first 
in  America,  although  the  Prussians  had  known  them 
for  a  century.  The  Lyceum  was  accordingly  hailed 
as  a  cheap  and  much  needed  training-school  and  ex- 
amining board  for  common-school  teachers,  while  its 
semi-annual  county  gatherings  were  to  serve  the  pur- 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  EARLY  LYCEUMS. 


Ixxxix 


poses  now  met  by  Teachers'  Institutes  and  Conven- 
tions. It  was  the  impression  of  its  projectors  that 
sscientific  topics  were  to  prove  the  most  attractive,  and 
that  by  adhering  rather  exclusively  to  these  they  were 
to  escape  at  once  both  the  Scylla  and  the  Charybdis 
of  religious  and  political  contentions.  To  suppose, 
however,  as  is  common,  that  at  any  time  troublesome 
questions  were  successfully  excluded  from  the  Lyceum 
platform  is  to  accept  an  error.  No  question  was  more 
generally  discussed  from  the  outset  than  that  of  the 
relative  disadvantages  of  a  free  black  and  a  slave 
population,  the  Colonization  Society's  methods,  and 
abolition  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  while  the 
heat  engendered  was  probably  less  than  it  would 
have  been  a  little  later, — the  Garrison  mob  was  in 
October,  1835, — I  am  convinced  that  the  most  volcan- 
ic topics  were  not  interdicted,  from  reading  a  letter 
now  before  me,  addressed  by  the  Hon.  Horace  Mann 
to  my  father,  both  being  members  of  Governor  Ev- 
erett's first  Board  of  Education,  in  which  is  reported 
an  attack  made  in  a  lecture  before  one  of  the  best- 
conducted  and  most  conservative  Lyceums  of  the 
county,  denouncing  the  board  "as  a  machination  of 
the  Devil, — showing  the  preponderance  of  Unitarian- 
ism  in  it, — that  the  next  element  in  point  of  strength 
was  infidelity,  two  members  being  infidels,  and  its 
orthodoxy  confided  to  one  poor,  weak  old  man  !" 

Another  mode  proposed  to  quicken  the  public 
mind  was  through  "  cheap  and  popular  "  publications. 
The  Middlesex  County  Lyceum,  under  the  Presidency 
of  Edward  Everett,  began  the  publication  of  a  series 
of  treatises,  of  which  the  first  was  a  popular  Lyceum 
lecture  on  taxation  by  Andrew  P.  Peabody.  It  is 
now  before  me,  and  is  designated  on  its  title-page  as 
Vol.  I.,  No.  1,  of  the  "  Workingmen's  Library."  A 
prospectus  follows,  from  which  it  appears  that  the 
publications  were  intended,  in  part,  for  reading  as 
Lyceum  lectures  in  small  towns  where  there  might 
be  difiiculty  in  procuring  speakers.  They  were 
to  be  published  monthly,  and  furnished  by  a  com- 
mittee of  five.  They  were  not  to  fail  for  want 
of  being  "plain  and  intelligible;"  each  writer  to 
be  "  answerable  for  his  own  statements  and  opin- 
ions ;"  the  price  to  be  seventeen  cents  each.  In  a 
letter  to  my  father,  who  was  associated  with  him 
on  the  board  of  management  of  the  Middlesex 
County  Lyceum,  Mr.  Everett,  whose  clerical  habit 
had  not  wholly  worn  off,  although  he  franks  his  letter 
as  a  member  of  Congress,  speaks  of  these  publica- 
tions as  "  tracts,"  is  "  more  and  more  favorably  im- 
pressed ''  with  the  plan,  "  if  it  be  made  sufficiently 
cheap  to  penetrate  the  community,"  and  recommends 
"  short  tracts,  such,  for  instance,  as  may  be  read  thro' 
aloud  in  an  hour  &  a  quarter  at  the  farthest," — offers 
as  his  own  contribution  a  lecture  lately  repeated  at 
Charlestown,  Waltham  and  Framingham, — hopes  it 
"  might  do  as  one  of  the  tracts,"  and  thinks  "  the 
rule  should  be  to  put  them  as  low  as  they  can  possi- 
bly be  afforded."     Henry  Brougham  was  promoting 


publications  of  a  similar  character  at  this  time  in  Great 
Britain. 

One  marked  result  of  the  Lyceum  system,  the  pro- 
duction of  a  school  of  trained  and  able  debaters  in 
every  town,  does  not  seem  to  have  been  anticipated 
by  its  projectors.  Among  the  long  lists  of  prospective 
benefits  I  do  not  find  this  enumerated.  But  it  was 
plain  from  the  start  that  the  Lyceum  was  to  afford  a 
free-school  of  debate  for  questions  calculated  to  shape 
public  opinion,  questions  involving  expediency  and 
policy,  quite  as  much  as  questions  of  pure  science. 
Thus  Emerson  seems  to  have  found  in  the  Lyceum 
the  freedom  denied  him  in  the  pulpit.  How  far  he 
shaped  the  Lyceum,  how  far  the  Lyceum  shaped  him, 
is  a  question  upon  which  we  may  not  eater  here. 
His  biographer,  Cooke,  states  that  at  once  upon  his 
return  from  Europe  in  1833  "  he  took  advantage  of 
the  interest  in  this  new  mode  of  popular  instruction 
and  working  with  many  others  served  to  mould  the 
Lyceum  into  a  means  of  general  culture ;  helped  make 
it  a  moral  and  intellectual  power,  a  quickening  influ- 
ence on  life  and  thought,"  while  his  admirer,  Marga- 
ret Fuller,  lets  us  see  that  in  his  lectures  he  was  en- 
listing a  following  which  made  the  later  essays  possi- 
ble. Whether,  without  the  Lyceum,  Wendell  Phil- 
lips and  Henry  Ward  Beecher  would  have  achieved 
their  triumphs  in  the  mastery  of  popular  audiences, 
is  a  debatable  question.  Even  of  such  men  as  Garri- 
son and  Parker, — men  whose  natures  are  an  endoge- 
nous rather  than  an  exogenous  product, — it  is  not 
quite  safe  to  say  that  they  would  have  been  just  what 
they  were  without  the  Lyceum.  But  I  had  better 
let  Mr.  Emerson  tell  his  own  story. 

Mr.  Emerson  stepped  from  the  pulpit  to  the  Ly- 
ceum platform.  He  describes  his  appearance  in  the 
new  field,  which  occurred  in  the  winter  of  1833-34, 
as  his  "  first  attempt  at  public  discourse  after  leaving 
the  pulpit."  His  subjects  had  at  that  time  a  marked 
leaning  towards  natural  science.  Two  years  later  he 
detailed  to  Carlyle  the  reasons  which  ought  to  bring 
the  latter  to  America.  "  Especially  Lectures.  My 
own  experiments  for  one  or  two  winters,  and  the 
readiness  with  which  you  embrace  the  work,  have  led 
me  to  expect  much  from  this  mode  of  addressing  men. 
In  New  England,  the  Lyceum,  as  we  call  it,  is  al- 
ready a  great  institution.  Besides  the  more  elaborate 
courses  of  lectures  in  the  cities,  every  country  town 
has  its  weekly  evening  meeting,  called  a  Lyceum,  and 
every  professional  man  in  the  place  is  called  upon, 
in  the  course  of  the  winter,  to  entertain  his  fellow- 
citizens  with  a  discourse  on  whatever  topic.  The 
topics  are  miscellaneous  as  heart  can  wish.  But  in 
Boston,  Lowell  and  Salem  courses  are  given  by  indi- 
viduals. I  see  not  why  this  is  not  the  most  flexible 
of  all  organs  of  opinion,  from  its  popularity  and  from 
its  newness,  permitting  you  to  say  what  you  think, 
without  any  shackles  of  prescription.  The  pulpit  of 
our  age  certainly  gives  forth  an  obstructed  and  un- 
certain sound,  and  the  faith  of  those  in  it,  if  men  of 


xc 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


genius,  may  differ  so  much  from  that  of  those  under 
it  as  to  embarrass  the  conscience  of  the  speaker,  be- 
cause so  much  is  attributed  to  him  from  the  fact  of 
standing  there.  In  the  Lyceum  nothing  is  presup- 
posed. The  orator  is  only  responsible  for  what  his 
lips  articulate.  Then  what  scope  it  allows  !  You 
may  handle  every  member  and  relation  of  humanity. 
What  could  Homer,  Socrates  or  St.  Paul  say  that  can- 
not be  said  here  ?  The  audience  is  of  all  classes,  and 
its  character  will  be  determined  always  by  the  name 
of  the  lecturer.  Why  may  you  not  give  the  reins  to 
your  wit,  your  pathos,  your  philosophy,  and  become 
that  good  despot  which  the  virtuous  orator  is  ? 

"Another  thing.  I  am  persuaded  that  if  a  man 
speak  well,  he  shall  find  this  a  well-rewarded  work 
in  New  England.  I  have  written  this  year  ten  lec- 
tures ;  I  had  written  as  many  last  year,  and  for  read- 
ing both  thcaC  and  those  at  places  whither  I  was  in- 
vited, I  have  received  this  last  winter  about  three 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars." 

The  next  year  he  wrote  to  Carlyle:  "  I  find  myself 
so  much  more  and  freer  on  the  platform  of  the  lec- 
ture-room than  in  the  pulpit.  .  .  .  But  I  preach  in 
the  Lecture-Room  and  there  it  tella,  for  there  is  no 
prescription.  You  may  laugh,  weep,  reason,  sing, 
sneer  or  pray  according  to  your  genius.  It  is  the  new 
pulpit,  and  very  much  in  vogue  with  my  northern 
countrymen.  This  winter,  in  Boston,  we  shall  have 
more  than  ever;  two  or  three  every  night  of  the  week. 
When  will  you  come  and  redeem  your  jiledge?"  And 
again,  "  I  am  always  haunted  with  brave  dreams  of 
what  might  be  accomplished  in  the  Lecture-Room,  so 
free  and  so  unpretending  a  platform,  a  Delos  not  yet 
made  fast.  I  imagine  eloquence  of  infinite  variety, — 
rich  as  conversation  can  be  with  anecdote,  joke, 
tragedy,  ei^ics  and  pindarics,  argument  and  confes- 
sion." In  an  earlier  letter,  dated  April,  1835,  he  had 
said  to  Carlyle :  "  If  the  lectures  succeed  in  Boston, 
their  success  is  insured  at  Salem,  a  town  thirteen 
miles  ofi",  with  a  population  of  fifteen  thousand. 
They  might,  perhaps,  be  repeated  at  Cambridge, 
three  miles  from  Boston,  and  probably  at  Philadel- 
phia, thirty-six  hours  distant.  .  .  .  They  might  be 
delivered,  one  or  two  in  each  week.  And  if  they 
met  with  sudden  success,  it  would  be  easy  to  carry  on 
the  course  simultaneously  at  Salem,  and  Cambridge, 
and  in  the  City." 

To  all  which  solicitations,  Carlyle,  not  taking  very 
kindly  to  the  proposal,  though  thinking  "  I  could 
really  swim  in  that  element  were  I  once  thrown  into 
it,"  "  a  thing  I  have  always  had  some  hankering  af- 
ter," "  could  any  one  but  appoint  me  Lecturing  Pro- 
fessor of  Teufelsdrockh's  Science, — 'Things  in  gen- 
eral ' !  "  replies  from  time  to  time  with  an  occasional 
growl,  and  they  keep  the  plan  "hanging  to  solace 
ourselves  with  it,  till  the  time  decide,"  until,  in  De- 
cember, 1841,  he  writes  in  this  characteristic  strain  of 
Emerson's  "  Lectures  on  the  Times",  "  Good  speed 
to  the  Speaker,  to  the  Speech.'  Your  Country  is  luck- 


ier than  most  at  this  time ;  it  has  still  real  preaching ; 
the  tongue  of  man  is  not,  whensoever  it  begins  wag- 
ging, entirely  sure  to  emit  babblement,  twaddlement, 
sincere  cant  and  other  noises  which  awaken  the  pas- 
sionate wish  for  silence." 

Of  course  there  were  objectors  and  doubters,  and 
the  Lyceum  was  opposed  on  the  very  grounds  upon 
which  its  promoters  supported  it.  For  those  who 
shook  their  heads  over  Pope's  line, 

"A  little  learning  is  a  dangerous  thing," 

and  Bacon's  warning, 

"A  little  philosophy  inclineth  man's  mind  to  atheism," 

the  answer  was  ready, — that  we  cannot  have  much 
unless  we  first  have  little,  and  that  the  having  of  lit- 
tle begets  the  desire  for  much.  If  these  organiza- 
tions might  not  hope  to  carry  higher  aloft  the  apex 
of  the  pyramid  of  human  knowledge,  they  might  hope 
to  be  able  to  broaden  out  its  base  and  set  the  vener- 
able pile  upon  a  more  firm,  stable  and  comprehensive 
footing.  It  was  the  diffusion  of  information,  primar- 
ily, and  not  the  advancement  of  science,  which  the 
Lyceums  aimed  at.  The  systems  of  education  they 
recommended  were  always  described  as  practical,  and 
were  pretty  sharply  antagonized  with  those  of  the 
colleges  and  higher  schools.  They  seem  to  have  had 
a  strong  leaning  towards  manual  labor  academies, 
which  were  then  much  in  vogue,  and  one  of  which 
enjoyed  a  brief  career  at  the  Cherry  Hill  Farm,  in 
North  Beverly.  They  pro^sosed  to  insist,  amongst 
other  branches,  upon  instruction  in  practical  politics, 
and  called  for  the  study  of  the  State  and  Federal  Con- 
stitutions, and  for  text-books  on  familiar  principles  of 
law.  The  lottery  was  one  vulnerable  member  of  the 
hydra-headed  monster,  and  they  proposed  to  attack 
that.  In  temperance  was  another,  and  they  proposed  to 
have  a  tilt  at  that.  As  a  Board  of  Education,  as  a 
Lecture  Bureau,  as  an  Agricultural,  Geological  and 
Topographical  Survey,  they  made  no  doubt,  the  Ly- 
ceum was  to  prove  invaluable.  They  proposed  a 
great  central  School,  for  the  dissemination  of  their 
ideas,  connected  with  which  a  central  work-shop  was 
to  manufacture  and  send  forth  at  cost,  school  ap2:>ar- 
atus,  philosophical,  astronomical  and  geometrical  in- 
struments and  chemical  and  other  scientific  prepara- 
tions. They  went  so  far  as  to  propose,  in  much  the 
same  spirit  in  which  we  have  set  apart  a  Labor  Day 
and  an  Arbor  Day,  to  consecrate  the  second  Monday 
of  December  to  the  interests  of  the  Lyceum.  The 
Lyceum  was  to  do  for  the  head,  if  not  perhaps 
for  the  moral  nature,  what  religion  was  doing  for 
the  heart,  and  one  of  our  judges,  holding  a  criminal 
term  of  court,  charged  his  grand  jury  to  go  home 
and  devote  themselves  to  the  establishment  of  town 
Lyceums,  as  a  measure  of  prevention  against  crime. 
The  mistakes  they  made  were  due  in  part  to  san- 
guine temperament,  and  partly  to  the  spirit  of  the 
times,  which  was  a  spirit  of  unrest.  These  were  the 
days  of  Fourier  and  of  Owen,  of  Brook  Farm  and  the 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  EARLY  LYCEUMS. 


xci 


Phalansteries,  when  phrenology  and  mesmerism  were 
struggling  hard  for  a  place  among  the  sciences,  and 
all  sorts  of  experimental  sociology  were  in  the  air. 
By  undertaking  a  great  deal  too  much ;  by  claiming 
a  great  deal  more  than  they  could  maintain,  the  pro- 
jectors of  the  system  had  well  nigh  obscured  the  real 
merits  of  their  conception.  They  had  discovered  a 
valuable  specific,  but  it  was  not  a  panacea  for  all 
human  ills.  They  had  found  a  pearl  of  great  price.  It 
was  not  the  philosopher's  stone.  Fortunately  there 
were  not  wanting  keen-eyed  scholars  who  could  ap- 
preciate the  value  of  the  discovery,  and  Essex  Coun- 
ty had  her  share  of  these. 

It  was  in  November,  1826,  that  Holbrook  addressed 
thirty  or  forty  of  the  farmers  and  mechanics  of  Mill- 
bury,  a  little  town  of  a  thousand  inhabitants  just 
south  of  Worcester,  and  at  the  close  of  a  lecture  on 
natural  science  induced  them  to  organize  themselves 
for  mutual  improvement,  and  to  assume  the  somewhat 
pretentious  title  of  "Millbury  Lyceum,  No.  1,  Branch 
of  the  American  Lyceum."     This  little  group  of  per- 
sons,— there  is  no  reason  for  supposing  they  ever  met 
earlier  than  September,   1826, — included  among   its 
number  several  marked  characters  of  whom  perhaps 
Thomas  Blanchard,  the  great  inventor,  was  the  most 
conspicuous.     The  United  States  Government  had,  at 
that  time,  a  manufactory  of  small  arms  at  Millbury, 
under  the  supervision  of  a  very  able  mechanic  named 
Morse,  and  with  the  co-operation  of  Blanchard  and 
another  mechanic  named  Andrews,  who  had  correctly 
calculated  an  eclipse  of  the  moon,  he  established  this 
society.     It  was  by  no  means  the  first  of  the  kind, 
nor  the  first  to  take  the  name  of  Lyceum,  but  it  was 
the  first  in   Holbrook's  system.      Troy,  N-  Y.,  had 
maintained  its  Lyceum  since  1818,  but  it  was  a  col- 
lection of  curiosities  and  specimens,  such  as  we  of- 
tener  call  a  museum.     Gardiner,  Me.,  had  a  Lyceum 
in   1822,  but  that  was  an  academy  established  by  a 
benevolent  gentleman  of  the  town  bent  on  trying  the 
experiment  of  the  manual  labor  system.     Professor 
Hitchcock  may   have  applied  the  name  as  early  to 
one  of  the  natural  history  societies  at  Amherst  Col- 
lege, but  what  Holbrook  knew  of  these  things  or  what 
guided  him  in  the  choice  of  this  classic  word  he  has 
not  told  us.     It  was  so  new  and  strange  a  word  that 
we  are  instructed  by  the  Journal  of  Education  to  pro- 
nounce it  "  Li-see-um."     To  designate  a  new  thing 
he  had  a  right  to  a  new  word,  and  these  Greek  names 
have  been  most  arbitrarily  impressed  into  the  service 
of  modern  ideas.     An  Athenaeum  with  us  is  likely  to 
be  a  library,  but  this  is  not  what  it  was  at  Athens  nor 
what  it  means  in  England.     A  Gymnasium  with  us 
imports  a  place  for  physical  training,  but  the  Greeks 
used   it   much    more   comprehensively   to   cover    all 
sorts  of  culture,  especially  mental,  and  the  Germans 
follow  them.    The  word  Museum,  quite  divorced  from 
the  muses  who  gave  it  once  a  graceful  significance 
and  an  affiliation   with  music,  generally  designates 
with  us  a  gathering  of  rather  dry  subjects.     In  Ger 


many,  equally  without  relation  to  its  native  origin,  it 
means  a  club  house.  In  Paris  the  Lyceum  is  a  Gov- 
ernment preparatory  school;  in  London  it  is  a  thea- 
tre; in  modern  Greece  a  university, — so  that  what- 
ever the  word  meant  to  the  ancient  Athenian,  Hol- 
brook might,  without  greater  violence,  apply  it  to  his 
new  club  for  mutual  improvement.  In  fact  the  Ly- 
ceum of  ancient  Athens  was  a  grove  where  Aristotle 
daily  imparted  his  learning  and  inspiration  through 
the  medium  of  conversations  and  discussion,  as  did 
Plato  in  another  grove  called  the  Academy.  And  if, 
as  is  probably  true,  the  word  Lyceum  is  related  in  its 
origin  to  the  words  ^ii/fof,  levufj^  lux,  light,  Holbrook 
might  turn  the  laugh  on  his  too  fastidious  critics, 
for  surely  Aristotle's  grove  was  no  lucus  a  non 
lucendo! 

From  whatever  source  derived  the  word  met  a  want 
and  while  the  more  scholarly  amongst  his  recruits 
objected  that  it  was  stilted  and  inapt  and  that  it  made 
a  very  bad  plural  withal,  no  movement  was  made  for 
substituting  any  other,  and  those  who  cared  much 
for  the  thing  and  little  for  the  name  were  both  aston- 
ished and  delighted  to  see  the  number  of  societies 
throughout  the  country  calling  themselves  Lyceums, 
increasing  before  the  close  of  1831  to  something  like 
a  thousand. 

Of  these  none  were  earlier  in  the  field  than  Clax- 
ton's,  at  Methuen,  and  this  was  one  of  the  very  few 
which  provided  itself  with  a  local  habitation.  The 
structure  stood  on  what  is  now  Broadway,  near  Park 
Street,  and  has  since  been  removed  and  converted 
into  a  dwelling.  One  other  in  this  county,  organized 
at  Salem,  in  January,  1830,  and  at  once  incorporated, 
completed  and  occupied  in  January,  1831,  and  paid 
for  out  of  the  proceeds  of  its  lecture  courses,  the  com- 
modious structure  for  its  own  accommodation,  still  in 
daily  use,  and  known  as  Lyceum  Hall.  Of  the  Salem 
movement,  Judge  White,  Col.  Francis  Peabody,  Hon. 
Stephen  C.  PhilliiJS,  and  Rev.  Chas.  W.  Upham  seem 
to  have  been  the  central  figures.  The  first  address 
delivered  before  the  Salem  Lyceum  was  given  by 
Judge  White,  its  first  president,  in  the  Methodist 
chapel  in  Sewall  Street.  The  preliminary  meetings 
for  its  formation  had  been  held  at  Col.  Peabody's 
house,  and  brought  together,  as  we  learn  from  the 
memoir  of  that  conspicuous  citizen  by  Mr.  Upham, 
such  active  and  able  coadjutors  as  Dr.  A.  L.  Peirson, 
Leverett  Saltonstall,  Rufus  Choate,  Benjamin  Crown- 
inshield,  Robert  Rantoul,  Jr.,  Elisha  Mack,  Dr.  Geo. 
Choate,  Warwick  Palfrey,  and  others,  of  whom  Hon. 
Caleb  Foote.  Hon.  Geo.  Wheatland  and  William  P. 
Endicott,  Esq.,  are  the  last  survivors.  An  address 
from  Hon.  Stephen  C.  Phillips  opened  the  new  hall 
the  walls  of  which  were  decorated  with  frescos  ol 
Judge  White  and  Captain  Joseph  Peabody,  of  Demos- 
thenes and  Cicero,  and  also  with  a  somewhat  ambi- 
tious design  over  the  platform,  in  which  the  Lycean 
Apollo  appeared  resplendent  in  his  cloud-borne  car. 
But  of  this  tradition  relates  that  an  unlucky  janitor, 


xcu 


HISTOliY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


groping  in  the  attic,  presumably  to  regulate  the  ven- 
tilation, put  his  stumbling  foot  through  the  ceiling, 
and  found  himself  occupying,  uninvited,  a  seat  in  the 
chariot  of  the  god  of  light!  This  famous  Lyceum, 
with  its  unbroken  continuity  of  lecture  courses  now 
reaching  the  limit  of  fifty-seven  consecutive  years, — a 
record  only  paralleled,  so  far  as  I  know,  by  that  of 
another,  formed  December  21,  1829,  in  the  little  red 
brick  school-house  in  Littleton,  a  '.own  of  one  thou- 
sand inhabitants,  between  Concord  and  Groton,  which, 
under  the  name  of  the  Littleton  Lyceum,  has  sus- 
tained itself  with  spirit  and  success,  and  without  a 
break,  to  the  present  time, — this  famous  Lyceum  has 
called  to  its  platform  the  most  eminent  men  and 
women  of  our  era.  While  few  names  are  wanting 
which  could  add  lustre  to  its  record,  the  name  of  most 
frequent  recurrence  is  that  of  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson. 

The  next  Lyceum  formed  in  Essex  County,  after 
that  at  Methuen,  of  which  I  have  definite  information, 
was  an  organization  for  lectures  and  discussion  formed 
at  Beverly,  certainly  as  early  as  December,  1828, — 
probably  earlier, — and  which  took  the  name,  Novem- 
ber 5, 1829,  of  the  Beverly  Lyceum.  It  owed  its  origin 
to  the  activity  and  public  spirit  of  Robert  Rantoul,  Jr., 
Dr.  Augustus  Torrey  and  T.  Wilson  Flagg.  Hon. 
William  Thorndike  was  its  first  president,  and  on  its 
original  roll  of  members,  it  is  interesting  to  find,  in 
company  with  the  names  of  William  Endicott,  John 
Pickett,  Augustus  N.  Clark  and  Warren  Prince,  prob- 
ably the  last  survivors  of  the  Beverly  worthies  who 
joined  it,  that  of  Caleb  Foote,  of  Salem. 

A  Lyceum,  formed  at  North  Andover,  April  13, 
1830,  is  claimed  to  have  been  the  outgrowth  of  an 
association  for  mutual  improvement  organized  early 
in  the  year  1828,  and  such  a  society  existing.  May  15, 
1830,  in  the  North  Parish  of  Danvers,  is  also  thought 
to  have  been  gathered  in  some  form  and  at  some  time 
during  the  same  year. 

At  South  Danvers,  the  "  Literary  Circle,"  devoted 
at  first  to  reading  and  conversation  solely,  opened  its 
meetings  with  an  address  from  Dudley  Stickney,  its 
first  president,  on  December  16,  1828,  at  Dr.  Shed's 
Hall,  nearly  opposite  the  South  Danvers  Bank,  and 
although  it  enjoyed  from  the  outset  the  countenance 
of  Rufus  Choate,  Dr.  Nichols,  Fitch  Poole,  Dr.  Joseph 
Osgood,  and  others  hardly  less  honored,  it  could  not 
be  called  a  Lyceum  before  January  9,  1834,  when  it 
took  that  form  of  organization. 

A  movement  began  in  Lynn,  also,  as  early  as  De- 
cember 23, 1828,  and  in  this  Alonzo  Lewis  seems  to 
have  been  active;  but  of  its  nature  I  know  nothing. 

So  far  as  I  can  learn,  there  was  not  in  existence  in 
Essex  County,  on  the  fifth  day  of  November,  1829, 
any  organized  body,  in  full  working  order,  calling 
itself  a  Lyceum,  and  supporting  an  established  course 
of  debates  and  lectures,  except  at  Beverly. 

Of  the  extent  to  which  the  late  Hon.  Robert  Rantoul, 
Jr.,  contributed  to  the  success  of  the  organization,  it 
does  not  become  me  to  speak.   His  college  experience 


had  qualified  him  to  be  of  service  in  this  way,  for  he 
had  succeeded,  in  1823,  before  the  end  of  his  freshman 
year,  in  establishing  a  debating  club  called  the 
AKPlBOAOrOYMENOl,  which,  in  November,  1825, 
united  with  the  Hermetic  Society  and  the  old  Speak- 
ing Club  or  Fraternity  of  1770,  forming,  under  a  con- 
stitution drawn  by  him,  the  Institute  of  1770.  Hon. 
Chas.  W.  Upham,  in  his  memoir  of  Col.  Peabody,  has 
recorded  his  high  estimate  of  my  father's  services,  and 
the  late  Ellis  Gray  Loring,  of  Boston,  Hon.  Robert  C. 
Winthrop,  Rev.  James  Freeman  Clarke,  and  Dr.  0» 
W.  Holmes,  all  near  his  time  in  college,  with  Dr. 
Andrew  P.  Peabody  and  the  late  Richard  Hildreth 
and  J.  Thomas  Stevenson,  his  classmates,  have  tes- 
tified at  various  times  that  they  then  regarded  his 
power  in  organization  and  in  debate  as  phenomenal. 
Mr.  Rantoul  left  college  in  August,  1826.  He  resided 
at  Beverly  for  the  next  five  years,  while  studying  his 
profession  in  the  ofiices  of  Hon.  John  Pickering  and 
Hon.  Leverett  Saltonstall,  and  afterwards  occupying 
an  office  in  the  Stearns  Building  at  Salem.  In  the 
summer  of  1831,  he  was  residing  and  practising  his 
profession  at  South  Reading,  and  there  became  a 
member  of  the  publication  committee  of  the  Middle- 
sex County  Lyceum. 

Rufus  Choate,  who  was  some  years  Mr.  Rantoul's 
senior,  was  practising  law  at  South  Danvers,  in 
an  office  facing  the  Square,  from  September,  1823, 
until  his  removal  to  Salem  in  1828.  Before  those 
dates  he  had  pursued  his  studies  in  the  offices  of  Mr. 
Andrews,  of  Ipswich,  and  of  Judge  Cummins,  of  Sa- 
lem, as  well  as  in  that  of  Attorney-General  Wirt,  at 
Washington.  He  seems  to  have  taken  an  early  and 
very  active  interest  in  the  Lyceums  springing  up 
around  him,  as  so  rare  a  nature  could  not  fail  to  do, 
and  to  have  identified  himself,  both  before  and  after 
his  establishment  in  Salem,  with  the  efforts  of  his 
neighbors  in  behalf  of  mutual  improvement.  Hi» 
name  appears  for  the  first  time,  as  a  lecturer,  in  the 
roll  of  the  Salem  Lyceum, — he  was  a  member  of  its 
first  board  of  managers, — in  1831,  and  but  twice  there- 
after; but  his  lecture,  entitled  the  "Romance  of  the 
Sea,"  originally  known  as  the  "  Literature  of  the 
Sea,"  when  first  delivered  in  Salem,  in  1837,  became 
at  once  famous.  Whipple  says  of  it  in  his  "Recol- 
lections of  Eminent  Men," — "Those  who  heard  it 
forty  years  ago  now  speak  of  it  as  a  masterpiece  of 
eloquence.  It  enjoyed  a  popularity  similar  to  that  of 
Wendell  Phillips's  lecture  on  'The  Lost  Arts.'  " 

The  first  steps  towards  the  organization  of  an  Essex 
County  Lyceum  were  taken  at  a  gathering  at  Topsfield, 
December  30,  1829.  It  was  not  composed  largely  of 
delegates,  but  some  eighty  public-spirited  professional 
and  scholarly  gentlemen  came  together  there  in  Acad- 
emy Hall,  for  mutual  enlightenment  on  this  interest- 
ing theme.  Besides  the  Methuen  and  Beverly  Ly- 
ceums, there  were  then  existing  in  the  county,  one  at 
Newburyport,  organized  November  25,  1829,  on  a 
very  independent  footing,  and  holding  weekly  meet- 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  EARLY  LYCEUMS. 


XCIU 


ings ;  and  another  at  Bradford,  East  Parish,  now 
Groveland,  called  the  Franklin  Lyceum,  organized 
December  23,  1829,  holding  weekly  meetings  in  the 
hall  of  Merrimac  Academy.  If  others  were  repre- 
sented in  the  gathering  at  Topsfield,  I  have  failed  to 
trace  them ;  but  of  those  then  in  existence  three, 
probably  those  of  Newburyport,  Bradford  and  Me- 
thuen,  declined  to  send  delegates  or  be  in  any  way 
subjected  to  the  authority  of  the  proposed  County 
Lyceum  ;  and  one,  Beverly,  sent  delegates  to  protest 
against  the  scheme  of  confederation,  except  on  condi- 
tion that  the  autonomy  of  the  town  Lyceums  w^as 
fully  recognized  and  assured.  The  feeling  of  these 
remonstrants  was  well  expressed  by  Ichabod  Tucker, 
of  Salem,  who  said  :  "  For  purposes  of  mutual  improve- 
ment, the  County  Lyceum  will  be  useless.  He  had 
no  objection  himself  to  ride  ten  or  twelve  miles  once 
in  three  or  four  months,  to  shake  hands  with  his 
friends  from  distant  parts  of  the  county,  and  to  take 
a  social  chat  and  eat  a  social  dinner  together.  He 
thought  it  would  be  a  very  good  thing.  But  it  was 
idle  to  think  of  forming  a  government  while  there  was 
nothing  to  govern,  or  of  forming  any  board  of  control 
without  the  consent,  first  asked  and  obtained,  of  those 
who  are  to  be  controlled  by  it."  This  spirit  of  oppo- 
sition to  the  plan  of  confederation  was  by  no  meaus 
exceptional  here,  but  cropped  out  elsewhere.  The 
opening  address,  by  Dr.  Thomas  A.  Greene,  before  the 
New  Bedford  Lyceum,  December  18,  1828,  says  :  "  We 
have  adopted  the  name  of  New  Bedford  Lyceum,  in 
preference  to  calling  ourselves  a  branch  of  the  Ameri- 
can Lyceum,  as  has  been  done  in  some  other  places. 
This  involves  no  necessary  connection  with  other 
societies,  but  leaves  us  at  liberty  to  pursue  our  own 
course."  The  very  vigorous  Lyceum  at  Newburyport 
was  started  on  the  same  basis,  and  there  is  reason  to 
think  that  many  of  the  most  promising  of  the  early 
organizations  kept  aloof  at  least  until  they  could  be 
assured  that  no  undue  control  would  be  attempted  by 
the  County  Lyceum,  and  also  that  all  efforts  on  the 
part  of  the  evangelical  element  to  give  it  a  sectarian 
or  denominational  caste  would  be  defeated.  The  dif- 
ferences of  opinion  which  thus  developed  themselves, 
and  the  warmth  with  which  opposite  views  were 
maintained  throughout  an  extended  session,  showed 
that  this  gathering  was  no  dilettanti  excursion.  It 
w^as  called  to  order  by  Rev.  Gardner  B.  Perry,  of 
Bradford,  who  was  its  secretary,  and  Hon.  Robert 
Rantoul,  Sr.,  of  Beverly,  was  its  president.  The 
question  whether  Lyceums  should  be  of  spontaneous 
growth  and  self-sustained,  or  should  derive  their 
charters  and  powers  from  a  central  head,  such  as  a 
County  or  a  State  Lyceum,  was  vigorously  discussed 
by  Judge  Cummins,  Elisha  Mack,  Ichabod  Tucker, 
Robert  Rantoul,  Jr.,  Dr.  George  Choate  and  Rev. 
Chas.  W.  Upham,  all  of  Salem,  and  Rev.  Leonard 
Withington,  of  Newbury,  in  favor  of  the  view  which 
prevailed,  and  by  Dr.  Spofford,  of  Rowley,  and  Rev. 
Henry  C.  Wright,  of  West  Newbury,  in  opposition, 
ix 


and  the  convention  recommended  a  County  Lyceum, 
as  a  means  of  strengthening  town  Lyceums  previously 
formed,  but  in  no  sense  or  degree  as  a  source  of  power 
or  authority,  and  after  appointing  the  necessary  com- 
mittees, dissolved.  One  of  these  committees,  of  which 
Rev.  Chas.  W.  Upham  was  chairman,  issued,  January 
24,  1830,  a  circular  letter,  inviting  the  towns  to  form 
Lyceums,  to  send  delegates  to  proposed  semi-annual 
county  gatherings,  and  to  adopt  constitutions  modeled 
either  on  Holbrook's  or  that  of  the  Beverly  or  of  the 
Salem  Lyceum,  each  of  which  was  quoted  in  extenso. 
The  letter  concludes  with  an  urgent  appeal  to  the 
town  Lyceums  to  send  delegates  to  a  county  conven- 
tion, called  to  meet  at  Ipswich  Hotel,  March  17,  there 
to  consider  a  county  constitution  to  be  submitted  by 
the  committee.  Representatives  of  seventeen  Lyce- 
ums attended  this  meeting, — there  were  then  twenty- 
six  towns  in  the  county, — and  adopted  a  county  con- 
stitution ;  they  chose  Judge  White  president,  fixed 
the  annual  meeting  on  May  5th,  at  Ipswich  ;  requested 
an  address  from  Judge  White,  which  was  delivered, 
and  is  in  jjriut;  and  apportioned  the  county  among.-t 
a  Board  of  Managers,  in  the  following  districts :  To 
Mr.  Howe,  of  Haverhill,  his  own  town,  Methuen  and 
Bradford  West  Parish ;  to  Mr.  Crosby,  of  Amesbury, 
that  town  and  Salisbury ;  to  Rev.  Mr.  Withington, 
Newburyport  and  Newbury;  to  Rev.  Mr.  Perry, 
Bradford  East  Parish,  West  Newbury  and  Rowley  ;  to 
Rev.  Mr.  Vose,  of  Topsfield,  that  town  and  Boxford ; 
to  Mr.  Cutler,  of  Lynn,  Lynn  and  Saugu-i ;  to  Rev. 
Mr.  Bartlett,  of  Marblehead,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Badger,  of 
Andover,  their  own  towns  respectively ;  to  Hon.  Wm. 
Thorndike,  Beverly  and  Essex;  to  Hon.  Israel  Trask 
and  Rev.  Mr.  Hildreth,  Gloucester  and  Manchester ; 
and  the  towns  of  Salem,  Ipswich,  Danvers,  Lynnfield, 
Hamilton,  Middleton  and  Wenham,  to  Hon.  D.  A. 
White,  Rev.  John  Brazer,  Eben  Shillaber  and  Icha- 
bod Tucker,  Enquires,  all  of  Salem. 

The  first  annual  meeting  was  held,  as  announced, 
on  May  5th,  in  the  First  Parish  meeting-house  at  Ips- 
wich, and  it  is  proof  enough  of  the  quickening  influ- 
ence of  the  county  movement  inaugurated  at  Tops- 
field  December  30,  1829,  that  between  that  date  and 
the  meeting  at  Ipswich,  May  5,  1830,  Lyceums  had 
been  formed  at  Salem,  January  18th ;  at  Andover, 
February  10th ;  at  Manchester,  February  18th ;  at 
Gloucester,  February  19th  ;  at  Topsfield  and  New 
Rowley,  some  time  in  February;  at  West  Newbury, 
March  16th ;  at  Essex,  some  time  in  March ;  at  North 
Andover,  April  13th  ;  and  one  at  Amesbury  and  Sal- 
isbury in  common,  and  others,  at  dates  which  I  cannot 
determine,  at  Lynn,  Haverhill  and  some  of  the  par- 
ishes. Delegates  were  present  on  the  5th  of  May  from 
eighteen  established  Lyceums. 

The  County  Lyceum  met  next,  November  24th,  at 
the  Tabernacle  in  Salem,  where  it  was  addressed  by 
Rev.  Mr.  Perry,  who  succeeded  to  the  presidency  upon 
the  retirement  of  Judge  White,  and  whose  address  was 
printed.     The  second  annual  meeting  was  held,  May 


XCIV 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


27,  1831,  in  the  First  Parish  meeting-house  at  New- 
bury port,  and  was  addressed  by  Rev.  Dr.  Brazer,  of 
Salem,  whose  remarks  were  also  printed.      Ipswich 
had  formed  a  Lyceum  since  the  last  report,  and  was 
now  represented  in  the  convention.     But  so  far  as  I 
can  ascertain,  this  was  the  last  meeting  of  the  Essex 
County  Lyceum.     Teachers'  Institutes  were  coming 
into  favor;   some  element  of  internal  discord  may 
have  relaxed  its  hold  on  public  support,  or  it  may  be 
that   the  town    Lyceums   had  found    themselves   so 
strong  as  to  be  perfectly  well  able  to  get  on  without  it. 
Meantime  the  State  Lyceum  of  Massachusetts,  the 
second  in  the  country  (New  York  being  a  month  be- 
fore us),  was  coming  into  prominence  from  the  char- 
acter of  the  men  who  were  conspicuous  in  it,  and,  to 
Holbrook's  mind  at  least,  his  scheme  was  also  taking 
on  national,  if    not  even  international    dimensions. 
But  before  passing  from  the  local  Lyceums,  let  us  look 
for  a  moment  at  the  nature  of  the  subjects  with  which 
they  mainly  concerned  themselves.     T  shall  not  enu- 
merate the  long  list  of  subjects  upon  which  lectures 
were  delivered,  because  in  the  selection  of  these  the 
listeners  had  little  voice.     But  the  topics  chosen  for 
debate  and  the  character  of  their  other  exercises  cer- 
tainly furnish  a  fair  criterion  of  the  prevailing  standard 
of  intelligence  and  the  drift  of  public  feeling.    In  the 
large  towns,  where  either  the  services  of  professional 
men  were  to  be  had  for  the  asking  or  the  money  re- 
quired to  secure  them  was  readily  forthcoming,  the 
lecture  was  the  common  medium  of  instruction.     No- 
thing else  was  ever  offered  in  Salem.     But  it  was  in 
the  small  towns,  as  the  annual  reports  assure  us,  that 
the  institution  did  its  greatest  work,  and  here  debates 
were  the  chief  attraction.     These  were  both  written 
and  extemporized,  but  in  both  cases  the  subjects  were 
announced  in  advance  and  disputants  appointed  to 
open  the  discussion.    In  North  Danvers,  in  Toj^sfield, 
in    Haverhill  and  in   Beverly  debates  seem  to  have 
proved  a  special   attraction.     Among  the  questions 
discussed  were  the^e:  "Ought  the  habit  of  wearing 
mourning  apparel  to  continue?"  "Ought  imprison- 
ment fur  debt  to   be  abolished   in  Massachusetts?" 
"  Are  railroads  likely  to  prove  advantageous?  "  "  Is  it 
expedient  to  authorize  a  lottery  for  completing  Bun- 
ker Hill   Monument?"   "Ought  the  government  to 
remove  the  Seminoles  and  Cherokees,  and  have  In- 
dians a  right  to  tribal  government  independent  of 
that  of  the  State  and  of  the  Union?"  "Do  newspa- 
pers, on  the  whole,  contribute  to  the  morals  of  a 
people?  "  "  Do  the  evils  of  the  militia  system  counter- 
balance  its   advantages?"    "Is   capital   punishment 
justifiable  in  Massachusetts?  "  "  Are  the  poor  laws  in 
their  present  state  beneficial  ?  "  "  Ought  public  roads 
to    be   maintained    by   the   town    or    the   county?" 
"  Ought  representatives,  in  voting,  to  be  governed  by 
their  own  convictions  or  those  of  their  constituents?  " 
"Is  it  expedient  to  divide  the  town  of  Danvers?" 
"  Is  Free  Masonry  calculated  to  promote  virtue,  reli- 
gion and  good  government  ?  "  "  Ought  immigration  to 


be  discouraged  ?  "  "  Is  it  right,  is  it  expedient  to  abol- 
ish slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia?"  "Ought 
the  incorporation  of  factories  to  be  encouraged?" 
"  Is  it  expedient  to  take  legal  measures  to  prevent  the 
distillation  of  ardent  spirits?"  "Which  sex  has  pro- 
duced the  best  authors,  according  to  their  respective 
opportunities  for  literary  acquirement?"  "Does  pub- 
lic policy  require  that  females  be  excluded  from  the 
public  offices  of  government  and  exempted  from  the 
active  duties  of  citizens?  "  "Is  the  use  of  ardent  spir- 
its and  stimulating  liquors  beneficial  to  the  commu- 
nity?"' "Is  it  for  the  advantage  of  Christendom  that 
the  Russians  expel  the  Turks  from  Europe?"  "If  the 
Greeks  gain  their  independence,  what  form  of  govern- 
ment will  best  suit  their  circumstances?"  "Is  the 
present  government  of  France  likely  to  be  perma- 
nent?" "Has  the  career  of  Byron  been  beneficial  or 
injurious?"  "Of  Napoleon?"  "What  occasions  the 
stillness  of  the  air  which  precedes  earthquakes?" 
"  Is  the  use  of  anthracite  coal  likely  to  conduce  to 
economy  and  comfort?" 

In  many  instances  the  same  question  was  discussed 
for  several  sittings  and  often  referred  to  a  committee 
for  final  determination.  Ladies  made  their  contribu- 
tions, if  at  all,  in  writing,  and  often  anonymously, 
through  the  medium  of  the  post-office  or  of  a  special 
receptacle  for  their  communications  and  essays  estab- 
lished by  each  Lyceum.  In  some  places,  notably  in 
Gloucester,  Boston  and  Philadelphia,  ladies  were  en- 
couraged to  lake  part,  but  their  co-operation  was  not 
always  invited.  In  Salem,  Haverhill  and  elsewhere 
they  were  at  first  admitted  on  special  terms,  and  each 
required  the  guaranty  of  a  male  sponsor  for  her  good 
behavior.  The  sex  seems  to  have  been  treated  with  a 
vague  distrust,  like  some  untried,  monstrous  and  ex- 
plosive force,  only  to  be  experimented  on,  if  at  all, 
with  the  utmost  circumspection.  Where  they  ap- 
peared they  were  cautioned  to  come  with  heads  un- 
covered, for  bonnets  were  ample,  and  the  presence  of 
these  fascinating  obstructions,  it  was  said,  tempted 
auditors  to  rise  from  their  seats  when  experiments 
were  shown,  and  thus  still  further  to  intercept  the 
vision.  Of  topics  for  lectures,  I  think  that  electricity, 
experimentally  illustrated,  was  the  universal  favorite. 
In  Salem  Colonel  Peabody  owned  costly  apparatus  for 
these  experiments;  in  other  less  fortunate  places  the 
funds  of  the  Lyceum  were  devoted  to  its  purchase, 
and  everywhere  men  of  scientific  knowledge  enough 
to  exhibit  and  explain  the  phenomena  of  galvanism, 
magnetism  and  kindred  manifestations  of  this  tremen- 
dous agent  were  in  unfailing  demand.  In  this  con- 
nection the  fact  is  not  without  interest  that  Professor 
Charles  Grafton  Page,  of  Salem,  whose  name  was  a 
household  word  amongst  early  Lyceum-goers,  and 
who  was  afterwards  for  many  years  a  principal  exam- 
iner of  patents  at  the  Patent  Office,  and  also  connected 
with  the  early  stages  of  the  Smithsonian  Institute  at 
Washington,  succeeded,  in  1851,  in  driving  a  loco- 
motive electric  engine  on  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  EARLY  LYCEUMS. 


xcv 


Eailroad  from  Washington  to  Bladensburg  and  back, 
reaching  a  maximum  speed  of  nineteen  miles  per 
hour.  It  was  not  an  uncommon  practice  in  the  Ly- 
ceums to  engage  some  attractive  celebrity  for  the 
opening  lecture  of  a  winter's  course,  and  to  make  that 
lecture  free,  with  a  view  to  invite  a  large  attendance 
and  to  recommend  the  institution  to  general  favor. 
This  policy  was  a  justification  of  the  remark  of  Dr. 
Holmes,  in  his  "  Lecture  on  Lectures  and  Lecturers," 
that  the  Lyceum  served  the  purpose,  among  others, 
of  a  cheap  menagerie  for  showing  the  lions  to  the 
people.  I  recall  a  course  at  Beverly,  probably  in 
1842,  opened  by  John  Quincy  Adams,  who  was  after- 
wards entertained  at  the  Brown  mansion,  on  Cabot 
Street,  now  the  residence  of  Mr.  Perry  Collier.  Cura- 
tors were  chosen  where  there  were  cabinets  and  appa- 
ratus, and  other  officers  for  the  care  and  administra- 
tion of  libraries.  In  some  places,  where  the  repetition 
of  lectures  was  made  necessary  by  the  straitened 
accommodations  of  halls  and  churches,  the  lecturer 
read  the  same  address  on  Tuesday  evening  and  on 
Wednesday  afternoon,  and  his  audiences,  by  a 
process  of  natural  selection,  divided  themselves 
between  those  whose  occupations  left  their  even- 
ings free  and  the  school  attendants,  teacher  and 
pupil,  with  ladies  and  persons  of  leisure  who  could 
spare  the  hours  of  daylight,  and  so  made  a  "lec- 
ture afternoon  "  in  a  new  sense  on  Wednesday.  In 
other  places,  as  in  Salem  for  the  years  between 
1851  and  1856,  when  we  had  outgrown  our  little  am- 
phitheatre and  were  yet  repelled  by  the  cost  and  vast- 
ness  of  Mechanic  Hall,  courses  were  repeated  on  Tues- 
day and  Wednesday  evenings,  and  the  former  being  a 
night  devoted  by  the  Evangelical  Churches  to  relig- 
ious gatherings,  the  atmosphere  on  the  first  reading 
of  a  lecture  was  considerably  more  heretical  than  on 
the  second.  The  lecturer's  fee  was  generally  ten  dol- 
lars, rarely  twenty,  and  in  most  cases  lectures,  like 
other  services,  being  rendered  by  public-spirited 
townsmen, — Mr.  Emerson  delivered  ninety-eight  in 
Concord, — were  gratuitously  rendered.  Dr.  Chapin's 
mot,  "  I  lecture  for  FAME,  Fifty-And-My-Expenses," 
belongs  to  a  later  epoch.  In  some  instances  the  ex- 
ercises of  the  Lyceum  were  opened  freely  to  the  pub- 
lic, but  generally  a  little  contribution  to  the  funds 
was  exacted,  say  fifty  cents  or  a  dollar  per  year.  The 
magic-lantern  took  the  place  of  our  elaborate  appa- 
ratus for  illustration,  but  the  name  "  Phantasmagoria," 
perhaps,  made  up  for  some  of  its  deficiencies. 

The  Lyceums,  while  alike  in  general  drift,  differed 
much  in  methods  and  details ;  that  at  Gloucester  was 
organized  under  the  general  act  for  incorporating 
Lyceums  approved  March  4, 1829,  and  for  the  first  five 
years  continued  its  sittings  through  almost  the  entire 
year.  It  devoted  its  attention  at  once  to  the  schools 
of  Gloucester  and  to  the  history  of  the  town.  To  the 
distinguished  names  I  have  mentioned  in  connection 
with  it,  may  be  added  those  of  Dr.  Ebenezer  Dale, 
Benj.  K.  Hough,  Dr.  William  Ferson  and  John   W. 


Lowe.  The  Lynn  Lyceum  encouraged  the  produc- 
tion of  dissertations  and  essays  and  divided  itself  into 
ten  classes  or  departments  covering  agriculture,  trade 
and  manufacture'?,  education,  letters,  morals,  art  and 
sciences,  physiology,  natural  history — including  min- 
eralogy, geology,  botany  and  chemistry — history  and 
public  improvements.  Two  outlying  districts  of 
Lynn,  namely,  Woodend  and  Swampscott,  had  early 
Lyceums  of  their  own.  The  Beverly  Lyceum  often 
had  a  lecture,  followed  by  a  debate  on  the  same  even- 
ing. At  one  time  it  met  twice  in  each  week  for 
debate,  and  the  debates  sometimes  extended  over 
several  adjournments.  It  also  voted  by  yea  and  nay 
vote  on  the  weight  of  argument,  as  well  as  on  the 
merits  of  the  question.  And  the  president  of  the  Ly- 
ceum did  not  preside  over  the  debates,  but  was  re- 
quired to  appoint  in  each  case  a  chairman  of  the 
committee  of  the  whole.  Robert  Rantoul,  Sr.,  con- 
tributed a  course  of  lectures  on  the  history  of  the 
town  which  became  the  acknowledgeil  basis  of  Stone's 
"  History  of  Beverly."  In  a  course  on  physiology,  by 
Dr.  Augustus  Torrey,  resort  was  had  to  the  expedient 
of  distributing  a  full  printed  synopsis  of  each  lecture 
before  its  delivery.  The  Lyceum  of  Amesbury  and 
Salisbury  had  expended  nearly  a  hundred  dollars  for 
books  and  apparatus  during  its  first  season.  That  at 
Andover  had  followed  an  introductory  by  Holbrook, 
and  a  second  address  by  Judge  White,  with  a  course 
of  six  illustrated  lectures  on  astronomy  from  Rev. 
Harvey  Wilbur,  which  were  delivered  at  intervals  of 
two  or  three  days,  and  cost  seventy-five  dollars. 
Then  Rev.  Calvin  Stowe  pointed  out  the  dangers  of 
the  prevailing  ideas  in  education,  especially  those  in- 
cident to  Lyceums,  and  he  was  followed  by  Rev.  E. 
W.  Hooker  in  an  essay  claiming  the  Scriptures  as  the 
only  basis  of  ethical  science.  At  Bradford  Merrimac 
Academy,  one  of  the  six  large  institutions  of  the  kind 
then  flourishing  in  the  county,  the  students  from 
abroad  were  allowed  free  admittance  to  the  meetings 
of  the  Lyceum,  probably  in  consideration  of  the  use  of 
Academy  Hall,  and  a  collection  of  mineral  and  vege- 
table specimens  and  other  curiosities  was  begun,  in 
1830,  having  amongst  them  what  was  thought  to  be 
a  foot  and  leg  of  aboriginal  sculpture.  At  North 
Andover  meetings  were  held  once  a  fortnight,  the 
year  round,  save  in  the  summer  months,  and  head- 
quarters were  established,  with  a  reading-room,  in 
the  brick  building  opposite  the  meeting-house.  At 
North  Danvers  the  meetings  were  largely  attended, 
occurred  three  times  each  month,  and  were  occupied, 
with  "Lectures,  Debates,  Compositions  on  Miscella- 
neous Topics,  Reports  of  Committees  appointed  to 
solve  questions  in  Natural  Philosophy  and  Mathe- 
matics, and  to  criticize  Declamations  and  Composi- 
tions." Lectures  were  read  on  chemistry,  mechanics, 
geography,  natural  history,  phrenology,  geometry, 
natural  theology,  anatomy  and  architecture. 

It  would  only   be   necessary   to  look  beyond  the 
county  in  order  to  extend  indefinitely  this  catalogue  of 


XCVl 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


idiosyncrasies.  The  Nantucket  Lyceum,  one  of  the 
very  earliest,  incorporated  by  a  special  charter  ap- 
proved February  12,  1827,  at  once  took  steps  for  the 
gathering  of  a  museum  of  local  industry,  by  issuing  a 
printed  call  to  whalemen,  urging  them  to  neglect  no 
opportunity  for  bringing  home  specimens  illustrative 
of  their  venturesome  and  romantic  calling  and  giving 
them  directions  as  to  the  best  known  means  of  secur- 
ing and  preserving  them.  The  Worcester  Lyceum 
made  the  common  law  of  business  a  special  topic  for 
instruction,  and  organized  classes  in  chemistry,  his- 
tory, geography  and  practical  mechanics.  Many  of 
the  Lyceums  anticipated  the  functions  of  village  im- 
provement clubs,  embellishing,  with  shade-trees,  the 
roads  and  lanes,  beautifying  the  borders  of  lakes  and 
streams,  opening  vistas  and  caring  for  the  village 
green.  And  one  at  Williamstown,  if  the  journals  of 
the  day  may  be  trusted,  attempted  the  introduction  of 
a  new  industry  and  undertook  the  planting,  in  the 
spring  of  1830,  of  twelve  thousand  white  mulberry 
trees  at  its  own  cost. 

Such  were  the  early  Lyceums  of  Massachusetts,  and 
Essex  County  contained  between  a  fourth  and  a  third 
of  the  whole  number,  when,  in  February,  1831,  Mr. 
Secretary  Vose,  of  Topsfield,  presented  the  best  re- 
port made  by  any  county  to  the  first  gathering  of  the 
Massachusetts  Lyceum  at  the  State  House  in  Boston. 
With  a  brief  review  of  the  doings  of  the  State  and 
National  Lyceums  this  paper  may  fitly  close. 

The  first  movement  looking  towards  the  organiza- 
tion of  a  State  Lyceum  in  Massachusetts  took  place 
at  the  Exchange  Coffee-House  in  Boston,  November 
7,  1828.  Daniel  Webster  filled  the  chair  and  en- 
dorsed the  scheme,  and  George  B.  Emerson  was  secre- 
tary. Josiah  Holbrook  reported  progress.  Edward 
Everett  pledged  his  support  and  urged  that  books 
and  apparatus  quite  beyond  the  reach  of  single  per- 
sons, could  be  owned  and  made  of  general' use  by  Ly- 
ceums. The  meeting  adjourned  for  one  week,  and 
met  again  at  the  same  place  for  the  report  of  its  com- 
mittee on  the  present  condition  and  needs  of  the 
Lyceum  system,  when  Edward  Everett  was  called  to 
the  chair,  and  after,  discussion,  another  adjournment 
for  one  week  was  had.  At  the  last  meeting  Dr. 
Charles  Lowell  took  the  chair  and  an  elaborate  re- 
port was  submitted  and  adopted  after  debate,  and  laid 
before  the  people  of  the  State,  setting  forth  very  forci- 
bly and  plainly  the  purposes  and  advantages  of  the 
Lyceum  and  urging  general  attention  to  its  claims. 
The  movement  had  the  endorsement,  also,  of  Henry 
Ware,  then  acting  president  of  Harvard  College,  of 
Alexander  H.  Everett,  and  of  other  names  hardly 
less  conspicuous  and  influential,  but  it  lacked  the 
vital  energy  of  the  town  Lyceums. 

Later  in  the  same  winter,  February  6, 1829,  a  meet- 
ing of  members  of  the  Legislature  and  others  inter- 
ested, yva^  held  at  the  Representatives'  Hall,  resolu- 
tions voted  and  given  to  the  public,  and  a  committee 
raised  to  collect  and  report  information  on  Lyceums 


in  the  commonwealth.  This  report  was  made  at  an 
adjourned  meeting  at  the  same  place,  February  19, 
1830,  at  which  Governor  Lincoln  presided.  It  re- 
commended, through  Alexander  H.  Everett,  its  chair- 
man, the  formation  of  town  and  village  Lyceums  and 
of  county  Lyceums  as  an  outgrowth  and  supplement 
to  these,  defined  and  described  their  objects,  urged 
teachers  to  join  them,  proposed  a  State  Lyceum,  ap- 
pointed a  State  Central  Committee,  including  many 
of  the  foremost  names  in  Massachusetts,  upon  which 
Essex  County  was  represented  by  Stephen  C.  Phillips, 
Rnfus  Choate,  Benjamin  Greenleaf,  William  Thorn- 
dike,  Gayton  P.  Osgood,  Alonzo  Lewis  and  others,  re- 
commended the  Lyceums  to  co-operate  in  the  pro- 
posed survey  by  Colonel  James  Stevens  for  a  map  of 
Massachusetts,  proposed  a  scientific  and  practical  ex- 
amination of  the  resources  of  each  town,  gave  a  defi- 
nition of  the  Lyceum  as  "a  voluntary  association  of 
persons  for  mutual  improvement,"  sent  out  a  circular 
letter,  with  a  promise  of  others,  and  urged  in  return  a 
general  response  in  the  form  of  systematic  reports  from 
all  the  Lyceums  in  Massachusetts. 

In  consequence  of  this  action  the  Massachusetts 
State  Lyceum  was  organized  February  25,  1831,  and 
of  this  Alexander  H.  Everett  was  president  and  Jo- 
siah Holbrook  secretary.  Dr.  James  Walker,  Hon. 
John  Davis  and  Judge  White  were  among  its  vice- 
presidents.  It  arranged  for  an  elaborate  lecture  course 
at  the  State  House  during  the  annual  session  of  the 
Legislature,  with  a  most  exhaustive  catalogue  of  sub- 
jects and  a  most  distinguished  list  of  speakers,  includ- 
ing Judge  Jackson,  Horace  Mann,  Theodore  Sedg- 
wick and  James  Savage.  Its  first  anniversary  meet- 
ing was  held  at  the  State  House,  February  1st,  2d  and 
6th,  1832,  the  president  in  the  chair  and  Stephen  C. 
Phillips,  of  Salem,  secretary.  It  appeared  that  the 
twenty-six  towns  in  Essex  County  supported  twenty- 
three  Lyceums,  a  record  quite  in  advance  of  any  other 
section  of  the  country.  Salem  had  the  largest  Lyceum 
in  the  State,  numbering  twelve  hundred  members. 
That  at  Newton  ranked  next,  and  after  Newton  came 
Newburyport,  with  four  hundred  and  fifty,  and  Glou- 
cester with  four  hundred.  Haverhill  with  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty,  was  amongst  the  largest.  Timothy 
Claxton  took  part  in  this  meeting  in  an  effort  to  show 
how  Lyceums  might  be  of  service  to  struggling  inven- 
tors in  perfecting  their  designs  and  models.  At  the 
next  meeting  of  the  State  Lyceum,  which  proved  to 
be  its  last,  held  February  20,  1833,  Dr.  Gannett  and 
Rev.  John  Pierpont  appear  among  the  speakers.  But 
the  efforts  of  all  these  good  men  and  true  were  unable 
to  save  it  longer. 

The  National  Lyceum  did  not  succeed  much  better. 
Organized  in  the  United  States  Court  Room  in  the 
City  Hall  at  New  York,  May  4,  5,  6,  7,  8,  1831,  in  ac- 
cordance with  a  call  issued  January  13,  by  the  State 
Lyceum  of  New  York,  sitting  at  Utica  on  its  first 
gathering,  the  National  Lyceum  of  America  proceeded 
to  adopt  a  constitution  based  upon  the  representation 


MISCELLANEOUS. 


XCVll 


of  local  Lyceums,  each  State  and  territory  to  send  not 
less  than  three  delegates,  and  not  more  than  half  its 
number  of  members  in  Congress.  This  body  elected 
Hon.  Stephen  van  Eensselaer,  of  Albany,  N.  Y.,  as 
its  president,  and  Hon.  Edward  Everett  and  Hon. 
Thomas  S.  Grimke,  of  South  Carolina  were  two  of  its 
five  vice-presidents.  It  issued  the  usual  appeals  for 
support ;  commended  to  the  aid  of  local  Lyceums  the 
work  of  Colonel  James  Steveus,  an  eminent  engineer, 
then  engaged  in  Massachusetts  on  the  first  State  topo- 
graphical map  produced  in  the  country ;  called  for  the 
establishment  of  normal  schools  ;  questioned  the  poli- 
cy of  retaining  Latin  and  Greek  in  the  advanced 
schools  as  a  required  study;  urged  the  introduction  of 
the  natural  sciences ;  and,  after  much  labor  of  a  more 
formal  character,  adjourned  for  a  twelve-month.  Its 
next  meeting  was  in  the  Aldermen's  Eoom  in  the  City 
Hall  at  New  York.  May  4,  5,  6,  7,  1832,  and  here  it 
was  honored  with  the  presence  of  an  ex-president  of 
the  Spanish  Cortes,  of  Zavala  and  Salgada,  two 
Mexican  ex-governors,  and  of  Fortique,  a  representa- 
tive in  the  Congress  of  Venezuela,  as  well  as  at  other 
times  of  the  consul-general  of  Colombia,  the  Prussian 
Envoy,  an  Armenian  essayist  from  Constantinople,  an 
Athenian  professor,  and  a  philosopher  from  London. 
It  met  again  May  3,  4,  5,  6,  1833,  in  the  same  place, 
and  elected  President  Duer  of  Columbia  College  its 
presiding  officer.  It  recommended  a  uniform  system  of 
meteorological  observations,  amongst  the  Lyceums  of 
the  country ;  the  introduction  of  vocal  music  and  man- 
ual labor  in  the  common  schools ;  commended  Audu- 
bon's great  work  on  the  birds  of  America  ;  heard  let- 
ters from  several  leading  personages  in  the  West  In- 
dies and  the  Central  American  States,  as  well  as  in 
various  parts  of  the  Union,  and  urged  the  formation  in 
New  York  of  a  National  Cabinet  of  Natural  History, 
to  be  made  up  of  contributions  from  local  Lyceums, 
At  a  meeting  in  the  same  place.  May  2,  3,  5,  1834, 
Massachusetts  made  a  good  report  through  Hon.  Wm. 
B.  Calhoun,  and  the  state  of  education  in  Cuba,  Po- 
land and  Mexico  were  considered.  It  was  voted  to 
print  an  essay  on  the  North  American  Indians  by 
Schoolcraft,  and  a  text-book  on  Constitutional  Juris- 
prudence, furnished  by  President  Duer.  In  May,  1835, 
the  annual  meeting  was  again  held  in  New  York,  and 
the  teaching  of  political  economy  and  the  fine  arts  in 
the  public  schools  was  advocated.  John  Pickering's 
researches  in  the  dialects  of  the  North  American 
tribes  were  highly  commended.  Signs  of  approach- 
ing dissolution  began  to  manifest  themselves.  At 
the  meeting  of  May  6,  7,  9,  1836,  at  the  same  place. 
Dr.  Howe,  of  Massachusetts,  explained  his  method  of 
educating  the  blind,  and  New  Grenada  reported  the 
purchase,  at  government  cost,  of  twenty  thousand 
slates  and  two  hundred  thousand  slate-pencils !  Hol- 
brook  proposed  supplying  every  one  of  the  eleven 
thousand  counties  in  the  United  States  with  a  cabinet 
of  minerals  of  its  own,  furnished  through  the  system 
of  Lyceum  exchange.    In  May,  1837,  the  annual  meet- 


ing was  held  in  Philadelphia.  The  disposal  of  the 
surplus  revenue  was  discussed  and  Espy's  theory  of 
storms  was  commended,  with  a  request  to  the  local 
Lyceums  to  report  their  weather  observations  to  Espy. 
Government  was  memorialized  in  favor  of  a  weather 
bureau,  Holbrook  now  produced  his  twelve-page 
prospectus  of  a  "Universal  Lyceum,"  with  Henry 
Brougham  at  its  head,  a  list  of  fifty-two  vice-presi- 
dents, one  for  every  week  in  the  year,  taken  from  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
nine  secretaries,  besides  Josiah  Holbrook,  who  is 
styled  "  Actuary."  The  declared  objects  were  "the 
diffusion  of  knowledge  over  our  globe,"  and  "  the  ex- 
change of  shells,  minerals  and  plants,"  The  meeting 
of  1838  was  held  at  the  free  church  in  Hartford,  Con- 
necticut, and  sat  but  one  day.  May  15,  Common- 
school  matters  occupied  it  largely,  but  it  found  time 
to  consider  also  the  questions  of  international  copy- 
right and  the  improvement  and  embellishment  of 
towns  and  villages.  It  complains  of  lack  of  funds  and 
finds  the  Amerjcan  Institute  of  Instruction  a  growing 
competitor.  It  met  once  more ;  this  time  at  New  York 
again.  May  3, 4,  5,  1839  ;  fifty-five  delegates  were  pre- 
sent, but  none  from  Massachusetts.  It  proposed  a 
convention  to  sit  for  one  week  from  November  22d, 
at  Independence  Hall,  in  Philadelphia,  just  before  the 
session  of  Congress,  in  order  to  influence  that  body  in 
applying  the  Smithson  Legacy,  and  also  in  favor 
of  selling  the  public  lands  for  educational  purposes. 
It  proposed  to  call  for  educational  statistics  in  the 
next  decennial  census,  and  finally  it  proposed  a  Gen- 
eral National  Convention  of  the  whole  Union  to  sit  at 
Washington,  D,  C,  in  May,  1840.  These  never  met, 
and  so  ended  all  but  what  survived  in  the  town  Ly- 
ceums, and  possibly  here  and  there  a  scattered  county 
organization,  of  the  Lyceum  system  of  Josiah  Hol- 
brook. This  remarkable  man  seems  to  have  died  as  he 
had  lived,  reaching  out  for  more  than  he  could  grasp. 
His  lifeless  body  was  found  floating  in  a  stream  near 
Lynchburg,  Va.,  May  24, 1854,  and  there  was  reason  to 
believe  that  in  clambering  alone  up  the  rugged  bluff  to 
secure  some  rare  mineral  specimen  or  delicate  flower 
of  which  he  was  in  search,  he  had  missed  his  footing, 
and  so  lost  his  life.  Few  in  any  age  have  shown 
more  unselfish  devotion  to  a  noble  idea,  and  what  he 
really  did,  however  it  may  have  fallen  short  of  what 
he  hoped,  is  monument  enough  for  any  man. 


CHAPTEE    VI. 

MISCELLANEOUS, 

Agricultural— Medical — Eailroads. 

Essex  Agrigultueal  Society.^ — The  idea  of  the 
formation  of  this  society  originated  with  Col.  Timothy 
Pickering,  who,  at  the  head  of  forty  men,  made  the 

1  By  BeDJamin  P.  Ware. 


XCVlll 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


first  armed  resistance  to  British  forces,  February  28th, 
1775,  at  North  Bridge,  Salem.  He  called  a  meeting 
of  farmers,  and  other  inhabitants  of  Essex  County,  at 
Cj^rus  Cummings'  tavern  in  Topsfield,  Monday,  the 
16th  of  February,  1818.  Ichabod  Tucker  was  chosen 
moderator,  and  Daniel  Cummings,  secretary ;  these, 
with  John  Adams,  Paul  Kent  and  Elisha  Mack,  were 
appointed  a  committee  to  report  a  plan  of  organiza- 
tion. 

Timothy  Pickering  was  chosen  president,  and  Wil- 
liam Bartlett,  Dr.  Thomas  Kittredge,  John  Heard 
and  Ichabod  Tucker,  vice-presidents,  Leverett  Sal- 
tonstall,  secretary,  and  Dr.  Nehemiah  Cleaveland, 
treasurer. 

Timothy  Pickering  was  annually  chosen  president, 
for  ten  years  to  1829 ;  Frederick  Howes,  four  years, 
from  1829  to  1833;  Ebenezer  Mosely,  three  years, 
from  1833  to  1836 ;  James  H.  Duncan,  three  years, 
from  1836  to  1839;  Joseph  Kittridge,  two  years,  from 
1839  to  1841 ;  Leverett  Saltonstall,  four  years,  from 
1841  to  1845;  John  W.  Proctor,  se^en  years,  from 
1845  to  1852;  Moses  Newell,  four  years,  from  1852  to 
1856;  Richard  S.  Fay,  two  years,  from  1856  to  1858  ; 
Daniel  Adams,  two  years,  from  1858  to  1860 ;  Allen 
W.  Dodge,  three  years,  from  1860  to  1863 ;  Joseph 
How,  two  years,  from  1863  to  1865 ;  William  Sutton, 
nine  years,  from  1865  to  1874;  and  Benjamin  P.  Ware, 
thirteen  years,  from  1874  to  1887,  now  holding  the 
ofBce. 

The  secretaries  and  treasurers  of  the  society  have 
been  as  follows: — 


SECRETARIES. 


David  Cummings 1818-19. 

Frederick  Ho wes 1819-20. 

John  W.  Proctor 182U-42. 

Daniel  P.  King 1842-44. 


Allen  W.  Dodge 1844-50. 

Charles  P.  Preston 1860-85. 

David  W.  Low 1885- 

(Now  in  office.) 


TREASURERS. 


Ichabod  Tucker 1818. 

Daniel  A.  White 1819-23. 

Benj.  R.  Nichols 1823-25. 

Beuj.  Merrill 1825-28. 

Andrew  Nichols 1828-41. 


William  Sutton 1841-56. 

Edward  H.  Payson 1856-81. 

Gilbert  L.  Streeter 1881- 

(Now  in  office.) 


There  has  been  a  carefully  prepared  address  deliv- 
ered before  the  society,  at  its  annual  meeting,  every 
year  since  its  organization,  except  the  five  years  be- 
tween 1823  and  1829.  These  addresses  have  been  de- 
livered in  every  instance  by  a  citizen  of  the  county, 
invited  by  a  vote  of  the  trustees,  and  have  been  pub- 
lished in  the  transactions  of  the  society,  and  form  a 
valuable  part  of  the  agricultural  literature  of  the  so- 
ciety. Col.  Timothy  Pickering  delivered  the  first  ad- 
dress in  1818,  and  again  in  February,  1820.  The 
others  were  as  follows : — 


Andrew  Nichols,  in  October,  1820. 
Kev.  Abiel  Abbott,  in  1821. 
Rev.  Peter  Eaton,  in  1822. 
Hon.  Frederick  Howes,  in  1823. 
Col.  Pickering,  again  in  1829. 
Hon.  James  H.  Duncan,  in  1830. 
Rev.  Henry  Colman,  in  1831. 
Rev.  Gardner  B.  Perry,  in  1832. 
Dr.  Jeremiah  Spofford,  in  1833. 


Hon.  Ebenezer  Moseley,  in  1834. 
Hon.  Daniel  P.  King,  in  1835. 
Hon.  Nathan  W.  Hazen,  in  1836. 
Rev.  Nathaniel  Gage,  in  1837. 
Rev.  Leonard  Withington,in  1838. 
Rev.  Allen  Putnam,  in  1839. 
Hon.  Asbael  Huntington,  in  1840. 
Alonzo  Gray,  A.  M.,  in  1841. 
Hon.  Allen  W.  Dodge,  in  1842. 


Hon.  Leverett  Saltonstall,  in  1843. 
Hon.  John  W.  Proctor,  in  1844. 
Rev.  Edwin  M.  Stone,  in  1845. 
Hon.  Moses  Newell,  in  1846. 
Thomas  E.  Payson,  Esq.,  in  1847. 
Josiah  Newell,  Esq.,  in  1848. 
Hon.  Asa  T.  Nowhall,  in  1849. 
Hon  Caleb  Cushing,  in  1850. 
Rev.  Milton  P.  Braman,  in  1851. 
Hon.  Henry  K.  Oliver,  in  1852. 
Hon.  Joseph  S.  Cabot,  in  1853. 
Hon.  R.  S.  Fay,  in  18.54. 
Dr.  James  R.  Nichols,  iu  1855. 
Ben.  Perley  Poore,  Esq.,  in  1856. 
Dr.  E  G.  Kelly,  in  1857. 
Dr.  Geo.  B.  Loring,  in  1858. 
Edward  Everett,  in  1858. 
Hon.  J.  J.  H.  Gregory,  in  1859. 
Rev.  John  L.  Russell,  in  1860. 
Hon.  Alfred  A.  Abbott,  in  1861. 
Geo.  J.  L.  Colby,  Esq.,  in  1862. 
Hon.  Daniel  Saunders,  in  1863. 
Hon.  Darwin  E.  Ware,  in  1864.    • 


Nathaniel  Cleavland,  Esq.,  in  1865. 
Hon.  Otis  P.  Loril,    in  1806. 
Rev.  B.  H.  Seeley,  D.D.,  in  1867. 
Dr.  Geo.  B.  Loring,  again  in  1868. 
Benjamin  P.  Ware,  Esq.,  in  1869. 
Hon.  Benj.  F.  Butler,  in  1870. 
Hon.  Joseph  S.  How,  in  1871. 
Hon.  Wm.  D.  Northend,  in  1872. 
Rev.  Charles  B.  Rice,  in  1873. 
John  L.  Shorey,  Esq.,  in  1874. 
Rev.  Dr.  B.  C.  Bolles,  in  1875. 
Cyrus  M.  Tracy,  in  1876. 
Rev.  O.  S.  Butler,  in  1877. 
T.  C.  Thurlow,  Esq.,  in  1878. 
Dr.  Geo.  B.  Loring,  again  in  1879. 
David  W.  Low,  Esq.,  in  1880. 
Dr.  James  R.  Nichols,again  in  1881. 
Francis  H.  Appleton,  Esq.,  in  1882. 
Hon.  Chas.  P.  Thompson,  iu  1883. 
Asa  T.  Newhall,  in  1884. 
Thomas  Saunders,  in  1885. 
Rev.  John  D.  Kingsbury,  in  1886. 
Dr.  William  Cogswell,  in  1887. 


In  connection  with  these  addresses,  fifteen  original 
hymns,  odes  and  songs,  have  been  sung  by  selected 
choirs,  and  published  in  the  transactions.  There 
have  also  been  published  in  the  transactions  of  the 
society,  (67)  sixty-seven  prize  essays  upon  various 
subjects  connected  with  agriculture,  for  which  has 
been  paid  premiums  varying  from  eight  to  twenty- 
five  dollars  each  ;  also  (49)  forty-nine  prize  reports  of 
committees;  premiums  paid  for  these  from  six  dol- 
lars to  ten  dollars;  in  addition  there  have  been  pub- 
lished (626)  six  hundred  and  twenty-six  extended  re- 
ports of  committees,  containing  original  ideas  and 
suggestions,  each  filling  from  one  to  ten  pages  of 
printed  matter. 

These  addresses,  essays  and  reports  contain  the  best 
thoughts,  the  broadest  experiences  and  wisest  sug- 
gestions of  the  most  prominent  farmers  and  profes- 
sional men  of  Essex  County,  in  the  last  sixty -five 
years,  and  make  up,  principally,  the  agricultural  lit- 
erature of  the  county. 

The  Essex  Agricultural  Society,  unlike  all  others 
in  the  State,  owns  no  grounds,  including  a  trotting 
track  and  show  buildings ;  it  has  no  local  abiding 
place.  But  instead,  owns  a  tent,  some  portable  cattle 
pens,  twelve  hundred  exhibition  fruit  dishes,  an  expe- 
rimental farm  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  acres,  which 
brings  an  income  of  from  three  hundred  to  five  hun- 
dred dollars  per  annum,  besides  conducting  such  ex- 
periments as  are  required  by  the  committee  having 
that  matter  in  charge.  A  library  of  eight  hundred 
volumes  of  valuable  books  for  reference  and  study, 
and  funds  invested  in  bank  stock,  the  market  value 
of  which  is  $17,119.83. 

This  society  needs  no  trotting  track,  for  it  never 
paid  a  dollar  for  speed  since  its  organization  ;  or  for 
any  other  attraction,  nor  allows  any  on  its  grounds, 
except  of  a  purely  agricultural  or  horticultural  char- 
acter, which  must  be  grown  or  owned  within  the 
county.  Domestic  manufactures  and  works  of  art 
from  citizens  of  the  county  receive  the  encourage- 
ment of  the  society.     All  stock  competing  for  a  pre- 


MISCELLANEOUS. 


XCIX 


mium  must  be  owned  in  the  county  at  least  four 
months  previous.  Agricultural  implements,  from  any 
source,  are  admitted  for  competition;  no  entrance 
fees  required  from  any  competitor  for  premiums. 
The  whole  of  the  exhibitions  are  open,  free  to  the 
public,  except  for  admission  to  the  exhibition  hall, 
where  twenty  cents  is  charged.  An  average  sum  of 
three  thousand  dollars  has  been  offered  in  premiums 
annual!}^  for  the  last  ten  years,  and  since  its  organi- 
zation the  society  has,  as  near  as  can  be  ascertained, 
awarded  in  premiums  and  gratuities  an  aggregate  of 
$48,727.54.  In  addition,  the  society  has  supported 
three  scholarships  at  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural 
College  through  the  entire  course  of  four  years,  at 
.fifty  dollars  each  per  year,  and  for  three  years  had  a 
premium  of  one  hundred  dollars  offered  for  the  best 
prepared  student,  who  shall  enter  the  college  from 
Esgex  County  and  continue  through  the  four  years' 
course. 

This  society  holds  its  annual  exhibitions  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  county  where  most  needed  and  where 
suitable  accommodations  can  be  provided.  Since  its 
organization,  it  has  held  its  shows  at  Danvers,  ten 
times ;  Lawrence,  seven  times ;  six  each  at  Lynn, 
Topsfield,  Haverhill  and  Newburyport;  five  times  at 
Georgetown  and  Salem ;  four  times  at  Gloucester ; 
three  each  at  Andover  and  Ipswich  ;  two  at  Peabody; 
one  at  Newbury;  and  two  others  in  doubt.  This  so- 
ciety has  held,  since  required  by  the  State  Board  of 
Agriculture,  1879,  forty-eight  institutes  in  different 
parts  of  the  county  where  most  wanted.  At  each 
meeting  two  sessions  have  been  held,  with  a  large  at- 
tendance, and  the  subjects  selected  discussed  with 
much  interest  and  satisfaction  to  the  farming  com- 
munity, resulting  in  promulgating  much  practical 
knowledge  and  a  growing  interest  in  the  farm.  Two 
trials  of  mowing  machines  and  other  machines  for 
making  hay,  have  been  organized  and  conducted  by 
the  society,  and  two  of  plows  and  other  implements 
for  cultivating  crops,  each  proved  of  great  value  to 
the  farmers  and  were  a  complete  success.  The  whole 
number  of  members  since  its  organization  is  twenty- 
nine  hundred  and  eighty-six;  the  present  number 
now  living  is  fifteen  hundred  and  eight. 

The  society  publishes  annually  an  edition  of  from 
fifteen  hundred  to  two  thousand  copies  of  its  transac- 
tions, containing  from  one  hundred  and  twenty  to 
two  hundred  and  twenty  pages,  for  distribution 
among  its  members  and  others 

The  transactions  published  since  the  society's  or- 
ganization make  in  the  aggregate  eighty-seven  hun- 
dred and  sixty-one  pages  of  valuable  and  interesting 
reading  matter,  and  which  are  no  inconsiderable  part 
of  the  agricultural  literature  of  the  State. 

Essex  South  District  Medical  Society.  - 
This  is  one  of  the  oldest  of  the  district  societies 
that  form  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society.  It  was 
organized  November  4,  1805,  by  ten  physicians,  who 
met  at  the  Sun  Tavern,  in  Salem  ;    Dr.  Edward  Aug- 


ustus Holyoke  president  and  Dr.  John  Dexter  Tread- 
well  secretary.  It  consists  of  those  members  of  the 
Massachusetts  Medical  Society  who  reside  in  Lynn, 
Swampscott,  Nahant,  Saugus,  Lynnfield,  Marblehead, 
Salem,  Peabody,  Danvers,  Middleton,  Beverly,  Wen- 
ham,  Topsfield,  Ipswich,  Hamilton,  Essex,  Manches- 
ter, Rockport,  Gloucester. 

Its  meetings  are  held  every  six  weeks,  either  in 
Salem  or  Lynn,  except  occasionally  during  the  sum- 
mer months,  in  other  towns  within  the  district.  At 
these  meetings  written  papers  are  read  and  oral  com- 
munications are  made,  giving  an  account  of  interest- 
ing cases  that  have  occurred  in  their  practice. 

The  Library,  which  was  established  by  a  vote  of  the 
society  at  its  first  meeting,  contains  about  twenty-five 
hundred  volumes.  The  books  from  the  libraries  of 
the  late  Drs.  E.  A.  Holyoke,  A.  D.  Pierson  and  Samuel 
Johnson  compose  a  large  portion  and  are  very  valua- 
ble additions.  The  circulation  is  limited  to  members 
of  the  society.  The  library  is  deposited  in  Plummer 
Hall,  Salem. 

The  Essex  North  District  Medical  Society 
was  organized  November  3, 1841.  An  application  had 
been  previously  made  to  the  Massachusetts  Medical 
Society  and  granted  by  that  body  for  the  formation  of 
the  fellows  of  that  Society  practicing  in  Amesbury, 
Andover,  Boxford,  Bradford,  Georgetown,  Haverhill, 
Lawrence,  Methuen,  Newbury,  Newburyport,  Row- 
ley, Salisbury  and  West  Newbury  into  an  association 
to  be  entitled  the  Essex  North  District  Medical  So- 
ciety. At  the  date  above  mentioned  Dr.  Jonathan  G. 
Johnson,  of  New'buryport,  was  chosen  president;  Dr. 
Rufus  Longley,  of  Haverhill,  vice-president ;  Dr.  F. 
V.  Noyes,  of  Newburyport,  secretary  ;  Dr.  Isaac  Boyd, 
of  West  Newbury,  treasurer;  and  Dr.  J.  Spofford,  of 
Groveland,  librarian.  The  Society  chooses  annually 
eight  counsellors,  and  these  in  connection  with  the 
counsellors  of  other  district  societies  in  the  State 
constitute  the  Board  of  Counsellors  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Medical  Society.  Five  censors  are  also 
chosen  annually,  who  examine  applicants  for  admis- 
sion as  to  character  and  professional  qualifications, 
and  the  consent  of  three  censors  is  necessary  for  ad- 
mission. 

Stated  meetings  are  held  quarterly.  The  annual 
meeting  is  held  at  Haverhill  on  the  first  Wednesday 
in  May,  at  which  ofiicers  for  the  year  are  chosen,  and 
other  meetings  in  August,  November  and  February 
at  such  places  as  may  be  from  time  to  time  deter- 
mined, 

Boston  akd  Maine  Railroad  extends  from 
Boston  to  Portland,  Me.,  a  distance  of  115.50  miles. 
This  road  was  originally  organized  as  the  Andover 
and  Wilmington  Railroad  Company.  It  took  its  pre- 
sent name  in  1839,  This  company  is  now  the  largest 
railroad  corporation  in  New  England.  Its  leased 
lines  in  Essex  County  are  as  follows :  Eastern  Rail- 
road, chartered  April  14,  1836;  Darivers  Railroad; 
Lowell  and  Andover ;  Newburyport;    West  Amesbury; 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Chelsea  Beach;  Newburyport  City ;  and  Boston  and 
Lowell  and  branches.  President,  George  C.  Lord; 
General  Manager,  James  T.  Furber. 

Bostoj^,  Revere  Beach  and  Lynn  Eailroad 
extends  from  East  Boston  to  Lynn,  along  Revere 
Beach.      It  was   chartered   May  23,  1874,  and  was 


opened  July  29,  1875.  It  does  a  large  summer  busi- 
ness. Gauge  three  feet.  Honorable  Edwin  Walden,  of 
Lynn,  is  president. 

Boston,  Winthrop  and  Shore  Eailroad  extends  from 
Point  Shirley  to  Point  of  Pines.  Honorable  Edwin 
Walden,  president. 


THE 


History  of  Essex  Co,  Massachusetts. 


CITIES   AND    TOWNS, 


CHAPTER   I. 

SALEM. 
INTRODUCTORY. 


BY  REV.  GEORGE  BATCHELOR. 


The  writer  of  this  introductory  chapter  is  released 
from  the  ordinary  duties  and  responsibilities  of  the 
chroniclers  whose  work  he  prefaces  wfth  some  general 
views  of  the  various  epochs  of  the  history  of  Salem. 
The  careful  precision  as  to  names,  dates  and  the 
order  of  events  required  of  them  must  here  give 
place  to  general  views,  rapid  sketches  and  such 
characterization  of  men  and  times  as  may  be  ex- 
pected of  the  essayist  rather  than  the  historian. 

For  more  than  a  hundred  years  after  the  discovery 
of  America  by  Columbus,  New  England  was  un- 
known. It  was  a  century  of  exploration  and  dis- 
covery, and  the  Catholic  Spaniard  played  a  leading 
part  in  the  process  of  opening  a  new  world  to  civiliza- 
tion. His  imagination  was  inflamed  by  what  are 
now  incredible  stories  of  treasure  to  be  discovered, 
of  magical  and  supernatural  manifestations  to  be 
noted  in  nature  and  human  life,  and  by  hopes  of  at- 
taining to  some  new  and  unheard  of  power  over  the 
secret  forces  of  nature,  then  so  unknown,  and  yet  so 
tempting  to  the  unscientific  mind  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  He  was  animated,  also,  by  zeal  to  convert 
or  dispossess  the  infidel,  and  to  commend  himself  as 
a  loyal  son  of  the  church,  thus  at  one  happy  stroke 
making  his  fortune  both  for  this  world  and  the  next. 
In  1565  St.  Augustine  was  founded,  and  in  1582 
Santa  Fe  was  colonized  and  made  a  station  of  the 
church,  and  the  Spaniard,  keeping  for  the  most  part 
within  those  isothermal  lines  which,  by  an  unwritten 
law  of  nations  have  so  largely  controlled  the  course 
of  empire,   was  elated  by   visions  of  inexhaustible 


wealth,  national  glory  and  religious  propagandism 
for  which  the  western  continent  ofiered  such  unex- 
ampled opportunities. 

To  the  Protestant  Englishman  during  all  this  time 
New  England  was  unknown  except  as  an  undistin- 
guished part  of  the  western  world.  With  the  seven- 
teenth century  the  French,  English  and  Dutch  began 
to  establish  colonies  in  Nova  Scotia,  Canada,  Vir- 
ginia and  New  York.  Then  New  England  begins  to 
emerge  slowly  from  the  vast,  unsurveyed  bulk  of  the 
continent,  and  to  attract  the  attention  of  those  in 
whose  keeping  were  the  seeds  which,  for  a  hundred 
generations  of  English  and  Germanic  life,  had  been 
preparing  to  grow  into  the  social,  civil  and  religious 
institutions  of  New  England.  "God  sifted  a  whole 
nation,"  said  Stoughton,  "  that  he  might  send  choice 
grain  out  into  this  wilderness."  He  might  have  said 
that  the  civil  and  religious  institutions  of  the  Ger- 
manic race  were  sifted  to  furnish  precedents,  apti- 
tudes and  the  specific  religious  impulses  out  of  which 
to  produce  the  Puritan  Church  and  the  New  England 
Commonwealth. 

Reviewing  the  events  recorded  in  this  volume,  and 
contemplating  the  rare  and  great  qualities  of  the 
founders  of  Salem  as  manifested  in  some  of  the  most 
heroic  and  dignified  aspects  of  human  life,  and  in 
crises  of  diflSculty  and  danger;  regarding,  also,  with- 
out flinching  or  apology,  the  grim  and  cruel  traits 
and  deeds  which  disfigured  their  lives  and  stained 
their  record,  one  need  not  be  ashamed  of  his  interest 
and  admiration.  The  founders  of  Salem  were  not 
greater,  wiser  or  better  than  other  men.  But  the 
narrowness  of  their  opportunity,  together  with  the 
great  use  they  made  of  it,  rendered  their  qualities 
conspicuous,  and  the  record  of  them  a  just  cause  of 
pride  to  all  who  inherit  any  share  in  their  labors  and 
rewards.  As  in  some  little  Swiss  canton,  where 
nature  has  thrust  together  and  pushed  high  into  the 

1 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


air  the  sublimities  of  that  Alpiue  scenery,  of  which 
every  detail  may  be  surpassed  elsewhere,  while  the 
general  effect  has  no  rival,  so  in  this  little  township 
were  to  be  brought  together  and  set  to  do  the  drudgery 
of  common  life  such  gifts  of  culture,  courage,  wisdom 
and  strength  as  commonly  go  to  the  founding  of 
kingdoms  and  the  conduct  of  empires.  Indeed,  in 
their  own  way,  the  way  of  intelligence  and  freedom, 
they  were  laying  the  foundations  of  institutions  with 
influence  more  powerful  and  enduring  than  any  em- 
pire which  has  risen  or  fallen  since  they  lived  their 
strenuous  lives  of  homely  toil  and  great  endeavor. 
The  events  which  were  crowded  into  the  first  century 
of  what  was  then  their  obscure  history,  spread  over  a 
larger  surface  and  connected  by  more  evident  ties 
with  the  fortunes  of  civilization,  would  have  attracted 
universal  attention.  Now  they  become  an  imperish- 
able part  of  the  history  of  human  progress. 

In  1614  Capt.  John  Smith,  prince  among  adventurers 
and  good  fellows,  coasted,  named  and  praised  New 
England,  and  going  home  to  England  he  spent  much 
time  in  commending  the  newly-discovered  "  Para- 
dise "  to  rich  and  influential  people.  Then  came  the 
Pilgrims  bound  for  a  more  genial  climate;  but  driven 
out  of  their  course  by  fortunate  accident,  they  settle 
in  Plymouth,  and  establish  their  church.  But  even 
in  their  little  and  well-sifted  band  there  was  not  per- 
fect agreement  in  matters  of  religion,  although  that 
was  their  chief  concern,  and  soon  we  see  John 
Lyford,  of  no  enviable  reputation,  with  John  Oldham 
and  others,  because  they  could  not  agree  to  "  sepa- 
rate" from  the  Church  of  England,  pushing  out  and 
exploring  the  coast  to  the  northward  to  find  or  found 
a  home.  Among  them  was  one  Roger  Conant,  well 
commended  then  and  afterward  for  his  homely  good 
sense  and  perfect  honesty.  They  tarry  awhile  at 
Nantasket,  where  Capt.  Miles  Standish,  coasting  that 
way,  had  built  a  hut  a  year  or  two  before,  and  there,  in 
somewhat  dubious  case,  they  are  waiting  when  the 
Dorchester  Company  in  England,  having  by  this  time 
(1623)  forty  or  fifty  ships  passing  to  and  fro,  bringing 
over  fishermen,  salt,  etc.,  and  taking  home  cargoes  of 
fish,  beaver  skins  and  such  furs  and  other  spoil  of 
the  wilderness  as  may  be  gathered  there,  summon 
Roger  Conant  to  take  charge  of  their  station  at  Cape 
Ann.  A  charter  has  been  secured,  and  hopes  are  en- 
tertained that  now,  after  many  misfortunes,  some 
profit  may  accrue  to  the  adventurers.  Conant  is  to 
be  Governor,  Lyford  minister  to  the  half  a  hundred 
people  gathered  there,  and  Oldham  is  asked  to  come 
and  trade  with  the  Indians,  which  office  he  declines. 
Misfortunes  continue,  however.  Fire,  sickness  and 
quarrels  (a  fierce  one  with  Miles  Standish)  break 
their  courage,  reduce  their  profits  and  finally  cause 
the  abandonment  of  the  undertaking. 

Conant  now  has  in  mind  an  undertaking  of  another 
kind.  Finding  on  the  peninsula  of  Naumkeag  a 
sheltered  place  where  he  thinks  it  possible  for  colo- 


nists to  maintain  themselves  in  comfort,  he  proposes 
to  the  Rev.  John  White,  of  the  Dorchester  Company, 
to  establish  there  a  plantation.  It  has  been  com- 
monly believed  that  he  proposed  to  provide  here  a 
shelter  for  such  unhappy  creatures  as  might  in  Eng- 
land be  persecuted  for  their  religion.  This  is  now 
disputed  on  the  ground  that  he  was  not  a  "  sepa- 
ratist "  in  Plymouth,  and  did  not  agree  with  John 
Endicott  when  he  came,  and  that  he  was  now  proba- 
bly only  looking  out  for  a  place  where  he  and  others 
might  find  life  a  little  less  hard  to  support  on  the 
usual  terms.  It  is  not  impossible,  however,  that, 
"churchman"  though  he  was,  he  had  suffered  enough 
for  his  religion  to  long  for  a  place  where  the  cursed 
jangle  of  theological  discord  might  be  forgotten,  and 
other  interests  be  made  prominent.  White  promised 
him  assistance  of  all  needed  kinds,  and  in  1626  Roger 
Conant,  John  Woodbury,  John  Balch  and  Peter  Pal- 
frey (names  to  be  remembered)  begin  the  clearing  of 
the  forest  and  the  building  of  houses.  About  twenty- 
five,  all  told,  are  gathered  there,  and  Naumkeag  (not 
yet  Salem)  begins  to  be.  Two  years  later  there  were, 
it  may  be,  thirty  or  forty  persons  in  the  colony. 
Some  had  followed  Lyford  to  Virginia,  and  some  had 
returned  to  England.  Conant,  resolute  and  patient, 
remained  and  kept  with  him  those  who  were  inspired 
by  his  confidence  and  shared  his  hopes,  whether  re- 
ligious or  commercial.  But,  as  so  often  happens,  he 
was  to  sow  that  others  might  reap.  He  was  too 
modest  and  undemonstrative  to  figure  as  a  "  person- 
age," and  to  meet  the  more  ambitious  views  of  those 
in  England  who  were  influential  in  the  management 
of  affairs;  and  so  it  happened,  when  the  property  of 
the  Dorchester  Company  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
New  England  Company,  that  Conant  was  superseded 
by  Capt.  John  Endicott, 

It  was  not  Roger  Conant,  mild,  tolerant,  concilia- 
tory and  unambitious,  that  the  feeble  colony  needed, 
but  John  Endicott,  the  man  of  the  iron  hand  and 
determined  will,  the  man  to  tear  the  cross  from  the 
flag  of  England  and  defy  the  world  when  his  blood 
was  up  and  his  religion  was  in  question.  As  a  busi- 
ness transaction  the  transfer  was  justifiable  enough. 
The  parties  to  it  on  the  other  side  of  the  water  were 
buying  and  selling  so  much  property  at  its  commer- 
cial value.  But  on  this  side  of  the  water  it  looked 
like  the  betrayal  of  a  trust.  Having  no  rights  which 
they  could  legally  defend,  the  old  colonists  felt  the 
change  to  be  grievous  when,  from  being  masters  of 
the  situation,  if  not  the  guardians  of  a  refuge  sacred 
to  those  who  were  oppressed  for  conscience'  sake,  they 
were  suddenly  and  unexpectedly  reduced  to  a  hand- 
ful of  ordinary  colonists  who  were  transferred  with 
the  soil,  and  could  only  take  the  hard  choice  to  go  or 
conform  to  the  law  of  the  land.  They  were  heard  to 
talk  about  "slaves"  and  "slavery,"  and  for  some 
months  held  aloof  from  the  meetings  of  the  new- 
comers.    But  Capt.  Endicott  occupied  a  higher  social 


SALEM. 


position  than  they,  and  he  was  not  a  man  to  be 
trifled  with.  In  1629  Governor  Endicott  receives  in- 
telligence as  follows:  that  the  company  at  home  has 
obtained  a  confirmation  of  their  grant  by  letters 
patent  from  His  Majesty,  Charles  I.,  and  that  he  is 
confirmed  as  Governor,  with  a  council  styled  "  the 
Councill  of  Massachusetts  Bay."  The  new-comers 
had  the  power.  But  they  saw  that  it  was  hard  for 
the  others  to  submit,  and  were  disposed  to  use  their 
power  kindly.  The  colony  was  now  grown  to  in- 
clude, perhaps,  three  hundred  persons,  and  at  last 
the  old  settlers  determined  to  make  the  best  of  it, 
and  united  in  one  body  under  Governor  Endicott,  and 
then,  as  we  are  told,  "  in  remembrance  of  a,  peace  set- 
tled upon  at  a  conference  at  a  general  meeting  be- 
tween them  and  their  neighbors  after  the  expectance 
of  some  dangerous  jar,"  they  called  the  place  Salem, 
or  Peace.  The  story  is  a  pretty  one,  and  seems  to 
furnish  a  natural  and  probable  explanation  of  the 
change  of  name,  but  it  is  necessary  to  say  that  all 
such  interesting  statements  are  doubted  or  denied  by 
modern  investigators.  It  is  held  by  some  that  Conant 
gladly  received  Captain  Endicott  and  that  their  dif- 
ferences of  opinion  related  to  such  matters  as  the 
morality  of  raising  tobacco  and  other  such  affairs  of 
minor  importance. 

The  story  of  the  ecclesiastical  and  commercial  for- 
tunes of  Salem  will  be  told  elsewhere  in  the  succeed- 
ing narratives.  They  were  inextricably  intertwined 
with  each  other.  Both  begin  now  to  assume  impor- 
tance, although  many  a  weary  day  must  pass  before 
either  of  them  will  be  settled  and  prosperous.  For  a 
time  the  religious  interests  which  they  had  at  heart 
compelled  them  to  postpone  somewhat  the  temporal 
enterprises  upon  which  depended  their  comfort  and 
success.  Whatever  we  may  say  of  the  purposes  of 
Roger  Conant,  nobody  need  be  in  doubt  as  to  the 
purposes  of  John  Endicott.  Religion  was  with  him 
the  first  concern.  He  believed  his  creed.  He  had 
come  here  to  give  it  room  to  grow  into  a  new  mode  of 
life,  and  he  did  not  intend  to  let  anything  among  the 
powers  terrestrial  or  demonic  interfere  with  his  pur- 
pose. But,  before  the  temporal  plans  of  the  little 
community  could  be  carried  out,  some  very  stern  ne- 
cessities were  to  try  and  to  strengthen  their  faith. 
The  winter  of  1629  brought  them  little  but  trouble 
and  sorrow.  The  climate,  then  as  now,  was  rough 
and  unsparing.  No  proper  accommodations  could  be 
provided  for  so  many  families,  their  base  of  supplies 
was  three  thousand  miles  away,  they  were  unused  to 
such  hardships  and  were  ignorant  of  the  dangers  to 
be  provided  against.  While,  therefore,  their  friends  in 
England  were  tkinking  of  them  as  happily  established 
in  the  "Paradise"  of  New  England,  and  were  look- 
ing forward  to  the  pleasure  of  joining  them  in  the 
spring  or  summer  following,  they  began  to  sicken 
and  die  of  exposure  to  cold,  and  the  hunger  which 
comes  not  with   absolute  famine,  but  inability  to  eat 


the  coarse  food  which  they  had.  Some  epidemic 
disease  probably  brought  on  shipboard,  had  been 
communicated  to  them,  and  the  place  had  become  in- 
fected and  pestilential.  When  Winthrop  came  with 
Saltonstall,  Dudley  and  Johnson,  and  a  company,  in 
seventeen  ships,  in  all,  a  thousand  or  more  before  the 
season  was  over,  they  found  a  colony  of  men  and 
women  haggard  with  weakness  and  want  and  de- 
pressed with  sorrow.  More  than  eighty  had  died  in 
that  awful  winter,  and  of  those  who  remained  many- 
had  scarcely  strength  to  stagger  to  the  shore  to  meet 
the  new-comers  and  give  them  tearful  welcome.  To 
the  gentlemen  and  ladies  who  had  come  to  transfer 
the  government  of  the  colony  to  the  soil  of  New 
England,  and  establish  here  homes  even  more  splen- 
did than  those  they  had  left  behind  them,  Salem  of- 
fered at  that  time  but  few  inducements.  Winthrop 
therefore  pushed  along  the  coast,  and  soon  he,  with 
Dudley,  Johnson,  Saltonstall  and  the  most  of  the 
new  colonists,  were  laying  the  foundations  of  Charles- 
town,  Boston  and  Watertown.  The  seat  of  govern- 
ment was  transferred  to  Charlestown,  and  again  the 
hopes  and  ambitions  of  the  men  of  Salem  had  ended 
in  a  bitter  disappointment.  To  Governor  Endicott 
was  now  measured  out  that  which  he  had  meted  to 
Roger  Conant,  and  probably  he  was  no  better  pleased 
than  he  with  the  result.  But  this  time  there  was 
no  rebellion.  Endicott  was  too  good  a  discipli- 
narian to  resist  a  higher  authority,  and  it  happened 
then,  as  it  has  many  times  since  in  Salem,  that  the 
good  things  provided  for  home  use  were  passed  over 
to  the  common  account,  and  the  commonwealth 
gained  by  her  loss. 

We  need  not  waste  much  time  in  praising  the  con- 
summate wisdom  of  the  founders  of  Massachusetts. 
They  were  wise,  and  they  did  well,  and  what  they 
wrote  in  their  charters  and  constitutions,  and  estab- 
lished in  their  customs  and  laws,  show  that  they  were 
seeking  the  best  things  in  human  institutions  and 
knew  the  value  of  them  when  found. 

But  it  is  clear  enough  now  that  the  Puritans  were 
not  the  inventors  of  the  system  they  established  in 
New  England,  nor  of  the  many  complicated  devices 
by  aid  of  which  they  made  their  ideas  eflfective  in  the 
conduct  of  affairs,  social  and  civil.  They  selected,  in- 
deed, but  they  did  not  create  out  of  pre-existent 
nothingness  the  institutions  which  here  they  cleared 
from  much  rubbish  of  ecclesiasticism  and  from  the 
burden  of  the  monarchy  of  England.  The  begin- 
nings were  small.  Seen  from  the  outside,  they  were 
mean  and  bare.  The  homes,  labors  and  successes  of 
the  first  colonists  of  Salem  would  be  unworthy  of  our 
attention  were  they  associated  with  the  lives  of  or- 
dinary settlers  in  a  new  country.  But  small  though 
the  beginnings  were,  these  men  were  beginning  to 
store  up  and  to  train  the  energy  which  was  afterward 
to  expand  with  tremendous  force  in  the  opening  of 
the  whole  world  to  commerce  and  civilization,  and  in 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


the   establishment  of  the  best   things  in   American 
life. 

In  the  New  World,  free  to  follow  the  bent  of  their 
minds,  they  emancipated  themselves  from  many  an 
impediment  and  returned  to  the  natural  tendencies 
of  the  Germanic  race,  to  which  they  belonged,  and 
which,  in  Europe,  has  ever  since  been  slowly  attain- 
ing to  that  which  they  arrived  at  quickly.  Of  that 
race  they  brought  the  traditions  and  tendencies,  and, 
almost  unchanged,  some  of  its  most  ancient  customs 
and  laws.  The  town,  the  town-meeting,  the  common 
holding  of  lands,  the  pasturage  under  herdsmen  of 
their  goats,  swine  and  neat  cattle,  the  pastor  who  was 
not  a  priest  and  many  curious  customs  which  have 
seemed  to  us  to  be  evidences  of  their  independence, 
skill  and  ingenuity,  or  which  look  like  the  temporary 
expedients  of  necessity,  were  simply  survivals  of 
English  and  German  habits,  dating  back  sometimes  a 
thousand  years,  or  even  in  some  cases  as  we  now 
know,  antedating  European  civilization  itself,  and 
originating  as  in  that  immemorial  past  of  our  race 
when  its  home  was  in  Asia. 

Indeed,  during  the  whole  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, the  daily  life  of  the  people  of  Salem,  if  accur- 
ately represented  to  us  now,  would  suggest  European 
rather  than  American  associations.  Religion  was 
the  most  important  concern  in  that  little  settlement 
when  it  held  a  thousand  souls.  But,  after  all,  the 
business  of  getting  a  living  then,  as  now,  occupied 
most  of  the  waking  hours.  For  the  most  part,  their 
life  on  shore  was  rural,  and  their  occupations  and 
customs  such  as  may  even  now  be  noted  in  secluded 
parts  of  the  Old  World. 

On  a  summer  morning  the  good  man  and  good 
wife  were  up  with  the  sun,  attending  to  their  various 
tasks,  for  by  six  o'clock  at  the  latest,  and  in  some 
years  by  half  an  hour  after  sunrise,  the  herdsmen  of 
Tarious  kinds  will  be  heard  blowing  their  horns  as 
they  pass  each  man's  door,  gathering  all  the  swine, 
goats  and  neat  cattle  of  the  town  into  flocks  and 
herds,  to  be  cared  for  during  the  day  in  the  great 
pastures  and  other  common  fields.  "  The  Great 
Pen  "  is  provided  for  the  cattle,  and  if,  at  six  o'clock, 
any  townsman  shall  not  have  his  cows  milked  and 
ready  for  the  herdsman,  he  must  follow  after  as  he 
may,  and  be  responsible  for  any  damage  done  to  or 
by  his  stray  cattle.  At  half  an  hour  before  sunset  the 
horns  of  the  approaching  herdsmen  were  heard  again, 
and  every  man  was  required  to  care  for  his  own 
swine  and  goats  at  home.  Sometimes  in  town-meet- 
ing it  was  a  matter  which  divided  the  suffrages  of 
freemen,  as  it  was  voted,  that  in  a  given  season,  the 
swine  should  or  should  not  be  allowed  to  run  at 
large  by  night.  Such  customs  are  unknown  now  in 
America.  But  they  still  survive  in  many  of  the  pas- 
toral regions  of  Europe,  such  as  the  Black  Forest  and 
secluded  valleys  of  Switzerland. 

Simple,  honest,  God-fearing  men  and  women  made 


up  the  majority  of  the  population.  Their  tasks  were 
homely  and  laborious,  and  their  tastes  simple.  But 
although  from  necessity  their  life  externally  was  not 
unlike  that  of  the  European  peasantry,  they  were 
neither  stupid  nor  ignorant.  Even  those  who  had 
belonged  to  the  servant  class,  and  there  were  many 
of  them,  had  passed  through  experiences  which  had 
sharpened  their  wits  and  greatly  enhanced  in  their 
eyes  the  value  of  liberty.  They  had  come  over  "un- 
der bonds"  to  serve  a  specified  time  in  a  condition 
not  much  better  than  slavery.  Some  had  regained 
their  freedom  on  the  failure  of  commercial  and  in- 
dustrial enterprises,  it  being  cheaper  to  let  them  shift 
for  themselves  than  to  find  work  for  them  or  to  re- 
turn them  to  England. 

The  yeomanry  were  picked  men  who  had  come 
over,  not  only  because  they  hoped  to  better  their  con- 
dition and  give  their  children  a  better  chance  than 
they  could  have  at  home,  but  also  because  they  were 
interested  in  great  problems  of  religion  and  govern- 
ment, and  believed  that  these  problems  could  be 
worked  out  to  better  advantage  in  a  new  country 
where  they  might  be  free  from  tradition  and  adverse 
precedent.  They  were  trained  in  a  school  of  experi- 
ence which  will  show  results  in  later  generations. 

Among  these  were  some  who  held  with  tenacity  to 
the  social  distinctions  of  the  old  country.  They  were 
those  of  official  and  professional  standing,  such  as  in 
England  would,  if  not  bearing  a  title,  be  permitted  to 
write  "  gentleman  "  after  their  names.  In  spite  of  the 
leveling  influence  of  their  experiences  and  of  the 
theories  they  held,  the  old  habits  were  not  easily 
given  up,  and,  unconsciously,  even,  the  relations  of 
master  and  servant  were  retained  on  the  Old  World 
footing,  and  the  mutual  reserve  remained  after  such 
relations  had  ceased.  It  took  two  hundred  years,  under 
the  most  democratic  of  institutions,  to  abolish  the 
distinctions  of  aristocracy,  and  to  make  a  "  yeoman  " 
of  like  character  and  education  seem  as  good  as  a 
"gentleman.''  It  was  years  before  the  possibility  of 
establishing  in  Massachusetts  an  hereditary  aristoc- 
racy ceased  to  be  either  a  menace  or  a  temptation. 

With  the  founding  of  Boston,  Salem  lost  its  rela- 
tive importance,  but  continued  to  be  a  centre  of  intel- 
ligence, and  gradually,  after  long  discipline,  became 
one  of  the  most  influential  towns  in  the  common- 
wealth. Its  liberality  and  intellectual  alertness  were 
shown  very  early  in  the  treatment  accorded  to  Roger 
Williams,  who  was  loved  and  honored  in  Salem  long 
after  he  was  proscribed  by  the  colonial  authorities. 
Even  John  Endicott  admired  and  defended  him  until 
further  resistance  to  authority  would  have  been  re- 
bellion. The  enthusiasm,  humaneness  and  free 
thought  of  Roger  Williams  seem  to  belong  rather 
to  our  time  than  to  that  of  the  Puritan,  who,  with 
all  his  goodness,  was  grim  and  sometimes  cruel.  The 
man  who,  in  1631,  could  advocate,  as  he  did,  the 
rights  of  the  savage,  and  in  later  years  make  his  noble 


SALEM. 


plea  for  toleration,  must  have  been  a  rare  creature, 
and  those  who  loved  and  honored  him,  as  he  was 
loved  and  honored  in  Salem,  must  have  been,  even 
then,  capable  of  better  things  than  the  circumstances 
of  the  hard  times  in  which  they  lived  could  offer 
them.  When  he  goes  into  exile  in  1636  it  is  pleasant 
to  read  that  Governor  Winthrop,  not  in  office,  how- 
ever, gives  him  a  private  hint  that  he  is  wanted  by 
the  government,  and  that  the  safest  place  for  him  will 
be  found  on  the  shores  of  Narragansett  Bay. 

The  Puritan  minister  was  a  great  personage  in  the 
little  colony.  From  the  nature  of  the  case,  religion 
being  avowedly  and  actually  first  among  the  concerns 
of  the  community,  he  was  a  man  of  much  official  dig- 
nity and  influence.  He  could  not  be  elected  to  office 
nor  long  hold  it  in  comfort  unless  he  represented  the 
best  thought  and  feeling  of  the  people  and  showed  a 
gift  for  mastery.  He  was  the  most  highly-educated 
man  in  town.  He  had  leisure  to  correspond  with 
men  of  like  standing  abroad.  He  was  the  organ  of 
communication  with  the  outside  world.  He  had  no 
competitors.  The  intellectual  appetite  of  his  towns- 
men was  keen,  and  there  were  no  adequate  means  of 
satisfying  it  in  a  time  when  they  had  no  lectures,  no 
concerts,  theatres,  newspapers,  magazines,  or  many 
books.  He  was  the  peer  of  the  best,  and  was  freely 
consulted  both  in  public  and  private  by  parishioners 
and  magistrates  as  to  questions  of  conscience  and 
questions  of  policy.  The  first  ministers  were  men  of 
such  parts  and  learning  that  they  were  largely  inde- 
pendent of  each  other  and  of  their  congregations. 
They  seemed  to  have  moved  back  and  forth  between 
the  two  continents  with  great  freedom,  and  to  have 
excited  great  interest,  both  by  their  coming  and  their 
going.  They  have  been  over-praised,  and  condemned 
beyond  their  demerits  ;  for  they  were  neither  so  good 
nor  so  bad  as  they  have  sometimes  been  represented 
to  be.  They  would  not  have  been  human  had  they 
not  been  tempted  to  magnify  their  office  unduly,  and 
they  must  have  been  more  than  human  to  emancipate 
themselves  wholly  from  the  bigotries  and  superstitions 
of  their  times.  We  shall  soon  see  them  doing  some 
cruel  work,  and  our  modern  blood  will  find  it  difficult 
to  keep  cool  as  we  helplessly  watch  the  unmerited 
sufferings  of  good,  even  if  misguided,  men,  and  we 
shall  helplessly  writhe  as  we  hear  the  hissing  whip  fall 
upon  the  naked  backs  of  women  whom  pastors  and 
magistrates  alike  agree  to  punish  in  the  name  of  God. 
But  if  we  are  wise,  we  shall  reflect  on  all  the  circum- 
stances of  the  time  and  make  such  allowance  as  is 
due. 

The  Puritan  attempted  to  crush  the  imagination, 
and  is,  therefore,  supposed  to  have  been  devoid  of  it. 
But  the  imagination  is  a  faculty  nimble  of  foot  and 
light  of  wing.  It  goes  where  it  is  not  sent,  and 
works  where  it  is  most  contemned.  Often  it  trans- 
forms itself,  and,  because  its  lighter  moods  are  not  in 
favor,  plods  in  the  disguise  of  some  heavy-footed  fac- 


ulty, and  masquerades  as  a  phase  of  the  sober  reason, 
or  still  more  homely  common  sense.  In  the  Puritan 
the  imagination  did  not  exercise  itself  in  the  modern 
fashion  nor  after  the  manner  of  "  ungodly  play- 
wrights." It  was  not  stimulated  by  such  visions  of 
wealth  and  conquest  as  turned  the  head  of  the  Catho- 
lic Spaniard.  It  was  in  him  a  sober  faculty,  dealing 
with  the  well-attested  realities  of  common  life,  and 
what  he  considered  the  equally  well-attested  realities 
of  the  supernatural  world.  Given  the  facts  to  work 
upon,  and  this  creative  faculty  was  capable  of  producing 
surprising  results.  As  the  sober-visaged,  plainly-clad 
Puritan  sat  in  church  listening  to  the  long  prayers 
and  still  longer  sermons  and  lectures  in  which  his 
favorite  preacher  described  the  city  of  G^d,  his  im- 
agination, released  from  all  restraint  by  his  godly 
purpose,  made  many  an  excursion  into  the  realm  of 
those  fair  possibilities  which  on  the  earth  were  no- 
where actual.  He  saw  new  and  holier  churches,  so- 
cieties, commonwealths  arising  to  make  the  earth  a 
safer  home  for  the  chosen  children  of  God.  He  saw 
cities  arise  in  the  wilderness;  fleets  sailed  over  un- 
known seas,  and  broad  lands,  cleared,  inhabited  and 
wisely  ruled,  stretched  in  peaceful  expanse  before  his 
comprehensive  and  creative  imagination.  These 
visions  were  not  a  waste  of  his  time  and  energy  ;  for 
they  were  the  working  plans  of  the  architect  and  the 
engineer,  who  was  able  to  create  that  which  he  imag- 
ined. He  could  understand  the  proud  boast  of  the 
Roman,  who,  if  he  could  not  play  the  fiddle,  could 
make  a  small  village  into  a  great  city.  To  describe 
the  Puritan  as  without  imagination  is  to  deny  to  him 
that  which  was  a  chief  characteristic  of  his  laborious 
life.  His  stimulus  and  delight  came  with  and  from 
the  exercise  of  this  power,  by  which  the  mind  clearly 
sees  that  which,  as  yet,  has  never  been.  That  which 
distinguished  him  from  those  who  commonly  and  con- 
sciously use  this  power  was  the  capital  fact  that  they 
never  used  it  solely  for  pleasure.  It  was  an  instru- 
ment as  useful  as  the  more  homely  tools  of  the  work- 
ing intellect.  That  which  in  the  Puritan  was  active, 
but  disguised,  in  his  posterity  two  hundred  years  later 
was  to  break  out  into  the  full  fruit  and  flower  of  the 
'imagination.  Hawthorne  was  the  legitimate  product 
of  the  ancient  stock.  All  along  the  line  of  modern 
life,  when  Puritanism  had  completed  its  emancipa- 
tion, there  broke  a  wave  of  poetry.  Bryant,  Long- 
fellow, Holmes,  Lowell  and  the  rest  of  that  distin- 
guished company  only  revealed  the  inherited  traits 
which  were  in  their  ancestors,  though  not  then  mani- 
fest. Even  Quakerism  now  sings  in  the  poetry  of 
Whittier. 

That  Puritanism  was  not,  in  all  its  parts,  so  grim  as 
we  sometimes  imagine  was  shown  by  the  love  the 
people  of  Salem  bore  to  Roger  Williams.  It  was 
made  still  more  apparent  that  it  was  not  without 
tenderness  of  heart  and  susceptibility  to  change  of 
thought  when  the  great  "  Antinomian  Controversy  " 


6 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


came.  In  1637  Anne  Hutchinson,  a  great-hearted 
woman,  nearly  overturned  both  church  and  state.  By 
her  liberal  ideas  and  impassioned  eloquence  she  car- 
ried with  her  Henry  Vane,  the  Governor,  and  a  major- 
ity of  the  people  of  Boston,  the  ministers  almost 
unanimously  opposing  her.  She  was,  as  even  her 
enemies  admitted,  a  woman  of  wonderful  power  and 
attractiveness.  Her  philosophical  ideas  were  not  un- 
like those  of  modern  Transcendentalism,  and  in  many 
ways  she  only  anticipated  the  thoughts  which  two 
hundred  years  later  Emerson  was  to  make  familiar  to 
sympathetic  audiences  in  Lyceum  Hall.  The  dis- 
pute was  carried  into  everything,  interfering  with  the 
course  of  government,  even  down  to  the  conduct  of 
town  affi^irs.  It  made  it  more  difficult  for  John  Endi- 
cott  to  carry  on  the  Pequot  War.  The  reaction  from 
Antinomianism  brought  back  into  power  Winthrop, 
Endicott  and  the  other  old  settlers — the  "  fathers  and 
founders" — who  were  already,  because  of  their  seni- 
ority, becoming  "distinguished  townsmen."  Mrs. 
Hutchinson  found  little  open  sympathy  in  Salem, 
because  Hugh  Peter  was  then  at  the  full  tide  of  his 
remarkable  success,  and  he,  with  Governor  Endicott, 
severely  punished  all  who  rebelled.  They  gave  Gov- 
ernor Winthrop  their  hearty  support,  and  helped  him 
back  into  power,  thus  re-establishing  Puritan  rule  in 
Massachusetts.  Still,  before  her  tragical  death  at  the 
hands  of  the  Indians,  in  1643,  this  remarkable  woman 
had  made  an  ineffaceable  mark  on  the  institutions  of 
Massachusetts  and  Ehode  Island  and  greatly  strength- 
ened the  impulse  to  grant,  as  well  as  claim,  liberty  of 
conscience. 

From  this  time  on  there  are  two  parties  in  church 
and  state,  representing  Puritanism  and  Puritanism 
ameliorated.  They  go  on  in  Salem  together  until 
the  cruel  policy  of  Governor  Endicott,  together  with 
the  absurd  notions  of  demoniacal  influence  then  cur- 
rent, bear  their  proper  fruit  in  the  "  Witchcraft  De- 
lusion." Then  Puritanism  begins  to  relax  its  arbi- 
trary and  merciless  tyranny  and  milder  counsels  pre- 
vail. Meanwhile,  we  shall  see  the  two  in  conflict 
and  shall  see  how  a  false  theory  of  duty  can,  in  the 
name  of  righteousness,  drive  humane  men  to  the  most 
inhuman  deeds. 

But  the  townsmen  of  Salem  during  this  eventful 
seventeenth  century  were  not  solely  given  up  to  re- 
ligious contention.  They  had  many  other  interests, 
some  of  them  very  absorbing.  Their  lives  were  not 
stagnant  or  dull.  To  have  in  rapid  succession  two 
such  ministers  as  Roger  Williams  and  Hugh  Peter, 
and  to  trace  with  intelligent  interest  as  they  did  their 
subsequent  career,  the  one  founding  a  colony,  the 
other  going  to  the  scaffold  to  expiate  the  death  of  a 
king,  was  enough  to  sharpen  the  wits  of  the  dullest 
and  give  him  a  lively  interest  in  the  affairs  of  two 
continents.  The  great  events  of  the  rebellion,  the  Com- 
monwealth, the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts  and  the  Revo- 
lution all  passed  within  the  limits  of  a  single  lifetime, 


and  every  change  in  the  fortunes  of  England  was  felt 
in  the  homes  of  Salem.  Each  man  felt  a  responsibility 
for  the  issue  of  the  battle  over  the  seas,  and  when 
the  commonwealth  of  England  fell,  the  Common- 
wealth of  Massachusetts  was  accounted  its  lawful 
heir. 

But  at  home  were  many  and  engrossing  occupa- 
tions and  interests,  some  good  and  some  to  modern 
consciences,  as  much  to  be  condemned  as  any  of  their 
religious  excesses.  Commerce  began  its  beneficent 
career,  and  was  for  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  a 
source  of  good  things  innumerable.  It  kept  the  in- 
tellect alert,  gave  knowledge  of  other  nations  and 
gradually  liberalized  the  minds  of  all  who  were  en- 
gaged in  it.  It  produced  a  remarkable  breed  of  men, 
to  whom  in  time  the  burdens  of  ecclesiasticism  became 
insupportable,  and  the  Puritan  spirit  was  at  last  trans- 
formed and  a  broad  catholicity  took  the  place  of 
bigotry.  But  as  yet  we  see  only  the  beginnings,  and 
we  see  them  marred  by  many  an  evil  practice.  The 
distillery  arose  in  the  colony  and  began  to  pour  its 
poisoned  stream  into  all  the  homes  of  savagery.  The 
ships  which  went  out  laden  with  New  England  rum 
returned  sometimes  freighted  with  African  slaves, 
and  tender  consciences  did  not  seem  to  be  hurt  by 
the  transaction.  It  is  recorded  that  negroes  were 
brought  to  Salem  as  early  as  1638.  The  laws  of  na- 
tions were  not  well  defined  in  those  days,  and  a  war 
with  any  nation,  or  a  war  among  unfriendly  nations, 
gave  excuse  for  privateering,  which  easily  slipped 
into  piracy.  Pirates  who  preyed  upon  their  own 
commerce  were  punished  when  caught,  but  those  who 
only  molested  unfriendly  nations  were  winked  at,  and 
it  was  not  a  thing  unknown  for  a  pirate  to  sail  into 
Salem  harbor  and  sell  his  plunder  to  the  townsmen, 
who  asked  no  questions  so  long  as  they  got  good 
bargains.  Indeed,  it  is  now  quite  impossible  to  tell 
the  true  story  of  those  times  without  doing  injustice 
to  them,  so  greatly  has  our  moral  standard  in  many 
things  been  elevated.  One  can  easily  see,  however, 
that  there  were  many  compensations  for  the  Puritan. 
His  world  was  not  so  colorless  as  it  seems  to  us  when 
we  think  only  of  his  religion,  and  imagine  that  to 
have  been  his  only  absorbing  interest. 

The  internal  arrangements  of  the  colony  at  Salem 
were  for  many  years  matters  of  constant  and  grave 
concern.  Things  which  seem  to  us  trivial  were  then 
of  great  importance.  The  public  lands  were  at  first 
held  by  the  government,  and  the  towns,  as  agents  of  the 
colony,  distributed  them  among  their  inhabitants. 
A  law  restricting  this  power  of  distribution  to  the 
towns  was  passed  (as  William  P.  Upham,  Esq.,  in- 
forms us)  in  1635.  The  land  was  granted  in  small 
building-lots  and  planting-fields  to  those  who  were 
admitted  to  the  privileges  of  the  town.  There  could 
be  no  speculation  in  town  lots.  Only  the  occupiers 
could  hold  them.  The  rights  of  forest,  field  and  shore 
were  common,  and  to  the  householders  pertained  cer- 


SALEM. 


tain  privileges  of  pasturage  and  other  rights  peculiar 
to  the  proprietors.  A  man  was  made  a  freeman  by 
the  General  Court,  and  when  he  desired  to  settle, 
asked  to  be  "  admitted  an  inhabitant,"  and,  if  his  re- 
quest was  granted,  became  a  member  of  a  corpora- 
tion consisting  of  certain  named  persons  and  such 
others  as  they  chose. 

Land  was  given  to  any  one  who  became  an  inhabit- 
ant. At  first  there  was  no  difficulty.  But  the  ques- 
tion which  arose  when  the  late-comers  were  numer- 
ous, and  insisted  upon  their  full  share  of  these  privi- 
leges, became  troublesome.  Among  the  old  settlers 
there  were  at  least  three  distinctions  of  social  rank 
attaching  to  freemen,  non-freemen  and  servants. 
These  were  increased  by  an  additional  line  drawn  be- 
tween the  cottagers  and  commoners, — those  who  had  a 
share  in  the  original  common  rights  and  those  who 
had  not  been  admitted  to  such  rights.  The  cottagers 
had  great  advantages,  and  for  many  years  clung  to 
their  privileges.  They  even  held  meetings  separate 
from  the  town.  The  contention  at  times  must  have 
been  much  more  exciting  than  the  news  of  a  change 
of  government  in  England,  or  the  loss  of  the  colo- 
nial charter,  because  it  affected  the  fortunes  of  every 
householder  in  a  direct  way.  It  was  not  until  the 
eighteenth  century  came  in  that  the  dispute  was 
closed.  In  1660  the  general  government  passed  a 
law  that  those  who  then  had  cottages  or  houses  built 
should  have  rights  in  common  land.  About  a  gen- 
eration later  it  was  a  serious  question  what  rights 
they  should  have  (then  a  large  number)  who  were 
not  included  under  that  law.  The  cottagers  were  those 
who  held  under  the  law  ;  the  commoners  were  those 
who  claimed  a  right,  not  by  virtue  of  the  act  of  1660, 
but  by  right  of  habitation.  In  1702  the  town  passed 
a  vote  settling  this  difference  and  admitting  to  a 
right  in  the  commons  all  houses  then  built.  In  1713 
the  commoners,  which  term  then  included  both  com- 
moners and  cottagers,  organized  under  the  province 
law,  and  are  to  this  day  represented  by  the  "  Great 
Pasture  Corporation."  These  various  measures  were 
not  agreed  upon  without  great  friction  and  excite- 
ment, and  even  the  famous  "  witchcraft  year,"  which 
came  when  the  dispute  was  at  its  hottest,  could  only 
postpone  the  excitement  over  a  matter  which  affected 
the  fortunes  of  every  townsman.  The  commoners  at 
last  voted  to  give  up  to  the  town  the  highways,  burying- 
places,  the  common  lands  which  lay  within  the  town, 
bridge  and  the  block-houses,  with  the  training- 
grounds  and  various  other  relinquishments,  which 
brought  the  affairs  of  the  town  on  to  a  modern 
footing.  Hospitality  was  not  a  characteristic  of  those 
days.  People  were  suspicious  and  jealous  of  new- 
comers and  required  of  them  proofs  that  they  would 
be  safe  and  agreeable  neighbors  before  they  admitted 
them  to  a  share  of  the  common  property.  For  tempo- 
rary purposes  they  granted  them  cottage  rights  and 
garden  spots,  but  not  every  new-comer  was  welcome. 


Strolling  adventurers  were  promptly  arrested  and  re- 
quired to  give  an  account  of  themselves.  For  a 
hundred  years  these  internal  relations  of  the  com- 
munity were  very  important  and  influential.  They 
have  now  nearly  passed  out  of  the  memory  of  all  but 
the  students  of  antiquity.  But  they  were  important 
then,  and  in  the  various  attempts  made  to  adjust 
differences  and  find  out  that  which  was  for  the  com- 
mon welfare,  the  community  was  being  compacted 
and  trained  to  common  action  in  a  way  which  made 
all  its  strength  available  in  its  great  days  when  it 
covered  the  sea  with  privateers  and  merchantmen. 

But  before  we  take  leave  of  the  seventeenth  century 
there  are  still  some  grievous  things  to  be  noted.  The 
Friend  is  to  us  an  emblem  and  suggestion  of  peace. 
But  in  1657  he  was  to  the  people  of  Salem  a  creature 
to  be  abhorred  and,  by  force  if  necessary,  expelled 
from  the  community.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
during  all  this  century  any,  even  the  most  innocent, 
trespasser  was  there  illegally  if  he  was  not  permitted 
by  the  authorities  to  make  his  home  there.  No  mat- 
ter what  his  business,  if  he  was  forbidden  to  dwell 
there,  and  still  persisted  in  opposition  to  the  proprie- 
tors, he  was  regarded  as  being  as  much  outside  of  his 
rights  as  a  poacher  or  a  burglar.  There  was  not  even 
a  sidewalk  where  he  could  claim  to  be  on  public  soil, 
or  on  the  "King's  highway."  Every  inch  of  soil 
belonged  to  the  town  and  the  proprietors.  When 
undesirable  persons,  therefore,  were  present  and  re- 
fused to  go  away  when  warned,  it  was  easy  and  alto- 
gether too  natural  for  those  in  authority  to  begin  with 
threats  and  then  proceed  to  force,  which  became  at 
last  cruel  much  beyond  the  original  intention.  When 
Massachusetts  decreed  that  Quakers  remaining  within 
her  bounds  must  die,  it  was  hoped  and  believed  that 
the  threat  of  death  would  be  effectual.  When  it  was 
discovered  that  martyrdom  had  its  charms,  and  that 
for  every  Quaker  hung  there  would  be  five  more 
ready  for  hanging,  the  brief  madness  of  the  magis- 
trates yielded  to  the  excited  protests  of  all  tender- 
hearted people,  and  the  shameful  law  was  repealed, 
but  not  until  it  had  caused  such  deeds  of  cruelty  in 
the  colony,  especially  in  Boston,  as  no  good  man  can 
now  contemplate  without  horror.  The  only  plea  to 
be  offered  in  mitigation  is  that  the  magistrates  feared 
overmuch  a  popular  revolution  and  Avere  driven  to 
excess  by  overplus  of  official  zeal.  Still,  we  must 
remember  that  it  was  a  century  of  perils  and  of  fears. 
Safety  lay  in  concert  of  action.  The  Jesuits,  the 
Anabaptists,  the  Quakers,  if  permitted  to  come  and 
proselyte,  might  bring  in  all  kinds  of  political  trouble 
and  danger  from  foreign  nations.  The  Dutch  and 
Indians  were  near  and  dangerous,  and  the  whole 
community  lived  in  such  fear  of  unseen  perils  as  we 
can  scarcely  imagine.  For  all  that,  we  cannot  be 
reconciled  to  the  whipping  of  women  at  the  cart-tail 
nor  the  offering  to  sell  Quakers  to  be  taken  as  slaves 
to  the  Barbadoes. 


8 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


But  the  latter  clays  of  the  century  approach  with 
many  fears,  some  prosperity  and  great  distraction  of 
mind  and  purpose.  John  Endicott  had  moved  to 
Boston  and  died  there  in  1665.  The  race  of  great 
merchants  had  begun  with  Hollingworth  and  others. 
Philip  English,  the  famous  Episcopalian,  was  dazzling 
the  eyes  of  his  neighbors  with  his  enterprise  and  the 
magnificent  style  of  his  living.  His  house  and  offices 
were  full  of  "bound  servants,"  and  he  evidently  paid 
little  attention  to  the  strait  ways  of  Puritanism. 
The  "founders"  who  came  to  old  age  all  died  before 
the  century  was  out.  There  were  among  them  Major 
Hathorne  and  Captain  Curwen,  the  Hon.  W.  Browne, 
who,  coming  over  before  1638,  lived  half  a  century  in 
Salem,  and  were  regarded  as  "  distinguished  towns- 
men "  when  they  died.  There  was  much  wealth 
accumulating  already  and  life  began  to  go  on  with 
considerable  stateliness  and  dignity.  Even  those  who 
did  not  for  themselves  expect  to  arrive  at  any  station 
of  especial  honor  still  easily  lent  themselves  to  the 
general  mode  of  life  and  assisted  in  creating  a  public 
sentiment  favorable  to  the  production  of  men  of  grave 
manners,  weighty  ideas  and  comprehensive  plans  of 
public  and  private  advancement.  With  this  outward 
gravity,  and  not  altogether  consistent  with  it,  there 
were  many  grotesque  and  extravagant  notions  con- 
cerning both  nature  and  the  supernatural.  At  a  time 
when  men  knew  so  little  of  the  world  and  its  natural 
products  as  to  expect  to  find  lions  in  the  American 
wilderness,  and  when  the  loadstone  was  supposed  to 
have  some  magical  power  of  indicating  the  place  of 
the  precious  metals,  when  devils  and  demons,  both  in 
their  own  form  and  as  possessing  human  beings,  were 
supposed  to  be  as  common  as  bats  and  owls,  at  any 
time  events  might  happen  which  would  break  the 
outward  calm  and  throw  the  community  into  a  fever 
of  curiosity  or  of  apprehension. 

At  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  town 
was,  in  many  ways,  in  an  unnatural  condition.  There 
had  been  numerous  alarms  and  the  real  dangers  were 
many.  At  any  time  enemies  at  home  might  trouble 
them,  and  against  an  irruption  of  foreign  enemies 
there  was  no  protection  which  was  trustworthy.  The 
more  wealthy  the  community  became  the  greater  the 
danger  that  the  ships  of  an  enemy  might  sail  into  the 
ill-defended  harbor  and  lay  waste  the  town.  Many 
losses  had  been  incurred  and  the  people  were  sore 
with  apprehension,  restless  and  ready  for  a  panic  of 
any  sort.  The  occasion  came,  and  Salem  won  an 
unpleasant  and  ill-deserved  fame  as  the  scene  of  the 
"  Witchcraft  Delusion."  The  sad  tale  will  be  hon- 
estly told  in  the  narrative  to  follow.  It  is  only 
necessary  to  say  here  that  in  our  time  men  forget  the 
multitudes  who  have  been  burned  in  Europe  as 
witches  and  remember  the  score  who  went  to  an 
unhappy  death  on  the  scaffold  in  Salem,  as  if  there 
were  something  peculiar  in  Salem  witchcraft  to  dis- 
tinguish  it   from   the  common   experience   in   such 


matters  of  the  rest  of  the  civilized  world.     When  the 
Zuni  Indians  came  to  Salem,  a  few  years  since,  one  of 
them,  speaking  in  Plummer  Hall,  told  the  people  that 
he  heard  that  they  put  their  witches  to  death.     He 
told  them  that  they  did  right;  the  Zunis  did  the 
same.     It  was  the  only  way  to  deal  with  them.     The 
Indian  had  a  face  like  Dante's,  and  his  opinions  were 
only  the  same  as  were  held  by  all  the  civilized  world 
down  to  the  time  when  in  Salem  the  long  delusion  of 
the   ages   finally   gave    way   to   the   humaneness   of 
modern  feeling.     In  Northern  Europe,  as  Topeliua 
testifies,  witches  were  slain  by  the  hundred.     This 
eruption  in  Saleoi  was  the  last  infamous  outbreak  of 
Puritan  fanaticism,  and  it  cleared  the  air  for  all  the 
generations  since. 

To  do  anything  like  justice  to  the  people  of  those 
days  we  must  remember  that  they  were  at  the  same 
time  more  happy  and,  in  many  ways,  more  cheerful 
than  we  are  apt  to  think,  and  that  they  also  were 
more  hard  and  insensible  to  certain  forms  of  human 
suffering  than  we  are,  and  that,  moreover,  great  sensi- 
bility could  be  a  trait  of  the  character  in  which  were 
qualities  which,  to  us,  seem  quite  incompaiible  with 
it.     We  must  also  remember  that  many  things  which 
to  us  seem  like  acts  of  their  free  will  did  not  seem  so 
to  them.     To  be  obliged  to  whip  an  Anabaptist  or  a 
Quaker  seemed  to  many  a  tender-hearted  Puritan  as 
necessary  and  as  grievous  as  to  us  seem  the  unavoid- 
able sufferings  which  come  by  "  act  of  God."     That  a 
certain  brutality  was  cultivated  by  such  theories  is 
certain.     The  best  argument  against  the  whipping- 
post is  that  whatever  the  crimes  of  the  culprit  who 
suffers  at  one  end  of  the  whip,  there  will  always  be  a 
brute  at  the  other  end  of  it — probably  the  worse  brute 
of  the  two.     When  Hugh  Peter  died  in  England  for 
his  political  offenses  we  have  a  picture  of  the  times 
which  it  is  now  difficult  to  contemplate  without  a 
shudder.     As  he  waited  for  his  turn  at  the  gallows  he 
was  compelled  to  see  his  friend  Cooke  cut  down  and 
quartered.     "How  like  you  this ?"  asked  the  execu- 
tioner, rubbing  his  bloody  hands.     When  such  things 
were  going  on  it  is  hard  for  us  to  remember  that  the 
sun  shone  as  brightly  then  as  now  over  the  lovely 
shores  and  bays  of  Salem ;  that  in  summer  the  east 
wind  was  fresh  and  cool  as  it  swept  over  the  sparkling 
water,  where  the  fisher  boats  floated  and  the  fisher 
boys  sang  their  ancient  ballads  or  shouted  to  each 
other  in  careless  jollity;  that  there  was  a  merry  sound 
from  the  herdsmen's  horns  as  the  kine  came  in  fresh 
from  the  pastures  in  June,  and  that  for  any  one  life 
was  easy  and  careless  and  happy.     But  it  was  so,  and 
many  a  legend,  tradition  and  reminiscence  of  those 
early  days  show  that  sailors  danced  and  were  jolly, 
that  rustics  were  as  light-hearted  at  times,  and  even 
more  content  and  satisfied  than  now.     Society  went 
on,  as  society  must,  with  love-making  and  marriage, 
the  love  of  children  and  the  association  of  friends; 
and  what  men  could  not  prevent,  or  thought  they 


SALEM. 


could  not,  that  they  contrived  to  shut  out  and  forget. 
In  the  days  of  the  witchcraft  excitement,  however, 
there  was  no  possibility  of  shutting  out  or  forgetting 
the  grizzly  horror  which  might  look  in  at  any  window 
and  claim  any  victim.  Whether  one  believed  in  all 
the  possibilities  of  demoniacal  possession  or  only 
feared  the  passion  of  enemies  and  the  mania  of  the 
populace,  the  danger  and  the  fear  were  inevitable  and 
oppressive. 

But  those  unhappy  days  passed.  The  common 
sense  and  good  feeling  of  the  community  reasserted 
themselves,  and  the  humaneness  which  had  never 
been  able  to  justify  itself  assumed  an  authority  it  had 
never  had  before.  The  modern  period  may  be  said  to 
begin  with  the  eighteenth  century,  although  many  a 
lapse  and  "  many  a  backward  streaming  curve  "  show 
that  progress  then,  as  now,  was  not  a  regular  progres- 
sion from  evil  to  good  or  from  good  to  better  things 
in  public  and  private  life. 

The  eighteenth  century  opened  with  renewed  pros- 
perity. Commerce  was  establishing  itself,  and  with 
many  and  wide  relations  with  the  foreign  world,  Sa- 
lem was  becoming  what  it  has  always  been  since  that 
time — remarkable  for  the  number  of  its  inhabitants 
who  were  cosmopolitan  in  their  tastes  and  habits. 
The  influence  of  a  few  men  fostered  a  habit  which,  in 
time,  produced  a  very  peculiar  and  remarkable  race 
of  sailors  and  traders.  Abandoning  the  ponderous 
methods  of  the  older  merchants,  who  built  huge  ships 
a'ld  founded  permanent  colonies,  or  occupied  posts 
in  foreign  lands  and  carried  on  operations  involving 
great  expense  and  requiring  to  be  protected  by  costly 
convoys  and  garrisons,  the  fishermen  and  traders  of 
Salem  learned  to  skirmish  all  along  the  border-lines 
of  the  civilized  world,  and  prepared  themselves  for 
the  brilliant  exploits  of  later  years.  But  it  took  a 
hundred  years  to  train  the  whole  population  and 
compact  it  so  that  when  the  time  came,  whether  for 
privateering  or  commerce,  every  varied  need  could  be 
quickly,  naturally  and  cheaply  provided  for  at  home. 
For  these  purposes  there  were  needed  on  the  spot 
men  of  universal  knowledge  of  the  known  world,  able 
also  .to  make  a  shrewd  guess  as  to  what  lay  out  of 
sight  in  the  undiscovered  parts  of  the  world.  They 
needed  trusty  agents  as  intelligent,  if  not  as  far-see- 
ing, as  themselves — men  who  could  obey  orders  of  a 
comprehensive  character,  with  wit  enough  to  modify 
them  when  new  conditions  arose.  With  them  must 
go  sailors  who  were  bold,  trusty,  enterprising  and  in- 
telligent, coming  out  of  families  whose  interests  were 
identical  with  those  of  the  merchants  and  traders. 
About  these  there  must  be  a  homogeneous  and  inter- 
ested population  ready  and  skillful  in  all  the  trades 
and  handicrafts  needed  by  the  main  business  of  the 
place.  We  shall  see,  by  and  by,  how  all  these  con- 
ditions were  prepared  and  what  a  mark  Salem  made 
on  the  business  of  the  world.  For  the  present  we  only 
note  the  fact  that  the  process  was  beginning.     The 


fishing-boats  and  coasters,  the  trading  smacks  and 
larger  craft  plying  between  the  West  Indies  and  Sa- 
lem, and  the  ships  which  were  slowly  extending  the 
European  commerce  of  the  colony,  were  training  such 
a  hardy,  brave  and  intelligent  seafaring  population  as 
can  now  be  found  in  no  city  or  town  of  any  size  any- 
where in  the  world. 

From  this  time  on  religious  matters  are  less  en- 
grossing and  less  distracting.  Education,  business 
and  politics  claim  an  increasing  share  of  their  atten- 
tion, and  a  town  is  slowly  built  up  of  a  homogeneous 
population,  prosperous,  well  educated,  capable  of 
taking  an  intelligent  interest  in  all  the  affairs  of  the 
town  and  the  Commonwealth.  But  the  colonies, 
provinces  now  under  royal  Governors  who  are  inclined 
to  haughty  ways  and  the  exercise  of  irresponsible  au- 
thority, are  still  small,  isolated  and  feeble.  The  set- 
tlements are  still  scattered.  Communication  is  infre- 
quent. Horses  are  few,  and,  until  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  carriages  were  almost  unknown, 
while  turnpikes  and  stage-coaches  were  yet  to  be  in- 
troduced j)s  the  novel  appliances  of  a  new  civilization. 
Roads  everywhere  were  bad,  bridges  were  few,  and 
the  obstruction  to  public  travel,  except  by  a  very 
few  main  highways,  was  so  great  that  each  separate 
community  was  nearly  reduced  to  dependence  upon 
its  own  resources,  excepting  such  supplies  as  might 
come  by  wnter,  the  great  common  highway  of  com- 
merce. The  water-ways  were  still  used  for  most  kinds 
of  transportation,  even  among  neighbors  in  Salem. 
For,  as  the  town  grew  along  the  water's  edge,  with  the 
front  doors  of  the  houses  opening  towards  the  harbor 
or  the  various  rivers,  while  the  lanes,  out-houses 
and  swine  pens  were  behind,  where  the  principal 
streets  now  are,  it  was  more  easy  to  convey  all  bulky 
articles  a  long  distance  by  water  than  to  carry  them 
but  a  little  way  on  land.  The  settlements  spread 
along  the  bays  and  rivers,  and  even  little  creeks 
were  useful  to  the  farmer  who  sought  a  market  for 
his  surplus  produce  in  exchange  for  needed  supplies. 
With  all  their  increased  wealth  and  comfort,  we  must 
still  think  of  them  as  a  "feeble  folk,"  scattered  and  few, 
too  few  to  live  up  to  the  independent  ideas  they  have 
now  been  nourishing  for  a  century.  Money  was 
scarce,  even  when  comfort  abounded,  and  stores 
could  be  provided  at  any  time  in  a  given  place  only 
by  transporting  them  in  kind.  Virginia  could  not 
give  a  thousand  bushels  of  wheat  to  Boston  by  send- 
ing a  bill  of  exchange,  as  we  might  do  to-day  if  a  fam- 
ine occurred  in  Asia  Minor,  but  must  laboriously  col- 
lect the  grain  from  her  own  scattered  wheat-fields 
and  transport  it  from  Virginia  to  Boston. 

With  the  fall  of  the  colonial  government  and  the 
coming  of  the  royal  Governors,  new  problems  of  the 
most  perplexing  kinds  rolled  in  upon  them.  From 
the  beginning  of  the  century  the  American  Revolu- 
tion was  preparing  itself.  It  took  seventy-five  years 
to  breed  the  ideas,  train  the  men  and  make  it  possi- 


10 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


sible  to  provide  the  supplies  which  were  at  last  to 
come  to  their  highest  uses  and  expression  in  the  repub- 
lic. During  these  years  attention  was  more  and  more 
called  to  what  were  to  become  national  problems* 
Provincial  governors,  however  bad,  served  an  excel- 
lent purpose  when  they  turned  the  attention  of  the 
colonists  away  from  the  idiosyncrasies  of  religionists 
(good  and  bad  alike),  and  concentrated  the  energies 
of  the  people  in  defense  of  their  common  rights  and 
privileges.  From  the  time  that  Sir  Edmund  Andros 
said  to  Mr.  Higginson,  in  Salem,  "Either  you  are 
subjects  or  you  are  rebels"  it  was  certain  that  rebel- 
lion would  come.  It  was  already  prepared  for  in  the 
mind  of  every  Salem  householder  who  believed  that 
his  tenure  was  independent  of  the  King.  Even  then 
it  was  claimed  by  Mr.  Higginson  that  the  lands  of 
New  England  belonged  not  to  the  King,  but  to  the 
people  who  occupied  and  paid  for  them.  There  might 
be  doubt  as  to  who  were  the  rightful  proprietors  of 
the  town  lots  and  "  common  lands "  of  Salem,  but 
there  was  no  doubt  that  the  King  was  not  one  of  them. 
In  the  "great  jjastures"  even  the  "swineherds" 
would  have  resisted  his  claim  to  the  feeding  of  a  pig 
so  long  as  he  was  not  a  "  householder  "  in  Salem. 

The  reaction  from  the  intolerance  and  over-religi- 
ousness of  the  preceding  century  was  largely  brought 
about  by  the  enforced  practice  of  the  toleration  which 
they  had  feared  and  abhorred.  Being  obliged  to  live 
in  peace  with  Anabaptists,  Episcopalians  and  Qua- 
kers, they  learned,  if  not  to  like  them,  at  least  to  do 
business  with  them,  and  at  last  to  respect  them  as 
valuable  members  of  the  community.  Wearied  with 
long  strife  which  had  proved  to  be  so  profitless,  the 
peace  which  followed  the  establishment  of  public 
worship  after  the  manner  of  the  Friends  and  the 
"Churchmen"  must  have  been  a  grateful  surprise 
even  to  those  who  had  predicted  dire  evils  to  follow 
the  toleration  of  Episcopacy  or  heresy.  The  minds 
of  men  were  now  somewhat  released  from  the  contem- 
plation of  insoluble  theological  problems,  and  the 
fears  which  had  hung  over  the  colony  for  a  hundred 
years  began  to  drift  away  or  to  dissolve  before  the 
splendor  of  the  rising  sun.  Religion  began  to  be  re- 
garded as  the  beneficent  guide  of  life  to  be  privately 
followed  and  not  publicly  enjoined  upon  others. 

Many  now  living  remember  Dr.  Holyoke,  whose 
one  hundredth  birth-day  was  celebrated  by  a  dinner 
at  the  Essex  Cofiee-House,  in  1828,  which  he  attended 
and  at  which  he  spoke.  He  was  graduated  at  Har- 
vard College  in  174G,  and  therefore  knew  all  of  the 
men  and  women  of  the  last  half  of  the  eighteenth 
century  in  Salem,  and  those  older  men  and  women 
also  whose  memories  went  back  to  the  lifetime  of  the 
conditores  themselves.  To  men  now  living  he  may 
have  told  the  stories  related  to  him  by  men  who  heard 
them  from  the  lips  of  John  Endicott.  His  own  mem- 
ory must  have  held  some  wonderful  reminiscences  of 
the  hundred  years  in  which  the  feeble  provinces  were 


growing  to  be  a  great  nation,  able  twice  within  his 
knowledge  successfully  to  meet  the  mother-country  in 
arms,  and  on  sea  and  land  to  prove  herself  invincible 
to  any  foreign  foe.  As  a  boy,  in  1736,  he  may  have 
ridden  over  from  Marblehead  on  a  pillion  behind  his 
father,  or  have  sailed  around  Naugus  Head  in  a  fish- 
ing boat  to  see  the  funeral  procession  of  Philip  Eng- 
lish, and  have  listened  that  day  to  the  tales  of  the 
grandams  and  goodies  who  remembered  when  he  and 
his  wife  were  arrested  as  witches.  Perhaps  he  heard 
some  of  them  slyly  remind  each  other  of  having  had 
a  hand  in  the  sport  when  the  mob  stripped  and  plun- 
dered his  house.  Some  of  them  were  in  that  proces- 
sion which  marched  out  to  the  edge  of  the  wilderness 
at  Gallows  Hill,  or  stood  near  enough  to  hear  the  dy- 
ing groans  of  Giles  Corey.  The  older  men  that  day 
would  be  sure  to  recall  that  other  funeral  when  John 
Endicott  was  followed  to  his  grave,  in  1665,  by  his 
old  companions,  "  the  founders  of  the  Colony." 
There  would  be  several  there  who  remembered  seeing 
Robert  Wilson's  wife  tied  to  the  tail  of  a  cart,  and 
whipped  from  "  Mr.  Gedney's  house  to  her  own  door 
in  '61.''  As  Dr.  Holyoke  iu  later  years  recalled  these 
things,  and  contrasted  the  hardships  and  perils  of  his 
own  century  and  theirs,  he  must  have  remarked  the 
fact  that  the  hard  and  perilous  experiences  of  his 
time  were  memories  to  be  proud  of  and  to  rejoice 
over  as  their  anniversaries  came,  while  the  most  ex- 
citing and  perilous  experiences  of  the  preceding  cen- 
tury left  shameful  memories  and  bitter  regrets.  Be- 
ing born  in  Marblehead  in  1728,  Dr.  Holyoke  could 
not  remember  that  in  that  year  Gov.  Burnet,  finding 
it  impossible  in  Boston  to  obtain  an  appropriation 
from  the  General  Court  for  his  salary,  called  a  session 
in  Salem,  where  he  found  the  members  still  intracta- 
ble and  unwilling  to  provide  supplies  for  a  "  royal 
Governor."  He  would  quite  naturally  have  been  one 
of  that  crowd  of  six  thousand  people  who  assembled 
on  Salem  Common  to  hour  George  Whitefield  preach, 
and  he  certainly  heard  much  of  the  heated  contro- 
versy which  began  at  that  time  and  continued  until 
the  Congregational  Church  of  New  England  was  di- 
vided, three-quarters  of  a  century  later.  Those' who 
sympathized  with  George  Whitefield  and  Jonathan 
Edwards  at  the  time  of  the  "  great  revival  "  then 
formed  one  party  ;  those  who  disapproved  of  their 
methods  and  doctrines  formed  another,  and  the  lineal 
descendants  or  natural  inheritors  of  the  ideas  and 
moral  sympathies  of  these  two  parties  are  to-day  in 
Salem,  respectively  called  Orthodox  and  Unitarian 
Congregationalists.  George  Whitefield,  loved,  ad- 
mired and  praised  by  one  party,  was  by  the  other  dis- 
trusted and  condemned.  But  to  all  he  was  an  object 
of  exceeding  interest  and  curiosity.  Holyoke  felt 
the  earthquake  shock  in  '55,  the  year  that  Lisbon 
went  down.  He  saw  Timothy  Pickering  as  a  boy  in 
the  streets  and  saw  the  children  growing  up  who  were 
to  march  with  him  to  Winter  Hill,  when  the  British 


SALEM. 


11 


were  retreating  from  Lexington,  and  get  for  a  hard 
day's  march,  with  none  of  the  fighting  which  they 
went  for,  only  curses  because  they  did  not  get  there 
sooner  and  capture  the  whole  force.  He  must  have 
stood  at  the  North  Bridge  when  Colonel  Leslie  march- 
ed that  way  and  was  met  by  the  "  proprietors  of  the 
Nortli  Fields,"  who  assured  him  that  the  way  beyond 
the  bridge  was  not  the  "  King's  Highway,"  which  he 
claimed  it  to  be,  but  a  private  way  where  passing  was 
"  dangerous  "  for  those  who  were  forbidden  by  the 
lawful  owners.  He  was  a  man  in  middle  life  when 
the  great  events  of  the  Revolution  were  coming  to 
pass.  He  might  have  seen  Lafayette  in  Salem  in 
1784,  and  Washington  in  1789,  and  may  have  owned 
one  of  the  numerous  beds  occupied  on  that  memora- 
ble occasion  by  the  "  Father  of  his  country."  No 
doubt  he  stood  on  the  wharf  when  the  "Grand  Turk" 
sailed  on  her  famous  voyage  to  India  and  China,  and 
went  down  to  see  her  when  she  came  in,  the  first 
to  bring  a  cargo  direct  from  Canton  to  New  Eng- 
land. Some  writers  describe  those  days  as  provincial, 
dull  and  uninteresting  to  any  but  traders  and  sailors. 
But  the  man  must  have  been  curiously  made  who 
could  stand  in  the  distinguished  company  certain  to 
assemble  at  such  a  time  and  see  the  treasures  of  the 
oriental  world  begin  to  pour  into  that  little  old 
Puritan  town  and  not  have  sensations  which  would 
stir  his  blood  and  cause  his  nerves  to  tingle  as  scarce- 
ly anything  would  but  war.  These  men,  whose  ances- 
tors would  not  willingly  associate  with  Anabaptists, 
Episcopalians  or  Quakers,  were  now  ready  to  trade 
with  Catholics,  Buddhists,  Mohammedans,  Parsees, 
and  idolaters  of  every  hue  and  creed.  Trading  with 
them,  they  learned  to  respect  them,  and  sometimes 
they  even  formed  life-long  friendships  with  men  of  the 
most  diverse  religious  opinions.  During  his  own  life- 
time Dr.  Holyoke  had  seen  revolutionary  changes  of 
many  kinds.  He  saw  ^the  little  provinces  become 
a  powerful  nation.  He  saw  religion  cast  off  its 
gloom  and  severity,  while  in  social  life  austerity 
gave  place  to  animation  and  a  joyous  activity.  He 
saw  also  in  their  cradles,  or  playing  in  the  streets,  the 
boys  who  were  to  bring  literary  renown  to  the  old 
town  when  her  commercial  laurels  faded.  Perhaps 
the  boys  are  now  growing  up  who,  by  the  fame  of 
their  scientific  achievements,  will  take  up  the  succes- 
sion and  make  Salem  as  illustrious  in  science  as  she 
is  now  for  the  fame  of  her  children, — Prescott  and 
Hawthorne. 

Of  the  last  century  Timothy  Pickering  was  perhaps 
the  most  distinguished  man  born  or  living  in  Salem 
after  1750.  He  was  conspicuous  for  the  force  and 
dignity  of  his  character,  for  his  many  attainments 
and  for  his  notable  public  services.  Born  in  1745,  and 
dying  in  1828,  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  "founders," 
graduated  at  Harvard  College,  in  his  later  years  an 
officer  of  the  First  Church,  a  Unitarian  before  Chan- 
ning  had  begun  to  preach,  his  life  was  almost  an  epit- 


ome of  Puritan  history  in  all  its  phases.  From  the 
time,  in  1774,  when  the  Colonial  Legislature  assem- 
bled in  Salem  and  took  measures  to  call  a  General 
Provincial  Congress  in  Philadelphia,  Pickering  was 
at  the  centre  of  events.  A  mere  catalogue  of  the 
offices  he  held  in  that-half  century  will  suggest  the 
many  services  he  rendered  and  his  eminent  fitness  for 
public  life.  He  was  adjutant-general  and  quarter- 
master of  Washington's  army ;  delegate  to  the  Con- 
stitutional Convention  at  Philadelphia;  Postmaster- 
General,  Secretary  of  War  and  Secretary  of  State  un- 
der Washington  and  Adams ;  United  States  Senator ; 
Representative  in  Congress  ;  and  president  of  the 
Essex  Agricultural  Society.  But,  eminent  as  he  was, 
he  was  but  one  in  a  group  of  professional  and  busi- 
ness men  of  rare  ability  and  great  attainments.  Many 
of  the  educated  people  of  that  time,  as  in  the  next 
generation,  were  familiar,  not  only  with  public 
affairs  in  their  own  country,  but  also  were  at  home  in 
foreign  lands,  and  had  much  of  the  culture  which  is 
gained  by  travel  after  the  usual  course  of  education 
is  finished.  They  were  not  provincial  in  any  narrow 
sense.  Those  merchants  who  had  no  academic  train- 
ing acquired  a  comprehensive  knowledge  of  the  world, 
which  gave  them  great  influence  as  advisers,  and  a 
large  number  of  them  were  eminent  outside  of  their 
counting-rooms.  Such  names  as  those  of  Benjamin 
Goodhue,  Nathaniel  Silsbee,  the  two  brothers  Jacob 
and  Benjamin  Crowninshield,  Benjamin  Pick- 
man  and  William  Gray  suggest  to  those  who  are  fa- 
miliar with  the  history  of  the  country  the  great  ser- 
vices rendered  by  merchants  in  the  early  days  of  the 
republic.  Goodhue  and  Silsbee  were  United  States 
Senators.  One  of  the  Crownlnshields  was  Secretary 
of  the  Navy,  and  one  declined  the  same  position  some 
years  before.  Mr.  Pickman  was  Representative  in 
Congress  after  holding  many  iwsts  of  honor  in  Massa- 
chusetts, as  did  the  other  merchants  named.  Nathan 
Reed  was  well  known,  not  only  as  member  of  Con- 
gress, but  as  jurist  and  inventor.  He  made  a  steam- 
boat with  paddle-wheels  as  early  hs  1789.  B.  Lynde 
Oliver  was  a  learned  and  famous  physician  of  that 
time,  being  well  versed  in  such  knowledge  as  was 
then  current  in  scientific  circles,  and  an  authority  in 
optics.  Nathaniel  Bowditch  everybody  has  heard  of 
who  ever  smelled  salt-water.  He  was  famous  both 
on  sea  and  shoi'e.  His  fame  was  so  extensive  and 
stable  that  even  his  contemporaries  who  used  his 
"Navigator"  and  worked  out  their  problems  by  use  of 
his  tables,  often  thought  of  him  as  being  as  ancient 
and  famous  as^Sir  Isaac  Newton.  After  his  marine 
experience  was  over  he  lived  as  a  quiet  business  man 
in  Salem,  not  especially  conspicuous  in  a  place  and 
at  a  time  when  first-rate  attainments  and  achieve- 
ments were  expected  of  many  men  in  many  modes 
of  action. 

As  merchants  at  that  time,  no  men  were  more  con- 
spicuous in  Salem,  or  elsewhere,  than  Ellas  Haskett 


12 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Derby,  Joseph  Peabody  and  William  Gray.  The 
story  of  the  commercial  fortunes  of  the  town  will  be 
told  elsewhere.  They  were  at  their  brightest  in  the 
period  between  the  two  wars  with  England  and  were 
the  direct  result  and  continuation  of  one  of  the  most 
interesting  and  exciting  episodes  in  the  varied  histo- 
ry of  Salem.  America  had  no  navy  when  the  Revo- 
lutionary War  began.  Exposed  along  all  her  line  of 
coast  to  a  descent  of  the  enemy,  but  one  defense  was 
possible.  Instant  submission  must  have  followed  had 
not  the  whole  merchant  service  of  every  kind  offered 
itself  with  ships  and  men  trained  to  enterprise  and 
eager  for  adventure.  It  was  to  Salem,  Beverly  and 
Marblehead  that  Washington  looked  at  once  for  an 
armed  fleet,  without  awaiting  the  slow  action  of  a 
loosely  organized  Congress  or  taxing  the  inadequate 
resources  of  scattered  and  half-appointed  ship-yards, 
and  these  old  sea-porls  did  not  fail  him  in  his  neces- 
sity. They  furnished,  ready-made,  the  first  navy 
of  the  war.  Ship-building  of  every  kind  was 
pushed  with  all  speed.  Vessels  of  all  kinds,  large 
and  small,  were  commissioned  to  sweep  the  seas  and 
make  lawful  prize  of  war  whatever  could  be  captured 
belonging  to  the  enemy.  Salem  entered  into  this 
form  of  war  with  great  enthusiasm.  It  suited  the 
adventurous  spirit  of  her  boys.  Jonathan  Haraden 
was  a  sea-dog  of  the  approved  pattern.  Bold,  perse- 
vering and  indomitable,  he  made  himself  a  terror  to 
the  enemy,  and,  with  others  of  like  temper  and 
spirit,  soon  made  Salem  a  magazine  of  supplies  of 
every  kind,  taken  from  the  merchantmen  of  Great 
Britain.  At  one  time  a  famine  was  averted  by  the 
timely  arrival  of  a  prize  laden  with  flour  and  dry 
goods.  More  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  privateers 
sailed  from  this  port  during  the  Revolution.  The 
extraordinary  activity  of  the  marine  forces  of  the 
town  left  few  to  take  part  in  the  war  on  land,  although 
when  Colonel  Pickering  marched  after  a  drum 
through  the  aisles  of  the  First  Church,  calling  for 
volunteers,  the  full  quota  of  the  town  fell  in  behind 
him  and  followed  him  into  the  street.  Privateering 
had  all  the  charm  of  piracy  without  its  crime  and 
outlawry.  It  furnished  adventure  to  match  the  de- 
sires of  the  most  inflamed  youthful  imagination.  The 
town  was  full  of  well-educated  young  fellows  who 
were  eager  for  excitement.  The  people  were  of  a 
homogeneous  bi'eed,  mostly  the  descendants  of  the 
English  yeomanry.  Every  one  knew  his  neighbor, 
and  each  one  had  a  reputation  to  make  or  to  main- 
tain. Every  sailor  boy  expected  some  day  to  be  ad- 
miral of  a  fleet  or  master  of  a  vessel  at  least.  All 
were  intelligent,  and  sailed  with  a  purpose.  The  re- 
sult was  the  training  of  a  merchant  marine  of  unex- 
ampled intelligence,  enterprise  and  experience.  When 
the  war  was  over  it  was  easy  to  see  that  the  little  town 
of  five  or  six  thousand  inhabitants  was  swarming 
with  sailors  and  jirivateersraen,  rough,  boisterous,  im- 
patient of  the  plodding  ways  of  business,  spoiled  for 


anything  but  a  life  of  adventure.  With  the  harbor 
crowded  with  swift-sailing  vessels  and  the  streets 
filled  with  idle  sailors,  with  ship-owners  not  averse  to 
the  life  of  enterprise  and  adventure  made  familiar  by 
war,  all  the  conditions  were  prepared  for  the  sudden 
enlargement  of  the  mercantile  resources  of  the  town 
which  followed.  Many  volumes  would  be  required 
to  hold  the  record  of  the  times,  the  adventures  in 
foreign  lands,  the  hunt  for  new  markets,  the  unex- 
pected discovery  of  obscure  corners  of  the  world, 
where  salable  products  of  the  earth,  rare  in  Europe 
and  America,  were  common,  and  to  the  natives  of  lit- 
tle value,  the  conflicts  with  natives  often  murderous 
in  disposition  and  cannibals  to  boot,  the  rivalries  of 
fellow  merchants,  and  the  dangers  from  foreign  na- 
tions, both  on  sea  and  shore.  These,  often  told  in 
part,  familiar  to  many,  have  as  yet  never  been  pre- 
sented to  the  public  in  the  fullness  which  the  great 
interest  of  the  subject  would  justify. 

In  this  place  it  is  possible  only  to  call  attention  to 
the  features  of  society  at  that  time  which  are  often 
overlooked,  the  dash  and  excitement  of  the  common 
life  and  the  brilliant  cosmopolitanism  of  the  rich,  en- 
terprising and  educated  men  who  conducted  these  en- 
terprises. The  sudden  quiet  which  fell  upon  the 
town  when  the  foreign  commerce  departed,  the  grave 
demeanor  of  the  elders,  who,  their  business  being 
done,  and  their  sons  having  gone  to  conduct  other 
enterprises,  quietly  settled  down  to  the  enjoyment  of 
wealth  and  leisure,  have  given  the  impression  that  it 
was  always  so  in  Salem.  When  those  who  are  in  mid- 
dle life  now  came  upon  the  stage  the  play  was  over, 
the  curtain  was  falling  and  the  lights  were  going  out. 
But  when  everything  was  fresh  and  all  enterprises  in 
full  operation,  when  the  store-houses  were  full,  the 
wharves  scenes  of  busy  activity,  and  the  young  men 
of  the  town  were  coming  and  going  on  their  travels 
and  voyages,  there  was  nothing  dull  or  sluggish  in 
the  movements  of  society.  Youth  was  predominant 
and  hopefulness  characteristic  of  the  times.  The  un- 
exampled opportunities  for  young  men  drew  them 
from  all  the  neighborhood,  and  in  those  days  the  in- 
crease of  population  was  largely  of  this  class.  An 
impression  of  gravity  and  severity  is  given  by  pic- 
tures of  the  men  and  women  of  that  time,  who,  in 
dress  and  manner,  seem  ancient  and  stiff.  At  that 
time  it  was  customary  to  mark  distinction  of  age  and 
standing  by  the  fashion  of  the  garments.  Old  men 
did  not  affect  the  sprightliness  of  youth  either  in  gait 
or  garment.  In  middle  life  one's  coat  was  a  little 
longer,  his  waistcoat  a  little  more  voluminous,  his 
shoe  buckles  a  little  broader,  and  there  was  an  air  of 
repose  and  a  stiggestion  of  solidity  which  was  regard- 
ed as  not  inapi>ropriate  to  one  who  might  be  supposed 
to  have  done  something  and  had  passed  the  need  of 
hurrying  overmuch.  It  was  a  gravity  not  altogether 
without  the  compensations  and  quiet  cheerfulness 
which  come  with  well-filled  pockets,  and  a   heavy 


SALEM. 


13 


balance  at  the  bank.  The  young  men  as  they  pros- 
pered were  not  averse  to  a  little  of  the  dignity  which 
began  to  indicate  that  they  were  men  of  weight.  All 
social  distinctions  were  still  marked  by  etiquette  and 
dress  in  a  way  now  quite  unknown.  Until  just  be- 
fore the  Revolution  names  of  students  were  printed 
in  the  catalogue  of  Harvard  College  in  the  order  of 
the  social  rank  of  their  parents.  Something  is  to  be 
said  for  customs  which  mark  off  society  into  classes 
according  to  age  and  merit,  and  make  it  easier  to 
grow  old  and  more  desirable  to  succeed  in  lawful  en- 
terprises, because  of  the  increased  respect  paid  to  the 
aged  and  the  honorable.  Old  age  in  some  ways  began 
earlier  than  now.  It  is  difficult  for  us  to  realize  what 
an  extension  of  the  working  capacity  of  the  race  has 
followed  the  great  improvement  of  optical  instru- 
ments since  the  beginning  of  this  century.  Timothy 
Pickering  was  near-sighted  and  wore  glasses.  A  sol- 
dier has  left  on  record  the  emotions  with  which  he 
saw  him  ride  along  a  line  of  camp-fires  in  the  even- 
ing, his  eyes  blazing  at  intervals  like  balls  of  fire. 
He  had  never  seen  such  a  sight  before.  Many  near- 
sighted people,  having  no  glasses,  were  accounted 
queer,  because  they  could  not  join  with  others  in 
sports  or  many  occupations,  and  the  middle-aged, 
who  were  not  rich  enough  or  enterprising  enough  to 
provide  themselves  with  the  costly  and  ugly  specta- 
cles then  made,  were  early  victims  of  old  age  and 
were  laid  on  the  shelf  prematurely  because  they  could 
not  see. 

The  intellectual  excitements  of  the  last  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century  were  many  and  strong.  Inter- 
course with  the  whole  world  brought  freight  of  many 
kinds  besides  that  which  paid  duty  at  the  custom- 
house. Puritanism  had  lost  its  hold  upon  the  lead- 
ing classes  and  English  Unitarianism  was  coming  in 
to  make  Salem  a  "  i^eculiar  place."  But  this,  though 
influential,  was  as  yet  a  silent  force,  working  persua- 
sively, but  not  noisily.  French  Democracy,  working 
in  some  ways  to  the  same  end,  was  a  disturbing  force 
of  which  more  account  was  taken.  France  had  been 
the  friend  of  America  in  her  well-nigh  hopeless  strug- 
gle. Lafayette  was  loved  there  next  to  Washington, 
and  it  was  natural  that  French  ideas  should  be  popu- 
lar. But  in  the  admixture  of  French  ideas  with  Pur- 
itanism it  is  easy  to  see  there  were  difficulties  not 
easily  overcome.  "  Infidelity  "  was  a  word  of  ominous 
meaning,  and  the  atrocities  of  the  French  Revolution 
made  it  hard  to  keep  one's  balance  when  attempting 
to  take  from  the  French  philosophers  the  good  there 
undoubtedly  was  in  their  theories,  and  to  avoid  the 
evil  which  was  only  too  apparent.  Dr.  Bentley  was 
a  Democrat  and  a  sturdy  fighter.  He  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  avow  his  liberal  opinions  as  to  church  and 
state  and  to  take  the  consequences,  and  the  conse- 
quences were  sometimes  unpleasant.  He  stood  almost 
alone  because  of  his  opinions,  a  Roger  Williams  of 
later   date,  not  doomed  to  banishment   because   the 


times  had  changed.  Even  so  early  as  1787  he  was  a 
leader  in  the  ways  which  were  by  many  accounted 
destructive.  The  story  of  the  theological  contests  of 
the  time  belong  in  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  Salem, 
and  will  be  told  in  its  proper  place.  But  the  struggle 
was  not  wholly,  perhaps  not  at  this  time  mainly,  the- 
ological. The  questions  in  dispute  were  by  all  par- 
ties supposed  to  relate  to  the  very  foundations  of 
social  institutions  and  civil  government.  The  new 
world  of  modern  life  was  in  process  of  discovery.  New 
ideas  were  pouring  into  minds  both  trained  and  un- 
trained in  a  tumultuous  profusion  which  was  bewil- 
dering. Everybody  knew  that  the  old  familiar  forms 
into  which  society  had  been  shaped  by  Puritanism 
were  shifting  and  changing.  To  some  the  changes 
were  welcome ;  to  some  they  were  alarming.  Few 
were  indifferent  to  them,  and  no  one  knew  what  would 
come  next,  nor  exactly  what  was  desirable.  The  de- 
scendants of  the  Puritans,  then  as  now,  were  conser- 
vative in  action  and  slow  to  change  the  outward  habit 
of  their  lives.  The  intellectual  tumult,  however,  was 
none  the  less  because  veiled  by  the  decent  garb  and 
weighty  manners  of  the  "  respectable  citizen."  The 
peculiarities  of  Salem  life  cannot  be  understood  by 
those  Avho  do  not  take  into  account  the  stress  and 
tension  of  the  minds  of  the  men  and  women  of  tho-e 
days,  and  the  great  activity  of  intellectual  faculties 
exercised  on  numerous  questions  which  had  no  rela- 
tion to  business  and  no  concern  with  the  traditional 
religious  beliefs.  It  is  not  possible  to  account  for  the 
outburst  of  literary  expression  in  the  generation  fol- 
lowing this  on  the  supposition  that  the  best  society  of 
the  last  days  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  a  "  purse- 
proud  "  aristocracy,  of  which  the  most  conspicuous 
members  were  those  who,  by  patient  and  unscrupulous 
dealings  in  New  England  rum,  negroes,  tobacco  and 
salt  codfish,  had  amassed  wealth  and  were  enjoying  it 
in  an  atmosphere  of  dignified  and  exclusive  dullness. 
The  evil  and  the  stupid  elements  of  a  commercial 
town  were  there,  and  no  doubt  in  their  full  propor- 
tion. But  there  was  that  other  something,  the  intel- 
lectual unrest  and  voiceless  activity  which  came  to 
expression  a  little  later  in  sons  and  daughters  trained 
to  think,  accustomed  from  childhood  to  familiar 
intercourse  with  the  masters  of  thought  and  literature, 
and  able  themselves  to  contribute  to  the  world's  slowly 
accumulating  treasure  of  immortal  books.  The  liter- 
ature of  a  generation  springs  out  of  nothing  but  a 
previous  generation  prepared  to  nourish  thoughtful 
sons  and  daughters.  In  the  generation  to  come  upon 
the  stage  as  the  great  merchants  pass  away  we  shall 
see  how  the  brilliant  literary  history  of  Salem  was 
prepared  for  in  these  busy  and  laborious  days  after 
the  Revolution.  There  was,  in  general  society,  at 
that  time  great  formality  and  exclusiveness,  due  in 
part  to  the  perilous  strength  of  thought,  out  of  which 
may  come  new  dispensations  of  peace,  or,  with  unfavt  r- 
able  conditions,  contentions  and  disaster.     Many  of 


14 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


the  more  "aristocratic  "  families  had  maintained  their 
loyalty  to  the  royal  government,  and  were  perhaps  all 
the  more  attached  to  their  King  because  at  a  distance 
from  their  "old  home"  they  idealized  him.  They 
had  found  Salem  too  hot  for  "tories,"  and  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war  had  gone  to  England  or  the  Brit- 
ish provinces.  Among  the  "  patriots  "  who  remained 
the  lines  were  strictly  drawn  between  Federalists  on 
the  one  side  and  Republicans  on  the  other.  The 
principles  which  were  approved  on  either  side  were 
illustrated  in  many  ways,  and  social  life  took  its  tone 
largely  from  the  color  of  the  political  party  to  which 
a  family  belonged.  The  one  would  give  society  some- 
thing of  the  stateliness  of  aristocratic  society  abroad, 
while  the  other  would  abandon  ?.\\  formal  etiquette 
and  return  to  the  unconventional  ways  "  of  nature." 
To  the  Federalist,  Thomas  Jefferson  riding  unattended 
on  horseback  to  take  the  oath  of  office  as  President  of 
the  United  States  was  simply  demeaning  himself  and 
degrading  his  office.  To  the  Republicans  he  seemed 
to  be  setting  an  example  of  glorious  republican  sim- 
plicity. The  two  social  ideals  created  social  distinc- 
tions and  produced  rivalries  which  seem  now  incredi- 
ble and  foolish.  But  we  must  remember  that  nothing 
is  of  small  value  when  it  illustrates  a  principle,  and 
that  by  outward  signs  a  community  is  educated  to 
loyalty  or  dislike  for  a  theory  of  social  order  upon 
which  the  safely  or  prosperity  of  all  may  depend- 
The  men  of  these  times  were  at  the  head  of  the 
streams  out  of  which  were  flowing  the  main  currents 
of  the  national  life.  They  knew  it  and  they  felt  their 
responsibility. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  Salem 
was  still  a  small  town.  The  century  was  well  on  its 
way  before  fifteen  thousand  people  gathered  there. 
But  it  was  the  home  of  a  vigorous  race, — the  product 
and  flowering  of  the  Puritan  stock,  enriched  by  cul- 
ture, made  wise  by  many  experiences  of  adversity 
and  polished  by  travel  and  a  wide  experience  with 
men  of  many  creeds  and  customs.  In  a  letter  written 
at  the  time,  Haskett  Derby  is  described  as  "  a  fine, 
majestic-looking  man."  "  He  says  little,  yet  does  not 
appear  absent ;  has  traveled  much,  and  in  his  man- 
ners has  an  easy,  unassuming  politeness  that  is  not 
the  acquirement  of  a  day."  Such  a  description  may 
be  taken  as  almost  typical  of  the  society  of  that  time 
in  its  best  aspects.  There  was  no  doubt  pride,  pre- 
tension and  folly,  such  as  always  come  and  go  with 
rapid  changes  of  fortune.  There  was  no  doubt  a  class 
whose  arrogance  was  not  justified  by  any  service  ren- 
dered to  the  public  by  themselves  or  their  ancestors. 
Others  were  unworthy  heirs  of  great  names,  and  unfit 
custodians  of  family  renown.  There  were  the  purse- 
proud  who  were  ignoraut,  and  the  exclusive  who,  in 
order  to  be  so,  were  obliged  to  forget  their  ancestry 
and  exclude  their  kindred.  But  after  making  all  the 
allowances  which  could  be  suggested  by  envy,  by  the 
ill-natured  rivalry  of  other  towns,  or  by  jealous  rivals 


at  home,  granting  all  that  reason  and  the  democratic 
sentiment  of  America  claims  for  the  rank  and  file  of 
citizenship,  still  it  remains  true,  and  after  making  all 
deductions,  fair  and  unfair,  only  the  more  conspicu- 
ously true,  that  in  those  days  the  little  town  of  Salem 
was  the  home  to  a  remarkable  degree  of  intellect,  cul- 
ture and  high-bred  character ;  that  it  was  not  merely 
the  dwelling-place  of  traders  and  speculators,  but  was 
an  exceptional  centre  of  attraction  for  a  large  number 
of  men  of  comprehensive  ideas,  broad  culture  and  a 
certain  largeness  of  life  not  common  then  or  now.  In 
the  chapters  which  follow  on  commerce  and  on  litera- 
ture the  story  of  the  achievements  of  the  men  of  Salem 
will  show  in  what  ways  the  energy  which  had  been 
stored  up  and  the  knowledge  which  had  been  accum- 
ulating were  put  to  use  both  in  enriching  the  world 
and  making  it  wiser, — two  processes  not  always  carried 
on  together.  Aside  from  this  history  of  activity  on 
the  sea  and  the  gathering  up  of  literary  power  there 
is  little  to  tell  of  these  times  before  the  War  of  1812. 
What  there  is  to  be  noted  shows  that  a  settled  pros- 
perity has  begun.  The  common  is  laid  out,  two  banks 
are  incorporated,  the  turnpike  was  opened,  making 
rapid  travel  possible,  two  new  banks  were  incorpo- 
rated, two  military  companies  held  their  first  parade, 
a  ship  came  in  from  a  voyage  round  the  world  and 
another  made  the  first  voyage  for  trade  at  the  Fiji 
Islands,  Nathaniel  Hawthorne  was  born,  the  Athe- 
najum  was  incorporated,  and  Messrs.  Judson,  Newell, 
Nott,  Hall  and  Rice  were,  in  the  Tabernacle  Church, 
consecrated  the  first  missionaries  to  India.  This  lat- 
ter event,  to  many  the  most  notable  of  the  century, 
was  one  of  the  remarkable  modern  illustrations  of  the 
earnestness  of  the  Puritan  spirit  in  matters  of  religion, 
and  it  was  a  direct  result  of  the  meeting  of  two  phases 
of  the  Puritan  character.  The  spirit  of  enterprise 
opened  the  heathen  world  to  commerce  and  the  pious 
zeal  of  the  church  which  had  maintained  the  Puri- 
tan creed  sent  the  gospel  to  complete  the  work  of  civ- 
ilization. The  two  purposes  which  united  at  the 
founding  of  Salem  made  the  third  century  of  its  lile 
illustrious  with  the  double  triumphs  of  commerce  and 
religion.  The  record  of  the  Christian  missionaries 
of  New  England  shines  with  all  the  traits  of  heroism. 
In  all  the  years  which  have  followed  since  the  sailing 
of  the  first  missionaries  in  the  brig  "Caravan"  in  1812, 
the  Orthodox  people  of  Salem  have  retained  their  in- 
terest in  their  work,  and  have  been  able  with  both 
money  and  advice  to  assist  in  generous  measure. 

It  would  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  large 
amount  of  liberal  "  leaven  "  in  the  ecclesiastical  lii'e 
of  Salem  was  the  result  of  any  easy-going  optimism 
on  the  part  of  the  people,  or  that  the  changes  which 
have  passed  over  the  Puritan  spirit  indicate  any 
wholesale  lapse  of  the  people  from  the  standards  of 
their  fathers.  The  change  was  the  result  of  a  battle 
fiercely  but  fairly  fought,  and  it  has  left  all  parties  in 
possession  of  an  inheritance  directly  derived  from  their 


SALEM. 


15 


forefathers.  The  strife  which  followed  the  division  of 
the  Congregational  body  of  Salem  was  j^robably  the 
last  one  of  its  kind  in  Puritan  history,  and  it  would 
be  an  instructive  exhibition  if  one  could  put  the  sym- 
bols of  ecclesiastical  discipline  in  chronological  order, 
marking  the  two  hundred  years,  with  the  gallows  at 
one  end  and  a  "union  Thanksgiving  service  "  at  the 
other.  Tolerance  in  all  matters  of  religion  has  become 
common-place  in  Salem.  But  all  parties  who  date 
their  ecclesiastical  ancestry  from  the  beginning  are 
equally  proud  of  their  lathers  and  all  claim,  whatever 
their  modern  differences,  to  illustrate  in  important 
particulars  the  principles  of  the  founders.  Even  the 
Episcopalians  and  the  Quakers  now  live  in  peace 
with  the  descendants  of  those  who  persecuted  them, 
and  claim  their  share  of  the  common  inheritance, 
while  not  a  few  of  the  children  of  the  persecutors 
have  accepted  the  tenets  of  the  men  and  women  who 
suffered  as  disturbers  of  the  peace  and  rebels  against 
the  church  of  God.  Of  no  portion  of  her  population 
is  Salem  more  proud  than  of  her  "  Friends."  It  is 
hard  for  her  to  forgive  herself  that  in  her  borders 
they  suffered  violence.  Their  love  of  peace  and  their 
zeal  for  human  liberty  have  conquered.  Left  to 
themselves,  they  have  proved  themselves  to  be  not 
disturbers,  but  keepers  of  the  peace,  and  as  others 
adopt  their  rule  of  conduct  their  protest  dies  away 
and  they  are  no  longer  to  be  distinguished  from  their 
friendly  neighbors. 

The  founding  of  the  Andover  Theological  School 
and  the  oath  imposed  upon  its  professors,  with  its  list 
of  things  to  be  opposed,  are  part  of  the  ecclesiastical 
history  of  Salem,  and  show  some  of  the  influences  at 
work  in  shaping  her  religious  and  social  life.  John 
Norris,  of  Salem,  gave  ten  thousand  dollars  of  the 
original  endowment.  The  school  was  intended  to 
offset  the  "latitudinarianism "  of  Harvard  College. 
The  heresies  mentioned  were  those  which  in  Salem 
were,  or  had  been,  regarded  with  more  or  less  sym- 
pathy and  toleration.  It  is  a  list  which  could  never 
have  been  made  in  a  western  town.  The  professors 
were  sworn  to  opposition,  "not  only  to  Atheists  and 
infidels,  but  to  Jews,  Papists,  Mohammedans,  Arians, 
Pelagians,  Antinomians,  Arminians,  Socinians,  Sabel- 
lians.  Unitarians  and  Universalists."  Now  every  one 
of  these  words  stood  for  that  which  had  been  a  be- 
lief held  by  men  of  Salem  or  their  friends  and  busi- 
ness correspondents  at  some  time  in  their  troubled 
history. 

The  war  with  England  in  1812  was  a  disaster  to 
Salem  which  her  merchants  dreaded  and  would  have 
avoided.  Their  ships  were  abroad  on  all  seas,  and 
they  protested  against  the  peril  and  loss  which  they 
saw  to  be  inevitable.  But  the  war  being  declared, 
they  turned  their  attention  with  characteristic  vigor 
to  the  prosecution  of  it  to  a  victorious  conclusion. 
As  in  the  Revolution,  an  efficient  navy  being  wanted 
and  not  being  available,  an  extemporaneous  navy  was 


speedily  organized,  and,  as  usual,  the  privateering 
fleet  of  Salem  was  greatly  out  of  proportion  to  her 
small  population.  Ships  and  seamen  were  abundant, 
and  the  boys  were  natural  sailors  and  sea-fighters. 
Of  the  enemy  much  spoil  was  taken  and  many  prison- 
ers. But  of  the  forty  privateers,  twenty-six  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  British,  and  their  crews  lay  in  prison 
at  Barbadoes  and  elsewhere.  Dartmoor  was  filled 
with  them,  and  until  within  a  few  years  the  survivors 
of  captivity  in  that  gloomy  place  recited  the  stories  of 
their  sufferings  and  release  to  admiring  listeners. 

As  commerce  culminated  and  passed  away,  the  in- 
tellectual vigor  which  had  been  evolved  or  educated  by 
its  enterprise  and  wide  experience  of  the  world  began 
to  manifest  itself  in  other  ways.  The  life  of  profes- 
sional men  in  the  town  was  attractive  and  their  work 
lucrative,  according  to  the  modest  standard  of  the 
time.  Ministers,  lawyers  and  doctors,  of  learning  and 
ability  abounded.  Scholars  were  numerous  and  well 
equipped.  The  men  of  native  mental  power,  who  had 
not  been  highly  educated,  sent  their  boys  to  Harvard 
College,  and  young  men  of  wealth,  education  and  the 
habit  of  foreign  travel  were  in  many  families  where 
culture  was  accounted  at  least  as  good  as  wealth.  At 
that  time  all  classes  lived  the  year  round  in  Salem. 
They  might  have  outlying  farms,  and  were  in  the 
habit  of  traveling  much  abroad,  but  the  principal  in- 
terests of  the  rich  and  educated  families  were  at 
home.  The  influence  of  this  concentration  of  in- 
terest, and  the  maintenance  of  a  permanent  domestic 
life  in  one  place  was  favorable  to  the  cultivation  of 
the  whole  community.  Men  of  exceptional  gifts  were 
not  isolated  from  their  townsmen.  Those  who  were 
conspicuous  for  their  wisdom  were  held  in  honor  at 
home,  and  served  the  community  like  other  citizens. 
For  illustration  every  institution  of  the  town  might 
furnish  an  example, — Timothy  Pickering  was  pres- 
ident of  the  Essex  Agricultural  Society  ;  Nathaniel 
Bowditch  was  president  of  the  Essex  Fire  and  Marine 
Insurance  Company  ;  Daniel  A.  White  was  president 
of  the  Athenseum  and  of  the  Essex  Institute;  Lever- 
ett  Saltonstall  held  similar  offices ;  Colonel  Francis 
Peabody  founded  the  Lyceum ;  and  in  the  school 
committee  for  1821  we  find  the  names  of  Tim.  Picker- 
ing, Joseph  Story,  Nat.  Silsbee,  Gid.  Barstow,  Lever- 
ett  Saltonstall,  John  Pickering  and  others.  In  the 
list  we  have  one  who  had  been  a  cabinet  officer  under 
two  Presidents,  a  member  of  Congress,  an  United 
States  Senator,  a  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  with 
others  almost  equally  eminent,  together  with  two 
physicians  of  fine  attainments,  and  business  men  of 
prominence.  Not  one  of  the  whole  list  is  insignifi- 
cant. John  Pickering  made  the  first  Greek  lexicon 
with  definitions  in  English,  and  not  Latin,  while 
among  the  teachers  with  whom  the  committee  had  to 
deal  with  then  or  a  little  later  were  such  men  as  the 
author  of  "  Worcester's  Dictionary  "  and  Henry  K. 
Oliver.    Eufus  Choate  was  practicing  law ;  Nathaniel 


16 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Hawthorne  was  just  going  to  college  at  Brunswick ; 
the  sculptor  and  poet,  W.  W.  Story,  was  not  quite  old 
enough  to  enter  school ;  Jones  Very,  the  poet,  was  a 
shy  and  modest  lad  of  eight  years;  Samuel  Johnson, 
the  eminent  historian  of  the  "Oriental  Eeligions," 
was  getting  the  first  impressions  of  the  East  which 
were  to  turn  his  attention  to  its  literature,  and  make 
him  the  first  American  scholar  in  that  department  of 
learning;  and  many  boys  were  fitting  themselves  in 
the  public  schools  to  become  what  they  have  been 
ever  since — most  important  factors  in  the  evolution  of 
American  society.  Education  was  a  "  hobby "  at 
this  time,  and  money  was  at  rapid  rate  being  turned 
into  brains  and  brain  culture.  Between  1815  and 
1832  seventy-nine  Sab  m  boys  were  graduated  at  Har- 
vard College  alone.  In  1828  seventeen  boys  entered 
Harvard  College,  and  seven  the  same  year  went  to 
other  colleges.  In  those  days  young  men,  their 
travels  being  over,  returned  to  live  at  home,  and  a 
proportion  of  the  men  to  be  met  on  Essex  Street, 
unusually  large  for  a  town  of  its  size,  were  college 
bred.  The  intense  mental  energy  directed  by  the 
fathers  into  the  channels  of  commerce  could  not  be 
limited  to  them,  and  their  sons,  inheriting  their 
ability  with  a  wider  range  of  experience  and  a  greater 
knowledge  of  the  world  of  books,  became  lawyers, 
judges,  theologians,  physicians,  men  of  science  and 
men  of  letters,  and  exponents  in  all  New  England 
and  the  Northern  States  of  the  intellectual  and 
"gentle"  life."  It  was  a  period  of  wonderful  intel- 
lectual stimulus  and  fertility.  Within  a  radius  of 
twenty  miles  from  the  custom-house,  from  which  the 
"Scarlet  Letter  "was  dated,  the  stock  being  homo- 
geneous and  the  conditions  similar,  there  were  pro- 
duced in  the  early  part  of  the  century  in  Boston, 
Cambridge,  Salem  and  other  towns.  Story,  the  two 
Danas,  Sparks,  Everett,  Ticknor,  Prescott,  Norton, 
Ripley,  Emerson,  Parker,  Hawthorne,  Rantoul, 
Holmes,  Whittier,  Motley,  Lowell  and  many  another 
of  equal  or  lesser  light,  and  they  drew  into  their  fel- 
lowship such  men  as  Channing,  Bancroft,  Longfellow, 
Agassiz,  Choate  and  Webster.  The  common  family 
life  out  of  which  they  came  was,  to  a  great  extent,  the 
common  life  of  an  ordinary  social  circle  in  Salem. 
Henry  R.  Cleveland,  son  of  a  ship-master,  was  one  of 
the  "five  of  clubs,"  and  brought  his  companions, 
Sumner,  Longfellow,  Hillard  and  Felton,  to  enjoy 
the  gay  and  witty  society  to  be  found  about  his  home. 
Many  a  visitor  from  Cambridge  and  Boston  sought 
the  company  of  the  accomplished  men  and  beautiful 
women  who  constituted  a  genuine  "  society,"  and 
many  of  the  daughters  of  Salem  were  taken  away  to 
grace  the  homes  of  other  cities. 

Certain  writers  have  much  to  say  about  the  ''  pro- 
vincialism "  of  Salem  in  the  first  half  of  this  century. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  deny  any  charge  they  may 
make,  for  no  doubt  it  was  provincial.  But  it  was  less 
so  than  any  sea-port  town  of  England  at  the  same 


time,  and  was  behind  few  English  towns  in  the 
knowledge  the  people  had  of  English  literature  of  the 
better  sort.  Dr.  Kirwan's  philosophical  library,  made 
a  prize  of  war  in  the  Irish  Channel,  became  the  basis 
of  the  present  Athenaeum  Library,  a  rare  collection 
of  good  books  both  new  and  old.  But  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  there  was  in  that  library  no  book  so  abstruse,  so 
philosophical,  or  printed  in  language  so  uncommon 
as  to  be  unfit  for  the  use  of  numerous  men  and  women 
in  Salem.  Rummage  the  closets  of  any  old  gambrel- 
roofed  house  to-day,  and  along  with  crackle-ware  tea- 
pots and  old  silver  porringers  you  will  find  some  rare 
volume  of  "Seneca,"  the  "Spectator,"  the  "Dial," 
the  common  reading  of  Hawthorne  and  his  playmates 
of  seventy  years  ago  or  later. 

Salem  became  a  city  about  the  time  when  its  most 
famous  days  were  over.  With  the  transference  of  its 
trade  to  the  larger  cities  and  more  accessible  markets 
its  local  prominence  was  greatly  reduced.  The  build- 
ing of  railroads  and  the  multiplication  of  modern  in- 
ventions reduced,  instead  of  increasing,  its  relative 
importance.  Great  efforts  were  made,  and  hopes 
were  entertained,  that  the  port  of  Salem  might  again 
become  the  centre  of  a  great  inland  trade.  Stephen 
C.  Phillips  lost  his  life  in  a  burning  steamer  on  the 
St.  Lawrence  River,  while  making  an  effort  to  open 
new  provinces  to  the  enterprise  of  Salem.  His 
sons  were  prominent  in  the  movement  which  resulted 
in  the  provision  made  by  the  city  for  an  abundant 
supply  of  pure  water.  When  the  city  charter  was 
procured,  most  of  the  wealth  won  by  enterprise  in  all 
quarters  of  the  globe  was  still  held  by  citizens  at 
home,  or  so  invested  as  to  swell  the  general  resources 
of  the  city.  But  the  inviting  fields  for  enterprise 
opened  in  the  Western  States  have  caused  the  trans- 
ference of  a  large  part  of  it  to  other  places,  and  with 
it  have  gone  many  of  those  who  have  inherited  it. 
Some  of  them  are  to  be  found  in  most  of  the  large 
cities  of  the  Eastern  States  and  in  Europe.  The  sons 
of  Salem  are  officers  of  many  western  railways,  and 
the  money  won  in  oriental  trade  now  facilitates  the 
transport  of  the  grain  which  feeds  the  millions  of 
Europe. 

The  old  Salem  is  gone.  The  men,  the  commerce, 
the  Puritan  spirit,  the  high-bred  courtesy,  the  stately 
ways,  the  great  men  and  women  with  strong  local  at- 
tachments,— these  are  gone.  Nothing  remains  of  the 
most  i<tirring  epoch  in  the  life  of  the  town  but  names, 
places,  and  a  decreasing  number  of  the  families  who 
trace  their  ancestry  back  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
in  Salem. 

A  new  Salem  has  taken  the  place  of  the  old.  A 
city  stands  where  the  old  town  won  its  renown, — a 
city  with  railroads,  horse-cars,  electric  lights  and  cot- 
ton-mills, and  a  large  foreign  population.  The  man- 
sions built  by  merchants  of  English  descent  and  train- 
ing are  inhabited  by  operatives  in  the  mills  or  labor- 
ers,   who   have  no  interest  in  the  old   ways  or  the 


SALEM. 


17 


former  inhabitants.  The  Irish  brogue  and  the 
French  language  are  heard  now  where  pure  English 
was  once  the  rule.  The  old  wharves  are  rotting  ;  the 
ancient  warehouses  are  silently  falling  to  decay,  and 
the  beautiful  shores  of  streams  and  harbors,  which 
once  delighted  the  eyes  of  their  owners,  are  becoming 
an  offense  to  the  poor  who  dwell  along  their  borders. 
The  custom-house,  always  too  large  for  any  reason- 
able expectations  of  prosperity,  is  much  too  vast  for 
the  diminishing  commerce  in  dutiable  goods.  The 
old  Salem  is  dead  and  gone.  Most  of  it  does  not  even 
exist  as  a  relic  of  a  fast-fading  antiquity. 

But  a  new  Salem  is  rising.  The  points  of  activity 
and  interest  are  no  longer  on  her  shores,  which,  for 
the  present,  are  abandoned  to  chance  and  fate  until, 
with  renewed  life  and  a  more  abundant  leisure,  meas- 
ures shall  be  taken  to  make  them  once  more  as 
beautiful  and  attractive  as  they  were  when  "  Lover's 
Lanes  "  and  clean  beaches  were  the  resorts  of  the 
youth.  The  centres  of  life  and  business  activity  are 
now  within  the  town,  along  that  highway  which, 
once  a  lane  and  then  a  street,  took  its  curves  from 
the  line  of  the  shores  where  the  merchants  lived  and 
business  was  done.  Two  hundred  years  ago  what  is 
now  Essex  Street  was  a  shady  lane,  where  the  goats 
and  swine  and  cattle  passed  on  their  way  to  and  from 
their  pastures,  and  where,  in  the  dewy  freshness  of  a 
summer  morning,  the  horns  of  the  herdsmen  sum- 
moned their  flocks  and  herds,  to  be  driven  away  to 
fields  now  inhabited  by  prosperous  citizens.  The 
shores  are  now  deserted  by  commerce,  and  the  shaded 
lanes  of  the  old  time  are  now  the  paved  and  lighted 
highways  through  which  begins  to  move,  with  in- 
creasing energy,  the  business  which  is  to  repair  and 
rebuild  the  fallen  fortunes  of  the  city.  Home  indus- 
tries, domestic  commerce,  manufactures,  science, 
literature,  music,  art  and  education  are  now  restoring 
the  vanishing  wealth,  renewing  the  ancient  renown, 
and  making  the  city  a  centre  of  enterprises  which  are 
already  enriching  the  national  life. 

Since  the  nineteenth  century  began  there  have 
been  three  distinct  periods  in  the  progress  of  the  city. 
First,  there  was  the  commercial  and  intellectual 
energy  of  the  first  thirty  years.  They  were  supposed 
to  be  without  limit.  But  they  were  appropriated  by 
the  larger  life  of  New  England.  Then  came  the 
slowly  diminishing  prosperity  of  the  thirty  years  be- 
fore the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  in  which,  in  spite  of 
costly  endeavors  to  prevent  it,  the  city  lost  its  an- 
cient importance  as  a  centre  of  business.  The  war 
ended  the  career  of  "  Old  Salem,"  and  the  new  Salem 
began  to  be.  The  city  lives  no  longer  on  its  mem- 
ories alone,  and  is  not  distinguished  solely  for  its  an- 
tiquity. Business  activity  and  scientific  enterprise 
are  rapidly  preparing  the  conditions  for  a  new  career 
of  progress,  on  new  lines.  The  history  of  Old  Salem 
is  closed  ;  but  in  the  new  city,  which  is  rising  on  its 
ancient  foundations,  its  memories  will  be  cherished, 
its  annals  will  be  preserved  with  care  and  enriched 
2 


with  fresh  discovery.  The  historic  places  where  the 
good  and  evil  passions  of  men  were  displayed  in  con- 
flict, and  where  great  virtues  made  the  contest  illus- 
trious, will  be  visited,  as  the  years  pass,  by  an  increas- 
ing number  of  pilgrims  from  all  the  newer  parts  of 
the  country.  The  ideals  of  character  which  were  the 
Puritan's  finest  contribution  to  the  resources  of  mod- 
ern civilization,  honored  and  revered  on  the  spot 
which  gave  them  birth,  will  be  constant  sources  of 
virtue  and  intelligence. 

The  people  of  Salem  are  proud  of  their  ancestry  and 
history,  and  a  diligent  band  of  local  antiquarians  is 
working  out  the  story  of  the  past,  with  results  of  more 
than  local  fame.  But  the  city  is  entering  upon  a  new 
career,  and  may  become  as  notable  for  its  achieve- 
ments in  the  years  to  come  as  it  was  justly  famous  in 
the  past. 

The  Athenaeum,  the  Essex  Institute,  the  Pea- 
body  Academy  of  Science  and  the  societies  and  indi- 
viduals that  are  attending  to  music  and  art  are  yet  to 
be  heard  from  in  a  way  not  unworthy  of  Salem.  The 
idea  is  being  cultivated  that  wealth  is  not  the  sole 
foundation  of  good  society,  and  that  the  money  made 
in  the  old  times  was  not  the  principal  gain.  That 
money  is  now  flowing  in  other  channels,  but  it  has, 
in  flowing  away  from  the  place  where  it  was  accumu- 
lated, made  it  only  the  more  evident  that  it  was  one  of 
the  least  of  the  treasures  gained  in  the  enterprising 
days  of  foreign  commerce.  Now  attention  is  turned 
to  the  other  things  which  are  seen  to  be  permanent 
and  of  staple  value  in  good  society.  The  new  Salem 
will  be  rich,  but  its  cultivation  will  be  not  incidental. 
It  will  be  held  to  be  of  primary  importance,  and,  with 
religion,  good  morals  and  wisdom,  will  enrich  the 
national  life  far  beyond  any  material  contributions 
which  it  may  make  to  the  national  prosperity. 


CHAPTER    II. 

SALEM — ( Continued) . 

ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY. 


BY  KEY.   EDMUND  B.   WILLSON. 


This  history  lays  no  claim  to  completeness.  It 
deals  but  slightly  with  the  interior,  the  unorganized 
religious  life  of  the  first  settlers  of  Salem,  or  of  the 
later  inhabitants  of  the  place.  It  is  little  more  than 
a  historical  sketch  of  the  church-life  of  its  people. 

Nor  is  it  for  the  most  part  history  now  written  for 
the  first  time.  The  main  facts  relating  to  nearly 
every  church  in  the  town  have  been  already  collected 
and  printed — those  of  earlier  date  than  the  present 
century  by  the  very  competent  hand  of  Rev.  Mr. 
Bentley,  minister  of  the  East  Church ;  those  falling 


18 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


within  the  present  century  by  Charles  S.  Osgood  and 
Henry  M.  Batchelder,  in  their  historical  sketch  of 
Salem,  published  in  1879,  whose  contents  were  mani- 
festly verified  with  painstaking  care  so  far  as  the 
authority  for  them  could  be  had  and  the  scope  of 
that  work  permitted  them  to  be  included. 

The  settlement  of  New  England,  it  is  to  be  borne 
in  mind,  was  an  enterprise  in  the  interest  of  religion. 
"  Civilized  New  England,"  says  Palfrey,  "is  the  child 
of  English  Puritanism,"  To  know  the  child,  there- 
fore, we  should  know  something  of  its  ancestry.  Only 
briefest  notices  of  the  ante-migration  period  of  Eng- 
lish Puritanism,  however,  can  find  room  here. 

When  it  is  said  that  the  colonizing  of  New  Eng- 
land was  in  the  interest  of  religion,  it  is  not  meant 
that  secular  interests  had  no  voice  in  the  councils 
that  directed  it.  Hopes  of  advantageous  trade  and 
prospects  of  opening  new  fishing-grounds  were  not 
wanting.  Philanthropic  plans  for  converting  and 
civilizing  the  Indians  mingled  with  schemes  for 
reaping  solid  gains  from  exchanging  English  goods 
for  land,  peltry,  fish,  whatever  products  might  turn 
to  account  in  a  commerce  between  the  Old  World 
and  the  New.  The  sleepless  love  of  adventure,  thirst 
for  roving  and  change,  sure  to  be  dreaming  its  fasci- 
nating dream  of  voyage  and  exploration  in  every  tenth 
young  Englishman's  brain,  of  course  played  its  part. 
The  never  failing,  restless,  religious  adventurer — 
source  of  constant  danger  to  the  peace  of  the  new 
settlement — would  also  be  ready  to  embark  in  the 
first  ship  that  sailed.  It  remains  true  that  a  religious 
purpose  was  predominant  and  controlling  in  the 
Puritan  company  that  settled  Salem. 

Up  to  the  time  of  its  leaving  its  English  home  for 
the  West,  the  history  of  Puritanism  is  to  be  studied 
chiefly  as  the  history  of  a  national  religious  move- 
ment, of  the  rooting,  spread  and  final  prevailing  of 
the  ideas  of  the  Reformation  on  English  soil.  It  is 
our  province  to  trace  it  more  particularly  after  its 
landing  in  America,  and  more  particularly  still  in  the 
planting,  growth  and  shaping  of  the  institutions 
which  it  founded  and  fostered  in  this  town.  It  lost 
nothing  of  its  intensity  of  religious  purpose  when  it 
left  its  native  land.  It  became  even  a  larger  element 
in  the  life  of  the  settlers  of  New  England  after  their 
removal  than  it  had  been  before,  in  that  here  they  led 
a  life  of  narrowed  and  simplified  conditions.  It  had  a 
more  undivided  supremacy.  It  had  deeply  colored 
and  characterized  their  life  and  history  before  they 
came ;  now  it  was  the  very  life  of  their  life.  It  im- 
bedded itself  in  their  social  and  domestic  customs, 
and  took  control  of  their  political  aims  and  plans. 

Lines  of  minor  divergence  naturally  came  to  be 
drawn  among  the  English  reformers  themselves,  and 
that  a  good  while  before  they  sailed  for  these  shores, 
as  they  found  they  were  not  agreed  as  to  the  ex- 
tent to  which  church  reform  should  go,  or  what  were 
the  methods  most  hopeful  for  effecting  it.  Some 
counseled  separation  from  the  established  church  as 


the  only  way  to  realize  a  pure  worship,  with  entire 
freedom  of  mind  and  conscience,  seeing  no  other 
sure  way  to  obtain  relief  from  the  despotism  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  whose  spirit  was  still  present  and 
ruling,  and  whose  methods  still  lingered  in  the 
Church  of  Episcopal  England.  Those  who  took  this 
view  were  the  Separatists,  Brownists,  Independents 
of  their  time,  avowed  advocates  of  democracy  in 
church  government,  for  which  Robert  Brown  of 
Norwich  was  a  strenuous  contestant,  and  in  which 
he  led  a  considerable  following.  Others  regarding 
the  national  church  as  a  true  church  still,  even  in  its 
degeneracy,  and  having  an  invincible  antipathy  to 
the  least  semblance  of  schism,  firmly  resisted  the 
secession  movement,  and  sought  rather  to  purify  the 
church  of  its  formalism  by  the  leaven  of  a  more  sin- 
cere and  fervent  piety.     These  were  the  Puritans. 

From  the  former  class  came  the  Plymouth  colo- 
nists,— by  the  way  of  Holland,  where  they  tarried  a 
few  years,  and  contemplated  for  a  time  making  a 
permanent  religious  home  under  the  tolerant  laws, 
the  Protestant  leanings  and  the  comparatively  hos- 
pitable public  sentiment  of  that  country. 

The  Puritans  continued  for  a  while  their  experi- 
ment of  staying  in  the  national  church  and  there 
working  out  its  reformation.  They  never  formally 
abandoned  it.  But  practically  they  did.  They  con- 
fessed to  themselves  after  a  time  that  they  were  not 
succeeding.  Reluctantly  they  became  more  and 
more  accustomed  to  turn  their  eyes  to  the  sea  and  to 
think  of  the  shores  beyond.  English  trading  com- 
panies were  sending  their  ventures  meanwhile  to  the 
wild  and  little-known  bays  and  rivers  of  Virginia 
and  their  ships  were  ranging  the  whole  long  Eastern 
coast  of  the  new  continent.  They  might  try  their 
experiment  there,  they  thought,  under  a  less  close 
and  jealous  scrutiny,  and  possibly  pursue  there,  un- 
molested by  savage  neighbors,  as  they  could  not  at 
home,  unmolested  by  priests  and  prelates,  the  better 
religious  life  they  craved. 

The  reports  that  came  from  Plymouth  were,  to  be 
sure,  of  hunger,  cold,  sickness,  death  and  of  return- 
ing malcontents,  but  also  of  an  undaunted  faith,  a 
peaceful  following  of  their  own  way  in  religion,  and 
a  fixed  purpose  to  stay  on  the  part  of  the  conductors 
and  earliest  members  of  that  community.  A  schis- 
matic the  Puritan  would  never  be,  but  a  non-con- 
formist he  could  be.  But  at  length  non-conformity 
came  to  be  no  longer  permitted  in  England.  He 
looked  now,  then,oftener  toward  the  sea,  and  thought 
more  of  a  home  and  a  church  in  the  wilderness. 

John  White,  of  the  English  Dorchester,  "  a  famous 
Puritan  divine,"  perhaps  not  thinking  of  a  possible 
Puritan  church  at  all,  but  only  of  a  plantation  com- 
bined with  a  fishing  and  trading-post, — John  White, 
of  whatever  thinking,  interested  himself,  at  any  rate, 
to  induce  some  faithful  men  among  the  number  of 
those  who  made  voyages  from  his  town  for  the  pur- 
pose of  fishing  in  these  neighboring  waters  and  bar- 


SALEM. 


19 


tering  along  these  neighboring  American  coasts,  and 
who  were  often  for  months  together  detained  about 
these  parts,  to  make  a  station  at  Cape  Ann,  "  where 
the  mariners  might  have  a  home  when  not  at  sea, 
where  supplies  might  be  provided  for  them  by  farm- 
ing and  hunting,  and  where  they  might  be  brought 
under  religious  influences." 

In  1623  a  plant  was  made,  with  this  view,  under 
Thomas  Gardner  as  overseer.  For  some  cause  it 
failed.  Two  years  later  Mr.  Roger  Conant,  who  had 
left  the  Plymouth  colony  from  disaffection,  and  had 
come  up  the  coast  as  far  as  Nantasket,  being  reported 
to  the  Dorchester  associates  as  a  "  religious,  sober 
and  prudent  gentleman,"  was  invited  by  them  to 
come  to  Cape  Ann  and  to  take  charge  of  the  planta- 
tion there.  Though  this  confidence  in  the  newly- 
installed  director  was  not  misplaced,  the  plantation 
still  languished,  and  a  year  or  two  after,  those  en- 
gaged in  it  sold  what  remained  of  their  vessels  and 
supplies,  disbanded,  and,  as  a  company,  quit  their 
joint  proceedings.  But  a  few,  of  better  stuff  than  the 
rest,  and  of  more  staying  qualities  of  character,  re- 
mained behind,  and  kept  charge  of  the  last  importa- 
tion of  cattle.  Mr.  White  was  not  one  to  accept 
defeat.  He  kept  up  communication  with  Conant,  who 
meantime  had  removed  to  Nahumkeike,  as  a  preferable 
seat  for  the  general  purposes  of  colonization,  and 
pleaded  with  him  not  to  be  discouraged  nor  to  desist 
from  the  undertaking  to  which  he  had  set  his  hand. 
If  Conant  and  three  others  whom  he  named  would 
engage  to  stay  at  Naumkeag,  he  promised  to  obtain  a 
patent  for  them  and  send  them  recruits,  with  provis- 
ions and  goods  suitable  for  trade  with  the  Indians. 
The  drooping  spirits  of  the  settlers  were  with  some 
difficulty  roused  again,  the  faith  of  the  English  mer- 
chants was  reinforced  by  the  energetic  representations 
of  the  Dorchester  patron,  so  that  they  became  willing 
to  risk  a  portion  of  their  wealth  in  another  attempt. 
Not  only  Dorchester  fishermen,  but  London  mer- 
chants and  gentlemen  and  others,  were  brought  to 
put  some  capital  at  stake  here.  And  it  fell  out  that 
John  Endicott,  "  a  man  well  known  to  divers  persons 
of  good  note,''  "manifested  much  willingness"  to 
accept  the  leadership  of  the  new  effort  proposed,  and 
came  in  the  summer  of  1628,  at  the  head  of  a  not 
large  party,  to  take  the  management,  which,  after 
some  objection  from  those  already  on  the  ground, 
was  finally  yielded  to  him,  and  the  name  of  Salem, 
which  has  since  come  to  honor,  commemorates,  it  is 
said,  the  pacification  of  the  dispute  between  the  new- 
comers and  the  old,  which  for  a  while  threatened  to 
wreck  the  project. 

So  Salem  began  in  1628.  With  its  beginning  began 
its  worship.  Probably  under  some  tree,  or  if  a  shelter 
had  been  reared  before  the  first  Sabbath  day  came 
round,  under  its  roof,  it  might  be  the  roof  of  Conant's 
house,  or  of  some  original  "  planter's  house  "  at  first 
designed  for  common  use.  Their  worship  followed  the 
prayer-book   of  the  English   Church,  in    part,  it   is 


likely,  but  they  easily  loosened  themselves  from  its 
ritual,  and  their  worship  became  informal  and  spon- 
taneous— exposition,  free  prayer,  mutual  exhortations, 
— largely  modifying  the  traditional  forms  of  their 
Old  World  church-life,  all  parts  recognizing  the  pecu- 
liarity of  their  situation  as  they  supplicated  for  pa- 
tience, faith  and  constancy  in  the  way  of  duty  and 
self-sacrifice. 

Let  us  pause  for  a  moment  to  observe  this  type  of 
man  who  stands  for  the  Salem  founder.  His  portrait 
has  often  been  drawn,  but  it  differs  pretty  widely  in 
the  hands  of  different  delineators.  The  differences, 
however,  will  turn  out  to  be  mainly  in  the  strength 
of  the  lines  and  the  depth  of  the  coloring.  Under 
them  all  the  same  man  is  easily  recognized.  He  is  of 
firm  make,  and  his  figure,  face  and  spirit  always  hold 
their  place  and  are  to  be  identified  at  a  glance.  It  is 
thus  that  the  author  of  the  "  History  of  New  England 
during  the  Stuart  Dynasty,"  ^  has  sketched  his  feat- 
ures. "  The  Puritan  was  a  Scripturist — a  Scripturist 
with  all  his  heart,  if,  as  yet  with  imperfect  intelli- 
gence. .  .  .  He  cherished  the  scheme  of  looking 
to  the  word  of  God  as  his  sole  and  universal  directory. 
The  Puritan  searched  the  Bible,  not  only 
for  principles  and  rules,  but  for  mandates — and  when 
he  could  find  none  of  these,  for  analogies — to  guide 
him  in  precise  arrangements  of  public  administration 
and  in  the  minutest  points  of  individual  conduct. 
.  .  .  His  objections  to  the  government  of  the 
church  by  bishops  were  founded,  not  so  much  on  any 
bad  working  of  that  polity,  as  on  the  defect  of  author- 
ity for  it  in  the  New  Testament ;  and  he  preferred  hia 
plain  hierarchy  of  pastors,  teachers,  elders  and  dea- 
cons, not  primarily  because  it  tended  more  to  edifica- 
tion, but  because  Paul  had  specified  their  offices  by 
name.  .  .  .  The  opposing  party  in  the  State  was 
associated  in  his  mind  with  the  Philistine  and  Amor- 
ite  foes  of  the  ancient  chosen  people,  and  he  read  the 
doom  of  the  King  and  his  wanton  courtiers  in  the 
Psalm  which  put  the  '  high  praises  of  God '  in  the 
mouth  of  God's  people  'and  a  two-edged  sword  in 
their  hand,  to  bind  their  King  with  chains  and  their 
nobles  with  fetters  of  iron.'  .  .  .  He  would  have 
witchcraft.  Sabbath-breaking  and  filial  disobedience 
weighed  in  the  judicial  scales  of  a  Hebrew  Sanhe- 
drim. His  forms  of  speech  were  influenced  by  this 
fond  reverence  for  the  Bible.  ,  .  .  He  named  his 
children  after  the  Christian  graces,  still  oftener  after 
the  worthies  of  Palestine,  or,  with  yet  more  singular- 
ity, after  some  significant  clause  of  holy  writ. 

"The  Puritan  was  a  strict  moralist.  He  might  be 
ridiculed  for  being  over-scrupulous,  but  never  re- 
proached for  laxity.  Most  wisely,  by  precept,  influ- 
ence and  example — unwisely  by  too  severe  law,  when 
he  obtained  the  power — he  endeavored  to  repress  pre- 
vailing vice  and  organize  a  Christian  people.  His 
error  was  not  that  of  interfering  without  reason,  or 

1  John  Gorliam  Palfrey,  vqI.  i.  pp.  274-277. 


20 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


too  soon.  When  he  insisted  on  a  hearing,  villainous 
men  and  shameless  women,  whose  abominations  were 
a  foul  offense  in  the  sight  of  God  and  of  all  who  rev- 
erence God, were  flaunting  in  the  royal  dressing-rooms. 
The  foundations  of  public  honor  and  prosperity  were 
sapped. 

"  In  politics,  the  Puritan  was  the  Liberal  of  his 
day.  If  he  construed  his  duties  to  God  in  the  spirit 
of  a  narrow  interpretation,  that  punctilious  sense  of 
religious  responsibility  impelled  him  to  limit  the  as- 
sumption of  human  government.  In  no  stress,  in  no 
delirium  of  politics,  could  a  Puritan  have  been  brought 
to  teach  that,  for  either  public  or  private  conduct, 
there  is  some  law  of  man  above  the  law  of  God.'' 

The  Puritan  came  to  New  England,  as  before  stated, 
as  a  non-conformist,  not  as  a  separatist,  with  not  less 
definite  conceptions  of  what  he  did  not  want  in  church 
forms  and  institutions  than  of  what  he  did  want. 
The  ideal  of  the  true  church,  which  he  had  derived 
from  the  Scriptures,  was  of  a  brotherhood — a  church 
of  equals.  The  elder,  the  bishop,  was  but  a  minister. 
In  him  was  no  official  superiority  or  authority,  but 
such  as  he  had  been  invested  with  by  his  brethren. 
To  be  rid  altogether  of  the  false  claims  and  assump- 
tions of  authority  which  the  English,  as  well  as  the 
Romish  hierarchy  asserted,  and  sought  to  enforce,  was 
what  the  Puritan  saw  clearly  as  his  right ;  it  was  one 
of  the  promised  advantages  dearest  to  his  heart,  to  be 
gained  by  his  removal  to  some  distant  and  obscure 
retreat,  that  there  he  would  be  less  subject  to  jealous 
observation  and  easy  interference,  than  under  the 
immediate  eye  of  the  Lords  Spiritual  of  England. 
Seeing  his  way  so  far,  plainly,  he  set  about  modeling 
his  church  order  accordingly,  when  he  arrived  in  his 
new  home.  The  church  brotherhood  was  sufficient 
unto  itself.  The  local  group  of  Christian  people  ac- 
quainted with  one  another,  and  assembling  together, 
were  competent  to  proceed  with  their  worship  in  their 
own  preferred  way  and  to  maintain  their  Christian 
fellowship  on  such  grounds  and  conditions  as  seemed 
to  them  Scriptural  and  fitting,  always  under  a  common 
acknowledged  responsibility  to  their  consciences  and 
their  God.  This  was  practically  "  separatism,"  or 
"  independency,"  but  as  yet  they  did  not  call  it  by 
that  name. 

This  state  of  things  was  favorable  to  the  growth  of 
a  free  and  natural  church  life,  such  as  would  develop 
spontaneously  under  the  existing  conditions.  There 
was  no  preconceived  form  to  which  all  intellectual 
conclusions,  spiritual  aspirations  and  prophetic  vis- 
ions must  mold  their  expression.  Precedents  sat 
loosely  upon  them.  They  asked  themselves  what  they 
wanted,  and  what  best  satisfied  their  religious  hunger 
and  need,  with  the  consciousness  of  a  liberty  of 
choice  to  which  they  had  not  been  accustomed.  So 
they  felt  their  way  along  tentatively  into  the  adoption 
of  a  church  life  such  as  suited  their  case  as  they  found 
it  then  and  there  existing,  regarding  it  at  the  same 
tioie  as  subject  to  modification  as  they  should  find  it 


thereafter  to  require.  If  they  made  mistakes,  they 
were  free  to  repair  them.  They  did  make  mistakes. 
They  could  not  help  it.  They  were  made  up  in  their 
individuality  of  the  old  traditions  and  the  new  long- 
ings. They  put  their  free  principles  on  trial,  and 
when  they  ran  against  some  rock  of  rare  and  excep- 
tional individualism  like  Roger  Williams,  or  some  ap- 
prehended social  outcome  of  the  largest  liberality, 
like  the  familism  or  antinomianism,  as  they  regarded 
it,  of  Ann  Hutchinson,  they  felt  a  strain  upon  their 
before  unquestioned  postulates,  and  studied  out  the 
problem  as  they  best  could,  to  arrive  sooner  or  later  at 
some  practical  conclusion  as  to  the  next  step  neces- 
sary to  be  taken.  They  made  their  church  polity,  as 
has  been  happily  said,  as  they  went  along.  The  churches 
of  New  England  had  this  opportunity  to  grow  up 
without  an  excess  of  swathing  prescriptions,  and 
profited  by  it  as  a  child  in  an  out-door  life,  and  with 
not  too  much  sheltering,  dictation  and  repression  of 
its  activity,  often  derives  strength  from  its  freedom. 

This  little  Puritan  colony  was  yet  a  child — in  the 
principles  and  art  of  constructing  society,  framing 
government  and  learning  how  to  live  together  in  a 
self-controlling  community,  how  to  draw  the  line  be- 
tween what  might  be  safely  conceded  to  individual 
choice  and  what  must  be  enacted  for  the  general 
good;  it  was  a  child,  it  thought  as  a  child,  it  under- 
stood as  a  child,  in  this  new  learning.  In  finding  out 
how  to  use  its  newly-acquired  liberty  without  abusing 
it,  it  could  not  leap  to  the  highest  wisdom  at  a  bound. 
It  must  sometimes  stumble  and  fall.  If  it  rose  again 
and  went  on  to  better  things,  taught  by  experience  to 
avoid  its  earlier  mistakes,  its  experiment  was  to  be 
accounted  a  success.  Man's  idealism  and  his  hard, 
practical  wisdom  for  daily  use  in  every-day  life  never 
walk  together  with  even  feet.  The  one  hastens,  the 
other  lags ;  the  one  sees  forward,  the  other  is  half- 
blind,  and  only  trusts  in  experience  looking  backward. 
Each  corrects  the  other  with  much  confidence  that, 
both  as  to  speed  and  direction,  it  is  entitled  to  govern. 
It  was  as  inevitable  as  it  was  human  that  the  Puritan 
should  sometimes  push  on  with  a  daring  that,  to  his 
old  associates,  seemed  rashness,  and  sometimes  mani- 
fest what  posterity,  with  the  teachings  and  experience 
of  centuries  behind  it,  to  assure  and  reassure  its  judg- 
ment, loftily  pronounces  timidity  and  inexcusable  in- 
consistency. A  sufferer  for  his  own  dissent,  how  could 
he  be  so  inconsistent  as  to  turn  and  excommunicate, 
exile  and  crush  out  the  dissenter  from  his  own  creed 
and  church  order  ?  It  was  simply  because  it  fell  to  him 
to  pass  upon  the  questions  that  came  to  him  for  judg- 
ment two  and  a-half  centuries  ago,  and  not  now. 
Where  to  draw  the  line  between  the  liberty  that  is 
permissible  and  safe  and  the  license  that  is  reckless 
of  consequences  and  destructive  and  must  be  checked 
— this  is  the  question  that  is  always  up,  with  the  in- 
dividual and  with  society,  lasting  on  from  age  to  age, 
but  with  applications  new  and  difficult  perpetually 
arising  in  practice.     It  is  as  much  our  predicament  as 


SALEM. 


21 


it  was  that  of  Endicott  and  Winthrop,  of  Cotton  and 
Higginson  and  Williams  centuries  back.  Have  we 
not  to  decide  to-day  whether  men  who,  for  aught  we 
know,  are  as  honest  and  sincere  as  we  are,  shall  be 
allowed  openly  and  enthusiastically  to  teach  any  crowd 
it  can  gather,  in  the  streets  of  any  city,  that  the  laws 
that  they  live  under  are  oppressive,  were  enacted  in 
the  interest  of  the  strong  and  rich  and  overbearing, 
and  may  be  cast  off,  and  the  very  foundations  of  so- 
ciety upturned  and  overthrown  without  scruple, 
whenever  the  power  can  be  obtained  for  the  purpose? 
Add  to  this,  that  a  problem  more  delicate  and  diffi- 
cult still  was  before  the  Puritan  mind,  viz.,  how  to 
steer  clear  of  offense  to  the  jealous  and  watchful  home 
government,  and  at  the  same  time  preserve  the  liber- 
ties they  had  come  here  to  enjoy,  and  were  fully  de- 
termined to  maintain,  and  the  hard  conditions  under 
which  this  Puritan  child  community  was  taking  its 
tutelage  may  be  the  better  appreciated,  and  a  too  free 
criticism  of  the  inhabitants  of  New  England  in  the 
first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century  will  be  likely  to 
be  postponed. 

Another  condition  in  the  circumstances  under  which 
the  first  settlers  of  New  England  organized  their 
church  system  must  not  be  overlooked,  for  it  had  a 
constant  influence  in  giving  a  cast  to  the  thought  as 
well  as  a  shape  to  the  covenants,  the  discipline,  the 
teachings  and  the  whole  institutional  life  of  the  peo- 
ple. This  was  the  fact  that  the  same  community  was 
regarded  as  both  a  church  and  a  state.  It  was  work- 
ing out  a  double  problem.  Half  consciously  and  half 
unconsciously,  its  citizens  were  striving,  in  the  dual 
capacity  of  citizens  and  Christian  disciples,  to' realize 
at  once,  and  in  one,  an  ideal  commonwealth  and  a 
true  church.  So,  half  consciously  and  half  uncon- 
sciously, each  of  them,  the  church  and  the  common- 
wealth, was  tending  to  usurp  at  any  time  the  func- 
tions of  the  other,  and  for  a  considerable  period  these 
New  England  communities  were  in  the  process  of 
finding  out  whether  or  not  the  one  could  stand  for  the 
other;  if  not,  how  far  the  union  was  possible,  and  the 
identification  could  be  made  to  hold.  Though  to  the 
mind  of  the  Puritan  the  problem  inclined  always  to  state 
itself  in  the  form  of  the  question,  whether,  in  the  last  re- 
sult, the  church,  as  representing  more  nearly  the  divine 
government,  must  not  of  right  absorb  to  itself,  as  the 
higher  and  as  sole  heir  of  both,  all  inferior  authorities, 
and  take  the  ordering  of  human  society  in  all  its  in- 
terests and  relations  under  its  own  direction,  and 
whether  thus  the  ancient  dream  of  a  theocratic  rule 
was  not  to  come  to  realization  in  the  earth,  and  that 
here,  first,  upon  these  American  shores.  The  spell  of 
this  great  hope  was  upon  him  alike  when  he  set  up 
tribunals  for  the  trial  and  punishment  of  offenders 
against  the  peace  of  society,  and  when  he  fixed  upon 
the  true  order  of  proceeding  in  church  affairs.  Qual- 
ifications for  citizenship  and  for  church  membership 
constantly  threatened  with  him  to  run  into  each  other, 
get  mixed  and  to  become  one  and  the  same  thing. 


And  in  the  civil  and  the  spiritual  sphere  alike  he  was 
free  to  enter  on  experiments  which  should  test  the 
practicability  of  his  long-cherished  theories.  He 
made  laws,  and  instituted  courts,  and  prescribed  mag- 
istracies, and  called  into  being  agencies  of  government, 
a  step  at  a  time,  as  exigencies  arose  and  as  new  con- 
ditions pushed  him  to  decisions,  which  he  had  been 
willing  to  leave  till  some  necessity  drove  him  to 
judgment  and  action. 

As  a  fact  going  to  show  in  strong  relief  the  predomi- 
nance of  religious  motive  and  purpose  in  the  settle- 
ment of  New  England,  the  very  leading  part  taken 
by  the  ministers  in  the  administration  of  public 
affairs  is  to  be  noted.  For  a  considerable  period  they 
were  but  little  less  conspicuous  as  counselors  and 
founders  in  the  establishment  of  civil  government  and 
in  its  conduct,  than  in  constituting  churches,  settling 
what  should  be  done  in  ecclesiastical  matters  and  di- 
recting both  worship  and  religious  instruction.  And 
these  ministers  of  the  earlier  times  of  New  England 
possessed  high  qualifications  for  the  duties  they  were 
called  to  perform.  Belonging  to  that  class  of  persons 
whose  original  force  of  character  and  independence  of 
thought  and  action  had  caused  their  exclusion  from 
church  dignities  and  chances  of  preferment  in 
the  Church  of  England,  they  had  had  the  best  train- 
ing which  the  universities  of  Cambridge  and  Oxford 
afforded.  "  By  the  practice  in  the  colony,"  it  has 
been  said,  "the  General  Court,  from  time  to  time, 
propounded  questions  to  the  ministers  or  elders  which 
they  answered  in  writing.  The  proceeding  was  simi- 
lar to  that  under  a  provision  of  the  Constitution  re- 
quiring the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  to 
give  to  either  branch  of  the  Legislature,  or  the  Gov- 
ernor and  Council,  upon  request,  opinions  upon  im- 
portant questions  of  law  and  upon  solemn  occasions. 
The  opinions  given  by  the  ministers,  which  have  been 
preserved,  are  very  able,  and  will,  in  logic  and  sound 
reasoning,  bear  a  not  unfavorable  comparison  with 
opinions  of  justices  given  under  the  provision  of  our 
Constitution."^ 

Rev.  Edward  E.  Hale,  D.D.,  whose  large  informa- 
tion respecting  early  American  history  justly  gives 
great  weight  to  his  statements,  while  discrediting  the 
common  notion  that  the  early  ministers  of  Massachu- 
setts exercised  the  controlling  or  leading  influence  in 
affairs  of  civil  government  which  history  and  tradi- 
tion have  ascribed  to  them,  nevertheless  says  this  of 
them  :  "  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  John  Cotton, 
minister  of  the  First  Church  [in  Boston],  had  very 
great  authority  here,  while  he  lived,  of  a  social  or  po- 
litical character.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  humanly 
speaking,  but  that  Boston  is  Boston,  because  he  came 
and  lived  here,  be  it  observed,  because  Winthrop  and 
Dudley  wanted  him  to,  and  begged  him  to.  .  .  . 
And  probably  few  affairs  of  importance  were  decided 


1  Hon.  William  D.  Northend  :  Address  before  Essex  Bar  Association, 

p.  7.  (N.) 


22 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


in  which  Cotton  did  not  take  part,  and  in  which  his 
advice  was  not  respected."  It  is  difficult  to  see  upon 
what  grounds  Cotton  is  thus  assigned  a  weight  of  in- 
fluence wholly  exceptional,  so  that  it  could  be  said 
that  "  no  trace  of  any  such  power  appeared  after- 
ward," If  "  there  were  countless  instances,"  as  Dr. 
Hale  says  there  were,  "  when  the  ministers  met  with 
the  court,  advised  with  them  and  were  consulted  as  any 
other  intelligent  gentlemen  might  be  consulted,"  we 
read  between  these  lines  that  many  ministers  were 
found  to  be  "intelligent  gentlemen,"  whom  the  court 
deemed  it  important  to  consult.  Official  respect 
purely,  and  authority  as  ecclesiastics  it  is  not  claimed 
that  they  received.  Quite  otherwise.  In  the  first 
church  organized  in  Massachusetts — that  in  Salem — 
those  who  had  been  ministers  in  the  English  Church 
were  first  "  reduced  to  the  ranks  "  among  the  Salem 
brethren,  and  then  by  those  brethren  raised  or  set  apart 
to  the  position  of  ministers.  "  There  were  present,  at 
the  time,  and  on  the  spot,"  says  Upham,  "at  least  four 
persons  who  had  borne  the  ministerial  office  in  distin- 
guished positions,  men  of  talent,  learning  and  repu- 
tation, and  eminent  in  worth  as  well  as  station."  ^  If 
they  had  great  influence  afterward,  it  was  because  by 
their  solid  intelligence  and  their  consistent  Christian 
carriage  they  entitled  themselves  to  a  leading  influ- 
ence. "  The  leaders  led  as  they  always  will,"  says  Dr. 
Hale,words  emphatically  applicableto  men  likeHiggin- 
son,  Williams  and  Peters,  as  well  as  to  Cotton.  "The 
clergy,"  says  Palfrey,  in  a  resume  of  the  state  of  the 
Massachusetts  colony  in  1634,  "  now  thirteen  or  four- 
teen in  number,  constituted  in  some  sort  a  separate 
estate  of  special  dignity.  Though  they  were  excluded 
from  secular  office,  the  relation  of  their  functions  to 
the  spirit  and  aim  of  the  community  which  had  been 
founded,  as  well  as  their  personal  weight  of  ability 
and  character,  gave  great  authority  to  their  advice. 
Nearly  all  were  graduates  of  Oxford  or  Cambridge, 
and  had  held  livings  in  the  Established  Church  of 
England.  Several  had  been  eminent  among  their  fel- 
lows for  all  professional  endowments." 

The  theology  of  the  Salem  colonists,  as  of  the  set- 
tlers of  New  England  generally,  was  Calvinistic. 
The  formularies  emanating  from  the  Westminster 
Assembly  of  divines  embody  it  with  virtual  accuracy. 
It  was  held  with  no  half  indifierence,  no  mental  reserva- 
tions ;  not  merely  for  substance  of  doctrine.  Face  to 
face,  with  a  will  to  blink  nothing  of  the  terrible  in- 
ferences involved,  as  before  God,  the  sombre  creed 
was  confessed.  And  though,  with  Robinson,  these  con- 
fessors believed  that  more  light  would  break  forth 
from  the  word  of  God,  they  anticipated  no  such  light 
as  would  soften  the  rigors  of  the  divine  government 
or  lift  the  crushing  doom  of  eternal  pains  from  the 
non-elect — from  the  unbeliever  and  the  impenitent 
who  remained  hardened  to  the  hour  of  death.  This 
was  the  Puritan's  creed.     His  human  feeling  of  com- 

1  Address  at  rededication  of  the  church,  1807,  p.  12. 


passion  and  justice  was  too  strong  against  it  in  many 
a  genial  hour,  and  in  many  a  sympathetic  tempera- 
ment, and  he  took  refuge,  as  often  as  occasion  required, 
from  unbearable  thoughts  of  the  fate  of  the  wretched 
lost,  and  unbearable  thoughts  of  God,  in  the  comfort- 
ing sentences  of  Scripture  that  reminded  him  that 
God  would  have  mercy  and  not  sacrifice. 

The  first  church  in  New  England  was  that  at  Ply- 
mouth. It  landed  a  completed  church.  The  next, 
the  first  gathered  upon  the  soil,  was  that  at  Salem. 
Its  beginning  possesses  a  curious  interest  and  throws 
invaluable  light  upon  the  principles  and  aims  that 
guided  the  founders  of  the  earlier  colonial  churches. 
At  every  point  in  the  proceedings  it  may  be  seen  that 
it  was  a  natural  and  gradual  growth,  rather  than  an 
artificial  construction,  built  upon  precedents.  It  ap- 
pears that  seventeen  days  intervened  between  the  first 
step  taken  in  the  business  of  organization  and  the 
final  one.  The  6th  of  August,  1629,  has  usually  been 
assumed  as  the  date  of  its  institution.  We  should 
rather  assign  it  to  the  20th  of  July.  On  that  day  it 
exercised  the  highest  functions  of  a  corporate  body, 
viz.,  held  an  election — voting  in  the  choice  of  its  most 
important  officers,  viz.,  those  of  pastor  and  teacher. 
True,  it  had  no  written  constitution  yet.  Its  cove- 
nant was  not  adopted  till  more  than  two  weeks  after- 
wards. So  far  as  appears,  it  had  not  yet  a  list  of  en- 
rolled members.  "Every  fit  member  wrote,  in  a  note, 
his  name  whom  the  Lord  moved  him  to  think  was  fit 
for  a  pastor,  and  so  likewise,  whom  they  would  have 
for  teacher."  But  nothing  indicates  how  it  was  de- 
termined who  were  to  be  deemed  "  fit  members." 
Perhaps  it  was  by  general  assent  of  the  assembly,  any 
ballot  being  received  if  no  objection  was  made.  Per- 
haps each  one  was  put  upon  his  own  conscience  to 
decide  for  himself  whether  he  ought  to  participate  in 
the  vote.  At  least  the  result  was  accepted  without 
question  or  dispute.  The  day  had  been  appointed  as 
a  "solemn  day  of  humiliation  for  the  choice  of  a  pas- 
tor and  teacher."  It  was  a  public  assembly,  meeting 
in  response  to  this  appointment  which  took  action. 
"  The  former  part  of  the  day  being  spent  in  praise 
and  teaching,  the  latter  part  was  spent  about  the  elec- 
tion." 

We  are  forbidden  to  suppose  that  this  was  a  mere 
preliminary  and  informal  selection,  intended  to  be  rati- 
fied later,  by  the  fact  that  the  church  then  and  there  pro- 
ceeded to  set  apart  the  pastor  and  teacher-elect  with 
solemn  and  formal  ceremony  of  official  investment. 
"  So  the  most  voice  was  for  Mr.  Skelton  to  be  pastor  and 
Mr.  Higginson  to  be  teacher ;  and  they  accepting  the 
choice,  Mr.  Higginson,  with  three  or  four  more  of  the 
gravest  members  of  the  church,  laid  their  hands  on 
Mr.  Skelton,  using  prayers  therewith.  This  being 
done,  then  there  was  imposition  of  hands  on  Mr. 
Higginson."  Here  are  all  the  circumstances  indica- 
tive of  a  completed  installation  of  these  two  chief 
officers  of  the  church ;  and  this  was  on  the  20th  of 
July.     When  the  church  or  assembly  proceeded  to  its 


SALEM. 


23 


next  action,  which  was  the  choice  of  elders  and  dea- 
cons, it  did  leave  that  business  uncompleted,  at  that 
time,  to  be  finished  at  a  later  day.  After  going  so  far 
as  to  designate  the  persons  of  its  choice — perhaps  by 
what  we  might  call  an  informal  ballot — it  is  quaintly 
added  by  Mr.  Charles  Gott,  in  his  letter  to  Governor 
Bradford,  that  "they  were  only  named,  and  laying  on 
of  hands  deferred  to  see  if  it  pleased  God  to  send  us 
more  able  men  over."  It  is  true  that  at  the  meeting 
which  followed,  August  6th,  "appointed  for  another 
solemn  day  of  humiliation  for  the  full  choice  of  elders 
and  deacons,  and  ordaining  them,"  not  only  were  the 
elders  and  deacons  chosen  and  set  apart  to  their  re- 
spective offices  in  a  formal  and  solemn  manner,  but 
some  ceremony  of  ordination  took  place  also,  in  seem- 
ing repetition  of  that  by  which,  on  the  20th  of  July, 
the  pastor  and  teacher  had  been  ordained.  In  look- 
ing for  the  reasons  for  this  we  are  left  largely  to  con- 
jecture. Whatever  may  have  occurred  in  the  consul- 
tations held  by  those  interested  between  July  20th 
and  August  6th,  the  election,  which  had  taken  place 
on  the  former  day,  must  have  been  deemed  valid,  for 
it  was  left  undisturbed,  and  no  like  form  was  gone 
through  with  again.  But  the  church  at  Plymouth 
had  been  notified  of  the  occasion,  and  representatives 
of  that  church  had  been  invited  and  were  expected 
to  be  present  on  August  6th.  Their  approval  and 
assurance  of  fellowship  were  also  expected  to  be  given, 
and  were  valued,  though  especial  care  was  taken  that 
it  should  be  understood  beforehand  that  this  proffered 
fellowship  would  be  welcomed  on  the  part  of  the 
Salem  Church  simply  as  an  act  of  Christian  courtesy 
and  brotherly  communion,  and  not  as  implying  any 
ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  in  one  church  over  another. 
There  had  been  correspondence  previously  between 
them  of  Plymouth  and  these  of  Salem  in  regard  to 
the  true  principles  and  right  method  of  church  founda- 
tion and  organization,  in  which  there  had  appeared 
to  be  a  general  harmony  of  views  and  the  utmost  good 
feeling,  though  not  entire  concurrence  in  all  points. 

On  the  6th  of  August  a  covenant  was  to  be  present- 
ed for  adoption,  and  a  more  definite  recognition  and 
enrollment  of  the  members  of  the  church  was  to  be 
made  by  signing  and  accepting  the  covenant.  In  the 
absence  of  any  definite  testimony  going  to  show  the 
motive  for  the  renewal  of  the  act  of  ordination — the 
laying  on  of  hands — upon  the  pastor  and  teacher- 
elect,  we  venture  to  think  that  it  may  have  been  part- 
ly that,  upon  review  of  the  proceedings  of  July  20th, 
it  was  thought  that  the  adoption  and  signing  of  the 
covenant  would  more  properly  have  preceded  the  or- 
daining of  the  ministers;  partly,  perhaps,  that  the 
contemplated  full  constitution  of  the  church  designed 
to  go  into  effect  on  the  later  day,  together  with  the 
expected  presence  on  that  day  of  the  Governor  and 
others,  messengers  from  the  Plymouth  Church,  as 
guests  of  the  Salem  brethren,  and  appointed  to  bring 
greetings  from  the  older  sister  church,  made  it  seem 
to  those  who  arranged   the  proceedings,  fitting   that 


the  induction  of  the  chosen  ministers  of  the  church 
into  office  should  form  a  part  of  the  observances  of 
the  time,  as  essential  to  their  completeness.  Gover- 
nor Bradford  and  his  associates  from  Plymouth,  "com- 
ing by  sea  and  hindered  by  cross-winds,"  did  not 
arrive  till  late  in  the  day;  but  though  not  present 
at  the  beginning,  "  they  came  into  the  assembly  after- 
wards, and  gave  them  the  right  hand  of  fellowship, 
wishing  all  prosperity,  and  a  blessed  success  unto 
such  good  beginnings." 

To  assist  us  in  determining — if  that  is  possible — what 
was  the  form  of  the  covenant  adopted  by  the  Salem 
Church  in  1629,  and  to  explain  some  of  the  contro- 
versies which  have  arisen  over  this  question,  it  is  nec- 
essary to  present  here  certain  facts  in  regard  to  the 
history  of  the  records  of  this  church. 

No  records  made  contemporaneously,  or  nearly  so, 
with  the  events  and  facts  which  they  record  are  now 
in  existence  of  an  earlier  period  than  1660,  the  time 
when  the  ministry  of  John  Higginson  began.  John 
Higginson  was  the  son  of  Francis, who  was  chosen  the 
first  teacher  in  the  Salem  Church  July  20,  1629,  and 
who  drew  up  the  covenant  adopted  August  6th  of  the 
same  year.  There  was  a  book  of  records  purporting 
to  cover  the  period  from  1629  to  1660  in  existence 
when  John  Higginson  was  ordained,  or  at  least  from 
1636  to  1660 ;  when  and  how  it  began  is  obscure.  It 
appears  to  have  borne  upon  its  pages  some  things 
which  it  seemed  to  the  most  considerate  and  exem- 
plary members  of  the  church  not  well  to  hand  down 
to  posterity.  A  committee  was  appointed  accordingly 
"to  review  the  church  book  and  to  report  such  things 
to  the  church  as  they  conceive  worthy  of  considera- 
tion." In  their  report  the  committee  say  that : 
"  They  conceived  the  book  itself  and  paper  of  it 
being  old,  not  well  bound,  and  in  some  places  having 
been  wet  and  torn,  and  not  legible,  is  not  like  to  last 
long  to  be  of  use  to  posterity ;  therefore  they  thought 
it  best  if  it  were  kept  in  a  place  of  safety  by  the 
Elders — by  that  means  it  will  be  of  use  so  long  as  it  will 
last.  Only  some  few  passages  in  it,  which  do  reflect 
upon  particular  persons,  or  upon  the  whole  church, 
without  any  church  vote,  and  without  the  proof,  they 
did  mark  in  the  book  as  thinking  they  should  be 
struck  out."  At  the  same  time,  "  some  of  the  breth- 
ren propounded,  which  was  readily  consented  to,  that 
there  might  be  liberty,  to  such  as  desired  it,  to  see 
those  passages  mentioned  in  the  former  book  for  a 
month's  time."  This  recommendation  appears  to 
have  been  satisfactory  to  the  church,  and  to  have 
been  adopted  and  carried  into  effect.  It  accomplished 
all  that  was  expected  of  it — perhaps  more.  Not  only 
were  the  objectionable  parts  withdrawn  from  sight, 
but  the  book  itself  disappeared,  and  except  some  por- 
tions of  it  which  were  transcribed  into  the  new  book 
of  records,  begun  by  John  Higginson  in  1660,  its  con- 
tents are  unknown.  It  has  been  assumed  that  all  that 
was  important  in  it  would  be  likely  to  be  preserved, 
and  to  be  contained  in  the  record  of  the  second  Hig- 


24 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


ginson.  Very  likely.  We  shall  probably  never  know. 
Some  will  never  cease  to  regret  that  they  cannot  know. 
If  not  important  in  any  other  sense,  some  will  always 
think  that  even  the  expunged  records  are  important 
to  the  completeness  of  history,  and  wish  that  it  had 
been  permitted  them  also  to  judge  for  themselves  the 
wisdom  of  suppressing  them.  It  would  be  interesting, 
no  doubt,  to  see  what  picture  the  stormy  time  of  Roger 
Williams'  ministry  left  of  itself  on  the  old  record- 
book.  At  least,  as  to  the  faithfulness  and  accuracy  of 
the  copy  of  those  portions,  purporting  to  be  trans- 
cribed from  the  first  book  into  the  second,  as  far  as 
they  go,  there  should  be  no  valid  ground  of  doubt. 
But  just  here  a  new  question,  and  an  important  one, 
precipitates  itself  upon  us  as  to  this  very  point — name- 
ly, the  accuracy  of  the  copy.  The  old  book,  the  first 
book  of  records,  appears  to  have  been  begun  no  earlier 
than  1636,  with  the  beginning  of  the  ministry  of  Rev, 
Hugh  Peters;^  consequently  its  record  of  events  at 
the  organization  of  the  church,  in  1629, was  not  strictly 
contemporaneous  with  the  events.  When  we  read  there 
the  covenant  of  1629,  as  renewed  in  1636,  what  confi- 
dence may  we  rightly  have  that  the  renewed  covenant 
was  the  same  that  Francis  Higginson  wrote,  and  the 
church  in  Salem  adopted  August  6,  1629?  Was  it  the 
same  in  substance  only,  or  likewise  in  form?  Over  this 
question  a  spirited  controversy  has  arisen  within  the 
last  fifty  years. 

John  Higginson,  minister  of  the  church  from  1660 
to  1708,  and  son  of  the  framer  of  the  covenant,  him- 
self, as  a  youth  of  thirteen,  having  joined  the  church  in 
1629,  solemnly  renewing  this  covenant  with  the  church 
in  1660,  records  it  as  having  been  already  "renewed" 
by  the  church  in  1636,  and  he  is  our  authority  for  say- 
ing that  it  is  the  covenant  adopted  in  1629,  as  he  in- 
dorses it  as  such,  the  record  in  the  margin  running 
thus:  "6  of  6th  month,  1629,  this  covenant  was  public- 
ly Signed  and  Declared,  as  may  appear  from  page  85,  in 
this  book."  To  this,  as  renewed  in  1660,  is  prefixed 
a  preamble  adopted  with  it  in  1636,  which  states  the 
fact  and  shows  the  motive  of  the  renewal  at  tha  t 
time,  1636,  and  an  additional  article  is  appended  to  it 
at  the  end, which  was  adopted  with  it  at  the  renewal,  in 
1660,  as  applicable  to  the  relation  of  the  church  to  the 
Quakers  at  that  time,  the  fact  and  the  motive  of  the 
addendum  being  likewise  plainly  stated.  Mr.  Higgin- 
son's  intention  seems  clearly  and  unmistakably  to 
have  been  to  present  the  covenant  of  1629  in  its  orig- 
inal and  unaltered  form,  and  to  distinguish  from  it 
carefully  the  prefix  and  suflax  above  referred  to  as  no 
part  of  it.  We  introduce  it  here  as  it  stood,  unques- 
tioned, for  more  than  two  hundred  years.  And  to 
make  evident  the  parts  added  in  1636  and  in  1660,  it 
is  given  as  it  stands  in  the  record  of  Mr.  John  Hig- 
ginson in  1660, — 


1  He  wrote  his  own  name  Peter.  It  has  been  the  modern  nsage  to 
■write  it  Peters.  Dr.  Palfrey,  in  his  "History  of  New  England,"  writes 
it  Peler. 


Gather  my  Saints  together  unto  me  that  have  made  a  Covenant  with  me  by 
sacrifice.     Psa.  50  :  5: 

6.  of  Gth  Month.  1029,         Wee  whose  names  are  here  under  written,  mem- 
This  Covenant  was  hers  of  the  present  Church  of  Christ  in  Salem, 

uhlicldy  Signed  and  having  found  hy  sad  experience  hoie  dangerous 

Declared,  as  may  it  is  to  silt   loose   to    the    Covenant    wee   make 

appear  from  page  85,  ivith  our  God  :  Ind  How  Apt  wee  are  to  wan- 

in  this  Book.  der  into  by  pathes,  even  to  the  looseing  of   our 

first  aimes  in  entring  into  Chtirch  fellowship : 
Doe  therefore  solemnly  in  the  presence  of  the  Eternall  God,  both  for  our 
own  comforts,  and  those  which  shall  or  maye  be  joyned  unto  vs,  renewe 
that  Church  Covenant  ice  find  this  Church  bound  wnto  at  theire  first  be- 
ginning, viz :   That 

We  covenant  with  the  Lord,  and  one  with  an  other  ;  and  doe  bynd 
our  selves  in  the  prewnce  of  God,  to  walke  togetlier  in  all  his  waies,  ac- 
cording as  he  is  pleased  to  reveale  himself  unto  us  in  his  Blessed  word  of 
truth.  And  doe  more  explicitely  in  the  name  and  feare  of  God,  profess 
and  protest  to  walke  as  followeth,  through  the  power  and  grace  of  our 
Lord  Jesus. 

1  first  wee  avowe  the  Lord  to  be  our  God,  and  our  selves  his  people  in 
the  truth  and  simplicitie  of  our  Spirits. 

2  Wee  give  our  selves  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  the  word  of  his 
grace,  fore  the  teaching,  ruleing  and  sanctifyeing  of  us  in  matters  of 
worship,  and  Conversation,  resolveing  to  cleave  to  him  alone  for  life  and 
glorie  ;  and  oppose  all  contrarie  wayes,  cannons  and  constitutions  of  men 
in  liis  worship. 

3  Wee  promise  to  walke  with  our  brethren  and  sisters  in  tliis  Congre- 
gation with  all  watchfullnes  and  tendernes,  avoyding  all  jelousies,  suspi- 
tions,  backbyteings,  censurings,  provoakings,  secrete  risings  of  spirite 
against  them  ;  but  in  all  offences  to  follow  the  rule  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
and  to  beare  and  forbeare,  give  and  forgive,  as  he  hath  taught  us. 

4  In  piiblick  or  in  private,  we  will  willingly  doe  nothing  to  the  ofence 
of  the  Church  but  will  be  willing  to  take  advise  for  our  selves  and  oura, 
asocasion  shall  be  presented. 

5  Wee  will  not  in  the  Congregation  be  forward  eyther  to  shew  oure 
oune  gifts  or  parts  in  speaking  or  scrupling,  or  there  discover  the  fayl- 
ingof  oiire  brethren  or  sisters  butt  atend  an  orderly  cale  there  unto  ; 
knowing  how  much  the  Lord  maybe  dishonoured,  and  his  Gospell,  in 
the  profession  of  it,  sleighted,  by  our  distempers,  and  weaknesses  in 
publyck. 

0  We  bynd  our  selves  to  studdy  the  advancement  of  the  Gospell  in 
all  truth  and  peace,  both  in  regard  of  those  that  are  within,  or  with- 
out, noe  way  sleighting  our  sister  Churches,  but  using  theire  Coun- 
sell  as  need  shalbe :  nor  laying  a  stumbling  block  before  any,  noe, 
not  the  Indians,  whose  good  we  desire  to  promote,  and  soe  to  con- 
verse, as  we  may  avoyd  the  verrye  appearance  of  evill. 

7  Wee  hearbye  promise  to  carrye  our  selves  in  all  lawful]  obedience, 
to  those  that  are  over  us,  in  Church  or  Commonweale,  knowing  how 
well  pleasing  it  will  be  to  the  Lord,  that  they  should  have  incour- 
agement  in  theire  places,  by  our  not  grieveing  theyre  spirites  through 
our  Irregularities. 

8  Wee  resolve  to  approve  our  selves  to  the  Lord,  in  our  perticular  cal- 
ings,  shunning  ydlenessas  the  bane  of  any  state,  nor  will  wee  deale 
hardly,  or  oppressingly  with  any,  wherein  we  are  the  Lord's  stew- 
ards : 

9  alsoe  promysing  to  our  best  abilitie  to  teach  our  children  and 
servants  the  knowledg  of  God  and  his  will,  that  they  may  serve  him 
also  ;  and  all  this,  not  by  any  strength  of  our  owue,  but  by  the  Lord 
Christ ;  whose  bloud  we  desire  may  sprinckle  this  our  Covenant  made 
in  his  name. 

This  Covenant  was  renewed  by  the  Church  on  a  sollemne  day  of  Humil- 
iation 6  of  I  monelh  1600.  When  also  considering  the  poicer  of  Temptation 
amongst  us  by  reason  of  ye  Quakers  doctrine  to  the  leavening  of  some  in  the 
place  where  we  are  and  endangering  of  others,  doe  see  cause  to  remember  the 
Admonition  of  our  Saviour  Christ  to  his  disciples  Math.  16. 

Take  heed  and  beware  of  ye  leaven  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Pharisees  and 
doe  judge  so  farre  as  we  understand  it  yl  ye  Quakers  doctrine  i»  as  bad  or 
worse  than  that  of  ye  Pharisees ;  Therefore  we  doe  Covenant  by  the  help 
of  Jesus  Christ  to  take  heed  and  beware  of  the  leaven  of  the  doctrine  of 
the  Quakers. 

The  preamble,  postscript  and  marginal  note  we 
have  italicized. 

Until  about  fifty  years  ago,  no  doubt  is  known  to 
have  been  publicly  expressed  or  privately  entertained 


SALEM. 


25 


that  the  covenant,  as  renewed  in  1636,  was,  with  a 
near  approach  to  verbal  accuracy,  the  same  that  was 
adopted  in  1629.  In  connection  with  a  "  discourse 
delivered  on  the  First  Centennial  Anniversary  of  the 
Tabernacle  Church,"  in  1835,  by  Rev.  Samuel  M. 
Worcester,  pastor  of  that  church,  and  published,  the 
author  places  the  covenant  of  1636 — the  foregoing 
covenant  of  these  pages — in  an  appendix,  with  the 
following  passage  taken  from  its  first  paragraph  in 
quotation  marks,  namely  :  "  That  we  covenant  with 
the  Lord,  and  one  with  another,  and  do  bind  our- 
selves, in  the  presence  of  God,  to  walk  together  in  all 
his  ways,  according  as  he  is  pleased  to  reveal  himself 
unto  us  in  his  blessed  word  of  truth  : "  and  follows 
the  quotation  with  this  explanatory  observation,  "  I 
have  seen  fit  to  throw  into  the  form  of  a  quotation 
that  part  of  the  Preamble  of  the  foregoing  Covenant, 
which  I  suspect  was,  in  substance  at  least,  The  Cove- 
nant '  which  the  church  was  bound  unto  at  their  first 
beginning.''  "  [The  italics  are  ours  ]  This  conclu- 
sion, though  couched  at  first  in  the  form  of  a  suspi- 
cion, was  fortified  with  sundry  reasons  to  support  it, 
and  affirmed  later  in  more  confident  terms  :  "  The 
conclusion  is  to  my  mind  irresistible  from  the  internal 
evidence  alone,  that  the  covenant  printed  in  the  Mag- 
nalia  of  Mather  [that  of  1636  as  given  above],  and 
often  cited  as  the  covenant  of  the  First  Church  at  its 
beginning,  could  not  have  been  the  first  Covenant  of 
that  church." 

Again,  in  a  discourse  delivered  at  Plymouth  De- 
cember 22,  1848,  and  published  the  following  year, 
Dr.  Worcester  reiterates  the  same  opinion  with 
greater  emphasis,  and  qualified  by  no  doubts :  "What 
has  been  generally  printed,  for  a  hundred  and  fifty 
years,  as  the  First  Covenant  of  that  church,  and 
adopted  August  6,  1629,  is  not  that  covenant.  It  was 
adopted  as  a  special  covenant  in  1636  "  is  his  confi- 
dent decision,  which  he  proceeded  to  support  with 
the  asserted  facts  and  resulting  reasonings  which  had 
brought  his  mind  to  this  conviction.  And  yet,  again 
in  1854,  in  discussion  of  the  same  subject  before  the 
Essex  Institute,  the  same  ground  was  firmly  main- 
tained by  him.  In  the  next  year,  1855,  two  publica- 
tions appeared,  both  issued  by  the  Congregational 
Board  of  Publication,  which  gave  their  sanction  to 
this  later  view  of  the  first  covenant.  One  was  "  The 
Ecclesiastical  History  of  New  England,"  etc.,  by  Jo- 
seph B.  Felt,  Vol.  I.,  and  the  other  a  new  edition  of 
Morton's  "  New  England's  Memorial,"  in  the  appen- 
dix to  which  the  editor,  or  editors,  indorse  the  same 
conclusion.  Mr.  Felt  says,  ^  that  *'  this  cove- 
nant [of  1629]  differs  from  the  second,  formed  1636, 
which  has  long  been  supposed  to  be  the  first,  and 
from  the  hand  of  Higginson,  when  it  was  probably 
drawn  up  by  Peters  at  the  later  date."  He  appears 
to  have  relied,  as  Dr.  Worcester  had  done,  mainly  on 
internal  evidence  as  his  warrant  for  this  belief.^ 


1  Page  115. 

2h 


!  Page  267. 


In  the  new  edition  of  "Morton's  New  England's 
Memorial,"  Appendix  A,  under  the  heading  "The 
Articles  of  Faith  and  Covenant  of  1629,"  there  is 
attributed  to  the  editor  of  an  earlier  edition  of  the 
work,  the  learned  Judge  John  Davis,  an  important 
oversight  in  not  discovering  that  with  the  covenant 
of  1629  was  adopted  a  separate  confession  of  faith, 
and  in  misinterpreting  history,  in  that  he  omitted  to 
connect  this  confession  of  faith  with  the  covenant  of 
1629  as  a  virtual  part  of  the  constitution  of  the 
church  at  its  beginning. 

The  foregoing  authorities, — Worcester,  Felt  and 
the  editors  of  "  Morton's  Memorial,"  edition  of  1855, 
witnessing  to  the  strong  probability,  if  not  moral 
certainty  of  considerable  and  important  differences 
between  the  covenant  of  1629  and  the  renewed 
covenant  of  1636  {if  they  be  not  reducible  to  one 
authority,  viz.  :  the  Rev.  Dr.  Worcester,  followed  by  the 
others),  lay  especial  stress  upon  the  indications,  or 
proofs,  that  the  covenant  of  1629  was  adopted  jointly 
with  a  creed,  or  confession  of  articles  of  belief.  The 
covenant  proper  of  1629  they  believe  to  have  been 
materially  shorter  than  that  of  1636,  but  to  have  had 
this  credal  adjunct,  which  made  the  church  constitu- 
tion of  1629  to  differ  greatly  from  the  renewed  cove- 
nant of  1636  in  being  distinctly  and  emphatically 
doctrinal  in  its  aspect. 

An  arraignment  so  weighty  as  this  of  what  had 
passed  for  verified  history  for  many  generations, 
though  sustained  by  a  support  so  considerable,  and 
by  names  of  repute,  was  not  likely  to  go  long  un- 
challenged. Nor  did  it.  Taking  only  the  time  neces- 
sary to  subject  the  evidence  in  the  case  to  a  rigid 
re-examination,  the  Hon.  Daniel  A.  White,  judge  of 
probate  of  Essex  County,  and  a  leading  member  of 
the  First  Church  for  many  years,  replied  to  the 
published  statements  of  Rev,  Dr.  Worcester,  in  which 
the  traditions  current  for  a  couple  of  centuries  as  un- 
disputed truth  were  set  aside  as  we  have  seen  with 
great  assurance  as  founded  in  misconception — as 
sanctioning  "an  egregious  and  singular  error."  Point 
by  point  the  champion  of  the  long  accredited  opinion, 
— namely,  that  the  covenant  of  1636  was,  with  no  mate- 
rial difference,  the  covenant  of  1629, — stoutly  contend- 
ed for  the  trustworthiness  of  the  ancient  and  long 
unquestioned  opinion.  The  testimony  of  John  Hig- 
ginson was  held  to  be  explicit.  His  knowledge  of 
the  facts  was  not  to  be  impeached.  What  Cotton 
Mather  said  of  the  first  covenant  was  also  to  be  ac- 
cepted, he  contended,  with  as  much  confidence  as  if 
it  had  been  said  by  Higginson  himself,  for  he,  Hig- 
ginson, wrote  that,  having  "  known  the  beginning  and 
progress  of  these  (New  England)  churches  unto  this 
day,  and  having  read  over  much  of  this  history  (in 
the  Magnalia),  I  cannot  but  in  the  love  and  fear  of 
God  bear  witness  to  the  truth  of  it."  The  first  cove- 
nant is  given  by  Mather  as  agreeing  with  that  of 
1636,  only  differing  from  it  in  lacking  its  preamble. 
The  important  testimony  of  Rev.  John  Fiske  is  also 


26 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


cited  by  Mr.  White— only  lately  brought  to  light,  but 
dating  almost  from  the  renewal  of  the  Covenant  in 

1636,  as  Mr.  Fiske  came  to  Salem,  from  England,  in 

1637,  and  was  for  some  time  an  assistant  of  Rev.  Mr. 
Peters.  In  Mr.  Fiske's  private  book  of  records  "  we 
find  recorded,"  says  Judge  White,  "  in  the  handwrit- 
ing of  Mr.  Fiske,  the  First  Covenant  of  the  Salem 
Church,  with  the  preamble  to  its  renewal,  .  .  . 
Mr.  Fiske's  record  of  the  Covenant  being  essentially 
the  same  as  that  which  we  have  taken  from  the  Salem 
Church  book  "  (that  already  presented  in  this  writ- 
ing)- 

The   "confession   of  faith,"  which   Dr.  Worcester 

supposes  was  adopted  by  the  church  in  1629,  in  con- 
nection with  the  first  covenant,  Mr.  White  believes 
— and  believes  he  has  proved — was  of   much  later 
date,  probably  1680,  and  was  expressly  declared  not  to 
be  intended,  even  at  that  date,  to  be  imposed  aa  a  rigid 
test  upon  all  candidates  for  admission  to  the  church. 
He  produces  much  evidence  to  show  that  the  impo- 
sition of  doctrinal  tests  as  a  uniform  and  indispensa- 
ble  condition  of  admission   to   church   membership 
was  expressly  disavowed  by  the  church  at  the  begin- 
ning, and  that  for  a  long  time  at  least  it  consistently 
adhered  in  practice  to  the  position  thus  taken.     Not 
denying   that  Mr.   Francis  Higginson  was  commis- 
sioned "  to   draw  up  a   confession  of  faith   and  cove- 
nant in  Scripture  language,"  or  that  he  did  so,  he 
finds  all  that  these  terms  describe  and  define   in  the 
single  instrument  commonly  known  and  spoken  of 
as   the  first  covenant;    "covenant,"  or  "confession 
of  faith  and  Covenant,"  he  finds  it  called,  the  terms 
being  used  interchangeably,  and  when  designated  as 
"  the  confession   of  faith   and  covenant,"    the  pro- 
noun  referring  to  it  is  in  the  singular  number,  indi- 
cating but  one  instrument  or  writing.     Morton,  hav- 
ing lull   knowledge   of  things   from   the  beginning, 
writes,  in  his  "New  England's  Memorial:"  "The  con- 
fession  of  faith   and   covenant  fore-mentioned   was 
acknowledged  only  as  a  direction,  pointing  unto  that 
faith   and  covenant  contained  in  the  holy  Scripture, 
and  therefore  no  man  was  confined  unto  that  form  of 
words,  but  only  to  the  substance,  end  and  scope  of 
the   matter  contained  therein.     .     .     .     Some  were 
admitted  by  expressing  their  consent  to  that  written 
confession  of  faith  and  covenant ;  others  did  answer 
to   questions   about   the   principles  of  religion   that 
were  publicly  propounded  to  them  ;  some  did  present 
their  confession  in  writing,  which  was  read  for  them, 
and  some  that  were  able  and  willing,  did  make  their 
confession  in  their  own  words  and  way.     A  due  re- 
spect was  also  had  unto  the  conversations   of  men, 
viz. :  that  they  were  without  scandal."  ^ 

Besides   much   other  external  and   historical   evi- 
dence, too  voluminous  to  be  introduced  here,  but  pre- 

1  "New  England's  Memorial,"  Davis'  edition,  pp.  146-147.  See  also  a 
tract,  without  date  (in  Boston  Athenseum  Library.  "B.  76:  Sermons"), 
entitled  "  A  Direction,"  etc.  Referred  to  by  both  Dr.  Worcester  and 
Judge  White  as  bearing  upon  this  question. 


sented  as  bearing  upon  the  writer's  main  conclusion 
and  fortifying  it.  Judge  White  comments  also  care- 
fully upon  the  internal  evidence  in  the  alleged  anach- 
ronisms contained  in  the  covenant  of  1636,  much 
relied  upon  to  prove  that  it  could  not  have  been  the 
same  as  that  of  1629.  On  this  point  he  dissents  from 
the  judgment  expressed  by  Dr.  Worcester,  Mr.  Felt 
and  the  editors  of  "Morton's  Memorial,"  edition  of 
1855,  and  at  the  same  time  equally  forecloses,  it  may 
be  here  observed,  by  unconscious  anticipations,  so 
far  as  the  weight  of  his  name  goes,  a  similar  opinion 
from  another  source  presently  to  be  noticed, — an 
opinion  not  expressed  till  after  Judge  White's  death, 
— by  his  former  pastor.  Rev.  Charles  W.  Upham. 

This  opinion  of  Rev.  Mr.  Upham  is  remarkable,  not 
only  for  the  weight  that  justly  attaches  to  any  opinion 
of  his  upon  matters  to  which  he  had  given  many 
years  of  study,  and  to  which  he  brought  a  trained 
mind  and  habits  of  research,  but  still  more  for  the 
reason  that  it  is  a  direct  reversal  of  an  earlier  opinion 
of  his  own  on  a  point  since  strenuously  controverted, 
without  so  much  as  an  allusion  on  his  part  to  any 
change  of  opinion,  or  to  any  judgment  previously  en- 
tertained and  expressed,  and  now  abandoned  or  mod- 
ified ;  remarkable,  moreover,  as  being  in  direct  oppo- 
sition to  the  well-known  and  elaborately-maintained 
opinion  of  his  able  and  candid  parishioner,  Judge 
White,  with  whom  he  had  been  in  life-long  associa- 
tions of  intimacy,  and  the  worth  of  whose  deliberate 
judgment  he  knew  so  well  how  to  estimate,  and  yet 
to  his  dissent  from  whose  judgment  he  makes  no  ref- 
erence whatever  that  we  have  been  able  to  discover. 
Mr.  Upham's  last  conclusion,  in  regard  to  the  identity 
of  the  covenant  of  1629  with  that  renewed  in  1636,  is 
against  it,  and  agrees  with  that  of  Dr.  Worcester — 
that  thore  were  two  covenants ;  that  of  1629  very 
short,  that  of  1636  quite  long.  But  on  Dr.  Worces- 
ter's more  important  position,  that  there  were  articles 
of  belief  required  to  be  adopted  as  a  confession  of 
faith,  distinct  from  the  covenant,  but  in  force  in  con- 
nection with  it,  in  1629, — against  this  opinion  Mr. 
Upham  expresses  himself  on  all  occasions  distinctly 
and  emphatically. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  Rev.  Charles  W.  Up- 
ham, whom  we  now  cite,  was  for  twenty  years  pastor 
of  the  First  Church  (from  1824  to  1844),  conversant 
with  its  records  and  with  early  Salem  history,  and 
the  author  of  important  historical  discourses  of  com- 
memoration, delineating  with  great  fullness  of  detail 
the  story  of  the  early  days  of  the  Salem  Church. 
Mr.  Upham  delivered  a  "Second  Century  Lecture  of 
the  First  Church"  m  1829  of  a  historical  character, 
and  gives  in  an  appendix,  as  the  "first  covenant  of 
the  First  Church,"  the  covenant  already  given  on  a 
preceding  page  of  this  work,  it  being  the  same  as  that 
which  was  renewed  in  1636,  he  holding — that  is,  at 
that  time — to  the  long-established  and  settled  opinion 
upon  the  question  in  hand.  Mr.  Upham  remarks  at 
'  the  end  of  the  covenant  that  "at  a  very  early  period 


SALEM. 


27 


this  covenant  was  displaced  by  another.  It  was  re- 
stored and  renewed  at  the  ordination  of  John  Hig- 
ginson  in  1660.  In  the  course  of  time  it  was  again 
superseded,  and  for  many  years  has  not  been  used  in 
the  church."  How  much  he  may  have  meant  by  the 
expression,  "  at  a  very  early  period  this  covenant  was 
displaced  by  another,"  we  cannot  tell.  He  does  not 
specify  as  to  the  time  or  the  extent  of  the  displace- 
ment. He  may  have  had  in  mind  the  preamble  of 
1636 ;  if  more  than  that,  we  cannot  interpret  his  lan- 
guage, since  no  other  changes  are  known  to  us  pre- 
vious to  1660. 

On  the  8th  of  December,  1867,  Mr.  Upham  deliv- 
ered an  address  at  the  re-dedication  of  the  First 
Church  building.  Without  intimating  an  abandon- 
ment of  a  former  judgment,  he  incidentally  shows  that 
his  judgmen,t  upon  the  matter  in  question  was  quite 
different  in  1867  from  that  he  had  expressed  nearly 
forty  years  before,  thus  :  "  This  renewed  covenant  of 
1636  bears  the  impress  of  the  style  of  thought  and  ex- 
pression of  Hugh  Peters,  whose  name  heads  the  list 
as  from  that  date.  ...  In  most  of  the  clauses  the  lan- 
guage and  forms  of  thought  were,  as  plainly  appears, 
suggested  by  circumstances  that  had  disturbed  the 
peace  and  harmony  of  the  church  during  the  stormy 
agitations  and  conflicts  of  Roger  Williams'  period, 
and  are  therefore  of  temporary  and  retrospective  in- 
terest. The  passages  that  have  no  such  special  refer- 
ence, but  express  sentiments  of  universal  and  perpet- 
ual obligation,  are  inscribed  on  the  opposite  wall.  It 
will  be  noticed  that  it  begins  by  quoting  from  the 
covenant  at  the  *  first  beginning '  of  the  church.  From 
the  aspect  of  the  document  in  the  church  book,  and 
its  entire  construction  and  import,  it  is  highly  prob- 
able that  what  is  inscribed  on  that  tablet  in  German 
text  is  all  that  wns  taken  from  the  first  covenant.  It  is 
so  complete  in  itself  that  the  inference  which  the  form 
of  the  document  and  the  bearings  of  the  contents  seem 
to  suggest,  that  it  was  the  whole  of  that  document,  is 
almost  unavoidable.^^ 

What  was  "inscribed  on  that  tablet  in  German 
text "  was  this, — 

"  We  covenant  with  the  Lord,  and  one  with  another, 
and  do  bind  ourselves  in  the  presence  of  God,  to  walk  to- 
gether in  all  his  ways,  according  as  He  is  pleased  to  re- 
veal Himself  unto  us,  in  His  blessed  word  of  truth." 

And  this,  says  Mr.  Upham,  "  it  is  highly  probable 
is  all  that  was  taken  from  the  first  covenant." 

Perhaps  no  expression  of  our  own  opinion  is  called 
for,  as  to  who  is  right  in  this  controversy.  If  we  have 
fairly  placed  the  facts  before  the  reader,  and  espe- 
cially if  we  refer  him  to  the  authorities  in  which  he 
may  find  the  merits  of  the  question  exhaustively 
treated  (as  we  propose  to  do  at  the  end  of  this  ar- 
ticle), we  shall  put  him  in  the  way  to  form  his  own  opin- 
ion for  himself,  if  he  cares  to  do  so.  We  dismiss  the 
interesting  inquiry  by  simply  calling  attention,  fur- 
ther, to  the  fact  that  those  who  have  sought  to  invali- 
date the  long-settled  opinion  that  the  covenant  "re- 


newed "  in  1636  is  the  same  that  was  adopted  at  the 
founding  of  the  church  in  1629,  appear  to  rest  their 
argument  and  conclusion  mainly  upon  the  internal 
evidence  afforded  by  the  document  itself.  In  resting 
their  case  upon  that,  they  give  it,  as  it  seems  to  us,  its 
best  support,  the  weight  of  the  historical  evidence 
alone  being  insufficient  to  sustain  their  position. 
Both  Mr.  Upham  and  Dr.  Worcester  think  they  find 
in  the  covenant,  as  renewed  in  1636,  traces  of  the 
church  agitations,  and  of  the  special  controversies  in- 
tervening between  1629  and  1636.  Mr.  White  does 
not,  Mr.  Upham,  moreover,  finds  that  "  this  renewed 
covenant  of  1636  bears  the  impress  of  the  style  of 
thought  and  expression  of  Hugh  Peters."  Mr.  White 
could  not  discover  this  . 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  this  kind  of  evi- 
dence, while  it  may  be  strong  and  convincing  in 
some  cases,  is  peculiarly  liable  to  take  a  more  marked 
or  a  slighter  coloring,  or  even  an  opposite  hue,  ac- 
cording to  the  interpreter's  direction  of  approach 
and  resulting  point  of  view.  It  needs  a  judicial  im- 
partiality, a  very  complete  knowledge  of  the  religious 
history  of  the  time,  and  a  keen  and  much  practiced 
literary  perception,  to  pass  intelligently  and  convinc- 
ingly upon  such  points.  The  difficulty  is  heightened 
by  the  circumstance  that  the  very  power  of  the  recre- 
ative imagination,  so  necessary  to  reproduce  vividly 
the  life  and  thought  of  a  past  period,  is  itself  often  a 
snare  and  becomes  an  easy  and  frequent  cause  of  the 
misconstruction  of  language.  We  follow  with  cau- 
tion, and  not  without  a  measure  of  distrust,  a  line  of 
argument  which  grounds  important  inferences  upon 
what  are  at  best  only  inferences  from  premises  incap- 
able of  verification,  therefore  not  compelling  assent. 

No  fact  comes  out  more  conspicuously  in  the  early 
history  of  the  Salem  Church  than  that  it  intended  to 
guard  well  its  own  independence.  It  was  conscious 
of  a  new  departure.  It  trod  its  untried  way  with 
caution,  but  with  a  firm  foot.  It  was  determined  to 
make  sure  of  this,  namely,  that  the  unit  of  human  au- 
thority in  matters  ecclesiastical  should  be  the  body 
of  members  congregating  and  covenanting  together  in 
church  fellowship,  in  any  one  appointed  place  which 
should  give  it  local  habitation  and  name.  Each  such 
congregation  was  competent  and  commissioned  to 
manage  its  own  affairs.  It  need  acknowledge  no 
earthly  superior.  The  Scriptures  were  its  law-book. 
In  them  it  would  seek  to  find  out  the  mind  of  Christ, 
the  Head  of  the  Church,  in  whom  resided,  for  it, 
the  ultimate  sovereignty  in  spiritual  things.  It  was 
glad  to  exchange  assurances  of  mutual  good-will  and 
fellowship  with  the  elder  sister  church  at  Plymouth. 
It  had  no  intention  of  cutting  itself  off  from  Chris- 
tian fraternal  relations  with  the  churches  of  the 
mother-country,  and  stood  with  an  anticipating  hand 
of  welcome  stretched  forth  in  brotherly  recognition 
to  all  the  New-World  congregations  of  Christian 
people  which  it  foresaw  planting  themselves  in  a  long 
succession  by  its  side,  and  all  around.  But  each  church 


28 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS 


within  its  own  borders  constituted,  under  the  Divine 
Head,  a  dominion  of  its  own.  It  was  in  pursuance  of 
this  principle  that  the  First  Church  in  Salem  had  un- 
made the  before-ordained  ministers  found  within  its 
own  fold  at  the  beginning,  that  it  might  make  them 
ministers  of  its  own  creation  and  invest  them  with 
right  and  title  to  their  office  from  itself. 

In  other  ways,  it  availed  of  every  opportunity  that 
offered  to  reassert  this  principle.  It  looked  with  dis- 
trust upon  a  proposed  affiliation  of  its  ministers  with 
the  ministers  of  other  churches  in  pastoral  associa- 
tions, fearing  that  these  associations  would  come  in 
time  to  claim  some  power  of  direction  and  control 
within  the  churches,  or  would  invent  some  form  of 
ecclesiastical  bondage,  into  which  the  churches  of 
the  colony  might  be  drawn  unconsciously,  to  the  loss 
of  their  complete  self-government.  It  was  not  long 
after  its  foundation  before  it  conceived  its  independ- 
ence to  be  seriously  threatened.  Other  churches 
which  had  sprung  up  around  it,  and  such  as  had  an 
honorable  and  weighty  constituency,  showed  a  dispo- 
sition to  meddle  in  its  affairs  by  taking  cognizance 
of  teachings  by  the  Salem  ministers,  which  they  re- 
garded as  not  agreeing  with  the  Scriptures,  nor  as 
being  consistent  with  the  peace  and  welfare  of  the 
community  of  new  settlements  in  the  colony.  As 
often  as  there  appeared  to  be  occasion  for  it,  this 
church  reaffirmed,  in  clear  and  strenuous  language, 
its  purpose  not  to  suffer  its  fellowship, — which  it  ex- 
tended freely  and  gladly  as  a  sympathetic,  helpful, 
brotherly  communion,  to  all  churches  and  all  Chris- 
tians,— not  to  suffer  it  to  become  an  entangling  alli- 
ance, which  might  endanger  its  own  freedom  and 
autonomy.  There  was  abundant  justification  for 
these  precautions  in  the  usurpation  of  ecclesiastical 
authority  with  which  these  Salem  Christians  had 
been  lately  only  too  familiar  in  England,  and  which 
warned  them  to  keep  a  jealous  guard  against  the 
forging  of  new  fetters  of  spiritual  domination  and  op- 
pression this  side  the  sea,  under  the  guise  of  better 
symbols  of  church  order  and  of  Christian  living. 

The  officers  of  the  church  as  first  organized  in 
Salem  were,  besides  the  pastor  and  teacher,  one  or 
more  ruling  elders,  deacons  and  deaconesses.  Between 
pastor  and  teacher  no  distinction  of  precedence  ap- 
pears to  have  been  observed.  It  is  probable  that  in 
the  performance  of  their  respective  duties  it  was 
found  that  the  work  of  each  naturally  overlapped 
that  of  the  other  to  a  considerable  extent,  and  that 
experience  showed  before  long  that  it  was  better  to 
combine  the  two  offices  in  one,  as  was  done. 

The  duties  belonging  to  the  office  of  the  ruling 
elder  were  not  very  distinctly  defined.  He  was  an 
assistant  to  the  pastor  and  teacher,  but  while  under 
their  general  direction,  he  had  an  independent  voice 
also  as  adviser  and  administrator  in  church  affairs. 
The  office  came  to  Plymouth  from  Holland  with  the 
Pilgrim  Church.  That  church  found  it  in  the  Re- 
formed Churches  of  the  Continent  and  referred  to  the 


French  Reformed  Churches  as  its  own  precedent  for 
establishing  it,  though  in  the  French  Churches  the 
ability  to  teach  was  not  held  to  be  a  necessary  quali- 
fication for  a  ruling  elder,  as  it  was  in  the  Dutch- 
English  and  American  Churches.^  For  a  hundred 
and  fifty  years,  at  least,  ruling  elders  were  chosen  by 
some  churches  in  Massachusetts  as  necessary  to  their 
complete  organization,  although  Mr.  Bentley  says, 
"  the  office  never  existed  but  in  name,  and  did  not 
survive  the  first  generation.'"^  Mr.  Bentley  regards 
the  office  as  having  been  designed  to  represent  the 
power  of  the  church  itself  on  the  part  of  its  general 
membership,  the  elder  standing  as  a  permanent 
watchman  and  makeweight  against  all  assumptions 
of  special  authority  on  the  part  of  the  ministers. 
After  his  brusque  and  vigorous  fashion  he  indicates 
how  far  short  of  answering  its  end  was  the  device,  by 
his  brief  and  contemptuous  notice  of  those  who  were 
elected  to  the  place.  "  In  the  choice  of  an  elder  to 
rule  the  church,  care  was  taken  not  to  accept  a  civil 
officer,  and  Elder  Houghton  was  appointed.  He  was 
a  man  of  inoffensive  ambition,  and  died  in  the  next 
year  after  his  appointment.  Mr.  Samuel  Sharpe  suc- 
ceeded him,  but  he  was  frequently  absent,  and  never 
possessed  even  the  shadow  of  power.  He  died  in  1658. 
The  independence  of  Mr.  Williams  and  the  sover- 
eignty of  Mr.  Peters  rendered  the  office  useless  in 
their  time,  and  it  never  obtained  its  influence.  When 
Mr.  John  Higginson,  the  son  of  Francis,  in  1660,  re- 
turned to  Salem  and  attempted  to  revive  the  form  of 
government  which  his  father  had  adopted,  Mr.  John 
Browne  was  elected  elder,  but  we  find  no  other  ser- 
vices but  of  attending,  for  a  short  time,  the  private 
instructions  of  the  pastor,  who  had  secured  all  the 
power."  We  have  said  that  the  office  did  not  cease  to 
be  known  with  the  first  generation,  or  for  a  century 
and  a  half  after,  and  it  is  true  that  the  men  called  to 
the  office  even  in  the  later  years  of  its  existence  were 
not  all  colorless  and  valueless  ciphers.  But  the  fear 
of  ministerial  usurpation  had  very  much  died  away, 
and  the  ruling  elder  was,  in  time,  without  functions, 
and  disappeared.  Mr.  Bentley's  assertion  that  it  soon 
came  to  stand  for  little  more  than  a  name  seems  to  be 
borne  out  by  the  history  of  the  churches  of  the  Mass- 
achusetts Colony. 

Deacons,  but  not  deaconesses,  are  mentioned  as  offi- 
cers chosen  at  the  organization  of  the  Salem  Church. 
They  received  the  contributions  of  the  church  and 
distributed  them,  and  made  provision  for  the  table  of 
communion,  serving  also  in  the  dispensation  of  the 
bread  and  wine  in  the  observance.  Deaconesses,  if 
not  chosen  at  once  by  the  church  at  Salem,  were,  ac- 
cording to  custom,  regularly  selected  in  the  churches 
of  the  earliest  colonial  period.  As  at  Plymouth,  so  at 
Salem.  They  were  widows  by  preference,  of  at  least 
three-score  years,  without  carefully  prescribed  duties 

1  Felt's  Eccl.  Hist.  Vol.  i.  p.  34. 

2  The  North  Church  in  Salem  chose  a  ruling  elder  as  late  as  1826 — pro- 
nounced by  Felt  "  the  only  continuation  of  an  ancient  custom  here." 


SALEM. 


29 


as  to  details,  but  were  appointed  to  carry  on  a  general 
ministry  of  visiting  and  comforting  among  the  sick, 
poor  and  distressed. 

We  have  been  more  minute  and  explicit  in  specify- 
ing some  of  these  forms  of  church-life  and  organiza- 
tion first  adopted  here,  because  this  was  the  pioneer 
church.  Offices,  titles  and  usages  now  long  familiar  to 
every  New  England  village  were  then  new,  or  known 
only  as  existing  in  the  English  churches  under  other 
conditions,  and  where  they  had  a  different  signifi- 
cance ;  here,  under  an  old  name,  went  a  new  thing. 
New  methods  were  on  trial,  and  were  carefully  ob- 
served and  studied,  and  sought  to  be  adjusted  to  the 
circumstances  of  the  time  and  people,  and  were  not 
immediately  and  once  for  all  fixed  in  an  unalterable 
form. 

Francis  Higginson  lived  but  a  year  after  the  found- 
ing of  the  church.  On  the  6th  of  August,  1630,  just  a 
year  from  the  day  when  its  organization  was  com- 
pleted, a  day  in  whose  doings  he  bore  the  leading  part, 
he  closed  his  earthly  labors.  He  was  born  in  1588, 
and  was,  therefore,  a  little  more  than  forty  years  of 
age  when  he  came  to  Salem.  He  was  a  graduate  of 
the  famous  English  University  of  Cambridge  —  of 
Emanuel  College,  according  to  Mr.  Upham  ;  of  Jesus, 
says  Judge  White;  of  St.  John's,  says  F.  S.  Drake 
(American  biography);  and  Mr.  Savage  (Geneal. 
Diet.),  seemingly  warranting  and  reconciling  all  these 
assignments,  has  it :  "  Bred  at  Jesus  College,  Cam- 
bridge, where  he  took  his  A.B.,  1609,  but  was  of  St. 
John's  when  his  A.M.  was  given,  1613,  though  Mather 
asserts  he  was  of  Emanuel."  He  was  first  settled  in 
Leicester,  England,  where  he  had  so  high  a  reputa- 
tion as  a  preacher  that  "the  people  flocked  to  hear 
him  from  the  neighboring  towns."  Neal,  historian 
of  the  Puritans,  says,  "  he  was  a  good  scholar,  of  a 
sweet  and  affable  behavior,  and  having  a  most  charm- 
ing voice,  was  one  of  the  most  acceptable  and  popular 
preachers  of  the  country."  Becoming  a  non-con- 
formist he  was  ejected  from  his  living  and  forbidden 
to  preach  in  England.  After  this  he  resorted  to 
teaching  for  a  livelihood.  He  is  characterized  by  Mr. 
Bentley  as  "  grave  in  his  deportment  and  pure  in  his 
morals.  In  his  person  he  was  slender,  not  tall ;  not 
easily  changed  from  his  purposes,  but  not  rash  in 
declaring  them.  His  influence  in  giving  form  and 
direction  to  the  first  church  polity  in  America  was 
second  to  none."  Mr.  Bentley,  by  a  few  strokes,  pic- 
tures some  of  the  results  of  Mr.  Higginson's  brief 
ministry  in  the  social  customs  of  the  newly-gathered 
community  at  Salem,  and  shows  in  what  spirit  and 
along  what  lines  of  influence  he  wrought :  "  He 
lived  to  secure  the  foundation  of  his  church,  to  de- 
serve the  esteem  of  the  colony  and  provide  himself  a 
name  among  the  worthies  of  New  England.  When 
he  died,  he  left  iu  the  colony  the  most  sacred  guards 
upon  the  public  manners.  Cards,  dice,  and  all  such 
amusements,  had  no  share  of  favour.  Family  devo- 
tions were  inculcated  and  established,  and  the  most 


constant  attendance  on  public  worship.  The  minis- 
ters visited  families  to  assist  in  their  devotions.  Con- 
stant care  of  the  poor  was  required  ;  the  Indians  were 
not  permitted  to  trade  in  private  houses ;  all  the 
inhabitants  were  instructed  to  unite  in  the  labours 
which  promoted  their  common  interest;  and  the 
greatest  confidence  was  required  in  all  who  were 
appointed  in  civil  trusts."      (Pp.  244-245.) 

Rev.  Samuel  Skelton,  ordained  the  first  pastor  of 
the  church,  in  association  with  Mr.  Higginson  as 
teacher,  on  the  20th  of  July,  1629,  survived  his  col- 
league four  years.  He  had  been  the  minister  of  Gov- 
ernor Endicott,  in  England,  and  was  held  by  him  in 
especial  affection  and  esteem,  as  one  to  whom  he  had 
reason  to  look  up  as  his  spiritual  father.  His  name 
is  less  conspicuous  in  the  early  annals  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts churches  than  that  of  Higginson.  He  seems 
to  have  been  a  modest  and  retiring  man,  and  is  de- 
scribed by  a  contemporary  as  ''  of  gracious  speech, 
full  of  faith,  and  furnished  by  the  Lord  with  gifts 
from  above."  He  was  content  to  yield  precedence  .to 
others,  nor  soured  with  jealousy  when  to  them  went 
the  harvest  of  fame.  "  As  he  never  acted  alone," 
says  Mr.  Bentley,  "  he  yielded  to  others  all  the  praise 
of  his  best  actions."  The  scant  recognition  accorded 
to  him  among  those  who  led  in  church  affairs  in  the 
earliest  days  is  further  explained  by  his  biographer 
by  the  fact  that  "  there  was  a  want  of  friendship  be- 
tween the  ministers  of  Boston  and  its  neighborhood 
and  the  ministers  of  Salem.  Everything  which  one 
party  did  was  found  fault  with  by  the  other."  That 
he  was  a  man  of  positive  convictions  and  not  lacking 
in  courage  would  appear  from  his  standing  forward 
in  defense  of  his  colleague,  Roger  Williams,  when 
the  latter  was  assailed  and  in  danger  of  being  over- 
borne by  those  who  uttered  the  sentence  of  popular 
condemnation  against  him.  Mr.  Skelton  was  prob- 
ably of  about  the  same  age  as  Mr.  Higginson,  having 
taken  his  first  degree  in  1611,  two  years  later  than 
Mr.  Higginson.  He  was  of  Lincolnshire,  educated  at 
Clare  Hall,  Cambridge,  and  died  August  2,  1634. 

Francis  Higginson  had  been  dead  six  months,  and 
Mr.  Skelton  was  carrying  on  his  ministry  alone  in  the 
Salem  Church,  when  Roger  Williams  arrived  in  Bos- 
ton, early  in  February,  1631.  Rev.  John  Wilson, 
minister  of  the  First  Church  in  Boston,  was  contem- 
plating a  visit  to  England,  and  Mr.  Williams  was  in- 
vited to  supply  his  place  during  his  absence,  but  de- 
clined on  the  ground  that  the  members  of  that  church 
were  "  an  unseparated  people." 

April  22d,  following,  he  was  invited  to  Salem  as  an 
assistant  to  Rev.  Mr.  Skelton.  Having  already 
promulgated  some  novel  and  unacceptable  notions 
deemed  subversive  of  the  just  authority  of  the  magis- 
trates, the  Massachusetts  Court  interposed  a  remon- 
strance against  the  action  of  the  Salem  Church,  and 
succeeded  in  preventing  Mr.  Williams'  coming  to 
Salem.  He  soon  went  to  Plymouth,  and  even  there, 
though  the  teachings  of  the  separatists  were  more  in 


30 


HISTORY  OP  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


favor  in  Plym(mth  than  in  Boston,  and  his  personal 
qualities  gained  him  a  large  influence,  his  "singular 
opinions"  were  not  welcome  to  all,  and  after  serving 
a  while  as  assistant  to  Rev.  Ralph  Smith,  he  applied 
himself  to  manual  labors  and  to  trade  for  a  liveli- 
hood, devoting  much  time  also  to  acquiring  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Indians,  though  meanwhile  never  losing 
sight  of  the  then  agitating  questions  of  church  gov- 
ernment, and  of  individual  responsibility  in  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  affairs. 

In  1633  Mr.  Williams  obtained,  not  without  some 
difficulty,  a  dismission  from  the  church  in  Plymouth, 
and  returned  to  Salem ;  returned  accompanied  by 
several  members  of  the  Plymouth  Church,  who  pre- 
ferred to  give  up  their  home  and  church  relations  to 
severing  the  tie  that  bound  them  to  their  pastor. 
Arrived  in  Salem,  he  became  an  assistant  to  Mr. 
Skelton,  though  without  formal  ordination.  And 
notwithstanding  that  he  had  come  again  under  the 
censure  of  the  Governor  and  Assistants  of  Massachu- 
setts for  offensive  writings  and  publications,  in  some 
of  which  he  had  denied  the  validity  of  the  title  of  the 
Massachusetts  Company  to  its  territory,  in  that  they 
had  not  the  assent  of  the  natives  of  the  soil,  yet  he 
was  invited  and  ordained,  upon  the  death  of  Mr. 
Skelton,  in  August,  1634,  to  succeed  him  in  the  pas- 
toral charge  of  the  church.  In  this  office  he  con- 
tinued till  October  19,  1635,  when  the  opposition 
which  his  vigorous  assertion  of  his  views  had  aroused 
culminated  in  a  sentence  pronounced  by  the  General 
Court  that  he  should  depart  out  of  the  jurisdiction  of 
Massachusetts  within  six  weeks,  on  account  of  hav- 
ing "  broached  and  divulged  divers  new  and  danger- 
ous opinions  against  the  authority  of  the  magistrates, 
as  also  writ  letters  of  defamation,  both  of  the  magis- 
trates and  churches."  "  The  colonial  records,"  says 
Arnold,  the  historian  of  Rhode  Island,  "  fix  the  date 
November  3d."  Consent  was  given  afterwardsto  the 
postponement  of  his  removal  till  spring,  upon  con- 
dition of  his  refraining  from  promulgating  his 
objectionable  doctrines.  It  was  withdrawn  subse- 
quently, upon  the  allegation  that  the  conditions  had 
been  violated.  Learning  that  he  was  to  be  sent  at 
once  to  England,  he  anticipated  the  plans  of  his 
judges,  escaping  early  in  January  to  the  South, 
through  the  wintry  snows  and  storms,  and  finding  a 
refuge  on  the  banks  of  the  Seekonk  River,  where  he 
founded  the  State  of  Rhode  Island. 

The  teachings  of  Mr.  Williams  which  gave  offense, 
to  be  fully  understood,  must  be  sought  for  and  ex- 
amined in  the  history  of  the  time,  at  greater  length 
than  it  is  possible  to  consider  them  here.  They 
dealt  largely  with  definitions  and  distinctions  bearing 
on  the  relations  of  the  civil  and  spiritual  authorities 
to  each  other,  showing  their  respective  limits,  con- 
stantly raising  questions  of  much  nicety  and  diffi- 
culty, and  yet  questions  immediately  and  vitally 
practical,  as  affecting  issues  at  the  moment  pressing 
upon   the   people.     The    whole    field    of  discussion 


being  at  the  same  time  complicated  with  that  larger 
problem  which  had  exercised  the  minds  of  the  colon- 
ists from  the  first,  namely :  the  possibility  of  con- 
structing a  civil  order  on  a  Biblical  foundation.  The 
severity  of  the  course  pursued  by  the  magistrates  and 
ministers  has  been  ascribed  in  part,  and  probably  not 
unjustly,  to  a  feeling  in  the  churches  of  Boston  and 
the  neighborhood  not  friendly  to  the  Salem  Church, 
which  church  had  shown,  from  the  first,  a  commend- 
able jealousy  of  interference  by  other  churches,  and 
a  determination  to  maintain  strictly  its  independence. 
It  has  been  mentioned  as  a  noteworthy  fact  that  "  in 
this  court  [for  the  trial  of  Mr.  Williams],  composed 
of  magistrates  and  clergy,  while  some  of  the  laymen 
opposed  the  decree  [of  exile],  every  minister,  save 
one,  approved  it." ' 

If  it  be  conceded  "  that  there  were  faults  on  both 
sides,  and  that  they  were  faults  of  the  age  rather  than 
of  the  heart,"  it  must  be  conceded,  too,  that  this 
marked  man  was  before  his  time  in  the  discernment 
and  announcement  of  some  principles  ecclesiastico- 
political,  destined  to  stand  the  test  of  after-trial, 
since,  in  his  transmitted  ideas,  as  well  as  his  charac- 
ter and  bearing  during  those  troublous  days  which  he 
spent  in  Salem,  he  grows  more  illustrious  under  the 
light  of  experience,  while  the  proceedings  of  those 
who  drove  him  out  from  their  company  become 
more  difficult  of  apology.  Roger  Williams  has  had 
the  credit  of  being  the  promoter,  if  not  the  cause,  of 
the  act  of  Governor  Endicott  in  cutting  the  cross 
from  the  English  colors.  It  is  not  clear  what  part  he 
had  in  it,  if  any.  If  any,  he  was  not  the  man  to  dis- 
avow it ;  if  any,  he  but  represented  a  feeling  dominant 
in  many  a  Puritan's  breast  at  the  time,  who,  perhaps, 
more  prudent  than  he,  would  not  have  counseled  it, 
though  pleased  to  see  it  done.  Such  was  Roger 
Williams.  "  Open,  bold  and  ardently  conscientious, 
as  well  as  eloquent  and  highly  gifted,  it  cannot  be 
surprising  that  he  should  have  disturbed  the  magis- 
trates by  divulging  such  opinions,  while  he  charmed 
the  people  by  his  powerful  preaching,  and  his  ami- 
able, generous  and  disinterested  spirit." 

Mr.  Williams  was  born  in  Wales  in  1599,  resided 
in  London  during  his  youth,  was  elected  a  scholar  of 
Sutton's  Hospital  (now  the  Charter  House),  July  5, 
1621,  admitted  to  Pembroke  College,  Cambridge,  Feb. 
8,  1623,  graduated  B.  A.  January,  1627,  took  orders 
in  the  Church  of  England,  obtained  a  benefice  in 
Lincolnshire,  became  a  non-conformist,  or  "  Separa- 
tist," and  embarked  at  Bristol,  Dec.  11, 1630,  for  New 
England.  He  died  at  Providence,  R.  I.,  in  April, 
1683.=' 

1  "Arnold,  History  of  Khode  Island,"  p.  38. 

2  Porter  C.  Bliss,  in  Johnson's  Cyclopaedia. — Since  this  notice  of  Roger 
Williams  was  prepared,  intimations  have  come  to  ns  that  new  light  may 
be  expected  to  be  let  in  soon,  upon  the  origin  and  early  days  of  this 
striking  figure  in  the  history  of  primitive  New  England.  The  new 
matter  found  claims  to  be  not  only  additional  to  the  old  and  hitherto, 
accepted  story,  but  corrective  also.  For  example:  It  is  said  that  "the 
Roger  Williams  who  was  a  foundation  scholar  at  the  Charter  House  in 


SALEM. 


31 


The  infant  church,  already  served  by  three  minis- 
ters in  half  a  dozen  years,  found  its  fourth  in  one 
born  to  lead,  Rev.  Hugh  Peters,  who,  after  filling  the 
pastoral  office  for  five  busy  and  fruitful  years,  in 
which  he  governed  and  shaped  with  the  decision  of  a 
master,  was  summoned  away  from  this  humbler  field 
of  labor  to  a  broader  theatre  and  a  more  famous  ca- 
reer, in  which  his  life  assumed  historical  importance, 
and  set  him  among  the  conspicuous  actors  of  his  age, 
ending  tragically  at  the  executioner's  block.  Mr. 
Peters  was  born  at  Fowey,  in  Cornwall,  in  1599,  the 
same  year  as  Roger  Williams,  and  was  educated  at 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  taking  the  degree  of  A. 
M.  in  1622.  Appointed  to  a  London  lectureship  while 
still  very  young,  he  drew  a  large  following  by  his  for- 
cible and  eloquent  preaching.  In  1629,  it  having  be- 
come not  only  uncomfortable  but  dangerous  for  such 
as  he,  a  Puritan  and  a  popular  preacher,  to  stay  in 
England,  he  withdrew  to  Holland  and  became  the 
pastor  of  a  church  at  Rotterdam,  whence  he  came  to 
New  England,  Oct.  6,  1635.  He  was  invited  to  take 
charge  of  the  church  in  Salem  after  the  departure  of 
Mr.  Williams,  and  was  settled  Dec.  21,  1636.  He  was 
an  able  minister  and  something  more,  a  clear-sighted 
administrator  in  civil-political  and  politico-economi- 
cal affairs.  Without  neglecting  his  duties  as  pastor, 
which  he  discharged  with  rare  energy  and  faithful- 
ness, he  set  himself  diligently  to  improving  all  the 
social  regulations  and  habits  of  the  place,  on  which 
the  welfare  of  the  new  community  depended.  In  the 
controversies,  which  he  inherited  from  Mr.  Williams, 
he  showed  no  sympathy  with  the  adherents  of  the 
latter,  nor  toleration  for  the  opinions  which  had 
brought  on  him  the  condemnation  of  the  ministers 
and  the  General  Court.  He  spent  little  time  over  the 
comprehensive  principles  and  enlightened  distinc- 
tions laid  down  by  his  predecessor  as  to  the  relative 
authorities  of  the  secular  and  ecclesiastical  govern- 
ments, and  the  rights  of  the  individual  soul  under 
each,  while  he  plunged  with  assiduous  zeal  into  stud- 
ies which  he  deemed  of  a  more  immediate  and  press- 
ing importance.  He  gave  his  attention  to  projecting 
measurfs  for  promoting  the  business  prosperity,  the 
orderly  living,  the  growth  in  population  of  the  town; 
he  devised  measures  for  the  better  execution  of  the 
laws,  for  the  preservation  of  peace  and  the  establish- 
ment of  beneficial  industries. 

Respecting  no  man,  says  Mr.  Bentley,  has  the  pub- 
lic opinion  been  more  divided  than  respecting  Mr. 
Hngh  Peters.  This  division  of  opinion  he  ascribes 
to  the  part  he  took  in  the  commonwealth  of  England 
and  in  the  death  of  King  Charles,  though  intimating 
that  "unkind  reports"  had  been  connected  also  with 


1621,  and  who  was  sent  to  the  University  in  July,  1624,  being  a  good 
scholar,  was  not  the  Roger  WilllaniB  of  Rhode  Island."  So  much,  Rev. 
George  E.  Ellis,  D.D.,  president  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Socie- 
ty, is  reported— in  the  Boston  Daily  Advertiser  of  March  11,  1887 — to 
consider  proven  by  the  investigatiuns  of  the  librarian  of  Brown  Uni- 
versity, Mr.  Reuben  A.  Guild. 


the  early  part  of  his  life,  which  reports,  however, 
either  never  reached  New  England  or  were  unheeded 
there.  The  Rev.  Charles  W.  Upham,  in  his  Second 
Century  lecture,  has  vindicated  his  fame  with  a  gen- 
erous and  warm  enthusiasm.  But  there  is  no  differ- 
ence of  opinion  as  to  the  great  benefits  which  his  life 
and  labors  in  Salem,  from  1636  to  1641,  conferred  up- 
on its  people  and  its  forming  social  habits  and  insti- 
tutions. He  objected  to  the  devotion  of  so  much 
time  as  had  been  given  to  the  numerous  weekly  and 
occasional  lectures,  to  the  neglect  of  the  daily  Indus- 
trie.^, which  he  fostered  as  being  nearest  in  the  line  of 
evident  and  pressing  duties.  His  church  greatly  in- 
creased, showing  that  there  had  been  no  lack  of  faith- 
ful tillage  therein.  New  and  valued  citizens  were 
attracted  to  the  place.  He  interested  himself  in  re- 
forming the  police  system,  encouraged  commerce, 
caused  new  arts  and  employments  to  be  introduced,  a 
water-mill  was  erected,  a  glass-house,  salt  works,  the 
planting  of  hemp  was  advised,  and  a  regular  market 
was  set  up.  He  formed  a  plan  of  carrying  on  fishery, 
and  of  coasting  and  foreign  voyages.  Amid  all  his  ac- 
tivities, it  is  repeated,  "  he  did  not  forget  his  church." 
In  Synod  and  Salem  pulpit  alike,  he  made  his  power 
constantly  and  beneficently  felt.  Clear-headed  and 
wise,  he  was  a  check  upon  the  invasion  of  supersti- 
tion, and  in  the  excitement  caused  by  Mrs.  Ann 
Hutchinson's  doctrine  and  influence,  kept  his  church 
in  the  main  free  from  its  disturbing  effects,  and  went, 
Mr.  Bentley  thinks,  full  far  in  the  opposite  direction 
of  repression.  The  Massachusetts  Colony,  having 
occasion  to  find  suitable  persons  to  represent  their  in- 
terests in  England  with  reference  to  the  laws  of  excise 
and  trade,  it  was  not  strange  that  Mr.  Peters 
should  be  selected  to  be  one  for  this  commission.  His 
qualifications  for  it  were  evident.  His  people  resisted 
his  acceptance  of  the  appointment  and  remonstrated 
against  it ;  they  could  not  spare  him.  But  they  were 
overborne  by  the  urgency  with  which  the  claim  for 
his  services  was  pressed,  and  finally  a  reluctant  assent 
was  yielded,  and  on  the  3d  of  August,  1641,  he  left 
with  his  colleagues  for  England.  There  he  became 
involved  in  the  revolution  which  brought  Cromwell 
to  supreme  power.  Peters  was  his  counselor  and  fa- 
vored friend,  and  when  the  restoration  gave  back 
power  to  Cromwell's  enemies,  the  lives  of  all  his 
friends  were  held  forfeited.  Hugh  Peters  was  a  se- 
lected victim,  and  as  such  was  beheaded  in  the  Tower 
Oct.  16,  1660. 

Mr.  Peters  was  assisted  in  his  pulpit  duties  between 
1637  and  1640  by  Rev.  John  Fiske,  who  taught  a 
school  in  Salem  about  that  time.  Mr.  Fiske  was  set- 
tled afterwards  over  a  church  in  Wenham  and  still 
later  in  Chelmsford,  Massachusetts.  It  was  he — be- 
fore alluded  to  in  these  pages — who  copied  from  the 
earliest  record-book  of  the  church  the  covenant  con- 
tained therein,  with  some  other  minutes,  which  have 
lately  come  to  light,  and  have  furnished  important 
evidence  as  to  the  form  of  the  first  covenant. 


32 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTS,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


The  Eev.  Edward  Norris  was  settled  as  a  colleague 
with  Mr.  Peters  March  18, 1640.  Mr.  Bentley  says  his 
was  the  first  ordination  which  was  performed  with 
great  public  ceremonies  in  Salem.  He  had  come 
from  England  the  year  before,  and  joined  the  church 
here  in  December  of  that  year ;  had  been  a  teacher 
and  minister  in  Gloucestershire ;  was  distinguished 
for  learning,  was  of  a  tolerant  spirit,  and  had  a  large 
and  well-balanced  mind.  He  was  a  man  to  wield  a 
wide  and  strong  influence,  and  that  for  good.  He 
fell  upon  troubled  times,  inheriting  in  his  turn  the 
unsettled  controversies  of  his  predecessor's  ministry. 
A  Mrs.  Oliver,  a  follower  of  Mrs.  Ann  Hutchinson, 
had  claimed,  in  the  time  of  public  service,  the  right 
of  communion,  without  a  covenant,  and  was  sent  to 
prison  for  disturbing  the  congregation,  though  soon 
set  at  liberty.  During  Mr.  Norris'  ministry  she  again 
openly  asserted  the  same  right,  and  was  publicly  dis- 
graced. 

The  Anabaptists  were  busy.  Mr.  Endicott  set  his 
face  against  them  as  disturbers  of  the  peace  of  the 
church  and  of  the  community  ;  a  few  were  subjected 
to  punishment,  some  confined  to  the  town,  or  laid  un- 
der other  humiliating  and  annoying  prohibitions.  Mr. 
Norris  took  no  active  part  in  these  proceedings,  and 
seems  rather  to  have  endeavored  to  quiet  and  repress 
the  public  excitement  than  to  promote  it,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  keeping  the  town  in  comparative  tranquil- 
lity during  his  life.  He  died  December  23,  1659,  in 
time  to  escape  the  full  force  of  the  still  greater  dis- 
traction caused  by  the  Quakers  who  had  appeared  in 
Salem  in  1657.  His  abilities,  attainments  and  high 
character  were  recognized  throughout  the  colony. 
He  wrote  upon  affairs  of  public  interest  temperately, 
yet  forcibly.  He  assisted  in  constructing  the  system 
of  ecclesiastical  discipline  "  substantially  contained 
in  the  Cambridge  Platform,"  and  yet  he  refused  to 
substitute  in  his  own  church  the  platform  of  1648, 
which  he  had  helped  to  shape,  for  the  one  already  in 
use,  resolutely  insisting  on  the  maintenance  of  his 
church's  independence.  At  the  same  time,  with  a 
rare  consistency,  he  successfully  restrained  his  own 
church  from  meddling  in  the  controversies  and  the 
management  of  other  churches. 

Mr.  Norris  was  the  last  of  the  ministers  of  the  first 
generation.  "  The  consistent  politicks,  the  religious 
moderation,  and  the  ardent  patriotism  of  Mr.  Norris," 
says  Mr.  Bentley,  "  entitle  him  to  the  grateful  mem- 
ory of  Salem.  He  diverted  the  fury  of  fanaticism  by 
industry,  he  quieted  alarms  by  inspiring  a  military 
courage,  and  in  the  public  morals,  and  a  well-di- 
rected charity,  with  a  timely  consent  to  the  incorpo- 
ration of  towns  around  him,  he  finished  in  peace  the 
longest  life  in  the  ministry  which  had  been  enjoyed 
in  Salem,  and  died  in  his  charge."  ^ 

Mr.  Norris'  ministry  of  nearly  twenty  years  seemed 
long  as  measured  by  the  average  term  of  service  of 

1  Col.  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  for  1799  :  p.  259. 


those  who  had  preceded  him.  But  it  was  short  as 
compared  with  that  of  his  successor.  John  Higgin- 
son,  the  son  of  the  Rev.  Francis,  the  first  minister — 
"  Teacher  " — of  Salem,  was  born  at  Claybrook,  Eng- 
land, August  6,  1616,  and  accompanied  his  parents 
when  they  came  to  New  England,  in  1629,  and  waa 
thirteen  years  old,  therefore,  when  he  arrived  ;  and  at 
that  age  he  joined  the  church.  After  his  father's 
death  he  was  assisted  by  the  magistrates  and  minis- 
ters, who  could  not  forget  what  the  young  church 
owed  to  the  father,  in  continuing  his  education.  At 
the  age  of  twenty,  and  for  four  years  after,  he  was 
chaplain  at  Fort  Saybrook,  Connecticut..  In  1641 
he  taught  a  school  in  Hartford,  and  studied  divin- 
ity with  the  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker;  in  1643  be- 
came an  assistant  to  Rev.  Henry  Whitfield,  of  Guil- 
ford, whose  daughter  he  married.  From  1651  to  1659 
he  was  in  sole  charge  of  the  church  in  Guilford.  In 
that  year,  1659,  he  took  passage  for  his  native  land. 
The  vessel  in  which  he  sailed  was  obliged  by  stress  of 
weather  to  put  into  Salem  harbor.  The  church  in 
Salem  had  recently  lost  its  minister,  A  negotiation 
with  Mr,  Higginson  was  entered  into  which  issued  in 
an  engagement  on  his  part  to  remain  and  preach  for 
one  year.  At  the  end  of  the  year  he  was  invited  to 
become  the  pastor,  accepted  the  invitation,  and  was 
ordained  in  August,  1660,  Already  forty-four  years 
old,  he  continued  in  the  ministry  in  Salem  forty-eight 
years,  till  his  death,  December  9,  1708,  at  the  age  of 
ninety-two  years.  He  was  sole  minister  for  twenty- 
three  years,  till  1683, — except  that  for  four  years, 
from  1672  to  1676,  he  had  a  so-called  "  assistant,"  ^ 
who  did  not  assist,  as  is  explained  farther  on.  In 
1683,  he  being  then  sixty-seven  years  of  age.  Rev. 
Nicholas  Noyes  became  his  colleague.  The  settle- 
ment of  Mr,  Higginson  was  signalized  by  an  addition 
to  the  covenant  of  the  church,  as  a  solemn  declara- 
tion against  the  teachings  and  practices  of  the  Qua- 
kers, as  has  been  mentioned.  It  had  been  the  custom 
of  the  church,  from  time  to  time,  to  "  renew  "  the 
covenant,  as  has  been  noticed  before,  an  act  equiva- 
lent to  a  solemn  re-affirmation  of  loyally  to  its  vows, 
and  which  was  accompanied,  in  two  instances  at  least, 
by  an  addition  to  its  original  form,  for  the  purpose  of 
putting  on  record  the  church's  sentiment  or  verdict 
upon  special  dangers  and  evils  existing  at  the  time. 
Thus,  at  the  settlement  of  Rev,  Mr.  Peters,  the  church 
prefaced  a  "  renewal  of  the  covenant  "  with  a  pream- 
ble which  has  already  been  given  on  a  previous  page, 
it  being  of  the  nature  of  a  penitent  confession  that 
they  had  experienced  the  danger  of  coming  to  "  sit 
loose  to  tlfe  covenant  made  with  God,"  and  found 
how  apt  they  were  "to  wander  into  by-paths,  even  to 
the  loosing  of  their  first  aims  in  entering  into  church 
fellowship."  So,  now,  in  1660,  we  come  upon  anoth- 
er tide-mark,  showing  how  high  had  arisen  the  feel- 
ing against  the  Quaker  invasion,  the  following  being 

2  Charles  Nicholet. 


SALEM. 


33 


appended  to  the  covenant :    "  When  also  considering 
the  power  of  temptation  amongst  us  by  reason  of  the 
Quakers'  doctrine   to  the  leavening  of  some   in  the 
place  where  we  are,  and  endangering  of  others,  [We] 
do  see   cause  to  remember  the  admonition  of  our 
Savior  Christ  to  his  disciples.  Math.  16 :    Take  heed 
and  beware  of  the  leaven  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Phar- 
isees, and  do  judge  so  far  as  we  understand  it  that  the 
Quakers'  doctrine  is  as  bad  or  worse  than  that  of  the 
Pharisees;  therefore  we  do  covenant  by  the  help  of 
Jesus  Christ  to  take  heed  and  beware  of  the  leaven 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  Quakers."     "This  appendix  to 
the  covenant  sufficiently  shows  the  stand  taken  by 
Mr.  Higginson  towards  the  Quakers.     It  is  difficult 
in  our  time  to  conceive  the  excitement  which  the  ar- 
rival of  a  shipload  of  Quakers  from  England  in  1660, 
the  year  of  Mr.  Higginson's  ordination,  caused  in  the 
Massachusetts  colony.     A  vigorous  persecution  had 
been  in  progress  for  some  time  before,  with  the  usual 
result  of  increasing  the  boldness  and  multiplying  the 
number  of  the  new  sect.     They  were  not  altogether 
an  inoffensive  people.     For,  though  they  disclaimed 
the  use  of  physical  violence  even   in   protection  of 
themselves,  among  them  were  those  who  knew  the 
irritating  power  of  arrogant  and  exasperating  speech, 
and  did  not  spare  the  use  of  it,  accusing  the  magis- 
trates, ministers  and  the  members  of  the  churches  of 
ignorance  of  the    true  religion,   and  of  being  unac- 
quainted with  its  spirit.     Their  interruption  of  pub- 
lic worship,  their  open  denunciations  of  time-serving 
and  hireling  ministers,  and  their  fanatical  violations 
of  good   order  and  the  public  quiet  in  some  cases, 
were  calculated  to  inflame  the  popular  mind  to  the 
highest  pitch  of  anger ;  and  while  this  does  not  ex- 
cuse the  heavy  hand  of  persecution  raised  upon  them, 
it  explains  and  palliates  the  disgust  and  antipathy 
felt  by  many  reasonable  and  worthy  persons  towards 
such  intemperate  revilers  of  men  and  women,  who 
were,  at  least,  as  good  as  themselves,  and  were  held 
in  honor — deservedly  or  not — as  appointed  chiefs  in 
church  and  state.     "  The  wildest  fanaticism  on  their 
part  was  met  by  a  frenzied  bigotry  on  the  other."  Mr. 
Higginson  was  active  in  turning  upon  them  an  unre- 
lenting harrying,  for  which  Mr.  Beutley  says  he  was 
sorry  afterwards.     Eighteen  of  these  unhappy  per- 
sons are  said  to  have  been  publicly  punished  in  Sa- 
lem in  the  year  1661.     And,  as  is  always  the  case 
when  men  suffer  for  their  opinions,  the  most  blame- 
less met  with  the  same  fate  as  the  most  turbulent  and 
aggressive.     After  the  restoration  of  King   Charles 
II.,  he  took  their  case  into  consideration  and  put  a 
stop  to  the  persecution.     It  had   lasted   about  five 
years.     The  excitement  soon  died  away  when  the  per- 
secution ceased. 

A  "  Direction  "  for  a  public  profession  of  faith  was 
prepared  by  Mr.  Higginson,  and  printed  in  a  dateless 
tract,  already  referred  to,  probably,  says  Judge  White, 
in  1680,  which,  however,  was  "  to  be  looked  upon  as 
a  fit  means  whereby  to  express  that  their  common 
3 


faith  and  salvation,  and  not  to  be  made  use  of  as  an 
imposition  upon  any."  This  "Direction"  became 
famous  in  the  friendly  but  controversial  discussion, 
already  alluded  to  as  having  occurred  thirty  to  forty 
years  ago,  between  Eev.  Dr.  Worcester  and  Judge 
White,  as  to  the  form  of  the  first  covenant,  it  being 
regarded  by  the  former  as  substantially  identical  with 
a  confession  of  faith  adopted  by  the  church  in  1629, 
along  with  the  covenant,  a  position  earnestly  con- 
tended against  by  the  latter  as  wholly  untenable. 

In  1672  there  came  a  man  to  Salem  from  Virginia, 
who,  for  a  few  years,  filled  quite  a  large  place  in  the 
town  and  church — Mr.  Charles  Nicholet.  He  was 
invited  to  be  the  assistant  of  Mr.  Higginson  for  a 
year,  "  for  trial."  At  the  end  of  the  year  the  engage- 
ment was  renewed  upon  the  same  terms  for  another 
year,  one  condition  of  which  being  that  he  should 
have  for  his  maintenance  "a  free  voluntary  contribu- 
tion every  Lord's  day."  When,  at  the  end  of  the 
second  year,  he  was  offered  again  the  same  terms, 
they  were  probably  not  accepled,  as,  a  little  later,  it 
was  voted  that,  "  it  is  agreed  by  a  hand  and  free  vote 
of  the  town  for  Mr.  Nicholet's  continuance  amongst 
us  during  his  life."  At  the  same  time  (that  is,  early 
in  1674)  the  town  voted  a  grant  of  as  much  land  on 
the  common  as  should  be  needed  "  for  to  build  a  new 
meeting-house  for  the  worship  of  God."^  This  meet- 
ing-house was  begun  and  its  frame  erected,  but  was 
never  finished.  The  invitation  to  Mr.  Nicholet,  ex- 
tended by  the  town  instead  of  by  the  church — an 
unusual,  if  not  an  unprecedented  proceeding — and  the 
building  of  another  meeting-house  at  some  distance 
from  the  established  place  of  worship,  were  painful 
proofs  to  the  elder  minister  that  there  were  restless  and 
disaffected  persons  in  his  congregation  not  unwilling 
to  show  their  discontent.  "His  enemies,"  says  Mr. 
Bentley,  "  made  by  persecution,  now  had  power  to  dis- 
tress him."  His  support  had  been  partly  withheld. 
Some  who  were  not  unfriendly  thought  it  time  that  a 
portion  of  his  burden  of  varied  duties  and  wearing 
responsibilities  should  be  transferred  to  an  assistant. 
But  the  church  had  taken  offense  and  exception  at 
the  manner  in  which  the  assistant  was  called — that  is, 
in  the  town's  having  acted  by  itself.  A  remonstrance 
was  sent  to  the  General  Court,  which  tribunal  answered 
by  declaring  its  disapprobation  of  such  a  departure 
from  established  usages,  characterizing  it  as  not  only 
very  irregular,  but  as  "expressly  contrary  to  the 
known  wholesome  laws  of  this  jurisdiction."  Mr.  Hig- 
ginson disapproved  the  course  pursued  by  his  assistant 
and  the  town.  Mr.  Nicholet  explained  and  promised 
to  be  on  his  guard,  but  apparently  continued  his 
ministry  and  drew  to  himself  a  following  of  malcon- 
tents, and  kept  up  the  discord  till,  happily  for  the 
town,  "  after  many  farewell  sermons,"  he  "  departed 
from  America  forever,"  in  1676. 

As  time  healed  or  softened  the  dissensions   that 

iTown  Records,  pp.  179,  208,  217,  222. 


34 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


attended  Mr.  Nicholet's  ministry,  it  also  made  the 
burdens  carried  by  the  senior  pastor,  now  without  an 
assistant,  to  be  felt  more  oppressively  as  he  advanced 
in  years.  The  way  was  thus  prepared  for  another 
trial  of  the  experiment  of  a  colleague.  In  1682  Mr. 
Higginson  recommended  it ;  and  on  the  14th  of  No- 
vember, 1683,  Mr.  Nicholas  Noyes  was  ordained.  It 
was  a  choice  fortunate  for  the  church.  Mr.  Noyes' 
character,  as  drawn  in  the  record-book  of  the  church 
when  he  died,  on  the  13th  of  December,  1717,  at  the 
age  of  nearly  seventy  years,  and  at  the  end  of  a  min- 
istry of  thirty-five  years,  has  been  accepted  as  a  just 
portraiture  of  the  man — a  portraiture  the  more  enti- 
tled to  be  preserved  and  reproduced  on  suitable  occa- 
sions, in  that  it  is  a  calm  after-judgment  respecting 
one  who  bore  a  prominent  part  in  the  ever-memorable 
and  mournful  proceedings  of  the  dark  days  of  the 
witchcraft  trials.  It  is  the  testimony  of  his  contem- 
poraries; of  those  who  should  be  presumed  to  know 
him  best;  who  knew  his  mistakes  and  the  sincerity 
of  his  lamentation  on  their  account.  "  He  was  extra- 
ordinarily accomplished  for  the  work  of  the  ministry, 
whereunto  he  was  called.  .  .  .  Considering  his 
superior  genius ;  his  pregnant  wit ;  strong  memory ; 
solid  judgment ;  his  great  acquisition  in  human  learn- 
ing and  knowledge ;  his  conversation  among  men, 
especially  with  his  friends,  so  very  pleasant,  enter- 
taining and  profitable;  his  uncommon  attainments  in 
the  study  of  divinity ;  his  eminent  sanctity,  gravity 
and  virtue ;  his  serious,  learned  and  pious  perform- 
ances in  the  pulpit;  his  more  than  ordinary  skill  in 
the  prophetical  parts  of  Scripture;  his  wisdom  and 
usefulness  in  human  affairs  ;  and  his  constant  solici- 
tude for  the  public  good :  it  is  no  wonder  that  Salem 
and  the  adjacent  part  of  the  country,  as  also  the 
Churches,  University  and  people  of  New  England, 
justly  esteem  him  as  a  principal  part  of  their  glory." 
For  one  to  have  saved  such  a  reputation  as  this,  who 
had  been  a  chief  actor  in  bringing  those  accused  of 
witchcraft  to  punishment,  argues  rare  excellences  of 
character.  Mr.  Bentley  accords  him  exceptional 
honor  as  the  one  among  all  those  ministers  who  were 
swept  along  by  the  storm,  misled,  silenced,  non-pro- 
testing, accountable — the  one  who  made  all  possible 
reparation  afterwards;  an  open,  confessing,  self-sacri- 
ficing atonement  for  the  evil  he  had  done  and  caused, 
to  the  extent  of  his  ability.  "  Noyes  came  out  and 
publicly  confessed  his  error;  never  concealed  a  cir- 
cumstance ;  never  excused  himself;  visited,  loved  and 
blessed  the  survivors  whom  he  had^  injured;  asked 
forgiveness  always,  and  consecrated  the  residue  of 
life  to  bless  mankind.  He  never  thought,  in  all  these 
things,  that  he  made  the  least  compensation,  but  all 
the  world  believed  him  sincere."  The  glooms  of  the 
period  of  the  witchcraft  visitation  have  had  no  parallel, 
before  or  since,  in  the  ancient  town.  It  is  not  our 
province  to  depict  its  creeping  horrors.  It  stands 
apart,  a  story  of  unrelieved  tragedy.  It  was  connected 
with  the  church-life  of  the  people,  but  it  was  an  epi- 


demic mania,  an  outcropping  nightmare  of  supersti- 
tion, that  swept  like  a  sudden  torrent  over  the  region. 
"From  March  till  August,  1692,  .  .  .  business 
was  interrupted.  The  town  deserted.  Terror  was  in 
every  countenance,  and  distress  in  every  heart."  ^ 
We  thankfully  leave  the  sombre  task  of  telling  the 
sad  tale  to  another. 

We  introduce  here  the  few  remaining  minutes  to  be 
noted  respecting  Rev.  Mr.  Noyes.  He  was  born  in 
Newbury  December  22,  1647,  and  was  the  nephew  of 
the  first  minister  of  Newbury,  Eev.  James  Noyes. 
For  thirteen  years  before  coming  to  Salem  he  had 
been  settled  in  the  ministry  at  Haddam,  Conn.  He 
was  never  married. 

During  the  witchcraft  storm  Mr.  Higginson  held 
himself  aloof.  "  His  only  fault  was  his  silent  con- 
sent." He  had  gone  too  far  with  the  Quakers,  and 
learned  the  lesson  of  caution.  But  it  was  not  in  him 
to  be  strong  enough,  old  man  that  he  was,  where  all 
were  stricken  with  the  madness,  to  sound  an  alarm 
and  call  a  halt.  It  was  what  all  were  waiting  and 
praying  for,  from  some  one.  But  probably  if  any  had 
been  brave  enough  and  far-sighted  enough  to  cry 
aloud  in  protest,  it  would  only  have  availed  when  the 
tempest  was  subsiding  and  far-spent ;  earlier  it  would 
only  have  added  another  victim,  possibly,  to  the  pop- 
ular frenzy.  Such  a  panic-stricken  community  could 
only  come  to  its  senses  slowly,  and  when  the  fury  of 
the  blast  was  passed.  Mr.  Bentley's  just  reflections 
are  ia  place  here,  and  in  the  history  of  the  church 
should  not  be  omitted :  "  As  soon  as  the  judges  ceased 
to  condemn,  the  people  ceased  to  accuse.  Just  as 
after  a  storm,  the  people  were  astonished  to  see  the 
light  at  once  break  out  bright  again.  Terror  at  the 
violence  and  the  guilt  of  the  proceedings  succeeded 
instantly  to  the  conviction  of  blind  zeal,  and  what 
every  man  had  encouraged  all  professed  to  abhor. 
Few  dared  to  blame  other  men,  because  few  were  in- 
nocent. They  who  had  been  most  active  remembered 
that  they  had  been  applauded.  The  guilt  and  the 
shame  became  the  portion  of  the  country,  while  Salem 
had  the  infamy  of  being  the  place  of  the  transactions. 
Every  expression  of  sorrow  was  found  in  Salem.  And 
after  the  death  of  Mr.  Higginson,  whose  only  fault 
was  his  silent  consent,  the  church,  before  the  choice 
of  another  minister,  publicly  erased  all  the  ignominy 
they  had  attached  to  the  dead,  by  recording  a  most 
humble  acknowledgment  of  their  error.  After  the 
public  mind  became  quiet,  few  things  were  done 
to  disturb  it.  But  a  diminished  population,  the 
injury  done  to  religion,  and  the  distress  of  the  ag- 
grieved were  seen  and  felt  with  the  greatest  sorrow."  ^ 

For  six  years  from  the  death  of  Mr.  Higginson  Mr. 
Noyes  was  the  sole  pastor  of  the  church.  He  being 
then  nearly  sixty-seven  years  old,  Mr.  George  Curwin, 
son  of  Hon.  Jonathan  Curwin,  was  oi'dained  as  his 
colleague.     Mr.   Bentley   says  that  Mr.  Curwin  was 

1  Bentley,  pp.  270-271. 


SALEM. 


35 


proposed  by  Mr.  Noyes  in  1709,  soon  after  the  death 
of  Mr.  Higginson,  and  would  have  been  immediately 
ordained  if  those  living  beyond  the  town  bridge  had 
not  hoped  to  become  a  separate  church.  In  1713  an- 
other church  was  formed,  which  is  the  lower  parish 
in  Danvers.  Mr.  Curwin's  settlement  followed  in 
May  of  the  next  year.  The  opening  of  his  ministry 
was  full  of  promise,  and  excited  in  his  people  high 
hopes  of  usefulness, — hopes  destined  to  an  early 
blight.  He  died  Nov.  23,  1717,  at  the  age  of  thirty- 
four  years,  only  four  and  a  half  years  from  his  ordina- 
tion. He  was  born  in  Salem  May  21,  1683,  graduated 
from  Harvard  College  in  1701,  and  ordained  May  19, 
1714.  The  entry  made  upon  the  church  book  of  rec- 
ords, of  date  Nov.  23,  1717,  after  recording  his  death, 
adds  :  "  He  was  highly  esteemed  in  his  life,  and  very 
deservedly  lamented  at  his  death,  having  been  very 
eminent  for  his  early  improvements  in  learning  and 
piety,  his  singular  abilities  and  great  labors,  his  re- 
markable zeal  and  faithfulness  in  the  service  of  his 
Master.  A  great  benefactor  to  our  poor.  The  Rev. 
Mr.  Noyes  his  life  was  much  bound  up  in  him." 
These  last  words  read  more  as  prophecy  than  as  rec- 
ord of  a  past  accomplished,  when  we  look  on  to  the 
next  entry  upon  the  book.  It  is  but  twenty  days 
later.  It  records  the  death,  Dec.  13th,  of  the  Rev. 
Nicholas  Noyes.  Within  three  weeks  the  church  is 
bereaved  of  both  its  pastors. 

Mr.  Samuel  Fisk  was  called  with  great  unanimity 
the  next  year  to  the  church  in  Salem,  and  was  or- 
dained on  the  8th  of  October,  1718.  He  was  a  grand- 
son of  Rev.  John  Fisk,  herein  before  mentioned  as 
sometime  assistant  to  Rev.  Hugh  Peters,  afterwards 
minister  of  Wenham  and  Chelmsford ;  was  born 
April  6,  1689,  in  Braintree,  where  his  father.  Rev. 
Moses  Fisk,  was  many  years  minister,  and  was  grad- 
uated from  Harvard  College  in  1708.  He  was  a  man 
of  acknowledged  abilities  and  of  great  energy,  but  the 
unanimity  with  which  his  ministry  was  welcomed  at 
the  beginning  gave  place  in  no  very  long  time  to  a 
rising  alienation  on  the  part  of  a  portion  of  his  con- 
gregation, which  grew  to  a  protracted  and  bitter  con- 
troversy,— protracted  and  bitter  even  in  comparison 
with  other  church  contentions,  proverbial  as  such  are 
for  their  tenacity  and  implacability, — many  of  his 
parishioners  becoming  hopelessly  estranged  from  him, 
the  division  culminating  at  last  in  the  expulsion  of 
Mr.  Fisk  from  his  pulpit  in  1735.  Mr.  Bentley  as- 
cribes his  loss  of  usefulness  to  high  thoughts  of  church 
authority.  Pamphlets  of  more  than  four  hundred 
pages  of  printed  matter  remain  in  a  Salem  library 
(Athen«um)  to  represent  the  course  of  the  correspond- 
ence and  criticisms  which  grew  out  of  the  long  con- 
test. The  points  involved  were  not  chiefly  theological 
or  ecclesiastical,  but  consisted  largely  of  charges 
brought  by  members  of  the  church  of  misrepresenta- 
tion and  of  a  want  of  ingenuous,  truthi'ul  and  frank 
dealing  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Fisk  as  to  an  unwarranted 
interpolation  in  the  church  records  in  the  matter  of 


maintaining  or  discontinuing  the  church  "  lecture," 
an  institution  which  had  long  existed,  the  interest  in 
which  had  fallen  oft'  greatly,  and  the  responsibility 
for  whose  decay,  and  close,  and  resumption  was  mu- 
tually bandied  back  and  forth  between  the  minister 
and  the  dissatisfied  brethren.  Mr.  Fisk  was  also  accused 
of  arbitrarily  refusing  to  call  church  meetings  except 
such  as  he  pleased  and  when  he  pleased,  and  of  assert- 
ing a  right  of  control  in  church  matters  generally 
deemed  by  a  very  considerable  part  of  his  congrega- 
tion to  be  unauthorized  and  inadmissible.  As  to  one 
of  the  issues  raised,  Mr.  Fisk  and  his  followers  seem 
to  have  planted  themselves  on  unassailable  ground. 
The  aggrieved  brethren  seem  to  have  been  a  confessed 
minority  of  the  church.  When,  therefore,  this  ag- 
grieved minority, — supposing  it  to  be  such, — first 
called  on  a  neighboring  church, — the  second  in  Bos- 
ton,— to  come  in,  by  its  representatives,  and  endeavor 
to  compose  the  existing  difBculties,  the  majority  de- 
clined to  submit  their  case  to  this  commission  for  a 
hearing  and  decision.  So,  when  a  council  of  four 
churches  made  a  similar  attempt,  and  again,  when  a 
yet  larger  and  more  imposing  council  was  summoned, 
they  simply  denied  the  jurisdiction  of  each  and  all 
such  ecclesiastical  courts,  in  steadfast  adherence  to 
that  original  principle  laid  down  at  the  founding  of 
the  church,  in  1629,  of  the  independence  of  each 
church,  and  they  denied  the  authority  of  any  other 
church  or  churches  to  interfere  in  its  concerns.  Unless 
by  some  formal  vote  it  had  surrendered  this  claim  of 
autonomy  in  favor  of  some  other  paramount  authority 
as  does  not  seem  to  have  been  claimed,  or  the  voice  of 
the  majority  was  arbitrarily  suppressed  by  the  pastor, 
which  is  perhaps  charged  by  implication,  it  is  difficult 
to  see  by  what  right  the  majority  of  this  church  and 
congregation  were  dispossessed  of  their  meeting-house 
or  any  of  their  church  rights,  as  was  done,  and  sanc- 
tioned by  the  General  Court. 

After  the  exclusion  of  Mr.  Fisk  from  the  pulpit,  a 
majority  of  the  members  of  the  church  withdrew  and 
built  another  meeting-house  near  at  hand.^  The  with- 
drawing members  continued  to  use  the  title  of  "  The 
First  Church,"  their  right  to  which  could  hardly  be 
gainsaid,  perhaps,  except  upon  the  ground  taken  by 
the  courts  of  Massachusetts  a  hundred  years  later, 
viz. :  that  the  church  derives  its  designation  from  the 
parish  out  of  which  it  has  grown,  and  upon  which  its 
identification  depends.  Mr.  Fisk  took  away  with  him 
the  church  book  of  records,  retaining  it  through  the 
peril  d  of  his  ministry.  In  1762  Rev.  Dudley  Leavitt, 
the  minister  of  the  church  which  Mr.  Fisk  had  led 
out  in  1735  to  a  new  home,  died,  much  beloved  and 
lamented.  That  church  soon  after  opened  a  gracious 
and  conciliatory  correspondence  with  the  church  of 
the  First  Parish,  proposing  to  relinquish  to  it  the  title 

1  They  first  placed  it  too  near,—'-  oulj-  twelve  perches  and  eleven  feet 
from  the  First  J larish  meeting-house."  The  General  Court  interfered, 
and  ordered  that  it  should  not  stand  "  nearer  to  the  other  than  forty 
porches."     It  was  removed  accordingly. 


36 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


of  the  First  Church  from  that  time,  and  took  for  itself 
the  title  of  "  The  Church  of  which  Rev.  Dudley  Lea- 
vitt  was  late  Pastor," — known  since,  and  now  for 
many  years,  as  the  Tabernacle  Church.  These  over- 
tures were  met  in  a  like  spirit.  An  amicable  division 
of  plate  and  other  church  property  accompanied  and 
attested  the  healing  of  the  old  wounds  of  dissension. 

Leaving,  for  the  present,  the  notices  of  other 
churches  formed  in  the  town  from  time  to  time,  we 
follow  out  first  the  sketch  of  the  First  Church.  During 
the  years  from  1735  to  1762  the  old  First  Church  and 
Society  was  called,  and  called  itself  the  Church  and 
Parish  of  the  Confederate  Society,  or,  for  a  shorter 
title  and  common  use,  the  Confederate  Church.  Dr. 
Worcester  says  the  secedersgave  them  the  title.  The 
effect  of  the  divi>ion  by  which  the  society  was  cleft  in 
1735  was  depressing  for  a  while,  undoubtedly.  But 
on  the  5th  of  August,  1736,  Mr.  John  Sparhawk  was 
called  by  "  the  brethren  adhering  to  the  ancient  prin- 
ciples of  the  First  Church  in  Salem,"  with  substan- 
tial unanimity,  to  the  ministry  among  them,  and  was 
ordained  on  the  8th  of  December  following.  He  was 
the  son  of  Rev.  John  Sparhawk,  of  Bristol,  R.  I.,  and 
was  born  in  that  town  in  September,  1713,  and  gradu- 
ated at  Harvard  College  in  1731.  He  died  April  30, 
1755,  in  the  forty-second  year  of  his  age.  He  was 
described  by  his  parishioner,  Dr.  Edward  Holyoke,  as 
"  large  in  person,  a  man  of  dignity  and  an  excellent 
preacher."  If  that  people  is  to  be  accounted  happy 
whose  history  aflbrds  few  incidents  or  experiences 
deemed  worthy  to  be  recited,  the  same  evidence  may 
be  taken  as  ground  for  the  belief  that  a  church  is 
happy,  its  life  one  of  peace,  of  silent,  healthful,  spir- 
itual growth,  when  it  affords  little  material  for  the 
historian  to  record.  The  First  Church  entered  upon 
such  a  period  after  the  close  of  the  rather  tempestu- 
ous ministry  of  Mr.  Fisk.  The  usefulness  of  Mr. 
Sparhawk's  labors,  and  the  affection  in  which  he  was 
held,  is  shown  by  the  sincere  sorrow  caused  by  his 
death.  The  ministries  which  followed  were  of  a  like 
character,  and,  even  down  to  this  day,  have  generally 
abounded  in  quiet  and  diligent  service  on  the  part  of 
the  ministers,  and  been  characterized  by  general  har- 
mony and  co-operation  on  the  part  of  the  church  and 
congregation  in  maintaining  the  institutions  of  re- 
ligion and  cultivating  the  spirit  of  the  Christian 
gospel. 

Rev.  Thomas  Barnard  succeeded  Mr.  Sparhawk. 
He  was  the  son  of  Rev.  John  Barnard,  of  Andover, 
and  was  born  in  that  place  August  16,  1716,  grad- 
uated from  Harvard  College  in  17^52,  ordained  at 
Newbury  January  31,  1738,  left  his  people  there  on 
account  of  "  difKculties  about  Mr.  Whitfield's  preach- 
ing," and  turned  to  the  study  and  practice  of  law  for 
a  time.  Re-entering  the  ministry,  he  was  installed 
minister  of  the  First  Church  in  Salem  September  17, 
1755.  He  was  a  man  of  solid  excellencies,  both  of 
mind  and  character,  not  brilliant,  but  strong  and 
rightly  balanced,  "  much  beloved  by  his  society  and 


esteemed  by  the  public."  He  was  disabled  by  paral- 
ysis in  1770,  and  a  colleague  was  settled  in  1772.  Mr. 
Barnard  died  Augusts,  1776.  The  colleague  just  re- 
ferred to  was  Mr.  Asa  Dunbar.  There  had  been  a 
division  of  feeling  in  the  choice  of  a  colleague,  some 
desiring  Mr.  Barnard's  son,  Thomas  Barnard,  Jr.,  to 
be  invited  to  take  the  place,  while  a  bare  majority 
were  for  Mr.  Dunbar.  The  organization  of  the  North 
Church,  with  Mr.  Thomas  Barnard,  Jr.,  for  its  minis- 
ter, was  the  result  of  the  disagreement.  But  the  parting 
between  the  brethren  who  went  out  and  those  who 
stayed  behind  was  friendly,  and  characterized  by  an 
affectionate  reluctance  to  take  the  decisive  step,  and 
by  a  generous  surrender  of  some  of  the  vessels  and 
sacred  things  belonging  to  the  church,  because  they 
had  come  to  it  by  gift  from  those  who  were  now  de- 
parting or  from  members  of  their  families.  Rev.  Asa 
Dunbar  was  born  in  Bridgewater  May  26, 1745,  grad- 
uated at  Harvard  College  in  1767,  and  ordained  in 
Salem  July,  22,  1772.  His  health  before  long  be- 
came broken,  and  compelled  him  first  to  seek  its  res- 
toration in  rest,  and  finally  to  resign  his  office,  which 
he  did  April  23,  1779,  his  society  consenting  with  re- 
luctance, and  not  until  convinced  that  it  was  a  neces- 
sity. Honorable  and  delicate  testimonials  of  the 
mutual  affection  and  confidence  subsisting  between 
the  pastor  and  people  were  exchanged  at  parting. 
Mr.  Dunbar  studied  law  after  leaving  his  ministry  in 
Salem,  and  settled  in  Keene,  N.  H.,  where  he  prac- 
ticed his  profession  and  lived  greatly  respected  till 
June  22,  1787,  the  time  of  his  death.  He  appears  to 
have  lived  in  Weston  before  coming  to  Salem ;  he 
married  there  Mary  Jones,  in  1772,  and  had  a  child 
born  there  in  1776.  After  leaving  Salem,  and  before 
settling  in  Keene,  he  probably  lived  in  Harvard  for  a 
time,  as  he  had  children  born  there  in  1780  and  1781. 
Mr.  Bentley,  a  competent  judge,  and  not  given  to  un- 
meaning praise,  characterized  him  as  a  man  of  genius. 
Rev.  John  Prince,  who  succeeded  Mr.  Dunbar,  and 
whose  ministry  covered  a  period  of  fifty-seven  years — 
for  forty -five  of  which  he  had  no  assistance — was  born 
in  Boston  July  22, 1751,  graduated  at  Harvard  College 
in  1776,  and  ordained  minister  of  the  First  Church  in 
Salem  November  10,  1779.^  Dr.  Prince  was  a  faith- 
ful and  devoted  minister  and  lived  in  the  sincere  af- 
fection and  respect  of  his  people  during  his  long  pas- 
torate. But  he  had  greater  fame  as  a  devotee  of 
natural  science  and  an  ardent  j^hilosophical  investiga- 
tor than  as  a  preacher.  His  parishioner,  the  late  Hon. 
Daniel  A.  White,  says  of  him  that  "  he  possessed  the 
spirit  of  a  true  philosopher  and  a  true  Christian,  and 
was  alike  distinguished  for  his  mechanical  ingenuity, 
his  attainments  in  natural,  in  theological  and  general 


1  The  ministry  of  Dr.  Prince  has  had  no  parallel  for  length  in  Salem, 
except  in  that  of  Rev.  Dr.  Emerson,  of  the  South  Church,  which  ex- 
tended over  more  than  sixty-seven  years,  though  for  the  first  nine  and 
the  last  thirty-two  of  the  years  of  his  ministry  he  was  associated  witli  col- 
leagues, and  for  many  years  before  his  death  he  performed  almost  no 
professional  duties. 


SALEM. 


37 


learning,  and  for  his  various  genius  and  taste,  his  ar- 
dent love  of  nature  and  of  art,  his  single-heartedness 
and  truly  Christian  temper,  and  for  his  amiable  and 
generous  disposition,  especially  as  manifested  in  the 
gratuitous  diffusion  of  his  scientific  discoveries  and 
improvements,  and  in  imparting  his  rare  knowledge 
at  all  times  for  the  gratification  and  entertainment  of 
others.  His  character  will  long  be  remembered  with 
sincere  admiration."  He  bequeathed  to  his  society  a 
library  of  nearly  four  hundred  and  fifty  volumes.  He 
was  an  honored  member  of  various  societies  organized 
for  the  study  of  science,  art  and  history,  and  received 
the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  from  Brown  University. 
His  death  took  place  on  June  7,  1836. 

During  the  ministry  of  Dr.  Prince  the  parish  re- 
ceived valuable  legacies  from  Charles  Henry  Orne,  a 
merchant,  and  from  Miss  Mehitable  Higginson,  a 
descendant  in  the  sixth  generation  from  the  first 
minister,  and  widely  known  as  "  a  teacher  of  succes- 
sive generations  of  children,"  and  "  a  blessing  to  the 
church  and  the  town."  More  recently  the  permanent 
funds  of  the  society  were  increased  by  a  liberal  be- 
quest from  Hannah  Haraden  Ropes,  and  in  1867 
amounted  to  about  ten  thousand  five  hundred  dol- 
lars. In  the  year  1817  the  society  became  incorpor- 
ated as  the  First  Congregational  Society  in  Salem. 

In  1824  Mr.  Charles  W.  TJpham  was  ordained  as  a 
colleague  pastor  with  Dr.  Prince.  He  was  born  in  St. 
John,  New  Brunswick,  May  4,  1802,  graduated  from 
Harvard  College  in  1821,  and  from  the  Divinity 
School  in  Cambridge  in  1824.  He  was  ordained  in 
Salem  the  same  year,  December  8th,  and  filled  a  min- 
istry of  twenty  years,  when  impaired  health  caused 
him  to  resign,  and  he  closed  his  ministry  in  Decem- 
ber, 1844.  Mr.  Upham  was  held  in  high  esteem  as 
an  acceptable  preacher  and  a  man  of  scholarly  at- 
tainments. He  received,  on  retiring  from  his  ministry, 
substantial  tokens  of  the  generous  ai^preciation  of  the 
people  whom  he  had  served,  and  which  he  acknowl- 
edged with  a  warm  recognition.  He  died  in  Salem 
June,  15,  1875,  more  than  thirty  years  after  his  min- 
istry ended,  having  filled  in  the  course  of  that  time 
several  important  civil  and  political  ofiices.  He  was 
mayor  of  Salem  in  1852;  elected  to  both  Houses  of 
the  Legislature  of  the  State  at  different  times,  and 
president  of  the  Senate  in  1857-58;  member  of  the 
National  House  of  Representativs  in  1853-55  ;  and  of 
the  State  Convention  of  Massachusetts  in  1853.  In 
various  sermons  and  addresses  he  sketched  and  illus- 
trated the  history  of  the  Salem  Church,  and  contrib- 
uted for  publication  much  historical  and  biographical 
material,  relating  to  the  men  and  times  of  early  New 
England.  During  his  ministry  he  published  a  small 
work  upon  the  "  Logos,  "  another  upon  "  Prophecy  as 
an  Evidence  of  Christianity ;  "  "  Lectures  upon  Witch- 
craft," which,  in  1867,  he  expanded  into  an  elaborate 
work  of  two  volumes  of  nearly  one  thousand  duodec- 
imo pages.  "  A  Life  of  Sir  Henry  Vane,"  in  Sparks' 
American  Biography,  was  from  his  pen.     In  1856  he 


wrote  the  "Life,  Letters  and  Public  Services  of  John 
Charles  Fremont,"  one  of  the  Presidential  candidates 
of  that  year.  His  last  published  literary  work  was  a 
"  Memoir  of  Timothy  Pickering,"  in  three  volumes. 
He  edited  the  Christian  Register  in  1845-46,  and  was 
a  frequent  contributor  to  periodical  publications,  both 
religious  and  secular. 

Rev.  Thomas  Treadwell  Stone  was  called  to  the 
vacant  pastorship  in  June,  1846,  and  on  the  12th  of 
July  following  was  installed  in  that  office,  with  the 
simplicity  of  form  observed  in  the  primitive  Salem 
Church,  the  entire  service  being  carried  on  and  com- 
pleted by  the  congregation  through  its  appointed  rep- 
resentative and  the  pastor -elect.  Mr.  Stone  was  born 
in  Waterford,  Me.,  February  9,  1801,  and  graduated 
at  Bowdoin  College  in  1820.  He  was  ordained  in 
Andover,  Me.,  September  8,  1824,  and  continued  to 
be  pastor  of  that  church  till  September,  1830,  when 
he  became  preceptor  of  Bridgton  Academy.  After 
two  years  he  resumed  the  ministry,  and  was  settled 
in  East  Machias  May  15,  1833.  The  anti-slavery 
agitation  which  came  to  its  crisis  after  a  quarter  of  a 
century  in  civil  war  in  1861,  and  which  had  been 
long  straining  threateningly  the  civil  institutions  and 
the  political  integrity  of  the  nation,  had  also  deeply 
disturbed  the  peace  of  a  large  proportion  of  the 
churches  of  the  free  States.  Some  ministers  caused 
discontent  in  their  folds  by  preaching  upon  the 
country's  responsibility  and  duty  in  regard  to  the  in- 
stitution of  slavery,  some  gave  equal  offense  by 
wholly  refraining  from  the  theme,  and  still  others 
displeased  their  hearers  by  what  they  said  or  their 
manner  of  saying  it.  The  public  feeling  was  ex- 
tremely sensitive.  The  cotigregations  were  divided 
in  sentiment.  Expressions  used  in  the  pulpit,  which 
in  ordinary  times  might  not  have  produced  a  ripple 
of  commotion,  in  the  inflammable  state  of  popular 
feeling  then  existing,  broke  friendships,  and  sun- 
dered in  many  instances  the  bond  that  held  pastor 
and  church  together.  Mr.  Stone,  incapable  of  giving 
offense  by  any  breach  of  Christian  charity  or  cour- 
tesy, yet  felt  himself  constrained  to  utter  an  earnest 
testimony  against  slavery  as  subversive  of  the  plain- 
est principles  of  justice  and  humanity,  and  as  equally 
condemned  by  the  fundamental  teachings  and  the  es- 
sential spirit  of  Christianity.  While  his  personal  and 
professional  character  was  unassailable  and  unim- 
peached,  as  it  respected  the  purity  and  disinterested- 
ness of  his  motives  and  the  singleness  of  mind  and 
the  high  ability  with  which  he  discharged  the  duties 
of  the  ministerial  office,  some  of  his  society  became 
dissatisfied,  and  he  was  dismissed  in  February,  1852. 
He  was  afterwards  settled  in  Bolton,  and  is  now 
passing  a  serene  and  studious  old  age,  dividing  his 
time  between  his  home  in  Bolton  and  the  homes  of 
his  children. 

January  6,  1863,  the  vacancy  caused  by  the  dismis- 
sion of  Dr.  Stone  was  filled  by  the  installation  of 
Rev.  George  Ware  Briggs.     Mr.  Briggs  was  born  at 


38 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Little  Compton,  R.  I.,  April  8,  1810,  graduated  from 
Brown  University  in  1825,  and  from  the  Divinity 
School  at  Cambridge  in  1834,  and  was  ordained  in 
Fall  River  September  24,  1834,  and  installed  in 
Plymouth,  January  3,  1838,  as  colleague  pastor  with 
Rev.  James  Kendall,  D.  D.  Dr.  Briggs  resigned  his 
ministry  in  Salem  April  1,  1867,  and  the  same  year 
was  settled  over  the  Third  Congregational  Society  in 
Cambridge  (Canibridgeport),  where  he  still  ministers, 
his  society  having  refused  not  long  since  to  accept  his 
resignation.  During  Dr.  Briggs'  ministry  in  Salem 
the  "  irrepressible  conflict "  between  slavery  and 
freedom  reached  the  stage  of  open  war,  and  the  at- 
tempted secession  of  the  slave  States  brought  the 
conflict  to  a  termination  in  the  emancipation  of  the 
slaves,  the  victory  of  the  northern  armies  and  the  re- 
storation of  peace  between  the  North  and  the  South. 
Dr.  Briggs  was  a  strenuous  and  able  champion  of  the 
cause  of  freedom  and  of  the  maintenance  of  the  na- 
tion's integrity  during  the  war. 

Rev.  James  T.  Hewes  succeeded  Dr.  Briggs,  Sep- 
tember 27,  1868.  Mr.  Hewes  was  born  in  Saco,  Me., 
March  23,  1836  ;  was  ordained  in  South. Boston,  Feb- 
ruary 19,  1862  ;  resigned  June  4,  1864 ;  settled  over 
the  Second  Unitarian  Pari.sh,  in  Portland,  Me.,  June 
23,  1864.  He  resigned  his  Salem  charge  August  31, 
1875.  With  health  already  impaired  before  leaving 
Salem,  he  was  installed  in  Fitchburg  September  26, 
1875.  After  a  ministry  there  of  five  years,  seriously 
interrupted  by  ill  health,  he  resigned,  sincerely  re- 
spected and  beloved  by  his  society,  and  after  a  year 
and  a  half  spent  in  California,  removed  to  Cambridge, 
where  he  died  November  21,  1882. 

Rev.  Fielder  Israel,  now  in  pastoral  charge  of  the 
First  Church,  was  installed  March  8,  1877.  He  was 
born  in  Baltimore,  Md.,  June  29,  1825,  was  in  the 
Methodist  ministry  for  some  years,  and  later  had  been 
pastor  of  the  Unitarian  Church  in  Wilmington,  Del., 
and  of  that  in  Taunton,  Mass.,  before  his  settlement 
in  Salem. 

The  First  Church  has  occupied  successively  four 
houses  of  worship  on  or  near  the  same  spot,  Essex, 
corner  of  Washington  Street.  The  first  is  still  stand- 
ing— so  much  of  it  as  to  make  its  size,  shape  and  gen- 
eral aspect  visible  and  certain.  The  main  timbers  of 
its  frame  are  preserved  and  are  in  their  original 
places,  the  clothing  of  the  skeleton  only — that  is,  the 
boarding  and  plaster — having  been  from  time  to  time 
renewed.  "An  unfinished  building  of  one  story," 
says  Rev.  Mr.  Upham,  "was  temporarily  used  at  the 
beginning  for  the  purposes  of  the  congregation." 
Houses  had  been  provided  at  once,  by  order  of  the 
company  in  London,  for  dwellings  for  the  two  minis- 
ters,— Rev.  Mr.  Higginson's  "directly  south  of  and 
about  fifty  feet  distant  from  the  eastern  part  of  the  site  of 
the  present  meeting-house"  (ground  covered  at  present 
by  the  southeastern  corner  of  the  Asiatic  Block,  now 
the  rear  room  of  the  Salem  Savings  Bank,  in  which 
the  corporation  and  its  trustees  hold  their  meetings). 


Mr.  Skelton's  house  was  farther  south  and  to  the  east, 
on  the  southern  side  of  the  present  Front  Street. 
Neither  of  these  two  ministers  lived  to  preach  in  the 
first  meeting-house,  which  was  contracted  for  in  1634, 
the  year  of  Mr.  Skelton's  death,  and  which  stood,  it 
will  be  recalled,  quite  near  the  sites  of  their  dwellings 
as  just  given.  Mr.  Norton  was  the  builder  of  that 
first  meeting-house.  The  trees  for  it  were  not  felled 
till  the  beginning  of  1635.  and  the  house  was  erected 
the  summer  after.  Its  dimensions  were  twenty  feet 
in  length  by  seventeen  feet  in  width,  and  twelve  feet 
in  the  height  of  the  posts.  A  gallery  extended  across 
the  northern  end,  or  side,  whose  front  supporting 
beam  rests  now  in  its  original  position,  the  floor  of 
the  gallery  rising  towards  the  rear  by  a  sharp  pitch. 
The  main  floor  of  the  house  is  supposed  to  have  been 
of  clay.  The  door  opened  on  Essex  Street  when  the 
building  stood  on  its  original  foundation  ;  the  gallery 
ran  across  the  same  end ;  the  preacher's  place — and  the 
pulpit's,  when  one  was  built — was  ojjposite,  that  is,  on 
the  southern  end.  The  windows  were  not  glazed  till 
1637.  In  1639  the  house  was  elongated  southward  by 
more  than  its  original  length,  viz. :  twenty-five  feet. 
When  a  new  house  of  worship  was  to  be  built,  in 
1670,  the  town  voted  to  appropriate  the  old  house  to 
the  town's  use  for  a  school-house  and  watch-house. 
In  the  course  of  the  next  ninety  years  it  was  put  to 
various  uses  by  the  town.  It  was  in  1760,  it  is  prob- 
able, that  it  was  sold  to  Thorndike  Proctor,  and  by 
him  removed  to  a  spot  now  in  the  field  a  few  rods 
south  of  Boston  Street,  near  the  foot  of  Gallows  (or 
Witch)  Hill,  a  public  road  at  that  time  running  past 
it,  and  there  it  was  occupied  as  a  tavern,  after  which 
it  stood  awhile  as  a  neglected  and  nearly  empty  stable 
and  disused  store-house.  In  1864  it  was  presented 
to  the  Essex  Institute  by  Mrs.  David  Nichols,  its 
owner  at  the  time,  and  removed  to  the  rear  of  Plum- 
mer  Hall,  where  it  now  stands  restored  to  its  primi- 
tive form  by  the  liberality  of  the  late  Francis  Pea- 
body,  Esq.,  then  president  of  the  Essex  Institute,  in 
such  a  way  that  the  original  parts  and  the  renewed 
portions,  respectively,  are  easily  to  be  distinguished 
from  each  other.  The  second  meeting-house  was  built 
in  1670,  on  the  western  side  of  the  site  of  the  first.  It 
was  sixty  feet  long  on  Essex  Street,  fifty  feet  wide  and 
twenty  feet  stud;  "cost  one  thousand  pounds,"  says 
Rev.  Mr.  Upham,  "  had  galleries,  and  was  called  by 
Cotton  Mather  '  the  great  and  spacious  meeting- 
house.' "  This  house  served  the  congregation  nearly 
sixty  years.  In  1718  it  was  found  to  have  become  so 
decrepit  as  not  to  be  worthy  of  repairing,  and  it  was 
voted  to  build  a  new  one  to  take  its  place  on  the  same 
ground. 

This  third  meeting-house  was  seventy-two  feet  long 
on  Essex  Street,  and  fifty  feet  wide,  with  two  tiers  of 
gallery  and  a  spire.  "  The  steeple,"  says  Mr.  Upham, 
"  was  probably  like  that  still  preserved  in  the  vener- 
able meeting-house  of  the  First  Church  of  Hingham, 
built  in  1681,  rising  directly  over  the  centre  of  the 


SALEM. 


39 


roof,  the  bell-rope  coming  down  to  the  broad  aisle, 
half-way  between  the  pulpit  and  the  main  entrance." 
Great  changes  were  afterwards  made  in  the  interior 
arrangement  and  in  the  external  appearance  of  the 
building.  A  picture  of  it,  as  it  appeared  in  its  latest 
form,  may  be  seen  among  the  collections  of  the  Essex 
Institute,  and  is  also  preserved  in  the  appendix  to  the 
sermon  preached  by  Rev.  Mr.  Upham  at  the  dedica- 
tion of  the  church  edifice  at  present  occupied  by  the 
society.  The  old  house  was  taken  down  in  1826, 
and  the  new  was  built  and  dedicated  November  16th 
of  the  same  year.  There  are  a  few  still  living  who 
remember  the  former,  with  its  three  tiers  of  windows, 
its  tower  and  spire  on  its  western  end,  and  its  front 
entrance  upon  its  Essex  Street  side. 

The  meeting-house  built  in  1826,  and  now  in  use, 
was  materially  changed  in  appearance  both  within 
and  without  in  1875.  Without,  it  was  originally  a 
plain  brick  structure,  cruciform  in  general  outline, 
the  central  and  main  portion,  that  containing  the 
auditorium,  being  nearly  square,  and  in  appearance 
much  the  same  as  now  on  its  northern  front ;  high 
porches  projecting  from  the  middle  of  the  eastern 
and  western  sides  made  the  arms  of  the  cross ;  the 
building  stood  above  a  lower  story  devoted  to  business 
purposes, — stores,  etc.,  as  now.  On  the  Essex  Street 
side  of  either  porch  were  doors  of  entrance  to  the 
auditorium  and  the  gallery;  the  ascent  from  the 
pavement  to  the  entrances  was  made  by  a  short  flight 
of  steps,  an  iron  fence  with  gates  inclosing  the  re- 
cesses between  the  street  and  the  steps.  Within,  a 
gallery  extended  along  the  Essex  Street  front,  in 
which  was  the  choir  and  organ,  and  some  space  for 
sittings  besides;  on  the  opposite,  the  southern  side, 
was  the  rather  high  pulpit.  In  1867  considerable 
changes  were  made  from  its  first  interior  appear- 
ance; a  smaller  organ  v.'as  substituted  for  the  one 
which  had  been  in  use,  and  was  placed  with  the 
choir,  in  an  alcove  or  gallery,  within  the  upper  part 
of  the  eastern  porch ;  the  front  gallery  was  removed, 
and  appropriate  inscriptions  were  placed  upon  the 
northern  wall,  against  which  it  had  stood.  In  1875 
the  whole  interior  was  changed  to  its  present  form,  the 
pulpit  or  preacher's  desk  being  carried  to  the  western 
side,  and  a  large  new  organ  built  in  its  rear.  At  the 
same  time  the  two  porches  upon  the  eastern  and 
western  sides  were  replaced  by  extended  additions  on 
those  sides  reaching  the  entire  length  of  the  build- 
ing, providing  not  only  stairways  of  access  to  the 
audience-room,  but  rooms  adjoining  for  the  minister's 
use  and  his  library,  for  the  Sunday-school  library 
and  for  other  convenient  purposes. 

Society  of  Friends. — We  now  turn  back  to  find 
and  trace  the  offshoots  from  this  parent  stem  of  eccle- 
siastical growth  in  the  Salem  settlement.  The  earli- 
est of  these  was  a  gathering  of  Quakers.  Mention  is 
made  of  the  appearance  of  these  people  in  Salem 
first  in  1656  or  '57,  only  about  ten  years  after  George 
Fox   began    his  itineracy  and   public  preaching   in 


England.  The  peculiar  tenets  and  practices  of  the 
Quakers  exhibit  one  of  the  numerous  phases  taken 
on  by  the  new  and  freer  spirit  to  which  the  Reforma- 
tion of  the  sixteenth  century  had  given  birth.  It  was 
an  emancipation  from  bondage  to  legalism,  ecclesias- 
ticism  and  hierarchies.  It  was  usually  characterized  by 
more  or  less  spiritual  exaltation  and  religious  enthusi- 
asm, [n  some  sanguine,  imaginative  and  emotional 
temperaments,  this  new  spirit  burst  forth,  like  new 
wine  from  old  bottles,  into  effervescent  prophesyings 
and  extravagant  claims  of  illumination.  Sincere  and 
pure  in  motive  as  most  of  these  people  were,  they 
were  yet  protestants  of  the  protestants,  and  in  many 
instances  boldly  arraigned  the  existing  churches  as 
needing  a  new  baptism  of  the  Spirit;  as  leaning  with- 
out warrant  wholly  on  the  letter  of  the  Bible.  They 
affirmed  that  each  human  soul  might  have  its  own 
immediate  communication  with  God,  its  own  inter- 
pretation of  Christ,  and  its  own  revelation  of  truth, 
not  to  be  superseded  by  any  external  authority. 
Very  innocent  and  even  commendable  affirmations 
these  would  perhaps  be  pronounced  to-day;  and  were 
Endicott,  Higginson  and  Wilson  here  now,  they 
would,  it  is  likely,  assent  to  them ;  while  we  who 
are  to-day  sitting  complacently  in  judgment  upon 
their  conduct  and  upon  that  of  the  Southwicks  and 
Maules,  if  we  had  been  among  them  in  their  time, 
should  have  been  Quakers  and  denouncers  of  Quak- 
ers in  just  about  the  same  numerical  proportions  as 
they  were.  We  need  not  be  unjust  to  those  who 
fined,  sold  and  hanged  Quakers,  in  order  to  do 
justice  to  the  Quakers.  The  members  of  the 
churches  of  Salem  and  Boston  could  not  know  just 
the  nature,  conditions  and  the  probable  outcome  of 
the  problem  which  they  had  to  deal  with  in  Quaker- 
ism in  1656,  as  we  now  know  it,  viewing  it  in  the 
light  of  history.  When  they  first  heard  announced 
the  peculiar  views  of  these  people,  they  recognized 
in  them  something  like  and  yet  unlike  the  teachings 
of  Mrs.  Hutchinson  and  of  the  Anabaptists,  which 
they  deprecated  with  genuine  dread.  To  what  would 
the  new  doctrines  disseminated  by  these  preachers, 
of  which  they  had  some  not  reassuring  reports  from 
England,  lead,  and  where  would  they  end?  Did  the 
preachers  themselves  know  ?  Or  were  they  on  a  drift 
whose  tendency  they  were  quite  unable  to  forecast? 
Now  it  is  but  common-place  wisdom  to  say  that  it 
was  not  right  to  judge  the  whole  body  or  the  great 
majority  by  the  vagaries  of  a  few  unbalanced  spirits. 
But  the  judgment  had  to  be  made  then  and  there, 
by  the  contemporaries  of  Robinson,  Stevenson  and 
Mary  Dyer,  and  they  could  not  tell  at  once  who  were 
the  typical  disciples  of  the  new  school  and  who  were 
the  exceptional  zealots  whose  ways  would  be  eventu- 
ally repudiated  by  the  majority, — nor  indeed  whether 
the  few  might  not  yet  become  the  majority,  which 
was  what  they  feared.  They  could  not  tell,  nobody 
could,  to  what  pitch  this  excitement  might  rise. 
Alarming  possibilities  loomed  up  to  their  apprehen- 


40 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


give  imaginations.  The  ways  and  doctrines  of  these 
Quakers  appeared  to  them  to  lead  out  to  the  un- 
fenced  wilderness  of  antinoniianism  [no-law-ism]  ; 
so  their  propagators  were  honestly,  if  mistakenly, 
held  to  be  dangerous  to  the  security  of  the  new  com- 
munities struggling  to  set  up  here  law  and  order  in 
commonwealth  and  church.  The  latter  were  con- 
tending with  teachings  and  influences  sincerely  be- 
lieved to  be  disorganizing  and  hostile  to  the  peace,  if 
not  to  the  existence,  of  the  newly-planted  colony.  It 
is  asking  too  much  to  require  that  magistrates  and 
ministers,  church-members  and  citizens,  in  the  in- 
fancy of  a  great  and  critical  experiment  in  the  con- 
duct of  civil  and  ecclesiasticalafFairs,  acting  under  cir- 
cumstances of  frequent  perplexity  and  serious  embar- 
rassment making  their  own  precedents  as  they  went,  and 
daily  treading  paths  of  uncertain  ending,  should  have 
been  exempt  from  the  limitations  of  their  age,  and 
should  have  made  the  discovery,  at  once  and  on  the 
spot,  that  the  extreme  of  tolerance  towards  dissent 
and  contradiction  was  a  discreet  and  safe  policy,  to 
be  fearlessly  followed  out  in  practice  without  any 
restrictions  and  under  whatever  provocation — a  dis- 
covery which,  after  two  hundred  years  of  social 
progress,  hardly  commands  an  unqualified  and  univer- 
sal acceptance.  It  would  be  disingenuous  not  to 
allow,  however,  that  personal  feelings,  wounded  pride 
and  narrow  and  bitter  prejudices  doubtless  mingled 
with  considerations  of  public  policy,  however  uncon- 
sciously, in  promoting  the  persecution  of  the  Quakers, 
Persecutors  and  persecuted  were  alike  human. 
Grant  that  the  doctrines  of  the  Quakers  had  much 
truth  to  justify  their  earnest  proclamation.  They  had 
too  often,  as  uttered,  the  implication,  if  not  the  tone, 
of  the  Pharisee's  "I  am  holier  than  thou,"  to  the  mem- 
bers of  the  New  England  Churches.  Their  authors 
were  not  sparing  in  the  terms  of  self-humiliation,  it 
is  true,  and  this  made  the  assumption  of  superior  in- 
sight, and  nearer  communion  with  God,  the  more  irri- 
tating and  offensive.  The  very  truths  and  half-truths 
that  were  couched  in  many  of  the  allegations  made 
against  the  Christianity  of  the  day, — allegations  of  un- 
due devotion  to  letter  and  form,  and  of  lack  of  true 
religious  experience  and  life,  which,  if  they  had  come 
from  brethren  within  the  church,  or  from  supposed 
friends,  might  have  been  welcomed  by  the  more 
spiritually-minded  and  conscientious  of  the  fold, — were 
not  to  be  borne  when  regarded  as  the  fiilse  accusations 
of  meddlesome,  censorious  and  aggressive  pretenders  to 
superior  piety.  The  cruelties  visited  upon  the  Quak- 
ers were  simply  hijrrible,  almost  beyond  belief.  Yet 
we  may  not  flatter  ourselves  that  it  is  because  we  are 
so  much  better  than  our  fathers  that  we  are  to-day 
unanimous  in  this  verdict.  It  is,  that  we  are  nearly 
a  quarter  of  a  millenium  later  than  the  Puritans  of 
1656,  and  that  between  their  time  and  ours  a  good 
deal  has  been  learned.  As  to  the  aggravated  sufferings 
to  which  the  Quakers  were  subjected,  however,  this 
should  be  said :  that  in  an  age  when  all  pains  and 


penalties  for  crime  were  immeasurably  heavier  and 
more  cruel  than  now,  if  the  Quakers  must  suffer  pun- 
ishment at  all,  the  punishments  inflicted  upon  them 
were  not  unusual,  and  therefore  were  such  as  should 
have  been  expected:  fines,  whippings,  public  disgrace, 
imprisonment,  enslavement,^  banishment  and  death. 
And  furthermore  it  should  be  mentioned,  though  not  as 
alleviating  in  the  least  the  responsibility  for  the  harsh 
treatment  visited  upon  the  Quakers,  that  some  who 
suffered  seemed  rather  to  court  martyrdom  than  to 
shrink  from  it.  The  disturbances  growing  out  of  the 
visits  of  Quakers  to  the  places  of  public  worship  ap- 
pear to  have  been  less  numerous  and  less  violent  in 
Salem  than  in  some  other  places.  As  has  been  already 
mentioned,  a  Mrs.  Oliver  had,  in  Mrs.  Hutchinson's 
time,  and  again  afterwards,  claimed  in  the  open  con- 
gregation the  right  to  partake  of  the  communion, 
though  not  a  member  of  the  church ;  had  denied  the 
right  of  the  church  or  the  magistrates  to  prevent  her ; 
and  had  suffered  a  brief  imprisonment  for  the  first 
offense,  and  was  "  publicly  disgraced  "  after  the  second- 
One  Christopher  Holder,  a  Quaker,  after  being  ban- 
ished, returned  and  spoke  a  few  words  in  the  meeting 
here,  September  21, 1657,  "  after  the  priest  had  done," 
but  "was  hauled  back  by  the  hair  of  his  head,  and  a 
glove  and  a  handkerchief  were  thrust  into  his  mouth." 
On  the  Monday  he  was  sent  to  Boston,  received 
thirty  stripes  and  was  imprisoned  nine  weeks.  Samuel 
Shattock,  for  trying  to  prevent  the  stopping  of  Hol- 
der's mouth,  was  carried  to  Boston  and  imprisoned 
there.  Lawrence  and  Cassandra  Southwick,  members 
of  the  church  in  Salem,  for  entertaining  Holder  and 
another  of  his  sect, were  sent  to  Boston  and  imprisoned. 
Some  twenty  persons  are  named  by  Felt  [Annals]  jis 
having  been  among  the  persons  punished,  or  indicted 
for  attending  a  Quaker  Meeting  at  Nicholas  Phelps'. 
So  serious  was  the  apprehension  of  evil  to  the  churches 
from  this  source,  that  when  the  covenant  was  "re- 
newed," soon  after  the  Rev.  John  Higginson's  settle- 
ment, a  special  clause  of  warning  against  the  leaven 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  Quakers  was  added  at  the  end,  as 
has  been  noted  already. 

The  Quakers  in  Salem  had  their  meetings  at 
first  in  private  houses.  Their  first  meeting-house 
stood  on  the  south  side  of  Essex  Street,  on  the 
space  between  the  houses  numbered  at  present  373 
and  377,  and  is  said  to  have  been  built  by  Thomas 
Maule,  in  1688.  Maule  had  some  years  before  been 
warned,  as  a  Quaker,  to  quit  the  town,  and  two  citizens, 
Samuel  Robinson  and  Samuel  Shadocke,had  been  fined 
twenty  shillings  each  for  "entertaining"  him  in  1669. 
In  1716  Maule  bought  the  meeting-house  he  had  built 
in  1688,  for  twenty-five  pounds,  the  society  having  then 
built  their  second  meeting-house,  a  plain  building,  as 
all  Quaker  meeting-houses  are,  on  the  present  site  of 


1  Mr.  Bentley  mentioned  that  in  1659  "the  heads  of  a  family  belonging 
to  Salem  were  ordered  to  be  sold."  If,  as  is  probable,  the  reference  is  to 
Duniel  and  Provided  Southwick,  son  and  daughter  of  Lawrence  and 
Cassandra  Southwick,  the  order  was  not  carried  into  effect. 


SALEM. 


41 


the  Quaker  burying-ground,  at  the  corner  of  Essex 
and  North  Pine  Streets,  the  latter  street  not  having 
been  opened.  This  second  meeting-house  is  remem- 
bered by  the  older  citizens  of  Salem,  having  been 
removed  only  about  fifty-five  years  ago,  that  is  in 
1832.^  The  brick  meeting-house,  on  the  corner  of 
Warren  and  South  Pine  Streets,  now  occupied  by 
the  society,  was  built  in  1832,  upon  land  given  for 
the  purpose  by  a  friend,  indeed,  though  not  a  Friend 
by  sectarian  designation,  George  S.  Johonnot. 

A  difference  as  to  discipline  or  doctrine,  which  arose 
among  the  New  England  Quakers  towards  the  end  of 
the  first  quarter  of  this  century,  led  to  earnest  and 
protracted  controversy,  and  finally  to  a  practical  divi- 
sion of  the  body  into  two  sections,  in  1843,  sometimes 
popularly  designated  as  "  Gurneyites  and  Wilburites," 
from  their  adhesion,  respectively,  to  John  James  Gur- 
ney,  of  England,  and  John  Wilbur,  of  Rhode  Island  ; 
each  section  claiming  to  be  logically  and  spiritually 
in  historical  line  with  the  founders  of  the  sect.  The 
latter  conceived  that  the  former  "  did  not  allow  so 
full  an  agency  to  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  mind  and 
heart  as  the  primitive  Friends  did."  The  separation 
took  effect  in  this  region,  at  the  New  England  Yearly 
Meeting,  in  June,  1845 ;  and  again  at  the  Quarterly 
Meeting  in  August,  and  at  the  Monthly  Meeting  in 
September  following,  was  ratified  by  the  followers  of 
the  two  representative  men  above  named,  and  the  two 
sections  fell  irreconcilably  apart.  The  majority  of  the 
society  in  Salem  held  with  Gurney,  and  those  of  the 
adverse  views  put  up  a  small  meeting-house  at  the 
corner  of  Essex  and  North  Pine  Streets,  in  1847,  which 
is  now  standing  on  the  same  spot,  having  been  changed 
into  a  dwelling-house. 

Though  the  Quakers  have  no  fixed  and  salaried 
local  ministers,  the  following  persons  are  named 
in  the  "  Historical  Sketch  of  Salem,"  by  Messrs. 
Osgood  and  Batchelder,  as  being  "  among  the  minis- 
ters acknowledged  and  recorded  as  such,  from  time 
to  time,  by  the  Salem  Monthly  Meeting  of  Friends 
(comprising  the  meetings  of  Salem  and  Lynn) :  Mica- 
jah  Collins,  Mary  Newhall,  Moses  H.  Bedee,  Avis 
Keene,  Elizabeth  Breed,  Jane  Mansfield,  Benjamin 
H.  Jones,  William  O.  Newhall,  Abigail  Bedee,  Soph- 
ronia  Page,  Henry  Chase,  Hannah  Hozier,  Lydia 
Dean,  Mary  Chase,  Daniel  Page  and  Ruth  Page."  No 
records  of  the  minority  meeting  in  the  house  by  the 
burial-ground,  are  known  to  have  been  preserved.  Its 
numbers,  not  large  at  first,  gradually  diminished  till 
the  society  became  extinct.  Among  those  who  upheld 
that  meeting,  and  were  identified  with  it  as  ministers 
or  well-known  supporters,  are  remembered  Nathan 
Page,  David  Buffura,  Lois  (Southwick)  Ives  and 
George  F.  Reed.     Current  rumor  used  to  say  that  the 

1  The  frame  of  it  is  now  standing  in  Peabody,  on  tliii  Lynnfield  road, 
having  been  purchased  by  the  late  Mr.  Samuel  Brown,  taken  down  by 
him  and  set  up  again  for  a  barn  near  his  dwelling-house.  An  addition 
has  been  put  to  it,  but  its  original  size  and  form  are  easily  to  be  made 
out. 

3} 


last-named,  a  fine  scholar  and  an  able  teacher,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  class  of  1831  in  Harvard  College,'*  remarka- 
ble as  a  linguist,  in  character  simple  and  guileless  as 
a  child,  was  sometimes,  in  the  last  days  of  the  society, 
the  only  attendant  at  the  meeting-house,  and  that 
then  he  sat  there  alone  in  silent  worship  and  medita- 
tion what  time  the  Spirit  detained  him. 

In  1671  the  inhabitants  of  "the  farms,"  or  "Salem 
Village,"  as  the  lands  now  lying  about  "  Danvers' 
Centre"  were  then  called,  regarding  themselves  as 
entitled  by  their  numbers  and  their  remoteness  from 
the  Salem  Church  to  a  nearer  place  of  worship  and 
the  full  services  of  a  minister,  began  to  hold  religious 
services  among  themselves  on  the  Lord's  day,  and 
constituted  a  church,  the  parent  church  assenting  and 
regarding  this  church  and  congregation  as  a  branch 
of  itself.  Rev.  James  Bailey  was  the  first  minister, 
settled  in  October,  1671,  and  Rev.  George  Burroughs, 
of  unhappy  memory  (as  a  victim  of  the  witchcraft 
madness),  succeeded  him,  November  25,  1680.  On 
the  10th  of  November,  1689,  this  church  was  formally 
separated  from  the  mother  church  at  Salem,  and  on 
the  15th  of  that  month  Samuel  Parris  was  ordained 
its  pastor. 

Marblehead,  taken  from  Salem,  was  incorporated 
in  1649,  but  no  church  was  gathered  there  till  1684; 
meantime  such  of  its  people  as  had  had  or  desired 
church  fellowship  continued  to  find  it  in  connection 
with  the  church  in  Salem.  On  the  other  side  of  Bass 
River,  in  what  is  now  Beverly,  public  worship  was 
established  in  1657,  and  Rev.  John  Hale  was  settled 
as  the  first  minister  in  1667.  In  1713  a  second  church 
was  formed  in  that  part  of  Danvers,  then  called  the  • 
lower  parish,  or  "  middle  precinct,"  afterwards  South 
Danvers,  now  Peabody. 

East  Church. — The  third  church  formed  within 
the  present  territorial  limits  of  Salem,  regarding  the 
Quaker  "  Meeting  "  as  the  second,  was  that  commonly 
known  by  the  title  of  the  East  Church.  But  as 
Quaker  "  meetings "  were  not  held  worthy  to  be 
counted  as  "churches"  (members  of  Congregational 
Churches  being  judges),  and  as  the  Quakers  them- 
selves adopted  another  name  for  their  assembly,  this 
church  styled  itself  the  "Second  "  Church.  It  will 
be  remembered  that  during  the  colleagueship  of  Mr. 
Nicholet  with  Rev.  John  Higginson  (1672-76),  efforts 
were  made  to  establish  a  meeting,  and  that  a  meeting- 
house was  partly  built  in  the  east  part  of  the  town,  on 
the  northeast  border  of  the  common.  With  the  de- 
parture of  Mr.  Nicholet,  the  division  in  the  society 
was  virtually  healed,  and  the  meeting-house  was  not 
completed ;  but  the  idea  of  a  church  in  that  quarter 
did  not  wholly  die  out  of  the  minds  of  the  residents 
in  those  parts.  When  a  committee  of  the  First  Parish 
reported  "  reasons  for  building  a  meeting-house  "  for 
the  use  of  that  parish  early  in  the  last  century,  it  un- 

2  Mr.  Reed  completed  his  college  course,  and  had  a  part  assigned  him 
for  commencement,  but  neglected  to  prepare  for  it,  and  did  not  take  his 
degree. 


42 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


designedly  gave  strength  to  the  project  long  enter- 
tained by  the  Eastern  District  of  a  separation  from 
the  parent  church,  and  of  building  a  meeting-house 
in  the  midst  of  the  population  to  be  accommodated 
thereabouts.  As  quoted  by  Dr.  Flint  in  his  sermon 
on  leaving  the  old  East  Church,  in  1846,  this  commit- 
tee's report  alleged  that  "the  house  [of  the  First 
Church]  was  not  big  enough  to  hold  the  people,  and, 
for  want  of  room,  many  of  the  eastern  end  of  the 
town,  and  many  others  on  other  accounts,  stayed 
away  from  public  worship  ;  and  a  great  many,  under 
pretence  of  being  of  the  Church  of  England,  went  to 
Marblehead  in  boats,  [so]  that  our  harbor  appeared 
more  like  a  day  of  frolicking  than  anything  else." 
The  First  Church  resisted  separation  as  long  as  it 
could,  and  more  than  hinted  in  its  acquiescence  at 
the  last  that  the  "proceedings  of  some  of  the  said 
brethren"  had  been  "irregular"  and  "contrary  to 
good  order;"  but  seeing  a  meeting-house  already 
built,  and  knowing  that  a  minister  was  selected  and 
ready  to  be  ordained,  it  finally,  in  1718,  made  a  virtue 
of  necessity,  ceased  from  further  opposition,  and  gave 
the  Second  Church  its  benediction  at  parting. 

The  year  1718  was  an  eA'entful  year  to  the  First 
Church,  made  so  by  its  having  recently  lost  by  death, 
both  within  three  weeks,  its  two  ministers  (Rev.  Mr. 
Noyes  and  Eev.  Mr.  Curwin),  by  the  settling  of 
another  (Eev.  Samuel  Fisk),  by  the  erection  of  a 
large,  new  church  building  for  its  own  use,  and  by 
the  completing  of  the  new  East  Church  building  for 
the  people  living  in  that  section,  and  the  organization 
of  a  separate  church  and  congregation  there,  over 
«  which  Rev.  Robert  Stanton  was  ordained  the  minis- 
ter on  the  8th  of  April,  1719.  The  East  Society's 
meeting-house  was  situated  half  a  mile  to  the  east  of  the 
First  Church,  on  Essex  Street,  at  the  corner  of  what  was 
then  Grafton's  Lane  (now  Hardy  Street).  In  the  sermon 
of  Dr.  Flint,  just  above  quoted,  it  is  thus  described, 
— "  The  house  was  in  dimensions  originally  forty  by 
sixty  feet,  and  what  has  been  called  tunnel-shaped, 
the  belfry  and  spire  ascending  from  the  centre  of  the 
roof."  In  1761  this  meeting-house  was  new  sashed 
and  glazed ;  iu  1766  clap-boarded  ;  in  1770,  "  there  not 
being  room  to  accommodate  the  congregation,"  it  was 
voted  to  enlarge  it,  which  was  done  the  following 
year  by  dividing  it  in  the  centre,  carrying  the  western 
half  fourteen  feet  farther  west,  and  covering  in  this 
additional  space.  The  seams,  showing  the  lines  of 
junction  between  the  old  part  and  the  new,  were 
visible  in  the  plaster  of  the  ceiling  till  the  house  was 
abandoned,  in  1846.  At  the  time  of  the  enlargement 
a  new  steeple  was  built  at  the  western  end,  and  a 
porch  was  added  at  the  eastern  end.  In  1846  the 
present  church  edifice  was  built  and  occupied. 

The  birth-place  of  Rev.  Robert  Stanton,  the  first 
minister  of  the  East  Church,  is  not  known.  Mr. 
Felt  gives  1692  as  the  year  of  his  birth.  He 
graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1712,  and  died 
May  30,  1727.  after  a  ministry  of  eight  years.     Dr. 


Flint,  the  fourth  in  the  line  of  his  successors,  inters 
that  his  ministry  was  peaceful  and  happy,  from  the 
fact  that  nothing  to  the  contrary  has  been  recorded, 
and  that  his  early  death  was  regretted  alike  by  hia 
people  and  the  community  at  large.  Mr.  William 
Jennison  was  ordained  the  year  following  Mr.  Stan- 
ton's death ;  that  is,  in  1728,  May  2d.  He  was  born 
in  Watertown  in  1705,  and  died  in  the  same  town  in 
April,  1750,  having  been  dismissed  from  the  East 
Church  Sept.  13,  1736.  He  graduated  at  Harvard 
College  in  1724.  His  letter  of  resignation  is  pathetic 
in  its  humility.  A  disaffection  of  his  society  towards 
him  had  become  general,  the  cause  of  which  is  not 
now  known.  "  Honored  and  Beloved,"  he  wrote,  "I 
esteem  myself  very  unhappy  that  I  have  fallen  under 
your  displeasure.  Glad  would  I  be,  if  it  lay  in  my 
power  to  fulfill  the  ministry  I  have  received  among 
you,  [so]  as  to  approve  myself  to  God  and  to  the  con- 
sciences of  all  of  us  ;  but  when  I  consider  the  great 
and  long  uneasiness  and  dissatisfaction  you  have  la- 
bored under  (for  which  I  am  heartily  sorry),  I  despair 
of  being  re-instated  in  your  love  and  afiection,  so  as 
to  answer  the  great  ends  of  the  sacred  office  among 
you.  I  am  therefore  willing  to  accept  a  dismission 
from  the  sacred  office  among  you,  which  I  write  with 
fear  and  trembling,  not  knowing  at  present  what  will 
become  of  me  and  mine;  but  earnestly  trusting  to 
your  favor  and  kindness  towards  us  under  the  diffi- 
culties of  my  situation,  and  which  you  have  encour- 
aged me  to  hope  for,  upon  my  being  freely  and  wil- 
lingly dismissed.  I  heartily  wish  the  best  of  blessings 
to  your  dear  church  and  flock.  ..." 

The  long  ministry  of  Rev.  James  Diman  fol- 
lowed that  of  Mr.  Jennison.  Mr.  DJman  was 
born  on  Long  Island,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  29,  1707,  grad- 
uated at  Harvard  College  in  1730,  was  librarian 
of  the  college  two  years,  was  ordained  in  Salem 
May  11,  1737,  and  died  Oct.  8,  1788.  His  minis- 
try was  peaceful  for  the  most  part,  and  so  success- 
ful that  an  enlargement  of  the  meeting-house  was 
required  in  his  day  and  was  made.  Towards  the  end 
of  his  pastorate,  however,  his  society  became  desirous 
of  a  colleague.  A  large  portion  of  the  peojjle  had 
fallen  out  of  sympathy  with  their  minister's  opinions 
and  teachings,  which  were  rigidly  Calvinistic,  and,  in 
this,  at  variance  with  their  own.  These  divergencies 
led  at  length  to  an  interruption  of  harmony;  feelings 
of  personal  coldness  and  alienation  set  in.  After  a 
reluctant  assent  to  the  expressed  wishes  of  the  society 
for  a  colleague,  in  1783,  and  the  settlement,  the  same 
year,  of  one  who  held  theological  views  not  in  accord 
with  his  own,  the  senior  minister  manifested  an  in- 
creasing estrangement  and  withdrawal  from  his  soci- 
ety. Mr.  Diman  is  described  as  "  of  grave  aspect,  in- 
vested with  the  imposing  dignity — rather  stern  and 
awe-inspiring — peculiar  to  the  ministers  of  the  age 
of  huge  wigs,  which  were  a  symbol  of  the  clerical 
authority  and  the  orthodox  theology  of  the  day." 

The  colleague  called  to  assist  Mr.  Diman  was  the 


SALEM. 


43 


widely-known  scholar,  independent  thinker,  political 
writer  and  vigorous  preacher,  William  Bentley,  who 
"  dispensed  at  once  with  the  wig  and  creed  of  which 
it  had  been  so  long  the  symbol."  Mr.  Bentley  was 
born  in  Boston  June  22,  1759,  graduated  at  Harvard 
College  in  1777,  was  three  years  tutor  there,  ordained 
in  Salem  Sept.  24,  1783,  died  Dec.  19,  1819,  the 
discourse  at  his  funeral  being  preached  by  Professor 
Edward  Everett,  then  connected  with  the  college  at 
Cambridge.  The  beginning  of  Mr.  Bentley's  ministry 
marked  the  transfer  of  the  East  Church  from  apparent 
allegiance  to  the  theology  of  the  Westminster  Assem- 
bly to  that  of  a  liberalism  not  yet  defined,  but  which 
later  took  the  name  of  Unitarian.  It  cannot  be  said 
that  the  new  minister  brought  about  the  change,  since 
we  have  seen  that  the  people  of  that  church,  in  choos- 
ing a  minister,  showed  a  preference  for  one  of  a  dif- 
ferent type  from  that  of  their  senior  pastor,  even 
while  the  latter  was  yet  preaching  to  them — they 
having  already  departed  from  the  doctrinal  faith  up- 
held by  him.  This  more  liberal  theology,  which 
proved  to  be  the  nascent  New  England  Unitarianism, 
was,  to  a  wide  extent,  "in  the  air,"  in  the  last  quarter 
of  the  last  century,  in  Eastern  Massachusetts,  though 
not  yet  developed  into  an  open  and  systematized  con- 
fession of  faith,  nor  exciting  yet  the  opposition  and 
alarm  which  it  caused  in  the  early  years  of  the  pres- 
ent century,  greatly  disturbing  all  the  Congregational 
Churches  of  New  England,  and  dividing  a  considera- 
ble portion  of  them  into  two  polemic  camps.  Of  the 
Boston  clergy,  a  considerable  number  had  ceased  to 
hold  to  the  creed  of  the  New  England  founders.  Some 
were  pronounced  in  their  disaffection  and  dissent; 
some  simply  refrained  from  teaching  important  parts 
of  the  creed  of  Calvin  and  the  Westminster  divines. 
Mayhew  and  Howard,  of  the  West  Church ;  Chauncey 
and  Clarke,  of  the  First  Church;  and  Lathrop,  of  the 
Second  Church,  who  preached  Mr.  Bentley's  ordina- 
tion sermon,  were  well  known  for  their  liberal  opin- 
ions. So  were  Mr.  Barnard,  of  the  North  Church, 
and  Mr.  Prince  of  the  First  Church  in  Salem;  while 
the  pastors  of  two  churches  of  the  Episcopal  order  in 
Boston  and  Salem,— Rev.  James  Freeman,  of  the 
King's  Chapel  in  Boston,  a  friend  and  classmate  of 
Mr.  Bentley,  and  born  the  same  year,  and  Rev.  Na- 
thaniel Fisher,  rector  of  St.  Peter's  in  Salem — were 
by  common  repute  of  the  same  general  way  of  think- 
ing. 

It  was  with  men  like  these  that  Mr.  Bentley  was 
classed  theologically,  if,  indeed,  he  was  not  more 
unorthodox  than  they;  and  this  fact  recommended 
him  the  more  as  an  acceptable  candidate  to  the  wor- 
shippers in  the  East  meeting-house.  Chiefly  on  ac- 
count of  his  political  opinions,  which  were  in  accord 
with  those  of  the  Republicans  of  his  day,  as  opposed 
to  those  of  the  Federalists,  and  on  account  of  his 
frequent  and  strong  enforcement  of  these  opinions 
through  the  press,  lie  was  not  in  close  and  cordial 
professional  fellowship  with  his  clerical   brethren  of 


the  neighborhood,  they  being  for  the  most  part  Fed- 
eralists. Consequently  his  interchange  of  pulpit 
services  with  them  was  much  more  restricted  than  it 
would  otherwise  have  been,  being  confined  to  a  few. 
He  was  an  ardent  patriot.  On  the  22d  of  February, 
1793,  he  delivered  an  oration  commemorative  of  the 
birthday  of  George  Washington  to  a  very  large 
assembly  in  the  North  meeting-house.  Again,  after 
the  death  of  Washington,  he  was  invited  by  the  citi- 
zens of  Salem  to  pronounce  a  funeral  oration,  which 
he  did  in  the  same  place  before  a  vast  gathering  of 
people.  When  the  United  States  frigate  "Constitution  " 
was  driven  into  Marblehead  harbor  by  the  British 
cruisers  Tenedos  and  Endymion,  on  Sunday,  April 
3,  1814,  and  a  messenger  brought  the  news  to  the 
church.  Dr.  Bentley  promptly  dismissed  the  congre- 
gation and  hastened,  with  many  of  his  parishioners, 
to  the  scene  of  the  expected  attack. 

Dr.  Bentley  was  a  man  of  broad  culture,  of  a  wide 
range  of  reading  and  research,  and  of  a  catholic  mind. 
The  deep  and  long-enduring  influence  which  he  exerted 
is  attested  by  the  traditions  that  still  live  among  the 
people  of  Salem,  showing  the  authority  that  went  with 
his  name  and  word.  He  did  not  write  for  posterity, 
but  for  his  own  time,  caring  little  for  fame.  His  fame 
reached  beyond  his  immediate  neighborhood  and  out- 
lasted his  time,  not  because  he  planned  it  to  be  so, 
but  because  of  the  powers  of  his  large  and  many-sided 
personality  and  his  wealth  of  resources.  He  had 
much  and  varied  learning,  had  it  at  command,  and 
possessed  along  with  it  that  bracing,  balanced,  health- 
ful "common  sense"  which  is  so  wncommon.  His 
heart  was  warm,  his  sympathies  were  quick,  his  hand 
was  always  in  practice,  both  for  giving  and  serving. 
"From  all  that  I  have  learned  of  him,"  says  his  suc- 
cessor, Dr.  Flint,  "  I  have  conceived  of  him  as  pos- 
sessed of  a  vigorous  and  brilliant  intellect, — rapid  and 
exuberant  in  thought, — of  great  ease  and  fluency  of 
speech, — untrammeled  by  the  authority  of  names  or 
systems  in  philosophy  or  theology, — interpreting  the 
universe  and  the  Bible  fearlessly  by  the  light,  which 
enlighteneth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world, — the 
light  of  the  soul,  which  is  greater  than  the  outward 
universe,  or  the  mere  letter  of  the  Bible."  Dr.  Bent- 
ley never  married.  "  Having  no  family  ties  to  divide 
his  cares  and  responsibilities  with  his  people,  he  made 
them  his  family.  And  the  affection  he  manifested 
for  them  he  had  the  happiness  to  know  was  cordially 
reciprocated  by  them."  Once  he  wrote  for  posterity — 
a  "  Historical  Sketch  of  Salem,"  published  in  the 
"  Collections  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society" 
(vol.  vi.). 

Dr.  Bentley's  successor,  just  above  quoted,  was 
Rev.  James  Flint,  born  in  Reading  December  10, 
1779;  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1802;  ordained 
over  the  church  in  Bridgewater  [East  Parish]  Octo- 
ber 29,  1806;  installed  pastor  of  the  East  Church,  in 
Salem,  September  19,  1821 ;  he  died  March  4,  1855. 
He  was  the  sole  minister  of  the  East  Church  for  thirty 


44 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


years,  till  1851,  when  Eev.  Dexter  Clapp  became  his 
colleague.  The  period  of  Dr.  Flint's  ministry  was 
one  of  steady  prosperity  for  the  society.  In  1846  the 
beautiful  brick  church,  with  front  of  free  stone,  was 
built  on  what  is  now  Washington  Square  (then  Brown 
Street),  over  against  the  southwest  angle  of  the  com- 
mon. Dr.  Flint  was  a  man  of  scholarly  tastes,  had  a 
poetic  temperament,  and  his  graceful  and  vivid  writ- 
ing, combined  with  an  animated  and  warm  delivery 
of  his  discourses,  made  him  an  attractive  preacher, 
welcomed  always  in  the  pulpits  of  his  denomination, 
as  his  presence  was  acceptable  also  on  those  more 
public  occasions  which  brought  him  before  his  fellow- 
citizens  at  large. 

Rev.  Dexter  Clapp,  installed  as  colleague  with 
Dr.  Flint  December  17,  1851,  was  born  July  15, 
1816,  in  Easthampton,  Mass. ;  graduated  at  Am- 
herst College,  1839,  and  at  the  Cambridge  Divinity 
School  in  1842;  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  Unitarian 
Church  in  Savannah,  Ga.,  November  26,  1843,  and 
continued  in  the  ministry  there  for  a  few  years,  after 
which  he  was  settled  over  the  Second  Church  in  Rox- 
bury  (First  in  West  Roxbury)  five  years.  He  was 
minister  of  the  East  Church  twelve  years,  till  Feb- 
ruary, 1864,  when  he  resigned  on  account  of  ill-health. 
He  died  July  26, 1868.  During  his  ministry  in  Salem 
his  society  was  united  and  strong.  It  was  with  sin- 
cere regret  that  his  resignation  was  accepted.  He 
was  a  spiritually-minded  man,  an  earnest  i^reacher, 
and  a  high  ideal  of  ministerial  duty  miide  both  his 
pulpit  and  his  pastoral  services  acceptable  and  effec- 
tive. 

A  few  months  after  his  resignation  Rev.  Samuel 
C.  Beane  was  called  by  the  society  to  succeed  him. 
Mr.  Beane  was  born  December  19,  1835,  in  Candia, 
N.  H.;  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College  in  1858,  and 
from  the  Cambridge  Divinity  School  in  1861 ;  ordained 
in  Chicopee,  Mass.,  January  15,  1862;  installed  in 
Salem  January  1,  1865;  resigned  January  1,  1878; 
installed  in  Concord,  N.  H.,  January  9,1878;  resigned 
May  10,  1885,  since  which  time  he  has  been  a  mis- 
sionary for  Northern  New  England,  appointed  by  the 
American  Unitarian  Association.  Rev.  George  H. 
Hosmer  was  installed  pastor  of  the  East  Church  Jan- 
uary 1,  1879,  and  resigned  January  1,  1886.  He  was 
born  in  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  May  14,  1839;  graduated  at 
the  Meadville  Theological  School,  1866  ;  ordained  as 
an  evangelist  in  1867,  and  after  preaching  in  Deer- 
field,  Mass.,  some  time,  was  installed  in  Bridgewater 
December  ]  7, 1868,  where  he  remained  ten  years.  He 
was  installed  in  Neponset  February  20,  1887.  Rev. 
William  H.  Ramsey,  the  present  minister,  was  or- 
dained October  15,  1886. 

Episcopal.— *Si!.  Pefer's.— The  great  majority  of  the 
first  settlers  of  Salem  brought  with  them  no  love  of 
Episcopacy  from  the  Old  World  home.  John  Lyford, 
the  well-known  disturber  of  the  peace  of  Plymouth, 
"came  hither  also,'"  as  an  associate  of  Roger  Conaut, 
and  held  geryices  for  a  time,  before  Endicott  and  his 


company  came,  according  to  the  usages  of  the  Eng- 
lish Church.  He  was  here  but  a  short  time,  however, 
as  he  went  to  Virginia  in  1627,  and  died  there  the 
same  year.  Of  Endicott's  company  there  were  a 
few — at  least  the  two  brothers  Brown,  John  and  Sam- 
uel— who  did  not  fail  in  loyalty  to  the  Church  of 
England.  They  were  leading  men  and  councillors. 
When  they  saw  in  the  organization  of  the  First 
Church  that  a  new  departure,  amounting  to  a  virtual 
secession  from  the  National  Church,  was  determined 
on,  they,  with  some  others  of  like  mind,  set  up  a  sep- 
arate worship  after  the  order  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer.  When  Governor  Endicott  summoned  them 
to  answer  for  their  schismatic  attitude  towards  the 
Salem  Church,  they  persisted,  "  and  therefore,  find- 
ing those  two  brothers  to  be  of  high  spirits  and  their 
speeches  and  practices  tending  to  mutiny  and  faction, 
the  Governor  told  them  that  New  England  was  no 
place  for  such  as  they,  and  therefore  he  sent  them 
both  back  to  England  at  the  return  of  the  shijis  the 
same  year."  "This  proceeding,"  says  Palfrey,  "  had 
first  raised,  and  for  the  present  issue  had  decided,  a 
question  of  vast  magnitude.  The  right  of  the  Gov- 
ernor and  Company  of  Massachusetts  Bay  to  exclude 
at  their  pleasure  dangerous  or  disagreeable  persons 
from  their  domain  they  never  regarded  as  questiona- 
ble, any  more  than  a  householder  doubts  his  right  to 
determine  who  shall  be  the  inmates  of  his  house."  ^ 
The  experiment  of  Episcopal  worship  was  not  tried 
again  with  a  view  to  permanency  for  a  long  time.  To 
Mr.  George  R.  Curwen's  valuable  notes,  which  I  am 
kindly  permitted  to  use,  I  am  indebted  for  many  in- 
teresting and  important  facts  in  the  history  of  St. 
Peter's  Church.  He  says  that  in  1727  Rev.  George 
Pigot,  then  rector  of  St.  Michael's,  in  Marblehead, 
delivered  monthly  lectures  and  administered  rites  of 
the  English  Church  in  Salem,  from  which  he  infers 
that  there  was  an  organized  parish  of  that  order  here 
at  that  time.  In  1733  a  church  was  built  on  "  Prison 
Lane"  (now  St.  Peter's  Street),  and  was  consecrated 
June  25,  1734,  the  land  on  which  it  stood  having  been 
given  in  part  for  the  purpose  by  Philip  English  and 
his  family,  a  pew  in  the  church  being  set  apart  to 
them  as  an  equivalent  for  the  rest.  The  gift  was  es- 
timated at  nineteen-tvventy-fourths  of  the  value  of  the 
land,  viz.,  ninety-five  pounds,  the  other  five-twenty- 
fourths  representing  the  estimated  value  of  the  pew, 
viz.,  twenty-five  pounds.  This  church  had  forty  pews 
and  a  tower  upon  its  western  end.  It  gave  place  to  the 
present  Gothic  stone  building  in  1833,  which  was  en- 
larged in  1845  and  further  improved  not  many  years 
since  by  the  erection  of  the  stone  chapel  annexed  to 
it.  Rev.  Charles  Brockwell,  a  graduate  of  Cambridge, 
England,  was  the  first  rector,  entering  upon  his  office, 
says  Mr.  Curwen,  October  8,  1738.  (Mr.  Felt  says 
May  9,  1739.)  November  27,  1746,  he  left  St.  Peter's, 
having  been  appointed  by  the  Bishop  of  London   to 

I  '  History  of  New  England,"  vol.  i.,  p.  299. 


SALEM. 


45 


King's  Chapel,  in  Boston.  He  died  August  20,  1755, 
says  Felt  (April  20, 1755,  say  Osgood  &  Batchelder,  in 
sketch  of  Salem),  at  the  age  of  tifty-nine. 

Mr.  Brockwell  was  educated  at  St.  Catherine's  Hall, 
Cambridge,  and  was  appointed  by  the  Society  (in 
England)  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  for- 
eign parts,  to  St.  Andrew's  Church,  in  Scituate,  Mass., 
but  "  finding  neither  the  place  nor  the  people  to  an- 
swer his  expectations,"  he  removed  to  Salem.  The 
officers  of  the  Salem  Church,  in  applying  to  the  So- 
ciety in  England  for  a  clergyman  to  succeed  him,  in 
1747,  testify  to  his  faithfulness,  and  speak  of  theirs  as 
"  this  infant,  though  flourishing  church." 

Rev.  William  McGilchrist  was  appointed  his  succes- 
sor. Mr.  McGilchrist  was  born  in  Glasgow,  Scotland, 
1703;  graduated  at  Baliol  College,  Oxford,  in  1731; 
ordained  priest  in  1733,  and  sent  by  the  above-men- 
tioned missionary  society,  in  1741,  to  Charleston, 
South  Carolina.  After  four  years'  service  he  was 
obliged,  by  the  state  of  his  health,  to  return  to  Eng- 
land. Recovering  from  his  illness,  he  was  appointed 
to  succeed  Mr.  Brockwell  in  Salem,  and  entered  on 
the  duties  of  his  office  in  1747.  He  died  in  the  min- 
istry in  Salem,  April  19,  1780,  aged  seventy-three 
years.  His  services  seem  not  to  have  been  quite  con- 
tinuous, however,  through  the  thirty-four  years  inter- 
vening between  his  settlement  and  his  death.  The 
opposition  to  the  English  Church  establishment  had 
not  died  out.  The  parish  was  not  strong,  though  it 
gradually  increased  until  1761,  when  it  was  found 
necessary  to  add  twenty  feet  to  the  length  of  the 
church  building.  It  was  not  without  difficulty,  however, 
that,  in  the  face  of  popular  odium  and  legal  ban,  the 
small  congregation  upheld  its  standard.  In  1777  the 
revolutionary  spirit  was  impatient  and  intolerant. 
The  Legislature  passed  a  law  prohibiting  the  reading 
of  the  Episcopal  service  under  heavy  penalties. 
Later,  however,  the  service  was  reinstated  by  the 
rector.  From  1771  to  December,  1774,  Rev.  Robert 
B.  Nichols,  a  native  of  the  West  Indies,  educated  at 
Queen's  College,  Oxford,  was  an  assistant  to  Mr.  Mc- 
Gilchrist. He  was  afterwards  a  chaplain  in  the 
British  army,  and  became  still  later  dean  of  Middle- 
ham,  England. 

Rev.  Nathaniel  Fisher  was  the  next  rector.  He  was 
born  in  Dedham  July  8,  1742.  The  mother  of  Fisher 
Ames,  the  distinguished  statesman  and  orator,  was  his 
sister.  Mr.  Fisher  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in 
1763,  taught  a  school  in  Granville,  near  Annapolis, 
Nova  Scotia,  under  the  patronage  of  an  English  mis- 
sionary society,  soon  after  the  Revolutionary  War  be- 
gan. In  1777  he  went  to  London,  and  was  there  or- 
dained a  priest  by  the  celebrated  Dr.  Robert  L-iwth, 
Bishop  of  London,  and  was  licensed  on  the  25th  of 
September  of  that  year  as  assistant  to  Rev.  Mr. 
Wood,  of  Annapolis,  and  continued  after  thedeath  of 
Mr.  Wood,  which  occurred  the  following  year,  in 
charge  of  his  mission  in  Annapolis  and  Granville, 
till  the  close  of  the  year  1781.     On  his  return  to  Mas- 


sachusetts at  that  time  he  was  invited  to  Saint  Peter's 
Church,  Salem,  and  entered  upon  his  duties  there, 
February  24,  1782.  His  ministry  in  Salem  extended 
over  a  period  of  thirty  years,  and  closed  only  with 
his  life,  on  Sunday,  December  20,  1812.  Mr.  Fisher 
became  a  man  of  leading  influence  in  the  Episcopal 
Church  in  Massachusetts,  being  active  in  the  early 
years  of  his  ministry  in  measures  for  the  organization 
of  that  church  in  Massachusetts  and  parts  adjacent, 
and  was  held  in  high  respect  by  the  clergy  and  laity. 
He  was  a  man  of  independent  mind  and  action,  more 
than  once  casting  a  solitary  vote  in  conventions  of 
the  Episcopal  Chui'ch  on  important  questions  coming 
before  them,  when  his  voice  alone  broke  the  other- 
wise unanimous  decision.  He  was  a  man  of  strongly- 
marked  traits  of  character,  "and  very  decided  and 
fixed  in  his  prejudices,  which  he  took  no  pains  to 
conceal."  His  demeanor,  says  his  successor.  Rev. 
Charles  Mason,  was  somewhat  stern,  but  he  was  a 
man  of  generous  feelings  and  habits.  In  person  he 
was  strongly  built  and  of  a  large  frame.  His  consti- 
tution was  vigorous,  and  remained  firm  till  his  death. 
In  the  preface  to  a  volume  of  his  sermons  published 
several  years  after  his  death,  it  is  observed  that  "to 
clearness  of  apprehension  the  author  joined  a  spright- 
ly imagination,  which  was  exercised  with  care  and 
modesty,  and  contributed  equally  to  illustrate  and  en- 
liven his  sentiments.  This,  as  well  as  the  other 
faculties  of  his  mind,  was  regulated  and  enlivened  by 
a  devoted  study  of  the  ancient  classics,  which,  to  the 
latest  period  of  his  life,  he  read  with  the  ardor  of  a 
true  scholar.'' 

"  In  regard  to  these  sermons,"  says  Rev.  Mr.  Ma- 
son, "  it  may  be  proper  to  add  that  while  they  contain 
earnest  and  impressive  appeals  to  the  heart  and  con- 
science, especially  those  which  the  author  last  wrote, 
— we  find  in  them  no  clear  and  distinctive  instruc- 
tion upon  the  great  orthodox  doctrines  of  the  church. 
They  convey,  indeed,  no  positive  doubt  in  regard  to 
any  of  these  doctrines,  but  are  deficient  in  such  defi- 
nite statements  as  would  show  that  the  writer  firmly 
and  heartily  maintained  them.  It  is  possible  that 
they  may  not  do  entire  justice  to  their  author  in  this 
respect,  and  that  the  preferences  of  the  editor,  who  is 
supposed  to  be  a  friend  who  afterwards  joined  the 
ranks  of  the  Unitarian  denomination,  may  have  in- 
sensibly biased  his  judgment  in  the  selection."  The 
person  referred  to  as  having  edited  the  volume  of  ser- 
mons wasprtbably  the  late  Joseph  Story,  one  of  thejus- 
tices  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 
Judge  Story  was  a  devoted  friend  and  parishioner  of 
Mr.  Fisher,  and  to  his  pen  is  attributed  a  highly  ap- 
preciative obituary  notice  of  his  pastor,  which  ap- 
peared in  the  Salem  Gazette  of  December  25,  1812. 

At  the  time  of  Mr.  Fisher's  death  the  congregation 
worshipping  in  Saint  Peter's  Church  was  in  a  very  fee- 
ble condition.  The  commercial  misfortunes  and  restric- 
tions that  led  the  way  to  the  War  of  1812  had  operated 
disastrously  upon  the  town,  and  especially  upon  the 


46 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Episcopal  Society.  The  clergy  of  the  town,  of  various 
denominations,  severally  in  turn,  supplied  the  pulpit 
of  the  church  through  a  series  of  Sundays  succeeding 
Mr.  Fisher's  death.  The  ministry  of  Mr.  Fisher  was 
followed  by  that  of  Rev.  Thomas  Carlile,  who  first 
officiated  as  lay  reader,  and  after  ordination  entered 
upon  the  duties  of  rector  January  22,  1817.  He  was 
born  in  Providence,  R.  I.,  January  12,  1792,  and 
graduated  at  Brown  University,  1809.  His  ministry 
was  eminently  useful  to  the  parish,  raising  it  from 
the  low  condition  in  which  he  found  it  to  a  position 
of  comparative  prosperity.  He  resigned  the  rector- 
ship October  6,  1822,  and  died  in  Providence  March 
28,  1824. 

Rev.  Henry  W.  Ducachet,  who  followed  Mr.  Car- 
lile, was  born  February  7,  1797,  in  South  Carolina. 
He  was  educated  at  Princeton,  studied  medicine  and 
practiced  as  a  physician  some  years  in  Baltimore  and 
New  York.  Changing  his  profession  for  that  of  the 
ministry,  he  first  served  St.  Peter's  Parish,  as  lay 
reader,  in  1823,  and  for  a  short  time  as  rector,  after 
ordination  as  a  priest.  He  resigned  December  5, 
1825,  and  removed  to  Norfolk,  Virginia. 

Rev.  Thomas  W.  Coit,  the  next  rector,  was  born  in 
New  London,  Conn.,  June  28, 1803,  graduated  at  Yale 
College,  1821,  was  settled  in  Salem  July  16,  1826,  re- 
signed March  22,  1829,  and  became  rector  of  Christ 
Church,  Cambridge,  Mass.  He  died  in  Middletown, 
Conn.,  June  21,  1885.  His  ministry  in  Salem,  though 
short,  was  very  useful  to  the  parish.  He  was  highly 
esteemed  in  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  wrote  vigor- 
ously in  defense  of  churchmen,  as  against  the  Puri- 
tans. 

The  St.  Peter's  Parish  was  much  disheartened 
when  Mr.  Coit  left  them,  but  entered  into  a  corre- 
spondence with  Rev.  Alexander  V.  Griswold,  bishop 
of  the  Eastern  Diocese,  and  then  rector  of  St.  Mi- 
chael's Church,  in  Bristol,  R.  I.,  which  resulted  in 
his  coming  to  Salem  to  take  the  pastoral  charge  of 
St.  Peter's,  which  he  did  December  24,  1829.  He 
continued  in  the  office  till  June  26, 1834,  when  he  re- 
moved to  Boston.  Mr.  Griswold  was  born  in  Sims- 
bury,  Conn.,  April  22,  1766,  and  died  February  15, 
1843.  He  was  widely  known  and  universally  esteemed 
through  Eastern  Massachusetts  for  his  personal  vir- 
tues and  his  exemplary  simplicity,  dignity  and  fidel- 
ity in  the  responsible  office  to  whose  duties  he  was 
devoted.  During  the  ministry  of  Bishop  Griswold 
the  new  stone  church  was  built,  his  last  official  act 
being  its  consecration. 

Rev.  John  A.  Vaughan  was  Bishop  Griswold's 
successor.  He  entered  upon  his  duties  June  26. 
1834.  Mr.  Vaughan  graduated  at  Bowdoin  College 
in  1815,  and  resigned  the  Salem  rectorship  in  1836. 
Rev.  Charles  Mason  followed  him,  being  inducted 
into  the  ministry  in  Salem  May  31,  1837.  Mr. 
Mason  was  a  son  of  Jeremiah  Mason,  the  eminent 
lawyer;  was  born  in  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  July  25, 
1812;   graduated  at  Harvard   College,   1832.     Dur- 


ing his  ministry  the  church  was  enlarged  by  a  chan- 
cel and  vestry-room.  The  congregation  increased 
and  there  was  growing  strength  and  constant 
union  in  the  parish.  Mr.  Mason  resigned  May  30, 
1847,  and  became  rector  of  Grace  Church,  Boston,  in 
which  office  he  continued  until  his  death,  March  23, 
1862. 

Rev.  William  R.  Babcock  came  to  the  vacant 
rectorship  April  30,  1848,  and  resigned  April  18, 
1853.  He  was  born  in  Westerly,  R.  I.,  March  28, 
1814 ;  graduated  at  Brown  University,  1837.  From 
Salem  he  removed  to  Natchez,  Miss.  Rev.  George 
Leeds  succeeded  him  in  the  St.  Peter's  rectorship 
September  4,  1853,  and  resigned  April  8,  1860.  He 
was  born  in  Dorchester,  Mass.,  October  25,  1816.  Mr. 
Leeds  removed  from  Salem  to  Philadelphia,  and  died 
there  April  15,  1885. 

Rev.  William  Rawlins  Pickman  was  the  next 
rector.  He  took  charge  of  the  parish  October 
7,  1860,  and  left  it  in  1835.  There  was  a  serious 
interruption,  in  the  course  of  his  ministry,  to  the 
harmony  which  had  existed  before,  and  the  agita- 
tion did  not  cease  while  he  continued  in  office. 
Rev.  James  O.  Scripture  succeeded  Mr.  Pickman  in 
November,  1865.  He  was  born  June  26, 1839 ;  gradu- 
ated at  Dartmouth  College,  1860,  and  died  August  9, 
1868,  having  officiated  in  all  the  usual  services,  in- 
cluding the  communion,  at  St.  Peter's  Church,  the 
Sunday  next  preceding  his  death.  He  died  sincerely 
mourned  by  his  warmly  attached  and  suddenly  be- 
reaved congregation.  From  May  1,  1870,  to  March  28, 
1875,  Rev.  Edward  M.  Gushee  filled  the  rectorship  of 
St.  Peter's,  having  been  previously  settled  over  St. 
Paul's  Church  in  Wallingford,  Conn.  From  Salem 
he  removed  to  Cambridge,  Mass.,  and  is  in  charge  of 
a  church  in  that  city.  In  1872,  during  the  ministry 
of  Rev.  Mr.  Gushee,  the  stone  chapel  was  erected  in 
rear  of  the  church.  The  present  rector  of  St.  Peter's, 
Rev.  Charles  Arey,  D.D.,  commenced  his  services  in 
Salem  September  26,  1875.  He  came  to  Salem  from 
St.  John's  Church  in  Buffiilo,  N.  Y.  He  was  born  in 
Wellfleet,  Mass.,  August  22,  1822. 

Tabernacle  Church.— The  Tabernacle  Church 
is  next  in  age  among  the  churches  of  Salem.  The 
causes  of  its  origin  have  been  already  mentioned, 
in  part,  in  the  story  of  the  First  Church,  to  which  the 
reader  is  referred.  In  1735  the  disaifection  in  the 
First  Church  towards  Rev.  Samuel  Fisk,  its  minister, 
came  to  a  crisis,  as  has  been  stated,  in  his  exclusion 
from  the  pulpit  of  that  church,  and  his  withdrawal 
with  a  majority  of  its  members  :  Dr.  Worcester  says, 
"  three-fourths,  at  least,  of  the  church  and  society;'' 
the  remaining  members,  in  their  petition  calling  for  a 
meeting  for  reorganization,  assert  that  the  late  minister 
"  was  dismissed  by  a  major  part  of  the  brethren  of  the 
church  of  the  First  Parish,  qualified  by  law  to  act  in 
that  matter."  Thepreacherof  the  first  Centennial  Dis- 
course says  that  neither  the  day  nor  the  month  can 
be  ascertained  when  Mr.  Fisk  and  his  friends  deter- 


SALEM. 


47 


mined  to  establish  themselves  upon  a  separate  founda- 
tion, or  when  they  consummated  their  determination 
by  any  formal  process.  In  inquiring  for  the  birth- 
day of  this,  the  "  Third,"  or  Tabernacle  Church,  I  in- 
cline to  fix  on  May  4,  1735,  as  its  probable  date. 
This  church  conceived  of  itself  as  having  had  a  con- 
tinuous life  and  identity  with  the  church  of  1629. 
It  was  not  till  the  23d  of  May,  1768,  that,  by  a  formal 
vote,  it  relinquished  the  title  of  the  First  Church  and 
assumed  that  of  the  Third  Church.  But  its  date  of 
actual  beginning  may  be  assumed  to  be  the  first  time 
it  a!«sembled  after  its  expulsion  from  the  meeting- 
house of  the  First  Church.  If  the  exclusion  was,  as 
the  record  says,  on  the  27ih  of  April,  1735,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  the  congregation  met  somewhere, 
probably  enough  at  the  house  of  Joseph  Orne,  the 
next  Sunday,  which  would  be  May  4,  1735.  They 
soon  began  the  building  of  a  new  meeting-house, 
which  was  comi>leted  in  1736.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  they  first  placed  it  too  near  the  house  of  the  old 
parish,  "  only  twelve  perches  and  eleven  feet "  from 
it,  and  that  the  General  Court  ordered  it  to  be  re- 
moved to  a  limit  "not  nearer  to  the  other  than  forty 
perches."  This  house  stood  nearly  upon  the  site  of 
the  Perley  Block,  and  was  completed  early  in  1736. 

In  1744  Mr.  Fisk  asked  for  a  colleague.  The 
confidence  felt  at  first  in  his  leadership  and  in  the 
wisdom  of  the  step  taken  in  separating  from  the  mother 
church,  had  begun  to  wane.  Some  correspondence 
was  had  with  that  church  relative  to  an  accommoda- 
tion. No  agreement  could  be  reached.  Rev.  Dudley 
Leavitt  was  called  to  be  colleague  with  Mr.  Fisk.  He 
declined  to  take  the  office  of  colleague  pastor,  but,  it 
was  understood,  might  consider  an  invitation  to  be- 
come sole  pastor.  August  12,  1745,  the  congregation 
voted  that  Mr.  Fisk  be  discharged  from  ecclesiastical 
relations  with  the  society ;  the  church  had  taken  simi- 
lar action  two  weeks  before.  The  way  being  now 
considered  open  for  Mr.  Leavitt's  settlement,  the  call 
to  hiai  was  renewed  and  accepted,  and  he  was  or- 
dained October  23,  1745,  not,  however,  peacefully. 
Mr.  Fisk's  friends  were  present  at  the  time  and  place 
appointed  in  sufficient  force  to  interrupt  the  public 
services  and  prevent  the  orderly  proceedings  of  the 
ceremony.  Those  who  had  come  together  to  settle 
the  new  minister  retired  from  the  tumultuous  scene 
to  a  neighboring  garden,  where,  under  the  shelter  of 
a  tree,  the  service  of  ordination  took  place.  Mr.  Lea- 
vitt died,  sincerely  lamented,  February  7,  1762.  The 
society  prospered  during  his  ministry.  The  church, 
says  Mr.  Worcester,  became  "more  Calvinistic"  un- 
der his  preaching.  Mr.  Leavitt  was  born  in  Stratham, 
N.  H.,  in  1720,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in 
1739.  That  his  influence  was  marked  in  cahning  the 
troubled  waters  of  controversy,  that  his  mind  was 
large  and  his  spirit  catholic,  and  that  the  impression 
made  by  his  labors  was  deep  and  lasting,  is  shown  by 
the  fact  that  the  church  which  had  been  led  by  his 
counsels  not  only  surrendered  its  claim  to  the  title  of 


First  Church,  soon  after  his  death,  but  voted  to  take, 
in  affectionate  commemoration  of  him,  the  title  of 
"The  Church  of  which  Rev.  Dudley  Leavitt  was  late 
Pastor."  It  kept  this  name  from  August  2,  1762,  to 
May  23,  1763,  when  it  voted  to  assume  the  name  of 
the  "  Third  Church." 

Mr.  John  Huntington  was  ordained  successor  of 
Mr.  Leavitt  September  28,  1763,  but  lived  less  than 
three  years  from  his  ordination,  dying  May  30,  1766, 
at  the  early  age  of  thiry  years.  He  was  born  in  Nor- 
wich, Conn.,  in  1736,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  Col- 
lege in  1763. 

The  next  ministry  was  that  of  Rev.  Nathaniel 
Whitaker,  D.D.,  which  continued  for  fourteen  or 
fifteen  mostly  stormy  years.  He  was  settled  July 
28,  1769,  and  his  connection  with  the  society  was 
dissolved  February  24,  1784.  He  made  some  un- 
usual conditions  as  preliminary  to  his  acceptance 
of  the  society's  invitation  to  Salem.  The  cus- 
tomary services  of  installation  were  not  to  be  ob- 
served. Certain  articles  of  agreement  between  him- 
self and  the  church  must  be  adopted,  changing  ma- 
terially the  method  of  church  government  and  organ- 
ization from  that  usual  with  Congregational  Churches, 
making  it  essentially  Presbyterian.  He  afterwards 
endeavored  to  bring  the  church  formally  into  connec- 
tion with  the  Boston  Presbytery.  He  was  himself  a 
Presbyterian.  With  a  view  to  substitute  some  equiv- 
alent for  the  omitted  installation  service,  he  proposed 
that  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Diman,  Barnard  and  Holt,  neigh- 
boring ministers,  should  be  invited  to  be  present  "  as 
friends  to  the  society  and  the  common  cause  of  relig- 
ion." This  was  done,  and  the  ministers  invited  re- 
turned an  answer  declining  the  invitation,  not  wish- 
ing to  countenance  proceedings  which  they  character- 
ized as  "  irregular,"  and  remonstrating  against  the 
course  taken,  though  in  an  entirely  friendly  spirit. 
The  church  was  prepared  to  comply  with  all  requisi- 
tions made  by  the  pastor-elect.  He  was  a  man  of 
popular  gifts  ;  his  preaching  was  much  admired.  He 
was  energetic,  active,  inclined  to  assume  power  and  to 
take  control  in  whatever  matters  engaged  his  interest. 
The  conditions  of  the  union  between  pastor  and  people 
had  not  been  very  distinctly  drawn.  The  church, 
under  the  blinding  glamours  produced  by  the  preach- 
er's brilliancy,  accepted  everything,  and  soon  awoke 
to  the  fact  that  they  were  entangled  in  the  meshes  of 
various  concessions  not  well  defined,  opening  doors  to 
misunderstanding  and  contentions  which  in  due  time 
ripened  into  open  and  bitter  strife.  On  the  6th  of 
October,  1774,  the  meeting-house  of  the  society  was 
burned.  At  this  time  those  who  had  been  pushing  a 
resolute  opposition  to  Dr.  Whittaker  withdrew  and 
organized  the  church  now  known  as  the  South 
Church.  Reports  unfavorable  to  Dr.  Whittaker'a 
character  had  been  in  circulation,  and  the  secession 
of  those  who  had  withdrawn  did  not  bring  peace. 
The  attendance  upon  his  ministrations  fell  off",  and 
after  long  and  persistent  efforts  to  accomplish  the  end, 


48 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


the  society  relieved  itself  of  its  discredited  pastor  and 
of  Presbyterianism,  and  resumed  its  place  among  the 
Congregational  Churches  of  the  town. 

After  the  burning  of  the  first  meeting-house  the 
society  built  a  new  one  on  the  corner  of  Washington 
and  what  was  then  Marlborough  (now  Federal)  Streets, 
the  site  of  the  present  church.  The  new  church  was 
built  in  1776,  though  not  supplied  with  pews  until  the 
following  year.  The  society  was  not  in  a  condition  to 
make  the  building  of  it  easy,  or  to  bring  it  promptly 
to  completion.  When  dedicated,  it  was,  says  Dr.  Wor- 
cester, without  galleries,  without  pulpit  and  without 
even  plastering  upon  the  walls.  Being  modeled  after 
Whitfield's  London  Tabernacle,  the  building,  and 
from  it  the  church  and  congregation  took,  in  the  pop- 
ular speech,  its  name,  which  in  time  was  adopted  by 
the  society,  though  without  any  definite  action  au- 
thorizing it.  The  close  of  Dr.  Whittaker's  ministry, 
in  1784,  was  in  striking  contrast  with  its  imposing 
beginning.  His  friends  were  few,  he  had  no  regular 
salary,  his  parish  was  weak,  his  fame  tarnished.  He 
was  born  in  Long  Island,  N.  Y.,  February  22,  1732, 
graduated  at  Princeton  College,  1752,  and  died  Janu- 
ary 21,  1795,  in  Virginia. 

Rev.  Joshua  Spaulding  followed  him.  He  was 
ordained  October  26,  1785.  The  society  recovered 
its  strength  under  his  ministry,  and  for  a  time 
prospered.  The  meeting-house,  having  added  pul- 
pit and  galleries,  was  finished  and  furnished.  Mr. 
Spaulding,  says  Mr.  Worcester,  was  a  man  of  un- 
questioned piety,  "  but  the  vehemence  and  pungency 
with  which  he  preached  the  distinguishing  doctrines 
of  grace  often  inflamed  the  enmity  of  the  carnal 
mind,"  and  tended  to  make  him  "  less  popular."  En- 
gaging also  in  political  controversy,  both  with  pen 
and  voice,  and  finally  asserting  his  own  right,  as  pas- 
tor, "  to  negative  the  votes  of  the  church,"  he  brought 
upon  himself  finally  a  warm  and  determined  counter- 
action of  his  measures,  within  his  church,  and  was  led 
to  ask  a  dismission,  which  took  place  April  23,  1802. 
He  did  not  cease  to  minister  to  a  portion  of  his  flock, 
however,  as  those  who  disapproved  of  the  action  of 
the  society  in  dismissing  him  withdrew  with  him 
from  the  church  and  organized  "  the  Branch,"  or 
Howard  Street  Church,  of  which  more  is  to  be  said  in 
its  place.  Mr.  Spaulding  was  born  in  Killingly,  Conn., 
graduated  at  Dartmouth  College,  1786,  resigned  the 
pastorship  of  the  Branch  Church  May  4,  1814,  and 
died  September  26, 1825,  at  the  age  of  sixty-five  years. 

The  next  minister,  the  fifth  in  the  ministerial  line  of 
the  Tabernacle  Church,  was  Eev.  Samuel  Worcester, 
D.D.  He  was  installed  pastor  of  the  Tabernacle 
Church  in  Salem,  April  20,  1803,  and  continued  in 
the  ofiice  till  his  death,  June  7,  1821.  His  ministry 
covered  a  period  of  great  religious  activity,  in  and  out 
of  his  church,  in  which  he  bore  a  conspicuous  part. 
The  Unitarian  controversy,  which  divided  many  of  the 
principal  Congregational  Churches  of  Eastern  Massa- 
chusetts, was  at  its  height.  Dr.  Worcester  was  a  promi- 


nent champion  on  the  orthodox  side,  and  wrote  in 
opposition  to  Dr.  Channing,  especially  in  review  of 
the  sermon  preached  by  Dr.  Channing  at  the  ordina- 
tion of  Mr.  John  Emery  Abbot  over  the  North 
Church  in  Salem,  April  20,  1815.  He  was  an  active 
promoter  of  the  organization  of  the  American  Board 
of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  in  1810,  and 
became  its  corresponding  secretary.  In  his  church 
the  first  missionaries  to  India  were  ordained  and  com- 
missioned on  the  6th  of  February,  1812.  His  influ- 
ence extended  widely  beyond  his  society,  and  was 
strong  and  deep  within  it.  His  labors  outside  his 
church  became  so  weighty  and  engrossing  that  a  col- 
league was  settled  in  1819,  that  his  connection  with 
his  people  might  continue,  though  only  a  part  of  his 
time  and  strength  could  be  devoted  to  their  service. 
The  meeting-house  underwent  no  little  change  during 
these  years.  In  1804  it  lost  its  dome  and  belfry  in  a 
tempest.  The  next  year  a  steeple  was  built  upon  its 
front,  changing  it  materially  from  its  original  tent- 
like form.  Mr.  Worcester  was  born  in  Hollis,  N.  H., 
November  1,  1770,  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College, 
1795,  and  had  been  five  years  pastor  of  a  church  in 
Fitchburg  before  his  settlement  in  Salem.  He  was  a 
younger  brother  of  Noah  Worcester,  the  "  apostle  of 
peace,"  and  the  author  of  "  Bible  News  "  and  some 
other  important  contributions  to  the  Trinitarian  con- 
troversy, upon  the  Unitarian  side. 

The  colleague  settled  with  Dr.  Worcester,  July  21, 
1819,  was  Mr.  Elias  Cornelius,  a  native  of  Somers, 
N.  Y.,  born  July  31,  1794,  graduated  at  Yale  College 
1813,  dismissed  from  the  Tabernacle  Church  December 
22,  1826,  to  take  a  position  in  the  service  of  the  Amer- 
ican Education  Society.  He  died  February  12,  1832. 
His  parish  esteemed  him  an  able  and  devoted  man, 
and  regretted  his  departure.  February  14,  1827, 
John  P.  Cleaveland  succeeded  him.  Mr.  Cleaveland 
was  born  in  Rowley  July  19,  1799,  graduated  at 
Bowdoin  College,  1821,  was  dismissed  from  the  Tab- 
ernacle Church  May  14,  1834. 

His  successor,  the  eighth  in  the  pastoral  line, 
was  Rev.  Samuel  Melanchthon  Worcester,  son  of 
Rev.  Samuel,  chronicled  above  as  the  fifth  in 
the  line.  He  was  born  in  Fitchburg,  September 
4,  1801  ;  graduated  at  Harvard  College,  1822  ; 
from  1823  to  1834  professor  in  Amlierst  Col- 
lege ;  settled  in  Salem  December  3,  1834 ;  resigned 
January  31,  1860;  died  August  16,  1866.  His  tastes, 
though  scholarly,  and  his  training,  though  directed  to 
service  in  the  church,  did  not  limit  his  sympathies 
and  activities  to  scholastic  or  ecclesiastical  lines.  He 
was  a  true  patriot  and  took  a  profound  interest  in  the 
national  crisis  which  the  country  passed  through  in 
the  years  from  1860  to  1865.  He  had  represented 
the  town  of  Amherst,  the  city  of  Salem  and  Essex 
County  in  the  State  Legislature.  His  orthodoxy  was 
stanch  and  positive,  but  his  spirit  was  genial  and 
kind,  and  his  bearing  was  courteous  and  friendly  with 
all. 


T  T.St^^^!□^t;3ostor^. 


/OiVlyHA^T^ 


SALEM. 


49 


A  new  ciiurch — the  present  building — was  erected 
in  1854,  on  or  near  the  site  of  the  old,  and  a  large 
new  chapel,  of  two  stories,  was  built  in  its  rear  and 
in  connection  with  it,  in  1868, — the  ample  size  and 
commodiousness  of  theae  buildings  attesting  the 
prosperity  of  the  society,  and  the  largeness  of  the 
wants  they  were  designed  to  meet. 

Mr.  Charles  Ray  Palmer  was  ordained  pastor  of  the 
church  August  29,  1860,  and  dismissed  June  13, 1872. 
Mr.  Palmer  was  born  in  New  Haven,  Conn.,  May  2, 
1834 ;  graduated  at  Yale  College,  1855,  and,  after  his 
dismission  from  the  Tabernacle  Church,  became  the 
pastor  of  a  church  in  Bridgeport,  Conn.  From  June, 
1872  to  Dec.  31, 1873,  the  church  was  without  a  pastor. 
On  the  last-named  date  Rev.  Hiram  B.  Putnam  was 
installed.  His  health  failed,  causing  him  to  seek  a 
dismission,  which  took  place  March  15,  1877.  Mr. 
Putnam  was  born  in  Dan  vers  January  27,  1840; 
graduated  at  Amherst  College,  1860,  and  had  been 
settled  over  a  church  in  West  Concord,  N.  H., 
before  his  installation  in  Salem.  Rev.  De  Witt  S. 
Clark,  the  present  pastor  of  the  church,  was  installed 
January  15,  1879.  He  was  born  in  Chicopee,  Mass., 
September  11,  1841 ;  graduated  at  Amherst  College, 
1863,  and  had  been  pastor  of  a  church  in  Clinton, 
Mass.,  before  his  settlement  in  Salem. 

North  Church.— On  the  3d  of  March,  1772, 
The  Proprietors  of  the  North  Meeting  House  organized 
themselves  into  a  religious  society  with  the  above 
title,  in  the  Salem  Town  Hall.  They  had  been  mem- 
bers of  the  First  Parish ;  there  were  forty-three.  On 
the  19th  of  July  of  the  same  year,  fifty-two  persons, 
having  received  a  dismission  from  the  First  Church  on 
the  16th  of  May  preceding,  met  at  the  house  of  Ben- 
jamin Pickman,  on  Essex  Street,  opposite  St.  Peter's 
Street,  constituted  themselves  a  church,  which  they 
afterwards  voted  should  be  called  the  North  Church. 
This  secession  from  the  First  Parish  grew  out  of  a 
disagreement  in  the  choice  of  a  minister.  In  1770  the 
highly-esteemed  minister  of  the  First  Church,  Rev. 
Thomas  Barnard,  became  disabled  by  paralysis,  and 
his  people  looked  for  a  colleague.  Thomas  Barnard, 
Jr.,  a  son  of  the  pastor,  who  had  a  little  before  com- 
pleted his  preparation  for  the  ministry,  supplied  his 
father's  pulpit  for  some  months,  and  about  half  of  the 
society  earnestly  desired  his  settlement  as  colleague 
pastor.  A  small  majority  preferred  another  man, 
who,  after  much  delay,  was  called  and  ordained.  The 
disappointed  friends  of  the  younger  Barnard  were 
unwilling  to  give  him  up,  and  organized  the  new 
(North)  society,  as  above  related.  A  site  for  a 
meeting-house  had  been  selected  and  purchased  on 
the  14th  of  February,  1772,  on  the  corner  of  Lynde 
and  North  Streets,  on  the  western  line  of  what 
was  early  known  as  "  Sharpe's  Training-Field."  This 
meeting-house  was  first  opened  for  public  worship 
August  23, 1772,  though  not  nearly  completed.  After 
occupying  it  three  Sundays,  the  proprietors  deter- 
mined to  add  side-galleries,  not  originally  contem- 
4 


plated  in  the  plan  of  the  building  committee.  It 
was  not  considered  finished  till  nearly  five  months 
after  the  society  began  to  meet  in  it.  It  was  a  house 
of  large  capacity,  and  was  on  that  account  much  re- 
sorted to  for  civic  celebrations  on  the  Fourth  of  July, 
and  on  other  public  days,  for  many  years.  Thomas 
Barnard,  Jr.,  was  ordained  January  13,  1773,  and 
continued  in  the  pastoral  ofiice  till  October  1,  1814, 
the  day  of  his  death.  He  came  of  a  ministerial  an- 
cestry. His  father,  an  uncle,  a  grandfather,  a  great- 
grandfather had  all  been  preachers ;  nor  does  this 
roll  completely  sum  up  the  clerical  kinsmen  descended 
from  the  American  progenitor,  Rev.  Francis  Barnard 
of  Hadley.  Thomas  Barnard,  Jr.,  was  born  in  New- 
bury, February  5, 1748 ;  graduated  at  Harvard  College, 
1766,  and  studied  theology  with  Dr.  Williams,  of 
Bradford,  afterwards  professor  at  Harvard  College. 
The  North  Society  suffered  in  common  with  other 
churches  during  the  Revolutionary  War.  Mr.  Barn- 
ard at  first  leaned  to  the  side  of  the  Royalists,  and  a 
considerable  number  of  his  leading  parishioners 
were  pronounced  Loyalists,  including  several  who 
quit  the  country.  He  turned  to  the  Whig  side,  how- 
ever, before  long,  and  was  afterwards  steadfast  in 
that  way.  Though  but  a  young  man,  he  made  him- 
self prominent  at  the  North  Bridge,  when  Colonel 
Leslie,  the  British  ofiicer,  came  at  the  head  of  three 
hundred  men  from  Marblehead,  for  guns  supposed 
to  be  collected  and  deposited  on  the  other  side  of  the 
North  River.  He  bore  himself  with  dignity  and  firm- 
ness that  day,  albeit  as  a  pacificator  of  the  roused 
passions  ready  to  burst  into  a  flame.  He  has  the 
credit  of  counseling  the  compromise  which  saved 
bloodshed,  and  led  to  the  turning  back  of  the  King's 
troops,  leaving  the  object  of  the  expedition  unac- 
complished. 

Dr.  Barnard's  long  ministry  justified  the  loyalty 
of  his  early  friends.  He  was  broad-minded,  wise  and 
catholic  in  spirit,  effective  as  a  preacher,  genial  and 
trustworthy  as  a  friend  and  a  pastor,  fond  of  chil- 
dren, and  the  society  was  united  and  prosperous 
through  his  ministry.  As  a  scholar  he  stood  well 
among  the  scholarly.  He  was  held  in  such  honor 
among  the  preachers  of  his  day,  and  was  of  such  repu- 
tation in  the  churches  and  in  the  State,  as  to  be  often 
sought  to  preach  on  days  of  general  public  conven- 
tion, both  ecclesiastical  and  other.  Among  the  able 
pulpit  leaders  of  thought  in  a  highly  intelligent  com- 
munity, and  at  a  time  when  theological  inquiry  was 
exciting  great  interest,  and  becoming  more  free  and 
earnest,  he  held  an  eminent  place,  held  it  long,  and 
at  the  close  of  his  forty  years  and  more  of  service, 
his  influence  showed  no  sign  of  waning.  In  his  theo- 
logical opinions  he  belonged  to  the  liberal  school,  and 
so  educated  his  congregation  that  they  elected  a  Uni- 
tarian to  succeed  him  with  hearty  unanimity. 

That  successor  was  John  Emery  Abbot,  son  of 
the  distinguished  head  of  Phillips  Academy,  in 
Exeter,    N.    H.,    Dr.    Benjamin    Abbot.     Mr.   Ab- 


50 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


bot  was  born   at   Exeter  August  6,   1793,  graduated 
at  Bowdoin  College  1810,  and  pursued  his  professional 
studies  partly  at  Cambridge,  under   the  direction  of 
Dr.    Henry    Ware,   Sr.;    and   partly  with  Dr.  Wil- 
liam Ellery  Channing,  of  Boston,  who  preached  at 
his  ordination    as    minister   of   the  North   Church, 
April  20,  1815.     The  sermon  of  Dr.  Channing  on  this 
occasion  produced  a  deep  and  wide-spread  impression, 
and   was   followed   by    strictures    and    controversial 
arguments  against  its  positions  from  the  pen  of  Dr. 
Samuel    Worcester,  of  the    Tabernacle  Church,   in 
Salem.     Mr.  Abbot,  not  yet  twenty-two  years  of  age, 
taking  charge  of  this  large  society,  and  giving  him- 
self with   great  devotion   to   the  studies  and  labors 
incidental  to  a  position  so  exacting  and  responsible, 
broke  down   in  health  within  two  years.     Rest  and 
travel  brought  only  temporary  and  partial  alleviation 
to   his  illness,  and  he  died   at  his  father's  house   in 
Exeter  October  7,  1819.     Though  his  ministry  was 
so    short,   it  left   a  lasting    influence.      Mr.    Abbot 
was  a  good  scholar  and  a  conscientious  student.   But 
his  highest  power  lay  in  a  soul  of  deep  religious  sen- 
sibility, a   character  of  rare   purity   and  loftiness  of 
aim,  and  a  consecrated  fidelity. 

Mr.  John  Brazer  succeeded   him.     His  ordination 
took   place    November   14,   1820.     Mr.   Brazer  was 
born  in  Worcester,  Mass.,  September  21,  1789,  grad- 
uated at   Harvard  College  1813,  was  appointed  tutor 
in  Greek   in   the   college    1815,   and   from    1817  to 
1820  was   tutor   in   Latin.      His  ministry  in   Salem 
ended   with   his    life,  February  26,  1846.      In   Jan- 
uary, 1846,  he  left  his  home  in  Salem  for  a  milder 
climate,  his  health  requiring  rest  and  change;  and 
he  died  at  the    plantation  of  his  friend   and   class- 
mate. Dr.  Benjamin   Huger,  on  Cooper  River,  near 
Charleston,   S.   C.      Dr.    Brazer   was  of  a  sensitive 
and   nervous   temperament,  which  made  him   seem 
reserved,  almost  shy,  to  many,  but  he  was  a  friend 
of  the  poor,  and  a  minister  of  comfort  to  the  sorrow- 
ing.    Conservative  by  nature,  he  was  a  preacher  of 
commanding    power,   clear  and  logical   in  thought, 
grave  and  dignified  in  manner,  serious  and  searching 
in  bringing  truth  home  to  the  conscience.     For  the 
twenty-five  years  and  more  of  his  ministry  he  held 
one  of  the  largest  and  most  intelligent  congregations 
in  Massachusetts  in  close  and  united  attendance  upon 
his  services.     During  all  this  period  the  society  was 
in   a    condition  of  the  highest    prosperity.     It  was 
during    the  ministry  of  Dr.  Brazer  that  the  present 
stone  church  was  built  on  Essex  Street.     The  ques- 
tion of  building  was  some   time   in    agitation.     The 
project  was  not  finally   approved   by   all.     But  the 
majority   having  decided    upon    it,  the  corner-stone 
was  laid  May  16,  1835,  and  the  church  was  dedicated 
June  22,    1836.      It    was  finished  at  first    perfectly 
plain  in  its  interior,  with  white  walls.     In  1847  it 
was    completely    changed  within,  aad    assumed   its 
present  appearance,  under  the  direction  of  the  late 
Francis  Peabody,  Esq. 


Mr.  Octavius   Brooks   Frothingham  was   ordained 
successor  to   Dr.  Brazer  March   10,  1847.      He   was 
born    in   Boston   November  26,  1822,   graduated   at 
Harvard  College  1843,  resigned  his  charge  in  Salem 
April  9,  1855,  and  was  installed  pastor  of  a  newly- 
gathered   Unitarian   Society  in  Jersey   City,   N.   J., 
September  11,   1855.      The    year  following   he   re- 
moved to  the  city  of  New  York   and   became  the 
minister  of  the  Third  Unitarian  Society  in  that  city, 
where   for  many  years  he  was  widely  known  as  an 
eloquent  expositor  of  so-called   "radical"   religious 
thought.      Leaving  this  position   in   somewhat   im- 
paired health,  Mr.  Frothingham,  after  a   period  of 
travel  and  rest,  has  taken  up  his  residence  in  Boston. 
Mr.  Frothingham's   ministry  in  the  North  Society 
produced  some  results  worthy  of  notice.     In  the  first 
years  of  it  his  theological  views  and   his   ideal  of 
the  ministerial  aim  were  in  closest  accord  with  those 
of  his  hearers.     They  were  what  were  termed,  in  the 
phrase  of  the  day,  conservative.     But  a  change  came 
— by    the    fault    of   nobody.     The   minister  was  in 
earnest  in  the  pursuit  of  truth.     It  led  him,  in  time, 
to  conclusions  which  modified  materially  his  pulpit 
utterances.     Some    persons  who    could   not  change 
with   him  no   longer   enjoyed    his    ministrations  as 
before.     But  we  have  to  notice  that  an  important  edu- 
cation went   on   under  this  experience  of  listening 
to  teachings  iu  themselves  not  welcome,  not  accepted, 
but  heard  with  respectful  attention,  because  of  the 
recognized  ability  and  sincerity  of  the  preacher.     It 
gave   the  society  broader  sympathies,   a  more  fear- 
less spirit  of  inquiry,   and   a  tolerant,  self-possessed 
and  catholic  mind  towards  all  forms  of  honest  thought. 
A  habit  of  candid  hearing  grew  ;  novel  and  unaccept- 
able teachings  were   heard  with  patience;  the  mind 
was  not  thrown  off"  its  balance  by  hearing  its   cher- 
ished opinions  arraigned  or  denied.     During  the  min- 
istry of  Mr.  Frothingham  the  society  built  its  vestry, 
in  the  summer  of  1853. 

Rev.  Charles  Lowe  succeeded  Mr.  Frothingham. 
Mr.  Lowe  was  born  in  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  Novem- 
ber 18,  1828,  graduated  at  Harvard  College  1847, 
was  tutor  in  Greek  and  Latin  in  the  college  1850-51, 
ordained  colleague  pastor  with  Rev.  John  Weiss, 
in  New  Bedford,  July  28,  1852,  resigned  in  1854, 
on  account  of  ill-health,  installed  minister  of  the 
North  Church,  Salem,  September  27,  1855,  and  re- 
signed July  28,  1857,  as  before,  on  account  of  ill 
health.  On  the  28th  of  May,  1859,  he  was  in- 
stalled minister  of  the  Congregational  (Unitarian) 
Church  in  Somerville,  and  after  a  ministry  of  nearly 
six  years,  was  once  more  compelled  by  the  state  of 
his  health  to  resign.  With  a  partial  regaining  of  his 
health  there  came,  as  was  always  sure  to  come  with 
returning  strength,  a  desire  of  active  service,  and  he 
gave  several  years  of  efficient  administration  to  the 
American  Unitarian  Association,  as  its  secretary,  be- 
sides editing  for  a  time  the  Unitarian  Review.  Mr. 
Lowe  died  June  20,  1874. 


SALEM. 


51 


The  present  minister  of  the  North  Society  is  Rev. 
Edmund  B.  Willson,  who  was  installed  June  5,  1859. 
He  was  born  in  Petersham,  Mass.,  August  15,  1820, 
was  a  little  while  in  Yale  College,  and  graduated  at 
the  Cambridge  Divinity  School,  1843,  ordained  in 
Grafton,  Mass.,  January  3,  1844,  installed  in  West 
Eoxbury  July  18,  1852. 

South  Church. — Mention  has  been  made  of  a  di- 
vision in  the  Third  (now  known  as  the  Tabernacle) 
Church,  in  1774,  growing  out  of  dissatisfaction  with 
Dr.  Whitaker,  and  a  secession  or  dismission  of  some 
thirty- eight  members  has  been  noticed  as  having 
taken  place  after  the  church  was  burned.  Those 
withdrawing  purchased  the  Assembly  House,  as  it 
was  called,  built  in  1766,  which  stood  on  the  site  of 
the  present  vestry  of  the  South  Church,  and  estab- 
lished public  worship  there.  They  organized  a 
church,  which  an  ecclesiastical  council,  so  far  as  such 
a  council  was  empowered  to  confer  and  confirm  a 
title,  authorized  to  take  the  name  of  the  Third  Church. 
An  issue  was  made  later  as  to  its  right  to  do  so.  It 
was  argued  that  not  even  an  ecclesiastical  council 
has  retroactive  power  to  alter  facts,  or  to  enact  that 
a  misrepresentation  shallhave  the  force  of  truth;  that 
this  was  not  made  the  Third  Church  in  Salem  by  a 
declaration  that  such  should  be  its  name.  There  was 
a  Third  Church  of  the  Congregational  order  (chrono- 
logically), and  this  was  not  it.  We  must  suppose  that 
the  church  worshipping  in  Cambridge  Street  considered 
itself,  on  some  ground  or  other,  as  having  come  right- 
fully into  possession  of  the  title  which  its  mother 
church,  Dr.  Whitaker's,  had  enjoyed,  but  had  now 
forfeited.  It  can  hardly  claim  that,  by  reason  of 
Dr.  Whitaker's  or  the  church's  defection  from  Con- 
gregationalism to  Presbyterianism,  the  title  of  the 
Third  Church  had  lapsed  or  become  a  disused  and  un- 
claimed waif,  which  any  church  might  pick  up  and 
appropriate  at  will.  If  the  transfer  of  Dr.  Whita- 
ker's church  to  the  Presbyterian  body,  real  or  quasi, 
had  broken  the  line  of  descent,  it  surely  had  broken 
it  as  fatally  for  the  daughter  church  as  for  the 
mother.  If  Dr.  Whitaker's  church  was  not  the 
Third  Church,  there  was  none,  or  the  North  Church 
was  that,  for  the  North  Church  was  organized  in 
1772.  If  the  church  worshipping  on  Cambridge 
Street  was  the  Third  Church,  what  was  that  church 
still  existing  under  the  ministry  of  Dr.  Whitaker  ? 
It  was  not  extinct.  Had  the  withdrawing  portion  of 
the  society  conveyed  away  with  it  the  entire  and 
identical  body,  of  which  it  had  been  but  a  member  — 
a  part?  and  could  it  assert  its  lineal  and  unbroken  de- 
scent from  Rev.  Samuel  Fisk's  church?  It  seems 
to  do  so.  What  did  this  withdrawal  of  the  aggrieved 
do  to  Dr.  Whitaker's  church  ecclesiastically,  legally, 
or  as  simple  fact  ?  Here  it  is  to-day,  under  whatever 
name,  the  same  church  that  has  had  a  continuous 
life  from  1735  to  this  year  of  grace. 

Such  has  been  the  general  line  of  argument  and 
statement  pursued  by  those  who  have  questioned  the 


historical  truth  of  that  name  adopted  by  the  church 
of  the  South  Society  in  February,  1775.  We  do  not 
see  how  it  is  to  be  answered.  There  was  one  more 
church  in  Salem  after  February  14,  1775,  than  there 
had  been  before.  Can  there  be  any  question  which 
one  began  at  that  time,  or  that,  in  fact,  the  church 
of  the  South  Society  was  the  new  one,  whose  ex- 
istence dates  from  that  time  ? 

The  meeting-house  of  the  Third  Church,  on  Essex 
Street,  was  burned  on  the  6th  of  October,  1774. 
The  dismissed  members  and  those  who  joined 
them  in  the  new  enterprise  had  their  purchased 
house  of  worship  ready  for  occupation  on  the  18th 
of  December  following.  The  church  was.  in  the 
phrase  of  its  own  preference,  "recognized"  by  a 
council  called  for  that  purpose,  February  14,  1775, 
and  this  may  be  taken,  in  our  judgment,  as  the  date 
of  the  beginning  of  the  church's  independent  exist- 
ence. The  society  called  itself  the  Third  Congrega- 
tional Society  till  March  15,  1805,  when  it  was  incor- 
porated-under  the  title  of  "  The  Proprietors  of  the 
New  South  Meeting-house,"  on  entering  its  new  (the 
present)  meeting-house  on  Chestnut  Street.  This 
house,  built  in  1804,  was  dedicated  January  1,  1805. 
It  was  remodeled  and  renewed  throughout  in  its 
interior  in  1860,  but  its  fine  exterior  architectural 
forms  and  proportions  were  preserved  unchanged. 

The  first  minister  was  Mr.  Daniel  Hopkins,  a  younger 
brother  of  Dr.  Samuel  Hopkins,  of  Newport,  R.  I., 
the  famed    theologian   and   founder  of  a  school   of 
divinity  well  known   in  the  beginning  of  the  cen- 
tury.    He   was  born   in  Waterbury,  Conn.,  October 
16, 1734,  graduated  at  Yale  College,  1758,  and  taught 
a  school   for  young  ladies  in  Salem   from   1766   to 
1778,   this  being  "  the  first  school  for  the  exclusive 
instruction  of  young  ladies  ever  instituted  in  Salem, 
and  taught  by  a  gentleman."      While  teaching  he 
preached  as  opportunity  offered.      He  was  ordained 
November   18,  1778,  and   his   ministry  continued  till 
his  death,  December  14,  1814,  he  having  the  assist- 
ance of  a  colleague   from  1805.     Mr.  Hopkins  pos- 
sessed some   of  the  traits  of  his  more  distinguished 
brother.     They  were  both  more  than  ministers,  warm 
patriots,  and  did  good  service  for  their  country  dur- 
ing the  Revolutionary  crisis.     Mr.  Hopkins,  of  New- 
port, was  a  resolute  foe  to  slavery  ;  the  Salem  brother 
was  a  forward  advocate  of  independence.     He  was  a 
member  of  the  Provincial  Congress  in  1775,  and  in 
1778  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Council  of  the  Con- 
ventional government.     His  theological  views  were 
in  substantial  accord  with  his  brother's.     His  sermons 
were  not  written  beyond  a  mere  outline.     "  The  doc- 
trines he  preached,"  says  his  son-in-law  and  colleague, 
Mr.    Emerson,  "and  the  plain,  direct  and  pungent 
manner  in   which   he   presented   them,  procured  for 
him  warm  friends  and  bitter  enemies.     Such  was  the 
opposition  awakened   against  him,  that  a  committee, 
consisting  of  some  of  the   most  influential    men  in 
the  town,  waited  upon  him  at  his  residence,  and  made 


52 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


a  formal  and  earnest  request  that,  for  the  peace  of 
the  community,  he  would  leave  the  town.  .  .  . 
With  characteristic  shrewdness,  he  closed  his  eyes, 
smoothed  down  his  face  and  mildly  said,  '  Gentle- 
men, I  smoke  my  own  tobacco.'  The  committee 
withdrew  and  gave  him  no  further  trouble."  At  the 
same  time  that  he  is  described  as  giving  offense  by  the 
severity  and  point  of  his  preaching,  enforced,  too, 
with  the  vigor  of  a  man  of  strong  native  talent,  he 
is  said  to  have  been  of  a  kind  and  amiable  disposition, 
affable  and  courteous  in  social  intercourse,  his  con- 
versation  marked    by    good    sense    and   pleasantry. 

April  24,  1805,  shortly  after  entering  the  new  meet- 
ing-house,  Mr.  Brown  Emerson  was  ordained  col- 
league pastor,  and  commenced  a  ministry  of  the  re- 
markable length  of  sixty-seven  years,  ending  with 
his  life,  July  25,  1872.  During  thirty-five  of  these 
years  he  was  sole  pastor,  having  been  for  the  first 
nine  years  the  junior  pastor  with  Dr.  Hopkins,  and 
the  last  twenty-three  years  the  senior  pastor  with  two 
juniors,  successively,  Eev.  Mr.  Dwinell  and  Rev.  Mr. 
Atwood.  For  the  last  fifteen  or  twenty  years  of  his  life 
his  participation  in  the  duties  of  the  ministerial 
oflSce  was  slight  and  infrequent,  and  for  a  few  years 
had  ceased  altogether.  He  was  born  at  Ashby, 
Mass.,  January  8,  1778,  and  graduated  at  Dartmouth 
College  in  1802.  The  union  and  strength  in  which 
the  society  maintained  itself,  while  he  ministered  to 
it,  best  attest  the  quality  of  the  man.  In  the  days 
of  his  highest  vigor  and  fullest  activity  he  was  a 
preacher  acceptable  to  his  hearers,  and  fulfilled  the 
duties  of  his  oftice  to  the  satisfaction  of  those  who 
attended  upon  his  ministry. 

Mr.  Israel  E.  Dwinell  was  ordained  colleague  with 
Mr.  Emerson  November  22,  1849,  and  resigned  on  ac- 
count of  loss  of  health  in  1863,  and  removed  to  Cali- 
fornia, in  whose  more  genial  climate  he  has  filled  a 
pastorate  of  many  years  in  Sacramento,  and  since,  for 
some  years,  a  professorship  in  the  Theological  Sem- 
inary in  Oakland,  California.  He  was  born  in  East 
Calais,  Vermont,  October  24,  1820,  and  graduated  at 
Burlington,  Vermont,  in  1843.  Rev.  Edward  S.  At- 
wood succeeded  Mr.  Dwinell  and  is  the  present  pas- 
tor of  the  church.  He  was  born  in  Taunton,  Massa- 
chusetts, June  4,  1833,  graduated  at  Brown  University 
in  1852,  and  was  installed  in  Salem  October  13,  1864. 
He  had  been  pastor  of  a  church  in  Grantville  (now 
Wellesley  Hills)  previous  to  his  settlement  in  Salem. 

Branch  Church  (or  Howard  Street). — It 
has  appeared  more  than  once  in  these  annals 
that  the  Puritans  did  not  leave  behind  them, 
on  quitting  England  and  its  church  establishment, 
the  elements  of  dissent  and  causes  of  division. 
From  every  form  of  dissent  dissenters  were  sure 
in  time  to  arise ;  and  if  doctrines  afforded  no  pre- 
text for  non-conformity,  administration  did.  Some- 
times voluntarily,  sometimes  upon  compulsion,  the 
division  took  place,  only  to  be  followed  by  sub-divi- 
sion.    The  multiplication  of  churches  came  oftener 


from  explosive  forces  within,  producing  cleavage, 
than  from  the  requirements  of  increasing  population. 
Each  portion,  majority  and  minority,  seceders  and 
seceded-from,  kept  in  itself  its  proportion  of  the  seeds 
of  separatism.  Separatists  who  had  once  tried  non-con- 
formity and  self-exile  had  had  a  lesson  and  an  experi- 
ence which  rendered  a  repetition  of  the  experiment  by 
th em  the  more  probabl e  and  the  more  easy.  Sometimes 
the  pastor  headed  the  exiles,  as  did  Rev.  Sam'l  Fisk,  lea- 
ving the  church  without  a  pastor ;  sometimes  the  pastor 
drove  a  restive  portion  of  the  flock  into  the  wilderness 
without  a  shepherd,  as  in  the  case  of  the  thirty-eight 
brethren  and  sisters  of  Dr.  Whitaker's  church.  And 
now  again,  in  1803,  from  this  same  church  goes  out 
the  minister.  Rev.  Joshua  Spaulding,  leading  forth 
such  as  preferred  sharing  with  him  exodus  and  uncer- 
tainty to  remaining  safe  in  the  fold  of  the  mother 
church  without  his  voice  to  guide.  In  this  way 
came  into  being  "  the  Branch  "  Church  (as  it  was  at 
first  called,  afterwards  (from  its  location,  the  Howard 
Street  Church).  These  emigrants  from  the  Tabernacle 
Church  possessed  abundance  of  energy  and  faith,  if 
they  were  not  rich  in  this  world's  goods.  Organized 
December  29,  1803,  after  a  brief  period  of  meeting  in 
a  private  house,  then  in  a  vestry  loaned  them,  and 
for  a  time  in  chance  pastures  with  neighboring  flocks, 
they  built  a  large  and  handsome  meeting-house  on 
Howard  Street  in  1804,  which  they  dedicated  Febru- 
ary 8,  1805.  They  were  not  a  quiet  people.  Their 
history  is  colored  by  varying  fortunes.  The  spirit  of 
zeal,  independence  and  aggressive  reform  had  its 
home  among  them.  Temperance  and  slave-emancipa- 
tion numbered  warm  and  self-sacrificing  advocates  in 
both  pulpit  and  pew.  Those  who  "sat  under"  the 
preaching  of  Rev.  George  B.  Cheever  and  Rev.  Charles 
T.  Torrey  were  in  no  danger  of  sleeping  under  it,  nor 
of  resting  in  indifference  to  the  great  social  evils  of 
their  time. 

After  the  example  of  the  mother  church,  from 
which  it  had  its  birth,  this  church,  for  a  time — from 
1814  to  1827— allied  itself  with  Presbyterianism,  and  in 
time  returned,  after  the  same  example,  to  the  Congre- 
gational order.  The  characteristics  of  the  first  min- 
ister. Rev.  Joshua  Spaulding,  have  been  touched  upon 
in  the  notice  of  the  Tabernacle  Church.  His  minis- 
try in  the  Howard  Street  Church  extended  from  April 
17,  1805,  to  May  4,  1814,  when  he  resigned  and  re- 
moved to  the  State  of  New  York.  He  died  Septem- 
ber 26,  1825.  For  nearly  five  years  after  Mr.  Spauld- 
ing's  removal  the  church  was  without  a  pastor.  It 
joined  the  Presbytery  of  Newburyport.  Rev.  Henry 
Blatchford  was  installed  in  its  ministry  January  6, 
1819,  and  resigned  December  20th  of  the  following 
year.  He  was  born  in  Lansingburg,  N.  Y.,  graduated 
at  Union  College  1811,  and  died  September  7,  1822. 
Mr.  William  Williams  was  ordained  his  successor 
July  5,  1821,  and  remained  pastor  of  this  church  till 
February  17,  1832,  when  he  resigned,  on  account  of  a 
division  in  the  church,  and  on  the  22d  of  November, 


SALEM. 


53 


1832,  was  installed  pastor  of  a  newly-gathered  church 
branch  of  this  "  branch,"  composed  of  a  very  consid- 
erable following  of  members  of  the  Howard  Street 
Church,  who  withdrew  with  the  pastor. 

Mr.  George  B.  Cheever,  the  next  minister  of  the 
church,  was  ordained  Feb.  13, 1833,  and  resigned  Jan. 
4,  1838.  He  was  born  in  Hallowell,  Maine,  April  17, 
1807,  and  graduated  at  Bowdoin  College  1825.  His 
ministry  was  a  busy  one.  An  irrepressible  vitality 
and  mental  activity  gave  his  pen  as  little  rest  as  his 
voice.  He  wrote  for  the  journals  and  the  reviews. 
His  eyes  were  about  bim  to  see  what  was  wrong  and 
reprehensible  in  the  customs  of  society  and  in  the 
conduct  of  individuals.  For  giving  his  pen  too  great 
freedom  in  his  strictures  upon  these  he  incurred  a 
suit  of  libel  and  a  judgment  involving  thirty  days'  im- 
prisonment. His  theology  was  Puritanic  and  posi- 
tive. His  convictions  were  strong  and  urgent.  He 
was  a  zealous  preacher  of  reform,  a  vehement  orator, 
aggressive  and  unsparing  in  attack  upon  whatsoever 
and  whomsoever  he  found,  in  his  judgment,  hinder- 
ing the  cause  of  which  he  was  the  champiou.  In  1838 
he  became  the  pastor  of  the  Allen  Street  Presbyterian 
Church  in  New  York,  and  in  1846  was  installed  pas- 
tor of  the  Congregational  Church  of  the  Puritans  in 
the  same  city.     He  still  lives  in  a  vigorous  old  age. 

Eev.  Charles  T.  Torrey  was  installed  on  the  day  on 
which  Mr.  Cheever  was  dismissed,  January  4,  1838. 
He  had  been  settled  before  as  pastor  of  the  Richmond 
Street  Congregational  Church,  in  Providence,  R.  I. 
He  was  born  in  Scituate  November  21,  1813,  grad- 
uated at  Yale  College  1833,  resigned  his  charge  in 
Salem  July  21,  1839,  and,  after  having  twice  suffered 
imprisonment  in  Baltimore,  Md.,  for  alleged  viola- 
tion of  the  laws  of  that  State  in  conspiring  with  slaves 
to  effect  their  escape  from  bondage,  died  in  the  Mary- 
land penitentiary  May  9,  1846. 

Mr.  Torrey  regarded  it  as  a  great  crime  to  enslave 
a  fellow-man.  He  preached  this  conviction.  He  car- 
ried his  faith  into  practice,  and  suffered  for  it.  The 
story  of  his  martyrdom,  as  told  by  Henry  Wilson  in 
"  the  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Slave  Power,"  possesses  a 
sad,  an  almost  romantic  interest.  "  Well-born,  with 
superior  talents,  education  and  professional  prospects, 
a  charming  home,  cheered  by  the  presence  of  a  lovely 
wife  and  little  ones,  he  sacrificed  them,  disregarded 
the  popular  sentiment  of  the  North,  and  braved  the 
vengeance  of  the  South,  to  aid  the  lowly  and  down- 
trodden." He  claimed  to  have  assisted  four  hundred 
slaves  to  obtain  their  freedom.  He  frankly  told  Rev- 
erdy  Johnson,  by  whom  he  was  defended  in  the 
courts  of  Maryland,  that  he  had  helped  one  of  his 
slaves  to  escape.  He  attempted,  with  others,  to  get 
out  of  the  Baltimore  prison.  Being  betrayed,  he  was 
heavily  ironed  and  placed  in  a  damp  and  low  arched 
cell,  and  treated  worse  than  i^  he  had  been  a  murder- 
er. "  I  was  loaded  with  irons  weighing,  I  judge, 
twenty-five  pounds,  so  twisted  that  I  could  neither 
stand  up,  lie  down,  nor  sleep."     December  30,  1843, 


he  was  sentenced  to  six  years'  imprisonment  in  the 
penitentiary.  After  his  death,  even  the  officials  of 
the  Park  Street  Church,  in  Boston,  refused  their  per- 
mission to  have  the  funeral  services  over  his  dead 
body  in  that  church.  But  an  indignant  multitude 
followed  his  remains  to  Mount  Auburn  with  tokens 
of  sorrow  and  sympathy.  And  Faneuil  Hall,  the 
evening  after,  echoed  the  mournful  but  honoring 
words  of  his  eulogists.  Whittier  wrote :  "  There  lies 
the  young,  the  beautiful,  the  brave  1  He  is  safe  now 
from  the  malice  of  his  enemies.  Nothing  can  harm 
him  more.  His  work  for  the  poor  and  helpless  was 
well  and  nobly  done.  In  the  wild  woods  of  Canada, 
around  many  a  happy  fireside  and  holy  family  altar, 
his  name  is  on  the  lips  of  God's  poor.  He  put  his 
soul  in  their  soul's  stead  ;  he  gave  his  life  for  those 
who  had  no  claim  on  his  love  save  that  of  human 
brotherhood." 

Rev.  Joel  Mann,  a  native  of  Orford,  N,  H.,  and 
graduate  of  Dartmouth  College  1810,  was  installed 
pastor  of  the  Howard  Street  Church  May  6,  1840,  and 
resigned  April  14,  1847.  At  the  time  of  Mr.  Mann's 
dismission  the  condition  of  the  church  seemed  so 
hopeless  of  substantial  revival  from  its  divisions  and 
losses,  that  the  council  called  to  dismiss  him  advised 
the  church  to  "separate  and  unite  with  other 
churches  till  they  can  organize  anew  with  a  greater 
prospect  of  union  and  usefulness.  The  major  part  of 
the  church  complied,  but  the  rest,  claiming  to  be  the 
Howard  Street  Church,"  still  clung  together,  and 
maintained  public  worship,  with  small  and  steadily 
declining  numbers,  for  about  seventeen  years  longer. 
Rev.  Messrs.  M.  H.  Wilder,  E.  W.  Allen  and  C.  C. 
Beaman  serving  as  ministers  during  that  time.  Rev. 
Mr.  Beaman,  the  last  of  the  number,  came  in  1857, 
and  resigned  October  2,  1864.  The  Howard  Street 
meeting-house  after  being  occupied  a  short  time  by  a 
newly-formed  "  church  of  the  New  Jerusalem,"  was 
sold  at  auction,  by  authority  of  the  Legislature  June 
28,  1867,  to  the  First  Methodist  Society  in  Beverly, 
and  in  1868  was  taken  down,  transported  across  the 
river,  and  set  up  again  on  Railroad  Avenue,  Beverly, 
with  the  exception  of  the  tower,  which  was  not  found 
in  good  enough  condition  for  re-erection.  This  year 
(1887)  a  lofty  tower  has  been  added  to  the  front  end 
of  the  church,  and  an  extension  has  also  been  made 
in  the  rear.  The  building  was  well  worth  preserving, 
whether  for  itself  or  its  history.  It  was  designed  un- 
der the  advice  and  direction  of  Mr.  Samuel  Macintire, 
a  Salem  carpenter,  famous  also  as  a  successful  church 
builder,  the  South  meeting-house  on  Chestnut  Street, 
in  Salem,  having  been  designed  by  him. 

It  will  be  seen  by  this  brief  sketch  of  the  history  of 
the  Branch,  or  Howard  Street  Church,— not  one  of  the 
older  churches  of  Salem,  beginning  its  existence  with- 
in the  present  century,  and  but  short-lived  as  the  lives 
of  churches  are  reckoned,  having  become  extinct  in 
about  sixty  years  from  its  formation, — that  it  has  had 
more  of  stirring  incident,  of  eventful  and  disintegrat- 


54 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


ing  controversy,  of  salient  characteristics  in  its  mem- 
bership and  of  striking  biographical  episodes  in  the 
career  of  its  pastors  than  usually  falls  to  the  lot  of 
churches  of  much  longer  life. 

When  the  use  of  the  North  meeting-house  was  re- 
fused to  Mr.  Crowninshield  and  his  friends,  for  the 
funeral  services  of  Captain  Lawrence  and  Lieutenant 
Ludlow,  who  lost  their  lives  in  the  engagement  be- 
tween the  frigates  Shannon  and  Chesapeake,  in 
1813,  the  doors  of  the  Howard  Street  meeting-house 
were  opened,  and  there  Mr.  Story's  eulogy  was  deliv- 
ered. The  inherent  spirit  of  Puritanism,  with  its 
flavor  of  intense  individuality,  fearless  assertion  of 
freedom,  its  equally  fearless  application  of  condemna- 
tory truth,  its  stiff,  "  conscientious  contentiousness; 
or  contentious  conscientiousness," — this  spirit  has 
had  many  a  picturesque  illustration  in  the  brother- 
hood of  "the  Branch." 

First  Baptist  Church — It  has  been  claimed  that 
there  were  Baptists  in  Salem  as  early  as  the  period  of 
Roger  Williams'  residence  and  ministry  here.  They 
were  here  prior  to  1639,  at  least.  That  year,  says 
Felt,  William  Wickenden,  a  Baptist  preacher,  moved 
from  Salem  to  Providence.  That  year  the  Salem 
Church  notified  the  Dorchester  Church  that  it  has 
excommunicated  Roger  Williams  and  nine  others 
named,  all  but  two  of  them  having  been  re-baptized. 
Anabaptists  they  were  often  called — that  name  signi- 
fying the  "  re-baptized."  It  was  not  till  December  24, 
1804,  that  the  First  Baptist  Church  was  embodied  in 
Salem.  Its  first  place  of  worship  was  a  frame  build- 
ing, one  story  high,  thirty-six  by  fifty-five  feet  in 
dimensions,  standing  not  far  from  the  spot  now 
occupied  by  the  meeting-house  of  the  society. 
"  This  house  faced  the  West,  and  stood  on  a  high 
bank,  forty  or  fifty  feet  East  of  North  Street,  with  its 
Southern  side  nearly  on  the  line  of  the  present  Odell 
court."  It  soon  gave  place  to  the  present  brick 
meeting-house,  which  was  dedicated  January  1,  1806. 
Since  its  opening,  considerable  land  has  been  pur- 
chased to  constitute  the  front  on  Federal  Street,  which, 
with  various  other  improvements,  have  given  the 
house  and  lot  their  present  attractive  aspect.  In  1868 
the  interior  of  the  building  was  reconstructed  and 
improved  throughout.  October  31,  1877,  it  was  vis- 
ited by  fire,  and  its  interior  so  destroyed  as  to  require 
rebuilding  entirely. 

The  first  minister  was  Mr.  Lucius  Bolles,  born 
in  Ashford,  Conn.,  September  25,  1779,  graduated 
from  Brown  University  1801,  and  settled  in  Salem 
January  9,  1805.  His  connection  with  the  church 
in  Salem,  as  an  active  pastor,  practically  ceased 
in  June,  1826,  when  his  release  from  the  pastoral 
office  was  requested  and  obtained  of  the  church, 
by  the  Baptist  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  that  he 
might  become  its  corresponding  secretary;  though 
for  eight  years  after,  till  August  6,  1834,  he  con- 
tinued to  be  the  senior  pastor  of  the  church,  with- 
out discharging  any  of  the  duties  of  the  office.     He 


died  in  Boston  January  5,  1844.  When  Mr.  Bolles 
came  to  Salem,  those  who  adhered  to  the  theological 
views  of  the  Baptists  "  were  ^evf  in  numbers  and  fee- 
ble in  resources,"  says  Dr.  R.  C.  Mills,  in  his  fiftieth 
anniversary  sermon :  "  The  state  of  piety  in  the 
American  churches  was  low."  In  theological  opinions 
the  early  Baptists  of  America  were  strictly  Calvinistic. 
The  disintegration  of  the  Calvinistic  creed  had  pro- 
gressed in  Eastern  Massachusetts  at  the  time  this 
church  was  formed,  so  far  as  to  cause  those  who  still 
held  it  in  its  integrity,  deep  solicitude  for  its  mainte- 
nance. The  Baptist  denomination  was  cordially 
allied  with  its  supporters  of  other  names,  and  regarded 
it«8lf  as  in  some  sort  an  especial  bulwark  against  the 
spread  of  the  opposite  errors;  as  the  case  was  set 
forth  by  one  of  its  ablest  advocates:  "Infant  baptism 
led  to  Arminianism,  and  that  to  Socinianism  in 
churches  which  had  been  strictly  Calvinistic." 

The  Baptist  Church  increased  from  the  first,  and  soon 
grew  strong  in  Salem,  under  the  devoted  ministry  of  its 
earliest  pastor.  There  was  no  considerable  hostility 
at  that  time  among  the  people  at  large,  either  to  the 
tenets  of  this  denomination  respecting  the  mode  and 
subjects  of  baptism,  to  which  many  persons  inclined, 
or  to  their  creed,  the  Unitarian  controversy  not  having 
yet  opened  into  public  discussion.  The  use  of  the 
North  meeting-house  (corner  of  Lynde  and  North 
Streets)  was  asked  for  the  ordination  services  at  the 
settlement  of  Mr.  Bolles,  and  was  granted  ;  but,  for 
some  reason,  they  were  held,  not  at  the  North,  but 
at  the  Tabernacle  Church;  possibly  because,  though 
the  vote  granting  the  use  at  the  North  meeting-house 
passed,  it  became  known  that  there  were  twelve  dis- 
sentients among  those  voting.  Dr.  Bolles  became 
eminent  in  his  denomination.  He  laid  his  founda- 
tions well.  A  minister  both  capable  and  zealous,  his 
period  of  service  was  long  enough  to  educate  a  gener- 
ation, and  so  to  fix  habits,  and  to  stamp  his  congre- 
gation with  distinctive  characteristics  which  have  run 
on,  doubtless,  into  the  succeeding  years.  In  twenty 
years,  and  before  he  left  them,  they  were  strong 
enough  to  colonize,  and  a  second  church  was  formed. 

Rev.  Rufus  Babcock  was  installed  as  colleague 
with  Dr.  Bolles  August  23,  1826,  and  was  practi- 
cally the  sole  pastor,  his  senior  having  relinquished 
to  him  all  pastoral  duties.  Mr.  Babcock  remained 
till  October  11,  1833,  when  he  resigned  to  accept 
the  presidency  of  Waterville  College,  in  Maine,  his 
resignation  being  accepted  by  his  people  with  re- 
luctance. Mr.  Babcock  was  born  in  Colbrook,  Conn., 
September  18,  1798,  and  was  graduated  at  Brown 
University,  1821.  After  leaving  Waterville  he  was 
pastor  of  churches  in  Philadelphia,  Poughkeepsie, 
New  Bedford  and  other  places.  He  died  in  Salem, 
Mass.,  May  4,  1874,  while  on  a  visit  among  old 
friends. 

August  6,  1834,  Rev.  John  Wayland,  having  been 
a  professor  in  Hamilton  College,  Clinton,  N.  Y.,  and 
called   from  that  position  to  succeed  Mr,  Babcock, 


SALEM. 


55 


was  settled  pastor  of  the  church,  and  continued  in 
office  until  near  the  close  of  1841,  his  resignation  be- 
ing accepted  November  12th  of  that  year.  Mr.  Way- 
land  afterwards  became  an  Episcopalian.  He  was 
held  in  high  esteem  by  his  parishioners  in  Salem. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  Thomas  D.  Anderson,  who 
was  settled  March  15,  1842.  In  1848,  his  health  hav- 
ing failed,  he  resigned,  and  his  resignation  was  ac- 
cepted, January  28th  of  that  year,  with  every  testi- 
mony of  regret  on  the  part  of  the  church  at  their  loss. 

Eev. Robert  C.Mills  was  installed  as  the  next  pastor 
of  the  church  June  14,  1848.  Dr.  Mills'  ministry 
continued  till  April  21,  1876,  when  he  resigned,  and 
within  a  few  years  after  removed  to  Newton,  in 
which  city  he  now  resides.  Dr.  Mills  was  born,  Feb- 
ruary 6,  1819,  in  New  York  City,  and  graduated  at 
the  University  of  New  York  1837.  His  was  the  long- 
est sole  and  active  pastorate  this  church  has  known, 
being  but  little  short  of  twenty-eight  years. 

Rev.  George  E.  Merrill  succeeded  Dr.  Mills  February 
2, 1877 ;  his  health  failed  after  some  years  of  active  ser- 
vice, and  he  resigned  June  1,  1885.  He  was  born  in 
Charlestown  December  19,  1846,  graduated  at  Har- 
vard College  1869,  and  had  been  settled  in  Spring- 
field, Mass.,  from  October,  1872,  to  January,  1877. 
In  the  more  equable  and  milder  climate  at  the  foot  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains  he  has  so  far  regained  health 
as  to  be  able  to  take  charge  of  a  Baptist  Church  at 
Colorado  Springs,  Col.  Rev.  Galusha  Anderson, 
D.  D.,  followed  Mr.  Merrill  in  the  pastorship  of  the 
church,  being  recognized  as  pastor  November  18, 
1885.  He  resigned  his  ministry  January,  1887,  to 
take  the  presidency  of  Granville  College,  Ohio.  He 
had  come  to  Salem  from  another  important  educa- 
tional position — that  of  the  presidency  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Chicago,  HI.  Mr.  Anderson  was  born  in  Ber- 
gen, Genesee  County,  N.  Y..  March  7,  1832,  gradu- 
ated at  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  1854,  was  two  years  pastor 
of  a  Baptist  Church  in  Janesville,  Wis.,  from  1858  to 
1866  pastor  of  the  Second  Baptist  Church  in  St. 
Louis,  Mo.,  from  1866  to  1873  professor  in  the  Theo- 
logical Seminary  at  Newton,  from  1873  to  1878  pas- 
tor of  the  Strong  Place  Church  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Free-Will  Baptist. — There  were  two  or  three 
kindred  religious  movements  in  the  early  years  of 
the  century,  which  were  not  very  clearly  distin- 
guished from  one  another  in  the  popular  appre- 
hension, but  whose  differences  assumed  no  incon- 
siderable importance,  for  a  time  at  least,  to  those 
who  contended  for  their  respective  tenets  and  built 
upon  them.  They  had  this  in  common  :  that  they 
marked  in  some  cases  a  partial  modification,  in 
some  a  pronounced  rejection  of  Calvinistic  doc- 
trinal standards,  as  a  ground  of  Christian  commu- 
nion and  church  fellowship.  They  also  indicated  the 
ecclesiastical  unrest  of  the  time,  and  showed  a  long- 
ing for  greater  spiritual  freedom,  a  growing  intel- 
lectual activity  and  courage,  and,  as  a  consequence,  a 
perceptible  widening  of  the  scope  of  theological  in- 


quiry and  religious  sympathy.  We  find  a  society 
formed  in  1806,  which  built  a  meeting-house  on  Eng- 
lish Street  in  1807,  and  which  Messrs.  Osgood  and 
Batchelder  mention  as  a  society  of  "  Free-Will  Bap- 
tists, sometimes  called  Christians."  These  two  are 
quite  different  denominations,  divided  on  theological 
grounds  and  on  the  conditions  of  fellowship.  The 
society  that  worshipped  in  English  Street  was  formed, 
says  Felt,  as  a  Free-Will  Baptist  Society.  Thirty 
years  later,  in  June,  1840,  a  portion  of  the  society, 
having  imbibed  the  views  of  Alexander  Campbell, 
withdrew  and  organized  a  separate  meeting,  taking 
the  name  of  "  Christians  "  (especially  repudiating  the 
name  Christ-ians,  by  which  they  were  more  commonly 
called),  and  worshipped  in  several  different  places  till 
they  became  extinct.  A  list  of  the  ministers  of  the 
Free-Will  Baptist  Society  in  "  Felt's  Annals  "  contains 
the  following  names:  John  Rand  (1806-07),  Abner 
Jones  (1807-12),  Samuel  Rand  (1813-14),  Moses  How 
(1816-19),  Abner  Jones,  1821.  George  W.  Kelton, 
William  Andrews,  William  Coe  and  Christopher 
Martin  are  also  said  to  have  preached  for  this  people 
prior  to  1840.  Among  the  ministers  who  preached 
for  the  Christians  were  William  W.  Eaton  (1843-47), 
David  O.  Gaskill  (1847-50  or  later). 

Universalist. — In  1804  a  Universalist  preacher, 
Samuel  Smith  by  name,  appointed  a  meeting  at  the 
Court  House  and  preached,  so  far  as  is  known,  the 
first  Universalist  sermon  ever  heard  in  Salem.  It  was 
not  altogether  a  satisfactory  service  to  those  who  at- 
tended it,  but  served  to  bring  together  and  make 
known  to  each  other  a  considerable  number  of  per- 
sons who  were  disposed  to  entertain  with  favor  the 
views  of  that  denomination.  Between  that  time  and 
1808  meetings  were  held,  at  first  at  irregular  intervals, 
but  soon  weekly,  as  an  established  Sunday  congrega- 
tion. Various  ministers  came  and  went, — the  veteran 
John  Murray,  Hosea  Ballou,  Thomas  Jones  of  Glou- 
cester, and  others.  The  meetings  were  held  in 
private  houses  at  first,  but  a  hall,  or  large  room,  in 
the  new  house  of  Nathaniel  Frothingham,  on  Lyude 
Street,  was  found  suitable,  and  there  they  stayed 
mostly,  till  their  meeting-house  was  built.  The  soci- 
ety was  organized  in  1805,  but  its  records  for  the  first 
twenty-one  years — from  1805  to  1826 — are  lost.  In 
1808,  Aug.  17th,  it  laid  the  corner-stone  of  its  meet- 
ing-house, at  six  o'cloeh  in  the  morning  !  and  on  the 
22d  of  June,  1809,  dedicated  it,  and  installed  a  minis- 
ter the  same  day.  A  lot  of  land  on  St.  Peter's  Street 
(then  known  as  Prison  Lane),  valued  at  a  thou- 
sand dollars,  had  been  given  by  Benjamin  Ward  for  a 
meeting-house,  covering,  in  part  at  least,  the  present 
site  of  the  Central  Baptist  meeting-house,  and  now 
deemed  more  eligible  than  the  spot  in  Rust  Street  on 
which  the  house  was  built,  but  not  so  regarded  then  ; 
it  was  accordingly  sold,  and  the  land  bought  on  which 
the  church  now  stands.  The  minister  settled  on  the 
day  the  church  was  dedicated  was  Rev.  Edward 
Turner,  who  came  from  Charlton,  Mass.,  where  he 


56 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


had  been  the  minister  of  a  Universalist  society.  He 
retained  his  connection  with  the  Universalist  society 
in  Salem  till  June  1,  1814,  when  he  accepted  a  call  to 
the  Universalist  society  in  Charlestown,  Mass.  When, 
a  few  ye.ars  later,  the  question  whether  all  punishment 
for  sin  is  limited  to  this  life  divided  the  Universalist 
denomination,  Mr.  Turner  took  the  negative,  and 
after  severing  his  connection  with  the  society  in 
Charlestown  he  became  identified  with  the  Unitari- 
ans. He  died  in  West  Roxbury  Jan.  24,  1853,  at  the 
age  of  seventy-six  years.  The  line  of  ministers  fol- 
lowing Mr.  Turner  may  be  conveniently  given  here, 
with  their  periods  and  in  their  order :  Rev.  Hosea 
Ballou,  June  18,  1815,  to  Oct.  12,  1817 ;  Rev.  Joshua 
Flagg,  Dec.  7,  1817,  to  March  1,  1820 ;  Rev.  Barzillai 
Streeter,  Aug.  9,  1820,  to  Sept.  20,  1824 ;  Rev.  Seth 
Stetson,  June  1,  1825,  to  March  23,  1828;  Rev.  Lem- 
uel Willis,  March  25,  1829,  to  May  26,  1837 ;  Rev 
Matthew  Hale  Smith,  June  6,  1838,  to  April  5,  1840  ; 
Rev.  Linus  S.  Everett,  May  12,  1841,  to  April  12, 
1846 ;  Rev.  Ebenezer  Fisher,  May  4,  1847,  to  Oct.  7, 
1853 ;  Rev.  Sumner  Ellis,  Feb.  1,  1854,  to  Sept.  1, 
1858  ;  Rev.  Willard  Spalding,  March  4,  1860,  to  Nov, 
28,  1869 ;  Rev.  Edwin  C.  Boiled,  D.D.,  June  18,  1871, 
to  Sept.  1,  1887. 

Several  of  these  were  preachers  eminent  within 
their  denomination,  and  the  fame  of  two  or  three 
went  beyond  it.  Mr.  Ballou  was  one  of  the  earliest 
apostles  of  Universalism,  possessing  great  native 
vigor  of  intellect,  unfailing  courage  and  a  power 
of  plain,  simple  and  direct  statement  which  made 
him  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  effective  among 
the  advocates  of  his  faith  in  the  times  of  its  earlier 
promulgation,  when  it  was  unpopular,  and  kept  its 
earnest  defenders  in  incessant  controversy.  He  went 
from  Salem  to  Boston,  and  for  more  than  thirty-five 
years  labored  there.  Rev.  Matthew  Hale  Smith  be- 
came widely  known  both  as  a  champion  and  an 
assailant  of  Universalism.  Versatile  and  having  a 
facile  command  of  pen  and  speech,  a  too  easy  mobil- 
ity carried  him  away  from  one  to  another  denom- 
ination and  back  again,  and  from  one  to  another 
profession  in  such  rapid  succession  that  his  confessions 
and  renunciations  lost  their  power  of  impression  from 
their  number  and  their  nearness  to  each  other.  Rev. 
Mr.  Willis'  ministry  is  regarded  as  having  been  emi- 
nently useful,  and  helpful  to  the  prosperity  of  the 
church.  The  ministry  of  Mr.  Fisher  and  that  of 
others  since  have  been  characterized  by  a  devotion  to 
Christian  scholarship  and  a  careful  instruction  of  the 
people  in  religious  truth.  Dr.  E.  C.  Bolles,  the  last 
of  the  line,  now  about  leaving  Salem,  and  whose 
pastorate  is  the  longest  upon  the  list,  is  known  as  one 
of  the  most  prominent  preachers  in  his  own  denomi- 
nation, while  his  services  as  a  popular  lecturer  and 
speaker  at  gatherings  non-denominational  are  in 
large  demand.  The  society  is  large  and  prosperous, 
and  has  more  than  once  given  promise  of  coloniza- 
tion. 


A  second  Universalist  society  was  indeed  organ- 
ized in  1844,  and  held  its  first  public  meeting  in 
Lyceum  Hall  on  the  12th  of  May  of  that  year. 
Afterwards  its  meetings  were  held  in  Mechanics'  Hall, 
then  in  the  Sewall  Street  meeting-house,  and  finally 
in  Phoenix  Hall.  On  the  6th  of  June,  1852,  however, 
it  voted  to  discontinue  its  meetings,  and  was  dis- 
banded. Its  first  settled  pastor  was  Rev.  Day  K.  Lee, 
who  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Messrs.  Benjamin  F. 
Bowles,  S.  C.  Hewett  and  E.  W.  Reynolds.  Again, 
about  twenty-five  years  ago, — perhaps  in  1861, — the 
experiment  of  maintaining  a  second  Universalist 
place  of  worship  was  carried  on  for  some  months  at 
Lyceum  Hall,  but  no  permanent  organization  came 
of  it. 

The  Sunday-school  connected  with  the  first  society 
was  organized  during  the  ministry  of  Mr.  Willis,  and 
by  him.  May  3,  1829,  and  "  was  the  first  in  this  de- 
nomination this  side  of  Boston,  and  the  third  known 
to  exist  among  the  Universalists."  It  is  at  this  time 
one  of  the  largest,  if  not  the  largest,  of  the  Protestant 
Sunday-schools  in  Salem. 

The  meeting-house  has  undergone  several  exten- 
sive and  costly  transformations  since  it  was  built, 
both  within  and  without.  In  January,  1840,  the 
changes  necessary  for  the  reception  of  an  organ 
were  made.  In  1842  the  pews  of  the  gallery  were 
taken  out  and  replaced  by  new  ones  of  more  con- 
venient form,  the  walls  and  ceiling  were  painted 
in  fresco,  and  other  larger  and  lesser  changes 
in  different  parts  of  the  building  were  made,  some 
of  them  to  prepare  for  the  placing  of  stoves.  In 
1855  still  greater  changes  were  carried  through,  with 
an  outlay  of  several  thousand  dollars.  The  floor  was 
raised,  the  old  pews  were  removed,  and  an  increased 
number  with  different  arrangement  took  their  place  ; 
a  new  pulpit  was  put  in,  costing  five  hundred  dollars 
and  paid  for  by  the  ladies  of  the  society.  The  whole 
interior  was  renewed  in  form  and  color.  In  1857  the 
space  in  front  of  the  church  was  opened  and  enlarged 
by  the  removal  of  a  neighboring  dwelling-house, 
while  new  fences  and  new  bricking  and  boarding  of 
side-walks  made  the  approaches  to  it  more  roomy  and 
pleasant.  Again,  in  1877,  the  spirit  of  improvement 
took  the  venerable  building  in  hand  and  changed  its 
whole  aspect,  internally  and  externally,  bringing  it  to 
its  present  appearance.  Its  original  square,  plain 
tower,  stopping  so  abruptly  and  baldly  as  to  suggest 
the  likelihood  of  its  not  having  been  finished  according 
to  the  builder's  original  intention,  was  carried  up  to 
its  present  graceful  height  and  proportions,  with  some 
not  excessive  ornamentation.  The  new  coloring  with- 
out and  within  produced  marked  effects.  The  pulpit 
regarded  with  so  much  pride  in  1855,  gave  way  to  the 
modern  platform  and  simple  reading  desk.  It  is  now 
one  of  the  largest  and  most  satisfactory  of  the 
church  edifices  in  the  city, — a  city  which  has  a  fair 
number  of  attractive  houses  of  worship. 

Roman  Catholics. — The  parent  Catholic  Church 


SALEM. 


57 


in  Salem  was  that  of  St.  Mary.  The  first  Roman 
Catholic  services  in  the  town  were  held  in  1806  by- 
Rev.  John  Cheverus,  of  Boston,  the  first  Roman 
Catholic  bishop  of  Massachusetts,  and  subsequently 
services  were  held  occasionally  by  the  bishop  and  Dr. 
Matignon  during  the  intervening  years  till  1811, 
when  services  were  held  in  a  school-house  on  Hardy 
Street,  by  Rev.  John  O'Brien,  who  afterwards  became 
pastor  of  the  church  in  Newburyport.  The  first  set- 
tled pastor  was  the  Rev.  Paul  McQuade,  who  was 
here  from  1818  to  1822.  It  was  in  1821,  and  during 
his  pastorate,  that  St.  Mary's  Church  was  built  on 
the  corner  of  Mall  and  Bridge  Streets.  This  is  supposed 
to  have  been  the  first  Catholic  Church  built  in  Essex 
County,  the  church  in  Newburyport  not  being  built 
until  1848.  Before  that  year  (1848)  Catholics  came 
even  from  Newburyport,  and  of  course  from  the 
nearer  and  adjoining  towns,  to  the  church  in  Salem, 
Bishop  Cheverus  sometimes  walking  from  Boston  to 
Salem  to  preach  and  celebrate  Mass.  The  land  on 
which  the  church  was  situated  was  deeded  to  Bishop 
Cheverus  by  the  president,  directors  and  company  of 
the  Marblehead  Bank,  "  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  a 
certain  number  of  persons  in  Salem,  who  have  or  are 
about  forming  a  Roman  Catholic  Church  and  society 
in  said  Salem."  This  church  was  built  by  subscrip- 
tions of  citizens  of  Salem,  some  of  whom  were  not 
Catholics,  but  entertained  a  kindly  feeling  towards 
the  principal  Catholics  of  the  place,  among  whom 
were  the  late  John  Simon,  Francis  Ashton  and  Mat- 
thew Newport,  representing,  respectively,  the  three 
Catholic  nationalities,  French,  Italian  and  Irish.  The 
largest  contributor  was  probably  John  Forrester,  father 
of  Simon,  the  great  merchant  of  those  days,  who  was 
himself  of  Irish  birth,  but  a  Protestant  in  religion. 
The  following  is  a  partial  list  of  the  clergy  of  this 
church:  John  Mahoney,  1826  to  1830;  William 
Wiley,  1830  to  1834 ;  John  D.  Brady,  1834  to  1840  ; 
James  Strain,  1841  to  1842;  Thomas  J.  O'Flaherty, 
1842  to  1846  (died  March  29,  1846) ;  James  Conway, 

1846  to ;  T.  H.  Shahan. 

When  the  Church  of  the  Immaculate  Conception 
was  built  on  Walnut  Street  in  1857,  the  Church 
of  St.  Mary  ceased  to  be  occupied,  that  parish  be- 
ing merged  in  the  new  one,  and  in  1877  the  old 
church  was  torn  down,  and  the  land  on  which  it 
stood  was  sold  by  decree  of  the  Supreme  Judicial 
Court,  on  the  20th  of  December,  1882,  the  terms 
of  the  deed  by  which  the  bishop  acquired  his  title 
preventing  the  conveyance  of  an  unquestionable 
title  to  another  purchaser  without  this  authority 
from  the  court.  The  line  of  pastors  in  the  Church 
of  the  Immaculate  Conception  includes  the  names 
of  Rev.  Thos.  H.  Shahan,  Michael  Hartney  and 
William  H.  Hally,  with  those  of  Rev.  Charles 
Renoni,  James  Qainlan,  Wm.  J.  Delahunty,  Mat- 
thew Harkins,  Wm.  A.  Kennedy,  James  J.  Foley, 
Martin  O'Brien  and  Thomas  Tobin  as  assistants.  The 
rapidly  increasing  needs  of  the  Catholic  population 
41 


had  already  called  so  urgently  for  enlarged  church 
accommodations,  even  before  the  church  in  Walnut 
Street  was  erected,  that  in  1850  the  Church  of  St. 
James  was  opened  on  Federal  Street,  though  not  ded- 
icated until  January  10,  1857.  Its  first  pastor  was 
Rev.  Thomas  Shahan,  and  he  was  succeeded  by  Rev. 
William  Daley  (who  died  in  Rome),  and  Rev. 
John  J.  Gray,  the  present  pastor.  The  Rev.  J. 
Healy,  Michael  Masterson,  William  Shinnick,  D.  J. 
Collins  and  John  Kelleherhave  been  assistant  clergy- 
men in  the  parish  since  its  organization.  Two  large 
schools,  of  five  or  six  hundred  pupils  each,  are  carried 
on  by  sisterhoods  of  Notre  Dame,  connected  with  the 
two  churches  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  and  St. 
James,  respectively.  An  asylum  for  orphans  and 
also,  secondarily,  for  the  aged  and  infirm,  is  main- 
tained on  Lafayette  Street,  by  a  sisterhood  of  the 
Gray  Nuns  of  Montreal,  and  has  at  present  about 
seventy  children  in  its  care. 

The  French  speaking  Catholics  of  Salem,  having 
become  numerous,  were  gathered  for  worship  in  their 
own  tongue  in  1872,  in  the  Church  of  the  Immaculate 
Concejition.  There  were  about  ninety  families  at 
that  time.  In  1873  they  bought  the  old  Seamen's 
Bethel  on  Herbert  Street,  and  took  the  name  of  St. 
Joseph's  Church.  Rev.  George  Talbot  was  appointed 
the  first  pastor.  He  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  01. 
Boucher,  and  on  the  aj^pointment  of  the  latter  to  the 
rectorship  of  the  French  Church  in  Lawrence, 
Father  Talbot  resumed  the  charge  of  St.  Joseph's. 
Rev.  J.  Z.  Dumontier  succeeded  him  early  in  Janu- 
ary, 1878.  In  September,  1878,  Rev.  Octave  LePine 
was  appointed  pastor,  and  on  the  13th  of  July,  1879, 
the  present  pastor.  Rev.  F.  X.  L.  Vezina  was  given 
charge  of  the  congregation  ;  Rev.  Joseph  O.  Gadoury 
is  his  assistant.  On  the  26th  of  August,  1881,  as  the 
congregation  had  much  increased,  the  old  building  on 
Herbert  Street  was  found  inadequate,  and  the  Lus- 
comb  estate,  on  Lafayette  Street,  was  bought,  and 
steps  were  taken  to  build  a  new  church,  which  was 
done  in  1883,  and  services  were  held  in  it  in  March, 
1884.  In  April,  1886,  the  EI  well  estate  adjoining 
was  bought  for  a  parsonage.  The  French  congrega- 
tion represents  a  population  of  about  two  thousand 
five  hundred  souls  at  present. 

Methodist  Episcopal. — Organized  Methodism  in 
Salem  dates  back  to  1821,  when  a  church  was  formed. 
In  1822  Rev.  Jesse  Filmore  became  its  first  pastor. 
The  next  year,  1823,  a  church  was  built  in  Sewall 
Street,  the  same  that  is  now  occupied  by  the  Wesley 
Chapel  congregation,  and  which  is  about  to  be  re- 
placed by  a  more  substantial  structure  immediately  in 
its  rear,  fronting  upon  North  Street.  This  church 
did  not  unite  with  the  General  Conference  till  Feb- 
ruary, 1835.  Mr.  Filmore  had  resigned  his  pastorate 
in  1832,  but  became  pastor  of  the  church  again  in 
1835,  and  yet  again  in  1840,  remaining  till  1844. 

The  following  names  are  to  be  found  upon  its  roll 
of  pastors  previous   to   the   formation  of  a  second 


58 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Methodist  Church,  in  1841 :  Joseph  B.  Brown,  1832- 
33;  Jefferson  Hamilton,  1833;  T.  C.  Macreading, 
1834;  Aaron  Waitt,  1834-35;  J.  W.  Downing,  1835- 
38;  T.  G.  Hiler,  1838-39. 

Trouble  seems  to  have  grown  out  of  the  ownership 
of  the  church  building  by  the  pastor,  who  had  erect- 
ed it,  and,  as  its  owner,  had  a  more  potential  voice 
and  vote  in  its  aflFairs  than  ordinarily  falls  to  the  pas- 
tors of  churches,  and  involved  relations  between  pas- 
tor and  people  not  found  to  be  conducive  to  har- 
mony. 

This  modest  and  not  very  ancient  house  of  wor- 
ship has  sheltered,  at  different  times,  and  for  longer 
or  shorter  periods,  a  great  variety  of  worshippers, 
passing  under  uncongenial  denominational  names, 
resting  here  in  turn  temporarily  on  the  road  to 
larger  and  more  permanent  holdings  elsewhere,  or — 
on  the  road  to  further  ecclesiastical  transformation, 
or— on  the  way  to  extinction. 

Second  Methodist, — In  March,  1841,  a  second 
Methodist  congregation  was  formed  by  members 
withdrawing  from  the  first,  who  built  a  meeting- 
house in  Union  Street  (afterwards  occupied  by  one 
branch  of  the  Second  Advent  Church).  Kev.  N.  T. 
Spaulding  was  the  first  pastor,  and  among  the  earlier 
of  his  successors  were  Joseph  A.  Merrill,  David  K. 
Merrill,  Horace  Moulton,  Phinehas  Crandall,  David 
L.  Winslow,  John  W.  Perkins;  some  of  them,  how- 
ever, for  very  short  periods — from  less  than  a  year  to 
two  years.  The  difficulties  in  the  Sewall  Street 
Church  continuing,  the  church  in  Union  Street  gradu- 
ally absorbed  into  itself  the  members  of  the  former, 
and  it  became  extinct.  Meantime,  its  own  pros- 
perity and  increasing  wants  made  a  removal  neces- 
sary, and  the  church  on  La  Fayette  Street,  corner  of 
Harbor  Street,  the  present  home  of  the  society,  was 
built  in  1851,  and  dedicated  January  6,  1853.  Its 
roll  of  pastors  since  it  has  occupied  its  present  place 
of  worship  is  as  follows :  Luman  Boyden,  1851-53  ; 
A.  D.  Merrill,  1853-54;  Daniel  Richards,  1854-56; 
John  A.  Adams,  1856-57 ;  Austin  F.  Herrick,  1857- 
59;  John  H.  Mansfield,  1859-61  ;  Edward  A.  Man- 
ning, 1861-62;  Gershom  F.  Cox,  1862-64;  Loranus 
Crowell,  1864-67  ;  S.  F.  Chase,  1867-69 ;  D.  Dorches- 
ter, 1869-72  ;  J.  S.  Whedon,  1872-74 ;  George  Collyer, 
1874-77;  Daniel  Steel,  1877-79;  George  W.  Mans- 
field, 1879-82;  William  P.  Eay,  1882-85  ;  T.  L.  Gra- 
cey,  1885-87. 

During  the  winter  of  1871-72  the  advisability  of 
organizing  another  Methodist  Church  was  consid- 
ered by  the  La  Fayette  Street  Church,  the  result  of 
which  was  that  the  old  Methodist  meeting-house  in 
Sewall  Street  was  purchased  and  re-dedicated,  May 
24,  1872,  and  a  new  society  was  formed,  taking  the 
name  of  Wesley  Chapel,  and  Eev.  Joshua  Gill,  ap- 
pointed by  the  New  England  Conference  its  pastor, 
first  held  Sunday  services  therein  May  26,  1872. 
Thirty-five  persons  bringing  certificates  from  the  par- 
ent church  were  constituted  the  new  church.     The 


following  pastors  have  been  successively  in  charge  : 
Rev.  Joshua  Gill,  1872-74;  William  J.  Hambleton, 
1874-77;  William  H.  Meredith,  1877-80;  Charles  F. 
Rice,  1880-83;  Willis  P.  Odell,  1883-86;  Thomas  W. 

Bishop,  1886 .     Mr.  Bishop  is  the  present  pastor. 

The  church  has  enjoyed  the  services  of  devoted  and 
capable  pastors,  and  has  had  a  large  and  substantial 
growth.  Under  the  ministry  of  Rev.  Mr.  Odell  the 
need  of  more  room  and  better  accommodations  be- 
came so  pressing  that  the  enterprise  of  building  an- 
other church  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  society  was 
taken  up  with  spirit  and  harmony,  and  an  encourag- 
ing subscription  list  was  started  with  an  assurance 
of  final  success.  The  work  has  gone  forward  in  the 
hands  of  his  successor,  and  the  plans  are  perfected 
for  a  new  church  on  North  Street,  which  is  to  be  of 
brick,  with  terra-cotta  trimmings  and  a  handsome 
tower,  and  which  will  have  sittings  for  a  thousand 
persons,  its  appointments  in  all  other  respects  being 
designed  to  answer  all  the  needs  of  a  large  and  in- 
creasing congregation.  By  legislative  enactment  the 
church  was  authorized  in  1886  to  change  its  name  to 
Wesley  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

The  Independent  Congregational  Society 
IN  Barton  Square. — In  the  autumn  of  1819  the 
North  Church  pulpit  becoming  vacant  by  the  death 
of  Mr.  Abbot,  that  society  invited  Rev.  Henry  Col- 
man,  pastor  of  a  church  in  Hingham,  to  become  its 
minister.  The  invitation  was  not  unanimous,  and 
was  declined.  Later,  a  portion  of  the  First  Parish  de- 
sired that  Mr.  Colman  should  be  invited  to  become  a 
colleague  with  their  minister,  Rev.  Dr.  Prince,  but 
failed  to  persuade  the  society  to  take  the  action  they 
advocated.  In  1824  these  friends  of  Mr.  Colman  in 
the  North  and  First  Parishes  withdrew  from  their  re- 
spective churches,  and  organized  the  Independent 
Congregational  Society  in  Barton  Square.  A  church 
of  brick  was  built  and  dedicated  in  December,  1824. 
Rev.  Henry  Colman  was  installed  February  16,  1825, 
and  resigned  December  7,  1831,  on  account  of  ill 
health.  Mr,  Colman  had  been  pastor  of  the  Third 
Church  in  Hingham  thirteen  years,  and  had  taught 
a  school  there  ;  from  1820  to  1825  he  taught  a  school 
in  Boston.  After  leaving  Salem  he  engaged  in  ag- 
riculture at  Deerfield,  Mass.,  and  was  employed  by 
the  State  from  1836  to  1842  to  investigate  its  agri- 
cultural condition  and  resources.  In  1842  he  was 
sent  to  Europe  in  pursuit  of  the  same  purpose,  and 
the  results  of  his  observation  were  embodied  in 
two  octavo  volumes.  He  also  published  reports 
upon  agriculture  and  silk  culture,  and  two  volumes 
upon  European  life  and  manners.  Visiting  Europe 
a  second  time,  for  the  benefit  of  his  health,  he  died 
at  Islington,  England,  August  14,  1849.  He  was 
born  in  Boston  September  12,  1785,  and  graduated 
from  Dartmouth  College,  1805.  Mr.  Colman  was  an 
independent  thinker,  and  did  not  always  follow  the 
conventional  roads  as  a  theologian  and  preacher,  a 
fact   in  which   lay,  doubtless,  one  of  the   causes    - 


SALEM. 


59 


though  not  the  sole  cause — of  the  want  of  unanimity 
in  the  North  and  First  Churches  in  desiring  him  for 
a  minister. 

Mr.  Colmau  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  James  W. 
Thompson,  who  was  installed  March  7,  1832,  and 
remained  in  this  ministry  twenty-seven  years,  till 
March  7,  1859.  Mr.  Thompson  had  been  settled 
in  Natick  before  his  settlement  in  Salem,  and 
left  his  church  here  to  take  charge  of  the  Second 
Church  in  West  Roxbury  (Jamaica  Plain),  of  which 
he  continued  the  sole  or  senior  pastor  till  his  death, 
September  22,  1881.  He  Avas  born  in  Barre,  Mass., 
December  13,  1805,  and  graduated  from  Brown  Uni- 
versity, 1827.  The  society  increased  and  prospered 
during  his  pastorate.  The  church  building  was  en- 
tirely reconstructed  in  its  interior,  galleries  were 
added  and  a  commodious  vestry  of  brick  was  erected 
in  connection  with  it,  at  the  rear,  to  meet  its  increas- 
ing wants. 

Dr.  Thompson  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  Augustus  M. 
Haskell,  who  was  ordained  January  1,  1862,  and  re- 
signed May  2,  1866.  Mr.  Haskell  was  chaplain  of 
the  Fortieth  Massachusetts  Regiment  in  the  Civil 
War,  from  September  11,  1863,  to  November  5,  1864, 
and  after  his  Salem  ministry  became  the  pastor  of 
Unitarian  Churches  in  Manchester,  N.  H.,  and  West 
Roxbury  (Boston),  Mass.,  successively.  He  is  still 
pastor  of  the  latter  society.  He  was  born  January 
24,  1832,  in  Poland,  Me.,  and  graduated  at  Harvard 
College,  1856.  Mr.  George  Batchelor  followed  Mr. 
Haskell,  being  ordained  October  3,  1866.  He  re- 
signed after  sixteen  years  of  service,   November  1, 

1882,  to  take  the  pastoral  charge  of  the  Church  of  the 
Unity,  in  Chicago,  111.,  which  he  was  obliged  by  ill 
health  to  relinquish  after  two  or  three  years.  Mr. 
Batchelor  was  born  in  Southbury,  Conn.,  July  3, 
1836,  graduated  at  Harvard  College  1866,  having 
comi^leted  a  theological  course  at  the  Meadville 
School  previous  to  his  course  in  college.  Rev.  Ben- 
jamin F.  McDaniel  was  installed  pastor  January  7, 

1883,  and  resigned  at  the  end  of  four  years  of  service, 
January  1,  1887.  He  had  been,  before  his  Salem 
ministry,  pastor  of  churches  in  Hubbardston,  Mass., 
and  Exeter,  N.  H.,  and  left  Salem  to  take  pastoral 
charge  of  a  church  in  San  Diego,  Cal.  He,  like 
a  predecessor  named  above,  did  good  service  in  one 
of  the  Union  armies  during  the  Civil  War. 

Central  Baptist  Church. — As  mentioned  before, 
in  the  sketch  of  the  First  Baptist  Church,  a  colony 
from  that  church  was  dismissed  and  commissioned  by 
it,  in  1825,  to  establish  a  second  church  of  its  order  in 
the  lower  part  of  the  city.  It  was  duly  organized 
January  19,  1826,  under  the  name  of  the  "Second 
Baptist  Church,"  having  its  house  of  worship  and 
chapel,  on  St.  Peter's  Street,  ready  for  occupancy 
prior  to  its  organization,  though  the  dedication  was 
delayed  till  June  8,  1826.  In  1855  its  name  was 
changed,  by  a  legislative  act,  to  the  "  Central  Baptist 
Church  in  Salem." 


August  23,  1826,  Mr.  George  Leonard  was  or- 
dained its  first  pastor.  He  was  compelled,  by  fail- 
ing health,  to  resign  his  ministry,  which  had  opened 
with  much  promise,  January  19,  1829.  Mr.  Robert 
E.  Pattison  was  ordained  September  9,  1829,  but 
within  six  months  asked  and  received  a  dismission, 
February  12,  1830.  In  October,  1830,  Rev.  Cyrus 
P.  Grosvenor  was  installed  pastor,  and  remained 
with  the  church  till  November  1, 1834.  Mr.  Grosvenor 
became  warmly  engaged  in  the  anti-slavery  agitation, 
just  opening,  and  which  disturbed  the  peace  of  many 
churches,  and  broke  the  pastoral  tie  in  not  a  few 
cases.  It  may  be  presumed  to  have  had  its  share  of 
influence  in  interrupting  the  harmony  of  the  relation 
between  Mr.  Grosvenor  and  his  people. 

Mr.  Joseph  Banvard  was  ordained  pastor  of  the 
church  August  26,  1835,  and  continued  with  it  till 
March,  1846;  and  this  period  was  manifestly  one 
of  increased  activity,  harmony  and  growth.  Rev. 
Benjamin  Brierly  was  installed  Mr.  Banvard's  suc- 
cessor in  September,  1846.  His  brief  pastorate  ended 
August  25,  1848.  Mr.  William  H.  Eaton  followed 
him,  and  was  ordained  August  16,  1849.  His 
society  reluctantly  consented  to  his  dismission,  in 
November,  1854.  The  next  pastor  was  Rev.  Daniel 
D.  Winn,  who  came  in  October,  1855,  and  was  dis- 
missed by  his  own  desire,  December  23,  1866.  Dur- 
ing Mr.  Winn's  ministry  the  meeting-house  was 
remodeled  at  a  large  cost.  Early  in  1867  Rev.  S. 
Hartwell  Pratt  succeeded  Mr.  Winn,  and  resigned  his 
charge  October  21,  1870,  to  become  pastor  of  the 
newly-formed  Calvary  Baptist  Church,  organized 
largely  by  his  influence  and  under  his  direction.  In 
January,  1872,  Rev.  David  Weston,  D.D.,  was  settled 
in  charge  of  the  church,  but  being  the  same  year 
elected  professor  of  ecclesiastical  history  in  Hamilton 
Theological  Seminary,  N.  Y.,  he  resigned,  to  the  sin* 
cere  regret  of  his  church,  September  27,  1872.  April 
8,  1873,  Rev.  W,  H.  H.  Marsh  succeeded  him,  and 
remained  seven  years,  to  1880.  Rev.  Charles  A. 
Towne,  the  present  pastor,  took  charge  of  the  church 
in  1881. 

The  Crombie  Street  Church. — On  the  16th  of 
February,  1832,  one  hundred  and  thirty-nine  members 
of  the  Howard  Street  Church — the  minister  of  that 
church,  the  Rev.  William  Williams,  one  of  them — 
withdrew  from  it,  with  the  purpose  of  organizing  a 
separate  church.  They  held  their  first  meeting  for 
public  worship  in  Lyceum  Hall  February  19,  1832. 
The  same  day  the  Sunday-school,  composed  of  their 
children,  met  at  the  same  place.  On  the  6th  of 
the  next  April  they  organized  themselves  into  a  re- 
ligious  society,  and  took  the  name  of  the  "  Lyceum 
Society."  The  purchase  of  a  brick  building  on 
Crombie  Street,  now  their  house  of  worship,  then 
known  as  the  Salem  Theatre — which  had  been  occu- 
pied as  a  theatre — having  been  effected,  at  a  meeting 
held  in  the  office  of  Hon.  Rufus  Choate,  on  the  29th 
of  August,  1832,  a  committee   was  chosen   to   make 


60 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


the  required  changes  in  the  building  to  adapt  it  to  its 
new  uses.     These   changes   accomplished,  the   pulpit 
was  in  the  centre  of  the  western    end,  the   choir-gal- 
lery was  opposite  the  pulpit.     Over  the  pulpit  was  the 
inscription,  "  Love  the  truth  and  peace ,"  with  the  date 
of  the  church's  institution — May  3,  1832 — and  that  of 
the  dedication  of  its  house  of  worship — November  22, 
1832 ;  below  were  the  names   of  the   pastor   and  the 
architect.     Between  the  lines,  right  under   that  in- 
scription, "  Love  the  truth  and  peace,"  we  may  pre- 
sume that  the  recent  emigrants  from   Howard  Street 
read  another  inscription,  invisible  to  the  eye  of  flesh  : 
"  The  end  of  our  prayers,  the   desire   of  our  hearts ; 
for  which  we  have  left  home — a  house  in  contention, 
divided  against  itself."     The  church  took'  the  name, 
"The  New   Congregational   Church"  on  the  8th  of 
May,  1832,  and  on  the  17th  of  September  of  the  same 
year,  adopted  the  title,  which   has  been   permanent 
since,  of  the  "  Crombie  Street  Church."     In  1851  the 
pulpit  was  carried  to  the   opposite  (the  eastern)  end 
the  floor,  which  had  sloped  upward   from  the  front, 
was  brought  to  a  level,  the  pews  were  reversed,  the 
brick  vestry  was  built  in  the  rear  and  the  walls  and 
ceiling  were  painted  in   fresco ;  nine  years  later,  in 
1860,  the  organ  was  carried  to  the  rear  of  the  pulpit, 
to  stand  as  it  now  does,  the  congregation  claiming  to 
have  been  the  first  in  Salem  to  dispense  with   choir- 
singing,  which  it  did  in  1850,  and  for  which  the  pres- 
ent position  of  the  organ  was  deemed  better  adapted. 
The  first  in  the  line  of  pastors  has  been   already 
named — Rev.  William  Williams.     He   was   born  in 
Wethersfield,  Conn.,  October   2,  1797  ;    graduated  at 
Yale  College  1816 ;  ordained  pastor  of  Howard  Street 
Church  July  5,  1821.     His  ministry  continued  from 
November   22,   1832,   to   March   1,  1838.    The  new 
meeting-house  was  dedicated  the  same  day  that  Mr. 
Williams  was  installed.     After  resigning  his   charge 
in  Salem  Mr.  Williams  was  settled  in  Exeter,  N.  H., 
for  a  few  years,  after  which,  in   1812,  he  returned  to 
Salem,  and  having  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  Abel 
L.  Peirson,  of  this  city,  established   himself   in   the 
practice  of  medicine,  in  which  he  became  successful. 
He  died  in  1860.     Rev.  Alexander  J.  Sessions,  born 
in  Warren,  Mass.,  August  13,  1809,  and  graduated  at 
Yale  College    in  1831,  was  the   next  pastor,  settled 
June   6,  1838,  and  continued   till   August   22,  1849, 
when  he  resigned,  and  has   since   been  the  pastor  of 
churches  in  Melrose,  Scituate  and  North  Beverly.    He 
is  still  living  in  Beverly.     The  third  paster  was  Rev. 
James  M.  Hoppin,  born  in  Providence,  R.  I.,  Janu- 
ary 17,  1820 ;  graduated   at  Yale   College   1840  and 
settled  as  pastor  of  Crombie  Street  Cnurch  March  27, 
1850.     Mr.  Hoppin  remained  till   May  10,  1859.     He 
has  since  been  a  professor  in  Yale   College — first,  of 
homiletics   and  pastoral   theology  and  later  of  the 
history    of    art.     December   29,    1859,   Rev.   Joseph 
Henry  Thayer  was  settled  as  the  fourth  pastor  of  the 
church.     He  resigned  this  charge  February  19,  1864, 
to  accept  the  position  of  associate  professor  of  sacred 


literature  in  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Andover, 
which  office  he  continued  to  fill  until  1882,  when  he 
resigned.  He  was  appointed  the  next  year  lecturer 
on  Biblical  theology  in  the  Divinity  School  of  Har- 
vard University,  and  on  the  death  of  the  eminent 
scholar,  Ezra  Abbot,  professor  of  New  Testament 
criticism  and  interpretation  in  the  Divinity  School, 
Professor  Thayer  was  appointed  to  the  same  place, 
which  he  still  holds. 

During  the  Civil  War  Mr.  Thayer  asked  leave  of  ab- 
sence from  his  parish  to  become  chaplain  of  the  For- 
tieth Regiment  of  Massachusetts  Volunteers  for  nine 
months.  His  term  of  service  was  from  September  17, 
1862,  to  May  15,  1863.  He  was  one  of  the  American 
members  of  the  company  of  New  Testament  revisers 
and  translators  in  England  and  America,  who  brought 
out  the  Revised  New  Testament  in  1880,  and  with 
their  co-laborers  who  had  given  similar  revision  to 
the  Old  Testament,  a  revised  translation  at  a  later  day 
of  the  whole  Bible.  Mr.  Thayer  was  born  in  Boston 
November  7, 1828,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  College 
1850. 

The  fifth  paster  was  Rev.  Clarendon  Waite,  whose 
short  term  of  service  fell  between  the  dates  of  April 
10,  1866,  and  December  3d  of  the  same  year  (less  than 
nine  months).  Being  advised  by  his  physicians  that 
he  could  not  expect  the  health  requisite  for  the  min- 
istry, he  withdrew  from  his  profession,  and  in  just 
about  a  year  afterwards  died  on  a  journey  to  a  new 
field  of  labor  to  which  he  had  been  called  (that  of 
professor  in  Beloit  College,  Wisconsin).  Mr.  Waite 
was  born  in  Hubbardston,  Massachusetts,  December 
12,  1830,  graduated  at  Brown  University,  Providence, 
and  had  been  seven  years  pastor  of  a  church  in  Rut- 
land, Mass.,  before  coming  to  Salem.  Rev.  Hugh 
Elder,  the  sixth  pastor,  was  born  in  Dunfermline,  Scot- 
land, March  26,  1838,  and  graduated  at  the  University 
of  Edinburgh  1863.  He  preached  to  the  society  and 
was  invited  to  become  its  minister  before  the  settle- 
ment of  Mr.  Waite,  which  invitation  he  declined.  Af- 
ter the  death  of  Mr.  Waite  he  came  again  to  preach ; 
was  called  again  to  the  pastorate,  accepted  and  was 
ordained  January  28,  1868.  He  resigned  at  the  end 
of  August,  1884,  to  accept  the  position  of  pastor  of  the 
college  church  connected  with  Airdale  College,  in  Brad- 
ford, England.  The  present  pastor  of  the  church, 
Rev.  Louis  B.  Voorhees,  was  installed  April  15, 1885. 
He  was  born  June  10, 1847,  in  Rocky  Hill,  N.  J.,  and 
graduated  at  Princeton  College  1868.  He  had  been 
pastor  of  chnrches  in  North  Weymouth,  in  Worcester 
and  in  Grafton  previous  to  his  settlement  in  Salem. 

It  needs  but  a  reference  to  the  fact  that  four  of  the 
seven  pastors  of  this  church  have  received  ap- 
pointments to  positions  in  educational  institutions  of 
the  higher  class  to  show  that  it  has  been  favored  with 
a  line  of  scholarly  men  for  its  ministers.  Better  than 
that,  they  have  been,  as  a  whole,  men  devoted  to  the 
service  of  the  people  outside  the  church  as  well  as  in- 
side, thus  helping  the  church  to  which  they  minister- 


SALEM. 


61 


ed  to  make  an  honorable  history  among  the  churches 
of  the  town. 

Second  Advent. — A  religious  movement  of  con- 
siderable extent  grew  out  of  the  preaching  of  Wil- 
liam Miller,  the  prophet  of  the  millenium,  who,  for 
about  ten  years  (from  1833  to  1843),  stirred  many  com- 
munities to  a  high  pitch  of  excitement  with  predic- 
tions of  an  early  return  of  Christ  to  the  earth ;  the 
time  was  definitely  set ;  when  it  had  passed  unevent- 
fully another  was  set.  After  several  such  predictions 
had  successively  failed,  though  many  lost  faith  and 
abandoned  the  body  identified  with  the  great  expec- 
tation, others,  still  sanguine  that  it  was  no  more  than 
an  error  of  time,  and  that  a  small  one,  settled  into  a 
belief  that  the  Lord  would  appear  soon  to  set  up  his 
kingdom  ;  and  the  latter  have  become  a  permanent 
sect.  Mr.  Miller  never  preached  in  Salem,  as  we  can 
learn  ;  but  a  large  gathering  of  his  disciples,  and  of  the 
curious  to  hear  the  exposition  of  his  belief,  was  held 
in  North  Salem,  in  camp,  in  1842.  Preachers  con. 
tinned  to  set  forth  the  millenial  doctrine  according  to 
Mr.  Miller  from  time  to  time,  and  on  July  28,  1848,  a 
church  was  formed,  which,  with  intervals  of  suspend- 
ed services,  has  continued  to  the  present  time.  In- 
deed, it  has  at  times  divided  into  two  sects  over  con- 
troverted points  turning  chiefly  on  the  state  of  the 
"  dead  "  between  the  body's  dissolution  and  resurrec- 
tion. Sunday  services  have  been  maintained  in  two 
places  of  worship  at  the  same  time  for  a  while.  At 
present  the  society  worships  in  its  own  church  in 
Herbert  Street.  It  has  changed  its  place  of  assembling 
several  times;  has  been  in  Sewell  Street  (old  Meth- 
odist meeting-house),  in  Union  Street  (Second  Meth- 
odist), Holyoke  Hall,  199  Essex  Street,  Hardy  Hall, 
Washington  Street.  One  of  its  sections,  when  there 
were  two  passing  under  the  same  name,  met  in  a  chap- 
el in  Endicott  Street.  The  pastorates  of  this  church 
in  both  branches  have  been  mostly  short.  Several, 
however,  have  continued  for  a  period  of  a  few  years 
each.  Rev.  Lemuel  Osier,  Francis  H.  Berick,  Rufua 
Wendell,  Charles  E.  Barnes,  George  W.  Sederquist, 
Frederick  Gunner  (Endicott  Street)  have  at  different 
times  ministered  to  the  society.  The  present  pastor 
is  Rev.  George  F.  Haines. 

Episcopal  :  Grace. — A  second  Episcopal  Church 
was  organized  in  the  year  1858,  under  a  movement 
arising  in  St.  Peter's  Church,  the  rector  of  St. 
Peter's,  Rev.  Dr.  Leeds,  remarking  in  the  Jour- 
nal of  the  Diocese  of  1859:  "The  completion  of 
the  fifth  quarter-century  in  the  history  of  St.  Peter's 
was  celebrated  by  laying  the  corner-stone  of  another 
church  edifice,  to  be  known  by  the  name  of  Grace 
Church."  The  new  church,  a  Gothic  frame  structure, 
was  consecrated  June  2,  1859.  The  Rev.  George  D. 
Wildes  was  the  first  rector,  his  pastorate  covering  eight 
years,  1859-67.  Rev.  Joseph  Kidder  succeeded  Mr. 
Wildes  in  1868,  and  remained  until  July  1,  1870, 
when  the  present  rector.  Rev.  James  P.  Franks,  suc- 
ceeded him.    The  sixty  communicants  with  which  this 


church  began  had  increased,  at  the  twenty-fifth  anni- 
versary of  its  consecration,  to  one  hundred  and  fifty. 
The  architecture  of  the  church  remains  as  it  was  at 
the  beginning. 

New  Church  Society  (oftener  designated  in 
popular  speech  as  the  Church  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  or 
Swedenboryian  Church). — As  early  as  1840  those  in- 
terested in  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Jerusalem  met 
at  the  homes  of  different  individuals  and  read  the 
writings  of  the  church.  In  1845  Miss  Mary  Eveleth 
having  joined  the  little  band,  became  their  reader  for 
most  of  the  two  or  three  following  years  ;  after  that 
Mr.  Joseph  Ropes  was  for  a  few  years  their  leader. 
It  was  in  1861  that  meetings  began  to  be  held  in  the 
hall  of  the  building  which  had  been  General  H.  K. 
Oliver's  school-house,  and  which  was  erected  by  him, 
on  Federal  Street.  At  that  time  Rev.  Warren  Burton 
was  their  leader.  Here  a  Sunday-school  was  first 
gathered.  From  this  place  a  removal  took  place  to 
Creamer  Hall,  on  Essex  Street,  and  on  the  25th  of 
January,  1863,  the  society  was  instituted  by  Rev. 
T.  B.  Hayward,  who  preached  for  the  congregation 
two  years,  or  more.  Services  were  afterwards  held  in 
the  Howard  Street  Church  and  in  Hamilton  Hall. 
Rev.  Abiel  Silver  was  minister  from  1867  to  1869. 
The  society  was  incorporated  July  13,  1869.  That 
year  a  lot  of  land  was  purchased  for  a  church.  On 
this  land  the  present  church  was  built,  and  dedicated 
April  18,  1872.  Rev.  L.  G.  Jordan  was  the  minister 
from  June  6,  1869,  to  November  1,  1870.  Rev.  A.  F. 
Frost  began  to  preach  for  the  society  in  1872,  but  was 
not  installed  as  pastor  till  January  25,  1875.  He  re- 
signed June  30,  1879.  Rev.  Mr.  Hayden  followed 
Mr.  Frost,  being  engaged  to  preach  for  a  year.  After 
he  left,  different  ministers  preached  from  one  Sunday 
to  several  months  each,  until  April  1, 1884,  when  Rev- 
Duane  V.  Bowen  was  invited  to  become  the  minister 
of  the  society.  The  invitation  was  accepted,  and  he 
remains  to  the  present  time  the  minister.  Rev.  Mr. 
Bowen  was  ordained  in  the  Unitarian  ministry  in 
1873,  and  had  served  parishes  of  that  denomination 
before  embracing  the  faith  of  the  New  Church  and 
identifying  himself  with  that  body.  In  making  the 
change  he  did  not  sever  the  bonds  of  friendship  and 
sympathy  by  which  he  had  been  held  in  earlier 
fellowship  with  the  communion  of  which  he  had  been 
a  member.  Of  the  fifty-nine  original  members  of  the 
New  Church  Society,  twenty  have  removed  from  the 
city,  and  fourteen  have  been  "  removed  to  the  spiritual 
world,"  the  speech  of  this  church  not  recognizing 
such  translation  as  death. 

Calvary  Baptist  Church. — On  the  21st  of  Oc- 
tober, 1871,  ninety  members  of  the  Central  Baptist 
Church  received  letters  of  dismission  from  that  church, 
for  the  purpose  of  constituting  a  new  church,  upon  a 
somewhat  different  basis  from  that  on  which  the  par- 
ent church  existed,  believing  "that  the  house  of  God 
should  be  free  to  all,  without  the  sale  or  letting  of  pews, 
or  the  granting  to  a  worldly  proprietorship  a  vote  on 


62 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


any  interest  pertaining  to  the  church."  They  met  in 
the  old  Howard  Street  Chapel  October  24,  1871,  and 
organized  under  the  name  of  "  The  Calvary  Baptist 
Church  of  Salem."  Rev.  S.  H.  Pratt,  who  had  come 
in  their  company  from  the  Central  Church,  was  chosen 
their  pastor.  The  congregation  transferred  itself  to 
Mechanic  Hall  for  a  time.  Coming  to  feel  the  need 
of  a  church  home  of  their  own,  Mrs.  John  Dwyer 
gave  them  land  on  which  to  build,  and  they  proceeded 
to  set  up  their  meeting-house  on  the  corner  of  Essex 
and  Herbert  Streets,  meantime  worshipping  at  the  old 
"Bethel"  on  the  latter  street,  till  the  new  church 
should  be  ready.  With  much  effort,  their  means  not 
being  abundant,  they  carried  the  enterprise  through 
and  dedicated  their  house  on  the  17th  of  November, 
1873.  On  the  17th  day  of  March,  1874,  the  church 
organized  as  a  corporation  under  the  general  statutes 
of  Massachusetts  ;  there  was  no  society  distinct  from 
the  church,  the  church  itself  being  incorporated. 
"  The  seats  are  utterly  free,  no  price  or  rent  being 
charged  for  any  seat,  and  no  seat  being  assigned  to  or 
claimable  by  any  person,  and  all  seats  being  open  to 
the  first  comer  ;  .  ,  .  the  expenses  are  met  by 
voluntary  weekly  offerings."  Rev.  Mr.  Pratt  resigned 
his  charge  May  4,  1873.  For  nearly  a  year  they  had 
the  services  of  Mr.  E.  B.  Andrews,  a  student  of  New- 
ton Seminary,  and  since  professor  both  in  Newton 
and  in  Brown  Universitj' — services  which  were  of  great 
value  beyond  his  religious  ministry,  as  he  worked 
strenuously  to  raise  the  money  for  the  building  of  the 
church.  Twice  they  invited  him  to  become  their  pas- 
tor and  twice  their  earnest  call  was  declined.  Rev. 
D.  H.  Taylor  was  ordained  their  second  pastor  Sep- 
tember 9,  1874.  He  continued  in  the  pastorate  till 
January  12,  1877.  On  the  27th  of  the  following  March 
(1877)  Rev.  William  A.  Keese,  then  settled  in  Ells- 
worth, Me.,  was  invited  to  take  pastoral  charge  of  the 
church,  and  accepting,  began  his  labors  May  Gth,  and 
resigned  May  26,  1883,  at  the  end  of  a  ministrj'  of  six 
years.  Rev.  Samuel  H.  Emery,  the  present  pastor,  was 
settled  January  2,  1884.  He  was  ordained  December 
5,  1877,  and  had  been  pastor  of  a  church  in  Bellows 
Falls,  Vt.,  previous  to  his  settlement  in  Salem. 

Seamen's  Society:  Seaman  s  Bethel. — When  Salem's 
prosperity  rested  largely  upon  commerce,  and  the 
town  was  not  without  a  considerable  population  of 
seafarers  and  their  families,  some  transient,  some  res- 
ident, they  were  regarded  by  the  Salem  churches  as 
a  class  entitled  to  special  missionary  effort.  In  Aug- 
ust, 1824,  a  "  Bethel "  was  opened  in  a  store  at  the 
head  of  Derby  Wharf  as  a  place  of  worship,  and  Rev. 
Eleazer  Barnard  became  the  minister.  The  next 
year  Rev.  Benjamin  H.  Pitman  succeeded  Mr.  Bar- 
nard, remaining  two  years  ;  and  in  1832  Rev.  Michael 
Carlton  was  appointed,  and  continued  in  this  work 
nearly  thirty  years,  adding,  in  the  latter  years  of  his 
ministry,  many  of  the  oiiices  of  a  minister  at  large 
and  of  a  dispenser  of  the  charities  of  the  rich  among 
the  poor  to  his  pastoral  and  missionary  duties  among 


sailors.  A  chapel  was  built  on  Herbert  Street,  and 
from  its  top  the  "  Bethel  "  flag  long  waved  an  invita- 
tion to  all  who  would  come,  seamen  and  others,  to 
worship.  As  the  number  of  seamen  has  diminished 
in  Salem,  the  special  mission  work  in  behalf  of  sailors 
has  become  desultory  and  intermittent  at  times.  Rev. 
Benjamin  Knight,  a  Baptist  clergyman  living  in  Salem, 
rather  past  middle  life,  took  up  and  carried  on  the 
same  miscellaneous  work  which  Mr.  Carlton  had  pur- 
sued, that  of  colporteur,  preacher  and  pastor  to 
seamen,  agent  of  the  charitable  in  seeking  out  and 
relieving  cases  of  want,  and  advocate  of  temperance — 
in  short,  tlie  work  of  a  minister  at  large.  vSince  Mr. 
Knight's  death  two  organizations,  not  altogether 
friendly  to  each  other,  have  grown  out  of  his  mission, 
both  assuming  the  name  of  "  Bethel  "  societies,  and 
seeking  to  perpetuate  a  ministry  to  the  neglected  and 
the  unchurched  like  that  in  which  he  labored  so  many 
years.  Neither  has  a  settled  pastor.  One  w'orships 
in  the  same  building  in  which  Mr.  Knight  preached, 
at  the  head  of  Phillips  Wharf,  the  other  (lately  incor- 
porated) on  Derby  Street,  opposite  the  Bertram  Home 
for  Aged  Men. 

Church  of  the  Colored  People. — Another 
mission  enterprise  was  started  by  the  Salem  churches 
about  sixty  years  ago,  in  1828,  to  provide  a  separ- 
ate place  of  worship  for  the  colored  people  of  the 
town,  it  being  their  own  desire  to  have  a  church 
home  by  themselves,  in  which  they  would  be 
free  from  unpleasant  and  intrusive  observation, 
and  have  a  more  perfect  enjoyment  of  ministra- 
tions of  their  own  selection,  and  more  congenial 
to  their  feelings  and  religious  habits.  A  chapel  was 
built,  in  1828,  on  South  Street,  afterwards  known 
as  Mill  Street,  and  still  later  as  (new)  Washington 
Street,  the  chapel  being  removed  when  Washington 
Street  was  extended  up  the  hill.  This  little  congre- 
gation called  itself  at  first  the  "  Union  Bethel  Church." 
It  had  James  P.  Lewis  as  a  missionary  in  1831.  It 
several  times  changed  its  name.  In  1839  it  was  "  Wes- 
leyan  Methodist,"  in  1842  "  Zion's  Methodist,"  or 
"  Equal  Rights  Zion's  Methodist  Church  "  (unless 
this  was  a  branch  of  the  former),  in  1845  again  the 
"Wesleyan  Methodist  Connection  in  America,"  in 
1854  "First  Free- Will  Baptist  Society."  In  1839 John 
N.  Mars  was  its  pastor;  in  1845,  Samuel  Palmer;  in 
1855,  Rev.  James  H.  Marston.  It  had  many  reorgan- 
izations. Its  light  sometimes  flickered,  sometimes 
seemed  to  have  gone  out.  Messrs.  Osgood  &  Batchel- 
der  date  its  extinction  within  the  year  1861.  The  Af- 
rican Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  several  time  a 
within  the  last  eight  years  sent  preachers  from  its 
Conference  to  undertake  a  revival  of  public  worship 
among  the  colored  people,  and  the  establishment  of  a 
church.  Rev.  Jacob  Stroyer  and  Joseph  Taylor  have 
each  continued  eff"orts  to  this  end  for  two  or  three 
years  at  a  time,  but  unsuccessfully.  The  population 
in  whose  interest  the  experiment  has  been  tried  is  es- 
timated at  about  three  hundred  souls  in  all.      Many 


SALEM. 


63 


of  these  are  already  respected  members  of  other 
churches,  satisfied  with  their  church  relations.  The 
desire  of  many  colored  persons,  sensitive  to  surround- 
ing opinion,  and  constrained  by  a  self-respecting  re- 
serve to  have  their  worship  apart  and  by  themselves, 
has  been  well  understood  and  sympathized  with,  and 
they  have  been  liberally  aided  in  their  attempts  to 
maintain  their  own  separate  meetings  on  Sunday. 
But  it  would  appear  to  be  wiser,  hereafter,  to  seek 
their  absorption  in  the  other  churches,  where,  it  may 
be  hoped,  time  and  a  growing  appreciation  of  the 
spirit  of  true  Christianity  will  make  real  the  abolish- 
ment of  all  distinctions  of  class  and  race. 

Mormon. — For  a  few  years  a  church  of  the  "  Latter- 
Day  Saints,"  better  known  as  Mormons,  existed  in 
Salem.  It  was  organized  January  1,  1842.  Ten  years 
before,  Joseph  Smith,  the  "  prophet "  of  that  sect, 
came  to  Salem,  with  associates,  and  propagated  its 
tenets,  not  unsuccessfully  ;  in  1843  it  had  one  hundred 
members.  Erastus  Snow  remained  here  as  its  elder 
for  a  year  or  two.  But  in  1844,  when  all  the  pilgrims 
of  this  order  were  setting  their  faces  towards  Nauvoo, 
in  Illinois,  their  sacred  city,  the  church  in  Salem 
obeyed  the  general  impulse  and  made  a  clean  exodus 
from  among  the  aliens. 

Deaf  Mutes. — A  small  congregationof  deaf  mutes 
organized  themselves  into  a  religious  society  in  1876, 
and  have  had  Rev.  Philo  W.  Packard,  one  of  their 
number,  as  their  only  pastor.  They  number  about 
twenty  persons.  Mr.  Packard  was  born  in  Boston 
February  25, 1838. 

Lutheran  Swedish  Church. — One  finds  the  sim- 
ple record  in  the  listof  Salem  churches  for  1884—85  that 
"  a  Lutheran  Swedish  Church  was  organized  June  15, 
1884 — no  pastor — John  Lonn  its  president.  Its  place 
of  meeting.  Central,  corner  of  Charter  Street." 

For  many  years  a  body  of  believers,  classed  as 
"Spiritualists,"  numerically  undefined  and  undefin- 
able,  at  times  sufiiciently  organized  for  regular  meet- 
ings, have  had  sessions  from  Sunday  to  Sunday  for 
such  communion,  utterances  and  conferences  as  usu- 
ally characterize  their  congregations.  Those  who  at- 
tend such  gatherings  are  few  compared  with  the  num- 
ber of  those  who  entertain  opinions  more  or  less  con- 
current with  theirs,  but  to  whom  they  are  private 
speculations,  or  a  private  faith,  calling  for  no  public 
and  conventional  proclamation,  or  separate  and  per- 
manent organization. 

The  principal  authorities  consulted  : 

Rev.  C.  W.  Upham's  "Sermon  at  the  Dedication  of  the  First  Church," 
November  16,  1x26  ;  "  Second  Century  Lecture,"  182!)  ;  "Address  at  the 
Rededicatiun  of  tlie  First  Church,"  December  8,  1867. 

Rev.  William  Bentley's  "  Description  of  Salem"  ("Mass.  Hist.  Col.," 
vol.  vi.,  year  1799). 

Rev.  J.  B.  Felt's  "Annals  of  Salem,"  two  vols.  ;  Felt's  "  Ecclesiastical 
History  of  New  England,"  vol.  i. 

Hon.  Daniel  A.  White's  -'N.  E.  Congregationalism,"  1861. 

Lectures  by  Judge  White  respecting  the  "  Founders  of  Salem  and  the 
First  Church." 

' '  Papei-8  Relating  to  Rev.  Samuel  Skelton,"  by  William  P.  Upham, 
Esij.  ("Hist.  Col.  of  Essex  Inst.,"  vol.  xiii.). 

"  Cieucalogy  of  the  Marsh  Family,"  Skelton. 


"Sketch  of  Salem,"  by  Charles  Osgood  and  Henrj-  M.  Batchelder, 
1879. 

'•Address  before  the  Essex  Bar  Association,"  by  Hon.  Wm.  D.  North- 
end,  president  of  the  association,  1885. 

•'Discourse  on  tlie  First  Centennial  Anniversary  of  the  Tabernacle 
Church,  April  26,  1835,"  by  Rev.  Samuel  M.  Worcester 

"Narrative  of  the  Controversy  between  the  Rev.  Mr.  Samuel  Fisk, 
the  Pastor,  and  a  number  of  the  Brethren  of  the  First  Church  of  Christ 
in  Salem,"  1735 ;  "Narrative  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Ecclesiastical 
Council,  convened  in  Salem  in  1734,"  1735  ;  other  pubHshed  pamphlets 
relating  to  the  above  controversy,  bound  together  in  a  volume  in  the 
library  of  the  Salem  Athenaeum. 

"  Brief  History  of  Settlement  of  Third  Church  in  Salem,  1769  and  of 
the  Ecclesiastical  Council  of  1784,"  by  Rev.  Dr.  Nathaniel  Whitaker. 

"  Correspondence  in  Relation  to  the  Third  Church  of  17.35." 

"First  Centenary  of  the  North  Church,"  1872. 

"Semi-Centennial  Sermon  "  by  Rev.  Robert  C.  Mills,  D.D.,  First  Bap- 
tist Church. 

"  Semi-Centennial  Address  on  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  Dedication  of 
the  Uni  versalist  Meeting-house  and  Installation  of  Rev.  Edward  Turner,'' 
18.59. 

"Manual  of  Crombie  Street  Church" 

"  Manual  of  Central  Baptist  Church." 

"  Historical  Sketch  of  Calvary  Baptist  Church,"  by  Rev.  William  A. 
Keese,  in  Report  to  the  Salem  Baptist  Association,  1883. 

[In  Library  of  Boston  Athenitum  "  B.  76,  Sermons  No.  7i^."]  A 
tract  of  six  pages  ;  its  title  page,  in  part,  "  A  Direction  for  a  Publick 
Profi'ssion  in  the  Church  Assembly  after  the  Private  Examination  of  the 
Elders  "  [much  referred  to  in  the  discussion  between  Dr.  S.  M.  Worcester 
and  Judge  D.  A.  White  respecting  the  covenant  and  confession  of  the 
Salem  Church,  adopted  in  1629]. 

"  Reports  of  the  Salem  Society  of  Deaf  Mutes,  1876,  1881,  1886." 

•'Roger  Williams,"  article  by  Porter  C.  Bliss  in  "  Johnson's Encyclo- 
pa'dia." 

Sewell's  "  History  of  the  Quakers." 

Sprague's  "Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit." 

Morton's  "New  England's  Memorial,"  editions  ol  1826  (Davis'),  and 
of  1855  (Cong.  Pub.  Soc). 

Drake's  "  History  of  American  Biography." 

Savage's  "  Genealogical  Dictionary." 

Barry's  "  History  of  Massachusetts." 

Arnold's  "  History  of  Rhode  Island." 

Palfrey's  "  History  of  New  England." 

"Salem  Directories." 


CHAPTER  IIL 


the   COMMERCIAL   HISTORY. 


BY  CHARLES  S.   OStiOOD. 


Salem  may  justly  be  proud  of  her  commercial  his- 
tory. No  other  seaport  in  America  has  such  a  won- 
derful record.  Flying  from  the  mast  of  a  Salem  ship 
the  American  flag  was  first  carried  into  the  ports  be- 
yond the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  Her  ves.sels  led  the 
way  from  New  England  to  the  Isle  of  France  and  In- 
dia and  China,  and  were  the  first  from  this  country  to 
display  the  American  flag  and  open  trade  at  St.  Pe- 
tersburg and  Zanzibar  and  Sumatra,  at  Calcutta  and 
Bombay,  at  Batavia  and  Arabia,  at  Madagascar  and 
Australia,  and  at  many  another  distant  port.  Well 
may  she  proudly  inscribe  on  her  city  seal  Divitis 
Indioe  tisque  ad  ultlmum  sinum. 

The  colonists,  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  were 
almost  destitute  of  ships  of  war.    They  were  engaged 


64 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


in  a  struggle  with  one  of  the  most  powerful  maritime 
nations,  without  the  means  to  cope  with  their  enemy 
on  the  high  seas.  Their  own  commerce  was  ruined, 
and  it  was  essential  to  their  success  that  provision 
be  made  for  forcing  the  commerce  of  Great  Britain  to 
suffer  in  common  with  them,  the  fortunes  and  vicissi- 
tudes of  war.  Boston,  New  York,  and  the  larger  sea- 
ports, were  occupied  and  nearly  ruined  by  the  enemy, 
and  the  main  reliance  of  the  country  was  on  the  ship- 
ping of  Salem  and  the  neighboring  towns  of  Beverly 
and  Marblehead. 

The  merchants  of  Salem  at  this  crisis  showed  that 
the  resolution  passed  in  town  meeting  June  12,  1776, 
that  "  if  the  Honorable  Congress  shall  for  the  Safety 
of  the  United  American  Colonies  declare  them  inde- 
pendent of  the  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain,  we  will 
solemnly  engage,  with  our  lives  and  fortunes,  to  sup- 
port them  in  the  measure,"  was  no  meaningless  phrase- 
ology or  idle  boast. 

They  turned  their  vessels  into  men  of  war,  and 
built  new  ones  for  the  service,  equipped  them  with 
cannon,  manned  them  with  gallant  seamen  and  sent 
them  out  to  meet  Great  Britain  on  the  deep.  During 
this  contest  there  were  sent  out  from  this  port  at  least 
one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  vessels,  manned  by  sev- 
eral thousand  brave  sailors  from  Salem.  They  mounted 
more  than  two  thousand  guns,  carrying  on  an  average 
twelve  or  fourteen  each,  and  captured  during  the  war 
as  many  as  four  hundred  and  forty-five  prizes. 

The  war  ended,  the  merchants  of  Salem  found  them- 
selves in  possession  of  many  large  and  swift-sailing 
vessels  which  had  been  built  for  use  as  privateers. 
These  being  too  large  to  be  profitably  employed  in  the 
coasting  trade,  or  on  the  short  voyages  to  other  ports 
heretofore  visited  by  Salem  ships,  their  owners  de- 
termined to  open  to  distant  countries  new  avenues  of 
trade  and  bring  to  Salem  the  products  of  lands  lying 
in  the  remotest  quarters  of  the  globe. 

There  was  no  lack  of  i^eamen  to  man  the  vessels. 
The  young  men  of  the  town,  fresh  from  service  on  the 
armed  ships  of  Salem,  were  eager  to  embark  in  just 
such  ventures  as  a  voyage  to  unknown  countries  offered. 
They  had  served  with  Haraden  in  his  daring  exploits 
off  the  coast  of  Spain,  and  had  been  with  West  when, 
in  the  darkness  of  the  night,  he  cut  his  prize  out  of  a 
British  harbor  under  the  guns  of  the  enemy.  What 
wonder  that  after  wielding  the  cutlass  and  the  board- 
ing pike,  they  were  not  contented  to  put  their  hands 
to  the  plough  or  return  to  the  daily  drudgery  of  the 
work-shop.  The  spirit  of  adventure  was  awakened, 
and  the  more  dangerous  and  perilous  the  undertaking 
the  better  it  suited  the  temper  of  these  wild  and  cour- 
ageous graduates  from  the  deck  of  the  privateersman. 

From  the  close  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution  until 
the  embargo  in  1808,  Salem  was  at  the  height  of  her 
commercial  prosperity.  The  white  sails  of  Salem's 
ships  were  unfurled  in  every  port  of  the  known  world 
and  carried  the  fame  and  name  of  Salem  to  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  earth. 


The  history  of  this  period  makes  a  tale  which  even 
the  imaginings  of  romance  could  hardly  parallel.  It 
is  crowded  full  of  the  accounts  of  daring  adventures 
by  brave  seamen  in  unknown  seas,  of  their  encounters 
with  pirates  and  savage  tribes,  of  their  contests  with 
the  armed  ships  of  France  and  England  and  of  their 
imprisonment  among  the  Algerines  and  in  the  prisons 
of  France  and  Spain. 

It  was  the  young  men  of  Salem  that  officered  her 
ships,  sailing  as  captains  at  an  age  when  the  boys  of 
the  present  time  are  scarcely  over  their  school-days. 
At  the  beginning  of  one  of  the  East  India  voyages  of 
nineteen  months,  neither  the  captain  (Nathaniel  Sils- 
bee),  nor  his  first  mate  (Charles  Derby),  nor  his  sec- 
ond mate  (Richard  J.  Cleveland),  was  twenty  years  of 
age,  and  yet  these  boys  carried  ship  and  cargo  safely 
to  their  destination,  with  imperfect  mathematical  in- 
struments and  with  no  charts  but  of  their  own  mak- 
ing, and  returned  with  a  cargo  which  realized  four  or 
five  times  the  amount  of  the  original  capital.  With 
no  power  to  communicate  with  home,  the  success  of 
the  undertaking  was  largely  in  the  hands  of  these 
youthful  captains.  Their  duty  was  not  ended  when 
the  ship  arrived  safely  in  port,  for  upon  their  judg- 
ment and  sagacity  in  buying  and  selling  depended  the 
profits  of  the  voyage. 

In  those  early  days,  when  a  vessel  left  Salem  har- 
bor, there  was  often  nothing  heard  from  her  until  af- 
ter the  lapse  of  a  year  or  more  she  would  come  sailing 
back  again.  To-day  the  earth  is  girdled  with  the  tele- 
graph, and  the  arrival  of  a  ship  in  the  foreign  harbor 
can  be  known  at  home  almost  within  an  hour  of  her 
reaching  port.  Then,  foreign  prices  were  unknown 
and  the  result  of  a  voyage  might  be  splendid  success 
or  ruinous  disaster;  now,  a  voyage  is  merely  a  passage 
from  port  to  port  with  the  market  ascertained  before- 
hand at  either  end. 

When  Captain  Jonathan  Carnes  set  sail  for  Suma- 
tra, in  1795,  on  his  secret  voyage  for  pepper,  nothing 
was  heard  from  him  until  eighteen  months  later,  he 
entered  with  a  cargo  of  pepper  in  bulk,  the  first  to  be 
so  imported  into  this  country,  and  which  sold  at  the 
extraordinary  profit  of  seven  hundred  per  cent.  This 
uncertainty  which  hung  over  the  fate  of  ship  and 
cargo  lent  a  romantic  interest  to  these  early  voyages 
which  this  age,  with  its  telegraph  and  steamship,  has 
destroyed. 

The  lower  part  of  the  town,  in  the  days  of  Salem's 
commerce,  was  full  of  bustling  activity.  The  wharves 
were  crowded  with  vessels  discharging  their  cargoes, 
gathered  from  all  nations,  or  loading  for  another  ven- 
ture across  the  seas.  Sailors  fresh  from  the  distant 
Indies  were  chatting  on  the  street  corners  with  com- 
panions about  to  depart  thither,  or  were  lounging 
about  the  doors  of  the  sailor  boarding-houses  with 
that  indescribable  air  of  disdain  for  all  landsmen 
which  seems  always  to  attach  to  the  true  rover  of  the 
seas.  They  were  looked  upon  by  the  younger  por- 
tion of  the  community  with  that  curiosity  which  is  so 


SALEM. 


65 


near  akin  to  awe,  with  which  we  regard  those  about  to 
start  upon,  or  who  have  just  returned  from  some  un- 
commonly perilous  undertaking. 

The  shops  were  full  of  strange  and  unique  articles 
brought  from  distant  lands.  The  parrot  screamed  at 
the  open  door  and  in  the  back  shop  the  monkey  and 
other  small  denizens  of  foreign  forests  gamboled  at 
will,  sometimes  escaping  to  the  neighboring  house- 
tops, much  to  the  delight  of  the  small  children  who 
gathered  to  watch  their  capture  with  upturned  faces 
and  expressions  of  intense  interest  in  the  result  of  the 
chase.  Derby  Street  in  those  days  was  well  worth  a 
visit,  if  only  for  the  suggestions  of  foreign  lands  that 
met  the  eye  on  every  hand. 

Salem  at  that  time  was  one  of  the  principal  points 
for  the  distribution  of  foreign  merchandise,  over 
eight  million  pounds  of  sugar  being  among  the  im- 
ports of  the  year  1800.  The  streets  about  the  wharves 
were  alive  with  teams  loaded  with  goods  for  all  parts 
of  the  country.  It  was  a  busy  scene  with  the  coming 
and  going  of  vehicle:^,  some  from  long  distances,  for 
railroads  were  then  unknown  and  all  transportation 
must  be  carried  on  in  wagons  and  drays.  In  the 
taverns  could  be  seen  teamsters  from  all  quarters  sit- 
ting around  the  open  fire  in  the  chilly  evenings,  dis- 
cussing the  news  of  the  day  or  making  merry  over 
potations  of  New  England  rum,  which  Salem  in  the 
good  old  times  manufactured  in  abundance. 

All  this  has  changed.  The  sail-lofts  where  on  the 
smooth  floor  sat  the  sail-makers,  with  their  curious 
thimbles  fastened  to  the  palms  of  their  hands,  busily 
stitching  the  great  white  sheets  of  canvas  that  were 
to  carry  many  a  gallant  ship  safely  through  storm 
and  tempest  to  her  destination  in  far-distant  harbors, 
and  that  were  to  be  reflected  in  seas  before  unvexed 
by  the  keel  of  an  American  vessel,  are  deserted  or 
given  over  to  more  prosaic  uses,  the  ship-chandlers' 
shops  are  closed  and  the  old  mathematical  instrument 
maker  has  taken  in  his  swinging  sign  of  a  quadrant, 
shut  up  his  shop  and,  as  if  there  was  no  further  use 
for  him  here,  has  started  on  the  long  voyage  from 
which  there  is  no  return. 

The  merchandise  warehouses  on  the  wharves  no 
longer  contain  silks  from  India,  tea  from  China,  pep- 
per from  Sumatra,  coffee  from  Arabia,  spices  from 
Batavia,  gum-copal  from  Zanzibar,  hides  from  Africa, 
and  the  various  other  products  of  far-away  countries. 
The  boys  have  ceased  to  watch  on  the  Neck  for  the 
incoming  vessels,  hoping  to  earn  a  reward  by  being 
the  first  to  announce  to  the  expectant  merchant  the 
safe  return  of  his  looked-for  vessel.  The  foreign 
commerce  of  Salem,  once  her  pride  and  glory,  has 
spread  its  white  wings  and  sailed  away  forever. 

It  remains  for  us  to-day  to  gather  together  as  well 
as  we  may  the  facts  and  incidents  of  this  memorable 
epoch  in  the  history  of  our  city  and  preserve  them  as 
a  precious  legacy  from  the  Salem  of  the  past  to  the 
Salem  of  the  future. 

Although  commerce  has  sought  other  ports  and  is 
5 


no  longer  prosecuted  here,  the  influence  of  the  old- 
time  merchants,  whose  energy  and  enterprise,  whose 
daring  and  far-sightedness,  made  such  an  unparal- 
leled chapter  in  the  history  of  Salem,  still  lingers 
with  us.  Salem  to-day  owes  to  these  men  the  high 
position  she  holds  in  the  world  of  science.  Their 
broad  and  liberal  views,  stimulated  by  contact  with 
all  nations,  prepared  their  descendants,  the  Salem  of 
to-day,  for  the  good  work  which  is  now  being  carried 
on  in  our  midst.  Their  rare  and  unique  collection  of 
curiosities  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Peabody 
Academy  of  Science  grows  in  interest  each  year, 
being  one  of  the  principal  points  of  attraction  to 
visitors.  As  such  it  will  always  remain,  a  perpetual 
monument  to  the  far-seeing  and  public-spirited  mer- 
chants and  ship-masters  of  Salem. 

Salem  was  undoubtedly  chosen  as  a  good  place  for 
settlement  by  Roger  Conant,  who  described  it  as  "  a 
fruitful  necke  of  land,"  because  of  its  harbors  and 
rivers.  Situated  on  a  peninsula,  with  North  River 
on  one  side  and  South  River  on  the  other,  all  parts 
of  the  town  were  readily  accessible  by  water.  Salem 
was  from  the  first  and  of  necessity  a  maritime  place. 
The  Massachusetts  Company,  that  sent  John  Endi- 
cott  to  Salem,  was  a  trading  company,  and  the  home 
Governor,  Matthew  Cradock,  writes  to  Endicott  in 
1629  to  send,  as  return  cargoes,  "staves,  sarsaparilla, 
sumach,  two  or  three  hundred  firkins  of  sturgeon  and 
other  fish  and  beaver." 

The  early,  long-continued  and  staple  trade  of 
Salem  was  in  the  product  of  the  fisheries.  The  har- 
bors and  rivers  swarmed  with  fish,  and  the  supply 
was  so  plentiful  that  large  quantities  were  often  used 
for  manure.  From  1629  to  1740  Winter  Island  seems 
to  have  been  the  headquarters  of  the  Salem  fishing 
trade,  and  that  trade  was  the  staple  business  of 
Salem  down  to  a  much  later  period.  In  1643  the 
merchants  of  Salem  were  trading  with  the  West 
Indies,  with  Barbadoes  and  the  Leeward  Islands. 

Between  1640  and  1650  the  commercial  career  of 
Salem  received  an  impetus,  and  her  vessels  made 
voyages  not  only  to  the  mother-country  but  to  the 
West  Indies,  Bermudas,  Virginia  and  Antigua.  Her 
wealth  was  great  in  proportion  to  her  population, 
and  Josselyn,  writing  in  1644,  says  "in  this  town  are 
some  very  rich  merchants."  In  1663  William  Hol- 
lingworth,  a  Salem  merchant,  agrees  to  send  one 
hundred  hogsheads  of  tobacco  from  the  River  Poto- 
mac by  ship  from  Boston  to  Plymouth  in  England, 
the  isle  of  Jersey  or  any  port  in  Holland,  and  thence 
to  said  island  for  seven  pounds  sterling  per  ton. 

From  1670  to  1740  the  trade  was  to  the  West  In- 
dies and  most  ports  of  Europe,  including  Spain 
France  and  Holland.  From  1686  to  1689  inclusive 
Salem  is  trading  to  Barbadoes,  London,  Fayal,  Penn- 
sylvania, Virginia  and  Antigua.  The  great  majority 
of  her  vessels  are  ketches  from  twenty  to  forty  tons 
and  carrying  from  four  to  six  men.  Only  one  ship 
appears  among  them,  and   her  tonnage  is  but  one 


66 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


hundred  and  thirty  tons.  In  1698-99  registers  are 
taken  out  for  two  ships  of  eighty  and  two  hundred 
tons,  a  barque,  three  sloops  and  twenty  ketches.  The 
ketch  of  those  days  was  two-masted,  with  square  sails 
on  the  fore-mast  and  a  fore-and-aft  sail  on  the  main- 
mast, which  was  shorter  than  the  fore-mast.  The 
schooner,  which  gradually  supplanted  the  ketch, 
first  appears  in  our  Salem  marine  about  1720.  Felt 
says  that  "  Andrew  Eobinson,  of  Gloucester,  origi- 
nated the  name  of  schooner  in  1709."  John  John- 
son, of  Salem,  in  1693,  "  having  for  nigh  three  years 
followed  the  trade  of  boating  goods "  to  and  from 
Boston,  "  sometimes  twice  a  weeke,"  complains  to 
Governor  William  Phipps  of  the  cost  of  entering  and 
clearing. 

In  1700  the  foreign  trade  of  Salem  is  thus  described 
by  Higginson  :  "  Dry,  merchantable  codfish  for  the 
markets  of  Spain,  Portugal  and  the  Straits,  refuse  fish, 
lumber,  horses  and  provisions  for  the  West  Indies. 
Eeturns  made  directly  to  England  are  sugar,  mo- 
lasses, cotton,  wool,  logwood  and  Brasiletto-wood,  for 
which  we  depend  on  the  West  Indies.  Our  own  pro- 
duce, a  considerable  quantity  of  whale  and  fish-oil, 
whalebone,  furs,  deer,  elk  and  bear-skins  are  annually 
sent  to  England.  We  have  much  shipping  here,  and 
freights  are  low." 

Dr.  Edward  A.  Holyoke,  writing  of  the  commerce 
of  Salem  in  1749,  says  :  "  The  commerce  of  this  town 
was  chiefly  with  Spain  and  Portugal  and  the  West 
Indies,  especially  with  St.  Eustatia.  The  cod  fishery 
was  carried  on  with  success  and  advantage.  The 
schooners  were  employed  on  the  fishing  banks  in  the 
summer,  and  in  the  autumn  were  laden  with  fish, 
rum,  molasses  and  the  produce  of  the  country  and 
sent  to  Virginia  and  Maryland,  and  there  spent  the 
winter  retailing  their  cargoes,  and  in  return  brought 
corn  and  wheat  and  tobacco.  This  Virginian  voyage 
was  seldom  very  profitable,  but,  as  it  served  to  keep 
the  crews  together,  it  was  continued  till  more  advan- 
tageous employment  offered." 

Comparatively  little  mention  is  made  in  this  chap- 
ter of  the  commerce  of  Salem  prior  to  the  Kevolu- 
tion.  The  colonial  trade  was  narrow  and  limited, 
and  was  restricted  by  the  short-sighted  policy  of  the 
home  government.  Trade  was  carried  on  with  the 
West  Indies,  with  the  mother-country  and  with  some 
other  of  the  European  ports,  but  the  famous  record 
of  Salem  as  a  commercial  port  begins  with  the  close 
of  the  Revolutionary  War. 

Colonel  Higginson,  in  his  recent  article  on  "  Old 
Salem  Sea-Captains,"  says  "  there  is  nothing  more 
brilliant  in  American  history  than  the  brief  career  of 
maritime  adventure  which  made  the  name  of  Salem 
synonymous  with  that  of  America  in  many  a  distant 
port.  The  period  bridged  the  interval  between  two 
wars  ;  the  American  Revolution  laid  its  foundation  ; 
the  later  war  with  England  saw  its  last  trophies." 

It  is  to  this  period  that  this  chapter  is  largely  de- 
voted, and  it  has  been  the  endeavor  of  the  writer  to 


present  as  complete  an  account  of  Salem's  commer- 
cial triumphs  as  can  be  gathered,  the  records  of  the 
custom-house  and  the  files  of  contemporaneous  news- 
papers being  gleaned  for  material  for  the  work.  The 
log-books  in  the  custody  of  the  E?sex  Institute  have 
also  been  carefully  examined.  These  form  a  curi- 
ously interesting  collection  suggestive  of  life  on 
ghip-board,  and  of  the  old  ship  masters  who  made  the 
entries  in  them  from  day  to  day.  It  is  to  be  regretted 
that  a  large  proportion  are  devoted  wholly  to  the  direc- 
tion and  force  of  the  wind,  to  the  latitude  and  longi- 
tude and  the  details  of  the  ship's  course.  But  now 
and  then,  especially  among  those  belonging  to  the 
East  India  Marine  Society,  most  interesting  accounts 
are  given  of  the  customs  and  manners  of  foreign  na- 
tions. 

In  one  of  the  oldest  of  them  we  find  this  entry, 
made  in  the  Indian  Ocean  :  "  A  wave  just  broke  over 
the  ship  and  came  in  at  the  cabin  window,  making  a 
blot  on  the  log;"  and  there  is  the  blurred  writing, 
just  as  the  salt  water  left  it  a  hundred  years  ago  ;  a 
trifling  incident,  but  how  real  it  makes  the  voyage  to 
us !  As  we  turn  the  pages,  yellow  with  age  and 
musty  even  now  with  the  smell  of  the  ship,  we  seem 
almost  to  be  sailing  the  distant  ocean  and  feel  the 
force  of  the  wave  as  it  dashes  against  the  vessel  and 
throws  its  spray  through  the  cabin  window. 

In  the  following  pages  it  has  been  found  most  con- 
venient to  trace  the  course  of  trade  with  different 
countries  separately,  although  it  must  be  understood 
that  many  vessels  visited  several  of  the  ports  named 
in  the  course  of  a  single  voyage,— one,  for  instance, 
starting  from  Salem  stopping  at  Manilla,  and  thence 
on  to  Canton,  returning  direct  to  Salem. 

The  Canton  Trade. — Elias  Hasket  Derby  led 
the  way  to  India  and  China,  and  opened  for  Salem 
that  extensive  foreign  commerce  which  will  always 
hold  a  prominent  place  in  her  history.  His  enter- 
prise and  vigor  was  something  rarely  paralleled.  Not 
content  to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  his  predecessors,  he 
turned  bis  eyes  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  the  far- 
distant  Indies,  and  determined  to  measure  his  strength 
with  the  incorporated  companies  of  England  and 
France  and  Holland,  which  then  entirely  monopo- 
lized the  commerce  of  the  East.  He  boldly  entered 
into  competition  with  that  great  and  powerful  mo- 
nopoly, the  East  India  Company,  which  Queen  Eliza- 
beth incorporated  on  the  last  day  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  a  company  whose  Governor,  Josiah  Child 
(formerly  an  apprentice,  sweeping  one  of  the  count- 
ing-rooms of  London),  became  the  possessor  of  bound- 
less wealth,  the  companion  of  nobles,  and  one  from 
whom  King  Charles  II.  graciously  accepted  a  gift  of 
ten  thousand  guineas, — a  monopoly  which  held  in  its 
powerful  grasp  the  whole  trade  of  England,  with  the 
distant  East,  issuing  its  edicts  from  the  India  House 
on  Leadenhall  Street  to  its  subjects  in  India,  com- 
manding them  to  disregard  the  votes  of  the  House  of 
Commons  ;  and  which,  as  late  as  the  year  1800,  when 


SALEM. 


67 


the  ship  "  Active,"  of  Salem,  George  Nichols,  mas- 
ter, arrived  at  Liverpool,  from  Salem,  with  a  cargo  of 
Surat  cotton,  compelled  her  to  carry  it  to  London  and 
dispose  of  it  from  the  warehouses  of  the  Company  in 
that  city. 

Mr.  Derby,  on  the  28th  of  November,  1785,  cleared 
the  ship  "  Grand  Turk,"  Ebenezer  West,  master, 
for  the  Isle  of  France,  with  the  purpose  to  visit 
Canton.  This  vessel  went  to  the  Isle  of  France  and 
China,  and  returned  to  Salem  in  June,  1787,  with  a 
cargo  of  teas,  silks  and  nankeens,  making  the  first 
voyage  from  New  England  to  the  Isle  of  France,  In- 
dia and  China. 

In  the  year  1790  there  were  three  arrivals  from 
Canton.  The  brig  ''  William  and  Henry,"  Benjamin 
Hodges,  master,  one  hundred  and  fity  tons,  was  en- 
tered, in  May,  to  Gray  &  Orne.  Captain  Hodges  was 
a  good  type  of  the  master  mariner  of  that  period.  He 
was  born  in  Salem,  April  26,  1754.  When  the  East 
India  Marine  Societj'  was  formed,  he  was  chosen  its 
president.  He  brought  to  Salem  the  first  full  cargo 
of  tea  direct  from  Canton.  He  died  April  13,  1806. 
Captain  Hodges  makes  the  following  quaint  entry  in 
his  log-book,  under  date  of  Friday,  Dec.  25, 1789,  when 
leaving  China  for  home:  "  Discharged  the  pilot  after 
much  altercation,  having  promised  him  fifty-six  dol- 
lars, which  I  only  intended  as  a  conveniency,  as 
forty  dollars  is  the  established  customary  price,  which 
sum  was  all  I  intended  and  all  I  did  pay  him.  How- 
ever unjust  it  may  appear  to  promise  with  an  inten- 
tion not  to  perform,  yet  it  is  necessary  in  dealing  with 
such  rascals  as  the  Chinese,  who  are  ever  ready  to 
take  undue  advantage,  and,  as  the  vulgar  say,  '  Two 
cheats  is  an  even  bargain,'  and  the  only  method  to 
keep  pace  with  such  faithless  villains."  Evidently 
Captain  Hodges  was  not  impressed  with  the  honesty 
of  the  average  Chinaman. 

Captain  Hodges  also  gives  a  list  of  the  American 
vessels  then  lying  at  Canton,  fourteen  in  all,  of  which 
five  hailed  from  Salem,  four  from  New  York,  three 
from  Philadelphia  and  two  from  Boston ;  and  of 
the  two  Boston  ships,  one,  the  "  Massachusetts,"  of 
one  hundred  and  ninety  tons,  had  a  Salem  man, 
Benjamin  Carpenter,  for  captain.  Captain  Carpen- 
ter, although  he  does  not  aj^pear  to  have  made  any 
voyages  from  Salem,  was  intimately  connected  with 
our  marine  societies.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  East  India  Marine  Society  and  an  early  member  of 
the  Salem  Marine  Society,  which  last-named  society  has 
in  its  possession  a  log-book  of  a  voyage  made  by  him 
in  the  ship  "  Hercules,"  of  Boston,  from  that  place  to 
the  East  Indies,  in  1792.  His  crew  consisted  of 
thirty-nine  men,  thirteen  of  them  from  Salem.  All 
but  two  or  three  of  the  crew  were  between  nineteen 
and  twenty-four  years  of  age,  Captain  Carpenter  put- 
ting down  his  own  age  at  forty.  This  log-book  is 
remarkable  for  the  elegance  of  the  penmanship  and 
the  skill  displayed  in  making  pen-and-ink  sketches  of 
islands,  rocks  and  other  objects  of  interest  to  mariners. 


The  ship  "  Astrea,"  James  Magee,  master,  and 
Thomas  Handasyd  Perkins,  supercargo,  of  three  hun- 
dred and  thirty  tons,  arrived  in  June  to  Elias  H. 
Derby,  with  a  cargo  of  tea,  paying  $27,109.18  as 
duties  ;  and  the  ship  "  Light  Horse,"  Ichabod  Nich- 
ols, master,  two  hundred  and  sixty-six  tons,  in  June, 
to  Elias  H.  Derby,  with  a  cargo  of  tea,  paying 
$16,312.98  as  duties.  There  is  no  year  when  the 
direct  arrivals  from.  Canton  numbered  more  than 
three.  The  "Astrea"  was  one  of  Mr.  Derby's  favor- 
ite ships.  She  was  distinguished  for  speed,  having  in 
one  voyage  to  the  Baltic,  made  the  run  in  eleven 
days  from  Salem  to  the  coast  of  Ireland.  Preparing 
for  a  voyage  to  Canton  was  in  those  days  a  serious 
undertaking.  The  "  Astrea  "  was  sent  up  the  Baltic 
for  iron,  a  schooner  was  sent  to  Madeira  for  wine, 
and  specie  was  collected  from  New  York,  Philadel- 
phia and  Baltimore.  In  February,  1789,  the  "  Astrea" 
was  dispatched  for  Canton  with  an  assorted  cargo, 
consisting  of  iron,  wine,  butter,  candles,  ginseng,  beef 
and  flour.  The  cargo  of  the  "  Astrea  "  was  entrusted 
to  the  joint  care  of  Captain  James  Magee  and  Thomas 
Handasyd  Perkins.  This  last-named  gentleman  was 
afterwards  for  many  years  a  leading  merchant  of  Bos- 
ton, and  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Boston 
Athenaeum. 

As  showing  how  completely  the  merchant  was 
obliged  to  rely  on  the  judgment  of  the  oflicers  of  his 
ship  a  few  extracts  from  the  letter  of  instruction 
given  by  Mr.  Derby  to  the  officers  of  the  'Astrea " 
may  be  interesting.     He  writes  as  follows : 

"Salem,  February,  1789. 

"Capt.  James  Magee,  Jr.,  Mr.  Thomas  H.  Perkins  • 

"Gents, — The  ship  'Astrea'  being  ready  for  3ea.  I  do  advise  and  order 
you  to  come  to  sail  and  malce  the  best  of  your  way  to  Batavia,  and  on 
your  arrival  tliere  you  will  disjiose  of  such  a  part  of  the  cargo  as  you 
think  may  be  most  for  my  interest.  If  you  find  the  price  of  susar  to  be 
low,  you  will  then  take  into  the  ship  as  much  of  the  best  white  kind  as 
will  floor  her,  and  fifty  thousand  weight  of  coffee,  if  it  is  as  low  as  we 
have  heard,  and  fifteen  thousand  of  saltpetre,  if  very  low ;  some  nut- 
megs and  fifty  thousand  weight  of  pepper  ;  this,  you  will  stow  in  the 
fore  peak,  for  fear  of  its  injuring  the  tea*.  At  Batavia  j'ou  must,  if 
possible,  get  as  much  freight  for  Canton  as  will  pay  half  or  more  of  your 
charges, — that  is,  if  it  will  not  detain  you  too  long— as  by  this  addition 
of  freight  it  will  exceedingly  help  the  voyage.  If  Messrs.  Bhmchard  & 
Webb  are  at  Batavia  in  the  Brigantine  'Three  Sisters,'  and  if  they 
have  not  stock  sufficient  to  load  with  coffee  and  sugar,  and  if  it  is  low, 
and  you  think  it  for  my  advantage,  then  I  would  have  you  ship  me 
some  coffee  or  sugar  and  a  few  nutmegs  to  complete  his  loading.  If  his 
brigantine  can  be  sold  for  a  large  price,  and  sugar  and  coffee  are  too 
dear  to  make  any  large  freight— in  that  case  it  possibly  may  be  for  my 
interest  to  have  her  so!d,  and  for  them  to  take  passage  with  you  to  Can- 
ton, but  this  must  not  be  done  unless  you.  Dr.  Blauchard  and  Capt. 
Webb  shall  think  it  greatly  for  my  interest.  It  is  my  order  that  in  case 
of  your  sickness,  you  write  a  clause  at  the  foot  of  thes3  orders,  putting 
the  command  of  the  ship  into  the  person's  hands  that  you  think  the 
most  equal  for  it,  not  having  any  regard  to  the  station  he  at  present  has 
in  the  ship.  Among  the  silks,  you  will  get  nie  one  or  two  pieces  of  the 
wide  nankeen  satin,  and  others  you  will  get  as  directed.  Get  me  two 
pots  of  twenty  pounds  each  of  ginger,  that  is  well  put  up;  and  lay  out 
for  my  account  fifteen  or  twenty  pounds  sterling  in  curiosities.  There 
will  be  breakage-room  in  the  bilge  of  the  ship,  that  nothing  dry  can  go 
in  ;  therefore,  in  the  crop  of  the  bilge,  you  will  put  some  boxes  of 
China,  such  as  are  suitable  for  such  places,  and  filled  with  cups  and 
saucers,  some  bowls,  and  anything  of  the  kind  that  may  answer.  Al- 
though I  have  been  a  little  particular  in  these  orders,  I  do  not  mean 


68 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


them  as  positive  ;  and  you  have  leave  to  break  them  in  any  part  where 
you  by  calculation  think  it  for  my  interest. 

"  Your  friend  and  employer, 

"  Elias  Hasket  Derby." 

The  "Astrea"  did  not  make  so  successful  a  voyage 
as  was  anticipated.  American  ships  were  beginning 
to  follow  the  lead  of  the  "  Grand  Turk,"  and  between 
the  fall  of  1788  and  1791,  no  less  than  fifteen  Ameri- 
can vessels  arrived  in  Canton.  Mr.  Perkins  was 
obliged  to  seil  the  large  invoice  of  ginseng  at  twenty 
thousand  dollars,  less  than  the  prime  cost.  Four 
ships  of  Mr.  Derby,  the  "Astrea,"  "Light  Horse," 
"Atlantic"  and  "Three  Sisters,"  were  lying  at  Can- 
ton in  the  summer  of  1789.  Two  of  these  ships  were 
sold,  and  the  i^roceeds  of  all  their  cargoes  was  shipped 
in  the  "Astrea"  and  "Light  Horse,"  both  of  which 
vessels  arrived  safely  in  Salem,  in  June,  1790,  with 
728,871  pounds  of  tea  for  Mr.  Derby.  The  entire 
importation  into  the  United  States  during  this  year 
wa><  2,601,852  pounds.  This  unprecedented  importa- 
tion was  disheartening  to  the  China  merchants,  as  it 
was  largely  in  excess  of  the  consumption  which  at 
that  time  was  less  than  a  million  pounds.  An  unex- 
pected duty  had  also  been  imposed  on  teas  which 
bore  heavily  upon  the  importers. 

We  therefore  find  no  further  arrival  from  Canton  till 
1798,  when  the  ship  "  Perseverance,"  Richard  Wheat- 
land, master,  enters  in  April  with  a  cargo  of  tea  and 
sugar  to  Simon  Forrester,  paying  in  duties  $24,562.10. 
Captain  Wheatland  was  largely  endowed  with  the 
bravery,  vigor  and  enterprise  which  were  so  essential 
to  a  successful  ship-master  in  the  times  when  it  was 
sometimes  necessary  to  fight  a  passage  to  the  destined 
harbor.  He  was  born  in  Wareham,  England,  in  Octo- 
ber, 1762,  and  began  his  seafaring  life  in  the  city  of 
London.  He  served  on  a  British  man-of-war  for  three 
years,  holding  some  small  office  on  board  the  ship. 
After  the  peace  of  1783,  Captain  Wheatland,  being  in 
the  West  Indies,  became  acquainted  with  Captain 
William  Silver,  of  Salem,  and  at  his  solicitation  came 
to  Salem,  where  he  afterwards  resided.  He  married 
a  daughter  of  his  friend,  Captain  Silver.  She  died 
shortly  after  her  marriage,  and  he  subsequently  mar- 
ried a  daughter  of  Stephen  Goodhue.  He  was  the 
father  of  George  Wheatland,  now  the  senior  member 
of  the  Essex  bar,  and  of  Dr.  Henry  Wheatland,  the 
president  of  the  Essex  Institute.  As  illustrating  the 
dangers  to  which  commerce  was  exposed  at  this  time 
as  well  as  the  bravery  of  Cajitain  Wheatland  and  his 
crew  the  following  letter  is  given,  together  with  the 
heading  which  precedes  it  in  a  local  paper,  and  which 
shows  the  bitterness  with  which  the  French  nation 
was  then  regarded  by  the  press  and  people, — 

"A  sea  fight  gallantly  and  victoriously  maintained  by  the  ship  '  Per- 
severance,' Captain  Richard  Wheatland,  of  this  port,  against  one  of  the 
vessels  of  war  of  the  '  Terrible  Republic'  The  French  rascals,  con- 
trary to  the  laws  of  war  and  of  honor,  fought  under  false  colors,  whilst 
the    '  Eagle,'  true  to  his  charge,  spread  his  wings  on  the  American  flag." 

The  following  is  Captain  Wheatland's  letter  to  his 
owners  : 


"  Ship  '  Perseverance,'  Old  Straits  of  Bahama,  January  1,  1799. 
"  Gentlemen  : 

"  Conceiving  we  may  possibly  meet  an  opportunity  of  forwarding  this 
immediately  on  our  arrival  at  Havana,  or  perhaps  before,  induces  me  to 
give  an  account  of  our  voyage  thus  far. 

"Until  December  26  met  with  nothing  very  material,  except  heavy, 
disagreeable  weather  off  the  coast,  and,  having  the  wind  so  far  to  the 
westward  as  to  preclude  the  possibility  of  making  our  passage  round  the 
bank,  were  compelled,  contrary  to  our  wishes,  to  go  through  the  Old 
Straits  of  Bahama.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  27th  were  boarded  by  the 
British  frigate  'Romilla,'  Captain  Rolles,  our  papers  examined  and  we 
treated  with  great  politeness.  They  purchased,  at  our  own  prices,  a 
number  of  articles  from  the  cargo  and  of  the  people.  Three  days  before, 
they  had  captured  a  French  privateer  sloop  of  ten  guns  and  sixty  men, 
and  retook  an  American  brig,  her  prize.  After  two  hours'  detention  we 
were  permitted  to  proceed,  which  we  did  without  meeting  any  interrup- 
tion till  Monday,  December  .31.  For  particulars  of  that  day  we  give  an 
extract  from  a  journal  kept  on  board. 

"December  31,  Key  Romain  in  sight,  bearing  south,  distance  four  or 
five  leagues.  A  schooner  has  been  in  chase  of  us  since  eight  o'clock, 
and  has  every  appearance  of  a  privateer.  At  one  o'clock  p.  m.,  iinding 
the  schooner  come  up  with  us  very  fast,  took  in  steering-sails,  fore  and 
aft  and  royals  ;  at  half  past  one  about  ship  and  stood  for  her;  she  imme- 
diately tacked  and  made  sail  from  us ;  we  fired  a  gun  to  leeward,  and 
hoisted  the  American  ensign  to  our  mizzen-peak ;  she  hoisted  a 
Spanish  jack  at  main  top-mast  head,  and  continued  to  run  from 
us.  Finding  she  outsailed  us  greatly,  and  wishing  to  get  through  the 
narrows,  in  the  Old  Straits,  at  two  o'clock  p.  m.,  we  again  about  ship, 
and  kept  on  our  course.  The  schooner  immediately  wore,  fired  a  gun  to 
leeward  and  kept  after,  under  a  great  press  of  sail.  At  half  past  two  she 
again  fired  a  gun  to  leeward,  but,  perceiving  ourselves  in  the  narrows, 
above-mentioned,  we  kept  on,  to  get  through  them,  if  possible,  before  she 
came  up  with  us,  which  we  effected.  At  three  o'clock,  finding  ourselves 
fairly  clear  of  Sugar  Key  and  Key  Laboas,  we  took  in  steering-sails, 
wore  ship,  hauled  up  our  courses,  piped  all  hands  to  quarters  and  pre- 
pared for  action.  The  schooner  immediately  took  in  sail,  struck  the 
Spanish  jack,  hoisted  an  English  Union  flag  and  passed  under  our  lee  at 
considerable  distance.  We  wore  ship,  she  did  the  same,  and  passed  each 
other  within  half  musket.  A  fellow  hailed  us  in  broken  English,  and 
ordered  the  boat  hoisted  out  and  the  captain  to  come  on  board  with  his 
papers,  which  he  refused  ;  he  again  ordered  our  boat  out,  and  enforced 
his  orders  with  a  menace,  that  in  case  of  refusal  he  would  sink  us,  using 
at  the  same  time  the  vilest  and  most  infamous  language  it  is  possible  to 
conceive  of. 

"By  this  time  he  had  fallen  considerably  astern  of  us  ;  he  wore  and 
came  up  on  our  starboard  quarter,  giving  us  a  broadside  as  he  passed  our 
stern,  but  fired  so  excessively  wild  that  he  did  us  very  little  injury,  while 
our  stern-chasers  gave  him  a  noble  dose  of  round-shot  and  langrage.  We 
hauled  the  ship  to  wind,  and,  as  he  passed  us,  poured  a  whole  broadside 
into  him  with  great  success.  Sailing  faster  than  we,  he  ranged  consider- 
ably ahead,  tacked,  and  again  passed,  giving  us  a  broadside  and  a  furi- 
ous discharge  of  musketry,  which  they  kept  up  incessantly  till  the 
latter  part  of  the  engagement.  His  musket  balls  reached  us  in  every 
direction,  but  his  large  shot  either  fell  short  or  went  considerably  over 
us,  while  our  guns,  loaded  with  round  shot  and  square  bars  of  iron,  six 
inches  long,  were  plied  so  briskly  and  directed  with  so  good  judgment, 
that  before  he  got  out  of  reach  we  had  cut  his  mainsail  and  fore  topsail 
all  to  rags  and  cleared  his  decks  so  effectually  that  when  he  bore  away 
from  us  there  were  scarcely  ten  men  to  be  seen. 

'■  He  then  struck  his  English,  and  hoisted  the  flag  of  the  '  Terrible  Re- 
public,' and  made  off  with  all  the  sail  she  could  carry,  much  disap- 
pointed, no  doubt,  at  not  being  able  to  give  us  a  fraternal  embrace.  The 
wind  being  light,  and  knowing  he  would  outsail  us,  added  to  a  solicitude 
to  complete  our  voyage,  prevented  our  pursuing  liim  ;  indeed  we  had 
sufficient  to  gratify  our  revenge  for  his  temerity,  for  there  was  scarcely  a 
single  fire  from  our  guns  but  what  spread  entirely  over  his  hull.  The 
action,  which  lasted  an  hour  and  twenty  minutes,  we  conceive  ended 
well  ;  for,  exclusive  of  preserving  the  property  entrusted  to  our  care,  we 
feel  a  confidence  we  have  rid  the  world  of  some  infamous  pests  of  so 
ciety.  We  were  within  musket-shot  the  whole  time  of  the  engagement 
and  were  so  fortunate  as  to  receive  but  very  trifling  injury  ;  not  a  per. 
son  on  board  met  the  slightest  harm.  Our  sails  were  a  little  torn,  and 
one  of  the  quarter-deck  guns  dismounted. 

"The  privateer  was  a  schooner  of  eighty  or  ninety  tons,  copper  bottom 
and  fought  five  or  six  guns  on  a  side.  We  are  now  within  forty-eight 
hours' sail  of  Havana,  where  we  expect  to  arrive  in  safety  ;  indeed  we 


SALEM. 


69 


have  no  fear  of  any  privateer's  preventing  us,  unless  greatly  superior  in 
force.     The   four  quarter-deck  guns  will  require  new  carriages,  and  one 
of  them  was  entirely  dismounted. 
"  We  remain  with  esteem, 

"  Gentlemen, 
"  Your  humhle  servant, 

"  Richard  Wheatland." 

There  is  appended  to  this  letter,  in  the  newspaper, 
the  following  comment : 

"The  gallantry  of  young  Mr.  Ingersoll,  on  board  the  '  Perseverance,' 
we  are  well  assured,  contributed  greatly  to  second  the  determined 
bravery  of  Captain  Wheatland  in  defending  the  ship.  Indeed  the  whole 
ship's  company  deserve  well  of  their  owners  and  of  their  country." 

Captain  Wheatland,  after  retiring  from  the  sea,  was 
engaged  in  commerce.  He  died  in  Salem  in  March, 
1830.    • 

The  ship  "  Elizabeth,"  Daniel  Sage,  master,  arrived 
from  Canton  in  June,  1799,  con.signed  to  William 
Gray,  and  the  ship  "Pallas,"  William  Ward,  master, 
to  Samuel  Gray,  William  Gray  and  Joseph  Peabody, 
with  a  cargo  of  tea  and  sugar,  paying  a  duty  of  $66, 
927.65,  arrived  in  July,  1800.  In  May,  1802,  the  ship 
"  Minerva,"  M.  Folger,  master,  belonging  to  Clifford 
Crowninshield  and  Nathaniel  We.st,  entered  from 
Canton  and  was  the  first  Salem  vessel  to  circumnavi- 
gate the  globe.  She  sailed  around  Cape  Horn,  stop- 
ped one  degree  south  of  Chiloe,  went  to  the  Island  of 
Mas-a-Fuera,  where  she  took  seals,  wintered  south  of 
Lima  and  proceeded  to  China.  She  came  home 
around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 

The  ship  "  Concord,"  Obed  Wyer,  master,  entered 
from  Canton  in  July,  1802,  with  a  cargo  of  tea  to 
Gideon  Tucker  and  Pickering  Dodge,  paying  a  duty 
of  $20,477.53;  and  in  April,  1803.  the  ship  "Union," 
George  Hodges,  master,  to  Ichabod  Nichols  and  thirty- 
nine  others,  entered  with  a  cargo  of  tea,  paying  a  duty 
of  $43,190.79.  The  ship  "  Friendship,"  William  Story, 
master,  arrived  from  Canton,  Sumatra  and  the  Isle  of 
France,  in  August,  1804,  to  Jerathmael  Pierce,  with 
tea,  coffee  and  pepper,  paying  a  duty  of  $31,514.19. 
The  ship  "  Eliza,"  William  Richardson,  master,  ar- 
rived in  May,  1807,  to  Pierce  and  Wait,  and  the  ship 
"  Hercules,"  James  M.  Fairfield,  master,  with  a  cargo 
of  tea  and  cassia,  paying  a  duty  of  $45,575.98,  in  March, 
1808,  to  Nathaniel  West.  In  April,  1810,  the  brig 
"  Pilgrim,"  Charles  Pearson,  master,  arrived  to  Rich- 
ard Gardner,  and  the  ship  "  Hunter,"  Philip  P.  Pinal 
master,  with  a  cargo  of  tea,  sugar,  candy  and  cassia, 
to  Jerathmael  Pierce,  in  May,  1810. 

The  brig  "  Active,"  William  P.  Richardson,  master, 
arrived  with  a  cargo  of  tea  and  cassia,  consigned  to 
James  Cook,  and  paying  duties  to  the  amount  of 
about  thirty-two  thousand  dollars.  The  "Active " 
left  Salem  June  1,  1810,  and  went  to  the  Feejee  Is- 
lands, where  she  remained  till  July  26,  1811.  She 
arrived  in  Salem,  March  27,  1812,  one  hundred  and 
eighteen  days  from  Canton. 

The  brig  "Canton,"  Daniel  Bray,  Jr.,  master,  ar- 
rived in  May,  1817,  from  Canton  and  Marseilles,  to 
Joseph    Peabody   and    Gideon    Tucker,    having  per- 


formed the  voyage  to  Canton  and  Europe  in  eleven 
months  and  twenty-five  days.  The  ship  "China," 
Benjamin  Shreve,  master,  cleared  for  Canton,  May  24, 
1817,  and  arrived  in  Salem  March  30, 1818,  with  a  car- 
go of  tea,  nankeens  and  silks  to  Joseph  Peabody  and 
others,  and  paying  a  duty  of  $15,348.56.  In  January, 
1819,  the  ship  "  Hercules,"  James  King,  Jr.,  master, 
arrived  with  a  cargo  of  tea  and  sugar,  paying  a  duty 
of  $51,765.49  and  consigned  to  Nathaniel  West,  Jr. 
and  others.  The  ship  "  Osprey,"  Stephen  Brown, 
master,  arrived  from  Canton,  via  Boston,  in  July,  1819, 
one  hundred  and  seventeen  days  from  Canton,  to 
William  P.  Richardson,  and  the  ship  "  Midas,"  Tim- 
othy Endicott,  master,  entered  from  Canton,  via  Bos- 
ton, to  Pickering  Dodge,  with  a  cargo  of  tea,  cloves 
and  sugar,  in  September,  1819,  one  hundred  and  forty- 
three  days  from  Canton.  In  February,  1820,  the  ship 
"Friendship,"  Thomas  Meeke,  master,  entered  from 
Canton  to  Pickering  Dodge  and  others,  with  a  cargo 
paying  a  duty  of  $21,677,44. 

The  brig  "  Leander,"  owned  by  Joseph  Peabody, 
made  three  voyages  direct  from  Canton,  entering  in 
March,  1825,  in  April,  1826  and  in  July,  1829.  Charles 
Roundy  was  master  on  the  first  two  voyages  and  N. 
Smith  on  the  last ;  the  cargoes  paying  duties  of  $86, 
847.47,  $92,392.94  and  $84,043.82  respectively.  The 
ship  "  China,"  H.  Putnam,  master,  entered  from  Can- 
ton in  April,  1825,  to  Joseph  Peabody  and  others,  pay- 
ing a  duty  of  $22,987.32. 

The  ship  "Sumatra,"  owned  by  Joseph  Peabody, 
made  six  voyages  direct  from  Canton,  entering  in 
April,  1829,  in  April,  1830,  in  October,  1831,  in 
June,  1834,  in  December,  1836,  and  in  Octobers 
1841.  Charles  Roundy  was  master  on  the  first  four 
voyages,  and  Peter  Silver  on  the  last  two.  When  re- 
turning on  the  last  voyage,  Captain  Silver  speaks  the 
ship  "Echo,"  dismasted,  with  one  hundred  and  forty 
passengers  bound  for  New  York.  He  could  not  board 
the  distressed  vessel  at  once,  because  of  the  storm 
then  prevailing,  but  lay  by  until  he  was  able  to  send 
his  boat  and  supply  hei'  with  sails  and  provisions.  He 
took  on  board  his  own  vessel  twenty-four  of  the  pas- 
sengers, including  several  sick  ladies,  and  landed  them 
at  Holmes  Holl.  For  the  kind  and  timely  assistance 
rendered,  Captain  Silver  was  presented  by  the  passen- 
gers with  a  silver  pitcher,  and  each  of  his  mates  with 
a  silver  cup. 

The  ship  "  Eclipse,"  William  Johnson,  master,  en- 
tered from  Canton  in  August,  1832,  consigned  to 
Joseph  Peabody.  The  above-named  comprise  all  the 
vessels  that  entered  at  the  Salem  Custom-house,  direct 
from  Canton,  bringing  a  full  cargo  of  Canton  goods. 
There  were  many  other  Salem  vessels  that  went  there 
in  the  course  of  their  voyages,  or  that  cleared  from 
Salem  for  Canton  and  returned  to  other  ports.  The 
ship  "St.  Paul,"  Chas.  H.  Allen,  master,  and  owned 
by  Stephen  C.  Phillips,  went  to  China  from  Manilla 
and  on  her  return  to  Salem  in  March,  1845,  brought 
part  of  a  cargo  of  tea  and  other   merchandise   from 


70 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


China.     All  the  direct  trade  from  Canton  to    Salem 
after  1825  was  carried  on  by  Joseph  Peabody. 

Among  the  vessels  that  cleared  for  Canton  was  the 
ship  "  Brutus,",  Richard  Crowninshield,  master 
March  7, 1798.  The  ship  "  Gov.  Endicott,"  Benjamin 
Shreve,  master,  cleared  for  Canton  May  5,  1819,  and 
experienced  a  tremendous  gale  on  July  31st,  during 
which  the  whole  watch,  consisting  of  the  second-mate 
and  seven  men  were  washed  overboard  and  lost,  and 
her  mizzen-mast  and  rudder  were  carried  away.  She 
arrived  at  St.  Salvador  in  a  crippled  condition  on  the 
26th  of  September, 

From  a  journal  kept  by  Mr.  Samuel  Goodhue  on 
board  the  ship  "Sumatra,"  Charles  Roundy,  master* 
on  a  voyage  to  Manilla  and  Canton,  the  following  ex- 
tracts are  made  as  giving  some  general  account  of  the 
incidents  of  such  voyages, 

"  Sundarj,  May  24,  1829. — At  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  got  under 
way  from  Derby  wharf,  and  in  fifteen  minutes  dropped  anchor  in  the 
harbor.  At  seven  o'clock  the  passengers  came  on  board  and  we  got 
under  way  and  stood  to  sea.  f'or  passengers  we  have  Mr.  Low  and 
wife.  Mrs.  Harriet  Low  and  servant  and  BIr.  Ammidon.  The  ship's 
company  consists  of  the  captain,  his  two  mates,  Mr.  Johnson  and  Mr. 
Shephard,  eleven  hands  before  tlie  mast,  cooli  and  steward,  making 
twenty-one  persons  in  all  on  board.  At  eight  o'clock  we  discharged  our 
pilot,  and  at  ten  o'clock  we  got  our  breakfast.  Ths  wind  was  fair  and 
blowing  a  good  breeze,  fast  taking  us  from  our  native  land. 

"Wednesday,  June  'Ad. — Very  pleasant  and  delightful  weather.  We 
have  been  employed  for  several  days  in  cleaning  our  guns,  small  arms, 
boarding  pikes,  etc.,  and  in  making  wads  and  other  warlike  prepara- 
tions, as  we  shall  soon  be  in  the  way  of  pirates. 

''Sunday,  June  21s<.— This  is  the  fourth  Sunday  at  sea,  and  we  are 
now  drawing  near  the  equator. 

"Monday,  June  22d. — Just  as  the  watch  was  called  at  four  p.m.,  we 
discovered  a  barque  just  on  our  weather  bow  about  eight  miles  from  us. 
He  had  his  royals  furled  top-gallant  sails  clewed  up,  courses  hauled  up, 
and  main  top  sail  to  the  mast.  He  seemed  to  be  laying  too  to  speak  to 
us.  On  our  nearer  approach,  he  being  two  or  three  miles  on  our  weather 
bow,  saw  him  to  be  a  small  craft  with  painted  ports,  and  instead  of  a 
barijue  it  was  a  brig  with  a  jigger  mast  and  a  false  stern.  It  was  evi- 
dently a  man  of-war  or  a  pirate  in  disguise.  The  wind  beginning  to 
head  us  off,  all  hands  were  called  to  tack  ship  to  the  westward.  In  a  few 
minutes  a  heavy  rain  squall  came  up,  and  we  soon  lost  sight  of  our 
suspicious  neiglibor. 

"Monday,  June  '29th. — Thirty-seven  days  out.  About  one  p.m.  crossed 
the  Kquator  with  a  six-knot  breeze. 

"Saturday,  July  25th. — This  forenoon  saw  two  very  large  whales  very 
near  us.  They  appeared  to  be  very  old  and  had  barnacles  ou  their  heads. 
They  passed  very  slowly  under  our  stern  with  their  mouths  wide  open. 

Wednesday,  July  29th. — Had  strong  breezes  during  the  day.  The  dis- 
tance ran  was  two  hundred  and  one  miles,  the  greatest  day's  work  since 
leaving  Salem. 

"Sunday,  August  I6ih. — For  the  last  twenty  days  ending  yesterday  we 
sailed  three  thousand  six  hundred  and  eight  miles,  averaging  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty  miles  a  day.  Caught  a  large  porpoise  weighing  about 
three  hundred  and  fifty  pounds.  It  was  very  fortunate  for  us  to  get 
some  oil  as  our  stock  of  oil  has  been  out  four  or  five  days. 

'•Wednesday,  August  26th. — At  eleven  P.M.  we  saw  the  Island  of  Java, 
and  at  eight  a.m.  we  passed  Java  Head  with  a  fine  eight-knot  breeze 
and  got  fairly  inside  the  Straits  of  Sunda.  Came  to  anchor  otf  Angler, 
and  a  Dutch  boat  came  off  for  news  and  letters,  and  afterwards  came  off 
again,  bringing  fowls,  vegetables  and  fruit.  They  informed  us  that  the 
ship 'Lotus,'  Thomas  Moriaty,  captain,  had  gone  up  the  Straits  three 
days  before  bound  to  Canton. 

"Tuesday,  September  Slh. — About  two  p.m.  we  entered  the  Bay  of 
Manila  after  a  very  short  passage  of  one  hundred  and  six  days  from 
Salem.  As  we  went  up  the  bay  the  rain  at  intervals  poured  down  in 
torrents,  giving  us  a  specimen  of  Manila  weather,  at  this  season  of  the 
year.  At  dark  we  passed  the  point  of  Cavite,  and  at  seven  o'clock  came 
to  anchor  about  two  miles  below  Manila.  We  found  the  ship  '  Man- 
darin,' of  Salem,  William  Osgood,  captain,  and  the  ship,  'Restitution,' 


Capt.  Kinsman,  and  a  New  York  brig  were  at  Cavite.     Thus,  of  the  five 
vessels  laying  in  a  single  port,  three  of  them  are  Salem  ships. 

"'Monday,  September  \ith. — Went  ashore  at  Manila.  The  streets,  some 
of  them  are  wide  with  tolerable  good  accommodations  for  foot  passengers. 
The  lower  stories  of  all  the  buildings  are  occupied  as  shops  or  stores. 
The  upper  stories  are  used  as  dwellings.  The  shops  for  the  most  part 
are  kept  by  Chinese.  They  are  not  very  neat,  and  are  generally  filled 
with  a  great  variety  of  articles,  such  as  hats,  dry  goods,  fancy  articles, 
etc.  We  passed  a  bridge  built  of  stone  over  a  canal.  There  were 
plenty  of  beggars  on  the  bridge  who  had  a  very  miserable  appearance. 
There  are  several  large  churches  in  the  suburbs.  One  very  large  one  of 
stone  we  went  into.  They  were  saying  mass  over  a  corpse.  After 
hurrying  over  a  parcel  of  Latin,  like  a  ship  in  a  squall,  and  throwing  a 
little  water  and  burning  some  incense,  the  corpse  was  carried  off.  The 
inside  of  the  church  was  paved  with  flag-stones,  and  was  filled  with 
Malays,  a  large  proportion  being  small  boys,  who  appeared  to  be  very 
devout.  I  do  not  think  the  city  is  very  strongly  fortified.  It  was  once 
taken  by  the  English.  We  met  a  number  of  carriages  something  like  a 
barouche.  They  were  filled  with  ladies  who  all  have  a  kind  of  olive 
pale  complexion,  but  aie  otherwise  tolerably  handsome.  They  dress 
very  splendidly  and  generally  have  no  head  dress  excepting  a  handker- 
chief or  piece  of  muslin.  I  never  saw  any  of  them  walking,  I  suppose 
they  think  themselves  too  good  to  touch  the  earth.  Among  the  Malay 
women  there  is  but  very  little  beauty.  They  are  of  a  copper  color  and 
have  a  kind  of  hopping  gait,  something  resembling  a  cock  turkey.  Their 
dress  is  but  little  more  than  a  piece  of  cloth  tied  round  their  waist. 
They  wear  wooden  shoes  which  have  nothing  above  the  sole  excepting  a 
small  place  for  a  toe.  At  eight  o'clock  we  returned  to  tlie  ship.  If  I 
was  to  live  here  I  should  much  rather  be  on  board  our  ship  than  on 
shore  among  a  parcel  of  Spaniards,  Malays,  pigs  and  dogs. 

"  Tuesday,  September  22d  —At  8  30  we  got  under  way  after  laying  in 
Manila  fifteen  days,  and  taking  in  four  thousand  piculs  of  rice,  and  a 
light  breeze  took  us  slowly  out  of  sight  of  the  turrets  and  towers  of 
Manila. 

"  Wednesday ,  September  ZOth. — We  are  sailing  along  among  the  Ladrone 
Islands.  There  are  plenty  of  fishermen  about  us.  The  fishermen  are  a 
very  hardy  set  of  people.  Their  whole  fortune  is  in  their  boat  and  that 
is  their  sole  dependence.  They  carry  their  families  in  their  boat  and 
sometimes  there  are  two  or  three  generations,  from  the  white-headed  old 
man  to  the  young  babe.  Their  boats  are  kept  in  good  order  and 
generally  have  two  masts,  with  mat  sails.  They  mostly  fish  two  or  three 
in  company  with  nets,  and  come  to  anchor  in  the  night  among  the 
islands.  They  are,  indeed,  a  very  independent  set  of  men.  It  is  but 
nine  months  since  we  were  going  along  these  islands  bound  home.  We 
have  made  two  passages,  laid  in  Salem  one  month,  been  to  Manila,  and 
are  now  here  again.  At  three  p.m.  we  came  to  anchor  in  Macao  roads. 
At  ten  o'clock  the  next  morning  our  passengers  left  us,  and  no  doubt 
were  glad  to  get  on  shore  after  being  so  long  on  shipboard.  Several 
Chinese  junks  passed  us  bound  into  Macao.  They  generally  have  two 
or  three  masts,  and  have  an  eye  painted  on  each  bow.  They  have  large 
wooden  anchors,  and  sail  very  clumsily. 

"  Saturday,  October  'id. — Got  under  way  for  Lintin,  and  in  the  afternoon 
we  passed  a  jtreat  number  of  craft  of  all  descriptions,  mostly  fishing  boats. 
We  generally  saw  that  the  wife  had  the  helm  while  the  men  were  at 
work  on  the  nets  or  laying  still,  and  there  were  plenty  of  young  brats, 
blackguarding  every  one  that  passed,  for  that  I  believe  is  the  first 
thing  they  learn.  The  town  of  Lintin  is  small  and  is  the  principal  place 
for  smuggling  opium,  which  sells  here  for  eight  hundred  dollars  a  picul 
of  one  hundred  and  thirty-three  pounds. 

"  Tuesday,  October  CM. — About  eleven  o'clock  we  passed  a  fort  which 
stands  at  the  entrance  of  Whampoa  River.  There  was  a  mandarin  came 
otf  to  go  up  the  river  with  us,  and,  though  dressed  in  his  gaudy  robes 
and  arrayed  in  all  his  state,  his  first  business  after  coming  on  board  was 
to  beg  a  bottle  of  rum.  Soon  after  passing  the  entrance  we  came  in 
sight  of  a  large  pagoda  which  stands  upon  high  land  and  is  about  two 
hundred  feet  high. 

"Monday,  October  l'2th. — This  morning  five  of  us  started  in  the  boat  to 
go  up  to  Canton.  We  passed  a  duck  boat.  The  ducks  were  let  out  on 
the  shore  to  feed,  and  I  should  think  there  were  several  hundred  of 
them.  When  the  keepers  want  them  they  sing  out,  and  the  last  one  in 
generally  gets  a  Hogging.  Some  distance  from  the  city  you  can  tell  you 
are  drawing  near  to  a  large  commercial  city,  by  the  clouds  of  smoke 
hanging  over  it,  and  the  forests  of  masts  in  the  river.  At  the  head  of 
Whampoa  River  stands  a  fort.  It  is  square  and  built  of  stone  and  brick, 
and  has  about  thirty  small  pieces  of  cannon  in  it.  They  are  lashed  with 
rattan  to  blocks  of  wood.  We  soon  landed  at  Canton,  and  were  busy 
making  what  little  purchases  we  were  able  to  afford.     The  shop-keepers 


SALEM. 


71 


are  always  ready  at  the  landing  place  to  lead  you  to  their  shops,  recom- 
mending their  goods  above  all  others.  Their  shops,  especially  those  in 
China  and  New  Sti-eets,  are  very  clean,  and  their  goods  make  a  hand- 
some show.  They  generally  have  an  English  sign  over  their  door,  but 
go  by  the  Chinese  names,  except  some  in  Hog  Lane,  such  as  'Jimmy,' 
'  Good  Tom,'  '  Young  Tom,'  etc.,  and  among  others,  '  General  Jackson,' 
recommended  himself  to  us.  We  were  not  much  gratified  in  finding  the 
hero,  an  inferior,  black-looking  Tartar,  surrounded  by  a  few  pieces  of 
inferior  silks,  some  pictures,  etc.  At  six  o'clock  we  returned  to  the 
ship. 

''  Thnrsdai/,  December  nth. — At  three  o'clock  this  morning  six  of  us 
started  in  the  pinnace  for  Canton.  Aft*r  breakfast  we  went  up  China 
Street  to  finish  making  our  purchases,  and  while  there  saw  a  procession 
of  a  mandarin.  He  was  preceded  by  about  a  dozen  dirty-looking  Tar- 
tars with  bamboos,  and  no  other  uniform  than  a  dirty  red  cap.  One  had 
an  instrument  something  like  a  tambourine,  another  something  like  a 
fife,  which  made  a  hard  screeching  sound.  The  mandarin  was  in  a 
palanquin  and  carried  by  two  Tartars.  At  the  head  of  the  street  there 
was  a  theatre.  The  players  were  very  active,  and  their  dress  was  rich 
and  splendid.  They  are  paid  by  the  shop-keepers  ef  the  street,  and  at- 
tract great  numbers  of  Chinese.  At  the  entrance  of  China  Street  there 
was  a  large  figure  of  Josh,  and  around  him  were  burning  several  lights, 
while  before  him  were  heaps  of  oranges,  also  a  roast  pig  and  a  turkey. 
About  four  o'clock  we  started  on  our  return  to  the  ship. 

"Wednesday,  December  30lh. — Having  got  all  our  cargo  of  tea  on  board, 
we  got  underway  and  dropped  down  the  river  on  our  way  home.  After 
an  uneventful  passage,  the  '  Sumatra '  arrived  safely  in  Salem  harbor, 
with  her  cargo  of  tea,  in  April,  1830." 

The  India  Trade. — India  was  visited  soon  after 
the  close  of  the  Revohitionary  War  by  Salem  vessels. 
The  trade  was  opened  by  Elias  Hasket  Derby,  and 
the  ship  "  Atlantic,"  commanded  by  his  son,  was  the 
first  vessel  to  display  the  American  ensign  at  Surat, 
Bombay  and  Calcutta.  This  was  in  the  year  1788. 
The  ship  "Peggy"  arrived  in  Salem,  June  21,  1789, 
with  the  first  cargo  of  Bombay  cotton  brought  to  this 
country,  consigned  to  E.  H.  Derby.  The  brigantine 
''Henry,"  Benjamin  Crowninshield,  master,  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  tons  burden,  and  manned 
by  eight  men,  arrived  at  Salem,  from  Madras,  Bengal 
and  the  Isle  of  France,  consigned  to  E.  H.  Derby  and 
John  Derby,  Jr.,  January  10,  1791,  and  on  May  13, 

1793,  the  ship  "  Grand  Turk,"  Benjamin  Hodges, 
master,  of  five  hundred  and  sixty-four  tons  burden, 
and  owned  by  E.  H.  Derby,  arrived  from  Madras 
with  1,031,484  pounds  of  sugar,  600  bags  of  saltpetre, 
464  pieces  of  redwood,  3,900  hides,  709  bags  of  gin- 
ger, 830  bags  of  pepper,  and  22  chests  of  tea, 
the  cargo  paying  a  duty  of  $24,229,65.  The  "  Grand 
Turk"  had  sailed,  outward  bound, Sunday,  March  11, 
1792,  at  3  P.  M.,  and  Captain  Hodges  writes  in  his 
log  book  that  "  great  numbers  of  our  friends  assem- 
bled at  the  old  fort  and  expressed  their  good  wishes  in 
the  old  English  custom  of  three  huzzas."  The 
schooner  "  Polly  and  Sally,"  George  Crowninshield, 
master,  and  consigned  to  Richard  Crowninshield  with 
sugar,  pepper  and  coffee,  arrived  from  Bengal  in  May, 

1794.  The  brig  "Enterprise,"  William  Ward,  master, 
entered  in  August,  1794,  from  India,  consigned  to 
William  Gray.  The  ship  "  Henry,"  Jacob  Crownin- 
shield, master,  entered  from  India  and  Cowes,  in 
November,  1794  to  E.  H.  Derby.  "  The  ship  "  Wash- 
ington," Benjamin  Webb,  Jr.,  master,  entered  July 
11,  1795,  from  Calcutta,  via.  Boston,  with  a  cargo  of 
sugar  to  John  Fisk.     The  ketch  "  Eliza,"   Stephen 


Phillips,  master,  appears  to  be  the  first  vessel  to  ar- 
rive at  Salem  direct  from  Calcutta.  She  entered  Oc- 
tober 8,  1795,  with  a  cargo  of  sugar  to  E.  H.  Derby. 
The  "  Eliza  "  cleared  from  Salem  for  the  East  Indies, 
December  22,  1794,  with  an  outward  cargo  of  48 
casks  of  brandy,  22  barrels  of  naval  stores,  and  106 
pairs  of  silk  stockings. 

There  were  five  arrivals  from  India  in  1796, — Feb- 
ruary 23d,  the  brig  "  Friendship,"  George  Hodges, 
master,  to  Joseph  Osgood,  Jr.,  from  Calcutta ;  April 
18th,  the  snow  "  Peggy,"  Joseph  Ropes,  master,  to  E. 
H.  Derby,  from  India  ;  April  18th,  the  ship  "  John," 
Jona  Moulton,  master,  to  William  Gray,  from  Calcut- 
ta ;  August  16th,  the  brig  "  Hind,"  Jona  Hodges, 
master,  from  Calcutta;  and  September  20th,  the 
ketch  "  Eliza,"  Stephen  Phillips,  master,  to  E.  H. 
Derby,  from  Calcutta. 

From  a  New  York  paper,  under  date  of  April,  1796, 
we  make  the  following  extract:  "The  'America,' 
Captain  Jacob  Crowninshield,  of  Salem,  Mass.,  com- 
mander and  owner,  has  brought  home  an  elephant 
from  Bengal  in  perfect  health.  It  is  the  first  ever 
seen  in  America,  and  is  a  very  great  curiosity.  It  is 
a  female,  two  years  old,  and  of  a  species  that  grows  to 
an  enormous  size.  This  animal  sold  for  ten  thousand 
dollars,  being  supposed  to  be  the  greatest  price  ever 
given  for  an  animal,  in  Europe  or  America." 

There  were  four  entries  from  India  in  1797, — in 
May,  the  bark  "Essex,"  John  Ropes,  master,  to  Wil- 
liam Orne,  from  Calcutta ;  in  May  the  ship  "  Wil- 
liam and  Henry,"  John  Beckford,  master,  to  William 
Gray,  from  Bengal ;  in  May,  the  ship  "  Benjamin," 
Richard  Gardner,  master,  to  E.  H.  Derby,  from  Cal- 
cutta and  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  ;  and  in  July,  the 
ship  "  Betsey,"  Nathaniel  Silsbee,  master,  from  Cal- 
cutta and  Madras,  consigned  to  Daniel  Pierce  and 
Nathaniel  Silsbee,  with  sugar,  coflTee  and  pepper, 
paying  a  duty  of  $10,753.20. 

During  the  year  1798  there  were  nine  entries  from 
Calcutta  ;  the  largest  number  of  entries  in  any  single 
year.  The  years  1803  and  1818  show  the  same  num- 
ber. The  entries  from  Calcutta  for  the  year  1798 
were, — in  January,  the  ship  "  Recovery,  Joseph 
Ropes,  master,  to  E.  H.  Derby ;  in  January,  the  ship 
"  Lucia,"  Thomas  Meek,  master,  to  William  Gray ; 
in  March,  the  bark  "  Sally,"  Benjamin  Webb,  master, 
to  Thomas  Saunders  &  Co.  ;  in  March,  the  brig 
"  Good  Hope,"  Edward  West,  master,  to  Nathaniel 
West ;  in  March,  the  brig  "  Adventure,"  James  Barr, 
Ji-.,  master,  to  John  Norris;  in  March,  the  ship 
"  Betsey,"  Josiah  Orne,  master,  to  Samuel  Gray  & 
Co.  ;  in  March,  the  ship  "  Mary,"  Nicholas  Thorn- 
dike,  master ;  in  May,  the  ship  "  Sally,"  Josiah  Obear, 
master;  and  in  July,  the  ship  "  Belisarius,"  John 
Crowninshield,  master,  to  George  Crowninshield  & 
Sons,  with  a  cargo  of  sugar,  10,767  pounds  of  sugar- 
candy,  and  118,215  pounds  of  coffee,  from  Calcutta 
and  the  Isle  of  France. 

There  were  but  two  enteries  in   1799.     The  ship 


72 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


"Recovery,"  Joseph  Ropes,  master,  entered  May  7th, 
to  E.  H.  Derby.  This  vessel  had  touched  at  Mocha 
on  her  outward  passage,  and  displayed  the  American 
flag  for  the  first  time  at  that  port.  The  ship 
"  Ulysses,"  Josiah  Orne,  master,  entered  July  10th, 
to  William  Gray.  Both  entries  were  from  Calcutta. 
The  above-named  vessels  comprise  all  that  arrived 
from  India  prior  to  the  year  1800. 

The  limits  of  this  chapter  will  not  permit  a  full  list 
of  the  subsequent  entries,  but  the  names  of  a  few  are 
given  as  showing  the  Salem  merchants  and  ship- 
masters engaged  in  this  trade.  The  ship  "Active," 
Timothy  Bryant,  master,  with  a  cargo  of  180,000 
pounds  of  cotton  to  Bryant  &  Nichols,  entered  from 
Bombay,  in  August,  1800.  The  ship  "Vigilant," 
James  Clemmons,  master,  entered  from  Bombay,  in 
February,  1801,  with  a  cargo  of  cotton  to  Simon  For- 
rester. The  bark  "  Eliza,"  Benjamin  Lander,  mas- 
ter, entered  from  Calcutta,  July,  1801,  with  a  cargo 
of  sugar  and  other  merchandise  to  Joseph  White. 
The  ship  "  Hazard,"  Henry  Tibbetts,  master,  entered 
from  Calcutta,  May,  1802,  with  sugar,  cigars  and 
cordage,  to  John  and  Richard  Gardner,  j^aying  a 
duty  of  $16,298. 

The  brig  "  Sally,"  William  Ashton,  master,  entered 
from  Calcutta  in  February,  1803,  to  Jacob  Ashton  & 
Co.,  with  a  cargo  of  sugar,  payinga  duty  of  $10,631.54. 
The  ship  "  Lucia,"  Solomon  Towne,  master,  entered 
from  Calcutta  in  August,  1804,  with  a  cargo  of  sugar, 
indigo  and  cheroots,  to  William  Gray  and  others,  and 
paying  a  duty  of  $24,001.08. 

The  ship  "  Argo,"  Stephen  Field,  master,  entered 
from  Calcutta  in  March,  1805,  with  a  cargo  of  sugar 
to  Philip  Chase  and  others,  and  paying  a  duty  of  $32,- 
799.47.  The  ship  "Mary  Ann,"  Edward  Norris, 
master,  entered  from  Calcutta,  April,  1806,  with  a 
cargo  consigned  to  John  Norris,  and  paying  a  duty  of 
$14,797.68.  The  ship  "Franklin,"  Timothy  Well- 
man,  3d  master,  entered  from  Calcutta  in  October, 
1806,  with  a  cargo  of  sugar  to  Joseph  Peabody,  and 
paying  a  duty  of  $19,734.60.  The  ship  "  Friendship," 
Israel  Williams,  master,  entered  from  Madras  in  No- 
vember, 1806,  with  a  cargo  of  pepper,  coffee  and  indigo 
to  Pierce  &  Wait,  paying  a  duty  of  $21,093.21.  The 
ship  "Exeter,"  Thos.  B.  Osgood,  master,  entered  from 
Bengal  in  October,  1807,  with  356,043  pounds  of  cotton, 
11,141  of  indigo,  and  80,731  of  sugar,  payinga  duty  of 
$16,331.21,  and  consigned  to  Benjamin  Pickman,  Jr. 

The  ship  "  Union,"  William  Osgood,  master,  en- 
tered from  Calcutta  in  September,  1811,  with  a  cargo 
to  Stephen  Phillips,  and  paying  a  duty  of  $26,408.23. 
The  ship  "  Restitution,"  David  D.  Pulsifer,  master, 
entered  from  Calcutta  in  October,  1812,  with  a  cargo 
to  Simon  Forrester,  and  paying  a  duty  of  $51,526.33. 
The  brig  "  Caravan,"  Augustine  Heard,  master,  en- 
tered from  Calcutta  in  March,  1813,  with  a  cargo  to 
Pickering  Dodge,  paying  a  duty  of  $26,975.  The 
bark  "  Patriot,"  Nathan  Frye,  master,  entered  from 
Calcutta  in  March,  1816,  to  John  H.  Andrews. 


In  October,  1816,  forty-two  vessels  had  cleared  for 
India  since  the  close  of  the  War  of  1812,  and  sixteen 
of  them  carried  out  three  million  hard  dollars.  The 
ship  "  Malabar,"  Josiah  Orne,  master,  entered  from 
Bombay  in  June,  1817,  with  a  cargo  of  cotton  and 
pepper  to  John  W.  Rogers,  paying  a  duty  of  $18,- 
769.40.  The  ship  "Endeavour,"  Timothy  Bryant, 
Jr.,  master,  entered  in  September,  1817,  to  Dudley  L. 
Pickman.  The  brig  "Alexander,"  David  A.  Neal, 
master,  entered  from  Bombay  in  September,  1817, 
with  cotton  to  Jonathan  Neal. 

The  ship  "Gentoo,"  Nathaniel  Osgood,  master,  en- 
tered from  Calcutta  in  June,  1818.  The  cargo  of  this 
vessel,  as  was  often  the  case  with  large  vessels  sent  on 
distant  voyages,  was  the  property  of  a  large  number 
of  persons.  It  consisted  principally  of  sugar  and 
cotton,  and  the  consignees  were  Pickering  Dodge, 
Nathaniel  Silsbee,  Francis  and  George  Lee,  John 
Belknap,  Francis  Quarles,  Samuel  P.  Gardner,  Baker 
&  Hodges,  Henry  Pickering,  John  Derby,  Philip  and 
A.  Chase,  Samuel  G.  Derby,  John  W.  Rogers,  John 
Stone,  Humphrey  Devereaux,  Nathaniel  Osgood  and 
Samuel  G.  Perkins.  The  whole  duty  paid  was  $29,- 
270.55.  The  brig  "  Lawry,"  John  Holman,  master, 
entered  from  Calcutta  in  May,  1820,  to  John  Derby, 
and  paying  a  duty  of  $20,693.99. 

The  brig  "  Naiad,"  Nathaniel  Osgood,  master,  ar- 
rived from  Calcutta  in  January,  1821,  with  a  cargo 
to  Pickering  Dodge,  paying  a  duty  of  about  $24,000. 
The  ship  "Aurora,"  Robert  W.  Gould,  master,  arrived 
from  Siam  in  January,  1823,  with  a  cargo  of  pepper 
and  coffee  to  Willard  Peele.  The  brig  "Ann," 
Charles  Millett,  master,  arrived  from  Bombay  in 
November,  1825,  to  Henry  Prince.  The  brig  "  Reaper," 
J.  F.  Brookhouse,  master,  entered  from  Bombay  in 
February,  1830,  consigned  to  Robert  Brookhouse. 
The  brig  "  Nereus,"  Thomas  Farley,  master,  entered 
from  Bombay  in  April,  1830,  consigned  to  John  W. 
Rogers.  The  ship  "Catherine,"  Joseph  Winn,  Jr., 
entered  from  Calcutta  in  October,  1831,  consigned  to 
Joseph  Peabody.  The  brig  "  Quill,"  S.  I.  Shillaber, 
master,  entered  from  Bombay  in  October,  1832,  con- 
signed to  N.  L.  Rogers  &  Brothers.  The  brig 
"  Cherokee,"  W.  B.  Smith,  master,  entered  from 
Bombay  in  February,  1837,  consigned  to  Michael 
Shepard.  The  ship  "  William  and  Henry,"  Charles  H. 
Fabens,  master,  entered  from  Bombay  in  September, 
1839,  consigned  to  David  Pingree. 

In  1842  there  were  three  entries  from  Calcutta, — 
the  ship  "General  Harrison,"  W.  Lecraw,  master,  in 
February ;  the  ship  "  Isaac  Hicks,"  Newell,  master 
in  September ;  and  the  ship  "  New  Jersey,"  Barry, 
master,  in  December,  all  with  cargoes  consigned  to 
Francis  Peabody.  The  last  entry  at  Salem  from  ports 
in  India  of  a  vessel  consigned  to  a  Salem  merchant 
was  that  of  the  bark  "  Brenda,"  H.  Bridges,  master, 
in  August,  1845,  with  a  cargo  of  pepper  and  cordage 
to  Michael  Shepard,  paying  a  duty  of  $31,793.65. 
Within  the  last  few  years  there  have  been  several  en- 


SALEM. 


73 


tries  from  Calcutta  of  vessels  bringing  cargoes  of  jute 
butts  to  the  factories  here. 

A  detailed  history  of  these  India  voyages  could  not 
fail  to  be  interesting,  and  would  contain  many  thrill- 
ing accounts  of  the  perils  of  the  sea.  In  January, 
1788,  the  ship  "  Juno,"  Henry  Elkins,  master,  and 
owned  by  E.  H.  Derby,  cleared  for  the  East  Indies, 
and  when  forty  hours  out  was  found  to  be  sinking. 
Every  effort  was  made  to  free  her,  but  without  suc- 
cess, and  in  twenty  minutes  she  went  down.  The 
crew  escaped  in  one  of  the  shiji's  boats,  and  were 
picked  up  and  taken  to  Demerara.  In  1793  the  ship 
"Astrea,"  on  a  trading  voyage  from  Madras  to  Pegu, 
was  seized  by  the  king  of  the  latter  place  as  a  trans- 
port for  stores  to  his  army  in  Siam,  who  had  gone 
thither  to  attack  that  empire.  Captain  Gibant  and 
his  second  mate  were  detained  as  hostages  for  the 
performance  of  the  voyage.  In  March,  1807,  the  ship 
"  Howard,"  Benjamin  Bray,  master,  from  Calcutta, 
was  lost  at  Grapevine  Cove,  Gloucester.  The  captain, 
second  mate  and  two  seamen  were  drowned.  On 
Thursday,  October  28,  1819,  the  brig  "  Naiad,"  Na- 
thaniel Osgood,  master,  arrived  at  Salem  from  Cal- 
cutta, with  a  cargo  consigned  to  .Pickering  Dodge. 
On  the  Monday  night  previous  the  "Naiad"  was 
struck  by  lightning,  and  the  second  mate,  Mr.  Wil- 
liam Griffen,  of  Salem,  was  instantly  killed.  He  was 
on  the  maintopsail  yard  at  the  time,  and,  on  being 
struck,  fell  into  the  water  with  his  clothes  on  fire. 
The  first  mate  was  knocked  down  and  one  of  the  men 
severely  injured.  The  vessel  received  but  trifling 
damage. 

From  the  year  1800  to  1842,  inclusive,  only  the 
years  1809,  '14,  '15,  '38,  '39  and  '41  passed  without  an 
entry  at  Salem  from  some  of  the  ports  of  India.  The 
whole  number  of  entries  during  that  period  from 
Calcutta  wei'e  one  hundred  and  fifteen,  the  years 
1805,  '06  and  '07  showing  seventeen,  and  the  years 
1816,  '17  and  '18  showing  twenty-one.  There 
were  twenty  entries  from  Bombay  during  the  same 
time,  six  from  Bengal,  six  from  Madras,  three  from 
Siam,  and  two  from  Ceylon.  During  the  periods 
from  1802  to  1807,  and  from  1816  to  1822,  there  was 
the  greatest  activity  in  the  Calcutta  trade. 

From  1816  to  1840  the  Salem  trade  with  Calcutta 
was  mainly  carried  on  by  Josejih  Peabody.  He  was 
the  owner  of  the  famous  ship  "  George,"  which  made 
voyages  between  Salem  and  Calcutta  with  the  regu- 
larity of  a  steamer.  The  " George"  was  built  in  1814 
for  a  privateer  by  an  association  of  ship-carpenters, 
who  were  thrown  out  of  employment  by  the  War  of 
1812.  Peace  came  on  before  she  was  sold,  and  Cap- 
tain Peabody  bought  her  for  sixteen  dollars  per  ton. 
She  measured  three  hundred  and  twenty-eight  tons, 
and  was  a  full-rigged  ship.  The  "  George "  made 
twenty-one  voyages  to  Calcutta  between  1815  and 
1837.  She  sailed  from  Salem  May  23,  1815,  on  her 
first  voyage,  and  arrived  home  June  13,  1816,  one 
hundred  and  nine  days  from  Calcutta.    The  length  of 

»2 


5f 


her  voyages  was  surprisingly  regular,  varying  but  a 
few  days  in  all  her  passages  between  Calcutta  and 
Salem.  She  sailed  from  Salem  August  5,  1836,  on 
her  last  voyage,  reaching  Salem  on  her  return  May 
17,  1837,  one  hundred  and  eleven  days  from  Calcutta. 
Previous  to  her  leaving  Calcutta  on  her  twenty-first 
voyage,  the  Banian  merchants  of  that  port  presented 
to  the  ship  a  complete  and  beautiful  "  freedom  suit " 
of  silk  signals  and  colors.  Her  commanders  were 
William  Haskell,  Thomas  West,  Samuel  Endicott, 
Thomas  M.  Saunders,  Jonathan  H.  Lovett,  Jr.,  and 
Benjamin  Balch,  Jr.  Her  supercargoes  were  Daniel 
H.  Mansfield,  Ephraim  Emmerton,  Jr.,  George  W. 
Endicott,  Samuel  Endicott,  Samuel  Barton  and  James 
B.  Briggs.  Her  cargoes  paid  in  duties  $651,743.32. 
After  her  last  voyage  to  Calcutta  she  was  sold  to  Jef- 
ferson Adams  and  Caleb  Smith,  and  went  to  Rio 
Janeiro,  where  she  was  condemned  about  January  12, 
1838.  Mr.  Peabody  imported  from  Calcutta,  between 
1807  and  1840,  about  1,050,000  pounds  of  indigo,  of 
which  the  ship  "  George "  brought,  in  seventeen 
voyages,  755,000  pounds. 

The  Batavia  Trade. — In  the  Indian  Ocean, 
near  the  island  of  Sumatra,  lies  the  island  of  Java, 
and  here  again  Salem  vessels  were  the  first  to  display 
the  American  ensign.  There  was  quite  an  extensive 
trade  with  this  island  in  the  early  days  of  Salem's 
commerce.  Of  the  seventy-two  arrivals  from  Batavia 
between  the  years  1796  and  1855,  thirty-five  were  pre- 
vious to  the  year  1807,  and  seventeen  during  the 
years  1817,  '18,  '19  and  '20.  From  1806  to  1816  there 
was  no  arrival. 

The  brig  "  Sally,"  Benjamin  Webb,  master,  cleared 
for  Batavia  Sept.  30, 1795,  and  entered  from  the  same 
place  Sept.  6,  1796,  with  a  cargo  of  pepper  and  sugar 
to  Thomas  Saunders  &  Co.  The  schooner  ''  Patty," 
Edward  West,  master,  cleared  for  Batavia  Sept.  26, 

1795,  with  wine,  brandy,  gin,  tobacco,  lead  and  iron, 
and  entered  from  that  place,  on  her  return,  Oct.  3, 

1796,  with  pepper  and  sugar,  consigned  to  Nathaniel 
West.  The  bark  "  Vigilant,"  John  Murphy,  master, 
entered  in  February,  1797,  with  238,746  pounds  of 
coffee  and  168,604  pounds  of  sugar,  consigned  to 
Simon  Forrester.  The  brig  ''  Eunice,"  Enoch  Sweet, 
master,  entered  in  July,  1797,  with  coffee  and  pepper 
to  George  Dodge  and  others.  The  brig  "  Star,"  John 
Burchmore,  master,  entered  in  November,  1797,  to 
John  Norris  &  Co.  The  bark  "Eliza,"  Gamaliel 
Hodges,  master,  entered  in  February,  1798,  and  again 
in  December,  1799,  to  Joseph  White."  The  brig 
"  Olive  Branch,"  Jonathan  Lambert,  Jr.,  master,  en- 
tered in  1798,  consigned  to  Ashton  &  Lambert.  The 
ship  "  Friendship,"  Israel  Williams,  master,  entered 
July  4,  1798,  with  301,687  pounds  of  coff"ee  and  111,- 
087  pounds  of  sugar,  to  Pierce  &  Wait,  and  paying  a 
duty  of  $18,376.13.  The  brig  "  Exchange,"  William 
Richardson,  master,  entered  in  August,  1798,  to 
Ezekiel  H.  Derby.  The  ship  "  Hazen,"  Jonathan 
Hodges,  master,  entered   in  August,  1798,  consigned 


74 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


to  William  Orne.  The  ship  "  Franklin,"  James 
Devereux,  master,  entered  in  October,  1801,  with 
315,742  pounds  of  coffee,  164,699  ot  pepper  and  155,- 
797  of  sugar,  consigned  to  Joseph  Peabody,  and  pay- 
ing a  duty  of  $29,709.40.  The  same  vessel,  with  the 
same  master  and  consignee,  entered  in  March,  1804, 
and  May,  1805. 

The  ship  "  Margaret,"  Samuel  Derby,  master,  en- 
tered in  June,  1802,  with  coffee  and  other  merchan- 
dise, consigned  to  John  Derby  and  Benjamin  Pick- 
man.     The  "  Margaret "  cleared  for  Sumatra  Nov.  19, 

1800,  with  fifty  thousand  dollars  in  specie,  twelve 
casks  of  Malaga  wine  and  two  hogsheads  of  bacon. 
She  left  Salem  Harbor  on  the  25th  of  November,  and 
anchored  in  Table  Bay,  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  Feb.  4, 

1801.  Leaving  Table  Bay  February  10,  she  reached 
Bencoolen  Roads,  Sumatra,  on  the  10th  of  April,  one 
hundred  and  thirty-six  days  from  Salem.  Without 
stopping  to  trade  at  Sumatra,  the  vessel  proceeded  to 
Batavia,  arriving  there  on  the  25th  of  April.  While 
at  Batavia  Captain  Derby  made  a  bargain  with  the 
Dutch  East  IndiaCompany  to  take  theannual  freights 
to  and  from  Japan,  and  left  for  that  place  with  his 
cargo  June  20,  1801. 

The  "  Margaret  arrived  at  the  port  of  Nagasaki 
July  19,  being  obliged  to  fire  salutes  and  dress  the 
vessel  with  flags  before  entering  port.  Mr.  George 
Cleveland,  who  was  clerk  for  Captain  Derby,  gives  an 
interesting  description  of  his  visit  to  the  city  of  Naga- 
saki. "In  the  first  place,'"  he  says,  "we  went  to 
Facquia's,  an  eminent  stuff  merchant.  Here  we  were 
entertained  in  such  manner  as  we  little  expected.  We 
had  set  before  us,  for  a  repast,  pork,  fowls,  meso,  eggs, 
boiled  fish,  sweetmeats,  cake,  various  kinds  of  fruit 
and  sacky  and  tea.  The  lady  of  the  house  was  intro- 
duced, who  drank  tea  with  each  of  us,  aa  is  the  cus- 
tom of  Japan.  She  appeared  to  be  a  modest  woman. 
The  place  we  next  visited  was  a  temple,  to  which  we 
ascended  from  the  street  by  at  least  two  hundred 
stone  steps.  Adjoining  this  was  the  burying-ground. 
We  went  next  to  the  glass-house,  which  was  on  a 
small  scale  ;  thence  to  a  lac-ware  merchant's,  where 
we  were  entertained  with  great  hospitality.  Thence 
we  went  to  a  tea-house,  or  hotel,  where  we  dined. 
After  dinner  we  were  entertained  with  various  feats 
of  dancing  and  tumbling.  Towards  dark  we  returned 
to  the  island,  and  so  great  was  the  crowd  in  the  streets 
to  see  us  pass  that  it  was  with  difiiculty  that  we  could 
get  along.  The  number  of  children  we  saw  was  truly 
astonishing.  The  streets  are  narrow,  and  at  the  end 
of  every  street  is  a  gate,  which  is  locked  at  night.  The 
houses  are  of  two  stories,  built  of  wood. 

"The  Japanese  observed  one  fast  when  we  were 
there.  It  was  in  remembrance  of  the  dead.  The  cer- 
emonies were  principally  in  the  night.  The  first  was 
devoted  to  feasting,  at  which  they  fancy  their  friends 
to  be  present ;  the  second  and  third  nights  the  graves 
are  lighted  with  paper  lamps  and,  situated  as  they 
are  on  the  side  of  a  hill,  make  a  most  brilliant  ap- 


pearance. On  the  fourth  night,  at  three  o'clock,  the 
lamps  are  all  brought  down  to  the  water  and  put  into 
small  straw  barques  with  paper  sails,  made  for  the 
occasion,  and,  after  putting  in  rice,  fruit,  etc.,  they  are 
set  afloat.     The  exhibition  was  very  fine. 

"  As  the  time  was  approaching  for  our  departure, 
we  began  to  receive  our  returns  from  the  interior, 
brought  many  hundred  miles.  These  consisted  of  the 
most  beautiful  lacquered  ware,  such  as  waiters,  writ- 
ing-desks, tea-caddies,  knife-boxes  and  tables.  We 
also  received  a  great  variety  of  silks,  fans  in  large 
quantities  and  a  great  variety  of  porcelain.  The  East 
India  Company's  cargo  had  already  been  put  on 
board.  The  principal  article  was  copper  in  small 
bars.  The  company's  ships  have  been  obliged  to  take 
their  departure  from  the  anchorage  opposite  Nagasaki 
on  a  certain  day  to  the  lower  roads,  no  matter  whether 
it  blew  high  or  low,  fair  or  foul,  even  if  a  thousand 
boats  should  be  required  to  tow  them  down.  We,  of 
course,  had  to  do  as  our  predecessors  had  done. 
Early  in  November  we  went  to  this  anchorage  and 
remained  a  few  days,  when  we  sailed  for  Batavia, 
where  we  arrived  safely  after  a  passage  of  a  month." 

This  account  is  interesting  because  the  "  Margaret " 
was  the  first  Salem  vessel  and  the  second  Ameri- 
can vessel  to  visit  Japan.  The  ship  "  Franklin,"  of 
Boston,  commanded  by  Captain  James  Devereux,  of 
Salem,  was  the  first  American  vessel  which  traded 
with  Japan,  having  been  employed  to  make  the  same 
voyage  as  the  "  Margaret "  two  years  previously. 
Commercial  intercourse  was  not  opened  with  Japan 
till  half  a  century  later ;  the  American  Treaty,  the 
result  of  the  expedition  under  Commodore  Perry, 
which  opened  her  ports  to  the  world,  being  dated 
March  31,  1854.  Previous  to  this  time  all  the  trade 
with  Japan  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Dutch,  who  were 
obliged  to  submit  to  the  grossest  indignities. 

The  ship  "  Henry,"  John  Barton,  master,  entered 
from  Batavia  in  July,  1802,  to  John  Derby  and  Ben- 
jamin Pickman.  The  ship  "  Herald,"  Zacliariah  F. 
Silsbee,  master,  entered  in  May,  1804,  to  Nathaniel 
Silsbee.  The  brig  "  William  "  arrived  Aug.  31, 1802, 
consigned  to  Jonathan  Mason.  She  lost  her  captain, 
John  Felt,  and  her  mate  by  sickness  during  the  voy- 
age. The  ship  "  Mary  and  Eliza,"  Nathaniel  Haw- 
thorne, master,  arrived  in  October,  1804,  with  coffee, 
nutmegs,  sugar  and  mace,  to  Joseph  White.  The 
bark  "  Georgetown,"  George  Ropes,  master,  arrived 
in  April,  1806,  to  Stephen  Phillips.  The  ship 
"  Henry,"  Benjamin  Russell,  master,  arrived  in  May, 
1806,  to  Edward  Russell  and  others.  The  ship  "  Her- 
cules "  made  two  voyages,  entering  in  March,  1816, 
and  March,  1817,  to  Nathaniel  West,  commanded  on 
the  first  voyage  by  Edward  West  and  on  the  second 
by  James  King,  Jr.  The  ship  "  Erin,"  Nathan  Cook, 
master,  entered  in  November,  1819,  to  Henry  Picker- 
ing. The  brig  "  Franklin,"  John  White,  master,  en- 
tered in  September,  1820,  to  Stephen  White.  The 
brig  "  Roscoe,''  J.  M.  Ropes,  master,  entered  in  Au- 


SALEM. 


75 


gust,  1827,  to  Charles  Saunders.  The  bark  "  Henry," 
R.  Wheiitland,  master,  entered  in  December,  1885, 
consigned  to  Samuel  Cook  and  others. 

The  ship  "  Union,"  William  Osgood,  master,  from 
Pulo  Penang,  with  a  cargo  of  pepper  and  tin,  con- 
signed to  Stephen  Phillips,  was  cast  away  on  the 
northwest  point  of  Baker's  Island,  Feb.  24,  1810,  dur- 
ing a  snowstorm  and  lost  with  most  of  her  cargo. 

The  brig  "  Java,"  Nathaniel  Osgood,  master,  from 
Batavia,  went  ashore  on  the  bar  off  Nauset,  Cape  Cod, 
on  the  night  of  February  9,  1832,  in  a  snowstorm. 
The  crew  narrowly  ascaped  in  the  boats.  The  cargo, 
consisting  of  585,000  pounds  of  coffee,  13,500  pounds 
of  nutmegs  and  94,000  pounds  of  block-tin,  was 
owned  by  Jonathan  Neal.  The  vessel  was  a  total 
wreck. 

The  ship  "  Sumatra,"  Peter  Silver,  master,  made 
two  voyages  from  Batavia,  arriving  at  Salem  in  Sep- 
tember, 1842,  and  August,  1843,  consigned  to  Joseph 
Peabody.  Captain  Silver  has  a  strange  experience  on 
one  of  these  voyages.  He  sees  a  vessel  in  distress, 
and  bearing  down  finds  her  to  be  the  bark  "  Kilmars," 
of  Glasgow,  with  no  person  on  deck  except  a  female, 
who  seems  almost  frantic.  He  sends  a  boat  and 
brings  her  on  board.  She  was  about  eighteen  years 
old,  and  wife  of  the  commander  of  the  bark.  Two 
months  before  the  vessel  had  sailed  from  Batavia 
with  a  cargo  of  sugar  for  Europe.  The  crew,  shipped 
at  Batavia,  were  many  of  them  discharged  convicts. 
The  captain  received  an  intimation  that  the  crew 
contemplated  obtaining  possession  of  the  vessel,  and 
when  it  became  certain  that  such  was  their  intention, 
he  charged  the  ringleader  with  the  design  and,  in  the 
altercation  that  followed,  shot  and  wounded  him. 
He  then  succeeded  in  confining  the  crew  in  different 
parts  of  the  vessel,  and  endeavored  with  the  help  of 
two  boys,  to  navigate  his  vessel  back  to  Batavia.  In 
the  early  morning,  before  the  vessel  was  discovered 
by  Captain  Silver,  the  captain  with  the  two  boys  had 
started  in  a  boat  for  the  shore  to  procure  help.  The 
captain's  wife  finding  her  husband  missing  was  fear- 
ful that  he  had  been  killed  by  the  mutineers,  but  she 
found  that  they  were  still  confined.  Dreading  lest 
they  would  soon  break  out,  she  took  her  stand  on  the 
rail,  determined  to  throw  herself  overboard  if  they 
regained  the  deck.  Only  twenty  minutes  after  she 
was  taken  from  the  "  Kilmars  "  the  crew  broke  out, 
took  charge  of  the  vessel  and  made  sail.  In  order  to 
avoid  a  collision,  Captain  Silver  steered  away  from 
the  vessel  and  arrived  at  Batavia,  where  he  placed 
the  lady  under  the  charge  of  the  Dutch  Government. 
The  "  Kilmars  "  subsequently  reached  Angier,  where 
the  authorities  took  possession  of  her  and  adopted 
measures  for  the  trial  of  her  crew.  The  captain  and 
the  boys  were  picked  up  in  the  Straits  of  Sunda. 
Anxiety  and  overwork  had  made  him  partially  in- 
sane. When  he  left  his  vessel  he  had  expected  to  be 
able  to  return  at  once  with  help. 

The     ship    "  Rome,"    Nathaniel    Brown,    master 


arrived  from  Batavia  in  December,  1842,  consigned 
to  B.  W.  Stone.  The  last  arrivals  in  our  harbor  from 
Batavia,  were  the  "  Buckeye,"  in  August,  1853,  and 
"  Witch,"  in  November,  1855,  both  consigned  to 
Edward  D.  Kimball. 

The  Sumatra  Trade. — Salem  sent  the  first  ves- 
sel that  ever  sailed  direct  from  this  country  to  Suma- 
tra,   and    a    Salem    captain     commanded    the    last 
American  vessel  that  brought  a  cargo  of  pepper  from 
that  island.     In   the   year   1793,   Captain   Jonathan 
Carnes  of  Salem,   being  at  the  port  of  Bencoolen, 
learned  that  pepper  grew  wild  on  the  northwestern 
coast  of  Sumatra.     On  his  return  to  Salem  he  made 
known    his    discovery  to  Mr.  Jonathan  Peele,  who 
immediately  built  a  schooner  and  gave  Carnes  the 
command.     The  vessel  was  called  the  "Rajah,"  and 
was  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  tons  burden,  carrying, 
four  guns   and  ten   men.     In   1795   he  set  sail   for 
Sumatra,  the  destination  of  the  vessel  and  the  object 
of  the   voyage  being  kept   a  profound  secret.     The 
"  Rajah  "  cleared  at  Salem  November  3, 1795,  for  India, 
having  on  board  two  pipes  of  brandy,  fifty-eight  cases  of 
gin,   twelve  tons  of  iron,  two   hogsheads  of  tobacco 
and  two  boxes  of  salmon.     The   vessel  was  absent 
eighteen  months,  during  which  time  her  owner  Mr, 
Peele  had  no  tidings  from  her.     At  last  she  entered 
Salem  harbor,  with  a  cargo  of  pepper  in  bulk,  the 
first  to  be  so  imported  into  this  countiy.     This  cargo 
was  sold  at  a  profit  of  seven  hundred  per  cent.     Such 
an  extraordinary   voyage   created  great   excitement 
among  the   merchants  of  Salem,  and  they  were   all 
anxious  to    discover  in    what   part  of  the    Eastern 
World  the  cargo  had  been  procured.     But  the  matter 
still  remained  a  secret.     Captain  Carnes  was  prepar- 
ing for  another  voyage;  and  the   Salem   merchants 
determined   if  possible    to  penetrate    the  mystery, 
despatched  several  vessels  to  the  port  of  Bencoolen 
where  it  was  known  Carnes  got  his  first  knowledge 
of  the  trade.     They  were  not  successful,  however,  and 
had  to  make  up  their  voyages  in  some  of  the  ports  of 
India.     But  the  secret  voyages  to  Sumatra  did  not 
long  continue.    By  the  first  of  the  present  century  the 
mystery  was  penetrated,  and  the  whole  ground  open 
to  competition. 

The  brig  "  Rajah  "  made  several  voyages  to  Suma- 
tra, under  command  of  Captain  Carnes,  entering  at 
Salem  in  October,  1799,  with  158,544  pounds  of  pep- 
per, and  in  July,  1801,  with  147,776  pounds,  the  last 
consigned  to  Jonathan  &  Willard  Peele. 

The  firm  of  George  Crowninshield  &  Sons  were 
largely  engaged  in  the  early  Sumatra  trade.  The 
ship  "  Belisarius,"  Samuel  Skerry,  Jr.,  master,  made 
several  voyages  for  this  firm,  entering  at  Salem  in 
July,  1801,  with  320,000  pounds  of  pepper ;  in  July, 
1802,  with  306,542  pounds ;  and  in  September,  1803, 
with  276,459  pounds.  The  ship  "America"  made 
two  voyages,  commanded  by  John  Crowninshield  on 
the  first  and  Jeremiah  Briggs  on  the  second,  and 
entering  in  November,  1801,  with  815,792  pounds  of 


76 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


pepper,  paying  a  duty  of  $53,842.27,  and  clearing 
January  2,  1802,  on  the  second  voyage,  returning  in 
October,  1802,  with  760,000  pounds,  paying  $50,031.76. 
The  ship  "  Concord,"  Jonathan  Carnes,  master,  made 
two  voyages,  entering  in  November,  1803,  and  in 
August,  1805.  The  ship  "John,"  John  Dodge,  mas- 
ter, entered  in  October,  1807,  and  the  ship  "  Fame," 
Holten  J.  Breed,  master,  in  April,  1812,  with  623,277 
pounds  of  pepper,  paying  a  duty  of  $37,396.62,  all 
consigned  to  this  firm. 

Joseph  Peabody  entered  upon  this  trade  early. 
Among  his  vessels  were  the  ship  "  Cincinnatus,  John 
Endicott,  master,  which  entered  in  September,  1803, 
with  307,824  pounds  of  pepper ;  and  in  November, 
1807,  commanded  by  William  Haskell,  with  347,000 
pounds.  The  ship  "Franklin,"  Samuel  Tucker, 
master,  which  entered  in  September,  1810,  with  539,- 
585  pounds.  The  ship  "Janus,"  John  Endicott, 
master,  which  entered  in  December,  1809,  with  537,- 
989  pounds,  and  in  December,  1810,  with  547,795 
pounds.  The  "  Janus  "  sailed  from  Salem  April  1, 
1810,  and  arrived  at  the  Vineyard  on  her  return, 
November  26,  1810,  making  one  of  the  shortest 
voyages  ever  made  from  Salem  to  Sumatra  and  back. 
These  were  among  Mr.  Peabody's  early  voyages. 
He  continued  the  trade  until  about  the  time  of  his 
death,  in  1844.  The  ship  "Sumatra,"  Peter  Silver, 
master,  which  entered  in  July,  1838,  and  the  ship 
"  Eclipse,"  George  Whitemarsh,  master,  which  en- 
tered in  February,  1840,  in  February,  1841  and  in 
December,  1842,  and  the  ship  "Lotos,"  Benjamin 
Balch,  Jr.,  master,  which  entered  in  November,  1841, 
were  among  the  later  voyages. 

Abel  Lawrence  &  Co.  were  the  consignees  of  the 
brig  "George  Washington,"  Timothy  Bryant,  master, 
which  entered  in  November,  1803,  and  of  the  ship 
"  Putnam,"  Nathaniel  Bowditch,  master,  which  en- 
tered in  December,  1803,  with  425,000  pounds  of 
pepper  and  42,000  pounds  of  coffee  from  Sumatra  and 
the  Isle  of  France,  and  paying  a  duty  of  $27,634.67. 
Captain  Bowditch  afterwards  became  distinguished 
for  his  mathematical  works  and  as  an  astronomer, 
and  achieved  a  world-wide  reputation  by  his  treatises 
on  navigation. 

Captain  Bowditch  writes  in  his  journal  of  this 
voyage  : 

"  On  your  arrival  at  Sumatra  you  contract  with  the 
Datoo  for  the  pepper  and  fix  the  price.  If  more  than 
one  vessel  is  at  the  port  the  pepper  which  comes  daily 
to  the  scales  is  shared  between  them  as  they  agree. 
Sometimes  the  Datoo  contracts  to  load  one  vessel 
before  any  other  is  allowed  to  take  any,  and  he  holds 
to  this  agreement  as  long  as  he  finds  it  for  his  inter- 
est to  do  so,  and  no  longer,  for  a  handsome  present  or 
an  increase  of  the  price  will  prevent  the  pepper  from 
being  brought  in  for  several  days,  and  the  person 
who  made  the  agreement  must  either  quit  the  port  or 
else  give  an  additional  price.  The  price  in  1803  was 
from  ten  to  eleven  dollars  per  picul.     The  price  has 


risen  there  being  now  thirty  sail  of  American  vessels 
on  the  coast. 

'■  The  pepper  season  commences  in  January,  when 
they  begin  to  gather  the  small  pepper  at  the  bottom 
of  the  vine;  in  March,  April  and  May  is  the  height 
of  the  crop.  The  best  pepper  grows  at  the  top  of  the 
vines  and  is  gathered  the  last.  It  is  larger  and  more 
solid  than  that  gathered  at  an  earlier  period.  Some 
suppose  that  the  pepper  is  all  gathered  in  May, 
but  I  was  in  some  of  the  gardens  in  July,  and  found 
at  the  top  of  the  vines  large  quantities  which  would 
be  ripe  in  a  few  days.  Some  calculate  on  two  crops, 
but  from  the  best  information  I  could  procure,  there 
is  only  one.  The  pepper  is  generally  weighed  on 
American  scales.  It  is  sold  by  the  picul,  equal  to 
one  hundred  and  thirty-three  and  one-third  pounds. 
What  is  weighed  in  the  day  is  paid  for  in  the  even- 
ing, they  being  unwilling  to  trust  their  property 
in  the  hands  of  those  they  deal  with;  in  the  same 
manner  it  is  not  prudent  to  pay  in  advance  to  the 
Datoo,  as  it  would  often  be  difficult  to  get  pepper  or 
money  of  him  again.'' 

The  ship  "  Good  Hope,"  George  Cleveland,  master, 
entered  in  January,  1805,  consigned  to  Nathaniel 
West.  The  ship  "  Freedom,"  John  Reith,  master,  in 
January,  1805,  consigned  to  Jonathan  &  Willard 
Peele.  The  bark  "  Eliza,"  Joseph  Beadle,  master, 
entered  in  Augusf,,  1806,  consigned  to  Joseph  White 
&  Co.  The  ship  "  Union,"  George  Pierce,  master, 
entered  in  October,  1806,  consigned  to  Stephen  Phil- 
lips, with  four  hundred  and  sixty-five  thousand  two 
hundred  and  seventy-one  pounds  of  pepper,  paying  a 
duty  of  $28,506.26.  The  ship  "  Eliza,"  James  Cook, 
master,  entered  in  October,  1807,  with  one  million 
twelve  thousand  one  hundred  and  forty  eight  pounds 
of  pepper,  consigned  to  James  Cook,  and  paying  a 
duty  of  $66,903.90.  The  ship  "Herald,"  Z.  F.  Silsbee, 
master,  entered  in  December,  1809,  consigned  to 
James  Devereux.  The  bark  "  Active,"  William  P. 
Richardson,  master,  entered  in  December,  1809,  con- 
signed to  John  Dodge,  Jr.  The  bark  "  Camel," 
Holten  J.  Breed,  master,  entered  in  July,  1816,  con- 
signed to  William  Silsbee.  The  bark  "  Eliza  and 
Mary,  Nathaniel  Griffen,  master,  consigned  to  Wil- 
liam Fettyplace,  entered  April,  1823.  The  brig 
"  Jane,"  Thomas  Saul,  master,  entered  in  November, 
1823,  consigned  to  Willard  Peele.  The  brig  "  Persia," 
Moses  Endicott,  master,  in  July,  1824,  with  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  thousand  pounds  of  pepper  to  Dudley 
L.  Pickman.  The  ship  "Friendship,"  Charles  M. 
Endicott,  master,  entered  in  July,  1831,  consigned  to 
William  Silsbee,  and  the  ship  "  Delphos,"  James  D. 
Gillis,  master,  entered  in  October,  1831,  consigned  to 
Z.  F.  Silsbee  and  others.  The  bark  "  Malay,"  J.  B. 
Silsbee,  master,  entered  in  November,  1836.  The 
bark  "Borneo,"  C.  S.  Huntington,  master,  in  April, 
1842,  consigned  to  Z.  F.  Silsbee. 

David  Pingree  was  the  consignee  of  the  ship 
"Caroline  Augusta,"  which  entered  in  August,  1842, 


SALEM. 


77 


and  in  November,  1845.  She  was  commanded  on  the 
first  voyage  by  E.  I).  Winn.  Tucker  Daland  was  the 
consignee  of  the  brig  "  Lucilla,"  which  entered  in 
June,  1842  and  in  November,  1846.  H.  W.  Perkins 
was  the  master  on  the  first  voyage  and  D.  Marshall 
on  the  second.  This  was  the  last  vessel  to  arrive  at 
Salem  from  the  coa>t  of  Sumatra. 

The  trade  with  Sumatra  was,  at  one  time,  mainly 
carried  on  by  Salem  merchants,  and  a  large  propor- 
tion of  the  pepper  consumed  was  distributed  to 
all  countries  from  the  port  of  Salem.  From  the  year 
1799  to  1846  inclusive,  but  five  years  (1813,  '14,  '15, 
'22  and  '37)  passed  without  an  entry  at  Salem  from 
the  island  of  Sumatra.  During  that  period  there 
were  one  hundred  and  seventy-nine  arrivals,  the 
years  1809,  '10  and  '23  showing  ten  each,  the  largest 
number  in  any  single  year. 

Although  the  direct  trade  between  Salem  and  Su- 
matra ceased  in  1846,  Salem  vessels  and  Salem  ship- 
masters were  engaged  in  it  until  a  much  later  date. 
The  last  Salem  vessel  on  the  coast  was  the  ship  "Aus- 
tralia," J.  Dudley,  master,  owned  by  Stone,  Silsbee  & 
Pickman.  She  was  there  in  1860.  There  is  no  direct 
trade  to-day  between  the  United  States  and  Sumatra. 
Captain  Jonathan  Carnes,  of  Salem,  commanded  the 
first  American  vessel  that  ever  procured  a  cargo  of  pep- 
per in  bulk  from  the  Island  of  Sumatra,  and  a  Salem 
captain  was  master  of  the  last  American  vessel  that 
visited  that  coast.  The  bark  "  Tarquin,"  Thomas 
Kimball,  master,  and  William  F.  Jelly,  mate,  both  of 
Salem,  arrived  at  New  York  in  1867,  and  this  arrival 
closed  the  American  trade  with  the  Island  of  Su- 
matra. The  "  Tarquin  "  was  owned  by  John  L.  Gard- 
ner, of  Boston. 

The  energy  and  fearlessness  of  our  early  navigators 
was  something  almost  marvellous.  In  vessels  of  but 
one  hundred  and  fifty  tons  they  boldly  set  sail  for 
ports  never  before  visited  by  Americans,  and  without 
chart  or  guide  of  any  kind,  made  their  way  amid 
coral  reefs  and  along  foreign  shores.  Even  as  late 
as  1831,  when  a  United  States  war  vessel  was  de- 
spatched to  the  Island  of  Sumatra,  no  chart  of  the 
coast  could  be  found  in  the  possession  of  the  govern- 
ment. The  United  States  frigate  "  Potomac  "  sailed 
for  the  East  Indies  in  1831,  and  in  the  journal  of  her 
voyage  it  is  stated  that  it  was  the  original  intention 
of  her  commander  to  prepare  charts  and  sailing  di- 
rections for  the  guidance  of  other  mariners,  but  that 
"  this  duty  has  been  much  more  ably  performed  than 
it  could  have  been  with  our  limited  materials."  For 
this  important  service  our  country  is  indebted  to 
Captains  Charles  M.  Endicott  and  James  D.  Gillis, 
of  Salem,  Mass..  The  former,  who  was  master  of  the 
"  Friendship,"  when  she  was  seized  by  the  Malays 
at  Quallah-Battoo,  has  been  trading  on  this  coast  for 
more  than  fifteen  years,  and  during  that  period  he 
has,  profitably  for  his  country,  filled  up  the  delays 
incidental  to  a  pepper  voyage,  by  a  careful  and  reli- 
able survey  of  the  coast,  of  which  no  chart  was  pre- 


viously extant  which  could  be  relied  on.  Captain 
Endicott  has  since  published  the  results  of  his  labors 
in  a  well  executed  chart,  which  comprises  all  that 
portion  of  the  coast  which  is  included  between  Sin- 
kel,  2°  18^  and  4°  15^  north.  Actuated  by  a  like  com- 
mendable zeal  for  the  commercial  interests  of  his 
native  country,  Captain  Gillis  has  extended  the  sur- 
veys to  latitude  5°  north,  and  published  an  excellent 
chart,  accompanied  also  with  sailing  directions. 
These  are  important  acquisitions  to  our  knowledge  of 
this  coast,  and  will  increase  the  security  of  our  mer- 
chants and  mariners.  We  gladly  embrace  this  oppor- 
tunity to  acknowledge  our  obligations  to  both  these 
gentlemen  for  much  valuable  information  and  many 
interesting  facts. 

Salem,  therefore,  was  not  only  the  first  at  Sumatra, 
but  the  first  to  make  it  safe  for  others  to  follow  her 
lead,  and  as  long  as  American  vessels  visited  the  coast 
their  commanders  were  provided  with  copies  of  the 
charts  prepared  by  these  Salem  shipmasters. 

The  dangers  of  the  coral  reefs  were  not  the  only 
ones  our  mariners  had  to  contend  with.  The  natives 
of  the  island  were  cruel  and  treacherous,  and  ready 
to  commit  any  atrocity  for  the  sake  of  plunder. 

The  ship  "  Putnam,"  commanded  by  Captain  John 
Carlton,  was  captured  by  the  Malays  on  the  28th  of 
November,  1805,  and  several  of  the  crew  massacred. 
The  "  Putnam  "  was  at  anchor  in  the  outer  roads  of 
Rhio  (island  of  Bentang),  where  she  had  been  trading 
with  the  natives  for  pepper.  The  captain  had  already 
closed  his  business  at  Rhio,  when  the  fatal  catastro- 
phe took  place.  There  was  at  the  time  a  Malay  brig, 
belonging  to  Lingen  (a  neighboring  island),  lying  in 
the  inner  roads,  besides  two  English  brigs,  viz.,  the 
"Malcolm,"  Captain  Fenwick,  and  the  "Transfer," 
Captain  Matthews.  On  the  26th  the  captain,  having 
been  ashore  and  on  board  the  "  Malcolm  "  to  transact 
some  business,  was  informed  on  his  return  that  a  boat 
from  the  Lingen  brig  had  made  a  visit  to  his  ship  in 
his  absence,  and  from  their  behavior  excited  strong 
suspicions  of  a  design  to  cut  her  off.  They  had  also 
been  on  board  several  times  before  without  any  ap- 
parent business,  but  to  gratify  their  curiosity.  Cap- 
tain Carlton,  apprehensive  of  their  design,  endeavored 
to  excite  the  caution  and  courage  of  his  ofiicers  and 
crew,  confident  that  there  was  no  danger  but  from 
negligence  or  timidity.  The  next  morning  (the  27th) 
the  captain  sent  the  third  ofiicer  to  the  Malay  brig  to 
forbid  their  again  coming  on  board  the  ship.  He  at 
the  same  time  repaired  and  set  the  boarding  nettings 
and  made  other  preparations  for  defense.  About  five 
in  the  afternoon  his  apprehensions  were  renewed,  by 
observing  the  Malay  boat  again  coming  toward  the 
ship,  whereupon  he  ordered  every  man  to  arm  him- 
self, and  have  everything  in  readiness,  in  case  of  an 
attack ;  but  his  apprehensions  were  lessened  on  the 
boat's  nearer  approach,  by  observing  a  Chinese  mer- 
chant in  it.  The  merchant  came  on  board  and  offered 
to  barter  pepper  for  tin,  on  terms  which  the  officers 


78 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


(who  had  wanted  an  opportunity  of  selling  their  pri- 
vate adventures)  accepted,  and,  to  make  the  bargain 
more  sure,  took  thirty  dollars  of  him  as  earnest.  Not 
one  of  the  Malays  could,  at  this  time,  be  persuaded 
to  enter  the  ship,  and  at  sunset  they  returned  to  the 
brig. 

On  the  28th  Captain  Carlton  found  it  necessary  to 
go  on  shore  once  more,  to  close  his  business  with  the 
Rajah,  previous  to  sailing.  He  was  much  averse  to 
leaving  the  ship  again  on  account  of  the  suspicious 
conduct  of  the  Malays,  who  were  expected  on  board 
with  pepper  as  agreed  for.  However,  as  the  brig  lay 
to  the  southward,  and  as  it  blew  a  perfect  gale  to  the 
northward,  he  thought  there  was  little  probability  of 
any  boat  coming  on  board  that  day;  he  therefore  took 
the  pinnace,  with  Mr.  Fenno,  his  clerk,  and  two  hands, 
and  proceeded  on  shore.  On  his  return,  about  five  in 
the  afternoon,  he  called  on  board  the  "Malcolm"  to 
take  his  leave.  He  had  been  there  only  a  few  min- 
utes before  he  was  alarmed  by  the  sight  of  his  ship's 
boat  coming  along  side,  with  seven  of  the  crew  on 
board,  three  of  them  dangerously  wounded,  viz.,  Mr. 
Samuel  Page  Pierson,  second  officer ;  Stephen  Hol- 
land and  William  Brown,  the  two  former  mortally. 
The  men  were  taken  on  board  and  their  wounds  im- 
mediately dressed.  This  shocking  sight  but  too 
plainly  indicated  the  unhappy  event  which  had  taken 
place.  The  Malay  boat,  with  sixteen  men  on  board, 
had  been  to  the  ship  with  the  pepper.  It  seems,  not- 
withstanding all  the  causes  for  suspicion,  they  were 
received  very  unguardedly  on  board  the  ship  and 
without  the  people  having  their  arms  at  hand  in  case 
of  an  assault.  The  pepper  was  taken  in,  and  the 
hands  were  about  weighing  it,  when  it  was  observed 
that  the  Malays,  about  six  in  number,  were  secretly 
receiving  their  creases  from  their  fellows  in  the  boat. 
On  this  the  second  officer,  Mr.  Pierson,  stepped  to- 
ward them  and  directed  them  to  return  to  their  boat. 

This  served  as  a  signal  to  begin  their  savage  attack, 
in  which  Mr.  Pierson  fell,  mortally  wounded.  The 
Malays  in  the  boat  immediately  reinforced  their  com- 
rades in  the  ship.  The  first  officer  received  a  slight 
wound,  and,  being  closely  pursued,  escaped  over  the 
bows.  Richard  Hunt  followed,  but  afterwards  got  up 
by  a  rope  into  the  fore-channels,  where  one  of  the 
Malays  creased  him  through  the  netting  and  he 
dropped  below  the  channels  and  held  on  for  some 
timC;  but  was  probably  badly  wounded  and  fell  into 
the  water  and  was  seen  no  more.  A  number  of  others 
fled  at  the  onset  of  the  Malays.  The  cook,  a  black 
fellow,  by  the  name  of  George  Cowley,  was  heard  to 
say  a  few  minutes  before  the  Malays  began  the  mas- 
sacre that  he  would  not  fight  if  they  did  attempt  to 
take  the  ship ;  he  accordingly  concealed  himself  be- 
low and  was  not  seen  after  the  action.  A  black  man, 
by  the  name  of  Henry  Annuls,  was  killed  on  deck  as 
soon  as  the  action  began,  Ciesar  Thomson,  the  stew- 
ard, a  mulatto,  was  struck  at  the  same  time,  but,  being 
a  brave  man,  he  seized  a  handspike  and  knocked  the 


assailant  down  and  another  after  him ;  but  a  third 
gave  him  a  mortal  wound.  Stephen  Holland,  a  sea- 
man, at  the  beginning  of  the  attack,  got  over  the 
bows,  where  he  stood  for  a  few  minutes,  when,  spying 
a  handspike  on  the  deck,  he  sprang  and  seized  it. 
With  this  he  knocked  down  several  of  the  Malays, 
but,  unfortunately,  received  a  mortal  stab  at  last.  At 
length,  what  with  those  who  were  killed  and  wounded 
and  those  who  had  escaped  to  places  of  safety,  Wm. 
Brown,  a  carpenter  of  the  ship,  was  left  to  maintain 
the  contest  alone ;  which  he  did  with  great  bravery 
and  success,  and  was  thereby  the  means  of  saving  the 
lives  of  those  who  survived  the  rencontre.  He  had 
seized  a  strong  stick,  of  about  three  feet  in  length,  on 
the  end  of  which  the  cook  had  fastened  an  iron  coffee- 
mill  ;  this  was  an  excellent  weapon,  and  he  dealt 
such  deadly  blows  among  his  antagonists  with  it  that, 
after  a  severe  contest,  he  cleared  the  decks  of  them. 
He  received  two  wounds ;  the  first  was  between  the 
shoulders,  but  nnt  deep,  as  he  caught  the  hand  of  the 
Malay  and  broke  the  force  of  the  blow,  and  with  a 
well-aimed  stroke  he  laid  the  fellow  at  his  feet.  Im- 
mediately he  had  three  more  upon  him,  who,  finding 
him  resolute,  retreated  aft,  and  in  following  them  he 
observed  a  fourth,  who  was  standing  upon  a  cask 
above  him,  aiming  at  him  ;  he  attempted  to  seize  his 
hand,  but  was  not  so  fortunate  as  before  ;  he  caught 
his  arm,  however,  but,  his  hand  being  bloody,  it 
slipped  up  to  his  elbow,  and  the  fellow  creased  him 
over  the  left  shoulder ;  the  force  of  the  weapon  was 
in  some  measure  stopped  by  its  striking  the  spine, 
though  it  went  through  his  back  on  the  right  side  of 
the  spine.  Notwithstanding  this,  he  drove  all  the 
Malays  abaft  the  mizzenmast,  when  Henry  Pettit 
came  down  from  the  fore-top,  where  he  had  been 
during  the  action.  He  brought  aft  a  handspike  and 
kept  the  Malays  at  bay  until  Brown  went  below  and 
brought  up  a  spear,  with  which  he  quickly  drove 
them  all  into  the  water,  where  they  were  picked  up 
by  their  boat,  which  had  cut  their  fastenings  and 
dropped  astern  for  that  purpose.  There  were  twelve 
or  thirteen  of  the  Malays  who  had  been  engaged  on 
board ;  one  was  left  dead  upon  deck ;  four  were  car- 
ried off  wounded,  some,  it  was  supposed,  mortally, 
during  the  struggle,  and  seven  or  eight  were  driven 
overboard  by  Mr.  Brown. 

Brown  and  Pettit  then  attempted  to  fire  a  swivel 
into  the  boat  as  she  passed  under  the  stern ;  but  the 
confusion  of  the  scene  probably  prevented  their  prim- 
ing it  properly,  so  that  it  did  not  go  off.  The  Malaya 
being  thus  driven  out  of  the  ship.  Brown  ran  fore 
and  aft,  in  order  to  rally  those  of  his  shipmates  who 
had  abandoned  him  in  the  conflict,  calling  out  that 
the  decks  were  clear  and  they  might  return  with 
safety.  Having  collected  them  together.  Brown  ad- 
vised the  chief  officer  to  display  a  signal  that  would 
bring  them  assistance  from  the  ships  in  the  inner 
roads ;  but  the  officer  being  fearful  of  their  returning 
to  a  second   attack,  gave   orders    for  abandoning  the 


SALEM. 


79 


ship,  though  the  boat  had  by  this  time  pulled  off  two 
or  three  miles,  more  in  fear,  no  doubt,  of  being  de- 
stroyed by  a  shot  from  the  ship  than  with  any  idea  of 
renewing  their  attack  upon  her ;  only  half  of  their 
number  remaining  in  a  condition  for  action,  one  hav- 
ing been  killed  and  seven  others  wounded.  The 
Malays  observing  the  ship  to  be  thus  abandoned  by 
the  crew,  returned,  of  course,  and  took  possession  of 
her. 

The  mortification  of  Captatn  Carlton  at  being  in 
this  sudden  and  unhappy  manner  deprived  of  his 
ship  is  not  to  be  described.  He  immediately  ap- 
plied to  the  English  vessels  to  assist  him  in  attempt- 
ing her  recovery.  Captain  Fenwick,  of  the  "Mal- 
colm," Aery  promptly,  and  Captain  Matthews,  of  the 
"  Transfer,"  with  reluctance,  consented  to  pursue  the 
pirates.  They  accordingly  set  sail,  and  at  eight 
that  evening  anchored  in  the  straits  of  Lingen.  At 
daylight  the  next  morning  they  weighed  anchor 
and  steered  for  Lingen  ;  at  eight  a.m.  saw  the  pirates 
from  the  top  gallant-yards ;  at  half  past  past  five  p.m. 
the  "Malcolm"  was  within  cannon-shot,  but  the 
"  Transfer,''  not  sailing  so  well,  three  or  four  leagues 
astern  ;  at  six,  within  pistol-shot  of  the  ship,  and  the 
pirate  brig  about  musket-shot  distance,  on  the  lee 
quarter  of  the  "Malcolm."  The  ship  then  commenced 
firing  and  the  "  Malcolm  "  immediately  returned  a 
broadside  with  a  discharge  of  musketry.  The  brig 
also  hauled  to  and  brought  her  bow-chasers,  the  only 
guns  she  had  to  bear,  on  the  "  Malcolm  "  and  fired 
them  once,  without  any  judgment  or  efl'ect.  The  ship, 
whose  guns  were  in  excellent  order,  well-leveled  and 
supplied  with  plenty  of  powder  and  round  shot,  kept 
up  a  well-directed  fire  for  half  an  hour,  and  the  "Mal- 
colm "  received  considerable  damage  in  her  hull,  rig- 
ging and  boats  ;  and  Mr.  Trask,  the  first  officer  of  the 
"  Transfer,"  but  who  had  gone  on  board  the  "  Malcolm" 
as  a  volunteer,  was  unfortunately  killed.  The  "Mal- 
colm," during  this  rencontre,  kept  up  as  brisk  a  fire 
as  circumstances  would  admit  of.  She  was  badly 
equipped  for  fighting.  She  had  no  gun-tackle  and 
only  two  rammers  and  sponges,  and  one  of  those  was 
lost  early  in  the  action,  and  only  seven  men  to  work 
the  guns.  Her  deck  was  extremely  round,  and  the 
brig  very  crank ;  and  the  guns  being  fought  to  lee- 
ward, they  upset  every  time  they  were  discharged, 
and  several  times  pitched  out  of  the  ports,  breech  up, 
and  stood  perpendicularly.  Yet,  under  all  these  dis- 
advantages, the  "  Malcolm  "  discharged  as  many  as 
ten  broadsides ;  the  musketry,  also,  was  well  served, 
and  the  pirates  were  completely  silenced  in  half  an 
hour  and  bore  away,  and  had  it  been  earlier  in  the 
day,  the  ship  would  probably  have  been  recovered.  At 
the  close  of  the  action  the  third  officer  of  the  "  Put- 
nam" was  badly  wounded  in  his  right  hand  and 
arm  by  the  going  off"  of  a  gun  while  he  was  loading 
her.  When  the  "  Transfer  "  came  up  Captain  Mat- 
thews was  requested  to  follow  on  and  renew  the  ac- 
tion, but  he  declined,  and,  as    he   was  depended   on 


as  the  pilot.  Captain  Fenwick  was  obliged  to  follow 
him,  and  they  hauled  to,  to  the  eastward,  and  an- 
chored, while  the  pirates  were  left  to  proceed  unmo- 
lested. At  daylight  next  morning  they  hove  up  and 
made  sail  for  Lingen  ;  again  discovered  the  pirates, 
and  at  three  p.m.  were  on  the  point  of  renewing  the 
attack  upon  them,  when  Matthews  tacked  about,  and 
they  were  obliged  again  to  give  up  the  ship  when  she 
seemed  almost  to  be  in  their  possession,  and  follow 
the  "  Transfer  "  towards  Lingen. 

At  daylight,  December  1st,  they  found  that  they 
were  in  shore  of  the  pirates.  Matthews  got  first  under 
way;  but,  to  the  astonishment  of  those  on  board  the 
"Malcolm,"  hauled  on  a  course  directly  from  them. 
Captain  Fenwick,  judging  it  not  prudent  to  pursue 
alone,  followed  the  "Transfer"  into  Lingen  roads, 
leaving  the  pirates  in  quiet  possession  of  their  prize, 
when  another  opportunity  had  presented  of  recover- 
ing her  with  little  effort.  Captain  Carlton,  after  this, 
made  application  to  the  Governor  of  Malacca  and  to 
Admiral  Trowbridge  for  assistance  to  recover  his  ship, 
but  could  obtain  none,  and  was  obliged  to  submit  to 
the  mortification  of  giving  her  up  as  a  total  loss. 

The  foregoing  account  is  gathered  from  correspond- 
ence published  in  the  Salem  papers  at  the  time  of  the 
piracy. 

The  ship  "  Marquis  de  Somerulas,"  Captain  Story, 
was  attacked  by  the  Malays  at  Sumatra  September 
18, 1806,  and  one  man  was  killed  and  several  wounded, 
but  the  crew  succeeded  in  driving  away  the  attacking 
party. 

The  ship  "  Friendship,"  Charles  M.  Endicott,  mas- 
ter, was  attacked  at  the  port  of  Quallah-Battoo  by 
the  native  Malays.  The  first  mate,  Charles  Knight, 
was  killed  and  several  of  the  seamen  wounded. 

Captain  Endicott  was  ashore  at  the  time,  receiving 
pepper  to  be  sent  on  board.  Observing  something 
unusual  in  the  conduct  of  those  aboard  the  ship, 
Captain  Endicott  determined  to  return  to  her  at  once, 
but  hardly  had  he  started  with  his  men  when  crowds 
of  Malays  began  to  assemble  on  the  banks  of  the 
river,  brandishing  their  weapons  and  otherwise  men- 
acing him.  At  the  same  time  three  Malav  boats, 
with  forty  or  fifty  men  each,  came  out  of  the  river  and 
pulled  toward  the  ship.  Convinced  that  the  only 
way  to  recover  the  ship  was  by  obtaining  assistance 
from  some  other  vessel,  Captain  Endicott  directed  his 
boat's  course  to  Muckie,  a  port  about  twenty-five 
miles  distant,  where  he  knew  two  or  three  American 
vessels  were  lying.  Arriving  there,  he  found  three 
vessels,  among  them  the  brig  "  Governor  Endicott,"  of 
Salem,  H.  H.  Jenks,  master,  and  the  ship  "  James 
Monroe,"  J.  Porter,  master,  of  New  York.  These 
vessels  proceeded  at  once  to  Quallah-Battoo.  The 
"  Friendship  "  was  meanwhile  in  the  possession  of  the 
Malays,  who  plundered  her  of  the  specie  and  every 
other  movable  article.  Four  of  her  crew  jumped 
overboard  at  the  time  of  the  attack,  and  swam  a  dis- 
tance of  two  miles  before  they  could  find  a  safe  place 


80 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


to  land.  After  wandering  about  in  the  bushes,  almost 
without  food,  for  three  days,  they  found  a  canoe,  and 
made  their  way  to  the  residence  of  a  friendly  native, 
named  Po  Adam,  who  furnished  them  with  clothing 
and  carried  them  aboard  one  of  the  American  vessels. 
Upon  the  arrival  at  Quallah-Battoo  of  the  three  ves- 
sels, before  mentioned,  an  attack  was  made  upon  the 
town,  and  the  "  Friendship  "  was  boarded  and  re- 
captured. Her  voyage  having  been  broken  up,  the 
"Friendship"  returned  to  Salem,  where  she  arrived 
July  16,  1831.  About  a  year  thereafter  the  United 
States  frigate  "  Potomac,"  before  referred  to,  bom- 
barded Quallah-Battoo  as  a  punishment  for  the  con- 
duct of  the  natives  towards  an  American  vessel. 

Another  Salem  vessel,  the  "  Eclipse,"  had  a  some- 
what similar  experience  on  the  coast  of  Sumatra  in 
1838.  While  the  mate  and  four  hands  were  ashore,  a 
party  of  Malays  boarded  the  vessel  and  killed  the 
captain,  Charles  P.  Wilkins.  The  crew,  finding 
themselves  overpowered,  escaped,  some  by  ascending 
the  shrouds,  and  some  by  jumping  overboard  and 
swimming  ashore.  The  Malays  then  plundered  the 
ship  of  specie,  opium  and  everything  else  of  value, 
and  departed  with  their  ill-gotten  gains.  The  men 
aloft  descended,  lowered  their  boat,  and  rowed  to  a 
French  bark  lying  at  an  adjoining  port.  The  next 
morning  the  crew  returned  to  the  vessel,  and  during 
the  night  they  set  sail  and  left  the  island.  The 
"Eclipse"  had  a  sad  ending.  She  sailed  from 
Sumatra  July  10,  1849,  under  command  of  Captain 
Daniel  Cross,  and  was  never  after  heard  from.  She 
had  on  board  a  cargo  of  pepper,  consigned  to  Tucker 
Daland  and  Henry  L.  Williams. 

The  Manila  Trade. — In  the  early  days  of  Salem 
commerce,  when  her  enterprising  and  energetic  mer- 
chants were  seeking  to  establish  trade  with  hitherto 
unknown  countries,  and  her  ships  were  ploughing  the 
seas  which  had  never  before  floated  an  American 
vessel,  the  ship  "Astrea,"  commanded  by  Henry 
Prince,  and  owned  by  that  king  among  merchants, 
Elias  Hasket  Derby,  entered  the  harbor  of  Manila, 
the  capital  city  of  the  Phillipine  Islands,  situated  on 
the  island  of  Luzon.  Obtaining  there  a  cargo  of  750,- 
000  pounds  of  sugar,  63,695  pounds  of  pepper,  and 
29,767  pounds  of  indigo,  she  entered  at  Salem  in  May, 
1797,  and  paid  a  duty  on  her  cargo  of  $24,020.  A 
journal  of  this  voyage,  kept  by  Nathaniel  Bowditch, 
afterwards  so  famous  as  a  mathematician,  is  on  the 
files  of  the  East  India  Marine  Society.  The  "Astrea" 
left  Salem  March  27,  1796,  and  went  to  Lisbon,  Ma- 
deira and  Manila,  arriving  at  the  latter  place  October 
3,  1796.  On  the  passage  home,  February  18,  1797, 
the  ship  sprung  a  leak,  and  two  men  were  obliged  to 
be  kept  at  the  pumps  constantly  from  that  time  till 
the  22d  of  May,  1797,  when  the  vessel  arrived  at 
Salem. 

In  the  precise  and  rather  formal  handwriting  of 
Dr.  Bowditch  we  find  in  his  journal  the  following  ac- 
count of  his  experience  at  Manila : 


"  The  city  of  Manila  is  about  three  or  four  miles  in 
circumference,  is  walled  all  round,  and  cannon  are 
placed  at  proper  intervals ;  but  we  were  unable  to  get 
much  information  with  respect  to  the  state  of  the 
place,  as  they  were  shy  of  giving  any  information  to 
foreigners.  The  buildings  within  the  walls  are  all  of 
stone,  and  none  except  the  churches  are  more  than 
two  stories  high,  on  account  of  the  violent  earth- 
quakes, which  they  have  generally  at  the  breaking  up 
of  the  Monsoon.  The  month  of  March  is  when  they 
most  expect  them,  but  on  the  5th  of  November,  1797, 
we  experienced  several  violent  shocks  at  about  two 
P.M.,  which  came  from  the  northward  and  proceeded 
in  a  southerly  direction,  continuing  with  violence 
nearly  two  minutes.  It  threw  down  a  large  house  a 
half  a  league  from  the  city,  untiled  several  buildings, 
and  did  much  other  damage.  It  was  not  observed  on 
board  the  ship  lying  off  the  bar.  The  motion  of  the 
earthquake  was  quicker  than  those  usual  in  America, 
as  the  latter  are  generally  preceded  by  a  rumbling 
noise  ;  the  former  was  not. 

"The  suburbs  of  Manila  are  very  extensive,  and 
most  ot  the  business  is  done  there.  The  houses  of  the 
wealthier  class  are  of  two  stories,  built  of  stone;  the 
poorer  sort  live  in  bamboo  houses  with  thatched 
roofs.  No  house  can  be  built  in  the  suburbs  without 
the  particular  permission  of  the  Governor,  in  which 
the  dimensions  of  the  buildings  are  stated,  fearing, 
if  they  are  too  high,  that  an  enemy  might  make  use 
of  them  for  attacking  the  city,  as  was  the  case  when 
the  English  took  the  place  formerly,  for  one  of  the 
churches  near  the  walls  was  very  serviceable  to  them; 
it  has  since  been  pulled  down. 

"  There  are  but  few  Europeans  in  the  settlement ; 
all  the  women  have  a  little  of  the  Indian  blood  in 
their  veins,  excepting  the  lady  of  the  Governor  and 
two  or  three  others,  though  by  successive  intermar- 
riages with  Europeans  they  have  obtained  a  fair  com- 
plexion. The  natives  (like  all  other  Malays)  are  ex- 
cessively fond  of  gaming  and  cock-fighting.  A 
theatre  is  established  for  the  latter  business,  from 
which  the  government  draws  an  immense  revenue, 
this  diversion  being  prohibited  at  any  other  place ; 
sometimes  there  are  5,000  or  6,000  spectators,  each  of 
which  pays  half  a  rial.  A  large  sum  arises  from  the 
duties  on  tobacco  and  cocoa  wine.  Tobacco  is  pro- 
hibited, but  if  you  smuggle  any  on  shore,  it  cannot  be 
sold  for  more  than  the  cost  in  America,  notwithstand- 
ing the  retail  price  is  very  high ;  particular  people, 
licensed  by  the  king,  are  the  only  persons  allowed  to 
deal  in  it.  All  the  natives  chew  dreca  and  betel, 
though  not  mixed  with  opium,  as  in  Batavia.  This, 
with  chewing  and  smoking  tobacco,  makes  the  teeth 
very  black.  The  cigars  used  by  the  women,  and 
which  they  smoke  all  day,  are  made  as  large  as  they 
can  possibly  get  into  their  mouths.  The  natives  are 
about  as  honest  as  their  neighbors,  the  Chinese ;  they 
stole  several  things  from  us,  but,  by  the  goodness  of 
the  police,  we  recovered  most  of  them.     On  the  3d  of 


SALEM. 


81 


December,  1797,  they  broke  into  the  house  where  we 
lived,  entered  the  chamber  where  Captain  Prince  and 
myself  were  asleep,  and  carried  off  a  bag  containing 
one  thousand  dollars  without  awaking  either  of  us  or 
any  of  the  crew  of  the  long  boat,  sleeping  in  the  ad- 
joining chamber.  The  guard  boat  discovered  them  as 
they  were  escaping  and  pursued  them;  they,  in  en- 
deavoring to  escape,  ran  afoul  of  a  large  boat,  which, 
upsetting  them,  the  money  went  to  the  bottom,  and, 
what  was  worse,  the  bag  burst  and  the  money  was  all 
scattered  in  the  mud,  where  the  water  was  eight  feet 
deep ;  however,  by  the  honesty  of  the  captain  of  the 
guard,  most  of  it  was  recovered.  The  thieves  were 
caught,  and,  when  we  were  there  in  1800,  Mr.  Kerr 
informed  ua  that  they  had  been  whipped  and  were  to 
be  kept  in  servitude  several  years. 

"The  same  day  another  robbery  was  committed 
equally  as  daring.  The  day  the  indigo  was  shipped 
the  second  mate  came  ashore  with  several  of  the 
people  to  see  it  safe  on  board.  The  boats  we  had 
provided  not  taking  all  of  it,  we  sent  the  remainder 
aboard  with  a  black  fellow  to  guard,  who  was  es- 
teemed by  Mr.  Kerr  as  an  honest  fellow,  but  he  had 
been  centriving  to  steal  a  couple  of  boxes.  When  the 
*  Casco,'  containing  the  indigo,  had  passed  the  bar,  a 
small  boat  came  aboard  with  two  boxes  filled  with 
chips,  stones,  etc.,  appearing  in  every  respect  exactly 
like  those  full  of  indigo,  and  pretending  that  we  had 
put  on  board  two  wrong  boxes,  they  exchanged  their 
boxes  for  two  real  boxes  of  indigo,  but  in  bringing 
them  ashore  they  were  detected  and  the  indigo 
returned. 

"  There  are  great  numbers  of  Chinese  at  Manila, 
but  they  are  all  obliged  to  become  Catholics.  It  is 
from  them  that  most  of  the  sugar  is  purchased.  They 
trade  considerably  with  China.  Their  junks  arrive 
at  Manila  in  January,  and  all  their  goods  are  depos- 
ited and  sold  from  the  Custom-House." 

From  1797  to  1858,  the  date  of  the  last  arrival  from 
this  port,  there  were  eighty-two  entries  at  Salem  from 
Manila.  The  period  from  1829  to  1839  shows  the 
largest  number  of  arrivals,  thirty  of  the  eighty-two 
entries  being  made  during  that  time. 

The  ship  "  Folansbe,"  Jonathan  Mason,  Jr.,  master, 
entered  in  May,  1799,  with  sugar  and  indigo,  con- 
signed to  John  Collins  &  Co.  The  ship  "  Laurel," 
Daniel  Sage,  master,  entered  in  July,  1801,  with  115,- 
133  pounds  of  indigo  and  124,683  of  sugar,  consigned 
to  William  Gray,  and  paying  a  duty  of  $32,382.26. 

The  ship  "  Fame,"  Jeremiah  Briggs,  master,  en- 
tered in  March,  1804,  consigned  to  Jacob  Crownin- 
shield.  The  "Fame"  visited  the  coast  of  Cochin 
China  in  search  of  sugar  and  Captain  Briggs  in  his 
journal  relates  the  following  interesting  incidents 
connected  with  his  visit : 

"  The  king  of  Cochin  China  has  about  five  hundred 

vessels  of  war  of  all  denominations,  princij^ally  boats 

from  about  forty  to   ninety  feet  long,  a   number  of 

junks  and  four  ships  carrying  thirty  guns  each,  about 

6 


four  hundred  tons,  rigged  and  sailed  European 
method.  The  boats  that  are  reserved  for  the  use  of 
the  royal  family  are  the  most  elegant  work  that  I 
ever  saw  ;  the  j^ainting  was  superb.  The  one  which 
is  called  the  king's  is  one  hundred  feet  long  and  not  a 
butt  in  her.  She  mounts  eight  guns,  six  pounders, 
and  one  twenty-four  pounder.  I  saw  a  great  number 
of  brass  cannon,  eighteen  and  twenty-four  pounders, 
that  were  cast  in  the  country.  Elephants  are  kept  to 
the  number  of  five  hundred,  trained  for  war.  The 
first  mandarin  is  captain  of  two  companies  and  like- 
wise these  animals.  They  are  manoeuvered  by  a  boy 
sitting  on  their  head  with  a  hook,  with  which  he  turns 
them.  The  city  is  composed  of  an  astonishing  num- 
ber of  small  huts  thatched.  There  is  no  other  kind 
of  house  except  those  of  the  first  mandarins.  The 
council-house  is  a  large  building.  I  suppose  it  would 
contain  one  thousand  people.  It  is  entirely  open  in 
front,  they  having  a  looking-glass  about  ten  feet  long 
in  it.  There  was  a  very  large  stone,  about  eight  feet 
long,  two  and  a  half  wide  and  one  and  a  half  thick  ; 
it  was  hung  with  a  bolt  through  the  middle  and  so 
nicely  balanced  that  the  touch  of  a  finger  would  set  it 
going  ;  by  striking  it  with  a  stick  it  would  ring  like 
a  bell.  The  citadel  or  fort  is  about  three-fourths  of  a 
mile  in  circumference ;  it  has  a  wall  of  twenty-five 
feet,  which  the  present  king  is  now  extending  two 
miles.  The  streets  are  laid  out  in  European  style. 
He  has  now  one  hundred  thousand  men  at  work  lay- 
ing out  the  roads,  building  the  walls,  etc.  The  king 
himself  attends  every  day.  He  is  mounted  on  an  ele- 
phant. His  dress  is  yellow  silk,  and  he  is  attended  by 
a  guard  of  two  hundred  men  armed  with  spears,  each 
spear  with  hair  upon  it  dyed  red.  He  keeps  thirty- 
two  concubines.  They  all  live  together  in  one  house 
which  they  are  not  allowed  to  leave.  It  is  built  upon 
the  water  and  communicates  with  the  land  by  a 
bridge.  The  king  is  thirty-one  years  of  age,  a  man 
very  well  infoi-med.  Their  churches  are  entirely 
without  ornament.  I  saw  a  number  of  the  Cochin 
Chinese  that  were  Christians.  They  appeared  very 
mild  in  their  manners." 

The  ship  "  Essex,"  Joseph  Orne,  master,  entered  in 
May,  1805,  with  sugar  and  indigo  from  Manila,  con- 
signed to  William  Orne,  and  paying  a  duty  of  $18,- 
443.70.  The  ship  "  Horace,"  John  Parker,  master, 
entered  in  May,  1806,  consigned  to  William  Gray. 
The  ship  "  Exeter,"  Thomas  B.  Osgood,  master,  en- 
tered in  June,  1806,  with  14,589  pounds  of  indigo  and 
702,064  of  sugar,  consigned  to  Benjamin  Pickman, 
Jr.,  and  paying  a  duty  of  $23,526.33. 

From  1806  to  1816,  there  seems  to  have  been  no 
entry  from  Manila  at  the  port  of  Salem.  The  ship 
"  Endeavour,"  Timothy  Bryant,  master,  entered  in 
May,  1816,  consigned  to  Nathan  Robinson.  The  ship 
"  Perseverance,"  Samuel  Hodgdon,  master,  in  May, 
1820,  consigned  to  Williard  Peele.  The  brig  "  Ann," 
Charles  Millett,  master,  in  July,  1824,  consigned  to 
Henry  Prince.     The  brig  "  Peru,"  William  Johnson, 


82 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Jr.,  master,  in  April,  1825,  consigned  to  Stephen  C. 
Phillips.  The  ship  "  Endeavour,"  James  D.  Gillis, 
master,  in  September,  1826,  consigned  to  Nathaniel 
Silsbee.  The  bark  "Derby,"  Allen  Putnam,  mas- 
ter; entered  in  March,  1827;  in  April,  1829;  J.  H. 
Eagleston,  master;  and  again  in  July,  1832,  J. 
W.  Cheever,  master,  consigned  to  Stephen  C.  Phil- 
lips. The  ship  "  Mandarin,"  William  Osgood, 
master,  entered  in  March,  1830,  consigned  to  Pick- 
ering Dodge.  The  ship  "  Sumatra,"  Charles  Roun- 
dy,  master,  entered  in  November,  1832,  consigned 
to  Joseph  Peabody.  The  brig  "Charles  Doggett," 
William  Driver,  master,  entered  in  November, 
1832,  consigned  to  Richard  S.  Rogers.  The  ship 
"Lotus,"  George  W.  Jenks,  master,  entered  in  June, 
1832,  consigned  to  Pickering  Dodge.  The  ship 
"  Brookline,"  Charles  H.  Allen,  master,  entered  in 
April,  1837,  consigned  to  Stephen  C.  Phillips.  The 
ship  "  Caroline,"  Charles  H.  Fabens,  master,  entered  in 
April,  1842,  consigned  to  David  Pingree.  The  ship  "St. 
Paul,"  belonging  to  Stephen  C.  Phillips,  was  almost  as 
famous  in  connection  with  Salem's  trade  with  Manila 
as  was  the  ship  "George"  in  the  Calcutta  trade.  The 
"  St.  Paul  "  made  twelve  voyages  between  Salem  and 
Manila.  She  sailed  on  her  first  voyage  from  Salem 
June  3,  1838,  and  arrived  at  Manila  in  one  hundred 
days,  which  was  the  shortest  passage  made  by  the 
ship  from  Salem  to  Manila.  She  reached  Salem,  on 
her  return,  in  April,  1839,  in  one  hundred  and  forty- 
eight  days  from  Manila.  Joseph  Winn,  Jr.,  com- 
manded the  ship  on  this  voyage,  having  also  been 
master  on  her  previous  voyage  from  New  York  to 
Manila,  and  back  to  Salem,  where  she  arrived,  for 
the  first  time,  April  29,  1838.  On  her  second  and 
third  voyages  she  was  commanded  by  George  Pierce, 
and  entered  at  Salem  April  4,  1840,  and  July  7,  1841. 
Joseph  Warren  Osborn  was  master  on  the  fourth  and 
fifth  voyages,  and  she  arrived  at  Salem  August  8, 
1842,  and  January  8,  1844,  making  on  the  last  voy- 
age the  long  passage  of  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
eight  days.  On  her  sixth,  seventh,  eighth  and  ninth 
voyages,  she  was  commanded  by  Charles  H.  Allen, 
entering  at  Salem  March  17,  1845,  March  12,  1846, 
March  19,  1847,  and  April  6,  1848.  William  B.Davis 
was  master  on  her  tenth  voyage,  sailing  from  Salem 
May  18,  1848,  and  returning  March  26, 1849.  Cn  her 
elveventh  and  twelfth  voyages  she  was  commanded  by 
Charles  H.  Allen,  returning  to  Salem  on  her  eleventh 
voyage  January  7,  1851,  and  sailing  from  Salem,  on 
her  twelfth  voyage,  July  6,  1851.  On  the  9th  of  De- 
cember, 1851,  she  went  ashore  on  Masbata  Island,  in 
the  Straits  of  San  Bernardino.  She  was  subsequently 
raised  and  sold  to  Spanish  parties,  but  never  returned 
to  Salem. 

The  last  arrival  at  Salem  from  Manila  was  the 
bark  "  Dragon,"  Thomas  C.  Dunn,  master,  which 
entered  in  July,  1858,  with  a  cargo  of  hemp,  con- 
signed to  Benjamin  A.  West.  Salem  merchants  con- 
tinued the  trade  with  Manila  for  some   time  there- 


after, but  their  vessels  entered  and  cleared  at  other 
ports.  Tucker  Daland  and  Henry  L.  Williams,  Henry 
Gardner,  B.  W.  Stone  &  Brothers  and  Silsbee  &  Pick- 
man  were  extensively  engaged  in  this  trade.  The 
last-named  firm  still  continues  the  trade  with  Manila. 

The  Isle  of  Feance  Tbade. — In  the  Indian 
Ocean,  not  far  from  the  eastern  coast  of  Madagascar, 
lies  a  small  island,  called  the  Isle  of  France,  or  Mau- 
ritius. The  climate  of  this  island  is  remarkably  fine. 
Throughout  the  year  the  thermometer  ranges  from 
76°  to  90°  in  the  shade.  The  Dutch  formed  a  settle- 
ment there  in  1644,  but  subsequently  abandoned  it. 
A  more  successful  attempt  to  form  a  permanent  es- 
tablishment was  made  by  the  French  in  1721.  It 
remained  in  French  hands  until  the  year  1810,  when 
it  was  taken  by  the  British  in  an  expedition  under 
General  Abercromby,  and  has  since  remained  a  Brit- 
ish possession. 

When  the  merchants  of  Salem,  after  the  close  of  the 
Revolutionary  War,  sought  to  establish  commercial 
intercourse  with  foreign  ports  never  before  visited  by 
American  vessels,  the  Isle  of  France  was  among  the 
first  places  to  which  they  sent  their  ships  to  bring 
home  cargoes  of  sugar,  which  was  the  staple  article 
of  export.  Elias  Hasket  Derby  dispatched  the 
"  Grand  Turk,"  Ebeuezer  West,  master,  there  in  No- 
vember, 1785,  and  she  returned  to  Salem  in  June, 
1787,  making  the  first  voyage  from  New  England  to  the 
Isle  of  France.  In  December,  1787,  the  "  Grand 
Turk  "  made  another  voyage  to  the  Isle  of  France, 
under  the  charge  of  Elias  Hasket  Derby,  Jr.  He  sold 
the  vessel,  and  remained  on  the  island  about  a  year, 
when  he  went  to  India  and  thence  back  to  Salem. 

Of  the  arrivals  at  the  Isle  of  France  in  1789,  ten 
were  from  Salem,  five  from  Boston,  two  from  Phila- 
delphia, one  from  Virginia,  three  from  Baltimore,  one 
from  Beverly  and  one  from  Providence. 

The  schooner  "  Richard  and  Edward,"  George 
Crowninshield,  master,  entered  January  4,  1790,  con- 
signed to  George  Crowninshield.  The  brig  "  Wil- 
liam," Thomas  West,  master,  entered  in  December, 
1791,  consigned  to  William  Gray.  The  ship  "Henry," 
Jacob  Crowninshield,  master,  cleared  for  the  Isle  of 
France  June  25,  1791.  She  was  of  one  hundred  and 
ninety  tons  burden,  and  carried  ten  men.  Her  out- 
ward cargo  consisted  of  60  boxes  of  wax  and  50  boxes 
of  sperm  candles,  18  barrels  hams,  3000  feet  of  oars, 
14  tons  iron,  13  hogsheads  tobacco,  17  casks  oil,  102 
barrels  beef  and  pork,  27  casks  ale,  6  kegs  flints,  287 
barrels  flour,  424  cases  and  190  jugs  of  Geneva,  25 
boxes  soap,  6  boxes  chocolate,  43  kegs  lard,  62  quin- 
tals fish,  6  hogsheads  West  India  rum,  12  bags  pimento, 
16  cannon,  88  hundredweight  shot,  1  hogshead,  4 
crates  ware,  40  barrels  tar,  4  barrels  pitch,  30,000  feet 
lumber,  175  casks  powder,  7  saddles  and  bridles,  12 
tables  and  5  desks.  She  entered  on  her  return  in 
November,  1792,  with  172,749  pounds  of  sugar,  con- 
signed to  Elias  Hasket  Derby.  The  brig  "  Hind," 
John    Beckford,   master,   entered   in  January,  1793, 


SALEM. 


83 


consigned  to  William  Gray.  The  brig  "  Peggy," 
Amos  Hilton,  master,  entered  in  August,  1793,  con- 
signed to  John  Fisk.  The  ship  "  Aurora,"  Thomas 
Meek,  master,  entered  in  March,  1794,  with  424,034 
pounds  of  sugar,  consigned  to  William  Gray. 

The  ship  "Benjamin,"  one  hundred  and  sixty-one 
tons,  Nathaniel  Silsbee,  master,  cleared  for  India  De- 
cember 10,  1792,  and  entered  in  July,  1794,  from  the 
Isle  of  France  with  cotton,  indigo,  sugar  and  pepper, 
consigned  to  Elias  H.  Derby.  Her  outward  cargo  con- 
sisted of  tobacco,  cordage,  shooks,  iron,  lead,  salt, 
provisions  and  earthen  ware.  Twelve  thousand  glass 
tumblers,  costing  less  than  $1000,  were  exported 
in  this  ship  and  arriving  when  there  was  no  glass- 
ware on  the  island,  sold  for  $12,000.  Captain  Sils- 
bee was  but  twenty  years  old  when  he  assumed  com- 
mand of  the  "  Benjamin."  The  brig  "  Peggy,"  John 
Edwards,  Jr.,  master,  entered  in  May,  1795,  consigned 
to  John  Fisk.  The  brig  "  Rose,"  John  Felt,  master, 
entered  in  July,  1795,  consigned  to  Elias  H.  Derby. 
The  ship  "  Belisarius,"  George  Crowninshield,  Jr., 
master,  entered  in  July,  1795,  with  tea,  coffee  and 
indigo,  consigned  to  George  Crowninshield  &  Co., 
and  again  in  October,  1796,  with  the  same  description 
of  cargo.  The  brig  "  Hope,"  Samuel  Lambert,  mas- 
ter, entered  in  June,  1796,  consigned  to  Ashton  & 
Lambert.  The  ship  "  Martha."  George  Ropes,  mas- 
ter, entered  from  the  Isles  of  France  and  Bourbon  in 
May,  1797,  with  416,993  pounds  of  coffee,  136,617 
pounds  of  sugar  and  13,262  pounds  of  cotton,  consigned 
to  Elias  H.  Derby,  and  paying  a  duty  of  $23,317  88. 
The  ketch  "  Eliza,"  Stephen  Phillips,  master,  entered 
in  July,  1797,  consigned  to  Elias  H.  Derby.  The 
brig  "  Katy,"  Job  Trask,  master,  entered  in  July, 
1797,  consigned  to  Benjamin  Pickman,  Jr. 

There  were  nine  entries  at  Salem  from  the  Isle  of 
France  in  1798,  the  largest  number  in  any  single 
year.  Among  the  entries  were  the  ketch  "  Brothers," 
John  Felt,  master,  in  April,  consigned  to  Ezekiel  H. 
Derby  ;  the  ship  "Martha,"  John  Prince,  Jr.,  master, 
in  June,  consigned  to  Elias  H.  Derby,  with  260,000 
pounds  of  coffee,  336,603  of  sugar  and  17,803  of  cot- 
ton, paying  a  duty  of  $24,943  47,  and  the  bark 
"Vigilant,"  Daniel  Hathorne,  master,  in  October, 
consigned  to  Simon  Forrester. 

The  trade  with  the  Isla  of  France  was  largely  car- 
ried on  by  Elias  Hasket  Derby,  and  after  his  death, 
in  1799,  the  Salem  trade  with  this  island  decreased. 
The  years  1797  and  1798  show  seventeen  arrivals  and 
were  the  years  when  the  most  trade  was  carried  on 
between  Salem  and  this  island.  There  were  a  few 
direct  arrivals  after  1798.  The  bark  "  Two  Brothers," 
Samuel  Rea,  master,  entered  in  April,  1806,  consigned 
to  Thorndike  Deland.  The  brig  "Sukey,"  Henry 
Prince,  Jr.,  master,  entered  in  August,  1808,  con- 
signed to  Stephen  Phillips.  There  were  a  few  arri- 
vals in  later  years,  and  some  vessels  bound  to  or  from 
other  ports  touched  at  this  island ;  but  the  largest 
direct  trade  was  prior  to  the  year  1800. 


The  Mocha  Trade.— On  the  26th  of  April,  1798, 
Captain  Joseph  Ropes,  in  the  ship  "Recovery,"  left 
Salem,  bound  direct  for  Mocha,  Arabia  Felix,  with 
fifty  thousand  dollars  in  specie,  and  arrived  at  that 
port  on  the  9th  of  September.  This  was  the  first 
American  vessel  that  ever  displayed  the  stars  and 
stripes  in  that  part  of  the  world.  The  captain  says 
that  the  arrival  of  the  strange  ship  was  viewed  with 
great  interest  by  the  authorities,  who  could  not  di- 
vine from  whence  she  came,  and  made  frequent  in- 
quiries to  know  how  many  moons  she  had  been  com- 
ing. Captain  Ropes  went  from  Mocha  to  Calcutta, 
and  thence  to  Salem.  The  first  vessel  to  arrive  at 
Salem  from  Mocha  with  a  full  cargo  of  coffee  was  the 
ship  "  Recovery,"  Luther  Dana,  master,  which  ar- 
rived in  October,  1801,  with  216,286  pounds  of  coffee 
consigned  to  Elias  H.  Derby,  7,485  pounds  to  Henry 
Prince,  11,825  pounds  to  Nathaniel  Bowditch,  34,917 
pounds  to  Clifford  Crowninshield  and  33,181  pounds 
to  Nathan  Robinson,  and  paying  a  duty  of  $16,844.39. 
The  ship  "  Ulysses,"  Henry  Elkins,  master,  entered 
from  Mocha  and  Muscat  in  January,  1802,  consigned 
to  George  Crowninshield  &  Sons.  The  brig  "  Ed- 
win," Joseph  J.  Knapp,  master,  entered  in  Novem- 
ber, 1803,  consigned  to  Charles  Cleveland  &  Co.  The 
ship  "Bonetta,"  Benjamin  Russell,  master,  entered 
from  Mocha  in  February,  1804,  with  268,851  pounds 
of  coffee  consigned  to  Benjamin  Pickman,  Jr. 

In  1805,  there  were  eight  arrivals  from  Mocha,  the 
largest  number  in  any  single  year ;  and  during  that 
year  there  was  landed  at  Salem  over  two  million 
pounds  of  Mocha  coffee.  The  entries  were:  the  ship 
"Margaret,"  Henry  Elkins,  master;  the  ship  "  Two 
Sons,"  Thomas  Ball,  master  ;  and  the  ship  "  America," 
Benjamin  Crowninshield,  master, — all  consigned  to 
George  Crowninshield  &  Sons  ;  the  brig  "  Suwarrow," 
William  Leach,  Jr.,  master,  consigned  to  William 
Leach  and  others  ;  the  bark  "  Eliza,"  Joseph  Beadle, 
master,  consigned  to  Joseph  White;  the  ship  "  Mary," 
Samuel  King,  master,  from  Aden,  consigned  to  John 
Norris ;  the  ship  "  Commerce,"  Thomas  Bancroft, 
master,  consigned  to  Nathaniel  West ;  and  the  bark 
"  Mary,"  Daniel  Bray,  Jr.,  master,  consigned  to  Ben- 
jamin Derby  and  John  Derby. 

George  Crowninshield  &  Sons  had  three  vessels 
which  entered  from  Mocha  in  1806  ;  the  ship  "  Mar- 
garet," Henry  Elkins,  master;  the  ship  "John," 
William  Fairfield,  master;  and  the  brig  "Telema- 
chus,"  Benjamin  Frye,  master.  The  ship  "  Frank- 
lin," Timothy  Wellman,  3d,  from  Mocha  and  Aden, 
entered  in  December,  1808,  with  532,365  pounds  of 
coffee  consigned  to  Joseph  Peabody,  and  paying  a 
duty  of  $26,618.25.  The  brig  "  Coromandel,"  Wil- 
liam Messervy,  master,  entered  in  October,  1813, 
with  a  cargo  of  coffee  consigned  to  John  Derby,  and 
paying  a  duty  of  $28,587.60.  The  brig  "  Beulah," 
Charles  Forbes,  master,  entered  from  Mocha  in 
April,  1820,  consigned  to  John  W.  Rogers.  The 
brig   "Ann,"   Charles    Millett,    master,    entered    in 


84 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


May,  1827,  consigued  to  Michael  Shepard.  After  the 
opening  of  the  Zanzibar  trade  the  vessels  engaged  in 
that  trade  visited  Mocha  and  obtained  a  part  of  their 
cargo  there,  and  to  the  account  of  that  trade  reference 
may  be  had  for  later  dates. 

The  Madagascar  Trade. — The  American  trade 
with  the  island  of  Madagascar  was  opened  by  Nath- 
aniel L.  Rogers  &  Brothers,  eminent  and  enterprising 
merchants  of  Salem.  Robert  Brookhouse  was  also 
among  the  pioneers  of  this  trade.  The  brig  "  Thetis," 
Charles  Forbes,  master,  appears  to  be  the  first  ves- 
sel to  enter,  with  a  full  cargo  from  that  island.  She 
arrived  in  November,  1821,  with  216,519  pounds  of 
tallow,  consigned  to  J.  W.  &  R.  S.  Rogers.  The 
brig  "  Beulah,"  Charles  Forbes,  master,  which  entered 
from  Mocha  in  April,  1820,  consigned  to  John  W. 
Rogers,  touched  at  Madagascar  on  her  passage,  and 
brought  from  there  a  small  quantity  of  tallow.  This 
appears  to  be  the  first  American  vessel  to  trade  at 
Madagascar.  The  brig  "  Climax,"  G.  W.  Grafton, 
master,  entered  in  March,  1822,  consigned  to  Robert 
Brookhouse.  The  brig  "Thetis,"  William  Bates, 
master,  made  three  voyages,  entering  in  January, 
1828,  in  February,  1824,  and  in  January,  1825, 
consigned  to  Richard  S.  Rogers.  The  brig  "  Reaper," 
Robert  Brookhouse,  Jr.,  master,  entered  in  Decem- 
ber, 1824,  consigned  to  Robert  Brookhouse.  The 
brig  "  Nereus,"  B.  W.  Brookhouse,  master,  entered  in 
December,  1825,  consigned  to  Nathaniel  L.  Rogers. 
The  brig  "  Susan,"  Stephen  Burchmore,  master, 
entered  in  August,  1826,  consigned  to  Robert  Bi-ook- 
house. 

At  the  time  of  the  opening  of  the  trade  with  Mada- 
gascar Zanzibar  was  a  small  settlement,  and  no  trade 
was  carried  on  there,  gum-copal,  the  principal  staple, 
being  carried  to  India  by  the  Sultan's  vessels,  to  be 
cleaned.  The  trade  with  Zanzibar  was  an  extension 
of  the  Madagascar  trade.  The  vessels  subsequently 
engaged  in  that  trade  usually  touched  at  Madagascar 
and  Mocha,  and  made  up  their  cargoes  in  part  in 
each  place.  In  the  account  of  the  Zanzibar  trade 
will  be  found  the  later  arrivals. 

The  Zanzibar  Trade.— As  Salem  had  been  first 
at  Sumatra  and  Madagascar,  so  she  was  first  at  Zanzi- 
bar. But  little  of  the  uncleaned  gum-copal,  which 
was  the  staple  article  of  export,  was  brought  to  this 
country  until  after  the  "  Black  Warrior,"  belonging 
largely  to  N.  L.  Rogers,  and  commanded  by  John 
Bertram,  was  there  in  1831.  Captain  Bertram  arrived 
at  Zanzibar  while  the  Sultan's  frigate  was  lying  in 
the  harbor,  ready  to  carry  the  gum-copal  to  India,  and 
made  a  bargain  for  what  was  on  hand  and  for  future 
cargoes.  The  "Black  Warrior"  arrived  in  Salem  in 
March,  1832,  with  the  first  large  quantity  of  unclean- 
ed gum- copal  that  had  been  imported  into  this  coun- 
try. For  some  time  thereafter  the  gum-copal  trade 
was  monopolized  by  Salem  merchants,  and  all  the 
gum-copal  used  was  distributed  from  the  port  of 
Salem. 


But  the  "  Black  Warrior,"  although  taking  the  first 
large  cargo  from  Zanzibar,  was  not  the  first  vessel  to 
open  trade  with  that  port.  The  brig  "  Ann,"  Charles 
Millett,  master,  and  owned  by  Henry  Prince  &  Son, 
left  Salem  March  12,  1826,  for  Mocha.  When  she  ar- 
rived there,  in  June,  Captain  Millet  found  a  great 
scarcity  of  bread-stuffs,  and,  leaving  a  clerk  in  charge 
of  the  business,  he  left  Mocha  for  Zanzibar  and 
Lamo,  where  he  obtained  a  cargo  of  small  grain,  and 
purchased  ivory  and  other  articles  for  the  homeward 
cargo.  The  "  Ann  "  went  from  Zanzibar  to  Mocha, 
and  from  thence  to  Salem,  arriving  May  9,  1827. 
This  was  the  opening  of  American  trade  with  Zanzi- 
bar. The  same  vessel  made  a  second  voyage  to  Zan- 
zibar, leaving  Salem  August  9,  1827,  arriving  home 
April  10,  1829,  having  visited  many  new  ports  on  the 
east  coast  of  Africa.  On  the  passage  home,  February 
20,  the  "  Ann "  lost  her  masts  and  was  otherwise 
badly  wrecked.  She  also  lost  her  mate  and  two  men. 
For  their  skill  in  navigating  the  vessel  into  port  the 
insurance  companies  presented  the  commander  with 
a  service  of  plate ;  his  clerk,  John  Webster,  with  a 
silver  pitcher ;  and  the  rest  of  his  men  with  three 
hundred  and  thirty  dollars. 

The  three-masted  schooner  "Spy,"  Andrew  Ward, 
master,  ninety-one  tons,  appears  to  be  the  first  vessel 
to  enter  at  the  Salem  Custom-House  from  Zanzibar. 
She  arrived  at  Salem  August  11,  1827,  one  hundred 
and  ten  days  from  Zanzibar,  with  a  cargo  consigned 
to  Nathaniel  L.  Rogers  &  Brothers.  Captain  Ward 
reported  that  the  "  Susan,"  Burchard,  master,  touched 
at  Zanzibar  about  the  1st  of  March,  and  that  the 
"  Fawn,"  of  Salem,  had  also  been  there.  The  "  Spy  " 
was  built  at  Essex  in  1823,  and  was  the  first  three- 
masted  schooner  of  which  there  is  any  record.  On 
the  12th  of  January,  1825,  the  brig  "  Laurel,"  Lovett, 
master,  owned  by  Robert  Brookhouse,  left  Salem  for 
South  America.  Finding  markets  dull,  the  captain 
sailed  for  ports  east  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and, 
about  the  10th  of  July,  left  Port  Louis,  Mauritius, 
for  Zanzibar,  stopping  at  the  island  of  Johanna  on 
the  way.  This  was  the  first  time  the  American  flag 
was  displayed  at  that  Island,  and  the  king  gave  a  re- 
ception in  honor  of  the  event.  The  vessel  arrived  at 
Zanzibar  the  20th  of  July,  1825,  and,  although  not 
the  first  to  open  trade,  seems  to  be  the  first  to  have 
displayed  the  American  flag  at  that  port.  From 
Zanzibar  the  "  Laurel  "  proceeded  to  Mombas,  and 
from  there  to  Patta,  Lamo  and  other  small  places,  in 
all  of  which  she  appears  to  have  displayed  the  Ameri- 
can flag  for  the  first  time.  The  "  Laurel "  arrived  in 
Salem,  on  her  return  passage,  June  3,  1826. 

From  the  year  1827,  when  the  "  Spy  "  entered  from 
Zanzibar,  to  the  year  1870,  when  the  last  entry  from 
that  port  was  made  at  Salem,  there  were  one  hundred 
and  eighty-nine  arrivals  from  Zanzibar.  The  period 
from  1840  to  1860  was  the  time  of  the  greatest  activ- 
ity in  this  trade,  one  hundred  and  forty-five  of  the 
one  hundred  and  eighty-nine  entries  being  made  be- 


SALEM. 


85 


tween  those  years.  Nathaniel  L.  Rogers  &  Brothers, 
John  Bertram,  Michael  Shepard,  David  Pingree, 
Joseph  Peabody,  Andrew  Ward,  Nathaniel  Weston, 
James  B.  Curwen,  Ephraim  Emmerton,  Tucker 
Daland,  Michael  W.  Shepard,  George  West  and  Ben- 
jamin A.  West  were  among  those  engaged  in  this 
trade. 

Among  the  earlier  arrivals  were  the  brig  "Cipher," 
S.  Smith,  master,  in  March,  1834;  the  brig  "Tigris," 
John  G.  Waters,  master,  in  July,  1834,  consigned  to 
David  Pingree ;  the  brig  "  Thomas  Perkins,"  J.  P. 
Page,  master,  in  November,  1834,  consigned  to 
Putnam  I.  Farnham;  the  brig  "Leander,"  J.  S. 
Kimball,  master,  in  April  1836,  and  again  in  Au- 
gust, 1837,  consigned  to  Joseph  Peabody;  the  brig 
"  Palm,"  N.  W.  Andrews,  master,  in  November,  1836, 
consigned  to  John  Bertram  ;  the  brig  "  Cherokee," 
W.  B.  Smith,  master,  in  April,  1837,  consigned  to 
Michael  Shepard;  the  bark  "Star,"  E.  Brown,  mas- 
ter, in  November,  1839,  again  in  1842,  W.  B.  Smith, 
master,  and  again  in  September,  1846,  in  October, 
1847,  and  in  January,  1849,  William  McFarland,  mas- 
ter, consigned  to  Michael  Shepard;  the  brig  "Rich- 
mond," William  B.  Bates,  master,  in  October,  1840, 
to  Ephraim  Emmerton  ;  the  brig  "  Rolla,"  A.  S.  Per- 
kins, master,  in  January,  18'11,  and  again  in  January, 

1843,  consigned  to  David  Pingree ;  the  brig  "  Rattler," 
F.  Brown,  master,  in  May,  1841,  and  again  in  1843,  J. 
Lambert,  master,  consigned  to  Michael  Shepard ;  the 
bark   "Brenda,"    Andrew   Ward,  master,  in    March, 

1844,  with  one  hundred  and  forty-two  thousand  one 
hundred  and  twenty-four  pounds  of  dates  and  other 
merchandise,  consigned  to  Michael  Shepard  and  John 
Bertram ;  the  brig  "  Richmond,"  William  B.  Bates, 
master,  entered  in  December,  1845,  consigned  to 
Ephraim  Emmerton  ;  the  bark  'Eliza,"  A.  S.  Perkins, 
master,  entered  in  May,  1846,  consigned  to  George 
West  and  David  Pingree  ;  the  bark  "  Orb,"  W.  Cross, 
master,  entered  in  November,  1846,  and  again  in 
March,  1848,  C.  F.  Rhoades,  master,  consigned  to 
Tucker  Daland;  the  bark  " Sophronia,"  B.  R.  Pea- 
body, master,  entered  in  January  1849,  and  again,  E, 
A.  Emmerton,  master,  in  October,  1850,  consigned  to 
Ephraim  Emmerton  ;  the  bark  "  Iosco,"  Groves,  mas- 
ter, entered  in  January,  1852,  consigned  to  Michael 
W.  Shepard,  and  again  in  December,  1852,  consigned 
to  John  Bertram. 

Space  will  not  permit  the  enumeration  of  any  large 
proportion  of  the  arrivals  from  this  port,  but  enough 
have  been  given  to  indicate  the  merchants  who  were 
engaged  in  the  Zanzibar  trade.  Many  of  the  vessels 
touched  at  Madagascar  and  Mocha,  and  obtained  a 
part  of  their  cargoes  at  those  places.  For  years  this 
trade  was  largely  in  the  hands  of  Salem  merchants, 
and  Salem  was  the  principal  point  of  distribution  for 
ivory,  gum-copal  and  Mocha  coffee. 

Among  the  vessels  lost  while  engaged  in  this  trade 
was  the  bark  ''  Peacock,"  Joseph  Moseley,  master, 
and  owned  by  John  Bertram,  which  was  wrecked  on 


a  reef  near  Majunga,  Madagascar,  August  0,  1855, 
and  with  the  cargo  was  a  total  loss.  The  bark 
"Arabia,"  John  Wallis,  mastei",  and  owned  by  Benja- 
min A.  W^est,  sailed  from  Salem,  on  her  first  voyage, 
July  4,  1857.  On  the  passage  home.  May  9,  1858, 
while  off  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  she  fell  in  with  the 
"Ariadne,"  bound  from  Bombay  to  Boston.  This 
being  in  a  crippled  and  sinking  condition,  her  crew, 
twenty-three  in  number,  were  taken  on  board  the 
"  Arabia."  The  supply  of  water  was  inadequate  for  so 
large  an  addition  to  their  number,  and  Captain  Wal- 
lis thought  it  prudent  to  enter  Table  Bay  and  procure 
an  additional  supply.  At  the  entrance  to  the  bay  the 
"Arabia"  was  becalmed.  The  night  was  dark,  and 
about  2  A.M.,  the  vessel  struck  on  a  reef  and  became 
a  total  loss.  The  cargo  was  saved  and  sold.  The  bark 
"Iosco,"  Claussen,  master,  and  owned  by  John  Ber- 
tram, was  wrecked  on  a  reef  off  Zanzibar,  July  7, 1858. 
Both  vessel  and  cargo  were  lost.  The  bark  "  Guide," 
McMullen,  master,  and  owned  by  John  Bertram,  was 
wrecked  on  the  Ras  Hoforn,  east  coast  of  Africa,  on 
the  night  of  September  4,  1860,  and  with  her  cargo 
was  a  total  loss.  The  bark  "  Jersey,"  James  S.  Wil- 
liams, master,  owned  by  John  Bertram,  was  built  at 
Salem  in  1869,  and  was  wrecked  at  Madagascar  on 
her  first  voyage. 

The  large  importation  of  uncleaned  gum-copal,  an 
article  which,  prior  to  1832,  had  been  sent  to  India  to 
be  cleaned,  led  to  the  establishment  by  Jonathan 
Whipple  of  a  factory  at  the  foot  of  Turner  Street,  in 
Salem,  to  clean  and  prepare  the  gum  for  the  market. 
Prior  to  the  establishment  of  Mr.  Whipple's  factory, 
Daniel  Hammond  had  been  engaged  in  cleaning  the 
gum,  but  Mr.  Whipple  was  the  first  to  establish  the 
business  on  an  extensive  scale.  At  first  the  gum  was 
cleaned  by  being  scraped  with  a  knife.  Mr.  Whipple 
soon  introduced  the  process  of  washing  it  with  an 
alkali.  The  uncleaned  gum  was  deposited  in  tubs  of 
alkali  liquor  and  allowed  to  stand  over  night.  It  was 
then  taken  and  placed  upon  large  platforms  in  the  open 
air,  and  carefully  dried  and  brushed.  The  gum  was 
then  sorted  as  to  size  and  color. 

This  business  was  established  about  1835,  and  in- 
creased very  rapidly.  Mr.  Whipple  commenced  by 
employing  four  or  five  men,  but  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  in  1850,  the  number  of  men  employed  averaged 
thirty-five  or  forty,  and  the  amount  of  gum  cleaned 
each  year  was  about  one  million  five  hundred  thous- 
and pounds,  the  gum  losing  in  weight  about  one- 
quarter  part  during  the  process  of  cleaning.  Mr. 
Whipple  was  succeeded  by  his  sons,  who  continued 
the  business  under  the  name  of  Stephen  Whipple  & 
Brothers.  The  business  was  prosperous  until  the  year 
1861,  when  an  import  duty  of  ten  cents  a  pound  was 
imposed  on  the  uncleaned  gum.  The  gum  was  there- 
after cleaned  on  the  coast  of  Africa  before  shipment, 
and  the  business  diminished  until  it  was  finally 
abandoned  altogether. 

The  trade  with  Zanzibar,  Madagascar,  Arabia  and 


86 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


the  east  coast  of  Africa  has  been  continued  by  Salem 
merchants  from  the  summer  of  1826,  when  the  •'  Ann  " 
was  there,  to  the  present  day.  In  1846,  Salem  had 
nine  vessels  there.  The  successors  of  the  firm  of 
John  Bertram  still  continue  the  trade,  but  their  ves- 
sels no  longer  enter  the  port  of  Salem.  The  last 
arrival  at  Salem  from  Zanzibar  was  the  bark  "  Glide," 
May  1,  1870,  and  this  was  also  the  last  arrival  at  Sa- 
lem of  any  vessel  owned  in  Salem  from  beyond  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope. 

The  Cape  of  Good  Hope  Trade. — When  the 
merchants  of  Salem,  at  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary 
War,  sent  their  vessels  on  long  voyages,  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope  was  among  the  first  places  visited.  In 
this  as  in  most  other  trades  established  with  distant 
countries  Elias  Hasket  Derby  was  the  first  to  lead  the 
way.  In  1781  he  built  at  the  South  Shore  a  fast  sail- 
ing ship  of  three  hundred  tons  called  the  "  Grand 
Turk  "  for  use  as  a  privateer.  She  carried  twenty- 
two  guns,  and  was  remarkably  successful  in  capturing 
prizes.  In  November,  1784,  Mr.  Derby  despatched 
this  vessel,  under  command  of  Jonathan  Ingersoll,  on 
the  first  voyage  from  Salem  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 
The  cargo  of  the  "Grand  Turk  "  consisted,  in  part,  of 
rum,  which  was  sold  to  an  English  East  India-man 
and  delivered  at  the  Island  of  St.  Helena.  From 
there  she  returned  to  Salem,  via  the  West  Indies,  ar- 
riving in  1785.  He  bought  in  the  West  Indies,  Gren- 
ada rum  enough  to  load  two  vessels,  sent  home  the 
"  Grand  Turk,  "  and  returned  himself  in  the  "  Atlan- 
tic." 

A  striking  incident  is  connected  with  this  voyage 
of  Captain  Ingersoll.  On  his  passage  to  Salem  he  res- 
cued the  master  and  mate  of  the  English  schooner 
"  Amity,''  whose  crew  had  mutinied  and  set  their 
officers  adrift  in  a  boat.  After  their  arrival  at  Salem, 
Captain  Duncanson  of  the  "  Amity  "  was  sitting  one 
day  with  Mr.  Derby  in  his  counting-room,  and  while 
using  his  spy-glass  he  saw  his  own  vessel  in  theofiing. 
Mr.  Derby  promptly  manned  one  of  his  own  brigs, 
put  two  pieces  of  ordnance  on  board  of  her,  and,  tak- 
ing with  him  the  English  captain,  boarded  and  recap- 
tured the  "  Amity." 

Mr.  Derby  purchased  a  vessel  which  had  been  cap- 
tured from  the  British  during  the  Revolutionary  War. 
He  named  her  the  "  Light  Horse."  This  bark  he 
sent,  in  January,  1787,  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  un- 
der command  of  John  Tucker. 

The  captain  wrote  his  first  letter  from  Table  Bay, 
dated  May  15,  1787,  giving  an  accountof  asaleof  part 
of  the  cargo.  From  the  Cape  he  went  to  the  Isle  of 
France,  sold  the  remainder  of  his  cargo,  loaded  with 
coffee  and  some  India  goods,  and  returned  to  Salem, 
arriving  in  January,  1788. 

The  brig  "  Hope,"  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  tons 
burden,  carrying  eight  men,  made  an  annual  voyage 
between  Salem  and  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  for  six 
consecutive  years,  entering  at  Salem  in  February, 
1790,  in  August,  1791,  in  July,  1792,  in  June,  1793, 


in  May,  1794,  and  in  July  1795.  She  was  command- 
ed on  the  first  three  voyages  by  Jonathan  Lambert, 
and  on  the  last  three  by  Samuel  Lambert,  and  her  car- 
go was  consigned,  on  each  voyage,  to  Jacob  Ashton 
and  others.  The  schooner  "  Ruth,"  Jonathan  Lam- 
bert, Jr.,  master,  entered  in  July,  1796,  consigned  to 
Jacob  Ashton  and  others.  The  ship  "  Betsey,"  Jere- 
miah L.  Page,  master,  entered  in  May,  1804,  consign- 
ed to  Abel  Lawrence  &  Co. 

Coffee,  wine,  pepper,  sugar,  ivory  and  aloes  were 
among  the  articles  imported.  Most  of  the  direct 
trade  with  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  was  carried  on  be- 
fore the  commencement  of  the  present  century,  and 
Jacob  Ashton  and  Jonathan  Lambert  appear  to  have 
been  largely  engaged  in  it. 

The  Australian  Trade. — Wherever  a  new  chan- 
nel of  trade  was  opened  for  Americans,  Salem  was 
either  the  first  to  open  it,  or  her  vessels  followed  close- 
ly after  the  pioneers.  She  was  found  asking  for  ad- 
mission to  the  port  of  Sydney,  in  1832,  and  by  a  spe- 
cial order  of  the  council,  passed  that  year,  the  ship 
"  Tybee,"  Charles  Millett,  master,  was  allowed  to  en- 
ter that  port.  This  vessel  was  owned  by  Nathaniel 
L.  Rogers  and  others,  and  was  the  first  American  ves- 
sel to  enter  the  ports  of  Australia.  The  "  Tybee  "  en- 
tered at  Salem  from  Sydney  January  20,  1835,  again 
in  March,  1836,  and  again  in  June,  1837.  Joseph 
Rogers  commanded  her  on  these  voyages,  and  her  car- 
go consisted  mainly  of  wool.  The  ship  "  Black  War- 
rior," William  Driver,  master,  entered  from  Sydney 
in  September,  1835,  and  the  ship  "Shepherdess,"  J. 
Kinsman,  master,  in  May,  1836,  both  bringing  cargoes 
of  wool.  All  the  above-mentioned  cargoes  were  con- 
signed to  Nathaniel  L.  Rogers  &  Brothers.  This  trade 
did  not  prove  profitable  and  it  was  not  long  continu- 
ed, the  direct  entries  at  Salem,  from  Sydney,  being 
confined  to  the  years  1835,  '36  and  '37. 

The  Feejee  Islands  Trade. — The  enterprise  of 
Salem  merchants  seems  not  to  have  been  confined  by 
the  limits  of  the  civilized  world,  but  to  have  extended 
to  all  habitable  countries,  however  remote  and  how- 
ever peopled.  Salem  was  as  familiar  a  name  to  the 
cannibals  of  the  Feejee  Islands,  during  the  first  half 
of  the  present  century,  as  it  was  to  the  savages  of 
Africa  and  Madagascar.  In  many  of  those  wild  coun- 
tries, the  untutored  natives  thought  Salem  comprised 
all  the  remainder  of  the  outer  world  about  which  they 
knew  so  little.  Captain  William  P.  Richardson,  of 
Salem,  was  at  the  Feejee  Islands  in  the  bark  "Active," 
in  1811.  He  sailed  from  Salem  June  1,  1810,  and  left 
the  Feejee  Islands  July  26,  1811,  for  Canton.  He  ar- 
rived at  Salem  March  27,  1812,  one  hundred  and 
eighteen  days  from  Canton.  This  was  the  first  trad- 
ing voyage  from  Salem  to  the  Feejee  Islauds.  Com- 
mercial intercourse  with  these  islands  began  about 
1806,  probably  by  the  vessels  of  the  East  India  Com- 
pany. 

When  Commodore  Wilkes  went  on  his  famous  ex- 
ploring expedition,  he  took  with  him  as  pilot  and  inter- 


SALEM. 


87 


preter,  Captain  Benjamin  Vanderford,  a  Salem  ship- 
master, who,  having  made  many  voyages  to  these  is- 
lands, was  familiar  with  the  customs  and  language  of 
the  natives.  Captain  Vanderford  died  March  23, 
1842,  on  the  passage  home;  and  the  commodore,  writ- 
ing of  him  says :  "  During  the  cruise  I  had  often  ex- 
perienced his  usefulness.  He  had  formerly  been  in 
command  of  various  vessels  sailing  from  Salem,  and 
had  made  many  voyages  to  the  Feejee  Islands.  Dur- 
ing our  stay  there,  he  was  particularly  useful  in  su- 
perintending all  trade  carried  on  to  supply  the  ship." 
Commodore  Wilkes  was  indebted  to  another  Salem 
captain  for  bringing  one  of  the  vessels  of  his  squad- 
ron,— the  "  Peacock," — safely  into  port,  on  the  12th 
of  July, -1840.  Captain  J.  H.  Eagleston,  of  Salem, 
who  was  trading  there  at  the  time,  rendered  him  this 
important  service.  The  commodore,  in  his  report  to 
the  government,  says  :  "  The  squadron  is  much  in- 
debted to  Captain  Eagleston  for  his  attention  and  as- 
sistance. I  am  also  indebted  to  him  for  observations 
relating  to  gales." 

Captain  Eagleston  made  voyages  to  these  islands 
between  1830  and  1840,  in  the  bark  "  Peru,"  the  ship 
"  Emerald,"  the  brig  "  Mermaid "  and  the  ship 
"  Leonidas."  On  one  of  his  passages  in  the  "  Leoni- 
das "  he  caught  several  albatrosses,  and  tied  to  the 
neck  of  each  a  quill  containing  a  slip  of  paper,  on 
which  was  written  "Ship  Leonidas,  of  Salem,  bound 
to  New  Zealand."  One  of  these  birds  was  caught  by 
a  French  vessel  off  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  several 
hundred  miles  away  from  the  spot  where  it  was  first 
caught  by  Captain  Eagleston.  The  news  reached 
Salem  March  21,  1840,  and  was  the  first  news  of  this 
vessel  since  she  sailed,  on  the  9th  of  August.  Cap- 
tain Eagleston  sailed  for  Stephen  C.  Phillips,  who 
was  a  prominent  merchant  of  Salem  from  about  1828 
to  the  time  of  his  death,  in  1857.  Mr.  Phillips  was 
largely  engaged  in  trade  with  the  Feejee  Islands,  with 
Manila  and  other  Eastern  ports.  In  1846  Salem  had 
six  vessels  engaged  in  trade  with  the  Feejee  Islands. 
The  usual  voyage  was  from  Salem  to  the  Feejee 
Islands,  where  the  vessel  would  remain,  collecting 
the  beche-de-mer,  a  sort  of  sea  slug,  found  on  reefs  and 
in  shallow  water,  and  after  drying  and  preparing 
them  for  the  market,  carry  them  either  to  Manila  to 
exchange  for  sugar  and  hemp,  or  to  China  to  ex- 
change for  tea,  the  voyage  usually  consuming  about 
two  years.  Salem  almost  monopolized  this  trade, 
and,  in  a  work  written  in  London,  in  1858,  by  Thom- 
as Williams  and  James  Calvert,  missionaries  at  these 
islands,  it  is  stated  that  the  traffic  in  sandal-wood, 
tortoise-shell  and  beche-de-mer,  "  has  been,  and  still 
is,  chiefly  in  the  hands  of  Americans  from  the  port  of 
Salem."  There  are  many  curious  articles  at  the  Pea- 
body  Academy  of  Science  at  Salem,  which  were 
brought  from  the  Feejee  Islands  during  the  early 
voyages. 

Among  the  Salem  merchants  engaged  in  this  trade 
were  Nathaniel  L.  Rogers  &  Bros.,  Stephen  C.  Phil- 


lips, Samuel  Chamberlain  &  Co.  and  Benjamin  A. 
West.  The  bark  "  Zotoff,"  Benjamin  Wallis,  master, 
made  several  voyages  to  the  Feejee  Islands.  Captain 
Wallis,  on  two  of  these  voyages,  covering  a  period 
from  1844  to  1850,  was  accompanied  by  his  wife,  who, 
upon  her  final  return,  wrote  an  account  of  her  trav- 
els, in  a  book  entitled,  "  Life  in  Feejee."  She  men- 
tions seeing  the  brig  "  Elizabeth,"  the  bark  "  Samos," 
Captain  H.  J.  Archer,  the  bark  "Pilot,"  Captain 
Hartwell  and  the  brig  "  Tim  Pickering,"  all  of  Sa- 
lem, during  the  first  voyage.  The  "  Samos  "  was  af- 
terwards condemned  at  Manila.  The  "  Tim  Picker- 
ing," Walden,  master,  while  lying  at  Ovalou,  in  the 
Feejee  Islands,  was  driven  ashore  in  a  severe  gale, 
April  5,  1848,  and  became  a  total  loss.  Captain  Ben- 
jamin Vanderford  was  at  the  Feejee  Islands  about 
1819,  in  the  ship  "Indus,"  and  about  1822  in  the 
"  Roscoe."  The  bark  "  Dragon,"  Thomas  C.  Dunn, 
master,  sailed  from  Salem  February  22,  1854,  and  ar- 
rived at  the  Feejee  Islands,  a  distance  of  sixteen 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy  miles,  in  eighty- 
five  days,  making  the  shortest  passage  ever  made 
from  the  United  States.  She  crossed  the  equator  in 
twenty  days,  and  passed  Port  Phillip,  New  Holland, 
seventy-three  days  out.  She  reached  Salem  from 
Manila  September  4,  1856,  with  one  thousand  one 
hundred  and  seventy  bales  of  hemp,  consigned  to 
Benjamin  A.  West. 

The  seamen  of  Salem,  visiting  these  islands,  were 
exposed  to  peril  of  their  lives  from  the  ignorant  and 
deceitful  inhabitants,  and  to  disaster  to  their  ships 
from  hidden  reefs,  of  the  existence  of  which  they 
were  unaware.  In  August,  1830,  the  brig  "  Fawn," 
James  Briant  master,  and  owned  by  Robert  Brook- 
house,  was  lost  at  the  Feejee  Islands,  and  Captain 
Charles  Millett,  of  the  ship  "  Clay,"  gave  captain  and 
crew  a  passage  to  Manila.  The  ship  "Glide,"  in 
March,  1832,  was  driven  ashore  at  Tackanova,  and 
lost.  Her  boat's  crew  were  attacked  by  the  natives, 
at  Ovalou,  December  26, 1831,  and  two  of  them  killed* 
In  the  same  gale  which  destroyed  the  "  Glide,"  an- 
other Salem  vessel,  the  brig  "  Niagara,"  was  lost,  at 
an  island  one  hundred  and  forty  miles  from  Tacka- 
nova. 

The  brig  "  Charles  Doggett,"  owned  by  Nathaniel 
L.  Rogers  &  Bros.,  and  commanded  by  George  Batch- 
elder,  was  at  Kandora,  one  of  the  Feejee  Islands,  in 
September,  1833,  and  her  crew  were  curing  the  beche- 
de-mer  for  the  East  India  market.  They  were  at- 
tacked by  the  natives  for  the  sake  of  plunder,  and 
five  of  the  crew  were  killed,  including  Charles  Ship- 
man,  the  mate.  The  remainder  escaped  in  the  boats, 
but  were  all  more  or  less  injured.  James  Magoun,  of 
Salem,  who  had  lived  among  the  islanders  several 
years,  was  dangerously  wounded.  On  the  way  to 
Manila,  the  vessel  touched  at  the  Pelew  Islands,  and 
the  crew  were  again  attacked  by  the  natives,  and  a 
boy  was  killed.  The  vessel  reached  Salem,  from 
Manila,  in  October,  1834. 


88 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


The  story  of  a  previous  voyage  of  the  "  Charles 
Doggett,"  under  the  command  of  William  Driver,  is 
one  of  most  romantic  interest,  and  deserves  a  place 
in  history.  As  an  introduction,  it  may  be  well  to 
give  a  brief  account  of  the  mutiny  of  the  "  Bounty," 
which,  though  an  oft-repeated  tale,  is  still  one  of 
thrilling  interest.  Captain  William  Bligh  was  sent 
by  the  British  Government  in  the  "Bounty"  in  De- 
cember, 1787,  to  Tahiti.  He  reached  that  island  in 
October  of  the  following  year,  and  remained  there  six 
months,  collecting  bread-fruit  plants,  with  which  he 
started  for  Jamaica.  Twenty-four  days  out,  on  the 
28th  of  April,  1789,  a  part  of  the  crew  mutinied,  and 
forced  Captain  Bligh  and  eighteen  men  into  the 
ship's  launch,  which  they  cast  adrift,  turning  their 
own  course  back  to  Tahiti.  The  captain  and  his 
companions  arrived  on  the  14th  of  June,  after  suffer- 
ing almost  incredible  hardships,  at  the  island  of 
Timor,  a  distance  of  three  thousand  six  hundred 
nautical  miles  from  the  place  where  they  were  aban- 
doned. The  mutineers,  after  staying  at  Tahiti  for 
some  time,  fearing  pursuit,  sailed  eastward,  taking 
with  them  eighteen  natives,  six  men  and  twelve 
women,  and  leaving  part  of  their  comrades  at  Tahiti. 
They  landed  at  Pitcairn  Island,  a  solitary  island  in 
the  Pacific  Ocean,  lying  at  the  southeast  corner  of 
the  great  Polynesian  Archipelago,  having  an  area  of 
only  one  and  a  quarter  square  miles.  Here  they 
took  up  their  residence,  and  burned  the  "  Bounty." 
From  the  time  they  left  Tahiti,  in  1792,  nothing  was 
heard  of  them,  until  an  American,  Captain  Folger, 
touched  at  the  island  in  1808.  At  this  time,  all  the 
men,  save' Alexander  Smith,  and  several  of  the  wom- 
en, were  dead.  The  island  was  visited  by  British 
vessels  in  1825  and  1830. 

In  1831  their  numbers  had  increased  to  eighty- 
seven,  and  the  island  was  scantily  provided  with 
water.  At  their  own  request,  they  were  transported 
by  the  British  Government  to  Tahiti.  All  the  origi- 
nal settlers  were  dead,  and  their  descendants  had 
been  reared  away  from  contact  with  the  world,  and 
were,  despite  their  wild  ancestry,  virtuous  and  re- 
ligious. Never  having  looked  upon  vice,  they  found 
themselves  among  a  people  where  virtue  was  un- 
known. Disgusted  with  the  immoralities  of  the  Ta- 
hitians,  the  most  loose,  voluptuous  and  unchaste  peo- 
ple that  exist  under  the  tropic  sun,  they  yearned 
with  a  homesick  longing  for  the  isolation  and  quiet 
of  the  little  island  that  had  so  recently  been  their 
home. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  the  brig  "Charles  Doggett," 
William  Driver,  master,  and  owned  by  Nathaniel  L. 
Rogers  &  Brothers,  arrived  at  Tahiti.  These  poor 
homesick  people  besought  Captain  Driver  to  take 
them  back  to  their  native  island.  For  their  own 
sake,  but  above  all  for  the  sake  of  their  children,  they 
desired  to  leave  this  land  of  sensual  indulgence. 
Captain  Driver  finally  consented  to  carry  them,  sixty- 
five  in  number,  back  to  the  island,  fourteen  hundred 


miles  away,  from  whence  they  had  so  recently 
arrived,  taking  in  pay  some  old  copper,  twelve  blan- 
kets and  one  hundred  and  twenty-nine  dollars  in 
missionary  drafts.  They  left  on  the  15th  of  August, 
1831,  and  were  landed  on  Pitcairn  Island  on  Septem- 
ber 3rd,  after  an  absence  of  about  nine  months.  In 
1855,  finding  their  numbers  again  too  large  for  the 
island,  for  they  now  numbered  two  hundred  and  two, 
they  petitioned  the  British  Government,  and,  in  1856, 
were  removed  to  Norfolk  Island.  In  1859,  two  fami- 
lies, in  all  seventeen,  returned  to  Pitcairn  Island. 
An  English  writer,  in  speaking  of  them,  says:  "From 
their  frequent  intercourse  with  Europeans,  the  Pit- 
cairn Islanders  have,  while  retaining  their  virtuous 
simplicity  of  character  and  cheerful,  hospitable  dis- 
position, acquired  the  manners  and  polish  of  civilized 
life,  with  its  education  and  taste." 

May  it  not  well  be  said  that  a  Salem  vessel  saved 
this  people  from  sinking  into  the  immoral  life  that 
surrounded  them  at  Tahiti,  and  that  in  their  strange 
and  romantic  history  there  is  no  chapter  more  impor- 
tant than  that  which  records  the  assistance  rendered 
them  by  Salem  in  their  time  of  need  ? 

The  South  American  Trade. — The  trade  be- 
tween Salem  and  South  America  has  been  quite  ex- 
tensive. This  trade  began  early,  and  continued  to  be 
prosecuted  after  trade  with  other  foreign  countries 
had  been  abandoned.  On  the  25th  of  August,  1789, 
the  schooner  "  Lark"  arrived  from  Surinam  with 
sugar  and  cocoa.  The  brig  "  Katy,"  Nathaniel 
Brown,  master,  cleared  for  Cayenne  in  April,  1798, 
with  fish,  flour,  bacon,  butter,  oil,  tobacco,  candles 
and  potter's  ware.  The  schooner  "Sally,"  Daniel 
Proctor,  master,  cleared  for  Cayenne  in  March,  1802. 
For  forty  years,  from  1820  to  1 860,  there  was  constant 
commercial  intercourse  between  Salem  and  the  ports 
of  South  America. 

Para  was  the  port  most  frequently  visited,  there 
having  been  four  hundred  and  thirty-five  arrivals  at 
Salem  from  that  port,  mainly  between  the  years  1826 
and  1860.  The  largest  number  of  arrivals  in  a  single 
year  was  in  1853,  when  twenty  vessels  entered.  The 
last  entries  were  in  1861.  Rubber,  hides,  cocoa, 
coffee  and  castana  nuts  were  among  the  articles  im- 
ported. A  few  of  the  entries  from  Para  are  given,  to 
indicate  the  merchants  engaged  in  this  traffic :  The 
schooner  "  Betsey,"  James  Meagher,  master,  entered 
from  Para  in  March,  1811,  with  cassia,  coffee  and 
cocoa,  consigned  to  John  Howard ;  the  schooner 
"  Four  Sisters,"  Joseph  Ervin,  master,  in   August, 

1811,  with  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  thousand 
pounds  of  cocoa,  to  William  Orne ;  the  schooner 
"  Resolution,"  Edward  Brown,  Jr.,  master,  in  July, 

1812,  consigned  to  Jeremiah  L.  Page;  the  brig  "Mer- 
cator,"  Samuel  B.  Graves,  master,  in  September,  1817, 
to  Robert  Upton;  the  schooner  "Cyrus,'' Benjamin 
Russell,  master,  in  March,  1820,  to  Robert  Upton  ; 
the  schooner  "  Charles,"  Richard  Smith,  master,  in 
August,    1822,   to    Michael   Shepard ;    the  schooner 


SALEM. 


89 


"Phcebe,"  Benjamin  Upton,  master,  in  December, 
1824,  to  Robert  Upton  ;  the  schooner  "  Leader,"  Na- 
thaniel Griffen,  master,  in  April,  1826,  to  Richard 
Savory;  the  schooner  "Dollar,"  Thomas  Holmes, 
master,  in  April,  1826,  to  David  Pingree;  the  schoon- 
er "  Cepheus,"  Charles  Holland,  master,  in  August, 
1826,  to  Joseph  Howard  ;  the  brig  "  Romp,"  Clarke, 
master,  in  December,  1828,  to  Thomas  P.  Pingree  and 
Michael  Shepard  ;  the  schooner  "  Gazelle,"  Warren 
Strickland,  master,  in  August,  1830,  to  James  Brown  ; 
the  brig  "  Abby  M.,"  R.  Wheatland,  master,  in  Octo- 
ber, 1830,  to  Gideon  Tucker ;  the  brig  "  Amethyst," 
John  Willis,  master,  in  July,  1831,  to  Robert  Upton  ; 
the  brig  "  Fredonia,"  S.  K.  Appleton,  master,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1832,  to  Benjamin  Creamer  ;  the  brig  "  De- 
posit," G.  E.  Bailey,  master,  in  January,  1842,  to 
James  Upton  (this  vessel  made  regular  trips  between 
Salem  and  Para)  ;  the  brig  "  Mermaid,"  C.  Conway, 
master,  in  April,  1842,  to  P.  I.  Farnham ;  the  brig 
"Eagle,"  M.  S.  Wheeler,  master,  in  December,  1842, 
to  Benjamin  Upton  ;  the  brig  "Deposit,"  under  com- 
mand of  Charles  Upton,  entered  in  March,  1844,  and 
made  several  voyages  thereafter,  consigned  to  Luther 
Upton  ;  the  brig  "  Granite,"  S.  Upton,  master,  en- 
tered in  October,  1844,  and  made  regular  trips,  to  S- 
F.  Upton  ;  the  brig  "  Rattler,"  C.  W.  Trumbull,  mas- 
ter, entered  in  July,  1846,  and  made  a  number  o 
voyages,  consigned  to  John  Bertram ;  the  brig  "  M* 
Shepard,"  H.  B,  Manning,  master,  entered  in  March 
1853,  and  continued  for  some  time  in  the  trade,  con- 
signed to  John  Bertram.  Messrs.  Phippen  and  Endi- 
cott  were  the  last  among  the  Salem  merchants  engaged 
in  this  trade.  There  were  two  entries  in  the  year 
1861,  and  these  entries  closed  the  trade  of  Salem  with 
Para. 

There  has  been  a  large  trade  between  Salem  and 
Cayenne,  beginning  in  the  last  century.  The  whole 
number  of  arrivals  from  this  port  between  the  years 
1810  and  1877  was  about  three  hundred.  The  largest 
number  of  entries  in  a  single  year  was  in  1835,  when 
there  were  eleven  entries  from  that  port.  From  1835 
to  1840  inclusive,  there  were  fifty-eight  entries.  The 
Cayenne  trade  was  the  last  foreign  trade  engaged  in 
by  Salem  merchants  at  the  port  of  Salem. 

Among  the  entries  from  that  port  was  that  of  the 
brig  "  Trial,"  Eben  Learock,  master,  in  June,  1810, 
with  molasses  and  coffee,  consigned  to  Francis 
Quarles ;  the  schooner  "  Rachel,"  Mark  Knowlton, 
master,  in  August,  1812,  to  John  Winn ;  the  brig 
"Return,"  Henry  King,  master,  in  March,  1813,  to 
Thomas  Perkins ;  the  schooner  "  Essex,"  Thomas 
Cloutman,  master,  in  May,  1816,  with  cocoa,  molasses 
and  almonds,  to  William  Fabens ;  the  brig  "  Ram- 
bler," W.  D.  Shatswell,  master,  in  February,  1821,  to 
William  Fabens,  and  in  February,  1828,  to  Benjamin 
Fabens  ;  the  brig  "  Cynthia,"  in  July,  1821,  to  J.  H. 
Andrews  ;  in  1824,  to  Michael  Shepard,  and  in  1825, 
to  David  Pingree ;  the  brig  "  General  Jackson," 
Shatswell,  master,  in  May,  1826,  to  P.  I.  Farnham  ; 
7 


the  brig  "  Jeremiah,"  Joshua  F.  Safford,  master,  in 
June,  1821,  to  David  Pingree;  the  brig  "  Rotund," 
Joseph  R.  Winn,  master,  in  May,  1825,  to  Benjamin 
Fabens;  the  schooner  "Betsey  and  Eliza,"  Benjamin 
Pickering,  master,  in  August,  1829,  to  Joseph  Shats- 
well ;  the  schooner  "  Nuraa,"  D.  R.  Upton,  master, 
in  March,  1833,  to  Robert  Upton  ;  the  brig  "  Romp," 
Peter  Lassen,  master,  in  September,  1851,  to  Joseph 
Shatswell ;  the  brig  "  Esther,"  W.  H.  Fabens,  master, 
in  February,  1850,  to  Benjamin  Fabens,  Jr.,  and  in 
August,  1850,  Peter  Lassen,  master,  to  Charles  H. 
Fabens;  the  bark  "Lawrence,"  Fabens,  master,  in 
September,  1851,  to  Charles  H.  Fabens. 

David  Pingree  and  Joseph  Shatswell  were  largely 
engaged  in  this  trade.  The  Fabens  family  for  four 
generations  have  carried  on  the  trade  between  Salem 
and  Cayenne.  William  Fabens  began  it  about  1816, 
Benjamin  Fabens  about  1825,  Charles  H.  Fabens 
about  1850,  and  Charles  E.  and  Benjamin  H.  Fabens 
about  1869.  The  successive  generations  have  prose^ 
cuted  the  trade  continuously  from  1816  to  the  present 
day.  The  last  named  removed  the  business  to  Boston 
in  1877,  and  now  carry  it  on  from  that  port.  The 
last  arrival  at  Salem  from  a  South  American  port  was 
the  schooner  "Mattie  F,"  which  was  entered  from 
Cayenne,  by  Messrs.  C.  E.  &  B.  H.  Fabens,  March 
21,1877.  The  entry  of  the  "Mattie  F."  closed  the 
foreign  trade  of  Salem. 

The  trade  between  Salem  and  Buenos  Ayres  is  the 
next  in  importance.  From  1816  to  1860,  inclusive, 
there  were  one  hundred  and  twenty-one  arrivals  at 
Salem  from  this  port.  The  period  of  greatest  activity 
was  from  1841  to  1860.  Robert  Upton,  James  LTpton, 
David  Pingree  and  Benjamin  A.  West  were  among 
the  merchants  principally  engaged  in  this  trade.  The 
entries  from  this  port  include  that  of  the  brig  "Nancy 
Ann,"  John  B.  Osgood,  master,  in  April,  1816,  to 
Stephen  Phillips ;  the  ship  "  Diomede,"  Samuel  L. 
Page,  master,  in  March,  1817,  to  Philip  Chase ;  the 
brig  "Cambrian,"  H.  G.  Bridges,  master,  in  June, 
1823,  to  Joseph  Peabody ;  the  brig  "Bolivar  Libera- 
tor," James  Garney,  master,  in  January,  1831,  to  P. 
I.  Farnham  ;  the  bark  "  Chalcedony,"  J,  E.  A.  Todd, 
master,  entered  in  April,  1841,  and  made  several  voy- 
ages thereafter,  commanded  by  Captain  Todd,  and  a 
number  after  1849,  with  George  Upton  as  master  (she 
was  consignedjon  these  voyages  to  James  Upton) ;  the 
bark  "  Three  Brothers,"  Welch,  master,  entered  in 
May,  1843,  consigned  to  David  Pingree;  the  brig 
"  Cherokee,"  Mansfield,  master,  entered  in  October, 
1843,  consigned  to  Michael  Shepard;  the  brig  "Ga- 
zelle," Dewing,  master,  in  November,  1843,  to  John 
Bertram;  the  brig  "  Olinda,"  S.  Hutchinson,  master, 
in  December,  1843,  to  Gideon  Tucker;  the  bark 
"King  Philip,"  George  Upton,  master,  in  June,  1844, 
to  James  Upton ;  the  brig  "  Gambia,"  G.  E.  Bailey, 
master,  in  September,  1848,  to  Benjamin  A.  West ; 
the  bark  "Maid  of  Orleans,"  Charles  Upton,  master 
in  September,  1848,  and  on  several  subsequent  voy- 


90 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


ages,  consigned  to  James  Upton ;  the  bark  "  Man- 
chester," S.  Upton,  master,  in  May,  1853,  to  Eobert 
Upton;  the  brig  "Kussell,"  in  August,  1854,  to  Geo. 
Savory  ;  the  bark  "  Salem,"  in  August,  1860,  to  Jas. 
Upton.  The  last  entry  at  Salem  from  Buenos  Ayres 
was  in  1860. 

Eio  Grande  was  a  place  with  which  Salem  mer- 
chants traded  quite  extensively.  Hides  and  horns 
were  the  principal  articles  imported.  From  1817  to 
1860  there  were  one  hundred  and  fifty-five  arrivals  at 
Salem  from  that  province,  and  of  that  number,  one 
hundred  were  during  the  period  from  1845  to  1854  in- 
clusive. The  largest  number  of  arrivals  in  a  single 
year  was  seventeen,  in  the  year  1851.  The  Uptons 
were  largely  interested  in  this  trade,  as  they  were  in 
most  of  the  Salem  trade  with  the  ports  on  the  eastern 
coast  of  South  America.  Eobert  Upton,  James  Up- 
ton, Benjamin  Upton,  Luther  Upton  and  H.  P.  Upton 
and  David  Pingree,  George  Savory,  Thomas  P.  Pin- 
gree,  Benjamin  Webb  and  David  Moore  were  among 
those  engaged  in  trade  with  Eio  Grande, 

From  the  list  of  entries  from  that  place  at  Salem  a 
few  are  given.  A  complete  list  would  hardly  interest 
the  general  reader.  The  brig  "  Trader,"  John  Eve- 
leth,  master,  entered  in  June,  1817,  with  tallow  con- 
signed to  Edward  Lander ;  the  brig  "  Eotund,"  John 
Ingersoll,  master,  in  July,  1822,  to  Gideon  Tucker ; 
the  brig  "Cynthia,"  Shillaber,  master,  in  October, 
1828,  to  David  Pingree;  the  brig  "Abby  M.,"  R. 
Wheatland,  master,  in  October,  1829,  to  Putnam  I. 
Farnham  and  others  ;  the  brig  "  Quill,"  Thomas  Far- 
ley, master,  in  November,  1831,  to  Nathaniel  L.  Eog- 
era  &  Bros. ;  the  brig  "  Mermaid,"  George  Savory, 
master,  in  May,  1841  to  Benjamin  Upton ;  the  brig 
"  Northumberland,"  Kane,  master,  in  November, 
1842,  to  Thomas  P.  Pingree ;  the  bark  "  Chalcedony," 
J.  E.  A.  Todd,  master,  in  October,  1846,  to  James 
Upton,  and  in  May,  1847,  to  Luther  Upton  ;  the  brig 
"  Eussell,"  E.  F.  Savory,  master,  in  May,  1847,  to  H. 
P.  Upton ;  the  bark  "  William  Schroder,"  J.  E.  A. 
Todd,  master,  in  March,  1848,  to  Eobert  Upton  ;  the 
bark  "  Wyman,"  J.  Madison,  master,  in  July,  1849, 
to  James  Upton  (this  vessel  made  many  trips  be- 
tween Salem  and  Eio  Grande,  commanded  by  George 
Harrington);  the  bark  "Sophronia,"  E.  A.  Emmer- 
ton,  master,  in  July,  1849,  to  Ephraim  Emmerton ; 
the  schooner  "  Maria  Theresa,"  O.  Baker,  Jr.,  master, 
in  August,  1849,  to  D.  E.  Bowker ;  the  brig  "Draco," 
E.  S.  Johnson,  master,  in  October,  1849,  and  in  April, 
1850,  to  David  Moore ;  the  brig  "  Prairie,"  E.  Upton, 
master,  in  November,  1850,  to  George  Savory  and 
others ;  the  bark  "  Delegate,"  D.  Marshall,  master,  in 
January,  1851,  to  Benjamin  Webb  and  others;  the 
bark  "Arrow,"  in  June,  1860,  to  .Tames  Upton.  There 
were  two  entries  from  Eio  Grande  in  1860,  and  with 
those  entries  the  Salem  trade  with  that  place  closed. 
There  was  a  single  entry  from  Eio  Grande  in  1870, 
but  neither  vessel  nor  cargo  was  owned  by  Salem 
merchants. 


The  Salem  trade  with  Montevideo  began  about 
1811,  and  ended  in  1861.  There  was  no  entry  from 
this  port  between  1811  and  1823.  The  largest  num- 
ber of  entries  was  during  the  years  1847,  '48  and  '53. 
Eobert  Upton,  James  Upton  and  Benjamin  A.  West 
were  among  those  engaged  in  trading  with  that  port. 
Hides  and  horns  were  the  principal  articles  imported. 
The  brig  "Hope,"  Benjamin  Jacobs,  master,  entered 
in  June,  1811,  consigned  to  Thomas  Perkins;  the  ship 
"  Glide,"  Nathan  Endicott,  master,  entered  in  Novem- 
ber, 1823,  consigned  to  Joseph  Peabody  ;  the  brig 
"Chalcedony,"  George  Upton,  master,  in  May,  1839, 
and  in  October,  1847,  to  James  Upton  ;  and  in  March, 
1848,  to  Luther  Upton ;  the  bark  "  Zotoff,"  G.  E. 
Bailey,  master,  in  January,  1853,  and  again  in  Au- 
gust, 1853,  to  Benjamin  A.  West ;  the  bark  "  Peacock," 
Upton,  master,  in  April,  1853,  to  Eobert  Upton ;  the 
bark  "  Argentine,"  George  Upton,  master,  in  June, 
1853,  to  James  Upton ;  the  bark  "  Miquelon,"  S. 
Hutchinson,  in  July,  1853,  to  E.  H.  Folmer;  the 
brig  "Mary  A.  Jones,"  in  January,  1860,  and  again 
in  July  1860,  to  Benjamin  A.  West.  There  was  a  sin- 
gle entry  in  1861,  the  last  entry  at  Salem  from  Mon- 
tevideo. 

In  the  years  1824  and  1825  there  were  twenty-four 
entries  from  Maranham.  From  1817  to  1858  there 
were  one  hundred  and  ten  entries.  Joseph  Howard 
and  James  Brown  were  among  those  most  largely  in- 
terested in  this  trade.  The  brig  "  Henry,"  George 
Burchmore,  master,  entered  from  Maranham  in  Jan- 
uary, 1817,  consigned  to  Stephen  White ;  the  brig 
"  Anson,"  Haskett  D.  Lang,  master,  in  May,  1819,  to 
P.  &  A.  Chase  ;  the  brig  "  Alonzo,"  George  K.  Smith, 
master,  in  August,  1819,  to  Joseph  Howard ;  the  brig 
"  Betsey,"  Timothy  Eopes,  master,  in  August,  1819, 
to  George  Nichols ;  the  schooner  "  Mermaid,"  John 
Willis,  master,  in  April,  1824,  to  Pickering  Dodge ; 
the  schooner  "  General  Brewer,"  George  Gale,  master, 
in  August,  1825,  to  Stephen  White ;  the  brig  "Stork," 
Stephen  Gale,  master,  in  November,  1825,  to  James 
Brown  and  others;  the  brig  "Calliope,"  George 
Creamer,  master,  in  March,  1826,  to  Robert  Upton  ; 
the  schooner  "  Spy,"  Benjamin  Eussell,  master,  in 
April,  1826,  to  Nathaniel  L.  Eogers  &  Bros.;  the  brig 
"  Edward,"  Thomas  C.  Whittredge,  master,  in  May, 

1826,  to  Thomas  Whittredge;  the  schooner  " Sally 
Barker,"  F.  Quarles,  master,  in  June,  1826,  to  Mi- 
chael Shepard ;  the  brig  "  Stork,"  Oliver  Thayer, 
master,  in  July,  1826,  to  Joseph  Howard ;  the  brig 
"  Cynthia,"   Benjamin    Shillaber,   master,   in   April, 

1827,  to  David  Pingree;  the  brig  "  Wm.  Penn,"  S.  K. 
Appleton,  master,  in  January,  1836,  to  John  F. 
Allen;  the  brig  "Amethyst,"  E.  Hill,  Jr.,  master,  in 
February,  1837,  to  James  Upton  ;  the  brig  "  Palm," 
in  September,  1840,  to  Thomas  P.  Pingree;  the 
schooner  "  East  Wind,"  in  June,  1858,  to  Phippen  & 
Endicott ;  and  this  entry  closed  the  Salem  trade  with 
Maranham. 

Surinam  was  visited  early  by  Salem  vessels.     The 


SALEM. 


91 


period  of  the  greatest  activity  in  this  trade  was  be- 
tween the  years  1797  and  1810.  There  were  twelve 
arrivals  at  Salem  from  this  place  in  1799,  and  the 
same  number  in  1804.  There  were  two  entries  in 
1860,  the  last  made  at  Salem  from  Surinam.  Coffee, 
cocoa,  sugar,  cotton,  molasses  and  distilled  spirits, 
were  the  principal  articles  imported. 

The  schooner  "Saint  John,'"  W.  Grafton,  master, 
entered  from  Surinam  in  October,  1791,  consigned  to 
Joseph  Waters.  The  brig  "  Lydia,"  Eben  Shillaber, 
master,  in  August,  1796,  to  William  Gray.  The 
brig  "  Three  Friends,"  John  Endicott,  master,  in  Oc- 
tober, 1796,  to  Jonathan  Gardner  and  Joseph  Pea- 
body.  The  schooner  "  Cynthia,"  Hezekiah  Flint, 
master,  in  December,  1796,  to  Joseph  Peabody  and 
Thomas  Perkins.  The  schooner  "  Diligent,"  James 
Buffi ngton,  master,  in  February,  1797,  to  Joseph 
Sprague  &  Sons.  The  brig  "Katy,"  Nathaniel 
Brown,  master,  in  August,  1798,  to  Benjamin  Pick- 
man,  Jr.  The  schooner  "  Fame,"  Downing  Lee, 
master,  in  April,  1798,  to  Samuel  Gray  and  John  Os- 
good. The  brig  "  Neptune,"  Robert  Barr,  master,  in 
May,  1797,  to  John  Barr.  The  ship  "  Henry,"  Ste- 
phen Webb,  master,  in  June,  1799,  to  Elias  H.  Der- 
by. The  ship  "Belisarius,"  Edward  Allen,  master,  in 
August,  1799,  to  George  Crowninshield  &  Sons. 
The  schooner  "Helen,"  Samuel  King,  master,  in  No- 
vember, 1799,  to  Benjamin  West.  The  ship  "Atlan- 
tic," Eben  Learock,  master,  in  April,  1804,  to  Joseph 
Peabody.  The  bark  "  Active,"  John  Endicott,  mas- 
ter, in  July,  1804,  to  Benjamin  Hodges.  The  schoon- 
er "Union,"  Moses  Yell,  master,  in  December,  1807, 
to  Michael  Shepard.  The  brig  "Nabby,"  Hardy 
Phippen,  master,  in  April,  1808,  to  Samuel  Archer, 
8d.  The  brig  "  Union,"  Timothy  Ropes,  master,  in 
October,  1823,  to  John  H.  Andrews.  The  brig 
"Rambler,"  S.  Upton,  master,  in  March,  1829,  to 
Benjamin  Fabens.  The  brig  "  Cynthia,"  John  G. 
Waters,  master,  in  August,  1829,  to  David  Pingree. 
The  ship  "  William  and  Henry,"  C.  H.  Fabens,  mas- 
ter, in  January,  1838,  to  David  Pingree.  The  brig 
"  Mary  Francis,"  in  July,  1855,  to  Joseph  Shatswell. 
The  bark  "  Lawrence,"  in  April,  1857,  to  Charles  H. 
Fabens.  The  brig  "  Elizabeth,"  in  April,  1860,  and 
in  August,  1860,  to  Benjamin  Webb.  The  above- 
mentioned  entries  show  the  names  of  the  Salem  mer- 
chants engaged  in  trade  with  Surinam. 

There  were  three  entries  at  Salem  from  Rio  Janeiro 
in  1810.  The  largest  number  of  entries  in  a  single 
year  was  in  1824,  when  six  vessels  entered  from  that 
port.  The  schooner  "  Mercury,"  Edward  Barnard, 
Jr.,  master,  entered  from  that  port  in  June,  1810,  con- 
signed to  Nathaniel  West.  The  brig  "  New  Hazard," 
Edward  Stanley,  master,  in  July,  1810,  to  John  Gard- 
ner, Jr.  The  ship  "  Marquis  de  Someruelas,"  Thomas 
Russell,  master,  in  July,  1810,  to  John  Gardner,  Jr. 
and  Michael  Shepard.  The  ship  "John,"  Jeremiah 
Briggs,  master,  in  March,  1811,  to  George  Crownin- 
shield.    The  brig  "  Cora,"  P.  P.  Pinel,  master,  in  De- 


cember, 1811,  to  Jerathmael  Pierce.  The  brig 
"Alonzo,"  Philemon  Putnam,  master,  in  April,  1823, 
to  Joseph  Howard.  The  ship  "  Friendship,"  Rich- 
ard Meek,  master,  in  November,  1823,  and  again  in 
November,  1824,  to  George  Nichols.  The  brig 
"Pioneer,"  Andrew  Ward,  master,  in  April,  1824,  to 
John  W.  Rogers.  The  brig  "  Edward,"  Thomas  C. 
Whittredge,  master,  in  August,  1824,  to  Thomas 
Whittredge.  The  brig  "  Roscius,"  J.  Kinsman,  mas- 
ter, in  November,  1824,  to  Robert  Upton.  The  brig 
"  Thomas  Perkins,"  B.  Shillaber,  master,  in  Septem- 
ber, 1832,  to  Michael  Shepard.  The  bark  "  Richard," 
J.  Hodges,  master,  in  November,  1832,  to  Joseph 
Hodges.  The  bark  "  Imaun,"  Batchelder,  master,  in 
April,  1852,  to  Benjamin  A.  West.  The  entry  of  the 
"  Imaun  "  closed  the  Salem  trade  with  Rio  Janeiro. 
The  principal  articles  imported  were  coffee  and  sugar. 

In  August,  1832,  the  brig  "Mexican,"  of  Salem, 
owned  by  Joseph  Peabody,  and  commanded  by  John 
G.  Butman,  of  Beverly,  left  Salem  for  Rio  Janeiro, 
having  on  board  twenty  thousand  dollars  in  specie. 
On  September  20th,  between  the  hours  of  eight  and 
nine  A.  M.,  she  was  hailed  by  the  piratical  Spanish, 
schooner,  "  Pinda,"  Commander  Gilbert.  The  pirates 
came  on  board  the  "  Mexican,"  and  threatened  all 
hands  with  instant  death  unless  the  specie  was  im- 
mediately produced.  They  obliged  the  crew  to  bring 
the  boxes  containing  it  on  deck,  when  they  at  once 
transferred  it  to  the  schooner.  They  then  ransacked 
the  cabin  and  rifled  the  captain's  pockets,  taking  his 
watch  and  money.  Not  being  successful  in  finding 
any  more  specie  aboard  the  brig,  the  pirates  returned 
on  board  their  schooner.  In  eight  or  ten  minutes 
they  came  back,  apparently  in  great  haste,  shut  all 
the  crew  below,  fastened  the  companion-way,  fore 
scuttle  and  after  hatchway ;  stove  the  compasses  to 
pieces  in  the  binnacles,  and  cut  away  tiller-ropes, 
halliards,  braces  and  most  of  the  running  rigging. 
They  then  took  a  tub  of  tarred  rope-yarn,  and  what 
they  could  find  combustible  about  the  deck,  put  it 
into  the  caboose-house  and  set  it  on  fire.  As  soon  as 
the  pirates  left,  the  crew  of  the  "Mexican  "  reached 
the  deck  through  the  cabin  scuttle,  which  the  pirates 
had  neglected  to  secure,  and  extinguished  the  fire, 
which,  in  a  few  moments,  would  have  set  the  main 
sail  on  fire  and  destroyed  the  masts.  The  crew  im- 
mediately repaired  damages,  as  far  as  possible,  and 
set  sail  for  home,  where  they  arrived  October  12th. 
It  was,  doubtless,  the  intention  of  the  pirates  to  burn 
the  brig,  but  seeing  another  vessel  in  the  distance, 
and  being  eager  for  more  plunder,  they  did  not  stop 
to  fully  accomplish  their  design,  and  the  crew  thus 
escaped  a  horrible  fate.  The  "  Mexican "  had  a 
crew  of  thirteen  men ;  among  those  now  living  are 
John  Battis,  Jacob  Anderson  and  Thomas  Fuller,  all 
of  Salem. 

Our  government  ordered  a  vessel  to  cruise  in  pur- 
suit of  the  pirate,  but  she  soon  gave  up  the  chase  as 
hopeless.     The  piratical   vessel   was  afterwards  cap- 


92 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


tured  by  an  English  vessel,  and  on  August  27,  1834, 
H.  B.  M.  brig  "Savage,"  Lieutenant  Commander 
Loney,  commanding,  from  Portsmouth,  England,  ar- 
rived in  Salem  harbor  with  sixteen  of  the  pirates  as 
prisoners.  They  had  an  examination  in  Salem,  and 
then  were  taken  to  Boston,  and  tried  before  Chief- 
Justice  Story.  Five  of  them  were  hanged  June  11, 
1835.  Bernardo  de  Soto,  the  mate  of  the  "Pinda," 
when  master  of  the  Spanish  brig,  "Leon,"  had,  in 
1831,  at  great  personal  risk,  rescued  seventy-two  per- 
sons from  the  burning  ship  "  Minerva,"  of  Salem, 
Captain  George  W.  Putnam,  and  for  the  bravery  and 
humanity  displayed  by  him  on  this  occasion,  he  was 
pardoned  by  President  Jackson. 

Pernambuco  was  a  port  at  which  many  Salem  ves- 
sels touched  for  orders.  There  were  not  a  great  many 
direct  entries  at  Salem  from  that  port.  The  largest 
number  was  in  1826,  when  there  were  six  entries. 
Among  the  entries  were  the  brig  "Welcome  Return," 
Jeremiah  Briggs,  master,  in  September,  1809,  con- 
signed to  Josiah  Dow.  The  schooner  "  Hannah," 
Edward  Briggs,  master,  in  June,  1810,  to  Josiah 
Dow.  The  brig  "  Alonzo,"  Isaac  Killam,  master,  in 
August,  1811,  to  John  Derby.  The  schooner  "Ris- 
ing States,"  Samuel  Lamson,  master,  in  March,  1812, 
to  James  Cook.  The  ship  "  Endeavor,"  Nathaniel 
L.  Rogers,  master,  in  May,  1812,  to  John  Forrester. 
The  brig  "  Levant,"  Samuel  Rea,  ma>ter,  in  October, 
1812,  to  Joseph  Peabody.  The  brig  "  Cora,"  Philip 
P.  Pinel,  master,  in  September,  1815,  to  Jerathmael 
Peirce.  The  brig  "  Eliza,"  Stephen  Gale,  master,  in 
November,  1819,  to  Benjamin  Barstow.  The  brig 
"  Eliza  and  Mary,"  S.  Benson,  master,  in   November, 

1825,  to  S.  White  and  F.  H.  Story.  The  brig  "  Olin- 
da,"  R.  Wheatland,  master,  in  December,  1825,  and 
in  June,  1826,  to  Gideon  Tucker.  The  brig  "  Wash- 
ington," A.  Marshall,  master,  in  August,  1826,  to 
William  Fettyplace.  The  brig  "  Amethyst,"  R.  Hill, 
Jr.,  master,  in  May,  1836,  to  Robert  Upton.  The 
brig  "  Mermaid,"  George  Savory,  master,  in  May, 
1840,  to  Putnam  I.  Faruham.  The  brig  "  Gazelle/' 
J.  Dewing,  master,  in  March,  1841,  to  Joseph  Shats- 
well.  The  entry  of  the  "  Gazelle  "  closed  the  direct 
trade  between  Salem  and  Pernambuco.  The  princi- 
pal article  imported  thence  was  sugar. 

Bahia,  Paraiba  and  Patagonia  on  the  eastern  coast, 
and  Valparaiso,  Lima  and  Guayaquil  on  the  western 
coast  of  South  America,  were  among  the  places  from 
which  vessels  entered  at  the  port  of  Salem.  The 
trade  with  these  places  was  not  very  extensive.  The 
brig  "  Blakely,"  Benjamin  Fabens^  master,  entered 
from  Bahia  in  July,  1819,  with  molasses,  consigned 
to  William  Fabens.  The  brig  "Lion,"  J.  P.  Felt, 
master,  entered  from  Bahia  in  June,  1821,  consigned 
to  John  Dike.  The  brig  "Augusta,"  Seth  Rogers, 
master,  entered  from  Bahia  in  March,  1824,  consigned 
to  Gideon  Tucker.  The  brig  "  Mercator,"  Aaron 
Miller,  master,    entered   from   Bahia  in   September, 

1826,  consigned  to  John  F.  Andrew.     The  schooner 


"  Generous,"  E.  B.  Hooper,  master,  made  several 
voyages  in  1832  and  '33  between  Salem  and  Paraiba, 
consigned  to  Michael  Shepard.  The  ship  "  China," 
H.  Putnam,  master,  entered  from  Lima  in  July, 
1828,  consigned  to  Joseph  Peabody.  The  brig 
"Herald,"  Aaron  W.  Williams,  master,  entered  from 
Guayaquil  in  August,  1824,  consigned  to  George 
Nichols.  The  brig  "Phoenix,"  George  Hodges,  Jr., 
master,  entered  from  Guayaquil  in  December,  1826, 
with  one  hundred  and  sixty-six  thousand  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  pounds  of  cocoa,  consigned  to  Mosea 
Townsend.  The  brig  "  Java,"  Nathaniel  Osgood, 
master,  entered,  from  Guayaquil  in  January,  1829, 
and  proceeded  to  New  York. 

The  West  Coast  of  Afkica  Trade. — If  the  na- 
tives on  the  west  coast  of  Africa  have  been  temper- 
ate they  have  been  so  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the 
Salem  merchants,  to  supply  them  with  the  materials 
for  intemperance.  The  trade  opened  early,  and  Oc- 
tober 6,  1789,  the  schooner  "  Sally,"  and  October  8, 
1789,  the  schooner  "Polly,"  cleared  for  Senegal,  each 
with  a  cargo  of  New  England  rum  ;  and  from  that 
time  forward,  Salem  has  contributed  largely  to  spread 
a  knowledge  of  the  potent  qualities  of  New  England 
rum,  of  the  astounding  effects  of  gunpowder  and  of 
the  consoling  influences  of  Virginia  tobacco,  among 
the  savage  tribes  of  the  West  Coast.  The  Salem 
trade  with  this  coast  has  been  quite  extensive.  The 
period  of  the  greatest  activity  was  between  the  years 
1832  and  1864.  During  that  time,  there  were  five 
hundred  and  fifty-eight  arrivals  at  Salem  from  the 
West  Coast  of  Africa.  From  1844  to  1860,  only  the 
years  1854  and  1855  show  less  than  twenty  entries. 
Robert  Brookhouse,  Daniel  Abbot,  Putnam  I.  Farn- 
ham,  David  Pingree,  William  Hunt,  Charles  Hoff- 
man, Edward  D.  Kimball  and  George  West,  were 
among  those  engaged  in  this  trade.  Hides,  palm- 
oil,  peanuts  and  gum-copal,  were  the  principal  ar- 
ticles imported.  Among  the  entries  were  the  brig 
"  St.  John,"  Thomas  Bowditch,  master,  which  en- 
tered from  Sierra  Leone  in  June,  1796,  consigned  to 
Henry  Gardner  &  Co.  The  brig  "  Sukey,"  John  Ed- 
wards, master,  which  entered  from  Senegal  in  July, 
1801,  consigned  to  Henry  Prince  &  Co.  The  brig 
"  Star,"  Richard  J.  Cleveland,  master,  entered  from 
Goree  in  July,  1808,  consigned  to  John  Derby.  The 
brig  "  Siren,"  James  Vent,  master,  entered  in  March, 
1828,  consigned  to  Robert  Brookhouse.  The  schoon- 
er "  Fredonia,"  Charles  Hoftman,  master,  in  Septem- 
ber, 1829.  to  Daniel  Abbot.  The  brig  "Shawmut," 
J.  Emerton,  master,  in  July,  1831,  to  Robert  Brook- 
house. The  schooner  "  Complex,"  J.  Burnham,  mas- 
ter, in  June,  1832,  to  Richard  S.  Rogers.  The  schoon- 
er "  Dollar,"  John  Stickney,  master,  in  September, 
1835,  to  Putnam  I.  Farnham.  The  brig  "  Selina  and 
Jane,"  Joseph  Rider,  master,  in  August,  1836,  to 
David  Pingree.  The  brig  "  Elizabeth,"  N.  Frye, 
master,  in  March,  1837,  and  in  November,  1837,  J. 
A.    Phipps,    master,    consigned    to    William    Hunt. 


SALEM. 


93 


The  brig  "  Cipher,"  J.  Rider,  master,  in  August,  1839, 
to  Charles  Hoffman.  The  brig  "Tigris,"  N.  A. 
Frye,  master,  in  December,  1840,  to  Robert  Brook- 
house.  The  brig  "  Malaga,"  S.  Varney,  master,  in 
October,  1844,  to  E.  G.  Kimball.  The  brig  "Her- 
ald," P.  Ayres,  master,  in  February,  1845,  to  William 
Hunt.  The  brig  "  Hamilton,"  H.  Tufts,  master,  in 
March,  1847,  to  Edward  D.  Kimball.  The  brig 
"  Fawn,"  J.  Rider,  master,  in  June,  1847,  to  George. 
West.  The  brig  "  Tam  O'Shanter,"  J.  R.  Francks, 
master,  in  February,  1848,  to  Benjamin  Webb.  The 
brig  "  Ohio,"  Josiah  Webber,  master,  in  April,  1848, 
to  Edward  D.  Kimball.  After  1848  the  trade  was 
largely  in  the  hands  of  Robert  Brookhouse,  Edward 
D.  Kimball  and  Charles  Hoffman,  The  last  arrival 
at  Salem  from  the  Wes*.  Coast  of  Africa  was  the  brig 
"Ann  Elizabeth,"  from  Sierra  Leone,  which  was  en- 
tered by  Charles  Hoffman  in  July,  1873.  Salem  mer- 
chants are  still  engaged  in  this  trade,  but  their  vessels 
do  not  enter  the  harbor  of  Salem. 

The  West  India  Trade — The  early  trade  of  Sa- 
lem was  mainly  in  the  product  of  her  fisheries.  The 
first  settlers  came  hither  for  the  purpose  of  establish- 
ing a  fishing  and  trading  post,  and  among  their  first 
acts  was  the  building  of  stages  on  which  fish  could  be 
dried  and  prepared  for  consumption.  The  islands  of 
the  West  Indies  offered  a  market  for  the  exchange  of 
the  fish  for  other  products,  such  as  sugar,  cotton  and 
tobacco,  and  it  was  natural  that  a  trade  between  Sa- 
lem and  those  islands  should  commence  at  a  very 
early  jseriod.  The  island  of  Barbadoes,  one  of  the 
Carribbean  group,  was  one  of  the  earliest  places  at 
which  Salem  vessels  traded.  Salem  was  trading  with 
Barbadoes  as  early  as  1647.  William  Hollingworth, 
then  a  merchant  in  Barbadoes,  writes  to  his  mother, 
Mrs.  Eleanor  Hollingworth,  at  Salem,  under  date  of 
September  19,  1687,  that  "  fish  now  att  present  bares 
a  good  rate  by  reason  ye  Newfoundland  men  are  not 
yet  come  in  but  I  believe  itt  will  be  low  anuffe  about 
three  months  hence.  Oyle  will  be  ye  principal  com- 
moditie.  Pray  lett  my  brother  see  this  letter.  I  can- 
not tell  what  to  advise  him  to  send  as  yett  besides 
oyle  but  in  a  short  time  wee  shall  see  what  these  New- 
foundland men  will  doe,  what  quantity  of  fish  they 
bring  in,  and  then  I  will  advise  him  further." 

The  ketch  "  Providence,"  John  Grafton,  master,  on 
her  passage  from  Salem  to  the  West  Indies,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1669,  was  cast  away  on  a  rock  in  a  rainy 
night,  and  six  of  the  crew  were  drowned.  The  mas- 
ter, mate  and  a  seaman  remained  on  the  rock  till 
morning.  They  then  succeeded,  with  difficulty,  in 
reaching  an  island  about  half  a  mile  away,  where  they 
found  another  of  their  company.  There  they  remain- 
ed eight  days  sustained  by  salt  fish  ;  and  the  last  four 
days  by  cakes  made  from  a  barrel  of  flour  which  had 
been  washed  ashore.  After  four  days  they  found  a 
piece  of  touch-wood  and  a  flint,  and  with  the  aid  of  a 
small  knife,  they  struck  fire.  They  framed  a  boat 
with  a  tarred  mainsail  and  some  hoops,  and  then  fas- 


tened pieces  of  boards  to  them.  With  this  boat,  so 
made,  they  sailed  ten  leagues  to  Anguilla  and  St. 
Martin's,  where  they  were  kindly  received.  Joshua 
Ward  was  one  of  these  sufferers. 

The  dangers  to  which  these  early  navigators  were 
exposed  we  can  hardly  realize.  With  no  correct 
charts  and  with  the  rudest  instruments,  they  had  no 
method  of  fixing  their  exact  location  while  at  sea. 
The  dangers  of  approaching  coasts  were  also  vastly 
greater,  owing  to  the  want  of  light-houses.  Boston 
light-house  was  first  lit  up  in  1716  ;  Thatcher's  Island 
light-house  in  1771  ;  and  Baker's  Island  light-house 
in  1798.  It  is  related  that  in  1788  a  schooner  from 
Bilboa,  bound  for  Marblehead,  was  only  saved  from 
shipwreck  by  a  seaman  first  seeing  the  rock  in  our 
harbor  called  "  Satan,"  close  to  the  bows  (there  was  a 
snowstorm  at  the  time),  and  shouting  the  fact  to  the 
crew ;  the  captain  being  then  for  the  first  time  aware 
of  his  true  longitude  on  the  coast, 

Salem  was  trading  with  the  Barbadoes  for  cotton 
in  1685,  for  in  September  of  that  year,  as  the  small- 
pox raged  there,  the  selectmen  order  "  that  all  cotton- 
wool imported  thence  shall  be  landed  on  Baker's  Is- 
land." In  1686  the  Governor  issues  a  pass  to  the 
pink  "Speedwell,"  Thomas  Beadle,  master,  to  go  to 
Barbadoes;  to  the  ketch  "  Hannah,"  John  Ingersoll, 
master,  for  Fayal  and  Barbadoes;  to  the  ketch  "In- 
dustry," Lewis  Hunt,  master,  for  St.  Christopher's  ; 
and  to  the  ketch  "  Penelope,"  Edward  Hilliard,  mas- 
ter, also  for  St.  Christopher's.  In  1688  a  similar  pass 
is  issued  to  the  ketch  "  Diligence,"  Gamaliel  Haw- 
kins, master,  and  the  ketch  "Virgin,"  John  Allin, 
master,  both  bound  for  Antigua  ;  and  in  1689,  to  the 
pink  "  Dove,"  Zebulon  Hill,  master,  and  the  ketch 
"  James  Bonaventure,"  Philip  Prance,  master,  both 
bound  for  Barbadoes.  In  1688  Philip  English  is  trad- 
ing with  St.  Christopher's. 

The  records  of  our  early  commerce  are  vague  and 
fragmentary,  but  enough  is  known  to  indicate  that 
the  Salem  trade  with  the  West  Indies  was  continued, 
in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  from  the  year  1638,  when 
the  ship  "  Desire  "  made  a  voyage  to  New  Providence 
and  Tortuga,  and  returned  laden  with  cotton,  tobacco, 
salt  and  negroes  (slaves),  the  latter  the  first  imported 
into  New  England,  to  a  very  late  period  in  her  com- 
mercial history.  In  1639  the  first  importation  of  in- 
digo and  sugar  seems  to  have  been  made,  and  in  1642 
eleven  vessels  sailed  from  New  England  for  the  West 
Indies  with  lumber.  The  custom-house  records 
prior  to  the  Revolution  have  disappeared.  Possibly 
they  were  destroyed  in  the  great  fire  of  1774,  when 
the  custom-house  was  burned,  or,  it  may  be,  carried 
to  Halifax  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  war.  They 
have  never  been  found,  and  we  must  content  ourselves 
with  such  information  as  can  be  gleaned  from  other 
sources. 

The  law  imposing  a  tax  on  sugar  and  molasses 
created  great  dissatisfaction  among  the  Salem  mer- 
chants,  and   there  were  many  forfeitures  in  conse- 


94 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


quence.  It  was  upon  a  petition  of  James  Cockle,  Col- 
lector at  Salem,  for  a  warrant  to  search  for  smuggled 
molasses,  heard  at  the  old  State  House  in  Boston,  Feb- 
ruary, 1761,  that  James  Otis  made  his  immortal  plea 
against  writs  of  assistance. 

The  temper  of  the  usually  law-abiding  people  of  Sa- 
lem regarding  the  imposition  of  these  duties  may  be 
judged  by  their  treatment  of  poor  Thomas  Row,  who 
seems  to  have  performed  only  his  duty  as  a  customs 
officer.  From  a  local  paper  under  the  date  of  Sep- 
tember 13,  1768,  the  following  extract  is  made  : 

"One  Row,  a  Custom  House  waiter,  on  Wednesday 
last,  by  informing  an  officer  of  the  Customs  that  some 
measures  were  taken  on  board  a  vessel  in  this  Har- 
bor,  to  elude  the  payment  of  certain  duties,  engaged 
the  attention  of  a  number  of  the  inhabitants,  who  de- 
termined to  distinguish  him  in  a  conspicuous  manner 
for  his  conduct  in  this  service.  Between  the  hours  of 
ten  and  eleven  A.  M.  he  was  taken  from  one  of  the 
wharves  and  conducted  to  the  Common,  where  his 
head,  body  and  limbs  were  covered  with  warm  tar, 
and  then  a  large  quantity  of  feathers  were  applied  to 
all  parts  which,  by  closely  adhering  to  the  tar,  exhib- 
ited an  odd  figure,  the  drollery  of  which  can  easily  be 
imagined.  The  poor  waiter  was  then  exalted  to  a  seat 
on  the  front  of  a  cart,  and  in  this  manner  led  into  the 
Main  Street,  where  a  paper,  with  the  word  '  Informer  ' 
thereon,  in  large  letters,  was  affixed  to  his  breast,  and 
another  paper  with  the  same  word  to  his  back.  The 
scene  drew  together,  within  a  few  minutes,  several 
hundred  people,  who  proceeded  with  Huzzas  and  loud 
acclamation,  through  the  town  ;  and  when  arrived  at 
the  bounds  of  the  compact  part,  opened  to  the  Right 
and  Left,  when  the  waiter,  the  confused  object  of 
their  ridicule  descended  from  his  seat,  walked  through 
the  crowd  and  having  received  the  strongest  assur- 
ances that  he  should,  the  next  time  he  came  to  this 
place,  receive  higher  marks  of  distinction  than  those 
which  were  now  conferred  upon  him,  went  immedi- 
ately out  of  town." 

While  the  trade  between  Salem  and  the  West  In- 
dies was  probably  continuous  from  1638  down  to  quite 
recent  times,  the  last  entry  from  Havana  being  in 
1854,  the  period  of  the  greatest  activity  was  from  1798 
to  1812.  The  entries  from  Havana  and  Martinico 
were  four  each  in  the  year  1797,  while  in  1798  there 
were  twenty-one  from  Havana  and  thirteen  from  Mar- 
tinico. The  largest  number  of  arrivals  from  Havana 
in  a  single  year  was  in  1800,  when  there  were  forty- 
one  entries  from  that  port.  During  that  year  there 
was  imported  into  Salem  over  eight  million  pounds  of 
sugar.  In  1805  there  were  twenty-eight  entries  from 
Havana,  and  forty-four  from  Martinico.  Between 
1798  and  1812  there  were  three  hundred  and  thirty- 
two  entries  from  Havana,  and  two  hundred  and  thirty- 
two  from  Martinico.  There  was  a  large  trade  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  last  century  between  Salem  and  Aux 
Cayes,  Port-au-Prince  and  the  other  ports  of  the  is- 
land of  St.  Domingo,  and  with  the  island   of  St.  Eus- 


tatia.  But  while  Salem  vessels  were  found  in  almost 
every  port  in  the  West  Indies,  Havana  and  Martinico 
were  the  principal  places  with  which  trade  was  car- 
ried on. 

A  list  of  the  merchants  engaged  in  this  trade  would 
include  the  names  of  almost  every  one  interested  in 
commerce  during  the  years  that  the  West  India  trade 
flourished.  Benjamin  Pickman  was  engaged  exten- 
sively in  this  trade  and  amassed  a  large  fortune  in  it. 

It  is  not  possible,  in  the  space  allotted  to  this  chap- 
ter, to  give  any  extended  list  of  the  vessels  entering 
from  the  West  Indies.  In  the  palmy  days  of  this  trade 
Salem  was  a  point  of  distribution  for  large  quantities 
of  sugar  and  coffee,  and  the  buyers  from  all  parts  of 
the  country  must  have  given  a  bustling  and  busy  as- 
pect to  streets  now  quiet  and  almost  deserted.  It  was 
a  custom  in  those  days  to  make  up  the  cargo  of  a 
large  vessel  by  inducing  various  persons  to  send  ad- 
ventures, the  owner  of  the  vessel  getting  a  commission 
for  buying  and  selling.  The  brig  "  Massafuero,"  An- 
drew Haraden,  master,  entered  from  Havana  in  Sep- 
tember, 1805,  with  150,000  pounds  of  sugar  consigned 
to  Joshua  Ward,  Jr.  ;  9000  to  Timothy  Wellman ;  6000 
to  Eben  Seccomb  ;  62,000  to  S.  B.  Doane  ;  2000  to  Wil- 
liam Monroe;  20,000  to  Robert  Hooper  &  Sons ;  4000 
to  John  Jenks;  65,000  to  William  Gray;  4000  to  Ben- 
jamin H.  Hathorne  ;  5000  to  Joshua  Pope  ;  3000  to 
Joshua  Phippen,  Jr.,  and  with  a  small  quantity  of 
merchandise  consigned  to  Benjamin  West.  Among 
other  entries  from  Havana,  we  find  the  ship  "  Mount 
Vernon,"  Elias  H.  Derby,  Jr.,  master,  which  entered 
in  May,  1799,  with  five  hundred  thousand  pounds  of 
sugar,  consigned  to  Elias  Hasket  Derby,  and  paying 
a  duty  of  $12,842.15,  and  the  ship  "  Martha,"  Nicholas 
Thorndike,  master,  which  entered  in  December,  1799, 
with  four  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  sugar;  the  two 
vessels  landing  nearly  a  million  pounds  of  this  com- 
modity. In  October,  1809,  the  schooner  "  Neutrality," 
Benjamin  Fabens,  master,  entered  from  St.  Barthol- 
omew's with  sugar  and  coffee  consigned  to  William 
Fabens.  The  Fabens  family  for  several  generations 
have  been  engaged  in  trade  with  the  West  Indies  as 
well  as  Cayenne.  The  last  vessel  to  enter  at  Salem 
from  Havana  was  the  brig  "  Vincennes,"  on  June  29, 
1854,  consigned  to  Phillips,  Goodhue  &  Bowker, 

The  Russia  Trade. — Salem  vessels  opened  the 
American  trade  with  St.  Petersburg.  On  the  15th  of 
June,  1784,  the  bark  "  Light  Horse,"  Captain  Buffin- 
ton,  was  sent  by  Elias  Hasket  Derby  with  a  cargo  of 
sugar,  and  she  was  the  first  American  vessel  to  trade 
at  St.  Petersburg. 

Salem  merchants,  in  the  palmy  days  of  her  com- 
merce, were  largely  engaged  in  trade  with  Russia, 
There  have  been  two  hundred  and  eighty-nine  arrivals 
from  the  ports  of  Russia  at  Salem.  The  period  of  the 
greatest  activity  in  this  trade  was  from  1797  to  1811 
inclusive,  one  hundred  and  sixty-two  of  the  two  hun- 
dred and  eighty-nine  entries  having  been  made  dur- 
ing that  time.     The  largest  number  in  a  single  year 


SALEM. 


95 


was  in  1811,  when  there  were  thirty-one  entries.  The 
war  caused  a  suspension  of  the  trade,  and  in  1812 
there  were  but  three  entries  and  none  in  1813  and 
1814.  In  1815  there  were  nine  entries,  and  the  trade 
continued  till  1829,  when  it  ceased  almost  entirely, 
there  having  been  but  about  six  entries  after  that 
year.  The  last  vessel  to  enter  from  St.  Petersburg 
was  the  ship  "  Eclipse,"  Johnson,  master,  to  H.  L. 
Williams,  in  September,  1843.  All  the  East  India 
merchants  carried  on  more  or  less  trade  with  Russia, 
and  brought  from  there  duck,  hemp  and  iron,  with 
which  to  make  up  their  cargoes  for  the  East.  Elias 
Hasket  Derby,  William  Gray,  Joseph  Peabody,  Na- 
thaniel West,  William  Orne,  Nathaniel  Silsbee,  Gid- 
eon Barstow,  Thomas  Perkins,  Pierce  &  Waite,  Ste- 
phen Phillips,  Joseph  White,  Pickering  Dodge,  Si- 
mon Forrester,  William  Silsbee,  Stephen  White,  Dud- 
ley L.  Pickman,  John  H.  Andrews,  James  Devereux 
and  Samuel  Orne  were  among  the  Salem  merchants 
engaged  in  this  trade.  A  few  of  the  earlier  entries 
are  given,  showing  the  ports  from  which  the  vessels 
arrived. 

The  brig  "  Ceres,"  Thomas  Simmons,  master,  enter- 
ed from  Russia,  in  October,  1789,  with  1,546  pieces  of 
sail-cloth  and  sheeting,  180  bundles  of  hemp,  948  bars 
of  iron,  and  359  hundredweight  cordage.  The  brig 
"  Iris,"  Benjamin  Ives,  master,  entered  from  St.  Peters- 
burg in  October,1790.  The  brig  "  Hind,"  John  Bick- 
ford,  master,  cleared  for  the  Baltic,  June  17,  1790,  with 
600  barrels  of  tar,  lObarrelsof  turpentine,  4  hogsheads 
tobacco,  27  casks  of  rice,  21  hogsheads  New  England 
rum  and  73  chests  of  Hyson  tea,  and  entered  from  St. 
Petersburg,  on  her  return,  in  November,  1790.  The 
ship  "  Commerce,"  John  Osgood,  master,  entered  from 
St.  Petersburg  in  December,  1790,  again  in  Novem- 
ber, 1791,  and  again  in  September,  1792.  All  these 
vessels  were  owned  by  William  Gray.  The  brig 
''  Good  Intent,"  M.  Haskell,  master,  entered  from  Rus- 
sia in  December,  1791,  again  in  November,  1792,  and 
again  in  November,  1793,  consigned  to  Simon  Forres- 
ter. The  brig  "  Polly  and  Betsey,"  Gamaliel  Hodges, 
master,  entered  from  St.  Petersburg  in  November,  1794, 
consigned  to  Joseph  White.  The  bark  "  Essex,"  John 
Green,  master,  entered  from  Russia  in  January,  1795, 
and  again  in  October,  1795,  consigned  to  William 
Orne.  The  bark  "Vigilant,"  Richard  Wheatland, 
master,  entered  from  Russia  in  October,  1795,  consign- 
ed to  Simon  Forrester.  The  brig  "  Hopewell,"  James 
Dowling,  master,  entered  from  St.  Petersburg  in  Sep- 
tember, 1797,  consigned  to  Nathaniel  West.  The 
bark  "  William,"  Benjamin  Beckford,  Jr.,  master,  en- 
tered from  St.  Petersburg  in  January,  1798,  and  again 
in  August,  1798,  consigned  to  William  Gray.  The 
brig  "  Neptune,"  Robert  Barr,  master,  entered  from 
Russia  in  October,  1798,  consigned  to  John  Barr, 

The  first  entry  from  Archangel  apjjears  to  be  that  of 
the  ship  "  Perseverance,"  Richard  Wheatland,  mas- 
ter, in  October,  1798.  She  proceeded  to  Boston  with 
her  cargo.     The  brig  "  Fanny,"  Jesse  Smith,  master, 


entered  from  Archangel  in  November,  1798,  with 
hemp,  cordage,  candles  and  soap,  consigned  to  John 
Derby,  Jr.  The  ship  "  Cincinnatus,"  Samuel  Endi- 
cott,  master,  entered  from  St.  Petersburg  in  Novem- 
ber, 1799,  consigned  to  Joseph  Peabody.  The  brig 
'•  Good  Hope,"  Nicholas  Thorndyke,  master,  entered 
from  St.  Petersburg  in  October,  1801,  consigned  to 
Nathaniel  West.  The  ship  "  Mount  Vernon,"  Samuel 
Endicott,  master,  entered  from  St.  Petersburg  in  Sep- 
tember, 1804,  consigned  to  Joseph  Peabody.  The 
brig  "Admittance,"  C.  Sampson,  master,  entered 
from  St.  Petersburg  in  September,  1805,  consigned  to 
John  Osgood.  The  brig  "Augusta,"  Timothy  Hara- 
den,  master,  entered  from  Archangel  in  September, 
1810,  consigned  to  Joseph  Peabody.  The  ship 
"  Friendship,"  Edward  Stanley,  master,  entered  from 
this  same  port  in  September,  1811,  consigned  to  Jer- 
athmael  Peirce.  The  ship  "  America,"  Samuel 
Briggs,  master,  entered  from  Riga  in  April,  1812, 
consigned  to  Benjamin  W.  Crowninshield.  The  ship 
"  Herald,"  Eleazer  Graves,  master,  entered  from 
Archangel  in  August,  1815,  consigned  to  Nathaniel 
Silsbee.  The  brig  "  Saucy  Jack,"  Nathaniel  Osgood, 
master,  entered  from  Archangel  in  November,  1815, 
consigned  to  Pickering  Dodge. 

Among  the  later  arrivals  was  the  brig  "  Niagara," 
Oliver  Thayer,  master,  which  entered  from  Cron- 
stadt  in  September,  1828,  consigned  "to  Joseph  Pea- 
body. 

The  last  two  arrivals  from  Archangel  appear  to 
have  been  the  ship  "  Diomede,"  Samuel  L.  Page, 
master,  which  entered  from  that  port  in  October, 
1820,  and  the  schooner  "  Regulus,"  George  Chinn, 
master,  which  entered  in  November,  1820,  consigned 
to  Edward  Lander  and  others.  The  last  arrival  from 
Cronstadt  was  the  brig  "Mexican,"  H.  Johnson, 
master,  which  entered  in  August,  1836,  consigned  to 
Joseph  Peabody.  There  was  no  other  arrival  from 
Russia  until  September,  1843,  when  the  ship 
"  Eclipse,"  Johnson,  master,  entered  from  St.  Peters- 
burg, the  last  vessel  to  arrive  at  Salem  from  that 
port. 

Trade  with  Spain  and  Portugal. — Among  the 
earliest  ports  to  which  Salem  sent  the  products  of  her 
fisheries  for  a  market,  were  those  of  Spain  and  Portu- 
gal. This  trade  began  before  the  year  1700,  in 
which  year  Higginson  speaks  of  the  foreign  trade  of 
Salem,  as  being  in  "dry  merchantable  codfish  for  the 
markets  of  Spain  and  Portugal."  Bilboa  and  Lisbon 
were  among  the  ports  earliest  visited.  In  1710  the 
ship  "  Macklesfield,"  a  frigate  of  three  hundred  tons, 
belonging  to  London  and  from  Lisbon,  was  cast 
away  outside  of  Baker's  Island  and  lost.  In  Febru- 
ary, 1715,  the  ship  "Hopewell,"  loaded  with  fish  for 
Bilboa  and  anchored  in  the  harbor,  was  driven 
ashore  on  the  rocks  in  South  Field.  Most  of  her 
cargo  was  unloaded  before  she  was  got  off, 

Bilboa  and  Lisbon  are  mentioned  as  ports  with 
which    Salem    vessels    traded    from    1714    to   1718. 


96 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Philip  English  was  trading  at  Spanish  ports  from 
1694  to  1720  ;  and  Richard  Derby,  from  1732  to  1757. 
The  last  entry  from  Bilboa  was  in  1809.  The  years 
1803  and  1807  show  each  eight  entries  from  Lisbon. 
From  1800  to  1808  the  trade  with  Spain  and  Portu- 
gal was  at  its  height.  Bilboa,  Cadiz,  Barcelona,  Ma- 
laga, Tarragona,  Alicant,  Lisbon  and  Oporto  were 
among  the  ports  from  which  Salem  vessels  brought 
cargoes.  After  the  War  of  1812  there  were  but  few 
entries  from  either  of  those  ports,  saving  that  of  an 
occasional  cargo  of  salt  from  Cadiz. 

The  ship  "  Astrea,"  Henry  Prince,  master,  entered 
from  Alicant  in  April,  1799,  with  fifty-eight  thousand 
and  three  gallons  of  brandy  and  four  thousand  four 
hundred  and  forty-six  gallons  of  wine,  consigned  to 
Ellas  H.  Derby,   and   paying   a  duty  of  $20,930.59. 
The  brig  "  Favorite,"  Henry  Rust,  Jr.,  master,  enter- 
ed from  Bilboa  in  December,  1800,  consigned  to  Peter 
Lander  &  Co.     The  schooner  "  Willard,''  from  Ali- 
cant in  July,   1800,   with  red  wine   and   brandy,  to 
Willard,   Peele  &   Co.      The  brig  "  Essex,"  Joseph 
Orne,  master,  from  Barcelona  in  July,  1800,  with  red 
wine  and  soap  to  William  Orne.    The  brig  "  Nancy,'' 
Thomas  Barker,  master,  from  Tarragona  in  October' 
1801,  with  brandy  to  Samuel  Gray.    The  snow  "  Con- 
cord," William  Leech,  Jr.,  master,  from  Oporto  in 
September,   1802,  with  port  wine,  etc.,   to   William 
Gray.     The  brig  "  Hannah,'^  Clifford  C.  Byrne,  mas- 
ter, from  Malaga  in  November,  1802,  with  wine,  etc., 
to  Joseph   White.     The  ship    "  Restitution,"   John 
Derby  (3d),  master,  from  Lisbon  in  April,  1805,  with 
wine,  figs  and  salt  to  Simon  Forrester.      The  bark 
"  Active,"  William  P.  Richardson,  master,  from  Ma- 
laga in  June,  1807,  with  twenty-three  thousand  seven 
hundred   and    forty-six   gallons   of  Malaga  wine  to 
Timothy   Wellman,  Jr.      The  brig    "  Washington," 
Nathan  Story,  master,  from  Barcelona  in  July,  1807, 
with   red    wine,    brandy     and     soap,    consigned    to 
Stephen  Phillips.      The  brig  "  Sukey  and  Betsey," 
Caleb  Cook, 'master,  from  Malaga  in  November,  1807, 
with  wine  and  raisins  to  Edward  Allen.      The  ship 
"  Sally,"  Nathan  Cook,  master,  from  Lisbon  in  Sep- 
tember, 1824,  with  salt,  etc.,  to  James  Cook.     The 
last  entry  from  Lisbon  was  in  1829.      The  principal 
articles  imported  from  Spain  and  Portugal  were  salt, 
wine,  brandy  and  soap. 

Trade  with  other  European  Ports. — Prior  to 
the  War  of  1812  Salem  vessels  were  to  be  found  in 
all  the  principal  ports  of  Europe,  and  Salem  mer- 
chants were  trading  with  Copenhagen,  Gottenburg, 
Stockholm,  Amsterdam,  Antwerp,  Hamburg,  Rotter- 
dam, London,  Liverpool  and  Bordeaux.  The  princi- 
pal trade  with  Copenhagen  was  between  1796  and 
1807.  There  were  eight  entries  in  1799;  that  with 
Gottenburg,  from  1809  to  1812,  and  from  1820  to  1823, 
there  being  thirteen  entries  from  that  port  in  1810; 
that  with  Antwerp,  from  1817  to  1830,  there  being 
nine  entries  from  that  port  in  1827  ;  that  with  Ham- 
burg, from  1798  to  1802,  there  being  five  entries  in 


the  last-named  year;  that  with  Amsterdam,  from 
1802  to  1806,  there  being  five  entries  in  the  first- 
named  year  ;  and  that  with  Bordeaux,  from  1794  to 
1807,  there  being  twelve  entries  in  1804  and  the  same 
number  in  1805,  the  whole  period  showing  sixty-nine 
entries.  There  were  only  occasional  entries  from  the 
other  ports.  The  last  entry  from  Copenhagen  was 
in  1816 :  from  Amsterdam,  in  1823  ;  from  Antwerp,  in 
1836 ;  from  Hamburg,  in  1828 ;  from  Gottenburg,  in 
1837  ;  from  Rotterdam,  in  1834  ;  and  from  Bordeaux, 
in  1815. 

From  Copenhagen  the  brig  "  Francis,"  J.  Wallace 
master,  entered  in  March,  1792,  and  again  in  Novem- 
ber, 1792,  with  iron  and  glass,  consigned  to  William 
Gray.  The  early  trade  with  Copenhagen  seems  to 
have  been  carried  on  largely  by  Mr.  Gray.  John  Fish, 
Ezekiel  H.  Derby,  Joseph  Peabody,  Thomas  Perkins, 
and  George  Crowninshield  &  Sons  were  also  engaged 
in  this  trade.  The  whole  number  of  entries  from 
Copenhagen  was  forty-five.  The  last  entry  was  the 
schooner  "'  Rover,"  Josiah  Dewing  master,  in  August, 
1816,  consigned  to  Pickering  Dodge. 

The  brig  "  Hector,"  Captain  Lewis,  arrived  in  1788. 
While  the  brig  lay  at  Marlstrand,   where  she   dis- 
charged her  cargo,  a  Swedish  ship  was  wrecked  on  a 
very  rough  and  rocky  part  of  the  island  in  a  violent 
storm.     The   crew,   with  assistance   from   the    land, 
soon  got  safely  ashore,  except  the  mate,  who  went 
overboard  with  the  fore-mast,  to  the  top  of  which  he 
had  retreated  for  safety.   The  mast  remained  attached 
to  the  wreck  by  the  shrouds,  and  the  man  continued 
his  hold  on  the  mast,  the  waves  continually  breaking 
over  him.     The  sea  was  in  such  violent  agitation  and 
the  shore  so  rugged  that  an  attempt  to  recover  him 
was   extremely   hazardous.       About    twenty   sail   of 
Swedes  were  then  in  the  harbor,  whose  boats  were 
many  of  them  employed  to  succor  the  distressed  ob- 
ject, but  returned  without  effecting  it,  intimidated  by 
the  danger.     At  length  ai^plication  was  made  to  Cap- 
tain Lewis's  crew  for  their  assistance,  with  the  offer 
of  a  considerable  pecuniary  reward  if  they  would 
make  the  attempt,  even  should  it  fail  of  success,  but 
they  nobly  refused  going  on  a  mercenary  principle. 
However,  from  pure  motives  of  humanity,  the  mate 
and  six  hands  went  off  in  a  boat,  at  the  utmost  haz- 
ard of  their  lives  and  under  the  discouraging  repre- 
sentations of  those  Swedes  who  had  before  sailed, 
surmounted  every  danger,  and  brought  the  sufferer, 
with  just  the  remains  of  life,  ashore,  after  hanging, 
as   it  were,  by  a  straw  several  hours  in  the  water. 
The  offer  of  money  was  now  repeated  to  them,  and 
again   refused.     The   Governor   of  the  place  being 
made  acquainted  with  the  transaction,  sent  for  these 
brave  Americans  to  his  house,  and,  taking  each  of 
them  by  the  hand,  made  the  most  honorary  acknowl- 
edgments  for   their   successful    exertions    to   rescue 
from  destruction  a  subject  of  Sweden,  but  a  stranger 
to  them,  and  presented  the  mate  with  a  golden  spoon 
and  each  of  the  othf  rs  with  a  silver  spoon,  as  testi- 


SALEM. 


97 


monies  of  their  heroism  and  humanity,  and  also 
granted  them  the  liberty  of  walking  in  any  part  of 
the  city  at  any  time  of  day  or  night,  a  privilege  in 
which  even  their  own  subjects  are  not  indulged.  In 
short,  so  much  was  this  act  admired  that  it  gained 
them  every  mark  of  respect  from  the  citizens,  and 
the  name  of  an  American,  says  the  account,  became 
synonymous  with  that  of  hero  and  friend. 

From  Gottenburg  the  schooner  "  Nancy,"  Richard 
Derby  master,  entered  in  August,  1791,  with  iron, 
consigned  to  E.  H.  Derby,  Jr.,  &  Co.  and  John  Fisk. 
The  ship  "  Nancy,''  J.  Devereux  master,  entered  in 
August,  1792,  consigned  to  John  Fisk.  From  1794  to 
1804  there  were  no  entries  from  this  port.  The  ship 
"Rising  States,"  Benjamin  Beckford,  Jr.,  master,  en- 
tered in  February,  1804,  with  hemp,  to  William  Gray. 
The  schooner  "  Saucy  Jack,"  Benjamin  Upton  master, 
in  September,  1809,  with  glass,  to  Timothy  Wellman, 
Jr.  The  brig  "Neptune,"  Henry  King  master,  in 
December,  1810,  with  cordage,  steel  and  sheet-iron, 
to  John  Saunders.  The  ship  "  China,"  Hiram  Put- 
nam, master,  in  October,  1820,  with  iron,  to  Joseph 
Peabody.  The  brig  "Jane,"  Thomas  Saul  master, 
in  July,  1820,  with  iron,  to  Willard  Peele.  The  brig 
"  Roscoe,"  J.  Briggs  master,  in  October,  1825,  with 
iron,  to  Charles  Saunders.  The  brig  "Cynthia," 
Benjamin  Shillaber  master,  in  October,  1826,  to 
David  Pingree.  The  ship  "  Borneo,"  I.  Nichols  mas- 
ter, in  September,  1835,  with  iron,  consigned  to  Z.  F. 
Silsbee.  The  brig  "Leander,"  J.  S.  Kimball  master, 
in  August,  1836,  to  Joseph  Peabody.  The  whole 
number  of  entries  from  Gottenburg  was  sixty-one. 
The  last  entry  was  the  brig  "  Mexican,"  in  July,  1837, 
consigned  to  Joseph  Peabody. 

From  Antwerp  the  ship  "  Messenger,"  Edward 
Stanley  master,  entered  in  June,  1817,  consigned  to 
John  Forrester.  The  brig  "Nancy  Ann,"  John  B. 
Osgood  master,  in  August,  1817,  to  Stephen  Phillii^s. 
The  brig  "Naiad,"  Nathaniel  Osgood  master,  in  July, 
1823,  to  Gideon  Barstow  and  others.  The  brig 
'*  Indus,"  Thomas  Moriarty  master,  in  April,  1826,  to 
Pickering  Dodge.  The  brig  "  Centurion,"  William 
Duncan  master,  in  May,  1826,  with  linseed-oil,  to 
Nathaniel  West,  Jr.  The  ship  "  Friendship,"  Na- 
thaniel Osgood  master,  in  May,  1827.  The  brig 
"  Niagara,"  Oliver  Thayer  master,  in  August,  1829, 
to  Joseph  Peabody.  The  whole  number  of  entries 
from  Antwerp  was  fifty-five.  The  last  entry  was  the 
brig  "  Curlew,"  J.  Cheever  master,  in  October,  1886, 
consigned  to  Edward  Allen. 

From  Amsterdam  the  brig  "  Peggy,"  Jonathan 
Derby  master,  entered  in  Sejitember,  1794,  with 
glassware,  paint,  iron,  steel  and  ribbons,  consigned  to 
Benjamin  Pickman,  Jr.  The  ship  "  Essex,"  Solomon 
Stan  wood  master,  in  September,  1800,  with  forty-two 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy-one  pounds  of 
cheese,  five  thousand  pounds  of  nails  and  eight  thou- 
sand gallons  of  gin,  to  Nathaniel  West  and  William 
Gray.  The  ship  "  Minerva,"  Matthew  Folger  master, 
7 


in  September,  1802,  with  gin,  steel  and  cheese,  to 
West,  Williams  &  Crowninshield.  The  whole  number 
of  entries  from  Amsterdam  was  twenty-three.  The 
last  entry  was  the  ship  "  Endeavour,"  James  D.  Gillis 
master,  in  October,  1823. 

From  Hamburg  the  schooner  "John,"  Benjamin 
Webb  master,  entered  in  December,  1792,  with  steel, 
glass  and  spirits,  consigned  to  John  Fisk.  The 
schooner  "  Patty,"  Edward  Allen,  Jr.,  master,  in 
October,  1794,  with  gin,  brandy,  hemp  and  Bohea  tea, 
to  Nathaniel  West.  The  brig  "  Hope,"  Benjamin 
Shillaber  master,  in  October,  1794,  to  John  Norris. 
The  brig  "  Salem,"  Oliver  Obear  master,  in  June, 
1799,  with  gin  and  hemp,  to  William  Gray.  The 
ship  "  Friendship,"  Israel  Williams  master,  in  July, 
1799,  to  Peirce  &  Wait.  The  brig  "  Thetis,"  John 
Fairfield  master,  in  November,  1799,  to  Jonathan 
Gardner.  The  schooner  "Cynthia,"  John  H.  An- 
drews master,  in  November,  1801,  to  Pickering  Dodge 
and  others.  The  brig  "  Helen,"  Samuel  C.  Martin 
master,  in  December,  1816,  with  iron,  to  Humphrey 
Devereux.  The  brig  "  Roscoe,"  Benjamin  Vander- 
ford  master,  in  September,  1823.  The  whole  number 
of  entries  from  Hamburg  was  thirty-six.  The  last 
entry  was  the  brig  "  Texel,"  Samuel  Wells  master,  in 
January,  1828. 

From  Rotterdam  the  ship  "Peggy,"  James  Very 
master,  entered  in  August,  1791.  The  ship  "Active," 
George  Nichols  master,  in  August,  1803,  with  gin,  to 
Benjamin  Hodges  &  Co.  The  bark  "  Georgetown," 
Joshua  Saffbrd  master,  in  September,  1806,  to  Pick- 
ering Dodge.  The  brig  "  Indus,"  John  Day  master, 
in  November,  1823,  with  white-lead,  nutmegs  and 
mace,  to  Henry  Prince.  The  whole  number  of 
entries  from  Rotterdam  was  sixteen.  The  last  entry 
was  the  ship  "  Borneo,"  C.  Prescott  master,  in  May, 
1834. 

From  Bordeaux  the  brig  "  Essex,"  John  Green 
master,  entered  in  November,  1790,  consigned  to 
Orne  &  Saunders.  The  brig  "Columbia,"  Henry 
Rust  master,  in  April,  1792,  to  William  Gray.  The 
brig  "  Nancy,"  Edward  West  master,  in  July,  1794, 
with  wine  and  sweetmeats,  to  John  Derby,  Jr.  The 
brig  "  Favorite,"  Peter  Lander  master,  in  October, 
1795,  to  John  Norris  &  Co.  The  schooner  "Betsey," 
Israel  Williams  master,  in  November,  1796,  with 
brandy,  wine  and  cheese,  to  Peirce  &  Wait.  The 
brig  "Exchange,"  William  Richardson  master,  in 
May,  1797,  with  claret  wine  and  brandy,  to  Ezekiel 
H.  Derby.  The  schooner  "  Jason,"  Benjamin  West, 
Jr.,  master,  in  June,  1797,  to  Benjamin  West  &  Son. 
The  brig  "  Nancy,"  Jonathan  Neal  master,  in  August, 
1797,  to  William  Gray.  The  brig  "  Catherine,"  Dan- 
iel Gould  master,  in  May,  1803,  to  Joseph  Peabody. 
The  brig  "Pompey,"  James  Gilchrist  master,  in 
March,  1804,  with  wine  and  twenty-one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  seventy-two  gallons  of  brandy,  to 
Joshua  Ward.  The  ship  "  Prudent,"  Edward  Ford 
master,  in  July,  1804,  to  Nathaniel  West.     The  brig 


98 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


"  Edwin,"  Penn  Townsend  master,  in  October,  1804, 
with  wine  and  prunes,  to  Moses  Townsend.  The  brig 
"  Industry,  J.  Cook  master,  in  February,  1805,  to 
William  Orne.  The  ship  "Algol,"  Thomas  Folinsbie 
master,  in  October,  1807,  with  wine,  to  Nathan  Rob- 
inson. The  whole  number  of  entries  from  Bordeaux 
was  seventy-five.  The  last  entry  was  the  schooner 
"Cyrus,"  Benjamin  Upton  master,  in  November, 
1815,  with  brandy,  yellow  ochre  and  prunes,  to  Robert 
Upton. 

From  Stockholm  the  ship  "China,"  H.  Putnam 
master,  entered  in  August,  1823,  consigned  to  Joseph 
Peabody.  The  brig  "  Centurion,"  Samuel  Hutchin- 
son master,  in  October,  1829,  with  iron,  consigned  to 
Gideon  Tucker. 

From  Christiana  the  brig  "  Industry,"  Samuel 
Smith  master,  entered  in  March,  1812,  with  iron 
hoops  and  window-glass,  to  William  Orne.  The 
brig  "  Cuba,"  Josiah  B.  Andrew  master,  in  Novem- 
ber, 1816,  with  iron,  steel  and  glass,  to  John  Andrew. 

On  the  7th  of  January,  1796,  the  ship  "Margaret," 
of  Boston,  John  Mackey  master,  with  a  valuable 
cargo  from  Amsterdam,  went  ashore  in  Salem  harbor, 
on  the  Eastern  Gooseberry,  during  a  snow-storm. 
The  captain  and  three  others  perished  on  the  wreck. 
The  rest  were  saved  by  men  from  Marblehead.  On 
the  11th  of  the  same  month  the  brig  "  John,"  Eben- 
ezer  B.  Ward  master,  from  London,  was  lost  on  the 
Great  Misery  during  a  snow-storm.  There  was  at 
this  time  no  light  on  Baker's  Island,  and  these  ship- 
wrecks led  the  Salem  Marine  Society  to  send  a  mem- 
orial to  Congress,  dated  in  February,  1796,  in  which 
it  is  stated  that  "  much  of  the  property  and  many  of 
the  lives  of  their  fellow-citizens  are  almost  every  year 
lost  in  coming  into  the  harbor  of  Salem,  for  want  of 
proper  lights  to  direct  their  course.  No  less  than 
three  vessels,  with  their  cargoes,  and  sixteen  seamen 
have  been  lost  the  present  season."  The  act  author- 
izing the  erection  of  a  light-house  on  Baker's  Island 
was  approved  April  8, 1796,  and  the  lights  were  shown 
for  the  first  time  January  3,  1798. 

On  the  21st  of  February,  1802,  the  ship  "  Ulysses," 
Captain  James  Cook,  the  "Brutus,"  Captain  William 
Brown,  owned  by  the  Messrs.  Crowninshield,  and  the 
"  Volucia,"  Captain  Samuel  Cook,  belonging  to  Israel 
Williams  and  others,  sailed  from  Salem  for  Bordeaux 
and  the  Mediterranean.  When  they  departed  the 
weather  was  remarkably  pleasant  for  the  season,  but 
in  a  few  hours  a  furious  snow-storm  commenced. 
After  using  every  exertion  to  clear  Cape  Cod,  the 
tempest  forced  them  the  next  day  upon  its  perilous 
shore.  The  "  Volucia"  struck  in  the  forenoon  and 
the  other  two  in  the  evening.  The  first  was  saved 
with  part  of  her  cargo,  but  the  others  were  total 
wrecks.  The  saddest  part  of  this  catastrophe  was  the 
loss  of  life  in  the  "  Brutus."  One  hand  Avas  killed 
by  the  fore-yard  prior  to  the  ship's  striking,  another 
was  drowned  Avhile  attempting  to  reach  the  shore, 
and  the  commander,  with  six  men,  perished  with  the 


cold  after  they  had  landed.  Captain  Samuel  Cook,  of 
the  "  Volucia,"  was  associated  with  mercantile  affairs 
in  Salem  for  a  long  period.  He  was  born  August  3, 
1769,  and  was  the  son  of  Stephen  and  Elizabeth 
(Newhall)  Cook.  In  1797  he  was  commanding  a 
vessel  bound  for  Cadiz.  During  the  palmy  days  of 
the  East  India  trade  he  was  engaged  in  distributing 
that  wealth  through  the  South.  He  died  in  Salem 
December  10,  1861,  having  lived  through  the  whole 
period  of  the  rise  and  decline  of  the  commerce  of 
Salem. 

Mediterranean  Trade. — Besides  the  Spanish 
ports  on  the  Mediterranean,  Salem  vessels  visited 
Marseilles,  Genoa,  Naples,  Leghorn,  Messina,  Paler- 
mo, Smyrna  and  Trieste.  Salt,  wine,  brandy,  figs, 
raisins,  almonds,  candles  and  soap  were  among  the 
articles  imported  from  those  ports.  Leghorn  and 
Marseilles  were  the  ports  most  frequently  visited. 
From  1804  to  1808  there  were  forty-six  entries  from 
the  former  and  twenty  from  the  latter  port.  From 
1821  to  1829  there  were  forty-one  entries  from  Leg- 
horn and  seventeen  from  Marseilles.  The  last  entry 
from  Leghorn  was  in  1841  and  from  Marseilles  in 
1833.  The  principal  trade  with  the  Mediterranean 
ports  was  from  1800  to  1808. 

From  Leghorn  the  ship  "  Martha,"  John  Prince, 
Jr.,  master,  entered  in  July,  1799,  with  40,893  gallons 
of  wine,  18,490  gallons  of  brandy  and  6744  pounds  of 
soap,  consigned  to  Elias  H.  Derby,  and  paying  a  duty 
of  $12,840.12.  The  ship  "Lucia,"  Thomas  Meek 
master,  in  July,  1800,  with  brandy,  soap,  etc.,  to  Wil- 
liam Gray,  and  paying  a  duty  of  $20,301.  The  brig 
"  Sukey,"  Samuel  Sweet  master,  in  August,  1800,  to 
Simon  Forrester.  The  ship  "  Friendship,"  Israel 
Williams  master,  in  September,  1805,  to  Peirce  & 
Wait.  The  brig  "  Betsey,"  Andrew  Tucker  master, 
in  June,  1806,  with  soap,  tallow,  figs,  currants,  raisins, 
almonds  and  candles,  to  Joseph  Peabody  and  Gideon 
Tucker.  The  ship  "America,"  Joseph  Ropes  master, 
in  June,  1807,  to  Nathaniel  Silsbee.  The  ship 
"  Hope,"  James  Barr  master,  in  November,  1807. 
The  brig  "  William  and  Charles,"  Isaac  Killam  mas- 
ter, in  November,  1807,  with  soap,  candles,  currants 
and  wine,  to  Michael  Shepard.  There  were  no  entries 
from  Leghorn  from  1808  to  1816.  The  ship  "So- 
phia," Jonathan  P.  Felt  master,  entered  in  April, 
1816,  consigned  to  Charles  H.  Orne.  The  ship 
"  Eliza,"  William  Osgood  master,  in  January,  1821, 
to  Stephen  Phillips.  The  brig  "  Essex,"  William 
Fairfield  master,  in  January,  1822,  with  candles,  soap, 
raisins,  etc.,  to  Nathaniel  Silsbee.  The  ship  "  Two 
Brothers,"  William  Messervy  master,  in  February, 
1823,  to  Holton  J.  Breed.  The  brig  "  Gov.  Endicott," 
H.  C.  Mackay  master,  in  October,  1823,  to  Pickering 
Dodge.  The  brig  "  Malay,"  J.  Richardson,  master, 
in  May,  1825,  with  lead  and  currants,  to  Nathaniel 
Silsbee.  The  bark  "  Patriot,"  John  Marshall  master, 
in  August,  1826,  to  John  H.  Andrew.  The  ship 
"  Janus^"  Henry  G.  Bridges  master,  in  August,  1829, 


SALEM. 


99 


with  salt,  wine  and  letter-paper,  to  Gideon  Tucker, 
The  brig  "  Amazon,"  Oliver  Thayer  master,  in  March, 
1882,  with  salt,  etc.,  to  Joseph  Peabody.  The  last 
vessel  to  arrive  from  Leghorn  was  the  brig  "Mexi- 
can," H.  Johnson  master.  She  entered  in  Septem- 
ber, 1839,  in  March,  1840,  and  in  September,  1841, 
consigned  on  each  voyage  to  Joseph  Peabody.  The 
whole  number  of  entries  from  Leghorn  was  one  hun- 
dred and  thirteen. 

From  Marseilles  the  schooner  "  Union,"  Stephen 
Field  master,  entered  in  October,  1802,  consigned  to 
Edward  Allen.  The  ship  "  Ulysses,"  William  Mug- 
ford  master,  in  August,  1804,  with  prunes,  almonds, 
18,199  pounds  of  soap,  48,233  gallons  of  wine  and 
1571  gallons  of  brandy,  consigned  to  William  Gray. 
The  ship  "Endeavour,"  James  Buffinton  master,  in 
July,  1805,  with  44,902  gallons  of  claret  wine,  etc.,  to 
Simon  Forrester.  The  brig  "  Industry,"  Jonathan 
Cook  master,  in  March,  1806,  to  William  Orne.  The 
brig  "  Sukey,"  Samuel  B.  Graves  master,  in  Novem- 
ber, 1807,  to  Nathan  Pierce.  The  schooner  "Aga- 
wam,"  Francis  Boardman  master,  in  June,  1816,  to 
John  Dodge.  The  ship  "  Perseverance,"  James  Sil- 
ver master,  in  October,  1816,  with  salt,  brandy  and 
claret  wine,  to  Willard  Peele  and  William  Fettyplace. 
The  brig  "  Cygnet,"  Samuel  Kennedy  master,  in 
July,  1823,  with  wine,  to  Stephen  White.  The  brig 
"  Java,"  William  H.  Neal  master,  in  September, 
1823,  with  35,295  gallons  of  red  wine,  1045  gallons  of 
oil  and  9708  pounds  of  soap,  to  Jonathan  Neal.  The 
ship  "  Endeavour,"  J.  Kinsman  master,  in  December, 
1827,  to  Dudley  L.  Pickman.  The  ship  "  Messenger," 
James  Buffinton  master,  in  January,  1828,  to  John 
Forrester.  The  ship  "  Bengal,"  J.  Richardson  mas- 
ter, in  August,  1830,  to  Pickering  Dodge.  The 
whole  number  of  entries  from  Marseilles  was  fifty- 
three.  The  last  entry  was  the  brig  "  Roque,"  T.  Sea- 
ver  master,  in  February,  1833,  with  salt,  etc.,  to 
Joseph  Peabody. 

From  Naples  the  ketch  "  John,"  Stephen  Phillips 
master,  entered  in  March,  1799,  with  25,000  gallons 
of  brandy  and  46,417  pounds  of  soap,  consigned  to 
Elias  H.  Derby,  and  paying  a  duty  of  $11,299.  The 
brig  "  Cruger,"  John  Barton  master,  in  July,  1800, 
with  soap  and  wine,  to  John  &  Richard  Derby.  The 
ship  "John,"  Daniel  Bray  master,  in  May,  1804,  with 
32,437  gallons  of  wine,  to  Benjamin  Pickman,  Jr. 
The  brig  "  Belleisle,"  Samuel  Leech  master,  in  Au- 
gust, 1805,  to  Pickering  Dodge  and  Nathan  Robin- 
son. The  ship  "  Hercules,"  Edward  West  master, 
was  seized  in  Naples  in  1809,  but  Captain  West  had 
the  good  fortune  to  obtain  her  release  in  order  to 
transport  Lucien  Bonaparte  and  family  to  Malta, 
thus  saving  his  ship  from  confiscation.  The  "  Her- 
cules "  was  owned  by  Nathaniel  West.  The  schooner 
"Joanna,"  Jonathan  Hassam  master,  entered  in  Jan- 
uary, 1810,  with  brandy,  etc.,  to  Samuel  Gray.  The 
last  entry  from  Naples  was  the  ship  "  Francis,"  Wil- 
liam Haskell  master,  in  August,  1810,     This  vesse' 


was  purchased  of  the  Neapolitan  government  by  the 
American  consul  to  bring  home  the  crews  of  Ameri- 
can vessels  confiscated  by  order  of  that  government. 
She  brought  two  hundred  and  fourteen  persons,  a 
large  number  of  whom  belonged  in  Salem.  The  Sa- 
lem vessels  and  cargoes  condemned  at  Naples  were 
valued  at  seven  hundred  and  eighty-three  thousand 
dollars. 

The  ship  "  Margaret,"  of  Salem,  William  Fairfield 
master,  left  Naples  April  10, 1810,  with  a  crew,  fifteen 
in  number,  and  thirty-one  passengers.  On  Sunday, 
May  20th,  a  squall  struck  the  ship,  and  she  was 
thrown  on  her  beam-ends.  As  every  person  on  board 
was  on  deck  at  the  time,  they  all  reached  either  the 
bottom  or  side  of  the  ship,  the  waves  at  the  time 
making  a  continual  breach  over  her.  Monday  morn- 
ing the  sea  was  tolerably  smooth,  and  one  of  the 
boats  having  been  repaired.  Captain  Fairfield  and 
fourteen  men  left  the  ship  in  her,  and  were  picked  up 
on  Saturday,  May  26th,  by  the  brig  "  Poacher,"  of 
Boston.  The  sufferings  of  those  left  on  the  wreck 
can  hardly  be  imagined.  After  the  long-boat  had 
departed  they  raised  a  signal  of  distress.  On  the 
28th  a  gale  swept  away  the  stage  they  had  erected, 
and  the  provisions  they  had  gathered,  except  a  small 
quantity  of  wine  and  salt  meat.  On  the  30th  they 
made  another  stage  over  the  forecastle,  and  so  kept 
themselves  out  of  the  water.  June  3d  one  of  the 
number  died  of  fatigue  and  famine.  For  seven  days 
they  had  nothing  to  drink  each  day  but  an  allowance 
of  three  gallons  of  wine  for  all,  and  a  glass  of  vine- 
gar for  each  man.  Many  could  not  resist  the  temp- 
tation to  quench  their  thirst  from  a  pipe  of  brandy 
which  had  been  saved  from  the  cargo.  On  the  5th 
twelve  of  their  number,  overcome  by  their  hardships 
and  privations,  died,  and  another  on  the  next  day.  By 
the  sixth  the  whole  of  the  upper  deck  had  gone,  and 
no  food  was  left  but  beef  and  pork,  which  could  not 
be  eaten  because  there  was  no  fresh  water.  Since 
the  time  of  the  disaster.  May  20th,  four  vessels  had 
passed  in  sight  of  the  sufferers  on  the  wreck  and 
added  the  pangs  of  disappointed  hope  to  their  other 
trials. 

On  the  7tli,  five  of  the  number  left  the  wreck  in  a 
small  yawl.  These  were  John  C.  Very,  E.  A.  Irvin, 
and  Jeptha  Layth,  of  Salem;  Henry  Larcom,  of  Bev- 
erly; and  John  Treadwell,  of  Ipswich.  They  left 
about  ten  survivors  on  the  wreck,  and  from  these  no 
tidings  ever  came.  Who  can  imagine  their  agony,  as 
hope  gradually  faded  out,  and  they  died  one  by  one 
in  mid-ocean.  The  escape  of  those  in  the  small  boat 
is  a  remarkable  instance  of  human  endurance,  amid 
sufferings  and  hardships  almost  incredible.  For  six- 
teen days  after  leaving  the  wreck  they  had  nothing  to 
sustain  them  but  brandy,  a  gill  in  twenty-four  hours; 
and  to  quench  their  thirst  were  obliged  to  resort  to 
most  revolting  means.  On  the  night  of  June  22d 
there  was  a  fall  of  rain,  and  water  was  caught  in 
handkerchiefs,  sufficient  to  partially  allay  their  thirst. 


100 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


June  23d,  Treadwell,  worn  out  with  fatigue,  hunger, 
and  thirst,  died  without  a  struggle.  The  same  day 
they  caught  some  rudder  fish,  which  was  the  first  food 
they  had  eaten  since  they  had  left  the  wreck.  On  the 
twenty-eighth  Layth  died,  leaving  three  survivors  in 
the  boat.  The  next  day,  with  a  heavy  sea  running, 
they  lost  their  oars  and  mast,  and  having  nothing  to 
steer  by  they  gave  themselves  up  for  lost.  They  had 
already  been  passed  by  three  vessels,  when,  on  the 
30th,  they  saw  another  in  the  distance,  and  strained 
every  nerve  to  get  in  her  track.  In  this  they  were 
successful,  and  Captain  Stephen  L.  Davis,  of  Glouces- 
ter, the  master  of  the  vessel,  received  them  and  treated 
them  with  great  care  and  kindness.  Tossed  about  in 
a  small  and  shattered  boat  for  twenty-three  days,  with 
scarcely  any  food  or  water  to  sustain  them,  exposed  to 
storms  and  gales  in  which  it  seemed  hardly  possible 
that  such  a  craft  could  keep  afloat,  their  escape  from 
such  extraordinary  perils  and  privations  is  hardly 
paralleled  in  the  history  of  marine  disasters. 

From  Messina,  the  ship  "Prudent,"  Benjamin 
Crowninshield,  master,  entered  in  December,  1803, 
with  11,406  gallons  of  red  wine,  6,413  gallons  of  white 
wine,  4,303  gallons  of  brandy,  and  9,810  pounds  of 
soap,  consigned  to  Nathaniel  West.  The  ship  "  Two 
Brothers,"  John  Holman,  master,  in  October,  1804,  to 
Israel  Williams.  The  brig  "  Louisa,"  llichard  Ward, 
Jr.,  master,  in  August,  1810,  to  James  Cook.  The  brig 
"  Harriot,"  Samuel  Becket,  master,  in  October,  1811, 
with  soap,  raisins,  almonds  and  wine  to  Nathaniel 
Silsbee.  The  brig  "Eliza  and  Mary,"  Thorndike 
Procter,  master,  in  August,  1818,  to  Stephen  White. 
The  last  entry  was  the  brig  "  Centurion,"  Samuel 
Hutchinson,  master,  in  June,  1831,  with  currants,  oil, 
&c.,  to  Gideon  Tucker. 

From  Smyrna,  the  brig  "Independence,"  Nathaniel 
L.  Rogers,  master,  entered  in  April,  1810,  to  Dudley 
L.  Pickman.  The  brig  "Reward,"  James  Hayes,  Jr., 
master,  in  July,  1810,  with  almonds,  raisins. and  figs, 
consigned  to  Charles  H.  Orne  and  Dudley  L.  Pick- 
man.  The  brig  "  Resolution,"  Samuel  Rea,  master, 
in  April,  1812,  to  Joseph  Peabody.  The  brig  "Hope," 
John  Beckford,  master,  in  December,  1829,  with  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  pounds  of  figs,  to 
Daniel  Abbot  and  Robert  Stone.  The  last  entry  was 
the  brig  "  Leander,"  James  Silver,  master,  in  January, 
1831,  with  salt,  figs,  raisins  and  wool,  to  Joseph  Pea- 
body. 

From  Trieste,  the  brig  "Texel,"  Charles  Hill,  mas- 
ter, entered  in  December,  1825,  with  olive  oil  and 
lead,  consigned  to  John  W.  Rogers.  The  bark  "  Eliza," 
Samuel  Benson,  master,  in  July,  1829,  with  hemp  and 
glass,  to  Stephen  White. 

The  brig  "  Persia,"  John  Thistle,  master,  from 
Trieste  for  Salem,  belonging  to  Silsbee,  Stone  &  Pick- 
man,  and  having  a  cargo  of  rags  and  sumac,  was 
wrecked  in  the  storm  of  March  5,  1829,  on  a  rocky 
shore  near  Brace's  Cove,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  below 
Eastern  Point,  Gloucester,  and  all  on  board  perished. 


From  Genoa,  the  brig  "  Nereus,"  David  A.  Neal, 
master,  entered  in  March,  1822,  with  raisins,  &c.,  to 
John  W.  Rogers.  The  brig  "  Rebecca,"  J.  P.  An- 
drews, master,  in  July,  1831,  to  John  H.  Andrew. 

Among  other  entries  was  that  of  the  brig  "Telema- 
chus,"  Penn  Townsend,  master,  from  Constantinople 
in  May,  1810,  with  cordage  figs,  raisins  and  currants, 
to  David  Burditt. 

Among  the  last  voyages  projected  by  Elias  Hasket 
Derby  was  one  up  the  Mediterranean,  by  the  ship 
"  Mount  Vernon,"  in  1799.  Hostilities  had  com- 
menced between  the  United  States  and  France. 
American  trade  had  been  rendered  unsafe,  and,  as  a 
consequence,  a  great  demand  for  sugar  had  arisen  in 
the  ports  of  the  Mediterranean.  At  this  crisis  Mr. 
Derby  had  built  the  ship  "  Mount  Vernon,"  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty-six  tons,  equipped  her  with  twenty 
guns,  manned  her  with  fifty  men,  and,  after  loading 
her  with  eight  hundred  cases  of  sugar,  placed  her  in 
the  hands  of  his  son,  Elias  Hasket,  with  a  sailing- 
master.  The  cargo  cost  forty-three  thousand  two 
hundred  and  seventy-five  dollars.  The  following 
letter,  written  by  his  son,  is  interesting  as  showing 
the  risks  attending  our  commercial  ventures  at  this 


"  GiBRALTAE,  Ist  AllgUSt,  1799. 


period : 

"  E.  H.  Derby,  Esq.,  Salem : 

"  Honored  Sir :  I  think  you  must  be  surprised  to  find  me  here  so  early. 
I  arrived  at  this  port  in  seventeen  and  one-half  days  from  the  time  my 
brother  left  the  ship.  In  eight  days  and  seven  hours  were  up  with 
Carvo,  and  made  Cape  St.  Vincent  in  sixteen  days.  The  first  of  our 
passage  was  quite  agreeable  ;  the  latter  light  winds,  calm,  and  French- 
men constantly  in  sight  for  the  last  four  days.  The  first  Frenchman  we 
saw  was  off  Tercira—  a  lugger  to  the  southward.  Being  uncertain  of  his 
force,  we  stood  by  him  to  leeward  on  our  course,  and  soon  left  him.  July 
28th,  in  the  afternoon,  we  found  ourselves  approaching  a  fleet  of  up- 
wards of  fifty  sail  steering  nearly  northeast.  We  ran  directly  for  their 
centre;  at  four  o'clock  found  ourselves  in  their  half-moon  ;  concluding 
it  Impossible  that  it  could  be  any  other  than  the  English  fleet,  continued 
our  course  for  their  centre  to  avoid  any  apprehension  of  a  want  of  confi- 
dence in  them.  They  soon  dispatched  an  eighteen-gun  ship  from  their 
centre,  and  two  frigates — one  from  their  van  and  another  from  their 
rear — to  beat  toward  us,  we  being  to  windward.  On  approaching,  under 
easy  sail,  the  centre  ship  I  fortunately  bethought  myself  that  it  would  be 
but  common  prudence  to  steer  so  far  to  windward  of  him  as  to  be  a 
grape-shot  distance  from  him,  to  observe  his  force  and  manceuvering. 
When  we  were  abreast  of  him  lie  fired  a  gun  to  leeward  and  hoisted 
English  colors.  We  immediately  bore  away  and  meant  to  pass  under 
his  quarter,  between  him  and  the  fleet,  showing  our  American  colors. 
This  movement  disconcerted  him,  and  it  appeared  to  me  he  conceived  we 
were  either  an  American  sloop  of  war  or  an  English  one  in  disguise,  at- 
tempting to  cut  him  off  from  the  fleet ;  for,  while  we  were  in  the  act  of 
wearing  on  his  beam,  he  hoisted  French  colors  and  gave  us  his  broad- 
side. We  immediately  brought  our  ship  to  the  wind  and  stond  on  about 
a  mile  ;  wore  toward  the  centre  of  the  fleet ;  hove  about  and  crossed 
him  on  the  other  tack,  about  half  grape-shot  distance,  and  received  his 
broadside.  Several  of  his  shot  fell  on  board  of  us  and  cut  our  sails,  two 
round-shot  striking  us  without  much  damage.  All  hands  were  active  in 
clearing  ship  for  action,  for  our  surprise  had  been  complete.  In  about 
ten  minutes  we  commenced  firing  our  stern-chasers,  and  in  a  quarter  of 
an  hour  gave  him  our  broadside  in  such  a  style  as  evidently  sickened 
him  ;  for  he  immediately  luffed  in  the  wind,  gave  us  his  broads^ide,  went 
in  stays  in  great  confusion,  wore  ship  afterward  in  a  large  circle,  and 
renewed  the  chase  at  a  mile  and  a  lis  If  distance,  a  manoeuvre  calculated 
to  keep  up  appearances  with  the  fleet  and  to  escape  our  shot.  We  re- 
ceived seven  or  eight  broadsides  from  him,  and  I  was  mortified  at  not 
having  it  in  my  power  to  retui  n  him  an  equal  number  without  exposing 
myself  to  the  rest  of  the  fleet,  for  I  am  persuaded  I  should  have  had  the 
pleasure  of  sending  him  h..  me,  had  he  been  separate  from  them. 


SALEM. 


101 


"At  midnight  we  had   distanced   them,  the  chasing  rocket-signals 
being  almost  out  of  sight,  and  soon  left  them.     We  then  kept  ourselves 
in  constant  preparation  till  my  arrival  here  ;    and,  indeed,  it  has  been 
requisite,  for  we  have  been  in  constant  brushes  ever  since.     The  day 
after  we  left  the  fleet  we  were  chased  till  night  by  two  frigates,  whom 
we  lost  sight  of  when  it  was  dark.     The  next  morning  off  Cape  St.  Vin- 
cent, in  the  latitude  of  Cadiz,  were  chased  by  a  French  lateen-rigged 
vessel,   apparently   of  ten  or  twelve   guns— one  of  them   an   eighteen 
pounder.     We  brought  to  for  him  ;  his  metal  was  too  heavy  for  ours,  and 
his  position  to  windward,  where  he  lay  just  in  a  situation  to  cast  his  shot 
over  us,  and  it  was  not  in  my  power  to  cut  him  off;  we,  of  course,  bore 
away  and  saluted  him  with  our  long  nines.      He  continued  in  chase  till 
dark,  and  when  we  were  nearly  by  Cadiz,  at  sunset,  he  made  a  signal  to 
his  consort,  a  large  lugger,'whom  we  had  just  discovered  ahead.   Having 
a  strong  breeze,  I  was  determined  to  pass  my  stern  over  him,  if  he  did 
not  make  way  for  me.     He  thought  prudent  so  to  do.      At  midnight  we 
made  the  lights  in  Cadiz  City,  but  found  no  English  fleet.     After  laying 
to    till    daylight,    concluded   that   the   French  must   have  gained   the 
ascendency  in  Cadiz,  and  thought  prudent  to  proceed  to  this  place,  where 
we  arrived  at  twelve  o'clock,  popping  at  Frenchmen  all  the  forenoon. 
At  ten  A.  M.  off  Algesiras  Point,   were  seriously  attacked  by  a  large 
latineer,  who  had  on  board  more  than  a  hundred  men.      He  came  so 
near  our  broadside  as  to  allow  our  six-pound  grape  to  do  execution  hand- 
somely.    We  then  bore  away  and  gave  him  our  sterngiins  in  a  cool  and 
deliberate  manner,  doing  apparently  great  execution.    Our  bars  having 
cut  his  sails  considerably,  he  was  thrown  into  confusion,  struck  both  his 
ensign  and  his  pennant.     I  was  then  puzzled  to  know  what  to  do  with 
so  many  men  ;  our  ship  was  running   large,  with  all  her  steering-sails 
out,  so  that  we  could  not    immediately  bring  her  to  the  wind,  and  we 
were  directly  off  Algesiras  Point,  from  whence  I  had  reason  to  fear  she 
might  receive  assistance,  and  my  port  (Gibraltar)  in  full  view.     These 
■were  circumstances  that  induced  me  to  give  up  the  gratification  of  bring, 
ing  him  in.      It   was,  however,  a  satisfaction  to  flog  the  rascal  in  full 
view  of  the  English  fleet,  who  were  to  leeward.      The  risk  of  sending 
here  is  great,  indeed,  for  any  ship  short  of  our  force  in  men  and  guns — 
but  particularly  heavy  guns.      Two  nines  are  better  than  six  or  eight 
sixes  ;  and  two  long  twelves  or  thirteen  pounders  do  better  than  twenty 
sixes,  and  could  be  managed  with  few  men. 

"It  is  alisolutely  necessary  that  two  government  ships  should  occasion- 
ally range  the  straits  and  latitude  of  Cadiz,  from  the  longitude  of  Cape 
St.  Vincent.  I  have  now,  while  writing  to  you,  two  of  our  countrymen 
in  full  view,  who  are  prizes  to  these  villains.  Lord  St.  Vincent,  in  a  fifty- 
gun  ship,  bound  for  England,  is  just  at  this  moment  in  the  act  of  re- 
taking one  of  them.  The  other  goes  into  Algesiras  without  molesta- 
tion. 

"  I  find  that  nothing  is  to  be  done  here  with  advantage  except  to  ob- 
tain information  from  above.  I  have  been  offered  thirty  dollars  to  de- 
liver my  sugar  at  Naples,  where  I  think  I  shall  go  ;  but  rather  expect  to 
sell  at  A'enice,  Constantinople  or  Genoa,  in  case  the  French  are  driven 
from  there.  I  have  concluded  to  touch  at  Malaga  with  Captain  Young, 
of  Boston,  and  obtain  what  information  I  can  ;  and  think  I  may  direct 
Mr.  White  ho\v  to  lay  out  the  property  in  his  hands,  against  my  return, 
as  I  think  it  for  your  interest  to  have  it  out  of  Spain.  You  need  have 
but  little  apprehension  for  my  safety,  as  my  crew  are  remarkably  well 
trained  and  are  perfectly  well  disposed  to  defend  themselves,  and  I  think, 
after  having  cleared  ourselves  from  the  French  in  such  a  handsome 
manner,  you  may  well  conclude  that  we  can  effect  almost  any  thing.  If 
I  should  go  to  Constantinople,  it  will  be  from  a  passport  from  Admiral 
Nelson,  for  whom  I  carry  a  letter  to  Naples. 

"  Your  affectionate  son, 

"  Elias  Hasket  Deeby." 

In  subsequent  letters  Mr.  Derby  writes  :  "  My  sales 
here  amount  to  about  $120,000,  which  I  have  found 
impossible  to  invest  immediately  in  a  cargo  proper  for 
America.  I  have,  therefore,  contracted  for  $60,000  in 
silks  called  ormazene,  and  about  seven  hundred  casks 
of  wine.  In  the  meantime,  whilst  the  silks  are  in  the 
loom,  I  have  thought  it  for  your  interest  to  purchase 
two  polacca-rigged  ships,  of  two  hundred  and  ninety 
and  three  hundred  and  ten  tons,  both  of  them  very 
fine  ships,  almost  new  and  great  sailers.  They  are 
now  ready  to  proceed  with  the  '  Mount  Vernon  '    for 


Manfredonia,  to  take  on  your  account  cargoes  of  wheat 
to  Leghorn,  which,  from  the  rising  state  of  the  mar- 
ket, I  think  will  more  than  clear  the  ships.  They 
cost,  with  all  expenses,  about  $16,000.  The  two  ships 
made  a  voyage  for  wheat  and  cleared  nearly  $30,000 
in  two  and  a  half  months."  Mr.  Derby  dined  with 
Lord  Nelson  and  the  oflacers  of  the  fleet  at  Naples. 
The  beautiful  Lady  Hamilton  was  present  at  this 
dinner.  The  "  Mount  Vernon  "  arrived  home  safely, 
with  a  cargo  of  silks,  wines  and  brass  cannon,  and 
realized  a  net  profit  of  more  than  one  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  on  a  capital  of  forty-three  thousand,  two 
hundred  and  seventy-five  dollars,  the  cost  of  the  out- 
ward cargo. 

The  foregoing  account  illustrates  the  great  disad- 
vantages, in  some  respects,  under  which  the  commerce 
of  that  period  was  prosecuted.  Mr.  Derby  desired  to 
return  to  Salem  from  the  Mediterranean  by  the  fall 
of  1799,  but  his  silks  must  be  manufactured  and  he 
must  wait  till  the  red  wine  of  Port  lolo  is  ready  to 
ship.  "Exchange  on  London,"  he  says,  "is  very 
disadvantageous,  besides  the  uncertainty  of  it,  and  to 
leave  property  in  a  distracted  country  like  this,  where 
they  guillotine  six  a  day,  three  or  four  times  a  week, 
would  be  madness."  So  he  must  perforce  remain  till 
his  cargo  is  ready,  and  that  he  may  not  remain  in 
idleness,  he  buys  two  ships  and  freights  wheat  to  Leg- 
horn, and  makes  nearly  thirty  thousand  dollars  in 
less  than  three  months.  He  returned  in  1800  with 
the  "  Mount  Vernon  "  and  a  valuable  cargo.  Great 
as  were  the  obstacles  placed  in  the  way  of  trade  at 
that  period,  these  very  drawbacks  made  possible  the 
sometimes  enormous  profits  of  the  voyage,  so  that 
although  to-day  trade  is  carried  on  with  greater  facil- 
ity, there  is  no  such  opportunity  for  making  a  for- 
tune in  a  single  venture,  as  was  possible  about  a 
hundred  years  ago. 

The  Nova  Scotia  Trade.— About  the  year  1840 
the  trade  between  Salem  and  Nova  Scotia,  and  the 
other  British  provinces  on  the  eastern  coast  of  North 
America,  began  to  be  vigorously  prosecuted,  mainly 
by  English  vessels,  whose  captains  often  owned  both 
ship  and  cargo.  This  trade  increased  very  rapidly. 
Wood,  coal  and  plaster  were  among  the  principal 
articles  of  import.  In  1840  there  were  fifteen  entries; 
in  1845,  one  hundred  and  seven ;  in  1850,  three  hun- 
dred and  ninety-one ;  in  1855,  three  hundred  and  twen- 
ty-eight :  in  1860,  two  hundred  and  fifteen ;  in  1865, 
one  hundred  and  eighteen  ;  in  1870,  one  hundred  and 
seventeen  ;  in  1875,  fifty-nine;  in  1878,  fifty-three ;  in 
1886,  ninety.  During  the  thirty  years  from  1841  to  1870, 
inclusive,  there  were  five  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
twenty-four  entries.  The  period  of  thegreatest  activity 
was  from  1848  to  1857,  inclusive,  when  there  were  3253 
entries,  or  an  average  of  325  for  each  year. 

The  California  Trade.— A  letter  giving  definite 
information  of  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California 
reached  Salem  in  October,  1848.  The  brig  "Mary 
and  Ellen  "  was  then  fitting  for  sea.     A   cargo  suita- 


102 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


ble  for  the  California  trade  was  at  once  put  on  board, 
by  Stephen  C.  Phillips  and  others,  and  the  brig,  un- 
der command  of  Captain  J.  H.  Eagleston,  was  cleared 
October  27,  1848,  for  the  Sandwich  Islands  via  Cali- 
fornia. Salem  again  takes  the  lead,  for  this  was  the 
first  vessel  to  sail  for  California  from  Massachusetts 
after  the  gold  discovery.  Both  vessel  and  cargo  were 
sold  in  California.  The  first  vessel  that  cleared  from 
Massachusetts  for  San  Francisco  direct,  with  an  as- 
sorted cargo  and  passengers,  was  the  bark  "  Eliza,"  of 
Salem,  loaded  by  John  Bertram  and  others,  and  com- 
manded by  Captain  A.  S.  Perkins.  She  left  Salem 
December  23,  1848,  and  arrived  at  San  Francisco 
June  1,  1849.  Alfred  Peabody,  of  Salem,  wa^  among 
the  passengers,  and  upon  his  arrival  he  found  that 
Captain  Eagleston  had  already  sold  the  "  Mary  and 
Ellen,"  and  her  cargo.  John  Beadle,  Jr.,  Dennis 
Rideout,  George  P.  Buffum,  George  W.  Kenney  and 
Jonathan  Nichols,  all  of  Salem,  were  passengers  with 
Mr.  Peabody. 

The  bark  "Lagrange,"  Joseph  Dewing,  master, 
sailed  from  Salem  for  San  Francisco  March  17,  1849, 
taking  as  passengers  the  "Salem  and  California 
Trading  Company,"  among  whom  were  Joseph  Dew- 
ing, Anthony  Francis,  Nicholas  Bovey,  J.  K.  Vincent, 
P.  Gilman,  John  H.  Pitman,  H.  B.  Bogardus,  H.  A. 
Tuttle,  C.  R.  Story,  A.  Robbins,  John  McCloy,  George 
Harris,  C.  C.  Teele,  Joseph  L.  Bartlett,  William  P. 
Leavitt,  Thomas  B.  Flowers,  Eben  Chapman,  Charles 
E.  Brown,  William  H.  Sibley,  O.  A.  Gordon,  John 
H.  Dakin,  Daniel  Couch,  D.  A.  Nichols,  Moses 
Prime,  Edward  Fuller,  William  Brown,  B.  F.  Sym- 
onds,  William  Sinclair  and  James  Stewart,  of  the 
Trading  Company,  and  Nathaniel  Osgood  and  Rich- 
ard H.  Austin,  all  of  Salem.  On  board  the  same  ves- 
sel were  twelve  passengers  from  Danvers,  four  from 
Lynn,  two  each  from  Manchester  and  Beverly,  four 
from  Gloucester  and  about  ten  from  other  places. 

The  ship  "  Elizabeth,"  J.  S.  Kimball,  master,  was 
cleared  for  San  Francisco  April  3,  1849,  by  W.  P. 
Phillips.  Brackley  R.  Peabody  and  Robert  M.  Cope- 
land,  of  Salem,  went  as  passengers.  The  bark  "  Ann 
Parry,"  Wm.  M.  Harron,  master,  was  cleared  June  20, 
1849,  for  San  Francisco,  by  Benjamin  Webb.  James 
C.  Briggs  and  Wra.  H.  Clark,  of  Salem,  were  passen- 
gers. The  ship  "Talma,"  Wm.  B.  Davis,  master, 
cleared  September  11,  1849,  and  the  bark  "  Backus," 
A.  D.  Caulfield,  Jr.,  master,  cleared  November  28, 
1849,  for  San  Francisco.  In  the  "  Backus"  Joseph 
Allen,  Charles  R.  Julyn,  Thomas  W.  Taylor,  Wm. 
Stafford  and  Wm  H.  Brown  went  as  passengers. 

The  ship  "  Crescent,"  John  Madison,  master, 
cleared  for  Benicia,  Cal.,  December  3,  1849.  She  had 
been  purchased  by  the  Salem  Mechanics'  Trading 
and  Mining  Association,  and  was  loaded  with  one 
hundred  and  thirty  thousand  feet  of  lumber,  framed 
and  made  ready  for  erection  into  houses,  and  the 
frame-work  of  a  small  steamboat.  On  the  6th  of  De- 
cember the  "Crescent"  left  Salem  with  the  following- 


named  members  of  the  association  as  passengers : 
Albert  Lackey,  Thomas  J.  Giffbrd,  Dean  C.  Symonds, 
John  Madison,  Thomas  Dickson,  Jr.,  John  H.New- 
ton, Jonathan  Davis,  Eben  Waters,  Nathaniel  Jenk- 
ins, John  D.  Chappie,  Edward  A.  Wheeler,  George 
S.  Nichols,  John  P.  Dickson,  Joshua  Pope,  Gilman 
Andrews,  Israel  Herrick,  Charles  L.  Hardy,  Wm. 
Graves,  Wm.  P.  Buff'um,  Asa  A.  Whitney,  Wm.  H. 
Searles,  James  Gardner,  Payne  Morse,  Benjamin  S. 
Boardman,  Samuel  H.  Larrabee  and  John  Nichols, 
all  of  Salem,  and  a  number  from  Lawrence,  Fitch- 
burg,  Lynn  and  Newton,  in  all  numbering  about 
sixty-one.  She  arrived  at  her  destination  May  26, 
1850,  and  was  sold,  with  her  cargo,  very  soon  after 
arrival. 

During  the  gold  excitement  a  large  number  of 
Salem  residents  went  to  California,  sailing  from  other 
ports.  Stephen  C.  Phillips  and  John  Bertram  were 
among  those  engaged  in  the  California  trade, 

Salem  Tonnage. — In  1793  twelve  ships  were 
owned  in  Salem ;  in  1807,  sixty ;  and  in  1833  only 
twenty-nine.  In  1825  there  were  thirty-two  ships, 
five  barks,  ninety-five  brigs,  sixty  schooners,  and  six 
sloops  owned  in  Salem,  measuring  thirty-four  thou- 
sand two  hundred  and  twenty-four  tons — the  ship 
"Nile,"  of  four  hundred  tons,  was  the  largest;  and  in 
1828  thirty  ships,  one  hundred  and  two  brig-*,  eight 
barks  and  thirty  schooners,  the  largest  being  the  ship 
"  Arabella,"  of  four  hundred  and  four  tons.  In  1833 
there  were  one  hundred  and  eleven  Salem  vessels  en- 
gaged in  the  foreign  trade. 

For  some  time  after  Salem  ceased  to  be  a  port  to 
which  vessels  from  foreign  countries  brought  their 
cargoes,  Salem  merchants  continued  to  own  a  large 
amount  of  tonnage,  but  they  transacted  their  busi- 
ness mainly  in  Boston  and  New  York.  At  the  pres- 
ent time  (1887)  there  are  hardly  a  dozen  vessels  hail- 
ing from  Salem  engaged  in  the  foreign  trade.  The  ship 
"Highlander,"  1352  tons,  owned  by  Benjamin  W. 
Stone  ;  the  ships  "  Sooloo,"  963  tons  ;  "  Mindoro," 
1021  tons ;  and  "  Panay,"  1190  tons,  owned  by  Sils- 
bee,  Pickman  &  Allen  ;  the  barks  "  Glide,"  493  tons, 
and  "  Taria  Topan,"  631  tons,  owned  by  Ropes,  Em- 
merton  &  Co. ;  the  three-masted  schooners  "  Benja- 
min Fabens,"  687  tons;  "Charles  H.  Fabens,"  301 
tons;  and  " George  K,  Hatch,"  378  tons,  owned  by 
C.  E.  &  B.  H.  Fabens ;  and  the  bark  "  Fury,"  310 
tons,  owned  by  Henry  O.  Roberts,  are  all  that  are  left 
to  carry  the  name  of  Salem  to  foreign  lands,  and  none 
of  these  ever  enter  the  port  of  Salem. 

Where  once  vessels  were  arriving — sometimes  two 
in  a  single  day — from  India  or  other  remote  ports, 
but  a  solitary  schooner  found  her  way  into  Salem 
harbor  from  a  foreign  port,  other  than  those  from  the 
British  provinces,  during  the  year  ending  June  30, 
1878,  and  she  brought  a  cargo  of  coal  from  England. 
At  the  custom-house,  where,  in  the  week  ending  Sep- 
tember 15,  1798,  seven  Salem  vessels — three  ships,  one 
bark  and  three  brigs — cleared  for  Copenhagen,  there 


SALEM. 


103 


was  cleared,  during  the  year  ending  June  30, 1878,  one 
vessel  to  the  West  Indies  and  one  to  Liverpool,  the 
single  entry  and  the  two  clearances  being  in  the  month 
of  December.  The  whole  number  of  foreign  entries  for 
that  year  was  seventy -nine,  of  which  eight  were  Amer- 
ican vessels  and  the  total  tonnage  was  8183.  The 
number  of  foreign  clearances  was  ninety  six,  of  which 
nine  were  American  vessels,  the  total  tonnage  being 
10,090. 

The  Whale  Fishery. — After  the  decline  of  the 
foreign  commerce  of  Salem  it  was  hoped  that  the 
whale  fishery  might  be  successfully  prosecuted,  and 
for  a  short  time  there  was  quite  a  fleet  of  whalers 
hailing  from  this  port.  Stephen  C.  Phillips  was  agent, 
in  1841,  for  the  ships  "Elizabeth,''  398  tons,  and 
"Sapphire,"  365  tons;  and  the  barks  "  Emerald,"  271 
tons;  "Eliza,"  240  tons;  "Henry,"  262  tons;  and 
"Malay,"  268  tons.  John  B.  Osgood  was  agent  in  the 
same  year  for  the  ships  "  Bengal,"  300  tons  ;  "  Izette," 
280  tons;  "James  Maury,"  395  tons;  and  "Mount 
Wollaston,"  325  tons ;  and  the  barks  "  Reaper,"  230 
tons,  and  "Statesman,"  258  tons.  Nathaniel  Weston 
was  agent  for  the  bark  "  Palestine,"  248  tons.  The 
"Malay"  was  lost  July  27,  1842,  on  Europa  Rocks, 
in  Mozambique  Channel.  The  "Eliza"  was  con- 
demned at  Tahiti,  June  15,  1843,  and  the  "  States- 
man "  at  Talcahuana,  November  3,  1844. 

During  the  year  ending  April  1,  1837,  sperm  oil  to 
the  value  of  $124,440  and  108,065  gallons  of  whale 
oil,  valued  at  $40,866,  were  landed  at  Salem.  There 
were  432  hands  employed  in  this  business.  During 
the  year  ending  April  1,  1845,  there  was  landed  at 
Salem  45,705  gallons  of  sperm  oil,  valued  at  $39,306, 
and  18,345  gallons  of  whale  oil,  valued  at  $5686,  the 
number  of  hands  employed  being  110.  The  hopes 
entertained  at  the  outset  in  regard  to  the  whale  fish- 
ery were  destined  never  to  be  realized. 

Felt  says,  in  1847,  "  There  are  two  whalers  from 
Salem.  The  prospect  is  that  this  perilous  employ- 
ment, recommenced  in  hope  as  to  its  increase,  contin- 
uance and  profit,  will  soon  terminate  in  disappoint- 
ment." Benjamin  Webb  had  some  vessels  engaged 
in  this  fishery,  and  John  C.  Osgood  was  agent  of  the 
last  whalers  that  hailed  from  the  port  of  Salem.  This 
business  was  abandoned  several  years  ago,  and  to-day 
no  whalers  are  owned  in  Salem. 

The  Coasting  Trade. — While  Salem  has  lost  her 
foreign  trade,  the  harbor  of  Salem  is  not  entirely  bar- 
ren of  vessels,  for  a  large  amount  of  tonnage — larger 
even  than  when  she  was  at  the  height  of  her  com- 
mercial prosperity — now  engaged  in  the  coasting 
trade,  brings  coal  to  Salem  for  distribution  to  the  mills 
of  Lowell  and  Lawrence,  In  1870  there  entered  the 
harbor  1812  coasting-vessels,  having  an  aggregate 
tonnage  of  213,514,  and  1237  vessels  measuring  203,- 
798  tons  entered  during  the  year  ending  June  30, 
1878.  In  1885  there  arrived  at  Salem  1599  vessels, 
with  a  tonnage  of  270,000.  The  Salem  and  New  York 
Steamship  Company  maintained  a  line  of  steam  pack- 


ets between  Salem  and  New  York  from  July,  1871,  to 
June,  1872. 

The  "Massachusetts,"  the  first  steamboat  to  enter 
Salem  harbor,  arrived  from  New  York  in  July,  1817, 
and  was  employed  for  a  short  time  in  making  excur- 
sions in  the  bay.  She  was  regarded  at  the  time  as  a 
great  curiosity,  and  attracted  considerable  notice  from 
the  towns-people.  In  this  connection  the  fact  is 
worthy  of  mention  that  Dr.  Nathan  Reed,  of  Salem, 
was  the  actual  inventor  of  the  first  steamboat  with 
paddle-wheels  in  American  waters.  Dr.  Reed  was 
certainly  a  most  versatile  genius.  He  was  successively 
a  student  of  medicine,  apothecary,  inventor,  member 
of  Congress,  and  finally  chief  justice  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  of  Maine.  He  was  born  in  Warren, 
Mass,  in  1759,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1781.  He 
studied  medicine  with  Dr.  E.  A.  Holyoke,  of  Salem, 
and  afterwards  kept  an  apothecary  shop  in  that 
place. 

While  keeping  store  in  Salem  he  presented  a  peti- 
tion to  Congress  in  1790,  stating,  among  other  discov- 
eries, that  he  had  made  one  "of  the  apjjlication  of 
steam  to  the  purposes  of  navigation  and  land  car- 
riages." This  petition  was  accompanied  by  a  recom- 
mendation from  a  select  committee  of  the  American 
Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences.  He  was  also  the  in- 
ventor of  a  patent  for  the  manufacture  of  nails,  which 
originated  the  building  of  the  Danvers  Iron  Works. 
The  trial-trip  of  his  newly-invented  steamboat  was  in 
the  summer  of  1789,  and  he  had  on  board  such  dis- 
tinguished guests  as  Governor  Hancock,  Hon.  Nathan 
Dane,  Dr.  E.  A.  Holyoke  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Prince. 
His  trip  was  from  his  iron  works,  at  Danver&port,  to 
the  Essex  Bridge,  at  Beverly.  Fulton's  success  on  the 
Hudson  was  sixteen  or  eighteen  years  later.  So 
Salem  has  not  been  behind  her  neighbors  in  naviga- 
tion, whether  under  steam  or  canvas. 

Dr.  Reed  represented  this  district  in  Congress,  and 
in  1807  removed  to  Maine,  where  he  was  for  many 
years  chief  justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas. 
He  died  at  Belfast  in  1790.  His  house  in  Salem  stood 
on  the  site  now  occupied  by  Plummer  Hall. 

The  Custom-House. — Hand-in-hand  with  com- 
merce come  the  collectors  and  officers  of  the  customs 
revenue.  Before  1819,  and  during  the  palmy  days  of 
Salem  commerce,  there  was  no  government  building 
for  the  accommodation  of  such  oflicers.  Salem  has 
been  established  as  a  port  of  entry  at  least  since 
1658.  In  1663  Hilliard  Veren  was  collector,  and  in 
1683  Marblehead,  Beverly,  Gloucester,  Ipswich,  Row- 
ley, Newbury  and  Salisbury  are  annexed  to  the  port 
of  Salem  by  order  of  the  Court  of  Assistants,  and  it 
is  decreed  that  this  port  and  Boston  shall  be  lawful 
ports  in  this  Colony,  where  "  all  ships  and  other  ves- 
sels shall  lade  or  unlade  any  of  the  plantations'  enu- 
merated goods,  or  other  goods  from  foreign  ports, 
and  nowhere  else,  on  penalty  of  the  confiscation  of 
such  ship  or  vessel,  with  her  goods  and  tackle,  as 
shall  lade  or  unlade  elsewhere." 


104 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


At  an  early  period  commerce  seems  to  have  cen- 
tred about  Creek  Street  and  the  locality  of  the  present 
Granite  Railroad  Station.  This  is  the  supposed  lo- 
cation of  the  "  Port  House  on  the  South  river,"  men- 
tioned in  an  order  of  the  Quarterly  Court  in  1636. 
All  the  "cannowes  of  the  South  Syde  are  to  be 
brought  before  the  Port  House  att  the  same  time,  to 
be  viewed  by  the  Surveiors."  These  "cannowes" 
were  used  for  transporting  passengers  to  North  and 
South  Salem  before  the  days  of  bridges,  and  in  them 
they  sometimes  went  fowling  "two  leagues  to  sea." 
There  was  another  port-house  on  North  River,  and 
much  business  was  done  in  former  years  on  that  side 
of  the  town. 

The  custom-house  for  thirty-four  years  was  in  a 
building  on  the  corner  of  Gedney  Court,  erected  in 
1645,  and  known  as  the  French  house,  having  been 
tenanted  at  some  time  by  P'rench  families.  In  1774 
the  custom-house  seems  to  have  been  on  Essex 
Street,  between  Washington  (then  School)  and  North 
Streets,  and  to  have  been  burnt  in  the  great  fire  of 
October  6,  1774,  which  destroyed  the  Rev.  Dr.  Whit- 
aker's  meeting-house,  eight  dwellings  and  fourteen 
stores.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  the  custom-house  rec- 
ords were  also  destroyed  in  this  fire,  thus  accounting 
for  the  lack  of  any  such  records  prior  to  the  Revo- 
lution. 

In  1789  it  was  on  the  site  of  the  present  bank 
building  in  Central  Street.  Major  Hiller  was  then 
collector.  In  1805  it  was  removed,  under  Colonel 
Lee,  to  the  Central  Building,  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  street,  where  a  carved  eagle  and  shield,  lately 
restored,  still  mark  the  spot.  In  1807  it  was  in 
Essex  Street  for  a  time,  opposite  Plummer  Hall;  in 
1811  it  was  on  the  corner  of  Essex  and  Newbury 
Streets,  and,  in  1813,  in  the  Central  Building  again, 
where  Colonel  Lee  resided,  and  whence,  in  1819,  it 
was  removed  to  the  government  building  erected  for 
the  purpose  at  the  head  of  Derby  Wharf,  where  it 
now  remains.  This  building  stands  upon  land  bought 
of  the  heirs  of  George  Crowninshield,  and  was  the 
site  ol  the  Crowninshield  mansion-house,  which  was 
removed  to  make  way  for  the  present  structure.  It 
was,  says  Hawthorne,  "intended  to  accommodate  a 
hoped-for  increase  in  the  commercial  prosperity  of 
the  place — hopes  destined  never  to  be  realized — and 
was  built  a  world  too  large  for  any  necessary  pur- 
pose, even  at  the  time  when  India  was  a  new  region, 
and  only  Salem  knew  the  way  thither."  This  cus- 
tom-house is  a  substantial,  two-story,  brick  building, 
with  a  large  warehouse  in  the  rear,  the  whole  sur- 
mounted by  a  cupola,  from  which  the  inspectors  can 
watch  for  incoming  vessels.  It  is  now  out  of  all  pro- 
portion to  the  business  of  the  port,  and  the  time  is 
not  far  distant  when  it  will  be  abandoned  for  some 
smaller  quarters. 

There  has  been  collected  in  imposts  at  the  port  of 
Salem,  since  the  organization  of  the  Union  in  1789, 
more  than   twenty-five  millions   of  dollars.     From 


August  15,  1789,  to  1791,  the  amount  collected  was 
$108,064.48,  and  the  number  of  foreign  entries  was 
205.  From  1791  to  1800,  inclusive,  the  duties  were 
$2,949,817.19,  and  the  foreign  entries  1508.  From 
1801  to  1810,  inclusive,  the  duties  were  $7,272,633.31, 
and  the  foreign  entries  1758.  From  1811  to  1820, 
inclusive,  the  duties  were  $3,832,894.81,  and  the  for- 
eign entries  835.  From  1821  to  1830,  inclusive,  the 
duties  were  $4,685,139.58,  and  the  foreign  entries 
1226.  From  1831  to  1840  the  duties  were  $1,987,- 
509.12,  and  the  foreign  entries  903.  From  1841  to 
1850  the  duties  were  $1,534,558.58,  and  the  foreign 
entries  2327.  From  1851  to  1860,  inclusive,  the  du- 
ties were  $1,816,676.42,  and  the  foreign  entries  3693. 
From  1861  to  1870,  inclusive,  the  duties  were  $846,- 
741.74,  and  the  foreign  entries  1,420.  The  large  in- 
crease in  the  number  of  foreign  entries  since  1841  is 
due  to  the  large  trade  then  carried  on  between  Salem 
and  Nova  Scotia.  From  1871  to  1878,  inclusive,  the 
duties  were  about  $223,911.96.  The  duties  for  the 
quarter  ending  December  31,  1807,  when  the  embargo 
was  officially  announced  in  Salem,  were  $511,000, 
which  is  the  largest  amount  ever  collected  at  Salem 
in  a  single  quarter.  The  goods  were  imported  in 
twenty-two  ships,  three  barks,  nineteen  brigs  and 
twenty-three  schooners.  In  1868  there  was  collected 
in  duties  $118,114.37,  of  which  $30,000  was  paid  in  a 
single  month.  In  1878  the  whole  amount  collected 
was  only  about  $11,000,  of  which  only  about  $3600 
was  for  direct  imports.  In  1886  the  amount  collected 
was  about  $28,767. 

Collectors  of  Customs. — The  successive  collectors  since  the  Revolution 
have  been  Warwick  Palfray  (born  October,  1715  ;  died  October  10, 
17;i7),  from  1776  to  1784  ;  Joseph  Hiller  (born  March  26,  1748 ;  died 
February  9,  1814),  1784  to  1802  ;  William  R.  Lee  (born  1744  ;  died  in 
office,  October  20,  1824),  1802  to  1824  ;  James  Wilier,  1825  to  1849  ; 
Ephraim  F.  Miller,  1849  to  1857  ;  William  B.  Pike,  1857  to  1861 ;  Wil- 
lard  P.  Phillips,  1861  to  1865  ;  Robert  S.  Rantoul,  1865  to  1869  ;  Charles 
W.  Palfray,  1809  to  1873  ;  Charles  H.  Odell,  1873  to  1885  ;  Richard  F. 
Dodge,  1885  to  the  present  time. 

Deputy  Collectors. — The  deputy  collectors,  under  the  present  organiza- 
tion, have  been  :  Charles  Cleveland,  from  1789  to  1802  ;  William  W. 
Oliver,  1803  to  1839  ;  John  B.  Knight,  1839  to  1843  ;  Ephraim  F.  Miller, 
1843  to  1849  ;  J.  Linton  Waters,  1849  to  1854  ;  Henry  E.  Jenks,  1854  to 
1857  ;  Chipman  Ward,  18:)7  to  1859  ;  Henry  Derby,  1859  to  1801  ;  Eph- 
raim F.  Miller,  1861  to  1864;  Charles  S.  Osgood,  1864  to  1873  ;  J.  Frank 
Dalton,  1873  to  1881  ;  A.  Frank  Hitchings,  1881  to  the  present  time. 

Surveyors. — The  surveyors  during  the  same  period  have  been  Bar- 
tholomew Putnam,  from  1789  to  1809  ;  George  Hodges,  1809  to  1817  ; 
John  Saunders,  1818  to  1830  ;  James  Dalrymple,  1830  to  1834  ;  Joseph 
Noble,  1834  to  1838 ;  Edward  Palfray,  1838  to  1841 ;  Stephen  Daniels, 
1841  to  1843;  Nehemiah  Brown,  1843  to  1846;  Nathaniel  Hawthorne, 
1846  to  1849  ;  Allen  Putnam,  1849  to  1854  ;  Lewis  Josselyn,  1854  to 
1857  ;  Ebenezer  Dodge,  1857  to  1861  ;  William  C.  Waters,  1861  to  1803  ; 
Charles  F.  Williams,  1803  to  1865 ;  Joseph  Moseley,  1865  to  1871 ; 
Charles  D.  Howard,  1871  to  1875,  when  the  office  was  abolished. 

Naval  Officers. — The  naval  officers  have  been  William  Pickman, 
from  1789  to  1803;  Samuel  Ward,  1803  to  1812  ;  Henry  Elkins,  1812  to 
1829  ;  John  Swasey,  1829  to  1842  ;  Abraham  True,  1842  to  1846  ;  John 
D.  Howard,  1846  to  1849  ;  William  Brown,  1849  to  1853 ;  Charles  Millett, 
1853  to  1858  ;  John  Ryan,  1858  to  1860  ;  Joseph  A.  Dalton,  1801  to  1865, 
when  the  office  was  abolished. 

The  two  most  prominent  names  in  this  list  are 
those  of  Nathaniel  Hawthorne  and  James  Millei', 
— the  one,  the  unequaled   master  of  romance;   the 


SALEM. 


105 


other,  "New  England's  most  distinguished  soldier." 
Nathaniel  Hawthorne  was  born  in  Salem  July  4, 
1804,  in  the  house  now  numbered  twenty-one,  on 
Union  Street.  He  was  a  descendant  of  Major  Wil- 
liam Hathorne,  who  came  with  Governor  Win- 
throp,  in  the  "Arbella."  The  name  is  an  old  and 
honored  one  in  Salem,  and  prominently  connected 
with  its  early  history.  On  the  death  of  his  father, 
in  1808,  he  lived  for  a  time  with  his  maternal  grand- 
father, Richard  Manning,  on  Herbert  Street.  For  a 
year  he  lived  in  Raymond,  Me.,  and  then  returned  to 
Salem.  He  was  graduated  at  Bowdoin  College  in 
1825,  in  the  same  class  with  the  poet  Longfellow. 
He  was  appointed  weigher  and  gauger  at  Boston  in 
1838,  and  was  removed  in  1841  for  political  reasons ; 
he  was  surveyor  at  Salem  from  1846  to  1849;  and 
consul  of  the  United  States  at  Liverpool  from  1852  to 
1856. 

The  growing  interest  in  Hawthorne  as  a  writer 
brings  to  the  Custom-House  a  crowd  of  curious 
travelers  from  far  and  wide.  The  room  he  occupied, 
the  desk  on  which  he  wrote,  the  stencil-plate  with 
which  he  put  his  name  on  packages,  the  room  in 
which  he  tells  us  he  found  the  manuscript,  telling 
the  sad,  strange  story  of  Hester  Prynne,  were,  until 
a  few  years  since,  preserved  and  examined  with  in- 
terest by  tourists.  The  Custom-House  was  re- 
furnished.in  1873,  and  hia  desk  was  deposited  by  his 
successor  in  office  with  the  Essex  Institute.  He  died 
in  Plymouth,  N.  H.,  May  19,  1864,  while  making  a 
short  journey,  in  the  company  of  his  friend  and  class- 
mate, President  Franklin  Pierce. 

James  Miller  was  born  in  Peterboro',  N.  H.,  in 
1776.  He  was  bred  to  the  law,  and  left  the  courts 
for  the  camp,  on  being  appointed  by  Jefferson,  in 
1808,  a  major  in  the  Fourth  United  States  Infantry. 
He  was  with  General  Harrison  throughout  his  fa- 
mous western  campaign  of  1811  ;  after  this  followed 
Brownstown,  Chippewa  and  Lundy's  Lane,  and 
from  the  last  dates  his  national  fame  and  his  briga- 
dier's commission.  At  that  battle  Major-General 
Brown  was  in  command,  and  was  disabled ;  and 
Scott,  of  the  First  Brigade,  was  also  disabled.  It  was 
plain  that  a  certain  hill,  whose  frowning  front  bris- 
tled with  artillery,  was  the  key  to  victory.  At  this 
juncture.  Colonel  Miller  was  called  on  to  storm  the 
work.  "  I'll  try,  sir  !  "  was  Miller's  reply,  and  as  he 
says,  with  his  regiment  reduced  to  less  than  three 
hundred  men,  he  at  once  obeyed  the  order.  Two 
regiments  ordered  to  his  support  quailed  and  turned 
back.  "  Colonel  Miller,"  says  the  official  record, 
"  without  regard  to  this  occurrence,  advanced  steadily 
and  carried  the  height."  "Not  one  man  at  the  can- 
non," says  he,  in  writing  to  his  wife,  "was  left  to  put 
fire  to  them."  The  memorable  words,  "I'll  try, 
sir ! "  were  at  once  embossed  upon  the  buttons  of  his 
shattered  regiment,  which  was  presented  with  a  cap- 
tured gun,  for  distinguished  gallantry.  On  the  fol- 
lowing November,  Congress  voted  him  a  gold  medal 
7* 


bearing  his  likeness,  his  famous  words,  and  the  names 
of  Chippewa,  Niagara  and  Fort  Erie.  He  was  also 
presented  with  a  sword  by  the  State  of  New  York. 
General  Miller  was  Governor  of  Arkansas  Territory 
in  1819.     He  died  July  7,  1851,  in  Temple,  N.  H. 

Mr.  Cleveland  and  Mr.  Oliver  are  remarkable 
among  the  deputy  collectors.  The  former  was  born 
in  Norwich,  Conn.,  June  21,  1772,  and  died  June  5, 
1872,  coming  within  sixteen  days  of  living  out  the 
century.  At  the  age  of  ninety-eight  he  attended  Mr. 
Oliver's  funeral,  who  died  at  ninety-one.  Mr.  Oliver 
was  connected  with  the  Custom-House  forty-six 
years.  He  was  born  in  Salem  December  10,  1778, 
and  died  December  29,  1869. 

Jonathan  Pue,  now  immortalized  in  "  The  Scarlet 
Letter,"  became  "searcher  and  surveyor"  in  1752, 
and  died  suddenly  in  office,  March  24,  1760.  In 
1734  William  Fairfax,  whose  name  was  afterwards 
pleasantly  associated  with  that  of  Washington,  left 
the  coUectorship  of  this  port  and  removed  to  Vir- 
ginia. 

Marine  Insurance  Companies. — The  rapid  in- 
crease in  the  shipping  at  this  port  which  took  place 
after  trade  was  opened  between  Salem  and  the  East 
Indies  led  to  the  organization  of  a  number  of  insur- 
ance companies  where  the  merchants  could  insure 
ship  and  cargo.  At  the  different  offices  of  these  com- 
panies the  merchants  assembled  in  the  evening  to 
transact  their  business,  to  read  the  papers  and  to  hear 
the  general  gossip  of  the  day.  Here  the  shipmasters 
recounted  the  perils  they  had  encountered,  and  com- 
pared notes  with  each  other  regarding  the  voyages 
from  which  they  had  just  returned;  and  here,  in  the 
busy  days  of  Salem's  commerce,  all  was  bustle  and 
activity  and  life.  Many  of  the  offices  were  retained 
long  after  the  business  had  greatly  diminished,  and 
became  a  place  where  the  retired  shipmasters  of  Sa- 
lem resorted  to  discuss  the  news  of  the  day,  and  re- 
count the  departed  glories  of  the  past. 

The  Essex  Fire  and  Marine  Insurance  Company 
was  incorporated  March  7,  1803,  William  Gray  and 
others  incorporators,  and  was  located  in  the  building 
on  Essex  Street,  facing  Central  Street ;  Nathaniel 
Bowditch  was  its  president  for  many  years.  The 
Merchants'  Insurance  Company,  Peter  Lander,  presi- 
dent, was  located  in  the  store  now  occupied  by 
Thomas  B.  Nichols,  on  the  west  side  of  Essex  House 
yard.  The  Salem  Commercial  Insurance  Company 
was  incorporated  in  1818,  N.  Silsbee,  Joseph  Story 
and  others  incorporators ;  George  Cleveland,  for 
many  years,  president.  The  Mercantile  Insurance 
Company,  incorporated  in  1825,  John  Winn,  Jr.,  pres- 
ident, was  located  on  the  western  corner  of  Essex  and 
St.  Peter's  Streets.  After  that  company  gave  up  bus- 
iness the  Essex  Insurance  Company  was  formed  and 
occupied  the  same  location.  The  Oriental  Insurance 
Company,  incorporated  in  1824,  was  located  in  the 
East  India  Marine  building,  and  subsequently  re- 
moved to  Asiatic  Bank  building.     The  Social  Insur- 


106 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


ance  Company  was  incorporated  March  1,  1808,  and 
revived  June  5,  1830,  for  ten  years,  to  settle  old 
claims.  The  Salem  Marine  Insurance  Company, 
which  was  incorporated  in  February,  1856,  and  com- 
menced business  in  February,  1857,  is  the  only  ma- 
rine insurance  company  now  doing  business  in  Salem. 
"William  Northey  is  president,  and  F.  P.  Richardson 
secretary. 

Ship-Building. — It  was  natural  that  early  atten- 
tion should  have  been  given  to  ship-building  in  a 
settlement  where  the  staple  article  of  trade  was  the 
product  of  the  fisheries.  In  1629  the  Home  Company 
sent  six  ship-builders  to  Salem,  of  whom  Robert 
Moulton  was  chief.  Salem  Neck  was  used  for  ship- 
building from  the  very  earliest  period.  So  many  peo- 
ple were  located  in  that  vicinity  in  1679  that  John 
Cliiford  was  licensed  to  keep  a  victualling  house  for 
their  convenience.  In  1636  Richard  Hollingworth, 
a  ship-builder,  who  came  to  Salem  in  1635,  gets  a 
grant  of  land  on  the  neck  from  the  town,  and  builds 
a  ship  of  three  hundred  tons  there  in  1641.  It  is 
most  probable  that  prior  to  1637  Robert  Moulton  and 
his  shipwrights  built  several  small  decked  vessels  for 
the  fisheries  and  for  trading.  The  Home  Company 
ordered  three  shallops  to  be  built  in  Salem  in  1629, 
doubtless  for  fishing  purposes.  From  1629  to  1640 
Salem  had  not  much  shipping  of  her  own  ;  but  in 
the  latter  year  the  Rev.  Hugh  Peters,  of  the  First 
Church,  a  man  of  great  energy  and  sagacity,  inter- 
ested the  people  in  ship-building,  and  in  a  few  years 
an  abundant  supply  of  vessels  were  built.  Salem  be- 
came noted  as  one  of  the  principal  places  in  the  col- 
ony for  building  vessels. 

From  1659  to  1677  there  appear  to  be  four  noted 
ship-builders  in  Salem,  one  of  whom,  Jonathan  Pick- 
ering, gets  a  grant  of  land  about  Hardy's  Cove  from 
the  town,  to  himself  and  heirs  forever,  to  build  ves- 
sels upon.  From  1692  to  1718  seven  ship-builders 
appear  prominent  in  Salem,  among  whom  are  Joseph 
Hardy  and  William  Becket.  In  1662  the  town  au- 
thorities endeavor  to  accommodate,  at  Burying  Point, 
near  the  foot  of  Liberty  Street,  those  desirous  of 
graving  vessels.  In  1676  Salem  is  said  to  be  one  of 
the  principal  places  for  building  vessels,  at  four 
pounds  per  ton.  Of  the  twenty-six  vessels  belonging 
to  Salem  in  1698-99,  seventeen  were  built  here.  From 
1700  to  1714,  inclusive,  registers  were  granted  to  four 
ships,  three  barks,  nine  brigs,  twenty-four  sloops  and 
nineteen  ketches  belonging  to  Salem.  They  ranged 
from  fifteen  to  ninety  tons,  and  forty  of  them  were  built 
here.  In  1705  the  ship  "Unity,"  of  two  hundred  and 
seventy  tons,  was  built  in  Salem,  for  Boston  and  Lon- 
don merchants,  and  in  1709  Joseph  Hardy  built  the 
brig  "  American  Merchant,"  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty  tons  burden.  In  1712  a  sale  is  recorded  by 
Ebenezer  Lambert,  shipwright,  of  Salem,  of  ye  good 
sloop  "  Betty,"  lately  built,  of  about  eighty  tons  bur- 
den, to  Benjamin  Marston,  of  Salem,  for  two  hundred 
and  forty  pounds,  or  three  pounds  per  ton. 


Vessels  were  built  or  repaired  in  Salem  on  the  neck, 
including  Winter  Island  ;  on  the  creek  running  into 
South  River,  near  the  foot  of  Norman  Street;  at  the 
Burying  Point  near  the  foot  of  Liberty  Street,  and  at 
other  places  on  the  South  River ;  at  Frye's  Mills  on 
the  North  River ;  and  at  Hardy's  Cove.  Referring 
to  the  creek  running  into  the  South  River,  Felt  says, 
writing  in  1842,  that  "  its  course  was  from  the  South 
River,  below  the  mills,  and  up  between  Norman  and 
High  Streets.  A  century  since  boys  would  go  in 
boats  from  its  waters  to  a  swamp  in  Crombie  Street, 
and  collect  eggs  from  blackbirds'  nests.  Britton's 
Hill,  running  from  Summer  Street,  formerly  had  a 
ship-yard,  whence  vesiels  were  launched  into  the 
creek.  An  octogenarian  vividly  remembers  a  brig  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  tons,  which  was  built  on  the 
margin  of  the  same  waters."  It  seems  hardly  credible 
that  the  principal  ship-building  of  the  town  was  at 
one  time  carried  on  in  this  locality,  for  scarcely  a 
vestige  remains  to-day  of  the  creek  or  cove,  and  the 
South  River  is  gradually  disappearing  from  view,  and 
at  this  point  runs  through  a  covered  culvert. 

The  Beckets  have  been  famous  as  ship-builders  in 
Salem.  The  shij>yard  of  the  Beckets  was  situated 
between  Phillips'  Wharf  and  Webb's  Wharf.  This 
place  has  been  known  as  Becket's  Beach,  and  is  di- 
rectly in  front  of  the  old  mansion-house  built  by 
John  Becket  about  1655.  It  was  occupied  by  the 
Beckets  as  a  ship-yard  from  1655  to  1800,  a  period  of 
one  hundred  and  forty-five  years.  After  1800  Retire 
Becket  built  his  vessels  on  land  farther  to  the  east- 
ward. 

The  most  famous  vessel  built  by  Retire  Becket  was 
the  yacht  "  Cleopatra's  Barge,"  of  one  hundred 
and  ninety-one  tons  burden,  whose  owner.  Captain 
George  Crowninshield,  spared  no  expense  in  her  con- 
struction or  in  her  appointments.  She  was  built  for 
a  pleasure-trip  to  the  Mediterranean,  and  excited 
wonder,  even  at  Genoa,  for  her  beauty,  luxury  and 
magnifi(!ence.  She  was  launched  October  21, 1816,  in 
the  presence  of  an  immense  concourse  of  people. 
During  the  winter  of  1817  the  harbor  was  frozen  over 
to  the  Haste  and  Coney  Island,  and  this  vessel  having 
returned  from  her  voyage,  a  great  many  people  drove 
over  the  ice  in  sleighs  to  visit  her.  Retire  Becket 
also  built,  in  1799,  the  brig  "  Active,"  of  two  hundred 
and  six  tons,  in  which  William  P.  Richardson  made 
the  first  trading  voyage  from  Salem  to  the  Feejee  Is- 
lands, in  1810  ;  and  in  1800  the  ship  "  Margaret,"  of 
two  hundred  and  ninety-five  tons,  which  made  the 
first  voyage  from  Salem  to  Japan,  leaving  Salem  No- 
vember 10, 1800,  under  command  of  Samuel  Derby  ; 
and  in  1794,  for  Elias  H.  Derby,  the  ship  "  Recovery," 
of  two  hundred  and  eighty-four  tons,  which,  under 
the  command  of  Joseph  Ropes,  first  displayed  the 
stars  and  stripes  at  Mocha.  He  also  built  for  Elias  H. 
Derby,  in  1798,  the  ship  "Mount  Vernon,"  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty-six  tons;  for  George  Crowninshield 
&  Sons,  1804,  the  ship  "America,"  of  four  hundred 


SALEM. 


107 


and  seventy-three  tons,  famous  as  a  privateer  in  the 
War  of  1812  ;  for  Z.  F.  Silsbee  and  James  Devereux, 
in  1807,  the  ship  "  Herald,"  of  two  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-four tons.  The  last  vessel  built  by  Mr.  Becket 
was  the  brig  "  Becket,"  of  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
eight  tons,  for  John  Crowninshield,  in  1818. 

Ebenezer  Mann  came  to  Salem  from  Pembroke  in 

1783,  and  in  the  same  year  commenced  building  ves- 
sels in  a  yard  near  Frye's  Mills,  on  North  River,  and 
continued  in  the  business  until  about  the  year  1800. 
Among  the  vessels  built  by  Mr.  Mann  was  the  brig 
"William,"  of  one  hundred  and  eighty-two  tons,  in 

1784,  for  William  Gray ;  the  brig  "  Fanny,"  of  one 
hundred  and  tifty-two  tons,  in  1785,  for  Benjamin 
Goodhue;  the  bark  "Good  Intent,"  of  one  hundred 
and  seventy-one  tons,  in  1790,  for  Simon  Forrester  ; 
the  schooner  "Betsey,"  of  one  hundred  and  eight 
tons,  in  1792,  for  Jerathmael  Peirce ;  the  brig  "  Hind," 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven  tons,  in  1795,  for  Wil- 
liam Orne ;  the  ship  "  Good  Hope,"  of  one  hundred 
and  eighty-eight  tons,  in  1795,  for  Nathaniel  West ; 
the  bark  "  Eliza,'*  of  one  hnndred  and  eighty-seven 
tons,  in  179G,  for  Joseph  Wliite  ;  and  the  ship  "  Pru- 
dent," of  two  hundred  and  fourteen  tons,  in  1799,  for 
Nathaniel  West. 

Christopher  Turner,  who  came  to  Salem  from  Pem- 
broke, where  he  was  born  in  1767,  continued  the  bus- 
iness of  ship-building  at  Frye's  Mills  after  Mr.  Mann 
retired.  He  built,  among  others,  the  schooner  "  Essex," 
of  one  hundred  and  fourteen  tons,  in  1800,  for  Wil- 
liam Fabens,  for  the  West  India  and  Cayenne  trade. 
The  ship  "Pompey,"  of  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
eight  tons,  in  1802,  for  William  Orne.  She  was  after- 
wards sold  to  Joshua  Ward,  made  into  a  brig,  and 
commanded  by  James  Gilchrist.  The  ship  "  Hope," 
of  two  hundred  and  eighty-two  tons,  in  1'805,  for  J. 
&  J.  Barr.  The  ship  "  Hunter,"  of  two  hundred  and 
ninety-six  tons,  in  1807,  for  Jerathmael  Peirce.  The 
brig  "  Romp,"  of  two  hundred  and  thirty-two  tons,  in 
1809,  for  Nathaniel  Silsbee.  She  was  commanded  by 
William  Lander,  and  was  confiscated  at  Naples,  in 
1809,  on  her  first  voyage.  The  ship  "  Rambler,"  of 
two  hundred  and  eighty-six  tons,  in  1811,  for  George 
Nichols.  She  was  captured  by  the  Br'tish  in  1812, 
while  commanded  by  Timothy  Bryant.  Mr.  Turner 
built,  at  Union  Wharf,  for  George  Crowninshield,  the 
sloop  "  Jefferson,"  of  twenty-two  tons,  for  a  pleasure- 
yacht.  She  was  launched  in  March,  1801,  and  is  be- 
lieved to  have  been  the  first  real  yacht  built  in  the 
United  States. 

David  Magoun  built,  on  the  neck,  between  the  gate 
and  Colonel  John  Hathorne's  house,  in  1805,  the  ship 
"  Alfred,"  two  hundred  tons,  for  Joseph  White. 

Barker  &  Magoun  built,  at  the  same  place,  the 
schooner  "Enterprise,"  two  hundred  tons,  in  1812, 
and  the  schooner  "Gen.  Stark,"  in  1813. 

Enos  Briggswasone  of  the  most  noted  ship-builders 
in  Salem.  He  came  here  from  Pembroke  in  1790,  and 
built  the  ship  "  Grand  Turk/'  of  five  hundred  and 


sixty  tons,  for  Elias  Hasket  Derby.  She  was  built  on 
the  lot  of  land  next  east  of  Isaac  P.  Foster's  store, 
and  was  launched  May  19, 1791,  and  replaced  the  ship 
"Grand  Turk,"  of  three  hundred  tons,  which  was 
sold  at  the  Isle  of  France  in  1788.  A  Salem  paper  at 
the  time  of  the  launching  calls  her  "  the  largest  ship 
ever  built  in  this  country." 

Having  built  the  "  Grand  Turk,"  Mr.  Briggs  re- 
turned to  Pembroke  for  his  fomily.  They  arrived  at 
Salem  July  4,  1791,  and  the  sloop  in  which  they  came 
brought,  also,  the  frame  of  a  dwelling-house,  which 
he  erected  on  Harbor  Street,  and  which,  for  many 
years  after  his  decease,  was  occupied  by  the  family  of 
his  daughter,  Mrs.  Nathan  Cook.  Mr.  Briggs  was  born 
in  Pembroke  July  29,  1746,  and  died  in  Salem  Octo- 
ber 10,  1819.  His  ship-yard  in  Salem  was  located  be- 
tween Peabody  and  Harbor  Streets,  west  of  the 
Naumkeag  Cotton-Mills.  Here  he  built  for  Elia-*  Has- 
ket Derby,  in  1792,  the  ship  "  Benjamin,"  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty-one  tons,  which  was  afterwards 
commanded  by  Nathaniel  Silsbee  ;  in  1794,  the  ketch 
"Eliza,"  of  one  hundred  and  eighty-four  tons,  which, 
under  command  of  Stephen  Phillips,  made  some  of 
the  early  voyages  to  Calcutta  and  the  Isle  of  France  ; 
in  1795  the  ketch  "  John,"  of  two  hundred  and  fifty- 
eight  tons,  and  the  ketch  "  Brothers,"  of  one  hundred 
and  forty-eight  tons ;  and,  in  1796,  the  ship  "  Martha," 
of  three  hundred  and  forty  tons.  For  George  Crow- 
ninshield &  Sons  he  built,  in  1794,  the  ship  "  Belisa- 
rius,"  of  261  tons.  For  Peirce  &  Wait,  in  1797,  the 
ship  "  Friendship,"  of  342  tons,  afterwards  command- 
ed by  Israel  Williams.  For  Joseph  Peabody,  in  1798, 
the  schooner  "Sally,"  104  tons;  in  1798,  the  brig 
"Neptune,"  160  tons;  in  1801,  the  brig  "  Catherine," 
158  tons;  in  1803,  the  ship  "Mount  Vernon,"  254 
tons;  in  1804,  the  ship  "  Janus,"  277  tons;  in  1805, 
the  ship  "  Augustus,"  246  tons ;  in  1807,  the  ship 
"Francis,"  297 tons;  in  1811,  the  ship  "Glide,"  306 
tons;  in  1812,  the  brig  "Levant,"  265  tons ;  and  in 
1816,  the  ship  "  China,"  of  370  tons.  For  Nathaniel 
West,  1794,  the  schooner  "  Patty,"  111  tons,  which, 
under  command  of  Edward  West,  made  one  of  the 
earliest  voyages  from  Salem  to  Batavia ;  and  in  1801, 
the  ship  "  Commerce,"  239  tons.  For  Benjamin  Pick- 
man,  in  1803,  the  ship  "  Derby,"  of  300  tons.  For 
Simon  Forrester,  in  1805,  the  ship  "  Messenger,"  277 
tons.  For  William  Gray,  in  1806,  the  ship  "  Pac- 
tolus,"  288  tons.  Mr.  Briggs  built,  while  in  Salem, 
fifty-one  vessels  of  11,500  tons,  among  them  the  fa- 
mous frigate  "  Essex,"  of  850  tons,  built  in  1799. 

Elijah  Briggs,  on  the  death  of  his  cousin  Enos,  con- 
tinued the  business  of  ship-building  at  the  yard  in 
South  Salem.  He  built  for  Pickering  Dodge,  in  1819, 
the  ship  "Gov.  Endicott,"  279  tons;  in  1828,  the 
ship  "  Lotos,"  296  tons  ;  in  1828,  the  ship  "  Mandarin," 
295  tons ;  and  in  1829,  the  ship  "  Rome,"  344  tons. 
For  Jonathan  Neal,  in  1820,  the  brig  "  Java,"  225  tons. 
For  John  Forrester,  in  1823,  the  ship  "Emerald," 
271   tons.     For  Joseph  Peabody,  in   1824,  the   brig 


108 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


"Mexican,"  227  tons,  and  the  brig  "Amazon,"  202 
tons.  For  Gideon  Tucker,  in  1825,  the  brig  "  Olinda," 
182  tons.  Mr,  Briggs  was  born  in  Scituate  July  17, 
1762,  and  died  in  Salem  May  29,  1847. 

Elias  Jenks  and  Ichabod  R.  Hoyt  continued  the 
business  of  ship-building  in  South  Salem  down  to 
1843,  and  built  their  vessels  a  little  to  the  westward  of 
the  spot  occupied  by  Enos  Briggs.  They  biiilt  for 
Joseph  Peabody,  in  1827,  the  ship  "  Sumatra,"  287 
tons  ;  in  1831,  the  ship  "Eclipse,"  326  tons;  in  1833, 
the  ship  "  Naples,"  309  tons ;  and  in  1837,  the  ship 
"  Carthage,"  426  tons.  For  Nathaniel  L.  Rogers  & 
Brothers,  in  1828  the  ship  "  Crusoe,"  350  tons.  For  the 
Messrs,  Silsbee,  in  1831,  the  ship  "  Borneo,"  297  tons  ; 
and  in  1840,  the  ship  "  Sooloo,"  400  tons.  For  Thorn- 
dike  Deland,  in  1836,  the  schooner  "  William  Penn," 
125  tons.  For  David  Pingree,  in  1843,  the  bark 
"  Three  Brothers,"  350  tons. 

In  1834,  there  had  been  built  in  Salem  for  the  for- 
eign trade  since  1789,  sixty-one  ships,  four  barks, 
fifty-three  brigs,  three  ketches,  and  sixteen  schooners, 
measuring  30,557  tons. 

On  the  1st  of  December,  1825,  there  was  launched 
from  the  ship-yard  of  Mr.  Cottle,  in  North  Salem,  near 
Orne's  Point,  a  schooner  of  40  tons,  built  for  the 
use  of  the  American  missionaries  at  the  Sandwich 
Islands.  She  was  called  the  "Missionary  Packet," 
and  sailed  from  Boston  January  17, 1826,  for  the  Sand- 
wich Islands. 

Samuel  Lewis  built,  in  1849,  the  bark  "  Argentine," 
for  Robert  Upton,  and  in  1850  the  brig  "  M.  Shepard," 
160  tons,  for  John  Bertram. 

John  Carter  built,  in  1854,  under  the  superintend- 
ence of  A.  H.  Gardner,  on  the  eastern  side  of  Phillips 
Wharf,  for  Edward  D.  Kimball,  the  bark  "  Witch," 
417  tons ;  and  subsequently,  at  the  same  place,  for 
other  parties,  the  ship  "  Europa,"  846  tons. 

Edward  F.  Miller,  whose  ship-yard  was  at  the  point 
of  land  in  South  Salem  opposite  the  end  of  Derby 
Wharf,  built  for  R.  W.  Ropes  &  Co.,  in  1855,  the  brig 
"  Mary  Wilkins,"  266  tons ;  and  in  1859,  the  bark 
"  La  Plata,"  496  tons.  For  Benjamin  A.  West,  in 
1857,  the  bark  "  Arabia,"  380  tons.  She  was  lost  at 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  on  her  first  voyage.  For 
John  Bertram,  in  1856,  the  bark  "  Guide  ;  "  in  1861, 
the  bark  "Glide,"  493  tons;  in  1869,  the  bark  "  Jer- 
sey," 599  tons,  which  was  lost  at  Madagascar  on  her 
first  voyage ;  and,  in  1870,  the  bark  "  Taria  Topan," 
631  tons.  For  John  C.  Osgood  and  others,  in  1862, 
the  brig  "  Star,"  250  tons. 

Joshua  Brown  built,  near  Miller's  ship-yard,  the 
schooner  "Prairie  Flower,"  106  tons.  This  vessel  was 
launched  on  the  27th  of  April,  1858.  She  sailed  from 
Salem  Tuesday,  June  8,  1858,  for  Boston,  to  obtain  a 
part  of  her  fishing  outfit.  A  large  party  of  young 
men  were  on  board,  invited  by  the  owners  to  make  the 
trip  to  Boston.  About  2  p.m.,  when  in  the  Broad 
Sound  and  entering  Boston  harbor,  the  schooner  was 
struck  by  a  sudden  gust  of  wind  and  capsized.     The 


water  rushed  into  the  cabin,  filling  it,  and  of  those 
there  at  the  time,  seven  were  drowned.  They  were  all 
under  thirty  years  of  age,  and  all  of  Salem.  Osgood 
Sanborn  was  28;  Daniel  R.  Fitz,  24;  George  C. 
Clarke,  24 ;  Francis  Donaldson,  21 ;  William  H.  Rus- 
sell, 20  ;  William  H.  Newcomb,  20 ;  and  Lewis  B. 
Smith,  14.  The  remainder  of  the  party  were  rescued 
by  vessels  that  chanced  to  be  near  the  scene  of  the 
accident.  No  such  calamity  had  occurred  in  Salem 
since  the  17th  of  June,  1773,  when  the  King's  boat, 
belonging  to  the  custom-house,  was  capsized  in  Salem 
harbor  during  a  squall,  and  three  men  and  seven 
women,  all  of  Salem,  were  drowned.  Mr.  Brown 
built  a  number  of  other  vessels,  among  them  the 
schooner  "  David  B.  Newcomb,"  92  tons,  in  1860,  and 
the  brig  "  Albert,"  325  tons,  in  1862. 

Salem  Merchakts. — This  chapter  should  not  be 
closed  without  some  notice  of  the  men  whose  enter- 
prise and  daring  made  for  Salem  her  brilliant  com- 
mercial record. 

Among  the  earliest  of  the  merchants  was  Captain 
George  Curwin,  who  was  born  in  England  in  1610. 
He  settled  in  Salem  about  1638,  and  was  extensively 
engaged  in  commerce.  His  books  of  account  show 
that  he  had  embarked  in  the  London  trade  previous 
to  1658.  He  died  on  the  3d  of  January,  1685,  leaving 
a  large  estate,  comprising  four  ware-houses  and  two 
wharves  in  Salem,  and  a  ware-house  and  wharf  in 
Boston,  and  the  ketches  "  George,"  "  Swallow,' 
"  John  "  and  "  William,"  valued  at  £1050. 

Captain  Walter  Price,  who  died  in  1674,  and  Cap- 
tain John  Price,  who  died  in  1691 ;  John  Turner, 
who  died  in  1680 ;  William  Bowditch.  who  died  in 
1681 ;  Joseph  Grafton,  Sr.,  who  died  in  1682  ;  William 
Brown  and  John  Brown,  who  died  about  1687,  '88 ; 
Henry  Bartholomew,  who  died  in  1691 ;  Richard 
Hollingworth  and  his  son,  William  HoUingworth, 
were  all  engaged  in  commerce  in  Salem. 

Philip  English  came  to  Salem  before  1670,  and  in 
1675  married  the  daughter  of  another  Salem  mer- 
chant, Mr.  William  Hollingworth.  In  1676  he  is  at 
the  Isle  of  Jersey,  commanding  the  ketch  "  Speed- 
well." He  had  so  flourished  in  1683  that  he  put  up 
a  stylish  mansion  on  the  eastern  corner  of  Essex  and 
English  streets.  It  was  one  of  those  ancient  mansion 
houses,  for  which  Salem  was  once  noted — a  venerable 
many  gabled,  solid  structure,  with  projecting  stories 
and  porches.  Down  to  1753  it  was  known  as  Eng- 
lish's great  house.  It  stood  until  1833,  long  tenant- 
less  and  deserted,  and  when  torn  down  a  secret  room 
was  found  in  the  garret,  supposed  to  have  been  built 
after  the  witchcraft  furor,  as  a  place  of  temporary 
security  in  case  of  a  second  outcry. 

In  1692  Philip  English  was  at  the  height  of  his 
prosperity.  He  was  trading  with  Bilboa,  Barbadoes, 
St.  Christopher's  and  Jersey,  as  well  as  with  several 
French  ports,  He  owned  twenty-one  vessels,  besides 
a  wharf  and  warehouse  on  the  neck,  and  fourteen 
buildings  in  the  town.     It  is  probable  that  his  wife 


SALEM. 


109 


was  over-elated  by  their  prosperity,  and  forgot  her 
humble  friends  of  former  days,  for  she  is  now  called 
"aristocratic,"  and  the  prejudice  thus  engendered 
against  her  doubtless  led  to  her  being  "  cried  out" 
against  for  withcraft.  Both  Mr.  English  and  his  wife 
were  so  accused.  From  1694  to  1720  Mr.  English 
sends  ketches  to  Newfoundland,  Cape  Sable  or  Aca- 
dia to  catch  fish,  and  sends  these  fish  to  Barbadoes  or 
other  English  West  Indies,  Surinam  and  Spain.  He 
also  had  a  number  of  vessels  running  between  Salem 
and  Virginia  and  Maryland. 

Mr.  English  was  put  into  Salem  jail,  so  says  Felt, 
in  1725,  for  refusing,  as  an  Episcopalian,  to  pay  taxes 
for  the  support  of  the  East  Church.  About  1734  he 
retired  from  trade,  and  in  1735  he  was  put  under 
guardianship  as  being  clouded  in  mind.  He  died  in 
1736,  aged  about  eighty-six  years,  and  was  buried  in 
the  Episcopal  church-yard. 

The  name  of  Derby  is  intimately  associated  with 
the  commerce  of  Salem — Roger  Derby,  born  in  1643, 
emigrated  to  America  in  1671  from  Topsham,  in  the 
South  of  England.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Society 
of  Friends,  and  first  settled  in  Ipswich,  but  having 
been  fined  for  non-conformity,  he  removed  to  Salem 
where  he  embarked  in  trade.  At  his  decease  in  1698 
it  appears  by  his  inventory,  that  he  possessed  a  house, 
wharf  and  warehouse.  His  son  Richard,  born  in 
1679,  engaged  in  maritime  affairs,  but  died  in  1715, 
leaving,  among  other  children,  a  son  Richard,  born 
in  1712,  whose  son,  Elias  Hasket  Derby,  was  the 
most  eminent  among  Salem's  merchants.  The  last- 
named  Richard,  in  1736,  at  the  age  of  twenty-four, 
was  the  master  of  the  sloop  "  Ranger,"  bound  from 
Salem  to  Cadiz  and  Malaga.  In  1739  he  sails  in  the 
"Ranger"  to  St.  Martin's,  and  in  1742  he  is  master 
and  part  owner  of  the  "  Volant,"  bound  for  Barbadoes 
and  the  French  Islands.  In  1757  he  retired  from  the 
sea  and  became  a  merchant  of  Salem,  relinquishing 
his  vessels  to  his  sons  John  and  Richard. 

The  commerce  in  which  Mr.  Derby  was  engaged 
was  pursued  in  vessels  ranging  from  50  to  100 
tons.  His  vessels,  laden  with  fish,  lumber  and 
provisions,  cleared  for  Dominica  or  some  Windward 
Isle  in  the  British  West  Indies,  and  then  ran  through 
the  islands  for  a  market.  The  returns  were  made  in 
sugar,  molasses,  cotton,  rum  and  claret,  or  in  rice  and 
naval  stores  from  Carolina.  With  the  returns  from 
these  voyages  assorted  cargoes  were  made  of  oil,  naval 
stores,  and  the  produce  of  the  islands  for  Spain  and 
Madeira,  and  the  proceeds  remitted  partly  in  bills  on 
London,  and  partly  in  wine,  salt,  fruit,  oil,  iron,  lead 
and  handkerchiefs  to  America.  The  commerce  of 
these  days  was  bold  and  adventurous.  P"'ew  vessels 
exceeded  60  tons  burden,  and  they  were  exposed 
not  only  to  the  dangers  of  the  seas,  but  also  to  the 
buccaneers  and  French  and  English  cruisers.  During 
the  French  War,  from  1756  to  1763,  Mr.  Derby  owned 
several  ships  as  well  as  brigantines,  carrying  each 
eight  or  ten  cannon.     He  was  owner  of  part  of  the 


cannon  which  Col.  Leslie  was  sent  down  from  Boston 
by  Gen.  Gage  to  capture,  in  1775.  His  son  John  car- 
ried to  England  the  first  news  of  the  battle  of  Lex- 
ington, and  returned  to  Salem  with  the  first  intelli- 
gence of  the  effect  it  produced  in  London. 

Mr.  Derby  was  born  in  Salem  September  16,  1712, 
and  died  there  November  9,  1783. 

The  second  son  of  the  last  named  Richard  Derby, 
Elias  Hasket,  was  born  in  Salem  August  16,  1739, 
and  was  Salem's  most  eminent  merchant.  He  was 
the  pioneer,  and  led  the  way  while  others  followed. 
His  vessels  were  the  first  from  New  England  at  India 
and  China,  and  largely  to  his  courage  and  sagacity 
Salem  is  indebted  for  the  prominent  place  she  held  as 
a  commercial  port.  Until  his  coming,  the  trade  of 
Salem  was  narrow  and  limited.  He  opened  the  ports 
of  the  whole  globe  to  the  Salem  ships,  and  made  the 
name  of  Salem  familiar  wherever  trade  penetrated  or 
civilization  ventured. 

At  an  early  age  he  entered  the  counting-room  of 
his  father,  and  from  1760  to  1775  he  took  charge  of 
his  father's  books,  and  engaged  extensively  in  trade 
with  the  English  and  French  islands.  At  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Revolutionary  War,  he  had  seven 
sail  of  vessels  in  the  trade  of  the  West  Indies.  Many 
of  the  rich  men  clung  to  the  mother  country,  but  Mr. 
Derby  espoused  the  cause  of  the  colonists.  His  trade 
and  that  of  Salem  was  ruined  by  the  war.  Indignant 
at  the  oppressive  course  of  Great  Britain,  Mr.  Derby 
united  with  his  townsmen,  and  Salem  fitted  out  at 
least  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  armed  vessels  during 
the  Revolution. 

From  1771  to  1785  the  tonnage  of  Salem  declined, 
and  did  not  revive  till  the  opening  of  the  India  trade, 
when  it  increased  with  astonishing  rapidity. 

On  the  15th  of  June,  1784,  the  barque  "Light 
Horse"  was  sent  by  Mr.  Derby  to  St.  Petersburg  with 
a  cargo  of  sugar,  and  opened  the  American  trade 
with  that  place. 

In  November,  1784,  he  despatched  the  ship  "Grand 
Turk,"  of  300  tons.  Captain  Jonathan  Ingersoll, 
on  the  first  voyage  from  Salem  to  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope.  Although  this  voyage  was  not  very  suc- 
cessful, it  gave  Mr.  Derby  an  insight  into  the  wants 
and  prices  of  the  Indian  market,  and  Nov.  28,  1785, 
he  cleared  the  same  vessel  under  command  of  Eben- 
ezer  West,  for  the  Isle  of  France,  with  the  purpose  to 
visit  Canton,  went  to  the  Isle  of  France,  Batavia  and 
China,  and  returned  to  Salem  in  June,  1787,  with  a 
cargo  of  teas,  silks  and  nankeens,  making  the  first 
voyage  from  New  England  to  the  Isle  of  France, 
India  and  China. 

In  December,  1787,  Mr,  Derby  again  despatched 
his  ship  "  Grand  Turk  "  on  a  voyage  to  the  Isle  of 
France  under  the  charge  of  his  son,  Elias  Hasket 
Derby,  Jr.  The  "  Grand  Turk  "  was  sold  at  a  great 
profit,  and  the  son  remained  at  the  Isle  of  France 
until  the  arrival,  about  a  year  afterwards,  of  the  ship 
"  Atlantic,"  when  he  proceeded  to  Surat,  Bombay> 


no 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


and  Calcutta,  and  first  displayed  our  ensign  at  those 
ports.  He  bought,  at  the  Isle  of  France,  the  ship 
"Peggy,"  sent  her  to  Bombay  for  cotton  and  then  back 
to  Salem,  where  she  arrived  June  21,  1789,  with  the 
first  cargo  of  Bombay  cotton.  One  of  his  vessels  was 
the  first  to  display  the  American  flag  at  Siam  and 
another  made  the  first  voyage  from  America  to  Mocha. 

In  February,  1789,  Mr.  Derby  sent,  for  the  first 
time,  the  ship  "  Astrea"  on  a  direct  voyage  to  Can- 
ton. American  ships  were  now  following  the  lead  of 
the  "Grand  Turk,"  and  we  find  fifteen  there  in  1789, 
five  of  them  belonging  to  Salem,  and  four  to  Mr. 
Derby.  In  1790  he  imported  into  Salem  728,871 
pounds  of  tea.  In  May,  1790,  the  brig  "William  and 
Henry,"  Captain  Benjamin  Hodges,  owned  by  Gray 
&  Orne,  entered  this  port  with  a  cargo  of  tea,  which 
was  among  the  first  of  such  cargoes  imported  in  an 
American  bottom.  When  Mr.  Derby  first  engaged  in 
the  India  trade  there  were  no  banks,  and  he  rarely 
purchased  or  sold  on  credit.  While  his  large  ships 
were  on  their  voyages  to  the  East  he  employed  his 
brigs  and  schooners  in  making  up  the  assortment  for 
cargoes  by  sending  them  to  Gottenburg  and  St. 
Petersburg  for  iron,  duck  and  hemp;  to  France,  Spain 
and  Madeira  for  wine  and  lead;  to  the  West  Indies 
for  spirits  ;  and  to  New  York,  Philadelphia  and  Rich- 
mond for  flour,  provisions,  iron  and  tobacco.  In  the 
brief  space  of  fourteen  years  (from  1785  to  1799),  he 
made  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  voyages,  by  at  least 
thirty-seven  different  vessels,  of  which  voyages  forty- 
five  were  to  the  East  Indies  or  China.  Among  the 
officers  of  his  ships,  who  were  afterwards  distinguished, 
were  the  Hon.  Nathaniel  Silsbee,  late  United  States 
Senator  from  Massachusetts  and  Dr.  Nathaniel  Bow- 
ditch. 

In  1798  the  nation  appeared  to  be  on  the  eve  of  a 
war  with  France,  and  was  without  a  navy.  John 
Adams  was  President,  and  the  administration,  in  June, 
1798,  passed  an  act  authorizing  the  President  to  accept 
such  vessels  as  the  citizens  might  build  for  the  na- 
tional service,  and  pay  for  them  in  a  six  per  cent, 
stock.  Subscriptions  were  opened  in  Salem,  and  Mr. 
Derby  and  Mr.  William  Gray  each  subscribed  ten 
thousand  dollars,  and  William  Orne  and  John 
Norris  each  five  thousand  dollars,  and  in  a  brief 
period  some  seventy-four  thousand,  seven  hun- 
dred dollars  were  subscribed.  Mr.  Enos  Briggs, 
who  had  built  many  of  Mr.  Derby's  fastest  ships, 
was  instructed  to  build  a  frigate,  to  be  called 
the  "Essex."  The  keel  was  laid  April  13,  1799, 
and  September  30th  following  she  was  successfully 
launched.  She  proved  the  fastest  ship  in  the  navy, 
and  captured  property  to  the  amount  of  two  million 
dollars.  Admiral  Farragut  served  on  the  "  Essex  " 
as  a  midshipman. 

Mr.  Derby  made  one  more  brilliant  voyage  before 
h,e  closed  his  career,  although  he  did  not  live  to  ascer- 
tain its  results.  Hostilities  between  France  and  the 
United  States  had  commenced  when  Mr.  Derby  sent 


a  ship  of  four  hundred  tons,  called  the  "  Mount  Ver- 
non," equipped  with  twenty  guns,  manned  by  fifty 
men  and  loaded  with  sugar,  to  the  Mediterranean. 
The  cost  of  the  cargo  was  forty-three  thousand  two 
hundred  and  seventy-five  dollars.  The  vessel  was  at- 
tacked by  the  enemy,  but  escaped,  and  arived  safely 
in  America  with  a  cargo  of  silks  and  wines,  and  real- 
ized a  net  profit  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars. 
Before  her  arrival  Mr.  Derby  died,  September  8,  1799, 
and  left  an  estate  which  exceeded  a  million  dollars, 
and  was  supposed  to  be  the  largest  fortune  left  in  this 
country  during  the  last  century. 

The  mansion  in  which  Mr.  Derby  lived  while  ac- 
quiring his  fortune  still  stands  on  the  corner  of  Wash- 
ington and  Lynde  Streets,  and  was,  for  a  long  time, 
occupied  by  another  Salem  merchant,  Robert  Brook- 
house.  Mr.  Derby  erected  an  elegant  and  costly  edi- 
fice on  the  site  now  occupied  by  Derby  Square,  and 
laid  out  walks  and  gardens  from  Essex  Street  to  a 
terrace  which  overhung  the  South  River.  The  man- 
sion was  finished,  but  was  occupied  by  Mr.  Derby  but 
a  few  months  before  his  death.  For  some  twelve 
years  thereafter  it  was  in  the  possession  of  his  oldest 
son,  but  with  the  embargo  and  war  there  came  a  check 
to  the  prosperity  of  Salem,  and  no  one  was  willing  to 
incur  the  expense  incident  to  living  in  such  a  palatial 
structure.  The  buildings  and  gardens  were  closed  for 
years,  and  finally  gave  place  to  the  square  and  market 
which  now  bear  the  name  of  Derby. 

Crowninshield  is  another  family  name  whose  mem- 
bers contributed  to  the  commercial  prosperity  of  Salem. 
John  Crowninshield  was  born  in  1696,  was  a  Salem 
captain  in  the  West  India  trade  about  1724  and  died 
in  1761.  He  was  the  father  of  George  Crowninshield, 
who  was  born  in  Salem  in  1734,  and  who  married  a 
sister  of  Elias  Hasket  Derby.  George  Crowninshield 
built  a  mansion-house  on  Derby  Street,  which  was 
demolished  to  make  room  for  the  present  Custom- 
House  in  1816.  After  the  Revolution,  and  until  the 
embargo,  he  was  engaged  in  commerce  with  his  sons, 
and  in  the  War  of  1812  was  successful  in  privateering, 
the  most  famous  of  his  vessels  being  the  "  America." 
He  died  in  1815. 

His  son  George  was  the  owner  of  the  famous  pleas- 
ure yacht,  the  "  Cleopatra's  Barge,"  in  which  he  vis- 
ited the  ports  of  Europe.  It  was  the  first  American 
vessel  to  cross  the  ocean  solely  on  a  pleasure  excur- 
sion. He  returned  in  October,  1817,  and  on  the  26th 
of  the  following  November,  while  the  yacht  was  lying 
at  the  port  of  Salem,  he  died  suddenly  in  her  cabin  at 
the  age  of  fifty-one. 

Jacob  Crowninshield  was  a  member  of  Congress, 
and  was  appointed  Secretary  of  the  Navy  in  1805,  but 
declined  on  account  of  ill  health.  Benjamin  W. 
Crowninshield  was  Secretary  of  the  Navy  from  1814 
until  1818,  and  a  member  of  Congress  from  1823  until 
1831.  He  built  and  lived  in  the  house  which  is  now 
the  Home  for  Aged  Women,  on  Derby  Street.  He 
died  in  1851, 


SALEM. 


Ill 


The  Pickmans  were  among  Salem's  successful  mer- 
chauts.  Col.  Benjamin  Pickman,  who  was  born  in 
1706,  was  largely  interested  in  the  West  India  trade, 
and  as  the  principal  article  of  export  to  those  islands 
was  the  product  of  the  fisheries,  he  engaged  extensive- 
ly in  the  prosecution  of  that  industry.  His  fish-flakes 
extended  from  North  Street  through  Federal  to  Boston 
Street,  and  down  to  the  river.  He  amassed  a  large  for- 
tune in  this  business,  and,  in  recognition  of  the  service 
rendered  him  by  the  codfish,  he  had  a  carved  and 
gilded  effigy  of  that  fish  placed  on  the  side  of  each 
stair  in  the  principal  hall  of  his  house,  which  he  built 
in  1750,  and  which  still  stands  on  Essex  Street,  next 
the  East  India  Marine  Building.  The  front  of  this 
house  is  now  hidden  by  a  block  of  stores.  Col.  Pick- 
man  died  in  1773.  His  sons,  Benjamin  and  William, 
were  merchants  of  Salem,  and  his  grandson,  Dudley 
L.  Pickman,  a  son  of  William,  who  was  born  in  1779, 
and  died  in  1846,  was  largely  engaged  in  the  East 
India  trade,  and  was  an  eminently  successful  mer- 
chant. 

Silsbee  is  a  name  prominent  in  the  annals  of  Salem's 
commerce.  Nathaniel  Silsbee,  an  eminent  master 
mariner  and  confidential  agent  of  Elias  Hasket  Derby, 
was  born  in  Salem  November  9,  1748.  At  a  very  early 
age  Mr.  Silsbee  was  entrusted  with  the  charge  of  a 
vessel  and  cargo  to  the  West  Indies,  and  subsequently 
he  was  owner  of  several  vessels  employed  in  that 
trade.  He  commanded  the  "  Grand  Turk  "  on  a  voy- 
age to  the  West  Indies  and  afterwards  to  Spain.  In 
the  course  of  a  few  years  he  embarked  in  business  on 
his  own  account,  and  soon  acquired  an  independent 
fortune,  which  unfortunately  was  lost  by  reverses  in 
business.  He  died  June  25,  1791,  leaving  three  sons, 
each  of  whom  were  masters  and  supercargoes  of  ships 
while  in  their  teens,  and  became  eminent  and  success- 
ful merchants.  Nathaniel,  born  in  1773;  William, 
born  in  1779  ;  and  Zachariah  F.,  born  in  1783. 

The  eldest  son,  Nathaniel,  followed  his  father  in  the 
command  of  the  ships  of  Elias  Hasket  Derby,  and  in 
1793,  at  the  early  age  of  twenty  was  on  a  voyage  to  the 
Isle  of  France  as  captain  of  the  new  ship  "  Benjamin," 
of  one  hundred  and  sixty-one  tons.  From  the  Isle  of 
France  he  proceeds  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  re- 
turns to  the  Isle  of  France,  and  brings  his  ship  home 
with  large  profits.  In  1796  Mr.  Derby  dispatches  him 
in  the  ship  "  Benjamin  "  to  Amsterdam,  and  thence 
to  the  Isle  of  France,  with  a  credit  of  ten  thousand 
dollars  for  his  own  private  adventures.  After  selling 
his  cargo  at  a  great  profit  he  purchases  a  new  ship  of 
four  hundred  and  fifty  tons  and  returns  to  Salem, 
with  a  full  cargo  of  East  India  goods  for  his  owner, 
and  such  favorable  results  for  himself  as  to  enable 
him  to  commence  business  on  his  own  account,  in 
which  he  soon  achieves  a  fortune. 

After  the  attainment  of  a  competency,  Mr.  Silsbee 
devoted  many  years  to  the  civil  service  of  his  country. 
He  was  chosen  a  member  of  Congress  in  1816,  and 
served  in  the  House  until  1821,  and  in  the  United 


States  Senate  from  1826  to  1835.  In  1823,  '24  and  '25  he 
was  president  of  the  Massachusetts  Senate.  He  died 
in  Salem,  July  14,  1850. 

Captain  Nathaniel  West  and  his  elder  brother, 
Ebenezer,  and  his  younger  brother,  Edward,  were 
prominent  in  the  early  commercial  days.  Ebenezer 
was,  for  nearly  four  years,  during  the  Revolution,  a 
prisoner  of  war,  and  was  exchanged  shortly  before 
peace  was  declared.  He  subsequently  had  command 
of  E.  H.  Derby's  famous  ship,  the  "  Grand  Turk,"  and 
in  her  made  the  first  voyage  from  New  England  to 
Canton.  Edward,  while  in  command  of  his  brother 
Nathaniel's  ship  "  Hercules,"  was  seized  at  Naples  in 
1809,  but  had  the  good  fortune  to  obtain  her  release, 
in  order  to  transport  Lucien  Bonaparte  and  family  to 
Malta,  thus  saving  his  shij)  from  confiscation.  In  1775, 
Nathaniel,  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  being  in  command 
of  a  merchant  vessel  in  the  West  India  trade,  was 
captured  by  a  British  frigate  and  compelled  to 
Serve  as  midshipman  in  the  British  navy.  Not  long 
after  he  escaped  and  went  to  Spain,  where  he  em- 
barked for  Salem  in  the  privateer  "  Oliver  Cromwell," 
Captain  Cole,  of  this  port.  He  made  several  cruises 
in  the  "  Oliver  Cromwell,"  and  took  many  prizes.  He 
participated  with  the  famous  Captain  Haraden  in 
several  contests,  and  made  successful  cruises  as  cap- 
tain of  the  privateer  "  Black  Prince,"  carrying  eight- 
een guns,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  men.  On  one 
occasion,  with  Captain  Nathaniel  Silsbee  as  his  lieu- 
tenant, he  put  into  Cork,  on  a  dark  night,  and  cut  out 
and  took  away  a  valuable  prize. 

Captain  West  subsequently  embarked  in  commerce, 
and  pursued  it  with  continued  success  until  he  had 
amassed  a  large  fortune.  In  1792  he  built  and  des- 
patched the  schooner  "  Patty,"  under  command  of  his 
brother  Edward,  and  she  was  the  first  American  ves- 
sel to  visit  Batavia.  His  ship  "Minerva"  was  the 
fir.-t  Salem  vessel  to  circumnavigate  the  globe.  His 
ship  "  Hercules,''  under  his  brother  Edward's  com- 
mand, on  the  conclusion  of  the  war  with  Great  Britain, 
in  1815,  was  the  first  vessel  to  sail  from  the  United 
States  for  the  East  Indies,  under  the  terms  of  the 
treaty.  He  was  born  in  Salem  January  31,  1756,  and 
died  here  December  19,  1851.  In  person  he  was  of 
fine  figure  and  of  majestic  mien  and  gait.  He  never 
forgot  the  dignity  Avhich  belonged  to  his  years  and 
station.  He  was  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school  in 
manners  and  dress,  and  adhered  with  scrupulous  te- 
nacity to  the  costume  ot  his  early  years, 

William  Gray  was  a  prominent  merchant  of  Salem. 
He  was  born  in  Lynn,  June  27,  1760,  moved  to  Salem 
at  an  early  age,  and  entered  the  counting-room  of 
Richard  Derby.  He  became  one  of  the  largest  ship 
owners  in  Salem,  and  followed  the  lead  of  Mr,  E.  H. 
Derby  in  sending  ships  to  Canton  and  ports  in  the 
East  Indies.  In  1805  Salem  had  fifty-four  ships, 
eighteen  barks,  seventy-two  brigs  and  eighty-six 
schooners,  five  ships  building  and  forty-eight  vessels 
round  the  cape.      In  1807  sixty  ships,  seven  barks, 


112 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


forty-two  brigs,  forty  schooners  and  three  sloops  in 
the  merchant  service,  and  one  hundred  fishermen  and 
schooners;  and  of  these  William  Gray  owned  fifteen 
ships,  seven  barks,  thirteen  brigs  and  one  schooner, 
or  one-fourth  of  the  tonnage  of  the  place. 

From  1801  to  1810,  inclusive,  the  duties  collected 
at  Salem  amounted  to  $7,272,633.31,  and  these  were 
the  years  of  Mr.  Gray's  greatest  activity. 

His  former  mansion,  is  now  the  Essex  House.  About 
1808  he  left  the  Federal  party  and  joined  the  Demo- 
crats, upholding  Jefferson  in  the  Embargo  Act  of  that 
year.  Party  feeling  ran  high,  and  Mr.  Gray,  finding 
a  growing  coolness  towards  him  among  many  of  his 
former  associates,  left  Salem  in  1809  and  moved  to 
Boston,  where,  in  1810  and  1811,  he  was  chosen  lieu- 
tenant-governor, and  where  he  died  November  3, 
1825.  During  his  life  he  accumulated  a  great  prop- 
erty. As  a  merchant  he  was  industrious,  far-seeing 
and  energetic ;  as  a  citizen  patriotic  and  public- 
spirited,  and  he  may  well  be  classed  among  Salem's 
"princely  merchants." 

Joseph  Peabody  was  another  eminently  successful 
merchant,  who  lived  to  see  the  decline  of  that  com- 
mercial prosperity  to  which  he  had  contributed  so 
largely.  He  was  born  in  Middleton  December  9, 
1757,  and  during  the  Revolutionary  War  he  enlisted 
on  a  privateer,  and  made  his  first  cruise  in  E.  H. 
Derby's  "  Bunker  Hill,''  and  his  second  in  the  "  Ran- 
ger." In  1782  he  made  a  trip  to  Alexandria  in  the 
"Ranger"  as  second  officer,  and  on  his  return  the 
vessel  was  attacked  by  the  enemy,  and  Mr.  Peabody 
was  wounded.  After  peace  was  restored  he  was  pro- 
moted to  a  command  in  the  employ  of  the  Messrs. 
Gardner,  of  Salem,  and  soon  realized  a  sufficient  sum 
to  purchase  the  vessel  known  as  the  "Three  Friends." 
He  retired  from  the  sea  in  1791,  and  engaged  actively 
in  commerce.  The  brig  "  Three  Friends,"  Joseph 
Peabody,  master,  entered  from  Martinico  in  June, 
1791,  with  a  cargo  of  molasses  and  sugar  consigned  to 
Mr.  J.  Gardner,  and  this  was  probably  his  last  voyage. 
During  the  early  years  of  the  present  century  he  built 
and  owned  a  large  number  of  vessels,  which  in  every 
instance  he  freighted  himself  His  vessels  made 
thirty-eight  voyages  to  Calcutta,  seventeen  to  Canton, 
thirty-two  to  Sumatra,  forty-seven  to  St.  Petersburg 
and  thirty  to  other  ports  of  Europe.  He  shipped,  at 
different  times,  seven  thousand  seamen,  and  advanced 
thirty -five  to  the  rank  of  master,  who  entered  his  em- 
ploy as  boys. 

The  disastrous  effects  of  the  embargo  and  war  were 
shown  in  the  diminution  of  vessels  in  the  foreign 
trade  of  Salem  from  one  hundred  and  fifty-two,  in 
1807,  to  fifty-seven  in  1815.  In  1816  forty-two  In- 
diamen  had  sailed  and  sixteen  returned  since  the 
war.  In  1817  Salem  had  thirty-two  ships,  two  barks 
and  eighteen  brigs  in  the  India  trade  ;  and  from  1808 
to  1817  the  arrivals  from  foreign  ports  were  nine  hun- 
dred and  thirty  six,  which  yielded  an  annual  average 
of  duties  of  three  hundred  and  seventy-eight  thousand 


five  hundred  and  ninety  dollars.  In  1821  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty -six  vessels  were  employed  in  foreign 
commerce,  fifty-eight  of  them  in  the  India  trade,  the 
largest  being  the  ship  "  China,"  H.  Putnam,  master, 
three  hundred  and  seventy  tons. 

A  few  facts  relating  to  the  connection  of  Mr.  Pea- 
body about  this  time  with  the  China  trade  are  in- 
teresting. In  1825  and  1826,  the  "  Leander,"  a  lit- 
tle brig  of  two  hundred  and  twenty-three  tons, 
brought  into  Salem  cargoes  from  Canton,  which  paid 
duties  amounting,  respectively,  one  to  $86,847.47  and 
the  other  to  $92,392.94.  In  1829,  1830  and  1831,  the 
"  Sumatra,"  a  ship  of  only  two  hundred  and  eighty- 
seven  tons,  brought  cargoes  from  the  same  port,  pay- 
ing duties  of  $128,363.13,  in  the  first  case;  $138,480.- 
34,  in  the  second,  and  $140,761.96  in  the  third,  the 
five  voyages  paying  duties  to  an  aggregate  of  nearly 
$587,000.  No  other  vessel  has  entered  Salem  paying 
$90,000  in  duties.  Both  brig  and  ship  were  owned 
by  Mr.  Peabody,  and  were  commanded  on  each  voy- 
age by  the  same  gentleman.  Captain  Charles  Roundy, 
a  good  type  of  that  class  of  master  mariners  whose  en- 
ergy and  fearlessness  carried  the  name  of  Salem  to 
the  remotest  ports,  and  whose  uprightness  and  busi- 
ness integrity  made  that  name  an  honored  and  re- 
spected one  in  those  far-off  countries.  Mr.  Peabody 
died  at  Salem,  January  5, 1844. 

Nathaniel  L.  Rogers  was  an  enterprising  and 
prominent  merchant  of  Salem,  and  opened  the  Ameri- 
can trade  with  Madagascar,  Zanzibar  and  Australia. 
He  was  born  in  Ipswich,  August  6,  1785,  and  died 
July  31,  1858.  Associated  with  him  in  business  was 
Richard  S.  Rogers,  another  successful  merchant,  who 
was  born  in  1790,  and  died  in  Salem  June  11,  1873. 

Robert  Brookhouse  was  engaged  in  trade  with 
Madagascar,  Patagonia,  the  Feejee  Islands  and  large- 
ly with  the  West  Coast  of  Africa.  He  was  very  suc- 
cessful as  a  merchant,  and  accumulated  a  large 
property.  He  was  born  December  8,  1799,  and  died 
June  10,  1866.  After  his  death  his  son  Robert,  with 
William  Hunt,  Joseph  H.  Hanson  and  Nathan  A. 
Frye,  continued  the  trade  with  the  West  Coast  of 
Africa. 

These  brief  notices  of  a  few  of  the  prominent  mer- 
chants of  Salem  should  not  be  closed  without  some 
reference  to  the  last  of  their  number,  whose  vessels 
arrived  in  her  harbor  from  ports  beyond  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope. 

John  Bertram  was  born  on  the  Isle  of  Jersey,  Feb- 
ruary 11,  1796,  and  died  in  Salem  March  22,  1882. 
Mr.  Bertram  came  to  Salem  at  an  early  age ;  and  in 
December,  1813,  we  find  him  sailing  from  Boston  in 
the  schooner  "  Monkey  "  as  cabin  boy.  He  arrived  in 
Charleston,  S.  C,  early  in  1814,  and  left  there  in  an 
American  privateer  in  March.  The  privateer  was 
captured,  and  he  was  taken  to  Bermuda  and  con- 
fined in  the  Bermuda  and  Barbadoes  prison-ships. 
Having  been  born  on  the  Isle  of  Jersey,  and  being 
familiar  with  the  French  language,  he  was  released, 


SALEM. 


113 


as  a  Frenchman,  after  which  he  shipped  on  an 
American  schooner  and  started  for  home,  but  was 
again  taken  prisoner,  and  carried  to  England,  where 
he  arrived  in  April,  1815,  after  peace  had  been  de- 
clared. 

In   1824,  with   P.  I.  Farnham  and  others,  Mr.  Ber- 
tram chartered  the  schooner  "General  Brewer,"  and, 
in  company   with   Captain   W.   B.  Smith,  sailed  for 
Saint  Helena.     When  a  few  days   out,  he   met  the 
brig  "Elizabeth,"  of  Salem,  Story,  master,  bound  also 
for  Saint  Helena.     Captain  Story  came  on  board  the 
"  General  Brewer,"  and  took  tea  with  Captain  Ber- 
tram ;   and  each   was   desirous  that  the  other  should 
not   know  his  destination.     They    each    announced 
themselves  as  bound  for  Pernambuco.     Captain    Ber- 
tram suspected,  however,  that  the   "Elizabeth"  was 
bound  to  Saint  Helena,  and  he  was  extremely  anxious 
to  arrive  there  first,  and  dispose  of  his  cargo.     As 
night  came  on,  in  order  to  lighten  his  vessel,  he  had 
his  entire  deck-load  of  lumber  passed  aft  and  thrown 
overboard,   and   by    crowding   on    all   sail,  day   and 
night,  he  arrived  at   Saint   Helena,  disposed  of  his 
cargo,  and  was  coming  out  of  the  harbor,  just  as  the 
"Elizabeth"  arrived.     From  Saint  Helena,  Captain 
Bertram    went    to     Pernambuco,     on    his     way    to 
Salem.     After  his  return   home,   he    purchased  the 
"Velocity,"    119    tons    burden,    and,  with    Captain 
W.  B.  Smith,    again   set  sail  for  Saint  Helena.     He 
went   from   there   to   the  Cape   of  Good  Hope,  and 
thence  to  the  Rio  Grande  and  the   Coast  of  Patago- 
nia, at  which  latter  place  he  remained,  engaged  in 
trading  for  hides,  while  Captain  Smith  made  trips  up 
and  down  the  coast  in   the  "Velocity."     After  being 
at  Patagonia  for  some  time.   Captain   Bertram  and 
Captain  Smith  both  sailed  for  Pernambuco  in  the  "Ve- 
locity," and  there  found  Captain  Thomas  Downing, 
of    Salem,    in    the    brig    "  Combine,"    of    133  tons 
burden.     They  purchased  the  "Combine"  of   Cap- 
tain    Downing,     and     Captain     Bertram      returned 
in    her    to    Patagonia.      Captain  Smith  came   back 
to    Salem    in    the   "Velocity,"    and    arrived   there 
in    August,    1826,    with   a   cargo   of   two    hundred 
and    eight   thousand  two    hundred    and    ninety-one 
pounds    of    beef,   consigned  to    Peter    E.   Webster. 
After  trading  for  awhile  on  the  coast.  Captain  Ber- 
tram returned  to  Salem  in  the  "Combine,"  arriving 
December  14,   1826.     He   afterwards   made   another 
trip  to  Patagonia  in  the    "  Combine,"    returning  to 
Salem  in  July,  1827,  with  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
five  thousand  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  pounds  of 
beef.     He  was  on  the  coast  of  Patagonia  for  about 
three  years. 
8 


On  his  final  return  to  Salem  the  firm  of  Nathaniel 
L.  Rogers  &  Bros,  oflfered  him  an  interest  in  the  ship 
"  Black  Warrior,"  of  231  tons  burden,  and  he  sailed 
in  command  of  her  from  Salem  in  December,  1830, 
for  Madagascar,  Zanzibar  and  Mocha.  Captain 
Henry  F.  King,  of  Salem,  was  with  him  on  this 
voyage,  serving  as  his  clerk.  He  loaded  with  a 
large  quantity  of  gum-copal  in  bulk,  and  established 
a  trade  there  which  continues  to  the  present  time. 
He  returned  from  this  voyage  March  31,  1832.  Mr. 
Bertram  was  connected  in  this  business  in  the 
early  years  with  Michael  Shepard,  Nathaniel  Wes- 
ton and  Andrew  Ward. 

From  1845  to  1857  he  was  trading  with  Para.  He 
sent,  in  December,  1848,  one  of  the  first  vessels  from 
Massachusetts  to  California  after  the  gold  discovery, 
and  the  favorable  accounts  he  received  from  her  in- 
duced him  to  send  three  vessels  from  Salem  the  next 
spring  with  full  cargoes,  and  two  others  shortly  after. 
He  also  engaged  in  the  California  trade  with  Messrs. 
Glidden  &  Williams,  of  Boston.  AVhile  Captain  Ber- 
tram was  engaged  in  the  California  trade  he  built, 
with  others,  the  ship  "John  Bertram,"  1100  tons, 
at  East  Boston,  and  she  was  launched  in  sixty 
days  from  the  time  of  laying  her  keel,  and  in 
ninety  days  was  on  her  way  down  Boston  har- 
bor with  a  full  cargo  on  board,  bound  for  San 
Francisco.  Although  many  predicted  that  a  vessel 
built  so  hastily  would  not  last  long,  their  predictions 
have  not  been  verified,  and  the  ship  is  still  afloat, 
sailing  under  a  foreign  flag.  She  sailed  for  San  Fran- 
cisco on  her  first  voyage  January  10,  1851.  Captain 
Bertram  has  been  connected  with  the  building  and 
management  of  several  railroads  in  the  West.  He 
founded,  and  has  maintained  at  his  own  expense,  the 
"  Old  Men's  Home,"  and  he  was  largely  instrumental 
in  establishing  the  Salem  Hospital.  As  a  merchant, 
he  was  enterprising  and  energetic;  as  a  citizen,  pub- 
lic-spirited and  charitable.  His  name  worthily 
closes  the  long  list  of  eminent  merchants  who  have 
given  Salem  a  history  unparalleled  in  the  annals  of 
American  commerce. 

The  foregoing  notices  of  Salem  merchants  are  by 
no  means  complete,  and  doubtless  some,  equally 
worthy  of  extended  mention,  are  omitted.  The 
names  of  others,  particularly  of  those  of  the  latter 
period  of  our  commerce,  will  be  found  in  tbe  ac- 
counts of  the  different  trades.  It  is  not  possible,  in 
the  limits  of  a  single  chapter,  to  do  full  justice  to  all, 
but  the  sketches  just  given  will  serve  as  an  example  of 
the  class  of  men  who  made  the  name  of  Salem  famous 
in  the  commercial  annals  of  the  State  and  nation. 


114 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

SALEU-iCoiitinned). 
THE   BANKING    INTERIvST. 


BY  HENRY  M.  BATCHELDER. 


The  Essex  Bank— The  Salem  National  Ban!,:— The  ilerchants''  Natiaiuil 
Bank— The  Commercial  Bank— The  National  Exchange  Bank— The  Asiatic 
Nationnl  Bank— The  Mercantile  National  Bank — The  Mechanics'  and 
Traders'  Bank— The  NaumJceag  National  Bank— The  Bank  of  General  In- 
terest  The  North  American  Bank— The  Salem  Savings  Bank — The  Salem 

Five  Gents  Savings  Banks. 

There  are  nine  banks  in  Salem — seven  banks  of  de- 
posit and  discount,  and  two  savings  banks. 

In  1782  a  branch  of  the  Bank  of  North  America 
was  located  in  Boston,  and  in  1784  the  Massachu- 
setts Bank  was  established  in  that  city.  Eight  years 
later  the  first  bank  was  opened  in  Salem.  It  was 
styled  the  "  Essex  Bank,"  and  commenced  business 
July  2,  1792,  with  a  capital  of  about  three  hundred 
thousand  dollars. 

It  was  in  1786  that,  by  Congressional  order,  ac- 
counts were  kept  in  dollars,  dimes  and  cents  instead 
of  pounds,  shillings  and  pence.  On  account  of  busi- 
ness troubles,  specie  payments  w^ere  suspended  from 
1837  to  1839,  and  again  at  the  breaking  out  of  the 
Civil  War  in  1861.     This  last  suspension  lasted  until 

1876. 

The  Essex  Bank,  occupied  a  room  in  the  build- 
ing now  known  as  the  "  Central  Building,"  on  Cen- 
tral Street,  which  street  was  for  a  time  known  as 
Bank  Street.  It  expired  in  1819,  though  its  affairs 
were  not  fully  wound  up  till  1822. 

The  Salem  Bank  now  the  Salem  National 
Bank,  was  incorporated  March  8,  1803,  with  a  capi- 
tal of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars.  This  was  in- 
creased to  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  in 
1823  ;  reduced  in  1859  to  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
seven  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  ;  restored  to  two 
hundred  thousand  dollars  in  1865  ;  increased  in  1873 
to  three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  which  is  the 
present  capital.  Its  presidents  have  been  Benjamin 
Pickman,  1803;  Joseph  Peabody,  1814;  George  Pea- 
body,  1833;  Benjamin  Merrill,  1842;  George  Pea- 
body,  1847  ;  William  C.  Endicott,  1858 ;  Augustus 
Story,  1875  ;  S.  Endicott  Peabody,  1882.  Its  cashiers  : 
Jonathan  Hodges,  1803 ;  John  Moriarty,  1810 ; 
Charles  M.  Endicott,  1835;  George  D.  Phippen, 
1858. 

The  bank  was  originally  located  in  a  brick  building 
on  the  south  side  of  Essex  Street,  next  west  of  the 
Benjamin  Pickman  estate,  nearly  opposite  St.  Peter 
Street.  This  building  stood  in  from  the  street,  and 
was  erected  for  the  accommodation  of  the  Salem 
Bank  and  the  Salem  Marine  Insurance  Company  on 
the  lower  floor,  and  the  East  India  Marine  Museum 
on  the  second. 


The  Salem  Bank  adopted  the  national  system  in 
1864,  and  moved  to  the  Holyoke  Building,  Washing- 
ton Street,  in  1866,  where  it  is  still  located. 

The  Merchants'  Bank  was  incorporated  June  26, 
1811,  with  a  capital  of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
which  was  afterwards  increased  to  four  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  and  reduced  in  1845  to  the  original 
figure.  The  bank  was  first  located  in  the  Union 
Building,  on  the  corner  of  Essex  and  Union  Streets, 
later  in  the  Bowker  Block,  and  in  1855  removed  to 
the  second  floor  of  the  then  newly-built  Asiatic 
Building  on  Washington  Street.  In  1883  it  was  re- 
moved to  its  present  location,  in  the  Northey  Build- 
ing, on  the  corner  of  Essex  and  Washington  Streets. 
Its  presidents  have  been  Benjamin  W.  Crowninshield, 
1811 ;  Joseph  Story,  1815;  John  W.  Treadwell,  1835  ; 
Benjamin  H.  Silsbee,  1851 ;  George  R  Emmerton, 
1880.  Its  cashiers  :  John  Saunders,  1811 ;  John  W. 
Treadwell.  1813;  Francis  H.  Silsbee,  1835;  Benja- 
min H.  Silsbee,  1848  ;  Nathaniel  B.  Perkins,  1851  ; 
George  R.  Jewett,  1883  ;  Henry  M.  Batchelder,  1883. 
The  bank  became  the  Merchants'  National  Bank, 
December  30,  1864. 

The  Commercial,  now  First  National  Bank, 
was  incorporated  February  12,  1819,  with  a  capital 
of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  which  was  re- 
duced to  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  1830,  and 
restored  in  1851.  This  bank  first  opened  its  doors  at 
its  present  location,  in  the  Central  Street  Bank 
Building.  It  presidents  have  been  Willard  Peele, 
William  Sutton  and  Eben  Sutton.  Its  cashiers  :  Na- 
thaniel L.  Rogers,  Zachariah  F.  Silsbee  and  Edward 
H.  Payson.  It  was  the  first  bank  in  the  city  to  enter 
the  national  system,  becoming  the  "  First  National 
Bank  "  in  June,  1864. 

The  Exchange  Bank  was  incorporated  January 
31,  1823,  with  a  capital  of  three  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  which  was  afterwards  reduced  to  the  present 
amount,  two  hundred  thousand  dollars.  It  com- 
menced business  in  a  building  on  the  site  of  William 
Gray's  garden,  No.  172  Essex  Street,  the  building  ex- 
tending to  the  corner  of  St.  Peter  Street.  It  was  re- 
moved to  the  First  Church  building  in  December, 
1864,  occupying  at  that  time  the  rooms  on  the  corner 
of  Washington  Street,  but  was  transferred  to  the 
southwest  corner  of  the  building  in  1875.  The  bank  is 
now  numbered  109  on  Washington  Street.  Its  presidents 
have  been  Gideon  Tucker,  John  Webster,  Henry  L. 
Williams,  Nathan  Nichols.  Its  cashiers :  John 
Chadwick,  Joseph  H.  Webb.  It  became  the 
National  Exchange  Bank  February  18,  1865. 

The  Asiatic  Bank  was  incorporated  June  12, 
1824,  with  a  capital  of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
which  was  increased  to  three  hundred  and  fifteen 
thousand  dollars.  It  commenced  business  in  the 
Central  Street  Bank  Building  ;  removed  from  there 
to  the  East  India  Marine  Building,  on  Essex,  oppo- 
site St.  Peter  Street,  and  in  1855  changed  its  quarters 
to  the  Asiatic  Building,  on  Washington  Street,  where 


SALEM. 


115 


it  is  still  located.  Its  presidents  have  been  Stephen 
White,  Nathan  W.  Neal,  Thomas  P.  Pingree,  Joseph 
S.  Cabot,  Leonard  B.  Harrington  ;  and  its  cashiers  : 
Henry  Pickering,  Joseph  S.  Cabot,  William  H. 
Foster  and  Charles  S.  Rea.  Mr.  Foster,  who  re- 
tired from  the  office  of  cashier  in  1884,  had  been  in 
the  service  of  the  bank  for  sixty  years,  since  its  or- 
ganization. It  became  the  Asiatic  National  Bank 
December  8,  1864. 

The  Mercantile  Bank  was  incorporated  March 
4,  1826.  Its  capital  has  always  been  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  and  it  has  always  been  located  on 
Central  Street,  first  in  the  Central  Building,  on  the 
west  side  of  the  street,  and  since  1827  in  its  present 
quarters  in  the  Central  Street  Bank  Building,  nearly 
opposite.  Its  presidents  have  been  Nathaniel  L. 
Eogers,  David  Putnam,  John  Dwyer,  Aaron  Perkins, 
Charles  Harrington.  Its  cashiers:  John  A.  South- 
wick,  Stephen  Webb  and  Joseph  H.  Phippen.  The 
bank  became  the  Mercantile  National  Bank  January 
10,  1865. 

The  Mechanics'  and  Traders'  Bank  was  incor- 
porated March  10,  1827,  with  a  capital  of  two  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars,  but  never  commenced 
business. 

The  Naumkeag  Bank  was  incorporated  IMarch 
17,  1831,  with  a  capital  of  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  which  was  subsequently  increased  to  five  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars.  It  commenced  business  in  the 
store  of  Benjamin  Dodge,  on  Essex  Street,  opposite 
the  Essex  House,  thence  was  removed  to  the  Man- 
ning Building,  now  Bowker  Place,  from  there  to  the 
East  India  Marine  Building,  and  in  1872  to  its  pres- 
ent quarters,  on  the  second  floor  of  the  Asiatic 
Building,  Washington  Street.  Its  presidents  have 
been  David  Pingree,  Edward  D.  Kimball,  Charles  H. 
Fabens,  William  B.  Parker,  David  Pingree,  (Jr.,)  and 
Joseph  H.  Towne.  Its  cashiers  have  been  Joseph  G. 
Sprague,  Joseph  H.  Towne  and  Nathaniel  A.  Very. 
The  Naumkeag  became  the  Naumkeag  National 
Bank  in  December,  1864. 

The  Bank  of  General  Interest  was  also  in- 
corporated March  17,  1831,  with  a  capital  of  two 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  John  Russell  was  presi- 
dent and  William  H.  Russell  cashier.  It  ceased 
business  in  1842. 

The  North  American  Bank  was  incorporated 
March  31,  1836,  with  an  authorized  capital  of  three 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  It  never  went  into  opera- 
tion. 

The  Salem  Savings  Bank  was  incorporated  Jan- 
uary 29,  1818,  as  the  "  Institution  for  Savings  in  the 
town  of  Salem  and  Vicinity."  The  name  was  changed 
to  the  Salem  Savings  Bank  in  1843.  It  commenced 
business  on  Central  Street,  thence  removed  to  the 
Bowker  Building,  and  in  1855  to  the  present  location 
in  the  Asiatic  Building,  Washington  Street. 

Its  presidents  have  been  Dr.  Edward  A.  Holyoke, 
1818 ;    Joseph   Peabody,   1830 ;    Nathaniel    Silsbee, 


1844  ;  Dauiel  A.  White,  1851  ;  Zach.  F.  Silsbee,  1861 ; 
John  Bertram,  1864;  Joseph  S.  Cabot,  1865;  Benja- 
min H.  Silsbee,  1875;  Peter  Silver,  1879;  William 
Northey,  1883.  The  treasurers  have  been  William  P. 
Richardson,  1818  ;  William  Gibbs,  1820 ;  William 
Dean,  1821 ;  Peter  Lander,  Jr.,  1822 ;  Daniel  Bray, 
1823;  Benjamin  Shreve,  1837;  Henry  Ropes,  1839  ; 
William  Wallis,  1861 ;  Charles  E.  Syraonds,  1865 ; 
William  H.  Simonds,  Jr.,  1879.  In  1855  the  btink 
removed  to  the  Asiatic  Building,  Washington  Street, 
which  it  now  owns.  Its  depositors  number  between 
sixteen  and  seventeen  thousand,  and  the  amount  on 
deposit  averages  $6,500,000. 

The  Salem  Five  Cents  Savings  Bank  was  in- 
corporated in  1855.  It  opened  for  business  in  the 
second  story  of  the  Downing  Block,  No.  175  Essex 
Street,  removing  from  there  into  its  present  quarters  on 
the  second  floor  of  the  Northey  Building.  Its  presi- 
dents have  been  Edward  D.  Kimball,  1855  ;  Edmund 
Smith,  1861  ;  Henry  L.  Williams,  1862;  John  Kins- 
man, 1879  ;  William  H.  Jelly,  1882.  Its  treasurers  : 
J.Vincent  Browne,  1855;  Charles  H.  Henderson, 
1868.  The  number  of  depositors  is  over  eight  thou- 
sand, and  the  amount  on  deposit  averages  more  than 
$2,500,000. 

The  aggregate  capital  of  the  national  banks  of  Sa- 
lem is  $2,015,000,  and  the  combined  surplus  funds  and 
undivided  pro6ts  on  August  1, 1887,  was  over  $900,000. 
The  amount  on  dej^osit  on  the  same  date  was  over 
$1,700,000. 


CHAPTER    V. 

SALEM.— Continued. 
THE    PRESS. 


BY   GILBERT   L.  STREETER. 


The  history  of  the  press  in  any  community,  if  prop- 
erly executed,  is  a  chronicle  of  the  times,  a  correct 
narrative  of  the  passing  events  of  the  period.  It  is 
the  business  of  the  journalist  to  "  catch  the  manners 
living  as  they  rise,"  but  the  correctness  of  the  picture 
will  depend,  of  course,  upon  the  skill  of  the  artist. 

It  is  difficult  to  appreciate  the  condition  of  our 
early  colonial  community  before  the  days  of  the  news- 
paper, which  now  seems  so  essential  to  a  proper 
knowledge  of  events.  It  is  manifest  that  the  ordinary 
gossip  of  the  community,  and  the  verbal  narration  of 
events  transpiring  elsewhere,  satisfied  every  want. 
There  were  printing  presses  in  the  colony  long  before 
sufficient  patronage  could  be  obtained  to  warrant  the 
establishment  of  a  newspaper.  There  was  a  printing 
press  in  Cambridge  as  early  as  1639,  and  as  the  infant 
university  was  located  there,  as  well  as  the  local  gov- 
ernment of  the  colony,  the  persons  concerned  in  it 
were  encouraged  by  grants  of  land  from  the  General 


116 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Court.  Subsequently,  in  1674,  a  printing  press  was 
"  set  up"  in  Boston,  and  tliis  was  by  special  leave  of 
the  General  Court,  which  had  previously  ordered,  in 
1664,  that  there  should  be  no  other  press  than  that  in 
Cambridge  ;  for,  besides  the  cost  of  importing  a 
printing  press  from  England,  and  the  great  cost  of 
paper  and  other  materials,  the  early  printers  had  to  en- 
counter the  objections  of  the  Puritan  authorities,  who, 
although  ready  to  patronize  the  press  to  some  extent, 
looked  upon  the  freedom  of  printing  with  a  jealous 
eye.  They  early  appointed  certain  trusted  clergymen 
to  act  as  licensers  of  the  press. 

The  first  attempt  to  establish  a  newspaper  in  North 
America  was  made  in  1690,  when  (September  25th)  a 
single  number  of  a  small  sheet  was  printed  in  Boston 
by  Richard  Pierce  for  Benjamin  Harris.  It  was  con- 
demned at  once  by  the  public  authorities,  and  it  is 
believed  that  a  second  number  was  never  issued.  It 
was  fourteen  years  after  this  before  another  party  ven- 
tured to  try  the  exj^eriment,  and  this  person  was  John 
Campbell,  the  postmaster  of  Boston,  who  succeeded 
in  establishing  the  Boston  News  Letter. 

While,  therefore,  Salem  was  the  third  town  in  the 
colony,  in  the  order  of  time,  to  enjoy  the  advantages 
of  a  public  printing  press,  it  was  nearly  a  century  later 
than  Boston  in  getting  one.  The  arrival  of  this  press 
in  Salem,  in  1768,  was  a  great  event.  Although  the 
town  contained  many  literary  persons  of  distinction, 
and  the  inhabitants  were  generally  well  educated,  the 
literary  resources  of  the  town  which  were  available 
by  the  public  were  quite  limited.  There  were  few 
books,  for  they  were  very  costly,  and  these  were  in 
possession  of  the  wealthy  families.  Most  families 
were  esteemed  fortunate  if  they  possessed  the  Bible, 
the  almanac  and  a  few  approved  sermons.  The  first 
attempt  to  collect  a  library  in  Salem  was  when  the 
Social  Library  was  formed,  and  this  was  after  the 
printing  press  was  established. 

But  the  decade  preceding  the  Revolution  was  one 
of  great  intellectual  activity.  The  press  in  the  colony 
had  been  relieved  from  the  supervision  and  control  of 
the  clergy,  and  its  absolute  independence  was  nearly 
secured.  Several  newspapers  had  been  commenced 
in  Boston,  and  there  Avas  a  general  disposition  to  en- 
courage and  sustain  such  publications. 

The  person  who  undertook  to  establish  the  printing 
business  in  Salem  was  Samuel  Hall,  a  young  man,  a 
native  of  Medford,  and  one  who,  from  his  qualities  of 
mind  and  energy  of  character,  was  well  suited  to  per- 
form the  task  of  a  pioneer  in  this  matter.  He  was  a 
practical  printer,  and  had  learned  his  trade  of  his 
uncle,  Daniel  Fowle,  who  was  the  first  printer  in 
New  Hampshire.  Before  coming  to  Salem  he  had 
been  concerned  with  Mrs.  Anne  Franklin,  sister-in-law 
of  Benjamin  Franklin,  in  the  publication  of  the  New- 
port (R.  I.)  Mercury,  a  newspaper  originally  estab- 
lished by  James  Franklin,  and  which  has  been  con- 
tinued until  this  time, 

Mr.  Hall  was  in  sympathy  with  the  rising  party  of 


young  men  who  were  becoming  restive  under  the 
yoke  of  the  mother-country,  and  he  was  afterwards 
active  in  the  Revolution ;  and  it  is  quite  probable 
that  he  was  assisted  in  his  enterprise  by  leading  per- 
sons of  the  patriotic  party. 

Mr.  Hall  opened  his  office  in  Salem  in  April,  1768. 
It  was  located  on  Main  Street,  a  few  doors  above  the 
Town-House — about  where  the  Creamer  block  is  sit- 
uated. This  locality  was  then,  as  now,  near  the 
centre  of  business.  The  Town-House  was  a  wooden 
building  of  two  stories,  next  above  the  First  Church, 
on  the  spot  between  the  present  church  and  the  para- 
pet of  the  railroad  tunnel.  It  was  where  the  town- 
meetings  were  usually  held  (in  the  lower  story),  and 
was  also  occupied,  in  the  second  story,  as  a  court- 
house. It  was  afterwards  called  the  State-House,  as 
the  Provincial  Assembly  of  Massachusetts  convened 
therein  in  1774,  with  John  Hancock  as  president. 
It  Avas  a  building  of  humble  pretensions,  its  chief 
claim  to  notice  arising  from  the  circumstance  that  it 
was  a  painted  building,  which  was  an  uncommon 
distinction  in  those  days.  In  front  of  the  building, 
extending  on  either  side  of  the  door,  was  a  wooden 
bench,  where  the  elderly  men  of  the  town  were  ac- 
customed to  assemble  to  gossip  and  converse  on  pub- 
lic and  i^rivate  matters. 

1.  The  Essex  Gazette, — Mr.  Hall  soon  resolved 
to  commence  a  newspaper  here.  Salem  was  the 
principal  place  in  the  colony  outside  of  Boston.  It 
was  a  town  of  about  five  thousand  inhabitants,  largely 
engaged  in  the  fisheries  and  in  the  coastwise  and 
West  India  trade,  and  was  generally  prosperous. 
There  were  many  wealthy  and  eminent  people  here, 
some  occupying  important  positions  in  the  colonial 
or  in  the  royal  service.  The  town  was  also  noted  for 
its  intellectual  culture  and  the  elegance  of  its  society. 

Proposals  were  issued  by  Mr.  Hall  in  July,  1768, 
for  publishing  a  paper  to  be  entitled  The  Essex 
Gazette,  to  be  issued  weekly,  on  Tuesday,  at  Qs.  8d.  per 
annum.  The  prospectus  was  full  and  explicit  in  re- 
gard to  the  character  of  the  proposed  paper  ;  and,  as 
indicating  the  spirit  in  which  the  enterprise  was 
started,  we  quote  the  following  passage : 

"I  shall  exert  myself  to  obtain  as  general  and  fresh  a  Collection  of  News 
as  will  lay  in  my  Power,  both  Foreign  and  Domestic,  and  insert  it  with 
accuracy  and  in  due  order  ;  and  I  shall  at  all  times  assiduously  endeavor 
to  procure  and  carefully  publish,  as  I  may  have  room,  any  Compositions 
that  may  have  a  tendency  to  promote  Religion,  Virtue,  Industry,  good 
Order,  a  due  sense  of  the  Rights  and  Liberties  of  our  Country,  with  the 
Importance  of  true  and  genuine  principles  of  patriotism,  and  whatever 
may  serve  to  enliven  and  animate  us  in  our  known  Loyalty  and  Affec- 
tion to  our  gracious  Sovereign.  In  short,  any  Pieces  that  may  be  pro- 
ductive of  Public  Good,  or  contribute  to  the  innocent  Amusement  and 
Entertainment  of  my  Headers,  will  be  inserted  with  Pleasure  ;  and  any 
writings  of  a  Contrary  Nature  will,  if  offered  for  Insertion,  be  instantly 
rejected." 

These  comprehensive,  patriotic  and  emjihatic  state- 
ments of  his  intentions,  with  more  of  a  similar  char- 
acter, constituted  Mr.  Hall's  introduction  to  his 
readers.  And  all  that  he  here  promised  he  thoroughly 
performed,  for   he  was  prompt  and   faithful   in  the 


SALEM. 


117 


execution  of  all  his  contracts,  devoting  himself  with 
great  energy  and  spirit  to  the  discharge  of  his 
duties. 

The  first  number  of  the  paper  appeared  August  2, 
1768,  and  was  a  very  creditable  publication  in  its 
typographical  execution  and  the  general  character 
of  its  contents.  It  was  printed  upon  a  crown  sheet, 
folio,  ten  by  sixteen  inches,  three  columns  to  the 
page.  This  diminutive  sheet,  less  than  one-third  the 
size  of  the  Gazette  of  to-day,  was  spoken  of  in  the 
prospectus  as  "  four  large  pages,  printed  in  folio." 
It  was  doubtless  considered  as  large  at  that  time. 
The  head  was  adorned  by  a  rude  wood  cut,  compris- 
ing the  figures  of  two  Indians,  with  a  codfish  over- 
head, and  a  dove  with  a  sprig  in  its  bill  in  the  centre. 
This  device  bears  some  resemblance  to  the  Essex 
County  seal,  and  was  probably  intended  to  be  em- 
blematical of  peace,  the  fisheries  and  successful  emi- 
gration. A  portion  of  this  device  is  contained  in  the 
seal  of  the  city  of  Salem.  The  head-line  assured  the 
reader,  in  the  common  phraseology  of  that  day,  that 
the  sheet  contained  "  the  freshest  advices,  both  for- 
eign and  domestic."  It  bore  as  a  motto  a  quotation 
from  Horace,  "Omne  tulit  punctum  qui  miscuit  utile 
dulci."  < 

The  contents  of  the  paper  were  such  as  were  looked 
for  in  i^ublic  prints  at  that  time,  chiefly  items  of  polit- 
ical news  from  various  parts  of  the  world,  very  con- 
cisely stated,  and  selected  with  care  and  good  judg- 
ment. Foreign  news  occupied  a  large  share  of  the 
columns.  Domestic  news  was  given  simply,  under  the 
names  of  the  several  towns  in  the  colonies,  whence  it 
was  received.  A  few  advertisements  filled  out  the 
sheet.  The  contents  were  mostly  selected,  but  few 
original  pieces,  either  editorial  or  contributed,  ap- 
pearing in  the  columns  in  those  days.  The  public 
did  not  estimate  so  highly  at  that  time  as  they  seem 
to  now,  the  ofF-hand  remarks,  speculations  and  effu- 
sions generally,  of  editors  and  their  correspondents. 
Among  the  contributors  to  Mr.  Hall's  paper  was  Col. 
Timothy  Pickering,  then  a  rising  young  man,  and 
afterwards  an  officer  in  the  Revolutionary  army  and 
Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States.  He  pub- 
lished a  series  of  able  and  elaborate  articles  upon  the 
importance  of  a  reorganization  of  the  militia,  which 
had  great  influence  in  arousing  attention  to  the  sub- 
ject, and  which  suggested  complete  plans  for  increas- 
ing the  efficiency  of  that  branch  of  the  public  service. 
His  father.  Deacon  Timothy  Pickering,  also  fre- 
quently communicated  with  Mr.  Hall's  readers, 
usually  to  rebuke  some  growing  evil  in  the  commu- 
nity or  to  encourage  some  good  work. 

Mr.  Hall  was  eminently  qualified  for  the  task  he 
had  undertaken.  He  possessed  business  talents,  enter- 
prise, ability,  editorial  tact  and  judgment,  and  withal 
sympathized  entirely  with  the  state  of  the  public 
mind  at  that  time  with  respect  to  the  mother-coun- 
try. He  had  commenced  his  paper  at  an  important 
season.       The   causes  were   then    actively  at  work 


which  soon  eventuated  in  the  Revolution.  A  spirit 
of  independence  was  growing  up  in  the  breasts  of 
the  people,  and  the  principles  of  civil  and  political 
liberty  were  undergoing  a  thorough  discussion.  With 
this  condition  of  popular  feeling  Mr.  Hall  sympa- 
thized warmly  and  earnestly. 

Subscribers  to  his  Gazette  were  obtained,  not  only 
in  this  town,  but  also  doubtless  in  most  of  the  princi- 
pal places  in  the  colony ;  for  a  newspaper  at  that 
period  was  a  much  more  important  thing  than  at  the 
present  day,  when  such  publications  abound  in  all 
directions.  There  were  then  but  five  papers  in  the 
state,  all  of  which  were  in  Boston,  namely,  the  News 
Letter,  Evening  Post,  Gazette,  Chronicle  and  Advertiser. 
There  was  none  at  the  eastward  except  in  Ports- 
mouth. No  regular  stages  or  other  means  of  trans- 
portation having  been  established,  excepting  a  single 
stage  to  Boston,  Mr.  Hall's  eastern  subscribers  were 
supplied  by  a  post-rider,  who  left  the  ofliice  on  publica- 
tion mornings  for  the  towns  between  here  and  New- 
buryport,  depositing  the  papers  on  the  way.  To  ob- 
tain the  most  recent  news  from  Boston,  he  incurred 
the  expense  of  a  special  messenger  from  that  town, 
on  the  previous  day,  who  brought  the  latest  papers. 
The  news  from  New  York  was  a  week  old,  from  Phila- 
delphia a  fortnight,  and  from  London  two  months. 

In  1772  Mr.  Hall  admitted  his  younger  brother, 
Ebenezer,  into  partnership  with  him.  Their  business 
connection  continued  until  the  death  of  Ebenezer,  in 
Cambridge,  February,  1776,  aged  twenty-seven. 

The  Essex  Gazette  was  published  here  nearly  seven 
years,  a  period  which  embraced  the  most  impf  rtant 
events  that  immediately  preceded  the  Revolution. 
All  the  great  questions  which  agitated  the  colonies 
during  that  time  were  discussed  in  its  columns.  The 
odious  taxes  imposed  by  the  King,  the  non-importation 
agreements,  the  Boston  Massacre,  the  Boston  Port 
Bill,  the  Tea  troubles,  the  doings  of  the  people  in 
their  town-meetings  and  other  primary  assemblies,  the 
popular  hatred  of  the  officers  of  the  crown,  and  other 
similar  topics  were  laid  before  Mr.  Hall's  readers  in 
the  succession  of  their  occurrence. 

In  October,  1770,  an  attempt  was  made  to  injure 
the  subscription  of  the  paper  on  account  of  an  al- 
leged partiality  in  its  columns  towards  the  non-impor- 
tation agreements.  But  the  effort  was  unsuccessful, 
and  seems  to  have  resulted  in  the  increase  rather  than 
diminution  of  the  list.  The  number  of  subscribers  at 
this  time  was  about  seven  hundred. 

As  indicative  of  the  spirit  of  the  paper,  we  may 
quote  an  article  which  appeared  March  5,  1771.  This 
was  the  anniversary  of  the  massacre  in  State  Street, 
Boston.  The  columns  on  this  occasion  were  draped 
in  black.  On  the  first  page  was  a  mourning  tablet, 
surrounded  by  heavy  black  lines,  upon  which  was  in- 
scribed the  following  animated  declaration: 

"  As  A  Solemn  and  Perpktual  MEMORIAL  : 
"  Of  the   Tyranny  of  tlie   British  Ailniiiiistration  of  Government  In  the 
years  1768,  1769,  and  1770 : 


118 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


"  Of  tlie  fatal  and  destructive  Consequences  of  quartering  Annies,  in 
Time  of  Peace,  in  populous  cities  : 

"Of  the  riduculous  Policy,  and  infamous  Absurdity,  of  supporting 
Civil  Goeernmenl  by  a  3Iilitanj  Force. 

"  Of  the  great  Duty  and  Necessity  of  firmly  opposing  Despotism  at  its 
first  Approaches: 

"  (Jf  the  detestable  Pi'inciples  and  arbitrary  Conduct  of  those  Ministers 
in  Britain  who  advised,  and  of  their  Tools  in  America  who  desired, 
the  Introduction  of  a  Standing  Army  in  this  Province  in  the  Year 
1768: 

"Of  the  irrefragible  Proof  which  those  Ministers  themselves  thereby 
produced,  that  the  Civil  Government,  as  by  them  administered,  was 
weak,  wicked  and  tyranical: 

"  Of  the  vile  Ingratitude  and  abominable  Wickedness  of  every  American, 
who  abetted  and  encouraged,  either  in  Thought,  Word,  or  Deed,  the 
establishment  of  a  Standing  Army  among  his  C!ountrymen: 

"Of  the  unaccountable  Conduct  of  those  Civil  Governors,  the  immediate 
Representatives  of  his  Majesty,  who,  while  the  Military  were  tri 
umphafitly  insulting  the  whole  Legislative  Atthority  of  tite 
State,  and  while  the  blood  of  the  massacred  Inhabitants  was  flowing 
in  the  Streets,  persisted  in  repeatedly  disclaiming  all  Authority  of  re- 
lieving the  People,  bj  any  the  least  Removal  of  the  Troops  : 

"  And  of  the  savage  Cruelty  of  the  IMMEDIATE  PERPETRATORS, 
"  Be  il  forever  liemembered, 
That  this  Day,  THE  FIFTH  OF  MARCH,  is  the  Anniversary  of 

PRESTON'S  MASSACRE— IN  KING  STREET- BOSTON— NEW  ENG- 
LAND—1770. 
In  which  Five  of  his  Majesty's  Subjects  were  slain  and  six  wounded. 

By  the  Discharge  of  a  Number   of  Muskets  from   a  Party  of  Soldiers 
under  the  Command  of  Capt.  Thomas  Prestox. 
GOD  Save  the  People  ! 
"  Salem,  March  5,  1771." 

In  May,  1775,  soon  after  the  Concord  light  -  a  full 
account  uf  which,  as  well  as  of  Leslie's  invasion,  etc., 
had  appeared  in  the  Gazette — Mr.  Hall  transferred 
the  publication  of  his  paper  from  Salem  to  Cambridge, 
for  political  purposes.  The  last  number  issued  here 
was  dated  May  2d,  and  the  next  number  in  Cam- 
bridge May  12th.  The  office  was  in  a  building  of 
the  college,  Stoughton  Hall.  The  title  was  then  en- 
larged to  the  New  England  Chronicle  or  Essex  Ga- 
zelle. This  movement  was  made  "at  the  desire  of 
many  respectable  gentlemen  of  the  Honorable  Pro- 
vincial Congress,"  with  whom  Mr.  Hall  was  in  high 
favor.  The  paper  was  continued  in  Cambridge 
until  the  evacuation  of  Boston  by  the  British,  when 
it  was  removed  thither,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
title  of  Essex  Gazette  was  dropped. 

Before  Messrs.  Hall  left  Salem,  their  printing- 
office  was  burnt  out  by  the  great  fire  of  October,  1774, 
which  destroyed  a  meeting-house,  custom-house, 
eight  dwellings,  fourteen  stores  and  several  barns  and 
out-buildings.  The  meeting-house  destroyed  was  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Whitaker's,  which  was  succeeded  by  the 
Tabernacle,  and  stood  on  King  Street  just  above 
School  Street,  about  where  the  Endicott  building 
now  is.  The  custom-house  was  just  above. 
The  printing-office  was  subsequently  located 
in  a  brick  building  on  School  Street,  which  was 
afterward  incorporated  in  the  brick  block  near  the 
corner  of  Norman  Street. 

2.  The  Salem  Gazette  and  Newbury  and 
Newburyport  Advertiser. — Before  Mr.  Hall  left 
town  another  newspaper  was  commenced,  July  1, 
1774,  with  the  foregoing  elaborate  title.  It  was  pub- 
lished by  Ezekiel  Russell,  from  Boston,  an  unsuccess- 


ful printer,  who  had  been  an  unsuccessful  auctioneer 
also.  His  antecedents  were  those  of  a  Tory.  In  1771 
he  had  published  in  Boston  a  small  paper  called  the 
Censor,  which  was  in  the  interest  of  the  loyal  party, 
and  soon  expired.  He  had  also  been  known,  in  1773, 
as  the  printer  of  a  hand-bill  entitled  "  The  Trades- 
men's Protest  against  the  proceedings  of  the  Mer- 
chants relative  to  the  new  Importation  of  Tea."  This 
handbill  excited  so  much  feeling  among  the  patriotic 
merchants  and. tradesmen  that,  at  a  large  town-meet- 
ing in  Faneuil  Hall,  the  printer  and  the  authors  of  it 
were  pronounced  as  "detestable,"  and  the  protest  it- 
self as  "false,  scandalous  and  base."  Mr.  Russell's 
office  in  Salem  was  "  in  Ruck  Street,  near  the  State 
House,"  somewhere  on  Washington  Street,  near  the 
depot,  we  presume.  The  head  of  the  paper  an- 
nounced that  it  was  "  A  Weekly,  Political,  Commer- 
cial and  Entertaining  Paper — Influenced  neither  by 
Court  or  Country."  But  the  Country  decided  that  it 
was  influenced  by  the  Court.  The  editor  was  sus- 
pected of  a  bias  in  favor  of  the  British,  probably  on 
account  of  his  previous  course  in  Boston,  and  the 
paper  accordingly  terminated  in  a  few  months  an  un- 
popular career. 

3.  The  American  Gazette,  or  the  Constitu- 
tional Journal. — This  was  the  title  of  another 
paper  by  Mr.  Russell,  the  author  of  the  previous  one ; 
and  like  that,  it  failed  to  command  public  confidence 
and  su[)port.  It  was  published  during  the  Revolu- 
tion, commencing  June  19,  1776,  and  closing  in  a  few 
weeks.  It  was  nominally  published  by  John  Rogers, 
at  Mr.  Russell's  office  ;  but  as  Rogers  was  merely 
Russell's  journeyman,  and  owned  neither  press  nor 
types,  the  latter  was  doubtless  the  true  proprietor. 
The  printing-office  at  this  time  was  near  the  upper 
end  of  Main  Street.  The  paper  was  published  weekly, 
on  Tuesday,  at  eight  shillings  a  year.  The  device  at 
the  head  of  the  paper,  coarsely  cut  in  wood,  was  that 
of  an  oi^en  journal,  supported  by  two  figures — one  that 
of  fame  with  her  trumpet,  and  the  other  an  Indian  with 
his  bows  and  arrows.  Beneath  the  volume  was  a  ship 
under  sail. 

Some  time  after  the  suspension  of  this  paper  Mr. 
Russell  removed  to  Danvers,  and  printed  for  a  few 
years  near  the  Bell  Tavern,  and  then  returned  to 
Boston.  There  he  continued  the  printing  business, 
in  a  small  way,  until  his  death,  in  1796,  at  the  age  of 
fifty-two. 

Mr.  Russell  seems  to  have  experienced  through  life 
a  constant  succession  of  the  reverses  of  fortune.  Be- 
sides the  fruitless  efforts  we  have  mentioned,  he  had 
been  a  publisher  of  the  Portsmouth  Mercury,  in  com- 
pany with  Thomas  Furber,  and  that  paper  continued 
but  three  years.  It  is  said  that  Mr.  Russell's  wife 
was  the  "better  half"  of  his  family,  assisting  as  a 
practical  printer  in  his  office,  composing  popular  bal- 
lads for  publication,  and  assuming  the  business  upon 
his  death. 

4.  The  Salem  Gazette  and  General  Adver- 


SALEM. 


119 


TISER. — For  nearly  five  years  during  the  Revolution 
there  was  no  paper  in  Salem.  But  in  1780  Mrs. 
Mary  Crouch,  widow  of  a  printer  in  Charleston,  S.  C, 
removed  hither  with  her  pre;S  and  types,  and  De- 
cember 6,  1780,  issued  a  prospectus,  in  the  name  of 
Mary  Crouch  &  Co.,  for  the  publication  of  the  Salem 
Gazette  and  General  Advertiser.  For  this  purpose 
they  announced  "an  elegant  assortment  of  type  and 
printing  materials,"  and  stated  their  purpose  to  re- 
late such  matters  as  should  refer  "  to  the  safety  and 
welfare  of  the  United  States,  to  the  liberties  and  in- 
dependence of  which  the  Salem  Gazette  will  be  ever 
.sacredly  devoted."  The  first  number  of  the  paper 
was  dated  January  2.,  1781.  It  was  of  the  crown  size, 
issued  weekly  at  fifty  cents  a  quarter.  The  paper  was 
more  miscellaneous  than  its  predecessors  had  been. 
It  commenced  the  jjublication  of  stories,  tales  and 
other  entertaining  articles. 

Mrs.  Crouch  exhibited  spirit  and  enterprise,  but 
was  unable  to  succeed  with  the  paper,  which  lasted 
only  nine  months,  closing  October  11th  of  the  same 
year.  She  assigned  as  reasons  for  the  stoppage,  "the 
want  of  sufficient  assistance,  and  the  impossibility  of 
obtaining  house-room  for  herself  and  family  to  reside 
near  her  business."  Her  printing-office  was  at  the 
corner  of  Derby  and  Hardy  Streets.  Mrs.  Crouch 
afterwards  removed  to  Providence,  her  native  place. 

5.  The  Salem  Gazette. — In  just  a  week  after  the 
close  of  Mrs.  Crouch's  paper  Samuel  Hall  again  en- 
tered upon  a  career  as  publisher  in  Salem.  He  had 
returned  from  Boston,  and  probably  bought  Mrs. 
Crouch's  materials.  He  commenced  a  new  paper  en- 
titled The  Salem  Gazette,  the  first  number  of  which 
was  dated  October  18,  1781.  It  was  of  the  size  and 
general  character  of  his  previous  paper.  He  contin- 
ued the  publication  of  this  series  of  Gazettes  for  a 
little  more  than  four  years,  enlarging  the  sheet  in  the 
third  volume,  and  bringing  it  to  a  close  in  this  town 
November  22,  1785.  At  that  time  he  removed  the 
paper  to  Boston. 

In  finally  terminating  his  connection  with  Salem, 
Mr.  Hall  stated  that  he  did  so  only  under  the  pres- 
sure of  stern  necessity.  His  business  had  been  ma- 
terially injured  by  a  tax  upon  advertisements,  which 
had  been  imposed  by  the  Legislature  the  previous 
summer.  This  tax,  in  conjunction  with  the  decline 
of  trade,  had  operated  so  disastrously  as  to  deprive 
him  of  nearly  three-quarters  of  the  income  of  his 
paper  from  that  source,  and  on  this  account  he  ac- 
cepted the  advice  of  friends,  who  recommended  his 
removal  to  Boston.  The  contracted  circulation  of 
the  paper,  and  the  great  expense  attending  its  publi- 
cation in  Salem,  he  said,  rendered  a  burdensome  tax 
upon  his  advertising  columns  insupportable.  The 
expense  of  procuring  intelligence  from  Boston  alone, 
by  special  messenger,  was  so  great  that  to  defray  it 
he  would  gladly  have  given  more  than  half  the  profits 
of  all  the  newspapers  circulated  in  this  town. 

The  tax  on  advertisements,   of    which    Mr.    Hall 


complained  so  bitterly,  was  voted  by  the  Legislature 
July  2,  1785,  and  had  elicited  an  outcry  of  indigna- 
tion from  nearly  all  the  papers  in  the  State.  It  was 
imposed  to  aid  in  liquidating  the  war  debt  incurred 
during  the  Revolution.  It  required  the  payment  of 
six  pence  on  each  advertisement  of  twelve  lines  or 
less,  and  one  shilling  on  those  of  twenty  or  less,  and 
so  on  in  proportion.  This  act  was  denounced  in 
severe  terms  as  an  infringement  of  the  liberty  of  the 
press,  as  the  "  Bostonian  Stamp  Act,"  etc.  When 
the  law  went  into  operation,  Mr.  Hall  spoke  of  it  in 
the  Gazette  na  follows: 

"  No  printer  can  now  advertise,  even  in  liis  mvu  paper,  any  books  ur 
pieces  of  piety  or  devotion,  not  excepting  the  Holy  Bible,  without  pay- 
ing a  heavy  tax  for  it.  IIow  this  accords  witli  His  Excellency's  late 
'  Proclamation  for  the  encouragement  of  Pieiij,  Virtue,  Edtwation  and 
3['ttiHers,'  let  the  franiers  of  the  act  determine.  Were  it  not  for  the  tax 
upon  advertising  good  boois,  the  Printer  hereof  would  inform  the  Pub- 
lic that  he  has  just  published  '  Extracts  from  Dr.  Priestly's  Catechism,' 
which  he  sells  at  five  coppers  single,  and  two  shillings  the  dozen." 

In  leaving,  Mr.  Hall  said  he  should  always  retain 
the  most  grateful  recollection  of  favors  received  in 
this  place,  and  should  "  always  endeavor  to  promote 
the  interests  and  reputation  of  the  town  of  Salem." 

The  removal  to  Boston  was  executed  with  charac- 
teristic promptness,  so  that  not  a  single  issue  of  the 
pa])er  was  omitted,  the  next  number,  under  the  new 
name  of  The  Massachusetts  Gazette,  appearing  as  a 
continuation  on  the  regular  day,  November  28th. 
Mr.  Hall  made  arrangements  to  supply  his  Salem 
subscribers  as  usual,  by  a  carrier.  He  subsequently 
sold  the  Gazette  to  other  2>arties,  He  afterwards 
printed  a  paper  lor  a  short  time  in  the  French  lan- 
guage, entitled  Courier  de  Boston, — the  first  paper  in 
that  language  in  New  England.  In  1789  he  opened 
a  book-store  in  Cornhill,  which  he  sold  in  1805  to 
Lincoln  &  Edmands,  of  which  firm  Gould  &  Lincoln 
were  the  modern  successors. 

Mr.  Hall,  as  we  have  stated  was  born  in  Medfbrd 
November  2,  1740,  of  Jonathan  Hall  and  Anna 
Fowle.  He  died  October  30,  1807,  aged  sixty-seven 
years.  He  was  an  industrious,  accurate  and  enter- 
prising printer,  a  judicious  editor  and  excellent  man. 
His  life  was  one  of  active  usefulness  and  of  remark- 
able success.  Besides  his  newpaper  publications,  he 
was  the  printer  and  publisher  of  many  works  of  var- 
ious degrees  of  importance,  some  of  them  of  consid- 
erable value.  The  list  of  his  publications  during  his 
residence  in  Salem,  and  subsequently  in  Boston, 
would  reflect  great  credit  on  him  as  a  man  of  business 
enterprise.  In  his  papers  he  advocated  liberal  opin- 
ions with  firmness  and  discretion,  and  always  com- 
manded the  confidence  and  respect  of  the  best  men 
in  the  community.  "  The  country,"  says  Mr.  Buck- 
ingham, "  bad  no  firmer  friend,  in  the  gloomiest  per- 
iod of  its  history,  as  well  as  in  the  days  of  its  young 
and  increasing  prosperity,  than  Samuel  Hall." 

6.  The  Salem  Chp.onicle  and  Essex  Adver- 
tiser— The  short  interim  succeeding  Mr.  Hall's  sec- 
ond  series     was    followed,  March   30,    1786,    by    the 


120 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


commencement  of  a  weekly  paper  with  the  foregoing 
title,  by  George  Roulstone.  It  continued  less  than  a 
year,  and  possessed  no  special  interest.  It  was 
printed  on  Paved  Street,  on  a  crown  sheet,  at  nine 
shillings. 

7.  The  Salem  Gazette. — The  present  Salem  Ga- 
zette was  commenced  October  14,  1786,  when  John 
Dabney  and  Thomas  C.  Gushing  issued  the  first  num- 
ber of  The  Salem  Mercury,  which  in  1790  (January 
5th)  assumed  the  name  of  The  Salem  Gazette,  and  has 
so  continued  ever  since.  Mr.  Gushing  was  a  native 
of  Hingham.  He  had  served  his  apprenticeship  with 
Mr.  Hall,  and  had  afterwards,  in  1785,  been  con- 
Jiected  with  John  W.  Allen  in  the  publication  of  the 
American  Recorder  and  Charlestovm  Advertiser,  in 
Charlestowli.  He  was  twenty-two  years  of  age  when 
he  came  to  Salem,  and,  from  his  intercourse  with  so 
excellent  a  master  as  Mr.  Hall,  had  doubtless  been 
strengthened  in  the  liberal  principles  and  correct 
habits  which  he  brought  to  his  new  undertaking. 

The  Mercury  was  printed  weekly,  on  Tuesday,  on  a 
demy  sheet,  four  columns  to  a  page,  and  chiefly  in 
long  primer  type.  The  price  was  nine  shillings  a 
year.  The  contents  of  the  paper  gave  evidence  of 
care  in  the  selection,  and  the  original  communica- 
tions were  from  competent  writers.  Party  lines  had 
not  been  drawn  at  that  early  period,  and  the  political 
character  of  the  paper  was  simply  that  of  an  ardent 
advocate  of  the  new  Federal  Constitution,  the  adop- 
tion of  which,  in  our  own  State,  and  in  other  States 
successively,  was  recorded  in  terms  of  exultation. 

Mr.  Dabney  withdrew  from  the  paper  at  the  close 
of  the  third  volume,  October  6,  1789,  and  opened  a 
book-store,  leaving  Mr,  Gushing  sole  proprietor  of 
the  business.  He  continued  thus  until  October  14, 
1794,  a  period  of  five  years,  and  then  transferred  the 
publication  to  William  Carlton,  his  partner  in  the 
Bible  and  Heart  Book-store.  This  book-store  was  a 
noted  place  of  resort  for  the  leading  gentlemen  of 
the  town,  such  as  Dr.  Bowditch,  Dr.  Holyoke  and 
Dr.  Prince,  for  many  years.  The  store  was  subse- 
quently carried  on  successfully  by  John  M.  Ives, 
John  P.  Jewett  and  D.  B.  Brooks,  and  it  is  now  Mr. 
Young's  music-store.  There  were  formerly  wooden 
figures  of  a  Bible  and  a  heart  susjiended  over  the 
door,  which,  during  the  War  of  1812,  in  a  time  of 
great  political  excitement,  were  torn  down  in  the 
night  by  some  mischievous  persons,  and  thrown  into 
the  harbor.  It  was  upon  the  occasion  of  a  list  of 
privateers  in  our  harbor  being  published  in  the  Ga- 
zette by  the  foreman  of  the  office. 

The  excited  and  virulent  political  feeling  at  various 
times  between  1802  and  1815,  embracing  the  events 
connected  with  the  last  war  with  Great  Britain,  was 
fully  exhibited  in  the  columns  of  the  Gazette.  Al- 
though Mr.  Gushing  was  himself  of  a  mild  and 
peaceable  disposition,  he  allowed  a  pretty  free  use  of 
his  columns  by  writers  who  did  not  emulate  his  own 
virtues.     The  Republican  party  was  assailed  in  vio- 


lent and  often  extremely  personal  language.  Sar- 
casm, ridicule  and  severe  denunciation  were  freely 
employed.  Nor  was  the  Register  at  all  backward  in 
returning  the  assault  in  a  similar  tone  and  spirit. 
This  mode  of  warfare  led,  on  several  occasions,  to 
serious  personal  difficulties. 

In  the  fall  of  1802  a  violent  contest  arose  between 
the  Federal  and  Republican  parties,  concerning  the 
election  of  a  member  of  Congress  from  this  district. 
The  result  was  favorable  to  the  Republicans.  When 
it  was  over,  in  November,  the  editors  of  the  Register 
and  Gazette  were  called  upon  to  answer  for  the  tone 
of  their  papers,  the  former  by  a  libel  suit  and  the 
latter  by  threats  of  personal  violence.  Mr.  Gushing 
was  visited  at  his  house  by  Captains  Richard  and 
Benjamin  Crowninshield  and  Mr.  Joseph  Story,  and 
taken  into  a  private  room,  where  he  was  charged 
with  malicious  publications,  of  a  purely  personal  and 
offensive  character,  against  the  complainants  and 
their  friends,  designed  to  injure  them  in  the  estima- 
tion of  the  community.  After  detailing  their  griev- 
ances at  some  length.  Captain  Benjamin  Crownin- 
shield threatened  to  shoot  Mr.  Gushing  if  he  contin- 
ued to  publish  such  things  as  they  had  complained 
of.  Mr.  Gushing  replied  that  it  had  been  his  en- 
deavor to  keep  his  paper  free  from  undue  personali- 
ties, though  he  considered  public  characters  and 
public  conduct  as  proper  subjects  of  animadversion  ; 
and  as  for  the  future  he  should  give  no  pledges,  but 
should  be  governed  by  his  regard  for  decency,  and 
endeavor  to  give  no  just  cause  of  offense.  The  con- 
versation became  so  loud  and  boisterous  that  it 
alarmed  the  females  of  Mr.  Cushing's  family,  who 
called  a  number  of  persons  into  an  adjoining  aj^art- 
ment,  as  listeners ;  and  thus  the  whole  affair  became 
a  matter  of  public  notoriety.  The  excitement  which 
ensued  was  so  great  that  Mr.  Gushing  was  obliged  to 
publish  a  full  account  of  the  interview. 

Party  politics  continued  to  rage  for  several  years 
afterwards  with  a  degree  of  violence  which  has  not 
been  exhibited  since. 

One  of  the  most  amusing  circumstances  connected 
with  this  period  was  that  of  the  Pictorial  Gerry- 
mander. The  Democratic  Legislature  of  1811-12 
had  carved  and  cut  up  the  towns  of  Essex  County  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  favor  the  election  of  a  Demo- 
cratic member  of  Congress  from  Essex  South.  The 
district  thus  formed  was  very  strange  in  its  outlines, 
running  from  Salem  all  around  the  line  of  back 
towns,  Lynn,  Andover,  Haverhill,  etc.,  and  ending  at 
Salisbury.  This  curious  arrangement  struck  the  eye 
of  Gilbert  Stuart,  the  celebrated  painter,  as  present- 
ing the  outlines  of  a  natural  monster,  and  he  accord- 
ingly took  his  pencil,  and  by  affixing  claws  to  the 
lower  extremities  at  Salem  and  Marblehead,  wings  to 
the  back  at  Andover,  and  a 'horrid  beak' at  Salis- 
bury, produced  the  figure  of  a  creature  which  he  said 
would  do  for  a  Salamander.  But  Major  Benjamin 
Russell  suggested  that   it   might   more   properly  be 


SALEM. 


121 


called  a  "  Gerrymander,"  in  allusion  to  Elbridge 
Gerry,  tlie  Democratic  Governor  of  the  State.  It 
ever  after  received  this  title.  An  engraving  of  the 
monster  was  inserted  in  the  Gazette  and  otlier  papers, 
and  printed  upon  handbills,  as  an  electioneering 
document.  In  1813,  when  the  Democrats  were  de- 
feated, tlie  Federalists  were  in  high  glee  over  the 
"  Gerrymander,"  which  had  been  so  useful  to  them, 
and  on  the  morning  after  the  election  in  April,  a  fig- 
ure of  the  skeleton  of  the  deceased  monster  appeared 
in  the  Gazette,  with  the  appropriate  epitaph, 
"  Hatched  1812— killed  1813."  This  device  was  exe- 
cuted by  Mr.  Appleton,  the  jocose  partner  of  Mr. 
Gushing  in  his  book-store,  who  cast  a  block  of  type- 
metal  and  engraved  the  figure  during  the  night  pre- 
vious to  its  publication.  There  was  subsequently 
published  a  picture  of  the  nondescript  in  its  coffin, 
and  a  fac-simile  of  the  grave-stone,  together  with 
an  amusing  programme  of  mock  ceremonials  at  its 
funeral. 

Mr.  Gushing  relinquished  the  publication  of  the 
Gazette  Dec.  31,  1822,  on  account  of  infirm  health, 
and,  in  retiring  from  a  post  he  had  so  long  occupied, 
bade  adieu  to  his  friends  in  a  graceful  note.  He  died 
Sept.  28,  1824,  aged  sixty.  As  an  editor  and  pub- 
lisher, as  well  as  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Gushing  & 
Appleton,  he  had  secured  a  host  of  friends,  who  re- 
membered him  as  "  the  amiable  and  gifted  Gushing." 
His  qualities  of  mind  and  heart  were  such  as  com- 
manded the  respect  and  esteem  of  all  who  knew  him. 
He  was  steadfast  and  conscientious  in  his  political 
opinions,  a  person  of  thorough  integrity  in  his  busi- 
ness affairs,  gentle  and  pleasing  in  his  manners.  He 
is  described  as  having  had  strong  powers  of  mind, 
warmth  of  fancy,  various  and  extensive  knowledge, 
and  a  familiar  acquaintance  with  the  best  of  English 
literature,  which  gave  attraction  and  fascination  to 
his  conversation. 

Among  the  writers  for  the  Gazette  during  Mr.  Cush- 
ing's  connection  with  it  was  the  late  Benjamin  Mer- 
rill, who  was  a  constant  and  voluminous  contributor 
to  its  columns,  and  whose  writings  contributed  largely 
to  its  success  and  influence  upon  the  public  mind. 

The  next  publishers  of  the  paper  were  Caleb  Gush- 
ing, a  son  of  Thomas  G.,  and  Ferdinand  Andrews,  who 
commenced  at  the  beginning  of  1823.  Mr.  Gushing 
withdrew  at  the  end  of  six  months,  and  Mr.  Andrews 
continued  sole  publisher  until  April  1,  1825,  when  he 
sold  half  of  the  establishment  to  Galeb  Foote.  Mr. 
Foote  had  served  his  apprenticeship  with  Mr.  T.  C. 
Gushing,  who  had  himself  been  an  apprentice  of  Mr. 
Hall,  and  thus  was  established  a  personal  connection 
between  the  original  Essex  Gazette  and  the  Salevi  Ga- 
zette of  to-day.  In  1826,  Oct.  1st,  the  other  half  of  the 
Gazette  was  purchased  by  William  Brown,  of  Mr. 
Andrews,  who  removed  to  Lancaster  and  established 
a  paper  in  that  town.  He  afterwards  returned  to 
Salem  to  publish  the  Landmark,  and  was  subsequently 
a  proprietor  of  the  Boston  Daily  Ecening  Traveller. 


In  1833,  Jan.  1st,  Mr.  Foote  became  sole  proprietor 
of  the  Gazette.  He  was  assisted  for  some  time  by 
John  B.  Ghisholm,  and  afterwards  for  many  years  by 
Major  William  Brown.  In  1851,  Jan.  1st,  Nathaniel  A. 
Horton  became  associated  with  Mr.  Foote  as  publisher 
and  editor,  and  so  remains  at  the  present  time.  From 
Jan.  1,  1847,  until  Oct.  3,  1851,  the  Gazette  was  issued 
tri-weekly,  on  Tuesday,  Friday  and  Saturday.  At 
the  latter  date  the  Saturday  edition  was  discontinued 
in  favor  of  an  enlarged  semi-weekly.  Since  the  mod- 
ern division  of  parties  the  Gazette  has  been  a  zealous 
and  efficient  advocate  of  the  views  of  the  Republican 
party,  in  entire  harmony  with  its  old  antagonist,  the 
Register. 

The  printing-office  previous  to  1792  was  somewhere 
near  its  present  location,  and  for  two  years  subsequent 
to  that  time  in  Stearns'  Building.  It  was  afterwards 
removed  to  the  present  neighborhood ;  then  to  No.  8 
Paved  Street.  From  1825  to  1827  it  occupied  the 
rooms  now  improved  by  the  Register  office.  It  was 
thence  removed  to  Golumbiau  Hall,  in  Stearns'  Build- 
ing, and  in  1831  to  quarters  in  the  Holyoke  Building, 
where  it  remained  until  January,  1874,  when  it  occu- 
pied its  present  commodious  quarters  in  Hale's  Build- 
ing. 

8.  The  Salem  Register. — This  paper  was  com- 
menced during  the  first  year  of  the  present  century, 
May  12,  1800,  when  the  first  number  was  issued  with 
the  title  of  Tlie  Impartial  Register.  It  was  published 
on  Monday  and  Thursday,  by  William  Carlton,  who 
had  withdrawn  from  the  Gazette  and  dissolved  his 
partnership  in  the  book  business  with  Thomas  G. 
Gushing  several  years  before,  as  we  have  already 
stated.  The  Register  started  in  opposition  to  the 
Federal  party,  and,  during  the  violent  political  strug- 
gles which  ensued,  was  an  able  supporter  of  the  Re- 
publican cause.  It  selected  for  its  motto  the  following 
lines : 

"All  parties  here  may  plead  an  honest,  favorite  cause, 
Whoever  reasons  best  on  Nature's,  Wisdom's  Laws, 
Proclaims  eternal  Trutli — gains  Heaven's  and  Men's  applause." 

Dr.  Bentley  aided  Mr.  Carlton  in  his  new  publica- 
tion, as  he  had  previously  done  in  the  Gazette,  and 
his  famous  summaries  and  variety  of  miscellaneous 
and  local  articles  soon  gave  the  paper  a  decided  char- 
acter. In  a  few  months,  Aug.  7th,  the  title  was  enlarged 
to  The  Salem  Impartial  Register.  This  was  continued 
until  Jan.  4,  1802,  when  the  word  "Impartial"  was 
dropped,  leaving  The  Salem  Register.  At  the  same 
time  the  original  motto  gave  place  to  the  well-known 
verse  which  is  still  printed  in  the  paper,  and  which 
was  written  impromptu  by  the  late  Judge  Story,  who 
is  said  to  have  scribbled  it  in  pencil  on  the  side  of  a 
printer's  case. 

"  Here  shall  the  Press  the  People's  Rights  maintain, 
Unawed  hj'  Influence,  and  unbribed  by  Gain  ; 
Here  Patriot  Truth  her  glorious  precepts  draw. 
Pledged  to  Religion,  Liberty  and  Law." 

During  the  autumn  of  this  year  (1802)  the  editor, 


122 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Mr.  Carlton,  was  convicted  of  a  libel  on  Timothy 
Pickering,  and  suffered  imprisonment  therefor.  This 
occurred  just  after  the  election  of  a  member  of  Con- 
gress for  this  district,  when  Jacob  Crowuinshield,  the 
Democratic  candidate,  was  chosen  over  Mr.  Pickering, 
who  was  the  Federal  candidate.  The  Register  had  as- 
serted that  "  Robert  Liston,  the  British  Ambassador, 
distributed  live  hundred  thousand  dollars  amongst  the 
partizans  of  the  English  nation  in  America,"  and  in- 
timated that  Mr.  Pickering  might  have  partaken  of 
"  these  secret  largesses,"  "  some  little  token,  some 
small  gratuity,  for  all  his  zealous  efforts  against  lib- 
erty and  her  sons,  for  all  his  attachment  to  the  inter- 
ests of  England,"  at  the  same  time  indulging  in  con- 
temptuous flings  toward  the  distinguished  ex-Secre- 
tary of  State.  To  answer  for  this  article  Mr.  Carlton 
was  indicted  by  the  grand  jury,  and  tried  before  the 
Supreme  Court,  at  Ipswich,  in  April,  1803.  He  w^as 
convicted,  and  sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  of  one  hundred 
dollars  and  the  costs  of  prosecution  ;  to  be  imprisoned 
in  the  county  jail  two  months,  and  to  give  bonds,  with 
two  sureties  in  four  hundred  dollars  each,  to  keep  the 
peace  for  two  years.  This  unfortunate  affair  is  simply 
illustrative  of  the  acerbity  of  party  feeling  at  that 
time. 

In  a  little  more  than  two  years  after  this  imprison- 
ment Mr.  Carlton  died,  July  24,  1805,  aged  thirty- 
four  years.  He  had  suffered  from  fever  during  his  im- 
prisonment as  stated  by  Dr.  Bentley,  and  continued 
feeble  until  the  day  before  his  decease,  when  he  was 
suddenly  seized  by  violent  fever  and  derangement, 
which  terminated  his  life  in  twenty-four  hours.  Mr. 
Carlton  was  a  native  of  Salem,  and  descended  from 
two  of  the  ancient  families  of  the  country.  His  con- 
stant friend  said  of  him :  "  He  always  possessed 
great  cheerfulness  of  temper  and  great  benevolence  of 
mind.  He  was  distinguished  by  his  perseverance,  in- 
tegrity and  uprightness.  To  his  generous  zeal  the 
public  were  indebted  for  the  early  information  which 
the  Register  gave  of  the  most  interesting  occurrences. 
To  a  tender  mother  he  was  faithful,  and  to  his  family 
affectionate.  The  friends  of  his  youth  enjoyed  the 
warmth  of  his  gratitude.  His  professions  and  friend- 
ships were  sincere.  He  was  an  able  editor  and  an 
honest  man." 

Previous  to  the  death  of  Mr.  Carlton  the  printing- 
office  was  removed  (January  3,  1803)  from  its  origi- 
nal location  in  the  house  on  Essex  Street,  next  below 
the  Franklin  building,  to  a  room  over  the  post-office, 
where  Bowker's  building  now  stands.  At  the  same 
time  a  new  head-piece  was  mounted,  a  figure  of  Lib- 
erty, with  the  motto,  "  Where  liberty  is,  there  is  my 
country." 

After  the  death  of  Mr.  Carlton  the  Register  was 
published  for  his  widow,  Elizabeth,  until  the  26th  of 
August  ensuing,  when  she  died  also.  It  was  then 
continued  "for  the  proprietors," — Dr.  Bentley  and 
Warwick  Palfray,  Jr.,  contributing  to  its  columns  for 
nearly  two  years.     In  August,  1806,  an  advertisement 


appeared,  stating  that  ''  The  S'alem  Register  having 
been  supported  in  its  editorial  department  by  the 
voluntary  assistance  of  its  friends  since  the  decease 
of  the  late  editor,  Mr.  Carlton,  the  proprietors  are 
desirous  of  obtaining  an  editor  to  conduct  the  same 
in  future."  No  new  arrangement  was  commenced, 
however,  until  July  23,  1807,  when  a  "  new  series," 
entitled  The  E^se.r  Register^  was  commenced  by 
Haven  Pool  and  Warwick  Palfray,  Jr.,  assisted  by  S. 
Cleveland  Blydon.  At  this  time  the  famous  motto- 
verse  was  dropped,  and  the  following  sentence  adopt- 
ed as  a  substitute:  "Let  the  greatest  good  of  the 
greatest  number  be  the  pole-star  of  your  public  and 
private  deliberations."  [Ramsay.]  Mr.  Blydon's 
name  remained  in  the  paper  only  about  six  months, 
when,  January  6,  1808,  it  was  withdrawn.  The  pub- 
lication days  were  then  changed  to  Wednesday  and 
Saturday,  "  for  various  reasons,  some  of  a  public  and 
some  of  a  private  nature."  The  favorite  motto  was 
again  resumed. 

On  June  28,  1811,  Mr.  Pool,  the  eldest  proprietor, 
although  only  twenty-nine,  suddenly  died,  after  a 
short  illness,  leaving  Mr.  Palfray  the  sole  editor  and 
publisher  for  the  next  twenty-three  years.  Mr.  Pool 
was  described  in  an  obituary  notice  as  "  an  affection- 
ate husband,  kind  parent  and  dutiful  son.  He  was  of 
a  cheerful  disposition,  constant  and  ardent  in  his 
friendships  and  excessively  fond  in  his  domestic  at- 
tachments." He  is  remembered  as  a  genial  and  gay 
companion. 

The  printing-office  was  located  successively  in  the 
three  buildings  next  below  the  Franklin  Place  until 
April  28, 1828,  when  it  was  transferred  to  Stearns' 
Building,  and  on  October  5,  1832,  it  was  finally  re- 
moved to  Central  Building,  where  it  now  remains. 

On  February  1,  1823,  the  old  publication  days, 
Mondaj'  and  Thursday,  were  resumed.  On  January 
1,  1835,  John  Chapman,  who  had  entered  the  office  as 
an  apprentice  in  1807,  was  admitted  as  partner  in  the 
business,  and  continued  until  his  death. 

The  death  of  Mr.  Palfray,  who  had  been  identified 
with  the  Register  as  Mr.  Cushing  had  been  with  the 
Gazette,  occurred  August  23,  1838,  at  the  age  of  fifty- 
one  years.  He  was  a  native  of  Salem,  a  descendant 
of  Peter  Palfray,  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  this  place 
— having  arrived  here  several  years  before  Governor 
Endicott.  Mr.  Palfray  served  his  time  as  a  printer 
with  Mr.  Carlton,  whose  office  he  entered  in  1801.  He 
assumed  a  share  in  the  charge  of  the  Register  while 
yet  a  minor,  and  his  tact  and  good  judgment,  thence- 
forth exerted,  largelj'^  increased  the  circulation  of  the 
paper,  and  gave  it  popularity  and  influence.  He  was 
the  sole  conductor  during  the  times  of  the  embargo 
and  the  war  with  England,  when  political  feeling  ran 
very  high,  and  was  much  embittered  by  personal  hos- 
tilities. "Yet,  notwithstanding  all  the  excitements 
of  those  periods,"  said  his  eulogist,  the  late  Joseph  E. 
Sprague,  "  Mr.  Palfray  gave  as  little  just  cause  of  of- 
fense as  any  man   living  could.     Possessed  of  most 


SALEM. 


12a 


generous  and  honorable  feelings,  he  never  willingly 
gave  just  cause  of  offense  to  a  political  opponent. 
Personal  allusions  were  always  painful  to  him — and 
at  those  periods  of  deadly  feud,  when  he  was  placed 
at  the  editorial  desk,  it  was  his  greatest  pleasure  to 
take  from  the  papers  handed  him  for  publication  the 
poisoned  arrows;  and  when  he  could  not  consistently 
with  political  duty,  wholly  remove  personal  allusions, 
to  soften  them  to  the  utmost  limit."  ..."  With 
but  slight  advantages  of  education,  there  were  but  few 
who  were  more  useful  to  society.  His  heart  was  the 
abode  of  pure  thoughts — his  life  the  exemplar  of  good 
principles.  The  tongue  of  calumny,  in  the  times  of 
bitterest  political  animosities,  never  breathed  a  sylla- 
ble against  the  spotless  purity  of  his  life  and  char- 
acter." 

Though  Mr.  Palfray  never  sought  office,  he  held 
several  public  trusts.  He  was  a  member  of  the  city 
government  at  the  time  of  his  death,  and  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  Mechanic  Association.  He  had  served 
with  usefulness  in  both  branches  of  the  Legislature. 

After  the  death  of  Mr.  Palfray,  the  paper  was  con- 
tinued by  the  surviving  partner,  Mr.  Chapman, — the 
family  of  the  former  retaining  an  interest  in  the  pub- 
lication. Mr.  Chapman,  by  the  soundness  of  his 
judgment  and  the  integrity  of  his  principles,  contrib- 
uted largely  to  the  continued  success  of  the  Register, 
although  he  was  not  a  regular  contributor  to  its  col- 
umns. The  paper  was  an  able  exponent  of  the  pur- 
poses of  the  Whig  party  during  the  entire  period  of 
its  existence,  and  Mr.  Chapman  was  made  a  member 
of  the  Governor's  Council  in  recognition  of  the  value 
of  his  services  to  his  party.  And  afterwards,  when 
the  Republican  party  triumphed  in  the  election  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  to  the  Presidency  of  the  United 
States,  Mr.  Chapman  was  appointed  postmaster  of 
Salem.  On  January  1,  1839,  Charles  W.  Palfray,  a 
son  of  the  former  proprietor,  and  a  graduate  of  Har- 
vard University,  assumed  the  place  vacated  by  his 
father.  In  1841,  January  1st,  the  earlier  name  of  Ihe 
Salem  Register  was  again  adopted.  Eben  N.  Walton 
became  associate  publisher  and  editor,  January  1, 
1873,  and  since  the  death  of  Mr.  Chapman,  April 
19,  1873,  the  paper  has  been  published  by  Palfray  & 
Walton. 

The  Register  during  the  more  than  half-century  of 
its  existence  has  received  the  contributions  of  able 
pens.  Dr.  Bentley  and  the  late  Sherift'  Sprague  were 
voluminous  and  influential  writers  in  its  columns  for 
a  great  many  years.  Judge  Story,  during  his  residence 
in  Salem,  was  a  frequent  contributor.  So  was  Andrew 
Dunlap  for  many  years  previous  to  1825.  The  "Sum- 
maries" of  Dr.  Bentley  have  become  famous.  These 
concise  and  curious  medleys  were  furnished  regularly 
for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  They  often  extended  to  a 
column  and  a  half  of  close  matter,  and  sometimes  to 
several  columns.  They  were  continued  until  the  very 
close  of  his  life,  the  last  "  Summary  "  appearing  in  the 
Register  published  on  the  very  day  of  his  death,  the 


last  day  of  the  year  1819.  These  contributions  from 
Dr.  Bentley's  industrious  pen  were  thus  constantly 
furnished  without  ever  a  dollar  being  received  by  him 
as  compensation.  He  labored  without  the  expecta- 
tion or  desire  of  reward. 

9.  The  Weekly  Visitant. — In  1806,  during  the 
rage  of  party  politics,  a  periodical  was  commenced  by 
Haven  Pool,  of  a  purely  literary  character,  though 
not  of  great  pretensions.  It  was  an  octavo,  entitled 
The  Weekly  Visitant,  published  on  Saturday  evening 
"directly  west  of  the  Tower  of  Dr.  Prince's  Church." 
Price  two  dollars  per  year.  It  seems  to  have  been 
designed  to  atibrd  its  patrons  more  agreeable  reading 
than  was  furnished  in  the  political  papers,  an  idea 
which  was  expressed  in  the  couplet  adopted  as  a 
motto : 

"Ours  are  the  plaus  of  fair,  cleligbtfvil  peace, 
Unwarped  1iy  pariy  rage,  to  live  like  brothers." 

10.  The  Fkieni). — The  Visitaat  had  a  successor 
the  next  year  in  Tlie  Friend,  started  by  Mr.  Pool,  in 
connection  with  Stephen  C.  Blyth,  as  editor,  January 
3,  1807.  It  was  published  weekly,  on  Saturday  even- 
ing, of  the  common  newspaper  form,  at  two  dollars 
per  year.  It  was  announced  as  a  "  new  and  neutral 
paper,"  and  was  therefore  spoken  of  as  "a  scheme  novel 
in  its  design  ;  "  nevertheless  it  was  hoped  that  by 
avoiding  insipidity  it  might  be  made  interesting. 
Like  its  predecessor,  this  paper  indicated  a  desire  for 
peace  in  the  community  by  selecting  a  peaceful  motto 
from  Ecclesiasticus :  "  Sweet  language  will  multiply 
friends ;  and  a  fair  speaking  tongue  will  increase 
kind  greetings."  The  Friend  lasted  about  six  months, 
until  July  18th,  and  was  then  merged  in  the  Register, 
with  which  the  ])ublisher  and  editor  also  formed  a 
connection.  Mr.  Blyth  had  changed  his  name  to 
Blydon,  during  the  year,  by  consent  of  the  General 
Court,  He  was  a  native  of  Salem,  and  taught  school 
here.  He  afterwards  removed  to  Canada,  and  is  be- 
lieved to  have  died  there. 

11.  12,  13.  Humorous  Publications.— In  1807 
and  1808  Mr.  John  S.  Appleton,  of  the  firm  of  Gush- 
ing &  Appleton,  who  was  known  as  a  ready  wit,  got 
out  two  or  three  small  humorous  publications,  which 
had  a  temporary  run  as  periodicals.  One  of  these 
was  "The  Fool.  By  Thomas  Brainless,  Esq.,  LL.D., 
Jester  to  his  Majesty,  the  Public.  A  new  and  useless 
paper,  of  no  particular  form  or  size,  issued  at  irregu- 

I  lar  intervals;  and  the  price  to  be  left  at  the  generosity 
of  the  public."  This  was  issued  in  1807.  Then  there 
was  "the  Barber's  Shop,  kept  by  Sir  David  Eazor," 
published  by  Gushing  &  Appleton  in  1808  and  print- 
ed by  Joshua  Gushing,  a  brother  of  Thomas  C.  Gush- 
ing. Another  of  these  ephemeral  sheets,  the  Punches 
of  those  days,  was  Salmagundi,  from  the  same 
source.  In  all  of  these  the  Republican  party  was  the 
object  of  ridicule  and  satire. 

14.  The  Gospel  Visitant. — This  was  the  title  of 
a  quarterly  octavo  magazine,  .commenced  in  Salem  in 
1811,  to  espouse  the  doctrine  of  Univeralism.     It  is 


124 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS, 


interesting  from  tlie  circumstance  that  it  was  the  first 
regular  periodical  issued  by  that  denomination  in  this 
country.     There  had  been  previously  an  occasional 
publication  in  Boston  entitled  The  Berean, — contain- 
ing the  proceedings  of  an  association, — eight  numbers 
of  which  were  printed  at  irregular  intervals,  without 
regard  to  time ;  but  the  Visitant  was  the  first  regular 
periodical.    It  was  started  at  the  suggestion  of  a  Con- 
ference of  Universal  Ministers,  assembled  at  Glouces- 
ter in  January  of  that  year.     The  conductors  were 
Thomas  Jones,  of  Gloucester,  Hosea  Ballou,  of  Ports- 
mouth, Abner  Kneeland,  of  Charlestown,  and  Edward 
Turner,  of  Salem,  all  prominent  clergymen  of  that 
communion,    settled    over    societies    in    the    places 
named.     The  contents  of  the  magazine  were  chiefly 
sermons,   essays    and   briefer  articles  upon  religious 
and    doctrinal    points.      The    price   was  twenty-five 
cents  a  number.     The  numbers  for  June  and  Septem- 
ber were  printed  at  the  Register  office ;  that  for  De- 
cember, by  Ward  &  Coburn,   on  North  Street ;  and 
that  for  March,  1812,  was  published  in  Charlestown. 
The  second  volume  did  not  appear  until  1817,  when  it 
was  printed  by  Warwick  Palfray,  Jr.  It  was  now  edit- 
ed by  Hosea  Ballou  and  Edward  Turner.     At  the  com- 
mencement of  Vol.  3,  April,    1818,  the    publication 
was  removed  to  Haverhill  and  assumed  by  P.  N.  Green. 
15.  The  Salem  Observer. — The  first  number  of 
The  Observer  was  published  January  2,  1823,  by  Wil- 
liam and  Stephen  B.  Ives — the  former  an  apprentice 
of  Mr.  Cushing,  of  the  Gazette.     It  was  of  the  royal 
size,  and  issued  weekly  on  Monday  evening,  from  the 
Washington  Hall  building,  No.  2  Court  Street.  Price, 
two  dollars.     The  paper  was  designed  to  be  a  literary 
and  miscellaneous  sheet,  eschewing  party  politics, — a 
character  which  it  has  maintained  until  the  present 
time.  It  was  edited  by  Benj.  Lynde  Oliver,  Esq.,  dur- 
ing the  first  year.     After  the  fifth  number  the  time 
of  publication  was   changed    to    Saturday    evening, 
which  arrangement  continued  for  twenty-two   num- 
bers, and  then  Saturday  morning  became  the  time  of 
publication,  and  so  continues  now.  At  the  commence- 
ment of  Vol.  2,  1824,  the  title  was  changed  to  Salem 
Observer,  and  at  the  same   time  Joseph    G.  Waters, 
Esq.,  became  editor,  as  successor  to  Mr.  Oliver.     At 
the  conclusion  of  the  year  Mr.  Waters  withdrew  from 
the  responsibility  of  the  paper,  but  continued  to  be  a 
contributor  for  several  years   afterwards.      In    1825, 
January  15th,  the  name  was  enlarged  to  Salem  Litera- 
ry atid  Commercial  Observer,  and  this  was  borne  until 
January  3,  1829,  when  the  title  Salem  Observer  was 
resumed. 
^The   printing-office   was    removed,  November    25, 
1826,  from  its  original  location  to  "  Messrs.  P.  &  A. 
Chase's  new   brick  building  in  Washington  Street." 
There   it  remained  until  1832,  February  4th,  when  it 
was  again  removed  to  quarters  in  Stearns'   Building 
which  it  occupied  for  fifty  years.     In  1882  the  pro- 
prietors   erected    the    Observer    Building,   of    three 
stories,  of  brick,  in  Kinsman  Place,  next  to  the  City 


Hall,  and  these  commodious  quarters  they  still  oc- 
cupy. In  1837,  January  7th,  Mr.  George  W.  Pease,  who 
had  served  his  apprenticeship  in  the  office,  was  admit- 
ted to  the  partnership,  and  in  1839,  January  5th,  Mr. 
Stephen  B.  Ives  withdrew,  leaving  the  firm  of  Ives  & 
Pease. 

The  Observer  has  from  the  beginning  "pursued  the 
even  tenor  of  its  way "  as  a  well-established  family 
newspaper,  experiencing  fewer  changes  of  fortune 
than  some  papers  Ave  have  mentioned,  and  therefore 
affording  fewer  incidents  "to  make  a  note  of."  Es- 
tablished in  a  time  of  intense  political  excitement  as 
a  non-partisan  paper,  it  was  the  first  to  succeed  upon 
that  basis. 

At  the  termination  of  Mr.  Waters'  editorship,  Sol- 
omon S.  Whipple  became  a  regular  contributor  to  its 
columns,  and  afterwards  Wilson  Flagg,  Rev.  E.  M. 
Stone,  Edwin  Jocelyn  and  Stephen  B.  Ives,  Jr.  Gil- 
bert L.  Streeter  became  associated  with  the  Observer 
on  January  1, 1847,  and,  with  the  exception  of  a  brief 
period  of  two  years,  has  been  a  regular  contributor 
ever  since. 

16.  Salem  Courier. — In  1828,  September  17th, 
Charles  Amburger  Andrews  began  a  weekly  paper, 
the  Salem  Courier,  which  was  published' on  Wednes- 
day, at  three  dollars,  from  an  office  in  the  East  India 
Marine  Hall  building.  It  proclaimed  itself  "  strictly 
independent,"  a  supporter  of  Adams'  administration, 
an  opponent  of  the  tariff",  etc.  It  became,  however, 
a  theological  rather  than  a  political  paper,  and  was  a 
zealous  antagonist  of  the  doctrines  of  Calvinism.  Its 
editor  was  a  pleasant  and  humorous  writer,  and  had 
able  correspondents.  But  the  paper  was  continued 
for  only  one  year.  Mr  Andrews  was  a  member  of  the 
bar,  and  served  as  a  representative  of  the  city  in  the 
Legislature.     He  died  June  17,  1843. 

17.  The  Hive.— This  was  a  small  weekly  publica- 
tion for  children,  commenced  on  Saturday,  Septem- 
ber 21,  1828,  by  W.  and  S.  B.  Ives.  The  picture  of 
a  bee-hive  ornamented  its  first  page,  and  its  contents 
were  mostly  selected. 

After  the  fifth  number  it  was  issued  on  Wednes- 
day. It  continued  for  two  years.  The  first  volume 
was  16mo  and  the  second  an  8vo.  It  was  one  of  the 
earliest  of  papers  intended  exclusively  for  children, 
which  are  now  so  numerous  and  excellent. 

18.  Ladies'  Miscellany. — A  small  weekly  folio, 
with  this  title,  was  commenced  January  6,  1829,  a 
specimen  number  having  been  issued  on  the  7th  of 
November  preceding.  It  was  printed  at  the  Register 
office  by  John  Chapman,  on  Tuesday,  at  one  dollar 
per  year.  It  was  designed  "  to  furnish  a  supply  of 
amusing,  instructive  and  unexceptionable  reading  to 
the  Ladies  of  Salem  and  vicinity."  At  the  close  of 
the  volume  the  issue  was  suspended  for  want  of  sup- 
port, but  April  7,  1830,  a  second  volume  was  com- 
menced, on  Wednesday,  in  consideration  of  a  "  consid- 
erable accession  to  the  list  of  subscribers."  At  the 
close  of  this  volume  the  publication  ceased. 


SALEM. 


125 


19.  Essex  County  Mercury. — The  publication 
of  a  diminutive  weekly  paper  by  the  proprietors  of 
the  Gazette  was  commenced  in  1831,  June  Stli,  under 
the  name  of  Salem  Mercury.  It  has  since  been  much 
enlarged,  and  is  now  entitled  Essex  County  Mercury, 
Danvers,  Beverly  and  Marhlehead  Courier.  It  is  made 
up  mainly  from  the  columns  of  the  Gazette. 

20.  Salem  Advertiser. — The  first  organ  of  the 
modern  Democratic  party  in  Salem  was  The  Commer- 
cial Advertiser,  commenced  April  4,  1832,  by  Edward 
Palfray  and  James  R.  Cook.  It  was  started  as  a 
semi-weekly,  on  Wednesday  and  Saturday.  The 
office  was  in  Central  building,  over  the  Savings 
Bank.  It  was  an  earnest  advocate  of  the  election  of 
General  Jackson  to  the  Presidency,  and  throughout 
its  existence  of  seventeen  years  continued  to  uphold 
the  views  of  the  Democratic  party.  After  the  first 
year  the  additional  title  of  Essex  County  Journal  was 
adopted,  and  it  was  published  as  a  weekly,  on 
Wednesday,  until  July  8,  1837,  when  Palfray  &  Cook 
sold  out  to  Charles  W.  Woodbury,  who  issued  it  as  a 
semi-weekly  again,  under  the  name  of  The  Salem  Ad- 
vertiser. Thus  it  was  continued  until  February, 
1849,  when  it  was  a  weekly  once  more  until  its  final 
close,  August  1,  1849.  From  October  16,  1841,  until 
September  11,  1844,  the  title  wan  Salem  Advertiser  and 
Argus,  after  which  the  word  'Argus"  was  omitted. 

So  many  persona  were  connected  with  the  Adver- 
tiser at  various  times,  as  editors  and  publishers,  that 
we  must  mention  them  briefly.  During  the  pro- 
prietorship of  Mr.  Woodbury,  Wm.  B.  Pike  served  as 
editor  for  about  six  weeks  from  October  17, 1838.  Henry 
Blaney  served  two  terms  as  proprietor,  first,  from  March 
11,  1840,  until  October  16,  1841,  and  again  from  June 
21,  1843,  until  September  11,  1844.  Benjamin  Kings- 
bury, Jr.,  was  editor  during  the  political  campaign  of 
1840.  Edward  Palfray  took  a  second  turn  of  two 
years  between  Mr.  Blaney's  two  periods.  H.  C. 
Hobart  and  F.  C.  Crowninshield  were  the  editors 
during  the  campaign  of  1844.  Mr.  Hobart  after- 
wards went  to  Wisconsin,  and  became  Speaker  of  the 
Assembly.  Mr.  Crowninshield  enlisted  for  the  Mexi- 
can War,  and  was  a  lieutenant  of  a  company.  Messrs. 
Varney,  Parsons  &  Co.  were  the  next  publishers, 
from  November  20,  1844,  to  December  31,  1845,  and 
were  succeeded  by  Messrs.  Perley  &  Parsons,  Mr. 
Varney  having  gone  to  the  war  as  a  corporal.  The 
final  publisher  was  Mr.  Eben  N.  Walton,  who  began 
February  15,  1847,  and  continued  to  the  end.  Mr. 
Woodbury,  an  earlier  editor,  and  once  postmaster 
here,  was  the  third  one  who  went  to  the  war.  He  was 
drowned  on  his  way  back.  Before  he  came  to  Salem 
he  published  the  Gloucester  Democrat.  Edward  Pal- 
fray, the  projector  of  the  paper,  and  the  person  who 
was  longest  editor  of  it,  died  at  the  Worcester  Hos- 
pital in  1846,  April  14th,  aged  forty-one.  He  was  a 
spirited  and  forcible  writer,  a  zealous  Democrat  and 
a  kind-hearted  man. 

21.  Saturday    Evening    Bulletin. — This  was 


the  title  of  a  small  neutral  paper,  published  weekly 
by  Palfray  &  Cook,  at  the  Advertiser  office.  Price,  one 
dollar.  It  continued  for  one  year,  from  May  18, 
]83;j,  when  it  was  relinquished  in  favor  of  a  political 
journal.     It  was  edited  by  Nicholas  Devereux. 

22.  The  Constitutionalist. — This  was  the  po- 
litical journal  which  followed  the  Bulletin.  Its  pub- 
lishers were  the  same.  It  was  a  small  weekly.  It 
sustained  Marcus  Morton  for  Governor  and  Joseph 
S.  Cabot  for  Congress.  The  duration  of  this  jjaper 
was  from  June  28,  1834,  until  the  close  of  the  year — 
a  little  more  than  six  months. 

23.  The  Landmark. — In  1834,  August  20th,  a  semi- 
weekly  paper,  entitled  The  Landmark,  of  goodly  size 
and  elegant  typography,  sent  out  its  first  number  from 
a  new  printing-office,  corner  of  Essex  and  Liberty 
Streets.  It  was  printed  on  Wednesday  and  Satur- 
day by  Ferdinand  Andrews,  formerly  of  the  Gazette, 
and  subsequently  publisher  of  the  Boston  Th'aveller, 
and  was  edited  by  Rev.  Dudley  Phelps. 

The  Landmark  was  started  in  the  period  of  "  the 
Unitarian  controversy,"  and  was  intended  to  coun- 
teract the  influence  of  Unitarianism,  which  was  prev- 
alent in  Salem  at  that  time.  It  was  also  intended  to 
give  utterance  to  anti-slavery  and  temperance  senti- 
ments, both  of  which  topics  were  beginning  to  at- 
tract serious  attention.  On  January  31,  1835,  a  com- 
munication was  published  in  the  Landmark  upon  the 
subject  of  temperance,  which  caused  more  excitement 
in  the  community  than  any  other  publication  either 
before  or  since.  It  was  the  famous  article  by  Rev. 
George  B.  Cheever,  then  the  young  pastor  of  the 
Branch  Church  in  Howard  Street,  entitled  "  Enquire 
at  Amos  Giles'  Distillery."  It  set  forth  in  lurid 
colors  the  evils  attending  the  manufacture,  sale  and 
use  of  intoxicating  liquors,  and  dei^icted,  with  great 
severity  of  language,  the  responsibility  of  those  en- 
gaged in  the  liquor  business.  It  was  understood  to 
have  personal  reference  to  a  prominent  and  reputable 
citizen  of  Salem,  a  deacon  of  the  First  Church,  who 
was  a  distiller,  and  was  alleged  to  contain  libelous 
matter.  The  editor  of  the  Landmark  apologized  in 
the  next  number  for  the  appearance  of  the  obnox- 
ious article,  but  this  did  not  allay  the  public  excite- 
ment ;  and  a  fortnight  afterwards  Mr.  Cheever  was 
publicly  whipped  in  Essex  Street,  just  above  Sewell 
Street,  by  Elias  Ham,  the  foreman  of  the  distillery, 
who  used  a  cowhide  for  the  purpose ;  and  in  the  even- 
ing of  the  same  day  an  attack  was  made  upon 
the  Landmark  office,  with  the  apparent  design  of 
wrecking  it,  but  it  was  defended  from  the  inside,  and 
the  assault  failed.  Mr.  Ham  was  fined  fifty  dollars 
for  the  whipping.  Mr.  Cheever  was  tried  for  libel, 
and,  although  defended  by  Rufus  Choate,  was  con- 
victed, and  sentenced  to  a  fine  of  one  thousand  dol- 
lars and  imprisonment  in  Salem  jail  for  one  month. 
He  was  escorted  to  jail  by  his  friends,  and  was  fur- 
nished with  every  convenience  and  luxury.  The 
parties  to  these  events  subsequently  and  consequently 


126 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS 


left  town.  Mr.  Ham  became  an  active  friend  of  tem- 
perance in  after-years.  Mr.  Phelps  retired  from  the 
Landmark,  and  Mr.  Cheever  left  the  Branch  Church 
and  entered  upon  a  distinguished  career  in  New 
York  City.  The  Landmark  was  not  sustained  in  its 
advanced  position,  and  its  publication  ceased  Novem- 
ber 2,  1836,  in  a  little  more  than  two  years  from  the 
outset. 

24.  The  Lighthouse. — During  the  time  of  the 
Landmark  a  small  weekly  paper,  entitled  The  Light- 
house, was  printed  at  the  Gazette  office,  and  "  edited 
by  an  Association  of  Gentlemen,"  the  design  of  which 
was  "  to  represent  the  sentiments  and  espouse  the  in- 
terests of  liberal  Christianity."  It  was  recognized  as 
an  antagonist  of  the  Landmark,  and  was  continued 
from  June  11th  until  October  31st  of  the  year  1835. 
The  first  nine  numbers  were  issued  on  Monday ;  the 
remainder  on  Saturday. 

25.  Essex  County  Democrat. — This  was  the  ti- 
tle of  a  paper  removed  hither  from  Gloucester  in  the 
fall  of  1838,  to  sustain  Joseph  S.  Cabot,  and  the  in- 
terests of  the  Cabot  section  of  the  Democratic  party, 
in  distinction  from  those  of  the  Rantoul  section.  It 
was  edited  and  published  by  Joseph  Dunham  Friend. 
The  first  number  was  issued  November  2d  of  that 
year.  After  continuing  for  a  time  as  a  semi-weekly, 
on  Tuesday  and  Friday,  it  became  a  weekly.  It  ex- 
pired in  about  three  months. 

26.  The  Harrisonian. — During  the  exciting  po- 
litical contest  of  1840  a  small  campaign  paper,  en- 
titled The  Harrisonian,  containing  speeches  and 
documents,  was  published  by  the  editor  of  the  Ga- 
zette. It  was  commenced  on  Saturday,  February  22d, 
and  continued  weekly  until  the  election,  lending  its 
aid  to  the  Whig  nominees. 

27.  The  Whig. — This  also  was  a  campaign  paper, 
a  few  numbers  of  which  were  published  in  1840  at  the 
Register  office,  to  promote  the  election  of  General 
Harrison  to  the  Presidency.  Such  campaign  sheets 
as  the  Whig  and  Harrisonian  were  numerous  during 
the  memorable  contest  of  that  year,  and  exerted  a 
large  infiuence  in  favor  of  the  election  of  Harrison 
and  Tyler.  They  were  published  at  very  low  rates, 
and  freely  purchased  by  political  clubs  for  gratuitous 
distribution. 

28.  Genius  of  Christianity. — This  was  the  title 
of  a  small  semi-monthly  sheet,  printed  at  the  Observer 
office,  for  the  Rev.  A.  G.  Comings,  for  two  years  from 
January  1,  1841.  It  was  a  religious  paper,  as  its  ti- 
tle indicates.  Mr.  Comings  was  a  preacher  of  the 
Campbellite  faith,  and  had  a  society  in  a  room  on 
Washington  Street,  opposite  the  court-house. 

29.  The  Christian  Teacher. — This  was  substan- 
tially the  same  publication  as  the  Genius  of  Christi- 
anity, containing,  as  it  did,  the  same  matter  as  that 
sheet,  thrown  into  a  quarto  form,  once  a  month,  for 
circulation  through  the  mail.  It  was  issued  during 
the  year  1832.  The  printers  and  editor  were  of 
course  the  same. 


30.  "  The  Locomotive,  an  Independent  Journal." 
— In  April,  1842,  William  H.  Perley  commenced  a 
weekly  paper  in  Lynn,  entitled  The  Locomotive,  which 
was  removed  to  Central  Imilding,  Salem,  December 
17,  1842,  and  published  here  on  Saturday,  until  July 
8,  1843 — about  six  months.  A  few  numbers  in  Feb- 
ruary were  published  semi-weekly,  on  a  diminutive 
sheet.  From  May  13th  it  was  published  by  Perley  & 
Whittier.  It  was  humorous  and  miscellaneous  in  its 
character. 

31.  Essex  County  Washingtonian. — This  paper 
was  printed  in  Lynn,  by  Christopher  Robinson,  and 
was  published  in  Lynn  and  Salem,  on  Thursday,  dur- 
ing a  portion  of  the  year  1842.  Its  connection  with 
Salem  was  brief  and  merely  nominal.  It  was  one  of 
the  earliest  of  the  numerous  temperance  periodicals 
which  sprang  up  at  the  time  of  the  Washingtonian 
or  moral  suasion  movement.  The  editor  at  one  time 
was  the  Rev.  David  H.  Barlow,  of  Lynn. 

32.  Salem  Washingtonian. — This  paper,  like 
the  preceding  one,  had  only  a  nominal  connection 
with  our  city.  It  was  printed  in  Boston,  by  J.  B. 
Hall,  published  by  Theodore  Abbott,  and  edited  by 
Charles  W.  Denison.  Its  Salem  office  was  in  Wash- 
ington Hall  (then  permanently  occupied  by  a  tem- 
perance society),  whence  it  was  circulated  on  Satur- 
day, fora  short  time,  in  1843,  commencing  July  8th, 
It  soon  afterwards  assumed  the  title  New  England 
Washingtonian,  and  was  published  in  Boston  under 
that  name  for  several  years. 

33.  Independent  Democrat. — A  division  existed 
in  the  Democratic  party  in  1843,  which  led  to  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  weekly  paper  here  to  sustain  David 
Pingree  as  a  candidate  for  Congress  against  Robert 
Rantoul,  Jr.  It  was  entitled  Independent  Democrat ; 
was  commenced  March  6th,  and  continued  for  a  few 
weeks  only.     Wm.  H.  Perley  was  the  printer. 

34.  The  Voice  of  the  People. — In  1843,  May  7th 
Sylvanus  Brown,  who  was  then  in  Salem  Jail  for  dis- 
turbing a  religious  meeting,  published  at  the  Imco- 
motive  office  three  numbers  of  a  small  sheet  with  the 
foregoing  designation,  beginning  May  7,  1843.  Mr. 
Brown  was  one  of  the  sect  of  "  Comeouters,"  then 
somewhat  numerous,  so  called  because  they  came  out 
from  the  churches  as  a  protest  against  the  pro-slavery 
tendencies  of  the  pulpit. 

35.  Voice  Around  the  Jail. — In  1843  Henry 
Clapp,  Jr.,  issued  a  small  transient  publication  with 
the  foregoing  title,  from  W.  H.  Perley's  printing-of- 
fice. Mr.  Clapp  was  editor  of  the  Lynn  Pioneer,  and 
was  then  an  occupant  of  Salem  Jail  under  a  sentence 
for  libel.  His  "  Voice"  in  this  printed  form  was  in 
favor  of  radical  reform.  Mr.  Clapp  was  a  Garrisonian 
Abolitionist,  and  a  man  of  genius,  and  subsequently 
became  prominent  as  a  journalist  in  New  York  City. 

36.  The  Evangelist. — For  the  second  time  the 
publication  of  a  Universalist  periodical  was  begun  in 
Salem,  Aug.  12,  1843.  It  was  a  small  weekly,  with 
the  foregoing  title,  issued  on  Saturday  from  Samuel 


SALEM. 


127 


T.  Damou's  office  in  Manning's  Building.  Tlie  edi- 
tors were  L.  S.  Everett,  J.  M.  Austin  and  S.  C.  Bulke- 
ley,  the  first  settled  over  the  Uuiversalist  society  in 
Salem,  and  the  others  pastors  in  Danvers.  The 
Evangelist  was  sustained  only  six  months. 

37.  Essex  County  Reformer. — This  was  the 
third  temperance  paper  published  here  as  an  aid  to 
The  Washlngtonian  or  moral  suasion  movement.  It 
was  issued  weekly,  on  Saturday,  upon  a  small  sheet, 
from  the  office  of  S.  T.  Damon.  T.  G.  Chipman  was 
the  editor.  It  lasted  three  months  from  September  2, 
1843. 

38.  The  Temperance  Offering. — The  Rev.  N. 
Hervey,  who  preached  to  a  Free  Church  in  Washing- 
ton Hall,  commenced  February,  1845,  a  monthly 
12mo  periodical,  with  the  title  named  above.  Dur- 
ing that  year  it  was  printed  at  the  Gazette  office.  The 
second  and  last  volume,  for  1846,  was  printed  in  Bos- 
ton, of  octavo  size,  and  with  the  additional  title  of 
Youth's  Cascade.  The  volumes  have  since  been 
issued  in  book-form. 

39.  Salem  Oracle. — In  1848  two  numbers  of  a 
small  advertising  sheet,  called  The  Oracle,  were  pub- 
lished for  the  months  of  January  and  February  by 
Henry  Blaney.  Four  more  numbers,  enlarged,  for 
the  four  months  following,  were  printed  at  the  Ga- 
zette office  for  Jos.  L.  Wallis,  editor. 

40.  Essex  County  Times. — This  paper  was  a 
Democratic  weekly,  published  in  the  fall  of  1848,  by 
PI  K.  Averill.  Jt  began  in  Marblehead,  where  ten 
numbers  were  issued,  and  ended  its  brief  period  here 
with  three  numbers  more.  It  was  issued  irregularly. 
The  principal  writer  for  its  columns  was  E.  K.  Aver- 
ill,  Jr.,  who  was  better  known  as  a  writer  of  "yellow 
covered  literature'"  for  Gleason's  ijublishing  house 
in  Boston. 

41.  The  Free  World. — This  was  a  spirited  cam- 
paign paper,  published  during  the  Presidential  con- 
test in  1848,  in  support  of  Van  Buren  and  Adams, 
the  Free-Soil  candidates.  It  commenced  August  15th, 
and  continued  on  Friday  until  November  10th.  The 
editor  was  George  F,  Chever,  Esq.  It  was  printed  at 
the  Observer  office. 

42.  Salem  Daily  Chronicle. — The  first  attempt 
to  establish  a  daily  paper  in  Salem  was  made  by 
Henry  Blaney,  who,  in  1848,  March  1,  began  the 
Salem  Daily  Chronicle.  It  was  printed  in  Bowker's 
building,  and  published  every  afternoon  at  one  cent  a 
copy.     It  took  no  part  in  politics  and  was  short  lived. 

43.  The  Asteroid.— In  August,  1848,  William  H. 
Hutchinson,  a  job  printer,  commenced  a  small 
monthly  sheet  for  the  entertainment  of  the  young 
people  in  our  public  schools,  etc.,  entitled  as  above. 
It  was  continued  here  for  several  months,  and  was 
then  removed  to  Boston. 

44.  Essex  County  Freeman. — The  Free-Soil 
movement  in  1848-49  led  to  the  establishment  of 
several  new  papers  in  different  parts  of  the  common- 
wealth.    One  of  these  was  the  Essex  County  Freeman, 


the  first  number  of  which  was  issued  by  Gilbert  L. 
Streeter  and  William  Porter  August  1,  1849.  It  was 
designed  to  aid  the  political  anti-slavery  movement, 
and  in  pursuance  of  this  purpose  sustained  the  nomi- 
nations of  the  Free-Soil  party,  and  subsequently 
those  of  the  coalition  of  the  Free-Soil  and  Demo- 
cratic parties.  It  was  published  semi-weekly,  on 
Wednesday  and  Saturday,  at  three  dollars  per  year, 
from  an  office  in  Hale's  building.  In  1850,  Nov.  25th, 
Mr.  Streeter  withdrew  his  interest  in  the  paper,  but 
remained  as  editor.  The  publication  was  continued 
by  Mr.  Porter  until  1852,  Feb.  11  th,  when  he  withdrew, 
and  the  publication  was  assumed  by  "  Benjamin  W. 
Lander  for  the  Proprietors."  At  the  same  time  Geo. 
F.  Chever,  Esq.,  associated  himself  with  the  former 
editor  as  joint  conductors  of  the  paper.  In  the  be- 
ginning of  the  next  year  the  establishment  was  pur- 
chased by  Rev.  J.  E.  Pomfret,  the  former  editors  con- 
tinuing their  services  in  that  department  for  several 
months.  Mr.  Pomfret  was  the  publisher  of  the  paper 
for  one  year,  after  which  Edwin  Lawrence,  of  the 
Lynn  Bay  State,  become  the  proprietor.  He  issued 
it  weekly  until  June  14,  1854,  when  the  publication 
ceased,  after  a  term  of  five  years. 

45.  The  National  Democrat. — On  Saturday, 
May  24,  1851,  Mr.  James  Coffin  issued  a  specimen 
number  of  the  National  Democrat,  but  the  patronage 
offered  did  not  warrant  a  continuance  of  the  paper. 
It  was  designed  to  oi)pose  the  coalition  of  the  Free- 
Soil  and  Democratic  parties. 

46.  The  Union  Democrat. — The  next  movement 
for  an  anti-coalition  Democratic  paper  was  more  suc- 
cessful. The  Union  Democrat  lasted  over  ten  months. 
It  was  commenced  by  Samuel  Fabyan,  a  printer  from 
Boston,  July  31, 1852,  and  closed  October  6th,  when  it 
was  removed  to  Boston.  The  office  was  in  Bowker's 
building.     Published  on  Wednesday  and  Saturday. 

47.  Massachusetts  Freeman. — This  was  the 
titleof  a  weekly  Free-Soil  paper,  published  for  a  short 
time  by  J.  E.  Pomfret,  commencing  June  8,  1853.  It 
was  made  up  from  the  columns  of  the  Essex  County 
Freeman.  Mr.  Pomfret,  previous  to  his  commence- 
ment in  Salem,  had  published  several  papers,  the  last 
of  which  was  the  Amesbury  Villager.  He  was  a  min- 
ister of  the  Universalist  persuasion,  and  afterwards 
settled  in  Haverhill. 

48.  The  People's  Advocate. — This  paper  was 
begun  in  Marblehead,  in  November,  1847,  by  Rev. 
Robinson  Breare,  a  Universalist  minister,  and  bore 
the  title  of  The  Marblehead  Mercury.  In  1848  it  be- 
came the  property  of  James  Coffin  and  Daniel  R. 
Beckford.  In  1849  it  was  entitled  The  Peoples  Advo- 
cate and  Marblehead  Mercury,  and  in  August  of  that 
year  Mr.  Coffin  became  sole  proprietor.  In  October, 
1853,  it  abandoned  its  neutral  position  in  favor  of  the 
advocacy  of  the  views  of  the  Democratic  party.  In 
October,  1854,  the  printing-office  was  moved  to  Salem 
and  the  title  of  the  paper  was  abbreviated  to  The 
People's  Advocate.     It  was  discontinued  in  1861. 


128 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  xMASSACHUSETTS. 


49.  Salem  Daily  Journal. — The  second  at- 
tempt to  establish  a  daily  penny  paper  in  Salem  was 
made  by  Edwin  Lawrence  in  1854.  He  published 
the  first  number  of  the  Salem  Daily  Journal  on  the 
24th  of  July  of  that  year.  It  was  published  in  the 
afternoon,  as  the  Chronicle  had  been  in  1848.  The 
experiment  was  not  successful,  and  the  publication 
was  abandoned  November  24,  1855,  after  a  trial  of 
over  a  year.  The  Journal  was  at  first  neutral,  after- 
wards favorable  to  the  Native  American  party,  and  in 
the  fall  of  1855  approved  the  Republican  nomina- 
tions. Mr.  Lawrence,  previous  to  his  removal  to  Sa- 
lem, had  published  the  Newburyport  Union,  Lyim  Bay 
/State  and  Essex  County  Freeman. 

50.  The  Essex  Statesman. — These  were  no  news- 
paper ventures  during  the  unsettled  period  immedi- 
ately preceding  the  outbreak  of  the  Rebellion,  and  it 
was  not  until  1863,  the  second  year  of  the  war,  that  a 
new  publication  was  undertaken.  This  was  the  Essex 
Statesman,  commenced  on  January  17th,  and  pub- 
lished on  Wednesdays  and  Saturdays  by  Edgar  Mar- 
chant,  and  afterwards  by  Benjamin  W.  Lander.  It 
was  announced  as  "a  "  conservative  "  paper  and  was 
conducted  as  a  moderate  opponent  of  the  national 
administration.  It  terminated  after  four  years  of  dif- 
ficult existence. 

51.  The  Post.— In  July,  1872,  Charles  H.  Webber 
began  the  publication  of  a  weekly  paper  entitled  The 
City  Post,  which  was  continued  under  the  successive 
titles  oi  Salem  City  Post  and  Salem  Evening  Post.  Mr. 
Webber,  after  a  few  years,  disposed  of  the  paper, 
which  had  become  a  semi-weekly,  to  Charles  D. 
Howard.  The  latter  proprietor,  in  1885,  sold  the 
concern  to  "  The  Telegram  Publishing  Co.,"  a  new 
penny  daily.  The  Post  was  a  professed  neutral  paper 
with  Democratic  leanings. 

52.  The  Salem  Evening  News,  a  small  daily 
penny  paper,  begun  October  16,  1881,  by  Robert 
Daman,  issued  from  a  new  office  on  Central  Street. 
The  News,  having  become  prosperous,  was  subse- 
quently enlarged  and  removed  to  Brown's  building, 
on  Essex  Street.  The  main  purpose  seems  to  have 
been  to  collect  the  local  news  and  gossip  of  the  town, 
in  which  it  has  been  quite  successful. 

53.  The  Evening  Telegram. — This  venture  of  a 
small  penny  daily,  in  rivalry  of  the  News,  grew  out  of 
the  suspension  of  the  Post,  as  has  been  mentioned. 
The  first  number  was  issued  by  "  The  Telegram  Pub- 
lishing Company,"  on  February  9,  1885,  and  it  con- 
tinued until  March,  1887,  when,  becoming  embar- 
rassed, the  plant  was  sold  out  to  the  publishers  of  the 
Daily  Times. 

54.  The  Daily  Times. — A  new  trial  of  the  penny 
plan  by  parties  previously  interested  in  the  Telegram. 
The  first  number  was  issued  March  21,  1887. 

55.  The  Salem  Public. — A  weekly  paper  com- 
menced Saturday,  April  23d,  1887,  by  Charles  F. 
Trow,  at  $1.50  per  year.  Devoted  chiefly  to  the  in- 
terests of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic.      Mr. 


I'row  had  been    connected  with  the  lUet/iuen   'Tran- 
script and  the  Salem  Telegram. 

This  completes  the  list  of  newspapers  published  in 
Salem  by  subscription  since  the  introduction  of  the 
printing  press  by  Samuel  Hail,  more  than  one  hun- 
dred years  ago.  Besides  these,  several  advertising 
sheets  have  been  issued,  such  as  the  Pavillio7i,  pub- 
lished by  David  Conrad  for  about  four  years,  and  the 
Fireside  Favorite,  published  for  a  yet  longer  time  and 
still  continued  by  John  P.  Peabody.  These  have 
been  circulated  gratuitously,  principally  for  the  busi- 
ness advantage  of  their  ])roprietors. 

Anotherseriesof  periodicals,  of  a  scientific  character^ 
deserve  to  be  enumerated.  To  review  the  contribu- 
tions of  Salem  authors  to  the  literature  of  science 
would  be  an  elaborate  work,  quite  beyond  the  scope 
of  this  paper.  Benjamin  Lynde  Oliver  was  a  distin- 
guished contributor  to  scientific  works  befoi'e  the 
Revolution,  and  his  "  Essay  on  Comets  "  was  pub- 
lished in  Salem  from  Mr.  Hall's  press.  The  names 
of  Count  Benjamin  Rumford,  John  Pickering,  Na- 
thaniel Bowditch,  Edward  A.  Holyoke,  Charles  L. 
Page  and  others  more  recent  would  be  included  in 
this  category.  For  the  periodicals  published  in  Salem 
for  the  promotion  of  scientific  knowledge  we  are  in- 
debted to  the  Essex  Institute  and  the  Peabody  Acad- 
emy of  Science.  The  former  society  has  been  prolific 
in  publications  within  the  past  few  years,  its  priced 
list  showing  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  pamphlets 
and  books.  The  "Journal  of  the  Essex  County  Nat- 
ural History  Society,"  from  1838  to  1852,  was  followed 
by  the  "Proceedings  and  Communications"  of  the 
Institute  from  1848  to  1868,  and  then  by  "The  Bulle- 
tin," issued  quarterly.  These  publications  contained 
an  account  of  the  regular  and  field  meetings  of  the 
society,  and  j^apers  of  scientific  value.  Besides  these, 
the  Institute  issues  its  "Historical  Collections," quar- 
terly, at  three  dollars  a  year,  containing  papers  of 
historical,  genealogical  and  biographical  interest  and 
of  permanent  value  to  students  in  general  and  local 
history.  Although  no  name  is  given  of  the  editor  of 
these  publications,  it  is  well  known  that  the  public 
are  indebted  for  them  to  the  indefatigable  industry  of 
Dr.  Henry  Wheatland,  who  is,  indeed,  the  founder  of 
the  Institute  itself. 

Another  serial  originally  issued  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Institute  was  "  The  American  Naturalist,  an 
Illustrated  Journal  of  Natural  History."  This  very 
meritorious  magazine  is  still  published.  After  its  first 
volume  it  was  published  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Peabody  Academy  of  Science  for  four  years,  and  since 
that  time  it  has  been  issued  in  New  York  and  Phila- 
delphia. The  original  editors  at  its  commencement 
in  March,  1867,  were  A.  S.  Packard,  Jr.,  E.  S.  Morse, 
A.  Hyatt  and  F.  W.  Putnam. 

Another  serial,  miniature  in  size,  was  begun  in 
May,  1886,  by  the  "  Cuvier  Natural  History  Club," 
under  the  name  of  "The  Amateur  Collector."  The 
price    is    twenty-five   cents   a  year   and    it   appears 


SALEM. 


129 


monthly.  The  youthful  naturalists  who  projected 
and  have  maintained  this  little  enterprise  design  it 
chiefly  to  awaken  an  interest  in  natural  history  in  the 
minds  of  young  people. 

We  have  now  passed  in  rapid  review  the  periodical 
literature  of  Salem,  chiefly  its  newspapers,  during  the 
past  century.  The  reader  has  observed,  doubtless, 
that  only  a  few  of  these  many  enterprises  have  been 
permanently  successful.  Most  of  the  journals  which 
we  have  named  died  in  early  infancy,  only  three  of 
the  whole  number  having  survived  a  generation.  The 
multiplication  of  newspapers  during  this  period  has 
been  exceedingly  rapid,  and  yet  where  one  has  suc- 
ceeded, perhaps  fifty  have  failed.  Often  commenced 
merely  as  business  speculations,  rather  than  to  meet 
the  wants  of  the  community,  they  have  not  been  sus- 
tained by  the  public,  because  not  needed. 

When  Mr.  Hall  issued  his  proposals  for  the  publi- 
cation of  a  "  Weekly  Publick  Paper  "  in  this  place, 
such  a  vehicle  of  information  was  greatly  desired. 
Newspapers  were  few  in  number  and  confined  to  the 
large  seaboard  towns.  They  were  looked  for  and  read 
in  the  country  with  the  deepest  interest.  The  ap- 
pearance of  the  weekly  sheet  was  an  event  of  import- 
ance to  people  of  all  classes.  Now  they  abound 
everywhere.  Almost  every  considerable  village  in  the 
country  can  boast  its  local  print.  Then,  the  expense 
attending  the  publication  of  a  newspaper  was  very 
great.  Paper  was  scarce  and  costly,  and  other  ma- 
terials obtainable  only  by  importation  from  the 
mother-country.  The  style  of  the  papers,  in  respect 
to  typographical  appearance,  was  quite  inferior.  The 
old  Essex  Gazette  is  a  curiosity  of  the  printer's  art, 
although  it  was  in  all  respects  a  superior  paper  for 
those  days. 

During  the  past  fifty  years  the  art  of  type-making 
has  advanced  rapidly,  and  wonderful  improvements 
have  been  made  in  presses  and  other  contrivances 
and  materials  employed  in  the  printing  business.  The 
art  of  wood-cutting  has  been,  we  might  almost  say,  dis- 
covered since  the  days  when  grotesque  devices,  clum- 
sily executed,  figured  so  extensively  at  the  head  of 
the  little  colonial  journals.  The  rude  wood-cuts 
which  then  were  supposed  to  adorn  the  public  sheets 
are  curious  and  amusing  exhibitions  of  the  infancy  of 
this  delicate  art,  now  so  useful  in  elegant  and  cheap 
illustrations.  If  any  one  is  interested  to  see  the  first 
difficult  beginnings  of  the  engraver's  skill,  he  may 
find  many  singular  specimens  in  Thomas'  "  History  of 
Printing,"  a  valuable  and  rare  work,  now  out  of  print. 
A  few  instances  are  also  given  in  Mr.  Buckingham's 
interesting  Reminiscences  of  the  newspaper  press,  to 
which  work,  as  well  as  the  former  one,  we  are  in- 
debted for  some  of  the  statements  in  this  account.  A 
comparison  of  the  uncouth  adornments  of  the  papers 
of  the  Revolutionary  period  with  the  exquisite  wood 
engravings  in  the  monthly  illustrated  magazines  now 
published  aflbrds  a  contrast  nearly  as  great  as  that 
exhibited  by  the  toilsome  operations  of  an  old  hand- 
9 


press  beside  the  wonderful  rapidity  of  the  lightning 
cylinder  machines  of  the  present  day. 

The  ancient  newspapers  were  of  small  dimensions, 
printed  on  large  types,  with  clumsy  presses  and  upon 
coarse  paper.  Such  were  the  early  prints  of  Salem. 
They  were  less  various  in  their  contents  than  those  of 
our  time,  and  were  made  up  without  much  order  or 
method.  They  were  less  full  and  minute  in  resjject  to 
local  and  general  information.  But  little  efl'ort  was 
made  to  gather  the  countless  fragments  of  news  which 
now  distend  the  columns  of  the  public  journal.  In  all 
these  respects  there  has  been  a  great  improvement  in 
the  public  prints.  But  in  regard  to  honest  industry 
and  enterprise,  public  spirit,  boldness  and  freedom  of 
expression,  patriotic  and  noble  endeavor,  we  do  not 
know  that  any  superiority  can  be  claimed  for  the 
modern  journals.  In  these  particulars  the  publishers 
of  ante-Revolutionary  times  were  generally  worthy  of 
the  highest  praise. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

SALEM — {Cont  inued) . 
EDUCATIONAL. 

BY  WINFIELD  S.  KEVINS. 


The  public  and  private  schools  of  Salem  have  ever 
occupied  a  high  place  among  the  educational  institu- 
tions of  the  country.  If  Salem  did  not  establish  free 
schools  as  early  as  Virginia,  it  was,  doubtless,  because 
the  settlement  here  was  not  as  early.  The  first  set- 
tlement in  Virginia  was  made  in  1607,  and  her  first 
public  school  is  believed  to  have  been  established  in 
1621,  fourteen  years  later.  The  real  settlement  of 
the  Massachusetts  Bay  colony  was  in  1628,  when  John 
Endicott  and  his  fellow- voyagers  came  to  Salem,  al- 
though Conant  and  a  few  others  had  located  here  in 
1626.  In  1637,  nine  years  after  the  coming  of  Endi- 
cott, John  Fiske  opened  a  public  school  in  Salem. 
In  Boston,  in  1636,  a  petition  was  presented  to  the 
authorities  asking  for  a  free  school.  Whether  it  was 
established  before  1642,  at  which  time  we  find  the 
first  definite  mention  of  it  in  the  records,  we  know 
not  positively;  probably  it  was.  But  to  whomsoever 
shall  ultimately  be  awarded  the  honor  of  establishing 
the  "  first  free  school,"  this  is  true :  that  while 
Salem  maintained  hers  from  1637  down  to  1887,  in  un- 
broken succession,  the  Governor  of  Virginia,  in  1671, 
"thanked  God  there  were  no  free  schools,  nor  print- 
ing, and  hoped  they  would  not  have  any  these  hun- 
dred years,"  and  long  years  thereafter  the  Old  Do- 
minion taxed  schoolmasters  twenty  shillings  per 
head. 

These  early  "  free  "  schools  were  not,  be  it  under- 
stood, as  free  as  the  schools  of  1887,  when  not  only 
house  and  tuition  are  free,  but  also  books,  stationery 


130 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


and  other  supplies.  The  town  of  Salem  in  those 
days  appears  to  have  borne  the  larger  part  of  the  ex- 
pense of  the  master,  and  taxed  the  balance  to  the 
parents  of  such  as  could  pay.  A  vote,  passed  Sep- 
tember 30,  1644,  said  :  "  If  any  poor  body  hath  chil- 
dren or  a  childe  to  be  put  to  school,  and  not  able  to 
pay  for  their  schooling,  that  the  town  will  pay  it  by  a 
rate."  John  Fiske,  the  first  schoolmaster,  relin- 
quished the  office  in  1639,  and  was  succeeded  by  Ed- 
ward Norris  in  1640.  Norris  was  evidently  the  only 
teacher  in  the  town  school  for  twenty  years  after.  In 
1670  Daniel  Epes,  Jr.,  was  employed  at  a  salary  of 
£20  a  year,  and,  also,  "to  have  besides  halfe-pay  for 
all  scollers  of  the  towne,  and  whole  pay  from 
strangers."  Mr.  Norris  was  voted  £10  as  a  sort  of 
pension  in  1671.  In  July,  1672,  he  resumed  the  mas- 
tership of  the  grammar  school  for  one  year.  At  the 
expiration  of  that  time,  and  until  his  death,  in  1684, 
he  was  voted  an  allowance  each  year  from  £10  to 
£15.  Some  time  during  Mr.  Norris'  teachership  the 
school  came  to  be  called  a  grammar  school,  and  so 
continued  for  several  years.  Latin  and  Greek  were 
taught.  Mr.  Epes,  in  1677,  agreed  with  the  select- 
men to  teach  English,  Latin  and  Greek,  and  fit  pupils 
for  the  university;  also  to  teach  them  good  manners 
and  instruct  them  in  the  principles  of  the  Christian 
religion.  In  1768  tuition  in  the  public  schools  wa.s 
made  free  to  all  and  ever  since  has  been  so. 

This  school  has  always  been  classed  as  the  imme- 
diate predecessor  of  the  present  classical  and  high 
school.  Perhaps  this  is  the  simplest  way,  although 
it  might  with  just  as  good  grace  be  said  to  be  the  pred- 
ecessor of  our  present  grammar  schools.  However, 
adopting  the  customary  division,  we  find  no  evidence 
that  there  was  more  than  one  school  until  1712,  when 
Nathaniel  Higginson  established  a  "  school  for  read- 
ing, writing  and  cyphering,  in  the  north  end  of  the 
town- house."  This  school  was  for  some  time  known 
as  the  writing  school,  but  gradually  assumed  the 
name  of  English  school,  which  it  bore  for  many 
years.  The  other  was  known  as  the  Latin  or  Gram- 
mar school,  as  the  speaker  or  writer  chose,  as  often 
one  as  the  other,  for  nearly  a  century,  the  former 
name  gradually  superseding  the  latter.  The  English 
and  Latin  schools  were  united  in  1743,  and  separated 
three  years  later. 

During  all  this  time  and  until  about  1793  these 
schools  appear  to  have  been  for  boys  exclusively.  In 
the  last-named  year  the  town  instructed  its  committee 
to  "provide  at  the  writing  school,  or  elsewhere,  for 
the  tuition  of  girls  in  reading,  writing  and  cypher- 
ing." In  1827  the  town  voted  to  have  two  high 
schools  for  girls.  One  was  located  in  Beckford  Street, 
and  known  as  the  West  school,  the  other  in  Bath 
Street,  and  known  as  the  East  school.  This  was  un- 
doubtedly the  first  time  that  females  were  provided 
with  high  school  instruction.  But  to  return  to  the 
boys'  Latin,  or  grammar  school,  we  find  that  its 
course  of  study  in  the  eighteenth  century  comprised 


the  branches  now  commonly  taught  in  the  grammar 
schools,  and,  in  addition,  Latin  and  Greek.  The  dead 
languages  seem  to  have  been  deemed  of  more  import- 
ance than  the  English  branches.  In  1752  the  com- 
mittee orders  that  all  boys  who  go  to  the  grammar 
school  must  study  Latin  as  well  as  read,  write  and 
cipher.  In  1809  the  committee  ordered  that  "  Latin 
and  Greek  languages,  Geography,  English  Grammar, 
the  principles  of  Arithmetic,  and  writing  be  taught 
in  the  Grammar  schools,  but  that  one-half  the  time, 
at  least,  of  each  scholar  be  devoted  to  Latin  and 
Greek,  so  that  the  other  studies  be  subservient  to  the 
learned  languages." 

The  Latin  school  was  transferred  to  the  new  build- 
ing prejiared  for  it  on  Broad  Street  on  April  19, 
1819.  It  began  with  a  principal  and  Latin  usher, 
and  an  assistant  in  the  English  department.  The 
number  of  pupils  reported  as  being  in  the  school  the 
following  month  was  eighty-six,  and  one  year  later, 
May  4,  1820,  one  hundred  and  thirteen.  The  Eng- 
lish department  was  discontinued  in  a  few  years,  and 
the  school,  under  the  principal  and  an  assistant,  was 
a  classical  school,  fitting  boys  to  enter  the  univer- 
sity. The  school  was  divided  in  1827,  and  Henry  K. 
Oliver  took  charge  of  the  English  High  school,  as 
this  portion  was  called.  Mr.  Oliver  was  appointed 
June  16,  1827.  The  school  continued  to  increase  in 
numbers  and  enlarge  its  curriculum  until  about  1839, 
when  two  recitation  rooms  were  added  and  two  as- 
sistants appointed. 

The  school  was  mostly  renamed  in  1845.  The  Lat- 
in school  was  called  the  Fiske ;  the  Boys'  High  school 
the  Bowditch ;  the  Girls'  High  school  the  Saltonstall. 
Nine  years  later  the  Fiske  was  merged  in  the  Bow- 
ditch,  and  in  1856  the  Bowditch  and  Saltonstall  were 
united  under  the  name  of  the  Salem  Classical  and 
High  school.  To-day  it  is  known  as  the  Classical 
and  High  school.  The  course  of  study  was  divided, 
in  1882,  into  a  four  years'  classical  and  a  three  years' 
English  course.  Thus  we  have  traced,  very  briefly 
of  necessity,  the  rise  and  growth  of  the  first  Salem 
public  school  until  it  has  become  one  of  the  strong- 
est high  schools  in  the  country.  In  its  long  line  of 
forty  three  masters,  from  John  Fiske  down,  have  been 
men  of  more  than  ordinary  ability  and  some  of  more 
than  local  reputation. 

The  grammar  schools  as  we  know  them  now  are 
generally  considered  as  having  had  their  origin  in 
that  writing  school  which  Nathaniel  Higginson 
opened  on  September  1,  1712,  when  the  committee 
"agreed"  with  him  "to  keep  a  writing,  cyphering 
and  reading  school  in  the  north  end  of  the  town- 
house,  which  is  now  fitted  up  for  a  school,  for  one 
quarter  of  a  year  from  this  1st  day  of  September,  and 
to  be  paid  for  the  same  seven  pounds  ten  shillings  in 
money."  This  school  evidently  filled  the  place  now 
filled  by  the  primary  schools ;  and  the  grammar 
school  work  of  the  present  day  was  combined  with 
the  curriculum  of  the  Latin  school   in   those  days. 


SALEM. 


131 


The  school  which  Mr.  Higginson  thus  started  appears 
to  have  given  satisfaction,  for  on  September  25,  1713, 
the  committee  agreed  "  that  Mr.  Nathaniel  Higginson 
is  desired  to  continue  to  keep  the  school  till  25 
December,  and  to  be  paid  proportionally."  On 
March  9,  1713,  the  committee  is  "agreed  that  Mr. 
Nathaniel  Higginsou  be  desired  to  keep  the  writing 
school  for  one  quarter  longer  ...  at  not  exceeding 
ten  pounds  the  quarter.''  On  April  13th  following,  the 
committee  "agrees  '  that  he  shall  keep  the  school 
for  one  year  from  the  preceding  March  for  thirty-six 
pounds.  His  successor  was  John  Swinnerton,  who 
began  his  labors  on  January  2, 1716.  Nathaniel  Hig- 
ginson was  the  son  of  John  and  Sarah  (Savage)  Hig- 
ginson, the  grandfather  of  Rev.  Francis  and  great- 
grandfather of  Rev.  John  Higginson,  the  first  and 
sixth  ministers  of  the  First  Church  in  Salem.  He 
was  born  April  1,  1680,  and  died  in  1720.  He  lived 
in  a  house,  that  occupied  the  site  of  the  present  East 
Church,  near  the  Common. 

This  school  was  known  sometimes  as  the  Writing 
school  and  sometimes  as  the  English  school,  the 
former  name  gradually  giving  way  to  the  latter,  un- 
til it  was  finally  dropped.  It  soon  began  to  act  as  a 
feeder  to  the  Latin  school,  for  in  July,  1717,  the  com- 
mittee voted  that  four  boys  be  promoted  from  the 
Reading  and  Writing  school  to  the  Grammar  school. 
We  find  no  trace  of  more  than  one  English  school  in 
the  town  proper  previous  to  1785.  As  early  as  1700 
the  town  granted  money  for  schools  at  Ryall  Side 
(Beverly),  Middle  Precinct  (Peabody),  the  village 
(Danvers)  and  Will  Hill  (Middleton),  where  the  in- 
struction was  probably  substantially  that  of  the  Eng- 
lish or  Writing  school.  In  1785  three  English  schools 
were  opened, — one  in  the  centre  of  the  town,  Edward 
Norris,  master  ;  another  in  the  eastern  part  of  the 
town,  with  John  Watson  master  and  a  third  in  the 
western  end,  with  Isaac  Hacker  master.  An  Eng- 
lish school  was  opened  in  North  Salem  in  1807,  and 
one  in  South  Salem  in  1819,  the  latter  being  first 
known  as  the  South  English  school.  This  school  was 
subsequently  located  on  Ropes  Street,  and  named  the 
Brown  school.  In  1874  it  was  transferred  to  the 
new  house  on  Hazel  Street,  and  soon  after  called  the 
Saltonstall  Grammar  school.  Another  English  or 
Grammar  school  was  established  in  the  east  part 
of  the  town,  on  Williams  Street,  in  1821.  The  High 
school  for  girls  opened  on  Beckford  Street,  in  1827, 
subsequently  became  the  Higginson  Grammar  school. 
In  1841  a  new  school  was  opened  on  Aborn  Street,  for 
both  sexes,  under  charge  of  Charles  NorLliend.  Four 
years  later  it  was  named  the  Epes  school.  In  1876 
the  Higginson  and  Epes  were  united  with  the  Hacker, 
on  Dean  Street,  all  under  the  name  of  Bowditch 
Grammar  school.  The  Girls'  High  school,  on  East 
Street,  in  1827,  was  the  original  of  what  is  now  the 
Bently  school  for  girls,  Grammar  and  Primary.  The 
Centre  school  was,  in  1841,  united  with  the  AV^illiams 
Street  and  East  Street  schools  as  the  Union  school, 


and  located  near  Forrester  Street.  In  1845,  when  the 
general  renaming  of  schools  took  place,  this  school 
received  the  name  of  Phillips'  Grammar.  The  North 
English  in  North  Salem  became  the  Pickering. 

In  1729  generous  Samuel  Brown,  i.n  giving  two  hun- 
dred and  forty  pounds  to  the  school  fund,  provided 
that  one  hundred  and  twenty  pounds  should  go  to  the 
Grammar  school,  sixty  pounds  to  the  English  school, 
and  sixty  pounds  to  a  Woman's  school.  His  lan- 
guage would  seem  to  indicate  that  while  the  two  first 
named  then  existed,  the  other  was  to  be  established. 
He  did  not  state  what  should  be  taught  in  the  other 
two,  but  in  the  Woman's  school  the  interest  of  the 
donation  was  "to  be  yearly  improved  for  the  learning 
of  six  very  poor  children  their  letters,  and  to  spell 
and  read,  who  may  be  sent  to  said  school  six  or  seven 
months."  This  was,  undoubtedly,  the  founding  of  our 
primary  school.  But  the  records  of  the  school  com- 
mittee give  no  indication  of  the  establishment  of  the 
school  until  March  26,  1773,  when  a  vote  was  passed 
which  would  indicate  quite  clearly  that  no  action  had 
been  taken  j^reviously.     It  read  : 

"The  interest  of  said  Brown's  donation  and  legacy 
to  a  Woman's  Reading  School,  being  about  eight 
pounds  and  four  shillings  per  annum,  be  given  to 
Mrs.  Mary  Gill,  for  which  she  is  to  teach  nine 
poor  boys  to  spell  and  read  this  year.  This  and  to 
find  them  in  firing  during  the  winter,  provided  she 
admits  but  sixteen  other  schollars  into  her  school." 
To  this  is  appended  in  the  records  the  following; 
"  We,  the  subscribers,  advise  to  the  order.  Asa  Dun- 
bar, Wm.  Brown,  one  of  the  Posterity  of  the  Donor." 
It  is  evident  that  Mrs.  Gill  was  already  keeping  a  pri- 
vate school,  and  that  this  money  was  paid  to  her  for 
teaching  small  poor  children. 

By  the  old  town  records,  however,  it  appears  that 
at  a  town-meeting  on  May  16, 1764,  a  vote  was  passed 
"  that  the  School  Committee  be  empowered  to  draw 
fifty  dollars  out  of  the  Town  Treasury  and  apply  the 
same  for  the  instruction  of  the  poorest  children  of  the 
town  in  reading  at  Women's  School."  On  March  3, 
1770,  Timothy  Pickering  petitioned  the  selectmen  to 
"  Be  pleased  to  insert  a  line  in  your  warrant  for  the 
next  Town-Meeting  to  know  if  the  Town  will  take 
into  their  consideration  their  vote  passed  in  May, 
1764,  respecting  the  schooling  the  poorest  people's 
children  at  Women's  School,  etc."  Whether  this  pe- 
tition means  that  no  action  had  been  taken  on  the 
vote  of  1764,  or  whether  we  are  to  infer  that  the  peti- 
tioners desired  a  repetition  of  that,  we  do  not  know. 
The  records  of  the  meetings  of  the  school  committee, 
not  very  full  for  those  years,  make  not  the  least  men- 
tion of  this  matter,  nor  do  the  accounts  show  any 
orders  drawn  to  pay  any  one  for  the  purposes  speci- 
fied. But  this  omission  may  be  due  entirely  to  the 
incompleteness  of  the  record. 

Early  the  following  month  this  entry  was  made: 
"  The  committee  met  the  8th  inst.  and  agreed  that 
the  following-named     Boys  be   put  to  the   Charity 


132 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


School  kept  by  Mrs.  Gill,  and  there  be  taught  for  six 
months  from  the  10th  inst."  Then  follow  the  names 
of  ten  boys. 

On  August  lOih  the  committee  "agreed  that  an 
order  for  two  pounds,  three  shillings  and  six  pence 
be  drawn  in  favor  of  Mrs.  Mary  Gill,  being  one-quarter 
of  a  year's  interest  of  Samuel  Brown,  Esq.,  his  Dona- 
tion and  Legacy."  From  this  time  on  appears  an 
order  for  the  payment  of  Mrs.  Gill  every  three  months. 
The  conclusion  is  irresistible  that  she  was  the  first 
teacher  of  a  free  public  woman's  school,  and  that  our 
primary  schools  date  from  April  10,  1773,  and  not 
from  1729,  the  year  of  Colonel  Brown's  donation. 

Thus  we  have  three  independent  schools  of  three 
distinct  grades  corresponding  to  our  present  high, 
grammar  and  primary. 

Two  years  later,  in  Mr.  Brown's  will,  leaving  an 
additional  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  for  the 
school  fund,  he  speaks  of  the  "  Latin,"  "  English  "  and 
"woman's"  schools.  In  1801  a  notice  about  the 
schools  mentions  the  grammar  school,  where  all  the 
higher  branches  were  taught,  including  Latin  and 
Greek,  and  three  public  schools  for  children  of  both 
sexes  and  not  less  than  five  years  of  age,  where  the 
alphabet,  spelling  and  reading  would  be  taught. 
Primary  schools  have  continued  as  a  separate  de- 
partment of  our  educational  institutions  down  to  the 
present  time,  and  are  now  deemed  the  foundation  of 
our  school  system.  During  a  portion  of  the  past 
eighty  years  we  have  had  "  intermediate "  schools 
for  such  as  had  passed  the  primaries,  but  could  not  be 
classed  in  the  grammar  schools.  There  are  now 
eleven  primary  schools,  and  no  intermediate  existing, 
although  the  school  committee  in  1885  authorized  the 
establishment  of  one  when  needed. 

From  1807  to  1843  colored  children  were  educated 
in  separate  schools  most  of  the  time.  It  is  supposed 
that  previous  to  that  time  they  were  not  instructed  at 
all  by  the  town.  Chloe  Minn  was  the  first  teacher  of 
a  primary  school  for  colored  children.  As  early  as 
1830  a  girl  of  color  was  admitted  to  the  high  school. 
Some  opposition  being  manifested  to  this,  and  the  le- 
gality of  the  act  questioned,  the  committee  took 
counsel  of  eminent  legal  lights,  and  was  informed 
that  the  colored  girl  had  as  much  right  in  the  school 
as  a  white  child.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  pres- 
ent generation  sees,  without  thought  of  protest,  black 
and  white,  native  and  foreign,  educated  together,  not 
only  in  the  same  school,  but  side  by  side  in  the  same 
class. 

From  the  settlement  of  Salem  down  to  1712  the  ed- 
ucational interests  of  the  town  were  controlled  by  the 
people  themselves,  cither  by  direct  vote  or  instruc- 
tions to  the  selectmen.  In  1712  the  citizens  in  town- 
meeting  assembled  chose  Samuel  Brown,  Josiah 
AValcot,  Stephen  Sewall,  John  Higginson,  Jr.,  and 
Walter  Price  to  have  charge  of  the  schools.  Commit- 
tees were  chosen  by  the  people  every  year  thereafter, 
until  Salem  was  incorporated  as  a  city  in  1836.    Under 


the  charter,  members  of  the  school  committee  were 
chosen  by  the  City  Council  until  1859,  when  the 
power  was  restored  to  the  people,  to  whom  it  properly 
belongs.  The  mayor  and  president  of  the  Common 
Council  are,  by  the  charter,  made  members  of  the 
board,  the  people  electing  three  members  from  each 
of  the  six  wards.  The  ofiice  of  superintendent  of 
schools  was  created  in  1865,  and  Jonathan  Kimball 
elected  to  the  position.  It  was  discontinued  in  1872 
and  revived  in  1873,  when  A.  D.  Small  was  elected 
superintendent.  It  was  again  discontinued  in  1880, 
since  when  the  schools  have  been  supervised  by  sub- 
committees. 

It  is  not  proposed  in  a  brief  chapter  like  this  to 
trace  out  all  the  sites  occupied  by  school-houses 
during  the  past  two  hundred  and  fifty  years.  It  is 
important,  however,  to  learn  something  of  the  houses 
used  by  the  earlier  schools  and  of  the  spots  where 
they  stood.  Of  Mr.  Fiske's  school-house  we  know 
nothing.  The  church  may  have  served  the  purpose, 
as  it  did  for  town-meetings.  In  1655  the  school  was 
kept  in  the  town-house,  which  then  stood  near  what 
is  now  the  southerly  end  of  the  railroad  tunnel.  A 
year  later  the  town  empowered  a  committee  "  to  have 
the  school-house  repayred."  Whether  this  indicates 
an  independent  house  for  school  purposes,  or  has  ref- 
erence to  the  room  in  the  town-house  used  by  the 
school,  no  one  knows.  In  1672  Daniel  Andrews  was 
voted  pay  for  keeping  school  in  his  house. 

About  1700,  perhaps  shortly  before,  grants  of  school 
money  were  made  to  the  inhabitants  "  without  the 
bridge,"  also  to  those  at  Ryall  Side,  Middle  Precinct, 
and  the  village.  Just  where  their  school-houses  were  lo- 
cated it  is  impossible  to  say.  On  June  16,  1712,  the 
town  voted  "thatthe  watch-house, adjoining  the  town- 
house,  be  for  the  future  set  apart  and  improved  for  a 
school-house  .  .  .  and  that  the  same  be  re- 
paired and  fitted  conveniently  for  the  use  aforesaid." 
The  watch-house  stood  beside  the  town-house ;  most 
antiquarians  say  to  the  south  of  it;  but  when,  in  1712, 
the  school  committee  "agreed  with  Nathaniel  Hig- 
ginson to  keep  a  writing,  ciphering  and  reading 
school,"  it  was  to  be  "in  the  north  end  of  the  town- 
house,  which  is  now  fitted  up  for  a  school."  Of 
course  this  meant  the  watch-house,  and  the  language 
indicates  clearly  that  it  was  at  the  north  end  of  the 
town-house,  and  not  the  south. ^  This  town-house 
was  the  one  which  stood  in  the  middle  of  what  is  now 
Washington  Street,  opposite  the  Brookhouse  estate, 
on  the  corner  of  Lynde  Street.  The  watch-house 
continued  in  use  for  some  years,  and  the  schools  were 
kept  in  this  street  so  long  that  it  came  to  be  known  as 
"school-house  lane." 

In  1760  the  town  voted  to  erect  a  brick  school- 
house.,  a  great  step  forward  in    the   march   of  educa- 


1  Felt,  in  his  "Annals  of  Salem,"  and  other  local  historians  locate 
this  school  "in  the  north  end  of  the  town,''  but  the  records  of  the  school 
committee  say  "in  the  north  end  of  the  town-feojise." 


SALEM. 


133 


tional  progress.  This  building  stood  near  where  the 
previous  school-house  had.  It  was  taken  down  in 
1785  to  make  room  for  a  new  court-house,  and  quar- 
ters hired  elsewhere  for  the  schools.  They  were  not 
long  without  a  home,  for  on  March  24tli  the  town 
voted  to  build  the  Centre  school-house,  24x36  feet,  a 
portion  of  which  was  to  be  occupied  by  a  library. 
This  building  was  of  wood,  two  stories  high.  The 
Latin  school  occupied  rooms  here.  Other  houses 
were  undoubtedly  soon  built  for  the  East  and  West 
schools.  The  next  school-house  built  was  probably 
that  in  North  Salem,  which  was  on  the  corner  of 
North  and  School  Streets.  The  High  school  now  oc- 
cupies a  fairly  commodious  building  on  Broad  Street, 
where  it  has  been  located  since  1856.  For  thirty- 
seven  years  previous  it  had  occupied  the  neighboring 
building  now  used  by  the  Oliver  Primary  school. 

The  largest  school  building  in  the  city  is  the  Bow- 
ditch,  on  Dean  Street,  built  in  1870  at  a  cost  of  eighty- 
five  thousand  dollars,  including  land-.  The  Phillips 
Grammar  school,  on  Lower  Essex  Street,  occupies  an 
eight-room  house,  built  in  1883  at  a  cost  of  thirty- 
three  thousand  and  five  hundred  dollars.  The 
Bently  Grammar  and  Primary,  on  Essex  Street,  near 
the  Phillips,  was  built  in  1861  and  enlarged  in  1886. 
The  four-room  building  in  North  Salem,  occupied  by 
the  Pickering  Grammar  school,  was  built  in  1862,  at 
a  cost  of  twenty  thousand  dollars.  The  Saltonstall, 
on  Holly  Street,  South  Salem,  the  only  wooden  gram- 
mar school-building,  and  built  in  1874,  cost  sixteen 
thousand  dollars.  Of  the  primary  school-houses  all 
are  small  and  most  of  them  are  old,  wooden  four-room 
buildings.  The  Bertram  is  the  only  one  of  recent 
date. 

The  pay  of  the  earlier  teachers  was  small.  Mr. 
Epes,  in  1677,  was  to  have  twenty  pounds  from  the 
town,  and  if  that  was  not  enough  with  tuition  to 
make  sixty  pounds,  the  selectmen  were  to  make  up 
the  balance.  If  it  was  more  than  enough,  he  was  to 
have  it  and  be  free  from  all  taxes,  trainings,  watch- 
ings  and  wardings.  In  1699  Mr.  Whitman  was  to 
"have  fifty  pounds  in  money,  each  scholar  to  pay 
twelve  pence  a  month,"  and  "  what  this  lacked  was  to 
be  made  up  out  of  the  fund  sett  apart  for  grammar 
schools."  Thus  the  compensation  ran  along  for  some 
years  with  slight  variations,  but,  on  the  whole,  slowly 
rising.  Mr.  Nutting  had  ninety  pounds  in  1729.  At 
the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  master  of  the 
English  school  had  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  and 
"  found  ink,"  and  the  grammar  master  one  hundred 
and  thirty  pounds,  and  nothing  said  about  ink.  In 
1803  each  of  the  four  school  mistresses  "  is  to  have  a 
salary  of  one  hundred  dollars  and  four  cords  of  wood." 
In  1819,  when  Thomas  Henry  Oliver  (General  H.  K. 
Oliver)  succeeded  Mr.  Clark  in  the  Latin  school  as 
"usher,"  it  was  at  a  salary  of  six  hundred  dollars,  and 
in  1824,  as  "  assistant,"  he  had  nine  hundred  dollars  and 
Mr.  Eames,  the  master,  twelve  hundred  dollars.  The 
same  salary  was  paid  to  Oliver  Carleton  in  1840,  while 


Ilufus  Putnam,  as  master  of  the  High  school,  had  one 
thousand  dollars.  The  masters  of  the  other  schools 
had  seven  hundred  dollars  each  and  the  assistants 
from  two  hundred  dollars  to  two  hundred  and  fiity 
dollars.  Teachers  in  the  primary  school  received 
one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  Perhaps  this  part  of 
the  story  may  as  well  be  completed  with  brief  allusion 
to  salaries  paid  in  1887.  The  master  of  the  High 
school  has  two  thousand  two  hundred  dollars ; 
the  sub-master,  one  thousand  five  hundred  dollars; 
the  first  assistant,  eleven  hundred  dollars ;  other 
assistants  and  principals  of  piimary  schools,  six  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars  ;  male  pi-incipals  of  grammar 
schools,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  dollars ;  one 
female  principal  one  thousand  five  hundred  dol- 
lars; assistants  in  grammar  and  primary  schools,  five 
hundred  dollars. 

In  the  days  when  those  small  salaries  were  paid,  a 
year  of  teaching  was  a  year  indeed.  The  school-bell 
was  ordered  to  be  rung  (in  1700)  at  7  A.M.  and  5  p.m. 
from  March  1st  to  November  1st;  at  8  a.m.  and  4  p.m. 
the  remainder  of  the  year,  "  ye  school  to  begin  and 
end  accordingly."  A  half-century  later  the  only  vaca- 
tions were  "  general  election,  commencement  day  and 
the  rest  of  that  week,  fasts,  thanksgivings,  trainings, 
Wednesday  and  Saturday  afternoons."  This,  says 
Felt,  was  a  liberal  allowance  compared  with  what 
their  predecessors  had  enjoyed.  Now  we  have,  in 
all,  full  three  months'  vacation  besides  Wednesday 
and  Saturday  afternoons.  Are  our  boys  and  girls 
more  healthy  than  those  who  went  to  school  "  from 
morning  to  night,"  and  "  the  year  round  ? "  For 
nearly  two  centuries  the  girls  were  not  granted  the 
same  privileges  as  boys.  They  went  to  school  four 
days  in  the  week  from  11  A.M.  to  12.30  P.M.,  and 
4.30  to  6  P.M.,  from  April  1st  to  October  1st,  the  idea 
being,  evidently,  that  they  needed  but  little  educa- 
tion. 

A  State  Normal  school  for  girls  was  established  in 
Salem  in  1854.  The  city  provided  the  site  and  erected 
the  building  at  a  cost  of  about  $13,200.  The  State 
reimbursed  $6000  of  this  amount  and  the  Eastern 
Railroad  Company  contributed  $2000  additional. 
The  building  was  enlarged  in  1870-71,  at  a  cost  of  $25,- 
000.  It  was  dedicated  on  September  14,  1854,  having 
been  opened  for  the  admission  of  pupils  on  the  pre- 
vious day.  Richard  Edwards  was  principal  from  the 
opening  to  September,  1857;  Professor  Alpheus 
Crosby  from  October,  1857,  to  September,  1865,  and 
Professor  Daniel  B.  Hagar  from  September  6,  1865, 
to  the  present  time.  The  aims  and  methods  of  the 
school  are  best  stated  in  the  language  of  the  circu- 
lar : 

"The  ends  chiefly  aimed  at  in  this  school  are,  the 
acquisition  of  the  necessary  knowledge  of  the  Princi- 
ples and  Methods  of  Education,  and  of  the  various 
branches  of  study,  the  attainment  of  skill  in  the  art 
of  teaching,  and  the  general  development  of  the  men- 
tal powers. 


134 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


"  From  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  course,  all 
studies  are  conducted  with  especial  reference  to  the 
best  ways  of  teaching  them.  Recitations,  however 
excellent,  are  not  deemed  satisfactory  unless  every 
pupil  is  able  to  teach  others  that  which  she  has  her- 
self learned.  In  every  study  the  pupils  in  turn  occu- 
py temporarily  the  place  of  teacher  of  their  class- 
mates, and  are  subjected  to  their  citicisms  as  well  as 
those  of  their  regular  teacher.  Teaching  exercises  of 
A^arious  kinds  iorm  a  large  and  important  part  of  the 
school  work." 

Private  schools  have  always  been  an  important  fac- 
tor among  the  educational  agencies  of  old  Salem. 
The  first  mention  which  Felt,  in  his  Annals,  makes  of 
these  institutions  is  under  date  of  January  1,  1770, 
when,  he  finds,  Daniel  Hopkins,  who  was  afterwards 
a  minister  in  Salem,  had  leave  to  open  a  private 
school  for  reading,  writing  and  arithmetic.  He  adds 
that  a  teacher  in  one  of  the  public  schools  had  "re- 
cently taught  in  the  evening  on  his  own  account.'" 
We  can  hardly  believe  that  for  one  hundred  and  forty 
years  after  the  settlement  here  there  were  no  private 
schools.  That  they  existed,  but  are  unrecorded,  we 
have  no  doubt  Two  years  and  a  half  after  the  above 
leave  was  granted,  Charles  Shimmin  is  advertising  to 
instruct  children  and  youth  in  English,  book-keep- 
ing, geography,  astronomy,  etc.  A  year  or  so  later 
(1773)  Elizabeth  Gaudin  opened  a  school  to  instruct 
young  ladies  in  plain  sewing,  marking  tent  and  Irish 
stitch.  In  about  1780  Mrs.  Mehltable  Higginson, 
widow  of  John  Higginson,  who  died  in  1818,  aged 
ninety-four  years,  with  her  daughter  Mehitable,  began 
a  private  school,  which  she  kept  many  years,  and 
which  became  of  great  repute.  Nathaniel  Rogers 
and  his  wife,  Mrs.  Abigail  Dodge  Rogers,  parents  of 
the  Messrs.  Rogers,  leading  merchants  in  Salem 
during  the  first  half  of  this  century,  kept  a  famous 
school  during  the  latter  part  of  the  last  and  early  in 
this  century.  Thomas  Cole  came  from  Marblehead 
and  opened  the  well-known  female  school  in  1808, 
and  continued  until  about  1834,  when  he  resigned  on 
account  of  his  health.  He  lived  eighteen  years  after- 
wards, and  was  an  active  member  of  the  school  com- 
mittee. 

In  1782  Mr.  Bartlett  adds  composition  and  history, 
and  in  1783  Nathan  Reed  adds  grammar  and  elocu- 
tion. It  will  be  seen  that  the  branches  taught  in 
private  schools  were  mainly  additional  and  supple- 
mentary to  those  in  the  public  schools.  In  1802,  says 
Felt,  William  Gray,  Benjamin  Pickman  and  others, 
"  desirous  to  afford  their  sons  the  privileges  of  a  school 
with  few  pu23ils,  under  a  teacher  of  high  character 
and  attainments,  and  subject  to  their  immediate  con- 
trol," concluded  to  have  such  an  establishment. 
They  employed  Jacob  Knapp,  and  in  1803  built  a 
school-house  for  him.  The  number  of  pupils  was 
limited  to  thirty,  and  Mr.  Knapp's  salary,  which  was 
twelve  hundred  dollars  the  first  three  years,  was  for 
the  remaining  five  years  fixed  at  the,  for  those  times, 


munificent  sum  of  two  thousand  dollars.  This  school 
was  in  Church  Street,  and  later  moved  to  the  vicinity 
of  the  common.  A  similar  school,  known  as  the  Sa- 
lem Private  Grammar  school,  was  begun  in  1807,  on 
Chestnut  Street,  where  the  Phillips  house  now  stands. 
Several  other  schools,  on  a  similar  plan,  were  opened 
in  different  parts  of  the  city  about  this  time.  The 
public  schools  appear  not  to  have  given  satisfaction. 
The  town  was  economizing,  and  began,  as  usual,  with 
the  schools.  A  vote  to  build  a  new  house  was  revoked 
in  1820,  and  the  old  one  repaired;  teachers' salaries 
were  reduced.  The  higher  branches,  like  geography, 
history,  grammar  and  elocution,  appear  to  have  been 
long  finding  a  place  in  the  school  course.  A  census 
taken  in  1820  revealed  2750  children  of  school  age,  of 
whom  225  boys,  out  of  some  1300,  were  in  private 
schools.  From  1806  to  1820  Felt  finds  seventy-five 
advertisements  of  private  schools.  In  1816,  the  year 
before  the  course  of  study  in  the  jjublic  schools  was 
enlarged,  seven  masters  set  up  private  schools,  and  it 
is  believed  that  half  the  children  in  town  attended 
them.  The  enlargement  of  the  course  reduced  the 
private  schools  by  one-half.  In  1826,  however,  there 
were  69  private  schools,  with  1686  pupils,  the  amount  of 
tuition  being  $18,836,  against  $8592.89  paid  by  the  town. 
Four-fifths  of  the  amount  paid  for  private  tuition  was 
for  girls  and  small  children  of  both  sexes,  they  not 
having  been  provided  for  properly  in  the  town  schools. 
Eleven  years  later  there  were  70  private  schools, 
with  589  males  and  1001  females,  the  cost  of  tuition 
being  $22,700,  while  the  cost  of  the  public  schools, 
with  1236  pupils,  was  $8877.  The  number  of  private 
schools  had  been  reduced  to  49  in  1843,  with  972  pu- 
pils, at  an  annual  cost  of  $13,594.75.  The  public 
schools  instructed  about  2000  pupils  at  a  cost  of 
$14,816.86.  Thereafter  the  number  of  private  schools 
diminished  until,  aside  from  the  parochial  schools, 
there  are  now  less  than  a  dozen.  The  number  of 
pupils  attending  them  is  365,  out  of  a  school  popula- 
tion of  5140.  The  three  Roman  Catholic  parochial 
schools  contain  917  girls  and  no  boys. 

In  closing  this  chapter  it  seems  not  inappropriate 
to  say  a  word  about  the  schools  of  Salem  as  they  exist 
to-day,  just  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  Mr.  Fiske 
began  that  ''  first  free  school."  The  High  School  had, 
in  1887,  an  enrollment  of  216,  and  the  average  attend- 
ance was  180.  The  corps  of  teachers  consist  of  a  mas- 
ter, two  male  and  five  female  assistants.  The  grammar 
schools  are  five  in  number.  The  Bovvditch,  for  both 
sexes,  with  a  male  principal  and  twelve  female  assist- 
ants, had  a  membership  of  479 ;  the  Bently,  for  girls 
only,  with  five  female  teachers,  176 ;  the  Phillips,  for 
boys  only,  with  a  male  principal  and  seven  female  as- 
sistants, 267 ;  the  Saltonstall,  for  both  sexes,  with  a 
pi'incipal  and  seven  assistants,  255 ;  the  Pickering, 
for  both  sexes,  with  a  principal  and  four  assistants, 
174. 

The  primary  schools  showed  the  following  member- 
ship: Bently,  163;  Bertram,  148;  Browne  (six  teach- 


SALEM. 


135 


ers)  193  ;  Carlton,  173  ;  Endicott,  169  ;  Lincoln,  195  ; 
Lynde  (five  teachers),  217;  Oliver  (five  teachers), 
222;  Pickman,  133;  Prescott,  135 ;  Upham,  152; 
Naumkeag,  110 -making  a  total  of  3546. 

Those  primary  schools  not  otherwise  mentioned 
had  four  teachers.  There  is  an  "  unattached  "  teach- 
er, who  goes  from  school  to  school  to  relieve  the  prin- 
cipal while  she  supervises  the  work  in  other 
rooms.  The  Naumkeag,  located  in  the  house  on  Ropes 
Street,  is  an  ungraded  school.  It  is  intended  for  such 
pupils  as  cannot  be  conveniently  classified  in  the 
graded  school,  but  its  patronage  is  now  entirely  of 
French  Canadian  children,  who  must  be  taught  the 
English  language  first  of  all,  and  its  various  branches 
subsequently.  This  school  was  established  in  1869, 
and  is  in  charge  of  a  principal  and  one  assistant. 
Evening  schools  are  kept  through  the  fall  and  winter 
months — one  for  boys  and  one  for  girls.  The  attend- 
ance has  always  been  small  and  somewhat  irregular. 
The  course  of  study  is  of  a  somewhat  miscellaneous 
character. 

The  courses  of  study  in  the  several  schools  do  not 
differ  materially  from  those  now  generally  pursued  in 
all  public  schools.  Added  to  the  common  branches 
of  learning  are  music,  under  the  direction  of  a  special 
instructor,  drawing,  history  of  the  United  States,  and 
physiology  and  temperance  hygiene.  All  books,  slates, 
pencils,  stationery  and  general  supplies  used  in  the 
schools  are,  by  law,  furnished  to  the  pupils  free  ot 
expense.  The  cost  of  introducing  these,  in  1884,  for 
4000  pupils  was  about  $9000,  in  addition  to  the 
$2000  worth  then  in  the  school-houses.  The  cost 
was  somewhat  above  the  average  for  the  State.  The 
cost  of  replenishing,  in  1885,  was  above  $5000,  and  in 
1886  $6200,  which  is  also  above  the  average  for  the 
State.  This  latest  addition  to  the  expense  of  maintain- 
ing free  public  schools,  however,  makes  them  free  in 
fact  as  well  as  in  name.  The  child  may  now  come  to 
them  "without  money  and  without  price."  The  total 
cost  of  the  Salem  schools  in  1886  was  $81,507.16. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

SALF.K- {Continued). 
LITERATURE. 


BY  GEO.  B.  LORING. 


While  we  contemplate  with  profound  interest  the 
material  growth  of  a  community,  and  trace  its  pro- 
gress in  agriculture  and  commerce  and  the  arts  of 
life,  we  turn  always  with  more  attention  to  the  intel- 
lectual operations  by  which  it  has  taken  its  stand 
among  the  thoughtful  and  cultivated.  The  work  of 
man's  hands  is  always  interesting,  but  the  fruits  of 


his  mental  toil  arrest  our  most  solemn  attention,  and 
take  us  into  a  higher  atmosphere  where  dwells  his 
divine  genius.  The  development  of  letters  in  a  new- 
ly-settled country  is  always  slow.  Men  engaged  in 
organizing  States  have  no  time  for  books.  Author- 
ship is  a  work  of  established  government,  developed 
industries,  a  prosperous  condition.  The  defenders  of 
a  frontier  and  the  organizers  of  war  seldom  write  his- 
tories or  poems.  Achilles  fights  and  Homer  writes. 
When  States  are  to  be  organized,  and  towns  founded, 
and  farms  outlined,  the  scholars  are  obliged  to  wait 
for  their  turn.  The  adage  "  infer  arma  silent  leges" 
should  include  also  et  literce.  In  the  early  colonial 
days  of  our  country  the  work  of  the  condilores  imperi- 
oriim  was  so  constant  and  pressing  that  there  was  nei- 
ther time  nor  opportunity  for  intellectual  work,  other 
than  that  which  belonged  to  the  church  and  the  state. 
Until  within  fifty  years  American  literature  has  been 
a  prediction,  and  it  required  all  the  scholarly  enthu- 
siasm and  confidence  in  the  American  mind,  which 
Mr.  Everett,  just  then  returned  from  the  schools  of 
Europe,  possessed  to  foretell  the  effect  of  free  institu- 
tions on  the  public  mind  here.  When  he  pronounced 
his  oration  at  Harvard  in  1824,  in  which  he  appealed 
to  the  scholars  to  do  their  duty,  and  placed  before 
them  the  picture  of  a  great  literary  republic,  just  then 
beginning  to  dawn,  he  w^as  obliged  to  look  back  upon 
a  feeble  and  meagre  contribution  by  American 
authors  to  the  libraries  of  their  country.  At  that 
time  no  poet  greater  than  Joel  Barlow  had  appeared 
among  us.  Charles  Brockden  Brown  was  the  chief 
novelist.  Hutchinson  stood  foremost  as  a  historian. 
No  scientist  had  either  explored  or  written,  except 
Franklin,  at  once  scientist,  essayist,  statesman,  diplo- 
matist. That  long  array  of  poets,  and  historians,  and 
novelists,  and  essayists,  and  scientists,  and  jurists,  and 
statesmen,  and  divines,  which  now  fills  the  world 
with  their  brilliant  performances,  and  has  placed 
the  literature  of  the  United  States  along  with  that  of 
any  other  nation,  ancient  or  modern,  has  accom- 
plished all  its  work  since  that  prophecy  of  Mr.  Ever- 
ett was  made.  Great  declarations  had  been  pro- 
claimed, urgent  protests  had  been  put  forth,  essays 
upon  forms  of  government  had  been  written,  sound 
constitutions  had  been  organized^  the  pulpit  had 
threatened  with  vehemence  and  exhorted  with  religious 
fervor,  theological  disputations  and  moral  essays  filled 
the  colonial  libraries.  There  was  no  necessity  for 
gratifying  the  imagination,  which  at  that  time  had 
but  a  small  abiding-place.  The  surrounding  reality 
was  more  remarkable  than  any  tale  that  could  be 
told.  And  the  songs  of  Zion  appealed  to  their  hearts 
with  a  warmth  unknown  to  the  most  fervid  lines  of 
love. 

Ail  these  influences  were  especially  strong  in  the 
community  of  Naumkeag.  The  leaders  of  the  colony 
were  men  of  deep  thought,  strong  convictions  and 
stern  purpose.  They  had  an  abiding  faith,  and  they 
always  held  themselves  in  readiness  to  defend  it.     It 


136 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


was  a  liberal  education  to  listen  to  the  sermons  of 
Francis  Higginson  and  Samuel  Skelton,  the  pastor 
and  the  teacher  of  the  First  Church,  and  to  the  pro- 
found philosophy  and  radical  doctrines  of  Roger  Wil- 
liams— all  scholars  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  The 
public  utterances  of  Hugh  Peters,  preacher,  civilian, 
manufacturer,  merchant,  more  than  filled  the  place 
of  an  attractive  volume.  Harvard  sent  into  the  Sa- 
lem pulpit  the  brilliant  but  deluded  Noyes,  the  com- 
manding Curvvin,  the  devout  Fisk,  and  in  later  colo- 
nial days  Barnard,  the  pious  and  prudent,  and  Dun- 
bar, the  fervid  and  patriotic.  Stepping  aside  a  mo- 
ment from  his  official  duty,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Higginson 
published  "  Generall  Considerations  for  the  Planta- 
tions in  New  England,  with  an  Answer  to  Several 
Objections;  "  and  "  a  true  relation  of  his  last  voyage 
to  New  Englaud." 

This  book  was  published  as  early  as  1629.  It  sets 
forth  the  reasons  for  supporting  the  settlement,  es- 
pecially at  Naumkeag,  and  defines  its  object  to  be 
the  planting  of  the  Gospel  on  these  shores,  the  erec- 
tion of  a  refuge  for  Christians,  provision  for  the  poor 
and  needy  who  could  not  procure  homes  in  England, 
economy  of  living  in  that  extravagant  and  wasteful 
age,  a  supply  of  education  for  the  poor,  the  support 
of  a  particular  church  and  to  set  an  example  of  faith 
and  devotion  to  the  cause  of  Christ. 

Roger  Williams,  who  commenced  his  remarkable 
career  in  Salem,  began  his  work  of  authorship  in 
1643.  In  that  year,  during  a  voyage  to  England,  he 
composed  his  "  Key  to  the  Language  of  America," 
the  first  treatise  on  the  subject  prepared  on  this  con- 
tinent. This  was  soon  followed  by  a  book  entitled 
the  "  Bloody  Tenent,"  in  which  he  denounced  the 
views  of  John  Cotton,  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the 
magistrate  to  regulate  the  doctrines  of  the  church,  to 
which  Cotton  replied  in  a  volume  called  the  ''  Bloody 
Tenent  washed  and  made  white  in  the  Blood  of  the 
Lamb."  To  this  Williams  rejoined  in  "  The  Bloody 
Tenent  yet  more  Bloody  by  Mr.  Cotton's  endeavor  to 
wash  it  White.''  In  these  books  he  most  earnestly 
maintained  the  doctrine  of  religious  toleration  and 
entire  freedom  of  conscience.  His  last  publication, 
so  far  as  known,  is  entitled  "  George  Fox  digged  out 
of  his  Burrows,"  a  book  which  appeared  in  1672,  in 
reply  to  Fox's  "  Defence  of  the  Quakers."  Prior  to 
this,  however,  he  published,  in  1652,  "  The  Hireling 
Ministry  none  of  Christ's,  or  a  Discourse  touching 
the  Propagating  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,"  and  the 
same  year  "  Experiments  of  Spiritual  Life  and 
their  Preservations."  He  also  addressed  many  letters 
to  John  Wjnthrop  and  John  Wiuthrop,  Jr.,  Governor 
of  Connecticut  from  1633  to  1635.  In  all  these  works, 
written  during  a  stormy  life,  and  amidst  scenes  of  the 
greatest  trial  and  excitement,  will  be  found  that 
vigor  of  thought,  independence  of  feeling,  philosoph- 
ical power  and  devotion  to  strong  conviction  for 
which  Roger  Williams  was  distinguished. 

Hugh  Peters  entered  upon  his  varied  career  in  this 


country  October  6,  1635,  at  which  date  he  landed  in 
Salem.  He  was  settled  as  the  successor  of  Roger 
Williams  December  21,  1636,  and  while  performing 
most  efficient  service  as  minister  of  a  j^arish,  he  de- 
voted himself  to  regulating  the  police  force  of  the 
town,  to  encouraging  commerce  and  manufactures  and 
to  the  general  welfare  of  the  community.  Educated 
at  Jesus  College  and  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  he 
commenced  life  as  a  comedian,  but  soon  took  holy 
orders  in  the  Church  of  England,  and  was  for  some 
time  a  lecturer  of  St.  Sepulchre's,  London.  He  soon, 
however,  became  a  non-conformist  and  fled  to  Hol- 
land, where  it  is  said  he  "  used  his  powerful  eloquence 
and  pulpit  eccentricities  with  great  effect,"  until  he 
emigrated  to  America.  It  was  with  this  mental  cul- 
ture and  this  remarkable  experience  that  he  com- 
menced his  labors  as  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in 
Salem,  and  pursued  his  literary  career.  He  was  the 
author  of  "Good  Work  for  a  Good  Magistrate,"  1651, 
in  which  he  recommends  the  burning  of  the  histori- 
cal records  in  the  Tower ;  "A  Dying  Father's  Last 
Legacy  to  his  Only  Child,"  1660,  and  "  a  number  of 
political  tracts,  occasional  sermons,"  etc.  He  also 
published  "Amesii  Lectiones  in  Psalmos,  cum  Epist. 
Dectic,"  1647.  The  opinions  of  historians  and  biog- 
raphers with  regard  to  Hugh  Peters  differ  widely. 
He  is  called  a  grand  imposter  and  an  arch-traitor  on 
the  one  side,  and  on  the  other  side  he  is  eulogized  as 
a  martyr  to  the  cause  of  civil  and  religious  freedom, 
a  pure  and  able  divine  and  a  devoted  philanthropist. 
That  he  had  extraordinary  ability  and  immense  en- 
ergy no  man  can  doubt,  nor  can  we  fail  to  recognize 
his  influence  in  raising  the  New  England  colonies 
into  a  position  of  power  and  effect,  which  is  still  felt 
throughout  the  country. 

In  1690  Thomas  Maule  published  "  Truth  Set  and 
Maintained," — an  ardent  plea  for  the  Quakers  as  a 
means  of  spreading  the  Gospel.  He  was  indicted  for 
the  publication  of  a  book,  "wherein  is  contained  divers 
slanders  against  the  churches  and  government  of  this 
province,"  and  for  saying  at  the  honorable  court  in 
Ipswich  "  that  there  were  as  great  mistakes  in  the 
Scriptures  as  in  his  book."  He  was,  however,  ac- 
quitted. 

It  seems  proper  to  record  here  the  mental  attain- 
ments and  efforts  of  a  youthful  jirodigy  who,  while 
he  left  no  mark  of  his  great  powers,  occupies  a  place 
in  the  list  of  those  who  represent  the  early  culture 
and  scholarship  of  Salem.  Nathaniel  Mather,  a  son 
of  Increase  Mather,  lies  buried  in  the  Charter  Street 
Burying-ground,  with  the  inscription  on  his  grave- 
stone, "an  aged  person  who  saw  but  nineteen  winters 
in  this  world."  He  was  born  in  1669  and  died  Octo- 
ber 17,  1688.  He  was  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1685. 
At  sixteen  he  delivered  an  oration  in  Hebrew,  and 
ranked  among  the  first  scholars  of  his  time.  When 
a  mere  child  he  repented  in  sackcloth  and  ashes  that 
he  had  "  whittled  on  the  Sabbath-day,  and  thus  re- 
proached his  God  by  his  youthful  sports."     At  twelve 


SALEM. 


137 


he  cried  out  "  Lord,  give  me  Christ  or  I  die."  His 
brother,  Cotton  Mather,  says  of  him,  "  Nor  did  he 
slubber  his  prayers  with  hasty  amputations,  but 
wrestled  in  them  for  a  good  part  of  an  hour  together." 
He  died  at  nineteen,  "  an  aged  person,"  as  recorded 
on  his  grave-stone  in  the  Charter  Street  Burying- 
ground,  and  left,  it  is  true,  a  most  slender  record  be- 
hind him.  But  the  scholar  who  contemplates  his 
career  will  admire  his  genius  and  will  picture  to  him- 
self the  brilliant  work  he  would  have  accomplished 
for  mankind  ai:d  his  country  had  his  life  been  spared 
and  his  promise  been  fulfilled.  His  memory  belongs 
to  the  community  where  his  ashes  lie  and  his  radiance 
illumines  the  dawn  of  letters  in  the  colony. 

In  Salem  Village  the  Rev.  Peter  Clark,  an  able  and 
earnest  minister,  published  in  1752  a  "  Defense  of 
Infant  Baptism,"  and  in  1760  "The  Doctrine  of  Orig- 
inal Sin  Vindicated  Again."  In  1728  he  published  a 
sermon  at  the  ordination  of  William  Jennison  at  the 
East  Church.     He  died  in  1766,  aged  seventy-five. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  authorship  has  thus  far  been 
confined  to  the  clergy.  Until  1700  the  provincial 
and  colonial  theocracy  was  complete.  The  clergy 
organized  the  State,  constructed  the  laws,  provided 
municipal  regulations,  exercised  a  general  and  close 
supervision  of  public  affairs  and  directed  the  current 
of  literature.  The  libraries  of  that  day  were  full  of 
volumes  of  sermons,  moral  essays,  treatises  on  theol- 
ogy, books  of  devotion,  all  well  exemplified  by  the 
numerous  productions  of  Eoger  Williams  and  Hugh 
Peters. 

At  the  opening  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  cur- 
rent of  thought  changed.  The  manifest  mistakes  of 
the  preceding  three-quarters  of  a  century  were  fully 
realized,  and  the  law-givers  were  busy  in  reforming 
the  code,  and  the  publicists  and  theologians  com- 
menced the  work  of  explanation.  The  State  had  be- 
come organized;  the  theory  on  which  it  was  con- 
structed had  become  operative;  the  doctrinal  contests 
were  largely  over  ;  and  the  minds  of  the  community 
had  settled  into  a  degree  of  repose  which  created  but 
few  active  authors  and  writers.  The  Indian  wars 
commenced,  and  for  many  years  the  active  forces  of 
the  colony  were  engaged  in  the  horrors  of  forest  war- 
fare. The  strong  men  organized  train-bands ;  the 
brave  mothers  kept  careful  watch  of  the  homes ;  the 
clergy  who  were  not  engaged  in  active  military  ser- 
vice inspired  the  hearts  of  the  people  with  faith 
and  courage.  From  the  breaking  out  of  the  Indian 
wars  until  the  close  of  the  French  war  the  opportu- 
nity for  study  and  meditation  was  small ;  and  during 
the  remainder  of  the  century,  which  was  occupied  by 
the  War  of  the  Revolution  and  the  civil  conflicts  of 
the  construction  of  the  Constitution,  the  thought  of 
the  people  was  turned  to  questions  of  state,  and  the 
science  of  government  occupied  very  largely  the 
minds  of  those  who  were  engaged  in  literary  work. 
In  public  debates,  in  the  newspaper  press,  in  a  flood 
of  pamphleteering,  may  be  found  the  fruits  of  the 
9i 


mental  effort  of  the  day.  There  was  neither  time 
nor  opportunity  nor  inclination  for  poems  or  novels  ; 
and  theological  disputations  were  suspended  before 
the  all-absorbing  topics  which  a  great  struggle  for 
freedom,  and  a  great  declaration  and  defense  of  pop- 
ular rights,  had  created.  Science  asserted  itself,  it  is 
true,  from  time  to  time.  Franklin  pursued  his  obser- 
vations on  electricity,  and,  so  far  as  Salem  is  con- 
cerned. Judge  Andrew  Oliver  published  in  1772  "An 
Essay  on  Comets,"  "Papers  on  Lightning,  Thunder 
Storms  and  Water-spouts,"  and  an  account  of  a  dis- 
ease among  the  Indians,  while  Benjamin  Thompson, 
later  Count  Rumford,  was  imbibing  here,  as  an  ap- 
prentice in  John  Appleton's  shop,  his  passionate  love 
of  science. 

In  1746  Dr.  Edward  Augustus  Holyoke,  who  was 
born  in  1728,  was  graduated  at  Harvard,  and,  in  1749, 
commenced  in  Salem  the  practice  of  medicine,  which 
he  continued  eighty  years.  He  published  many  med- 
ical articles  in  the  reviews  of  his  profession,  and  sci- 
entific papers  in  the  "  Memoirs  of  the  American 
Academy  of  Science."  He  possessed  great  repose  of 
body  and  spirit,  and  that  balance  of  powers  which 
usually  attends  longevity. 

It  was  about  1770  that  Timothy  Pickering  com- 
menced his  career  as  soldier  and  statesman  by  pub- 
lishing a  manual  of  military  tactics  which  he  used  in 
drill  service  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary War,  and  whose  principles  he  applied  in  a 
critical  review  of  the  military  training  of  his  superior 
officers  as  the  war  went  on.  He  found  time,  in  the 
midst  of  his  duties  in  the  army,  in  Congress,  in  the 
Cabinet  and  in  agriculture,  to  publish  an  exhaustive 
letter  on  the  "  Conduct  of  the  American  Government 
towards  Great  Britain  and  France,"  and  a  "Review 
of  the  Correspondence  between  President  John 
Adams  and  W.  Cunningham,"  besides  many  valuable 
papers  connected  with  his  varied  oflicial  service. 
Colonel  Pickering  was  not  only  governed  by  a  high 
sense  of  duty  throughout  his  long  career,  and  by 
strong  convictions,  but  he  also  expressed  himself  in  a 
nervous,  vigorous  style,  and  in  controversial  corre- 
spondence was  a  most  formidable  foe.  To  no  man  is 
this  country  more  indebted  for  its  independent  na- 
tionality and  the  strength  of  its  institutions.  He  per- 
formed his  service  with  such  fearlessness  and  honesty 
that  he  was  at  times  placed  on  the  defensive ;  but  he 
now  stands  in  the  front  rank  of  the  great  and  pure 
men  of  the  Revolutionary  and  Constitutional  period  in 
our  history.  In  a  literary  point  of  view,  he  has  left 
for  the  imitation  of  those  statesmen  who  come  after 
him  a  clear  and  impressive  style  and  great  power  of 
statement. 

The  adoption  of  the  Constitution  and  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Union  found  the  country  almost  entirely 
absorbed  by  political  controversies,  and  most  vigorous 
endeavors  to  restore  the  languishing  business  of  a 
people  exhausted  by  a  long  war  and  a  feeble  and  un- 
satisfactory system  of  government.     The  pulpit,  the 


138 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


bar  and  the  newspaper  press  absorbed  nearly  all  the 
cultivated  talent  of  the  country.  The  progress  of 
Arminianism  and  the  development  of  Unitarianism 
gave  rise  to  a  most  animated  theological  controversy, 
and  the  issues,  growing  out  of  various  interpretations 
of  the  Federal  Constitution,  brought  out  a  strong 
body  of  writers  on  these  subjects.  Rev.  Thomas  Bar- 
nard, of  the  North  Church,  published  many  occa- 
sional sermons,  beginning  in  1786,  among  which  may 
be  found  an  eloquent  discourse  delivered  on  the  death 
of  Washington,  following  in  this  respect  his  father, 
Rev.  Thomas  Barnard,  of  the  First  Church,  who  be- 
gan his  publications  in  1743. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  writers  and  investi- 
gators of  that  day  was  Rev.  John  Prince,  LL.D.,  who 
was  born  in  Boston  in  1751,  and  died  in  Salem  in 
1836.  He  was  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1776, 
and  was  ordained  minister  over  the  First  Church 
in  Salem  in  1779.  He  was  a  most  indefatigable 
worker,  and  applied  himself  to  scientific  research, 
often  at  the  expense  of  his  ministerial  and  parochial 
duties.  He  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Count  Rum- 
ford,  who  commenced  his  great  career  in  this  town  as 
author  and  investigator  in  1765,  and  joined  in  many 
of  his  inventions  and  scientific  experiments.  He 
improved  largely  the  air-pump,  and  tested  many  plans 
for  warming  rooms.  He  published  many  sermons, 
among  which  are  a  Fast  Sermon  in  1798,  a  Charitable 
Sermon  in  1806,  a  sermon  on  the  death  of  Dr.  Barnard 
in  1814,  and  a  sermon  before  the  Bible  Society  in  1816. 
His  labors  and  his  character  were  noticed  by  many 
scientific,  literary  and  historical  societies,  and  were 
reviewed  by  many  leading  periodicals  of  the  day. 

Dr.  Prince  exerted  a  commanding  influence  on  the 
community  in  which  he  lived  and  his  memory  is 
warmly  cherished  in  Salem.  In  theology  he  passed 
from  Arminianism  to  Unitarianism  with  many  of  his 
clerical  associates,  and  set  a  noble  example  of  the  ca- 
pacity of  a  liberal-minded  man  to  retain  his  faith 
while  pursuing  his  theological  investigations  and 
modifying  his  views.  His  style  was  simple  and  some- 
what severe,  but  it  was  used  by  him  to  convey  sound 
doctrine,  and  a  fund  of  valuable  information  and 
much  food  for  thought. 

William  Bentley  was  ordained  over  the  East  Church 
four  years  after  Dr.  Prince  commenced  his  labors  at 
the  First  Church.  He  was  born  in  Boston  in  1759 ; 
was  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1777  ;  and  died  in  1819. 
He  was  one  of  the  ablest  men  of  his  time.  His  learn- 
ing was  extensive,  and  he  used  it,  not  only  in  the 
pulpit,  but  also  in  the  newspaper  press,  to  which  he 
was  a  liberal  contributor,  and  in  a  more  elaborate 
work  upon  the  history  of  Salem.  He  was  at  one 
time  the  editor  of  the  Essex  Register.  In  poli- 
tics he  was  an  ardent  Republican  and  espoused  the 
cause  of  Jefferson  and  advocated  his  interpretation  of 
the  Constitution.  In  theology  he  was  an  extreme 
Arminian,  and  paused  not  when  he  reached  Unitarian- 
ism, but  adopted  with  great  force  and  ability  those 


doctrines  which  since  his  day  have  been  more  gener- 
erally  accepted  by  the  followers  of  Emerson  and  Par- 
ker and  the  German  school.  He  was  a  most  ardent 
patriot  and  left  his  pulpit  in  mid-service  to  defend 
the  town  of  Marblehead  and  the  frigate  "  Constitu- 
tion," when  she  was  chased  into  that  harbor,  now  fa- 
mous as  the  rendezvous  of  the  competing  yachts  of  the 
country.  Dr.  Bentley  was  at  his  death  warmly  eulo- 
gized by  Edward  Everett,  at  the  time  a  professor 
in  Harvard  College.  But  it  was  not  found  con- 
venient to  publish  the  sermon.  He  left  his  valuable 
library  to  the  theological  school  at  Meadville,  and 
the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  at  Worcester.  He 
was  a  most  beloved  pastor  and  friend,  and  his  memory 
is  held  as  a  most  precious  legacy  by  the  descendants 
of  those  who  loved  him  in  his  lifetime,  and  worshipped 
his  spirit  after  death.  Dr.  Bentley  published:  "A 
Sermon  at  Stone  Chapel,  Boston,''  1790;  "Sermon  on 
the  death  of  Jonathan  Gardner."  1791 ;  "  Psalms  and 
Hymns,"  1795;  "A  Masonic  Discourse,"  1796 ;  "Ar- 
tillery Election  Sermon,"  1796 ;  "  Sermon  on  the 
death  of  General  Fiske,"  1797;  "A  Masonic  Dis- 
course," 1797  ;  "  Masonic  Charge,"  1798 ;  "  History  of 
Salem,"  1800 ;  "  Sermon  on  the  death  of  B.  Hodges," 
1804;  "  Sermon  on  the  ordination  of  Joseph  Richard- 
son Hingham,"  1806  ;  "  Election  Sermon,"  1807. 

These  two  distinguished  divines  performed  great 
service  in  the  work  of  sustaining  the  literary  reputa- 
tion and  power  of  Salem — a  duty  which  before  their 
death  was  taken  up  by  one  of  the  most  learned  and 
exemplary  sons  of  this  town,  the  Hon.  John  Picker- 
ing. He  was  born  in  Salem  in  1772,  a  son  of  Timothy 
Pickering,  and  spent  his  early  life  in  public  service  at 
home  and  abroad.  He  was  secretary  of  legation  to 
Portugal,  and  afterwards  private  secretary  of  Rufua 
King,  in  London.  He  filled  many  important  positions 
as  instructor  at  Harvard,  practiced  law  in  Salem  until 
1830,  was  a  Senator  from  Essex  and  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  from  Salem,  and  revised  and 
arranged  the  Statutes  of  Massachusetts.  He  was, 
during  his  life,  a  most  diligent  student.  His  works 
are  of  great  value  to  the  scholar,  and  attracted  the 
favorable  attention  of  learned  men  at  home  and 
abroad.  In  1816  he  published  "  a  vocabulary  or  col- 
lection of  words  and  phrases  which  have  been  sup- 
posed to  be  popular  in  the  United  States,"  a  work 
which  was  accepted  at  once  as  of  great  value  by 
scholars  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  In  1829  he 
published  a  volume  "  On  the  Adoption  of  a  Uniform 
Orthography  for  the  Indian  Languages  of  North 
America,"  to  which  students  of  etymology  made  con- 
stant reference.  In  1836  he  published  "  Remarks  on 
the  Indian  Languages  of  North  America,"  accepted 
as  a  most  valuable  treatise  by  General  Cass,  W.  H. 
Prescott,  Du  Ponceau,  Ludewig  and  others.  In  1826 
he  published  "  A  Comprehensive  Lexicon  of  the  Greek 
Language,  adapted  to  the  schools  and  colleges  of  the 
United  States,"  a  book  which  ran  through  many  edi- 
tions and  was  published  in  Edinburgh  by  Professor 


SALEM. 


139 


George  Dunbar,  with  additions.  The  third  American 
edition  was  so  enlarged  and  improved  as  to  be  ac- 
cepted as  final  authority.  Mr.  Pickering  also  pub- 
lished "A  Fourth  of  July  Oration  in  Salem,"  in  1804; 
"  Eulogy  on  Nathaniel  Bowditch,  before  the  Academy 
of  Arts  and  Sciences,'"  1838 ;  "  Lecture  on  the  Alleged 
Uncertainty  of  the  Law,'' 1834;  "Dr.  Edwards' Obser- 
vations on  the  Language  of  the  Muhekaneew  In- 
dians," 1823;  "Eliot's  Indian  Grammar,"  1822; 
"  Father  Easles'  Dictionary  of  the  Abnaki  Lan- 
guage," and  the  "  Vocabulary  of  Josiali  Cotton,"  and 
"  A  Grammar  of  the  Cherokee  Language."  He  ed- 
ited with  a  memoir  "  Peirce's  History  of  Harvard 
University."  In  connection  with  Judge  White,  of 
Salem,  he  published  an  edition  of  "Sallust,"  in  1805. 
He  also  published  a  translation  of  "  M.  Dupin's  Ref- 
utation of  J.  Salvador's  Trial  of  Jesus,"  prefixed  to 
the  "  Examination  of  the  Testimony  of  the  Four 
Evangelists ;  "  "A  Review  of  the  McLeod  Inter- 
national Question  ;  "  "  Remarks  on  Greek  Grammar;" 
"  An  Address  Before  the  American  Oriental  Society; " 
"  A  Paper  on  the  Roman  Law  ;  "  "  An  Article  on 
National  Rights ; "  "  An  Essay  on  the  Agrarian 
Laws ;  "  "  An  Essay  on  the  Pronunciation  of  Greek  ;  " 
one  on  the  "Priority  of  Greek  Studies;  "  one  on  the 
"  Egyptian  Jurisprudence;  "  papers  on  the  "Cochin 
China  Language,"  and  "  Prescott's  History  of  Ferdi- 
nand and  Isabella." 

The  scholarship  of  Dr.  Pickering,  especially  as  a 
linguist,  has  seldom  been  surpassed.  He  had  a  pro- 
found knowledge  of  more  than  twenty  languages. 
President  Felton  said  of  him  that  "he  was  one  of  the 
noblest  and  most  learned  men  our  country  has  pro- 
duced." He  possessed  great  purity  of  character  and 
a  most  amiable  and  gentle  disposition.  His  mind 
was  enlarged  by  much  learning  and  his  heart  was  con- 
stantly warmed  by  his  devotion  to  scholarly  labor  and 
his  daily  intimacy  with  the  works  of  students  of  all 
ages  and  every  country. 

During  the  years  occupied  by  John  Pickering  in  per- 
forming his  great  literary  work,  Joseph  Story  entered 
upon  his  remarkable  career  as  poet,  legislator,  law- 
yer and  jurist.  He  was  born  in  Marblehead  Septem- 
ber 18,  1779  ;  was  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1798 ;  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1801,  and  commenced  the 
practice  of  his  profession  at  once  in  Salem,  where  he 
resided  until  appointed  px'ofessor  of  law  at  Harvard 
in  1829.  He  was  a  lawyer  who  had  acknowledged 
power  as  an  adviser  and  an  advocate,  even  in  the 
early  days  of  his  professional  labors.  He  was  a  most 
influential  member  of  the  Massachusetts  House  of 
Representatives,  and  during  his  term  of  service  in 
Congress,  to  which  he  was  elected  as  a  JefFersonian 
Republican,  in  1808,  he  pursued  a  course  of  great 
independence  and  commanding  influence.  During 
this  period  of  his  public  career  he  had  entered  upon 
the  field  of  authorship  with  great  zeal,  and  was  al- 
ready recognized  as  an  eloquent  orator,  a  graceful 
scholar  and  an  able  expounder  of  the  law.  As  early  as 


1804  he  published  a  poem,  entitled  "The  Power  of 
Solitude,"  which,  whatever  may  have  been  its  poetic 
merit,  indicated  the  grace  and  fervor  of  the  author's 
mind.  He  then  commenced  his  long  catalogue  of 
treatises  on  various  branches  of  the  law.  He  pub- 
lished "A  Selection  of  Pleadings  in  Civil  Actions  "  in 
1805 ;  "  The  Public  and  General  Statutes  passed  by 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States  from  1789  to  1827;  " 
"Commentaries  on  the  Law  of  Bailments,"  1832; 
"Commentaries  on  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  with  a  preliminary  review  of  the  Constitu- 
tional History  of  the  Colonies  and  States  before  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitution,"  1833;  "Commentaries 
on  the  Conflict  of  Laws,  Foreign  and  Domestic,  in 
regard  to  Contracts,  Rights  and  Remedies,  and  espe- 
cially in  regard  to  Marriages,  Divorces,  Wills,  Succes- 
sions and  Judgments,"  1834;  "Commentaries  on 
Equity  Jurisprudence  as  administered  in  England 
and  America,"  1835 ;  "  Commentaries  on  Equity 
Pleadings  and  the  incidents  thereto,  according  to  the 
Practice  of  the  Courts  of  Equity  in  England  and 
America,"  1838;  "Commentaries  on  the  Law  of 
Agency  as  a  Branch  of  Commercial  and  Maritime 
Jurisprudence,  with  occasional  Illustrations  from  the 
Civil  and  Foreign  Law,"  1839;  "Commentaries  on 
the  Law  of  Partnership  as  a  Branch  of  Commercial 
and  Maritime  Jurisprudence,"  1842;  "Commentaries 
on  the  Law  of  Bills  of  Exchange,  Foreign  and  In- 
land, as  administered  in  England  and  America,  with 
occasional  Illustrations  from  the  Commercial  Law  of 
the  Nations  of  Continental  Europe,"  1843;  "Com- 
mentaries on  the  Law  of  Promissory  Notes,  and 
Guaranties  of  Notes  and  Checks  on  Banks  and  Bankers, 
with  occasional  Illustrations  from  the  Commercial  Law 
of  the  Nations  of  Continental  Europe,''  1845;  be- 
sides numerous  decisions  on  his  circuit  as  United 
States  justice,  of  which  Sir  James  Mackintosh  said 
they  were  "  admired  by  all  cultivators  of  the  law 
of  nations." 

It  would  not  be  supposed  that  in  the  midst  of  such 
vast  and  constant  labor  as  a  lawyer,  professor,  jurist 
and  author.  Judge  Story  would  have  found  time  for 
productions  of  a  more  purely  literary  character,  and  yet 
the  list  of  these  is  long  and  interesting.  He  delivered 
in  Salem  an  eulogy  on  George  Washington,  1800; 
eulogy  on  Captain  J.  Lawrence  and  Lieutenant  C. 
Ludlow,  1818  ;  sketch  of  the  life  of  Samuel  Dexter, 
1816;  charge  to  the  grand  juries  of  the  Circuit  Courts 
at  Boston  and  Providence,  1819;  charge  to  the  grand 
jury  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Portland,  1829;  address 
before  the  members  of  the  Suffolk  bar,  1821 ;  dis- 
course before  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society  of  Har- 
vard, 1826;  discourse  before  the  Essex  Historical 
Society,  1828;  discourse  on  inauguration  as  Dane 
Professor  of  Law  in  Harvard  University,  1829 ;  ad- 
dress on  the  dedication  of  the  cemetery  at  Mount 
Auburn,  1831 ;  discourse  on  the  funeral  obsequies  of 
John  Hooker  Ashmun,  1833  ;  discourse  on  the  life, 
character  and  services  of  Hon.  John  Marshall,  LL.D., 


140 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


1835;  lectures  on  the  Scieoce  of  Government,  1838; 
discourse  before  the  Ahimni  of  Harvard  College, 
1842  ;  charge  to  the  grand  jury  of  Rhode  Island  on 
treason,  1845;  with  many  occasional  speeches  and 
pamphlets. 

America  has  produced  but  few  men  equal  in  all 
respects  to  Judge  Story.  As  a  student  he  combined 
patience,  diligence,  comprehension  and  enthusiasm  to 
a  most  extraordinary  degree.  He  turned  his  atten- 
tion in  his  early  life  to  the  hardest  of  all  sciences,  in 
which  dispassionate  judgment  and  cold  deliberation 
are  essentially  required.  And  yet  he  filled  the  tem- 
ple of  the  law  with  a  genial  warmth  and  a  radiant 
glow  which  could  not  be  surjjassed  by  any  work  of 
taste  and  imagination,  and  has  rarely  been  equaled 
in  those  spheres  which  are  dedicated  to  fervor  and 
devotion.  He  had  a  sacred  regard  for  the  law,  and 
he  inspired  his  hearers  with  the  same  sense  of  reverent 
admiration.  His  mind,  with  its  vast  grasp  and  broad 
understanding,  worked  on  with  the  rapidity  of  light. 
And  while  exercising  his  vigorous  powers,  he  had 
most  genial  attractions  for  his  associates,  and  those 
whom  he  taught,  and  in  his  family  he  always  won 
the  most  ardent  affection  by  his  kindness  and  gen- 
tleness and  simplicity.  He  was  a  great  lawyer,  a  great 
author,  a  great  citizen,  and  a  kind  and  affectionate 
parent.  Mrs.  Farrar  said  of  him,  "  He  was  the  beau- 
ideal  of  a  judge."  His  justice  was  always  tempered 
with  mercy. 

The  career  of  Nathaniel  Bowditch,  which, in  an  in- 
tellectual point  of  view,  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
and  admirable  records  in  history,  commenced  in  Salem 
almost  contemporaneously  with  that  of  John  Picker- 
ing and  Joseph  Story.  Pickering  was  born  in  1772, 
Bowditch  in  1773,  and  Story,  who  made  no  delays  in 
his  youth,  in  1779.  Pickering  delivered  his  first  ora- 
tion in  Salem  in  1804.  Bowditch  published  "The 
Practical  Navigator "  in  1802,  and  Story  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  Salem  in  1801  to  overtake  in 
accomplishment  his  great  contemporaries.  They 
removed  to  Boston  about  the  same  time,  carrying 
with  them  the  great  reputation  they  had  already 
achieved. 

Dr.  Bowditch  was  born  in  Salem  in  1773,  and  died 
in  Boston  in  1838.  He  began  life  in  the  forecastle  of 
an  East  Indiaman,  and  before  he  had  relinquished 
his  interest  in  navigation  he  had  become  the  mariner's 
guide  across  the  trackless  sea.  Placed  in  charge  of 
an  insurance  company  in  Salem,  he  advanced  from 
"The  Practical  Navigator  "  to  the  "Mecanique  Celeste," 
and  the  interpreter  of  Laplace  to  all  English-speaking 
nations,  and  when  he  was  called  to  a  higher  posi- 
tion in  Boston  as  the  organizer  and  president  of  the 
Massachusetts  Hospital  Life  Insurance  Company,  an 
enduring  monument  to  his  financial  wisdom  and 
skill,  he  continued  his  studies  still,  until  he  accom- 
plished that  great  literary  work  upon  which  his  fame 
rests  so  securely.  He  seems  to  have  been  indifferent 
to  all  obstacles  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  his 


great  career.  At  ten  years  of  age  he  was  compelled 
by  poverty  to  labor  for  his  own  living.  He  followed 
the  seas,  mostly  in  a  subordinate  capacity,  until  he 
had  reached  mature  manhood.  And  when  he  en- 
tered upon  the  great  work  of  his  life  he  was  obliged 
to  call  his  family  about  him,  and  confer  with  them 
as  to  the  possibility  of  his  publishing  his  volumes 
without  outside  aid.  The  same  economy  and  cour- 
age which  bore  him  through  his  early  trials  bore  him 
also  through  the  later  struggles,  fortunately  support- 
ed as  he  was  by  the  resolute  determination  of  his 
wife  and  children.  While  engaged  in  his  work  he 
seemed  to  be  unconscious  of  disturbance  or  interrup- 
tion, and  his  most  difficult  calculations  were  made  in 
the  midst  of  the  amusements  of  his  family.  The 
"Mecanique  Celeste  "  appeared  in  four  large  volumes 
in  1829,  '32,  '34,  '38.  And  by  the  strength  of  his 
genius  he  stood  in  the  front  rank  of  the  great  students 
and  mathematicians  of  the  world. 

Dr.  Bowditch  possessed  this  great  mental  power, 
but  he  was  remarkable  also  for  his  foresight,  prudence, 
integrity  and  courage.  His  influence  was  felt  in 
commercial  circles,  in  scientific  associations,  in  the 
government  of  Harvard  College,  and  on  the  lives  of 
those  who  bore  his  name,  and  went  out  from  his 
domestic  circle  to  practice  the  virtues  he  had  given 
them  as  his  best  legacy. 

The  Rev.  Samuel  Worcester,  D.D.,  commenced  a 
long  and  useful  career  as  pastor,  preacher  and  author 
in  charge  of  the  Tabernacle  Church  in  Salem,  in  1803. 
He  was  born  in  Hollis,  N.  H.,  in  1770,  was  graduated 
at  Dartmouth  in  1795  and  died  in  1821.  He  was  a 
theological  scholar  of  great  ability,  and  entered  with 
zeal  and  power  into  the  controversies  of  his  day. 
From  1810  until  his  death  he  was  corresponding  sec- 
retary of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.,  and  he  was  untiring  in  his 
efficient  support  of  that  association.  He  published 
six  sermons  on  the  doctrine  of  "  Eternal  Judgment," 
1800  ;  "A  Discourse  on  the  Covenant  with  Abraham," 
1805 ;  "Three  Letters  to  the  Rev.  W.  E.  Channing  on 
Unitarianism,"  1815;  an  edition  of  Watts'  Hymns, 
1818  ;  many  magazine  articles  and  the  first  ten  Reports 
of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  He  was  considered  one  of  the 
ablest  supporters  and  advocates  of  orthodox  Christian- 
ity, and  was  counted  worthy  of  elaborate  reviews  and 
notices  by  such  writers  as  Jeremiah  Evarts,  A.  P. 
Peabody  and  Rufus  Anderson.  Dr.  Worcester  added 
much  to  the  literary  reputation  of  Salem,  and  his 
presence  and  services  gave  importance  to  the  town. 
He  presented  a  fine  example  of  the  New  England 
clergy  of  a  former  date;  and  he  raised  a  standard 
which  his  theological  associates  were  proud  to  follow, 
and  which  has  served  as  a  mark  for  those  who  have 
succeeded  him.  He  brought  harmony  and  strength 
to  a  church  organization  which  had  passed  through 
many  trials  and  changes,  and  gave  it  the  proud  dis- 
tinction of  sending  forth  the  first  foreign  missionaries 
to  the  East  Indies. 

The  Rev.  Elias  Cornelius  was  settled  as  an  associate 


SALEM. 


141 


of  Dr.  Worcester  in  1819,  and  dismissed  in  1826.  He 
was  the  author  of  "  The  Little  Osage  Captive,"  1822, 
and  a  "Sermon  on  the  Trinity,"  1826. 

Benjamin  Peirce,  who  was  born  in  Salem  in  1778, 
and  died  in  1831,  coatributed  largely  to  the  literature 
of  his  times.  He  became  librarian  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege in  1826,  and  retained  this  station  until  his  death. 
He  was  the  author  of  a  "  History  of  Harvard  College 
from  1636  to  the  Revolution  ;  "  a  "  Catalogue  of  the 
Library  of  Harvard  College,"  1830.  He  was  a  dili- 
gent scholar  and  a  most  useful  official  in  the  college. 

The  Rev.  James  Flint  was  born  in  Reading  1779, 
was  graduated  at  Harvard  1802,  and  installed  over 
the  East  Church  1821.  He  died  in  1855.  He  had 
great  mental  powers,  a  glowing  imagination,  an  in- 
cessant activity.  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  said  he  had 
genius.  His  literary  remains  consist  of  a  volume  of 
sermons,  occasional  sermons  and  addresses  and  a  few 
sweet  and  fervid  hymns  scattered  here  and  there  in 
the  collections  for  churches.  There  are  those  who 
remember  him  with  great  esteem  and  reverence. 
He  published  :  "  The  Christian  Ministry,"  1806  ; 
"Sermon  on  Ordination  of  Rev.  N.  Whitman  Bil- 
lerin,"  1814;  "God  a  Refuge  in  Times  of  Calamity 
and  Danger,"  1814;  "Election  Sermon,"  1815 ;  "Dis- 
course at  Plymouth  on  the  Landing  of  the  Pilgrims," 
1816;  "Ordination  of  Seth  Alden,  Marlboro',"  1819; 
"Sermon  on  the  Death  of  Rev.  Abiel  Abbot,"  Beverly, 
1828  ;  "Sermon  on  the  Sabbath,"  1828;  "Sermon  on 
Indolence,"  1829;  "Change:  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Poem, 
Harvard,"  1839;  "Collection  of  Hymns,"  1843; 
"Sermon  on  the  Vanity  of  Earthly  Possessions," 
1844;  "Sermons  on  Leaving  the  East  Church,"  1845; 
"Sermon  on  the  Death  of  Dr.  Brazer,"  1846  ;  "Ser- 
mons on  the  Deaths  of  President  Taylor  and  Hon.  U. 
Silsbee,"  1850 ;  "  Posthumous  Volume  of  Sermons 
and  of  Poems,"  1852. 

The  Rev.  John  Brazer  was  born  in  Worcester  in 
1789,  was  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1813,  where  he  was 
tutor  and  professor  until  1820,  in  which  year  he  was 
ordained  pastor  of  the  North  Church.  Dr.  Brazer 
was  a  most  polished  scholar,  and  on  all  public  occa- 
sions when  he  was  csiUed  on  to  deliver  a  sermon  or  ad- 
dress he  acquitted  himself  with  great  taste  and  finish. 
His  style  was  not  easily  surpassed.  He  was  a  strong 
and  consistent  and  conservative  Unitarian,  and  his 
congregation  was  one  of  the  largest  and  most  influen- 
tial in  the  town.  He  delivered  the  Dudleian  Lectures 
at  Harvard  in  1836,  and  published  a  volume  of  ser- 
mons about  the  same  time.  His  labors  were  mostly 
confined  to  his  parish,  and  he  left  a  valuable  literary 
harvest  from  his  fertile  and  well-cultivated  mind. 
Dr.  Brazer  published ;  "  Discourse  for  Promotion  of 
Christian  Education,"  1825;  "Sermon  on  the  Death 
of  Dr.  Holyoke,"  1829;  "Power  of  Unitarianism," 
1829;  "Ordination  of  Jonathan  Cole,"  1829;  "Me- 
moir of  Dr.  Holyoke,"  1830  ;  "Sermon  on  the  Value 
of  the  Public  Exercises  of  Religion,"  1832;  "Efficacy 
of  Prayer,"  1832;    "Duty  of  Active  Benevolence," 


1835;  "Essay  on  Divine  Influence,"  1835;  "Lesson 
of  the  Past,"  1837;  "Present  Darkness  of  God's 
Providence,"  1841 ;  "  Sermon  on  the  Death  of  Hon. 
Benj.  Pickman,"  1843;  "Sermon  on  the  Death  of 
Hon.  Leverett  Saltonstall,"  1843 ,••  "Posthumous  vol- 
ume of  Sermons." 

Henry  Pickering,  a  brother  of  John  Pickering,  born 
in  1781,  was  for  some  time  a  merchant  in  Salem,  and 
afterwards  removed  to  New  York.  He  printed  a  vol- 
ume of  poems  for  private  distribution  in  1830,  and  a 
poem  entitled  the  "  Ruins  of  Paestum  "  in  1822.  He 
possessed  the  scholarly  tastes  of  the  family,  and  en- 
joyed a  fine  reputation  as  a  gentleman  of  refinement 
and  learning. 

As  a  friend  of  the  distinguished  authors  just  enu- 
merated, and  as  a  graceful  scholar,  wise  legal  adviser 
and  patron  of  letters,  no  man  ever  stood  higher  than 
the  Hon.  Daniel  Appleton  White.  He  was  born  in 
Methuen  in  1776,  was  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1799, 
and  devoted  himself  for  some  years  to  teaching.  He 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1804,  and  was  appoiTited 
judge  of  probate  for  Essex  County  in  1815,  at  which 
time  he  took  up  his  residence  in  Salem  for  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life.  He  died  in  1861.  He  published  a 
"Eulogy  of  Washington  at  Haverhill,"  1800  ;  "View  of 
the  Jurisdiction  of  the  Court  of  Probate  in  Massa- 
chusetts," 1822;  a  "  Eulogy  of  Nathaniel  Bowditch," 
1838 ;  an  address  at  the  consecration  of  Harmony 
Grove  Cemetery,  1840  ;  "  New  England  Congregation- 
alism in  its  Origin  and  Purity,"  1861  ;  besides  numer- 
ous pamphlets. 

Judge  White  led  a  long  and  useful  life  in  Salem. 
His  literary  work  was  always  done  with  great  taste 
and  skill,  with  a  purity  and  terseness  of  style  rarely 
equaled,  and  with  great  wisdom  and  humanity.  His 
mind  was  always  guided  by  a  high  moral  sense.  In 
his  connection  with  public  affjiirs  he  always  exercised 
the  most  untiring  devotion  to  the  welfare  of  the  com- 
munity, and  steadily  entertained  lofty  views  of  the 
duties  of  a  Christian  commonwealth.  To  the  libraries 
of  Salem  and  to  the  educational  work  of  the  Lyceum, 
which  he  founded,  and  the  Essex  Institute,  which  he 
patronized  liberally,  he  rendered  a  service  which 
should  never  be  forgotten.  He  was  known  as  the 
friend  of  the  scholar  and  of  sound  learning. 

In  1818  the  friends  of  Rev.  Nathaniel  Fisher  pub- 
lished a  posthumous  volume  of  his  sermons  preached 
at  St.  Peter's  Church,  which  were  considered  of  a  high 
order.  He  was  born  in  Dedham  in  1742,  and  died  in 
Salem  in  1812. 

In  the  same  year  (1818)  Benjamin  Lynde  Oliver,  a 
gentleman  of  great  ability  and  attainments,  published 
his  first  volume,  entitled  "  Hints  on  the  Pursuit  of 
Happiness."  He  followed  this  with  "  The  Rights  of  an 
American  Citizen,"  1832;  "  Law  Summary,"  1833; 
"  Practical  Conveyancing,"  1838 ;  "  Forms  of  Prac- 
tice," 1841  ;  "  Forms  in  Chancery,  Admiralty  and 
Common  Law,"  1842.  Mr.  Oliver  was  distinguished  for 
his  brilliancy  in  conversation  and  his  high  social  quail- 


142 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


ties.  He  was  a  most  skillful  chess-player,  and  was 
considered  an  authority  in  that  intricate  game.  He 
was  born  in  1788,  and  died  in  1843.  He  was  a  son  of 
Rev.  Thomas  Fitch  Oliver,  an  Episcopal  minister,  who 
published  an  interesting  discourse  on  Masonry  in 
1784.  He  was  also  a  nephew  of  Dr.  B.  Lynde  Oliver, 
who  died  in  Salem  in  1835,  aged  seventy-five,  and  who 
published  many  medical  treatises. 

In  1824  the  Rev.  Josiah  Willard  Gibbs,  who  was 
the  son  of  Henry  and  Mercy  (Prescott)  Gibbs,  and  born 
in  Salem  in  1784,  commenced  the  publication  of  his 
philological  works,  consisting  of  "  A  Hebrew  and 
English  Lexicon  to  the  Old  Testament,  including  the 
Biblical  Chaldee  from  the  works  of  Prof.  W.  Gese- 
nius  ;  "  an  edition  of  the  above  for  schools,  in  1828; 
"  Philological  Studies  "  with  English  illustrations, 
1857  ;  and  "A  New  Latin  Analyst,"  1859.  Professor 
Gibbs  was  a  long  time  professor  of  sacred  literature 
in  Yale  College.  He  was  a  profound  scholar ;  his 
works  were  republished  in  London,  and  were  favora- 
bly noticed  by  the  most  accomplished  linguists. 

While  yet  a  junior  in  Dartmouth  College,  Charles 
Dexter  Cleveland  commenced  his  literary  career.  He 
was  born  in  Salem  December  3,  1802  ;  was  graduated 
at  Dartmouth  College  in  1827,  and  in  1830  was  elected 
professor  of  Latin  and  Greek  in  Dickinson  College, 
Carlisle,  Pennsylvania.  He  entered  upon  the  work 
of  authorship  in  1826,  at  which  time  he  published 
"  The  Moral  Characters  of  Theophrastus,"  with  a 
translation  and  critical  notes.  This  he  followed  with 
"An  Epitome  of  Greek  Antiquities,"  1827;  "First 
Lesson  in  Latin  on  a  New  Plan,"  1827;  "The  Na- 
tional Orator,"  1827  ;  Xenophon's  "Anabasis,"  with 
English  notes,  1830;  "A  Compendium  of  Greek  An- 
tiquities," 1831 ;  "  First  Lessons  in  Greek,"  1832  ; 
"  Sequel  to  First  Lessons  in  Latin,"  1834;  an  edition 
of  Adams'  "  Latin  Grammar,"  1836  ;  "An  Address  of 
the  Liberty  Party  of  Pennsylvania  to  the  People  of 
the  State,"  1844;  "  First  Latin  Book,"  and  "  Second 
Latin  Book,"  1845;  "Third. Latin  Book,"  1848;  "A 
Compendium  of  English  Literature,"  1848  ;  "  Hymns 
for  Schools,"  1850  ;  "  English  Literature  of  the  Nine- 
teenth Century,"  1851 ;  an  edition  of  Milton's  "  Poet- 
ical Works,"  1853  ;  "A  Compendium  of  English 
Literature,"  1858.  His  Latin  series  have  always 
been  highly  esteemed  by  scholars ;  and  his  edition  of 
Milton  is  most  satisfactory,  both  to  the  scholar  and 
the  general  reader.  His  devotion  to  ancient  and 
modern  literature  has  given  his  country  a  noble 
movement  in  American  scholarship  ;  and  it  has  been 
said  of  his  work  that  "  good  taste,  fine  scholarship, 
familiar  acquaintance  with  English  literature,  un- 
wearied industry,  tact  acquired  by  practice,  an  inter- 
est in  the  culture  of  the  young,  a  regard  for  truth, 
purity,  philanthropy,  religioH,  as  the  highest  attain- 
ment and  highest  beauty — all  these  were  needed,  and 
they  are  all  united  in  Mr.  Cleveland." 

The  Rev.  Samuel  Melancthon  Worcester  began  his 
work  as  an  author  in  1826.    He  was  a  son  of  the  Rev. 


Samuel  Worcester,  to  whom  allusion  has  been  made ; 
was  born  in  1801 ;  was  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1822; 
was  for  many  years  tutor  and  professor  in  Amherst 
College,  and  was  settled  over  the  Tabernacle  Church, 
in  Salem,  in  1834.  He  was  recording  secretary 
of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions,  from  1847  to  1866.  In  1826  he  published 
"  Essays  on  Slavery,"  by  Vigorinus;  in  1854  "A  Me- 
morial of  the  Tabernacle  Church  ; "  many  sermons 
and  discourses ;  and  many  articles  in  reviews  and 
periodicals.  He  represented  Salem  in  the  Massachu- 
setts Legislature  in  1866.  Dr.  Worcester  had  great 
industry  and  a  strong  mind  controlled  by  sincerity 
and  honesty  of  purpose.  He  resembled  his  father  in 
the  sturdy  vigor  of  his  style  and  in  the  purity  of  his 
purpose.  He  resigned  his  pastorate  in  1859,  but  not 
until  he  had  strengthened  the  work  his  father  con- 
solidated, and  had  seen  his  people  collected  in  the 
new  church  edifice  which  they  erected  in  1854. 

The  Rev.  Joseph  B.  Felt  has  intimately  connected 
his  name  with  the  history  of  Salem,  by  his  faithful 
and  accurate  annals  of  the  place.  He  was  born  in 
Salem  in  1789,  was  graduated  at  Dartmouth  in  1813, 
and  soon  became  the  acknowledged  historian  of  many 
localities  in  Essex  County.  He  published  histories 
of  Ipswich,  Essex,  Hamilton  and  Salem,  in  all  of 
which  he  displayed  great  patience  of  research  and 
great  capacity  for  arrangement  and  selection.  He 
also  published  "Collections  from  the  American  Statis- 
tical Associations  on  Towns,  Population  and  Taxa- 
tion "  in  1847,  and  a  "  Memoir  of  Roger  Conant"  in 
1848.  He  is  highly  esteemed  as  a  reliable  annalist, 
and  an  honest  and  capable  searcher  after  truth  ;  and 
he  is  accepted  as  authority  on  all  matters  which  he 
has  investigated  and  recorded.  He  ranks  among  the 
most  faithful  of  historians. 

The  work  of  social  reform  has  at  times  occupied 
most  absorbing  attention  in  Salem,  and  has  been  sup- 
ported by  some  of  her  ablest  and  most  conspicuous 
citizens.  Among  the  most  remarkable  of  her  re- 
formers was  the  Rev.  George  B.  Cheever,  who,  while 
pastor  of  the  Howard  Street  Church,  exerted  himself 
most  vigorously  and  conscientiously  in  behalf  of 
human  freedom  and  temperance.  He  was  born  in 
Hallowell,  Me.,  in  1807;  was  graduated  at  Bowdoin 
College  in  1825,  and  not  long  after  was  settled  in 
Salem  as  pastor  of  the  "Branch  Church."  His  fear- 
less hostility  to  the  traffic  in  and  the  use  of  ardent 
spirits  led  him  into  the  most  violent  contest,  in  which 
he  maintained  his  position  with  great  courage  and 
persistency,  and  in  an  attitude  far  in  advance  of  his 
times.  While  here  he  published  "Inquire  at  Deacon 
Giles'  Distillery,"  a  work  which  produced  a  stirring 
social  commotion  in  the  town,  but  won  for  him  the 
reputation  of  an  ardent  and  brave  reformer.  He 
afterwards  settled  in  New  York  as  pastor  of  the  Allen 
Street  Church,  1845  ;  and  as  pastor  of  the  Church  of 
the  Puritans  in  New  York,  in  1846.  He  published 
"  The    American    Common-Place   Book  of   Prose," 


SALEM. 


143 


1828,  and  of  "  Poetry,"  1829  ;  "  Studies  in  Poetry," 
1830  ;  "  Lectures  on  Hierarchical  Despotism  "  and 
"Lectures  on  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  1843 ;  "Wander- 
ings of  a  Pilgrim  in  the  Shadow  of  Mont  Blanc," 
1846  ;  "  The  Hill  of  Difficulty,"  1849  ;  "  The  Voice  of 
Nature  to  her  Foster-child,"  "The  Soul  of  Man," 
1852 ;  "A  Reel  in  the  Bottle  for  Jacob  in  the  Dol- 
drums," 1852;  "Journal  of  the  Pilgrims  at  Plym- 
outh," 1848;  "Punishment  by  Death:  its  Author- 
ity and  Expediency,"  1849;  "Windings  of  the  River 
of  the  Water  of  Life,"  1849 ;  "  Powers  of  the  World 
to  Come,"  1853;  "Lectures  on  Cowper,"  1856; 
"God  against  Slavery,"  1857. 

These  works  indicate  the  tendency  of  Dr.Cheever's 
mind  ;  they  also  indicate  his  great  power  and  versa- 
tility. He  has  made  a  mark  in  his  time  which  will 
never  be  obliterated,  and  he  has  done  much  to  direct 
the  public  mind  in  the  paths  of  morality,  rectitude 
and  virtue. 

At  the  time  when  Dr.  Cheever  commenced  his  ca- 
reer in  Salem  the  Rev.  Charles  W.  Upham  had  just 
entered  upon  his  ^jastorate  in  the  (First)  Congrega- 
tional Church  as  colleague  of  Dr.  Prince.  Mr.  Up- 
ham was  born  in  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  1802 ; 
was  graduated  at  Harvard,  1821,  and  settled  in  Salem 
in  1824.  For  twenty  years  he  was  minister  of  this 
parish,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  resigned,  and 
pursut^d  diligently  his  work  as  public  official  and  au- 
thor. He  was  a  member  of  the  Thirty-third  Congress; 
Representative  to  the  General  Court  in  1849,  '59,  and 
'60 ;  State  Senator  in  1850,  '57  and  '58,  and  one  year 
presiding  officer  of  that  body.  He  was  mayor  of  the 
city  in  1852. 

Mr.  LTpham  became  an  author  at  an  early  period 
of  his  career.  He  published,  in  1828,  "  Letters  on  the 
Logos."  This  was  followed  by  "Principles  of  Congre- 
gationalism," 1829  ;  "  Lectures  on  Witchcraft,"  1835  ; 
"  Salem  Witchcraft,with  an  account  of  Salem  Village," 
1867;  "Discourse  on  the  Funeral  of  Rev.  John  Prince," 
1836 ;  "Life,  Explorations  and  Services  of  John  Charles 
Fremont,"  1856;  "Lifeof  Sir  Henry  Vane,"  1836;  "Life 
of  John  Quincy  Adams,"  1839;  oration,  July  4, 1844; 
oration  before  the  New  England  Society,  N.  Y.,  1846 ; 
"Life  of  Washington,"  1852;  and  the  last  three  vol- 
umes of  the  "  Life  of  Timothy  Pickering,"  a  work 
commenced  by  Octavius  Pickering,  a  son  of  Timothy 
Pickering,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  in  1810,  and  for 
many  years  reporter  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Massa- 
chusetts. 

Mr.  Upham  was  a  graceful  and  forcible  writer.  His 
sermons,  while  a  preacher,  were  extremely  attractive 
to  old  and  young,  and  were  filled  with  a  warm  Chris- 
tian spirit.  In  his  work  as  a  public  servant  he  set 
an  example  of  honest  conviction  and  a  fearless  dis- 
charge of  duty.  His  contributions  to  the  history  of 
his  country  were  most  valuable.  The  "  Life  of  Sir 
Henry  Vane"  which  he  contributed  to  Sparks'  "Ameri- 
can Biography"  has  always  been  accepted  as  one  of  the 
most  brilliant  works  of  the  kind  in  the  English  lan- 


guage. His  "History  of  Witchcraft"  is  elaborate, 
graphic  and  exhaustive;  and  his  share  of  the  "Life  of 
Timothy  Pickering"  is  a  charming  record  of  the  great 
work  of  that  remarkable  man.  Mr.  Upham,  at  his 
death,  left  a  circle  of  warm  and  devoted  friends,  and 
an  honorable  record  in  the  community  in  which  he 
spent  so  many  long  and  laborious  years  of  his  life. 

In  1800  William  Biglow,  or,  as  he  sometimes  sub- 
scribed his  name,  Gulielmus  Magnushumilis,  was 
engaged  as  a  teacher  in  Salem.  He  was  born  in 
Natick  in  1773,  was  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1794, 
and  died  in  1844.  He  was  the  author  of  the  "  His- 
tory of  the  Town  of  Natick  from  1650 ;"  and  of  the 
town  of  Sherborne  from  its  incorporation  to  the  end 
of  the  year  1830.  He  contributed  a  Latin  poem  on 
the  occasion  of  the  second  centennial  of  Harvard,  in 
1836.  He  published  "  Elements  of  Latin  Grammar," 
1811;  "Education,"  a  poem,  Salem,  1799;  "Phi 
Beta  Kappa,"  poem,  1811;  "Poem  on  Intemper- 
ance," Cambridge,  1834;  "Recommencement,  or 
Commencement  Again,"  Boston,  1811 ;  several  school 
books.  He  married  a  daughter  of  Peter  Lander,  of 
Salem.  He  was  a  scholar  of  extensive  reading,  and 
was  well  known  to  numerous  acquaintances  as  a  so- 
cial companion  of  original  wit  and  fancy,  and  pos- 
sessing a  fund  of  anecdote,  which  he  would  commu- 
nicate with  facility  in  prose  and  rhyme. 

The  Hon.  Joseph  G.  Sprague  delivered  a  eulogy  on 
Adams  and  Jefferson  in  1826,  and  published  many 
political  and  biographic?!  essays.  Lieutenant  John 
White,  U.  S.  N.,  published  "  Voyage  to  the  China 
Seas,"  1826. 

Dr.  R.  D.  Mussey  practised  medicine  in  Salem  at 
this  period,  and  earlier  for  several  years.  He  was  en- 
gaged in  lecturing  on  chemistry  in  1816,  and  removed 
to  accept  a  professorship  at  Dartmouth  College,  and 
afterwards  at  Cincinnati.  He  published  many  medi- 
cal essays  and  an  elaborate  treatise  on  tobacco.  He 
married  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Joseph  Osgood,  of  Salem. 

Dr.  Daniel  Oliver  was  engaged  with  Dr.  Mussey  in 
popular  scientific  lectures  in  Salem.  He  resided  here 
for  many  years,  and  was  afterwards  professor  of  the 
theory  and  practice  of  medicine  at  Dartmouth  Col- 
lege. He  published  "  First  Lines  in  Physiology,"  in 
1835. 

It  was  in  this  period  of  the  literary  history  of  Salem 
that  Nathaniel  Hawthorne  commenced  his  inspired 
work.  Born  in  Salem  July  4,  1804,  he  led  a  quiet 
and  secluded  life  for  thirty  years,  passing  shyly 
through  the  schools  of  the  town  and  inconspicuously 
through  Bowdoin  College,  where  he  was  graduated  in 
1825.  His  first  appearance  as  an  author  was  in  The 
Token  and  The  Democratic  Review,  where  he  published 
anonymously  a  series  of  tales  so  attractive  that  the 
most  brilliant  minds  of  the  country  commenced  a  dili- 
gent search  for  the  author,  who  was  supposed  for  a 
long  time  to  be  a  female  of  great  delicacy  of  fancy  and 
keen  knowledge  of  human  nature.  In  1837,  however, 
he  collected  these  productions  into  a  volume  entitled 


144 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


"Twice-Told  Tales,''  and  the  position  of  Hawthorne 
in  the  world  of  letters  was  at  once  recognized.  The 
book  received  a  most  flattering  review  by  Longfellow, 
a  warm  and  cordial  reception  by  Miss  Mitford  and 
a  most  enthusiastic  welcome  from  all  that  class  of  re- 
fined and  aesthetic  students  who  w^ere  gathering 
round  Emerson,  George  Ripley,  Margaret  Fuller, 
Theodore  Parker  and  their  charming  and  critical  as- 
sociates. On  the  other  hand,  the  hard  students  re- 
joiced in  his  appearance.  From  this  time  until  his 
death,  in  1864,  a  period  of  less  than  thirty  years,  he 
held  various  official  positions  conferred  upon  him  for 
his  merit  as  an  author ;  and  he  sent  forth  that  collec- 
tion of  romances  which  have  given  him  an  immortal- 
ity in  the  world  of  letters  and  have  elevated  the  po- 
sition of  the  American  mind  to  the  rank  accorded  to 
genius  in  all  ages  and  among  al  1  nations.  "  The  Scar- 
let Letter,"  "The  House  of  the  Seven  Gables," 
"  Blithedale  Romance,"  "  Mosses  from  an  Old  Manse," 
"Grandfather's  Chair,"  "The  Wonder  Book," 
"Tanglewood  Tales,"  "The  Marble  Faun,"  "Our 
Old  Home,"  "English  Note-Book,"  "  American  Note- 
Book  "  all  came  out  in  rapid  succession,  and  now  oc- 
cupy the  dearest  corner  in  every  well-appointed  li- 
brary, at  home  and  abroad. 

By  his  many  reviewers  Hawthorne  has  been  com- 
pared with  nearly  all  the  great  writers  of  fiction, 
whose  works  have  been  accepted  as  beyond  mere  fig- 
ments of  the  fancy.  That  he  surpassed  them  all  in 
his  comprehension  of  the  motives  of  the  human  heart 
there  can  be  no  doubt.  It  was  a  supernatural  ele- 
ment in  him  which  gave  him  his  high  distinction. 
When  he  entered  upon  his  work  as  a  writer  he  left 
his  personality  entirely  behind  him.  In  this  work  he 
allowed  no  interference,  he  asked  for  no  aid.  He  was 
shy  of  those  whose  intellectual  power  and  literary 
fame  might  seem  to  give  them  a  right  to  enter  his 
sanctuary.  In  an  assembly  of  illustrious  authors  and 
thinkers  he  floated  reserved  and  silent  around  the 
margin  of  the  room  and  at  last  vanished  into  outer 
darkness.  The  working  of  his  mind  was  so  sacred 
and  mysterious  to  him  that  he  was  impatient  of  any 
attempt  at  familiarity  or  even  intimacy  with  the  di- 
vine power  within  him.  His  love  of  personal  soli- 
tude was  his  ruling  passioa  ;  his  intellectual  solitude 
was  an  overpowering  necessity.  And  so  in  great 
loneliness  he  toiled,  conscious  that  no  human  power 
could  guide  him,  and  that  human  sympathy  was  of 
no  avail.  He  appeared  to  understand  his  own  great- 
ness so  imperfectly  that  he  dared  not  expose  the  mys- 
tery to  others ;  and  the  sacredness  of  his  genius  was 
like  the  sacredness  of  his  love.  That  this  sentiment, 
so  natural  and  admirable,  made  him  somewhat  unjust 
to  his  literary  associates  there  can  be  but  little  doubt. 
For  while  he  applied  to  them  the  powerful  test  of 
his  own  genius,  before  whose  blaze  many  of  them 
withered,  his  retiring  disposition  kept  him  at  a  dis- 
tance almost  fatal  to  any  estimate  of  their  true  pro- 
portions.    And  even  when  he  admired  and  respected 


the  authors  among  whom  he  moved,  and  was  proud 
of  the  companionship  into  which  his  genius  had  ele- 
vated him,  he  never  overcame  his  natural  sensi- 
tiveness with  regard  to  the  demand  they  might  make 
on  him  as  a  fellow-artist,  to  open  his  creations  to 
their  vision  and  with  regard  to  the  test  they  might 
apply  to  him.  For  his  sturdy  manhood  he  sought 
intimates  and  companions, — not  many,  but  enough  to 
satisfy  his  natural  longing  for  a  fellow  ;  for  his  genius 
he  neither  sought  nor  desired  nor  expected  to  find 
companionship.  For  his  old  official  friends  he  had  a 
tender  affection  ;  for  the  strong  and  practical  young 
men  with  whom  he  set  forth  in  life  he  had  an  abid- 
ing love  and  attachment;  they  satisfied  the  longings 
of  one  side  at  least  of  his  existence.  For  the  throne 
on  which  he  sat  in  the  imperial  realm  of  his  own 
creative  thought  he  desired  no  associate ;  his  seat 
there  was  for  himself  alone;  his  reign  there  was  su- 
preme. And  when  he  retired  to  that  lonely  room 
which  he  had  set  apart  at  the  height  of  the  tower  which 
overtopped  his  humble  abode  in  Concord,  and  with- 
out book  or  picture,  alone  with  a  solitary  seat  and 
desk,  having  none  to  commune  with  except  nature, 
which  stood  before  his  windows  to  cheer  his  heart, 
and  he  entered  upon  his  work,  his  creation  moved 
steadily  and  majestically,  as  when  the  morning  stars 
sang  together  and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy. 
At  the  foundation  of  Hawthorne's  genius  lay  those 
strong  and  sturdy  characteristics  which  he  had  in- 
herited from  a  long  line  of  agricultural  and  maritime 
ancestors.  And  these  characteristics  he  never  sur- 
rendered. He  found  lor  them  a  sympathetic  feeling 
in  the  few  companions  whom  he  met  in  the  ordinary 
service  of  his  life.  They  were  genuine  as  nature  had 
made  them — neither  tasteless  nor  artificial  nor  cor- 
rupt. And  in  their  association  his  mind  found  the 
repose  which  all  nature  requires.  But  this  was  by  no 
means  his  life ;  and  let  those  who  assume  that  his 
companions  led  him  into  bad  practices,  even  were 
they  so  inclined,  remember  that  he  found  his  eternal 
rest  with  some  of  the  sweetest  and  purest  spirits  of  his 
time.  Let  those  who  flippantly  accuse  him  of  dissi- 
pation and  vulgarity  remember  that  he  found  his  home 
among  the  noblest  characters  in  the  community  in 
which  he  lived,  and  let  their  regard  and  love  for  him 
attest  his  nobility  and  purity.  They  saj^  he  was  pure 
and  chaste  and  honorable — and  their  testimony  is 
enough.  He  had  no  fondness  whatever  for  social 
pleasures,  good  or  bad,  and  never  entered  into  them, 
nor  did  he  establish  between  himself  and  his  fellow- 
men  the  superficial  intimacy  upon  which  society  rests. 
But  his  instinct  led  him  into  the  companionship  of 
the  refined  and  gentle,  whose  life  was  made  beautiful 
by  the  constant  presence  of  poetry  and  art  and  the 
highest  intellectual  culture.  Salem,  in  Hawthorne's 
day,  was  filled  with  brilliant  and  beautiful  women  ; 
and  they  worshipped  at  a  distance  this  mysterious 
divinity,  whose  delicate  fancies  charmed  their  hearts, 
and  whose  glowing  eye  and  sturdy   form,  and  dome- 


SALEM. 


145 


like  head  crowned  with  a  luxuriant  "pomp  of  hair," 
and  fair  and  noble  face,  made  up  in  him  the  type  of 
imperial  manhood.  The  doors  of  the  most  delightful 
society  were  open  to  him.  But  he  selected  from  a 
secluded  nook  a  modest  flower,  gave  her  his  heart  and 
united  with  her  in  exploring  the  beauties  of  art  and 
letters,  and  in  building  up  a  home  of  great  simplicity 
and  love.  Hawthorne  knew  many  ideal  homes  in  his 
day,  but  none  more  beautiful  than  his  own,  which 
was  always  in  accord  with  the  delicacy  of  his  taste 
and  feeling,  and  on  entering  which  he  was  obliged  to 
leave  no  unworthy  qualities,  no  discordant  habits 
behind.  No  act  of  his  life  and  no  association  had  un- 
fitted him  for  such  companionship  as  he  found  there. 
He  embodied  in  all  his  relations  with  life  the  finest 
of  those  characteristics  which  have  made  his  native 
place  the  home  of  strong  and  versatile  powers,  and  of 
faculties  which  have  produced  a  deep  impression  upon 
the  world. 

Julian  Hawthorne,  a  son  of  Nathaniel  and  Sophia 
Peabody  Hawthorne,  was  born  in  Boston  in  1846, 
but  passed  much  of  his  childhood  in  Salem  while  his 
father  was  surveyor  of  that  port.  He  has  devoted 
himself  entirely  to  literature,  and  has  displayed  most 
remarkable  faculties  in  the  creation  of  fiction  and  the 
delineation  of  romance.  It  is  easy  to  trace  the  re- 
semblance between  his  own  mind  and  that  of  his 
father,  and  easy  also  to  distinguish  the  difference. 
At  an  early  age  he  has  secured  a  foremost  place 
among  the  authors  of  the  country,  and  has  added 
much  to  the  literary  wealth  of  his  times.  To  powers 
like  his  the  future  is  full  of  bright  pi'omise. 

The  Rev.  Thomas  W.  Coit.  who  was  connected  with 
Saint  Peter's  Church  until  1826,  was  born  in  1803  ; 
was  graduated  at  Yale  in  1821  was  ordained,  July 
16,  1826,  resigned  March  23,  1829.  He  was  a  scholar  of 
good  capacity  and  attainments,  was  professor  of  Trinity 
College,  and  president  of  Transylvania  University. 
He  published  "  The  Theological  Common-Place 
Book"  in  1832  ;  "  Remarks  on  Norton's  Statement  of 
Reasons,"  1833;  "The  Bible"  in  paragraphs  and  par- 
allelisms, 1834;  "  Townsend's  Chronological  Bible," 
1837  ;  "  Puritanism,  or  a  Churchman's  Defense  against 
its  Aspersions,"  1844. 

Elizabeth  Palmer  Peabody  has  devoted  a  long  life 
to  a  most  valuable  literary  labor.  She  was  born  in 
1804,  and  spent  her  early  years  in  Salem  with  her 
sisters,  who  became  the  wives  of  Nathaniel  Hawthorne 
and  Horace  Mann.  She  commenced  her  literary 
work  early  in  life,  publishing  "  Records  of  a  School," 
"  Spiritual  Culture,"  "  Dick  Harbinger,  the  Pioneer," 
"  The  Present,"  "  Introduction  to  Grammar,"  "  First 
Steps  to  History,"  1833  ;  "  Key  to  the  History  of  the 
Hebrews,"  1833;  "Key  to  Grecian  History,"  1833; 
"  Chronological  History  of  the  United  States,"  1856; 
"Memorial  of  Dr.  William  Wesselhoeft,"  1859; 
"  Translation  of  De  Gerando's  Moral  Self-Education," 
1859;  "Bem's  System  of  Chronology,"  1852  ;  "The 
Esthetic  Papers,"  1849 ;  "  E-say  on  Language,"  1857  ; 
10 


and  many  papers  in  the  Chrutian  Eraminer  and 
Journal  of  Education.  She  has  engaged  most  zeal- 
ously in  many  reforms  and  has  always  combined 
great  humanity  and  kindness  with  careful  scholar- 
ship. She  was  an  early  disciple  of  Dr.  Channing,  and 
she  cultivated  most  intimate  relations  with  Washing- 
ton Allston,  Emerson  and  the  leaders  of  what  is  now 
known  as  the  Concord  School  of  Philosophy.  Her 
last  publication,  "An  Evening  with  Allston,  and 
Other  Essays,"  is  a  most  graceful  and  j^rofound  jiro- 
duction.  She  is  now  eighty-three  years  of  age  and 
retains  all  her  vigor  of  thought  and  power  of  expres- 
sion. Her  sister,  Mrs.  Hawthorne,  has  published  a 
charming  volume  of  letters,  and  her  sister,  Mrs.  Mann, 
has  written  an  admirable  "  Life  of  Hon.  Horace 
Mann,"  and  has  published  a  valuable  edition  of  his 
works. 

The  talent  and  accomplishments  of  these  three  wo- 
men deserve  a  more  elaborate  notice  than  can  be 
given  here.  They  were  daughters  of  Dr.  Nathaniel 
and  Elizabeth  (Palmer)  Peabody,  who  resided  a  long 
time  in  Salem  and  elsewhere  in  Essex  County.  Mrs. 
Peabody  was  the  daughter  of  General  Joseph  Pearce 
Palmer,  a  patriotic  officer  in  the  Revolutionary  army, 
and  was  one  of  a  remarkable  family.  Her  .sister 
Catherine  was  the  mother  of  George  P.  Putnam,  the 
distinguished  publisher  and  liberal  patron  of  letters. 
Her  sister  Mary  married  Royall  Tyler,  chief  justice 
of  Vermont,  poet  and  essayist,  and  was  the  mother  of 
learned  clergymen  and  college  professors  ;  and  her 
sister  Sophia  married  Dr.  Thomas  Pickman,  of  Salem, 
an  able  and  beloved  physician  of  the  town.  The 
daughters  of  Dr.  Peabody  inherited  the  talent  of  their 
mother's  family,  and  they  have  made  many  contribu- 
tions to  the  literature  and  art  of  the  country.  Their 
associates  and  com[»anions  were  among  the  most 
learned  men  and  women  of  their  time,  by  whom  they 
were  held  in  great  affection.  The  last  survivor, 
Elizabeth  Palmer  Peabody,  even  in  her  old  age,  oc- 
cupies her  mind  with  all  objects  of  philanthropy  and 
charity,  and  enjoys  the  profound  respect  and  esteem 
of  all  who  know  her,  and  of  all  who  remember  her 
constant  labors  in  the  cause  of  good  learning  and  ed- 
ucation. 

One  of  the  most  diligent  and  studious  of  Salem  au- 
thors was  Jonathan  Cogswell  Perkins,  lawyer  andjurist, 
and  so  learned  and  accurate  an  annotator  of  the  nu- 
merous law  books  he  published  that  he  has  been  placed 
by  the  best  authorities  "by  the  side  of  Story  and  Met- 
calf "  He  was  born  in  Chebacco  Parish,  Ipswich  (now 
Essex),  in  1809,  was  graduated  at  Amherst  in  1832. 
studied  law  with  Rufus  Choate  and  at  the  Cambridge 
Law  School,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1835.  In 
1848  he  was  appointed  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  of  Massachusetts,  "  and  proved  himself  to  be  a 
learned  and  able,  as  Avell  as  a  just  and  upright  judge." 
He  published  nine  voluiues  of  the  second  edition  of 
"  Pickering's  Massachusetts  Reports,''  1835-41 ;  "  Chit- 
ty's  Criminal  Law,"  1847  ;  "  Chitty  on  Contracts,  with 


146 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Valuable  Annotations,"  seven  editions  from  1839  to 
1859;  "Jarman  on  Wills,"  1849;  "Abbot  on  Ship- 
ping," 1854;  "Daniell's  Chancery  Practice,"  1851  ; 
"Collyer  on  Partnership,"  1850;  "Chitty  on  Bills 
and  Notes,"  1854;  "  Arnould  on  Insurance,"  1859; 
"  Sugden's  Law  of  Vendors  and  Purchasers  of  Eeal 
Estate,"  1851;  "  Angel  1  on  Water-Courses,"  1869; 
"  United  States  Digest,"  1840  ;  "  Chitty  on  Pleadings 
in  Civil  Actions,"  six  editions  from  1844  to  1866  ; 
"Brown's  Chancery  Reports,"  1844;  "Vesey,  Jr., 
Chancery  Reports,"  1844-45.  After  a  busy  and  la- 
borious life,  of  great  value  to  the  j^rofession  of  law. 
Judge  Perkins  died  Dec.  12,  1877. 

Benjamin  Peirce  (Professor)  was  born  in  1809  and 
graduated  at  Harvard  1829.  He  was  Hollis  profes- 
sor of  mathematics  in  1832,  and  Perkins  professor 
of  astronomy  and  mathematics  from  1842  to  1867, 
having  been  previously  tutor  in  mathematics.  In 
1867  he  was  appointed  superintendent  of  the  United 
States  Coast  Survey.  Professor  Peirce  was  truly  a 
mathematical  genius.  He  comprehended  a  problem 
with  great  rapidity  and  clearness,  and  he  stated  it, 
with  his  conclusion,  with  a  conciseness  never  sur- 
passed by  mathematicians  of  any  era.  No  proposition 
was  too  small  to  receive  his  attention  and  none  too 
large  to  be  mastered  by  his  powerful  mind.  His  pub- 
lications Avere  numerous,  and  they  stand  in  the  front 
rank  ot  mathematical  works.  He  ijublished  "  Ele- 
mentary Treatise  on  Plane  Trigonometry,"  1835 ; 
"  Elementary  Treatise  on  Spherical  Trigonometry," 
1836  ;  "  Elementary  Treatise  on  Sound,"  1836  ;  "  Ele- 
mentary Treatise  on  Plane  and  Solid  Geometry," 
1857  ;  "  Elementary  Treatise  on  Algebra,"  1837  ; 
"  Elementary  Treatise  on  Curves,  Functions  and 
Forces,"  1841;  "Tables  of  the  Moon,  arranged  in  a 
form  under  the  superintendence  of  Charles  Henry 
Davis,  lieutenant  U.  S.  N.,"  1853  ;  "  Physical  and 
Celestial  Mechanics,  Developed  in  Four  Systems  of 
Analytic  Mechanics,  Celestial  Mechanics,  Potential 
Physics  and  Analytic  Morphology,"  1855;  besides 
many  articles  on  "  Meteors,"  "  Latitudes,"  "  Pertur- 
bations of  Uranus  and  Neptune,"  "  Comets,"  "  Sat- 
urn's Ring,"  "  Tails  of  Comets,"  "  Moon  Culmina- 
tions," "  Celestial  Mechanics  and  Meteors."  His 
diligence  was  great,  as  was  also  his  power  of  applica- 
tion, and  his  amiability  and  patience  enabled  him  to 
pursue  his  work  continuously  amidst  the  interruptions 
incident  to  his  duties  as  teacher  and  jsrofessor.  His 
position  among  the  scientists  of  his  day  was  among 
the  foremost,  and  it  is  related  of  him  that  he  secured 
by  letter,  for  a  fellow-student  and  observer,  to  M.  De 
Lesseps,  the  plans  and  measurements  of  the  Suez 
Canal,  which  had  been  repeatedly  refused  to  those 
who  applied  as  statesmen  and  diplomatists.  He  died 
in  1880. 

A  brother  of  Professor  Peirce,  Charles  Henry,  born 
in  Salem  in  1814,  and  a  graduate  of  Harvard  in  1833, 
was  for  many  years  examiner  of  drugs  and  medicines 
for  the  port  of  Boston,  and  published  "  Translation  of 


Stockhardt's  Principles  of  Chemistry,"  1850,  a  work 
which  was  highly  commended ;  and  "  Examinations  of 
Drugs  and  Medicines,"  1852.  Dr.  Peirce  died  in  1855, 

Charles  T.  Brooks,  who  was  a  contemporary  of  Pro- 
fessor Peirce,  possessed  a  mind  of  an  entirely  different 
order.  He  was  born  in  1813,  was  graduated  at  Har- 
vard in  1832,  and  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  Unita- 
rian Church,  Newport,  R.  I.,  in  1837.  He  had  a 
quick  imagination,  a  graceful  fancy  and  a  deep  love  of 
poetry.  His  sermons  were  characterized  by  great 
piety  and  strong  faith,  as  well  as  by  a  progressive  lib- 
erality. It  was  chiefly  as  a  poet,  however,  that  he 
distinguished  himself  and  took  his  place  among  the 
scholars  and  authors  of  the  country.  He  published 
"Schiller's  William  Tell,"  translation  1838;  transla- 
tion of  "  Mary  Stuart,"  and  the  "  Maid  of  Orleans," 
1839;  "Titan,"  from  Jean  Paul  Richter,  1840; 
"Specimens  of  German  Songs,"  1842;  translation  of 
Schiller's  "Homage  of  the  Arts,"  1847;  "Poems," 
1848 ;  the  controversy  touching  the  "  Old  Stone  Mill 
at  Newport,"  1851 ;  "  German  Lyrics,"  1856  ;  "  Songs 
of  Field  and  Flood,"  1854. 

Mr.  Brooks  was  distinguished  not  only  for  his 
ability  as  a  scholar  and  poet,  but  for  the  sweetness  of 
his  disposition  aTid  the  purity  of  his  life.  His  pres- 
ence in  the  pulpit  was  a  benediction,  and  he  bore  the 
trials  which  fell  upon  him  with  a  calm  and  patient 
submission  which  won  the  admiration  of  all  who 
knew  him. 

The  essays  and  poems  of  Jones  Very  were  published 
in  1839.  He  was  born  in  1813,  as  was  Mr.  Brooks, 
just  preceding,  and  was  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1836, 
four  years  later.  His  progress  towards  distinction 
was  not  rapid,  but  it  was  sure  and  constant.  His  rank 
in  college  was  good,  his  ability  was  recognized  and  he 
was  appointed  Greek  tutor  in  the  university  soon  after 
his  graduation.  The  first  issue  of  his  poems  and  es- 
says attracted  universal  attention.  They  were  char- 
acterized by  great  religious  fervor,  a  fine  imagination, 
great  delicacy  of  thought  and  a  pure,  simple  and  ef- 
fective style.  His  sonnets  were  especially  charming. 
He  was  intimate  with  the  beauties  of  nature  and  drew 
many  a  lesson  from  the  flowers  by  the  wayside  and  the 
fair  landscape  which  lay  around  his  home.  His  soul 
was,  at  the  same  time,  full  of  aspiration,  and  he  saw 
the  hand  of  the  Creator  in  all  the  natural  objects 
about  him.  On  every  subject  which  came  under  his 
notice  he  turned  a  "  dim  religious  light,"  and  you 
rose  from  his  essays  with  the  feeling  that  you  had 
been  led  to  the  contemplation  of  his  themes  by  the 
prophet  of  the  Lord.  It  was  said  of  him,  by  one  of  the 
ablest  of  his  critics,  that "  he  always  piped  the  sweet, 
sad  notes  of  religious  melancholy,'"  but  he  also  taught 
the  most  unbounded  faith  and  the  most  confident  re- 
liance on  that  divine  power  to  which  he  turned  for 
inspiration,  and  on  which  he  leaned  throughout  his 
sincere  and  thoughtful  and  pious  life.  He  was  one  of 
the  most  sympathetic  of  men,  and  one  of  the  most 
inspired. 


SALEM. 


147 


Robert  Rantoul,  Jr.,  one  of  the  most  eloquent  and 
brilliant  of  all  the  sons  of  Essex  County,  hardly 
identified  himself  with  Salem,  except  as  a  law-student 
in  the  offices  of  John  Pickering  and  Leverett  Salton- 
stall,  and  a  lawyer  from  1829  to  1831.  At  this  time, 
however,  he  took  so  active  a  part  in  the  mental  ac- 
tivity of  the  town,  that  he  has  given  an  opportunity 
for  enrolling  his  name  in  this  list  of  cultivated  and 
intellectual  men.  Mr.  Rantoul  was  born  in  Beverly, 
1805  ;  was  graduated  at  Harvard,  1826  ;  was  admitted 
to  the  bar,  1829  ;  and  died  in  1852.  During  this  com- 
paratively short  period  he  devoted  himself  largely  to 
public  service  and  won  great  distinction  as  a  lawyer, 
legislator  and  orator,  with  powers  which,  had  they 
been  exercised  in  more  purely  literary  work,  would 
have  won  for  him  greater  distinction  still.  His  com- 
manding presence  in  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  is 
well  remembered.  His  bold  and  gallant  stand  in 
Congress  is  recalled  with  admiration  by  his  contem- 
poraries who  remain.  He  was  a  fearless  advocate  of 
the  principles  in  which  he  believed,  and  he  was  the 
most  inspiring  popular  orator  of  his  day  in  Massachu- 
setts. He  was  formidable  as  an  adversary  and  all- 
powerful  as  an  ally  ;  a  generous  and  kindly  opponent 
and  a  tender  and  devoted  friend.  His  early  argument 
in  behalf  of  popular  education,  and  his  unanswerable 
attack  on  the  Ten  Million  Bank  Bill,  which  he  defeated 
in  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  ;  his  rejaort  against 
capital  punishment ;  his  oration  at  Concord,  in  1850  ; 
his  reply  to  attacks  made  on  him  in  Congress,  in  1852 ; 
hie  speech  to  his  devoted  constituents  in  Salem,  July 
5,  1852 ;  his  arguments  as  United  States  district 
attorney,  from  18-15  to  1849 — all  indicate  great  mental 
grasp,  extraordinary  keenness  of  perception  and  mas- 
terly skill  in  arrangement.  When  hediedagreat  career 
was  suddenly  and  prematurely  closed.  And  in  the 
great  struggle  which  followed,  in  the  opening  of  which 
he  took  a  conspicuous  and  important  part,  and  which 
ended  only  with  the  Civil  War,  his  friends,  his  State 
and  his  country,  when  disheai'tened  by  adversity,  were 
encouraged  by  the  thought  that  the  spirit  of  Rantoul 
was  with  them,  and  mourned  that  his  voice  could  be 
no  longer  heard.  His  recorded  words  gave  great  in- 
spiration to  those  on  whom  the  burthen  of  the  contest 
fell  when  he  was  gone ;  and  his  name  is  warmly 
cherished  by  the  few  now  living  who  knew  him,  and 
by  the  many  who  have  learned  from  their  fathers  to 
admire  his  courage,  his  genius  and  his  gentle  and 
affectionate  spirit. 

On  the  organization  of  the  Barton  Square  Unita- 
rian Church,  in  1824,  the  Rev.  Henry  Colman  was 
installed  as  pastor,  February  Ifi,  1825.  Mr.  Colman 
was  born  1785,  and  died  1849.  He  continued  his 
connection  with  the  church  seven  years,  and  then 
withdrew  to  a  broader  and  more  active  sphere  of 
duty.  He  became  one  of  the  most  useful  and  inter- 
esting of  agricultural  writers.  He  i^ublished  "  Re- 
ports of  the  Agriculture  of  Massachusetts,"  1849 ; 
"  European  Agriculture  and  Rural  Economy,"  1851 ; 


"Agriculture  and  Rural  Economy  of  France,  Belgium, 
Holland  and  Switzerland,"  1848;  and  "European 
Life  and  Manners,"  1849.  He  spent  many  years  in 
England,  investigating  agriculture  and  society,  and 
he  was  the  first  to  describe  the  domestic  economy  of 
that  country,  into  whose  well-organized  homes  he  was 
most  cordially  admitted.  His  style  was  graceful  and 
graphic,  and  his  intercourse  was  genial  and  highly 
attractive. 

In  1842  Richard  J.  Cleveland  published  a  narrative 
of  "  Voyages  and  Commercial  Enterprises,'  which 
was  most  favorably  noticed  by  the  leading  reviews  of 
the  day.  His  son,  Henry  Russell  Cleveland,  born  in 
1808,  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1827,  died  in  1848, 
and  published  "Remarks  on  Classical  Education 
of  Boys  by  a  Teacher,"  1834;  "Life  of  Henry 
Hudson,"  1838 ;  "  Address  Delivered  Before  the 
Harvard  Medical  Association,"  1840;  "A  Letter  to 
the  Hon.  Daniel  Webster  on  the  Causes  of  the  De- 
struction of  the  Steamer  '  Lexington,"'  1840 ;  besides 
many  papers  to  the  North  American  Review  and  the 
Neiu  England  Magazine.  Mr.  Cleveland  was  a  sound 
scholar  and  a  graceful  and  forcible  writer.  His  early 
death  was  deeply  deplored. 

One  of  the  most  brilliant  and  fascinating  of  Amer- 
ican writers  and  historians  was  William  Hickling 
Prescott,  who  was  born  in  Salem,  1796,  and  died  in 
Boston  in  1859.  He  was  a  son  of  Judge  William 
Prescott,  who  resided  in  Salem  from  1789  to  1808,  and 
who  was  intimately  connected  with  the  most  im- 
portant business  enterprises  of  that  day,  and  whose 
name  appears  on  many  of  the  important  documents. 
Mr.  Prescott  was  graduated  at  Harvai'd  in  1814,  and 
having  been  disabled  by  a  painful  accident  from  en- 
tering upon  a  professional  lite,  he  commenced  at  once, 
under  great  obstacles  a  literary  career  which  he  pur- 
sued with  great  diligence  and  success  until  the  close 
of  his  life.  He  published,  in  1837,  "The  History  of 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella,"  and  stepped  at  once  into 
the  list  of  the  great  historians  of  the  world.  It  was 
universally  known  that  this  fiiscinating  and  elaborate 
work  had  been  accomplished  under  difficulties  which 
would  have  discouraged  the  most  enthusiastic  and 
devoted  student,  and  the  entire  world  of  scholars  was 
filled  with  admiration  of  the  accomplishment  and  the 
tenderest  sympathy  with  the  heroic  author.  The 
history  was  translated  into  German,  French,  Spanish, 
Italian  and  Russian,  and  was  enrolled  at  once 
among  the  classic  productions  of  the  world.  But  Mr. 
Prescott  did  not  relinquish  his  work  here.  Dependent 
upon  a  reader  for  his  data,  and  employing  an  appa- 
ratus constructed  in  a  writing  case  for  the  blind,  he 
"pursued  his  solitary  way."  His  mind  acquired  great 
strength  as  he  went  on  with  his  work,  and  he  retained 
and  arranged  the  materials  he  had  accumulated 
with  marvelous  facility.  In  1843  he  published  the 
"  History  of  the  Conquest  of  Mexico,  with  a  Prelimi- 
nary View  of  the  Ancient  Civilization,"  and  a 
"  Life    of  the    Conqueror,    Fernando  Cortez ; "    and 


148 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


the  world  of  scholars  was  once  more  filled  with  ad- 
miration of  his  "  pure,  simple  and  eloquent  style, 
keen  relish  for  the  picturesque,  quick  and  discerning 
judgment  of  character,  calm,  generous  and  enlight- 
ened spirit  of  philanthropy."  In  1847  this  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  "  History  of  the  Conquest  of  Peru, 
with  a  Preliminary  View  of  the  Civilization  of  the 
Incas,"  a  work  which  was  as  enthusiastically  re- 
ceived as  its  predecessors.  His  style  was  again  ad- 
mired ;  his  candor  and  fidelity  and  power  of  descrip- 
tion were  warmly  commended  by  authors  and  readers 
alike.  The  "  History  of  the  Reign  of  Philip  the 
Second,  King  of  Spain,"  appeared  in  1855.  The  ma- 
terials for  this  work,  the  preparation  of  which  oc- 
cupied six  industrious  years,  were  gathered  without 
regard  to  trouble,  labor  and  expense,  and  the  work  it- 
self opened  one  of  the  most  thrilling  and  important 
chapters  in  the  history  of  the  greatest  and  most  stormy 
periods  of  Continental  Europe.  The  brilliancy  of 
the  volumes  drew  from  the  historian  Macaulay,  then 
in  the  height  of  his  power,  the  warmest  praise. 
"  The  genius  of  Mr.  Prescott,"  said  he,  "  as  a  histo- 
rian, has  never  been  exhibited  to  better  advantage 
than  in  this  very  remarkable  volume,  which  is 
grounded  on  ample  and  varied  authority."  In  1857 
he  published  "The  Life  of  Charles  the  Fifth  after  his 
Abdication,"  Modestly  insisting  that  Robertson  had 
most  faithfully  recorded  the  j^olicy  and  events 
of  this  great  monarch's  reign,  he  devoted  him- 
self to  the  unrecorded  years  of  his  life  of  retirement,  and 
supplemented  the  brilliant  pages  of  Robertson  with  a 
touching  narrative  of  the  close  of  the  great  life  to 
whose  career  they  had  devoted  their  fine  historical 
powers.  In  addition  to  these  important  works,  Pres- 
cott published  biographical  and  critical  miscellanies 
containing  reviews  and  essays  of  great  interest, — 
"Charles  Brockden  Brown, the  American  Novelist;" 
"Asylum  for  the  Blind;"  "  Irving's  Conquest  of 
Grenada  ;  "  "  Cervantes ;  "  "  Chateaubriand's  English 
Literature ;  "  "  Bancroft's  United  States  ;  "  "  Madame 
Calderon's  Life  in  Mexico:"  "Moliere;"  "Italian 
Narrative  Poetry  ;  "  "  Poetry  and  Romance  of  the 
Italians;"  "Scotch  Song;"  "  Du  Ponte's  Observa- 
tions;" "  Ticknor's  History  of  Spanish  Literature." 
Mr.  Prescott  was  sixty  years  old  when  his  last  vol- 
ume was  published.  For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century  he  had  pursued  his  great  career.  In  many 
respects  he  was  the  greatest  of  American  historians. 
Scholars  recognized  him  as  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
of  their  number,  when  that  number  in  this  commu- 
nity was  not  small.  The  American  people  remem- 
bered with  pride  that  the  blood  of  the  brave  com- 
mander of  the  patriot  forces  at  Bunker  Hill  was  flow- 
ing in  his  veins.  A  Christian  community  loved  him 
for  the  beauty  of  his  character,  and  for  the  high 
moral  standard  which  he  had  followed  through  life. 
His  biography  was  written  by  all  the  biographers ; 
his  works  were  reviewed  by  all  the  reviewers ;  his 
character  as  a  scholar  was  discussed  with  admiration 


by  Edward  Everett,  and  George  E.  Ellis,  and  Francis 
Lieber,  and  Theodore  Parker,  and  A.  P.  Peabody, 
and  by  all  the  historical  societies  of  the  world.  No 
American  writer  has  won  higher  renown,  no  Ameri- 
can citizen  has  received  more  profound  respect  and 
warmer  love. 

Alpheus  Crosby,  Avho  took  charge  of  the  Normal 
School  in  Salem  Oct.,  1857,  was  born  in  1810,  and  died 
in  Salem  April  17, 1874.  He  was  graduated  at  Dart- 
mouth in  1827,  and  was  appointed  professor  of  Greek 
and  Latin  languages  in  that  college.  He  was  a  dili- 
gent and  careful  scholar,  and  published  "A  Greek 
and  General  Grammar,"  "Greek  Tables,"  "Greek 
Lessons,"  "An  Edition  of  Xenophon's  Anabasis," 
"  First  Lessons  in  Geometry,"  "  A  Letter  of  John  Fos- 
ter, with  Additions,"  "An  Essay  on  the  Second  Ad- 
vent.'' Professor  Crosby  was  for  many  years  princi- 
pal of  the  Normal  School  in  Salem,  and  after  retiring 
from  that  position  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life  in 
this  city. 

Edwin  P.  Whipple,  who  was  born  in  Gloucester  in 
1819,  was  for  a  long  time  employed  as  clerk  in  a  bank 
in  Salemj'and  for  a  time  was  the  librarian  of  the  Salem 
Athenaeum,  where  he  acquired  thof^e  literary  tastes 
which  he  afterwards  exercised  with  so  much  activity 
and  usefulness.  He  began  to  write  for  magazines 
early  in  life,  and  soon  acquired  a  good  reputation  as 
a  facile  and  graceful  essayist.  He  was  an  interesting 
popular  lecturer,  selecting  his  themes  with  great  skill 
and  treating  them  with  great  wit  and  discrimination 
He  published  "Essays  and  Reviews,"  1848;  "Lec- 
tures on  Subjects  connected  with  Literature  and  Life;" 
"  Washington  and  the  Principles  of  the  Revolution  ;" 
"An  Oration  before  the  City  Authorities  of  Boston, 
July  4,  1850  ;"  "  Character  and  Characteristic  Men," 
1867,  in  which  he  discussed  Character,  Eccentric 
Character,  Intellectual  Character,  Heroic  Character, 
the  American  Mind,  the  English  Mind,  Thackeray, 
Hawthorne,  Edward  Everett,  Thomas  Starr  King 
and  Agassiz.  He  was  considered  "one  of  the  ablest 
of  Araericar  critics."  His  lectures  were  esteemed  as 
miniature  histories,  and  were  highly  valued.  He  was 
accepted  by  Prescott,  and  Griswold,  and  Bowen,  and 
Thomas.     He  was  not  accepted  by  Edgar  A.  Poe. 

George  B.  Loring  was  born  in  North  Andover,  (at 
that  time  included  in  Andover)  November  8,  1817. 
He  entered  Harvard  College  in  1834,  and  entered 
the  Harvard  Medical  School,  where  he  was  gi-aduated 
in  1842.  He  was  in  practice  from  1842  to  1850;  sur- 
geon of  the  United  States  Marine  Hospital,  Chelsea, 
1843  to  1850;  commissioner  to  revise  the  United 
States  Marine  Hospital  system,  1849;  member  of  the 
Massachusetts  Legislature,  1866  to  1868;  president  of 
the  New  England  Agricultural  Society  from  its  foun- 
dation, 1864,  to  the  present  time  ;  United  States  Cen- 
tennial Commissioner,  1872  to  1876;  president  of  the 
Massachusetts  Senate,  1873  to  1877;  member  of  the 
United  States  House  of  Representatives,  1877  to  1881 ; 
United  Statts  Commissioner  of  Agriculture,  1881  to 


SALEM. 


149 


1885.     In  the  midst  of  his  public  career  he  has  beeu 
active  as  a  writer  on  many  and  diverse  topics,  and  a 
speaker   on    many   and    various   occasions.     He   has 
published   "An  Essay  on    Phlebitis,"   New   England 
Journal    of    Surgery     and     Medicine,     1843 ;      "An 
Oration    on    Constitutional    Freedom,    the    Corner- 
stone of   the    Kepublic,"    1856;     "Review   of   the 
Scarlet   Letter,"    1851;    "  Keply  to  the    Church  Re- 
view on  the  Scarlet  Letter,"   1851  ;    "  Letters   from 
Europe  in  the  Boston  Post,"  1848-49;  "  Modern  Ag- 
riculture," 1858;  "  The  Farmer's  Occupation,"  1858; 
"Agricultural  Education,"  1858  ;  "  Farm  Stock,  Mas- 
sachusetts Report  on  Agriculture,"  1859  ;  "  The  Re- 
lation of  Agriculture  to  the  State  in  Time  of  War," 
1862  ;    "  Scientific  and  Practical  Agriculture,"  1864; 
"  The  Asi^assination  of  Lincoln,"  1865  ;  "  The  Unity 
and  Power  of  the  Republic,"  a  Fourth  of  July  ora- 
tion, Newburyport,  1865;  "The  State  of  the  Uiiion^ 
a   Speech   in    the    Massachusetts    House   of    Repre- 
sentatives,"   1866;    "The   New  Era  of   the  Repub- 
lic,"  1866;    "  Dedication  of  the  Soldiers'  Tablets  at 
Bolton,"    1866;    "Cl<ssical    Culture,"    1867;    "The 
Power    of    an     Educated     Commonwealth,"     1867  J 
"Agricultural  Investigation,"  1867;  "Oration  on  the 
Dedication  of  Soldiers'  Monuments  at  Weymouth," 
1868;    "Semi-Centennial  of  the  Essex  Agricultural 
Society,''    1868;    "The    Development   of    American 
Industry,"  1869 ;  "  The  Connection  of  the  State  Board 
of  Agriculture  with  the  Agricultural  College,"  1869; 
''The  Struggles  of  Science,  Address  before  the  Amer- 
ican   Institute,"     1870 ;     "  Oration    Dedicating    the 
Memorial  Hall,  Lexington,"  1871;    "Speech   at  the 
Dedication  of  the  Morse  Statue,  New  York,"  1871  ; 
"  Oration  at  the  Bi-Centennial   Celebration  at  Dun- 
stable, Mass.,"  1873;  "Speech   in   the  Mas-achusetts 
Senate   in    behalf   of    the   Museum  of    Comparative 
Zoology,"  1873;  "Eulogy  of   Agassiz,"  1873;    "The 
People  and  Their  Books,"  an  address  dedicating  the 
Thayer  Library  at  Braintree,  1873;  "Oration  at  the 
Centennial  Celebration  at  Sherburne,"  1874;  "Ora- 
tion at   Centennial   Celebration  of  Swansea,''  1875  ; 
"  Address  on  Tree- pi  an  ting  before  the  Fern  Clifl'  As- 
sociation," Lee,  Mass.,  1875  ;  "  A  Speech  in  the  Mas 
sachusetts  Senate  in   Favor  of  Rescinding  the  Re- 
solves  Condemning    Charles    Sumner,"    1874;     "A 
Speech  in  the  Massachusetts  Senate  on  the  Railroad 
Policy  of  Massachusetts,"  1874  ;  "  Speech  on  Suffrage 
as  a  Right  under  a  Republic,"  Massachusetts  Senate, 
1874;  "  An  Oration  at  the  Centennial  of  Leslie's  Re- 
treat from  Salem,''  1875;  "Oration  at  the  North  Church, 
Boston,  on  the  Centennial  Anniversary  of  hanging  out 
the  Signal  Lanterns  to  warn  Paul  Revere  of  the  Ad- 
vance of  the  British  Troops  to   Concord,"   April   18, 
1875  ;  "  Oration  at  Bloody   Brook,"   1875  ;    "  Oration 
Dedicating  the  Mugford  Monument  at  Marblehead," 
1875  ;  "  Sketch  of  the  Massachusetts  Surgeons  in  the 
Revolutionary  Army,"  1875  ;  "  The  Farm- Yard  Club 
of  Gotham,"  an  account  of  New  England  families  and 
farming  (pp.  600),  1876  ;  "  Eulogy  of  Dr.  S.  G.  Howe.'' 


Massachusetts  Senate,  Jan.  21,  1876;  "Oration 
on  Speculative  Masonry,"  1876;  "Speech  before  the 
New  England  Society,"  New  York,  Dec.  10,  1875  ; 
"Speech  in  the  United  States  House  of  Representa- 
tives on  Specie  Payments,"  1877  ;  "  Speech  on  the  Col- 
lege of  William  and  Mary  in  Congress,"  1878;  "Speech 
on  American  Industry  and  the  Tariff,  in  Con- 
gress," 1878;  "Defence  of  Massachusetts  in  Con- 
gress,'' 1880;  "The  American  Problem  of  Land- 
holding."  1880;  "Eulogy  of  Caleb  Gushing,"  1879; 
"Address  on  the  Cobden  Club  and  the  American 
Farmer,"  1880;  "  Education,  the  Corner-stone  of  the 
Republic,''  speech  in  Congress,  1880;  "Eulogy  of  Judge 
CoUamer,'' in  Congress,  1880;  "  Eulogy  of  Garfield, 
Lodge  of  Sorrow,  Washington,"  1880;  "Speech  on  the 
Anniversary  of  John  Winthrop's  Landing  in  Salem," 
June  22,  1880;  "  Washington  as  a  Statesman,"  1882  ; 
"Opening  Address  at  Mechanics'  and  Manufactur- 
ers' Institute,  Boston,"  1881  ;  "  Address  at  the  Cotton 
Convention,  Atlanta,  Ga.,''  1881;  "Address  at  the 
Tariff  Convention,  New  York,"  1881;  "Address  be- 
fore the  Mississippi  Valley  Cane-Growers'  Associa- 
tion," 1882  ;  "  Address  before  the  American  Forestry 
Association,  St.  Paul,  Minn.,"  1883;  "Oration  at  the 
Ninety-fifth  Anniversary  of  the  Settlement  of  Mariet- 
ta, Ohio,"  1883  ;  "  The  Cattle  Industry,"  1884  ;  "  The 
Inriuence  of  the  Puritan  on  American  Civilization," 
1885;  "Puritanism,  the  Foundation  of  Liberal  Chris- 
tianity," 1887;  "New  England  Agriculture,"  1887. 
Dr.  Loring  has  also  contributed  to  the  Southern  Lit- 
erary Messenger,  the  Massachusetts  Quarterli/  and  the 
North  American  Revieio,  and  has  delivered  a  great 
number  of  occasional  speeches  in  addition  to  those 
enumerated,  besides  many  political  addresses  in  State 
and  national  campaigns. 

Edward  Augustus  Crowninshield,  son  of  Hon.  B. 
W.  and  Mary  (Boardman)  Crowninshield,  born  in 
Salem,  1817,  was  graduated  at  Harvard,  1836,  and 
died,  1859,  His  literary  taste  led  him  to  the  collec- 
tion of  rare  books ;  his  valuable  library  contained 
the  "  Bay  Psalm  Book,"  1640  ;  Morton's  "  Memorial ;" 
Winslow's  "  Hypocrisy  Unmasked,"  1645  ;  Coryat's 
"Crudities,"  1611. 

Nathaniel  Ingersoll  Bowditch,  a  son  of  the  great 
mathematician,  who  was  graduated  at  Harvard  in 
1822,  published  a  "Memoir  of  N.  Bowditch,"  1839; 
"History  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,'' 
1851 ;  and  "Suffolk  Surnames,"  1855.  Dr.  Henry  I. 
Bowditch,  another  son,  who  was  graduated  in  1828, 
has  published  translations  of  valuable  treatises  on 
medicine. 

William  W.  Story,  the  son  of  Judge  Story  and 
author  of  his  biography,  was  born  in  Salem  in  1819, 
and  was  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1838.  He  took  the 
degree  of  LL.B.  at  the  Dane  Law-School,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  1841.  He  published  "  Report  of 
Cases  Argued  and  Determined  in  the  Circuit  Court 
of  the  United  States  for  the  First  District,"  1842-47  ; 
"  Nature  and  Art,  a  Poem,"  1844;    "Treatise  on  the 


150 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Law  of  Contracts  under  Seal,"  1844  ;  "  Treatise  on  the 
Law  of  Sales  of  Personal  Property,"  1847  ;  "  Poem  de- 
livered at  the  Dedication  of  Crawford's  Statue  of 
Beethoven,  at  the  Boston  Music  Hall,"  1856;  "The 
American  Question,"  1862;  '^  Roba  di  Roma,"  1862; 
"Proportions  of  the  human  figure  according  to  a  new 
Canon  for  practical  use,"  1866;  "  Grafiti  d'  Italia," 
1869;  '-The  Poet's  Portfolio,"  1855;  besides  poems 
and  articles  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  the  Boston  Alis- 
cellany  and  Blackwood's  Magazine.  As  an  artist,  Mr. 
Story  has  taken  a  front  rank.  For  this  he  had  an 
early  love.  The  admirable  bust  of  his  father  was  one 
of  his  first  works,  and  there  is  in  existence  a  crayon 
portrait  of  one  of  his  classmates,  taken  a  short  time 
after  they  left  college,  which,  as  a  likeness  and  as  a 
drawing,  is  admirable.  In  sculpture  he  has  produced 
busts  of  his  father,  J.  R.  Lowell,  Josiah  Quincy,  The- 
odore Parker,  Edward  Everett,  and  statues  of  Everett, 
Chief  Justice  Marshall  and  Professor  Henry.  He  has 
also  created  in  marble  the  Shepherd  Boy,  Little  Red 
Riding  Hood,  the  Libyan  Sibyl,  Cleopatra,  Judith, 
Holofernes,  Sappho,  Saul,  Medea  and  others  of  great 
beauty  and  power.  His  genius  as  author  and  artist 
are  everywhere  acknowledged,  and  he  has  shed  great 
lustre  on  his  country. 

Among  the  cultivated  men  of  Salem,  William  C.  En- 
dicott  has  accomplished,  as  lawyer,  writer,  jurist  and 
statesman,  a  work  of  which  his  native  city  will  always 
be  proud.  He  was  born  in  Salem  in  1826,  and  was 
graduated  at  Harvard  in  1847.  Having  taken  his  de- 
gree at  Cambridge,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Essex 
County,  and  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession 
in  Salem.  His  judgment  as  a  lawyer  was  soon  recog- 
nized, and  he  became  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  bar 
and  one  of  the  best  of  oflice  advisers.  The  grace  and 
finish  of  his  style  have  always  been  recognized  in  his 
public  performances,  among  the  most  interesting  and 
elaborate  of  which  are  his  orations  on  the  two  hundred 
and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  lauding  of  John  Endi- 
cott,  celebrated  in  Salem  in  1878;  his  address  before 
the  Young  Men's  Union  on  Patriotism,  as  bearing  on 
the  duties  of  the  citizen ;  address  on  John  Hampton 
and  his  relation  to  the  great  Puritan  movement  hero 
and  in  England ;  lecture  on  Chivalry ;  agricultural 
address  at  Sterling  on  the  relation  of  agriculture  to 
the  stability  and  permanence  of  the  State  ;  speech  on 
the  death  of  N.  J.  Lord.  Mr.  Endicott's  services  on 
the  Supreme  bench  of  Massachusetts  are  highly  es- 
teemed, and  his  conduct  of  affairs  as  Secretary  ol 
War,  to  which  he  was  appointed  in  1885,  will  place 
him  on  the  list  of  sound  and  judicious  Cabinet  minis 
ters. 

The  Essex  bar  has  furnished  many  names  which  have 
added  to  the  intellectual  reputation  of  Salem,  and 
foremost  among  these  stands  that  of  Rufus  Choate. 
Mr.  Choate  was  born  in  1799,  and  was  graduated  at 
Dartmouth  in  1819,  and  died  in  1859.  Entering  at 
once  upon  the  study  and  practice  of  his  profession, 
first  in  Danvers  and  then  in  Salem  from  1828  to  1834, 


he  secured  and  retained  during  his  life  a  most  bril- 
liant reputation  as  an  advocate.     He  commenced  the 
study  of  law  with  Wm.  Wirt,  in  whose  office  he  re- 
mained   one   year,  and   completed   his   studies   with 
Judge  David  Cummins,  of  Salem.     He  was  admitted 
in  September,  1813,  to  the  Common  Pleas  bar  and  in 
1825  to  the  Supreme  Court  bar.     His  skill  and  elo- 
quence in  the  courts  were  acknowledged  to  be  unri- 
valed.    In  addition   to  this,  he  charmed  his  hearers 
with  addresses  and  orations  of  great  originality  and 
beauty,  and  his  readers  with  glowing  admiration  of 
the  peculiar  grace  and  power  of  his  style.     Whatever 
he  touched  he  adorned,  whether  it  was  the  record  of 
the  Puritan  at  Massachusetts   Bay,  or  the  Pilgrim  at 
Plymouth,  or  the  oratory  of  the  ancients,  or  the  ro- 
mances of  the  moderns.     He  found  rest  and  repose  in 
his  library  after  the  labors  of  the  day,  and  some  of  his 
most   touching   eloquence   was    bestowed   upon    the 
solacing  power  of    books.     He   was   elected   to   the 
Massachusetts  Legislature  in  1825,  to  the  Massachu- 
setts Senate  in    1827,  to   Congress   in    1832,  to   the 
United  States  Senate  in   1841,  to  the  Massachusetts 
Constitutional  Convention  in  1852.     Those  who  have 
heard   his    startling   oratory    will     understand    how 
impossible     it    is    to     desci'ibe    the    power    of    his 
speech,    and    will    sympathize    with    the    exclama- 
tion   of    Henry    Clay,    at   the   close   of  one  of  Mr. 
Choate's  superb  speeches  in  the  United  States  Sen- 
ate,   "What   will    Massachusetts    send   here   next?" 
The   two    volumes    of    his   biography    by    Professor 
Brown  contain  all  that  remains  of  his  many  speeches, 
orations  and  arguments  as  member  of  Congress  from 
the  Essex  District,  as  United  States  Senator  from  Mas- 
sachusetts, as  occasional  orator  and  as  lawyer  at  the 
bar.     It  is  unnecessary  to  enumerate  them  here.    His 
words   still    linger  with   those   who    knew    him — his 
wit,  his  wisdom,  his  learning,  his  inimitable  repartee. 
And,   more   than    all,    his    lovable    and    aifectionate 
spirit  remains  with  those  who  loved  him   and  were 
tenderly  regarded  by  him. 

Nor  should  the  strength  of  his  associates  here  at 
the  bar  be  overlooked, — the  sound  learning  and  hon- 
est purpose  and  judicial  integrity  of  Samuel  Putnam  ; 
the  polished  scholarship  of  John  G.  King;  the  pro- 
found legal  knowledge  of  N.J.  Lord;  the  wit  and 
humor  of  Benjamin  Merrill  ;  the  quaint  solemnity  of 
Judge  David  Cummins  ;  the  sturdy  power  of  Otis  P. 
Lord  ;  the  delicious  geniality,  and  courtly  bearing, 
and  persuasive  tongue,  and  Christian  spirit  of 
Leverett  Saltonstall,  the  senior — all  fond  of  sound 
learning,  all  unrecorded  authors,  all  pillars  of  the 
literature  of  Salem.  The  treatise  of  David  Roberts 
on  "Admiralty,"  published  in  1859;  the  admirable 
address  of  Asahel  Huntington  before  the  Essex  Ag- 
ricultural Society,  and  his  speeches  in  behalf  of  the 
temperance  reform  in  the  court-room  and  before  pub- 
lic audiences;  the  volume  of  earnest  and  eloquent 
speeches  published  by  Wm.  D.  Northend,  with  his 
elaborate  papers  on  the  Essex  Bar  and  the  Puritans 


SALEM. 


151 


on  the  administration  of  President  Peirce,  and  on  the 
decision  of  the  Maine  judges  upon  the  election  returns 
of  1882,  and  his  excellent  address  before  the  Essex 
Agricultural  Society  ;  the  "Notes  of  Travel,  or  Recol- 
lections of  Zanzibar,  Mocha,"  etc.,  1854,  by  J.  B.  F. 
0.-:good  ;  the  conclusive  opinions  of  Judge  L.  F.  Brig- 
ham  ;  and  the  valuable  publication  on  "Trusts,"'  by 
Jairus  W.  Perry — all  belong  to  the  literary  record  ot 
the  city,  and  bear  witness  to  the  culture  and  attain- 
ments of  this  portion  of  the  Essex  bar. 

Joseph  Hodges  Choate,  born  in  Salem  in  1832, 
was  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1852,  settled  as  a  lawyer 
in  New  York,  and  has  risen  to  the  front  rank  as  a 
counselor  and  advocate.  His  eloquence,  and  wit,  and 
wisdom  as  a  public  speaker  have  given  him  great 
distinction  among  scholars  and  great  influence  with 
the  people. 

To  the  works  of  the  physicians,  already  referred  to 
should  be  added  the  "Remarks  on  Fractures,"  and  the 
"  Memoir  of  Dr.  Holyoke,"  furnished  by  Dr.  A.  L. 
Peirson,  the  learned  physician,  the  skillful  surgeon, 
the  devoted  student  who  strengthened  the  bond  be- 
tween the  profession  here  and  all  the  great  centres 
of  the  country ;  and  also  the  translations  of  Dr. 
Charles  G.  Putnam,  a  son  of  Judge  Samuel  Putnam, 
of  most  honorable  memory,  the  sanitary  writings  of 
Dr.  George  Derby,  a  son  of  John  Derby,  who  estab- 
lished the  Board  of  Health  in  Massachusetts,  of  which 
he  was  a  valuable  member,  after  having  rendered 
most  valuable  and  efficient  service  in  the  Union  army 
during  the  Civil  War. 

And  the  clergymen  of  the  town  also,  from  the  early 
days  until  now — what  have  they  not  done  to  add  to 
the  literary  reputation  of  the  community?  The  ser- 
mons of  John  Emery  Abbott,  who  died  in  1819,  the 
beloved  pastor  of  the  North  Church,  the  most  blessed 
consoler  and  adviser  of  his  flock ;  the  profound  medi- 
tations of  the  Rev.  T.  T.  Stone,  published  in  1854 ;  the 
well-balanced  views  of  the  Rev.  J.  W.  Thompson  ;  the 
sweet  inspirations  and  wise  counsels  of  the  Rev. 
Charles  Lowe;  the  delightful  historical  review  of 
the  North  Church,  and  the  long  series  of  thoughtful 
and  pious  sermons  of  the  Rev.  E.  B.  Willson ;  the 
brilliant  and  searching  speculations  of  the  Rev.  O.  B. 
Frothingham  ;  the  "  Bow  in  the  Cloud,"  pointed  out 
for  every  mourner  by  the  Rev.  George  W.  Briggs ;  the 
sound  utterances  of  the  Rev.  Brown  Emerson ;  the 
excellent  work  of  the  Rev.  E.  S.  Atwood  as  a  pulpit 
orator,  and  faithful  biographer  of  John  Bertram;  the 
active  and  vigorous  labor  of  the  Rev.  E.  C.  Bolles, 
brilliant  in  the  pulpit,  charming  in  the  lecture-room, 
invigorating  as  a  companion  ;  and  the  history  of  the 
First  Baptist  Church,  by  the  Rev.  R.  C.  Mills — all 
these  are  a  portion  of  the  treasure  which  the  pulpit 
of  Salem  has  poured  into  its  literary  storehouse.  To 
this  list  belongs  the  name  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  John- 
son, who  was  born  in  Salem  in  1822,  the  son  of  Dr. 
Samuel  Johnson,  was  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1842, 
and   having  completed   his   studies  at   the  Divinity 


School  at  Cambridge,  commenced  his  work  as  pastor 
and  preacher.  Possessed  of  a  most  powerful  mind 
and  a  fine  moral  sense,  he  set  his  standard  high  and 
endeavored  faithfully  to  reach  it.  In  his  religious  be- 
lief he  coincided  with  Theodore  Parker,  whom  he 
resembled  in  the  fervor  of  thought  and  expression, 
the  severity  of  his  logic  and  the  purity  of  his  charac- 
ter. His  sermons,  delivered  with  a  most  impressive 
voice  and  manner,  were  carefully-prepared  essays  on 
all  public  questions  of  religion,  morality  and  politics. 
His  contributions  to  the  literature  of  the  country  as 
an  author  of  essays,  and  especially  of  "  Oriental  Relig- 
ions," were  rich  and  valuable.  And  he  was  counted 
among  the  intellectual  luminaries  which  flash  across 
the  heavens  in  independent  paths,  and  when  gone 
leave  the  observer  bewildered  with  wonder  and  admi- 
ration. 

The  Rev.  James  M.  Hoppin  has  published  "  The 
Notes  of  a  Theological  Student "  and  "  The  Tempta- 
tions of  American  Young  Men,"  and  has  also  deliv- 
ered an  address,  dedicating  Plummer  Hall,  in  1857 ; 
and  published  "  European  Travels."  He  was  born  in 
Providence,  R.  I.,  in  1813  ;  was  settled  over  Crombie 
Street  Church  in  1850 ;  was  profes^sor  of  homiletics  and 
pastoral  theology  in  Brown  University,  and  is  now 
professor  of  the  history  of  arts. 

The  Rev.  Henry  W.  Foote,  the  pastor  of  King's 
Chapel,  Boston,  a  son  of  the  venerable  editor  of  the 
Salem  Gazette,  has  published  a  history  of  King's  Chap- 
el and  many  occasional  sermons — eulogies  of  distin- 
guished members  of  his  parish ;  the  Rev.  George 
L.  Chaney,  also  a  native  of  Salem,  now  at  Atlanta, 
has  published  an  interesting  and  valuable  series  of 
books  for  boys ;  the  Rev.  George  B.  Jewett,  at  one 
time  professor  at  Amherst  and  afterwards  minister  at 
Nashua,  N.  H.,  spent  the  closing  years  of  his  life  in 
Salem,  engaged  in  work  on  a  "  Dictionary  of  the 
Greek  Testament ;  and  the  Rev.  J.  Henry  Thayer, 
pastor  of  Crombie  Street  Church  in  1859,  lecturing 
at   Cambridge  on  "  Biblical  Theology." 

Around  the  literary  institutions  of  the  town,  more- 
over, has  always  gathered  a  studious  and  inquiring 
body  of  investigators  and  writers.  The  Essex  Insti- 
tute— who  can  measure  the  amount  of  scientific  and 
historical  research  it  has  inspired  in  Essex  County? 
For  its  guide  and  leader  and  organizer  too  much  praise 
cannot  be  recorded.  For  much  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tury Dr.  Henry  Wheatland  hasdevotedallhistime  and 
powers  to  this  valuable  institution.  From  a  small 
society  organized  for  historical  research  in  the  county, 
he  has  raised  it  into  the  highest  position,  and  placed 
it  with  the  strongest  and  most  useful  in  the  land.  As 
he  went  on  in  his  work  with  a  patience  and  diligence 
unexampled,  all  the  best  forces  contributed  to  his 
support  and  that  of  his  organization.  The  wealthy 
contributed  of  their  store,  the  scientist  gave  the  re- 
sults of  his  investigations,  the  learned  gathered  to 
its  councils,  a  body  of  students  has  been  graduated 
from  its  halls  who  have  adorned  the  higher  semina- 


152 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


ries  of  learning — F.  W.  Putnam,  the  devoted  student 
and  recognized  authority  in  zoology,  and  the  early 
explorer  of  the  Mammoth  Cave,  and  more  recently  the 
Indian  Mounds  in  Ohio,  particularly  those  in 
the  valley  of  the  Little  Miami ;  John  Robinson, 
whose  treatises  on  Trees  and  Ferns  are  now  accepted 
by  the  United  States  Geological  Survey  as  the  best  of 
the  kind  in  the  country  ;  John  H.  Sears,  the  accom- 
plished and  independent  botanist  and  geologist ;  E. 
S.  Moore,  who  has  opened  up  the  domestic  art  of  Ja- 
pan and  delineates  animal  development,  and  advocates 
evolution  with  inspiring  zeal  and  great  artistic  skill; 
Alpheus  S.  Packard,  author  of  "Observations  on  the 
Glacial  Phenomena  of  Labrador  and  Maine,  with  a 
View  of  the  Recent  Invertebrate  Fauna  of  Labrador," 
1867  ;  a  guide  to  the  study  of  insects,  and  a  treatise 
on  those  injurious  and  beneficial  to  crops,  1869;  and 
reports  as  United  States  commissioner  to  consider 
and  report  upon  the  Rocky  Mountain  locust;  and 
Alpheus  Hyatt,  a  most  devoted  student  and  teacher 
of  natural  history.  The  work  which  Dr.  Wheatland 
has  accomplished  will  endure  as  long  as  the  recorded 
history  of  Essex  County,  the  remains  of  its  architec- 
ture, the  specimens  of  its  domestic  economy,  the  in- 
terest in  its  geological  structure,  the  beauties  of  its 
flora  and  fauna,  shall  find  a  place  in  the  admirable 
institution  he  has  founded  and  developed,  and  as 
long  as  Essex  County  shall  remain  in  reality  or 
history. 

One  of  the  most  diligent  and  active  literary  friends 
of  the  Institute  is  Robert  S.  Rantoul.  He  is  a  son  of 
Robert  Rantoul,  Jr.,  was  graduated  at  Harvard  in 
1853,  and  at  the  Law  School,  in  Cambridge,  in  1856. 
His  contributions  to  the  publications  of  Salem,  where 
he  has  resided  since  his  admission  to  the  bar,  have 
been  numerous  and  important.  He  has  published 
"Notes  on  Wenham  Pond,"  1864;  "The  Cod  in  Mas- 
sachusetts History,"  1856 ;  "  Address  on  taking  the 
Chair  of  the  Essex  Liberal  Conference,"  1869;  "  Port 
of  Salem,"  1870;  "Argument  before  the  Finance 
Committee  of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  upon 
the  Preservation  of  Salem  Harbor,"  1870  ;  "  Decora- 
tion day  Address  before  the  Chipman  Po-t  G.  A.  R., 
Beverly,"  1871;  "Notes  on  odd  works  of  Travel," 
1872;  "Report  as  arbitrator  between  the  Common- 
wealth and  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  in 
the  matter  of  the  Hutchinson  papers,"  1874  ;  "Cen- 
tennial Oration  at  the  Celebration  at  Stuttgart,  Wur- 
temburg,"  July  4,  1876 ;  "  Memorial  address  on  the 
death  of  Freiligralh,  Stuttgart,"  1877;  "Address  on 
resuming  the  chair  of  the  Liberal  Conference," 
1880  ;  "  Oration  at  the  Two  Hundred  and  fiftieth  An- 
niversary of  the  Landing  of  Winthrop,"  1880; 
"Sketch  of  Cat  (now  Lowell  Island),"  1880;  "  Me- 
moir of  Benjamin  Peirce,"  1881;  "  Early  Quarantine 
Regulations  at  Salem,"  1882;  "Memoir  of  James 
Kimball,"  1882;  "Note  on  the  Authenticity  of  the 
portraits  of  Governor  Endicott,"  1883;  "Sketch  of 
James  O.   Safford,"    1883;    "Report   to   the   Massa- 


chusetts Legislature  against  abolishing  the  Poll  Tax 
as  a  prerequisite  for  suffi-age,"  1885  ;  "  Two  Reports 
against  the  Biennial  Amendments  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, 1884-85  ,  "  The  Essex  Junto— the  long  embargo  ; 
the  great  Topsfield  Caucus,"  1808, 1882.  "  Material  for 
a  History  of  the  Name  and  Family  of  Rentoul — Rin- 
toul — Rantoul,"  1885  ;  "  A  Contribution  to  the  His- 
tory of  the  Ancient  Family  of  Woodbury,"  1887 ; 
Mr.  Rantoul's  work  has  been  done  with  great  ac- 
curacy and  fidelity. 

This  sketch  would  not  be  complete  without  an  enu- 
meration of  the  contributions  which  have  been  made 
by  an  accomplished  and  cultivated  group  of  authors 
who  have  found  recreation  and  pleasure  in  their  work. 
Among  these,  Robert  Manning  published,  in  1838,  his 
valuable  "Book  of  Fruits;"  his  son,  Robert  Man- 
ning, the  secretary  of  Massachusett-J  Horticul- 
tural Society,  his  recent  valuable  history  of 
that  society.  Heniy  K.  Oliver,  the  accomplished 
teacher,  the  rare  musical  composer,  the  immor- 
tal author  of  "  Federal  Street,"  published,  in 
1830,  "The  Construction  and  Use  of  Mathematical 
Instruments  ;  "  Elizabeth  Saunders  reviewed  "  Ferdi- 
nand and  Isabella  "  in  1841,  and  advocated  with  great 
zeal  the  cause  of  the  North  American  Indian  ;  Thomas 
Cole  published  "  Microscopy  as  Applied  to  Ferns  and 
Plants;  "  John  Lewis  Russell  issued  many  valuable 
papers  on  botanical  subjects;  George  A.  Ward  pub- 
lished "  Biographical  Essays,"  and  "  The  Journal  and 
Letters  of  Samuel  Curwen  "  were  published  in  1 842  ;  J. 
Fisk  Allen  issued  his  "  Essay  on  Grape  Culture,"  and 
his  striking  monogram  on  the  "Victoria  Regia;  " 
James  F.  Colman  published  his  graceful  volume  of 
poems  in  1846;  W.  P.  Upham  published  his  "Brief 
History  of  Stenography  "  in  1877;  his  "Memoir  of 
General  Glover,"  a  collection  of  letters  on  the  siege 
of  Boston  ;  his  "  Records  of  Salisbury  ;  "  E.  H.  Derby 
published  "  The  Catholic  Letters  and  Record  of  a 
Jurist  to  a  Young  Kinsman  Proposing  to  join  the 
Church  of  Rome,"  1856;  Charles  Pickering  prepared 
an  elaborate  "  Report  of  Wilkes'  South  Sea  Expedi- 
tion ;  "  John  B.  Derby  published  "  The  Musings  of  a 
Recluse,"  1837 ; "  Major  Samuel  Swett  published  a 
paper  on  "  Who  Commands  at  Bunker  Hill,"  and  de- 
livered a  Fourth  of  July  oration  in  1805,  at  the  South 
Meeting-house;  Perley  Derby  published  his  "Genea- 
logical Researches  into  theFamiliesof  Thomas  White, 
of  Marblehead,  and  Mark  Haskell,  of  Beverly,  and  of 
the  Sons  of  Reginald  Foster,"  1872  ;  George  H.  Dever- 
eaux  published  a  "Translation  of  the  Literary  Fables 
of  Yriarte,"  1855,  and  "  Sam  Shirk,  A  Tale  of  the 
Woods  of  Maine,"  1871 ;  William  Giles  Dix  put  forth 
"The  American  State  and  Statesman,"  1876;  and 
"  The  Deck  of  the  '  Crescent  City,'  "  1853  ;  James  H. 
Emerton  issued  "  Life  on  the  Seashore,"  and  "  Short 
Communications  in  the  Papers  of  the  Institute ; '' 
Joseph  Warren  Fabens  published  "  Life  on  the  Isth- 
mus," 1853;  and  "The  Camel  Hunt,"  1851;  George 
D.  Phippen  has  published  "Botanical  sketches"  and 


SALEM. 


153 


"History  of  the  Old  Planters  in  the  Institute  List  ;  " 
D.  B.  Hagar,  the  accomplished  teacher  of  the  Nor- 
mal School,  has  published  from  time  to  time  that  inval- 
uable series  of  school  books  which  have  won  for  him 
a  high  reputation  :  Primary  Lessons  in  Numbers,  Ele- 
mentary Arithmetic,  Common  School  Arithmetic,  Key 
to  Arithmetic,  Elementary  Algebra,  Manual  of  Dicta- 
tion Problems.  John  M.  Ives  published,  in  1847, "  The 
New   England   Bonk   of  Fruits ; "     James   Kimball 
published  "'  A  Journey  to  the  West  in  1817,"  and  "  De- 
struction  of  Tea   in   Boston   Harbor;"    "Explora- 
tion of  Merrimac  River,"  and  "  Notes  on  the  Richard- 
son and  Russell  Families  ;''  and  James  P.  Kimball,  his 
son,  issued  his  papers  on  "Ores  and  Metals  Taught 
in  the  Mining  Schools  of  Europe,"   which  led  to  his 
selection  as  director  of  the  Mint,  for  which  service 
he  is  so  admirably  fitted  ;  Stephen  H.  Phillips  issued 
his  paper  on  witchcraft;  JohnT.  Devereux  published 
a  collection  of  poems  he  had  contributed  to  periodi- 
cals ;  Gilbert  L.  Streeter  prepared  for  the  institute 
"The  History  of  Newspapers,"  "  Clergymen  of  Salem 
in  the  Revolution,"  "Historical  Notes  of  Salem  Scen- 
ery ;  "  James  A.  Emmerton  "The  Genealogy  of  New 
England  Families  from  English  Records ; "  Henry  F. 
Waters  discovered,  for  the  admiration  of  scholars,  the 
birth-place   of  John   Harvard,  and  wrote   upon    the 
"  Home  and  Genealogy  of  Shakspeare  ;  "  C.  M.  Endi- 
cott  published  a  valuable  paper  on  "  Leslie's  Retreat," 
and  the  "History  of  the  Salem  and  Dan  vers  Aque- 
duct;" Dr.  G.  A.  Perkins  published  "The  Genealogy 
of  the  Perkins   Family  and  the   Fabens   Family ;  " 
James  Upton  an  "  Essay  on  the  Ripening  of  Pears ;  " 
Leverett  Saltonstall,  the  junior,  "  A  Memoir  of  Oliver 
Carlton;"  Edw.  A.  Silsbee  "Talks  on   Architectural 
and  Art  Topics  ;  "  Ernest  FenoUosa,  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  scholars  of  Harvard,  1874,  is  made  professor 
at  Tokio,  Japan,  and  is  a  most  diligent  and   distin- 
guished student  of  Japanese  art;  E.  Stanley  Waters 
"  History  of  the  Webb  and  Ropes  Families;"  Wins- 
low  Upton,  professor  of  astronomy  in  Brown  Univer- 
sity, on  the  "  Eclipse  of  1878  ;  "  Wm.  G.  Barton  pub- 
lished a  paper  on  "  Thoreau,  Flagg  and  Burroughs," 
and  a  paper  on    "  Pigeons  and  the  Pigeon  Fancy  ; " 
Rev.  B.  F.  McDaniel  a  paper  on  the  "Geology  and 
Mineralogy  of  Essex  County  ; "  Oliver  Thayer,  "  Early 
Recollections   of  Essex   Street;"    Charles  S.  Osgopd 
and  H.  M.  Batchelder  published  their  most  excellent, 
faithful  and  graphic  sketch  of  Salem,  1879;  the  fugi- 
tive poems  of  William  P.  Andrews,  together  with  his 
volume  of  the  "  Sonnets  and  Lyrics  of  Jones  Very," 
accompanied  by  a  most  sympathetic  and  appreciative 
notice,  have  secured  for  him  an  enviable  place  in  the 
ranks  of  the  authors  of  Salem;  W.  L.  Welch,  "An 
Account  of  the  Cutting  Through  of  Hatteras  Inlet, 
N.  C. ;"  George  M.  Whipple,  an  interesting  sketch  of 
the  "Musical  Societies  of  Salem;"  Henry  M.  Brooks 
has  published  "  Olden  Time  Scenes,"  a  most  interest- 
ing collection,  and  A.  C.  Goodell,  Jr.,  has  edited  with 
great  care  and  accuracy  "  The  Laws  and  Resolves  of 


the  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,"  and  has  con- 
tributed many  papers  on  historical  matters  which 
have  attracted  great  attention,  his  services  in  this 
direction  having  elevated  him  to  the  presidency  ot 
the  Massachusetts  Historic  Genealogical  Society; 
Pickering  Dodge,  in  1840,  "A  Treatise  on  Modern 
Painters ;  "  Thomas  Sanders,  in  1886,  a  spirited  and 
instructive  "Examination  of  the  Agriculture  of  Essex 
County,"  which  was  published  by  the  Essex  Agricultu- 
ral Society  at  Newburyport ;  and  Samuel  M.  Caller 
published,  in  1881,  a  sketch  of  the  Southwick  family, 
descendants  of  Lawrence  and  Cassandra  Southwick. 

Of  the  female  writers,  Caroline  R.  Derby,  a  daugh- 
ter of  E.  Hersey  Derby,  published,  under  the  name  of 
D.  R.  Castleton,  a  series  of  tales  in  Harper's  Monthly 
so  striking  and  beautiful  that  the  readers  of  that 
magazine  sought  for  her  identity,  to  pay  her  the  trib- 
ute she  deserved.  Her  fugitive  poems  were  of  a  high 
order.  She  published  "The  Ruler's  Daughter  "  and 
other  poems  in  1877,  and  a  novel  entitled  "  Salem,  or 
a  Tale  of  the  Seventeenth  Century,"  which  was  read 
with  great  interest. 

"The  Half  Century  of  Salem,"  prepared  with 
great  care  and  discretion,  was  published  by  Mrs.  M. 
A.  Silsbee  in  1887. 

Sarah  W.  Lander  published,  in  1874-75,  her  fascina- 
ting stories, — "  Spectacles  for  Young  Eyes,"  "  Boston," 
"Rhine,"  "St.  Petersburg,"  "Zurich,"  "Berlin," 
"Rome,"  "New  York," — a  most  attractive  and  in- 
structive series,  and  "  Fairy  Bells,"  a  translation  from 
the  German. 

Maria  Cummins,  a  daughter  of  Judge  David  and 
Maria  (Kittredge)  Cummins,  was  born  in  Salem  in 
1830,  and  passed  her  early  life  in  that  city.  She  ap- 
peared as  an  authoress  in  1854  with  a  novel,  entitled 
"The  Lamplighter,"  which  was  instantly  received 
with  great  favor.  It  ran  through  editions  amounting 
to  seventy  thousand  copies  in  less  than  a  year,  and 
stands  among  the  most  popular  American  tales.  Miss 
Cummins  published  a  charming  story,  entitled  "Ma- 
bel Vaughan,"  in  1857,  which  was  declared  by  some 
critics  to  be  far  in  advance  of  "  The  Lamplighter." 
In  both  these  works  she  displayed  great  power  of  de- 
lineation and  a  most  graceful  style. 

Mrs.  Kate  Tannatt  Wood  has  contributed  from  her 
liberal  store  the  series  of  tales  which  have  delighted 
old  and  young,— "Six  Little  Rebels,"  "Dr.  Dick," 
"  Out  and  About,"  "  Duncans  on  Land  and  Sea," 
"  Doll  Betsey,"  "  Jack's  First  Contract,"  "  Toots  and 
his  Friends,"  "  Twice  Two,"  "  All  Around  a  Rock- 
ing," "  Hester  Hepworth,"  "  Hidden  for  Years," 
"The  Minister's  Scent,"  "That  Dreadful  Boy,  a 
Novel,"  "Headlands,  a  Novel."  Poems,— " Dan's 
Wife,"  "  Christmas  at  Birch's,"  "  Dinah's  Christmas," 
"Papa's  Valentine"  and  many  more,  and  luany  con- 
tributions to  the  magazine  literature  of  the  day. 

Mary  L.  Horton  published  poetical  and  prose  com- 
positions, 1832. 

Lydia  L.  A.  Very  has  issued  a  volume  of  poems  of 


154 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


rare  merit,  and,  in  connection  with  her  sister,  has 
published  "The  Essays  and  Poems  of  Jones  Very," 
her  brother,  which  is  invahiable  as  a  complete  collec- 
tion of  the  works  of  this  remarkable  writer. 

Mary  Orne  Pickering  prepared  during  her  life  a 
biography  of  her  father,  John  Pickering,  a  faithful 
and  instructive  work,  which  was  published  in  1887. 

Mrs.  Martha  Perry  Lowe,  wife  of  the  Rev.  Charles 
Lowe,  pastor  of  the  North  Church,  published  "The 
Olive  and  the  Pine  "  and  ''  The  Palm,"  and  has  since 
given  to  the  public  a  most  interesting  biography  of 
her  devout  and  faithful  husband. 

Mary  Wilder  (Foote)  Tileston,  a  sister  of  the  Rev. 
Henry  W.  Foote,  has  published  "Helps by  the  Way," 
"  Quiet  Hours"  and  "Sursum  Corda"  and  many  ad- 
mirable selections  of  poetry. 

Sarah  Savage,  a  daughter  of  Ezekiel  Savage,  in 
1833,  contributed  some  well- written  and  fascinating 
stories  to  "  Scenes  and  Persons,  Illustrating  Christian 
character."  Among  her  publications  were  "  Trial  and 
Discipline,"  "  James  Talbot,"  "  Alfred  "  and  "  The 
Backslider."  She  died  in  1835,  and  left  an  enviable 
reputation  as  an  author  of  taste  and  ability  and  great 
delicacy  of  fancy. 

Elinor  Forrester  (Barstow)  Condit  published  in 
1869  "Philip  English's  Two  Cups." 

Hannah  G.  Creamer  published  "A  Gift  to  Young 
Students,"  "Eleanor,"  "  Delia's  Doctors,"  &c. 

Lucy  W.  Stickney  published  the  "  Genealogy  of 
the  Kinsman  Family  "  and  assisted  her  father,  Mat- 
thew A.  Stickney,  in  his  "Genealogical  Researches." 

Mrs.  M.  D.  Sparks,  widow  of  Jared  Sparks  and 
daughter  of  Hon.  Nathaniel  Silsbee,  published  a 
charming  volume  of  poems,  hymns,  Homes,  Harvard 
in  1883. 

Mary  N.  Plumer,  in  1881,  wrote  an  interesting  es- 
say on  "The  Dissemination  of  Seeds,"  Mrs.  Chadwick, 
in  1853,  published  "  Home  Cookery,"  and  Mrs.  George 
H.  Devereux,  also,  a  book  on  cookery. 

In  preparing  this  sketch  of  the  literary  history  of 
Salem  great  care  has  been  taken  to  include  all  who 
have  contributed  their  share  to  the  record,  those  who 
had  a  temporary  interest  in  the  town,  as  well  as  those 
who  passed  their  lives  here,  those  who  set  forth  in 
life  here  and  left  their  homes,  and  those  who  were 
adopted  even  for  a  short  season.  When  we  consider 
the  population  and  the  commercial  character  of  Sa- 
lem, the  number  of  writers  recorded  here  is  extraor- 
dinary, and  presents  a  remarkable  list  of  the  literary 
sous  and  daughters,  native  and  adopted,  of  the  town. 
If  in  the  collection  there  are  any  omissions,  it  must 
be  attributed  to  the  difficulty  attending  an  extended 
research  among  so  great  a  mass  of  materials  of  di- 
verse descriptions. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 


SALEM — ( Continued), 


MANUFACTURING  INTERESTS. 


BY  HENRY  C.  GAUSS. 


The  manufacturing  interests  of  the  city  of  Salem, 
although  occupying  in  their  total  valuation,  a  fourth 
place  among  those  of  the  manufacturing  centres  of 
Essex  County,  are  only  within  a  few  thousand  dollars 
of  being  second  in  the  valuation  of  their  general 
manufactures.  The  census  of  1880  gives  Salem  a  total 
of  manufactured  products  of  $8,440,350,  of  which 
the  leather  manufacture  contributes  nearly  one-half. 
Since  the  compilation  of  that  census,  the  increase  in 
the  volume  of  the  leather  business,  together  with  the 
increase  of  the  shoe  manufactures  and  that  of  other 
lines,  with  the  establishment  of  at  least  two  new  in- 
dustries, have  augmented  the  volume  of  manufac- 
tured products  in  the  city  till  it  would  be  safe  to 
place  the  total  valuation  at  the  time  of  writing  at,  at 
least,  nine  millions  of  dollars. 

There  are  represented  in  Salem  thirty-one  of  the 
more  important  lines  of  manufacturing  industries, 
including  most  of  the  general  lines  of  manufacture, 
with  several  specialties.  As  has  been  said,  nearly 
one-half  of  the  volume  of  manufacturing  products  is 
contributed  by  a  single  industry,  one  that  makes  Sa- 
lem the  most  important  centre  of  its  prosecution  in 
the  country,  and  one  that  was  the  first  to  be  establish- 
ed.    This  is  the 

Leather  Manufacture. — The  leather  business 
of  Salem  has  had  a  slow  but  steady  growth,  and  with 
but  few  checks.  Philemon  Dickinson  is  the  first  re- 
corded tanner;  he  flourished  in  1639.  The  early  tan- 
neries were  probably  on  land  now  bordered  by  the 
northern  side  of  Washington  Square  and  by  Forrester 
Street, — the  excavation  for  a  cellar  for  a  house  built 
by  Charles  W.  Whipple  on  the  latter  street,  in  1886, 
having  revealed  the  rotted  boards  of  vats  with  an  ac- 
cumulation of  tan-bark,  the  deposit  going  to  some 
depth,  causing  an  inconvenience  in  placing  the  foun- 
dation. Other  excavations  in  the  same  vicinity  also 
have  disclosed  traces  of  ground  bark.  The  same  sub- 
stance, together  with  the  horns  of  cattle,  has  been 
found  at  the  foot  of  Liberty  Street,  and  it  is  believed 
that  a  tannery  was  established  there  at  an  even  earlier 
date  than  that  of  those  on  Forrester  Street. 

One,  or  perhaps  two,  tanneries  sufficed  the  primitive 
demands  of  the  earlj'^  settlers  for  leather,  and  even  in 
1768  there  were  only  four  tanneries  established  in 
Salem.  Just  previous  to  the  above  date  Joseph 
Southwick,  a  preacher-tanner  of  Dan  vers,  introduced 
the  first-recorded  improvement  in  the  process  by  put- 
ting his  old  horse  at  work  grinding  the  bark  in  a 


I 


SALEM. 


155 


stone  mill.  If  the  old  gentleman  looks  down  now  on 
the  labors  of  his  successors,  he  must  be  vastly  inter- 
ested in  the  evolution  of  his  slow-going  stones,  with 
their  capacity  of  a  slab  of  bark  in  half  an  hour,  to 
the  whirring  bark-mill  of  to-day  that  devours  a  car- 
load in  an  equal  time. 

From  the  last  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  the 
tanneries  deserted  their  location  in  the  lower  part  of 
the  town  and  began  to  make  their  habitat  along 
the  course  of  the  then  clear  and  stenchless  North 
River.  In  1801  there  were  seven  tanneries  situated 
in  the  valley  that  soon  came  to  be  called  "  Blubber 
Hollow,"  and  the  number  of  these  gradually  increased, 
extending  up  the  stream  and  along  Boston  Street  till, 
in  1850,  there  were  eighty-three  establishments,  of 
which  thirty-four  were  tanneries,  as  many  currying- 
shops,  fifteen  shops  which  carried  on  both  trades, 
and  two  morocco-dressers.  The  value  of  the  leather 
tanned  and  curried  was  in  the  vicinity  of  $869,047.70, 
and  five  hundred  and  fifty  hands  were  employed. 
The  large  number  of  establishments  may  be  accounted 
for  by  the  fact,  stated  by  a  veteran  tanner,  that  the 
owner  of  the  shop,  with  only  four  or  five  men,  gener- 
ally constituted  the  shop's  crew. 

About  this  time  there  was  a  great  depression  in  the 
leather  trade  in  Salem  that  continued  several  years. 
It  eventually  was  removed,  and  the  American  civil 
war,  with  the  wars  of  the  Crimea,  that  followed  the 
first  years  of  its  recuperation,  gave  it  an  impetus  it 
had  never  before  had,  and  its  progress  has  never  since 
been  checked  to  any  material  degree,  while  its  present 
prospects,  with  improved  railroad  facilities  and  im- 
proved processes  of  manufacture,  are  brighter  thaa 
ever  before. 

There  are  at  present  in  Salem  fifty-four  firms  en- 
gaged in  the  manufacture  of  leather, — twelve  tanners, 
fifteen  curriers,  twenty-one  tanners  and  curriers,  and 
six  morocco-dressers.  The  census  of  1880  gives  fifty- 
two  establishments  with  nine  hundred  and  ten 
employees,  $1,167,050  invested  as  capital,  and  a  value 
of  production  of  $4,209,004.  That  there  has  been  an 
increase  in  the  volume  of  the  business  since  that  date 
all  the  leather  men  agree,  and,  after  careful  considera- 
tion, it  is  thought  that  it  is  not  too  high  to  estimate 
the  capital  employed  at  $1,350,000,  a  volume  of  pro- 
duction of  $4,750,000,  and  a  total  employment  of  nine 
hundred  and  fifty  men. 

The  leather  manufactories  lie,  for  the  most  part,  in 
a  well-defined  district,  well  compacted  and  lying  on 
the  following  streets :  Boston,  both  sides,  from  Essex 
to  Goodhue ;  Goodhue,  northern  side ;  Grove,  western 
side,  to  Harmony  Grove  Cemetery;  Mason,  eastern 
side,  to  oil  works;  South  Mason  and  Franklin.  There 
are  also  a  number  of  scattered  shops  on  the  short 
streets  leading  up  "Gallows  Hill." 

There  have,  of  course,  been  great  improvements  in 
machinery  in  the  leather  trade  since  Parson  South- 
wick's  bark-mill,  but  there  is  still  room  for  many 
inventions  that  will  lessen  the  time  of  production  of 


leather,  and  aid  to  supersede,  to  a  degree,  hand- 
labor.  There  has  been,  and,  perhaps,  still  is,  a  preju- 
dice among  manufacturers  in  favor  of  hand-labor  and 
against  machine,  but  the  late  strike  taught  them  that 
machines  could  be  used,  and  a  revolution  in  the 
business  in  this  respect  is  expected  by  many  leather 
men. 

The  Late  Strike. — The  late  strike  above  re- 
ferred to  was  the  second  of  the  great  leather  strikes 
that  have  been  inaugurated  in  Salem.  It  had  its  true 
origin  in  the  attempts  of  the  Knights  of  Labor,  to 
which  the  employees  almost  universally  belonged,  to 
enforce  a  new  price-list  for  splitting  and  some  other 
branches,  together  with  a  ten-hour-a-day  time  sched- 
ule. The  manufacturers  refused  to  entertain  price- 
list  or  time  schedule,  and  as  a  strike  in  some  depart- 
ments was  imminent,  posted  the  following  circular  : 

"Whereas,  At  a  meeting  of  the  leather  manufacturers  of  Salem  and 
Peabody,  at  which  over  sixty  members  were  present,  the  subject  of  dic- 
tation to  us  in  the  management  of  our  business  was  referred  to  a  com- 
mittee with  full  power  to  act  as  in  their  judgment  may  seem  best,  and 
that  we  follow  such  course  as  they  may  advise.  That  committee  having 
met,  reported  the  following  resolutions  : 

"  That  hereafter  we  employ  only  such  men  as  will  bargain  individu- 
ally with  us  and  agree  to  take  no  part  in  any  strike  whatever; 
and  all  men  desiring  so  to  be  employed  by  us  may  report  Tuesday 
morning,  July  13th,  at  the  usual  hour  of  this  factory. 

"That  we  are  determined  to  stand  by  the  men  who  do  so,  and  also 
determined  to  nin  our  business  without  any  dictation. 

"F.  R.TUTTLE, 

"G.  W.  Varney, 
"Alvan  a.  Evans, 
"Geo.  H.  Poor, 

"W.  F.  WiLET, 

"Franklin  Osborne. 
"July  12, 1886.  "Committee." 

This  stroke  at  once  removed  the  contest  from  every 
question  of  wages  and  hours,  and  threw  down  the 
gage  of  battle  directly  before  the  order  of  the 
Knights  of  Labor.  It  took  up  the  defiance  and  a 
generally  strike  was  ordered.  Men  left  their  work 
by  scores.  Shops  were  left  with  hides  in  the  lime, 
without  a  hand  to  save  them,  except  the  proprietor. 
Some  shop  crews  worked  till  the  stock  was  put  out  of 
danger,  and  then  left.  The  manufacturers  combined 
and  helped  those  whose  stock  was  spoiling,  to  save  it. 
All,  however,  could  not  be  cared  for,  and  a  loss  of 
several  hundred  dollars  was  sustained.  The  manu- 
facturers, as  soon  as  possible,  began  to  import  non- 
union help  from  Maine  and  the  provinces,  and  the 
new  workmen,  by  careful  supervision,  were  able  to 
take  the  place  of  the  skilled  labor  in  part,  and  the 
manufacture  of  leather  went  on  after  a  short  delay. 

The  success  of  the  manufacturers  in  partly  filling 
the  places  of  the  strikers  irritated  the  latter,  and  after 
a  series  of  petty  and  very  annoying  persecutions,  the 
enmity  broke  out  into  open  riot,  beginning  in  Peabody 
on  August  7th,  when  non-union  men  and  their  board- 
ing-houses were  stoned  by  angry  mobs.  It  extended 
to  Salem  on  the  Monday  following,  on  the  9th,  and 
the  non-union  men,  their  boarding-houses  and  some 
tanneries  were  subjected  to  the  same  treatment.  The 
riot,  however,  was  promptly  suppressed  by  the  police, 


156 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS- 


and   a  system  of  patrol   established   that  prevented 
further  outbreaks. 

Finding  that  open  riot  was  ineffectual,  a  guerrilla 
warfare  was  adopted;  whenever  a  non-union  man  was 
found  away  from  police  protection  he  was  assaulted. 
Details  of  strikers  also  followed  the  non-union  men 
about,  the  boycott  was  used,  and  every  means  possi- 
ble put  in  practice  to  induce  the  men  to  leave.  Some 
men  did  go,  but  their  places  were  soon  filled,  while 
the  strikers,  despite  help  from  the  Knights  of  Labor, 
grew  weaker  and  weaker. 

The  culmination  came  on  Thanksgiving  Day ;  a  mob 
attacked  two  brothers  named  Yeaton  on  Boston 
Street,  and  also  stopped  a  horse-car  and  beat  three  non- 
union men  who  were  its  occupants.  The  long  series 
of  outrages  disgusted  the  better  class  of  the  strikers, 
and,  with  the  cessation  of  help  from  the  order,  the 
strike  was  declared  off.  This  was  on  Sunday,  No- 
vember 28th.  Those  strikers  who  could  find  work 
went  back,  but  many  whose  places  were  filled  were 
unable  to  get  back  and  much  suffering  was  caused 
among  the  poor  employes  as  a  result. 

The  result  of  the  strike  to  the  manufacturers  was 
that  it  gave  them  perfect  freedom  from  the  Knights 
of  Labor  dictation,  and  although  the  losses  of  stock 
were  considerable,  the  loss  was  lessened  by  the  in- 
crease in  the  price  of  leather  and  the  stoppage  of  a 
threatened  over-production.  The  result  to  the  em- 
ployees was  disastrous, — a  long  term  of  idleness,  with 
the  vice  idleness  brings,  brought  want  to  many  a 
family,  and  the  winter  of  1886-87  was  one  of  sore 
distress  in  many  cases. 

Cotton  Manufacture. — Next  to  the  leather 
business,  the  manufacture  of  cotton  cloth  is  the  most 
important  industry  carried  on  in  Salem.  The  cotton 
goods  manufacture  is  vested  in  a  single  concern,  the 
Naumkeag  Steam  Cotton  Company,  incorporated  April 
5, 1839.  The  original  capital  of  the  company  was  $200,- 
000.  The  first  mill  was  erected  in  1847,  the  capital 
stock  being  increased  to  $700,000  meanwhile. 

This  first  mill  is  four  hundred  by  sixty  feet,  con- 
tains 32,768  spindles  and  643  looms,  with  a  capacity 
of  9400  yards  of  cloth  a  week.  At  the  time  of  its 
completion  it  was  regarded  as  the  finest  and  best- 
appointed  mill  in  the  country. 

The  first  mill  being  a  success,  twelve  years  later  a 
still  larger  building  was  erected  by  the  company,  the 
capital  being  increased  to  $1,200,000.  The  second 
mill  is  four  hundred  and  twenty-eight  by  sixty-four 
feet  and  contains  35,000  spindles  and  700  looms. 

Since  the  building  of  the  second  mill,  three  addi- 
tional mills,  slightly  smaller,  have  been  built,  the  last 
one,  on  the  opposite  side  of  Union  Street  from  the 
others,  being  constructed  in  1883,  the  first  loom  being 
started  Jan.  12,  1884. 

The  Naumkeag  Steam  Cotton  Company  has  now  a 
capital  of  one  million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
and  its  plant  consists  of  five  mill  buildings,  with  ma- 
chine-shop, storage-houses,  etc.     The  total  number  of 


spindles  in  the  mills,  is  one  hundred  thousand,  and  of 
looms,  twenty-four  hundred.  The  power  in  the  mills 
on  the  eastern  side  of  Union  Street  is  furnished  by 
two  pairs  of  Corliss  engines  of  twenty  thousand 
horse-power  total,  and  in  "Mill  No.  5"  by  a  four 
hundred  horse-power  engine.  The  mills  are  lighted 
by  twenty-two  hundred  gas  jets  and  six  hundred  and 
fifty  incandescent  lights,  gas  works  and  an  electric 
light  plant  being  situated  on  the  premises. 

The  production  of  cotton  cloth  by  the  mills  during 
the  yeir  1886  was  eighteen  million  seven  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  yards,  at  a  valuation  of  about  one 
million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  sixteen 
thousand  bales  of  cotton  were  consumed.  There  are 
fourteen  hundred  operatives  employed  in  the  mills, 
and  the  yearly  pay-roll  is  four  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  dollars. 

The  Naumkeag  Mills  have  always  taken  a  front 
rank  in  the  cotton  manufacture  of  New  England  for 
the  quality  of  the  cloth  produced  and  their  solid 
financial  standing,  the  stock  at  present  being  quoted 
many  points  above  par.  The  relations  with  the  oper- 
atives have  for  the  most  part  been  harmonious.  The 
company  has  experienced  no  disastrous  fires,  and  the 
whole  course  of  the  company  has  been,  to  a  great  ex- 
tent, a  prosperous  one.  The  mills  are  now  models  of 
appointment  and  management. 

Shoe  Manufactures. — Next  to  the  manufacture 
of  cotton  goods,  the  largest  industry  in  Salem  is  the 
manufacture  of  shoes,  which,  while  not  as  extensive 
as  that  of  some  other  towns  of  the  county,  is  still 
fairly  large  and  is  increasing.  There  are  twenty-one 
manufacturers  of  shoes  in  the  city,  the  grades  being 
mostly  medium  and  fine  ladies'  and  children's  shoes. 
There  are,  besides,  twenty-five  shops  for  the  manu- 
facture of  inner-soles,  stiffenings,  etc.,  and  two  shoe- 
stitching  shops. 

The  capital  employed  in  the  shoe  business  in  Salem 
is  about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  dol- 
lars, with  a  value  of  production  of  about  nine  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  and  a  total 
number  of  eight  hundred  and  fifty  employees.  The 
manufactories  are  mostly  grouped  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  Boston  and  Maine  Railroad  depot,  on  Mill,  Wash- 
ington, Dodge  and  Lafayette  Streets,  although  two  of 
the  largest  are  on  Boston  Street. 

The  relations  between  employer  and  employe  in 
the  shoe  factories  of  Salem  have  been  harmonious 
during  the  past  few  years  and,  save  one  or  two  minor 
troubles,  there  have  been  no  strikes.  The  projected 
street  over  the  South  River  is  expected  to  open  up 
land  that  will  be  utilized  for  shoe  manufactories,  and 
with  good  railroad  facilities,  nearness  to  the  leather 
supply  and  no  labor  difiiculties,  Salem  offers  many 
advantages  for  location  of  shoe  manufactories. 

Jute  Bagging. — The  manufacture  of  jute  bagging 
is  now  carried  on  in  Salem  at  two  establishments. 
The  fir.st  jute-mill  was  established  in  the  fall  of  1865, 
when  the  late  Francis  Peabody  built  the  jute-mill  on 


SALEM. 


157 


Skerry  Street.  Two  years  later  a  tract  of  land  on  English 
and  Webb  Streets,  the  old  English  estate,  was  bought 
and  a  second  mill  built  by  a  company  known  as  the 
India  ManufecturiEg  Co.,  formed  at  the  same  time.  A 
second  company,  called  the  Bengal  Bagging  Co.,  was 
formed  in  1870  to  carry  on  the  Skerry  Street  mill, 
but,  in  1875,  all  the  property  fell  into  the  hands  of 
David  Nevins  &  Co.,  of  Boston,  and,  since  the  death 
of  the  elder  Nevins,  a  year  or  two  ago,  has  been  car- 
ried on  by  his  son. 

The  two  mills  have  now  over  a  thousand  spindles, 
with  a  capacity  of  five  million  yards  of  bagging  a 
year.  The  total  value  varies,  but  averages  three 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  The  amount  of 
jute-butts  consumed  annually  is  twenty-two  thou- 
sand five  hundred  bales,  at  a  value  of  eight  dollars 
per  bale.  The  two  mills  employ  a  total  of  two 
hundred  and  sixty-eight  hands,  of  which  one  hun- 
dred and  one  are  females  and  one  hundred  and  two 
youths  and  children. 

The  jute-butts  are  brought  from  Bengal,  from  the 
port  of  Chittagong,  in  large  vessels  that  give  the  in- 
habitants of  Salem  their  only  occasional  sight  of  large 
sized,  square-rigged  vessels,  and  the  import  duties 
make  up  the  greater  part  of  the  receipts  of  the 
Salem  custom-house,  the  amount  received  from  each 
vessel  being  in  the  vicinity  of  two  thousand  dollars. 
The  bagging  is  mostly  shipped  South  for  use  in  billing 
cotton,  especially  large  shipments  going  to  Galveston, 
Tex. 

White-Lead  Manufacture. — The  manufacture 
of  white-lead  as  a  pigment  from  pig,  or  blue-lead,  is 
one  of  the  oldest  industries  in  the  city,  it  having 
been  established  in  1826.  In  that  year  two  lead-mills 
were  started,  one  by  the  first  Salem  Lead  Company 
and  the  other  by  Colonel  Francis  Peabody.  Both 
were  situated  in  South  Salem,  the  first  on  the  site  of 
the  Naumkeag  Cotton-Mills,  the  other  where  La- 
grange Street  is  now  situated. 

The  first  Salem  Lead  Company  had  a  capital  stock 
of  over  two  hundred  thousand  dollars,  but  the  enter- 
prise proved  unprofitable  and,  after  an  expenditure 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars,  the 
works  were  sold  at  auction  in  1835  for  the  sum  of 
twenty  thousand  five  htindred  dollars. 

The  works  established  by  Colonel  Peabody  were 
more  successful,  and  were  carried  on  at  Lagrange 
Street  till  1843.  In  1830  the  Wyman  Grist-Mills,  at 
Forest  River,  were  purchased  and  used  for  grinding 
and  mixing  the  lead.  In  1843  the  Forest  River  Lead 
Company  (incorporated  in  1846)  purchased  the  works 
of  Colonel  Peabody,  tore  down  the  sheds  on  Lagrange 
Street,  and  established  the  entire  plant  at  Forest 
River.  The  manufacture  of  white-lead  to  the  amount 
of  one  thousand  tons  annually  was  carried  on  by  the 
company  till  1882,  when  it  made  an  assignment. 
The  works  were  operated  for  a  time  by  a  Boston  firm, 
but  were  finally  abandoned  in  1883,  and  have  since 
remained  unoccupied. 


The  present  Salem  Lead  Company  was  incorporated 
February  7,  1868.  It  has  its  works  at  the  foot  of 
Saunders  Street.  They  consist  of  a  large  three-story 
mill,  with  corroding-sheds  in  the  rear.  The  company 
has  a  capital  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars employed  at  this  factory,  and  the  annual  product 
is  about  fifteen  hundred  tons  of  white-lead,  dry  and 
ground  in  oil,  together  with  a  considerable  amount  of 
sheet-lead  and  lead-pipe.  About  thirty  hands  are 
employed. 

Oil  Manufacture. — The  refining  and  manufac- 
ture of  oils  has  been  an  industry  in  Salem  from  1835, 
when  Caleb  Smith  began  the  oil  and  candle  manufac- 
ture on  the  site  of  the  present  Seccomb  Oil  Works. 
Col.  Francis  Peabody  began  the  same  industry  a  year 
later,  also  in  South  Salem.  The  latter  did  a  large 
business,  buying  in  one  year  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars'  worth  of  sperm  and  whale  oils. 
He  also  manufactured  a  large  quantity  of  candles 
and  imported  the  first  machine  for  braiding  candle- 
wicks. 

There  are  now  four  manufactories  of  oils  in  the 
city ;  two,  however,  are  unimportant.  Seccomb, 
Thayer  &  Sons  carry  on  the  manufacture  at  the  "old 
stand,''  established  by  Caleb  Smith.  They  manufac- 
ture lubricating  and  curriers'  oils  to  a  small  extent. 
The  Seccomb  Oil  Company,  which  was  established  in 
1865,  was  dissolved  in  1885. 

The  Salem  and  South  Danvers  Oil  Company  was 
organized  in  1855,  and  have  a  capital  of  forty-eight 
thousand  dollars.  Since  the  organization  the  com- 
pany has  manufactured  considerable  quantities  of 
kerosene  and  curriers'  grease  and  oils. 

On  June  14,  1887,  the  works  of  the  company  took 
fire  from  a  spark  blown  from  a  burning  tannery  on 
Soitth  Mason  Street,  and  within  three-quarters  of  an 
hour  a  stock  worth  ten  thousand  dollars,  with  all  the 
wooden  buildings  of  the  plant,  were  totally  destroyed. 
The  stills,  however,  and  other  manufacturing  plant 
were  not  materially  injured,  and  the  work  of  rebuild- 
ing was  re-commenced  at  once,  although  some  citi- 
zens made  an  attempt  to  have  the  Board  of  Aldermen 
refuse  a  permit  to  rebuild  on  that  site.  The  manu- 
facture of  kerosene  has  been  given  up,  and  the  man- 
facture  of  curriers'  grease  and  oils  entered  on  on  a 
large  scale. 

The  Adamanta  Works. — The  latest  established 
industry  in  Salem  has  been  that  of  the  manufacture 
of  paints,  etc.,  by  new  processes,  by  the  Adamanta 
Manufacturing  Company  at  the  former  Rowell  farm, 
on  Salem  Neck. 

The  Adamanta  Manufacturing  Company  organized 
in  1885  with  a  capital  of  thrte  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars,  for  the  prosecution  of  the  manufac- 
ture of  a  number  of  articles  under  different  patents, 
mostly  German,  purchased,  in  the  autumn  of  1885,  the 
estate,  on  Salem  Neck,  known  as  the  Rowell  farm. 
This  land  was  admirably  fitted  for  the  ptirpose  of 
the  manufactory,  being  secluded  and  with  easy  water 


158 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


and  land  access.  Building  was  commenced  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1886.  A  long,  low,  fire-proof  building  was 
constructed  for  the  manufactory,  together  with  the 
necessary  out-buildings,  and  in  September,  1886,  work 
was  commenced.  At  present  there  are  about  twenty- 
five  men  employed,  a  number  of  whom  are  Germans, 
as  is  the  superintendent. 

The  products  of  the  works  are  enamel  paints,  var- 
nish, a  steam-proof  pitch  and  an  artificial  rubber. 
The  present  manufactory  is  a  merely  exjierimental 
one,  but  a  large  quantity  of  the  articles  produced  has 
been  sold;  the  demand  is  said  to  be  increasing,  and 
a  large  manufactory  is  among  the  probabilities;  in- 
deed, plans  for  such  are  being  now  considered. 

Manufacture  of  Type-Writers. — A  second 
industry  of  importance  that  has  lately  been  estab- 
lished in  Salem  is  the  manufacture  of  type-writers, 
under  the  Hall  patents.  In  May,  1885,  the  plating 
and  polishing  works  of  E.  C.  Bates,  on  Front  Street, 
were  removed  to  the  building  200  Derby  Street,  and 
with  a  large  plant  the  manufacture  of  the  Hall  type- 
writer was  begun,  together  with  that  of  light  ma- 
chinery and  electrical  goods.  The  Hall  Type- Writer 
and  Machine  Company  was  incorporated  in  April, 
1886,  with  a  capital  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
at  one  hundred  dollars  per  share.  The  company  now 
employs  fifty  men,  and  produces  an  average  of  two 
hundred  type-writers  a  month,  at  an  annual  value  of 
ninety-six  thousand  dollars.  The  business  of  manu- 
facturing light  machinery  and  electrical  work,  mostly 
by  contract  for  Boston  and  New  York  firms,  is  also 
large. 

Manufacture  of  Cars. — Two  companies  for  the 
manufacture  of  cars  have  been  established  in  Salem. 
In  1863  the  Salem  Car  Company  began  the  manu- 
facture of  horse -cars  at  the  present  car-shops  of  the 
Boston  and  Maine  Railroad,  on  Bridge  Street. 
The  project  was  unsuccessful,  and  the  works  were  sold 
to  John  Kinsman,  after  having  been  in  operation  a 
short  time.  This  gentleman  manufactured  a  few 
railroad  cars  there,  and  then  sold  the  works  to  the 
Eastern  Railroad.  They  are  now  operated  by  the 
Boston  and  Maine  Railroad  as  repair-shops,  the  bulk 
of  the  repairs  for  this  section  being  made  there. 
About  one  hundred  and  fifty  hands  are  employed,  and 
during  leisure  seasons  a  few  cars  are  built,  several  of 
the  best  rolling  stock  on  the  Eastern  Division  having 
been  constructed  here. 

The  Atlantic  Car  Company  was  organized  in  1872, 
and  commenced  the  manufacture  of  railroad  cars  at 
works  built  by  them  on  Broadway,  in  South  Salem. 
The  works  only  ran  for  a  year,  the  business  crisis  in 
1873  being  the  cause  of  their  closing.  The  buildings, 
after  being  unoccupied  for  four  years,  were  used  as  a 
furniture  manufactory.  This  in  turn  failed,  and, 
after  a  long  period  of  idleness,  the  works  were  again 
started  up  as  a  manufactory  of  the  "  Humiston  Pre- 
servative." This  also  failed,  and  the  United  States 
Patents  Company  took  the  plant;  that  continued  for  a 


year  or  two,  then  failed ;  and  in  1886  the  Poor  Broth- 
ers, of  Peabody,  bought  the  plant,  and  altered  it  over 
into  a  tannery,  with  several  hundred  vats,  and  em- 
ploying a  large  number  of  men. 

The  Gas-Light  Company. — The  Salem  Gas-Light 
Company  was  organized  in  April,  1850;  works  were 
built  at  the  foot  of  Northey  Street,  and  the  first  stores 
lighted  December  17,  1850,  and  the  street  lights  on 
December  25th  of  the  same  year.  A  large  amount  of 
gas  has  been  manufactured.  When  the  city  electric 
light  system  was  put  in  operation,  in  1886,  the  greater 
part  of  the  street  lights  were  given  up.  The  change, 
however,  caused  but  little  diminution  in  the  produc- 
tion of  gas,  as  it  was  found  that  the  increased  use  of 
gas  by  individuals  nearly  made  up  the  deficit. 

The  present  plant  of  the  company,  having  been  in 
constant  use  for  thirty-seven  years,  has  gone  out  of 
date,  besides  being  in  a  bad  condition,  and  the  com- 
pany has  in  process  of  construction,  at  its  lot  on 
Bridge  Street,  new  retorts  and  apparatus  of  an  im- 
proved pattern.  A  wharf,  gas-holder  and  other  build- 
ings had  been  constructed  there  some  years  before, 
and  when  the  present  works  shall  be  finished  the 
company  will  have  a  complete  plant.  The  manufac- 
ture of  gas  will  be  carried  on  there,  and  the  Northey 
Street  works  abandoned. 

The  present  works  contain  fifty-five  retorts,  and 
41,858,000  cubic  feet  of  gas  were  manufactured 
there  during  1886.  The  selling  price  was  $1.75  a 
thousand  feet.  The  new  works  will  have  a  much 
greater  capacity  than  have  the  old. 

Electric  Lighting  Co. — Salem  was  among  the 
first  cities  in  New  England  to  introduce  electric 
lights.  In  1881  a  small  plant  was  set  up  in  the  rear 
of  the  West  Block,  and  a  few  lights  started.  The 
first  lights  were  lighted  December  18,  1881.  The 
light,  used  at  first  by  the  storekeepers  as  an  adver- 
tisement, came  rapidly  into  favor,  and,  in  April, 
1882,  the  Salem  Electric  Lighting  Company,  with 
a  capital  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  was  incor- 
porated, and  took  the  plant  established  in  1881.  The 
demand  for  lights  increased  rapidly,  and  in  the  fall  of 
1886  the  city  of  Salem  closed  a  contract  with  the  com- 
pany for  one  hundred  and  twenty-nine  lights  for  two 
years  from  Oct.  1, 1886,  at  forty-seven  cents  a  night  for 
one  hundred  lights,  and  forty-five  cents  for  the  re- 
mainder, the  lights  to  burn  all  night  and  superseding 
four  hundred  gas-lights.  The  number  was  afterward 
increased  to  (me  hundred  and  forty-seven  lights, 
which  are  now  located  and  make  Salem  one  of  the 
best  lighted  cities  in  the  State. 

In  June,  1885,  the  incandescent  light  was  intro- 
duced, and  quite  a  number  of  stores  are  lighted  with 
the  lights,  as  well  as  the  Council  and  Aldermanic 
chambers  at  City  Hall. 

The  electric  lighting  station  is  situated  in  the  rear 
of  the  West  Block,  on  Ess^x  Street,  in  a  specially 
constructed  building,  whose  tall,  iron  chimneys  are  a 
prominent  feature  in  a  bird's-eye  view  of  Salem  from 


SALEM. 


159 


any  point.  The  plant  consists  of  eight  arc  dynamos, 
of  a  capacity  of  thirty  lights  each,  of  which  five  are 
employed  on  the  city  lights.  There  is  an  incandes- 
cent dynamo,  burning  two  hundred  and  fifty  lights. 
The  power  is  supplied  by  boilers  of  three  hundred 
horse-power,  with  three  engines,  respectively  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five,  seventy-five  and  sixty  horse- 
power. The  station  is  a  well-appointed  one,  and  the 
lights  give  good  satisfaction. 

Miscellaneous  Manufactures.  —  The  list  of 
the  more  important  manufactures  of  Salem  is  now  fin- 
ished, but  the  miscellaneous  manufactures  are  large 
in  total  and  comprise  most  of  the  domestic  industries 
and  manufactures,  with  the  employment  of  a  large 
number  of  operatives.  There  are  two  iron  foundries, 
employing  about  twenty-five  men  and  producing  a 
large  amount  of  castings  for  the  different  manufac- 
tories of  the  city  and  county  ;  eleven  machine-shops, 
most  of  which  manufacture  machines  under  patents  ; 
and  one  boiler-shop.  The  total  value  of  the  product 
of  the  metal-working  establishments  of  the  city  is 
about  seven  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  dol- 
lars. 

The  building  trades  are  well  represented,  Salem 
being  a  centre  for  the  district  in  this  respect,  and  the 
total  value  of  the  building  products  is  in  the  vicinity 
of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

Boxes,  to  the  value  of  thirty-five  thousand  dollars, 
are  made ;  stone-work,  of  a  value  of  thirty  thousand 
dollars,  is  produced  ;  and  the  printing  and  publishing 
interests  have  a  value  of  production  of  fifty  thousand 
dollars. 

Defunct  Industries. — The  Salem  Laboratory  Com- 
pany.— Among  the  few  industries  which  have  been 
relinquished  in  Salem,  the  manufacture  of  chemicals 
was  the  oldest.  The  manufacture  of  chemicals  was 
begun  on  Lynde  Street  early  in  the  present  century, 
and  continued  by  the  Salem  Laboratory  Company, 
incorporated  in  1819,  which  continued  the  manufac- 
ture above  alluded  to,  removing  the  works  to  North 
Salem.  A  considerable  amount  of  chemicals  were 
manufactured  up  to  1884,  when  the  company  was 
dissolved  on  account  of  decreasing  profits  and  other 
considerations.  The  buildings  have  been  partly  de- 
molished, and  one  has  been  utilized  as  a  currying-shop. 

The  Cooperage  Business. — During  the  years  of  the 
commercial  prosperity  of  Salem,  and  especially  at  the 
times  of  the  West  India  and  West  African  trade,  the 
cooperage  business  of  Salem  was  quite  extensive,  ten 
or  twelve  firms  being  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of 
fish  butts,  molasses  and  rum  hogsheads,  etc.  With 
the  decrease  of  the  commerce  the  business  declined, 
and  is  almost  extinct,  there  being  now  only  two 
shops,  employing  six  or  eight  men,  and  turning  out 
a  few  hundred  lead  kegs  and  half-barrels  yearly. 

Oum  Copal  Cleaning. — Another  very  important  in- 
dustry during  the  time  of  the  trade  with  the  west 
coast  of  Africa  was  the  cleaning  of  gum  copal  and 
other  varnish  gums,  carried  on  at  Hunt's  wharf. 


Nearly  all  the  varnish  gums  used  in  this  country 
at  that  time  were  landed  at  Salem,  and  in  a  rough 
state.  The  business  of  preparing  these  gums  for  use 
grew  to  considerable  proportions,  but  the  imposing  of 
a  duty  on  the  rough  gums  caused  the  business  of 
cleaning  them  to  be  transferred  to  Africa,  so  that  al- 
though small  lots  have  been  cleaned  within  six  years, 
the  business  is  now  entirely  extinct. 

The  Coal  Business. — The  principal  industry  of 
Salem,  outside  of  the  direct  manufacturing  interests, 
is  the  transshipment  of  coal,  for  the  most  part  to  the 
factories  of  Lowell  and  Lawrence.  During  the  year 
1886 — a  year  below  the  average  in  the  amounts  of 
coal  received,  owing  to  great  coal  strikes — the  amount 
of  coal  brought  to  Salem  was  184,163  tons,  at  an 
average  valuation  of  five  dollars  per  ton.  The  coal 
was  brought  in  three  hundred  and  sixty-three  sailing 
vessels  and  thirty  steamers,  whose  aggregate  tonnage 
would  probably  be  as  great  as  that  of  any  year  in 
Salem's  palmiest  commercial  days. 

The  coal  trade  of  Salem  has  been  established  since 
1850.  In  that  year  the  Salem  and  Lowell  Railroad 
was  completed  to  Salem,  and  coal  began  to  arrive  at 
Phillips'  wharf  for  the  mills  in  Lawrence  and  Lowell. 
A  business  of  one  thousand  tons  was  done  the  first 
year,  and  the  amount  rapidly  increased  till,  in  1871 
and  1872,  two  hundred  thousand  tons  was  the  aggre- 
gate. In  the  former  year  a  coal-pocket  was  built,  but 
in  the  latter  the  road  was  leased  to  the  Boston,  Lowell 
and  Nashua  road  and  the  larger  part  of  the  business 
transferred  to  Boston,  and  under  the  later  regime  of 
the  Boston  and  Lowell  the  business  has  been  still 
further  decreased.  During  1886  the  aggregate  of  tons 
landed  at  Phillips'  wharf  was  26,645,  mostly  brought 
in  small  vessels  of  one  htindred  to  five  hundred  tons 
capacity,  the  gradual  filling  up  of  the  docks  prevent- 
ing the  entrance  of  larger  vessels. 

The  greater  part  of  the  coal  coming  to  Salem  is 
landed  at  the  Philadelphia  and  Eeading  Company's 
pier,  situated  a  short  distance  below  Phillips'  wharf, 
and  built  in  1873.  The  pier  consists  of  a  wooden - 
walled  bulkhead,  having  a  coal  "pocket"  with  a 
capacity  of  eight  thoitsand  tons,  and  a  long  bridge 
connection.  The  bridge  is  about  fourteen  hundred 
feet  in  length  and  the  wharf  seven  hundred  feet.  The 
depth  of  water  at  low  tide  is  eleven  feet.  Most  of  the 
coal  is  brought  in  the  iron  steamers  of  the  company, 
whose  average  capacity  is  1660  tons.  They  run  at 
regular  intervals  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year, 
the  round  trijj  from  Philadelphia,  including  loading 
and  unloading,  taking  about  two  weeks,  although, 
under  especially  favorable  circumstances,  it  has  been 
made  in  one.  The  coal  received  from  the  steamers 
and  sailing-vessels  is  temporarily  stored  in  the  pocket 
and  shipped  away  by  rail  as  fast  as  cars  can  be  pro- 
cured. Most  goes  to  the  mills  of  Lowell,  Lawrence 
and  Haverhill.  The  total  amount  of  coal  received  at 
the  pier  in  1886  was  106,247  tons. 

Besides  the  coal  received  for  direct  transshipment. 


160 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


a  large  amount  is  received  for  the  supply  of  a  con- 
siderable local  and  district  demand.  There  are  thir- 
teen retail  coal  dealers  in  the  city,  mostly  situated  on 
Derby  Street  and  along  the  South  River.  The  total 
shipments  of  coal  received  by  them  during  1886  were 
63,861  tons. 

Owing  to  the  precarious  state  of  the  demand  for 
labor  in  the  coal  business  in  Salem,  and  also  to  the 
transient  nature  of  the  labor  itself,  as  no  special  train- 
ing is  needed  for  coal  handling,  and  many  take  to  it 
as  a  makeshift,  it  is  difficult  to  ascertain  how  many 
receive  support  from  the  pursuit  of  that  grimy  call- 
ing. It  is  safe  to  say,  however,  that  three  hundred 
men,  in  round  numbers,  are  employed  by  the  coal 
trade  of  the  city. 

The  Horse-Railroads. —  The  Naumkeag  Street 
Railroad. — The  benefit  that  the  establishment  and 
growth  of  the  two  horse-railroad  companies  running 
from  Salem  has  been  to  the  city  is  almost  inestimable. 
It  has  turned  into  the  coffers  of  the  Salem  merchants 
money  that  has  in  former  years  gone  to  Boston  ;  it 
has  made  Salem,  in  fact,  what  she  is  in  position,  the 
centre  of  the  southern  part  of  Essex  County.  It  is 
safe  to  say  that  it  has  doubled  the  retail  trade  of  the 
city. 

The  first  act  of  incorporation  of  a  horse-railroad 
in  this  city  was  obtained  in  1862,  under  the  name  of 
the  Salem  Street  Railway  Company.  The  road  was 
built  to  South  Danvers  (now  Peabody),  and  the  first 
car  run  July  8,  1863.  In  the  same  year  the  road  was 
extended  to  Beverly,  the  line  being  opened  for  travel 
on  October  28th.  In  May,  1864,  a  branch  was  built 
to  South  Salem,  and  five  years  later,  June  4,  1869,  a 
North  Salem  branch  was  put  in  operation. 

The  old  Salem  company,  however,  proved  an  un- 
profitable investment,  and  in  1875  a  new  company, 
known  as  the  Naumkeag  Street  Railway  Company, 
leased  the  property  of  the  old  road,  and,  by  careful 
management  and  display  of  considerable  enterprise, 
soon  establ'shed  the  scheme  on  a  paying  basis. 

The  first  extension  of  the  tracks  under  the  new 
company  was  to  the  ''  Willows,"  the  picnic  ground  of 
Salemites  for  generations,  the  line  being  opened  June 
10,  1877.  A  year  or  two  later  several  of  the  heavy 
stockholders  of  the  road  purchased  a  tract  of  land 
there,  and  erected  a  "  Pavilion  "  and  theatre,  besides 
making  a  small  park  there,  and  this,  with  many  im- 
provements made  on  the  public  land  by  the  city,  was 
opened  as  a  summer  resort  on  June  10,  1880. 

The  opening  of  the  "Willows"  was  one  of  the 
great  factors  of  the  sticcess  of  the  Naumkeag  road; 
immense  crowds  of  people  were  attracted  to  the  place, 
as  many  as  eight  thousand  people  being  on  the 
grounds  on  some  occasions,  and,  for  the  most  part, 
transported  by  the  horse-car  lines. 

Dating  from  the  opening  of  the  "  Willows,"  and 
especially  since  1883.  the  extension  of  the  rails  of 
the  Naumkeag  Street  Railroad  has  been  steady  and 
rapid.     In  1883  the  Beverly  tra^k  was  extended  to 


the  Gloucester  crossing;  a  little  later  a  branch  was 
laid  to  the  northern  side  of  Harmony  Grove,  which, 
however,  has  since  been  given  up  as  not  being  profit- 
able. 

In  the  spring  of  1884  a  line  was  projected  to  the 
town  of  Marblehead,  whose  transportation  facilities 
by  railroad  were  very  meagre.  The  line  was  com- 
pleted in  August,  1884,  the  first  car  being  run  August 
18th,  and  being  received  with  great  enthusiasm  by 
the  Marbleheaders.  The  line  has  met  with  good  stic- 
cess, although  it  was  prophesied  that  it  would  prove 
unprofitable  during  cold  weather  ;  the  use  of  stoves  in 
the  cars,  however,  removed  that  objection,  and  the 
cars  have  a  good  patronage  all  through  the  winter. 

The  increasing  traffic  on  the  line  between  Salem 
and  Beverly,  together  with  the  foreseen  extension  to 
Wenham,  led  the  directors  of  the  road  to  have  another 
line  through  Beverly  constructed.  It  was  built  through 
Rantoul  Street,  and  connected  with  the  Cabot  Street 
line  at  the  Gloucester  crossing,  the  line  being  opened 
on  June  16,  1886. 

The  line  in  Peabody  was  then  extended  through 
Lowell  Street  previous  to  July  2, 1886  ;  and  on  August 
2 1st  the  Marblehead  tracks  were  extended  through  the 
town  to  Franklin  Street. 

The  greatest  addition  to  the  road  was  consummated, 
however,  in  the  connection  of  the  Beverly  tracks 
through  North  Beverly  to  Wenham  depot  and  to 
Asbury  Grove,  the  latter  branch,  however,  being  used 
only  in  summer.  The  road,  about  seven  miles  in 
length,  was  completed  May  23,  1886,  and  formally 
opened  on  the  26th.  This  road  was  a  grea*"  stroke  of 
policy;  it  accommodated  an  immense  local  trade,  be- 
sides "booming  "  building  interests  along  the  line. 

On  June  1, 1886,  by  legislative  enactment  the  Naum- 
keag road  assumed  the  franchise  of  the  old  Salem 
Street  Railway,  and,  with  the  purchase  of  the  Salem 
and  Danvers  in  the  spring  of  1887,  assumed  an  entire 
control  of  the  local  traffic. 

The  Naumkeag  Street  Railroad  Company  at  pres- 
ent has  a  capital  of  $250,000  of  paid-up  stock,  di- 
vided among  forty-nine  stockholders,  with  a  net  debt 
of  $257,959.52,  and  total  assets  of  $636,240.23.  The 
road  has  a  length  of  30,119  miles,  of  which  7,785 
miles  were  the  original  property  of  the  Salem  road, 
and  8,800  miles  that  of  the  Danvers  road,  making  the 
extensions  made  by  the  Naumkeag  Company  during 
their  occupancy  13,534  miles. 

The  consolidated  road  has  at  the  time  of  writing 
105  cars,  390  horses  and  112  employes,  with  an  annual 
pay-roll  of  $69,340.50. 

The  Natimkeag  system  is  divided  into  four 
branches,  each  with  its  stables,  cars  and  superin- 
tendent, but  under  the  direction  of  the  superintendent 
of  the  main  branch.  The  latter  includes  the  tracks 
in  Salem,  Beverly,  to  the  Gloucester  crossing,  Peabody 
and  to  the  "  Willows."  The  stables  are  situated  on 
Webster  Street  and  at  Beverly  Cove.  The  Danvers 
branch  includes  all  the  old  Danvers  track,  and  has 


SALEM. 


161 


stables  in  Danvers  and  Peabody,  The  Marblehead 
branch  includes  the  Marblehead  tracks  and  stables  on 
the  road,  and  the  Wenham  branch  includes  the  tracks 
below  the  Gloucester  crossing,  having  stables  at 
Wenham,  near  the  town  hall. 

The  total  earnings  of  the  consolidated  road  for  1886 
were  $190,468.50,  with  a  total  expense  of  $154,977.79. 
Besides  the  extent  of  the  Naumkeag  tracks,  connec- 
tion is  made  at  Peabody  and  Marblehead  with  the 
Lynn  and  Boston  Street  Railway,  whose  lines  extend 
the  entire  distance  to  Boston,  making  a  distance  of 
some  thirty  miles  in  diameter  reached  by  the  road. 

Salem  and  Danvers  Street  Railroad — In  the  fall  of 
1883  a  party  of  Salem,  Peabody  and  Danvers  capi- 
talists formed  a  stock  company  for  the  purpose  of 
constructing  a  horse  railroad  from  Salem  to  Danvers. 
They  were  incorporated  May  15,  1884,  under  the 
style  of  the  Salem  and  Danvers  Street  Railway  Com- 
pany, with  a  capital  stock  of  seventy  thousand  dol- 
lars, afterward  increased  to  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars.  The  construction  of  the  road  was  pushed 
rapidly,  and  five  miles  of  track  were  built  and  the 
road  equipped  at  a  cost  of  $62,783.24.  The  road  was 
opened  for  travel  June  25,  1884,  and  during  the  first 
three  months  of  its  operation  the  net  income  was 
$5239.93.  In  the  spring  of  1885  a  connection  of  the 
Danvers  track  with  that  of  the  Naumkeag  Street  Rail- 
road in  Peabody  was  begun  and  completed  July  9th, 
the  cars  running  from  Salem  through  Peabody  to  Dan- 
vers and  vice  versa.  Several  branches  to  Tapleyville 
and  other  parts  of  Danvers  were  alsobuilt,  so  that  the 
road  had  access  to  every  part  of  the  town,  and  con- 
trolled all  the  local  traffic. 

It  was  feared  by  the  Naumkeag  road  that  the  pro- 
posed filling  of  the  South  River  would  give  the  Dan- 
vers road  a  location  through  the  heart  of  the  city, 
and  a  movement  was  made  to  get  control  of  the  road, 
which  was  accomplished  in  April,  1887,  the  Na- 
umkeag road  paying  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  dol- 
lars for  a  small  balance  of  stock,  and  assuming  the 
debt  of  the  Danvers  corporation. 

The  road  is  now  running  in  conjunction  with  the 
Naumkeag  system,  cars  of  the  road  being  run  through 
from  Danvers  to  Beverly. 

Railroad  Communication. — The  steam  railroad 
communications  of  Salem  are  excellent,  the  Boston 
and  Maine  Railroad,  Eastern  Division,  formerly  the 
Eastern  Railroad,  which  was  opened  in  August,  1878, 
and  the  Boston  and  Lowell  Railroad,  which  has  a 
terminus  here,  give  rapid  and  cheap  transportation  to 
every  part  of  the  Eastern  New  England  States  and 
Canada.  There  are  twenty-three  regular  trains  to 
Boston  on  the  Boston  and  Maine  daily,  with  twenty- 
two  extras  and  eleven  Sunday  trains,  and  a  nearly 
equal  number  of  trains  going  east.  The  trains  on  the 
Boston  and  Lowell  road  are  also  frequent. 

The   freight   facilities    are    equally  good,  and    the 
amount     of    business    transacted    at    both    stations 
amount  to  a  very  large  sum  annually. 
11 


Retail  Trade. — The  retail  trade  of  Salem  is 
large,  especially  in  the  dry-goods  line,  and  has  greatly 
increased  since  the  extension  of  the  horse-car  lines. 
The  dry-goods  trade  includes  eighteen  firms,  and  the 
stores  are  large  and  handsome,  including  three  which 
occupy  the  entire  blocks  in  which  they  are  situated. 
The  largest  clothing-store  east  of  Boston  is  also  estab- 
lished here,  with  large  stores  devoted  to  other  lines,  and 
Essex  Street,  the  centre  of  the  retail  trade,  is  lined 
with  stores  that  equal,  if  not  surpass,  any  in  Essex 
County. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

SALEM  ( Continued) . 
MISCELLANEOUS. 


BY   WILLIAM  T.   DAVIS. 


In  the  preparation  of  the  history  of  Salem,  several 
writers  have  been  engaged,  each  confining  himself  to 
the  special  department  assigned  to  him,  and  thus  ne- 
cessarily leaving  untouched  some  subjects,  the  omis- 
sion of  which  would  make  the  history  unfinished  and 
incomplete.  This  chapter,  therefore,  will  include  a 
reference,  to  the  government  of  Salem  as  a  town,  to 
its  organization  as  a  city,  the  adoption  of  a  city  seal, 
the  earlier  and  later  water- works,  the  witchcraft  delu- 
sion and  to  such  associations  and  organizations  as 
have  not  been  treated  in  the  departmental  work. 

The  settlement  of  Salem  may  be  dated  1626,  when 
Roger  Conant,  with  his  companions,  leaving  Cape  Ann 
took  up  his  temporary  residence  at  Naumkeag,  as  Sa- 
lem was  then  called,  or  it  may  be  dated  September  6, 
1628  (old  style),  when  John  Endicott  cast  anchor  in 
Salem  harbor,  as  governor  of  the  colony,  sent  by  the 
Massachusetts  Company,  in  London,  of  which  Matthew 
Cradock  was  governor,  to  make  a  permanent  settle- 
ment on  the  shores  of  Massachusetts'  Bay.  As  the 
city  has  inscribed  the  date  1626  on  its  seal,  it  is  per- 
haps useless  either  to  inquire  how  completely  the  set- 
tlement by  Conant  was  abandoned,  or  to  question  the 
claim  of  the  earlier  date. 

Salem,  like  Plymouth,  was  never  incorporated  as  a 
town.  At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Court  of  Assistants, 
held  at  Charlestown,  August  23, 1630,  it  was  recognized 
as  a  distinct  plantation  or  town,  and  with  Mattapan 
was  exempted  from  the  common  charge  for  the  sup- 
port of  Rev.  Mr.  Wilson.  Its  character  as  a  town  was 
not  questioned  after  the  arrival  of  Winthrop  in  1630, 
but  its  boundaries  were  undefined,  and  those,  of  course, 
were  to  be  settled  by  the  General  Court  of  the  Colony. 
Thus,  at  the  Court  held  on  the  4th  of  March,  1634,  it 
was  ordered  that  "  Mr.  Nowell  and  Mr.  Mayhewe  shal  I 
set  out  the  bounds  betwixt  Saugus  (Lynn)  and  Salem 
and  betwixt  Salem  and  Marble  Harbor;"  and  at  the 
Court  held  on  the  3d  of  March,  1635-36,  it  was  "  re- 


162 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


ferred  to  John  Humfrey,  Esq.,  and  Capt.  Turner,  to 
set  out  the  bounds  betwixt  Salem  and  Ipswich."  On 
the  13th  of  March,  1638-39,  it  was  "  ordered  that  the 
bounds  betwixt  Salem  and  Linn  shall  begin  at  the 
cliffe  by  the  sea,  where  the  water  runs,  as  the  way 
lyeth  by  the  ould  path  thatgoeth  to  Linn  at  the  south 
end  thereof  next  to  Linn  &  the  whole  pond  to  bee  in 
Salem  bounds ;  &  from  that  part  to  run  upon  a  straight 
line  to  the  island  in  the  Humfreys  pond  &  from  that 
island  to  run  upon  a  straight  line  to  6  great  pine  trees 
marked,  called  by  the  six  men  that  layd  out  the 
bounds,  the  H  mens  Bounds ;  &  from  these  trees  to  run 
upon  a  straight  line  unto  another  little  pine  tree 
marked  by  the  side  of  a  little  hill  beyond  the  trees,  to 
run  upon  the  same  line  so  farr  as  o''  bounds  shall 
reach,  into  the  countrey." 

At  first  Salem  included  within  its  recognized  limits 
Beverly,  Danvers,  Manchester,  Peabody,  Marblehead, 
Middleton  and  parts  of  Topsfield,Wenham  and  Lynn. 
Beverly  was  incorporated  October  14, 1668,  and  a  part 
annexed  to  Danvers,  April  27, 1857.  Danvers  was  in- 
corporated June  16,  1757  and  divided  into  Danvers 
and  South  Danvers,  May  18,  1855,  the  name  of  the 
latter  being  changed  to  Peabody,  April  13,  1868. 
Manchester  was  incorporated  May  14,  1645  ;  Marble- 
head,  May  2,  1649;  Mkldleton,  June  20,  1728;  Wen- 
ham,  May  10,  1643;  Topsfield,  October  18,  1650.  A 
part  of  Salem  was  also  annexed  to  Swampsoott,  April 
3,  1867,  and  the  boundary  line  between  Salem  and 
Danvers  was  changed  March  17,  1840. 

At  a  General  Court  held  March  3,  1635-36,  it  was 
ordered  that  "whereas,  particular  towns  have  many 
things  which  concerne  onely  themselves,  and  the  or- 
dering of  their  own  affairs,  and  disposing  of  business 
in  their  own  town,  it  is  therefore  ordered,  that  the 
freemen  of  every  town  or  the  major  part  of  them  shall 
onely  have  power  to  dispose  of  their  own  lands,  and 
woods  with  all  the  privileges  and  appurtenances  of 
the  said  towns,  to  grant  lots,  and  make  such  orders  as 
may  concern  the  well-ordering  of  their  own  towns,  not 
repugnant  to  the  laws  and  orders  here  established  by 
the  General  Court;  as  also  to  lay  mulcts  and  penalties 
for  the  breach  of  these  orders,  and  to  levy  and  distrain 
the  same,  not  exceeding  the  sum  of  xxs. ;  also  to  choose 
their  own  particular  officers,  as  constables,  surveyors 
for  the  highways,  and  the  like;  and  because  much 
business  is  like  to  ensue  to  the  constables  of  several 
•towns,  by  reason  they  are  to  make  distresses,  and 
gather  fines,  therefore  that  every  town  shall  have  two 
constables,  where  there  is  need,  that  so  their  office 
may  not  be  a  burthen  unto  them,  and  they  may  attend 
more  carefully  upon  the  discharge  of  their  office,  for 
which  they  shall  be  liable  to  give  their  accompts  to 
this  Court  when  they  shal  be  called  thereunto." 

In  accordance  with  the  above  act  of  the  General 
Court  the  Town  of  Salem  chose,  at  a  meeting  held  on 
the  19th  of  the  4th  month  (June)  1637,  a  committee 
of  twelve  "  for  manadgin  the  affairs  of  the  town."  A 
part  of  the  record  of  this  meeting  is  lost,  and  the  ac- 


tual election  of  this  committee  is  not  found  on  the 
town  books.  The  deficiency  is,  however,  supplied  by 
the  town  Book  of  Grants,  which  contains  the  follow- 
ing entry: 

"  The  20th  of  the  4th  moueth,  1637. 
"A  towne  meeting  of  the  12  men  appoynted  for  the  busines  thereof 
whose  names  are  here  under  written : 

Mr.  Hathorne.  Daniell  Ray. 

Mr.  Bishop.  Robt.  Moulton. 

Mr.  Conuaught.  Mr.  Scruggs. 

Mr.  Gardiner.  Jeffry  Massy. 

John  Woodbery.  John  Balch. 

Peter  Palfrey.  John  Holgrave." 

Mr.  Hathorne  was  William  Hathorne,  Mr.  Bishop 
was  Townsend  Bishop,  Mr.  Connaught  was  Roger 
Conant,  Mr.  Gardiner  was  Thomas  Gardiner  and  Mr. 
Scruggs  was  Thomas  Scruggs.  This  committee  was 
the  prototype  of  the  Board  of  Selectmen  of  a  later 
period.  There  had  been  previously  chosen,  on  the 
16th  of  the  9th  month  (November),  1635,  a  committee 
consisting  of  Captain  William  Traske,  John  Wood- 
berry,  Mr.  Conant,  Jeffry  Massy  and  John  Balshe  as 
"overseers  &  Layers  out  of  Lotts  of  ground  for  this 
presinct  of  Salem,  but  are  to  have  directions  from  y* 
t'^wne  where  they  shall  lay  y"  out,  and  in  leiwe  of  y'' 
paynes  they  are  to  have  4d.  the  acre  for  small  lotts, 
and  IDs.  the  hundred  for  great  lotts  rightly  &  exactly 
laid  out  &  bounded ;  and  3  of  these  may  doe  the 
worke." 

There  had  also  been  appointed  in  the  latter  part  of 
March,  1636,  a  committee  of  thirteen,  whose  names 
are  not  given,  who  were  called  "  the  towne  represent- 
ative," but  the  committee  of  twelve  above  referred  to 
seems  to  have  been  the  first  committee  with  the  broad 
powers  delegated  to  it  of  managing  the  affairs  of  the 
town.  The  meetings  of  this  committee  are  called  in 
the  records  town  meetings,  and  by  their  direction  in- 
habitants were  admitted,  lands  granted,  raters  were 
chosen  and  the  general  business  of  the  town  was  con- 
ducted. At  the  meeting  of  the  committee  held  on 
the  20th  of  the  10th  month  (December),  1637,  John 
Endicott  appears  as  a  member,  and  on  the  29th  of  the 
8th  month  (October),  1638,  Mr.  Fisk,  but  whether 
John,  or  William,  or  Phineas,  does  not  appear. 

At  a  general  town  meeting  held  the  31st  of  the  10th 
month  (December),  1638,  seven  men  were  chosen 
"for  the  managing  of  the  affaires  of  the  towne  for  a 
twelve  moneths,  viz. :  Mr.  Endecott,  Mr.  Hathorne, 
Mr.  Conant,  John  Woodbury,  Laurence  Leech,  Jeffry 
Massy  and  John  Balch."  Under  date  of  the  11th 
month  (January),  1639-40,  it  is  recorded  that  "  the 
ould  Seaven  men  continewed  still."  The  next  year 
the  committee  consisted  of  the  same  persons,  and  in 
1642  of  Mr.  Endicott,  Mr.  Hathorne,  Mr.  Massy,  Peter 
Palfrey,  Laurence  Leech,  Mr.  Gardiner  and  William 
Lord.  In  1643  Henry  Bartholomew  was  substituted 
for  Mr.  Leech,  and  at  the  meeting  at  which  the  new 
committee  was  chosen,  held  the  4th  of  the  10th  month 
(December),  1642,  it  was  ordered  "that  the  seaven 
men  chosen  for  the  managing  of  the  affiiires  of  the 
towne,  or  the  greater  number  of  them,  shall  meete  to- 


SALEM. 


163 


gether  monethlie  one  the  second  day  of  the  weeke, 
in  the  morninge,  to  begine  the  second  day  the  weeke 
next  being  the  11th  of  the  10th  mo.,  1643,  upon  the 
penaltie  of  tenne  shillings,  to  be  leavied  one  the  whole 
or  upon  such  of  them  as  are  absent  w*  out  just 
ground." 

Up  to  this  date  while  the  meetings  of  the  freemen 
of  the  town  were  called  general  town  meetings,  those 
of  the  seven  men  were  called  particular  town  meet- 
ings. After  this  date  they  were  called  "meetings 
of  the  7  men,"  or  "town  meetings  of  the  7  men."  In 
1644-45  the  same  persons  served  as  the  committee, 
and  in  1646  eight  men  were  chosen,  viz.:  Captain 
Hathorne,  William  Lord,  John  Hardey,  Mr.  Corwine, 
Sergeant  Porter,  Samuel  Archer,  Ed.  Batter  and 
William  Gierke.  In  1647  William  Hathorne,  Edmond 
Batter,  George  Corwin,  Jeffry  M;issy,  John  Porter, 
Henry  Bartholomew  and  Emanuel  Downing  made  up 
the  board  of  seven  men,  and  about  this  time  their 
meetings  were  sometimes  called  meetings  of  the 
"  townsmen." 

From  this  date  the  seven  men  were  called  select- 
men, and  the  following  is  a  list  of  selectmen  down  to 
the  incorporation  of  the  city  in  1836  : 


1648. 

Win.  Hathorne. 

Wm.  Browne. 

Thomas  Gardiner. 

Roger  Conant. 

Thomas  Lathrop. 

Henry  Bartholomew. 

John  Porter. 
1649. 

Wm.  Hathorne. 

Wm.  Browne. 


Jeffry  Massy. 
Walter  Price. 
Edmond  Batter. 
1654. 
George  Corwin. 
Koger  Conant. 
Jolm  Porter. 
John  Gedney. 
Richard  Prince. 
Jeffry  Massy. 
Edmond  Batter. 


Roger  Conant.  1655. 

Jeft'ry  Massy.  George  Corwin. 
Henry  Bartholomew.      John  Porter. 

George  Corwin.  Jacob  Barney. 

Walter  Price.  Jeffry  Massy. 

1650.  Thomas  Gardiner. 
Wm.  Hathorne.  Jno.  Gedney. 
Emanuel  Bowing.  Edmond  Batter. 
George  Corwin.  1656. 

Jeffry  Massy.  Wm.  Hathorne. 

Roger  Conant.  Thomas  Gardiner. 

Walter  Price.  Wm.  Browne. 
Henry  Bartholomew.      George  Corwin. 

1651.  John  Porter. 
Wm.  Hathorne.  Jeffry  Massy. 
Roger  Conant.  Edmond  Batter. 
John  Porter.  1657. 

Jeffry  Massy.  Wm.  Browne. 
Henry  Bartholomew.      Gsorge  Corwin. 

Wm.  Browne.  John  Porter. 

George  Corwin.  Jacob  Barney. 

1652.  Richard  Prince. 
Wm.  Hathorne.  Jeffry  Massy. 
Roger  Conant.  Walter  Price. 
John  Porter.  1658. 

Walter  Price.  Wm.  Hathorne. 

Jacob  Barney.  Roger  Conant. 

George  Corwin.  Thomas  Lathrop. 

Edmond  Batter.  Edmond  Batter. 

1653.  Jos.  Boice. 
George  Corwin.  1659. 

Wm.  Hathorne.  Wm.  Hathorne. 

Roger  Conant.  George  Corwin. 

John  Porter.  Walter  Price. 


Wm.  Browne. 

Edmond  Batter. 
1660. 

Wm.  Browne. 

George  Corwin. 

Walter  Price. 

Roger  Conant. 

Thomas  Lathrop. 

Edmond  Batter. 

John  Porter. 
1661. 

Wm.  Browne. 

Wm.  Hathorne. 

George  Corwin. 

John  Porter. 

Roger  Conant. 

Walter  price. 

Edmond  Batter. 
1662. 

Wm.  Hathorne. 

Wm.  Browne. 

George  Corwin. 

Walter  Price. 

Edmond  Batter. 

John  Porter. 

Henry  Bartholomew. 
1663. 

Wm.  Hathorne. 

Wm.  Browne. 

George  Corwin. 

Walter  Price. 

Edmond  Batter. 

George  Gardiner. 

Henry  Bartholomew. 
1664. 

Wm.  Hathorne. 

Wm.  Browne. 

George  Corwin. 

Walter  Price. 

Thomas  Lathrop. 

Edmond  Batter. 

Henry  Bartholomew. 
1665. 

Wm.  Hathorne. 

Wm.  Browne. 


George  Corwin. 

Edmond  Batter. 

Thomas  Lathrop. 

Walter  Price. 
1660. 

Wm.  Hathorne. 

Wm.  Browne. 

George  Corwin. 

Edmond  Batter. 

Thomas  Lathrop. 

George  Putnam. 

Walter  Price. 
1667. 

W^m.  Browne. 

John  Porter. 

Nathaniel  Putnam. 

George  Putnam. 


John  Pickering. 
.John  Price. 
1676. 

Edmond  Batter. 
John  Corwin. 
Wm.  Browne,  Jr. 


Israel  Porter. 
Wm.  Porter. 
Samuel  Gardiner. 
Timothy  Lindall. 
Wm.  Hirst. 
1686. 


Samuel  Gardiner,  Sr.  John  Ruck. 
Bartholomew  Gedney.    John  Price. 

John  Pickering.  John  Leech. 

John  Price.  Thomas  Gardiner. 

1677.  Samuel  Gardiner,  Sr. 

Jos.  Grafton.  Timothy  Lindall. 

Philip  Cromwell.  Wm.  Hirst. 
John  Higginson.           1687. 

Samuel  Gardiner,  Sr.  John  Price. 

Lieut.  Leach.  John  Ruck. 

Edward  Flint.  W^m.  Hirst. 


Humphrey  Woodbury    Wm.  Trask. 

John  Pickering.  1678. 

Edmond  Batter.  John  Corwin. 

1668.  Wm.  Browne. 
Wm.  Browne.  Philip  Cromwell. 
George  Corwin.  .lohn  Turner. 
George  Gardiner.  John  Higginson. 
.John  Corwin.  John  Hathorne. 
Benjamin  Gardiner.  1679. 
John  Pickering.  Jolm  Corwin. 
Edmond  Batter.  W'ni.  Browne. 

1669.  George  Corwin. 
George  Corwin.  John  Higginson. 
Edmond  Batter.  Philip  Cromwell. 
Bartholomew  Gedney.     Israel  Porter. 
John  Putnam.  John  Hathorne. 
John  Corwin.  1680. 
Wm.  Browne.  Edmond  Batter. 
John  Pickering.  John  Corwin. 

1070.  Wm.  Browne. 

Wm.  Hatliorne.  Samuel  Gardiner,  Sr. 

AVm.  Browne.  John  Putnam. 

John  Porter.  Israel  Port;r. 

Henry  Bartholomew  John  Hathorne. 

Jos.  Grafton,  Sr.  1081. 

George  Gardiner.  John  Corwin. 

W'm.  Browne,  Jr.  Wm.  Browne. 

1671.  John  Price. 
Wra.  Hathorne.  Samuel  Gardiner,  Sr. 
Wm.  Browne.  Israel  Porter. 
George  Corwin.  John  Pickering. 
Edmond  Batter.  John  Hathorne. 
Walter  Price.  1G82. 
John  Putnam.  John  Corwin. 
Walter  Price,  Jr.  Samuel  Gardiner,  Sr. 

1672.  John  Price. 
Wm.  Browne.  John  Hathorne. 
Henry  Bartholomew.      .John  Pickering. 
John  Corwin.  Samuel  Gardiner,  Jr. 
Bartholomew  Gedney.     John  Higginson. 
Edmond  Batter.  Israel  Porter. 

1673.  1683. 
Wm.  Hathorne.  Samuel  Gardiner,  Sr.      Robert  Kitching. 
George  Corwin.  John  Price.  1693. 

John  Corwin.  John  Hathorne.  Wm.  Hirst. 

Henry  Bartholomew.      John  Higginson.  Stephen  Sewall. 

Jos.  Grafton,  Sr.  John  Pickering.  Israel  Porter. 

Richard  Prince.  Israel  Porter.  Benjamin  Gerrish. 

1674.  Samuel  Gardiner,  Jr.      John  Pickering. 
Thomas  Lathrop.  1684.  Edward  Flint. 
George  Corwin.  Bartholomew  Gedney.     Robert  Kitching. 
John  Corwin.  John  Corwin.                1094. 

Jos.  Croswell.  John  Price.  Wm.  Hirst. 

John  Flint.  John  Ruck.  Stephen  Sewall. 

Nicholas  Manning.  Thomas  Gardiner.  Timothy  Lindall. 

1075.  Daniel  Andrew.  Edward  Flint. 

George  Corwin.  Samuel  Gardiner,  Jr.       Benjamin  Gerrish. 

Edmond  Batter.  1685.  Israel  Porter. 

John  Corwin.  Bartholomew  Gedney.     Samuel  Browne. 

Wm.  Browne,  Jr.  John  Higginson.  1695. 

John  Putnam.  John  Ruck.  Wni.  Hirst. 


John  Higginson. 

Samuel  Gardiner. 

Robert   Kitching. 

1688. 

John  Putnam. 

Nathniiel  Putnam. 

Edward  Flint. 

i 
John  Higginson. 

John  Price. 

Thomas  Gardiner. 

Samuel  Gardiner,  Jr. 
1689. 

John  Pntnam. 

John  Pickering. 

Israel  Porter. 

Captain  Sewall. 

Wm.  Hirst. 

Benjamin  Gerrish. 

Samuel  Gardiner. 
1690. 

Stephen  Sewall. 

John  Pickering. 

Israel  Porter. 

Wm.  Hirst. 

Samuel  Gardiner. 

Daniel  .\ndrew. 

Benjamin  Gerrish. 
1691. 

Israel  Porter. 

Thomas  Flint. 

Benjamin  Marston. 

Josiah  Wolcott. 

Manasseh  Marston. 

Robert  Kitching. 

Daniel  Parkman. 
1092. 

Samuel  Gardiner. 

Stephen  Sewall. 

Israel  Porter. 

John  Putnam. 

John  Pickering. 

Edward  Flint. 


164 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Israel  Porter. 
Samuel  Browne. 
Stephen  Sewall. 
Timothy  Lindall. 
Benjamin  Gerrish. 
Samuel  Gardiner. 
1090. 

Steijheri  Sewall. 
Israel  Porter. 
Samuel  Gardiner. 
AVm.  Hirst. 
Timothy  Lindall. 
Manasseh  Marston. 
John  Turner. 
1097. 

Benjamin  Browne. 
John  Higginson. 
Win.  Hirst. 
Stephen  Sewall. 
Benjamin  Putnam. 
Edward  Billiard. 
Samuel  Nurse. 
1098. 
Benjamin  Browne. 
John  Higginson. 
Wm.  Hirst. 
Stephen  Sewall. 
Samuel  Browne. 
Benjamin  Gerrish. 
Josiah  Wolcott. 
1699. 

Josiali  Wolcott. 
Philiji  English. 
Daniel  Andrew. 
Edward  Flint. 
Jeremiah  Neale. 
Josepli  Putnam. 
Peter  Osgood. 
1700 

Wm.  Hirst. 
Stephen  Sewall. 
Samuel  Browne. 
Samuel  Gardiner. 
Daniel  Andrew. 
Joseph  Herrick. 
Daniel  Epes. 
1701. 

Wm.  Hirst. 

Samuel  Browne. 

Jona.  Putnam. 

Jos.  Herrick. 

.John  Higginson. 

Daniel  Epes. 

Stephen  Sewall. 
170i. 

Wm.  Hirst. 

Samuel  Gardiner. 

John  Higginson. 

Walter  Price. 

.John  Putnam. 

Jos.  Herrick. 

Daniel  Epes. 
1703.  Same. 
1704. 

Wm.  Hirst. 

Josiah  Wolcott. 

Walter  Price. 

John  Browne. 

John  Turner. 

Jona.  Putnam. 

Daniel  Epes. 
1705.  Same. 
1706. 

Samuel  Gardiner. 

Walter  Price. 

John  Turner. 

Tliomas  Flint. 


Peter  Osgood. 
Benjamin  Putnam. 
Daniel  Epes. 
1707. 

Josiah  Wolcott. 
Captain  Gardiner. 
Captain  Turner. 
Benjamin  Putnam. 
Jona.  Putnam. 
John  Higginson. 
Daniel  Epes. 
1708. 
Josiah  Wolcott. 
Samuel  Gardiner. 
John  Browne. 
John  TuruBr. 
Walter  Price. 
Benjamin  Putnam. 
Daniel  Epes. 
1709. 

Samuel  Gardiner. 
John  Turner. 
John  Higginson. 
Peter  Osgood. 
.John  Gardiner. 
Benjamin  Putnam. 
Jona.  Putnam. 
1710. 

Stephen  Sewall. 
Samuel  Gardiner. 
Jona.  Putnam. 
Benjamin  Putnam. 
Jos.  Orne. 
John  Pickering. 
.John  Gardiner. 
1711. 
Josiah  Wolcott. 
Walter  Price. 
Wm.  Gedney. 
Jos.  Putnam. 
John  Browne. 
James  Lindall. 
John  Trask. 
1712. 
Josiah  Wolcott. 
Benjamin  Lynde. 
Wm.  Gedney. 
Francis  Willoughby. 

Jos.  Putnam. 

John  Trask. 

M'alter  Price. 
1713. 

Benjamin  Lynde. 

Wni.  Gednej'. 

Francis  Willoughby. 

Peter  Osgood. 

Walter  Price. 

Abel  Gardiner. 

Jos.  Herriclc. 
1714. 

Wm.  Gedney. 

Peter  Osgood. 

Samuel  Gardiner. 

F.  Willoughby. 

^Vni.  Pickering. 

Walter  Price. 

Jos.  Herrick. 
1715. 

Stephen  Sewall. 

Captain  Pickering. 

Jos.  Orne. 

James  Moulton. 

Walter  Price. 

Philip  English. 

Jos.  Putnam. 
1716. 

Philip  English. 


Jos.  Orne. 

James  Moulton. 

Jos.  Herrick. 

Wm.  Pickering. 

John  Pickering. 

Jos  Putnam. 
1717. 

John  Pickering. 

Jos.  Orne. 

Wm.  Piclcering. 

Jos.  Putnam. 

James  Moulton. 

Samuel  Ruck. 

Thos.  Barton. 
1718. 

Wm.  Bowditch. 

Wm.  Pickering. 

James  Moulton. 

Jacob  Manning. 

Benjamin  Flint. 

Benj.  Gerrish. 

John  Putnam. 

1719.  Same  with  Tlios. 
Barton  for  J.  Putnam. 

1720.  Same. 
1721. 

Wm.  Bowditch. 

Jos.  WiUard. 

Benjamin  Flint. 

Benjamin  Gerrish. 

Thos.  Barton. 

John  Putnam. 

.Tames  Moulton. 
1722. 

Wm.  Bowditch. 

Daniel  Epes. 

Jos.  WiUard. 

Thos.  Fuller. 

Benjamin  Flint. 

Benjamin  Gerrish. 

Tlios.  Barton. 
1723. 

Wm.  Bowditch. 

Jacob  Manning. 

Daniel  Epes. 

Thomas  Fuller. 

John  Cabot. 

Jos.  Orne,  Jr. 

Thos.  Barton. 
1724. 

Jacob  Manning. 

Benjamin  Flint. 

Benjamin  Gerrish. 

Daniel  Epes. 

Thomas  Fuller. 

Jos.  Orne,  .Tr. 

Thomas  Barton. 
1725.  Same  witli  Wm. 
Bowditch  for  Mr. 
Gerrish. 
1726. 

Wm.  Bowditch. 

Jacob  Blanning. 

Benjamin  Flint. 

Jos.  Orne,  Jr. 

Thomas  Flint. 

Thorndike  Proctor. 

Thomas  Barton. 
1727. 

Same  with  Ichabod 
Plaisted  for    Mr. 
Manning. 
1728. 

Daniel  Epes. 

Jos.  Orne,  Jr. 

Thomas  Flint. 

Ichabod  Plaisted. 


Samuel  Barnard. 

Miles  Ward. 

Thomas  Barton. 
17i9.  Same. 
1730.  Same  with  John 
Higginson  for  Mr. 
Barton. 
1731. 

Thomas  Barton. 

Jos.  Orne,  Jr. 

Benjamin  Flint. 

Icliabod  Plaisted. 

Thorndike  Proctor. 

Samuel  King. 

John  Higginson. 
1732. 

Thomas  Barton. 

Daniel  Epes. 

Jos.  Orne,  Jr. 

Thorndike  Proctor. 

Ichabod  Plaisted. 

Miles  Ward. 

John  Preston. 

Samuel  Flint. 

John  Higginson. 
1733.  Same  with  Samuel 


Eben.  Moulton. 

Daniel  Marble. 

T.  Proctor. 

Saml.  West. 

Ezekiel  Marsh. 

Jos.  Putnam. 

John  Leach. 

John  Gardner. 
1741. 

Jos.  Putnam. 

John  Gardner. 

Ben.  Ives. 

John  Leach. 

Daniel  Marble. 

Benj.  Browne. 

Daniel  Epes. 

T.  Proctor. 

John  Clarke. 
1742. 

Captain  Pickman 

Benj.  Ives. 

Daniel  Epes. 

Col.  Bronne. 

Jos.  Putnam. 
1743. 

Benj.  Ivea. 


Browne  for  Ichabod 
Plaisted. 
1734. 

Thomas  Barton. 

Daniel  Epes. 

Jos.  Orne,  .Jr. 

Thorndike  Proctor. 

Thomas  Flint. 

Samuel  King. 

Ed.  Kitchen. 

Israel  Andrew. 

John  Higginson. 
1735. 

Thomas  Barton. 

Jos.  Orne,  Jr. 

Daniel  Epes. 

Ichabod  Plaisted. 

Thorndike  Proctor. 

John  Preston. 

Samuel  Flint. 


Benj.  Pickman. 

Daniel  Epes. 

Jos.  Putnam. 

Benj.  Browne. 
1744. 

Benj.  Pickman. 

John  Leach. 

Nathanl.  Andrew 

Daniel  Epes,  Jr. 

Benj.  Browne. 

Stephen  Putnam. 

Jolin  Higginson. 
1745. 

Benj.  Pickman. 

Daniel  Epes. 

Natlil.  Andrews. 

Benj.  Browne. 

James  Putnam. 

Wm.  Porter. 

John  Higginson. 
1746.  Same  with 


John  Turner,  Jr. 

John  Higginson.  Gardner  and  Thomas 

1736.  Same  with  Samuel  Lee  for  Mr.  Pickman. 
Barton  for  Thomas  1747.  Sams  with  James 
Barton.  Jeffrey  for  Mr.  Lee. 

1737.  Same  with  .Toshua  1748. 
Hicks  and    Samuel    Nathl.  Andrew 
Endicott    for    Orne 
and  Proctor. 


1738. 

Daniel  Epes. 

■John  Preston. 

Samuel  Flint. 

Samuel  Barton. 

Joshua  Hicks. 

Samuel  Endicott. 

Wm.  Lynde. 

Richard  Elvires. 

John  Higginson. 
1739. 

John  Higginson. 

Samuel  Flint. 

Samuel  Barton. 

John  Preston. 

Tliorndilce  Proctor. 

Daniel  Epes. 

Dr.  Cabot. 

Capt.  Pickman. 

Capt.  Ives. 
1740. 

Thomas  Flint. 


Jona  Gardner. 
James  Jeffrey. 
James  Putnam. 
T.  Proctor. 
John  Proctor,  Jr. 
Eben  Work. 
1749. 
T.  Proctor. 
Saml.  Gardner. 
AVarwick  Palfray. 
Saml.  King. 
Saml.  Holton. 
Eben  Work. 
John  Higginson. 


1753.  Same. 
1754. 

Joshua  Waru. 

T.  Proctor. 

Abraham  Watson. 

Timothy  Orne. 

Nathl.  Ropes. 

1755.  Same  with  John 
Nutting  for  Mr.  Ward. 

1756.  Same  with  Ste- 
phen Higginson  for 
Mr.  Nutting. 

1757.  Same. 

1758.  Saml.  Gardner. 
Nathl.  Ropes. 
Benj.  Goodhue. 
Benj.  Herbert. 
Jona  Ropes,  Jr. 

1759.  Same  with  Peter 
Frye  for  Nathl.  Ropes. 

(The  records  from  1760 

to  1764  are  missing.) 
1765. 

Saml.  Curwen. 

Wm.  Browne. 

Richard  Lee. 

Richard  Derby. 

Joseph  Blaney. 
1766. 

Jos.  Blaney. 

John  White,  Jr. 

Jona  Gardner,  Jr. 

Jeremiah  Hacker. 

T.  Proctor. 
1767. 

Jos.  Blaney. 

Benj.  Piclcman,  Jr. 

Jeremiah  Haclver. 

T.  Proctor,  Jr. 

David  Phippen. 
1768. 

Jos.  Blaney. 

Jona  Gardner,  Jr. 

David  Phippen. 

.Jeremiah  Hacker. 

Benj.  Osgood. 
Jona  1769. 

George  Williams. 

Jacob  Ashton. 

Saml.  Barton,  Jr. 

E.  H.  Derby. 
George  Dodge. 

1770.  Same  with  John 
Felt  for  Mr.  Ashton. 

1771.  Same. 

1772.  Same  with  John 
Gardner  for  Mr.  Derby 

1773. 

George  Dodge. 
George  Williams. 
John  Gardner. 
Henry  Gardner. 
Tim.  Pickering,  Jr. 

1774.  Same  with  Wm. 
Pickman,  and  Wil- 
liam Northey  for  Mr. 
Dodge. 


1750.  Same  with  Saml.  1775. 

Flint  for  Mr.  Holton.      Tim.  Pickering,  Jr 
1751. 


Jos.  Bowditch. 
Jona  Gardner. 
John  Leach. 
Abiaham  Watson 
John  Higginson. 
1752.  Same  with  T.  Proc- 


T.  Proctor. 
John  Hodges. 
Eben  Beckford. 
Joseph  Sprague 
1776. 
T.  Pickering,  Jr. 
John  Gardner  (3d). 


tor  for  Mr.  Higginson.     John  Hodges. 


SALEM. 


165 


Jona  Peele,  Jr. 

Eben  Beckford. 

Joseph  Sprague. 

Jacob  Ash  ton. 
17T7. 

Richard  Ward 

John  Gardner  (3d). 

Eben  Beckford. 

.Tacob  Ash  ton. 

Jona  Peele,  Jr. 
1778.  Same   with  Wil- 


E.  H.  Derby. 
1794. 
Jona.  Waldo. 
Jacob  Sanderson. 
E.  H.  Derby. 
Benj.  Ward,  Jr. 
Edward  Norris. 

1795.  Same. 

1796.  Same  with  Jona. 
Lambert  for  Mr.  Der- 
by. 


liamPickmanforMr.  1797.  Same  with  Xathl. 


Ward. 
1779.    Same. 
1780. 

Benj.  Goodhue,  Jr. 

Miles  Greenwood. 

John  Norris. 

Peter  Landen. 

John  Butlinton. 
1781. 

Saml.  Flagg. 

John  risk. 

Joshua  Ward. 

Jona.  Ingersoll. 

Jerathmel  Price. 
1782. 

Wm.  West. 

Joshua  Ward. 

John  Appleton. 

Francis  Cabot,  Jr. 

Jona  Waldo. 
1783.  Same  with   Wni. 


Kopes  for    Mr.   San- 
derson. 
1798.  Same  with  Amos 

Hovej'  for  Mr.  Ropes. 
1799. 

Jona.  Waldo. 

Benj.  Ward. 

Amos  Hovey. 

Saml  Ward. 

Jona.  Lambert. 

1800.  Same. 

1801.  Same  with  Jacob 
Sanderson  and  John 
Gardner  for  Messrs. 
Ward. 

180'2. 

John  Bufflnton. 
John  Hathorne. 
Jona.  Mason. 
Benj.  Ward.  Jr. 
Addison  Eichardson. 
Gray  for  Mr.  Waldo.  1803.  Same  with  John 
1784.  Same  with  Saml.      Punchard    for     Mr. 


Pierce  for  Blr.  Cabot. 

1785.  Same. 

1786.  Same. 
1787. 

John  Appleton. 

Joshua  Ward. 

Wni.  Gray. 

Saml.  Pierce. 

John  Fisk. 
1788. 

Wm.  Gray,  Jr. 

Edward  Pulling. 

.John  Hathorne, 

Saml.  Ward. 

Edward  Norris. 

John  Bufflnton. 

Wm.  Northey. 
1789. 

Wni.  Northey. 

John  Fisk. 

Kichard  Ward. 

Wm.  Gray. 

Saml.  Ward. 

Jona.  Waldo. 

John  Bufflnton. 
1790.  Wm.  Northey. 

.Joseph  Sprague. 

Geo.  Crowninshield. 

Nathl.  Richardson. 

John  Hathorne. 
1791.  Edward  Norris. 

John  Hathorne. 

Nathl.  Richardson. 

Jona.  Waldo. 

Nehemiah  Buflinton. 

1792.  Same  with  Jos. 
Sprague  for  Mr.  Buf- 
fington. 

1793.  Eben  Putnam. 
John  Saunders,  Jr. 
Wm.  Gray,  Jr. 
Joseph  White. 


Mason. 
1804.  Same  with  Moses 

Townsend    for    Mr. 

Punchard. 
1805. 

John  Hathorne. 

Benj.  Ward,  Jr. 

Addison  Richardson. 

Moses  Townsend. 

Nehemiah  Bufflnton. 
18(j6. 

Jona.  IMason. 

.John  Hathorne. 

B.  Ward,  Jr. 

Samuel  Ropes. 

Henry  Prince. 
1807. 

John  Hathorne. 

Moses  Townsend. 

James  Cheever. 

Benj.  Crowninshield. 

Benj.  Ropes. 
1808. 

John  Hathorne. 

Moses  Townsend. 

Benj.  Ropes. 

George  S.  Johonnot. 

Joseph  Ropes. 
1809. 

Moses  Townsend. 

Joseph  Ropes. 

Samuel  Ropes. 
Edward  Allen. 

Joseph  Winn. 
1810. 

Moses  Townsend. 
Joseph  Winn. 

Jona.  Neal,  Jr. 
Joshua  Ward. 
Benj.  Crowninshield, 
1811. 

Moses  Townsend. 


Joshua  Ward. 
B.  W.  Crowninshield. 
Thos  M.Woodbridge. 
Joseph  Ropes. 
1812. 

Samuel  Ropes. 
Abel  Lawrence. 
Philip  Chase. 
Wm.  Mansfield. 
Michael  Webb. 

1813.  Same. 

1814.  Same. 
1815. 

Samuel  Ropes. 

Abel  Lavvi'ence. 

Wm.  Mansfield. 

Abijah  Northey. 

Benj.  H.  Hathorne. 
1816. 

Moses  Townsend. 

Joseph  Winn. 

Joseph  Ropes. 

John  Crowninshield. 

Henry  Elkins. 
1817. 

Wm.  Mansfield. 

Michael  Webb. 

Moses  Townsend. 

Saml.  Endicott. 

Josepli  Ropes. 
1818. 

Wm.  Mansfield. 

Wm.  Fettyplace. 

Saml.  Endicott. 

Gideon  Barstow. 

John  Prince,  Jr. 
1819. 

Saml.  Endicott. 

John  Crowninshield. 

John  Andrews. 

John  Howard. 

Perley  Putnam. 

1820.  Same. 

1821.  Same  with  James 
Silver  for  Mr.  Crown- 
inshield. 

1822, 

Perley  Putnam. 

James  Silver. 

Willard  Peele. 

Timothy  Bryant. 

Abijah  Northey. 
1823. 

Perley  Putnam. 

Tim.  Bryant. 

Andrew  Tucker. 

John  Stone. 

George  Hodges. 
1824. 

Perley  Putnam. 

John  Stone. 

Andrew  Tucker. 

Wm.  Proctor. 

Benj.  Fabens. 
1825.  Same  with  Joseph 

Howard  for  Mr.  Proc- 
ter. 
1820. 

Perley  Putnam. 

Andrew  Tucker. 

Benj.  Fabens. 

.Joseph  Howard. 

John  Foster. 
1827. 

Andrew  Tucker. 

Benj.  Fabens. 

David  Moore. 


Perley  Putnam. 
N.  L.  Rogers. 

1828.  Same  with  Henry 
King  for  Mr.  Rogers. 

1829.  Same. 

1830.  Same  with  Nathl. 
Frothingham  for  Mr. 
Rogers. 

1831. 

Benj.  Fabens. 
Nathl.  Frothingham. 


Isaac  Newhall. 

Benj.  Blanchard. 

Jos.  Oloutman. 
1832.  Same  with  Henry 

Whipple  for  Mr.  Fa- 
bens. 
18.33. 

Nathl.  Frothingham. 

N.  L.  Rogers. 

Joseph  Beadle. 

David  Pingree. 


Holteii  J.  Breed. 
1834. 

Nathl.  Frothingham. 

Nehemiah  Brown. 

Samuel  Holman. 

Perley  Putnam. 

George  Peabody. 
1835.  Same   with  John 

Stone  for  Mr,  Froth- 
ingham. 


The  meetings  of  the  town,  in  the  early  days  of  the 
colony,  were  held  in  the  meeting-house  of  the  First 
Parish.  The  church  and  the  town  were  practically 
identical  and  the  name  meeting-house  was  derived  from 
the  fact  that  it  was  the  general  place  of  meeting,  not 
alone  on  Sunday,  but  on  all  public  occasions.  This 
meeting-house  stood  near  the  southeasterly  corner  of 
Washington  and  Essex  Streets,  and  was  erected  in 
1634.  About  the  year  1677,  a  building  for  town  pur- 
poses was  erected  in  the  middle  of  School,  now  Wash- 
ington Street,  near  what  is  now  Lynde  Street,  and 
facing  south.  The  upper  part  was  fitted  for  a  court- 
house, and  there  the  Court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer, 
organized  by  Governor  Phipp*,  in  1692,  for  the  trial 
of  the  witches,  was  held. 

Essex  County  was  established  May  10, 164?.,  and  on 
the  14th  of  November,  1644,  Salem  was  made  the 
shire  of  the  county ;  but  precisely  where  the  courts 
were  held  previously  to  1677,  is  not  definitely  known. 
It  is  probable,  however,  that  the  meeting-house  was 
used  as  a  court-house,  as  well  as  a  town-house.  A 
prison  was  erected  in  1668,  near  the  southwesterly 
end  of  the  meeting-houi-e,  and  this  fact  adds  force  to 
the  suggestion  that  the  meeting-house  was  used  for  a 
court-house. 

In  1719,  a  second  town  and  court-house  combined 
was  erected  on  School,  now  Washington  Street,  near 
the  southerly  end  of  the  railroad  tunnel.  In  this 
building  the  General  Court  met,  October  31,  1728, — 
April  2,  May  28  and  June  25, 1729,— by  order  of  Gov- 
ernor Burnet,  because  he  believed  that  undue  influ- 
ence was  exerted  in  Boston  against  a  grant  for  his 
salary. 

On  the  25th  of  May,  1774,  the  General  Court  was 
adjourned  by  Governor  Gage,  to  meet  at  Salem  on  the 
7th  of  June;  and  again  the  Salem  Town-house  be- 
came historic.  The  se.«sion  lasted  eleven  days,  during 
which  the  court  protested  against  its  removal  from 
Boston,  and  on  the  17th  passed  a  resolve  appointing 
James  Bowdoin,  Thomas  Cashing,  Samuel  Adams, 
John  Adams  and  Robert  Treat  Paine  delegates  to  the 
Congress  at  Philadeljihia,  "to  consult  upon  measures 
for  the  restoration  of  harmony  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  Colonies."  Upon  this  action.  Governor  Gage 
at  once,  on  the  same  day,  dissolved  the  court ;  and  so 
ended,  in  the  old  Town-house  in  Salem,  which  ought 
to  be  standing  to-day,  the  last  General  Court  iu  Mass- 
achusetts, under  a  Provincial  Governor. 

On  Thursday,  the  first  of  September,  writs  were 
issued  bv  the  Governor  for  a  new  court,  to  meet  at 


165a 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Salem  on  the  5th  of  October,  but  were  reCcalled  by 
proclamation.  The  Assembly  met  notwithstanding, 
and  organized  with  John  Hancock,  Chairman,  and 
Benjamin  Lincoln,  Clerk ;  and  on  the  7th  of  October 
voted  "  that  the  members  aforesaid  do  now  resolve 
themselves  into  a  Provincial  Congress,  to  be  joined 
by  such  other  persons  as  have  been  or  shall  be  chosen 
for  that  purpose,  to  take  into  consideration  the  dan- 
gerous and  alarming  situation  of  public  affairs  in  this 
province,  and  to  consult  and  determine  on  such  mea- 
sures as  they  shall  judge  will  tend  to  promote  the 
true  interest  of  His  Majesty  and  the  peace,  welfare 
and  prosperity  of  the  province." 

After  this  action,  the  Congress  adjourned  to  Con- 
cord, where  it  was  more  formally  organized  by  the 
election  of  Mr.  Hancock,  President,  and  Mr.  Lincoln, 
Secretary ;  and  after  several  sessions  in  Concord  and 
Cambridge,  finally  dissolved.  Thus  the  old  Town- 
house again  became  memorable,  and  was  not  only  the 
scene  of  the  last  act  under  the  old  dispensation,  but 
the  scene  also  of  the  first  act  under  the  new. 

In  1785,  another  building  was  erected  for  the  joint 
use  of  the  town  and  county,  in  the  middle  of  Wash- 
ington Street,  nearly  opposite  the  Tabernacle  Church, 
and  town  meetings  were  there  held  until  the  erection, 
in  1816,  of  the  Town  House  in  Derby  Square,  which 
was  used  until  the  incorporation  of  the  city  in  183G. 

The  second  prison  was  built  in  1684,  near  the  corner 
of  Federal  and  St.  Peter's  Streets,  and  the  present 
prison  was  built  in  1813. 

The  lands  within  the  territory  of  Salem  were  origi- 
nally held  by  the  freemen  of  the  town,  and  all  grants 
were  made  by  them.  The  historical  sketch  of  Salem 
by  Charles  S.  Osgood  and  H.  M.  Batchelder,  pub- 
lished in  1879,  says  that, — 

"With  increasing  population,  this  method  of  holding  the  lands  be- 
came unwieldy  and  cumbersome,  and  in  1713  the  then  owners  of  the 
common  lands  under  the  province  laws  became  organized  into  a  quasi 
corporation  with  the  title  of  Commoners.  In  1713  the  commoners 
granted  all  the  highways  and  burying-places  and  common  lands  lying 
within  the  town  biidge  and  block -houses  to  remain  forever  for  the  use  of 
the  town  of  Salem,  and  the  Common  was  then  dedicated  forever  as  a 
training-field.  In  1714  the  commoners,  at  a  meeting  held  at  the  meet- 
ing-house of  the  first  parish  in  Salem,  voted  that  Winter  Island  be 
wholly  removed  and  granted  for  the  use  of  the  fishing  rights  to  use  the 
same  to  be  let  by  the  Selectmen  of  Salem  ;  and  the  same  year  the  Neck 
lands  were  granted  and  reserved  to  the  town  of  Salam  for  a  pasture  for 
milch  cows  and  riding  horses,  the  same  to  be  fenced  at  the  town's 
charge. 

"In  1722-23,  Feb.  26,  the  grand  Committee  of  the  commoners  who 
had  charge  of  affairs  reported  the  whole  number  of  rights  to  be  1132, 
and  the  number  of  acres  held,  3733.  Several  distinct  proprietaries  were 
formed  under  an  act  of  the  colonial  legislature  ;  and  the  commoners  of 
the  two  lower  parishes  having  790  rights  and  2500  acres  of  land  lying 
between  Spring  Pond  and  Forest  Biver,  organized  themiselves  into  a 
corporation.  This  organization  continued  until  1855,  when  they  were 
incorporated  into  the  Great  Pasture  Company,  and  by  that  company  the 
last  of  the  common  lands,  about  400  acres  in  extent,  are  now  held." 

The  training-field  referred  to  in  the  above  extract 
was  at  the  time  of  its  grant  an  uneven  and  spongy 
piece  of  ground,  scarcely  fit  for  the  use  to  which  it 
was  dedicated  until  1801,  when  Elias  Hasket  Derby, 
the  colonel  of  the  militia,  raised  about  two  thousand 


five  hundred  dollars  by  subscription  and  put  it  in  or- 
der. In  1802  it  was  named  by  the  selectmen  Wash- 
ington Square,  and  it  is  now  enclosed  by  an  iron  fence, 
within  which  are  two  rows  of  trees,  mostly  elms. 

In  the  early  part  of  1836  a  determined  effort  was 
made  to  change  the  town  government  for  that  of  a 
city.  The  population  of  the  town,  which,  according 
to  the  census  of  1830,  was  13,886,  had  then  probably 
reached  15,000.  Its  property  valuation  the  year  be- 
fore was  !5^8,250,000,  and  the  amount  raised  by  taxa- 
tion for  county  and  town  expenses  was  $40,391.31. 
The  amount  of  tonnage  of  vessels  owned  in  the  dis- 
trict, which  included  Beverly,  was  34,906,  consisting 
of  30  ships,  12  barks,  70  brigs,  124  schooners  and  14 
sloops.  The  expression  of  the  town  was  that  of  a 
city,  except  so  far  as  its  form  of  government  was  con- 
cerned. It  had  a  police  court,  of  which  Elisha  Mack 
was  the  judge,  and  Ezekiel  Savage  and  Joseph  G. 
Waters  were  the  special  justices.  Its  lawyers  were 
Leverett  Saltonstall,  Benjamin  Merrill,  John  Glen 
King.  Larkin  Thorndike,  Solomon  S.  Whipple, 
Ebenezer  Shillaber,  Joseph  G.  Waters,  Asahel  Hun- 
tington, Stephen  P.  Webb,  David  Koberts,  George 
Wheatland,  Nathaniel  J.  Lord,  Charles  A.  Andrews, 
Francis  H.  Silsbee,  George  H.  Devereux,  John  S. 
Williams,  Joseph  H.  Prince  and  Jonathan  C.  Per- 
kins. Its  physicians  were  Oliver  Hubbard,  Joseph 
Torrey,  Samuel  Johnson,  Abel  L.  P^erson,  George 
Choate,  John  G.  Treadwell,  Edward  A.  Holyoke, 
Benjamin  Cox,  Elisha  Quimby,  Nathaniel  Peabody 
Dentist,  A.  J.  Bellows  and  Horatio  Robinson. 

It  had  seventeen  churches  and  chapels,  eight  stock 
banks,  with  a  combined  capital  of  one  million  eight 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  one  savings  bank, 
five  stock  insurance  companies  with  a  combined  capital 
of  eight  hundred  thousand  dollars,  one  Mutual  Fire  In- 
surance Company,  one  Latin  school,  one  English 
high  school,  seven  English  schools,  one  of  which  was 
for  colored  children,  two  girls'  high  schools,  seven 
primary  schools  and  forty-seven  private  schools.  It 
had  also  among  the  libraries  the  Salem  Atheneura  with 
seven  thousand  five  hundred  volumes,  the  Essex  and 
another  circulating  library  with  six  thousand  volumes, 
the  Salem  Mechanic  Association's  Library  with  seven 
hundred  and  fifty  volumes,  the  Colman  Circulating 
Library  with  five  hundred  volumes  and  the  Essex 
Historical  Society  Library.  In  the  fire  department 
there  were  one  receiving  and  eight  suction  engines, 
one  hose  company,  one  hook  and  ladder  company  and 
three  sail  carriages,  and  there  were  in  the  militia 
the  Salem  Light  Infantry,  the  Mechanic  Light  In- 
fantry, the  Salem  Artillery,  the  Salem  Independent 
Cadets  and  four  companies  of  infantry  of  the  line. 
The  newspapers  at  that  time  were  the  Salem  Gazette, 
issued  semi-weekly,  Tuesday  and  Friday,  started  in 
1773;  the  Essex  Register,  semi-weekly,  Monday  and 
Thursday,  established  in  1800;  the  Salem  Observer, 
weekly,  Saturday,  established  in  1822;  the  Salem 
Mercury,  weekly,  Wednesday,  established  in    1831  ; 


SALEM. 


165b 


the  Commercinl  Advertiser,  weekly,  Wednesday,  es- 
tablished in  1832;  and  the  Landmark,  semi-weekly, 
Wednesday  and  Saturday,  established  in  1834. 

At  that  time  railroad  connections  had  not  been 
made  and  the  following  facilities  for  travel  were  open 
to  the  people  of  Salem.  The  Salem  and  Boston  Stage 
Company  advertised  that  seats  could  be  taken  at  the 
Lafayette  Coffee  House,  Salem  Hotel,  at  the  office  in 
Court  Street,  and  at  the  office  in  West  Place,  and 
that  three  stages  would  leave  at  seven  A.  M,  two  at 
7j,  one  at  eight,  one  at  nine,  one  at  ten,  one  at  two 
P.  M.,  one  at  Ij  and  one  at  four  P.  M.,  all  returning 
the  same  day.     On  Sunday,  one  at  four  P.  M. 

Osborne's  Line  left  the  office  on  Essex  Street, 
nearly  ojjposite  the  market,  daily,  except  Sunday,  at 
seven  A.  M.,  returning  in  the  afternoon. 

The  stages  of  the  Great  Eastern  Line  left  the  Cof- 
fee House  for  Boston  at  10^  A.  M.,  ^  P.  M.,  3J  P.  M., 
and  4  and  6  P.  M. 

Besides  this  there  were  the  Gloucester,  and  Beverly, 
and  Manchester,  and  Marblehead,  and  Lynn  stages. 

At  a  town-meeting  held  on  the  29th  of  January, 
1836,  "  to  act  on  the  petition  of  George  Peabody  and 
others  to  ascertain  the  sense  of  the  town  in  relation 
to  the  adoption  of  a  city  form  of  government  and  to 
take  any  measure  in  relation  thereto."  Leverett  Sal- 
tonstall  was  chosen  moderator.  It  was  voted  on  mo- 
tion of  Elias  Hasket  Derby  '"'  that  a  committee  of 
three  be  chosen  from  each  ward,  who,  together  with 
the  selectmen,  shall  be  a  committee  to  take  the  sub- 
ject into  consideration  and  to  report  at  an  adjourn- 
ment of  this  meeting  as  to  the  expediency  of  adopt- 
ing a  city  form  of  government,"  and  the  following 
were  chosen  to  serve  on  the  committee : 


Ward  1.  Thomas  Farless. 

Joseph  G.  Waters. 

Joseph  Hudges. 
Ward  2.  llulton  J.  Breed. 

Nathl.  Silsbee,  Jr. 

J.  T.  Andrew. 


Ward  3.  Jos  S.  Cabot. 

Wm.  B.  Pike. 

Leverett  Saltonstall. 
Ward  4.  N.  L.  Rogers. 

Michael  Shepard. 

Eben  Symonds. 

The  town  at  that  time  had  been  divided  into  dis- 
tricts or  wards  under  the  provisions  of  law  now  con- 
tained in  the  thirty-fourth  chapter  of  the  General 
Statutes. 

At  the  adjourned  meeting  held  on  the  15th  of  Feb- 
ruary it  was  voted  in  accordance  with  the  report  of 
the  committee  that  it  was  expedient  to  adopt  a  city 
form  of  government,  and  that  the  committee  with  six 
added,  be  instructed  to  draw  up  and  submit  to  the 
Legislature  an  act  for  that  purpose,  which  shall  not 
take  effect  unless  accepted  by  the  people.  Joseph 
Peabody,  Benjamin  Merrill,  Gideon  Barstow,  Eben 
Shillaber,  Isaac  Cushing  and  Nathaniel  J.  Lord  were 
added  to  the  committee. 

An  act  "  to  establish  the  city  of  Salem  "  was  ap- 
proved by  Edward  Everett,  Governor,  March  23, 1836, 
and  warrants  were  at  once  issued  for  a  town-meeting 
to  be  held  April  4th.  At  this  meeting  Benjamin 
Merrill  was  chosen  moderator,  and  on  the  question 
of  the  acceptance  of  the  charter  eight  hundred  and 


two  votes  were  cast,  of  which  six  hundred  and  seven- 
teen were  in  the  affirmative.  On  the  25th  of  April  an 
election  was  held  for  mayor,  six  aldermen  and  twenty- 
four  members  of  the  council.  Of  1104  votes  for  mayor 
Leverett  Saltonstall  received  752 ;  Perley  Putnam, 
260;  George  Peabody,  56;  and  David  Putnam,  36. 
The  organization  of  the  government  took  place  in  the 
Tabernacle  Church,  on  Monday,  May  9th,  when, 
after  a  prayer  by  Rev.  Dr.  Brazer  and  the  administer- 
ing of  the  oath  of  office  by  David  Cummins,  one  of 
the  justices  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  the  mayor 
delivered  his  address.  Thus  the  second  incorporated 
city  in  the  Commonwealth  entered  upon  its  career. 
Boston  had  been  incorporated  only  fourteen  years  be- 
fore, February  22,  1822,  and  Lowell,  the  third  city, 
was  incorporated  less  than  a  month  afterwards,  on 
the  1st  of  April,  1836. 

It  is  not  pre  posed  in  this  chapter,  somewhat  dis- 
jointed and  fragmentary  in  its  character,  to  enter  into 
any  details  of  the  history  of  the  city.  It  is  intended 
merely  to  supply  such  deficiencies  as  other  chapters 
covering  various  specified  departments  necessarily 
leave. 

It  was  not  until  December,  1837,  that  any  move- 
ment was  made  towards  the  adoption  of  a  city  seal. 
On  the  18th  of  that  month  an  order  was  introduced 
into  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  providing  for  the  ap- 
pointment of  two  members  with  such  as  the  Council 
might  join  to  consider  and  report  upon  the  expedien- 
cy of  procuring  a  seal.  The  Council  concurred,  and 
on  the  19th  of  February,  1838,  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Aldermen  an  ordinance  was  introduced  providing 
that  a  device  should  be  adopted  with  the  word  Salem 
in  the  centre,  inclosed  in  an  olive  wreath,  and  in  a 
circle  round  the  margin  the  words  "  Founded  Sept^, 
1628.  City  Incorporated,  1836."  This  ordinance  was 
passed  by  the  Aldermen  on  the  date  of  its  introduc- 
tion, but  in  the  Council  it  was  referred  on  the  5th  of 
March  to  its  committee  on  the  seal,  who  on  the  12th 
reported  a  recommendation  which  was  adopted  that 
the  further  consideration  of  the  ordinance  be  referred 
to  the  next  City  Council.  On  the  9th  of  April,  1838, 
the  ordinance  was  taken  from  the  files  and  referred 
to  a  joint  special  committee,  consisting  of  Aldermen 
Peabody  and  Holman,  and  Councilmen  Oliver,  Put- 
nam and  Hunt.  Mr.  George  Peabody  submitted  a  de- 
vice to  the  committee  of  which  he  was  the  chairman, 
which  with  some  alterations  was  approved.  On  the 
25th  of  February,  1839,  the  committee  through  Henry 
K.  Oliver,  chairman,  on  the  part  of  the  Council  re- 
ported to  the  Council  "  an  ordinance  to  establish  the 
City  Seal."  Be  it  ordained  by  the  City  Council  of  the 
city  of  Salem  that  the  following  be  the  device  of  the 
seal  of  said  city,  to  wit:  In  the  centre  thereof  a  shield 
bearing  upon  it  a  shij)  under  full  sail,  approaching  a 
coast,  designated  by  the  costume  of  the  person  stand- 
ing upon  it  and  by  the  trees  near  him,  as  a  portion  of 
the  East  Indies  ;  beneath  the  shield  this  motto, 
"Divitis  Indite  usque  ad  ultimum  sinum,"  signifying 


165c 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


"To  the  farthest  port  of  the  rich  east,"  and  above  the 
shield  a  dove  bearing  an  olive  branch  in  her  mouth. 
In  the  circumference  encircling  the  shield  the  woi'ds: 

"  Solyma  condita,  1628. 
Salem  founded,  1G28." 

"  Civitatis  regimine  donata,  1636. 
Incorporated  as  a  City,  1836." 

The  ordinance  was  recommitted  with  instructions 
to  ascertain  the  correct  date  of  the  settlement  of  the 
city,  but  finally  adopted  after  substituting  1626  for 
1628,  and  changing  Solyma  to  Salem.  The  commit- 
tee to  whom  the  date  of  settlement  was  referred  re- 
ported that  they  had  "  investigated  the  subject  and 
do  not  find  any  reason  for  changing  the  date  as  at 
present  aflixed  to  the  proposed  seal.  As  the  history 
of  the  settlement  of  the  town  is  so  well  known,  they 
do  not  think  it  necessary  to  bring  forward  all  the  facts 
in  relation  to  it.  The  whole  question  seems  to  turn 
upon  the  point  whether  the  settlement  is  to  date  from 
the  time  when  Roger  Conant,  Peter  Palfray  and  others 
came  here  in  1626,  and  built  a  few  houses,  but  with- 
out the  means  of  remaining,  or  the  time  in  1628, 
when  Endicott  came  out  with  colonists,  and  all  the 
means  necessary  for  founding  a  colony.  The  subject 
may  admit  of  some  argument,  but  the  committee  are 
of  opinion  that  it  would  be  better  to  fix  the  period  of 
foundation  of  the  town  as  it  has  been  generally  re- 
garded, and  will  be  found  stated  in  many  of  our  val- 
uable gazeteers  and  other  similar  books  in  1628,  as 
this  was  undoubtedly  the  first  permanent  settlement." 
This  report  was  signed  by  George  Peabody,  chairman, 
but  notwithstanding  its  recommendation  the  date  was 
changed  as  we  have  seen  to  1626,  and  the  seal  was 
finally  adopted  March  11,  1839,  nearly  three  years 
after  the  incorporation  of  the  city. 

The  introduction  of  water  into  Salem,  and  the  final 
evolution  of  its  present  water  system  cover  a  period 
of  more  than  sixty  years.  The  first  practical  scheme 
for  the  supply  of  water  for  the  inhabitants  of  Salem 
and  Danvers  was  conceived  in  1796.  About  that 
time  a  wave  of  excitement  swept  over  the  State  con- 
cerning the  supply  of  water  to  towns,  and  during  the 
last  five  years  of  the  last  century  a  number  of  water 
companies  were  incorporated.  Luther  Eames  and 
others,  of  Boston,  were  incorporated  Feb.  27,  1795 ; 
Lemuel  Stewart  and  others,  of  Williamstovvn,  Feb.  26, 
1796;  Theodore  Sedgwick  and  others,  of  Stockbridge, 
June  15,  1796 ;  John  Bacon  and  others,  of  Richmond, 
November  24,  1796;  Calvin  Whiting  and  others,  of 
Dedham,  June  15,  1796  ;  Chandler  Robbins  and 
others,  of  the  South  Parish  of  Hallowell,  then  in 
Massachusetts,  February  9,  1797 ;  Eli  Stearns  and 
others,  of  Lancaster,  February  14,  1797;  and  Wm. 
Davis  and  others,  of  Plymouth,  February  27,  1797. 

A  meeting  of  those  interested  in  the  scheme  was 
held  December  30,  1796,  at  the  Sun  Tavern,  and  those 
present  were  Abel  Lawrence,  William  Gray,  Jr., 
Samuel  Gray,  Joshua  Ward,  Ichabod  Nichols,  Wil- 
liam Orne,  Jerath  Pierce,  William  Lang,  Nathaniel 


West,  Jacob  Ashton,  Squiers  Shove,  John  Jenks,  Ed- 
ward Southwick,  Jonathan  Dean,  Joseph  Fenno, 
Benjamin  Carpenter,  Abner  Chase,  Philip  Chase, 
Aaron  Wait,  Jacob  Crowninshield,  Joseph  Aborn, 
James  Bott,  Edward  Pulling,  Folger  Pope,  John 
Gardner,  Jr.,  Samuel  Derby,  John  Norris  and  John 
Daland.  Mr.  Ashton  was  chairman,  and  John  Jenks 
clerk,  and  a  committee  was  appointed  consisting  of 
Edward  Southwick,  of  Danvers,  William  Gray,  Jr., 
and  Joshua  Ward,  of  Salem,  to  procure  an  act  of  in- 
corporation. A  charter  was  accordingly  obtained, 
dated  March  9th,  1797,  under  the  style  of  the  "  Pro- 
prietors of  the  Salem  and  Danvers  Aqueduct."  The 
charter  provided  that  the  towns  of  Salem  and  Dan- 
vers should  have  the  privilege  of  placing  conductors 
into  the  pij^es  for  the  purpose  of  drawing  such  water 
therefrom  as  might  be  necessary  "  when  any  mansion 
house  or  barn  or  other  building"  should  be  on  fire, 
without  paying  therefor. 

The  jiroprietors  organized  April  7,  1797,  by  the 
choice  of  William  Gray,  Jr.,  president ;  Jacob  Ash- 
ton, vice-president;  John  Jenks,  treasurer  ;  Joshua 
Ward  and  John  Norris,  of  Salem,  and  Edward  South- 
wick, of  Danvers,  directors.  Thomas  Nichols  was 
chosen  agent.  The  capital  was  fixed  at  ten  thousand 
dollars,  divided  into  a  hundred  shares  of  one  hundred 
dollars  each.  The  plant  of  the  company  consisted 
at  first  of  a  large  hogshead  sunk  into  the  spongy 
ground  in  the  neighborhood  of  Brown's  and  Spring 
Pond,  of  pine  logs  with  a  three  inch  bore,  and  a  res- 
ervoir on  Gallows  Hill,  ten  feet  deep  and  twenty-four 
feet  square.  The  works  were  completed  in  the  spring 
of  1799,  and  water  was  supplied  to  families  at  a  yearly 
rate  of  five  dollars.  This  rate  was  raised  the  next 
year  to  sixty  cents  per  month.  In  1802  a  new  foun- 
tain was  built  on  land  bought  of  William  Shillaber 
to  the  southwest  of  the  old  one,  and  the  supply  was 
sufiicient  to  enable  the  company  to  lead  a  pipe  to 
Gray's  Wharf  and  sell  water  to  the  shipping  at  twelve 
and  a  half  cents  per  hogshead. 

In  1804  the  old  logs  were  replaced  by  new  ones 
with  five-inch  bore  and  paiil  for  by  assessments  on 
the  shares  which,  up  to  1807,  amounted  to  two  hun- 
dred and  sixty-five  dollars  per  share,  or  twenty-six 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars  in  all.  In  1805  a  new 
tariff  of  rates  was  adojJted  similar  to  that  of  the  Bos- 
ton company,  to  wit : — 

For  a  family  of  five  persons Eight  dollars. 

For  a  family  of  six  and  less  than  twelve Ten        " 

For  a  family  of  twelve  or  upwards Twelve         " 

For  a  public  or  boarding  house Twelva        " 

For  a  West  India  Goods  Store,  from Eight  to  Twelve         " 

For  a  mansion  house  and  West  India  Goods  Sture  under  the  same  roof, 
to  be  supplied  from  one  tube Sixteen  dollars. 

Up  to  November,  1807,  the  comi^any  had  expended 
on  their  works,  including  lost  dividends,  forty-four 
thousand  one  hundred  dollars,  making  the  cost  of  the 
shares  four  hundred  and  forty-one  dollars  each.  In 
1810  William  Gray,  Jr.,  resigned  the  presidency,  and 
was  succeeded  by  Jacob  Ashton.     In  1816,  owing  to 


SALEM. 


165d 


a  deficiency  of  water,  all  branches  leading  to  manu- 
factories, bathing  houses  and  stables  were  cut  off,  and 
precautious  were  taken  against  waste.  At  a  date  not 
far  from  1817  another  reservoir  was  built  on  Sewall 
Street  with  a  capacity  of  twenty-two  thousand  gal- 
lons, and  uj)  to  1818,  from  1807,  regular  dividends, 
with  three  exceptions,  were  paid.  In  1819  an  ar- 
rangement was  made  with  the  Salem  Iron  Company 
to  erect  a  boring  mill,  and  for  the  first  time  the  logs 
were  bored  by  machinery.  During  the  period  ex- 
tending from  1818  to  1821  the  earnings  of  the  com- 
pany were  expended  in  laying  new  yellow  pine  logs, 
and  very  soon  after  arrangements  were  made  with  a 
view  of  connecting  the  pipes  by  iron  castings.  Up 
to  this  time  it  is  presumed  that  in  Salem  as  in  other 
places  one  end  of  the  log  was  tapered  down  and  driv- 
en into  its  fellow  log,  the  bore  of  which  had  been 
reamed  out  to  receive  it.  An  iron  band  encircled  the 
butt  of  each  log  to  prevent  splitting  when  driven 
into.  The  iron  connections  were  tubes  tapered 
slightly  on  the  outside  at  each  end  and  with  a  flange 
in  the  middle.  This  flange  served  two  purposes,  pre- 
venting unequal  entrances  of  the  two  ends  of  the 
tube,  and  when  settled  in  the  body  of  the  wood  by 
the  operation  of  driving  the  logs  home,  lessening  the 
danger  of  a  leak. 

In  the  winter  of  1829-30  Mr.  Ashton,  the  president, 
died,  and  Joseph  Peabody  took  his  place.  From  1821 
to  about  1834  the  affairs  of  the  company  went  on 
smoothly,  and  for  the  most  part  regular  dividends 
were  paid.  Little  complaint  was  heard  of  a  scarcity 
of  water,  but  this  was  owing  less  to  the  abundance 
of  supply  than  to  the  low  standard  of  people's  wants 
compared  with  those  of  to-day,  and  to  the  free  use  of 
pumps  and  wells  owned  either  by  individuals  or  the 
town.  In  1855  there  were  no  less  than  sixty  town 
pumps  in  various  streets,  of  which  the  following  is  a 
list:— 

Two  in  English  Sti'eet noar  Derby  Street. 

One  in  Derby  Street near  Turner  Street. 

Two  in  Derby  Street near  the  Custom  House. 

Two  in  Essex  Street near  Herbert  Street. 

Two  in  Neptune  Street near  Elm  Street. 

Two  in  Lilierty  Street near  the  Centre. 

Two  iu  Derby  Stjuare. 

Two  iu  Washington  Street corner  of  Esse.x  Street. 

Two  in  Bridge  Street near  Tleasant  Street. 

Two  at  foot  of  Central  Street. 

Two  iu  East  Street near  Essex  Street. 

Two  in  Essex  Street near  Daniels  Street. 

Two  in  Bath  Street near  Xewbury  Street. 

Two  iu  Brown  Street near  Winter  Street. 

Two  iu  St.  Peter  Street near  Brown  Street. 

Two  iu  Marlboro  Street near  the  Couit  House. 

Two  in  Jlill  Street near  Norman  Street. 

Two  in  Higli  Street near  tlie  Centre. 

One  in  Crombie  Street near  the  Centre. 

Two  iu  Essex  Street near  Summer  Street. 

Two  in  Essex  Street near  Haniiltou  Street. 

Two  iu  Essex  Street near  KUnt  Street. 

Two  in  Essex  Street near  Bnffnm's  Corner. 

One  in  Sewall  Street near  the  Centre. 

Two  in  Federal  Straet near  North  Street. 

Two  iu  Federal  Street near  Beokford  Street. 

Two  iu  Federal  Street near  Dean  Street. 

10^ 


Two  in  Boston  Street near  Federal  Street. 

Two  iu  Boston  Street near  Smith's  Store. 

Two  in  North  Salem. 

One  in  South  Salem near  Peabody  Street. 

Two  in  South  Salem near  Putnam's  Store. 

In  1834  an  act  of  iucorporation  was  obtained  by 
another  company,  but  its  operations  were  successfully 
checked  by  a  reduction  of  the  tariff,  and  no  action 
was  taken  under  its  charter.  In  the  same  year  a  six- 
mch  iron  pipe  was  laid  in  Essex  Street  from  North 
to  Newbury  Streets,  at  a  cost  of  five  thousand  dol- 
lars, which  sum  was  paid  out  of  the  earnings  of  the 
company.  At  various  other  times  new  pipes  were 
laid,  old  lines  of  pipe  extended  and  the  fountain  res- 
ervoirs improved  and  enlarged,  so  that  in  1844  it  was 
estimated  that  the  company  had  expended  one  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  on  their  works.  In  1849  the 
condition  of  the  company  had  become  so  perplexing, 
owing  to  increasing  demands  for  water  without  ade- 
quate means  of  supplying  it,  that  its  stockholders  be- 
came somewhat  discouraged.  At  this  juncture  the 
steam  cotton  mill  felt  greatly  the  need  of  water,  and 
its  proprietors  conceived  the  project  of  buying  up  the 
shares  of  the  Aqueduct  and  securing  control  of  the 
corporation.  The  result  was  a  revolution  in  the  or- 
ganization of  the  com2)any  and  the  election  of  a  new 
board  of  management,  consisting  of  William  D.  Wa- 
ters, president;  Ebenezer  Sutton,  vice-president;  and 
Joseph  S.  Leavitt,  John  Lovejoy,  William  Lummis 
and  C  M.  Endicott,  directors.  Under  the  new  man- 
agement the  number  of  shares  was  increased  to  one 
thousand  at  one  hundred  dollars  each,  a  line  of  pipe 
was  laid  to  Spring  Pond ;  the  capital  was  again  in- 
creased to  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  and  before 
the  summer  of  1850  an  iron  main  pipe  of  twelve 
inches  bore,  measuring  sixteen  thousand  one  hundred 
and  sixty-five  feet,  was  completed,  with  a  reservoir 
capable  of  holding  six  hundred  and  fifty-two  thou- 
sand gallons.  From  this  time  on  until  1860  improve- 
ments and  extensions  were  constantly  going  on,  iron 
pipes  replacing  the  decayed  wooden  ones  and  sources 
of  supply  being  enlarged  to  such  pro]>ortions  that  at 
the  last  mentioned  date  a  statement  of  the  affairs  of  the 
company  showed  a  capital  stock  of  two  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars,  forty  miles  of  pipe  including  branches, 
thirty-six  hundred  takers,  and  reservoirs  and  fountains 
of  one  million  one  hundred  thousand  gallons  capacity 
besides  Spring  Pond  of  fifty-nine  acres  as  a  reserve. 
But  still  the  supply  was  inadequate  to  meet  the  de- 
mand, and  in  18(55,  with  a  view  to  defeat  the  move- 
ment then  going  on  to  build  city  water-works,  a  con- 
nection was  made  with  Brown's  Pond,  and  a  sixteen- 
inch  main  laid  as  far  as  the  head  of  Federal  Street. 
But  the  movement  on  the  part  of  the  city  could  not 
be  checked, — it  went  successfully  on,  and  the  result 
was  the  retirement  of  the  old  company  and  the  use 
of  its  pipes  for  the  supply  of  the  adjoining  town  of 
Peabody. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  give  a  detailed  history  of  the 
present  water  system.     A  brief  sketch  will  be  sufli- 


165e 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


cient.  On  the  12th  of  October,  1863,  John  Bertram 
and  ninety-three  others  petitioned  the  City  Council 
"  to  take  the  necessary  measures  to  procure  from  the 
Legislature  power  to  establish  city  Avater-works."  On 
the  23d  of  November,  1863,  the  City  Council  chose  in 
convention,  Stephen  H.  Phillips,  James  B.  Curwen 
and  James  Uj^ton,  a  committee  to  collect  evidence 
showing  the  necessity  of  a  larger  supply  of  water  and 
submit  the  same  to  the  Legislature  in  support  of  the 
petition  which  the  mayor  had  been  directed  to  pre- 
sent when  action  was  taken  on  the  petition  of  Mr. 
Bertram.  The  petition  of  the  mayor,  supplemented 
by  a  second  petition,  asked  for  authority  to  take  water 
from  Humphrey's,  Brown's  and  Sirring  Ponds  and 
Wenham  Lake.  At  the  hearing  before  the  Commit- 
tee of  the  Legislature,  on  the  29th  of  February,  1864, 
the  petitioners  were  represented  by  Robert  S.  Ran- 
toul,  and  were  opposed  by  the  Aqueduct  Company. 
On  the  13th  of  May,  1864,  an  act  was  approved  which 
provided  that  the  city  might  take  water  from  either 
Wenham  Lake,  or  Brown's  and  Spring  Ponds,  and 
that  the  City  Council  should  determine  by  joint  ballot 
at  least  fourteen  days  before  the  first  Monday  in  Decem- 
ber, 1864,  which  source  they  would  select,  the  act  to 
be  void  unless  accepted  by  a  majority  of  the  voters  at 
a  meeting  to  be  held  on  that  day.  On  the  14th  of 
November,  1864,  the  City  Council  decided  by  a  vote 
of  twenty-two  to  five  to  select  Wenham  Lake,  and  on 
the  5th  of  December,  the  citizens  voted  to  accept  the 
act  by  a  vote  of  ten  hundred  and  twenty-three  yeas 
to  one  hundred  and  fifty-one  nays. 

On  the  22d  of  May,  1865,  Stephen  H.  Phillips, 
James  [B.  Curwen  and  James  Upton,  were  chosen 
water  commissioners,  and  on  the  26th  of  June,  Frank- 
lin "T.  Sanborn  and  Peter  Silver  were  chosen  in  the 
places  of  Messrs.  Curwen  and  Upton,  who  declined 
to  serve.  Mr.  Phillips  was  made  chairman,  James 
Slade  was  appointed  engineer,  Charles  A.  Swan  as- 
sistant engineer  and  Daniel  H,  Johnson,  Jr.,  clerk. 
After  many  vexatious  delays,  on  the  12th  of  Febru- 
ary, 1866,  the  commissioners  advertised  for  propo- 
sals for  the  construction  of  a  reservoir  on  Chipman's 
Hill,  in  Beverly,  and  on  the  18th  of  May  the  work 
was  begun,  by  Collins  &  Boyle,  the  contractors.  In 
July  a  Worthington  pumping  engine  was  bought  at  a 
cost  of  forty  thousand  dollars,  and  in  the  same  month 
Willard  P.  Phillips  was  chosen  commissioner  in  the 
place  of  his  brother,  Stephen  H.  Phillips,  who  had 
resigned.  In  October,  contracts  were  made  with  J. 
W.  and  J.  F.  Starr,  for  six  thousand  feet  of  thirty 
inch,  and  twenty-five  thousand  feet  of  twenty  inch 
iron  pipe,  and  in  the  following  April,  with  Boynton 
Brothers,  for  a  pipe  bridge  and  syphon  at  Bass 
River. 

On  the  3d  of  February,  1868,  a  contract  was  made 
with  George  H.  Norman,  of  Newport,  R.  I.,  to  fur- 
nish and  lay  the  iron  and  cement  distribution  pipes, 
and  to  set  hydrants  and  gates.  On  Wednesday,  De- 
cember 2,  1868,  the  filling  of  the   distribution  pipes 


commenced,  and  on  the  25th  the  houses  and  citizens 
were  supplied.  On  the  19th  of  November,  1869,  Mr. 
Phillips,  on  the  part  of  the  commissioners,  transferred 
the  charge  of  the  works  to  the  City  Council,  up  to 
which  time  the  amount  expended  was  one  million 
dollars. 

Wenham  Lake  is  situated  in  Beverly,  and  Wenham 
has  an  area  of  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  with 
an  extreme  depth  of  fifty  three  feet  and  a  level  of 
tbirty-one  feet  above  mean  high  tide.  Its  distance 
from  City  Hall  is  four  miles  and  six-tenths,  and  it  is 
callable  of  supplying  two  and  a  half  millions  of  gal- 
lons of  water  daily.  The  reservoir  on  Chipman's 
Hill  is  four  hundred  feet  square,  with  a  capacity  of 
twenty  million  gallons,  and  a  level,  when  filled,  one 
hundred  and  forty-two  feet  above  mean  high  tide. 

The  works  are  in  the  charge  of  a  board  of  five 
members,  one  of  whom  is  chosen  annually  by  concur- 
rent vote  of  the  City  Council  for  the  term  of  five  years. 
Up  to  December  1,  1885,  the  total  cost  of  the  works 
was  $1,423,783.48,  and  the  income  from  rates  for  the 
year  1885  was  $62,886.47.  The  number  of  takers  is 
at  present  about  8000.  / 

The  Witchcraft  Delusion. — The  extraordinary 
delusion  concerning  witchcraft  which  prevailed  in 
Salem  during  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury must  not  be  omitted  in  this  narrative.  It  fur- 
nishes material  lor  a  sad  chapter  in  the  history  of  the 
town,  and  one  which  every  lover  of  his  kind  pitying 
their  infirmities,  and  sympathizing  with  their  woes, 
would  gladly  see  expunged  and  forgotten.  It  was  no 
new  delusion,  and  in  Salem  was  only  peculiar  in  the 
extent  to  which  it  possessed  and  infiuenced  tbe  minds 
of  men.  It  was  a  part  of  the  theology  of  the  times, 
and  had  been  handed  down  from  generation  to  gene- 
ration, from  the  earliest  days  of  Cbristian  history.  In 
the  18th  verse  of  the  22d  chapter  of  Exodus  it  is 
written,  "  Thou  shalt  not  suffer  a  witch  to  live."  In 
the  27th  verse  of  the  20th  chapter  of  Leviticus  it  is 
also  written,  "  A  man  also  or  a  woman  that  hath  a 
familiar  spirit,  or  that  is  a  wizard,  shall  surely  be  put 
to  death ;  they  shall  stone  them  with  stones ;  their 
blood  shall  be  upon  them,"  and  in  the  18th  chapter 
of  Deuteronomy  are  found  these  words  :  "  There  shall 
not  be  found  among  you  any  one  that  maketh  his  son 
or  his  daughter  to  pass  through  the  fire,  or  that  useth 
divination,  or  an  observer  of  times,  or  an  enchanter 
or  a  witch;  or  a  charmer  or  a  consulter  with  familiar 
spirits,  or  a  wizard,  or  a  necromancer,  for  all  that  do 
these  things  are  an  abomination  unto  the  Lord  ;  and 
because  of  these  abominations  the  Lord  thy  God  doth 
drive  them  out  from  before  thee." 

A  belief  in  witchcraft  was  universal,  for  it  rested  on 
what  was  thought  to  be  divine  authority.  It  was  con- 
fined to  no  class,  no  order  of  minds,  no  degree  of  edu- 
cation. It  was  as  much  a  matter  of  fact  as  the  fires  of 
hell  and  infant  damnation.  Nor  was  the  punishment 
of  death  judged  by  the  standards  of  the  day  excessive 
or  unjust.     As  early  as  1646  the  Massachusetts  Gene- 


SALEM. 


165 


ral  Court,  following  scriptural  command,  passed  a 
law  that  "  if  any  man  or  woman  be  a  witch,  that  is, 
hath  or  consuUeth  with  a  familiar  spirit  they  shall  be 
put  to  death."  At  the  same  time  thirteen  other 
offenses  were  made  punishable  by  death  in  accordance 
with  quoted  passages' of  Scripture;  nor  does  this  seem 
so  strange  when  we  reflect  that  the  only  lingering  ar- 
gument for  capital  punishment  in  our  own  day  rests 
on  the  Old  Testament  books  of  Exodus  and  Numbers 
and  Leviticus,  which  declare  that  "  he  that  killeth 
any  man  shall  surely  be  put  to  death." 

So  far  was  obedience  to  Scripture  authority  carried 
in  dealing  with  actual  or  constructive  offenses  that 
after  the  defeat  and  death  of  King  Philip,  in  1676, 
most  of  the  ministers  of  the  Massachusetts  and  Ply- 
mouth Colonies  who  were  consulted  as  to  what  dispo- 
sition should  be  made  of  his  innocent  son  quoted  from 
the  Bible  to  justify  their  opinion  that  he  should  be 
put  to  death.  Among  those  consulted  were  Rev.  John 
Cotton  of  Plymouth,  Rev.  Samuel  Arnold  of  Marsh- 
field  and  Rev.  Increase  Mather  of  Boston.  The  two  for- 
mer, in  a  united  opinion,  said  "  they  humbly  conceive 
on  serious  consideration,  that  children  of  notorious 
traitors,  rebels  and  murderers,  especially  of  such  as 
have  been  principal  leaders  and  actors  in  such  horrid 
villanies,  and  that  against  a  whole  nation  ;  yea,  the 
whole  Israel  of  God  may  be  involved  in  the  guilt 
of  their  parents,  and  may  Salva  republica  be  adjudged 
to  death,  as  to  us  seems  evident  by  the  Scripture  in- 
stances of  Saul,  Achan,  Haman,  the  children  of  whom 
were  cut  off  by  the  sword  of  justice  for  the  transgres- 
sions of  their  parents,  although  concerning  some  of 
these  children  it  may  be  manifest  that  they  were  not 
capable  of  being  co-actors  therein." 

Mr.  Mather  said  :  "  It  is  necessary  that  some  effec- 
tual course  should  be  taken  about  him.  He  makes 
me  think  of  Hadad,  who  was  but  a  little  child  when 
his  father  (the  chief  sachem  of  the  Edomites)  was  killed 
by  Joab  ;  and  had  not  others  fled  away  with  him  I  am 
apt  to  think  that  David  would  have  taken  a  course 
that  Hadad  should  never  have  proved  a  scourge  to 
the  next  generation." 

This  incident  is  quoted  to  show  how  potent  in  the 
witchcraft  age  what  was  believed  to  be  literally  the 
word  of  God  was  in  its  control  over  the  judgments 
and  actions  of  men. 

Nor  was  the  delusion  confined  to  New  England. 
It  prevailed  wherever  the  Scrijitures  were  read  and 
were  recognized  as  authority.  Chief  Justice  Matthew 
Hale,  in  his  charge  to  the  jury,  on  the  trial  of  Rose 
Cullender  and  Amy  Deering  for  witchcraft,  in  1665, 
said:  " That  there  were  such  creatures  as  witches  he 
made  no  doubt  at  all.  For  first  the  Scriptures  had 
afiirnied  so  much.  Secondly,  the  wisdom  of  all  na- 
tions had  provided  laws  against  such  persons,  which 
is  an  argument  in  their  confidence  of  such  a  crime. 
And  such  hath  been  the  judgment  of  the  Kingdom,  as 
appears  by  an  Act  of  Parliament  which  hath  provided 
punishment  proportionate  to  the  quality  of  the  offence." 


The  expression  of  such  an  opinion  by  the  highest 
legal  authority  in  England,  and  the  existence  of  the 
statute  to  which  he  refers  are  sufiicient  to  illustrate 
the  universal  prevalence  of  the  delusion  and  the  be- 
lief in  the  necessity  of  the  severest  punishment  of  the 
guilty. 

It  was  not  Salem  witchcraft,  but  the  witchcraft  of  the 
world.  The  people  of  Salem  were  constituted  like 
others  of  their  generation.  The  inflammable  material 
lying  hidden  within  the  delusion  existed  in  every 
community;  it  happened  to  be  Salem  where  the 
spark  ignited  them  and  caused  the  consuming  flame. 
It  has  been  estimated  that  in  Europe  during  the  six- 
teeth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  more  than  a  hun- 
dred thousand  of  both  sexes  were  convicted  of  witch- 
craft and  burned,  drowned  or  hanged. 

All  through  the  earlier  life  of  the  American  colonies 
there  had  been  what  might  be  called  sporadic  cases 
of  supposed  witchcraft  which  finally  resulted  like 
sporadic  cases  of  disease  in  a  violent  epidemic  at 
Salem.  Hon.  Wm.  D.  Northend  in  an  address  deliv- 
ered December  8,  1885,  before  the  Essex  Bar  Asso- 
ciation says  that  "  within  half  a  century  before  the 
trials  for  witchcraft  in  this  (Essex)  county,  accusations 
against  persons  for  witchcraft  had  been  made  in  Bos- 
ton, Dorchester,  Cambridge,  Springfield,  Hadley, 
Groton,  Newbury,  Rowley,  Salisbury,  Hartford, 
Hampton,  Portsmouth  and  Salmon  Falls  in  New 
Hampshire.  During  this  period  in  the  colony  five 
persons  were  executed  upon  conviction  of  witchcraft, 
as  follows:  Margaret  Jones,  of  Charlestown,  executed 
at  Boston,  June  15,  1648;  the  wife  of  Henry  Lake,  of 
Dorchester,  about  1650;  Annie  Hibbins,  of  Boston, 
June  19,  1656  ;  Mary  Parsons,  of  Springfield,  May  29, 
1657 ;  and  Goody  Glover,  of  Boston,  November  16, 
1686." 

There  had  been  also  accusations  within  the  county 
of  Essex  and  in  Salem  and  its  vicinity.  In  1658 
John  Godfrey,  of  Andover,  was  accused  of  causing 
losses  in  the  estate  of  several  people  and  "some  afflic- 
tion in  their  bodies  also."  In  November,  1669, 
"  Goody  Burt,"  a  widow,  was  prosecuted,  a  physician 
testifying  that  no  natural  cause  could  have  led  to 
such  eff'ects  as  were  wrought  by  her.  Phillip  Reed,  a 
physician,  preferred  similar  charges  against  Margaret 
Giftbrd,  and  in  1679  Caleb  Powell  was  arrested  as  the 
warrant  of  arrest  stated  "'  for  suspicion  of  working 
with  the  Devil  to  the  molesting  of  William  Morse 
and  his  family," 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  delusion  concerning 
witchcraft  never  made  any  considerable  headway  in 
the  Plymouth  colony.  The  people  of  that  colony 
probably  had  as  firm  a  fiiith  in  witchcraft  as  the  peo- 
ple of  Massachusetts,  but  it  never  grew  into  a  panic 
as  it  did  in  the  sister  colony.  Their  laws  against 
witchcraft  were  as  severe  as  those  of  Massachusetts, 
and  death  was  the  punishment  for  "  solemn  compac- 
tion or  conversing  with  the  devil  by  way  of  witchcraft 
or   conjunction."       Only   two   cases,    however,   were 


165g 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


brought  before  the  courts  of  the  colony,  in  one  of 
which  the  accuser  was  sentenced  to  be  either  whipped 
or  to  make  public  acknowledgement  of  her  offense, 
and  in  the  other  the  accused  was  acquitted.  The  fol- 
lowing record  of  these  cases  may  be  interesting  to 
readers : 

"  General  Court,  March  5, 1660. 

"  Joseph  Sylvester,  of  Marshfield,  doth  acknowledge  to  owe  and  to 
stand  indebted  nnto  his  majesty,  his  heirs,  &c.,  in  the  sum  of  twenty 
pounds  sterling  in  good  and  current  pay  ;  the  condition  of  this  obliga- 
tion is  that  In  case  Dina  Sylvester  shall  and  doth  appear  at  the  Court  of 
assistants  to  be  holden  at  Plymouth,  the  first  Tuesday  in  May  next,  and 
attend  the  Courts  determination  in  reference  to  a  complaint  made  by 
Wm.  Holmes  and  his  wife  about  a  matter  of  defamation  ;  that  tlien  this 
obligation  to  be  void  or  otherwise  to  remain  in  full  force  and  virtue. 

"  In  witness  the  above  bounden  hath  liereunto  set  his  hand  the  9th  of 

March,  1600. 

"  Joseph  Sylvester. 

"Dina  Sylvester  being  examined  saith  the  bear  she  saw  was  about  a 
stone's  throw  from  the  highway  when  she  saw  it ;  and  being  examined 
and  asked  what  manner  of  tall  the  bear  had,  she  said  she  could  not  tell 
for  his  head  was  towards  her. 

"  May  9,  1661.  Concerning  the  complaint  of  Wm.  Holmes,  of  Marsh- 
field,  against  Dinah  Sylvester  for  accusing  his  wife  to  be  a  witch.  The 
Court  have  sentenced  that  the  said  Dina  shall  either  be  publicly  whipped 
and  pay  the  sum  of  five  pounds  to  the  said  Wm.  Holmes,  or  in  case  she 
the  said  Dina  Sylvester  shall  make  public  acknowledgement  of  her  fault 
in  the  premises  that  then  she  shall  bear  only  the  charge  the  Plaintiff  hath 
been  at  in  the  prosecution  of  his  said  suit.  The  latter  of  which  was 
chosen  and  done  by  the  said  Dinah  Sylvester,  viz.,  a  public  acknowledge- 
ment made  as  followeth. 

"May  9,  1661.  To  the  Hon.  Court  assembled,  whereas  I  have  been 
convicted  in  matter  of  defamation  concerning  Coodwife  Holmes,  I  do 
hereby  acknowledge  I  have  injured  my  neighbor  and  have  sinned 
against  God  in  so  doing,  though  I  had  entertained  hard  thoughts  against 
the  woman  ;  for  it  had  been  my  duty  to  declare  my  grounds,  if  I  had  any, 
unto  some  magistrate  in  a  way  of  God  and  not  to  have  divulged  my 
thoughts  to  othel-s  to  the  womans  defamation.  Therefore  I  do  acknowl- 
edge my  sin  in  it,  and  do  humbly  beg  this  Honorable  Court  to  forgive 
me  and  all  other  Christian  people  that  be  offended  at  it,  and  do  promise 
by  the  help  of  God  to  do  so  no  more  ;  and,  although,  I  do  not  remember 
all  that  the  witnesses  do  testify,  I  do  rather  mistrust  my  memory  and 
submit  to  the  evidence. 

"  The  mark  of  Dinah  Sylvester. 


"  March  6,  1670-77. 


"The  Inditement  of  Mary  Ingham. 


"Mary  Ingham:  Thou  art  Indited  by  the  name  of  Mary  Ingham,  the 
wifa  of  Thomas  Ingham,  of  the  towne  of  Scituate  in  the  jurisdiction  of 
New  Plymouth  for  that  thou,  haveing  not  the  feare  of  God  before  thyne 
eyes,  hast  by  the  healp  of  the  devill  in  a  way  of  witchcraft  or  sorcery, 
maliciously  procured  much  hurt,  mischeiffe  and  paine  unto  the  body  of 
Mehittable  Woodworth,  the  daughter  of  Walter  Woodworth,  of  Scituate 
aforesaid,  and  some  others  and  particularly  causing  her  the  said  Mehitta- 
ble to  fall  into  violent  fitts,  and  causing  great  paine  unto  severall  parts 
of  her  body  att  severall  times,  soe  as  shee  the  said  Mehittable  Wood- 
worth  hath  bin  almost  bereaved  of  her  sencis,  and  hath  greatly  lan- 
guished, to  her  much  suffering  thereby,  and  the  procuring  of  great 
greiffe  sorrow  and  charge  to  her  parents  ;  all  which  thou  hast  procured 
and  don  against  the  law  of  God,  and  to  his  great  dishonor  and  conti-ary 
to  our  sov  lord  the  Kinge,  his  crowne  and  diguitee. 

"  The  said  Mary  Ingham  did  putt  herselfe  on  the  tryall  of  God  and 


the  country  and  was  cleared  of  this  inditement  in  processo  of  law  by  a 
jury  of  twelve  men  whose  names  follow : 


'Sworn. 


Mr.  Thos.  Huckeus. 
John  Wadsworth. 
John  Ilowland. 
Abraham  Jackson. 
Benajah  Pratt. 
John  Blacke. 


Sworn.  ■ 


f  Marke  Snow. 
I  Joseph  Bartlett. 
John  liichmond. 


Jerud  Talbutt. 
John  Foster. 
Seth  Pope. 

"The  jury  brought  in   not  guilty,   and   soe  the   said   prisoner  was 
cleared  as  above  said." 


While  the  witchcraft  panic  never  extended  to  the 
old  colony,  the  case  of  Dinah  Sylvester,  above  quoted, 
bears  the  strongest  internal  evidence  of  the  deep-seated 
belief  there  in  witchcraft  itself.  That  it  should  have 
been  considered  a  serious  defamation  of  character, 
and  a  deadly  wound  to  personal  reputation  to  be 
charged  with  communing  with  the  devil  shows  that 
such  a  communion  was  an  offense  in  the  existence  of 
which  the  whole  community  had  faith,  and  one  as 
real  and  positive  as  murder  or  any  other  well  defined 
crime.  It  is  probable  that  if  at  the  commencement 
of  the  panic  an  accuser  had  received  the  punishment 
awarded  to  Dinah  Sylvester,  it  would  never  have 
passed  beyond  its  incipient  and  opening  stage. 

Various  causes  have  been  assigned  to  the  outbreak 
of  the  excitement  in  Salem  and  its  mad,  but  fortunately 
short,  career.  None  of  them,  however,  are  satisfac- 
tory. Like  vitiated  blood  in  the  human  system,  it 
gradually  and  necessarily  came  to  a  head,  and  as  the 
location  of  the  ulcer  which  gives  relief  to  the  body 
depends  on  some  trivial  and  unknown  cause,  so  in 
some  mj'sterious  and  accidental  way  Salem  became 
the  gathering  point  from  which  was  to  be  thrown  off 
that  insane  delusion,  which  had  for  generations  and 
centuries  poisoned  and  terrified  the  minds  of  men. 
In  the  early  months  of  the  year  1692  the  panic  be- 
gan. On  the  29th  of  February  warrants  Avere  issued 
lor  the  arrest  of  Tituba,  an  Indian  servant  of  Mr. 
Parris,  Sarah  Osborn,  a  woman  who  was  bed-ridden, 
and  Sarah  Good,  a  woman  of  ill-repute,  who,  upon 
the  complaint  of  Joseph  Hutchinson,  Edward  Put- 
nam, Thomas  Putnam  and  Thomas  Preston,  were 
charged  with  afflicting  sundry  persons  in  remarkable 
and  unaccountable  ways.  Other  accusations  and 
arrests  speedily  followed.  Mr.  Upham,  in  his  ex- 
haustive work  on  witchcraft,  says, — "There  was  no 
longer  any  doubt  in  the  mass  of  the  community  that 
the  devil  had  effected  a  lodgment  in  Salem  village. 
Church  members,  persons  of  all  social  positions,  of 
the  highest  repute  and  profession  of  piety,  eminent 
for  visible  manifestations  of  devotion,  and  of  every 
age,  had  joined  his  standard  and  become  his  active 
allies  and  confederates."  Arrest  followed  arrest,  each 
arrest  adding  to  the  panic,  and  the  panic  leading  to 
new  arrests.  On  the  arrival  of  Sir  William  Phipps 
at  Boston  on  the  14th  of  May,  1692,  bearing  the 
charter  of  the  "  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay  in 
New  England,"  and  his  commission  as  its  Governor,  the 
prisons  at  Salem,  Ipswich,  Boston  and  Cambridge  were 
full  of  persons  awaiting  trial  for  the  crime  of  witch- 


SALEM. 


165h 


craft.     Governor  Phipps  was  a  believer  iu  witchcraft, 
as  was  William  Stoughton,  the  Lieutenant-Governor, 
and  took  immediate  steps  to  bring  the  accused  to  trial. 
Under  the  charter  the  General  Court  alone  had  the 
power  to  establish  courts  of  justice,  but  by  an  unwar- 
rantable usurpation   of  authority,  the  Governor  or- 
ganized a  Court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer  to  act  in  and 
for  the  counties  of  Suffolk,  Essex  and  Middlesex,  and 
appointed  William  Stoughton,  of  Dorchester,  chief 
justice,    and    Nathaniel    Saltonstall,    of    Haverhill, 
Major  John  Richards,  of  Boston,  Major  Bartholomew- 
Gedney,  of  Salem,  Wait  Winthrop,  Captain  Samuel 
Sewall  and  Peter  Sargent,  of  Boston,  associate  jus- 
tices.    Mr.  Saltonstall  declined  the  appointment,  and 
Jonathan  Corwin,   of  Salem,  was  appointed  in    his 
place.      Stephen   Sewall    was   appointed   clerk,  and 
Thomas  Newton  attorney-general,    the   latter   being 
succeeded  in  office,  July  22,  1692,  by  Anthony  Check- 
ley.     George  Corwin,  of  Salem,  was  appointed  sheriff. 
The  commissions  of  the  court  were  dated  May  27, 
1692,  and   the  court  convened  at  the  court-house  in 
Salem  on  the  2d  of  June.     The  court-house  and  the 
Salem   town-house  were  combined   in  one  building, 
which  stood  in  the  middle  of  what  is  now  Washington 
Street,  near  Lynde  Street,  and  facing  south.     Under 
the  colony  a  law  had  been  passed,  as  has  already  been 
stated,  making  witchcraft  a  crime,  and  fixing  as  a 
penalty  the  punishment  of  death.     Sir  Edward  An- 
dros  duringhis  administration  adopted  the  colony  laws, 
but  after  his  expulsion  and  under  the  new  charter  it 
was  supposed  that  prosecutions  for  witchcraft  could 
only  be  made  under  the  old  English  statute  of  James 
the  First.     The  first  trial  was  that  of  Bridget  Bishop, 
of  Salem.     She  was  convicted  on  the  8th  of  June  and 
executed  on  Gallows  Hill  on  the  10th.     On  the  day 
of  her  conviction   the  General  Court  came  together 
and  passed  an  act   reviving  the  old  colonial   law,  and 
under  that  law  it  is  presumed  the  subsequent  trials 
were  held.     After  the  conviction  of  Bridget  Bishop 
the  court  adjourned  to  June  29th.     During  the  recess 
the  Governor  and  Council  sought  the  advice  of  the 
principal   ministers  in  Boston  and  vicinity,  who  on 
the  15th  of  June  replied  in  writing,  advising  that  all 
the  proceedings  should  be  "  managed  with  an  exceed- 
ing tenderness  towards  those  who  may  be  complained 
of,  especially  if  thej'  have  been  persons  formerly  of 
an    unblemished    reputation;"    "that   the    evidence 
ought  certainly  to  be  more  considerable  than  barely 
the  accused   persons  being  represented  by  a  spectre 
unto  the  afHicted,  and  that  they  should   not  esteem 
alterations  made  in  the  sufferers  by  a  look  or  touch  of 
the   accused  to  be   an  infallible  evidence  of  guilt." 
They  nevertheless  recommended  "speedy  and  vigor- 
ous  prosecutions,"  accftrding  to  the  directions  given 
in  the  laws  of  God  and  the  wholesome  statutes  of  the 
English  nation  for  the  detection  of  witchcraft. 

The  court  again  met  on  the  29th  of  June,  and  con- 
tinued with  several  adjournments  to  September  17th, 
when  it  adjourned  to  the  first  Tuesday  in  November, 


before  which  time  it  was  formally  dissolved.  During 
its  various  sessions  twenty-seven  persons  were  con- 
victed and  condemned  to  death,  as  follows, — Bridget 
Bishop,  Sarah  Good,  Sarah  Wildes,  Elizabeth  How, 
Susanna  Martin,  Rebecca  Nurse,  George  John  Proctor, 
George  Jacobs,  John  Willard,  Martha  Carrier,  Martha 
Corey,  Mary  Eastey,  Alice  Parker,  Ann  Pudeator,  Mar- 
garet Scott,  Wilmot  Reed,  Samuel  Wardwell,  Mary 
Parker,  Elizabeth  Proctor,  Dorcas  Hoar,  Mary  Brad- 
bury, Rebecca  Eames,  Mary  Lacy,  Ann  Foster,  Abi- 
gail Hobbs  and  Abigail  Faulkner.  Of  these  Eliza- 
beth Proctor  was  pardoned  on  the  ground  of  insuffi- 
cient evidence,  and  the  six  following  her  on  the  list 
finally  escaped  punishment.  Such  is  the  record  of  a 
court  established  expressly  for  the  trial  of  crimes  pun- 
ishable by  death,  but  without  a  justice  on  its  bench 
educated  to  the  law.  In  such  a  court  unfamiliar  with 
judicial  methods,  ignorant  of  the  rules  of  evidence 
and  not  untouched  by  the  popular  frenzy,  the  trials 
were  little  more  than  a  formal  condemnation  of  per- 
sons already  tried  and  convicted  by  the  judgment  of 
an  excited  and  reckless  people. 

After  the  dissolution  of  the  Court  of  Oyer  and 
Terminer,  the  Superior  Court  of  Judicature  was  es- 
tablished in  November,  1692,  with  William  Stoughton 
chief  justice,  and  Thomas  Danforth,  Wait  Winthrop, 
John  Richards  and  Samuel  Sewall  associate  justices. 
This  court  had  jurisdiction  in  cases  of  witchcraft,  and 
at  its  session  in  Essex  County  in  the  January  follow- 
ing, indictments  for  the  offense  were  found  against 
fifty  persons,  and  all  who  were  tried  were  acquitted 
except  three,  and  these  were  pardoned  by  the  Gov- 
ernor. All  not  tried  were  discharged  on  payment  of 
thirty  shillings  each  to  the  attorney  general.  At  the 
first  session  of  the  Court  of  Middlesex  County  several 
persons  in  prison  under  indictments  were  tried  but 
all  were  acquitted.  The  storm  of  infatuation  had 
burst  and  spent  its  force,  the  moral  atmosphere  of  the 
community  was  cleared  and  the  sober  judgment  of 
men  once  more  held  sway.  Let  the  present  generation 
while  it  passes  judgment  on  the  delusions  of  a  former 
age  be  sure  that  it  is  itself,  free  from  delusions  and 
follies  if  less  dangerous  and  cruel,  yet  as  little  con- 
formable to  the  standards  and  tests  which  wisdom 
and  common  sense  should  apply  to  the  acts  of  men. 

Little  remains  to  be  mentioned  in  this  chapter. 
The  industries,  the  schools,  the  churches,  the  com- 
mei'ce,  the  military,  and  many  of  the  leading  associa- 
tions, ai'e  fully  treated  in  other  chapters.  The  fol- 
lowing perhaps  imperfect  list  will  furnish  some  idea 
of  the  field  in  which  the  literary  and  scientific  and 
benevolent  tastes  and  energies  of  the  people  of  Salem 
find  opportunities  for  their  exercise, — 

Salem  AUien;»>uin incorporated  iu  ISIO 

Salem  Lyceum instituted  in  1S30 

Young  Men's.  Union instituted  in  1855 

Salem  Marine  Society instituted  in  1706 

East  India  Marine  Society instituted  in  1799 

Salem  Fraternity organized  in  1869 


166 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Young  Men's  Christian  Association organized  in  1858 

Plummer  Farm  School incorporated  in  1855 

Salem  Hospital  organized  in  1873 

Salem  Dispensary organized  in  1820 

Old  Ladies'  Home founded  in  1861 

Salem  Charitable  Mechanic  Association organized  in  1817 

Hai-mony  Grove  Cemetery  Corporation incorporated  in  1840 

Salem  Female  Charitable  Society incorporated  in  1804 

Samaritan  Society organized  in  1833 

Salem  Female  Employment  Society incorporated  in  1807 

Seamen's  Widow  and  Orphan  Associ.ation... incorporated  in  1844 
Seamen's  Orphans'  and  Children's  Friend  Society..  ..inc.  in  1841 
City  Orphan  Asylum  of  Salem  Sisters  of  Charity..founded  in  1866 

St.  Peter's  Guild organized  in  1872 

American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science. .org.  1840 

Bertram  Home  for  Aged  Men incorporated  in  1877 

Essex  Institute founded  in  1848 

Association  for  Relief  of  Aged  and  Destitute  Women  in  Salem, 

organized  in  18C0 
Notre  Dame  Educational  Institutes. 

Peabody  Academy  of  Science founded  in  1807 

Woman's  Friend  Society  and  Working  Women's  Bureau, 

organized  in  1876 

American  Hibernian  Societj' organized  in  1880 

American  Legion  of  Honor organized  in  1879 

Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians. 

Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen  in  three  lodges. 

The  Oriental  Lodge,  No.  4 organized  in  1878 

The  John  Endicott  Lodge,  No.  12 organized  in  1879 

Puritan  Lodge,  No.  02 organized  in  1886 

Bethel  Aid  Society organized  in  1880 

Colonial  Club organized  in  1882 

Boston  and  Maine  R.  R.  East  Division  Car  Department  Mutual 

Benefit  Association organized  in  1869 

Jennie  Wade  Council,  No.  2,  Daughters  of  Liberty  ...org.  in  1877 

Essex  Agricultural  Society incorporated  in  1818 

Essex  Bar  Association organized  in  1856 

Essex  South  District  Medical  Association organized  in  1805 

Franklin  Mutual  Benefit  Association incorporated  in  1882 

Phil.  Sheridan  Post  34,  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic. .org.  in  1807 
Improved  Order  of  Red  Men. 

Naumkeag  Tribe,  No.  3 instituted  in  1886 

Knights  of  Honor  Salem  Lodge,  No.  150 organized  in  1875 

Knights  of  Pythias  North  Star  Lodge,  No.  38. ..organized  in  1870 

The  Liberal  Club, organized  in  1882 

Loyal  Association,  No.  5,  Stationary  Engineers..organized  in  1883 

Massachusetts  Catholic  Order  of   Foresters organized  in  1880 

Master  Carpenters'  and  Builders'  Association. ..organized  in  1886 

Naumkeag  Grocers'  Association organized  in  1885 

Local  Branch,  No.  362,  of  Order  of  Iron  Hall. .organized  in  1886  ' 
Niagara  Council,  No.  11,  of  United  American  Mechanics, 

organized  in  1872 
Roger  Williams  Council,  No.  94,  of  Order  of  United  Friends, 

organized  in  1883 

North  Salem  Union  Chapel  Association organized  in  1881 

John  Enuicott  Colony,  No.  9,  of  Pilgrim  Fathers org.  in  1880 

Hawthorne  Council,  No.  331,  of  Royal  Arcanum org.  in  1879 

Salem  Council  of  same.  No.  14 organized  in  1877 

Salem  Firemen's  Relief  Association organized  in  1878 

Salem  High  School  Association organized  in  1807 

Salem  Mutual  Benefit  Association organized  in  1873 

Salem  Oratorio  Society organized  in  1868 

Salem  Police  Relief  Association organized  in  1877 

Salem  Relief  Committee organized  in  1873 

Salem  Schubert  Club organized  in  1878 

Salem  Seamen's  Bethel  Society organized  in  1883 

Salem  Society  of  Amateur  Photographers organized  in  1885 

Salem  Society  of  Deaf  Mutes incorporated  in  1878 


Salem  Symphony  Club organized  im  1885 

Colonel  Henry  Merritt  Camp  No.  8  of  Sons  of  Veterans, 

organized  in  1884 

Urban  Club organized  in  1884 

Ward  One  Associates organized  in  1883 

Twelve  Temperance  Associations. 

Winslow  Lewis  Commandery,  Knights  Templar org.  in  1865 

Salem  Council  Royal  and  Select  Masters  (Masons). ..inst.  in  1818 

Washington  Royal  Arch  Chapter  (Masons) instituted  in  1811 

Sutton  Lodge  of  Perfection  (Masons) instituted  in  1804 

Esse.x  Lodge  of  Free  and  Accepted  Masons chartered  in  1793 

Starr  King  Lodge  of  Free  and  .Vccepted  Masons  chartered  in  1804 

Essex  County  Masonic  Mutual  Relief  Association org.  in  1875 

Grand  United  Order  of  Odd  Fellows. 

Roj'al  Enterprise  Lodge,  No.  1805 instituted  in  1878 

Naumkeag  Encampment,  No.  13,  I.  0.0.  F organized  in  1845 

Salem  Encampment,  No.  11,  1.  O.  0.  F organized  in  1884 

Unity  Canton,  No.  5,  Patriarchs  Militant,  I.  0.  0.  F..org.  in  1883 

Essex  Lodge,  No.  20,  I.  0.  O.  F organized  in  1843 

Fraternity  Lodge,  No.  118,  I.  0.  0.  F organized  in  1846 

Union  Relief  Committee,  I.  0.  0.  F organized  in  1877 

Union  Lodge,  No.  11,  Degree  of  Rebekah organized  in  1870 

Odd  Fellows'  Mutual  Benefit  Association organized  in  1869 

Three  bicycle  clubs. 
Three  boat  clubs. 
One  yacht  club. 

In  closing  this  chapter,  it  is  only  necessary  to  add 
a  few  statistics.  According  to  the  last  census  in 
1885,  the  population  of  Salem  was  28,084,  and  the 
valuation  in  the  same  year  $27,765,824.  During  the 
year  1885,  1599  vessels  arrived  at  Salem,  114  of  which 
were  from  foreign  ports,  and  their  aggregate  tonnage 
was  270,003,29  tons.  The  receipts  for  duties  in  the 
same  year  were  $20,145.01,  and  the  customs  expenses 
$7,095.15.  If  to  the  business  by  sea  which  these  fig- 
ures represent  the  large  inland  commerce  by  rail  be 
added,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  while  Salem  has  lost  the 
foreign  trade  upon  which,  as  its  seal  indicates,  its 
early  prosperity  was  based,  it  has  nevertheless  made 
a  satisfactory  advance  in  its  industries,  its  population 
and  wealth. 


CHAPTER    X. 

SALEU— (Continued). 
SOCIETIES,  ETC. 

The  Literary  and  Scientific  Societies.* — A 
history  of  the  literature  of  Salem,  giving  an  account 
of  those  who  have  individually  devoted  themselves  to 
this  pursuit  or  collectively  in  the  organization  of  the 
various  institutions  of  learning,  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  which  a  beneficent  public  .spirit  has  existed 
from  the  beginning,  and  has  worthily  exerted  itself 
as  exigencies  called  it  forth,  would  form  an  interest- 
ing and  important  chapter  in  the  history  of  Salem. 

Sufficient  space  has  not  been  allowed  to  do  justice 
to  the  subject  in  this  communication.  It  will  be 
fully  treated  elsewhere.     A  few  incidents  that  have 

1  By  Henry  Wheatland. 


SALEM. 


167 


occurred  in  this  direction  can  only  be  noted  in  their 
chronological  order. 

As  preliminary  to  the  notice  of  these  institutions  of 
learning,  a  brief  allusion  to  some  of  the  agencies 
leading  ultimately  to  their  present  condition  may  not 
be  deemed  inappropriate. 

The  first  great  transaction  in  the  settlement  of  the 
town  was  the  organization  of  the  church,  a  step 
marked  by  profound  wisdom  as  well  as  ardent  piety. 
Francis  Higginson,  "  the  father  and  pattern  of  the 
New  England  clergy,"  as  he  is  justly  called,  prepared 
a  document,  which,  while  it  formed  an  admirable 
manual  of  Christian  faith  and  duty,  embodied  the 
principles  of  improvement  and  progress,  and  recog- 
nized the  importance  of  a  right  education  of  children. 

His  brave  compeer,  Gov.  Endicott,  heartily  co- 
operated with  him,  and  subsequently  took  a  provident 
care  for  the  education  of  poor  children  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  town. 

Salem  has  been  blessed  above  most  other  towns  in 
the  wisdom,  learning,  piety  and  energy  of  the  leading 
men  among  the  early  settlers  or  their  immediate  de- 
scendants. At  the  opeuiog  of  the  Grammar  School 
arrived  Eev.  Johu  Fiske,  a  learned  scholar  and  di- 
vine qualified  for  the  work.  Roger  Williams,  after- 
wards the  founder  of  Rhode  Island,  and  Hugh  Peters, 
who  proved  himself  an  able  statesman  and  powerful 
friend  of  the  whole  colony,  as  well  as  a  popular 
preacher  and  an  energetic  benefactor  of  Salem. 

Peters's  effective  influence  gave  an  impulse  to  in- 
dustry and  enterprise  in  every  direction.  Then  we 
had  the  Brownes,  whose  charities,  through  successive 
generations,  flowed  freely  in  aid  of  education,  learn- 
ing, religion  and  the  poor.  William  Browne  was 
here  with  Fiske  and  Peters,  to  catch  the  love  of 
learning  from  the  one  and  the  spirit  of  commerce 
from  the  other,  and  for  more  than  half  a  century  was 
considered  a  liberal  and  successful  promoter  of  learn- 
ing. He  came  over  with  his  wife,  in  1635,  residing 
in  Salem  till  his  death,  in  1688.  William  Browne, 
whose  name  appears  among  the  early  members  of  the 
Social  Library,  was  a  descendant  in  the  fifth  genera- 
tion. Emanuel  Downing  came  to  Salem  in  1636, 
where  he  lived  in  great  esteem,  after  representing  the 
town  in  the  General  Court.  His  wife,  Lucia,  was  a 
sister  of  Gov.  John  Winthrop.  His  son  George  was 
then  a  lad  of  some  fifteen  summers,  preparing  under 
the  tuition  of  Rev.  John  Fiske  to  enter  the  college, 
where  he  graduated  in  the  first  class,  that  of  1642. 
The  son  went  to  England,  entered  Cromwell's  service 
and  became  highly  distinguished. 

Major  William  Hathorne  came  over  in  the  "Arbella," 
with  Winthrop,  as  stated  by  Savage,  and  came  to 
Salem  in  1636.  Salem  tendered  him  grants  of  land. 
From  that  time  his  name  appears  in  the  records  as 
holding  important  positions,  as  commissioner,  Speak- 
er of  the  House  of  Representatives,  counsel  in  cases 
before  the  courts,  judge  on  the  bench,  etc.  Johnson, 
in  his    "  Wonder-working  Providence,"  thus  says  of 


him  :  "  Yet  through  the  Lord's  mercy  we  still  retaine, 
among  our  Democracy,  the  Godly  Captaine,  William 
Hathorn,  whom  the  Lord  hath  imbued  with  a  quick 
apprehension,  strong  memory  and  Rhetorick,  volu- 
bility of  speech,  which  hath  caused  the  peojjle  to 
make  use  of  him  often  in  Publick  Service,  especially 
when  they  have  to  do  with  any  foreign  government." 
He  died  in  1681. 

His  son  John  seems  to  have  inherited  many  of  his 
prominent  traits  of  character,  and  to  have  succeeded 
to  all  his  public  honors.  He  died  in  1717.  The 
name  appears,  thus  far,  to  have  been  as  prominent  in 
the  civil  history  of  that  period,  as  it  has  been  in  the 
elegant  literature  of  the  preseat,  in  a  descendant  of 
the  sixth  generation,  Nathaniel  Hawthorne. 

Other  contemporary  families  of  the  colonial  and  pro- 
vincial periods  might  be  named  of  equal  or  superior 
distinction  in  the  history  of  Salem,  actuated  by  a 
like  public  spirit  and  not  less  zealous  in  promoting 
the  higher  interests  of  the  town  as  well  as  its  com- 
mercial prosperity,  as  Pickman,  Orne,  Curwen,  Hig- 
ginson, Cabot,  Pynchon,  Oliver,  Lynde,  Turner, 
English  and  others. 


The  Salem  Athenaeum  was  incorporated  in 
March,  1810.  Its  conception  was  suggested  undoubt- 
edly by  the  Boston  Athena?um,  organized  some  three 
years  earlier.  The  charters  of  the  two  institutions 
are  in  many  respects  similar,  the  leading  objects  of 
both  being  the  promotion  of  literature,  the  arts  and 
sciences.  The  founders  of  the  Salem  Athenteum  were 
actuated  by  high  motives,  and  laid  a  broad  basis  for 
future  o})erations,  commencing  at  first  with  a  library, 
and  trusting  to  the  future  for  the  further  extension  of 
their  views  and  plans.  To  this  end  they  purchased 
the  Social  and  Philosophical  Libraries. 

The  Social  Library. — This  reminds  us  of  the 
Social  Evening  Club,  composed  of  the  leading  spirits 
of  the  town,  which  flourished  during  the  middle  of 
the  last  century,  and  was  wont  to  hold  its  meetings 
weekly  at  the  Tavern  House  of  3Irs.  Pratt,  to  discuss 
the  topics  of  the  day,  especially  those  of  a  literary  or 
scientific  character.  The  following  are  understood  to 
have  been  members  :  Benjamin  Lynde  and  Nathaniel 
Ropes,  both  of  the  bench  of  the  Superior  Court  of  the 
Province,  the  former,  as  well  as  his  father,  its  chief 
justice  ;  William  Browne,  judge  of  the  Superior  Court, 
afterwards  Governor  of  Bermuda;  Andrew  Oliver, 
judge  of  the  Common  Pleas;  Rev.  Thomas  Barnard, 
of  the  First  Church ;  Dr.  E.  A.  Holyoke,  a  young 
physician ;  Stephen  Higginson,  Benjamin  Pickman 
and  Timothy  Orne,  merchants ;  William  Pynchon, 
an  eminent  lawyer,  and  others.  A  taste  for  literature 
and  knowledge,  and  a  zeal  in  the  prosecution  of  sci- 
entific studies,  were  thus  imparted  to  this  community, 
of  which  the  imprints  can  be  distinctly  traced  through 
our  subsequent  history.     The  first  movement  in  this 


168 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


direction  was  the  meeting  of  gentlemen,  many  of 
whom  were  members  of  this  chib,  at  the  Pratt  Tavern 
on  Monday  evening,  March  31,  1760,  for  the  purpose 
of  "founding  a  handsome  library  of  valuable  books 
apprehending  the  same  may  be  of  very  considerable 
use  and  benefit  under  proper  regulations."  A  sub- 
scription was  opened,  funds  obtained,  and  Rev.  Jere- 
miah Condy,  a  Baptist  minister  of  Boston,  being 
about  to  visit  England,  was  employed  to  purchase  the 
books.  On  their  arrival  a  meeting  of  the  subscribers 
was  held.  May  20,  1701,  of  which  Benjamin  Pickman 
was  moderator  and  Nathan  Goodale  clerk.  The  Social 
Library  was  thus  put  in  operation  The  books  im- 
ported, with  those  given  by  members  or  otherwise 
procured,  amounted  to  415  volumes.  The  society  was 
incorporated  in  1797.  It  may  be  regarded  as  the 
pioneer  of  all  the  institutions  established  in  this  place 
for  the  promotion  of  intellectual  culture. 

The  Philosophical  Library. — This  also  calls  to 
remembrance  some  of  the  scenes  in  the  Revolutionary 
period  ;  the  Cabots'  privateer-ship  "  Pilgrim  ; ''  its 
bold  and  stalwart  commander,  Hugh  Hill ;  his  daring 
exploits;  the  capture  of  a  schooner  in  the  English 
channel,  having  on  board  the  library  of  Dr.  Richard 
Kirwan,  a  distinguished  chemist;  the  bringing  of 
these  books  into  the  neighboring  port  of  Beverly; 
the  purchase  of  the  same  by  several  scientific  men  of 
Salem  and  its  vicinity,  of  whom  may  be  mentioned 
Rev.  Manasseh  Cutler,  of  the  Hamlet  Church  in  Ips- 
wich, now  Hamilton,  Rev.  Joseph  Wilhird  of  Beverly, 
afterwards  president  of  Harvard  College,  Dr.  Joshua 
Fisher  of  Beverly,  Dr.  E.  A.  Holyoke,  Dr.  Joseph 
Orne,  Rev.  Thomas  Barnard  and  Rev.  J(din  Prince, 
all  of  Salem.  They  made  it  the  foundation  of  the 
Philosophical  Library  in  1781.  To  show  Dr.  Bow- 
ditch's  estimate  of  the  value  and  character  of  these 
books,  this  extract  from  his  will  is  inserted : 

Hem,  "It  is  well-known  that  the  valuable  Scientific  library  of  the 
celebrated  Dr.  Richard  Kirwan,  was  during  tlio  Revolutionary  war, 
captured  in  the  British  Channel,  on  its  way  to  Ireland,  bj'  a  Beverly 
Privateer,  and  that  by  the  liberal  and  enlightened  views  of  the  owners 
of  the  vessel,  the  library  thus  captured  was  sold  at  a  very  low  rate,  and 
in  this  manner  was  laid  the  foundatiou,  upon  which  has  since  been  suc- 
cessfully established  the  Phtlosuphical  Library  so  called  and  the  present 
Salem  Athena?uni.  Thus,  in  early  life,  I  found  near  nic  a  l)etter  collec- 
tion of  Philosophical  and  Scientific  books  than  could  be  found  in  any 
other  part  of  the  United  States  nearer  than  Philadelphia,  and  by  the 
kindness  of  its  proprietors  I  was  permitted  freely  to  take  tlie  books  from 
that  library  and  to  consult  and  study  them  at  pleasure.  This  inestima- 
ble advantage  has  made  me  deeply  a  debtor  to  the  Salem  Athensifum, 
and  I  do,  therefore,  give  to  that  Institution  the  sum  of  one  thousand 
dollars,  the  income  thereof  to  be  forever  applied  to  the  promotion  of  its 
objects  and  the  extension  of  its  usefulness." 

Athenaeum. — The  rooms  of  the  Athenieum  in  Cen- 
tral Building,  Market  (now  Central)  Street,  were 
opened  to  the  proprietors  on  Wednesday,  July  11, 
1810,  with  a  goodly  collection  of  books  upon  the 
shelves,  duly  arranged  and  properly  classified. 

In  April,  1815,  the  library  was  removed  to  rooms  in 
Essex  Place ;  in  1825  to  rooms  over  the  Salem  Bank ; 
in  1841  to  Lawrence  Place,  and  in  April,  1857,  to 


Plumraer  Hall,  the  present  resting  place  for  this  val- 
uable and  increasing  collection  of  books. 

The  present  number  of  volumes  is  about  twenty- 
one  thousand.  These  have  been  obtained  principally 
by  moneys  arising  from  the  sale  of  shares  and  annual 
assessments  and  subscriptions,  although  many  valua- 
ble works  have  been  received  as  donations  from  the 
friends  of  the  institution. 

The  number  of  shares  is  one  hundred.  Each  share 
entitles  the  proprietor  to  take  from  the  library  four 
1  looks  at  one  time.  Books  which  have  been  in  the 
library  one  year  can  be  retained  four  weeks;  if  less 
than  that  time,  two  weeks ;  recent  periodicals,  in 
numbers,  one  week.  Persons  not  2^foprietors,  ap- 
proved by  the  trustees,  may  have  all  the  privileges  of 
proprietors  in  the  use  of  books  for  one  year,  on  the 
payment  of  one  dollar  in  addition  to  the  annual  as- 
sessment, which  is  determined  at  the  annual  meeting. 
The  assessment  lor  several  years  i^ast  has  been  five 
dollars. 

Officers  of  the  Salem  Alhenimm  for  the  yenr  1887-8. — Edmund  B.  Will- 
son,  president;  Henry  Wheatland,  clerk;  Richard  C.  Manning,  treas- 
urer ;  William  C.  Endicott,  Jr.,  Richard  C.  Manning,  George  P.  Mes- 
servey,  William  Northey,  CharU-s  S.  Osgood,  George  A.  Perkins,  Fred- 
erick P.  Richardson,  Henry  Wheatland,  Edmund  B.  Willson,  trustees  ; 
Alice  H.  Osborne,  librarian  ;  Annie  E.  Snell,  asssistant  librarian. 

Plummer  Hall.— On  the  13th  May,  1854,  at  her 
residence  in  Salem,  "  died  Miss  Caroline  Plummer," 
leaving  bequests  to  the  city  of  Salem  for  the  founding 
of  a  Farm  School  of  Reform  "  for  boys  in  the  city  of 
Salem  ;  "  to  Harvard  College  for  the  foundation  of  a 
Professorship  of  Christian  Morals,  and  to  the  Salem 
Athenteum  the  sura  of  thirty  thousand  dollars  "for 
the  purchasing  of  a  piece  of  land,  in  some  central  and 
convenient  spot  in  the  city  of  Salem,  and  for  building 
thereon  a  safe  and  elegant  building  of  brick  or  stone, 
to  be  employed  for  the  purpose  of  depositing  the 
books  belonging  to  said  corporation,  with  liberty  also 
to  have  the  rooms  thereof  used  for  meetings  of  any 
scientific  or  literary  institution,  or  for  the  deposit  of 
any  works  of  art  or  natural  productions."  Thus,  by 
the  noble  bequests  of  this  lady,  an  impetus  has  been 
given  to  the  cause  of  literature,  science,  philanthropy 
and  noble  living,  which  will  ever  make  her  name 
respected,  honored  and  beloved,  not  alone  in  the  city 
of  Salem  or  within  the  walls  of  Harvard,  but  wherever 
learning  and  liberality  shall  find  a  home. 

The  location  selected  is  upon  one  of  the  leading 
thoroughfares  of  the  city  and  near  its  centre,  with 
agreeable  and  attractive  surroundings,  and  about 
which  cluster  many  associations  of  exceeding  interest 
to  the  student  in  history,  the  scholar,  the  scientist  and 
the  general  public. 

The  building  is  in  the  form  of  a  parallelogram, 
ninety-seven  feet  three  inches  long  by  fifty-three  wide. 
The  exterior  walls  are  faced  with  pressed  brick,  and 
are  forty-five  feet  in  height  above  the  under-pinning, 
which  is  four  feet  six  inthes  high  and  is  of  brown 
sandstone.      The   steps,   doorway,    window-dressings, 


SALEM. 


169 


balcony,  belts,  &c.,  are  also  of  the  same  stone.  The 
style  of  the  building  is  Romanesque.  On  the  first 
floor  were  arranged  the  scientific  and  historical  col- 
lections of  the  Institute;  on  the  second  floor  the 
libraries  of  the  Athenteum  and  of  the  Institute.  The 
shelving  in  the  library-rooms  having  been  completed 
and  the  books  placed  upon  the  shelves,  though  not 
finally  arranged,  the  building  was  accepted  at  a  meet- 
ing of  the  proprietors,  held  on  Monday,  September 
21,  1857,  and  dedicated  on  Tuesday,  the  sixth  of 
October  following.  The  order  of  exercises  was  as 
follows : 

Mrsic,  bj'  a  vohiuteer  choir  under  the  direction  of  Manuel  Fenollosa, 
of  Salem ; 

Hymn,  by  Hon.  Joseph  Gilbert  Waters,  of  Salem  ; 

Prayer,  by  Kev.  George  Ware  Briggg,  of  the  First  Church,  Salem  ; 

Hymn,  by  Rev.  .Tones  Very,  of  Salem  ; 

Address,  by  Rev.  James  Mason  Hoppin,  of  the  Crombie  Street 
Church,  Salem ; 

Hymn,  by  Rev.  Charles  Timothy  Brooks,  of  Newport,  R.  I. 

Benediction,  by  Rev.  Robert  Curtis  Mills,  of  the  First  Baptist 
Church,  Salem. 

The  following  letter  from  the  historian  Prescott, 
received  among  others  in  response  to  invitations  to 
attend  the  dedication,  will  be  read  with  interest : 

Pepi'erell,  Oct.  fi,  18.57. 

Dear  Sir  :  I,  last  evening,  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving  the  invita- 
tion of  the  committee  to  attend  the  dedication  of  Plummer  Hall.  Unfor- 
tunately, being  absent  from  town,  it  did  not  reach  me  till  too  late  to 
profit  by  it.  I  beg  you  will  present  my  acknowledgments  to  the  com- 
mittee tor  the  honor  they  have  done  me.  I  need  not  assure  them  that  I 
take  a  sincere  interest  in  the  ceremonies  of  the  day,  for  I  am  attached  to 
Salem  by  the  reminiscences  of  many  happy  hours  passed  there  in  boy- 
hood ;  and  I  have  a  particular  interest  in  the  spot  which  is  to  be  covered 
with  the  new  edifice,  from  its  having  been  that  on  which  I  first  saw  the 
light  iny.self.  It  is  a  pleasant  thought  to  me,  that  through  the  enlight- 
ened liberality  of  my  deceased  friend  Miss  Plummer,  it  is  now  to  be  con- 
secrated to  so  noble  a  purpose. 

With  great  lespect,  believe  me,  dear  Sir, 

Very  truly  yours, 

Wm.  H.  Prescott. 
Dr.  George  Ciioate,  Pros.  Salem  Athen;eum. 

Presidents  of  the  Salem    Athenceum. 

Edward  Augustus  Holyoke 1810-29 

Benjamin  Pickman 1829-35 

Icliabod  Tucker 1835-38 

Daniel  Appleton  White 1838-40 

Benjamin  Merrill 1840-47 

Stephen  Clarendon  Phillips 1847-50 

George  Choate 1850-64 

Alpheus  Crosby 1804-74 

William  Mack 1874-86 

Edmund  Burke  Will.son 1886 

Clevis  of  the  Proprietors. 

John  Sparhawk  Appleton 1810-14 

John  Pickering 1814-19 

John  Glen  King 1819-31 

Ebenezer  Shillaber 1831-41 

William  Putnam  Richardson  1841-46 

Henry  VVheatlaud  1840 

The  Essex  Institute. — The  Essex  Institute  was 
formed  by  the  union  of  the  Essex  Historical  Society 
and  the  Essex  County  Natural  History  Society,  and 
was  organized,  under  an  act  of  incorporation  granted 
by  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  in  February  of 
1848,  on  the  1st  of  March  following. 
lU 


The  Essex  Historical  Society. — At  the  sug- 
gestion of  Hon.  John  Glen  King  and  George  A. 
Ward,  Esq.,  several  gentlemen,  many  of  whom  were 
active  in  the  organization  of  the  Salem  Athenaeum, 
eleven  years  before,  assembled  on  the  21st  of  Ajjril, 
1821,  Hon.  Joseph  Story  presiding,  and  formed  them- 
selves into  an  association  under  the  name  of  the  Essex 
Historical  Society,  the  leading  object  of  which  was 
the  collection  and  preservation  of  all  authentic  ma- 
terials illustrating  the  civil  history  of  the  county  of 
Essex,  and  in  furtherance  thereof  they  invited  the  co- 
operation of  other  kindred  societies.  An  act  of  incor- 
poration was  obtained  from  the  Legislature,  June  27, 
1821.  The  first  corporate  meeting  was  held  on  Wed- 
nesday, June  27,  1821,  due  notice  having  been  given 
of  the  call  at  which  the  act  was  accepted  and  the  so- 
ciety organized  by  the  adoption  of  rules  and  regula- 
tions and  the  election  of  officers  to  serve  until  the 
annual  meeting  fixed  on  the  6th  of  September,  in 
commemoration  of  the  landing  of  Governor  John  En- 
dicott  on  that  day  (0.  S.),  1628. 

The  venerable  Dr.  E.  A.  Holyoke,  who  always  took 
the  most  lively  interest  in  whatever  concerned  Ameri- 
can literature  and  science,  was  elected  the  first  presi- 
dent. It  is  quite  remarkable  that  in  each  stage  in  the 
progress  of  institutions  of  this  character  in  Salem,  a 
leading  25art  was  taken  by  one  man.  Dr.  Holyoke;  he 
signed  the  call  for  the  meeting  at  the  tavern  of  Mrs. 
Pratt  in  1760,  and  was  an  original  subscriber  to  the 
funds  then  raised  to  establish  the  Social  Library;  he 
was  one  of  the  purchasers  of  Dr.  Kirwan's  books,  thus 
co-operating  in  founding  the  Philosophical  Library  ; 
he  was  the  first  president  of  the  Salem  Athenaeum, ' 
and  the  first  president  of  the  Essex  Historical  Society. 
The  zeal  and  ability  of  the  members  and  their  friends, 
in  a  short  time,  gathered  together  a  good  collection  of 
portraits  and  antique  relics,  illustrative  of  the  early 
history  of  the  county  and  the  nucleus  of  a  library  con- 
taining files  of  several  newspapers,  pamphlets,  docu- 
ments, etc.  These  were  first  deposited  in  Essex 
Place,  on  Essex  Street,  facing  Central ;  then  in  the 
room  over  the  Salem  Bank,  where  Downing  Block 
now  stands,  afterwards  in  Lawrence  Place,  at  the  cor- 
ner of  Washington  and  Front  Streets,  until  the  union 
which  formed  the  Institute. 

On  the  6th  of  September,  1825,  the  day  of  the 
annual  meeting,  Hon.  Leverett  Saltonstall  delivered 
a  public  address,  which  was  well  received,  before 
the  society,  in  the  First  Church.  On  Thursday, 
the  18th  of  September  (N.  S.),  1828,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  society,  with  their  invited  guests,  met 
to  commemorate  the  two  hundredth  anniverstiry  of  the 
landing  of  Endicott.  The  orator  of  the  day  was  the 
Hon.  Joseph  Story,  one  of  the  justices  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court,  an  original  member  and  the 
vice-president  of  the  society.  The  president  of 
the  society.  Dr.  Holyoke,  the  centennial  anni- 
versary of  whose   birth  was   appropriately  observed 


170 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


by  the  medical  profession  of  Boston  and  Salem 
on  the  thirteenth  of  the  month  preceding,  pre- 
sided. The  secretary  was  the  Hon.  Joseph  G.  Waters, 
secretary  of  the  society  for  the  twenty-one  years  pre- 
ceding the  union,  in  1848.  He  will  be  long  remem- 
bered for  his  deep  interest  in  our  literary  and  scien- 
tific institutions  and  for  his  versatile  gifts  and  exten- 
sive knowledge  of  English  literature  and  history.  The 
society  had  on  its  roll  of  membershij)  at  that  time 
many  men  of  wide  distinction.  Probably  no  society 
in  the  United  States  could  claim  a  greater  number  of 
influential  men  in  the  various  walks  of  life.  The  elo- 
quent address  of  Hon.  Mr.  Story  at  the  North  Church  ; 
the  intellectual  and  social  banquet  at  Hamilton  Hall ; 
these,  and  other  interesting  incidents  connected 
therewith,  rendered  the  occasion  one  long  to  be  re- 
membered in  the  annals  of  the  society. 

OFFICERS  OF  THE  ESSEX  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

Presiderits. 

Edward  Augustus  Holyoke 1821-29 

Benjamin  Pkkman 1829-35 

Icliabod  Tucker 1835-37 

Daniel  Appleton  White 1837-48 

Recording  Secreiaries. 

George  Atkinson  Ward 1821-22 

John  White  Treadwell 1822-21 

William  Proctor 182-1-27 

Joseph  Gilbert  Waters 1827-48 

The  Essex  County  Natural  History  Society. 
— A  communication  was  printed  in  the  Salem  Gazette 
for  Tuesday,  February  1,  1831,  under  the  signature  of 
Ebah,  suggesting  the  feasibility  of  organizing  a  So- 
ciety of  Natural  History  ;  other  communications  oc- 
casionally appeared,  but  the  various  suggestions  did 
not  begin  to  take  a  tangible  form    until  December, 

1833,  when,  on  the  evening  of  Saturday,  the  14th,  a 
meeting  of  those  friendly  to  the  subject  was  held, 
which  resulted,  after  several  adjournments,  in  the  or- 
ganization of  the  Essex  County  Natural  History  So- 
ciety, Dr.  Andrew  Nichols,  of  Danvers,  president; 
William  Oakes,  Esq.,  of  Ipswich  and  Rev.  Gardner 
B.  J'erry,  of  Bradford,  vice-presidents  ;  John  M.  Ives, 
Esq.,  of  Salem,  secretary  and  treasurer;  Rev.  John 
Lewis  Russell,  of  Salem,  cabinet  keeper  and  libra- 
rian ;  William  Oakes,  Esq.,  of  Ipswich,  John  Clarke 
Lee,  of  Salem,  Charles  Grafton  Page,  of  Salem, 
Thomas  Spencer,  Esq.,  of  Salem,  curators. 

Upon  the  organization  of  the  society  the  attention 
of  its  members  was  mainly  devoted  to  horticulture ; 
its  rooms  were  opened  occasionally  during  every  sea- 
son with  greater  or  less  frequency,  as  circumstances 
would  permit,  for  exhibitions  of  fruits  and  flowers. 
The  first  exhibition  took  place  on  Tuesday,  July  11, 

1834.  The  first  general  exhibition,  which  continued 
several  days,  occurred  on  Tuesday  and  Wednesday, 
September  14th  and  15th,  1841. 

These  exhibitions,  though  not  an  original  object, 
became,  in  the    course  of  years,  one    of  the  most 


important  features  of  the  society.  For  several 
years  exhibitions  were  held  weekly  during  the  sum- 
mer months,  with  an  annual  show  in  September,  and 
increased  in  interest  with  each  successive  season. 
Several  nurseries  were  established,  the  demand  for 
fruit  trees,  ornamental  trees  and  shrubs  increased, 
and  Salem,  for  some  years  became,  as  it  were,  a  cen- 
tre for  horticultural  operations.  The  exhibitions  at 
the  Metro])olis  were  largely  indebted  to  the  Salem 
gardens  for  their  requisite  proportion  of  fruits  and 
flowers. 

This  city  and  its  vicinity  had  a  goodly  array  of  en- 
thusiastic and  successful  cultivators  of  the  choicest 
gifts  of  Flora  and  Pomona;  among  them  the  name  of 
Robert  Manning  stands  as  a  pioneer  in  the  cultiva- 
tion of  fruit,  especially  of  the  pear.  The  garden  of 
Mr.  J.  Fisk  Allen  exhibited,  for  several  seasons,  a 
fine  display  of  that  gorgeous  lily,  "  Victoria  Regia," 
and  his  excellent  treatise  on  that  flower,  with  illus- 
trations, finds  a  place  in  every  well  stored  library. 
Salem  was  also  noted  for  the  great  variety  of  grapes 
and  other  fruits  grown  under  glass.  The  gardens  and 
grounds  of  the  Messrs.  Putnam,  Lee,  Cabot,  Emmer- 
ton,  Upton,  Ives,  Bertram,  Hoflnian,  Derby,  Phippen, 
Ropes,  Oliver,  Glover,  Bosson,  Gardner  and  others, 
may  be  mentioned  in  this  connection. 

The  Journal  of  the  Essex  County  Natural  History 
Society,  comprising  one  volume  in  three  numbers,  is- 
sued in  183G,  1838  and  1841,  was  published  by  the 
society. 

Officeus  of  Essex  Coi'nty  Natural  Histohy  Society. 

Presideiila. 
Andrew  Nichols 1833-4r> 

,Iohn  Lewis  Kussell 1845-48 

tiecrelaries. 
John  M.  Ives 1833-35 

Henry  Wheatland 1835  48 

During  the  autumn  of  1847  the  Historical  and  the 
Natural  History  Societies  held  several  meetings  to  ef- 
fect a  union.  A  joint  committee  was  appointed  to 
draft  a  plan  to  serve  as  a  basis  of  organization.  The 
plan  ofl'ered  by  the  committee  was  acce[)ted  by  the 
two  societies  at  a  meeting  held  January  14,  1848. 
An  act  of  incorporation  was  obtained  in  February  of 
that  year,  and  upon  its  accei)tance,  on  the  1st  of 
March  following,  the  Essex  Institute  was  organized. 

The  organization  of  the  two  societies  being  on  an 
entirely  diflierent  basis,  generous  concessions  were 
called  for  from  both  parties  to  bring  about  the  de- 
sired results. 

The  Historical  Society  always  had  a  small  mem- 
bership. Members  were  elected  by  ballot,  and  an 
entrance  fee  was  required.  There  was  no  regular 
assessment,  though  occasionally  one  was  levied ;  the 
rooms  were  never  opened  to  the  public  at  stated 
times,  though  persons  could  obtain  access  by  calling 
upon  the  librarian  or  some  oflicer,  who  was  always 
courteous  and  ready  to  grant  such  a  favor. 

The  Natural  History  Society  was  differently  con- 
stituted.    Any  inhabitant  of  the    county   could  be- 


SALEM. 


171 


come  a  member  by  signing  the  constitution  and  paying 
the  small  annual  assessment.  The  rooms  were  al- 
ways central  and  accessible,  and  were  frequently 
opened  for  horticultural  and  other  exhibitions,  the 
aim  being  to  make  them  attractive  and  thereby  to 
awaken  an  interest  in  the  objects  of  the  society.  The 
collections  increased  in  value  and  importance,  the 
membership  was  enlarged,  and  consequently  more 
means  were  available  to  .extend  its  operations. 

The  Institute,  in  organizing  in  1848,  took  up  with 
vigor  the  work  of  its  two  component  members,  as 
well  as  new  undertakings  of  its  own.  If  the  Essex 
Historical  Society  had  busied  itself  with  collecting 
and  perpetuating  the  history  of  the  county,  the  In- 
stitute, with  its  new  blood,  hoped  not  without  reasou 
to  push  this  important  portion  to  still  greater  results. 
If  the  Natural  History  Society  had  been  successful  in 
its  delightful  exhibits  of  fruits  and  ilowers,  so  did  the 
Institute  at  the  outset  perpetuate  this  excellent  ex- 
ample and  call  to  its  aid  a  new  class  of  generous  con- 
tributors. Moreover,  it  began  at  once,  by  means  of 
tield  meetings  and  other  popular  and  original  appli- 
ances to  make  science,  local  tradition  and  history, 
literature  and  the  arts,  so  far  as  it  could  with  its 
modicum  of  means  and  membership,  a  part  of  the 
daily  diet  of  the  people. 

The  library  and  various  collections  were  removed 
to  Plummer  Hall  as  soon  as  the  shelving  and  cases 
were  prepared  for  their  reception. 

The  several  departments  of  the  Museum  were  ar- 
ranged on  the  first  floor,  and  were  well  represented; 
in  several  of  the  classes  of  the  animal  kingdom  the 
collections  were  inferior  to  but  one  or  two  others  in 
the  country.  Those  in  some  classes  were  arranged 
and  identified,  and  catalogues  commenced.  In  con- 
sequence of  a  liberal  use  of  its  rich  supply  of  dupli- 
cates, the  Institute  became  the  recipient  of  large 
and  valuable  collections  from  scientific  institutions 
and  individuals,  both  in  this  and  foreign  couutries. 

These  various  scientific  collections,  containing  some 
one  hundred  and  forty  thousand  sjiecimens  are  now 
deposited  at  East  India  Marine  Hall,  in  the  custody 
of  the  trustees  of  the  Peabody  Academy  of  Science, 
according  to  terms  of  agreement  signed  May  29,  1867, 
by  the  contracting  parties. 

The  Peabody  Museum  was,  after  thorough  re-ar- 
rangement, dedicated  to  the  public  on  Wednesday 
afternoon,  August  18,  1869,  the  first  day  of  the  meet- 
ing, in  Salem,  of  the  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science. 

All  contributions  of  specimens  in  natural  history 
which  have  since  been  received  by  the  institute, 
either  by  donations  or  otherwise,  have  been  likewise 
deposited  with  the  trustees  above  named,  at  East 
India  Marine  Hall. 

The  collections  of  antique  relics,  paintings,  portraits, 
engravings,  etc.,  are  placed  in  the  halls  of  the  institute, 
and  are  of  great  historic  value,  and  will  be  alluded  to 
in  another  place. 


The  agreement  by  which  the  institute  has  occupied 
Plummer  Hall,  jointly  with  the  Athenaeum  for  thirty 
years,  was  cancelled  from  the  end  of  April  by  the  gov- 
erning board  of  the  two  institutions,  February  25, 
1887,  and  at  the  same  time  another  agreement  was 
adopted  to  go  into  effect  on  the  30th  of  April,  1887, 
by  which  the  institute  retains  the  use  of  the  first 
floor  and  the  basement  for  the  deposit  of  a  portion  of 
its  library  and  collections,  and  the  hall  to  be  used  for 
lectures  and  meetings,  horticultural  and  art  exhibi- 
tions, and  for  other  purposes  not  inconsistent  with 
the  provisions  of  Miss  Plummer's  will.  Each  society, 
as  heretofore,  maj^  freely  consult  the  books  of  the 
other. 

Library. — The  library  of  the  institute  contains 
about  fifty  thousand  bound  volumes,  and  some  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pamphlets.  In  the  early 
stages  of  the  growth  of  a  great  library,  its  energies 
are  mainly  absorbed  in  mere  accumulation.  At  a 
later  stage,  and  when  exchanges  are  established  and 
a  law  of  growth  confirmed,  while  accretions  are  not 
less  rapid,  more  attention  can  be  given  to  extending 
its  usefulness  and  acquainting  others  with  the  value 
and  character  of  its  treasures.  The  institute  library 
has  now  reached  this  stage.  It  is  for  the  first  time 
able  to  display  its  quality  and  richness  in  the  new 
building  purchased  March  12,  1886,  and  since  suita- 
bly fitted  for  the  purposes  intended.  Among  the 
valuable  features  which,  on  being  catalogued,  it  will 
be  found  to  contain,  are, — 

A  very  complete  collection  of  the  legislative  and 
official  publications  of  Massachusetts  from  early  dates, 
as  well  as  those  of  several  other  States  of  New  Eng- 
land and  of  the  Union  at  large. 

A  large  and  daily  increasing  collection  of  the  works 
of  the  authors  of  Essex  County,  both  native  and  resi- 
dent, already  counting  about  six  hundred  volumes. 
Full  files  of  newspapers  possessing  to  the  antiquary, 
the  historical  student  and  the  conveyancer,  a  value 
hardly  to  be  exaggerated. 

Some  eight  thousand  volumes  of  English,  Greek 
and  Latin  classics,  also  historical  and  other  works, 
selected  for  the  private  library  of  the  donor,  the  late 
Judge  Daniel  A.  White,  first  president  of  the  Essex 
Institute.  A  collection  of  some  three  hundred  Bibles 
and  parts  of  Bibles  of  curious  antiquity,  including  one, 
doubtless  the  oldest  book  in  Essex  County,  dated  be- 
fore the  discovery  of  America,  in  the  year  1486,  a  well 
preserved  copy  brought  from  a  Carmelite  Monastery 
in  Bavaria,  and  presented  to  the  institute  October  2, 
1858,  by  Rev.  J.  M.  Hoppin,  then  of  Salem,  now  a 
professor  in  Yale  College.  Part  of  the  library  of  the 
late  Francis  Peabody,  the  third  president  of  the  in- 
stitute, containing  some  three  thousand  volumes, 
principally,  architectural,  horticultural  and  scientific. 
Also  the  libraries  of  the  late  Augustus  Story,  com- 
prising about  fifteen  hundred  volumes  of  literary  and 
historical  books — and  that  of  the  late  William  Sutton, 


172 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


about  sixteen  hundred  of  agricultural  and  historical 
works. 

The  China  Library,  containing  nearly  seven  hun- 
dred volumes,  an  unique  collection  of  publications 
relating  to  that  country  and  her  people ;  the  Library 
of  the  Art  Department,  numbering  upwards  of  five 
hundred  volumes,  together  with  many  periodicals  in 
its  various  branches,  to  which  additions  are  being 
constantly  made,  and  a  small  Musical  Library. 

A  large  portion  of  the  books  are  arranged  in  the 
new  building, — the  Historical  in  the  western  section 
of  the  second  floor ;  the  Literary  in  the  eastern  sec- 
tion and  the  Essex  County  books  in  the  central.  On 
the  third  floor  are  the  Theological,  in  the  western 
section  ;  Scientific,  in  the  eastern  ;  the  Directories, 
Horticultural  and  Educational  Books,  in  the  central. 

The  national,  state  and  city  Documents,  those  re- 
lating to  Finance  and  Trade,  bound  volumes  of  News- 
papers and  Pamphlets,  are  retained  in  Plummer  Hall. 
The  large  room  is  furnished  with  settees  and  chairs, 
and  is  used  for  lectures,  concerts,  meetings  and  exhi- 
bitions of  Art,  Horticulture,  etc. 

Meetings  of  the  Institute. — Regular  meetings  are  held 
on  the  first  and  third  Monday  evenings  of  each  month  ; 
field  meetings,  during  the  summer  months,  at  such 
times  and  places  as  may  be  appointed  by  a  special 
committee. 

The  Institute  was  organized  in  the  spring  of  1848. 
It  at  once  introduced  a  system  of  field  meetings, 
unique  and  interesting,  as  well  as  useful  to  those  who 
have  attended  them.  These  meetings  gather  from 
one  to  three  hundred  or  more  persons;  four  or  five  of 
them  are  held  in  each  season.  Railroads,  local  au- 
thorities, church  committees,  educational,  scientific 
and  literary  organizations,  have  uniformly  united  their 
efforts  to  make  attendance  easy  and  agreeable.  The 
first  of  these  gatherings  was  held  at  Danvers,  June 
12,  1849,  and,  with  the  interval  of  three  summers,  in 
1853-4-5,  they  have  since  been  uninterrupted.  One 
hundred  and  thirty-five  field  meetings  have  been  held 
in  ninety-six  difterent  jjlaces  in  thirty-three  of  the 
towns  and  cities  of  the  county  of  Essex,  and  twelve 
meetings  in  twelve  towns  or  cities  beyond  the  county 
limits.  Members  of  the  Institute  and  all  others  are 
invited  on  equal  terms.  A  spot  is  selected  for  its 
scientific  and  historical  interest,  and  with  some  regard 
to  its  facilities  for  transportation,  shelter  and  refresh- 
ment. Physicists  and  antiquarians,  especially  local 
students  of  science,  tradition  and  history,  are  sought 
out.  The  party  attending  provides  itself  with  a  bas- 
ket luncheon,  and  is  usually  transported  at  half  fare. 
Reaching  its  destination,  it  is  often  welcomed  by  a 
local  committee,  deposits  its  baskets  and  extra  cloth- 
ing, and,  in  self-appointed  sections,  follows  the  lead 
of  its  specialists  in  botany,  geology,  entomology,  local 
history  or  antiquity,  to  various  points  of  interest  in 
the  neighborhood.  Coming  together  at  noon  in  the 
village  church,  the  school-house,  the  town  hall,  or 
some  inviting  grove,  a  meeting  is  held,  after  the  bas- 


kets are  emptied,  and  the  results  of  the  previous 
rambles  are  exhibited,  compared,  analyzed  and  dis- 
cussed. 

In  yet  another  way  has  the  effort  been  successful  to 
make  science  and  sociability  tributary  to  each  other. 
For  several  seasons,  beginning  May  1,  1866,  and  for 
several  evenings  during  each  season,  meetings  were 
held,  which  might  be  described  as  microscope  shows. 
From  twenty-five  to  fifty  instruments  of  every  variety 
of  make,  were  brought  together  in  Hamilton  Hall, 
where  the  friends  of  the  Institute,  to  the  number  of 
two  hundred,  passed  most  agreeable  evenings  in  ex- 
amining the  specimens  shown,  in  listening  to  the 
comments  of  experts  and  specialists,  and  in  general 
social  relaxation.  The  occasions  owed  much  of  their 
success  to  the  interest  and  labor  of  the  late  well- 
known  microscopist,  Edwin  Bicknell. 

Lectures. — During  the  past  fifteen  or  twenty  years, 
regular  courses  of  lectures  have  been  delivered  annu- 
ally in  the  winter  months,  with  perhaps  a  few  excep- 
tions ;  and  before  this  occasionally  as  opportunities 
offered.  These  embrace  a  wide  range  of  topics  in 
science  and  literature.  In  addition  to  the  above, 
courses  of  lectures  or  single  lectures  have  been  given 
by  those  who  were  or  are  now  active  members  of  the 
institute. 

Commemorations. — The  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the 
organization  of  the  Essex  Historical  Society  was  ob- 
served on  the  21st  of  April,  1871 .     The  address  was  by 

A.  C.  Goodell,  Jr.,  Esq.;  an  excellent  choir,  under  the 
direction  of  General  H.  K.  Oliver,  sang  an  original 
hymn,  written  for  the  occasion  by  Rev.  Jones  Very  ; 
after  which  remarks  were  made  by  Rev.  George  D. 
Wildes,  of  New  York  City  ;  General  H.  K.  Oliver 
and  J.  Wingate  Thornton,  of  Boston  ;  and  Dr.  George 

B.  Loring. 

The  seventy-fifth  anniversary  of  the  organization 
of  the  Essex  Institute,  on  the  5th  of  March,  1873, 
vvas  commemorated  by  a  banquet  in  the  rooms  of  the 
Institute,  with  addresses  by  the  President,  His  Excel- 
lency Governor  William  B.Washburn,  Mayor  William 
Cogswell  of  Salem,  Hon.  George  B.  Loring,  president 
of  the  Massachusetts  Senate,  Hon.  John  E.  Sanford, 
speaker  of  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Representa- 
tives, Hon.  Marshall  P.  Wilder,  of  New  England 
Historico-Genealogical  Society,  Prof.  O.  C.  Marsh,  of 
Yale,  and  others. 

The  centennial  of  the  Destruction  of  the  Tea  in 
Boston  Harbor,  December  16,  1773,  was  noticed  at  a 
special  meeting  on  that  evening  by  an  address  from 
James  Kimball,  Esq.,  Avhose  grandfather,  William 
Russell,  was  one  of  the  actors  on  that  occasion. 

The  first  centennial  of  the  meeting  in  Salem,  Octo- 
ber 5,  1774,  of  that  memorable  body  which  formally 
and  finally  resolved  itself  into  a  Provincial 
Congress  and  established  in  Massachusetts  "  a  gov- 
ernment of  the  people,  by  the  peojile  &  for  the  peo- 


SALEM. 


173 


pie,"  was  commemorated  by  aii  address  from  A.  C. 
Goodell,  Jr.,  Esq. ;  a  fine  double  quartette,  under  tbe 
direction  of  Mr.  M.  Fenollosa,  sang  some  patriotic 
pieces. 

The  directors  of  the  institute,  in  compliance  with 
several  official  circulars  and  personal  letters  from  the 
chief  of  the  Historical  Department  of  the  Centennial 
Exhibition  at  Philadelphia,  made  an  exhibit  of  spec- 
imens illustrative  of  the  History  of  Essex  County. 
Portraits  of  Governors  Endicott,  Leverett  and  Brad- 
street,  of  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,  Rev.  Dr.  Manasseh 
Cutler  and  Colonel  Timothy  Pickering  and  about  one 
hundred  articles  of  historical  interest,  also  an  album 
containing  one  hundred  and  twenty  photographs  il- 
lustrating our  city,  were  contributed.  These  remained 
during  the  exhibition. 

The  commemoration  of  the  two  hundred  and  iif- 
tieth  anniversary  of  the  landing  of  John  P^ndicott  at 
Salem,  September  6,  1628,  was  conducted  by  the  Es- 
sex Institute,  September  18,  1878.  The  forenoon  ex- 
ercises, in  Mechanic's  Hall,  consisted  of  an  organ  vol- 
untary by  Mr.  B.  J.  Lang,  reading  of  Scripture  and 
prayer  by  Rev.  R.  C.  Mills,  hymn  by  Rev.  Jones 
Very,  poem  by  Rev.  C.  T.  Brooks,  ode  by  Rev.  S.  P. 
Hill,  oration  by  Hon.  W.  C.  Endicott;  Mrs.  Hemans' 
hymn,  "The  Breaking  Waves  Dashed  High,''  sung  by 
Mrs.  J.  H.  West;  poem,  by  W.  W.  Story,  read  by 
Prof.  J.  W.  Churchill  ;  the  one  hundredth  Psalm 
sung  by  a  chorus. 

The  guests  then  proceeded  to  Hamilton  Hall,  where 
an  elegant  lunch  was  served  by  Cassell.  The  divine 
blessing  was  invoked  by  Rev.  R.  C.  Mills,  D.D.  The 
president  opened  the  afternoon  speaking,  and  was 
followed  by  Rev.  E.  C.  Bolles,  toast  master.  Governor 

A.  H.  Rice,  Mayor  H.  K.  Oliver,  Hon.  R.  C.  Win- 
throp.  President  of  Massachusetts  Historical  Society, 
Hon.  M.  P.  Wilder,  President  of  the  New  England 
Historico-Genealogical  Society,  Dean  Stanley,  of 
Westminster  Abbey,  Hon.  W.  C.  Endicott,  Hon. 
L.  Saltonstall,  Prof.  B.  Peirce,  Hon.  G.  B.  Loring, 
Rev.  F.  Israel,  Joseph  H.  Choate,  Es(j.,  of  New  York, 

B.  H.  Silsbee,  Esq.,  President  East  India  Marine 
Society,  and  Rev.  E.  S.  Atwood. 

The  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the 
arrival  of  .John  Winthrop  at  Salem,  with  the  charter 
and  records  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Company,  oc- 
curring on  the  22d  of  June,  1880,  the  first  field  meet- 
ing of  the  season  was  held  on  that  day,  at  the  Pavil- 
ion on  Salem  Neck,  and  the  occasion  was  devoted  to 
a  commemoration  of  this  important  event.  At  1  p.m. 
lunch  was  served  in  the  dining  hall ;  at  2.30  o'clock 
the  afternoon  session  was  held  in  the  great  hall 
below. 

The  president  introduced  Robert  S.  Rantoul,  Esq., 
who  then  delivered  an  historical  and  eloquent  ad- 
dress. Rev.  De  Witt  S.  Clarke,  read  a  poem  written 
for  the  occasion  by  IVIiss  Lucy  Larcom,  who  was 
present,  and  was  followed  by  Colonel  Thomas  Went- 
worth  Higginson,  of  the  Governor's  staft",  a  lineal  de- 


scendant of  Rev.  Francis  Higginson.  Hon.  George 
Washington  Warren,  president  of  Bunker  Hill  Mon- 
ument Association ;  Hon.  George  B.  Loring,  M.C., 
Mayor  H.  K.  Oliver,  and  Seth  Low,  Esq.,  of  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.;  selections  from  the  correspondence  were  read 
by  Rev.  E.  S.  Atwood,  and  a  communication  from  E. 
Stanley  AVaters,  Esq.,  by  Rev.  George  H.  Hosmer, 
giving  a  reminiscence  of  his  predecessor  in  the  pulpit 
of  the  East  Church,  Rev.  William  Bentley,  D.D., 
whose  birthday  this  gathering  also  commemorated, 
he  having  been  born  in  Boston  June  22,  1769.  The 
proceedings  at  these  commemorations  were  fully  re- 
ported and  are  in  print. 

The  Publications  of  the  Institute. — "  Proceedings  and 
Communications,"  6  vols.,  8vo.,  1848-68,  These  vol- 
umes contain  a  large  number  of  descriptions  and  fig- 
ures of  new  species,  especially  of  corals,  insects  and 
polyzoa,  and  many  valuable  papers  in  natural  history. 
The  first  three  volumes  also  contain  many  important 
historical  papers.  In  addition  to  the  papers  on  spe- 
cial subjects,  the  volumes  contain  the  proceedings  of 
the  meetings  of  the  institute,  the  records  of  the  addi- 
tions to  the  library  and  the  museum,  and  many  im- 
portant verbal  communications  made  at  the  meetings, 
etc. 

"Bulletin,"  17  vols.,  8vo,  issued  quarterly;  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  "  Proceedings  of  the  Essex  Institute," 
containing  an  account  of  the  regular  and  field  meet- 
ings of  the  society  and  papers  of  scientific  value. 

"Flora  of  Essex  County,"  by  John  Robinson,  8vo, 
pp.  200. 

"Historical  Collections,"  23  vols.,  Svo,  issued  quar- 
terly, contain  extracts  from  the  records  of  courts,  par- 
ishes, churches  and  towns  in  this  county;  abstracts  of 
wills,  deeds  and  journals;  records  of  births,  baptisms, 
marriages  and  deaths,  and  inscriptions  on  tombstones  ; 
also  papers  of  historical,  genealogical  and  biograph- 
ical interest.  In  these  volumes  will  be  found  mem- 
oirs of  the  following  persons:  of  Daniel  A.  White,  by 
George' W.  Briggs ;  of  George  A.  Ward,  Daniel  P. 
King  and  Francis  Peabody,  by  Hon.  Charles  W.  Up- 
ham  ;  of  Asahel  Huntington,  by  Hon.  Otis  P.  Lord  ; 
of  Henry  C.  Perkins,  by  Rev.  Samuel  J.  Spalding,  of 
Newburyport ;  of  James  Upton,  by  Rev.  Robert  C. 
Mills;  of  Augustus  Story,  by  Rev.  Charles  T.  Brooks, 
of  Newport.  R.  I. ;  of  Benjamin  Peirce,  James  Kim- 
ball, Charles  Davis  and  James  O.  Safford,  by  Robert 
S.  Rantoul ;  of  John  Bertram,  by  Rev.  E.  S.  Atwood  ; 
of  John  Lewis  Russell,  John  C.  Lee  and  Charles  T. 
Brooks,  by  Rev.  E.  B.  Willson  ;  of  Gen.  John  Glover, 
by  William  P.  Upham  ;  of  Jones  Very,  by  William  P. 
Andrews;  of  Oliver  Carlton,  by  L.  Saltonstall;  also 
genealogies  of  the  families  of  Gould,  Chipman, 
Browne,  Pope,  Fiske,  Ropes,  Hutchinson,  Becket, 
Higginson,  Webb,  Gedney,  Clarke,  Silsbee,  Fabens, 
Newhall,  Perkins  and  Townsend. 

The  institute  exchanges  publications  with  fifty  soci- 
ties  in  Germany,  fourteen  in  France,  eight  in  Switzer- 
land, five  in  Belgium,  four  each  in  Sweden,  Russia, 


174 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Italy  and  Norway,  three  each  in  Austria  and  Den- 
mark, two  each  in  Spain,  Australia,  South  America 
and  Java,  one  each  in  Portugal,  China,  Tasmania, 
Mexico,  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick,  four  in 
Canada,  sixteen  in  Great  Britain  (besides  receiving 
the  government  surveys  of  India  and  the  United 
Kingdom),  and  with  twenty-seven  miscellaneous,  forty 
scientific  and  thirty-three  historical  societies  in  the 
United  States  of  America. 

Ari  Exhibitions  — In  February,  1875,  the  proposal 
of  the  Misses  Mary  E.  and  Abby  O.  Williams,  of  Sa- 
lem, to  deposit  temporarily  their  valuable  collection 
of  paintings,  many  of  which  were  copied  by  them 
from  acknowledged  masters  during  a  residence  of  sev- 
eral years  in  Rome,  and  had  earned  the  praise  of  Rus- 
kin,  was  gratefully  accepted. 

The  collection  was  received  on  Thursday,  March 
4th,  and  it  had  been  found  expedient,  with  so  fine  a 
basis,  to  arrange  an  art  exhibition,  and  to  solicit  other 
contributions.  The  exhibition  was  opened  Thursday, 
March  11th,  and  continued  to  Friday  evening,  March 
IDth.  From  the  day  that  notice  was  given,  pictures  of 
all  kinds  were  sent  in  with  the  greatest  liberality,  and 
some  three  or  four  hundred  of  them  were  hung  upon 
the  walls  of  the  exhibition-room. 

The  second  exhibition  opened  on  Tuesday,  Novem- 
ber 9,  1875,  and  closed  Wednesday,  the  17th.  The 
eastern  ante-room  was  occupied  with  a  display  of 
bronzes,  i)orcelain  and  pottery ;  this  was  the  first  ce- 
ramic exhibition  in  Salem. 

Encouraged  by  this  success,  exhibitions  have  been 
held  in  June,  1879,  in  April,  1880,  and  in  May,  1881, 
May,  1882,  May,  1883,  May,  1884,  and  June,  1886. 

The  collections  in  these  exhibitions  have  been  con- 
fined, with  one  or  two  exceptions,  to  the  recent  pro- 
ductions of  Essex  County  artists. 

Manuscripts.  —  The  collection  of  manuscripts  is 
large  and  valuable,  consisting  of  original  (charters, 
commissions,  account-books,  records  and  papers  of 
extinct  local  organizations,  such  as  old  stage  and  in- 
surance companies,  orderly-books  in  our  several  wars, 
court  papers,  correspondence,  journals,  almanacs  with 
written  notes  ;  also  a  large  number  of  log-books  con- 
taining records  of  voyages  made  at  the  period  of  our 
city's  commercial  prominence. 

The  day  books  of  Dr.  H  A.  Holyoke  contain  an  ac- 
curate record  of  his  professional  practice;  they  com- 
prise one  hundred  and  twenty-three  volumes  of  ninety 
pages  each.  The  first  entry  was  July  (5,  1749,  the 
last  February  16th,  1829. 

Membership. — The  members  of  the  institute  number 
about  three  hundred  and  fifty.  Resident  member- 
ship is  secured  by  election  and  the  payment  of  an 
annual  assessment  of  three  dollars,  and  this  entitles 
the  member  to  admittance  to  all  horticultural,  anti- 
quarian and  art  shows  during  the  year,  to  the  use  of 
the  books  of  the   library   to  the  extent  of  four  vol- 


umes at  a  time  and  to  consultatiou,  free  of  cost,  of 
the  books  of  the  Salem  Athenaeum,  whose  share- 
holders enjoy  the  reciprocal  right  of  consulting 
free  the  books  of  the  Essex  Institute.  Life  mem- 
bership of  the  institute  is  obtained  by  paying  at  one 
time  the  sum  of  fifty  dollars. 

OFFICERS   OF   THE    ESSEX    INSTITUTE.         • 
Presidents. 

Daniel  Aiiplelon  White 1848-61 

Asahel  Huntiugton 1861-65 

Francis  Peabody 186.5-67 

Heniy  Wheatland  1868- 

Secrelaries. 

Henry  Wheatland 1848-68 

Amos  Hove  Johnson 1868-70 

John  Robinson 1870-71 

Amos  Howe  Johnson 1871-73 

John  Robinson 1873-75 

George  Manton  AMiijiiile 1875- 

The  Lihrarij. — It  began  with  a  few  shelves  of  books, 
miscellaneous  and  unselected  in  a  small  back  room. 
There  are  now  some  five  or  six  thousand  volumes.  The 
increase  in  the  size  of  the  library,  and  the  greatly  in- 
creased use  of  it,  have  made  necessary  a  migration 
from  room  to  room,  until  it  has  reached  its  third  sta- 
tion, where  it  has  fair  accommodations  in  the  room 
which  is  the  last  added  to  the  suite  occupied  by  the 
Fraternity. 

This  library  has  been  gathered  by  gift  wholly.  It 
is  the  only  free  public  library  in  Salem.  Its  large 
number  of  readers  show  an  active  circulation.  The 
number  of  books  lost  is  very  small  comparing  favor- 
ably with  all  known  similar  institutions  in  this  re- 
spect. 

Its  Beading- Rooju  is  supplied  with  the  Salem  papers 
by  the  favor  of  the  publishers,  and  from  some  of  their 
offices  come  besides  many  of  their  most  desirable  ex- 
changes, several  daily  and  weekly  newspapers, 
pictorial  weeklies,  religious,  scientific  and  literary 
periodicals. 

In  1875  the  Fraternity  became  incorporated  under 
the  statutes  of  IVIassachusetts,  that  it  might  hold  and 
administer  larger  funds,  and  that  its  permanence  and 
efficiency  might  be  the  better  assured. 

Its  Funds.  In  1873,  Dudley  P.  Rogers  of  this  city 
bequeathed  the  income  of  fifteen  thousand  dol- 
lars to  the  Fraternity  with  something  moi-e  at  the 
death  of  certain  favorite  animals.  Miss  Harriet  A, 
Deland  died  June  29,  1876,  leaving  by  will  five  thous- 
and dollars.  Martha  G.  Wheatland  died  June,  1885, 
leaving  two  thousand  to  the  Fraternity.  With  the 
income  accruing  from  these  funds  and  subscriptions 
from  its  friends  collected  annually,  and  small  sums 
occasionally  from  other  sources,  the  Fraternity,  with 
the  gratuitous  assistance  of  several  ladies  and  gentle- 
men, is  enabled  to  do  some  good  work  in  the  promo- 
tion of  the  objects  of  its  organization. 

Officers  for  the  year  1887-88.— Henry  ^Vheatland 


SALEM. 


175 


president ;     G.    W.   Mansfield,    secretary  ;     William 
Nortliey,  treasurer. 

East  India  Marine  Society. — Soon  after  the 
termination  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  the  merchants 
of  Salem  directed  their  attention  to  the  opening  of 
new  avenues  of  trade,  especially  with  the  countries 
beyond  the- Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  Cape  Horn  with 
which  this  country  hud  previously  nu  commercial 
relations. 

Elias  Hasket  Derby  was  the  pioneer  in  this  direc- 
tion. His  ships  were  the  first  to  visit  any  of  these 
ports,  and  to  him,  in  a  great  degree,  may  be  attributed 
the  establjishment  of  the  East  India  trade  in  Salem. 
Other  vessels  soon  followed,  and  gradually  an  exten- 
sive business  was  developed,  which  created  great  ac- 
tivity in  the  various  industries  of  this  place,  especially 
those  connected  with  the  building,  rigging  and  fitting 
for  sea  of  vessels  of  various  kinds.  The  young  men 
of  Salem  and  its  vicinity,  on  leaving  the  school,  the 
academy,  and  the  college  actuated  by  the  prevail- 
ing spirit  of  the  period,  for  the  most  part  entered 
upon  a  commercial  career,  and  found  employment  in 
the  counting-room,  on  shipboard,  or  with  some  of  the 
commercial  agencies  established  in  these  distant 
ports  to  facilitate  the  conducting  of  their  business 
operations.  The  influence  of  these  surroundings 
greatly  modified  public  sentiment,  and  the  outcome 
was  the  organization  of  an  institution,  having  in  view, 
the  assisting  its  unfortunate  members  or  their  fami- 
lies, in  improving  themselves  in  the  knowledge  of  navi- 
gation and  of  the  various  trades  in  which  they  were 
engaged,  and  incidentally  in  collecting  a  museum 
which  should  represent  the  peculiarities  of  the 
strange  people,  and  strange  places  visited  by  its  mem- 
bers in  their  long  and  distant  voyages. 

During  the  summer  and  early  autumn  of  1799, 
the  first  suggestion  of  such  an  institution  was  made  by 
a  few  shipmasters  who  were  standing  under  the  lea 
of  a  store  on  the  end  of  Union  Wharf,  where  they  were 
in  the  habit  of  congregating,  during  the  intervals  be- 
tween their  voyages.  An  agreement  was  drawn  up  and 
signed  by  .Jonathan  Lambert,  Jona.  Ingersoll,  Jacob 
Crowninshield,  John  Gibaut,  Nathaniel  Silsbee  and 
others  to  form  an  association  consisting  of  such  ship- 
masters only,  as  have  had  a  register  from  Salem,  and 
who  had  navigated  those  seas  at  or  beyond  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  to  be  called  the  East  India  Marine 
Society,  or  by  any  other  name  which  may  hereafter 
be  determined.  And  they  also  further  agree  that  the 
first  meeting  to  carry  into  effect  the  above  purposes 
shall  be  held  at  Capt.  Webb's  tavern,  on  the  18th  of 
September  (Wednesday  evening),  1799. 

The  meeting  was  held,  and  a  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  prepare  the  articles  and  to  report  at  the 
meeting  to  be  held  on  Monday,  October  14,  1799. 

At  the  adjourned  meeting  the  articles  were  read 
separately  and  adopted.  Officers  chosen  as  follows : 
Benjamin  Hodges,  president;  Ichabod  Nichols,  Jona- 
than Lambert,  Benjamin  Carpenter,  committee  of  ob- 


servation ;  Jonathan  Hodges,  secretary  ;  Jacob  Crown- 
inshield, treasurer. 

Rev.  William  Bentley  of  the  East  Parish,  many  of 
whose  parishioners  followed  the  sea  and  were  inter- 
ested in  or  members  of  the  new  society  writes  in  his 
journal  : 

"  Tuesdiij,  October  22,  1711!),  Captain  Canies  from  Sumatra  sliowed  me 
various  specimens  of  shells,  a  large  oyster-shell,  a  petrified  mushroom 
cup  and  stem,  two  specimens  of  boxes  in  gold,  with  the  pen  work  ex- 
tremely nice  and  open  (lowers,  the  work  is  of  uncommonly  thin  plates  of 
gold,  hy  the  IMalays. 

"It  is  proposed  by  the  new  marine  society,  called  the  East  India 
Marine  Society,  to  make  a  cabinet.  This  society  has  been  lately  thought 
of.  Captain  Gibaut  tirst  mentioned  the  plan  to  me  this  summer,  and 
desired  nie  to  give  him  some  plan  of  articles  or  a  sketch.  The  first 
friends  of  the  institutiun  met  and  chose  a  committee  to  compare  or  di- 
gest articles  from  the  sketches  given  to  them.  Last  Wfek  1  was  in- 
formed that  in  the  i)recediug  week  the  members  met  and  signed  the 
articles  proposed  liy  the  committee  and  had  chosen  officers.  (See 
above.) 

"  TItursdai/,  yoveiiihei-  7,  17711,  Sir.  Carnes  has  presented  his  curiosities 
to  the  new-formed  East  India  JIarine  Society  and  they  are  providing  a 
museum  and  cabinet.  The  above  were  the  tirst  specimens  given  to  the 
Society. 

"  Xoeember  0,  17'.l'.i,  Kooms  were  obtained  in  the  Stearns'  building  on 
the  north  east  corner  of  Essex  and  Court,  now  Washington,  Streets  for 
their  meetings  and  a  place  for  the  deposit  of  books,  charts,  etc.,  and  in 
.July  of  the  following  year  glass  cases  were  provided  to  arrange  therein 
the  specimens  that  had  been  accumulated." 

This  may  be  considered  one  of  the  earliest  museums 
in  this  country,  and  it  has  had  a  world-wide  fume. 
There  was  at  that  time  a  museum  iu  Boston  which 
commenced  with  an  exhibition  of  a  few  wax  figures  at 
the  American  Coff'ee-house,  on  State  Street,  Mr. 
Daniel  Bowen  the  proprietor.  In  1795  he  moved  his 
collections  to  a  hall  in  Bromfield  Street,  when  it 
took  the  name  of  the  Columbian  Museum;  it  was  de- 
stroyed by  fire  January  3,  1803.  ^Other  collections 
were  formed  but  hail  not  a  continuous  history,  nor 
were  any  of  these  earlier  museums  established  for 
scientific  purposes. 

The  act  of  Incorporation  having  passed  both 
branches  of  the  Legislature  was  ajiproved  by  the 
Governor  March  3,  1801.     The  objects  are: 

1st.  To  assist  the  widows  and  children  of  deceased 
members  who  may  need  the  same  from  the  income  of 
the  funds  of  the  society,  which  were  obtained  from 
the  fees  of  admissions  and  the  annual  assessments ; 
also  from  donations  and  bequests. 

2d.  To  collect  such  facts  and  observations  as  tend 
to  the  improvement  and  security  of  navigation.  For 
this  purpose  every  member  bound  to  sea  was  author- 
ized to  receive  a  blank  journal,  in  which  he  is  to  in- 
sert all  things  worthy  of  notice  which  occur  during 
his  voyage,  particularly  his  observations  on  the  vari- 
ation of  the  compass,  bearings  and  distances  of  capes 
and  headlands,  of  the  latitude  and  longitude  of  the 
ports,  islands,  rocks  and  shoals ;  and  upon  his  return 
to  deposit  the  same  with  the  society.  These  journals 
are  afterwards  bound  in  volumes  under  the  direction 
of  the  inspector,  with  a  table  of  contents  or  index. 
Ninety  of  these  journals,  prior  to  1831,  of  voyages 
made  to  various  parts  of  the  world,  and  in  several  in- 


176 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


stances  to  places  rarely  visited,  have  already  been  de- 
posited ;  recourse  has  often  been  had  to  them  to  cor- 
rect the  latitudes  and  longitudes  of  our  ships,  also  for 
historical  purposes. 

Many  of  the  journals  are  beautiful  examples  of 
neatness  and  fine  penmanship,  and  are  embellished, 
here  and  there,  with  diagrams,  maps,  drawings  of 
coasts  and  even  with  sketches  of  native  craft.  The 
society  was  in  constant  communication  with  the 
United  States  Government  and  the  scientific  records 
made  by  its  members  have  received  more  than  ordi- 
nary mention  by  well-known  authors  of  works  on  me- 
teorology. The  endorsement  of  the  society  was  ever 
considered  a  guarantee  of  the  highest  character. 
Commodore  Maury  in  compiling  his  well-known 
wind  charts  continually  used  the  society's  journals, 
and  Captains  Charles  M.  Endicottand  James  D.  Gillis, 
members  of  the  society,  prepared  charts  of  Sumatra 
which  are  spoken  of  in  the  report  of  the  cruise  of 
the  United  States  frigate  "  Potomac,"  which  vessel 
was  sent  out  in  1831  for  the  ]iurpose  of  performing 
this  in  connection  with  other  work,  as  "  more  ably 
performed  (by  these  gentlemen)  than  it  could  have 
been  with  our  limited  material."  (See  Hist.  Sketch 
of  Salem,  p.  154.) 

To  the  library  of  which  these  journals  formed  the 
nucleus,  were  added  by  purchase  and  gift  "  books  of 
history,  of  voyages  &  travels  and  of  navigation; 
among  them  are  several  rare  valuable  editions  of  the 
celebrated  voyages  of  Perouse,  Cook  &  Vancouver." 

With  "  the  same  view  the  President  and  committee 
have  authority  to  purchase  books  of  similar  character 
as  they  may  deem  useful  to  the  society."  This  was 
more  applicable  in  the  palmy  days  of  the  India  trade 
in  Salem  than  at  the  present  time;  since  then  other 
institutions  have  been  organized,  whose  objects  are 
mainly  to  take  care  that  this  and  allied  classes  of 
books  are  accessible  to  scholars  as  well  as  to  the  gen- 
eral reader. 

3d,  To  form  a  museum  of  natural  and  artificial 
curiosities,  particularly  such  as  are  to  be  found  be- 
yond the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  Cape  Horn.  This 
has  been  obtained,  to  a  considerable  extent,  by  the 
valuable  donations  of  the  members  as  well  as  of 
others  friendly  to  the  institution.  The  fame  of  this 
Museum  was,  at  first,  in  a  great  measure,  due  to  pub- 
lic interest  as  a  collection  of  curiosities,  and  not  on 
account  of  its  scientific  value ;  yet  the  originators  of 
this  work  devised  for  themselves  methods  and 
plans,  based  upon  the  orderly  ways  of  transacting 
business  at  that  time,  which  are  very  commendable. 
They  instructed  the  members  whenever  their  voyages 
should  take  them  among  uncivilized  people  to  collect 
the  utensils,  weapons  and  dresses  of  such  people; 
also  accounts  of  native  customs  were  often  noted  in 
their  journals  or  communications  by  letter  to  the  so- 
ciety ;  collections  of  shells,  birds,  mammals,,  etc.,  also 
specimens  of  the  flora  and  of  the  geology  were  con- 
tributed. 


The  scientific  man  of  to-day  finds  among  these 
fruits  of  their  labor  much  valuable  and  interesting 
material  to  aid  him  in  his  researches  and  investiga- 
tions, especially  in  the  science  of  anthropology.  They 
builded  better  than  they  knew. 

The  Annual  Festivals  of  the  Society  in  November 
were  very  attractive  and  interesting  to  the  public  in 
the  early  years  of  its  history.  The  society  formerly 
paraded  through  the  streets,  the  officers  usually 
dressed  in  Eastern  costume,  with  battle  axes,  spears 
and  other  warlike  weapons;  there  was  also  a  palan- 
quin, in  which  reclined  a  boy  apparelled  in  most 
gorgeous  habiliments,  borne  by  persons  in  the  East 
Indian  dress,  attended  with  fan  and  hookah  bearers 
and  every  other  accompaniment  of  an  East  Indian 
equipage. 

The  exercises  of  the  day  closed  with  a  l)anquet 
with  toasts,  sentiments,  etc.  These  have  now  passed 
away,  and  the  annual  gathering  is  not  marked  by 
any  outward  display.  We  copy  from  the  press  of 
that  day  a  rep<n-t  of  the  meetings  in  1804  and  1805. 

On  Wednesday  last  was  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
East  India  Marine  Society.  On  this  occasion  is 
the  choice  of  their  officers,  and  an  elegant  dinner  is 
provided.  Before  dinner  the  members  proceeded 
from  their  hall  under  an  escort  of  the  cadet  company 
and  attended  with  an  excellent  band  of  music.  As 
their  cabinet  displays  the  richest  collection  of  East- 
ern curiosities,  and  furnishes  the  principal  dresses 
and  ornaments,  as  well  as  martial  instruments  and 
inventions  of  the  oriental  nations,  a  proper  exhibi- 
tion was  made  for  the  gratification  of  the  luimerous 
citizens  assembled  to  view  the  procession.  The 
whole  scene  provoked  curiosity,  and  indulged  it, 
while  good  taste  and  dignity  of  manners  justified  it. 
Capt.  Benjamin  Hodges  has  continued  to  receive  the 
annual  invitation  to  be  their  president,  while  all  the 
members  have  generously  contributed  to  afford  such 
communications  and  such  articles  as  have  enriched 
their  records  and  their  collections.  The  Museum  is 
decorated  with  instructive  historical  i^aintings,  at  the 
expense  of  the  society.  The  celebrated  navigators  ap- 
pear on  its  walls.  Rich  specimens  in  the  whole  ex- 
tent of  Natural  History  are  already  obtained,  and  no 
country  is  forgotten  which  has  afibrded  anything  to 
the  antiquarian,  the  historian,  or  the  friend  of  com- 
merce.' 

On  Wednesday  last  The  East  India  Marine 
Society  had  their  annual  meeting,  with  ihe  festive 
scenes  in  which  they  recall  their  former  friendships, 
recount  their  services  and  urge  their  common  zeal 
for  the  promotion  of  the  end  of  their  society.  Theii 
success  has  been  worthy  of  their  great  attempts,  and 
their  exertions  have  been  such  as  have  been  unpre- 
cedented in  our  country.  Their  museum,  happy  in 
its  arrangements  and  elegant  in  its  display  of  its  rich- 
es,— with  the  many  subjects   it  embraces — the  great 

^  Salem  Register,  Mmiday,  November  12,  18tl4. 


SALEM. 


177 


variety  with  which  it  is  enriched,  does  honor  to  their 
taste,  their  inquiries  and  their  diligence.  It  was  a 
great  diminution  of  their  pleasure  to  be  deprived  of 
the  company  of  their  president,  Capt.  B.  Hodges,  who 
was  unable  to  attend.  Captain  Carpenter,  the  vice- 
president,  presided  on  the  occasion  with  dignity. 

The  military  parade  was  by  the  Light  Infantry, 
under  Captain  Saunders,  and  the  procession  was  ad- 
mired as  a  just  display  of  the  eastern  manners.  The 
whole  scene  was  powerful  in  convincing  us  of  the 
personal  merit  of  the  members,  of  the  benefits  from 
their  institution,  and  of  the  zeal  with  which  they 
have  promoted  its  best  reputation.^ 

November  2,  1803,  the  society  voted  to  take  the 
room  in  the  second  story  of  the  building  then  being 
erected  for  the  accommodation  of  the  Salem  Bank 
and  the  Salem  Insurance  Company  on  the  first  floor, 
on  the  eastern  portion  of  the  land  now  occupied  by 
the  Downing  Block — dimension  of  the  same  forty 
feet  by  fifty-four.  On  the  7th  of  March,  1804,  a  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  remove  the  collections  and 
to  arrange  the  same  in  the  new  hall. 

July  8,  1817, —  Voted  to  accept  the  invitation  from 
the  committee  of  arrangements  to  join  the  procession 
this  day, — reception  of  James  Monroe,  President  of 
the  United  States.  Also  voted  that  the  president  of 
the  society  be  requested  to  wait  on  the  President  of 
the  United  States  of  America,  and  in  the  name  of  the 
society  to  invite  him  to  visit  the  museum  with  his 
suite,  and  also  to  wait  on  the  Governor  of  the  com- 
monwealth with  a  similar  invitation, — and  at  such 
time  as  they  shall  appoint  for  the  purpose,  the  officers 
of  the  society  to  attend  them  to  the  hall. 

July  5,  1820,  Voted  that  the  president  and  commit- 
tee be  authorized  to  procure  printed  copies  of  the 
catalogue^  now  preparing,  to  furnish  each  member 
(or  the  family  of  each  member  deceased)  with  a  copy 
and  to  present  the  same  in  the  name  of  the  society  to 
such  gentlemen  of  the  town  and  its  vicinity  as  the 
president  and  committee  may  think  proper. 

Voted,  That  the  president  and  committee  be  au- 
thorized to  engage  Dr.  Seth  Bass  to  superintend  the 
museum  under  their  direction  and  for  such  compen- 
sation as  they  may  judge  reasonable. 

January  7,  1824. —  Voted,  That  the  subject  of  en- 
larging the  hall  or  procuring  another  hall  be  submit- 
ted to  a  committee.  May  19,  1824,  the  committee  re- 
ported that  a  new  building  may  be  erected  that  will 
accommodate  the  society  in  the  most  convenient  man- 
ner and  they  subjoin  for  their  consideration  the  fol- 
lowing proposal,  to  be  offered  for  subscription  imme- 
diately : — 

1  Salem  HegUter,  Monday,  November  11,  1805. 

-  The  first  printed  catalogue  of  objects  in  the  museum,  journals,  list  of 
members,  etc.,  while  the  collections  were  in  the  Salem  Bank  Building. 
This  gave  22G9  members.  In  1825  the  museum  moved  to  the  East  India 
Marine  Hall,  and  by  the  impetus  thus  given  the  collections  were  rapidly 
augmented,  so  that  iu  1831,  when  the  second  edition  was  printed,  be- 
sides having  some  entailment,  gave  4299  members  for  the  museum. 

12 


"A  lot  of  land  may  be  had  near  the  present  hall,  of  a  proper  size  for 
erecting  the  contemplated  building,  and  that  it  may  be  completed  in  the 
course  of  the  next  jear,  proposals  for  erecting  a  building  of  about  45  by 
y5  feet  for  E.  I.  M.  S.  and  other  purposes,  by  an  association  to  be  incor- 
porated for  the  purpose  under  the  name  of  the  East  India  Marine  Hall 
Corporation  ;  one  hundred  and  fifty  shares  at  8100  each  ;  the  society  to 
take  as  many  shares  as  they  may  deem  proper,  the  remainder  to  mem- 
bers of  the  society  or  other  parties." 

Twenty-sixth  Anniversary — -Dedication  of  the  New 
Hall,  Friday,  October  14,  1825. — Celebration  by  a 
public  procession  and  dinner,  on  the  occasion  of 
taking  possession  of  the  h^ll  which  they  have  lately 
erected  and  fitted  up  in  splendid  manner  for  their 
accommodation.  This  hall,  over  one  hundred  feet  in 
length  and  forty  in  breadth,  is  as  chaste  and  beautiful 
a  specimen  of  architecture  as  our  country  can  exhibit, 
and  filled  as  it  is  by  the  rare  and  curious  productions 
of  nature  and  art  from  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe, 
forms  a  cabinet  unrivalled  in  this  and  excelled  per- 
haps by  ievi  in  any  country. 

On  this  occasion  the  society  was  honored  by  the 
company  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  and 
many  other  distinguished  guests,  amongst  whom  were 
Mr.  Justice  Story,  of  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court;  Hon.  Benjamin  W.  Crowninshield,  member 
of  Congress  for  this  district;  Hon.  Josiah  Quincy, 
Mayor  of  Boston ;  Hon.  Mr.  Hill,  of  the  Executive 
Council ;  Hon.  Timothy  Pickering,  President  Kirk- 
land,  of  Harvard  University,  and  a  large  number  of 
merchants,  professional  men  and  others. 

The  society,  with  its  guests,  moved  in  procession  at 
two  o'clock  from  Hamilton  Hall,  under  the  direction 
of  Eichard  S.  Rogers  and  Jonathan  P.  Saunders, 
Esqrs.,  and,  escorted  by  a  fine  band  of  music,  pro- 
ceeded through  some  of  the  principal  streets  to  their 
new  hall  on  Essex  Street.  The  occasion  drew  together 
a  vast  concourse  of  citizens,  who  testified  by  repeated 
cheers  and  greetings  their  happiness  at  beholding  the 
Chief  Magistrate. 

The  dinner  was  served  in  a  style  of  magnificence. 
The  religious  services  were  performed  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Kirkland  and  Rev.  Mr.  Cornelius.  Hon.  Stephen 
White,  President  of  the  Society,  presided  at  the  tables. 
The  President  of  the  United  States  appeared  in  good 
health  and  spirits.  The  toasts  were  announced  by 
John  W.  Treadwell,  Esq.,  the  Corresponding  Sec- 
retary. 

December  31,  1866.— The  report  of  Mr.  John  B. 
Silsbee,  respecting  the  arrangements  for  the  transfer- 
ence of  its  building  and  collections  to  the  Essex  In- 
stitute, or  Mr.  Peabody  or  his  trustees,  was  read  and 
accepted. 

Too  much  praise  cannot  be  given  to  the  thoughtful 
originators  and  promoters  of  this  institution,  which, 
after  flourishing  for  three-quarters  of  a  century,  trans- 
fers to  younger  hands  the  care  and  continuance  of  its 
scientific  and  other  collections,  reserving  for  itself  the 
administration  of  its  noble  charities,  which  will  con- 
tinue as  long  as  the  institution  exists. 

Superintendents  of  Museum,  Seth  Bass,  M.D.,  Mai- 


178 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


thus  A.  Ward,  M.D.,  George  Osborne,  M.D.,  Charles 
G.  Page,  M.D.,  Henry  Wheatland,  M.D.,  George  D. 
Phippen. 

The  Peabody  Academy  of  Science. — With  the 
decline  of  Salem's  foreign  commerce  the  East  India 
Marine  Society  found  it  more  and  more  difficult  to 
obtain  means  for  conducting  the  museum  which  it 
had  maintained  with  increasing  success  since  1799. 
Few  new  membei's  joined  the  society,  and  the  pro- 
ceeds of  its  invested  fund*  and  membership  assess- 
ments were  all  required  for  the  charitable  objects  of 
the  organization.  The  museum,  therefore,  became  a 
burden,  and  serious  thoughts  were  entertained  of  sell- 
ing the  collections. 

At  about  the  same  time  the  Essex  Institute  had  ac- 
cumulated a  large  and  valuable  collection  of  objects 
relating  to  natural  history,  the  care  of  which,  with 
the  limited  means  then  at  its  disposal  for  this  purpose, 
threatened  to  seriously  embarrass  the  society  and  dis- 
perse the  band  of  scientists  who  had  collected  and 
were  working  under  the  auspices  of  that  institution. 

In  1866,  through  the  instrumentality  of  Mr.  Fran- 
cis Peabody,  at  the  time  president  of  the  Essex  Insti- 
tute, the  existing  condition  of  affairs  with  these  insti- 
tutions was  brought  to  the  attention  of  Mr.  George 
Peabody,  of  London.  After  a  very  careful  considera- 
tion of  the  matter,  both  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Peabody 
and  those  interested  in  the  institutions  here,  a  general 
understanding  was  arrived  at,  and  on  February  26, 
1867,  Mr.  George  Peabody  generously  placed  in  the 
hands  of  several  gentlemen  the  sum  of  one  hundred 
and  forty  thousand  dollars,  "  for  the  promotion  of 
science  and  useful  knowledge  in  Essex  County,"  to 
be  expended  in  a  manner  indicated  by  a  letter  of  trust 
and  as  understood  between  himself  and  the  trustees 
named,  and  who,  on  Saturday,  March  2,  1867,  or- 
ganized as  the  "Trustees  of  the  Peabody  Academy 
of  Science,"  with  Mr.  Francis  Peabody  as  president. 
The  East  India  Marine  Hall  property  was  purchased 
and  the  large  exhibition-room  was  refitted  for  museum 
purposes  with  a  special  portion  of  the  fund,  according 
to  the  request  of  the  donor.  The  museum  of  the  East 
India  Marine  Society  and  the  natural  history  and  eth- 
nological collections  of  the  Essex  Institute  were  then 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  academy  trustees  as  per- 
manent deposits.  These  were  arranged  in  East  India 
Marine  Hall,  which  was  dedicated  August  19,  1869, 
and  opened  to  the  public,  the  act  of  incorporation,  ap- 
proved April  13,  1868,  having  passed  both  branches 
of  the  Legislature. 

Thus,  through  the  instructions  of  the  founder,  the 
work  of  the  institution  was  clearly  indicated,  and, 
although  the  funds  were  given  for  the  benefit  of  the 
citizens  of  the  county,  the  directions  as  to  the  pur- 
chase of  the  East  India  Marine  Hall  property  and 
the  agreements  with  the  societies  depositing  their  col- 
lections definitely  located  the  institution  in  Salem, 
where  its  work  must  be  conducted. 


It  has  been  the  effort  of  the  trustees  to  carry  out 
Mr.  Peabody's  wishes  by  managing  the  affairs  of  the 
institution  on  as  broad  a  plan  as  the  income  from  the 
funds  will  permit.  The  museum,  to  which  very  large 
additions  have  been  made  by  the  trustees  since  1867, 
through  exchange,  purchase  and  by  gift,  is  arranged 
as  an  easy  object-lesson  in  natural  history.  All  the 
specimens  in  the  cases  are  labelled  clearly,  larger 
cards  and  signs  being  placed  to  indicate  the  groups  of 
the  animals  or  minerals  and  the  divisions  of  the  eth- 
nological collections.  By  this  means  the  difficult 
problem  of  a  catalogue  for  the  use  of  visitors  is 
avoided.  This  system  is  with  the  trustees  a  necessity, 
as  the  visitors  to  the  museum  number  upwards  of  forty 
thousand  annually,  and  are,  with  very  few  exceptions, 
persons  without  any  scientific  training  whatever,  and, 
in  order  that  the  museum  shall  be  of  any  benefit  to 
them  and  furnish  them  with  instruction,  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  collections  must  at  once  be  made  simple 
and  attractive.  The  office  of  the  academy  is  ever 
open  to  any  one  who  may  desire  to  make  inquiries  as 
to  the  nature  of  any  rock,  animal  or  plant,  or,  in  fact, 
anything  coming  under  the  general  head  of  science. 
All  such  inquiries  are  answered  as  far  as  possible,  and, 
at  least,  the  inquirer  is  directed  where  he  may  gain 
the  information  he  seeks.  In  1876  a  summer  school 
of  biology  was  established  by  the  trustees,  which  was 
conducted  for  six  seasons,  and  only  discontinued  when 
it  was  found  that  very  few  persons  from  Essex  County 
cared  to  avail  themselves  of  its  instruction,  nearly  all 
the  students  coming  from  the  Western  States.  Dur- 
ing the  continuance  of  the  school,  lectures  were  given 
and  laboratory  work  conducted  by  well-known  special- 
ists in  all  branches  of  natural  history.  In  addition 
to  this  work,  special  students  have  been  received  at 
the  academy  and  classes  in  various  branches  of  natu- 
ral history  are  from  time  to  time  conducted,  and, 
since  the  completion  of  the  addition  to  the  building 
and  the  opening  of  Academy  Hall,  public  lectures 
have  been  given  by  men  of  acknowledged  scientific 
attainments  at  such  hours  and  at  a  rate  of  admission 
so  low  as  to  come  within  the  reach  of  all.  Of  scien- 
tific memoirs  the  academy  has  published  two  volumes, 
chiefly  of  original  researches  by  the  officers  of  the 
academy,  and,  in  addition,  nineteen  annual  reports, 
several  of  which  include  scientific  papers,  have  been 
issued.  By  a  system  of  exchange,  a  large  library  of 
the  publications  of  similar  institutions,  both  of  this 
country  and  abroad,  has  been  brought  together. 

The  officers  of  the  academy  at  the  present  time  are  : 
Trustees, — William  C.  Endicott,  President  ;  Henry 
Wheatland,  Vice-President ;  Abner  C.  Goodell,  Jr., 
Secretary  ;  all  of  Salem  ;  James  R.  Nichols  of  Haver- 
hill, George  Peabody  Russell  of  England,  S.  Endicott 
Peabody  of  Salem,  George  Cogswell  of  Bradford,  John 
Robinson  of  Salem,  Treasurer.  The  last  three  named 
have  been  chosen  to  fill  vacancies  caused  by  the  deaths 
of  Mr.  Francis  Peabody  and  Dr.  Henry  C.  Perkins 
and  the  resignation  of  Prof.  Asa  Gray. 


SALEM. 


179 


The  first  director  under  the  trustees  was  Professor 
Frederick  Ward  Putnam,  now  of  Cambridge,  who  was 
followed  in  1876  by  Dr.  Alpheus  S.  Packard,  Professor 
in  Brown  University,  and,  in  1880,  by  the  present  di- 
rector. Prof.  Edward  S.  Morse. 

The  museum  and  assistants  there  employed  are  in 
charge  of  the  Treasurer,  Mr.  Robinson.  The  museum 
is  open  free  to  the  public  every  week  day  from  9  to  5 
o'clock,  and,  pending  the  completion  of  the  new  ex- 
hibition room  in  the  addition  to  the  main  building,  as 
at  present  arranged  in  East  India  Marine  Hall,  it  con- 
tains, on  the  western  side  of  the  main  floor,  an  educa- 
tional collection  illustrating  the  orders  of  the  animal 
kingdom,  arranged  in  their  proper  sequence,  from  the 
lowest  forms  to  the  highest.  This  collection  was 
chiefly  derived  from  the  Essex  Institute  in  the  year 
1867. 

On  the  eastern  side  are  arranged  the  Ethnological 
collections,  principally  received  from  the  East  India 
Marine  Society,  which  are  subdivided  according  to 
races  or  countries.  This  collection  ranks  among 
the  very  highest  in  importance  in  America.  It  is 
especially  rich  in  South  Sea  Island  implements,  cloths, 
models,  idols,  domestic  utensils,  etc.,  and  Chinese, 
Japanese,  and  East  Indian  life-size  models  of  native 
characters,  besides  the  boats,  clothing,  utensils,  imple- 
ments of  war  and  of  domestic  use  from  these  coun- 
tries, and  from  Africa,  Arabia,  and  North  and  South 
America.  The  collection  from  Japan  is  very  fine, 
having  been  formed  by  the  director  during  his  last 
visit  to  that  country.  A  collection  from  Korea  and 
another  illustrating  the  Indian  Tribes  of  North 
America,  have  just  been  added  to  the  museum. 

The  gallery  is  devoted  to  the  Natural  History  and 
Archseology  of  Essex  County.  Nearly  all  of  the  spe- 
cies of  the  flora  and  fauna  are  represented  by  pre- 
served specimens;  the  collection  of  birds  and  that  of 
native  woods  being  especially  fine.  The  academy  has, 
also,  the  best  local  collection  of  prehistoric  implements 
and  utensils  of  stone,  bone  and  clay  to  be  found  in 
Essex  County. 

An  educational  collection  of  minerals  has  recently 
been  arranged  in  the  central  gallery  case. 

Academy  Hall,  previously  referred  to,  is  on  the 
lower  floor  of  the  fire-proof  addition  to  the  East  India 
Marine  Hall  building.  It  has  a  pleasant  audience- 
room  with  a  seating  capacity  for  three  hundred  and 
fifty  persons,  and  is  well  ventilated  and  tastefully 
decorated.  The  hall  was  arranged  primarily  for  the 
use  of  the  academy,  but,  having  a  separate  public 
entrance,  it  is  rented  for  such  other  jjurposes  as  are 
deemed  suitable  by  the  trustees. 

The  Salem  Lyceum  was  founded  in  the  month  of 
January,  1830,  "  for  the  purpose  of  mutual  instruction 
and  rational  entertainment  by  means  of  lectures, 
&c."  The  persons  engaged  in  this  formation  were 
among  the  principal  gentlemen  of  the  town.  The 
first  meeting  was  lield  at  the  house  of  Colonel  Francis 


Peabody,  on  January  4,  1830 ;  a  meeting  was  subse- 
quently held  in  Town  Hall,  where  a  committee  was 
appointed  "  to  prejsare  a  constitution  and  submit  the 
same  for  inspection  to  the  citizens  of  Salem," 

On  the  evening  of  January  18,  1830,  a  meeting 
was  held  at  the  Essex  House,  and  a  formal  organiza- 
tion was  effected  by  the  choice  of  Daniel  A.  White, 
president;  Stephen  C.  Phillips,  vice-president; 
Charles  W.  Upham,  corresponding  Secretary  ;  Stephen 
P.  Webb,  recording  secretary ;  Francis  Peabody, 
treasurer,  and  a  board  of  ten  managers  which  in- 
cluded the  names  of  Rufus  Choate,  Leverett  Salton- 
stall  and  Caleb  Foote. 

In  the  original  plan  a  series  of  public  debates  was 
contemplated,  but  this  intention  was  never  carried 
out.  A  course  of  lectures  was,  however,  started  at 
once,  and  in  the  first  course  all  but  four  were  de- 
livered by  gentlemen  of  Salem.  The  lectures  were 
first  given  in  the  Methodist  meeting  house  on  Sewall 
Street,  and  afterwards  in  the  Universalist  meeting- 
house. But  during  the  summer  of  1830  plans  were 
adopted  for  the  construction  of  the  present  Lyceum 
Hall,  which  was  built  and  ready  for  occupancy  in 
January,  1831,  at  a  cost  of  $3036,  the  land  upon 
which  it  was  erected  costing  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars. 

For  over  half  a  century  an  annual  course  of  lectures 
has  been  delivered  before  the  Salem  Lyceum,  and 
during  a  portion  of  that  time  the  demand  for  tickets 
has  so  far  exceeded  the  seating  capacity  of  the  hall  that 
a  duplicate  course  has  been  given — gentlemen's  tickets 
at  the  outset  were  sold  for  one  dollar,  and  ladies' 
tickets  for  seventy-five  cents ;  but  it  was  not  consid- 
ered proper  for  ladies  to  purchase  tickets  unless  "in- 
troduced" by  a  gentleman,  and  the  tickets  issued  to 
them  ran  as  follows:  "Admit  to  the  Salem  Lyceum 

a   Lady    introduced   by    ."      In    the    changes 

which  fifty  years  have  brought  about,  ladies  not  only 
purchase  tickets  on  equal  terms  with  gentlemen,  but 
appear  upon  the  platform  as  lecturers,  without  ques- 
tion or  comment. 

Nearly  a  thousand  lectures  have  been  delivered  be- 
fore the  Lyceum,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  any  other  in- 
stitution in  the  country  could  present  such  a  distin- 
guished list.  Judge  Daniel  A.  White  delivered  the 
first  lecture,  his  subject  being  "  Advantages  of  Knowl- 
edge," and  the  list  of  lecturers  includes  such  names  as 
Daniel  Webster,  Rufus  Choate.  Edward  Everett,  John 
Quincy  Adams,  Caleb  Cushing,  Charles  Sumner, 
Henry  Wilson,  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  Oliver  Wen- 
dell Holmes,  Wendell  Phillips,  Louis  Agassiz,  George 
Bancroft,  Charles  Francis  Adams,  Horace  Mann, 
Jared  Sparks  and  Robert  C.  Winthrop.  Among  the 
Salem  lecturers  were  Judge  Daniel  A.  White,  Francis 
Peabody,  Rufus  Choate,  Thomas  Spencer,  Stephen  C. 
Phillips,  Henry  Colman,  Henry  K.  Oliver,  Charles 
W.  Upham,  Leverett  Saltonstall,  Joshua  H.  Ward, 
Caleb  Foote  and  George  B.  Loring.  Ralph  Waldo 
Emerson    lectured    in    thirty-two    different  courses. 


180 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY.  MASSACHUSETTS. 


His  first  lecture  was  given  in  1835,  and  his  last  in 
1870. 

The  Lyceum  can  no  longer  offer  such  attractions  to 
its  patrons.  The  public  taste  has  changed,  and  de- 
mands amusement  rather  than  instruction  in  such  a 
form.  The  purely  literary  lecture  as  a  source  of 
general  entertainment  is  almost  a  thing  of  the  past. 
The  small  cost  of  the  cheap  editions  of  the  books  of 
the  present  day  which  enables  an  author  to  address  a 
larger  audience  at  le-s  inconvenience  to  himself,  may 
have  something  to  do  with  this  change.  Whether 
this  be  so  or  not  the  interest  in  the  Lyceum  lectures 
has  not  been  maintained  of  late  years,  and  the  time 
may  not  be  far  distant  when  it  will  be  deemed  ad- 
visable to  bring  the  aftairs  of  this  old  time  institution 
to  a,  close. 

The  board  of  ofiicers  at  present  consists  of  President, 
George  B.  Loring ;  Secretary,  Charles  S.  Osgood ; 
Treasurer,  Gilbert  L.  Streetcr.  Trustees,  George 
Peabody  and  Caleb  Foote,  and  a  board  of  eight  man- 
agers. 

Salem  Fraternity. — On  the  7th  of  February, 
1869,  Mr.  Alfred  Stone,  of  Providence,  formerly  a 
resident  of  Salem,  by  invitation  addressed  a  meeting 
at  the  East  Church,  explaining  the  working  of  the 
Providence  Union.  The  next  evening  a  few  persons 
came  together  in  the  parlor  of  Benjamin  H.  Silsbee, 
Esq.,  to  confer  upon  the  matter  further.  Other  meet- 
ings followed  at  the  same  place,  and  resulted  in  the 
formation  of  the  Salem  Fraternity,  under  a  constitu- 
tion which  states  the  purpose  of  the  organization  to 
be  "to  provide  evening  instruction  and  amusement" 
for  such  of  our  population  as  "being  confined  to 
their  work  during  the  day  need  recreation  at  the 
close  of  their  labors." 

The  experiment  fairly  began  on  the  21st  of  April, 
1869,  on  which  evening  the  western  range  of  rooms 
on  the  second  floor  of  Downing's  Block,  175  Essex 
Street,  was  opened  for  the  purpose  from  front  to 
rear.  The  place  was  well  chosen  ;  central,  accessible, 
attractive  in  its  principal  rooms,  while  the  thorough- 
fare of  the  Essex  Street  promenaders  led  directly  past 
its  door.  The  rooms  were  designated  as  amusement, 
reading,  school  and  work-rooms. 

A  year  and  a  half  after  its  opening  a  winter  course 
of  lectures  was  started.  On  Saturday  evenings  the 
games  and  amusement  were  suspended,  and  their 
room  was  taken  for  this  object.  Gen.  H.  K.  Oliver 
gave  the  first  lecture  on  Saturday  evening,  October 
22,  1870,  subject  "  Good  Manners."  These  lectures 
were  continued  on  successive  Saturday  evenings  for 
several  years  with  great  success,  interspersed  with 
familiar  talks  upon  different  mechanical  trades  and 
various  industries  by  practical  workers  in  them. 

The  Young  Men's  Union  was  organized  in  1855, 
and  was  for  many  years  a  flourishing  institution.  It 
maintained  a  reading-room,  and  each  season  a  course 
of  lectures  and  entertainments  was  given   under  its 


auspices,  but,  failing  to  maintain  its  membership,  it 
was  dissolved  some  four  or  five  years  ago. 

Salem  Charitable  Mechanic  Association. — 
Organized  October  1,  1817;  incorporated  June  4, 
1822;  consists  of  regular  apprenticed  mechanics  and 
of  manufacturers,  citizens  of  the  city  of  Salem  and 
vicinity.  Its  object  is  to  extend  the  means  of  use- 
fulness bj''  encouraging  the  ingenious,  by  assisting  the 
necessitous,  and  by  promoting  mutual  good  offices 
with  each  other. 

A  donation  of  books  from  Mr.  Oliver  Parsons,  in 
April,  1820,  laid  the  foundation  of  the  library  be- 
longing to  this  institution.  A  committee  was  then 
appointed  to  solicit  contributions,  and  in  July  of  that 
year  the  number  of  volumes  amounted  to  three  hun- 
dred. In  January,  1821,  Mr.  Benjamin  Pickman  pre- 
sented a  complete  set  of  Rees'  Cyclopaedia.  From  this 
time  the  library  has  annually  increased  by  donations 
and  special  appropriations,  and  at  present  numbers 
five  thousand  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  volumes. 
It  is  deposited  in  the  middle  eastern  room  under  the 
Mechanic  Hall,  and  is  opened  on  Saturday  evenings 
for  the  deliveiy  of  books.  This  institution  early 
adopted  the  plan  of  having  popular  lectures  on  liter- 
ature and  science  delivered  to  the  members  and  their 
families.  The  firot  lecture  was  delivered  by  Dr. 
George  Choate  on  Thursday  evening,  January  24, 
1828,  in  Franklin  Hall.  These  lectures  were  contin- 
ued weekly,  usually  on  Thursday  evenings,  during  the 
winter  season,  for  about  thirty-eight  years.  They 
have  since  been  delivered  in  their  rooms,  Derby 
Square,  then  Washington  Hall,  Lyceum  Hall  and 
Mechanic's  Hall. 

This  association  was  instrumental  in  the  building 
of  Mechanics'  Hall,  in  1839.  A  stock  company  was 
incorporated  for  this  purpose,  in  which  the  association 
invested  a  portion  of  its  funds,  the  remainder  of  the 
stock  being  taken  by  the  Salem  Lyceum  and  the 
members  and  friends  of  the  association.  In  1870  it 
was  enlarged  and  entirely  remodelled,  in  its  present 
condition. 

In  September,  1849,  its  first  meeting  was  held  in 
the  above-named  building.  It  was  very  successful 
and  creditable  to  the  Board  of  Managers  and  all  who 
were  interested  in  its  success. 

The  first  exhibition  under  the  auspices  of  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  association  was  held  at  the  Mechanic's 
Hall,  Salem,  commencing  on  Monday  September  24, 
1849.  A  good  representation  of  the  products  of  our 
varied  industries  was  arranged  upon  the  tables  mak- 
ing a  very  creditable  api^earance.  Forty-four  medals 
and  fifty-two  diplomas  were  awarded  by  the  judges. 

Odd  Fellowship.^ — The  exact  date  of  the  origin 
of  Odd  Fellowship  in  Massachusetts  is  not  known. 
The  first  lodge,  self-instituted  and  without  a  charter, 
held  its  sessions  in  Boston.  No  records  of  its  early 
meetings   were  preserved.     On  the  26th  of  March, 

1  By  Daniel  B.  Hagar. 


SALEM. 


181 


1820,  it  was  organized  by  the  choice  of  officers,  the 
adoption  of  a  name,  and  of  laws  for  its  government, 
and  the  commencement  of  a  record  of  its  proceedings. 
It  was  instituted  under  the  name  of  Massachusetts 
Lodge,  No.  1.  On  the  11th  of  March,  1823,  Siloam 
Lodge,  No.  2,  was  instituted.  On  the  28th  of  March, 
Massachusetts  Lodge  wrote  to  the  Grand  Lodge  of 
Maryland,  recognizing  it  as  the  Grand  Lodge  of  the 
order  in  the  United  States,  and  asking  for  a  charter 
to  be  granted  to  it  as  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Massachu- 
setts. The  request  was  granted,  and  the  Grand 
Lodge  of  Massachusetts  was  duly  organized  June  9, 
1823. 

The  growth  of  the  order  in  Massachusetts  was  not 
rapid,  and  after  a  few  years  it  became  nearly  extinct. 
Prior  to  1832  seven  lodges  had  been  instituted,  all  of 
which  had  at  that  time  ceased  to  exist,  Merrimac 
Lodge,  No.  7,  being  the  last  to  give  up.  The  Grand 
Lodge  of  the  State  died  with  the  subordinate 
lodges.  In  1883  Merrimac  Lodge  was  revived, 
and  was  placed  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Grand  Lodge  of  the  United  States.  On  the  22d  of 
June,  1841,  Massachusetts  Lodge,  No.  1,  was  reorgan- 
ized. By  request  of  these  two  lodges,  the  Grand 
Lodge  of  Massachusetts  was  reinstated  December  23, 
1841.  From  this  time  the  growth  of  the  order  was 
encouraging.  Within  two  years  the  number  of 
lodges  increased  to  twenty-five.  Between  1850  and 
1860  there  was  a  period  of  declension  in  the  pros- 
perity of  the  order  in  Massachusetts.  Since  1860  the 
order  has  rapidly  grown  in  numbers  and  influence, 
until  it  has  come  to  be  recognized  as  the  leading  ben- 
eficial order  in  the  commonwealth.  The  present 
number  of  lodges  is  one  hundred  and  ninety-one;  the 
number  of  members,  according  to  the  last  report, 
August,  1887,  is  thirty-four  thousand  six  hundred 
and  sixty-tv/o. 

The  organization  of  the  order  includes  the  Grand 
Lodge,  the  Subordinate  Lodges,  the  Grand  Encamp- 
ment, Subordinate  Encampments,  Cantons  of  Patri- 
archs Militant,  and  Lodges  of  the  Daughters  of  Re- 
bekah. 

Essex  Lodge,  No.  26.— On  the  20th  of  October, 
1843,  the  first  step  was  taken  towards  establishing  a 
lodge  of  Odd  Fellows  in  Salem.  Adrien  Low,  G.  D. 
Lyons,  William  Durant,  Thomas  Harvey  and  C.  C. 
Hay  den  met  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Low,  and,  after  de- 
liberation, determined  to  apply  to  the  Grand  Lodge 
for  a  charter  for  Essex  Lodge,  No.  26,  I.  0.  O.  F. 
The  charter  was  granted,  and  on  the  evening  of  No- 
vember 6,  1843,  the  grand  officers  duly  instituted  the 
lodge  and  installed  its  officers.  The  officers  were, — 
N.  G.,  Thomas  Durant ;  V.  G.,  C.  C.  Hayden ;  Secre- 
tary, George  Russell ;  Treasurer,  Adrien  Low ;  W., 
W.  Merrill ;  C.,  B.  F.  Steadman  ;  I.  G.,  T.  E.  Page ; 
R.  S.  N.  G.,  T.  Harvey ;  L.  S.  N.  G.,  J.  Kimball ;  R. 
S.  V.  G.,  N.  Goldsmith ;  L.  S.  V.  G.,  W.  Saunders  ; 
R.  S.  S.,  AV.  R.  Allen  ;  L.  S.  S.,  I.  T.  Kimball ;  Chap., 
I.  P.  Atkinson, 


The  lodge  at  once  entered  upon  a  very  prosperous 
career. 

At  the  close  of  the  year  1844,  it  numbered  one 
hundred  and  thirty-four  members,  and  January  1, 
1849,  five  years  and  two  months  from  its  organization, 
it  numbered  three  hundred  and  fifty-seven  mem- 
bers. The  whole  number  of  members  from  its  forma- 
tion to  the  present  time  is  nine  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  ;  of  these  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  have  died. 
The  present  number  is  three  hundred  and  eighty- 
seven.  A  large  number  of  members  have  withdrawn 
from  Essex  Lodge  to  aid  in  establishing  other  lodges. 
It  furnished  three  of  the  five  charter  members  of 
Atlantic  Lodge,  four  of  the  five  for  Ocean  Lodge, 
and  four  of  the  five  for  Holton  Lodge.  For  the  or- 
ganization of  Fraternity  Lodge,  it  gave  forty-three 
members ;  for  Bass  River  Lodge,  thirty-one ;  for 
Magnolia  Lodge,  twenty-seven  ;  for  Danvers  Lodge, 
eleven.  Essex  Lodge  has  furnished  in  part  the  mem- 
bership of  some  fifteen  lodges. 

Since  its  organization  the  lodge  has  paid  in  weekly 
benefits  to  the  sick,  $26,580.87  ;  in  funeral  benefits, 
$5826.10;  in  other  charities,  $3366.39;  total,  $35,- 
773.36.  This  amount  does  not  include  frequent  pri- 
vate subscriptions  not  entered  on  the  lodge  books. 

The  lodge  has  a  trust  fund  of  over  $15,000,  which 
is  at  present  under  the  charge  of  three  trustees,  Rufus 
B.  Giftbrd,  Daniel  B.  Hagar  and  Charles  H.  Kezar. 

The  membership  of  the  lodge  has  included  men  of 
every  profession  and  almost  every  occupation  ;  many 
of  whom  have  held  prominent  positions  in  city  and 
State  and  in  the  high  ranks  of  Odd  Fellowship.  One 
of  its  members,  Levi  F.  Warren,  has  been  Grand 
Master  of  the  Grand  Lodge*  of  Massachusetts,  and 
one,  Rufus  B.  Gifford,  has  been  Grand  Patriarch  of 
the  Grand  Encampment  of  Massachusetts,  and  Grand 
Representative  to  the  Sovereign  Lodge  of  the  United 
States. 

The  Noble  Grands  of  Essex  Lodge,  in  their  order 
of  service,  have  been :  William  Durant,  C.  C.  Hayden, 
James  Kimball,  Thomas  Harvey,  Adrien  Low,  War- 
ren G.  Rayner,  Joseph  A.  Goldthwait,  Richard  Lind- 
ley,  Thomas  H.  Lefavour,  George  Russell,  Henry  Lus- 
comb,  Benjamin  S.  Grush,  John  W.  Rhoades,  Walter 
S.  Harris,  Hale  Hildreth,  Charles  E.  Symonds,  Alvah 
A.  Evans,  Joshua  W.  Moulton,  Simeon  Flint,  Enoch 
K.  Noyes,  Robert  P.  Clough,  E.  B.  Phillips,  Willis 
S.  Knowlton,  Samuel  B.  Foster,  George  C.  S.  Choate, 
Benjamin  S.  Boardman,  Charles  B.  Luscomb,  Charles 
H.  Manning,  Samuel  Fuller,  Rufus  B.  Gifford,  George 
W.  Kingsley,  Thomas  Oakes,  Walter  Norris,  James 
M.  Brown,  John  R.  Norfolk,  Jonathan  S.  Symonds, 
Joseph  Beadle,  Edwin  Verry,  Joseph  A.  Kimball, 
Moses  H.  Sibley,  Seth  S.  Currier,  Joseph  Swasey, 
Albert  Day,  Benjamin  Edwards,  Levi  F.  Warren, 
John  White,  William  Holland,  Charles  Adams,  Elea- 
zer  Hathaway,  Richard  N.  Knight,  Edward  E.  Dal- 
tou,  James  Donaldson,  William  P.  Hayward,  Natha- 
niel M.  Jackman,  John  S.  Wardwell,  Jr.,  Perry  Col- 


182 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Her,  George  M.  Harris,  Aaron  C.  Young,  George  H. 
Blinn,  John  F.  Staniford,  Joseph  Batchelder,  John 
H.  Russell,  Henry  Conant,  William  D.  Dennis,  Wil- 
liam R.  Tebbetts,  Aaron  J.  Patch,  William  O.  Arnold, 
Charles  Babbidge,  John  Wilson,  William  P.  Pous- 
land,  George  M.  Gallup,  Charles  C.  Roades,  Charles 

B.  Trumbull,  Joseph  N.  Petersen,  John  E.  Kimball, 
John  E.  Matthews,  Frank  Cousins,  Benjamin  A. 
ToLiret,  David  B.  Kimball,  Clarence  Hayward, 
Howard  C.  Kimball,  Amos  J.  Vincent,  Robert  E. 
Hill,  Daniel  B.  Hagar,  Arthur  S.  Palfray,  George  Z. 
Goodell,  Warren  B,  Perkins,  A.  L.  Burnham,  An- 
drew J.  Wilson. 

The  Secretaries  have  been :  George  Russell,  James 

C.  Briggs,  Samuel  B.  Buttrick,  Amory  Holbrook, 
Jonathan  F.  Worcester,  Israel  D.  Shepard,  John  G. 
Willis,  Joseph  Farnham,  Franklin  Grant,  Benjamin 
S.  Boardman,  Charles  E.  Symonds,  Charles  B.  Lus- 
comb,  John  W.  Moulton  and  E.  B.  Phillips;  the  last 
named  has  been  secretary  since  1858. 

The  Treasurers  have  been  :  Adrien  Low,  Nathaniel 
Goldsmith,  James  Harris,  E.  B.  Symonds,  Samuel 
Smith,  John  Beadle,  Jr.,  Rodney  C.  Fletcher,  Robert 
P.  Clough,  Volney  C.  Stow,  George  C.  S.  Choate, 
James  M.  Brown,  John  J.  Ashby,  Andrew  H.  Lord, 
Charles  H.  Norris,  John  P.  Langmaid,  William  P. 
Hayward  and  John  Wilson. 

The  present  chief  officers  of  the  lodge  are :  N.  G., 
A.  J.  Wilson ;  V.  G.,  E.  A.  Reed ;  Secretary,  E.  B. 
Phillips  ;  Treasurer,  John  Wilson. 

Fraternity  Lodge,  No.  118,  was  instituted  November 
13,  1847,  at  Lynde  Hall.  The  charter  under  which 
the  lodge  exists  is  signed  by  Rev.  Dr.  E.  H.  Chapin, 
at  that  time  Grand  Mifster  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of 
Massachusetts.  Of  the  Board  of  Grand  Officers  that 
instituted  the  lodge,  Judge  W.  E.  Palmenter,  now 
chief-justice  of  the  Municipal  Court  of  Suffolk  County, 
is  the  only  survivor. 

The  charter  members  were  James  Kimball,  Adrien 
Low,  Stephen  AVhittemore,  Jr.,  T.  H.  Lefavour, 
George  Russell,  William  Lummus,  Jesse  Smith,  S.  B. 
Buttrick,  Ephraim  Annible,  William  Saunders,  B.  R. 
White,  Gardner  Barton,  John  Barlow,  Joseph  Hunt, 
James  Harris,  Jr.,  Nathaniel  Wiggin,  Alexander 
McCloy,  C.  B.  Elwell,  Alva  Kendall,  John  Lovejoy, 
John  G.  Willis,  Franklin  Grant,  William  Brown, 
Joseph  Farnum,  S.  O.  Dalrymple,  Jonathan  Perley, 
George  W.  Pease,  Jonathan  F.  Worcester  and  D.  C. 
Haskell. 

The  first  board  of  officers  were  James  Kimball, 
N.  G.  ;  Stephen  Whittemore,  V.  G. ;  Jonathan  F. 
Worcester,  Sec. ;  Thomas  H.  Lefavour,  Treas. ;  Frank- 
lin Grant,  W. ;  William  Brown,  C. ;  John  Lovejoy, 
1.  G. ;  E.  Annible,  O.  G. ;  Joseph  Farnum,  R.  S.  N.  G. ; 
S.  O.  Dalrymple,  L.  S.  N.  G. ;  C.  B.  Elwell,  R.  S.  V.  G.  ; 
Alva  Kendall,  L.  S.  V.  G. ;  Jonathan  Perley,  R.  S.  S. ; 
George  W.  Pease,  L.  S.  S. ;  Trustees,  S.  B.  Buttrick, 
Jesse  Smith  and  James  Harris,  Jr. 

These   brothers   were   all   active   members   of  the 


order:  Messrs.  Kimball,  Low,  Whittemore,  Lefavour 
and  Russell  having  been  at  the  head  of  Essex  Lodge,  of 
Salem,  and  many  others  having  held  other  positions 
in  that  lodge. 

The  lodge  inaugurated  an  entirely  new  arrange- 
ment of  the  system  of  dues  and  benefits.  The  Grand 
Lodge  of  Massachusetts  endorsed  and  especially  com- 
mended the  system  of  Fraternity  Lodge,  and  it  has 
been  substantially  adopted  by  all  Odd-Fellows'  Lodges 
in  the  country. 

Of  the  twenty-nine  original  members,  nine  are  now 
living  (July  1,  1887),  and  in  active  membership,  hav- 
ing held  continuous  membership  more  than  forty 
years ;  all  the  other  charter  members  are  dead. 

The  Noble  Grands  of  this  Lodge,  in  regular  order, 
have  been  James  Kimball,  Stephen  Whittemore, 
Jr.,  Joseph  Farnum,  Jonathan  F.  Worcester,  Benja- 
min Whittemore,  I.  D.  Shepard,  George  H.  Pearson, 
Jonathan  Perley.  S.  O.  Dalrymple,  William  Brown, 
H.  E.  Jocelyn,  H.  E.  Meloney,  Alva  Kendall,  E.  C. 
Webster,  William  B.  Brown,  F.  H.  Lefavour,  C.  B. 
Elwell,  Charles  Estes,  William  B.  Ashton,  John  R. 
Smith,  N.  A.  Horton,  George  L.  Upton,  Joseph  J. 
Rider,  T.  H  Lefavour,  William  M.  Hill,  Richard 
H.arrington,  T.  M.  Dix,  W.  H.  Caulfield,  C.  D.  Stiles, 
Charles  Odell,  A.  J.  Lowd,  J.  W.  Averell,  Joseph  L. 
Longee,  C.  H.  Ingalls,  Edward  F.  Brown,  T.  B. 
Nichols,  N.  A.  Very,  R.  W.  Reeves,  G.  C.  Fernald, 
John  P.  Tilton,  J.  A.  Hill,  William  Harmon,  Charles 
B.  Fowler,  B.  L.  Morrill,  B.  M.  Kenney,  George  H. 
Hill,  Jesse  Robbins,  W.  D.  Gardner,  W.  G.  Ham- 
mond, Samuel  C.  Beane,  A.  J.  Tibbets,  W.  L.  Welch, 
Charles  Phelps,  James  A.  Evans,  J.  R.  Lambirth,  W. 
A.  Upton,  F,  A.  Newell,  C.  H.  Harwood,  David  Allen, 
William  Meade,  Joseph  A.  Sibley,  E.  W.  Woodman, 
I.  G.  Taylor,  Edward  Mitchell,  John  M.  Raymond, 
E.  O.  Richards,  W.  S.  Nevins,  A.  B.  Fowler,  A.  W. 
Batchelder,  H.  C.  Strout,  George  W.  Burnham,  J.  D. 
H.  Gaus,  George  Putney,  Fred.  Tibbets. 

The  secretaries,  in  regular  order,  have  been  Jona- 
than F.  Worcester,  Richard  Gardner,  I.  D.  Shepard, 
Daniel  T.  Smith,  William  Archer,  Jr.,  H.  E.  Meloney, 
Joseph  J.  Rider.  T.  H.  Lefavour,  N.  A.  Horton,  Wil- 
liam M.  Plill,  Josei^h  L.  Lougee,  C.  H.  Ingalls,  J.  P. 
Tilton,  C.  B.  Fowler,  J.  W.  Averell,  J.  A.  Hill,  A.  J. 
Lowd. 

The  treasurers  have  been  T.  H.  Lefavour,  I.  D. 
Shepard,  A.  B.  Keith,  James  A.  Wallis,  George  R. 
Buffum,  T.  M.  Dix,  Joseph  Farnum,  Joseph  L. 
Lougee. 

The  present  trustees  of  funds  are  William  M.  Hill, 
George  Russell,  N.  A.  Very,  C.  B.  Fowler,  E.  F. 
Brown. 

The  present  number  of  members  is  three  hundred 
and  twenty;  fifty-nine  members  have  died.  The 
lodge  has  paid  for  relief  of  members,  $12,544.67;  for 
burial  of  the  dead,  $2640 ;  for  other  charitable  pur- 
poses, $2376.  The  lodge  has  remaining  a  large  fund 
for  relief. 


SALEM. 


183 


An  examination  of  the  list  of  members  of  this 
lodge,  in  its  forty  years  of  history,  shows  that  its 
members  have  been  among  the  most  prominent  citi- 
zens of  Salem.  Two  have  filled  the  position  of  mayor 
of  the  city,  thirteen  have  served  as  aldermen,  five 
have  served,  as  president  of  the  Common  Council, 
sixtj'^-four  as  members  of  the  Common  Council,  and 
others  in  many  prominent  public  positions  in  State, 
county  and  municipal  affairs. 

In  the  order  itself  the  members  of  this  lodge  have 
been  highly  honored.  Nathaniel  A.  Very  has  served 
as  Grand  Patriarch  of  the  Grand  Encampment  of 
Massachusetts,  and  William  M.  Hill  has  served  as 
Grand  Master  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Massachusetts; 
and  other  members  have  filled  many  important  posi- 
tions in  the  Grand  Encampment  and  the  Grand 
Lodge  of  Massachusetts. 

Naumkeag  Encampment,  No.  13,  /.  0.  0.  F. — The 
Naumkeag  Encampment  was  organized  June  26, 
1845.  Its  members  are  connected  with  various  sub- 
ordinate lodges  including  Essex,  Fraternity,  Holton, 
Bass  River,  Agawam,  Ocean,  Hoekomoco,  Asylum, 
Me.,  and  Boston.  The  large  majority  of  the  members 
belong  to  Essex  and  Fi-aternity  Lodges.  The  present 
number  of  members  is  three  hundred,  and  fifteen. 
Fifty-three  of  its  members  have  died. 

Its  first  officers  were:  C.  P.,  William  Archer,  Jr.; 
H.  P.,  Benjamin  H.  Grush;  S.  W.,  Israel  D.  Shepard; 
J.  W.,  John  C.  Howard  ;  Secretary,  Samuel  B.  Foster; 
Treasurer,  William  Saunders,  Jr. 

The  present  officers  are:  C.  P.,  William  A.  Saun- 
ders; H.  P.,  C.  C.  Rhoades;  S.  W.,  Andrew  J.  Wil- 
son; J.  W.,  Edward  N.  Reed;  Secretary,  E.  B. 
Phillips;  Treasurer,  J.  Archer  Hill.  The  trustees  of 
its  fund  are  Samuel  A.  Potter,  Aaron  C.  Young  and 
James  Buxton. 

The  Chief  Patriarchs,  in  the  order  of  their  service, 
have  been:  William  Archer,  Jr.,  Samuel  B.  Foster, 
Franklin  Grant,  John  C.  Howard,  Walter  S.  Harris, 
James  Kimball,  Jonathan  Perley,  Jr.,  Jeffbrd  M. 
Decker,  Stephen  Whitmore,  Joseph  Farnum,  Jr., 
John  White,  Robert  P.  Clough,  James  H.  Conway, 
Edward  C.  Webster,  Alva  A.  Evans,  E.  B.  Phillips, 
Isaac  Young,  Simeon  Flint,  Andrew  H.  Lord,  Rufus 

B.  Giffbrd,  Nicholas  Woodbury,  John  R.  Smith,  An- 
drew F.  Wales,  B.  W.  Standley,  Richard  L.  Woodfin, 
Thomas  Cakes,  William  A.  Foster,  John  R.  Norfolk, 
Joseph  J.  Rider,  Thomas  W.  Webber,  George  M. 
Hildreth,  Moses  H.  Sibley,  Joseph  Swasey,  Simon 
Lamprell,  John  E.  Davis,  Daniel  F.  Staten,  Eleazer 
Giles,  Caleb  Prentiss,  Jr.,  Ezra  Stanley,  John  Conway, 
Jr.,  William  M.  Smith.  T.  D.  Banners,  N.  A.  Very, 
Abram  A.  Fiske,  Charles  H.  Ingalls,  Charles  F.  Wil- 
kins,  Charles  B.  Fowler,  Andrew  J.  Tibbetts,  Aaron 

C.  Young,  George  H.  Blinn,  Jr.,  William  D.  Gardner, 
William  O.  Arnold,  James  W.  Averell,  Joseph  N. 
Peterson,  N.  M.  Jackman,  George  M.  Harris,  Frank 
Cousins, S.  Augustus  Stodder,  Wesley  K.  Bell,  Edward 
F.  Brown,  F.  A.  Newell,  Albert  Day,  Jr.,  John  Wil- 


son, George  W.  Ingalls,  William  E.  Mead,  Andrew  J. 
Lord,  George  W.  Grant,  Fred.  J.  Gifford,  Arthur  S. 
Palfray,  Arthur  R.  Millett,  C.  D.  Bliss,  J.  O,  Buxton, 
Robert  E.  Hill,  A.  J.  Vincent,  J.  K.  Saunders. 

Salem  Encampment,  No.  11,  I.  0.  0.  F. — The  Salem 
Encampment  was  organized  January  1,  1884,  with 
fifty-eight  charter  members.  Since  that  time  fifty- 
e:ght  members  have  been  initiated,  making  the  total 
number  one  hundred  and  sixteen.  Of  these,  one  has 
died  and  one  has  been  dropped,  leaving  the  present 
number  one  hundred  and  fourteen. 

The  Chief  Patriarchs,  in  the  order  of  service,  have 
been:  William  E.  Mead,  George  Millett,  John  M. 
Raymond,  Otis  Burnhara,  I.  G.  Taylor,  W.  P.  Pouss- 
land,  W.  H.  Dayton,  E.  M.  Carpenter. 

The  present  leading  officers  are:  C.  P.,  E.  M.  Car- 
penter; H.  P.,  J.  F.  Lovejoy;  S.  W.,  A.  M.  Batch- 
elder;  J.  W.,  W.  L.  Nevens;  Secretary,  A.  J.  Lowd ; 
Treasurer,  W.  D.  Dennis. 

This  Encampment  pays  for  sick  benefits  one  dollar 
per  week;  for  funeral  benefits,  fifty  dollars. 

Union  Lodge,  Daughters  of  Rebekah,  No.  11,  /.  0. 
0.  F. — Union  Lodge  of  the  Daughters  of  Rebekah 
was  instituted  April  12,  1870.  Sixty-nine  charter 
members  were  present  at  its  first  meeting,  mostly 
from  Essex  Lodge. 

Its  first  officers  were,  N.  G.,  Eleazer  Hathaway; 
V.  G.,  Eliza  A.  Ingalls;  Recording  Secretary,  Charles 
H.  Ingalls ;  Permanent  Secretary,  Sarah  H.  Baker  ; 
Treasurer,  Margaret  J.  Robinson. 

The  present  membership  consists  of  seventy-nine 
brothers  and  ninety-two  sisters. 

The  present  officers  are,  N.  G.,  Amos  J.  Vincent ; 
V.  G.,  Eliza  A.  Ingalls;  Recording  Secretary,  E.  B. 
Phillips;  Permanent  Secretary,  Lulu  H.  Graham; 
Treasurer,  Lydia  A.  Tyler. 

Patriarchs  Militant,  I.  0.  0.  F. — Canton  Unity,  No. 
5,  Patriarchs  Militant,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  was  instituted 
January  6,  1883,  as  Unity  Uniformed  Degree  Camp, 
No.  5,  with  twenty-seven  charter  members.  The  offi- 
cers installed  were.  Commander,  George  H.  Blinn  ; 
Vice-Commander,  Walter  J.  Norris ;  Officer  of  the 
Guard,  William  O.  Arnold  ;  Secretary,  John  Wilson  ; 
Treasurer,  Samuel  A.  Potter.  Among  the  charter 
members  were  Nathaniel  A.  Very,  Past  Grand  Rep- 
resentative, and  William  M.  Hill,  then  Mayor  of 
Salem. 

The  camp  grew  in  a  short  time  to  one  hundred  and 
thirty-five  members,  taking  its  membership  from  Sa- 
lem, Beverly,  Ipswich,  Gloucester,  Danvers,  Peabody, 
Marblehead  and  Lynn. 

On  the  12th  of  February,  1886,  Unity  Camp  was 
merged  into  a  canton,  taking  the  name  Grand  Canton 
Unity,  No.  5,  P.  M.,  I.  O.  O.  F.  It  consisted  of  three 
component  cantons,  numbered  13,  14  and  15.  The 
officers  of  the  new  organization  were : 

No.  13.  Captain  and  Commandant.  Arthur  S.  Pal- 
fray ;  Lieutenant,  Charles  F.  Wilkins ;  Ensign,  Chas. 
D.  Bliss. 


184 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


No.  14.  Captain,  William  W.  Pinder;  Lieutenant, 
Charles  W.  Wallis ;  Ensign,  George  O.  Tarbox. 

No.  15.  Captain,  John  Karcher;  Lieutenant,  Wil- 
liam E.  Luscomb  ;  Ensign,  Horace  A.  Roberts. 

Clerk  of  Grand  Canton,  John  Wilson;  Accountant, 
Samuel  A.  Potter. 

The  canton  made  a  creditable  appearance  in  the 
parade  on  the  22d  of  September,  1886,  given  in  hon- 
or of  the  Sovereign  Grand  Lodge,  at  Boston,  It 
turned  out  the  largest  number  of  any  canton  in  the  line. 

Many  of  the  most  prominent  men  of  Essex  County 
are  members  of  the  canton. 

Its  present  officers  are : 

No.  13.  Captain  and  Commandant,  Fred.  J.  Gif- 
ford,  of  Salem ;  Lieutenant,  George  H.  Stickney,  of 
Salem  ;  Ensign,  A.  S.  Edwards,  of  Beverly. 

No.  14.  Captain,  Arthur  R.  Millctt,  of  Salem ; 
Lieutenant,  W.  G.  Hussey,  of  Salem  ;  Ensign,  Ed- 
ward N.  Reed,  of  Salem. 

No.  15.  Captain,  John  E.  Graham,  of  Salem  ;  Lieu- 
tenant, John  O.  Buxton,  of  Peabody  ;  Ensign,  Joseph 
C.  Shepherd,  of  Gloucester;  Clerk,  John  Wilson; 
Accountant,  Henry  C.  Millett.  Cantons  pay  no  ben- 
efits, its  objects  being  social. 

Odd  Fellows'  Burial- Ground. — A  joint  committee 
consisting  of  Brothers  Walter  H.  Harris,  Alvah  A. 
Evans  and  Nathaniel  M.  Jackman,  of  Essex  Lodge, 
and  Brothers  G.  C.  Fernald,  William  M.  Hill  and 
Nathaniel  A.  Very,  of  Fraternity  Lodge,  purchased 
eight  lots  in  what  was  then  known  as  the  Orne  Street 
Cemetery,  since  called  Green  Lawn  Cemetery.  The 
price  paid  was  $218.40,  each  lodge  paying  one-half 
that  amount. 

This  purchase  was  made  in  August,  1868.  In  1871 
the  sum  of  two  hundred  dollars  was  expended  in 
grading  these  lots  into  one  large  lot,  and  putting  it 
into  a  good  condition.  A  monument  was  erected 
upon  the  lot  in  1884,  at  the  cost  of  eleven  hundred 
and  twenty-five  dollars.  The  fund  for  the  erection 
of  this  monument  was  donated  by  Naumkeag  En- 
campment, the  same  being  a  part  of  the  proceeds  of 
a  fair  held  by  that  encampment. 

The  monument  is  of  granite  and  consists  of  a  base 
and  sub-base  of  hammered  stone,  a  square  stone  upon 
whose  several  faces  are  the  memorial  inscriptions,  an 
octagonal  stone  embellished  with  emblems  of  the 
Order,  a  polished  column,  around  which  is  twined  a 
vine  of  leaves,  and  upon  its  summit  a  polished  globe. 
It  is  four  feet  five  inches  square  at  the  base,  and  is 
thirteen  feet  high. 

The  lot  is  under  the  care  of  a  joint  committee,  con- 
sisting of  three  brothers  from  each  lodge. 

Up  to  the  present  time,  there  have  been  fifteen  in- 
terments in  the  lot ;  five  bodies  have  been  removed 
to  other  lots,  leaving  at  present  ten  graves,  four  of 
which  represent  an  entire  family — father,  mother  and 
two  children  ;  one  is  that  of  a  brother  of  a  lodge  in  a 
distant  part  of  the  State  ;  the  remainder  are  those  of 
brothers  belonging  to  the  Salem  Lodges. 


CHAPTER    XL 

SALEM — ( Continued). 
MIILITARY   HISTORY. 


BY  CHARLES  A.   BENJAMIN. 


Unlike  many  cities  of  equal  historic  importance, 
Salem  is  fortunate  in  her  inability  to  point  to  a  record 
of  battles  fought  within  her  limits  or  sieges  sustained 
by  her.  No  turreted  walls  have  enclosed  her,  nor, 
with  one  exception,  since  the  precautions  takeu  in  the 
earliest  life  of  the  infant  settlement,  have  her  streets 
been  watched  by  sentinels  or,  except  in  peaceful 
parade,  echoed  to  the  tread  of  armed  men  or  rumble 
of  artillery.  As  her  name  imports,  she  has  indeed 
been  a  city  of  peace,  and  her  citizens  for  nearly  two 
centuries,  have,  within  her  borders,  enjoyed  immunity 
from  the  scourge  of  war.  Her  fame  rests  upon  the 
success  of  her  people  in  the  paths  of  commerce  and 
manufacture ;  their  devotion  to  science  and  art  and 
a  charity  and  large-heartedness  that,  accompany- 
ing wealth,  have  prevented  want  and  made  her  ever 
the  abode  of  comfort  and  plenty.  But  although  thus 
given  to  peaceful  pursuits  and  preserved  in  herself 
from  the  devastation  and  ruin  of  war,  this  by  no 
means  implies  that  Salem  has  not  indirectly  suflered 
from  its  effects,  or  that  her  men  have  been  slow  to  re- 
spond to  the  demands  of  their  country  upon  their  pa- 
triotism and  courage ;  for  they  have  manfully  borne 
their  full  jiart  in  the  wars  of  the  nation,  and  sus- 
tained its  honor  and  that  of  their  native  town  on  all 
occasions.  In  every  Indian  skirmish,  and  on  every 
smoke-wreathed  field  known  in  our  history,  from  the 
taking  of  "Sassacus  his  fort"  to  Bunker  Hill  and 
Gettysburg,  or  fighting  their  guns  on  the  ocean  in 
all  latitudes,  have  stood  the  men  of  Salem,  patriotic, 
brave  and  enduring.  Their  blood  has  wet  the  sod 
from  the  chapparal  of  Mexico  to  the  shores  of  the 
great  lakes,  and  their  shattered  bones  lie  fathoms 
deep  in  every  sea. 

This,  then,  is  the  military  history  of  Salem — not 
that  of  a  Saragossa  or  Leipsic,  shaken  in  her  own 
territory  with  the  thunder  of  cannon,  the  crash  of 
falling  walls,  and  the  groans  of  the  wounded  and  dy- 
ing— but  steadfastly  enduring  in  almost  every  cycle  of 
her  existence  the  departure  of  numbers  of  her  best 
and  bravest,  and  keeping  green  the  memory  of  those 
who  never  returned,  with  tears,  but  in  great  honor 
and  gratitude. 

Within  the  limited  space  necessarily  given  in  a  coun- 
ty history  to  a  monograph  of  this  character,  it  is  impos- 
sible to  render  full  justice  to  all  those  whose  services 
constitute  the  military  record  of  the  city,  and  if  any 
for  themselves  or  their  ancestors  or  kindred  shall  feel 
neglected  in  this  particular,  their  indulgence  is  re- 
quested on  this  account,  and  because  of  the  sometimes 
scanty  sources  of  information  existing,  with  relation 


SALEM. 


185 


to  the  connection    of  individuals    with    the   warlike 
events  of  our  history. 

The  first  settlers  of  Salem,  in  common  with  their 
neighbors,  landing  in  the  wilderness  and  surrounded 
by  a  race  of  savages  not  numerous,  but  singularly  ac- 
tive and  enterprising,  to  whose  keen,  though  uni.aught 
comprehension,  their  habits  appeared  objectionable 
and  their  civilization  a  menace,  soon  found  that  a 
conciliatory  attitude  was  ineffectual  to  remove  the 
suspicions  of  the  Indians  and  enable  the  colonists  to 
rely  upon  their  good  faith.  The  Indian,  once  fairly 
committed  to  a  friendship  upon  a  sound  basis,  may  be 
expected  to  keep  his  engagements,  and  is  a  steadfast 
ally.  When,  however,  as  has  usually  been  the  case 
in  our  history,  treaties  and  alliances  were  forced 
upon  him  as  the  weaker  party,  he  fully  realized  the 
moral  weakness  of  these  compacts,  and  felt  justified 
by  his  simple  code  of  ethics  in  evading  them  upon 
the  least  sign  of  bad  faith  on  the  other  side,  or  by 
simple  treachery,  followed  by  such  violent  efforts  to 
as  far  as  possible  restore  the  proper  equality  of  num- 
bers between  himself  and  his  antagonist,  as  made  the 
Indian  wars  extremely  destructive  and  cruel. 

Our  ancestors  therefore  found  it  essential  to  their 
continuance  here,  to  organize  for  defense.  At  the 
meeting  of  the  Court  of  Assistants  in  September, 
1630,  the  first  step  was  taken  in  this  direction  by  the 
appointment  of  Captains  Underbill  and  Patrick, 
doubtless  old  English  soldiers,  as  military  instruct- 
ors (probably  charged  also  Avith  the  early  organiza- 
tion of  the  forces),  and  an  assessment  Avas  levied 
upon  the  various  settlements  for  their  maintenance. 
Salem's  share  toward  this  comfortable  billet  for  these 
old  veterans  was  three  pounds. 

In  the  following  April  the  same  authority  di- 
rected that  the  companies  should  be  drilled  by  their 
officers  on  each  Saturday :  Captain  Underbill  or 
Patrick  no  doubt  superintended  the  operation,  and 
with  the  latitude  presumably  allowed  to  the  military 
hope  of  the  pious  colonists,  were  doubtless  some- 
times permitted  to  be  well  sustained  with  strong 
waters  and  to  swear  freely  at  both  officers  and  men, 
after  the  fashion  of  military  instructors  in  all  ages. 
Every  man  was  at  this  time  required  to  bear  arms, 
and  the  colony  seemed  to  be  establishing  itself  on  a 
sound  military  basis.  Several  cannon  were  brought 
to  Salem  about  this  time. 

In  August  of  the  same  year  (1631),  a  considerable 
hostile  body  of  Tarrentines  or  Eastern  Indians, — pro- 
bably from  Maine, — made  their  appearance  in  the 
vicinity  of  Salem,  and  caused  much  alarm  to  the  set- 
tlers, as  they  were  reputed  to  be  puissant  in  warfare 
with  the  unpleasant  habit  of  eating  their  captives. 
The  people,  however,  fell  in  at  once,  and  dragging 
out  their  six  pounders,  discharged  them  into  the 
woods  in  the  supposed  direction  of  the  enemy : 
whereat  the  Tarrentines,  being  unaccustomed  to  the 
sound  of  heavy  ordnance,  and  apparently  finding  it 
disagreeable,  took  themselves  off  without  further  de- 

19  1 


lay.  This  bloodless  victory  scored  one  for  the  Salem 
men,  and  must  have  been  a  gratifying  result  of  their 
first  engagement  with  the  enemy. 

About  this  time  Captain  John  Endicott  com- 
manded an  expedition  composed  of  Salem  men  and 
other  colonists  to  the  number  of  ninety,  to  beat  up 
the  Indians  who  had  gathered  about  Block  Island 
with  mischievous  intent  and  had  committed  some 
depredations.  The  Fabian  policy  of  the  gentle  savage 
prevented  any  general  fight,  although  a  few  Indians 
were  picked  off  by  some  accurate  long-range  pi'actice, 
and  the  general  effect  of  this  energy  and  promptness 
appears  to  have  been  salutary. 

While  bearing  a  hand  generally  upon  the  simple 
fortifications  and  block-houses  built  for  the  safety  of 
the  colony,  the  Puritan  w-arriors  of  Salem  kept  up  their 
military  habits  by  frequent  drills,  though  they  do 
not  seem  to  have  been  engaged  with  the  Indians 
again  until  1636.  It  was  on  the  occasion  of  a  parade 
of  the  Salem  company  during  this  interval  that  the 
Cross  of  St.  George  was  cut  out  of  its  colors  by  the  pious 
sword  or  command  of  Capl.  John  Endicott,  whose  mili- 
tary and  religious  instincts  seem  to  have  been  quite 
equally  developed.  This  a-sertion  of  the  puritan  dis- 
like of  papistical  emblems,  raised  a  considerable 
breeze  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  and  the  oflense  to 
the  authority  of  the  Crown  was  only  condoned  after 
suitable  apologies.  In  August,  1636,  hostilities  hav- 
ing broken  out  with  the  Pequod  Indians,  a  force  of 
four  small  companies  under  Captain  Endicott,  one 
of  which  comprised  the  Salem  contingent  and  was 
commanded  by  Ensign  Davenport,  of  this  place,  was 
sent  out  against  the  enemy.  Marching  westward 
they  had  some  skirmishes  with  the  Indians,  and  re- 
turned September  14th,  after  inflicting  on  them  consi- 
derable loss,  while  themselves  losing  but  two  men 
killed  and  a  i'ew  wounded.  The  military  officers  ap- 
pointed for  Salem  that  winter  were.  Captain  William 
Trask,  Lieutenant  Richard  Davenport  and  Ensign 
Thomas  Reade. 

The  following  year  Salem  furnished  two  officers, 
Captain  Trask  and  Lieutenant  Davenport,  and  twenty- 
eight  men  as  a  part  of  the  quota  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty  from  the  Massachusetts  Colony,  who,  under  the 
general  command  of  Captain  Stoughton,  marched  to 
join  the  Connecticut  forces  in  the  campaign  against 
the  Pequod  chief,  Sassacus,  who  had  assumed  a  hos- 
tile attitude.  Before  the  arrival  of  the  Massachusetts 
reinforcement,  Colonel  Mason  had  severely  defeated 
the  Indians,  but  they  gallantly  rallied,  and  the  forces 
of  the  colonists  having  united,  nearly  exterminated 
them  in  a  second  engagement  where  Lieutenant 
Davenport  and  a  party  of  his  Salem  men  particularly 
distinguished  themselves.  Lieutenant  Davenport  was 
pi'omoted,  and  in  1644  was  appointed  as  captain  to 
the  command  of  the  castle  in  Boston  harbor.  Later 
on  he  became  a  colonel,  but  had  then  removed  from 
Salem. 

There  followed  a  considerable  period  during  which 


186 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


the  settlers  were  not  harassed  by  the  Indians  to  any 
great  extent;  but  realizing  their  constant  danger, 
their  vigilance  was  not  relaxed  and  the  military  were 
kept  in  a  good  and  increasingly  efficient  condition, 
with  numbers  continually  augmenting,  while  the  gar- 
rison and  outpost  duty  they  were  required  to  perform 
was  arduous  and  constant. 

The  discipline  of  the  colonial  soldier  seems  to  have 
been  carefully  looked  after  at  this  time,  for  we  read 
that  it  was  enacted  that  "  any  disobeying  his  officer 
should  be  set  in  the  bilboes  or  stocks,  or  be  whip- 
ped." Military  officers  also  directed  the  arms  that 
men  should  carry  in  going  from  home,  and  particu- 
larly when  attending  church.  The  sight  of  a  stal- 
wart citizen  of  Salem  of  to-day,  heavily  armed  and 
marching  up  and  down  the  sidewalk  in  front  of  the 
First  Church  door  narrowly  watching  every  ap- 
proach, while  Sunday  morning  service  was  in  pro- 
gress; and  the  subsequent  exit  of  the  congregation 
at  its  close,  each  man  with  a  heavy  matchlock  carry- 
ing a  bullet  of  fifteen  to  the  pound,  on  his  shoulder, 
would  strike  us  as  rather  odd ;  but  it  was  quite  the 
correct  thing  in  the  sixteen-forties  at  the  very  same 
place. 

As  a  sample  of  the  good  fighting  stuff  of  which  the 
ancient  Salemite  was  constructed,  it  might  not  be  out 
of  place  to  draw  attention  to  the  military  talents  of 
that  distinguished  Salem  divine,  the  Rev.  Hugh 
Peters,  who  officiated  in  the  First  Church  at  about 
this  time,  and  who  doubtless  imbibed  some  of  the 
belligerent  spirit  of  his  colonial  parish :  for,  some  time 
later  being  in  England,  he  served  as  chaplain  of  one 
of  the  "  Ironsides "  regiments  of  Cromwell's  army, 
and  on  one  occasion  in  Ireland,  we  are  told,  took 
command  of  the  regiment,  and  handled  it  in  action 
like  a  born  soldier.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the 
active  part  he  took  in  the  affairs  of  the  English  Com- 
monwealth ultimately  cost  him  his  head. 

In  the  summer  of  1645  war  was  declared  by  the 
colonists  against  the  Narragansett  tribe,  and  the 
Salem  military  marched  with  other  troops  against 
them.  The  Indians,  however,  do  not  seem  to  have 
laid  in  sufficient  ammunition  or  had  their  tomahawks 
properly  sharpened,  for  they  "  weakened,"  if  the  ex- 
pression may  be  permitted,  and  sued  for  peace,  which 
was  concluded  before  the  combatants  came  to  blows. 
In  October  of  that  year  the  officers  appointed  for  the 
Salem  company  were:  Captain  William  Hathorne; 
Lieutenant  William  Clark  and  Ensign  William 
Dixey,  while  John  Endicott,  who  had  previously  held 
that  commission,  was  continued  as  sergeant-major- 
general,  which,  though  now  an  obsolete  title,  was 
then  given  to  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  forces  of 
the  colony. 

Fifteen  years  later  we  find  the  military  estab- 
lishment of  what  had  now  become  the  County  of 
Essex,  well  organized  and  containing  two  troops  of 
cavalry,  one  of  which  was  composed  of  men  of  Salem, 
Manchester,   Lynn   and    Riverhead,   under   Captain 


George  Curwen  and  Lieutenant  Thomas  Putnam  of 
Salem,  and  Cornet  Walter  Price  of  Manchester. 

Captain  Thomas  Lathrop  of  Salem,  though  he  may 
afterwards  have  been  of  Beverly,  was,  in  1663,  ap- 
pointed to  command  the  Eastern  foot  company  of  the 
town.  It  would  appear  that  at  this  early  date  there 
were  two  standing  companies  of  infantry  and  part  of 
a  companj^  of  cavalry  furnished  by  the  town  of  Salem, 
which,  considering  the  probable  population  of  the 
settlement,  must  have  comprised  a  large  part  of  its 
able-bodied  men. 

Quiet  continued  to  prevail  until  in  1675  the  sudden 
uprising  of  Philip,  Chief  of  the  Warapanoags,  with 
his  tribesmen  and  allies,  dispelled  the  fancied  se- 
curity of  the  colonists  and  called  into  immediate  ac- 
tion their  well-appointed  and  trained  forces.  Never- 
theless, so  well  had  this  astute  warrior  laid  his 
plans  and  so  carefully  had  they  been  kept  from  the 
knowledge  of  those  whom  it  was  his  purpose  to  anni- 
hilate, that  his  preconcerted  attack  was  a  complete 
surprise  and  for  a  time  it  seemed  as  if  the  accomplish- 
ment of  that  purpose  was  by  no  means  impossible. 

Towns  were  destroyed  in  an  hour,  large  numbers  of 
the  people  were  massacred  and  the  outlying  settle- 
ments were  abandoned  by  the  inhabitants  who  flocked 
toward  the  larger  towns  to  the  eastward.  In  the 
hasty  muster  and  advance  of  the  troops  to  succor 
their  hard-pressed  brethren,  their  eagerness  in  some 
cases  outran  caution,  and  in  the  first  contact  with  the 
insidious  foe  they  had  difficulty  in  holding  their  own 
and  met  with  some  severe  reverses. 

Captain  Lathrop,  before  mentioned,  while  in  com- 
mand of  a  picked  body  of  young  men  of  the  Essex 
companies,  called  by  contemporaneous  writers  "the 
flower  of  Essex,"  was  convoying  a  supply  train,  and 
being  ambuscaded  in  Deerfield  while  crossing  Muddy 
Brook,  was  killed  with  seventy  of  his  men— nearly 
his  entire  force.  Hearing  the  noise  of  the  firing. 
Captain  Mosely  hastened  from  the  upper  part  of 
Deerfield  with  his  company,  and  finding  the  Indians 
engaged  in  scalping  Lathrop's  men,  attacked  them 
without  hesitation,  though  greatly  outnumbered,  and 
drove  them  off"  with  severe  punishment.  The  com- 
pany of  Captain  Mosely  seems  to  have  contained 
many  Salem  men  and  his  lieutenants,  Savage  and 
Pickering,  both  of  Salem,  did  much  in  aid  of  his 
victory  by  their  resolution  and  gallantry.  As  in 
Lathrop's  company  there  were  also  a  number  of  Sa- 
lem young  men,  this  town  shared  in  the  general 
mourning  of  the  county  over  the  disaster  that  befell 
them. 

The  powerful  Narragansett  tribe,  having  at  length 
allied  themselves  with  Philip,  the  colonists  deter- 
mined to  avail  themselves  of  the  inclement  weather 
of  approaching  winter  that  would  draw  the  Indians 
together,  and,  with  a  very  strong  force,  to  deal  this 
tribe  a  crushing  blow  that  should  render  them  pow- 
erless for  future  harm.  Thirty-one  men,  under  Cap- 
tain Gardner,  were  drawn  from  the  Salem  companies 


SALEM. 


187 


and  joined  the  force  that  marched  southward  to  at- 
tack the  stronghold  in  Rhode  Island,  where  a  large 
part  of  the  Narragansetts  were  gathered.  In  the  at- 
tack upon  this  palisaded  fort  in  a  morass,  which  was 
signally  successful  and  utterly  broke  the  power  of 
that  formidable  tribe,  Captain  Gardner  and  six 
other  men  of  Salem  were  killed  and  eleven  wounded, 
which  would  indicate  that  the  men  from  this  town 
were  not  shirking  their  work  to  any  great  extent. 

Hostilities  continued  during  the  following  year 
and  while  the  enemy  had  been  much  weakened  and 
the  military  had  begun  to  get  hold  of  their  work  and 
were  equal  to  the  Indians  when  they  could  find  them, 
yet  with  such  subtle  foes  and  in  a  country  full  of 
difficulty  for  moving  columns,  constant  vigilance 
had  to  be  exercised,  and  the  troops  had  little  rest. 
More  men  were  impressed  from  Salem  for  active  ser- 
vice. Those  remaining  strengthened  the  main  fort 
here  and  built  "garrisons"  (block-houses),  for  the 
protection  of  the  farm  people  outside  of  the  town. 
These  were  all  garrisoned,  and  the  military  of  Salem 
must  have  been  neaidy  all  on  duty  during  this  time, 
at  home  or  with  the  active  forces.  Lieutenant  John 
Pierce  and  Ensign  Gardner  were  appointed  in  the 
winter  of  1670  to  the  foot  company  lately  com- 
manded by  Captain  Gardner,  who  fell  at  the  Narra- 
gansett  Fort. 

In  the  spring  of  this  year  Captain  George  Curwen, 
of  Salem,  who  was  commanding  a  troop  of  cavalry  in 
the  field,  had  a  difficulty  with  a  Miijor  Henchman, 
his  superior  officer,  and  the  General  Court, — which 
useful  body,  by  the  way,  seemed  to  be  available  for 
any  service  from  expounding  doctrine,  to  sitting  as  a 
general  court-martial — sentenced  the  gallant  captain 
to  dismissal  and  a  fine  of  £100.  As,  however,  he 
seems  to  have  been  too  good  an  officer  to  lose,  and 
quite  likely  the  General  Court  finding  that  they  had 
blundered  about  the  evidence,  he  was  presently  re- 
stored to  his  rank.  Although  the  record  is  silent  on 
this  point,  it  is  also  to  be  hoped  that  he  got  back  his 
hundred  pounds. 

In  September  of  that  year,  Major  William  Hathorne, 
with  jDart  of  the  Salem  contingent  bore  a  hand  in  the 
final  surprise  of  Quecheco,  where  the  greater  number 
of  the  Indians  remaining  in  arms  were  captured  and 
King  Philip's  war  ended ;  that  gallant  chief  having 
been  killed  the  previous  month. 

Civilization  has  its  advantages,  and  looking  at  the 
question  practically,  it  is  perhaps  best  that  its  on- 
ward march  should  not  be  obstructed  by  a  few  sav- 
ages. Nevertheless  it  is  difficult  to  withhold  admira- 
tion for  this  man  Philip  and  his  brave  followers,  who, 
believing  that  the  English  were  driving  them  from 
the  land  of  their  fathers,  died  in  the  effort  to  preserve 
their  inheritance  as  gallantly  as  did  Leonidas  or 
Winkelreid.  As  to  the  Indian  methods  of  warfare, 
if  they  made  more  cruel  work  of  it  than  the  pious 
Puritan  did  on  several  occasions,  the  chroniclers  have 
much  misled  us. 


Early  in  1677  some  Eastern  or  Maine  Indians 
rather  disgusted  the  Salem  ship-owners  by  capturing 
a  number  of  their  vessels  that  were  on  that  coast,  pro- 
bably engaged  in  fishing.  Exactly  how  it  was  done 
is  not  clear,  and  the  fact  is  leather  surprising  ;  for 
while  dashing  fighters  on  land,  the  red  man  has  rarely 
gone  in  much  for  naval  distinction.  However,  in 
some  way  or  another  in  this  case  they  managed  to 
pick  up  "  no  less  than  thirteen  ketches  and  captivate 
the  men,"  so  goes  the  record.  The  ketch  was  a  small 
schooner-rigged  vessel  which  was  much  used  in  those 
days.  As  was  quite  customary,  on  receipt  of  this  intel- 
ligence, a  fast  was  immediately  ordered,  while  an 
armed  ketch  with  a  crew  of  forty  men  and  doubtless 
the  destructive  big  guns  that  had  proved  so  noisily  ef- 
fective on  a  previous  occasion,  was  dispatched  as  a- 
man-of-war  to  the  rescue.  "  The  Lord  gave  them 
success,"  is  the  brief  and  pious  record  of  this  first  of 
Salem's  long  list  of  maritime  victories.  Matters 
rather  calmed  down  after  this  naval  exploit  for  a 
dozen  years  or  so,  and  the  good  Puritans  of  Salem  in 
the  absence  of  war's  alarms,  were  able  to  improve 
their  material  condition  and  to  indulge  in  those 
fierce  doctrinal  squabbles  in  which  their  souls  took 
stern  enjoyment.  But  their  military  matters  were 
not  neglected,  and  in  1689  Jonathan  Walcott  was  ap- 
pointed captain,  and  Nathaniel  Ingersoll  and  Thomas 
Flint,  respectively  lieutenant  and  ensign  of  the  new 
company  formed  at  Salem  village,  afterward  the  town 
of  Danvers.  Samuel  Higginson,  of  Salem,  was  about 
this  time  serving  as  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  South 
Essex  regiment  that  embraced  the  Salem  companies 
and  those  of  adjacent  towns. 

The  Indians  in  this  year,  instigated  by  the  French, 
gave  signs  of  restlessness,  and  in  July  seventy  men 
were  told  off  from  the  Essex  lower  regiment  of  foot, 
that  included  the  Salem  companies,  to  join  in  the  de- 
fence of  the  frontier  towns.  Captain  B.  Geduey,  who 
declined,  and  subsequently  Captain  S.  Sewell,  Lieu- 
tenant Robert  Kitchen  and  Ensign  Edward  Flint 
were  appointed  officers  of  the  West  Salem  company. 

The  companies  of  Salem  seemed  to  have  been  well 
filled,  for  Capts.  Sewell  and  John  Price  were  presently 
ordered  to  organize  four  companies  from  their  com- 
mands. The  names  of  the  new  officers  commissioned 
in  consequence  of  this  mobilization  do  not  appear. 
As  the  savages  became  more  threatening  in  their 
demonstrations  and  things  were  looking  rather  blue,  a 
fast  was  now  ordered  in  Salem.  It  is  pleasant  to  ob- 
serve the  practical  military  preparations  that  in  each 
emergency  accompanied  the  prayers  of  our  excellent 
ancestors.  They  were  ever  buckling  on  the  sword,  as 
it  were,  even  while  they  were  in  the  act  of  bending 
the  knee. 

In  August  Captain  Simon  Willard  marched  with 
a  contingent  from  Salem  and  vicinity  to  Casco  Bay, 
while  the  Essex  lower  cavalry  troop,  possibly  still 
under  the  efficient  command  of  our  old  friend  Captain 
Curwen,  were  ordered  to  Newichevvannock. 


188 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Late  in  the  fall  Captain  Willard  writes  to  the  gov- 
ernor for  supplies  for  the  Casco  Bay  outpost,  and 
takes  occasion  to  say  that  "  the  parents  of  his  soldiers 
"  are  much  displeased  because  they  have  not  already 
"returned  as  was  promised."  What  effect  this  state- 
ment had  upon  the  governor  does  not  appear,  but  it 
is  to  be  hoped  that  the  displeasure  of  their  parents 
was  not  visited  upon  the  unhappy  young  recruits 
themselves  when  they  ultimately  turned  up  in  Salem. 

In  1690  war  was  declared  against  the  French  by  the 
Colonists,  who  were  much  harassed  by  them  in  the 
fisheries  and  by  their  Indian  allies  in  the  Eastern  set- 
tlements. Great  military  activity  prevailed  and  while 
a  few  Salem  men  form  part  of  the  one  hundred  and 
sixty  from  Massachusetts  reporting  at  Albany,  four 
companies  under  Maj.  John  Price,  Capts.  Sewell  and 
Walcot,  and  other  officers  whose  names  are  not  given, 
join  the  larger  New  England  force  preparing  to  at- 
tack Port  Eoyal,  the  French  stronghold  in  Nova  Sco- 
tia. Benjamin  Gedney,  of  Salem,  now  a  colonel,  and 
apparently  held  in  high  estimation,  was  appointed 
to  command  this  expedition,  but  he  declined  the  honor 
in  favor  of  Sir  William  Phipps,  who  this  year  captured 
the  place. 

No  especial  mention  is  found  of  the  conduct  of  the 
Salem  portion  of  the  beleaguering  force,  but  it  requires 
little  penetration  to  feel  quite  assured  of  their  gallant- 
ry on  eveiy  opportunity,  and  it  is  pleasant  to  observe 
that  Colonel  Gedney  is  upon  his  return,  placed  upon 
the  committee  to  divide  the  plunder  obtained  from 
Port  Eoyal,  which  was  very  valuable.  Let  us  hope 
that  he  saw  to  it  that  Salem  received  her  just  share 
thereof. 

The  cavalry  (Essex  lower  troop)  now  under  com- 
mand of  Captain  Brown,  of  Salem,  are  in  the  field 
again  this  year,  though  the  direction  of  their  service 
is  uncertain — probably  to  the  eastward — while  three 
hundred  and  eight  men  of  Colonel  Gedney's  regiment, 
doubtless  then  under  his  command,  from  Salem  and 
vicinity,  rendezvous  late  in  the  year,  and  take  part  in 
the  unsuccessful  expedition  against  Montreal  and 
Quebec,  Captain  John  Curwen  being  one  of  the  offi- 
cers, with  no  doubt  others  from  Salem. 

A  desultory  warfare  was  continued  with  the  French 
and  their  Indian  allies  for  a  long  period,  during  which 
there  is  little  to  be  gleaned  in  the  chronicles,  of  the 
doings  of  the  Salem  soldiery.  In  fact  little  actual 
fighting  was  done  by  any  body  in  this  part  of  the  coun- 
try, though  the  scouts  and  Indians  had  no  end  of 
quiet  amusement  in  the  depths  of  the  forest,  bush- 
whacking and  scalping  each  other  to  their  heart's 
content. 

In  1092  Colonel  Gedney  went  down  to  Wells,  Me., 
with  an  escort  of  thirty  troopers  (probably  of  the  Essex 
lower  troop)  and  made  a  peace  with  the  Maine  In- 
dians, independently  of  the  French,  which  appears  to 
have  endured  until  1695,  when,  by  the  bad  faith,  ac- 
cording to  Colonel  Gedney's  account,  of  one  Captain 
Chubb  in   command   at   Kittery,  the   Indians  again 


took  up  arms,  obliging  the  colonel  to  march  on  that 
place  with  four  hundred  and  sixty  men.  We  pre- 
sume that  this  imposing  force,  combined  with  Colonel 
Gedney's  diplomatic  abilities,  restored  the  broken 
peace,  for  there  do  not  seem  to  have  been  any  further 
difficulties  in  that  region  for  some  little  time  there- 
afterwards. 

In  1703  we  find  the  Governor  ordering  the  impress- 
ment of  twenty  men  for  the  "  Flying  Horse,"  an 
armed  cruiser  of  Salem.  As  the  good  people  of  the 
town  with  solemn  pleasure  watched  the  fitting  out  of 
this  vessel,  how  little  did  they  realize  the  very  large 
number  of  armed  cruisers  that  were,  in  later  times,  to 
be  sent  from  their  harbor !  It  appears  that  the  buc- 
caneers of  the  Spanish  main,  who  had  for  many  years 
been  making  things  very  unpleasant  for  treasure-ships 
and  settlements  in  the  vicinity  of  the  equator,  now 
began  to  extend  their  operations  to  the  northward 
and  appeared  occasionally  off  the  New  England  coast. 
Hence  arose  the  necessity  for  this  incipient  naval 
force. 

In  the  year  1704  a  party  of  pirates,  in  a  vessel  com- 
manded by  one  Quelch,  remained  off  and  on  the  coast 
for  a  time,  having  a  secret  rendezvous  in  a  house  near 
the  entrauce  of  Marblehead  harbor.  Where  the  armed 
cruiser  was  at  the  time  is  not  clear,  except  that  she 
was  out  of  the  way.  However,  the  good  people  of  Salem 
got  along  without  her  very  well,  according  to  the 
record ;  for,  the  character  of  the  gang  developing  itself 
by  some  depredations,  they  were  tracked  to  Gloucester, 
and  Major  Stephen  Sewall,  with  one  party,  and  Judge 
Samuel  Sewall  (who,  by  the  way,  was  the  chief  pro- 
moter of  the  expedition),  in  personal  charge  of  another, 
followed  them  down  and  carried  their  vessel  by  board- 
ing, killing  or  capturing  the  entire  lot  after  a  rattling 
fight.  The  survivors  were  promptly  hanged  as  a  sug- 
gestion of  the  insalubrity  of  the  New  England  climate 
to  gentlemen  of  their  profession.  The  hint  was  not 
lost  upon  the  unhanged  residue,  and  it  was  not  until 
eighteen  years  later  that  the  exploit  of  the  notorious 
Capt.  Low  in  Marblehead  harbor,  indicated  that  these 
lively  sea-rovers  must  have  learned  of  the  demise  of 
the  belligerent  Salem  justice,  and  had  good  hope  of  the 
immunity  that  they  actually  enjoyed  on  that  oc- 
casion. 

During  the  interval  of  comparative  repose  that  en- 
sued for  Salem  and  vicinity,  in  common  with  the  rest 
of  the  colony,  between  King  William's  and  Queen 
Anne's  War,  there  is  nothing  to  record.  But  this  af- 
forded but  a  brief  breathing-space,  and  soon  the  border 
towns  were  again  suffering  from  Indian  attacks,  and 
the  Colonists  involved  in  expensive  and  abortive 
expeditions  in  the  effort  to  conquer  Canada,  so  much 
desired  by  England.  The  pressure  of  danger  was  not 
severely  felt  in  Salem  just  now,  since  we  find  the  town 
indulging  in  a  rather  acidulous  controversy  in  1706 
with  the  Governor,  as  to  whether  Fort  Anne,  in  Salem 
should  be  repaired  by  the  town  or  the  Province. 

In  August,  1708,  Major  Walter  Turner,  with  Cap- 


SALEM. 


189 


tains  John  Gardner  and  Walter  Price  and  a  Salem 
contingent,  join  with  other  troops  in  pursuit  of  a  party 
of  French  and  Indians  that  had  threaded  the  wilder- 
ness in  one  of  their  numerous  raids  and  suddenly  ap- 
peared near  the  northern  towns.  A  sharp  action, 
in  which  the  enemy  were  discomfited  and  driven  off, 
and  John  Gyles,  of  Salem,  lost  an  arm,  with  a  few 
others  killed  and  wounded,  was  the  net  result. 

There  is  little  to  record  in  the  next  few  years  of  a 
military  character  that  concerns  Salem.  Although 
until  the  peace  of  Utrecht,  in  1711,  there  was  constant 
warfare  on  the  border. 

In  1714  the  town  petition  the  General  Court — hav- 
ing evidently  had  enough  of  the  Governor  in  this 
matter — to  repair  and  garrison  Fort  Anne.  We  are 
not  told  the  result. 

The  peace  of  New  England  began  to  be  again  dis- 
turbed in  1720  by  French  intrigues  among  the  Eastern 
Indians  whose  depredations  on  the  border  recom- 
mence, although  it  is  uncertain  as  to  what  part  Salem 
took  in  the  Norridgewock  episode  and  other  border 
afiairs  that  succeeded. 

Soon  after  the  opening  of  the  French  War,  in  1745, 
we  read  that  Capts.  Grant,  King,  White  and  Covell, 
all  of  Salem,  embarked  with  the  troops  bound  for 
Cape  Breton  and  the  siege  of  Louisbourgh.  Capt. 
George  Curwen  also  took  part  in  that  brilliant  and 
successful  campaign,  for  an  extract  from  a  letter  from 
him  to  his  wife  says  "young  Gray  (of  Salem)  is  killed, 
June  2d,  in  the  attack  upon  a  battery,  and  three  more 
of  Grant's  men  missing."  The  officers  mentioned  were 
doubtless  in  command  of  men  from  Salem  and  vicinity. 

In  the  spring  of  1746,  a  French  fleet  being  reported  off 
the  coast  with  an  army,  preparing  for  an  attack  upon 
Boston,  the  Salem  companies  march  to  its  protection. 
Perhaps  this  circumstance  may  have  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  French  commander ;  at  any  rate  the 
force  made  no  landing:  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  never 
got  very  near  Boston,  if  it  were,  as  is  probable,  the  one 
commanded  by  the  Duke  D'Anville. 

In  1755  the  final  war  between  the  French  and  Eng- 
lish on  this  continent  was  formally  opened,  so  to 
speak,  although,  as  usual,  the  Indians  instigated  by 
French  officers  and  jiriests,  had  precipitated  actual 
hostilities  for  a  year  or  more  before,  and  in  the  early 
part  of  the  spring  of  this  year  Salem  sends  twenty-eight 
men,  her  quota  of  reinforcements  to  Col.  Johnson's 
army  operating  towards  Crown  Point.  To  refresh  the 
spirits  of  these  men  before  their  deimrture,  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Clarke  preaches  them  a  sermon  entitled,  "a  word 
in  season  to  soldiers."  We  trust  that  in  their  con- 
duct at  the  ensuing  battle  of  Lake  George,  the  good 
effects  of  Mr.  Clarke's  exhortations  were  made  mani- 
fest. Captain  Samuel  Flint  on  September  25th  (1755) 
marches  with  his  company  to  join  the  same  army. 

In  May,  1755,  Col.  Plaisted  leaves  Salem  to  assume 
his  command  at  Crown  Point;  probably  in  the  expe- 
dition about  to  move  under  Col.  Winslow. 

A  libtral  bounty  is  offered  about  this  time  by  the 


General  Court  for  the  scalps  of  any  Indians  of  all  ages 
and  both  sexes,  and  a  fast  is  ordered  in  Salem  to 
I^ray  for  victory  over  the  French  and  Indians. 

In  the  spring  of  the  following  year  (1757)  a  force  of 
eighteen  hundred  men  was  drafted  in  Massachusetts, 
and  under  command  of  Col.  Joseph  Frye,  of  And- 
over,  marched  to  reinforce  the  garrison  of  Forts  Ed- 
ward and  William  Henry.  Captains  Goodhue, 
Plaisted,  Clarke  and  Pickman,  of  Salem,  commanded 
companies  in  this  force.  Other  Salem  officers  may 
have  been  with  it,  and  some,  at  least,  of  the  men  in 
these  companies  were  volunteers  from  Salem.  King 
George  promised  £10  to  every  man  who  should  enlist 
this  year,  and  in  the  case  of  these  men  he  failed  to  pay 
up.  The  old  gentleman  doubtless  having  considerable 
paper  maturing  about  that  time,  may  have  been  a  little 
lehort.  At  any  rate  they  got  no  money  out  of  him,  and 
a  number  of  loyal  citizens  of  Salem  made  it  up  to 
them  by  private  subscription.  The  names  of  the  men 
receiving  this  bounty  were, — 

In  Capt.  Goodhue's  Company. 


Peter  Stokey. 
Jacob  Verry. 
David  Morrill. 
David  Phipeii,  Jr. 
Barnabas  Herrick. 
James  Gould. 
Thomas  Symonds. 
Aphauis  Seavy. 


John  Elkins. 
John  Baley. 
John  Ward,  Jr. 
Eleazer  Symonds. 
Joseph  Sands. 
John  Collins. 
Moses  Townsend. 


In  Capt.  Plaisted' s  Company. 


John  Swasays. 
Robert  Elliot. 


John  Leaman,  Jr. 
Edward  Boss. 


In  Capt.  Clarke's  Company. 


Thomas  Kneelaud. 
John  Webb. 
Jo.  Symond. 
John  Osgood. 


Sam'l  Merritt. 
Jos.  Eborn. 
Jos.  Silsby. 
John  Dowst. 


The  record  gives  none  of  the  names  of  the  men  in 
Capt.  Pickman's  company,  who  received  this  money, 
although  it  indicates  that  there  were  some.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  Lord  Loudon,  this  year,  withdrew  a 
large  part  of  his  army  from  the  Champlain  country 
and  elsewhere  for  his  abortive  attempt  upon  Louis- 
bourgh, which  by  the  peace  of  Aix  la  Chapelle  had 
been  returned  to  the  French.  The  astute  Montcalm 
saw  his  opportunity  and  reckoning,  with  reason,  upon 
the  probability  of  Loudon's  failure  in  the  east,  marched 
straight  south  with  a  strong  army  of  French  troops 
and  Indians,  and  suddenly  appeared  before  Fort  Wil- 
liam Henry.  In  the  short  siege  of  the  place,  followed 
by  its  surrender  and  the  subsequent  shocking  Indian 
massacre,  Richard  Butraan,  Daniel  Robertson  and 
possibly  others  of  Salem  were  killed,  while  six 
Salem  men  were  captured  and  carried  to  Canada. 
These  things  had  a  depres,:iing  influence  upon  Salem, 
and  another  fast  was  ordered. 

In  1758  General  Abercrombie's  bloody  repulse  be- 
fore Ticonderoga  was  hardly  calculated  to  raise  the 
spirits  of  the  people,  but  there  was  hardly  time  to 


190 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


have  a  fast  ordered  in  Salem,  before  the  very  differ- 
ent news  of  General  Amherst's  recapture  of  Louis- 
bourgh  that  followed  almost  immediately  after  would 
seem  to  have  obviated  the  necessity  for  it. 

Whether  any  Salem  men  were  with  Abercrombie 
cannot  be  stated  with  certainty,  but  as  his  force  con- 
tained over  nine  thousand  provincial  troops  there  can 
be  little  doubt  of  it ;  some  also  were  presumably  serv- 
ing under  Amherst. 

There  is  extant  a  journal  of  one  Gibson  Clough,  of 
Salem,  a  i^rivate  of  Captain  Giddings'  company,  in 
the  Fourteenth  Provincial  Regiment,  that  under  Col- 
onel Jonathan  Bagley,  was  sent  to  reinforce  the  gar- 
rison of  Louisbourgh  after  its  capture. 

Captain  Giddings  and  a  considerable  portion  of  his 
company  were  evidently  from  Salem  as  well  as 
Clough,  whose  running  account  of  his  experiences 
gives  a  fair  idea  of  the  life  of  the  New  England  sol- 
dier of  that  day.  Some  of  his  comments  are  rath- 
er amusing.  Speaking  of  certain  disciplinary  jsro- 
ceedings  he  remarks  that  "there  is  no  spair  of  whip 
here ;  "  and  further  on  in  an  apparent  fit  of  disgust 
with  the  service,  he  says,  "  if  we  get  clear  this  year,  I 
think  we  shall  be  unwise  if  we  come  here  again  to 
serve  our  King  and  country.'' 

As  the  severe  weather  of  a  Cape  Breton  October 
approaches,  Mr.  Clough  observed  that  they  would  soon 
stand  in  need  of  winter  clothing  and  good  liquors 
.  ..."  for  to  keep  up  our  spirits ;"...."  But," 
he  dryly  adds,  ''  we  are  not  likely  to  get  liquors  or 
cloathes  I  "...  .  He  describes,  in  his  odd  manner, 
the  dismantling  of  the  fortifications  of  Louisbourgh 
and  the  daily  incidents  of  garrison  and  outpost  duty  ; 
tells  of  the  news  of  the  taking  of  Quebec  by  General 
Wolfe  and  of  the  subsequent  operations  of  General 
Amherst  against  Montreal  and  the  French  lake  forts, 
all  of  which  is  filtered  through  the  usual  camp  ru- 
mors and  gossip.  For  the  most  part  our  friend  writes 
in  very  low  spirits,  until  his  final  description  of  his 
return  home  with  Amos  Hilton,  Jonathan  Buxton, 
Robert  Picket  and  Daniel  Butman,  of  Salem,  and  other 
comrades  whom  he  does  not  name,  which  is  marked, 
to  use  his  own  words,  by  "  great  joy  and  content." 

At  the  capture  of  Quebec  Captain  John  Tapley,  of 
Salem,  took  part,  with  no  doubt  other  Salem  men, 
although  it  is  probable  that  a  larger  number  of  them 
were  serving  with  General  Amherst's  army,  that 
failed  to  reach  Quebec  in  time  to  co-operate  with 
Wolfe,  but  performed  signal  services  the  following 
year  in  the  reduction  of  Montreal  and  the  remaining 
French  posts  that  finally  ended  the  dominion  of  that 
people  on  this  continent. 

Lemuel  Woods,  a  soldier  in  this  army,  believed  to 
be  from  Salem,  wrote  a  fragmentary  journal  that  has 
been  preserved.  No  doubt  his  soldierly  qualities  were 
superior  to  his  scholarship ;  for  his  style,  even  for  a 
diary,  must  be  regarded,  in  whatever  light  we  view  it, 
as  very  slovenly.  He  speaks  of  Lieutenant  Gran- 
ger and  Ensign  Peabody  having  obtained  permission 


to  look  at  the  works  of  Fort  Ticonderoga  after  its 
surrender,  naively  adding,  ....  "I  accidentally 
went  with  them  and  viewed  the  fort,"  etc.  (we  de- 
cline the  reproduction  of  his  spelling).  When  the 
journal,  in  describing  the  accidental  death  of  a  man 
of  his  regiment,  says,  ....  "a  heavy  stick  slipped 
and  stove  him  all  to  mash,  and  they  brought  him  over 
and  buried  him,"  ....  we  must  admit  a  con- 
ciseness of  expression  that  in  a  measure  redeems 
Mr.  Woods'  manuscript ;  but  when,  in  another  place 
he  speaks  of  the  camp  being  ....  "all  in  a  combus- 
tion a  raging  things  up  for  a  sudden  push  when  called 
for,"  ...  .it  seems  hardly  worth  while  to  quote 
more  although  the  diary  is  of  much  interest  as  illus- 
trating the  life  of  a  soldier  of  the  time  in  active  ser- 
vice. 

The  French  wars  were  now  ended.  The  people  of 
the  colonies  while  impoverished  by  the  aid  rendered 
the  mother-countrj'',  had  nevertheless  learned  their 
strength  ;  and  the  presence  among  them  of  a  large 
body  of  trained  soldiers,  just  returned  from  efficient 
service  in  the  field  where  they  had  often  proved 
themselves  fully  the  equals  of  the  British  regulars, 
did  not  tend  to  make  them  tolerant  of  any  tyrannical 
measures  of  the  Crown.  So  for  the  next  fifteen  years 
the  people  of  Salem,  in  common  with  their  neigh- 
bors, were  warming  up  in  their  quarrel  with  the 
mother-country. 

The  General  Court  meeting  in  Salem  in  1774,  Gov- 
ernor Gage  brought  down  two  regiments  as  a  display 
of  force  that  should  overawe  the  court  and  the  people. 
But  upon  his  return  to  Boston  the  troops  were  with- 
drawn, fortunately  without  any  collision  with  the 
exasperated  people. 

It  was  in  Salem  that  the  Revolution  really  began, 
when  the  General  Court,  the  same  year,  formed  itself 
into  a  Provincial  Congress,  and  subsequently,  after 
adjourning  to  Concord,  appointed  officers  independ- 
ently of  the  crown  and  proceeded  to  procure  arms 
and  ammunition.  Here  also  occurred  the  first  actual 
collision  with  the  British  troops,  which,  though  with- 
out bloodshed,  resulted  in  their  retirement  without 
the  accomplishment  of  their  purpose. 

For  on  Sunday  morning,  February  26, 1775,  Colonel 
Leslie  in  command  of  a  battalion  of  infantry,  sailed 
around  from  Boston  and  debarking  at  Marblehead, 
marched  rapidly  to  Salem,  with  the  purpose  of  seizing 
some  cannon  and  munitions  collected  and  stored  at  a 
point  across  the  North  River.  A  draw  bridge  that 
was  there  had  been  raised  by  the  people,  who  shrewd- 
ly guessed  their  unlawful  object.  In  endeavoring  to 
push  across  in  batteaux  moored  near  by,  some  resist- 
ance was  made  by  the  crowd,  and  one  man  received 
a  slight  flesh  wound  from  a  soldier's  bayonet.  The 
number  of  people  increased,  and  some  prominent 
citizens  warning  Colonel  Leslie  that  with  the  present 
temj^er  of  the  peojjle  he  would  never  take  his  com- 
mand back  alive  if  he  persisted  or  fired  upon  them,  he 
said  that  if,  as  it  was  a  matter  that  concerned  his  honor. 


SALEM. 


191 


they  would  permit  him  to  pass  the  bridge,  he  would 
immediately  withdraw.  This  was  agreed  to,  and  the 
bridge  being  lowered,  he  led  his  men  across  and  at 
once  countermarching,  returned  to  Marblehead  and 
re-embarked  for  Boston.  This  bloodless  expedition 
was  the  first  military  movement  made  by  the  English 
in  the  Revolutionary  War.  On  April  18th,  Colonel 
Pickering,  with  three  hundred  men  from  Salem, 
marched  in  pursuit  of  the  British  troops  retreating 
from  Lexington,  but  failed  to  come  up  with  them. 
Captain  Hiller  commanded  one  of  his  companies. 
Some  others  from  Salem  were  in  the  engagement, 
however,  and  Benjamin  Pierce  was  killed  at  Lexing- 
ton village. 

Just  previous  to  the  Lexington  affair  Salem  had 
been  getting  in  order  for  the  coming  war.  A  general 
muster  was  held  March  14th,  of  all  persons  liable  to 
military  duty  in  the  town  armed  and  equipped.  The 
new  pine  tree  flag  was  raised,  perhaps  for  the  first 
time,  on  this  occasion. 

The  Provincial  Congress  had  recommended  the  tac- 
tics and  manual  of  1764  (probably  English)  for  the  pro- 
vincial troops,  but  very  shortly  after,  the  system  pre- 
pared by  Colonel  Timothy  Pickering,  of  Salem,  was, 
it  appears,  adopted. 

No  compromise  seemed  possible  after  Lexington. 
Men  arranged  their  affairs  and  joined  the  army,  now 
gathering  near  Boston.  A  lady  writing  from  Salem, 
June  10,  1775,  says  :  "  The  men  are  listing  very  fast ; 
3  or  400  are  gone  from  here."  Many  of  those  who 
were  able  to  do  so,  now  sent  their  families  back  into 
the  country,  to  Nantucket  and  other  inaccessible 
places,  believing  Salem  to  be  too  near  the  scene  of 
hostilities  for  safety. 

lu  the  historic  engagement  of  Bunker  Hill  that 
naturally  followed  the  prompt  erection  of  works  com- 
manding Boston,  a  few  Salem  men  took  part,  and 
Lieutenant  Benjamin  West,  of  Salem,  a  gallant 
young  officer,  was  killed  at  the  breastworks.  As  has 
been  stated,  many  Salem  men  now  joined  the  fighting 
force  as  minute-men,  militia  or  Continentals,  Col- 
onel Timothy  Pickering,  who  seems  to  have  had  a 
genius  for  military  matters,  made  "  a  plan  of  exer- 
cise "  or  tactics,  already  spoken  of,  that  the  Congress 
ordered  to  be  used  by  officers  of  the  Massachusetts 
Militia.  He  was,  in  1776,  appointed  quartermaster- 
general  of  the  army,  and  served  as  such  and  as  adju- 
tant-general, with  distinction  throughout  the  war.  In 
an  interesting  diary  of  one  Lieutenant  Craft,  from 
Manchester,  kept  while  serving  with  the  army  in 
the  environs  of  Boston,  are  many  allusions  to  officers, 
whose  names  indicate  that  they  may  have  been  from 
Salem.  His  regiment,  at  any  rate,  was  raised  in 
lower  Essex  County,  and  doubtless  largely  in  Salem, 
and  Colonel  William  Mansfield,  who  commanded  it, 
was  a  Salem  man.  The  pay  of  the  army  was  not  ex- 
cessive at  this  time,  captains  receiving  six  pounds 
per  month,  and  lieutenants  four  and  three  pounds; 
sergeants   forty-eight    shillings,   and    privates   forty 


shillings.  Captain  John  Felt  commanded  a  com- 
pany of  artillery  in  service  this  year,  his  lieutenant 
being  John  Butler,  both  of  Salem. 

The  same  year  (1776)  Fort  Lee  was  built  to  com- 
mand Salem  harbor,  and  a  company  of  men,  under 
Captain  John  Symonds  and  Lieutenant  Benjamin 
Ropes,  Jr.,  stationed  as  its  garrison.  In  1777  forty- 
four  men  were  raised  in  Salem  as  her  quota  for  the 
army,  presumably  under  a  Captain  Greenwood,  for 
we  read  that  he  marched  from  Salem  on  public  ser- 
vice with  his  company,  on  November  11th,  1777. 
Fifty-four  men  additional  were  also  drafted  to  act  as 
guards  for  Burgoyne's  surrendered  army,  under  Captain 
Simeon  Brown.  Another  company,  under  Captain 
Benjamin  Ward,  also  marched  to  join  the  army  at 
New  York  December  17,  1777,  This  was  doing 
pretty  well  for  a  little  town  in  one  year,  and  in  1778 
we  find  the  town  still  promoting  enlistments  by  voting 
bounties  to  the  men  who  should  volunteer  for  the 
army.  This  would  indicate  that  even  in  that  day  of 
intense  patriotism,  it  was  necessary  to  use  extraor- 
dinary means  to  induce  men  to  be  steadily  food  for 
powder,  while  they  might  be  quite  ready  to  dodge 
about  as  minute-men  for  a  few  days'  fun. 

In  July  of  this  year  Captain  Samuel  Flagg  com- 
manded a  small  company  raised  for  special  service  in 
Rhode  Island.  Captain  Flagg's  lieutenants  were 
Miles  Greenwood  and  Robert  Foster.  Major  Hiller, 
of  Salem,  also  had  a  command  in  this  expedition, 
which,  under  General  Sullivan,  attempted,  with  the 
co-operation  of  the  French  fleet  under  the  Count 
D'Estaing,  to  wrest  Rhode  Island  from  the  English, 
who  held  it  under  Sir  Robert  Pigot.  Owing  to  the 
failure  of  the  French  fleet  to  render  the  promised  as- 
sistance, the  objects  of  the  expedition  were  not  at- 
tained. Considerable  mention  is  made  of  the  ser- 
vices of  the  Salem  company  in  the  accounts  of  this 
campaign. 

The  same  year  the  town  had  to  proceed  with  the 
additional  task  of  raising  forty-two  men  for  the  Con- 
tinental army,  and  some  others  for  some  special  short 
enlistment  not  particularly  described. 

In  1779  a  committee  are  appointed  in  Salem  to 
raise  thirteen  more  men  for  the  Rhode  Island  service 
and  twenty-eight  for  the  Continental  army,  in  which 
they  no  doubt  had  difficulty ;  for  it  is  stated  that  in  Oc- 
tober large  additional  pecuniary  inducements,  in  ad- 
dition to  Continental  and  State  pay,  were  voted  to 
recruits  to  serve  three  months  in  the  army.  On  De- 
cember 11th  Captain  Addison  Richardson  marched 
with  his  company  to  join  the  army. 

Early  in  1780  the  town  voted  a  very  large  sum  for 
those  days,  to  devote  to  the  raising  of  sixty-two  men 
to  serve  for  six  months  in  the  army. 

These  records  bear  continual  testimony  to  the 
baneful  practice  so  prevalent  in  that  war  of  enlisting 
men  for  short  terms  of  service.  It  was  a  constant 
cause  of  complaint  by  the  officers  of  the  Continental 
Army,  and  did  much  to  destroy  its  efficiency. 


192 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Major  Samuel  King,  of  Salem,  an  aide  to  General 
De  Kalb,  was  killed  in  action  this  year  in  South  Caro- 
lina, and  Captain  Nathan  Goodale,  of  Salem,  is  also 
reported  as  made  prisoner  by  the  enemy. 

A  letter  dated  in  camp  near  West  Point,  on  the 
Hudson,  February  12,  1782,  to  Joshua  Ward,  from  a 
Salem  soldier  of  the  Continental  Army,  whose  signa- 
ture does  not  appear,  asks  to  have  sent  him  certain 
articles  on  credit,  and  speaks  of  the  hardships  endur- 
ed by  the  army  without  supplies  or  money.  Captain 
Flint,  killed  this  year  in  the  first  day's  battle  at  Sara- 
toga, is  believed  to  have  been  from  Salem.  Mention 
should  be  made  of  Colonel  Samuel  Carleton,  of  the 
Continental  line,  who  was  from  Salem,  and  who  so 
distinguished  himself  that  Washington  declared  him 
to  be  one  of  the  most  intrepid  officers  who  served 
under  him. 

Of  the  special  part  taken  by  Salem  and  her  soldiers 
in  the  succeeding  years  of  this  war,  there  is  too  little 
trace.  There  is  evidence,  however,  that  her  record 
in  point  of  numbers  and  service  was  quite  up  to  the 
average,  though  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  so  little  can 
be  written  of  the  gallant  deeds  of  her  officers  and 
men  in  an  army  where  all  were  so  brave  and  steadfast, 
and  that,  though  in  the  appendix  a  list  is  given  of  the 
names  of  those  who  served  from  Salem,  there  is  some 
doubt  as  to  its  accuracy,  and  it  tells  nothing  of  the 
actions  in  which  those  men  took  part,  or  of  the  char- 
acter of  their  service. 

But  in  the  record  given  of  the  part  borne  by  Salem 
and  her  citizens  in  our  revolutionary  armies,  though, 
it  were  much  more  complete,  but  a  small  part  of  her 
services  to  the  country  can  be  fully  comprehended. 
Long  before  the  colonies  took  the  first  decisive  ac- 
tion that  resulted  in  their  independence,  Salem  had 
been  steadily  increasing  her  commerce,  and  in  1775 
she  had  become  an  important  port  of  entry,  her  mer- 
chants were  becoming  wealthy  and  a  large  part  of  her 
people  followed  the  sea.  Very  soon  after  the  war 
broke  out,  it  became  evident  that  a  navy  was  almost 
as  necessary  to  our  success  as  an  army.  Congress 
fitted  out  a  few  armed  vessels,  but  the  resources  of  the 
young  nation  were  inadequate  to  equip  any  sufficient 
number  to  cope  with  the  powerful  navy  of  Great 
Britain,  or  even  to  be  of  much  use  in  the  destruction 
of  her  commerce. 

Here,  then,  was  the  opportunity  of  Salem,  with  her 
ships  lying  idle  at  her  wharves  in  fear  of  English 
cruisers,  and  her  fine  seamen  idling  about  her  streets. 
Procuring  commissions  for  private  armed  ci-uisers  and 
letters  of  marque  and  reprisal  for  her  trading  ships, 
she  fitted  out  her  ablest  and  swiftest  vessels  with  heavy 
guns  and  iDowerful  crews  well  officered,  and  sent  them 
over  the  sea  in  quest  of  the  enemy's  merchantmen. 
Nor  did  they  neglect  her  smaller  men-of-war,  but,  as 
eager  for  glory  as  plunder,  promptly  attacked  any 
armed  ship  whose  weight  of  metal  was  not  absurdly 
disproportionate  to  their  own,  and  in  the  majority  of 
cases  with  success ;  while  her  trading  vessels   made 


their  voyages  well  armed,  and  with  double  complement 
of  men,  and  showed  their  teeth  when  interfered  with  or 
when  falling  in  with  a  vessel  whose  chances  of  capture 
were  sufficiently  good  to  justify  the  risk  to  their  owners. 
Our  privateer  navy  was  intensely  active  and  suc- 
cessful, and  played  an  important  part  in  that  contest, 
severely  crippling  the  enemy's  merchant  marine  and 
keeping  her  navy  busy  in  every  part  of  the  world  to 
protect  it. 

It  is  impossible  to  give  more  than  a  glance  at  the 
exploits  of  the  gallant  officers  and  men  who  ranged 
the  seas  in  the  Salem  privateers,  sending  in  a  rich  re- 
turn of  captured  vessels  to  their  owners. 

And  it  is  not  to  be  understood  that  in  the  capture 
of  these  merchantmen  no  fighting  was  involved. 
Many  of  the  English  trading  vessels  were  letters  of 
marque,  and  nearly  all  carried  guns  and  had  strong 
crews  well  armed,  and,  defending  themselves  with 
true  English  courage,  they  were  often  only  taken  after 
a  severe  struggle.  The  actions  between  our  privateers 
and  British  men-of-war  or  privateers  were  of  the  most 
sanguinary  description,  and  were  only  finally  deter- 
mined by  boarding  and  a  hand-to-hand  fight  on  the 
deck  of  one  or  the  other  of  the  vessels. 

The  Salem  privateers  and  letters  of  marque  formed 
a  large  part  of  those  sailing  from  American  joorts 
during  that  war,  and,  indeed,  the  principal  business 
of  the  town  became  that  of  privateering,  the  results 
of  which  laid  the  foundation  of  many  fortunes  that 
are  but  now  being  dissipated. 

Some  of  the  regulations  governing  the  crews  of 
Salem  privateers  in  the  Revolution  were  curious. 
The  owners  of  the  vessel,  after  deducting  outfit  and 
expenses,  took  one-half  of  the  value  of  the  prizes,  and 
the  officers  and  crew  the  other  half,  divided  in  certain 
proportions  according  to  rank.  A  prize  of  $500  was 
given  to  the  man  first  sighting  a  sail,  and  $1000  and 
best  firelock  to  the  first  man  to  board  the  enemy.  For 
the  loss  of  a  leg  or  arm  in  action  $4000  was  paid  as 
compensation,  $2000  for  an  eye  and  $1000  for  a  joint. 
If  one  of  the  crew  were  detected  in  thieving,  he  suf- 
fered the  loss  of  all  prize  money,  which,  to  judge  by 
the  liberal  schedule  above  given,  must  have  been  in 
some  cases  a  severe  penalty. 

As  illustrating  the  work  of  these  gallant  little  ves- 
sels, it  is  related  that  the  ship  "General  Pickering," 
sixteen  guns.  Captain  Jonathan  Harraden  command- 
ing, on  May  20,  1780,  engaged  and  whipped  an  Eng- 
lish man-of-war  of  twenty  guns;  on  June  1st  fought 
and  took  a  schooner  of  fourteen  guns  and  fifty-seven 
men,  and  on  the  4th  boldly  luffed  up  and  sustained 
the  attack  of  the  "  Arguilles,"  thirty-four-gun  frigate, 
and  though  quite  unable  to  take  a  vessel  of  such  size, 
beat  her  off  after  an  engagement  of  nearly  two  hours. 
The  "  Julius  Caesar,"  of  Salem,  a  small  schooner,  the 
same  year,  simultaneously  engaged  two  vessels,  both 
of  heavier  metal  than  herself,  and  made  it  so  warm 
for  them  that  they  were  glad  to  make  sail  and  leave 
their  plucky  little  antagonist  in  possession  of  the  field. 


SALEM. 


193 


In  June,  1782,  it  took  a  British  sloop-of-war  four  hours 
to  capture  the  little  privateer  "Jack,"  of  Salem,  and 
she  did  not  strike  until  her  captain,  David  Ropes,  and 
more  than  half  her  crew  were  killed  or  wounded. 

The  "Jack"  was  a  small  ship  that  had  the  pecu- 
liarity of  having  a  mizzen  mast  that  could  be  taken 
down  at  sea  and  as  easily  put  up  again.  By  this  ex- 
pedient she  constantly  deceived  the  enemy  and 
escaped  capture,  appearing  alternately  as  a  ship  and 
a  brig. 

Captain  Perkins,  of  Salem,  commanding  a  small 
privateer,  had  on  one  occasion  manned  two  prizes,  and 
was  making  the  best  of  his  way  home  with  only  four 
men  left  before  the  mast,  when  an  English  privateer 
quickly  hove  in  sight.  Instead  of  running  away,  he 
immediately  made  all  sail  for  her,  and  she,  not  liking 
his  apparent  readiness  for  a  fight,  wore  around  and 
sailed  away.  A  rather  amusing  incident  occurred  to 
the  jirivateer  Oliver  Cromwell,  Captain  James  Barr, 
when  cruising  in  the  West  Indies  in  1779.  Sighting 
a  vessel  with  low  top-masts  and  apparently  no  guns 
in  a  fog  off  the  coast  of  Cuba,  one  morning,  she  sup- 
posed it  to  be  a  large  merchantman  and  was  ranging 
up  alongside,  when  in  a  trice  up  went  a  string  of  painted 
canvass  that  covered  her  ports,  and  the  "  Oliver  Crom- 
well "  narrowly  escaped  being  blown  out  of  water  by 
the  discharge  of  a  frigate's  full  broadside.  She  was 
much  crippled,  but  managed  to  get  away  in  the  fog 
and  light  breeze. 

The  letter  of  Marque  "Ranger"  twenty  men,  when 
anchored  in  the  Potomac,  the  night  of  July  5,  1782, 
was  attacked  by  sixty  tories  in  boats.  The  captain, 
Lucum,  was  shot  at  the  first  volley  and  Joseph  Peabody, 
of  Salem,  second  ofiicer,  springing  to  the  deck  in  his 
night  clothes,  drove  the  enemy  off  by  the  clever  ex- 
pedient of  directing  the  crew  to  drop  cold  shot  into 
the  boats.  One  was  sunk  and  the  others  pulled 
away. 

Many  more  incidents  of  this  character  might  be 
given  did  space  permit ;  suffice  it  to  say  that  these 
are  but  a  sample  of  the  adventures  of  the  Salem 
fighting  marine  during  these  years. 

It  would  be  interesting  reading  could  we  follow  the 
adventures  of  Captain  John  Leach,  who  commanded 
at  diff'erent  times  the  privateers  "  Brutus,"  "  Frank- 
lin," "  Eagle,"  "  Dolphin  "  and  "  Greyhound  ; "  Capt. 
Nathan  Brown  the  first  commander  of  the  "Jack" 
and  also  of  the  ship  "Hunter;"  Capt.  Joseph  Rob- 
inson, who  commanded  the  ship  "  Pilgrim  "  and  also 
the  "  Franklin  ; "  Capt.  Sam'l  Masury  of  the  schooner 
"  Panther ;  "  Capt.  John  Donaldson,  who  sailed  the 
brig  "  Cai^tain  ; "  Capt.  John  Mason  of  the  brig 
"  Lion ; "  Captain  Jacob  Wilds,  who  sailed  in  the 
privateers  "  Greyhound,"  "  Hawk  "  and  "  General 
Greene ; "  Capt.  William  Patterson,  who  commanded 
the  ship  "  Disdain  "  and  brig  "  Favorite ;  "  Capt. 
Benj.  Dean  of  the  strong  sloop  "Revenge;"  Capt. 
Benj.  Moses,  another  commander  of  the  ship  "  Oliver 
Cromwell ;  "  Captain  Anthony  Diver,  a  former  officer 
13 


of  the  English  Navy,  who  was  a  lieutenant  on  several 
vessels,   and   later   ably   commanded    the  privateers 
"Civil  Usage"  and  "Sturdy  Beggar;"  Capt.  Ebe- 
nezer  Pierce  of  the  schooner  "  Liberty  ;  "  Capt.  John 
Gavett    of    the    brig   "Flying    Fish;"    Capt.   John 
Brooks,  also  a  commander  of  the  "  Junius  Brutus;  " 
Capt.  Edward  Rolland,  also  of  the  brig  "  Sturdy  Beg- 
gar;"  Capt.  William  Carleton,  who  sailed  the  heavily 
armed  and  manned  sloop  "  Blacksnake ;  "  Capt.  Benj. 
Hammond   of   the    schooner   '"Greyhound;"    Capt. 
Charles  Hamilton  commanding  the  ship  "  Jason ; " 
Capt.  John  Fearson  of  the  ship  "  William  ;  "  Capt. 
Thomas   Benson  who   had  the  schooner  "Dolphin," 
and  later  the  ship  "  Hendrick  ;"  when  he  was  captured 
in  the  latter  in  1782,  a  petition  to  the  General  Court 
asked   that  an   exchange  be  arranged  forthwith  for 
Capt.  Benson,  his  services  being  so  valuable  to  the 
country.      There   were   also   Captains  John  Revell, 
Forrester,  Mascoll  (killed  while  boarding  an  enemy's 
ship  in  1777),  McDaniel,  Daniel  Ropes,  John  Buf- 
finton,  John  Carnes,  John  Turner,  Samuel  Tucker, 
Joseph   Lynde,  Pratt,   Briggs,  Cook,  Baker,  Brook- 
house,    Gray,    Neheniiah    Buffinton,    Dunn,   James 
Cheever,  Neili,  John  Felt,  Ingersoll,  Crowell,  Bald- 
win and  many  others,  all  Salem  men,  commanding 
Salem  ships  with  good  Salem  officers  and  crews,  and 
handling  them  with  great  seamanship  and  bravery. 
It  is  impossible  to  give  a  list  of  the  other  officers  and 
crews  of  the  vessels  sailing  as  privateers  from  Salem 
during  the  Revolution.     Their  aggregate  would  be 
little,  if  any,  under  five  thousand  men,  first  and  last, 
and  would  comprise  a   large  majority  of  the  able- 
bodied  men  of  the  town  who  did  not  join  the  army. 
They  were  largely  sea-faring  in  their  training,  and 
took  to  this  rough  and  tumble  naval  experience  as 
naturally  as  ducks  to  water. 

A  fairly  accurate  register  of  the  privateers  of  Salem 
in  this  war,  will  be  found  in  the  appendix;  and  the 
following  copy  of  the  commission  of  a  Salem  priva- 
teer commander  in  the  Revolution  may  be  of  inter- 
est: 

"The  Delegates  of  the  United  States  of  New  Hampshire,  Massachu- 
setts Bay,  Rhoilo  Islaml,  Connecticut,  Now  York,  New  Jersey,  Penn- 
sylvania, Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Caro- 
lina and  Georgia.  To  all  unto  whom  these  presents  shall  corae,  send 
gieeting — know  ye,  that  we  have  granted  and  by  these  presents  do  grant 
license  and  authority  to  Samuel  Cruel  Mariner,  Commander  of  the 
Schooner  called  the  'Greyhound'  of  the  Imrthen  of  forty  tons  or  there- 
abouts, belonging  and  others— mounting  sis  carriage  guns  and  navi- 
gated by  eleven  men,  to  fit  out  and  set  forth  the  said  schooner  in  a  war- 
like manner,  and  by  and  with  the  said  schooner  and  the  crew  thereof, 
by  Force  of  Arms  to  attack,  subdue  and  take  all  ships  and  other  vessels 
whatsoever  carrying  Soldiers,  Arms,  Gunpowder,  Ammunition,  Provi- 
sions, or  any  other  Contraband  Goods  to  any  of  the  British  Armies  or 
ships  of  war  employed  against  these  United  States.  And  also  to  attack, 
seize  and  take  all  ships  or  other  vessels  belonging  to  the  Inhabitants  of 
Great  Britain,  or  to  any  subject  or  subjects  thereof,  with  their  Tackle, 
Apparel,  Furniture  and  Ladings  on  the  High  Seas  or  between  high  and 
low  water  marks  (the  ships  or  vessels,  together  with  their  cargoes  be- 
longing to  any  Inhabitant  or  Inhabitants  of  Bermuda,  Providence  and 
the  Bahama  Islands,  such  other  ships  and  vessels  bringing  Persons  with 
intent  to  settle  and  reside  within  any  of  the  United  States,  or  bringing 
Arms,  ammunition  or  warlike  stores  to  the  said  States  for  the  use 
thereof,  which  said  ships  or  vessels  you  shall  suffer  to  pass  unmolested. 


194 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


tlie  commanders  thereof  permitting  a  peaceable  search  and  giving  satis- 
factory information  of  the  contents  and  lading  and  destination  of  the 
voyages,  only  excepted).  And  the  said  ships  or  vessels  so  apprehended 
as  aforesaid  and  as  prizes  taken,  to  carry  into  any  Port  or  Harbor 
within  the  dominions  of  any  neutral  State  willing  to  admit  the  same,  or 
into  any  Port  within  the  said  United  States  in  order  that  the  Courts 
there  instituted  to  hear  and  determine  Causes  Civil  and  Maritime,  may 
l)roceed  in  due  form  to  Condemn  the  said  captures,  if  they  be  adjudged 
lawful  prizes,  or  otherwise  according  to  the  usage  in  such  cases  at  the 
port  or  in  the  State  where  the  same  shall  be  carried.  The  said  Samuel 
Oroel  having  given  Bond  with  sufficient  sureties  that  nothing  be  done 
by  the  said  commander  of  schooner  or  any  of  his  officers,  Marines,  or 
company  thereof  contrary  to  or  inconsistent  with  the  usage  and  Customs 
of  Nations,  and  that  he  shall  not  exceed  or  transgress  the  Powers  and 
Authorities  contained  in  this  Commission.  And  we  will  and  require  all 
our  officers  wliatsoever  iu  the  Service  of  the  United  States  to  give  succor 
and  assistance  to  the  said  Samuel  Croel  in  the  Premises.  This  commis- 
sion shall  continue  in  force  until  the  Congress  shall  issue  orders  to  the 
contrary.  Dated  at  Boston,  14th  day  of  October,  1779,  and  in  the  4th 
year  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

"By  order  of  the  Congress, 

"  John  Jay,  President. 
"  John  Avery,  Attest. 

'•  CuAS.  Thompson,  Secretary." 

After  tlie  Revolution  the  new  nation  being  nomin- 
ally at  peace  with  other  countries,  there  is  nothing  to 
record  until  the  War  of  1812,  though  Salem  shipping, 
which  had  vastly  increased  in  value  since  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  country  had  been  established,  suf- 
fered considerably  from  the  depredations  of  the 
French  navy,  which,  had  we  been  a  little  stronger, 
were  a  quite  sufficient  casus  belli. 

Subsequently,  that  government  frankly  recognizing 
their  fault  in  this  matter,  paid  over  a  large  amount  to 
the  United  States  as  an  indemnity  fund  for  the  ship- 
owners who  had  suffered  loss.  Our  government,  with 
a  calm  dishonesty  for  which  an  individual  would  have 
been  promptly  punished,  put  the  money  in  its  coffers, 
and  no  part  of  it  has,  up  to  date,  been  paid  to  those 
to  wdiom  it  properly  belonged.  As  it  is  difficult  to  get 
a  government  indicted  and  put  into  States  prison, 
or  even  to  force  it  to  file  an  answer  in  a  civil  proceed- 
ing, the  unhappy  people  who  were  swindled  in  this 
matter  were  obliged  to  die  without  getting  their 
money,  and  their  heirs  have  since  hung  around  the 
steps  of  the  capitol  at  Washington  or  caught  the  mem- 
bers of  Congress  in  the  lobbies  iu  the  hitherto  vain 
attempt  to  recover  their  own. 

A  little  later,  when  the  Barbary  corsairs  began  to 
pick  up  our  merchantmen,  with  some  Salem  vessels 
among  them,  we  felt  that  if  we  could  not  make  it  con- 
venient to  quarrel  with  France,  we  did  not  propose  to 
have  Algiers  or  Tripoli  tread  upon  us,  and  promptly 
whipped  those  people  into  the  belief  that  we  were 
something  of  a  naval  power,  after  all. 

What  part  was  taken  by  such  Salem  men  as  were 
serving  in  the  United  States  navy,  in  that  quite  cred- 
itable little  war,  we  cannot  say,  but  it  was  doubtless, 
as  usual,  efficient  and  valuable. 

In  1798,  it  being  obvious  that  the  United  States 
needed  a  navy,  and  the  government  having  no  facili- 
ties for  ship-building,  a  request  was  made  that  the 
citizens  of  certain  maritime  localities  loan  funds  to  aid 
in  the  equipment  of  the  navy.  In  Salem  a  large  sum 
was  subscribed,  and  the  frigate  "  Essex,"  afterward 


to  become  a  very  famous  vessel,  was  built  by  Salem 
ship-builders  on  Winter  Island,  rigged  and  turned 
over  to  the  government.  It  was  a  patriotic  task  for  a 
little  town  of  nine  thousand  inhabitants  to  undertake. 
The  "  Essex  "  proved  a  very  fast  sailer,  and  had  a 
noted  career. 

The  following  are  the  names  of  the  subscribers  to 
this  loan,  on  which  the  government  paid  only  six  per 
cent,  while  borrowing  other  moneys  at  eight  percent., 
a  fact  well  known  to  these  gentlemen  : 


Wni.  Gray,  Jr 510,000 

Elias  H.  Derby 10,000 

Wm.  Orne 5,000 

JohnNorris 5,000 

John  Jenks 1,500 

Ebr.  Bickford 2,000 

Benj.  Pickmau,  Jr 1,000 

Stephen  Webb 500 

Benj.  Pickmau 1,000 

Jos.  Peabody .' 1,500 

John  Osgood 1,000 

Wm.  Prescott 1,000 

Ichabod  Mchols 1,000 

Benj.  Carpenter 500 

Jacob  Ashton 1,000 

James  King 500 

Samuel  Gray 2,000 

AVm.  Ward 500 

Joshua  Ward 750 

Jonathan  Neal 2,000 

John  Delaud 100 

Joseph  Newhall 100 

Benj.  Goodhue 800 

Nathl.  Batchelder 50 

Daniel  Jenks 500 

Samuel  Archer 100 

Jos.  Vincent 200 

Joshua  Richardson 500 

Jos.  Mosely 100 

Wait  &  Pierce 2,000 

Thos.  Saunders 500 

Abel  Lawrence 500 

Hardy  Ropes 200 

Thos.  Gushing 50 

E.  A.  Holyoke 800 

Moses  Townsend 100 

Timothy  Wellman,  Jr 100 

John  Morong 50 

Lane  &  Son  (in  work) 100 

Enos  Briggs 50 

Ephraim  Emmerton 100 

Wm.  Marston 250 

Edw.  Lang 100 

Thos.  Webb 200 

Michael  Webb 100 

Edmund  Gale 10 

Benj.  Webb,  Jr 100 

Richard  Manning 1,000 

Benj.  Hodges 500 

John  Beckett 100 

.Tames  Gould 50 


John  Derby 1,000 

Edward  Allen,  Jr 500 

Page  &  Kopes 100 

Thomas  Perkins 500 

John  Murphy oOO 

Joseph  Cabot 500 

Edwd.  Killen 100 

Ezekiel  H.Derby 1,000 

Jona.  Mason 80 

Saml.  Ropes,  Jr 50 

Saml.  Brooks 60 

AsaPierce  50 

Natba.  Pierce 250 

Upton  &  Porter 400 

Buffum  &  Howard 450 

Jos.  Osgood,  Jr 25 

Wm.  Appleton 50 

John  Hatborne  200 

Isaac  Osgood 500 

Elias  H.  Derby,  Jr 400 

Jona.  Lambert 40 

Henrj'  Osborne 50 

Joseph  Hill 300 

Walter  P.  Bartlett  100 

Israel  Dodge 5G0 


Saml.  Very 

Brackey  Rose 

AsaKilham 

A  lady,  by  J.  Jenks., 

Benj.  West,  Jr 

Thomas  Chipman 


100 
100 
20 
50 
350 
100 

Eichd.  Planning,  Jr 200 

David  Patten 50 

Edw.  J.  Sanderson 200 

John  Treadwell 500 

John  Barr 6IX) 

Wm.  Luscomb 300 

Jona.  Waldo 40 

Thos.  Bancroft 100 

Nathl.  West 1,500 

Saml.  Mclntire 100 

Benj.  Felt 100 

George  Dodge 1,000 

Peter  Lander 200 

Stephen  Phillips 1,000 

Richd.  Derby,  Jr 1,500 

Jos.  AVaters 415 

C.  Crowninshield   500 

John  Pickering 200 

Edumnd  Upton 300 


Total $74,700 

During  the  years  that  preceded  the  War  of  1812, 
the  Salem  merchantmen  in  common  with  others  lost 
men  by  the  high-handed  impressments  of  the  British 
men  of  war,  that  exercised  a  pretended  right  to  take 
from  the  ship  of  any  nation  met  on  the  high  seas, 
such  seamen  as  their  officers  chose  to  consider  English 
subjects;  and  as  they  were  in  need  of  sailors  they 
were  by  no  means  nice  in  drawing  distinctions. 
Therefore,  while  opposed  on  general  principles  to  the 


SALEM. 


195 


embargo  and  subsequent  declaration  of  war  against 
England,  these  unwarrantable  acts  had  left  sufficient 
sting  in  the  minds  of  the  Salem  merchants  and  sea- 
men to  render  them  very  ready  to  again  sweep  the 
seas  with  their  privateers  to  the  serious  detriment  of 
the  British  merchant  marine.  Again  it  may  be  said, 
without  much  exaggeration,  that  from  commerce  this 
became  the  principal  business  of  Salem,  and  if  it 
were  possible  to  give  a  list  of  the  men  who  at  some 
time  during  this  war,  served  on  her  privateers  and 
letters  of  marque,  it  would  give  a  very  fair  idea  of  the 
seafaring  portion  of  the  town's  population. 

In  writing  of  the  exploits  of  the  privateers  of  Sa- 
lem in  this  war,  it  is  difficult  to  know  how  to  begin 
and  where  to  end.  For  three  years  forty  vessels, 
practically  men  of  war,  cruised  from  this  port  heavily 
armed,  and  officered,  and  manned  by  as  skillful  and 
brave  navigators  and  seamen  as  were  then  afloat. 
And  this  does  not  include  over  one  hundred  letter  of 
marque  trading  vessels,  that  kept  the  sea  and  did 
some  fighting  as  well  as  trading.  Of  these,  as  their 
warlike  character  was  merely  incidental,  we  shall  be 
unable  to  make  more  than  this  passing  mention. 

With  regard  to  the  privateers,  the  records  of  the 
time  are  more  or  less  imperfect :  some  of  the  deeds 
performed  by  them  are  recounted  while  others  are 
unnoticed,  and  the  history  of  their  actions  and  cap- 
tures is  imperfect  and  unsatisfactory.  Nevertheless, 
it  is  impossible  to  turn  this  remarkable  page  in  the 
history  of  the  town  without  glancing  at  the  careers 
of  a  few  of  these  notable  vessels,  and  recalling  some 
of  the  incidents  of  their  warfare. 

The  daring  with  which  these  fine  vessels  were 
fought  and  the  brilliant  seamanship  that  so  fully 
utilized  their  admirable  sailing  qualities,  were  the 
wonder  and  exasperation  of  the  English  navy,  and 
caused  British  merchants  many  hours  of  painful  reflec- 
tion. 

These  qualities  of  vessel  and  crew  were  never  bet- 
ter illustrated  than  in  the  ship  "  America,"  twenty 
guns,  and  carrying  a  crew  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  men, 
more  or  less.  She  was  owned  by  George  Crownin- 
shield,  and  was  the  largest  privateer  sailing  from 
this  port.  Admirably  commanded  by  Captains 
Joseph  Ropes,  John  Kehew  and  John  W.  Cheever  at 
different  times,  she  was  considered  by  some  to  be 
the  fastest  vessel  afloat  during  that  war.  Her  success 
in  capturing  prizes  was  phenomenal,  and  the  amount 
realized  by  her  owner  was  very  large;  her  captures 
up  to  March,  1814,  were  estimated  at  the  value  of 
$1,100,000.  Unlike  the  greater  number  of  privateers, 
she  escaped  capture  by  the  enemy,  and  may  be  said  to 
have  died  peacefully  in  her  bed,  long  subsequent  to 
the  war. 

A  smaller  full-rigged  ship,  called  the  "  Alfred," 
sixteen  guns  and  one  hundred  and  ten  to  one  hundred 
and  thirty  men,  was  an  effective  cruiser.  She  was 
built  in  Salem  in  1805,  and  at  her  launch  the  rudder, 
which,  against  the  remonstrance  of  the  builder,  was 


already  hung,  struck  the  bottom  and  was  thrown  out, 
falling  immediately  across  the  stern-post  and  stop- 
ping the  vessel,  so  that  she  lay  aground  one  tide. 
When  floated  she  was  found  to  be  badly  "hogged." 
She  was  brought  to  the  wharf  and  large  blocks  of 
wood  placed  under  her  stern-post  and  forefoot,  and 
he>-  weight  brought  upon  the  extremities,  which  caused 
her  to  settle  in  the  centre  and  resume  her  original 
lines.  She  was  never  apparently  the  w'orse  for  this 
severe  test  of  her  elasticity,  but  proved  a  good  ship 
and  fast  sailer.  When  fitted  as  a  privateer  she  sailed 
less  well  than  previously  and  was  altered  into  a  brig. 
She  seemed  under  both  rigs  to  have  had  bad  luck  with 
her  spars  in  heavy  weather.  As  a  brig  she  was  pro- 
bably over-sparred,  but  that  had  not  been  the  case 
when  ship-rigged.  She  was  well  commanded  by  Cap- 
tains Stephen  Williams  and  Philip  Bessom,  under 
both  of  whom,  if  the  vessel  lost  a  few  sticks,  she  never 
failed  to  send  in  prizes  enough  to  fully  atone  for  this 
one  foible.  Two  of  her  prizes  alone  sold  for  one  hundred 
and  twenty  thousand  dollars.  She  was  ultimately 
captured  in  February,  1814. 

The  ship  "'  Alexander,"  eightef^n  guns  and  about 
one  hundred  and  forty  men,  was  commanded  on  her 
first  cruise  by  Captain  Well  man,  and  gave  promise  of 
a  successful  career,  which  was  lully  borne  out  by  her 
performances  on  the  next  cruise  under  Captain  Ben- 
jamin Crowninshield,  when,  with  the  greater  part  of 
her  crew  away  in  seven  prizes  just  previously  taken, 
she  was,  on  May  19,  1813,  crowded  on  shore  in  Wells' 
bay  by  two  English  men-of-war,  and  captured.  So 
closely  was  she  pressed  by  the  enemy  that  only  twenty 
men  of  her  crew  succeeded  in  reaching  the  shore  and 
escaping. 

The  other  full-rigged  privateer  sailing  from  Salem, 
the  ship  "John,"  sixteen  guns  and  a  strong  crew  of 
one  hundred  and  sixty  or  more  men,  was  commanded 
by  Captains  Fairfield  and  Crowninshield  (who  after- 
wards commanded  the  Alexander),  and  after  a  short 
season  of  great  usefulness,  in  which  she  picked  up  some 
twenty  English  merchantmen,  more  or  less,  was  in  her 
turn  picked  up  by  an  English  frigate  in  February, 
1813,  and  Salem  saw  her  no  more. 

Of  the  privateer  brigs  of  Salem,  perhaps  the  most 
profitable  and  fortunate  was  the  "Grand  Turk."  She 
was  large  for  the  time,  carried  eighteen  guns  and  one 
hundred  and  fifty  men,  and  became  noted  for  her  good 
qualities  as  a  sailer  and  her  audacity  and  uniform 
good  fortune.  At  one  time,  in  1813,  under  one  of  her 
two  gallant  commanders.  Captain  Breed  or  Greene,  she 
stood  off' and  on  at  the  mouth  of  the  English  channel  for 
twenty  days,  capturing  a  number  of  vessels  almost  in 
sight  of  their  home  ports;  finally  eluding  all  pursuit 
and  making  off  in  safety.     She  was  never  captured. 

The  smaller  brig,  "Montgomery,"  twelve  guns, 
commanded  in  turn  by  Captains  Holton  J.  Breed  (who 
was  also  in  the  "  Grand  Turk"),  Joseph  Strout  (who 
had  been  a  naval  officer),  and  Benjamin  Upton,  was 
almost  as  fortunate  a  vessel  as  the  "Grand  Turk." 


196 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


She  made  many  prizes  and  distinguished  herself  by 
some  hard  fighting.     On  one  occasion  she  had  a  des- 
perate action  with  a  large,  heavily-armed  ship,  which 
she  captured  after  losing  many  men,  her  then  captain, 
Upton,  being  severely  wounded.     At  another  time, 
falling  in  with  a  British  tronp  ship,  near  Surinam,  full 
of  soldiers  and  carrying  eighteen  guns,  a  man-of-war 
to  all  intents  and  purposes,  she  attacked  without  hesi- 
tation, and  after  two  hours'  hot  work,  drew  off  for  re- 
pairs, intending  to  "resume  business  at  the  old  stand," 
as  it  were,  as  soon  as  she  could  splice  up  some  of 
her  rigging  and  plug  two  or  three  troublesome  shot- 
holes.     But  the  Englishman  had  had  quite  enough  of 
her,  and  crowding  all  sail   made  good   her  escape. 
After  a  very  successful  series  of  cruises,  the  "  Mont- 
gomery "  was  ultimately  obliged  to  succumb  to  supe- 
rior force,  but  it  took  the  British  line-of-battle  ship, 
"  La  Hogue,''  seventy-four  guns,  to  bring  her  to  terms. 
The  "fore  and  aft  "  rig  seems  to  have  commended 
itself  to  those  engaged  in  privateering,  doubtless  from 
the  fact  that  by  pointing  higher,  a  schooner  could 
more  easily  work  to  windward  of  a  large  merchant- 
man, while,  in  case  of  pursuit  by  a  man-of-war,  she 
could  go  off  dead  before  the  wind,  still  holding  one  of 
her  best  points  of  sailing.     At  all  events,  the  greater 
number  of  our  privateers  in  this  war,  from  all  ports, 
were   top-sail   schooners,    twenty-three   of  this  class 
sailing  from  Salem.  These  vessels  were,  some  of  them 
of  fair  size  for  the  time,  others  very  small,  but  nearly 
all  were  good  sailers  and  were  always  well  handled. 
They  carried  but  few  guns,  but  one  of  these  was  usu- 
ally a  large  one,  and  their  strong  crews  of  daring  sea- 
men, eager  for  the  chance  of  boarding,  rendered  them 
exceedingly  formidable  to  everything  they  met,  short 
of  an  enemy's  frigate.     They  chased,  fought  and  ran 
away,  as  the  occasion  required,  with  equal  bravery 
and  address.     Most  of  them  met  their  fate  sooner  or 
later,  but  this  resulted  usually  from  their  own  temer- 
ity, and  not  before  the  English  had  paid  for  them 
many  times  over,  in  their  prizes  taken. 

Room  can  be  given  to  the  notice  of  but  few  of  these 
gallant  little  vessels,  though  a  book  might  well  be 
filled  with  the  record  of  their  exploits.  There  was  a 
little  pink-sterned  fishing  schooner  changed  into  a 
privateer,  called  the  "  Fame,"  of  only  thirty  tons,  and 
carrying  two  six-pounders,  that  had  wonderful  luck 
and  was  never  captured,  though  finally  lost  in  a  storm. 
She  sailed  fast,  and  her  excellent  reputation  did  not 
seem  to  suffer  under  any  of  her  numerous  command- 
ers, for  she  changed  them,  apparently,  at  almost  every 
cruise;  being  commanded  successively  by  Captains 
Webb,  Upton,  Poland,  Greene,  Chapman,  Endicott, 
Brookhouse  and  Evans. 

The  "Frolic,"  a  much  larger  schooner,  carrying 
one  twenty-four  pounder  and  a  smaller  gun  and  com- 
manded by  Captains  Green  and  Odiorne,  proved  a 
very  lively  vessel  in  more  senses  than  one,  sweeping 
the  sea  like  a  broom  during  her  short  life,  though  her 
captures  were  not  of  great  value.     She  was  built  on 


Salem  Neck,  and  was  very  fast,  but  had  the  peculiar- 
ity of  being  unduly  sharp  aft;  so  much  so,  indeed, 
thatshe  was  unseaworthy,  and  on  her  second  cruise, 
being  taken  aback  in  a  slight  squall,  ran  stern 
under  as  far  as  the  main  hatch,  and  was  only  saved 
from  swamping  by  great  exertions.  So  little  did  her 
crew  enjoy  this  particular  phase  of  her  frolicsomeness, 
that  they  came  aft  in  a  body  and  offered  the  captain 
to  give  up  all  advances  if  he  would  abandon  the 
cruise.  The  British  man-of-war  "  Heron,"  happening 
around  about  this  time,  saved  the  officers  from  any 
embarrassment  on  this  score  by  capturing  and  burn- 
ing the  vessel,  in  spite  of  her  desperate  endeavors  to 
escape  through  a  long  stern  chase. 

Dr.  Benjamin  F.  Browne,  well  remembered  by  our 
citizens,  was  taken  on  board  of  the  "  Frolic,"  and 
many  are  familiar  with  his  experiences  in  Dartmoor 
prison,  where  he  and  his  shipmates  were  confined  un- 
til the  peace.  He  narrowly  escaped  being  shot  in  the 
savage  suppression  of  restlessness  among  the  prison- 
ers, by  Colonel  Shortland,  commanding  the  guard. 
Dr.  Browne,  in  those  days,  of  course,  a  mere  boy, 
took  also  a  short  cruise  on  the  ship  "  Alfred,"  already 
spoken  of. 

The  "  Dolphin  "  was  a  still  larger  schooner,  carry- 
ing more  men,  though  less  weight  of  metal,  than  the 
"Frolic."  She  was  built  in  Baltimore,  before  the 
war,  and  altered  to  a  privateer,  and  under  Captain 
Jacob  Endicott,  made,  perhaps,  as  good  a  record  as 
any  privateer  schooner  sailing  from  Salem  in  propor- 
tion to  the  time  of  her  service ;  for  she  was  captured 
in  September,  1812.  A  single  vessel  and  cargo  taken 
by  her  brought  the  large  sum  of  sixty  thousand  dollars. 
A  lady  passenger,  on  one  of  the  prizes  taken  by  the 
"  Dolphin,"  in  a  published  letter,  bore  pleasant  testi- 
mony to  the  politeness  of  Captain  Endicott,  who 
caused  her  to  be  landed  at  the  port  most  convenient 
to  her  destination  and  scrupulously  secured  to  her  all 
her  money  and  baggage.  Judging  from  the  batteries 
carried  by  some  of  the  ships  taken  by  the  "  Dolphin," 
she  must  have  done  considerable  fighting,  first  and 
last. 

The  vicissitudes  sometimes  attending  the  career  of 
a  privateer  were  well  illustrated  by  the  "John  "  and 
"  George,"  a  fine  American-built  schooner,  captured 
early  in  the  war  by  an  English  man-of-war,  and  for  some 
reason  turned  adrift.  She  was  found  off  Cape  Sable 
by  the  American  privateer  "  Regulator,"  August  13, 
1812,  and  sent  in  to  Salem,  where,  being  found  to  be 
fast,  she  was  turned  into  a  privateer.  She  made  one 
short  cruise  under  Capt.  Sinclair,  in  which  she  was  suc- 
cessful. Her  name  was  then  altered  to  the  "Revenger," 
though  it  would  seem  as  if  the  name  she  already  bore 
had  given  her  sufficiently  good  luck.  Certainly  the 
new  one  brought  her  none,  for  she  was  captured  on 
her  very  next  cruise.  The  Englishmen  who  bought 
her  continued  her  as  a  privateer,  again  changing  her 
name  to  the  "  Retaliation."  Subsequently  a  Portsmouth 
privateer  retook  her,  but  she  was  lost  to  Salem,  and 


SALEM. 


197 


her  further  changes  of  name  are  no  longer  a  matter 
of  history. 

The  "  Dart,"  a  small  schooner  of  but  forty  tons  and 
two  small  gnus,  commanded  successively  by  Captains 
Davis,  Symonds,  Green  and  Poland,  under  each  of 
whom  she  was  admirably  handled,  was  a  profitable 
little  vessel.  She  sailed  well  and  took  some  valuable 
prizes.  One  in  particular,  a  large  armed  merchant- 
man, heavily  manned  and  carrying  six  guns,  she 
gallantly  took  after  a  most  determined  resistance. 
She  was  never  captured,  though,  as  if  the  elements 
conspired  with  the  enemy  against  these  plucky  little 
vessels,  both  she  and  the  "  Fame  "  already  spoken  of, 
were  wrecked  in  the  Bay  of  Fundy. 

The  "Fair-Trader,"  another  little  schooner,  of  the 
same  tonnage  as  the  "  Dart,"  seems  to  have  been  a 
good  cruiser,  and  under  her  Captain  John  R.  Mor- 
gan took  a  number  of  prizes  before  her  capture  in 
September,  1812. 

The  largest  privateer  schooners  that  sailed  from 
Salem  during  the  war  were  the  "  Diomede,"  com- 
manded by  Captain  J.  Crowninshield ;  the  "  Enter- 
prise," Captain  Morgan;  and  the  "Growler,"  Captains 
Graves  and  Lindsay.  They  were  all  built  for  this  pur- 
pose on  the  "  Baltimore  Clipper"  model,  and  were  all 
ultimately  captured  by  the  enemy  after  a  more  or  less 
fortunate  service.  The  "  Diomede  "  was  a  very  fast 
sailer.  On  one  short  cruise  of  a  few  weeks  she  sent 
in  six  vessels,  and  among  others  of  her  captures  was 
one  large  ship  carrying  sixteen  guns;  while  among 
the  "Growler's"  captures,  one  vessel  and  cargo  are 
mentioned  as  valued  at  one  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars. 

Four  sloops  figured  as  privateers  from  Salem  in  this 
war,  of  which  the  little  "  Jefferson  "  was  very  suc- 
cessful considering  her  size,  which  was  that  of  a  mere 
pleasure  boat,  for  which  purpose,  indeed,  she  was 
originally  built  in  Salem.  She  carried  one  gun  and 
twenty  men,  and  managed  to  escape  capture. 

The  sloop  "Wasp,"  rather  larger,  was  also  built  in 
Salem,  carried  two  six  pounders  and  twenty-five  men. 
Upon  her  first  cruise  after  making  some  captures,  she 
was  herself  taken,  but  in  a  manner  that  reflected 
honor  upon  her  captain  and  crew.  Attacked  by  the 
British  schooner-of-war  "  Bream,"  of  ten  guns,  she 
only  surrendered,  after  a  close  fight  of  half  an  hour, 
and  a  running  fight  of  nearly  nine  hours,  most  of  the 
time  at  musket  range,  during  which  Captain  Ervin 
in  vain  tested  the  fine  sailing  qualities  of  his  little 
vessel  to  the  utmost,  in  the  effort  to  escape.  So  great 
was  the  gallantry  displayed  in  the  defence  of  the 
"  Wasp,"  that  Captain  Ervin  and  his  crew  were 
treated  with  the  greatest  consideration  by  their  gen- 
erous captors,  after  the  surrender  of  the  sloop,  and 
when  walking  in  the  streets  of  St.  John  on  parole 
Captain  Ervin  was  pointed  out  as  the  Salem  captain 
who  defended  his  vessel  with  such  heroism. 

The  "Polly"  was  a  large,  powerful  sloop,  built  on 
the  Hudson  before  the  war.  She  was  oversparred  until 


it  was  ascertained  that  she  sailed  better  by  shortening 
her  mast.  She  kept  the  sea  as  well  as  vessels  of  any 
class,  and  could  go  to  windward  of  anything  she  was 
after,  while  no  English  ship  could  catch  her  in  the 
open  sea.  She  was  not  taken  until  April,  1814,  and 
then  only  by  being  cornered  and  driven  ashore  by  an 
English  corvette.  This,  by  the  way,  seems  to  have  been 
a  favorite  manoeuvre  of  the  enemy  in  dealing  with 
our  swift  and  sometimes  audacious  little  privateers. 
The  English  man-of-war  "  Indian,"  twenty-two  guns, 
had  previously  tried  to  come  it  over  the  "Polly'' 
in  a  different  style,  and  failed  most  signally  ;  for  both 
vessels  being  becalmed  off  Cape  Sable,  she  sent  in 
her  launch  and  other  boats  to  board  her,  but  the 
"Polly''  beat  them  off  with  such  slaughter  that  it  was 
with  difficulty  that  they  could  get  back  to  their  ship, 
which  made  no  further  effort  to  molest  her  antagonist, 
and  made  off  when  a  breeze  arose.  Captains  Samuel 
C.  Hardy  and  Eobert  Evans  successively  handled 
this  wonderful  little  vessel  with  great  skill,  and  with 
her  one  twelve  pounder  and  eight  sixes,  and  a  strong 
crew  of  sixty  men,  she  was  for  nearly  two  years  a  most 
effective  sea  rover. 

A  large  number  of  the  privateers  were  captured  by 
the  enemy,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  list  given  in  the  ap- 
pendix ;  but  so  great  was  the  aggregate  value  of  their 
prizes  that  the  pecuniary  loss  to  the  owners  was  of 
little  consequence,  although  many  good  men  of  their 
crews  lost  their  lives  or  languished  long  in  English 
prisons. 

There  were  a  number  of  small  craft,  launches  and 
open  boats  that  ran  out  on  occasion,  and  made  some 
captures,  being,  in  the  hands  of  desperate  men,  no 
mean  antagonists.  Mention  should  be  made  of  the 
schooner  "  Helen,"  loaned  by  the  Messrs.  White  and 
Knapp,  Salem  merchants,  at  their  own  rick,  and 
fitted  out  and  manned  by  a  volunteer  crew  of  seventy 
men,  gathered  by  fife  and  drum  in  Salem  streets,  all 
within  the  space  of  about  four  hours.  It  appears  that 
news  was  received  Nov.  12,  1812,  in  Salem,  that  the 
"  Liverpool  Packet,"  a  well-known  and  very  active 
British  privateer,  had  been  seen  inside  of  Halfway 
Rock,  and  this  sudden  expedition  was  organized  for  her 
capture.  The  Englishmen  had  sailed  for  St.  John  in 
time  to  avoid  the  "  Helen,"  but  the  incident  suffi- 
ciently indicates  the  high  spirit  of  the  time  and  the 
courage  of  the  men,  who,  at  a  moment's  notice,  were 
ready  to  attempt  the  capture  of  a  strong  and  well- 
armed  vessel. 

It  would  seem  that  many  English  prisoners  came 
this  way,  for  in '1814,  and  perhaps  previously,  the 
government  maintained  the  prison-ship  "Aurora"  in 
the  North  River,  in  which  many  were  confined,  prin- 
cipally sea-faring  men. 

During  the  war,  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  militia 
and  the  volunteer  companies  of  the  town  there  was  a 
company  of  sea-fencibles,  so  called,  organized  and  com- 
posed entirely  of  masters  and  mates  of  merchantmen 
who  were  idle,  to  serve  as  artillerists  or  otherwise,  as 


198 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


the  coast  was  threatened  from  time  to  time  by  British 
men-of-war. 

The  venerable  William  H.  Foster,  now  living,  was 
a  member  of  the  cadet  company  of  that  day,  and  was 
also  acting  as  assistant  to  the  United  States  provost 
marshal  of  the  district,  in  which  capacity  he  took  the 
parole  of  three  English  officers,  who  had  been  taken 
in  Maine,  and  reported  to  be  paroled  until  exchanged. 
Mr.  Foster's  youthful  appearance,  and  the  easy  absence 
of  ceremony  in  dealing  with  them,  rather  astonished 
the  Englishmen,  one  of  whom,  a  colonel,  remarked 
that  it  would  have  taken  several  British  officers  to  man- 
age such  a  matter  with  them,  instead  of  one  young  boy. 
Young  Foster  looked  after  them  that  night,  and  in 
the  morning  they  were  sent  to  Audover,  where,  with 
others,  they  enjoyed  for  a  time  the  good  air  and 
ample  religious  and  literary  privileges  of  that  hill 
town,  if  any  there  were  there  then.  We  were  econom- 
ical of  men  and  means  in  the  prosecution  of  that  war. 

Mr.  Foster  also  remembers  various  alarms,  muster- 
ings  and  marches  hither  and  thither  on  various  occa- 
sions. When  the  frigate  "  Constitution  "  was  forced 
to  take  refuge  in  Marblehead  harbor  from  a  pursuing 
squadron  of  the  enemy,  the  company  of  fencibles 
dragged  their  twenty-four  pounders  over  to  the  shore 
of  that  town  to  play  on  the  enemy  in  case  they  should 
follow  her.  The  English  vessels,  not  being  acquainted 
with  the  shore  and  depth  of  water,  did  not  venture 
in,  and  an  attack  with  boats  ujion  a  formidable 
frigate  was  out  of  the  question,  of  course. 

The  next  day  the  "Constitution"  was  brought 
around  to  Salem  by  Joseph  Perkins,  the  harbor  pilot, 
who  died  but  a  few  years  since,  and  anchored  under 
the  guns  of  the  fort.  With  the  crowd  of  others  from 
Salem  and  Marblehead  who  lined  the  headlands,  Mr. 
Foster  a  year  later  shared  in  the  intense  excitement 
and  bitter  disappointment  of  witnessing  the  combat 
of  the  ill-fated  "Chesapeake"  with  the  "Shannon," 
in  which  our  ship  was  taken  but  a  mile  or  two  off 
shore. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  a  list  of  those  who  served 
in  the  army  during  the  war  of  1812  from  Salem  can- 
not be  given,  as  in  that  existing  at  the  State  house 
the  residences  of  the  men  are  not  given.  The  num- 
ber was,  it  is  understood,  not  large,  as  the  war  was 
not  over-popular  in  this  neighborhood,  and  the  tastes 
of  a  maritime  people  led  them  to  seek  the  enemy  on 
their  proper  element. 

It  may  not  be  considered  out  of  place  to  allude  to 
the  services  of  General  Miller,  who  held  a  command 
in  this  war,  and  who,  though  not'  originally  from 
Salem,  was  long  identified  with  the  town  by  his  resi- 
dence here.  His  modest  but  determined  answer  to 
General  Scott,  at  the  battle  of  Lundy's  Lane,  when 
asked  if  he  could  carry  a  certain  position  with  his 
brigade,  followed  by  his  gallant  and  successful  attack, 
will  ever  live  in  the  memory  of  his  countrymen. 

The  Mexican  War  called  for  but  few  regiments  to 
augment  the  strength  of   the  regular  army.     The 


names  of  the  few  from  Salem  who  served  in  the  Mas- 
sachusetts regiment  of  volunteers,  commanded  by  Col. 
Caleb  Gushing,  of  Newburyport,  are  to  be  found  in 
the  appendix.  This  regiment  served  in  the  army 
commanded  by  General  Scott,  and  took  part  in  the 
engagenients  that  signalized  its  resistless  march  from 
Vera  Cruz  to  Mexico.  If  any  men  from  this  place 
joined  the  so-called  New  England  regiment,  it  has  been 
impossible  to  obtain  their  names. 

It  is  proper  to  speak  of  some  volunteer  militia  or- 
ganizations that  have  been  identified  with  the  history 
of  the  town;  for  without  a  hearty  recognition  of  the 
long  existence  of  some  of  them  in  the  face  of  many 
difficulties,  and  of  the  services  they  have  directly  and 
indirectly  been  able  from  time  to  time  to  render,  no 
military  record  of  Salem  would  be  complete. 

Incidentally,  it  may  be  stated  that  under  the  system 
adopted  soon  after  the  Eevolution,  the  entire  male 
population  of  the  State,  within  certain  ages,  was  en- 
rolled as  a  militia,  and  were  liable  to  be  called  out  by 
the  Governor  for  service  within  the  State  upon  any 
emergency.  Meanwhile  thej^  were  required  to  attend 
at  certain  stated  times  and  places  for  musters  or  train- 
ings in  companies,  regiments  and  brigades  of  local 
establishment,  under  officers  chosen  and  commissioned 
by  the  Governor.  With  the  heterogeneous  mass  of 
raw  material  that,  under  this  system,  were,  within  the 
memory  of  man,  annually  formed  upon  Salem  Com- 
mon, under  officers  for  the  most  part  quite  ignorant  of 
the  simplest  requirements  of  military  duty,  it  is  not 
necessary  to  trouble  ourselves  in  an  article  that  as- 
sumes to  treat  of  things  military.  These  gatherings 
served  to  amuse  the  people,  and  the  vanity  of  many 
excellent  citizens  was  tickled  by  military  titles  that 
often  as  ill-fitted  their  characters  as  their  uniforms 
did  their  persons. 

Here  and  there  in  the  State,  however,  from  the  be- 
ginning, there  were  a  few,  who,  having  a  real  desire  to 
learn  the  duties  of  soldiers  and  to  be  of  some  use  in 
case  of  need,  formed  themselves  into  volunteer  com- 
panies by  permission  of  the  State,  elected  men  of  mil- 
itary instincts  and  application  as  their  officers,  and 
in  neat  uniforms  and  equipments  steadily  labored  to  be 
as  far  as  possible  real  and  not  caricatures  of  soldiers. 
They  kept  alive  the  germs  of  the  military  spirit  sown 
in  the  different  wars,  and  furnished  tactical  schools 
that  proved  of  value  when  the  State  or  nation  re- 
quired trooj)s  for  actual  service.  The  superiority  of 
these  organizations  over  the  mob  of  enrolled  militia, 
became  ultimately  so  apparent  that  Governor  Banks, 
some  years  before  the  war,  remodeled  the  entire  mil- 
itary establishment  of  the  State  upon  the  volunteer 
plan  that  has  endured  to  this  day,  and  furnishes  us 
with  two  brigades  of  fairly  instructed  militia. 

Of  the  original  volunteer  companies  the  Salem 
Light  Infantry,  the  Mechanics'  Light  Infantry  and 
the  Salem  Cadets  were  among  the  best  in  the  State. 

First  parading,  July  4th,  1805,  under  Captain  John 
Saunders,  the  Salem  Light  Infantry  was  from  the  out- 


SALEM. 


199 


set  a  select  body  of  men,  numbering  in  its  ranks  in 
every  period  some  of  the  most  substantial  citizens  of 
the  town,  and  actuated  always  by  a  strong  esprit  du 
corps  that  told  in  its  invariable  excellence  in  drill  and 
discipline. 

It  did  some  slight  service  as  coast  guards  during 
the  War  of  1812,  and  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil 
Avar  in  1861,  went  to  the  front  with  the  Eighth  Regi- 
ment Massachusetts  Militia,  and  served  three  months. 
One  incident  of  this  service  was  its  voyage  from  An- 
napolis to  New  York  as  guard  for  the  old  frigate  "  Con- 
stitution,'' which  relic  of  our  former  naval  prowess,  the 
government  was  determined  should  not  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy.  It  subsequently  served  nine 
months,  in  1862-63,  as  part  of  the  50th  Mass.  Militia,  in 
the  service  of  the  United  States,  seeing  plenty  of  warm 
work  in  the  Department  of  the  Gulf.  And  in  1864 
it  again  volunteered  for  another  three  months'  ser- 
vice. Throughout  the  war  the  company  was  con- 
stantly sending  from  its  ranks  large  numbers  of  men, 
in  the  aggregate  nearly  three  times  the  number  it  con- 
tained in  1861,  many  of  whom  held  commissions. 

The  war  record  of  this  company  is  remarkable. 
Doing  much  service  as  an  organization,  and  repeated- 
ly, when  at  home,  filling  its  ranks  and  as  often  de- 
pleting them  in  the  manner  alluded  to,  it  seemed  a 
never  failing  conduit  for  the  augmentation  of  our 
armies  in  the  field.  The  company  still  endures  with 
good  numbers  as  a  part  of  the  Eighth  Regiment  Mas- 
sachusetts Militia,  and  is  a  credit  to  the  city. 

Older  than  the  organization  just  described,  by  over 
twenty  years,  the  Second  Corps  of  Cadets,  originally 
formed  as  a  company  in  1781,  under  Captain  Stephen 
Abbott,  constantly  vied  with  the  other  in  the  high 
character  of  its  membership  and  in  the  maintenance 
of  a  good  state  of  drill  and  efficiency.  During  the 
War  of  1812  it  performed  similar  duty  at  intervals, 
and  during  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  did  three 
months'  duty  in  the  service  of  the  United  States. 
From  its  ranks  went  only  less  officers  and  men 
to  the  active  army  than  from  those  of  its  rival. 
Organized  at  present  as  a  small  battalion  of  two 
companies,  it  presents  a  fine  appearance  when  on  du- 
ty, and  is  justly  regarded  as  one  of  the  crack  military 
bodies  of  the  State. 

The  Mechanics'  Light  Infantry  first  paraded  under 
Capt.  Perley  Putnam,  July  4,  1807.  As  its  name  im- 
plied, it  was  composed  originally  of  young  mechan- 
ics and  was  always  a  most  excellent  company,  as  it 
is  to-day,  although  its  numbers  are  somewhat  reduced 
from  what  they  should  be.  It  went  to  the  front  with 
the  Fifth  Militia  Regiment  in  April,  1861,  for  three 
months;  and  few  companies  have  ever  had  fuller 
ranks  than  it  showed  on  that  occasion. 

The  Salem  City  Guard,  organized  about  1848,  was 
said  to  be  a  good  company  in  its  prime,  though  it  no 
longer  exists.  Certainly  its  old  members  may  feel 
that  though  dead,  it  is  on  the  field  of  honor,  as  it  is 
the  only  militia  company  of  Salem  that  enlisted  as 


such  for  the  three  years'  service  in  the  War  of  1861. 
It  died  as  a  militia  company,  to  become  a  part  of  the 
Fortieth  Massachusetts  Infantry  Volunteers,  where  it 
saw  plenty  of  service. 

The  Salem  Artillery,  a  company  organized  in  1787, 
and  two  juvenile  organizations  formed  of  boys  under 
eighteen,  the  Washington  Rangers  and  the  Washing- 
ington  Blues,  both  first  parading  about  1807,  were 
short-lived,  neither  surviving  after  about  1815. 

The  three  companies  of  militia  above  spoken  of  as 
now  existing  in  Salem,  do  not  stand  merely  as  relics 
of  the  past,  like  the  Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery 
of  Boston,  but  are  essentially  military  in  character, 
and  to  be  relied  upon  for  any  necessary  service. 
In  the  case  of  the  Light  Infantry  and  Cadets,  the 
commemoration  of  their  past  glories, — their  historical 
department,  if  it  may  be  so  described, — is  well  cared 
for  by  their  respective  veteran  corps,  that  turn  out  in 
large  numbers  on  all  anniversaries  and  other  festive 
occasions  with  side  arms  and  impressive  chapeaus, 
and  in  the  customary  closing  exercises  of  the  day,  in- 
dulge in  much  jovial  reminiscence  and  display  con- 
vivial talents  of  the  highest  order. 

Before  considering  the  part  taken  by  Salem  in  the 
war  fought  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  mention 
should  be  made  of  the  defensive  works  that  have  from 
time  to  time  been  erected  within  her  limits. 

The  harbor  and  town  of  Salem  have  never  been 
specially  well  fortified,  and  a  word  will  dispose  of  the 
history  of  her  defences  of  this  nature. 

There  is  some  mention  of  an  early  structure,  prob- 
ably a  block-house,  within  a  stockade  that  stood  on 
the  highest  point  in  the  present  city  limits,  which 
would  be  that  now  occupied  by  the  Sewall  Street 
Methodist  Church.  This  work,  strengthened  from 
time  to  time,  was  no  doubt  the  one  alluded  to  as  Fort 
Anne,  and  was  presumably  the  main  reliance  of  the 
place  against  Indians.  Another  work  of  equal  an- 
tiquity was  the  Darby  Fort,  erected  in  1629,  on  the 
Marblehead  Side,  probably  on  Naugus  Head,  where 
the  jiresent  earth  work  is  located. 

During  the  Indian  wars,  block-houses  were  erected 
at  various  points  on  the  outskirts  of  the  settlement  to 
guard  the  plantations,  and  were  in  times  of  danger 
furnished  with  garrisons,  though  probably  unprovid- 
ed with  cannon. 

In  1643  a  considerable  fort  was  built  on  Winter 
Island,  originally  styled  Fort  William,  which  was 
maintained  at  intervals,  until  the  Revolutionary  War, 
when  it  was  strengthened  and  mounted  with  a  few 
guns.  The  land  and  fort  were  ceded  to  the  United 
States  in  1794,  and  in  1799  its  name  was  changed  to 
Fort  Pickering  ;  it  has,  since  that  time,  been  in  an 
alternate  condition  of  grassy  dilapidation  or  neat  ef- 
fectiveness, according  as  peace  or  war  has  prevailed 
in  the  land.  The  work  on  the  hill  on  the  neck  to  the 
north  of  Winter  Island,  is  the  successor  of  a  breast- 
work existing  on  that  spot  at  a  very  early  day,  that 
has  from  time  to  time  been  restored.     In  the  Revolu- 


200 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


tionary  War  it  was  called  Fort  Lee — and  perhaps 
still  retains  the  name. 

Away  on  the  point  the  builders  of  cottages  may 
have  found  traces  of  an  old  battery  that  commanded 
the  islands  and  Beverly  harbor  during  the  Eevolution, 
under  the  name  of  Fort  Juniper.  It  has  now  disap- 
peared, and  the  yachtsmen  and  cottagers  flirt  and 
make  merry,  where  once  the  sad-faced  patriot  senti- 
nel looked  out  over  the  bay  in  the  moonlight  and 
wondered  at  the  inscrutable  providence  that  kept  him 
out  there  in  the  cold  instead  of  suffering  him  to  slum- 
ber in  his  comfortable  bed  in  the  town,  but  a  mile 
away. 

This  is  no  place  to  discuss  the  causes  that  led  to  the 
Civil  War.  The  long  strain  imposed  upon  our  institu- 
tions by  Negro  Slavery,  that  anomaly  in  a  nation  found- 
ed upon  the  theoretical  equality  and  freedom  of  allmen, 
was  not  to  be  relieved  longer  by  hollow  compromises, 
in  which  both  parties  felt  defrauded.  And  yet  at  the 
North  there  prevailed  an  optimistic  feeling  of  secu- 
rity— a  reluctance  to  believe  that  their  brethren  of 
the  South  were  willing  to  sever  a  Union  of  States 
baptized  with  the  blood  of  their  fathers,  and  present- 
ing, with  all  its  defects,  such  a  grand  illustration  of  a 
successful  government  by  the  people  for  the  people_ 
To  the  last  they  hugged  the  hope  that  the  Southern 
bluster  would  evaporate  and,  in  some  manner,  the  dif- 
ferences between  the  sections  be  healed. 

The  sound  of  the  first  gun  fired  upon  Fort  Sumter 
awakened  the  North  from  this  dream,  and  with  a  de- 
termination that  the  Union  should  remain  inviolate 
quite  as  strong  as  that  of  the  South  for  its  dissever- 
ment,  it  arose  and  bent  its  great  strength  and  vast 
resources  to  the  task  of  defeating  the  aims  of  the 
secessionists.  Handicapped  by  want  of  preparation, 
its  purpose  was  firm,  and  in  spite  of  traitors  at  home 
and  false  friends  abroad,  it  finally  and  most  thoroughly 
accomplished  this  work. 

Salem  shared  with  other  Massachusetts  towns  in  her 
sudden  anger  at  the  attack  of  the  batteries  of  Charles- 
ton. On  the  evening  of  April  17th,  the  Wednesday  after 
the  firing  upon  Fort  Sumter,  an  earnest  meeting  of 
citizens  was  held  in  Mechanics'  Hall,  at  which  the 
mayor,  Hon.  S.  P.  Webb,  presided  and  read  a  strong 
address,  which  was  subsequeTitly  published,  in  which 
the  people  were  called  upon  to  forget  party  differences 
and  uphold  the  government  in  its  effort  to  preserve 
the  country.  Patriotic  speeches  were  made  and  reso- 
lutions, prepared  by  a  committee  made  up  without 
regard  to  the  previous  party  affiliations  of  its  mem- 
bers, were  unanimously  adopted.  They  expressed  the 
determination  to  stand  by  the  government,  pledged 
life  and  fortune  to  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  and 
to  the  protection  and  care  of  the  families  of  those 
about  to  go  into  the  field.  Several  thousand  dollars 
were  subscribed  on  the  spot  for  this  purpose,  and  a 
permanent  committee  chosen  to  secure  more  funds, 
composed  of  the  following  well-known  gentlemen  : 
S.   P.  Webb,  John   Bertram,  R.   S.    Rogers,    W.  D. 


Pickman,  B.  A.  West,  G.  F.  Browne,  W.  P.  Phillips, 
N.  B.  Mansfield,  William  McMuUan,  E.  W.  Kimball, 
G.  H.  Devereux,  W.  D.  Northend,  J.  V.  Browne,  C. 
W.  Upham,  George  Peabody,  W.  C.  Endicott,  Charles 
Mansfield,  David  Pingree,  A.  Perkins,  J.  S.  Jones,  R. 
S.  Rantoul,  A.  C.  Goodell,  R.  C.  Manning,  Samuel 
Brown,  J.  C.  Stimpson,  and  B.  M.  Perkins. 

Meanwhile  the  first  call  of  the  President  for  State 
troops  to  be  sent  for  the  defence  of  the  capital,  had 
been  promulgated,  and  some  of  the  military  compa- 
nies being  under  orders  to  march,  the  town  was  sim-  ^ 
mering  with  the  excitement  of  their  approaching  de- 
parture. 

On  the  following  day  the  Salem  Light  Infantry, 
called  the  Zouaves,  under  Captain  Arthur  Devereux, 
numbering  sixty-two  muskets,  left  Salem  for  Boston, 
where,  though  on  the  militia  rolls  as  Company  A, 
Seventh  Militia  Regiment,  they  were  attached  to  the 
Eighth  Regiment,  and  were  at  once  sent  forward. 
Two  days  later,  April  20th,  two  other  companies,  the 
Mechanics'  Light  Infantry,  under  Captain  George 
Pierson,  and  the  City  Guard,  under  Captain  Henry 
Danforth,  left  Salem  and  went  direct  to  the  City  of 
Washington  as  part  of  the  Fifth  Militia  Regiment. 
Upon  the  departure  of  each  of  these  companies 
they  were  addressed  at  their  armories  by  the  mayor 
and  other  prominent  citizens  amid  a  gathering  of 
their  friends.  They  were  bid  God-speed,  and  urged  to 
remember  the  high  duty  they  were  called  upon  to 
perform,  while  at  every  step  of  their  march  through 
the  streets  they  were  cheered  by  enthusiastic  crowds, 
many  of  whom  only  regretted  that  circumstances  pre. 
vented  their  being  also  in  the  ranks.  The  city  was 
a  unit  in  its  enthusiasm,  and  while  there  was  j^lenty 
of  "gush,"  if  the  word  may  be  pardoned,  and  an 
exaltation  of  sentiment  greater  than  our  national 
temperament  has  been  usually  given  to,  the  occasion 
justified  it,  and  it  was  hearty  and  genuine  to  the  last 
degree.  In  these  companies  over  two  hundred  men 
left  Salem  for  Washington  within  five  days  from  the 
call  of  the  President. 

But  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  and  other  far- 
seeing  men  in  the  State,  were  fully  persuaded  that  the 
immediate  and  pressing  need  for  soldiers  would  not  be 
confined  simply  to  the  protection  of  the  National 
Capital ;  that  the  South  was  making  no  mere  demon- 
stration, and  that  to  preserve  the  integrity  of  the  na- 
tion there  might  be  required  another  and  different 
army  from  the  militia  regiments  now  hastening  to 
Washington.  The  tread,  therefore,  of  the  marching 
troops  was  still  sounding  in  Salem's  streets,  when  re- 
cruiting offices  were  opened  at  the  suggestion  of  pro- 
minent citizens,  to  provide  for  the  unknown  contin- 
gencies of  the  future. 

Captains  Coggswell  and  Fitzgerald  began  at  once  to 
enlist  men  for  three  years'  service,  and  had  but  little 
difficulty  in  doing  so.  At  an  Irish  patriotic  meeting 
forty  men  were  enlisted  on  the  spot.  The  City  Coun- 
cil of  Salem  had,  meantime,  voted  $15,000  at  its  first 


SALEM. 


201 


meeting  after  the  surrender  of  Sumter,  to  be  used  in 
aid  of  the  families  of  absent  soldiers. 

April  24th,  the  past  members  of  the  absent  Light  In- 
fantry organized  under  the  style  of  the  Veteran  Light 
Infantry,  for  such  duty  as  might  be  required  of  them 
about  home. 

Captain  Charles  Manning,  who  had  been  enlisting 
men  for  the  Fourth  Battery  of  Light  Artillery,  had 
his  rolls  filled,  and  added  to  the  military  enthusiasm 
of  the  hour  by  a  drill  on  Salem  Common,  on  IMay  3d, 
and  the  same  day  the  Fitzgerald  Guards  were  para- 
ded. This  company  went  into  camp  on  May  10th  as 
part  of  Colonel  Cass's  Irish  Regiment,  afterwards  the 
Ninth  IMassachusetts  Infantry.  On  Sunday,  May 
12th,  Captain  Coggswell's  company,  then  styled  the 
Andrew  Light  Guard,  marched  from  their  barracks 
on  Winter  Island  to  attend  church  in  a  body,  and 
two  days  later  they  left  the  city  for  Camp  Andrew,  in 
Roxbury,  where  they  were  incorporated  with  the 
Second  Massachusetts  Volunteers.  The  company 
was  presented  with  a  color  on  its  departure  from  the 
city. 

Both  of  these  companies  were  uniformed  by  the 
city  and  private  subscriptions,  supplemented  by  the 
personal  work  of  the  patriotic  women  of  Salem. 

And  so  the  long  patriotic  excitement  fed  by  these 
events  continued.  Perhaps  never  in  the  history  of 
any  country  was  there  seen  such  an  outburst  of  disin- 
terested enthusiasm  so  well  sustained  as  marked  the 
first  few  months  of  the  war  in  the  entire  North.  And 
it  was  fully  shared  in  Salem.  Every  one  was  desirous 
of  doing  something  in  aid  of  the  cause.  Men  and 
women  seemed  for  the  time  to  lose  sight  of  the  petty 
aims  and  thoughts  of  every-day  life,  and  were  digni- 
fied by  a  common  love  of  their  country  and  a  desire 
to  serve  it. 

Every  man  who  enlisted  was  in  the  eyes  of  his 
friends  a  hero.  Nothing  was  too  good  for  him.  And 
this  honest  admiration  and  the  enthusiastic  ovations 
given  to  the  departing  soldiers,  did  indeed  make  he- 
roes of  the  meanest  among  them,  and  they  went  to 
the  front  with  a  high  courage  that  courted  the  oppor- 
tunity to  fully  deserve  the  encomiums  showered  upon 
them. 

At  home  the  newspapers  were  crowded  with  war 
news,  genuine  and  speculative.  The  published  letters 
of  absent  soldiers  to  their  friends  were  read  with 
avidity,  and  their  sage  prognostications  as  to  the 
plans  of  the  enemy  and  the  possibilities  of  the  future 
were  only  less  interesting  than  the  views  of  a  host  of 
military  strategists,  who  now  arose  and  recommended 
movements,  and  criticized  the  officers  in  conmiand  of 
the  troops,  as  freely  as  if  military  science  had  been 
imbibed  with  their  mothers'  milk. 

The  great  puzzle  was  as  to  the  movements  of  the 
enemy.  Where  their  position  was  not  known,  it  was 
nevertheless  stated  with  as  much  precision  by  the 
military  newspaper  corresjjondent  as  though  he  ex- 
amined their  lines  daily.  The  masked  battery  and 
13^ 


other  military  spectres  were  worked  for  all  they  were 
worth,  and  the  people  strained  their  understanding 
to  the  utmost  to  master  the  intricate  details  of  posi- 
tions, evolutions,  strategy  and  logistique,  not  always 
realizing  the  ignorance  of  those  who  wrote  so  fluently 
on  these  subjects.  On  the  street  corners,  in  the  old 
corner  book-store  and  other  centres  of  quasi-public 
consultation,  the  all-absorbing  topics  were  of  a  mili- 
tary character,  and  that  group  was  fortunate  that 
included  some  tactical  veteran  of  the  light  infantry  or 
other  militia  organization,  on  whose  words  the  others 
hung  as  they  were  those  of  an  oracle. 

Military  notices  and  advertisements  for  recruits  be- 
gan to  appear  in  the  papers,  while  the  announcement 
to  the  effect  that  "  the  ladies  of  such  and  such  a  church 
"  would  meet  on  such  an  afternoon  to  make  clothing 
"  for  a  certain  company,  or  that  such  other  ladies 
"  would  meet  to  make  Havelocks,"  and  other  similar 
notices  indicated  that  the  feminine  portion  of  the 
community  were  not  only  talking  (which  of  course 
they  needs  must  always  do)  but  also  vigorously  work- 
ing, as  indeed  they  were.  Although  prevented  by  na- 
ture from  shouldering  muskets,  the  women  of  Salem 
were  then  and  throughout  the  war,  filled  with  a  pa- 
triotic fervor  that  found  practical  expression  in  such 
liberality  of  means  and  effort  as  gave  great  aid  and 
comfort  to  the  Salem  men  in  the  field,  and  to  the  un- 
fortunates who  languished  from  time  to  time  in  hos- 
pital. 

When  the  militia  companies  Avent  out  and  the  vol- 
unteers were  enlisting  in  advance  of  the  resources  of 
the  government  for  their  equipment,  the  fair  ones  of 
Salem  laid  aside  their  embroidery  and  sewed  for  dear 
life  on  rough  uniforms,  being  fully  repaid  for  their 
toil  when  watching  the  gallant  forms  marching 
through  the  streets  in  garments  with  each  stitch  of 
which  they  were  familiar. 

In  a  newspaper  of  the  time  the  mayor  recommends 
the  Havelock  as  a  useful  article  for  the  soldier  in  a 
warm  climate,  and  states  that  he  has  a  pattern  at  his 
office  for  the  use  of  those  desiring  to  make  them.  So 
this  remarkable  i)roduct  of  this  stage  of  the  war  cost 
the  Salem  ladies  many  hours  of  work  ;  and  as  the  mi- 
litia-man or  recx'uit  with  this  queer  imitation  of  the 
serviceable  article  worn  in  the  East  Indian  service 
on  his  head,  passed  proudly  by  on  the  sidewalk,  tlie 
benevolent  ladies  who  had  cut  and  made  it  little  real- 
ized how  soon  it  would  be  thrown  away  or  used  as  a 
dish-cloth  in  camp. 

May  24th  ten  men  went  on  to  reinforce  the  Salem 
Light  Infantry,  and  great  excitement  was  caused  in 
Salem  by  the  advance  of  the  national  forces  across 
the  Potomac  into  Virginia,  and  the  wild  rumors  of 
accompanying  engagements  that  had  no  founda- 
tion. 

General  Andrews,  ot  fealem,  was  put  in  command 
of  the  forts  of  Boston  harbor  early  in  June.  Later  in 
the  month  the  city  was  enthusiastic  over  the  engage- 
ment at  Philippi,  AVest  Virginia,  where  our  troops 


202 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


gained  a  slight  success,  and  General  Lander,  of  Sa- 
lem, led  in  his  brigade.  The  families  of  the  men  in 
the  field  who  required  it,  now  regularly  received  the 
aid  that  was  continued  to  all  throughout  the  war. 
Drill  clubs  were  formed  in  the  city  to  familiarize  men 
with  the  use  of  arms  in  view  of  future  needs.  In 
their  ranks  were  many  men  who  distinguished  them- 
selves later  in  the  war.  The  Veteran  Light  Infantry 
also  met  often  and  drilled  vigorously.  As  the  full 
extent  of  the  rebel  strength  transpired,  and  it  ap- 
peared that  all  the  Southern  States  were  determined 
to  join  in  the  secession  movement,  authority  was  given 
to  the  States  to  raise  more  troops,  and  early  in  July 
recruiting  offices  were  again  opened  in  Salem  by  A. 
Parker  Browne,  J.  C.  Putnam  and  N.  W.  Osborne. 
Meanwhile  the  companies  of  Cogswell  and  Fitzgerald 
were  fast  learning  their  duties  in  camp. 

July  16th  considerable  excitement  was  caused  by 
the  report  of  the  rebel  privateers  "Sumter"  and 
"  Jeff  Davis"  being  upon  the  coast.  But  the  times 
had  changed.  The  town  no  longer  swarmed  with 
seafaring  men,  and  no  recruiting  party  marched 
through  the  town,  beating  up  a  crew  to  go  out  and 
take  them,  as  in  the  days  of  1812.  A  few  super- 
annuated ship-masters,  men  of  wealth  and  ease,  were 
about  all  that  remained  to  remind  one  that  this  had 
been  a  maritime  town  and  a  great  centre  of  com- 
merce. 

During  July  it  was  daily  expected  that  our  army 
would  advance,  and  as  the  enemy  were  now  known  to 
be  in  some  force  in  its  front,  a  decisive  action  was 
anticipated.  The  month  wore  on  full  of  earnest 
work,  and  with  an  underlying  feeling  of  suppressed 
excitement  and  strained  expectation,  until  at  length 
the  day  came — that  day  of  sorrow  and  deep  mortifica- 
tion. The  first  confused  reports,  contradictions  and 
excuses  soon  crystalized,  and  the  full  extent  of  the 
disaster  at  Bull  Run  struck  the  people  of  Salem,  as 
the  entire  North,  like  a  blow.  Stunned  at  first,  they 
soon  recovered  and  began  to  grasp  the  full  meaning  of 
this  defeat.  They  saw  that  a  great  war  was  only  just 
begun :  That  the  efforts  already  put  forth  could  be 
regarded  as  but  an  earnest  of  what  must  continue  in- 
definitely, and  that  if  the  nation  was  to  endure,  faith 
and  patriotism  must  be  subjected  to  a  steady  strain, 
and  men,  money  and  effort  given  without  stint. 

The  first  stage  of  the  war  was  over;  the  time  of 
wild  enthusiasm,  of  exaggerated  sentiment  and  un- 
thinking elation  excited  by  the  novelty  of  the  situa- 
tion, had  passed.  Men  and  women  were  sobered  and 
realized  the  heavy  burden  of  bloodshed,  grief  and  loss 
that  they  must  bear ;  and  they  took  it  up  without  hesita- 
tion, here  as  elsewhere.  Men  began  to  arrange  their 
affairs  that  they  might  join  the  army,  and  the  drill 
clubs  were  assiduously  attended,  while  the  recruit- 
ing officers  found  little  difficulty  in  filling  their 
ranks. 

The  returning  short  term  companies  were  greeted 
with  a  kindness  and  warmth  that  served  to  fix  the 


resolution  of  most  of  their  members  to  return  to  the 
army.  Every  engagement  with  the  soldiers  was 
rigidly  kept,  and  there  was  an  increased  effort  made  in 
all  directions  to  furnish  all  that  the  government 
should  require  of  Salem.  The  patriotic  work  of  the 
ladies  was  continued  with  unabated  zeal,  and  as  the 
war  continued  they  never  relaxed  their  energies. 
They  organized  or  assisted  in  fairs  in  aid  of  the 
sanitary  commission.  Their  Dorcas  Societies  incon- 
tinently threw  over  the  poor  whom  they  had  always 
hitherto  had  with  them,  and  picked  lint  for  the 
wounded,  or  knit  socks  of  the  stoutest  yarn  and  por- 
tentous dimensions  for  the  soldier  well  or  ailing. 
They  gave  freely  of  money,  medicines  and  delicacies 
lor  army  necessities,  hopefully  kept  up  the  cheerful- 
ness of  the  men  at  home ;  while  during  the  long  war 
there  were  few  among  them  who  did  not  have  some 
one  especially  dear  to  them,  who  had  gone  with  the 
army,  and  to  whom,  if  living,  they  sent  words  of  lov- 
ing encouragement,  or  for  whom,  if  dead,  they  shed 
many  tears,  while  they  still  worked  on  for  the  living. 

In  this  connection  reference  should  be  made  to  the 
Field  Hospital  Corps  raised  in  Salem,  in  May  of  this 
year,  by  the  Rev.  D.  G.  Wildes,  restor  of  Grace 
Church.  This  corps  was  composed  of  sixty  volunteers 
from  Salem  and  vicinity,  and  w.is  said  to  be  the  first 
effort  for  a  systematized  ambulance  department  in 
the  army. 

On  the  day  following  the  battle  of  Bull  Run,  the 
"  Essex  Cadets,"  a  company  recruited  by  Lieut.  A. 
Parker  Browne,  marched  under  Capt.  Seth  A.  Bux- 
ton from  Salem  to  join  the  camp  of  instruction.  It 
subsequently  was  incorporated  with  the  Fortieth 
Regiment  Massachusetts  Infantry. 

Early  in  September  the  first  company  of  sharp- 
shooters unattached,  containing  many  Salem  men, 
left  the  State  for  Washington,  and  on  the  4th  of  the 
month,  Capt.  Ethan  A.  P.  Brewster's  Company  "A," 
of  the  Twenty-Third  Massachusetts  Infantry,  that 
had  been  recruiting  in  Salem,  marched  from  town  to 
the  camp  at  Lynn  field,  followed  on  the  7th  by  Capt. 
John  F.  Devereux's  Company,  subsequently  attached 
to  the  Eleventh  Infantry. 

A  drill  club  that  had  been  steadily  keeping  to  their 
work  for  some  months,  voted  about  this  time  to  en- 
list in  a  body  for  the  war,  and  on  the  18th  of  Octo- 
ber, marched  under  Capt.  Geo.  M.Whipple,  to  Lynn- 
field,  to  join  as  its  Company  "  F,"  the  Twenty-Third 
Infantry,  which  was  now  completed.  Containing  two 
full  Salem  companies,  this  regiment,  on  the  31st  of  the 
month,  marched  into  Salem  and  were  reviewed  on  the 
Common,  just  before  leaving  for  the  seat  of  war,  to  the 
great  pride  and  satisfaction  of  the  people. 

Meanwhile  there  had  been  constant  recruiting  for 
other  companies.  On  the  8th  of  October  a  second 
company  of  sharpshooters,  under  Capt.  E.  Wentworth, 
left  for  the  front  as  part  of  the  Twenty-Second  Infan- 
try ;  and  Capt.  Charles  M.  Devereux's  Company  "  H," 
Nineteenth  Regiment,  were  mustered  into  service  in 


SALEM. 


203 


November,  and  left  the  State  December  13th,  while 
early  in  December  Capt.  John  Daland's  and  George 
F.  Austin's  Companies  partly  recruited  in  Salem  and 
attached  to  the  Twenty-Fourth  Infantry,  were  ordered 
South  with  their  regiment. 

Capt.  Manning's  Fourth  Battery  of  Light  Artillery, 
entirely  raised  in  Salem,  had  been  mustered  into  ser- 
vice and  embarked  on  transports  for  the  department 
of  the  Gulf. 

In  the  foregoing  account  of  the  various  military  or- 
ganizations leaving  for  the  front,  it  is  by  no  means  to 
be  understood  that  they  comprised  all  of  the  officers 
and  men  who  had  entered  the  service  from  Salem 
during  the  first  nine  months  of  the  war.  But  those 
have  been  spoken  of  whose  departure  had  some  pecu- 
liar interest  for  the  mass  of  the  people  by  some  cir- 
cumstances of  their  organization  or  otherwise.  For, 
during  this  time  Salem  men  were  joining  other  com- 
panies and  regiments  daily,  and  going  to  the  front,  as 
will  be  seen  by  the  brief  notices  of  the  various  regi- 
ments, a  little  further  on.  Salem  was  indeed  doing 
her  duty  in  this  first  year  of  war,  and  as  the  event 
proved,  she  had  by  no  means  exhausted  her  resources. 
To  the  end  of  the  war  she  continued  to  furnish  men 
and  money  liberally.  Her  quota  was  usually  forth- 
coming. 

Early  in  LS62,  two  military  funerals  in  her  streets, 
of  officers  of  distinction,  served  to  remind  the  people, 
had  it  been  necessary,  that  war  was  not  all  pomp  and 
glitter,  but  meant  death  and  sorrow.  Salem  did  honor 
to  her  illustrious  dead,  and  the  obsequies  of  General 
Lander,  who  died  in  West  Virginia,  and  of  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Henry  Merritt,  killed  in  action  at  Newberne, 
gallantly  leading  the  Twenty-Third  Regiment,  occur- 
ring on  the  8tli  and  21st  of  March,  were  impressive, 
and  attended  by  a  large  concourse  of  people. 

Recruiting  was  resumed  in  1862.  The  Federal 
armie-5  in  the  field  were  very  large;  but  when  the 
heavy  work  of  the  war  fairly  opened,  and  the  long 
rolls  of  the  killed  and  wounded  on  the  Peninsula  be- 
gan to  be  read,  it  was  clear  that  those  armies  must  be 
replenished,  from  time  to  time,  for  years  to  come  per- 
haps ;  and  so  men  were  again  flocking  to  the  rendez- 
vous and  marching  to  the  front. 

Captain  S.  C.  Oliver's  Company  of  the  Thirty-fifth 
Infantry,  containing  some  Salem  men,  went  forward 
with  that  regiment  in  August,  1862,  and  September 
8th  three  companies  under  Captains  D.  H.  Johnson, 
Richard  Skinner  and  Henry  Danforth,  that  had  been 
partly  recruited  in  Salem  during  the  summer  for  the 
Fortieth  Infantry,  were  forwarded  with  the  regiment 
to  Virginia.  The  last  mentioned  of  these  companies 
was  the  City  Guard,  with  ranks  filled  up  by  fresh 
enlistments.  The  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the  Fortieth 
was  Joseph  A.  Dalton  of  Salem. 

November  19th  Captain  George  Putnam's  Com- 
pany, "  A,"  of  the  Fiftieth  Militia  Regiment,  left  the 
State  for  the  Department  of  the  Gulf  for  nine  months' 
service.     This  company  was  the  Salem  Light  Infantry 


filled  up  by  special  enlistments,  many  of  its  original 
members  being  already  in  service  in  other  parts  of  the 
army. 

December  27tli  Company  E,  recruited  in  Salem 
for  the  Forty-eighth  Militia  Regiment,  by  Captain 
George  Wheatland,  for  nine  months'  service,  em- 
barked on  transports  for  the  Department  of  the  Gulf. 

July  10th  of  the  following  year  (1863)  the  draft 
was  ordered  in  the  Northern  States,  and  Captain  D. 
H.  Johnson,  as  Provost  Marshal,  completed  the  rolls 
here  and  began  to  draw  the  names.  But  few  men,  how. 
ever,  were  drafted  in  Salem,  as  the  city  made  every 
effort  to  fill  her  quota  by  offering  heavy  bounties  to 
volunteers,  and  in  the  main  succeeded. 

November  16th,  1863,  the  Twelfth  Unattached 
Company  of  Heavy  Artillery,  raised  in  Salem  under 
Captain  J.  W.  Richardson,  occupied  the  forts  on 
Salem  Neck.  This  company,  then  commanded  by 
Captain  Jos.  M.  Parsons,  in  June  of  the  following 
year  (1864)  was  ordered  to  Washington. 

May  12,  1864,  the  Salem  Light  Infantry,  Captain, 
R.  W.  Reeves,  again  left  Salem  for  one  hundred  days' 
garrison  duty,  to  relieve  the  regular  volunteer  troops 
from  this  service  and  enable  them  to  be  put  in  at  the 
front. 

In  addition  to  the  very  large  sums  contributed  by 
individuals,  from  time  to  time  during  the  war,  in  aid 
of  the  soldiers,  of  their  families  and  to  pi'omote  en- 
listments, the  amount  of  which  cannot  be  ascertained, 
the  city  appropriated  and  expended  on  account  of  the 
war  one  hundred  and  six  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
eighty-five  dollars,  exclusive  of  over  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  State  aid  to  the  families  of  the  men 
in  the  field,  which  latter  was  ultimately  refunded  to 
her  by  the  State.  She  responded  to  all  calls  upon  her 
for  men,  about  three  thousand  entering  the  army  and 
navy  during  the  war  out  of  an  entire  population  of  a 
little  over  twenty-one  thousand.  In  the  partial  ac- 
count given  of  the  departure  of  these  men  from  Sa- 
lem, no  mention  has  been  made  of  the  character  of 
their  service  or  that  of  the  regiments  to  which  they 
belonged.  It  could  not  be  expected  that  any  extended 
history  of  these  organizations  can  be  here  given,  and 
only  a  glance  at  the  careers  of  those  containing  more 
or  less  Salem  men  is  permitted  by  the  limitation  of 
this  article. 

The  militia  regiments  that  first  went  out  in  the 
spring  of  1861,  had  a  valuable  experience  of  the 
duties  of  the  soldier  in  active  service,  learning  the 
use  of  arms  and  camp  and  outpost  duty ;  but  they 
were  not  engaged  with  the  enemy  except  the  Fifth 
regiment,  in  which  were  the  Salem  City  Guard  and 
Mechanics'  Light  Infantry  Companies,  that  took 
some  part  in  the  battle  of  Bull  Run  though  suffering 
but  slight  loss. 

The  first  regiment  to  be  raised  for  the  service  of  the 
United  States,  in  this  State,  was  the  2d  Massachusetts 
Volunteer  Infantry,  that  began  to  be  formed  before 
the  Government  had  called  for  other  than  militia 


204 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


regiments.     The   Comiiany  commanded   by  Captain 
Cogswell,  containing  many  Salem  men,  was  attached 
to  it,  and  at  the  close  of  the  war  this  officer  returned 
in  command  of  the  regiment  and  with  the  brevet  of 
a  brigadier,  while  of  the  Salem  enlisted  men,  five  had 
earned  commissions.   The  Second  had  a  distinguished 
record.     With  Colonel  Gordon  and  Lieutenant-Col- 
onel  George  L.  Andrews,  (of  a  Salem  family)  both 
West  Pointers,  it  was  from  the  beginning  a  thoroughly 
instructed  and  efficient  regiment.     It  served  under 
General  Patterson  in  1861,  and  sul)sequently  remained 
in  the  Shenandoah  Valley  under  General  Banks,  dis- 
tinguishing itself  as  a  part  of  the  rear  guard  in  his  re- 
treat to  the  Potomac  in  May  1862.    Closely  engaged  in 
the  battle  of  Cedar  Mountain  under  the  same  officer, 
it  there  lost  nearly  half  of  its  officers  and  one-third 
of  the  men.     It  took  part  in  the  succeeding  battles  of 
Centreville   and  Antietam,  and   the   following  year 
lost    heavily  at   Chancellorsville     and    Gettysburg. 
Forming  part  of  the  force  sent  to  New  York  to  sup- 
press the  draft  riots,  it  was  then  sent  to  Alabama 
where  the  regiment  was  furloughed  for  re-enlistment 
and   returned  with  recruited   ranks  in  time  to  take 
part  in  General  Sherman's  severe  Atlanta  campaign, 
subsequently  marching  through  Georgia  and  continu- 
ing northward  through  the  Carolinas  in  the  resistless 
march  of  that  officer  until  its  fighting  days  were  ended 
at  Raleigh  by  the  news  of  Lee's  surrender.     At  the 
muster  out,  July  14,  1865,  there  were  but  four  officers 
and  one  hundred  men  remaining  of  the  original  full 
regiment  that  had  marched  from  the  State  to  the  front. 
In   the  Ninth  Regiment  Massachusetts  Volunteer 
Infantry  there  were  a  large  number  of  Salem  men, 
particularly    in    company   F,   originally   called   the 
Fitzgerald   Guard,   already   mentioned.     Serving  in 
front  of  Washington  from  its  muster  in  June,  1861, 
when  it  became  a  part  of  the  great  Army  of  the  Poto- 
mac, in  whose  fortunes  it  shared  until  its  muster-out 
in   June,  1864.      In   Morell's   division   of  the  fifth 
corps,  it  took  part  in  all  the  battles  of  the  ill-fated 
peninsula   campaign,  and   in  the   determined  stand 
made  by  Porter  in  command  of  this  corps  at  Gaines' 
Mill,  the  Ninth  lost  twenty  officers  and  three  hundred 
and   sixty  men.     Still,  and  always  in  the  fifth  corps 
under  Porter,  and  afterwards  under  Warren,  the  reg- 
iment was  engaged  at  Centreville,  Antietam,  Freder- 
icksburg,    Chancellorsville     and     Gettysburg,    and 
through  the  Wilderness  to  Spottsylvania,  on  all  these 
historic   fields  acquitting  itself  with  great  gallantry 
and  suftering  heavy  losses.     The  regiment  was  mus- 
tered out  at  the   expiration  of  its  term  of  service  in 
June,  1864.     Four  of  the  enlisted  men  from   Salem 
had  received  commissions   in  addition  to  the  three 
officers  originally  marching  from  the  city. 

The  Twenty-third  Regiment  Massachusetts  Infan- 
try had  peculiar  claims  upon  the  city  by  reason  of 
the  large  number  of  its  citizens  in  the  ranks,  and  the 
interest  attaching  to  one  of  its  companies  that,  in  a 
sudden  burst  of  patriotic  feeling  had  resolved  them- 


selves, by  a  vote,  from  a  drill-club  of  amateurs  into  a 
company  of  United  States  soldiers  with  plenty  of 
hard  service  immediately  before  them.  The  regi- 
ment was  sent  to  Annapolis,  and  a  few  months  later 
joined  General  Burnside's  expedition  that  took  Roa- 
noke Island  and  occupied  Newberne.  It  suffered 
some  losses  in  these  operations,  including  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Merritt,  already  mentioned.  Later,  in  the 
same  department,  under  General  Foster,  it  was  en- 
gaged at  Heckman's  farm,  Arrowfield  Church  and 
Drury's  Bluff.  In  the  later  action  it  lost  heavily, 
being  exposed  to  a  flank  attack. 

Under  General  Stannard,  the  Twenty-third  joined 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac  just  before  the  battle  of 
Cold  Harbor  in  which  it  took  part,  subsequently 
doing  duty  in  the  trenches  at  Petersburg.  Being 
returned  to  its  old  department,  it  was  put  in  during 
the  final  operations  in  that  quarter  in  1865,  being  last 
engaged  at  Kingston.  It  was  finally  mustered  out  of 
service  in  June,  1865,  a  large  number  of  the  regiment 
having  re-enlisted  the  previous  year.  Six  of  its  en- 
listed men  from  Salem  returned  home  with  commis- 
sions, excepting  one,  Lieutenant  Richard  P.  Wheeler, 
who  had  died  of  wounds  received  in  action. 

The  Twenty -third  was  a  thoroughly  good  regiment 
ard  always  did  its  work  in  gallant  style. 

Captain  Arthur  F.  Devereux,  who  had  drilled  the 
Salem  Light  Infantry  Company  just  before  the  war 
to  a  wonderful  point  of  excellence,  upon  the  return 
of  that  company  from  its  three  months'  service,  aided 
in  raising  the  Nineteenth  Regiment,  Massachusetts 
Infantry,  going  out  as  its  lieutenant-colonel  and 
returning  in  command  as  a  brevet  brigadier-general. 
He  took  with  him  as  officers  nine  or  ten  of  his  old 
light  infantrymen  and  near  one  hundred  recruits  from 
Salem,  besides  many  from  the  vicinity.  The  Nine- 
teenth was  a  regiment  always  noted  for  its  drill  and 
precision  of  movement  and  distinguished  itself  in 
many  actions.  It  took  five  stand  of  colors,  and  was 
twice  complimented  in  general  orders. 

Getting  its  initiation  at  Balls'  Bluft',  it  took  part  in 
the  Peninsular  battles,  Centreville,  Bristoe  Station, 
Chancellorsville,  Fredericksburg  (there  forming  the 
advance  that  crossed  the  river  in  pontoons),  fought  at 
Chancellorsville,  Gettysburg,  the  Wilderness  and 
succeeding  engagements,  and  after  the  rough  winter's 
work  in  front  of  Petersburg,  was  in  at  the  death  at 
Appomatox,  where  one  of  its  captains  was  killed  by 
the  last  shot  said  to  have  been  fired  by  the  enemy. 
Capt.  George  W.  Batchelder,  of  Salem,  was  killed  at 
Antietam. 

The  24th  Volunteer  Infantry  contained  several  offi- 
cers and  a  considerable  number  of  men  from  Salem.  It 
was  a  well  instructed  regiment,  and  always  displayed 
good  qualities  in  the  face  of  the  enemy.  Accompany- 
ing the  Burnside  expedition  it  took  part  in  the  en- 
gagement prior  and  subsequent  to  the  occupation  of 
Newberne,  and  being  sent  to  the  siege  of  Charleston 
was  in  the  attempt  on  Fort  Wagner  and  other  actions 


SALEM. 


205 


in  that  vicinity  until  ordered  to  St.  Augustine,  Fla., 
in  the  latter  part  of  1863.  In  the  spring  of  1864  it 
was  transferred  to  the  Tenth  Corps,  Army  of  the 
James,  where,  at  the  battle  of  Drury's  Bluff,  it  suffer- 
ed considerable  loss.  Later  at  Deep  Bottom  and  in 
subsequent  service  in  front  of  Petersburg,  the  regi- 
ment lost  heavily.  It  continued  to  participate  in  the 
operations  that  resulted  in  Lee's  surrender.  Having 
largely  re-enlisted  at  the  expiration  of  its  first  three 
years  of  sei'vice,  the  regiment  was  not  finally  mus- 
tered out  until  January  20,  1866,  remaining  on  duty 
as  part  of  the  garrison  of  Richmond,  Va.  Adjutant 
Charles  G.  Ward,  of  the  Twenty-fourth,  of  Salem,  was 
killed  in  action  May  6,  1864. 

In  the  Eleventh  Infantry  were  a  number  of  men 
recruited  in  and  about  Salem.  Its  list  of  engage- 
ments is  that  of  those  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  in 
which  it  served  from  the  first  battle  of  Bull  Run  to 
the  close  of  the  war,  and  always  with  distinction. 
The  Salem  men  who  served  in  the  Twelfth  Infantry 
known  as  the  Webster  Regiment,  after  making  the 
campaign  with  General  Banks  in  the  Shenandoah 
Valley  and  at  Cedar  Mountain,  had  a  similar  experi- 
ence in  the  succeeding  engagements  of  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  through  the  battle  of  Cold  Harbor,  after 
which  those  that  were  left  were  mustered  out  at  the 
expiration  of  their  term  of  service. 

In  the  Fortieth  Infantry  there  were  a  considerable 
number  of  officers  from  Salem,  and  it  was  recruited 
partly  here.  The  regiment  entered  the  service  in 
September,  1862,  served  in  Virginia  until  in  the  di- 
vision of  General  Gordon  (the  former  colonel  of  the 
Second  Infantry)  it  was  sent  to  Suffolk  to  reinforce 
General  Peck,  who  was  facing  Lnngstreet's  army. 
From  there  sent  to  the  South  Atlantic  coast,  it  was 
engaged  at  Seabrook  farm,  S.  C,  and  subsequently 
forming  a  part  of  the  Florida  expedition,  suffered  se- 
verely at  Olustee  and  the  accompanying  actions  in 
that  ill-advised  campaign.  The  regiment  was  sent 
north  in  time  to  engage  in  the  final  operations  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  entering  Richmond  in  April, 
1865.  Lieut.  George  C.  Bancroft,  from  Salem,  was 
killed  at  Old  Church,  Va.,  June  1,  1864. 

The  Seventeenth  Infantry  contained  nearly  seventy 
Salem  men.  Raised  in  1861,  after  a  few  months'  gar- 
rison duty  at  Baltimore,  it  reported  at  Newberne,  N. 
C.  It  was  engaged  at  Kinstou  and  Goldsborough.  On 
the  16th  of  December,  1863,  an  attack  was  made  on 
Newberne  by  a  strong  force  of  the  enemy,  and  the 
Seventeenth  lost  heavily  in  repelling  it.  Later  it 
was  engaged  at  Washington,  N.  C.  Subsequently, 
March  8,  1865,  the  regiment  was  heavily  engaged  at 
Wise  Forks,  N.  C,  in  the  advance  made  from  the 
coast^to  connect  with  General  Sherman.  Garrisoning 
Greensboro',  N.  C,  until  July  11,  1865,  the  regiment 
was  then  mustered  out  of  service. 

The  single  officer  and  sixteen  or  eighteen  men  of 
Salem  who  served  with  the  Thirtieth  Massachusetts 
Infantry,  known  as  the  Eastern  Bay  State  Regiment, 


were,  with  it,  engaged  in  the  principal  actions  in  the 
department  of  the  Gulf  during  1862  and  1863.  Re- 
enlisting,  in  1864  it,  upon  return  from  furlough,  was 
put  into  the  Nineteenth  Corps  and  transferred  to 
Washington,  and  ultimately  the  Shenandoah  Val- 
ley, where  it  was  engaged  in  Sheridan's  battles,  spe- 
cially distinguishing  itself  at  Cedar  Creek.  The 
regiment  remained  in  service  in  Georgia  until  1866. 

In  the  Thirty-Second  Infantry  were  rather  more 
men  from  this  city.  This  regiment,  going  to  the 
front  early  in  1862,  after  a  short  period  of  garrison 
duty,  became  a  part  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and 
remained  with  it  to  the  end,  being  engaged  in  nearly 
every  battle  fought  by  that  army,  from  the  Peninsu- 
lar campaign  to  the  moment  that  the  Army  of  North- 
ern Virginia  laid  down  its  arms.  Its  only  commis- 
sioned officer  from  Salem,  Captain  Charles  A.  Dear- 
born, was  killed  at  Fredericksburg. 

The  Thirty-Fifth  Infantry  had  three  officers  from 
Salem,  although  but  few  enlisted  men.  Its  record  is 
very  similar  to  that  of  the  regiment  last  mentioned, 
although  it  did  not  go  into  action  until  Antietam. 
Lieutenant  Charles  F.  Williams,  of  this  regiment,  from 
Salem,  died  of  wounds  September  22,  1863. 

The  Twenty-Eighth  and  Twenty-Ninth  regiments 
of  infantry  numbered  but  few  men  in  their  ranks 
from  Salem.  Mustered  into  service  in  1861,  the 
Twenty-Ninth  took  part  in  the  engagements  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  from  Gaines'  Mill  to  Freder- 
icksburg, when  it  was  ordered  West,  and  bore  a 
hand  at  Vicksburg  and  in  other  engagements  in  the 
cotton  States,  being  ordered  North,  and  taking  part 
in  the  Cold  Harbor  battle  and  in  the  succeeding  ope- 
rations in  front  of  Petersburg.  The  Twenty-Eighth, 
entering  the  service  early  in  1862,  was  put  into  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  in  season  for  the  battle  of  Cen- 
treville  and  every  stibsequent  pitched  battle  of  that 
army,  ending  at  Ream's  Station.  Like  all  Massachu- 
setts regiments  these  did  their  duty  well.  The  Thirty- 
Ninth  Infantry,  commanded  by  Colonel  Charles  L. 
Pierson,  of  Salem,  contained  but  few  others  from  this 
town.  It  was  a  good  regiment  and  saw  its  share  of 
service. 

Mention  should  be  made  of  the  two  colored  Massa- 
chusetts regiments,  the  Fifty-Fourth  and  Fifty-Fifth 
Infantry,  both  of  whom  had  some  officers  (who  were 
white)  from  Salem,  and  some  recruits  also.  Both 
regiments  were  sent  to  Hilton  Head,  participated  in 
the  Olustee  campaign  in  Florida,  and  took  an  active 
part  in  the  operations  against  Charleston,  S.  C.  They 
were  in  the  assault  on  Fort  Wagner,  where  the  Fif- 
ty-Fourth lost  heavily,  and  wherever  engaged  showed 
such  courage  and  soldierly  conduct  as  did  much  tore- 
move  the  predjudice  entertained  at  first  for  this  class 
of  troops.  They  remained  in  service  in  that  depart- 
ment until  their  final  muster-out.  Lieutenant  Edwin 
R.  Hill,  of  the  Fifty-Fifth,  of  Salem,  was  killed  in  ac- 
tion   December  9,  1864. 

There  was  a  considerable  aggregate  contingent  of 


206 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Salem  men  in  the  Fifty-Sixth,  Fifty- Seventh  and  Fifty- 
Eighth  regiments,  particularly  in  the  latter,  whose 
Lieutenant-Colonel,  John  Hodges,  of  Salem,  was  killed 
while  leading  the  regiment,  July  30,  1864.  These 
regiments  were  raised  late  in  the  war  (1863),  but  got 
into  very  heavy  work  when  their  turn  came,  and  as  is 
often  the  case  with  full  regiments  coming  to  the  front 
from  garrison  duty,  they  were  kept  well  in  the  advance, 
where  they  were  very  willing  to  go.  They  all  lost 
severely  in  the  Virginia  campaign  of  1864-65,  and 
well-earned  a  good  place  in  the  roll  of  honor  of  their 
State. 

In  the  First,  Fifteenth,  Sixteenth,  Eighteenth, 
Twentieth  and  Twenty-second  Regiments  of  Massa- 
chusetts Infantry,  there  was  but  an  aggregate  of  four 
officers  and  about  seventy  enlisted  men  from  Salem, 
exclusive  of  the  first  and  second  companies  of  sharp- 
shooters hereafter  mentioned.  These  regiments  were 
all  connected  with  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  from  the 
time  of  its  first  mobilization  and  bore  a  distinguished 
pari  in  its  many  sanguinary  engagements.  All  were 
mustered  out  at  the  expiration  of  their  three  years' 
service  at  various  dates  in  1864,  with  the  exception  of 
the  Twentieth  that  re-enlisted,  but  had  the  misfortune 
to  be  surrounded  at  Reams  Station,  August  23,  1864, 
where  the  entire  regiment  was  killed  or  captured. 
Lieutenant  Richard  Derby,  the  only  commissioned 
officer  from  Salem  in  the  Fifteenth  Regiment,  was 
killed  at  Antietam. 

The  two  companies  of  sharpshooters  raised  in  this 
State  took  a  number  of  keen  rifle  shots  out  of  Salem, 
particularly  the  Second  company  that  had  nearly  all 
its  officers  and  about  thirty  men  from  this  city.  This 
company  was  attached  to  the  Twenty-second  Massa- 
chusetts Infantry,  and  shared  in  the  honors  and 
fatigues  of  that  gallant  regiment  in  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  from  the  beginning,  doing  valuable  service 
in  its  particular  line  of  duty  on  many  fields.  It  was 
subsequently  attached  to  the  First  and  Twentieth 
Regiments  of  Infantry. 

The  first  company  though  commanded  by  a  Salem 
man,  had  few  in  its  ranks  from  here.  Serving  unat- 
tached in  General  Lander's  command  until  the  death 
of  that  officer  in  West  Virginia,  it  was  subsequently 
attached  to  the  Fifteenth,  and  later  to  the  Nineteenth 
Infantry,  taking  the  creditable  part  in  the  battles  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac  that  was  borne  by  those 
distinguished  regiments.  Its  first  captain,  John  Saun- 
ders, of  Salem,  was  killed  at  Antietam. 

Salem  was  well  represented  in  other  branches,  in 
the  three  years'  service.  The  First  Regiment  of 
Massachusetts  Heavy  Artillery,  commanded  by  Col. 
Tannatt,  of  Salem,  a  West  Point  graduate,  had  more 
Salem  men  in  its  ranks  than  any  regiment  that  left 
the  State.  Raised  in  1862,  it  did  duty  in  its  proper 
sphere  in  charge  of  the  heavy  guns  in  different 
fortresses  in  the  belt  around  Washington,  at  Mary- 
land Heights  and  elsewhere.  In  General  Pope's  cam- 
paign in   1862  the  regiment  was  ordered  as  infantry 


to  the  front  and  participated  in  the  battle  of  Centre- 
ville.  After  another  period  of  service  in  garrison,  it 
again  took  the  field  in  May  14,  1864,  and  in  Tyler's 
powerful  division  of  heavy  artillery,  lost  heavily  at 
Spottsylvania.  It  continued  at  the  front  in  the  third 
and  second  corps,  taking  a  distinguished  part  in  the 
succeeding  work  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  until 
the  surrender  of  Lee's  army,  and  was  finally  mustered 
out  at  the  expiration  of  its  term  of  service. 

The  Second  and  Third  Regiments  of  Heavy  Artil- 
lery contained  many  officers  and  men  from  Salem. 
The  former  did  garrison  duty  at  various  points  in 
North  Carolina  and  south-eastern  Virginia  during  its 
term  of  service,  as  well  as  some  active  duty  in  the  field. 
Two  of  its  companies  were  captured  in  April,  1864, 
in  an  engagement  at  Plymouth,  N.  C.  The  Third, 
raised  late  in  1864,  served  in  the  fortifications  in  front 
of  Washington. 

The  Fourth  Massachusetts  Light  Battery  that  has 
already  been  alluded  to,  was  raised,  early  in  the  war, 
entirely  in  Salem.  It  was  embarked  at  Boston,  ac- 
companying General  Butler's  expedition  for  the  re- 
duction of  New  Orleans,  and  it  remained  in  the  ex- 
treme South  during  its  entire  service  of  nearly  four 
years.  It  was  first  engaged  at  Baton  Rouge,  was  at 
the  siege  of  Port  Hudson,  and  on  the  Bayou  Teche 
campaign.  In  General  Canby's  force  it  entered  Ten- 
nessee and  was  engaged  at  Morganzia,  and  on  Grier- 
son's  raid,  in  1864.  Joining  the  land  force  sentagainst 
Mobile,  it  took  part  in  the  siege  and  capture  of  that 
place,  where  it  remained  until  sent  to  Texas,  serving 
there  until  its  muster  out  in  October,  1865.  It  was  an 
excellent  battery,  well  handled,  and  efficient  in  action. 

The  Fifth  and  Thirteenth  Batteries  of  Light  Artil- 
lery contained  more  or  less  Salem  men,  and  the  first- 
named  was  ultimately  commanded  by  Captain  Charles 
A.  Phillips,  of  Salem.  This  battery  left  the  State  in 
December,  1861,  and  was  always  attached  to  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac,  doing  excellent  service  and  suffering 
severely.  The  Thirteenth  Battery  served  in  the  De- 
partment of  the  Gulf,  being  present  at  the  siege  of 
Port  Hudson,  on  the  Bayou  Teche  campaign,  and  on 
duty  in  various  parts  of  Louisiana.  It  was  formed 
later  than  the  Fifth,  leaving  for  the  South,  January 
20,  1863. 

In  the  Third  Massachusetts  Cavalry,  several  officers 
and  a  considerable  number  of  men  from  Salem-had  a 
varied  and  arduous  service.  Originally  recruited  as 
the  Forty-first  Massachusetts  Infantry,  in  1862,  it  was 
sent  to  the  Department  of  the  Gulf,  where,  shortly 
after,  to  meet  the  need  in  that  quarter  of  mounted 
troops,  the  regiment  was  for  a  time  used  as  Mounted 
Infantry.  This  anomalous  condition  was  presently 
changed,  and  they  were  organized  as  the  Third  Cav- 
alry and  equipped  and  instructed  accordingly.  Tak- 
ing part  in  the  siege  operations  at  Port  Hudson  and 
in  the  Red  River  campaign,  the  regiment  was  in  1864, 
shipped  North  with  General  Emory's  Nineteenth 
Corps,  and  joined  the  Army  of  the  Shenandoah.  Here 


SALEM. 


207 


it  was  remounted  and  put  in  the  First  Brigade,  Second 
Cavalry  Division,  participating  in  General  Sheridan's 
brilliant  campaign.  After  the  Rebellion  had  been 
quelled  this  regiment  was  sent  upon  the  plains  with 
other  cavalry,  to  hold  down  certain  restless  Indian 
tribes.  It  was  ultimately  mustered  out  of  service  in 
the  fall  of  1865.  Lieutenant  Pickering  D.  Allen,  of 
this  regiment,  from  Salem,  was  killed  at  Brashear  City, 
La.,  June  2,  1863. 

A  number  of  men  were  recruited  in  Salem  for  the 
Second  Massachusetts  Cavalry  that  went  out  in  1862. 
This  regiment  had  the  peculiarity  of  having  five  full 
companies  from  the  State  of  California.  It  served  in 
Virginia,  and  at  one  time  enjoyed  the  equivocal  dis- 
tinction of  being  specially  detached  to  hunt  down 
the  guerrilla.  Colonel  Mosby  and  his  command,  which 
was  very  much  like  the  historical  search  for  the  Irish- 
man's flea.  Allowed  later  to  fly  at  higher  game,  the' 
regiment  did  good  fighting  at  Aldie,  North  Anna 
Bridge  and  elsewhere.  Being  ordered  to  the  Valley, 
it  participated  in  the  campaign  of  1864,  and  ulti- 
mately accomjianying  Sheridan's  column  to  Rich- 
mond, fought  in  the  closing  engagements  at  Five 
Forks  and  Sailors'  Creek,  and  was  present  at  the  sur- 
render at  Appomatox. 

In  the  First  Regiment  of  Massachusetts  Cavalry  a 
few  Salem  men  enlisted  in  1861.  This  was  one  of  the 
first  mounted  regiments  in  the  field  and  had  an  ex- 
cellent name  for  a  long  and  valuable  service  of  four 
years,  almost  constantly  in  Virginia.  A  battalion, 
originally  recruited  to  reinforce  this  regiment,  was 
ultimately  attached  to  the  Fourth  Massachusetts  Cav- 
alry, raised  in  1864,  and  in  which  were  some  men  from 
Salem,  and  saw  considerable  hard  service  in  the  closing 
work  of  the  war. 

Of  the  short-term  regiments  the  Forty-eighth  and 
Fiftieth  regiinentsof  Massachusetts  Militia,  that  served 
nine  months  in  1862  and  '63,  contained  each  a  large 
number  of  Salem  men.  These  regiments  were  both 
sent  to  the  Department  of  the  Gulf  where  they  took 
part  in  the  siege  of  Port  Hudson  and  the  other  active 
operations  then  going  forward  in  Louisiana  and  Tex- 
as. Their  service  was  arduous  and  well  performed. 
The  principal  number  of  the  Salem  men  in  the  Fif- 
tieth-were  in  Company  A,  already  alluded  to  as  being 
the  Salem  Light  Infantry. 

The  Seventh  Militia  Regiment  also  entered  the 
service  in  1862  for  six  months'  service  taking  the 
larger  part  of  one  company  from  Salem. 

lu  the  Fourth  Heavy  Artillery,  the  First  Battalion 
of  Frontier  Cavalry,  and  the  Sixty-first  Infantry,  all 
enlisted,  late  in  the  war,  for  one  year's  service,  there 
was  a  considerable  aggregate  of  Salem  men.  The 
first  did  garrison  duty  at  Washington,  and  the  second 
served  on  the  Canada  frontier  a  few  months,  while 
the  Sixty-first  reached  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  in 
time  to  do  some  hard  work  in  the  closing  engage- 
ments of  the  war.  The  First  Battalion  of  Artillery 
was  somewhat  recruited  in  Salem.     It  served  during 


the  war,  but  only  in  home  garrisons.  It  is  proper  to 
observe  that  in  all  of  the  regiments  raised  late  in  the 
Avar,  were  many  veterans  who  had  already  served  with 
honor  in  older  organizations. 

Mention  has  already  been  made  of  the  first  three 
months'  troops  that  went  forward  in  1861.  Those  that 
went  later  in  the  war  for  this  term,  were  used  to  re- 
lieve the  regular  volunteer  troops  from  garrison  duty, 
that  they  might  join  the  armies  in  the  field  in  press- 
ing emergencies. 

This  hasty  review  of  a  few  facts  in  the  career  of  tlie 
regiments  in  whicli  the  men  from  Salem  served,  is  the 
only  means  possible  to  convey  an  idea  of  the  services 
those  men  performed  for  the  country.  Any  individual 
record  of  nearly  three  thousand  men  is  of  course  out  of 
the  question,  and  it  would  be  an  invidious  task  to  se- 
lect especial  cases  for  remark  where  all  were  good  and 
faithful  soldiers.  The  few  names  mentioned  have 
necessarily  appeared  as  essential  parts  of  the  narra- 
tive or  to  add  here  and  there  to  its  interest.  If  some 
regiments  have  appeared  to  receive  more  attention 
than  others,  it  is  in  no  sense  to  be  taken  as  in  deroga- 
tion of  the  services  of  the  latter,  but  must  be  attrib- 
uted to  the  greater  interest  naturally  attending  those 
containing  the  largest  number  of  Salem  men,  or,  in 
.some  cases,  to  the  greater  facilities  of  obtaining  infor- 
mation concerning  them. 

We  cannot  follow  the  history  of  the  vessels  of  our 
navy,  in  which  many  men  from  Salem  served.  These 
men  were  scattered  through  the  various  fleets,  on  so 
many  ships  of  war,  that  it  would  be  an  impossibility  to 
write  of  the  work  performed  by  those  vessels  within 
the  limits  of  this  article  ;  and  their  aggregate  number, 
though  large,  was  small  in  corai)arison  with  the  num- 
ber who  served  on  land.  The  record  of  Salem  on  the 
sea,  however,  is  good  in  this  war,  as  in  all  others. 
Some  fifty-seven  officers  and  three  hundred  and 
twenty-five  seamen,  many  of  the  latter  being  warrant 
and  petty  officers,  entered  the  navy  during  the  war,  in 
addition  to  such  others  as  might  have  been  serving 
when  it  opened.  This  small  proportional  number  of 
seamen  indicates  the  fact  that  few  vessels  sailed  from 
or  obtained  their  crews  in  Salem  at  the  outbreak  of 
the  war;  while  the  large  number  of  officers  who  were 
mainly  drawn  from  the  officers  of  merchant  vessels, 
equally  shows  that  the  traditions  of  the  old  Salem 
families  kept  many  men  upon  the  sea  as  captains  and 
mates  of  merchantmen  sailing  from  other  ports.  It 
is  doubtful  whether  any  town  in  the  country  of  equal 
size  furnished  as  many  volunteer  officers  for  the  navy 
during  the  war,  as  Salem ;  and  their  proverbial  excel- 
lence in  the  duties  of  their  profession,  made  them  of 
great  value  upon  the  quarter-decks  of  the  men-of-war 
in  which  they  served. 

A  number  of  these  officers  commanded  vessels, 
among  others  Lieut.  Com.  Wm.  G.  Saltonstall  who 
commanded  the  "Commodore  Hull,"  the  "Governor 
Buckingham,"  and  the  "Kensington;"  Lieut.  Lewis 
D.  Voorhies  the  "Gemsbok;"  Lieut.  John  Roberts  a 


208 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


sloop  of  war;  Lieut.  William  C.  Rogers  the  gunboat 
"Anderson"  and  also  the  "Huntsville;"  Lieut.  Henry 
Pitman  an  armed  schooner;  Master  Thos.  W.  Hutch- 
inson who  also  commanded  the  "Huntsville;"  Ma.ster 
Abraham  A.  Very,  for  a  time,  the  "  Cambridge,"  and 
Ensign  Charles  Boyer  the  "  Yantic;"  Ensign  Robert 
H.  Carey  who  also  commanded  the  "  Anderson  "  and 
Ensign  Charles  Wilkins  a  gunboat;  Ensign  James  S. 
Williams  commanded  a  vessel  in  one  of  the  blockad- 
ing squadrons  and  Ensign  William  M.  Swasey  a  dis- 
patch boat.  Others  no  doubt  may  have  held  similar 
commands,  many  were  executive  officers  and  nearly 
all  were  given  responsibilities  in  excess  of  the  require- 
ments of  their  nominal  rank  in  the  service. 

The  names  of  officers  and  seamen  are  found  in  the 
appended  list  of  those  who  entered  the  two  services 
during  the  Civil  War,  and  the  work  they  did  appears 
in  the  wonderful  record  of  the  navy;  in  the  blockad- 
ing squadrons;  attacking  the  strong  works  of  the  ene- 
my on  the  coast  and  on  the  banks  of  our  great  rivers, 
and  sweeping  distant  seas  in  pursuit  of  his  nimble 
privateers. 

A  few  officers  and  enlisted  men  from  Salem  also 
served  with  regiments  not  of  this  State,  but  it  has  not 
been  possible  to  note  any  facts  regarding  such  regi- 
ments.    Their  names  appear  in  the  appended  list. 

It  is  with  reluctance  that  the  imperfect  record  of 
this  great  war  is  finished.  If  it  may  seem  monotonous, 
it  is  the  monotony  of  numerous  gallant  deeds  per- 
formed simultaneously  by  many  men.  Greater  variety 
might  imply  less  heroism  ;  and  the  history  of  men  in- 
tent on  one  great  purpose  may  well  like  that  of  suc- 
ceeding events,  repeat  itself. 

The  military  history  of  Salem  must  end  with  the 
events  of  1865  ;  for  since  that  date  there  has  been  no 
war  nor  hardly  rumor  of  war  in  the  land,  excepting 
where  away  in  the  western  country  the  indomitable 
red  man  still  occasionally  stirreth  up  a  little  strife. 
In  closing,  it  may  only  be  added  that  volumes  might 
be  written  of  the  valiant  deeds  performed  for  two 
centuries  by  her  sons  afloat  and  ashore.  Perhaps 
enough  has  been  here  suggested,  however,  to  indicate 
that  this  quiet  city  can,  on  occasion,  hold  her  own 
with  many  an  old  fighting  town,  and  that  amid  the 
arts  of  peace  here  cultivated  so  assiduously,  the  strong 
spirit  of  war  slumbers  but  lightly  in  the  breasts  of 
her  people,  ready  to  be  aroused  at  the  first  menace  to 
the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  nation/ 

Appendix  (No.  1). 

1774,  May  17.  As  a  Committee  of  Correspondence, 
the  following  persons  were  chosen  : 

George  Williams.  Jonathan  Gardner,  jr. 

Stephen  Higgiusoii.  Joseph  Sprague. 

Richard  Manning.  Bichard  Derby,  jr. 

1  The  writer  of  the  foregoing  article  begs  to  acknowledge  his  indebted- 
ness for  many  facts  to  Felt's  "Annals  of  Salem,"  Coggeshall's  "Pri- 
vateers," many  papers  in  the  HistoricalCoUectionsoftlie  Essex  Institute 
and  the  files  of  the  Salem  Gazette,  in  addition  to  the  usual  fields  of  his- 
torical research. 


Jonathan  Kopes.  Warwick  Palfray. 

Timothy  Pickering,  jr. 

1775,  October  16.  A  list  of  the  Committee  of  Safety 
and  Correspondence,  now  elected: 

John  Felt. 


Timothy  Pickering,  jr. 
Thomas  Mason. 
Samuel  Williams. 
Jacob  Ashtou. 
Samuel  Webb. 
Richard  Ward. 
William  Northey. 
Benjamin  Ward,  jr. 
Joshua  Ward. 
Stephen  Osborn. 
Abraham  Gray. 
Warwick  Palfray. 
John  Pickering,  jr. 
John  Gardner  (3d). 
Joseph  Hiller. 


John  Hodges. 
Joseph  Vincent. 
Joseph  Sprague. 
David  Felt. 

Bartholomew  Putnam. 
George  Williams. 
Jonathan  Peele,  jr. 
Ahraham  Weston. 
John  Fisk. 
Samuel  Ward. 
Nathan  Goodale. 
Jonathan  Andrews. 
George  Osborn. 
Diidlcy  Woodbridge. 


An  enlistment,  August  15,  1777,  to  reinforce  the 
American  army  till  last  of  November,  as  one-sixth  of 
the  able-bodied  militia  of  Salem,  according  to  a  re- 
solve of  General  Court,  August  8th. 


Capt.  Zadock  Buflfinton. 
Jonathan  Soutliwick. 
Edmund  Munyan. 
John  Curtis. 
Ebenezer  Tuttle. 
Benjamin  Hudson. 
Elijali  Jolmson. 
Joshua  Moulton. 
Joseph  English. 
Stephen  Barker. 
William  Holman. 
Israel  Burrill. 
William  Clough. 
Elisha  Newhall. 
Joshua  Pitman. 
Joshua  Gould. 
Thomas  Cheever. 
Abel  MacUiutire. 
Nathaniel  Holden. 
John  Ward. 
Ezekiel  Duncklee. 
Cape  Briton  (black). 


Benjamin  Tarbox. 
Nicholas  Hopping. 
Isaac  Holt. 
Nathaniel  Safford. 
Job  Abbott. 
Nathan  Skerry. 
Samuel  Cheever. 
Benjamin  Gardner. 
Joseph  Twiss. 
Ephraim  Skerry. 
James  Austin. 
Benjamin  Shaw. 
Joseph  Flint. 
Jeremiah  Newhall. 
William  Meak. 
Daniel  Foster. 
Samuel  Lovejoy. 
Edward  Brown. 
Samuel  Merritt. 
William  Newhall. 
Thorndike  Proctor. 
Joshua  Cross. 


List  of  men  drafted  to  help  guard  Burgoyne's  troops 
at  Winter  Hill  in  1777  : 


Mansel  Burrill. 
Benjamin  Brown,  jr. 
Asa  Peirce. 
Samuel  Skerry. 
Jonathan  Very,  jr. 
Timothy  Welman. 
Nathaniel  Osgood,  jr. 
Stephen  Cleaveland. 
William  Prosser. 
John  Flint. 
Edward  Barnard. 
Isaac  Osgood. 
John  Gardner,  (4th). 
Stephen  Webb. 
Benjamin  Ilathoru. 
John  Carwick. 
Edward  Brittou. 
Samuel  Masury. 
William  Young. 
Thomas  Ruce. 
John  Dove. 
Jonathan  Ash  by. 
Samuel  Bond. 
Jesse  Parson. 
William  Cook. 


Joslma  Convers. 
Samuel  Blyth. 
Nathaniel  Perkins. 
Thomas  Palfray. 
Benjamin  Daniels. 
Littlefield  Sibly. 
Joseph  Ross. 
Benjamin  Peters. 
James  Andrews. 
William  Pynchon,  jr. 
Reuben  Alley. 
Benjamin  Cheever. 
Joseph  Kempton. 
Gabriel  Munyon. 
Ednmnd  Henfield,  jr. 
Joseph  Bacon. 
Andrew  Ward. 
Joseph  Young. 
Jan)es  Boardman. 
Nathaniel  Lang. 
Stephen  Osborn. 
John  Wood, 
.lames  Symonds. 
Nathan  Kimball. 
Joseph  Cook. 


SALEM. 


209 


David  Mansfield.  James  Gould. 

David  Beadle.  Joseph  Cook,  jr. 

Soldiers  in   the  Continental    army  whose  families 
received  assistance  in  1777. 

Douglass  Middleton. 
Capt.  Ebenezer  Winship. 
Abraham  Moree. 
Charles  Vanderford. 


Col.  Samuel  Carlton. 
Solomon  Webber. 
Thomas  Xeedham. 
William  Skeldon. 


Cornelius  Bingen. 
William  Bright. 
Thomas  Keene. 
Samuel  Murray. 
William  Bright. 
Gibson  Clough. 
Edmund  Gale. 
Joseph  Cook. 
John  Masury. 
Joseph  Metcalf. 
Nathaniel  Needham. 
Samuel  Bishop. 


Ephraim  Ingalls. 
William  Joplin. 
Asa  Whittemore. 
Samuel  Oakniau. 
Bichard  Maybory. 
Joseph  Masury. 
William  Gray. 
Benjamin  Latherby. 
Capt.  Thomas  Barnes. 
Joseph  Millet. 
Samuel  Crowel. 
Stephen  Hall. 
James  Gray. 

These  two,  Peter  Pitman  and  Nathl.  Knights,  were 
of  the  army,  1776. 

Besides  the  preceding,  there  were  other  soldiers  of 
Salem  in  the  army  from  1777  to  1780,  as  follows : 

George  Ulmar.  Abraham  Bolton. 

John  Peiice.  John  Gillard. 

Timothy  Dwyer.  Thomas  Roche. 

Thomas  Kicherson.  Jephtha  Ward. 

Joel  Chandler.  William  Lockhead. 

Valentine  Beron.  Clement  Gunner. 

John  Darrago.  Samson  Freeman. 

William  Liscom.  William  Graviel. 

Spencer  Thomas.  Jonas  Child. 

Joseph  Symmes.  William  Wester. 

Samuel  Asking.  Kichard  Downing. 

David  Levit.  George  Venner. 
Moses  Chandler. 

In  the  records  of  Massachusetts  quota  in  the  army, 
the  following  were  of  Salem,  1780 : 

Nathaniel  Hathorn.  Brown  Vellett. 

Alexander  Baxter.  Edward  Lee. 

Fortune  Ellery.  Daniel  Williams. 

Capt.  Natlian  Goodale.  David  Collins. 

William  Fitzael.  George  Tucker. 

Men  hired  by  Salem  to  serve  six  months  in  the 
Continental  army,  according  to  resolve  of  General 
Court,  June  5,  1780 : 


Edward  Prize. 
John  Gamgus,  jr. 
Humphrey  Fears. 
John  Tracy. 
Benjamin  Knowles. 
llobert  Stutson. 
John  Ward. 
James  Smith. 
Thomas  Sheridan. 
William  Long. 
Micliael  Condon. 
John  Green. 


Joseph  English. 
James  Turner. 
William  Morgan. 
Noah  Parker. 
Samuel  Koyal  (black). 
Benjamin  Oliver  (black). 
Thomas  Morse. 
James  P.  Bishop. 
Robert  Thompson. 
Charles  Brieii. 
John  Burk. 
James  Smith. 

These  belonged  here  and  thirteen  others,  belonging 
elsewhere,  were  named  with  them. 

Names  of  soldiers)hired]from  December,  1780,  to  Feb., 
1781,  to  serve  three  years  in  the  Continental  army: 

John  Hale.  Michael  Garvin. 

Peter  Harris.  Benjamin  Oliver. 

Nicholas  Wallis.  Alexander  Smith. 

John  Smith.  William  Ryan. 

John  Bryan.  Joseph  Williams. 

14 


William  Tector. 
Joseph  Liotier. 
Cesar  (negro). 
William  McLaughlau. 
Randal  McFadin. 
James  Ketwel. 
John  Smith. 
Benjamin  Daland. 
Jonathan  Gardner. 
John  Still. 
Samuel  Payne. 
WilUam  Gray. 
John  Riley. 
Lawrence  Vernes. 
Michael  Alley. 
Edward  Smith. 
John  Jackson  (negro). 
William  Thompson. 
Nathan  Williams. 
John  Youans, 
William  Wetmore. 


Peter  Mass. 
James  Fitzgerald. 
Samuel  Appey  (negro). 
Loudon  (negro). 
Thomas  Whiddick. 
Joseph  Laroache. 
Edward  Rudge. 
Samuel  (negro). 
John  Ducture. 
Samuel  Wardsworth. 
Paul  Holbrook. 
Alexander  Campbell. 
James  Welch. 
Maurice  Barrett. 
Patrick  Swaney. 
John  Dean. 
Eneas  McDonald. 
Polydore  (negro). 
Charles  Colley. 
Benjamin  Peters. 


1781.    John   Coolin,  William   Cooper,   Benjamin 
Webb  and  Thomas  Lakeman  were  in  the  army. 

Men   detached  to  service  in  Rhode  Island,  accord- 
ing to  resolve  of  General  Court,  June  16,  1781 : 

Major  Joseph  Hiller.  Samuel  Cheever. 

Francis  Haynes.  Joshua  Pitman. 

WilUam  Orne.  Theophilus  Batchellor. 

Lewis  Hunt.  Capt.  Simeon  Brown. 

John  Dove.  William  West,  jr. 

Edward  Norris.  Seth  Ring. 

Samuel  Symonds  (3d).  Joseph  Millet. 

Francis  Cook.  Francis  Boardman. 

John  Wiburt.  Samuel  Jones. 

Jonathan  Gardner  (3d).  Caleb  Foot. 

Joseph  Daland.  John  Emmerton,  jr. 

Ebenezer  Nutting.  Charles  Britton. 

George  Frazier.  David  Beadle. 

Joseph  English.  Nathaniel  Brown. 

Thomas  Symonds.  Richard  Manning. 

James  Masur3'.  Abel  Lawrence. 

Nathan  Prince.  William  Thomas. 

David  Bickford.  Penn  Townsend. 

Benjamin  Lang.  David  Ingersoll. 

Robert  Hill.  James  Carrel. 
Cheever  Mansfield. 

From  May  25th  to  July  11th,  1782,  enlistments  to 
serve  in  the  army  three  years : 

Jacob  Northrup.  Samuel  Buckman. 

Josiah  Phelps.  Joel  Northrup. 

Edward  Bessley.  Daniel  Weller. 

John  Adams.  John  Melony. 

Peter  Ingersoll.  Edward  Rudge. 

James  Smith.  Samuel  Locke. 

David  Jones.  John  Coats. 

William  Leonard.  John  Hubbard. 

Andrew  Bulger.  Thomas  Brown. 

John  Dorsey.  James  Slater. 

John  Taylor.  David  Davis. 

Alanson  Hamner.  Abraham  Newport. 

Moses  Hall.  William  Lanison. 

William  Tector.  William  Taylor. 

Eliphaz  Spencer.  Thomas  Powars. 

Benjamin  Johnson.  Nathaniel  Williams. 
John  Fogarty. 

The  names  of  the  following  officers  who  served  in 
the  Revolutionary   armies,  and  are  all   believed   to 

have  been  from  Salem,  do  not  appear  in  the  foregoing 
lists: 

Col.  Timothy  Pickering.  Capt.  Samuel  Flagg. 

Lieut.  Benjamin  West.  Capt. Greenwood. 

Col.  William  Mansfield.  Lieut.  Miles  Greenwood 


210 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Capt.  John  Felt. 
Lieut.  John  Butler. 
Capt.  John  Symonds. 
liieut.  Benjamin  Ropes,  jr. 
Capt.  Benjamin  Ward. 


Lieut.  Bohert  Foster. 
Capt.  Addison  Richardson. 
Major  Samuel  King. 
Capt. Flint. 


APPENDIX  (No.  2.) 
List  of  Salem  Privateers  of  the  Revolution. 

(This  is  believed  to  include  '  Letters  of  Marque.') 


Names. 


Pilgrim , 

Essex 

Franklin 

Scourge 

Disdain 

Congress 

Royal  Louis 

Porus 

Grand  Turk 

Rattle  Snake... 

Rover 

Cromwell 

Jason 

Marquis 

Hendrick 

Junius  Brutus. 

Rhodes 

Harlequin  

Neptune 

Mohawk 

Buccaneer 

Cicero  

Rambler 

Defence 

Independence.. 

Jack 

Black  Prince.., 
Bunker  Hill  ... 

Hector 

Jack 

Hunter 

Pickering , 

Renown 

Roe  Buck 

Trenton , 


SHIPS. 

Number 
of  Guns. 

18 


20 

18 

20 

20 

29 

18 

20 

24 

20 

20 

16 

16 

16 

18 

20 

20 

20 

16 

22 

18 

18 

16 

14 

16 

12 

18 

2) 

22 

14 

18 

16 

14 

12 

12 


Thirty-five  ships.  622 

BRIGS. 

Tyger 16 

Montgomery 14 

Sturdy  Beggar 14 

Captain  10 

New  Adventure 14 

Active  14 

Hero 8 

Fortune 14 

Swift 14 

Blood-hound 14 

Flying-fish 10 

Fox 14 

Cato 14 

Chase  10 

Brandywine 6 

Cutter 10 

Eagle 12 

Fame 16 

Hampden 14 

Hornet 10 

Lexington 8 

Lincoln 12 

Lion 16 

Maccaroui 14 


Weight 
of  Metal. 

9 

6 

6 


No.  of 
Men. 

120 

110 

100 

110 

110 

130 

100 

130 

120 

95 

95 
100 
100 

75 
100 
110 
110 

95 

75 

no 

120 
120 

95 

85 

70 

60 


6 

6 

4 

4 

6 

4 

4 

6&4 

2645 

4 

70 

4 

60 

4 

60 

3 

45 

3 

55 

4 

60 

4 

40 

4 

60 

4 

60 

3 

55 

3 

45 

3 

55 

3 

55 

3 

45 

3 

3 

4 

4 

4 

3 

3 

4 

6 

4 

Namfs  Number 

JNAMES.  of  Guns. 

Monmouth 12 

Pluto 8 

Rambler  14 

True  American 10 

Tyger 10 

Wildcat 14 


Thirty-two  brigs. 


392 


SCHOONERS. 

Greyhound 8 

Lively 8 

Shackle 6 

Pine  Apple 6 

Languedoc 6 

Dolphin 6 

6 

Panther 4 

Beaver 10 

Blackbird 10 

Civil  Usage )  10 

Civil  Usage J  each. 

Centipede  6 

Congress 8 

Cutter 8 

Delight 4 

Dolphin I       10 

Dolphin >  each. 

Fly 10 

Fox 10 

General  Gates  8 

Greyhound 6 

Hammond 10 

Hampden 8 

Harlequin 10 

Hawk 10 

Hornet 14 

Lark 12 

Lively 14 

Modesty 8 

Pompey 6 

Scorpion 6 

Shark 10 

Skulpion  10 

Swett 12 

Tatne  Bush  10 

Warren  10 


Thirty-seven  schooners. 


320 


Weight 
of  Metal. 

4 

3 

6 

4 

3 

4 


SLOOPS. 

Fish-hawk 8 

Hazard 6 

Black  Snake 12 

Bowdoin 8 

Jack 14 

Morning  Star 8 

Revenge  10 

Rover 8 

Bowdoin  8 

Nine  sloops.  82 

Seven  shallops,  names  not  mentioned. 


4 
3 
3 
3 
4 
3 
3 
3&4 
2 


No.  of 
Men. 


870 


3  35 

3  35 

3  30 

3  30 

2  25 

3  30 
3  30 
3  20 

Swivels 

Swivels 

Swivels 

2  

3  

Swivels 

2 
Swivels.         

Swivels 

Swivels 

2  

2 

Swivels 

3  

3  

Swivels.         

Swivels.        

Swivels.         

Swivels.         

3  

2  

2  

Swivels.         

Swivels.         

3  

Swivels 

3 


235 


40 
30 


70 
120  men. 


RECAPITULATION. 


Vessels.  Guns. 

Ships 35  622 

Brigs 32  392 

Schoonera  37  320 

Sloops 9  82 

Shallops 7  

Total 120  1416 


Men. 

2645 

870 

235 

70 

120 

3940 


SALEM 


21  i 


(APPENDIX  No.  3). 

LIST    OF   THE   PRIVATEERS. 
Belonging  to  Salem  during  the  War  of  1812. 


NAME 


Active  ... 
Alexaud._ 


Alfred 


America 

Bl'k  Vomit 

Buckskin ..., 
Cadet 


Castigatur, 
Cossack.... 
Dart 


Diomede. 
Dolphin... 


Enterprize... 
Fair  Tradei  . 
Fame 


Frolic 

Galliniper 

Gen.  Putnam  . 


Helen... 
Holkar. 


Jefferson 

John 

John  &  Georgi . 

Lizard 

Montgomery  ... 


Orion . 


Owl 

PhcKuix . 
Polly 


Recovery .. 
Regulator. 


Revenge., 
Scorpion . 


Swift 

Swiftsure . 

Terrible... 


Class 


Sch. 
I  jShip 

i   Ship 


13 
O 


Gen.  Stark J 

Grand  Turk 

Growler 


Viper.. 
Wasp . 


a 
6 


Brig 

Ship 

Boat 

Sch. 
Seh. 

Launch 

Sch. 

Sch. 

Sch. 

Sch. 

Sch. 
Sch. 
Sch. 

Sch. 

Sch. 

Sch. 

Sch. 
Brig 

Seh. 

Sch. 
Boat 

Sloop 

Ship 

Sch. 

Sch. 
Brig 

Boat 

Boat 

Sch. 
Sloop 

Seh. 
Sch. 

Sch. 

Sloop 

Sch. 
Launch 

Boat 

Sch. 
Sloop 


20 
330 

200 


350 

5 

60 
47 

10 

48 

40 

170 

140 

200 
40 
30 

110 

25 

150 

54 

310 

172 

75 
6 

14 

200 

57 

30 
190 


6 
20 
96 

20 

75 

57 

14 

27 
10 


14 
30 


Weight 
of 

Metal 


{'o 

16 


20 

0 

L  4 
2 
2 
6 

1 

2 


3 
1 

1 

2 

4 
1 

2 

1 
4 

2 

2 
1 
1 
3 

18 

1 

14 
4 
0 

1 

10 

1 

2 
2 

10 
2 
0 

0 
1 
1 
8 
2 
1 
2 
1 
2 
1 

1 
1 


4  lbs. 
0  " 
9  " 

6  " 


9  " 

Muskets 

12  lbs. 

4  " 

6  " 

3  " 
Car'nade 

18  lbs. 

4  " 


12  " 

6  " 
12  " 

6  " 
18  " 
12  " 

6  " 

24  " 
G  " 
6  " 

32  " 
18  Car. 
9  lbs. 
12  Car. 

9  lbs. 

24  " 
6  " 
6  " 
Muskets 

4  Car. 

G  lbs. 

12  " 

6  " 
6  " 

6  " 
18  " 
Muskets 

Muskets 
C  lbs. 
12  " 
6  " 

3  " 
24  " 

6  " 

12  " 

6  " 

4  " 

6  " 

4  " 

Muskets 

4  lbs. 
6  " 


25 
140 

110 


Where 
Built 


Salem 
Baltimore 

Salem 


150 

16 
50 

40 

20 

45 

40 

100 

70 

100 
35 
30 

60 

30 

60 

50 

150 

105 
70 
16 

20 

105 

50 

30 
100 

20 

14 

25 
60 

20 
50 

50 

20 

25 
20 

16 

20 
35 


Salem 

Salem 
Baltimore 

Boston 

Salem 

Salem 
Salem 

New  York 

Baltimore 

Salem 
New  York 
Essex 

Salem 

Eng.  built 

Boston 

Salem 

Wlscasset, 
Me. 

Baltimore 
Braintree 
Salem 

Salem 

Salem 

New  York 

Salem 
Medford 

Salem 

Salem 
Salem 
Poughkep- 
sie,  N.  Y. 
Salem 
New  York 

New  York 

Salem 

Eng.  built 
Salem 

Salem 

Salem 
Salem 


When 
Built 


1810 
1808 

1805 


1804 

1813 

1808 

1814 
1813 
1813 
1800 

1814 

1812 
1809 
1804 

1813 

1807 

1814 
1813 
1812 

1812 
1792 
1813 

1801 

1794 

1810 

1813 
1812 

1813 

1813 
1814 
1800 

1810 
1808 

1810 

1812 

1808 
1813 

1813 

1814 
1813 


Builder. 


Commander 


David 
Magonn 

Retiah 
Becket 
Leach  &  Teague 


Webb  <fe  Beadle 
Webb  &  Beadle 


Barker  &  Magoun 


Barker  &  Magoun 

Under    Sup't'nce 
Capt.  J.  J.  Knapp 

Leach  &  Teague 

Christ'er  Jurner 

Enos  Briggs 

Leach  &  Teague 

Leach  &  Teague 

Leach  k  Teague 
William  Rowell 


Wm.  Huliss 

Leach  &  Teague 

Leach  &  Teague 

Leach  k  Teague 
William  Huliu 


Benj.  Patterson 
fT.  Wellman,  jr. 
\  B.  Crowninshield 
Step'n  Williams 
Philip  Besson 
Joseph  Ropes 
John  Keheu 
Jas.  W.  Chever 
John  Upton 
Bray 

William  Calley 
Josiah  Elwell 
Ste'n  G.  Clarke 
Spencer  Hall 
John  Upton 
William  Davis 
T.  Symonds 
John  Green 
Abner  Poland 
J.  Crowninshield 

Jacob  Endicott 

John  R.  Morgan 
John  R.  Morgan 
Webb,  Upton,  Poland 
Green,  Chapman  &  Evans 
Nathan  Green 
J.  B.  H.  Odiorne 
Tim.  Wellman 
Andrew  Tucker 


Captured 


John  Evans 

Nov., 

1814 

John  Evans 

July, 

1813 

William  Rice 

Holten  J.  Breed 

Nathan  Green 

Sam'l  B.  Graves 

Aug. 

1813 

Nath'l  Lindsey 

John  Upton 
Samuel  Lamson 

1814 

John  Keheu,  J.  H. 

Downie,  S.  Giles 

J.  Wellman,  jr. 

James  Fairfield 

Feb., 

1813 

B.  Crowninshield 

John  Sinclair,  jr. 

Nov. 

1812 

Samuel  Loring 

1814 

Holten  J.  Breed,  Benj. 

May, 

1813 

Upton,  Joseph  Strout 
John  Upton 
Jonathan  Blythe 
William  Duncan 
Stephenson  Rieliards 
Sam'l  C.  Hardy 
Robert  Evans 
Joseph  Peele 
James  Mansfield 

John  Sinclair,  jr. 

Stephenson  Richards 
Thomas  Osborne 
Harvey  Choate 
Stephen  Clarke 
Charles  Berry 
James  Thomas 
John  Greene 
Joseph  Preston 
Ernest  A.  Ervin. 


Sept.,  1812 
May  19, 1813 

Feb.,  1814 

Sold  at  auc- 
tion 
June,  1831 
Sold 
Sept.,  1812 


March,  1813 


May,  1814 


May,  1813 
Sept.,  1812 


May,  1813 
and  burnt 


April,  1813 

April,  1814 

1812 
Sept.,  1812 

Nov.,  1812 


(APPENDIX  No.  4). 
List  of  officers  and  enlisted  men  from  Salem  who  served  in  the  Regiment  Massachusetts  Volunteers  during 

the  Mexican  War. 


Crowninshield,  Charles  B Capt. 

Crowninshield,  John  C Ist,  Lieut. 


Charles  C.  Varney,  Levi  Curtis Privates. 

Augustus  Chamberlain,  Lucius  Grover.... Musicians. 


212 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


APPENDIX  No.  5. 
List  of  Commissioned  Oflacers  from  Salem.  War  of  the  Rebellion. 


Allen,  Pickering  D Ist  Lieut.,  3d  Cav. ;  killed. 

Ames,   George  L.,  Capt. ;    Bvt.   Lieut.   Col.  U.  S. 

Com.  Dept. 
Andrews,  Richard  F.,  2d  Lieut.  U.  S.   C.    T.  (36tli 

U,  S.  Vols). 

Annable  Ephraim  A 2d  Lieut.  2d  H.  Art. 

Atherton,  Charles  H 2d  Lieut.  Ist  H.  Art. 

Austin,  George  F Capt.  24th  Inf. 

Avery,  Heniy Act.  Ensign,  Navy 

Babson,  Edwin Act.  Ensign,  Navy 

Baker,  Charles  H Engineer,  Navy 

Bancroft,  George  C 1st  Lieut.  40th  Inf.  ;  killed. 

Baretow,  Simon  F Major,  Gen.  Meade's  Staff. 

Batchelder,  Charles  J  (I.) 1st  Lieut.  3d  Cav. 

Batchelder,  George  W Capt.  19th  Inf.  ;  killed. 

Bates,  Charles  H Ist  Lieut.  23d  Inf. 

Bertram,  Joseph  H.  M Major,  U.  S.  Pay  Dept. 

Black,  Patrick  W Capt.  9th  Inf. 

Bott,  Thomas  E Capt.  11th  Inf. 

Boyer,  Charles Act.  Ensign,  Navy 

Brewster,  Ethan  A.  P Maj.  23d  Inf. 

Briggs,  Joseph  B 1st  Lieut.  4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Brooks,  Charles  W 1st  Lieut.  23d  Inf. 

Brown,  Robert  B Capt.  2d  Inf. 

Browne,  A.  Parker Maj.  40th  Inf 

Browning,  George  F Capt.,  Bvt.  Maj.  2d  Inf. 

Bruce,  Daniel,  Jr U.  S.  C.  T. 

Bnffum,  G.  B Capt. 

Buffum,  Robert Lieut.  4th  Tenn.  Cav. 

Burnett,  Servington  S...2d  Lieut.  48th  Inf.  Militia. 
Buxton,  Seth  S Maj.  1st  H.  Art ;  died  in  service. 

Calef,  Benjamin  S.,  Capt.,  Maj.  Gen.  Biruey's  Staff. 

Carey,  Robert  H Act.  Ensign,  Navy. 

Center,  Addison Capt.  23d  Inf. 

Chadwick,  John  C,  Capt.  19th  Inf,  Lieut.  Col.  92d 

U.  S.  C.  Inf. 

Chapman,  George  T Act.  Ensign,  Navy. 

Chase,  Charles  W Capt.  40th  Inf. 

Chase,  Thorndike Clerk  Com.  Dept. 

Chlpman,  Andrew  A.,  1st  Lieut.  12th  Inf.  ;  4th  H. 

Art.  ;  Trans.  39th  Inf. 

Chipman,  Charles  G Capt.  54th  Inf.  (colored). 

Chisholm,  T Act.  Ensign,  Navy. 

Clough,  Benjamin  P •'\^ct.  Ensign,  Navy. 

Cogswell,  William.,  Col.  2d   Inf. ;    Bvt.  Brig.  Gen. 

Coleman,  Francis  M 2d  Lieut.  3d  H.  Art. 

Cox,  Charles  G Maj.  40th  Inf. 

Cummings,  Walter  C Lieut. 

Cummings,  William  C 2d  Lieut.  23d  Inf. 

Daland,  John Capt.  24th  Inf. 

Dalton,  Joseph  A I^ieut.  Col.  40th  Inf. 

Dalton,  Samuel Ut  Lieut.  1st  H.  Art. 

Danforth,  Henry  F Capt.  40th  Inf. 

Davidson,  Henry,    Jr.,  1st.  Lieut.  4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Dearborn,  Charles  A.,  Jr Capt.  32d  Inf.  ;  killed. 

Derby,  T.  Putnam,  Jr Capt.  4th  U.  S.  C.  T. 

Derby,  Richard Capt.  15th  Inf.  ;  killed. 

Devereu.\,  Arthur   F.,  Col.  19th    Inf.  ;    Bvt.  Brig. 

Gen. 

Devereux,  Charles  U Capt.  19th  Inf. 

Devereux,  John  F Capt.  11th  Inf. 

Dimon,   Charles  A.  R.,  Col.   1st   U.   S.  Vols.  ;  Bvt. 

Brig.  Gen. 
Dodge,   Elliot  C,  Lieut.  1st  Begt.  N.  Y.  Excelsior 

Brigade. 

Dodge,  Richard  F Act.  Ensign,  Navy. 

Dodge,  Thomas  F 2d  Lieut.  2d  H.  Art. 

Doherty,  John 1st  Lieut.  9th  Inf. 

Driver,   Joseph   M.,  Chap.  Hospital,   Washington. 

Dudley,  L.  E 13th  Inf. 

Durgin,  Horace Q.  M.  48th  Inf.  militia. 


Edwards,  Charles  W 2d  Lieut.  2d  Inf. ' 

Edwards,  Shuball Act.  Ensign,  Navy. 

Emilio,  Louis  F Capt.  54th  Inf.  (colored). 

Emmerton,  Charles  S Ist  Lieut.  23d  Inf 

Emmerton,  George  R 1st  Lieut.  23d  Inf. 

Emmerton,  James  A Surg.  2d  H.  Art. 

Ei^dicott,  Charles Act.  Master,  Navy. 

Evans,  Alvan  A 1st  Lieut.  2d  Co.  Sharps. 

Evans,  John  W.,  2d  Lieut.  13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf.  mi- 
litia. 

Fabens,  George  0 Act.  Ensign,  Navy. 

Fallon,  Thomas  R 2d  Lieut.  9th  Inf. 

Farmer,  George  S.,  Lieut.  4th  H.  Art.  ;  Died  at 
Andereonville  Prison  before  receiving  commis- 
sion. 

Finney,  George .4ct.  Master,  Navy. 

Fisher,  Charles Engineer,   Navy 

Fisher,  George  A.,  1st  Lieut.  2od  Inf. ;  Trans.  U.  S. 
Sig.  Corps. 

Fitzgerald,  Edward Capt.  9tli  Inf. 

Ford,  John  F 1st  Lieut.4Sth  Inf.  militia. 

Foster,  Joseph  C 2d  Lieut.  Salem  Cadets. 

Fowler,  Philip  M Capt.  (U.  S.  C.  T). 

Fox,  John  L Surg.  Navy. 

Frye,  Charles  H Capt.  2d  N.  C.  Vols. 

Frye,  Nathan  A.,  Jr.,  2d  Lieut.  59th  Inf.  ;  not 
mustered. 

Gardner,  George  W Capt.  24th  Inf. 

Getchell,  George  H Capt. 

Glidden,  Joseph  H 1st  Lieut.  Gth  Inf.  militia. 

Goldthwait,  Joseph  A.,  1st  Lieut.  2d  Inf.  ;  Capt.  and 

C.  S.  U.  S.  Vols. 

Gordon Act.  Ensign,  Navy. 

Goodale,  Joshua  C 2d  Lieut.  2d  H.  Art. 

Goss,  James  W 1st  Lieut.  1st  H.  Art. 

Gray,  George  C,  2d  Lieut.  1st  Co.  Sharps. ;  Capt 

178th  N.  T.  Vols. 
Grant,  Frederick 1st  Lieut.  2d  H.  Art. 

Hale,  Henry   A.,  Capt.  19th  Inf. ;    Bvt.  Lieut.  Col. 

and  A.  A.  G.  Vols. 

Hamblett,  Samuel  H  1st  Lieut.  5th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Hancock,  John Midshipman,  Navy. 

Hannan,  Dennis  B Surg. 

Harrington,  Daniel Midshipman,  Navy. 

Harrod,  Benjamin  C 1st  Lieut,  let  H.  Art. 

Haskell,  Augustus  M Chap. 40th  Inf. 

Hatch,  Charles  F Act.  Ensign,  Navy. 

Hayward,  Charles  H Ist  Lieut.  23dlnf. 

Henfield,  Amos Oapt.  3d  Cav. 

Hill,  Edwin  R.,  1st  Lieut.  2d  Inf.  ;  Trans.  55th  Inf. 

(colored)  ;  killed. 

Hill,  William  A Capt.  19th  Inf. 

Hiltz,  Jacob  C 1st  Lieut.  2dU.  S.  Vols. 

Hobbs,  Edward 1st.  Lieut.  IstH.  Art. 

Hodges,  John,  Jr Lieut.  Col.  5th  Inf.  ;  killed 

Hodges,  Thorndike  D Capt.  1st  N.  C.  Vols. 

Holt,  Frank 2d  Lieut.  1st  Bat'n  F.  Cav. 

Hoyt,  S Capt. 

Hurd,  William  H 2d  Lieut.  50th  Inf.  militia. 

Hutchinson,  Thomas  W Act.  Master,  Navy. 

Jackson,  Andrew Act.  Ensign,  Navy. 

James,  Henry Engineer,  Navy. 

Johnson,  Daniel  H.,  Jr Capt.  40th  Inf. 

Johnson,  Thomas  H 2d  Lieut.  Salem  Cadets. 

Kelley,  Thomas 2d  Lieut.  30th  Inf. 

Kemble,  Arthur Act  Asst.  Surg.,  Navy. 

Kenny,  Jonathan  A 2d  Lieut.  Salem  Cadets. 

Kimball,  Frank Lieut. 

Kimball,  Jacob Act.  Lieut.,  Navy. 

Kinsley,  Benjamin  F 


Lakeman,  John  R 1st  Lieut.  2.3d  Inf. 

Lander,  Frederick  W. Brig.  Gen. 

Lee,  Charles  J '^d  Lieut.  4Stli  Inf.  militia. 

Lee,  John  R Ist  Lieut,  and  Q.  M.  1st  Inf. 

Lee,  Robert  G Act.  Master,  Navy. 

Leonard,  James 2d  Lieut.  3d  H.  Art. 

Loud,  Charles  A. 

Luscomb,  Joseph  H Act.  Ensign,  Navy. 

Luscomb,  Henrj-  R 2d  Lieut.  3d  H.  Art. 

McGourty,  Patrick 2d  Lieut.  11th  Inf. 

Manning,  Charles  H Capt.  4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Manning,  Joseph  A. .2d  Lieut.,  Gen.  Butler's  Staff. 

Manning,  Thomas  H 1st  Lieut.  4th  Bat  L.  Art. 

Mansfield,  William  D Capt.  14th  N.  Y.  Vols. 

Marks,  John  L Maj.,  Salem  Cadets. 

Marks,  Thomas  H Act.  Ensign,  Navy 

Mehan,  Dennis Capt.  2d  Inf. 

Merritt,  Henry Lieut.  Col.  23d  Inf. ;  killed. 

Merritt,  Henry  A 1st  Lieut.  2d  H.  Art. 

Millet,  Charles  (2d) Act.  Ensign,  Navy. 

Millet,  Edward .'Vet.  Ensign,  Navy. 

Millet,  Frank Act.  Ensign,  Navy. 

Millet,  William  H Act.  Ensign,  Navy. 

Miller,  Frederick  L Engineer,  Navy. 

Miller,  James Capt.  4th  Cav. 

Milward,  Benjamin  F 1st  Lieut.  59tli  Inf. 

Moody,  Converse Capt.  Md.  Vols. 

Moseley,  Joseph Act.  Master,  Navy. 

MuUaly,  John  E Capt.  17th  Inf. 

Neal,  William  S Ass't.  Engineer,  Navy. 

Nichols,  James  B Capt.  24th  Inf. 

Nichols,  James  W 2d  Lieut.  40th  Inf. 

Noyes,  Isaac  S Ist  Lieut.  7th  Inf.  militia. 

Nutting,  William  G Act.  Lieut.  Navy. 

O'Brien,  Martin Capt.  9th  Inf. 

O'Donnell,  James 1st  Lieut.  Gth  Inf. 

O'Leary,  Timothy Capt.  9th  Inf. 

Oliver,  Samuel   C,  Lieut.   Col.  1st  H.  Art. ;  Lieut. 

Col.  2d  H.  Art. ;  Bvt.  Col. 
Osborne,  Nathan   W.   N.,  Capt.   13th    U.   S.    Inf. 

(Vols). 

Palmer,  William  L Maj.  19th  Inf. ;  Bvt.  Col. 

Parsons,  Joseph  M Capt.  3d  H.  Art. 

Peirson,   Charles  L.,    Col.    59th   Inf.  ;    Bvt.    Brig. 

Gen. 

Peirson,  George  H Col.  5th  Inf.  militia. 

Peirce,  Charles  H Act.  Ensign,  Navy. 

Perkins,  Charles  T 1st  Lieut.  24th  Inf. 

Phalan,  Edward  A Capt.  2d  Inf. 

Phalan,  Michael  (W) 1st  Lieut.  9th  Inf. 

Phillips,  Charles  A Capt.  5th  Bat.  L.  Art;  Bvt. 

3Iaj. 

Phillips,  Edward  P.  (B) Lieut. 

Phinip.s,  Edward  W.,  1st  Lieut.  50th  Inf.  Militia. 

Phipps,  John Act.  Ensign,  Navy 

Pickering,  John.,  Capt.  13th  Unat.  Co.  H.  Art ;    3d 

H.  Art. ;  Adj.  S.  C. 

Pickman,  Benjamin 1st  Lieut.  3d  Cav. 

Pitman,  Henry Act.  Lieut.,  Navy. 

Pollock,  John Lieut.  Col.  40th  Inf 

Pool,  Marcus  M 2d  Lieut.  (1st  H.  Art). 

Pope,  Frank Capt.  1st  H.  Art. 

Pope,  James Capt.  1st  H.  Art. 

Price,  Benjamin  S .4ct.  Asst.  Pay  Master,  Navy. 

Putnam,  George  D Capt.  50th  Inf.  militia. 

Putnam,  Henry  C Act.  Master,  Navy. 

Putnam,  William  S .Act.  Ensign,  Navy. 

Quimby,  Samuel  F Act.  Asst.  Surg.,  Nayy. 


SALEM. 


213 


Redmond,  Philip  E.,  Ist  Lieut.  9th  Inf. ;  died  in 
service. 

Reeves,  Robert  W.,Capt.l3th  TJnat.  Co.  Inf.  mil- 
itia. 

Reynolds,  John  P.,jr Capt.    19th  Inf. 

Richardson,  James  M.,  Capt.  12th  Unat.  Co.  H. 
Art. 

Roberts,  John Act.  Lieut.,  Navy. 

Rogers,  William  C Act.  Lieut.  Navy. 

Rose,  Stephen  C Lieut.  Col. 

Ross,  William  H Capt. 

Rowell,  Sidney  B -'d  Lieut.  3d  n.  Art. 

Safford,  Jolin  B .Asst.  Engineer,  Navy. 

Saltonstall,  William  G .\ct.  Lieut.  Com.,  Navy. 

Sanders,  Charles Igt  Lieut.  48th  Inf.  militia. 

Saunders,  John Capt.  1st  Co.  Sharp.;  killed. 

Servey,  William  T Act.  Ensign,  Navy. 

Sherman,  Charles  F 2d  Lieut.  57th  Inf. 

Shreve,  William  P.,  1st  Lieut.  Gen.  Birney's 
Staff'. 

Skinner,   Richard,  jr Capt.    40th    Inf. 

Smith,  Albert  P Act.  Ensign,  Navy. 

Smith,  Joseph  C 1st  Lieut.  1st  H.  Art. 

Smith,  Lawrence  P Act.  Ensign,  Navy 

Smith,  Robert Capt.  2d  Co.  Sharp. 

Smith,  Samuel Act.  Ensign,  Navy 


Snapp,  Philip  J 1st  Lieut.  23d  Inf. 

Staten,  Edward  H.,  Capt.  6th  and  7th  Inf.  militia. 
Stevens,  George  0.,  let  Lieut.  13th   Unat.  Co.  Inf. 

militia. 

Stiles,  Charles  D 1st  Lieut.  2d  Co.  Sharp. 

Stimpson,  Edward  S...lst  Lieut.  55th  Inf.  (colored). 

Stoddard,  Benjamin  F Capt.  24th  Inf. 

Stone,  Lincoln  R.,  Surg.  2d  Inf. ;  54th  Inf.  (colored); 

U.  S.  Vols. 
Symonds,  Benjamin  R.,    1st   Lieut.  59th   Inf.  and 

19th  Inf. 

Symonds,  H.  C Maj. 

Swasey,  William  M Act.  Ensign,  Navy. 

Tannatt,  Thomas  R Col.  1st  H.  Art.;  leth  Inf. 

Thayer,  J.  Henry Chap.  40th  Inf. 

Upton,  Edward Ist  Lieut.  2d  Co.  Sharp. 

Upton,  William  B Capt.  1st  U.  S.  Vols. 

Very,  Abraham  A .A.ct.  EnsignNavy. 

Voorhies,  Lewis  D .^ct.  Lieut.  Navy. 

Walcott,  Alfred  F Capt.  21st  Inf. 

Walcott,  Charles  F.,  Col.   6l8t   Inf.  ;    Bvt.     Brig. 

Gen. 
Ward,  Andrew  A Act.  Ma-ster,  Navy. 


Ward,  Charles   G. ,  1st  Lieut,  and  Adj.  24th   Inf  ; 

killed. 

Ward,  John  L Capt.  50th  Inf.  militia. 

Waters,  Edward  S.,  Vol.  Engineer,  Gen.  Burnside's 

Staff. 

Waters,  John Act.  Ensign,  Navy. 

Webb,  Augustine  F 2d  Lieut.  40th  Inf.  ;  killed. 

Webb,  Francis  R .\ct.  Ensign,  Navy 

Webb,  Joseph  H Ist  Lieut.  40th  Inf. 

Wentworth,  Louis  E Capt.  2d  Co.  Sharp. 

West,  W.  0. 

Wheatland,  George,  jr Maj.  48th  Inf.  militia. 

Wheeler,  Richard   P.,  2d    Lieut.  23d  Inf.  ;   died  of 

wounds. 

AVhipple,  George  M Capt.  23d  Inf. 

White,  Caleb  B. 

Wildes,  George  G Chap.  24th  Inf. 

Wilkins,  Charles Act.  Ensign,  Navy. 

Wiley,  George 2d  Lieut.  48th  Inf.  Militia. 

Williams,  Charles  F.,  jr.,  2d  Lieut.  35th  Inf. ;  died 

of  wounds. 

Williams,  James  S Act.  Ensign,  Navy. 

Williams,  William  A Engineer,  Navy. 

Wilson,  Edmund  B Chap.  24th  Inf. 

Wilson,  Jacob  H 2d  Lieut.  40th  Inf. 

Winn,  John  K .^ct.  Ensign,  Navy. 

Woods,  George  H Lieut.  Col. 


APPOINTMENTS  (neither  Commissioned  nor  Enlisted  Men), 

Berry,  William'H Surg.'s  Stew.,  Navy.  Luscomb,  Abial  T Surg.'s  Stew.,  Navy. 

Dalton,  J.  Frank Capt.'s  Clerk,  Navy.  Webber,  Joseph Surg.'s  Stew.,  Navy. 

Farrington,  George  P.,  jr Surg.'s  Stew.,  Navy.  Wells,  Charles  H Surg.'s  Stew.,  Navy. 

Hamblett,  Augustus  P. ..  Paymaster's  Stew.,  Navy. 


LIST  OF  ENLISTED  MEN  FROM  SALEM  IN  WAE 

Andci-son,  Edward Navy 

Anderson,  James  H.,  jr Navy 

Andrews,  Gilman  A Corp.  50th  Inf.  militia 

Anthony,  Joseph  H Hth  U.  S.  Inf. 

Anthony,  Joseph 5th  Inf.  militia 

Annis.  Joseph  E 40th  Inf. 

Appleton,  John  L 2d  Inf. 

Archer,  George  N 8th  Inf.  militia 

Archer,  Benj.  F.  (H.) 2d  Co.  Sharps. 

Archer,  Rufu8P.,jr 4th  H.  Art. 

Archer,  William  H Corp.  2d  Co.  Sharps, 

Arnold,  Edward  H 4th  H.  Art. 

Arnold,  Isaac  S 1st  H.  Art. 

Arnold,  James  E 1st  H.  Art.,  V.  R.  C. 

Arnold,  James  E 3dCav. 

Arnold,  James  H '^M  Inf. 

Arnold,  Joseph  E Ist  H.  Art. 

Arnold,  Peter 2d  Cav. 

Arrington,  Benjamin  E U.  S.  Vet.  Vols. 

Arrington,  Benjamin  F 23d  Inf. 

Arrington,  Benjamin  R l^th  Inf. 

Arrington,  James,  Jr 23d  Inf.  ;  U.  S.  V.  K.  C. 

Arrington,  John  R '^a.\y 

Artemus,  John 56th  Inf. 

Arvedson,  C.  K Navy. 

Arvedson,  William  L Sergt.  24th  Inf. 

Arvedson,  Charles  F Navy 

Ashbell,Wyatt 1st  H.  Art. ;  died  in  service 

Ashby,  Ellas  W Sergt.  S.  C. 

Astrom,  Carl 30th  Inf. 

Atkinson,  Frank  E 1st  Sergt.,  62d  Inf. 

Attwood,  Frank Ist  Sergt.,  62d  luf. 

Austin,  Alden  K S.  C. ;  23d  Inf.  ;  died  in  service 

Austin,  Amos  P Corp.,  1st  Bat'n  F.  Cav. 

Austin,  Everett  E 13th  Unat.  Co.,  Inf.  militia. 

Austin,  Orlow l^tli  I°f- 


Abbott,  Adolphus 23d  Inf.;  V.  R.  C. 

Abbott,  Benjamin  F 4th  H.  Art. 

Abbott,  Charles  J Wagoner,  24th  Inf. 

.\dams,  Charles  H 23d  Inf.  ;  3d  H.  Art. 

Adams,  Charles  P.. ..1st  Co.  Sharps.,  5th  Inf.  militia 

Adams,  Charles 1st  H.  Art. 

Adams,  George  W Navy 

Adams,  George  W 2d  H.  Art. 

Adams,  Henry 2d  H.  Art. 

Adams,  Henry  J..32d  Inf. ;  V.  R.  C. ;  2d  Co.  Sharps. 

Adams,  Henry  P 1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Adams,  John  H 19th  Inf. 

Adams,  Thomas  M 6th  Inf.  militia 

Adams,  Peter  F 6th  Inf.  militia 

Ahern,  John 3d  H.  Art. 

Aldrich,  Edward  M 1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Aldrich,  Moses  H 7th  R.  I. 

Allen,  Benjamin,  jr 11th  Inf. ;  died  of  wounds. 

Allen,  Charles  F .'iOth  Inf.  militia. 

Allen,  Edward  F 2d  H.  Art. 

Allen,  Henry 16th  Inf. 

Allen,  Horatio  D Corp.  23d  Inf. 

Allen,  George  W 4th  Cav. 

Allen,  William  H 2d  Co.  Sharps. 

Allen,  James Corp. 

Allen,  John  N 38th  Inf. 

Allen,  William  A Navy. 

Alton,  Samuel  T  2d  Inf.  ;  died  of  wounds. 

Ambrose,  Charles 22d  Inf. ;  trans.  Navy. 

Ames,  Eben Navy 

Ames,  M.  Eugene Navy 

Anderson,  Thomas  B Navy 

Anderson,  George  F 40th  Inf. 

Anderson,  Aust 18th  Inf. 

Anderson,  Joseph 54th  Inf.  ;'55th  Inf.  (colored). 

Anderson,  William Navy 


Anderson,  William  J Navy     Austin,  William  R 23d  Inf. 


OF  REBELLION. 

Avery,  John  W.  C,  1st  H.  Art.  ;  died  Anderson- 
ville  Prison. 
I  Ayres,  Loren  (Lorron).,....23d  Inf. ;  trans.  V.  R.  C. 

!  Babbidge,  William 17th  Unat.  Co. 

Babbidge,  William  A 50th  Inf.  militia 

Babcock,  John  F Corp.  4th  Cav. 

Babcock,  John  H 7th  Inf.  ;  1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Bacheller,  William  H l^th  Inf. 

Bager,  Henry Navy 

Bagley,  Daniel  I Navy 

Bailey,  Edward  A.,  (Edwin  A.) 2d  Inf. 

Bailey,  Theron 1st  H.  Art. 

Bailey,  Warren  K ; 19th  Inf. 

Bailey,  William 2d  H.  Art.  ;  17th  Inf. 

Baines,  Richard Navy 

Baker,  Barney 3d  Cav.  ;  V.  R.  C. 

Baker,  Benjamin 2d  H.  Art. 

Baker,  Edwin  D 1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Baker,  Henry  C 50th  Inf.,  militia;  30th  Inf. 

Baker,  Robert 20th  Inf. 

Baker,  William  H 1st  H.  Art. ;  V.  B.  C. 

Baker,  Peter 23d  Inf. 

Balch,  William  D Corp.  50th  Inf.,  militia 

Balfe,  Thomas 5th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Balger,  Patrick 2d  Cav. 

Ball,  George  H.  A 19th  Inf.;  U.  S.  Cav. 

Ballard,  Francis  A 40th  Inf. 

Ballard,  George  R. 1st  H.  Art. 

Baltazar,  Castano Navy  ;  drowned  at  sea,  1873- 

Barenson,  Abram  F.,  S.  C. ;  5Uth  Inf.,  militia  ;  2d 
Cav. 

Barge,  William 1st  U.  S.  V.  R.  C 

Barker,  Benjamin 2d  Inf. 

Barker,  Charles  F S.  C. ;  50th  Inf. 

Barker,  John. 

Barnard,  Samuel,  4th  Bat'n  L.  Art.,  died  in  service 


214 


HISTOKY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Barnard,  Samuel,  jr 23d  Inf.,  V.  R.  C. 

Barnard,  William  H  17th  Unat.  Co. 

Barnard,  William  H Navy 

Barnes,  Israel  D 2d  Unat.  Co. ;  died  in  service 

Barnes,  Michael  D 3d  H.  Art. 

Barnes,  John 11th  Inf.  ;  died  of  wounds,  18G2 

Barnett,  Patrick 62d  Inf. 

Baraum,  S.  G Navy 

Barrington,  Archibald 43d  U.  S.  C.  T. 

Barrington,  A Navy 

Barters,  John. 

Bartlett,  Calvin 1st  H.  Art. 

Bartlett,  Jeremiah  I Navy 

Barrett,  Cornelius Navy 

Barrett,  Peter u'Jth  Inf.  ;  died  of  wounds. 

Barrows,  Henry Navy 

Barry,  Edward Navy 

Barry,  Edward  A 3d  H.  Art. 

Barry,  John  H 13th  Unat.  Co 

Barry,  William  H 5th  Inf.,  militia 

Bassett,  Eben Navy 

Bassett,  John  A 7th  Inf. 

Bassett,  Robert  C,  1st  II.  Art.  ;  died  Andersonville 
Prison. 

Batchelder,  Charles IstH.  A. 

Batchelder,  George  H     3d  H.  Art. 

Batchelder,  George  W Sergt.  8tli  Inf.,  militia 

Batchelder,  John 11th  Inf.,  V.  R.  C. 

Batchelder,  John  H Corp.  2d  Co.  Sharps. 

Batchelder,  Richard Sergt.  3d  Cav. 

Batchelder,  Walter 1st  H.  Art. 

Batchelder,  George  II 11th  Inf. 

Batchelder,  George  H 23d  Inf. 

Batchelder,  William  II 17th  luf 

Bateman,  Charles 1st  Cav. ;  killed. 

Bateman,  Joseph 48th  Inf.  militia 

Bateman,  Thomas 48th  Inf.  militia 

Bauer,  Anton 23d  Inf. 

Bauer,  Ignace  (Ignaz).  5th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Baxter,  John Navy 

Beach,  William,  jr 10th  Inf. 

Beadle,  John  (3d) Navy 

Beals,  William  A 4th  H.  Art. 

Becker,  Joseph Corp.  3d  H.  Art. 

Becker,  Peter 23d  Inf. 

Beckett,  Daniel  C Corp.  1st  H.  Art. 

Beckett,  Edward  (' Navy 

Beckett,  William  II 2Uth  luf.  ;  35th  Inf. 

Beckford,  John  M 1st  H.  Art. 

Beckford,  Jonathan  A 1st  H.  Art. 

Beckford,  Eben 23d  Inf.,  V.  B.  C. 

Beckford,  Jefferson  (.\.) 1st  H.  Art. 

Begg,  William  H 1st  H.  Art. 

Bell,  James Navy 

Bell,  William  H 7th  Inf. ;  Sergt.  2d  Cav 

Bellows,  James 1st  H.  Art. 

Bellows,  John 9th  Inf. 

Bennett,  Abram  E S.  C. 

Bennett,  George  A.,  13th  Unat.  Co.  ;  50th  Inf.  mili- 
tia; Ist  Bat'n  F.  Cav. 

Bennett,  Larrington Corp.  48th  Inf.  militia 

Benson,  Samuel  B 1st  Sergt.,  59th  Inf. 

Berg,  William  R 5th  Inf.  militia;  2d  Co.  Sharps. 

Berriu,  Lewis Navy 

Berry,  Edward  A 3d  H.  Art. 

Berry,  James  A 62d  Inf. 

Berry,  William  II Sergt.  Ist  Bafn,  F.  Cav. 

Berry,  William  R 22d  Inf. 

Beston,  James Blacksmith,  3d  Cav.  ;  V.  R.  C 

Bickford,  William  F.,  5th  Inf.  militia  ;  1st  H.  Art. 

Bigelow,  Walter  R 4th  H.  Art. 

Binney,  Thomas  J 62d  Inf. 

Birmingham,  John 61st  Inf. 

Birney,  Thomas  J (See  Binney,  Thomas  J.) 

Bissell,  Wesley  T 40th  Inf 

Bixby,  Joseph  H.  (A.) 7th  Bat.  L.  Art.  ;  V.  B.  C. 

Black,  William Navy 


Blaisdell,  George  E 23d  Inf. 

Blake,  Darius  G 2d  Inf. 

Blanchard,  Andrew  J.,  23d  Inf.  ;  died  in  rebel  prison 

Blanchard,  Daniel 11th  Inf.;  killed 

Blanchard,  William  H 2d  Cav. 

Blinn,  George  H.,  Sergt.  13th  Unat.  Co. ;  Corp.  50th 
Inf.  militia  ;  1st  Bat'n  F.  Cav. 

Bly,  Benjamin  (Joseph) Corp.  24th  Inf. 

Boden,  Thomas  C oOth  Inf.  militia. 

Boden,  Hiram  C Navy 

Bodwell,  John  A.. ..6th  N.  H.  Vols.  ;  died  in  service 

Bolend,  James 32d  Inf. 

Bolton,  Thomas.... 1st  H.  Art.  ;  trans.  Navy 

Bonner,  John 32d  Inf 

Borden,  Thomas Navy 

Boualey,  George  E 7th  Inf.  militia 

Bousley,  Nathaniel  C .50th  Inf.  militia 

Bousley,  Theophiliis  F 48tli  Inf.  militia;  killed 

Bovey,  James  G 1st  Sergt.  1st  H.  Art. 

Bovey,  Nicholas Sergt.  4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Bovey,  Thomas  L 50th  Inf  militia 

Bowen,  Francis 28th  Inf. 

Bowen,  James  W Navy 

Bowen,  Thomas  E Ist  H.  Art 

Bower,  Anton 23d  Inf. 

Bowler,  Henry  A.,  1st  H.  Art.  ;  died  Andersonville 
Prison. 

Bownar,  John 22d  Inf.  ;  23d  Inf. 

Boyce,  Henry 13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf.  militia 

Boyce,  John  F.,  ItU  Bat.  L.  Art.;  died  in  service. 

Boyd,  George Navy 

Boyle,  Michael  W 1st  Sergt.  yth  Inf- 

Brackett,  Warren 2d  H.  Art. 

Bradford,  Francis Navy 

Bradley,  James Navy 

Bradley,  John Ist  H.  Art.  ;  died  of  wounds 

Brady,  Edward 9th  Inf. 

Brady,  .Tames 23d  Inf;  2d  Inf. 

Brady,  Patrick  B 9th  Inf  ;  32d  Inf. 

Brady,  Thomas Navy 

Braman,  John Navy 

Bray,  G.Parker IstH.  Art. 

Bray,  Isaac Navy 

Breed,  Elbridge  H 3d  H.  Art. 

Breed,  Franks 62d  Inf. 

Breed,  Otis  J 3d  H.  Art. 

Brennan,  Michael 4th  H.  Art. 

Brickley,  John 11th  Inf 

Briggs,  Edward  L.  P 1th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Briggs,  Henry  F.,  5th  Inf.  militia ;  detailed  in  Navy 

Brigham,  Azel  P Pr.  Mus.  11th  Inf. 

Brigham,  William  H.  B Mus.  11th  Inf 

Britton,  John 3d  Cav. 

Broderick,  Dennis 9th  Inf.;  61st  Inf. 

Brooks,  Horace  A.,  oOth  Inf.  militia  ;  1st  Bat'n  F. 
Cav. 

Brooks,  Joseph  H 8th  Inf.  militia 

Brooks,  Richard 20th  Inf.  ;  killed 

Brooks,  Samuel  H 23d  luf.  ;  died  of  wounds 

Brown,  August Navy 

Brown,  Albert  W..8th  Inf  militia  ;  7th  Inf  militia 

Brown,  Augustus 23d  Inf.  ;  died  in  service 

Brown,  Augustus,  1st  Sergt.  50th  Inf.  militia  ;  1st 

Sergt.  13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf  militia. 
Brown,  Benjamin  K.,  Sergt.  5th  Inf.  militia  ;  Wag- 
oner, 3d  Cav. 

Brown,  Charles Navy 

Brown,  Charles Navy 

Brown,  Charles  A Corp.  48th  Inf.  militia 

Brown,  Charles  W 62d  Inf. 

Brown,  Edmund  A Navy 

Brown,  Elbridge  K 8th  Inf.  militia 

Brown,  Ezra  L 23d  Inf 

Brown,  Ezra  W 23d  Inf 

Brown,  Frederick  C 13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf  militia 

Brown,  George  A.,  8th  Bat.  L.  Art. ;  died  in  service 
Brown,  George  L 22d  Inf. 


Brown,  George  A.,  oth  luf  ;  Corp.  19th  Inf  ;  died 

of  wounds. 

Brown,  George  0 19th  Inf. 

Brown,  Henry  F Mus.  23d  Inf. 

Brown,  Henry,  jr 30th  Inf. 

Brown,  Herbert  A Navy 

Brown,  Jeremiah  W 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Brown,  James 1st  H.  Art. 

Brown,  James 9th  Inf. 

Brown,  James Navy 

Brown,  James  H 1st  H.  Art. 

Brown,  James  R Navy 

Brown,  John  B Mus.  7th  Inf. 

Brown,  John  B 11th  Inf.  ;  died  of  wounds 

Brown,  John  H , Navy 

Brown,  Oliver 24th  Inf. 

Brown,  Patrick 1st  Cav. 

Brown,  Samuel 1st  H.  Art. 

Brown,  Patrick 24th  Inf. 

Brown,  Samuel  A S.  C. 

Brown,  Thomas  E 1st  H.  Art. 

Brown,  Thomas  W 48th  Inf.  militia 

Brown,  William 22d  Inf. 

Brown,  William  P ooth  Inf.  militia 

Brown,  George  A 8th  Bat'n  L.  Art. 

Browne,  John  B Mus.  S.  C. 

Browning,  Clement  A Corp.  3d  H.  Art. 

Bruce,  Robert  P Corp.  IstH.  Art. 

Bruce,  Sullivan Navy 

Bryant,  Enoch,  jr 19th  Inf. 

Bryant,  Timothy  W oOth  Inf.  militia 

Buckley,  Bartholomew  S 1st  H.  Art. 

Buckley,  John 5th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Buckley,  Patrick 1st  H.  Art. 

Buckley,  Timothy Navy 

Bufifani,  Charles  C S.  C. 

Buffum,  George  W 23d  Inf 

Buker,  William  H 16th  Inf. 

Bullock,  Attwood  C Ist  H.  Art. 

Bulger,  Jame.s 5th  Inf  militia  ;  Sergt.  40th  Inf. 

Bulger,  Patrick 2d  Cav. 

Bumpus,  Elisha Navy 

Burbank,  Nathan  P 2d  Inf. 

Burchstead,  David  W Corp.  23d  Inf 

Burding,  Edward  W 5th  Inf. 

Burg,  William  R (See  Berry,  William  R.) 

Burgess,  Charles  II.,  2d  H.  Art.  ;  3d  Cav.  ;  died  in 

service. 

Burgess.  William  H Artificer  3d  H.  Art. 

Burke,  Michael 4th  Cav. 

Burke,  Richard 9th  Inf. 

Burnes,  Charles  E 12th  Inf. 

Burnes,  George  W 12th  Inf.  ;  died  of  wounds 

Burnham,  Joseph  P 3d  Cav. 

Burnham,  John 9th  luf 

Burns,  John 9th  Inf. 

Burns,  John 11th  luf  ;  killed. 

Burns,  John  H 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Burrill,  Francis  A 1st  H.  Art. 

Busted,  Andrew Sergt.  4()th  Inf 

Buswell,  John  H 2d  Cav.  ;  61st  Inf. 

Butler,  Benjamin  F 39th  Inf  ;  trans.  Navy 

Butler,  Charles 4th  Cav. 

Butman,  George,A.,  Mus.  59th  Inf.  ;  died  in  service 

Bvitman,  Luther  C 22d  Inf.  ;  trans.  32d  Inf. 

Buton,  Maurice Navy 

Butterfield,  Hiram 17th  Inf. 

Buxton,  Alonzo  I) 1st  H.  Art. 

Buxton,  Augustus 1st  H.  Art. 

Buxton,  Charles  W Wagoner,  17th  Inf. 

Buxton,  Edward  H 4th  Cav. 

Buxton,  George,  jr Wagoner,  17th  Inf. 

Buxton,  George  B 5th  Inf.  militia 

Buxton,  George-F.,  5th  Inf.  militia  ;  Q.  M.  Sergt.  2d 

H.  Ai-t. 

Buxton,  George  E S.  C. 

Buxton,  John 41st  Inf. 


SALEM. 


215 


Buxton,  John  H 1st  H.  Art. 

Buxton,  Samuel  H 5th  Inf.  militia 

Buxton,  Thomas,  1st  H.  Art. ;  died  Andersonville 
prison. 

Cadieu,  Cliarles  H Navy 

Cain,  Patrick Oth  Inf. 

Cahill,  Bartholomew. ..4th  H.  Art.     Died  in  service 

Callahan,  John 48tli  Inf.  militia;  Itli  H.  Art. 

Callahan,  Patrick 'Jth  Inf. 

Calavaean,  Charles 2'2d  Inf.  ;  killed 

Call,  Aaron  W Corp.  loth  Inf. 

Call,  Isaac 40th  Inf.  ;  V.  R.  C. 

Call,  George litth  Inf. 

Call,  George  A 1st  H.  Art. 

Call,  George  A 23d  Inf. 

Call,  Samuel  L Bat'n  G.,  M  Penn. 

Call,  Thomas  S I7th  Unat.  Co. 

Campbell,  John  C Ist  H.  Art. 

Campion,  Edward  J 20th  Inf. 

Campion,  Patrick  J Sergt.  20th  Inf. 

Cane,  Thomas 28th  Inf. 

Caras,  Lattara 19th  Inf. 

Carey,  George  A Navy 

Carey,  Hugh 'jth  Inf. 

Carey,  James 32d  Inf.  ;  died  in  service 

Carey,  John iith  Inf. 

Carlin,  Samuel 2d  Inf. 

Carroll,  Charles 13th  Unat.  Co. 

Cai'roll,  James 1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Carroll,  Peter 1st  H.  Art. 

Carlisle,  .lohn 18th  Inf. 

Carleton,  David l'.)th  Inf. 

Carlton,  John  W 8th  luf.  militia 

Carlton,  David. ..Sergt.  23d  Inf.  ;  Missing,  supposed 
killed 

Carlton,  Joseph  G.  S  Corp.  23d  Inf. 

Carney,  Richard Corp.  '.tth  Inf. 

Carr,  Thomas  F 3d  H.  Art. 

Carr,  William  H 7th  Inf.  militia 

Carpenter,  Isaac  W 3d  Cav. 

Carter,  AVilliam  H Tth  Inf.  militia 

Carter,  William  H...Corp.  13th  Unat.  Co. ;  4th  Cav. 

Carter,  Simon. 

Casey,  Daniel 20th  Inf. 

Casey,  Daniel  (David) 13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf. 

Casey,  Thomas Navy 

Cashin,  David Corp.  llth  Inf. 

Cashion,  Robert Oth  Inf. 

Caspersen,  .John  P 12th  Inf.  ;  killed 

Cassidy,  James 23d  Inf. 

Oassidy,  James 2d  H.  Art. 

Cassell,  Charles  C,  54th  Inf.  (colored) ;  trans.  65th 
Inf.  (colored). 

Cassell,  John  M.,  .54th  Inf.   (colored)  ;  trans.  55th 
Inf.  (colored). 

Cashron,  John l.'th  Unat.  Co.  Inf. 

Caswell,  George  A S.  C. 

Gate,  John  H 19th  Inf.  ;  trans.  Navy 

Gate,  Samuel  A 5th  Inf.  militia  ;  Navy 

Chalk,  Henry  T Corp.  1st  H.  Art. 

Chamberlain,  Luther  L Sergt.  2d  H.  Art. 

Chamberlain,  Charles  E.  A. 

Chamberlain,  Garland  A. ..Sergt  29th  Unat.  Co.  H. 
Art. ;  3d  H.  Art. 

Chambers,  John  W 1st  H.  Art. 

Chandler,  Benjamin  F 2d  Cav. 

Chandler,  Isaac  H..Corp.  SOth  Inf.  ;  .50th  Inf.  mil- 
itia ;  died  of  wounds. 

Chandler,  John Corp.  6th  Inf.  militia 

Chandler,  George  A 7th  Inf.  militia;  Navy 

Channell,  George  W 3d  H.  Art. 

Chapman,  Joseph  R 4th  H.  Art. 

Chapman,  Lewis  A 4th  Bat.  L.  Art  ;  trans.  13th 

Bat. 

Chapplf,  William  F 8th  Inf.  militia  ;  23d  Inf. 

Chase,  Benjamin  E 7th  Inf.  militia 


Chase,  Charles  H..36th  Inf.  ;  Hosp.  Stew.  U.  S.  Vols. 

Chase,  Charles  P ..Corp.  24th  Inf. 

Chase,  George Navy 

Chase,  George  E 48th  Inf.  militia 

Chase,  Jacob  C .55th  Inf.  (colored) 

Chase,  John  R 4Sth  Inf.  militia 

Chase,  John  R 57th  Inf.;  59th  Inf. 

Chase,  Lyman  A 2d  H.  Art. 

Cheney,  Joseph  H 7th  Inf.  militia 

Cheney, Richard  R.  W 62d  Inf. 

Chesley,  Charles  H,  jr 24th  luf. 

Chesley,  Edward  A 4th  H.  Art. 

Chessman,  Charles  H ,50th  Inf.  militia 

Chick,  Daniel 3d  H.  Art. 

Chick,  William  II luth  Inf. 

Childs,  Charles  N Navy 

Chip)iian,  James  G 1st  H.  Art. 

Chipman    William  F.  T 3d  H.  Art. 

Chipnian,  William  H l:'.th  Unat.  Co.  Inf. 

Chipman,  Andrew  T 17th  Inf. 

Chism,  William 20th  Inf. 

Chitman,  William  H 13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf. 

Chrystal,  Samuel 10th  Inf. 

Chute,  Isaiah 7th  Inf.  militia 

Chute,  Rupart  J ]\Ius.  Tth  Inf.  militia 

Claiborne,  George  C 3d  Cav. 

Clatlin,  William  H Sth  Inf.  militia 

Clark  Albion  J 23d  Inf. 

Clark,  Charles  A.  D  Sergt.  4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Clark,  Edward  A 5th  Inf.  militia  ;  29th  Inf. 

Clark,  Henry  M Corp.  4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Clark,  Charles  P Ist  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Clark,  John  A 19th  Inf.  ;  killed 

Clark,  John  F....1st  H.  Art  ;  Corp.  5th  Inf.  militia 

Clark,  John  W r,2d  Inf. 

Clark,  Patrick Navy 

Clark,  Patrick 29th  Inf. 

Clark,  Sylvester  W 5th  Inf.  militia  ;  24th  Inf.  ; 

killed 

Clark,  William Navy 

Clark,  William  B 5{lth  Inf.  militia 

Clark,  William  W 23d  Inf. 

Clarrage,  Edward  D.' (F.) 1st  H.  Art. 

Clarrage,  James  0 llth  Inf.;  Navy 

Clements,  Charles  H 2d  Co  Sharps 

Clemons,  William  H 5th  Inf.  militia  ;  2d  Co. 

Sharps 
Clough,  Robert  P.,  1st  Sergt.  6th  Inf.  militia,  S.  C. 

Clough,  William  H 3d  H.  Art. 

Clough,  William  H.  (V.) 17th  Inf. 

Clynes,  Frank  H Corp.  23d  Inf. 

Clynes,  John oth  Inf. 

Coburn,  Geo.  E .Hth  Inf.  (colored). 

Cocklin,  John Oth  Inf 

Cokclin,  John  J.  (I.) Corp.  1st  H.  Art. 

Cochrain,  George 39th  Inf. 

Cochran,  Daniel 9th  Inf. 

Cochran,  James llth  Inf. 

Cochran,  James Corp.  40th  Inf. 

Cochran,  John 2d  Inf.  ;  killed,  1862 

Cochran,  Thomas  H 24th  Inf. 

Cochrane,  James 1st  Bat'n  H.  .\rt.  ;  trans,  nav}' 

Cochrey,  Bartholomew Oth  Inf. 

Cogau,  John Oth  Inf. 

Cogger,  James 4th  H.  Art. 

Coggin,  Thomas 48th  Inf.  militia. 

Cogswell,  Epes,  Artificer  4th  Bat.  L.  Art.  ;  died  in 

service. 

Cohane,  John Sergt.  llth  Inf. 

Colcord,  David  B 1st  H.  Art. 

Cole,  Robert Killed. 

Coleman,  Patrick 2d  Inf. 

Collier,  Charles  D 1st  H.  Art. 

Collier,  John  F 4th  H.  Art. 

Collins,  Charles  H 23d  Inf. 

Collins,  Edward  A.,  13th  Unat.   Co.  Inf.   militia, 

23d  Inf. 


Collins,  Cornelius  F 3d  H.  Art. 

Collins,  Edward,  jr S.  C. 

Collins,  George  W 23d  Inf. 

Collins,  Jeremiah .'iOth  Maine  Vols. 

Collins,  John  G 4th  Cav. 

CoHin-s,  John  H 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Collins,  John llth  Inf. 

Colony,  Moses  G. 

Colman,  Benjamin  F S.  C. 

Colnian,  George  B.,  54th  Inf.  (colored)  ;  trans.  55th 
Inf.  (colored). 

Colwell,  Patrick 48th  Inf.  militia,  3d  H.  Art. 

Conant,  George  W 62d  Inf. 

Coney,  Charles  W.,  1st  II.  Art. ;  died  Andersonville 

Prison. 

Conner,  Patrick 1st  H.  Art. 

Conners,  Cornelius 2d  Cav. 

Connolly,  James Oth  Inf. 

Connors,  Jeremiah 2d  Inf. 

Connor,  Henry 2d  Inf. 

Converse,  Francis  T Bugler  2d  H.  Art. 

Converse,  Augustus 2d  Cav.  ;  mus.  10th  Inf. 

Converse,  Josiah  L.,  Bugler  2d  H.  Art.:  nius.  19th 

Inf. 

Conway,  Dennis Sergt.  62d  Inf. 

Conway,  James.,  13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf.  militia  ;  Sergt. 

62d  Inf. 

Coogan,  John 9th  Inf. 

Cook,  Adelbert  P Ist  H.  Art. 

Cook,   David   N.,    ITtli    Inf.,   13th    Unat.  Co.   Inf. 

militia. 

Cook,  Frank 22d  Inf.  ;  Navy. 

Cook,  George  B 50th  Inf.  militia. 

Cook,  George  W .">oth  Inf  militia. 

Cook,  Jeremiah V.  R.  C. 

Cook,  Peter  S llth  Inf. 

Cook,  William  S 2.3d  Inf. 

Copeland,   George  A S.  C;  ;    50th  Inf.   militia; 

23d  Inf. 

Corcoran,  Daniel oth  Inf. 

Corcoran,  John 2d  Inf. 

Corrigan,  Daniel 10th  Inf. 

Corrigan,  John   2TthUnat.  Co.  Inf. 

Cottle,  Alfred Ist  H.  Art. 

Cottle,  Samuel 19th  Inf.  ;  trans.  Navy. 

Cotter,  Simon 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Cottrell,  William  A 1st  H.  Art. 

Coughlin,  Edmund  C 28th  Inf. 

Coughlin,  John 9th  Inf. 

Coughlin,  Thomas  H Wagoner  24th  Inf. 

Cousins^  Joseph  H 13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf.  militia. 

Cowee,  George  L...4th  Bat.  L.  Art. ;  died  in  service. 

Cowley,  John  H Lst  H.  Art.,  V.  R.  C. 

Cowley,  Richard 3d  H.  Art. 

Crane,  Albert  J 2d  Go.  Sharps. 

Crawford,  James,  Corp.  Ist  Cav.  (Co.  K,  New  Bat. 

Cav.). 

Crawford,  Wallace 15th  Inf.  ;   trans.  20th  Inf. 

Creden,  Cornelius Oth  Inf. 

Critchet,  Charles  E 24th  Inf. 

Crocker,  Josiah  M 23d  Inf. 

Cronan,  Jeremiah 1st  Sergt.  9th  Inf. 

Cronan,  John let  Bat'n.  H.  Art. 

Cronin,  John 61st  Inf. 

Cronin,  Patrick 17th  Inf. 

Cross,  George 48th  Inf.  militia. 

Cross,  George  W.,  1st  H.  Art.  ;  died  Andersonville 

Prison. 

Crosson,  James  F 2d  Inf. 

Crowley,  Jeremiah 22d  Inf. 

Crowley,  Florance 42d  Inf. 

Crowley,  Philip 30th  Inf.  ;  died  in  service. 

Crewell,  Freeman llth  Inf. 

Cullen,  John llth  Inf. 

Cummings,  Edward  D 12th  Inf. 

Cunningham,  John Navy. 

Cunningham,  John  J Ist  Bat'n.  H.  Art. 


216 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Cunningham,  Lawrence 9th  Inf. 

Cunningham,  Matthew,  Corp.  1st.  Bat'n.   H.   Art., 
11th  Inf. 

Cunningham,  Thomas 19th  Inf.;  trans.  Navy. 

Cunningham,  William  W 11th  Inf. 

Cunniff,  Martin Pr.  Mus.  40th  Inf. 

Curran,  John ITth  Inf. 

Currier,  Charles  W Ist  H.  Art, 

Curtis,  Alonzo 57th  Inf,  59th  Inf 

Curtis,  Jacob 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Cutler,  Nathan  P Ist  Sergt.  1st  H.  Art. 

Cutts,  Benjamin S.  C. 

Cutts,  Richard  A S.  C. 

Cusick,  Patrick 9th  Inf 

Cusick,  Patrick 9th  Inf 

Dailey.John 9th  Inf 

Dailey,  Patrick 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Dailey,  Thomas 62d  Inf 

Daley,  Bartholomew 41st  Inf 

Daley,  Charles  P Sergt.  2cl  H.  Art. 

Daley,  James 22d  Inf  ;  killed. 

Daley,  James  P 19th  Inf  ;  V.  R.  C. 

Daley,  John 4th  Bat,  L.  Art. 

Daley,  Jeremiah 1st  Inf 

Daley,  Lewis  T 62d  Inf 

Daley,  Patrick ..18th  Unat.  Co.  Inf  militia. 

Daley,  Timothy 2d  Inf 

Dalrymple,  George 50th  Inf  militia. 

Dalrymple,  George  AV...13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf.  militia. 

Dalrymple,  Simon  0 8th  Inf  militia. 

Dalrymple,  William  H Corp.  .50th  Inf  militia. 

Dalton,  Charles  H Sergt.  S.  C 

Dalton,  Eleazer  M.,  Jr Ist  H.  Art. ;  killed. 

Dalton,  James 2d  H.  Art.,  22d  Inf 

Dalton,  Sepherino  M Sergt.  Ist  H.  Art. 

Dalton,  Patrick 40th  Inf.,  V.  R.  C. 

Dalton,  William  T S.  C. 

Danforth,  George Corp.  62d  Inf 

Danforth,  Robert  K  Corp.  1st  Bat'n.  H.  Art. 

Daniels,  Edward  A 48th  Inf.  militia. 

Daniels,  John  B...5th  Inf  militia,  48th  Inf  militia. 

Daniels,  William Corp.  48th  Inf  militia. 

Daniels,  William  F Sergt.  23d  Inf 

Daniels,  William,  Jr 23d  Inf 

Danlgan,  Thomas 40th  Inf 

Darcy,  James. 

Darcy,  Michael Navy. 

Darcy,  Thomas 9th  Inf 

Davenport,  David 5th  Inf.  militia. 

Davis,  Andrew  L Ist  H.  Art. 

Davis,  Benjamin  F...26th  Inf  ;  trans.  5th  U.  S.  Art. 
Davis,  Charles  W... Sergt.  23d  Inf,  5th  Inf  militia. 

Davis,  George 5th  Art.,  IT.  S.  C.  T. 

Davis,  George  A Sergt.  1st  H.  Art. 

Davis,  James  D.,  4th  Bat.  L.  Art.  ;    died  in  service. 

Davis,  Jefferson  R Mus.  2d  H.  Art. 

Davis,  Samuel Corp.  40th  Inf. 

Davis,  Warren  P Corp.  S.  C. 

Day,  John 4th  Vt.  Vols. 

Day,  John Navy. 

Day,  John  M Corp.  3d  Cav. 

Dean,  Charles  S 4th  Cav. 

Dearborn,  Henry  F Navy. 

Deboa,  James 9th  Inf  ;  V.  R.  C. 

Deland,  Alfred  N Corp.  1st  H.  Art. 

Deland,  Charles Navy. 

Delmer,  Henry 28th  Inf.  ;  Navy. 

Dempsey,  James 9th  Inf 

Derby,  Charles  W 1st  H.  Art. 

Derby,  Pertey 23d  Inf  ;  V.  R.  C 

Derwin  (or  Dervin),  Michael 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Desmond,  Dennis 9th  Inf 

Desmond,  John 1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Desmond,  John 17th  Inf. 

Devine,  John 17th  Inf. 

Devine,  Michael 9th  Inf. 


Dickson,  Augustus 4th  Cav. 

Dinsmore,  William 9th  Inf. 

Dix,  Charles  E Navy. 

Dix,  James Navy. 

Dockham,  William  S 48th  Inf.  militia. 

Dodd,  James Navy. 

Dodge,  Charles  W 5th  Inf  militia. 

Dodge,  Charles  P.,  Jr S.  C. 

Dodge,  GeorgeA 47th  Inf 

Dodge,  Eben  P 23d  Inf 

Dodge,  Joseph  H Gth  Inf.  ;  died  in  service. 

Dodge,  Joseph  R..50th  Inf.  militia  ;  died  in  service. 

Dodge,  Judson  F Navy. 

Dolan,  Patrick 9th  Inf 

Doniinick,  Joseph 5th  Inf.  militia  ;  29th  Inf. 

Donahoe,  Patrick  F 7th  Inf  ;  2d  Cav. 

Donahue,  Thomas,  4th  Bat.  L.  Art.  ;  died  in  ser- 
vice. 

Donegan,  Thomas 5th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Donelly,  Patrick  0 9th  Inf 

Donovan,  John 9th  Inf. 

Donovan,  Patrick  H Corp.  17th  Inf 

Donovan,  Timothy 4th  H.  Art. 

Dougherty,  Michael  S 1st  H.  Art. 

Douglass,  Albert,  48th  Inf  militia  ;  Trans.  2d  R.  I. 
Cav. 

Douglass,  Albert Navy. 

Douglass,  Alberto....  ...8th  Inf.  Militia;  19th  Inf 

Dow,  George  AV 5th  Inf 

Dowdell,  Charles 9th  Inf 

Downing,  Henry  W.,  Corp.  S.  C.  ;  Sergt.  2d  H. 
Art. 

Dowst,  Joshua  W.,  Sergt.  Oth  Inf.  militia;  3d  Cav. 

Drahan,  Nicholas V.  R.  C. 

Draper,  William  M Hosp.  Stew.  U.  S.  A. 

Dresser,  Charles  F 1st  H.  Art.  ;  died  in  service. 

Driscoll,  John 9th  Inf 

Driscoll,  John  0 12th  Inf 

Driscoll,  Timothy 9th  Inf 

Driver,  Samuel 19th  Inf 

Driver,  Stephen  P Q  M.  Sergt.  23d  Inf. 

Drown,  William  P 5th  Inf  militia. 

Dudley,  Warren  23d  Inf 

Duffee,  John  R 4th  Bat,  L.  Art. 

Duggan,  Morty 48th  Inf  militia. 

Duggan,  William 9th  Inf 

Dunham,  Nicholas 13th  U.  S.  V.  R.  C. 

Dunn,  James 19th  Inf 

Dunnigan,  John Navy. 

Dunnegan,  Thomas 5th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Durgin,  Thomas .59th  Inf.  ;  trans.  57th  Inf. 

Dupar,  William  G Navy. 

Dutra,  Theodore 2d  Unat.  Co. 

Dwight,  Freeman 27th  Inf 

Dwinell,  David  L.  M Sergt.  1st  H.  Art, 

Dwinell,  William  P.,  13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf  militia; 
4th  Bat.  L.Art.  ;  trans.  13th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Eagan,  Richard  F 13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf.  militia 

Easterbe,  Thomas  W 7th  Inf  militia. 

Eastley,  Alfred 19th  Inf. 

Eaton,  Alpheus 5th  Inf  militia. 

Eaton,  Horace  D .50th  Inf.  militia. 

Eck,  William 22d  Inf 

Edgerly,  Charles  E 23d  Inf 

Edgerley,  Samuel  A Sergt.  24th  Inf. 

Edwards,  George 23d  Inf. 

Edwards,  George  K V.  R.  C. 

Edwards,  George  W.,  Corp.  40th  Inf  ;   died  in  ser- 
vice. 
Edwards,  John   L.,  5th    Inf.  militia  ;    4th   Bat.  L. 
Art. ;  detailed  as  sailor,  1861. 

Edwards,  Joseph 2d  N.  Y. 

Edwards,  Richard  L 24th  Inf 

Edwards,  William 19th  Inf 

Edwards,  William  P Corp.  19th  Inf 

Emmerson,  Charles  H 2d  Inf  ;  killed. 


English,  James  W 6th  Inf  militia. 

Entwistle,  Thomas 23d  Inf 

Enwright,  James 19th  Inf. 

Estes,  George  H 1st  H.  Art. ;  killed. 

Estes,  John  F.,  Mus.  13th   Unat,  Co. ;   Corp.  1st 
Bat'n  F.  Cav. 

Estes,  William  P.  R 19th  Inf 

Evans,  Daniel 11th  Inf. 

Evans,  George  (E) 6th  Inf  militia;  Navy. 

Evans,  James  G , 20th  Inf 

Evans,  William 50th  Inf.  militia;  3d  H.  Art. 

Fabens,  William  P 3d  H.  Art.;  died  in  service. 

Fairfield,  John  H 1st  Bat'n  H.Art. 

Fairfield,  Samuel  G 1st  H.  Art. 

Fairfield,  William IstH.  Art. 

Fairfield,  William 3d  H.  Art.  ;  V.  R.  C. 

Fairfield,  William 22d  Inf 

Fairley,  Alexander 19th  Inf. 

Farley,  Charles  (M) IstH.  Art. 

Farley,  George  E 48th  Inf.  militia. 

Farley,  James  H 23d  Inf 

Farmer,  Joseph  P IstH.  Art. 

Fallon,  Patrick 17th  Inf. 

Farnham,  George  A 4th  Cav. 

Farnum,  Henry  A 32d  Inf 

Farrell,  Edward 4th  H.  Art. 

Farrell,  John 9th  Inf 

Farrell,  John 3d  H.  Art.;  trans.  Navy. 

Farrell,  Robert 9th  Inf.;  killed. 

Farrell,  Owen 22d  Inf 

Farrell,  William 5th  Inf  militia. 

Faunce,  Moses  D Artificer  4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Feldgen,  Hiram  S Sergt.  17th  Inf. 

Felt,  David  H 17th  Inf. 

Fennell,  John 62d  Inf 

Ferguson,  George  P 1st  H.  Art. 

Ferguson,  Samuel  A.,  5th  Inf.  militia  ;    1st  H.  Art. 

Ferrick,  James 62d  Inf. 

Ferris,  Edward 22dlnf 

Fessenden,  George 2d  Cav. 

Field,  Charles V.  R.  C. 

Field,  Joseph  (John)  W 8th  Inf  militia. 

Fields,  Robert  M 17th  Inf. 

Fillebrown,  Charles  F 1st  H.  Art. 

Finley,  Edward. ..30th    Inf.    militia;    died  in  ser- 
vice. 

Finngan,  Thomas Navy^ 

Firth,  John  A 2d  H.  Art. 

Fischer,  William  L.  (F) 23d  Inf 

Fish,  Charles  W 23d  Inf.  ;  died  in  service. 

Fisher,  Francis  A Corp.  3d  H.  Art. 

Figke,  Peter 19th  Inf 

Fitch,  John 19th  Inf. 

Fitzgerald,  Conrad 2d  Inf 

Fitzgerald,  George Navy. 

Fitzgerald,  Michael 3d  H.  Art. 

Fitzgerald,  Terrance 3d  Cav. 

Fitzgerald,  Timothy. 

Fitzgerald,  William Navy. 

Fitzgerald,  John 9th  Inf  ;  trans.  32d  Inf. 

Flahertj',  Thomas 9th  Inf 

Flakefield,  Charles 2d  H.  Art.  ;  died  of  wounds. 

Flakefield,  John,  jr 38th  Inf  militia. 

Flannigan,  Nicholas  Navy. 

Flannigan,  Thomas Navy. 

Fleet,  George 1st  H.  Art.  ;  killed. 

Flemmiug,  Hugh Navy. 

Flemming,  ]Michael Navy. 

Fletcher,  Francis  H Sergt.  54th  Inf.  (colored) 

Flood,  John 6th  Inf  militia  ;  48th   Inf  militia. 

Flowers,  William  H.,.jr 1st  H.Art. 

Flynn,  Thomas  23d  Inf. 

Fogg,  James  W Navy. 

Foley,  James 3d  Cav.,  62d  Inf. 

Folsom,  Nathaniel  F 1st  H.  Art. 

Foote,  George  F 48th  Inf.  militia 


SALEM. 


217 


Foote,  John  0 1st  H.  Art.  (Band). 

Foote,  Moses  F....4tli  Bat.  L.  Art.  ;  died  in  service. 

Forbes.  Cliarles lltli  Inf. 

Ford,  Charles  T 24th  Inf. 

Ford,  Jeremiah  L 4Sth  Inf.  militia. 

Ford,  Samuel  A Navy. 

Ford,  Stephen. 

Forness,  William  F.  (L) 23d  Inf. 

Foss,  John  G 50th  Inf.  militia  ;  3d  H.  Art. 

Foas,  John  Ij 23d  Inf. 

Foster,  Isaac  P.,  jr Sergt.  S.  C. 

Foster,  John  M Uosp.  titevf.  5th  Inf.  militia. 

Foster,  Charle.s  W 1st  H.  Art. 

Foster,  Patrick 1st  11.  Ait.  ;  died  in  service. 

Foster,  William  J S.  G. 

Fountain,  James  W 55th  Int.  (colored) 

Fountain,  William 51th  Inf.,  trans.  55th  Inf. 

(colored). 

Fowler,  Newton  G 7th  Inf.  nulitia. 

Fowler,  Edward Navy. 

Fowler,  Samuel  M.,   Corp.   lot  H.  Art.  ;  died  An- 
dersonville  Prison. 

Fowler,   William  T.,  8th   Inf.  militia;    Sergt.  23d 
inf.  ;   killed. 

Fowler,  William  W Navy. 

Fox,  Lawrence IVtli  Inf. 

Foye,  Edward Navy. 

Francis,   Joseph,    48th    Inf.    militia;    59th    Inf.  ; 
killed. 

Francis,  Moses  F Navy. 

Franklin,  George 28th  Inf. 

French,  Harry  B 5Gth  Inf. 

French,  John G2d  Inf. 

Freeze,  Noah  L luth  Inf.;  47th  Inf.  militia. 

Friend,  Joel  M 50th  Inf.  militia. 

Friend,  Alfred — Corp.  24th  Inf.  ;    died  of  wounds. 

Friend,  Frederick Navy. 

Friman.Karl 22d  Inf. 

Frothingham,  Gustavus,  1st  H.  Art.;   died  in  ser- 
vice. 

Frothingham,    John    F.,    1st    H.    Art.  ;    died    of 
wounds. 

Frye,  Alfred,  1st  II.  Art.  ;  died  Andersouville  Prison. 

Frye,  Daniel  M 12th  Inf.,  V.  R.  0. 

Furbush,  Edward  W 20th  Inf. 

Furtony,  Michael Navy. 

Full,  William  L 1st.  H.  Art. 

Fuller,  Charles  G U.  S.  Signal  Corps. 

FuUum,  John 17th  Inf.  militia. 

Gaflney,  Christopher. 

Gage,  Andrew  J 2d  Co.  Sharps. 

Galarcar,  Charles.     See  Calaracan,  Charles. 

Galivan,  Michael 13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf. 

Gallagher,  Joseph Navy. 

Gallagher,  Thomas 17th  Inf. 

Gallagher,  William  G Ist  Bat'n  F.  Cav. 

Gallnear,  Charles 2d  Co.  Sharps.;  killed. 

Gallucia,  Hezekiah  A  3d  H.  Art. 

Galloway,  F.  N  Navy. 

Galloway,  John  H liyth  Inf. 

Gammon,   James 1st  H.  Art. 

Gauley,  John  H 9th  Inf.;  killed 

Gannon,  John 4th  H.  Art. 

Gaunop,  John 9th  Inf. 

Gardner,  Abel 5lh  Inf.  militia  ;  2d  Co.  Sharps. 

Gardner,  Albert  G Pr.  Mus.  23d  Inf. 

Gardner,  Benjamiu  B 2d  Inf. 

Gardner,  Charles  H 40th  Inf. 

Gardnei',  Benjamin  F 29th  Inf. 

Gardner,  Charles  W.,  5th  Inf.  militia  ;  S.  C.  ;  Navy. 

Gardner,  Charles  W 50th  Inf.  militia. 

Gardner,  Edward  L  47th  Inf.  militia. 

Gardner,  George  A Navy. 

Gardner,  Horace  B 1st  H.  Art. 

Gardner,  Howard  P 1st  H.  Art. 

Gardner,  John Mus.  7th   Inf.  militia. 

14^ 


Gardner,  James  W .2d  Co.  Sharps.,  22d  Inf. 

Giardner,  Benjamin  S. 

Gardner,  Joseph  D S.  C. 

Gardner,  Robert 2d  Inf. 

Gardner,  William 3d  U.  S.  Art. 

Gardner,  William  D S.  C. 

Gardner,  William  H 5th  Inf.  militia. 

Gardner,  William  H..      48th  Inf.  militia. 

Garney,  John  W 23d  Inf. 

Garrity,  John 30th  Inf. 

Garrity,  Patrick,  4th  Bat.    L.  Art.,  trans.  13th  Bat. 

Gass,  William  H Navy. 

Gebow,  James Navy. 

Geigle,  Edward Sergt.  9th  Inf. 

Getchell,  Charles  E Corp.  S.C. 

Getchell,  Charles  L 23d  Inf.  ;  died  in  service. 

Getchell,  Edward  E 2.1d  Inf. 

Getchell,  George  F 1st  H.  Art. 

Getchell,  James  A Ist  H.  Art. 

Getchell,  Stephen  0 IstH.  Art. 

Gibbions,  Lyman  0 62d  Inf. 

Gibbs,  William,  54th  Inf.,  trans.  55th  luf.  (colored); 

killed. 

Gibson,  John   F 3d  H.  Art. 

Gifford,  Charles  P. ..1st  Co.  Sharps.;  died  in  service. 
Gifl'ord,  Frank,  7th  Inf.  militia ;    4th  Cav.;  died  in 

service. 

Giles,  CharlesH Mh  Inf.  militia. 

Giles,  Israel 19th  Inf. 

Gillespie,  James  S Ist  H.  ."Vrt. 

Gillespie,  Joseph  A 23d  Inf. 

Gilley,  George  S 2d  H.  Art.,  trans.  Navy. 

Gillon,  Hugh 11th  Inf.;  died  in  service. 

Gilman,  Charles  B  14th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Gilman,  John  T 5th  Inf.  militia. 

Gilman,  Joseph 4th  Bat.  L.  Art.,  trans.  V.  R.  C. 

Gilman,  Simon  F 14th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Glazier,  James  E.  (B) 23d  Inf. 

Glazier,  George  W S.  C. 

Glass,  George Navy. 

Gleasoa,  John 29th  Unat.  Co.,  H.  Art. 

Glidden,  Joseph  H 5th  Inf.  militia. 

Glover,  James,  Jiv See  Grover. 

Glover,  Joseph  N 48th  Inf.  militia. 

Glover,  Henry  B lltli  Inf.;  killed. 

Glover,  William  li 48th  Inf.  mililia. 

Glover,  George  D Sergt.  S.  C. 

Goldsmith,  William  H 4th  N.  H.  Vols. 

Guldthwaite  Benjamin  F 23d  Inf. 

Goldthwaite,  Charles  A 9th  Bat.  L.   Art. 

Goldthwaite,  George  C S.  C. 

Goldthwaite,  Luther  M 1st  H.  Art. 

Goldthwaite,  Warren  P 1st  Bat'n  F.  Cav. 

Goodhue,  .\mos  D o2d  Inf.,  trans.  V.  R.  C. 

Goodhue,  Hiram  B S.  C. 

Goodhue,  John  E 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Goodrich,  William 6th  Inf.  militia. 

Goodsell,  Henry lyth  Inf. 

Goodwin,  George 19th  Inf. 

Goodwin,  Thomas 29th  Unat.  Co.  H.   Art. 

Gordon,  George  E 1st  Inf. 

Gorman,  James Ist  H.  Art. 

Gorman,  John 57th  Inf.,  trans,  from  59th  Inf. 

Gorman,  Michael Navy. 

Gorman,  Thomas  1st  H.  Art. 

Gorman,  Thomas 9th  Inf.,  trans.  V.  R.  C. 

Gorten,  Samuel Sergt.  62d  Inf. 

Goss,  CharlesH 8th  Wis. 

Gos3,  George  L 6th  Inf.  militia,  23d  Wis. 

Goss,  Samuel  (I.)  T IstH.  Art. 

Gould,  James IstN.  Y.  Excelsior  Brigade. 

Gove,  Charles  F 29th  Inf. 

Gould,  Gilman  J 2d  N.  H.  Vols. 

Grady,  Dennis Navy. 

Graham,  William,  'Jth  Inf.;  reported  killed  as  Gor- 

ham. 
Graham,  William 4th  Cav. 


Grant,  Benjamin  H S.  C. 

Grant,  Edward  H 23d  Inf. 

Graser,  Charles Navy. 

Gray,  George  A 48th  Inf.  militia. 

Gray,  George  A 4th  H.  Art. 

Gray,  Everhardt 3d  H.  Art. 

Gray,  John 3d  H.  Art. 

Gray,  John  (H.) 23d  Inf. 

Gray,  Joseph 1st  Co.  Sharps. 

Gray,  Robert 2d  N.  Y.  H.  Art. 

Gray,  William 19th  Inf. 

Greeley,  Thomas  J Corp.  24th  Inf. 

Green,  George  P Navy. 

Green,  George  W 4th  H.  Art. 

Green,  Joseph  H 1st  H.  Art.;  died  in  service. 

Green,  John Navy. 

Green,  Thomas,  13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf.  militia  ;  Corp. 
9th  Inf. 

Green,  William  R 2d  Inf. 

Greenough,  Daniel  S.,  2d  Inf.;  died  of  wounds, 
1864. 

Greencugh,  John  W.,  Jr.,  Corp.  23d  Inf.;  died  of 
wounds. 

Grieve,  Thomas V.  R.  C. 

Griffin,  Benjamin 55th  Inf.  (colored). 

Griffin,  Ebeu,  Jr S.  C. 

Griffin,  Henry,  13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf.  militia ;  6ist  Inf. 

Griffin,  John 29th  Unat.  Co.  H.  Art. 

Griffin,  Thomas 5th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Griffin,  Thomas  J 48th  Inf.  nulitia. 

Griffin,  William 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Grimes,  Charles  H.,  1st  H.  Art.  ;  29th  Unat.  Co.  H. 
Art. 

Grimes,  Israel  W 13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf.  militia. 

Grimes,  Oliver.. 1st  H.  Art. 

Grimes,  Robert 29th  Unat.  Co.  H.  Art. 

Grimes,  Warr«n  S 9th  Inf. 

Grimes,  William  H 23d  Inf. 

Grinson,  Thomas  L...12th  Inf.;  missing,  supposed 
killed. 

Grosvenor,  Edward  P 23d  Inf. 

Grover,  James,  Jr 5th  Inf.;  militia. 

Grover,  John,  Jr 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Grocer,  John  C 4th  Cav.  ;  Navy. 

Grush,  Benjamin  S Sergt.  40th  Inf. 

Guilford,  Elbridge  H.,  Corp.  5th  Inf.  militia  ;  de- 
tailed as  sailor. 

Guilford,  Samuel  W Sergt.  40th  Inf.;  killed. 

Gwinn,  Charles  H.,  Sergt.  6th  Inf.  militia;  7th 
Inf.  militia. 

Gwinn,  Edward  A.,  Corp.  4Uth  Inf. ;  died  of 
wounds. 

Hackett,  Harrison 5th   Inf.  militia,   3d  H.  Art. 

Hackett,  Michael 28th  Inf. 

Hadley,  Horace  L 5th  luf.  militia. 

Hale,  Joseph  S 48th  Inf.  militia. 

Haley,  James 62d  Inf. 

Hall,  Edwin  A 8th  Inf.  militia,  Sergt.  23d  Inf- 

Hall,  James  A Gth  Inf.  militia,    62d  Inf. 

Hall,  Thomas 22d  Inf. 

Hall,  William  H.,  5th  luf.  militia,  48th  Inf.  mi- 
litia. 

Ham,  Edwin 2d  Inf. 

Hammond,  William  G.,  Corp.  13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf. 
militia.     5()th  Inf.  militia. 

Hancock,  John  E 1st  H.  Art. 

Hanshaw,  John Navy. 

Hanson,  George 48th  Inf.  militia. 

Hanson,  John 9th  Inf.,    trans.  Navy. 

Hanson,  George  W 35th  Inf. 

Hanson,  Parker  W 7th  Inf.  militia,    3d  H.  Art. 

Hardman,  James 20th  Inf. 

Harmon,  M.  D Navy. 

Harrington,  Daniel 59th  Inf.  ;  died  of  wounds 

Harrington,  F.  H.  W Navy 

Harrington,  Leonard 60th  Inf.  militia. 

Harrington,  Michael  19th  Inf.,  V.  R.  C. 


218 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Harrintjton,  Philip  F 4th  H.  Art. 

Harrington,  William  H 5th  Inf.  militia 

Harris,  Alphonzo SOth  Inf.  militia. 

Harris,  John,  Jr Saddler,  Ist  Bafn  F.  Cav. 

Harris,  John  P 1st  H.  Art. 

Harris,  William  S 5uth  Inf.  militia. 

Harrison,  George  19th  Inf. 

Hart,  John 17th  Inf. 

Hart,  John  W 5th  Inf.  militia. 

Hart,  Joseph  L 4th  Bat.  L.  Art ;  died  in  service. 

Hart,  Timothy ...20th  Inf. 

Hartman,  Charle.-i 16th  Inf. 

Hartwell,  Joseph  W 7th  Inf.  militia. 

Hart\v:ell,  William  H  23d  Inf. 

Haskell,  Benjamin  F 19th  Inf. 

Haskell,  Charles.... Corp.  12th  luf.  ;  died  in  service. 

Haskell,  Charles  F 7th  Inf.  militia. 

Haskell,  Elijah Navy. 

Haskell,  Edward  B S.  C. 

Haskell,  William  H latH.  Art. 

Ha-ssett,  Martin  3uth  Inf.  ;  died  in  service. 

Hatch,  Henry  J 

Hatch,  Thomas  C.lath  Uuat.  Co.  Inf.  militia  ;  Ist 

Bat'n  F.  Cav. 

Hathaway,  Stephen  F 1st  H.  Art. 

Hauseman,  William 19th  Inf. 

Hawes,  James Navy 

Hawthorne,  William  H ilaster's  .Slate,  Navy. 

Hay,  John. 

Hayden,  Thomas Navy 

Hayes,  Benjamin Corp.  9th  Inf. 

Hayes,  James 2d  H.  Art.;  trans.  Navy. 

Hayes,  John 57th  Inf. 

Hayes,  John  1 19th  Inf. 

Hayes,  Maurice ,iuth  Inf.  ;  died  in  service. 

Hayes,  Thonia-i Navy 

Hayford,  William  B....lst  H.  Art.,  4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Hayward,  Charles  E 1st  H.  Art. 

Hazard,  John Navy 

Hazeton,  Augustus 48th  Inf.  militia. 

Hazelton,  David  Jr 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Hazelton,  Andrew 48th  Inf.  militia. 

Healy,  Dennis 9th  Inf. 

Heaney,  Eichanl 9th  Inf. 

Heeney,  Thomas 2d  Cav. 

Heenej',  William  A  1st  H.  Art. 

Helpin,  James. ..55th  Inf.  (colored)  ;  died  in  service. 

Helt,  Beujamin  G 1st  H.  Art. 

Hemmenway,  Frederick Navy. 

Henderson,  Charles  H Corp.  1st  H.  Art. 

Henderson,  Ephraim  1 1st  Sergt.  Ist  H.  Art. 

Henfield,   James  H.,  29th   Unat.  Co.   H.   Art.,  1st 

Sergt.  1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Henfield,  Josejih  H. S.  C. 

Hennessy,  Arthur Navy. 

Hennessy,  David 2d  Inf. 

Hennessey,  James  P 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Hennessy,  John  Corp.  9th  Inf. 

Henry,  Michael 1st  Cav. 

Henville,  William  W Ist  Cav. 

Herrick,  Benjamin,  jr 1st  H.  Art. 

Herrick,  Benjamin  F zd  L'nat.  Co  Inf.  militia. 

Hersey,  William  H 1st  H.  Art. 

Hewitt,  Edwin  AV 23d  Inf. 

Heywood,  George 23d  Inf. 

Hicks,  Samuel Navy 

Hibbard,  Curtis  A  6th  Inf.  militia. 

Higbee,  Stephen  D S.  C. 

Higgins,  Thomas  02d  Inf. 

Higginbotham,  John  Navy 

Higginbotham,  Joseph 23d  Inf. 

Hig-ley,  Gilman  S 23d  Inf. 

Hifield,  Thomas Navy 

Hill,  Charles  H 3d  H.  Art. 

Hill,  Horace  L 1st  Inf. 

Hill,  .lames 5th  Inf.  militia 

Hill,  Thomas Navy 


Hill,  Thomas  G Navy 

Hilton,  Charles  H G2d  Inf. 

Hilton,  Edward  W 1st  Cav. 

Hinckley,    George   U.,   23d  Inf ;    died    Anderson- 

ville  Prison. 

Hinds,  Richard 48tli  Inf.  militia. 

Hines,  Thomas  F Corp.  48th  Inf.  militia. 

Hines,  Thomas  T 6th  Inf.  militia 

Hitchings,  Abijah  F.,  8th  Inf.  militia  ;  Sergt.  19th 

Inf. 

Hoar,  Thomas V.  R.  C. 

Hobbs,  George Artificer  1st  H.  Art. 

Hobbs,  Nathan  F Navy 

Hodgdon,  George  E Corp.  23d  Inf. 

Hogan,  James 56th  Inf.  ;   died  of  wounds 

Holden,  John 11th  Inf. 

Holmes,  George  H 1st  H.  Art. 

Holmes,  Francis  W Navy 

Holland,  Thomas Navy 

Homer,  George  H I'jth  luf. 

Hood,  Osborn Navy 

Hopkins,  John 1st  H.  Art. 

Horton,  George IstH.  Art. 

Horrigan,  Jeremiah 19th  Inf. 

Howard,  Austin ...Navy 

Howard,  Daniel  L 4th  H.  Art. 

Howard,  David  A.,  Gth  Inf.  militia ;  27th  Unat.  Co. 

Inf. 

Howard,  Fben  M IstH.  Art. 

Howard,  Frank  C 8tli  Inf.  militia 

Howard,  Fletcher 22d  Inf.  ;  trans.  .32d  Inf. 

Howard,  John  H 5th  Inf.  militia 

Howard,  Nathaniel  K Gth  Inf.  militia 

Hovey,  William 48th  Inf.  militia 

Howe,  James Navy 

Howes,  Christopher  II GUth  Inf.  militia 

Hoyt,  Charles  C Sergt.  48th  Inf.  militia 

Hoyt,  George  N Gist  Inf. 

Hoyt,  John  A 61h  Inf.  militia;  4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Hoxflin,  Frederick 22d  Inf. 

Huddle,  Benjamin 17th  Inf. 

Hughes,  Edward 9th  Inf.  ;  trans.  V.  R.  C. 

Hughes,  .Tames Navy 

Hunter,  John Navy 

Huntress,  Charles  W 4th  H.  Art. 

Huntress,  John  E 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Hurd,  George  S Navy 

Hurd,  William  H 5th  luf.  militia 

Hurley,  James Navy 

Hurley,  John Navy 

Hurley,  John  F Q.  M.  Sergt.  4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Hurley,  William  2d  Cav.;  killed 

Hurly,  William 9th  Inf.  ;    died  in  service 

Hurrell,  John  9th  Inf.;  killed 

Ilurty,  James Navy 

Huse,  Edward 9th  Inf. 

Huse,  Stephens 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Ilnsmann,  Johannas 22d  Inf.  ;  Navy 

Hutchinson,  George  0.  2d  Co.Sharps;  trans. V.R.C. 

Hutchin.son,  Goodwin Nav}' 

Hutchinson,  John  L.,  Artificer,  29th  Unat.  Co.  H. 

Art.;  1st  H.  Art. 

Hutchinson,  William 2d  H.  Art. 

Hutchinson,   William 23d  Inf. 

Hytyes,  George 22d  luf ;  Navy 

Ingalls,  John 11th  Inf.;  died  in  service. 

Ingalls,  John  D 48th  Inf.  militia. 

Ives,  George  A 44th  Inf. 

I  vers,  William '. 1st  Cav. 

Ivory,  John G2d  Inf. 

Jackson,  Andrew 48th  Inf.  militia. 

Jackson,  James  W.  C Navy. 

James,  John. ...54th  Inf.;  trans.  55th  Inf.  (colored). 

James,  John Navy. 

Janes,  Edwin 17th  Inf. 

Janes,  John 50th  Inf.  militia. 


Janes,  William  H V.  R.  C. 

Jaques,  John Navy. 

Jaques,  Joseph 4Sth  Inf.  militia;  Navy. 

Jarvis,  William  H 19th  Inf, 

Jeffs,  James  M Ist  H.  Art.    • 

Jeffreys,  William  F 48th  Inf.  militia. 

Jeunis,  .lames  D 32d  Inf. 

Jennis,  Thomas  J 32dlnf.;  trans.  V.  E.  C. 

Jewell,  Charles  C.Vth  Inf.  militia  ;  Sergt.  2d  Cav. 

Jewell,  David  N Navy. 

Jewell,  Franklin 2d  Inf.;  killed. 

Jewett,  Charles  S... wagoner 40th  Inf.;  trans.  V.  B.  C. ' 

Jewett,  Lewis  T let  H.  Art. 

Jewett,  John  W V.  R.  C. 

Jewett,  Thomas  E Sergt.  48th  Inf.  militia. 

Johnson,  Alfred 13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf.  militia. 

Johnson,  Charles 17th  Inf. 

Johnson,  Frederick  A Corp.  12th  Int.;  V,  R.  C. 

Johnson,  Frank  E .5th  Inf.  militia. 

Johnson,  George 1st  Inf.;  trans,  llth  Inf. 

Johnson,  Henry Sergt.  4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Johnson,  John  H 1st  H.  Art. 

Johnson,  John  0 2d  Cav. 

Johnson,  Louis 28th  Inf. 

Johnson,  Lewis Navy. 

Johnson,  Peter Navy. 

Johnson,  Samuel Navy. 

Johnson,  Samuel  F Navy. 

Johnson,  William  B.  F 1st  H.  Art. 

Jones,  Alexander 17th  Inf 

Jones,  John Navy. 

Jones,  John  J ; Navy. 

Joues,  Stephen  F 1st  Sergt.  17th  Inf. 

Jones,  Thomas  T Navy. 

Jones,  William  H 19th  Inf. 

Jordan,  John 19th  Inf. 

Jordan,  William 9th  Inf. 

Joyce,  John 19th  Inf. 

.loye,  Robert  II 2d  Inf. 

Junkee,  Augustus  L 2d  Inf. 

Kain,  John 22d  Inf.;  trans.  .32d  Inf. 

Kane,  Dennis  F. Navy. 

Kavanaugli,  James Navy. 

Kayler,  Patrick.. llth  Inf. 

Keariiey,  Peter 16th  Inf. 

Keating,  John  L 3d  Cav.;  trans.  Navy. 

Keating,  Michael 9th  Inf. 

Keating,  Patrick 9th  Inf.;  killed. 

Keenan,  Michael 9th  Inf.;  killed. 

Keene,  Charles 4th  Cav. 

Kehew,  Francis  A..5th  Inf.  militia;  Sergt.  24th  Inf. 

Kehew,  George 5th  Inf.  militia;  24th  Inf. 

Kehew,  John  H 5th  Inf.  militia;  24th  Inf. 

Kehew,  Samuel  B 1st  H.  Art. 

Kell,  William 9th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Kelliher,  James Com.  Sergt.  1st  Cav. 

Kelleber,  John 9th  Inf. 

Kelliher,  Jeremiah Navy. 

Kelliher,  Mortmon Navy. 

Kelly,  Charles Navy. 

Kelley,  Charles  D 9th  Inf. 

Kelly,  Edward..Coni.  Sergt.  1st  Cav.;  8th  Inf.  militia. 

Kelly,  James 28th  Inf. 

Kelly,  James 9th  Inf. 

Kelley,  James Navy. 

Kelley.  John 9th  Inf. 

Kelley,  John 9th  Inf. 

Kelley,  John 9th  Inf. 

Kelley,  John  30th  Inf. 

Kelly,  Luke Navy. 

Kelley,  Michael 9th  Inf. 

Kelley,  Michael 2d  Cav. 

Kelly,  Patrick Navy. 

Kellej',  Simon  P 9th  Inf. 

Kellogg,.Fred  B 1st  H.  Art. 

Keudalll,  William  H 50th  Inf.  militia. 


SALEM. 


219  / 


Kennedy,  Mai-tin 9th  luf. 

Kennedy,  Martin Navy. 

Kennedy,  Michael. ..48th  Inf.  militia;  trans.  2d  R. 
I.  Cav. 

♦  Kennedy,  Michael Navy. 

Kennelly,  David 9th  Inf. 

Kenuey,  Beojaniin  M 23d  Inf.;  trans.  V.  K.  C. 

Keuney,  Thomas  F Navy. 

Kennison,  Orriu  W 23d  Inf. 

Kershaw,  Samuel 20th  Inf. 

Ketcham,  Francis  H 

•Kezar,  Albert 4th  Bat.  L.  Art.;   died  in  service. 

Kezar,  Albert 3d  Cav. 

Kezar,  Alonzo 13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf.  militia. 

Kezar,  Alonzo  C 11th  Inf.;  17th  Inf 

Kezar,  Charles  H S.  C. 

Kezar,  George  L 2d  H.  Art. 

Kezar,  George  W Sergt.  62d  Inf. 

Kezar,  Walter  A Sergt.  29th  Inf. 

Kieruan,  Eugene 4th  H.  Art. 

Kilbride,  Daniel 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Killiam,  Alexander  S 40th  Inf. 

Kilhani,  William  G S.  C. 

Kimball,  Charles  A S.  C;  3d  H.  Art. 

Kimball,  George  S S.  C. 

Kimball,  Horace  W Navy. 

Kimball,  James,  jr 11  tb  luf 

Kimball,  Joseph  A 4(ith  Inf. 

Kimball,  Palmer 2d  Inf. 

Kimball,  William  h 5th  Inf.  militia  ;  1st  Cav.; 

Sergt.  3d  IJ.  Art.;  trans.  Navy. 

King,  George Navy. 

King,  John..  2d  Inf. 

King,  John llth  Inf;  trans.  V.  R.  C. 

King,  Obey Navy. 

Kiug,  Peter 2d  H.  Art. 

Kingsley,  George  W 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Kingsley,  John 3d  H.  Art. 

Kingsley,  William  P 1st  H.  Art. 

Kinsley,  James  H 19th  Inf. 

Kinsman,  Joseph  N 23d  Inf.;  died  in  service. 

Kirkland,  James  M Corp.  Ist  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Kirvvin,  Charles Navy. 

Kittredge,  Henry 30th  Inf;  died  in  service. 

Kiltredge,  Henry  A..Corp.  30th  Inf;  died  in  service. 

Kleever,  Ferdinand Navy. 

Knapp,  Samuel  W 13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf.  militia. 

Knight,  Charles Navy. 

Knight,  Jeremiah 3d  H.  Art.,  2d  Inf. 

Knight,  Solomon Navy. 

Kuowles,  David  L Navy. 

Knowlton,  Georgo..50th  Inf.  militia:  died  in  service. 

Knowlton,  George  W 2d  Co.  Sharps. 

Knowlton,  Marcus  A Navy. 

Knowlton,  Samuel 23d  Inf. 

Knowland,  John  B 2d  H.  Art. 

Kohane,  Michael  2d  H.  Art. 

Kyle,  Robert Corp.  40th  Inf.;  killed. 

laiblair,  Louis llth  Inf 

Lacey,  James Navy. 

Lacy,  Thomas Navy. 

Lackey,  Frank llth  Inf. 

Ladd,  Daniel  W Q.  M.  Sergt.  Ist  Cav. 

Laduc,  Joseph Navy. 

Lahey,  Jeremiah loth  Inf. 

Lakeman,  Hoi-ace 19th  Inf. 

Lakeman,  Nathan... Q.  M.  Sergt.  1st  H.  Art.;  Super. 

Lamb,  Hiram  0 0th  Inf.  militia  ;  S.  C. 

Lamson,  George  A 13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf.  militia  ; 

50th  Inf.  militia. 

Lancy,  Patrick Navy. 

Lander,  Benjamin  W..    Q.  31.  S. 

Lander,  William  T 13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf.  militia. 

Landers,   David 2d  H.  Art. 

Landgren,  George  0 Navy. 

Landgren,  John  H..  Navy. 


Landy,  Michael,  jr 

Lane,  Charles  H Navy. 

Lane,  William  H 1st  Inf. 

Lang,  Joseph 2d  Cav. 

Langdell,  George  W 50th  Inf.  militia. 

Langmaid,  George  W 2d  Inf. 

Larrabee,  Joseph  N Corp.  48th  Inf.  militia. 

Larrabee  Samuel  W Ist  Sergt.  48th  Inf.  militia. 

Larrabee,  Warren 48th  Inf.  militia. 

Larrabee,  William  W 2d  Inf ;  killed. 

Lawrence,  John Navy. 

Lawton,  George  F Ist  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Leach,  Daniel  E Corp.  S.  C. 

Leach,  Harris    5th  Inf.  militia. 

Leach,  Lebbeus,  Jr Sergt.  13tU  Unat  Co.  Inf. 

militia. 

Leach,  Robert Navy. 

Leahy,  David 1st  H.  Art. 

Learey,  Henry Navy. 

Leary,  Dennis. ..2d  H.  Art.  ;  17th  Inf  ;  died  Ander- 
son ville  Prison. 

Leary,  Timothy 9th  Inf. 

Leary,  Timothy 19th  Inf. 

Leavitt,  Israel  P. ..Corp.  17th  Inf.  ;  5th  Inf.  militia. 

Lechood,  John Navy. 

Lee,  Francis  H 23d  Inf 

Lee,  John  W..l8t  H.  Art. ;  3d  H.  Art. ;  trans.  Navy. 

Lee,  Joseph,  Jr 50th  Inf.  militia. 

Lee,  Robert  G 59th  Inf. 

Lee,  William  H Navy. 

Lee,  William  R 50th  Inf.  ;  trans.  57th  Inf. 

Lee,  William  S 67th  Inf. 

Lee,  York  M Navy. 

Le  Grand,  Charles  E.. Bugler  1st  Bat'n  F.  Cav. ;  13th 
Unat.  Co.  Inf.  militia. 

Lehan,  William 22d  Inf.  ;  trans.  32d  Inf. 

Leighton,  William 2d  Cav. ;  died  in  service. 

Lenakin,  William Navy. 

Lendholm,  Charles  F 99th  N.  Y.  Inf 

Leonard,  John  H Sergt.  17th  Inf 

Llewellyn,  Patrick 

Llewellyn,  Thomas  J 9th  Inf 

Lewis,  Chancy  H Corp.  1st  H.  Art. 

Lewis,  Charles  W Mus.  3d  H.  Art. 

Lewis,  Daniel  S 19th  Inf. 

Lewis,  Eneas  I Navy. 

Lewis,  George  B 2d  Co.  Sharps. 

Lewis,  Henry Ist  H.  Art. 

Lewis,  Henry Navy. 

Lewis,  John Navy. 

Lewis,  Roland  F Corp.  17th  Inf. 

Lewis,  Tlioma«  W 3d  H.  Art. 

Libby,  Henry. ..5th  Inf.  militia  ;  Sergt.  7th  Inf  mi- 
litia. 

Libby,  John  F 7tli  Inf.  militia. 

Libby,  INIelvin  J Navy. 

Lightfoot,  Joseph 25th  Inf  ;  died  of  wounds. 

Liles,  Jack Navy. 

Linehan,  Connelius  J. ..13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf.  militia. 

Linehan,  Dennis Corp.  1st  Cav.  5th  Inf.  militia. 

Linehan,  John Sergt.  2d  H.  Art. 

Linehan,  John 53d  Inf 

Linehan,  Thomas  E 23d  Inf. 

Little,Thomas Navy. 

Littlefield,  Daniel llth  Inf. 

Littlefield,  Elmer S.  C. 

Littlefield,  Moses  H Corp.  4th  Bat  L.  Art. 

Littlefield,  Joseph  A Navy. 

Lobdell,  Richard  T Navy. 

Locke,  Cyrus. ...7th  Inf  militia;   Corp.  7th  Bat.  L. 
Art. 

Logan,  Jeremiah Corp.  1st  H.  Art. 

Long,  Andrew Navy. 

Long,  George 1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Long,  Henry Navy. 

Long,  Robert  J 12th  Inf.  ;  trans.  Navy. 

Looby,  Thomas 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 


Loratta,  Anthony Navy. 

Lord,  Charles  L 0th  Inf.  militia;  S.  C. 

Lord,  Francis s.  C. 

Lord,  George  C 6th  Inf.  militia. 

Lord,  Henry  C 1,3th  Inf. 

Lord,  Thomas  H 2d  Cav. 

Lorigan,  John Sergt.  9th  Inf. 

Lorrigan,  Michael ist  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Loring,  .John I7th  U.  S.  Inf. 

Loud,  David,  Jr g.  C. 

Loud,  Elbridge Lst  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Loud,  George  B 3d  Cav. 

Loud,  Joseph  G s.  C. 

Low,  Cornelius  B 1st  H.  Art.  ;  trans.  V.  R.  C. 

Low,  George  H 5th  Inf.  Militia. 

Low,  James  W 5th  Inf.  Militia. 

Lowd,  Albert  J  Sergt.  5th  Inf  Militia. 

Lowd,  Jacob  R 5i)th  Inf  Militia ;  Corp  4th  Cav. 

Lowd,  William  H Navy. 

Lowry  Michael Navy. 

Lucey,  Daniel Navy. 

Lucy,  Michael  P 17th  Inf. 

Lnndgren,  James  F 1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Lundy,  Michael Cist  Inf. 

Lunt,  William  J oth  Inf.  militia. 

Luscomb,  Charles  P 5th  Inf.  militia;  Navy. 

Luscomb,  George  AV... Sergt.  59th  Inf.  ;  trans.  57th 

Inf.  ;  50th  Inf.  militia;;  8th  Inf.  militia. 

Luscomb,  Henry  R Navy. 

Luscomb,  William  H Corp.  24th  Inf. 

Luscomb,  William  F 1st  H.  Art. 

Luscomb,  William  L 1st  H.  Art. 

Lusk,  Joseph  H 1st  H.  Art. 

Lynch,  Charles Navy. 

Lynch,  Francis  E Navy. 

Lynch,  James Navy. 

Lynch,  James 9th  Inf. 

Lynch,  John Navy. 

Lynch,  Patrick 48th  Inf.  militia. 

Lynch,  Patrick. ..4th  Bat.  L.  Art.  ;  trans.  13th  Bat. 

L.  Art, 

Lynch,  Patrick 9th  Inf. 

Lynch,  Jeremiah 22d  Inf.  ;  died  in  Rebel  Prison- 
Lynch,  William 9th  Inf. 

Lyon-s,  Charles  H 3d  H.  Art. 

Lyons,  James 48th  Inf  militia. 

Lyons,  Patrick 4th  H.  Art. 

Lynn,  Matthew Sergt.  9th  Inf. 

Lyon,  James  W 1st  R.  I.  Inf. 

McAdams,  Patrick G2d  Inf. 

McCabe,  Patrick. ..48th  Inf.  militia  ;  59th  Inf.  ;  died 
in  service. 

McCabe,  William  H 1st  Cav.  ;  killed. 

JIcCafTerty,  Neal 20th  Inf. 

BlcCann,  Hugh 17th  Inf 

McCarthy,  Daniel 1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

McCarthy,  Daniel 9th  Inf. 

McCarthy,  Dennis  W 9th  Inf 

McCarthy,  John Corp.  1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

McCarthy,  John. ..4th  Bat.  L.  Art.  ;  died  in  service. 

McCarthy,  Jlichael Sergt.  1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

McCarthy,  Patrick 9th  Inf. 

McCarthy,  Patrick 9th  Inf. 

McCarty,  John 9th  Inf. 

McCarty,  John Navy. 

McClellan,  George  H 2d  H.  Art.  ;  trans.  17th  Inf. 

McCioud,  Alfred 1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

McCloy,  John  B 23d  Inf. 

McCloy,  Robert Corp.  S.  C. 

McCommic,  John 13th  LTnat.  Co.  Inf  militia. 

McCormick,  Charles Navy. 

McCormick,  Thomas 23d  Inf. 

McCormick,  Thomas 28th  Inf. 

McDonald,  Eneas 17th  Int. 

McDonald,  Philip 4th  H.  Art. 

McDonnell,  David 59th  Inf.;  died  in  service. 


220 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


McDonnell,  John 13th  Unat.  Co.  luf.  militia. 

McDonnell,  Philip inh  Unat.  Co.  Inf.  militia. 

McDonnell,  Philip 2d  Inf. 

McDonough,  Enos 17th  Inf. 

McDufiie,  Augustus  P 23d  Inf. 

McDufiBe,  Dana  H Navy. 

McDuffie,  George Navy. 

McDuffle,  Hugh Sergt.  5th  Inf.  militia  ;  1st  Cav. 

McDugal,  John 48th  Inf.  militia. 

McFadden,  Albert 32d  Inf. 

McFarland,  Charles 5th  Inf.  militia. 

McFarland,  Charles. ..Sergt.  12th  Inf.  ;   trans.  20th 

Inf. 

McFarland,  James 9th  Inf. 

McFarland,  Peter 40th  Inf. ;  died  in  service. 

McGordis,  Charles 1st  H.  Art.  ;  died  of  wounds. 

McGrath,  John 9th  Inf. 

McGuire,  Charles 2d  Cav. 

McGuire,  Patrick 9th  Inf.  ;  killed. 

McGuire,  Thomas 9th  Inf. 

McGuire,  Thomas 22d  Inf.;  trans.  5th  U.  S.  Art. 

McGurty,  Patrick    9th  Iiif 

McHugh,  Patrick  H 9th  Inf. 

Mclntire,  Charles 17th  Inf. ;  19th  Inf. 

Mclntire,  George 24th  Inf.  ;  died  of  wounds. 

McKennan,  Francis I9th  Inf. 

McKenny,  Robert 20th  Inf. 

McKenzie,  John  W 2d  Co.  Sharps.  ;  killed. 

McKinley,  Barney Navy. 

McKliget,  James 9th  Inf 

McKorniick,  John 9th  Inf. 

McKown,  John  B...lst  H.  Art. ;  died  a  prisoner  at 

Milan,  Ga. 

McLaughlin,  Andrew Navy. 

McLaughlin,  James 

McLaughlin,  Michael 24th  Inf. 

McLord,  Alfred 1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

McMahon,  James 9th  Inf.  ;  killed. 

McMahon,  John IGtli  Inf.  ;  killed. 

McMahon,  Philip. ..7th  Inf.  militia ;   1st  Bat'n  II. 

Art. 

McMurphy,  Benjamin  F 7th  Inf.  militia. 

McMurphy,  James  F 4th  H.  Art. 

McNamara,  Michael 20th  Inf. ;  died  in  service. 

McNamava,  Peter , 9th  Inf.  ;  killed. 

McNeal,  Diiniel  F 19th  Inf. 

McNeil,  Michael..7th  Inf.  Militia  :  1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

McNulty,  James  (1st) 3d  Cav. 

McShane,  James 22d  Inf. 

McShea,  John 17th  Inf. 

McShea,  Thomas .3d  H.  Art. 

McSweegan,  James 62d  Inf. 

McSweeney,  Morgan 9th  Inf. 

McVey,  Charles Navy. 

Mack,  William 2d  H.  Art. 

Mackie,  John  A oOth  Inf.  militia. 

Madden,  Stephen 62d  Inf. 

Maddicutt,  .John Navy. 

Maddin,  John,  4th  Bat.  L.  Art.  ;  trans.  13th  Bat.  L. 

Art. 

Magoun,  Samuel  B 11th  Inf. 

Magrath,   David,  Corp. ;  28th  Inf. ;  trans.  V.  E  C 

Magner,  John 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. ;  died  in  service. 

Mahoney,  Dennis,  9tli  Inf.  ;   trans.  Navy  as  Daniel 

D.  Mahoney. 

Mahoney,  James,  jr   Navy. 

Mahoney,  John  C 24th  Inf. 

Mahoney,  Timothy 4th  H.  Art. 

Mallen,  Henry 3d  Cav. 

Maloney,  Edward 19th  Inf. 

Maloon,  William  H S.  C. 

Malowe,  John Navy 

Manning,  Albert  E 23d  Inf. 

Manning,  Daniel  A.,  artificer ;  4th   Bat.  L.   Art.  ; 

died  in  service. 
Manning,  Horace IstH.  Art ;  died  in  service. 


Mannliig,  Peter 11th  Inf. 

Manning,  Philip  A.,  6th  Inf.  militia  ;  1st  Bat'n  F, 
Cav. 

Manning,  Richard  H 3d  H.  Art. 

Manning,  William  H 1st  H.  Art. 

Manning,  William  S Corp.  1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Manser,  John  B 62d  Inf. 

Mansfield,  Charles  H 8th  Inf.  militia,  11th  Inf., 

U.  S.  Eng.  Corps. 

Mansfield,  Daniel  R S.  C. 

Mansfield,  George  S.. Corp.  23d  Inf.;  trans.  V.  II.  C. 

Mansfield,  James,  jr 5th  Inf.  militia 

Mansfield,  John  R....5th  Inf.  militia  ;  7th  Inf.  mili- 
tia ;  Wagoner  1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Slarley,  Richard 17th  Inf. 

Marr,  Michael 13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf.  militia 

Marshall,  Ezekiel  U S.  C. 

Marshall,  Robert  C 3d  H.  Art.;  trans.  Navy 

Marshall,  John  H 4th  Bat.  L.  Art.  ;  trans.  13th 

Bat.  L.  Art. 

Marshall  William  F 48th  Inf.  militia 

Martin,  Edward 40th  Inf. 

Martin,  George  A Mus.  59th  Inf.  ;  killed 

Martin,  Henry 23d  Inf. 

Martin,  William  H 17th  Inf. 

Mathews,  Lawrence 9th  Inf.  ;  died  of  wounds 

Blathews,  Vincent 48th  Inf.  militia 

Matthews,  Henry Navy 

Matthews,  Henry 28th  Inf. 

Masury,  Thomas  A 29th  Inf.  ;  died  of  wounds 

Ma.xfield,  Charles  0 Corp.  Ist  H.  Art.  ;  super 

Maxfield,  James,  jr 5th  Inf.  militia 

Ma.\field,  .John  G 2d  Cav. 

Maxfield,  John  V 1st  Maine  H.  Art. 

Maxwell.  Adam 4th  H.  Art. 

Maxwell,  Silas 17th  Inf.  ;  died  in  service 

May,  Henry  E 2d  Co.  Sharps.,  trans.  V.  R.  C. 

]Meade,  William  E Navy 

Meady,  Albert  C Ist  11.  Art. 

Meady,  Daniel  F 2d  Co  Sharps 

Meek,  Henry  M..5th  Inf.  militia  ;  1st  Bat'n  F.  Cav. 

Mehan,  John  C Navy 

Mehan,  Mathew 17th  Inf 

Jlelcher,  George  P.. ..Ist  H.  Art.  ;  1st  Batn  H.  Art 

Melcher,  John  E IstH.  Art. 

Melcher,  Levi  L..5th  Inf.  militia  ;  7th  Inf.  militia  ; 
2d  Co.  Sharps 

Melden,  William  K 19th  Inf. 

Meldram,  Orin 24th  Inf. 

Melley,  William,  jr 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. ;  died  in 

service 
Mellow,  Henry. 

Melville,  Frank 2d  Cav. 

Merrill,  Amos Clerk  Prov.  Marshall's  off. 

Merrill,  John  C S.  C. 

Merrill,  Parker.,  Com.  Sergt.  3d  Cav.;  trans.  V.  R.  C. 

Merrill,  William  R 13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf.  militia 

Messenger,  Hugh  G 62d  Inf. 

Metcalf,  George  W 1st  Cav. 

Meyer,  William 39th  Inf. 

3Iiles,  Orrin  A 11th  Inf. 

Miller,  Allen,  jr 2d  Co.  Sharps. 

Miller,  Arthur  J.  (G.) 22d  Inf 

Miller,  Jacob 19th  Inf. 

Millei-,  James 50th  Inf.  militia 

Miller,  Thomas Navy 

Millett,  Andrew  J Q.  M.  Sergt.  Ist  H.  Art. 

Millett,  Charles,  2d S.  C. 

Millett,  Daniel 11th  Inf. ;  died  in  service 

Millett,  George Navy 

Millett,  William  H S.  C. 

Millett,  William  S 11th  Inf. ;  trans.  11th  Bat. 

Millett,  William 11th  Inf. 

Milton,  B.  Sylvester  S 1st  Cav. 

Miner,  Albert  H 7th  Inf.  militia 

Miner,  John  T 40th  Inf. 

Minnahan,  John Ist  Bat'n  H.  Art. 


Mitchell,  Edward S.  C. 

INlitcliell,  Patrick ISth  Inf.  militia 

Mitchell,  William 19th  Inf. 

Mitchell,  William  F 4th  H.  Art. 

Monarch,  Eben 30th  Inf. 

Monarch,  George  H Ist  H.  Art. 

Monaghan,  Joseph  H...Com.  Sergt.  9th  Inf.  ;  Com. 

Sergt.  32d  Inf. 

Monies,  William  H Sergt.  3d  H.  Art. 

Monroe,  Robert  C 23d  Inf. 

Moody,  Converse 8th  Inf.  militia 

Mooney,  Johu 19th  Inf. 

Moore,  .lohuG 1st  Inf. 

Moore,  Thomas 19th  Inf. 

Moore,  Thomas  H Saddler  5th  Cav. 

Moran,  Frank 3d  H.  Art. 

Morau,  James 11th  Inf.  ;  killed 

Moran,  Nathaniel 13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf.  militia 

Moran,  .Matthew Navy 

Morgan,  Francis 11th  Inf 

Morgan,  John  A Navy 

Morgan,  Joseph Navy 

Morgan,  Joshua Navy 

Morgan,  Michael 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Morgan,  Patrick 23d  Inf. ;  died  Audersonville 

Prisjn 

Moroney,  Thomas 1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Moirill,  Gilmaii  L 11th  luf. 

Morrill,  Henry  0 5th  Inf.  militia 

Morris,  James 1st  H.  Art. 

Morris,  George U.  S.  C.  T. 

Morrison,  George  M ....1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Morrison,  John  22d  Inf. 

Moriison,  John ..2d  Co.  Sharps.  ;  killed 

31orrissey,  Johu Corp.  3d  H.  Art.;  trans.  Navy 

Morrissey,  John 9th  Inf.  ;  killed 

Morse,  Charles  C 2.3d  Inf.  ;  trans.  V.  R.  C. 

Morse,  George l.st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Morse,  George  F 50th  Inf.  militia 

Morse,    George   W... Sergt.  2d   H.   Art.;    5th   Inf. 

militia. 

Morse,  Henry IstH.  Art. 

Morse,  James 62d  Inf. 

Morse,  John  1st  H.  Art. 

Morton,  Charles 48th  Inf.  militia 

Morton,  George 13th  Inf. 

Morse,  John  R 5th  Inf.  militia 

Moses,  John  E 59th  Inf. 

Moser,  John  H 5th  Inf.  militia 

Moulton,  Charles  E 6th  Inf.  militia 

Moulton,  Nathan  E Corp.  4th  H.  Art. 

Moynahan,  Humphrey 9th  Inf. 

Mullaly,  Michael 17th  Inf. 

Mullaly,  William Sergt.  17tb  Inf. 

MuUane,  Martin 32d  Inf. 

Mullen,  Patrick  \ 24th  Inf.;  killed. 

Mulligan,  Martin 3d  Cav. 

Mulready,  Stephen  (H) 19th  Inf 

Mulready,  Thomas .Sergt.  4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

JIunroe,  Alexander  A 23d  Inf. 

Munroe,  George,  4th  Bat.  L.  Art.;    died  in  service. 

Monroe,  Isaac  M Hh  H.  Art. 

Munroe,  Robert Navy 

Munroe,  Stephen  N 5th  Inf.  militia 

Slurphy,  Christopher ..    ..9th  Inf. 

Murphy,  Cornelius 2d  Cav. 

Muiphy,  Hugh  E 17th  Inf. 

Murphy,  James 1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

ftlurphy,  John    3d  H.  Art. 

Murphy,  Johu 48th  Inf.  militia 

Murphy,  John , 5th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Muiphy,  John 5th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Murphy,  Luke 19th  Inf.;  killed. 

Murphy,  Michael 48th  Inf.  militia 

Murphy,  Michael 3d  Cav. 

JIurphy,  Michael IstSergt.  9th  Inf. 

Murphy,  Michael 9th  Int 


SALEM. 


221 


Murphy,  Patrick Navy 

Murphy,  Peter 48th  Inf.  militia 

Murphy,  Thomas  (1st) 1st  Bat'ii  H.  Art. 

Murphy,  Thomas 5th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Murphy,  AVilliam 59th  Inf..  trans.  57th  Inf. 

Murphy,  William VMi  Unat.  Co.  luf.  militia. 

Murphy,  William  H '23d  Inf. 

Murphy,  William  H 7th  Inf.  militia 

Murray,  George 1st  H.  Art 

Murray,  Jeremiah.  Corp.  2d  Inf.  ;  trans.  Ith  U.  S. 
Art. 

Murray,  .John 27th  Unat.  Co.  Inf 

Murray,  Martin 4th  Cav. 

Musgrave,  Peter ...  Corp.  let  H.  .\rt.;  killed 

Mynehan,  John Navy 

Nagle,  Jacob Corp.  2.Sd  Inf. 

Naos,  Henry  E Navy 

Nay,  Jo.seph  B...Sergt.  5th  Inf.  militia  ;  nth  U.  S. 

Inf. 

Neal,  James  M IstH.  Art. 

Neal,  William  W Navy 

Needham,  James 2:3d  Inf 

Needham,  James  F Ist  H.  Art. 

Neil,  Edward 9th  Inf.;  killed 

Nelson,  James  F Corp.  48th  Inf.  militia 

Nelson,  Jeremiah Corp.  .50th  Inf.  militia 

Neville,  Patrick 3d  I'av.  ;  trans.  V.  1?.  C. 

Newconih,  Charles  B.,  Jr Sergt.  4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Newell,  Charles  0 Sergt.  20th  Inf 

Newton,  Albert  E... .Corp.  13th  Unat  Co.  Inf  mili- 
tia ;  5i)th  Inf.  militia. 

Nicholas,  Benjamin Navy 

Nichol-i,  Arra Navy 

Nichols,  Benjamin  C l&t  H.  Art- 
Nichols,  George  \ Sergt.  13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf. 

militia  ;  50th  Inf.  militia. 

Nichols,  William  C Mus.  2Uh  Inf. 

Nichols,  William  H  3d...f;th  Inf  militia  ;  7th  R.  I. 

Cav. 

Nickerson,  .\nsel :!d  H.  Art 

Niles,  Amos Navy 

Nimblett,  Benjamin  F Corp.  23d  Inf. ;   5th  Inf. 

militia. 
Nimblett,  John  W 3d  II.  Art.  ;  trans.  29th  Unat. 

Co.  H.  Art 

Noble,  Alexander  J 1st  H.  Art. 

Noble,  James  A 5t;th  Inf.  militia 

Nolan,  Francis Corp.  24th  Inf 

Nolan,  Thomas 4th  Bat.  L.  Art.  ;  trans.  13th 

Bat.  ;  died  iii  service. 

Nolan,  Thomas 3d  fl.  Art. 

Noland,  Thomas 1st  H.  Art. 

Noomin,  John 24th  Inf. 

Norcross,  Orlando  W 1st  H.  Art. 

Norris,  William  E 17th  Inf. 

Norton,  John 9th  Inf. 

Nourse,  George  A 23d  Inf. 

Noyes,  Charles  W 62dlnf. 

Noyes, Edward  D 19th  Inf.;  killed 

Noyes,  Geoi-ge  S Corp.  C2d  Inf. 

Norwood,  Alexander 40111  Inf. 

Nugent,  John 28th  Inf. 

Nugent,  Sylvester 11th  Inf. 

Nutter,  Horace 1st  Bat'n  H.  Art.  ;  2d  H.  Art. 

Nutting,  Joseph  H  40th  Inf. 

O'Brien,  Edward 9th  Inf. 

O'Brien,  James 13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf.  militia. 

O'Brien,  .lohn .5th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

O'Brien,  John  Ist    9th  Inf. 

O'Brien,  John  2d 9th  Inf 

O'Brien,  Stephen 4th  li.  Art. 

O'Brien,  Thomas 9th  Inf. 

Ober,  Oliver 50th  Inf  militia  ;  died  in  service 

O'Callahan,  Eugene 9th  Inf. 

O'Connell,  Timothy   19th  Inf.  ;  killed 

O'Connor,  James 9th  Inf. 


O'Connor,  James 11th  Inf. 

O'Connor,  John 2(ith  Inf. 

O'Connor,  John 6th  Inf.  militia 

O'Donnell,  Donald 2d  H.  Art. 

O'Dounell,  John ..Navy 

O'Donnell,  Patrick 9th  Inf. 

O'Donnell,  William. 

Ogden,  James 40th  Inf. 

O'Hara,  Patrick 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

O'Hara,  Patrick 9th  Inf. 

O'Hara,  Patrick  J 12th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

O'Hare,  .\ndrew  J 2d  Inf. 

O'Hare,  Charles  H 17th  Inf. 

O'Hare,  Charles  H 2  'd  Inf.  and  Mus.  23d  Inf 

O'Hare,  Polonius 2d  Inf. 

O'Keefe,  John 24th  Inf. 

O'Keefe,  .lohn 9th  Inf. 

OKeefe,Patrick 9th  Inf. 

OWsou,  Charles  (F) Navy 

Oldsou,  Edwin  U Mus.  59th  Inf 

Oldson,  Francis  T 24th  Inf. ;  died  of  wounds 

Oldson,  George  D Navy 

Oldson,  John  H Navy 

Oldson,  Joseph  H Gth  Inf.  militia 

O'Leary,  Dennis  ..  2d  H.  Art. 

O'Neal,  Thomas 24th  Inf. 

O'Noil,  Michael 2d  Cav. 

O'Rourke,  John 9th  Inf,  U.  S.  M.  C. 

O'Shea,  Patrick  17th  Inf 

O'Sullivan,  Timothy 1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

O'Sullivan,  Timothy 29th  Inf. 

Osborn,  Frederick  M 23d  Inf.  ;  trans.  V.  R.  C. 

Osborn,  .lohn  B.  .  4th  H.  Art. 

Osborn,  Josiah  B 1st  H.  Art. 

Osborn,  Stephen  11 23d  Inf. 

Osborn,  William  E 3d  Unat.   Co.  Inf.  militia 

Osborne,  John  B Navy 

Osborne,  John  II 5th  Inf.  militia;  Navy 

Osborne,  Laban  S 5th  Inf.  militia  ;  1st  H.  Art. 

Osborne,  Stephen  H 23d  Inf. 

Osgood,  Cyrus  BI 2d  Co.  Sharps  ;  killed 

Osgood,  Edward  T 8th  Inf.  militia  ;  23d  Inf. 

Osgood,  George  E 23d  Inf.  ;  trans.  V.  R.  C. 

Osgood,  William  H...l6t  Bat'n  H.  Art.;  2d  11.  Art.  : 

Navy 
Owens,  James 19th  Inf 

Packard,  William r,2d  Inf 

Paine,  Charles  D fith  Inf.  militia 

Paine,  Joseph  A.,  Jr 23d  Inf. 

Paine,  William 5Ith  Inf.  ;  trans.  .55th  Inf. 

(colored). 

Paishley,  Sylvester 11th  Inf. 

Palmer,  Charles  W 1st  H.  Art. 

Palmer,  George 1st  H.  Art. 

Palmer,  William  H 5th  Inf.  militia 

Palmer,  William  H.  H....  50th  Inf.  militia 

Parker,  Alfred Navy 

Parker,  George  F 21th  Inf 

Parrott,  Francis 1st  H.  Art. 

Paishley,  Nathaniel  D 1st  H.  Art. 

Parshley,  Sylvester 7tli  Inf.  militia  ;  9th  Inf 

Parsons,  Cyrus 5th  Inf.  militia  ;  7th  Inf.  militia 

Parsons,  Kben  0 4th  Bat.  L  Art. 

Parsons,  George  W 1st  II.  Art.;  killed 

Parsons,  William  D.,  23d  Inf.  ;  died  Andersonvillo 

Prison. 
Patch,  John  S....23d  Inf.;  missing.   Supposed  killed 

Patten,  Frank (52d  Inf 

Pattcu,  James  M 5th  Inf.  militia 

Peabody,  William 1st  Bat'n  II.  Art. 

Peabody,  William  M....5th  Inf.  militia  ;  4th  Bat. 

L.  Art. 
Peach,  George  S.,  1st  Sergt.,  5th  Inf.  militia;  Sergt. 

24th  Inf. 

Peach,  George  W 4th  H.  Art 

Peach,  Thomas  S 4th  H.  Art. 


Peach,  William,  Jr 5th  Inf  militia  ;  40th  Inf. 

Peckham,  Charles,  1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. ;  died  in  service 

Peirce,  Charles  H 1st  H.  Art. 

Pendar,  John 9th  Inf. 

Pendergast,  Thomas 1st  H.  Art.;  died  in  service 

Pepper,  Walter  A Navy 

Perchard,  Clement  H .'lOth  luf.  militia 

Perkins,  Asa  B Navy 

Perkins,  Charles. ..Corp.  13th  unat. Co.  Inf.  militia; 
50tli  Inf  militia  ;  1st  Batn  F.  Cav. 

Perkins,  Charles  C Ist  Inf. 

Perkins,  Ebeu  S 23d  Inf. 

Perkins,  Francis  M 50th  Inf.  militia 

Perkins,  George  U 5(ith  Inf.  militia 

Perkins,  Henry 13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf  militia 

Perkins,  .Tames  W 50th  Inf.  militia 

Perkins,  Joseph  A 8th  Inf.  militia  ;  S.  C.  ;  1st 

Bat'n  F.  Cav. 

Perkins,  Joseph  H.,  (N.) 5th  Inf.  militia 

Perley,  John  E Navy 

Perley,  Thomas  A 50th  Inf.  militia 

Perry,  Henry  W 5th  Inf.  militia 

Perry,  Henry  E Navy 

Perry,  Horace  S 1st  H.  Art. 

Perry,  William  A oth  Inf.  militia 

Pervier,  Benjamin  L Mus.  3d  H.  Art. 

Peterson,   .Vndiew  G.,   Corp.   13th  Unat.    Co.   Inf. 
militia;  5(»tli  Inf  militia;  1st  Bat'n  F.  Cav. 

Peterson,  Thomas  S Navy 

Pettengill,  George tith  Inf.  militia 

Phelan,  Thomas 17th  Inf. 

Phelan,  Thomas  J Corp.  1st  H.  .\rt 

Phillips,  .\ngelo 3d  H.  Art. 

Phillips,  Benjamin  A 2d  H.  Art. 

Phillips,  Edward  B 

Phillips,  James  L 3(  th  Inf. ;  trans.  V.  B.  C. 

Phillliis,  John 1st  H.  Art. 

Phillips,  Phineas  W 7th  Inf.  militia 

Phippeu,  Aliraham 17th  Inf.  ;  died  in  service 

Phippeii,  Charles  II 5th  Inf.  militia;  Sergt.  7th 

Inf.  militia  ;  1st  H.  Art. 

Phippeu,  David 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Phippen,  Edwtrd  A.,  Jr 5th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Phippeu,  George  P Corp.  23d  Inf. 

Phippen,  Joshua  2d. 

Phippen,  Joshua  B 1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Phippen,  Robert  A 1st  H.  Art. 

Phippen,  Robert  C 1st  H.  Art. 

Phippen,  William  H 1st  H.  Art. 

Phipps,  Henry  B.,  Corp.   1st  H.  Art.;  died  Ander- 
sonville  Prison. 

Phinney,  Edwin Corp.  9th  Inf.  ;  trans.  32d  Inf. 

Pickering,  Benjamin  F Sergt.  6th  Inf  militia  ; 

Corp.  7th  Inf.  militia. 

Pickering,  Benjamin  P S.  C. 

Pickett,  Charles 1st  Sergt.  40th  Inf. 

Pickman,  Hersey  D Corp.  13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf. 

militia;  50th  Inf  militia. 

Pierce,  Alden  J 27th  Inf. 

Pierce,  David  H oth  Inf.  militia 

Pierce,  John 1st  Bat'n  H.  Art.  ;  2d  H.  Art.  ; 

V.  R.  C. 

Pierce,  Thomas Navy 

Pierce,  William Corp.  2d  Cav. 

Pierce,  William  H 27th  Inf. 

Pike,  George  N 4th  H.  Art. 

Pinckton,  William 23d  Inf. 

Piukham,  Charles  F.,  Artificer,  1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. ; 
died  in  service. 

Pinkham,  Charles  H Sergt.  S.  C. 

Pinkham,  William  A 23d  Inf.  ;  died  in  service 

Piper,  John  F Sergt.  59th  Inf 

Pitman,  John  H Mast.  Mate. ;  Navy 

Pitman,  Nathaniel,  (.Tr.  or  F  ),  1st  H.  Art.  ;  died  of 
wounds  1864. 

Pitman,  William Ist  H.  Art. 

Pitman,  William  H  Ist  H.  Art. 


222 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Pitts,  Albert  W 1st  H.  Art. 

Pitts,  Otie 23d  Inf. 

Pirt,  Isaac Navy 

Place,  Charles  A 12th  N.  H.  Vols. 

Plmiiuier,  David 10th  Maine  Inf.  ;  killed 

Plunimer,  Frank Seigt.  24th  Inf. 

Pliimmer,  George Sergt.  1st  H.  Art. 

Plunimer,  Lewis  K Sergt.  22d  Inf. 

Pollock,  David  M 2.3d  Inf. 

Pond,  Frederick  A .lOth  Inf.  militia 

Pond,  Joseph  P.,  Jr  o'.tth  Inf 

Poor,  Horace  A 11th  Inf. 

Poor,  James,  Jr 1st  H.  Art.  ;  5th  Inf.  militia 

Pope,  Benjamin  C 23d  Inf.  ;   V.  R.  C. 

Pope,  Joseph 2d  Inf. 

Pope,  Thomas  S.,  oth  Inf.  militia  ;  1st  Bat'n  F.  Cav. 

Porter,  Charles 11th  Inf. 

Pope,  Thomas Navy 

Porter,  William  T 1st  H.  Art. 

Potter,  Francis  B 12th  Inf.  ;  died  in  service 

Puulson,  Lewis 2d  Cav. 

Pousland,  David  N S.  C. 

Pousland,  Edward  .\ Navy 

PouBland,  John  H.,  Corp.  1st  Bat'n  H.  Art.  ;  2d  H. 

Art.  ;  5th  Inf  militia. 

Powell,  Nf  thaniel Navy 

Powers,  Charles  H Navy 

Powers,  El  ward 9th  Inf.  ;  trans.  32d  luf. 

Powers,  Edward  E 19tli  Inf. ;  trans.  Navy 

Powers,  James Oth  Inf;  killed 

Powers,  John 1st  It.  .\rt. 

Powers,  Richard,  Jr 3d  Cav. 

Powers,;gtepheu  A 48th  Inf.  militia 

Powers,  William  F Corp.  3d  H.  Art. 

Pratt,  A.  W Navy 

Pratt,  CalTin  L.,  5th  Inf.  militia  ;  4th  Bat.  L.  .\rt. 

Pratt,  Edward  L Navy 

Pratt,  Edwin  F.,  8th    Inf.  militia  ;    Corp.  4th  Bat. 

L.  Art. 

Pratt,  James  F 1st  II.  Art. 

Pratt,  John   W Sergt.  40th  Inf 

Pratt,  Lewis  R Sergt.  2d  H.  Art.;  5th  Inf.  militia 

Pratt,  William  A 3d  II.  Art.;  trans.  Navy 

Pray,  Joseph Ist  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Pray,  Joseph  S 3d  II.  Art. 

Preble,  John V.  R.  C. 

Preston,  Charles  H 19th  Inf. 

Preston,  John  C 2d  Inf. 

Preston,  John  F .59th  Inf  ;  killed 

Preston,  John  H Miis.  2d  Inf. 

Preston,  Otis  P.,  50th  Inf.  militia  ;  died  in  service 

Preston,  William  A  50th  Inf.  militia 

Price,  Bnfus 19th  Inf. 

Price,  William  H.    See  Prime,  William  H. 

Prime,  William  H 23d  Inf 

Prime,  Joshua  S 17th  Inf 

Prime,  William  H.  II Hosp.  Stew. 

Prince,  George 23d  Inf.  ;  died  of  wounds 

Prince,  William  W S.  C. 

Pulsifer,  Charles  A Ist  H.  Art. 

Pulsifer,  David  F 23d  Inf.  ;  killed 

Pulsifer,  Nathaniel  F.,  Igt  H.  Art.  ;  died  in  service 

Pulsifer,  William  H Navy 

Purbeck,  John  H 1st  H.  Art. 

Purbeck,  John  H 9th  Inf.  ;  1st  H.  Art. 

Purbeck,  William  L  5th  Bat.  L.  Art.  ;  killed 

Putnam,  Perley Navy 

Quinlan,  Thomas 9th  Inf 

Quinn,  John 5th  Inf.  militia 

Quinn,  Joseph 2d  Inf 

Quinn,  Joseph  17th  Inf. 

Quinn,  Patrick 23d  Inf 

Quinn,  James Mus.  19th  Inf 

Quinn,  James 23d  Inf. 

Quinn,  John V.  R.  C. 

Quinn,  John 1st  Cav. 


Quinn,  John Navy 

Radford,  George  A S.  C. 

Ragan,  Michael 1st  H.  Art.  ;  died  in  service 

Ramsdell,  Alonzo  0  ,  4th  Bat.  L.  Art.  ;  trans.  l:ith 

Bat.  L.  Art. 

Ramsdell,  Joseph  R 3d  H.  Art. 

Ramsdell,  Peter  A  Corp.  5th  Inf.  militia  ;  3d  H. 

Art. 

Ramsdell,  William  F 3d  H.  Art. 

Randall,  Charles  W Sergt.  1st  II.  Art. 

Raymond,  Alfred  A.,.jr 19th  Inf 

Read,  William 19th  Inf. 

Real,  Joseph  F 2d  II.  Art. 

Reardon,  Daniel 2d  Inf. 

Redman,  John 13th  Unat.  Co.,  Inf  militia 

Reed,  Benjamin  A 23d  Inf. 

Reed,  Thomas 24th  Inf. 

Beeves,  Edward 1st  H.  Art. 

Reeves,  William  H 1st  H.  Art.  ;  died  in  service 

Regan,  B.  F 12th  Inf. 

Regan,  Dennis 9th  Inf. 

Regan,  Edmund 9th  Inf.;  died  of  wounds 

Regan,  James Oth  Inf.  ;  killed 

Regan,  Stephen 4th  H.  Art. 

Regan,  Stephen 28th  Inf  ;  trans.  V.  R.O. 

Regan,  Timothy 4th  H.  Art. 

Remick,  James (See  Remick,  Patrick) 

Remick,  Patrick  Sergt.  9th  Inf. 

Remon,  John  G S.  C. 

Restoll,  John I9th  Inf. 

Restell,  John,  jr 19th  Inf 

Rice,  Benjamin  B 7th  Inf.  militia 

Rice,  George Hosp.  Stew.  U.  6.  A. 

Rice,  William  H.  C 2d  Inf 

Richards,  John  H 23d  Inf. 

Richardson,  Alfred 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Richardson,  Alfred  J 2d  II.  Art. 

Richardson,  Henry  H 5th  Inf  militia 

Ri<hardson,  John  H 55th  Inf.  (colored) 

Richardson,  William  L 39th  Inf 

Ricker,  Francis  M S.  C.  ;  23d  Inf. 

Ricker,  James,  Sergt.  2d  N.  H.  Vols.  ;  died  of  wounds 

Ricker,  Richard 2d  Cav. 

Ricker,  Richard 17th  Inf 

Ricker,  William  H 2d  Cav. 

Rider,  Joshua  O  Oth  Inf.  militia 

Rinks,  John  H Navy 

Ri.\,  Asa  W.  S .5th  Inf.  militia 

Roach,  Michael Navy 

Roark,  Frank 22d  Inf.  ;  trans.  32d  Inf 

Roarke,  Thomas ;....Mus.  32d  Inf 

Roberts,  George 59th  Inf.  ;  died  of  wounds 

Roberts,  Henry  L 23d  Inf.;  trans.  V.  R.  C. 

Roberts,  James 19th  Inf. 

Roberts,  John 2d  Co.  Sharps. 

Roberts,  John  S 23d  Inf.,  3d  H.  Art. 

Roberts,  Samuel,  jr 19th  Inf. 

Roberts,  Stephen  H  2d  Co.  Sharps. 

Roberts,  William 5th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Roberts  William  II 1st  H.  Art. 

Robbins,  Louis  L Corp.  23d  Inf 

Robbins,  Nathaniel  A Corp.  S.  0. 

Robbinson,  Edward  L.,  Ist  Sergt.  22d  Inf.  ;  trans. 

32d  Inf.  ;  trans.  V.  R.  0. 

Robinson,  Harry  S 17tli  Inf. 

Robinson,  Jeremiah 4th  Cav. 

Robinson,  John 50th  Inf.  militia 

Robinson,  John  G Q.  M.  Sergt.  48th  Inf.  militia 

Robinson,  Nathaniel  F Corp.  50th  Inf.  militia 

Robinson,  William 2d  Cav. ;  trans.  V.  R.  C. 

Rock,  John 18th  Inf 

Kodigrass,  John  S 19th  Inf 

Rodwell,  John  A. ..6th  N.  H.  Vols.  ;  died  in  service 

Rogan,  Cornelius 9th  Inf. 

Bogan,  William 9th  Inf. ;  died  in  service 

Rogan,  William  N 9th  Inf.;  died  in  service 


Rogers,  Benjamin  H 11th  Inf. 

Rogers,  Henry  N 11th  Inf. 

Rogers,  John  E 6t,h  Inf.  militia 

Rogers,  John  E Navy 

Rogers,  Joseph  C 23d  Inf. 

Rogers,  Joseph  S.  S 11th  Inf. 

Rogers,  Simon  A. .1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. ;  died  in  service 

Rollins,  Abijah •. 23d  Inf. 

Rollins,  James Navy 

Rollins,  William 19th  Inf. 

Rouan,  Win.  H Corp.  3d  H.  Art.  ;48th  Inf.  militia 

Rooney,  Peter 19th  Inf.  ;  trans.  20th  Inf. 

Ross,  Daniel  M 1st  Cav. 

Ross,  J.  Perrin 8th  Inf  militia 

Ross,  Joseph  H 1st  H.  Art. 

Ross,  William  H..8th  Inf  militia  ;  19th  Inf  ;  killed 

Ross,  William  P let  H.  Art. 

Rouke,  John Oth  Inf. 

Rounds,  Edward  H Corp.  23d  Inf. 

Rowe,  George  E 40tli  Inf. 

Rowp,  James  H Olst  Inf. ;  died  in  service 

Rowell,  Thomas  A.,  Q.  M.  Sergt.  3d  H.  Art.  ;  Corp. 

7th  luf  militia. 

Rowley,  Robert (Ith  Inf.  militia 

Ruee,  Benjamin  B 2d  H.  Art. 

RuU,  Benjamin  B 1st  Bat'n  II.  Art. 

Runey,  Peter See  Rooney,  Peter 

Russell,  Albert  W 11th  Inf. 

Russell,  George  F 1st  II.  Art. 

Russell,  JohuH Sergt.  40th  Inf. 

Russell,  Martin  V.  B Mus.  Itt  II.  Art. 

Rust,  Edwin  F.,  4th  Bat.  L.  Art.  ;  trans.  13lh  Bat. 

L.  Art. 

Ruth,  Edward 59th  Inf.  ;  trans.  57th  Inf. 

Ruth,  Edward  Navy 

Ruth,  John 59th  Inf. 

Ryan,  John 3d  Cav. 

Ryan,  John 19th  Inf. 

Rj  an,  John  P Navy 

Ryan,  Patrick 48ili  Inf.  militia 

Safford,  George  W .50th  Inf  militia 

Sanborn,  Edward  D 3d  H.  Art. 

Sanborn,  Horace  E 1st  H.  Art. 

Sanborn,  Joseph  W.,  Corp.  13th   Unat.  Co.  militia  ; 
5Uth  Inf  militia. 

Sanborn,  John  F 5th  Inf.  militia 

Sargent,  Charles  0 23d  Inf. 

Sargent,  Thomas  J  Ist  H.  Art. 

Sasstield,  Edward  3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

Saunders,  Charles 2d  Cav.  ;  trans.  V.  R.  C. 

Saunders,  David  E.,jr Sergt.  50th  Inf.  militia 

Saunders,  Henry  T...Corp.  23d  Inf  ;  died  in  service 

Savory,  John 2d  H.  Art.  ;  died  Florence  Prison 

Sawyer,  Caleb... 1st  H.  Art. 

Sawyer,  Nathaniel 1st  II.  .\rt.  ;  trans.  V.  R.  C. 

Scanlan,  Michael  17th  Inf. 

Scales,  David  M 24th  Inf. 

Scheledel,  Otto 22d  Inf. ;  trans.  32d  Inf. 

Scopic,  Leo 28th  Inf 

Schultz,  Carl  F 23d  Inf  ;  died  in  service 

Schweitzer,  George 22d  Inf  ;  trans.  32d  Inf. 

Scribner,  Luther .Corp.  4th  Cav. 

Scriggins,  Joshua  C 23d  Inf. 

Scriggins,  William  J 50th  Inf  militia  ;  Navy 

Scully,  .lohn  H .9th  Inf. 

Scully,  Patrick .48th  Inf.  militia 

Searles,  George 5th  Inf  militia 

Seger,  John  11th  Inf. 

Selton,  Thomas  E Navy 

Semons,  Francis  A.,  Corp.  7th  Inf.  militia;  5th  Inf. 
militia. 

Senter,  William  C 23d  Inf. 

Shanley,  William  J 5th  Inf  militia  ;  3d  H.  Art. 

Shapine,  John 23d  Inf. 

Sharp,  Thomas 3d  H.  Art. 

Sharkey,  Charles...  17th  Inf. 


SALEM. 


223 


Sbatswell,  Joseph  A 7th  Inf.  militia 

Shaw,  Brown  E 23d  Inf. 

Shaw,  Colin See  Shaw,  Orlin 

Shaw,  Cyrus  P 8th  Inf.  militia 

Shaw,  John Xavy 

Shaw,  John Corp.  1st  H.  Art. 

Shaw,  Neil 7th  Inf.  militia 

Shaw,  Orlin Corp  11th  Inf.  ;  died  of  wounds 

Shaw,  Walter  G   C.  C.-,  Corp.  24th  Inf.  ;  40th  Inf.  ; 
•18th  Inf.  militia. 

Shea,  Daniel 9th  Inf. 

Shea,  Patrick 2d  H.  Art. 

Shea,  P.atrick 9th  Inf. ;  died  of  wounds 

Shea,  Timothy Oth  Inf. 

Shearin,  Charles  H 19th  Inf. 

Shearman,  James  L  Navy 

Shearman,  William Navy;  ooth  Inf. 

Sheehan,  Edward  17th  Inf. 

Sheehan,  John  J. ..6th  Inf.  militia  ;  4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Shehan,  Patrick Navy 

Sheehan,  Timothy 1st  H.  Art. 

Sherlock,  Thomas  T 9th  Inf.  ;  died  in  service 

Sherman,  William Navy 

Sherman,  Wm.,  .54th  Inf.  ;  trans.  .5.'JthInf.  (colored) 

Sherwin,  WiUiam,  jr 3c)th  Inf. 

Shine,  Cornelius  A 2dCav. 

Shirley,  John 2d  H.  Art 

Shorten,  .Tames 9th  Inf.  ;  V.  R.  C. 

Shorten.  Michael Corp.  2d  Cav. 

Short,  Charles  H .50th  Inf.  militia 

Short,  Joseph  A 29th  Inf.  ;  kUled 

Shutes,  John  D 1st  H.  Art. 

Sikey,  William  H 2d  Co.  Sharps 

Silver,  Augustus 4th  Baf.  L.  Art. 

Silver,W.  A..4th  Bat.  L.  Art.;  trans.  13th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Simmons,  Francis  A 5th  Inf  militia 

Simmons,  William 2d  H.  Art.  ;  died  of  wounds. 

Simon,  John  F.,  Corp.  50th  Inf.  militia ;  died  in  serv. 

Simonds,  Edward  A 1st  Sergt.  S.  C. 

Simonds,  William 19th  Inf  ;  40th  Inf. 

Simonds,  William  II 40th  Inf. 

Simons,  Francis  A 3d  H.  Art. 

Simpson,  John  A Nav.v 

Sinclair,  David 2Uh  Inf. 

Sinclair,  James 62d  Inf. 

Sislie,  Robert 28th  Inf. 

Skerry,  Edward  S 1st  H.  Art. 

Skerry,  George  L 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Skinner,  Emery  B 1st  H.  Art. 

Skinner,  James  N oOtli  Inf.  militia 

Skinner,  Philip  G Sergt.  S.  C. 

Sleuman,  Charles  A 50tli  Inf.  militia 

Sloper,  William  A 5th  Inf.  militia 

Sluman,  William  H Navy 

Sman,  William  M Gist  Inf. 

Smeathers,  Joseph 1st  H.  Art. 

Smith,  A.  P.,  Corp.  2.3d  Inf.  ;  9tli  Inf.  ;  8tli  Inf.  mil. 

Smith,  Benjamin  F Sergt.  4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Smith,  Charles Navy 

Smith,  Charles  F 2.3d  Inf. 

Smith,  Daniel  F V.  R.  C. 

Smith,  Frederick  W  8th  Inf.  militia;  23d  Inf. 

Smith,  Harley  P 7th  Inf.  militia 

Smith,  Henry 1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Smith,  Henry  J Sergt.  20th  Inf. 

Smith,  Henry  .1 ."itli  Inf.  militia  ;  2d  Cav. 

Smith,  James  E 23d  Inf.  ;  trans.  V.  R.  C. 

Smith,  James  S 8th  Inf.  militia 

Smith,  John 1st  H.  Art. 

Smith,  .John 11th  Inf.;  23d  Inf. 

Smith,  .John  A 19th  Inf. 

Smith,  .John  B 1st  Inf. 

Smith,  John  F 13th  I'nat.  Co.  Inf.  militia 

Smith,  Jonathan  C 1st  H.  Art. 

Smith,  J.  Jewett 1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Smith,  Lorenzo 23d  Inf 

Smith,  Patrick 48tli  luf.  militia  ;  died  in  service 

Smith,  Samuel  11. ..8th  Inf.  militia  ;  Sergt.  19th  Inf. 

Smith,  Thomas  R 1st  H.Art. 

Smith,  Timothy 19th  Inf. 

Smith,  WiUiam 1st  H.Art. 

Smith  William  A 1st  H.Art.:  V.  R.  C. 

Smith,  Wm.  A.,  54th  Inf.  (colored)  ;  trans.  .5.5th  Inf. 

Smith,  William  J 20th  Inf.;  kiUed 

Smith,  William  R 7th  Inf.  militia 

Smith,  William 15th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Snell,  Nicholas  P.. Corp.  1st  H.  Art.  ;  died  of  wounds 
Solen,  Nathaniel See  Soley,  Nathaniel 


Soley,  Frank 13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf.  militia 

Soley,  Franklin 7th  Inf.  militia 

Soley,  Nathaniel l.st  H.  Art. 

Somner,  Sehan lOth  Inf.  ;  trans,  lltli  Inf, 

Soper,  .Jeremiah V.  11.  C. 

Southard,  Geo.  F 50th  Inf.  militia 

Southard,  (Southward)  Samuel  S 23d  Inf. 

Southwick,  Edward 48th  Inf.  militia 

Southwick,  Elbridge  M.,  7th  Inf.  mUitia ;  3d  H,  Art. 

Southwick,  Joseph 11th  Inf. 

Spanlding,  J.  C Navy 

Spencer,  Hiram  B 1st   Cav. 

Spofford,  John  B Navy 

Spring,  Patrick 9th  Inf. 

Starey,  Peter 48th  Inf.  militia 

.Stafford,  James  M 1st  Sergt.  2d  Inf. 

Stamper,  William  F 11th  U.  S.  Inf. 

Staniford,  Daniel Corp.  6th  Inf.  militia  ;  S.  C. 

Stanley,  Abraham  J Mus.  24th  Inf. 

Staples,  E.  C Navy 

Staples,  Eli.as  C 1st  II.  Art  ,  killed 

Staples.  George 2d    Inf.,  killed 

Staten,  Alexander 4th  Cav. 

Staten,  William  H.  l' 1st  Slaine  Vols. 

Stearns,  William Navy 

Stenford,  Joseph 19th  Inf. 

Sterling,  William  S Sergt.  62d  Inf. 

Stevenson,  John    H Navy- 
Stevenson,  Robert 30th  Inf. 

Stevens,   Daniel  W 17th  Inf. 

Stevens,  Edward  P      8th  Inf.  militia 

Stevens,  John, Navy 

Stevens,  John 2d  Cav. 

Stevens,  John 28th  Inf. 

Stevens,  Samuel 62d  Inf. 

Stevens,  Samuel  A.,  Gth  Inf.  militia  ;  2d  Maine  Vols. 

Stickney,  David Navy 

Stickney,  George  A 1st  H.  Art. 

Stickney,   Joseph Navy 

Stickney,  Joseph  A Navy 

Stillman,  Amos....S.  C, ;  5()th  Inf.  militia  ;  23d  Inf. 
Stillman,  Edward,  Mus.  13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf.  militia  ; 
Mus.  50th  Inf.  ;  Mus.  S.  C.  ;  1st  Bat.  F.  ('av. 

Stillman,  .James  H 23d  Inf. 

Stillman  Sanniel 2d  Co.  Sharps.,  killed 

Stimpsou,  Edward  A 48th  Inf.  militia;  IGth  Inf. 

Stocker,  Charles  H .S.  C. 

Stoddard, "George  A .50tli  Inf.  militia 

Stone,  Charles Corp.  Ist  Co.  Sharps. 

Stone,  Benjamin  F 17th  Inf. 

Stone,  George  B 23d  Inf. 

Stone,  George  L Gth  Inf.  militia 

Stone,  Joseph  H.  S 4th  Cav. 

Stover,  Nathaniel  F.,  48th  Inf.  militia  ;  3d  H.  Art.  ; 

died  in  service. 
Strafford,  James  M.  (see  Stafford,  James  M.) 
Stratton,  Benj.  F.,  50th  Inf.  militia;  died  in  service 

Stuflles,  John 3d  U.  S.  Art. 

Sullivan,  Cornelius 3d  Cav. 

Sullivan,  .John Navy 

Sullivan,  Matthew 11th  Inf. 

Sullivan,  Patk.,9th  Inf.  ;  died  Andersonville  Prison 

Sullivan,  Patrick 3d  U.  S.  Art.  ;  killed 

Sunivan,  Timothy 2d  H.  Art. 

Sumner,  John  A otli   Inf.  militia 

Swaney,  William  H 23d  Inf,  killed 

Swasey,  Lewis  G.,  Sergt.  3d  H.  Art. ;  corp.  1st  H.  Art. 

Swasey,  Thomas  S.  B 3d  Cav.  ;   Navy 

Swasey,  William  R ^ 8th  Inf.  militia 

Swasey,  William  R Gth  N.  H.  A^ols.  ;    killed 

Sweeney.  Daniel,   (David) 9th  Inf. 

Sweeney,  John 2d  Cav. 

Sweeney,  Morgan,  2d  Inf.; 59th  Inf.  ;  trans.  57th  Inf 

Swaney,  William 48tli  Inf  militia 

Sweeny,  William  H 23d  Inf. 

Sweet,  Hartford  S 2.3d  Inf. 

Sweetland,  Alonzo 8th  Inf.  militia 

Sweetzer,  Benj.  F.,  Sergt.  56th  Inf.  ;  trans.  V.  R.  C. 

Swett,  Francis  F V.  R  C. 

Symonds,  Chas.  A.,  5th  Inf.  militia  ;  1st  I3at.  F.  Cav. 
Symonds,  Edward  A.,  50th  Inf.  militia  ;  3d  H.  Art. 

Symonds,  Geo.  H S.  C. 

Symonds,  Henry  A 40th  Inf.  ;  trans.  24tli  Inf. 

Symonds,  Joseph  P 48th  Inf.  militia 

Symonds,  J.  Shove. 

Symonds,  Nathaniel  A.,  Corp.  Gth  Inf.  militia;  5th 

Inf.  militia. 
Sj'monds,  Nathaniel  C 23d  Inf. 


Symonds,  Stephen  6 7th  Inf.  militia 

Symonds,  William  H 401h  Inf. 

Sykes,  Edwin 57th  Inf. 

Tarbox,  Asa 11th  Inf. 

Tarbox,  David V.  R.  C. 

Tarbox,  Henry  M.  (H.)  17th  Inf. 

Tarbox,  Jonathans IstH.  Art. 

Tarbox,  Randall 1st  Inf.  ;    died  in  service 

Tarbox,  Samuel  A Wagoner  23d  Inf. 

Tarbox,  William  H Ist  H.  Art. 

Tareno,  Sareno 19th  Inf. 

Tato,  Charles Navy 

Taylor,  Charles   19th  Inf. 

Taylor,  Jame.s 3d  Cav. 

Taylor,  Peter 61st  Inf. 

Taylor,  Thomas 1st  Cav. 

Taylor,  William  3d  Cav. 

Taylor,  William  11 3d  H.  Art. 

Teague,  Amos  G 1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Teague,  Robert 1st  H.  Art. 

Teague,  Thomas  A 1st  H.  Art- 

Teague,  Wm.  H.,5th  Inf.  militia;  1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Tedder,  John  T Ist  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Terrance,  Edward 61st  Inf. 

Therin,  Charles  H 17th  Inf. 

Thiers,  Patrick 17th  Inf. 

Thomas,  Charles  S, Corp.  2d  Co.  Sharps 

Thomas,  Eli  C..23d  Inf.  ;  died  Andei-sonville  Prison 

Thomas,  Geoige  W 17th  Inf. 

Thomas,  James 19th  Inf.  ;  died  in  service 

Thomas,  Joseph  F 6th  Inf.  militia 

Thomas,  Richard  H 23d  Inf.  V.  R.  C. 

Thomas,  Samuel  W Navy 

Thomas,  Stephen  W.,  Jr 1st  II.  Art. 

Thomas,  Warren 23d  Inf. 

Thomas,  William  H.  H 3d  H.  Art. 

Thompson,  Darius  N Corp.  3d  H.  Art. 

Thompson,  Edward  C I9th  Inf. 

Thompson,  F.  B 4th  Bat.  L.  Art.  ;  died  in  service 

Thompson,  George  A 5th  Inf.  militia;  killed 

Thompson,  George  H 19th  Inf. 

Thompson,  John  N 5th  Inf.  mUitia 

Thompson,  William 2d  H.  Art. 

Thorndike,  Theodore  A 5(th  Inf.  militia 

Thorner,  Samuel  R 40th  Inf. 

Thornton,  John 23d  Inf. 

Thrasher,  Nath.,  4th  Bat  L.  Art.  ;  died  in  service. 

TIbbetts,  Andrew  R..'. 23d  Inf.  ;  V.  R.  C. 

Tibbetts,  George  F 8th  Inf.  militia  ;  1st  H.  Art. 

Tibbetts,  WiUiam  R 1st  H.  Art. 

Tierney,  Patrick Corp.  9th  Inf. 

Timmlns,  Garritt Sergt.  9th  Inf. 

Thnmins,  Patrick Corp.  9th  Inf. 

Tirrell,  WiUiam 19th  Inf. 

Tiviss,  John  W Navy 

Tobey,  William,  jr..Cc)rp.  ath  Inf.  militia  ;  1st  Cav. 

Tobin,  .James 4th  H.  Art. 

Toby,  Stephen  W 1st  H.  Art. 

Tolman,  Stephen  W 40th  Inf. 

Toomey,  John 18th  Inf.  ;  trans.  32d  Inf. 

Toome.v,  John. 

Torr,  Joseph 40th  Inf. 

Towle,  AlbertL  Corp.  S.  C. 

Towne,  Samuel  1st  H.  Art. 

Towns,  Calvin  L  1st  H.  ."Vrt.  ;  died  of  wounds 

Townsend,  WiUiam  H 23d  Inf.  ;  died  in  service 

Tracy,  .John 9th  Inf.  ;  died  in  service 

Tracy,  Joseph,  jr 3d  Cav. 

Tracy,  William 9th  Inf. 

Tracy,  William 17th  Inf. 

Trafton,  Charles 3d  H.  Art.  ;  17th  Inf. 

Trainer,  Thomas 1st  H.  Art. 

Trainer,  Thomas 3d  H.  Art.  ;  trans.  29th  Unat. 

Co.  H.  Art. 

Trask,  Amos  W 23d  Inf. 

Trask,  David  B. 

Trask,  Edward 19th  Inf. 

Trask,  Henry 5th  Inf.  militia 

Trask,  Henry  A... .4th  Bat.  L.  Art.  ;  trans.  V.  R.  C. 

Trask,  James  E 13th  Unat.  Co.  Inf.  militia;  60th 

Inf.  militia. 

Trask,  Joseph  E 23d  Inf. 

Trask,  Moses  A 2d  Co.  Sharps 

Tray,  James Navy 

Trofatter,  Elias  a\ Wagoner  50th  Inf.  militia  ; 

died  in  service 
Trout,  Bradford  11 llth  Inf. 


224 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Tiull,  Charles  W 4th  Bat.  L.  Art.  ;  died  in 

service 

Tuclier,  Henry  G Ist  H.  Art. 

Tucker,  Horace S.  C. 

Tucker,  John  H 48th  Inf.  militia;  I'th  Inf 

Tucker,  .Joseph  W 1st  H.  Art, 

Tuclter,  Timothy 2d  Cav. 

Tucker,  William  W 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Tufts,  John  A 4th  Bat.  L.  Art.  ;  died  in  service 

Tufts,  RufusW 5th  Inf.  militia 

Tukey,  Greenleaf  S Coip.  5Uth  Inf.  militia 

Turner,  James  H.,  jr 1st  H.  Art. 

Turell,  Benjamin  F Navy 

Tschopik,  Leo 28th  Inf.     Probably  same  as  Leo 

Schopic. 

Tuttle,  WilliamH 50th  Inf.  militia 

Twist,  Joseph  C 3d  H.  Art.  ;  trans.  29th  Unat. 

Co.  H.  Art. 

Twiss,  Joseph  C,  1st IVtli  Inf 

Twiss,  Joseph  C,  2d 17th  Inf. 

Twohig,  John 9th  Inf. 

Twomey,  Thomas Corp.  2d  H.  Art, 

Tyler,  Alfred S.  C. 

Tyler,  Jesse 1st  H.  Art. 

Tyler,  J.  H 17th  Inf. 

Upham,  Benjamin  N 7th  Inf.  militia 

tJpham,  Franklin 1st  H.  Art. 

Upham,  Joshua  W 1st  H.  Art. 

Upham,  Oliver  W.  11 S.  C.  ;  '23d  Inf. 

Upham,  Warren  J 1st  H.  Art. 

Upton,  Daniel S.  C. 

Upton,  Edward Sergt.   69th  Inf. 

Upton,  Robert 1st  H.  Art. 

Upton,  Warren  A .Ooth  Inf.  militia. 

Upton,  William  R. 

Usher,  Horace  D Ist  H.  Art. 

Valentine,  Herbert  E 23d  Inf. 

Vanderford,  Benjamin  F Sergt.  4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Varina,  William Corp.  fi2d  Inf. 

Varney,  Henry 1st  H.  Art. 

Vaughn,  diaries  E 3Jd  Inf.;  killed. 

Veno,  Felix 48th  Inf.  militia;  Ist  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Very,  Abraham  A 4th  Cav. 

Very,  Edwin Slus.  2.3d  Inf. 

Vary,  EphraimP 48th  Inf.  militia. 

Very,  Nathaniel  0 S.  C. 

Vinnah,  Francis  J Navy. 

Viannah,  Frank Corp.  23d  Inf. 

Vincent,  Amos  J 2d  R.  I. 

VoUer,  Benjamin  H 2d  Inf. 

Wadleigh,  Curtis  E 23d  Inf. 

Wait,  Ashbel 1st  H.  Art.  ;  died  in  service 

Walcott,  Ro.val  E 23d  Inf. 

Walden,  William  W.  P Corp.  1st  H.  Art. 

Waldron,  James Navy. 

Waldron,  John 23d  Inf.  ;  trans.  V.  R.  C. 

Waldron,  Joseph  E.,  Corp.  6th  Inf.  militia  ;  S.  C.  ; 

3d  H.  Art. 

Walker,  David  A Sergt.  33d  Inf. 

Walker,  W.  A Sergt.  59th  Inf. 

Walker,  William Corp.  3d  H.  Art. 

Wallace,  John  A 2d  Inf.  ;  died  in  service. 

Walsh,  James Corp.  18th  Inf.  militia. 

Walsh,  John 9th  Inf. 

Walsh,  Martin 9th  Inf. 

Walsh,  Patrick 9th  Inf. 

Walsh,  William    H.,  Mas.  48th   Inf.   militia  ;  1st 

Bat'n  F.  Cav. 

Walton,  Edward  A 1st  H.  Art. 

Walton,  JohuH.,  7th  Inf.  militia  ;    17th  Unat.  Co. 

Inf.  militia. 

Walton,  Joseph  A 48th  Inf  militia- 

Walton,  Joseph  H Corp.  22d  Inf. 

Ward,  James  L 7th  R.  I.  Cav. 

Warner,  Abraham  F.,  Corp.  ISth  Inf.;  died  Ander- 

flonville.Prison. 

Warner,  Clarence  A Corp.  1st  II.  Art. 

Warner,  Edward  L 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Warner,  Frank  B 50th  Inf.  militia. 


Warner,  Geo.    L.,  Sergt.  19th  Inf ;  died  in  service. 
Warner,   John  V.,  4th   Bat.    L.    Art.,  trans.   13th 

Bat,  L.  Art. 
Warner,  William   W.,  26th  Inf.;    died  in  service. 

Warren,  Edward  J 5th  Inf.  militia. 

Warren,  Moses 5th  Art.  U.  S.  C.  T. 

Warren,  William  H Corp.  2iith  Inf. 

Washburn,  Horace  W Ist  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Washington,  John  S 54th  Inf.  (colored) 

AVaters,  Henry  F 23d  Inf.  trans.  V.  R.  C. 

Waters,  Horace 19th  Inf. 

Waters,  James  V.,  5i  tli  Inf.  militia;  died  in  service 
Watson,  John  F....Sergt.l3th  Unat.  Co.  Inf.  militia 

Watts,  Charles Navy. 

Watts,  Charle.s   E Istll.  Art- 
Watts,  Richard Ist  H.  Art. 

Watts,  Thomas Nav.y. 

Webb,  Henry,  jr 40th  Inf. 

Webb,  James  H Navy. 

Webb,  John  F Com.  Sergt   1st  H.  Art.;  S.  C. 

Webber,  .Mendel  S 5tli  Inf.  militia. 

Weeks,  William  H 5th  Inf.  militia. 

Weir,  George  C Navy. 

Welch,  Charles  0 2d  Cav. 

Welch,  James  H Navy. 

Welch,  John  (let) 3d  Cav. 

Welch,  John 1st  H.  Art. 

Welch,  John 4l8t  Inf. 

Welch,  John  (2d) 3d  Cav.;  killed 

Welch,  John  A Navy. 

Welch,  Michael Navy. 

Welch,  Michael 7th  luf.  militia. 

Welch,  Michael,  4th  Bat.  L.  Art. ;  died  in  service. 

Welch,  Thomas Navy. 

Welch,  Walter 9th  Inf. 

Welch,  William 2d  H.  Art. 

Welch,  William  L 23d  Inf 

Welch,  W.  P 5lh  Inf  militia. 

Welliiiau,  Charles    C,    1st   H.   Art.;   died   Ander- 

sonville  Prison. 

Wellmaii,  George  0 Ist  H.  Art. 

Wellmjui,  Timothy  A 40th  Inf.,  trans.  V.  E.  C. 

Wells,  George  A S.  C. 

Wells,  S.  C nth  Inf. 

Wentworth,  Charles  A 40th  Inf. 

Wentworth,  Charles  F 62d  Inf. 

Wentworth,  Ezra  N Navy. 

Wentworth,  John 3d  Cav.  f  V.  R.  C. 

Wentworth,  John  H Sergt.  Ist  H.  Art. 

Wentworth,   John    H.,   4th   Bat.  L.   Art.;  died  in 

service. 
West,   George,  5th  Inf.   militia  ;  7th  Inf.  militia. 

West,  W.  C Corp. 

Weston,  Charles 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Weston,  Richmond Navy. 

Westwood,  George 62d  Inf. 

Wettey,  IMartin. 

Whallej',  Thomas Navy. 

Wheatland,  Simeon   J.,  54th  Inf ,  trans,   ooth  Inf. 

(colored). 
Wheelan,  S.  B...5th  Inf.  militia  ;  1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Wheeler,  Michael 1st  H.  Art.  ;  died  in  service 

Wheeler,  Samuel  B 2d  H.  Art. 

Whelan,  John Navy 

Whelan,  John 9th  Inf. 

Whelan,  Michael 9th  Inf. 

Whiarty,  Thomas 4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Whicher.  Ira  S 11th  Inf. 

White,  Francis  P 4th  H.  Art. 

White,  Henry  F 5th  Inf.  militia 

White,  John 62d  Inf. 

White,  Thomas 5th  Inf.  militia 

White,  William Navy 

Whitman,  William  W 7th  Inf. 

Whitmarsh,  Leander Navy 

Whitmore,  William  W S.  C.  ;  7th  Inf.  militia 

Whitney,  Samuel 4th  H.  Art. 

Whitridge,  Charles  E 8th  Inf.  militia 

Whittemore,  Henry Navy 

AVliittemore,  William  W 1st  Bat'n  Art. 

Wiggin,  Benjamin  T 1st  H.  Art- 

Wiggin,  George  F S.  C- 


Wiggins,  George  A .■ 62d  Inf. 

Wilber,  Wesley Navy 

Wildes,  Hayward  L 4th  Bat.  L.  Art.  ;  trans.  13th 

Bat.  L.  Art. 

Wile.v,  Edwin  W 7th  Inf.  militia;  3d  H.  Art. 

Wiley,  George  E 1st  Sergt  59th  luf.  ;  killed 

Wiley,  John  G 2d  H.  Art. 

Wiley,  Mo.ses,  Jr 48th  Inf.  militia;  19th  Inf. 

Wiley,  William 1st  Inf.  ;  40th  Inf.  ;  24th  Inf. 

Wiley,  William  F Sergt.  24th  Inf. 

Wilford,  John  U 3d  Cav.  ;  trans.  V.  R.  0. 

Wilkins,  Albert  (2d) Sergt.  1st  H.  Art.  ;  super. 

Wilkiijs,  Ed.  M 3d  H.  Art. 

Wilkins,  (Jeorge  G 23d  Inf.  ;  killed 

Wilkins,  James  G  Navy 

Wilkins,  Michael  C 1st  H.  Art. 

Willburn,  James 11th  Inf. 

Willett,  Allen Navy 

Wilby,  Albert  W 24th  Inf. 

Willey,  Edward  A Navy 

Willey,  George  M  17th  Inf.  ;  Navy 

Willey,  Mark  L Navy 

Willey,  Mark  L.,  Jr Navy 

Willey,  William (See  Willey,  Albert  W.) 

Williams,  Arthurs U.  S.  Eng.  Corps- 
Williams,  Charles  A Sergt.  6th  Inf._militia 

Williams,  Edward Navy 

Williams,  George 19lhlnf- 

Williams,  G...54th  Inf.  ;  trans.  55th  Inf.  (colored). 

Williams,  John Navy 

Williams,  John .Navy 

Williams,  John  F Navy 

Williams,  John  H Sergt.  1st  H.  Art. 

Williams,  John  H 2d  Cav. 

Williams,  Henry 5th  Inf.  militia;  39th  Inf. 

Williams,  l\Iartin  V 48th  Inf.  militia 

Williams,  Richard Navy 

Williams,  Thomas Navy 

Williams,  Thomas  J 23d  Inf 

Williams,  Thomas  J 3d  Cav 

Williams,  William  D.,  5th  Inf.  militia;  4th  Bat.  L. 

Art.  ;  died  in  service. 

Willis,  John Navy 

Willis,  Lewis V.  S.  C.  T. 

Williston,  Samuel  P Sergt.  4th  Bat.  L.  Art. 

Willi.ston,  William  D 2d  Inf.  ;  killed 

Wilson,  James Navy 

Wilson,  John  H Navy 

Wilson,  Joseph  H 2d  Inf. 

Wilson,  Joseph  H Navy 

Wilson,  Richard  M Ist  H.  Art. 

Wilson,  Thomas 19th  Inf. 

Wilson,  William  H Navy 

Winchester,  Isaac 23d  Inf. 

Winchester,  S...Corp.  23d  Inf.  ;  died  Andersonville 

Winn,  Edward  A Master's  Mate,  Navy 

Winter,  Lawrence .9th  Inf.  ;  died  in  service 

Winters,  John .3d  H.  Art. 

Wippich,  John 48th  Inf.  militia 

Withington,  Francis 2d  Cav. 

Wood,  John  19th  Inf. 

Wood,  John 19th  Inf. 

Wood,  Samuel  A Navy 

Wood,  William  P 1st  H.  Art.  ;  18th  V.  R.  C. 

Woodbine,  Abel Navy 

Woodbury,  George  H 50th  Inf.  militia 

Woodbury,  Josiah  H Corp.  23d  Inf 

Woodbury,  Levi 1st  Bat'n  H.  Art. 

Woodell,  Eli Navy 

Wooden,  William 19th  Inf. 

Wright,  James Navy 

Wright,  Nathaniel  F 59th  Inf- 

Wright,  Richard Navy 

Wyatt,  Andrew  J.  (W.) Mus.  23d  Inf. 

Wynder,  Thomas 32d  Inf- 

Yasinski,  Edmund  A S.  C. 

York,  Edward  W .3d  H.  Art.  ;  trans.  Navy 

Young,  Aaron  C Artificer,  1st  H.  Art. 

Young,  Charles  U 11th  Inf. 

Young,  James .99th  N.  Y.  Inf. 

Young,  William  A Sergt.  3d  Cav. 


Note.— The  foregoing  List  of  Soldiers  of  the  Revolution  is  taken  from  Felt's  Annals  of  Salem,  with  a  little  addition  ;  as  also  that  of  the  Privateers  of 
that  War.     The  List  of  Privateers  of  the  War  of  1812  is  the  one  made  by  Mr.  Leavitt,  found  in  the  Historical  Collections  of  the  Esse.x  In.stitute  ;  while  the 
lists  of  those  serving  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  were  carefully  compiled  for  me  from  all  sources  by  Mr.  F.  V.  Wright,  and  are  believed  to  be  very  nearly 
correct.     It  was  desired  to  append  a  list  of  those  from  Salem  who  had  attained  rank  and  distinction  in  the  regular  army  and  navy  throughout  our  history 
but  in  the  accessible  rosters  their  residences  when  appt  inted  are  not  given.  C.  A.  B. 


SALEM. 


225 


CHAPTER    XII. 

SALEM— ( Continued). 
CIVIL   HISTORY. 


BY  HENRY  M.  BROOKS. 


Salem  was  incorporated  as  a  city  March  22, 
1836,  and  the  charter  was  accepted  April  4,  1836, 
by  a  vote  of  six  hundred  and  seventeen  for,  to  one 
hundred  and  eighty-five  against  it.  It  was  the  sec- 
ond city  incorporated  in  the  commonwealth,  Boston 
having  been  the  first,  and  Lowell  the  third. 

Leverett  Saltonstall  was  the  first  mayor, 
elected  April  25,  1836,  and  resigned  in  December, 
1838.  He  was  a  descendant  of  Sir  Richard  Sal  ton- 
stall,  and  was  born  in  Haverhill,  June  13,  1783  ;  was 
educated  at  Phillips  Academy  and  at  Harvard,  where 
he  graduated  in  1802.  In  1805  he  commenced  the 
practice  of  law  in  Salem,  where  he  was  eminently 
successful,  and  where  he  was  always  held  in  great 
esteem.  A  State  Senator  in  1831 ;  elected  member  of 
Congress  in  1838,  and  served  with  distinction  until 
1842.  In  politics  he  was  a  Whig,  but  had  the  respect 
of  men  of  all  parties.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences  and  of  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society ;  author  of  a  histor- 
ical sketch  of  Haverhill.  Mr.  Saltonstali  was  quite 
interested  in  music  and  was,  with  General  Oliver, 
prominent  in  promoting  musical  taste  in  Salem.  He 
died  in  Salem  May  8,  1845. 

Stephen  Clarendon  Phillips  was  the  second 
mayor,  elected  December  6,  1838,  holding  the  office 
until  March,  1842.  He  was  born  in  Salem,  November 
4,  1801  ;  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1819.  He  was  a 
distinguished  mei'chant,  at  one  time  largely  engaged 
in  the  Manilla  and  Fiji  Island  trade ;  Representa- 
tive in  Congress  from  1834  to  1838,  and  had  pre- 
viously represented  the  town  of  Salem  at  the  General 
Court  at  various  periods.  Originally  a  Whig,  he 
joined  the  Free-Soil  party  in  1848,  and  was  a  candi- 
date for  Governor.  Mr.  Phillips  was  especially  inter- 
ested in  the  cause  of  education,  was  a  member  of  the 
State  Board  of  Education,  and  gave  the  whole  of  his 
salary  as  mayor  to  the  city  for  the  benefit  of  the  pub- 
lic schools.  He  gave  also  a  great  deal  of  personal 
attention  and  time  to  the  subject.  In  the  latter  part 
of  his  life  he  engaged  largely  in  the  lumber  trade, 
and  while  visiting  Canada  in  1857  he  was  one  of  the 
ill-fated  passengers  on  board  the  steamer  "Montreal," 
burnt  on  St.  Lawrence  River  on  the  26th  of  June  of 
that  year.  He  was  a  very  benevolent  man  and  greatly 
beloved  and  respected  wherever  known. 

Stephen  Palfray  Webb  was  the  third  mayor, 

served  in  1842,  '43,  '44,  '60,  '61  and  '62,  and  was  city 

clerk  from  1863  to  1871.     He   was  born    in   Salem, 

March  20,  1804;  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1824.     He 

15 


was  a  lawyer  by  profession.  Besides  holding  the 
offices  mentioned,  Mr.  Webb  was  elected  mayor  of 
San  Francisco  in  1854,  during  a  temporary  residence 
in  that  city.  He  was  not  elected  a  second  term,  as  it 
was  said  he  "refused  to  get  rich  "  out  of  the  office. 
Noted  for  honesty  and  integrity,  as  well  as  for  social 
qualities,  he  made  many  friends.  He  died  at  Brook- 
line,  Mass.,  September  29,  1879. 

Joseph  Sebastian  Cabot  was  the  fourth  mayor, 
and  served  four  years, — 1845,  '46,  '47  and  '48.  He 
graduated  at  Harvard  in  1815.  He  had  been  cashier 
and  president  of  the  Asiatic  National  Bank,  and  was 
at  one  time  bank  commissioner ;  president  of  the 
Salem  Savings  Bank,  president  of  Harmony  Grove 
Cemetery  Company,  president  of  the  Massachusetts 
Horticultural  Society;  always  interested  in  finance 
and  horticulture.  He  was  a  gentleman  of  integrity, 
much  esteemed,  but  rather  retiring  in  his  habits ; 
had  been  in  former  years  a  Democratic  candidate  for 
Congress.  He  was  born  in  Salem,  October  8,  1796, 
and  died  June  29,  1874. 

Nathaniel  Silsbee,  Jr.,  was  the  fifth  mayor, 
and  served  in  1849,  '50  and  again  in  1858  and  '59. 
He  was  born  in  Salem,  December  28,  1804,  and  was 
the  son  of  Hon.  Nathaniel  Silsbee,  a  distinguished 
Senator  in  Congress ;  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1824. 
He  was  a  merchant,  and  for  several  years  the  treas- 
urer of  Harvard  College.  He  resided  in  Boston  and 
Milton  some  years  before  his  death,  which  occurred 
July  9,  1881. 

David  Pingree  was  the  sixth  mayor,  serving  from 
March,  1851,  to  March,  1852 ;  a  well-known  merchant. 
He  was  born  in  Georgetown,  December  31st:  1795, 
and  inherited  wealth  from  his  uncle,  Thomas  Per- 
kins, an  old  Salem  merchant,  once  of  the  firm  of 
Peabody  (Joseph)  &  Perkins.  Mr.  Pingree  did  a 
large  business  in  Salem,  owning  many  vessels  en- 
gaged in  the  East  and  West  India  and  African  trade ; 
was  largely  interested  in  Eastern  lands,  and  owned 
Mount  Washington,  in  New  Hampshire,  whicii  is  still 
in  possession  of  his  heirs.  He  was  one  of  the  builders 
of  the  famous  carriage-road  to  the  summit.  He  was 
president  of  the  Naumkeag  Bank  from  its  organization, 
in  1831,  and  president  of  the  Naumkeag  Cotton  Com- 
pany from  its  establishment,  in  1845,  until  his  death, 
March  31,  1863. 

Charles  Wentworth  Upham  was  the  seventh 
mayor,  serving  in  1852.  He  was  born  at  St.  John, 
N.  B.,  May  4,  1802,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in 
1821  in  the  class  with  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson.  He 
was  minister  of  the  First  Church  in  Salem  from  1824 
to  1844,  for  the  first  twelve  years  as  colleague  with 
Rev.  John  Prince,  LL.D.  Retiring  from  the  minis- 
try, he  was  subsequently  elected  member  of  Congress 
from  the  Essex  South  District,  serving  with  great 
satisfaction  to  his  constituents  from  1853  to  1855;  he 
represented  the  city  at  the  General  Court  for  several 
years,  and  was  president  of  the  State  Senate  in  1857 
and    1858;    Whig  and  Republican  in  politics.     An 


226 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


eloquent  speaker  and  excellent  writer,  Mr.  Upbam 
■was  distinguished  as  an  author.  Among  his  most 
valuable  works  are  the  "History  of  Salem  Witch- 
craft "  and  "  Life  of  Timothy  Pickering."  He  also 
wrote  a  "  Life  of  Fremont."  At  one  time  be  edited 
the  Christian  Register,  of  Boston,  and  contributed 
from  time  to  time  to  various  periodicals.  Mr.  Upbam 
was  noted  not  only  for  his  intellectual  but  social 
qualities.     He  died  June  15, 1875. 

AsAHEL  Huntington  was  the  eighth  mayor,  serv- 
ing from  March,  1853,  to  March,  1854.  He  was 
born  at  Topsfield,  July  23,  1798,  and  graduated  at 
Yale  in  1819.  He  was  a  prominent  lawyer  ;  elected 
district  attorney  in  1830,  resigned  in  1845,  but  was 
again  elected  in  18^7,  and  held  the  office  until  1851, 
when  be  was  appointed  clerk  of  the  courts  for  Essex 
County,  in  which  office  be  continued  until  bis  death, 
September  5,  1870.  He  was  deeply  interested  in  the 
cause  of  temperance,  and  frequently  lectured  on  the 
subject,  and  was  an  effective  speaker.  He  was  twice 
a  representative  at  the  General  Court ;  was  president 
of  the  Essex  Institute,  also  president  of  the  Naum- 
keag  Cotton  Company.  Mr.  Huntington  was  highly 
esteemed  by  the  people  of  Salem  and  of  Essex 
County. 

Joseph  Andrews  was  the  ninth  mayor,  having 
been  elected  on  the  Know-Nothing  or  Native  Ameri- 
can ticket  in  1854  and  1855.  He  was  born  in  Salem, 
December  10,  1808;  began  business  as  a  clerk  in  one 
of  the  Salem  banks,  and  in  1832  was  elected  cashier 
of  the  Commercial  Bank,  in  Boston,  where  he  re- 
mained until  the  bank  closed,  in  1838.  He  was 
always  interested  in  military  matters,  and  commanded 
at  one  time  the  Salem  Light  Infantry.  He  was  brig- 
adier-general of  Massachusetts  Militia  at  the  break- 
ing out  of  the  Civil  War,  and  was  placed  in  command 
at  Fort  Warren,  in  Boston  harbor,  where  be  bad 
charge  of  the  State  troops  before  their  departure  to 
the  seat  of  war.  He  removed  to  Boston  and  died 
there  February  8,  1869. 

William  Sluman  Messervy  was  the  tenth 
mayor,  serving  in  1856-57.  He  was  born  in  Salem,  Au- 
gust 26,  1812,  and  began  business  in  a  counting-room 
in  Boston  about  1830.  In  1834  he  went  into  business 
in  St.  Louis,  Mo.  In  1839  he  was  a  Mexican  trader, 
and  spent  several  years  in  Chihuahua  and  Santa  Fe. 
When  the  Territory  of  New  Mexico  was  organized  be 
was  elected  delegate  to  Congress,  and  was  afterwards 
acting  Governor.  Having  had  financial  success  in 
his  various  operations,  be  returned  to  Salem  in  1854, 
and  was  soon  afterwards  made  a  director  in  various 
corporations.  He  was  interested  in  literary  and  scien- 
tific institutions,  and  a  great  reader.  He  was  also  in- 
terested in  politics ;  an  Old  Line  Democrat,  but  during 
the  war  a  strong  Eepublican,  He  died  February  19, 
1886. 

Stephen  Goodhue  Wheatland  was  the  eleventh 
mayor,  and  served  in  1863  and  1864.  He  was  born 
at  Newton,  August  11,  1824,  and  graduated  at  Har- 


vard in  1844.  He  was  a  lawyer  by  profession  ;  rep- 
resented the  city  at  the  General  Court  for  a  number 
of  years  ;  was  a  director  in  several  corporations,  and 
has  been  president  of  the  National  Exchange  Bank. 

Joseph  Barlow  Felt  Osgood  was  the  twelfth 
mayor  (1865),  and  was  born  in  Salem  July  1,  1823  ; 
graduated  at  Harvard  in  1846.  He  is  an  able  law- 
yer; has  been  a  member  of  the  State  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives.  At  j>resent  be  is  judge  of 
the  First  District  Court  of  Essex  County,  which  posi- 
tion he  has  held  since  its  establishment,  in  1874. 

David  Roberts  was  the  thirteenth  mayor,  and 
served  from  January,  1866,  to  September  26,  1867, 
when  he  resigned  on  account  of  a  disagreement  with 
the  aldermen.  He  was  an  attoi'ney  and  counselor-at- 
law,  having  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1824.  At  one 
time  he  was  a  representative  at  the  General  Court ; 
was  author  of  a  work  on  admiralty  law  and  practice. 
He  was  born  in  Hamilton,  April  5,  1804,  and  died  in 
Salem,  March  19,  1879. 

William  Cogswell  was  the  fourteenth  mayor, 
and  was  elected  on  the  resignation  of  Mayor  Roberts, 
September  26,  1867,  and  held  the  office  in  1868  and 
1869,  and  again  in  1873  and  1874.  He  was  born  in 
Bradford,  August  23,  1838;  a  graduate  of  Harvard 
Law  School ;  practiced  law  in  Salem.  He  served 
with  distinction  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion ;  went 
first  as  captain  in  the  Second  Massachusetts  Regi- 
ment and  rose  to  the  rank  of  brevet  brigadier-general ; 
and  was  with  Sherman  in  bis  famous  march  through 
Georgia.  Since  the  war  he  has  held  the  office  of 
State  Inspector  of  Fish  for  several  years  ;  has  several 
times  represented  the  city  in  the  Legislature,  and  the 
district  in  the  State  Senate.  He  is  at  present  Repre- 
sentative in  Congress  from  Essex  District. 

Nathaniel  Brown  was  the  fifteenth  mayor  (1870 
-71),  and  was  born  in  Salem,  March  18,  1827.  He 
began  business  as  clerk  in  the  counting-room  of 
Messrs.  Stone,  Silsbees  &  Pickman,  noted  East  India 
merchants;  went  to  sea,  and  was  for  many  years  an 
intelligent  ship-master.  In  1871,  as  president  of  the 
Salem  Marine  Society,  he  delivered  an  address  on  the 
centennial  anniversary  of  that  society's  incorporation. 
He  died  in  Salem  December  10,  1879. 

Samuel  Calley  was  the  sixteenth  mayor,  and 
held  the  office  in  1872  and  again  in  1881  and  1882. 
He  was  born  in  Salem,  April  13,  1821 ;  was  a  house- 
painter  by  trade,  but  always  greatly  interested  in 
political  and  municii^al  affairs;  Republican  in  poli- 
tics, and  was  representative  at  the  General  Court  in 
1870  and  1871.     He  died  January  1,  1883. 

Henry  Laurens  Williams  was  the  seventeenth 
mayor  (1875-76),  and  was  born  in  Salem,  July  23, 
1815.  He  began  business  in  the  counting-room  of 
N.  L.  Rogers  &  Brothers,  well-known  merchants.  In 
1836  he  went  into  the  employ  of  Joseph  Peabody,  the 
noted  merchant.  After  the  death  of  Mr.  Peabody, 
in  1844,  he  founded  the  house  of  Williams  &  Daland, 
in  Boston.     Later  he  was  for  some  years  a  director  of 


SALEM. 


227 


the  Eastern  Railroad  Company,  president  of  the 
Five-Cents  Savings  Bank  and  of  the  National  Ex- 
change Bank.     He  died  September  27,  1879. 

Henry  Kemble  Oliver  was  the  eighteenth 
mayor,  serving  in  1877, 1878,  1879  and  1880.  He  was 
born  in  Beverly,  November  24,  1800;  graduated  at 
Harvard  in  1818.  He  was  a  school-teacher  in 
Salem  from  1819  to  1844  ;  was  the  first  master  of  the 
English  High  School ;  afterwards  opened  a  private 
school  for  boys  and,  later,  a  school  for  young  ladies. 
He  was  interested  in  military  matters,  and  was  adju- 
tant-general from  1844  to  1848.  Elected  agent  of  the 
Atlantic  Cotton  Mills,  at  Lawrence,  he  removed  to 
that  city  in  1848  ;  mayor  of  Lawrence  in  1859  ;  agent 
of  the  Board  of  Education  in  1858  and  1859  ;  State 
treasurer  from  18i!l  to  1866;  chief  of  the  State  Bu- 
reau for  Labor  for  some  years.  He  possessed  great 
knowledge  of  the  art  of  music,  and  composed  numer- 
ous excellent  Psalm  tunes,  such  as  "  Federal  Street," 
"  Merton,"  etc. ;  published  a  few  years  ago  a  collection 
entirely  of  his  own  compositions ;  was  made  one  of 
the  judges  of  musical  instruments  at  the  Centennial 
Exhibition,  in  Philadelphia,  in  1876.  He  was  also 
well  versed  in  mathematics  and  astronomy.  In  short, 
he  was  a  man  of  very  varied  talents  and  accomplish- 
ments. He  died  at  Salem,  after  a  long  illness,  Au- 
gust 12,  1885,  and  had  a  public  funeral  from  the 
North  Church,  of  which  he  had  long  been  a  member, 
and  was  formerly  the  organist. 

William  Millett  Hill  was  the  nineteenth 
mayor  (1883  and  1884),  and  was  born  in  Salem,  Au- 
gust 16,  1831.  He  was  a  currier  by  trade ;  a  Demo- 
crat in  politics ;  was  president  of  the  Common 
Council  from  1873  to  January  14,  1875,  when  he  was 
appointed  city  marshal,  which  office  he  held  until 
1877,  after  which  he  was  appointed  upon  the  State  de- 
tective force. 

Arthur  Lord  Huntington  was  the  twentieth 
mayor,  and  served  in  1885.  He  was  the  son  of  the 
Hon.  Asahel  Huntington,  a  former  mayor,  and  was 
born  in  Salem  August  12,  1848 ;  graduated  at  Har- 
vard in  1870  ;  a  lawyer  by  profession.  He  was  presi- 
dent of  the  Common  Council  in  1877  and  1878. 

John  Marshall  Raymond  was  the  twenty-first 
mayor,  elected  December  8,  1885,  and  again  in  De- 
cember, 1886,  and  is  the  present  incumbent.  He  was 
born  June  16,  1852,  and  is  a  graduate  of  the  Boston 
University. 

The  following  is  a  tabulated  list  of  mayors : 

Leverett  Saltonstall From  1836  to  1838 

Stephen  C.Phillips "     1838  "  1842 

Stephen  P.  Webb. "     1842  "  1845 

Joseph  S.  Cabot "      1845  "  1849 

Nathaniel  Sil3bee,  Jr "     1849  "  1851 

David  Pingree "      1851  "1852 


Charles  W.  Upham From  1852  to  1853 

Asahel  Huntington "  1853  "  1854 

Joseph  Andrews "  1854  "  1856 

William  S.  Messervy "  1856  "  1858 

Nathaniel  Silsbee,  Jr.  (re-elected) "  1858  "  1860 

Stephen  P.  Webb  (reelected) "  1860  "  1863 

Stephen  G.  Wheatland  "  1863  "  1865 

Joseph  B.  F.  Osgood "  1865  "  1866 

David  Roberts "  1866  "  1867 

William  Cogswell "  1867  "1870 

Nathaniel  Brown "  1870  "  1872 

Samuel  Calley "  1872  "1873 

AVilliam  Cogswell  (re-elected) "  1873  "  1875 

Henry  L.  Williams "  1875  "  1877 

Henry  K.  Oliver "  1877  "  1880 

Samuel  Calley  (re-elected)  "  1880  "  1882 

William  M.Hill "  1882  "1884 

Arthur  L.  Huntington "  1884  "  1885 

John  M.  Raymond "  1885 

PRESIDENTS  OF  THE  COMMON  COUNCIL. 

John  Glen  King  (H.  U.,  1807),  lawyer 1836-37 

Richard  S.  Rogers,  merchant 1838 

John  Russell,  president  Bank  of  General  Interest 1839-41 

Joshua  H.  Ward  (H.  U.,  1829),  lawyer  and  judge 1842-44 

David  Putnam,  dry-goods  merchant 1844 

Joseph  G.  Sprague,  cashier  Naumkeag  Bank 1845-47 

Joua.  C.  Perkins  (Amherst,  1832),  lawyer  and  judge  ...1848 
Benjamin  Wheatland  (H.   U.,  1819),   treasurer  New- 
market Company 1849-51 

John  Whipple,  cabinet-maker 1852-53 

Daniel  Potter,  blacksmith  and  deputy  sheriff. 1854-55 

John  Webster,  treasurer  Newmarket  Company 1856 

W'illiam  C.  Endicott  (H.  U.,  1847),  lawyer  and  justice 
Supreme  Judicial  Court,  present  Secretary  of  War, 

(1887) 1857 

Stephen  B.  Ives,  bookseller 1858 

Henry  L.  Williams,  merchant 1859 

James  H.  Battis,  cigar  manufacturer 1860 

Stephen  G.  Wheatland  (H.  U.,  1844),  lawyer 1861-62 

William  G.  Choato  (H.  U.,  1852),  lawyer 1863-64 

Gilbert  L.  Streeter,  editor  and  bank  officer 18i;5,  '70-72 

Charles  S.Osgood,  lawyer,  deputy  coUectorand  register 

of  deeds 1866-69 

William  M.  Hill,  currier 1873-75 

George  W.  Williams,  clerk ...1875 

George  H.  Hill,  druggLst 1876 

Arthur  L.  Huntington  (H.  U.,  1870),  lawyer 1877-78 

William  A.  Hill,  leather  dealer 1879-80 

John  M.  Raymond,  lawyer 1881-82 

AVilliam  Leonard,  shoe  dealer 1883 

Charles  H.  Ingalls,  manufacturer 1884 

John  Robinson,  treasurer  Peabody  Academy 1885-86 

William  E.  Meade,  locomotive  engineer 1887 

PRESENT  CITY  GOA'ERNMENT  (1887). 

Mayor. 
John  M.  Raymond. 

Aldermen. 
John  H.  Batchelder,  president. 
George  A.  Collins.  George  W.  Varney. 

AVilliam  L.  Hyde.  Oliver  D.  Way. 

William  S.  Mclntire.  Urban  R.  Williams. 

President  of  Common  Council. 
AVilliam  E.  Meade. 

City  Clerk.  City  Treasurer.  Water  Board. 

Henry  M.  Meek.  F.  A.  Newell.       Alonzo  H.  Smith,  president. 

City  Solicitor. 
Forrest  L.  Evans. 


228 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


JOHN   ENDICOTT. 

John  Endicott  was  born  in  Dorchester,  England,  in 
1588.  In  162-3  a  company  known  as  the  Dorchester 
Company  established  a  colony  at  Cape  Ann,  near 
what  is  now  Gloucester.  This  colony  consisted  of 
about  fifty  men,  under  the  leadership  of  Roger 
Conant,  and  not  long  afterward  removed  to  Naum- 
keag  (now  Salem).  The  Dorchester  Company  was  or- 
ganized by  Rev.  John  White,  of  Dorchester,  who,  in 
response  to  letters  from  Conant  favoring  a  permanent 
settlement,  wrote  to  him  that  if  he  and  John 
Woodbury,  John  Balch  and  Peter  Palfray  would  re- 
main at  Naumkeag,  he  would,  as  soon  as  possible,  ob- 
tain a  patent  and  forward  more  men  and  supplies. 
In  accordance  with  this  promise,  Mr.  White  obtained 
a  patent  from  the  Council  for  New  England,  dated 
March  19,  1628,  conveying  to  six  persons— Sir  Henry 
Rosewell,  Sir  John  Young,  John  Humphrey,  Thomas 
Southcote,  John  Endicott  and  Simon  Whitcomb— a 
tract  of  country  described  as  "  that  part  of  New  Eng- 
land lying  between  three  miles  north  of  the  Merri- 
mac,  and  three  miles  to  the  south  of  the  Charles 
River,  and  of  every  part  thereof  in  the  Massachusetts 
Bay ;  and  in  length  between  the  described  breadth 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  South  Sea."  Some  changes 
were  afterwards  made  in  the  list  of  grantees  by  the 
retirement  of  Rosewell,  Young  and  Southcote,  and 
the  substitution  of  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall  and  others 
in  their  places. 

Under  this  patent,  John  Endicott,  described  as  "  a 
man  of  dauntless  courage,  benevolent,  though  aus- 
tere, firm,  though  choleric,  of  a  rugged  nature,  which 
his  stern  principles  of  non-conformity  had  not  served 
to  mellow,"  was  sent  out  from  England,  and  arrived, 
with  his  wife  and  a  band  of  emigrants,  in  the  ship 
"Abigail "  at  Salem  September  6,  1628.  He  had  been 
appointed  in  England  Governor  of  the  plantation, 
while  Matthew  Cradock  had  been  chosen  Governor 
of  the  Massachusetts  Company  in  London.  After  his 
arrival  in  New  England  the  English  Company  ap- 
plied for  a  charter,  which  might  give  them  authority 
to  establish  a  government  within  the  territory  granted 
to  them  by  the  Council  for  New  England.  The 
charter  was  granted  and  passed  the  seal  March  4, 
1629.  This  charter  created  a  corporation  under  the 
name  of  the  "  Governor  and  Company  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Bay  in  New  England."  In  1630  John  Win- 
throp,  as  Governor  under  the  charter,  assumed  con- 
trol of  the  colony,  having  arrived  in  June  of  that 
year.  At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Court  of  Assistants, 
held  at  Charlestown  August  23,  1630,  it  was  ordered 
"  that  the  Governor  and  Deputy-Governor  for  the  time 
being  shall  always  be  justices  of  the  peace,  and  that  Sir 
Richard  Saltonstall,  Mr.  Johnson,  Mr.  Endicott  and 
Mr.  Ludlowe  shall  be  justices  of  the  peace  for  the 
present  time,  in  all  things  to  have  like  power  that 
justices  of  the  peace  hath  in  England  for  reformation 


of  abuses  and  punishing  of  offenders."  On  the  7th 
of  September,  1630,  he  took  his  seat  as  one  of  the  as- 
sistants, and  occupied  that  position  many  years.  In 
1636  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  magistrates  to  hold 
the  Salem  Court,  and  in  the  same  year  colonel  of  the 
regiment  composed  of  the  militia  of  the  towns  of  Sa- 
lem, Saugus,  Ipswich  and  Newbury.  In  1637  he  was 
chosen  "  to  be  one  of  the  standing  consell  for  the  term 
of  his  life,"  and  in  1641  was  chosen  Deputy-Governor. 
In  1644  he  was  chosen  Governor  and  removed  to 
Boston,  and  served  almost  continuously  in  that  office  un- 
til his  death  in  Boston  March  15, 1665.  In  1645  he  was 
made  sergeant  major-general,  the  highest  military  offi- 
cer in  the  colony,  and  in  1652  established  a  mint,  which 
was  engaged  in  coinage  more  than  thirty  years.  He 
was  a  man  of  good  education,  of  fearless  disposition 
and  determined  will.  Whatever  credit  may  be  due 
to  others  in  the  successful  establishment  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts colony,  it  may  be  reasonably  doubted 
whether  his  presence  and  influence  were  not  essential 
parts  of  the  great  whole,  which  gave  it  a  permanent 
life. 


SIR   RICHARD   SALTONSTALL. 

Sir  Richard  Saltonstall  was  born  in  Halifax,  Eng- 
land, in  1586,  and  died  in  England  about  1658.  He 
was  one  of  the  grantees  under  the  patent  from  the 
Council  for  New  England,  obtained  by  Rev.  John 
White  in  behalf  of  the  colony  at  Naumkeag,  e-tab- 
lished  under  the  leadership  of  Roger  Conant.  In  the 
charter  to  the  Massachusetts  Company,  which  passed 
the  seal  March  4,  1629,  he  was  the  first  named  of  the 
eighteen  assistants  provided  for  in  that  instrument, 
and  came  to  New  England  with  Winthrop  in  1630. 
In  March,  1635-36,  he  had  a  gr^nt  of  one  hundred 
acres  of  land  in  Watertown,  and  in  June,  1641,  a 
grant  of  five  hundred  acres  "  below  Springfield."  He 
finally  returned  to  England,  having  previously  revis- 
ited it  in  1631.  In  1644  he  was  in  Holland,  and  there 
the  portrait  of  him  now  in  the  possession  of  his  de- 
scendants was  painted.  Breadth  of  mind  and  a  liberal 
spirit  were  his  marked  characteristics,  and  have  been 
inherited  by  the  successive  generations  of  his  descend- 
ants. In  1651,  in  a  letter  to  Rev.  John  Wilson  and 
Rev.  John  Cotton,  he  lamented  the  narrow  spirit  of 
persecution  prevailing  in  the  colony,  and  urged  upon 
them  the  exhibition  of  kindlier  and  more  charitable 
judgment  and  treatment  of  those  who  had  been  sub- 
jected to  persecution. 

Sir  Richard  is  spoken  of  more  in  detail  in  the 
sketch  of  Hon.  Leverett  Saltonstall,  of  Salem,  in  the 
chapter  on  the  Bench  and  Bar,  and  in  that  sketch 
may  be  found  a  full  statement  of  his  family  and  an- 
cestry. 


JOSEPH   PEABODY. 

Joseph  Peabody  was  born  in  Middleton,  in  Essex 
County,  which  was  made  up  of  parts  of  Salem,  Tops- 
field,  Boxford   and   Andover,  and  incorporated  June 


OF  MASSACenSETTS 


u&^ 


Mcor 


RenibraiidT.  piim- 


AD  1644,Aged  58 


H  W  Smith  3c 


^c^A 


SHf  ^TjyAH.HitcMXe.. 


SALEM. 


229 


20,  1728.  His  birthday  was  the  9th  of  December,  1757. 
He  was  descended  from  Francis  Peabody,  who  came 
from  St.  Albans,  Hertfordshire,  Enghmd,  in  1635,  and 
was  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  of  Tojjsfield.  The 
American  ancestor  was  doubtless  a  farmer,  as  were  all 
his  descendants  in  the  line  of  Joseph  Peabody,  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  down  to  himself.  Indeed,  it 
may  be  said  that  he,  too,  began  the  life  of  a  farmer, 
for  after  his  common-school  education,  not  until  he 
w-as  eighteen  years  of  age  did  he  leave  his  father's 
larm  to  seek  a  fortune  in  the  busy  world. 

It  is  probable  that  the  popular  excitement  which 
attended  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolutionary  War, 
and  the  adventurous  spirit  which  they  would  naturally 
develop,  inspired  that  departure  from  the  ways  of  his 
father  which  led  him  to  a  life  of  activity  and  finally 
to  wealth. 

It  is  said  that  when  the  British  march  on  Lexington 
became  known,  though  too  young  to  be  enrolled  in 
the  militia,  Mr.  Peabody  joined  the  Boxford  company 
as  a  volunteer,  but  arrived  at  the  scene  of  action  too 
late  to  take  part  in  the  battle.  The  subsequent  draft 
of  his  brother-in-law  into  the  army  obliged  him  to 
take  his  place  on  the  tarm,  and  with  a  reluctant  hand 
he  toiled  in  uncongenial  work  until  the  end  of  his 
brother's  campaign. 

As  soon  as  circumstances  would  permit,  however, 
he  went  to  Salem  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  and  joined, 
probably  as  sailor,  the  privateer  "  Bunker  Hill,"  be- 
longing to  E.  H.  Derby,  of  that  town.  After  his  re- 
covering from  a  fever  which  afflicted  him  after  his 
first  cruise,  he  joined,  probably  as  an  officer,  the  pri- 
vateer "Pilgrim,"  belonging  to  G.  and  A.  Cabot.  The 
second  cruise,  unlike  the  first,  was  successful  and  re- 
sulted in  the  capture  of  a  British  merchantman  deeply 
laden  and  strongly  armed,  which  Mr.  Peabody,  as 
prize-master,  took  into  Thomaston,  Me.  A  second 
cruise  in  the  "Pilgrim  "  proving  a  failure  in  conse- 
quence of  a  storm,  in  which  the  vessel  was  dismasted, 
Mr.  Peabody  spent  a  year  on  shore  acquiring  that  in- 
struction and  knowledge  to  which,  more  than  any  pre- 
vious instruction,  his  future  success  was  due.  He 
pursued  his  studies  during  the  year  with  Rev.  Elias 
Smith,  of  Middleton,  a  man  both  of  scholarship  and 
of  varied  general  knowledge. 

In  the  month  of  August,  1778,  he  enlisted  in  the 
Middleton  militia  when  they  were  called  for  to  join 
General  Sullivan  in  Rhode  Island  and  aid  in  his  at- 
tempt to  rescue  Newport  from  the  British,  and  on  his 
return  from  that  unsuccessful  expedition  he  made  a 
voyage  to  Gottenburg  in  the  letter  of  marque  "  Ram- 
bler." He  next  sailed  as  prize-master  in  the  privateer 
"Fishhawk,"  commanded  by  Captain  Foster,  and  was 
captured  by  a  British  man-of-war  which  Captain  Fos- 
ter had  mistaken  for  a  merchantman.  After  a  short 
imprisonment  at  St.  John,  Newfoundland,  he  returned 
to  Boston  and,  with  the  determination  to  abandon 
privateering,  sailed  as  second  officer  in  the  letter  of 
marque  "  Ranger,"  owned  by  Henry  Sargent,  of  Bos- 


ton, Henry  Gardner  and  Ward  &  Chipman,  of  Sa- 
lem. On  this  voyage  a  cargo  of  salt  was  carried  from 
Salem  to  Richmond  and  a  cargo  of  flour  from  Alex- 
andria to  Havana.  He  was  now  twenty-five  years  of 
age.  On  the  next  voyage  a  cargo  of  flour  was  ship- 
ped at  Alexandria,  and  while  lying  at  anchor  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Potomac,  the  "Ranger"  was  surprised 
in  the  night  by  a  party  of  American  Loyalists,^and  only 
by  the  bravery  of  the  master  and  crew  and  the  gal- 
lantry of  Mr.  Peabody  did  she  escape  capture.  In 
the  engagement  Mr.  Peabody  was  severely  wounded, 
and  on  the  return  of  his  vessel  to  Alexandria  to  re- 
fit, a  boarding  pike,  richly  mounted  with  silver  and 
bearing  a  suitable  inscription,  was  presented  to  him  by 
the  merchants  of  that  place  in  recognition  of  his  gal- 
lant conduct  in  the  battle. 

On  account  of  the  wounds  received  by  Captain  Sim- 
mons, of  the  "  Ranger,"  the  voyage  was  further  pros- 
ecuted under  the  command  of  the  first  officer,  and 
Mr.  Peabody  was  promoted  to  his  place.  On  her  re- 
turn from  Curacoa  the  vessel  was  chased  thirty-six 
hours  by  a  man-of-war,  but  escaped  into  Havana, 
and  soon  returned  to  Salem. 

After  the  declaration  of  peace  Mr.  Peabody  was 
given  command  of  a  vessel  owned  by  the  Messrs. 
Gardner,  of  Salem,  and  was  dispatched  to  St.  Martin's 
from  which  port  he  sailed  for  Alexandria.  There  he 
was  attacked  by  small-pox  and  obliged  to  abandon 
his  command.  On  his  return  to  Salem  his  earnings 
enabled  him  to  purchase  the  schooner  "  Three 
Friends  "  and  taking  command,  he  made  repeated  voy- 
ages to  the  West  Indies  and  Europe.  For  several 
years  he  thus  acted  in  the  double  capacity  of  captain 
and  merchant,  assiduously  pursuing  the  advantages 
which  the  revival  of  trade  after  the  Revolution  af- 
forded, and  laying  firm  and  deep,  not  only  by  the  ac- 
cumulation of  capital,  but  by  a  valuable  commercial 
education,  the  foundations  of  his  future  wealth. 

He  retired  from  the  sea  in  1791,  when  thirty-four 
years  of  age,  and  married  in  that  year  Catherine 
Smith,  the  daughter  of  the  minister  of  Middleton, 
under  whose  care  a  portion  of  his  education  was  con- 
ducted. In  two  years  his  wife  died,  and  in  1795  he 
married  her  sister,  Elizabeth,  with  whom  he  led  a 
happy  life  of  nearly  fifty  years.  From  this  time  for- 
ward, with  the  knowledge  he  had  acquired,  in  the  va- 
rious ports  he  had  visited,  of  the  methods  and  opportu- 
nities of  profitable  trade,  his  business  rapidly  increased. 
With  his  business  he  increased  the  number  of  his  ves- 
sels, and  during  his  whole  career  built  eighty-three 
ships,  which  he  largely  freighted  himself,  and  for 
which,  at  different  times,  he  shipped  more  than  seven 
thousand  seamen.  After  the  year  1811  he  promoted 
to  captaincies  thirty-five  who  had  entered  his  employ 
as  boys.  It  is  stated  that  in  these  vessels,  before  the 
War  of  1812,  thirty-eight  voyages  were  made  to  Cal- 
cutta, seventeen  to  Canton,  thirty-two  to  Sumatra, 
forty-seven  to  St.  Petersburg,  ten  to  other  northern 
European   ports  and  twenty  to   the  Mediterranean. 


230 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


The  West  Indies,  the  Spanish  Main  and  the  northwest 
coast  came  also  within  the  range  of  his  enterprises. 

The  business  of  Mr.  Peabody  always  had  Salem  for 
its  headquarters,  and  from  and  to  that  port  all  his 
vessels  sailed,  and  from  there  was  distributed  in 
coasting  vessels  the  merchandise  which  they  had 
brought  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  His  ships  were 
built  and  equipped  there,  and  it  may  be  easily  imag- 
ined how  much  employment  he  gave  to  his  townsmen 
and  how  largely  he  j^romoted  the  prosperity  and 
growth  of  the  town. 

At  various  times  he  had  as  partners  in  business 
Mr.  Thomas  Perkius,  who  sailed  with  him  in  his  early 
privateering  voyages,  and  Mr.  Gideon  Tucker,  both 
of  whom,  though  men  of  great  business  capacity, 
reaped  abundantly  the  benefit  of  the  master-mind  of 
their  partner. 

The  career  of  Mr.  Peabody  sufficiently  indicates, 
without  a  definite  analysis,  his  character.  To  have 
accomplishe  d  it  he  must  necessarily  have  possessed 
certain  qualities,  without  which  it  would  have  been  a 
failure  instead  of  a  remai'kable  success.  His  temper- 
ament was  cool,  his  judgment  was  unerring,  his  esti- 
mate of  men  was  almost  infallible.  He  was  cautious 
and  careful  in  making  his  calculations  and  reaching 
conclusions,  but  his  calculations  when  made  were 
always  correct  and  from  his  conchisions  no  argument 
or  obstacles  could  swerve  him.  But  underlying  and 
supjjlementing  all  his  qualities  as  a  business  man  was 
the  experience  of  his  early  life  at  the  lowest  round  in 
the  commercial  ladder,  which  made  his  steady  progress 
comparatively  easy  and  sure. 

Mr.  Peabody  died  on  the  5th  of  January,  1844,  at 
the  age  of  eighty-six  vears.  His  widow  died  on  the 
28th  of  February,  1854,  at  the  age  of  eighty-seven 
years. 


COL.    FRANCIS   PEABODY. 

Colonel  Francis  Peabody  was  the  son  of  Joseph 
Peabody,  of  Salem,  and  a  lineal  descendant  from 
Lieutenant  Francis  Peabody,  of  St.  Albans,  Hert- 
fordshire, England,  born  in  1614,  who  came  to  New 
England  in  the  ship  "Planter"  in  1635  and  first  settled 
in  Ipswich.  In  1638  Lieutenant  Francis  Peabody  re- 
moved to  Hampton,  in  the  old  county  of  Norfolk,  but 
in  or  about  the  year  1650  took  up  his  permanent  resi- 
dence in  Top-field.  He  married  Mary,  daughter  of 
Reginald  Foster,  and  had  children. 

Joseph,  one  of  his  descendants,  was  born  Dec.  12, 
1757,  whose  sketch  is  included  in  this  volume ;  mar- 
ried, first,  August  28,  1791,  Catherine,  and  second, 
October  24,  1795,  Elizabeth,  daughters  of  Rev.  Elias 
Smith,  of  Middleton. 

Colonel  Francis  Peabody,  one  of  the  sons  of  Jo- 
seph, born  December  7,  1801,  was  placed,  at  ten  years 
of  age,  in  Dummer  Academy,  at  Byfield,  under  the 
care  of  Rev.  Abiel  Abbott.  At  the  age  of  twelve  he 
was  placed  in  a  select  private  school  kept  by  Jacob 
Newman  Knapp,  in    Brighton,  where    he   remained 


four  years.  Here  ended  his  academic  education.  His 
predilection  for  scientific  pursuits  was  so  strong  that 
a  collegiate  career  was  abandoned,  and  his  time  and 
energies  were  devoted  to  the  study  of  mechanics  and 
chemistry.  In  1820,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  he  took 
passage  in  the  ship  "  Augustus,"  belonging  to  his 
father,  to  Russia  to  re-establish  his  health,  which  had 
been  seriously  impaired  by  a  fever  which,  during  its 
ravages,  threatened  his  life  and  had  left  him  somewhat 
enfeebled.  From  Cronstadt,  the  port  of  destination, 
Mr.  Peabody  made  a  tour  into  the  interior  of  Russia 
and  returned  home  in  the  "  Augustus ''  with  renewed 
health  and  a  zeal  for  his  chosen  work  strengthened 
and  matured.  During  the  next  two  winters  he  at- 
tended courses  of  scientific  lectures  in  Boston  and 
Philadelphia,  in  the  latter  city  forming  an  acquaint- 
ance with  the  distinguished  scientist,  Dr.  Hare,  which 
proved  of  special  benefit  to  him  in  his  course  of 
study. 

Nor  was  his  enthusiasm  confined  to  scientific  pur- 
suits. His  attention  was  turned  to  military  matters, 
and  as  whatever  subject  he  applied  his  mind  to  he 
studied  with  earnestness  and  easily  mastered,  he  was 
soon  in  command  of  a  battalion  of  artillery  and  was 
rapidly  promoted  to  a  lieutenant-colonelcy  of  a  regi- 
ment. In  1825  he  was  transferred  to  the  infantry  as 
colonel  of  the  First  Regiment,  First  Brigade,  Second 
Division  of  the  Massachusetts  Militia,  and  ever  after- 
wards bore  the  title  which  he  then  acquired.  Hon. 
Charles  W.  Upham,  an  intimate  and  devoted  friend 
of  Colonel  Peabody,  in  a  memoir,  to  which  the  writer 
of  this  sketch  is  indebted  for  much  of  its  material, 
says  that,  "  having  exhausted  the  activities  of  a  mili- 
tary life,  it  had  no  charms  for  Francis  Peabody,  and 
he  forthwith  gave  himself  back  to  his  predominating 
tastes  and  to  the  inexhaustible  satisfactions  they 
afforded  him.  Yielding  again  and  now  once  for  all 
to  the  spirit  of  the  place,  he  renewed  his  philosophi- 
cal and  inventive  operations  and  engaged  in  branches 
of  business,  manufacturing  and  commercial,  to  which 
they  led  him,  remaining  always  on  hand,  however,  to 
bear  his  part  in  movements  for  the  general  welfare." 

Colonel  Peabody  was  among  the  first  to  introduce 
the  system  of  public  lectures  on  scientific  and  literary 
subjects,  which  did  so  much  to  instruct  the  last  gen- 
eration and  spread  intelligence  among  the  people. 
In  1828  he  gave  a  free  course  of  lectures  in  Franklin 
Hall,  in  Salem,  on  the  history  and  uses  of  the  steam- 
engine,  and  the  next  season  gave  a  similar  course  in 
Concert  Hall,  in  the  same  city,  on  electricity.  These 
lectures  awakened  in  the  community  a  sense  of  the 
value  of  knowledge,  which  took  form  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  lyceums  not  only  in  Essex  County,  but 
throughout  the  commonwealth. 

Colonel  Peabody  had,  in  1826,  connected  himself 
with  the  establishment  of  the  business  of  the  "  Forest 
River  Lead  Company,"  but  in  1833  he  built  the  paper- 
mills  in  Middleton.  At  a  later  date  he  began  on  an 
extended   scale  the  business  of  refining   sperm  and 


■S, 


'^-byAH.RUchiA. 


SALEM. 


231 


right  whale  oil  aiul  the  manufacture  of  candles,  and 
also  erected  at  Middletoa  linseed  oil  mills.  As  Mr. 
Upham  says,  "  The  application  of  science  to  practical 
and  useful  arts  was  not  only  the  unwearied  labor,  but 
the  happy  entertainment  of  his  life."  The  establish- 
ments projected  by  him  were  carried  on  by  machinery 
which  owed  their  perfection  to  his  inventive  skill. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sci- 
ences, and  during  many  visits  to  Europe  made  it  his 
business  as  well  as  pleasure  "  to  explore  whatever 
illustrated  the  application  of  philosophical  principles 
to  the  useful  arts."  His  services  in  the  introduction 
of  aluminium  in  dentistry  and  in  the  preparation  and 
use  of  flax  are  well  known  to  persons  of  the  last  gen- 
eration interested  in  these  branches  of  science  and 
industry. 

In  1866  Colonel  Peabody  succeeded  Asahel  Hunt- 
ington as  president  of  the  Essex  Institute  and  con- 
tinued in  office  until  his  death,  which  occurred  Octo- 
ber 31,  1867.  On  the  7th  of  July,  1823,  he  married 
Martha,  daughter  of  Samuel  Endicott,  the  seventh 
in  descent  from  John  Endicott,  the  governor  of  the 
plantation  in  Essex,  and  had  children. 

This  inadequate  sketch  of  the  career  of  Colonel 
Peabody  suggests  the  prevailing  traits  in  his  charac- 
ter. He  inherited  wealth,  but  neither  permitted  it  to 
lessen  his  activities  and  paralyze  his  usefulness  nor 
used  it  for  display  or  personal  aggrandizement.  The 
diffusiou  of  knowledge,  the  elevation  of  public  taste, 
the  establishment  of  pure  morality,  the  happiness  of 
his  home  and  the  prosperity  of  his  children  were  the 
ends  he  sought,  and  to  these  ends  he  lavishly  devoted 
his  time  and  means.  He  was  universally  respected 
and  beloved  by  the  community  in  which  he  lived, 
and  the  memory  of  his  warm  heart,  his  open  hand, 
his  cheerful  spirit,  his  unsullied  purity,  his  untar- 
nished integrity  and  his  irreproachable  life  is  still 
fresh  in  the  homes  of  his  native  city. 


DUDLEY   LEAVITT   PICKMAK 

Was  born  in  Salem  on  the  4th  day  of  May,  1779. 
He  was  the  fifth  in  descent  from  Benjamin  Pickman, 
who  came  to  Salem  from  Bristol,  England,  about  the 
year  1666.  His  grandfather,  also  named  Benjamin, 
was  a  successful  and  public-spirited  merchant,  and  it 
was  he  who  built  and  occupied  the  fine  old  house  on 
Essex  Street,  next  to  the  present  East  India  Marine 
Hall.  William,  the  father  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  was  a  man  much  respected  and  esteemed, 
although,  being  a  younger  son,  he  inherited  but  little 
wealth.  Washington  appointed  him  naval  ofiicer  of 
the  port  of  Salem,  which  position  he  held  twelve 
years,  until,  on  the  election  of  Jefferson,  he  was  re- 
moved to  give  place  to  a  Democrat.  He  married  a 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Dudley  Leavitt,  minister  of  the 
Tabernacle  Church,  in  Salem.  Mrs.  Leavitt  was  a 
sister  of  that  sturdy  old  Federalist,  Colonel  Timothy 
Pickering.     William's   eldest   son,  a   young   man   of 


great  promise,  bearing  his  father's  name,  was  lost  at 
sea,  and  his  only  daughter,  Elizabeth,  married  Daniel 
Abbott,  a  distinguished  lawyer  of  Dunstable,  (after- 
wards Nashua),  New  Hampshire.  The  second  son, 
Dudley  Leavitt  Pickman,  after  receiving  a  common- 
school  education,  was  for  a  time  clerk  in  his  father's 
department  at  the  Custom-House ;  then,  like  so  many 
of  his  fellow-townsmen,  he  followed  the  sea  for  about 
ten  years,  acting  as  supercargo  and  agent  for  several 
well-known  commercial  houses  in  Boston  and  Salem. 
Soon  after  the  War  of  1812  he  commenced  business 
in  Salem,  associated  with  the  brothers  Nathaniel, 
William  and  Zachariah  F.  Siisbee  and  Robert  Stone. 
This  partnership  continued  for  more  than  thirty 
years.  Their  business  was  extensive,  and  their  ves- 
sels made  voyages  to  all  quarters  of  the  world.  They 
were  among  the  first  to  engage  in  the  trade  with  Zan- 
zibar and  Madagascar,  since  so  successfully  carried 
on  from  Salem,  but  their  principal  business  was  with 
Sumatra,  Java  and  the  Philippine  Islands.  The  ship 
"  Endeavour,"  owned  by  them,  was  built  by  Christo- 
pher Turner,  near  Frye's  Mills,  in  Salem.  The  brig 
"  Persia,"  which  was  afterwards  lost  on  Eastern 
Point,  Cape  Ann,  with  all  on  board,  was  launched 
from  near  Phillips'  Wharf,  and  the  ship  "  Borneo  " 
from  South  Salem.  The  "  Friendship,"  another  of 
their  vessels,  was  attacked  by  Malay  pirates  off  the 
coast  of  Sumatra,  and  after  the  first  officer  and  several 
of  the  crew  had  been  killed,  was  captured  and  plun- 
dered. In  addition  to  foreign  commerce,  Mr.  Pick- 
man  took  a  strong  interest  in  manufacturing  enter- 
prises. Unlike  most  of  the  merchants  of  that  time, 
who  were  free  traders,  Mr.  Pickman  was  an  early  advo- 
cate of  a  protective  tariff,  believing  that  the  introduc- 
tion of  manufacturing  industries  was  of  vital  import- 
ance to  the  prosperity  of  the  country.  He  was  a 
member  of  each  of  the  comijanies  which  purchased 
the  land  and  water-power  where  the  cities  of  Lowell, 
Manchester  and  Lawrence  now  stand,  and  also  a  large 
stockholder  in  many  of  the  early  cotton  and  woolen- 
mills  in  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire.  Later, 
he  took  the  same  strong  interest  in  railroads,  then  a 
novelty  and  an  experiment.  Probably,  in  the  records 
of  a  majority  of  the  railroads  first  built  in  New  Eng- 
land his  name  would  be  found  as  an  original 
subscriber. 

He  performed  valuable  services  in  the  Massachu- 
setts Legislature,  to  both  branches  of  which  he  was 
several  times  elected,  though  not  a  seeker  after  polit- 
ical office.  Always  ready  to  give  his  time  and 
service  to  public  or  charitable  institutions,  the  unfor- 
tunate and  needy  were  sure  to  find  in  him  a  willing 
friend.  In  politics  an  ardent  Federalist  and  great 
admirer  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  he  acted,  after  the 
extinction  of  that  party,  with  the  National  Republi- 
cans and  Whigs. 

He  was  an  active  member  of  the  North  Church  of 
Salem,  and  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  rise  and 
spread  of  Unitarianism,  many  of  the  clergymen    of 


232 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


that  denomination  being  among  his  most  valued 
friends.  Strong  good  sense,  sound  judgment,  great 
clearness  of  perception  and  statement  were  his  most 
striking  characteristics.  Eminently  just  and  honora- 
ble in  all  his  dealings  and  despising  everything  false 
or  tricky,  he  was  nevertheless  a  man  of  strong  preju- 
dices, but  he  did  not  allow  them  to  betray  him  into 
injustice.  Mr.  Pickman  was  not  only  an  accom- 
plished merchant,  familiar  with  everything  relating 
to  accounts,  the  laws  and  usages  of  insurance,  bank- 
ing and  exchanges,  but  extensive  reading,  aided  by 
an  excellent  memory,  had  given  him  a  vast  fund  of 
general  information,  particularly  on  historical  and 
geographical  subjects  and  the  politics  of  Europe  and 
this  country,  as  well  as  a  good  knowledge  of  the  best 
English  and  French  literature.  He  was  a  large  man 
physically,  fully  six  feet  two  inches  in  height,  of 
striking  presence,  with  a  fine  head  and  expansive 
forehead,  indicating  decided  brain-power.  His  man- 
ners had  all  the  dignity  and  courtesy  of  the  old 
school.  The  brick  house  on  the  corner  of  Chestnut 
and  Pickering  Streets,  built  in  1819,  was  occupied  by 
him  until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1846.  He 
was  married,  in  1810,  to  Catherine,  daughter  of 
Thomas  Sanders,  of  Salem.  Three  children  survived 
him  :  Catherine  Sanders,  married  to  Richard  S.  Fay, 
of  Boston ;  Elizabeth  Leavitt,  to  Richard  S.  Rogers, 
of  Salem  ;  and  William  Dudley,  to  Caroline,  daughter 
of  Zachariah  F.  SilsbcC,  of  Salem. 

A  son  of  the  last,  born  in  Salem  in  1850,  and  a 
grandson,  born  at  Geneva,  Switzerland,  in  1885,  both 
bear  the  name  of  Dudley  Leavitt  Pickman. 


RICHARD   S.    ROGERS. 

Richard  Saltonstall  Rogers  was  born  in  Salem 
January  13,  1790,  and  was  a  lineal  descendant,  not 
from  John  Rogers,  the  martyr,  as  has  been  supposed 
by  some,  but  from  another  John  Rogers,  a  contem- 
porary of  the  martyr,  living  in  another  part  of  Eng- 
land. This  John  Rogers  had  two  sons, — the  Rev. 
Richard  Rogers,  of  Weathersfield,  and  John,  who 
lived  in  Chelmsford.  The  latter  son,  John,  was  the 
father  of  Rev.  John  Rogers,  of  Dedham,  England, 
who  was  the  father  of  Rev.  Nathaniel  Rogers,  who 
was  born  in  Haverhill,  England,  in  1598,  came  to  New 
England  in  1636,  and  was  settled  at  Ipswich  in  1637. 
The  Rev.  Nathaniel  Rogers  married  Margaret  Crane, 
and  was  the  father  of  Rev.  John  Rogers,  of  Ipswich, 
born  in  Coggeshall,  England,  in  1630,  who  graduated 
at  Harvard  College  in  1649,  and  was  its  president 
from  April  10,  1682,  until  his  death,  July  2,  1684. 
The  Rev.  John  Rogers,  the  president,  married  Eliza- 
beth Dennison,  and  was  the  father  of  another  Rev. 
John  Rogers,  of  Ipswich,  who  was  born  in  Ipswich 
in  1666,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1684.  The  last 
John  married  Martha  Whittingham,  and  was  the  father 
of  Rev.  Nathaniel  Rogers,  of  Ipswich,  born  Septem- 
ber  22,  1701,  and   a  graduate   at  Harvard   in   1721. 


The  Rev.  Nathaniel  Rogers  married,  first,  December 
25,  1728,  Mary,  daughter  of  John  Leverett,  presi- 
dent of  Harvard  College,  and  widow  of  Colonel  John 
Denison,  of  Ipswich,  and  second,  Mary,  daughter  of 
Thomas  Burnam,  and  the  widow  of  Daniel  Staniford. 
By  his  second  wife  he  had  Nathaniel,  born  March  11, 
1762,  and  a  graduate  at  Harvard  in  1782.  The  last 
Nathaniel  married  Abigail,  daughter  of  Colonel 
Abraham  Dodge,  and  had  Nathaniel  Leverett, 
August  6,  1785,  who  married,  October  24,  1813,  Har- 
riet, daughter  of  Aaron  Wait,  of  Salem ;  John 
Whittingham,  who  married  Austin,  daughter  of  Colo- 
nel Benjamin  Pickman,  of  Salem  ;  Richard  S.,  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  January  13,  1790;  William 
Augustus,  who  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1811  ;  and 
Daniel  Dennison,  who  died  in  infancy. 

About  the  year  1790,  after  the  birth  of  his  two 
oldest  children,  Nathaniel  Rogers  removed  from  Ips- 
wich to  Salem.  Richard  Saltonstall,  with  his 
brothers,  was  educated  at  the  common  schools,  and 
in  early  manhood  entered  with  energy  and  enthu- 
siasm upon  a  business  career.  At  that  time  Jerath- 
mael  Peirce,  the  father  of  Benjamin  Peirce,  librarian 
of  Harvard  College  from  1826  to  1831,  and  grand- 
father of  the  late  Benjamin  Peirce,  professor  of 
astronomy  and  mathematics  at  Harvard,  was,  with 
Aaron  Wait,  under  the  firm  name  of  Wait  &  Peirce, 
largely  engaged  in  Salem  in  the  foreign  trade.  Na- 
thaniel Leverett  Rogers,  the  oldest  brother  of  Rich- 
ard, married,  in  1813,  Harriet,  the  daughter  of  Mr. 
Wait,  and  through  his  influence  Richard  obtained 
large  consignments  of  merchandise  to  Russia,  and 
spent  several  years  in  that  country  engaged  in  the 
management  of  the  affairs  of  that  enterprising  house. 
In  1816  he  sailed  as  supercargo  in  the  ship  "Friend- 
ship," belonging  to  the  same  house,  on  a  voyage  to 
Lisbon  and  Calcutta,  and  after  successive  voyages  in 
that  capacity,  and  one  voyage  on  the  ship  "  Tartar," 
as  master,  he,  with  his  next  oldest  brother,  John 
Whittingham  Rogers,  was  taken  into  partnership  by 
his  oldest  brother,  Nathaniel  Leverett  Rogers,  who 
had  already  established  himself  at  Salem  in  foreign 
trade,  under  the  name  of  Rogers  Brothers.  The  three 
brothers,  all  of  whom  were  quick-sighted,  quick- 
witted and  quick  to  act  where  shrewd  calculation  and 
clear  judgment  led  the  way,  started  at  once  on  a 
career  which,  during  twenty  years,  overcame  every 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  its  success. 

The  older  readers  of  this  sketch  will  remember 
the  vessels  in  their  employ  and  the  captains  who 
commanded  them, — the  "  Grotius,"  "  Augustus," 
"Tybee,"  "Clay,"  "  Nereus,"  "Quill"  and  "Charles 
Daggett,"  will  be  recognized  as  names  of  vessels  of 
which  not  a  timber-head  remains,  while  the  names  of 
their  masters — Woodburj^,  Ward,  Skerry,  Neal,  Far- 
ley, Vanderford,  Kinsman,  Lamson,  King,  Mugford, 
Bowditch,  Brookhouse  and  Drevin — only  recall  the 
past  and  its  busy  days  of  active  commercial  life. 
With  these  ships  and   masters  the   Rogers  Brothers 


STlgi- 


'nff  hiyJLSTJMh^ 


y,;^^  /fc^^c 


SALEM. 


233 


were  the  pioneers  in  the  Zanzibar  and  New  Holland 
trades,  and  besides  numerous  voyages  to  South 
America  and  various  European  ports,  there  were  per- 
formed by  them  more  than  one  hundred  and  twenty 
voyages  around  either  Cape  Horn  or  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope. 

Those  who  are  familiar  with  the  facilities  which 
ocean  cables  afford  to  the  merchant  who  sends  his  ship 
to-day  into  distant  seas  find  it  difficult  to  appreciate 
the  judgment  and  skill  and  heroic  courage  without 
which  no  man  could  successfully  engage  in  foreign 
commerce  fifty  years  ago.  Now  the  owner  communi- 
cates with  his  master  in  every  port,  and  orders  are 
postponed  to  meet  the  exigencies  as  they  arise.  Then 
a  one  or  two  or  three  years'  voyage  was  planned  at 
the  start,  and  its  successful  termination  was  a  triumph 
of  business  skill.  Of  this  skill  the  Rogers  Brothers 
were  largely  the  possessors  and  until  unexpected  and 
undeserved  reverses  met  them,  in  1842,  their  career 
was  smooth  and  prosperous. 

But  the  reverses  were  uot  sufficient  to  discourage 
or  depress  Mr.  Rogers.  He  met  them  with  the  same 
undaunted  courage  which  he  had  always  exhibited 
when  perils  threatened  and  disaster  was  nigh.  He 
again  adopted  the  occupation  of  his  early  life  and 
sailed  as  supercargo  to  Australia  in  the  ship  "lanthe," 
Captain  Woodbury,  opening  with  hope  a  new  chapter 
in  his  life.  He  afterwards  became  engaged  in  com- 
merce to  some  extent  with  his  brother-in-law,  W.  D. 
Pickman,  of  Salem  and  Boston,  and  never  permitted 
himself,  as  long  as  health  and  strength  remained  to 
fall  away  from  active  and  absorbing  pursuits. 

Mr.  Rogers  married,  May  14,  1822,  Sarah  G., 
daughter  of  Hon.  Jacob  Crowninshield,  and  had  Wil- 
liam Crowniushield ;  Richard  Denison,  who  married 
Martha  Endicott,  daughter  of  Colonel  Francis  Pea- 
body;  Jacob  Crowninshield,  who  married  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  Colonel  Francis  Peabody ;  Sarah  and 
George,who  died  early;  and  Arthur  Saltonstall. He  mar- 
ried, second,  March  17, 1847,  Elizabeth  L.,  daughter  of 
Hon.  Dudley  L.  Pickman,  of  Salem,  and  had  Dudley 
Pickering ;  George  Willoughby,  who  married  Jose- 
phine Lord,  of  Peabody ;  and  Elizabeth  P.,  who 
married  Mr.  Pound,  and  resides  in  England. 

Mr.  Rogers  was  a  man  who  never  sought  popularity 
nor  ofiice.  His  individuality  was  strong,  his  opinions 
were  his  own  and  not  easily  changed,  his  will  was 
indomitable,  and  for  many  years  his  influence  in 
political  and  civil  life  was  marked.  He  was  at 
various  times  a  member  of  the  Common  Council  of 
Salem  and  of  the  Legislature,  but  the  methods  of 
modern  politicians  were  distasteful  to  him  and  he  had 
no  ambition  to  keep  them  company.  He  died  June 
11,  1873,  at  Salem,  at  the  ripe  age  of  eighty-three 
years. 


CAPTAIN   JOHX   BERTRAM. 

Among  the  names  which  Salem  holds  in  loving  and 
lasting  remembrance,  there  are  few,  if  any,  which  are 
15* 


more  highly  esteemed  than  that  of  John  Bertram. 
He  was  a  notable  representative  of  a  class  of  men 
who,  as  civilization  advances,  grow  more  and  more 
important  in  their  influence  upon  society.  In  a  bus- 
iness age  like  our  own,  a  great  merchant  is  pre-emi- 
nently a  factor  of  force.  He  and  his  work  touch  the 
community  at  an  infinite  number  of  points.  His 
honest  successes  are  an  inspiration  to  the  multitude 
of  workers,  the  patience  and  industry  by  which  he 
wins  his  wealth  and  standing  are  a  rebuke  to  the 
idlers  who  take  life  easily  and  hope  to  find  shortcuts 
to  fortune,  his  methods  are  suggestive  and  healthful, 
and  his  history  is  a  school  book  for  beginners  to 
study.  In  the  record  of  human  activities  there  is 
nothing  finer  than  the  story  of  the  career  of  a  truly 
great  and  honorable  merchant. 

And  both  as  a  great  and  honorable  merchant  John 
Bertram  was  exceptionally  eminent.  He  owed  noth- 
ing to  fortune.  Born  in  humble  circumstances  with  no 
friends  to  push  him,  and  no  capital  with  which  to 
begin  the  world,  he  shouldered  himself  to  the  first 
rank  of  successful  business  men  by  sheer  force  of 
will  and  patient  endurance.  He  first  saw  the  light 
in  the  Isle  of  Jersey,  February  11,  1796.  His  family 
were  residents  of  the  Parish  of  St.  Saviour,  to  which 
parish  his  ancestry  as  far  back  as  he  was  able  to 
trace  it  had  always  belonged.  The  Bertram 
family  belonged  to  the  middle  class,  in 
the  somewhat  peculiar  society  of  the  unique  island 
which  is  both  French  and  English.  The  ancient 
parish  church  is  still  standing,  and  in  later  life  Mr. 
Bertram  had  the  pleasure  of  revisiting  the  very  local- 
ity where,  as  a  boy,  he  had  played,  and  of  entering 
again  the  old  church  in  whose  very  shadow  he  had 
perhaps  in  his  earlier  years  nursed  ambitions  and 
hopes  that  w^ere  to  be  realized  in  his  later  life.  Be- 
yond question,  that  old  church  and  its  surroundings 
had  something  to  do  with  imparting  a  permanent 
tinge  to  his  thoughts  and  feelings,  for  through  a  long 
life  he  showed  a  profound  reverence  for  and  interest 
in  religious  matters,  and  a  sketch  of  the  old  church 
procured  in  his  later  years  was  one  of  the  most  highly 
esteemed  of  his  household  treasures. 

The  family  came  to  America  in  1807,  and  settled  in 
Salem.  Like  all  adventurous  Salem  boys  of  that  day, 
John  conceived  a  grand  passion  for  the  sea.  The 
shop  where  he  worked  was  within  hearing  of  the  lap- 
ping of  the  waves,  and  through  the  windows  he  could 
catch  sight  of  the  lines  of  masts  and  the  white  gleam 
of  the  canvass  and  the  songs  of  the  sailors  outward 
or  homeward  bound,  seemed  to  invite  him  to  become 
a  wanderer  on  the  ocean.  At  last  a  decision  was 
reached,  and  in  December,  1812,  Captain  Bertram, 
then  sixteen  years  old,  shipped  for  his  first  voyage  on 
board  a  vessel  bound  for  Alexandria  and  Lisbon, 
rated  on  the  ship's  lists  as  a  "  boy  "  with  a  pay  of 
five  dollars  a  month.  Then  came  the  exciting  times 
of  the  War  of  1812,  and  after  his  return  from  his  first 
voyage  he  followed  the  adventurous  life  of  a  privateer 


234 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


until  he  found  himself  a  prisoner  on  board  the  prison 
ship  "  Alicant,"  at  Bermuda,  and  in  1815  one  of  the 
unhappy  captives  confined  in  the  prison  ship  at 
Plymouth,  England. 

The  close  of  the  war  released  Captain  Bertram  from 
his  captivity,  and  he  found  himself  at  home  again, 
with  very  little  to  show  for  his  years  of  hard  service. 
But  the  boy's  romance  had  become  the  purpose  of 
the  man,  and  he  was  soon  afloat  again,  serving  in 
vessel  after  vessel,  voyaging  to  all  parts  of  the  world, 
rising  from  grade  to  grade,  until  he  found  himself  in 
command,  retiring  from  the  hard  life  of  the  sea  in 
1832,  after  twenty  years  of  tasking  and  faithful  ser- 
vice. From  thence  on  he  continued  in  the  ordinary 
routine  of  commercial  business  until  1848,  when  the 
discovery  of  gold  in  California  set  the  world  on  fire. 
Captain  Bertram  was  quick  to  discern  the  value  of 
this  new  opening  for  business,  and  sent  out  the  first 
vessel  from  the  States  after  the  discovery  of  gold,  and 
the  third  vessel  which  arrived  from  any  port.  He, 
with  others,  subsequently  built  a  number  of  ships  for 
the  trade,  most  of  them  clippers,  some  of  them  very 
large.  From  1852  to  1858  he  gradually  narrowed  the 
range  of  his  commercial  business,  until  at  last  he 
confined  it  to  trade  in  the  Indian  seas.  In  1856  he 
became  interested  in  Western  railroads,  and  carried 
into  the  new  business  the  same  energy  and  caution 
and  foresight  which  had  characterized  him  in  other 
departments  of  activity.  There,  as  elsewhere,  his 
ability  commanded  success,  and  his  faculty  for  organ- 
ization enabled  him  to  spend  his  last  years  with  his 
business  so  well  in  hand,  that  he  was  free  from 
anxiety  and  relieved  from  overburdensome  labor. 
At  the  same  time  he  did  not  intermit  his  vigilance. 
Useful  occupation  was  his  delight,  and  he  devoutly 
believed  that  if  a  man  wished  to  be  well  served,  he 
must  serve  himself.  His  quiet  office  was  an  observa- 
vatory,  whose  windows  looked  north,  south,  east  and 
west,  and  he  kept  watch  of  what  was  going  on  that 
concerned  him,  both  on  the  far  shores  of  Zanzibar 
and  beyond  the  roll  of  the  Mississippi.  Wherever 
the  business  was  the  man  was,  to  plan  and  oversee 
and  superintend. 

Perhaps  the  most  notable  thing  about  Captain 
Bertram — certainly  the  thing  by  which  he  will  be 
longest  and  most  lovingly  remembered — was  his  open- 
handedness.  He  was  no  importunate  creditor  in  the 
transaction  of  business.  The  number  of  obligations 
due  him,  which  were  cancelled  without  payment,  will 
never  appear  upon  the  open  record.  Impatient  as  he 
might  be  at  any  attempt  to  defraud  him,  intolerant 
as  he  was  of  all  shiftlessness  and  extravagance,  yet 
when  misfortune  overtook  his  debtors,  they  had 
nothing  to  fear  from  him.  Instead  of  being  their 
persecutor,  demanding  the  pound  of  flesh  nominated 
in  the  bond,  he  was  sure  to  become  their  helper.  He 
took  especial  interest  in  young  men  in  their  early 
business  struggles,  and  was  ready  to  assist  them,  both 
with  advice,  which,  however  valuable,  is  cheap,  and 


also  with  financial  aid,  which  most  men  do  not  fur- 
nish so  readily.  He  had  been  young  himself,  and 
knew  all  the  perplexities  of  beginnings,  and,  out  of 
his  own  experience,  caught  the  impulse  to  save 
others  from  what  he  had  suffered  himself. 

And  this  open -handedness  was  not  a  matter  of  sel- 
fish calculation.  It  came  out  of  large-heartedness. 
This  business  consideration  was  supplemented  by 
most  munificent  liberality.  During  the  dark  days 
of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  he  was  a  most  intense 
patriot,  in  purse  as  well  as  profession.  The  wants  of 
the  soldiers  never  plead  with  him  in  vain,  and  he 
often  anticipated  the  cry  for  help  before  it  was  ut- 
tered. The  records  of  the  Grand  Army  show  that 
this  generous  interest  was  not  a  momentary  enthusi- 
asm. To  the  close  of  his  life  he  kept  in  mind  the 
needs  and  the  deserts  of  the  defenders  of  the  Union, 
and  his  unrecorded  liberalities  in  their  behalf  were 
quite  as  numerous  as  his  formal  donations.  The  for- 
lorn condition  of  the  race  whom  the  war  liberated 
was  constantly  and  pressingly  present  with  him,  and 
any  plan  for  their  elevation  was  sure  to  receive  gen- 
erous consideration  at  his  hand  ;  so  that  he  made 
himself  powerfully  felt  in  the  schools  and  educational 
movements  undertaken  in  behalf  of  the  freedmen. 
Soldiers  and  freedmen  alike  never  lost  a  better  friend 
than  Mr.  Bertram. 

The  needs  of  his  own  community  made  constant 
and  large  demands  upon  his  sympathy.  He  was 
always  ready  to  listen  to  a  story  of  want,  and  no  de- 
serving applicant  failed  of  a  helping  as  well  as  a 
hearing.  His  generous  instincts  often  foresaw  the 
formal  appeal  for  assistance.  He  kept  a  list,  to 
which  he  was  constantly  adding  new  names,  of  needy 
families,  to  whom  he  annually  sent  supplies  of  fuel, 
and  he  left  in  trust  to  the  city  a  large  amount,  the 
income  of  which  was  to  be  used  year  by  year  in  pro- 
viding wood  and  coal  for  the  poor,  and  no  nobler  or 
more  judicious  legacy  was  ever  made.  Morning  by 
morning  his  hand  kindles  the  fires  on  scores  of  the 
hearthstones  of  the  destitute,  and  his  memory  is  kept 
alive  by  the  gracious  light  and  warmth  in  multitudes 
of  the  homes  of  poverty.  A  benefaction  of  that  sort 
is  a  well-considered  charity. 

Captain  Bertram's  liberalities  of  this  nature  were 
numerous.  His  gifts  to  the  Salem  Hospital,  his 
establishment  of  the  Bertram  Home  for  Aged  Men, 
his  legacy  to  the  Children's  Friends'  Society  were  all 
on  a  munificent  scale,  and  will  go  on  doing  a  work  of 
blessing  for  generations  to  come. 

No  other  single  citizen  of  Salem  has  done  more  for 
the  good  name  and  real  welfare  of  the  municipality 
than  Captain  John  Bertram.  His  life  was  a  striking 
illustration  of  the  fact  that  wise  and  generous  giving 
does  not  impoverish  a  man.  The  serene  content  of 
his  old  age  was  the  result  of  a  useful  and  unselfish 
life, — a  forcible  and  instructive  lesson  to  those  whose 
highest  ideal  of  living  is  a  constant  struggle  for 
merely  personal  advantage.     The  tears  of  the  hun- 


"^^ 


~i^--;sS'^H^^''-^ 


Vai. 


SALEM. 


2?>5 


dreds  whom  he  had  helped,  that  watered  his  grave 
when  he  was  borne  to  his  rest  at  the  ripe  term  of 
eighty-six  years,  were  the  most  satisfying  tribute 
which  any  man  can  receive.  The  regret  at  his  loss, 
with  which  his  name  is  always  spoken,  is  conclusive 
evidence  that  a  useful  and  generous  life  is  the  fairest 
which  any  man  can  live.  This  is  the  true  earthly 
immortality  which  is  best  worth  the  having. 

So  long  as  Salem  is  well  spoken  of  by  those  who 
are  acquainted  with  the  ancient  city,  there  will  be 
coupled  with  its  other  claims  to  regard  and  renown 
the  name  of  John  Bertram. 


JACOB  PUTNAM. 

The  late  Jacob  Putnam  was  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  leather  business  in  this  vicinity.  He  was  a  man 
of  a  kindly  nature,  of  indomitable  energy  and  un- 
flinching integrity,  and  possessed  a  large  share  of  that 
intuitive  knowledge  of  human  nature  which  lies  at 
the  foundation  of  success  in  every  vocation. 

He  was  of  English  descent  and  traced  his  lineage 
back  among  the  earliest  settlers  of  this  Common- 
wealth, to  John  Putnam,  of  Aylesbury,  Buckingham 
County,  England,  who,  with  his  wife  and  three  sons, 
sailed  from  London,  in  1631,  for  New  England.  He 
disembarked  that  same  year  in  Boston,  and,  after  a 
short  stay  in  Charlestown,  proceeded  with  his  family 
to  the  then  infant  village  of  Salem,  and  here  fixed 
his  new  place  of  abode.  That  he  had  been  a  man  of 
note  and  had  attained  prominence  in  his  native  coun- 
try is  shown  by  the  fact  that  a  tract  of  land  in  Salem 
was  now  granted  to  him  by  the  Crown  for  distin- 
guished services  rendered  to  the  English  government. 
Upon  this  tract  he  soon  erected  a  house  for  himself 
and  one  also  for  each  of  his  three  sons,  and  devoted 
himself  to  the  subjugation  of  the  wilderness  and  the 
development  and  improvement  of  his  new  estate. 
His  family  increased  and  multiplied  with  the  lapse  of 
years,  and  by  the  achievements  of  many  of  its  mem- 
bers the  family  name  of  Putnam  has  attained  a  de- 
servedly high  reputation  both  in  the  arts  of  peace 
and  of  war.  The  immediate  descendants  of  this  first 
emigrant  were  active,  discreet  and  courageous  men, 
fully  alive  to  all  the  interests  of  the  early  settlers  of 
New  England  and  active  and  stirring  in  all  the  ex- 
citing struggles  which  marked  our  colonial  history. 
They  took  part  in  all  the  combats  with  the  Indians, 
at  Bloody  Brook,  Brookfield,  Lancaster  and  other  now 
famous  fights.  The  family  soon  attained  prominence 
in  Salem  and,  indeed,  in  the  whole  of  Essex  County, 
the  sound  judgment  and  vigorous  integrity  of  its  mem- 
bers making  them  fit  leaders  in  all  new  enterprises, 
from  the  institution  of  a  church  to  the  prosecution  of 
a  business  venture,  and  safe  guides  to  wise  decisions 
on  the  many  knotty  points  that  tasked  the  ingenuity 
of  our  ancestors  as  they  laid  broad  and  deep  the 
foundations  of  our  present  commonwealth. 

General  Israel  Putnam  was  from  one  of  the  branches 


of  this  family  ;  and  his  impetuous  zeal  and  daring, 
which  might  have  degenerated  into  audacity  had  it 
not  been  so  shrewdly  tempered  with  New  England 
discretion,  have  been  displayed  in  many  other  mem- 
bers of  the  family. 

One  of  the  sons  of  this  John  Putnam,  the  founder 
of  the  family,  was  Nathaniel,  and  through  him,  his 
son  Benjamin,  his  grandson  Stephen,  and  his  great- 
grandson  Stephen,  the  younger,  a  share  of  the  ances- 
tral estate  originally  granted  by  the  Crown  to  John 
Putnam  came  to  Jacob  Putnam,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  and  fifth  in  the  line  of  descent  from  the  origi- 
nal settler.  Jacob  Putnam  was  born  at  Danvers  No- 
vember 17,  1780,  near  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary 
War,  and  grew  up  to  manhood  in  Salem  and  in  Danvers. 
He  did  not  enjoy  great  opportunities  of  education, 
having  to  depend  upon  the  common  schools  of  his 
neighborhood  for  the  slender  education  which  he  ob- 
tained from  others.  But  his  best  education,  as  is  not 
infrequently  the  case,  was  that  which  he  owed  to 
himself  alone.  He  had  inherited  the  traits  of  his  an- 
cestors in  no  small  measure,  and  his  good  judgment 
and  common  sense  enabled  him  always  to  be  equal  to 
the  demands  of  any  situation  in  which  he  found  him- 
self, and  fully  capable  of  carrying  on  an  active  busi- 
ness career.  The  same  adventurous  spirit  which  had 
found  vent  in  the  daring  achievements  of  General  Put- 
nam led  Jacob  Putnam  in  his  early  manhood  to  seek 
fortune  in  maritime  commerce ;  but  his  sound  judg- 
ment soon  persuaded  him  to  settle  down  into  the 
steady  pursuits  of  a  business  life.  In  the  year  1805 
he  made  a  trip  to  Calcutta  in  the  good  ship  "  Boston 
Packet,"  and  was  absent  from  his  home  for  two  years. 

Upon  his  return  to  Salem  from  this  voyage,  in  the 
year  1807,  he  established  himself  in  the  hide  and 
leather  business.  This  business  he  prosecuted  in  all 
its  branches,  dealing  in  hides,  tanning,  currying  and 
marketing  the  finished  product,  extending  his  opera- 
tions as  opportunities  offered,  and  always  availing 
himself  of  whatever  improvements  were  within  his 
reach.  He  also  engaged  in  the  South  American  trade 
importing  both  hides  and  India  rubber  from  that 
country.  He  was  interested  in  the  Sumatra  trade  and 
became  a  ship-owner  and  importer.  He  continued 
the  active  prosecution  of  his  business  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  January  18,  1866,  when  it  passed  to 
his  youngest  son,  George  F.  Putnam,  of  Boston,  the 
present  proprietor. 

Mr.  Putnam's  wife  was  the  daughter  of  Captain 
James  Silver,  of  Salem,  an  East  India  merchant. 

Though  Mr.  Putnam  held  himself  aloof  from  any 
political  oflice,  he  was  a  highly  public-spirited  man, 
and  always  took  a  sagacious  and  intelligent  interest 
in  all  matters  relating  to  the  improvement  of  his  na- 
tive city.  His  generous  and  kindly  nature  was 
also  active  in  many  directions,  especially  in  private 
charities,  for  he  had  none  of  that  vanity  which  seeks 
to  make  a  public  display  of  its  benefactions;  and  his 
humane  and   kindly   disposition    was  known   by  its 


236 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


fruits  to  many  a  poor  family,  whicli  had  good  reason 
to  mourn  his  death. 

Mr.  Putnam  was  also  a  man  of  deep  feeling  of  patriot- 
ism and  eager  to  promote  the  welfare  of  liis  country.  He 
served  as  a  soldier  in  the  War  of  1812,  doing  duty 
on  the  sea-coast  defenses  at  Salem,  and  serving  the 
public  and  his  country  in  other  directions.  He  took 
a  deep  interest  in  the  prosperity  and  success  of  the 
religious  enterprises  of  his  day,  both  in  his  native 
city  and  in  the  country  at  large,  and  contributed  gen- 
erously towards  their  support.  He  was  interested  in 
fostering  everything  that  would  promote  the  pro- 
gress and  prosperity  of  his  community  and  of  his 
country.  A  man  of  the  highest  probity  and  honor, 
his  character  was  unstained,  and  he  died  respected 
and  honored  by  all  who  knew  him. 


STEPHEN   C.  PHILLIPS. 

Stephen  Clarendon  Phillips  was  descended  from 
Rev.  George  Phillips,  who  was  the  son  of  Christopher 
Phillips,  of  Rainham,  in  the  county  of  Norfolk,  Eng- 
land. Eev.  George  Phillips  was  born  in  1593,  and 
was  educated  at  Tittleshall.  He  entered  Gouville  & 
Cain's  College,  Cambridge,  April  20,  1610,  receiving 
the  degree  of  A.  B.  1613  and  A.  M.  in  1617.  He  came 
to  New  England  in  the  "  Arbella"  in  1630,  and  set- 
tled in  Watertown,  where  he  died.  By  a  first  wife, 
who  was  a  Hayward,  he  had  a  son,  Samuel,  born  in 
1625,  who  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1650,  and  suc- 
ceeded Rev.  Ezekiel  Rogers  as  minister  of  Rowley. 
Samuel  married,  in  1651,  Sarah,  daughter  of  Samuel 
Appleton,  a  native  of  England,  who  was  one  of  the 
first  settlers  of  Ipswich.  By  a  second  wife  (Elizabeth 
Welden)  Rev.  George  Phillips  had  Zerobabel,  Febru- 
ary 5,  1632  ;  Jonathan,  October  19,  1633  ;  Theophilus, 
April  28,  1636 ;  Annible,  October,  1637 ;  Ephraim, 
1640;  Obadiah,  1641 ;  and  Abiel.  Jonathan,  one  of 
these  children,  married,  January  26,  1680,  Sarah, 
daughter  of  Jeremiah  Holland  (Harvard  College, 
1645),  was  a  schoolmaster  and  magistrate,  and  died  at 
Watertown,  his  native  place,  in  1704.  His  children 
were  Sarah,  born  September  14,  1682  ;  Abigail,  April 
22,  1683  ;  Jonathan,  1685  ;  George,  Nathaniel,  Eliza- 
beth, Ruth,  Sarah  and  Hannah.  Jonathan,  one  of 
these  children,  was  born  in  Watertown,  and  married, 
February  27,  1717,  Hepzibah,  daughter  of  Stephen 
Parker,  of  that  place.  He  removed,  in  1719,  to  Mar- 
blehead,  and.  about  1740,  to  Newport,  R.  I.,  where  he 
died.  His  children  were  Stephen,  born  July  18.. 
1718,  Ruth  and  others.  Stephen,  one  of  these  chil- 
dren, was  born  in  Watertown,  and  married  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  Thomas  Elkins,  of  Marblehead.  He  was 
a  prominent  man,  deacon  of  the  Congregational 
Church,  and,  in  Revolutionary  times,  an  ardent 
patriot  and  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Safety  and 
Correspondence.  He  died  in  Marblehead  March  1, 
1801.  His  children  were  Mary,  born  August  22,  1755  ; 
Elizabeth,  November  28,  1757  ;  Sarah,  February  23, 
176Q  ;  Stephen,  November  [13,  1764 ;  Lydia,  January 


17,  1767  ;  William,  November  15, 1769.  Stephen,  one 
of  these  children,  was  born  in  Marblehead,  and  for 
some  years  was  a  ship-master  in  the  employ  of  E, 
Hasket  Derby,  of  Salem.  About  the  year  1800  he  re- 
moved to  Salem,  after  Avhich  time  he  was  engaged  in 
commerce,  except  during  the  last  few  years  of  his 
life,  when  he  spent  his  summers  on  his  estate  in  North 
Danvers.  Salem  continued,  however,  to  be  his  resi- 
dence, and  there  he  died  October  19,  1838.  He  mar- 
ried Dorcas,  daughter  of  Dudley  and  Dorcas  (March) 
Woodbridge,  of  Salem,  who  died  at  Salem  June  15, 
1802. 

Stephen  Clarendon  Phillips,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  was  the  son  of  the  last-named  Stephen,  and 
was  born  in  Salem  November  4,  1801.  But  the  dis- 
tinguished character  of  his  ancestry  is  not  confined  to 
the  family  whose  name  he  bore.  Through  his  mother 
(Dorcas  Woodbridge)  he  was  descended  from  Rev, 
John  Woodbridge,  a  follower  of  Wickliffe,  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  fifteenth  century,  whose  son  John 
braved  the  dangers  of  the  same  faith,  as  did  a  line 
of  four  direct  descendants,  all  clergymen,  and  all 
named  John.  The  last  John,  minister  at  Stanton 
Witts,  in  England,  married  Sarah,  the  daughter  of 
Robert  Parker,  and  sister  of  Thomas  Parker,  who 
came  to  New  England  and  settled  in  Newbury  in 
1695.  His  son.  Rev.  John  Woodbridge,  came  to  New 
England  in  1635,  and  died  in  Newbury,  March  17, 
1695.  He  married,  in  1639,  Mary,  daughter  of  Gov- 
ernor Thomas  Dudley,  and  thus  the  Dudley  as  well  as 
the  Woodbridge  blood  runs  in  the  veins  of  the  Phillips 
family.  Nor  is  this  all ;  Benjamin  Woodbridge,  son 
of  the  last  Rev.  John,  and  great-grandfather  of  Dorcas 
(Woodbridge)  Phillips,  married  Mary,  grand-daughter 
of  Rev.  Nathaniel  Ward,  of  Ipswich,  the  author  of  the 
"  Body  of  Liberties,"  adopted  as  a  code  of  laws  by  the 
General  Court  of  Massachusetts  in  1641. 

Mr.  Phillips  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1819,  and  at 
once  entered  into  active  business  as  a  merchant,  and 
in  1822,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  was  the  head  of  a 
family,  an  extensive  business  man  and  Representative 
in  the  General  Court.  On  the  6th  of  November  in 
that  year  he  married  Jane  Appleton,  daughter  of 
Willard  Peele,  of  Salem,  who  died  December  19, 1837. 
On  the  3d  of  September,  1838,  he  married  Margaret 
Mason  Peele,  sister  of  his  first  wife,  who  died  at 
Salem  July  15,  1883.  The  children  of  his  first  wife 
were  Stephen  Henry,  born  August  16,  1823,  whose 
sketch  may  be  found  in  the  history  of  the  Bench  and 
Bar,  in  the  second  chapter  of  this  work  ;  Willard 
Peele,  September  7,  1825,  well  known  in  recent  years 
as  one  of  the  efficient  and  successful  trustees  and  man- 
agers of  the  Eastern  Railroad;  George  William,  No- 
vember 27,  1827  (Harvard,  1847);  Henry  Ware^ 
August  19,  1829;  Jane  Peele,  February  24,  1833;' 
Margaret  Peele  and  Catharine  Peele  (twins),  June  30, 
1835  ;  and  Abbott  Lawrence,  December  7,  1837.  The 
children  of  his  second  wife  were  Walter  Mason,  May 
26,  1839;  Charles   Appleton,  January  30,  1841  (Har- 


^^^  ^iyA-H-Ivzsnui 


Y-^^^ 


A 


■5811^' <j| 


SALEM. 


237 


vard,  1860) ;    Edward  Woodbridge,  August  3,  1842 ; 
and  Catharine,  July  7,  1844. 

Mr.  Phillips  was  an  ardent  lover  of  his  native  city, 
a  man  of  overflowing  public  spirit,  and  with  a  heart 
which  beat  with  warm  sympathy  in  response  to  the 
appeals  of  his  neighbors  and  fellow-townsmen  in  be- 
half of  all  deserving  enterprises  and  charities.  The 
educational  interests  of  Salem  won  his  early  and  con- 
stant aid  and  support,  and  for  many  years  he  pre- 
sided over  the  board  which  had  them  in  charge.  In 
1830  he  was  chosen  State  Senator,  and  in  1834 
was  chosen  in  the  place  of  Rufus  Choate,  who  had 
resigned  his  seat,  to  represent  the  Essex  South  Dis- 
trict in  Congress.  His  duties  in  Washington  were 
ably  performed,  and  by  his  generous  spirit,  his 
thorough  integrity,  his  business  methods  and  his 
kindly  deportment,  he  won  the  confidence  and  friend- 
ship of  both  political  friends  and  foes.  The  regard  in 
which  he  was  held  by  his  brother  Representatives  was 
well  illustrated  by  Mr.  Hardin,  of  Kentucky,  whom 
Mr.  Cushing  described  as  "  the  gray-haired  Nestor  of 
the  House,  and  its  perpetually  snarling  Thersites," 
who,  in  a  reply  to  a  speech  of  Mr.  Phillips,  said  that 
"if  all  the  members  of  the  House  were  like  this  gen- 
tleman from  Massachusetts,  God  would  never  have  re- 
pented that  he  made  man." 

After  one  re-election,  in  1836,  Mr.  Phillips  retired 
from  Congress,  and  in  1839  was  chosen  to  succeed 
Leverett  Saltonstall  as  mayor  of  Snlem.  He  held 
office  three  years,  and  on  his  retirement  gave  the 
amount  of  his  entire  salary  to  the  city  for  the  im- 
provement of  the  building  occupied  by  the  Bowditch 
and  Fisk  Schools.  In  1848  and  1849  he  was  the  can- 
didate of  the  Free-Soil  party  for  Governor,  and  during 
those  and  succeeding  years  was  an  active  participant 
in  those  movements  which  resulted  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Republican  party. 

During  the  last  years  of  his  life  he  was  con-fronted 
by  adversities  in  business,  and  though  beyond  middle 
age,  with  a  hopeful  spirit  and  an  undaunted  courage, 
of  which  younger  men  might  well  be  proud,  he  set 
himself  about  to  repair  and  rebuild  his  fortune.  He 
engaged  in  extensive  timber  and  lumber  enterprises 
on  the  St.  Maurice  and  Three  Rivers,  in  Canada, 
where  his  third  son,  George  William,  was  established 
for  their  care  and  supervision.  After  a  visit  to  the 
field  of  his  operations,  in  1857,  he  took  passage  at 
Quebec  in  the  steamer  "Montreal,"  for  Montreal,  on 
Friday,  the  26th  of  June,  with  the  intention  of  return- 
ing home.  On  the  same  afternoon  the  steamer  took 
fire,  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  above  Quebec,  opposite 
Cape  Rouge,  and  only  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  of 
the  four  hundred  passengers  on  board  were  rescued. 
Among  those  who  lost  their  lives  was  Mr.  Phillips. 
His  son  sent  news  of  the  disaster  to  Salem  by  tele- 
graph the  next  day,  stating  that  his  father's  body  had 
been  recovered,  and  would  reach  Salem  on  the  follow- 
ing Tuesday.  At  sunset  on  Saturday,  after  the  re- 
ceipt of  the  sad  news,  all  the  bells  of  the  city  were 


tolled,  and  on  Sunday  appropriate  allusions  to  the 
death  of  Mr.  Phillips  were  made  in  all  the  churches, 
and  the  flags  of  the  shipping  and  armories  and  engine- 
houses  were  displayed  at  half-mast.  On  Tuesday,  June 
30,  the  funeral  took  place  at  Barton  Square  Church, 
and  the  remains  of  him,  whom  the  city  regarded  almost 
as  its  father  and  every  man  as  his  benefactor  and  friend, 
were  consigned  to  the  grave.  The  Newhunjport  Her- 
ald said  :  "  With  a  fortune  or  without  it,  we  do  not 
know  the  man  that  Essex  County  could  not  as  well 
have  spared.  He  was  one  of  nature's  noblemen,  and 
as  an  able,  honest,  sincere  Christian  man,  added 
worth  to  the  human  race  by  belonging  to  it."  And 
every  reader  of  the  Herald  said  Amen. 


WILLIAM   HUNT. 

William  Hunt  was  born  in  Salem  April  25,  1804. 
He  was  in  the  fifth  generation  from  Captain  Lewis 
Hunt,  who  came  from  England  and  settled  in  Salem 
about  1660.  His  father's  name  was  William.  AVhen 
a  mere  lad  he  was  employed  by  Mr.  Jonas  Warren, 
in  his  store  at  Danversport.  After  remaining  there 
a  short  time  he  entered  as  clerk  in  the  store  of  Mr. 
Nathan  Blood,  on  Derby  Street,  Salem,  where  he  re- 
mained until  1823,  when  he  was  employed  by  Mr. 
Robert  Brookhouse,  who  had  recently  commenced  in 
the  African  trade.  After  a  few  years  he  was  given 
an  interest  in  the  business,  which  was  continued  un- 
til the  death  of  Mr.  Brookhouse,  in  1866.  They 
transacted  a  very  large  business,  which  was  extended 
to  the  interior  of  Africa,  from  whence  they  imported 
large  quantities  of  palm  oil,  gold  dust,  ivory  and 
hides.  At  one  time  they  owned  more  than  twenty 
ships  and  barques.  After  the  death  of  Mr.  Brookhouse 
Mr.  Hunt  continued  the  business  with  Robert  Brook- 
house, Jr.,  Joseph  H.  Hanson  and  Cai^tain  Nathan 
Frye,  until  March  27,  1869,  when  the  last  voyage  was 
completed,  and  he  retired  from  business  with  ample 
means. 

Mr.  Hunt  was  married  to  Austis  Slocom,  daughter 
of  Ebenezer  and  Sarah  (Becket)  Slocom,  March  24, 
1831.  Two  sons — William  Dean  and  Lewis — and  two 
daughters — Mary  Dean  Hersey  and  Sarah  Becket  Put- 
nam— survive  him.     He  died  August  3,  1883. 

Mr.  Hunt  enjoyed  a  high  reputation  as  an  intelli- 
gent and  honorable  merchant.  He  was  also  a  man  of 
much  intellectual  culture.  His  reading  was  very  ex- 
tensive, he  being  familiar  with  all  the  best  authors. 

He  took  a  deep  interest  in  all  afiairs  of  his  native 
city,  filling  many  positions  of  trust.  In  his  charities 
he  was  very  unostentatious,  knowing  but  the  need  to 
give  the  required  aid. 


EDWARD    D.    KIMBALL. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  belonged  to  a  New  Eng- 
land family,  which  moved  from  Ipswich,  Mass.,  to 
Bradford  and  Haverhill,  and  later  to  Plaistow,  N.  H., 


238 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


being  among  the  early  settlers  of  the  latter  place.  Here 
Mr.  Kimball  was  born,  December,  1811,  and  was  a 
son  of  Nathaniel  and  Sarah  Knight  Kimball.  He  re- 
ceived his  education  at  Pembroke  and  at  Atkinson 
Academy,  N.  H.,  an  institution  of  which  his  grand- 
mother was  one  of  the  early  promoters,  and  which  he 
attended  until  he  engaged  in  business  at  home.  By 
the  death  of  his  father  he  was  left,  at  an  early  age,  as 
the  eldest  son  in  a  family  of  three  boys  and  three 
girls,  with  the  responsibility  of  assisting  his  mother 
and  attending  to  the  duties  of  the  farm.  For  several 
years  he  was  engaged  in  business  in  a  small  way,  and 
in  the  fall  of  1833  he  made  a  voyage  to  South  Amer- 
ica. The  following  year,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  he 
left  the  old  homestead  and  moved  to  Salem,  and 
shortly  after  married  his  cousin,  the  daughter  of  Hon. 
John  S.  Kimball,  of  Belfast.  He  entered  into  the 
eastern  produce  business  with  Stephen  Hoyt,  who  was 
afterwards  made  mayor  of  New  Orleans  under  Gen- 
eral Banks.  This  connection  was  dissolved  in  the 
winter  of  1837  by  Mr.  Hoyt  withdrawing  from  the 
business;  and  Mr.  Kimball  continued  it  until  1843, 
when  he  bought  out  the  African  business  of  his 
brother-in-law,  David  Pingree.  This  necessitated 
his  going  to  the  West  Coast  of  Africa,  which  he  did 
soon  after,  taking  with  him  his  wife,  and  remaining 
about  a  year  and  a  half,  to  look  after  his  property  and 
qualify  himself  for  the  successful  prosecution  of  the 
business.  This,  in  connection  with  the  East  India 
business,  he  continued  until  stricken  with  paralysis, 
from  which  he  died  at  Paris,  France,  in  September, 
1867,  at  the  age  of  fifty-six,  after  an  illness  of  three 
or  lour  years.  He  had  three  sons,  one  of  whom  sur- 
vives him.  During  his  business  career  he  was  at 
times  associated  with  David  Pingree,  Esq.,  his  brother- 
in-law,  and  with  his  nephew,  Thomas  Pingree,  but 
principally  with  his  brother-in-law,  Charles  H.  Mil- 
ler, with  whom  he  was  associated  many  years,  and 
who  continued  the  business  after  his  death.  His 
brothers,  Elbridge  and  Nathaniel,  were  interested  in 
the  business,  and  also  Mr.  Reader,  on  the  coast  of 
Africa,  and  in  the  East  Indies  Frank  Reed,  Esq.,  who 
died  in  Batavia. 

Mr.  Kimball  was  among  the  last  of  the  merchants 
who  sent  vessels  from  the  port  of  Salem,  and  in  the 
latter  part  of  his  life  he  moved  his  business  to  Bos- 
ton. 

He,  during  his  life,  filled  several  other  positions  of 
trust  and  honor,  among  them  the  presidency  of  both 
the  Naumkeag  Cotton-Mills  of  Salem,  Mass.,  and  the 
Naumkeag  Bank  of  Salem.  He  was  successful  in  all 
his  business  pursuits  from  a  rare  combination  of  in- 
dustry and  judgment;  managing  all  his  affairs  with 
great  skill  and  success;  an  indomitable  worker ;  he 
possessed  all  the  requirements  for  a  large  and  success- 
ful merchant,  being  at  once  a  good  buyer,  seller  and 
accountant,  generous,  polished  in  all  his  manners,  de- 
cided in  his  opinions  and  prompt  to  act  upon  them, 
which  at  once  gained  for  him  the  confidence  and  re- 


spect of  all  who  knew  him.  And  he  at  all  times  ex- 
hibited a  rectitude  of  character  which  never  wavered 
from  the  proper  direction. 


HENRY   K.    OLIVER. 

Henry  Kemble  Oliver  was  born  November  24, 1800, 
at  Beverly,  Mass.,  in  the  Upper  Parish  of  which  town 
his  father  was  minister  from  1787 
to  1797.  He  was  the  third  son  and 
the  eighth  child  of  the  Rev.  Daniel 
and  Elizabeth^  (Kemble)  Oliver, 
both  of  Boston,  and  of  the  seventh 
generation  of  the  descendants  of 
Thomas  Oliver,  "  chirurgeon,"  who 
immigrated  from  Lewes,  Sussex, 
England,  to  Boston,  with  his  wife, 
Ann,  and  their  six  or  eight  chil- 
dren, in  1632,  in  the  ship  "  William 
and  Francis,"  from  London. 

Henry  Kemble  was  christened  Thomas  Henry, 
which  name  was  changed  by  act  of  Legislature  in  1821 
to  that  of  his  mother's  only  brother,  who  died  in  1802. 
Thomas  Oliver,  the  immigrant,  a  ruling  elder  of  the 
First  Church  in  Boston,  died  June  1, 1658,  aged  ninety 
years.  The  direct  line  of  descent  to  the  subject  of 
this  notice  is  as  follows  : 

Thomas  Oliver  and  Ann  (maiden-name  unknown), 
Peter  Oliver  and  Sarah  (Newdegate), 
Nathanael  Oliver  and  Elizabe'th  (Brattle). 
Nathanael  Oliver  and  Martha  (Hobbs). 
Nathanael  Oliver  and  Mercy  (Wendell), 
Daniel  Oliver  and  Elizabeth  (Kemble), 
Henry  Kemble  Oliver, 

In  the  year  1801  Rev.  Daniel  Oliver,  with  his  family, 
removed  to  Exeter,  N.  H.,  and  in  1802-03,  to  Boston, 
Here  Henry  attended,  at  five  years  of  age,  the  school 
of  a  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hayslop.  and  acquired  his  earliest 
rudimentary  knowledge.  In  1809  he  was  transferred 
to  the  school  of  Madame  Tileston,  "  The  two  schools," 
he  has  written,  "  were  on  the  same  method,  a  good 
deal  of  sitting  still — if  one  could — and  a  very  little 
teaching  for  each  pupil.  Not  liking  either,  and  with 
nothing  to  interest  or  amuse,  during  the  dreary  six 
hours  of  the  day,  I  not  unfrequently  fell  under  the 
discipline  of  good  Madame  Tileston.  I  cannot  re- 
member that  we  had  books  or  slates,  and  sitting  still 
and  being  good  was  not  within  the  bounds  of  my 
spontaneity;  for  I  was  a  nervous,  uneasy  and  playful 
child." 

After  leaving  Madame  Tileston's  school,  Henry  at- 
tended the  Mayhew  School,  on  Chardon  Street,  under 
Mes«rs,  Milliken  and  Holt,  "  both  good  floggers,"  and 
later,  about  the  year  1810,  the  school  kept  by  Eben- 
ezer  Pemberton,  formerly  principal  of  Phillips  An- 
dover- Academy,  "  With  Master  Pemberton — but  still 
keeping  up  my  elementary  studies  in  English — I  be- 

1  Elizabeth  Kemble  was  the  second  daughter  and  third  child  of  Thomas 
and  Hannah  (Thomas)  Kemble. 


•^c^    *>^ 


%. 


SALEM. 


239 


gan  my  Latin  grammar,  under  the  old  dreary  method 
of  committing  everything  to  memory.  The  book  used 
was  'Adams'  Latin  Grammar,'  followed  by  the  'Col- 
loquies of  Cordevius.'  I  had  small  relish  for  Latin, 
but  was  quite  fond  of  my  English  studies  and  very 
apt  in  declamation. 

"Some  time  in  1811  my  father  removed  me  to 
Phillips  Academy  in  Andover,  then  under  care  of 
John  Adams.  .  .  .  Here,  continuing  my  Latin,  I  com- 
menced Greek  grammar,  and  memorized,  with  distaste 
at  the  difficult  work,  all  of  the  book  before  entering 
upon  translating.  When  that  came  about  it  was  upon 
'  Dalzelt's.Groeca  Minora,'  a  work  then  in  nearly  uni- 
versal use  for  lads  fitting  for  college.  .  .  .  My  stay  at 
Andover  was  for  about  twelve  months,  my  first  three 
days  having  been  indelibly  fixed  in  memory  by  the 
most  distressing  homesickness." 

Returning  to  Boston,  Henry  entered  the  Latin 
School, — then  on  School  Street,  under  William  Bige- 
low, — near  the  close  of  1811.  His  brother,  Nathaniel 
Kemble  Greenwood  Oliver  (Harvard  College,  1809), 
was  for  a  time,  with  Mr.  Bigelow,  an  usher  of  the 
Latin  School,  and,  about  the  close  of  1813,  he  opened 
a  private  school.  Henry  attended  it,  and  was  by  his 
brother  oflTered  at  Harvard  in  1814.  "  I  was  then  but 
thirteen  years  and  eight  months  old,  a  mere  lad,  with 
a  short  jacket,  having,  as  was  the  fashion  of  the  day, 
a  wide  collar  to  my  shirt,  fringed  with  a  ruffle  and 
turned  down  over  my  shoulders.  .  .  .  On  being  taken 
out  to  Cambridge  at  the  beginning  of  the  term  my 
father  gave  me  most  valuable  and  excellent  counsel. 
A  part  of  this  counsel — and  it  was  very  earnestly 
prohibitory — was  that  I  should  not  attempt  to  play 
any  musical  instrument  whatever.^  I  had  been  a 
member  of  the  Park  Street  choir  in  Boston,  and  he 
gave  permission  for  my  singing  in  the  chapel  choir, 
which  performed  the  sacred  music  on  Sunday,  under 
charge  of  William  H.  Eliot  (H.  C,  1815).  i  strove 
to  obey,  but  I  was  over-mastered  by  my  love  of  music, 
and  I  borrowed  a  flute  with  one  key,  the  upper  joint 
of  which  was  cracked  nearly  its  whole  length.  ...  I 
afterwards,  at  college,  learned  to  play  the  violoncello." 

Henry  remained  at  Harvard  College  during  the 
Freshman  year  and  until  May  or  June  (1816)  of  the 
Sophomore  year,  when  the  increase  at  the  college  of 
Unitarian  views,  and  the  greater  expense,  induced  his 
removal  to  Dartmouth  College,  much  against  his  in- 
clination. He  entered  the  Junior  Class  of  the  latter 
institution  in  the  fall  of  1816.  "I  had  no  inclination 
for  a  literary  life,  and  my  whole  preparation  for  college 
was  to  me  a  burden.  .  .  .  When  I  entered  college  I 
had  but  little  knowledge  of  geography  or  arithmetic, 
none  of  history,  almost  none  of  the  great  facts  of  as- 
tronomy. My  intellectual  powers  had  not  been  prop- 
erly or  philosophically  cultivated.  ...  In  Latin  and 
Greek,  and  in  French,  I  held  at  college  a  pretty  good 

1  His  father  was  entirely  destitute  of  the  musical  sense,  and  he  had  the 
early  dislike  of  the  religious  people  of  his  denomination  (he  was  a  Cal- 
vinist  of  the  Hopkinsian  variety)  to  all  musical  instrument?. 


rank,  but  I  failed  in  mathematics  and  in  intellectual 
and  moral  philosophy.  I  took  an  interest  in  what 
was  then  called  natural  philosophy,  a  good  deal  in 
rhetoric  and  elocution,  but  felt  sorely  my  unripeness 
when  called  upon  to  express  my  ideas  in  composition." 

Immediately  on  graduating  at  Dartmouth  College 
Mr.  Oliver  returned  to  Boston.  The  commencement 
at  Harvard  College  occurred  one  week  later,  and  at 
that  time  he  received  an  ad  eundem  with  his  old  class- 
mates, and  subsequently,  in  1862,  the  complimentary 
degree  of  A.M. 

In  May,  1819,  he  was  among  the  applicants  for 
the  place  of  usher  in  the  newly-established  Latin 
Grammar  School  in  Salem,  and  at  the  canvass  was 
numbered  third  in  the  order  of  success.  But  it  hap- 
pened that  the  first  candidate  died  soon  after  election, 
the  second  obtained  a  better  place  at  Lynn,  and  so 
Mr.  Oliver  was  appointed.  He  went  to  Salem  on 
Thursday,  June  10,  1819,  making  his  home  with  "that 
most  excellent  man,"  Rev.  Brown  Emerson,  minister 
of  the  South  Church.  "  I  entered  upon  my  work  as 
teacher  on  the  following  Monday,  June  14th,  with 
very  great  fear  and  trembling,  and  entire  distrust  in 
my  own  abilities,  knowledge  and  ultimate  success. 
Finding  my  imperfections,  I  commenced  a  course  of 
self-education,  first  in  the  studies  in  which  I  was 
guiding  others,  then  in  French,  then  in  Spanish  and 
Italian ;  adding  afterwards  a  wide  course  of  mathe- 
matics and  philosophy,  astronomy,  general  literature 
and  history.  I  was  merciless  to  myself,  studying  as 
many  hours  out  of  school  as  I  taught  within.  What 
I  thus  acquired  I  have  never  forgotten." 

On  Sunday,  June  20,  1819,  Mr.  Oliver  joined  the 
choir  of  Mr.  Emerson's  church,  his  voice,  which  had 
been  a  high  and  pure  soprano,  having  matured  into  a 
deep  and  very  firm  and  clear  bass,  with  a  range  from 
low  C  to  high  E.  "  I  also  continued  my  practice  on 
the  flute  and  violoncello,  adding  to  them  the  double- 
bass.  In  1821,  on  suggestion  of  Hon.  Leverett  Sal- 
tonstall,— always  my  friend,  a  noble  and  excellent  man 
in  every  respect,  and  then  a  leading  member  of  the 
North  Church  and  society, — I  commenced  practicing 
the  piano-forte  and  the  organ,  and,  in  1822,  I  was  ap- 
pointed organist  of  St.  Peter's  Church  in  Salem,  re- 
moving to  Barton  Square  Church  in  1827,  in  each 
place  with  full  charge  of  the  choir." 

In  1821  Mr.  Oliver's  father,  mother  and  two  sisters 
came  to  Salem  for  a  time,  and  the  family  resided  on 
Carpenter  Street.  "  Among  the  families  calling  upon 
us  was  that  of  Capt.  Samuel  Cook,'^  residing  on  Fede- 
ral Street.  I  had  met  his  elder  daughter,  Sarah,  at 
meetings  of  the  choir  of  the  South  Church,  of  which 
she  and  many  ladies  of  the  most  cultivated  families 
of  Salem  were  members.  An  intimacy  springing  up 
between  Miss  Cook  and  my  sister  Margarett,  I  saw 


2  Captain  Samuel  Cook  was  a  retired  ship-master,  the  conteniporar3'  of 
the  many  enterprising  and  famous  master-mariners  of  Saltern,  and  of  its 
numerous  and  successful  merchants.  He  married  Sarah,  daughter  of 
James  and  Sarah  Chever. 


240 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


her  very  frequently,  and  was  gradually  drawn  to- 
ward her  by  the  loveliness  of  her  disposition,  the 
unvarying  kindness  of  her  temper,  the  quiet  dignity  of 
her  demeanor,  the  gentleness  of  all  her  ways  and  all 
her  words — till  I  found  my  whole  self  possessed  with 
love  for  her  ....  On  Tuesday,  the  30th  of  August, 
1825,  we  were  married,  at  her  father's  house,  by  the 
Eev.  Mr.  Ducachet." 

On  the  4th  of  July,  1824,  Mr.  Oliver  delivered  the 
oration  at  the  celebration  carried  out  by  the  young 
men  of  Salem,  a  production  which,  according  to  a 
published  account  of  the  proceedings,  "  was  received 
with  the  most  flattering  testimonials  of  approbation 
by  a  crowded  and  respectable  assembly."  While 
connected  with  St.  Peter's  Church,  Mr.  Oliver  entered 
upon  a  course  of  theological  study,  with  a  view  of 
entering  the  pulpit  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  His 
views,  however,  became  Unitarian,  and  he  relin- 
quished the  study. 

In  1827  he  was  appointed  head  master  of  the  newly- 
established  English  High  School,  but  in  1830  he 
resigned  the  position  and  opened  a  private  school, 
building  on  Federal  Street  a  house  planned  carefully 
for  the  special  purpose.  "  I  doubled  my  income 
within  a  year,  and  during  the  fourteen  years  I  after- 
wards continued  to  teach,  I  had  no  reason  to  com- 
plain of  either  patronage  or  want  of  success.  During 
these  fourteen  years  I  taught  boys  six  years — fitting 
for  college  and  for  counting-room — and  girls  eight 
years  ....  I  opened  the  school  in  the  spring  of  1831 
with  about  forty  scholars." 

Having  in  1821  enlisted  into  the  Salem  Light  Infan- 
try, at  that  date  and  long  afterwards  one  of  the  best 
companies  of  the  State,  Mr.  Oliver  obtained  a  great 
deal  of  military  knowledge.  In  1833  he  was  elected 
lieutenant-colonel  of  the  then  just  organized  Sixth 
Regiment  of  Light  Infantry,  and  in  1836  he  was 
chosen  its  colonel,  a  position  he  resigned  in  1839. 

In  1844  Colonel  Oliver  was  made  adjutant-general 
by  Governor  George  N.  Briggs,  and  gave  up  teaching, 
but  he  retained  his  residence  in  Salem.  The  military 
force  of  the  State  at  that  date  consisted  of  about  seven 
thousand  men,  all  volunteers.  The  military  property 
was  stored  in  an  arsenal  near  the  foot  of  the  Boston 
Common,  in  part,  and  in  part  in  another  arsenal  in 
Cambridge.  During  his  occupancy  of  this  office  the 
war  with  Mexico  broke  out,  and  the  general  government 
called,  in  May,  1846,  for  troops  from  each  of  the  New 
England  States.  This  call  was  subsequently  revoked 
by  the  Secretary  of  War  (General  Marcy).  In  No- 
vember of  the  same  year,  however,  it  was  renewed, 
but  on  Massachusetts  alone,  one  regiment  only  being 
called  for,  infantry.  Ten  companies  were  organ- 
ized. During  his  term  of  office  General  Oliver  was 
elected  captain  of  the  Ancient  and  Honorable  Artil- 
lery Company  of  Boston,  of  which  organization  he 
had  been  a  lieutenant  in  1838;  and  in  1847  he  was 
appointed  by  President  Polk  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Visitors  at  the  Military   Academy  at  West  Point. 


He  was  elected  secretary  of  this  board,  and  prepared 
the  report  to  the  government. 

He  continued  in  the  office  of  adjutant-general  till 
1848,  when  he  was  appointed  resident  agent  of  the 
Atlantic  Cotton-Mills,  a  new  corporation  for  the 
manufacture  of  coarse  cotton  shirtings  and  sheetings, 
at  Lawrence,  Mass.,  to  which  town  he  removed  in  the 
early  summer  of  the  year  mentioned. 

In  1853  he  was  sent  from  Lawrence,  with  Messrs. 
Storrow  and  Parsons,  to  the  Constitutional  Conven- 
tion of  the  State,  where  he  was  chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  the  Militia. 

He  left  the  Atlantic  Mills  in  May,  1858,  and  in 
November  following  was  elected  mayor  of  Lawrence. 
In  1859  he  was  elected  Representative  to  the  Gen- 
eral Court. 

In  1860,  having  been  nominated  thereto  by  the 
Republican  Convention  at  Worcester,  General  Oliver 
was  chosen  State  treasurer  on  the  ticket  with  John 
Albion  Andrew,  as  Governor;  and  he  was  re-elected 
for  each  of  the  four  years  which  made  up  the  five  to 
which  the  office  is  limited  by  law. 

In  1867  he  accepted  a  call  from  Governor  Bullock, 
of  Massachusetts,  to  look  into  the  condition  of  the 
factory  children  in  the  various  establishments  of  the 
State.  This  he  did  for  about  two  years,  finding  the 
several  laws  relating  to  their  emjiloyment  under  ten 
years  of  age,  and  their  schooling  when  between  ten 
and  fifteen  years  of  age,  violated  everywhere.  He 
prepared  two  reports  on  the  subject,  which  excited  not 
a  little  attention  and  comment,  and  caused  more 
stringent  legislation. 

In  1869  he  attained  an  honorary  admittance  to  the 
Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society,  and  in  1870  he  gave  the 
oration  at  Dartmouth  College, 

The  act  for  the  establishment  in  Massachusetts  of 
a  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor,  with  a  chief  and 
deputy,  was  passed  in  1869,  and  General  Oliver  was 
selected  by  Governor  Claflin  as  the  chief  of  the 
bureau.  To  the  duties  of  this  office  he  gave  his 
undivided  attejition,  having  to  grope  his  way  unguid- 
ed  by  precedent,  example  or  expei'ience;  everything 
connected  with  the  investigations  being  new,  and 
nearly  all  those  investigations  rendered  difficult  and 
embarrassing  by  the  very  strong  and  powerful  influ- 
ence of  the  employing  class  of  the  State.  He  left  the 
bureau  in  May,  1873. 

In  April,  1876,  he  received  an  appointment  as  one 
of  the  judges  at  the  International  Centennial  Exhibi- 
tion at  Philadelphia,  and  was  assigned  to  Group 
XXV.,  in  charge  of  all  "  Instruments  of  Precision." 
Under  this  expression  were  included  astronomical 
instruments  of  all  sorts,  trigonometrical  and  surveying 
instruments,  microscopes,  magnetic  and  electric,  tele- 
graphic and  telephonic  instruments.  There  were 
also  added  musical  instruments  of  every  variety,  from 
organs  down,  these  being  assigned  to  a  sub-group,  ot 
which  General  Oliver  was  chairman. 

Subsequently,  after  the  work   of  the  judges  was 


SALEM. 


241 


supposed  to  have  been  finished,  and  they  had  left 
Philadelphia,  a  "  Group  of  Judges  on  Appeals  "  was 
summoned,  of  which  General  Oliver  was  one,  and  he 
again  repaired  to  Philadelphia. 

A  few  days  prior  to  his  leaving  Philadelphia  for 
his  home  he  received  a  letter  from  Salem,  desiring 
him  to  accept  a  nomination  for  the  mayoralty  of  that 
city,  to  which  he  consented,  and,  at  the  election  later, 
he  was  chosen  mayor.  He  was  re-elected  in  the  fol- 
lowing year,  and  also  in  the  years  1878  and  1879. 
At  the  approach  of  the  year  1881,  Mayor  Oliver 
publicly  announced  his  decision  not  to  be  a  candi- 
date for  re-election,  against  many  requests  that  he 
would  again  stand.  "  Being  eighty  years  of  age  on 
the  24th  of  November,  1880,  it  is  quite  time  that  I 
should  rest,"  he  said,  "  and  it  would  not  be,  in  my 
view,  right  to  impose  the  natural  incapacities  of  old 
age  even  upon  a  willing  people." 

On  his  eightieth  birthday,  with  earnest  expressions 
of  gratitude  for  many  favors  shown  him,  during  a 
half  century  of  residence,  by  his  fellow-citizens  of 
Salem,  he  addressed  a  letter  to  the  City  Council,  of- 
fering as  a  nucleus  of  a  Public  Library  for  the  city,  a 
donation  of  books  from  his  own  library.  The  city 
not  feeling  then  in  a  position  to  undertake  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  library,  a  portion  of  the  books — about 
800  volumes — was  afterwards  given  by  General  Oliver 
to  the  "  Salem  Fraternity." 

During  the  summer  of  1882,  General  Oliver  began 
to  be  sensible  of  a  cardiac  trouble,  which,  without  his 
being  aware  of  the  fact,  had  been  discovered  several 
years  before  by  his  physician.  The  difficulty  gradu- 
ally increased,  and  his  condition  became  very  serious 
in  the  succeeding  winter,  but  in  the  following  spring 
the  trouble  was  so  far  under  control  that  he  passed  a 
very  comfortable  existence.  But  he,  perforce,  led  a 
very  quiet  life,  declining  all  invitations  of  a  public 
nature,  and  passing  his  time  in  the  companionship  of 
his  friends,  his  books  and  his  music.  His  communi- 
cations to  the  newspapers  and  the  periodicals  of  the 
day  on  current  subjects,  and  on  the  events  of  "  long- 
ago,"  became  now  very  numerous. 

During  the  summer  of  1885,  up  to  Sunday,  the 
26th  of  July,  General  Oliver's  health  continued  as 
good  as  in  the  two  years  before.  On  the  Sunday 
mentioned  he  complained  of  his  head,  and  after  an 
unquiet  night  he  awoke  with  evident  cerebral  trou- 
ble, aphasia  being  the  chief,  and,  in  fact,  the  only 
marked  symptom.  The  inability  to  express  his 
thoughts  in  words  continued,  physical  weakness  su- 
pervened, and  he  was  not  able  to  leave  his  bed  on 
the  morning  of  the  29th.  He  died  in  the  early  even- 
ing of  August  12th,  retaining  almost  to  the  last  some 
consciousness  of  his  surroundings. 

General  Oliver's  death  called  forth  extended  mani- 
festations of  regret  and  sympathy,  public  and  private, 
and  his  funeral,  which  took  place  from  the  North 
Church,  on  Monday,  August  17th,  was  attended  by  a 
large  concourse  of  citizens  and  of  officials,  both  of 
16 


Salem  and  of  other  places.  His  body  rests  in  the 
family  tomb  in  the  cemetery  on  Broad  Street,  Salem, 
within  sight  of  the  school-house  which  was  the  scene 
of  his  earliest  labors  as  teacher,  and  in  which  hangs 
his  portrait.  Upon  the  tomb  there  has  been  placed  a 
natural  boulder,  from  the  neighboring  fields,  covered 
with  moss  and  gray  lichens,  and  upon  this  stone  is 
engraved  his  name,  date  of  birth  and  of  death,  and 
a  sculptured  suggestion  of  the  pipes  of  an  organ,  em- 
blematic of  sacred  music,  which  was  the  grand  passion 
of  his  life. 

Of  the  character  of  the  subject  of  this  notice  it  is 
difficult  to  speak  in  a  brief  space,  his  talents  were  so 
various,  his  acquirements  so  extensive,  and  his  per- 
sonality so  strikingly  composite.     His  powers  as  stu- 
dent, teacher,  writer,  musician  and  executive  officer 
were  such  as  are  rarely  combined  in  the  same  per- 
son.    But  the  strongest   note   in   his   character — the 
dominant  chord — was  the  musical  one.     "  I  had,"  he 
says,    "  early   manifested    a   passion    for   music,    ac- 
quired  from    my   mother,    who   had  a  voice   of  rare 
excellence  and  great  skill  in  singing,  and  I  learned 
any  music  I  heard  my  brother  and  my  sisters  per- 
form   with  the  greatest   ease   and  rapidity."      And 
again,   "My   amusements   in   college   were   entirely 
innocent,  and  I  found  great  comfort  and  pleasure  in 
the  study  and  practice  of  music,  my  voice  and  knowl- 
edge of  the   flute   being   passport   to   many  families 
wherein    music,    especially    sacred   music,  was  prac- 
ticed.    An  evening  so  passed  was  to  me  the  greatest 
pleasure  I  desired."     At  ten  years  of  age  he  was  a 
member  of  the  choir  at  Park  Street  Church,   Boston. 
He  was   also,   early,  a  member  of  the   Handel   and 
Hayden  Society,  of  that  city,  and  an  active  member 
of  its  chorus,  whenever  possible,  even  beyond  the  age 
of  seventy  years,  at  which  period  of  his  life  his  voice 
still    retained    great    sweetness    and     power.       He 
was,  from  his   earliest  residence   in   Salem,   largely 
identified  with  music,  and  he  was  the   most   active 
member  of  the  Mozart  Association,  founded  in  1825, 
and  of  the  Salem  Glee  Club,   1832.     Gradually,  sa- 
cred music,  as  has  been  stated,  came  to   be  his  great- 
est love,  the  oratorios  of  Handel,  of  Hayden,  and  of 
Mendelssohn,   his   passion,    and   the   organ   his  idol 
instrument.     He  was  organist  of  churches  in  Salem 
and  Lawrence  for  a  period  of  forty  years.     As  a  com- 
poser of  church  music  he  held  high  rank,  and  many 
of  his  compositions  have  an  abiding  popularity.     In 
1849  he  published  with  Dr.  S.  P.   Tuckerman  "  The 
National  Lyre,"  and  in  1875,   "Oliver's  Collection  of 
Sacred   Music."     In   1883,  Dartmouth  College  con- 
ferred upon  him  the  Degree  of  Doctor  of  Music,  and 
requested  his  portrait  to  be  hung  upon  its  walls. 

As  an  educator  of  youth  General  Oliver  really 
loved  his  profession,  and  he  combined,  in  a  rare  de- 
gree,^ firmness  and  thoroughness  with  youthful  sym- 

iRev.  Joseph  H.  Felt,  in  his  "History  of  Salem,"  pronounces  Mr. 
Oliver's  private  school  to  have  been  the  most  complete  and  successful 
ever  carried  on  in  that  town. 


242 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


pathies  and  feelings.  His  interest  in  education 
never  flagged  to  the  end  of  his  days.  He  was  him- 
self always  a  diligent  student:  the  classics  were  his 
delight,  and  he  never  forgot  the  beautiful  passages 
from  the  Greek  and  Roman  writers  which  he  had 
early  learned.  But  he  was  also  a  mathematician  of 
unusual  excellence. 

His  services  as  a  member  of  the  school  committee 
were  eagerly  sought  for  in  both  Salem  and  Law- 
rence, and  in  parts  of  the  years  1858,  '59  and  '60,  he 
was  chosen  by  the  State  Board  of  Education  to  visit 
the  public  schools  in  various  parts  of  Massachusetts, 
and  to  attend  teachers'  institutes  and  conventions. 
He  was  also  at  various  times  in  the  Examining 
Board  of  Visitors  of  Harvard  College,  both  in  the 
classics  and  in  mathematics. 

When  the  high  school  in  Lawrence  was  opened, 
he  presented  to  it  the  extensive  and  valuable  appar- 
atus which  he  had  collected  for  his  private  school  in 
Salem,  and  he  added  to  the  gift  a  set  of  busts  and 
statuettes,  engravings  and  many  books  of  reference, 
Latin,  Greek  and  mathematical,  for  the  use  of  teach- 
ers and  pupils.  As  a  token  of  gratitude  the  school 
was  given  his  name,  and  his  portrait  was  requested, 
which  was  bung  upon  its  walls.  One  of  the  public 
schools  in  Salem  also  bears  his  name. 

As  a  military  man  General  Oliver  showed  marked 
ability.  As  colonel  of  the  Sixth  Regiment  he 
brought  it  to  a  high  degree  of  efficiency,  and  while 
adjutant-general,  through  his  personal  visits  to  the 
parades  of  the  various  regiments,  and  his  encourage- 
ment of  drilling,  the  service  was  greatly  improved. 

The  role  of  manufacturer  was  ably  filled  by  him, 
but  it  was  more  through  his  devotion  to  what  he  had 
in  hand  than  through  any  special  love  for  manufac- 
turing. Nevertheless,  the  products  of  the  mills  over 
which  he  presided  held  always  the  highest  rank  in 
the  market.  The  employes  did  their  best,  urged  not 
only  by  the  knowledge  that  much  was  expected  of 
them,  but  by  the  personal  magnetism  and  sympathy 
of  their  superintendent,  which  always  so  touched  and 
quickened  those  under  him,  in  every  position  he  ever 
held,  that  they  instinctively  desired  to  do  what  he 
wished  done.  He  thus  secured  from  his  subordinates, 
whether  he  were  present  or  absent,  their  best  service. 

In  1851  he  founded  a  library  for  the  operatives  of 
the  Atlantic  Mills  by  a  present  of  books.  He  also 
established  for  them  free  hot  and  cold  baths  in  a 
building  near  the  mills. 

As  treasurer  of  the  State,  General  Oliver  directed 
the  vast  business  of  the  ofBce  without  loss  to  the 
Commonwealth,  while  on  one  occasion  he  saved  its 
credit  in  a  great  and  sudden  emergency  by  pledging 
his  private  means.  During  his  term  of  office  the 
Civil  War  broke  out,  and  the  business  of  the  depart- 
ment increased  to  an  unprecedented  degree.  The 
treasurer  acted  also  as  paymaster  to  the  troops  raised 
by  Massachusetts,  and  during  the  continuance  of  the 
war  he  handled  and  accounted  for  $77,000,000 — really 


the   sum   was   $154,000,000,   for  being  received  and 
l^aid  out  it  was  twice  handled. 

As  chief  of  the  Labor  Bureau  General  Oliver  made 
a  profound  impression.  His  official  announcement  of 
the  existence  of  great  abuses  called  forth  extended 
comment  and  great  antagonism.  Some  of  his  work 
struck  at  the  root  of  great  evils,  or  of  erroneous  opin- 
ions in  society,  and  so  awakened  deep  hostilities ; 
but  he  lived  to  hear  all  his  statements  of  these  evils 
wholly  verified,  and  his  efforts  to  ameliorate  them 
justified.  During  the  five  years  of  holding  the 
office  he  prepared  five  annual  reports  to  the  Legisla- 
ture upon  the  earnings,  cost  of  living,  and  savings  or 
indebtedness  of  the  laboring  classes  of  the  State — 
their  homes,  education,  habits  of  living,  morals,  man- 
ners, hours  of  labor,  amusements,  societies  of  various 
sorts — upon  factory  life,  factory  operatives,  factory 
children,  the  schooling  of  the  latter,  half-time 
schools,  etc.,  in  fact,  upon  everything  relating  to  the 
great  question  of  labor  and  the  laboring  classes, 
skilled  and  unskilled,  and  of  every  grade  and  variety 
of  them. 

"  I  left  the  i9ureau  in  May,  1873,  retiring  with  an 
entire  consciousness  that  I  had  omitted  no  effort  in 
endeavoring  to  do  my  whole  duty,  and  that  ''.  had, 
regardless  of  personal  considerations,  faithfully  set 
forth  the  real  status  of  the  working  people,  the  real 
wealth-producers  of  the  State." 

After  leaving  the  Bureau,  and  to  the  end  of  his 
life,  he  retained  the  deepest  interest  in  the  welfare  of 
the  working  classes,  and  more  especially  in  that  of 
factory  children,  as  the  many  articles  written  by  him 
for  the  newspapers  of  the  day  testify.  In  April,  1885, 
his  portrait  was  hung  on  the  walls  of  the  office  of  the 
bureau,  in  Boston,  as  its  first  chief. 

As  mayor — in  two  cities — his  great  executive  abil- 
ity and  knowledge  of  men  made  him  a  valuable  offi- 
cer, and  his  retirement  elicited  hearty  expressions  of 
regret  and  good  wishes  from  the  several  departments 
of  the  city  government  and  from  the  citizens  generally. 

General  Oliver's  wide  range  of  study  and  reading 
caused  frequent  demands  for  his  services  as  lecturer 
before  lyceums  and  other  literary  associations,  and 
before  educational,  musical  and  agricultural  societies, 
while  his  ready  command  of  language,  and  his  wit 
and  humor,  made  him  greatly  sought  for  as  presiding 
officer  at  festive  occasions.  Many  of  these  occasions 
saw  him  such  an  officer  when  he  was  beyond  eighty 
years  of  age.  Of  these  latter  characteristics,  which 
constituted  a  very  marked  feature  of  his  character,  it 
has  been  written  "His  wit  and  humor  were  keen,  ex- 
uberant and  irrepressible,  and  his  many  tales,  and 
his  treasury  of  knowledge  made  him  extremely  com- 
panionable, and  a  delightful  conversationalist  on  any 
topic."  A  curious  feature  in  his  character  was  the 
presence  of  exuberant  spirits  and  gayety,  and  the  pas- 
sion for  sacred  music.  But  with  all  his  gayety  his  feel- 
ings were  deeply  reverent.  He  loved  nature  ardently, 
and  flowers  were  the  source  of  the  greatest  delight  to 


SALEM. 


243 


him  ;  his  highly  cultivated  garden  was  the  home  of 
many  a  prize-bloom. 

Much  as  the  subject  of  this  notice  employed  his 
pen,  he  published  but  one  little  work  besides  his  mu- 
sical works  mentioned.  This  was  in  1830,  "  A  Work 
on  the  Construction  and  Use  of  Mathematical  Instru- 
ments in  Portable  Cases."  About  the  same  time  he 
wrote  a  work  on  Algebra,  but  finding  that  the  late 
Mr.  Ebenezer  Bailey  was  engaged  upon  a  book  of 
similar  character  General  Oliver  generously  with- 
drew his  own  manuscript.  But  he  wrote,  especially 
in  the  later  years  of  his  life,  a  vast  number  of  articles 
for  the  newspapers  and  current  literature  of  the  day 
on  all  the  topics  with  which  he  was  familiar,  and 
these  communications  were  most  entertaining  and  in- 
structive. 

General  Oliver's  wife  died  on  the  24th  of  January, 
1866,  and  this  was  a  blow  which  he  never  really  re- 
covered from.  In  recording  the  event  he  wrote, — 
"As  said  Carlyle  of  Mrs.  Sterling,  in  his  life  of 
Edward  Sterling,  she  was  of  a  pious,  delicate  and 
affectionate  character,  exemplary  as  wife,  mother, 
friend, — of  timid,  yet  gracefully  cordial  ways, — with 
natural  intelligence,  instinctive  sense  and  worth: 
with  a  soft  voice,  a  tremulously  sensitive  nature, 
strong  chiefly  on  the  side  of  the  affections,  and  the 
graceful  insights  and  activities  that  depend  on  these; 
truly  a  beautiful,  much  enduring,  much  loving  house- 
mother." 

Henry  Kemble  and  Sarah  (Cook)  Oliver  had  issue, 
— Samuel  Cook,  Sarah  Elizabeth,  Henry  Kemble, 
Maria  Kemble,  Emily  Kemble,  Mary  Evans  and 
Ellen  Wendell. 


ABIEL   ABBOT   LOW. 

Salem  has  been  most  generous  in  enriching,  with 
her  worthy  sons  and  daughters,  other  cities  and  towns 
of  the  country.  Few  places  are  more  indebted  to 
her  for  such  noble  gifts  than  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  the 
story  of  whose  better  history  and  higher  prosperity 
could  not  be  told  without  the  mention  of  such  men 
as  Seth  Low  and  his  sons,  Isaac  H.  and  John  W. 
Frothingham,  Ripley  and  Reuben  W.  Ropes,  George 
B.  Archer,  and  others  of  most  excellent  repute.  Hon. 
Ripley  Ropes,  after  faithful  and  valuable  service  to 
his  native  city,  removed  many  years  ago  to  Brooklyn, 
where  his  exalted  character  as  a  man  and  his  long  and 
distinguished  usefulness  in  public  life  have  made  their 
enduring  impress  upon  the  city  of  his  adoption. 

Abiel  Abbot  Low,  one  of  the  merchant  princes  of 
New  York,  and  an  eminent  philanthropist  and  finan- 
cier, was  born  in  Salem,  Essex  County,  Mass.,  Febru- 
ary 7,  1811.  He  was  the  eldest  son  among  twelve 
children  of  Seth  Low,  a  native  of  Gloucester,  West 
Parish,  of  the  same  State.  His  mother,  Mary  Porter, 
was  descended  from  John  Porter,  one  of  the  original 
settlers  of  Salem  village,  (now  Danvers),  and  was  a 
daughter  of  Thomas  Porter,  of  Topsfield,  the  town 
adjacent  to  Danvers  on  the  north.     The  Porters  have 


been  a  numerous  and  influential  race  in  this  part  of 
Massachusetts  and  elsewhere  for  more  than  two  hun- 
dred years,  Mary  was  born  in  Topsfield  in  1786,  and 
was  a  lady  of  superior  character,  illustrating  all  the 
virtues  and  nobleness  of  the  Roman  matron,  refined 
and  adorned  with  the  influences  and  graces  of  the 
Christian  faith.  She  lived  to  be  eighty-six  years  of 
age  and  continued  to  be  an  object  of  much  veneration 
among  all  who  knew  her,  to  the  end  of  her  useful  and 
honored  life.  Her  husband,  Seth  Low,  was  a  man  of 
high  intelligence  and  of  solid  worth,  of  strong,  clear 
and  sedate  mind,  and  of  courteous  and  dignified  de- 
portment. He  was  held  in  great  respect  and  love  by 
his  fellow-citizens  at  Salem,  where  he  spent  the  ear- 
lier portion  of  his  married  life,  as  also  at  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.,  whither  he  removed  in  1829,  and  where  he  died 
in  1853.  A  devout,  upright,  and  public-spirited  man, 
he  was  one  of  the  foremost  citizens  of  Brooklyn, 
and  rendered  most  important  service,  in  many  ways^ 
to  that  city  in  its  earlier  municipal  history.  Blessed 
with  such  a  parentage,  and  inheriting  the  excellent 
qualities  of  both  his  father  and  mother,  the  son  could 
hardly  fail  of  an  honorable  and  distinguished  career. 
He  grew  up  without  any  of  the  vices  or  bad  habits 
which  so  often  blight  the  hopes  and  promises  of  youth. 
He  received  his  early  education  mainly  at  the  public 
schools  of  his  native  city,  and  wisely  and  diligently 
improved  the  opportunities  and  advantages  which 
were  there  afforded  him.  He  was,  for  some  time  be- 
fore he  reached  the  age  of  maturity,  a  clerk  in  the 
mercantile  house  of  Joseph  Howard  &  Co.,  a  Salem 
firm  largely  engaged  in  the  South  American  trade. 
Here  he  manifested  remarkable  aptitude  for  business, 
and  won,  not  only  the  heartiest  commendations,  but 
the  entire  confidence  of  his  employers.  In  1829  he 
removed  to  New  York,  and  remained  with  his  father, 
whose  occupation  was  that  of  a  drug  merchant,  for 
three  years.  In  1833  he  sailed  for  Canton,  China,  and 
on  arriving  there  became  a  clerk  in  the  house  of  Rus- 
sell &  Co.,  which  was  then  the  largest  American  firm 
in  China,  and  of  which  an  uncle,  the  late  William 
Henry  Low,  was  a  partner.  In  1837  he  was  admitted 
into  the  firm,  and,  after  three  years,  returned  home, 
in  1840,  to  prosecute  the  same  business  here — already 
possessed  of  considerable  wealth,  though  not  yet 
thirty  years  of  age.  He  was  early  distinguished  for 
his  sagacity,  his  far-seeing  wisdom  and  his  bold  and 
judicious  action.  Soon  after  his  arrival  home,  he  es- 
tablished himself  in  Fletcher  Street,  New  York,  and 
there  laid  the  foundation  of  that  which  was  destined 
to  become  the  leading  house  of  America  in  the  China 
trade.  The  business  of  the  house  was  of  rapid  growth 
and  at  length  assumed  such  large  proportions  that  a 
fleet  of  swift  vessels  became  indispensable. 

With  characteristic  energy  he  set  about  building 
his  own  ships,  and  the  construction  of  the  "  Houqua," 
"Samuel  Russell,"  "N.  B.  Palmer,"  "David  Brown," 
"Oriental,"  "Penguin,"  "Jacob  Bell,"  "Contest," 
"Surprise,"  "  Benefactor  "  and  "Benefactress"  kept 


244 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


pace  with  the  demands  of  his  business  for  a  while  ; 
but  he  was  compelled  to  purchase  several,  among  them 
"The  Golden  State,"  "The  Great  Republic  "  and  the 
''Yokohama."  For  years  the  house  carried  on  its 
immense  traffic  of  teas  and  silks  without  the  loss  of  any 
of  its  ships.  From  Fletcher  Street  the  office  was  first 
removed  to  South  Street,  between  Beekman  Street  and 
Peck  Slip,  and  again,  in  1850,  to  No.  31  Burling  Slip, 
the  present  site  of  the  establishment.  About  the  year 
1845,  Mr.  Josiah  O.  Low,  a  brother,  became  a  partner; 
in  1852,  Mr.  Edward  H.  K.  Lyman,  a  brother-in-law, 
was  admitted  into  the  firm  ;  and  at  various  subsequent 
dates  several  sons  and  nephews, — the  firm-name  be- 
coming and  remaining  to  this  day  "A.  A.  Low  & 
Brothers."  The  firm  have  always  maintained  their 
justly-deserved  reputation  for  the  strictest  integrity, 
and  for  the  largest  and  most  enlightened  methods  of 
mercantile  pursuit  and  dealing.  Their  name  has  been 
the  synonym  for  rectitude  and  honor  in  all  business 
transactions,  and  they  have  been  a  tower  of  strength 
amidst  all  the  changes,  fluctuations  and  reverses  in 
the  commercial  world  during  the  past  forty-six  years. 
Their  influence  was  most  powerfully  exercised  and 
felt  in  the  cause  of  maintaining  the  national  credit ; 
and  in  the  gloomy  years  of  the  Civil  War  they  bore 
their  full  share  in  the  work  of  defending  and  saving 
the  Eepublic.  Refusing  to  allow  their  ships  to  sail 
under  any  other  flag  than  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  they 
suffered  the  loss  of  the  "Contest"  and  the  "Jacob 
Bell,"  both  of  which  were  captured  and  burned  by 
Confederate  privateers,  the  latter  being  freighted  at 
the  time  with  a  cargo  of  great  value.  During  Mr. 
Low's  whole  business  career  he  has  received  constant 
tokens  of  the  high  respect  and  consideration  of  the 
mercantile  profession  to  which  he  belongs,  and  of  the 
community  in  which  he  lives.  His  influence  in  the 
New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce  has  been  w^hole- 
some  and  conspicuous,  and  it  has  also  been  justly  ap- 
preciated and  honored.  He  became  a  member  of  it 
in  1846.  In  1863  his  sound  judgment,  his  ready  grasp 
of  details,  his  marked  sagacity  and  his  unbending 
rectitude  led  to  his  election  as  president  of  this 
world-renowned  body;  and  on  the  expiration  of  the 
stated  term  of  three  years,  he  was  re-elected.  At  the 
close  of  1866  he  resigned  this  position,  in  order  to 
make  a  voyage  around  the  world.  On  January  1, 1867, 
he  embarked  with  his  wife  and  one  son  from  San 
Francisco  in  the  Pacific  Mail  steamship  "  Colorado," 
the  first  American  merchant  steamer  which  crossed 
the  Pacific. 

On  his  return  he  was  honored  with  a  banquet,  ten- 
dered by  the  representative  men  of  his  profession,  in 
the  city  which  had  so  long  been  the  scene  of  his  labors 
and  his  triumphs.  He  frequently  has  been  called  upon 
to  address  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  his  fellow- 
citizens  upon  subjects  connected  with  the  financial 
or  political  problems  of  the  day.  His  vigorous  mind 
has  been  highly  cultured  by  reading,  study,  travel,  ob- 
servation and  action.     His  style,  both  as  a  writer  and 


a  public  speaker,  is  singularly  felicitous  and  effective, 
and  remarkable  for  clearness,  compactness,  good  taste 
and  elegance  of  expression.  He  has  the  faculty  and 
the  habit,  not  only  of  stating  his  case  strongly,  but  of 
reasoning  on  it  so  wisely  and  fairly,  as  well  as  forcibly, 
that  his  reader  or  listener  (as  the  case  may  be)  is  car- 
ried with  him,  and  willingly,  as  well  as  from  convic- 
tion, adopts  [his  conclusions.  It  is  because  of  these 
qualities  that  Mr.  Low  has  always  had  such  great  in- 
fluence in  the  associations  with  which  he  has  been 
connected,  and  such  weight  in  the  community  in 
matters  of  general  interest.  Had  his  career  been  in 
public  life,  he  would  have  been  as  eminent  in  the 
counsels  of  state  as  he  has  been  in  the  wide  domain 
of  commerce.  In  great  crises,  commercial,  financial 
or  political,  in  periods  of  depression,  panic  or  actual 
disaster,  he  has  the  courage  of  his  convictions,  and 
his  opinions  are  eagerly  sought  and  freely  given. 
During  the  Civil  War,  on  all  important  questions  of 
national  policy  or  duty,  his  voice  and  his  action  were 
alike  ready  and  sagacious,  clear,  loyal  and  determined. 
Holding  no  political  office,  though  several  times  in- 
vited to  do  so,  he  often  has  been  called  or  sent  to  the 
national  capital  in  a  representative  capacity,  for  con- 
sultation with  the  government  in  relation  to  matters 
of  grave  commercial  interest. 

It  is  not  easy  to  measure  the  value  and  influence  of 
such  a  man  in  the  community  and  the  country  to 
which  he  belongs.  Able,  wise,  patriotic  and  of  incor- 
ruptible purity  and  honesty,  he  is  constantly  a  pillar 
of  strength  and  support  to  all  the  best  interests  of 
society  and  is  a  rock  of  safety  and  defense  amidst  the 
changes  and  perils  to  which  government  and  people 
are  exposed,  or  are  liable.  It  is  not  alone  Presidents 
and  Cabinets,  Congressional  leaders  and  foreign  minis- 
ters, the  army  and  navy,  upon  whom  we  must  chiefly 
depend  in  the  most  stormy  times,  or  in  the  most  criti- 
cal emergencies.  All  will  be  lost  unless  the  nation  is 
held  mightily  to  its  financial  obligations,  its  plighted 
word,  its  sacred  honor.  After  the  war,  and  for  many 
years,  the  land  was  rife  with  dangerous  theories  and 
pestilent  heresies  in  regard  to  these  matters,  and  Re- 
pudiation itself  was  a  more  or  less  popular  cry.  It  was 
all-important,  and  absolutely  necessary,  that  the  mer- 
cantile and  banking  classes  should  lift  their  voices  for 
the  right,  that  the  great  commercial  metropolis  should 
be  heard,  that  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  should 
speak,  and  speak  with  no  uncertain  sound.  Of  such 
occasions,  one  was  in  connection  with  the  Centennial 
Celebration  of  the  Chamber,  held  at  Irving  Hall,  IS  ew 
York  City,  April  6,  1868.  Mr.  Low  delivered  an  ad- 
dress on  "  The  Finances  of  the  United  States,"  and 
the  closing  portion  of  it  is  here  given,  in  illustration 
of  his  sound  views,  his  exalted  patriotism  and  the 
power  and  grace  of  his  words : 

"  Fiually,"  he  says,  "  it  seems  to  me  that  existing  laws  forthe  conver- 
sion and  redemption  of  the  public  debt  are  good  enough  till  the  country 
returns  to  specie  payment.  I  look  to  such  return  as  our  only  hope  of 
rescue  from  impending  evil.  The  crisis  is  full  of  peril,  as  all  who  read 
and  reflect  will  be  forced  to  admit ;  the  contemplation  of  this  peril  leads 


SALEM. 


245 


me  to  sorrowful  reflection.  Three  years  have  passed  away  since  the  War 
of  the  Rebellion  was  closed.  The  eventful  month  of  April,  1805,  wit- 
nessed the  surrender,  thi-oughout  the  South,  of  all  the  rebel  forces  ;  the 
disbanding  of  the  loyal  armies  of  the  North,  and  the  re-establishment  of 
the  national  authority  everywhere  ;  and  although  the  country  was  pros- 
trate in  sorrow  at  the  death  of  its  great  hero  and  martyr,  there  was  sol- 
ace and  joy  in  the  thought  that  the  blood  and  treasure  of  the  loyal  States 
had  not  been  poured  out  in  vain.  Not  only  had  the  life  of  the  nation 
been  providentially  preserved,  but  its  honor  was  untarnished  ;  at  home 
and  abroad  confidence  in  the  ability  of  otir  people  faithfully  to  redeem 
every  obligation  that  was  given  during  the  war  daily  gained  strength, 
and  the  speedy  restoration  of  the  wayward  States  to  their  legitimate 
place  in  the  Union  was  the  animating  hope  of  every  patriotic  heart. 
How  this  hope  has  thus  far  been  disappointed  it  is  not  my  province  to 
consider. 

"We  may  now  boast,  indeed,  that  America  is  '  the  land  of  the  free  an'^ 
the  home  of  the  brave  ; '  slavery  has  ceased  to  exist ;  the  curse  and  the 
reproach  it  brought  on  our  flag  and  our  fame  have  been  buried  in  a  com- 
mon grave.  Have  we  wiped  out  this  long  endured  blot  on  our  country's 
escutcheon,  amid  all  the  fire  and  bloodshed  of  civil  war,  in  order  to 
deepen  and  darken  the  stain  repudiation  would  leave  in  its  stead  ?  Has 
it  come  to  this,  that  the  Congress  of  the  nation  can  deliberately  enter- 
tain propositions,  in  less  than  three  years  after  the  war,  that  strike  at 
the  spirit  and  letter  of  laws  now  on  the  statute-book,  in  the  presence  of 
the  very  men  who  made  them — laws  that  are  vital  to  the  securitj'  of 
those  who  lent  their  money  for  the  prosecution  of  the  war  !  Have  we 
reason  to  fear  that  Senators  and  Kepresentatives  who  make  such  de- 
mands on  our  confidence,  in  their  extraordinary  measures  to  enforce  re- 
construction, will  subject  our  faith  to  a  still  severer  test  ?  Can  they 
hope  to  maintain  the  character  of  friends  of  the  Union  for  the  sake  of 
the  Union  if  they  expose  to  dishonor  the  life  whose  salvation  has  cost 
such  a  price  in  blood  and  treasure  ?  Shall  we  go  forth  as  hitherto,  in 
virtue  of  our  American  birthright,  proud  in  the  consciousness  that  our 
nation's  right  makes  our  nation's  might,  or  remain  at  home  rather  than 
be  withered  by  the  rebuking  eye  of  every  honest  man  in  every  other  land 
governed  by  honest  men  ?  It  were  better,  far,  to  dash  from  the  Ameri- 
can ensign  every  star  and  leave  only  the  stripes,  as  a  symbol  of  everlasting 
disgrace — of  everlasting  punishment — if  we  must  cease  to  claim  the  re- 
spect we  have  hitherto  enjoyed  under  its  all-inspiring  folds.  No  !  Let 
me  recall  these  despairing  words !  I  will  not  believe  in  such  a  destiny. 
The  loyal  and  the  true  will  rally  in  behalf  of  the  right  and  the  good.  The 
people  and  the  Congress  will  uphold  the  national  faith.  Our  eagles  and 
half-eagles  will  once  more  circulate  throughout  the  land,  our  eyes  shall  be 
gladdened  with  the  old  device,  'In  God  we  trust,' and  throughout  the 
world  the  stars  and  stripes  shall  float  together  the  glorious  emblem  of 
nationality  to  millions  lapon  millions  yet  unborn." 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  meeting  Mr.  Low  sub- 
mitted resolutions,  which  were  unanimously  adopted, 
favoring  the  resumption  of  sj^ecie  payments  and  the 
honest  discharge  of  the  national  debt.  No  man, 
more  than  he,  was  fitted  by  talent,  character,  exper- 
ience, rectitude  and  service  to  stand  at  the  centre  in 
such  a  time,  and  represent  before  the  people  and  the 
world  the  commercial  mind  and  interests  of  the 
United  States.  Mr.  Low  has  been  solicited  many 
times  to  become  the  president  of  banking,  insurance 
and  other  institutions  of  a  similar  character,  but  he 
has  declined  every  protfered  station  of  service  save 
that  of  a  director,  in  which  capacity  he  is  identified 
with  a  number  of  prominent  organizations.  In 
Brooklyn,  the  city  of  his  adoption  and  residence,  he 
has  been  one  of  the  most  public-spirited  and  useful 
citizens.  He  has  been  an  ever-ready  and  excep- 
tionally liberal  patron  of  schools  and  colleges, 
churches  and  charitie.a,  not  alone  in  Brooklyn  and 
New  York,  but  in  other  parts  of  the  land ;  and  his 
contributions  of  money  to  every  good  enterprise  or 
institution  that  has  appealed  for  aid  have  rarely,  if 
ever,  been  surpassed  in  number  and   magnitude  by 


those  of  any  of  our  wealthy  and  philanthropic  citizens. 
Thoroughly  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  a  firm  and  en- 
lightened Christian  faith,  the  church  has  found  in 
him  a  true,  devoted,  exemplary  friend,  and  many  of 
its  branches  of  diiferent  names  have  been  encouraged 
and  pro.spered  by  his  timely  and  generous  gifts.  Fully 
appreciating  the  value  and  importance  of  substantial 
education  to  every  community,  he  has  long  made  the 
public  and  private  schools  of  the  city  objects  of  the 
highest  concern.  Of  the  Packer  Collegiate  Institute, 
in  Brooklyn,  Mr.  Low  has  been  for  many  years  presi- 
dent of  the  board  of  tru>tees,  giving  to  its  affairs 
large  and  intelligent  oversight,  and  contributing  lib- 
erally to  its  library  and  scientific  equipment..  The 
Brooklyn  Library  and  the  Long  Island  Historical  So- 
ciety have  found  in  him,  from  their  inception,  one  of 
their  most  appreciative,  active  and  munificent  patrons. 
The  City  Hospital,  the  Society  for  Improving  the 
Condition  of  the  Poor,  the  Union  for  Christian  Work 
and  many  other  benevolent  institutions,  attest  his 
readiness  to  aid  in  the  support  of  well-designed  and 
practically-managed  organized  charities.  Perhaps  no 
more  touching  illustration  of  this  influence  has  been 
furnished  than  in  the  munificent  gift,  by  Mr.  Low, 
in  the  name  of  his  wife,  of  the  new  and  beautiful  St. 
Phcehe's  Mission  House,  which  he  caused  to  be  erected 
as  a  fitting  memorial  of  a  departed  daughter  of  won- 
derful beauty  of  Christian  character  and  life.  The 
building  was  opened  May  5,  1886,  and  a  tablet  more 
recently  erected  bears  the  inscription: 

"  In  Loving  Memory 
Harhif.tte  Low. 
This  house  is  given  for  the  work  she  loved  by  her 
bereaved    parents." 

In  our  great  Civil  War,  Mr.  Low's  loyalty  and 
patrotism  were  most  pronounced  and  constant.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Union  Defense  Committee  of 
New  York,  and  quite  early  in  the  conflict  succeeded 
Mr,  Dehon  as  treasurer  of  the  committee,  which 
phice  he  continued  to  fill  until  the  war  was  over.  He 
was  among  the  most  energetic,  liberal  and  useful 
members  of  the  "War  Fund  Committee"  of  Brook- 
lyn, which  was  organized  in  1862,  and  which  efli- 
ciently  aided  the  United  States  Sanitary  Commis-sion. 
He  was  president  of  the  General  Committee  of  Citi- 
zens in  Brooklyn,  which,  in  co-operauion  with  the 
committee  of  the  Woman's  Relief  Association,  in 
February,  1864,  managed  and  carried  out  to  its  grand 
result  of  more  than  $400,000,  the  Brooklyn  and  Sani- 
tary Fair. 

This  sketch  would  be  quite  imperfect  did  it  omit 
allusion  to  Mr.  Low's  constant  and  most  generous  re- 
lief to  those  who  are  in  need.  It  is  his  nature  to 
"Do  good  by  stealth  and  blush  to  find  it  fame,"  and 
the  world  little  knows,  though  very  many  privately 
and  gratefully  know,  the  largeness,  spontaneousness 
and  mercy  of  his  bounty  in  their  hour  of  suflering. 
His  sympathy  and  gifts  have  not  been  limited  to 
those  to  whom  he  stood  in  the  relation  of  friend  or 


246 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


mere  acquaintance.  The  casual  mention,  in  his  pres- 
ence, of  distress  that  had  befallen  even  a  stranger 
•whom  he  had  never  seen  and  of  whom  before  he  had 
never  heard,  has  many  and  many  a  time  (within  the 
knowledge  of  the  writer)  elicited  not  only  his  warm 
and  Christian  sympathy,  but  his  prompt  and  large 
pecuniary  relief.  It  has  often  been  remarked  by 
those  who  have  known  him  well,  how  continuously 
and  tenderly,  amidst  all  his  manifold  and  arduous 
daily  cares,  he  has  borne  such  unfortunates  in  mind, 
recalling  their  names  and  circumstances  and,  with 
more  benevolent  intent,  making  fresh  inquiries  about 
them  long  after  it  might  naturally  have  been  sup- 
posed that  such  cases  must  have  been  forgotten.  One 
of  his  honored  fathei'".s  last  injunctions  to  his  children 
was,  "Remember  the  poor."  And  that  they  have 
done,  not  more  in  obedience  to  the  paternal  mandate, 
than  from  the  philanthropic  spirit  which  they  in- 
herited from  their  excellent  parents,  and  which  they 
have  also  imparted,  it  may  be  added,  to  the  succeed- 
ing generation.  As  the  acknowledged  head  of  this 
very  large  and  influential  family  circle  that  surrounds 
him  in  Brooklyn,  and  in  every  domestic  relation  of 
life,  Mr.  Low,  it  is  not  necessary  to  say,  finds  his  own 
faithful  devotion  and  affectionate  care  abundantly 
recompensed  to  him  in  the  veneration  and  love  of  all. 
And  what  is  thus  true  of  him  in  the  home  and 
amongst  his  kindred  is  true  of  him  also  in  other  con- 
nections, in  which  to  still  larger  numbers  he  has  been 
the  prudent  counselor,  the  thoughtful  sympathizer, 
and  the  helpful  and  steadfast  friend. 

Mr.  Low  was  first  married,  in  March,  1841,  to  Ellen 
Almira,  daughter  of  the  late  Josiah  Dow,  of  Brook- 
lyn, N.  Y.,  and  a  lady  of  rare  worth  and  loveliness, 
by  whom  he  had  four  children, — two  sons  and  two 
daughters,  all  of  whom  survived  their  mother,  who 
died  in  January,  1850.  In  February,  1851,  he  was 
married  to  Anne  D.  B.,  widow  of  his  deceased  brother, 
William  Henry  Low,  and  daughter  of  the  late  M. 
Bedell,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  Mrs.  Low  has  been  very 
prominent  in  the  religious,  benevolent  and  social  life 
of  the  city ;  and  it  was  specially  under  her  fond  and 
faithful  guardianship,  intelligent  and  judicious  train- 
ing and  earnest  and  conscientious  Christian  influence 
that  the  motherless  children  to  whose  charge  she 
succeeded,  and  her  son,  William  G.,  who  had  been 
born  under  her  first  marriage,  received  together  their 
home  preparation  for  their  varied  and  prominent 
spheres  of  usefulness  in  subsequent  years. 

Of  these  five  children,  Harriette  died  August  2, 
1884;  and  Ellen,  who  married  Henry  E.  Pierrepont, 
Jr.,  of  Brooklyn,  died  December  30,  1884.  The  sur- 
viving three,  are  A.  Augustus  Low,  merchant,  who 
married  a  daughter  of  the  late  George  Cabot  Ward, 
Esq.,  of  New  York ;  William  G.  Low,  lawyer  and 
Hon.  Seth  Low,  ex-mayor  of  Brooklyn,  and  also  a 
merchant,  both  of  whom  married  daughters  of  the 
late  Hon.  Benjamin  R.  Curtis,  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States. 


LEONAKD   BOND    HARRINGTON. 

The  names  of  men  who  distinguished  themselves 
for  the  possession  of  those  qualities  of  character 
which  so  largely  contribute  to  the  success  of  private 
life  and  to  the  public  stability,  of  men  who  have  been 
exemplary  in  their  personal  and  social  relations,  thus 
winning  the  aflfection,  respect  and  confidence  of  those 
around  them,  ought  not  to  perish. 

Their  example  is  more  valuable  to  the  majority  of 
local  readers  than  that  of  illustrious  heroes,  statesmen 
or  writers,  and  all  are  benefited  by  the  delineation  of 
those  traits  of  character  which  find  scope  and  exer- 
cise in  the  common  walks  of  life. 

Among  the  individuals  of  this  class  few  are  better 
entitled  to  be  held  in  respectful  remembrance  than  is 
the  subject  of  this  sketch. 

The  direct  ancestor  of  Leonard  B.  was  Robert,  who 
came  from  England  prior  to  1642,  and  settled  in 
Watertown,  Mass. 

For  several  succeeding  generations  the  Harring- 
tons were  tillers  of  the  soil,  and  became,  through 
their  energy  and  thrift,  extensive  landed  proprietors 
in  the  various  parts  of  New  England,  where  they  set- 
tled and  were  men  of  influence  and  position, 

Charles,  the  father  of  Leonard  B.,  however,  was  a 
tanner  and  currier  by  trade,  and  he  carried  on  this 
business  during  the  early  part  of  his  business  career 
with  a  good  degree  of  success.  He  also  did  a  large 
business  as  a  packer  of  beef,  and  opened  up  a  large 
export  trade  in  it.  In  this  branch  of  business  he  was 
a  pioneer,  and  was  very  successful  until,  during  the 
French  War,  he  suffered  great  losses  in  vessels 
and  cargoes  by  French  spoliations.  He  married  Mary 
Bond,  by  whom  he  had  five  children, — Charles,  born 
January  29,  1782;  Artemus,  born  October  14,  1784; 
Ruth,  born  August  25,  1789;  Jonas  B.,  born  August 
22,  1792;  Leonard  Bond,  born  January  29,  1803. 

Leonard  spent  hia  boyhood  in  Salem,  Mass.,  to 
which  town  his  father  moved  from  Watertown  shortly 
after  the  Revolutionary  War.  He  attended  school  in 
Salem,  where  he  acquired  a  practical  knowledge  of 
the  branches  there  taught,  but,  at  the  age  of  thirteen 
years,  developing  a  taste  for  sea-life,  he  went  a  voy- 
age to  South  America,  during  which  he  suffered 
from  yellow  fever,  and  recovering  from  it,  was  finally 
shipwrecked.  These  experiences  led  him  to  give  up 
the  sea,  and  he  then  chose  the  business  of  leather 
manufacture.  He  learned  this  trade  in  Roxbury, 
Mass.,  and  after  serving  hia  time  he  worked  as  a 
journeyman  for  several  years,  and  by  prudence  and 
frugality  was  enabled  to  begin  business  for  himself  in 
1829,  and  from  that  time  to  the  present  has  success- 
fully maintained  his  position  among  business  men. 

He  was  married,  January  8,  1831,  to  Margaret  G, 
Hersey,  of  Roxbury,  who  was  a  superior  woman,  and 
did  much  to  encourage  and  assist  him  in  his  plans, 
and  was  much  beloved  by  all  who  knew  her.     From 


^'^hyAH.mtchie, 


0  /f 


--^O^/^z^  ^a=^(^ 


SALEM. 


247 


this   union  were  four   children,  three  of  whom  are 
now  living. 

Having  no  taste  for  political  life,  Mr.  Harrington 
has  never  been  prominent  in  politics,  but  has  always 
been  identified  with  the  Whig  and,  later,  the  Repub- 
lican i^arties.  In  religious  belief  he  is  a  Universalist, 
and  contributes  liberally  for  the  support  of  public 
worship. 

He  is  a  man  of  benevolence,  easily  approached,  of 
kindly  instincts,  and  has  always  in  later  years  been 
ready  to  assist  those  less  fortunate  than  himself  in 
their  business  difficulties  by  his  wise  counsel  and 
good  judgment. 

Mr.  Harrington  has  for  many  years  been  promi- 
nently connected  with  the  financial  institutions  of 
Salem.  He  is  president  of  the  Asiatic  National 
Bank  and  vice-president  of  Old  Salem  Savings  Bank. 

For  twenty  years  he  was  engineer  of  the  Fire  De- 
partment, and  by  his  energy  and  zeal  did  much  to 
improve  the  old  system ;  but  all  this  was  prior  to  the 
advent  of  the  modern  steamer,  and  when  the  hand 
machine  was  made  to  do  duty  by  "  the  boys  breaking 
her  down." 

At  the  great  age  of  eighty-four  years  Mr.  Harrington 
is  still  able  to  attend  to  his  large  business,  going  to 
Boston  nearly  every  day,  and  while  having  assigned 
much  of  ihe  detail  to  other  hands,  still  in  the  direct- 
ing power  exercising  his  business  tact  and  method  to 
the  advantage  of  those  associated  with  him.  Mr. 
Harrington's  grandfather  was  a  noted  teacher  of  his 
day,  and  as  "Master  Harrington"  was  widely  known. 

Leonard  Bond,  a  maternal  uncle,  was  a  soldier  in 
the  Revolutionary  War. 


CALEB   FOOTE.^ 

Hon.  Caleb  Foote  was  born  in  Salem  February  28, 
1803,  of  a  sea-faring  stock.  The  first  of  his  ancestors 
who  came  to  this  country,  Pasco  Foot,  who  settled  in 
Salem  before  1637,  had  a  grant  of  land  in  that  year, 
in  connection  with  his  fisheries,  at  Winter  Harbor. 
The  degree  to  which  the  dangers  of  the  sea  assisted 
in  depopulating  the  maritime  towns  of  our  sea-coast 
in  the  earlier  days  is  forcibly  illustrated  in  the  family 
history  of  Mr.  Foote.  His  great-grandfather,  Cap- 
tain William  Dedman,  died  of  yellow-fever  in  a  voy- 
age to  Havana.  His  maternal  grandfather,  Samuel 
West,  a  member  of  the  Salem  Marine  Society,  died 
in  a  trading  voyage  to  Virginia.  His  paternal  grand- 
father, Caleb  Foote,  after  serving  in  the  Revolution- 
ary army  at  Cambridge,  engaged  in  the  privateering 
service,  was  captured  by  a  British  ship,  and  immured 
in  Forton  prison,  near  Portsmouth,  England,  from 
which  he  escaped  to  France,  and,  returning  home, 
died  early  of  disease  brought  on  by  the  hardships  and 
privations  which  he  had  endured  in  the  cause  of  his 
country.     His  father,  Caleb  Foote,  sailed  in  command 

1  By  Kev.  Henry  W.  Foote. 


of  a  vessel  from  New  London  in  1810,  and  his  vessel 
was  never  heard  from  afterward,  while  his  wife,  Martha, 
daughter  of  Samuel  Massey  West,  had  died  four  years 
before.  Thus  their  son  was  left  at  the  tender  age 
of  seven  fatherless,  motherless  and  portionless,  wholly 
dependent  on  relatives,  and  began  to  earn  his  own 
living  at  ten  years  old,  when  he  left  the  North  Salem 
Public  School  to  attend  in  the  shop  of  an  uncle  in 
Salem,  and  later  in  Boston,  returning  to  Salem 
again  for  employment  in  Mr.  Samuel  West's  book- 
store. He  was  on  the  point  of  following  the  sea,  and 
had  shipped  as  cabin-boy  for  a  sealing  voyage  in 
Arctic  regions,  when  the  captain  who  had  engaged 
his  services  broke  the  agreement  in  order  to  take  a 
larger  and  stronger  boy,  and  diverted  the  current  of 
his  life.  He  found  employment  in  the  office  of  The 
Salem  Gazette  in  1817.  Here  Mr.  Foote  has  ever 
since  remained  as  apprentice,  proprietor  and  editor, 
never  long  absent  from  its  duties  and  only  rarely  en- 
gaged in  services  which  called  him  elsewhere. 

The  Salem  Gazette  was  one  of  the  few  newspapers 
whose  commencement  long  antedates  the  present  cen- 
tury. On  the  1st  of  August,  1768,  began  the  exist- 
ence of  the  Essex  Gazette.  There  were  for  a  time 
transfers  to  other  places,  suspensions  and  changes  of 
name,  but  the  apprenticeship  of  two  proprietors  con- 
nects without  a  break  the  first  issue  with  that  of  one 
hundred  and  nineteen  years  later  (in  1887).  The 
founder  of  the  line,  when  Massachusetts  was  a  Brit- 
ish province,  was  the  sturdy  Whig  rebel,  Samuel 
Hall.  The  accomplished  and  amiable  Thomas  C. 
Cushing  served  his  apprenticeship  with  Mr.  Hall, 
and  took  his  materials  and  revived  the  paper,  after  a 
broken  period,  in  1786.  Mr.  Cushing  continued  the  - 
publication  of  the  Gazette  until  January  1,  1823, 
when,  feeling  the  infirmities  of  age  and  disease  press- 
ing on  him,  he  transferred  the  establishment  to  one 
of  his  sons,  Caleb  Cushing.  and  a  nephew.  Ferdinand 
Andrews,  retiring  from  business  to  die  September  28, 
1824.  Mr.  Cushing  was  a  man  of  rare  excellencies 
of  character,  combining  faculties  of  the  mind  and 
qualities  of  the  heart  which  secured  in  no  common 
degree  the  respect  and  esteem  of  his  fellow-citizens, 
and  was  a  good  master  in  those  days  of  thorough 
business  training. 

The  life  of  an  apprentice  was  one  of  hard  drudgery, 
but  the  printing-office  is  a  school  which  gives  en- 
couragement to  a  boy  endowed  with  the  love  of  read- 
ing, for  the  self-education  which  has  to  take  the  place 
of  the  opportunities  of  school  and  college  ;  moreover 
as  Mr.  Foote  grew  up,  he  found  kind  and  influential 
friends,  who,  when  the  opportunity  arose,  assisted 
him  with  a  loan  in  establishing  himself  in  the  busi- 
ness by  purchasing  half  the  property  in  the  paper. 
In  1825  he  thus  became  associated  with  his  former 
fellow-workman,  Ferdinand  Andrews,  as  publishers 
and  joint  owners  of  the  Gazette.  In  1826  Mr.  William 
Brown  succeeded  Mr.  Andrews,  selling  his  interest  iit 
the  paper  also  to  Mr.  Foote  January  1,  1833,  who 


248 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


thus  became  sole  editor  and  proprietor  until  Janu- 
ary 1,  1854,  when  Nathaniel  A.  Horton,  who  had 
followed  what  were  the  traditions  of  this  time-hon- 
ored newspaper  for  more  than  a  century,  in  growing 
up  as  an  apprentice  under  the  training  of  his  senior, 
was  associated  with  him  in  publishing  and  editing 
the  paper.  This  partnership  has  continued  till  the 
present  time  (1887).  On  June  8,  1831,  Mr.  Foote 
had  also  established  a  small  weekly  paper,  to  which 
he  gave  the  name  of  The  Salem  Mercury,  the  original 
title  of  the  Gazette.  This  was  afterwards  enlarged 
and  its  title  changed  to  that  of  llie  Essex  County 
Mercury,  and  it  became  an  important  addition  to  the 
influence  of  the  office  through  the  wide  constituency 
which  it  gained  throughout  the  county. 

Meantime  such  public  duties  as  the  engrossing 
labors  of  an  editor  would  permit  came  to  Mr.  Foote. 
He  served  on  the  school  committee  in  1830-31,  and 
was  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives in  1832  and  1833,  declining  a  re-election. 
In  January,  1838,  having  been  for  some  years  chair- 
man of  the  Whig  County  Committee,  he  was  elected 
by  the  Legislature,  on  which  the  duty  of  choosing 
the  Executive  Council  at  that  time  devolved,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Council  under  Governor  Edward  Everett, 
and  was  again  elected  in  1839,  declining  a  subsequent 
re-election. 

On  the  accession  of  the  Whig  party  to  the  control 
of  the  government,  a  change  being  necessary,  not  for 
party  reasons  only,  in  the  Salem  post-office,  Mr. 
Foote  was  appointed  postmaster  in  May,  1841,  soon 
after  the  death  of  President  Harrison,  and  retained 
the  position  three  years,  administering  the  office  on 
strict  business  principles,  entirely  aloof  from  political 
methods,  making  no  change  in,,  the  subordinate  offi- 
cers, and  keeping  the  business  of  his  newspaper 
apart  from  his  official  duties.  A  pressure,  however, 
being  brought  to  bear  by  the  administration  to  in- 
duce him  to  become  a  partisan  of  John  Tyler  and  to 
employ  the  newspaper  in  furthering  his  schemes  for 
election  to  the  Presidency,  on  refusing  to  do  so,  Mr. 
Foote  was  dismissed  from  the  post-office  in  April, 
1844.  The  subsequent  years  and  until  the  present 
time  (1887),  with  the  exception  of  seven  months'  ab- 
sence in  Europe  in  1867,  were  devoted  exclusively  to 
the  business  of  the  newspaper,  in  which  active  labors 
it  was  allotted  to  Mr.  Foote  to  spend  a  longer  period 
than  the  full  term  of  life  as  named  by  the  Psalmist. 

A  friend,  Rev.  E,  B.  Willson,  adds  the  following : 

"Mr.  Foote's  life  affords  a  noteworthy  instance— not  a  solitary  one, 
to  be  sure — of  the  admirable  substitute  which  tlie  printing-office  and 
editorial  cliair  may  be  for  the  training-scliool  and  the  college  class- 
room to  an  apt  student.  His  style  as  a  writer  has  the  better  qualities 
of  one  college  bred — simplicity,  perspicuity  and  purity  of  diction,  and 
the  art  of  putting  things  with  directness  and  effect.  His  knowledge  of 
language  and  his  literary  taste  and  skill  are  those  of  the  scholar  well 
grounded  in  English  literature  and  veraed  in  other  languages,  ancient 
and  modern.  Naturally,  history,  political  economy  and  the  affairs  of 
trade  and  social  progress  come  to  be  the  studies  of  the  conductor  of  an 
inflnential  press,  an  important  portion  of  whose  readers  are  educated 
men  and  women.  ^In  these  departments  of  journalism  Mr.    Foote's 


accomplishments,  at  a  period  when  such  work  was  comparatively  rare 
and  when  he  was  sole  editor,  secured  for  his  editorial  writing  attention 
and  habitual  perusal  and  respect,  which  has  continued  during  the  more 
recent  years,  when  the  editorial  responsibility  has  been  shared  with  his 
associate.  In  his  long  career  in  the  midst  of  a  community  character- 
ized by  a  high  average  of  intelligence  and  a  corresponding  moral  stan- 
dard, to  have  had  so  strong  and  enduring  hold  upon  successive  genera- 
tions and  through  so  many  and  so  great  changes  in  manners  and  opin- 
ions, in  politics  and  theology,  in  private  and  in  social  life,  bespeaks  a 
man  of  weight,  candor  and  well-balanced  judgment,  and  of  an  integrity 
and  steadiness  of  purpose  not  often  paralleled.  His  native  modesty 
would  never  permit  him  to  obtrude  his  conclusions  at  any  time  where 
their  expression  was  not  called  for ;  but  those  who  have  drawn  from 
him  his  opinions  upon  topics  of  current  interest,  including  such  as  were 
matters  of  controversy,  have  been  pretty  sure  to  find  that  he  had  ma- 
tured opinions  of  his  own,  and  that  he  had  not  only  the  courage  of  his 
convictions,  but  that  he  had  been  a  courageous  tliinker  in  arriving  at 
his  convictions. 

"To  those  who  know  Mr.  Foote  only  in  the  common  intercourse  of 
life,  and  who  have  only  come  near  enough  to  observe  his  unfailing  cour- 
tesy of  bearing,  the  moral  courage,  poise  and  self-reliance  hidden  behind 
these  genial  manners  and  never-ruffled  tones  would  be  likely  to  be  a 
revelation  wholly  unsuspected.  Not  many  a  man  would  be  able  to 
carry  himself  calmly  and  with  unshaken  nerves  through  an  interview 
with  desperate  fellows,  who  had,  without  doubt,  plotted  to  rob  him  of 
things  of  value  supposed  to  be  on  his  person,  in  a  retired  apartment  of 
their  own  selection,  to  which  they  had  conducted  him  for  this  very  pur- 
pose, and  when  he  had  come  away  unharmed  from  their  lair  would 
relate  the  affair  as  quietly  as  if  it  had  been  but  a  common  incident.  It 
would  bring  a  genuine  surprise  to  those  accustomed  to  see  one  charac- 
terized by  an  unvarying  serenity  of  features  and  urbanity  of  address  in 
all  situations  for  a  lifetime,  to  find  him  capable  on  occasion  of  shielding 
a  junior  co-worker  from  abusive  criticism  by  rising  from  the  chair  edi- 
torial and  stepping  to  the  front  to  assure  a  rich  and  influential  citieen  and 
friend  in  a  firm  and  peremptory  voice  that,  though  not  himself  the  writer, 
he  assumed  joint  responsibility  with  the  writerfor  what  had  been  written, 
and  that  the  course  of  remark  which  he  had  interrupted  must  cease 
then  and  there,  or  the  visitor  must  leave  the  place.  To  be  sure,  we  rec- 
ognize it  as  the  natural  and  right  combination  when  courage  and  kind- 
liness go  together  ;  but,  unhappily,  it  is  not  a  conjunction  so  common  as 
not  to  cause  the  surprise  of  delight  when  we  witness  it." 

The  publication  and  editing  of  a  public  journal  in  a 
community  like  that  which  inhabits  E.ssex  County  is 
a  self-denying  and  exigent  task,  requiring  a  man  to 
become  wholly  merged  in  his  work,  especially  where 
the  newspaper  has  had  an  historic  part  for  more  than 
a  hundred  years  in  guiding  opinion  and  helping  to 
mould  public  development.  The  Gazette  was  founded 
by  a  patriot  who  had  zealously  espoused  the  American 
cause,  and  it  continued  the  earnest  supporter  of  the 
principles  of  Wa^hington  and  Hamilton  and  of  Fed- 
eral measures  and  men  as  long  as  the  Federalist 
party  continued  to  exist.  To  these  principles  it  held 
faithfully  through  the  later  changes  of  the  party- 
names  to  Whig  and  Republican,  but  without  being 
an  organ  of  any  party  or  individual,  and,  on  occasion, 
standing  alone  against  an  unworthy  candidate  for 
high  office,  and  securing  his  defeat.  If  a  journal  of 
this  character  has  fulfilled  its  opportunities  of  public 
teaching  and  public  influence,  in  the  constant  inter- 
est of  good  morals,  honest  politics  and  the  religion  of 
good-will  and  charity,  it  is  a  fit  memorial  of  the  life 
which  has  been  devoted  to  it. 

Mr.  Foote  was  married,  October  21,  1835,  to  Mary 
Wilder,  daughter  of  Hon.  Daniel  Appleton  White 
judge  of  probate  for  Essex  County.  She  died  De- 
cember  24,   1857.     Of  their  six  children,  three  are 


^^. 


-£"'^»6y  SBJB^e  Sons  Vein's^- 


^  ,^if^-2'<^t^i>^^^^^^ 


SALEM. 


248a 


NATHANIEL   B.    MANSFIELD, 

Nathaniel  B.  Mansfield  was  born  in  Salem,  Octo- 
ber 20,  1796,  three  months  after  the  death  of  his 
father.  His  mother  was  left  with  four  children, — 
two  daughters  and  two  sons.  Of  the  daughters,  one 
married  Captain  Brookhouse,  of  Salem,  and  the  other 
Joseph  Eveleth,  of  Boston,  for  many  years  high 
sheriff.  Of  the  sons,  one  died  single,  and  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  married  the  daughter  of  William 
Fabens,  of  Salem,  who  was  one  of  the  successful 
merchants  of  his  time. 

At  an  early  age  the  subject  of  this  sketch  chose 
the  profession  of  the  sea.  Having  no  one  to  put 
him  forward,  he  commenced  as  a  sailor  in  the  fore- 
castle, and  by  his  energy  and  perseverance  soon  be- 
came officer  and  then  master  of  a  ship.  He  was  part 
owner  of  the  "  Statesman  "  and  "  Newburyport,"  and 
transacted  business  between  Havana  and  Russia  for 
many  years.  He  left  the  sea  as  a  profession  at  the 
age  of  forty-five,  and  from  that  time  until  his  death 
w'as  interested  in  shipping.  He  was  connected  in 
business  at  diverse  times  with  Benjamin  Howard, 
Glidden  Williams,  Samuel  Stevens  &  Co.,  of  Boston, 
and  Captain  John  Bertram,  of  Salem.  During  the 
last  years  of  his  life  he  was  interested  in  the  ice 
business  at  Panama,  and  established,  in  connection 
with  Samuel  Stevens  &  Co.,  a  line  of  packets  to  Aus- 
tralia. Mr.  Mansfield  was  also  a  member  of  the  Ma- 
rine Society  of  Salem. 

He  took  great  interest  in  politics,  was  an  Old-Line 
Whig,  and  a  member  of  the  city  government  for  many 
years  as  well  as  of  the  State  Legislature.  His  great 
speech  at  that  time  was  in  connection  with  the  land 
damages  to  be  assessed  on  the  Essex  Railroad.  He 
refused  at  various  times  the  office  of  collector  of  the 
port.  He  was  unceasing  in  his  endeavors  to  accom- 
plish a  party  victory. 

He  had  the  courage  of  a  strong  man  with  the  ten- 
derness of  a  child,  and  was  loved  and  respected  by 
all  who  knew  him.     He  died  September  24,  1863. 

He  was  a  man  of  unflinching  integrity,  and  died, 
as  he  had  lived,  one  of  Salem's  most  honored  and 
esteemed  citizens. 


BENJAMIN  "WILLIAMS   CROWNINSHIELD. 

Benjamin  Williams  Crowninshield,  son  of  George 
and  Mary  (Derby)  Crowninshield,  was  born  al  Salem, 
December  27,  1772;  descended  from  Dr.  John  Cas- 
per Richter  von  Cronenshilt,  a  German  physician, 
who  came  from  Leipsic  to  Boston  about  1688,  and 
died  there  in  1711;  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Jacob  and  Elizabeth  (Clifford)  Allen,  of  Salem; 
owned  lands  near  Lynn  Mineral  Spring  Pond.  Two 
of  his  sons,  John  and  Clifford,  came  to  Salem  and 
were  successful  and  enterprising  merchants ;  John 
married  Anstiss,  daughter  of  John  and  Sarah  (Man- 
ning) Williams,  the  father  of  George,  above-named. 

Mr.  Crowninshield,  like  his  ancestors,  was  largely 
engaged    in    commercial   enterprises   in   connection 


with  his  father  and  brothers,  under  the  name  of 
George  Crowninshield  &  Sons.  His  brother,  George 
Crowninshield,  the  owner  of  the  famous  pleasure 
yacht,  the  "  Cleopatra's  Barge,"  made  an  excursion 
to  the  ports  in  the  Mediterranean,  returning  in  Octo- 
ber, 1817.  He  built  the  large  brick  house  on  Derby 
Street,  between  Curtis  and  Orange  Streets,  now  occu- 
pied as  the  Old  Women's  Home.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Massachusetts  State  Senate  for  several  years, 
United  States  Secretary  of  Navy  from  December, 
1814,  to  November,  1818,  Representative  in  United 
States  Congress  1823  to  1831,  one  of  the  first  directors 
of  the  Merchants'  Bank,  Salem  (incorporated  June 
26,  1811) ;  married  Mary  Boardman,  daughter  of 
Francis  and  Mary  (Hodges)  Boardman,  January  1, 
1804.  He  removed  to  Boston  in  1832,  and  died  there 
February  8,  1851. 


HENRY   WHEATLAND. 

Henry  Wheatland,  son  of  Richard  and  Martha 
(Goodhue)  Wheatland,  was  born  in  Salem,  January 
11,  1812.  He  was  graduated  from  Harvard  College 
in  1832,  and  its  Medical  School  in  1837.  He  never, 
however,  actively  engaged  in  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine. At  an  early  age  he  became  interested  in  the 
study  of  natural  history,  and  both  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  his  home  and  during  voyages  for  his  health 
to  South  America  and  Europe,  he  made  extensive 
collections,  which  have  enriched  the  cabinets  of  the 
scientific  institutions  in  Salem.  He  was  chosen  su- 
perintendent of  the  museum  of  the  East  India  Marine 
Society  in  1837,  and  held  that  oflSce  until  1848,  when, 
chiefly  through  his  efforts,  the  Essex  County  Natural 
History  Society  and  the  Essex  Historical  Society — 
he  being  an  active  member  of  both  societies — became 
united  as  the  Essex  Institute,  to  the  building  up  of 
which  he  has  since  untiringly  given  the  greater  por- 
tion of  his  life,  and  of  which  society  he  is  now  the 
president.  Leaving  the  field  of  scientific  research  to 
younger  men  and  those  who  were  becoming  special- 
ists in  its  different  branches,  he  later  devoted  himself 
to  local  history  and  genealogy,  and  is  now  admitted 
to  be  one  of  the  leading  antiquarians  in  the  county, 
from  whose  fund  of  knowledge  constant  draughts  are 
being  made  by  workers  in  this  field. 

Dr.  Wheatland  is  one  of  the  original  trustees  of 
the  Peabody  Academy  of  Science  and  its  vice-presi- 
dent, a  trustee  of  the  Peabody  Museum  of  American 
Archaeology  and  Ethnology  of  Cambridge,  and  a 
member  of  the  principal  scientific  and  historical  so- 
cieties of  the  country. 


NATHANIEL   SILSBEE. 

Nathaniel  Silsbee,  son  of  Nathaniel  and  Sarah 
(Becket)  Silsbee,  was  born  at  Salem  January  14, 
1773;  descended  from  Henry  Silsbee,  of  Salem,  1639, 
Ipswich,  1647,  Lynn,  1658,  died  1700,  through  Na- 
thanieP,  NathanieP,  William*,  NathanieP.  He  pur- 
sued his  studies  with  Rev.  Dr.  Cutler,  of  Hamilton ; 


248b 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


died  July  14,  1850;  married,  December  12,  1802, 
Mary,  daughter  of  George  and  Mary  (Derby)  Crown- 
inshield,  born  September  24,  1778;  died  September 
20,  1835.  In  early  life  he  was  a  ship-master  and 
supercargo,  afterwards  a  successful  and  eminent  mer- 
chant, a  Eepresentative  and  Senator  in  Massachusetts 
Legislature,  for  three  years  president  of  the  latter 
body.  Representative  United  States  Congress  1817-21, 
Senator  United  States  Congress  1826-35. 


BENJAMIlSr   PICKMAN. 

Benjamin  Pickman,  son  of  Benjamin  and  Mary 
(Toppan)  Pickman,  was  born  at  Salem  September  30, 
1763;  descended  from  Nathaniel  Pickman,  who  came 
from  Bristol,  England,  with  his  family  in  1661,  and 
settled  in  Salem,  through  Benjamin'^  (born  in  Bristol, 
1645,  married  Elizabeth  Hardy,  died  December, 
1708),  Captain  Benjamin-',  Colonel  Benjamin*  and 
Colonel  Benjamin^;  pursued  his  preparatory  studies 
at  Dummer  Academy,  then  under  the  charge  of  the 
celebrated  "Master  Moody;"  graduated  at  Harvard 
College  1784;  married,  October  20,  1789,  Anstiss, 
youngest  daughter  of  Elias  Hasket  and  Elizabeth 
(Crowninshield)  Derby  (born  October  6,  1769,  died 
June  1,  1836) ;  studied  law  with  Theophilus  Parsons 
(Harvard  College,  1769),  then  residing  in  Newbury- 
port,  and  afterwards  chief-justice  of  Massachusetts 
Supreme  Court;  admitted  to  the  bar;  soon  relin- 
quished the  practice  of  the  profession  and  engaged 
in  commercial  pursuits,  in  which  he  continued  during 
the  greater  part  of  his  life ;  a  Representative  and  Sen- 
ator of  Massachusetts  Legislature;  member  of  Massa- 
chusetts Constitutional  Convention,  1820;  member  of 
the  Executive  Council  of  Massachusetts ;  Represent- 
ative United  States  Congress,  1809-11.  He  was 
president  of  the  directors  of  the  Theological  School 
at  Cambridge,  and  also  president  of  ihe  principal  lit- 
erary and  historical  and  other  institutions  of  Salem 
and  vicinity ;  died  at  Salem  August  16,  1843. 


WILLIAM    REED. 

William  Reed,  son  of  Benjamin  Tyler  and  Mary 
Appleton  (Dodge)  Reed,  was  baptized  June  9,  1776; 
married,  November  13,  1800,  Hannah,  daughter  of 
Robert  and  Mary  (Ingalls)  Hooper,  of  Marblehead 
(born  August,  1778;  died  May  16,  1855).  The  first 
ancestor  was  William,  son  of  Richard  Reed,  of  Whit- 
tlesey, in  the  county  of  Kent,  who  came  to  America 
about  1630,  settled  first  at  Weymouth,  then  removed 
to  Boston;  SamueP,  SamueP,  of  Marblehead,  Sam- 
uel*, Samuel^,  Benjamin  Tyler®,  above-named;  an 
eminent  merchant  in  Marblehead,  and  highly  esteemed 
for  his  benevolent  and  religious  character ;  Represent- 
ative United  States  Congress,  1811-15;  president  of 
Sabbath-school  Union  of  Massachusetts,  of  American 
Tract  Society  ;  an  oflicer  and  member  of  many  other 
educational  and  religious  organizations.  He  was 
so  deeply  interested  in  the  cause  of  temperance  that 


he  was  styled  the  "Apostle  of  Temperance."  He 
died  suddenly  February  18,  1837.  His  widow,  who 
survived  several  years,  was  always  engaged  in  works 
of  charity,  and  was  regarded  as  a  most  accomplished 
lady  and  eminent  Christian. 


BEXJAMIN   GOODHUE. 

Benjamin  Goodhue,  son  of  Benjamin  and  Martha 
(Hardy)  Goodhue,  was  born  at  Salem,  September  20, 
1748;  graduated  at  Harvard  College  1766;  married, 
Januars'  6,  1778,  Frances  Richie,  of  Philadelphia 
(born  June  27, 1751,  died  at  Salem  January  21,  1801); 
married,  secondly,  November  5,  1804,  Ann  Willard, 
a  daughter  of  Abijah  and  Anna  (Prentice)  Willard, 
of  Lancaster,  Mass.  (born  August  20,  1763,  died  Au- 
gust 2,  1858);  descended  from  William  Goodhue, 
born  in  England  in  1612,  took  the  oath  of  freeman 
December,  1636,  and  probably  came  over  in  that 
year;  settled  in  Ipswich  and  sustained  the  chief 
trusts  of  the  town ;  was  deacon  of  the  First  Church 
for  many  years,  selectman,  representative  in  General 
Court,  etc. ;  died  about  1699;  through  Joseph^,  Wil- 
liam*, Benjamin*. 

He  early  embarked  in  commerce  with  credit  and 
success  ;  a  Whig  in  the  Revolution  ;  represented  the 
county  of  Essex  in  the  Senate  of  Massachusetts  from 
1784  to  1789,  when  he  was  elected  a  Representative  to 
the  first  United  States  Congress  under  the  new  Con- 
stitution ;  in  1796  elected  to  the  United  States  Sen- 
ate, and  in  1800  he  resigned  his  seat  and  retired  to 
private  life.  He  died  at  Salem,  July  28,  1814,  leav- 
ing an  irreproachable  name  to  his  then  only  sur- 
viving son,  Jonathan  Goodhue,  of  New  York,  a  mer- 
chant who,  in  character  and  credit,  stood  second  to 
none  in  that  commercial  emporium. 


JOSEPH    GILBERT  WATERS. 

Joseph  Gilbert  Waters  was  the  son  of  Captain  Jo- 
seph and  Mary  (Dean)  Waters,  of  Salem,  where  he 
was  born  July  5,  1796,  and  a  descendant  in  the  sixth 
generation  from  Lawrence  Waters,  one  of  the  first 
settlers  of  Watertown.  He  graduated  at  Harvard 
College  in  1816,  and  studied  law  with  John  Picker- 
ing, of  Salem.  In  the  autumn  of  1818  he  went  to 
Mississippi,  and  resided  there  some  two  or  three 
years  in  the  practice  of  his  profes>ion.  Owing  to  ill 
health,  he  returned  to  Salem,  and  opened  an  oSice, 
where  he  resided  during  the  remainder  of  his  life. 
He  was  editor  of  the  Salem  Observer  for  several  years 
from  its  commencement  in  1823.  He  was  appointed 
special  justice  of  the  Salem  Police  Court  September 
1,  1831,  and  standing  justice  February  23,  1842,  and 
continued  to  discharge  the  duties  of  this  latter  office 
until  the  establishment  of  the  First  District  Court  in 
1874.  In  1835  he  was  a  member  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Senate.  He  also  held  other  offices  of  honor  and 
trust.  He  married,  December  8,  1825,  Eliza  Green- 
leaf  Townsend,  daughter  of  Captain  Penn  Townsend. 
He  died  July  12,  1878. 


LYNN. 


249 


CHAPTEE  XIII, 
LYNN. 


BY   JAMES   R.    NEWHALL, 


THEK   AND   NOW. 

Descriptive  Passages — TJte  Indians—The  Settlers — Name  of  the  Place — 
Natural  Features — Productions — Embarrassments  and  Successes — Civil 
History — Statistics. 


"  I  hear  the  tread  of  pioneers 
Of  nations  yet  to  be. 
The  first  low  wash  of  waves  where  soon 
Shall  roll  a  human  sea." 


— Whittier. 


If,  upon  the  afternoon  of  some  fair  day,  one  should, 
from  the  summit  of  Bunker  Hill  Monument,  through 
a  clear  glass,  direct  his  eye  northeasterly,  he  will  see 
stretching  in  an  irregular  line  of  something  more 
than  three  miles,  and  at  a  distance  of  eight  or  ten 
miles,  a  settlement  presenting  such  features  and  hav- 
ing such  surroundings  as  will  be  likely  to  secure  his 
attention  for  many  minutes.  Between  him  and  the 
settlement,  far  beyond  the  circle  of  busy  life  that  lies 
at  his  feet,  is  a  stretch  of  marsh  land  of  rusty  gold 
tinge,  diversified  by  one  or  two  stately  groves,  by 
inlets  and  by  salt  streams,  and  traversed  by  railroads 
over  which  locomotives  are  constantly  puffing,  and 
highways  over  which  horse-drawn  carriages  of  all 
descriptions  are  constantly  moving. 

Extending  along  the  rear  of  the  settlement  is  a 
line  of  dark  woodland  hills,  with  here  and  there 
cropping  out  a  gigantic  porphyry  cliff,  overlooking 
many  miles  of  sea  and  land.  In  front  lies  the  ocean, 
ever  rising  and  falling  like  a  thing  of  life,  expand- 
ing quietly  upon  the  glistening  beaches  or  dashing 
sullenly  against  the  huge  buttresses  of  storm-scarred 
rock,  every  marine  craft  known  to  these  waters  skim- 
ming hither  and  thither  upon  its  surface. 

Directing  his  eye  to  the  settlement  itself,  the  be- 
holder would  observe  white  suburban  dwellings  scat- 
tered about  in  picturesque  niches  with  gardens  and 
groves.  Then  come  the  central  portions,  with  pond- 
erous business  structures,  the  tall  smoke-ejecting 
chimnies  proclaiming  the  reign  of  industry  and 
thrift,  and  in  every  neighborhood  some  lofty  steeple 
or  graceful  tower,  testifying  to  a  realization  of  the 
higher  duties  of  life. 

This  is  Lynn.  And  probably  no  place  upon  the 
New  England  coast  can  present  more  attractive  fea- 
tures and  such  varied  scenery.  It  is  one  of  the  old- 
est settlements  of  Massachusetts,  as  distinguished 
from  Plymouth,  and  has  always  maintained  a  steady, 
though  not  rapid,  growth,  till,  at  the  present  time,  it 
has  reached  a  population  of  very  near  50,000.  It  is  on 
the  northern  shore  of  the  great  bay  which  is  entered 
from  the  Atlantic  through  the  gateway  formed  by 
Cape  Ann,  so   named   by  Prince  Charles  in  filial  re- 


spect  for  his  mother,  and  Cape  Cod,  so  named  by  the 
notable  English  navigator,  Bartholomew  Gosnold, 
from  the  circumstance  of  finding  multitudes  of  cod- 
fish sporting  about  there.  It  was  the  central  one  of 
the  three  important  settlements  commenced  at  nearly 
the  same  time, — namely,  Salem,  Lynn  and  Boston ; 
is  five  miles  southwest  of  the  former,  and  ten  miles 
northeast  of  the  latter.  It  is  not  now  very  extensive, 
territorially,  but  as  regards  population  is  the  largest 
city  in  the  United  States,  east  of  Boston. 

THE   INDIANS. 

"  Where  now  the  poor  Indian  scatters  the  sod 
With  offerings  burnt  to  an  unknown  god, 
By  gospel  light  shall  the  path  be  trod 

To  the  courts  of  the  Prince  of  Peace. 

"  And  here  will  commerce  appoint  her  mart ; 
The  marble  will  yield  to  the  hand  of  art ; 
From  the  sun  of  science  the  luiys  will  dart  ; 

And  the  darkness  of  Nature  cease  !  " 

— H.  F.  Gould. 

Before  proceeding  to  other  topics,  a  few  words  re- 
garding the  Indian  race  found  here  may  not  be  inap- 
propriate. But  of  that  race  we  are  almost  entirely 
destitute  of  substantial  or  illustrative  details.  Enough, 
however,  is  known  to  show  that  they  were  not  a  supe- 
rior people,  but  rather  a  poor  specimen  of  the  human 
family,  though  the  poet  and  sentimentalist  have 
clothed  them  in  glowing  drapery,  and  awarded  them 
singular  nobleness  of  character.  It  is  natural  to  feel 
a  deep  interest  in  those  who  before  us  occupied  the 
soil  we  inherit,  whether  they  were  of  our  own  kindred 
or  of  other  tribes,  and  it  is  hard  not  to  assign  to  them 
ideal  virtues.  But  yet  it  is  unaccountable  that  so 
many  writers,  notwithstanding  the  authentic  ac- 
counts of  the  horrid  barbarities  of  the  red  men,  as 
a  people,  of  their  ignorance  and  depravity,  should 
persist  in  giving  them  such  an  elevated  sense  of 
honor  and  such  refinement  of  sensibility.  From  com- 
parisons made  by  some  enthusiasts  it  would  seem  as 
if  these  "children  of  nature"  were  thought  to  be 
superior  to  all  other  people  of  all  time.  But  in  es- 
timating the  character  of  these,  our  predecessors  u]:)- 
on  the  soil,  would  it  not  be  well  to  call  to  mind  some 
of  the  incidents  that  roughly  touched  our  own  Essex 
County — the  barbarities  experienced  by  the  Dustin 
and  Rolfe  families,  in  the  terrible  attacks  on  Haver- 
hill, and  the  fate  of  the  "  Flower  of  Essex "  at 
Bloody  Brook,  for  instance? 

There  is  abundant  evidence  that  there  were  indi- 
viduals of  the  Indian  tribes  of  lofty  character. 
Gratitude  is  a  noble  trait,  and  of  its  possession  they 
furnish  touching  examples.  With  unwavering  con- 
stancy they  would  cleave  to  their  friends ;  but  with 
delight  and  remorseless  vigor  they  would  cleave  down 
their  enemies.  Of  physical  courage,  endurance  of 
pain,  and  contempt  of  death  they  present  conspic- 
uous examples.  But  these  would  not  be  offered  as 
evidence  of  true  exaltation.  That  here  and  there  an 
individual  of  exceptional  magnanimity  appeared  is 
not  denied ;  but  the  great  body  were  degraded  in  the 


250 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


extreme.  It  would  be  unjust  to  assume  that  they,  as 
a  people,  were  destitute  of  the  innate  sense  of  right 
that  distinguishes  human  nature  wherever  found,  or 
that  there  were  not  many  endowed  with  those  finer 
feelings  which,  under  favoring  circumstances,  can 
modify  and  redeem. 

To  the  honor  of  the  people  of  the  Bay  settlements 
it  may  be  said  that  their  conduct  towards  the  natives 
was  generally  marked  by  justice,  if  not  generosity, 
and,  hence,  but  little  hostility  was  experienced  till 
they  had  become  strong  enough  to  dismiss  their 
fears.  It  was  not  till  the  great  struggle  of  1675, 
known  as  King  Philip's  War,  that  much  occurred 
hereabout  to  cause  real  alarm. 

The  unmeasured  censure  that  some  have  bestowed 
upon  the  settlers  for  what  is  termed  their  unjust 
seizure  of  lands,  in  given  instances,  may  have  been  well 
merited,  for  it  is  sad  to  believe  that  some  came  with 
very  different  motives  from  those  popularly  ascribed 
to  them,  and  which  they  professed.  These  were  un- 
scrupulous in  their  dealings  with  the  Indians,  and 
overreached  and  wronged  them  in  every  possible  way  ; 
but  there  were  comparatively  few  of  such  unworthy 
ones. 

In  treating  of  Indian  land  titles,  and  their  absorp- 
tion by  the  settlers,  an  important  fact  is  usually  left 
out  of  view, — namely,  the  fact  that  the  Indians  were 
themselves  but  land  robbers.  They  boastingly  as- 
serted that  the  country  did  not  originally  belong  to 
them,  but  that  their  brave  fathers  wrested  it  by 
bloody  war  from  the  former  possessors ;  defiantly 
endeavoring  to  strike  terror  into  the  settlers  by  thus 
claiming  to  be  a  race  of  conquerors,  who  might,  in 
good  time,  rally  and  drive  the  pale-faced  usurpers 
into  the  sea  over  which  they  had  intrusively  ven- 
tured. Yes,  they  and  their  fathers  were  brave  ;  but 
their  bravery  was  far  too  generally  that  of  violence 
and  lust  for  blood. 

And  another  thing :  the  Indians  did  not  cultivate 
the  soil,  at  least  to  any  extent,  for  they  were  by  no 
means  an  agricultural  people.  The  great  command 
to  "  till  the  soil "  they  did  not  obey,  but  remained 
unfaithful  stewards ;  and  there  is,  perhaps,  room  for 
the  casuist  to  assume  that  as  they  would  not  pei'form 
their  duty,  there  was  no  wrong  in  replacing  them  by 
those  more  faithful. 

To  follow  some  writers,  one  might  imagine  that  the 
dusky  dames  and  damsels  had  remarkably  refined  ideas 
and  graceful  accomplishments ;  that  in  music  espe- 
cially they  were  really  proficient ;  and,  though  desti- 
tute of  guitars  and  pianos,  had  a  felicitous  way  of 
modulating  their  voices  by  the  songs  of  birds  or 
purling  of  mountain  rills.  And  they  would  lead  us 
in  imagination  to  listen  to  melodious  strains  ringing 
through  the  forest  aisles  as  thrilling  as  the  song  of 
the  old  Spanish  troubadour  and  as  inspiring  as  a 
cathedral  symphony.  That  many  of  them  had  musi- 
cal voices  and  a  perception  of  true  rhythm  may  not  be 
questioned ;  nor   need   it  be   doubted  that  they  had 


ability  to  express  the  natural  feelings  in  song  and 
significant  action.     Says  the  poet, — 

"The  Indian  maid  danced  on  the  smooth   curving  shore, 
And  mingled  her  song  with  the  wild  ocean  roar." 

But  that  she  danced  "  scientifically  "  or  had  what  we 
understand  to  be  trained  musical  powers,  is  hardly 
to  be  believed.  Most  certainly  the  musical  instru- 
ments of  our  red  brethren  did  not  produce  peculiarly 
harmonious  sounds.  And  if  the  Avar-songs  were  mod- 
ulated by  the  notes  of  birds,  they  must  have  been 
birds  of  rasping  cry,  like  the  crow  or  hawk. 

To  conclude  :  the  Indian  population  hereabout  was 
quite  small  at  the  time  the  whites  came.  The  exact 
number  cannot  of  course  be  known  ;  but  there  could 
not  have  been  above  a  few  hundreds.  They  were  a 
degraded  people,  but  brethren  of  our  own  race,  pos- 
sessing in  some  degree  every  quality  that  goes  to  make 
up  the  human  being.  They  were  unrefined  and 
governed  chiefly  by  the  lower  instincts  of  our  nature, 
with  undisciplined  minds  and  unawakened  moral 
sensibilities. 

THE   SETTLERS. 

"  Deep-minded  and  austere  they  were, 

With  hearts  of  graver  throbs, 
And  their  few  errors  but  appear 

As  spots  on  vestal  robes." 

It  was  in  the  autumn  of  1626  that  the  sturdy  Roger 
Conant  broke  up  the  unsuccessful  fishing  and  planting 
station  at  Cape  Ann,  and  led  his  little  company, 
among  whom  was  the  clerical  mischief-maker  Lyford, 
some  fifteen  miles  inland  and  located  at  Naumkeag, 
where, though  subject  to  many  privations,  their"  utter 
deuiall  to  goe  away  "  resulted  in  permanent  occupation. 
Two  years  afterwards,  in  1628,  Endicott  arrived  with 
his  large  company.  Presently  the  old  Indian  name 
Naumkeag  was  dropped,  and  that  of  Salem,  or  Peace, 
adopted  ;  and  the  settlement  soon  began  to  be  noted 
for  its  business  activity,  its  political  and  ethical  in- 
fluence. 

Some  of  the  new-comers  had  hardly  remained  long 
enough  to  recover  from  the  excitement  attendant  on 
the  emigration,  and  the  fatigues  of  the  passage,  when 
they  became  restless  and  desirous  of  trying  their  for- 
tunes in  other  and,  as  tliey  conceived,  more  promising 
localities.  Permission  seems  to  have  been  readily 
obtained  for  little  companies  to  sit  down  almost  any 
where  within  the  Patent.  Indeed,  the  authoritative 
Endicott  allowed  them  the  broad  privilege  to  "  goe 
where  they  would." 

Now  let  us,  by  the  light  of  tradition,  behold,  on  a 
bright  day  in  the  early  part  of  the  summer  of  that 
eventful  year  1629,  a  little  company  of  white  men, 
prospectors  from  Naumkeag,  coming  over  the  rocky 
hills  into  the  fair  Saugus  territory.  They  pause  now 
upon  a  sunny  hill-top,  then  upon  a  pleasant  plain; 
they  traverse  the  woodland  precinct,  view  the  ponds 
and  water-courses ;  but  above  all,  delight  to  gaze  upon 
the  ocean,  beyond  which  lies  their  native  isle.  But 
all  is  done  with  an  eye  to  the  practicability  of  perma- 


LYNN. 


251 


nently  pitching  their  tents.  A  few  skulking  Indians, 
perhaps,  followed  them  unseen,  filled  with  wonder  and 
apprehension,  because  it  had  been  foretold  by  the 
dusky  prophets  that  men  of  fair  complexion  would 
one. day  come  and  occupy  the  land.  But  no  hostile 
demonstrations  were  made,  and  the  prospectors  re- 
turned safe,  and  so  well  satisfied  that  it  was  deter- 
mined to  immediately  commence  a  settlement. 

"Over  the  eastern  bills  they  came, 
A  sturdy,  grave  and  godly  band. 
A  band  then  all  unknown  to  fame, 
But  destined  to  redeem  the  land." 

And  thus  it  was,  that  in  June,  1629,  the  settlement 
of  Lynn  was  commenced — three  years  after  that  of 
Salem,  and  one  year  before  that  of  Boston. 

The  Indian  population,  as  just  intimated,  was  then 
80  small  as  to  be  really  insignificant;  and  not  being  a 
pastoral  or  an  agricultural  people,  the  land  itself  was 
to  them  of  little  value,  excepting  that  the  woods  yield- 
ed a  fair  amount  of  game,  and  a  few  vegetable  products 
afforded  some  little  addition  to  their  limited  variety 
of  food.  But  the  sea  was  a  never-failing  source  of 
supply ;  and  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the 
thought  of  being  driven  away  to  some  unknown  land, 
where  its  bright  expanse  could  no  more  be  seen,  nor  its 
winsome  voice  heard,  and  especially  where  its  store 
of  dainty  food  could  no  more  be  drawn  upon,  must 
have  been  depressing  in  the  extreme.  Nor  is  it  to  be 
supposed  that,  nomadic  as  to  some  extent  they  were, 
they  had  not  local  attachments  ;  that,  homely  as  were 
their  rustic  abodes,  they  were  not  loved  with  all  the 
ardor  felt  by  the  more  cultured  of  our  race,  such  at- 
tachments not  being  governed  by  intellectual  or  moral 
sentiments.  Yet  they  do  not  appear  to  have  received 
the  strangers  in  anything  like  a  hostile  attitude. 

The  names  of  all  who  composed  the  first  little  com- 
pany of  settlers  do  not  seem  to  have  been  anywhere  pre- 
served. But  Edmund  Ingalls  and  Francis,  his 
brother,  were  certainly  prominent  among  them. 
Edmund  Ingalls  was  a  maltster,  and  established  the 
first  malt-house  hereabout,  though  he  undoubtedly 
turned  his  hand  to  other  employments  as  exigency 
required.  The  industrial  poriion  of  the  settlers  neces- 
sarily pursued  various  occupations  in  different  sea- 
sons. The  death  of  Mr.  Ingalls,  which  took  place 
nearly  twenty  years  after,  was  tragical.  He  was  pro- 
ceeding on  horseback  homeward  from  a  short  journey 
westward,  when,  on  reaching  the  frail  little  bridge 
that  crossed  the  Saugus  River,  he  was  precipitated 
into  the  stream  and  drowned.  The  General  Court 
expressed  their  regrets  at  the  untoward  accident,  and 
their  willingness  to  do  something  indicative  of  their 
appreciation  of  the  good  services  of  the  deceased  by 
voting  the  sum  of  a  hundred  pounds  to  his  children. 

Francis  Ingalls,  brother  of  the  foregoing,  was  a 
tanner,  and  established  a  tannery  just  within  the  pres- 
ent limits  of  Swampscott.  Mr.  Lewis  says  this  was 
the  first  tannery  in  New  England;  and  Mr.Thompson 
says  the  same.     But  it  is  a  mistake.     There  were  tan- 


ners in  Plymouth  several  years  before.  Mr.  Ingalls 
tannery  was  no  doubt  the  first  in  Massachusetts,  as 
distinguished  from  Plymouth.  He  died  at  the  age  of 
seventy-one  years,  leaving  a  will  dated  August  12, 
1672.  The  inventory  of  his  estate  was  filed  soon  after 
his  decease,  and  the  following  enumeration  of  assets 
will  give  something  of  an  idea  of  the  estate  and  house- 
hold equipment  of  a  fairly  well-to-do  denizen  of  that 
primitive  period : 

"  5  acres  of  medow,  at  Lyn,  at  5  pounds,  £25.  A  piece 
of  land  in  y"^  wilderness  at  Lyn,  2  coats,  2  pairs  of 
breeches,  1  pair  draws,  and  a  leather  dublet,  and  a  wes- 
coat,  1  hat  and  a  pair  of  stockens,  1  pr.  shoes,  3  prs. 
piilows.S  napkins,  8  pieces  of  old  pewter,  1  Iron  Kittoll, 
a  frying  pan,  1  Bible  and  another  book,  a  warming  pan, 
and  dripping  pan,  3chairs,4cushons,  aspining  wheele, 
2  silver  spoons.  Dues  to  his  estate  from  Nicholas 
Rich,  17£  17s.  Dues  to  his  estate  from  Thomas  Taylor, 
11£." 

With  the  Ingalls  brothers  appear  to  have  come 
three  others,  namely,  William  Dixey,  John  Wood 
and  William  Wood,  the  two  latter  supposed  to  be 
father  and  son.  The  father,  John,  seems  to  have  been 
a  good,  common-sense,  plodding  settler,  industrious, 
but  with  little  ambition.  William,  the  son,was  evident- 
ly an  active,  aspiring  young  man,  something  of  a  rover, 
a  keen  observer  and  one  desirous  of  making  a  mark. 
And  he  did  make  a  mark,  which  remains  conspicu- 
ous at  this  day.  He  may  well  be  called  the  first  his- 
torian of  Lynn,  or  indeed  of  New  England.  He  was 
the  author  of  "  New  England's  Prospect,"  which  was 
printed  in  London  in  1634.  It  was  a  work  evidently 
inspired  by  a  love  for  his  new  home,  and  gives  graphic 
accounts  of  the  different  settlements,  their  condition, 
advantages  and  prospects,  with  shrewd  suggestions 
and  honest  deductions,  but  withal  tinged  by  crude 
conceptions,  more  or  less  attributable  to  the  peculiar 
views  and  circumstances  of  the  settlers,  and  the  con- 
ceits of  the  time.  His  quaint  descriptions  will  continue 
to  be  quoted  so  long  as  our  early  history  continues  to 
interest.  He  also,  in  1635,  published  a  map  of  New 
England,  engraved  on  wood. 

The  William  Dixey  who  came  in  company  with  the 
Ingalls  brothers  and  the  Woods  appears  to  have  been 
a  common  laborer  rather  than  a  handicraftsman.  He 
had  been  for  a  short  time  a  servant  to  Isaac  Johnson, 
of  Salem, — very  likely  a  farm  laborer,  as  such  em. 
ployees  were  in  those  days  called  servants.  In  a  de- 
position made  by  him  some  twenty-eight  years  after- 
ward he  speaks  of  others  having  come  with  him,  but 
does  not  give  their  names,  and  says  they  kept  their 
"cattell  in  Nahant  the  sumer  following."  He  sub- 
sequently removed  to  Salem,  where  he  kept  the  ferry 
over  North  River. 

Thus  we  find  that  during  this  year — 1629  -at  least 
five  settlers  appeared,  some  of  them  heads  of  families, 
with  wives  and  children  no  doubt.  We  have  seen, 
too,  by  their  occupations,  that  they  must  have  be- 
longed to  the  classes  accustomed  to  labor,  and  conse- 


252 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


quently  best  fitted  to  endure  the  hardships  attendant 
on  such  an  enterprise. 

Details  regarding  memorable  events  are  always  in- 
teresting, and  the  introduction  of  the  actors  in  them 
renders  them  doubly  so.  And  surely  it  is  but  a  meet 
act  of  gratitude  to  endeavor  to  preserve  the  names  of 
such  as  are  fully  entitled  to  live  forever  in  the  mem- 
ory of  those  who  continue  to  enjoy  the  blessings  of 
institutions  founded  by  them  in  toil  and  privation, 
even  though  those  names  may  not  yet  have  been 
heard  beyond  the  circumscribed  limits  of  their 
ancient  home.  A  conviction  like  this  may  often  gov- 
ern in  the  present  sketch. 

During  the  year  1630  some  fifty  additional  male 
settlers  appeared.  These,  however,  were  not  all  heads 
of  families.  Among  them  are  found  several  names 
still  prevalent  among  us,— a  fact  indicative  of  their 
primary  design  to  make  this  a  permanent  home. 
They  settled  in  all  parts  of  the  town,  which  was  then 
territorially  much  more  extensive  than  it  is  now,  some 
locating  as  many  as  ten  miles  from  others.  They 
brought  with  them  considerable  farm  stock,  such  as 
neat  cattle,  sheep  and  goats,  for  they  were  chiefly 
husbandmen  or  such  as  at  some  portions  of  the  year 
could  turn  their  attention  to  farming.  Their  names 
are  here  inserted  in  alphabetical  order,  for  it  is  well 
thus  to  preserve  their  memory,  as  many  now  living 
can  trace  their  lineage  directly  to  them.  Occasion, 
however,  may  be  taken  elsewhere  in  this  sketch  to  say 
something  further  concerning  several  of  them  who, 
for  various  reasons,  are  entitled  to  more  than  a  pass- 
ing notice. 


Arniitage,  Godfrey. 
Armitage,  Joseph. 
Axey,  James. 
Baker,  Edward. 
Ballard,  William. 
Bancroft,  John. 
Bennet,  Samuel. 
Breed,  Allen. 
Brown,  Nicholas. 
Burrill,  George. 
Burton,  Boniface. 
Chadwell,  Thomas. 
Coldam,  Clement. 
Coldam,  Thomas. 
Cowdry,  William. 
Dexter,  Thomas. 
Driver,  Eobert. 
Edmunds,  William, 
Farr,  Geofge. 
Feake,  Henry. 
Fitch,  Jeremiah. 
Graves,  Samuel. 
Hall,  John. 
Hathorne,  AVilliam. 
Hawkes,  Adam. 
Hawkes,  John. 
Holyoke,  Edward. 


Howe,  Daniel. 
Howe,  Edward. 
Hubbard,  Thomas. 
Hudson,  Thomas. 
Hussey,  Christopher. 
Keyser,  George. 
Lindsey,  Christopher. 
Negus,  Jonathan. 
Newhall,  Thomas. 
Potter,  Robert. 
Kamsdoll,  John. 
Rednap,  Joseph. 
Richards,  Edward. 
Salmon,  Daniel. 
Smith,  John. 
Smith,  Samuel. 
Talmadge,  Thomas. 
Taylor,  John. 
Tomlins,  Edward. 
Tonilins,  Timothy. 
Turner,  Nathaniel. 
Walker,  Richard. 
White,  John. 
Wilkins,  Bray. 
Willis,  Thomas. 
Witter,  William. 
Wright,  Richard. 


After  1630  the  population  steadily  increased. 
Among  the  new-comers  were  some  of  established  rep- 
utation in  public  life  and  some  of  high  social  stand- 
ing; so  the  place  began  to  be  of  note  and  influence. 
It  will  probably  be  in  our  way  as  we  proceed  to  intro- 


duce many  who,  at  different  periods  and  in  various 
ways,  added  to  the  prosperity  and  fame  of  this  their 
adopted  home. 

NAME,   NATURAL   FEATURES,   PRODUCTIONS,    EMBAR- 
RASSMENTS AND  SUCCESSES. 

"In  sooth,  your  honor,  it  was  a  goodly  place  ;  but  rich  domains  at- 
tract evil  eyes." 

The  original  or  Indian  name  of  the  territory  com- 
posing the  present  city  of  Lynn  and  the  adjacent 
towns  which  once  formed  a  part  of  her  domain  was 
Saugus,  an  Indian  word  said  to  signify  great  or  ex- 
tended ;  and  by  that  name  it  was  known  till  1637, 
when  the  General  Court  passed  this  concise  order : 
"  Saugust  IS  CALLED  LiN."  The  name  Lynn  was 
adopted  from  Lynn  Regis,  or  King's  Lynn,  Norfolk, 
England,  which  is  a  venerable  borough  upon  the 
river  Ouse,  near  where  it  falls  into  the  German  Ocean. 
It  has  been  a  seaport  of  some  importance  for  centu- 
ries, and  has  a  peculiarly  interesting  history,  having, 
apparently,  maintained  its  loyalty  to  the  sovereign 
through  all  the  political  agitations  and  civil  wars 
from  the  time  of  King  John,  which  monarch  pre- 
sented to  the  corporation  a  sword,  a  mace  and  one  or 
two  other  regal  gifts,  which  are  still  treasured  there 
with  chivalrous  fidelity.  In  Doomsday  Book,  A.  D. 
1086,  Lynn  Regis  is  called  Lenne,  which  means,  in 
the  ancient  language  of  Britain,  "  spreading  waters." 
The  name  here  was  adopted  through  courtesy  to  Rev. 
Mr.  Whiting,  the  second  minister,  who  had  been  a 
resident  of  King's  Lynn.  He  was  much  beloved, 
being  eminent  for  learning,  piety  and  serenity  of 
temper.  He  ministered  here  for  the  long  period  of 
forty-three  years. 

The  extensive  Saugus  territory,  having  thus  received 
the  name  of  Lynn,  remained  intact  but  few  years 
before  it  began  to  be  shorn  of  outlying  portions. 
But  down  to  1814  no  very  extensive  tract  had  been 
severed.  In  that  year  Lynnfield,  which  had  been 
called  Lynn  End,  and  having  been  incorporated  as  a 
district  in  1782,  was  set  off"  as  a  separate  town  under 
its  present  name.  Another  portion  was,  by  legisla- 
tive action,  taken  from  the  mother  town  in  1815, 
and  incorporated  under  the  name  Saugus,  thus  re- 
viving the  old  name  in  that  detached  portion  of  the 
territory.  In  1852  still  another  portion  was  set  off, 
and  the  new  town  of  Swampscott  came  into  being. 
The  next  year,  1853,  the  pleasant  little  peninsula  of 
Nahent  was  unbound  and  made  a  separate  munici- 
pality. By  these  facts  it  will  be  seen  that  it  is  very 
difficult  to  treat  those  municipal  children  of  Lynn  as 
having  any  separate  early  history. 

Along  the  inland  border  of  Lynn  rise  extensive 
ranges  of  rocky,  wooded  hills,  never  attaining  a 
height  of  more  than  two  hundred  and  twenty-five 
feet,  though  appearing,  from  the  water  or  from  the 
shoreward  levels,  to  be  much  higher,  which  overlook 
the  city  and  its  village  environs,  with  meadows,  lake- 
lets and  low,  level  marshes,   the    latter  sometimes 


LYNN. 


253 


entirely  submerged  by  the  storm-impelled  sea  which 
relentlessly  floats  off  the  laboriously  raised  stacks  of 
salt  hay,  and  afford  the  strange  sight  of  railroad 
trains  apparently  gliding  upon  the  ocean's  surface. 
This  marsh  hay,  it  may  be  remarked,  though  by  no 
means  so  highly  esteemed  for  fodder  as  English  or 
upland  hay,  is  yet  well  worth  the  labor  of  storing. 
For  stock,  though  not  very  palatable,  it  is  healthful, 
and  for  some  purposes  quite  valuable. 

Away  beyond,  lies  the  great  expanse  of  Massachus- 
etts Bay,  with  numerous  green  isles  and  headlands, 
the  shores  at  night  illuminated  by  innumerable  lights, 
confusing,  one  might  suppose,  to  the  mariner,  though 
picturesque  to  the  beholder.  Almost  the  whole  of 
Massachusetts  Bay  is  within  the  range  of  vision  from 
the  hills  of  Lynn.  And  glistening  in  thesjunshinemay 
likewise  be  seen  the  gilded  dome  of  the  State  House, 
in  Boston,  some  of  the  architectural  piles  of  the  city 
and  the  blue  hills  of  Norfolk,  Middlesex  and  Worces- 
ter. And  the  writer  dares  predict  that  these  hills, 
80  picture.«que  and  pleasant  in  themselves,  so  airy  and 
affording  such  charming  views,  and  withal  furnish- 
ing such  abundance  of  substantial  and  handsome 
building  material,  will,  ere  many  years  have  passed, 
be  occupied  by  structures  rivaling  in  grandeur  and 
romantic  conceit  many  that  crown  the  famed  steeps 
of  the  Old  World.  True,  in  some  parts  the  ascents 
and  descents  aie  such  that,  for  the  infirm  and  sluggish, 
sidewalk  stairs,  such  as  are  seen  in  the  beautiful  Medi- 
terranean isle  of  Malta,  might  be  required, — incentives 
to  maledictions  like  those  attributed  to  the  impetuous 
Byron : 

"Adieu,  ye  cursed  streets  of  stairs. 
How  surely  he  who  mounts  you  swears." 

But  to  such  as  are  enraptured  with  nature  in  her 
more  untamed  aspect,  the  hope  will  long  remain  that 
such  desolating  improvements  may  never  come.  But 
it  is  enough  for  the  good  people  of  this  generation 
that  they  may  yet,  upon  the  sunny  heights,  enjoy  the 
budding  beauties  of  spring,  in  the  sequestered  glens 
find  retreats  for  summer's  fervid  hours,  and  every- 
where, as  the  year  draws  towards  its  close,  witness 
the  indescribable  glow  of  autumn  foliage.  Yes,  and 
winter,  too,  has  its  charms.  What  more  enchanting 
than  the  frosted  trees?  Suddenly,  as  if  by  some  celes- 
tial alchemy,  every  limb  and  twig  seems  swaying 
with  the  weight  of  brilliant  gems.  No  wonder  that 
poets  have  so  often  celebrated  the  charms  of  such 
fairy  scenes.  Our  own  Lewis  has  commemorated,  in 
lines  perhaps  the  most  inspiring  that  he  ever  wrote, 
the  striking  display  on  the  brilliant  morning  of  Jan- 
uary 29,  1829.  But  ours  is  not  the  only  land  in  which 
may  be  witnessed  these  radiant  exhibitions  of  Nature's 
scenic  power.  In  Philip's  "  Epistle  to  the  Earl  of 
Dorset,"  written  at  Copenhagen  in  1709,  is  this 
graphic  passage,  which  may  well  be  quoted  as  descrip- 
tive of  the  scene  sometimes  presented  here : 

"And  yet  but  lately  have  I  seen,  even  here, 
The  winter  in  a  lovely  dress  appear  ; 


Ere  yet  the  clouds  let  fall  the  treasured  snow, 

Or  winds  begun  through  hazy  skies  to  blow. 

At  evening  a  keen  eastern  breeze  arose. 

And  the  descending  rain  unsully'd  froze. 

Soon  as  the  silent  shades  of  night  withdrew, 

The  ruddy  morn  disclosed  at  once  to  view 

The  face  of  Nature  in  a  rich  disguise, 

And  brightened  every  object  to  my  eyes  ; 

For  every  shrub  and  every  blade  of  grass, 

And  every  pointed  thorn  seemed  wrought  in  glass  ; 

In  pearls  and  rubies  rich  the  hawthorns  show. 

While  though  the  ice  the  crimson  berries  glow. 

The  thick-sprung  reeds  which  watery  marshes  yield, 

Seem  polished  lances  in  a  hostile  field. 

The  stag,  in  limpid  currents  with  surprise, 

Sees  crystal  branches  on  his  forehead  rise  ; 

The  spreading  oak,  the  beech  and  towering  pine. 

Glazed  over,  in  the  freezing  ether  shine. 

The  frightened  birds  the  rattling  branches  shun, 

Which  wave  and  glitter  in  the  distant  sun. 

When,  if  a  sudden  gust  of  wind  arise, 

The  brittle  forest  into  atoms  flies, 

The  crackling  wood  beneath  the  tempest  bends. 

And  in  a  spangled  shower  the  prospect  ends." 

The  "  Lakes  of  Lynn,"  as  Mr.  Lewis  felicitously 
calls  the  chain  of  beautiful  ponds  that  lie  upon  our 
inland  border,  are  a  charming  feature  of  the  land- 
scape. And  during  these  latter  years  the  eligibility 
of  their  romantic  borders  for  retired  and  tasteful  res- 
idences has  become  most  fully  recognized.  From  them 
is  annually  reaped  an  abundant  winter  harvest  of  ice 
for  summer  use — collectively  some  sixty  thousand 
tons.  And  in  various  ways  they  are  made  to  supply 
the  wants  and  add  to  the  comforts  of  the  people,  es- 
pecially Birch  and  Breed's  Ponds,  through  which 
comes  our  public  water  supply.  The  principal  of 
these  picturesque  lakelets,  with  their  areas,  are  as 
follows  : 


ACRES. 

Gold  Fish  Pond IJ^ 

Holder's  Pond 7 

Lily  Pond 4 

Sluice  Pond 50 


ACRES. 

Birch  Pond 84 

Breed's  Pond 64 

Cedar  Pond 43 

Flax  Pond 75 

Floating  Bridge  Pond 17 

Birch  Pond  is  an  artificial  reservoir,  or  storage 
basin,  formed  in  1873,  for  the  purpose  of  an  additional 
supply  of  water  for  public  use.  It  was  made  by  car- 
rying a  substantial  dam  across  Birch  Brook  Valley, 
on  the  east  of  Walnut  Street,  near  the  Saugus  line. 
A  considerable  part  of  this  pond  is  in  Saugus. 

Breed's  Pond  is  also  artificial,  and  takes  its  name 
from  Theophilus  N.  Breed,  who,  in  1843,  built  a  dam 
across  the  valley  a  few  rods  from  Oak  Street,  on  the 
north.  He  thus  procured  suflicient  power  for  the  iron 
works  he  established  on  Oak  Street.  On  the  15th  of 
April,  1851,  during  the  memorable  storm  by  which  the 
light-house  on  Minot's  Ledge  was  carried  away,  some 
forty  feet  of  the  dam  were  demolished,  and  out  rushed 
the  water  in  a  current  ten  feet  in  depth,  with  such 
impetuosity  that  large  rocks  were  carried  across  Oak 
Street  into  the  meadow  below.  The  dam  was  repaired 
and  Mr.  Breed  continued  his  business,which  was  iron- 
casting  and  machine  work,  five  or  six  years  longer, 
and  then  the  works  were  closed. 

In  1860  the  dam  was  broken,  and  the  water  suffered 


254 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


to  escape,  leaving  a  bed  which  remained  a  noxious 
bog,  where  rank  vegetation  flourished  and  noisy  rep- 
tiles congregated.  In  1863,  however,  the  dam  was 
again  repaired,  the  pond  restored  and  other  business 
commenced.  Finally,  after  an  interval  of  idleness, 
in  1870,  the  city  purchased  the  property  as  the  first 
step  towards  securing  a  suitable  public  supply  of  pure 
water.  Repairs  were  made  about  the  pond,  the  Pine 
Hill  Reservoir  was  built,  pipes  were  laid  in  the  streets, 
the  pumping  engine  was  set  up  on  Walnut  Street 
and  then,  on  the  27th  of  February,  1873,  the  water 
was  sent  coursing  through  the  distributing  pipes.  The 
reservoir  has  a  capacity  of  twenty  million  gallons  and 
is  one  hundred  and  seventy-seven  feet  above  sea 
level. 

Cedar  Pond  is  in  the  northeast  section  of  the  city, 
near  the  Peabody  line,  and  by  a  small  stream  connects 
with  Sluice  Pond. 

Flax  Pond  was  first  looked  to  for  a  public  water 
supply.  It  was  in  1869  that  it  became  apparent  that 
something  must  speedily  be  done  in  that  direction.  It 
was  found  that  this  pond,  with  its  adjuncts,  could 
furnish  a  daily  average  of  three  million  gallons,  but 
objections  were  made  as  to  its  use  for  domestic  pur- 
poses on  account  of  impurities.  A  temporary  arrange- 
ment, however,  was  made  for  its  use  in  cases  of  fire. 
Pipes  were  laid,  and  on  the  8th  of  December,  of  the 
year  named,  the  water  was  sent  coursing  to  the  hy- 
drants in  various  parts  of  the  city.  And  that  was  the 
first  time  the  city  received  a  supply  from  any  source, 
by  aqueduct,  for  any  purpose.  This  arrangement  con- 
tinued till  a  supply  for  all  needs  was  secured  from 
other  sources.  Flax  Pond,  from  the  earliest  times, 
has  yielded  its  waters  for  many  useful  purposes.  The 
principal  stream  that  it  sends  forth  is  Strawberry 
Brook,  which,  in  its  course  to  the  ocean,  has  carried 
mills,  supplied  tanneries  and  done  many  other  useful 
things,  besides  answering  as  a  highway  for  the  ale- 
wives  to  reach  their  spawning-grounds.  This  pond, 
likewise,  is  to  a  considerable  extent  artificial ;  and  its 
name  was  derived  from  the  circumstance  that  much 
of  the  flax  which  in  former  time^  was  raised  herea- 
bout was  taken  there  to  be  duly  rotted. 

Floating  Bridge  Pond. — This  lies  in  the  direct 
line  of  the  old  Salem  and  Boston  turnpike,  and  the 
bridge  by  which  it  is  crossed  floats  upon  the  surface, 
a  circumstance  that  gave  rise  to  the  name.  This  pond 
is  of  great  depth,  so  much  so  that  in  former  times  it 
was  spoken  of  as  "  without  a  bottom."  The  bridge 
lies  flat  upon  the  surface,  and,  as  carriages  pass,  the 
water  is  forced  up  between  the  planks,  so  that  some 
portions  are  always  wet.  Stacey's  Brook,  which  dis- 
charges at  King's  Beach,  has  its  rise  in  Floating 
Bridge  Pond. 

Gold  Fish  Pond. — This  is  a  small  gathering  of 
water  and  occupies  what  was  formerly  a  brambly  bog. 
It  is  on  Fayette  Street,  near  Lewis,  and  close  by  the 
spot  on  which  Edmund  Ingalls,  one  of  the  very  first 
settlers,  established  himself  in   1629;  hence  it  was 


sometimes  called  "  Ingalls's  Pond."  It  was  likewise 
called  "  The  Swamp,"  in  view  of  its  swampy  condition 
and  uncomely  aspect.  But  in  1870,  at  an  expense  of 
about  three  thousand  seven  hundred  dollars,  such 
improvements  were  made  as  rendered  it  one  of  the 
chief  ornaments  of  that  part  of  the  city.  Especially 
has  it  a  most  attractive  appearance  at  evening,  in  the 
lustre  of  the  electric  light.  About  1840  it  began  to  be 
called  Gold  Fish  Pond,  the  name  originating  in  the 
fact  that  in  it  had  then  appeared  large  numbers  of 
goldfish,  supposed  to  have  been  the  offspring  of  five 
of  the  species  which  some  boys  procured  and  let  loose 
there  in  1837.  These  fish  became  so  abundant  that  in 
a  few  years  the  youth  of  the  neighborhood  gained 
many  a  dime  by  peddling  them  about  town  from 
buckets  of  water. 

Holder's  Pond  is  a  pretty  little  woodland  lakelet 
among  the  rocky  hills,  with  wild,  tangled  paths  upon 
its  borders,  as  sequestered  as  any  misanthrope  would 
desire,  for  his  musing  hours.  And  in  winter  it  af- 
fords, like  all  the  other  ponds,  a  fine  surface  for  the 
skater's  sports. 

Lily  Pond  is  upon  the  north  of  Boston  Street, 
and  near  the  Peabody  line,  a  portion  lying  within  the 
limits  of  St.  Joseph's  Cemetery.  It  no  doubt  acquired 
its  name  from  the  splendid  growth  of  white  lilies  that 
year  after  year,  before  the  multitudes  of  juvenile  dep- 
redators began  to  make  their  descents,  adorned  its 
surface,  and  perfumed  the  air  around. 

Sluice  Pond. — At  the  time  the  matter  of  estab- 
lishing public  water-works  in  Lynn  was  under  discus- 
sion, the  waters  of  various  sources  were  analyzed,  and 
it  was  found  that  those  of  Sluice  Pond  were  the  pur- 
est. This  little  lake  lies  near  the  northeast  border,  in 
what  used  to  be  called  Dye  Factory  Village,  but  now 
Wyoma.  It  is  of  irregular  shape,  and  with  it,  by  a 
gentle  little  stream,  Cedar  Pond  is  connected.  The 
waters  of  this  pond  have  for  many  years  been  utilized 
for  mechanical  purposes,  the  sluice-way  through  which 
they  passed  giving  the  pond  its  name  ;  it  was,  how- 
ever, formerly  called  Tomlins's  Pond.  A  small  stream 
connects  its  waters  with  Flax  Pond,  so  that  Cedar, 
Sluice  and  Flax  form  links  to  the  chain  that  reaches 
the  ocean  by  way  of  Strawberry  Brook. 

Spring  Pond,  the  main  body  of  which  lies  in  Sa- 
lem, though  the  famous  mineral  spring,  from  which 
its  name  is  derived,  is  just  within  the  Lynn  border, 
has  an  interesting  history  which  would  more  properly 
be  given  elsewhere.  Then  there  is  the  little  pond,  if 
it  can  properly  be  so  called,  near  the  centre  of  the 
Common.  This  was  formed  in  1835,  by  intercepting 
the  waters  of  a  little  brook  that  pursued  its  weedy 
way  across  that  pleasant  public  ground.  Improve- 
ments were  made  and  the  fountain  placed  in  1871. 

Nothingneed  be  added,  perhaps,  regarding  the  mill- 
ponds  that  have  from  time  to  time  been  formed  by 
individual  enterprise  and  for  individual  emolument, 
though  they  have  added  to  the  prosperity  of  the  place 
and  done  their  part  in  the  way  of  beautifying.    That 


LYNN. 


255 


on  Federal  Street  was  formed  as  early  as  1655,  was 
dug  by  hand,  and  is  still  supplied  by  water  from  Flax 
Pond,  coursing  along  the  canal,  tapping  Strawberry 
Brook  at  Park  Street,  and  running  on  through  a  part 
of  Marion.  Then  there  is  the  twenty-acre  mill-pond 
near  the  foot  of  Pleasant  Street,  formed  by  Mr.  John 
Alley,  in  1831,  by  running  a  dam  from  his  wharf  to 
the  marsh. 

The  territory  of  Lynn  presents  an  interesting  field 
for  the  geologist.  Here  are  literally  hills  of  por- 
phyry of  various  colors,  red  and  a  beautiful  purple 
predominating,  which  would,  were  the  stone  not  so 
difficult  to  work,  afford  an  inexhaustible  store  of 
handsome  and  cheap  building  material.  It  is  now, 
however,  beginning  to  be  used  to  some  extent,  in  the 
rubble  form.  The  beautiful  walls  of  Saint  Stephen's 
Church  are  chiefly  composed  of  it;  also  those  of  the 
First  Universalist  Church,  in  Nahant  Street.  There 
are  likewise  large  deposits  of  green  stone  and  syenite. 
In  blasting  for  the  pipes  of  the  City  Water-Works  up 
the  hill  opposite  the  pumping  station  on  Walnut 
Street,  beautiful  dendrites  of  manganese  were  found 
in  abundance.  Enormous  boulders  of  granite  are 
found  in  the  woods  and  upon  the  shores ;  but  these 
are  now  fast  disappearing,  for  building  purposes. 
There  are  also  veins  of  quartz ;  and  there  is  a  tradi- 
tion that  some  of  the  early  settlers  found  gold,  in 
small  quantities.  The  eminent  geologist,  Agassiz, 
long  had  a  summer  residence  at  Nahant,  and  many 
interesting  facts  have  been  brought  to  light  by  his 
researches.  The  rugged  battlements  of  rock  that 
frown  along  the  shores  of  the  peninsula,  upon  which 
he  so  loved  to  gaze,  and  whose  mysterious  construc- 
tion he  so  loved  to  investigate,  we  are  assured,  stood 
there  in  solemn  majesty  ages  before  Europe  emerged 
from  the  chaotic  mass. 

In  an  examination  of  the  geology  of  Lynn,  Saugus, 
Swampscott  and  Nahant  would  naturally  be  in- 
cluded. But  in  this  place  nothing  more  than  a  mere 
suggestion  or  two  can  be  made  as  to  the  various  in- 
teresting formations.  It  is  profitless  to  speculate  as 
to  what  the  condition  of  the  formations  and  deposits 
was  ages  ago,  or  to  endeavor  by  present  appearances 
to  trace  the  operations  of  nature  in  pre-historic 
times.  It  may,  however,  be  noted  as  an  interesting 
fact,  touching  the  history  of  Essex  County,  that 
geological  researches  long  ago  led  to  the  belief  that 
at  a  remote  period  the  Merrimac  River,  after  enter- 
ing Massachusetts  from  New  Hampshire,  instead  of 
pursuing  its  present  course,  and  discharging  its 
waters  at  Newburyport,  followed  a  more  direct  line, 
and  cast  its  contribution  into  the  Atlantic  at  Lynn. 
Supposing  that  to  have  been  the  case,  and  that  it  had 
continued  to  the  present  time,  where  now  would 
have  been  that  line  of  thrifty  Essex  County  border 
cities  and  towns,  Lawrence,  Haverhill,  Bradford, 
West  Newbury  and  the  others  that  so  adorn  the 
whole  extent  of  the  beautiful  valley;  yea,  and  New- 
buryport herself? 


Lynn  cannot  now  boast  of  a  lordly  stream  like  the 
Merrimac,  but  she  can  boast  of  her  bright  little 
Saugus  that  traverses  her  western  border — a  modest 
little  river,  to  be  sure,  but  one  which  has  largely  con- 
tributed to  her  prosperity  during  her  whole  history, 
by  furnishing  eligible  mill-sites  and  other  manufac- 
turing privileges,  and  by  yielding  abundance  of  va- 
rious kinds  of  excellent  shore  fish.  Tons  of  eels 
have  sometimes  been  speared  from  beneath  the  ice 
during  a  single  winter,  and  the  clam-banks  near  the 
mouth  have  yielded  of  their  abundance  many  a  nu- 
tritive meal  for  the  humble  board  of  the  poor  as  well 
as  savory  addition  to  the  luxurious  table  of  the  rich. 
Indeed,  the  extremity  of  poverty,  at  least  in  the  mat- 
ter of  food,  was  never  so  keenly  felt  by  the  settlers 
hereabout  as  by  those  farther  inland,  the  sea,  like  a 
faithful  parent,  being  always  a  good  provider.  In 
addition  to  all  these  benefits  may  be  mentioned  the 
facilities  for  salt  water  bathing,  and  boating  sports. 
And  now,  with  its  tributaries  of  pure  water,  this  gen- 
tle river  of  Saugus  is  about  to  swell  the  volume  of 
Lynn's  public  supply. 

It  was  upon  the  border  of  Saugus  Eiver  that  the 
ancient  iron-works,  said  to  have  been  the  first  in 
America,  were  established.  And  in  a  romantic  glen, 
a  stone's  throw  from  the  bloomery,  it  is  alleged,  a 
band  of  pirates  concealed  themselves,  after  quitting 
their  bloody  traflic  upon  the  seas,  remaining  undis- 
turbed till  a  King's  cruiser  appeared  upon  the  coast, 
when  capture  and  swift  retribution  overtook  most  of 
them. 

Lynn,  as  before  stated,  is  about  ten  miles  northeast 
of  Boston,  the  metropolis  of  New  England.  Includ- 
ing Swampscott  and  Nahant,  which,  though  they 
have  now  become  separate  municipalities,  still  seem 
to  be  mere  territorial  outposts,  the  seashore  line 
measures  about  six  miles ;  and  inland  from  the  sea 
the  line  measures  about  five  miles.  The  main  body 
of  the  city,  or  rather  of  the  business  portion,  occupies 
a  plain,  with  the  sea  in  front.  But  there  are  some  di- 
versities of  surface.  Sagamore  Hill  and  the  Highlands 
being  airy  elevations,  crowned  by  many  fine  resi- 
dences. 

It  can  hardly  be  said  that  the  soil  of  Lynn  is  nat- 
urally fertile.  It  is  stony,  and  in  many  places  the 
descent  towards  the  sea  is  so  considerable  that  the 
droughts  of  summer  often  have  a  serious  effect. 
Nevertheless,  such  an  abundance  of  rich  manuring 
material  is  day  by  day  thrown  up  by  the  sea,  and  the 
means  of  irrigation  are  so  near  at  hand,  that  the  la- 
bors of  even  the  indigent  husbandman  need  not  be  in 
vain.  Farming  was,  of  course,  the  chief  occupation 
of  most  of  the  early  settlers,  and  it  is  stated  by  Gra- 
ham that  in  1637  there  were  thirty-seven  plows  in 
the  whole  colony,  most  of  them  being  in  Lynn. 

In  the  early  times  of  the  settlement  the  woods,  the 
beaches  and  marshes  furnished  irresistible  attrac- 
tions for  the  sportsman.  Feathered  game  of  various 
kinds  was  found  in  the  woods,  upon  the  beaches  and 


256 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


marshes;  cod,  haddock,  bass  and  halibut  si^orted  in 
the  offing;  and  the  woods  furnished  a  good  share  of 
wild  meat. 

Of  feathered  game  very  little  is  now  found.  The 
fish,  or  ratlier  the  fishing  interest,  was  chiefly  taken 
away  by  our  undutiful  children,  Nahant  and  Swamp- 
scott,  when  they  departed ;  and,  of  course,  in  the 
sketches  of  those  places,  some  account  of  it  will  ap- 
pear. As  to  furred  game,  there  is  now  almost  liter- 
ally none  in  the  woods.  Occasionally  a  shame-faced 
sportsman  may  be  seen  shying  from  the  forest  at 
evening,  possibly  with  a  poor  little  rabbit,  but  most 
likely  empty-handed. 

William  Wood,  the  author  of  "New  England's 
Prospect,"  who  has  already  been  spoken  of  as  a  resi- 
dent of  Lynn,  was  inclined  occasionally  to  give  his 
descriptive  passages  in  numbers.  He  did  not,  prob- 
ably, jispire  to  the  character  of  poet,  though,  with  as 
good  grace  as  some  others,  he  might  have  done  so; 
and  perhaps,  having  called  him  the  fir.^t  historian  of 
Lynn,  we  may  as  well  also  call  him  the  first  poet. 
Of  the  flora  of  this  region  he  discourses  briefly  in 
numbers,  mentioning  among  the  trees,  the  oak,  Cy- 
prus, pine,  chestnut,  cedar,  walnut,  spruce,  ash,  elm, 
maple,  birch  and  some  others  of  smaller  growth ; 
naming  also  the  "  diar's  shumach,"  the  "snake- 
murthering  hazell  "  and  "  sweet  saxaphrage,  whose 
spumes  in  beere  allays  hot  fever's  rage."  Most  of 
these  kinds  are  still  common  in  Lynn  woods,  though 
the  chestnut  and  one  or  two  others  are  not  often 
seen.  The  hemlock,  one  of  the  most  graceful  native 
trees  of  New  England,  he  does  not  allude  to,  except- 
ing, perhaps,  under  some  other  name. 

Mr.  Wood  mentions  some  of  the  fruits  of  this  "  In- 
dian orchard,"  but  does  not  go  much  into  particulars. 
Blueberries,  blackberries,  cranberries,  raspberries  and 
whortleberries  are  still  common  in  the  woods  and 
meadows.  One  of  the  best  known  shrubs  at  present 
found  is  the  barberry,  the  root  of  which  was  formerly 
much  used  in  dyeing,  as  it  imparts  a  beautiful  yel- 
low. It  bears  an  acid  berry,  of  bright  scarlet,  from 
which  an  excellent  preserve  is  made.  It  is,  however, 
no  doubt  an  exotic,  and  akin  to  that  which  in  Eng- 
land is  called  the  peppcridge  bush.  The  early  settlers 
introduced  some  plants  for  which  after-generations 
had  little  cause  to  be  thankful;  among  them  the 
white-weed,  now  known  by  the  more  dainty  name  of 
field-daisy,  and  the  wood-wax,  that  beautiful  pest  of 
pasture  land.  But  the  barberry  seems  to  hold  a 
doubtful  rank.  Its  prevalence,  more  than  a  hundred 
years  ago,  became  so  injurious  in  the  pastures  that 
the  law  interposed  to  check  its  increase.  It,  however, 
requires  such  a  peculiarity  of  soil,  that  to  this  day  it 
has  not  spread  over  a  great  extent  of  territory.  Even 
in  most  parts  of  Massachusetts  a  barberry  bush  was 
never  seen.  The  General  Court,  in  1753,  ordered  that 
all  persons  having  barberry  bushes  growing  on  their 
lands  should  extirpate  them  before  the  10th  of  June, 
1760.     And  the  surveyors  of  highways  were  required 


to  destroy  all  growing  by  the  roadside  within  the 
specified  time,  or  the  towns  should  pay  two  shillings 
for  every  one  left  standing.  The  reasons  for  this 
order  were  that  those  bushes  had  so  much  increased 
that  the  pasture  lands  were  greatly  encumbered  ;  and 
it  was  imagined  that  "  a  steam  flew  off""  from  them 
that  blasted  the  English  grain.  So  it  appears  that 
left-handed  thanks  were  due  to  the  people  of  other 
lands,  in  the  early  days,  for  questionable  gifts,  as  well 
as  from  us  of  this  generation  for  the  gift  of  the 
sarcastically  twittering  English  sparrow.  But  then 
it  should  be  remembered  that  the  many  nobler  gifts 
from  abroad  far  outnumber  the  few  of  doubtful  value. 

In  the  woods  and  fields,  the  tangled  dells  and  damp 
vales,  along  the  weedy  rills  and  upon  the  rocky 
heights,  may  still  be  gathered  wild  flowers  in  great 
variety,  from  the  brilliant  cardinal  to  the  shrinking 
violet.  To  sum  up  in  a  terse  sentence  of  Mr.  Lewis, 
"  The  forests,  fields  and  meadows  are  rich  in  the 
abundance  and  variety  of  medicinal  plants,  and  the 
town  presents  a  fine  field  for  the  botanist." 

Very  few  parts  of  the  New  England  coast  present  so 
many  interesting  and  at  times  sublime  features  as  those 
within  and  about  Lynn.  Here  bold  and  jagged  cliffs 
of  greenstone,  feldspar  and  other  adamantine  forma- 
tions rear  themselves  as  impregnable  barriers  against 
the  inroads  of  the  ever-assaulting  ocean  ;  ihere,  broad 
beaches  of  fine,  gray  sand,  so  compact  and  hard  that 
carriage  wheels  scarcely  make  an  impression,  with 
ridges  of  the  wonderful  up-castings  of  the  sea — shells  of 
curious  shape  and  glistening  stones  of  every  color  and 
form.  In  pleasant  weather  and  during  the  warm 
season  there  are  many  attractions  for  the  pleasure- 
seeker  in  promenading,  boating  and  fishing ;  and  for 
the  health-seeker  in  refreshing  breezes,  quiet  retire- 
ment and  the  restoring  sea-bath. 

The  principal  beach  is  that  which  joins  Nahant  to 
Lynn,  and  has,  from  early  times,  been  known  as 
Long  Beach.  It  is  nearly  tw'O  miles  in  length,  and 
forms  a  gentle  curve.  The  early  geographers  spoke 
of  it  as  a  very  curious  formation.  To  the  first  settlers 
it  seems  to  have  been  the  scene  of  weird  mystery, 
awe-inspiring  and  not  unmixed  with  undefinable  ap- 
prehension. Its  hollow  moanings  warned,  its  gentle 
murmurings  relieved.  Mr.  Wood  thus  alludes  to  it, — 
"  Vpon  y*  south  side  of  y®  Sandy  Beach  y^  sea 
beateth,  which  is  a  sure  prognostication  to  presage 
stormes  and  foule  weather  and  y^  breaking  vp  of 
Frost.  For  when  a  storme  hath  beene  or  is  likely  to 
be  itt  will  roare  like  Thunder,  being  hearde  six 
myles."  The  roaring  is  not,  however,  always  indica- 
tive of  an  approaching  storm,  as  it  arises  from  the 
violent  driving  in  of  heavy  seas  by  out-winds.  The 
wind  may  change  and  the  threatening  cease.  Long 
Beach  was  a  favorite  sporting-ground  with  the  In- 
dians, and  gambling  groups  sometimes  assembled 
here,  for  the  Indians  were  great  gamblers,  often  risk- 
ing all  their  possessions,  even  to  papoose  or  squaw, 
upon  the  turning  up  of  a  shell  or  fall  of  a  stone.   The 


LYNN. 


257 


Indian  sagamore  dwelt  upon  the  neighboring  height 
that  overlooks  the  beach,  and  from  there  was  accus- 
tomed to  view  the  athletic  sports  of  his  people,  which 
took  place  on  *he  sandy  plateau,  sometimes  being  un- 
able to  restrain  himself  from  joining  in  the  contests — 
the  same  picturesque  height  that  still  bears  the  name 
Sagamore  Hill,  and  is  now  crowned  by  commodious 
dwellings,  stores  and  other  marks  of  refined  and  busy 
life. 

Upon  these  beaches  and  along  the  rocky  indenta- 
tions of  this  rugged  coast  the  sea  has,  from  time  to 
time,  cast  up  from  her  mysterious  store-house  won- 
derful specimens  of  the  deposits  there.  And  they 
have  also  been  the  scene  of  some  most  appalling  ship- 
wrecks and  other  marine  disasters.  Government  has 
done  something  to  lessen  the  dangers,  and  still  much 
needs  to  be  done.  Egg  Rock  towers  up  in  the  offing, 
eighty-six  feet  above  sea  level,  and  has  an  area  of 
some  three  acres,  on  one-third  of  which  is  a  shallow 
layer  of  soil.  It  is  a  precipitous  cliff  of  feldspar,  in- 
capable of  being  landed  upon,  excepting  at  one  point 
and  during  a  calm  sea.  Upon  this  lonely  rock,  which 
is  a  couple  of  miles  from  Long  Beach,  a  mile  from 
Nahant  and  three  miles  from  Swampscott,  a  light- 
house has  been  erected,  which  for  the  first  time  shed 
forth  its  hospitable  beams  on  the  night  of  September 
15,  1856. 

From  time  to  time  the  territorial  integrity  of  old 
Lynn  has  been  raided  upon.  As  already  remarked, 
Lynnfield  was  set  off"  in  1814,  Saugus  in  1815,  Swamp- 
scott in  1852  and  Nahant  in  1853.  But  as  to  the  lat- 
ter, some  two  centuries  ago,  it  was  in  danger  of  being 
severed  from  the  parent,  for  it  was  in  1688  that  Ed- 
ward Randolph,  who  has  been  called  the  evil  genius 
of  New  England,  petitioned  Governor  Andros  for  the 
gift  of  Nahant,  indulging,  no  doubt,  in  the  pleasant 
dream  of  erecting  a  sort  of  baronial  establishment  for 
himself  there.  His  choice  of  a  seat  certainly  indi- 
cated good  taste,  if  not  a  love  for  fair  dealing.  The 
town  was  notified  of  the  petition,  and  great  excite- 
ment ensued,  it  being  well  known  that  the  petitioner 
had  much  influence  as  counselor,  secretary  and  per- 
sonal friend  of  the  Governor.  He  had  been  sent  out 
to  report  on  the  condition  of  the  colonies,  and  was 
justly  reputed  to  be  unfriendly  to  their  interests. 
There  was  no  doubt  of  his  high  prerogative  proclivi- 
ties, nor  of  his  being  one  of  the  chief  instruments  in 
annulling  the  beloved  old  charter.  He  himself  says 
that  he  was  regarded  at  Boston  "more  like  a  .spy 
than  one  of  his  majesty's  servants,"  and  speaks  of  be- 
ing welcomed,  on  his  return  from  a  brief  absence,  by 
"  a  paper  of  scandalous  verses."  The  nature  of  the.se 
"  scandalous  verses "  may  be  gathered  from  the  fol- 
lowing extract : 

"  Welcome,  Sr.  welcome  from  y«  easterne  shore, 
With  a  commission  strouger  than  before 
To  play  the  horse-leach  ;  rob  us  of  our  ffleeces, 
To  rend  our  land  and  teare  it  all  to  pieces  : 
Welcome  now  back  againe;  as  is  the  whip, 
To  a  ffoole's  back  ;  as  water  in  a  ship. 

17 


Boston  make  roome  ;  Randolph's  returned,  that  Hector, 
Confirmed  at  home  to  be  y«  sharp  Collector." 

It  can  well  be  supposed  that  Randolph  was  by  no 
means  a  favorite  with  the  people  of  Boston,  for  among 
his  other  imprudent — or  take  the  word  as  more  exactly 
expressive  without  the  "r,"  — attempts  at  acquisition, 
he  petitioned  to  have  a  house-lot  on  Boston  Common 
set  off  to  him. 

Such  was  the  man  who,  in  1688,  petitioned  Andros, 
who  had  just  about  as  much  love  for  the  colonies  and 
for  abstract  justice  as  he,  to  grant  him  the  beautiful 
peninsula  of  Nahant.  The  Governor  undoubtedly 
was  inclined  to  comply  with  his  favorite's  petition ;  but 
decency  required  that  the  matter  should  not  be  con- 
summated with  unseemly  haste. 

On  notice  of  Randolph's  petition,  a  town-meeting 
was  held,  and  a  vigorous  protest,  setting  forth  the 
right  of  the  towm  to  the  peninsula  and  the  damage 
that  would  ensue  from  the  granting  of  the  petition, 
was  addressed  to  the  Governor  and  Council.  But 
Randolph  was  persistent  and  renewed  his  petition,  de- 
nying the  right  of  the  town  to  the  land,  and  even  go- 
ing so  far  as  to  declare  that  Lynn  never 
was  an  incorporated  town,  "and  so  not  endowed 
with  a  power  of  receiving  or  disposing  of  such 
land."  To  this  a  spirited  rejoinder,  signed  by 
seventy-four  of  the  princij^al  inhabitants,  was  for- 
warded. But  it  is  not  easy  to  say  what  the  result 
would  have  been,  had  not  the  successful  uprising  of 
the  people  presently  consigned  both  Andros  and  Ran- 
dolph to  the  Fort  Hill  Prison,  in  which  uprising  the 
people  of  Lynn  naturally  took  an  active  jjart.  Rev. 
Mr.  Shepard,  the  minister,  heading  the  phalanx  which 
marched  to  Boston,  arriving  there,  as  Randolph 
graphically  said,  at  about  eleven  o'clock,  "like  so 
many  wild  bears."  This  Randolph  affair  formed  a 
lively  episode  in  Lynn's  history. 

Had  Nahant  been  granted  to  Randolph,  it  is  ea.sy 
to  see  that  it  would  have  become  a  sharp  thorn  in  the 
side  of  Lynn;  that  a  continual  petty  warfare  would 
have  ensued.  It  would  no  longer  have  been,  as  for 
many  years  it  was,  a  pasture  for  her  cattle,  nor  would 
it  have  become,  as  in  after-years  it  did,  a  delightful  re- 
sort for  parties  of  pleasure.  And  even  at  this  day,  instead 
of  being  the  paradise  of  a  certain  class  of  reputed 
"  dodgers,"  it  would  have  been — we  know  not  what! 

From  what  has  already  been  said,  something  may 
be  gathered  of  the  condition,  habits,  culture  and  gen- 
eral fitness  of  the  settlers  as  laborers  on  the  founda- 
tions of  a  new  social  fabric,  and  likewise  something 
of  the  natural  features  of  their  new  home.  It  will  be 
observed  that  they  came  largely  from  the  industrial 
classes.  But  they  were  a  thoughtful  people,  and  re- 
alized the  responsibilities  that  rested  on  them.  Next 
to  ensuring  the  means  for  procuring  the  prime  neces- 
sities of  life, — food,  clothing  and  shelter, — they  felt  the 
importance  of  supplying  facilities  for  common  educa- 
tion, for  moral  and  intellectual  training. 

Lynn,  unlike  some  other  New  England  settlements, 


258 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


has  all  along,  in  a  remarkable  degree,  depended  on 
herself,  procuring  whatever  she  possessed  by  her  own 
industry  and  skill ;  in  other  words,  has  had  only  what 
she  earned.  Some  of  the  early  settlements  were  the 
outcome  of  foreign  business  enterprise,  and  flourished 
by  the  aid  of  foreign  capital.  Especially  in  later  times 
have  manufacturing  communities  been  nurtured,  if 
not  sustained,  by  capital  drawn  from  outside  of  their 
limits.  Not  so  with  Lynn.  Her  advancement  has 
been  made  through  her  own  enterprise,  her  accumu- 
lations by  her  own  industry.  Throughout  all  the 
periods  of  business  adversity  and  temporal  distress 
that  have  cast  their  shadows  over  the  community,  in 
colonial,  provincial  and  later  times,  Lynn  has  ever 
been  able  not  only  to  maintain  her  own  sons  and 
daughters,  but  to  afford,  not  perhaps  of  her  abundance, 
but  of  her  thrift  and  generosity,  relief  to  communities 
more  severely  afflicted.  "  When  there  were  yet  few  of 
them,  and  they  strangers  in  the  land,"  with  humble 
trust,  patient  endurance  and  unremitting  toil,  they  ap- 
plied themselves  to  their  new  duties,  and  seldom 
failed  of  meet  reward.  But  the  writer  is  not  unmind- 
ful that  there  is  a  higher  duty  to  perform  than  the 
boastful  tracing  of  progress  in  a  mere  worldly  way, 
that  higher  duty  being  to  mark  the  development  of 
the  great  principles  that  constitute  the  true  founda- 
tion of  human  right  and  duty  ;  of  tracing,  even  in  the 
most  limited  sphere,  the  progress  of  those  principles 
on  which  true  liberty  rests — principles  which  con- 
tribute so  largely  to  the  sum  of  human  happiness, 
and  have  made  our  nation  what  she  is. 

In  the  history  of  Lynn,  perhaps  as  conspicuously  as 
in  that  of  any  other  New  England  community,  may  be 
seen  the  progress  to  which  we  refer — the  progress  of 
principles  which  were  the  birthright  of  the  settlers,  as 
Englishmen,  shadowed  forth  in  the  charter  of  1215, 
and  finally  appearing  in  more  pronounced  form  in  the 
Declaration  of  American  Independence,  in  the  estab- 
lished Constitutions  and  supplementary  Bills  of  Eights. 

The  Andros  administration  has  been  referred  to. 
That,  perhaps,  was  the  most  pregnant,  as  it  certainly 
was  the  most  stirring,  episode  during  many  years  of 
New  England  history.  Something  of  its  bearing 
upon  the  people  here  has  been  seen.  The  result,  no 
doubt,  was  of  great  benefit  politically,  for  it  quick- 
ened the  apprehension  of  natural  rights  and  solidified 
the  determination  to  permit  upon  this  soil  no  en- 
croachment upon  them.  The  "tyrant  of  New  Eng- 
land," as  the  obnoxious  Governor  was  called,  soon 
found  that  opposition  attended  every  step,  and  mani- 
fested itself  in  every  way— in  grave  denunciation, 
cutting  satire  and  comic  hyperbole.  Imagine  the  ef- 
fect of  the  following  stanzas  from  the  Sternhold  and 
Hopkins  version  of  the  Fifty-second  Psalm,  as  they 
are  said  to  have  been  lined  off  with  great  unction  by 
an  elderly  deacon,  and  with  equal  unction  sung  by 
voices  old  and  young,  smooth  and  rough,  in  tune  and 
out,  at  a  meeting  which  the  Governor,  in  one  of  his 
tours,  deigned  to  attend  : 


"  Why  dost  thou,  tyrant,  boast  abroad 

Thy  wicked  works  to  praise  ? 

Dost  thou  not  know  there  is  a  God, 

Whose  mercies  last  always  ? 

« 
Why  dost  thy  mind  yet  still  devise 

Such  wicked  wiles  to  warp  ? 

Thy  tongue  untrue,  in  forging  lies. 

Is  like  a  razor  sharp. 

Thou  dost  delight  in  fraud  and  guile, 

In  mischief,  blood  and  wrong  : 
Thy  lips  have  learned  the  flattering  stile, 

0  false,  deceitful  tongue." 

Civil  History. — The  civil  history  of  Lynn,  in  its 
organic  features,  does  not  much  differ  from  that  of  other 
early  Bay  settlements.  The  town  was  never  formally 
incorporated,  but  by  the  earliest  General  Court  was 
recognized  as  an  existing  municipality.  That  was 
enough,  though,  as  we  have  just  seen,  the  obsequious 
Edward  Randolph,  a  counselor  of  Governor  Andros 
when,  in  1688,  he  petitioned  for  the  gift  of  Nahant, 
denied  this,  saying,  in  answer  to  the  vigorous  protes- 
tations of  the  Lynn  people,  "It  does  not  appear  .  .  . 
that  the  said  town  of  Lynn  was  incorporated  in  the 
year  1635,  nor  at  any  time  since,  and  so  not  now  en- 
dowed with  a  power  of  receiving  or  disposing  of  such 
lands,  .  .  .  and  their  town  of  Lynn  is  equal  to  a  vil- 
lage in  England,  and  no  otherwise."  But  he  and  his 
unscrupulous  superior  soon  found  that  there  was  a 
power  somewhere  that  was  able  to  defeat  their  arbi- 
trary schemes  and  land  them  both  in  a  prison. 

The  settlers  were  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  sen- 
timent that  political  power  belonged  to  the  people. 
If  Roger  Williams  was  the  first  here  to  formulate 
this  as  well  as  certain  principles  of  religious  freedom, 
he  was  not  the  first  to  realize  it.  When  they  left  the 
Old  World  they  left  the  dogma  of  a  divinely-appointed 
class,  and  adopted  the  manly  idea  of  equal  rights. 
Such  being  the  case,  what  more  natural  than  the  es- 
tablishnient  of  the  town-meeting, — the  assembly  in 
which  all  could  meet  and  freely  discuss  the  affairs 
by  which  the  well-being  and  prosperity  of  all  were  to 
be  affected,  and  in  which  each  individual,  by  voice 
and  vote,  could  exercise  his  influence?  There  was  the 
charter,  to  be  sure,  and  its  authority  was  acknowl- 
edged ;  but  its  provisions  would  not  have  been  allow- 
ed to  override  the  higher  demands  of  conscience, 
right  and  justice,  had  there  been  any  apprehended 
attempt  to  do  so,  for  the  trained  and  ingenious  mind 
can  discover  ways  of  interpretation  that  will  circum- 
vent the  most  crafty  scheming. 

Very  soon  the  interests  of  the  settlers  broadened, 
and  it  became  necessary  to  establish  "  Ye  Great  and 
Genrall  Courte."  And  the  same  right  of  free  discus- 
sion and  free  action  was  maintained  there.  At  first 
every  freeman  was  deemed  a  member  of  the  court, 
and  liable  to  be  fined  if  he  did  not  attend  its  sessions, 
for  it  was  rightly  claimed  that  the  community  was 
entitled  to  the  best  judgment  and  skill  of  each  of  its 
members,  it  being  realized  as  well  then  as  now  that 
in  the  mind  of  the  humblest  hewer  of  wood  and 


LYNN. 


259 


drawer  of  water  conceptions  of  unspeakable  value 
might  arise.  But  the  time  soon  arrived  when  it  was 
impracticable  for  the  whole  body  of  freemen  to  at- 
tend the  court  sessions  ;  no  room  could  be  found 
large  enough  to  contain  them,  and  then  the  end  had 
to  be  sought  through  deputies  or  representatives. 
Soon  parties  began  to  appear,  and  divisions,  not  on 
the  primary  principle  of  individual  freedom,  but  on 
the  question  as  to  whom  it  would  be  most  safe  and 
expedient  to  invest  with  the  delegated  power. 

Of  course  it  would  not  be  practicable  or  even  de- 
sirable to  go  largely  into  detail  regarding  the  old  town- 
meetings.  They  were  conducted  here  much  as  else- 
where. Every  local  matter  was  freely  discussed  and 
often  the  debates  broadened  into  irrelevant  disserta- 
tions on  great  public  questions  and  theoretical  propo- 
sitions, very  much  as  they  are  apt  to  in  these  days 
of  political  enlightenment.  Neighborhood  disagree- 
ments and  jealousies  would  occasionally  arise,  and 
crude  conceptions  and  selfish  inclinations  manifest 
themselves.  Village  orators  would  harangue  at  weary- 
ing length  and  village  seers  forecast  calamities;  but 
there  were  also  wise,  honest  and  patriotic  men, 
shrewd  counselors  and  wary  watchers  for  the  public 
good,  and  through  all  and  in  all  each  felt  his  own  in- 
dividual rights  and  acknowledged  his  responsibili- 
ties. 

It  is  not  wonderful  that  the  people  of  the  old  Bay 
State  clung  so  tenaciously  and  so  long  to  the  town- 
meeting.  It  had  carried  them  safely  through  perilous 
times  and  threatening  shocks ;  and  in  a  broad  sense 
it  may  even  be  claimed  that  it  had  been  the  very 
nursery  of  American  freedom.  There  was  no  city 
organization  in  all  Massachusetts  till  1822,  when  Bos- 
ton assumed  the  new  investiture,  having  then  a  popu- 
lation of  forty-five  thousand.  It  was  quite  a  number 
of  years,  however,  before  any  other  town  followed  her 
example.  Salem  and  Lowell  were  the  first,  they  be- 
coming cities  in  1836.  But  the  adoption  of  the  city 
form  was  so  far  receding  from  elementary  freedom, 
and  while  it  was  desirable,  if  not  necessary,  in  many 
respects,  it  also  afforded  greater  facilities  for  ambitious 
politicians  and  wire-pullers  to  ply  their  arts. 

Lynn  adopted  the  city  form  of  government  in  1850. 
Many  worthy  and  prominent  people  strongly  ojjposed 
the  change,  and  the  adoption  of  the  charter  came 
near  being  defeated ;  indeed,  a  similar  one  previously 
granted  by  the  Legislature  had  been  defeated  by  pop- 
ular vote.  Mr.  George  Hood,  a  man  of  much  ability 
and  strong  persuasive  powers,  led  the  opposition,  and 
it  is  a  little  singular  that  he  who  had  persistently  and 
vehemently  opposed  the  charter  was  elected  the  first 
mayor  under  it.  In  his  inaugural  address  he  thus  bade 
adieu  to  the  old  regime  :  "  Before  proceeding  to  the 
business  immediately  before  us,  it  seems  to  be  appro- 
priate to  the  occasion  to  revert  briefly  to  our  venera- 
ble system  of  town  government,  of  which  we  have 
taken  leave  forever,  and  to  pay  a  passing  tribute  to 
the  memory  of  the  conscientious  men  who,  in  the 


midst  of  toil,  privation  and  peril,  founded,  cherished 
and  transmitted  it  to  us  as  a  rich  inheritance .  Ac- 
cording to  Lewis'  History,  the  first  white  men  known 
to  have  been  inhabitants  of  Lynn  were  Edmund  In- 
galls  and  his  brother,  Francis  Ingalls,  who  came  here 
in  1629.  The  next  year  came  Allen  Breed,  Thomas 
Newhall,  George  Burrill,  Edward  Baker,  John  Rams- 
dell  and  Richard  Johnson ;  in  1635,  Henry  Collins ; 
in  1640,  Andrew  Mansfield,  Richard  Hood,  Edward 
Ireson  and  Henry  Rhoades, — all  of  whom  have  rep- 
resentatives in  this  City  Council,  and  perhaps  others 
of  whose  history  I  have  not  been  informed.  .  .  .  Our 
town  government  has  accomplished  its  mission ;  its 
successful  operation  for  more  than  two  centuries  has 
proved  the  capacity  of  man  for  self-government ;  it 
has  proved  that  the  safest  repository  for  power  is  in 
the  hands  of  the  people.  During  this  long  period 
we  hear  of  no  abuse  of  power  by  them,  nor  of  those 
to  whom  thev  intrusted  the  care  of  the  town  govern- 
ment.  They  taxed  themselves  liberally  for  all  neces- 
sary objects  of  public  improvement.  The  church 
and  the  school-house  grew  up  together,  both  signifi- 
cant monuments  of  advancing  civilization."  Is  it 
probable  that  at  the  end  of  two  centuries  more  it  can 
be  said  of  the  people  under  the  present  form  of  mu- 
nicipal government,  that  no  abuse  of  power  by  them 
or  those  to  whom  they  entrusted  the  administration 
of  affairs,  had  been  heard  of? 

Mr.  Hood  well  said  that  under  the  old  government 
the  town  prospered.  Its  growth  was  steady,  but  not 
rapid.  At  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the  charter, 
in  1850,  the  population  was  14,200;  twenty  years  be- 
fore, in  1830,  it  was  6200 ;  in  1765  the  first  recorded 
census  gave  2198 ;  and  the  increase  of  business  was 
in  something  like  the  same  ratio.  But  after  the  in- 
troduction of  machinery  in  the  manufacture  of  shoes, 
which  was  subsequent  to  the  adoption  of  the  charter, 
the  increase  of  business  and  population  was  seem- 
ingly much  more  rapid,  though  perhaps  the  percent- 
age was  not  much  greater. 

For  nearly  two  centuries  the  town-meetings  were 
held  in  the  meeting-house,  as  the  settlers  preferred  to 
call  their  house  of  worship,  the  first  being  an  un- 
seemly little  structure,  standing  in  a  hollow,  near 
the  territorial  centre,  and  the  only  public  building. 
It  was  not  held  by  the  same  tenure  that  "  churches  " 
now  are,  but  was  the  property  of  the  town.  There 
the  village  orators  exercised  their  eloquence,  the  vil- 
lage statesmen  their  patriotism,  the  incipient  wire- 
pullers their  cunning,  till  the  house  itself  disappear- 
ed. "  The  Old  Tunnel,"  as  the  parish  meeting-house 
built  in  1682  was  in  after-years  called,  then  became 
the  place  for  the  transaction  of  town  business.  It  stood 
near  the  centre  of  the  Common,  and  continued  for  sev- 
eral generations  to  serve  the  double  purpose  of  a  place 
for  public  worship  and  a  place  for  the  transaction  of 
public  business.  But  it  was  relieved  of  the  latter  use 
in  1806.  In  the  mean  time  the  Methodists  had  come 
■  in  and  built  a  house  of  worship.      And  some  objec- 


260 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


tions  having  been  made  to  the  further  use  of  the  old 
house,  the  town-meetings  then  (1806)  began  to  be 
held  in  the  Methodist  house,  which  stood  near  the 
east  end  of  the  Common,  at  the  head  of  Market 
Street.  There  they  Avere  held  till  the  erection  of  the 
Town-House,  in  1814.  That  building  had  an  inter- 
esting history,  of  which  little  can  be  given  here. 
It  stood  on  the  centre  of  the  Common,  nearly  oppo- 
site the  head  of  Hanover  Street,  and  for  many  years 
the  interior  remained  unfinished.  Of  course,  elections 
were  held  in  it ;  military  companies  drilled  there;  and 
it  was  used  for  assemblages  and  exhibitions  of  various 
kinds.  In  1832  it  was  removed  to  South  Common 
Street,  at  the  point  where  Blossom  Street  now  opens, 
and  the  interior  finished.  On  the  formation  of  the 
city  government,  in  1850,  it  was  thoroughly  repaired 
and  fitted  for  the  reception  of  the  officials  under  the 
new  and  more  august  order.  Thus  it  remained  until  its 
destruction  by  fire  on  the  morning  of  October  6, 
1864. 

It  was  on  the  10th  of  April,  1850,  that  the  Legisla- 
ture granted  the  City  Charter ;  on  the  19th  of  the 
same  month  the  inhabitants,  in  town-meeting  assem- 
bled, voted  to  accept  it ;  and  on  the  14th  of  May  the 
first  organization  under  it  took  place.  The  cere- 
monies were  held  in  Old  Lyceum  Hall,  which  stood 
on  Market  Sti-eet,  corner  of  Summer.  The  day  was 
pleasant,  and  a  large  number,  some  of  whom  were 
ladies,  were  present.  In  the  evening  the  new  gov- 
ernment, together  with  a  considerable  company  of 
prominent  citizens,  partook  of  a  collation  in  the 
Town  Hall.  There  was  no  jubilant  display  at  the  in- 
itiation of  the  new  government;  no  procession,  no 
pyrotechnic  exhibition,  either  oratorical  or  material. 
All  parties  seemed  to  join  in  a  quiet  but  cordial  accept- 
ance of  the  change,  and  in  a  hopeful,  if  not  enthusi- 
astic spirit,  determined  to  repress  all  former  misgiv- 
ings. 

Soon  after  the  destruction  of  the  old  Town  House 
the  necessity  of  a  substantial  City  Hall  was  so  mani- 
fest that  the  work  of  erection  was  set  about  energeti- 
cally ;  and,  on  the  30th  of  November,  1867,  the  present 
stately  edifice  was  dedicated.  The  city  ofiices  were 
soon  removed  thither,  and  from  that  time  onward 
have  the  commodious  chambers  echoed  with  the  elo- 
quence of  the  assembled  counselors. 

Whether  Lynn  has  prospered  more  since  the  adop- 
tion of  the  city  form  of  government  than  she  would 
have  prospered  had  the  old  town  form  been  longer 
continued  can  only  be  conjectured.  But  certain  it 
is,  that  during  the  thirty-five  years  that  the  existing 
form  has  been  in  operation  her  progress  has  been 
highly  satisfactory.  The  population  has  more  than 
trebled ;  and  in  business,  in  educational  facilities,  in 
benevolent  enterprises,  and,  may  we  not  venture  to 
add,  in  religion  and  morality,  her  advancement  has 
been  alike  marked. 

It  has  been  stated  that  Lynn  has  always  been  for- 
tunate in  having  among  her  people  men  of  sagacity, 


energy  and  prudence, — men  who,  in  the  administra- 
tion of  her  municipal  affairs  and  in  her  broader  inter- 
ests, vigorously  defended  her  rights  and  labored  for 
her  good.  These  are  deserving  of  special  notice,  and 
in  an  elaborate  history  should  have  a  place ;  but  in  a 
limited  sketch  like  the  present  but  comparatively 
few  can  be  even  named.  In  the  troublous  days 
of  the  Andros  administration,  among  her  heroic 
defenders  were  Oliver  Purchis,  Rev.  Mr.  Shepard, 
Thomas  Laighton,  Ralph  King  and  John  Burrill.  In 
the  stormy  times  of  the  Revolution  she  had  the  'vigi- 
lant watchfulness  of  Rev.  Mr.  Treadwell,  Rev.  Mr, 
Roby,  Deacon  John  Mansfield,  Dr.  Flagg  and  Fred- 
erick Breed,  besides  her  brave  sons  who  took  the 
field.  And  all  along,  down  to  these  later  times,  she 
has  never  been  destitute  of  loyal  sons  to  protect  her 
good  name  and  promote  her  prosperity.  Especially 
may  it  be  said  that  during  the  threatening  times  of 
the  great  Civil  War  scarcely  a  man  in  her  whole  popu- 
lation could  be  found  who  was  not  ready,  if  need  be, 
to  take  the  field  in  defense  of  the  national  cause. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  mayors  of  Lynn,  with 
the  dates  of  inauguration  : 

George  Hood,  the  first  mayor,  served  two  terms ; 
was  inaugurated  May  14,  1850,  and  April  7,  1851. 
He  was  a  native  of  Lynn,  and  died  June  29,  1859, 
aged  fifty-two. 

Benjamin  Franklin  Mudge,  the  second  mayor, 
was  inaugurated  June  16,  1852.  He  was  a  native  of 
Orrington,  Me.;  born  August  11,  1817,  and  died  in 
Manhattan,  Kansas,  November  21,  1879. 

Daniel  Collins  Baker,  the  third  mayor,  was 
inaugurated  April  4, 1853.  He  was  a  native  of  Lynn ; 
born  October  14,  1816,  and  died  in  New  Orleans,  La., 
July  19,  1863. 

Thomas  Page  Richardson,  the  fourth  mayor,  was 
inaugurated  April  3,  1854.  He  was  a  native  of  Lynn  ; 
born  July  27,  1816,  and  died  November  24,  1881. 

Andrews  Breed,  the  fifth  mayor,  was  inaugurated 
January  1,  1855.  He  was  a  native  of  Lynn  ;  born  on 
the  20th  of  September,  1794,  and  died  in  Lancaster, 
Mass.,  April  21,  1881. 

Ezra  Warren  Mudge,  the  sixth  mayor,  was  in- 
augurated January  7,  1856,  and  January  5,  1857, 
serving  two  terms.  He  was  a  native  of  Lynn;  was 
born  on  the  5th  of  December,  1811,  and  died  Septem- 
ber 20,  1878. 

William  Frederic  Johnson,  the  seventh  mayor, 
was  inaugurated  January  4,  1858.  He  was  a  native 
of  Lynn  ;  born  [in  Nahant]  July  30,  1819. 

Edward  Swain  Davis,  the  eighth  mayor,  served 
two  terms ;  was  inaugurated  January  3,  1859,  and 
January  2, 1860.  He  was  born  in  Lynn  June  22, 1808, 
and  died  August  7,  1887. 

Hiram  Nichols  Breed,  the  ninth  mayor,  was  in- 
augurated January  7,  1861.  He  was  born  in  Lynn 
September  2,  1809. 

Peter  Morrell  Neal,  the  tenth  mayor,  held  the 
office  four  terms.     He  was  inaugurated  January  6, 


LYNN. 


261 


1862,  January  5,  1863,  January  4,  1864,  and  January 
2,  1865.  He  is  a  native  of  North  Berwick,  Me.,  and 
was  born  September  21,  1811. 

Roland  Greene  Usher,  the  eleventh  mayor, 
served  three  terms.  He  was  inaugurated  January  1, 
1866,  January  7,  1867,  and  January  6,  1868.  He  was 
born  in  Medford,  Mass.,  January  6,  1823. 

James  Needham  Buffum,  the  twelfth  mayor,  was 
inaugurated  Januarv  4,  1869.  He  was  afterward 
elected  for  a  second  term,  and  inaugurated  January  1, 
1872.  He  was  born  in  North  Berwick,  Me.,  May  16, 
1807,  and  died  June  12,  1887. 

Edwin  Walden,  the  thirteenth  mayor,  served  two 
terms ;  was  inaugurated  January  3, 1870,  and  January 
2,  1871.     He  was  born  in  Lynn,  November  25,  1818. 

Jacob  Meek  Lewis,  the  fourteenth  mayor,  served 
four  terms,  being  inaugurated  January  6,  1873,  Janu- 
ary 5,  1874,  January  4,  1875,  and  January  3,  1876. 
He  was  born  in  Lynn,  October  13,  1823. 

Samuel  Mansfield  Bubier,  the  fifteenth  mayor, 
served  two  terms,  having  been  inaugurated  January 
1, 1877,  and  January  7, 1878.  He  is  a  native  of  Lynn, 
and  was  born  June  23,  1816. 

George  Plaisted  Sanderson,  the  sixteenth 
mayor,  was  inaugurated  January  6,  1879,  and  Janu- 
ary 5,  1880,  serving  two  terms.  He  was  born  in 
Gardiner,  Me.,  November  22,  1836. 

Henry  Bacon  Lovebing,  the  seventeenth  mayor, 
served  two  terms.  He  was  inaugurated  January  3, 
1881,  and  January  2,  1882.  He  is  a  native  of  Ports- 
mouth, N.  H.,  and  was  born  April  8,  1841. 

William  Lewis  Baird,  the  eighteenth  mayor, 
was  inaugurated  January  1,  1883,  and  January  7, 
1884,  serving  two  terms.  He  is  a  native  of  Lynn ; 
born  July  29,  1843. 

John  Eichard  Baldwin,  the  nineteenth  mayor, 
was  inaugurated  January  5,  1885,  He  is  a  native  of 
Lynn,  and  was  born  May  10,  1854. 

George  Dallas  Hart,  the  twentieth  mayor,  was 
inaugurated  January  4,  1886.  He  was  born  in  Mai- 
den, Mass.,  December  7,  1846,  and  is  an  offspring  of 
the  old  Lynn  Hart  family.  Mayor  Hart,  elected  for 
a  second  term,  was  inaugurated  January  3,  1887. 

A  short  series  of  statistical  statements,  touching 
the  present  state  of  municipal  and  kindred  affairs, 
will  now  be  given.  Other  statistics  relating  to  spe- 
cial topics  will  appear  in  their  proper  places. 

Population. — The  population  of  Lynn,  as  given 
by  the  State  census  of  1885,  is  45,867,— males,  21,752  ; 
females,  24,115.  Native  born,  36,099  ;  foreign  born, 
9768.  Of  the  age  of  eighty  years,  16  males  and  31 
females  ;  of  the  age  of  ninety  years,  3  males  and  7  fe- 
males; of  the  age  of  ninety-five  years,  4,  all  females. 
Colored  persons,  624. 

The  population  at  different  periods  is  shown  by  the 
following : 

Years 1800  1850  1885 

Population 2,837  14,257  45,867 

Dwellings.    1885. — Whole    number,    7383,  —  of 


which  7161  are  of  wood,  76  of  brick,  2  of  stone,  and 
the  others  of  mixed  material.  It  will  be  noted  that 
this  does  not  include  the  business  buildings,  many  of 
which  are  of  brick  and  very  large.  Number  of  per- 
sons to  each  occupied  dwelling,  6.33.  Number  of 
buildings  erected  during  the  year,  392.  Lynn  has  long 
been  famous  for  the  moving  of  her  buildings  from 
place  to  place,  and,  in  pursuance  of  the  custom,  55 
changed  their  places  during  the  year. 

Valuation,  Taxation  and  Polls. — The  follow- 
ing table  shows  the  progress  of  Lynn  in  these  matters, 
at  several  periods  since  she  became  a  city  : 


YEAR. 

KEAL  ESTATE. 

PERSONAL 
ESTATE. 

TOTAL. 

NO.    POLLS. 

TAX  PER 

81,000. 

1850 

1860 
1870 
1880 
1886 

83,160,515 
6,291,460 
14,277,212 
17,913,543 
23,305,806 

$1,674,328 

3,357,605 
6,649,903 
5,470,192 
6,000,003 

84,834,843 
9,049,005 
20,927,115 
23,383,735 
29,305,809 

3,251 

3,933 

6,773 

10,702 

13,842 

89.00 
8.80 
17.20 
17.60 
19.00 

It  will  be  perceived  from  the  foregoing  that  we  have 
made  marked  progress,  as  well  in  taxation  as  valua- 
tion and  polls. 

Appropriations  and  Receipts,  Expenditures 
AND  City  Debt. — The  "progress"  in  these  matters 
is  indicated  by  the  following : 


YEAR. 

APPROPRIATIONS 
AND  RECEIPTS. 

EXPENDITURES. 

CITY   DEBT. 

1850 

1800 
1870 
1880 
1886 

845,000.00 
110,607.28 
524,776.72 
705,099.57 
1,080,274.65 

836,704.19 
101,569.51 
499,583.25 
653,327.90 
1,014,617.80 

Mar.  1,  1850,      871,398.15 
Dec.  31,1860,      123,100.00 
Dec.  31, 1870,      910,000.00 
Dec.  31, 1880,  2,169,000.00 
Dec.  20,1886,  2,522,400.00 

It  should  be  remarked,  in  relation  to  the  city  debt, 
that  the  exact  condition  is  not  always  apparent.  For 
instance,  the  debt  in  1886  is  given  as  $2,522,400.00, 
but  there  were  such  drawbacks  as  reduced  the  net 
amount  to  $1,778,128.82. 

Almshouse. — Average  number  of  subjects,  67  ;  av- 
erage cost  of  each  per  week,  $2.62.  Aid  was  also  given 
to  519  families,  or  some  1600  outside  persons ;  5457 
tramps  were  during  the  year  provided  with  food  and 
lodging  at  an  expense  of  $320.55. 

Fire  Department,  Fire  Alarms,  Etc. — Steam 
fire-engines,  5 ;  hook-and-ladder  trucks,  2 ;  horse  hose 
carriages,  5  ;  hose  wagon,  1 ;  large  double-tank  chem- 
ical engine,  1 ;  supply  wagons,  5  ;  fire  alarm  telegraph 
wagon,  1 ;  jumper  hose  carriages,  2  ;  hose  pungs,  5  ; 
buggy,  1 ;  small  extinguishers,  6.  The  manual  force 
consists  of  1  chief  and  4  assistant  engineers,  1  super- 
intendent and  1  assistant  superintendent  of  fire  alarm 
telegraph,  6  engineers  of  steam  fire-engines,  5  firemen 
of  steam  fire-engines,  12  drivers,  10  foremen,  8  assist- 
ant foremen,  49  hosemen,  20  laddermeu,  12  substitutes, 
making  a  total  of  129.  There  are  also  in  the  service 
of  the  department  22  horses  and  14,750  feet  of  hose. 
The  number  of  hydrants  scattered  about  the  city  is 
557,  and  the  number  of  street  reservoirs,  19.  The  tel- 
egraphic fire  alarm  was  established  here  in  1871,  and 
has  proved  extremely  useful  and  economical.  The 
number  of  fire  alarmf  during  1885  was  188,  84  being 
bell  and  104  still  alarms.     Loss  by  fire  during  the 


262 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


year,  $169,975.85.      Expenditures  of  the  department 
for  the  year,  $44,840.06. 

Notices  of  the  most  disastrous  fires  that  have  ever 
occurred  in  Lynn  may  be  found  elsewhere  in  these 
pages. 

Police  Department. — The  expenses  for  the  year 
1885  were  $43,451.44;  number  of  arrests,  1472;  511 
being  of  persons  of  foreign  birth,  and  166  females ;  828 
were  for  drunkenness,  186  for  assault  and  battery  and 
128  for  larceny ;  5453  persons  were  provided  with 
lodgings. 

Water  Works. — Net  cost  of  the  public  works,  to 
January  1,  1887,  $1,342,144.11.  Average  consump- 
tion of  water  per  day  during  the  year  1885, 1,920,519  gal- 
lons ;  average  to  each  inhabitant,  a  trifle  over 41  gallons 
per  day.  Total  extension  of  pipe  in  Lynn,  75^  miles. 
The  report  of  the  president  of  the  board  says  (1886), 
"  The  department  has  paid  all  expenses  of  mainte- 
nance, the  interest  on  the  water  debt,  and  shows  a  sur- 
plus of  $26,919.18  to  be  carried  to  the  water-loan  sink- 
ing fund." 

Births  and  Marriages,  1886. — Number  of  births, 
1296;  number  of  marriages,  616. 

Under  the  sub-titles  "Libraries"  and  "Schools" 
may  be  found  statistics  relating  to  those  institutions, 
and  under  "  Burial-Places  "  will  appear  certain 
vital  statistics. 

And  here,  perhaps,  is  the  proper  place  to  enumer- 
ate some  of  the  institutions,  associations  and  societies 
for  benevolent,  moral,  social  and  recreative  purposes, 
of  which  Lynn  has  a  large  number.    They  are,  gener- 
ally, worthy  of  honorable  recognition,  and  some  are 
deoerving  of  great  praise.     It  would  hardly  be  practi- 
cable even  to  name  them  all  here,  nor  is  it  necessary, 
as  several  are  spoken  of  elsewhere.    Yet  a  little  space 
may  be  allowed,  the  name  of  the  organization  gener- 
ally indicating  its   character.      Among  them  are, — 
Associated  Charities  (the  object  being  to  discreetly 
distribute  the  means  contributed  for  charitable  pur- 
poses.). Board  of  Fire  Insurance  Underwriters,  7  clubs 
for  religious,  social,  political,   mutual  improvement 
and  recreative  purposes.   There  are  also  3  bicycle  and 
4  boat  clubs,  and  1  shooting  club.     Female   Benevo- 
lent Society,  Firemen's  Relief  Association,  Free  Pub- 
lic Forest  Association,  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic, 
Home  for  Aged  Women,  Houghton  Horticultural  So- 
ciety, Inebriates' Home,  Knights  of  Honor,  Knights 
of   Labor,   Knights    of   Pythias,  Lasters' '  Protective 
Union,  Lynn  Hospital,  McKay  Stitchers'  Union,  4 
Masonic  lodges   (spoken   of  elsewhere).   Mechanics' 
Exchange,  Medical  Society,  9  mutual  benefit  associa- 
tions-among  them  the  Workingmen's  Aid  Associa- 
tion and  the  Accident  Association,  12   Odd  Fellows' 


lodges.  Press  Association,  Sanitary  Association,  Shoe 
and  Leather  Association,  Teamsters'  Union,  10  tem- 
perance organizations,  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation. 

Lynn  Banks. — There  are  now  (1887)  in  Lynn  five 
banks  of  discount,  with  an  aggregate  capital  of 
$1,100,000,  to  wit :  First  National,  capital,  $500,000  ; 
Central  National,  $200,000  ;  National  City,  $200,000 ; 
National  Security,  $100,000 ;  Lynn  National,  $100,000. 
There  are  also  two  savings  banks,  namely,  Lynn  In- 
stitution for  Savings  and  Lynn  Five-Cents  Savings 
Bank,  with  aggregate  deposits,  January  1,  1887,  to 
the  amount  of  $4,710,000. 

Lynn  Post-Office. — The  business  of  a  post-oflice 
may,  perhaps,  ordinarily  be  taken  as  a  fair  indicator 
of  the  business  of  the  place  in  which  it  is  located. 
The  Lynn  post-office  was  established  in  1793,  before 
which  time  the  mail  matter  of  the  people  here  was 
distributed  through  the  Boston  office.  Fifty  years 
ago,  that  is  in  1835,  the  gross  amount  of  postage  ac- 
cruing at  the  Lynn  office,  all  told,  for  the  year  ending 
October  1st,  was  $2,459.28  ;  and  the  increase  of  bus- 
iness to  the  present  time  is  indicated  by  the  following 
items  for  the  year  ending  December  30,  1886 : 

Receipts  from  sale  of  stamps,  stamped  envelopes 

and  postal  cards f50,452.97 

Expenditures  for  salaries,  rent,  gas,  etc 23,071.88 

Excess  of  receipt  over  expenditures $26,781.09 

Number  of  pieces  delivered  by  carriers 3,214,985 

Number  of  pieces  collected  by  carriers 1,270,030 

There  are  six  daily  mails,  Sunday  excepted,  to 
Boston  and  the  South,  and  four  to  the  East.  Fifty 
years  ago  the  government  did  not  provide  carriers  to 
deliver  and  collect  mail  matter,  a  fact  that,  no  doubt, 
has  had  something  to  d )  with  the  increase  of  corre- 
spondence. The  rates  of  postage  were  much  higher 
than  at  present.  The  postage  on  a  single  letter  from 
Lynn  to  New  York,  for  instance,  was  18|  cents,  a  fact 
which  induced  many  to  send  by  private  hand  when 
opportunity  offered.  But  the  postage  was  not  required 
to  be  paid  in  advance,  a  circumstance,  one  might 
think,  encouraging  to  correspondence.  A  penny  post 
began  to  run  about  town  in  1812;  but  he  was  not  em- 
ployed by  government,  individuals  paying  him  at 
the  rate  of  two  cents  a  letter.  The  first  postmaster 
was  Colonel  James  Robinson,  and  he  kept  the  office 
on  Boston  Street  near  the  corner  of  North  Federal. 
He  was  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution  ;  was  succeeded  in 
1802  by  Major  Ezra  Hitchings,  reared  a  large  ianiily 
of  sons  and  daughters  and  died,  in  1832,  in  reduced 
circumstances,  being  the  recipient,  during  his  latter 
years,  of  a  small  pension. 


LYNN. 


263 


CHAPTEE  XIV. 

LYNN— ( Continued). 
ECCLESIASTICAL. 

Religions  Societies,  their  Formation  and  Growth — Sketches  of  Early  Ministers 
— Bouses  of  Worship  and  their  Equipment — Statistical  Details. 


"  The  sermon,  learned  long  and  cold  ; 
The  psalm  in  graveyard  metre  told  ; 
But  piety,  right  deep  and  true. 
Each  exercise  ran  through  and  through." 

— Jordan. 


CoKSiDERiNG  the  chief  cause  of  the  occupation  of 
bleak  New  England,  it  would  naturally  be  supposed 
that  the  very  first  public  institution  in  a  settlement 
would  be  a  church.  But  Lynn  was  some  three  years 
without  a  minister.  Very  likely,  however,  some  sort 
of  public  religious  services  were  held,  especially  on 
the  Lord's  day. 

First  Church. — The  first  church  of  Lynn,  the 
fifth  in  the  Bay  colony,  was  gathered  in  1632 ;  and  it 
remains  at  this  day  one  of  the  three  or  four  of  the 
early  churches  that  have  preserved  their  fidelity  to 
the  ancient  Puritanical  faith.  Almost  every  one  of 
the  old  churches  has  become  Unitarian  or  Uuiver- 
salist. 

The  church  here  appears  to  have  commenced  in  a 
way  not  in  accordance  with  Puritanical  or  Orthodox 
order.  But  whatever  irregularity  existed  was  cured 
by  the  decision  of  a  council  held  in  March,  1635, 
"  that,  although  the  church  had  not  been  properly 
formed,  yet,  after-consent  and  practice  of  a  church 
estate  had  supplied  that  defect,  so  all  were  recon- 
ciled.'' The  church  was  instituted  by  Rev.  Stephen 
Bachiler,  who  arrived  with  his  family  in  June,  1632, 
the  chief  inducement  for  his  coming  probably  being 
that  he  had  a  daughter  residing  here,  the  wife  of 
Christopher  Hussey.  There  came  with  him  six  per- 
sons who  had  belonged  to  his  church  in  England, 
and  to  these,  with  such  settlers  as  chose  to  join  them, 
he  commenced  ministrations,  without  installation. 
He  was  then  of  the  ripe  age  of  seventy-one  years, 
and  appears  to  have  retained  great  vitality,  both 
mental  and  physical.  He  was  a  man  of  at  least  sin- 
gular characteristics ;  was  high-tempered  and  ex- 
tremely tenacious.  There  was  soon  serious  disturb- 
ance among  his  little  flock,  and  gross  scandals  began 
to  circulate,  insomuch  that  in  four  months  after  his 
arrival  the  court  was  appealed  to,  and  that  august 
body  thus  decreed  : 

"  M''  Batchelr  is  required  to  forbeare  exerciseing  guifts  as  a  pasf  or 
teacher  publiquely,  in  or  pattent,  unlesse  it  be  to  those  hee  brought  with 
him,  for  his  contempt  of  authority,  &  till  some  scandles  be  removed." 

This  sentence,  however,  was  soon  after  annulled. 
But  the  difficulty  was  not  healed ;  other  questions  and 
scandals  arose,  and  the  court  was  again  appealed  to. 


Finally,  on  his  promise  to  leave  town  within  three 
months,  the  proceedings  were  discontinued.  He  was 
here  about  four  years.  Afterwards  he  was  at  New- 
bury and  Hampton,  of  which  latter  place  he  was  one 
of  the  first  settlers.  He  subsequently  pitched  his 
tent  in  one  or  two  other  places.  But  in  1651  he  re- 
turned to  England,  where,  at  the  age  of  ninety,  he 
married  his  fourth  wife,  his  third  still  living  here, 
and  apparently  of  a  reputation  by  no  means  unblem- 
ished. She  petitioned  the  court  for  a  divorce,  but  no 
record  of  the  fate  of  the  petition  is  found.  Mr. 
Bachiler  died  near  London  in  1660,  in  the  one  hun- 
dredth year  of  his  age.  His  descendants,  and  there 
are  many  hereabout,  take  some  pride  in  the  fact  that 
Daniel  Webster,  the  eminent  statesman,  and  Mr. 
Whittier,  the  poet,  trace  their  genealogical  lines  to 
him. 

Rev.  Samuel  Whiting,  the  successor  of  Mr.  Bachi- 
ler, was  installed  on  the  8th  of  November,  1636.  He 
was  descended  from  a  long  line  of  honorable  ances- 
tors, and  was  a  son  of  Sir  John  Whiting,  mayor  of 
old  Boston,  England,  in  1600  and  1608.  His  brother 
John  was  also  mayor  four  years  and  his  brother 
James  one  year.  Samuel,  the  minister,  was  born  in 
1597,  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  was  entered  at  Eman- 
uel College.  He  was  an  apt  student,  received  the 
degree  of  A.B.  in  1616,  and  that  of  A.M.  in  1620. 
Aiterwards  he  received  the  degree  of  D.D.  His 
father  died  while  he  was  in  college,  leaving  a  very 
considerable  estate.  Emanuel  College,  as  is  well 
known  to  readers  of  Puritan  history,  was  called  "  the 
hot-bed  of  Puritanism,"  and  it  was  while  there,  no 
doubt,  that  he  imbibed  those  principles  which  grew 
with  his  growth,  and  strengthened  with  his  strength 
— those  principles  which  so  strongly  marked  his 
whole  life.  It  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  what  were 
known  as  the  Puritan  principles  of  that  day  had  ref- 
erence not  only  to  church,  but  also  to  state.  It  was 
not  only  the  grand  purpose  to  purify  the  church  of 
obnoxious  rites  and  ceremonies,  but  also  to  free  the 
people  from  governmental  ojjpression  and  wrong — to 
circumscribe  the  royal  prerogatives,  defend  against 
the  encroachments  and  reduce  the  privileges  of  the 
aristocracy  ;  in  short,  to  break  down  every  barrier  to 
the  reasonable  exercise  of  individual  right,  freedom 
and  responsibility. 

Mr.  Whiting  took  orders  in  the  Church  of  England 
soon  after  graduating,  and  became  chaplain  in  a 
refined  and  wealthy  family  in  Norfolk.  After  re- 
maining there  about  three  years,  apparently  in  great 
prosperity  and  happiness,  he  accepted  a  rectorship  in 
Lynn  Regis  as  colleague  of  Rev.  Dr.  Price.  In  that 
situation  he  remained  three  years,  administering  his 
office  acceptably,  excepting  his  refusal  to  conform  to 
certain  required  usages  in  the  established  church  ser- 
vice; in  brief,  he  was  a  Non-conformist,  subjected 
himself  to  the  censure  of  the  Bishop  of  Norwich, 
and  was  induced  to  resign  and  remove  to  the  parish 
of  Shirbeck,  near  Boston,  where  he  again  filled  the 


264 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


office  of  rector,  and  again  came  under  censure  for 
non-conforming  practices. 

In  1636  his  situation  became  so  uncomfortable  that 
he  resigned,  and  prepared  to  emigrate  to  America. 
The  same  year,  1636,  in  which  he  resigned  his  charge 
at  Skirbeck,  he  emigrated  to  America,  arriving  in 
May.  He  does  not  appear  to  have  greatly  enjoyed 
the  voyage  hither,  as  he  remarks  that  he  would 
"  much  rather  have  undergone  six  weeks'  imprison- 
ment for  a  good  cause  than  six  weeks  of  such  terrible 
seasickness."  A  few  months  after  his  arrival,  No- 
vember 8,  1636,  at  the  age  of  thirty-nine,  he  was 
installed  minister  of  the  little  chnrch  here  at  Lynn. 

Mr.  Whiting  was  twice  married.  His  second  part- 
ner, she  who  accompanied  him  hither,  and  whose 
remains  peacefully  slumber  in  our  old  burial-place, 
near  the  west  end  of  the  Common,  could  claim  family 
descent  more  illustrious  than  his,  for  she  could  trace 
her  lineage,  without  a  break,  to  William  the  Con- 
queror. She  was  a  sister  of  Oliver  St.  John,  the  chief 
justice  of  England  during  the  commonwealth,  and 
own  cousin  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  But  all  the  incidents 
of  birth  and  family  on  his  and  her  part,  incidents 
which  to  so  many,  even  here  and  among  us  of  this 
day,  possess  a  peculiar  charm,  seem  to  have  weighed 
nothing  in  comparison  with  their  strong  sense  of 
duty. 

The  young  couple,  as  they  then  were,  apparently 
without  one  longing  look  behind,  left  the  bright 
scenes,  the  comforts  and  luxuries  of  their  early 
homes,  crossed  the  stormy  ocean,  and  bravely  en- 
tered this  western  wilderness,  with  stout  hearts,  to 
fight  the  battle  of  civilization.  Nobly  did  they  ad- 
dress themselves  to  their  chosen  work,  and  great 
was  their  success.  The  beneficial  results  of  their 
coming  did  not  by  any  means  end  with  their  lives. 
Children  were  born  to  them,  and  children's  children 
have  appeared  in  every  path  of  usefulness,  and 
adorned  our  whole  history.  The  entire  nation  has 
received  benefits  hardly  capable  of  being  over-esti- 
mated. Some  of  their  descendants  have  been  con- 
spicuous in  theological,  scientific  and  literary  call- 
ings; others  have  filled  useful  and  honorable  positions 
in  the  national  civil  service;  others,  again,  have  risen 
to  eminence  in  the  military  profession.  One  needs  only 
to  glance  over  a  dictionary  of  American  biography  to 
leara  how  meritorious  the  family  has  proved. 

Mr.  Whiting,  as  might  readily  be  supposed,  took 
great  interest  in  the  education  of  the  youth  of  the 
town,  and,  together  with  his  accomplished  wife,  did 
everything  possible  to  refine  the  manners  and  elevate 
the  condition  of  every  class.  He  took  unwearied  pains 
to  advance  every  material  interest — to  improve  the 
husbandry,  the  fisheries,  the  mechanic  arts — indeed, 
all  branches  required  for  the  supply  of  current  and 
prospective  wants.  And  all  the  time  he  never  lost  sight 
of  oppportunities  to  promote  the  broader  interests 
of  the  little  community,  vigilantly  guarding  against 
the  imposition  of  wrongful  burdens  by  the  General 


Court,  through  misinformation  or  selfish  appliances, 
and  laboring  in  every  honest  way  to  elevate  and  dig- 
nify her  name.  The  town  grew  apace  during  the 
forty  years  he  continued  so  devoted  to  her  concerns  ; 
and  it  was  a  healthy  growth. 

It  is  not  to  be  forgotten  that  many  of  the  clergy  of 
that  day  had  very  great  influence  in  the  direction  of 
public  affairs.  Indeed,  it  was  common  for  the  execu- 
tive, legislative,  and  even  the  judicial  authorities,  to 
apply  to  them  for  the  solution  of  intricate  questions 
and  the  determining  of  principles.  Many,  if  not  most 
of  them,  had,  like  Mr.  Whiting,  been  ministers  in  the 
Church  of  England,  and  were  men  of  learning  and 
deep  thought.  The  very  experiences  that  induced 
their  emigration  often  arose  from  their  advanced 
views  of  human  rights  and  political  liberty.  It  is  to 
be  remembered,  too,  that  at  that  period  the  settle- 
ment of  a  minister  was,  under  ordinary  circumstances, 
expected  to  be  for  life;  not  a  mere  temporary  sojourn, 
as  is  so  often  the  case  in  our  day.  And  it  will  readily 
be  perceived  how  much  greater  the  opportunity  of  the 
faithful  pastor  then  was  to  inaugurate  and  sustain 
pursuits  calculated  to  be  permanently  beneficial,  the 
long  continuance  of  his  fostering  care  ensuring 
results  that  under  frequent  change  could  never  be 
attained,  at  the  same  time  receiving  his  own  reward 
in  contemplating  the  regenerating  effects  of  his  godly 
teaching. 

No  sooner  had  Mr.  Whiting  commenced  his  min- 
istrations to  the  little  flock  here  than  the  discordant 
elements  that  had  disturbed  it,  and  the  whole  com- 
munity as  well,  under  his  predecessor,  were  harmon- 
ized, and  old  and  young  gathered  around  him  in 
delightful  sympathy  and  trust— exemplifying  the  truth 
that  mental  strength,  coupled  with  genial  manners,  is 
potent  to  secure  confidence  and  love. 

The  remains  of  that  good  old  man  were  laid  away 
for  their  everlasting  repose  in  the  then  quiet  village 
burial-place,  overshadowed  by  ancient  forest-trees, 
where  but  a  small  company  had  then  been  gathered, 
but  where  now  lie  an  innumerable  host,  all  heedless 
of  the  stately  edifices  that  one  by  one  have  arisen 
around,  and  undisturbed  by  the  tramp  of  the  busy 
multitude.  Tne  spot  where  he  rests  is  marked  by 
a  simple  granite  shaft,  reared,  a  few  years  since,  by 
the  Hon.  William  Whiting,  of  Boston,  a  direct  de- 
scendant, who  himself  rendered  such  eminent  service 
to  our  government  during  the  most  trying  period  of 
the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  and  who  has  been  since 
called  to  join  his  honored  ancestor  in  the  land  whence 
none  return.  In  the  names  of  Whiting  School  and 
Whiting  Street  is  the  memory  of  this  beloved  min- 
ister perpetuated. 

At  this  point  it  may  be  well  to  give  the  pastoral 
succession  in  this,  the  First  Cliurch  of  Lynn,  with 
the  dates  at  which  the  pastorates  began,  and  append 
a  few  notes  on  some  whose  names  appear  therein. 


1632.  Stephen  Bachiler. 
1036.  Samuel  Whiting. 


1637.  Thomas  Cobbet  (colleague). 
1680.  Jeremiah  Shepard. 


LYNN. 


2(35 


ICSO.  Joseph  Whiting  (colleague). 
1720.  Nathaniel  Henchman. 
17(53.  John  Treadwell. 
1784.  Obadiah  Parsons. 
1704.  Thomas  C.  Thatcher. 
1813.  Isaac  Hnrd. 
1818.  Otis  Rockwooa. 


1832.  David  Peabody. 
183G.  Parsons  Cooke. 
1865.  James  M.  Whiton. 
1872.  Stephen  R.  Dennen. 
187fi.  Walter  Barton. 
1885.  Frank  J.  Mundy. 


Rev.  Thomas  Cobbet,  who  was  settled  in  1637  as 
colleague  with  Mr.  Whiting,  was  a  marked  character 
among  the  early  New  England  divines — marked  for 
his  learning,  piety  and  unswerving  principles.  He 
was  born  in  Newbury,  England,  in  1608,  studied 
at  Oxford  and  suffered  for  non-conformity.  He  re- 
mained here  in  Lynn  till  1656,  then  left  and  settled 
at  Ipswich,  where  he  died  in  1685.  Mr.  Cobbet 
preached  the  election  sermon  in  1649,  and  the  court 
voted  that  ''  Mr.  Speaker,  in  the  name  of  the  Howse  o^ 
deputyes,  render  Mr.  Cobbett  the  thankes  of  the  Howse 
for  his  worthy  paines  in  his  sermon  wch,  at  the  de- 
sire of  this  howse,  he  preached  on  the  day  of  eleccon, 
and  declare  to  him  it  is  their  desire  he  would 
print  it  heere  or  elsewhere."  He  was  a  voluminous 
writer,  and  among  his  works  was  "  A  Practical  Dis- 
course on  Prayer,"  of  which  Cotton  Mather  remarks, 
"  Of  all  the  works  written  by  Mr.  Cobbet,  none  de- 
serves more  to  be  read  by  the  world  or  to  live  till  the 
general  burning  of  the  world,  than  that  of  Prayer." 
The  elegant  Cobbet  school-house,  on  Franklin  Street, 
erected  in  1872,  is  a  memorial  of  this  esteemed  min- 
ister. 

Rev.  Jeremiah  Shepard,  who  in  1680  succeeded 
Mr.  Whiting  in  the  pastorate,  was  a  man  of  decided 
traits,  and  to  a  degree  destitute  of  the  milder  quali- 
ties of  his  predecessor.  Yet  he  was  successful  in  his 
ministry,  and  his  death  was  deeply  mourned.  His 
pastorate  extended  over  forty  years.  Mr.  Lewis  says 
"he  was  distinguished  for  his  unvaried  piety,"  and 
"  was  indefatigable  in  his  exertions  for  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  his  people."     He  reasoned  deep 

"  Of  Providence,  fore-knowledge,  will  and  fate." 

His  ministrations  were  characterized  by  great  seri- 
ousness, and  his  views  of  human  nature  gloomy,  al- 
most to  distortion.  Rev.  Mr.  Brown,  minister  of  the 
Reading  Church,  in  his  journal,  under  date  of  June 
25,  1712,  says  :  "  I  was  ordained  pasf  of  this  church 
and  received  the  dreadfull  charge  from  the  mouth  of 
Mr.  Shepard,  of  Lynn." 

Mr.  Shepard  took  an  active  part  in  some  of  the  po- 
litical agitations  of  the  day  ;  and  in  the  insurrection 
that  deposed  and  imprisoned  Governor  Andros,  on 
the  19th  of  April,  1689,  he  exhibited  quite  as  much 
patriotic  zeal  as  could  be  expected  inaminister  of  the 
Gospel,  as  appears  by  the  relation  of  one  who  was 
present,  and  who,  in  speaking  of  the  array  that  march- 
ed in  from  the  country  to  the  assistance  of  the  insur- 
gent Bostonians,  says  :  "  April  19th,  about  11  o'clock, 
the  country  came  in,  headed  by  one  Shepard,  teacher 
of  Lynn,  who  were  like  so  many  wild  bears  ;  and  the 
leader,  mad  with  passion,  more  savage  than  any  of  his 


followers."  The  courage  and  discretion  of  Mr.  Shep- 
ard no  doubt  did  much  for  the  welfare  of  Lynn  dur- 
ing that  trying  period.  He  was  inclined  also  to  watch 
with  jealous  eye  any  approach  of  trespassers  upon  the 
Puritanical  domain,  and  as  Quakerism  was  beginning 
to  make  serious  inroads,  he  appointed  the  19th  of  Ju- 
ly, 1694,  as  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  for  the  stay  of 
that  "  spiritual  plague."  He  died  on  the  3d  of  June, 
1720,  aged  seventy-two  years.  His  tomb  still  remains 
conspicuous  in  the  old  burying  ground,  marked  by  a 
plain  oblong  brick  stand  surmounted  by  a  heavy 
stone  slab,  with  an  inscription  now  so  eaten  by  time 
and  the  elements  as  to  be  almost  illegible.  But  his 
name  is  enduringly  preserved  in  Shepard  Street  and 
Shepard  School.  Mr.  Shepard  was  a  son  of  Rev. 
Thomas  Shepard,  who  was  born  in  Towcester,  Eng- 
land, in  1605,  received  an  excellent  education,  came 
over  while  yet  a  young  man,  and  was  ordained  as  first 
pastor  of  the  First  Parish  Church  of  Cambridge,  in 
1636.  He  was  conspicuous  for  his  fervid  piety.  In 
Johnson's  "  Wonder- Working  Providence,"  publish- 
ed in  1651,  he  is  spoken  of  as  "  That  gratious,  sweete, 
heavenly-minded  and  soule-ravishing  minister,  Mr. 
Thomas  Shepheard,  in  whose  soule  the  Lord  shed 
abroad  his  love  so  abundantly,  that  thousands  of  souls 
have  cau<e  to  bless  God  for  him,  even  at  this  day,  who 
are  the  scale  of  his  ministry."  He  appears  to  have 
received  the  name  Thomas  in  rather  a  singular  way, 
saying :  "  The  Powder  Treason  day  [November  5, 
1605],  and  that  very  houre  of  the  day  wherein  the 
Parlament  should  have  bin  blown  up  by  Popish  priests, 
I  was  then  borne,  which  occasioned  my  father  to 
give  me  this  name  Thomas,  because  he  sayd  I  would 
hardly  beleeve  that  ever  any  such  wickedness  should 
be  attempted  by  men  agaynst  so  religious  and  good 
Parlament." 

A  worthy  descendant,  Mr.  George  L.  Shepard,  of 
Boston,  a  son  of  the  late  eminent  merchant,  Michael 
Shepard,  of  Salem,  has  recently  published  a  genealog- 
ical account  of  some  of  the  descendants  of  the  family 
head. 

Mr.  Shepard  was  the  first  minister  of  the  "  Old 
Tunnel,"  so  called.  That  famous  meeting-house  was 
erected  in  1682,  two  years  after  his  settlement.  It 
will  be  borne  in  mind  that  in  those  days,  and  indeed 
long  after,  a  church  here  was  so  far  a  public  institu- 
tion that  its  temporal  arrangements  at  least  were  gov- 
erned by  the  votes  of  the  town.  To  illustrate,  let  us 
quote  some  votes  passed  at  town-meeting  in  1692  : 

"January  8.  It  was  voted  that  Lieutenant  Blighe  should  have  liberty 
to  set  up  a  pew  in  the  northeast  corner  of  the  meeting-house,  by  Mr. 
King's  pew,  and  he  to  maintain  the  windows  against  it. 

"  The  town  did  vote  that  Lieutenant  Fuller,  Lieutenant  Lewis,  Mr. 
John  Hawkes,  senior,  Francis  Burrill,  Lieutenant  Burrill,  John  Burrill, 
junior,  Mr.  Henry  Rhodes,  Quarter-Master  Bassett,  Mr.  Haberfield,  Cor- 
net Johnson,  Mr.  Bayley  and  Lieutenant  Blighe  should  sit  at  the  table. 

"  It  was  voted  that  Blatthew  Farrington,  senior,  Henry  Silsbee  and 
Joseph  Blansfield,  senior,  should  sit  in  the  deacon's   eat. 

''  It  was  voted  that  Thomas  Farrar,  senior,  Crispua  Brewer,  Allen 
Breed,  senior,  Clement  Coldam,  Robert  Rand,  senior,  Jonathan  Hudson, 
Richard  Hood,  senior,  and  Sergeant  Haven  should  sit  in  the  pulpit. 


266 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


"The  town  voted  that  them  that  are  surviving  that  was  chosen  by 
the  town  a  committee  to  erect  the  meeting-house,  and  Clerls  Potter  to 
join  along  with  them,  should  seat  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  in  the 
meeting  house,  both  men  and  women,  and  appoint  what  seats  they  shall 
sit  in,  but  it  is  to  be  nnderstood  that  they  are  not  to  seat  neither  the 
table  nor  the  deacons'  seat,  nor  the  pulpit,  but  them  to  sit  there  as  are 
voted  by  the  town." 

The  pulpit  of  the  Old  Tunnel  was  capacious  enough 
to  contain  ten  persons.  A  small  bell  swung  in  the 
little  tower,  and  in  the  northeast  corner  of  the  gallery 
was  a  "negro  pew,"  quite  elevated  and  boarded  well 
towards  the  top.  The  colored  brethren  and  sisters 
were  required  to  sit  there,  where  they  might  hear,  but 
neither  see  nor  be  seen. 

Mr.  J.  Warren  Newhall,  in  his  poem  delivered  at 
the  celebration  of  the  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anni- 
versary of  the  organization  of  the  chuich,  June  8, 
1882,  thus  speaks  of  the  architecture  of  this  famous 
old  house  of  worship  : 

"A  modest  cupola  the  roof  surmounts 
Of  quaint  design — so  history  recounts. 
'Twas  said  the  belfry  bore  a  semblance  fair 
To  an  inverted  tunnel  poised  mid  air  ; 
Hence  was  the  structure  the  '  Old  Tunnel '  named, 
And  for  this  title  evermore  was  framed. 
Downward  with  quite  a  questionable  gi'ace, 
The  bell-rope  fell  into  a  central  place 
Within  the  unique  auditorium,  where 
The  sexton  rang  the  call  to  praise  and  prayer. 
We  see  no  gorgeous  fresco  on  the  walls. 
Through  no  stained  glass  the  light  of  heaven  falls ; 
But  glinting  'mid  the  naked  oaken  beams. 
Through  the  small  diamond  paneg  the  sunlight  gleams. 
No  richly  cushioned  slips  the  people  knew. 
But  plain  deal  seats,  with  here  and  there  a  pew, 
Built  by  some  person,  who  must  first  procure 
Permission  from  the  town  this  to  secure. 
As  time  advanced  these  pews  more  numerous  grew. 
But  wert-  not  wholly  uniform  to  view, — 
Some  large,  some  small,  of  patterns  manifold. 
By  which  the  owner's  taste  or  means  were  told. 

iii  liji  ^  ^  :^  Tftl  ii: 

In  place  of  dainty  desk  therein  appeared 
A  pulpit,  with  its  lofty  form  upreared, 
While  like  a  canopy  o'er  the  preacher's  head 
The  sounding-board  its  huge  proportions  spread. 

9ie  3):  :t:  H:  ^  4=  :}: 

In  the  bleak  days  of  wintry  wind  and  snow, 
No  furnace  fire  dispensed  its  genial  glow  ; 
To  those  who  fain  the  service  would  attend. 
The  humble  foot-stove  was  the  warmest  friend." 

To  the  fidelity  of  this  sketch  the  writer  can  well 
attest  from  childhood  recollection  and  experience. 
Of  the  oft  protracted  exercises  our  poet  also  gives  the 
following  graphic  description : 

"No  warning  clock  prescribed  the  preacher's  powers  ; 
The  simple  sand-glass  told  the  passing  hours. 
Which,  when  the  tell-tale  sand  its  course  had  run. 
Was  deftly  turned,  and  sixteenthly  begun  ! 
For  they  preached  sermons  countless  in  deductions  ; 
None  of  our  modern  half-hour  productions. 
In  continuity  they  excelled,  'tis  true  ; 
Always  an  hour  in  length,  and  sometimes  two." 

Rev.  Nathaniel  Henchman  succeeded  Mr. 
Shepard  in  1720.  He  was  born  in  Boston  on  the  22d 
of  November,  1700,  as  is  stated  on  the  Lynn  records 
in  the  handwriting  of  his  son,  and.  if  the  date  is  cor- 


rect, must  have  settled  here  at  the  early  age  of  twenty. 
But  there  is  doubt  as  to  the  correctness  of  the  date. 
He  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1717.  His  grandfather 
was  Daniel  Henchman,  the  same  who  planted  the 
historical  "big  elm"  on  Boston  Common,  which  was 
destroyed  by  a  gale  in  February,  1876.  And  this 
Daniel  Henchman  was  also  ancestor  of  Frederick 
Tudor,  the  wealthy  ice  merchant,  who  did  so  much  to 
beautify  Nahant.  Mr.  Henchman  ministered  here 
forty  years,  and  died  on  the  23d  of  December,  1761. 
Rev.  Mr.  Barton,  in  his  address  on  the  two  hundred 
and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  church,  remarks  that 
Mr.  Henchman  proved  to  be  a  man  of  very  different 
views  from  his  predecessors.  Whiting,  Cobbet  and 
Shepard,  and  adds  that  his  "  settlement  gave  a  new 
and  disastrous  turn  to  aflfairs.  Finding  here  a  very 
flourishing  church  and  society,  he  left,  after  forty 
years'  ministry,  only  eighteen  members,  and  that  in 
the  days  of  the  great  awakening  under  Whitefield 
and  Edwards."  In  1745  Mr.  Whitefield  came  to 
Lynn,  and  Mr.  Henchman  refused  permission  for  him 
to  preach  in  the  meeting-house,  a  step  that  occasioned 
a  long  and  bitter  controversy.  The  great  revivalist, 
however,  found  audience-room  elsewhere,  one  of  his 
out-door  discourses  being  delivered  while  standing 
on  the  platform  of  the  whipping-post,  near  the  meet- 
ing-house. But  yet  Mr.  Henchman  is  reputed  to 
have  been  remarkably  genial  in  manners  and  to  have 
treated  Mr.  Whitefield  personally  with  much  respect 
and  politeness.  It  is  easy  to  see  that  his  ministry 
here  was  not  successful,  and  that  there  were  serious 
breaks  in  the  harmony  of  the  parish.  He  had  pecu- 
liar notions  of  ministerial  duties  and  ministerial 
rights,  and  was  tenacious  in  his  adherence  to  them. 
He  was  twice  married  and  the  father  of  five  children. 
His  tomb  is  in  the  Old  Burying-ground,  and  is,  like 
Mr.  Shepard's,  marked  by  a  plain,  oblong  brick  struc- 
ture. 

Rev.  John  Treadwell  was  the  successor  of  Mr. 
Henchman.  ''And  during  his  pastorate,"  remarks 
Mr.  Barton,  "  two  events  occurred  which  brought  in  a 
state  of  things  disastrous  to  the  church  in  common 
with  others,  viz. :  the  Half  Way-Covenant  and  the 
Revolutionary  War."  He  was  ordained  on  the  2d  of 
March,  1763,  and  remained  nineteen  years;  hence  it 
will  be  perceived  that  he  was  here  during  the  most 
stirring  period  in  American  history.  The  Provincial 
Congress,  in  June,  1775,  recommended  the  carrying 
of  arms  to  meeting  on  Sundays  and  other  days  when 
worship  was  held,  by  the  men  who  lived  within 
twenty  miles  of  the  sea-coast;  and  so  we  find  Mr. 
Treadwell  appearing  in  the  pulpit  with  a  loaded 
musket,  cartridge-box  and  sermon.  He  was  born  in 
Ipswich  September  20,  1738,  and  graduated  at  Har- 
vard in  1758.  His  pastorate  here  ended  in  1782.  He 
then  returned  to  Ipswich,  his  native  place,  and  after- 
ward removed  to  Salem ;  was  a  Representative  and 
Senator  in  the  General  Court,  and  a  judge  of  the 
Common  Pleas  Court.     His  patriotism  was  conspicu- 


LYNN. 


26^ 


ous,  his  manners  genial,  and  he  loved  to  indulge  in 
pleasantry,  sometimes  even  out  of  season.  His  witty 
sayings  often  gained  currency,  and  many  of  them  are 
not  yet  forgotten. 

Rev.  Obadiah  Parsons,  the  successor  of  Mr. 
Treadwell,  was  installed  February  4,  1784,  "in  peace, 
harmony  and  concord,"  as  Mr.  Sparhawk,  of  Lynn- 
field,  says  in  an  almanac  memorandum.  He  remained 
eight  years  and  then  returned  to  Gloucester,  his  native 
place,  where  he  died  in  December,  1801.  He  had 
two  wives  and  nine  children.  His  settlement  here 
does  not  seem  to  have  promoted  the  prosperity  of  the 
church,  and  there  were  some  scandals  that  hastened 
his  removal,  though  he  seems  to  have  maintained  a 
good  social  standing. 

It  was  during  the  pastorate  of  Mr.  Parsons  that  the 
parsonage  at  the  corner  of  South  Common  and  Com- 
mercial Streets  was  erected.  And,  as  an  appropriate 
illustration  of  some  of  the  habits  and  customs  of  the 
time,  it  may  be  pertinent  to  relate  an  incident  con- 
nected with  the  enterprise.  The  story  is  that  a  num- 
ber of  the  parishioners  of  small  means  were  surpris- 
ingly liberal  in  the  amounts  they  subscribed  in 
furtherance  of  the  good  object,  though  it  was  under- 
stood that  their  donations  would  be  received  in  the 
form  of  labor  upon  the  premises,  at  a  fixed  price  per 
day.  The  contributors  were  highly  applauded 
for  their  generosity  and  the  building  committee 
praised  for  their  liberality  in  arranging  with  a  neigh- 
boring retailer  for  a  supply  of  "refreshments,"  as  thej' 
might  be  called  for,  while  the  work  proceeded. 
Cheerily  and  rapidly  the  work  went  on.  And  then — 
when  the  building  was  completed  and  the  accounts 
brought  together — the  contracting  jjarties  were  aston- 
ished to  find  that  the  retailer's  score,  for  liquid  refresh- 
ments alone,  exceeded  in  amount  all  that  class  of 
subscriptions. 

Eev.  Thomas  Cushing  Thatcher  was  installed 
next  after  Mr.  Parsons.  He  was  a  son  of  Rev.  Peter 
Thatcher,  of  Brattle  Street  Church,  Boston ;  was  born 
in  1771 ;  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1790,  and  settled 
here  in  1794,  remaining  till  1813.  He  attained  a 
good  old  age  and  died  in  Cambridge  September  24, 
1849.  He  was  affable  in  his  social  relations,  but 
inclined  to  asperity  in  his  controversial  writings.  He 
preached  the  funeral  discoui'se  over  the  bodies  of  the 
drowned  men  ffom  the  Scottish  brig  "  Peggy,"  which 
was  wrecked  near  the  southern  end  of  Long  Beach 
December  9,  1795.  The  service  was  held  in  the 
meeting-house,  the  eight  recovered  bodies  being 
present.  There  were  twelve  on  board  the  brig,  only 
one  of  whom  escaped,  and  he,  during  the  mournful 
service,  stood  in  the  centre  aisle.  Mr.  Thatcher's 
text  was,  "And  I  only  am  escaped  alone  to  tell  thee," 
Job,  ch.  i.,  V.  19.  On  the  13th  of  January,  1800,  he 
pronounced  the  eulogy  on  Washington.  He  also 
delivered  the  funeral  sermon  over  the  bodies  of  Miles 
Shorey  and  his  wife,  who  were  instantly  killed  by 
lightning  on  Sunday,  the  10th  of  July,  1803,  in  the 


house  which  still  stands  on  Boston  Street,  opposite 
Cottage.  He  was  a  descendant  from  that  Mr.  Thatcher 
who,  with  his  wife,  were  the  only  survivors  of  the 
terrible  shipwreck,  in  August,  1635,  of  the  bark  of 
Mr.  Allerton,  which  was  cast  away  oft'  Cape  Ann  and 
twenty-one  persons  drowned,  including  Rev.  Mr. 
Avery,  his  wife  and  six  children.  The  island  on 
which  Mr.  Thatcher  and  his  wife  were  safely  cast  is 
still  called  Thatcher's  Island. 

Rev.  Isaac  Hurd,  the  tenth  minister,  was  ordained 
September  15,  1813,  and  remained  about  three  years. 
He  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1806.  From  Lynn  he 
removed  to  Exeter,  N.  H.,  where  he  was  installed 
over  the  Second  Church  of  that  place  in  September, 
1817.  There  he  remained  till  his  death.  At  the 
closing  period  of  Mr.  Hurd's  ministry  the  condition  of 
the  church  was  very  low ;  so  much  so,  indeed,  that 
the  question  of  disbanding  began  to  be  agitated.  But 
better  things  were  in  store.  This  was  the  time  when 
the  "  liberal  "  element  was  beginning  to  actively  work 
in  the  old  churches,  and  Mr.  Hurd  was  inclining  to- 
wards the  new  views.  It  is  almost  wonderful  that 
the  church  did  not  at  that  time  recede  from  the  old 
paths,  as  so  many  of  the  other  New  England  churches 
did.  And  it  probably  would  have  gone  over  had 
Mr.  Hurd  possessed  the  firmness  and  attractive 
power  possessed  by  some  others  of  the  seceding 
clergy. 

Rev.  Otis  Rockwood,  who  succeeded  Mr.  Hurd, 
was  firm  in  the  faith,  firm  in  his  denominational  at- 
tachments, and  firm  in  his  determination  to  prevent, 
if  possible,  any  straying  from  the  old  paths.  He  was 
sound  rather  than  brilliant,  and  to  his  earnestness  is 
much  of  his  succe:»s  to  be  attributed. 

The  successors  of  Mr.  Rockwood,  down  to  the  pres- 
ent time,  have  been  strong  in  the  faith  and  zealous  in 
their  labors,  men  of  ability  and  learning,  and  some 
of  them  distinguished  above  the  common  rank.  So 
well  are  their  characteristics  known  to  this  genera- 
tion that  an  attempt  at  portrayal  in  detail  would  be 
needless  here,  did  the  limits  allow.  Their  names  and 
the  dates  of  their  settlement  have  already  been 
given.  It  may  not  appear  invidious,  however,  to  re- 
mark that  Rev.  Parsons  Cooke,  who  was  settled  in 
1836  and  died  on  1864,  was  perhaps  the  most  notable 
since  the  time  of  Mr.  Shepard.  He  was  especially 
strong  as  a  controversialist,  and  seemed  to  take  a 
grim  delight  in  opportunities  to  attack  the  Unitarian, 
Universalist  and  Methodist  denominations.  Persons 
of  his  characteristics  always  make  a  mark,  and  have 
tenacious  adherents  and  determined  opponents.  It  is 
difficult,  therefore,  to  form  an  entirely  satisfactory 
opinion  from  contemporaneous  estimates,  and  future 
results  must  indicate  the  amount  of  good  achieved. 
Mr.  Cooke  published  two  or  three  works  which  re- 
ceived some  attention  at  the  time  they  appeared,  the 
most  interesting  of  which,  at  least  to  Lynn  people, 
being  that  entitled  "  A  Century  of  Puritanism 
and    a     Century    of    its    Opposites."       It    related 


263 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


to  the  history  of  ecclesiastical  aifairs  here,  and 
took  quite  an  unfavorable  view  of  some  of  his 
predecessors  in  the  pastorate  and  those  of  their  com- 
munion. Its  sometimes  poorly  authenticated  state- 
ments, as  to  the  unworthiness  of  those  under  notice, 
opened  the  Avay  for  the  future  liberal-minded  histo- 
rian to  rank  him  as  one  disposed  to  magnify  the  fail- 
ings, rather  than  the  goodness,  of  others. 

Besides  the  foregoing  list  of  regular  pastors  the 
church  has,  of  late  years,  had  the  services  of  two  or 
three  acting  pastors,  whose  names  follow, — Rev. 
George  E.  Allen,  who  supplied  in  1863-64 ;  Rev. 
Joseph  Cook,  1870-71 ;  Rev.  J.  R.  Danforth,  1872. 
Mr.  Cook  afterwards  became  quite  famous  as  a  lec- 
turer, delivering  several  series  in  Boston  and  other 
large  American  cities.  He  likewise  visited  Europe 
and  other  parts  of  the  world,  attracting  much  atten- 
tion. He  still  (1887)  continues  to  exercise  his  gifts 
in  his  chosen  field.  While  here,  he  delivered  a  series 
of  Sunday  evening  lectures  in  Music  Hall,  which  cre- 
ated considerable  sensation  on  account  of  the  pun- 
gency of  his  style,  and,  as  many  thought,  indiscreet 
and  unnecessary  assertions  and  denunciations. 

Thursday,  the  8th  of  June,  1882,  the  two  hundred 
and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  founding  of  the  First 
Church  of  Lynn  was  observed  by  fitting  ceremonies 
at  the  house  of  worshij),  on  South  Common  Street. 
The  day  was  pleasant  and  the  attendance  good.  The 
forenoon  exercises  consisted  of  addresses,  prayers. 
Scripture  reading  and  appropriate  music.  The  his- 
torical address  was  given  by  the  pastor.  Rev.  Walter 
Barton  ;  and  a  poem,  from  which  quotations  have  al- 
ready been  given,  was  read  by  the  author,  J.  Warren 
Newhall.  At  noon  an  abundant  repast  for  visitors 
was  spread  in  the  lecture-room.  The  afternoon  ser- 
vices were  all  of  an  impressive  character.  It  was  an 
occasion  of  much  interest, — something  more  than  a 
mere  society  or  denominational  observance,  being 
well  calculated  to  enlist  the  sympathies  and  stir  the 
feelings  of  all,  especially  natives  of  the  town. 

The  history  of  the  First  Church  of  Lynn  has  here 
been  dwelt  upon  more  at  large,  perhaps,  than  our 
limits  justify  ;  but,  in  an  important  sense,  it  embodies 
a  history  of  the  place.  In  its  communion  were  the 
fathers  of  the  town,  and,  all  along,  many  of  the  chief 
men  have  held  it  to  be  their  spiritual  home.  Its  influ- 
encein  early  days  was  potent  for  good,  and  in  its  listof 
pastors  appear  some  names  of  more  than  ordinary 
lustre. 

Having  spoken  thus  at  large  of  the  First  Church 
and  its  ministry,  brevity  will  be  necessary  in  speak- 
ing of  the  other  religious  societies,  of  which  there 
are  now  thirty.  Before  enumerating  them,  however, 
a  word  should  be  said  of  the  first  churches  of  Lynn- 
field  and  Saugus,  which  were  the  Second  and  Third 
of  Lynn. 

The  Second  Parish  Church  of  Lynn  was  formed  in 
1720,  the  year  in  which  Rev.  Mr.  Shepard  died,  and 
became  the  First  Church  of  Lynnfield.      The  eccen- 


tric but  learned  Nathaniel  Sparhawk  was  the  first 
minister.  In  the  sketch  of  Lynnfield  this  parish  will 
be  further  spoken  of.  In  the  mutations  of  New  Eng- 
land theology  it  became  a  Universalist  Society. 

The  Third  Parish  Church  of  Lynn  was  gathered  in 
1732,  and  became  the  First  Church  of  Saugus.  It  was 
over  this  parish  that  the  Rev.  Joseph  Roby  was  set- 
tled for  the  long  period  of  fifty-one  years.  He  was 
learned  and  pious,  and  withal  ardently  patriotic, 
being  chosen  one  of  the  Committee  of  Safety  at  the 
opening  of  the  Revolution.  This  society,  like  that 
of  Lynnfield,  finally  adopted  the  Universalist  faith. 

Trinitarian  Congregational. — Of  the  Trini- 
tarian Congregational — or,  as  they  are  popularly 
called,  the  Orthodox — Societies,  there  are  now  four, 
namely, — the  First  Church,  that  already  spoken  of, 
and  whose  present  place  of  worship  is  a  fine  brick 
edifice  on  South  Common  Street,  built  in  1872  ;  the 
Central  Congregational,  founded  in  1850,  and  whose 
present  house  of  worship  is  also  a  fine  brick  edifice, 
on  Silsbee  Street,  built  in  1868 ;  the  Chestnut  Street 
Congregfitional,  commenced  in  1857  as  a  Congrega- 
tional Methodist,  and  becoming  distinctly  Calvin- 
istic  in  1860,  their  house  of  worship  being  a  frame 
structure  on  Chestnut  Street,  built  in  1857  ;  the  North 
Congregatio7ial,  founded  in  1869,  and  worshipping  in 
their  neat  wooden  church  on  Laighton  Street,  built  in 
1870. 

Unitarian  Congregational. — The  Second  Con- 
gregational Society  of  Lynn  is  Unitarian  in  sentiment. 
It  Avas  founded  in  1823  and  has  a  peculiar  history, 
exemplifying  some  of  the  changes  to  which  so  many 
religious  bodies  were  subjected  at  about  the  time  of 
its  institution.  As  has  been  seen,  Mr.  Rockwood,  of 
the  First  Church,  was  a  strong  Calvinist.  He  was 
settled  in  1818.  At  that  time  the  leaven  of '' liberal 
Christianity,"  as  it  was  called,  and  which  subse- 
quently developed  into  broad  Unitarianism,  had  begun 
actively  to  work.  And  it  was  chiefly  from  those  who 
dropped  off  from  the  old  society,  having  imbibed  the 
more  "  liberal  views,"  that  this  was  formed.  Among 
the  early  members  were  several  of  the  most  influential 
people  of  the  town,  and  it  has  always  comprised  some 
of  the  wealthiest.  Their  hou^e  of  worship,  which  is 
the  first  and  still  the  only  one  of  the  order  in  Lynn, 
was  dedicated  on  the  30th  of  April,  1823,  and  is  on 
South  Common  Street.  It  is  a  wooden  structure,  and 
does  not  compare  favorably  with  most  of  the  present 
Lynn  houses  of  worship.  It  may  be  mentioned,  as 
an  interesting  fact,  that  it  was  in  a  sermon  preached 
in  Boston,  at  the  installation  of  Rev.  Mr.  Shackford, 
who  was  the  sixth  pastor  of  this  society,  that  the  dis- 
tinguished Theodore  Parker  first  publicly  and  clearly 
enunciated  his  peculiar  doctrinal  views.  Another 
interesting  fact,  mentioned  by  Mr.  Johnson  in  his 
"Sketches  of  Lynn,"  is,  that  the  venerable  Dr. 
Pierce,  of  Brookline,  who  was  here  at  the  ordination 
of  Rev.  Mr.  Pierpont,  the  fifth  minister,  on  that  occa- 
sion remarked  that  that  *'  was  the  ninetv-fourth  ordi- 


LYNN. 


269 


nation  that  he  had  attended,  and  that  it  was  the  first 
one  where  intoxicating  drinks  were  not  used,  and  the 
first  ordination  dinner  at  which  ladies  were  present.'' 

Friends,  or  Quakers. — A  Society  of  Friends  com- 
menced worship  here  as  early  as  1677.  The  rigid 
laws  against  the  Quakers,  which  for  many  years  de- 
formed the  statute-books  of  Massachusetts,  and  the 
story  of  their  rigorous  enforcement,  are  too  well 
known  to  need  recounting.  But  it  should  be  borne 
in  mind  that  the  so-called  Quakers  of  those  days 
were  very  different  from  the  quiet,  orderly  and  hon- 
est people  of  after-years  who  have  borne  the  name. 
They  were  a  turbulent  set,  defying  the  government 
and  outraging,  certainly  in  some  instances,  the  decen- 
cies of  social  life.  The  society  here  has  ever  em- 
braced some  of  the  best  people,  and,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  one  or  two  rather  unaccountable  outbreaks, 
has  pursued  the  even  tenor  of  its  way.  They  worship 
in  a  plain  wooden  structure,  on  Silsbee  Street,  built 
in  1816. 

Methodist. — To  that  early  pioneer  of  Method- 
ism, Jesse  Lee,  is  to  be  attributed  the  formation  of 
the  first  society  of  the  denomination  in  Lynn.  Rev. 
Mr.  Daniels,  in  his  "  History  of  Methodism,"  speaking 
of  the  travels  and  untoward  experiences  of  Lee  in  New 
England,  says, — "  Li  Lynn  a  more  hospitable  recep- 
tion was  accorded  to  him,  and  there  he  formed  his 
first  society  in  Massachusetts,  February  20,  1791, 
consisting  of  eight  members.  On  the  27th  of  the 
same  month  it  had  increased  to  twenty-nine  mem- 
bers, and  in  May  following  more  than  seventy  per- 
sons took  certificates  of  their  attendance  on  his  min- 
istry— a  measure  rendered  necessary  by  the  laws  of 
the  State,  in  order  to  secure  them  from  taxation  for 
the  support  of  the  clergy  of  the 'standing  order.'" 
August  3,  1792,  was  held  at  Lynn  the  first  Methodist 
Conference  in  New  England.  "There  were  eight 
persons  present  besides  Bishop  Asbury,"  says  Daniels, 
"  among  whom  was  Jesse  Lee,  who  was  now  exulting 
in  having  gained  a  permanent  foothold  in  this  un- 
promising region." 

The  First  Methodist  Society  of  Lynn,  thus  formed, 
has  maintained  a  prominent  standing  not  only  in 
Lynn,  but  in  the  denomination  at  large,  and  has  sent 
forth  several  thrifty  ecclesiastical  offspring.  Their 
present  house  of  worship  is  a  conspicuous  brick  ed- 
ifice on  the  northeasterly  side  of  City  Hall  Square, 
built  in  1879,  St.  Paul's  Methodist  Society  was  formed 
in  1811.  Their  present  house  of  worship  is  a  wooden 
structure  on  Union  Street,  built  in  1861.  The  pre- 
ceding house  was  totally  destroyed  by  fire  on  Sunday 
evening,  November  20,.  1859.  Some  five  hundred 
persons,  many  of  whom  were  children,  as  a  Sunday- 
school  concert  was  in  jarogress,  were  in  the  building, 
but  all  safely  escaped.  The  South  Street  Methodist  So- 
ciety was  formed  in  1830.  Their  house  of  worship  is 
a  neat  wooden  structure  on  South  Street,  built  in 
1830.  The  Maple  Street  Methodist  Society,  Glenmere 
Village,  was  founded  in  3850.     Their  house  of  wor- 


ship is  an  attractive  structure  of  wood  on  Maple 
Street,  built  in  1872.  The  Boston  Street  Methodist  So- 
ciety was  founded  in  1853.  Their  house  of  worship  is 
a  wooden  structure  on  Boston  Street,  built  in  1853. 
The  African  Methodist  Society  was  organized  in  1856, 
and  their  modest  house  of  worship,  on  Mailey  Street, 
erected  the  next  year.  Trinity  Methodist  Society,  near 
Tower  Hill,  was  founded  in  1873,  and  their  present 
tasty  edifice  of  wood  built  soon  after.  Recently  a  so- 
ciety has  been  organized  in  Wyoma  Village. 

Baptist. — The  First  Baptist  Society  was  founded  in 
1816.  A  great  deal  has  been  said  of  the  persecutions 
to  which  the  early  Baptists  were  subjected,  and  much 
of  the  rigorous  conduct  towards  them  was  inex- 
cusable. Yet  it  may  be  said  of  them,  as  was  said  of 
the  early  Quakers — they  were  not  characterized  by 
peacefulness,  humility  and  the  high  sense  of  Chris- 
tian duty  which  characterizes  those  of  the  name  at 
this  day.  Their  interference  with  State  affairs  no 
doubt  created  more  opposition  than  their  purely  re- 
ligious doctrines.  It  is  probable  that  most  students 
of  New  England  history  would  concede  that  the  ban- 
ishment of  Roger  Williams  even  was  brought  about 
more  from  political  than  religious  considerations. 
This,  however,  is  not  the  place  for  discussing  such 
questions.  When  the  church  here  in  Lynn  was 
formed,  the  persecutions  had  long  ceased.  The  house 
of  worship  of  the  First  Baptist  Society  is  a  fine  ed- 
ifice of  wood  on  North  Common  Street,  erected  in 
1867.  The  Washington  Street  Baptist  Society  was 
founded  in  1854.  Their  house  of  worship,  at  the  cor- 
ner of  Essex  and  Washington  Streets,  is  one  of  the 
finest  in  town,  is  of  brick  and  stone,  and  was  built  in 
1874.  The  High  Street  Free-  Will  Baptist  Society  was 
organized  in  1871.  Their  house  of  worship  is  of  wood, 
and  stands  in  a  commanding  position  on  High  Street. 
The  East  Baptist  Society  was  organized  in  1874,  and 
have  their  house  of  worship  on  Union  Street.  The 
Union  Baptist  Society,  founded  in  1880,  have  their 
place  of  worship  on  Oxford  Street,  and  is  a  society  of 
colored  people.  The  North  Baptist  Society  have  their 
place  of  worship  in  Wyoma  Village. 

Christian. — The  Christian  Society  was  organized 
in  1835.  Their  house  of  worf>hip  is  a  wooden  struc- 
ture on  Silsbee  Street,  built  in  1840.  This  church 
has  always  maintained  a  most  respectable  denomina- 
tional standing. 

Universalist. — The  first  meeting  held  in  Lynn 
for  the  preaching  of  the  doctrines  of  this  denomina- 
tion was  in  the  Academy  Hall  in  1811.  The  First 
Universalist  Society,  however,  was  not  formed  till 
1833 ;  it  was  then  organized  in  the  Town  Hall,  and 
has  had  a  steady  and  substantial  growth  till,  at  the 
present  time,  it  is  one  of  the  largest  religious  bodies 
in  Lynn,  embracing  many  of  the  prominent  people. 
The  present  house  of  worship,  on  Nahant  Street,  is 
built  of  stone  and  brick,  and  is  one  of  the  finest  in 
the  city.  The  Second  Universalist  Society  was  organ- 
ized in  1837.     Their  house  of  worship  is  a  wooden 


270 


HISTOKY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


structure  on  South  Common  Street,  corner  of  Com- 
mercial, the  same  that  was  originally  occupied  by  the 
First  Church,  and  afterwards  by  a  small  society  of 
another  denomination.  Some  of  the  material  of  the 
edifice  was  first  used  in  the  famous  Old  Tunnel. 

Second  Advent. — The  Second  Advent  Society  have 
a  house  of  worship  on  Liberty  Street,  opposite  Cam- 
bridge. The  society,  though  not  large,  is  composed 
of  earnest  believers. 

Protestant  Episcopal. — The  Episcopal  Church 
was  of  slow  growth  in  Lynn,  though  it  is  no  doubt 
true  that  there  were  individual  churchmen  here  at  an 
early  period.  Richard  Sadler,  who  came  in  1635,  and 
located  at  the  present  junction  of  Walnut  and  Hnl- 
yoke  Streets,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose,  was  a  de- 
voted churchman,  as  he  took  priest's  orders  after  his 
return  to  England.  His  name  is  perpetuated  in  the 
lofty  porphyry  cliff  that  rises  near  the  point  just 
named,  and  which  was  granted  to  him  by  the  town  in 
1638  ;  and  that  he  was  a  man  of  integrity,  intelligence 
and  prudence  is  apparent  from  the  importance  of  the 
public  offices  he  was  constantly  called  to  fill ;  and 
there  were  no  doubt  here  and  there  other  church- 
men who  may  have  veiled  their  sentiments,  so  great 
were  the  prejudices  against  them.  From  all  that  ap- 
pears, the  first  service  held  here  was  on  the  evening 
of  Sunday,  October  18,  1818.  At  that  time  Rev. 
Thomas  Carlisle,  of  St.  Peter's  Church,  Salem, 
preached  in  the  First  Parish  Meeting  House,  known 
as  the  Old  Tunnel,  the  same  in  which  the  celebrated 
Whitefield  had  been  denied  the  privilege  of  holding 
a  service.  But  things  had  changed.  The  rigid  fet- 
ters of  the  old  faith  were  loosening,  and  it  was  act- 
ually by  invitation  of  some  of  the  influential  mem- 
bers of  the  parish  that  Mr.  Carlisle  came.  Yet,  as 
events  proved,  these  good  men  had  but  poorly  in- 
formed themselves  as  to  the  church  offices  and  re- 
quirements, for  they  were  chiefly  the  very  men  who 
soon  after  formed  the  Unitarian  Society.  However, 
a  sort  of  church  was  instituted,  which  existed,  but 
did  not  flourish,  for  a  year  or  two,  and  then  became 
extinct.  It  was  not  till  1834  that  another  attempt 
was  made  to  establish  a  church  here.  An  organiza- 
tion was  effected,  and  fur  a  time  they  were  so  pros- 
perous as  to  erect  a  modest  house  of  worship,  which 
was  consecrated  in  1837,  but  failure  ensued;  and  it 
was  not  till  1844  that  permanent  church  worship  be- 
came established.  It  was  then,  in  1844,  that  St. 
Stephen's  was  formed.  For  some  years  it  was 
weak  and  without  much  influence,  but  finally 
became  prosperous,  and  is  now  one  of  the  most 
substantial  in  the  diocese.  The  house  of  worship, 
on  South  Common  Street,  is  a  beautiful  struc- 
ture of  brick  and  stone,  more  costly  than  any  other 
church  building  in  the  county,  and  is  endeared 
to  the  parish,  especially,  as  the  gift  of  the  late  Hon 
Enoch  Redington  Mudge.  It  was  consecrated  on 
Wednesday,  November  2,  1881,  and  cost  two  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars.     The  interior  is  impres- 


sive for  its  richness  and  freedom  from  all  garish  dis- 
play, some  of  the  decorations  being  very  costly. 
A  chime  often  bells  has  recently  been  placed  in  the 
tower,  and  first  rang  out  their  sonorous  notes  on  the 
morning  of  Easter  day,  1886.  Among  the  tunes 
played  on  that  occasion  were  "  Jesus,  Lover  of  my 
Soul,"  "  The  Morning  Light  is  Breaking."  This  is 
the  first  chime  ever  in  Lynn  ;  is  pronounced  by  ex- 
perts to  be  superior  in  tone  and  unison,  and  was  pro- 
cured by  members  of  the  parish  in  grateful  memory 
of  Mr.  Mudge,  the  donor  of  the  edifice.  The  weight 
of  the  largest  bell  is  three  thousand  and  thirty  pounds, 
and  the  cost  of  the  whole  was  five  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars.  The  chime  was  welcomed 
with  much  satisfaction  by  the  people  generally,  and 
two  of  our  local  poets,  in  pleasant  strains,  celebrated 
the  acquisition.  Three  of  the  eight  impressive  stan- 
zas by  J.  Warren  Newhall  are  here  given  : 

"  In  the  Sabbath  morn's  hush  with  melodious  accord, 
They  shall  join  in  an  anthem  of  praise  to  our  Lord  ; 
And  their  soul-soothing  vespers,  at  eve's  hour  of  rest, 
Shall  be  wafted  like  notes  from  the  Isles  of  the  Blest. 

"  They  shall  ring  at  the  bridal,  where  love's  vows  are  breathed 
By  the  blushing  young  maiden  with  orange-blooras  wreathed  ; 
Or  chime  the  low  dirge  as  the  grief-bidden  tear 
Of  affection  bedeweth  the  cherished  one's  bier. 

"  At  fair  jocund  morning,  or  peace-hallowed  night, 
We  shall  list  to  their  music  with  grateful  delight, 
As  they  blend  in  a  chorus  exultant  and  strong, 
Or  soothing  and  sweet  as  a  lullaby  song." 

And  in  the  poem  of  twelve  stanzas,  by  our  fellow- 
townsman,  Joseph  W.  Nye,  are  these  felicitous  lines: 

"  'Tis  meet  they  first  our  joy  should  ring 
Upon  the  glorious  Easter  Day, 
While  we  responsive  gladly  sing 
The  risen  Christ  and  own  His  sway. 

"  0  bells  !  ye  fitly  grace  the  tower 
That  one  of  liberal  soul  did  raise, 
Wlio  gave  this  fane — a  sacred  dower — 
To  which  all  hearts  yield  ready  praise. 

"  0  city  loved  !  with  grateful  heart 
Receive  this  gift  so  kindly  free  ; 
To  thy  fair  name  it  will  impart 
A  charm  that  we  have  longed  to  see." 

The  Church  of  the  Incarnation  was  formed  in  1886, 
chiefly  by  members  who  withdrew  from  St.  Stephen's. 
They  at  present  worship  in  their  beautiful  stone 
chapel  near  the  corner  of  Broad  and  Estes  Streets. 
There  is  every  reason  to  hope  and  believe  that  this 
parish  will  soon  be  exercising  an  extensive  and 
benign  influence. 

Roman  Catholic — St.  Mary's  Parish. — The  first 
Roman  Catholic  service  held  in  Lynn  seems  to 
have  been  in  1835,  a  private  house  accommodating 
all  the  attendants.  In  1848  the  numbers  had  so  in- 
creased that  they  purchased  a  frame  building  on 
South  Common  Street,  near  Elm.  This  building  had 
rather  a  singular  history.  It  was  first  a  Methodist 
house  of  worship,  and  stood  on  land  purchased  of  the 
Congregational  Society.  In  1815  it  was  bought  by 
the  newly-formed  First  Baptist  Society,  and  occupied 


LYNN. 


271 


by  them  for  a  number  of  years.  Next  it  became  a 
district  school-house;  then,  in  1848,  it  was  purchased 
by  the  Catholics  and  fitted  up  for  their  services  ;  and 
finally,  on  the  night  of  the  28th  of  May,  1859,  was 
destroyed  by  an  incendiary  fire.  The  first  min- 
ister was  Father  Charles  Smith,  who  died  in  January, 
1851,  and  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Patrick  Strain,  who 
yet,  1887,  remains  in  charge,  having  served  for  the 
longest  term  of  any  of  the  present  Lynn  ministers. 

After  the  destruction  of  the  first  house  of  worship 
the  Catholics  obtained  the  use  of  Lyceum  Hall,  which 
stood  on  Market  Street,  at  the  corner  of  Summer,  and 
there  mass  was  said,  instructions  given  and  confes- 
sions heard.  In  1860  the  site  for  the  present  St. 
Mary's  Church,  at  the  south  side  of  City  Hall  Square, 
was  procured,  and  the  fine  Gothic  structure  erected. 
It  remained  for  some  years  the  most  imposing  church 
edifice  in  Lynn.  It  is  built  chiefly  of  brick,  its 
dimensions  being  one  hundred  and  fifty  by  seventy- 
three  feet,  and  having  a  steeple  one  hundred  and 
sixty-five  feet  in  height.  The  interior  is  imposing, 
has  a  number  of  costly  paintings  and  a  fine  organ. 
The  seating  capacity  is  one  thousand  three  hundred. 

Connected  with  St.  Mary's  Church  is  an  excellent 
parochial  school  for  children  of  both  sexes,  at  which 
the  daily  attendance  is  over  six  hundred.  The  man- 
agement is  in  the  hands  of  Rev.  Father  Strain,  and 
the  expenses  are  met   by   the  members  of  the  parish. 

St.  Mary's  Cemetery,  on  Lynnfield  Street,  conse- 
crated Nov.  4,  1858,  is  connected  with  this  parish. 

The  Catholic  population  of  Lynn  has  steadily  in- 
creased, and  at  the  present  time  outnumbers  any 
other  Christian  denomination — so  far,  at  least,  as  is 
indicated  by  attendance  on  public  ministrations. 
There  are  now  five  Catholic  priests  resident  here, 
and  they  are  as  a  body  worthy  of  commendation  for 
their  zealous  endeavors  to  elevate  the  character  and 
condition  of  those  under  their  charge.  The  long  and 
successful  ministry  of  Father  Strain  will  ever  be 
remembered  to  his  credit. 

;S?.  Joseph's  Parish,  in  Union  Street,  embraces 
chiefly  the  Catholic  population  in  the  eastern  part  of 
the  city.  It  was  formed  in  1874,  and  their  stately 
house  of  worship  erected  in  1875.  Like  St.  Mary's, 
it  is  built  chiefly  of  brick,  and  is  a  conspicuous  edi- 
fice, with  a  seating  capacity  of  about  one  thousand 
two  hundred.  Rev.  J.  C.  Harrington  is  the  minister, 
having  an  assistant.  St.  Joseph's  Cemetery,  on  Bos- 
ton Street  near  Cedar  Pond,  is  connected  with  this 
parish. 

A  French  Catholic  Church  was  formed  here  in  1886, 
and  a  church  is  already  in  process  of  erection. 

The  Catholics  of  Lynn,  it  is  thought,  form  about 
thirty  per  cent,  of  the  whole  population. 

SwEDENBORGiAN. — A  Swedenborgian  or  New  Je- 
rusalem Society  was  formed  here  in  188(3.  Some 
years  ago  an  attempt  was  made  to  establish  a  society 
of  this  order,  but  the  worshippers  were  so  few  that 
services  were  not  long  continued. 


In  addition  to  the  foregoing,  there  are  here,  as  in 

most  places  as  large,    other   religious   organizations 

sustained  by  some  of  the  churches  or  by  pious  and 

benevolent  individuals,  such   as  the  Bethel  and   the 

West  Lyvn  Mission,  which  are  doing  much  good. 

It  will  be  seen  by  the  following  table  that  there  are 
now  in  Lynn  thirty-one  organized  Christian  bodies, 
to  wit: 


Congregational  (Unitarian) 

Friends 

Christian 

Second  Advent 

Swedenborgian 


Methodist  (1  African) 8 

Baptist  (1  African) 6 

Congregational  (Trinitarian)    .  4 

Roman  Catholic  (1  French)  .    .  3 

Universalist        2 

Protestant  Episcopal 2  I  Salvation  Army  of  America  , 


The  following  gives  the  city  assessor's  valuation  in 
1886  of  the  church  property  belonging  to  some  of  the 
principal  religious  societies,  including  the  church 
edifices  and  the  lots  on  which  they  stand: 

St.  Stephen's  (Episcopal) $233,000 

First  Universalist 122,000 

First  Methodist 102,000 

Washington  Street  Baptist 81,000 

Central  Congregational  (Trinitarian) 73,0iH) 

First  Congregational  (Trinitarian) 63,200 

St.  Marj''s  (Roman  Catholic) G2.000 

St.  Joseph's  (Roman  Catholic) 62,000 

First  Baptist 41,000 

Friends 17,000 

Second  Congregational  (Unitarian) 16,600 

Some  of  the  edifices,  it  will  be  observed  are  quite  costly; 
and  if  the  time  should  ever  arrive  when  they  are  as 
heavily  taxed  as  individual  property,  impecunious 
worshippers  may  regret  the  rich  appointments.  We 
should  not  have  been  likely  to  have  erected  so  many 
churches  nor  so  grand  ones  had  taxation  interposed 
its  hungry  hand.  The  above  enumeration,  as  will  be 
observed,  does  not  include  all  the  houses  of  worship. 
Taking  in  the  whole,  it  is  found  that  for  the  year 
1886  the  amount  of  church  property  exempt  from 
taxation  was  $1,079,000. 

It  is  easy  to  see  from  the  foregoing  that  Lynn  is  by 
no  means  in  a  state  of  spiritual  starvation,  or,  at  least, 
need  not  be.  Her  places  of  worship  are  numerous 
and  eligible.  And  as  to  the  learning  and  ability  of 
her  clergy,  she  would  probably  acknowledge  inferiority 
to  very  few.  Perhaps  there  is  a  little  overstraining 
that  verges  on  the  sensational  in  some  societies,  and 
occasional  displays  that  have  the  unpleasant  air  of 
denominational  rivalry ;  but  then  even  spiritual 
emulation  may  result  in  good. 

In  the  "  leading"  churches  a  good  deal  of  attention 
is  paid  to  music.  And  in  some  instances  it  really 
appears  as  if  that  were  considered  of  more  importance 
than  the  preaching;  naturally  enough,  too,  where  the 
music  is  good  and  the  preaching  is  poor.  But  that 
does  not  seem  to  be  exactly  the  right  idea.  The  sacred 
strains  that  resounded  in  the  rude  sanctuaries  of  our 
fathers,  though  not,  perhaps,  in  full  accord  with  the 
rules  of  harmony,  were  fervid  and  stirring  to  the 
pious  heart.  But  is  not  the  tendency  of  much  of  the 
church  music  of  this  day  rather  to  lead  from  devotion 


272 


HISTORY  OP  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS.' 


to  admiration — admiration  of  artistic  composition  and 
artistic  rendering?  And  does  not  tlie  sedate  wor- 
shipper sometimes  feel  as  if  listening  to 

"  Light  quirks  of  music,  brolien  and  uneven," 

sucli  as  would  only 

"Make  a  soul  dance  upon  a  jig  to  heaven." 

The  singing  in  some  of  our  churches  is,  at  the  pres- 
ent time,  congregational,  with  the  leading  of  a  chorus 
choir  ;  in  others  a  quartette  fills  the  programme.  St. 
Stephen's  follows  the  ancient  church  custom  of  having 
a  surpliced  male  choir,  chiefly  boys,  whose  young, 
fresh  voices  and  natural  renderings  add  greatly  to  the 
interest  of  the  service.  In  one  church  an  "  orchestra 
band  "  has  lately  appeared  as  an  attraction. 

A  few  remarks  as  to  religious  observances  in  former 
days  might  be  of  some  interest  here ;  but  it  is  neces- 
sary to  pass  on  to  other  topics.  It  may,  however,  be 
remarked,  by  the  way,  that  there  were,  at  different 
periods,  quite  different  views  prevailing.  In  early 
times  the  Levitical  law,  in  all  its  rigidity,  was 
adopted  ;  then  came  from  time  to  time  modifications 
in  one  way  and  another;  and,  finally,  about  the 
close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  leaven  of  French 
infidelity  began  perceptibly  to  work  in  some  classes. 
But  in  this  part  of  New  England  the  stronghold  of 
Puritanism  was  long  maintained.  Albert  Gallatin, 
the  eminent  financier  and  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
under  Jefferson,  was  a  native  of  Geneva,  and  of  rigid 
Puritanical  stock.  He  was  in  Boston  in  1783,  and 
thus  speaks  of  life  then  and  there  :  "  Life  in  Boston 
is  very  wearisome.  There  are  no  public  amusements, 
and  so  much  superstition  prevails  that  singing,  violin- 
playing,  card-playing  and  bowls  are  forbidden  on 
Sunday."  Calvin  himself  would  probably  have  sanc- 
tioned these  views,  though  they  were  far  from  New 
England  Calvinism.  But  these  few  mere  hints  on 
this  subject  must  sufiice. 


CHAPTEE    XV. 

I^Y  NiH— {Continued). 

SCHOOLS — LIBRARIES — NEWSPAPERS. 

Schools,  their  Number  and  Character,  with  Sketches  of  Some  of  the  Old 
Teachers — Present  Condition,  Cost  of  Maintenance,  with  Various  Statis- 
tical Items — Notice  of  Early  Collections  of  Books — Free  Public  Libra- 
ry, its  Formation,  Growth  and  Present  Condition — Newspapers,  Sketch 
of  the  First  Paper  here,  and  its  Editor — Papers  of  the  Present  Day. 


Blcn  of  learning,  men  of  training, 
O,  be  yours  a  potent  sway  ; 

Writing,  teaching,  vice  restraining, 
Guiding  in  the  better  way. 

— Allan. 


Schools. — The  next  thing  thought  of  after  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  church  was  the  school.     And  the 


purpose  was  not  so  exclusively  then,  as  it  now  is,  that 
the  youth  might  be  prepared  for  the  common  business 
transactions  of  life,  which  at  that  period  were  few 
and  of  limited  range.  It  embraced  also  the  higher 
motive  of  fixing  in  the  youthful  mind  the  principles 
of  moral  rectitude  and  religion.  Thus,  we  find  an 
enactment  of  the  General  Court  in  1647,  commenc- 
ing: "  It  being  one  chief  proiect  of  y' ould  deludor 
Satan,  to  keep  men  from  the  knowledge  of  y''  Scrip- 
tures, as  in  former  times  by  keeping  them  in  an  un- 
known tongue,  so  in  these  latter  times,  by  persuading 
from  y^  use  of  tongues,  y'  so  at  least  y^  true  sense  and 
meaning  of  y''  originall  might  be  clouded  by  false 
glosses  of  saint-seeming  deceivers,  y'  learning  may 
not  be  buried  in  y*^  grave  of  our  fathers  in  y*"  church 
and  commonwealth,  y'^  Lord  assisting  our  endeavors  : 
It  is  therefore  ordered  y'  every  township  in  this  juris- 
diction after  y''  Lord  hath  increased  them  to  y'^  num- 
ber of  50  householders,  shall  then  forthwith  appoint 
one  within  their  towne  to  teach  all  such  children  as 
shall  resort  to  him,  to  write  and  reade,"  &c.  .  .  "And 
it  is  further  ordered,  y'  where  any  towne  shall  in- 
crease to  y*  number  of  100  families,  or  householders, 
they  shall  set  up  a  grammar  schoole,  y"  master  thereof 
being  able  to  instruct  youth  so  farr  as  they  may  be 
fitted  for  y*^  university,  provided  y'  if  any  towne  ne- 
glect y®  2>erformance  hereof  above  one  yeare,  then 
every  such  towne  shall  pay  £5  to  y®  next  schoole  till 
they  shall  performe  this  order."  In  1654  the  court 
prohibited  the  teaching  of  schools  by  persons  of  "  un- 
sound doctrine."  Were  such  a  statute  now  in  force, 
the  first  difficulty  would  be  to  determine  what  is 
"unsound  doctrine." 

Many  of  the  first  teachers  were  of  the  clergy,  and 
it  need  not  be  remarked  that  they,  with  perhaps  a 
few  exceptions,  were  graduates  of  the  English  uni- 
versities, and  many  had  been  ministers  in  the  Church 
of  England.  Naturally  enough,  they  had  a  veneration 
for  classical  learning,  and  believed  in  the  superlative 
virtues  of  Greek  and  Latin.  But  there  was  little 
time  wasted  in  attempts  to  give  a  smattering  of  every 
kind  of  knowledge,  useless  as  well  as  useful,  as  has 
been  the  case  in  later  days.  There  were  few  books, 
but  the  deficiency  was  supplied  by  the  instructors  in 
various  quaint  ways,  by  brief  explanatory  talks,  by 
homely  and  ingenious  illustrations. 

The  first  action  of  Lynn  in  her  corporate  capacity 
in  relation  to  schools,  so  far  as  the  records  show,  was 
in  January,  1696,  when  it  is  recorded,  "  The  Select- 
men agreed  with  Mr.  (Abraham)  Normanton  to  be 
schoolmaster  for  the  town  for  said  year  ensuing,  and 
the  Town  is  to  give  him  five  pounds  for  his  labors, 
and  the  Town  is  to  pay  twenty-five  shillings  towards 
the  hire  of  Nathan  Newhall's  house  for  a  year  to  keep 
the  school  in,  and  that  said  Mr.  Normanton  hire  said 
house."  It  seems  as  if,  with  a  salary  of  five  pounds, 
the  town  might  have  provided  a  school-room  for  Mr. 
Normanton.  This,  however,  could  not  have  been  the 
first  opportunity  the  youth  of  a  town  had  to  gain  in- 


LYNN. 


273 


struction  ;  far  from  it.  And  it  will  be  observed  that 
the  court,  as  just  quoted,  does  not  require  that  in 
places  of  only  fifty  householders  there  shall  be  estab- 
lished a  school,  but  that  a  resident  shall  be  appointed 
to  "  teach  such  children  as  shall  resort  to  him,"  etc. 
It  was  when  a  place  had  increased  to  a  hundred  fam- 
ilies, that  they  were  to  "  set  up  a  grammar  schoole." 

The  early  records  of  Lynn  having  disappeared, 
there  seem  no  means  for  determining  when  the  youth 
were  first  gathered  for  instruction.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  Mr.  Whiting  and  Mr.  Cobbet,  the  early  ministers, 
took  pains  to  instruct  the  youth  of  their  day.  And 
Mr.  Lewis  remarks,  under  date  1687,  "  Mr.  Shepard 
kept  the  school  several  months  this  winter."  So  there 
must  then  have  been  an  established  school.  Many  of 
the  churches  had  a  "  teacher,"  so-called,  connected 
with  the  ministry.  The  word,  as  thus  ajjplied,  did 
not  then  have  the  same  significance  that  it  now  has, 
but  evidently  had  some  connection  with  secular  as 
well  as  religious  teaching.  Mr.  Cobbet,  who  was  col- 
league with  Mr.  Whiting,  was  called  "  teacher."  On 
the  6th  of  October,  1680,  when  Mr.  Shepard  was  or- 
dained pastor,  Mr.  Whiting'sson  Joseph  was  ordained 
teacher.  In  1718  Mr.  Shepard  being  out  of  health, 
the  selectmen  were  directed  to  employ  a  schoolmaster, 
and  in  their  selection  "  to  have  relation  to  some  help 
for  Mr.  Shepard  in  preaching."  On  the  town  records, 
under  date  December  21,  1691,  it  is  stated  that  at  a 
meeting  of  the  selectmen  ''  Mr.  Shepard,  with  his 
consent,  was  chosen  schoolmaster  for  the  year  ensu- 
ing." These  sufficiently  show  the  intimate  relation 
then  existing  between  the  clerical  office  and  teach- 
ing. 

In  1702  a  vote  was  passed  allowing  ten  pounds  for 
the  maintenance  of  a  grammar-master,  "  such  master 
to  have  over  and  above  the  said  ten  pounds  2  pence 
per  week  for  such  as  are  sent  to  read,  3  pence  per 
week  for  them  that  are  sent  to  write  and  cipher,  and 
six  pence  per  week  for  them  that  are  sent  to  learn 
Latin,  to  be  paid  by  parents  and  masters  that  send 
their  children  or  servants  to  learn  as  aforesaid."  A 
grammar-school  was  one  in  which  Latin  was  taught, 
English  grammar  not  being  in  use.  Arithmetic  was 
taught  by  the  instructor's  writing  sums  on  a  slate  ;  and 
reading  and  writing  were  taught  much  as  they  now 
are.  These  were  the  common  and  chief  studies. 
Spelling  was  allowed  to  range  loosely  about  the 
alphabet,  there  being  no  fixed  standard.  So  long  as 
the  letters  used  gave  the  right  sound  to  the  word  it 
was  sufficient;  and  some  of  their  words  look  queer 
enough  to  the  school-boy  of  this  day. 

It  appears,  that  for  the  convenience  of  the  different 
neighborhoods,  the  school  was  at  some  periods  a  sort 
of  ambulatory  institution,  being  at  one  time  located 
in  one  part  of  the  town  and  then  in  another — a  fact 
that  has  given  rise  to  the  supposition  that  there  were 
more  schools  than  really  existed.  For  instance,  in 
1720,  the  school  was  kept  in  Lynnfield,  in  Saugus, 
on  the  Common  and  at  Woodend.  John  Lewis  was 
18 


teacher  that  year;  but  he  was  very  soon  superseded, 
or  an  additional  school  was  established,  for  another 
master  soon  appears ;  and  it  is  not  probable  that  there 
were  two  teachers  to  the  same  movable  school.  The 
name  of  the  new  teacher  was  Samuel  Dexter,  and  he 
was  probably  a  descendant  from  Thomas  Dexter,  on  e 
of  the  most  enterprising  of  our  earlier  settlers,  as  he 
was  certainly  the  progenitor  of  several  eminent  per- 
sons. He  was  but  twenty  years  of  age  when  he  took 
the  school ;  was  a  son  of  Rev.  John  Dexter,  of  Maiden, 
and  a  graduate  of  Harvard.  He  subsequently  became 
minster  of  the  First  Church  of  Dedham.  He  says  in 
his  diary:  "Then  being  desirous,  if  it  might  be,  to 
live  nigher  my  friends,  by  y*  motion  of  some,  I  was 
invited  to  keep  y®  school  at  Lyn ;  w''fore,  quitting  my 
school  at  Taunton,  I  accepted  of  the  proffers  made  at 
Lyn,  and  Feb.  17,  1720-21,  I  began  my  school  at 
Lyn,  in  w"''  I  continued  a  year;  and  upon  y®  day  y' 
my  engagement  was  up  there  a  committee  from  Maldon 
came  to  treat  with  me  in  reference  to  Maldon  school , 
w'^''  proposalls  I  complyed  with  and  kepty''  school  for 
ab*  six  weeks,  and  then  was  mostly  to  the  present 
time,  [4  Dec.  1722]  improv'd  in  preaching." 

The  Friends,  or  Quakers,  established  a  school  in 
Lynn  in  1776  ;  and  in  1784,  after  considerable  oppo- 
sition, the  town  voted  to  grant  their  request  to  have  a 
portion  of  the  school-money  especially  approjiriated 
to  its  support.  The  annual  allowance  was  continued 
some  years.  Micajah  Collins  was  master  of  this 
school  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  ever  retaining 
the  respect  of  the  parents  and  affection  of  the  pupils  ; 
and  of  those  who  received  his  instructions  there  are  a 
few  yet  remaining  who  can  now  hardly  speak  of  him 
without  emotion.  He  was  born  in  1764,  of  Quaker 
parents,  received  a  fair  education,  and  was  an  ap- 
proved minister  of  the  Society  for  almost  forty  years. 
In  his  ministerial  capacity  he  traveled  much  and 
became  known  and  respected  in  many  parts  of  the 
United  States.  He  was  married,  but  left  no  issue. 
The  last  moments  of  his  life  are  represented  to  have 
displayed  in  a  marked  degree  the  true  characteristics  of 
the  dying  Christian.  Many  friends  and  neighbors  as- 
sembled around  his  bed,  and  in  kind  words  he  dealt 
to  them  admonitions  and  encouragements,  and  ex- 
pressed his  own  assurance  of  a  blessed  immortality. 
Then  he  took  each  individual  by  the  hand  and  bade 
all  an  aflTectionate  farewell.  Like  the  setting  of  a 
summer's  sun,  he  gently  passed  away,  without  a 
murmur  or  a  sigh.  He  died  on  the  30th  of  January, 
1827.  From  a  poetic  tribute  to  his  memory,  penned 
by  Rev.  Enoch  Mudge,  a  clerical  father  in  the  Meth- 
odist Church,  and  published  in  the  Newport,  R.  I., 
Mercury,  the  following  lines  are  extracted : 

"  In  temper  open,  amiable  and  mild, 
In  manners  simple,  trusting  as  a  child  ; 
He  to  the  youth  a  pleasing  pattern  gave. 
Of  access  easy,  pious,  cheerful,  grave; 
All  classes  felt  an  interest,  in  the  man, 
For  innocence  through  all  his  actions  ran. 
Long  as  an  able  minister  he  stood, 


274 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


And  spent  his  lengthened  life  in  doing  good  ; 
At  home,  abroad,  the  humble  Christian  shone, 
While  all  the  praise  he  gave  to  God  alone." 

To  the  Lynn  Trmiscript  of  December  24, 1886,  James 
A.  Breed  contributed  an  article  in  which  he  named 
twenty-two  persons  living  who  were  pupils  of  Mas- 
ter Collins,  fourteen  of  them  residents  of  Lynn. 
None  were  less  than  seventy-two  years  of  age,  and 
the  ages  of  five  ranged  from  eighty-five  to  ninety- 
three. 

Down  to  the  beginning  of  the  present  century 
hardly  any  girls  attended  the  public  schools.  There 
were  several  reasons  for  this.  One  was  that  their 
services  were  needed  at  home ;  another,  that  the 
studies  were  not  thought  necessary  for  their  sphere; 
and  a  third,  that  it  was  not  proper  to  have  boys 
and  girls  so  closely  associated— all  which  ideas  seem 
to  be  reversed  in  this  our  day.  Female  pupils  are 
first  spoken  of,  in  a  Lynn  school  report,  in  1817. 

It  would  be  tiresome  to  multiply  details  concerning 
the  early  schools.    Those  of  Lynn  maintained  a  credi- 
table standing.     The  people  were  poor,  and  during 
the  depressed  times  immediately  preceding  the  Revo- 
lution,   the    stormy    days    of    the    war,     and    the 
turbulent  period  immediately  succeeding,  the  cause 
of  education  was  permitted  to  languish.    But  the  vital 
fires  were  not  extinguished,  only  smouldering ;  and 
when  more  settled  times  were  reached,  they  revived 
with  renewed  activity.     Teaching  was  not  formerly 
reckoned   as    a   regular  profession,  but  was   usually 
undertaken  as  a  temporary  calling  by  students  pre- 
paring  for   other   vocations.      And    this,   no   doubt, 
sometimes    operated    unfavorably   for    the    schools. 
Such,  to  a  great  extent  was  the  case  in  Lynn,  till 
within  fifty  or  sixty  years.     Indeed,  the  wages  of  all 
the  teachers  here,  till  within  twenty-five  years,  were 
very  low,  and   they  were  compelled  to  resort  to  va- 
rious   expedients  to    make  both  ends  meet,  if  they 
were  blessed  with  families.    There  was  good  old  Mas- 
ter Blanchard,  who,  in  1811,  came  here  to  take  charge 
of  a  district  school,  bringing  with  him  in  the  lumber- 
ing old  carriage  his   ten   children,  and  finding  two 
others  added  to  the  number  in  due  time;  he  proba- 
bly never  had  a  salary  above  three  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars  a  year,  and  to  eke  out  was  compelled  to  keep 
little  private  evening  schools,  and  do  odd  jobs  as  ac- 
countant and  scrivener.     He  was  for  some  ten  years 
teacher  in  the  little  square  one-story  wooden  build- 
ing, with  hipped  roof,  that  stood  on  the  latitudinal 
centre  of  the  Common,  nearly  opposite  where  Com- 
mercial Street  now  opens,  its  diminutive  belfry,  un- 
occupied save  by  the  store  of  lost  bat-balls  which  had 
from  time  to  time  lodged  there,  giving  it  a  sort  of 
classical  aspect.     There  he  taught  reading,  spelling, 
defining,  writing,  ciphering,  a  little   grammar,  and 
those  now  too  often  neglected,  but  highly  desirable  ac- 
complishments,— good  manners,  correct   deportment 
and  respect  for  age. 

Master  Blanchard's  religious  principles  were  of  the 


old  Puritanical  order,  and  somewhat  rigid  at  that. 
And  the  church  probably  owed  much  to  his  deter- 
mined stand  and  urgency  that  it  did  not,  as  did  so 
many  other  churches  of  the  order,  about  that  time, 
swerve  to  the  so-called  "liberal"  laith.  He  ever 
made  it  a  part  of  his  duty  to  endeavor  to  train  the 
moral  as  well  as  the  intellectual  faculties  of  those 
under  his  charge,  as  many  of  the  generation  now 
nearly  passed  away  would  gratefully  attest.  He 
usually  devoted  an  hour  or  two  every  week  to  lectur- 
ing the  pupils  on  morals,  manners,  or  some  didactic 
subject,  closing  with  a  fervent  prayer. 

He  was  a  musician  of  much  taste  and  skill,  led  the 
singing  in  the  old  church  from  1811  to  1824,  and 
composed  one  or  two  psalm  tunes  which  long  con- 
tinued popular,  and  may  sometimes  now  be  heard. 
He  was  a  fifer  in  the  Revolutionary  army,  and  drew 
a  small  pension  which  did  its  part  to  help  along.  His 
musical  talents,  however,  were  never  exercised  in  the 
school-room,  for  artistic  music  was  not  then  thought 
a  necessary  accomplishment  for  those  who  were 
chiefly  destined  for  the  shoemaker's  seat  or  the  farm. 
The  village  singing-school  aftbrded  opportunity  for 
those  whose  musical  aspirations  could  not  find  ade- 
quate expression  in  the  natural  form  of  whistling. 

Yet  Master  Blanchard  was  not  a  pronounced  char- 
acter, as  the  world  goes,  and  it  seemed  singular  to 
many  that  he  should  have  had  the  influence  he  did. 
Some  called  him  "non-committal"' or  "time-serving." 
His  influence  probably  lay  in  his  stern  morals,  his 
intelligence  and  genial  manners.  He  was  interest- 
ing in  conversation,  but  usually  grave  and  little  given 
to  humorous  turns.  He  died  on  the  2oth  of  May, 
1842,  aged  seventy-eight  years. 

The  Lynn  Academy,  a  private  institution,  was 
opened  in  1805,  and  had  some  days  of  prosperity,  but 
more  that  were  otherwise.  Its  beneficial  influence, 
however,  was  marked,  several  of  its  preceptors  being 
men  of  excellent  acquirements  and  high  character. 
It  continued  till  superseded  by  the  High  School  in 
1849. 

Having  said  thus  much  of  the  old  schools  and 
school-teachers,  a  word  about  the  school-houses  may 
be  appropriate.  Till  within  fifty  years  the  Lynn 
school-houses  were  quite  unseemly  in  external  ap- 
pearance and  void  of  internal  conveniences ;  yes,  they 
were  shabby.  And  such  was  the  case  in  most  places, 
excepting  a  few  of  the  richer  and  more  pretentious. 
Mr.  Everett's  picturesque  conception  of  the  tasty 
red-top  school-house  nestling  so  cosily  and  signifi- 
cantly at  the  cross-roads  was  ideal,  for  paint  was 
grudgingly  applied  without,  and  within  would  usually 
be  found  dirty  floors,  hacked  benches  and  wad- 
decorated  walls.  In  Lynn  we  could  boast  of  hardly 
anything  shapely,  to  say  nothing  of  the  grand  or 
beautiful,  till  1848,  in  which  year  the  commodious 
wooden  structures  on  Franklin  and  Centre  Streets 
were  erected  and  supplied  with  such  modern  appli- 
ances as  placed  them  among  the  best  in  the  vicinity. 


LYNN. 


275 


And  since  then  the  erection  of  such  stately  structures 
as  the  Gobbet,  on  Franklin  Street,  and  the  Ingalls,  on 
Essex,  in  1872,  evince  the  zeal  of  our  people  in  the 
cause  of  common  education.  There  are  one  or  two  of 
the  old  school- houses  yet  in  existence,  and  a  com- 
parison of  them  with  those  just  named  is  well 
calculated  to  astonish  not  only  for  the  evidence  of 
immeasurable  architectural  advance,  but  also,  per- 
haps, for  the  progress  in  extravagance.  But  the  com- 
parison must  end  there,  for  no  such  inequality  exists 
between  the  teachers  of  old  and  their  modern  suc- 
cessors. And  let  us  ever  bear  in  mind  that  the 
grandest  school-houses  do  not  always  insure  the  best 
teachers  or  turn  out  the  best  scholars. 

Our  present  High  School  was  commenced  in  May, 
1849,  in  the  wooden  structure  then  standing  on  the 
west  side  of  Franklin  Street,  where  the  Gobbet  school- 
house  now  stands.  Jacob  Batchelder,  who  had  for 
fourteen  years  been  preceptor  of  the  old  Academy,  was 
the  first  teacher.  The  present  High  School  house, 
near  Highland  Square,  was  completed  in  1851,  and 
the  school  was  immediately  quartered  there.  It  has 
enjoyed  almost  uninterrupted  prosperity,  and  its 
teachers  have  been  uniformly  learned  and  skillful. 

Alonzo  Lewis,  the  poet  and  historian,  was  a  teacher 
herein  Lynn,  his  native  place,  for  many  years;  and 
it  is  not  easy  to  determine  whether,  in  the  vigor  of 
life,  he  prided  himself  most  as  a  poet,  historian  or 
schoolmaster.  One  of  his  longest  poems, is  entitled 
"  The  Schoolmaster."  It  comprises  nearly  seven  hun- 
dred lines,  and  flows  on  from  beginning  to  end  in  his 
usual  melodious  style.  On  the  opening  page  appear 
these  lines: 

I  sing  the  Teacher's  care,  his  dally  pains. 

The  hope  that  lifts  him  aud  tlie  taslv  that  chains  ; 

His  anxious  toil  to  raise  tlie  gentle  mind, 

His  skillto  clear  the  jMith  for  youth  designed, 

His  faithful  watch  o'er  life's  expanding  ray, 

To  guide  young  genius  up  Improvement's  way. 

And  further  on  are  these  : 

The  Teacher's  lot  is  filled  with  pain  and  care 

Which  but  devoted  hearts  are  fit  to  bear. 

His  rank  aud  worth  in  freedom's  cause  are  great, 

Surpassed  by  few  that  bless  the  public  state. 

His  is  the  task  to  fit  the  youthful  mind 

Tor  all  the  stations  by  its  God  designed. 

There  are  many  beautiful  passages  in  this  poem, 
though  some  critics  have  thought  that  as  a  whole  it 
falls  short  of  one  or  two  others  in  his  volumes.  It 
would  be  pleasing  to  quote  a  number  of  passages  did 
the  scope  of  this  sketch  permit ;  but  we  may  venture 
to  give  a  short  selection  or  two  as  specimens  of  the 
emanations  from  that  gifted  mind,  which  so  uniformly 
indicate  reverence  for  learning  and  love  of  virtue  : 

"Some shade  of  woe  o'er  every  lot  is  thrown  ; 
Some  secret  pain  each  human  heart  must  own. 
Yet,  sous  of  learning  !  it  is  yours  to  rise 
Above  earth's  ills,  to  seek  your  native  skies. 
There,  with  congenial  stars  your  worth  shall  shine, 
And  form  a  galaxy  of  rays  divine  ! 
And  though  awhile  outshone  by  some  bright  sun, 


Yet  still  ye  glow  when  his  clear  course  is  run. 

As  yonder  splendid  cone  of  torrid  light 

Gleams  with  rich  lustre  on  the  dome  of  night, 

And  marks  the  path  where  day's  bright  orb  has  past, 

So  hallowed  genius  !  shall  thy  memory  cast 

Its  pure  effulgence  o'er  the  shade  of  mind, 

To  light  the  path  for  future  worth  designed. 

Here  the  glad  muse  her  tribute  pays  to  thee, 

Taylor,  thou  Shakspeare  of  divinity  ! 

From  humblest  scenes  thy  genius  bade  thee  soar, 

The  brightest  I'calms  of  virtue  to  explore. 

Raised  from  the  teacher's  to  the  bishop's  chair 

Life's  purest  honors  waited  on  thee  there  ; 

And  youth  and  age,  by  thy  instructions  blest, 

Enshrined  with  teare  thy  everlasting  rest." 

And  again  : 

"  Ye,  who  the  pages  of  romance  have  scanned, 
And  think  to  find  such  at  the  poet's  hand  ; 
Know  that  refinement  springs  from  lofty  thought, 
That  life's  best  pleasures  are  by  virtue  brought ; 
That  warmth  of  heart  and  excellence  of  mind 
Are  in  devotion's  sacred  charm  combined  ; 
This  is  the  joy  that  bows  to  heaven's  control, 
This  the  exalted  pure  romance  of  soul." 

Mr.  Lewis  gained  much  commendation  by  his 
"  History  of  Lynn."  But  it  was  not  voluminous,  em- 
bracing but  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  octavo  pages  ; 
yet  it  was  so  condensed  as  to  contain  much  more 
than  its  proportions  would  seem  to  allow;  and,  unlike 
most  works  of  any  kind,  appeared,  in  the  mind  of  the 
reader  as  he  proceeded,  to  expand  and  shed  more  and 
more  light.  It  has  been  said  that  historical  works  are 
always  interesting.  But  there  is  an  immeasurable 
difference  in  the  degrees  of  interest.  Minute  details 
often  weary,  and  yet  they  often  possess  a  wonderful 
charm.  Their  success  depends  upon  the  judgment 
with  which  they  are  interwoven.  Mr.  Lewis's  details 
are  never  wearying.  And  he  had  a  happy  faculty  of 
introducing  reflections  and  illustrations  that  opened 
extensive  fields  of  useful  thought — a  faculty  of  inesti- 
mable value  in  any  writer, 

Mr.  Lewis  took  great  interest  in  the  prosperity  of 
his  native  place, — judging  by  results,  much  greater 
than  he  took  in  his  own  individual  advancement, — and 
did  many  good  things  that  otherwise  might  have 
long  remained  undone.  The  construction  of  the  road 
to  Nahant,  along  the  harbor  side  of  the  beach,  was  an 
enterprise  carried  through  in  a  great  measure  by  his 
exertions.  For  the  light-house  on  Egg  Rock  we  are, 
perhaps,  indebted  to  him  more  than  to  any  other  in- 
dividual. The  names  of  old  streets  were  suggested  by 
him,  and  so  were  the  names  of  most  of  the  ponds  and 
the  romantic  and  picturesque  places  and  objects  about 
the  woods  and  along  the  shores.  The  city  seal  was 
drawn  by  him  ;  and,  in  short,  we  owe  a  debt  of  grati- 
tude to  him  for  an  almost  countless  number  of  useful 
labors  and  usefill  suggestions.  In  the  mere  profession 
of  teaching,  no  doubt,  there  have  been  a  number  here 
who  would  rank  as  the  superiors  of  Mr.  Lewis,  but  it 
may  be  questioned  if  there  has  been  one  who,  on  the 
whole,  has  added  more  to  the  prosperity  or  done 
more  to  promote  the  refinement  and  elevation  of  our 
people.      He   was   born   in   the   neat    little  cottage 


276 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


still  standing  on  the  north  side  of  Boston  Street, 
nearly  opposite  Bridge,  on  the  28tli  of  August,  1794. 
He  obtained,  chiefly  by  his  own  exertions,  a  very 
good  education,  though  he  was  not  a  college  graduate. 
His  poetic  talents  were  early  developed,  the  first  vol- 
ume of  his  poems  appearing  in  1823.  Another  and 
enlarged  addition  appeared  in  1831.  But  the  largest 
collection  was  issued  after  his  decease,  in  1882,  in  a 
handsome  volume  edited  by  his  son  Ion,  and  formed 
a  graceful  tribute  to  his  memory.  The  first  edition  of 
the  "History  of  Lynn,"  by  Mr.  Lewis,  was  published 
in  1829,  in  four  numbers;  the  next  edition  was  is- 
sued in  1844,  in  the  form  of  an  octavo  of  two  hundred 
and  seventy-eight  pages.  In  1865,  four  years  after 
his  decease,  a  new  edition  appeared,  enlarged  by 
newly-discovered  matter,  and  with  the  annals  brought 
down  to  the  time  of  publication,  by  the  writer  of  this 
sketch.  He  died  in  his  picturesque  little  cottage  at 
the  seaside,  on  Beach  Street,  on  the  21st  of  January, 
1861. 

At  the  present  time  the  female  teachers  of  our 
public  schools  far  outnumber  those  of  the  other  sex  ; 
and  it  is  well  that  it  is  so,  for  their  influence  on  the 
young  minds  committed  to  their  charge,  in  the  lower 
schools  especially,  has  unquestionably  a  most  ben- 
eficial effect.  But  a  glamour  surrounds  the  mistress 
of  old,  of  which  she  of  our  day  is  divested,  distance 
of  time  lending  its  enchantment.     Says  Shenstone  : 

"  Her  cap,  far  whiter  than  the  driven  snow, 
Emblem  right  meet  of  decency  does  yield  : 

Her  apron  dy'd  in  grain,  as  blue,  I  trowe, 
As  is  the  harebell  that  adorns  the  field  : 

And  in  her  band,  for  sceptre,  she  does  wield 
Tway  birchen  sprays."    .    .    . 

"  Albeit  ne  flattery  did  corrupt  her  truth, 
Ne  pompus  title  did  debauch  her  ear  ; 
Goody,  good-woman,  gossip  n'aunt  forsooth, 
Or  dame,  the  sole  additions  she  did  hear ; 
Yet  these  she  challeng'd,  these  she  held  right  dear." 

And  the  poet's  graphic  delineation  has  other  win- 
ning touches : 

"  One  ancient  hen  she  took  delight  to  feed. 

The  plodding  pattern  of  the  busy  dame  ; 
Which  ever  and  anon,  impell'd  by  need. 

Into  her  school,  begirt  with  chickens  came  ; 
Such  favor  did  her  past  deportment  claim  ; 

And  if  neglect  had  lavish'd  on  the  ground 
Fragment  of  bread,  she  would  collect  the  same  ; 

For  well  she  knew,  and  quaintly  could  expound. 
What  sin  it  were  to  waste  the  smallest  crumb  she  found." 

There  was  worthy  "  Madame  Breed,"  who  long 
taught  her  little  school  on  Water  Hill,  her  frilled  cap 
without  a  stain,  and  her  manners  as  stately  as  if  she 
were  a  queen.  Some  of  our  "best  people"  of  the 
present  day  can  trace  their  pedigree  to  her.  She  was 
mother  of  Andrews  Breed,  so  long  landlord  of  Lynn 
Hotel,  in  the  days  of  its  greatest  glory,  and  grand- 
mother of  our  fifth  mavor. 

As  to  the  condition  and  comparative  usefulness  of 
our  present  schools,  there  have  been  more  or  less  de- 
rogatory whisperings;    not  so  much  touching  their 


management  as  the  course  of  study;  but  as  that  is  to 
a  considerable  extent  prescribed  by  law,  it  is  so  far 
beyond  the  regulation  of  those  in  whose  hands  the 
educational  interests  are  more  immediately  placed. 
The  boast  that  these  primary  seats  of  learning  are 
now  far  superior  to  any  heretofore  known  is  often 
heard.  But  the  important  question  is:  Are  they 
superior  in  adaptation  to  existing  wants  ?  The  law  re- 
quires instruction  in  "orthography,  reading,  writing, 
English  grammar,  geography,  arithmetic,  drawing, 
the  history  of  the  United  States  and  good  behaviour." 
It  is  highly  probable  that  if  each  town  could  have  its 
own  way,  or,  in  modern  phrase,  were  "  local  option  " 
permissible,  this  simple  curriculum  would  in  many 
places  be  changed,  as  the  common  pursuits  in  diff'er- 
ent  localities  greatly  vary,  rendering  some  studies 
much  more  desirable  than  others.  Of  course,  each 
town  must  know  its  own  wants.  As  a  general  re- 
quirement, however,  perhaps  the  present  could  not  be 
much  improved.  And  the  same  may  be  said  of  high 
school  studies,  as  there,  in  addition  to  those  named, 
it  is  required  that  "general  history,  book-keeping, 
surveying,  geometry,  natural  philosophy,  chemistry, 
botany,  the  civil  polity  of  the  Commonwealth  and  of 
the  United  States,  and  the  I^atin  language  "  be  taught. 

But  the  law  does  not  end  with  the  above  require- 
ments. It  opens  a  wide,  permissive  door  through 
which  numerous  other  studies,  some  of  questionable 
utility,  may  and  do  intrude  where  the  authorities  allow 
or  direct.  It  is  here  that  danger  lies,  for  some  that 
were  better  kept  out  will  occasionally,  by  mysterious 
influences,  find  their  way  in  ;  some,  to  say  the  least, 
as  useless  as  necromancy.  Great  responsibility  rests 
on  school  committees,  and  it  is  agreeable  to  be  able  to 
testify  that  Lynn  has  usually  been  fortunate  in  se- 
curing those  who  had  a  due  sense  of  their  responsi- 
bility and  intelligence  and  energy  sufficient  to  execute 
their  great  trust  in  a  way  most  conducive  to  the  best 
interests  of  the  people. 

In  former  years  such  studies  were  pursued  as  best 
prepared  the  pupil  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the 
position  he  was  in  homely  honesty  expected  to  occupy 
in  after-life ;  not  such  a  position  as  imaginative  pa- 
rental affection  might  picture.  There  is  so  much 
knowledge  the  possession  of  which  is  sure  to  add  to 
our  well-being  that  it  seems  unwise  to  occupy  our- 
selves in  efforts  to  gain  that  which  is  of  doubtful 
utility.  It  has  been  said  that  all  knowledge  is  use- 
ful, but  most  certainly  all  knowledge  is  not  equally 
so.  No  one  can  learn  everything,  life  not  being  long 
enough  for  that,  and  hence  is  it  not  the  part  of  wis- 
dom to  learn  as  thoroughly  as  may  be  that  which  is 
indispensable  or  sure  to  be  most  useful  ?  There  is  an 
old  maxim  that  speaks  of  the  jack-at-all-trades  being 
good  at  none,  and  why  not  apply  the  suggestion  to 
the  departments  of  learning? 

Are  we  not  more  prone  to  theorize  than  our  practi- 
cal fathers  were?  more  charmed  with  the  ideal? 
But  it  may  be  a.sked,  Is  not  the  mind  more  fully  de- 


LYNN. 


277 


veloped  and  strengthened,  better  disciplined  and 
polished,  through  these  modern  requirements  ;  are  not 
more  extensive,  beautiful  and  ennobling  avenues  of 
thought  opened  through  such  means  ?  This  is  a 
point  for  the  wisest  to  discuss,  and  when  they  have 
determined  it  they  will  do  well  to  let  the  world  know 
the  result. 

The  annual  reports  of  our  school  committees  are 
full  and  perspicuous,  and  it  seems  as  if  no  citizen  need 
be  in  ignorance  of  the  condition  of  every  school,  nor 
of  the  ever-growing  wants  of  our  whole  educational 
system. 

The  following  summaries  will  perhaps  give  as  much 
statistical  information  concerning  our  present 
schools  as  may  be  thought  necessary.  They  are  for 
1886. 

Number  of  Schools. — 1  High  School,  7  grammar 
schools,  66  prmiary  schools,  2  evening  schools,  1  even- 
ing drawing  school. 

Teachers. — Whole  number  of  teachers  in  day 
schools,  including  music  teacher,  drawing  teacher  and 
teacher  of  elocution,  141 ;  number  of  teachers  in  even- 
ing schools,  45  ;  number  of  teachers  in  evening  draw- 
ing school,  4 ;  in  High  School,  5  male  and  6  female 
teachers  ;  in  grammar  schools,  4  male,  63  female ; 
principals'  assistants,  5  ;  teachers  in  primary  schools, 
66. 

Pupils. — Average  whole  number  of  pupils  belong- 
ing to  all  the  day  schools,  6415  ;  average  daily  attend- 
ance of  pupils  in  all  the  day  schools,  5614;  average 
number  of  pupils  to  a  regular  teacher  in  High 
School,  29;  average  number  of  pupils  to  a  teacher  in 
grammar  schools,  42  ;  average  number  of  pupils  to  a 
teacher  in  primary  schools,  53  ;  average  attendance  of 
pupils  in  evening  schools,  321 ;  average  attendance  of 
pupils  in  evening  drawing  school,  116  ;  High  School 
graduates,  June,  1886,  28. 

Cost  of  Support  of  Schools. — For  such  as  are  accus- 
tomed to  estimate  the  value  of  things  moral  and  intel- 
lectual, as  well  as  material,  on  a  pecuniary  basis,  it 
may  be  stated,  in  brief,  that  the  actual  expenditure 
from  the  city  treasury  for  the  support  of  the  public 
schools  in  1886  was  $126,905.85,  which  included,  for 
teachers'  salaries,  $82,096.37,  and  for  each  pupil  be- 
tween five  and  fifteen  years,  $16.86.  The  relative 
cost  of  the  schools  may  be  seen  from  the  fact  that  the 
total  expenditures  of  the  city  for  the  year  were 
$1,014,617.80. 

Libraries. — As  auxiliaries  in  the  cause  of  educa- 
tion, our  libraries  ^hould  be  named  .  The  first  in- 
corporated institution  of  the  kind  in  Lynn  appears  to 
have  been  the  "  Social  Library,"  which  was  estab- 
lished in  1819,  though  before  that  there  were  one  or 
two  collections  of  books  to  which  the  public  gener- 
ally had  acce.ss ;  one  especially,  of  considerable  value, 
though  limited  in  the  number  of  volumes,  near  the 
close  of  the  last  century,  in  charge  of  Rev.  Mr. 
Thatcher,  of  the  First  Church.  The  "Social  Li- 
brary "  was  a  useful  institution  and  continued  some 


thirty  years  under  its  original  organization,  and  then 
was  united  to  the  small  collection  of  the  Natural  His- 
tory Society.  Its  number  of  volumes  seems  never  to 
have  exceeded  1500.  In  1855  the  "Lynn  Library 
Association  ''  was  incorporated  and  became  custodian 
of  the  united  collection,  then  numbering  about  2000 
volumes. 

In  1862  the  "  Lynn  Free  Public  Library  "  was  es- 
tablished, receiving  the  books  of  the  Library  Associ- 
ation, with  such  additions  from  other  sources  as 
raised  the  number  of  volumes  to  4100.  Thus  began 
the  notable  Lynn  Public  Library,  the  usefulness  of 
which  is  too  well  understood  to  need  much  remark 
here.  The  city  year  by  year  makes  liberal  appropri- 
ations for  its  support  and  increase,  and  has  been  for- 
tunate in  the  selection  of  those  who  take  special 
charge  of  its  interests. 

There  has  been  a  steady  increase  in  the  number  of 
volumes  of  the  Public  Library,  and  at  the  close  of 
1885  there  were  34,411  bound  volumes  and  4486 
pamphlets.  The  number  of  deliveries  during  the  year 
1885  was  85,355,  and  the  largest  number  taken  out  in 
one  day  during  the  year  was  on  Saturday,  January  31st, 
when  951  were  delivered.  Receipts  for  the  year, 
$6994.25  ;  expenditures,  $6974.27.  Whole  number  of 
books  jiurchased  during  the  year,  888,  including  of 
religious  works,  28 ;  scientific,  61;  biographical,  79; 
historical,  134;  prose  fiction,  219. 

Of  course  there  were,  all  along,  as  the  town  grew, 
small  circulating  libraries  in  the  different  neighbor- 
hoods, and  limited  collections  belonging  to  societies 
and  clubs.  These,  together  with  those  of  the  religious 
societies,  furnished  probably  more  good  reading  than 
was  availed  of  in  those  industrious  times.  Charles  F. 
Lummus,  the  first  printer,  for  instance,  had  a  collec- 
tion of  two  or  three  hundred  volumes  in  connection 
with  his  oflSce,  which  he  called  the  Redwood  Li- 
brary. 

There  have  not  been  many  large  donations  to  our 
Public  Library  as  yet,  though  from  time  to  time  books 
and  other  appropriate  contributions  have  been  made. 
In  this  respect  Lynn  has  been  less  fortunate  than 
maoy  other  places.  But  there  was  one  opportune 
legacy  which  will  not  be  forgotten — that  of  $10,000 
from  Sidney  B.  Pratt.  Mr.  Pratt  Avas  born  on  the 
14th  of  May,  1814,  and  died  on  the  29th  of  January, 
1869,  never  having  been  married.  He  was  unassum- 
ing in  manners,  liberal  in  ideas,  diligent  in  business. 
Soon  after  the  opening  of  the  Eastern  Railroad,  in 
1839,  he  commenced  the  express  business,  in  a  small 
way,  which,  by  his  promptness,  activity  and  faithful- 
ness, grew  apace  into  large  proportions,  and  finally, 
under  the  name  of  "Pratt  and  Babb's  Express,"  be- 
came one  of  the  leading  lines  in  the  vicinity.  The 
public  estimation  of  him  was  indicated  by  the  attend- 
ance at  his  funeral,  which  took  place  from  the  Friends' 
meeting-house,  of  the  mayor  and  other  members  of 
the  city  government,  and  a  large  concourse  of  busi- 
ness  citizens.     The  donation  to  the  library  was  by 


278 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


will.     A  good  likeness  of  him  is  to  be  seen  in  the 
Public  Library. 

Another  liberal  bequest  to  the  Public  Library  was 
made  by  Lyman  F.  Chase,  who  died  January  3,  1885. 
This  gift  was  $5000.  Mr.  Chase  was  a  native  of 
Lynn,  and  much  respected  as  a  young  business  man, 
his  age  at  the  time  of  his  decease  being  forty-three. 

Newspapers. — There  was  no  newspaper  published 
in  Lynn  till  1825.  It  was  on  the  3d  of  September  of 
that  year  that  the  Weekly  Mirror,  under  the  proprie- 
torship of  Charles  Frederic  Lummus,  made  its  first 
appearance.  And,  as  this  was  an  event  of  marked 
importance  in  our  history,  something  more  than  or- 
dinary notice  may  surely  be  proper,  both  of  the  paper 
and  its  proprietor. 

The  appearance  of  the  Mirror  certainly  was  not 
brilliant,  either  mechanically  or  editorially.  There 
were  but  nineteen  lines  of  editorial  matter  in  the 
whole  paper.  And  there  was  no  greeting  to  the  pub- 
lic, nor  allusion,  in  any  shape,  to  the  prospects,  plans, 
or  expectations  of  the  publisher.  An  original  tale 
occupied  five  of  the  little  columns,  and  an  original 
poem  filled  another.  Mr.  Lewis  probably  wrote 
both  of  these.  Three  or  four  advertisements  aj^peared 
on  the  third  page ;  and  the  rest  of  the  paper  was  made 
up  of  news  items  and  short  extracts.  The  four  pages 
of  the  sheet — that  is  the  printed  part — were  each  a 
fraction  less  than  nine  inches  by  eleven  in  size;  the 
type  was  much  worn,  the  ink  poor,  the  paper  coarse 
and  dingy.  The  size  of  the  type  was  long  primer, 
exceptini;  about  one  column  of  brevier  and  two  of 
pica.  And,  on  the  whole,  the  expectant  public  can 
hardly  be  charged  with  undue  fastidiousness  for  fail- 
ing to  bestow  very  high  encomiums  on  this  new-born 
child  of  the  press.  Mr.  Lummus  told  the  writer, 
among  other  things,  while  recounting  the  experiences 
of  that  eventful  period,  that  he  sent  a  copy  to  the 
Neiv  England  Galaxy,  then  under  the  charge  of  Mr. 
Buckingham,  requesting  an  exchange,  but  received 
his  own  back,  with  the  second  E  in  the  word  Week- 
ly changed  to  an  A.  The  fifth  number  appeared  in 
a  somewhat  enlarged  foraj.  The  same  width  of  col- 
umn was  preserved,  but  some  five  inches  were  added 
to  the  length,  making  a  paper  of  much  better  shape. 
But  this  was  done  without  boasting  or  any  flourish  of 
trumpets.  There  was  not  a  line  of  editorial  on  the  sub- 
ject; norwasthere,  indeed,  a  line  on  any  subject,  in  that 
number.  Two  of  the  columns  were  in  pica ;  and  the  use 
of  that  large  type  was  continued,  to  some  extent,  for 
a  long  time,  he,  the  publisher,  taking  all  suitable  op- 
portunities to  gravely  assure  his  readers  that  it  was 
for  the  benefit  of  the  aged  people,  whose  eyes  were 
dim;  and  many  thanks  did  he  receive  for  his  kind- 
ness. The  Mirror  was  first  printed  in  a  small  wooden 
building,  on  the  west  side  of  Mai'ket  Street,  just 
where  Tremont  Street  now  opens.  But  in  four  or  five 
years  the  office  was  removed  to  another  small  building, 
at  the  west  end  of  the  Common,  the  most  active  busi- 
ness of  the  town  at  that  time  being  centred  there. 


For  a  considerable  time  the  3Iirror  could  boast  of 
but  little  in  quantity,  in  an  editorial  way,  though 
what  there  was,  was  very  good  in  quality ;  and  it 
soon  became  a  very  readable  paper,  for,  as  the  proprie- 
tor gathered  confidence  and  became  more  experienced, 
he  displayed  most  excellent  taste  and  judgment  in 
his  selections.  He  had  an  open  eye  for  the  substan- 
tial and  useful  as  well  as  the  exciting  and  entertain- 
ing, and  was  diligent  in  looking  up  matters  of  local 
interest.  And  his  brief  remarks  were  often  strikingly 
comprehensive.  He  seldom  attempted  an  article 
more  than  a  square  or  two  in  length,  and  was  never 
guilty  of  spreading  over  half  a  column  what  might 
just  as  well  be  expressed  in  twenty  lines. 

Mr.  Lummus  was  very  social  in  his  disposition ;  was 
acquainted  with  everybody;  was  an  accomplished  mu- 
sician, and  something  of  a  military  man.  He  likewise 
interested  himself  in  political  affairs,  but  was  too 
honest  to  gain  a  reputation  for  stability  as  a  partisan. 
In  all  intellectual  and  recreative  enterprises,  from 
the  dignified  lyceum  to  the  jovial  chowder  party,  he 
was  ready  and  active,  and  hence  frequently  found 
himself  in  a  situation  where  he  was  able  to  pick  up 
matter  for  useful  or  amusing  "  squizzles,"  as  he  termed 
his  short  articles.  And  he  was  able  in  a  short  time 
to  gather  around  him  quite  a  number  of  very  accept- 
able correspondents. 

Mr.  Lummus  earned  for  himself  the  popular  nick- 
name of  "  Philosojjher  "  in  a  rather  amusing  manner. 
Lawyer  Gates  being  in  the  office  one  day,  abruptly 
inquired,  "Charles,  what  does  the  F.  in  your  name 
stand  for?"  "Philosopher,"  was  the  instantaneous 
response.  The  ready  wit  so  struck  the  old  gen- 
tleman that  he  at  once  gave  currency  to  the  self-be- 
stowed sobriquet. 

He  had  a  strange  propensity  to  frequently  change 
the  appearance  of  his  paper.  Every  little  while  his 
sheet  would  appear,  perhaps  with  a  new  head,  a  dif- 
ferent width  of  column,  or  some  fancil'ul  display  of  or- 
namental type.  His  means  were  limited,  and  his 
office  but  poorly  supplied  with  materials.  An  an- 
cient Ramage  press,  which  looked  as  if  Franklin 
might  have  worked  at  it,  a  small  font  of  second- 
hand long  primer,  a  little  brevier,  and  a  very  few  lit- 
tle fonts  of  small  ornamental  letter,  with  a  case  of 
pica  and  a  few  pounds  of  great  primer,  were  almost 
everything  he  had.  His  three  stands  were  so  aged  as 
to  totter  on  their  legs,  and  his  galleys  were  warped  or 
cracked.  The  only  large  type  in  the  office  for  years 
were  two  or  three  alphabets  of  four-line  pica  an- 
tique capitals,  which  served  for  the  heading  of  hand- 
bills, and  at  one  time  for  the  heading  of  his 
paper.  With  such  a  fitting  out,  he  could  not,  of 
course,  be  expected  to  turn  out  any  very  elegant 
specimens  of  the  art.  But  at  that  time  such  displays 
in  job  printing  as  are  now  made  were  not  thought  of. 
In  March,  1832,  the  writer  purchased  his  whole  es- 
tablishment for  two  hundred  dollars,  paying  quite  as 
much  as  it  was  worth.    He  had,  however,  in  the  mean 


LYNN. 


279 


time  procured  a  small  font  of  new  long  primer,  and 
sent  off'  the  old  press,  hiring  a  small  iron  one. 

As  to  the  success  of  the  Mirror,  it  may  in  brief  be 
stated  that  small  returns  rewarded  hard  labor.  The 
number  of  subscribers  was  about  four  hundred — 
sometimes  running  a  little  below,  but  seldom  above.  ' 
The  amount  of  work  in  the  office — jobs,  newspaper 
and  all — could  be  done  by  the  publisher  and  one 
hand.  But  at  first,  in  a  corner  of  his  office,  and  after- 
ward in  a  separate  room,  Mr.  Lummus  kept  a  shop 
with  a  small  stock  of  stationery  and  fancy  articles, 
such  as  are  usually  sold  in  a  country  book-store.  A 
few  musical  instruments  likewise  formed  a  part  of  his 
stock,  and  he  would  frequently,  in  times  of  the  great- 
est hurry,  abruptly  drop  his  composing  stick  to  per 
form  a  solo  on  one  of  them,  much  to  the  discomfiture 
of  his  journeyman.  Indeed  he  did  not  possess  quite 
so  strong  an  attachment  for  manual  labor  as  for  some 
other  pursuits.  He  was  fond  of  considering  the  mat- 
ter in  a  philosophical  way,  and  would  sometimes  re- 
mark, "  Well,  I  guess  I  won't  work  too  hard  to-day,  lest 
I  should  have  nothing  to  do  to-morrow,"  which  remark 
was  the  sure  precursor  of  a  ride,  a  walk  or  an  interval 
of  repose  over  a  book.  There  was  a  vein  of  humor, 
without  the  sting  of  sarcasm,  running  through  his  con- 
versation, and  he  much  loved  a  harmless  practical  joke. 

He  had  an  original  way  of  ridding  himself  of  idlers 
and  such  disagreeable  company  as  quartered  in  his 
office:  it  was,  to  immediately  set  them  at  some  dis- 
agreeable work.  No  matter  who  the  individual  might 
be,  old  or  young,  high  or  low,  he  would  be  called  to 
go  for  a  pail  of  water,  sweep  the  floor,  or  perform 
some  other  equally  dignified  service,  a  plausible  ex- 
cuse always  accompanying  the  request ;  and  when  one 
thing  was  done  another  was  ready  to  be  commenced 
on,  until  the  victim  was  wearied  out.  A  gentleman 
of  the  first  respectability  was  once  seen  rolling  at  the 
press  with  a  liHud-roller,  his  clothes,  hands  and 
sweaty  brow  all  bedaubed  with  ink,  while  Mr.  Lum- 
mus was  pulling  on  with  all  possible  speed,  to  pre- 
vent any  opportunity  for  rest,  his  countenance  wear- 
ing the  gravity  of  a  sphinx.  His  financial  ability 
was  not  of  a  high  order,  and  he  was,  moreover,  of 
quite  a  liberal  turn.  So  it  is  hardly  probable  that 
had  his  income  been  ever  so  great  he  would  have  be- 
come rich.  He  would  occasionally  hire  a  horse  and 
wagon,  and  occupy  perhaps  half  a  day  in  going  to 
Salem  to  procure  two  reams  of  paper.  The  writer 
was  informed  by  a  neighbor  of  his  that  he  called  at 
his  place  one  forenoon,  urging  him,  in  great  haste,  to 
ride  with  him  to  Boston,  whither  he  was  bound,  in  a 
chaise,  alone.  It  being  a  pleasant  day,  the  invitation 
was  accepted.  On  reaching  the  city  he  drove  di- 
rectly to  a  famous  restaurant,  and  called  for  some  fa- 
vorite viand,  which  was  speedily  before  them.  As 
soon  as  the  meal  was  disposed  of,  Mr.  Lummus 
arose,  and,  with  an  air  of  great  satisfaction  patting 
the  natural  receptacle  of  all  good  dinners,  informed 
his  friend  that  he  was  ready  to  start  for  home. 


In  the  matter  of  dress  Mr.  Lummus  was  far  from 
being  a  successful  imitator  of  Brummel,  though  he  was 
always  decently  clad.  The  exterior  habiliments,  how- 
ever, were  not  usually  in  exact  keeping  with  the  in- 
terior ;  for  sometimes  within  his  muddy  and  ungainly 
cow-hide  boots  he  wore  delicate  silk  stockings.  And 
beneath  his  shaggy  coat,  of  dingy-white  and  ancient 
fashion,  was  perhaps  underwear  of  the  finest  linen. 

He  occasionally  conceived  strange  antipathies  and 
prejudices  which  would  sometimes  exhibit  them- 
selves in  a  manner  rather  amusing  than  offensive. 
Seeing  him  once  seize  the  list  of  the  carrier  for  the 
eastern  part  of  the  town,  and  begin  eagerly  to  cross  off 
names,  the  writer  asked  him  if  so  many  wished  to  stop 
their  papers.  "  I  don't  care  whether  they  do  or  not," 
he  replied,  "  but  if  they  want  it  any  longer  they've  got 
to  move  out  of  Woodland  to  get  it."  As  some  of  his 
best  friends — among  them  Mr.  Lewis  and  Mr.  Curtin 
— lived  in  that  section,  it  seemed  odd  that  he  should 
have  conceived  such  a  prejudice. 

Like  most  editors,  he  was  fond  of  having  his  paper 
talked  about,  and  loved  much  now  and  then  to  create 
a  sensation.  To  that  end  he  would  occasionally  con- 
centrate in  one  of  his  little  paragraphs  enough  material 
to  serve  most  editors  for  a  column — charging  a  perfect 
little  bomb-shell — perhaps  offensive  from  its  personal 
application,  or  roughly  divulging  some  private  matter. 

Like  most  editors,  too,  he  was  pleased  to  see  his  arti- 
cles going  the  rounds  of  the  press  ;  and  he  knew  well 
how  to  accomplish  the  end  by  inserting  that  which, 
from  its  bare  oddity,  would  be  snapped  up.  For  in- 
stance, he,  upon  one  calm  summer  morning  startled 
the  community  with  the  bold  announcement, — 
"  Huckleberries  is  ripe."  And  the  press  all  over  the 
country  echoed  his  announcement.  It  was  customary 
in  former  days,  as  well  as  now,  for  people  to  complain 
of  the  dilatoriness  of  the  Legislature.  And  Mr.  Lum- 
mus once  issued  his  paper  with  the  usual  conspicuous 
heading,  "  Legislative  Proceedings,"  in  one  of  its 
columns,  followed  by  a  long  blank  space.  It  was 
thought  to  be  a  good  joke  ;  but  he  said  the  best  of  the 
joke  was  that  it  saved  the  setting  of  so  many  types. 

The  Mirror  was  discontinued  in  March,  1832, 
the  proprietor  having  become  involved,  and  the 
income  not  meeting  the  expenses.  In  the  summer  of 
the  same  year  he  published  the  first  Directory  of 
Lynn.  It  was  a  small  12mo,  of  seventy  pages,  with 
paper  covers,  and  contained  such  information  as  is 
usually  found  in  publications  of  the  kind. 

Mr.  Lummus  now  passed  some  four  years  without 
any  regular,  settled  employment.  He  worked  a  little 
at  printing,  kept  a  circulating  library  for  a  short  time, 
had  one  or  two  classes  in  French  and  several  in  music. 
His  plan  in  teaching  French  was  to  learn  a  lesson 
one  day  and  teach  it  the  next,  thus  keeping  one  step 
ahead  of  his  pupils,  and  so  near  them  as  to  see  all  the 
difficulties  of  the  way — so  he  said — and  his  success 
was  so  satisfactory  that  one  large  class  made  him  a 
valuable  present. 


280 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


There  is  no  doubt  that  Mr.  Lummus  did  much  to 
awaken  and  foster  a  love  for  literature  and  other  re- 
fining influences  in  the  little  community,  and  that  we 
of  the  present  generation  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  for 
that.  In  the  columns  of  his  little  paper  the  writings  of 
Miss  Fuller,  Enoch  Curtin,  Solomon  Moulton  and 
quite  a  number  of  others  first  appeared.  And  Mr. 
Lewis  was  a  contributor  to  its  columns  as  long  as  it 
existed.  He  was  in  some  sort  a  literary  "  head-cen- 
tre," and  his  quaint  and  unpretentious  criticisms 
doubtless  had  much  influence  in  rectifying  the  style 
of  inexperienced  writers.  Many  times  has  the  writer 
heard  him  remark,  in  his  serio-comic  undertone, 
while  looking  over  a  manuscript  and  ruthlessly  draw- 
ing his  expunging  pen  through  passages,  no  doubt, 
thought  by  the  writer  to  be  the  most  brilliant :  "  There 
is  a  flower  without  any  smell ;  "  or,  "  There  is  no  nub 
to  that." 

Early  in  1838  the  health  of  Mr.  Lummus  began 
seriously  to  fail ;  and  it  was  not  long  before  he  was 
compelled  to  take  to  his  room  and  then  to  his  bed. 
The  writer  often  visited  him  then,  for,  being  in  sick- 
ness and  adversity,  he  was  neglected  by  most  of  those 
who,  in  his  brighter  days,  had  been  cheered  by  his 
friendship.  He  was  usually  cheerful,  for  his  Christian 
faith  was  strong,  and  he  seemed  to  feel  no  regret  at 
the  near  approach  of  death.  But  to  the  last  his  nat- 
ural eccentricities  would  occasionally  exhibit  them- 
selves. One  afternoon,  just  before  his  death,  the  bell 
happened  to  toll  for  a  funeral.  He  heard  it  and  re- 
marked, "  There,  there  is  that  old  bell  again  ;  well,  it 
will  toll  for  me  in  a  few  days,  I  suppose,"  without  any 
apparent  conception  that  it  would  strike  one  as  an 
unseemly  remark.  At  another  time  he  was  found 
sitting  up  eating  a  piece  of  toast,  and,  in  reply  to  the 
inquiry  as  to  how  he  felt,  said :  "  Oh,  your  grandsir 
will  be  well  enough  in  a  few  days,  I  guess."  But  after 
he  had  retired,  and  one  was  at  his  bed-side  to  bid  him 
good-night,  he  explained  by  saying  that  his  remark 
might  have  savored  of  levity  ;  that  it  had  reference  to 
his  death,  which  would  probably  take  place  in  a  few 
days ;  and  he  certainly  trusted  that  all  would  be  well 
with  him. 

It  was  on  the  20th  of  April,  1838,  at  the  age  of 
thirty-seven,  that  Mr.  Lummus  closed  his  life.  He 
had  marked  singularities  of  character,  but  always 
proved  so  fast  a  friend  and  agreeable  companion  that 
he  was  universally  beloved.  And  he  had  such  an  hon- 
esty of  purpose,  and  strong  desire  to  "  do  a  little  good 
in  the  world,"  as  he  expressed  it,  that  his  memory  is 
more  worthy  of  being  cherished  than  many  of  higher 
pretensions  and  greater  renown.  Says  Mr.  Lewis : 
"  He  was  an  excellent  musician,  and  a  choice  spirit. 
Few  young  men  in  Lynn  were  ever  more  extensively 
beloved  or  more  deserved  to  be.  But  thou  art  dead  ! 
'  Alas !  poor  Yorick ! '  Thine  is  a  loss  to  be  thought 
about,  and  thou  shalt  long  live  in  our  love." 

Such  was  the  beginning  of  printing  in  Lynn  ;  such 
the  first  printer  and   his  outfit;  such   the   first  news- 


paper, its  character  and  success.  Since  that  time 
many  papers  have  arisen,  flourished  for  a  time  and 
passed  away  ;  but  there  has  hardly  ever  been  a  period 
without  one  or  two  respectable  journals.  At  the 
present  time  (1887)  we  have  the  following  : 

The  Lynn  Reporter  (weekly),  established  in  1854. 

The  Lynn  City  Item  (weekly),  established  in  1876. 

Daily  Evening  Item,  established  in  1877. 

The  Lynn  Bee  (daily),  established  in  1880. 

They  are  all  on  the  high  road  of  prosperity,  in  a 
pecuniary  way,  each  being  far  in  advance  of  all  the 
others,  according  to  their  individual  claims.  But  then, 
money-making  is,  of  course,  a  mere  secondary  matter 
with  the  worthy  publishers.  And  as  to  editorial 
management,  it  may  be  remarked  that  every  sheet 
bears  evidence  that  not  one  of  the  editors  would 
reasonably  be  expected,  in  the  accustomed  modesty  of 
the  craft,  to  deny  that  he  is  the  ablest  of  the  entire 
brotherhood.  Commendation,  however,  is  needless 
here,  and  criticism  would  be  unbecoming. 

There  are  a  number  of  book  and  job  offices,  besides 
the  offices  at  which  newspapers  are  printed.  And  the 
work  turned  out  is  quite  equal  in  accuracy  and  ele- 
gance to  that  done  elsewhere  in  the  commonwealth. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

LYNN— ( Continued). 
INDUSTRIAL  PURSUITS. 

Iron  Workii,  First  in  America— Plmting  and  Fishing — Cloth  Manufacture 
— The  Great  Shoe  and  Leather  Trade  ;  its  History  and  Present  Condition — 
Other  Manufactures — Statistics  Pertaining  to  the  Different  Trades,  Inter- 
spersed. 


"  Earth  is  the  work-eliop  of  mankind, 

And  we're  all  workers  here, 

With  busy  hand  or  busy  mind, 

Each  in  his  destined  sphere. 

Work's  higher  wage — content  and  health — 

Its  lesser — luxury  and  wealth." 


In  a  very  short  time  after  the  settlement  of  Lynn 
was  commenced,  mechanics  of  the  few  kinds  neces- 
sary to  supply  the  limited  wants  of  the  people  ap- 
peared. Even  before  the  Colonial  Patent  was  re- 
moved to  New  England,  which  was  in  August,  1629, 
the  company  at  home  were  careful  to  see  that  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  skilled  artificers  were  sent  over. 

Ironworks. — The  first  undertaking  of  general  im- 
portance was  the  establishment  of  the  iron  works  on 
the  border  of  Saugus  River.  These  works  were  com- 
menced as  early  as  1643,  and  formed  an  enterprise 
worthy  of  more  extended  notice  than  can  be  attempted 
here.  The  undertaking  was  one  of  unquestionable 
importance,  not  only  to  the  narrow  circle  of  settlers  in 
this  immediate  vicinity,  but  to  the  whole  country.  It 
may,  indeed,  like  many  other  great  projects,  have 
been  induced  and  fostered  by  hopes  of  pecuniary  gain 


LYNN. 


281 


to  those  directly  concerned ;  but  certain  it  is  that  it 
resulted  in  great  general  good,  though  it  ended  in 
financial  disaster  and  vexation  in  individual  instances. 
Yet,  after  all,  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  individ- 
ual selfishness  was  the  mainspring  of  the  scheme.  The 
Massachusetts  Company  evidently  realized  the  im- 
pcrtance  of  such  works  to  the  settlers,  for  before  the  re- 
moval of  the  patent  the  subject  was  earnestly  dis- 
cussed, and  at  a  meeting  in  London,  March  2,  1628- 
29,  an  agreement  seems  to  have  been  made  with  a  Mr. 
Malbon,  "he  having  skyll  in  iron  works,"  to  come 
hither  on  a  prospecting  tour. 

These  works  at  Lynn  have  been  spoken  of  as  the 
first  in  America ;  but  the  claim  that  those  at  Brain- 
tree  were  the  first  is  not  forgotten.  After  patient  re- 
search, however,  the  writer  is  convinced  that  the  claim 
cannot  be  substantiated.  Mr.  Malbon  is  known  to 
have  been  here  as  early  as  October,  1629,  and  seems 
first  to  have  settled  at  Salem.  Now  Braintree  is  some 
twenty-five  miles  away,  and  that  distance,  in  the  al- 
most entire  absence  of  roads,  was  a  serious  matter. 
Why,  then,  should  he  have  gone  so  far  away,  and  into 
another  jurisdiction,  when  ore  could  be  found  so  near 
at  hand  as  Saugus  ? 

It  is  evident  that  some  of  the  workmen  at  Braintree 
were  previously  employed  in  Lynn,  among  them 
Henry  Leonard,  who  came  over  in  1642,  to  engage  in 
the  Lynn  works.  But  after  all,  a  priority  of  two  or 
three  years  in  the  establishment  of  such  a  business  is 
of  little  importance,  though  it  is  well  to  be  exact,  con- 
sidering that  sometimes  other  and  material  facts  may 
be  dependent. 

It  is  apparent  that  though  the  Lynn  Iron  Works 
were  not  sustained  by  local  capital — for  there  was 
little  here — some  of  our  leading  men  were  active  in 
promoting  their  establishment.  Robert  Bridges,  for 
instance,  in  1642,  took  specimens  of  the  ore  to  Eng- 
land, and  was,  in  truth,  instrumental  in  forming  the 
company.  And  Thomas  Dexter,  who  owned  some  of 
the  land  in  which  the  ore  was  fuund  also  took  a  lively 
interest  in  the  enterprise.  It  is,  therefore,  unjust  to 
call  it  a  mere  English  speculation.  The  people  of 
Lynn  did  what  they  could  to  help  along  the  busi- 
ness. 

Smelting,  forging  and  casting  were  carried  on  at 
these  works,  as  well  as  blacksmithing  and  various 
other  branches  of  metal  work.  And  it  is  singular 
that  there  was  not  better  success.  One  or  two  inven- 
tions of  a  very  useful  kind  were  perfected  by  some  of 
those  employed  here;  notably  by  Joseph  Jenks,  who 
delighted  the  farmers  with  a  greatly-improved  scythe, 
or  "  engine  to  cut  grass,"  as  the  court  called  it.  Here 
were  also  made,  as  Mr.  Lewis  states,  by  the  same  in- 
genious Mr.  Jenks,  the  dies  for  the  famous  pine  tree 
coins  of  1652.  In  1654  the  authorities  of  Boston 
agreed  with  Mr.  Jenks  "  for  an  Ingine  to  carry  water 
in  case  of  fire,"  which  is  said  to  be  the  first  fire-en- 
gine in  America.  There  must  at  one  time  have  beer> 
a  good  deal  of  business,  for  that  period,  carried  on  at 
18J 


the  works,  as  Winthrop,  in  a  letter  dated  September 
30,  1648,  says,  "  The  furnace  runs  eight  tons  per  week, 
and  their  bar  iron  is  as  good  as  Spanish."  The  ore 
was  obtained  in  the  vicinity,  and  was  of  the  kind 
called  bog  ore. 

The  site  of  the  works  was  in  a  sheltered  vale  on  the 
border  of  the  river,  in  what  is  now  the  centre  village 
of  Saugus ;  and  a  picturesque  little  hamlet  called 
Hammersmith  grew  up  apace.  Henry  Leonard  and 
his  brother  James  worked  here,  and  their  descend- 
ants have  to  this  day  been  identified  with  the  iron 
manufacture,  not  only  of  New  England,  but  the  whole 
country.  From  the  humble  beginning  of  these  Lynn 
works  has  developed  the  enormous  iron  trade  of  the 
present  day.  Skilled  workmen  went  from  here 
from  time  to  time,  and  established  themselves 
in  different  parts  ;  and  their  children  and  children's 
children,  adepts  in  the  same  calling,  borne  on  the 
waves  of  population  as  they  spread  over  the  laud,  are 
still  easily  identified  as  of  the  old  Lynn  stock. 

As  before  intimated,  these  iron  works  were  not  a 
financial  success.  There  was  very  little  ready  money 
in  the  colony  ;  and  though  the  manufactured  articles 
were  sold  at  a  very  reasonable  rate  for  coin,  yet,  as 
the  General  Court  curtly  told  the  company,  an  axe  at 
twelve  pence  was  not  cheap  to  one  who  had  no  twelve 
pence  to  buy.  And  again,  they  had  not  been  long  in 
operation  when  they  became  involved  in  vexatious 
and  expensive  lawsuits.  Hubbard  says,  "  Instead  of 
drawing  out  bars  of  iron  for  the  country's  use,  there 
were  hammered  out  nothing  but  contentions  and  law- 
suits." They  seem  to  have  gained  the  ill-will  of  many 
of  their  neighbors,  had  difficulties  about  flowage, 
about  contracts  for  wood,  and  so  on.  And  a  most 
remarkable  prejudice  appears  to  have  arisen  from  the 
apprehension  that  they  would  consume  so  much  wood 
that  fuel  would  become  scarce.  They,  however,  con- 
tinued in  a  sort  of  lingering  consumption  for  many 
years,  when  the  fires  of  the  forges  went  out  never  to 
be  relighted,  the  begrimed  workmen  departed  never 
to  return,  and  the  chief  tangible  marks  of  their  exist- 
ence now  remaining  are  two  or  three  grass-grown  hil- 
locks of  scoria,  called  by  the  people  of  the  neighbor- 
hood the  "cinder  banks."  Curious  visitors  sometimes 
dig  through  the  thin  soil  that  covers  the  slag  and  fre- 
quently find  bits  of  charcoal  as  fresh  as  when  ejected 
from  the  sooty  portals,  and  occasionally  a  piece   of 


iron  casting. 


In  the  description  of  New  England  by  Samuel 
Maverick,  recently  discovered  by  Mr.  Waters  in  the 
British  archives,  and  probably  written  in  1660,  ap- 
pears the  following:  "Five  miles  westward  (from 
Marblehead,  'the  greatest  town  for  ffishing  in  New 
England ' )  lyeth  the  Towne  of  Lynne  along  by  the  sea 
side,  and  two  miles  above  it,  within  the  bounds  of  it. 
are  the  greatest  Iron  works  erected  for  the  most  part 
at  the  charge  of  some  Merchants  and  Gentlemen  here 
residing,  and  cost  them  about  14000£,  who  were,  as  it 
is  conceived,  about  six  years  since  Injuriously  outted 


282 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


of  them  to  the  great  prejudice  of  the  Country  and 
Owners."  So  it  seems  Mr.  Maverick  recognized  their 
value;  and  he  must  have  been  familiar  with  their 
whole  history,  for  he  came  over  as  early  as  1624,  at 
the  age  of  twenty-two,  and  settled  on  Noddle's 
Island,  now  East  Boston,  which  the  General  Court 
granted  to  him  in  1633 — a  fact  which  indicates  an  ap- 
preciation of  his  character  and  services,  notwithstand- 
ing the  deep  prejudice  that  prevailed  on  account  of 
his  being  a  zealous  Episcopalian. 

It  may  be  thought  that  the  most  proper  place  for  a 
notice  of  these  works  would  be  in  the  sketch  of  Sau- 
gus,  as  they  were  actually  within  the  present  limits 
of  that  town  ;  and  no  doubt  the  worthy  gentleman 
who  furnishes  the  sketch  of  that  place  will  give  them 
suitable  attention.  But  there  was  no  settlement  of 
the  name  Saugus  during  their  existence,  nor  for  a 
hundred  years  after.  They  are  always  spoken  of  on 
the  records  as  of  Lynn.  While  it  is  of  little  moment 
on  which  side  of  the  present  line  they  were  situated, 
it  may  be  thought  that  their  importance  entitles 
them  to  some  notice  in  both  places.  They  were  the 
first  considerable  mechanical  industry  established 
here.  Craftsmen  there  were  in  sufficient  numbers 
and  variety  to  supply  all  local  needs,  and  that  was 
about  all. 

After  the  now  historical  iron  works  on  Saugus 
River  were  abandoned  there  seems  to  have  been  no 
attempt  at  iron-working  here  for  almost  two  centuries, 
unless  blacksmithing  be  called  such.  It  was  in  1843 
that  Theophilus  N.  Breed  built  a  factory  on  Oak 
Street  for  the  manufacture  of  shoemaker's  tools  and 
for  various  kinds  of  castings,  erecting  a  dam  and 
forming  what  has  ever  since  been  known  as  Breed's 
Pond,  a  description  of  which  has  already  been  given. 
After  a  few  years,  however,  Mr.  Breed  relinquished 
the  business,  and  the  pond  finally  became  the  proper- 
ty of  the  city,  and  yet  forms  one  of  the  chief  sources 
of  our  public  water  supply,  as  well  as  a  pleasing  fea- 
ture of  the  landscape,  surrounded  as  it  is  by  romantic 
hills  and  woods. 

Planting  and  Fishing. — Planting  and  fishing 
were  indeed  the  chief  dependence  for  many  years. 
And  they  insured  a  comfortable  livelihood,  so  that 
the  people  hereabout  were,  in  a  sort,  independent 
from  the  beginning.  The  land,  however,  was  not  very 
favorable  for  husbandry,  though  the  sea  yielded  an 
abundance  of  valuable  manuring  matter  ;  and  in  later 
years,  as  the  cost  of  labor  increased,  farming  ceased 
to  be  profitable,  till  it  has  now  been  well-nigh  aban- 
doned. 

The  fishing  was  at  first  confined  to  what  is  now 
known  as  dory-fishing,  and  was  chiefly  carried  on 
from  Swampscott.  The  little  boats  of  the  settlers, 
like  the  skiffs  of  the  Indians,  merely  ventured  into 
the  offing.  But  there  was  no  need  of  going  farther, 
as  the  fish  were  abundant  near  the  shore.  It  was  not 
till  1795  that  the  first  jigger,  so  called,  a  sail  craft  of 
some  twenty  tons,  was  procured.     But  from  that  time 


the  business  increased,  affording  ample  maintenance 
to  many  and  fortunes  to  some.  The  fishermen  here 
have  promptly  availed  themselves  of  every  new  dis- 
covery and  improvement  in  the  prosecution  of  their 
calling  and  been  alert  in  taking  advantage  of  propi- 
tious tides. 

Shell-fish  have  always  been  taken  in  great  quanti- 
ties along  the  shore,  and  many  an  indigent  family 
have  found  that  the  clam  banks  never  refused  a  lib- 
eral discount. 

The  lobster  trade,  too,  has  been  one  of  very  consid- 
erable profit,  though  it  has  of  late  years  been  so  vig- 
orously pursued  that  fears  have  arisen  lest  the  dainty 
Crustacea  may  be  exterminated.  As  before  remarked, 
the  fishing  was  chiefly  carried  on  at  Swampscott, 
which  was  a  part  of  Lynn  till  1852.  And,  as  the 
writer,  when  preparing  the  proposed  sketch  of  that 
town,  will  necejisarily  have  something  to  say  about 
the  fisheries,  but  little  need  be  added  here. 

An  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  lobster  yield  on  our 
coast  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that  during  the 
year  ending  May  1,  1865,  there  were  taken  at  Nahant 
150,000,  and  at  Swampscott  37,000.  The  average  val- 
ue, as  taken  from  the  traps,  was  six  cents  each.  Since 
that  time  the  annual  catch  has  gradually  diminished. 
And  under  the  apprehension  that  the  species  may  be- 
come extinct,  as  just  stated,  the  Legislature  has  been 
invoked  for  their  protection.  But  one  would  think 
there  could  not  be  much  danger  in  that  direction,  as 
piscatory  naturalists  assure  us  that  a  single  female 
lobster  will  lay  42,000  eggs  in  a  year.  It  must  be, 
then,  that  there  are  "  denizens  of  the  deep  "  as  fond  as 
we  of  the  savory  food. 

The  district  of  Lynn,  Nahant  and  Swampscott  re- 
turned, as  the  product  of  their  fisheries  for  the  quarter 
ending  December  3, 1880,  as  follows  :  Codfish,  cured, 
300,000  pounds ;  mackerel,  400,000  pounds;  herring, 
salted,  100,000  pounds  ;  lobsters,  7000  pounds;  fresh 
fish,  daily  catch,  315,000  pounds  ;  fish  oil,  3200  gal- 
lons.    Total  value,  $44,141.50. 

A  brief  quotation  from  William  Wood's  quaint  de- 
scription of  what  he  saw  in  1631  may  close  what  is 
needful  just  here  about  the  fisheries:  "Northward 
up  this  river  [the  Saugus]  goes  great  store  of  alewives, 
of  which  they  make  good  red  herrings ;  insomuch 
that  they  have  been  at  charges  to  make  them  a  wayre 
and  a  herring-house  to  dry  these  herrings  in.  The 
last  year  were  dried  some  4  or  5  last  [150  barrels]  for 
an  experiment,  which  proved  very  good.  This  is  like 
to  prove  a  great  enrichment  to  the  land,  being  a  sta- 
ple commodity  in  other  countries,  for  there  be  such 
innumerable  companies  in  every  river  that  I  have 
seen  ten  thousand  taken  in  two  hours,  by  two  men, 
without  any  weire  at  all  saving  a  few  stones  to  stop 
their  passage  up  the  river.  There  likewise  come  store 
of  basse,  which  the  English  and  Indians  catch  with 
hooke  and  line,  some  fifty  or  three  score  at  a  tide.  .  .  . 
Here  is  a  great  deal  of  rock,  cod  and  macrill,  inso- 
much that  shoales  of  basse  have  driven  up  shoales  of 


LYNN. 


283 


macrill,  from  one  end  of  the  sandy  beach  to  the 
other,  which  the  inhabitants  have  gathered  up  in 
wheelbarrows.''  Alewives  still  go  up  the  fresh-water 
streams  for  a  few  weeks  in  the  spring  to  spawn  in  the 
ponds;  especially  do  they  swarm  in  Strawberry  Brook 
on  their  way  to  Flax  Pond  ;  but  they  are  not  now 
esteejned  so  highly  for  food  as  formerly.  There  are 
but  few  bass,  some  rock  cod  and  occasionally  great 
quantities  of  mackerel.  The  habits  of  the  latter, 
however,  are  so  peculiar  that  different  seasons  show 
very  different  accounts. 

Cloth  Manufacture. — In  1726  the  Salem  Court 
awarded  to  Nathaniel  Potter,  of  Lynn,  £13  15s.  for  the 
manufacture  of  three  pieces  of  linen.  It  is  not  clear 
what  kind  of  cloth  this  was,  but"  is  very  likely  to  have 
been  what  was  afterwards  known  as  "  tow  cloth." 
Certain  it  is  that  flax  was  raised  here  in  considerable 
quantities.  The  fine  pond  near  our  northeastern  border, 
known  as  Flax  Pond,  received  its  name,  as  mentioned 
in  the  description  already  given,  from  the  circum- 
stance that  much  of  the  flax  was  rotted  there.  The 
tow  cloth,  as  it  came  from  the  family  hand-loom,  was 
not  regarded  as  a  very  genteel  fabric,  but  its  durabil- 
ity could  not  be  questioned,  and  after  being  whitened 
it  was  fair,  though  not  so  smooth  and  soft  as  one  of 
this  day  would  desire  for  an  innernidst  garment.  The 
raising  of  flax  and  manufacture  of  tow  cloth  has  long 
since  been  discontinued. 

In  the  early  times  of  the  settlement  sheep  were 
raised  to  some  extent,  and  of  course  the  fleeces  were 
by  the  thrifty  dames  wrought  into  comfortable  cloth- 
ing. But  the  whir  of  the  spinning-wheel  and  click  of 
the  hand-loom  have  long  since  ceased  to  be  heard. 

Shoes  and  Leather. — Shoes. — The  history  of 
shoes  and  shoe-making  seems  always  to  have  had  a 
peculiar  interest.  Workers  at  the  craft  appeared  at 
an  early  period  of  the  world,  for  it  was  necessary  to 
protect  the  feet  from  the  arid  sands  of  the  torrid  zone 
and  the  frosty  jjlains  of  the  frigid.  The  earliest  cov- 
ering of  the  feet  in  the  one  case  was  no  doubt  the 
sandal,  manufactured  from  some  vegetable  production, 
and  in  the  other,  the  moccasin,  made  of  uncurried 
skin.  Sandals  are  still  worn  in  the  eastern  countries, 
though  light  shoes  seem  generally  preferred.  The 
manufacture  of  shoes  in  those  countries  is  conducted 
in  the  same  primitive  style  that  was  in  practice  here 
in  our  early  days,  though  the  sewing-machine  and 
other  revolutionizing  contrivances  are  being  intro- 
duced. The  writer,  while  threading  his  way  through 
one  of  the  narrow  old  streets  of  Algiers,  two  or  three 
years  since,  came  across  a  shop  in  which  were  half  a 
dozen  shoemakers  busily  at  work  on  the  same  kind 
of  low  seat  used  in  the  Lynn  shops  of  sixty  years 
ago,  knee-stirrup,  lapstone  and  broad-face  hammer, 
fulfilling  their  duties  as  of  yore.  So  natural  did  the 
whole  look  that  a  pause  was  involuntarily  made;  but 
though  the  jolly  workers  seemed  not  averse  to  have  a 
chat,  the  difficulties  of  language  rendered  the  com- 
munication very  limited.    In  the  same  city  a  French- 


man was  seen  busily  at  work  on  an  American  sewing- 
machine. 

Of  all  the  industries  of  Lynn,  the  manufacture  of 
shoes  has  taken  the  lead  for  many  years ;  but  it  was 
not  till  the  middle  of  the  last  century  that  she  began 
to  be  known,  to  any  marked  extent,  in  that  line  of 
business.  Nor  is  it  certain  that  there  was  any  special 
inducement  for  the  establishment  of  the  business 
here,  though  the  manufacture  of  leather,  which  was 
engaged  in  to  some  extent  in  the  earliest  times,  may 
have  had  something  to  do  with  it.  Edward  Johnson, 
of  Woburn,  writing  in  1651,  speaks  of  a  Shoemakers' 
Corporation  in  Lynn,  and  Mr.  Lewis  remarks  that  the 
papers  relating  to  it  were  unfortunately  lost,  "having 
probably  been  destroyed  by  the  mob  in  1765."  But 
it  must  have  been  an  insignificant  association.  And 
what  reason  there  was  for  supposing  that  the  papers, 
if  any  really  existed,  were  destroyed  in  the  Stamp 
Act  riot,  is  not  known.  It  seems  more  probable  that 
they  would  have  been  destroyed  in  the  disorderly 
times  of  Andros ;  but  more  probable  still  that  they 
never  had  any  papers. 

Edmund  Bridges  and  Philip  Kirtland  are  usually 
spoken  of  as  the  first  shoemakers  here.  They  came 
in  1635.  But  John  Adam  Dagyr,  a  Welshman,  who 
came  in  1750,  seems  to  have  raised  the  humble 
occupation  almost  to  the  rank  of  a  fine  art.  He  took 
great  pains  to  excel ;  and,  it  is  said,  imported  the 
most  elegant  shoes  from  Europe,  and  dissected  them 
for  the  purpose  of  discovering  the  hidden  mystery  of 
their  elegance.  This,  however,  appears  to  have  been 
done  before,  but  without  the  desired  effect.  Shoe- 
makers from  all  parts  of  the  town,  says  Mr.  Lewis, 
went  to  him  for  information  ;  and  he  is  called  in  the 
Boston  Gazette  of  1764  "  the  celebrated  shoemaker  of 
Essex."  From  this  time  Lynn  took  rank  as  the  fore- 
most place  for  the  manufacture  of  ladies'  shoes  in  all 
New  England — indeed,  in  all  the  provinces.  But  Mr. 
Dagyr,  in  a  pecuniary  way  at  least,  never  profited 
much  by  his  skill  and  labor.  The  writer  has  been 
told  by  one  who  knew  him  well  that  he  lived  in  a 
homely  way,  was  not  very  neat  in  his  dress  and  did 
not  keep  his  little  shop,  which  was  on  Boston  Street, 
near  where  Carnes  now  opens,  in  the  neatest  order; 
in  short,  that  he  fell  into  such  habits  as  were  not 
conducive  to  a  thrifty  life.  He  finally  became  so 
destitute  as  to  make  his  home  in  the  almshouse,  and 
there  he  died  in  1808.  Kirtland  Street,  in  the  west- 
erly part  of  the  city,  and  Kirtland  Block,  in  Union 
Street,  perpetuate  the  name  of  the  earlier  craftsman, 
Philip  Kirtland,  and  so,  in  its  way,  does  the  Kirtland 
Hotel,  in  Summer  Street.  But  as  yet  no  such  honor 
has  been  bestowed  on  the  name  of  Dagyr,  unless  a 
wild  spot  in  the  domain  of  the  Free  Public  Forest 
Association,  lately  consecrated  to  his  memory,  be 
taken  as  such. 

At  the  time  of  Dagyr's  arrival,  1750,  there  were 
but  three  men  in  Lynn  who  carried  on  the  business 
to  such  extent  as  to  employ  journeymen;  and  these 


284 


HISTOKY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS, 


were  William  Gray  (grandfather  of  the  rich  mer- 
chant, so  extensively  known  by  the  inelegant  sobri- 
quet of  "  Billy  Gray  "),  John  Mansfield  and  Benjamin 
Newhall ;  the  latter,  the  writer  is  pleased  in  being 
able  to  say,  was  his  great-grandfather. 

Down  to  the  Eevolution  the  business  moved  on- 
ward, but  its  progress  was  slow.  And  during  the 
war,  like  most  other  matters  of  trade,  it  was  sadly 
depressed.  Soon  after  the  return  of  peace  it  began 
to  show  renewed  strength,  and  was  presently  recog- 
nized as  the  leading  employment  of  the  place.  Some 
of  the  shrewd  business  men  seeming  to  have  a  proph- 
etic vision  of  the  position  it  was  destined  to  occupy 
in  future  years,  vigorously  set  about  placing  its  inter- 
ests on  as  firm  a  footing  as  possible.  Several  ener- 
getic workers  to  that  end  are  more  worthy  of  being 
remembered  than  some  others  who  are  extolled  as 
public  benefactors.  There  was  Ebenezer  Breed,  a 
native  of  the  town.  He  made  himself  acquainted 
with  all  that  was  to  be  learned  in  Lynn,  and  while 
yet  a  young  man  went  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  en- 
gaged in  a  profitable  business  connected  with  the 
trade  here.  In  1792  he  visited  Europe,  and  not 
only  sent  over  quantities  of  the  better  and  most  fash- 
ionable kinds  of  shoe  stock,  but  also  some  skilled 
workmen  to  instruct  the  operatives  at  home  in  the 
more  elegant  mysteries  of  the  art.  He  seemed  de- 
termined to  prove  that  as  fine  and  substantial  shoes 
could  be  made  in  Lynn  as  in  Europe,  and  he  suc- 
ceeded. But  the  business  in  a  measure  languished, 
for  shoes  could  be  imported  from  England  and  France 
and  sold  cheaper  than  the  manufacturers  here  could 
turn  them  out.  Finding  such  to  be  the  condition  of 
things,  Mr.  Breed,  in  conjunction  with  some  others  in 
the  trade  at  Philadelphia,  set  about  endeavoring  to 
induce  Congress,  which  then  held  its  sessions  in  that 
city,  to  impose  a  duty  on  imported  shoes  sufficieot  to 
protect  the  home  manufacture.  They  resorted  to  a 
little  shrewd  management  to  effect  their  purpose. 
Among  other  schemes  a  dinner  party  was  given,  for 
they  well  knew  that  an  appeal  to  the  stomach  is  in 
many  cases  more  irresistible  than  an  appeal  to  the 
head.  Sundry  members  of  Congress  were  invited  to 
the  banquet,  as  well  as  divers  charming  ladies,  among 
the  latter  the  fascinating  Quaker  widow,  Dolly  Todd, 
once  Dolly  Payne,  and  afterward  Mrs.  President 
Madison.  Mr.  Madison  himself,  who  was  an  influen- 
tial member  of  Congress,  was  also  there.  One  or  two 
of  the  ladies  appear  to  have  been  aware  of  the  ulter- 
ior purpose  of  the  party,  and  not  averse  to  assisting 
in  making  it  a  success.  It  need  only  be  added  that 
a  very  satisfactory  act  was  passed,  and  Lynn  rose  on 
the  event.  Perhaps  facts  like  these  may  partially 
account  for  the  pertinacity  with  which  our  people 
have  all  along  adhered  to  the  protective  tariff  system. 
Poor  human  nature  is  such  that  self-interest  has 
much  to  do  with  shaping  principles. 

Without  attempting  to  follow  the  progress  of  the 
trade  into  minute  details,  it  may  be  well  to  state  a 


few  facts  that  will  enable  one  to  judge  of  its  growth. 
In  1810  there  were  manufactured  here  just  about 
1,000,000  pairs,  and  they  amounted  in  value  to 
$800,000.  The  earnings  of  the  female  binders  reached 
$50,000.  Twenty  years  later,  that  is  in  1830,  the 
number  of  pairs  made  was,  in  round  numbers,  1,670,- 
000,  Lynnfield  having  been  set  off  in  1814  and  Sau- 
gus  in  1815.  Twenty-five  years  later,  that  is,  in  1855, 
the  number  of  pairs  is  found  to  have  been  9,275,593, 
Swampscott  having  been  set  off  in  1852  and  Nahant 
in  1853.  From  1865  to  1875  there  were  made,  on  an 
average,  not  less  than  10,000,000  pairs  a  year,  of  the 
average  value  of  $1.20  a  pair. 

But  a  statement  of  the  condition  of  the  shoe  trade 
at  the  present  time  would  no  doubt  be  most  interest- 
ing as  well  as  useful,  and  it  is  proposed  to  attempt  it 
with  some  fullness. 

Colonel  Wright,  in  his  synopsis  of  the  last  United 
States  Census,  gives 


The  number  of  shoe  factories  in  Lynn  as  . 
The  average  number  of  employees  as  .   .   . 

Capital  invested 

Wages  paid  in  one  year 


174 

10.708 

•  84,203,250 

4,031,530 

Stock  used 12,918,221 

A'alue  of  product       20,916,867 

Gross  profit 3,097,296 

Estimated  interest  and  expenses .  2,350,482 

Net  profit  or  loss 746,814 

Average  yearly  product  per  employee 1,956 

Average  yearly  net  profit  per  employee 70 

Average  yearly  earnings  for  each  employee 461 

Percentage  men  employed 71.7 

Percentage  women  employed 28. 

Percentage  children  employed .3 

These  latest  published  figures  show  that  $668,280 
more  were  paid  in  wages,  in  a  single  year,  than  the 
total  capital  invested.  Equally  remarkable  is  the 
high  yearly  average  of  earnings  for  each  employee, 
which,  it  should  be  remembered,  is  the  average  for 
men,  women  and  children.  It  is  also  satisfactory  to 
learn  that  less  than  one-third  of  one  per  cent,  of  all 
Lynn  shoe  employees  are  children.  The  careful  at- 
tention given,  in  recent  years,  to  collecting  statistics 
of  employees  and  wages  makes  the  reports  of  statisti- 
cal bureaus  unusually  interesting  and  instructive.  In- 
dustrial information  is  eagerly  sought,  and  an  especial 
interest  has  centred  in  examining  the  progress  of  the 
shoe  industry,  because  of  its  wonderful  development 
and  because  that  development  is  the  result  of  Ameri- 
can ingenuity. 

Although  the  shoe  business  has  such  a  powerful 
hold  on  the  every-day  life  of  the  people  of  Lynn,  lofty 
shoe  factories  do  not,  by  any  means,  constitute  the 
whole  of  Lynn's  wealth  and  enterprise.  Wherever 
factories  of  any  kind  are  located,  there  naturally 
spring  up  a  score  of  subsidiary  industries  engaged  in 
producing  articles  which  may  be  used  as  component 
parts  of  a  staple  product.  Lynn,  rich  in  its  hundreds 
of  large  and  small  supply  factories,  which  furnish  al- 
most everything  from  tacks,  boxes  and  blacking,  to 
the  beautifully  finished  kid  skins  of  the  great  morocco 
factories,  is   not   an    exception.     From   sumac-filled 


LYNN. 


285 


vats,  sunk  deep  in  the  ground,  up  five  and  six  stories, 
the  city  is  devoted  to  every  department  of  its  chosen 
industry.  Above  ground  and  below  ground  the  busi- 
ness centre  of  the  city  is  thoroughly  dedicated  to  pro- 
ductiveness. 

To  speak  of  leather-scented  Lynn  is  almost  to  speak 
the  literal  truth.  From  tall  chimneys,  which  stand 
above  ponderous  boilers  and  powerful  engines,  pours 
forth  the  smoke  of  leather  shavings  and  leather  re- 
fuse, swept  from  the  busy  workrooms.  Thus  every- 
thing serves  its  purpose.  Hundreds  of  leather-shaping 
machines  furnish  ton  upon  ton  of  fuel  for  the  great 
boilers.  As  moisture  from  vegetation  is  taken  up  by 
the  sun,  and  formed  into  clouds  which  pour  forth  rain 
to  increa-e  the  same  vegetation,  so  old  leather  assists 
in  the  manufacture  of  new  leather.  Every  piece  of 
discarded  leather  has  a  value.  Thin  shavings  are 
pasted  and  pressed  into  some  new  form,  fibrous  pieces 
are  ground  into  leather  board,  and  even  a  ton  of  fac- 
tory sweepings  has  a  marketable  value.  Thus  from 
the  time  the  tanner  sells  the  hair  shaved  from  the 
skin,  to  the  time  the  skin  is  cut  and  split  into  a 
thousand  pieces,  every  particle  has  a  use  and  value. 

The  activity  and  bustle  of  Lynn  people  is,  in  no 
small  measure,  due  to  association  with  swiftly-moving 
machinery.  Indeed,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  work 
with  people  who  are  always  in  a  hurry  to  keep  up 
with  machinery  without  catching  the  same  habit. 
There  is  nothing  lazy  about  Lynn.  It  is  distinctively 
a  city  of  workers  when  there  is  work  to  do.  There 
are,  unfortunately,  seasons  of  the  year  when  trade  is 
at  a  low  ebb,  and  there  is  therefore  a  necessity  for 
making  the  most  of  it  when  the  factories  are  in  mo- 
tion. There  are  two  busy  seasons,  one  during  Janu- 
ary, February  and  March,  when  summer  goods  are 
manufactured,  the  other  during  July,  August  and 
September,  when  winter  goods  are  manufactured.  The 
Western  market  generally  requires  goods  earliest,  the 
Baltimore  and  Southern  market  next,  the  Philadel- 
phia, New  York  and  New  England  markets  latest. 
Western  wholesale  buyers  order  sample  pairs  of  tlie 
next  summer's  styles  as  early  as  the  preceding  Octo- 
ber, and  for  winter  wear  as  early  as  the  preceding 
March.  Summer  is  as  much  a  preparation  for  winter, 
and  winter  for  summer,  in  shoe  manufecturing,  as  in 
any  other  great  industry.  Although  six  months  in 
the  year  probably  comprise  the  busy  seasons,  yet  there 
are  often  factories  which  run  exceptionally  steady 
through  the  greater  part  of  the  year.  In  fact,  there 
is  some  trade  in  every  factory  every  week  in  the  year, 
as  samples,  sample  orders  and  duplicate  orders  fill  up 
a  great  amount  of  time  between  the  seasons.  The  un- 
certainty of  constant  employment  calls  for  good  wages, 
so  that  during  the  busy  season  operatives  earn  a  hand- 
some sum,  which,  if  it  could  only  be  continued 
throughout  the  year,  would  make  the  trade  of  shoe- 
making  very  desirable.  The  dull  times,  however,  put 
the  annual  income  at  no  more  than  a  supporting  av- 
erage. 


The  conduct  and  ownership  of  Lynn  factories  is 
decidedly  different  from  that  of  most  manufacturing 
cities.  In  the  large  mill  cities  especially  the  facto- 
ries are  owned  by  corporations,  and  often  only  a 
small  percentage  of  the  stock  is  owned  by  residents. 
The  profits  of  the  corporation  are  paid  to  non-resi- 
dents, who  may  have  little  interest  in  the  city's  pros- 
perity. Not  so  in  Lynn.  Lynn  is  almost  wholly 
owned  by  Lynn  residents.  Wages  and  profits  alike 
contribute  to  the  city's  advancement.  There  are  no 
stock  corporations,  but  every  firm  manages  its  own 
business.  By  the  industry  and  perseverance  of  its 
own  citizens,  Lynn  has  increased  its  wealth,  and  taken 
a  proud  position  among  the  foremost  manufacturing 
cities  of  the  world.  Prosperity  is  not  borrowed,  but 
is  a  home  product. 

Wages  in  Lynn  are  paid  weekly.  It  has  been  so 
ever  since  factories  were  first  established,  being  an 
outgrowth  of  the  old  custom  of  paying  the  shoe- 
maker for  his  work  as  soon  as  finished.  Saturday  is 
the  great  pay-day.  Lynn  shoe  manufacturers  have 
always  been  well  rated  in  the  financial  world,  and 
no  doubt  much  of  their  sound  financial  standing  is 
due  to  frequent  payments.  They  have  an  immense 
cash  paid-up  capital  in  labor  alone,  all  of  the  time, 
and  as  labor  is  estimated  as  about  one-fourth  the 
value  of  the  manufactured  product,  Lynn  manufac- 
turers would  pay  one-fourth  immediate  cash  for  all 
their  bills,  even  if  they  did  not  pay  any  more.  Labor 
bills  are  preferred  bills  in  Lynn,  and  its  good  effect 
is  seen  on  every  hand.  A  "nimble  sixpence"  has 
always  been  a  Lynn  business  principle,  and  any  other 
system  would  seem  unnatural. 

Lynn  operatives  have  never  been  called  to  work 
by  factory  bells.  Nominally  there  are  fifty-nine 
working  hours  in  the  week,  but  practically  there  is  so 
much  work  done  by  the  piece  that  operatives  work  a 
much  smaller  number  of  hours.  Factory  whistles  give 
alarms  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  at  twelve 
o'clock  noon,  and  at  one  and  six  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon. Those  employed  by  the  week  observe  these 
hours,  excepting  on  Saturday,  when  work  is  over  at 
five  o'clock.  Almost  every  kind  of  work  is  piece- 
work, as  even  in  work  done  by  the  week  there  is 
some  stated  amount  to  perform,  which  is  practically 
the  same.  There  is  unusual  freedom  in  entering  and 
leaving  factories,  and  a  time-keeper  from  some 
strictly-conducted  industry  would  no  doubt  consider 
Lynn  perfectly  demoralized.  It  would  be  hard  to 
name  a  place  where  employees  can  be  more  indepen- 
dent and  more  fully  allowed  to  regulate  their  own 
time  than  in  the  factories  of  Lynn. 

Lynn  employees  live  well,  dress  well  and  are  very 
thrifty.  They  live  for  the  most  part  in  detached 
houses  arranged  for  one  or  two  families.  There  are 
very  few  tenement  blocks,  and  on  the  average  there 
is  one  house  to  every  seven  persons  of  the  whole 
population.  Manufacturers,  as  a  rule,  are  not  large 
real  estate  owners,  and  do  not  attempt  to  house  their 


286 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


own  employees,  as  is  often  the  case  with  corpora- 
tions. The  employees  themselves  are  large  real  estate 
owners,  hundreds  of  houses  being  owned  by  thrifty 
workmen  and  workingwomen,  who  have  built  for 
themselves  neat  little  homes.  Until  recent  years 
people  still  preserved  land  for  kitchen  gardening, 
even  in  streets  contiguous  to  the  business  centre. 
These  gardens  are  gradually  filling  up,  but  the  same 
custom  still  exists  in  the  outlying  streets.  Lynn 
owes  much  to  its  working  people.  Had  they 
been  less  intelligent  and  industrious,  the  city  could 
never  have  grown  so  evenly  and  so  neatly  as  it  has. 
Had  the  working  people  been  less  willing  to  build 
houses  with  their  surplus  earnings,  the  increasing 
population  could  never  have  been  so  comfortably 
accommodated.  Manufacturers  needed  money  for 
increasing  business,  and  could  never  have  afforded 
to  build  the  houses  as  fast  as  they  were  needed.  Lynn 
has  been  the  mutual  success  of  employers  and  em- 
ployed, and  a  history  of  its  progress  which  failed  to 
give  proper  credit  to  its  small  property-owners  would 
do  injustice  to  the  people — the  bone  and  sinew  of  the 
community. 

As  is  the  case  in  every  other  great  industrial  com- 
munity, Lynn  capitalists  and  workmen  have  often- 
times disagreed  on  the  equivalent  to  be  paid  for 
labor.  A  general  disagreement  has  almost  always 
resulted  in  a  strike.  It  is  a  strange  fact  that  strikes 
almost  invariably  occur  with  most  frequency  in  years 
of  great  business  depression,  when  manufacturers  can 
least  afford  to  pay  increased  wages,  and  when  work- 
men can  least  afford  to  remain  idle.  The  success  of 
a  strike  depends  greatly  on  the  efficiency  of  labor 
organization  and  the  confidence  of  the  members  in 
the  leaders.  There  are  periods  when  organizations 
spring  up  in  great  numbers,  and  other  times  when 
the  members  lose  interest  and  the  organizations  are 
less  powerful.  Disagreements  between  capital  and 
labor  are  no  modern  invention.  The  good  old  doc- 
trine of  "bearance  and  forbearance"  will  do  more  to 
engender  good  feeling  than  anything  else.  Water  is 
bound  to  seek  its  own  level.  If  the  market  will  war- 
rant it,  prices  go  up,  and  if  there  is  no  demand,  prices 
must  go  down.  Prices  get  where  they  belong,  de- 
spite remonstrance,  strikes  and  differences  of  opinion. 
No  combination  of  capital  or  organization  of  labor 
can  arbitrarily  permanently  establish  them.  For  a 
short  time  it  may  be  possible  to  govern  them,  but 
that  progress  which  changes  trades  and  trade  methods 
is  no  respecter  of  combinations  or  organizations,  and 
grades  and  levels  prices  in  accordance  with  the 
prosperity  or  adversity  of  the  existing  generation. 
It  id  for  us  to  adjust  ourselves  to  changing  circum- 
stances with  as  little  friction  and  as  peacefully  as  pos- 
sible. 

The  process  of  shoe  manufacturing  does  not  neces- 
sitate so  large  a  plant  nor  so  expensive  an  outlay  as 
textile  manufacturing.  Shoes  are  composite,  and  the 
shoe  industry  is  composite.     The  shoemakers  take  a 


number  of  manufactured  articles,  and  sew  and  nail 
them  together  in  a  stylish,  shapely  manner,  thus  pro- 
ducing a  shoe.  There  are  few  chemicals  to  evaporate 
if  manufacturing  ceases  for  a  day,  a  month  or  a  year. 
Nearly  everything  in  shoemaking  represents  work. 
When  work  stops,  the  factory  process  stops.  There  is 
no  boiling,  mixing  or  dyeing  process  going  on  while 
the  shoemaker  sleeps,  but  his  guiding  eye  and  hand 
are  necessary  to  progress.  Water,  blacking,  glue, 
paste,  cement  and  applied  finishes  are  all  the  liquids 
that  enter  into  the  process  of  shoemaking.  In  temper- 
ing stock,  water  exclusively  is  used,  every  other  liquid 
being  for  external  application.  On  account  of  this 
simplicity,  shoes  can  be  made  economically  in  a  very 
small  compass,  with  little  outlay,  or  can  be  made  in 
great  factories  with  a  perfect  wealth  of  machinery, 
it  is  a  versatile  business,  and  depends  on  the  energy 
and  perseverance  of  the  manufacturer.  It  is  more  a 
business  of  the  people  than  any  great  textile  industry 
possibly  can  be.  It  is  possible  for  a  mechanic  to  rise 
from  the  lowest  to  the  highest  position.  There  are 
even  workingmen's  co-operative  factories.  The  work- 
men invest  a  sum  of  money  in  the  enterprise,  are  paid 
the  same  wages  as  are  paid  in  other  factories,  and  are 
to  share  in  the  profits.  Shoe  manufacturing  needs 
industry,  economy  and  a  natural  talent  for  making 
business  success,  like  any  other  pursuit.  Small  be- 
ginnings are  just  as  possible  to-day  in  any  business 
as  they  ever  were,  and  are  just  as  inconvenient.  The 
convenience  only  of  a  large  capital  seemingly  makes 
it  a  necessity.  Oftentimes  a  comparatively  newly  es- 
tablished firm  will  outstrip  veteran  manufacturers  in 
the  race  for  trade.  This  has  a  tendency  to  keep  trade 
progressive,  and  no  doubt  will  contribute  to  its  per- 
manence. With  the  constant  invention  of  improved 
machinery  and  tools,  the  style  of  conducting  business 
changes  about  as  often  as  the  styles  of  shoes. 

To  small  capitalists  venturing  into  the  shoe  busi- 
ness, contractors  are  a  great  assistance.  With  their 
help  a  man  can  manufacture  shoes  at  a  very  small 
outlay.  There  are  contractors  to  do  almost  every- 
thing. Large  manufacturers  even  have  a  large  part 
of  their  upper-stitching  done  by  contractors.  But  to 
the  small  manufacturer,  the  shoemaking  contractor, 
with  a  line  of  machinery,  is  incalculably  valuable. 
He  not  only  contracts  for  making  the  shoe,  but  will 
even  provide  lasts  and  everything  necessary  to  be 
used.  It  is  possible  for  a  man  to  have  one  small  room 
for  headquarters,  and  yet,  by  contract,  arrange  for 
the  transaction  of  an  extensive  and  profitable  busi- 
ness. The  product  does  not  have  that  distinctive  in- 
dividuality, however,  which  belongs  to  individual 
factories,  because  several  manufacturers  are  often 
supplied  by  one  contractor.  But  it  serves  to  show 
how  thoroughly  Lynn  is  equipped  for  the  business  in 
all  its  phases. 

Not  only  in  our  country,  but  beyond  the  seas,  the 
fame  of  Lynn  factories  has  attracted  notice.  During 
the  year  1885  a  young  man,  the  son  of  a  wealthy 


LYNN. 


287 


German,  made  his  home  in  Lynn  and  worked  on  dif- 
ferent machines  in  a  Lynn  shoe  fectory,  studying  the 
ways  of  Yankee  shoemaking.  American  machines 
and  Lynn  machines  have  made  their  way  all  over  the 
world,  attracting  great  attention  and  interest.  Lynn 
is  only  one  large  customer  for  her  own  great  supply 
dealers  who  make  the  city  their  headquarters.  Lynn 
supplies  go  to  a  dozen  foreign  countries  as  well  as  all 
over  the  United  States, 

If  a  person  were  to  ask  what  grade  of  goods  were 
manufactured  in  Lynn,  he  would  be  told  everything 
in  the  shape  of  a  shoe.  The  staple  grade  is  a  medium 
and  low-priced  article  for  ladies,  misses  and  children, 
hut  there  are  also  several  prosperous  firms  manufac- 
turing for  men,  boys  and  youth.  In  ladies'  wear,  ev- 
erything is  made  from  elegant  hand-sewed  French 
kid  button  boots  and  delicate  beaded  velvet  toilet 
slippers  to  shoes  of  cheaper  material,  which  are  made 
for  the  million.  Everything  that  can  be  thought  of 
or  desired  for  American  wear  is  made  in  Lynn.  There 
are  some  goods  made  for  export,  but  the  goods  for 
foreign  wear  form  a  very  small  part  of  the  year's  bus- 
iness. 

Lynn  represents  a  city  built  without  any  natural 
advantages,  excepting  a  healthy  situation  and  beauti- 
ful natural  attractions.  There  is  no  reason  why  it 
should  have  become  a  prosperous  city  more  than 
many  another,  and  it  would  not  have  become  so  but 
for  the  untiring  industry,  energy  and  perseverance  of 
its  inhabitants.  The  city  is  blessed  with  a  very  poor 
harbor,  has  no  extensive  water-power  privilege,  is  not 
a  great  railroad  centre,  and,  until  a  few  years  since, 
had  only  one  steam  railroad  privilege.  Its  close 
proximity  to  Boston  has,  until  recent  years,  been  a 
disadvantage  to  local  store-keepers,  and  there  has  not 
been  that  reliable  country  trade  from  neighboring 
towns  which  has  contributed  to  the  wealth  of  more 
distant  cities. 

Lynn  is  not  a  county-seat,  and  has  no  National, 
State  or  County  buildings  or  institutions.  The  city 
forcibly  illustrates  how  a  whole  people  can,  by  de- 
voting themselves  assiduously  to  some  definite  call- 
ing, make  themselves  proficient  and  prosperous. 
The  world  is  never  surprised  at  rapid  growth  in  the 
West,  but  the  growth  of  an  ancient  town  on  the  rock- 
bound  New  England  coast  is  remarkable  and  notice- 
able. Lynn,  a  quiet,  home-like  town,  grew  from 
itself,  by  itself,  to  a  position  of  importance,  and  is 
now  the  largest  city  in  Essex  County.  Its  inhabitants 
knew  how  to  make  shoes,  and  they  made  them.  ,  In- 
crease of  business  called  out  increase  of  inventive 
power  to  supply  the  demand.  Machines  to  make 
shoes  called  for  factories,  and  factories  called  people 
in  from  towns  all  over  the  Northern  New  England 
States,  where  shoes  had  formerly  been  sent  to  be 
made.  This  remarkable  city  is  an  interesting  study 
because  of  its  peculiar  success,  as  without  natural  or 
fortunate  advantages  it  has  grown  and  made  a 
famous  name. 


And  this  seems  a  proper  place  to  go  a  little  into  his- 
torical detail  regarding  the  leather  manufacture  here, 
as  distinguished  from  the  shoe  manufacture.  But,  be- 
fore passing  to  that  matter,  the  writer  would  acknowl- 
edge his  indebtedness  to  Mr.  Howard  Mudge  New- 
hall  for  what  is  most  interesting  in  the  foregoing  ac- 
count of  the  shoe  trade. 
Leather. — There  is  an  old  proverb  which  tells  us  that 
there  is  "  nothing  like  leather,''  so  necessary  and  use- 
ful is  it  in  all  the  arts  and  for  many  domestic  pur- 
poses. So  well  aware  of  this  were  the  early  settlers 
of  New  England  that  we  find  the  General  Court 
voting,  in  September,  1638,  to  "  remember  to  provide 
bark  in  the  following  April  for  the  tanning  of  divers 
hides  to  come."  This  importation  of  hides  would 
seem  to  indicate  that  they  had  few  cattle,  or  that  they 
purposed  to  kill  as  few  as  possible,  that  their  num- 
bers might  increase.  It  is  probable  that  the  hides  of 
those  killed  were  not  well  taken  off  or  properly 
cured,  and  thus  were  lost  through  neglect  or  destroy- 
ed. For  this  reason  we  find  an  order  passed  in  Oc- 
tober, 1640,  providing  for  the  proper  slaughtering  and 
care  of  hides  and  skins,  and  for  sending  them  to  be  tan- 
ned and  dressed,  with  a  fine  to  be  imposed  upon  all  who 
neglected  such  duty.  In  June,  1642,  the  Court 
passed  an  elaborate  bill,  providing  that  no  butcher, 
currier  or  shoemaker  should  exercise  the  feat  or  mys- 
tery of  a  tanner,  on  pain  of  forfeiting  six  shillings 
eight  pence  for  every  hide  or  skin  tanned  ;  butchers 
to  forfeit  twelve  cents  for  every  gash  or  cut  made  in 
slaying  ;  no  persons  except  tanners  to  be  allowed  to 
purchase  any  hides ;  persons  selling  hides  insuf- 
ficiently tanned  to  forfeit  them  ;  tanners  not  allowed 
to  let  their  liquors  heat  or  spoil  on  pain  of  £20  for 
every  oflFense ;  no  currier  to  dress  any  leather 
insufficiently  tanned,  or  burn  or  injure  any  leather  in 
dressing,  on  pain  of  forfeiting  the  full  value  of  every 
such  hide ;  sealers  of  leather  appointed,  and  leather 
not  sealed  to  be  forfeited  ;  sealers  to  take  oath  to  per- 
form their  lawful  duty.  This  order  was  afterwards 
extended  so  as  to  include  all  leather  made  into  boots 
and  shoes.  In  1646  a  stringent  law  was  made  to  pre- 
vent the  exportation  of  any  hides  or  skins,  and  per- 
sons so  exporting,  and  masters  of  vessels  receiving 
them,  were  to  forfeit  their  full  value. 

A  committee  was  appointed  May  31,  1672,  to  look 
after  defects  in  the  tanning  of  leather  and  report 
means  to  prevent  the  same. 

Although  goat  and  sheep-skins  were  not  classed 
with  hides,  yet  the  same  stringent  measures  were 
taken  to  prevent  their  exportation.  A  number  of 
glovers,  whose  names  were  George  Hepbourne,  Thos. 
Buttolph,  James  Johnson,  Nathaniel  Williams,  Geo. 
Clifford  and  Thomas  Goulby  petitioned  against  their 
exportation  by  one  Ealph  Woory  in  1645,  and  he  was 
restrained  from  sending  away  more  than  eight  dozens, 
and  he  and  all  others  forbidden  thereafter  to  export  any 
unless  made  into  gloves  or  other  garments — an  early 
instance  of  the  protection  of  labor  and  home  industry 


288 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


In  1672  every  seaport  town  was  obliged  to  choose  an 
officer  to  see  that  no  hides  or  skins  were  improperly 
transported. 

That  the  manufacture  of  leather  from  hides  was  car- 
ried on  at  Lynn  at  a  very  early  day  is  evident.  We  are 
informed  that  Francis  Ingalls,  one  of  the  first  five 
persons  who  settled  within  our  bounds,  was  a  tanner 
and  carried  on  the  business  on  what  is  now  Burrill 
Street,  in  Swampscott,  and  it  is  claimed  that  his  was 
the  first  tannery  in  the  colony.  Mr.  Lewis  states 
that  he  saw  some  of  the  vats  removed  from  their  an- 
cient position  about  the  year  1825.  George  Keysar 
came  to  Lynn  about  1639.  In  1649  he  bought  from 
Samuel  Bennett  the  land  lying  between  Boston 
Street  and  Waterhill,  and  extending  from  the  New- 
hall  property  to  the  present  city  pumping  station. 
This  had  previously  belonged  to  Joseph  Armitage. 
Keysar  carried  on  the  tanning  business  here  till  his 
removal  to  Salem,  in  1680.  His  wife  was  a  daughter 
of  Edward  Holyoke,  and  he  died  in  Salem  in  1690, 
aged  seventy-three.  His  son  Eiizur  pursued  the  same 
calling  at  Salem,  and  his  son  John  at  Haverhill — 
this  fact  showing  that  the  sons  were  educated  to  their 
father's  trade  here  in  Lynn.  In  1665  a  child  by  the 
name  of  Elizabeth  Newhall  was  drowned  in  one  of 
Keysar's  tan-vats  near  Boston  Street.  This  property 
was  not  disposed  of  by  Keysar's  heirs  till  after  1702, 
when  it  probably  passed  into  the  possession  of  the 
Potters,  who  owned  the  property  on  the  opposite  or 
northerly  side  of  Boston  Street.  In  1705  Robert  Pot- 
ter, who  was  son  of  the  first  settler,  Nicholas,  disposed 
of  this  tan-yard  with  the  tan-house  to  his  son  Benja- 
min, who  was  a  tanner,  having  very  likely,  also, 
learned  his  trade  from  the  Keysars ;  Benjamin  after- 
wards acquired  the  title  of  captain,  and  pursued  his 
calling  here  till  1745,  leaving  his  estate  to  his  chil- 
dren, only  one  of  whom  was  a  son,  named  Benjamin, 
and  he  became  non  compos  and  had  a  guardian  for 
many  years. 

Upon  substantially  the  same  premises  once  occu- 
pied by  Keysar  and  Potter  a  tan-yard  and  tan-house 
have  been  in  operation  within  the  memory  of  persons 
still  living,  and  the  last  occupant,  Samuel  Mulliken, 
finished  off  the  tan-house  into  tenements  for  dwell- 
ings. This  old  building  has  been  demolished  within 
•a  few  years.  The  yard  is  still  vacant,  and  the  ancient 
vats  can  be  found  by  digging. 

Upon  the  premises  covered  by  the  factory  of  John 
T.  Moulton,  a  tan-yard  was  in  operation  at  a  very  early 
day  by  Lieut.  John  Burrill.  He  was  a  son  of  the  first 
settler,  George,  and  was  probably  born  in  England 
in  1631.  He  lived  on  Boston  Street,  in  what  was 
more  latterly  called  the  Carnes  house.  This  stood 
upon  the  spot  where  Carnes  Street  joins  Boston 
Street,  and  was  exactly  opposite  the  tan-yard.  Col. 
John  left  the  tan- yard  and  buildings  to  his  son, 
Theophilus  Burrill,  Esq.,  who  also  carried  on  the 
same  business  here  till  1721,  when  he  sold  out  to 
Deacon  John  Lewis.     He  in  turn,  by  his  will,  gave 


the  tan-yard  and  tan-house  to  his  grandson,  Samuel 
Lewis,  who  sold  it,  in  1782,  to  Daniel  Newhall  and 
Nathaniel  Sargent,  who  continued  it.  In  1793  New- 
hall sold  out  to  Sargent,  and  he  continued  alone  till 
his  death  in  1798.  In  1805  Joseph  Watson  was  the 
owner  and  pursued  the  currying  trade.  These  prem- 
ises were  purchased  about  1844  by  Joseph  Moulton, 
and  have  been  occupied  by  him  and  his  successors 
till  the  present  time  (1887),  for  the  manufacture  of 
morocco  leather.  Many  of  the  old  vats  were  removed 
by  him,  and  some  still  remain.  This  spot,  therefore, 
has  been  used  for  tanning  purposes  for  nearly  all  the 
time  since  the  settlement  of  the  town.  A  fine  spring 
of  cold  water,  with  the  natural  stream  now  called 
Strawberry  Brook  running  through  the  yard,  and  in 
later  years  a  head  of  water  from  the  canal  above,  gave 
the  place  unusual  advantages  for  a  business  of  this 
kind.  To  Mr.  John  T.  Moulton,  son  and  successor  of 
Joseph  Moulton,  the  writer  is  much  indebted  for  facts 
here  given  touching  the  leather  business. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century  and  the 
beginning  of  the  present  the  tanning  business  was 
carried  on  by  Benjamin  Phillips  at  the  yard  of  the 
mill  at  Waterhill.  Here  he  had  a  chance  for  a  fulling- 
mill  for  softening  his  hides,  running  it  by  water-power, 
which  was  quite  an  advance  over  the  old  method  of 
horse-power.  To  him  were  apprenticed  the  brothers 
WinthrojD  and  Sylvanus  Newhall,  who  afterwards 
had  their  tan-yards  on  Market  and  Broad  Streets, 
then  called  Blackmarsh.  Winthrop  Newhall  was 
succeeded,  in  1818,  by  his  son  Francis  S.  Newhall, 
who,  in  1822,  formed  a  partnership  with  his  brother 
Henry  for  carrying  on  the  morocco  leather  business. 

Probably  Winthrop  Newhall  was  the  last  of  the 
heavy  leather  tanners  here,  the  morocco  trade  having 
supplanted  the  heavier  business  which  seems  to  have 
taken  deep  root  in  Salem  and  Danvers  at  about  the 
same  time. 

The  morocco  manufacture  was  probably  com- 
menced by  William  Rose  upon  the  same  spot  where 
the  Burrills  began  and  carried  on  the  tanning  of 
hides.  This  is  inferred  from  the  fact  that  when 
Joseph  Watson  made  a  mortgage  of  these  premises, 
Rose  was  called  upon  to  sign  his  name  as  witness  to 
the  conveyance.  He  may  have  been  working  for 
Watson  or  carrying  on  business  in  a  small  way  for 
himself  in  Watson's  shop.  He  shortly  after  had  a 
shop  for  himself  on  a  spot  near  that  now  occu- 
pied by  St.  Stephen's  Church,  on  South  Common 
Street,  but  left  town  in  1809,  going  to  Charles- 
town.  On  Boston  Street  and  in  the  vicinity 
of  these  old  tanneries  lived  John  Adam  Dagyr,  who 
has  been  so  many  times  advertised  as  the  celebrated 
shoemaker  of  Essex  in  1764,  and  his  opinion  and  ad- 
vice in  regard  to  the  kinds  of  material  requisite  for 
ladies'  shoes  may  have  had  something  to  do  with  the 
introduction  of  the  morocco  business  here.  At  any 
rate,  it  came  about  in  his  day.  His  wife's  father, 
Moses  Newhall,  was  probably  a  shoemaker;  the  father 


LYNN. 


289 


of  Moses  certainly  was,  as  the  records  show.  It  is  a 
very  unpleasant  circumstance  that  both  Dagyr  and 
his  wife,  in  their  last  days,  came  to  want. 

Daniel  Collins,  many  years  ago,  carried  on  a  tan- 
nery on  Boston  Street,  nearly  opposite  the  present 
Kirtland  Street.  Levi  Robinson  took  the  business 
more  than  fifty  years  ago,  and  it  has  finally  developed 
into  the  large  morocco  establishment  of  John  E.  Don- 
allan. 

From  Rose  and  his  small  beginning  has  the  busi- 
ness gradually  increased  to  its  present  extensive  pro- 
portions. This  matter  has  been  faithfully  treated  by 
David  N.  Johnson,  in  his  "Sketches  of  Lynn."  He 
brought  it  down  to  1880,  since  which  time  the  amount 
of  business  has  somewhat  increased,  and  two  or  three 
new  firms  have  taken  up  that  other  branch  of  the 
trade,  the  manufecture  of  tawed  and  alum-tanned 
calf  and  sheep-skins. 

The  manufacture  of  leather,  of  one  kind  and  anoth- 
er, but  chiefly  morocco,  in  Lynn,  at  present  reaches  a 
pretty  high  figure,  as  appears  by  the  following  from 
the  last  United  States  Census  returns: 

Number  of  establishments 23 

Employees, 708 

Wages  paiil  during  the  year, 8408.6 '8 

Capital  invested, 5010,100 

Stock  used $1,657,763 

Value  of  product, $2,309,272 

Miscellaneous  Manufactures.  —  The  other 
manufactures  of  Lynn  appear  almost  insignificant  in 
comparison  with  the  shoe  and  leather.  But  some- 
thing should  be  said  regarding  them.  The  aggregate 
(including  the  shoe  and  leather)  as  given  by  the  last 
United  States  Census,  is  as  follows: 

Number  of  establishments 329 

Employees,  total  average  number 12,446 

(Males  above  16,  8924.     Females  above  15,  3487.    Youth 
and  children,  35.) 

Wages  paid  during  the  year, $5,823,572 

Capital  invested, $5,882,350 

Stock  used, $15,551,938 

Value  of  product, $25,216,778 

A  very  large  proportion  of  the  above,  of  course,  be- 
longs to  the  shoe  business.  Indeed,  the  same  census 
gives  as  the  value  of  the  boot  and  shoe  product  $20,- 
946,867,  of  the  above  grand  aggregate  of  $25,216,778. 
A  few  of  the  other  industries  may  be  named : 

Bricks. — It  was  early  found  that  there  were  large 
deposits  of  excellent  clay  in  and  about  Lynn.  And 
it  has  always  been  used  to  some  extent.  But  hereto- 
fore wood  has  proved  so  much  cheaper  as  a  building 
material  that  brick-making  had  no  great  encourage- 
ment. During  later  years,  however,  things  have 
changed,  and  bricks  are  coming  into  more  extensive 
use.  The  value  of  bricks  annually  made  is  about 
twenty-eight  thousand  dollars  and  the  number  of  per- 
sons employed,  forty. 

Boxes. — The  value  of  boxes — paper  and  wood — 
manufactured  in  Lynn  during  a  year  is  about  one 
hundred  and  sixty  thousand  dollars,  and  the  total 
19 


wages  paid  fifty-five  thousand  dollars.  It  will  readily 
be  supposed  that  these  are  chiefly  used  in  the  shoe 
trade. 

Fisheries.— Lynn,  with  Swampscott  and  Nahant, 
belongs  to  the  fishing  district  of  Marblehead.  But 
since  Swampscott  and  Nahant  turned  their  backs 
upon  their  aged  mother  she  has  had  little  to  show  in 
the  matter  of  fisheries,  and  little  in  the  way  of  ship- 
ping, if  her  ambitious  yacht-fleet  is  excepted  ;  but 
that,  by  hardy  del  vers  of  the  deep,  would  probably  be 
regarded  as  belonging  to  the  ornamental  rather  than 
the  industrial.  Recent  returns,  touching  the  fisheries, 
have  already  been  given. 

It  appears,  by  the  last  published  returns,  that  the 
industrial  employees  of  Lynn  receive  higher  wages 
than  those  of  any  other  place  in  the  county — tbe 
average  yearly  earnings  of  each  employee  being  four 
hundred  and  sixty-seven  dollars.  And  this  average 
applies  to  men,  women  and  children.  In  Haverhill 
the  bulk  of  the  business  is  similar  to  that  of  Lynn  ; 
and  there  the  average  yearly  earnings  of  each  employee 
is  but  three  hundred  and  forty-eight  dollars,  while  at 
the  same  time  the  average  number  of  men  workers  there 
is  some  four  per  cent,  greater  than  at  Lynn.  In  Salem 
the  average  earnings  of  each  employee  is  three  hundred 
and  forty-three  dollars.  In  Newburyport  but  two 
hundred  and  sixty-eight  dollars.  Peabody  comes 
nearest  Lynn,  showing  four  hundred  and  fifty-four 
dollars  per  year  for  each  employee. 

In  closing  this  division  of  our  work,  it  is  not  amiss 
to  remark  that  the  manufacture  of  boots  and  shoes 
takes  the  lead  of  all  the  industries  of  Massachusetts. 
The  total  value  of  products  in  the  State,  in  1880,  was 
$631,135,284;  and  of  this  $105,118,299  was  of  boots 
and  shoes.  Other  manufactures,  as  stated  by  the 
careful  hand  of  Colonel  Wright,  stood  as  follows : 
cotton  goods,  $68,566,182;  food  preparations,  $68,035, - 
755;  woolen  goods,  $47,473,668;  metals  and  metallic 
goods,  $40,190,569;  leather,  $30,188,859;  clothing, 
$27,253,582;  mixed  textiles,  $21,601,038;  machines 
and  machiner3%$20,894,545  ;  paper,  $18,358,361 ;  fur- 
niture, .$11,196,827;  printing  and  publishing,  $10,- 
474,684.  "  These  twelve  industries  produce  $469,352,- 
369  worth  of  goods  out  of  the  total  product  [$631, 135,- 
284]  of  the  State." 

The  actual  average  yearly  earnings  of  boot  and  shoe 
employees  throughout  the  State,  including  both  sexes 
and  all  ages,  is  $381.58. 

A  few  other  industries  of  Lynn  may  be  alluded  to 
in  passing,  which  never  grew  to  large  proportions,  but 
yet  were  of  some  importance  in  their  day  : 

Ship-Building,  or  rather  boat-building,  as  it  would 
be  called  at  this  day,  was  engaged  in  here  to  some  ex- 
tent, at  an  early  period.  A  sloop  of  fifteen  tons  was 
built  in  1677,  and  another  of  about  the  same  burden 
in  1685.  And  within  some  twenty-five  years  of  the 
latter  date,  about  half  a  score  of  vessels,  ranging  from 
ten  to  thirty-five  tons  burden — and  one  of  sixty — 
were  built  here.     About  1726  a  ship-yard  was  estab- 


290 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY.  MASSACHUSETTS. 


lished  on  Broad  Street,  a  little  east  of  the  foot  of 
Market,  at  which  were  built,  as  is  stated,  sixteen 
schooners  and  two  brigs.  But  the  business  there  was 
abandoned  after  a  few  years.  There  seems  to  have 
been  quite  a  number  of  expert  workmen  at  ship- 
building in  Lynn  for  many  years,  and  one  or  two  re- 
markably skillful  naval  architects.  The  celebrated 
frigate  "  Constitution  "  was  built  in  Boston,  at  the 
ship-yard  of  Edmund  Hart,  a  Lynn  man.  In  1832  a 
yard  was  established  in  West  Lynn,  a  little  east  of 
Fox  Hill  Bridge,  at  which  were  built  a  few  small  ves- 
sels. The  Lynn  "  Whaling  Company  "  was  formed 
about  that  time,  and  hopes  of  a  profitable  maritime 
business  were  entertained,  but  the  enterprise  proved 
a  failure. 

Chocolate  began  to  be  manufactured  at  the  mill  on 
Saugus  River,  at  the  Boston  Street  crossing,  as  early 
as  1797.  In  or  about  1805  Amariah  Childs  purchased 
the  establishment  and  commenced  manufacturing  an 
article  that  soon  acquired  a  world-wide  reputation, 
continuing  the  business  till  1840. 

Snuff  had  been  made  at  the  mill  as  early  as  1794  by 
Samuel  Fales,  but  the  use  of  snufF  becoming,  by  de- 
grees, unfashionable,  the  business  died  out. 

Salt. — Salt-works  were  established  in  Lynn  in  1805, 
but  the  business  never  grew  to  large  proportions.  The 
works  were  on  what  is  now  Beach  Street,  near  Broad. 
Silk  and  Silk  Printing. — Some  fifty  years  ago  a 
number  of  our  people  became  much  interested  in  the 
silk  manufacture.  They  procured  collections  of 
worms  and  planted  great  numbers  of  white  mulberry 
trees  for  their  food.  They  were  successful  in  a  lim- 
ited way,  but  the  business  never  resulted  in  anything 
profitable,  and  in  a  year  or  two  the  efforts  were  dis- 
continued. The  results  in  some  instances  were  quite 
satisfactory.  The  writer  remembers  being  shown,  by 
a  neighbor,  some  handkerchiefs  which  were  woven 
from  silk  raised  by  him  and  printed  at  one  of  the  silk 
printing  establishments,  which  for  a  number  of  years 
did  an  active  business  in  Wyoma  village,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Strawberry  Brook,  and  on  Waterhill. 

Wall  Paper  and  Rubber  Goods  were  also  manufac- 
tured here  fifty  years  ago,  and  the  waters  of  Straw- 
berry Brook  were  utilized  in  some  other  small  manu- 
facturing enterprises. 

New  Industries. — Quite  recently  there  have  been 
added  to  the  industries  of  Lynn  one  or  two  of  much 
promise,  which  are  well  worthy  of  enumeration. 

Electric  Lighting. — Very  soon  after  it  had  become 
demonstrated  that  electricity  could  be  successfully  util- 
ized for  the  illumination  of  cities,  a  local  electric 
light  company  was  formed  in  Ivvnn  and  permission 
given  by  the  city  to  supply  customers,  the  city  itself 
becoming  a  large  customer  also.  This  company  in- 
troduced into  the  streets  the  very  successful  arc  light 
of  the  Thompson-Houston  patent,  and  this  mode  of 
lighting  soon  became  so  popular  that  in  1883  a  brick 
building  was  erected  on  Stewart  Street  to  enlarge  the 
capacity  to  meet  the  local  demand. 


The  capitalists  who  became  interested  in  this  enter- 
prise, recognizing  that  the  development  of  electric 
lighting  was  in  its  infancy,  were  convinced  that  they 
could  profitably  invest  capital  for  the  manufacture 
and  introduction  of  electrical  apparatus.  To  that  end 
they  invested  money  in  the  Thompson-Houston  com- 
pany, of  New  Britain,  Conn.,  organized  under  the 
laws  of  Connecticut.  The  machinery  and  plant  of  the 
comjjany  was  soon  removed  to  Lynn  to  occupy  the 
substantial  brick  factory  building  on  Western  Ave- 
nue, erected  for  them  by  the  late  Minot  Terrill,  a 
gentleman  who  spent  nearly  the  whole  of  a  large  for- 
tune, which  he  had  inherited,  in  building  improve- 
ments of  lasting  benefit  to  the  city.  The  company 
brought  many  new  families  to  liynn,  the  business  in- 
creased, and  the  factory  accommodations  have  had  to 
be  enlarged  by  the  addition  of  another  large  building. 
At  the  beginning  of  1887  fully  six  hundred  people 
were  employed,  and  the  annual  product  amounted  to 
one  million  dollars.  This  [iroduct  is  sent  all  over  the 
world,  the  demand  increases,  and  oftentimes  the 
works  are  kept  in  operation  until  late  in  the  evening 
to  keep  abreast  of  the  orders. 

Prof  Elihu  Thompson,  an  experienced  electrician, 
from  whom  the  company  derives  its  name,  is  very 
versatile  in  discovering  new  methods  of  applying 
electricity,  which  constantly  adds  new  departments 
of  work  in  the  factory.  The  company,  although 
chartered  in  another  State,  is  practically  a  Lynn  en- 
terprise, and  destined  to  be  of  great  importance  to  the 
city.  The  main  business  office  is  in  Boston;  the 
Western  office  in  Chicago. 

Hat- Finishing. — In  the  early  part  of  1887  a  hat- 
finishing  establishment  was  commenced  on  Summer 
Street  by  Mr.  Timothy  Merritt.  The  new  undertak- 
ing will  no  doubt  become  a  growing  success,  as  the 
projector  has  a  good  knowledge  of  the  business  and 
energy  and  enterprise.  Every  new  industry  contrib- 
utes to  Lynn's  permanent  growth,  and  there  is  no 
reason  why  coverings  for  the  head  cannot  be  as  suc- 
cessfully manufactured  by  her  people  as  coverings  for 
the  feet. 

The  Ice  Business  may  not  be  strictly  called  a  manu- 
facture unless  frost  is  considered  a  working  partner. 
But  it  is  now  an  important  industry,  and  one  to  be 
considered,  more  directly  than  almost  any  other,  a 
home  industry,  the  material  being  of  home  production 
and  the  perfected  article  being  consumed  at  home. 
During  the  last  three  or  four  years  there  have  been 
harvested  an  average  aggregate  of  some  sixty  thou- 
sand tons  each  year.  In  the  storing  season  some- 
where about  three  hundred  men  are  employed  in  the 
various  departments.  At  other  times,  of  course,  the 
number  varies,  and  is  considerably  less. 

Occasion  has  been  taken  to  speak  of  the  industrious 
habits  of  the  people  of  Lynn,  and  of  their  economy. 
Upon  these  traits  have  mainly  rested  that  general 
thrift  which  has  been  marred  by  few  examples  of 
large  accumulation,  or  of  extreme  penury — a  condi- 


LYNN. 


291 


tion  certainly  the  most  desirable  for  any  community ; 
for  it  is  the  condition  that  insures  the  greatest  degree 
of  contentment  and  freedom  of  mind.  Contentment, 
however,  is  not,  in  a  worldly  sense,  an  incentive  to 
enterprise,  for  those  who  feel  contented  in  low  degree 
seldom  put  forth  the  energies  necessary  to  rise  above 
it.  Till  within  a  short  period  Lynn  has  had  no  really 
rich  men  ;  and  perhaps  it  would  have  been  better  had 
she  remained  as  she  was.  But  strife  for  riches  in  an 
eminent  degree  characterizes  this  period ;  yet  how 
different  is  the  course  men  pursue  for  their  attain- 
ment. Some,  without  genius,  culture  or  special  op- 
portunity, succeed  by  boldness  and  courage,  others  by 
frugality  and  carefulness,  others  by  persistent  labor. 
And  then  individuals  are  animated  by  very  different 
motives  in  their  desire  for  wealth ;  some  desire  it  for 
the  ease  it  brings,  some  for  its  luxuries,  some  for  the 
social  position  it  ensures  ;  and  some,  it  is  to  be  hoped, 
for  the  good  it  enables  them  to  do  for  others.  And  if, 
in  the  whole  round  of  cravings,  this  latter  incentive 
does  not  in  some  measure  enter,  one  might  as  well 
remain  idle. 

"  Labor  brings  the  joys  of  health  ; 
Labor  brings  the  meed  of  wealth  ; 
In  thy  brother's  labors  share, 
And  thine  own  the  lighter  are." 

How  much  we  nowadays  hear  about  shortening 
the  hours  of  labor !  Our  friends,  the  "  Knights  of  La- 
bor," are  not  the  only  ones  exercised  about  the  mat- 
ter. If  one  would  gain  time  from  manual  labor  for 
purposes  of  health  or  intellectual  improvement,  or  for 
any  of  the  higher  purposes  of  life,  he  is  certainly  to 
be  commended;  but  if  only  for  the  lower  and  enervat- 
ing indulgences  which  too  often  till  up  "loafing 
hours,"  as  they  are  aptly  called,  he  had  better  be  at 
work. 

To  the  true  New  Englander 

"Absence  of  occupation  is  not  rest ; 
A  mind  quite  yacant  is  a  mind  distressed." 


CHAPTER  XVIL 

LYNN— ( Continued). 

MILITARY   AFFAIRS. 

Early  HUtory,  with  Sietchea  of  Some  of  the  Commanders — Ancient  and 
Honorable  Artillery,  with  List  of  Lynn  Members  and  Notices  of  Some 
Achievements — Lynn  in  the  Indian  Wars,  in  the  Revolution  and  Subse- 
quent Wars,  and  in  the  Great  Civil  War — Her  Present  Military  Organiza- 
tions. 


"Thermopylae  and  Marathon, 

Though  classic  earth,  can  boast  no  more 
Of  deeds  heroic  than  yon  sun 

Once  saw  upon  this  distant  shore." 


Though  the  Indians  in  this  immediate  vicinity 
manifested  but  little  hostility  towards  the  settlers, 
there    were     constantly    disturbing    apprehensions. 


Perhaps  the  promptness  in  military  preparation  did 
much  to  prevent  any  serious  attacks,  though  the 
small  number  here,  and  their  inefficient  weapons, 
could  not  give  them  much  encouragement  in  aggres- 
sive attempts.  But  it  was  not  so  in  some  other  quarters, 
and  Lynn  soon  put  herself  in  a  condition  to  succor 
any  neighbor  that  might  stand  in  need.  The  Indians 
quickly  learned  the  use  of  firearms,  and  there  were 
enough  among  the  settlers  whose  base  cupidity  led 
them,  without  scruple,  to  furnish  muskets  and  ammu- 
nition to  the  dusky  warriors  in  exchange  for  furs  and 
wampum  currency.  Even  as  early  as  1630  the  Court 
found  it  necessary  to  order  that  "  noe  person  what- 
soever shall,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  imploy  or 
cause  to  be  imployed,  or  to  their  power  permit  any 
Indian  to  vse  any  peece  vpon  any  occasion  or  pre- 
tence whatsoever,  under  pain  of  Xs.  ffine  for  the  first 
offence,  and  for  the  2  offence  to  be  ffyned  and  impris- 
oned at  the  discretion  of  the  Court."  This  was  the 
next  year  after  the  settlement  began. 

Military  skill  and  personal  bravery  were  naturally 
in  high  repute.  Plymouth  had  her  Miles  Standish, 
and  Massachusetts,  though  perhaps  destitute  of  a 
leader  as  conspicuous  as  he,  could  boast  of  several 
commanders  of  experience  and  tried  valor.  Lynn 
was  remarkably  fortunate  in  this  respect,  as  she  had 
within  her  borders  two  or  three  well  skilled  in  the 
tactics  of  the  field.  The  first  major-general  of  the 
colony  was  John  Humfrey,  who  settled  here  in  1634. 
His  dwelling  was  on  the  east  side  of  Nahant  Street, 
and  overlooked  the  sea,  Nahant  and  the  Beach,  and 
was  but  a  short  distance  from  the  spot  on  which  the 
habitation  of  Montowampate,  or  Sagamore  James, 
the  Indian  ruler,  stood.  The  writer  is  well  aware 
that  Mr.  Hunifrey's  residence  is  thought  by  some  to 
have  been  at  Swampscott,  but  careful  research  has 
shown  that  to  be  an  error.  He  indeed  owned  an  ex- 
tensive tract  of  land  thereabout,  but  assuredly  did  not 
live  in  that  then  lonely  place.  Some  even  suppose 
that  the  "  Farm  House"  on  the  estate,  so  highly  im- 
proved and  embellished  by  the  late  Hon.  Enoch  Red- 
ington  Mudge,  was  the  identical  residence  of  Mr. 
Humfrey.  But  it  is  thought  that  even  a  slight  ex- 
amination would  be  sufficient  to  convince  any  one 
that  such  a  house  could  not  have  been  built  at  that 
period.  It  is  in  the  style  of  a  later  day.  He  possibly 
had  cultivated  acres  in  the  vicinity,  and  may  have 
erected  some  rude  structure  for  the  temporary  shelter 
of  laborers.  He  also  had  a  land  grant  in  what  is  now 
Lynnfield,  including  the  beautiful  little  lakelet  still 
knowm  as  Humfrey's  Pond.  This  latter  grant  was 
made  in  1635,  the  year  after  his  arrival,  and  in  these 
words, — "There  is  500  acres  of  land  and  a  freshe 
pond,  with  a  little  ileland  conteyneing  aboute  two 
acres,  granted  to  John  Humfrey,  Esq.,  lying  be- 
twixte  nore  &  west  from  Saugus  [Lynn],  provided 
hee  take  noe  part  of  the  500  acres  within  5  myles  of 
any  towne  nowe  planted.  Also,  it  is  agreed,  that  the 
inhabitants  of  Saugus  [Lynn]  &  Salem  shall  have 


292 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


liberty  to  build  stoore  howses  upon  the  said  ileland, 
and  to  lay  in  such  provisions  as  they  judge  necessary 
for  their  vse  in  tyme  of  neede." 

Mr.  Humfrey  was  one  of  the  most  eminent  men  in 
the  colony,  was  an  original  Massachusetts  patentee, 
and,  before  the  removal  of  the  patent  to  New  Eng- 
land, was  chosen  Deputy-Governor.  It  being,  how- 
ever, thought  best  for  the  interests  of  the  company 
that  he  should  for  a  time  remain  in  England,  Thomas 
Dudley  was  chosen  to  serve  in  his  stead,  and  came 
over  with  Winthrop's  company  in  1630. 

When  Mr.  Humfrey  came  over  he  brought  with 
him,  says  Winthrop,  "  more  ordnance,  muskets  and 
powder."  He  was  accompanied  by  his  wife  and  six 
children,  and  it  is  pretty  certain  would  not  have  re- 
turned so  soon  had  it  not  been  for  the  disconsolate 
yearnings  of  his  home-sick  wife,  who  was  a  daughter 
of  the  Earl  of  Lincoln.  But  he  had  restless  ambition, 
and  perhaps  felt  that  New  England  was  too  limited 
and  uncertain  a  field  for  his  aspirations.  From  his 
feverish  dreams  of  advancement,  however,  he  finally 
awoke.  But  it  was  the  chilling  pressure  of  disap- 
apointment  that  awoke  him.  And  when  meditating 
on  the  defeat  of  his  most  cherished  schemes,  a  gush 
of  tenderness  and  even  deep  religious  feeling  over- 
whelmed him.  Not  much  can  be  said  of  his  exploits 
in  the  field,  but  as  a  counselor  and  home  director,  in 
planning,  ordering  and  providing,  his  services  were 
of  inestimable  value.  He  returned  to  England  in  the 
fall  of  1641,  and  there  died  in  1661. 

A  military  company  was  organized  in  Lynn  as 
early  as  1630.  Richard  Wright  was  appointed  cap- 
tain ;  Daniel  Howe,  lieutenant ;  and  Richard  Walker, 
ensign.  They  were  provided  with  two  iron  cannon. 
In  1631  there  was  a  report  that  some  Indians  intended 
an  attack  on  Lynn,  and  Walker,  with  a  suitable  num- 
ber, was  detailed  for  the  night  guard.  He  at  one 
time,  while  on  duty,  had  an  arrow,  shot  from  among 
some  bushes,  pass  through  his  coat  and  "  buff  waist- 
coat," and  afterwards  another  arrow  was  shot  through 
his  clothes.  It  being  quite  dark,  after  a  random  dis- 
charge or  two  of  their  muskets,  the  guard  retired. 
The  next  morning  the  cannon  was  brought  up  and 
discharged  in  the  woods,  and  nothing  more  came  of 
the  attack.  After  that  the  people  of  Lynn  suffered 
little  or  no  molestation. 

At  the  breaking  out  of  the  Pequot  war,  in  1636, 
Captain  Nathaniel  Turner,  of  Lynn,  commanded  one 
of  the  companies  detailed  to  serve  in  the  first  cam- 
paign. The  expedition  did  efficient  service  at  Block 
Island,  New  London  and  thereabout.  The  next 
year,  1637,  a  second  expedition  was  undertaken,  and 
the  town  furnished  twenty-one  men.  In  one  respect 
Lynn  was  a  loser  by  this  war,  for  Captain  Turner  be- 
came so  enamored  of  the  country  through  which  he 
marched  that  he  permanently  pitched  his  tent  there, 
becoming,  as  Trumbull  says,  one  of  the  principal  set- 
tlers of  New  Haven.  But  his  fate  was  mysterious  and 
melancholy.     He  was  one  of  the  five  men  of  "  chief 


note  and  worth  "  who  sailed  for  England  in  1647,  in 
the  little  vessel  commanded  by  (^aptain  Lamberton, 
which  was  never  heard  of  after;  unless  the  "phantom 
ship"  which  appeared  in  the  Sound  after  a  great  thun- 
der storm  the  next  year,  and  which  beholders  declared 
was  an  exact  image,  is  taken  as  her  representative. 

Captain  Turner  received  his  commission  as  "  Cap- 
taine  of  the  military  company  att  Saugus,"  in  March, 
1633,  from  the  General  Court.  He  became  a  near 
neighbor  of  his  superior  officer,  John  Humfrey,  and 
the  two  no  doubt  often  conferred  together  on  military 
affiiirs.  Humfrey's  action,  as  already  intimated,  was 
in  the  Council,  while  Turner's  was  more  in  the  field, 
and  one  of  the  first  orders  the  latter  received  was  the 
rather  ignoble  one  to  march  to  Nahant  on  a  wolf- 
hunt.  What  luck  he  had  in  destroying  his  four-foot- 
ed foes  does  not  appear ;  but  when  he  was  called  to 
meet  more  worthy  enemies,  he  was  brave  and  tri- 
umphant. His  moving  from  Lynn  at  that  formation 
period  in  her  history  was  a  great  loss  to  the  place, 
probably  quite  as  great  as  that  of  the  departure  of  his 
neighbor  Humfrey. 

Among  the  Lynn  soldiers  in  the  Pequot  war  was 
Christopher  Lindsey.  He  was  a  laboring  man,  and 
kept  the  cattle  of  Mr.  Dexter,  at  Nahant.  The  eleva- 
tion on  the  peninsula,  called  Lindsey's  Hill,  received 
its  name  from  him.  He  was  wounded  in  the  war, 
and  in  1655  petitioned  the  court  for  an  allowance, 
saying  that  he  was  "  disabled  from  service  for  twenty 
weekes,  for  which  he  never  had  any  satisfaction."  He 
was  allowed  three  pounds.  His  only  daughter, 
Naomi,  married  Thomas  Maule,  of  Salem,  the  famous 
Quaker,  whose  doctrinal  book,  together  with  its  sup- 
plementary "Persecutors  Mauled,"  created  quite  a 
sensation.  In  it  he  remarks  they  five  times  impris- 
oned him,  thrice  took  away  his  goods  and  thrice  cru- 
elly whipped  him. 

It  was  in  1638  that  the  Ancient  and  Honorable  Ar- 
tillery was  organized.  Six  Lynn  men  were  among 
the  first  members,  namely,  William  Ballard,  Joseph 
Hewes,  Daniel  Howe,  Edward  Tomlin?,  Nathaniel 
Turner,  Richard  Walker.  Daniel  Howe  was  chosen 
lieutenant.  A  word  in  relation  to  one  or  two  of  these 
early  members  of  that  ancient  organization  may  not 
be  inappropriate.  In  relation  to  Mr.  Tomlins,  it  ap- 
pears pretty  certain  that  he  was  one  in  whom  great 
tru-5t  was  reposed  in  civil  matters,  as  well  as  military. 
Yet  it  is  evident  that  he  had  decided  opinions,  which 
were  not  always  expressed  in  ways  the  most  wise  or 
gentle.  On  the  3d  of  September,  1634,  the  court 
ordered  that  he,  "  or  any  other  put  in  his  place  by  the 
Commi-sioners  of  War,  with  the  help  of  an  assistant, 
shall  have  power  to  presse  men  and  carts,  for  ordinary 
wages,  to  helpe  towards  makeing  of  such  carriages 
and  wheeles  as  are  wanting  for  the  ordinances."  His 
brother,  Timothy  Tomlins,  was  the  same  year  ap- 
pointed overseer  of  the  "  powder  and  s^hott  and  all 
other  amunicon  "  of  the  plantation.  In  1643,  being 
then  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  he 


LYNN. 


293 


was  "ordred  and  appoynted,  by  both  Houses  of  the 
Courte,  to  go  iippon  a  messuage  to  ye  Narragansett 
sachems,"  and  dismissed  from  the  "  howse  for  ye  pres- 
ent to  prepare  himself  for  ye  jurney."  He  went  in 
company  with  the  celebrated  Indian  negotiator,  Gen- 
eral Humphrey  Atherton.  And  it  is  represented  that 
one  of  their  first  acts  was  to  catechise  the  benighted 
Narragansetts  on  the  Ten  Commandments.  It  is 
probable  that  he  had  not  much  of  an  ear  for  music 
other  than  martial,  for,  in  1641,  he  was  arraigned  for 
expressing  opinions  against  music  in  the  churches. 
He,  however,  retracted,  and  was  discharged. 

Nathaniel  Turner,  who  also  joined  the  Ancient 
and  Honorables  at  the  time  of  their  organization,  has 
already  been  spoken  of.  The  sword  which  he  wielded 
against  the  Indians  is  still  preserved  by  the  Histori- 
cal Society  of  Hartford,  Conn.  A  picture  of  it  may 
be  seen  in  Harper's  Magazine,  volume  xvii.  page  3. 
The  same  weapon  also  did  service,  in  other  hands,  in 
the  old  French  War  and  in  the  Eevolution. 

Richard  Walker  has  also  been  mentioned  as  en- 
sign of  the  first  military  company  of  Lynn,  formed  in 
1630.  And  the  duties  of  the  soldiers  of  those  days,  in 
time  of  peace  even,  must  have  been  burdensome,  for 
it  was  ordered,  in  1631,  "  that  every  Captaine  shall 
train  his  companie  on  saterday  in  every  weeke."  In 
May,  1679,  a  new  troop  was  formed  in  Lynn,  consist- 
ing of  forty-eight  men.  They  petitioned  the  General 
Court  that  Captain  Richard  Walker  might  be  ap- 
pointed commander.  Ralph  King,  who  was  a  son-in- 
law  of  the  veteran,  was  made  lieutenant.  If  this  is 
the  same  Richard  Walker,  he  must  then  have  been 
eighty-six  years  old,  for  he  was  born  in  1593.  He  ap- 
pears, however,  to  have  been  blest  with  a  most  vigor- 
ous constitution,  for  he  lived  to  the  great  age  of 
ninety-five  years.  And  he  is  probably  the  same  hero 
to  whom  Johnson,  of  Woburn,  refers  in  the  following 
lines,  touching  an  encounter  with  some  Indians  : 

"  He  fought  the  Eastern  Indians  there, 
Whose  poisoned  arrows  filled  the  air, 
And  two  of  which  these  savage  foes 
Lodg'd  safe  in  Captain  Wallier's  clothes." 

But  the  captain  of  the  new  troop  may  have  been  hia 
son  Richard,  who  was  born  in  1611,  though  he  even 
had  attained  the  age  of  sixty-eight. 

The  venerable  organization  now  known  as  "The 
Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery,"  but  which  in  its 
charter  is  called  "  The  Military  Company  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts," at  its  formation,  in  1638,  was  designed 
for  discipline  in  military  tactics.  For  many  years  it, 
no  doubt,  served  an  excellent  purpose,  but  of  late 
years  it  has  come  to  be  regarded  as  rather  a  holiday 
institution.  Lynn  has  furnished  a  fair  share  of  mem- 
bers, and  a  list  is  deserving  of  space  here: 


1642.  John  Wood. 

1643.  Benjamin  Smith. 
1645.  Clement  Coldam. 
1648.  John  Cole. 

1G5'2.  Samuel  Hutchinson. 
1G94.  Thomas  Baker. 
1717.  Benjamin  Gray. 


1821 .  Robert  Robinson. 

1822.  Daniel  N.  Breed. 
1822.  George  Johnson. 
1822.  Ebenezer  Neal. 
1851.  Roland  G.  Usher. 
1860.  Richard  S.  Fay,  Jr. 


1638.  William  Ballard. 
1638.  Joseph  Ilewes. 
1638.   Daniel  Howe  (Lieut). 
1638.  Edward  Tomlins. 
1638.  Nathaniel  Turner. 
1638.  Richard  Walker. 


1639.  Samuel  Bennett. 

1640.  John  Humfrey. 

1640.  Thomas  Marshall. 
1C41.  Robert  Britiges. 

1641.  John  Humfrey,  Jr. 
1641.  Adam  Otley. 


Of  the  first  six,  those  who  joined  at  the  time  of  the 
organization,  enough  has  perhaps  been  said.  But 
some  of  those  who  subsequently  joined  are  worthy  of 
brief  notice. 

Samuel  Bennett,  who  became  a  member  in  1639, 
was  one  of  the  first  settlers,  and  located  in  what  is 
now  the  westerly  part  of  Saugus.  He  owned  consid- 
erable woodland.  "  Bennett's  Swamp,"  so  called  to 
this  day,  in  old  Dungeon  Pasture,  was  owned  by  him. 
His  residence  was  not  far  from  the  ironworks,  and 
in  that  vicinity  he  also  had  lands.  He  had  a  good 
deal  of  independence  of  character,  not  to  say  wilful- 
ness. At  the  Quarterly  Court,  in  1645,  he  was  pre- 
sented "  for  saying,  in  a  scornful  manner,  he  neither 
cared  for  the  Town  nor  any  order  the  Town  could 
make."  In  1671  he  sued  John  Gifford,  former  agent 
of  the  ironworks,  and  attached  property  to  the 
amount  of  four  hundred  pounds,  for  labor  performed 
for  the  company.  On  the  27th  of  June,  the  following 
testimony  was  given  :  "John  Paule,  aged  about  forty- 
five  years,  svvorne,  saith,  that  living  with  Mr.  Samuel 
Bennett,  upon  or  about  the  time  that  the  ironworks 
were  seased  by  Capt.  Savage,  in  the  year  58  as  I  take 
it,  for  I  lived  ther  several  years,  and  my  constant 
imployment  was  to  repaire  carts,  coale  carts,  mine 
carts,  and  other  working  materials  for  his  teenies,  for 
he  keept  4  or  5  teemes,  and  sometimes  6  teemes,  and 
he  had  the  most  teemes  the  last  yeare  of  the  Iron 
Works,  when  they  were  seased,  and  my  master  Ben- 
nett did  yearly  yearne  a  vast  sum  from  the  said  Iron 
Works,  for  he  commonly  yearned  forty  or  fifty  shil- 
lings a  daye  for  the  former  time,  and  the  year  53,  as 
aforesaid,  for  he  had  five  or  six  teemes  goeing  gener- 
ally every  faire  day."  In  1644  he  was  presented  by 
the  grand  jury  as  "  a  common  sleeper  in  time  of  ex- 
ercise," and  fined  two  shillings  and  sixpence.  There 
was  a  law  forbidding  the  .*ale  of  commodities  at  too 
great  a  profit.  And  for  a  breach  of  this  law  he  ap- 
pears to  have  once  or  twice  suffered  prosecution.  On 
the  colony  records,  under  date  of  May  15,  1657,  may 
be  found  this  entry :  "  In  answer  to  the  petition  of 
Samuel  Bennett,  humbly  craving  the  remittment  or 
abatement  of  a  fine  imposed  on  him  by  the  County 
Court,  for  selling  goods  at  excessive  prizes,  the  court 
having  perused,  and  by  theire  committee  ex- 
amined, the  papers  in  the  case  presented,  together 
with  the  allegations  and  pleas  of  the  peticoner  and 
others,  by  him  produced,  understanding  by  what  ap- 
peared, the  peticoner  received  of  George  Wallis 
about  forty  pounds  or  upwards  meerely  for  the  re- 
lease of  the  bargain  made  betwixt  them,  .  .  .  see  it 
not  meete  to  graunt  the  petition  in  whole  or  in  part." 
Mr.  Wallis  had  also  been  fined  "fivety  pounds"  for 


294 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


"  selling  goods  at  excessive  prizes,"  and  petitioned 
for  a  remittal,  and  the  same  court  judged  it  "  meete 
to  remit  the  fine  all  to  tenn  pounds,"  which  remittal 
was  made  in  consideration  of  his  being  necessitated 
"to  be  at  the  losse  of  about  forty  pounds  or  more  to 
attayne  a  release  of  the  bargain  betwixt  him  and 
Samuell  Bennett."  It  seems  to  have  been  a  mere  game 
of  sharps  between  Bennett  and  Wallis,  but  shows  the 
care  taken  by  the  court  to  prevent  a  circumvention 
of  the  wholesome  law  forbidding  one  to  sell  at  an 
excessive  profit.  The  maxim  so  prevalent  in  the  bar- 
gainings of  our  day — caveat  emptor — seems  then  to 
have  been  unheeded.  Not  much  is  to  be  found  re- 
specting Mr.  Bennett  in  his  military  capacity. 

John  Humfrey  has  already  been  spoken  of  to 
some  extent. 

Thomas  Marshall,  who  was  a  soldier  under 
Cromwell,  and  without  whose  assistance,  John  Dun- 
ton  says,  "if  we  may  believe  him,  Oliver  did  hardly 
anything  that  was  considerable,"  has  been  spoken  of 
somewhat  largely  in  another  connection. 

EoBEET  Bridges,  or  Captain  Bridges,  as  he  was 
generally  called,  was  a  man  of  substance  and  marked 
traits  of  character.  He  was  admitted  a  freeman  in 
1641,  and  joined  the  Ancient  and  Honorables  the 
same  year,  being  then  captain  of  a  militia  company. 
He  was  a  good  deal  in  civil  authority,  was  Speaker  of 
the  House  of  Representatives,  an  assistant,  an  acting 
magistrate  and  a  member  of  the  Quarterly  Court.  In 
1645,  accompanied  by  Richard  Walker  and  Thomas 
Marshall,  both  already  spoken  of  as  Lynn  members 
of  the  company,  he  went  as  commissioner  to  negotiate 
between  Lord  de  la  Tour  and  Monsieur  d'Aulney,  the 
governors  of  the  French  provinces  on  the  north  of 
New  England.  The  embassy  did  good  service  and 
the  court  appropriately  recompensed  them. 

That  Captain  Bridges  possessed  rigidly  Puritanical 
characteristics  is  abundantly  evident.  He  was  one 
of  the  five  who,  in  May,  1645,  were  appointed  by  the 
court  to  draft  bills  for  "positive  lawes"  against  lying, 
Sabbath-breaking,  profanity,  drunkenness  and  kin- 
dred vices.  And  in  1649  was  one  of  the  assistants 
who,  with  the  Governor,  on  the  10th  of  May,  signed 
a  protestation  against  the  wearing  of  long  hair,  "after 
the  manner  of  ruffians  and  barbarious  Indians." 

It  was  Captain  Bridges  who,  in  July,  1651,  granted 
the  magistrate's  warrants  against  Clarke,  Crandall 
and  Holmes,  the  Baptist  missionaries  from  Rhode 
Island,  concerning  which  affair  it  is  proposed  to  say 
something  in  the  sketch  of  Swampscott. 

In  the  Essex  Court  files  may  be  found  the  follow- 
ing record  of  Captain  Bridges's  official  action  in  the 
case  of  Thomas  Wheeler,  who  appears  to  have  been  a 
man  of  character  and  some  estate :  "  4th  mo.,  1654. 
Thomas  Wheeler  bound  over  to  the  Court  by  the 
worshipful  Captain  Bridges,  for  sinful  and  offensive 
speeches  made  by  him  in  comparing  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Cobbet  to  Corah.  It  being  proved  by  three  witnesses, 
sentence  of  Court  is,  that  he  shall  make  public  ac- 


knowledgment upon  the  Lord's  day,  sometime  within 
a  month  after  the  date  hereof,  according  to  this  form 
following,  and  pay  the  three  witnesses  £12  2s.  Qd.  and 
fees  of  Court :  [I,  Thomas  Wheeler,  having  spoken 
at  a  town  meeting  in  February  last,  evil,  sinful  and 
offensive  speeches  against  the  Reverend  Teacher,  Mr. 
Cobbet,  in  comparing  him  unto  Corah,  for  which  I 
am  very  sorry,  do  acknowledge  this  my  evil,  to  the 
glory  and  praise  of  God  and  to  my  own  shame,  and 
hope,  for  time  to  come,  shall  be  more  careful.]  The 
constable  of  Lynn  is  to  see  it  performed."  Mr. 
Wheeler  removed  to  Stonington,  Ct.,  in  1664,  and 
became  the  largest  la-  dholder  in  the  place,  was  an 
honored  member  of  the  church,  and  died  there  in 
1686,  at  the  age  of  eighty-four. 

It  is  not  found  that  Captain  Bridges  made  much  of 
a  mark  in  a  military  way,  but  as  a  business  man  he 
certainly,  by  his  enterprise  and  prudence,  added 
much  to  the  reputation  and  prosperity  of  Lynn.  He 
may  almost  be  called  the  father  of  the  iron  works.  It 
was  in  1642  that  he  took  specimens  of  the  bog  ore  found 
here  to  London,  and  succeeded  in  forming  a  company 
which  soon  after  commenced  operations  by  setting  up 
the  bluomery  and  forge.  And  although  the  works 
proved  pecuniarily  disastrous,  the  country  at  large 
reaped  great  ulterior  benefit  through  some  of  the 
skilled  workmen,  the  best  that  England  could  afford, 
who  removed  to  other  places  and  engaged  in  works, 
which,  under  better  management,  grew  to  great  im- 
portance. 

Taking  all  points  of  character  into  view  and  mak- 
ing due  allowance  for  the  characteristics  of  the  time, 
it  must  be  conceded  that  Captain  Bridges  furnishes  a 
fair  specimen  of  the  noble  class  of  men  who  so  faith- 
fully labored  in  laying  the  foundations  of  the  social 
fabric  which  has  become  our  inheritance — men  hon- 
est, religious,  iiersevering,  hopeful  and  brave.  Yet  it 
must  be  admitted  that  he  was  not  of  a  sjiecially  ge- 
nial disposition ;  nor  could  he  have  been  very  popu- 
lar in  some  of  his  relations.  He  had  hard  points  of 
character;  was  arbiti'ary,  exacting,  unyielding  in  the 
smaller  concerns  of  daily  intercourse,  and  perhaps 
not  sufficiently  regai'dful  of  the  minor  rights  of  those 
about  him  ;  for  we  all  love  to  have  our  rights  respected, 
even  when  they  are  of  little  value.  In  those  days  of 
difficulty  and  doubt,  minds  were  trained  to  meet  the 
trials  of  life  with  a  fortitude  that  amounted  to  hero- 
ism. Indeed,  it  was  a  favorite  idea  that  the  afflictions 
men  were  called  to  endure  were  disciplinary  ;  that 
souls  were  purified  by  such  means.  This,  however, 
was  probably  quite  as  much  theoretical  as  otherwise, 
for  the  best  of  us  would  prefer  to  secure  by  observa- 
tion, rather  than  experience,  the  good  that  might  be 
derived  from  pain  and  suffering. 

John  Wood,  who  joined  the  company  in  1642,  was 
one  of  the  earliest  comers.  He  settled  in  that  part 
of  Lynn  since  known  as  Woodend,  the  local  name 
being  derived  from  him.  He  is  supposed  to  have 
been  father  of  William  Wood,  the  author  of  "  New 


Li^NN. 


295 


England's  Prospect,"  published  in  London  in  1684,  a 
book  giving  such  lively  and  graphic  descriptions  of 
the  Bay  settlements  that  it  has  ever  been  held  in  high 
repute.  Little  or  nothing  seems  to  be  known  of  Mr. 
Wood's  military  accomplishments.  Perhaps  he  joined 
the  artillery  as  a  sort  of  apprentice  at  martial  tactics. 

Clement  Coldam,  made  a  member  in  1645,  ap- 
peared here  as  early  as  1630.  And  his  recollection  of 
matters  pertaining  to  our  very  early  days  seems  to 
h.".ve  been  much  relied  on  in  after-years,  his  testimo- 
ny having  great  weight  in  several  important  lawsuits. 
Not  much  is  known  of  his  military  achievements.  A 
record  says  that  on  April  14,  1691,  "  Clement  Coldam 
and  Joseph  Hart  were  chosen  cannoners,  to  order  and 
look  after  the  great  guns."  If  that  means  him,  he 
must  have  been  a  very  old  man — about  ninety — but 
he  had  a  son  Clement,  who  was  supposed  to  have  re- 
moved to  Gloucester  many  years  before. 

Thomas  Baker  had  experience  in  the  field  during 
the  great  King  Philip  War,  1675,  being  one  of  the 
Lynn  company.  He  was  in  the  great  swamp  fight  at 
South  Kingston,  R.  I.,  in  which  Ephraim  Newhall 
was  killed. 

This  member  of  the  artillery,  who  is  usually  called 
Captain  Thomas  Baker,  appears  to  have  been  a  grand- 
son of  Edward  Baker,  who  came  to  Lynn  as  early  as 
1630,  and  from  whom  "  Baker's  Hill,"  in  Saugus,  re- 
ceived its  name,  behaving  settled  near  it.  From  him 
a  line  of  respectable  descendants  has  reached  down 
to  the  present  time.  Daniel  C.  Baker,  our  third 
mayor,  was  of  the  lineage.  And  in  several  other 
places  descendants  have  become  conspicuous. 

The  life  of  this  Captain  Thomas  Baker  was  so  illus- 
trative of  the  vicissitudes  to  which  the  people  of  that 
period  were  exposed,  and  withal  so  tinged  with  ro- 
mance, that  space  may  be  allowed  for  a  glimpse  or 
two.  He  was  taken  captive  by  the  Indians  at  Deer- 
field  on  the  terrible  night  of  February  29,  1704,  and 
carried  to  Canada.  He,  however,  the  next  year,  suc- 
ceeded in  effecting  his  escape.  In  or  about  the  year 
1715  he  married  Madam  Le  Beau,  whose  name  figures 
somewhat  in  the  history  of  that  period.  She  was  a 
daughter  of  Richard  Otis,  of  Dover,  N.  H.,  who, 
with  one  son  and  one  daughter,  was  killed  by  the  In- 
dians on  the  night  of  June  27,  1689,  at  the  time  they 
destroyed  the  place.  She  was  then  an  infant  of  three 
months,  and  was,  with  her  mother,  carried  captive  to 
Canada  and  sold  to  the  French.  The  priests  took 
her,  baptized  her,  and  gave  her  the  name  of  Chris- 
tine. They  educated  her  in  the  Romish  faith,  and 
she  passed  some  time  in  a  nunnery,  not,  however, 
taking  the  veil.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  she  was  mar- 
ried to  a  Frenchman,  thus  becoming  Madam  Le  Beau, 
and  became  the  mother  of  two  or  three  children. 
Her  husband  died  about  1713.  And  it  was  very  soon 
after  that  her  future  husband,  Captain  Baker,  appears 
to  have  fallen  in  with  her.  He  was  attached  to  the 
commission  detailed  by  Governor  Dudley,  under 
John  Stoddard  and  John  Williams,  for  the  purpose  of 


negotiating  with  the  Marquis  de  Vaudreuil  for  the 
release  of  prisoners  and  to  settle  certain  other  mat- 
ters, and  went  to  Canada.  From  Stoddard's  journal 
it  appears  that  there  was  much  trouble  in  procuring 
her  release,  and  when  it  was  obtained,  her  children 
were  not  allowed  to  go  with  her.  Her  mother  was 
also  opposed  to  her  leaving  Canada. 

After  her  return,  Christine  married  Captain  Baker, 
and  they  went  to  reside  at  Brookfield,  where  they  re- 
mained till  1733.  They  had  several  children,  and 
among  their  descendants  is  Hon.  John  Wentworth> 
late  member  of  Congress  from  Illinois.  She  became 
a  Protestant  after  marrying  Captain  Baker,  and  sub- 
stituted the  name  Margaret  for  Christine,  though 
later  in  life  she  seems  to  have  again  adopted  the  lat- 
ter. In  1727,  her  former  confessor.  Father  Siguenot, 
wrote  her  a  gracious  letter,  expressing  a  high  opinion 
of  her  and  warning  her  against  swerving  from  the 
faith  in  which  she  had  been  educated.  He  mentions 
the  happy  death  of  a  daughter  of  hers  who  had  mar- 
ried and  I'ved  in  Quebec,  and  also  speaks  of  her 
mother,  then  living,  and  the  wife  of  a  Frenchman. 
This  letter  was  shown  to  Governor  Burnet,  and  he 
wrote  to  her  a  forcible  reply  to  the  arguments  it  con- 
tained in  favor  of  Romanism.  And  there  are,  or 
recently  were,  three  copies  of  the  letter  and  reply  in 
the  Boston  Athenjeum.  The  mother  of  Christine 
had  children  by  her  French  husband,  and  Philip, 
Christine's  half-brother,  visited  her  at  Brookfield. 

All  the  children  of  Captain  Baker  and  Christine, 
seven  or  eight  in  number,  excepting  the  first,  who 
was  a  daughter,  bearing  her  mother's  name,  were 
born  in  Brookfield.  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that 
the  connection  was  a  happy  one.  They  held  a  very 
respectable  position,  and  he  was  the  first  representa- 
tive from  Brookfield.  He  was  indeed  once  tried  be- 
fore the  Superior  Court,  in  1727,  for  blasphemy,  but 
the  jury  acquitted  him.  The  ofiense  consisted  in  his 
remarking,  while  discoursing  on  God's  providence  in 
allowing  Joseph  Jennings,  of  Brookfield,  to  be  made 
a  justice  of  the  peace,  "  If  I  had  been  with  the  Al- 
mighty I  would  have  taught  him  better." 

In  1733  Captain  Baker  sold  his  farm  in  Brookfield. 
But  this  proved  an  unfortunate  step,  for  the  purchas- 
er failed  before  making  payment,  and  their  circum- 
stances became  greatly  reduced.  They  were  a  short 
time  at  Mendon,  and  also  at  Newport,  R.  I.,  but 
finally  removed  to  Dover,  N.  H.  Poor  Christine,  in 
1735,  petitioned  the  authorities  of  New  Hampshire 
for  leave  to  "keep  a  house  of  ijublic  entertainment" 
on  the  "  County  Rhoade  from  Dover  meeting-house 
to  Cocheco  Boome."  To  this  petition  she  signs 
her  name  "  Christine  baker,"  and  mentions  that  she 
made  a  journey  to  Canada  in  hope  of  getting  her 
children,  "  but  all  in  vaine."  A  license  was  granted, 
and  it  seems  probable  that  she  kept  the  house  a  num- 
ber of  years.  She  died,  at  a  great  age,  February  23, 
1773,  and  an  obituary  notice  appeared  in  the  Boston 
Evening  Post. 


296 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


There  seems,  at  first  sight,  to  be  a  little  confusion 
of  dates  in  the  foregoing,  or  possibly  some  mistake  in 
personal  identity,  if  the  dates  in  the  following  depo- 
sition are  correct.  The  deposition  is  in  favor  of  a 
fellow-soldier,  and  bears  the  date  June  8,  1730 : 

"The  deposition  of  Thomas  Baker,  of  Lyn,  in  the  county  of  Essex, 
aged  about  77  years,  Testifieth  and  saith.  That  I,  being  well  acquainted 
with  one  Andrew  Townsend  of  Lyn  aforesaid  for  more  than  Sf)  years 
since,  and  do  certainly  know  and  very  well  Remember  that  the  s*  An- 
drew Townsend  was  a  soldier  in  the  Expedition  to  the  Narragansett  un- 
der y°  Command  of  Capt.  Gardner,  and  that  he  was  in  ye  s*  Narragansett 
fite  and  in  s*  tite  Eec'd  a  wound,  in  or  about  the  year  1675." 

The  deponent  styles  himself  of  Lynn,  but  it  rather 
appears  that  he  was  then  of  Brook  field.  Perhaps, 
however,  he  was  proud  to  still  call  himself  of  Lynn, 
or  merely  meant  that  he  was  of  Lynn  at  the  time  of 
the  "fite."  It  is  evident  that  he  was  somewhat  of  a 
rover. 

The  King  Philip  War,  that  last  great  struggle  of 
the  red  men,  commenced  in  1675.  It  was  a  period 
when  all  the  energy  and  all  the  patriotism  were  put 
to  the  test — a  period,  as  it  appeared  to  many,  of  life 
or  death.  And  our  people,  though  not  apparently 
exposed  to  immediate  danger,  responded  with  a 
promptness  worthy  of  all  praise.  The  then  captain 
of  the  military  company  of  I^ynn  was  Thomas  Mar- 
shall, who  had  been  a  resident  here  for  some  forty 
years,  though  in  the  mean  time  he  had  been  back  to 
England,  where  he  gained,  by  his  bravery  in  the  par- 
liamentary army,  a  commission  as  captain  from  Oli- 
ver Cromwell.  He  was  a  man  of  some  eccentricities, 
but  yet  must  have  had  the  confidence  of  the  people. 
He  kept  the  tavern  near  Saugus  River  for  many 
years,  and  appears  to  have  been  in  some  respects  a 
model  landlord.  He  is  spoken  of  in  other  connec- 
tions. 

It  would  not  be  easy  to  ascertain  the  exact  number 
of  men  furnished  nor  the  amounts  raised  in  response 
to  the  public  calls  in  this  great  struggle ;  but  Lynn 
did  her  full  share. 

Our  limits  will  not  allow  of  much  detail  regarding 
the  diflerent  wars  that  have,  from  time  to  time,  spread 
their  alarms  through  the  land — the  French  and  In- 
dian Wars,  the  Revolution  and  the  subsequent  con- 
tests down  to  the  great  Rebellion.  Nor  is  the  little 
that  could  be  given  necessary,  as  the  public  records 
and  local  histories  abundantly  supply  all  needs  in 
that  direction  ;  to  say  nothing  of  the  numerous  war- 
like events  incidentally  spoken  of  in  other  parts  of 
this  sketch,  as  the  participants  came  under  notice. 
A  few  facts,  however,  should  be  stated. 

During  the  French  and  Indian  War,  1754-63,  some 
two  thousand  French  Catholic  neutrals  were  sent  to 
Massachusetts  to  be  quartered  in  diflferent  places. 
Lynn's  share  was  fourteen.  Their  provisions  were 
supplied  by  Thomns  Lewis,  and  among  his  items  of 
charge  were  four  hundred  and  thirty-two  quarts  of 
milk  at  six  pence  a  gallon.  A  company  marched 
from  Lynn  for  Canada,  May  23,  1758,  and  two  were 
killed. 


Then  we  come  down  to  the  Revolution.  Several 
Lynn  men  were  at  the  battle  of  Lexington,  April  19, 
1775,  the  opening  battle  of  the  war,  and  four  were 
killed, — namely,  Abednego  Rarasdell,  William  Flint, 
Thomas  Hadley  and  Diiniel  Townsend.  On  the  23d 
of  April  Lynn  chose  a  Committee  of  Safety,  consisting 
of  Rev.  John  Treadwell,  minister  of  the  First  Parish, 
Rev.  Joseph  Roby,  minister  of  the  Third  Parish  and 
Deacon  Daniel  Mansfield ;  others  were  afterwards 
added,  among  them  Dr.  John  Flagg.  An  alarm  com- 
pany was  formed,  and  three  night  watches  estab- 
lished. The  memorable  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  was 
fought  June  17,  1775.  The  Lynn  regiment  was  un- 
der command  of  Colonel  John  Mansfield.  It  mus- 
tered, but  did  not  reach  the  ground  in  time  to  take 
part  in  the  conflict.  For  his  "remissness  and  back- 
wardness in  the  execution  of  duty,"  the  colonel  was 
ordered  before  a  court-martial,  consisting  of  twelve 
field-officers,  presided  over  by  Gen.  Greene,  found  guilty 
and  ordered  to  be  cashiered.  The  patriotic  people  of 
Lynn  were  greatly  mortified  at  this  untoward  occur- 
rence, which,  however,  had  rather  the  effect  to  stimu- 
late their  zeal  and  determination.  Lynn  furnished 
for  the  war  two  colonels,  three  captains,  five  lieuten- 
ants, five  sergeants,  six  corporals  and  about  a  hun- 
dred and  sixty  privates,  which,  considering  the  then 
small  population,  was  doing  remarkably  well.  She 
was  poor,  and  her  business  prostrated  during  the  war  ; 
nevertheless,  in  1776,  she  voted  fifteen  pounds  each 
to  the  company  of  soldiers  furnished  for  the  expedi- 
tion to  Canada,  and  ten  pounds  for  every  enlisting 
volunteer.  She  also,  in  1780,  granted  as  much  money 
as  would  purchase  two  thousand  seven  hundred  silver 
dollars  to  pay  the  soldiers.  This  was  liberal,  consid- 
ering the  losses  by  the  depressed  condition  of  the  cur- 
rency. Within  two  years  she  had  granted  for  war 
purposes  seventy  thousand  pounds,  old  tenor.  Mr. 
Lewis  remarks,  "A  soldier  of  the.  Revolution  says 
that,  in  1781,  he  sold  one  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  eighty  dollars  of  paper  money  for  thirty  dollars 
in  silver."  By  this,  something  may  be  seen  of  the 
town's  liberality.  In  the  procession  at  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  Fourth  of  July,  at  Lynn,  in  1828,  were 
over  forty  who  had  served  in  various  capacities  and 
for  various  terms  in  the  armies  of  the  Revolution ; 
among  them  four  pensioners.  The  government  at 
that  day  was  not  so  able  to  grant  pensions  as  it  at 
present  is,  and  hence  comparatively  few  were  on  the 
lists.  That  was  the  last  procession  in  which  most  of 
them  ever  appeared — excepting  the  great  procession 
which  knows  no  counter-march,  in  which  we  are  all 
moving  on,  and  from  which  every  one  of  them  soon 
dropped  out. 

Concerning  several  of  the  more  prominent  Lynn 
soldiers  who  served  in  the  Revolution,  it  would  be 
agreeable  to  say  something;  but  the  allotted  space  is 
so  limited  that  it  is  necessary  to  be  chary  of  its  use. 
So  deserving  a  commander  as  Colonel  Ezra  Newhall, 
however,  should  not  be  passed  over  in  entire  silence. 


LYNN. 


297 


He  was  a  great-great-grandson  of  Thomas  Newhall, 
the  first  white  person  born  in  Lynn,  and  was  captain 
of  the  Lynn  Minute  Men  at  the  opening  of  the  war  ; 
but,  in  consequence  of  the  delay  of  the  troops  from 
Salem,  was  not  present  at  the  battle  of  Lexington. 
Nor  was  he  present  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  as  he 
was  attached  to  Colonel  Mansfield's  regiment,  as 
senior  captain,  and  by  the  "  remissness  "  of  that  ofl5- 
cer  was  kept  from  joining  the  gathering  squadrons. 
In  earlier  life  Colonel  Ezra  was  an  officer  in  the 
French  War  under  Colonel  Ruggles.  Subsequently 
to  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  he  was  major,  then  lieu- 
tenant-colonel in  Colonel  Putnam's  Fifth  Massachu- 
setts Regiment,  and  so  continued  to  the  end  of  the 
war.  He  served  in  the  campaign  that  sealed  the  fate 
of  Burgoyne,  was  at  Valley  Forge  and  at  the  battles 
of  Trenton  and  Princeton.  After  the  war  he  was  ap- 
pointed by  President  Washington  collector  of  inter- 
nal revenue,  and  retained  the  office  till  his  death,  on 
the  5th  of  April,  1798,  at  the  age  of  sixty-six  years. 
There  is  abundant  evidence  that  while  in  the  army 
he  was  very  popular  with  his  companions-in-arms. 
While  the  regiment  was  encamped  at  Winter  Hill 
some  dissatisfaction  was  manifested  concerning  the 
rank  of  the  captains  and  other  officers,  as  they  stood 
on  the  brigade  major's  books.  The  captains,  there- 
fore, on  the  27th  of  August,  1775,  held  a  meeting  and 
voted  to  "settle  the  rank  of  officers  by  lot,  and  abide 
thereby,"  at  the  same  time  voting  that  Captain  Ezra 
Newhall  should  rank  as  first  captain.  Indeed,  he 
seems  always  to  have  been  spoken  of  as  a  brave  and 
prudent  officer,  and  a  man  much  beloved.  He  lived 
in  the  house  still  standing  on  Boston  Street,  at  the 
southwest  corner  of  the  recently  opened  Wyman 
Street.  After  the  Revolution  he  removed  to  Salem, 
purchased  an  estate  on  Essex  Street,  and  there  died 
at  the  time  above  stated.  The  Salem  Gazette,  in  an 
obituary  notice,  said  :  "  He  served  his  country  in  the 
late  war  with  fidelity  and  honor;  and  in  civil  and  do- 
mestic life  the  character  of  an  honest  man,  faithful 
friend,  tender  husband  and  kind  parent  was  con- 
spicuous in  him.  Society  suffers  a  real  loss  by  his 
death." 

The  warlike  events  of  later  years  are,  or  should  be, 
so  familiar  to  every  reader  that  any  attempt  at  de- 
tails which  space  would  allow  would  be  far  from  sat- 
isfactory, and  we  must  content  ourselves  with  little 
more  than  bare  allusions. 

The  War  of  1812  was  essentially  a  naval  conflict, 
but  there  was  much  suffering  and  business  depression, 
and  above  all,  sharp  political  dissension.  At  times 
there  were  sudden  alarms  in  the  seaboard  settlements 
arising  from  threatened  descents  and  bombardments 
from  the  enemy's  ships  in  the  bay.  The  gallant  con- 
test between  the  English  frigate  "  Shannon  "  and  the 
American  frigate  "  Chesapeake,"  on  the  1st  of  June, 
1813,  was  witnessed  by  crowds  of  the  people  of  Lynn, 
who  not  only  climbed  the  hills,  but  clung  to  the  house- 
tops. And  when  the  American  flag  was  seen  to  strike, 
19i 


many  a  sorrowful  eye  was  turned  away.  Watch  station.s 
were  established  upon  several  heights,  and  two  or 
three  alarms  occurred  which  hastily  called  out  the 
soldiery  and  excited  the  people,  but  no  serious  con- 
flict took  place. 

Soon  after  the  close  of  the  first  quarter  of  the  pres- 
ent century  the  military  interest  began  to  fall  into 
popular  disrepute.  It  had,  indeed  from  the  frequency 
of  exercise  required  and  other  exactions,  become  quite 
burdensome.  The  opposition  developed  especially  in 
the  shape  of  ridicule.  And  had  it  not  been  for  the 
saving  efforts  of  the  uniformed  or,  as  they  were 
called,  the  volunteer  companies,  it  is  hard  to  tell 
where  the  matter  would  have  ended.  There  were  at 
this  time  three  handsomely  uniformed  and  well- 
drilled  companies, — namely,  the  Lynn  Artillery,  or- 
ganized in  1808;  the  Light  Infantry,  organized  in 
1812  ;  and  the  Rifle  Company,  organized  in  1818. 

Sometimes  totally  unfit  persons  were  designedly 
elected  as  officers,  and  the  district  "  companies  of  the 
line"  at  times  amounted  to  little  more  than  tattered 
and  jeering  assemblages.  One  man  who  was  elected 
an  officer  in  a  West  Lynn  company  is  well  remem- 
bered. He  was  a  fellow  of  good  information  and 
bright  wit,  but  extremely  low  habits.  For  a  supply 
of  liquor  he  could  be  induced  to  play  in  any  role. 
On  a  certain  parade  day  he  appeared  mounted  on  a 
gaunt  roadster  wrapped  in  a  long  cloak  decorated 
profusely  with  conspicuous  and  ridiculous  badges. 
And  so  he  capered  around  as  long  as  he  could  retain 
his  seat.  Yet  the  fires  of  patriotism  had  by  no  means 
been  extinguished,  for  every  one  saw  the  necessity  of 
a  properly  organized  militia.  The  disaffection  was 
only  towards  the  existing  requirements.  And  the  re- 
sult of  the  popular  manifestations  was  a  radical 
change  in  the  laws.  And  from  that  time  to  this  the 
laws  have  been  modified  as  circumstances  required. 

The  Seminole  or,  as  it  was  often  called,  the  Florida 
War,  commenced  in  1835  and  continued  nearly  eight 
years.  It  cost  the  United  States  some  ten  million 
dollars  and  several  thousand  lives.  There  were  ro- 
mantic as  well  as  bloody  features  pertaining  to  this 
war.  Its  precipitating  cause  seems  to  have  been 
some  indignities  offered  the  wife  of  Osceola,  a  chief  of 
the  Seminoles.  He  was  the  son  of  an  English  trader 
who  married  the  daughter  of  a  chief,  and  was  of  a 
most  determined  and  persistent  character.  So  pro- 
longed was  the  war  that  the  people  became  very  im- 
patient, and  with  their  complaints  and  censures  min- 
gled ridicule,  notwithstanding  some  of  the  best  and 
bravest  army  officers  were  detailed  for  the  service.  A 
sharpshooting  poet  in  1839  thus  delivered  himself: 

"  Ever  since  the  creation. 

By  the  best  calculation, 
The  Florida  War  has  been  raging  ; 

And  'tis  our  expectation 

That  the  last  conflagration 
Will  find  us  file  same  contest  waging  !  " 

Perhaps  the  incident  in  the  Seminole  War  that 


298 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


most  nearly  touched  the  people  of  Lynn  was  the  loss 
of  Robert  R.  Mudge,  a  young  officer,  promising  and 
much  beloved.  He  was  a  son  of  Benjamin  Mudge,  a 
native  of  Lynn  and  for  many  years  one  of  her  most 
prominent  citizens.  Lieutenant  Mudge  graduated  at 
the  West  Point  Military  Academy  in  1833,  and  in 
1835  was  ordered  to  Florida  to  take  part  in  the  Sem- 
inole War  as  lieutenant  under  Major  Dade.  He  was 
killed  at  Withlacoochie,  together  with  the  whole 
company  of  one  hundred  and  seventeen,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  three. 

The  Mexican  War  commenced  in  1846.  Lynn  fur- 
nished twenty  volunteers,  no  special  call  being  made. 
In  1832  the  threats  of  revolt  in  South  Carolina  and 
her  apparent  determination  to  break  the  integrity  of 
the  Union,  the  zeal  and  oratorical  vigor  of  her  states- 
men, the  drilling  of  her  troops,  all  tended  to  create 
serious  apprehension  in  every  quarter.  And  had  it 
not  been  for  the  unflinching  determination  of  Presi- 
dent Jackson,  his  warnings  and  declarations,  espec- 
ially as  embodied  in  his  famous  proclamation,  there 
is  little  doubt  that  a  rebellion  would  then  have  been 
precipitated.  But  that  extremity  was  reserved  for  the 
next  generation.     And  it  came. 

The  history  of  the  great  Rebellion,  the  first  overt 
act  of  which  was  the  bombardment  of  Fort  Sumter 
on  the  12th  of  April,  1861,  is  so  familiar  that  we  need 
only  refer  to  a  few  facts  specially  pertaining  to  Lynn. 
In  five  hours  after  President   Lincoln's  first  requisi- 
tion for  troops  arrived  Lynn  had  two  full  companies 
armed  and  ready  for  duty.     And  early  the  next  day, 
April  16th,  they  departed  to  meet  the  foe.     The  two 
companies  formed  a  part  of  the  Eighth  Massachusetts 
Regiment,  and  were  Company   D,  the  Lynn  Light 
Infantry,  commanded  by  Captain  George  T.  Newhall, 
and  Company  F,  commanded  by  Captain  James  Hud- 
son, Jr.     The  regimental  officers  belonging  to  Lynn 
were  Timothy  Munroe,  colonel ;   Edward  W.  Hinks, 
lieutenant-colonel ;  Ephraim  A.  Ingalls,  quartermas- 
ter ;  Roland  G.  Usher,  paymaster  ;  Bowman  B.  Breed, 
surgeon  ;  Warren  Tapley,  assistant  surgeon  ;  Horace 
E.  Munroe,  quartermaster  sergeant.  Many  volunteers 
stood  ready  and  would  have  gone  had  there  been  time 
for  equipment.     Company  D  marched  off'  with  sixty 
privates,  and  Company  F  with  seventy-six.    The  zeal 
thus  early  kindled  did  not  abate  during  the  whole 
war.     Every  call  for  troops  was  quickly  and  fully  re- 
sponded to,   and    everything  done   that   could   add 
to  the  comfort  of  the  brave  ones  upon  the  field.  Lynn 
furnished  three  thousand  two  hundred  and  seventy- 
four  soldiers,  which  was  two  hundred  and  thirty  more 
than  her  full  quota.     Enthusiastic  war  meetings  were 
from  time  to    time   held.     And   the   principal  vic- 
tories were  celebrated  by  the  ringing  of  bells,  by  bon- 
fires and  other  joyful  demonstrations.     Many  of  her 


gallant  sons  fell  on  the  field  ;  others  lost  their  lives  by 
diseases  contracted  during  the  campaigns,  and  still 
others  have  passed  away  in  the  common  course  of  na- 
ture since  the  alarms  of  war  have  ceased.  Many 
peacefully  lie  in  the  Soldiers'  Lot  in  the  beautiful 
Pine  Grove  Cemetery,  while  others  rest  in  more  se- 
cluded sepulchres,  or  with  their  fathers  in  the  older 
burial-places,  their  graves  being  strewn  on  every  re- 
turning "  Memorial  Day"  with  fresh  flowers  by  sur- 
viving comrades  and  loving  kindred.  By  far  the 
greater  number,  however,  still  sleep  upon  the  battle- 
field. A  stately  Soldiers'  Monument  was  erected  in 
City  Hall  Square  in  1873.  It  is  an  allegorical  and 
classic  work  of  art  in  bronze,  cast  at  Munich,  in  Ba- 
varia, and  cost  $30,000. 

The  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  in  Lynn. — Gen. 
Lander  Encampment,  Post  5,  is  said  to  be  the  largest 
in  the  country.  But  its  ranks  are  thinning  out  as 
member  after  member  is  drafted  into  that  army  which 
marches  on  with  ceaseless  step,  and  knows  no  coun- 
termarch. 

As  population  increases,  the  laws  governing  our 
State  military  affairs  are  constantly  undergoing 
changes,  and  it  would  be  useless  to  attempt  here  any- 
thing like  a  historical  account  of  the  alterations  even 
during  the  last  forty  years.  The  organizations  have 
come  to  be  essentially  voluntary  rather  than  compul- 
sory. And  the  people  have  never  been  backward  in 
sanctioning  the  most  liberal  provision  for  the  disci- 
pline and  comfort  of  her  soldiery. 

Our  present  military  organizations  are  the  Light 
Infantry  (Company  D)  and  the  Wooldredge  Cadets 
(Company  I),  both  in  high  repute.  There  is  also  the 
Lynn  City  Guards  Veteran  Association. 

It  is  quite  within  the  recollection  of  the  writer  that 
the  newspaper  reader  often  saw  at  the  close  of  an 
obituary  notice  the  phrase  "  He  was  a  soldier  of  the 
Revolution."  But  it  is  never  seen  at  this  day.  It  is 
said  that  the  last  person  to  whom  a  pension  was  paid 
on  account  of  the  Revolutionary  War  died  at  Wood- 
stock, N.  H.,  early  in  1887,  at  the  age  of  ninety-seven. 
She  was  a  widow  by  the  name  of  Abigail  S.  Tilton. 
Is  it  not  a  solemn  thought  that  all  of  the  brave  ones 
who  fought  for  our  liberties  at  that  trying  period  have 
lain  down  to  that  prolonged  rest  from  which  they  will 
be  aroused  only  by  the  sound  of  the  trumpet  that 
summons  them  and  all  of  us  for  final  review  and  in- 
spection? And  is  it  not,  too,  a  solemn  thought  that 
the  remnant  of  the  Grand  Army  of  our  day,  who  took 
the  field  for  the  maintenance  of  those  liberties,  are 
fast  joining  the  throng  of  their  martial  fathers  ?  A 
few  years  more,  and  the  last  soldier  will  have  marched 
away,  and  the  "Grand  Army  of  the  Republic"  sur- 
vive in  memory  only  as  a  vestige  of  the  heroism  of 
the  past. 


LYNN. 


299 


CHAPTEE    XVIII. 

LYNN— ( Continued). 
BURIAL-PLACES. 

The  Old  Burying-Ground,  with  Epitaphs  and  Notices  of  Some  Who  Lie 
Ihere — Other  Burial-Places  atid  Cemeteries — 3Iemorial  Day — Ancient 
Ftineral  Cnstoma. 


'  The  cold  dark  grave — there  is  no  care, 

No  pain  nor  gloom, 

Within  the  tomb  ; 
The  wicked  erase  from  troubling  there." 


"  It  is  wise  for  us  to  recur  to  the  history  of  our  an- 
cestors. Those  who  do  not  look  upon  themselves  as 
a  link  connecting  the  past  with  the  future,  in  the 
transmission  of  life  from  their  ancestors  to  their  pos- 
terity— do  not  perform  their  duty  to  the  world.  To  be 
faithful  to  ourselves,  we  must  keep  our  ancestors  and 
posterity  within  reach  and  grasp  of  our  thoughts  and 
affections — living  in  the  memory  and  retrospection  of 
the  past,  and  hoping  with  affection  and  care  for  those 
who  are  to  come  after  us.  We  are  true  to  ourselves 
only  when  we  act  with  becoming  pride  for  the  blood 
we  inherit,  and  which  we  are  to  transmit  to  those 
who  shall  soon  fill  our  places."  So  wrote  Daniel 
Webster,  and  who  will  not  subscribe  to  its  truthfulness 
and  wisdom  ?  No  apology  is  needed  for  the  introduc- 
tion of  an  extended  notice  of  the  burial-places  of  Lynn, 
for  such  consecrated  grounds  always  possess  a  touch- 
ing interest — to  the  old,  because  there  lie  the  departed 
kindred  and  friends  of  earlier  years ;  to  the  young, 
because  there  they  see,  fast  gathering  around,  the 
loved  ones  from  the  broken  household  and  the  charmed 
circle  of  glad  companionship.  In  these  often-shunned 
retreats  lie  those  who  have  made  the  history  of  the 
jilace;  and  who  could  be  more  worthy  than  they  of 
grateful  remembrance  ? 

One  of  the  first  objects  in  commencing  a  settlement 
was  to  select  a  suitable  place  for  the  burial  of  the 
dead,  as  all  realize  that  such  a  place  will  surely  be 
needed,  whatever  other  seeming  necessities  may  be 
dispensed  with.  True,  the  dead  would  rest  just  as 
quietly  by  the  stony  wayside  or  in  the  weedy  bog,  as 
in  a  flowery  bed  or  beneath  a  marble  monument ;  but 
to  the  sorrowing  kindred  there  is  something  rejjugnant 
in  thinking  of  them  as  resting  in  a  dreary,  uncared- 
for  spot.  The  Indians,  even,  had  great  regard  for  the 
remains  of  their  departed  ancestors;  and  woe  betide 
the  daring  enemy  who  would  desecrate  the  rude  ne- 
cropolis upon  the  sunny  hillside. 

But  yet  with  what  difierent  feelings  do  the  living 
think  of  the  last  resting-place  they  are  destined  to 
occupy.  Some  would  lie  in  a  sequestered  spot,  where 
the  soothing  dirge  of  sighing  trees  is  ever  heard  ; 
some  would  lie  on  the  ocean  shore,  where  the  spent 
waves  murmur  a  ceaseless  lament ;  some  would  lie  in 
the  art-adorned  cemetery,  whither  the  steps  of  pensive 
wanderers  may  tend  at  thoughtful  hours  ;  some  would 


lie  in  the  centre  of  the  busy  life  they  loved  so  well, 
but  which  no  longer  can  disturb  or  charm ;  and  some 
would  have  their  mortal  remains  dir^solved  in  the  cru- 
cible of  cremation.     Says  John  Anster: 

"  If  I  might  choose  where  my  tired  limbs  shall  lie 
When  my  task  here  is  done,  the  oak's  green  crest 
Shall  rise  above  my  grave — a  little  mound 
Raised  in  some  cheerful  village  cemetery. 
And  I  could  wish  that  with  unceasing  sound 
A  lonely  mountain  rill  was  murmuring  by 
In  music  through  the  long  soft  twilight  hour. 
And  let  the  hand  of  her  whom  I  love  best 
Plant  round  the  bright,  green  grave  those  fragrant  flowers 
In  whose  deep  bells  the  wild  bee  loves  to  rest. 
And  should  the  robin  from  some  neighboring  tree 
Pour  his  enchanted  song — Oh  !  softly  tread, 
For  sure  if  aught  of  earth  can  soothe  the  dead, 
He  still  must  love  that  pensive  melody." 

And  then  our  own  Lewis  pleadingly  enjoins  : 

"  0,  bury  me  not  in  the  dark  old  woods. 

Where  the  sunbeams  never  shine  ; 
Where  mingles  the  mist  of  the  mountain  floods 

With  the  dew  of  the  dismal  pine  ! 
But  bury  me  deep  by  the  bright  blue  sea, 

I  have  loved  in  life  bo  well ; 
Where  the  winds  may  come  to  my  spirit  free, 

And  the  sound  of  the  ocean  shell. 

"  0,  bury  me  not  in  the  churchyard  old. 

In  the  shme  of  the  doleful  tomb  ! 
Where  my  bones  may  be  thrust,  ere  their  life  is  cold, 

To  the  damp  of  a  drearier  gloom  ! 
But  bury  me  deep  by  the  bright  blue  sea, 

AVhere  the  friends  whom  I  love  have  been ; 
Where  the  sun  may  shine  on  the  grass  turf  free, 

And  the  rains  keep  it  ever  green  !  " 

And  thus  sings  Beattie  : 

"  Let  vanity  adorn  the  marble  tomb 
With  trophies,  rhymes,  and  scutcheons  of  renown  ; 
Mine  be  the  breezy  hill  that  skirts  the  down; 

Where  a  green  grassy  turf  Is  all  I  crave 
With  here  and  there  a  violet  bestrown, 

Fast  by  a  brook  or  fountain's  murmuring  wave; 

And  many  an  evening  sun  shine  sweetly  on  my  grave." 

The  early  settlers,  with  most  unaccountable  irrever- 
ence, had  little  regard  for  the  resting-places  of  their 
dead,  often  allowing  rank  weeds  and  brambles  to 
flourish,  and  wandering  animals  to  roam  at  will  over 
the  reserved  acres.  Whittier  alludes  to  this  in  these 
touching  lines  : 

"  Our  vales  are  sweet  with  fern   and  rose, 
Our  hills  are  maple-crowned  ; 
But  not  from  them  our  fathers  chose 
The  village  burying-ground. 

"  The  dreariest  spot  In  all  the  land 
To  death  they  set  apart ; 
With  scanty  grace  from  Nature's  hand, 
And  none  from  that  of  art." 

But  these  later  generations  of  their  children  have 
in  a  measure  atoned  for  their  strange  remissness  by 
consecrating  beautiful  cemeteries,  in  which  sometimes 
appear  monuments  so  costly  and  decorative  that  the 
mind  is  liable  to  be  led  from  meditation  on  the  vir- 
tues of  those  they  commemorate  to  admiration  of 
them  as  works  of  art  or  disapprobation  of  them  as 
monuments  of  ostentation  and  extravagance. 


300 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


The  Old  Burying-Ground  of  Lynn  is  in  the 
westerly  part  of  the  city.  It  is  not  known  with  cer- 
tainty when  the  first  interments  were  made  there. 
The  stones  are  no  certain  index,  for  the  oldest  one 
bears  the  date  1698,  and  multitudes  must  have  been 
buried  there  before  that  time.  There  rest  the  early 
fathers  and  mothers  of  the  place,  and  many  whose 
talents  and  virtuous  deeds  made  them  conspicuous  in 
their  own  day  and  generation. 

The  first  burial  in  this  ancient  place,  so  far  as  is 
certainly  known,  was  in  1637,  when  the  remains  of 
John  Bancroft,  ancestor  of  the  distinguished  histo- 
rian and  statesman,  George  Bancroft,  were  laid  there. 
And  it  was  on  the  1st  of  April,  1687,  that  the  remains 
of  Thomas  Newhall,  the  first  white  person  born  in 
Lynn,  was  buried  there.  He  had  died  at  the  age  of 
fifty-seven  years.  The  oldest  stone  bears  this  inscrip- 
tion :  "Here  lyeth  ye  body  of  lohn  Cliflbrd.  Died 
lune  ye  17,  1698,  in  ye  68  year  of  his  age."  The  fig- 
ure nine,  by  some  sacrilegious  intruder,  was,  eighty 
years  ago,  altered  in  a  rough  way,  so  as  to  resemble  a 
two,  and  that  has  led  some  to  the  erroneous  belief 
that  there  was  a  burial  here  as  early  as  1628. 

For  some  two  centuries  no  complete  record  of  in- 
terments here  seems  to  have  been  kept,  but  since  the 
law  so  required,  the  town  and  city  clerks  have  been 
faithful  in  recording. 

Mr.  John  T.  Moulton,  a  worthy  native,  a  few  years 
since  had  all  the  inscriptions  copied  and  published  in 
the  Peabody  Institute  Collections, — a  labor  of  love 
for  which  he  is  deserving  of  the  highest  commenda- 
tion. 

A  few  of  the  epitaphs  in  this  ancient  gathering- 
place  of  the  dead  will  be  given  ;  but  it  will  be  borne 
in  mind  that  it  very  often  happens  that  the  name  of 
one  of  the  most  worthy  and  useful  is  not  so  perpetu- 
ated, while  that  of  another,  whose  memory  elicits  no 
sentiment  of  reverence,  is  blazoned  on  a  pompous 
monument.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind,  too,  that 
many,  inspired  by  ardent  love  for  their  native  place, 
were  overtaken  by  the  fell  destroyer  when  far  away, 
never  again  to  meet  those  of  their  generation  till 
the  sea  gives  up  her  dead. 

Churchyard  lore  is  not  usually  very  refined  in  dic- 
tion, however  tender  in  sentiment,  and  the  simple, 
unlettered  record  is  sometimes  more  touching  than 
the  studied  and  stately.  But  a  countless  multitude, 
of  whose  names  even  there  is  no  record,  are  there  at 
rest,  among  them,  perhaps,  "  some  mute,  inglorious 
Milton,"  or  some  heroic  Washington.  Certainly  a 
host  of  the  godly  men  and  women  of  the  early  days 
are  sleeping  there,  to  be  aroused  only  at  the  last 
trumpet's  sound ;  and  theirs  must  be  the  brightest 
dreams,  should  dreams  come  in  that  night  of  cen- 
turies. 

"  Sure  the  last  end 
Of  the  good  man  is  peace.     How  calm  his  exit ! 
Night  dews  fall  not  more  gently  on  the  ground 
Nor  weary,  worn-out  winds  expire  so  soft." 


The  few  epitaphs  for  which  space  can  be  afforded 
in  this  connection  will,  for  convenience,  be  arranged 
alphabetically. 

•'  In  memory  of  Rev.  Thomas  F.  Alexander,  pastor  of  the  Second  Chris- 
tian Church  in  Lynn,  who  died  April  2,  1838,  aged  23  years. 


15. 


"Precious  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord  is  the  death  of  his  saints.— Ps.  116, 

"  0  Church  !  to  whom  this  youth  was  dear, 
The  angel  of  thy  mercy  here. 

Behold  the  path  ho  trod. 
A  milky-way  through  midnight  skies  ; 
Behold  the  grave  in  which  he  lies ; 
Even  from  this  day  thy  Pastor  cries 

Prepare  to  meet  thy  God." 

Few  ever  had  the  capacity  to  so  win  the  esteem  of 
the  young  peojile  of  his  generation  as  did  this  youth- 
ful clergyman.  He  posse.«ised  uncommon  talents  and 
an  uncommonly  felicitous  way  of.  expressing  his 
views  and  convictions.  He  mingled  freely  with  those 
of  all  denominations,  was  neither  bigoted  nor  heter- 
odox, and  his  early  death  was  deeply  felt  as  a  serious 
loss  to  the  community. 

"In  memory  of  Mr.  Zachariah  Atwill,  who  died  November  6, 1836. 
iEt   81. 

"  Mark  the  perfect  man  and  behold  the  upright,  for  the  end  of  that 
man  is  peace." 

Mr.  Atwill  was  a  Revolutionary  soldier.  At  one 
time  he  lived  in  the  ancient  house  that  stood  on  the 
centre  of  the  Common,  a  little  west  of  the  pond,  but 
now  stands  on  the  easterly  side  of  Whiting  Street  and 
which  is  the  oldest  building  in  Lynn  of  which  the 
date  of  erection  is  positively  known.  It  was  built  in 
1682  for  the  residence  of  the  parish  sexton.  Mr.  At- 
will  kept  the  almshouse  for  many  years  before  its  re- 
moval, in  1819,  from  the  corner  of  Essex  and  Chest- 
nut Streets  to  Tower  Hill.  A  son  of  his,  Zachariah, 
Jr.,  was  a  sea  captain,  and,  it  is  said,  crossed  the  At- 
lantic some  fifty  times  without  the  loss  of  a  seaman, 

"  Here  lyes  y"  body  of  Mr.  Thomas  Baker,  who  died  October  y»  3d 
1734,  aged  81  years." 

Mr.  Baker  was  drafted  November  13, 1675,  to  serve 
in  King  Philip's  War,  and  was  in  the  Narragansett 
fight.  In  1694  he  was  a  member  of  the  Ancient  and 
Honorable  Artillery,  and  is  spoken  of  more  at  large 
in  other  pages  of  this  sketch. 

"In  memory  of  Amos  Ballard  (son  of  Mr.  .John  Ballard,  of  Boston), 
who  was  deprived  of  his  life  by  the  accidental  discharge  of  a  musket  in 
a  canoe  in  Lynn  River,  on  the  25th  of  August,  1798.    ^tat  77. 

"  The  grave  hath  eloquence,  its  lectures  teach 
In  silence  louder  than  divines  can  preach  ; 
Hear  what  it  says,  ye  sons  of  folly,  hear; 
It  speaks  to  you  ;  lend  an  attentive  ear.  " 

"  In  memory  of  Mr.  Josiah  Breed,  who  died  December  12,  1790,  in  the 
59th  year  of  his  age. 

"  Death  is  a  debt  to  nature  due  ; 
Which  I  have  paid,  and  so  must  you." 

"  Here  lyes  buried  y«  body  of  Doc'  Henry  Burchsted,  a  Silesian,  who 
died  Sept*'  xx,  Anno  Cliristi,  MDCCXXI.    ^Etatis  Suae  LXIIII. 

"  Silesia  to  New  England  sent  this  man, 
To  do  their  all  that  any  healer  can, 


LYNN. 


301 


But  he  who  conquered  all  diseases  must 
Find  one  who  throws  him  down  into  the  dust 
A  chymist  near  to  an  adeptist  come, 
Leaves  here,  thrown  by  his  caput  mortuum 
Reader,  physicians  die  as  others  do  ; 
Prepare,  for  thou  to  this  art  hastening  too." 

"  Sly  widow'd  mother. 

My  only  earthly  friend. 

Erected  this  monument 

To  tell  each  traveller, 

Who  looks  this  way. 

That  underneath  this  stone 

Kests  the  ashes  of  her  only  son, 

Josiah  Burrage,  who  died  Dec.  13th,  1797, 

Aged  21  years. 

Oft  do  we  see  the  tender  bud  of  hope, 
Opening  its  beauties  to  the  morning  light, 
When  lo!  a  frost  cuts  down  the  tender  plant, 
And  levels  all  our  prospects  with  the  dust." 

"Here  lyes  buried  the  body  of  the  Honorable  John  Burrill,  Esq, 
who  died  Decemb'  10"'  Anno  Christi,  MDCCXXI.     .lEtatis  LXIV. 

"  Alas  !  our  patron's  dead  !  the  country — court — 
The  church — in  tears,  all  echo  the  report  ; 
Grieved  that  no  piety,  no  niasteiing  sense, 
No  counsel,  gravity,  no  eloquence, 
No  generous  temper,  gravitating  to 
Those  honors,  which  they  did  upon  him  throw. 
Could  stay  his  fate,  or  their  dear  Burrill  save 
From  a  contagious  sickness  and  the  gravp, 
The  adjacent  towns  this  loss  reluctant  bear. 
But  widowed  Lynn  sustains  the  greatest  share: 
Yet  joys  in  being  guardian  of  his  dust 
Until  the  resurrection  of  the  just." 

The  residence  of  Mr.  Burrill  was  on  the  western 
slope  of  Tower  Hill,  and  there  he  died,  leaving  no 
children.  The  "contagious  sickness"  which  proved 
fatal  was  small-pox.  He  was  well  known  throughout 
the  province,  was  much  in  public  life,  and  sustained  a 
high  reputation  as  a  legislator.  He  was  ten  years 
Speaker  of  the  House,  and  greatly  respected  for  his 
ability  and  urbanity  in  conducting  public  business. 

"In  memory  of  Mr.  Thomas  Cheever,  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution, 
who  died  Jan.  28, 1823,  ^t.  90. 

"Receive,  0  earth,  his  faded  form, 
In  thy  cold  bosom  let  it  lie, 
Safe  let  it  rest  from  every  storm. 
Soon  must  it  rise,  no  more  to  die." 

"  The  Rev.  Joshua  W.  Downing,  A.  M.    Died  July  15,  1839,  aged  26." 

Mr.  Downing  was  one  of  Lynn's  most  promising 
young  men.  He  was  a  son  of  Elijah  Downing,  a  cabi- 
net-maker, who  lived  on  North  Common  Street,  corner 
of  Park.  He  graduated  at  Brown  University,  and  at 
first  intended  to  pursue  the  profession  of  law,  but 
becoming  converted,  he  joined  the  Methodist  Confer- 
ence, and  soon  became  one  of  the  most  acceptable 
preachers  in  the  denomination,  insomuch  that  at 
the  time  of  his  decease  he  was  in  charge  of  one  of 
the  oldest  and  most  opulent  churches  of  the  order  in 
New  England, — the  Bromfield  Street  Church,  in 
Boston. 

"This  monument  is  inscribed  to  the  memory  of  John  Flagg,  Esq.,  in 
whom  remarkable  temperance,  uniform  prudence,  unaffected  modesty, 
affectionate  humanity  and  diffusive  benevolence  snone  conspicuous 
among  the  virtues  which  graced  his  character,  endeared  him  to  his 
family  and  friends,  and  secured  him  the  respect  and  love  of  all  who  had 
the  happiness  to  know  bim. 


"  As  a  physician,  his  skill  was  eminent,  and  his  practice  extensive 
and  successful. 

"To  Death,  whose  triumph  he  had  so  often  delayed  and  repelled,  but 
could  not  entirely  prevent,  he  at  last  himself  submitted  on  the  27th  of 
May,  1793,  in  the  5()th  year  of  his  age. 

"  Heav'n  now  repays  his  virtues  and  his  deeds. 
And  endless  life  the  stroke  of  death  succeeds." 

Dr.  Flagg  graduated  at  Cambridge  in  1761,  and 
eight  years  after  settled  as  a  physician  in  Lynn,  where 
he  soon,  by  his  integrity,  affability  and  skill,  won  the 
esteem  and  confidence  of  all.  He  was  active  and  pa- 
triotic during  the  trying  Revolutionary  period,  was  a 
member  of  the  Committee  of  Safety  in  1775,  and  com- 
missioned as  a  colonel.  Dr.  James  Gardner,  for 
many  years  a  public-spirited  and  highly-respected 
practitioner  here,  married  liis  only  daughter.  Dr. 
Flagg  lived  at  the  eastern  end  of  Marion  Street,  in 
the  same  house  in  which  the  famous  merchant,  Wil- 
liam Gray,  was  born  some  twenty  years  before. 

"  George  Gray,  the  Lynn  Hermit,  a  native  of  Scotland,  died  at  Lynn, 
Feb.  28,  1848,  aged  78  years." 

This  eccentric  individual  lived  alone  for  many 
years  in  what  was,  at  the  time  of  his  appearance,  a 
retired  and  forlorn  retreat,  little  better  than  a  bram- 
bly  bog,  though  near  a  public  road.  Further  notice 
of  him  appears  elsewhere. 

"  This  monument  is  erected  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  Samuel  Hart,  son 
of  Mr.  Joseph  &  Eunice  Hart.     Olit.  July  18,  18u2,  JEt.  24. 

"Farewell  to  friends,  to  science  &  to  time, 
God  bids  me  leave  you  all,  though  in  my  prime. 
Parents,  mourn  not,  though  I'm  the  fourth  young  son 
That  God  hath  called,  he  still  doth  leave  you  one. 
Grieve  not  for  me,  but  for  the  living  grieve, 
'Tis  they  who  die,  it  is  the  dead  who  live." 

The  writer  of  this  sketch  well  remembers  hearing 
in  early  childhood,  a  sister  of  the  deceased  often 
speak  in  the  most  affectionate  terms  of  his  lovely 
character,  especially  of  his  amiability.  He  seems  to 
have  been  ambitious  of  leaving  the  toilsome  occupa- 
tion of  farmer,  and  preparing  for  usefulness  in  some 
learned  profession,  and  was  a  student — in  Harvard 
College,  it  is  believed — at  the  time  of  his  death.  The 
family  greatly  mourned  his  loss,  and  the  whole  neigh- 
borhood partook  in  the  sorrow.  The  epitaph  refers  to 
three  brothers  who  had  gone  before  him,  leaving  him 
the  last  but  one  of  all  the  sons  of  the  stricken  parents. 
The  epitaphs  of  the.se  three  follow,  and  they  are  all 
uncommonly  impressive  in  sentiment  and  tenderly 
expressed  : 

"Sacred  to  the  memory  of  .Joseph  &  Burrill  Hart,  Obt.  Nov.  15th  & 
Dec.  8th,  1786,  Aet.  18  &  11  years.  Sons  of  Joseph  and  Eunice  Hart. 

"These  lovely  youths  resigned  their  breath, 
Prepared  to  live  &  ripe  for  death  ; 
You  blooming  youths  who  view  this  stone. 
Learn  early  death  may  be  your  own. 
The  Lord,  w-ho  hath  all  sov'reign  power, 
Cut  short  the  lovely  opening  flower. 
The  sister's  joy,  the  parent's  hope. 
Submit  to  death's  relentless  stroke." 

"Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Joseph  Burrill  Hart,  son  of  Mr.  Joseph  A 
Mrs.  Eunice  Hart,  who  died  Nov.  19,  1796,  Aged  7  years. 


302 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


•      "His  opening  mind  a  tliousand  charms  reveal'd, 

Proof  of  those  thousands  which  were  still  conceal'd, 
Tlie  loveliest  flow'r  in  nature's  garden  plac'd, 
Permitted  just  to  bloom  and  pluck'd  in  haste, 
Angels  beheld  him  ripe  for  joys  to  come, 
And  call'd  by  God's  command  their  brother  home." 

Joseph  Hart,  the  afflicted  father  of  these  promising 
youths,  was  a  farmer,  and  lived  in  the  ancient  house 
that  stood  on  Boston  Street  at  the  corner  of  North 
Federal.  He  owned  all  the  land  on  the  west  side  of 
the  street  up  to  Walnut,  and  raised  corn,  potatoes  and 
the  usual  products  for  family  consumption,  together 
with  large  quantities  of  flax,  which  was  wrought  into 
a  durable  though  not  elegant  kind  of  cloth.  Mrs. 
Eunice  Hart,  mother  of  the  deceased  youths,  was  a 
granddaughter  of  Hon.  Ebenezer  Burrill,  who  occu- 
pied the  extensive  farm  at  Swampscott,  a  portion  of 
which  was  lately  owned  by  the  Hon.  E.  R.  Mudge, 
deceased;  The  ancient  farm-house  in  which  Mr.  Bur- 
rill lived  is  still  standing  near  the  elegant  stone  villa 
of  Mr.  Mudge. 

"  To  the  memory  of  Deacon  Ezra  Hitchings,  who  was  born  April  15, 
1766,  and  died  Nov.  26,  1829.  This  stone  is  erected  by  the  members  of 
the  Second  Congregational  Church  in  Lynn,  of  which,  from  its  forma- 
tion, he  was  an  able  and  efficient  officer,  as  a  testimonial  of  the  profound 
respect  and  love  for  his  integrity  and  benevolence,  his  piety  as  a  Chris- 
tian and  his  worth  as  a  man. 

"  The  memory  of  the  just  is  blessed." 

The  Second  Congregational  Church  of  Lynn  was 
the  first  Unitarian,  and  to  the  present  day  remains 
the  only  society  of  that  denomination  here.  Major 
Hitchings,  to  use  the  military  title  by  which  he  was 
popularly  known,  was  a  native  of  that  part  of  Lynn 
which  is  now  Saugus.  His  wife,  who  was  a  woman 
of  much  force  of  character,  was  a  sister  of  Colonel 
James  Robinson,  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution,  and  first 
postmaster  of  Lynn.  They  had  no  children  of  their 
own,  but  adopted  one  or  two,  whom  they  reared  with 
the  watchful  care  of  true  parents.  Mr.  Hitchings 
kept  a  West  India  goods  store  on  Boston  Street, 
corner  of  North  Federal,  and  did  a  fair  village  busi- 
ness, though  it  yielded  nothing  beyond  a  comfortable 
maintenance. 

"  Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Benjamin  Massey,  who  was  born  Nov.  19, 
1786,  and  died  Dec.  10,  1831. 

"  Reader,  a  moment  pause  before  this  stone  ; 
It  tells  a  husband,  father.  Christian  gone  ; 
These  sacred  names  he  bore  ;  but  oh,  how  well 
Must  faithful  memory,  not  the  marble,  tell  ; 
Enough,  if  in  this  hard  white  stone  you  see 
His  strong,  firm  will— his  spotless  purity." 

The  loss  of  Mr.  Massey  to  the  community  was  se- 
riously felt.  He  was  an  active,  useful  citizen,  his 
services  being  in  constant  demand  wherever  strict 
personal  integrity  and  prudence  were  required.  He 
took  an  important  part  in  the  management  of  public 
affairs,  and  filled  several  of  the  higher  offices  of  public 
trust.  At  the  organization,  in  1828,  of  the  Lynn  Mu- 
tual Fire  Insurance  Company,  that  still  remarkably 
successful  institution,  he  was  chosen  secretary,  and 
held  the  office  till  his  death.     He  was  an  industrious 


blacksmith,  his  shop  and  dwelling  being  on  Western 
Avenue,  a  few  rods  west  of  Federal  Street. 

"  Alonzo   Lewis,  died  January  21,  1861,  aged  sixty-six  years  and  five 
months. 
"  Frances,  his  wife,  died  May  27,  1839. 

"  All  angels  now,  and  little  less  while  here." 

This  is  the  resting-place  of  Mr.  Lewis,  the  poet  and 
historian.  In  the  neat  little  burial  inclosure  are  two 
or  three  chaste  marble  stones,  unpretentious  but 
strikingly  appropriate.  As  Mr.  Lewis  is  spoken  of 
somewhat  at  large  in  another  place,  nothing  further 
need  be  said  here.  The  other  inscriptions  in  the  in- 
closure, however,  should  be  given, — 


"  Frances  Maria. 
Aurelius. 
Lynn  worth. 
Ina. 

Alonzo  LevFis,  Jr. 
Died  March  7, 1852. 

Irene  Lewis, 
Died  March  26, 1853. 

Mary  Lewis, 
Died  Jan.  28,  1878. 


William  Lewis, 
Born  1596. 
Died  1671. 

Amey,  his  wife. 

Isaac  Lewis,  Jr., 
Born  1683. 
Died  1763. 

Hannah,  His  wrife. 

Nathan  Lewis, 
Born  1721. 
Died  1804. 

Mary,  his  wife. 


Zachariah  Lewis, 
Born  1765. 
Died  1810. 
Mary,  his  wife." 
(Five  Generations.) 
"  Here  lyes  buried  y«  body  of  Ensign  Joseph  Newhall,  aged  47  years. 
Departed  this  life  January  y«  29,  1705." 

This  Mr.  Newhall  was  a  man  of  some  note  and 
much  respected.  In  1696  the  town  granted  him  lib- 
erty to  "  Sett  up  a  pewe  in  y*  east  end  of  y"  meeting- 
house Between  y*  east  dowre  &  the  stares."  He  was, 
at  the  time  of  his  death,  a  member  of  the  General 
Court,  and  perished  in  a  great  snow-storm  while  on 
his  way  from  Boston.  It  was  a  violent  storm,  continu- 
ing two  daj's — the  29th  and  30th  of  January.  He 
was  a  son  of  Thomas  Newhall,  the  first  white  person 
born  in  Lynn,  and  the  father  of  eleven  children,  all 
of  whom  survived  him.  Many  descendants  of  his  are 
yet  remaining  in  Lynn. 

"  Here  lies  buried  the  body  of  M'  Zackeus  Norwood,  who  departed  this 
life  Feb.  the  8th,  1756,  aged  40  years." 

"  Here  lyes  buried  the  body  of  Doc'  Jonathan  Norwood,  who  de- 
parted this  life  March  16th,  178.J,  in  ye  3lst  year  of  his  age." 

These  two  stones  are  in  memory  of  father  and  son. 
Zacheus,  the  father,  was  keeper  of  the  old  Anchor 
Tavern,  which,  as  "Norwood's  Tavern,"  augmented 
in  fame  to  the  close  of  provincial  days.  He  is 
spoken  of  elsewhere  in  these  pages.  Dr.  Jonathan, 
the  son,  was  a  well-educated  physician,  and  lived  on 
the  north  side  of  the  Common,  between  Mall  and 
Park  Streets.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1771. 
His  death,  March  16,  1782,  was  occasioned  by  in- 
juries received  by  a  fall  from  his  horse. 

"  In  memory  of  Mr.  Isaac  Orgin,  who  died  May  29th,  1831,  Mt.  70. 
"  Afflictions  sore  long  time  I  bore, 
Physicians  strove  in  vain. 
Till  God  did  please  to  give  me  ease. 
And  take  away  my  pain." 


LYNN. 


303 


Mr.  Orgin  was  one  of  the  youthful  patriots  who  took 
the  field  in  the  Revolution,  and  is  said  to  have  been 
some  time  a  drummer. 

"  Here  lies  buried  the  body  of  Mr.  William  Perkins,  a  gentleman  of 
liberal  education.  He  was  bred  at  Harvard  College,  and  commenced 
Master  of  Arts  in  ye  year  1761.  He  was  justly  admired  for  his  uncom- 
mon abilities,  natural  and  acquired  ;  his  literature,  exemplary  piety, 
modesty,  meekness,  and  many  other  humane  and  Christian  virtues 
which  rendered  him  lovely  in  every  relation  of  life.  He  died  of  a  fever 
Ocf  ye  9,  17G5,  and  in  the  28"'  year  of  his  age." 
"  Mary  Pitcher. 
1738-1813." 

This  simple  inscription  on  a  neat  headstone  per- 
petuates the  name  of  one  who  attained  a  world-wide 
reputation  as  "  Moll  Pitcher,  the  fortune-teller  of 
Lynn."  A  somewhat  extended  notice  of  her  may  be 
found  elsewhere  in  these  pages. 

"  The  First  Church  of  Christ  in  Lynn  erected  this  monument  to  the 
memory  of  their  faithful  and  much  esteemed  brother.  Deacon  Nathaniel 
Sargent.     He  died  September 23,  1798,  aged  38  years. 

"  I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life  saith  the  Redeemer." 

"The  Tomb  of  Rev.  Jeremiah  Shepard.  The  memory  of  the  just  is 
blessed.  Mrs.  Mary  Shepard  died  March  28,  1710,  Aet.  53.  A  prudent 
wife  is  from  the  Lord.  Prov.  xxxi.  10  &  28:  the  Mother  of  9  children  : 
6  died,  Jeremiah,  1700,  Aet.  23 :  Mehetabel,  1688 :  Margaret,  1683  : 
Thomas,  1709,  Aet.  29 :  Francis,  1692. 

"  Rev.  Jeremiah  Shepard  died  June  2,  1720,  Aet.  72. 

"  Elijah's  mantle  drops,  the  prophet  dies. 
His  earthly  mansion  quits,  and  mounts  the  skies. 

So  Shepard's  gone. 

His  precious  dust,  death's  prey,  indeed  is  here. 
But  's  nobler  breath  'mong  seraphs  does  appear  ; 
He  joins  the  adoring  crowds  about  the  throne. 
He  's  conquered  all,  and  now  he  wears  the  crown." 

A  notice  of  this  venerable  minister  appears  in  an- 
other connection. 

"  How  uncertain  are  human  enjoyments  ! 
"From  gratitude,  respect  and  endearing   recollection,  this  stone   is 
erected  in  remembrance  of  Mrs.  Jane  &  Sally  Tufts,  consort  &  daughter 
of  Mr.  David  Tufts,  who  died  Nov.  15th  &  16th,  1795,  aged  28  yeara,  the 
infant  1  day. 

"Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Tufts,  &  dau',  wife  and 
dau'  of  Sir.  David  Tufts,  who  obt.  Aug.  2oth  &  22d,  1801.  She  aged 
32  years,  the  child  Aet  5  hours. 

"  Why  do  we  mourn  departed  friends 
Or  shake  at  death's  alarms  ? 
'Tis  but  the  voice  that  Jesus  sends 
To  call  them  to  his  arms." 

"In  memory  of  Mr.  David  Tufts,  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution,  who 
died  July  6,  1823,  Aet.  60. 

"  When  coldness  wraps  this  suffering  clay, 
Ah,  whither  strays  the  immortal  mind  ? 
It  cannot  die,  it  cannot  otay, 

But  leaves  its  darkened  dust  behind." 

This  Mr.  David  Tufts,  whose  singularly  severe  and 
affecting  visitations  are  here  commemorated,  lived  in 
a  comfortable  two-story  frame  dwelling  which  stood 
on  what  is  now  Western  Avenue,  at  the  northeast 
corner  of  Federal  Street,  the  site  being  now  occupied 
by  huge  brick  business  buildings,  and  his  land  ex- 
tended nearly  to  Centre  Street.  His  barn  was  opposite 
the  west  wing  of  Lynn  Hotel.  As  stated  upon  the 
stone,  he  was  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution,  and  must 
have  been  in  service  while  a  mere  boy.  He  drew  a 
pension  during  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  for  though 


in  the  way  of  gaining  a  comfortable  livelihood  by 
farming  and  expressing,  in  a  small  way,  he  was  yet 
obliged  to  exercise  industry  and  economy.  He  kept 
his  sword  hanging  above  the  head  of  his  bed  as  a  me- 
mento of  his  early  heroism.  His  last  wife  was  Eunice, 
a  daughter  of  Jo.seph  Hart,  of  Boston  Street,  and  she 
survived  him  more  than  forty  years.  He  left  three 
sons,  one  of  whom  was  Deacon  Richard  Tufts,  so  long 
conspicuous  for  his  rigid  principles  as  a  temperance 
reformer,  and  so  highly  respected  for  his  unswerving 
moral  integrity.  He  was  a  deacon  of  the  First  Con- 
gregational Church  for  many  years,  and  died  an  octo- 
genarian. Col.  Gardiner  Tufts,  whose  efficient  ser- 
vices in  the  interest  of  the  Massachusetts  soldiers, 
during  the  Civil  War  and  subsequently,  were  highly 
appreciated,  and  who  is  yet  doing  efficient  service 
under  State  appointment,  was  a  son  of  the  deacon. 

"John  E.  Weston,  Minister  of  the  Gospel,  died  .July  2*,  1831,  Aet.  35. 

"  He  was  ordained  Oct.  1827,  Pastor  of  the  2'*  Baptist  Church  in  Cam- 
bridge, and  at  the  time  of  his  death  was  pastor  elect  of  the  Baptist 
Church,  Nashua,  N.  H.  It  was  while  on  a  journey  to  Nashua  to  preach 
on  the  ensuing  Sabbath  that  he  was  drowned  in  Sandy  Pond  in  Wil- 
mington. This  sudden  and  afflictive  event  occurred  in  consequence  of 
a  deep  bank  near  the  edge  of  the  pond,  from  which,  unperceived  by  him, 
he  was  precipitated  with  his  carriage  and  sank  in  death. 

"  Thus  died  a  most  excellent  husband  and 
Father,  a  devoted  and  humble  Christian,  an 
able  and  energetic  minister,  beloved  by  all, 
and  bearing  the  noble  features  of  that  Saviour 
whom  he  delighted  to  honor." 

In  this  venerable  resting-place  of  the  dead  repose 
the  remains  of  three  early  ministers  of  the  First 
Church — Whiting,  Shepard  and  Henchman — as  well 
as  the  countless  host  of  other  worthies — fathers  and 
mothers  of  past  generations — some  of  whom  have 
elsewhere  come  under  notice. 

"  Life's  labor  done,  securely  laid 
In  this  their  last  retreat. 
Unheeded  o'er  their  silent  dust 
The  storms  of  life  shall  beat. 

"  The  storm  which  wrecks  the  wintry  sky 
No  more  disturbs  their  deep  repose 
Than  summer  evening's  gentlest  sigh, 
Which  shuts  the  rose." 

The  other  burial-places  of  Lynn  are  as  follows,  ar- 
ranged accoi'ding  to  the  dates  of  consecration  : 

The  Friexds'  Burial-Place. — This  seems  to 
have  been  set  apart  for  its  sacred  purposes  early  in  the 
last  century,  probably  in  or  about  the  year  1723,  as 
is  found  that  Richard  Estes  conveyed  to  the  Friends 
Society  an  eligible  lot  of  land  at  the  corner  of  the 
present  Broad  and  Silsbee  Streets,  "  in  consideration 
of  the  love  and  good  will  "  he  bore  "to  y^  people  of 
God  called  Quakers,  in  Lyn,"  by  a  deed  dated  the 
"seventeenth  day  of  the  tenth  month,  called  Decem- 
ber, in  y"  ninth  year  of  the  reign  of  King  George,  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord,  according  to  the  English  ac- 
count, one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty-two." 
The  land  was  given  "  unto  y**  people  aforementioned 
to  bury  their  dead  in,  and  to  erect  a  meeting-house 


304 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


for  to  worship  God  in:  I  say  those  in  true  fellowship 
of  the  gospell  unity  with  the  njonthly  meeting,  and 
those  are  to  see  to  y'  Christian  burying  as  we  have 
been  in  y*  practice  of."  In  1826  the  remains  of  a 
hundred  and  nine  persons  were  removed  from  the  old 
Friends'  Burying-ground  in  Boston,  and  deposited  in 
this  at  Lynn,  the  reason  being  that  the  society  at 
Boston  had  become  virtually  extinct  and  their  ground 
disused.  Considerable  feeling,  however,  was  mani- 
fested by  some,  and  Joseph  Hussey  refused  to  permit 
the  removal  of  the  remains  of  his  two  sisters  to  Lynn, 
preferring  to  have  them  deposited  in  King's  Chapel 
ground.  This  burial-place  is  conveniently  and  pleas- 
antly situated,  near  the  house  of  worship,  and  has  a 
number  of  neat  memorial  stones,  without  costly  or 
gairish  display.  And  in  it  rest  a  goodly  number  of 
Lynn's  most  prudent  and  worthy  sons  and  daughters. 
Adjoining  this  ground  is  another,  opened  in  1825,  as 
a  Iree  burial-place;  the  reason  for  the  proceeding 
being  that  the  society  refused  to  permit  the  interment 
of  a  child  in  their  ground  without  a  compliance  with 
their  regulations. 

The  Eastern  Burial-Place,  on  Union  Street, 
was  opened  in  1812,  is  neatly  kept,  and  contains  the 
dust  of  many  worthy  ones. 

Pine  Grove  Cemetery  was  consecrated  on  the 
afternoon  of  Wednesday,  July  24,  1850.  The  weather 
was  warm,  but  the  sky  was  clear,  and  a  great  con- 
course attended.  The  exercises,  conducted  amid 
such  picturesque  and  inspiring  surroundings,  were 
extremely  impressive.  The  address  was  delivered  by 
Rev.  Charles  C.  Shackford,  minister  of  the  Unitarian 
Society.  Several  other  clergymen  took  part  in  the 
exercises.  An  original  ode,  by  G.  W.  Putnam,  and 
original  hymns,  by  Mr.  Joseph  W.  Nye,  Miss  Anna 
H.  Phillips  and  Miss  Annie  Johnson,  were  sung. 
This  beautiful  burial-place  is  surpassed  by  very  few 
in  the  country  for  its  picturesque  natural  features,  its 
stately  trees,  fine  shrubbery  and  flower-studded  ia- 
closures,  as  well  as  for  its  graceful  and  noble  monu 
ments.  The  first  burial  took  place  on  Sunday,  Octo- 
ber 13, 1850  ;  and  the  total  number  of  interments  up 
to  January  1,  1886,  was  nine  thousand  six  hundred, 
four  hundred  and  sixty-five  having  taking  place 
during  1885.  As  to  the  pecuniary  receipts  and  dis- 
bursements, it  may  in  brief  be  stated  that  for  the 
year  1885  the  City  Council  appropriated -$8000;  to 
that  was  added,  from  sale  of  lots,  $5176.50 ;  from  in- 
terments, $1480.50 ;  from  care  of  lots,  $2673.59 ;  and 
from  various  other  sources  sufficient  to  make  a  total 
of  $19,509.86.  The  expenditures  for  labor,  grading 
and  the  numerous  other  needful  purposes  were 
$19,310.99. 

St.  Mary's  (Roman  Catholic)  Cemetery,  which 
comprises  eight  acres,  is  situated  on  Lynnfield  Street, 
near  the  suburban  village  of  Wyoma.  It  was  conse- 
crated on  Thursday,  November  4, 1 858,  by  Bishop  Fitz- 
patrick,  assisted  by  six  other  clergymen.  A  violent 
storm  prevailed  on  the  day  of  consecration,  and  the 


services,  so  far  as  they  properly  could  be,  were  held  in 
the  church,  where  the  rite  of  confirmation  was  ad- 
ministered to  some  two  hundred  persons. 

St.  Joseph's  (Roman  Catholic)  Cemetery,  on 
Boston  Street,  in  the  northeastern  outskirts,  was  con- 
secrated by  Archbishop  Williams,  in  the  afternoon  of 
Thursday,  October  16,  1879.  A  number  of  clergy- 
men from  neighboring  places  were  present.  Eighteen 
burials  had  taken  place  there  before  the  day  of  con- 
secration. In  the  forenoon  of  the  day  of  the  cere- 
mony the  rite  of  confirmation  was  administered  in 
the  parish  church,  by  the  archbishop,  to  about  a 
hundred  and  twenty-five  children. 

Almshouse  Ground. — A  small  lot  was  set  apart 
on  the  Almshouse  grounds  for  the  burial  of  deceased 
inmates.     But  no  burials  are  now  made  there. 

At  the  present  time  the  burials  are  chiefly  made  in 
the  three  cemeteries,  the  whole  number  in  1886 
having  been  as  follows:  In  Pine  Grove  Cemetery, 
375  ;  in  St.  Mary's,  207 ;  in  St.  Joseph's,  46 ;  in  the 
Eastern  ground,  58  ;  in  the  Old,  or  Western  ground, 
3;  in  the  Friends',  5 — making  a  total  of  694.  But 
the  number  of  deaths  during  the  year  was  836,  the 
remains  of  142  being  taken  out  of  town  for  interment. 
In  1885  the  number  of  deaths  was  828,  of  which  148 
were  by  consumption,  21  by  diphtheria,  14  by  typhoid 
fever,  70  by  pneumonia,  34  by  cholera  infantum,  9 
by  scarlet  fever.     Of  children  under  five  years,  278. 

It  may  be  added  that  the  old  burying-ground  at 
Lynnfield  was  opened  about  the  year  1720,  and  that 
at  Saugus  about  1732,  both  of  those  towns  being  then 
a  part  of  Lynn. 

The  interesting  ceremony  of  strewing  with  flowers 
the  graves  of  soldiers  who  fell  in  the  Civil  War  has 
been  devoutly  observed  in  Lynn.  Once  a  year — on 
the  30th  of  May,  which  has  been  established  as  a 
legal  holiday  and  called  Memorial  Day — under  the 
auspices  of  the  local  post  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic,  the  surviving  comrades  proceed  in  proces- 
sion, with  appropriate  music,  to  the  various  burial- 
places,  and  there,  upon  the  graves  of  the  departed 
companions-in-arms,  reverentially  deposit  their  floral 
offerings.  The  custom  began  here  in  1868,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  manifesto  of  General  Logan,  comman- 
der-in-chief of  the  association,  issued  at  Washington. 
The  occasion  calls  out  crowds  of  people,  old  and 
young.  A  patriotic  address  by  a  comrade,  delivered 
in  some  convenient  place,  follows  the  ceremony. 

Did  our  limits  allow,  it  would  not  be  impertinent 
to  say  a  few  words  touching  what  may  be  called  mod- 
ern extravagances  at  funerals.  The  expenditures  for 
casket,  floral  decorations  and  carriages  have  become 
really  burdensome  to  persons  of  limited  means. 
Many  seem  to  think  it  mean  not  to  follow  the  fashion 
in  these  matters,  and  mean  al<o  to  question  any 
charge  of  those  who  furnish  essentials  or  decorations. 
Can  ostentatious  display  relieve  a  truly  grieving 
heart?  Can  gairish  pomp  and  glitter  at  the  grave 
give  joy  to  the  departed?    It  would,  indeed,  be  heath- 


LYNN. 


305 


enish  to  avoid  a  proper  manifestation  of  respect  and 
affection  for  deceased  friends  ;  but  is  it  not  sometimes 
the  case  that  respect  and  affection  are  marked  by 
over- wrought  display?  In  early  New  England  times 
the  dead  were  committed  to  their  last  resting-places 
with  very  little  ceremony  beyond  the  procession  of 
mourning  friends;  the  coffin  was  rude  ;  and  seldom 
was  a  prayer  offered,  an  omission  which  it  seems  hard 
to  account  for,  excepting  on  the  ground  of  anxiety  to 
avoid  anything  that  approached  the  Romish  custom 
of  praying  for  the  dead.  Lech  ford,  writing  in  1641, 
says,  "  At  burials  nothing  is  read,  nor  any  funeral  ser- 
mon made,  but  all  the  neighborhood,  or  a  good  com- 
pany of  them,  come  together  by  tolling  of  the  bell, 
and  carry  the  dead  solemnly  to  his  grave  and  there 
stand  by  him  while  he  is  buried.  The  ministers  are 
most  commonly  present."  As  to  prayers  at  funerals, 
Drake,  in  his  "  History  of  Boston,"  in  speaking  of  the 
funeral  of  the  wife  of  Judge  Byfield,  who  was  a 
daughter  of  Governor  Leverett,  and  died  December 
21,  1730,  remarks:  "At  her  funeral  a  prayer  was 
made,  which  was  the  first  introduction  of  the  practice 
in  the  town."  And  a  Boston  paper,  speaking  of  the 
same  funeral,  says  :  "  Before  carrying  out  the  corpse, 
a  funeral  prayer  was  made  by  one  of  the  pastors  of 
the  old  church,  which,  though  a  custom  in  country 
towns,  is  a  singular  instance  in  this  place."  So  much 
for  the  religious  exercises  at  burials.  And  now  a 
word  touching  some  peculiar  extravagances  at  times 
indulged  in. 

Before  the  beginning  of  the  last  century  some 
strange  customs  began  to  appear,  and  expenditures 
were  made  for  purposes  much  more  reprehensible 
than  any  extravagance  of  the  present  day.  Indeed, 
funerals  were  sometimes  made  seasons  of  absolute 
jollification.  Spirituous  liquors  were  provided  in 
abundance,  and  scarfs,  gloves  and  rings  presented. 
The  General  Court,  in  1724,  prohibited  the  giving  of 
scarfs  on  such  occasions,  "  because  a  burdensome  cus- 
tom." At  the  funeral  of  Rev.  Mr.  Gobbet,  who 
preached  in  Lynn  nineteen  years  (1637-56),  were 
expended  one  barrel  of  wine,  £6  8.s. ;  two  barrels  of 
cider,  lis. ;  82  pounds  of  sugar,  £2  Is.  ;  half  a  cord 
of  wood,  4s. ;  four  dozen  pairs  of  gloves,  "  for  men 
and  women,"  £5  4s.;  with  "some  spice  and  ginger 
for  the  cider."  It  was  not  Lynn,  however,  that  had 
the  honor  of  providing  thus  liberally  for  the  obsequies 
of  Mr.  Gobbet,  for  he  had  left  here  a  number  of  years 
before,  and  settled  in  Ipswich.  But  in  1711  Lynn 
paid  for  half  a  barrel  of  cider  for  the  Widow  Dispaw's 
funeral.  It  was  generous  of  the  town  to  see  that 
even  a  poor  widow's  remains  should  not  be  laid 
away  without  some  inducement  for  neighbors  to  at- 
tend the  last  rites,  if  no  feeling  of  bereavement  ex- 
isted. And  there  is  a  temptation  to  add  the  account 
of  expenditures  at  the  funeral  of  Rev.  Mr.  Brown,  of 
Reading,  in  1733,  partly  for  the  purpose  of  showing 
the  cost  of  some  things  required  in  those  days  on 
such  mournful  occasions : 
20 


£    «.  d. 

"  To  Thomas  Eaton,  for  provisLonB 2    10 

Nathaniel  Eaton  for  fetching  up  the  wine 0  15  0 

Lt.  Nathaniel  Parker  for  5  qts.  Rhom,  [rum]  .   ...    0    80 
Samuel  Pool  for  digging  Mr.  Brown's  grave  .    ...    0     80 

Landlord   Wesson,  for   Rhom,  [rum] 0  10  6 

Wm.  Cowdry,  for  making  the  coffin 0  15  0 

Andrew  Tyler,  of  Boston,  t3  gold  rings  for  funeral  .  10  18  0 

Benj.  Fitch,  of  Boston,  Gloves,  etc 17    0  0 

Mrs.  Martha  Brown,  for  wine   furnished  .....    5    00 
Eben  Storer,  of  Boston,  sundries 8    00 

Total 45  15  6." 

The  old  burying-grounds  embody  a  history  of  the 
early  settlements.  The  "  cemeteries "  of  modern 
time  exhibit  the  taste  and  wealth  of  later  days.  But 
it  would  be  unkind  to  assume  that  either  is  not  the 
bourn  of  true  human  sympathy  and  affection.  The 
remains  of  high  or  low,  rich  or  poor,  wherever  and 
whenever  committed  to  the  keeping  of  mother  earth, 
occasion  pangs  of  sorrow  in  some  surviving  breast ; 
there  are  none  so  poor  or  miserable  as  to  be  void  of 
this.  To  the  indigent  mourner  there  is  substantial 
consolation  in  the  thought  that  at  the  grave  all  earth- 
ly distinctions  end  ;  but  far  greater  consolation  in  the 
conviction  that  for  a  virtuous  life  passed  here  a  great 
reward  awaits  upon  the  other  side  of  the  dark  vale. 
To  the  true  duty-doer,  as  he  draws  near  the  bourn 
that  cannot  be  repassed,  the  words  of  the  great 
poet  of  our  own  Essex  come  as  a  refreshing  breath 
from  that  other  land, — 

"0  stream  of  life,  whoso  swifter  flow 
Is  of  the  end  forewarning. 
Methinks  thy  sundown  afterglow 
Seems  less  of  night  than  morning." 

There  is  surely  no  place  better  fitted  for  sombre 
reflection  than  that  where  lie  the  gathered  dead  of 
generations.     But  why  sombre  ? 

"All  that  tread 
The  globe  are  but  a  handful  to  the  tribes 
That  slumber  in  its  bosom." 

And  among  them,  in  peaceful  rest,  are  the  good 
and  great,  the  beautiful  and  buoyant.  What  is  there 
doleful  in  such  company?  Meditations  of  the  most 
cheerful  kind  may  well  be  entertained.  And  sooth- 
ing would  it  be  to  many  a  tired  spirit  could  it  occa- 
sionally respond  to  the  poet's  sentiment  and  say  : 

"At  musing  hour  of  twilight  gray, 

When  silence  reigns  around, 
I  love  to  walk  the  churchyard  way — 

To  me  'tis  holy  ground. 
To  me  congenial  is  the  place, 

Where  yew  and  cypress  grow — 
I  love  the  moss-grown  stone  to  trace, 

That  tells  who  lies  below." 

Yes,  indeed,  to  a  mind  so  touched,  many  a  rough 
passage  of  life  would  be  made  smooth,  for  step  by 
step  more  fully  would  be  perceived  the  utter  hollow- 
ness  of  all  mere  earthly  promises,  and  the  emptiness 
of  earth's  bubbles,  wealth,  honor  and  fame.  The  pur- 
suit of  wealth  especially,  which  is  with  us  so  marked 
a  feature,  would  soon  appear  like  senseless  phantom- 


306 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


chasing.     Pausing  at  the  merely  rich  man's  grave, 
the  racy  lines  of  Swift  might  well  obtrude: 

"  The  sexton  shall  green  sods  on  thee  bestow  ; 
Alas,  the  sexton  is  thy  banker  now  ! 
A  dismal  banker  must  that  banker  be, 
Who  gives  no  bills  but  of  mortality." 

And  again : 

"  He  that  could  once  have  half  a  kingdom  bought, 
In  half  a  minute  is  not  worth  a  groat. 
His  coffers  from  the  coffin  could  not  save, 
Nor  all  his  interest  keep  him  from  the  grave." 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

LYNN— ( Cow<i?iMed). 

OLD  FAMILIES— PERSONAL  NOTICES — POETS  AND 
PKOSE   WRITERS. 

Lists  of  Setllers— Notices  of  Remarkable  Individuals,  Eccentric  and  Otherwise 
— Lynn  Writers  in  Poetical,  Historical  and  other  Departments. 


"These  flowery  fields  they  loved  to  tread, 
These  rocky  heights  to  scale, 
The  dells  and  tangled  breaks  to  thread, 
And  snuff  the  fragrant  gale." 


Realizing  that  the  study  of  kinship,  the  tracing 
out  of  lines  of  relationship,  is  peculiarly  fascinating 
and  quite  as  profitable,  perhaps,  as  many  of  the  studies 
to  which  attention  is  usually  directed,  there  have  been 
introduced  here  and  there  in  the   different  divisions 
of  this  sketch  notices,  more  or  less  extended,  of  repre- 
sentative individuals  who  have  appeared  in  the  differ- 
ent periods  of  our  history  ;  enough  to  render  all  the 
assistance  that  could  in  that  way  be  afforded  to  those 
who  would  trace  out  their  genealogical   lines.     Such 
studies  frequently  prove  of  unexpected  value,  by  un- 
earthing facts  greatly  beneficial  to  one  or  another.  Very 
few  of  the  old  New  England  families  can  be  brought 
to  mind  of  which  may  not  now  be  found  representa- 
tives    whose    virtues    or    achievements    adorn    the 
parent  name.     "The  records  of  families,"  remarks  a 
writer  quoted  by  President  Wilder,   "  constitute  the 
frame-work  of  history,  and  are  auxiliaries  to  science, 
religion  and  especially  to  civilization.     The  ties  of 
kindred  are  the  golden  links  in  the  chain  which  ties 
families,   states  and    nations    together   in    one  great 
bond  of  humanity.    Everything,  therefore,  which  per- 
tains to  the  history  of  our  families  should  be  carefully 
recorded  and  preserved  for  the  benefit  of  those  who 
are  to  follow  us.     He  who  collects  and  preserves  his 
own  family  history  is  not  only   a  benefactor  in   his 
way,  but  will  deserve  and  receive  the  grateful  thanks 
of  all  future  generations.    He  confers  a  priceless  boon 
upon  those  whose  names  and  achievements  are  thus 
rescued  from  oblivion,  and  preserves  the  experience 
and  wisdom  of  ages  for  the  emulation  and  admiration 
of  posterity."      Yet  there  are  multitudes  of  unretlect- 
ing  people  who  never  think  of  these  things,  and  other 


multitudes  who  are  so  engro.ssed  with  money-making 
plans  that  they  can  see  no  good  in  them.  Why,  a 
while  ago  the  writer  had  occasion  to  ask  a  man  some- 
thing about  his  grandfather,  and  got  the  abrupt  reply, 
"But  I  don't  even  know  who  my  grandfather  was, 
and  don't  care;  there's  no  money  in  it!  " 

And  now  as  to  Lynn :  Though  not  able  to  boast  of  any 
very  eminent  persons  at  present  within  her  borders,  ex- 
cepting in  the  mere  business  relations  of  life,  in  which 
she  stands  I'emarkably  well,  and  excepting  those  who 
are  "great  in  their  own  eyes,"  she  yet  can  point 
to  many  living  descendants  of  her  earlier  families 
who  have  made  a  mark  in  their  generation.  Let  us 
give  an  example  or  two :  George  Bancroft,  the 
eminent  historian,  is  a  direct  descendant  from  John 
Bancroft,  one  of  liynn's  early  settlers.  George 
William  Curtis,  of  New  York,  so  prominent  in  the 
literary  world,  is  a  direct  descendant  from  Ebenezer 
Burrill,  who,  July  29,  1725,  married  Mary  Mansfield, 
and  lived  in  the  house  that  stood  on  Boston  Street 
near  the  northeast  corner  of  North  Federal.  Mr. 
Curtis's  mother  was  a  daughter  of  Hon.  James  Burrill, 
chief  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Rhode  Island 
and  United  States  Senator,  who  died  on  Christmas 
Day,  1820,  and  whose  father,  also  named  James,  was 
a  son  of  Ebenezer,  and  born  in  the  old  Boston  Street 
mansion.  Horace  Gray,  a  judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  and  late  chief  justice  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Massachusetts,  is  a  grandson 
of  William  Gray,  who  was  born  in  the  two-story 
gambrel-roof  house,  the  most  easterly  on  the  south 
side  of  Marion  Street,  formerly  known  as  the  Dr. 
Flagg  house.  The  bold  and  chivalrous  John  J.  In- 
GALLS,  now  a  member  of  the  United  States  Senate 
from  Kansas,  and  one  of  the  "  best  dressed  "  members 
of  that  body,  is  a  lineal  descendant  from  Edmund 
Ingalls,  one  of  the  first  five  settlers  of  Lynn.  The 
catalogue  need  not  be  further  extended,  though  many 
other  honorable  names  press  upon  the  memory.  And 
then,  if  deceased  ones  should  be  brought  to  notice, 
the  list  could  not  easily  be  limited.  There  was  Tim- 
othy Pickering,  the  friend  of  Washington,  the 
sagacious  and  prudent  counselor  and  co-worker  on 
the  foundation  of  the  republic ;  his  grandmother  was 
a  Burrill,  of  the  same  lineage  from  which  Mr.  Curtis 
sprang.  Theodore  Parker,  the  learned  theologian 
and  accomplished  scholar,  was  a  direct  descendant 
from  the  sober  old  Lynn  settler,  Thomas  Parker. 
The  two  Bishops  Haven  were  lineal  descendants 
from  Richard  Haven,  whose  house  was  on  Boston 
Street,  corner  of  North  Federal,  near  that  of  the 
Burrills,  the  ancestral  home  of  Curtis  and  Pickering 
just  named.  Then  there  was  Rev.  Samuel  Kert- 
LAND,  who,  by  request  of  the  Provincial  Congress, 
induced  the  Oueidas  and  some  other  Indians  of  the 
Six  Nations  to  espouse  the  American  cause  in  the 
dark,  opening  days  of  the  Revolution ;  he  was  a  di- 
rect descendant  from  Philip  Kertland,  the  first  Lynn 
shoemaker.    Then  there  was  Nathaniel  P.  Willis, 


LYNN. 


307 


or,  as  he  preferred  to  write  it,  when  that  style  was 
fashionable,  N.  Parker  Willis,  the  poet,  a  descendant 
of  Thomas  Willis,  who  was  among  the  first  Lynn 
settlers,  locating  at  what  we  now  call  Tower  Hill. 
He  was  a  co-representative  with  Captain  Nathaniel 
Turner  and  Edward  Tomlins  in  the  first  General 
Court,  1634.  And,  being  a  man  of  consequence,  he 
had  allotted  him,  in  the  land  division  of  1638,  "  up- 
land and  medow,  500  acres,  as  it  is  estimated,"'  while 
many  of  his  neighbors  received  not  above  sixty.  He 
does  not  appear  to  have  spent  the  remainder  of  his 
days  here,  and  it  is  not  probable  that  descendants  of 
his  remain.  It  is  at  least  hoped  that  the  line  was  not 
tainted  by  "Old  Willis,''  who,  many  years  aso,  kept 
the  famous  dance-house  at  North  Bend,  though  he 
had  the  distinction  of  being  a  soldier  of  the  Revolu- 
tion.    But  this  trail  cannot  be  further  pursued. 

Th-e  narration  of  prominent  events  as  they  occurred 
in  one's  own  neighborhood  is  seldom  without  absorb- 
ing interest.  But  when  the  actors  in  those  events 
are  introduced,  the  interest  is  greatly  enhanced.  It 
is  the  fashion  with  local  historians  and  quasi  histor- 
ians to  give  chapters  of  biography ;  and  those  chap- 
ters are  always  interesting,  at  least  to  residents.  But 
in  view  of  the  fact  that,  as  before  remarked,  many 
sketches  are  scattered  about  elsewhere  in  these  pages, 
a  different  plan  must  be  pursued  here.  A  few  of 
those  who  have  not  been  spoken  of  in  other  connec- 
tions, but  are  thought  entitled  to  special  remembrance, 
will  here  receive  attention.  It  will,  of  course,  be 
borne  in  mind  that  it  is  not  the  purpose  even  to  name 
all  who  have  contributed  to  the  prosperity  of  Lynn, 
for  that  would  include  a  large  portion  of  her  popula- 
tion. Genealogies  of  a  number  of  the  old  families 
have  been  published  in  one  shape  and  another,  and 
the  "  History  of  Lynn  "  contains  many  pages  of  such 
matter. 

The  following  are  the  names  of  some  of  the  settlers 
who  appeared  here  before  the  year  1700,  and  who 
planted  families  which  are  still  well  represented 
among  us,  though  they  were  not  of  the  first  comers : 


AUon,  1636. 
Alley,  1640. 
Attwill,  1659. 
Bachelor,  1632. 
Baker,  1030. 
Basaett,  1640. 
Bennett,  1630. 
Berry,  1650  (?). 
Breed.  1630. 
Brown,  1630. 
Burrill,  1630. 
Chadwell,  163u. 
Clark,  1040. 
Collins,  1635. 
Davis,  1635. 


Estes,  1683  (?). 
Farrington,  1035. 
Fuller,  1644. 
Graves,  1630. 
Hart,  1640. 
Hawkes,  1030. 
Hood,  1040. 
Hudson,  1030. 
Ingalls,  1629. 
Ireson,  1635. 
Johuson,  1637. 
King,  1647. 
Lewis,  1639. 
Mansfield,  1640. 
Newhall,  1630. 


Oliver,  1692  (?). 
Parker,  1035. 
Phillips,  1650. 
Pool,  1639. 
Ramsdell,  1630. 
Rhodes,  1640. 
Richards,  1630. 
Richardson,  1679  (?). 
Silsbee,  16.'>1. 
Smith,  1630. 
Stacey,  1641. 
Tarbox,  1640. 
Townsend,  1636. 
Waitt,  1650. 


Alley. — John  B.  Alley,  the  first  member  of  Con- 
gress from  Lynn  (1858),  descended  from  the  1640  set- 
tler of  the  name. 

Baker. — Daniel  C.  Baker,  the  third  mayor,  was  a 
descendant  of  the  1630  settler. 


Bassett. — William  Bassett,  the  first  city  clerk, 
came  from  the  family  planted  here  in  1640.  His 
pedigree  may  be  found  further  on. 

Breed. — Andrews  Breed,  our  fifth  mayor,  and  Hi- 
ram N.  Breed,  our  ninth,  descended  from  the  1630 
settler. 

Burrill. — The  Burrill  who  came  in  1630  became 
the  head  of  what  was  once  called  "the  royal  family 
of  Lynn." 

Davis. — The  Davis  named  in  the  list  was  the  an- 
cestor of  Edward  S.  Davis,  our  eighth  mayor. 

Fuller. — Joseph  Fuller,  the  first  president  of  the 
first  Lynn  bank;  and  Maria  Augusta  Fuller,  the  poet- 
ess, were   descendants   of  the  1644  settler. 

Graves. — From  Mr.  Graves,  the  1630  settler,  the 
section  known  as  Gravesend  (now  called  Glenmere) 
took  its  name. 

Hart. — George  D.  Hart,  our  twentieth  mayor,  de- 
scended from  the  early  settler  of  the  name. 

Hawkes.  —  An  account  of  the  Hawkes  family, 
planted  here  in  1630,  will  appear  on  a  subsequent 
page. 

Hood. — George  Hood,  the  first  mayor  of  Lynn,  was 
a  representative  of  the  old  Hood  family. 

Johnson. — William  F.  Johnson,  our  seventh  mayor, 
is  of  the  old  1637  line. 

Lewis. — Jacob  M.  Lewis,  Lynn's  fourteenth  mayor, 
and  likewise  Alonzo  Lewis,  the  poet  and  historian, 
are  descendants  from  the  settler  of  1639. 

Mansfield. — Andrew  Mansfield,  who  came  in  1640, 
was,  in  1660,  made  the  first  town  clerk.  To  him  we 
are  also  indebted  for  the  preservation  of  a  record  of 
the  land  allotments  of  1638,  which,  as  he  certifies,  he 
copied  "  out  of  the  Town  Book  of  Records  of  Lynn," 
March  10,  1660.  Several  of  his  descendants  became 
prominent,  two  or  three  in  the  military  line. 

Newhall. — The  Newhall  family,  planted  here  in 
1630,  and  of  which  the  first  white  child  born  within 
our  borders  was  a  member,  has,  during  our  whole  his- 
tory, till  within  a  year  or  two,  maintained  its  rank 
as  first  in  numbers,  if  for  nothing  else.  The  name  is 
not  now  the  most  numerous,  as,  according  to  recent 
directories,  it  is  slightly  led  by  that  of  Smith.  They 
are  both  old  Lynn  names,  but  it  is  evident  that  but 
comparatively  few  of  the  present  Smiths  are  of  old 
Lynn  stock. 

Richards. — Richard  Richards,  who  died  December 
19,  1851,  was  a  descendant  of  the  1630  settler.  He 
has  been  ranked  as  the  most  inventive  genius,  in  a 
mechanical  way,  ever  born  here,  some  of  his  inven- 
tions proving  of  great  value  in  the  local  business. 

A  brief  notice  of  the  Tarbox  family  will  appear  a 
little  farther  on. 

In  the  sketch  of  Lynnfield  a  somewhat  extended 
notice  of  the  Townsend  family  will  be  given. 

A  brief  list  of  some  of  the  subsequent  families,  that 
is,  those  which  appeared  after  the  year  1700,  and 
made  favorable  marks  which  have  from  generation 
to  generation  been  continued,  follows :  Bubier,  Buff"- 


308 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


um,  Chase,  Curtin,  Kimball,  Moulton,  Mudge,  Mun- 
roe,  Parrott,  Pratt,  Spinney,  Stone,  Tufts,  Usher, 
Walden,  Woodbury. 

This  short  list  contains  the  names  of  five  mayor?, 
to  wit. :  Bubier,  Buffum,  Mudge,  Usher  and  Walden. 
And  all  the  families  have  presented  substantial  and 
useful  citizens. 

It  may  be  observed  that  several  names,  conspicu- 
ous in  former  years,  do  not  appear  in  these  lists.  In 
some  instances  they  are  of  those  spoken  of  in  other 
connections,  in  other  instances  of  those  who  left  few 
or  no  descendants,  and  in  still  other  instances  of  those 
who  did  little  or  nothing  to  promote  the  prosperity  or 
enhance  the  fame  of  this  their  chosen  home,  prefer- 
ring rather  to  direct  their  life's  labor  to  mere  selfish 
ends, — a  career  that  too  many  of  us  of  the  present  day 
are  prone  to  imitate- 

Hawkes  Family. — This  family  has  ever  main- 
tained a  respectable  rank  among  the  old  Lynn  fami- 
lies. Adam  Hawkes,  the  founder,  was  one  of  the 
seventeen  hundred  Puritans  who  sailed  with  Endicott 
from  Southampton  and  landed  at  Salem  in  June,  1630. 
He  received  large  grants  in  the  division  of  the  com- 
mon lands,  and  during  his  busy  life  acquired  other 
tracts.  He  was  an  excellent  specimen  of  the  hardy, 
industrious  and  thrifty  pioneer. 

The  doings  of  many  of  the  early  comers  and  their 
successors  are  not  matters  of  tradition,  but  of  history 
and  record  so  clear  that  one  can  read  their  lives  as  if 
they  were  contemporaries.  Of  this  first  Adam  Hawkes, 
for  instance,  we  know  the  little  knoll  where  he  built 
his  house,  we  know  of  the  burning  of  that  house,  of 
the  flight  through  the  snow  with  his  wife  and  infant 
children  ;  we  know  when  his  second  house  was  erected 
— a  house  which  sheltered  some  of  his  descendants  for 
more  than  two  hundred  years.  In  1872  the  old  house 
was  taken  down,  and  on  one  of  the  bricks  of  the 
chimney  was  found  the  date,  1601,  evidently  written 
in  the  soft  clay  with  the  finger,  when  the  brick  was 
made  in  England.  These  bricks,  which  were  in  the 
first  house,  were  relaid  in  the  chimney  of  the  fourth, 
ou  the  same  farm,  by  Richard  Hawkes,  of  the 
sixth  generation  from  the  original  owner.  It  is 
a  matter  of  history  that  some  of  the  ships  of  Win- 
throp's  fleet  were  ballasted  with  bricks,  and  it  has 
always  been  known  in  this  family  that  the  bricks  in 
the  first  chimney  came  from  England.  The  farm 
borders  upon  Saugus  River,  and  the  bricks  must  have 
been  carried  up  that  stream  in  boats,  as  there  was  no 
road.  Another  relic  of  the  original  chimney,  which 
has  ornamented  its  successors,  but  which  is  now  re- 
garded as  an  heirloom,  is  an  iron  fireback,  some  two 
feet  square,  and  weighing  about  one  hundred  pounds, 
on  which  is  moulded  what  has  been  supposed  to  be 
the  British  arms,  but  which  has  since  been  thought 
to  be  a  coat  of  arras — perhaps  that  of  the  Hawkes 
family.  The  "  supporters,"  though  not  distinct,  seem 
to  be  similar  to  those  in  the  British  arms,  but  instead 
of  the  crown,  this  is  surmounted  by  what  appears  to 


be  the  visors  and  bars  of  a  helmet  and  lion.  This  cast- 
ing was  evidently  made  to  lay  in  masonry,  as  the  edge 
is  depressed  and  rough.  The  fashion  of  ornamenting 
the  chimney-back  above  the  fire  with  the  family  arms 
or  something  national  was  common  in  early  colonial 
times,  probably  borrowed  from  home. 

John  Hawkes,  a  son  of  Adam,  the  first  comer,  was 
a  man  of  considerable  local  note  in  his  time.  His 
descendants  can  trace  their  ancestry  to  one  of  the 
group  who  signed  the  immortal  compact  in  the  cabin 
of  the  "  Mayflower."  His  wife  was  Rebecca,  daugh- 
ter of  Moses  Maverick,  the  founder  and  for  many 
years  the  only  magistrate  of  Marblehead.  The  wife 
of  Mr.  Maverick  was  a  daughter  of  Isaac  Allerton, 
who  was  one  of  the  "  Mayflower  "  passengers,  was 
Lieutenant-Governor  of  Plymouth  Colony,  and  for  a 
long  time  colonial  agent.  Isaac  xlllerton  and  Moses 
Maverick  were  conspicuous  in  the  early  days,  and 
their  blood  mingled  with  that  of  the  successors  of 
Thomas  Hawkes,  who  was  burned  at  the  stake  in  the 
reign  of  "  Bloody  Queen  Mary,"  for  his  fiiithfulness 
to  his  religious  principles. 

On  the  28th  and  29th  days  of  July,  1880,  there 
took  place  a  notable  reunion  on  the  grounds  of  Louis 
P.  Hawkes,  who  occupies  the  very  place  where  the 
father  of  the  family  established  his  abode  in  1630, 
Some  three  hundred  were  present,  from  all  parts  of 
the  country — representatives  from  all  classes  of  so- 
ciety, the  learned,  the  diplomatic,  the  mercantile,  the 
laboring.  The  Hon.  Nathan  M.  Hawkes,  of  Lynn, 
acted  as  master  of  ceremonies,  and  all  the  proceed- 
ings began,  continued  and  ended  in  the  most  satis- 
factory manner.  The  literary  exercises  were  of  a 
high  order,  eminently  appropriate  and  interesting. 
There  were  devotional  exercises,  poems,  addresses, 
genealogical  sketchings,  music,  and,  for  the  younger 
portion,  lighter  diversions  of  various  kinds.  The 
principal  address  was  by  Senator  Hawkes,  the  master 
of  ceremonies,  and  its  terse  periods  were  enriched  by 
historic  allusions  and  family  incidents,  such  as  proved 
of  absorbing  interest  to  all  present.  The  sentiments 
expressed  in  the  closing  passages  must  have  found  a 
response  in  the  minds  of  the  elder  ones  present ;  in 
the  minds  of  all  not  cankered  by  worldly  ambition, 
nor  closed  to  the  beautiful  in  nature  and  the  concep- 
tion of  life's  higher  duties  : 

"This  day  is  a  mile-stone  that  marks  our  march  of  a  qiiarter  of  a 
thousand  years  of  American  life.  Individuals  and  generations  lay  down 
the  burdens,  the  failures  and  the  triumphs  of  life;  others  stand  ready  to 
go  on  with  the  duties  that  citizenship  and  family  command.  Let  us 
signalize  this  occasion  as  a  family  by  new  reverence  for  the  memory  of 
our  ancestors,  and  by  new  resolves  to  make  our  name  a  still  better  name 
in  the  future  than  in  the  past.  Let  us  sanctify  the  present  by  making  it 
worthy  of  the  past,  ever  hopeful  of  the  unseen,  wonderful  future. 

"Within  five  miles  of  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  Atlautic,  whence  civiliza- 
tion took  its  westward  course,  this  sylvan  retreat  has  hitherto  escaped 
the  rush  and  crush  of  busy  mercantile  pursuits ;  the  snort  of  the  loco- 
motive is  unheard;  the  primitive  solitude  is  undisturbed,  save  by  the 
peaceful  pursuits  of  agriculture. 

"  The  oratories  of  the  Jews  were  beneath  the  shadow  of  olive  trees  ;  the 
ancient  Druids  of  Gaul,  Britain  and  Germany  were  accustomed  to  per- 
form their  mystic  rites  and  sacrifices  in  the  recesses  of  the  forest  ;  and 
our  Pilgrim  Fathers  worehipped  God  under  a  like  canopy. 


LYNN. 


309 


"  We  meet  to-day  under  the  shade  of  the  walnut.  May  this  spot  be 
spared  from  the  sordid  pursuits  of  business  ;  may  tliis  grove  he  unvexed 
by  the  demands  of  utility  for  another  period  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years,  that  our  successors  may  gather  here  in  '  Nature's  noblest  sanctu- 
ary ; '  and  may  our  kin  in  all  coming  time  resort  to  this  Mecca  of  the 
Hawkes  family  in  America." 

The  family  name,  like  all  the  surnames  of  colonial 
days,  was  spelled  in  a  way  to  suit  the  user ;  but  there 
were  not  so  many  variations  as  in  most  of  the  familiar 
names.  In  England  we  find  it  spelled  Hawkes,  and 
that  has  generally  been  followed  here.  §ome  branch- 
es of  the  family  in  America,  however,  spell  it  Hawks. 
This  saves  a  letter,  but  does  not  make  the  word  hand- 
somer. No  full  genealogy  of  the  family  has  yet  been 
arranged.  The  materials,  however,  are  ample,  and 
space  may  be  allowed  for  the  tracing  of  one  line  as  a 
sample.  For  this  purpose  we  will  take  our  well- 
known  fellow-citizen,  Hon.  Nathan  M.  Hawkes,  who 
was  master  of  ceremonies,  as  before  mentioned,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  great  family  gathering. 

1.  Adam  Hawkes  arrived  in  1630,  died  1671. 

2.  John  Hawkes,  son  of  Adam,  married  Rebecca 
Maverick. 

3.  Moses\  son  of  John,  born  1659,  married  Margaret 
Cogswell. 

4.  Moses^,  son  of  Moses\  born  1699,  married  Susan- 
nah Townsend. 

5.  Nathan\  son  of  Moses^,  born  1745,  married  Sarah 
Hitchings. 

6.  Nathan^,  son  of  Nathan\  born  1775,  married 
Elizabeth  Tarbell. 

7.  Nathan  D.,  son  of  Nathan'',  born  1811,  married 
Tacy  P.  Hawkes, 

8.  Nathan  M.,  son  of  Nathan  D.,  born  1843,  mar- 
ried Mary  BufTum. 

Johnson  Family. — The  Johnson  family  has  been 
among  the  most  prominent  and  respectable  of  the 
Lynn  families  almost  ever  since  the  settlement  com- 
menced, and  it  would  be  agreeable  to  give  the  gene- 
alogy somewhat  at  large,  were  it  practicable.  As  the 
next  best  thing,  however,  it  may  be  well  to  trace  the 
line  of  a  single  individual,  as  a  family  representative, 
from  the  first  settler.  Others,  by  their  relationship  to 
him,  may  trace  their  own  lines. 

For  this  purpose,  then,  let  us  take  the  line  down 
to  the  late  Otis  Johnson,  who  died  at  his  well-known 
residence  on  Federal  Street,  February  17, 1870,  at  the 
age  of  sixty-eight  years. 

Richard  Johnson^,  the  first  of  the  family  in  Lynn, 
was  born  in  England  in  1612.  He  came  to  America 
with  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,  in  1630,  and  after  resid- 
ing for  seven  years  in  Watertowu  and  for  a  short  pe- 
riod in  Salem,  settled  in  Lynn  in  1637,  being  made  a 
freeman  the  same  year.  He  was  a  thrifty  farmer, 
and  owned  a  considerable  tract  of  land  at  the  eastern 
end  of  the  Common,  including  the  site  of  the  present 
City  Hall.  His  children  were  Samuel,  Elizabeth, 
Abigail  and  Daniel. 

Samuel  ^  was  known  by  the  title  of  Lieutenant,  and 
was  a  cornet  in  the  King  Philip  War,  1676.     For  his 


services  he  received,  in  1685,  a  grant  of  land  from 
the  General  Court.  He  died  in  1723,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-two,  and  was  buried  in  the  old  ground,  where 
his  grave-stone  may  still  be  seen.  He  married  Mary 
Collins  January  22,  1664,  and  had  nine  children. 

Richard  ^  the  sixth  child  of  Samuel  ^  was  born 
November  8,  1674;  on  July  3,  1705,  he  married  Eliz- 
abeth Newhall,  and  died  September  26,  1754.  He 
was  town  clerk  for  several  years  onward  from  1722, 
was  for  three  years  a  repre-^entative  in  the  General 
Court  and  a  deacon  in  the  old  church  at  the  time  of 
his  decease.  His  sons  were  Samuel,  known  as  Cap- 
tain, Joseph  and  Benjamin. 

SamueP,  Captain,  the  eldest  son  of  Richard^,  was 
born  March  17,  1708,  and  married  Ruth  Holten,  of 
Lynn,  in  or  about  1731.  His  will  was  probated  Jan- 
uary 7,  1772. 

Richard^,  the  eldest  son  of  Captain  Samuel,  was 
born  September  25,  1731,  married  Lydia  Batchelor 
March  21,  1756,  and  died  September  27,  1765,  from  a 
fever  resulting  from  haymaking  on  the  marsh.  He 
had  sons, — Samuel,  Enoch,  Rufus,  Timothy. 

Enoch,  son  of  Richard^,  was  born  January  16, 
1761,  married  Elizabeth  Newhall  June  8,  1790,  and 
died  March  17,  1815.  He  was  a  deputy  sheriff".  Sam- 
uel, his  son,  was  born  April  30,  1793,  married  at  Nas- 
sau, N.  P.,  and  long  resided  there,  dying  July  11, 
1841.  George,  his  son,  was  born  June  7,  1796,  and 
died  October  17,  1849.  He  was  a  shoe  manufacturer, 
and  married  Eliza,  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Aaron  Lum- 
mus. 

Otis,  the  youngest  son  of  Enoch,  was  born  January 
26,  1802,  and  died  at  his  residence  on  Federal  Street, 
Lynn,  on  the  17th  of  February,  1870,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-eight  years,  as  before  stated.  He  was  married 
in  Savannah,  Ga.,  March  18,  1824,  to  Miss  Virginia 
Taylor.  They  had  nine  children,  only  three  of  whom 
are  now  (1887)  living — namely,  Enoch  Stafford,  Maria 
Lillibridge  and  Elliott  Clarke.  The  eldest  son  of 
Mr.  Johnson  was  William  Otis,  who  died  August  17, 
1873,  aged  forty-eight.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Har- 
vard College,  and  in  due  time  became  established  as 
a  physician  of  more  than  ordinary  reputation,  having 
studied  under  the  venerable  Dr.  Jacob  Bigelow.  His 
literary  talents  were  also  of  a  high  order,  his  articles 
in  the  North  American  Review  attracting  marked  at- 
tention. 

Bassett  Family. — William  Bassett,  the  first  of 
the  name  here,  was  a  farmer  and  settled  on  Nahant 
Street  on  land  still  owned  by  his  descendants.  He 
married  Sarah,  daughter  of  Hugh  Burt,  who  died  in 
1661.  He  was  an  ensign  in  the  company  of  Captain 
Gardner,  of  Salem,  in  the  Indian  War,  and  was  at 
the  "swamp  fight."  For  his  services  the  General 
Court  made  him  a  grant  of  land.  Captain  Wil- 
liam Bassett,  supposed  to  be  the  same  individual 
was  one  of  a  council  of  war,  with  Major  Benjamin 
Church,  at  Scarborough,  Me.,  November  11,  1689. 
His  name  often  appears  in  the  oldest  town  records  of 


310 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Lynn,  where,  in  1691,  he  is  called  Quartermaster 
Bassett.  He  died  March  31,  1703.  His  daughter 
Elizabeth  was  the  wife  of  John  Proctor,  of  Danvers, 
Avho  was  executed  for  witchcraft.  She,  too,  was  con- 
demned, but  pardoned.  The  wife  of  his  son  William 
was  likewise  imprisoned  seven  months  for  witchcraft. 
She  had  a  child,  when  taken  to  prison,  less  than  two 
years  old;  and  the  next  child  she  had,  after  her  re- 
lease, she  named  Deliverance.  The  following  gives 
the  line  of  descent  down  to  the  children  of  the  late 
William  Bassett,  our  first  city  clerk,  who  was  cashier 
of  the  First  National  Bank,  and  had  been  for  many 
vears  at  the  time  of  his  sudden  decease,  June  21, 
1871  : 

(2)  William  Bassett,  son  of  William,  the  first  Bassett 
here,  married  Sarah  Hood,  October  25,  1675,  and  had 
children, — Sarah,  born  1676,  who  married  Joseph 
Griffin,  for  her  first  husband,  and  a  Newbold  for  her 
second ;  William,  born  1678,  who  married  Rebecca 
Berry  in  1703  (his  father's  lands  were  divided  be- 
tween him  and  his  brother  John)  ;  Mary,  born  1680, 
who  married  a  Hill ;  John,  born  1682,  who  married 
Abigail  Berry,  of  Boston  ;  Hannah,  born  1685,  who 
married  John  Estes,  of  Salem  ;  Ruth,  born  1689,  who 
married  Abraham  Allen,  of  Marblehead ;  Joseph, 
born  1692,  lost  at  sea;  Deliverance,  born  1695,  who, 
in  1719,  married  Samuel  Breed ;  Abigail,  who,  in 
1728,  married  Samuel  Alley. 

(3)  William  Bassett,  son  of  (2)  William,  had  chil- 
dren,— Rebecca,  born  1709  ;  Miriam,  born  1712,  who 
in  1732,  married  David  Northey,  of  Salem ;  Joseph, 
born  1715,  who  inherited  his  father's  lands  and  mar- 
jied  Eunice  Hacker ;  Elizabeth,  who,  in  1729,  mar- 
ried Benjamin  Hood. 

(4)  Joseph  Bassett,  son  of  (3)  William,  had  chil- 
dren,— William,  born  1738,  who  died  young;  Isaac, 
born  1741,  who,  in  1769,  married  Mary,  daughter  of 
Joshua  Collins,  was  a  farmer  and  shoemaker,  and  in- 
herited one-half  of  the  lands  of  his  father,  and  died 
in  1829;  Nehemiah,  born  in  1749,  who  married  Abi- 
gail Fern ;  Rebecca,  born  1754,  who  married  James 
Breed ;  Sarah,  born  1757,  who  married  Abraham 
Breed;  Eunice,  born  1759;  Hannah,  born  1763,  who 
married  William  Breed,  of  Nahant. 

(5)  Isaac  Bassett,  son  of  (4)  Joseph,  had  children, 
— Elizabeth  ;  William,  who  died  young  ;  Eunice  ; 
William  again,  who  also  died  young ;  Isaac,  who 
married  Ruth  Breed ;  Eunice  again,  who  married 
Ezra  Collins  ;  Hannah,  who  married  Samuel  Neal. 

(6)  Isaac  Bassett,  son  of  (5)  Isaac,  resided  on  Na- 
hant Street,  on  the  site  occupied  by  his  forefathers, 
and  was  long  held  in  repute  as  a  citizen  of  energy, 
enterprise  and  wealth.  He  died  May  24,  1867  ;  had 
children, — William,  born  March  4, 1803,  died  June  21, 
1871 ;  Jeremiah,  who  died  young ;  Elizabeth,  who 
died  young;  Elizabeth  again,  who  married  Samuel 
Boyce ;  Mary;  Jeremiah  again,  who  also  died 
young ;  Eunice,  who  married  W.  S.  Boyce ;  Lydia, 
who  married  James  B.  Kite,  of  Philadelphia;  Han- 


nah; Joseph,  who  died  young;  Anna   Green,   who 
died  April  17,  1863. 

(7)  William  Bassett,  son  of  (6)  Isaac,  died  June  21, 
1871,  aged  sixty-eight.  He  was  the  first  city  clerk  of 
Lynn,  and  a  man  much  respected  ;  was  prominent  in 
the  early  anti-slavery  movements,  and  a  co-worker 
with  those  leading  spirits,  William  Lloyd  Garrison 
and  Wendell  Phillips,  both  of  whom  were  present  at 
his  funeral.  His  children  were  Susanna  Smith, 
who  married  Cyrus  M.  Stimson  ;  Eliza;  Mary  Ann, 
who  married  Thomas  Herbert;  William  Herschell, 
who  died  young;  Joseph,  who  also  died  young; 
Sarah,  who  married  William  W.  Kellogg;  William, 
who  died  young  ;  William,  again,  born  September  30, 
1839  ;  Edmund  Quincy,  who  died  young. 

(8)  William  Basset,  son  of  (7)  William,  now  head 
of  the  banking  firm,  Ba-set,  Whitney  &  Co.,  of  Bos- 
ton, had  children, — William  ;  Ruth  ;  Edith,  who  died 
young. 

Note. — The  ancient  spelling  of  the  name  was  with  one  "  t ;"  but  in 
later  yeare  the  final  letter  was  doubled  ;  recently,  however,  a  desire  has 
been  manifested  to  return  to  the  old  orthography. 

Tarbox  Family. — John  Tarbox.  the  first  settler 
of  the  name  here,  came  as  early  as  1640.  He  was  a 
farmer,  and  among  his  landed  possessions  had  seven 
acres  of  upland  on  Water  Hill,  where  he  appears  to 
have  lived,  having  an  orchard  near  his  house.  And 
upon  the  premises,  before  the  coming  of  the  whites, 
there  was  probably  an  Indian  settlement  or  encamp- 
ment, as  about  there  were  found  numerous  arrow- 
heads and  other  relics.  He  was  evidently  a  re- 
spected settler,  active  and  thrifty.  Though  farming 
was  his  principal  occupation,  he  turned  his  attention 
to  other  pursuits,  and  was  a  small  proprietor  in  the 
iron  works.  He  died  May  26,  1674.  His  will  is 
dated  November  25,  1673,  and  to  his  son  John  says, 
— "  I  bequeath  my  house  and  housing,  with  orchard 
and  all  my  land  and  meddow,  with  a  greene  rugg  and 
a  great  iron  kettell,  and  a  round  joyned  table."  He 
also  says, — "  I  bequeath  unto  every  one  of  my  sonn, 
John  Tarbox,  his  children,  and  my  son  Samuel's 
children,  one  ewe  sheep  apeece.''  The  wife  of  his  son 
John  w^as  a  daughter  of  Richard  Haven,  who  lived 
on  Boston  Street,  corner  of  North  Federal,  the  site 
on  which  George  O.  Tarbox  recently  erected  a  dwell- 
ing-house and  store.  Mr.  Haven  was  ancestor  of 
the  two  Methodist  Bishops,  Gilbert  and  Erastus  Otis, 
and  George  0.  Tarbox,  just  named,  was  a  lineal  de- 
scendant from  the  early  settler,  John. 

With  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Tarbox  the  course  of  true 
love  does  not  seem  to  have  run  with  uninterrupted 
smoothness,  for  it  is  found  that  on  the  11th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1649,  Matthew  Stanley  was  tried  for  winning 
her  affections  without  the  consent  of  her  parents, 
convicted  and  fined  £5,  with  2s.  Qd.  fees,  together  with 
an  allowance  of  Qs.  to  the  parents  of  the  young  lady 
for  their  three  days'  attendance. 

The  son,  Samuel,  married  Rebecca,  a  daughter  of 
Joseph    Armitage,    landlord   of  the   famous   Anchor 


LYNN. 


311 


Tavern.  He  had  eighteen  children,  and  died  Sep- 
tember 12,  1715,  aged  ninety-three  years.  He  was 
one  of  the  fifteen  Lynn  men  impressed  by  order  of 
court,  November  13,  1674,  for  service  in  the  King 
Philip  War.  A  detachment  had  previously  been  sent 
on  the  same  service.  In  1685  he  joined  in  "  the  hum- 
ble petition  of  several  inhabitants  of  Lynn,  who 
were  sold,  impressed  and  sent  forth  for  the  service 
of  the  country,  that  was  with  the  Indians  in  the  long 
march  in  the  Nipmugg  country,  and  the  fight  at  the 
fort  Narragansett, "  which  petition  was  signed  by 
twenty-five  inhabitants  of  the  town. 

It  can  hardly  be  said  that  the  Tarbox  family  be- 
came very  conspicuous  beyond  our  own  borders, 
though  of  late  years  some  shining  lights  of  the  name, 
and  presumably  of  the  lineage,  have  here  and  there 
appeared.  Nor  has  the  family  with  us  been  con- 
spicuous for  numbers,  notwithstanding  the  good  ex- 
ample set  by  Samuel,  who,  as  just  stated,  was  the 
happy  father  of  eighteen  children.  Still,  there  always 
have  been  and  yet  are  a  fair  number  with  us.  The 
name  of  Mr.  George  0.  Tarbox,  before  mentioned,  has 
been  favorably  greeted  throughout  the  land  for  his 
late  effective  manifesto  touching  the  "boycott" 
ordered  upon  him  by  the  Knights  of  Labor. 

But  this  class  of  personal  notices  cannot  be  ex- 
tended here.  And  the  reader  may,  if  he  please,  con- 
sider the  foregoing  merely  as  examples  that  might  be 
greatly  multiplied. 

And  now,  with  notices  of  a  few  eccentric,  or  rather, 
perhaps,  we  should  say,  abnormal,  characters,  of 
which  class  Lynn  has  always  had  an  abundant  assort- 
ment, this  division  of  our  sketch  will  close.  Some  of 
those  referred  to  have  made  an  enduring  mark  and 
done  much  to  spread  abroad  the  name  of  the  place, 
but  to  what  advantage  or  disadvantage  there  will  be 
different  estimates.  There  is,  however,  a  sort  of 
worldly  benefit  in  being  talked  about,  even  if  what  is 
said  is  not  quite  so  favorable.  The  term  "  eccentric  " 
is  not  intended  to  be  applied  in  an  offensive  sense, 
and  it  is  feared  that  some  reader  may  not  see  the 
strict  applicability  of  its  use  in  every  instance.  In 
the  first  notice,  especially,  it  may  be  deemed  hardly 
appropriate,  as  matrimonial  misunderstandings  are 
in  these  days  so  common  as  to  seem  "  natural  "  rather 
than  "  eccentric."  The  notices  are  not  given  merely 
to  amu.-ie,  but  for  use  by  way  of  example  or  warning, 
as  the  case  may  be. 

MoNTOWAMPATE,  alias  Sagamore  James.— It  is 
fitting  to  begin  with  a  sketch  of  the  Indian  Sagamore 
James,  who  ruled  over  a  considerable  part  of  the  sea- 
board line  of  Essex  County  at  the  time  of  the  arrival 
of  the  whites,  though  he  was  then  quite  a  young  man, 
having  been  born  in  1609.  His  Indian  name  was 
Montowarapate,  but  the  settlers  called  him  Sagamore 
James.  He  was  a  son  of  Nanapashemet,  whose  juris- 
diction extended  over  a  large  part  of  the  territory  be- 
tween the  Charles  and  Piscataqua  Rivers.  On  the 
death  of  Nanapashemet  his  '•  kingdom"  was  divided, 


the  portion  including  Lynn  falling  to  Montowampate, 
his  second  i>on. 

The  young  Sagamore  fixed  his  residence  on  the 
delightful  elevation  still  known  as  Sagamore  Hill, 
lying  between  Beach  and  Nahant  Streets,  and  over- 
looking the  beach,  Nahant  and  a  considerable  portion 
of  the  bay.  It  i-*  now  (1887)  a  thickly-settled  part  of 
the  city,  though  still  retaining  some  of  its  picturesque 
features.  Its  proximity  to  the  sea  was,  perhaps,  the 
chief  reason  why  this  place  was  chosen  for  the  "  royal 
residence,"  though  the  lovely  natural  surroundings 
may  have  added  their  attractions.  Not  much  is  known 
of  Montowampate,  nor  indeed  individually  of  any  of 
the  Indians  found  hereabout,  though  from  the  narra- 
tives of  the  old  writers  glimpses  of  character  some- 
times occur.  Dudley  says  Montowampate  was  "  of  a 
far  worse  disposition  "  than  his  brother  Wonohaqua- 
ham,  or  Sagamore  John,  as  the  English  called  him, 
who,  he  says,  was  "  a  handsome  young  man"  .  .  . 
"  affecting  Engli-h  apparel  and  houses  and  speaking 
well  of  our  God." 

The  Lynn  Sagamore  seems  to  have  had  a  high  ap- 
preciation of  his  own  dignity,  and  not  a  very  lively 
sen-e  of  the  courtesies  due  to  the  gentler  sex.  This 
is  shown  by  a  matrimonial  imbroglio,  which  Thomaa 
Morton  thus  recounts  in  his  book  entitled  "  The  New 
English  Canaan,"  published  in  1632: 

"The  Sachem  or  Sagamoro  of  Sagiis,  made  choice,  when  he  came  to 
man's  estate,  of  a  lady  of  noble  descent,  daughter  of  Papasiquineo, 
the  Sachem  or  Sagamore  of  the  territories  near  Merrimack  river;  a  man 
of  the  best  note  iu  all  those  parts,  and,  as  my  countryman,  Mr.  Wood, 
declares,  in  his  '  Prospect,'  a  great  nigromancer.  This  lady  the  young 
BiK^hem,  with  the  consent  and  good  liking  of  her  father,  marries,  and 
takes  for  his  wife.  Great  entertainment  hee  and  his  received  in  those 
parts  at  her  father's  hands,  wheare  they  were  feasted  in  the  best  manner 
that  might  be  expected,  according  to  the  custoine  of  their  nation,  with 
reveling,  and  such  other  solemnities  as  is  usual  amongst  them.  The 
golomnity  being  ended,  Papasiquineo  caused  a  selected  number  of  his 
men  to  waite  on  his  daughter  home  into  those  parts  that  did  properly 
belong  to  her  lord  and  husband,  where  the  attendants  had  entertain- 
ment by  the  sachem  of  Sagus  and  his  countrymen.  The  solemnity  be- 
ing ended,  the  attendants  were  gratified. 

"  Not  long  after,  the  new  married  lady  had  a  great  desire  to  see  her 
father  and  her  native  country,  from  whence  she  came.  Her  lord  was 
willing  to  pleasure  her,  and  not  deny  her  request,  amongst  them 
thought  to  be  resisonable,  commanded  a  select  number  of  his  own  men 
to  conduct  his  lady  to  her  father  ,  where  with  great  respect  they  brought 
her;  and  having  feasted  there  a  while,  returned  to  their  own  country 
againe,  leaving  the  lady  to  continue  there  at  herowne  pleasure  amongst 
her  friends  and  old  acquaintances,  where  she  passed  away  the  time  for 
a  while,  and  in  the  end  desired  to  returue  to  her  lord  againe.  Her 
father,  the  old  Papasiquineo,  having  notice  of  her  intent,  sent  some  of 
his  men  on  ambassage  to  the  young  sachem,  his  sonne-in-law,  to  let  him 
understand  that  his  daughter  was  not  willing  to  absent  herself  from  his 
company  any  longer  ;  and  therefore,  as  the  messengers  had  in  charge, 
desired  the  young  lord  to  send  a  convoy  for  her  ;  but  he,  standing  upon 
tearmes  of  honor,  and  the  maintaining  of  his  reputation,  returned  to 
his  father-in-law  this  answer :  '  That  when  she  departed  from  him,  hee 
caused  his  men  to  waite  upon  her  to  her  father's  territories  as  it  did  be- 
come him  ;  but  now  she  had  an  intent  to  returne,  it  did  become  her 
father  to  send  her  back  with  a  convoy  of  his  own  people  ;  and  that  it 
stood  not  witli  his  reputation  to  make  himself  or  his  men  so  servile  as  to 
fetch  heragaine.' 

"The  old  sachem  Papasiquineo,  having  this  message  returned,  was 
inraged  to  think  that  his  young  son-in-law  did  not  esteem  him  at  a 
higher  rate  than  to  capitulate  with  him  about  the  matter,  and  returned 
him  this  sharp  reply:  'That  his  daughter's  blood  and  birth  deserved 


312 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


more  respect  than  to  be  slighted,  and  therefore,  if  he  would  have  her 
company,  he  were  best  to  send  or  come  for  her.' 

"  The  young  sachem,  not  willing  to  undervalue  himself,  and  being  a 
man  of  a  stout  spirit,  did  not  stick  to  say,  '  That  he  should  either  send 
her  by  his  own  convoy  or  keepe  her ;  for  he  was  determined  not  to 
Btoope  so  lowe.' 

"  So  much  these  two  sachems  stood  upon  tearmes  of  reputation  with 
each  other,  the  one  would  not  send  for  her,  lest  it  should  be  any  dimin- 
ishing of  honor  on  his  part  that  should  seeme  to  comply,  that  the  lady, 
when  I  came  out  of  the  country,  remained  still  with  her  father  ;  which 
is  a  thing  worth  the  noting,  that  salvage  people  should  seek  to  maintain 
their  reputation  so  much  as  they  doe." 

She  was,  however,  finally  restored  to  his  arms,  but 
how  the  reconciliation  was  effected  does  not  appear. 
She  soon  after  became  a  widow,  as  the  death  of 
Montowampate  took  place  in  1633.  Her  marital  life 
certainly  had  its  troubles,  for  besides  what  has  been 
spoken  of,  she  was  taken  captive  by  the  Tarratines 
and  held  a  prisoner  for  two  months.  After  the  death 
of  her  husband  she  returned  to  her  father. 

The  resolute  Montowampate  is  said  to  have  visited 
England  in  1631,  with  a  letter  of  introduction  from 
Governor  Wiuthrop  to  Emanuel  Downing,  the  emi- 
nent London  lawyer,  and  while  there  to  have  received 
the  honors  of  an  Indian  king.  His  errand  was  to 
procure  redress  for  a  fraud  committed  by  an  English- 
man named  Watts  in  a  beaver-skin  transaction. 

On  the  4th  of  September,  1632,  the  court  ordered 
that  "  Richard  Hopkins  shalbe  severely  whipt  & 
branded  with  a  hott  iron  on  one  of  his  cheekes  for 
selling  peeces  &  powder  &  shott  to  the  Indians. 
Hereupon  it  was  propounded  if  this  offence  should  not 
be  punished  hereafter  by  death.''  One  of  the  pur- 
chasers of  the  proscribed  articles,  it  appears  by  Mr. 
Lewis,  was  the  mettlesome  Montowampate. 

But  this  youthful  Sagamore  of  Lynn  soon  ended 
his  career.  Winthrop,  in  his  journal  under  date  De- 
cember 5,  1633,  says, — "  John  Sagamore  [elder 
brother  of  Montowampate]  died  of  the  small  pox,  and 
almost  all  of  his  people."  .  .  .  "  James  Sagamore 
[Montowompate],  of  Sagus,  died  also  and  most  of  h's 
folks." 

Mary  Pitcher. — The  stranger  on  arriving  in 
Lynn,  and  leaving  the  railroad  train  at  the  Central 
Square  Station,  may  observe  towering  up,  a  furlong 
or  so  off,  in  a  northeasterly  direction,  a  huge  porphyry 
cliff,  which  he  may  be  told  is  "  High  Rock."  It  is 
not  now,  however,  so  readily  discerned  from  the 
Square  as  it  was  a  few  years  since,  for  large  business 
buildings,  recently  erected,  intervene.  Seventy-five 
years  ago  there  was  but  little  population  in  tbe 
vicinity,  and  the  whole  of  "  Rocks  Pasture,"  near  the 
southern  border  of  which  rises  High  Rock,  was  lonely 
and  wild  enough,  with  its  rocky  outcroppings  and 
stunted  growth  of  red  cedar.  The  highway,  indeed, 
wound  along  the  southerly  bound,  but  it  was  rough 
and  little  traveled.  In  pleasant  weather,  however, 
charming  views  could  be  obtained  of  diversified  land- 
scape and  the  ever-changing  sea. 

Upon  the  southern  declivity,  and  fronting  towards 
the  sea,  was  a  plain  little  cottage,  seated  a  short  dis- 


tance in  from  the  road,  with  a  small,  unkempt  garden 
in  front,  and  broken  rocks,  thistles  and  nettles  in  the 
rear.  And  that  lonely  cottage  was  the  home  of 
"  Moll  Pitcher,"  the  celebrated  fortune-teller  of 
Lynn,  for  many  years.  It  was  here  that  she  enter- 
tained the  numerous  visitors  of  all  classes  and  from 
all  places,  who  anxiously  sought  her  aid  to  unveil  the 
mysteries  of  the  life  before  them,  never  doubting 
that— 

"She  could  tell  by  tea-ground  mark. 
Fortune  bright  or  fortune  dark  ; 
And  could  give,  0  wondrous  dame. 
Loving  swain's  or  maiden's  name, 
Showing  by  her  mystic  art 
Whether  true  or  false  of  heart  ; 
And,  by  turning  cards,  could  show 
Life's  whole  span,  its  weal  or  wo." 

This  remarkable  woman  was  born  in  1738,  of  rep- 
utable parents,  in  Marblehead.  Her  father  was  a 
master  mariner,  and  connected  with  some  of  the  best 
families  in  Essex  County.  And  her  own  reputation 
seems  to  have  remained  unsullied,  unless  her  occult 
pretensions  are  to  be  taken  as  a  stain.  Her  maiden- 
name  was  Mary  Diamond,  and  Mr.  Lewis  says  of 
her, — 

"She  was  of  the  mediumheight  and  size  fora  woman,  with  a  good  form 
and  agreeable  manners.  Her  head,  phrenologically  considered,  was 
somewhat  capacious,  her  forehead  broad  and  full,  her  hair  dark  brown, 
her  nose  inclining  to  long,  and  her  face  pale  and  thin.  There  was 
nothing  gross  or  sensual  in  her  appearance ;  her  countenance  was 
rather  intellectual ;  and  she  had  that  contour  of  face  and  e.xpression 
which,  without  being  positively  beautiful,  is,  nevertheless,  decidedly  in- 
teresting; a  thoughtful,  pensive  and  sometimes  downcast  look,  almost 
approaching  to  melancholy  ;  an  eye,  when  it  looked  at  you,  of  calm  and 
keen  penetration  ;  and  an  expression  of  intelligent  discernment,  half 
mingled  with  a  glance  of  shrewdness.  She  took  a  poor  man  for  a  hus- 
band, and  then  adopted,  what  she  doubtless  thought,  the  harmless  em 
ployment  of  fortune-telling,  in  order  to  support  her  children.  In  this 
she  was  probably  more  successful  than  she  herself  had  anticipated  ;  and 
she  became  celebrated,  not  only  throughout  America,  but  throughout 
the  world,  for  her  skill.  There  was  no  port  on  either  continent, 
where  floated  the  flag  of  an  American  ship,  that  had  not  heard  the 
fame  of  Moll  Pitcher.  .  .  .  Many  persons  came  from  places  far  remote 
to  consult  her  on  affairs  of  love  or  loss  of  property,  or  to  obtain  her  sur- 
mises respecting  the  vicissitudes  of  their  future  fortune.  Every  youth 
who  was  not  assured  of  the  reciprocal  affection  of  his  fair  one,  and  every 
maid  who  was  desirous  of  anticipating  the  hour  of  her  highest  felicity, 
repaired  at  evening  to  her  humble  dwelling.  .  .  .  That  she  made  no 
pretension  to  anything  supernatural  is  evident  from  her  own  admission, 
when  some  one  offered  her  a  large  sum  if  she  would  tell  him  what  ticket 
in  the  lottery  would  draw  the  highest  prize.  '  Do  you  thinb,'  said  she, 
'  if  I  knew,  I  would  not  buy  it  myself? '  Several  of  the  best  authenti- 
cated anecdotes  which  are  related  of  her  seem  to  imply  that  she  pos- 
sessed, in  some  degree,  the  faculty  which  is  now  termed  clairvoyance. 
Indeed,  there  seems  to  be  no  other  conclusion,  unless  we  suppose  that 
persons  of  general  veracity  have  told  us  absolute  falsehoods.  The  pos- 
session of  this  faculty,  with  her  keen  perception  and  shrewd  judgment, 
in  connection  with  the  ordinary  art  which  she  admitted  to  have  used,  to 
detect  the  character  and  business  of  her  visitors,  will  perhaps  account 
for  all  that  is  extraordinary  in  her  intelligence.  In  so  many  thousand 
instances  also,  of  the  exercise  of  her  faculty,  there  is  certainly  no  need 
of  calling  in  supernatural  aid  to  account  for  her  sometimes  judging 
right ;  and  these  favorable  instances  were  certain  to  be  related  to  her 
advantage,  and  insured  her  abundance  of  credibility." 

It  is  stated  that  the  celebrated  "Lord  Timothy 
Dexter,"  of  Newburyport,  was  accustomed  to  visit 
her,  and  place  implicit  confidence  in  her  utterances. 
But  whether  his  strange  commercial  speculations, 
which  appear  to  have  been  uniformly  successful,  were 


LYNN. 


313 


attributable  to  her  promptings,  cannot  be  known. 
She  was  married  on  the  2d  of  October,  1760,  to  Robert 
Pitcher,  a  shoemaker,  and  became  the  mother  of  one  son 
and  three  daughters.  And  there,  in  the  lonely  home, 
already  described,  she  died  on  the  9th  of  April,  1813, 
aged  seventy-five  years.  Her  remains  were  interred 
in  the  old  burying-ground,  near  the  western  end  of 
the  common.  The  memory  of  such  a  person  is  not 
likely  to  be  much  honored  by  those  of  her  own  gen- 
eration, and  her  resting-place  has  remained  unheeded 
and  almost  unknown  till  the  present  time  (1887) — 
nearly  three-quarters  of  a  century — when  two  worthy 
citizens — Isaac  0.  Guild  and  John  T.  Moulton — have 
erected  a  neat  head-stone  to  mark  the  spot,  which 
was  some  years  since  pointed  out  by  an  aged  man  who 
was  present  at  the  burial.  And  to  that  spot,  in  future 
years,  many  a  sentimental  maiden  and  swaiu  will 
doubtless  repair — a  class  who  always  had  her  warm- 
est sympathies. 

Mrs.  Pitcher  was  connected  Avith  the  Silsbee  family 
of  Lynn  in  this  way:  Lydia,  a  great-granddaughter  of 
Henry  Silsbee,  the  first  of  the  name  in  Lynn,  in  1735, 
married  Aholiab  Diamond,  a  son  of  Captain  John 
Diamond,  of  Marblehead,  and  had  two  sons,  Samuel 
and  Richard,  and  one  daughter,  Mary,  This  daughter 
Mary  was  married,  October  2,  1760,  to  Robert  Pitcher, 
of  Lynn,  as  before  stated,  thus  becoming  "Moll  Pit- 
cher." Descendants  of  hers  still  remain  among  us. 
Henry  Silsbee,  the  old  settler  just  named,  probably 
located  on  Fayette  Street  not  far  from  the  corner  of 
Essex,  in  which  vicinity  he  owned  considerable  land. 
He  was  designated  as  a  "  shoemaker,"  though  pro- 
bably quite  as  much  of  a  farmer.  The  family  has 
always  been  respectable,  but  not  numerous,  and  several 
eminent  individuals  have  appeared  in  the  line,  Hon. 
Nathaniel  Silsbee,  United  States  Senator,  among 
them.     Silsbee  Street  perpetuates  the  name. 

George  Gray. — Near  the  close  of  the  last  century 
there  suddenly  appeared  in  Lynn  a  man  seemingly 
of  an  age  somewhere  between  thirty  and  forty  years. 
He  was  physically  well-conditioned,  but  in  disposi- 
tion unaccountably  reserved.  It  was  soon  known  that 
he  had  come  to  make  this  his  permanent  home,  for 
he  made  himself  possessor  of  a  limited  tract  of  wild 
land  in  a  lonely  and  dismal  neighborhood,  and  there 
erected  a  rude  habitation  which,  for  forty  years,  con- 
tinued to  be  his  hermitage,  for  there  he  lived  "soli- 
tary and  alone"  during  that  long  period. 

This  man  was  George  Gray,  the  Lynn  hermit.  And 
the  hermitage  was  on  Boston  Street,  nearly  opposite 
the  entrance  to  Pine  Grove  Cemetery.  He  was  by 
birth  a  Scotchman,  and  died  on  the  28th  of  Febru- 
ary, 1848,  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight  years.  Till  pop- 
ulation began  to  increase  around  him,  which  it  did, 
much  to  his  annoyance,  his  home  was  secluded 
enough  for  the  most  determined  misanthrope.  A  high, 
woody  hill  rose  in  the  rear ;  a  tangled  swamp  on  either 
hand,  with  a  weedy  brook  winding  through  ;  Avhilein 
front,  beyond  a  little  area  of  brambles  and  rank  vege- 
20J 


tation,  wound  the  street  just  named.  He  persistently, 
and  often  with  a  good  deal  of  asperity,  refused  to 
communicate  to  the  many  curious  inquirers  any 
knowledge  of  his  personal  history  or  the  causes  which 
induced  the  adoption  of  his  comfortless  and  unnatural 
mode  of  life.  And  that  very  secrecy  gave  rise  to 
numberless  romantic  surmises.  Some  believed  that 
an  unfortunate  affair  of  the  heart  estranged  him  from 
social  intercourse ;  others  hinted  that  some  great 
crime  rendered  his  flight  and  concealment  necessary. 
But  he  had  the  shrewdness  to  avoid  entangling  him- 
self by  contradicting  or  admitting  the  truth  of  any 
report. 

One  of  the  latest  circumstantial  surmises  related 
to  his  connection  with  the  fate  of  the  French 
Dauphin,  Charles  Louis,  son  of  Louis  XVI.  and 
Marie  Antoinette.  It  gained  currency  by  an  article 
in  Putnam's  Magazine,  a  monthly  periodical  of  high 
standing ;  the  theory  being  that  the  Dauphin  was 
taken  from  the  custody  of  Simon,  the  inhuman  ruf- 
fian in  whose  keeping  he  had  been  placed,  brought  to 
the  wilds  of  America  and  given  in  charge  of  a  woman 
of  the  St.  Regis  tribe,  who  reared  him  with  affection, 
though  never  claiming  that  he  was  her  own  child,  and 
probably  never  dreaming  that  he  was  not  some  poor, 
friendless  waif.  It  was  further  suggested  that  Rev. 
Eleazer  Williams,  a  missionary  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  laboring  with  the  St.  Regis  Indians,  was  the 
identical  Dauphin.  Then  gained  currency  the  belief 
that  Mr.  Gray  was  one  of  those  who  brought  the  Dau- 
phin to  America,  it  being  declared  that  he  was  cer- 
tainly in  France,  a  red  republican,  at  that  period.  It 
is  not  certain,  exactly,  what  threads  were  supposed  to 
be  found  connecting  Gray  with  the  transaction,  unless 
it  was  that  Mr.  Williams — who  no  doubt  really  be- 
lieved himself  to  be  the  Dauphin — came  to  Lynn, 
and,  finding  that  Gray  was  dead,  became  very  anx- 
ious to  procure  a  specimen  of  his  hand-writing,  for 
which  purpose  he  called  on  the  writer.  But  these 
surmises  and  rumors  need  not  longer  occupy  our  at- 
tention. 

At  times  the  hermit  was  by  no  means  averse  to  dis- 
cussing affairs  with  his  neighbors,  though  very  seldom 
could  one  receive  a  welcome  to  his  premises,  and  never 
would  an  invitation  to  enter  his  dwelling  be  extended. 
His  calls  were  generally  made  at  night.  The  writer 
was  occasionally  favored  with  one,  and  usually  found 
him  so  forgetful  of  the  passing  time  that  it  was  neces- 
sary to  remind  him  of  the  lateness  of  the  hour  by  a 
hint  like  that  of  extinguishing  the  lights,  nothing 
short  of  some  such  rudeness  being  effectual.  He  was 
a  reflecting  man,  and  of  considerable  literary  and 
scientific  attainment;  but  the  current  story  of  his 
carrying  a  Hebrew  Bible  about  in  his  pocket  was,  no 
doubt,  a  fiction.  He  took  great  pleasure  in  attending 
lectures,  and  in  studying  works  on  the  abstruse 
sciences.  But  his  fondness  for  the  mechanic  arts  was, 
perhaps,  his  most  marked  trait ;  and  he  became  very 
skillful  in  some  branches  connected  with  machinery. 


314 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Strangers  would  sometimes  vex  him  with  untimely 
visits,  and  by  unpalatable  remarks  induce  sudden  ex- 
hibitions of  temper;  but  if  one  assumed  to  bean 
adept  in  any  branch  of  mechanics,  he  was  pretty  sure 
of  a  courteous  hearing.  He  claimed  several  useful  in- 
ventions, and  spent  considerable  money  in  establish- 
ing his  claims  against  those  who  infringed  his 
patents. 

In  religion  he  was  probably  a  materialist  most  of 
life.  Perhaps  a  dozen  years  before  his  death  he  re- 
marked that  it  was  "ridiculous  for  any  one  to  con- 
tend that  intelligence  was  not  the  result  of  physical  or- 
ganization." But  it  was  understood  that  he  subsequent- 
ly abandoned  his  old  views,  and  died  in  the  Calvinistic 
faith.  He  was  eccentric  in  his  habits,  and  had  little 
regard  for  personal  appearance,  oftentimes — especially 
during  the  last  few  years  of  his  life — appearing  in  a 
grim  and  filthy  condition.  He  was  remarkable,  even 
in  old  age,  for  power  of  physical  endurance.  Many 
a  time  has  he  walked  to  Boston,  on  a  winter  evening, 
attended  a  lecture,  and  walked  home  after  it  had 
closed,  making  a  distance,  in  all,  of  full  twenty  miles, 
most  likely  with  no  thicker  covering  to  his  head  than 
a  dilapidated  straw  hat,  and  upon  his  feet  coarse 
shoes  and  no  stockings.  He  suffered  much  from  dis- 
ease during  his  last  few  years.  And  there,  in  his 
forlorn  habitation,  without  the  sympathy  of  friends 
or  the  common  endearments  of  home,  in  solitude  and 
distress,  his  last  days  were  passed. 

Mr.  Gray,  at  the  time  of  his  decease,  possessed 
property  to  the  amount  of  about  four  thousand  dollars. 
He  died  intestate,  and  his  debts  were  not  large  ;  a  con- 
siderable portion,  therefore,  went  into  the  treasury  of 
the  commonwealth.  His  savings  do  not  appear,  how- 
ever, to  have  accumulated  from  a  miserly  disposition, 
but  rather  from  habits  of  industry  and  a  naturally 
frugal  turn,  for  the  administrator  remarked  that  from 
the  appearance  of  things  he  could  hardly  have  taken 
suificient  interest  in  his  pecuniary  affairs  to  have 
known  what  he  did  possess.  In  some  instances  the 
evidences  of  his  money  deposits  were  found  thrown 
among  waste  paper. 

The  death  of  the  hermit  was  noticed  in  the  news- 
papers throughout  the  country,  and  several  persons 
appeared,  claiming  to  be  heirs ;  but  they  failed  to 
substantiate  their  claims. 

HiEAM  Marble. — This  somewhat  singular  indi- 
vidual appeared  in  Lynn  in  1852,  being  then  of  the 
age  of  forty-seven.  He  brought  with  him  his  wife, 
a  son  of  the  age  of  twenty,  and  a  young  daughter. 
He  immediately  petitioned  the  city  to  sell  him  the 
famous  Dungeon  Rock,  a  greenstone  cliff  a  mile  or 
two  back  in  the  woods,  and  very  difficult  of  access, 
on  account  of  steep  and  tangled  ascents,  swamps  and 
quagmires.  He  succeeded  in  purchasing,  at  a  low 
price,  the  rock  and  about  five  acres  of  the  surround- 
ing woodland.  In  that  lonely  place  he  erected  a  rude 
habitation,  and  soon  set  to  work  building  a  road  down 
towards  the  town.     This  was  a  severe  piece  of  labor, 


for  gnarled  old  trees,  huge  boulders  and  ledge-crop- 
pings  were  to  be  removed.  But  he  persevered 
heroically  till  a  passable  way  was  obtained.  How  a 
man,  evidently  not  very  strong  or  in  vigorous  health, 
could  undertake  such  a  piece  of  work  was  astonish- 
ing. But  the  crowbar,  pick  and  shovel  were  courag- 
eously wielded,  and  resounding  blasts  awoke  the 
echoes  during  the  hot  days  of  summer,  he  feigning  to 
regard  it  as  light  labor,  saying  that  he  had  been 
seized  by  a  weakening  complaint,  and  found  himself 
unable  to  pursue  the  hard  work  he  had  commenced 
on  the  rock,  and  so  had  changed  to  the  light  work  of 
road-building. 

The  hard  work  commenced  on  the  rock  was  to  ex- 
cavate, in  search  of  treasure,  gold  and  jewels,  imagined 
to  have  been  deposited  somewhere  down  in  its  un- 
known depths.  He  had  come,  as  he  alleged,  by  spir- 
itual direction,  and  had  full  faith  in  the  assurance  of 
the  spirits,  that  they  would  watch  his  progress,  give 
directions  and  lead  him  to  final  success.  By  no 
means  deficient  in  intelligence,  he  yet  was  a  credulous 
enthusiast.  In  person  he  was  of  medium  height,  had 
a  bright,  quick  eye,  and  wore  a  flowing  beard  of 
sandy  hue,  which  did  not  always  bear  evidence  of 
having  recently  had  the  discipline  of  a  comb.  He 
was  communicative,  and  in  his  conversation  ran  a 
pleasant  vein  of  jocularity  ;  was  usually  ready  to  con- 
verse on  his  plans,  fears  and  hopes ;  and  with  great 
good  nature,  sometimes  with  an  apparently  keen 
relish,  alluded  to  the  jeers  and  taunts  of  those  who 
were  disposed  to  rank  him  as  a  lunatic.  The  writer 
had  occasional  conversations  with  him,  and  was 
sometimes  struck  by  the  freedom  with  which  he  dis- 
cussed the  pros  and  cons  of  spiritualism ;  neverthe- 
less, his  faith  and  perseverance  were  refreshing.  He 
asserted  that  he  had  been  a  confirmed  infidel,  a  be- 
liever in  nothing  beyond  the  visible  and  temporal, 
till  he  received  communications  that  could  have  come 
from  none  but  intelligent,  invisible  beings,  unre- 
strained by  any  physical  obstacle. 

For  about  fifteen  years  Mr.  Marble  continued  his 
herculean  labors  at  Dungeon  Eock,  in  bodily  weak- 
ness much  of  the  time,  but  buoyed  up  by  the  strong 
hope  and,  as  he  believed,  supernatural  assurance  that 
his  labor  would  not  be  in  vain.  But  it  was  in  vain, 
and  he  died  there,  worn  out  and  diseased,  on  the  10th 
of  November,  1868,  aged  sixty-five  years.  He  re- 
mained a  spiritualist  to  the  last,  and  the  mediums  of 
the  vicinity  were  invited  to  be  present  at  the  funeral 
services,  which  were  held  at  the  Rock  on  the  forenoon 
of  Wednesday,  November  11th.  He  was  a  native  of 
Charlton,  in  Worcester  County,  and  thither  his  re- 
mains were  taken  for  burial. 

Edwin  Marble,  who  at  the  time  of  his  father's 
death  had  attained  the  age  of  thirty-six  years,  and 
had  continued  to  participate  in  the  arduous  toil  of 
excavation,  now  succeeded  to  the  direction  of  the 
work,  subject,  of  course,  as  he  declared,  to  the  en- 
gineering of  the  spirits.     His  health,  however,  had 


LYNN. 


315 


already  become  undermined,  and  he  was  soon  obliged 
to  suspend  active  operations.  He  died  on  the  16th 
of  January,  1880,  aged  forty-eight,  and  was  buried 
near  the  foot  of  the  rock,  on  the  southwestern  slope, 
it  having  been  his  expressed  desire  to  be  interred 
near  the  scene  of  his  hopeful,  though  fruitless,  labors. 
A  considerable  number  of  friends,  perhaps  fifty,  most 
of  them  of  the  spiritualistic  faith,  were  present  at  the 
burial  service,  which  was  simple  and  affecting ;  and 
held  there,  in  the  deep  forest,  amid  the  winter 
scenery,  was  peculiarly  touching.  The  hymn  "  In 
the  Sweet  By  and  By  "  was  sung  at  the  close.  He 
was  a  man  of  good  character  and  good  disposition, 
and  a  firm  believer  in  spiritual  manifestations. 

Thus  died  these  two  worthy  men — father  and  son — 
their  deaths  no  doubt  hastened,  if  not  occasioned,  by 
their  operations  in  the  dark,  damp  cavern  their  own 
hands  had  formed  in  the  bowels  of  the  mysterious 
Dungeon  Rock,  that  unwholesome  work-place,  through 
the  ragged  seams  of  which  the  water  dripped,  and 
where  the  stifled  air  reverberated  with  sounds  that 
might  well  be  taken  for  supernatural  indications. 
Their  labors  were  in  vain.  No  treasure  was  reached; 
but  it  need  not  be  concluded  that  they  suffered  pangs 
of  disappointment,  for,  cheered  on  day  by  day,  as 
they  believed,  by  guiding  and  unerring  spirits,  they 
were  hopeful  to  the  last. 

After  this  brief  notice  of  the  Messrs.  Marble,  it 
would  seem  almost  necessary  to  add  something  re- 
garding the  supposed  dei)osit  of  treasure  which  had 
induced  them,  as  well  as  others  before  them,  to  waste 
labor,  strength  and  means  at  Dungeon  Eock.  The 
floating  and  incoherent  traditions  on  the  subject  were 
gathered  up  by  Mr.  Lewis  and  published  in  the  first 
edition  of  his  history.  And,  perhaps,  it  would  be 
most  satisfactory  to  give  his  account  in  its  original 
shape : 

"  This  year  (1658)  there  was  a  great  earthquake  in 
New  England,  connected  with  which  is  the  following 
story:  Some  time  previous,  on  a  pleasant  evening,  a 
little  after  sunset,  a  small  vessel  was  seen  to  anchor 
near  the  mouth  of  Saugus  River.  A  boat  was  pres- 
ently lowered  from  her  side,  into  which  four  men 
descended,  and  moved  up  the  river  a  considerable 
distance,  when  they  landed,  and  proceeded  directly 
into  the  woods.  They  had  been  noticed  by  only  a 
few  individuals  ;  but  in  those  early  times,  when  the 
people  were  surrounded  by  dangers,  and  susceptible 
of  alarm,  such  an  incident  was  well  calculated  to 
awaken  suspicion,  and  in  the  course  of  the  evening 
the  intelligence  was  conveyed  to  many  houses.  In 
the  morning,  the  people  naturally  directed  their  eyes 
towards  the  shore,  in  search  of  the  strange  vessel ; 
but  she  was  gone,  and  no  trace  could  be  found  either 
of  her  or  her  singular  crew.  It  was  afterward  ascer- 
tained that,  on  that  morning,  one  of  the  men  at  the 
Iron  Works,  on  going  into  the  foundry,  discovered  a 
paper,  on  which  was  written,  that  if  a  quantity  of 
shackles,  handcuffs,  hatchets  and   other  articles    of 


iron  manufacture  were  made  and  deposited,  with 
secrecy,  in  a  certain  place  in  the  woods,  which  was 
particularly  designated,  an  amount  of  silver,  to  their 
full  value,  would  be  found  in  their  place.  The  arti- 
cles were  made  in  a  few  days,  and  placed  in  conform- 
ity with  the  directions.  On  the  next  morning  they 
were  gone,  and  the  money  was  found  according  to 
the  promise  ;  but  though  a  watch  had  been  kept,  no 
vessel  was  seen.  Some  mouths  afterwards  the 
four  men  returned,  and  selected  one  of  the  most  se- 
cluded and  romantic  spots  in  the  woods  of  Saugus 
for  their  abode.  The  place  of  their  retreat  was  a  deep, 
narrow  valley,  shut  in  on  two  sides  by  high  hills  and 
craggy,  precipitous  rocks,  and  shrouded  on  the  others 
by  thick  pines,  hemlocks  and  cedars,  between  which 
there  was  only  one  small  spot  to  which  the  rays  of 
the  sun,  at  noon,  could  penetrate.  On  climbing  up 
the  rude  and  almost  perpendicular  steps  of  the  rock 
on  the  eastern  side,  the  eye  could  command  a  full 
view  of  the  bay  on  the  south,  and  a  prospect  of  a 
considerable  portion  of  the  surrounding  country.  The 
place  of  their  retreat  has  ever  since  been  called  the 
Pirates'  Glen,  and  they  could  not  have  selected  a 
spot  on  the  coast,  for  many  miles,  more  favorable  for 
the  purposes  both  of  concealment  and  observation. 
Even  at  this  day,  when  the  neighborhood  has  become 
thickly  peopled,  it  is  still  a  lonely  and  desolate  place, 
and  probably  not  one  in  a  hundred  of  the  inhabitants 
has  ever  descended  into  its  silent  and  gloomy  recess. 
There  the  pirates  built  a  small  hut,  made  a  garden, 
and  dug  a  well,  the  appearance  of  which  is  still  visi- 
ble. It  has  been  supposed  that  they  buried  money  ; 
but  though  people  have  dug  there,  and  in  several 
other  places,  none  has  ever  been  found.  After  resid- 
ing there  some  time,  their  retreat  became  known,  and 
one  of  the  king's  cruisers  appeared  on  the  coast. 
They  were  traced  to  the  glen,  and  three  of  them  were 
taken  and  carried  to  England,  where  it  is  probable 
they  were  executed.  The  other,  whose  name  was 
Thomas  Veal,  escaped  to  a  rock  in  the  woods,  about 
two  miles  to  the  north,  in  which  was  a  spacious 
cavern,  where  the  pirates  had  previously  deposited 
some  of  their  plunder.  There  the  fugitive  fixed  his 
residence,  and  practiced  the  trade  of  a  shoemaker, 
occasionally  coming  down  to  the  village  to  obtain 
articles  of  sustenance.  He  continued  his  residence 
till  the  great  earthquake  this  year,  when  the  top  of 
the  rock  was  loosened,  and  crushed  down  into  the 
mouth  of  the  cavern,  inclosing  the  unfortunate  in- 
mate in  its  unyielding  prison.  It  has  ever  since 
been  called  the  Pirate's  Dungeon." 

Now,  it  was  this  Thomas  Veal,  who  is  alleged  to  have 
escaped  from  the  Glen  and  concealed  himself  in  the 
Dungeon  Rock,  or  Pirate's  Dungeon,  as  Mr.  Lewis 
chooses  to  call  it,  who,  together  with  a  piratical  com- 
panion, spiritually  appeared  to  the  Marbles,  time 
after  time,  usually  in  jolly  mood,  and  assured  them  of 
the  rich  spoils  of  gold  and  jewels  still  in  their  keep- 
ing,   and    seemed   very    willing   to   surrender   them 


316 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


whenever  they  could  be  reached  by  drills  and  gun- 
powder. And  Veal,  moreover,  added  some  touching 
revelations  concerning  a  Spanish  princess  and  an- 
other bright  maiden  who  had  been  held  captive  there, 
and  were,  with  their  grim  warder,  shut  in  forever  by 
the  awful  earthquake.  Is  it,  then,  to  be  wondered  at 
that  the  Marbles,  firmly  believing  all  this,  and  much 
more,  should  have  pursued  their  exhausting  labors 
with  high  hopes  ?  It  is  not  necessary  to  go  into  a 
disquisition  as  to  the  authenticity  of  the  traditions 
here  recounted,  or  an  examination  of  the  supposed 
spiritual  revelations.  The  intelligent  reader  will  per- 
ceive the  utter  absurdity  of  some  and  the  improb- 
ability of  others.  But  yet  it  can  hardly  be  said  that 
there  is  no  foundation  in  truth ;  and  none  of  us  would 
willingly  have  one  of  our  long-cherished  legends 
entirely  fade  away. 

There  is  scarcely  a  place  on  the  whole  New  Eng- 
land coast  that  has  not  traditions  about  buried  treas- 
ures of  gold  and  silver,  and  where  unsuccessful  at- 
tempts have  not  from  time  to  time  been  made  for 
their  recovery. 

It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  the  old  buccaneers,  who 
were  desperadoes  from  every  nation  and  kindred,  did 
for  years,  about  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
pursue  their  nefarious  trade  of  indiscriminate  piracy. 
And,  much  to  their  discredit,  the  colonists  were  some- 
times charged  with  connivance  at  the  traffic.  Those 
sanguinary  sea-rovers  were  accustomed  to  rendezvous 
in  the  West  Indies,  and  thence  fall  upon  the  richly- 
laden  Spanish  galleons  as  they  pursued  their  way 
homeward  with  the  wealth  of  the  mines  of  Mexico 
and  Peru.  But  their  depredations  were  not  confined 
to  these  ;  every  other  craft  of  value  that  they  met  fell 
a  prey,  excepting  in  the  few  cases  of  successful  re- 
sistance. Then  there  were  the  noted  pirates,  Kidd 
and  Bellamy,  who  were  known  to  be  more  or  less  on 
the  coast.  And  if  all  the  accounts  of  the  treasures 
they  buried  are  true,  they  must  have  secreted  enough 
to  load  half  the  British  navy. 

Whether  theie  was  any  connection  between  the 
earlier  sea-robbers  and  those  who  made  famous  the 
Glen  and  Pirate's  Dungeon  at  Lynn,  may  not  now  be 
known,  but  damaging  fancies  will  arise  in  suspicious 
minds. 

The  following  lines  from  a  weird  old  chant,  recit- 
ing the  ceremony  at  the  burial  of  money  by  pirates, 
are  very  striking: 

I  saw  them  bury  their  golden  store  at  the  root  of  the  pirate  tree  ; 

Bold  Blackbeard  cried,    "Who  'U  guard  this  wealth?"  and  0,  'twas 

merry  to  see 
How  even  the  wretch  who  fears  not  hell,  turns  pale  at  the  thought  of 

death  I 
But  one  bold  knave  stood  boldly  out,  and  offered  himself  for  scath — 
"  I'll  watch  it,"  quoth  he,  "  for  these  forty  years  I've  wandered  o'er  land 

and  sea, 
And  I'm  tired  of  doing  the  devil's  work — so  bury  me  under  the  tree  ; 
And  better  I'll  rest  as  I  guard  this  wealth,  than  you,  in  the  realms 

below. 
Where  the  soul  cannot  burst  amid  endless  groans — where  the  pirate's 

soul  must  go," 


So  they  shot  him  dead  with  a  charmed  ball,  and  they  laid  a  broad  flat 

stone 
Deep  in  the  earth  above  the  gold,  and  they  stood  the  corpse  thereon. 
Now  wo  betide  the  daring  fool  who  seeketh  that  gold  to  win. 
Let  mortals  beware  of  the  noble  wretch  who  standeth  that  grave  within. 

There  is  enough  of  this  old  piratical  literature  to 
form  the  basis  of  a  countless  number  of  dime  novels, 
and  Lynn  would  naturally  be  expected  to  have  her 
share. 

Lynn  Writers. — It  was  a  favorite  idea  of  the 
author  of  this  sketch  to  prepare  extended  notices  of 
different  Lynn  writers,  living  and  dead,  who  have 
from  time  to  time,  by  their  works,  contributed  to  the 
edification  or  entertainment  of  their  fellow-mortals? 
giving  specimens  of  the  productions.  Among  the 
multitude  of  writers  who  have  lived  and  still  live 
here,  a  score  at  least  are  deserving  of  most  honorable 
mention;  some  having  reveled  in  the  delightsome 
fields  of  poetry,  some  in  the  more  sombre  walks  of 
history,  some  in  the  elevating  regions  of  science  and 
some  in  the  dreamy  walks  of  romance.  Such  a  task 
would  be  a  delicate  one,  and  in  several  respects  diffi- 
cult ;  for,  to  say  nothing  of  incompetency  on  the  part 
of  the  writer,  it  would  be  hard  to  determine  what 
names  should  be  selected  from  the  long  catalogue.  It 
might  appear  invidious  to  choose  only  those  who 
were  natives ;  and  then,  as  to  those  who  were  not  na- 
tives, puzzling  doubts  might  arise  as  to  where  the 
line  should  be  drawn.  Lynn  has  been  the  tempor- 
ary abiding-place  of  quite  a  number  of  the  greater 
lights  of  literature  and  science, — of  Longfellow,  the 
poet;  of  Prescott,  the  historian;  of  Agas.siz,  the 
scientist,  for  example.  But  would  it  not  be  rather 
assuming  to  claim  them  as  Lynn  authors?  Their 
reputation,  however,  being  world-wide,  may,  per- 
haps, be  said  to  belong  as  much  to  Lynn  as  any  other 
place.  Then  there  are  others  who,  though  natives, 
turned  their  backs  upon  their  good  mother  in  early 
life  and  afterwards  became  eminent  as  writers,  but 
never  manifested  any  love  for  their  deserted  parent. 
Are  they  deserving  of  specially  honorable  mention  ? 
Brief  notices  of  a  number  of  our  writers,  however,  are 
given  elsewhere,  and  need  not  be  repeated  here. 
Poets  and  philosophers  may  not  be  the  most  useful 
citizens  in  the  worldling's  estimation,  but  the  lights 
they  shed  illumine  many  a  dark  passage  and  cheer 
many  a  dismal  hour  in  the  tramp  of  life.  Our  rever- 
ence for  departed  worth,  it  is  hoped,  will  not  be 
measured  by  the  length  of  notice  ;  for  sometimes  the 
better  one  is  known,  the  less  need  there  is  for  extend- 
ed details.  And  in  no  case  is  it  our  desire  to  pose  as 
critic. 

William  Wood,  one  of  the  earliest  who  settled 
within  our  borders,  should  be  first  named,  for  as  early 
as  1634,  in  his  "  New  England's  Prospect,"  he  outlined 
her  physical  features  and  drew  terse  word-pictures  of 
some  of  her  pleasant  and  impressive  localities.  But 
as  he  is  several  times  brought  into  view  in  other  parts 
of  this  sketch,  nothing  further  is  demanded  here. 


LYNN. 


317 


Most  of  the  old  parish  ministers,  from  Rev.  Mr. 
Whiting,  who  commenced  his  labors  here  in  1636, 
down  to  Rev.  Parsons  Cooke,  the  last,  whose  minibtry 
here  ended  by  his  death,  were  learned  men  and  skilled 
in  the  use  of  the  pen.  Their  published  writings  were 
chiefly  on  theological  topics,  and  often  tinctured  by 
the  acrimony  of  the  times.  Their  discourses  on  special 
occasions  were  sometimes  published,  and  the  few 
copies  preserved  in  the  antiquarian  collections  are 
even  now  sought  for  with  avidity,  as  developing  the 
peculiar  religious  views  and  tendencies  of  the  times, 
as  much  as  for  the  genius  and  learning  they  display. 
Since  Mr.  Cooke's  day  the  controversial  hatchet  has 
not  been  fiercely  wielded  by  any  of  the  settled  pas- 
tors. Indeed,  the  differing  sentiments  of  most  Chris- 
tian bodies  seem  to  have  become  more  and  more  as- 
similated. But  it  is  hoped  that  the  apparent  drawing 
together  is  to  be  attributed  to  the  awakening  of  true 
Christian  love,  rather  than  to  indifference  as  to  any 
religion.  But  in  the  company  of  the  clerical  worthies 
we  may  not  long  linger.     Their  fame  is  not  local. 

Rev.  Enoch  Mudge,  1776-1850. — This  good  man 
was  a  minister  of  the  Methodist  connection  for  a  great 
number  of  years,  having  been  licensed  at  the  early 
age  of  seventeen.  His  poetical  effusions  were  many, 
and  appeared  in  various  periodical  publications.  His 
longest  production  was  "  Lynn,  a  Poem."  It  was 
written  in  1820,  comprised  some  six  hundred  and  fifty 
lines  and  was  published  in  pamphlet  form  in  1826. 
In  the  opening  lines  the  muse  takes  a  view  from  High 
Rock,  his  eye  ranging  over  the  wonderful  panorama 
of  the  sublime  and  beautiful  in  nature,  occasionally 
pausing  in  view  of  some  interesting  fabric,  and  all  the 
way  scattering  didactic  reflections  and  useful  hints. 
It  was  about  this  time  that  the  famous  sea  serpent  was 
first  seen  in  these  waters.  And  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  he  has  this  year,  1887,  again  made  this  coast  his 
sporting-place,  and  seemingly  retains  his  early  love 
for  our  bay,  the  following  quotation  will  not  be 
deemed  inappropriate : 

"  Hard  by  the  shore  is  seen,  day  after  day, 
Surprising  sight  !  the  Serpens  Marinus  ; 
A  sight  so  wondrous  strange  upon  our  coasts, 
That  multitudes  collect  to  feast  their  eyes  ; 
He  with  serpentine  movements  swiftly  glides, 
Though  huge  in  bulk,  and  leaves  his  lengthened  wake 
Far  in  the  smooth  green  sea,  then  darts  his  liead 
Aloft  in  air,  and  seems  with  careless  ease 
To  gaze  around  ;  anon  impetuous  starts, 
Plunging  his  head,  and  ploughs  the  liquid  way  ; 
Sudden  he  stops  and  rests  when  on  the  waves, 
As  if  to  give  the  observer  leave  to  count 
The  large  protuberances  upon  his  back, 
And  mark  with  leisure  eye  his  wondrous  frame. 
Each  eye  beholds  the  varying  scene  diverse  ; 
Some  see,  or  think  they  see,  the  serpent's  eyes. 
His  mane  and  slender  neck,  and  whiten'd  breast ; 
Some  see  his  back  all  clad  in  rusty  scales, 
His  flippers,  or  his  smooth  and  velvet  skin  ; 
His  girth  aud  length  as  various  they  describe, 
From  fifty  to  thrice  fifty  feet  in  length. 
From  fifteen  inches  through  to  triple  that. 
Ho  is  a  monstrous  something,  all  agree, 
But  know  not  what — Sea-Serpent  is  the  name 


By  which  this  nondescript  is  known  by  us. 
The  literati  term  him  Halsydous, 
By  Ramus  and  Pontoppidam  described. 
And  seen  by  many  in  the  Greenland  seas." 

These  lines  are  not  given  for  the  brilliancy  of  their 
poetic  conception  or  felicity  of  expression,  but  they 
are  fairly  descriptive.  Some  of  his  shorter  poems, 
however,  were  pronounced  by  intelligent  critics  worthy 
of  a  place  among  the  selected  specimens  of  our  ac- 
knowledged poets. 

Mr.  Mudge  was  father  of  Hon.  Enoch  Redington 
Mudge,  the  generous  donor  of  the  beautiful  St. 
Stephen's  Memorial  Church,  erected  in  Lynn  in 
1881. 

Isaac  Newhall,  1782-1858. — Mr.  Newhall  was 
known  in  the  literary  world  only  by  his  letters  on 
Junius,  a  series  addressed  to  Hon.  John  Pickering,  in 
which  he  endeavored  to  show  that  Earl  Temple  was 
the  author  of  those  celebrated  papers.  The  letters 
were  published  in  a  duodecimo  volume  in  1831,  and 
showed  the  author  to  be  well  versed  in  British  poli- 
tics, with  good  knowledge  of  her  history  and  litera- 
ture. The  chief  business  of  his  life  was  that  of  a 
retail  trader,  at  one  time  in  Macon,  Gra.,  and  after- 
wards in  Salem,  Mass.  But  he  spent  the  evening  of 
his  days  in  quiet  and  comfort  at  the  old  homestead 
on  the  eastern  side  of  Mall  Street,  Lynn — the  same 
house  in  Avhich  he  was  born  on  the  24th  of  August, 
1782,  and  in  which  he  died  on  the  6th  of  July, 
1858. 

Enoch  Curtin,  1794-1842. — Mr.  Curtin,  for  some 
years,  was  a  poetic  and  prose  writer  of  much  local  re- 
pute and  of  real  ability.  But  his  education  was  lim- 
ited, and  his  ambition  to  shine  as  a  literary  light  so 
small  that  his  name  has  never  become  known  to  the 
extent  it  deserved  to  be,  and  might  have  been.  His 
poetic  efforts  were  chiefly  confined  to  the  production 
of  odes  and  verses  for  special  occasions,  public  cele- 
brations and  so  forth.  And  his  prose  articles  were 
largely  on  local  and  every-day  topics — political,  sani- 
tary, gossiping.  No  collection  of  his  writings  ever 
appeared  in  book-form.  His  residence  was  in  the 
easterly  part  of  the  town — Woodend,  so  called. 

Alonzo  Lewis,  1794-1861.— It  must  be  conceded 
that  Mr.  Lewis  stands  at  the  head  of  the  writers  Lynn 
has  thus  far  produced.  He  published  volumes  of 
poetry  and  local  history,  besides  contributing,  during 
many  years,  articles  on  almost  every  current  topic, 
for  the  newspapers  and  other  periodicals.  A  more 
extended  notice  of  him  appears  elsewhere  in  these 
pages. 

Maria  Augusta  Fuller,  1806-31.— Miss  Fuller 
was  chiefly  known  by  her  poems,  though  her  prose 
writings  were  by  no  means  without  merit.  No  col- 
lection of  her  effusions  were  ever  presented  to  the 
public  in  book-form,  or,  we  feel  quite  sure,  her  fame 
would  have  become  far  from  local.  Her  father,  Joseph 
Fuller,  was  the  first  president  of  the  first  bank  in 
Lynn,  and  was  our  first  State  Senator.     The  house  in 


318 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


which  he  resided  is  still  standing,  at  the  junction  of 
Union  and  Broad  Streets.  Miss  Fuller  died  at  the 
early  age  of  twenty- four  years. 

Solomon  Moulton,  1808-27.  —  Of  this  young 
ntian — for  he  died  at  the  early  age  of  nineteen  years — 
a  word  should  be  said,  for  while  we  realize  the  utter 
futility  of  any  attempt  to  rear  upon  the  uncertain 
foundation  of  what  "  might  have  been  "  any  ideal 
fame,  it  is  yet  natural  to  augur  whither  steps  already 
taken  may  fairly  lead.  Young  Moulton  certainly 
made  gome  poetic  contributions  to  the  newspapers 
that  gave  great  promise  for  the  future,  besides  con- 
taining in  themselves  passages  of  striking  thought, 
touching  pathos  and  felicitous  expression.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  it  was  from  the  columns  of  newspa- 
pers that  our  cherished  poets — as  Bryant,  Willis, 
Longfellow  and  Whittier — first  beamed.  Mr.  liewis 
knew  Moulton  well,  and  often  spoke  highly  of  his 
poetic  ability.  He  was  born  in  the  house  on  Boston 
Street,  southeast  corner  of  Moulton,  but  was  adopted 
by  an  uncle  and  lived  most  of  his  days  in  Market 
Street.  No  collection  of  his  writings  was  ever  pub- 
lished; indeed,  he  never  wrote  enough  to  make  a  book 
of  much  size. 

The  writers  of  whom  we  have  thus  far  spoken — 
Wood,  Mudge,  Newhall,  Curtin,  Lewis,  Fuller,  Moul- 
ton— have  long  since  departed  ;  yet,  though  their 
tongues  are  mute  and  their  pens  have  dropped,  with 
them  we  may  still  commune  through  their  works. 

"  They  are  silent  ;  silent  forever !  Cold,  cold  are  their  breasts  of 
clay  !  Oh  !  from  the  rock  on  the  hill,  from  the  top  of  the  windy  steep, 
speak,  ye  ghosts  of  the  dead  ! " 

Among  her  living  writers  Lynn  can  boast  of 
several  who  are  worthy  of  far  more  extended  notice 
than  can  be  allowed  in  this  connection.  Brief  rec- 
ognition, however,  is  better  than  entire  silence.  Fu- 
gitive pieces  without  number  have  appeared  in  the 
publications  of  the  day,  many  of  them  worthy  of  be- 
ing preserved  in  durable  form.  And  it  is  hoped  that 
at  some  future  time  a  discriminating  gatherer  may 
arise  to  rescue  them  from  oblivion.  He  may  not  re- 
ceive the  deserved  pecuniary  reward,  but  his  labor  of 
love  would  be  highly  appreciated.  In  the  present 
enumeration  it  seems  highly  proper  that  mention  be 
first  made  of  such  as  have,  in  one  way  and  another, 
contributed  to  the  elucidation  of  our  history.  Of  these 
should  be  named : 

EiCHARD  I.  Attwill,  who  has  contributed  for  the 
newspapers  transcripts  of  interesting  documents 
which  he  has  here  and  there  discovered,  accompanied 
by  apt  explanations  and  annotations  from  his  own  pen. 

George  E.  Emery  has  furnished  articles  which, 
"hj  his  well-trained  descriptive  powers  and  lively 
sense  of  fitness,  have  done  their  share  to  quicken  the 
taste  for  historic  reading, 

Clarence  W.  Hobbs,  by  his  "  Lynn  and  Sur- 
roundings," published  at  the  close  of  1886,  has  added 
a  work  of  much  interest.  Its  mechanical  execution 
is  attractive,  and  the  matter  worthy  of  its  neat  in- 


vestment.    It  is  well  illustrated,  and  the  name  in- 
dicates its  general  character. 

David  N.  Johnson  has  done  work  worthy  of 
praise  in  his  "  Sketches  of  Lynn,  or  the  Changes  of 
Fifty  Years,"  published  in  1880.  He  has  also  writ- 
ten articles  for  the  publications  of  the  day,  and  hymns 
and  odes  for  special  occasions. 

John  T.  Moulton  has  done  a  great  deal  of  pen 
work,  for  which  he  will  receive  the  thanks  of  future 
generations.  Among  other  things,  he  has  had  all  the 
inscriptions  in  the  old  burying-ground  copied  and 
printed  in  durable  form,  with  an  introduction.  He 
is  one  of  the  most  intelligent  and  accurate  genealo- 
gists among  us.  The  Moulton  family  has  not  been 
destitute  of  poetic  representatives ;  and  he,  true  to 
the  family  tendency,  has  produced  some  metrical 
pieces  of  animating  sentiment  and  easy  flow. 

Howard  Mudge  Newhall  is  yet  a  young  man, 
but  has  already  written  numerous  articles  of  real 
value  on  the  business  of  Lynn,  its  history  and  present 
condition.  His  illustrated  article  in  Harper's  Maga- 
zine, January,  1885,  entitled  "  A  Pair  of  Shoes,'*'  at- 
tracted marked  attention.  He  has  an  eminently 
practical  turn  of  mind,  skill  in  the  arrangement  of 
topics,  and  clearness  of  expression. 

It  may  not  be  overstepping  the  bounds  of  modesty 
for  the  writer  of  the  sketch  now  in  hand  to  mention 
that  he  has  prepared  for  publication  many  pages  per- 
taining to  the  history  of  Lynn,  its  sombre  and  authen- 
tic side,  as  well  as  its  romantic  and  legendary. 

Edwin  Thompson  has,  from  time  to  time,  con- 
tributed to  the  newspapers  articles  on  local  historical 
matters  that  have  always  been  received  with  favor. 

Cyrus  M.  Tracy  has  for  many  years  been  an  ac- 
ceptable writer  as  a  journalist,  essayist  and  historiog- 
rapher. Nor  has  he  neglected  science  and  the 
muse.  His  historical  sketches  of  several  places  in  Es- 
sex County  were  published  in  the  ponderous  volume 
of  C.  F.  Jewett  &  Co.,  in  1878.  His  "  Studies  of  the 
Essex  Flora"  were  published  in  1858,  in  pamphlet 
form.  He  delivered  the  poem  at  the  dedication  of 
the  City  Hall,  November  30,  1807,  and  the  oration  at 
the  celebration  of  the  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anni- 
versary of  the  settlement  of  the  town. 

Gardiner  Tufts,  in  1883,  contributed  a  series  of 
articles  to  the  Lynn  Tran^icript  entitled  "The  Old 
Choirs  of  Lynn,"  which,  in  fact,  embodied  the  musical 
history  of  the  place  for  a  long  and  interesting  period. 
They  were  worthy  of  the  high  commendation  they 
received.  In  the  course  of  the  series  appeared  bio- 
graphical notices,  anecdotes  and  terse  descriptive 
passages. 

For  a  long  series  of  years,  too,  our  tuneful  fellow- 
citizens,  J.  Warren  Newhall  and  Joseph  W, 
Nye,  have,  as  occasion  prompted,  celebrated  in  verse 
marked  passages  in  our  history,  past  and  present. 
It  is  hard  to  say  what  Lynn,  for  almost  a  generation, 
would  have  done  without  their  felicitous  contributions 
for  celebrations,  dedications  and  similar  occasions. 


LYNN. 


319 


As  we  proceed,  still  other  names  press  upon  the  re- 
collection. And  some  of  those  who  do  not  come 
within  the  categories  named  certainly  deserve  honor- 
able mention ;  among  them  James  Berry  Bensel, 
who  very  recently  forever  laid  aside  his  pen.  He  was 
regarded  by  competent  critics  as  a  poetical  writer  of 
more  than  ordinary  promise.  And  there  seems  rea- 
son to  believe  that  had  he  lived  he  would  have  taken 
high  rank  as  a  poet. 

Edward  P.  Usher  has  acquired  note  as  a  legal 
writer,  and  as  a  versifier  his  skill  has  long  been  recog- 
nized. He  delivered  the  poem  at  the  dedication  of 
the  Soldiers'  Monument  September  17,  1873. 

Frank  E.  Whitten,  who  is  still  a  young  man,  has 
shown  marked  ability  in  the  line  of  literary  criticism, 
as  well  as  in  other  departments.  Favorable  mention, 
too,  should  be  made  of  Eugene  Barry,  Josiah  F. 
Kimball  and  Thomas  F.  Porter. 

There  are  likewise  other  worthy  pen-charmers, 
whose  names  would  be  introduced  here  were  they 
not  presented  in  other  connections  in  these  pages; 
and  some,  too,  there  undoubtedly  are  whose  names 
have  eluded  busy  memory's  pursuit. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  few  places  can  boast  of  a 
larger  relative  number  of  writers  than  good  old 
Lynn.  And  it  seems  as  if,  among  us  all,  something 
considerable  might  be  accomplished.  The  old  pen- 
wielders  are  passing  off,  but  much  is  reasonably  to  be 
expected  from  some  of  those  now  taking  their  places. 
The  writer,  indeed,  dares  predict  that  certain  of  our 
younger  brethren  and  sisters  of  the  pen  will  yet  at- 
tain most  enviable  renown.  But  he  does  not  dare 
record  the  names  of  those  on  whom  the  prediction 
rests,  as  his  opinion  may  not  be  verified;  and  were  it 
or  were  it  not  verified,  his  temerity  would  probably  be 
met  by  the  retributive  scorn  of  those  not  named  as 
within  the  horoscopic  view. 

Macpherson,  in  his  preface  to  the  poems  of  Ossian, 
says:  "The  making  of  poetry,  like  any  other  handi- 
craft, may  be  learned  by  industry."  But  the  writer 
can  hardly  subscribe,  unconditionally,  to  that,  having 
in  view  quite  a  number  who  have  striven  for  many  a 
day,  with  unflinching  industry,  to  gain  a  seat  on  Par- 
nassus, and  have  never  been  able  to  reach  that  allur- 
ing height — at  least  in  the  opinion  of  their  envious 
critics.  However,  they  undoubtedly  received  pleas- 
ure in  picnicking  by  the  way,  and  were  constantly 
stimulated  by  hope  and  expectation.  The  pleasures 
of  literature,  derived  from  its  own  dear  self,  one 
would  think  might  be  sufiicient  for  all  the  care  be- 
stowed on  its  cultivation.  Says  Voltaire,  "  Litera- 
ture nourishes  the  soul,  rectifies  it,  consoles  it."  Such, 
indeed,  is  its  legitimate  effect ;  but  in  stalk  the  han- 
kerings after  fame  and  the  jealousies  which  writers, 
the  more  eminent  as  well  as  the  more  conceited,  too 
often  allow  to  diffuse  their  subtile  poison.  Dean 
Swift,  in  his  pungent  way,  puts  it  thus  : 

"  What  poet  would  not  grieve  to  see 
His  brother  write  as  well  as  he  ? 


But,  rather  than  they  should  excel, 
Would  wish  his  rivals  all  in ?" 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  much  of  the  versification 
of  the  present  day,  notwithstanding  its  "  mellifluous 
flow,"  falls  far  below  the  standard  of  the  French 
writer  just  quoted,  who,  in  his  axiomatic  way,  re- 
marks :  "  Verses  that  do  not  teach  men  new  and 
affecting  truths  little  deserve  to  be  read."  One  may 
easily  perceive  that  in  much  of  the  poetry  of  our  days 
many  hollow  and  many  turbid  places  are  bridged  over 
and  concealed  by  mellifluous  versification.  But,  in 
the  authoritative  words  of  Percival : 

"  'Tis  not  the  chime  and  flow  of  words  that  move 
In  measured  file  and  metrical  array  ; 
'Tis  not  the  union  of  returning  sounds, 
Nor  all  the  pleasing  artifice  of  rhyme, 
And  quantity,  and  accent  that  can  give 
This  all  pervading  spirit  to  the  earj 
Or  blend  it  with  the  movings  of  the  soul. 
'Tis  not  the  noisy  babbler  who  displays, 
In  studied  phrase  and  ornate  epithet 
And  rounded  period,  poor  and  vapid  thoughts, 
Which  peep  from  out  the  cumbrous  ornaments 
That  overload  their  littleness." 

An  attempt  to  play  the  critic  is  very  far  from  the 
design  of  the  writer,  as,  of  course,  a  critic  should  al- 
ways be  better  informed  than  he  on  whom  he  sheds 
his  perfume.  Is  there  any  limit  short  of  the  extent 
of  the  human  mind,  to  the  knowledge  and  ability  of 
even  the  magazine  or  newspaper  reviewer  of  this 
enlightened  day?  Where,  then,  is  the  poor  writer 
in  one  special  department?  There  is  an  anecdote 
told  of  Rev.  Mr.  Parker,  the  first  minister  of  New- 
bury, to  this  eflTect :  President  Chauncey  and  some 
scholastic  brethren  undertook  to  deal  with  him  for 
something  he  had  written,  which  they  considered  too 
liberal  toward  the  Episcopacy.  They  addressed  him 
in  English,  and  he  replied  in  Latin ;  into  that  lan- 
guage they  followed  him ;  he  then  charged  in  Greek 
and  in  Greek  they  rejoined;  to  Hebrew  he  then  re- 
sorted, and  there  again  they  met  him.  Finally,  he 
made  a  stand  in  Arabic,  when,  not  being  able  to  fol- 
low him,  they  gave  up  the  contest.  He  then  inti- 
mated that,  as  they  were  not  his  peers  in  knowledge, 
it  was  presumption  in  them  to  undertake  to  criticise 
him.  This  was  an  old-fashioned  contest.  But  your 
modern  critic,  being  at  the  head  of  the  class  in  all 
human  knowledge,  heeds  no  obstacle.  And  the  re- 
flex brilliancy  of  the  friendly  commentator  often  has, 
as  we  all  know,  something  to  do  with  shaping  his 
periods.     Indeed,  he  sometimes  sees 

"  In  Homer  more  than  Homer  knew." 

But,  unhappily  for  the  yet  unrecognized  aspirant, 
little  of  the  reflected  light  shines  on  him. 

Our  busy  community  has  no  catalogue  of  exclu- 
sively literary  persons  to  exhibit.  Her  writers  have 
been  those  who  exercised  the  pen  at  intervals  unoc- 
cupied by  the  daily  round  in  some  vocation  more 
sure  of  securing  a  livelihood.  As  a  general  thing, 
the  physically  infirm  are  more  inclined  to  intellec- 


320 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


tual  pursuits  than  the  strong  and  healthy,  for  the  in- 
valid is  at  a  disadvantage  where  strength  of  arm  and 
bodily  endurance  are  required ;  and  hence  it  is  that 
some  of  our  best  writings  come  from  the  retired  room 
of  the  invalid.  Bodily  infirmity  has  often  done 
much  in  making  the  scholar,  by  disabling  from  phy- 
sical activity.  But  the  bodily  health  of  the  good 
people  of  Lynn  is  not  intended  to  be  urged  as  a  rea- 
son for  any  deficiency  in  mental  attainment.  Sick  or 
well,  let  us  remember  that  though  finely-turned  peri- 
ods always  possess  a  certain  charm,  they  are  of  little 
worth  to  the  thoughtful  if  deficient  in  backing. 

As  has  been  seen,  there  is  hardly  a  period  in  Lynn's 
history  when  she  has  not  had  a  bright  company  of 
sons  and  daughters  curveting,  pen  in  hand,  over  the 
fields  of  poetry,  sentiment  and  philosophy,  and 
gathering  in  a  goodly  store  for  the  relief  of  the  jaded 
minds  of  those  fellow-mortals  destined  to  the  more 
ignoble  pursuits  of  life.  By  their  refreshing  and 
stimulating  contributions,  they  have  performed  a  good 
part  in  keeping  alive  the  vivacious  tone  that  has  al- 
ways characterized  our  industrious  home.  And  may 
the  prospects  of  a  now  promising  future  never  be 
darkened ! 


CHAPTER    XX. 

LY  NN— ( Continued). 
TAVERNS — MODES  OF  TRAVEL. 

Character  nf  the  Old  Houses  oj  Entertainment,  and  Scenes  Enacted  in  Them — 
Biographical  Sketches  of  some  Famous  Landlords — Incldenls  of  Travel — 
Salem  and  Boston  Turnpike — The  Old  Stage  Lines — Opening  of  the  East- 
ern liailroad — Hotels  of  Later  Times. 


"  Around  the  glowing  evening  fire, 
The  farmer,  woodsman,  village  'squire, 
With  pointed  finger,  loosened  tongue, 
Shows  right  for  every  human  wrong. 
In  kindling  mood  they  sit  and  sip 
The  nectar  called  New  England  flip, 
That  late  invented  beverage, 
Bare  product  of  a  guzzling  age, 
America's  first  evil  gift 
To  help  the  world  in  toping  thrift, 
More  sapid  than  old  England's  beer. 
More  potent  in  its  vulgar  cheer." 

—Norton. 


Next  to  the  church  and  the  school,  the  attention 
of  our  fathers  was  directed  to  the  establishment  and 
regulation  of  the  ordinary,  the  inn,  the  tavern,  or  the 
house  of  entertainment,  as  such  places  seem  to  have 
been  indiscriminately  called.  The  accommodation 
of  travelers  was,  of  course,  the  ostensible  purpose ; 
but  other  considerations  had  weight.  In  the  old 
country  the  settlers  had  been  accustomed  to  visit  such 
resorts, 

"...    where  nut-brown  draughts  inspired, 
Where  gray-beard  mirth  and  smiling  toil  retired  ; 
Where  village  .statesmen  talked  with  looks  profound," 


and  where  neighborhood  scandal  and  tainted  gossip 
no  doubt  went  round.  What  wonder,  then,  that  the 
settlers  here,  the  socially  high  and  low,  the  good  and 
bad,  should,  in  the  absence  of  other  convenient  meet- 
ing-places, have  felt  the  need  of  something  of  the 
kind.  There  were  no  newspapers  to  float  off  from 
the  press  on  the  morning  and  evening  wind,  no 
news-rooms,  no  mail,  no  telegraphs,  no  telephones. 
Hither,  then,  all  classes  naturally  resorted 

"  To  take  a  smack  of  politics  and  ale." 

There  was,  in  the  more  legitimate  way,  to  wit,  the 
accommodation  of  travelers,  a  real  necessity  for 
houses  of  entertainment.  But  it  was  soon  perceptible 
that  such  establishments  required  careful  watching, 
lest  their  charges  should  become  oppressive  and  their 
influence  deleterious  in  a  moral  way.  The  General 
Court,  therefore,  found  it  necessary  frequently  to  in- 
terpose for  their  management. 

It  is  true,  however,  that  before  population  had  so 
far  increased  as  to  warrant  the  establishment  of  sepa- 
rate ordinaries,  every  house  was,  to  some  extent,  a 
house  of  entertainment,  and  every  householder  a 
host.  This  was  the  natural  prompting  of  the  hospita- 
ble settler. 

At  first,  ordinaries  were  established  without  license ; 
but  the  court  soon  took  them  in  hand  and  regulated 
their  management.  As  early  as  1634  it  was  "  ordered 
that  noe  person  that  keeps  an  ordinary  shall  take 
above  six  pence  a  meale  for  a  person  and  not  above 
one  penny  for  an  ale  quarte  of  beare,  out  of  meale 
tyme,  under  the  penalty  of  ten  shillings  for  every  of- 
fence, either  of  dyot  or  beare."  It  was  likewise  or- 
dered that  "  victualers  or  keepers  of  an  ordinary, 
shall  not  suffer  any  tobacco  to  be  taken  in  their 
bowses,  under  the  penalty  of  v  shillings  for  every  of- 
fence, to  be  paid  by  the  vituler,  and  xii  pence  by  the 
party  who  takes  it."  And  the  court,  in  their  horror 
of  tobacco,  went  much  further,  forbidding  its  use  any- 
where in  public,  and  even  invaded  the  domestic  sanct- 
uary, ordering  that  "noe  person  shall  take  tobacco  pub- 
liquely,  under  the  penalty  of  2s.  and  6ciJ. ;  nor  pri- 
vately, in  his  owne  howse,  or  in  the  howse  of  another, 
before  strangers,  and  that  two  or  more  shall  not  take 
it  togeather  anywhere,  vnder  the  aforesaid  penalty 
for  every  offence."  What  would  those  worthy  old  legis- 
lators think  could  they  enter  one  of  our  offensive  mod- 
ern railroad  attachments,  the  smoking-car?  As  late 
as  1639  it  was  lawful  for  any  person  to  entertain 
strangers  with  "  lodging  and  dyot,  at  reasonable 
rates,"  on  special  occasions,  such  as  an  inflow  of 
strangers. 

And  at  the  same  court  it  was  enacted  that  "  every 
towne  shall  have  liberty,  from  time  to  time,  to  choose 
a  fitt  man  to  sell  wine,  the  same  to  bee  alowed  by  li- 
cense .  .  .  and  that  it  shalbee  lawfull  for  such 
persons  alowed  to  retaile  wine,  to  let  wine  bee  drunke 
in  his  house;  provided,  that  if  any  person  shalbee 
made  drunke  in   any  such   house,  or  any  imoderate 


LYNN. 


321 


drinking  suffered  there,  the  master  of  tlie  family  shall 
pay  fur  every  such  offence  five  pounds."  At  the 
same  time  it  was  "  further  declared  and  ordered,  that 
such  as  are  alowed  to  keepe  comon  ordinaries  and 
inns  shall  provide  stables  and  hay  for  horses,  and  in- 
closures  for  pasturing,  where  neede  is  ;  and  it  is  fur- 
ther declared,  that  if  any  shall  take  excessive  prices 
for  their  wines  or  dyeting,  they  shalbee  deepely  fined 
for  the  same."  So  began  the  licensing  system  and 
the  temperance  legislation  of  Massachusetts ;  and 
how  do  we  stand,  after  the  lapse  of  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years? 

The  first  tavern  in  Lynn  was  opened  by  Joseph 
Armitage,  though  at  what  precise  date  does  not 
satisfactorily  appear.  But  in  1043  he  seems  to  have 
been  in  the  business  long  enough  to  run  himself 
ashore  ;  for  in  that  year  his  wife,  Jane,  presented  a 
dolorous  petition,  reciting  that  her  husband's  labors 
and  endeavors  had  "  beene  blasted  and  his  ames  and 
ends  frustrated,"  that  they  were  poor  and  had  a  family 
to  maintain  ;  that  some  of  his  creditors  had,  of  their 
"  clemencie  and  gentle  goodness,"  lent  a  helping 
hand,  with  more  of  such  pathetic  pleading,  and  pray- 
ing that  she  might  be  allowed  to  "  continue  in  the 
custodie  of  the  said  ordinary."  The  petition  was 
signed  by  about  all  of  the  best  and  most  prominent 
men  of  the  town,  among  them  the  two  ministers,  Sam- 
uel Whiting  and  Thomas  Cobbet,  and  Robert  Bridges, 
the  acting  magistrate.  It  was  successful,  the  concise 
entry  on  the  court  records  being  "  Goody  Armitage 
is  alowed  to  keepe  the  ordinary,  but  not  to  draw 
wine." 

There  is  ground  for  suspicion  that  some  of  the 
causes  of  Mr.  Armitage's  misfortunes  lay  in  the  dis- 
regard of  his  license  obligations;  for,  in  addition  to  the 
refusal  of  the  court  to  allow  his  wife  to  sell  spirits,  it 
is  found  that  he  was  once  fined  for  not  informing  the 
constable  of  a  person  being  found  drunk  in  his  com- 
pany. He  petitioned  to  have  the  fine  remitted,  but 
the  court  replied  that  they  saw  "  no  cawse  to  abate  the 
petitioner  any  part  of  that  fine." 

Mr.  Armitage,  however,  seems  to  have  partially,  at 
least,  recovered  from  his  depressed  condition,  for  in 
1646  the  court  say :  "  In  answere  to  y'' petition  of  Joseph 
Armitage,  it  is  ordred,  that  whoever  y"^  towne  of 
Linn  shall  choose  at  a  legall  towne  meeting  to  draw 
wine,  he  shall  have  liberty  to  drawe  wine  there  till  y® 
next  siting  of  this  Cort,  and  y''  same  to  be  presented 
hereunto."  And  subsequently  comes  this  entry  : 
"Joseph  Armitage  is  agreed  with  for  this  yeare  for 
liberty  to  sell  wine  for  twenty  nobles."  The  price  of 
his  license,  then,  was  about  $32.20  of  our  present 
money. 

The  ordinary  of  Mr.  Armitage  soon  became  known 
as  the  Anchor  Tavern,  and  under  that  name  com- 
menced a  famous  career.  It  was  picturesquely  situated 
on  a  slight  elevation  west  of  Saugus  River,  almost 
within  a  stone's  throw  of  that  eccentrically  winding 
stream,  and  commanded  a  romantic  view  of  forest  and 
21 


marsh  land,  with  the  ocean  upon  the  south.  It  was 
on  the  road  leading  from  Sa'em  to  Boston  and  aboul 
midway  between  those  settlements.  For  more  than  a 
century  and  a  half  it  enjoyed  a  reputation  attained  by 
few  establishments  of  the  kind  in  the  colony.  Its 
name,  however,  was  changed  from  time  to  time,  as 
political  revolution  or  caprice  of  landlord  suggested. 

Being  on  one  of  the  chief  highways,  it  was  of 
course  a  stopping-place  for  the  refreshment  of  travel- 
ers of  high  and  low  degree,  of  official  dignitaries  and 
rustic  tramps,  and  one  can  readily  conceive  that 
strangely-assorted  groups  must  have  sometimes  as- 
sembled there. 

Mr.  Armitage  was  among  the  very  early  settlers  of 
Lynn,  having  appeared  here  in  1630,  and  been  ad- 
mitt^-d  as  a  freeman  in  1637.  He  was  a  tailor  by  trade, 
but  in  those  primitive  times  it  was  necessary  for  most 
men  to  turn  their  attention  to  different  pursuits  as  the 
seasons  varied.  He  was  undoubtedly  energetic  and 
industrious,  but  those  good  traits  do  not  appear  to 
have  saved  him  from  disasters  attributable  to  other 
traits  less  valuable,  for  it  is  evident  that  he  was  of  a 
speculative  turn,  and  unduly  credulous  when  promis- 
ing schemes  were  presented.  And  then,  again,  he  ap- 
pears to  have  been  fond  of  lawsuits.  Now  these  two 
pernicious  characteristics — fondness  for  speculation 
and  fondness  for  law-suits — are  enough  to  ruin  any 
man,  and  in  all  but  a  few  exceptional  cases  they  do. 
It  may  also  be  fairly  assumed  that  he  had  sufficient 
of  a  retaliatory  spirit  to  defiantly  meet  the  aggressive 
approaches  of  his  neighbors.  At  one  time  he  procured 
a  warrant  against  a  number  of  persons,  to  whose  in- 
tei'ference  he  j^robably  attributed  difficulties  regarding 
his  license  ;  but  they,  in  returning  the  compliment, 
had  him  presented  "  for  procuring  a  warrant  for  seav- 
enty  persons  to  appear  forthwithe  before  the  Gover- 
nor," a  proceeding  which,  the  court  say,  "we  conceave 
to  be  of  dangerous  consequence."  Notwithstanding 
these  propensities,  however,  it  may  be  said  that  he 
was,  on  the  whole,  a  useful  as  well  as  enterprising 
settler. 

Mr.  Armitage  ceased  to  be  landlord  of  the  Anchor 
in  or  about  1652.  And  his  harassed  and  laborious 
life  was  ended  in  reduced  circumstances,  though  per- 
haps not  in  absolute  penury.  In  1669  he  petitioned 
for  the  payment  of  some  small  scores  that  Governors 
Endicott  and  Bradstreet  and  other  officials  had  run  up 
at  his  tavern  during  their  journeyings.  His  petition 
was  presented  to  the  court  at  Salem,  the  charges  hav- 
ing stood  some  twenty  years,  and  reads  as  follows  : 

"To  Uie  Hollered  Court  now  sitting  at  Sallem.  The  humble  petition 
of  Joseph  Armitage  Humbly  Sheweth  that  in  the  time  that  I  kept  Ordi- 
nary ther  was  sum  expences  at  ray  Hows  by  some  of  the  Honored  mag- 
istrates &  Depetysof  this  County  as  apeai-s  by  ther  bills  charged  oupon 
Auditor  Generall,  which  I  never  Receaued.  Therfor  jour  Humbell  pe- 
ticioner  doth  Humbly  request  this  Court  that  they  would  give  me  an 
Order  to  the  County  Treasurer  for  my  jiay  &  so  your  pour  petitioner  shall 
ever  pray  for  your  prosperity. 

"  Joseph  Armitage." 

One  or  two  of  the  charges,  with  the  vouchers,  may 
be  given  as  samples  : 


322 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


"the  gouerners  Expences  from  the  Coart  of  election,  1651,  till  the  end 
of  October,  1651  ;  to  bear  &  cacks  [beer  and  cakes]  6d.  ;  bear  and  cack8 
to  himself  and  8om  other  gentllemen.  Is.  2d.  ;  bear  and  cacks  with  Mr. 
Downing,  Is.  6d.  ;  bear  &  a  cack,  6d.— 38.  8d. 

"  to  the  Sargents  from  the  end  of  the  Coart  of  election,  1651,  till  the 
end  of  October,  1651,  bear  &  cacks,  Is.  2d. ;  for  vitalls,  beear  &  logen,  5s.  ; 
to  Benjamin  Scarlet,  the  gouerners  man,  8d.  ;  bear  &  vitells,  2s.  ;  to  the 
Sargents,  Is.  9d.  ;  beear  and  cacks.  Is. ;  to  a  man  that  Caried  a  letter  to 
warne  a  Court  about  the  duchman,  Is.  6d.  ;  to  the  Sargents,  Is.  2d.— 148. 
.-Jd. 

"  Mr.  Auditor,  I  pray  you  give  a  note  to  Mr.  Treasurer,  for  payment 
of   I7s.  lid.  according  to  these  two  bills  of  Joseph  Armitage. 

"  Dated  the  7th  of  the  11th  mo.  1651.  Jo.  Endecott." 

"  due  to  goodman  Armitage,  for  beare  &  wyne  att  severall  times  as  I 
came  by  in  the  space  of  about  3  yeares,  4s.  3d.  May  15th,  '49.  More 
for  my  man  &  horse,  as  bee  returned  home  the  last  yeare  when  I  was  a 
Commissioner,  hee  being  deteyned  a  sabboath  day,  68.  Sd. 

"Simon  Bradstreete." 

What  does  our  present  good  Secretary  of  War 
think  of  the  expenses  and  fare  of  his  worthy  ancestor 
as  he  took  his  official  journeys  ?  Even  President 
Cleveland,  with  all  his  democratic  proclivities,  would 
hardly  hold  to  such  economy. 

After  leaving  the  Anchor,  Mr.  Armitage  lived  in 
comparative  retirement  till  his  death,  in  1G80,  at  the 
age  of  eighty  years.  In  the  administration  account 
filed  in  July,  occur  these  items  :  "  For  coffio,  vaile 
and  digging  the  grave,  14s.  In  wine  and  sider,  for  his 
buriall,  £2." 

The  immediate  successor  of  Mr.  Armitage  as  land- 
lord of  the  Anchor  Tavern  was  John  Hathorne,  who 
certainly  does  not  appear  to  have  been  a  very  merito- 
rious character.  At  all  events  he  became  involved  in 
one  or  two  questionable  transactions.  It  must  have 
been  about  the  time  that  he  took  the  tavern  that  he 
was  proceeded  against  on  a  charge  of  slander,  forgery 
and  perjury,  and  was  convicted.  He  became  some- 
what humbled  by  his  sentence,  and  petitioned  for  the 
remission  or  mitigation  of  the  penalty,  and  the  court 
in  its  clemency  ordered  that  in  lieu  of  the  prescribed 
punishment  he  should  "  pay  double  damages,  which 
is  twenty  pounds,  to  the  party  wronged  and  ten  pounds 
to  the  commonwealth,  to  be  forthwith  levied  ;  and  to 
be  disfranchised.  If  he  doth  not  submitt  to  the  sen- 
tence, then  the  law  that  provides  against  flforgery  is  to 
take  place  in  every  particular." 

Mr.  Hathorne  kept  the  Anchor  but  a  short  time,  and 
nothing  appears  to  indicate  that  the  house  did  not 
continue  as  prosperous  as  in  the  days  of  his  prede- 
cessor. But  little  concerning  him  appears  on  the 
records,  though  the  matters  alluded  to  gave  rise  to 
grave  questions  of  jurisdiction  between  the  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  authorities, — questions  that  agitated  the 
community  for  a  long  time,  occasioning  some  rasping 
passages  between  church  and  state  dignitaries. 

This  brings  us  to  one  of  the  most  remarkable  peri- 
ods in  the  history  of  the  famous  Anchor :  to  wit.,  the 
period  during  which  the  renowned  Captain  Thomas 
Marshall  managed  its  affairs.  He  was  one  of  the  most 
jolly  and  hospitable  of  landlords,  and  during  his  ad- 
ministration no  wayside  inn  throughout  the  colonies 
enjoyed  a  more  enviable  reputation. 


Captain  Marshall  first  appeared  in  Lynn  in  1635, 
and  was  soon  after  admitted  a  freeman.  But  when 
the  great  political  agitations  that  led  to  the  termina- 
tion of  the  reign  and  the  life  of  Charles  the  First  had 
reached  the  culminating  point,  his  spirit  was  aroused 
and  he  returned  to  England,  where  he  joined  the  Par- 
liamentary forces,  and  from  Cromwell  received  a  cap- 
tain's commission.  He  served  faithfully  and  was 
honorably  discharged,  and  returned  hither  full  of 
martial  lustre  and  full  of  pride  in  the  feats  he  had  ac- 
complished, some  of  which  his  envious  neighbors 
affected  to  believe  were  achievements  of  the  imagina- 
tion alone.  Nevertheless,  it  is  apparent  that  he  had  a 
very  good  knowledge  of  military  tactics  and  skill  in 
the  disposition  of  affairs  of  the  field.  The  simple  fact 
of  his  having  continued  to  serve  as  a  captain  under 
the  great  Parliamentary  Leader  so  long  and  so  satis- 
factorily is  sufficient  evidence  of  his  skill,  fidelity  and 
efficiency.  He  indeed  seems  to  have  had  an  early  in- 
clination for  the  military  profession,  and  was  elected 
a  member  of  the  Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery 
Company — or,  as  it  was  then  called,  the  "Military 
Company  of  the  Massachusetts" — in  1640,  two  years 
after  the  formation  of  that  august  organization,  being 
then  about  twenty-four  years  of  age. 

After  Captain  Marshall's  return  from  the  war,  his 
fellow-townsmen  six  times  elected  him  as  their  repre- 
sentative in  the  General  Court,  first  in  1659  and  last 
in  1668,  and  likewise  called  him  to  various  posts  of 
municipal  honor  and  responsibility. 

On  the  18th  of  October,  1659,  Captain  Marshall  was 
empowered  by  the  General  Court  to  join  in  marriage 
such  persons  in  Lynn  as  had  complied  with  the  pre- 
liminary legal  requirements.  In  1670,  however,  he 
was  discharged  from  "  officyating  in  that  imploy- 
ment,"  probably  much  to  his  chagrin.  The  cause  of 
the  revocation  of  his  authority  seems  to  have  been 
that,  through  his  "  overmuch  credulity,"  jiarties  had 
imposed  upon  him  and  induced  him  to  marry  them 
when  their  intention  had  not  been  properly  published 
or  other  legal  requirements  complied  with.  One  or 
two  cases  were  presented  against  him,  that  ofAllin 
and  Deacon  being  perhaps  the  most  conspicuous.  It 
occurred  in  May,  1670.  Says  the  record :  "  Hope 
Allin  (father  of  the  bride)  and  John  Pease  (a  witness) 
ai^peared  in  Court,  and  y^  said  John  Pease  acknoul- 
edged  that  notwithstanding  the  counsell  of  the  major 
general  (an  acting  magistrate  of  another  jurisdiction), 
who  had  declined  y"'  marrying  of  M^  Deacon  (the 
bridegroom)  to  Hope  Allin's  daughter,  he  did  accom- 
pany them  to  Lynn  to  Capt.  Marshall,  and  Hope 
Allin  declared  he  did  give  his  consent  that  the  said 
M"'.  Deacon  should  have  his  daughter,  and  told  Capt. 
Marshall  that  he  hoped  they  might  be  legally  pub- 
lished before  that  time.  The  Court  judged  it  meet 
to  censure  the  said  Hope  Allin  to  pay  ten  pounds  as 
a  fine  to  the  country  for  his  irregular  proceedure,  and 
John  Pease  forty  shillings."  Perhaps  Mr.  Allin  was 
justly  punished  for  his  over-anxiety  to  get  his  daugh- 


LYNN. 


323 


ter  off  his  hands,  and  Mr.  Pease  for  standing  by  and 
not  disclosing  the  fact  that  another  magistrate  had 
refused  to  tie  the  knot  illegally.  And  as  to  Captain 
Marshall,  it  was  probably  this  case  that  induced  the 
court  to  promptly  annul  his  commission,  for  that  ap- 
pears to  have  been  done  almost  immediately  after  the 
irregular  transaction.  At  this  time  ministers  were  not 
authorized  to  perform  the  marriage  ceremony,  yet  the 
conjugal  relation  was  not  regarded  on  the  one  hand 
as  a  mere  civil  contract,  nor  on  the  other,  in  the  high- 
church  sense,  a  sacrament.  The  idea  seemed  to  be 
that  it  should  occupy  a  sort  of  middle  ground.  The 
captain,  however,  did  not  probably  pause  to  consider 
as  to  the  right  or  wrong  of  the  cases  that  came  before 
him,  or  to  theorize  in  any  way,  so  long  as  it  was  in  his 
power  to  consummate  the  happiness  of  loving  hearts. 

Captain  Marshall  commanded  the  military  com- 
pany of  Lynn  at  the  time  the  great  King  Philip  War 
commenced,  1675.  There  was  no  period  in  our  whole 
history  when  there  seemed  so  much  cause  for  alarm 
within  our  own  precincts,  which  had  always  been 
singularly  free  from  savage  aggression,  as  now,  and 
the  bravest  and  most  experienced  of  the  soldiery  were 
anxiously  looked  to  for  protection.  The  court  re- 
ceived a  letter  from  the  major-general  dated  Lynn, 
and  in  their  answer  say  :  "  Sr  :  Wee  received  your 
letter  dated  at  Lynn  23th  instant,  and  have  perused 
the  particulars  inclosed,  which  still  present  us  with 
sad  tidings  (the  Lord  have  mercy  on  us)  touching  the 
l^erformance  of  yo''  promise  to  Major  Pike  in  your  de- 
signe  to  raise  what  force  you  can  to  resist  the  enemy's 
headquarters  at  Ausebee.  Wee  approove  of  it,  only 
wee  presume  your  intelligence  that  the  enemy  is  there 
is  upon  good  grounds.  Wee  cannot  give  yow  particu- 
lar orders,  but  leave  the  management  of  this  affayre 
to  yo""  prudenc  and  assistance  of  Almighty  God,  not 
doubting  yo'  care  in  leaving  sufficient  strength  to  se- 
cure the  frontier  townes  of  Norfolke  and  Essex,  least 
the  enemy  should  visit  them  when  the  fforces  are 
abooard.  Without  doubt,  if  their  squawes  and  pap- 
pooses,  &c.,  be  at  Assabee,  and  God  be  pleased  to  de- 
liver them  into  our  hands,  it  would  be  much  for  our 
interest.  As  for  your  personall  marching,  it  will  be 
acceptable,  if  God  inable  to  prosecute  it."  The  action 
recommended  in  regard  to  the  squaws  and  pappooses 
does  not  sound  very  pleasantly  in  the  ears  of  the 
sympathetic  people  of  this  day,  but  the  peculiar  dan- 
gers and  threatenings  of  those  dark  times  should  be 
taken  into  account  in  estimating  the  character  of  the 
recommendation.  Captain  Marshall  was  at  this  time 
about  sixty  years  of  age,  but  it  cannot  be  doubted 
that  his  martial  spirit  was  at  once  aglow,  and  that  he 
became  active  in  the  military  council,  if  not  in  the 
field.  A  most  creditable  number  of  soldiers  were  im- 
mediately on  the  march  from  Lynn. 

A  sad  event  occurred  near  the  tavern  on  a  dreary 
night  in  February,  1681.  Samuel  Worcester,  a  rep- 
resentative to  the  General  Court  from  Bradford,  had 
walked  from  that  town  to  attend  an  adjourned  ses- 


sion. When  he  reached  Captain  Marshall's  ever 
hospitable  door  he  was  chilled  and  extremely  weary, 
and  sought  shelter  and  entertainment.  But  from 
some  cause  he  could  not  be  accommodated.  Think- 
ing that  he  might  find  lodging  with  a  friend  farther 
on,  he  departed.  In  the  morning  he  was  found  in  a 
kneeling  posture,  in  the  middle  of  the  road,  dead. 
He  was  a  son  of  Rev.  William  Worcester,  and  dis- 
tinguished for  his  public  spirit  and  his  piety.  No 
doubt  the  event  caused  the  Captain  hours  of  keen  re- 
gret. 

The  worthy  Captain  dispensed  the  hospitalities  of 
the  famous  Anchor  for  forty  years.  He  was  a  model 
landlord,  attentive  to  guests,  well  versed  in  the  po- 
litical and  religious  movements  of  the  time,  both  here 
and  in  old  England,  and  able  to  intelligently  discuss 
all  the  stirring  questions  that  then  agitated  the  as- 
sembly in  the  village  tap-room  as  well  as  that  in  the 
hall  of  legislation.  And  he  seems  to  have  had  a 
good  share  of  that  sort  of  suave  underflow,  so  agree- 
able to  the  temporary  sojourner  at  the  wayside  inn. 
That  he  had  foibles  is  likewise  apparent ;  but  they 
appear  to  have  been  rather  attractive  than  displeas- 
ing. John  Dunton,  the  London  bookseller,  who 
passed  through  Lynn  in  1686,  and  who  was  an  uncle 
to  the  celebrated  John  Wesley,  thus  remarks  in  his 
journal:  "About  two  of  the  clock  I  reached  Capt. 
Marshall's  house,  which  is  half  way  between  Boston 
and  Salem  ;  here  I  staid  to  refresh  nature  with  a  pint 
of  sack  and  a  good  fowl.  Capt.  Marshall  is  a  hearty 
old  gentleman,  formerly  one  of  Oliver's  soldiers,  upon 
which  he  very  much  values  himself  He  had  all  the 
history  of  the  civil  wars  at  his  fingers' ends,  and  if 
we  may  believe  him,  Oliver  did  hardly  anything  that 
was  considerable  without  his  assistance ;  and  if  I'd 
have  staid  as  long  as  he'd  have  talked,  he'd  have 
spoiled  my  ramble  to  Salem."  This  genial  old  land- 
lord died  on  the  23d  of  December,  1689,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-three  years. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  picture  in  the  mind  scenes  such 
as  must  have  again  and  again  taken  place  in  and 
about  the  Anchor  during  the  administration  of  the 
worthy  captain.  Being  deeply  interested  in  military 
affairs  he  could  highly  enjoy  the  parades  of  the  colo- 
nial soldiery  ;  and  when  he  wa^  himself  in  command, 
it  cannot  be  doubted  that,  on  many  occasions,  the 
troops  were  summoned  to  perform  their  evolutions 
upon  the  green  that  sloped  from  his  house  down  to- 
wards the  river  bank.  We  can  almost  see  him  there, 
with  drawn  sword  and  commanding  voice,  ordering 
movements  such  as  enabled  him,  with  Oliver's  assist- 
ance, to  win  such  victories  in  the  civil  wars.  And 
there  we  see  him  stationing  here  and  there  behind 
some  rock  or  in  a  forest  confine  mock  Indian  squads, 
to  show  the  modes  of  savage  warfare  and  teach  his 
troops  to  meet  the  dusky  warrior's  strategy. 

Again,  on  occasions  when  the  Colonial  Governor 
undertook  his  eastern  tour,  as  was  customary  once  a 
year,    important   was   the   day  of  his  arrival  at  the 


324 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Anchor.  Early  in  the  morning  His  Excellency 
would  appear,  on  horseback,  with  gilded  trappings 
glistening  in  the  sun,  accompanied  by  his  secretary — 
one  who  in  this  day  might  be  called  a  reporter — and 
perhaps  two  or  three  other  dignitaries,  the  procession 
flanked  by  half  a  score  of  halberdiers,  preceded  by  a 
mounted  trumpeter,  and  perhaps  followed  by  a 
throng  of  amazed  red  men. 

Arrived  at  the  Anchor,  after  partaking  of  refresh- 
ments, always  the  best  that  the  cellar  or  the  larder 
afforded,  the  Governor,  seated  in  the  most  capacious 
chair,  announced  his  readiness  to  receive  all  such 
townsmen  as  desired  to  meet  him  for  a  free  inter- 
change of  views  on  the  condition  of  public  affairs, 
especially  as  bearing  on  their  own  local  well-being. 
These  discussions  were  dignified,  and,  no  doubt,  re- 
sulted in  much  good  to  individual  communities,  and 
possibly  matters  of  private  interest  were  sometimes 
cunningly  interwoven  to  personal  advantage. 

Another  picture  might  discover  an  excited  assem- 
bly at  the  Anchor,  perhaps  in  the  stirring  time  of  the 
Andros  administration,  the  discordant  voices  of  the 
blustering  group  in  the  common  room  rising  above 
the  surly  creaking  of  the  signboard  that  sways  in  the 
blast  without.  Some  are  urging  to  immediate  and 
determined  acts  of  violence,  clamorously  declaring 
their  readiness  to  join  in  any  uprising  that  shall  hurl 
every  would-be  oppressor  from  power,  while  the  more 
peacefully  inclined  and  the  village  sages  counsel  pa- 
tience and  moderation. 

The  scene  may  shift  to  a  winter  night,  dreary  with- 
out but  cheerful  within.  Before  the  blazing  oaken 
logs  and  upon  the  rude  benches  that  line  the  wall  are 
seated  the  worn  farmer,  the  fisherman,  the  woodsman 
and  the  laborer  of  every  degree.  Unambitious  and 
void  of  care,  they  sit  drowsily  gossiping,  and  occa- 
sionally drawing  forth  from  its  concealment  the 
corn-cob  pipe  for  a  languid  whiff,  till  the  fire  burns 
low  and  the  parting  mug  goes  round. 

But  a  prettier  picture  is  that  presented  when  the 
bright  moonbeams  glisten  on  the  crusted  snow,  and 
the  capacious  ox-sled,  with  its  boxed-in  freight  of 
happy  youth,  drives  up.  Its  approach  had  been  her- 
alded by  the  wave  of  maiden  laughter  that  rippled 
over  the  white  fields,  and  the  captain  has  donned  his 
best  doublet  and  prepared  his  best  cheer.  The 
sanded  parlor  is  radiant  with  tallow  dips,  and  savory 
fumes  float  from  the  culinary  precinct.  It  is  a  time 
of  rare  enjoyment  with  the  gallant  captain.  He  is 
young  again,  and  cannot  avoid  frequently  joining  in 
the  merry  sports.  And  then,  as  he  retires  to  the 
duties  of  the  snug  little  banquet-room,  behold  him 
beckon  a  young  man  aside  and  slyly  and  half  by 
signs  intimate  that  up  over  those  winding  back-stairs, 
in  the  attic  hall,  there  is  a  bright  fire  and  clean  floor, 
where  a  little  private  dance  may  be  enjoyed. 

It  does  not  appear  certain  who  the  immediate  suc- 
cessor of  Captain  Marshall,  as  landlord  of  the  Anchor, 
was. 


Zacheus  Norwood,  who  died  February  8,  1756, — 
if  the  stone  in  the  old  burying-ground  bearing  the 
name  is  erected  to  his  rnemory, — kept  it  for  many 
years,  and  it  ceased  to  be  called  the  Anchor.  His 
wife,  Susanna,  died  January  2,  1747,  but  he  married 
again,  and  his  widow  succeeded  him  in  the  management 
and  afterwards  became  the  wife  of  Josiah  Martin. 
The  house  was  long  famous  as  "  Norwood's  Tavern." 

The  matrimonial  adventures  of  Mr.  Norwood  seera 
to  have  been  of  a  varied  charactei'.  In  the  record  of 
intentions  of  marriage,  as  copied  by  Mr.  John  T. 
Moulton,  is  to  be  found  these  entries,  Mr.  Moulton 
remarking  that  a  pen  has  been  drawn  across  them : 
"June  2,  1734.  This  may  certify  that  whereas  the 
intention  of  marriage  betwixt  Zacheus  Norwood  and 
Mary  Eichards,  both  of  Lynn,  was  posted  by  me  the 
above  day ;  that  on  the  3d  day  of  June,  1734,  the 
above  said  Mary  Richards  forbid  the  banns."  .  .  . 
"December  3,  1734.  The  above-named  Mary  Rich- 
ards came  to  me  and  told  me  she  had  re-considered 
her  forbidding  the  banns  of  matrimony  betwixt 
Zacheus  Norwood  and  herself,  and  desired  me  to  give 
him  a  certificate."  Whatever  the  difficulty  was,  it 
appears  to  have  been  amicably  settled,  for  on  the  13th 
of  the  next  February  they  were  married.  She  died 
on  the  6th  of  April,  1736.  On  the  27th  of  October, 
1745,  was  published  his  intention  of  marriage  with 
Susannah  Bunnell,  of  Topsfield.  They  were  soon 
after  married,  and  she  died  January  2,  1747.  His 
third  wife  was  Lydia  Burrage,  whom  he  married 
April  19,  1750.  It  was  she  who  survived  him,  kept 
the  tavern  herself  for  some  time,  and  then  married 
the  wayward  Josiah  Martin. 

In  1759  that  laborious,  worthy  and  much-suffering 
frontier  Church  of  England  missionary.  Rev.  Jacob 
Bailey,  on  the  13th  of  December,  reached  here  on  his 
way  to  Boston,  having  walked  all  the  way  from  Glou- 
cester. He  found  a  rough  company,  who  much  dis- 
turbed his  needed  rest.  "We  had  among  us,"  he 
said,  "a  soldier  belonging  to  Captain  Hazen's  com- 
pany of  rangers,  who  declared  that  several  Frenchmen 
were  barbariously  murdered  by  them,  after  quarters 
were  given  ;  and  the  villain  added,  I  suppose  to  show 
his  importance,  that  he  split  the  head  of  one 
asunder,  after  he  had  fell  on  his  knees  to  implore 
mercy."  Captain  Hazen  never  taught  his  men  any 
such  savage  ways,  for  he  was  one  of  the  most  humane 
as  well  as  brave  commanders.  He  was  a  native  of 
Haverhill,  and  had  a  command  in  the  Crown  Point 
and  Louisburg  expeditions  in  1758  and  '59.  It  was 
in  one  of  these,  no  doubt,  that  the  villainous  act  of 
the  boastful  soldier  occurred.  Captain  Hazen  also 
distinguished  himself  under  Wolfe,  at  Quebec,  and 
as  a  commander  in  the  Revolution.  He  was  finally 
commissioned  as  a  brigadier-general  in  the  Continen- 
tal forces.  Dr.  Jonathan  Norwood,  a  graduate  of 
Harvard,  was  a  son  of  Zacheus,  the  keeper  of  the 
tavern. 

It  was  somewhere  about  the  year  1760  that  there 


LYNN. 


325 


drifted  into  Lynn  a  soldier  of  fortune  by  the  name  of 
JosiAH  Martin".  He  was  supposed  to  be  an  Eng- 
lishman, but  little,  if  anything,  was  known  of  his 
previous  life.  He,  however,  found  f;\vor  in  the  eyes 
of  Widow  Norwood,  and  she  married  him.  He  was 
very  eccentric,  and  by  his  waywardness  of  temper 
and  instability  of  character  is  believed  to  have  led 
her  a  very  uncomfortable  life.  He  evidently  knew 
how  to  behave  much  better  than  he  did,  for  at  times 
he  would  act  well  the  role  of  a  polished  gentleman. 
At  other  times  he  would  pretend  to  be  a  most  humble 
and  devout  Christian.  Mrs.  Martin  seems  to  have 
continued  in  the  chief  management  of  the  tavern, 
though  he  was  ostensibly  the  keeper.  Many  anec- 
dotes are  told  of  his  witty  sallies,  and  he  was  by  no 
means  destitute  of  humor.  He  was  much  given  to 
practical  jokes,  as  well  as  witticisms.  Rev.  Mr. 
Treadwell  was  minister  of  the  old  church  at  that  time, 
and  himself  fond  of  indulging  in  witty  sallies.  Mr. 
Lewis  says  that  on  a  certain  Sunday,  observing  that 
many  of  his  audience  had  their  heads  in  a  reclining 
posture,  he  paused  in  his  sermon  and  exclaimed,  "  I 
should  guess  that  as  many  as  two-thirds  of  you  are 
asleep  !"  Mr.  Martin,  raising  his  head,  looked  round 
and  replied,  "  If  I  were  to  guess,  I  should  guess  there 
are  not  more  than  one-half!"  The  next  day  Mr. 
Martin  was  brought  up  for  disturbing  divine  service, 
but  he  contended  "it  was  not  the  time  of  divine  ser- 
vice ;  the  minister  had  ceased  to  j^reach,  and  it  was 
guessing  time.''  He  was  accordingly  discharged.  It 
is  said  that  he  once  rod^  two  miles  to  attend  meeting 
on  a  warm  June  Sunday,  in  a  double  sleigh,  with  a  span 
of  horses,  the  dust  flying  and  the  runners  grating 
horribly  and  striking  fire  at  every  step.  And  his 
wife  was  a  forced  passenger  by  his  side,  wrapped  in  a 
heavy  bear- skin  robe.  However,  she  was  not  long 
subjected  to  his  harassing  impositions,  for  on  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Revolution  he  enlisted  in  the 
Continental  army,  marched  off,  and  was  never  heard 
from  afterward. 

John  Adams,  subsequently  President  of  the  United 
States,  but  then  a  young  lawyer  traveling  his  circuit, 
accompanied  by  his  wife,  mentions,  under  date  of  No- 
vember 3,  1766,  having  "oated''  at  Martin's,  on  his 
way  to  attend  the  court  at  Salem.  And  returning  a 
few  days  after,  he  again  "oated"  at  Martin's,  "where 
we  saw,"  he  add-,  "  five  boxes  of  dollars,  containing, 
as  we  were  told,  about  eighteen  thousand  of  them,  go- 
ing in  a  horse-cart  from  Salem  Custom-House  to  Bos- 
ton, in  order  to  be  shipped  to  England.  A  guard  of 
armed  men,  with  swords,  hangers,  pistols  and  muskets 
attended." 

This  brings  us  to  another  important  period  in  the 
history  of  this  famous  tavern,  to  wit,  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Revolution.  It  was  now  that  Jacob 
Newhall  became  landlord,  and  for  many  years  on- 
ward it  was  known  as  Newhall's  Tavern,  as  is  shown 
by  the  newsjiapers  and  other  dingy  publications  of 
the  day.     Mr.  Newhall  was  a  native  of  the  town,  and 


a  descendant  from  one  of  the  first  settlers,  was  then 
about  thirty-five  years  of  age,  and  had  previously  pur- 
sued the  occupation  of  husbandman.  Being  an  ardent 
son  of  liberty,  one  of  his  first  acts  was  to  remove  tlie 
sign  on  which  was  pictured  the  British  emblem  of  the 
lion  and  unicorn,  that  had  swayed  for  some  years 
from  the  post  in  front,  and  substitute  the  hopeful 
emblem  of  a  rising  sun.  He  was  a  most  liberal  pro- 
vider, and  unwearied  in  his  endeavors  to  make  his 
house  a  real  "  traveler's  home."  During  the  war  his  en- 
engies  were  often  taxed  to  their  utmost  to  make  suit- 
able provision  for  the  unexpected  descent  of  a  squad 
or  even  an  entire  company  of  hungry  soldiers.  So 
vigilant  was  he  that  it  is  said  he  did  not  for  some 
years  retire  to  bed,  but  obtained  fitful  rest  in  an  arm- 
chair. To  be  ready  for  emergencies,  he  kept  on  hand 
fatted  cattle  that  might  be  promjitly  slaughtered,  and 
their  flesh  hastily  cooked  in  the  great  boilers  he 
had  set.  His  kitchen  garden  comprised  six  acres, 
and  under  his  skillful  management  yielded  an  inex- 
haustible store  for  summer  use,  as  well  as  a  surplus 
to  be  added  to  his  field  crops  for  use  at  other  seasons. 
He  was  extremely  benevolent  toward  his  needy 
neighbors,  and  especially  to  the  families  of  soldiers 
who  had  marched  to  the  war.  Even  the  vagrant 
tramp  was  not  sent  empty  away.  Among  other  nota- 
ble guests  during  the  administration  of  Mr.  Newhall 
was  President  Washington,  who  paused  here  in  Octo- 
ber, 1788,  as  he  was  proceeding  eastward.  And  four 
years  before,  1784,  Gen.  Lafayette  made  a  halt  there. 

Mr.  Newhall  continued  landlord  till  1807,  a  period 
of  more  than  thirty  years;  and  then,  the  infirmities 
of  age  having  somewhat  impaired  his  physical  powers, 
he  retired.  But  he  still  continued  to  labor  to  some 
extent  as  a  farmer  till  near  the  end  of  his  life,  which 
took  place  on  the  18th  of  June,  1816, at  the  age  of  sev- 
enty-six. One  of  his  generous  disjjosition  could 
hardly  be  expected  to  accumulate  much,  and  he  ap- 
pears to  have  died  in  rather  reduced  circumstances, 
though  not  in  penury. 

It  is  evident  from  contemporary  accounts  that  this 
tavern  was,  during  the  Revolution,  one  of  the  most 
notable  in  these  parts.  Being  on  the  great  road  along 
which  flowed  the  travel  from  all  places  east  of  Boston, 
and  having  established  an  unimpeachable  name  for 
hospitality,  it  was  never  disregarded  by  the  marching 
soldier  or  the  traveling  civilian. 

Under  various  names  and  different  landlords  for 
some  time  after  the  retirement  of  Landlord  Newhall 
the  house  continued  to  dispense  its  hospitalities.  But 
a  cloud  came  over  its  prospects.  The  turnpike  from 
Salem  to  Boston — the  portion  in  Lynn  being  what  is 
now  known  as  Western  Avenue — was  opened  in  1803, 
and  rapidly  diverted  the  travel  from  the  old  road. 

As  the  "Anchor"  was  situated  just  within  what  is 
now  the  town  of  Saugus,  then  a  part  of  Lynn,  its  his- 
tory will  not  be  overlooked  in  the  sketch  of  that  town, 
and  doubtless  many  racy  and  captivating  details  will 
be  added  to  what  is  here  given. 


326 


HrSTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


From  quite  early  times  there  had  been  other  houses 
of  entertainment  in  different  parts  of  the  town;  but 
none  of  them  came  to  be  of  much  account.  There 
was  "  Ward's  Tavern  "  (which  possibly  may  have  been 
the  old  "Anchor,"  bearing  another  name  for  a  short 
time  before  Mr.  Norwood  assumed  the  keepership). 
It  was  in  1750  tiiat  a  New  York  merchant  stopped 
here  while  traveling  eastward.  He  remarks  that  he 
put  up  at  Mr.  Ward's,  in  "  Lyn,  which  is  a  small 
country  town  of  about  two  hundred  houses,  very 
pleasantly  situated,  and  affords  a  beautiful  rural  pros- 
pect." He  arrived  at  about  one  o'clock  and  "  dyn'd 
on  fryd  codd."  After  dinner,  being  refreshed  by  a 
glass  of  wine,  he  pursued  his  journey  to  Salem, 
"  through  a  barren,  rocky  country,"  and  the  next  day, 
after  visiting  Marblehead,  returned  to  Boston,  stop- 
ping again  at  Mr.  Ward's,  where  he  "  dyned  upon  a 
fine  mongrel  goose." 

Timothy  Tomlins  was  licensed  in  1636  to  "keepe  a 
house  of  intertainment."  He  was  a  farmer  and  a 
man  of  probity,  but  his  house  did  not  attain  much 
celebrity  as  a  stopping-place  for  travelers,  it  being 
somewhat  remote  from  the  great  traveled  road.  He 
was  among  those  who  commenced  the  settlement  of 
Southampton,  L.  L,  in  1640,  but  did  not  remain 
there.  He  was  also  one  of  the  Cambridge  land  pro- 
prietors. The  extensive  range  of  low  forest  land  and 
tangled  bog  lying  a  short  distance  northwest  of 
Dungeon  Rock,  in  our  Lynn  woods,  and  still  known 
as  Tomlins's  Swamp,  was  a  part  of  his  estate.  He  was 
thirteen  times  a  representative  in  the  General  Court, 
and  in  other  positions  faithfully  served  the  town.  In 
1634  he  was  appointed  overseer  of  the  "  powder  and 
shott  and  all  other  amunicon  "  of  the  plantation. 

In  1664  Theophilus  Bayley  was  licensed  to  keep  a 
public-house. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  Revolution  there  was  a  tav- 
ern kept  in  the  old  house  at  the  corner  of  Federal  and 
Marion  Streets.  The  landlord  was  Increase  Newhall, 
and  it  was  used  as  an  alarm  station — that  is,  a  place 
at  which,  when  an  alarm  occurred,  the  enrolled  men 
in  the  district  instantly  reported  for  duty.  At  one 
time,  in  1776,  there  was  a  midnight  alarm  that  the 
English  had  landed  at  King's  Beach.  There  was 
presently  great  commotion  throughout  the  town,  for 
the  meeting-house  bell  and  the  drums  had  spread  the 
alarm  to  all  quarters.  At  the  tavern  station  here 
spoken  of  the  men  promptly  rallied,  but  the  com- 
mander was  not  visible.  They,  however,  quickly 
marched  under  other  orders.  It  proved  to  be  a  false 
alarm,  and  they  all  returned  safe.  And  then,  to  their 
amusement,  the  pusillanimous  commander  emerged 
from  an  oven  in  which,  panic-stricken,  he  had  been 
concealed.  It  was  during  this  alarm  that  Frederick 
Breed,  who  lived  in  the  vicinity,  displayed  so  much 
courage  and  tact  in  rallying  the  men  and  marching 
them  to  the  supposed  point  of  danger  that  he  re- 
ceived a  commission  in  the  army,  and  finally  rose  to 
the  rank  of  colonel. 


We  now  come  down  to  the  time  when  the  old 
Lynn  Hotel  was  erected.  This  establishment  be- 
came quite  as  famous  as  had  been  the  Anchor  in  its 
palmiest  days. 

It  was  in  1803  that  the  Turnpike  leading  from  Sa- 
lem to  Boston  was  opened,  making  the  shortest  and 
most  direct  route  for  the  eastern  travel  to  reach  the 
metropolis.  Then  old  Boston  Street,  which  had  so 
long  been  the  chief  highway  through  Lynn,  was 
doomed  to  lose  its  prestige,  its  honors  and  much  of 
its  thrift.  When  the  building  of  the  Turnpike  was 
projected  there  was  much  croaking  and  head- 
shaking,  as  there  always  is  when  great  improvements 
are  proposed.  One  good  man,  for  instance,  testified 
that  at  some  point  where  the  route  lay  over  the  salt 
marshes,  he  had  run  a  pole  down  twenty-five  feet! 
It  was  an  expensive  road,  but  was  soon  made  a  very 
good  one.  By  the  charter  it  was  to  revert  to  the 
commonwealth  when  the  proprietors  had  received 
the  whole  cost,  with  twelve  per  cent,  interest.  Ac- 
cordingly, in  1869,  legislative  action  being  had,  it  be- 
came a  public  highway.  That  part  lying  in  Lynn  is 
now  called  Western  Avenue,  and  affords  a  fine,  level 
driveway  of  several  miles,  say  from  the  hills  of  old 
Chelsea  to  the  Floating  Bridge  in  Lynn,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  Farrington's  Hill.  In  the  old  days  of 
horse-racing,  the  portion  lying  over  the  marshes 
southwest  of  the  hotel  was  the  scene  of  some  famous 
races.  It  was  there  that  Major  Standpole's  "Old 
Blue  "  won  his  vaunted  victory,  trotting  three  miles 
in  eight  minutes  and  forty-two  seconds.  This  was  on 
the  6th  of  September,  1816,  and  is  said  to  have  been 
the  first  horse-trot  in  the  country.  Of  late  years 
equine  contests  of  a  different  sort  are  held  in  the  por- 
tion of  the  avenue  lying  immediately  northeastward 
from  the  hotel.  On  every  pleasant  day  in  winter, 
when  thei'e  is  good  sleighing,  numerous  gay  turn- 
outs, drawn  by  the  fleetest  steeds  of  which  the  town 
can  boast,  and  many  from  other  towns,  may  be  seen 
there  in  friendly  trials  of  speed.  And  a  merry  time 
have  the  excited  spirits,  young  and  old. 

Immediately  after  the  opening  of  the  Turnpike  the 
post-office,  which  had  been  kept  on  Boston  Street, 
near  the  corner  of  North  Federal,  was  removed  to 
the  southern  end  of  Federal  Street,  where  it  joined  the 
turnpike,  as  the  mails  would  come  that  way,  and 
business  began  to  gather  in  the  same  quarter. 

Lynn  Hotel  was  built  during  the  year  in  which 
the  Turnpike  was  opened — 1803.  The  most  exten- 
sively known  landlord  was  Andrew  S.  Breed,  the  elder. 
He  took  the  house  in  1813,  and  under  his  supervision 
it  attained  an  enviable  reputation,  especially  for  the 
excellence  of  its  table  and  the  promptness  with  which 
the  largest  demands  of  guests  would  be  met.  He  was 
a  very  stirring  man  and  recognized  by  every  one  in 
the  streets,  as  he  sallied  forth  on  his  brawny  roadster, 
in  his  yellow  top-boots  and  coat  of  sporting  cut.  In 
addition  to  his  large  business  at  the  hotel  he  did  a 
good  deal   of  farming,  and   many  of  us   can  well   re- 


LYNN. 


327 


member  the  jolly  husking-parties  which  in  harvest- 
time  assembled  at  his  bidding  to  divest  the  yellow 
ears  of  their  rustling  robes,  and  at  evening  received 
our  reward  in  the  banquet  of  baked  beans  and  Indian 
jjudding,  with  relays  of  apples  and  cider.  He  was 
not  a  man  who  could  pass  noiselessly  through  the 
world,  or  who  could  yield  much  to  what  he  deemed 
the  unreasonable  demands  of  those  about  him  ;  in 
short,  he  was  of  what  is  called  an  arbitrary  disposition, 
rather  boisterous  in  language,  and  strict  in  his  re- 
quirements of  those  in  service  under  him.  No  lazy 
man's  excuses  ever  weighed  with  him.  Mr.  Breed 
was  father  of  the  filth  mayor  of  Lynn. 

It  was  to  this  hotel  that  True  Moody,  the  colored 
out-door  servant,  so  long  and  so  well  known  to  trav- 
elers by  his  alert  attentions,  and  so  much  esteemed 
for  his  obliging  disposition,  was  attached  for  some 
forty  years.  In  person  he  was  stout,  and  possessed 
in  a  well-developed  form  all  the  physical  peculiarities 
of  the  African  race.  His  mouth  was  capacious  and 
answered  the  novel  purpose  of  a  temporary  savings- 
bank,  for  in  it  he  was  accustomed  to  deposit  the 
pecuniary  gratuities  that  were  sometimes  lavishly  be- 
stowed by  guests,  till  he  could  find  time  to  remove 
them  to  a  more  suitable  place,  or  till  he  required  his 
mouth  for  a  more  legitimate  purpose.  And  there  is  an 
account  of  a  wager  by  some  young  men  as  to  the 
amount  of  silver  change  in  his  mouth  at  a  given 
time.  To  determine  the  bet,  he  consented,  wi*h  his 
usual  good  nature,  to  discharge  the  deposits  into  a 
bowl,  when  they  were  found  to  amount  to  a  little 
more  than  five  dollars,  the  whole  being  in  small  pieces. 
By  his  gains  in  this  humble  way  he  was  enabled  to 
secure  a  comfortable  home  and  respectably  support  a 
family.  By  the  failure  of  the  Nahant  Bank,  in  1836, 
he  lost  some  hundreds  of  dollars.  And  by  the  East- 
ern Railroad,  which  was  built  soon  after,  diverting 
the  travel  from  the  hotel  quarter,  his  income  was 
greatly  reduced.  It  is  said  that  at  this  depressing 
period  he  was  accustomed  to  retire  to  a  corner  of  the 
deserted  stable  and  weep.  He  died  on  the  17th  of 
June,  1855,  at  a  rather  advanced  age,  though  proba- 
bly far  below  that  of  ninety-seven  years,  as  some  of 
the  newspapers  asserted.  It  is  not  likely  that  he  or 
any  one  else  knew  his  exact  age. 

The  history  of  old  Lynn  Hotel,  which  remained  so 
I  long  in  such  high  repute,  is,  perhaps,  more  full  of 
stirring  incident  than  that  of  almost  any  other  es- 
tablishment of  the  kind  in  this  quarter  of  the  country. 
The  leading  men  of  the  nation — Presidents  and 
Governors — traveling  statesmen,  scholars  and  men  of 
leisure  from  other  lands,  were  here  entertained,  as 
well  as  the  roving  multitude  of  tradesmen  and  others 
of  every  calling  and  profession.  Many  a  great  states- 
men, military  hero  and  orator  has  addressed  the 
assembled  multitudes  from  the  little  balcony  over  the 
southern  door,  and  the  writer  of  this  sketch,  by 
memory's  aid,  plainly  sees  the  commanding  form  of 
President  Jackson  firmly  poised,  as  he  addresses  the 


enthusiastic  throng,  his  sententious  oratory  more 
than  half  drowned  by  the  prolonged  cheering.  From 
that  modest  balcony,  too,  has  many  and  many  a  time 
irradiated  the  choice  eloquence  of  the  ambitious  local 
politician. 

An  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  travel  by  stage  at 
about  this  time  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that 
in  1836  twenty-three  stages  left  Lynn  Hotel  for  Bos- 
ton daily,  and  there  were  also  usually  several  extras. 
They  belonged  to  the  Salem  and  Eastern  lines.  These 
were  the  brightest  days  of  the  old  stage-coach,  and 
the  gaudy  ones  of  the  Salem  Line  and  the  more  lum- 
bering ones  from  the  east  drew  up  at  those  hospita- 
ble portals  at  all  hours,  that  the  passengers  might 
alight  for  the  relief  of  their  cramped  limbs,  and,  per- 
haps, for  a  little  convivial  entertainment  at  the  bar, 
the  jolly  drivers  shouting  their  brief  orders  with 
diplomatic  unction.  Private  carriages,  baggage- 
wagons  and  teams  of  all  descriptions,  too,  were  con- 
stantly passing  and  pausing.  And  for  baiting  and 
protection  from  inclement  weather,  an  unbroken  line 
of  horse-sheds  extended  along  the  whole  eastern  side 
of  Centre  Street,  from  North  Common  to  the  Turn- 
pike, and  sometimes  every  one  of  them  was  occupied, 
with  an  overplus  hitched  to  posts  on  either  side  of 
the  house. 

For  about  thirty-five  years  from  the  time  the  Turn- 
pike was  opened  and  the  hotel  built,  incidents  which 
had  drawn  the  tide  of  travel  from  old  Boston  Street, 
there  was  a  business  activity  and  enterprise  centering 
thereabout  such  as  one  who  has  known  Lynn  for 
only  the  last  twenty  years  can  hardly  realize.  The 
post-ofl5ce  was  there,  and  so  were  the  principal  stores, 
the  lawyers  and  many  of  the  largest  manufacturers. 
The  shoe  manufacturers  of  those  days,  by  the  way, 
did  not  congregate  about  a  common  centre,  as  they 
now  do,  but  were  planted  in  every  neighborhood. 
The  manner  in  which  the  business  was  then  con- 
ducted made  it  just  as  well  and  more  economical. 
The  old-time  shoemaker  has  disappeared,  and  shoe- 
making  machinery  taken  his  place,  so  that  now,  as  a 
necessity,  large  numbers  of  workmen  must  assemble 
together  in  huge  factories.  Combinations,  such  as 
Lasters'  Unions  and  Knights  of  Labor  assemblies, 
could  hardly  have  been  formed  in  the  days  when 
only  half  a  dozen  worked  together  in  the  little  shops 
that,  standing  widely  asunder,  dotted  our  whole  terri- 
tory. Those  were  days  of  individual  independence, 
individual  responsibility  and  unfettered  efibrt  for  in- 
dividual advancement. 

Foot-journeying  was  much  more  common  in  those 
days  than  in  these  railroad  times,  when  it  is  more 
economical  to  ride.  The  cost  of  riding  was  then  a 
material  item,  especially  as  there  was  no  considerable 
saving  of  time,  for  a  smart  pedestrian  would  often 
reach  Boston  about  as  soon  as  a  "  slow  coach "  or 
slugo-ish  horse.  The  turnpike  on  some  great  occa- 
sions, like,  for  instance,  a  famous  military  parade  or 
an  execution,  swarmed  with  j^edestriaus,  and  there 


328 


HTSTOEY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY.  MASSACHUSETTS. 


were  often   good-natured   trials    of   sj^eed    between 
strangers  as  well  as  friends. 

It  need  not  be  said  tliat  in  the  early  days  of  the 
Anchor,  travel  by  horseback  and  sometimes  even  by 
bull  back  was,  in  a  great  measure,  necessary,  for  the 
roads  were  stumpy,  stony  and  gullied,  so  that  wh'-eled 
vehicles,  if  any  had  them,  could  be  but  little  used. 
When  a  journey  could  be  accomplished  by  water, 
however,  that  mode  was  usually  adopted,  the  light 
Indian  skifl'  proving  remarkably  serviceable  where 
the  course  lay  near  the  shore.  Jonathan  Dickenson, 
of  Philadelphia,  in  a  letter  to  William  Smith,  Febru- 
ary, 1697,  says  "  In  14  days  we  have  an  answer  from 
Boston,  once  a  week  from  New  York,  once  in  three 
weeks  from  Maryland,  and  once  a  month  from  Vir- 
ginia." Then  came  various  kinds  of  lumbering  con- 
veyances; but  it  was  many  years  before  regular  lines 
of  any  sort  of  conveyance  were  established.  Mr. 
Lewis  says  that  the  "  stage  "  which  John  Stavers  put 
on  to  run  from  Portsmouth  to  Boston,  in  1761,  was 
the  first  in  New  England.  It  was  a  curricle,  drawn 
by  two  horses,  and  had  seats  for  three  peisons.  It 
left  Portsmouth  on  Monday  morning,  stopped  the 
first  night  at  Ipswich,  and  reached  Boston  the  next 
afternoon.  Returning,  it  left  Boston  on  Thursday 
and  reached  Portsmouth  on  Friday.  The  fare  was 
thirteen  shillings  and  sixpence — somewhere  between 
three  and  four  dollars  of  our  present  money — besides 
the  expenses  by  the  way.  President  Quincy,  who,  in 
the  early  part  of  the  present  century,  was  wooing  the 
fair  lady  of  New  York  who  afterward  became  his 
wife,  thus  feelingly  speaks  of  the  difficulties  that  be- 
set his  way  :  "  The  carriages  were  old  and  shackling, 
and  much  of  the  harness  made  of  ropes.  One  pair 
of  horses  carried  us  eighteeu  miles.  We  generally 
reached  our  resting-place  for  the  night,  if  no  accident 
intervened,  at  ten  o'clock,  and,  after  a  frugal  supper, 
went  to  bed  with  a  notice  that  we  should  be  called  at 
three  next  morning — which  generally  proved  to  be 
half-past  two.  Then,  whether  it  snowed  or  rained, 
the  traveler  must  rise  and  make  ready  by  the  help  of 
a  horn  lantern  and  a  farthing  candle,  and  proceed  on 
his  way,  over  bad  roads,  sometimes  with  a  driver 
showing  no  doubtful  symptoms  of  drunkenness, 
which  good-hearted  pa-^sengers  never  failed  to  im- 
prove at  every  stopping-place,  by  urging  upon  him 
the  comfort  of  another  glass  of  toddy.  Thus  we 
traveled  eighteeu  miles  a  stage,  sometimes  obliged  to 
get  out  and  help  the  coachman  lift  the  coach  out  of  a 
quagmire  or  rut,  and  arriving  in  New  York  after  a 
week's  hard  travelling  [from  Boston],  wondering  at 
the  ease  as  well  as  the  expedition  with  which  our 
journey  was  effected.''  It  was  to  difficulties  like 
these,  too,  that  the  Lynn  shoe  "  bosses  "  were  sub- 
jected in  their  trips  southward,  for  at  that  period  the 
customers  did  not  often  come  to  Lynn  to  make  their 
purchases,  but  were  sought  for  at  their  own  homes. 
And  their  reflections  during  the  perilous  journeys, 
tinged,  as  they  were,  by  business  perplexities,  must 


have  been  very  diff'erent  from  those  that  stimulated 
the  ardent  Quincy. 

The  palmy  days  of  the  stage-coach  were  also  the 
palmy  days  of  the  Lynn  Hotel.  Both,  too,  were 
thrown  into  the  shade  at  the  same  time  and  by  the 
same  means — to  wit,  the  construction  of  the  Eastern 
Railroad.  A  good  deal  of  romance  clusters  around 
the  old  stage-*,  and  there  is  little  wonder  that  even 
novv  sometimes  companies  of  aged  men,  remembering 
the  jolly  rides  of  their  youth,  should  wish  to  live 
over  some  especially  happy  episode.  So  we  occasion- 
ally hear  of  a  "tally-ho"  expedition,  with  its  old- 
time  turn-out,  its  yet  merry  driver,  trembling  under 
the  weight  of  years,  and  its  resounding  horn  again 
wakening  the  echoes  of  the  hills.  On  the  12th  of 
June,  1878,  a  party  of  twelve  gentlemen,  mostly  quite 
aged,  and  all  lovers  of  old-time  customs,  set  out  from 
Newburyport  to  enjoy  a  ride  to  Boston  in  the  old- 
fashioned  four-horse  stage-coach  of  their  boyhood. 
The  driver  was  a  veteran  of  the  road,  and  eighty-one 
years  of  age.  The  start  was  propitious  and  the  ride 
enjoyable,  till  they  reached  Lynn,  when,  near  the 
junction  of  Western  Avenue  and  Washington  Street, 
an  axle  broke  and  the  stage  was  overturned.  Two  or 
three  of  the  passengers  were  seriously  injured,  and 
the  aged  driver  received  a  severe  shock  to  his  system, 
beside  painful  bruises. 

It  was  in  1838  that  Lynn  was  invaded  by  the  East- 
ern Railroad,  which  soon  wrought  very  great  altera- 
tions ;  business  centres  were  changed,  giving  rise  to 
sectional  jealousies,  which  festered  for  a  number  of 
years.  The  field  of  operation  for  the  young  aspirant 
for  wealth  seemed  expanding,  and  there  began  to  be 
high  hope  and  expectation  of  renewed  and  augmented 
prosperity,  though  it  was  during  one  of  the  most 
protracted  periods  of  business  depression  through 
which  the  country  had  ever  passed. 

As  early  as  1828  a  proposition  to  construct  a  rail- 
road from  Boston  to  Salem  began  to  be  seriously  con- 
sidered, and  a  circular  was  sent  out  from  the  House 
of  Representatives  to  various  towns  in  the  vicinity, 
seeking  information  from  which  a  judgment  could  be 
formed  as  to  the  expediency  of  undertaking  so  for- 
midable an  enterprise,  either  by  individuals  or  the 
State.  The  circular  sent  to  Lynn  was  addressed  to 
the  editor  of  the  Mirror,  and  was  responded  to  after 
evidently  careful  investigation ;  and  some  of  the 
statements  may  properly  be  introduced,  as  showing 
the  then  condition  of  things  here,  in  several  2>articu- 
lars. 

"The  principal  manufacture  of  Lynn  is  shoes.  Of  these  it.  appears 
that  1,(38,189  pairs  are  annually  made,  which,  at  four  shillings  a  pair, 
will  amount  to  8692,120.  These,  as  they  are  usually  packed,  will  till 
11,535  boxes,  the  transportation  of  which,  at  one  shilling  a  box,  will 
cost  S1922.50.  It  is  considered  that  about  three-fourths  of  the  above 
amount  returns  to  Lynn  in  sole  leather  and  other  articles  for  the  manu- 
facture of  shoes,  in  English  and  West  India  goods  and  other  merchan- 
dise, the  transportation  of  which  may  be  fairly  estimated  at  $5708.  The 
article  of  flour  alone,  250'J  barrels,  at  S6.00  a  barrel,  would  amount 
to  8^15,000,  the  transportation  of  which  would  cost  8750.  The  transpor- 
tation of  the  same  amount  in  shoes  would  cost  only  8-41.67.     And  many 


LYNN. 


329 


other  heavy  articles  will  bear  an  equal  proportion.  The  transportation 
of  a  barrel  of  flour  from  Boston  to  Lynn  is  30  cents,  about  the  same  as 
the  conveyance  from  Baltimore  to  Boston. 

[Swamp^ott  and  Nahant  were  at  that  time  parts  of  Lynn.]  "There 
have  been  about  1000  tons  of  fresh  fish  and  50  tons  of  cured  fish  conveyed 
on  the  turnpike  as  far  as  Charlestown  during  the  past  year,  the  trans- 
portation of  which,  at  twenty  siiillings  a  ton,  amounts  to  $3500.  Fifty 
barrels  of  oil  have  also  been  extracted,  the  transportation  of  which,  at 
two  shillings  a  barrel,  cost  816.0(3. 

"  The  other  articles  transported  on  the  Boston  route  are  GO  tons  of 
liay,  70  tons  of  chocolate,  20  tons  of  grain,  50  tons  of  cocoa,  20  tons  of 
rice,  30  tons  of  ginger,  IG  tons  of  neat  hides,  12  tons  of  leather,  27  tons 
of  goat  and  kid  skins,  85  tons  of  sumac,  9  tons  of  iron,  3G  tons  of  coal,  30 
tons  of  barberry  root  and  200  tons  of  marble, — making  in  all  671  tons, 
the  transportation  of  which,  at  twenty  shillings  a  ton,  amounts  to 
$223G.fi7.  Besides  these,  a  large  amount  of  goods  is  annually  conveyed 
to  the  dye-house  and  [silk]  printing  establishment. 

"The  average  number  of  passengers  is  about  11  each  day,  for  300 
days  of  the  year,  the  amount  of  whose  conveyance,  at  81.25  each,  is 
84125.  The  amount  paid  by  Lynn  people  for  tolls  is  probably  about 
$2100. 

"  By  this  statement  it  appears  that  the  annual  expense  to  the  town  of 
Lynn,  on  the  Boston  route  is  81'J,608.33. 

"The  amount  of  property  invested  in  baggage  wagons  is  about 
84000." 

By  the  foregoing  it  will  be  seen  how  small  an 
amount  Lynn  could  then  promise  for  the  support  of 
a  railroad.  And  several  interesting  facts  are  dis- 
closed by  individual  items.  What  most  surprises 
one,  perhaps,  is  the  small  number  of  passengers — an 
average  oi  eleven  daily,  and  that  with  a  thrifty  popu- 
lation of  6000.  There  was  comparatively  little 
inducement  for  any  excepting  business  men  to  visit 
the  city.  The  few  retail  "  shopping "  necessities 
could  be  met  at  home,  and  the  expense  of  the  visit, 
both  in  time  and  money,  was  to  be  looked  at.  Many 
went  to  Boston  but  once  or  twice  a  year,  and  some 
not  more  than  twice  in  a  lifetime. 

The  few  leading  business  men  went  up  once  a  week 
in  their  own  "teams,"  two  sometimes  joining,  one  fur- 
nishing the  conveyance  and  the  other  paying  the  tolls 
and  for  house-baiting.  Such  were  the  terms  on  which 
two  prominent  townsmen — Samuel  MuUiken  and 
Jeremiah  Bulfinch — on  a  chilly  November  day,  set 
out.  Mr.  Bulfinch  furnished  the  conveyance,  and 
Mulliken  was  to  pay  the  expenses.  When  they  arrived 
at  Charlestown  in  the  forenoon  they  found  that  an  ad- 
ditional toll  or  something  of  the  sort,  to  the  amount 
of  six  cents,  had  been  recently  levied.  It  was  what 
neither  had  calculated  on,  and  so  Mr.  M.  contended 
that  each  should  pay  half;  but  Mr.  Bulfinch  declared 
that  he  would  pay  no  part  of  the  six  cents.  They  were 
equally  matched  for  stubbornness,  and  sat  there  argu- 
ing and  disputing  till  the  declining  sun  warned  them 
that  it  was  time  to  turn  the  horse's  head  homeward. 
And  home  they  rode,  each  probably  exulting  in  his 
triumph.  This  incident  was  related  to  the  writer  by 
one  of  the  parties.  "And,"  he  added,  his  counte- 
nance radiating  with  the  rekindled  fire  within,  though 
he  was  then  more  than  eighty  years  old,  "  I  would  have 
set  there  till  this  time,  before  I  would  have  paid  it !  " 

Some  of  the  small  manufacturers   were  accustomed 
to  go  to  Boston  on  foot,  do  their  buying  and  selling 
and  return  in  the  same  manner. 
2U 


Another  thing  mentioned  in  the  answer  to  the  cir- 
cular is  the  amount  of  coal  brought  hither  at  that 
time — only  thirty-six  tons — and  probably  a  consider- 
able portion  of  even  that  was  bituminous,  or  such  as 
blacksmiths  use.  Anthracite  was  then  just  coming 
into  use  in  New  England,  wood  being  still  almost  ex- 
clusively used  for  fuel,  excepting  that  in  a  few  country 
places  peat  afforded  a  partial  supply.  But  enough  of  this. 

Old  Lynn  Hotel  has  not  yet  closed  its  portals, 
though  its  business  has  greatly  decreased.  During  the 
long  period  of  more  than  eighty  years,  since  it  was 
erected,  its  hospitable  doors  have  remained  invitingly 
open  for  the  traveler's  entertainment.  Other  houses 
in  the  vicinity  have  in  the  meantime  been  opened 
and  closed.  Even  the  stately  Boscobel  has,  within  a 
few  months,  retired  from  the  field.  But  there  the  old 
hotel  remains,  ever  and  anon  renewing  its  appoint- 
ments and  changing  its  administration  as  years 
move  on,  becoming  less  and  less  an  object  of  interest 
as  those  who  were  familiar  with  the  forms  of  the  elder 
Breed,  of  Deacon  Field  and  of  the  vigilant  "  True  " 
pass  away. 

A  few  words  regarding  one  or  two  others  of  the 
earlier  hotels,  and  matters  connected  with  them,  may 
be  given  before  we  pass  on  to  other  topics. 

It  was  in  1810  that  the  once  famous  Mineral  Spring 
Hotel  was  built.  The  situation  was  retired  and  ro- 
mantic in  the  extreme.  Almost  surrounded  by  green 
hills  and  woods,  and  having  at  its  very  feet  a  beauti- 
ful lakelet,  it  was  for  years  deemed  a  most  charming 
resort.  It  received  its  name  from  the  mineral  spring 
which  was  early  discovered  near  the  border  of  the 
pond,  and  stood  on  rising  land  about  midway  be- 
tween the  turnpike  and  the  old  Danvers  road,  just 
upon  the  western  border  of  Salem.  The  waters  of  the 
spring  are  impregnated  with  iron  and  sulphur,  and 
were  formerly  much  esteemed  for  their  good  effects  in 
scorbutic  and  pulmonary  diseases.  Dr.  John  Caspar 
Eichter  van  Crown inscheldt,  who  was  reputed  to  have 
been  educated  at  the  University  at  Liepsic,  and  to 
have  fled  from  Germany  on  account  of  a  duel,  and 
who,  by  the  way,  was  an  ancestor  of  the  prominent 
and  respectable  Crowninshield  family  of  the  present 
day,  purchased  the  adjacent  lands  and  settled  there 
about  the  year  1690.  The  celebrated  Cotton  Mather 
visited  him  in  his  picturesque  retreat,  partook  of  the 
waters  of  the  spring  and  in  one  of  his  works  extols  their 
virtues.  Earlier  than  this,  however,  the  spring  was 
known,  for  in  1669  a  description  of  the  boundary  line 
between  Lynn  and  Salem  speaks  of  it  as  a  "  noated 
spring." 

But  the  hotel  here  has  now  for  many  years  been 
numbered  with  the  things  that  were.  In  1847  Mr. 
Richard  S.  Fay  purchased  the  estate,  together  with 
many  adjacent  acres,  and  formed  there  a  most  attrac- 
tive and  salubrious  summer  retreat,  repairing  and  re- 
modeling the  house  and  embellishing  the  grounds  in 
a  manner  to  render  it  a  fit  residence  for  one  of  wealth 
and  refined  taste. 


330 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


The  Mineral  Spring  Hotel  had  one  or  two  landlords 
of  high  reputation,  whose  character  assured  the  most 
unobjectionable  and  liberal  management.  Among 
them  was  Major  Jabez  W.  Barton,  afterwards,  for 
many  years,  host  at  the  Albion,  in  Boston.  But  there 
were  one  or  two  attempts  to  sully  its  fair  fame  ;  nota- 
bly, in  1833,  Dr.  Hazeltine,  a  well-known  and  reputa- 
ble physician,  wrote  a  communication  which  was  pub- 
lished in  the  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal, 
speaking  very  slightingly  of  the  waters  of  the  spring, 
and  in  highly  derogatory  terms  of  the  management  of 
the  hotel.  This  elicited  several  sharp  replies,  and  it 
seemed  finally  satisfactorily  settled  that  the  house, 
with  the  exception  of  occasional  disreputable  epi- 
sodes—such as  all  public-houses  are  liable  to — had 
maintained  a  fair  character.  A  forcible  writer  in  one 
of  the  papers  of  the  day  said :  "  We  know  not  which 
most  to  condemn,  the  illiberal  terms  in  which  he 
[Dr.  Hazeltine]  attempts  to  stigmatize  one  of  the  most 
respectable,  quiet  and  unobjectionable  resorts  of  fami- 
lies and  parties  in  the  summer  season  from  Salem  and 
Boston,  or  the  downright  ignorance  which  he  mani- 
fests concerning  the  qualities  of  the  spring  water.  We 
have  said  before,  and  we  repeat  it,  that  we  know  of  no 
place,  far  or  near,  possessing  so  many  natural  attrac- 
tions and  offering  so  many  real  comforts  and  conven- 
iences to  genteel,  intelligent  and  moral  people  as  this 
summer  retreat,  nor  one  with  a  more  upright  and  every 
way  worthy  gentleman  at  its  head,  than  are  to  be 
found  at  the  Lynn  Mineral  Spring  Hotel."  This  was 
written  at  the  time  Major  Barton  was  landlord. 

Perhaps  it  is  incumbent  to  say  something  of  the 
great  hotel  and  other  public-houses  of  Nahant,  es- 
pecially those  established  while  the  peninsula  re- 
mained a  part  of  Lynn ;  but  as  the  writer  of  the  sketch 
of  that  town  will  no  doubt  say  all  that  is  necessary,  it 
might  prove  unneeded  labor. 

Nor  is  it  necessary  to  speak  individually  of  the 
present  hotels  of  Lynn.  We  have  a  considerable 
number,  and  they  are  of  various  grades,  from  those 
reckoned  as  high-class  even  down  to  those  which,  in 
by-gone  days,  went  by  the  name  of  "  salt-hay  "  hos- 
telries.  Our  business  has  been  more  especially  with 
the  taverns  of  former  times — the  wayside  monuments 
of  the  past — around  which  cluster  so  much  ot  the  true 
history  and  the  romance  of  our  early  days.  The  gen- 
erations that  knew  them  have  nearly  passed  away ; 
but  their  fame  will  survive  in  story  long  after  their 
crumbling  walls  have  disappeared.  They  have  ever 
furnished  for  the  historian,  the  poet  and  the  dreamy 
novelist  many  of  their  most  jovial,  touching  and 
tragic  incidents,  and  long  will  they  continue  so  to  do. 
And  as  to  the  modes  of  travel,  what  more  need  be 
said? 

"  We  have  spanned  the  world  with  iron  rails, 
And  the  steam -king  rules  us  now." 


CHAPTER   XXI. 

LYNN— ( Con«imted). 
MISCELLANEOUS   TOPICS. 

Indian  Deed  of  Lynn— Lynn'' s  Colonies — Slavery  (ind  iU  Abolition — History 
of  Free  Masonry  in  Lynn — Drinking  Customs  and  Temperance  Move- 
ments—Free Public  Forest. 


Sometimes  the  gleaner's  quickened  sight 

A  wealthy  prize  may  spy, 
Which  in  the  reaper's  duller  light 

Was  passed  unheeded  by. 


—  Old  Ballad. 


Indian  Deed  op  Lynn. — The  Indian  deed  of 
Lynn,  which  may  be  found  recorded  in  the  registry  at 
Salem,  bears  the  date  September  4,  1680.  It  is 
really  a  mere  release  of  all  the  remaining  interest,  if 
any  existed,  of  the  grantors,  as  heirs  of  Sagamore 
Wenepawwekin  or  George  No-Nose,  so  called,  and 
no  doubt  a  precautionary  measure,  designed  to  show  that 
the  Indian  title  had  been  fairly  extinguished.  It 
was  executed  in  the  troublous  times  of  the  Andros  ad- 
ministration, a  period  when  real  estate  titles  were 
greatly  confused.  Yet,  though  Andros  had  declared 
that  an  Indian  signature  was  of  no  more  value  than  the 
scratch  of  a  bear's  claw,  he,  in  1689,  asked  Rev.  Mr. 
Higginson  whether  New  England  was  the  King's  ter- 
ritory, and  received  the  reply  that  it  belonged  to  the 
colonists,  because  they  held  it  by  just  occupation 
and  purchase  from  the  Indians. 

The  grantors  affirm  in  the  deed  that  their  ancestor, 
the  Chief  Wenepawwekin,  was  the  true  and  sole 
owner  of  the  territory  of  Lynn,  notwithstanding  the 
possession  of  the  English.  And  they  also  affirm  that 
there  had  been  no  legal  dispossession.  There  were 
many  real  and  many  colorable  purchases  and  sales  be- 
fore this  deed  ;  for,  to  say  nothing  of  the  cupidity  of 
the  settlers,  their  red  brethren,  as  a  general  thing, 
would  sell  anything  for  which  they  could  find  a  pur- 
chaser, whether  they  had  a  title  to  it  or  not ;  and  they 
would  sell  the  same  thing  over  and  over  again  as  long 
as  a  purchaser  appeared.  Gross  fi'aud  was,  no  doubt, 
in  individual  instances  practiced,  but  the  summary 
exercise  of  authority  by  the  General  Court  probably 
rectified  many  wrongs.  On  the  6th  of  September, 
1638,  the  General  Court "  agreed  that  the  Court  of 
Assistants  should  take  order  for  the  Indians,  that  they 
may  have  satisfaction  for  their  right  at  Linn."  The 
"  right ''  is  not  specified,  but  seems  to  relate  to  land. 

The  Indians  were  not  an  agricultural  nor  a  pas- 
toral people,  and  had  no  conception  of  the  value  of 
land  for  the  uses  of  civilized  life.  Poquanum,  called 
Duke  William  by  Mr.  Wood,  in  his  "  New  England's 
Prospect,"  and  Black  Will  in  certain  depositions 
among  the  Salem  court  files,  was  Sachem  of  Nahant. 
And  he  could  hardly  have  placed  a  speculative 
value  on  his  beautiful  dukedom,  to  have  sold  it 
to     Mr.    Dexter     for    a    suit    of    clothes,    though 


LYNN. 


331 


possibly  he  indulged  in  a  vagrant  chuckle  over  his 
bargain,  as  it  was  finally  determined  that  he  had  no 
title  to  the  peninsula,  which  fact  he  probably  knew 
all  along. 

This  Poquanura,  or  Black  Will,  by  the  way,  was 
quite  a  character  in  his  time,  and  somewhat  of  a  rover. 
It  is  supposed  that  ho,  was  the  same  Indian  who  ap- 
peared in  a  full  suit  of  English  clothes,  to  welcome 
Gosnold,  in  1602.  But  where  he  obtained  his  outfit 
does  not  seem  to  be  known.  His  sale  of  Nahant  and 
the  persistent  claims  of  his  grantee  occasioned  the 
town  much  vexation  and  expense.  The  end  of  this 
wily  Indian  was  tragical.  Some  vessels  had  sailed 
eastward  in  search  of  pirates  who  had  been  commit- 
ting depredations  and  atrocities  in  various  places 
along  the  coast.  At  Scarborough,  Me.,  they  fell  in 
with  Poquanum,  and  straightway  hanged  him,  be- 
cause some  Indians  had,  more  than  a  year  before, 
murdered  one  Bagnall,  a  pestilent  fellow,  whom 
Winthrop  says  "had  much  wronged  the  Indians." 
This  was  retaliating  in  a  summary  rather  than  a  just 
way,  it  being  altogether  improbable  that  Poquanum 
had  any  hand  in  the  murder.  Indeed,  Winthrop 
says  the  killing  was  by  "  Squidraysett  and  his  In- 
dians." 

The  tragic  death  of  Poquanum  occurred  in  Janu- 
ary, 1633.  He  seems  to  have  been  intelligent,  gener- 
ous in  disposition  and  friendly  to  the  settlers.  He 
left  a  son  who  was  also  named  Poquanum,  who  lived 
to  old  age,  and  was  well  known  in  the  colony.  Gookin, 
in  1686,  says :  "  He  is  an  Indian  of  good  repute  and 
professeth  the  Christian  religion."  He,  too,  was 
friendly  to  the  whites,  and  rendered  efficient  service 
during  the  great  King  Philip  War. 

Nothing  further  need  be  said  regarding  the  Indian 
deed  of  Lynn.  But  the  general  remark  may  be 
added  that  there  was  a  great  deal  of  looseness  about 
Indian  titles  in  this  vicinity.  It  can  almost  be  said 
that  heirship  was  sometimes  asserted  on  no  better 
ground  than  that  the  claimant  had  slain  a  former 
owner.  Mr.  Higgiuson,  the  first  minister  of  Salem, 
in  a  letter  dated  in  1629,  says :  "  The  Indians  are  not 
able  to  make  use  of  the  one-fourth  part  of  the  land ; 
neither  have  they  any  settled  places  as  towns,  to 
dwell  in,  nor  any  grounds  as  they  challenge  for  their 
own  possession,  but  change  their  habitation  from 
place  to  place."  But  they  soon  began  to  learn  from 
the  settlers  something  of  the  utility  of  reforming  their 
nomadic  life;  and  then  followed  a  conception  of  the 
value  of  land. 

Lynn's  Colonies. — Affairs  in  Lynn  had  hardly 
become  established  in  good  running  order  when  some 
of  the  restless — or  it  might  be  more  pleasing  to  say 
enterprising — spirits  began  to  look  for  new  fields  of 
adventure.  In  less  than  a  score  of  years  from  the 
commencement  of  the  settlement  many  families  de- 
parted and  planted  new  towns,  among  which  were 
Sandwich  and  Yarmouth,  in  Massachusetts;  South- 
ampton and  Flushing,  on  Long  Island  ;  and   Stam- 


ford, in  Connecticut.  New  Haven,  too,  was  indebted  to 
Lynn  for  one  of  her  first  and  most  efficient  founders, — 
Captain  Nathaniel  Turner,  who  is  spoken  of  in  another 
connection  in  this  sketch.  He  it  was  who  purchased 
from  the  Indians  the  territory  forming  the  now  beau- 
tiful town  of  Stamford,  on  the  New  York  and  New 
Haven  Railroad,  which  purchase  was  brought  about 
in  a  rather  curious  way. 

The  captain's  Lynn  residence  was  on  Nahant  Street, 
near  that  of  his  friend  and  superior  officer,  John 
Humfrey.  On  the  breaking  out  of  the  Pequot  War, 
1636,  he  took  the  field  Avith  the  first  expedition  and 
became  so  pleased  with  the  territory  invaded  as  to 
determine  at  the  clo^se  of  hostilities  to  make  a  peace- 
ful invasion  and  form  a  settlement.  He  obtained  the 
tract  including  Stamford  by  fair  purchase  from  the 
Indian  Sagamores,  the  recorded  agreement  being  in 
these  words  :  "  I,  the  said  Nathaniel  Turner,  amm  to 
give  and  bring  or  send  to  the  above  said  Sagamores, 
within  the  space  of  one  month,  twelve  coats,  twelve 
howes  (hoes),  twelve  hatchets,  twelve  glasses,  twelve 
knives,  four  kettles,  four  fathoms  of  white  wampum." 

The  most  important  of  the  colonies  sent  out  from 
Lynn  at  this  period  was  that  of  Long  Island.  Thither 
went  some  forty  families,  and  with  them,  as  minister, 
the  Rev.  Abraham  Pierson,  a  man  of  learning  and 
ability.  He  took  with  him  his  little  son,  Abraham, 
who  was  born  here.  And  that  son,  in  1701,  became 
the  first  president  of  Yale  College.  They  sailed  in  a 
vessel  cornmanded  by  Captain  Daniel  Howe,  of  Lynn, 
who  apjjears  to  have  had  considerable  interest  in  the 
expedition.  They  proceeded  as  far  west  as  Scout's 
Bay,  landed  and  made  lodgments  at  Flushing,  Ja- 
maica, Hempstead,  Oyster  Bay  and  thereabouts.  But 
the  Dutch  soon  as-serted  their  right  to  the  territory 
and  a-sumed  a  decidedly  hostile  attitude.  Kieft  was 
then  the  Dutch  Governor,  and  Captain  Howe  being 
a  man  of  determination,  things  presently  began  to 
wear  a  threatening  aspect.  The  settlers  took  down 
the  arms  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  which  the  Dutch 
had  erected,  and  in  their  place  an  Indian  drew  an 
"  unhandsome  face,"  as  Winthrop  graphically  says, 
which  act  the  Dutch  took  "  in  high  displeasure." 
They  then  began  to  rear  habitations.  Naturally 
enough,  this  provoked  the  Dutch  Governor,  and  to 
such  a  degree  did  his  ire  attain  that  he  had  several 
arrested  and  imprisoned.  But  he  does  not  appear  to 
have  been  a  really  ill-natured  or  unreasonable  man, 
though  Washington  Irving  does  characterize  him  as 
"  William  the  Testy." 

On  their  promise  to  remove,  the  prisoners  were 
readily  released.  They  did  remove  some  eighty  miles 
eastward  and  commenced  the  permanent  settlement 
of  Southampton,  which  name  was  given  in  commem- 
oration of  the  port  in  England  from  which  some  of 
them  originally  came. 

Southampton,  thus  begun,  still  numbers  among  her 
people  many  who  descended  from  that  good  old  Lynn 
stock.     In  this  colonization  quite  a  number  of  the 


332 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


leading  residents  of  Lynn  were  concerned,  though 
some  whose  names  were  on  the  roll  did  not  emigrate. 
The  colony  grew  apace,  and  from  time  to  time  sent 
off  other  colonies  that  made  lodgments  in  various 
parts  of  the  island,  so  that  the  Long  Island  of  this 
day  owes  much  to  the  Lynn  of  that  day. 

These  colonists  evidently  carried  with  them  the 
ideas  of  freedom  and  equality  under  which  they  had 
prospered  here,  and  in  their  new  home  continued  to 
be  governed  in  a  thoroughly  democratic  way,  though 
at  one  time,  1644,  they  placed  themselves  professedly 
under  the  Hartford  jurisdiction.  ''The  government 
of  the  town,"  says  an  intelligent  native  writer,  "was 
vested  in  the  people.  They  assembled  at  their  town- 
meetings,  had  all  power  and  all  authority.  They 
elected  town  officers,  constituted  courts,  allotted  lands, 
made  laws,  tried  difficult  and  important  cases,  and 
from  their  decision  there  was  no  appeal.  The  Town- 
Meeting,  or  General  Court,  as  it  was  sometimes  called, 
met  once  a  month.  Every  freeholder  was  required  to 
be  present  at  its  meetings  and  take  a  part  in  the  bur- 
dens of  government.  All  delinquents  were  fined  for 
non-attendance  at  each  meeting.' 

The  Long  Island  enterprise  thus  inaugurated  by 
the  people  of  Lynn  was  really  of  a  good  deal  of  im- 
portance. It  was  with  James  Forrett,  as  agent  of 
Lord  Sterling,  that  the  negotiations  for  the  right  to 
occupy  the  land  were  made.  Winthrop  says,  "  Divers 
of  the  inhabitants  of  Linne,  finding  themselves 
straitened,  looked  out  for  a  new  plantation,  and 
going  to  Long  Island,  they  agreed  with  the  Lord  Ster- 
ling's agent  there,  one  Mr.  Forrett,  for  a  parcel  of  the 
isle  near  the  west  end,  and  agreed  with  the  Indians 
for  their  right."  The  emigrants,  however,  to  begin 
with,  had  a  difficulty  with  Agent  Forrett,  the  cause  of 
which  does  not  exactly  appear,  and  he  entered  a 
strong  protest  against  them  at  Boston  as  "  intruders." 
Then  the  troubles  with  the  Dutch  came,  but  by  per- 
sistence and  fair  dealing  the  settlers  soon  obtained 
favor  and  a  permanent  foothold. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  occupy  space  in  speaking  fur- 
ther of  the  colonies  that  early  went  out  from  Lynn. 
What  has  been  said  of  the  Long  Island  enterprise  in 
a  great  degree  characterized  the  others,  their  spirit 
and  purposes  being  much  the  same. 

Slavery  and  its  Abolition. — The  beginning 
of  slavery  in  Massachusetts  was  in  1638,  when  some 
of  the  captive  Pequot  Indians  were  sent  to  the  West 
Indies  and  sold  for  return  cargoes  of  cotton,  tobacco 
and  negroes,  but  in  1641  the  court,  in  a  loose  and  un- 
certain way,  set  its  face  against  such  servitude,  enact- 
ing that  "There  shall  never  be  any  bond  slaverie, 
villianage  or  captivitie  amongst  us,  unless  it  be  law- 
full  captives  taken  in  just  warres,  and  such  strangers 
as  willingly  selle  themselves  or  are  sold  to  us.  This 
exempts  none  from  servitude  who  shall  be  judged 
thereto  by  authoritie."  What  is  there  in  this  to  pre- 
vent negro  or  Indian  slavery?  Under  the  clause 
"such  strangers  as  willingly  sell  themselves  or  are 


sold  to  us,"  a  door  seems  to  be  widely  opened. 
Thomas  Keyser,  an  early  settler  of  Lynn,  was  a  mar- 
iner, and  appears  unscrupulously  to  have  engaged  in 
the  Guinea  slave  trade,  conjointly  with  James  Smith, 
of  Boston,  a  church  member.  Slaves  were  most  nu- 
merous in  the  province  in  1745.  In  1754  there  were 
four  hundred  and  thirty-nine  slaves  in  Essex  County, 
and  in  all  Massachusetts  forty -four  hundred  and 
eighty-nine.  In  1774  the  General  Court  passed  a  bill 
prohibiting  the  importation  of  slaves,  but  Governor 
Gage  refused  his  assent. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution  there 
were  twenty-six  slaves  in  Lynn,  among  them  one  be- 
longing to  Thomas  Mansfield,  named  Pompey,  a  na- 
tive prince  born  on  the  Gambia,  and  who  continued 
to  be  duly  honored  by  all  the  negroes  hereabout, 
holding  a  holiday  court  once  a  year  in  a  fragrant 
glade,  surrounded  by  his  gayly-clad  subjects,  who  had 
been  allowed  their  freedom  for  the  day. 

The  State  Constitution  Avas  established  in  1780. 
The  first  article  of  the  Declaration  of  Rights  asserts 
that  all  men  are  born  free  and  equal,  and  this  was 
generally  supposed  to  have  reference  to  slavery,  but 
it  was  a  point  on  which  there  was  by  no  means  una- 
nimity of  opinion.  In  1781,  however,  at  a  court  in 
Worcester,  an  indictment  was  found  against  a  white 
man  for  assaulting,  beating  and  imprisoning  a  black. 
The  case  finally,  in  1783,  went  to  the  Supreme  Court, 
and  there  the  defense  was  that  the  black  was  a  slave, 
and  the  beating  the  necessary  and  lawful  correction 
by  the  master;  but  the  defense  was  declared  invalid, 
and  this  decision  was  the  death-blow  to  slavery  in 
Massachusetts. 

As  to  the  later  movements  touching  the  abolition 
of  slavery  in  the  United  States,  it  may  be  remarked 
that  Lynn  raised  a  strong  and  by  no  means  uncertain 
voice  in  behalf  of  the  slaves, — a  cause  so  much  de- 
rided and  opposed  in  its  incipient  stages,  but  so  much 
applauded  when  it  had  become  popular. 

The  "Lynn  Colored  People's  Friend  Society"  was 
formed  in  1832,  but  it  is  thought  that  the  members 
really  did  more  for  the  cause  by  individual  than  com- 
bined action.  Nevertheless,  the  organization  was 
useful  in  arousing  and  centralizing  attention.  Speak- 
ers from  abroad  were  occasionally  here.  The  accom- 
plished and  piquant  Grimkie  ladies  from  the  South 
gave  one  or  two  stirring  addresses.  In  the  early  part 
of  the  summer  of  1835  George  Thompson,  the  promi- 
nent English  abolitionist,  visited  Lynn,  and  lectured 
in  several  of  the  meeting-houses  to  large  audiences. 
In  the  latter  part  of  the  summer  he  again  came  to 
Lynn  to  attend  a  meeting  of  the  Essex  County  Anti- 
Slavery  Society,  held  in  the  First  Methodist  meeting- 
house. Some  hostility  was  now  manifested  by  the 
opponents  of  the  movement.  In  the  evening,  while 
Mr.  Thompson  was  lecturing,  a  great  crowd  collected 
about  the  house,  and  a  stone  was  thrown  through  one 
of  the  windows,  causing  great  disturbance  within. 
A  large  number  pressed  into  the  entry  and  attempted 


LYNN. 


333 


to  burst  in  the  inner  doors,  whicli  had  been  closed. 
During  the  tumult  Mr.  Thompson  ended  his  dis- 
course, and  passed  out,  unobserved  by  the  crowd. 
He  was  presently  surrounded  by  a  guard  of  ladies, 
and  conducted  to  a  neighboring  house,  whence  he 
departed  privately  to  his  temporary  residence  at 
8wampscott.  Mr.  Thompson  was  here  again  in  1850, 
and  then  met  with  a  cordial  welcome.  He  had  a 
public  reception  by  his  Lynn  friends  at  Lyceum 
Hall,  which  stood  on  Market  Street,  at  the  corner  of 
Summer.  Though  the  weather  was  stormy,  the  hall 
was  well  filled,  and  Mr.  Thompson  delivered  a  felici- 
tous address. 

It  was  in  1850  that  Congress  passed  the  famous,  or 
as  many  regarded  it,  the  infamous  "Fugitive  Slave 
Law."  The  law  intended  to  facilitate  the  rendition 
of  slaves  escaping  into  the  free  States.  Much  hostil- 
ity to  the  act  was  manifested  in  Lynn,  and  several 
largely-attended  meetings  were  held,  at  which  it  was 
denounced  in  strong  terms.  On  Saturday  evening, 
October  5th,  a  full  and  enthusiastic  meeting  took 
place  in  Lyceum  Hall,  at  which  Mayor  Hood  presid- 
ed, and  at  which  resolutions  were  adopted  reaching 
to  the  very  verge  of  loyalty.  And,  though  one  or 
two  of  them  savor  strongly  of  the  nullification  doc- 
trine, they  may  well  be  introduced  here  as  indicative 
of  the  aroused  spirit  of  our  people  : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Fugititive  Slave  Bill,  recently  enacted  by  Con- 
gress, violates  the  plain  intent  and  the  strict  letter  of  the  United  States 
Constitution,  wliich  secures  to  every  citizen,  except  in  cases  of  martial 
law,  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  on  all  important  questions  ;  further,  said 
bill  outrages  justice,  since  it  does  not  secure  to  the  fugitive,  or  to  the 
free  man  mistaken  for  a  fugitive,  due  notice  beforehand  of  the  charge 
made  against  him,  and  opportunity  for  cross-examining  the  wit- 
nesses against  him  on  their  oath,  gives  him  no  time  to  get  counsel  or 
gather  testimony  in  his  own  behalf — rights  which  our  fathere  secured 
by  the  struggle  of  two  hundred  years,  and  which  are  too  dear  to  be  sac- 
rificed to  the  convenience  of  slave-hunters,  afraid  or  ashamed  to  linger 
amid  a  community  whose  institutions  and  moral  sense  they  are  out- 
raging. 

"Again,  said  bill  tramples  on  the  most  sacred  principles  of  the  common 
law,  and  even  if  men  could  be  property,  no  property,  however  sacred, 
can  claim  the  right  to  be  protected  in  such  away  as  endangers  the  rights 
and  safety  of  free  men;  therefore — 

"Resolved,  That  we  protest  against  it  as  grossly  unconstitutional,  as 
fraught  with  danger  to  the  safety  of  a  large  portion  of  our  fellow-citi- 
zens, and  capable  of  being  easily  perverted  to  the  ruin  of  any  one,  white 
or  black  ;  we  denounce  it  as  Infamous,  and  we  proclaim  our  determina- 
tion that  it  shall  not  be  executed. 

"  Resolved,  That  we  rejoice  to  believe  that  there  are  not  prisons 
enough  at  the  North  to  hold  the  men  and  women  who  stand  ready  to 
succor  and  protect  the  panting  fugitive  slave,  and  baffle  and  resist  the 
slave-hunter  who  shall  dare  to  pollute  our  soil. 

"Resolved,  That  every  man  who  voted  for  this  atrocious  bill,  every 
one  who  avows  his  readineas  to  execute  it,  and  every  one  who  justifies  it 
on  any  ground,  is  a  traitor  to  the  rights  of  the  free  States,  and  a  crimi- 
nal of  the  deepest  die,  at  the  head  of  whom  stands  Millard  Fillmore,  who 
from  party  or  even  b;iser  motives,  has  set  his  name  to  a  law,  the  pro- 
visions of  which,  so  far  from  being  fitted  for  a  Christian  republic,  re- 
mind one  only  of  the  court  of  Jeffries  or  the  camp  of  Haynau. 

"Resolved,  That  Samuel  A.  Eliot,  of  Boston,  in  giving  his  vote  for 
this  blood-hound  bill,  dishonored  and  betrayed  Massachusetts  ;  and  low 
as  is  often  the  moral  sense  of  a  great  city,  cankered  by  wealth,  we  rejoice 
to  know  that  he  misrepresented  his  immediate  constituents;  and  we  de- 
mand of  them,  in  the  name  of  our  old  commonwealth,  to  save  us  from 
the  infamy  of  his  presence  in  another  Congress. 

"Resolved,  That  since  God  has  commanded  usto'bewr.ay  not  him 
that  wandereth,'   and  since,  our  fathers  being  witnesses,  every   man's 


right  to  liberty  is  self-evident,  we  see  no  way  of  avoiding  the  conclusion 
of  Senator  Seward,  that  'it  is  a  violation  of  the  divine  law  to  surrender 
the  fugitive  slave  who  takes  refuge  at  our  firesides  from  his  relentless 
pursuers  ;'  and  in  view  of  this,  as  well  as  of  the  notorious  fact  that  the 
slave  power  has  constantly  trampled  under  foot  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  to  secure  its  own  extension  or  safety,  and  especially  of  the 
open,  undisguised  and  acknowledged  contempt  of  that  instrument  with 
which  the  slave  States  kidnap  our  colored  citizens  traveling  South,  and 
imprison  our  colored  seamen,  we,  in  obedience  to  God's  law,  and  in  self- 
defense,  declare  that,  constitution  or  no  constitution,  law  or  no  law, 
with  jury  trial  or  without,  the  slave  who  has  once  breathed  the  air  and 
touched  the  soil  of  Massachusetts,  shall  never  be  dragged  back  to  bond- 
age. 

"  Resolved,  That  Lewis  Cass  and  Daniel  Webster,  Senator  Foote  and 
Senator  Clay,  and  each  and  every  one  of  the  '  compromise  committee 
of  thirteen,'  who  reported  and  urged  the  passage  of  this  bill,  as  well 
as  every  one  who  voted  for  its  passage,  are  unworthy  the  votes  of  a  free 
people  for  any  office  for  which  they  may  be  hereafter  named." 

The  execution  of  John  Brown,"atCharlestown,  Va., 
adjudged  guilty  of  treason  for  attempting  by  armed 
force  to  free  slaves,  was  signalized  by  the  tolling  of 
church  bells  in  Lynn  at  sunrise,  noon  and  sunset  on 
Friday,  December  2,  1859,  the  day  of  execution. 

It  would  be  pleasing  to  give  the  names  of  those 
who  long  and  valiantly  fought  in  the  abolition  ranks, 
those  who,  under  reproach  and  sometimes  personal 
danger,  never  flinched  in  their  loyalty  to  the  great 
principles  of  h'-iman  liberty.  But  the  list  would  be 
too  long,  and  it  might  appear  invidious  to  select  a 
few.  James  N.  Bufl'um,  however,  should  not  be  for- 
gotten ;  nor  Frederic  Douglass,  who  was  for  some  time 
a  resident  here,  after  his  successful  flight  from  the 
South.  Some  of  the  more  zealous  of  the  early  ones 
lost  much,  of  their  influence  by  denouncing  the  church 
organizations  for  the  alleged  reason  that  their  position 
was  not  sufficiently  aggressive  on  that  and  some 
other  reformatory  questions.  They  were  called  Come- 
outers,  and  in  many  instances  their  turbulent  course 
tended  to  retard  rather  than  advance  the  cause  they 
really  had  at  heart 

To  one  who  knew  the  prominent  actors  in  the  re- 
formatory movements  of  this  community,  say  forty- 
five  years  ago,  particularly  the  movements  touching 
slavery  and  intemperance,  it  is  interesting,  if  not  won- 
derful, to  observe  the  change  of  public  opinion  regard- 
ing them.  No  better  examples  can  be  had  of  the  zeal 
and  perseverance  necessary  to  be  exercised,  of  the 
contumely  and  misconception  to  be  endured,  in  such 
a  warfare. 

But  the  end  of  slavery  came  in  a  manner  not  antici- 
pated in  those  earlier  days,  and  many  of  the  pioneers 
in  the  great  cause  lived  to  rejoice  over  the  removal 
of  the  national  disgrace.  Little  could  that  great  apos- 
tle of  freedom,  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  have  dreamed 
of  the  career  that  awaited  him,  and  of  the  lasting 
honors  that  would  surround  his  name  so  long  as 
American  principles  should  endure,  when,  in  his 
youthful  days,  he  quietly  pursued  his  humble  labors 
upon  the  shoemakers  bench,  in  the  little  seven  by  nine 
shop  on  Market  Street. 

History  of  Free  Masonry  in  Lynn. — A  brief 
history  of  the  ancient  institution  of  Free  Masonry 
cannot  be  ina[)propriate  in  this  sketch.    It  dates  back 


334 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


to  the  commencement  of  the  present  century.  Tra- 
dition informs  us  that  a  number  of  Masonic  brethren 
frequently  met  for  consultation,  and  concluded,  in  the 
early  summer  of  1805,  to  form  a  lodge.  These  breth- 
ren resided  in  the  western  part  of  the  town  and  lo- 
cated the  lodge  in  the  upper  room  of  a  small  wooden 
building  on  Boston  Street,  near  the  corner  of  North 
Federal.  The  founders  of  the  lodge  were  among  the 
foremost  citizens,  men  of  character  and  influence, 
whose  names  to  this  day  are  revered  by  the  fraternity. 
The  original  records  show  that  Amariah  Childs,  Ezra 
Collins,  Thomas  C.  Thatcher,  William  Frothingham, 
Frederick  Breed,  William  Ballard,  Francis  Moore,  Jr., 
Aaron  Breed,  Aaron  Learned,  Samuel  Brimblecom, 
Thomas  Witt,  Joseph  Johnson,  Jonas  W.  Gleason, 
Joshua  Blanchard,  David  Crane  and  Richard  John- 
fcon,  being  all  master  masons,  assembled  some  time 
about  the  1st  of  June,  1805,  and  agreed  to  form  them- 
selves into  a  brotherhood  by  the  name  of  Mount  Car- 
mel  Lodge ;  and  after  choosing  Amariah  Childs, 
Master  ;  William  Ballard,  Senior  Warden  ;  and  Fran- 
cis Moore,  Jr.,  Junior  Warden,  they  signed  a  petition 
to  the  Grand  Lodge  for  a  charter,  which  was  granted  at 
the  quarterly  communication  in  June  of  the  same 
year. 

Tlie  hall  of  Lynn  Academy,  then  recently  erected, 
on  South  Common  Street,  was  obtained,  fitted  up,  all 
necessary  regalia  procured  and  regular  meetings  com- 
menced. The  first  candidate  proposed  for  initiation 
was  Ezra  Mudge,  father  of  Ezra  Warren  Mudge,  the 
sixth  mayor  of  Lynn.  The  first  code  of  by-laws  was 
adopted  November  13th,  and  the  membership  limited 
to  fifty.  The  lodge  so  prospered  that  in  1807  an  in- 
vitation was  extended  to  the  Grand  Lodge  to  publicly 
install  the  officers.  The  use  of  the  old  parish  meeting- 
house was  procured  for  the  purpose,  and  there  the 
ceremonies  took  place,  the  Eev.  Asa  Eaton,  D.D., 
rector  of  Christ  Church,  Boston,  delivering  the  sermon. 
The  membership  was,  in  1818,  limited  to  seven ty-five, 
by  the  new  code  of  by-laws  then  adopted. 

In  1821  the  lodge  erected  for  its  use  the  two-story 
frame  building  which  long  stood  in  Market  Square,  at 
the  corner  of  Elm  Street,  and  was  known  as  Masonic 
Hall.  The  cost  was  $1,325.98.  The  corner-stone  was 
laid  June  25th,  with  Masonic  ceremonies,  Rev.  Chee- 
ver  Felch  delivering  the  address,  and  the  hall  was 
dedicated  November  12th. 

The  lodge  attended,  by  invitation,  the  laying  of  the 
corner-stoneof  Bunker  Hill  Monument,  June  17,1825. 
On  St.  John's  day,  June  24,  1826,  Brother  Caleb 
Gushing,  of  Newburyport,  delivered  a  learned  and 
eloquent  address  before  the  fraternity,  in  the  First 
Methodist  meeting-house. 

The  last  meeting  of  record,  previous  to  surrender- 
ing the  charter  of  Mount  Carmel  Lodge,  appears  to 
have  been  on  the  16th  of  December,  1834.  And  from 
that  time  until  June  11,  1845,  there  is  no  record  to 
show  that  the  lodge  was  called  together. 

During  the  decade  from   1835  to  1845  there  is  an 


unwritten  history  of  meetings  on  Long  Beach  and 
High  Rock  held  by  faithful  members  during  the 
stormy  and  troublous  anti-Masonic  period. 

The  charter  of  the  lodge  was  restored  on  the  11th 
of  June,  1845.  A  meeting  was  called  July  19th,  and 
officers  elected,  who  were  installed  July  23d,  and  from 
that  date  commenced  a  season  of  prosperity  which 
has  continued  without  interruption  to  the  present 
time.  The  first  person  to  receive  the  degrees  after  the 
revival  of  the  charter  was  Bradford  Williams,  the 
ceremony  taking  place  September  15,  1845. 

On  the  17th  of  February,  1851,  a  fire  destroyed 
much  of  the  property  of  the  lodge,  which  was  at  Lib- 
erty Hall,  at  the  corner  of  Essex  and  Market  Streets, 
where  the  meetings  were  held.  After  this  the  regular 
meetings  of  the  fraternity  were  held  at  the  house  of 
their  Worthy  Master,  W.  M.  Phillips,  until  Dec.  16th, 
when  they  met  in  a  hall  in  which  one  or  two  other  or- 
ganizations occasionally  assembled.  In  the  winter  of 
1854  the  hall  in  the  Sagamore  Building  was  fitted  up  and 
used  for  the  regular  convocations  of  the  lodge,  and  if 
those  old  walls  could  speak,  a  recital  of  the  history  of 
the  meetings  of  Mount  Carmel  Lodge  would  greatly 
interest  the  jjresent  members  of  the  fraternity  in  our 
city. 

On  the  29th  of  December,  1855,  the  first  book  of 
records  was  formally  closed,  having  served  the  lodge 
for  half  a  century.  And  on  September  7,  1857,  a  new 
code  of  by-laws  was  adopted,  to  which  is  appended 
the  names  of  sixty-one  members. 

On  the  8th  of  September,  1863,  Sutton  Chapter  of 
Royal  Arch  Masons  was  organized. 

On  the  14th  of  October,  1864,  upon  invitation  of 
the  Grand  Body,  Mount  Carmel  Lodge  assisted  in 
laying  the  corner-stone  of  the  new  Masonic  Temple, 
corner  of  Boylston  and  Tremont  Streets,  Boston. 

On  February  21,  1865,  Golden  Fleece  Lodge  was  duly 
organized,  and  had  for  its  first  three  officers  Timothy 
G.  Senter,  W.  M.;  Alonzo  C.  Blethen,  S.  W. ;  John 
G.  Dudley,  J.  W. 

April  10,  1865,  the  ladies  of  Lynn  i^resented  a 
beautiful  banner  to  Mount  Carmel  Lodge. 

July  4,  1865,  the  Masonic  fraternity  joined  in  the 
celebration  of  the  day. 

November  13,  1865,  an  invitation  was  received  from 
Mayor  Peter  M.  Neal  to  take  part  in  the  ceremonies 
of  laying  the  corner-stone  of  the  City  Hall ;  but  on 
December  11th  a  communication  was  received  from 
the  R.  W.  Grand  Master  refusing  to  grant  a  dispensa- 
tion for  the  lodges  to  appear  in  public  to  take  part  in 
the  ceremonies. 

October  8, 1866. — A  petition  was  received  and  con- 
sent given  for  the  formation  of  a  lodge  at  Saugus. 

June  24,  1867. — The  Masonic  fraternity  of  Lynn 
participated  in  the  dedicatory  services  of  the  new 
Masonic  Temple  in  Boston. 

June  28,  1872. — Died,  in  Lynn,  Jonathan  Richard- 
son, a  native  of  the  town,  aged  eighty-seven  years. 
He  was  one  of  the  early  members  of  Mount  Carmel 


LYNN. 


335 


Lodge,  and  tiler  for  more  than  forty  years.  He  re- 
mained a  faithful  adherent  to  the  institution  when  so 
many  of  the  brethren  withdrew,  in  the  troublous 
times  of  anti-Masonry.  His  burial  took  place  from 
the  First  Methodist  meeting-house,  and  was  attended 
by  a  large  number  of  the  fraternity. 

February,  1873. —  Olivet  Commaridery  of  Knights 
Templars  was  organized.  October  22d  there  was  a 
grand  parade,  attracting  much  attention. 

September  8,  1873. — Livitation  received  from  the 
city  government  of  Lynn  to  take  part  in  the  dedica- 
tion of  the  Soldiers'  Monument.  As  an  organization, 
however,  the  iraternity  did  not  join  in  the  ceremo- 
nies. 

May  12,  1879. — Invitation  received  from  Mayor 
George  P.  Sanderson  to  participate  in  the  celebration 
of  the  Two  Hundred  and  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the 
settlement  of  Lynn.  But  the  invitation  was  not  ac- 
cepted. 

December  8,  1880, — A  board  of  trustees  elected  to 
take  charge  of  the  hall  and  of  the  property  belonging 
to  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

May  9,  1881. — By-laws  adopted  granting  life  mem- 
bership in  Mount  Carmel  Lodge, 

October  8,  1881. — Grand  Master  S.  E.  Lawrence 
present  for  the  purpose  of  addressing  the  lodges  on 
the  commutation  of  the  Grand  Lodge  capitation 
tax. 

February  22,  1882. — Members  from  lodges  in  the 
Fifth  District  hold  a  meeting  at  Masonic  Hall  in 
Lynn,  for  exemplification  of  work  and  the  lectures 
connected  therewith.  Charles  M.  Avery,  Grand  Lec- 
turer, present  as  instructor. 

Mount  Carmel  Lodge,  soon  after  the  renewal  of  its 
charter,  in  1845,  began  steadily  to  increase  in  num- 
bers and  strength,  and,  from  time  to  time,  found  it 
necessary  to  seek  more  capacious  accommodations. 
Some  years  ago  the  hall  in  Tolman's  Building,  Mar- 
ket Street,  corner  of  Liberty,  was  leased  and  fitted  up 
in  becoming  style,  the  dedicatory  ceremonies  taking 
place  in  July,  1872.  But  now,  for  a  number  of  years, 
the  several  Masonic  organizations  have  occupied  the 
eligible  quarters  in  the  building  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association,  on  Market  Street. 

For  fifty-eight  years  Mount  Carmel  was  the  only 
lodge  in  Lynn.  But  there  are  now,  1887,  the  follow- 
ing Masonic  bodies : 

OrganitMlion.         3Iembership, 
188G, 

Mount  Carmel  Lodge  . liSOo  193 

Sutton  Royal  Arch  Chapter 1803  139 

Golden  Fleece  Lodge 1865  178 

Olivet  Commandery  Knights  Templar   .   .1873  117 

The  trustees  of  the  Masonic  fraternity  in  Lynn,  at 
the  present  time,  are:  William  D.  Pool,  president; 
George  H.  Allen,  treasurer  ;  William  B.  Phillips,  sec- 
retary ;  Charles  E.  Parsons,  Charles  C.  Fry. 

Drinking  Customs  and  Temperance  Move- 
ments.— Whether  our  jiredecessors,  as  occupants  of 
this  soil,  the  Indians,  were  ever  excessive  drinkers  is 


not  positively  known.  They  did  not  have  distilled 
liquors,  but  may  possibly  have  had  some  sort  of  herba- 
ceous concoction  that  operated  as  a  more  or  less  ine- 
briating stimulant.  But  they  had  nothing  that  in  its 
effects  would  compare  with  the  "  fire  water  "  brought 
by  their  pale-faced  supplanters.  Their  boisterous  or- 
gies, which  led  our  fathers  to  call  them  "  devil  wor- 
shippers," were  of  a  character  very  different  from 
"  drunken  sprees."  But  when  they  got  a  taste  of  the 
white  man's  fire  water,  having  no  restraining  moral 
sentiment,  their  lust  for  it  was  unquenchable.  The 
deplorable  result  need  not  be  recounted.  It  has  been 
said  that  the  first  instance  of  Indian  intoxication  in 
this  part  of  North  America  took  place  in  September, 
1609,  when  the  ship  of  the  celebrated  navigator, 
Henry  Hudson,  was  cruising  about  the  river  that  still 
bears  his  name.  For  the  curious  purpose  of  ascer- 
taining the  natural  disposition  of  the  natives  whom 
they  encountered,  it  is  said  the  navigators  resolved  to 
make  some  of  the  principal  ones  intoxicated.  To 
that  end,  ardent  spirits,  "  as  much  as  they  would," 
were  administered.  Only  one,  however,  became 
really  drunk,  though  all  reached  the  merry  stage. 
The  pranks  of  the  drunken  one  greatly  astonished 
and  alarmed  the  others,  who  imagined  that  an  evil 
spirit  had  entered  into  him.  The  next  day,  however, 
everything  having  calmed  down,  some  became  clam- 
orous for  a  renewal  of  the  experiment.  This,  as  re- 
marked, is  claimed  to  have  been  the  first  instance  of 
intoxication  ever  known  among  the  Indians.  Unhap; 
pily,  it  was  by  no  means  the  last.  Many  a  tract  of 
valuable  land  has  been  bought  of  an  Indian  for  a 
quart  of  rum,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  the  colo- 
nial authorities  to  prevent  such  nefarious  traffic. 
During  the  colonial  days  there  was  much  legislation 
in  regard  to  strong  liquors,  both  on  the  score  of  their 
proper  use  by  individuals  and  their  relation  to  the 
public  by  way  of  revenue.  But  we  must  treat  of  our 
own  neighborhood. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  Lynn  in  her  earlier  flays  was 
remarkable  for  abstinence  from  the  use  of  intoxicat- 
ing liquors.  There  were  causes  for  the  prevalence  of 
the  evil  habit  here  that  in  some  places  did  not  exist. 
It  was  the  custom  of  the  times  for  all  classes  to  use 
intoxicants  in  season  and  out  of  season.  Excepting 
in  rare  instances,  the  ministers  indulged ;  and 
the  doctors.  The  physical  injury  attending  the  use 
was  not  so  well  understood ;  nor  the  moral  effect.  At 
ordinations,  at  weddings,  at  funerals,  drink  freely 
flowed  ;  and  at  trainings  and  huskings  ;  indeed,  at 
all  quasi  social  and  public  gatherings;  to  say  nothing 
of  sly  indulgence  at  home.  An  illustrative  anecdote 
is  told  of  the  eccentric  Lois  Hart,  who  lived  on  the 
north  side  of  Boston  Street,  near  Federal.  During 
her  last  sickness  the  good  Doctor  Gardner  one  day 
remarked  to  her  that,  being  so  aged,  she  could  not  ex- 
pect to  long  survive,  and,  in  view  of  her  approaching 
end,  asked  if  he  should  not  invite  the  minister  to 
call.     "  Well,  yes,"  she   replied,  in  her  rude  way,  "  I 


336 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


should  like  well  enough  to  see  him;  and  when  you 
go  up  town,  call  into  some  of  the  grog-shops,  and 
when  you  see  him  ask  him  to  call."  The  end  of  the 
story  is  that  he  actually  was  found  in  one  of  the 
drinking  groceries,  and  blandly  received  the  mes- 
sage. 

But  especially  as  regards  the  youth  of  Lynn  :  The 
crews,  usually  consisting  of  five  or  six,  in  the  shoe- 
maker's little  shops  thought  it  necessary  to  have  their 
forenoon  and  afternoon  drams — in  winter  to  brace  up 
against  the  cold,  in  summer  to  brace  up  against  the 
heat.  It  was  customary  to  put  boys  into  the  shops  at 
the  age  of  twelve,  they  having  obtained  their  educa- 
tion by  that  time,  excepting,  perhaps,  the  little  they 
might  acquire  by  occasionally  attending  an  evening 
school.  They  were  of  just  the  age  when  character  for 
life  was  forming,  and  it  was  placing  them  in  a  most 
perilous  situation.  The  youngest  boy  in  the  shop  was 
usually  the  one  sent  out  for  liquor,  and  he  was  en- 
titled, on  his  return,  to  the  first  drink,  for  the  service, 
if  his  breath  did  not  betray  a  sly  imbibition  by  the 
way. 

But  it  is  not  true  that  people  were  universally  blind 
to  the  evils  of  strong  drink.  From  the  earliest  times 
there  were  some  wide  awake  on  the  subject.  The 
Lynn  emigrants  to  Long  Island,  soon  after  getting  well 
established  at  Southampton,  1655,  ordained  that  no  one 
should  sell  strong  liquors  within  the  town  bounds,  ex- 
cepting "our  neighbor,  John  Cooper ; "  and  he  was  not 
to  sell  to  any  Indian,  nor  to  any  but  those  who  would 
use  them  properly.  There  was  Dr..  James  Gardner, 
just  mentioned,  who,  before  the  present  century, 
pointed  out  the  evils  of  so  prevalent  indulgence,  and 
often  fearlessly  warned  his  patients  against  habits 
which  were  destroying  their  health,  as  well  as  ruining 
their  souls.  A  memorandum  of  his,  under  date  May 
31,  1796,  is  in  these  words:  "One  person  died  of 
chronic  illness,  said  to  have  been  occasioned  by  gross 
intemperance,  or  a  brutal  indulgence  of  the  destroyer, 
rum.  .  *  .  .  He  was  able  to  walk  to  a  considerable 
distance  to  procure  the  poison  only  six  days  before 
death  closed  the  scene  at  one  draught."  Mr.  Enoch 
Mudge,  from  whom  many  of  the  name  now  among  us 
descended,  was  a  rigid  abstainer,  never  allowing  spir- 
its in  his  house  or  shop.  He  was  grandfather  of  Hon. 
E.  R.  Mudge,  the  munificent  donor  of  St.  Stephen's 
Church. 

When  the  general  awakening  on  the  subject  of  in- 
temperance took  place,  more  than  half  a  century  ago, 
the  voice  of  Lynn  was  loudly  raised  against  the 
evil.  Sixty  years  ago,  in  1826,  a  society  was  formed 
here  for  the  promotion  of  "Industry  and  Temper- 
ance." It  soon  numbered  more  than  four  hundred 
members,  and  embraced,  with  few  exceptions,  the 
most  conspicuous  men  of  the  town.  The  membership 
in  1836,  fifty  years  since,  was  five  hundred  and  fifty. 
Its  president  then  was  Thomas  Bowler,  for  sixteen 
years  town  clerk.  The  society  was  at  that  time  com- 
posed largely  of  middle-aged  and  elderly  persons,  as 


in  the  meantime  two  other  societies,  embracing  more 
of  the  younger  men,  had  been  formed,  namely,  the 
Lynn  Young  Men's  Temperance  Society,  organized  in 
1833,  and  the  Lynn  Union  Temperance  Society,  formed 
in  1835.  This  latter  was  the  first  organization  here 
that  proscribed  wine,  cider  or  strong  beer,  which 
theretofore  had  not  been  popularly  reckoned  as  intoxi- 
cants. Of  this  society  Josiah  Nevvhall  was  the  first 
president,  and  George  W.  Keene  the  first  secretary. 

Lynn  soon  took  rank  among  the  most  zealous  tem- 
perance communities.  Rev.  Edwin  Thompson,  so 
well  known  for  the  last  forty  years  as  a  lecturer  on 
temperance  and  anti-slavery,  was  living  here,  and, 
though  young,  by  his  winning  ways  and  strong  argu- 
ments, did  much  to  advance  the  cause.  Liquors  soon 
began  to  be  banished  from  the  workshops  and  the  la- 
beled casks  from  the  stores.  It  Avas  even  facetiously 
said  of  one  or  two  zealots  that  they  cut  down  their 
apple  trees,  lest  the  fruit  should  be  made  into  cider — 
contrariwise  from  the  unsophisticated  old  Indian  who 
is  said  to  have  told  Mrs.  Whiting,  on  smacking  his 
lips  after  swallowing  the  mug  of  cider  she  had  given 
him,  that  he  thought  Adam  was  rightly  damned  for 
eating  the  apples  in  Eden,  as  he  should  have  made 
them  into  cider. 

When  the  shoemakers'  little  shops  were  displaced 
by  the  large  factories,  more  stringent  rules  were  neces- 
sarily established,  and,  as  a  matter  of  course,  the  ma- 
chinery was  run  without  the  oil  of  the  still.  One  of 
the  former  traps  for  the  young  was  thus  removed.  At 
the  present  time  few,  if  any,  places  in  sober  New 
England  can  boast  of  a  more  temperate  population 
than  Lynn.  It  would  be  useless  to  attempt  to  give 
details  respecting  the  many  temperance  organizations, 
male  and  female,  adult  and  juvenile.  Yet  the  cause 
here,  as  elsewhere,  requires  vigilant  and  unremitted 
watchfulness. 

There  are  now  some  fifteen  regular  temperance  or- 
ganizations in  Lynn,  besides  a  number  of  other  asso- 
ciations that  make  temperance  a  part  of  their  object. 

Free  Public  Forest. — A  voluntary  association 
was  formed  in  1881,  the  object  being,  in  brief,  the 
preservation  of  as  large  a  portion  as  may  be  of  the 
extensive  range  of  forest  land  yet  remaining  upon  our 
northern  border,  to  be  forever  devoted  to  the  free  use 
of  the  public  as  a  woodland  park.  Thus  far  about 
one  hundred  and  ten  acres  have  been  secured,  chiefly 
by  the  gift  of  those  who  owned  the  lands.  Twice  a 
year  individuals  most  deeply  interested,  with  invited 
guests,  assemble  in  some  romantic  spot,  on  hill-top  or 
in  glen,  which,  with  ceremonies  reminding  of  the  old 
mythological  days,  they  proceed  to  consecrate. 
Sometimes  it  is  in  memory  of  a  revered  departed  one, 
and  sometimes  of  a  marked  event.  An  "  altar,"  in 
the  shape,  perhaps,  of  a  mossy  boulder,  is  made  to 
bear  the  ceremonial  fire,  replenished  by  woodland 
gatherings  and  the  oil  of  incense.  The  participants, 
enwreathed  in  sylvan  spoils,  gather  around  with 
songs,  readings  and  inspiring   pageantry.     The  occa- 


LYNN. 


337 


sion  usually  calls  out  some  poem  or  address  well 
worthy  of  preservation.  For  instance,  there  were 
written  for  the  meeting  on  the  30th  of  May,  1886, 
four  little  poems,  which,  though  untoward  circum- 
stances prevented  their  being  sung,  were  published 
in  connection  with  the  account  of  the  proceedings. 
One  of  the  interesting  features  on  this  particular  day 
was  the  release  of  a  "Messenger  Dove."  Let  us 
quote  a  stanza  or  two  from  each  of  the  little  poems, 
as,  besides  their  appropriateness  to  the  occasion,  they 
afford  a  taste  of  the  qualities  of  some  of  our  local  ver- 
sifiers : 
By  RuTHiE  Turner  : 

"  Once  more  we  meet  at  spring's  return, 
And  lay  aside  each  weight  and  care, 
While  o'er  us  bend  the  leafy  trees. 

And  round  us  breathes  the  balmy  air. " 

By  Bessie  Bland  : 

"  To  God's  first  temple  we  repair, 

In  forest  aisle  to  rest ; 
Lo  !  from  the  sacred  altar  there. 

The  flame  uplifts  its  crest ! 
A  symbol  of  the  life  so  fair, 

That  glows  on  nature's  breast." 

By  Samuel  W.  Foss  : 

"  Fly  to  the  fields,  thou  white-winged  dove, 
Tell  all  their  leafy  bowers 
That  summer  comes  on  wings  of  love 
To  storm  the  land  with  flowers. 

"  Tell  to  the  hearts  bowed  down  with  grief 
That  joy  returns  again  ; 
That  summer  comes  with  flower  and  leaf, 
And  hope  renews  her  reign." 

By  Darius  Barry  : 

"  The  trees  and  rocks  my  brothers  are, 
There's  freedom  in  the  air, 
The  violet  and  the  mossy  stone 
Send  up  a  silent  prayer." 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  ceremonies  of  the 
"  camp  days  "  the  object  of  the  associates  is  assured- 
ly praiseworthy.  And  though  the  work  undertaken 
is  of  great  and  yet  undefined  proportions,  and  such  as 
in  no  probability  can  be  fully  accomplished  during 
the  lifetime  of  the  present  participants,  future  gener- 
ations will  doubtless  honor  the  effort.  But  setting 
aside  all  other  considerations,  these  spring  and  au- 
tumn woodland  gatherings  are  highly  enjoyable,  re- 
solving themselves  at  suitable  hours  into  picnic  en- 
tertainments, inspiring  social  intercourse  of  a  refining 
and  educating  character. 


22 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

LYNN  -{Continued). 

SHORT   NOTES,  CHRONOLOGICALLY   ARRANGED. 

"  Minute  historical  facts  are  to  history  as  the  nerves  and  siiieim,  the  veins 
and  arteries,  are  to  the  animated  bodies  ;  they  may  not  separately  exhibit 
much  of  use,  elegant  or  just  proportion,  but  taken  collectively,  they  furnish 
strength,  spirit  and  existence  itself.  An  historian  who  hath  neglected  to 
study  them  knows  but  the  half  of  his  profession,  and  like  one  who  is 
ignorant  of  anatomy,  sinks  into  a  mere  manual  operator." — Lodge. 

In  an  historical  sketch  of  circumscribed  limits  there 
are,  of  course,  many  topics  on  which  it  is  impossible 
to  dwell  at  large,  but  which  should  not  be  passed 
over  in  entire  silence,  and  in  some  instances  brief  re- 
capitulations seem  necessary.  In  the  hope,  therefore, 
of  supplying  deficiencies  the  following  summary  is 
introduced : 

1004.  Various  accounts,  derived  chiefly  from  an- 
cient Scandinavian  manuscripts,  have  led  to  the  belief 
that  certain  adventurous  navigators  visited  this  coast 
and  made  lodgments  much  earlier  than  any  perma- 
nent occupation  was  effected.  For  instance,  Thor- 
wald,  the  Northman,  a  son  of  Eric  the  Red,  is  claimed 
to  have  been  upon  the  New  England  coast  in  the 
year  1004,  and  to  have  landed  at  one  or  two  places. 
At  one  landing-place  he  was  so  charmed  by  the 
prospect  that  he  exclaimed, — "  Here  it  is  beautiful ! 
and  here  I  should  like  to  fix  my  dwelling! ''  And 
there,  indeed,  was  the  bluff  old  hero's  everlasting 
dwelling  fixed,  for  in  a  hostile  encounter  with  a 
swarm  of  savages,  that  presently  ensued,  he  received 
an  arrow  wound  that  speedily  proved  fatal.  As  life 
was  fast  closing  he  said  to  his  people, — "  I  now  ad- 
vise you  to  prepare  for  your  departure  as  soon  as 
possible ;  but  me  ye  shall  bring  to  the  promontory 
where  I  thought  it  good  to  dwell.  It  may  be  that  it 
was  a  prophetic  word  which  fell  from  my  mouth, 
about  my  abiding  there  for  a  season.  There  ye  shall 
bury  me,  and  i)lant  a  cross  at  my  head  and  also  at 
my  feet,  and  call  the  place  Krossanes  (the  Cape  of 
the  Cross)  in  all  time  coming."  He  died,  the  record 
adds,  and  they  did  as  he  had  ordered.  This  was  quite 
sentimental  for  a  rough  sea  rover,  but  indicates 
warmth  of  heart  and  imagination.  But  what  makes 
the  incident  interesting  to  the  people  of  Lynn  is  the 
supposition  long  since  put  forth  that  "  Krossanes  " 
was  Nahant,  so  long  a  part  of  our  own  territory. 
Possibly  the  supposition  is  correct,  but  those  loose 
Scandinavian  records  are  hardly  to  be  taken  as  con- 
clusive evidence,  especially  as  they  fail  to  fix  geo- 
graphical lines  with  any  certainty. 

1602.  The  celebrated  navigator,  Bartholomew  Gos- 
nold,  is  said  to  have  anchored  in  the  waters  of  Lynn 
this  year.  He  seems,  indeed,  to  have  been  the  first 
European  certainly  known  to  have  visited  Essex 
County.      He   sailed  from   Falmouth,   England,   in 


338 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


March,  1602,  and  reached  Massachusetts  Bay  on  the 
14th  of  May.  While  coasting  around  it  is  highly 
probable  that  he  cast  anchor  here,  and,  perhaps, 
landed  for  a  prospecting  tour.  But  he  did  not  long 
remain.  While  Gosnold  was  in  the  vicinity  he  was 
greatly  surprised  by  an  Indian,  dressed  in  English 
clothes,  coming  on  board  and  saluting  him  in  fair 
English.  And  that  Indian  is  believed  to  have  been 
Black  Will,  of  Lynn,  the  Sagamore  before  alluded  to. 
He  was  smart,  and  not  over-scrupulous,  as  his  sell- 
ing Nahant,  to  which  he  had  no  title,  to  Mr.  Dexter, 
for  a  suit  of  clothes,  very  well  proves. 

1614.  There  is  little  doubt  that  Captain  John 
Smith,  whose  life  was  saved  by  the  interposition  of 
the  dusky  heroine,  Pocahontas — if  the  tale  is  not 
mere  romance — was  here  in  1614,  and  was  struck  by 
the  grandeur  of  the  Nahant  cliffs,  which  he  compared 
to  the  "  Pieramides  of  Egypt."  And  for  the  benefit 
of  the  curious  in  such  matters  it  may  be  remarked 
that  the  redoubtable  captain  lived  at  one  time  in 
Lynn  Regis,  from  which  our  own  Lynn  took  its  name. 
He  served  in  a  counting-house  there,  but  finally  left, 
with  ten  shillings  in  his  pocket,  which  he  says  were 
contributed  by  friends  who  desired  to  get  rid  of  him. 
He  went  to  France  and  served  in  a  military  capacity 
there  and  in  other  countries.  In  1608  he  was  in  Vir- 
ginia, and  became  a  master-spirit  in  its  colonization. 
But  his  proijensity  for  roving  was  unconquerable, 
and  we  find  him,  a  few  years  later,  drifting  about 
the  New  England  coast.  It  ai)pears  to  have  been 
Captain  Smith  who  bestowed  the  name  New  England 
upon  our  territory,  it  having  previously  been  known 
as  North  Virginia.  Yet  he  was  not,  apparently,  very 
favorably  impressed  by  the  character  of  the  country 
or  the  climate,  as  he  remarked  that  he  was  not  so  sim- 
ple as  to  think  that  any  other  motive  than  wealth 
would  "  ever  erect  a  commonwealth  or  draw  company 
from  their  ease  and  humors  at  home "  to  occupy 
here. 

The  foregoing  visits,  however,  were  of  little  impor- 
tance so  far  as  any  direct  benefit  accrued,  no  surviv- 
ing settlement  being  made  hereabout  if,  indeed,  any 
was  contemplated  ;  so  let  us  come  to  the  day  of  per- 
manent settlement. 

1629.  Five  families,  chief  among  them  Edmund 
Ingalls  and  his  brother  Francis,  arrive  and  commence 
the  settlement. 

1630.  Thomas  Newhall  born,  being  the  first  person 
of  European  parentage  born  here.  He  died  in  March, 
1687,  aged  fifty -seven.  Wolves  killed  several  swine 
belonging  to  the  settlers,  September  30th.  Fifty  set- 
tlers, chiefly  farmers,  and  many  of  them  with  families, 
arrive  and  locate  in  different  neighborhoods. 

1631.  Governor  Winthrop  passed  through  the  set- 
tlement October  28th,  and  noted  that  the  crops  were 
plentiful. 

1632.  First  church — fifth  in  the  colony — formed. 
Stephen  Bachiler,  minister.  The  court  order  that 
"  No  person  shall  take  any  tobacco  publiquely,  under 


pain  of  punishment,  also  that  everj'  one  shall  pay  one 
penny  for  every  time  he  is  convicted  of  taking  tobacco 
in  any  place." 

1633.  A  corn-mill,  the  first  in  the  settlement,  built 
on  Strawberry  Brook.  Says  Winthrop,  under  this 
date, — "James  Sagamore,  of  Sagus,  died,  and  most  of 
his  folks  "  (of  small-pox). 

1634.  John  Humfrey  arrives  and  settles  on  Na- 
hant Street.  The  settlement  sends  her  first  Repre- 
sentatives to  the  General  Court.  William  Wood,  one 
of  the  first  comers,  publishes  "  New  England's  Pros- 
pect." 

1635.  Philip  Kertland,  the  first  shoemaker,  arrives. 

1637.  Name  of  the  settlement  changed  from  Sau- 
gus  to  Lynn.  At  this  time  there  were  thirty-seven 
plows  in  the  colony,  most  of  them  in  Lynn.  Settle- 
ment of  Sandwich  commenced  by  emigrants  from 
Lynn.  The  General  Court  forbade  the  making  of 
cakes  or  buns,  "  except  for  burials,  marriages  and 
such  like  special  occasions."  And  also  ordered  that 
corn  should  be  received  as  legal  tender,  at  five  shil- 
lings a  bushel. 

1638.  First  divison  of  lands  among  the  inhabitants. 

1639.  Ferry  across  Saugus  River  established.  First 
bridge  over  Saugus  River  at  Boston  Street  crossing 
built. 

1643.  Iron-works  near  Saugus  River  commenced, 
the  first  in  America. 

1644.  Hugh  Bert  and  Samuel  Bennett,  of  Lynn, 
presented  to  the  grand  jury  as  "  common  sleepers  in 
time  of  exercise."     Both  convicted  and  fined. 

1646.  Lynn  made  a  market  town — Tuesday,  the 
lecture  day,  being  market  day. 

1656.  Robert  Bridges,  one  of  the  most  active  and 
enterprising  of  the  early  settlers.  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  and  assistant,  died  this 
year.     He  was  a  large  proprietor  in  the  iron-works. 

1658.  Dungeon  Rock  alleged  to  have  been  rent 
by  an  earthquake,  entombing  alive  Thomas  Veal,  the 
pirate,  with  treasure. 

1666.  A  year  of  disasters.  Several  die  of  small- 
pox. "Divers  are  slain  by  lightning."  Grasshoppers 
and  caterpillars  do  much  mischief. 

1669.  Boniface  Burton  died,  aged  one  hundred  and 
thirteen  years. 

1679.  Rev.  Samuel  Whiting,  for  forty-three  years 
minister  of  the  First  Parish,  died  December  11th, 
aged  eighty-two  years. 

1680.  Dr.  Philip  Reed,  the  first  physician,  com- 
plained to  the  court  of  Mrs.  Margaret  Gifford  as  a 
witch.  Joseph  Armitage,  first  keeper  of  the  famous 
Anchor  Tavern,  which  continued  as  a  public-house 
for  more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  years,  died  June 
27th,  aged  eighty.  The  great  Newtonian  comet  ap- 
peared in  November,  occasioning  much  alarm. 

1682.  Old  Tunnel  meeting-house  built. 

1688.  Excitement  about  Edward  Randolph's  peti- 
tion for  a  grant  of  Nahant. 

1689.  Sir  Edmund  Andros  passed  through  Lynn  on 


LYNN. 


339 


his  waj'  to  Boston  from  the  east,  making  a  short  stay, 
not  deigning,  however,  to  confer  with  the  people  as  to 
their  wrongs. 

1692.  Great  witchcraft  excitement.  Six  Lynn  per- 
sons were  arrested  and  imprisoned  ;  some  of  them 
were  tried,  and  one  condemned  to  death,  but  not 
executed. 

1694.  A  church-fast  appointed  by  Rev.  Mr.  Shep- 
ard,  July  19th,  for  the  arrest  of  the  "  spiritual  plague" 
of  Quakerism. 

1697.  Great  alarm  on  account  of  the  small-pox. 
This  was  many  years  before  vaccination  was  prac- 
ticed. 

1706.  Second  division  of  land  among  the  inhabit- 
ants. 

1708.  A  public  fast  held  on  account  of  the  ravages 
of  caterpillars  and  canker  worms. 

1719.  Northern  lights  observed  for  the  first  time, 
December  17th.     Much  alarm  occasioned. 

1720.  Rev.  Jeremiah  Shepard,  minister  of  the 
First  Parish  for  forty  years,  died  June  3d,  aged 
seventy-two. 

1721.  John  Burrill,  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  for  twenty  years,  ten  of  which  he 
was  Speaker,  died  of  small-pox,  December  10th,  aged 
sixty-three. 

1723.  A  terrific  storm  with  raging  sea,  February 
24th.  First  mill  on  Saugus  River,  at  Boston  Street 
crossing,  built. 

1726.  £13  15*.  awarded  to  Nathaniel  Potter  for 
linen  manufactured  in  Lynn. 

1745.  Rev.  Mr.  Whitefield  preaches  on  Lynn  com- 
mon, creating  much  excitement. 

1750.  John  Adam  Dagyr,  an  accomplished  shoe- 
maker, arrives. 

1755.  Greatest  earthquake  ever  known  in  New 
England,  November  18th.  It  commenced  a  little 
after  four  in  the  morning,  and  continued  about  four 
minutes,  being  apparently  the  same  convulsion  that 
destroyed  Lisbon,  sixty  thousand  persons  perishing 
there  in  six  minutes,  the  sea  rising  fifty  feet  above 
its  usual  level. 

1759.  A  bear  weighing  four  hundred  pounds  killed 
in  Lynn  woods. 

1761.  Rev,  Nathaniel  Henchman,  minister  of  the 
First  Parish  for  forty  years,  died  December  23d,  aged 
sixty -one. 

1770.  Potato  rot  prevails  and  canker  worms  com- 
mit great  ravages. 

1775.  Battle  of  Lexington,  April  19th ;  five  Lynn 
men  killed. 

1776.  Declaration  of  Independence  promulgated. 
At  this  time  twenty-six  negro  slaves  were  owned  in 
Lynn. 

1780.  Memorable  dark  day.  May  19th.  Houses 
lighted  as  at  night. 

1784.  Gen.  Lafayette  passed  through  town,  Octo- 
ber 28tli,  receiving  enthusiastic  plaudits. 

1788.  Gen.  Washington  passed  through    town,  in 


October,  and  was  affectionately  greeted   by  old  and 
young. 

1793.  Lynn  post-office  established,  and  first  kept  on 
Boston  Street,  near  Federal.  Dr.  John  Flagg,  an  es- 
teemed physician  and  Revolutionary  patriot,  member 
of  the  Committee  of  Safety  and  commissioned  as 
colonel,  died  May  27th,  aged  fifty. 

1795.  Brig  "Peggy''  wrecked  on  Long  Beach,  De- 
cember 9th,  and  eleven  lives  lost. 

1796.  First  fire-engine  for  public  use  purchased. 
1800.  Memory  of  Washington  honored;  procession 

and  eulogy,  January  13th.     Morocco  manufacture  in- 
troduced. 

1803.  Boston  and  Salem  turnpike  opened,  and 
Lynn  Hotel  built.  Miles  Shorey  and  wife  both 
killed  by  lightning,  July  10th;  she  had  an  infant  in 
her  arms  who  was  unharmed,  and  lived  to  old  age. 

1804.  First  celebration  of  independence  in  Lynn. 

1808,  First  law-ofiice  in  Lynn  opened  by  Benja- 
min Merrill ;  it  was  in  a  chamber  of  the  dwelling 
corner  of  North  Common  and  Park  Streets.  Great 
bull  fight  at  Half- Way  House ;  bulls  and  bull-dogs 
engaged.  Lynn  Artillery  chartered  November  18th, 
and  allowed  two  brass  field-pieces.  John  Adam 
Dagyr,  the  early  shoemaker  before  named,  who  be- 
came widely  known  for  his  uncommon  taste  and  skill, 
died  in  the  almshouse. 

1812.  Lynn  Light  Infantry  chartered  June  30th. 

1813.  Moll  Pitcher,  the  celebrated  fortune-teller, 
died,  April  9th,  aged  seventy-five.  Sketch  of  her  on 
I^revious  page. 

1814.  Lynnfield  set  off"  from  Lynn  and  incorporated 
as  a  separate  town.  First  Town  House  of  Lynn  built. 
First  Bank  established — known  as  Lynn  Mechanics' 
Bank  till  its  reorganization  as  the  First  National 
Bank,  in  1864.  Battle  between  the  "  Chesapeake  "  and 
"Shannon"  fought,  June  1st.  Intense  solicitude  was 
manifested  by  the  people  of  Lynn,  many  of  whom 
witnessed  the  contest  from  heights  and  roofs.  The 
battle  was  anticipated,  and  multitudes  came  from 
neighboring  places.  The  greatest  amount  of  travel 
over  the  turnpike  that  ever  took  place  in  a  single 
day  then  occurred.  One  hundred  and  twenty 
crowded  stages  passed,  it  is  said,  and  an  almost  count- 
less number  of  all  sorts  of  vehicles,  together  with 
equestrians  and  pedestrians  innumerable. 

1815.  Saugus  set  off"  from  Lynn  and  incorporated 
as  a  separate  town.  Terrific  southeasterly  gale,  Sep- 
tember 23d ;  ocean  spray  driven  several  miles  inland. 
Joseph  Fuller,  first  president  of  first  Lynn  Bank,  and 
first  State  Senator  from  Lynn,  died,  aged  forty-two. 

1816.  Great  horse  trot  on  the  turnpike,  in  Lynn, 
September  1st ;  said  to  have  been  the  first  in  the 
country ;  Major  Stackpole'a  "  Old  Blue "  trotted 
three  miles  in  eight  minutes  and  forty-two  seconds. 

1817.  President  Monroe  visited  Lynn ;  school  chil- 
dren arrayed  on  the  Common. 

1819.  The  wonderful  sea-serpent  appears  off"  Long 
Beach ;    in  the  sketch   of  Swampscott  a  somewhat 


340 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


detailed  account  of  this  supposed  marine  monster 
will  appear.  Nahant  Hotel  built.  Almshouse  at 
Tower  Hill  built. 

1824.  General  Lafayette  visits  Lynn  August  31st, 
and  is  enthusiastically  welcomed. 

1825.  First  Lynn  newspaper — the  Weekly  Mirror — 
issued  September  3d  by  Charles  F.  Lummus.  It  was 
published  six  years, 

1826.  First  savings  bank — Lynn  Institution  for 
Savings — incorporated. 

1827.  Micajah  Collins,  teacher  of  the  Friends' 
school  and  minister  of  the  Friends'  Society,  died  Jan- 
uary 30th,  aged  sixty-two.  Solomon  Moulton,  a  youth- 
ful writer  of  much  promise,  died  May  26th,  aged 
nineteen.  Broad  and  brilliant  night  arch,  August  28th. 

1828.  Flora,  a  negro  woman,  died  October  1st,  aged 
one  hundred  and  thirteen.  Lynn  Mutual  Fire  In- 
surance Company  organized. 

1829.  Splendid  display  of  frosted  trees,  January 
10th. 

1830.  Donald  McDonald,  a  Scotchman,  died  in 
Lynn  almshouse  October  4th,  aged  one  hundred  and 
eight ;  he  was  at  Braddock's  defeat  and  at  the  battle 
of  Quebec,  when  Wolfe  fell. 

1831.  Maria  Augusta  Fuller,  poetess  and  jirose 
writer,  died  January  19th,  aged  twenty-four.  Dr. 
James  Gardner,  a  physician  of  high  standing,  died 
December  26th,  aged  sixty-nine. 

1832.  First  Lynn  directory  published  by  Charles 
F.  Lummus.  Nahant  Bank  incorporated ;  failed  in 
1836. 

1833.  Extraordinary  shower  of  meteors,  November 
13th. 

1836.  Dr.  Richard  Hazeltine,  a  learned  and  suc- 
cessful physician  of  the  old  school,  died  July  10th, 
aged  sixty-two. 

1837.  Surplus  United  States  revenue  distributed, 
Lynn  receiving  fourteen  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
seventy-nine  dollars,  and  applying  it  to  the  payment 
of  the  town  debt. 

1838.  Charles  F.  Lummus,  first  Lynn  printer,  died 
April  20th,  aged  thirty-seven.  Eastern  Railroad 
opened  for  travel  from  Boston  to  Salem,  August  28th. 

1839.  Ebenezer  Breed — Uncle  Eben,  as  he  was 
called — .one  of  the  "  nursing  fathers "  of  the  shoe 
business  of  Lynn — died  in  the  almshouse,  December 
23d,  aged  seventy-four. 

1841.  The  first  picture  by  the  new  art  known  as 
daguerreotype,  or  photography,  ever  taken  in  Lynn 
was  a  landscape,  taken  this  year  by  James  R.  New- 
hall,  by  apparatus  imported  from  France. 

1842.  Amos  Blanchard,  a  musician  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary army,  and  for  many  years  a  teacher  of  a  dis- 
trict school,  died  May  25th,  aged  seventy-eight. 
Enoch  Curtin,  a  poet  and  prose  writer,  died  May  28th, 
aged  forty-seven. 

1843.  Dr.  Charles  0.  Barker,  a  reputable  physiciap, 
died  January  8th,  aged  forty-one;  his  wife  was  a 
daughter  of  Rembrant  Peale,  the  celebrated  painter. 


The   schooner   "Thomas"    was    wrecked    on    Long 
Beach  March  17th,  five  men  perishing. 

1845.  Dr.  Edward  L.  Coffin,  physician,  scientist 
and  writer,  died  March  31st,  aged  fifty. 

1846.  Amariah  Childs,  manufacturer  of  a  famous 
kind  of  chocolate,  died  January  21st,  aged  eighty. 
Mexican  War  commenced ;  Lynn  furnished  twenty 
volunteers.  Destructive  fire  on  Water  Hill  Street, 
August  9th,  destroying  a  large  brick  silk-printing  es- 
tablishment, spice  and  coffee-mill,  and  two  or  three 
smaller  buildings ;  total  loss,  about  seventy-five  thou- 
sand dollars. 

1847.  President  Polk  made  a  short  visit  to  Lynn, 
July  5th. 

1848.  George  Gray,  the  Lynn  hermit,  died  Feb- 
ruary 28th,  aged  seventy-eight.  Carriage-road  over 
harbor  side  of  Long  Beach  built.  Lynn  Common 
fenced. 

1849.  Lynn  Police  Court  established.  Large  emi- 
gration to  California.  Laighton  Bank  incorporated  ; 
reorganized  as  the  Central  National  in  1865. 

1850.  City  form  of  government  adopted.  Samuel 
Brimblecom,  an  early  and  enterprising  shoe  manu- 
facturer, and  colonel  of  militia  during  the  War  of 
1812,  died  April  24th,  aged  eighty-one.  Pine  Grove 
Cemetery  consecrated  July  24th.  Thirteen  persons  of  a 
picnic  party  from  Lynn  drowned  in  Lynnfield  Pond, 
August  loth.  Ten-hour  system — that  is,  ten  hours  to 
constitute  a  day's  work — generally  adopted.  Church 
bells  ordered  to  be  rung  at  six  p.m.  Previously  there 
was  no  limit  to  work  hours. 

1851.  On  March  18th  and  April  15th  the  tide, 
during  violent  storms,  swept  entirely  over  Long 
Beach,  the  storm  of  the  15th  of  April  being  that 
during  which  Minot's  Ledge  light-house  was  carried 
away.  It  was  so  severe  as  to  force  the  salt  water 
from  the  sea  to  the  Common,  the  wind,  no  doubt, 
driving  the  water  up  the  little  brook  that  ran  across 
the  Common  in  such  quantities  as  to  overflow  and 
form  a  sheet  that  was  quite  salt.  Hiram  Marble 
commenced  the  excavation  of  Dungeon  Rock,  in 
search  of  treasure,  in  the  summer  of  this  year. 

1852.  Swampscott  set  off  from  Lynn,  and  incor- 
porated as  a  separate  town.  Louis  Kossuth,  the 
Hungarian  exile,  was  warmly  received,  May  6th ; 
greeted  by  some  ten  thousand  persons  assembled  on 
the  Common,  and  escorted  through  the  streets  by  a 
long  procession  to  Lyceum  Hall,  where  an  enthusias- 
tic reception  took  place. 

1853.  Nahant  set  off  from  Lynn,  and  incorporated 
as  a  separate  town.  Illuminating  gas  first  lighted 
here,  January  13th.  Cars  commenced  running  over 
Saugus  Branch  Railroad,  February  1st. 

1854.  City  Bank  incorporated ;  reorganized  as 
National  City  Bank,  1865. 

1855.  City  charter  so  amended  as  to  have  the  mu- 
nicipal year  commence  on  the  first  Monday  of  Jan- 
uary, instead  of  the  first  Monday  of  April.  Five 
Cents  Savings  Bank  incorporated. 


LYNN. 


341 


1856.  Two  bald  eagles  appear  on  the  ice  in  Lynn 
harbor,  January  17th.  Ezra  R.  Tebbets,  of  Lynn, 
killed  by  a  snow-slide  from  a  building  in  Bromfield 
Street,  Boston,  February  12th.  Egg  Rock  light  first 
shown,  September  15th. 

1857.  Great  snow-storm,  with  intense  cold,  January 
18th,  during  which  the  bark  ''Tedesco"  was  wrecked 
on  Long  Rock,  Swampscott,  all  on  board,  twelve  in 
number,  perishing.  Goold  Brown,  a  famous  gram- 
marian and  author,  died  at  his  residence,  South 
Common  Street,  March  31st,  aged  sixty-five.  He  was 
a  native  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  and  long  taught  a  sem- 
inary in  New  York,  but  spent  his  later  years  in  Lynn. 

1858.  Telegraph  communication  between  Lynn  and 
other  places  established.  Impromptu  Atlantic  cable 
celebration  in  Lynn,  August  17th,  on  the  arrival  of 
Queen  Victoria's  message — the  first  ever  sent  over  an 
Atlantic  cable— to  President  Buchanan,  St.  Mary's 
Catholic  Cemetery  consecrated,  November  4th. 

1859.  British  bark  "  Vernon,"  from  Messina,  driven 
ashore  on  Long  Beach,  February  2d  ;  crew  saved  by 
life-boat.  Isaiah  Breed,  active  as  a  shoe  manufac- 
turer for  nearly  fifty  years,  and  a  State  Senator,  died 
May  23d,  aged  seventy-two.  Roman  Catholic  Church 
(St.  Mary's),  Ash  Street,  burned,  May  28th.  George 
Hood,  the  first  mayor  of  Lynn,  died  June  29th,  aged 
fifty-two.  Brilliant  display  of  northern  lights,  the 
whole  heavens  being  covered,  August  28th.  Union 
Street  Methodist  meeting-house  destroyed  by  fire, 
November  20th.  Church  bells  tolled  at  sunrise,  noon 
and  sunset,  December  2d,  in  observance  of  the  execu- 
tion of  John  Brown  at  Charlestown,  Va. 

1860.  Harbor  so  frozen  in  January  that  persons 
walked  across  to  Bass  Point.  Shoemakers'  great 
strike  commenced  in  February.  Prince  of  Wales 
passed  through  Lynn,  October  20th,  hardly  stopping 
to  receive  official  greetings.  First  horse  railroad  cars 
in  Lynn  commenced  running,  November  29th,  The 
luck  of  a  dory  fisherman  is  well  illustrated  by  the  ex- 
perience of  Zachariah  Phillips,  of  Lynn,  during  four 
days  in  the  latter  part  of  November ;  his  first  day's  catch 
sold  for  twenty-five  cents ;  that  of  one  other  day  for 
twenty-one  dollars ;  and,  taking  the  four  days  to- 
gether, he  realized  $46.50,  the  fish  being  chiefly 
cod,  and  selling  for  three  cents  a  pound.  Market 
Street  first  lighted  by  gas,  December  7th. 

1861.  Alonzo  Lewis,  historian  and  poet,  died  Jan- 
uary 21st,  aged  sixty-six.  Lynn  Light  Infantry  and 
Lynn  City  Guards,  two  full  companies,  start  for  the 
seat  of  the  Southern  Rebellion,  April  16th,  in  five 
hours  after  the  arrival  of  President  Lincoln's  call  for 
troops.  A  splendid  comet  suddenly  became  visible, 
July  2d,  the  tail  having  enveloped  the  earth  three 
days  before,  producing  no  disturbance  and  only  a 
slight  apparently  auroral  light. 

1862.  Lynn  Free  Public  Library  opened.  Soldiers' 
burial  lot  in  Pine  Grove  Cemetery  laid  out.  Nathan 
Breed,  Jr.,  murdered  in  his  store,  Summer  Street, 
December  23d. 


1863.  Daniel  C.  Baker,  third  mayor  of  Lynn,  died 
July  19th,  aged  forty-six. 

1864.  Rev.  Parsons  Cooke,  for  twenty-eight  years 
minister  of  the  First  Church,  died  February  12th, 
aged  sixty-three.  The  thermometer  rose  to  one  hun- 
dred and  four  degrees  in  shady  places,  June  25th, 
indicating  the  warmest  day  here  of  which  there  had 
been  any  record.  Free  delivery  of  post-office  matter 
begins.  Great  drought  and  extensive  fires  in  the 
woods  during  the  summer.  First  steam  fire-engine 
owned  by  the  city  arrives,  August  11th.  Town- 
House  burned,  October  6th.  Schooner  "Lion,"  from 
Rockland,  Me.,  wrecked  on  Long  Beach,  December 
10th,  and  all  on  board,  six  in  number,  perish;  their 
cries  were  heard  above  the  roaring  of  the  wind  and 
sea,  but  succor  could  not  reach  them. 

1865.  News  of  the  fall  of  Richmond  received, 
April  3d ;  great  rejoicing,  church-bells  rung,  build- 
ings illuminaied,  bonfires  kindled.  The  surrender  of 
General  Lee  was  celebrated,  April  10th.  News  of  the 
assassination  of  President  Lincoln  received,  April 
15th ;  mourning  insignia  displayed  in  public  build- 
ings and  churches.  Corner-stone  of  City  Hall  laid, 
November  28th. 

1866.  Dr.  Abraham  Gould,  a  skillful  physician  of 
extensive  practice,  died,  February  27th,  aged  fifty- 
eight.  General  Sherman  passed  through  Lynn,  July 
16th,  and  was  cordially  greeted  by  a  crowd  in  Central 
Square.  A  meteoric  stone  fell  in  Ocean  Street,  in 
September. 

1867.  Thomas  Bowler,  for  sixteen  years  town  clerk, 
died,  July  22d,  aged  eighty-one.  The  present  City 
Hall  dedicated  with  much  ceremony,  November 
30th. 

1888.  Memorial  Day — called  also  Decoration  Day 
— observed.  May  30th,  being  the  day  for  decorating 
the  soldiers'  graves  with  flowers  ;  in  1881  the  day  was 
made  a  legal  holiday.  Hiram  Marble,  excavator  of 
Dungeon  Rock,  died,  November  10th,  aged  sixty-five, 
having  pursued  his  arduous  and  fruitless  labors  about 
seventeen  years.  His  son,  Edwin,  succeeded  him  in 
the  work,  and  died  at  the  Rock  January  16,  1880, 
aged  forty-eight,  without  having  reached  the  sup- 
posed deposits  of  gold  and  jewels.  Destructive  fire 
in  Market  Street,  December  25th,  Lyceum  Building, 
Frazier's  and  Bubier's  brick  blocks  being  destroyed, 
the  whole  loss  reaching  about  three  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars. 

1869.  Mary  J.  Hood,  a  colored  woman,  died,  Jan- 
uary 8th,  aged  one  hundred  and  four  years  and  seven 
months.  Another  destructive  fire,  on  the  night  of 
January  25th,  commencing  in  the  brick  shoe  manu- 
factory of  Edwin  H.  Johnson,  in  Monroe  Street,  de- 
stroyed property  to  the  amount  of  some  one  hundred 
and  seventy  thousand  dollars.  Sidney  B.  Pratt,  who 
left,  by  will,  ten  thousand  dollars  for  the  benefit  of 
the  Free  Public  Library,  died,  January  29th,  aged 
fifty-four.  On  the  evening  of  April  15th  there  was 
a  magnificent  display  of  beautifully-tinted   aurora- 


342 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


borealis.  Benjamin  H.  Jacobs,  undertaker  at  the  old 
burying-ground  for  thirty  years,  died,  June  16th, 
aged  seventy-six.  Jeremiah  C.  Stickney,  for  forty 
years  in  successful  practice  here  as  a  lawyer,  and  the 
first  city  solicitor,  died,  August  3d,  aged  sixty-four. 
Severe  gale,  on  Wednesday  afternoon,  September 
8th,  destroying  several  small  buildings  and  uprooting 
more  than  four  hundred  shade-trees  about  the  city. 
The  old  Turnpike  from  Boston  to  Salem  became  a 
public  highway  this  year,  the  portion  lying  in  Lynn 
being  now  known  as  Western  Avenue. 

1870.  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  incorpo- 
rated, March  31st.  Land  near  Central  Square  sold  at 
five  dollars  per  square  foot,  the  highest  rate  known 
in  Lynn  up  to  this  time.  Operations  for  public  water 
supply  begun. 

1871.  Kev.  Joseph  Cook,  at  the  time  minister  of 
the  First  Church,  gave  a  series  of  Sunday  evening 
lectures  in  Music  Hall,  early  this  year,  creating  con- 
siderable excitement  by  his  rather  sens^ational  denun- 
ciations. William  Bassett,  the  first  city  clerk,  died, 
June  21st,  aged  sixty-eight.  Terrible  railroad  disas- 
ter at  Revere,  August  26th,  eleven  Lynn  persons  be- 
ing killed  ;  whole  number  of  lives  lost,  thirty-three  ; 
number  of  wounded,  sixty.  Electric  fire-alarm  es- 
tablished. William  Vennar,  alias  Brown,  murders 
Mrs.  Jones,  is  pursued,  and  in  his  further  desperate 
attempts  is  shot  dead,  December  16th. 

1872.  City  Hall  bell  raised  to  its  position  in  the 
tower,  March  2d.  Meeting  of  the  City  Council  com- 
memorative of  the  recent  death  of  Professor  Morse, 
inventor  of  the  electric  telegraph,  April  16th.  Dr. 
James  M.  Nye,  a  reputable  physician  and  scientist, 
died,  April  21st,  aged  fifty-three.  S.  O.  Breed's  box- 
factory,  at  the  south  end  of  Commercial  Street,  struck 
by  lightning  and  consumed,  August  13th,  this  sum- 
mer being  remarkable  for  the  frequency  and  severity 
of  its  thunder-storms.  Brick  house  of  worship  of 
First  Church,  South  Common  Street,  corner  of  Vine, 
dedicated,  August  29th.  Ingalls  and  Cobbet  school- 
houses  dedicated,  Odd-Fellows'  Hall,  Market  Street, 
dedicated,  October  7th.  Brick  and  iron  station  of 
Eastern  Railroad,  Central  Square,  built.  Singular 
disease,  called  epizootic,  prevailed  among  horses  dur- 
ing the  latter  part  of  autumn.  Wheel  carriages  al- 
most ceased  to  run,  excepting  as  drawn  by  oxen, 
dogs  or  goats,  and  sometimes  by  men  and  boys.  The 
disease,  though  disabling  and  evidently  painful,  was 
nnt  often  fatal.  Much  speculation  in  real  estate  dur- 
ing the  year;  prices  high  and  business  active.  Pine 
Hill  Public  Water  Reservoir  built. 

1873.  Pumping-engine  at  Public  Water- Works, 
Walnut  Street,  first  put  in  operation,  January  14th. 
English  sparrows  make  their  appearance  in  Lynn,  no 
doubt  the  progeny  of  those  imported  into  Boston ; 
but  they  were  soon  declared  a  nuisance.  William  S. 
Boyce,  president  of  the  Firist  National  Bank,  died, 
August  27th,  aged  sixty-three.     Soldiers'  Monument, 


City  Hall  Square,  dedicated,  September  17th.     Birch 
Pond  formed. 

1874.  Lynn  "  Home  for  Aged  Women  "  incorpo- 
rated, Feb.  6th.  Grand  celebration  in  Lynn  of  St. 
Patrick's  Day,  March  17th,  by  the  Irish  orgauizations 
of  Essex  County.  Benjamin  Mudge,  captain  of  the 
old  Lynn  Artillery,  postmaster,  and  a  political  writer 
of  spirit,  died,  March  21st,  aged  eighty -seven. 

1875.  Boston,  Revere  Beach  and  Lynn  Railroad 
opened  for  travel,  July  22d.  Great  dej^ression  in  bus- 
iness affairs  this  year  succeeded  the  late  unhealthy 
kind  of  prosperity.  Some  tradesmeu  failed,  and  real 
estate  fell  greatly  in  price.  On  the  2d  of  November 
a  blackfish  ten  feet  in  length  and  weighing  three 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds  was  stranded  on  Long 
Beach,  probably  having  pursued  his  retreating  supper 
the  night  before  farther  thaa  was  safe.  An  unusual 
number  of  tramps — that  is,  homeless  wanderers  from 
place  to  place— appeared  in  Lynn  and  received  tem- 
porary relief. 

1876.  A  fire  occurred  on  Market  Street,  July  26th, 
destroying  property  to  the  anlount  of  some  ten  thou- 
sand dollars,  the  principal  losers  being  R.  A.  Spalding 
&  Co.,  Mrs.  Lancy  and  W.  J.  Bowers.  The  destructive 
Colorado  beetle,  or  potato  bug,  first  appeared  in  Lynn 
this  year.  The  Centennial  year  of  the  Republic  was 
appropriately  observed  in  Lynn,  July  4th,  and  the 
Centennial  Memorial,  giving  an  account  of  the  pro- 
ceedings, was  published  by  order  of  the  City  Council. 
Benjamin  F.  Doak,  who  by  will  bequeathed  ten  thou- 
sand dollars  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor  of  the  city,  and 
which  bequest  has  since  been  known  as  the  Doak 
fund,  died,  Nov.  8th,  aged  fifty.  Jacob  Batchelder, 
first  teacher  of  the  High  School  and  first  librarian  of 
the  Public  Library,  died,  Dec.  17th,  aged  seventy. 

1877.  Charles  Merritt,  for  some  forty  years  deputy 
sheriff,  died,  March  13th,  aged  seventy-two.  Svveetser"s 
four-story  brick  building.  Central  Avenue,  with  an 
adjacent  building,  burned,  April  7th.  Loss,  about  one 
hundred  and  fifteen  thousand  dollars.  In  September 
there  was  an  extraordinary  phosphorescent  glow  along 
the  shores. 

1878.  Successful  balloon  ascension  from  City  Hall 
Square,  July  4th — Alderman  Aza  A.  Breed,  City  Mar- 
shall Charles  C.  Fry  and  Charles  F.  Smith  journal- 
ist, accompanying  the  aeronaut.  Dennis  Kearney, 
radical  agitator  and  California  "  sand  lot  orator,"  ad- 
dresses a  large  crowd  on  the  Common  on  the  evening 
of  Aug.  12th.  Ezra  Warren  Mudge,  the  sixth  mayor 
of  Lynn,  died,  Sept.  20th,  aged  sixty-six.  The  tem- 
perature in  Lynn  and  vicinity  at  midnight,  Dec.  2d, 
was  higher  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  United 
States, — six  degrees  higher  than  in  New  Orleans,  La. ; 
seven  higher  than  in  Savannah,  Ga. ;  nine  higher 
than  in  Charleston,  S.  C. ;  and  ten  higher  than  in 
Jacksonville,  Fla.  Gold  was  held  at  par  Dec.  17th, 
for  the  first  time  in  sixteen  years  ;  that  is,  one  hun- 
dred dollars  in  gold  were  worth  just  one  hundred 
in   greenback   government   notes.     The   extreme   of 


LYNN. 


343 


variation  was  on  July  11,  1864,  at  which  time  one 
hundred  dollars  in  gold  were  worth  two  hundred  and 
eighty-five  dollars  in  the  notes. 

1879.  The  brick  house  of  worship  of  the  First 
Methodist  Society,  City  Hall  Square,  was  dedicated 
Feb.  27th.  The  newly-invented  telephone  now  comes 
into  use  in  Lynn.  The  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  an- 
niversary of  the  settlement  of  Lynn  celebrated,  June 
17th.  John  A.  Jackson,  designer  of  the  Soldiers' 
Monument,  died,  in  Horence,  Italy,  in  August,  aged 
fifty-four.  St.  Joseph's  Cemetery  (Catholic)  conse- 
crated, Oct.  16th.  Extraordinary  occurrence  of  a 
perfectly  clear  sky  all  over  the  United  States,  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  Nov.  4th,  as  reported  by 
the  United  States  Signal  Corps.  Benjamin  Franklin 
Mudge,  the  second  mayor  of  Lynn,  died,  in  Manhat- 
tan, Kansas,  Nov.  21st,  aged  sixty-two. 

1880.  Tubular  wells,  Boston  Street,  sunk  by  order 
of  the  city  government  to  gain  an  additional  water 
supply  ;  first  pumping  from  them,  Sept.  4th.  The 
notorious  "  Morey  Letter  "  appeared  in  the  autumn, 
creating  much  sensation  throughout  the  country. 
This  letter  made  its  appearance  in  a  prominent  news- 
paper of  New  York  City,  and  purported  to  have  been 
written  by  General  Garfield,  the  Republican  candi- 
date for  President  of  the  United  States,  and  addressed 
to  "  Henry  L.  Morey,''  of  the  "  Employers'  Union," 
of  Lynn.  It  was  in  the  interest  of  cheap  labor  and  in 
favor  of  Chinese  immigration.  It  created  a  great  sen- 
sation among  the  politicians,  especially  upon  the  Pa- 
cific coast,  in  which  quarter  extreme  indignation  was 
manifested.  But  the  letter  was  soon  proved  to  be  a 
base  forgery,  concocted  to  damage  the  prospects  of 
General  Garfield,  and  it  would,  no  doubt,  have  had  a 
serious  effect  had  not  timely  evidence  of  the  fraud 
been  discovered.  It  was  satisfactorily  shown  that  no 
such  person  as  Henry  L.  Morey  and  no  such  associa- 
tion as  the  Employers'  Union  existed  in  Lynn.  A 
beautiful  mirage  appeared  in  the  bay  Nov.  22d. 

1881.  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  Building, 
Market  Street,  dedicated  January  17th.  Dr.  Daniel 
Perley,  a  much-esteemed  physician,  died  January  31st, 
aged  seventy-seven  years.  Government  weather  sig- 
nals on  High  Rock  first  shown  February  23d.  National 
Security  Bank  of  Lynn  organized.  Lynn  Hospital 
incor2>orated.  Andrews  Breed,  the  fifth  mayor  of 
Lynn,  died  April  21st,  aged  eighty -six.  The  "  yellow 
day,"  so-called,  occurred  September  6th,  the  land- 
scape assuming  a  yellow  tinge  for  some  hours  in  the 
afternoon,  and  the  weird  darkness  being  such  that 
lights  were  required  in  houses.  President  Garfield's 
death  announced  by  the  tolling  of  church-bells  at 
midnight,  September  19th.  He  was  shot  by  C.  J.Guit- 
eau,  July  2d.  Memorial  services  were  held  September 
26th.  Hon.  Enoch  Redington  Mudge,  donor  of  Si.. 
Stephen's  Memorial  Church,  died  October  1st.  St. 
Stephen's  Memorial  Church  consecrated  November 
2d.  Thomas  Page  Richardson,  fourth  mayor  of  Lynn, 
died  November  24th,  aged  sixty-five. 


1882.  On  the  night  of  February  15th  a  building  on 
Monroe  Street,  owned  by  Charles  G.  Clark,  together 
with  one  or  two  others,  partially  burned  ;  loss,  about 
twenty  thousand  dollars.  The  Grand  Army  Coliseum, 
on  Summer  Street,  dedicated  March  15th.  On  the 
morning  of  March  15th,  just  before  the  time  for  work- 
men to  assemble,  a  terrific  steam-boiler  explosion 
took  place  in  the  rear  of  the  Goodwin  last-factory,  in 
Spring  Street.  The  engineer  was  killed  and  several 
others  badly  wounded.  One  or  two  adjacent  build- 
ings were  much  damaged,  and  a  piece  of  the  boiler, 
weighing  about  fifteen  hundred  pounds,  was  thrown 
two  hundred  feet  up  into  the  air,  and  fell  in  Newhall 
Street,  seven  hundred  feet  distant.  A  fire  occurred  on 
the  morning  of  April  22d  at  Houghton,  Godfrey  & 
Dean's  paper  warehouse,  Central  Avenue,  destroying 
property  to  the  amount  of  three  thousand  dollars. 
Electric  lights  made  their  appearance  here  in  the 
spring.  Barnum's  "  greatest  show  on  earth  "  visited 
Lynn  July  22d.  Some  half  a  score  of  elephants  ap- 
peared in  the  street  parade.  The  giant  elephant 
Jumbo  and  the  nursing  baby  elephant  were  both 
members  of  the  caravan.  Some  twenty-five  thousand 
persons  attended  the  exhibition,  and  the  amount  of 
money  received  for  admission  reached  nearly  eleven 
thousand  dollars.  The  show  consisted  of  a  large  col- 
lection of  animals,  equestrian,  acrobatic  and  other 
circus  and  semi-dramatic  performances.  It  was,  no 
doubt,  the  grandest  and  most  costly  show  ever  in 
Lynn.  An  explosion  of  a  part  of  the  underground 
equipment  of  the  Citizens'  Steam-Heating  Company, 
at  the  corner  of  Washington  and  Monroe  Streets,  took 
place  July  27th,  injuring  the  street  somewhat  and 
throwing  up  stones  and  gravel  to  the  danger  and 
fright  of  persons  in  the  vicinity.  And  subsequently 
other  explosions  took  place,  inducing  an  appeal  to 
the  city  authorities  for  protection.  An  extraordinary 
drought  prevailed  during  the  latter  part  of  the  sum- 
mer. Most  of  the  crops  about  Lynn  were  absolutely 
ruined,  the  unripe  fruit  dropped  from  the  trees,  and 
much  of  the  shrubbery  and  many  of  the  trees  had  the 
appearance  of  having  been  exposed  to  fire-blasts.  Yet 
the  springs  and  wells  did  not  indicate  any  very  marked 
deficiency  of  moisture  somewhat  below  the  surface. 
We  had  an  uncommonly  long  succession  of  very  warm 
days,  with  westerly  winds  and  clear  skies.  And 
the  peculiar  effect  on  vegetation  was,  no  doubt,  at- 
tributable rather  to  the  burning  sun  than  the  lack  of 
moisture.  The  spring  was  backward  by  full  two 
weeks,  and  the  weather  was,  on  the  whole,  anomalous, 
most  of  the  year.  Railroad  competition  ran  so  high 
that  in  October  the  fare  between  Lynn  and  Boston 
was,  for  a  time,  but  five  cents.  The  morning  sky  for 
several  weeks  in  October  and  November,  was  adorned 
with  a  splendid  comet,  which  rose  in  the  southeast  two 
or  three  hours  before  the  sun. 

1883.  Sweetser's  building,  corner  of  Central  Avenue 
and  Oxford  St.,  burned  January  26th;  loss,  eighty-one 
thousand  dollars.     There  were  a  large  number  of  de- 


344 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


striictive  fires  in  the  woods  during  the  dry  months,  all 
along  from  Floating  Bridge  to  Breed's  Pond.  Electric 
Light  Works  established  in  Lynn. 

1884.  A  high  tide  swept  over  the  beach  road  to 
Nahant,  January  9th.  Steamer  "  City  of  Columbus  " 
lost  near  Gay  Head,  January  18th,  three  Lynn  persons 
perishing.  John  B.  Tolman,  April  22d,  gave  to  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  an  estate  on 
Market  Street,  valued  at  thirty  thousand  dollars,  in 
trust,  the  income  to  be  devoted  to  the  suppression  of 
the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors.  The  new  organiza- 
ti(  n  of  religious  enthusiasts,  known  as  the  Salvation 
Army,  appeared  in  our  streets,  June  4th,  marching 
about  with  their  tambourines  and  other  musical  instru- 
ments. Lightning  struck  in  Chatham  Street,  June 
5th,  killing  a  lad  twelve  years  of  age  and  somewhat 
injuring  his  two  boy  companions.  Horse  railroad  ex- 
tension to  Marblehead  opened  for  travel  June  25th. 
Inebriates'  Home,  New  Ocean  Street,  established  Oc- 
tober 27th.  A  building  of  Quincy  A.  Towns,  on 
Beech  Street,  used  for  extracting  grease  and  oil  from 
leather,  by  naphtha,  destroyed  by  fire  November  26th  ; 
loss  twenty-five  hundred  dollars. 

1885.  Lyman  F.  Chase  died  January  3d,  aged 
forty-three  years,  leaving,  among  other  liberal  be- 
quests, to  Lynn  Hospital,  $5000,  and  to  Lynn  Public 
Library  $5000.  Lynn  National  Bank  organized.  A 
fire  occurred  in  Henry  A.  Pevear's  building,  Wash- 
ington Street,  January  11th,  destroying  property  to  the 
amount  of  thirty-three  hundred  dollars.  Lucian  New- 
hall's  building,  Central  Avenue,  burned  ;  loss,  fifty-six 
thousand  six  hundred  dollars.  Lynn  Associated 
Charities  organized  March  19th.  Trinity  Church 
(Methodist),  near  Tower  Hill,  dedicated  June  4th. 
Church  of  the  Incarnation  (Episcopal)  formally  or- 
ganized June  9th.  St.  Joseph's  Church  (Roman 
Catholic)  consecrated  June  21st.  Church-bells  tolled 
July  23d,  in  observance  of  the  death  of  ex-President 
Grant.  The  City  Council  held  a  special  meeting  and 
passed  resolutions  of  respect,  and  on  the  8th  of  August 
commemorative  services  were  held  in  the  Coliseum, 
business  being  generally  suspended.  The  large  brick 
building  owned  by  Lucius  Beebe,  and  occupied  as  a 
glove-kid  and  morocco  manufactory,  corner  of  Western 
Avenue  and  Federal  Street,  destroyed  by  fire  Septem- 
ber 3d,  the  loss  being  seventy-five  thousand  five  hun- 
dred dollars.  A  heavy  thunder-shower,  October  3d, 
flooded  several  business  places  on  Monroe  Street  and 
vicinity  and  delayed  railroad  trains. 

1886.  On  Easter  day,  April  25th,  Saint  Stephen's 
chimes  rang  for  the  first  time.  Terrific  earthquake 
at  Charleston,  S.  C,  August  31st ;  much  sutfering  was 
occasioned,  and  contributions  for  relief  were  sent 
from  all  quarters;  Lynn  contributed  $2060,  and 
Saint  Stephen's  Church  sent  a  separate  sum  of 
$77  towards  repairing  the  shattered  tower  of  the  ven- 
erable Saint  Michael's.  President  Arthur  died  No- 
vember 18th,  and  on  the  day  of  his  burial,  November 
22d,  marks  of  respect  were  shown  by  closing  the  pub- 


lic oflSces,  tolling  bells,  raising  flags  at  half-mast  and 
the  performance  of  a  dirge  by  Saint  Stephen's  chimes. 
Society  of  the  New  Jerusalem  (Swedenborgian) 
formed.     French  Catholic  Church  organized. 

1887.  February  25th,  President  Cleveland  sent  to 
the  United  States  Senate  a  message  vetoing  the  bill, 
passed  by  Congress,  appropriating  $100,000  for  the 
erection  of  a  post-oflSce  building  in  Lynn.  Some  in- 
dignation was  expressed,  but  business  men  generally 
were  disposed  to  view  the  President's  reasoning  with 
candor,  and  the  unlucky  slip  with  resignation. 

Henry  A.  Breed,  a  well-known  citizen,  died  April 
15th,  aged  eighty-six  years  and  eleven  months.  He 
was  a  native  of  Lynn,  and  commenced  an  active  busi- 
ness life  about  1819,  did  a  great  deal  in  the  building 
line  and  was  zealous  in  forwarding  improvements  of 
almost  every  kind,  endeavoring,  in  some  notable  in- 
stances, to  introduce  new  industries  here.  Being  of 
a  sanguine  and  somewhat  credulous  turn,  and  withal 
attracted  by  projects  of  a  speculative  character,  he 
had  serious  ups  and  downs  during  his  whole  business 
career,  always,  however,  maintaining  a  most  respec- 
table position,  by  his  genial  manners,  his  readiness  to 
aid  the  unfortunate  and  other  excellent  qualities. 
His  business  prostrations  were  undoubtedly  some- 
times attributable  to  over-confidence  in  his  own 
ability  to  "read  "  the  characters  of  those  with  whom 
he  dealt ;  but  more  often  to  the  shrewder  reading,  on 
the  other  side,  of  those  not  half  so  honest  as  he.  He 
was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Unitarian  Society,  and 
his  connection  was  not  severed  till  the  hand  of  death 
interposed.  For  many  years  he  was  a  member  of 
Mount  Carmel  Lodge  of  Free  Masons,  and  was  like- 
wise an  accredited  member  of  the  fraternity  of  Odd 
Fellows. 

On  Wednesday,  June  1st,  was  opened,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Grand  Army,  Post  5,  at  the  Coliseum 
in  Summer  Street,  a  novel  and  interesting  exhibition 
of  the  powers  of  electricity,  especially  as  applied  to 
industrial  mechanism.  The  Governor  of  the  State 
was  present  at  the  opening  and  many  other  prominent 
persons.  The  exhibition  continued  a  month,  and  gave 
much  satisfaction  to  the  large  numbers  who  attended. 
James  N.  Buffum,  twelfth  Mayor  of  Lynn,  aged  eighty, 
died  June  12th.  On  Saturday,  June  18th,  Eobert  E. 
Lee  Camp  1,  Confederate  Veterans,  of  Richmond,  Va., 
visited  Lynn  by  invitation  of  General  Lander  En- 
campment, Post  5,  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Repub- 
lic. The  visiting  party  had  been  spending  a  day  or 
two  in  Boston,  and  numbered  nearly  two  hundred, 
thirty  of  whom  were  ladies.  About  seventy -five  of 
the  Veterans,  with  some  ten  of  the  ladies,  arrived  in 
Lynn  early  in  the  day,  and  were  cordially  received  by 
the  Lynn  Post,  which  had  some  five  hundred  men  in 
line.  The  weather  was  pleasant  and  the  day  a  notable 
one,  business  being  universally  suspended,  and  the 
streets  thronged  with  all  classes  of  people.  There 
was  a  grand  procession,  with  military  companies  and 
bands  of  music.     The  city  authorities  took  part  in  the 


LYNN. 


545 


proceedings,  and  there  was  a  banquet  on  the  Common. 
Early  in  July  a  delegation  of  Post  5,  numbering  one 
hundred  and  sixty,  made  a  return  visit  to  the  Confed- 
erate soldiers,  and  in  Richmond  and  other  places  re- 
ceived enthusiastic  greetings,  with  many  tokens  of 
restored  brotherhood.  Edward  S.  Davis,  eighth  Mayor 
of  Lynn,  died  August  7,  aged  seventy-nine.  On  the 
11th  of  September  a  fire  occurred  in  the  stable  of  J. 
B.  &  W.  A.  Lam  per,  foot  of  Pleasant  Street,  in  which 
nineteen  horses  perished.  Dr.  John  A.  McArthur, 
much  esteemed  as  a  man  and  physician,  died  Septem- 
ber 28,  aged  fifty-seven. 

Lynn  Regis. — It  is  within  the  knowledge  of  the 
writer  that  some  good  people  of  the  ancient  borough 
of  King's  Lynn  now  take  a  lively  interest  in  what 
pertains  to  our  own  Lynn,  which,  during  its  compara- 
tively short  life,  has  so  far  outstripped  its  prototype, 
in  population  at  leazt.  They  appear  to  regard  us  as 
a  sort  of  vigorous  child,  a  little  presumptuous,  per- 
haps, but  one  in  whose  prosperity  they  may  delight, 
as  if  in  some  mysterious  way  it  contributed  to  their 
honor.  It  is  but  a  few  years  since  they  learned  any- 
thing of  us.  Less  than  fifteen  years  ago  a  lawyer 
there  assured  the  writer  that  to  him  our  Lynn  was 
only  known  through  Longfellow's  "Bells  of  Lynn." 

The  celebration  of  our  Two  Hundred  and  Fiftieth 
Anniversary,  to  which  some  of  the  authorities  there 
were  invited,  had  much  to  do  with  rendering  our 
name  familiar.  And  then  the  Christian  sympathy 
engendered  by  the  giving  and  receiving  of  the  stone 
from  the  ancient  wall  of  stately  old  Saint  Margaret's, 
to  be  wrought  into  the  rising  wall  of  Saint  Stephen's, 
was  a  significant  occurrence. 

It  is  true  that  not  a  large  number  of  our  early  set- 
tlers came  from  that  place  ;  but  there  were  one  or  two 
of  more  than  ordinary  family  connection.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  here  speak  of  the  eminent  Whiting, 
through  whose  instrumentality  the  names  of  the 
places  were  made  identical ;  nor  of  some  others  else- 
where named.  But  it  may  be  interesting  to  note  in 
passing,  that  Richard  Hood,  ancestor  of  George 
Hood,  our  first  mayor,  who  settled  on  Nahant  Street, 
was  from  Lynn  Regis.  Several  old  names  common 
in  both  places  could  be  mentioned — a  fact  which, 
though  not  conclusive  evidence  of  near  family  connec- 
tion, are  yet  strongly  indicative  of  kinship.  For  in- 
stance: There  was  a  Thomas  Laighton,  mayor  of 
Lynn  Regis  in  1476 ;  and  one  of  our  most  active  and 
enterprising  settlers  was  Thomas  Laighton,  who  lo- 
cated near  Saugus  River  in  1635.  Edward  Baker 
was  mayor  of  the  borough  in  1550;  and  from  Edward 
Baker,  who  came  hither  in  1630,  Daniel  C.  Baker, 
our  third  mayor,  descended.  Benjamin  Keene  (a 
later  name  with  us)  was  mayor  of  old  Lynn  in  1683. 
In  1737  "  Charles,  Lord  Viscount  Townsend,  was 
Lord  High  Steward  of  Lynn  Regis."  He  undoubt- 
edly belonged  to  the  same  Townsend  family  with 
Thomas  Townsend,  who  came  from  Norfolk  and  set- 
tled as  a  farmer  at  an  earlier  date,  and  of  whom  many 
22^ 


descendants  remain  here  and  elsewhere  in  New  Eng- 
land. And  by  the  way,  at  that  date,  1737,  the  chief 
oSicials  under  Townsend  were  a  recorder,  thirteen 
aldermen,  eighteen  Common  Councilmen,  atown  clerk, 
treasurer,  chamberlain,  sword-bearer,  four  sergeants 
at  mace  and  five  musicians,  with  blue  cloaks  trimmed 
with  gold  and  badges,  a  jailer,  two  beadles  and  a 
bellman.  Our  city  government  is  not  organized  ex- 
actly after  that  dignified  model,  which  is  here  pre- 
sented merely  for  comparison  by  the  curious.  Such 
genealogical  and  municipal  connections  are  really  of 
little  importance,  but  the  latent  interest  that  all  pos- 
sess in  such  tracings  give  them  a  sort  of  charm.  In 
the  case  in  hand,  it  is  thought  they  are  sufficient  to 
justify  the  occupation  of  space  enough  to  recount  a 
few  prominent  facts  in  the  history  of  our  ancient  pro- 
totype. 

Lynn  Regis,  King's  Lynn,  or,  as  it  is  commonly 
called  by  its  own  people,  simply  Lynn,  is  an  interest- 
ing old  place  on  the  river  Ouse,  in  Norfolk,  a  mari- 
time county  that  has  ever  maintained  its  reputation 
for  loyalty  and  aristocratic  pride.  Many  illustrious 
Englishmen  have  been  born  there,  and  a  long  list  of 
distinguished  men  have  represented  her  in  Parlia- 
ment— several  of  them  statesmen  of  world-wide  repu- 
tations. Sir  Robert  Walpole  was  elected  for  Lynn, 
in  1702.  He  soon  became  Secretary  of  War,  then 
Secretary  of  the  Navy,  and  finally,  after  a  brief  period 
of  eclipse,  attained  positions  of  still  greater  dignity  ; 
and,  as  has  been  remarked,  for  a  series  of  years  "  his 
life  may  be  said  to  be  the  history  of  England."  Can- 
ning, too,  sometimes  called  the  most  eloquent  and 
sagacious  statesman  of  his  day,  was  elected  to  repre- 
sent Lynn.  Lord  George  Bentinck  was  returned  for 
Lynn,  in  1826,  and  continued  her  representative  till 
his  death.  The  Catholic  Emancipation  and  Reform 
Bills  had  his  support.  He  subsequently  became  the 
acknowledged  head  of  the  Conservative  party,  and 
was  what  we  now  call  a  protectionist.  But  he  was 
never  an  over-strict  partisan.  On  the  death  of  Lord 
Bentinck,  Stanley,  Earl  of  Derby,  was  elected  for 
Lynn.  To  his  great  ability  in  the  management  of 
public  affairs  is  largely  attributed  the  surrender  of  the 
East  India  Company  to  the  crown.  During  his  colo- 
nial secretaryship  the  great  Sepoy  revolt  was  brought 
to  a  close.  On  the  decease  of  his  father,  in  1869,  he 
entered  the  House  of  Lords.  The  able  and  accom- 
plished Governor  of  Madras  at  the  present  time,  1886 
was  for  many  years  Lynn's  representative  in  Parlia- 
ment. Other  eminent  representatives  of  old  Lynn 
might  be  named,  but  the  list  need  not  be  extended. 
What  has  been  said  may  not  be  of  great  interest,  but 
it  affords  ground  for  the  question.  When  will  our  own 
Lynn  be  represented  by  such  men  in  the  councils  of 
the  nation  ?  By  the  presentation  of  worthy  examples 
a  spirit  of  noble  emulation  may  be  stimulated. 

From  this  ancient  borough  and  its  vicinity  came 
some  of  the  most  valuable  New  England  immigrants. 
And  descendants  from  old  N(>rfolk  families  are  now 


346 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


found  in  every  direction,  though,  as  just  remarked, 
not  a  large  number  came  to  our  own  home.  In  Win- 
throp's  company,  which  arrived  at  Salem  in  1630, 
were  a  number  of  substantial  Norfolk  farmers.  Says 
the  careful  Mrs.  Jones :  "  It  is  not  alone  the  relations 
of  Coke  and  Eoger  Williams  which  have  given  to  some 
spots  in  New  England  and  elsewhere  a  flavor  of  this 
island's  eastern  shore.  If  it  were  sought  to  trace  such 
international  links,  Norfolk  would  be  found  to  have 
thrown  out  many  threads  across  the  water,  which 
have  attached  it  invisibly  but  absolutely  to  American 
ground." 

Sandringham,  the  seat  of  the  Prince  of  Wales,  to 
which  he  retires  for  needed  rest,  is  in  Norfolk,  almost 
within  the  territorial  limits  of  Lynn.  It  consists  of 
something  more  than  eight  thousand  acres,  and  is  in 
a  high  state  of  cultivation  and  adornment.  It  was  in 
this  princely  abode  that  the  royal  heir  so  long  lay  be- 
tween life  and  death  when  stricken  by  typhoid,  in  the 
dreary  weeks  of  November,  1872.  It  was  there,  too, 
that  the  joyous  event  of  the  arrival  of  his  son,  Albert 
Victor,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  was  recently  so  en- 
thusiastically celebrated.  There,  likewise,  was  the 
last  Christmas,  1886,  celebrated  in  right  royal  style. 
The  Prince  and  Princess  were  both  present.  To  the 
laborers  and  cottagers  on  the  estate  were  prime  joints 
of  beef  distributed  to  the  amount  of  nine  hundred  and 
eighty  pounds.  How  much  English  beer  and  other 
usual  Christmas  adjuncts  were  added  must  be  left  for 
the  imagination,  as  nothing  appears  in  the  account  at 
hand  of  the  entertainment. 

A  brief  chronological  statement  of  events  during 
an  interesting  portion  of  the  history  of  our  venerable 
archetype  must  close  the  present  record. 

A.  D.  1100.  St.  Margaret's  Church  founded  by  Her- 
bert, the  first  Bishop  of  Norwich,  in  expiation  of  his 
simony.  It  was  from  the  wall  of  this  ancient  temple 
that  the  stone  which,  with  its  friendly  inscription, 
now  rests  in  the  vestibule  of  our  own  St.  Stephen's 
was  taken.  It  was  presented  by  the  authorities  of 
St.  Margaret's  when  St.  Stephen's  was  in  process  of 
erecton,  1880,  and  brought  over  by  Col.  E.  G.  Usher. 
The  inscription  reads,  "St.  Margaret's  Church,  Lynn, 
England,  to  St.  Stephen's  Church,  Lynn,  Mass., 
U.  S.  A.,  28th  June,  1880." 

1204.  Lynn  made  a  borough  town  with  burgesses, 
in  this,  the  sixth  year  of  the  reign  of  King  John. 
And  in  1268  it  was  made  a  mayor-town. 

1469.  King  Edward  IV.  came  to  Lynn  with  a  great 
retinue,  took  shipping  and  went  to  Flanders.  One 
of  the  most  interesting  relics  now  remaining  in  Lynn 
is  the  ruin  known  as  the  Chapel  of  "  Our  Lady,"  pic- 
turesquely situated  on  an  elevation  in  the  beautiful 
"  Public  Walks."  The  visible  parts,  those  above 
ground,  which  were  built  under  a  license  granted  in 
1482,  form  a  superstructure  to  the  lower,  underground 
parts,  which  were  built  at  an  unknown  and  much 
earlier  period.  The  structure  is  small,  but  bears  evi- 
dence of  having   originally  been   an    elaborate  and 


richly-adorned  shrine  ;  and  was  probably  established 
for  the  entertainment  of  wandering  pilgrims,  and  as 
a  sacred  asylum  from  all  secular  intrusion — a  sanct- 
uary. It  was  in  this  retreat  that  King  Edward  is  said 
to  have  lodged  when  he  reached  Lynn  on  his  way  to 
Holland,  in  1469,  his  retinue  finding  quarters  else- 
where. It  will  be  remembered  that  these  were  the 
times  of  the  bloody  strife  between  the  houses  of  York 
and  Lancaster,  and  that  he  was  son  of  the  Duke  of 
York.  While  here,  in  the  asylum  of  "  Our  Lady," 
he  was  safe. 

1458.  Mention  is  this  year  made  of  a  boy  choir  in 
St.  Margaret's  Church. 

1498.  King  Henry  VII.,  his  Queen  and  Arthur, 
Prince  of  Wales,  visited  Lynn,  and  were  entertained 
by  the  Augustine  Friars.  He  came  'in  state,  with  a 
numerous  retinue.  The  Augustine  Friars  were  a 
mendicant  order,  much  of  the  character  of  the  Jesuits 
of  the  present  day  ;  were  a  learned  body,  and  min- 
gled more  in  society  than  most  other  orders.  They 
settled  in  Lynn  about  1275,  and  continued  till  1539. 

1519.  Cardinal  Wolsey  visited  Lynn,  attended  by 
many  lords  and  gentlemen.  It  was  now  that  the  cel- 
ebrated prelate  was  in  the  zenith  of  his  glory,  held 
the  Sees  of  Bath  and  Wells,  of  Worcester  and  Here- 
ford, together  with  the  rich  Abbey  of  St.  Alban's. 
But  disappointment  in  his  ambitious  yearnings  soon 
overtook  him ;  his  downfall  came ;  and  iu  about  ten 
years  after  his  visit  to  Lynn  death  closed  his  event- 
ful career. 

1531.  A  maid,  for  poisoning  her  mistress,  is  boiled 
to  death. 

1535.  A  Dutchman  is  burnt  in  Lynn  market-place 
for  heresy. 

1536.  The  Carmelites,  the  Dominicans,  the  Augus- 
tines  and  the  Franciscans,  four  orders  of  friars,  totally 
suppressed  in  Lynn. 

1546.  All  the  streets  of  the  town  paved.  The 
guilds  and  chanteries  all  suppressed,  and  the  lands 
belonging  to  them  forfeited  to  the  King,  Henry  VIII. 

1549.  Several  rebels  executed  at  Lynn. 

1553.  Lady  Jane  Gray  proclaimed  Queen  of  Eng- 
land, at  Lynn,  by  Lord  Audley. 

1561.  Popish  relics  and  mass-books  burnt  in  the 
market-place  at  Lynn. 

1566.  The  first  chime  of  bells  placed  in  the  tower 
of  St.  Margaret's  Church.  This  seems  to  have  been 
a  set  of  five  bells,  the  largest  of  which  could  be 
heard  ten  miles  off.  Some  years  after  the  number  was 
increased  to  eight,  and  in  1887  to  ten,  the  Mayor,  on 
the  occasion  of  the  Queen's  jubilee  presenting  one, 
naming  it  "Victoria,"  and  the  mayoress  one,  naming 
it  "Albert."  They  were  first  rung  on  the  jubilee  day, 
June  21. 

1567.  A  Dutch  ship,  then  lying  in  the  harbor  of 
Lynn,  shot  down  the  spire  of  St.  Margaret's  Church 
and  several  crosses. 

1568-  Popish  vestments,  relics,  crucifixes  and 
beads  burnt  in  the  Lynn  market-place. 


LYNN. 


347 


1574.  The  plague  prevailed  in  Lynn. 

1575.  A  severe  earthquake  felt  in  Lynn. 

1576.  Queen  Elizabeth  visited  Norfolk  in  August. 
The  corporation  of  Lynn  presented  to  her  a  beautiful 
purse,  wrought  with  pearl  and  gold,  and  containing 
a  hundred  old  angels,  the  whole  value  being  two 
hundred  pounds.  On  the  16th  of  the  mouth,  in  her 
progress  through  the  country,  she  dined  at  Bracon- 
Ash  Hall,  being  entertained  there  by  Thomas  Town- 
send,  Esq.,  who,  no  doubt,  was  grandfather  of  Thomas 
Townsend,  who  came  over  to  our  Lynn,  in  1636,  and 
settled  as  a  farmer,  near  the  iron-works.  He  was  a 
cousin  of  Governor  Winthrop.  The  wife  of  Thomas, 
the  entertainer  of  the  Queen,  received  from  Her  Ma- 
jesty the  gift  of  a  beautiful  gilt  bowl  in  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  hospitality  she  had  received.  Daniel 
Townsend,  one  of  the  four  Lynn  men  killed  at  the 
battle  of  Lexington,  was  a  lineal  descendant.  Some- 
thing more  relating  to  the  Townsends  may  be  found 
in  the  sketch  of  Lynnfield. 

1588.  The  "Feast  of  Eeconciliation,"  so  called,  es- 
tablished in  Lynn.  This  was  a  meeting  of  the 
mayor,  aldermen.  Common  Council  and  ministers,  "  in 
order  to  settle  peace  and  quietness  between  man  and 
man,  and  to  decide  all  manner  of  controversies."  It 
seems  as  if  some  such  institution  might  in  our  day 
settle  more  satisfactorily  such  controversies  as  fester 
in  our  inferior  courts.  And  perhaps  labor  troubles 
might  come  in  for  adjustment. 

1590.  A  woman  named  Margaret  Read  burnt  at 
Lynn  for  witchcraft.  In  1598,  Elizabeth  Housage  ; 
in  1616,  Mary  Smith  ;  and  in  164-5,  Dorothy  Lee  and 
Grace  Wright  were  hanged  for  the  same  offense. 

1605.  A  great  fire  occurred  in  High  Street,  Lynn, 
a  man,  his  wife  and  three  children  perishing  in  the 
flames. 

1621.  A  man,  while  ringing  the  great  bell  of  St. 
Margaret's,  was  drawn  up  by  the  rope  and  killed. 

1626.  Lynn  received  from  London  several  large 
cannon  for  the  defense  of  the  town,  and  St.  Ann's 
fort  was  built. 

1629.  A  stool  for  weighing  children  was  this  year 
erected  at  the  charge  of  the  corporation. 

1636.  Fourteen  vessels  belonging  to  Lynn  were 
this  year  lost  by  the  violence  of  storms.  The  plague 
also  prevailed,  insomuch  that  no  market  was  held. 
Temporary  erections  were  prepared  for  the  afliicted 
ones  of  the  poorer  classes  under  the  town  walls. 

1642.  Lynn  received  seven  pieces  of  brass  cannon 
from  London,  for  the  more  effectual  armament  of  the 
fortifications.  In  August  the  town  was  besieged  by  the 
Parliamentary  forces  and  suffered  occasional  bombard- 
ment till  September  16th,  when  it  was  surrendered 
by  agreement,  only  four  having  lost  their  lives  and  a 
few  being  wounded.  The  town  was  required  to  pay 
to  the  Earl  of  Manchester's  army  three  thousand  two 
hundred  pounds.  It  soon  became  a  Parliamentary 
garrison  town,  and  so  continued  till  1652. 

1643.  Puritanism  having   gained  the  ascendency, 


the  "  curious  painted  glass  "  in  St.  Margaret's  Church 
was  ordered  to  be  taken  out  and  plain  glass  substi- 
tuted. 

1654.  Cromwell  renewed  and  enlarged  the  charter 
of  Lynn.  And  in  the  churches  the  arms  of  the  Com- 
monwealth were  substituted  for  the  royal  arms. 

1655.  Lynn  again  made  a  garrison  town. 

1660.  The  restoration  celebrated.  Three  hundred 
young  maidens,  tastily  arrayed  in  white,  parade  the 
streets.  There  was  great  rejoicing  in  Lynn  at  the 
restoration,  for  the  place  had  always  remained  essen- 
tially loyal.  The  oaths  of  allegiance  and  supremacy 
w"ere  readily  taken  by  the  leading  citizens,  and  the 
train-bands  indulged  in  musters  and  military  shows. 
Many  of  the  former  customs  and  observances  were 
revived ;  among  them  the  early  divine  service  at  St. 
Margaret's — five  A.  m.  in  summer  and  six  in  winter 
— which  had  been  suspended  for  ten  years. 

1682.  Two  new  May-poles  set  up  in  Lynn. 

1686.  Great  rejoicing  in  Lynn  at  the  erection  of  a 
statue  of  King  James  II. 

1745.  February  8th,  Eugene  Aram,  that  remarkable 
individual  whose  learning  and  fate  have  made  him 
historical,  commits  the  murder  for  which  he  was  finally 
executed  and  his  body  hung  in  chains.  He  lived  in 
Lynn,  was  teacher  in  the  academy  there  at  the  time 
of  his  arrest,  in  1759,  and  so  much  beloved  by  his  pu- 
pils that  many  tears  were  shed  when  the  constables, 

"  Two  stern-faced  men  set  out  from  Lynn, 
Through  tlie  cold  and  heavy  mist, 
And  Eugene  Aram  walked  between, 
With  gyves  upon  his  wrist." 

The  school  is  still  flourishing.  Upon  the  leads  of 
Gray  Friars'  Tower,  which  yet  remains  one  of  the 
most  conspicuous  objects  in  Lynn,  and  which  is  near 
the  school,  may  yet  be  seen  the  name  of  Aram, 
scratched,  it  is  said,  by  his  own  hand.  Bulwer's  novel, 
entitled  "  Eugene  Aram,"  was  probably  suggested  by 
the  familiarity  of  the  author  with  the  legends  and 
surroundings  of  Lynn,  he  having  an  aunt  residing 
there. 

The  foregoing  will  be  sufficient  for  a  glimpse  at  the 
history  of  our  ancient  prototype,  with  some  of  the 
vicissitudes  to  which  she  has  been  exposed  and  some 
of  her  doings  characteristic  of  the  times.  But  to  oc- 
cupy space  with  events  of  later  date  would  hardly  be 
justifiable. 

Closing  Eemaeks. — In  bringing  this  imperfect 
sketch  of  Lynn  to  a  close,  it  may  be  remarked  that 
the  severaltopics  introduced  have  been  as  fully  treated 
as  the  allotted  space  would  allow.  And  in  the  choice 
of  topics  it  has  been  the  endeavor  to  select  such  as  on 
the  whole  would  prove  most  interesting  and  best  fitted 
to  illustrate  the  princii^al  object  in  view. 

Glimpses  of  its  situation,  its  beautiful  surroundings 
and  natural  resources,  have  been  given  ;  the  labors, 
sacrifices  and  sufferings  of  the  people  in  its  earliest 
days,  their  leading  characteristics,  hopes,  enjoyments 
and  expectations,  have  been  touched  upon  ;  and  the 


348 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


progress  onward  to  the  present  day  of  comfort,  thrift 
and  attainment  in  weahh,  education  and  the  higher 
arts  of  life,  has  been  traced — all  according  to  the  pre- 
scribed limits  and  the  ability  of  the  writer. 

Something  of  the  character  of  the  people  in  the 
different  periods  is  to  be  found  in  the  numerous  per- 
sonal notices  scattered  through  the  pages.  And  the 
employments  on  which  the  prosperity  of  the  place 
has  grown  have  not  been  overlooked.  Considering 
the  condition  in  which  we  now  find  ourselves,  a  little 
self-gratulation  may  be  pardonable.  The  aspect  of 
things  as  they  now  exist  maybe  called  reasonably  au- 
spicious, and  the  prayer  is  that  they  may  ever  contin- 
ue so,  while  generation  succeeds  generation  as  wave 
succeeds  wave  upon  our  shore,  ceasing  only  when 
those  waves  cease  to  roll. 

Could  one  of  the  old  settlers  arise — for  instance  the 
intelligent  Sadler,  whose  modest  habitation  nestled 
at  the  foot  of  the  hill  by  which  the  writer  is  penning 
these  closing  lines — what  would  be  his  astonishment ! 
The  natural  features  of  the  surroundings,  the  rocky 
ravines,  the  green  hills,  the  meadows,  the  placid 
river,  the  sunny  isles  have  undergone  but  little 
change.  But  the  plain  which  he  then  overlooked, 
stretching  from  his  feet  to  the  sea,  with  the  smoke  of 
its  few  rude  structures  curling  upward  among  the  trees, 
now  bears  a  wide-spread  city.  And  the  great  waters 
beyond,  which  then  presented  an  unbroken  field  of 
blue,  are  now  traversed  by  floating  craft  of  all  de- 
scriptions, from  the  huge  steam-pufiing  leviathan  that 
bridges  the  watery  way  to  his  old  home  on  a  far-off 
continent,  to  the  tiny  pleasure-boat.  Over  the  then 
silent  hills  and  through  the  lonely  valleys  now  echo 
at  early  morning  the  awakening  whistles  summoning 
to  labor  in  the  numerous  factories*,  at  evening  repeat- 
ing their  shrill  notes  as  the  hours  of  labor  close. 

It  can  well  be  imagined  that  he  often  seated  him- 
self upon  the  mossy  crest  of  the  clifi"  that  still  bears 
his  name,  and  which  towered  above  his  lonely  habi- 
tation, at  evening  twilight, 

"When  every  sound  of  day  is  mute 
And  all  its  voices  still, 
And  silence  walks  with  velvet  foot 
O'er  valley,  town  and  hill," 


and  when 


"  The  music  of  the  murmuring  deep 
Sooths  e'en  the  weary  earth  to  sleep," 


and  the  many  other  then  unknown  sounds  that  now 
succeed  the  feverish  palpitations  of  bustling  day?  As 
his  eye  scanned  the  dark  horizon,  then  unrelieved 
even  by  the  glimmer  of  a  coast  light,  could  he  have 
imagined  that  a  brightly-lighted  city,  with  its  central 
electric  illuminations  and  its  outposts  of  lambent  gas, 
would  ever  appear  within  those  murky  borders? 

But  after  all  our  boasted  privileges,  inventions,  prog- 
ress and  attainment — after  all  the  revelations  in  phil- 
osophy, science  and  mechanics — after  all  our  steam- 
driven  machinery,  telegraphs,  telephones,  gas  and 
electric  lights — are  there  better,  wiser,  nobler  men 
and  women — better  rulers,  statesmen,  philanthropists 
— better  fathers,  mothers,  children — than  there  were 
in  days  of  yore  ?  Probably  not.  Mankind  preserves 
about  the  same  old  average,  and  very  likely  will,  to 
the  end  of  time.  While  we  look  with  compassion 
upon  what  we  call  the  unprogressive  state  of  the  races 
below  us,  are  we  sure  that  those  above  us  do  not  look 
with  pitying  eye  upon  our  own  condition  ?  Yet  to 
come  down  to  our  own  limited  case,  there  appears 
reason  for  congratulation  in  that  the  great  rank  and 
file  of  the  community  are  at  this  day  in  a  physically 
better  condition  than  at  any  former  period  ;  better  fed, 
clothed  and  sheltered  ;  better  provided  with  the  neces- 
saries, conveniences  and  comforts  of  life.  Some 
pseudo-philosophers  are  wont  to  boast  that  this  gen- 
eration has  reached  a  higher  plane  in  all  respects  than 
any  before  known.  Let  them  take  comfort  in  the  be- 
lief ;  but  the  true  moralist  may  well  maintain  that  the 
plane  of  perfection  is  yet  a  great  way  off.  So  let  us 
heed  the  words  of  the  old  dramatist : 

"  Pascal.     How,  now.  Sir  Francis  ! 
Kuowest  thou  not  there  is  a  niche, 
A  blessed  niche,  provided  for  each  one  ? 
The  virtuous  and  diligent  will  gain  it ; 
The  vicious  and  the  slothful,  never  !  " 


there  to  meditate  till  the  darker  hours  of  night  drew 
on,  the  primeval  stillness  disturbed  only  by  the  rust- 
ling of  the  breeze  in  the  leafy  woods,  or  haply  at  in- 
tervals by  the  bark  of  the  fox,  the  howl  of  the  wolf, 
the  hoot  of  the  owl  or  the  melancholy  note  of  the 
whip-poor-will.  Could  he  then  in  dreamy  forecast 
have  imagined  a  time  like  the  present — a  time  when 

"  Over  the  marshes  mournfully 
Drifts  the  sound  of  the  restless  sea," 

forming  an  eternal  foundation  harmony  to  the  hum  of 
a  busy  city,  the  ceaseless  rumbling  of  railroad  trains 
speeding  along  with  fiery  wake  and  echoing  shriek, 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


ALOKZO   LEWIS.^ 

The  Lynn  Bard  was  born  at  Lynn,  Mass.,  on  the 
28th  day  of  August,  1794,  and  the  house  in  which  he 
was  born  is  yet  standing  in  Boston  Street,  on  the 
corner  of  Robinson.  He  was  descended  on  his  fath- 
er's side  from  an  old  Welsh  family,  a  family  that 
traces  its  lineage,  through  generation  and  generation, 
back  to  the  native  princes  of  Wales,  princes  that 
reigned  years  anterior  to  the  conquests  of  the  Angles 
and  Saxons,  and  even  before  the  Romans  made  their 
appearance  in  Britain.  As  the  Angles  and  Saxons 
absorbed  the  ancient  Briton,  so  did  they,  in  their 
turn,  become  absorbed  by  the  later  Normans,  and  the 
old  Welsh  Llewellyn  got,  in  the  course  of  time,  to  be 
translated  into  the  more  modern  Lewis.     The  first  of 

iBy  Ion  Lewis. 


(i-'-t^^i^ 


LYNN. 


349 


the  family  to  appear  in  this  country  was  William 
Lewis,  who  came  here  from  Glamorganshire,  South 
Wales,  in  1G36.  There  is  more  or  less  French — prob- 
ably Norman  French — influence  in  the  modern  family, 
that  undoubtedly  crept  in  at  the  Norman  invasion, 
and  is  manifest  in  the  family  motto,  "  courage  sans 
peur."  And  the  evidence  of  a  participation  in  the 
crusades  under  Richard  is  seen  in  their  crest,  a  Sara- 
cen's head.  The  Lewis  coat  of  arms  is  a  lion  ram- 
pant on  a  field  azure.  The  descendants  of  this  Wil- 
liam Lewis  are  not  very  numerous,  most  of  the  name 
in  this  country  being  of  English  descent.  Governor 
Morgan  Lewis,  of  New  York,  son  of  Francis  Lewis, 
a  signer  of  the  Delcaration  of  Independence,  was  of 
the  same  family,  although  the  latter  came  to  this 
country  a  century  later  than  William  Lewis.  In  the 
matter  of  genealogies,  however,  anything  ante-dating 
the  Norman  conquest,  or  even  the  fourteenth  centu- 
ry, is  liable  to  dispute. 

Mr.  Lewis  received  a  sound  and  thorough  educa- 
tion, but  not  content  with  the  mere  instruction  of  the 
schools,  he  pursued  his  studies,  and  with  vigor, 
through  the  whole  extent  of  his  life.  As  a  linguist 
he  acquired  considerable  proficiency  in  the  commoner 
modern  and  ancient  languages.  He  had  an  evident 
delight  for  study,  and  loved  to  teach,  being  at  one 
time  head-master  of  Lynn  Academy,  and  at  others, 
of  one  or  two  grammar  schools  in  Lynn.  In  1831  he 
established  a  young  ladies'  school  in  Boston,  but  does 
not  seem  to  have  continued  it  long.  In  1835  he 
abandoned  the  profession  of  teacher. 

From  his  early  youth  he  evidenced  a  strong  poetic 
temperament,  and  several  of  his  poems  were  wi'itten 
at  an  early  age,  some  bearing  the  date  of  1811,  Mr. 
Lewis  being  then  but  seventeen  years  of  age.  In 
1823  he  collected  and  printed  his  first  volume  of 
poems,  a  book  of  two  hundred  pages,  but,  as  he  says 
ill  the  preface,  more  for  private  than  for  public  circu- 
lation. This  volume  contained  many  of  his  best 
poems,  including  "  Farewell  to  my  Harp."  In  1829 
was  published  the  first  edition  of  the  Histoiy  of  Lynn, 
a  work  of  immense  labor.  The  work  was  the  first  in 
the  field  of  local  histories,  and  is  called  to  this  day 
by  good  authorities  cue  of  the  best  local  histo- 
ries ever  written.  Two  years  later,  in  1831,  appeared 
another  volume  of  poems,  containing  many  of  the 
1823  edition  and  others  written  in  the  interval.  An- 
other edition  of  the  history  was  published,  and  in 
1834  appeared  the  last  volume  of  poems,  which  im- 
mediately became  very  popular  and  went  through 
fourteen  editions,  being  most  favorably  received  by 
the  critics  both  in  this  country  and  in  England. 

In  addition  to  the  above  Mr.  Lewis  published  a 
small  English  grammar,  and  another  small  work  on 
geometry,  beside  a  descriptive  sketch  called,  "  A 
Picture  of  Nahant."  During  his  whole  life  he  wrote 
much  for  the  newspapers  and  magazines  of  the  time, 
both  in  prose  and  poetry.  He  edited  an  anti-slavery 
paper  in  Lynn  before  the  appearance  of  the  Libera- 


tor, and  was  once,  during  the  absence  of  Mr.  Garri- 
son, in  editorial  charge  of  that  paper,  as  he  was  also 
of  the  Boston  Traveler,  then  the  American  Traveler. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society,  and  a  corresponding  member  of  many  other 
historical  bodies. 

In  1851  he  was  requested  by  Ticknor  &  Co.  to  write 
a  history  of  Boston,  but  does  not  seem  to  have  com- 
plied with  the  request,  as  the  only  thing  of  the  kind 
of  his  that  I  have  discovered  is  a  sort  of  chronological 
arrangement  of  the  principal  events  in  the  history  of 
Boston,  called  "  Annals  of  Boston."  He  evidently 
contemplated  another  historical  work,  as  a  letter  of 
Mr.  Whittier's  to  him  in  1833,  says:  "I  hope  thee 
will  decide  to  go  on  with  thy  '  Witchcraft.'  I  cer- 
tainly think  it  would  be  very  popular." 

That  he  was  more  happy  in  his  prose  than  in  his 
poetry  no  one  can  gainsay,  and  had  he  written  more 
of  the  former,  and  that  of  a  less  local  nature,  his 
fame  would  certainly  have  been  less  circumscribed. 
Many  of  the  descriptive  parts  of  the  "  History  of 
Lynn"  are  very  beautiful,  and  I  know  of  people  that 
every  now  and  again  take  up  the  history  and  read  and 
reread  for  the  mere  pleasure  of  reading.  In  the  mat- 
ter of  improvement  of  his  native  town  he  took  great 
interest,  and  many  works  of  a  local  nature  were  con- 
ceived and  carried  through,  almost  entirely  by  his 
unaided  efforts.  The  construction  of  the  break- 
water and  road  along  Lynn  Beach'  are  due  to  his 
efforts,  as  was  also  the  erection  of  the  light-house  on 
Egg  Rock. 

In  the  anti-slavery  movement  Mr.  Lewis  took  a 
most  active  part,  being  second  vice  president  of  the 
first  Anti-Slavery  Society,  of  which  William  Lloyd 
Garrison  was  secretary,  and  furthering  the  cause  by 
his  writings  for  the  periodicals  of  the  time. 

He  "^as  naturally  of  a  religious  nature  and  lived  a 
consistent  Christian  life,  often  denying  himself  that 
he  might  minister  to  the  necessities  of  others ;  and 
exercising  that  grandest  gift  of  charity  that  was  lack- 
ing in  the  treatment  of  him  by  others.  He  was  for 
many  years  the  only  churchman  in  Lynn,  and  walked 
to  St.  Peter's,  Salem,  every  Sunday  for  service.  At 
one  time  he  applied  to  Bishop  Grirwold  to  be  ad- 
mitted as  a  candidate  for  Holy  Orders,  but  does  not 
seem  to  have  carried  out  his  first  intention.  He 
continued  a  churchman  for  the  greater  part  of  his 
life,  being  prominent  in  the  establishment  of  St.  Ste- 
phen's Parish,  Lynn,  and  was  one  of  the  first  five  in- 
corporators. Before  the  establishment  of  St.  Stephen's 
he  held  services  at  Glenmere,  himself  acting  as  lay 
reader. 

Mr.  Lewis  was  twice  married,  his  first  wife  being 
Frances  Maria  Swan,  of  Methuen,  by  whom  he  had 
six  childrpn,  of  whom  two,  Llewellyn  and  Arthur, 
are  now  living.  For  his  second  wife  he  married  An- 
nie Ilsley  Hanson,  of  Portland,  Maine,  by  whom  he 
had  two  children,  Ina  and  Ion,  the  former  dying 
some  months  before  her  father.     For  the  latter  part 


350 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


of  his  life  Mr.  Lewis  lived  in  the  picturesque  cottage 
in  Beach  Street,  close  to  the  water's  edge,  a  place 
where  he  loved  to  sit  and  study,  and  where,  on  the 
21st  day  of  January,  1861,  he  passed  away,  at  the 
very  beginning  of  that  great  struggle  which  resulted 
in  the  accomplishment  of  an  object  for  which  he  had 
striven  the  greater  part  of  his  life. 

I  have  here  attempted  no  extended  biography,  and 
would  say  to  those  who  desire  more  minute  par- 
ticulars and  personal  reminiscences  to  consult  "  The 
History  of  Lynn,"  as  continued  by  Mr.  Newhall 
and  published  in  1864;  and  also,  Mr.  Johnson's 
charming  "  Sketches  of  Lynn,"  published  a  year  or 
two  ago. 

JAMES   ROBINSON   NEWHALL, 

The  brief  personal  sketch  of  the  individual  whose 
name  is  placed  above,  which  appeared  in  the  "  Cen- 
tennial Memorial "  of  Lynn,  published  by  order  of 
the  City  Council,  in  1876,  is  introduced  in  these 
words:  "  It  is  a  delicate  task  for  one  to  write  of  him- 
self, unless  he  has  that  in  his  history,  the  worthiness 
of  which  is  patent  and  not  to  be  questioned,  it  re- 
quiring no  poet  to  assure  us  that  we  seldom  '  see  our- 
selves as  others  see  us.' "  That  "delicate  task,"  how- 
ever, fell  to  his  lot,  and  to  a  similar  behest,  in  the 
present  case,  he  submits. 

The  name  appeared  in  the  "Centennial"  at  the 
dictation  of  the  Committee  of  the  Council  having  the 
matter  in  charge,  who  expressed  a  desire  that  sketches 
of  the  "  two  historians,"  as  they  were  pleased  to  call 
them,  should  be  inserted.  The  fitness  of  thus  honor- 
ing the  memory  of  Mr.  Lewis  could  not  be  questioned, 
whatever  might  be  said  of  the  one  whose  name  had 
been  so  long  associated  with  his  in  delineating  the 
progress  of  Lynn,  the  native  and  ancestral  home  of 
both.  The  sketch  referred  to  will  form  the  basis  of 
the  one  now  in  hand.  The  supercilious  autobiogra- 
pher  may  magnify  his  virtues  and  the  over-modest 
his  errors;  but  the  charm  lies  in  the  mean,  from 
which,  in  the  present  case,  there  is  little  inducement 
to  stray. 

The  subject  of  this  notice  was  born  in  Lynn  on 
Christmas  day,  1809,  in  the  old  Hart  house,  that  stood 
on  Boston  Street,  at  the  southwest  corner  of  Federal, 
the  same  which,  on  the  Centennial  Fourth  of  July,  1876, 
disappeared  in  a  patriotic  blaze,  amid  the  shouts  and 
cheers  of  Young  America.  All  his  genealogical  lines 
run  back  to  early  Lynn  settlers.  His  father  was  Ben- 
jamin Newhall,  who  was  born  in  1774  and  died  in 
1857;  Benjamin's  father  was  James,  born  in  1731, 
died  iu  1801;  James'  father  was  Benjamin,  born  in 
1698,  died  in  1763 ;  Benjamin's  father  was  Joseph, 
born  in  1658,  died  in  1706 ;  Joseph's  father  was 
Thomas,  born  in  1630,  died  in  1687 — the  first  white 
child  born  in  Lynn.  His  mother  was  Sarah,  a 
daughter  of  Joseph  Hart,  who  descended  from  Sam- 
uel, one  of  the  first  engaged  at  the  ancient  iron 
works  established  near  Saugus  River  in  1643,  said  to 


be  the  first  in  America.  Both  his  grandmothers  were 
granddaughters  of  Hon.  Ebenezer  Burrill,  so  con- 
spicuous in  colonial  times  as  a  Eepresentative  and 
Crown  Counselor,  and  who  was  a  brother  of  John 
Burrill,  the  eminent  speaker  whom  Governor  Hutch- 
inson compares  with  Sir  Arthur  Onslow,  who  was 
considered  the  most  able  presiding  officer  the  British 
House  of  Commons  ever  had. 

At  the  age  of  eleven  the  writer  left  the  paternal 
roof,  with  his  worldly  possessions  in  a  bundle-hand- 
kerchief, to  make  his  way  in  the  wide  world,  his 
mother  having  died  a  year  or  two  before  and  his 
fother  having  a  large  family  to  provide  for. 

But  little  worthy  of  mention  occurred  until  the 
summer  of  1824,  when,  having  worked  daily  and  at- 
tended various  public  schools,  he  entered  the  Salem 
Gazette  ofl[ice  to  learn  the  art  and  mystery  of  printing. 
And  it  is  pleasing  to  remark  that  at  the  present  time, 
1887,  may  daily  be  seen  in  that  venerable  establish- 
ment the  Hon.  Caleb  Foote,  who  at  that  time,  1824,  was 
busy  at  the  compositor's  case.  Mr.  Foote,  however, 
soon  after  dropped  the  composing  stick  for  the  edito- 
rial pen,  an  implement  which  he  has  wielded  to  this 
day  with  rare  ability  and  acceptance.  Would  that 
all  editors  could  realize,  as  he  has,  the  dignity  and 
responsibility  of  their  public  relations.  His  consid- 
erate suggestions  and  helpful  directions  to  the  typo- 
graphical neophyte  have,  during  these  three-score 
years  and  three,  been  gratefully  remembered. 

After  serving  in  the  Gazette  office  for  a  few  years, 
he  felt  desirous  of  gaining  a  better  knowledge  of  book- 
printing  than  could  be  done  in  Salem  at  that  time, 
and  in  furtherance  of  the  desire  procured  a  situation 
in  Boston.  Things  so  prospered  that  before  attaining 
his  majority  he  was  installed  foreman  of  one  of  the 
principal  book  offices  there,  his  duties  in  a  general 
way  being  to  direct  the  work  and  read  proofs.  Of 
this  period  many  pleasant  recollections  are  retained. 
In  the  office  were  printed  a  large  number  of  classical 
and  scientific  works,  and  some  of  the  most  eminent 
men  of  the  time  frequently  dropped  in.  Anecdotes 
almost  without  number  of  such  men  as  Dr.  Channing, 
Dr.  Bowditch,  Francis  J.  Grund,  the  Cambridge  pro- 
fessors, N.  P.  Willis,  Samuel  G.  Goodrich,  and  shoals 
of  the  less  conspicuous,  but  not  less  ambitious  literary 
aspirants,  could  be  related. 

While  still  under  age,  in  the  roving  spirit  of  young 
printers,  he  drifted  to  New  York,  and  soon  after  his 
arrival  found  employment  in  the  Conference  office,  the 
largest  then  in  the  city ;  and  with  perhaps  a  little 
excusable,  if  not  commendable  pride,  may  refer  to 
his  reputation  there  as  being  the  fastest  type-setter 
iu  the  establishment.  This  was  in  1829.  And  he 
has  to  the  present  day  so  indulged  his  early  love  for 
the  printer's  case  as  for  many  years  to  keep  a  font  or 
two  of  type,  wherewith  to  amuse  or  occupy  a  vacant 
hour.  Nearly  two  thousand  stereotype  pages  can  be 
to-day  shown  as  the  fruit  of  these  semi-recreative 
odds  and  ends  of  time,  much  of  the  matter  having 


€M.-i^i^i^--^i---^'2^yvyZo-C^ 


LYNN. 


351 


been  set  up  without  having  been  previously  written. 
As  to  the  quality  of  the  literary  products,  he  cannot, 
of  course,  speak.  It  may,  however,  be  admitted  in 
regard  to  some,  at  least,  that  if  worth  is  to  be  meas- 
ured by  pecuniary  return,  it  was  not  very  great.  Yet, 
on  the  whole,  there  has  been  much  reason  to  be  sat- 
isfied, looking  at  a  "  fair  average."  Exposure  to  the 
undeserved  adulation  of  sympathetic  friends  and  the 
equally  undeserved  severity  of  vindictive  critics  is 
supposed  to  be  the  fate  of  all  writers,  great  and  small. 
It  is  well  remembered  that  once,  on  the  eve  of  the 
publication  of  a  notable  work,  the  writer  overheard  a 
debate  between  two  of  the  learned  editors,  of  this 

tenor:  "Why,  you  have  given  nothing  from ," 

said  one,  naming  a  writer  by  no  means  obscure. 
"  Well,  I  know  that,"  was  the  reply,  "  but  he  never 
wrote  anything  worth  a  place  in  our  book."  "That 
is  true,"  was  the  rejoinder;  "but  the  omission  would 
greatly  offend  him  and  his  friends,  and  might  lead  to 
damaging  reviews.  We  must  have  something."  And 
something  was  had,  prefaced  by  a  laudatory  note.  It 
will,  of  course,  be  granted  that  the  most  ignorant 
critic  knows  more  than  the  most  learned  author. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-two  the  writer  returned  to  his 
native  place,  and  soon  became  engaged  in  the  office 
of  the  3Iirror,  the  first  printing  establishment  in 
Lynn,  commenced  about  five  years  before  by  Charles 
F.  Lummus,  and  at  that  time  still  owned  and  con- 
ducted by  him.  It  was  very  poorly  supplied  with 
material.  There  was  but  little  work  and  that  not 
well  done,  and  it  was  not  long  before  the  proprietor 
had  succeeded  in  sinking  the  little  means  with  which 
he  began.  The  writer  purchased  the  office  and  com- 
menced the  publication  of  another  paper,  but  was 
soon  satisfied  that  much  labor  would  yield  but  a 
scanty  return,  and  was  induced  to  let  the  new  paper 
speedily  follow  the  fate  of  the  old. 

After  busying  himself  for  a  few  years  in  various 
ways,  chiefly  in  connection  with  printing  and  the 
book  business,  and  once  or  twice  a  year  taking  a  lec- 
turing tour,  he  again  found  himself  in  New  York, 
engaged  in  the  editorial  department  of  a  daily  jour- 
nal and  in  writing  for  one  or  two  weeklies.  Of  this 
interval  many  agreeable  recollections  are  retained, 
among  them  pleasant  ones  of  the  genial  young  gen- 
tleman, Walter  Whitman,  now  the  world-renowned 
Walt  Whitman,  the  poet,  who  was  engaged  on  the 
same  daily  ;  and  the  friendly  suggestions  of  the  ven- 
erable Major  M.  M.  Noah,  so  long  and  so  fitly  called 
the  Nestor  of  the  American  press,  will  not  be  for- 
gotten. 

In  1854,  meeting  a  friend  who  had  for  some  time 
been  in  practice  as  a  member  of  the  Essex  bar,  he 
was  kindly  invited  to  take  a  student's  seat  in  his 
office.  The  invitation  was  accepted,  and  the  study  of 
law  commenced. 

Completing  a  regular  legal  course,  in  May,  1847, 
he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Boston,  and  forthwith 
commenced  a  practice  in  Lynn,  which  soon  became 


quite  satisfactory.  He  was  presently  commissioned 
as  justice  of  the  peace  and  notary  public,  which 
offices  he  still  holds.  On  the  24th  of  August,  1866, 
he  was  commissioned  as  Judge  of  the  Lynn  Police 
Court,  with  which  he  had  been  connected  as  special 
justice  from  the  time  of  its  establishment,  in  1849. 
He  was  likewise  appointed  a  trial  justice  of  juvenile 
oflfenders  when  that  jurisdiction  was  established.  The 
judgeship  he  resigned  August  24,  1879. 

At  the  time  he  commenced  practice  there  were  but 
three  acting  lawyers  here, — namely,  Jeremiah  C. 
Stickney,  Thomas  B.  Newhall  and  Benjamin  F.  Mudge. 
Mr.  Stickney  was  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  in  the 
county  for  many  years.  He  died  August  3,  1869, 
aged  sixty-four  years.  Mr.  T.  B.  Newhall  commenced 
practice  here  in  1837,  and  now,  1887,  after  fifty  years, 
may  still  be  found  in  his  well-worn  office  chair.  Of 
him  a  personal  sketch  appears  elsewhere  in  this  work. 
Mr.  Mudge  opened  his  office  in  1842,  removed  to 
Manhattan,  Kansas,  and  died  there  November  21, 
1879,  aged  sixty-two  years.  He  was  our  second  May- 
or, inaugurated  in  1852.  The  number  of  Lynn  law- 
yers has  increased  during  these  forty  years  (1847-87) 
from  three  to  about  forty,  while  the  population  has 
hardly  quadrupled.  Is  this  to  be  taken  as  evidence 
that  business  has  increased  in  a  corresponding  degree 
or  as  evidence  that  there  has  been  a  remarkably  in- 
creasing love  for  litigation  ? 

To  return  from  this  divergence.  The  subject  of  this 
sketch  has  not  been  much  in  public  office,  excepting 
as  connected  with  the  judicial  department,  though  he 
has  served  as  chairman  of  the  School  Board  and  pres- 
ident of  the  Common  Council. 

In  the  autumn  of  1883,  at  the  age  of  seventy-three 
years,  he  took  a  tour  of  several  months  abroad,  visit- 
ing a  number  of  famous  cities  and  renowned  places 
in  Europe,  and  extending  his  trip  to  interesting  Lev- 
antine points,  to  Algiers  and  Malta,  on  the  Mediter- 
ranean ;  to  Alexandria,  Cairo  and  the  Pyramids  in 
Egypt.  Though  the  tour  was  undertaken  alone — for 
if  alone  one  can,  without  let  or  hindrance,  go  how, 
when  and  where  he  pleases — he  everywhere  received 
such  gratifying  civilities  as  could  only  lead  to  regrets 
that  he  had  not  earlier  in  life  thus  experimentally 
learned  that,  after  all,  men  everywhere  will,  on  the 
whole,  rather  contribute  to  make  others  happy  than 
miserable.  Such  experience  increases  faith  in  human 
nature,  and  ought  to  diminish  self-conceit. 

Being  interested  in  historical  researches,  he  pub- 
lished, in  1836,  the  "Essex  Memorial;"  in  1862, 
"Lin,  or  Jewels  of  the  Third  Plantation;"  in  1865, 
"The  History  of  Lynn,"  comprising  the  admirable 
work  of  Alonzo  Lewis,  with  a  continuation  embrac- 
ing some  twenty-one  years ;  in  1883,  an  additional 
volume  of  the  "History  of  Lynn,"  with  notices  of 
events  down  to  the  year  of  publication  and  other 
matter  on  various  topics;  in  1876,  by  desire  of  the 
City  Council,  he  prepared  the  "  Centennial  Memorial 
of  Lynn,"  embracing  an  historical  sketch  and  notices 


352 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


of  the  mayors,  with  their  portraits;  and  in  1879,  also 
by  desire  of  the  City  Council,  he  prepared  the  work 
entitled  "  Proceedings  in  Lynn,  June  17,  1879,  being 
the  Two  Hundred  and  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the 
Settlement."  To  these  may  not  improperly  be  added 
the  sketches  of  Lynn,  Lynnfield  and  Swampscott, 
which  appear  in  this  "  History  of  Essex  County." 

If  there  is  any  achievement  in  a  literary  way  with 
which  the  writer  fancies  that  he  has  reason  to  be  sat- 
isfied, it  comes  through  his  endeavor  to  contribute 
something  calculated  to  allure  to  habits  of  industry, 
frugality,  temperance  and  those  concomitant  virtues, 
the  sure  foundation  of  prosperity,  and  the  sure  way 
towards  honorable  position.  A  great  many  brief 
biographies  and  personal  sketches  of  individuals  in 
the  various  walks  of  life  have  appeared  scattered 
about  his  pages — whether  poorly  or  skillfully  drawn  is 
not  the  question  here — sketches  of  individuals  who 
have  acted  well  their  part  in  promoting  the  prosper- 
ity and  extending  the  good  fame  of  their  home,  as 
well  as  advancing  their  individual  interests.  And 
these  personal  sketches  have  a  two-fold  purpose: 
first,  to  perpetuate  the  names  of  deserving  ones,  and, 
second,  to  furnish,  by  their  example,  encouragement 
for  others  to  follow  on  in  a  like  good  way.  Yet  we 
should  all  realize  that  the  attainment  of  mere  worldly 
fame,  position  or  wealth  is  not  the  chief  purpose  of 
life,  and  that  at  the  end  we  shall  find  there  was  no 
great  gain  in  worshipping  false  gods  all  our  lives. 

One  other  thing  has  been  attempted  by  the  writer, 
and  that  is,  to  illustrate  to  some  extent  the  romantic 
and  legendary  side  of  Lynn's  history.  There  is  a  rich 
store  in  that  direction,  and  oftentimes  it  is  difficult  to 
distinguish  between  truth  and  fiction  or  know  exactly 
where  to  draw  the  line.  But  the  aim  has  always  been 
to  clearly  indicate  the  character  of  the  matter  in  hand 
and  lead  no  one  astray. 

In  October,  1837,  the  writer  was  united  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Dorcas  B.  Brown,  only  daughter  of  Captain 
William  Brown,  of  Salem,  and  by  her  had  one  son, 
who  died  at  the  age  of  ten,  his  mother  having  died 
soon  after  his  birth.  In  1853  he  was  again  mar- 
ried, the  second  wife  being  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Campbell, 
daughter  of  Hon.  Josiah  Newhall,  of  Lynn,  and  that 
relation  still,  1887,  remains  unsevered. 

The  writer  trusts  that  nothing  in  the  foregoing  will 
tend  to  place  him  in  the  category  indicated  by  our 
former  townsman,  Henry  Clapp,  when  he  said  of  Hor- 
ace Greeley  :  "  He  is  a  self-made  man  and  worships 
his  maker,"  for  in  his  life,  as  has  been  seen,  few  stir- 
ring incidents  have  occurred,  no  extraordinary  ad- 
ventures, no  remarkable  achievements.  Whether  any- 
thing of  value  has  been  accomplished  is  a  question 
for  others  to  decide.  Nevertheless,  it  may  be  re- 
marked in  a  general  way  that  very  few  who  are  so 
long  in  the  world  lead  such  barren  lives  that  nothing 
of  usefulness  or  interest  is  found.  And  not  unfre- 
quently  is  it  the  case  that  the  lessons  to  be  drawn 
from  the  lives  of  those  in  the  less  prominent  walks 


are  the  most  widely  useful,  for  the  great  multitude 
are  companions  in  those  walks,  and  can  the  more 
readily  appreciate  the  obstacles  and  perceive  the 
snares  that  beset  the  way.  Every  one  feels  that  he 
has  a  hand  in  shaping  his  own  destiny,  though  it  does 
seem  as  if 

"  Some  were  born  to  wealth  or  fame, 
While  others  are  mere  Fortune's  game." 

But  it  is  dutiful  in  all  of  us  to  follow  the  injunc- 
tion of  our  rhyming  old  townsman,  of  eccentric  mem- 
ory: 

"  While  traveling  to  the  unknown  land, 
Let  each  lend  each  a  helping  hand," 

ever  bearing  in  mind  that 

"  What  might  have  been  can  not  be  known  ; 
What  ivas  we  answer  for  alone." 

[Note. — It  was  editorially  suggested  that  this  sketch  and  the  accompa- 
nying portrait  would  more  appropriately  appear  among  the  lawyers  of 
the  County.  The  privilege  of  being  placed  in  that  august  company  is 
fully  appreciated,  though  the  superior  lustre  there  might  be  obscuring. 
But  inasmuch  as  the  writer  has  had  a  considerable  share  in  illustrating 
Lynn's  history  and  always  earnestly  desired  her  Godspeed,  it  seemed  to 
him  that  the  more  suitable  place  was  in  the  company  of  those  whose 
enterprise,  industry  and  dignity  of  character  have  so  advanced  the 
prosperity  of  their  home  and  his.] 


HON.  GEORGE  HOOD, 

The  first  mayor  of  the  city  of  Lynn,  was  a  native 
of  the  town  of  Lynn,  and  was  born  on  the  10th  of 
November,  1806. 

The  Hood  family  is  among  the  earliest  mentioned 
in  the  annals  of  Lynn,  being  descended  from  Richard 
Hood,  who  emigrated  from  Essex  County,  in  Eng- 
land, about  1640,  and  settled  at  Lynn.  Dying  in  1695, 
he  left  three  sons, — Eichard,  John  and  Nathaniel. 
Richard,  the  eldest  of  these,  falling  heir  to  the 
"  Nahant  road  "  property — some  thirty  acres — now 
bounded  in  part  by  Nahant  Street,  afterwards  ex- 
changed it  with  Jabez  Breed  for  certain  land  on  the 
peninsula  of  Nahant,  and  went  thither  to  live,  and 
there  his  descendants  have  ever  since  resided.  This 
Richard  had  a  son  Abner,  who  had  a  son  Abner, 
who  married  Mary  Richardson,  and  they  were  the 
parents  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  While  he  was 
an  infant  the  family  removed  to  Nahant,  and  there, 
in  the  little  village  school,  he  received  all  his  youth- 
ful intellectual  training.  He  learned  the  trade  of 
shoemaking,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  in  com- 
pany with  John  C.  Abbott,  he  went  to  the  then  far 
West  to  seek  his  fortune.  They  directed  their  course 
to  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  at  that  time,  in  1829,  a  small  place. 
In  a  few  days  they  were  established  in  business,  and 
within  a  month  Mr.  Hood,  with  a  part  of  their  stock, 
went  down  to  Natchez,  Miss.,  and  commenced  a  branch 
establishment,  which  he  continued  to  manage  until 
1835,  the  principal  business,  remaining,  meanwhile, 
at  St.  Louis.  In  the  last-named  year  he  returned  to 
Lynn  and  established  a  commission  shoe  and  leather 
business  in  Boston,  retaining,  however,  an  interest  in 
the  western  business  till  1841.  In  his  Boston  busi- 
ness he  continued  till  the  time  of  his  decease. 


LYNN. 


353 


Not  long  after  his  return  to  the  East  Mr.  Hood 
became  active  in  the  political  field.  He  was  a  very 
prominent  member  of  the  old  Democratic  party, 
fought  manfully  for  its  interests,  and  his  valuable 
servicer  were  acknowledged  by  his  nomination  and 
frequently  by  his  election  to  various  high  positions. 
In  addition  to  town  offices,  he  was  several  times 
chosen  a  Representative  to  the  General  Court,  and 
in  that  of  1843  was  a  Senator.  In  the  gubernatorial 
campaign  of  1846  he  was  the  Democratic  candidate 
for  the  office  of  Lieutenant-Governor,  but  that  party 
did  not  prevail,  nor,  in  fact,  hope  to,  the  Whig  party 
at  that  time  and  for  many  years  dominating  the 
State. 

In  1852  Mr.  Hood  was  nominated  by  his  party  for 
a  seat  in  the  National  House  of  Representatives,  but 
was  not  elected,  the  Whig  candidate,  as  was  then  usual 
in  this  Congressional  district,  being  chosen.  In  the 
next  year,  1853,  Mr.  Hood  was  a  member  of  the  con- 
vention for  revising  the  Constitution  of  Massachu- 
setts. 

Continuing,  meanwhile,  his  mercantile  business, 
wdiich  he  prosecuted  with  vigor  and  success,  he  took 
a  very  active  part  in  the  establishment  of  the  Shoe  and 
Leather  Fire  Insurance  Company,  of  Boston,  in  1853, 
and  was  chosen  its  first  president,  which  office  he 
continued  to  hold  till  his  resignation,  in  September, 
1858. 

Mr.  Hood's  activity  was  not  confined  to  business 
and  political  affiiirs,  but  the  great  social  questions 
of  the  day  found  in  him  an  earnest  inquirer  and 
practical  worker.  He  manifested  a  generous  sympa- 
thy for  the  laboring  classes,  and  was  one  of  the  fore- 
most to  break  up  the  old  custom  of  indefinitely  pro- 
tracted labor,  and  established  the  so-called  ten-hour 
system,  his  favorite  motto  being, — "  The  greatest  good 
of  the  greatest  number." 

In  the  general  improvement  and  culture  of  the 
people  he  took  a  lively  and  practical  interest. 

In  religious  matters  he  was,  during  his  mature 
years,  a  prominent  and  efficient  member  of  the  Uni- 
tarian denomination,  and  a  constant  attendant  upon 
its  public  worship. 

The  crowning  public  work  of  Mr.  Hood  was  that 
of  his  two  years'  mayoralty.  He  had  been  opposed 
to  the  adoption  of  the  city  form  of  government,  and 
in  the  spring  of  1849  had  successfully  led  the  oi)po- 
sition  to  the  acceptance  of  the  charter  granted  by  the 
Legislature  of  that  year.  His  ground  of  objection 
was  that  a  city  government  was  less  democratic — using 
that  word  in  its  broadest  sense — than  that  of  a  town. 

But  the  agitation  was  continued,  and  in  April, 
1850,  another  charter  was  granted,  which,  on  April 
19th,  was  accepted  by  the  people.  Despite  his  oppo- 
sition to  the  system  he  was  chosen  mayor,  though  by 
a  small  majority  of  about  twenty,  over  his  opponent, 
Thomas  Bowler,  the  veteran  town  clerk  of  the  pre- 
ceding twenty  years.  Mr.  Hood  was  re-elected  in 
March,  1851,  by  a  large  majority,  which  fact  was  an 
23 


undeniable  tribute  to  his  fidelity  and  ability.  He 
was  a  man  of  much  more  than  ordinary  intelligence, 
and  of  indomitable  industry.  Both  in  his  public  and 
his  personal  affairs  he  was  a  logical  thinker  and  a 
prompt  and  practical  worker.  He  died  on  the  29th 
of  June,  1859,  and  his  body  is  interred  in  his  family 
lot  in  Pine  Grove  Cemetery.  Mr.  Hood  married, 
September  11,  1833,  Hermione,  a  daughter  of  Major 
Aaron  Breed,  a  prominent  citizen  of  Lynn,  who  for 
a  number  of  years  was  a  member  of  the  General 
Court. 

Mrs.  Hood  died  January  20,  1887.  They  had  the 
following  children, — Harriet  M.,  George  A.,  Adelaide 
M.,  Edwin  E.,  Julius  S.,  Henrietta  A.,  Henry,  Caro- 
line P.,  Aubrey,  Ada  H.,  Edward  K.  and  Mary. 


RICHARD   SULLIVAN   FAY. 

Mr.  Fay  was  born  in  Cambridge  June  15,  1806, 
the  son  of  Hon.  Samuel  Prescolt  Phillips  Fay,  judge 
of  probate  in  Middlesex  County.  He  was  educated 
in  the  schools  of  that  town,  and  entered  college  in 
1821,  being  graduated  in  1825  with  good  distinction 
as  a  scholar.  Among  his  class-mates  were  Charles 
Francis  Adams,  Rev.  Frederick  H.  Hedge,  Rev.  S.  K. 
Lothrop,  John  L.  Sibley,  Sears  C.  Walker,  and  many 
others  who  distinguished  themselves  by  useful  and 
honorable  service.  At  the  close  of  his  college  career 
he  entered  upon  the  study  of  law,  at  the  law-school 
in  Northampton,  when  that  institution  held  a  high 
place  under  the  direction  of  some  of  the  most  bril- 
liant lawyers  of  the  commonwealth.  He  established 
himself  in  business  in  Boston  in  connection  with 
Jonathan  Chapman,  who  became  a  leader  at  the  Suf- 
folk bar,  and  mayor  of  the  city  of  Boston. 

In  1832  Mr.  Fay  married  Catharine  Sanders, 
daughter  of  the  Hon.  Dudley  L.  Pickman,  of  Salem, 
and  resided  many  years  in  Boston,  in  the  diligent 
and  active  practice  of  his  profession.  In  1848  he 
took  his  family  to  Europe,  and  after  an  extensive 
journey  on  the  Continent,  he  took  up  his  residence  in 
England,  where  he  resided  several  years  on  an  estate 
in  Shropshire,  known  as  Moor  Park,  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  and  cultivated  of  those  landed  properties  of 
England,  in  which  are  combined  the  elegance  and 
luxury  of  a  well-appointed  home,  and  the  best  prac- 
tical system  of  agriculture. 

It  was^  undoubtedly  this  experience  in  England 
which  increased  Mr.  Fay's  natural  love  of  rural  pur- 
suits, and  cultivated  tTiose  tastes  which  made  him  an 
ardent  and  useful  promoter  of  agriculture  in  his 
native  State,  to  which  he  returned  in  1853.  He  had 
previously  purchased  a  large  estate  in  Essex  County, 
known  as  Lynn  Mineral  Spring  Hotel,  comprising 
more  than  five  hundred  acres  of  diversified  land,  in 
which  fertile  valleys,  picturesque  and  rugged  hills 
and  a  beautiful  lakelet  were  combined.  He  com- 
menced at  once  the  improvement  of  this  place,  now 
called  Lynnraere,  by  draining  the  lands  and  covering 


354 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


the  hills  with  innumerable  trees,  many  of  which  he 
planted  with  his  own  hands.  He  imjjorted  larches, 
maples,  firs  and  pines  in  large  quantities,  planted 
acorns  constantly  in  his  walks  about  the  estate,  and 
succeeded  in  converting  a  rough  aud  somewhat  unat- 
tractive landscape  into  a  variegated  forest,  through 
which  winds  an  avenue  of  great  beauty,  bordered  by 
deciduous  and  evergreen  trees  distributed  with  great 
taste,  and  constituting  a  charming  combination  of 
variety  and  luxuriance  of  foliage.  The  forest  which 
Mr.  Fay  planted  has  now  become  a  profitable  wood- 
land. The  bare  hills  which  he  covered  with  Scotch 
larches,  the  rude  stone  walls  and  the  waste  pasture 
where,  originally,  there  was  only  a  growth  of  red 
cedars  and  huckleberry  bushes,  through  which  the 
approach  to  the  house  led,  have  given  way  to  shade- 
trees  of  great  variety,  which  now  after  forty  years  are 
in  magnificent  beauty.  Huge  rocks  were  drawn  out 
of  the  barren  soil,  now  verdant  in  lawn,  grass-fields 
and  rich  crops.  The  place  is  one  of  the  most 
picturesque  in  New  England  in  natural  beauty,  and 
in  its  present  condition  is  a  memorial  of  the  taste  and 
genius  of  the  man  who  developed  and  added  to  its 
attractions. 

In  addition  to  this  extensive  forest  and  ornamental 
tree-culture,  Mr.  Fay  encouraged  by  precept  and 
practice  many  of  the  most  important  branches  of 
agriculture  which  belong  especially  to  the  practical 
farmer.  While  in  England  he  had  observed  the  im- 
portance attached  to  sheep-husbandry,  for  the  pro- 
duction of  coarse  and  middle  wools,  and  for  the  sup- 
ply of  mutton  as  a  healthful  and  economical  article 
of  food,  at  that  time  not  in  general  use  in  this  coun- 
try. He  selected  from  all  the  heavy  and  rapid-grow- 
ing breeds  in  England  the  Oxford  Downs,  as  larger 
than  the  South  Down,  and  finer  than  the  Ootswold  ; 
and  from  his  large  flocks  he  made  for  a  long  time  a 
wide  distribution  throughout  the  country.  In  this 
branch  of  agriculture  he  was  considered  as  authority ; 
and  in  connection  with  it  he  encouraged  the  growing 
of  root-crops,  the  most  improved  Swedes  and  Man- 
golds, which  English  flock-masters  and  cattle-breeders 
consider  indispensable  to  their  calling. 

To  the  establishment  of  market-days  in  Essex 
County  Mr.  Fay  gave  early  and  earnest  attention, 
and  contributed  much  instruction  on  this  system  of 
trade,  so  common  in  England,  through  the  agri- 
cultural press  of  the  country.  His  attendance  at  the 
meeting  of  farmers  was  frequent.  As  a  trustee  of  the 
Massachusetts  Society  for  ProTnoting  Agriculture,  in 
which  body,  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  George  W.  Lyman, 
Chief  Justice  Bigelow,  George  Peabody,  of  Salem, 
Charles  G.  Loring,  Stephen  Salisbury,  George  B. 
Loring,  Leverett  Saltonstall  and  others  were  his  asso- 
ciates, he  did  good  service,  and  edited  the  first  issue 
of  the  records  of  the  society.  As  president  of  the 
Essex  Agricultural  Society,  he  called  around  that  as- 
sociation the  most  eminent  patrons  of  farming  known 
in  the  country,  and  did  much  to  place  it  in  the  posi- 


tion it  now  occupies.  He  had  a  sincere  love  of  rural 
life,  and  although  connected  from  time  to  time  with 
business  enterprises,  he  never  forgot  that  agriculture 
is  the  foundation  of  all  our  prosperity,  and  that  a 
knowledge  of  its  economies  and  a  taste  for  its  pursuits 
add  much  to  one's  usefulness  and  happiness. 

Mr.  Fay  was  a  man  of  great  determination,  strong 
impulse  and  wide  observation.  His  natural  powers 
were  great.  Highly  favored  by  fortune,  he  never  lost 
sight  of  the  efforts  required  for  the  development  of 
human  enterprises,  and  was  somewhat  impatient  of 
those  theories  which  disturbed  society  and  endan- 
gered its  perpetuity  and  success.  He  lived  in  a  time 
of  great  transitions,  in  which,  although  occupying  no 
official  position,  he  gave  strong  expression  to  his 
views  and  equal  impress  to  his  exertions.  Early  in 
the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War  he  organized  at 
his  own  expense  a  company  known  as  the  Fay  Guards, 
which  did  brave  and  honorable  service  in  the  great 
conflict.  This  company  was  attached  to  the  Thirty- 
eighth  Massachusetts,  and  was  in  the  following  en- 
gagements: Port  Hudson,  May  17  to  July  9,  1863; 
Cane  River,  La.,  April,  1864;  Mansion  Plains,  La., 
May,  1864;  Winchester,  Va.,  September  19,  1864; 
Fishers  Hill,  Va.,  September  21,  1864 ;  Cedar  Creek, 
Va.,  October  19,  1864.  Mr.  Fay  lived  to  see  the 
glorious  and  happy  termination  of  his  country's  trial, 

Mr.  Fay  died  in  Liverpool  July  6,  1865,  leaving  a 
widow  and  four  children. 


HENRY   NEWHALL. 

Henry  Newhall  was  descended  from  one  of  the 
oldest  and  largest  families  in  Lynn,  his  earliest  pater- 
nal ancestor,  Thomas  N.  (the  son  of  Thomas,  who 
came  from  England  and  settled  in  1630),  having  been 
the  first  child  born  in  the  town.  He  was  born  March 
10,  1797,  and  was  the  son  of  Winthrop  and  Elizabeth 
(Farrington).  Winthrop  Newhall  was  a  tanner. 
Henry,  having  associated  himself  with  his  older 
brother,  Francis  S.,  in  the  morocco  trade  and  manu- 
facture, became  a  prominent  merchant,  the  business 
of  the  firm  being  one  of  the  largest  in  the  town, 
having  its  headquarters  in  Lynn  and  Boston,  with  a 
branch  house  for  a  short  period  in  New  York.  In 
1850  ill  health  compelled  him  to  retire  from  the  firm, 
and  it  was  several  yearo,  partly  occupied  in  travel  at 
home  and  abroad,  before  he  was  sufficiently  restored 
to  resume  the  responsibilities  of  business.  Upon  the 
death  of  his  brother  Francis,  president  of  the  Laigh- 
ton  (now  Central  National)  Bank,  in  1858,  he  was 
elected  to  the  office  and  continued  to  hold  it  until  his 
retirement  in  1876,  at  the  advanced  age  of  nearly 
eighty  years. 

Henry  Newhall  belonged  to  a  family  marked  for 
intelligence  and  capacity,  and  inherited  those  sterling 
qualities  of  mind  and  character  that  always  command 
the  respect  and  confidence  of  a  community.  His  in- 
tegrity, his  quiet  but  penetrating   insight  into  human 


(f^e. 


■I'-l-n'-L-l 


m-      '■/,: 


a 


r. 


LYNN. 


355 


nature,  his  firmness  of  character,  his  careful  and  intel  - 
ligent  judgment,  together  with  his  kind  and  friendly 
spirit,  made  him  a  most  useful  citizen,  especially 
in  business  circles.  He  had,  also,  a  broad  and  vigor- 
ous mind,  and  if  there  were  any  deficiencies  of  early 
education  they  were  more  than  made  up  through  his 
large  aud  thoughtful  reading,  his  keen  appreciation 
of  the  best  things  in  thought  and  life  and  his 
unabated  interest  in  human  affairs.  Few  business 
men  were  so  well-read  in  the  literature  of  history, 
politics,  biography  and  fiction.  He  was  never  with- 
out a  book  at  hand,  and  little  of  the  current  litera- 
ture that  was  worth  reading  escaped  his  attention. 
Then  he  was  known  for  independent  and  positive 
opinions,  for  which  he  had  no  lack  of  courageous  and 
positive  expression  ;  at  the  same  time  he  was  most  tol- 
erant and  considerate  of  others.  He  was  a  man  of 
great  sincerity  and  plain-spokenness,  and  his  convic- 
tions had  weight  and  influence  with  those  with  whom 
he  was  associated.  In  business  relations  he  was  re- 
markable for  tact  and  discretion,  and  it  was  a  matter 
of  common  remark  that  he  never  obtruded  himself 
upon  the  interests  of  others. 

One  of  his  especial  characteristics  was  a  strong 
patriotism.  And  from  the  first  he  believed  in  anti- 
slavery,  and,  though  prudent  and  conservative  by 
nature,  was  an  ardent  supporter  of  the  cause  of 
humanity  at  a  time  when  it  was  most  unpopular.  In- 
deed, he  was  a  patient  listener  to  every  reform,  an  ad- 
mirer of  fair  play  in  the  advocacy  of  opinions  and 
principles,  and  a  believer  in  the  honesty  of  human 
nature  and  the  progressive  tendencies  of  society. 

In  religious  matters  his  convictions  were  not  so 
much  traditional  as  founded  upon  the  dictates  of  con- 
science and  reason.  Of  Quaker  extraction,  he  was 
one  of  the  leaders  of  the  liberal  movement  in  Lynn 
which  culminated  in  the  formation  of  the  Unitarian 
Society,  of  which  he  was  a  constant  and  liberal  sup- 
porter. The  mottoes  of  his  life  may  be  said  to  have 
been  sincerity,  honor  and  fidelity,  good-will  and  jus- 
tice towards  men,  and  there  was  nothing  toward 
which  he  expressed  a  severer  repugnance  than  their 
opposites. 

He  was  a  genial  and  companionableJfriend,and  pos- 
sessed unusually  interesting  powers  of  conversation. 

He  held  few  public  offices,  but  was  identified  with 
most  of  the  important  business  institutions  of  the 
city, — the  Lynn  Institution  for  Savings,  the  Lynn 
Gas-Light  Company,  the  old  Mechanics'  Insurance 
Company,  was  president  of  the  Exchange  and  Lyceum 
Hall  Associations,  held  a  number  of  offices  under  the 
old  town  government,  and  was  one  of  the  first  com- 
missioners of  the  Lynn  City  Hall  and  City  Debt 
Sinking  Funds,  a  benefactor  of  the  Lynn  Public  Li- 
brary in  fact,  a  friend  and  adviser  in  all  the  business 
interests  of  the  city. 

In  his  old  age  his  mind  was  remarkable  for  its 
vigor  and  clearness,  while  his  warmth  and  kindliness, 
his  patience  with  sickness,  his  serenity  and  cheerful 


temper  drew  around  him  a  host  of  admiring  friends. 
To  the  young  he  was  as  companionable  as  to  the  old. 
He  died  July  15,  1878,  in  his  own  home,  situated 
upon  Naliant  Street,  upon  land  that  had  been  occu- 
pied by  many  generations  of  his  ancestors,  and  was 
buried  in  Pine  Grove  Cemetery. 

He  married  Ann  Atwell,  who  died  in  February, 
1863.  His  surviving  children  are  Charles  Henry  and 
Sarah  Catharine,  wife  of  Benjamin  J.  Berry. 


ISAIAH   BREED. 

Isaiah  Breed  was  born  in  Lynn  October  21,  1786, 
and  was  the  son  of  James  Breed,  of  that  place.  Like 
his  father,  he  entered  into  the  shoe  business  and  pur- 
sued it  successfully  for  nearly  fifty  years,  becoming 
one  of  the  most  extensive  and  wealthy  manufacturers 
in  that  busy  and  thriving  town.  Mr.  Breed  was  one 
of  the  first  directors  of  the  Eastern  Railroad,  and 
president  /or  more  than  thirty  years  of  the  Lynn 
Mechanics'  Bank.  He  was  also,  at  one  time,  a  Repre- 
sentative in  the  State  Legislature,  and  in  1839  a  State 
Senator.  He  took  an  active  interest  in  the  welfare  of 
his  native  town,  and  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the 
Central  Congregational  Society,  of  which  he  was  for 
some  years  a  deacon.  He  was  a  liberal,  public-spir- 
ited man,  of  great  strength  of  character,  and  always 
distinguished  in  all  the  relations  of  life,  as  not  mere- 
ly an  honest  man,  but  one  of  deep  convictions  of 
duty  and  a  high  sense  of  honor.  He  was  one  of 
those  sterling  men  who  gave  life  and  spirit  to  Lynn 
as  a  town,  and  so  added  to  the  wealth  add  population 
as  to  finally  establish  it  as  a  city  of  enterprise  and 
continuous  growth. 


D.  C.  BAKER. 

The  immediate  ancestors  of  Daniel  Collins  Baker 
lived  in  Dighton,  Mass.,  and  were  engaged  in  farm- 
ing. Elisha  Baker  left  his  father's  farm  at  an  early 
age  and  went  to  Lynn,  where  he  married  Ruth, 
daughter  of  Samuel  Collins.  Both  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Baker  were  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends.  He 
had  five  children,  of  whom  Daniel  Collins,  the  oldest 
son  and  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born  in  Lynn 
October  12,  1816.  His  early  education  was  such  as 
the  town  school  of  his  native  town,  under  the  care  of 
Master  Hobbs,  afforded,  and  afterwards,  for  a  year 
and  a  half,  he  attended  as  pupil  the  Friends'  Board- 
ing School  at  Providence,  R.  I.  At  the  age  of  thir- 
teen he  was  apprenticed  to  the  shoemaking  trade,  to 
which  he  applied  himself  with  such  an  earnest  desire 
to  master  its  details  that  while  yet  a  young  man  he 
established  himself  in  the  manufacture  of  shoes  on 
his  own  account,  and  by  his  industry  and  skill  soon 
built  up  a  successful  business. 

From  the  manufacture  of  shoes  he  became  inter- 
ested in  the  leather  and  shoe  finding  trade,  and  be- 
came a  partner  in  the  firm  of  F.  S.  Newhall  &  Co.,  of 
Boston,  in  that  business.     In  later  years  he  resumed 


356 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


the  manufacture  of  shoes,  and  at  the  time  of  his 
death  was  doing  business  in  the  South,  having  a  shoe 
house  established  in  New  Orleans.  He  died  in  New 
Orleans  July  19,  1863,  whither  he  had  gone  to  gather 
up  something  of  the  fortune  which  the  war  had  scat- 
tered and  swept  away.  He  married,  December  19, 
1838,  Augusta,  daughter  of  John  B.  Chase,  of  Lynn, 
and  had  three  children, — William  E.,  who  married 
Lydia  M.  Marshall,  and  is  an  esteemed  and  successful 
merchant  in  Lynn ;  Helen  A.,  who  married  A.  Mitch- 
el  Collins,  of  Georgia ;  and  Sarah  E.,  who  is  unmar- 
ried. 

Mr.  Baker,  aside  from  his  legitimate  business, 
always  felt  a  deep  interest  in  public  affairs,  and  pos- 
sessed qualities  specially  fitting  him  for  their  admin- 
istration. In  earlier  times  he  was  an  active  member 
of  the  Whig  party,  and  his  services  were  acknowl- 
edged by  his  nomination  and  election  to  various 
prominent  positions.  As  a  member  of  the  Whig 
State  Central  Committee,  which  was  always 'composed 
of  the  most  useful  men  in  the  different  sections  of  the 
State,  he  performed  his  full  share  in  promoting  the 
interests  of  the  political  organization  which  it  repre- 
sented. In  1849  and  1850  he  was  a  member  of  the 
Massachusetts  Senate,  and  in  1852  was  a  Presidential 
elector,  and  cast  his  vote  for  Win  field  Scott.  He  took 
a  leading  part  in  the  controversy,  which  resulted  in 
the  adoption  of  the  act  incorporating  the  city  of 
Lynn,  passed  April  10,  1850,  and  as  a  friend  of  the 
charter  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  first  Common 
Council,  and  made  its  president.  In  1853  he  was 
chosen  mayor  over  John  B.  Alley,  his  opposing  can- 
didate. In  both  of  these  positions  he  exhibited  the 
highest  qualities  of  an  executive  and  presiding  oflScer, 
and  won  the  confidence  and  respect  of  both  political 
friends  and  opponents. 

As  president  of  the  Council  his  services  were  espe- 
cially valuable  in  putting  the  wheels  of  municipal 
machinery,  in  the  first  year  of  the  life  of  the  city, 
successfully  in  motion.  As  a  speaker  he  was  logical 
and  effective,  and  always  ready  without  apparent 
preparation.  As  an  administrator  of  public  affairs, 
he  was  as  prudent  and  economical  as  he  was  liberal 
and  free  in  his  private  life.  The  public  schools  of 
the  city  reaped  the  advantages  of  the  warm  interest 
he  felt  in  their  welfare ;  perhaps  all  the  warmer  be- 
cause his  own  opportunities  for  education  in  early 
life  were  not  such  as  he  felt  every  youth  should  pos- 
sess. 

He  was  also  a  member  of  the  Bunker  Hill  Associa- 
tion, and  his  fondness  for  decorative  gardening  and 
for  the  choicest  fruits  and  flowers,  led  him  to  become 
a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society, 
and  enabled  him  to  do  a  good  work  in  developing 
and  cultivating  higher  tastes  among  those  about 
him. 

As  a  wise  and  careful  financial  manager  Mr.  Baker 
was  recognized  by  those  in  charge  of  money  institu- 
tions, and  his  services  were  sought  as  director  of  the 


Exchange  Bank  of  Boston  on  its  establishment  in 
1847,  and  as  president  of  the  Howard  Banking  Com- 
pany of  that  city,  when  it  went  into  operation  in 
1853. 

Though  many  years  have  elapsed  since  his  death, 
he  is  remembered  for  his  genial  disposition,  his  gen- 
erous impulses  and  his  large  benevolence,  which  en- 
deared him  to  his  neighbors  and  friends,  and  for  the 
faithful  and  competent  service  in  the  performance  of 
every  public  trust. 


EZRA   WARREN   MUDGE. 

Ezra  Warren  Mudge  was  born  in  Lynn  Decem- 
ber 5,  1811,  and  was  the  son  of  Ezra  and  Ruth  (Chad- 
well)  Mudge,  of  that  town.  Ezra  Mudge,  the  father, 
was  born  in  Lynn  April  10,  1780.  He  was  first  a  shoe 
manufacturer,  then  a  dealer  in  dry-goods  in  Lynn, 
afterwards  a  wholesale  and  retail  dealer  in  shoes  in 
New  York  City,  and  later  a  weigher  and  gager  in 
the  Custom-House  in  Boston,  where  he  died  May  25 
1855.  He  served  the  town  of  Lynn  for  sixteen  years 
as  Eepresentative  from  1807,  was  a  member  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention  of  1820,  a  member  of  the 
Council,  and  was,  in  the  War  of  1812,  the  captain  of 
the  Lynn  Artillery  Comj^any,  in  the  formation  of 
which  he  was  specially  active.  He  married,  first, 
June  28,  1801,  Betsey,  daughter  of  Captain  John  and 
Mary  Brewer,  of  Salem ;  second,  December  20,  1804, 
Ruth,  daughter  of  Harris  and  Ruth  Chadwell ;  and 
third,  November  1,  1819,  Hannah  Bartlett,  daughter 
of  Lemuel  and  Sarah  (Bartlett)  Drew,  of  Plymouth. 
By  his  second  wife  he  had  Ezra  Alden,  November 
17,  1805;  Eliza  Brewer,  November  5,  1806;  Ruth 
Chadwell,  May  9,  1809;  Ezra  Warren,  Decembers, 
1811  ;  Nathan  and  Hannah,  twins,  September  12, 
1814;  and- Sarah  Wiggin,  March  2,  1819.  By  his 
third  wife  he  had  Lemuel  Drew,  August  6,  1820  ; 
William  B.,  May  3,  1822 ;  Hervey  Mackay,  October 
3,  1823  ;  Sarah  Elizabeth,  May  25,  1825;  Sarah  Caro- 
line, January  1,  1827  ;  Jane  and  Evelina,  twins, 
March  14,  1829  ;  Mary  Evelina,  November  21,  1830  ; 
Maria  Augusta,  March  2,  1833 ;  and  Robert  Rich, 
June  14,  1835. 

The  father  of  Ezra  Mudge  was  Nathan  Mudge, 
who  was  born  in  Lyunfield  September  21,  1756.  He 
was  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  and  died  in  Lynn  Feb- 
ruary 8,  1831. 

He  married,  first,  September  2,  1776,  Hannah, 
daughter  of  John  and  Sarah  Ingalls,  and  had  Nathan, 
January  26,  1778  ;  Ezra,  April  10,  1780 ;  John  Park, 
November  27,  1782;  Mary,  March  19,  1785;  Samuel, 
May  15,  1787 ;  Joseph,  November  15,  1788 ;  and 
Hannah,  December  20,  1790.  He  married,  second, 
July  24,  1794,  Elizabeth,  widow  of  Shubael  Burrell, 
and  had  Josej^h,  June  17,  1795  ;  Enoch,  October  18, 
1796  ;  Hepsey,  March  13,  1798  ;  Simon,  December  5, 
1799;  Hepsey  B.,  August  19,1801;  Lydia  B.,  June 
14,  1803 ;  Shubael,  July  14,  1805 ;  Ann  Alden,  June 


^1^^ 


I 


<:::<2^^ty^«!:2-*'<^^ 


LYNN. 


357 


22,  1806;  and  Caroline,  April  2,  1808.  He  died  in 
Lynn  February  8,  1831. 

The  father  of  Nathan  was  John  Mudge,  who  was 
born  in  Maiden  December  30,  1713.  He  was  a  farm- 
er, and  settled  in  Maiden,  but  afterwards  removed  to 
Lynnfield.  He  married,  May  4,  1738,  Mary,  daugh- 
ter of  Samuel  and  Anna  Waite,  of  Maiden,  and  had 
Samuel,  March  22,  1739 ;  Mary,  April  20,  1740  ;  Ly- 
dia,  February  28,  1742;  John,  December  3,  1743; 
Simon,  April  8,1748;  Ezra,  April  7,  1752;  Enoch, 
August  1,  1754;  Nathan.  September  21,  1756; 
Samuel,  February  1,  1759.  He  died  in  Lynnfield 
November  26,  1762. 

The  father  of  John  was  John  Mudge,  who  was 
born  in  Maiden  November  21,  1686.  He  was  a  farm- 
er, and  always  lived  in  Maiden.  By  a  wife,  Lydia, 
he  had  John,  December  30,  1713 ;  Joseph,  May  28, 
1716  ;  Lydia,  January  7,  1718-19.  He  died  in  Mai- 
den November  26,  1762. 

The  father  of  the  last  John  was  John  Mudge,  who 
was  born  in  Maiden  in  1654.  He  was  a  farmer  and 
tanner,  and  always  lived  in  Maiden.  He  married,  in 
1684,  Ruth,  daughter  of  Robert  and  Hannah  Burditt, 
of  Maiden,  and  had  John,  October  15,  1685;  John 
again,  November  21,  1686  ;  and  Martha,  December 
25,  1691.     He  died  in  Maiden  October  29,  1733. 

The  father  of  the  last  John  was  Thomas  Mudge, 
who  was  born  in  England  about  the  year  1624,  and 
was  in  Maiden  as  early  as  1654.  By  wife,  Mary,  he 
had  James;  Mary,  1651 ;  Thomas,  1653  ;  John,  1654  ; 
George,  1656  ;  Samuel,  1658 ;  Jonathan  and  Martha, 
1662. 

Ezra  Warren  Mudge,  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
was  educated  in  the  public  schools  and  the  Lynn 
Academy.  He  first  partially  learned  the  book-binder's 
trade  in  Fall  River,  and  in  1828  entered  the  dry-goods 
store  of  Chase  &  Huse  as  clerk,  where  he  remained 
until  1838,  when  he  took  the  business  and  conducted 
it  alone  until  1842,  at  which  time  he  became  partner 
in  the  house  of  William  Chase  &  Co.  In  1849,  when 
the  Laighton  Bank  was  incorporated,  he  was  selected 
as  its  cashier,  and  he  continued  to  hold  that  office 
until  1868,  three  years  after  the  bank  became  the 
Central  National,  when,  on  account  of  failing  health, 
he  resigned. 

Mr.  Mudge  was  a  selectman  of  Lynn  in  1843  and 
1844,  a  member  of  the  school  committee  in  1843,  '46, 
'56  and  '57,  town  treasurer,  treasurer  of  the  city  for 
six  years  after  its  incorporation,  and  in  1856  and  '57 
was  mayor  of  the  city.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Aldermen  in  1862,  "63  and  '64,  a  member  of 
the  board  of  trustees  at  its  organization  in  1862,  and 
its  president  in  1865.  His  religious  views  were  those 
of  the  Universalists,  and  he  was  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  First  and  Second  Universalist  Societies  of 
Lynn. 

Notwithstanding  the  early  training  of  Mr.  Mudge 
was  purely  a  business  one,  he  was  by  nature  a  man  of 
refinement,   to    whom    habits  of    elevated    thought 


naturally  came,  and  he  early  in  life  formed  habits  of 
study,  which  moulded  him  into  a  man  of  literary 
taste  and  more  than  ordinary  culture.  His  honora- 
ble and  thorough  business  methods,  controlling  the 
routine  of  his  active  life,  were  supplemented  by  the 
graces  and  jjleasures  which  attach  to  a  life  of  study. 
He  was  a  thoroughly  rounded  man,  and  when  he  died, 
September  20,  1878,  if  it  can  ever  be  said  of  any  one, 
it  can  be  said  of  him  that  death  closed  a  finished 
life. 

Mr.  Mudge  married,  January  23,  1836,  Eliza  R., 
daughter  of  John  and  Margaret  Bray,  of  Salem,  and 
had  Ezra  Warren,  April  18,  1837 ;  William  Ropes, 
July  18,  1839;  Mary  Chadwell,  August  13,  1841; 
Hervey  Mackay,  October  6,  1843 ;  Howard  Murray, 
December  9,  1845  ;  Florence  Howard,  November  28, 
1850  ;  Arthur  Bartlett,  December  14,  1853  ;  Benjamin 
Gushing,  February  10, 1856;  and  Kate  Gertrude,  June 
30,  1857. 

Mrs.  Eliza  R.  Mudge,  the  widow  of  Mr.  Mudge, 
has  since  died,  and  the  living  children  are  Dr.  Arthur 
Bartlett  Mudge  and  Benjamin  Cushing  Mudge,  both 
living  in  Lynn,  and  Florence  Howard  and  Kate  Ger- 
trude, the  latter  of  whom  is  a  practicing  physician  in 
Salem. 

Benjamin  Cushing  Mudge  was  educated  in  the 
common  schools  and  gi'aduated  at  the  Lynn  High 
School.  He  afterwards  entered  the  Institution  of 
Technology,  Boston,  and  graduated  in  1867,  taking 
the  degree  of  S.B. 

Mr.  Cushing  was  four  years  assistant  agent  of  the 
Washington  Mills,  Lawrence,  Mass.,  which  are  the 
largest  in  the  world.  He  started  the  selling  agency 
of  the  Dean  Steam-Pump  Company,  Boston,  and 
built  up  a  very  large  business,  was  then  called  to  the 
Boston  office  of  the  hydraulic  works  of  Henry  R. 
Worthington,  becoming  their  New  England  sales- 
agent,  increasing  their  business  five-fold,  in  addi- 
tion, organizing  and  constructing  from  four  to  five 
large  water  companies  each  year,  and  is  now  officiat- 
ing as  their  treasurer.  He  has  recently  been  elected 
the  president  and  director  of  Pascoag  and  Webster 
Railway  Company  of  Rhode  Island. 


EDWARD   S.  DAVIS.^ 

Mr.  Davis  was  born  in  Lynn,  on  the  22d  of  June, 
1808.  His  parents  were  Hugh  and  Elizabeth  (Bache- 
lor) Davis,  the  latter  being  a  descendant  from  Rev. 
Stephen  Bachelor,  first  minister  of  the  Lynn  Church, 
settled  in  1632. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  received  his  education 
partly  in  the  public  schools  of  Lynn  and  partly  in  the 
academy  ;  which  latter  he  left  in  1826.  He  was  soon 
after  appointed  clerk  of  Lynn  Mechanics'  Bank,  and 
in  that  position  remained  till  he  became  of  age.  His 
health  being  now  such  that  a  change  of  residence 
seemed  desirable,  he  removed   to  Philadelphia,  and 

1  By  James  R.  Newhall. 


358 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


commenced  business  as  a  commission  merchant. 
There  he  remained  till  1833,  when  Nahant  Bank  was 
established ;  and  being  offered  a  position  in  that  in- 
stitution, accepted,  and  returned  to  his  native  place. 
In  the  bank  and  in  the  Union  Insurance  Company  he 
continued  till  1837,  and  then  resigned. 

Soon  after  leaving  the  bank  he  began  business  as  a 
shoe  manufacturer,  but  relinquished  that  and  returned 
to  the  institution  on  being  appointed  cashier,  and  re- 
mained till  its  affairs  were  finally  closed  up.  He 
then  spent  several  years  of  enforced  idleness  on  ac- 
count of  ill  health,  though  occupying  a  part  of  the 
time  as  book-keeper.  Subsequently  he  was  appointed 
to  a  place  in  the  United  States  Bonded  Warehouse, 
in  Boston.  In  1861  he  entered  as  a  clerk  in  the 
State  Auditor's  office,  and  from  that  time  to  the 
present  he  has  remained  in  the  same  department, 
filling  the  offices  of  first  and  second  clerk. 

Mr.  Davis  was,  in  early  manhood,  something  of  a 
military  man  ;  was  in  1835  elected  major  of  the  Regi- 
ment of  Light  Infantry  attached  to  the  First  Brigade 
of  Essex  County,  and  remained  in  commission  as 
major  and  lieutenant-colonel,  most  of  the  time  in 
command,  till  1843. 

He  was  one  of  the  early  adherents  to  the  anti- 
slavery  cause,  and  never  deserted  it.  The  "  Lynn 
Colored  People's  Friend  Society  "  was  organized  in 
1832,  having  "for  its  object  the  abolition  of  slavery  in 
the  United  States,  the  improvement  of  the  character 
and  condition  of  the  free  blacks  and  the  acquisition 
to  the  Indians  and  blacks  of  the  enjoyment  of  their 
natural  rights  in  an  equal  participation  of  civil  privi- 
leges with  white  men."  In  1835  this  society  num- 
bered one  hundred  and  eighty-five  members,  and  we 
find  Mr.  Davis  named  as  corresponding  secretary. 

In  1838,  being  an  active  member  of  the  old  Whig 
party,  Mr.  Davis  was  elected  Representative  to  the 
General  Court,  and  soon  after  the  formation  of  our 
city  government  was  elected  to  the  Council.  In  1852, 
'53,  '56  and  '57  he  was  president  of  the  Common 
Council.  It  was  in  1859  and  1860  that  he  was  called 
to  fill  the  mayor's  chair,  and  down  to  the  last  date 
had  been  six  years  ex-officio  member  of  the  school 
committee.  In  1834  he  was  commissioned  as  a  notary 
public,  and  in  1837  as  a  justice  of  the  peace,  which 
last  office  he  now  fills. 

In  his  religious  views  Mr.  Davis  has,  from  his  youth, 
been  a  consistent  Episcopalian  ;  and  that  church  is  in- 
debted to  him,  probably,  more  than  to  any  other,  for 
its  establishment  in  this  place.  From  the  organization 
in  1834,  until  the  present  time,  he  has  continued  to 
manifest  his  devotion  to  her  by  labor  and  by  pecuniary 
contribution,  and  in  the  parish  of  St.  Stephen's  still 
continues  in  an  important  ofiicial  position. 

During  his  administration  as  mayor  several  pro- 
jects of  public  interest  were  accomplished.  The  city 
debt  was  funded ;  the  first  street  railroad  located ; 
the  more  systematic  grading  of  the  public  schools 
commenced ;    and  the  substitution  of  brick  school- 


houses  for  those  of  wood  decided  on — two  of  the 
former  material  being  erected  while  he  was  in  office. 
But  perhaps  the  most  notable,  at  least  the  most  stir- 
ring event,  was  the  great  shoemakers'  strike,  which 
commenced  in  February,  1860.  No  occurrence  of  the 
kind  in  this  part  of  the  country,  probably,  ever  before 
created  such  a  sensation.  The  whole  country  seemed 
to  have  their  eyes  momentarily  turned  on  Lynn,  and 
through  the  daily  journals  and  illustrated  weeklies 
her  travail  was  magnified  to  an  extent  far  beyond 
what  was  dreamed  of  in  her  own  borders.  Neverthe- 
less, it  was  a  serious  affair,  and  required  the  exercise 
of  prudence  and  coolness  in  its  management.  The 
city  was  in  a  ferment  for  some  seven  weeks ;  proces- 
sions were  frequently  moving  along  the  streets ;  large 
meetings  were  held ;  and  the  drum  could  be  heard  at 
almost  any  hour.  After  all,  however,  there  was  little 
actual  violence  committed.  The  object  of  the  strikers 
was  the  same  that  is  common  in  all  such  movements, 
namely,  the  obtaining  of  more  adequate  remunera- 
tion for  labor ;  and  perhaps,  on  the  whole,  the  occur- 
rence was  not  injurious  to  the  general  interests  of  the 
place.  During  this  disturbance  Mayor  Davis,  by  his 
prudence,  foresight  and  forbearance,  often  exercised 
against  the  strong  urgency  of  those  in  favor  of  more 
forcible  measures,  probably  saved  the  city  from  the 
odium  of  violence,  and  himself  and  friends  from  last- 
ing regrets. 

The  habits  of  Mr.  Davis  were  somewhat  retiring, 
and  he  may  be  said  to  lead  the  life  of  a  thinker  quite 
as  much  as  that  of  an  actor.  Having  a  taste  for 
literature,  he  has  collected,  doubtless,  the  largest  and 
most  valuable  private  library  in  the  city ;  and  among 
his  books  he  spends  many  pleasant  and  studious 
hours.  He  has  also  collected  a  variety  of  interesting 
objects  of  fine  art.  Agreeable  manners,  intelligence 
and  freedom  from  low  prejudices  mark  his  daily 
walk ;  and  few  can  spend  many  hours  in  his  society 
and  not  feel  improved. 

In  1836  be  married  Elvira,  daughter  of  Captain 
Nathaniel  and  Martha  (Chadwell)  Newhall,  both  be- 
longing to  old  Lynn  families,  but  has  no  children. 

Mr.  Davis  took  great  pride  in  the  Lynn  Public 
Library,  and  rendered  to  it  valuable  service.  He 
was  first  elected  trustee  in  1878,  and  in  1880  became 
chairman  of  the  board,  which  position  he  held  until 
his  death.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Historic  Genea- 
logical Society,  and  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural 
Society,  in  both  of  which  institutions  he  manifested 
a  lively  interest.  His  acquaintance  with  public  men, 
authors,  artists,  clergymen  and  politicians,  was  quite 
extended,  and  h's  correspondence  very  large.  It  is 
said  he  preserved  a  copy  of  every  letter  he  has  written 
for  half  a  century.  His  death,  though  not  unexpected, 
will  be  most  sincerely  regretted,  not  only  in  his  native 
city  but  by  many  in  distant  places.  It  may  be  said 
of  him  that  all  his  acquaintances  were  his  friends,  and 
the  death  of  such  a  man  is  felt  as  a  loss  by  the  whole 
community. 


■^ 


^^'^^lyJc^nv^RMo^  &So^^'-' 


^/.^J^. 


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^ng^-byAIlRitchU^ 


ic^ 


LYNN. 


359 


Mr.  Davis  died  at  his  residence  on  Summer  Street, 
August  7,  1887,  after  a  long  and  painful  illness. 


STEPHEN    N.    BREED. 

The  subject  of  this  memoir  was  one  of  Lynn's  most 
honest  citizens.  He  was  a  man  of  sterling  integrity 
of  character,  independent  in  his  habits  of  thought, 
and  fearless,  though  not  ostentatious,  in  the  utter- 
ance of  his  opinions,  whether  those  opinions  had  re- 
ceived the  stamp  of  public  approval,  or  Avhether 
their  advocacy  subjected  him  to  the  adverse  criticism 
of  the  majority. 

He  naturally,  therefore,  took  kindly  to  the  reforms 
of  the  day,  carefully  discriminating  between  the  nar- 
row and  visionary  schemes  of  so-called  reformers,  and 
those  measures  of  social  improvement  that  base  their 
demands  upon  the  principles  of  justice  that  appeal  to 
man's  uncorrupted  moral  sense.  His  wide  reading 
had  taught  him  that  majorities  were  often  wrong,  and 
that  of  necessity  reform  must  begin  with  the  minor- 
ity. Whatever  such  a  view  cost  him,  he  was  willing 
to  bear. 

Accordingly  he  was  found  in  the  ranks  of  the 
abolitionists  when  to  be  such  made  men  sneer  and 
raise  the  cry  of  fanatic.  While  he  well  knew  that 
the  world  would  not  hear  too  much  reform  at  once, 
he  realized  that  such  an  essential  villainy  as  human 
slavery  struck  at  the  fundamental  rights  of  man. 
Therefore  he  was  a  Garrisonian  abolitionist,  though 
never  standing  on  the  extreme  non-voting  ground ; 
being  a  decided  Whig  in  his  early  years,  and  later  an 
earnest  supporter  of  the  Republican  party.  No  com- 
promise must  be  made  with  slavery,  no  toleration 
must  be  given  to  it,  nothing  but  its  destruction  would 
meet  the  demands  of  justice. 

Mr.  Breed  was  a  member  of  the  old  Silsbee  Street 
Debating  Society,  so  famous  in  our  local  annals,  and 
occasionally  took  part  in  the  debates ;  but  he  usually 
preferred  to  listen.  He  had  a  fine  sense  of  humor, 
and  though  undemonstrative  in  its  manifestation,  the 
few  who  knew  him  well  saw  how  clearly  he  perceived 
the  incongruities  which  lie  at  the  root  of  man's  hu- 
morous instincts,  and  how  keenly  he  appreciated  any 
demonstrations  that  presented  the  witty  side  of  hu- 
man nature.  He  was  a  genial,  instructive  compan- 
ion. His  tenacious  memory  furnished  him  with  a 
storehouse  of  facts  and  reminiscences  running  back 
to  the  early  years  of  the  century. 

Mr.  Breed  was  born  and  bred  in  the  Quaker  com- 
munion, but  in  early  life  became  a  regular  attendant 
at  the  Unitarian  Church  just  then  organized,  until 
the  establishment  of  the  Free  Church,  when  he  at- 
tended the  ministry  of  Samuel  Johnson.  In  the  later 
years  of  his  life  he  again  attended  the  Unitarian 
Church.  He  never  dogmatized  in  matters  of  religion, 
feeling  assured  that  there  were  many  things  concern- 
ing it  which  he  did  not  know,  and  many  more  about 
which  there  was  more  or  less  uncertainty. 


His  prudent  habits  and  sound  judgment  gave  him 
marked  success  in  business.  He  took  charge  of  the 
lumber  trade  established  by  his  father — an  industry 
then  in  its  infancy — and  laid  the  foundations  of  what 
became  in  after  years,  with  the  aid  of  his  sons,  one  of 
the  most  extensive  retail  lumber  establishments  in 
New  England,  yielding  its  owner  an  ample  fortune. 
He  was  a  man  of  strict  business  integrity,  and  he  will 
be  long  remembered  by  the  multitude  of  his  patrons, 
for  the  unpretending  kindness  of  his  manners,  and 
for  his  leniency  when  misfortune  made  them  his 
debtors. 

Mr.  Breed  was  a  son  of  James  and  Phebe  (Nichols) 
Breed,  and  was  born  in  1806.  He  married  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  Frederick  and  Betsey  Breed,  and  had 
six  children,  viz. :  Mary  Elizabeth,  James  F.,  Albert 
H.,  Harriet  M.,  Stephen  F.  and  Ella  F.  Of  these 
four  are  living,  viz. :  James  F.,  Albert  H.,  Stephen 
F.  and  Harriet  M.,  now  Mrs.  Walcott.  Mr.  Breed 
died  April  8,  1886. 


ISAAC  NEWHALL, 

One  of  Lynn's  prominent  and  widely-known  citizens, 
was  born  January  4,  1814,  and  died  February  22, 
1879.  He  was  a  native  of  Lynn  and  of  Quaker  par- 
entage, his  mother  being  one  of  the  eminent  preach- 
ers of  that  denomination. 

Mr.  Newhall  was  greatly  instrumental  in  advanc- 
ing the  welfare  and  prosperity  of  the  city,  and  was  at 
all  times  interested  in  the  municipal  affairs  of  the 
city,  beingamember  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen  in  1851 
and  1875  ;  and  the  present  success  of  many  institu- 
tions and  enterprises  in  Lynn  is  due  to  his  indefat- 
igable efforts,  particularly  the  building  of  the  Lynn 
City  Street  Railway,  of  which  he  was  a  director. 

He  was  a  man  of  indomitable  will  and  persever- 
ance. He  was  singularly  constituted  as  a  business 
man,  and  pursued  an  independent  course,  apparently 
regardless  of  public  opinion.  He  had  decided  opin- 
ions and  was  not  inclined  to  court  the  good  opinion 
or  the  favor  of  only  his  intimate  friends,  apparently 
courting  opposition,  and  he  seemed  to  take  great 
pleasure  in  combating  public  sentiment.  In  public 
and  local  affairs  he  interested  himself  earnestly,  hav- 
ing filled  various  public  positions,  rarely  going  with 
the  current,  at  times  advocating  sentiments  adverse 
to  those  expected  from  a  man  of  his  comprehension 
and  intelligence. 

He  was  unostentatious,  while  frugality  and 
abstemiousness  characterized  him  through  life, 
and  his  faith  in  the  future  welcomed  the  end. 
He  early  engaged  in  the  shoe  business  and  became 
one  of  Lynn's  largest  and  successful  manufacturers. 
Later  still,  after  machinery  became  necessary,  he 
kept  up  with  the  progress  of  the  age,  until,  becoming 
largely  interested  in  real  estate  operations,  he  gradu- 
ally left  the  shoe  business,  occasioned,  no  doubt,  by 
failing    health,   suffering   intensely    from    neuralgia. 


360 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


which  no  medical  or  surgical  skill  could  alleviate. 
The  last  few  weeks  of  his  life  were  weeks  of  intense 
suffering,  which  he  bore  with  remarkable  patience  and 
Christian  resignation.     No  complaint  would  fall  from 

his  lips. 
Mr.  Newhall  was  twice  married.      He  left  a  widow 

and  five  children. 

JAMES   M.   NYE,    M.D. 

The  old  town  of  Salisbury,  one  of  the  most  historic 
sections  of  the  Commonwealth,  has  been  prolific  in 
the  number  of  her  sons  who  have  attained  hongrable 
and  leading  positions  among  their  fellow-men.  Such 
an  one  is  the  subject  of  this  sketch— Dr.  James  M. 

Nye. 

Dr.  Nye  came  to  Lynn  in  1841  and  established  him- 
self in  the  practice  of  his  profession,  which  he  con- 
tinued with  marked  success  until  his  death.  He  was 
ever  alive  to  the  interests  of  his  adopted  city,  and  all 
measures  tending  to  advance  its  welfare  found  in  him 
an  earnest  advocate.  His  genial  disposition,  large 
sympathies  and  acknowledged  skill  in  his  profession, 
soon  gained  him  an  extensive  practice,  and  his  be- 
nevolence was  plainly  manifest  in  the  large  numbers 
of  poor  people  whom  he  attended  professionally,  re- 
ceiving no  compensation  except  that  arising  from  the 
inner  consciousness  of  having  performed  a  charily 
pleasing  to  himself  and  in  accordance  with  the  divine 
teachings  of  which  he  was,  through  lile,  a  consistent 

follower. 

Dr.  Nye  manifested  a  deep  interest  in  educational 
matters  and  served  for  several  years,  with  ability  and 
honor,  upon  the  school-board  of  Lynn,  resigning  his 
position  only  when  compelled  to  by  the  pressure  of 
his  professional  duties.  His  interest  in  matters  of 
education  was  not  alone  confined  to  Lynn,  but  ex- 
tended to  the  freedmen  of  the  South,  for  whom  he 
supported  several  teachers  during  the  last  years  of 

his  life. 

Dr.  Nye  was  a  consistent  Christian,  and  during  his 
residence  of  thirty-one  years  in  Lynn  he  was  one  of 
the  most  prominent  members  of  the  First  Baptist 
Church,  and  an  earnest  worker  in  its  behalf.  He  was 
superintendent  of  the  Sunday-school  and  clerk  of  the 
society  for  a  long  period.  Modest  and  unassuming 
in  his  disposition,  strictly  moral  in  his  character,  up- 
right in  his  dealings  with  others,  he  left  the  example 
of  a  true  Christian  gentleman,  and  died  one  of  Lynn's 
most  esteemed  and  honored  citizens. 

Dr.  Nye  was  born  September  26,  1818,  and  died 
April  21,  1872.  He  married  Hannah  C.  Peaslee,  of 
Newton,  N.  H.,  June  29,  1842,  who  still  survives  him. 


JOHN   B.  ALLEY. 

John  B.  Alley  belongs  to  one  of  the  oldest  Essex 
County  families,  and  is  descended  from  Hugh  Alley, 
who,  with  his  brother  John,  settled  in  Lynn  in  1634. 


Hugh  Alley  was  a  farmer,  and  exhibited  the  same 
energy,  activity  and  shrewdness  which  have  charac- 
terized his  descendents.  He  is  believed  to  have  been 
the  first  to  take  up  land,  and  settle  on  it,  in  that  part 
of  Lynn  which  is  now  Nahant.  The  grandfather  and 
great-grandfather  of  Mr.  Alley  inherited  from  their 
ancestor  a  desire  for  the  possession  of  land,  and  were 
the  largest  owners  of  that  kind  of  property  in  Lynn. 
John  Alley,  the  father  of  Mr.  Alley,  and  son  of  Hugh 
Alley,  lived  in  Lynn,  as  did  all  his  ancestors,  and  was 
a  thriving  business  man.  He  married  Mercy,  daughter 
of  Jonathan  Buffum,  of  Salem,  and  sister  of  the  late 
Jonathan  Buffum,  of  Lynn,  who  for  many  years  was 
one  of  its  honored  and  distinguished  citizens.  Mr. 
Alley  was  born  in  Lynn  January  7,  1817,  and  at- 
tended the  public  schools  of  that  town.  At  the  age 
of  fourteen  he  was  apprenticed  to  a  shoe  manufac- 
turer, and  at  nineteen  received  the  gift  of  his  time. 
At  this  early  age  he  displayed  those  habits  of  industry 
and  fidelity  which  have  mai'ked  every  step  of  his 
successful  career.  Possessing  by  nature  a  clear  head, 
a  cool  temperament,  a  sound  intellect  and  a  good 
judgment,  he  knew  that  to  succeed  in  life,  industry 
and  fidelity  were  the  only  remaining  requisites  for 
success. 

Immediately,  or  soon,  after  the  close  of  his  appren- 
ticeship he  went  to  Cincinnati,  and  there  purchased 
a  flat-boat,  which  he  loaded  with  merchandise  and 
carried  to  New  Orleans.  In  so  young  a  man  the  en- 
terprise and  skill  essential  to  profitable  results  in 
such  an  undertaking  are  unusual.  But  they  were 
possessed  by  Mr.  Alley,  and  it  may  be  truly  said  that 
the  fruits  of  this  expedition,  with  the  lesson  of  self- 
reliance  which  it  taught  him,  laid  the  foundation  of 
the  fortune,  which  he  has  since  acquired. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-one  he  returned  to  Lynn  and 
began  the  manufiicture  of  shoes.  In  five  years,  at 
the  age  of  twenty-six,  he  was  the  owner  of  one  of  the 
largest  enterprises  in  a  city  full  of  active,  bol-d, 
shrewd  men,  with  whom  he  had  entered  on  a  race  for 
wealth.  In  1847  he  established  a  house  in  Boston 
for  the  sale  of  hides  and  leather,  and  was  the  ac- 
knowledged peer  of  the  most  successful  men  in  the 
trade.  At  various  times  he  has  been  the  senior  part- 
ner in  the  firm  of  Alley,  Choate  &  Cummings,  the 
firm  of  John  B.  Alley  &  Co.,  in  which  Griffin  Place, 
an  able  and  successful  man,  was  the  partner,  and 
more  recently  in  the  firm  of  Alley  Bros.  &  Place,  in 
which  the  two  sons  of  Mr.  Alley  and  Mr.  Place  were 
the  partners.  In  1886  this  last  firm  was  dissolved, 
and  after  a  business  career  of  forty-eight  years  Mr. 
Alley  retired,  leaving  with  his  former  partners  a 
special  capital  for  the  continuance  of  the  business. 
He  is  now  absent  on  a  European  tour,  enjoying  his 
first  vacation  in  a  life  of  seventy  years,  free  from  the 
burdens  and  responsibilities  of  a  business  which  re- 
quired his  constant  and  conscientious  attention  and 
care. 

But  Mr.  Alley  may  be  said  to  have  led  two  lives. 


^3>^^^,:^^  uyUji ,  y/^jA"^      ^ 


4.^ 


Ihv 


MettopoiitanPijliliiiims  S-EntTTTOi^  Co  TSev'Toit 


Mfitropuii-ifm  Pubiisimig  &  En^givuig  Co  'KerwTcrK' . 


LYNN. 


361 


Aside  from  his  legitimate  career  as  a  merchant,  he 
has  always  felt  a  deep  interest  in  public  affairs,  and 
in  large  operations  involving  heavy  responsibilities, 
requiring  heroic  courage,  and  promotive  of  the  wel- 
fare and  growth  of  the  country.     In  his  earlier  years, 
before  the  birth  of   what  was  called   the  Free-Soil 
party,  in  1848,  he  was  attached  to  the  Liberty  party, 
imbibing  as  he  did  from  the  Society  of  Friends,  with 
which  his   father  was  associated,  anti-slavery  senti- 
ments, which  never  abated  until,  by  the  proclamation 
of  President  Lincoln,  the  slave  was  made  free.    At  the 
Presidential  election  in  1848,  when  Martin  Van  Buren 
and  Charles  Francis  Adams  were  the  Free-Soil  candi- 
dates for  President  and  Vice-President,  he  was  one 
of  the  candidates  for  electors  on  the  Free-Soil  ticket. 
In  1851,  during  the  administration  of  Governor  Bout- 
well,  he  was  one  of  the  Executive  Council.     In  1852 
he  was  in  the  State  Senate,  serving  as  chairman  of 
the  Committee  on  Railroads.   In  1853  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Constitutional  Convention,  and  for  several 
years  was  an  active  and  influential  member  of  the 
Republican  State  Central   Committee.     In   1858   he 
was  chosen  Representative  to  Congress,  serving  four 
terms,  during  two  of  which  he  performed  with  indus- 
try and  ability  the  duties  of  chairman  of  the  Commit- 
tee on  Post-Offices  and  Post-Roads.     His  service  in 
Congress  covered  the  whole  period  of  the  war,  and  no 
man  of  the  Massachusetts  delegation  was  more  de- 
voted and  faithful  to  jjublic  duties.     His  speeches, 
though   not   frequent,  were   well-timed   and    always 
clear,  well-expressed,  strong  and  persuasive.     Those 
more  worthy  than  others  of  mention  were  a  speech 
delivered  on  the  30th  of  April,  1860,  vindicating  the 
Republican  party,  one  delivered  on  the  26th  of  Janu- 
ary, 1861,  on  public  affairs,  one  delivered  January 
23,  1862,  on   the  State  of  the  Union,  and  one  on  the 
6th  of  February  of  the  same  year,  on  the  Treasury 
Note  Bill. 

Mr.  Alley  was  one  of  the  first  to  appreciate  the  re- 
markable qualities  of  John  A.  Andrew.  Mr.  Andrew 
had  been  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representative 
of  Massachusetts  in  the  winter  of  1860,  and  was  little 
known  by  the  people  at  large  until,  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  session,  Caleb  Cushing,  who  was  a  member,  took 
occasion,  in  a  speech  as  remarkable  for  beauty  of  dic- 
tion and  powerful  logic  as  for  its  peculiar  spirit  and 
sentiment,  to  arraign  the  Republican  party  for  a  want 
of  loyalty  to  the  Union.  As  when  Hayne  delivered 
his  eloquent  speech  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  and  Massachusetts  men  wondered  how  and  by 
whom  he  would  be  answered,  so  the  Republican  mem- 
bers of  the  Legislature  listened  with  amazement  to 
this  Democratic  champion,  and  though  they  knew  he 
must  be  answered,  they  knew  not  from  whose  lijis  the 
answer  would  come.  But  they  were  not  doomed  to 
be  disappointed.  After  the  recess  at  the  noonday 
hour  John  A.  Andrew  rose,  as  Webster  rose  in  the 
Senate,  with  the  assured  air  of  defiance  on  his  brow, 
but  with  his  clansmen  full  of  doubt.     But  the  power 

OQl 


and  eloquence  were  in  him,  and  the  time  had  for  the 
first  time  come  for  their  full  display.  It  is  sufficient 
to  siy  that  with  a  triumphant  oratory  rarely  heard 
Mr.  Cushing  was  answered,  and  the  party  of  which 
from  that  time  John  A,  Andrew  was  the  champion 
was  nobly  vindicated.  In  the  autumn  of  that  year 
he  was  chosen  Governor  of  the  commonwealth,  and 
in  defending  from  attacks  made  on  the  floor  of  Con- 
gress, Mr.  Alley  said,  in  his  speech  of  Jatiuary,  1861 : 
"  Massachusetts  has  had  twenty-one  Governors  since 
the  adoption  of  her  State  Constitution,  in  1780,  all  of 
them  able  and  distinguished,  some  of  them  illustrious, 
but  in  everything  which  constitutes  true  greatness  of 
character  and  mind,  not  one  among  them  all,  in  my 
judgment,  was  the  superior  of  John  A.Andrew." 

This  encomium,  as  extravagant  as  it  seemed  at  the 
time,  showed  Mr.  Alley  to  possess  an  insight  into 
character  then  shared  by  few,  so  far  as  Andrew  was 
concerned,  and  his  words  have  been  more  than  vindi- 
cated in  the  universal  judgment  of  men. 

Since  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Alley  from  Congress  he 
has  been  engaged  with  others  in  large  railroad  enter- 
prises in  the  West  and  South.  His  connection  with 
the  Union  Pacific  is  well  known,  and  since  the  com- 
pletion of  that  gigantic  undertaking  he  has  been 
more  especially  interested  in  railroad  extensions  in 
Iowa  and  Texas.  Mr.  Alley  is  one  of  that  body  of 
courageous  men  to  whose  capital  the  country  is  in- 
debted for  the  development  of  a  vast  section,  which, 
without  facilities  of  travel  and  transportation,  would 
be  still  looking  to  the  future  for  its  prosperity  and 
wealth.  Nor  has  the  investment  of  his  capital  been 
confined  to  railroads.  He  has  become  also  largely 
connected  with  land  property  in  New  Mexico,  and  is 
to-day  the  largest  owner  in  three  ranches  which  to- 
gether contain  more  than  forty  thousand  head  of 
cattle.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  he  is  a  very  wealthy 
man,  and  that  his  wealth  is  exceeded  by  that  of  few 
in  the  State. 


EDWARD   NEWHALL. 

Edward  Newhall,  son  of  John  and  Delia  (Breed) 
Newhall,  was  born  in  Lynn,  July  22,  1822,  His 
family  belonged  to  the  society  of  Friends,  and  his 
early  education  was  received  at  the  Friends'  Institute, 
in  Providence.  In  1845  he  began  the  study  of  medi- 
cine under  Dr.  C.  H.  Nichols,  since  distinguished  as 
the  superintendent  of  the  Bloomingdale  Lunatic 
Asylum,  in  the  city  of  New  York.  He  afterwards 
entered  the  Harvard  Medical  School,  from  which  he 
graduated  in  1848.  The  next  two  years  he  spent  in 
Europe  attending  lectures  and  walking  the  hospitals 
in  Paris  and  as  a  student  in  the  famous  Lying-in 
Hospital  of  Dublin.  lu  1850  he  returned  home  and 
settled  in  Lynn,  where  his  thorough  medical  educa- 
tion and  devotion  to  his  profession  soon  secured  to 
him  a  wide  I'eputation  and  practice.  He  is  held  in 
no  less  esteem  by  his  professional  brethren  than  by 
the  community  in  which  he  lives,  and  has  been  presi- 


362 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


dent  of  both  the  Essex  South  Medical  Society  and 
the  Lynn  Medical  Association. 

He  married,  October  23,  1853,  Eliza  F.  Beaumont, 
of  Canton,  Mass.,  who  died  in  June,  1870,  having 
been  the  mother  of  three  sons  and  one  daughter. 
In  1873  he  married  Mrs.  M.  A.  (Field)  Saunderson, 
of  Quincy,  Mass.,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons  and  a 
daughter.  Dr.  Newhall,  now  sixty -five  years  of  age, 
is  still  possessed  of  a  physical  and  mental  vigor  which 
years  have  not  impaired,  and  he  neither  seeks  nor 
needs  any  relaxation  from  his  continuous  and  arduous 
professional  work. 

His  second  son,  Herbert  William,  A.M.,  M.D. 
(Harv.),  is  associated  with  him  in  practice. 


EDWARD   WINSLOW   HINCKS. 

Edward  Winslow  Hincks  was  born  in  Bucksport, 
Me.,  May  30,  1830.  He  was  the  son  of  Captain  Eli- 
sha  Hincks,  who  was  born  in  Provincetown,  Mass., 
September  28,  1800,  and  who  was  lost  at  sea  January 
14,  1831.  In  1802  the  father  of  Elisha  removed  with 
his  family  to  Buckstown  (now  Bucksport),  and  there 
Elisha  was  brought  up,  and  married,  October  9, 
1824,  Elizabeth  Hopkins,  daughter  of  Ephraim  and 
Hannah  (Rich)  Wentworth,  of  Orrington,  Me.,  and 
had  the  following  children  :  Temperance  Ann,  April 
23,  1826  ;  Elisha  Albert,  May  1,  1828 ;  Edward  Wins- 
low,  May  30,  1830. 

The  father  of  Elisha  was  Elisha  Hincks,  who  was 
born  in  Truro,  Mass.,  July  14,  1774,  and  died  in 
North  Bucksport,  Me.,  March  15,  1851.  In  early 
life  he  followed  the  sea,  but  in  April,  1802,  he,  with 
his  family  and  brothers,  Winslow  and  Jesse,  removed 
from  Provincetown,  where  they  then  lived,  to  Bucks- 
town  (now  Bucksport),  Me.  There  he  bought  wild 
land,  Avhich  he  cleared  and  improved,  and  on  which 
he  died.  He  married  fir^t,  in  March,  1796,  Temper- 
ance, daughter  of  Sylvanus  and  Hannah  (Cole) 
Smith,  of  Eastham,  Mass.,  and  had  Anna,  born  in 
Provincetown  January  11,  1797.  He  married  second, 
December  22,  1799,  Mary,  daughter  of  Nathaniel  and 
Anna  (Rich)  Treat,  of  Truro,  and  had  Elisha,  Septem- 
ber 28,  1800  ;  Temperance  Smith,  born  in  Bucksport 
June  24,  1803;  Mary,  July  30,  1805;  Sarah,  January 
30,1807;  William  Treat,  March  30,  1809 ;  Sylvanus 
Treat,  November  21,  1810;  Hannah,  August  5,  1812; 
Naomi,  May  16,  1816;  Ezekiel  Franklin,  August  10, 
1820. 

The  father  of  the  last  Elisha  was  Samuel  Hinckes, 
who  was  born  in  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  about  1728, 
and  shortly  removed  with  his  father  to  Boston,  and 
there  lived  until  1753.  He  afterwards  taught  school 
in  Truro,  where  he  married,  about  1756,  Susanna, 
daughter  of  Jonathan  Dyer,  of  Truro,  and  where  he 
continued  to  live  until  1795,  when  he  removed  to 
Bucksport,  and  there  died  in  1806. 

The  father  of  Samuel  was  Captain  Samuel  Hinckes, 
who  was  born  in  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  at  an  unknown 


date,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1701.  In  1716, 
while  a  resident  in  Portsmouth,  he  was  sent  as  a 
Representative  of  the  province  of  New  Hampshire  to 
the  Indians  at  the  eastward,  was  a  captain  in  the  In- 
dian wars  and  commanded  Fort  Mary,  at  Winter  Har- 
bor, from  1722  to  1727,  when  he  removed  to  Boston. 
He  died  in  Portsmouth  shortly  after  1753.  He  mar- 
ried Elizabeth  (Winslow)  Scott,  a  widow,  previous  to 
1715.  Elizabeth  Winslow  was  a  daughter  of  Edward 
and  Elizabeth  (Hutchinson)  Winslow,  and  grand- 
daughter of  John  Winslow,  who  married  Mary  Chil- 
ton, one  of  the  passengers  in  the  "  Mayflower". 

The  father  of  the  last  Samuel  was  John  Hinckes, 
who  came  from  England  about  1670,  who  was  Coun- 
cilor for  the  province  of  New  Hampshire  and  assis- 
tant in  the  Court  of  Chancery  from  1683  to  May  25, 
1686,  when  he  became  a  Councilor  in  the  govern- 
ment of  President  Joseph  Dudley,  having  been  named 
for  the  office  by  James  the  Second,  in  his  commission 
to  Dudley,  dated  October  8,  1685.  He  was  also  chief 
justice  of  the  Court  of  Pleas  and  General  Sessions  in 
New  Hampshire  from  1686  to  1689.  In  1692  he  was 
named  as  Councilor  of  New  Hampshire  and  made 
president  of  the  Council.  In  1699  he  was  appointed 
chief  justice  of  the  Superior  Court,  and  remained  in 
office  as  Councilor  and  chief  justice  until  1708.  He 
was  living  in  New  Castle,  N.  H.,  in  1722,  and  had  de- 
ceased April  25,  1734.  He  married,  at  an  unknown 
date,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Nathaniel  and  Chris- 
tian Fryer,  and  had  Samuel,  a  daughter  who  married 
a  Gross,  Christian,  Barbara,  Sarah  and  probably 
Elizabeth. 

Edward  Winslow  Hincks,  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
having  received  the  rudiments  of  his  education  in 
the  public  schools  of  his  native  town,  in  1845,  at  fif- 
teen years  of  age,  removed  from  Bucksport  to  Bangor, 
Me.,  where  he  served  as  an  apprentice  in  the  office 
of  the  Bangor  Daily  Whig  and  Courier  until  1849, 
when  he  removed  to  Boston,  where  he  was  engaged 
in  the  j^rinting  and  publishing  business  until  1856. 
He  was  a  Representative  from  the  city  of  Boston  in 
the  Legislature  of  1855,  and  in  the  same  year  was  a 
member  of  the  City  Council  from  the  Third  Ward. 
Early  in  1856  he  was  appointed  a  clerk  in  the  office 
of  the  secretary  of  the  commonwealth  of  Massachu- 
setts, and  prepared  for  publication  the  State  census 
of  1855.  He  remained  in  the  secretary's  office  until 
the  firing  upon  Fort  Sumter,  employing  his  leisure 
hours  in  the  study  of  law,  with  the  intention  of  mak- 
ing that  his  profession,  being  encouraged  and  assisted 
in  his  purpose  by  Hon.  Anson  Burlingame,  of  whom 
he  was  an  ardent  friend  and  supporter.  Having  re- 
moved to  Lynn  in  1856,  he  was  chosen  librarian  of 
the  Lynn  Library  Association,  and  until  the  outbreak 
of  the  war  actively  promoted  the  interests  of  that  or- 
ganization, whose  collection  of  books  subsequently 
became  the  nucleus  of  the  present  Public  Library  in 
that  city.  He  was  also  prominently  connected  with 
the  Sabbath-school  of  the  First   Baptist  Church  in 


LYNN. 


363 


Lynn.  On  the  18tli  of  August,  1859,  he  was  appointed 
adjutant  of  the  Eighth  Eegiraent  of  Massachusetts 
Militia, — the  Essex  County  regiment. 

This  appointment,  trivial  as  it  no  doubt  seemed  at 
the  time,  proved  the  turning-point  in  his  life,  and 
was  the  opening  door  to  a  military  career  in  which 
he  won  lasting  fame. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  he  was  placed  by  this 
appointment  in  a  position  whose  duties  he  had  per- 
formed with  enthusiasm,  and  from  which  he  could 
reasonably  hope  to  receive  advancement.  On  the 
18th  of  December,  1860,  he  wrote  to  General  Ander- 
son, then  stationed  at  Fort  Moultrie,  the  following 
letter,  which  shows  him  to  have  been  the  first  volun- 
teer of  the  war : 

"  Boston,  December  18,  1860. 
"Major  Anderson,  U.  S.  A., 

"  Commanding  Fori  Moultrie  : 

"Major;  In  case  of  attack  upon  your  command  by  the  State  (or 
would-be  nation)  of  South  Carolina,  will  you  be  at  liberty  to  accept  vol- 
unteers to  aid  in  the  defence  of  Fort  Moultrie  ? 

"lam  confident  that  a  large  body  of  volunteers,  from  this  vicinity, 
can  be  put  afloat  at  short  notice  to  aid  in  the  defence  of  the  post  en- 
trusted to  your  command,  if  necessity  shall  demand  and  the  authorities 
permit  it. 

"Indeed,  the  men  who  have  repeatedly  responded  to  the  call  of  the 
authorities  to  protect  the  officers  of  the  law  in  their  work  of  securing  to 
the  owners,  from  whom  it  had  escaped,  the  chattel  property  of  the 
South,  will  never  hesitate  to  respond  to  a  call  to  aid  a  meritorious  officer 
of  our  Federal  Republic,  who  is  engaged  not  only  in  protecting  our  na- 
tional property,  but  in  defending  the  honor  of  our  country  and  the  lives 
of  our  countrymen. 

"I  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir,  your  obedient  servant  to  command. 

"  Edward  W.  Hinks, 
"1st  Lieut,  and  Adjt.  Sth  Regt.  Mass.  Vol.  Mil.'' 

"  Fort  Motjltkie,  S.  C,  December  24,  1860. 
"Lieutenant  Ed.  W.  Hinks, 

"Adjt.  SIh  Regt.  Mass.  Vol.  Militia: 

"Sir  :  I  thank  you,  not  only  for  myself,  but  for  the  brave  little  band 
that  are  under  me,  for  your  very  welcome  letter  of  the  18th  in.st.,  ask- 
ing whether,  in  case  I  am  attacked,  I  woirld  be  at  liberty  to  accept  vol- 
unteer aid  in  the  defence  of  Fort  Moultrie. 

"  When  I  inform  you  that  my  garrison  consists  of  only  si.xty  effective 
men ;  that  we  are  in  a  very  indifferent  work,  the  walls  of  which  are 
only  about  fourteen  feet  high,  and  that  we  have  within  one  hundred 
and  sixty  yards  of  our  walls  sand  hills  which  command  our  work,  and 
afford  admirable  sites  for  batteries  and  the  finest  covers  for  sharp-shoot- 
ers ;  and  that,  besides  this,  there  are  numerous  houses,  some  of  them 
within  pistol-shot,  you  will  at  once  see  that  if  attacked  by  a  force  headed 
by  any  one  but  a  simpleton,  there  is  scarce  a  possibility  of  our  being 
able  to  hold  out  long  enough  to  enable  our  friends  to  come  to  our  suc- 
cor. 

"  Come  what  may,  I  shall  ever  bear  in  graiefid  remembrance  your  gallant, 

your  humane  offer. 

"  I  am,  very  sincerely,  yours, 

"  BoBERT  Anderson, 
"Major  Xsl  Artillery,  U.  S.  A." 

"  24  St.  Mark's  Place,  Jidy  5,  1866. 
"General  E.  "W.  Hinks: 
"  Dear  Sir:  ********* 

'•  Your  letter,  which  I  received  two  days  before  I  moved  over  to  Fort 
Sumter,  was  the  first  proffer  of  aid  which  was  made  me  whilst  in 
Charleston  Harbor. 

"  Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"  Robert  Anderson, 

"Major  General  U.  S.  ^." 

On  the  15th  of  April,  1861,  when  the  news  was  re- 
ceived of  the  attack  on  Fort  Sumter,  he  hastened  to 
Boston,  and  tendered  his  services  to  Governor  An- 
drew, and   at  the  same  time  urged   the  acceptance  of 


the  Eighth  Regiment  as  a  part  of  the  contingent  of 
fifteen  hundred  men  called  for  by  the  President.  His 
offer  of  service  was  accepted,  and  his  request  at  once 
complied  with.  Under  orders  promptly  issued,  he, 
that  evening,  rode  to  Lynn,  Salem,  Beverly  and 
Marblehead,  and  despatched  messenger  to  Newbury- 
port  and  Gloucester,  notifying  the  various  companies 
of  his  regiment  to  rendezvous  in  Boston  for  instant 
duty.  The  next  morning,  April  16th,  he  marched 
into  Faneuil  Hall  with  three  companies  from  Mar- 
blehead, the  first  troops  in  the  country  en  route  for 
the  seat  of  war. 

On  the  17th  of  April  he  was  commissioned  lieuten- 
ant-colonel of  the  Eighth  Regiment,  which  marched 
on  the  18th  for  Washington.  At  Annapolis,  Md.,  on 
the  21st  of  April,  a  detachment  from  the  regiment, 
under  command  of  Colonel  Hincks,  boarded  the  frig- 
ate "Constitution,"  then  lying  aground,  and  first  light- 
ening her  of  her  guns,  floated  her  and  worked  her  to 
sea.  Leaving  the  ship  at  midnight,  he  learned  the 
next  morning  from  General  Butler  that  Colonel  Lef- 
ferts,  of  the  New  York  Seventh  Regiment,  had,  after 
consultation  with  his  officers,  declined  to  advance  his 
command  and  take  possession  of  the  Baltimore  and 
Washington  Railroad,  through  apprehension  of  an 
overpowering  rebel  force.  He  at  once  said  to  General 
Butler:  "Give  me  the  selection  of  two  companies  for 
the  purpose  and  I  will  perform  the  duty."  He  was 
at  once  placed  in  command  of  a  detachment  consist- 
ing of  Captain  Knott  V.Martin's  Marblehead  com- 
pany. Captain  Geo.  T.  Newhall's  I;yun  company  and 
several  picked  men,  engineers  and  mechanics  from  other 
companies  under  command  of  Lieutenant  Hodges,  of 
Newburyport,  and  marched  to  the  station,  of  which 
he  took  possession,  with  the  rolling  stock,  materials, 
books,  papers,  etc.,  there  found.  Without  delay  he 
began  the  work  of  repair  on  the  engines  and  track, 
the  former  having  been  disabled  and  the  latter  seri- 
ously broken  up.  During  the  first  day  an  advance 
of  five  miles  was  made,  and  after  a  night's  bivouce 
the  work  was  resumed  and  continued  until  the  road 
was  in  running  order.  For  this  service  the  regiment 
received  the  thanks  of  Congress  in  the  following  re- 
solve : 

"Thirty-Seventh  Congress,  First  Session. 
"Congress  of  the  United  St-itesinthe  House  of  Representatives. 

"July  31,  ISiil. 
"On  motion  of  Mr.  Lovejoy  : 

"Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  House  are  hereby  presented  to  the 
Eighth  Regiment  of  Massachusetts  Volunteers,  for  their  alacrity  in  re- 
sponding to  the  call  of  the  President,  and  for  the  energy  and  patriotism 
displayed  by  them  in  surmounting  obstacles  upon  sea  and  land,  which 
traitors  had  interposed  to  impede  their  progress  to  the  defence  of  the 

National  Capital. 

"Galusha  a.  Grow, 

"  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

"  Attest  : 

' '  Em.  Etheridge, 

"Cleric." 

Reaching  Washington  on  the  26th  of  April,  Colonel 
Hincks  was  that  day  appointed  a  second  lieutenant 
of  cavalry  in  the  regular  army,  the  only  rank  in 
which,  at  that  time,  an  officer  could  enter  the  regular 


364 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


service.  From  the  date  of  his  entrance  into  the 
regular  army  his  military  history  is  borne  on  the 
records  of  the  office  of  the  adjutant-general,  as  fol- 
lows : 

"  Appointed  second  lieutenant  Second  Cavalry  April  2G,  18G1 ;  colonel 
Eighth  Massachusetts  Volunteers  May  16,  1861 ;  colonel  Nineteenth 
Massachusetts  Volunteers  August  3,  18G1  ;  brigadier-general  United 
States  Volunteers  November  29, 1862  ;  brevet  major-general  United  States 
Volunteers  March  18,  I860,  for  gallant  and  meritorious  services  during 
the  war  ;  resigned  volunteer  commission  June  30,  1865  ;  appointed  lieu- 
tenant-colonel Fortieth  United  States  Infantry  July  28,  18C6  ;  trans- 
ferred to  the  Twenty-fifth  United  States  Infantry  March  15,  1869  ;  bre- 
veted colonel  United  States  Army  March  2,  1807,  for  gallant  and  meri- 
torious services  at  the  battle  of  Antietam,  Md.  ;  and  brigadier-general 
United  States  Army  for  gallant  and  meritorious  services  in  the  assault 
of  Petersburg,  Va. ;  retired  from  active  service  for  disability  resulting 
from  wounds  received  in  the  line  of  duty  December  15,  1870,  upon  the 
full  rank  of  colonel  United  States  Army. 

^'Service. — With  Regiment  Eighth  Massachusetts  in  the  State  of 
Maryland  until  August  1,  1861  ;  with  Kegiment  Nineteenth  Massachu- 
setts in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  from  August,  1861,  to  June  30,  1862, 
when  wounded  in  action  at  White  Oak  Swamp,  Va.  ;  absent  wounded  to 
August  5, 1862  ;  commanding  Third  Brigade,  Sedgwick's  division,  Army 
of  the  Potomac,  to  September  17,  1862,  when  twice  severely  wounded  in 
the  battle  of  Antietam,  Sid.  ;  on  leave  of  absence  wounded  to  March  19, 
1863  ;  on  court-martial  duty  as  brigadier-general  at  Washington,  D.  C, 
April  2  to  June  9,  1803  ;  and  under  orders  of  War  Department  to 
July  4,  1863  ;  commanding  draft  rendezvous  at  Concord,  N.  H. ;  acting 
assistant  provost  marshal,  general  and  superintendent  of  the  Volun- 
teer Kecruiting  Service  for  the  State  of  New  Hampshire  to  March  29, 
1804  ;  commanding  district  of  Saint  Mary's  and  camp  of  prisoners  of 
war  at  Point  Lookout,  Md.,  April  3  to  20,  1864;  commanding  Third 
Division,  Eighteenth  Army  Corps,  to  July,  1864,  when  wounded ;  on 
court-martial  duty  to  September  22,  1864  ;  commanding  draft  depot 
and  camp  of  prisoners  of  war  at  Hart's  Island,  New  York  Harbor,  to 
February,  1865  ;  on  duty  at  New  York  City  as  acting  assistant  provost 
marshal  general,  superintendent  Volunteer  Recruiting  Service,  and  chief 
mustering  and  disbursing  officer  for  the  Southern  Division  of  New 
York  to  March,  1865  ;  and  on  the  same  duty  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  for  the 
Western  Division  of  Pennsylvania  to  June  30,  1805  ;  governor  of  the 
Military  Asylum  to  March  6,  1867  ;  en  route  to,  and  in  command  of, 
Fort  Macon,  N.  C,  until  April  13,  1807  ;  on  special  duty  at  headquar- 
ters Second  Military  District  at  Charleston,  S.  C,  to  April  27,  1807  ; 
provost  marshal  general  Second  Military  District  North  and  South  Caro- 
lina to  January  16,  1868  ;  commanding  Fortieth  regiment  and  the 
Bubdi-^trict  and  port  of  Guld-boro',  N.  C,  to  July  13,  1868;  on  sick 
leave  of  absence  to  December  4,  1868  ;  commanding  regiment  in  North 
Carolina  and  Louisiana  until  April  20,  1869,  when  he  assumed  command 
of  the  Twenty-fifth  Infantry,  and  remained  in  command  of  that  regi- 
ment and  the  post  of  New  Orleans,  La.,  until  August  14,  1809  ;  on  sick 
leave  of  absence  to  December  4, 1869  ;  and  in  command  of  regiment  in 
New  Orleans  and  en  route  to  and  at  Fort  Clark,  Texas,  from  that  date  to 
December  15,  1870." 

Such  is  the  record  borne  on  the  pages  of  the  army 
books,  and  no  narrative  could  set  forth  the  military 
life  of  General  Hincks  so  clearly  and  eloquently  as 
these  authoritative  words.  Aside  from  the  leading 
well-known  generals  of  the  war,  few  officers  can  boast 
of  a  more  varied  and  gallant  and  useful  career. 

In  concluding  the  narrative  of  the  war  experience 
of  General  Hincks,  while  the  repeated  testimony  of 
his  superior  officers  in  their  general  orders  to  his  gal- 
lantry will  be  omitted,  the  list  of  battles  in  which  he 
was  engaged  must  not  fail  to  be  mentioned. 

Battle  of  Ball's  Bluff,  Va.,  October  21,  1861 ;  siege  of  Yorktown,  Va., 
April,  1862  ;  affair  at  West  Point,  May  7,  1862  ;  Fair  Oaks,  June  1, 1862  ; 
Oak  Grove,  June  25,  1802  ;  Peach  Orchard,  June  29,  1862;  Savage's  Sta- 
tion, June  29,  1862;  White  Oak  Swamp,  June  30,  1862;  Glendale,  June 
30,  1862  ;  Chantilly,  September  1,  1862  ;  South  Mountain,  September  14, 
1862  ;  Antietam,  September  16  and  17,  1862 ;  Baylor's  Farm,  June  15, 
1864  ;  assault  on  Petersburg,  June  15,  1864." 


The  services  of  General  Hincks  after  the  war  were 
only  less  important  than  those  during  its  continu- 
ance. Under  General  Sickles  and  General  Canby 
the  aid  he  rendered  in  perfecting  and  carrying  out 
the  reconstruction  measures  of  the  government  in 
North  and  South  Carolina,  forming  what  was  called 
the  Second  Military  District,  was  recognized  by  his 
superior  officers  as  efficient  and  valuable. 

On  the  15th  of  December,  1870,  the  general  was  re- 
tired from  active  service  upon  the  full  rank  of  colonel 
in  tlie  United  States  Army  on  account  of  wounds  re- 
ceived in  battle,  and  on  the  7th  of  March,  1872,  he 
was  appointed,  by  the  board  of  managers  of  the 
National  Homes,  deputy-governor  of  the  Southern 
Branch  of  National  Homes,  at  Hamjjton,  Va.  On 
the  1st  of  January  following  he  was  transferred  to 
the  Northwestern  Branch,  near  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  and 
resigned  October  1, 1880. 

After  the  resignation  of  his  position  as  deputy- 
governor  of  the  National  Home  at  Milwaukee,  Gen- 
eral Hincks  remained  in  that  city  until  June,  1883, 
and  was  largely  influential  in  the  organization  of  the 
Milwaukee  Industrial  Exposition,  a  corporation  then 
formed  and  still  in  existence,  having  for  its  object 
the  promotion  of  the  industrial  interests  of  Milwau- 
kee and  the  State  of  Wisconsin.  Since  1883  he  has 
lived  in  Cambridge,  Mass.,  enjoying  a  period  of  well- 
deserved  peace  and  comfort.  He  occupies  a  stately 
old  mansion,  said  to  be  more  than  two  hundred  years 
old ;  and  the  books  and  pictures  and  quaint  old 
family  china  and  furniture  with  which  it  is  replete 
reveal  the  culture  and  taste  of  its  occupants. 

In  the  autumn  of  1862,  after  having  been  severely 
wounded  in  the  battle  of  Antietam,  General  Hincks 
was  urgently  requested  by  many  independent  Re- 
publicans to  run  for  Congress  in  the  Sixth  District, 
then  represented  by  Mr.  John  B.  Alley,  but  he  po.si- 
tively  declined  to  be  a  candidate  for  any  office  that 
would  prevent  his  return  to  the  field  as  soon  as  he 
should  sufficiently  recover  from  his  wounds.  He  was 
sergeant-at-arms  of  the  National  Republican  Conven- 
tion at  Philadelphia  in  1872,  when  General  Grant  was 
nominated  for  a  second  term ;  and  again  at  Cincin- 
nati, in  1876,  when  General  Hayes  was  nominated 
for  President.  In  the  Cincinnati  Convention  he  was 
nominated  by  the  chairman  of  the  Michigan  delega- 
tion "  for  his  many  wounds  received  in  battle,"  and 
was  unanimously  elected. 

General  Hincks  is  a  Knight  Templar  in  the  Ma- 
sonic order,  a  companion  in  the  National  Comman- 
dery  of  the  Loyal  Legion  and  a  member  of  the  New 
England  Historical  Genealogical  Society. 

General  Hincks  has  been  twice  married, — first, 
January  25,  1855,  to  Annie  Rebecca,  daughter  of 
Moody  and  Clarissa  (Leach)  Dow,  of  Lynn,  who  died 
in  Lynn  August  21,  1862.  Her  only  child  was  Anson 
Burlingame,  who  was  born  in  Lynn  October  14,  1856, 
and  died  in  Rockville,  Md.,  January  27,  1862. 

He  married  second,  September  3,  1863,  Elizabeth 


^^l/lxrh 


D 


N-. 


0^y^■r'^cvy^. 


LYNN. 


366 


Peirce,  daughter  of  Georf2;e  and  Susan  (Treadwell) 
Nichols,  of  Cambridge,  whose  only  child,  Bessie 
Hincks,  bora  in  Cambridge  April  11,  1865,  died  in 
Cambridge  July  5,  1885.  i 

The  death  of  this  daughter  was  peculiarly  sad. 
She  had  graduated  in  1883  from  the  Milwaukee  Col- 
lege, and  had  entered  the  Harvard  Annex  full  of 
hope  and  promise.  While  walking  in  the  street  her 
dress  took  fire  from  a  burning  cracker,  and  she  Avas 
burned  to  death.  Her  sweet  and  loving  character, 
blended  with  high  literary  attainments,  lent  a  joy  and 
grace  to  her  parents'  home,  since  shadowed  in  perpet- 
ual gloom.  It  is  only  necessary,  before  closing  this 
sketch,  to  add  a  word  of  explanation  concerning  the 
family  name  of  General  Hincks. 

The  common  ancestor  of  the  Hincks  family  in  this 
country.  Councilor  and  Chief  Justice  John,  uniformly 
wrote  his  name  Hinckes,  but  when  copied  by  clerks 
it  was  usually  written  Hinks,  and  so  frequently  ap- 
pears in  the  Council  Records  of  Massachusetts  and 
the  Archives  of  New  Hampshire.  Captain  Samuel, 
who  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1701,  and  his  son  Sam- 
uel, Jr.,  the  schoolmaster  on  the  Cape,  uniformly 
wrote  their  names  Hincks ;  but  Elisha  and  his  son. 
Captain  Elisha,  Jr.,  the  father  of  the  general,  appear 
to  have  dropped  the  c,  and  to  have  written  their 
names  Hinks ;  and  in  early  life  the  general  also  wrote 
his  name  without  the  c  (Hinks),  and  it  so  appears  in 
the  Army  Register  and  the  official  records  of  the 
war,  although  other  branches  of  the  family  wrote 
their  names  with  a  c ;  but  in  1871,  under  authority  of 
law,  the  general  restored  the  letter  c  to  his  name, 
and  has  since  written  it  Hincks,  and  all  the  branches 
of  the  family  descended  from  Chief  Justice  John  now 
conform  to  this  style.  It  will  be  noted  that  all  of 
this  family  in  this  country  bearing  the  name  of 
Hincks  are  descended  through  the  Winslows  from 
Mary  Chilton,  who  came  in  the  "  Mayflower,"  and 
Anne  Hutchinson,  the  Quakeress. 


FRANCIS   W.    BREED, 

Franciis  W.  Breed,  of  Lynn,  is  one  of  the  most 
prominent  shoe  manufacturers,  not  only  in  that  city, 
but  in  New  England.  His  extensive  factories  at 
home  and  abroad  give  employment  to  large  bodies  of 
workmen,  and  have  a  capacity,  when  in  full  running 
order,  of  six  or  seven  thousand  pairs  of  shoes  per 
day.  Mr.  Breed's  rise  in  business,  while  it  has  been 
rapid,  has  been  steady,  conservative  and  safe.  Pos- 
sessing, in  a  marked  degree,  the  quality  of  thorough- 
ness in  whatever  he  undertakes,  he  has  achieved  suc- 
cess where  competition  is  close  and  where  slackness 
or  inattention  might  have  caused  disaster.  His  mar- 
kets, both  for  purchase  and  sale,  are  extensive,  and 
both  are  watched  with  a  careful  eye.  Mr.  Breed  has 
traveled  extensively,  and  with  an  elasticity  of  spirit 
and  a  buoyancy  of  heart,  he  has  always  sustained  a 
weight  of  care  and  responsibility  with  calmness  and 


composure,  and  kept  himself  young  under  burdens, 
which  often  cru!«h  and  break  down  even  less  active 
business  men.  His  residence  on  Ocean  Stieet  in 
Lynn  has  a  beautiful  outlook  over  the  bay,  and  is  one 
of  the  most  attractive  and  comfortable  homes  on  the 
shore. 


JOHN   BROAD   TOLMAN. 

Mr.  Tolman  was  a  lineal  descendant  from  Thomas 
Tolman,  who  was  born  in  England  in  1608  or  1609, 
and  came  over  in  the  "  Mary  and  John  "  in  1630,  be- 
coming a  settler  of  Dorchester,  Mass.  A  grandson  of 
the  early  settler  just  named,  whose  name  also  was 
Thomas,  was  a  native  of  Lynn,  and  died  here  in  1716- 
And  this  last  Thomas  was  the  great -great  great-grand- 
father of  John  B.,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  who 
thus  becomes  connected  with  our  Lynn  families. 

John  B.  Tolman  was  born  in  Barre,  Worcester 
County,  Mass.,  on  the  30th  of  December,  1806,  and  in 
that  town  the  first  two  years  of  his  life  were  passed. 
His  parents  then  removed  to  Needham,  in  Norfolk 
County,  Mass.,  it  being  the  native  place  of  his  pater- 
nal grandfather,  who  was  severely  wounded  at  the 
battle  of  Lexington,  but  on  his  recovery  enlisted  and 
served  through  the  Revolutionary  War,  rising  from 
the  ranks  to  a  field  ofticer. 

In  this  latter  town  most  of  Mr.  Tolman's  early  life 
was  passed  and  his  education  chiefly  obtained  at  the 
public  schools  there.  And  he  had  manual  duties  to 
perform  about  the  farm  even  at  the  tender  age  of 
eight  years,  such  as  a  boy  of  this  period  would  be 
thought  entirely  unequal  to. 

At  the  usual  age  for  apprenticeship  he  was  placed 
in  the  office  of  H.  &  W.  H.  Mann,  of  Dedham, 
Mai^s.,  to  learn  the  printing  business.  It  was  a  large 
and  well-appointed  establishment  for  the  time,  and  af- 
forded facilities  for  acquiring  a  good  knowledge  of  the 
art.  He  ftiithfuUy  served  his  full  time  and  not  long 
after  went  to  Boston,  there  to  follow  his  trade.  Says 
the  Commonwealth  newspaper  of  April  9,  1881 :  "  In 
1828  Mr.  Tolman  came  to  Boston  as  a  journeyman  in 
the  book-office  of  Isaac  R.  Butts,  doing  a  full  day's 
work  each  day  and  filling  the  berth  of  an  extra  hand 
two  nights  in  the  week  on  the  Columbian  Centinel, 
'  hanging  out  from  twelve  to  three  o'clock.'  " 

It  was  in  February,  1830,  that  he  became  a  resident 
of  Lynn,  where  he  was  at  once  engaged  as  printer  of 
the  Lynn  Record,  a  few  numbers  of  which  had  then 
been  issued.  After  several  years  of  service  as  man- 
ager, not  only  mechanically  but  editorially,  he  pur- 
chased the  office  and  soon  did  a  larger  business  than 
had  been  done  in  any  other  Lynn  office  up  to  that 
time.  He  introduced  the  first  machine  press  here, 
printed  several  papers  at  ditferent  times  and  had  a 
good  run  of  job  work. 

By  middle  life  he  found  himself  in  circumstances 
where  his  accustomed  unremitting  application  to  me- 
chanical labor  was  unnecessary.  He  then  sold  out 
his  printing  materials  and  business,  and  turned  his 


366 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


attention  to  other  and  less  wearing  pursuits.  Yet  the 
semi-intellectual  employment  of  type-setting  was  al- 
ways congenial  to  him,  and  he  was  sometimes,  for 
years  after,  seen  as  a  volunteer  compositor,  for  hours 
together,  in  some  printing-office,  the  sharp  click  of  the 
type  and  the  bass  rumbling  of  the  press  having  the 
old-time  charm  for  his  ear.  He  now  engaged  in  real 
estate  and  kindred  operations,  and  here,  too,  success 
generally  attended  him,  so  that  his  means  were  soon 
augmented. 

The  Rev.  Edwin  Thompson,  himself  a  man  of  re- 
markable vitality,  industry  and  perseverance,  in  a 
communication  to  the  Dedham  Transcript  of  March 
15,  1884,  in  alhision  to  the  physical  strain  to  which 
Mr.  Tolman  was  accustomed  to  subject  himself  in 
early  manhood,  says  :  "  Before  the  days  of  railroads 
Mr.  Tolman  frequently  walked  from  Lynn  to  Boston 
on  business  and  back  the  same  day.  Whenever  he 
wished  to  visit  Dedham  it  required  all  day  to  go  there 
by  stage,  starting  by  Lynn  stage  at  8  A.M.  for  Boston, 
and  leaving  Boston  for  Dedham  by  '  Mason's  stage ' 
at  4  P.M.  In  order  to  save  time,  Mr.  Tolman  frequently 
walked  the  whole  distance,  twenty  miles,  leaving 
Dedham  in  the  morning  and  arriving  at  Lynn  in  sea- 
son to  devote  half  a  day  to  business." 

Perhajis  no  trait  is  more  conspicuous  in  Mr.  Tolman 
than  his  promptness  in  fulfilling  engagements.  So 
rigid  was  he  in  this  respect,  while  in  the  printing 
business,  that  he  appended  to  some  of  his  advertise- 
ments a  notice  that  if  a  job  of  work  was  not  ready  for 
delivery  at  the  time  agreed  on,  no  pay  would  be  re- 
quired. 

The  career  of  Mr.  Tolman  furnishes  a  notable  illus- 
tration of  the  certainty  wiih  which  industry,  prompt- 
ness, indomitable  perseverance  and  frugality  insure 
competence. 

Mr.  Tolman  is  a  strict  disciplinarian  and  a  man  of 
marked  individuality  and  rigidly  just  in  all  his  deal- 
ings. Like  a  good  many  other  thrifty  men — more  in 
number  than  is  generally  supposed — he  was  never 
addicted  to  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors.  Nor  did 
he  acquire  the  habit  of  using  tobacco  in  any  form. 
Mr.  Thompson  remarks  :  "  Mr.  Tolman  thinks  he  has 
saved,  reckoning  at  compound  interest,  about  eight 
thousand  dollars  in  not  using  tobacco,  and  by  not 
using  rum  much  more."  His  abstinence  from  "  rum 
and  tobacco,"  of  course  did  much  to  increase  his  pe- 
cuniary means.  And  then  with  his  other  good  traits 
of  prudence  in  expenditure  and  carefulness  in  every 
way,  aided  by  superior  business  sagacity,  he  has  been 
enabled,  during  his  latter  years,  to  spare  generous 
sums  for  benevolent  purposes.  In  1881,  on  the  occa- 
sion of  the  celebration  of  his  golden  wedding,  he  made 
a  donation  to  the  Lynn  Hospital  of  two  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars,  to  be  held  for  the  purposes  thus  ex- 
pressed in  his  letter  to  the  president  of  the  corpora- 
tion : 

"  As  I  am  interested  in  the  project  for  a  Hospital  in  this  city,  and  as 
the  present  effort  to  obtain  a  fund  to  establish  one  happens  to  be  coinci- 


dent with  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  my  wedding,  I,  together  with  my 
wife,  desire,  on  tliis  day  and  occasion,  to  nialve  it  an  offering  expressive 
of  our  interest  in  it  and  tlie  city  in  wliich  we  have  so  long  resided. 

"We  alsode-sire  to  devote  the  gift,  in  part,  to  the  benefit  of  members 
of  the  Printing  Fraternity  in  Lynn,  as  they  may  be  in  need  of  hospital 
treatment.  We  both  have  a  strong  regard  for  the  occupation  to  whicli 
I  was  brought  up,  and  in  which  my  wife's  father  and  four  of  lier  broth- 
ers were  long  engaged. 

"  As  we  desire  the  hospital  to  be  established  on  a  lasting  basis,  even  if 
it  shall  commence  in  a  small  and  prudent  way,  we  wish  the  income  of 
the  fund  only  to  be  used,  and  offer,  through  you,  to  give  to  the  Hospital 
the  symbolical  sum  of  Fifty-times- Fifty  Dollars,  to  be  received  and  held 
on  the  following  terms  : 

"Tliatthe  said  Hospital  shall  hold  and  invest  the  said  sura  forever, 
and  devote  the  income  arising  therefrom  to  maintain  a  bed,  or  beds,  in  said 
Hospital,  for  the  benefit  of  all  persons,  under  the  rules  and  regulations 
of  the  hospital ;  that  it  shall  devote  said  bed,  or  beds,  to  the  extent  of  a 
sum  equal  to  tlie  whole  income  received  from  said  fund,  to  the  use  ot 
Practical  Letter-Press  Printers  residing  in  Lynn  (and  especially  to  any 
person  ever  apprenticed  to  me),  if  the  same  shall  be  so  required." 

This  donation  was  cordially  received  and  duly  ac- 
knowledged. In  1884  he  conveyed  to  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association,  of  Lynn,  an  estate  on  Market 
Street  valued  at  thirty  thousand  dollars,  in  trust  "  For 
the  suppression  in  said  Lynn  of  intemperance  in  the 
use  of  intoxicating  liquors  by  the  cultivation  of  pub- 
lic opinion  and  the  enforcement  of  laws  prohibiting 
and  restraining  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  the  same, 
and  by  assisting  in  the  reform  of  persons  of  intem- 
perate habits.  Also,  for  the  education  and  instruction 
of  the  public,  and  especially  the  young,  in  all  practi- 
cal ways  by  which  they  may  be  reached  in  regard  to 
the  moral  and  physical  injuries  arising  from  the  habit- 
ual use  of  such  liquors,  and  also  of  tobacco  and  other 
stimulants."  And  as  subordinate  to  this  work  it  was 
further  stipulated  that  a  part  of  said  income,  as  op- 
portunity afforded,  should  be  expended  for  the  sup- 
pression of  immoral  literature,  especially  such  as  cir- 
culates among  the  young,  the  donor  summarily  adding 
that  "  his  general  intention  is  that  of  reform,  rather 
than  that  of  the  alleviation  of  the  effects  consequent 
upon  intemperance,"  and  leaving  the  details  of  work 
for  those  appointed  to  act  under  the  trust.  This  do- 
nation was  also  cordially  accepted  and  duly  acknowl- 
edged, and  will  no  doubt  be  faithfully  applied.  A 
local  paper,  in  speaking  of  this  gift,  says :  "Mr.  Tol- 
man was  an  ardent  temperance  advocate  in  early  life; 
he  was  also  a  radical  and  outspoken  abolitionist,  and 
advocated  all  the  moral  reform  movements  at  a  time 
when  it  required  sound  moral  courage  to  do  so,"  and 
adds,  in  reference  to  the  gift :  "  He  feels  that  in  this 
act  he  has  contributed  to  the  relief  of  the  poor  and 
needy  as  expressly,  and  more  effectually,  than  if  he 
had  minihtered  directly  to  their  present  necessities,  as 
he  believes  in  the  adage,  'An  ounce  of  prevention  is 
worth  a  pound  of  cure.'  " 

The  latest  and  one  of  the  most  useful  of  Mr.  Tol- 
man's  public  donations  was  the  munificent  one  of  one 
thousand  dollars  to  the  Home  for  Aged  Women. 

Mr.  Tolman  has  not  appeared  much  in  public  life, 
having  no  political  aspirations,  and  constantly  avoid- 
ing official  position.  It  is  here,  perhaps,  that  he  has 
fallen  short  of  his  duty  to  the  public,  which,  in  return 


*|!  'klK 


-^'iffi'-Oi/  A.  H.itV.c'i'A^ 


-^    ^ 


^' 


y  ^ 


LYNN. 


367 


for  the  protection  and  benefits  conferred,  had  a  right 
to  place  him,  occasionally  at  least,  in  positions  where 
his  fearless  independence,  caution  and  watchfulness 
would  be  available  and  effectual.  He,  however,  has 
"held  important  and  responsible  positions' in  connec- 
tion with  private  and  corporate  interests." 

Mr.  Tolman  has  been  something  of  a  traveler, 
having  made  extensive  tours  in  the  Western  and 
Southern  States  and  in  California.  He  has  likewise 
visited  Europe,  and,  of  course,  with  his  inquiring 
mind,  gathered  much  unique  and  useful  information. 

In  March,  1831,  Mr.  Tolman  was  united  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Lydia  S.  Mann,  of  Dedham,  a  daughter  of 
Herman  Mann,  of  whom  he  had  learned  his  trade, 
and  sister  of  Herman  Mann,  Jr.,  and  their  children 
were  two  sons  and  a  daughter,  of  whom  the  latter 
only  is  now  living,  being  the  wife  of  Mr.  Charles  J. 
Pickford,  of  Lynn. 


HIRAM   NICHOLS   BREED. 

In  the  "Centennial  Memorial  of  Lynn,''  published 
in  1876,  by  order  of  the  City  Council,  appeared  a 
biographical  sketch  of  Mr.  Breed,  which  was  prepared 
with  care,  and  to  which  little  need  be  added  here  ex- 
cepting that  now,  1887,  after  the  lapse  of  another  de- 
cade of  years,  he  still  retains,  in  a  remarkable  degree, 
that  healthful  vigor,  both  of  body  and  mind,  that  has 
characterized  him  through  life;  and  that  the  commu- 
nity still  have  the  benefit  of  his  mature  judgment  and 
eflBcient  services. 

Mr.  Breed,  says  the  sketch  referred  to,  was  born  in 
Lynn,  September  2,  1809,  and  was  a  son  of  Asa  Breed, 
born  February  21,  1783,  a  direct  descendant  from 
Allen  Breed,  who  settled  in  Lynn  in  1630.  The  Breed 
family  during  our  whole  history  has  maintained  the 
highest  rank,  numerically,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Newhall,  which  considerably  outnumbers  any  other. 

After  receiving  a  district  school  education,  Mr. 
Breed  was  put  to  the  common  employment  of  the 
youth  of  that  period  in  this  place,  namely,  the  trade 
of  shoemaking.  And  that  occupation  he  has  pursued 
for  the  greater  portion  of  his  life.  The  old-fashioned 
shoemaker's  shop  was  an  unrivalled  school  in  its  way 
—  a  school  in  which  the  free  discussions  on  every  topic 
of  public  or  private  interest  had  a  tendency  to  make 
men  intelligent  in  every  way  except,  perhaps,  in  mere 
book-learning.  The  discussions  often  led  to  reflection 
and  investigation,  and  whoever  possessed  ability  was 
pretty  sure  to  have  it  recognized. 

Mr.  Breed  was,  at  a  comparatively  early  age,  called 
to  take  a  part  in  the  management  of  public  affairs; 
and  for  many  years  has  held  responsible  offices.  He 
was  in  various  positions  in  the  old  town  government, 
and  the  office  of  selectman  when  it  expired.  On  the 
adoption  of  the  city  form  he  was  one  of  the  first  Board 
of  Aldermen,  being  likewise  returned  for  the  same  po- 
sition the  next  year.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Legis- 
lature in  1848  and  1850,  and  a  member  of  the  Consti- 
tutional Convention  in  1853.     By  Governor  Boutwell 


he  was  appointed  Coroner,  and  held  the  office  twenty- 
five  years,  until  the  duties  were  referred  to  the  courts; 
and  he  held  the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace  thirty- 
four  years.  He  was  ten  years  a  director  in  the  old 
Mutual  Fire  Insurance  Company,  likewise  City  Asses- 
sor in  1858  and  1859,  and  Surveyor  of  Highways  ten 
years.  In  the  latter  capacity  he  rendered  eminent 
service,  doing  much  to  protect  and  beautify  the  pic- 
turesque drives  in  the  outskirts,  as  well  as  to  render 
safe,  compact  and  cleanly  the  business  streets.  For 
thirteen  years  he  was  Commissioner  of  Pine  Grove 
Cemetery,  and  for  six  years  contractor  to  grade  and 
prepare  the  lots.  Nor  should  it  be  forgotten,  while 
speaking  of  his  many  excellent  labors,  that  he  was 
active  and  efficient  in  the  establishment  of  the  Home 
for  Aged  Women. 

In  1861  Mr.  Breed  was  elected  to  the  office  of  Mayor. 
That  was  a  year  especially  filled  with  unusual  de- 
mands, anxieties  and  perplexities,  for  it  was  the  open- 
ing year  of  the  great  Civil  War.  New  duties  and 
responsibilities  were  then  pressing,  and  untried  mea- 
sures were  to  be  adopted.  It  required  firmness  to 
withstand  unreasonable  demands,  and  judgment  to 
meet  all  legitimate  claims.  The  success  of  his  ad- 
ministration, under  the  circumstances,  entitles  him  to 
much  credit.  It  was  a  difficult  task  to  shape  and  put 
in  operation  the  measures  that  resulted  so  favorably 
to  the  soldiers  and  their  families,  while  at  the  same 
time  other  public  interests  were  vigilantly  guarded. 
Something  of  the  modest  spirit  with  which  he  entered 
upon  his  duties  as  Mayor  may  be  gathered  from  the 
opening  passage  of  his  inaugural  address:  "Called 
from  a  laborious  but  honorable  occupation  to  fill  the 
position  of  Mayor  of  this  city,  and  well  acquainted 
with  my  many  deficiencies  for  this  important  trust,  I 
feel  confident  that,  seeking  to  know  my  duty,  I  shall 
be  able  by  assiduity  and  industry  to  discharge  the 
duties  with  a  measure  of  satisfaction  to  myself  and 
my  constituents."  Perhaps  his  habit  of  careful  in- 
vestigation, before  proceeding  to  action,  in  matters  ot 
real  importance,  is  one  of  his  most  prominent  charac- 
teristics— never  too  hasty,  and  never  liable  to  be  driven 
on  by  the  unadvised  urgency  of  those  who  always 
stand  ready  to  press  others  while  no  responsibility 
rests  on  themselves. 

Mr.  Breed  belongs  to  one  of  the  old  families  of  the 
eastern  section  of  the  town,  though  the  first  Breed 
located  in  the  western  section,  and  has  lived  to  see 
great  improvements  in  the  vicinity  of  his  birth-place. 
Ocean  Street,  which  is  now  reckoned  one  of  the  finest 
avenues  in  the  county,  he  has  seen  opened  through 
lands,  not  indeed  barren,  but  occupied  only  for  pur- 
poses of  husbandry.  He  also  had  much  to  do  with 
the  laying  out  of  Breed,  Foster  and  Nichols  Streets, 
now  filled  with  a  thrifty  population.  And  to  his  en- 
ergy and  enterprise  that  whole  section  is  indebted  for 
many  of  those  improvements  which  have  changed  it 
from  its  former  quaint  and  rather  ancient  aspect  to 
one  pleasant  and  attractive. 


368 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


On  the  4th  of  July,  1830,  Mr.  Breed  was  united  in 
marriage  with  Nancy,  a  daughter  of  Caleb  Stone,  a 
well  known  and  much  respected  citizen,  and  by  her 
had  ten  children — four  sons  and  six  daughters.  On 
the  4th  of  July,  1880,  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  their 
marriage,  a  large  company  of  kindred  and  friends 
assembled  in  a  tasty  pavilion,  erected  for  the  purpose, 
and  there  offered  their  congratulations  and  good  wishes 
to  the  esteemed  couple.  It  was  an  occasion  of  much 
enjoyment,  mingled  with  the  touching  reflection  that 
the  day  for  final  separation  could  not,  in  the  common 
course  of  nature,  be  far  distant.  And  since  then  the 
endeared  companion  with  whom  Mr.  Breed  had  so 
long  journeyed,  has  been  called  to  the  better  land.  A 
beloved  and  promising  son,  too,  then  in  early  man- 
hood, has  likewise  passed  the  bourne  whence  none 
return. 


ISAAC  FRANCIS  GALLOUPE. 

One  of  the  most  noted  of  the  early  settlers,  of  New 
England  was  John  Gallop,  of  Strode,  County  Dorset, 
England,  who,  at  the  age  of  forty,  set  sail  for  Amer- 
ica in  the  "Mary  and  John,"  and  arrived  on  the  30th 
of  May,  1630,  at  Watertown  (now  Boston).  He  was 
a  descendant,  in  the  eighth  generation,  of  John  Gal- 
lop, who,  in  1465,  came  out  of  the  North  and  settled 
in  Dorset,  his  heraldic  shield  bearing  the  mottoes, 
"  Be  bold,  be  wyse." 

Isaac  Francis  Galloupe,  a  descendant  in  the  sev- 
enth generation  from  John  Gallop,  the  pioneer,  was 
born  in  Beverly,  Ma'^s.,  June  27,  1823.  His  parents 
were  Isaac  and  Annis  (Allen)  Galloupe,  both  of 
sturdy  New  England  stock.  After  receiving  a  suita- 
ble academical  education  he  entered,  as  a  student, 
the  ofiice  of  Dr.  A.  S.  Pierson,  of  Salem,  with  whom 
he  remained  two  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  en- 
tered the  Tremont  Street  Medical  School,  in  Boston, 
and  pursued  his  studies  another  year.  He  also  at- 
tended three  full  courses  of  lectures  at  the  Medical 
School  of  Harvard  University,  where  he  graduated 
in  1849. 

Thus  thoroughly  prepared,  in  the  spring  of  1849  he 
settled  in  Lynn,  where  there  were  several  physicians 
of  more  than  ordinary  reputation,  who,  in  view  of 
the  favorable  auspices  under  which  he  came,  wel- 
comed him  with  the  utmost  kindness.  He  was  not 
long  in  gaining  practice,  and  has  from  that  time  to 
the  present  enjoyed  a  reputation  ever  increasing,  till 
it  may  now  with  confidence  be  said  that  very  few 
physicians  or  surgeons  in  the  county  can  be  regarded 
as  his  peers.  He  is  an  honored  member  of  the 
Massachusetts  Medical  Society  and  of  the  several 
local  associations,  in  all  of  which  much  deference  is 
paid  to  his  ability  and  skill,  and  his  suggestions  are 
received  as  authoritative.  His  writings  on  various 
professional  topics,  which  have  from  time  to  time  ap- 
peared in  the  medical  journals,  have  uniformly  com- 
manded attention  and  received  warm  counneuda- 
tion. 


As  a  citizen.  Dr.  Galloupe  has  always  received  the 
highest  respect,  although  the  exactions  of  his  pro- 
fession have  prevented  his  appearing  much  in  public 
office.  He,  however,  has  served  several  times  as 
city  physician,  and,  as  a  member  of  the  School  Com- 
mittee, has  shown  his  interest  in  the  cause  of  educa- 
tion. But  it  was  in  the  Union  army,  during  the 
great  Rebellion,  that  his  excellent  professional  at- 
tainments became  most  conspicuous.  He  was  com- 
missioned as  surgeon  of  the  Seventeenth  Massachu- 
setts Regiment  July  10,  1861.  The  next  year  he 
served  as  acting  brigade  surgeon  in  North  Carolina, 
and  then  division  surgeon  on  the  staff"  of  Major- 
Gen  eral  J.  G.  Foster.  Besides  the  foregoing  he  filled 
several  other  important  and  difficult  positions,  among 
them  that  of  surgeon-in-chaj'ge  of  the  United  States 
Army  General  Hospital,  medical  director,  surgeon-in- 
charge  of  the  medical  department  in  a  number  of 
perilous  expeditions,  post-surgeon  at  Newbern,  N.  C, 
surgeon-in-charge  of  rebel  prisons  and  jails.  In  all 
of  them  he  proved  himself  so  diligent  and  faithful  as 
to  elicit  the  heartiest  commendation  of  the  command- 
ing officers. 

In  the  rejiort  of  Colonel  Amory,  issued  from  the 
headquarters  at  Newbern  December  21,  1862,  con- 
cerning the  actions  of  the  14th,  16th  and  17th  of  that 
month,  appears  the  following :  "  When  all  did  their 
duty  well,  it  seems  unnecessary  to  mention  names, 
but  I  feel  compelled  in  this  place  to  testify  to  the 
fidelity  with  which  Dr.  Galloupe,  the  senior  surgeon 
of  my  brigade,  discharged  his  duties.  His  effi- 
ciency at  all  times  and  his  care  of  the  wounded  merit 
the  highest  praise." 

In  1868  Dr.  Galloupe  was  commissioned  by  the 
President,  "for  faithful  and  meritorious  services  dur- 
ing the  war,"  a  lieutenant-colonel  of  volunteers  by 
brevet.  This  appointment  was  made  in  accordance 
with  the  many  and  strong  recommendations  of  those 
best  able  to  judge  of  his  distinguished  merits  as  a 
surgeon  and  soldier.  Among  those  urgently  advocat- 
ing his  appointment  were  Major-General  J.  G.  Foster 
and  Surgeon-General  Dale.  General  Foster  wrote, 
"  I  know  Dr.  Galloupe  to  be  a  most  worthy  and  ex- 
cellent officer,  who,  under  all  circumstances  during 
the  war,  performed  his  duty  with  marked  ability ;" 
and  Surgeon-General  Dale  wrote  of  him,  "  His  rec- 
ord during  the  war  was  honorable  to  himself  and 
creditable  to  the  commonwealth."  Many  passages, 
equally  laudatory,  from  others,  might  be  added,  show- 
ing the  high  estimation  in  which  his  services  were 
held  by  those  most  competent  to  judge.  It  may  not 
be  amiss,  however,  to  add  the  following  letters  of 
those  well-known  commanders.  General  Burnside 
and  General  Butler,  to  the  Secretary  of  War: 

"  State  or  Rhode  Island,  Executive  Department, 

"  Providence,  August  8,  18G8. 
"General  J.  M.  Schofield,  Secretary  of  War  : 

"General, — It  gives  me  great  iileasuro  to  l)ear  testimony  to  the  skill, 
industry  and  and  gallantry  of  Siageon  Isaac  F.  Gallonpo,  of  tlie  Seven- 
teenth Massaclmsetts  Volunteers,  who  served  with  me  in  North  Carolina. 


^'tf  ^hyAH  R-OUMe- 


^ct  a  ^^  cJ   ^y  a. 


LYNN. 


369 


On  all  occasions  during  the  war  when  his  services  were  needed  he  proved 
himself  a  most  efficient  surgeon  and  brave  officer.  In  February,  1864, 
he  was  captured  by  the  enemy  whilst  operating  upon  the  field.  I  be- 
lieve his  good  services  and  record  entitle  him  to  a  brevet,  and  I  hope  it 
may  be  found  for  the  interest  of  the  public  service  to  give  him  the  pro- 
motion. 

"  Yours  truly, 

"  A.  E.  BURNSIDE." 

"  Bayview,  near  Gloucester,  Mass.,  August  10, 1868. 
"  To  the  Honorable  Secretary  of  War, — 

"  Surgeon  Galloupe  served  under  my  command  at  Newbern,  N.  C, 
and  was  captured  during  an  attack  while  engaged  in  the  strict  line  of 
his  duty  in  removing  a  musket-ball  from  a  wounded  officer.  He  was 
detained  in  Libby  a  month  and  then  exchanged.  His  services  were 
more  than  those  of  surgeons  of  the  line,  and  were  specially  mentioned. 
His  testimonials  from  other  commanders  under  whom  he  served  are  of 
the  highest  order.  I  urgently  bespeak  for  him  a  brevet  appointment  as 
fit  recognition  of  his  efficient  and  assiduous  and  meritorious  services. 
"  I  have  the  honor  to  be 

"  Your  very  obedient  servant, 

"  Benjamin  F.  Butler." 

The  reference  to  Dr.  Galloupe's  being  taken  pris- 
oner while  attending  a  wounded  officer  on  the  field 
may  merit  an  explanatory  word  or  two.  The  wounded 
officer  was  Henry  A.  Cheever,  adjutant  of  the  Seven- 
teenth Massachusetts  Volunteers,  who  says,  in  a  letter 
to  the  Secretary  of  War,  dated  August  8,  1868 :  "  On 
February  1,  1864,  when  the  rebel  General  Pickett 
made  his  demonstration  against  Newbern,  N.  C,  it 
was  my  misfortune  to  receive  a  dangerous  wound  in 
the  left  side,  and  my  very  excessive  good  fortune  to 
be  associated  with  Surgeon  Galloupe,  who  remained 
with  me  on  the  field  performing  a  surgical  operation, 
when  to  remain  and  do  his  duty  to  me  (our  small 
force  having  been  routed  by  overwhelming  numbers) 
was  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  I,  as 
Avell  as  some  others  belonging  to  the  Department  of 
North  Carolina,  owe  our  live;^  to  the  faithful  manner 
in  which  Surgeon  Galloupe  discharged  his  every 
duty.  His  humanity  saved  many  lives  and  cheered 
the  dying  hours  of  many  others.  As  a  companion 
he  was  always  of  high  moral  character.  I  know  of 
nothing  stronger  that  could  be  said  in  his  behalf  than 
that  he  always,  whether  in  camp  or  on  the  march, 
met  and  faithfully  discharged  his  every  obligation, 
and,  in  my  opinion,  is  richly  deserving  of  all  the 
honors  that  can  be  granted  to  one  who  served  his 
country  well.'' 

Dr.  Galloupe's  army  experience  has  enabled  him 
to  make  valuable  contributions  to  the  surgical  literature 
of  war,  and  he  has  taken  occasion,  from  time  to  time, 
in  his  concise  and  lucid  manner,  to  describe  cases  that 
have  come  under  his  operating  hand,  much  to  the 
benefit  of  his  professional  brethren,  so  that  the  period 
of  his  public  usefulness  by  no  means  ended  with  the 
close  of  the  war.  As  an  example  of  his  intelligent 
way  of  viewing  professional  duties  and  responsibili- 
ties the  following  extract  from  a  publication  of  1863 
is  introduced,  for  it  contains  suggestions  likely  to 
prove  of  benefit  wherever  the  note  of  war  is  heard  : 

"  AMPtiTATiON  ON  THE  Battle-Fielp. — Surgeou  Isaac  F.  Galloupe,  of 
the  Seventeenth  Regiment,  has  written  an  interesting  letter  to  Surgeon- 
General  Dale,  in  which  he  speaks  of  amjiutations  on  the  field  of  battle 

2-4 


from  his  experience  in  the  service.  He  says  that  it  is  thought  by  many 
that  amputations  on  the  battle-field  are  sometimes  needlessly  performed, 
but  this  is  an  error  in  his  opinion.  The  golden  opportunity  for  the 
operation  is  immediately  on  the  reception  of  the  injury,  presuming,  of 
course,  that  amputation  is  necessary.  The  severe  shock  and  depression 
of  spirits  which  immediately  follow  a  severe  injury  in  civil  life  do  not 
appear  often  in  those  wounded  in  battle,  but  the  men  are  in  a  high 
state  of  excitement  and  exhilaration,  a  condition  highly  favorable  for 
immediate  operation,  which,  if  performed  at  such  time,  produces  no 
shock  to  the  system.  This  condition,  however,  soon  passes  off,  and  if  not 
improved,  the  opportunity  is  lost. 

"He  says  that  during  the  three  engagements  upon  the  recent  Golds- 
boro'  expedition,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  wounded  were  brought 
to  him,  and  as  he  could  not  attend  to  all  the  cases  personally,  he  selected 
the  eight  worst  ones  and  performed  amputation,  leaving  the  rest  to 
'  conservative  surgery,'  and  in  every  case  among  these  of  gunshot  frac- 
ture of  the  long  bones,  not  including  those  of  hands  and  feet,  the  pa- 
tient finally  lost  his  limb,  and  in  some  cases  his  life  also,  while  those 
who  had  undergone  primary  amputation  made  rapid  recovery. 

"In  the  eight  cases  in  which  Surgeon  Galloupe  operated  on  the  occa- 
sion referred  to,  all  but  one  lived  and  rapidly  convalesced,  the  case  ter- 
minating fatally  being  that  of  Private  Rand,  who  lost  his  arm  and  leg, 
and  who  died  from  surgical  fever  after  his  arm  had  entirely  healed  and 
his  leg  was  progressing  very  favorably." 

Dr.  Galloupe  was  a  liberal  contributor  of  material 
for  the  "  Medical  and  Surgical  History  of  the  War  of 
the  Rebellion,"  published  by  the  War  Department. 

Dr.  Galloupe  returned  from  the  war  with  a  com- 
manding professional  reputation,  and  quietly  resumed 
his  practice  in  Lynn,  where  he  still  resides. 

In  1854  Dr.  Galloupe  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Lydia  D.  Ellis,  a  daughter  of  the  late  David  Ellis,  of 
Lynn,  and  is  the  father  of  two  sons, — Francis  Ellis, 
a  graduate  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology in  1876,  now  practicing  mechanical  engineer- 
ing in  Boston,  and  Charles  William,  a  graduate  of 
Harvard  College  in  1879,  and  the  Harvard  Medical 
School  in  1883,  who  is  now  a  successful  practitioner 
in  Lynn. 


JOSIAH    CHASE   BENNETT. 

Bennett  is  an  old  Lynn  name,  and  as  some  of  the 
family  left  here  at  an  early  period  and  settled  in  New 
Hampshire,  it  is  perhaps  fair  to  presume  that  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch,  who  was  born  in  Sandwich,  N.  H., 
on  the  sixth  of  May,  1835,  was  a  descendant  from 
Samuel  Bennett,  who  came  to  Lynn  during  the  first 
decade  of  our  history — no  doubt  as  early  as  1636.  He 
was  a  man  in  good  circumstances,  public-spirited,  and 
withal  possessed  of  much  independence  of  character 
— was  a  little  wilful  perhaps,  but  on  the  whole,  such 
a  one  as  no  descendant  need  be  ashamed  of. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Ancient  and  Honorable 
Artillery  as  early  as  1639.  Mr.  Bennett's  father  was 
Simon  Bennett  a  farmer,  also  born  in  Sandwich,  who 
stood  very  high  in  the  community  for  his  integrity 
and  sterling  Christian  character.  He  was  the  son  of 
Stephen  Bennett,  and  a  grandson  of  Stephen  Bennett 
who  served  as  a  drum-major  during  the  entire  period 
of  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  and  who,  at  a  verj^  old 
age,  froze  to  death  as  the  I'esult  of  a  fall  on  the  ice  of 
Lake  Winnepesaukee. 

Chase,  the  middle  name  of  Mr.  Bennett,  was  de- 


370 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


rived  from  liis  maternal  ancestors,  his  mother  (Mary 
Fogg  Chase)  having  been  of  the  New  Hampshire 
Chase  family,  which  has  always  numbered  many  emi- 
nent personages;  among  them  two  Bishops  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  namely,  Philander  Chase,  Bishop 
of  Ohio,  who  acquired  the  title  of  "  Father  of  Ohio," 
he  having  gone  there  in  its  infancy,  and  being  largely 
instrumental  in  shaping  its  early  history  ;  the  other 
was  Carlton  Chase,  Bishop  of  New  Hampshire,  he 
who  afterwards,  on  the  fall  of  Bishop  Onderdonk  of 
New  York,  discharged  the  episcopal  duties  of  that 
Diocese.  In  this  family  line,  too,  appeared  the  dis- 
tinguished statesman  and  financial  expert,  Salmon 
Portland  Chase,  who  was  Governor  of  Ohio,  United 
States  Senator,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  under  Presi- 
dent Lincoln,  and  afterwards  Chief  Justice  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States. 

In  Mr.  Bennett's  business  career  we  have  a  notable 
example  of  the  progress  of  a  true  New  Englander, 
one  who  from  the  more  humble  ranks,  by  industry, 
perseverance,  and  enterprise  has  attained  a  command- 
ing position  in  the  community;  a  position,  however, 
which  could  not  have  been  reached  and  maintained 
without  the  additional  virtues  of  probity,  fair  dealing 
and  true  manhood. 

It  may  be  well  briefly  to  sketch  his  career,  there 
being  abundant  material  furnished  by  the  public 
prints  which  have  delighted,  from  time  to  time,  to 
speak  approvingly  of  his  characteristics  and  doings. 
Says  one  writer :  "  He  was  the  son  of  poor  parents, 
and  from  an  early  age  was  thrown  upon  his  ow^n  re- 
sources for  support.  When  he  was  sixteen  years  of 
age  he  left  his  native  town  and  went  to  work  on  the 
shoemaker's  bench  in  Danvers.  In  those  days  a  shoe- 
maker made  the  whole  shoe,  and  there  were  no  large 
factories  as  at  present."  In  another  article  we  are 
informed  that  "  From  Danvers  he  went  to  Boston  and 
engaged  in  the  business  of  manufacturing  silk  hats." 
This  business  and  that  of  photography  engaged  his 
attention  until  1865,  when  he  became  connected  with 
the  American  Shoe  Tip  Company  of  Boston,  remain- 
ing with  them  about  five  years.  During  this  time  he 
traveled  extensively,  becoming  acquainted  with  the 
shoe  trade  all  over  the  country. 

The  company  rose  from  a  very  embarrassed  condi- 
tion to  become  a  great  financial  success,  a  result  al- 
most wholly  contributed  to  by  his  personal  eiforts. 
At  this  time  he  resided  in  Lynn  during  the  summer, 
and  in  Boston  during  the  winter.  In  1870  betook  up 
his  residence  permanently  in  Lynn,  and  commenced 
manufacturing  shoes,  in  a  small  way,  with  George  E. 
Barnard,  in  Exchange  Street,  under  the  firm  name  of 
J.  C.  Bennett  &  Co.  Two  years  afterward  the  busi- 
ness was  removed  to  their  new  building  in  Central 
Square. 

In  Central  Square  the  business  still  continues,  under 
the  firm  name  of  J.  C.  Bennett  &  Barnard.  They  do 
a  very  large  business,  and  have  attained  a  position 
where  no  want  of  capital  is  felt,  and  rank  among  our 


first-class  manufacturers.  They  manufacture  none 
but  the  first  grade  of  shoes,  and  put  them  on  the 
market  in  corresponding  style.  The  products  of  their 
factory  are  widely  and  favorably  known  throughout 
the  country,  and  have  contributed  largely  to  place 
Lynn  in  the  foremost  rank  in  the  production  of  fine 
goods. 

Mr.  Bennett  has  always  been  a  true  friend  of  the 
laboring  classes  and  willing  to  consider  their  wants 
and  their  rights,  and  hence,  through  all  the  agitations 
that  have  of  late  years  beset  the  trade  here,  he  has 
been  remarkably  free  from  difficulties  that  have  been 
encountered  by  such  brother  manufacturers  as  were 
disposed  to  be  more  tenacious  of  their  own  opinions 
and  less  considerate  of  those  of  others.  If,  however, 
troubles  have  at  any  time  arisen,  he  has  always  settled 
them  by  arbitration,  to  the  mutual  satisfaction  of 
employer  and  employees. 

Mr.  Bennett  served  in  the  State  Senate  in  1884-85, 
and  in  that  position,  by  his  prudence,  good  judgment 
and  moderation  won  the  universal  approval  of  his 
constituents  ;  and  he  likewise  gained  much  applause 
from  the  benevolent  and  sympathetic  of  all  parties, 
by  giving  to  the  Lynn  Hospital,  the  entire  amount  of 
his  salary  as  Senator. 

In  1865  Mr.  Bennett  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Nancy  Louisa  Richardson,  of  Rochester,  N.  H., 
and  they  have  pursued  an  aff"ectionate  and  Christian 
walk  together,  these  many  years,  both  being  members 
of  St.  Stephen's  Church,  he  having  already  served  as 
Parish  Vestryman,  for  several  years. 


JOHN   AMBROSE   Mt'ARTHUR.^ 

Very  few  of  the  adoj^ted  citizens  of  Lynn,  and  she 
can  number  many  worthy  ones  who  have  appeared 
at  different  periods,  have  stood  higher  in  general  es- 
teem than  Dr.  McArthur — esteem  for  skill  in  his  pro- 
fession, and  for  the  high  qualities  that  characterize 
the  true  gentleman. 

He  was  born  near  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  in  1831,  and 
of  excellent  ancestry,  his  grandfather  having  belonged 
to  the  gentry  of  Lanarkshire,  Scotland,  and  his  father, 
being  a  man  of  finished  education,  having  graduated 
from  Dublin  University.  The  latter  became  an  offi- 
cer in  the  Queen's  Regiment,  and  was  at  the  burial 
of  Sir  John  Moore,  and  at  the  battle  of  Waterloo. 
His  mother  was  a  daughter  of  one  of  the  Royalists 
who  emigrated  to  Halifax  atthe  close  of  the  American 
Revolution. 

After  coming  to  the  States  Dr.  McArthur  resided 
for  a  time  in  Newburyport,  where  he  married  and 
buried  his  first  wife.  He  was  subsequently  in  busi- 
ness in  Montreal,  but  returned  to  Newburyport, 
where  he  was  for  a  time  in  business. 

Dr.  McArthur  pui'sued  his  medical  studies  in  the 
Harvard  Medical  School,  where  he  took  a  full  course, 
and  graduated  in  1872,  his  previous  good  education 

1  By  Jas.  R.  Newliiill. 


'a.  h 


UL'h 


k.^. 


LYNN. 


371 


furnishing  a  firm   ground-work   for  professional   ac- 
quirement. 

After  spending  a  short  time  in  Charlestown,  he 
came  to  Lynn,  and  in  a  remarkably  short  time  found 
himself  in  an  extensive  and  lucrative  practice.  Soon 
after  coming  to  Lynn  he  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Annie  E.  Friend,  of  Gloucester.  They  had  one 
child,  a  daughter,  and  the  mother  and  daughter  sur- 
vive him. 

Pr.  McArthur's  genial  manners,  varied  acquire- 
ments, liberal  views,  and  tender  sympathies  made 
him  esteemed  by  all  classes.  And  his  rapidly  accu- 
mulating means  enabled  him  to  indulge  his  naturally 
benevolent  inclinations.  He  diligently  followed  his 
profession  till  declining  health  required  a  slackening 
of  professional  labors,  and  for  the  last  two  or  three 
years  of  his  life  he  was  compelled  to  withdraw  as 
much  as  possible  from  active  practice. 

He  was  not  much  in  public  life,  as  premonitions  of 
declining  health  warned  him  to  beware  of  exposure 
and  excitement.  In  the  quiet  duties  of  church  work 
and  in  the  lodge-room  he  took  delight ;  was  an  ex- 
emplary member  of  St.  Stephen's  Church,  in  which 
he  served  as  vestryman  some  ten  years,  his  earnest- 
ness and  good  judgment  having  much  influence  with 
his  official  associates.  He  was  a  charter  member  of 
the  fraternity  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  first  treasurer  of 
the  Richard  Drown  Lodge ;  likewise  a  member  of  Oli- 
vet Commandery  of  Knight  Templars,  and  jmssed 
through  all  the  chairs  at  Newburyport. 

Dr.  McArthur  died  at  his  residence  on  South  Com- 
mon Street  on  the  28th  of  September,  1887,  and  the 
funeral  services  were  held  in  St.  Stephen's  Church 
on  the  morning  of  Saturday,  October  1,  1887.  The 
remains  were  taken  to  Newburyport  for  burial  in  the 
family  lot,  several  of  his  official  brethren,  kindred 
and  friends,  accompanying  them  to  their  final  resting- 
place. 

JONATHAIS"   WOOODWARD   GOODELL. 

Jonathan  Woodward  Goodell  was  born  in  Orange, 
Mass.,  August  2,  1830.  His  father  was  Zina  Good- 
ell, and  his  mother  was  Polly,  daughter  of  Amos 
Woodward,  of  that  town.  He  was  educated  in  the 
common  schools  of  Orange,  at  the  Melrose  Seminary, 
in  West  Brattleboro',  Vt.,  and  at  Saxton's  'River 
Academy,  in  Rockingham,  in  the  same  State.  He 
afterwards  studied  medicine  in  the  Berkshire  Medical 
College,  and  graduated  from  that  institution  at  the 
age  of  twenty-six.  During  the  first  ten  years  of  his 
professional  life  he  practised  in  Greenwich,  Mass., 
and  then  removed  to  Lynn,  where  he  has  ever  since 
resided.  Since  his  arrival  in  Lynn,  in  February, 
1866,  he  has  devoted  himself  with  energy  and  skill  to 
the  practice  of  medicine  and  surgerj^,  in  which  he  has 
secured  a  large  and  eminently  successful  business. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Medical  Associa- 
tion, and  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society,  of 
which  latter  organization  he  has  been  several  times 


chosen  one  of  the  counsellors.  He  has  been,  also. 
President  of  the  Essex  South  Medical  Association,  and 
in  these  various  honorable  positions  has  always  had  the 
confidence  and  respect  of  his  professional  brethren. 
He  has  neither  occupied  nor  sought  public  office,  but 
has  given  his  time  and  energy  to  his  chosen  profes- 
sion, indulging  in  the  single  avocation  of  the  study  of 
horticulture  as  a  relief  from  his  legitimate  occupa- 
tion. To  the  promotion  of  this  branch  of  science  he 
has  lent  freely  his  intelligent  service,  and  is  now  presi- 
dent of  the  Houghton  Horticultural  Association  of  his 
adopted  city.  He  is  now,  at  the  age  of  fifty-seven, 
releasing  himself  somewhat  from  the  burdens  of  his 
profession,  and  seeking  relaxation  and  pleasure 
among  the  fruits  and  flowers,  to  whose  culture  his  re- 
fined tastes  more  and  more  incline.  He  married, 
November  1,  1868,  Martha  Jane,  daughter  of  Jason 
Abbott,  of  Enfield,  Mass.,  and  has  one  daughter,  now 
sixteen  years  of  age.  He  is  still  in  the  prime  of  vig- 
orous manhood,  and  promises  many  years  of  useful- 
ness, both  in  the  pursuit  of  his  profession  and  in  the 
promotion  of  a  higher  culture  and  taste  in  the  com- 
munity, of  which  he  is  an  honored  member. 


AUGUSTUS   B.    MARTIN. 

Augustus  B.  Martin  is  the  son  of  Newhall  Martin, 
of  Charlestown,  Mass.,  and  he  (Newhall  Martin)  was 
born  in  Boston,  1802,  commenced  the  shoe  business 
in  what  was  then  Charlestown,  but  is  now  part  of 
Boston,  in  1822,  and  remained  there  till  his  death, 
which  occurred  December  18,  1880,  doing  the  same 
business  in  one  place  fifty-eight  years. 

In  1823  he  married  Hannah  Phillips,  who  was  also 
born  in  Boston,  and  had  the  following  children  :  New- 
hall, born  1825;  James  Pope,  1827;  Edward  F.,  1829; 
Augustus  B.,  1831 ;  Francis  A.,  1833 ;  Alphonso, 
1835;  Harriet,  1837.  His  wife  dying  May  19, 
1839,  he  married  a  second  wife.  Widow  Mercy  (Hatch) 
Leach. 

Augustus  B.  Martin  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools  in  Charlestown,  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen 
entered  his  father's  establishment,  where  he  remained 
three  years.  He  then  learned  the  trade  of  morocco- 
dressing  with  James  M.  Waite,  of  Charlestown,  and 
after  working  at  his  trade  three  years,  in  Newton, 
with  Charles  Packer,  removed  to  Lynn  at  the  age  of 
twenty-four.  There  he  started  in  business  with 
Moses  Norris,  under  the  firm-name  of  Norris  &  Mar- 
tin, in  the  manufacture  of  morocco.  After  remain- 
ing three  years  and  a  half  with  Mr.  Norris,  with  his 
small  means  considerably  increased,  he  established 
himself  alone  in  the  same  business,  remaining  alone 
until  1867,  when  he  admitted  his  brother,  Edward  F., 
as  partner. 

In  May,  1876,  he  opened  a  store  in  Boston  for  the 
sale  of  his  goods,  and  from  the  time  of  his  arrival  in 
Lynn,  in  1855,  to  the  present  time  his  career  has  been 
one  of  uninterrupted  success.     Manufacturing  at  first 


372 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


on  a  small  scale,  and  selling  to  his  neighbors  in  Lynn, 
he  now  has  customers  wherever  shoes  are  made  in  the 
United  States  and  Canada. 

In  1881  his  establishment  in  Lynn  was  burned,  but 
was  at  once  replaced  by  one  which  is  the  largest  and 
best-appointed  morocco  factory  in  New  England. 
Their  store,  near  the  Revere  Beach  Railroad  station,  is 
the  most  elegant  and  commodious  store,  in  that  line 
of  business,  in  the  United  States,  and  forms  part  of  a 
brick  block  owned  by  himself  and  built  in  1884. 

The  goat-skins  manufactured  by  the  firm  are  im- 
ported by  them  chiefly  from  South  America,  and  it  is 
safe  to  say  that  no  better  product  than  theirs  enters 
the  market.  Mr.  Martin  is  a  Republican  in  politics, 
and  a  Universalist  in  religion,  and  has  taken  an  ac- 
tive interest  in  the  advancement  of  views  represented 
by  the  party  and  sect  designated  by  those  terms.  He 
is  a  man  of  public  spirit,  interested  in  the  welfare  of 
his  city,  and  the  institutions  which  give  it  character. 
He  has  been  a  member  of  the  City  Council  and  Board 
of  Aldermen,  a  director  in  the  Mechanics',  now  the 
First  National  Bank,  and  is  now  vice-president  of  the 
Lynn  National  Bank. 

He  married,  December  25,  1856,  Elizabeth  R., 
daughter  of  William  S.  Fretch,  and  has  had  the  fol- 
lowing children  :  Lizzie,  May,  Alice  G.,  and  Augus- 
tus B.  Augustus  B.,  Jr.,  was  admitted  a  member  of 
the  firm  January  1,  1887. 


JOHN  TODD     MOULTON.^ 

Mr.  Moulton  was  born  in  Lynn  on  the  7th  of  August, 
1838.  His  father  was  Joseph  Moulton,  long  known 
among  us  as  a  successful  tanner  and  morocco  manufac- 
turer; and  his  mother  was  Relief  Todd,  a  Vermont 
lady. 

The  ancestor  of  the  family  was  Robert  Moulton, 
who  was  sent  over  by  the  London  Company,  in  1629, 
to  Governor  Endicott,  as  master  shipwright,  with  six 
journeymen,  to  begin  the  shipbuilding  business  at 
Salem.  The  large  island  off  Beverly  shore,  called  the 
Misery,  "  receiving  that  name,"  says  Felt,  "  on  account 
of  a  disastrous  shipwreck  there,"  but  gives  no  partic- 
ulars. Robert  Moulton  was  quite  prominent  in  the 
early  town  and  church  affairs  of  Salem,  and  was 
granted  two  hundred  acres  of  land  in  Salem  village, 
now  West  Peabody,  and  was  one  of  eight  men  dis- 
armed at  Salem  for  sympathizing  with  the  wheel- 
wright in  his  desire  for  liberty  of  conscience  and  free 
speech. 

Mr.  Moulton,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  graduated 
from  Lynn  High  School  in  1855,  having  prepared  for 
college  under  Jacob  Batchelder.  But  he  relinquished 
the  idea  of  college-life  on  account  of  failing  health, 
caused  by  too  close  application  to  study.  He  spent 
several  years  in  his  father's  nursery  in  attending  to 
the  cultivation  and  propagation  of  fruit-trees,  shrubs, 

1  By  James  R.  Newliall. 


and  plants,  having  a  strong  natural  love  for  such  em- 
ployment. 

The  father  of  Mr.  Moulton  had  served  an  appren- 
ticeship of  seven  years  at  the  leather  manufacture,  in 
all  itsbranches  and  under  him  the  son  became  an  adept, 
so  that  in  1864  he  was  well  qualified  to  succeed  to  the 
then  firmly-established  business.  In  that  business, 
the  manufacture  of  morocco  leather,  he  still  con- 
tinues, employing  at  the  present  time  some  sixty  or 
seventy  workmen.  His  factory  stands  on  the  spot 
where  one  of  the  earliest  tanneries  was  established, 
by  the  Lewises.  In  the  chapter  on  the  industrial  pur- 
suits of  Lynn  more  may  be  found  in  relation  to  the 
business  and  the  successive  owners  of  the  premises. 
The  factory  is  quite  extensive,  and  is  located  on 
Marion  Street,  opposite  the  foot  of  Centre. 

Mr.  Moulton  was  born  in  the  old  Mansfield  house, 
on  the  north  side  of  Boston  Street,  nearly  opposite  the 
termination  of  Marion.  It  was  built  in  1666  by  Robt. 
Mansfield,  and  still  remains  the  property  of  descend- 
ants of  the  builder,  now  of  the  eighth  generation. 
The  grandmother  of  Mr.  Moulton  was  a  Mansfield, 
and  lineal  descendant  from  Robert,  just  named. 

The  integrity,  prudence  and  promptness  of  Mr. 
Moulton  have  made  his  services  much  in  requisition 
for  positions  of  peculiar  trust.  He  has  already  served 
twelve  years  as  trustee  of  the  public  library,  and  has 
recently  been  elected  for  anew  three-years'  term,  being 
likewise  treasurer  of  the  board  of  directors.  He  is 
treasurer  of  the  fraternities  of  Associated  Charities, 
treasurer  of  the  Boston  Street  Methodist  Society  and 
treasurer  of  the  trustees  of  the  Lynn  Free  Public 
Forest.  As  mentioned  elsewhere,  he  is  a  writer  of 
merit  in  both  prose  and  poetry,  and  has  been  the  poet 
at  several  High  School  reunions. 

But  the  most  distinguishing  trait  of  Mr.  Moulton,  in 
a  literary  way,  is  his  love  for  historical  research.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  New  England  Historical  and  Gen- 
ealogical Society,  and  likewise  of  the  Methodist  His- 
torical Society. 

The  people  of  Lynn  are  greatly  indebted  to  him  for 
the  collection  and  preservation  of  much  that  is  useful 
as  well  as  interesting  in  her  history.  He  has  prepared 
copies  of  the  earliest  existing  town  records,  and  had 
them  published  in  the  Historical  Collections  of  the 
Essex  Institute.  He  has  also  collected  and  published 
the  inscriptions  from  the  oldest  grave-yards  of  Lynn, 
Lynnfield  and  Saugus,  and  has  prepared  genealogies 
of  the  Moulton  and  Mansfield  families.  A  few  months 
since,  as  mentioned  in  another  connection,  he,  with 
Mr.  Isaac  0.  Guild,  was  at  the  expense  of  erecting  a 
suitable  stone  to  mark  the  resting-place  of  "Moll 
Pitcher,"  the  renowned  fortune-teller  of  Lynn,  per- 
haps the  most  remarkable  personage  known  in  our 
history,  and  of  whom  a  somewhat  extended  account 
may  be  found  in  the  historical  sketch  of  Lynn  in  the 
present  work. 

Mr.  Moulton,  it  is  agreeable  to  add,  is  always  ready 
to  contribute  from  his  abundant  store  any  informa- 


LYNN. 


373 


tion  he  may  possess  regarding  our  early  families,  and 
the  characteristics  and  doings  of  our  fathers.  And  all 
well-wishers  of  the  community  will  join  in  rejoicing 
in  the  prosperity  of  one  so  worthy. 

Mr.  Moulton  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  S. 
Fannie  Sweetser  in  December,  1867,  and  their  chil- 
dren are  one  son  and  two  daughters. 


JOHN^   p.   WOODBURY. 

John  P.  Woodbury  was  born  in  Atkinson,  N.  H., 
on  May  24,  1827.  He  traces  his  ancestry  through 
seven  generations  to  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  in 
Salem  (1624),  John  Woodbury,  who  held  the  first 
official  appointment  mentioned  in  the  old  Colonial 
records.  Later  he  was  sent  to  England  with  full 
powers  to  settle  some  diflficulties  which  had  arisen  be- 
tween the  colony  and  the  mother  country,  and  re- 
turned to  the  colony  in  1628,  having  executed  his  com- 
mission satisfactorily.  John  Woodbury,  the  grand- 
father of  John  P.,  came  to  Lynn  in  1820.  He  was  a 
skillful  master  shipwright  and  carpentei',  and  the  first 
in  this  part  of  the  country  to  introduce  the  '*  square 
rule"  in  framing  buildings.  Four  of  his  sons— Jep- 
thah  P.,  Seth  D.,  Joseph  P.,  and  James  A — became 
prominent  as  business  men  in  Lynn,  the  last  two  es- 
pecially as  inventors.  His  eldest  son,  Rev.  John 
Woodbury,  the  father  of  John  P.,  was  born  at  Beverly, 
and  was  first  settled  as  a  Baptist  clergyman  at  North- 
field,  Mass.,  and  later,  as  was  the  custom  at  that 
time,  was  changed  from  time  to  time  to  other  New 
England  parishes.  He  was  a  man  of  liberal  views 
and  earnest  and  devoted  in  his  labors,  but  in  1850  his 
'  health  compelled  him  to  retire  from  the  ministry.  He 
was  married  to  Myra  Page  of  Atkinson,  and  John  P. 
Woodbury,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  their  only 
son.  His  early  years  were  spent  in  various  New  Eng- 
land towns  where  his  father  was  settled.  In  addition 
to  a  common  school  education  he  had  the  advantage 
of  three  years'  study  at  the  Hancock  (N.  H.)  Literary 
and  Scientific  Institution,  of  which  his  father  was  a 
trustee.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  was  employed  for  six 
months  on  one  of  the  most  sterile  farms  in  New  Eng- 
land, at  the  foot  of  old  Monadnock.  Any  one  ac- 
quainted with  farm-life  of  thirty  years  ago  will  under- 
stand how  he  w^elcomed  a  change  of  employment.  He 
entered  the  ofiice  of  the  Keene  (N.  H.)  Sentinel,  and 
soon  became  a  good  compositor.  The  following  yean 
having  a  taste  for  mechanical  employment,  he  went  to 
Bangor,  Me.,  and  spent  three  years  of  hard  work  in 
acquiring  a  thorough  knowledge  of  various  wood- 
working trades.  He  then  came  to  Lynn,  and  was 
employed  for  a  year  as  journeyman  cabinet-maker  in 
the  factory  of  Seth  D.  Woodbury,  which  stood  on  the 
present  site  of  the  Boston  Revere  Beach  &  Lynn  Rail- 
road station.  The  following  year  he  became  the  con- 
fidential clerk  of  Joseph  P.  Woodbury,  and  in  1849- 
50  visited  Buffalo  and  the  principal  cities  of  the  West, 
in   connection   with   patent  business.       He   was   in 


Washington  in  the  spring  of  1850,  while  the  famous 
compromise  measures  were  before  Congress,  and  heard 
the  questions  which  led  to  our  civil  war  discussed  by 
Clay,  Webster,  Calhoun  and  many  other  distinguished 
members  of  Congress.  On  his  return  he  became  a 
partner  of  Jepthah  P.  Woodbury  in  the  lumber  and 
building  business,  which  was  carried  on  at  Commer- 
cial wharf,  at  the  foot  of  Commercial  Street,  in  Lynn. 
In  this  same  year  (1850),  he  married  Sarah  E.  Silsbee, 
a  daughter  of  Nathan  Silsbee,  and  a  descendant  of  one 
of  the  earliest  settlers  of  Lynn.  In  1854  he  sold  his 
interest  in  the  lumber  business,  and  again  visited  the 
West,  with  the  intention  of  settling  there,  but  in  four 
months  he  returned  to  Lynn  and  established  himself 
in  the  real  estate  and  insurance  business.  He  was  the 
pioneer  in  this  line  of  business  in  Lynn.  By  steady 
and  close  occupation  he  obtained  the  confidence  of 
his  fellow-citizens,  and  succeeded  in  establishing  the 
largest  business  of  the  kind  in  Essex  County;  indeed 
for  many  years  only  two  insurance  offices  in  the 
State  made  larger  returns  to  the  insurance  commis- 
sioners. 

Mr.  Woodbury  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  future 
growth  and  improvement  of  Lynn.  He  was  for  a  time  a 
member  of  the  Common  Council  of  the  city,  but  he  was 
too  busy  a  man  to  continue  long  in  public  oflSce. 
His  name  is  intimately  connected  with  the  progressof 
his  adopted  city.  He  was  treasurer  of  the  Exchange 
Hall,  the  Sagamore  Hotel,  the  Lynn  Market-House, 
and  the  Lynn  City  Improvement  Companies.  It  is  to 
his  organization  of  this  latter  company  that  Lynn 
owes  the  laying  out  of  Central  Avenue,  the  finest 
and  most  substantial  street  in  the  city.  Having 
secured  control  of  nearly  all  the  land  lying  between 
the  Central  station  and  the  City  Hall,  he  associated 
with  him  many  of  Lynn's  leading  capitalists  and  laid 
out  this  wide  avenue,  which  has  proved  to  be  one  of 
the  greatest  improvements  ever  made  in  Lynn.  At  the 
time  the  project  was  started  it  met  with  violent  oppo- 
sition from  the  owners  of  land  on  Market  Street,  who 
feared  the  depreciation  of  their  property  ;  but  time 
has  shown  that  the  improvement  has  rather  enhanced 
the  value  of  their  land.  Mr.  Woodbury's  firm  belief 
in  the  future  of  Lynn  led  him  to  invest  all  his  sav- 
ings in  real  estate,  frequently  at  what  were  considered 
high  prices,  but  time  has  confirmed  his  judgment.  In 
1867,  after  twenty-five  years  of  labor,  he  sold  his  busi- 
ness, and,  with  his  family,  enjoyed  a  well-earned  holi- 
day in  Europe.  Seven  months  were  spent  in  Paris  at 
the  time  when  Napoleon  III,  then  in  the  height  of  his 
glory,  was  entertaining  the  crowned  heads  of  the 
world,  and  making  Paris  the  most  brilliant  capital  of 
Europe.  The  remainder  of  a  year  was  spent  in  visit- 
ing the  principal  cities  of  the  continent  and  in  South- 
ern Italy.  On  his  return  Mr.  Woodbury  accepted  the 
presidency  of  the  Exchange  Insurance  Comjjany,  an 
organization  composed  largely  of  Lynn  capitalists,  but 
in  eighteen  months  resigned  from  the  position,  and 
has  not  since  been  in  active  business.     His  leisure  is 


374 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS 


largely  occupied  in  the  collection  of  books  and  en- 
gravings, and  he  is  especially  interested  in  extra 
illustrated  books,  of  which  he  has  a  considerable  col- 
lection. He  still  retains  a  summer  residence  in  Lynn, 
but  spends  the  winter  months  in  Boston  or  in  travel- 
ing. He  is  a  member  of  the  Bostonian  Society,  the 
Boston  Art  Ckib,  the  Grolier  Club  of  New  York  and 
other  kindred  organizations. 

Mr.  Woodbury  U  a  Unitarian,  and  was  for  many 
years  a  trustee  of  the  Second  Congregational  Church 
of  Lynn.  In  politics  he  was  one  of  the  original  Free- 
Soilers,  voting  for  Martin  Van  Buren  in  1848,  and  was 
afterwards  a  steady  Republican  until  1883,  when,  dis- 
satisfied with  the  nomination  of  James  G.  Blaine  for 
President,  he  became  an  Independent  voter.  He  has 
two  children,  Marcia  E.,  wife  of  Edward  P.  Parsons, 
and  John,  a  lawyer,  practising  in  Boston. 

Mr.  Woodbury's  career  illustrates  the  fact  that  in 
this  country  every  avenue  to  business  success  is  open 
through  steady,  unremitting  effort,  to  an  earnest  and 
reliable  working  man  ;  and,  better  still,  that  through 
all  his  toil  a  man  may  carry  tastes  which  will  furnish 
him  with  delightful  occupation  and  keen  enjoyment 
in  time  of  leisure. 


WILLIAM    F.   MORGAN. 

Mr.  Morgan  was  born  in  Bellingham,  Mass.,  Janu- 
ary 2,  1889,  and  was  a  son  of  William  F.  Morgan,  who 
was  a  lineal  descendant  from  Miles  Morgan,  one  of 
the  early  settlers  of  Springfield,  Mass. 

Miles  Morgan  with  two  brothers,  James  and  John, 
sailed  from  Bristol,  England,  in  March,  1636,  and  ar- 
rived at  Boston  in  the  following  April.  The  family 
removed  to  Bristol  from  Llandaif,  in  Wales,  a  few  years 
before  the  sons  emigrated  to  New  England.  Miles, 
the  youngest  of  the  three  was  born  in  1615,  and  on 
his  arrival  in  Boston,  or  shortly  after,  he  joined  a 
party  of  emigrants,  mostly  from  Roxbury,  of  whom 
Col.  William  Pynchon  was  the  head,  and  settled  in 
Springfield.  The  land  first  occupied  by  the  settlers 
in  that  place  is  now  traversed  by  the  Main  Street,  and 
was  divided  into  shares  and  distributed  among  them 
by  lot.  The  tract  allotted  to  Mr.  Morgan  extended 
from  Main  Street  to  the  river,  on  the  south  side  of 
what  was  once  called  Ferry  Lane. 

About  the  year  1643  he  married  Prudence  Gilbert 
of  Beverly,  having  made  the  acquaintance  of  the 
family  during  the  voyage  from  England,  and  the  tra- 
dition of  the  family  invests  the  matrimonial  alliance 
with  the  romance  of  a  courtship  at  sea,  a  separation 
for  years,  an  offer  by  letter  carried  by  a  messenger 
through  the  wilderness,  an  acceptance  of  the  offer,  a 
journey  to  Beverly  by  the  bridegroom  and  his  compa- 
nions armed  with  muskets,  and  a  return  with  the  bride 
one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  to  Springfield  their  fu- 
ture home. 

The  records  bear  the  names  of  the  following  child- 
ren :  Mary,  born  February  14,  1644 ;  Jonathan,  No- 
vember 16,  1646;  David,  September  23,  1648;  Pela- 


teah,  July  17,  1650;  Isaac,  May  12, 1652;  Lydia,  April 
8,  1654;  Hannah,  April  11,  165G;  Mercy,  July  18, 
1658. 

The  mother  of  these  children  died  January  14, 
1660,  and  Miles  married  February  15,  1669,  Elizabeth 
Bliss,  and  had  one  other  child,  Nathaniel,  born  June 
14,  1671.  His  death  is  recorded  as  having  occurred 
May  28,  1699. 

Nathaniel  Morgan,  son  of  Miles,  married  January 
19,  1691,  Hannah  Bird,  and  settled  on  the  west  side 
of  the  Connecticut  River  in  West  Springfield,  where 
he  died  August  30,  1752.  His  children  were,  Nathan- 
iel, born  February  16,  1692;  Samuel,  1694;  Ebenezer, 
1696;  Hannah,  1698;  Miles,  1700;  Joseph,  December 
3,  1702;  James,  1705;  Isaac,  1708;  and  Elizabeth, 
1710. 

Joseph  Morgan,  son  of  Nathaniel,  married  in  May, 
1735,  Mary,  daughter  of  Benjamin  Stebbins,  and  lived 
and  died  in  West  Springfield.  His  death  occurred 
November  7,  1773.  His  children  were,  Joseph,  born 
February  19,  1736;  Titus,  who  died  in  infancy;  Titus 
again,  July  19,  1740;  Lucas,  February  26,  1743;  Eli- 
zabeth, December  23,  1745;  Judah,  March  22,  1749; 
Jesse,  twin  of  Judah,  and  Hannah,  November  29, 
1751. 

Judah  Morgan,  son  of  Joseph,  married  April  12, 
1775,  Elizabeth  Shivoy.  His  children  were,  Festus, 
born  January  12, 1776  ;  Elijah,  June  2, 1777  ;  Richard, 
March  4,  1779;  Amos,  November  7.  1780;  Elizabeth, 
June  23,  1787,  all  of  whom  were  born  in  Northamp- 
ton.    He  died  November  13,  1827. 

Festus  Morgan,  son  of  Judah,  married  1799,  Submit 
French  of  Northampton,  and  had  one  child,  a  son, 
William  F.  Morgan,  who  was  born  in  Northampton, 
October  6,  1800.  He  was  the  father  of  the  subject  of 
this  sketch.  He  learned  the  business  of  woolen  manu- 
facturing and  established  himself  in  that  business  in 
Oxford,  and  a  few  years  later  in  Bellingham.  He 
married,  April  17,  1832,  Eliza,  daughter  of  Rufus  Rus- 
sell of  New  Braintree.  His  children  were,  Julius, 
born  and  died  1834;  William  H.,  born  1836,  died 
1839;  William  F.,  1839,  all  of  whom  were  born  in 
Bellingham.  He  died  in  Bellingham,  August  10, 
1839. 

William  F.  Morgan,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  w^as 
a  son  of  the  above  William  F.,  and  was  born  in  Bell- 
ingham, January  2,  1839.  After  the  death  of  his  fa- 
ther his  mother  removed  with  her  family  to  South 
Milford,  where  he  attended  the  public  schools  until 
he  was  ten  years  of  age.  He  then  went  to  live  with  a 
relative  on  a  farm  in  New  Braintree,  and  while  there 
attended  the  schools  of  the  town  and  was  later  a  pupil 
in  Day's  Academy  in  Wrentham. 

In  1856,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  he  commenced 
what  was  in  reality  his  business  career,  it  being  then 
that  he  entered  a  shoe  store  in  Providence,  R.  I. 
Here  he  soon  developed  such  aptitude  and  business 
capacity  that  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  he  was  offered 
the  posiiion  of  partner,  which  offer  was  accepted. 


/  (D^-^Z^O 


LYNN. 


375 


Lynn  was  at  that  time,  as  it  still  is,  the  centre  of 
the  great  New  England  shoe  manufacture,  and  per- 
haps the  most  promising  field  for  the  development  of 
enterprise,  the  exercise  of  industry  and  the  invest- 
ment of  capital,  known  to  the  trade.  He  was,  there- 
fore, induced  to  leave  Providence  and  accept  the  offer 
of  a  situation  as  salesman  and  book-keeper  in  one  of 
the  largest  establishments  here.  Hither  he  came  in 
1861. 

After  remaining  in  the  situation  named  till  1864,  he 
commenced  manufacturing  on  his  own  account,  and 
soon  found  himself  in  a  prosperous  business,  which 
continued  so  to  flourish  and  increase,  that  in  1871  he 
found  it  expedient  to  take  a  partner.  The  present 
firm  of  Morgan  &  Dore  was  formed  in  1871  and  soon 
became  one  of  the  largest,  most  reputable  and  success- 
ful in  the  city.  In  addition  to  the  factory  in  Lynn, 
they  have  established  factories  in  Pittsfield,  N.  H.> 
and  Richmond,  Me.,  where  their  liberality  and  fair 
dealing  have  won  for  them  an  honorable  name,  and 
where  the  constant  employment  given  to  a  large  num- 
ber of  residents  has  proved  a  substantial  and  highly 
appreciated  benefit  to  the  people. 

On  the  second  of  June,  1863,  Mr.  Morgan  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Emeline  B.  Nichols,  of 
Providence,  and  has  two  children,  William  F.  (now  a 
student  in  Trinity  College,  Hartford,  Class  of  1888), 
and  Alice  L. 

Mr.  Morgan  has  not  been  much  in  public  ofiice, 
though  he  has  served  in  the  Council.  His  peculiar 
fitness  for  other  public  service,  however,  could  not  re- 
main unrecognized.  In  charitable  enterprises  he  has 
always  been  an  active  and  efficient  laborer.  He  is 
president  of  the  Board  of  Associated  Charities  and  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Hospital  Managers.  He  is 
likewise  a  trustee  of  the  Five  Cents  Savings  Bank. 

In  financial  matters  his  skill  and  forecast  have  been 
conspicuous.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Na- 
tional Security  Bank  of  Lynn,  and  has  held  the  posi- 
tion of  director  ever  since  its  organization. 

In  1879  he  erected  the  beautiful  residence  in  Nahant 
Street,  corner  of  West  Baltimore,  where  he  still  re- 
sides. 

Few  men  ever  in  Lynn  have  furnished  an  example 
more  worthy  of  imitation  than  Mr.  Morgan.  His  in- 
dustrious habits,  upright  dealing,  respect  for  religion, 
liberal  aid  in  the  promotion  of  worthy  objects,  and 
courtesy  of  manners,  have  made  him  one  of  excep- 
tionally high  esteem.  And  no  well-wisher  of  the 
community  can  envy  the  prosperity  of  one  who  has 
thus  risen  to  rank  as  one  of  the  foremost  citizens. 


CHARLES   O.    BEEDE. 

Charles  O.  Beede,^  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was 
born  in  Lynn  in  1840.  He  received  his  early  educa- 
tion in  the  public  schools  of  that  city  and  of  Sand- 
wich, N.  H.,  and  added  to  his  store  of  knowledge  by 

1  By  Benjamin  Pitman. 


close  study  for  a  season  at  the  New  Hampton  Insti- 
tute. 

Being  thus  equipped  theoretically  for  a  business 
career,  he  returned  to  Lynn  and  entered  one  of  the 
large  shoe  manufactories  of  that  city,  that  he  might 
gain  by  practical  experience  the  knowledge  necessary 
for  business  success. 

In  1865  he  began  business  for  himself,  and  by  untir- 
ing industry  and  honesty  of  purpose  he  soon  began 
to  climb  the  rounds  of  fortune's  ladder.  His  pro- 
gress was  rapid,  but  he  was  soon  admonished  that 
close  application  and  earnest  attention  to  the  cares 
and  responsibilities  of  an  ever-increasing  trade  de- 
manded in  his  case  a  penalty,  and  in  1872  he  was 
obliged  to  retire  from  active  business  and  seek  rest 
and  recreation  amid  the  rugged  hills  and  sunny  dales 
of  his  old  New  Hampshire  home,  and  for  a  year 
rested  from  his  labors. 

At  the  end  of  that  period,  being  recuperated  and 
thirsting  again  for  the  bustle  and  stir  of  a  busy  life, 
he  returned  to  Lynn,  and  at  once  entered  the  lists, 
setting  the  mark  for  his  prize  in  the  establishment  of 
a  business  that  should  be  favorably  known  through- 
out the  country. 

With  a  persistency  that  could  not  be  abated  and  a 
zeal  that  knew  no  tire,  he  pushed  on  until  the  firm  of 
C.  O.  Beede  was  known  as  the  leading  firm  in  New 
England  for  the  manufacture  of  boot  and  shoe  sup- 
plies, and  his  name  recognized  as  the  name  of  one 
who  carved  his  fortune  out  of  the  rough  stone  of  op- 
jjortunity. 

Mr.  Beede  is  one  of  those  happy  men  who  study 
and  understand  the  needs  of  their  employees  and 
cultivates  the  most  friendly  relations  with  them. 

He  gives  his  entire  force  an  outing  once  a  year, 
and  joins  with  them  in  their  annual  games  and  din- 
ner, and  when  the  great  feast  day  of  the  year  comes, 
the  day  of  Thanksgiving,  the  table  of  every  man  in 
his  employ  bespeaks  the  liberality  and  thoughtfulness 
of  the  man  they  labor  for. 

Outside  of  his  regular  business  he  pays  attention  to 
real  estate  matters,  and  shows  the  same  good  judg- 
ment there,  ranking  as  among  the  most  prominent 
and  successful  dealers  in  the  city. 

Mr.  Beede,  like  all  progressive  men,  takes  a  health- 
ful interest  in  politics,  and  believes  that  that  system 
or  party  is  the  most  right  that  does  the  most  toward 
advancing  the  material,  the  social  and  the  moral  inter- 
ests of  the  people. 

Being  of  a  social  nature  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at 
that  he  should  make  friends,  and  in  answer  to  their 
call  he  has  repeatedly  looked  after  the  city's  interest 
by  serving  on  the  aldermanic  board,  and  he  always 
carried  into  his  public  duties  the  same  qualifications 
that  has  made  of  him  in  his  private  life  a  man  of 
mark. 

Honest,  always  earnest  in  every  cause  which  he 
knows  to  be  right,  a  clear  thinker  and  a  progressive 
man,  with  a  mind  broad  and  comprehensive  enough 


376 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


to  take  in  the  possibilities  of  great  enterprises,  and 
yet  conservative  enough  to  prevent  any  undue  enthu- 
siasm to  control  his  judgment. 

Mr.  Beede  stands  in  the  community  in  which  he 
lives  thoroughly  equipped  for  every  public  and  pri- 
vate duty. 

PATRICK   LENNOX.^ 

Lynn  has  been  fortunate  in  numbering,  from  time 
to  time,  among  her  adopted  citizens,  those  who  by 
their  enterprise  and  other  valuable  traits,  have  added 
to  her  prosperity  and  the  extension  of  her  good  name. 
And  some  of  these  have  come  from  other  and  distant 
lands.  Such  individuals  she  has  always  welcomed, 
and  in  their  fidelity  to  her  interests  has  secured  am- 
ple reward.  Of  this  class,  few  now  with  us  are  more 
worthy  of  honorable  mention  than  the  individual  to 
whom  this  sketch  refers. 

Mr.  Lennox  was  born  in  Kildare,  one  of  the  east- 
ern counties  of  Ireland,  a  short  distance  from  the  city 
of  Dublin,  on  the  first  day  of  August'  1828,  and  was 
educated  in  the  national  schools.  Not  much  need  be 
said  of  his  boyhood,  as  it  was  passed  very  much  like 
that  of  other  youth  about  him,  with  its  i^ranks,  its  as- 
pirations and  its  incipient  loves.  But  his  ambition 
to  "  rise  in  the  world,"  as  he  entered  early  manhood, 
asserted  itself,  and  led  to  such  "  prospecting"  in  re- 
gard to  the  future,  as  induced  him  to  turn  his  eye  to 
America,  as  the  most  promising  field.  He  then  left 
his  native  land  without  a  pang,  excepting  such  as 
naturally  arose  from  the  severance  of  youthful  attach- 
ments and  home  associations. 

At  the  age  of  twenty  he  found  himself  in  New 
York,  full  of  youthful  ardor  and  buoyant  hope.  He 
landed  there  in  1848,  and  without  unnecessary  delay 
came  to  Lynn.  Here  he  immediately  entered  the 
employ  of  Darius  Barry,  one  of  our  energetic  and 
reputable  morocco  manufacturers,  on  Monroe  Sti-eet. 
After  serving  for  three  years  in  a  modified  sort  of  ap- 
prenticeship, he  was  competent  to  accept  employment 
as  a  journeyman  in  the  establishment  of  Smith  & 
Clark.  Such  was  his  skill,  industry  and  enterjjrise, 
and  his  ambition,  too,  it  may  be  added,  that  within 
two  years  he  was  able  to  commence  business  on  his 
own  account. 

The  shoe  business  was  at  that  time  rapidly  growing 
in  Lynn,  as  machinery  was  beginning  to  be  intro- 
duced in  almost  every  department.  This  was  a  fortu- 
nate circumstance,  and  Mr.  Lennox  had  the  shrewd- 
ness to  perceive  the  tendency  of  trade,  and  had 
established  such  a  reputation  for  good  management, 
and  had,  withal,  accumulated  such  an  amount  of  capi- 
tal that  he  was  able  to  take  advantage  of  the  tide  of 
prosperity.  He  soon  became  numbered  among  our 
principal  morocco  manufacturers,  and  was  not  defi- 
cient in  ample  means.  His  business  rapidly  extended, 
and  he  has  now   about   a   hundred   and   twenty-five 


'  By  James  R.  Newhall. 


workmen  busily  employed.  He  has  a  salesroom  in 
Boston,  which  was  established  in  1877 ;  and  at  his 
factory,  in  Market  Street,  Lynn,  large  sales  are  con- 
stantly being  made. 

It  was  in  1871  that  he  built  his  fine  business  build- 
ing in  Market  Street,  opposite  the  station  of  the  Nar- 
row Gauge  Railroad.  It  was  one  of  the  best  buildings 
in  the  city  at  the  time  of  its  erection,  and  is  still  an 
ornament  to  the  street  which  has  now  so  many  hand- 
some structures.  And  in  noticing  this  building  a  cor- 
respondent of  one  of  the  journals  of  the  day  remarks 
as  follows ; 

"  Every  traveler  on  the  Boston  and  Maine  Railroad,  while  passing 
through  Market  Street,  Lynn,  has  doubtless  observed  the  substantial 
and  handsome  store  and  factory  belonging  to  Patrick  Lennox,  who  com- 
menced business  as  a  morocco  dresser  in  early  life,  and  has  steadily 
built  up  a  business  and  trade,  now  ranking  among  the  first  in  the  State 
with  substantial  tokens  of  his  stability.  His  quiet,  gentlemanly  de- 
meanor and  carefully  chosen  words  will  not  at  first  view  impress  one 
that  be  is  possessed  of  the  vital  force  and  energy  of  character  that  has 
placed  him  among  the  first  of  the  business  men  of  the  city.  His  can- 
dor, probity  and  intelligence  makes  him  a  marked  man  in  the  communi- 
ty, and  his  countrymen  take  especial  pride  in  noting  his  prosperity  in 
which  they  are  joined  by  all  the  citizens.  As  his  name  indicates  he  is  a 
native  of  Ireland,  but  so  Americanized  that  none  would  suspect  it  from 
his  speech  and  appearance.  He  is  an  honor  to  both  his  native  and 
adopted  country,  loyal  and  true  to  both,  a  self-made,  successful  business 
man,  deserving  of  his  good  fortune." 

Mr.  Lennox  has  usually  avoided  appearing  much 
in  public  life,  having  no  as^jiratious  for  official  posi- 
tion. It  would,  no  doubt,  have  been  beneficial  to  the 
interests  of  the  city  had  he  been  less  chary  in  this 
respect,  for  his  good  judgment  and  pacific  course 
would  many  times  have  saved  from  indiscreet  ex- 
penditures, unprofitable  discussions  and  mischievous 
disagreements.  He  has,  however,  held  office  as  di- 
rector in  the  National  City  Bank  of  Lynn,  from  Jan- 
uary, 1882. 

Six  years  after  he  arrived  in  Lynn,  that  is,  in  1854, 
he  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Bridget  Clark, 
and  they  became  the  parents  of  eight  children — two 
sons  and  six  daughters. 

It  will  be  seen  that  Mr.  Lennox  is  not  by  any 
means  an  old  man,  certainly  not  in  business  activity 
and  neighborly  sympathies.  But  he  has  reached  the 
age  when  it  has  become  experimentally  certain  that  a 
course  like  his,  of  industry,  temperance  and  upright 
dealing  are,  under  all  ordinary  circumstances,  suffi- 
cient to  ensure  wealth  and  honorable  social  standing. 
And  herein  he  furnishes  an  example  worthy  of  imi- 
tation by  all  youths  who  have  the  good  of  the  com- 
munity and  themselves  truly  at  heart. 


GEORGE  HARRISON   ALLEN. 

Mr.  Allen  belongs  to  one  of  the  oldest  families  in 
New  England.  His  ancestor,  William  Allen,  though 
not  one  of  the  Plymouth  colony,  came  to  New  Eng- 
land not  long  after  the  arrival  of  the  Pilgrims,  and, 
after  a  short  residence  at  Nantasket,  now  Hull,  re- 
moved to  Salem  immediately  after  the  arrival  of  John 
Endicott  at  that  place,  in  1629.     At  Salem  he  mar- 


^^^^-^l^J 


LYNNFIELD. 


377 


ried,  in  1629,  Elizabeth  Bradley,  and  had  a  son  Samuel, 
who  married  Sarah  Luck.  Samuel  had  a  son  Jona- 
than, who  married  Mary  Pierce,  and  Jonathan  a  son 
Jacob,  who  married  Sarah  Lee.  Jacob  had  a  son 
Isaac,  who  married  Rebekah  Tewksbury,  and  Isaac  a 
son  Jacob,  who  married  Lucy  Gallop,  and  was  the 
father  of  Jacob  Alva  Allen,  the  father  of  the  subject 
of  this  sketch.  Jacob  Alva  Allen  was  born  in  Bev- 
erly, March  5,  1810,  and  married  Prudence,  daughter 
of  Shubel  Hire,  who  came  from  Ireland  and  settled  in 
Middlebury,  Vermont,  where  his  daughter  Prudence 
was  born,  November  5,  1807.  He  afterwards  removed 
from  Beverly  to  Manchester,  Massachusetts,  and  there 
George  Harrison  Allen  was  born,  June  21,  1840.  In 
1847  he  removed  from  Manchester  to  Methuen,  and  in 
1849  to  Lawrence,  and  in  the  common  schools  of  the 
last  two  towns  his  son  received  his  education. 

At  the  age  of  seventeen  George  Harrison  Allen 
left  school  to  learn  the  trade  of  boxmaking,  planing 
and  mill-work  on  lumber,  sawing  logs  and  fitting 
lumber  for  building.  He  began  at  the  first  rung  in 
the  ladder,  and  learned  the  trade  thoroughly  from 
shoveling  shavings  into  the  fire-room  to  the  clerk's 
chair  in  the  counting-room.  In  1865  he  removed 
from  Lawrence  to  Lynn,  and  entered  into  partnership 
with  Joseph  A.  Boyden,  for  the  manufacture  of  paper 
and  wood  packing-boxes.  At  the  end  of  two  years, 
Joseph  having  died,  he  formed  a  new  partnership 
with  William  C.  Boyden,  of  Beverly,  under  the  firm- 
name  of  Allen  &  Boyden,  and  has  since  carried  on  the 
same  business,  manufacturing  both  at  Lynn  and  Bev- 
erly a  product  valued  at  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars  per  annum.  Mr.  Allen  has  always 
devoted  himself  with  energy  and  industry  to  his 
chosen  work,  and,  though  he  has  shared  with  others 
business  losses  and  disasters  by  fire,  he  has  by  the  dis- 
play of  a  determined  spirit  overcome  obstacles  in  his 
way  and  won  his  full  measure  of  success. 

Mr.  Allen,  though  often  importuned  and  at  times 
strongly  tempted,  has  always  refused  to  accept  or 
seek  public  office.  He  has  believed  that  the  demands 
of  his  business  were  entitled  to  all  his  time,  and  that 
an  entrance  into  the  political  arena  and  a  participa- 
tion in  its  contests  would  necessarily  distract  his 
mind  and  divert  his  attention  from  the  management 
of  his  legitimate  pursuits. 

Mr.  Allen  has  been  placed  in  offices  of  responsibil- 
ity and  trust  in  various  Masonic  bodies,  having  been 
at  the  head  of  the  Golden  Fleece  Lodge,  Sutton 
Chapter,  and  Olivet  Coramandery.  In  the  Grand 
Commandery  of  Knights  Templars,  and  appendant 
order  of  Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island,  he  has 
passed  the  chairs  of  Grand  Captain  General,  Grand 
General  and  Deputy  Grand  Commander,  which  office 
he  now  holds.  He  has  also  passed  the  chairs  of  the 
Palestine  Encampment  of  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows,  having  been  its  Chief  Patriarch. 

He  married,  December  26,  1864,  Sarah  Luella, 
daughter  of  Eben  and  Temperance  Mclntire,  of  Lan- 


caster,  N.  H.,  and  resides  in  Lynn,  where  his  business 
headquarters  are  located  at  188  Broad  Street.  He  is 
in  the  prime  of  life,  and  with  health  and  strength  his 
continued  prosperity  and  success  are  assured. 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 


LYNNFIELD. 


BY  JAMES   R.   NEWHALL. 


Early    Grant — First    Settlers — Natural  Attractions — Pondf   and  Streams — 
Flora — Fauna. 

LYNNFIELD  was  for  more  than  a  century  and  a  half 
a  territorial  outpost  of  Lynn.  It  was  on  the  13th  of 
March,  1638-39,  that  "  Linn  was  granted  6  miles  into 
the  countrey,"  and  a  committee  appointed  to  make  a 
territorial  survey  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the 
character  of  the  land  beyond,  and  determining 
whether  it  "  bee  fit  for  another  plantation  or  no." 
The  court,  while  making  the  grant,  seem  to  have  had 
some  doubt  as  to  the  extent  of  colonial  rights  and 
the  security  of  titles,  as  they  soon  after  enacted  that 
the  Governor  and  assistants  shall  "  take  care  that  the 
Indians  have  satisfaction  for  their  right  at  Lynn." 

The  granted  territory  was  long  called  Lynn  End, 
and  occupied  chiefly  by  farmers.  It  was  set  off  as  a 
parish  November  17,  1712,  and  the  inhabitants  were 
to  be  relieved  from  taxes  in  the  old  parish  as  soon  as 
they  built  a  meeting-house  and  settled  a  minister; 
this  they  accomplished  in  about  eight  years,  the  house 
being  built  in  1715  and  the  minister  settled  in  1720. 
In  1782  the  parish  became  a  separate  district,  and  in 
1814  the  district  was  incorjiorated  as  a  separate  town. 
The  precise  time  when  the  first  settlers  arrived  or  just 
where  they  located  is  not  certainly  known.  It  is  pre- 
sumed, however,  that  thej^  came  from  Lynn,  some  of 
them,  perhaps,  before  the  grant  was  made.  It  is 
manifest  by  the  names  found  on  the  church  records — 
Aborn,  Bancroft,  Gowing,  Mansfield,  Newhall,  Well- 
man — that  at  least  the  principal  ones  were  from 
Lynn. 

The  Mansfields  and  Newhalls  settled  in  the 
southeastern  part,  the  Bancrofts  and  Wellmans  in  the 
northwestern  and  the  Gowings  somewhere  between 
the  two. 

The  early  history  of  Lynnfield  is,  of  course,  inter- 
woven with  that  of  Lynn,  and  their  natural  features 
are  in  a  large  degree  similar.  Its  woody  hills  form  a 
part  of  the  extensive  range  that  sweeps  up  from  old 
Plymouth  County,  varying  in  height,  but  never  reach- 
ing an  altitude  that  entitles  them  to  the  name  of 
mountains.  They  present  irregularities  of  shape, 
diversities  of  soil  and  modifications  of  geological 
construction,  and   follow   the  line  of  the  coast  at  dis- 


378 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


tances  varying  from  half  a  mile  to  eight  miles  from 
the  shore,  in  many  places  bearing  strong  evidence  of 
having  once  been  the  boundary  of  the  tide.  An- 
ciently, for  the  whole  extent  they  were  well  wooded ; 
but  as  population  increased,  the  axe  in  many  places 
laid  them  bare,  and  orchards  and  arable  fields  began 
to  appear.  At  intervals  the  chain  now  seems  much 
broken,  as  most  portions  likely  for  the  present  to  re- 
pay the  expense  have  been  reclaimed.  Some  sections, 
however,  still  retain  much  of  their  primeval  aspect, 
— a  fact  eminently  true  of  several  of  the  remoter  parts 
of  Lynnfield. 

But  Lynnfield  possesses  many  attractions  for  the 
lover  of  nature,  in  her  lonely  glens  and  pleasant 
heights,  in  her  lakelets  and  busy  streams.  She  has 
good  highways  and  romantic  byways,  green  meadows 
and  sunny  plains.  But  she  has  not  the  ocean  views 
that  so  charm,  and  the  ocean  breezes  that  so  invigor- 
ate. Many,  however,  come  hither  for  temporary 
homes  during  the  vacation  season,  and  in  the  quiet 
enjoyment  of  rural  sights  and  rural  sounds,  in  the 
breathing  of  uncontaminated  airs,  in  the  use  of  fresh 
and  simple  food,  and  in  freedom  from  the  re- 
straints of  fashionable  life,  find  a  medicine  that  re- 
vivifies their  jaded  energies,  and  enables  them  to  re- 
turn to  their  homes  again  to  enter  with  zest  the  ac- 
customed routine. 

There  can  be  nothirig  more  pleasing  to  the  wooer  of 
nature,  especially  one  who  contemplates  her  charges 
with  the  eye  of  a  true  lover  rather  than  that  of  a 
scientist,  than  to  view  the  glowing  pageantry  of  the 
Avoods  hereabout  in  mid-autumn.  The  splendid  col- 
oring of  the  foliage  takes  jjlace  at  diff'ereut  periods, 
the  swamp  maple  and  white  birch  often  beginning  to 
change  in  the  latter  part  of  August.  Some  seasons 
present  much  greater  brilliancy  than  others,  early 
frosts  being  quite  certain  to  destroy  the  effect.  Yet 
there  is  a  strange  belief  with  many  that  frost  actually 
produces  the  appearance.  Even  the  poet  Whittier 
sings : 

"Autumn's  earliest  frost  had  given 

To  the  woods  below 
Hues  of  beauty  such  as  Heaven 

Lendeth  to  its  bow  ; 
And  the  soft  breezes  from  the  west 
Scarcely  broke  their  dreamy  rest." 

Frost  comes  as  a  destroyer,  not  as  a  beautifier. 
And  it  is  a  little  remarkable  that  one  so  observant, 
who  had  spent  his  life  in  the  theatre  of  such  chang- 
ing scenes,  should  have  adopted  the  old  error.  But, 
perhaps,  the  singer  yielded  to  the  poetical  idea. 

While  the  foliage  is  so  inviting  to  the  woodland 
stroller,  or  sometimes  after  it  has  been  loosened  by 
the  frost  and  fallen,  the  Indian  summer  comes — those 
few  days  of  delicious  languor,  when  all  nature  seems 
to  be  wrapped  in  a  mantle  of  haze  and  lying  down  to 
dreamy  repose.  The  natural  cause  of  Indian  sum- 
mer, which,  by  the  way,  occasionally  fails  to  appear, 
does  not  yet  seem  to  be  satisfactorily  ascertained. 
And    perhaps,   in    the  absence   of   anything    more 


reasonable,  the  red  man's  explanation  may  be 
adopted — namely,  that  it  is  a  period  when  a  breath 
from  the  hunting-grounds  of  heaven  is  permitted  to 
sweep  down  to  earth. 

The  geology  of  Lynnfield  is  not  very  dissimilar  to 
that  of  Lynn,  excepting  that  granite  to  a  considerable 
extent  takes  the  place  of  porphyry  and  greenstone. 
Quarries  of  the  former  have  been  long  profitably 
worked.  Some  years  ago  a  quarry  of  serpentine  was 
opened.  In  various  sections,  in  former  years,  peat 
meadows  yielded  an  abundance  of  fuel,  it  being  in 
some  cases  found  fifteen  feet  in  depth;  but  of  late  it 
has  not  been  so  much  used,  partly,  no  doubt,  on  ac- 
count of  the  increased  expense  of  labor  in  the  prep- 
aration, and  partly  on  account  of  the  greater  conve- 
nience of  other  kinds  of  fuel  better  adapted  to  the 
modern  modes  of  heating. 

Ponds  and  Streams. — There  are  several  pic- 
turesque lakelets  or  ponds  in  Lynnfield,  and  two  or 
three  streams  that  not  only  add  charms  to  the  land- 
scape, but  are  useful  in  various  ways,  though  not 
largely  employed  as  manufacturing  agents.  Lynnfield 
Pond,  as  it  is  usually  called,  though  sometimes  known 
as  "  Suntaug  Lake"  or  "Humphrey's  Pond,"  being 
the  same  "freshe  pond  with  a  little  ileland  "  named 
in  the  old  grant  of  1635  to  John  Humphrey,  is  the 
chief  of  the  still  waters.  It  occupies  about  two  hun- 
dred and  ten  acres,  and  lies  partly  in  Peabody,  is  a 
beautiful  sheet,  with  lovely  surroundings.  A  melan- 
choly accident  occurred  here  on  the  15th  of  August, 
1850.  A  company,  connected  for  the  most  part  with 
the  First  Christian  Society  of  Lynn,  were  holding  a 
picnic  on  the  border.  In  the  course  of  the  afternoon 
a  party  of  twenty-five,  chiefly  ladies,  rowed  out  in  a 
large,  flat-bottomed  boat  about  a  hundred  yards  from 
the  shore.  As  some  of  them  shifted  from  side  to  side, 
the  boat  was  made  to  careen,  and  several  of  them, 
becoming  alarmed,  threw  their  weight  in  a  manner  to 
completely  capsize  it.  Before  aid  could  reach  them 
thirteen  were  drowned.  Filling's  Pond  is  largely  ar- 
tificial and  of  no  great  depth,  NeWs  Pond  is  remark- 
able for  its  elevation,  being  something  like  a  hundred 
feet  above  sea-level. 

Along  the  northern  border  of  Lynnfield  flows  the 
main  branch  of  Ipswich  River,  and  the  western  is 
partially  traversed  by  the  Sauyus.  Hawhes'  Brook 
meanders  leisurely  along,  and  is  now  charged  with  the 
useful  duty  of  adding  to  Lynn's  public  water  supj^ly. 

The  spring  water  of  this  vicinity  is  uncommonly 
pure,  for  the  stone  through  which  it  percolates  is  not 
soluble ;  and  it  forms  a  good  sample  of  that  which 
William  Wood,  Lynn's  first  historian,  as  early  as  1633, 
thus  enthusiastically  celebrates :  "  It  is  farr  ditferent 
from  the  waters  of  England,  being  not  so  sharp,  but 
of  a  fatter  substance  and  of  a  more  jettie  color;  it  is 
thought  there  can  be  no  better  water  in  the  world,  yet 
dare  I  not  prefer  it  before  good  beere,  as  some  have 
done ;  but  any  man  will  choose  it  before  bad  beere, 
whey  or  butter  milk." 


LYNNFIELD. 


379 


Flora. — The  flora  of  Lynnfield,  as  it  was  observed 
by  the  first  settlers,  is  no  doubt  well,  though  not  fully, 
described  in  the  following  lines  from  Wood's  "  New 
England's  Prospect."  And  well  might  such  a  prom- 
ising region  be  coveted, — 

"Trees  both  in  hills  and  plaines  in  plenty  be, 
The  long  liv'd  oake,  the  mournful  cypress  tree, 
Skie-towering  piues,  and  chestnuts  coated  rough, 
The  lasting  cedar,  with  tlie  walnut  tough  ; 
The  rosin-drojjping  firr  for  masts  in  use  ; 
The  boatmen  seeke  for  oars,  light,  neat  grown  sprewse, 
Tlie  brittle  ash,  the  ever-trembling  aspes, 
Tlie  broad-spread  elme,  whose  concave  harbours  waspes ; 
The  water-spoiigie  alder,  good  lor  naught. 
Small  elderne  by  th'  Indian  fletchers  sought, 
The  knottio  maple,  pallid  birtch,  hawthornes. 
The  honibound  tree  that  to  be  cloven  scornes. 
Which  from  the  tender  vine  oft  takes  its  spouse, 
Who  twines  imbracing  amies  about  his  boughes. 
Within  this  Indian  Orchard  fruits  be  some, 
The  ruddie  cherrie  and  the  jetty  plumbe. 
Snake  murthering  hasell  with  sweet  saxapbrage. 
Whose  spurnes  in  beer  all.ays  hot  fever's  rage. 
The  diar's  shumacb,  with  more  trees  there  bee 
That  are  both  good  to  use  and  rare  to  see." 

Descending  to  the  more  lowly  products,  it  may  be 
said  that  in  the  woods  and  ravines,  in  the  swamps 
and  upon  the  rocky  heights,  are  to  be  found  shrubs 
and  flowers  of  great  beauty,  some  varieties  of  which, 
under  the  hand  of  cultivation,  have  become  garden 
favorites.  And  many  plants  of  rare  medicinal  value 
are  to  be  found.  But  the  long  and  persistent  warfare 
of  our  learned  doctors  against  the  use  of  "  herbs  " 
has  resulted  in  greatly  reducing  the  esteem  in  which 
they  were  once  held.  The  old  traffic  of  the  semi- 
mendicant  wanderers,  with  their  pyrola,  sassafras, 
gold-thread,  rosemary,  catnip,  sweet  flagroot  and 
countless  other  varieties  of  similar  curative  merchan- 
dise, has  become  nearly  extinct.  And  so  has  gone 
all  that  class  of  irresponsible  doctors,  friends  of  the 
poor,  as  they  called  themselves,  and  sometimes  were, 
who,  for  the  fee  of  a  meal,  were  ever  ready  to  advise 
and  prescribe.  It  did  not  cost  so  much  to  be  sick  in 
those  primitive  days  as  it  now  does. 

Fauna. — As  considerable  is  said  in  the  sketch  of 
Lynn,  of  which  Lynnfield  so  long  remained  a  mem- 
ber, regarding  the  fauna  of  the  region,  no  elaboration 
will  be  required  here.  Bears  were  not  uncommon  in 
the  woods  ;  moose,  beaver  and  deer  were  seen  ;  foxes 
and  wolves  abounded  ;  and  so  did  raccoons,  weasels 
and  woodchucks.  Most  of  these,  excepting  the  last 
two,  have  become  nearly  extinct — the  first  three  en- 
tirely so.  But  no  better  idea  of  the  animal  life  here- 
about can  be  given  than  by  quoting  the  concise, 
though  somewhat  grotesque,  metrical  description 
given  by  a  quaint  old  writer.  His  was  a  style  much 
in  vogue  in  early  times,  and  some  of  the  important 
facts  in  our  history  have  been  preserved  in  that  now 
seemingly  irregular  way.  Those  rhyming  historians 
had  no  thought  of  debauching  history  through  poetic 
license,  but  aimed  at  a  straightforward  delineation  of 
facts,  perhaps  using  that  form  to  aid  the  memory. 
But  to  the  quotation,  which  is  from  a  more  extended 


description  that  appears  in  Lynn's  Centennial  Me- 
morial,— 

"Some  of  the  nobler  game  erst  found,  within  these  forests  wide, 
The  moose,  the  beaver  and  the  deer  no  longer  here  abyde  ; 
Nor  growling  bear,  nor  catamount,  nor  wolf  do  now  abound, 
But  raccoons,  woodchucks,  weasels,  skunks,  and  foxes  yet  lurke  round. 
And  in  the  broocks  and  ponds  still  rove  the  turtle  and  musk  ratt, 
The  croaking  paddock  and  leap-frog  ;  and  in  the  air  the  batt. 
Serpents  there  be,  butpoys'nous,  few,  save  horrid  rattlesnakes. 
And  adders  of  bright  rainbow  hue,  that  coyl  among  the  brakes. 
And  then  of  birds  we  have  great  store  ;  the  eagle  soaring  high, 
The  owl,  the  hawk,  the  woodpecker,  the  crow  of  rasping  cry, 
The  partridge,  quail  and  wood-pigeon,  the  plover  and  wild-goose. 
And  divers  other  smaller  game  are  here  for  man,  his  use. 
And  many  more  of  plumage  fair  in  coo  and  song  are  heard  ; 
The  whippoorwill,  of  mournful  note,  the  merry  humming-bird. 
In  bog  and  pond  the  peeper  pipes  at  close  of  springtide  day. 
And  fire-flies  daunce  like  little  stars  along  the  lover's  way." 

Upon  the  rocky  hillsides,  about  the  ledges,  and  in 
the  sequestered  forest  defiles,  the  hideous  rattlesnake 
is  still  occasionally  met  with,  during  the  hottest 
weather.  Seldom,  however,  is  there  any  injury  and 
almost  never  any  fatal  result  from  encounters  with 
these  old-time  terrifiers.  Formerly  they  were  nu- 
merous, and  occasioned  much  fear,  but  the  numbers 
and  fears  have  greatly  decreased.  It  is  stated,  how- 
ever, that  during  the  summer  of  1868  a  Lynnfield 
farmer  killed  the  extraordinary  number  of  thirteen, 
of  various  sizes. 

ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

First  Parish. — The  First  Church  of  Lynnfield 
was  formed  August  17,  1720,  though  a  meeting-house 
appears  to  have  been  built  some  five  years  before.  It 
had  always  been  a  hardship  for  worshippers  of  that 
remote  region  to  attend  service  at  the  First  Parish 
house,  some  living  more  than  seven  miles  distant. 
And  as  early  as  the  time  when  the  "Old  Tunnel" 
was  built,  1682,  on  Lynn  Common,  much  discussion 
was  had  as  to  the  expediency  of  building  farther  in- 
land, in  some  place  that  would  be  most  convenient 
for  the  four  sections,  now  Lynn,  Lynnfield,  Saugus 
and  Swampscott,  separate  parishes  not  then  being 
contemplated.  But  the  desire  of  the  people  near  the 
site  of  the  old  house  prevailed,  and  the  new  one  was 
placed  on  the  Common,  where  it  remained,  a  marked 
object,  till  1827.  There  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
any  ill-feeling  engendered,  and  thither  the  people  of 
Lynnfield  went  for  worship  till  they  became  strong 
enough  to  form  a  separate  parish. 

The  Rev.  Nathaniel  Sparhawk  was  installed 
minister  of  the  Lynnfield  parish  at  the  time  the 
church  was  formed,  1720,  and  his  salary  for  the  year 
fixed  at  seventy  pounds.  He  was  born  in  Cambridge 
in  1694;  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1715;  was  dismissed 
in  July,  1731,  and  about  one  year  thereafter,  May  7, 
1732,  died,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-eight  years. 
The  reason  for  his  dismission  does  not  exactly  appear. 
Mr.  Lewis  says,  "  A  part  of  his  people  had  become 
dissatisfied  with  him,  and  some,  whom  he  considered 
his  friends,  advised  him  to  ask  a  dismission,  in  order 
to  produce  tranquillity.     He  asked  a  dismission,  and 


380 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTS,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


it  was  unexpectedly  granted.  A  committee  was  then 
chosen  to  wait  on  him,  and  receive  the  cliurch  rec- 
ords ;  but  he  refused  to  deliver  them.  Soon  after  he 
took  to  his  bed,  and  is  supposed  to  have  died  in  con- 
sequence of  his  disappointment."  His  wife  was 
Elizabeth  Perkins,  and  he  had  four  children,  one  of 
whom  was  Edward  Perkins  Sparhawk,  a  man  who 
became  somewhat  noted.  He  was  born  July  10, 1728, 
and  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1753.  His  wife 
was  Mehitabel  Putnam,  whom  he  married  in  1759. 
Mr.  Lewis  says  he  was  never  ordained,  though  he 
preached  many  times  in  the  parishes  of  Essex.  He 
appears  not  to  have  approved  of  the  settlement  of 
Mr.  Adams,  the  third  minister  of  the  parish,  having 
himself  been  a  candidate, and  calls  him  "old  Adams, 
the  reputed  teacher  of  Lynnfield."  The  historian 
adds,  "  He  is  the  first  person  whom  I  found  in  our 
records  having  three  names.  The  custom  of  giving 
an  intermediate  name  seems  not  to  have  been  com- 
mon till  more  than  one  hundred  years  after  the  settle- 
ment of  New  England."  One  son  of  Rev.  Nathaniel, 
the  first  minister,  born  October  24, 1730,  named  John, 
was  apprenticed  to  a  shoemaker,  and  afterward  be- 
came a  physician  of  Philadelphia.  One  of  our  Es- 
sex County  historians  has  strangely  enough  given  the 
Rev.  Nathaniel  as  the  one  to  whom  we  are  indebted 
for  the  series  of  interleaved  almanacs  which  have 
been  so  much  quoted  from.  But  he  had  been  dead 
fifty  years  before  the  almanacs  were  made.  The 
Sparhawk  who  made  the  almanac  memoranda  was 
most  likely  Edward,  son  of  the  first  minister,  though 
some  have  thought  he  was  a  brother  or  nephew. 

The  immediate  successor  of  Rev.  Nathaniel  Spar- 
hawk in  the  pastorate  was  the  Rev.  Stephen  Chase, 
who  was  settled  in  1731.  He  was  born  in  Newbury 
in  1708,  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1728,  resigned  in 
1755,  and  died  in  1778.  His  salary,  as  fixed  at  the 
time  of  his  ordination,  was  one  hundred  pounds. 
Mr.  Chase  was  here  during  the  exciting  period  of  the 
visit  of  Rev.  George  Wbitefield,  the  celebrated  Eng- 
glish  revivalist.  Rev.  Mr.  Henchman  was  then  min- 
ister of  the  First  Parish  of  Lynn,  and  while  he  per- 
sonally treated  the  eminent  stranger  with  great  court- 
esy, and  even  cordiality,  strongly  opposed  his  course 
of  ministration,  and  refused  the  use  of  his  meeting- 
house for  one  of  his  meetings.  Mr.  Henchman  ad- 
dressed a  letter,  printed  in  pamphlet  form,  to  Mr. 
Chase,  giving  reasons  for  his  opposition  to  Mr. 
Wbitefield. 

Some  of  these  reasons,  as  clearly  enumerated  by 
Mr.  Lewis,  were,  that  Mr.  Wbitefield  had  disregarded 
and  violated  the  most  solemn  vow,  which  he  took 
when  he  received  orders  in  the  Church  of  England, 
and  pledged  himself  to  advocate  and  maintain  her 
discipline  and  doctrine — that  he  had  intruded  into 
places  where  regular  churches  were  established — that 
he  used  vain  boasting  and  theatrical  gestures  to  gain 
applause — that  he  countenanced  screaming,  trances 
and  epileptic  fallings — that  he  had  defamed  the  char- 


acter of  Bishop  Tillotson,  and  slandered  the  colleges 
of  New  England. 

It  does  not  appear  that  Mr.  Chase  publicly  answered 
the  letter  of  Mr.  Henchman,  nor,  indeed,  what  his 
precise  views  regarding  Mr.  Wbitefield  were.  The 
letter  was,  however,  answered  by  Rev.  Mr.  Hobby,  of 
Reading,  who  became  a  warm  defender  of  Mr.  White- 
field.  And  to  Mr.  Hobby's  answer  Mr.  Henchman 
made  a  rejoinder.  The  controversy  was  protracted 
and  warm,    and  perhaps  some  good  resulted. 

The  wife  of  Mr.  Cbase  was  Jane  Winget,  of  Hamp- 
ton, and  they  had  five  children.  After  leaving  Lynn 
he  settled  in  Newcastle,  N.  H.,  remaining  there  till 
his  death. 

The  third  minister  of  the  Lynnfield  Parish  was 
Rev.  Benjamin  Adams.  He  was  born  in  Newbury 
May  8,  1719;  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1738  ;  settled 
here  November  5,1755;  died  May  4,1777.  His 
wife  was  Rebecca  Nichols,  and  they  had  seven  chil- 
dren. 

The  fourth  minister  was  Rev.  Joseph  Mottey. 
He  was  born  in  Salem,  May  14,  1756  ;  graduated  at 
Dartmouth,  1778  ;  settled  here  September  24,  1783  ; 
died  July  9,  1821.  His  long  pastorate  would  indicate 
that  he  was  beloved  by  his  people,  though  it  was  a 
period  when  ministerial  changes  were  not  by  any 
means  so  frequent  as  now.  He  was  of  a  retiring  and 
sensitive  disposition,  had  marked  eccentricities,  and 
withal  a  humorous  vein.  As  a  preacher  he  was  mild 
and  persuasive;  not  given  to  "ecstasy  and  holy  fren- 
zy." At  times  he  was  subject  to  strange  fancies  and 
singular  apprehensions.  The  following  instance  is 
related  in  Sprague's  "  Annals  of  the  American  Pul- 
pit," where  a  notice  of  him  appears  :  "  One  extremely 
cold  night,  after  going  to  bed,  he  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  he  should  certainly  die  before  morning. 
While  reflecting  upon  being  found  dead  in  his  bed, 
he  bethought  him  that  his  appearance,  as  he  then 
was,  would  not  be  just  what  he  should  like  ;  so,  get- 
ting up  in  the  cold,  he  put  on  clean  linen  and  jumped 
into  bed  again.  Very  soon  he  fell  asleep,  slept 
soundly  till  morning,  and  on  waking  was  quite  aston- 
ished to  find  that  he  was  not  dead."  This  certainly 
indicates  that  he  had  little  fear  of  death.  But  he  was 
a  man  of  high  character,  and,  notwithstanding  his 
eccentricities,  or  "  oddities,"  as  they  were  called,  con- 
tinued to  enjoy  the  respect  of  his  people,  who  seem 
never  to  have  doubted  his  piety  and  conscientious- 
ness. His  reply  to  one  who  called  him  "  odd  "  was 
witty  as  well  as  characteristic:  "Yes,"  said  he,  "I 
set  out  to  be  a  very  good  man,  and  soon  found  that 
I  could  not  be  without  being  very  odd." 

Mr.  Mottey  was  not  accustomed  to  exchange  with 
his  brother  clergy  so  often  as  did  most  of  the  minis- 
ters of  that  period;  neither  did  he  take  anything  like 
so  active  a  part  in  the  temporal  affairs  of  his  parish 
as  some  of  them,  especially  Mr.  Treadwell  and  Mr. 
Roby,  of  the  other  Lynn  parishes.  This  trait  was 
sometimes  commented  on  in  a  manner  unfavorable  to 


LYNNFIELD. 


381 


him.  But  the  fact  was,  no  doubt,  rather  attributable 
to  his  naturally  shrinking  disposition  than  to  lack  of 
interest  in  public  aftairs.  That  he  was  indus- 
trious with  his  pen  cannot  be  doubted,  for  it  is 
asserted  that  he  wrote  more  than  two  thousand,  if  not 
fully  three  thousand,  sermons,  which,  if  they  were  of 
the  usual  length  of  the  sermons  of  that  period,  must 
have  covered  many  more  sheets  of  paper  than  most  of 
the  preachers  of  our  day  find  it  in  their  way  to  cover. 

"  In  regard  to  doctrines,"  quotes  Mr.  Parsons,  in  a 
paper  read  before  the  Essex  Unitarian  Conference, 
September  8,  1881,  "Mr.  Mottey,  in  the  first  years  of 
his  ministry,  was  much  inclined  to  what  is  now 
termed  orthodoxy.  Afterwards,  and  until  the  end  of 
his  life,  there  was  a  general  coincidence  in  his  opin- 
ions with  what  is  now  termed  liberal  Christianity." 
But  "liberal  Christianity"  is  a  term  so  indefinite  as 
to  cover  a  wide  field.  And  it  cannot  be  admitted 
that  Mr.  Mottey  ever  became  what  is  now  known  as  a 
Unitarian  or  Universalist ;  nor  was  his  successor, 
Mr.  Searl,  of  either  of  these  denominations.  There 
are  many  shades  of  belief  among  the  individuals  of 
all  denominations.  And  no  doubt  some  of  the  theo- 
logians of  Andover  and  Princeton  are  quite  as  well  en- 
titled to  be  called  liberal  Christians  as  was  Mr. 
Mottey. 

The  fifth  minister  of  Lynnfield  Parish  was  Rev. 
Joseph  Searl.  He  was  born  in  Rowley  Decem- 
ber 2,1789;  graduated  at  Dartmouth  in  1815;  set- 
tled here  January  21,  1824  ;  resigned  September  27, 
1827.  He  removed  to  Stoneham.  Mr.  Searl  was  the 
last  preacher  of  the  old  orthodox  faith  in  this,  the 
First  Lynnfield  Parish.  Rev.  Luther,  Walcott, 
his  successor,  was  of  the  Universalist  persuasion.  The 
ministerial  succession  was  as  follows : 


1720.  Nathaniel  Sparhawk. 
1731.  Stephen  Chase. 
1755.  Benjamin  Adams. 


1783.  Joseph  Mottey. 
1824.  .Joseph  Searl. 
185-1.  Luther  Walcott. 


After  Mr.  Walcott  left  the  society  was  supplied  by 
different  ministers  for  a  few  years,  and  then  services 
were  discontinued. 

It  would  be  needless  to  repeat  that  this,  the  First 
Church  of  Lynnfield,  was  originally  of  rigid  Puritan- 
ical stamp.  And  in  its  history  appears  another  in- 
stance of  the  tendency  to  swerve  from  that  faith,  and 
by  the  force  of  a  mere  vote  adopt  one  of  a  different 
character.  Where  no  superior  ecclesiastical  authority 
is  acknowledged  there  seems  nothing  to  prevent  this. 
This  Lynnfield  society  changed  its  faith  as  an  organ- 
ization by  voting  to  settle  Mr.  Walcott.  The  First 
Church  of  Lynn  is  one  of  the  three  or  four  of  the 
early  churches  in  Massachusetts  that  have  preserved 
their  integrity,  through  good  report  and  evil,  to  the 
present  day,  they  never  having  yet  voted  themselves 
out  of  the  old  faith.  The  right  of  individual  inter- 
pretation may  be  very  precious,  but  its  tendency  is  to 
instability. 

The  following  are  the  other  religious  societies  of 
Lynnfield  : 


Orthodox  Evangelical  Society  (Centre  Vil- 
lage). [Trinitarian  Congregational,  formed  September 
27,  1882.] 


1833.  Josiah  Hill. 
1837.  Henry  S.  Greene. 
1850.  Uzal  W.  Condit. 
1856.  Edwin  R.  Hodgraan. 
1859.  William  C.  Whitcomb. 


1863.  M.  Bradford  Boardman. 
1871.  Oliver  P.  Emerson. 
1874.  Darius  B.  Scott. 
1883.  Henry  L.  Brickett. 


South  Village  Congregational.  [Trinitarian, 
formed  in  1849.] 


1849.  Ariel  P.  Chute. 
1858.  Allen  Gannett. 


1865.  Jacob  Hood. 


Methodist. — A  society  of  this  order  was  formed 
here  in  1816,  and  a  house  of  worship  erected,  in  the 
Centre  Village,  in  1823.  But  regular  meetings  have 
not  been  held  for  several  years. 

OLD   families   and   BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCHES. 

Newhall  FamiIjY.— Joseph  Newhall  was  an  early 
settler  of  Lynnfield.  He  was  a  grandson  of  Thomas 
Newhall,  the  first  of  the  name  in  Lynn,  and  a  son  of 
Thomas,  the  first  white  child  born  here.  He  was 
born  on  the  22d  of  September,  1658,  and  married 
Susanna,  daughter  of  Thomas  Farrar.  He  was  a  man 
of  considerable  importance  in  his  day,  and  was  often 
in  places  of  public  trust.  He  settled,  as  a  farmer,  in 
Lynnfield,  his  homestead  farm,  as  it  was  called,  con- 
sisting of  some  thirty-four  acres.  He  also  had 
another  estate,  known  as  the  Pond  farm,  consisting 
of  a  hundred  and  seventy  acres,  lying  on  the  west  of 
Humphrey's  Pond,  and  being  a  part  of  the  grant 
made  to  Mr.  Humphrey  in  1635.  It  is  thus  seen  that 
Mr.  Newhall  possessed  many  "broad  acres,"  com- 
prehending woodland,  tillage  and  meadow.  But  his 
most  valuable  possession  was  a  family  of  eleven  chil- 
dren— eight  sons  and  three  daughters.  Just  when  he 
took  up  his  abode  in  Lynnfield  does  not  distinctly 
appear ;  but  it  was  probably  soon  after  he  came  of 
age,  his  marriage  taking  place  at  about  the  same  time. 
He  seems  to  have  been  a  good  man  and  a  'regular  at- 
tendant on  public  worship,  for  by  the  record,  No- 
vember 4,  1696,  it  appears  that  the  town  did  grant 
liberty  for  Joseph  Newhall  to  "  sett  up  a  pewe  in  y® 
east  end  of  y®  meeting  house  [the  Old  Tunnell]  Be- 
tween y^  east  dowre  &  the  stares  ;  provided  itt  does 
nott  prejudice  the  going  up  y^  stares  into  y^  gallery, 
&  maintains  so  much  of  the  glas  window  as  is  against 
s*^  pewe."  He  was  a  member  of  the  General  Court, 
and  died  while  in  office.  And  in  this  connection  it 
may  be  remarked  that  the  pay  of  representatives,  and 
indeed  of  all  public  officers,  was  at  a  rate  that  did  not 
encourage  that  degree  of  hankering  for  official  posi- 
tion so  lamentably  prevalent  in  our  time.  Upon 
the  records  is  found  this  item :  "Dec.  1706,  to  his 
serving  a  Representative  at  the  generall  court  in  the 
year  1705,  until  his  death,  76  days  at  3s  per  day — 11£ 
8s  Of/."  Mr.  Newhall  perished  while  on  his  way  from 
Boston  to  Lynn,  in  a  great  snow-storm,  in  January, 
1705-06.     His  grave-stone  is   in  the   old   burying- 


382 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


ground,  near  tlie  westerly  end  of  the  Common,  Lynn, 
and  gives  his  age  as  forty-seven,  and  his  title,  en- 
sign.    All  his  eleven  children  survived  him. 

Elisha  Newhall,  the  third  son  of  Joseph,  born 
November  20,  1686,  was  a  farmer  in  Lyunfield,  and 
owned  a  tract  on  the  northwest  of  Humphrey's  Pond. 
He  also  owned  a  tract  on  the  southeast  of  the  pond, 
arfd  on  the  latter  his  house  stood.  He  was  something 
of  a  military  man  and  attained  the  rank  of  captain. 
His  death  took  place  on  the  19th  of  March,  1773,  at 
the  age  of  eighty-seven.  He  married,  February  27, 
1710-11,  Jane,  daughter  of  Joseph  Breed.  She  was  of 
his  own  age  and  survived  him  but  three  days.  They 
had  eight  children — three  sons  and  five  daughters. 
The  church  record  says,  "They  lived  very  happily 
together  as  man  and  wife,  almost  sixty-five  if  not 
almost  sixty-six  years,  then  died,  but  three  days  dif- 
ference between  y'  deaths.  Thus  were  they  lovely 
and  pleasant  in  their  lives  and  in  their  death  they 
were  not  divided." 

Daniel  Newhall,  a  younger  brother  of  Elisha, 
just  spoken  of,  was  born  February  5,  1690-91.  His 
wife  was  Mary,  daughter  of  Allen  Breed.  His  widow, 
says  Mr.  Waters,  died  suddenly  January  1,  1776,  in 
her  eighty-fourth  year.  In  a  notice  of  her  death 
published  in  the  Essex  Gazette,  she  is  said  to  have  left 
eleven  children,  sixty-six  grandchildren,  thirty-two 
great-grandchildren — in  all,  one  hundred  and  nine. 

Benjamin  Newhall,  another  son  of  Joseph,  and 
brother  of  Elisha  and  Daniel,  was  born  April  5,  1698. 
He  did  not  pursue  farming,  but  engaged  in  shoemak- 
ing,  and  located  on  Lynn  Common.  In  1729  he  sold 
his  remaining  interest  in  the  Humfrey  farm,  evidently 
intending  not  to  return  to  Lynnfield.  He  seems  to 
have  been  successful  in  his  vocation  and  was  one  of 
the  three  mentioned  as  doing  sufiicient  business 
in  1750  to  require  the  employment  of  journeymen. 
He,  like  his  brother  Elisha,  had  military  aspirations, 
and  in  the  French  and  Indian  War  was  a  captain. 
He  was  a  Representative,  first  in  1748,  and  several 
times  thereafter.  He  married  Elizabeth  Fovvle  Jan- 
uary 1,  1721,  had  fourteen  children,  and  died  June  5, 
1763.  His  son  Benjamin,  born  September  6,  1726, 
was  probably  the  same  who  was  town  clerk  at  the 
opening  of  the  Revolution,  and  who  died  in  1777. 

Samuel  Newhall,  the  youngest  son  of  Joseph, 
and  brother  of  Elisha,  Daniel  and  Benjamin,  was  born 
March  9,  1700-1.  He  was  adopted  by  his  uncle, 
Thomas  Farrar,  who  was  a  farmer,  lived  on  Nahant 
Street,  Lynn,  and  was  a  son  of  Thomas  Farrar,  known 
as  "  Old  Pharaoh,"  who  was  one  of  those  accused  of 
witchcraft  in  1692. 

Asa  Tarbel  Newhall  was  born  in  Lynnfield 
June  28,  1779  ;  his  father,  Asa,  was  born  August  5, 
1732 ;  his  grandfather,  Thomas,  was  born  January  6, 
1681 ;  his  great-grandfather,  Joseph,  was  born  Sep- 
tember 22,  1658,  and  was  the  first  of  the  Lynnfield 
Newhalls;  and  his  great-great-grandfather  was 
Thomas,  the  first  white  person  born  in  Lynn. 


Mr.  Newhall  was  bred  a  farmer,  and  followed  the 
honorable  occupation  all  his  life.  He  was  a  close  ob- 
server of  the  operations  of  nature,  and  brought  to 
the  nolice  of  others  divers  facts  of  great  benefit  to 
the  husbandman.  He  delivered  one  or  two  addresses 
at  agricultural  exhibitions,  and  published  several 
papers  which  secured  marked  attention  and  elicited 
discussion.  His  mind  was  penetrating  and  possessed 
a  happy  mingling  of  the  practical  and  theoretical; 
and  he  had  sufficient  energy  and  industry  to  insure 
results.  Such  a  person  will  always  make  himself 
useful  in  the  world,  though  he  may  be  destitute  of 
that  kind  of  ambition  which  would  place  him  in  con- 
spicuous positions. 

He  was  liberal  in  his  views,  courteous  in  his  man- 
ners ;  and  by  his  sound  judgment  and  unswerving  in- 
tegrity secured  universal  respect.  In  his  earlier  man- 
hood he  was  somewhat  active  as  a  politician,  and  was 
judicious  and  trustworthy.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention  of  1820,  and  a  Senator  in 
1826.     He  was  also  a  Representative  in  1828. 

His  wife  was  Judith  Little,  of  Newbury  ;  and  he 
had  nine  children — Joshua  L.,  Asa  T.,  Thomas  B., 
Sallie  M.,  Eunice  A.,  Judith  B.,  Caroline  E.,  Hiram 
L.  and  Elizabeth  B. 

Mr.  Newhall  died  at  his  residence,  in  the  south- 
eastern part  of  Lynnfield,  on  the  18th  of  December, 
1850,  aged  seventy-one,  and  was  buried  with  Masonic 
honors. 

General  Josiah  Newhall  was  born  in  Lynn- 
field on  the  6th  of  June,  1794,  and  was  a  lineal  de- 
scendant from  Thomas,  the  early  Lynn  settler,  his 
nearer  ancestor  probably  being  Josejih,  the  first  of 
the  family  who  pitched  his  tent  in  Lynnfield. 

The  long  and  active  life  of  General  Newhall  closed 
on  the  26th  of  December,  1879.  During  several 
years  of  his  earlier  manhood  he  followed  the  profes- 
sion of  teaching,  but,  as  time  advanced,  grew  weary 
of  that  exacting  employment,  and  retired  to  the  more 
congenial  one  of  agriculture.  He  however  retained 
his  love  for  study,  and  became  quite  proficient  in 
some  branches,  his  attainments  bearing  his  fame  even 
to  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  where,  in  1876,  he 
received  the  honor  of  being  elected  a  fellow  of  the 
Royal  Historical  Society  of  Great  Britain.  He  served 
in  the  War  of  1812,  and  was  afterwards  much  inter- 
ested in  military  affairs,  attaining  the  rank  of  briga- 
dier-general in  the  Massachusetts  militia.  When 
General  Lafayette  reviewed  the  troops  on  Boston 
Common,  during  his  visit  to  America  in  1824,  he  was 
present  in  command  of  a  regiment. 

Lynnfield  was  incorporated  as  a  separate  town  in 
1814,  and  General  Newhall  was  her  first  representa- 
tive in  the  General  Court.  He  served  also  in  1826-27 
and  again  in  1848.  During  the  administration  of 
President  Jackson  he  held  an  office  in  the  Boston 
Custom-House.  He  also,  at  different  times,  filled  im- 
portant local  offices.  But  his  most  congenial  and  sat- 
isfying resort  was  the  honorable  occupation  of  farmer 


LYNNFIELD. 


383 


and  horticulturist.  There,  the  results  of  his  experi- 
ments and  suggestions  were  often  of  much  value.  He 
was  kind-hearted,  genial  in  manners  and  ever  ready 
to  lend  a  helping  hand  to  the  deserving  who  needed 
assistance.  The  last  time  the  writer  had  the  pleasure 
of  meeting  him  was  on  the  occasion  of  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  Two  Hundred  and  Fiftieth  Anniversary 
of  the  Settlement  of  Lynn,  June  17,  1879.  He 
seemed  greatly  to  enjoy  the  proceedings,  and  as  the 
open  carriage  in  which  he  sat  moved  along  in  the 
procession,  on  that  pleasant  forenoon,  was  in  fine 
spirits  and  highly  interested  in  observing  the  many 
evidences  of  thrift  and  improvement. 

His  wife  was  Rachel  C,  a  daughter  of  Timothy  Ban- 
croft. They  were  married  October  28,  1824,  and  be- 
came the  parents  of  nine  children,  only  two  of  whom 
survived  him.  As  has  appeared,  even  from  the  little 
that  has  been  said  here,  the  early  fathers  and  mothers 
of  the  Newhall  family  of  Lynn  did  their  full  share 
to  increase  the  native  pojHilatiou.  Perhaps  no  family 
is  deserving  of  higher  praise  than  this  in  that  direc- 
tion. And  it  is  found  that  the  name  soon  began  to 
prevail  far  and  near  as  emigration  kept  pace  with  the 
rolling  tide  of  population,  till  at  this  day  representa- 
tives are  to  be  found  in  every  part  of  our  broad  land, 
some  in  commanding  positions  ;  but  the  great  multi- 
tude, as  in  all  other  families,  plodding  "  along  the 
cool,  sequestered  vale  of  life."  Henry  F.  Waters, 
Esq.,  of  Salem,  has  performed  praiseworthy  labor  in 
gathering  so  much  genealogical  information  in  his 
little  work  entitled  "The  Newhall  Family  of  Lynn, 
Massachusetts,"  collating  it  so  carefully  and  present- 
ing it  in  such  intelligible  form. 

Doctor  Johist  Perkins. — Among  the  residents  of 
Lynnfield  who  have  from  time  to  time  adorned  her 
history  may  be  named  Dr.  John  Perkins,  who  died  in 
1780,  at  the  age  of  eighty-five.  He  was  well  educated, 
having  studied  two  years  in  London,  and  practiced 
forty  years  in  Boston.  He  was  quite  a  scientist,  and 
proposed  some  theories  that  attracted  considerable 
attention  among  the  savants  of  the  day.  The  great- 
est earthquake  ever  known  in  New  England  occurred 
on  the  18th  of  November,  1755,  near  the  time  when 
Lisbon  was  destroyed.  The  same  year  Dr.  Perkins 
published  a  tract  on  earthquakes,  2)robably  induced 
by  the  terrible  commotions  of  that  time.  Other 
writings  of  his  received  much  commendation,  espe- 
cially an  essay  on  the  small-pox,  published  in  the 
London  Magazine.  Vaccination,  it  will  be  borne  in 
mind,  was  not  then  practiced.  It  is  said  he  left  a 
manuscript  of  three  hundred  and  sixty-eight  pages, 
containing  an  account  of  his  life  and  experience.  It 
would,  however,  probably  have  long  since  been  pub- 
lished had  it  contained  much  of  real  value,  as  it  was  in 
the  custody  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society. 
Among  other  things,  it  is  alleged  to  have  contained  a 
long  and  particular  relation  of  a  singular  encounter 
of  wit  between  Jonathan  Gowen,  of  Lynn,  and  Jo- 
seph Emerson,  of  Reading.     They  met  by  appoint- 


ment at  the  tavern,  in  Saugus,  and  so  great  was  the 
number  of  people  that  they  removed  to  an  adjacent 
field.  The  Reading  champion  was  foiled,  and  went 
home  in  great  chagrin.  Dr.  Perkins  says  that  the 
exercise  of  Goweu's  wit  "  was  beyond  all  human  im- 
agination." But  he  afterward  fell  into  such  stupidity 
that  the  expression  "  You  are  as  dull  as  Jonathan 
Gowen "  became  proverbial.  This  intellectual  en- 
counter seems  to  have  been  enjoyed  by  the  neighbors 
of  the  champions  almost  as  keenly  as  are  the  eleva- 
ting yacht  or  even  base-ball  contests  of  our  day. 

The  doctor  appears  to  have  been  an  interested  ob- 
server of  passing  events,  active  and  cheerful  as  well 
as  prompt  and  efficient  in  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion. 

This  Dr.  Perkins  has  been  mentioned  in  connection 
with  the  invention  of  the  "  Metallic  Tracters,"  which 
were  so  much  ridiculed  by  the  profession  at  the  time 
they  were  produced.  But  the  inventor  of  them  was 
quite  another  man,  a  Dr.  Elisha  Perkins,  of  Connecti- 
cut. He  was  a  learned  man,  and  one  of  much  ability 
and  boldness  in  experimenting  ;  and  proved  his  sin- 
cerity by  going  to  New  York  in  1799,  when  the  yel- 
low fever  was  prevalent  there,  to  test  the  virtue  of 
a  medicine  he  had  prepared  for  its  cure,  and  falling 
himself  a  victim  to  the  disease. 

Daniel  Towxsend,  of  Lynnfield,  who  was  killed 
in  the  battle  of  Lexington,  was  a  lineal  descendant 
of  Thomas  Townsend,  or  Townshend,  as  he  and  oth- 
ers of  the  family  sometimes  spelled  the  name,  who 
came  to  Lynn  as  early  as  1635,  and  in  the  records  is 
called  a  husbandman.  He  owned  a  lot  of  some  seven 
acres,  on  the  southerly  side  of  Boston  Street,  a  short 
distance  west  from  Franklin  ;  and  upon  this  lot  his 
dwelling  is  thought  to  have  stood,  though  Mr.  Lewis 
says  he  lived  near  the  iron  works,  in  the  present 
bounds  of  Saugus.  Perhaps  he  lived  in  both  neigh- 
borhoods, for  he  is  known  to  have  owned  lands  near 
the  southwesterly  border  of  Lynnfield,  and  in  other 
places.  He  died  December  22,  1677,  at  about  the  age 
of  seventy-seven  years.  His  son  John  was  a  wheel- 
wright, and  belonged  to  the  church  in  Reading, 
though  he  seems  always  to  have  been  called  of  Lynn. 
Perhaps  the  Reading  church  was  more  convenient  to 
his  home  than  thitt  of  Lynn.  He  died  December  14, 
1726,  leaving  a  son,  Daniel,  born  April  1,  1700.  And 
this  Daniel  was  father  of  the  Daniel  who  is  the  sub- 
ject of  this  notice,  and  was  one  of  the  first  to  lay 
down  his  life  in  the  great  struggle  for  American  inde- 
pendence. 

The  Townshends  were  an  ancient  and  celebrated 
family,  whose  seat  had,  from  time  immemorial,  been 
in  Norfolk,  England,  near  the  town  of  King's  Lynn, 
from  which  our  own  Lynn  received  its  name,  through 
Rev.  Mr.  Whiting,  who  at  one  time  was  chaplain  to  Sir 
Roger  Townshend.  And  for  many  generations  they 
maintained  their  lordly  position. 

On  the  24th  of  May,  1723,  Charles  Townshend  was 
by  writ,  says  Mackerell,  "  called  up  to  the  House  of 


384 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Peers  by  the  style  and  title  of  the  most  Noble  and 
Right  Honorable  Charles  Townshend,  Lord  Lynn,  of 
Lynn  Regis,  in  the  County  of  Norfolk." 

It  would  hardly  be  in  place  here  to  attempt  an  en- 
umeration of  the  many  statesmen  and  military  heroes 
who  have  made  the  name  of  Townsend  illustrious,  or 
at  least  conspicuous,  in  the  Old  World.  One  or  two, 
however,  whose  names  became  connected  with  Amer- 
ican affairs,  may  be  named.  There  was  Marquis 
George  Townsend,  eldest  son  of  the  third  viscount, 
who  commanded  a  division  under  Wolfe  in  the  Cana- 
da expedition,  and  after  the  death  of  Wolfe  took 
command,  and  received  the  capitulation.  He  subse- 
quently rose  to  the  highest  rank  in  the  British  army, 
was  an  active  member  of  Parliament,  and  a  Privy 
Councillor,  His  younger  brother,  Charles,  though  a 
statesman  of  acknowledged  ability,  was  evidently 
extremely  fond  of  popularity ;  insomuch  that  he 
seems  at  times  to  have  been  on  either  side  of  the 
American  cause  during  the  agitating  times  imme- 
diately preceding  our  Revolution.  It  was  he  who  in- 
troduced the  resolutions  that  did  much  to  precipitate 
the  war,  the  resolutions  imposing  a  duty  on  glass,  tea, 
paper  and  certain  other  articles.  Macaulay  says  of 
him :  "  He  was  a  man  of  splendid  talents,  of  lax 
principles  and  of  boundless  vanity  and  presump- 
tion." 

But  enough  of  the  foreign  pedigree.  Although  it  may 
be  well  to  mention  that  in  the  ancient  church  of  St. 
Margaret,  in  King's  Lynn,  the  stately  edifice  in  which 
devout  worshippers  have  been  accustomed  to  assem- 
ble for  almost  eight  hundred  years,  and  from  which  was 
taken  the  time-worn  stone  now  in  the  vestibule  of  St. 
Stephen's  in  our  own  Lynn,  there  is  a  black  marble 
in  the  north  alley,  bearing  this  inscription  :  "  Here 
lieth  the  Body  of  Mr.  James  Townshend,  who  was 
Organist  of  this  Church  36  Years,  and  died  the  8th 
of  Jan.  1724.  Aged  54  Years.  Also  Elizabeth,  his 
Mother,  who  died  the  21st  of  April,  1733.  Aged  84 
Years." 

The  American  branch  of  the  Townsend  family  can 
boast  of  a  full  share  of  such  as  became  conspicuous 
in  various  departments — of  poets,  scientists,  legisla- 
tors, and  especially  those  who  shone  in  the  military 
calling.  And  in  the  circumscribed-  sphere  of  village 
life  were  many  whose  virtues  might  have  adorned  any 
position.  Of  this  latter  class  seems  to  have  been 
Daniel  Townsend,  whose  memory  has  occasioned  this 
notice,  and  who  met  a  patriot's  death  at  Lexington 
on  that  pregnant  April  day  in  1775.  His  life  was  not 
an  ambitious  or  adventurous  one,  and  not  much  can 
be  gathered  of  his  history.  He  was  born  December 
26,  1738,  and  consequently,  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
was  in  the  prime  of  life.  He  left  a  wife  and  five 
young  children  ;  was  sober  and  industrious,  pious  and 
a  consistent  member  of  the  Lynnfield  church.  He 
was  prompt  at  the  call  of  duty  on  that  memorable 
morning,  and  with  the  company  of  minute-men 
reached  the  scene  of  action  soon  after  daylight.     Mr. 


Lewis  says  Townsend  was  with  Timothy  Munroe,  an- 
other Lynn  man,  standing  behind  a  house  "  firing  at 
the  British  troops,  as  they  were  coming  down  the 
road,  in  their  retreat  toward  Boston.  Townsend  had 
just  fired,  and  exclaimed,  '  There  is  another  redcoat 
down,'  when  Munroe,  looking  round,  saw,  to  his  as- 
tonishment, that  they  were  completely  hemmed  in  by 
the  flank-guard  of  the  British  army,  who  were  com- 
ing down  through  the  fields  behind  them.  They  im- 
mediately ran  into  the  house,  and  sought  for  the  cel- 
lar; but  no  cellar  was  there.  They  looked  for  a 
closet,  but  there  was  none.  All  this  time,  which  was 
indeed  but  a  moment,  the  balls  were  pouring  through 
the  back  windows,  making  havoc  of  the  glass.  Town- 
send  leaped  through  the  end  window,  carrying  the 
sash  and  all  with  him,  and  instantly  fell  dead.  Mun- 
roe followed,  and  ran  for  his  life.  He  passed  for  a 
long  distance  between  both  parties,  many  of  whom 
discharged  their  guns  at  him.  As  he  passed  the  last 
soldier,  who  stopped  to  fire,  he  heard  the  redcoat  ex- 
claim, '  Damn  the  Yankee  !  he  is  bullet-proof — let 
him  go! '  Mr.  Munroe  had  one  ball  through  his  leg, 
and  thirty-two  bullet-holes  through  his  clothes  and 
hat.  Even  the  metal  buttons  of  his  waistcoat  were 
shot  otf."  Townsend  was  found  to  have  had  seven 
bullets  through  his  body.  His  remains  were  taken  to 
Lynnfield,  and  "lay  the  next  night,"  says  Captain  C. 
H.  Townsend,  "  in  the  Bancroft  house,  where  the 
blood-stains  remain  on  the  old  oaken  floor  to  this 
day"  [1875].  The  Essex  Gazette,  of  May  2d,  in  a 
brief  obituary,  speaks  of  him  as  having  been  a  con- 
stant and  ready  friend  to  the  poor  and  afflicted ;  a 
good  adviser  in  cases  of  difficulty  ;  a  mild,  sincere 
and  able  reprover.  In  short,  it  adds,  "  he  was  a  friend 
to  his  country,  a  blessing  to  society,  and  an  ornament 
to  the  church  of  which  he  was  a  member."  And 
then  are  added,  as  original,  the  lines  given  below. 
The  notice  and  lines  were  written  by  some  sympa- 
thizing friend,  the  latter  being  transferred  to  the 
stone  when  erected,  some  time  after,  at  his  grave  : 

"  Lie,  valiant  Townseud,  in  the  peaceful  shades;  we  trust, 
Immortal  honors  mingle  with  thy  dust. 
What  though  thy  body  struggled  in  its  gore  ? 
So  did  thy  Saviour's  body,  long  before  ; 
And  as  he  raised  his  own,  by  power  divine, 
So  the  same  power  shall  also  quicken  thine, 
And  in  eternal  glory  mayst  thou  shine." 

To  show  with  what  alacrity  the  rural  population 
responded  to  their  country's  call,  it  may  be  remarked 
that  thirty-one  towns  were  represented  on  that  dawn- 
ing day  of  the  Revolution.  The  loss  upon  the  side  of 
the  British  was  much  greater  than  on  the  side  of  the 
Americans, — a  fact  that  may  be  accounted  for  in  va- 
rious ways,  without  supposing  cowardice  or  remiss- 
ness on  either  side.  On  the  part  of  the  British,  sev- 
enty-three were  killed,  one  hundred  and  seventy-two 
wounded  and  twenty-six  missing.  On  the  part  of 
the  Americans,  forty-nine  were  killed,  thirty-six 
wounded  and  five  missing, 

John   P.   Townsend,   of  New   York,  and   Captain 


LYNNFIELD. 


385 


Charles  H.  Townsend,  of  New  Haven,  have  published 
much  valuable  matter  pertaining  to  the  family  histo- 
ry, collected  both  here  and  in  England,  for  which 
labor  of  love  they  deserve  many  thanks.  Whether 
the  family  here  have  kept  up  a  correspondence  with 
their  English  cousins  is  not  known.  Perha})s  in  some 
future  generation,  one  of  those  agitating  dreams  ot 
an  immense  fortune  waiting  in  England  for  American 
heirs  may  be  entertained  by  some  ambitious  one  of  the 
line  ;  if  so,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  it  may  not,  like  so 
many  similar  dreams,  prove  but  alluring  romance. 

THOAfAS  Woodward. — Mr.  Woodward  was  well 
known  by  the  shoemaking  fraternity  of  fifty  years 
ago  throughout  this  region  by  his  famous  awls.  He 
was  born  in  Lynntield  in  1773,  and  died  in  1860,  at 
the  great  age  of  eighty-seven  years.  His  manufac- 
tory was  in  that  ])art  of  Reading  now  known  a.< 
Wakefield.  He  was  a  remarkably  ingenious  mechanic, 
and  has  been  credited  with  a  number  of  useful  inven- 
tions. The  Emerson  razor-strop,  which  was  so  popu- 
lar fifty  years  ago,  when  men  generally  kept  their 
faces  closely  shaved,  is  said  to  have  been  a  device  o! 
his.  But  his  ingenuity  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
directed  to  any  achievement  of  much  magnitude,  as 
was  that  of  his  neighbor,  Dixon.  His  awls,  how- 
ever, though  not  strictly  an  invention,  gave  him  a 
name  and  a  substantial  income,  and  probably,  in  a 
negative  way,  had  a  saving  effect  on  the  morals  of 
many  an  operative  who,  irritated  by  the  brittleness 
or  rough  movement  of  other  awls,  might  be  led  to 
call  in  the  aid  of  lubricating  profanity.  Mr.  Eaton, 
in  his  "  History  of  Reading,"  says  of  Mr.  Wood- 
ward :  "  He  was  an  honest,  industrious  and  kind- 
hearted  man,  but  possessed  some  peculiarities  ol 
character.  He  had  an  inquiring  and  rather  credu- 
lous mind ;  any  new  idea,  either  in  physic,  physics 
or  ethics,  he  was  ever  ready  to  adopt,  and  if  he 
thought  it  valuable,  he  was  disposed  to  pursue  it  with 
great  sincerity  and  pertinacity  of  purpose;  hence  we 
find  him  ever  trying  some  new  experiment  in  numu- 
facturing,  using  some  newly-invented  pills  or  cordial, 
making  a  'tincture  '  that  becomes,  and  still  continues, 
a  popular  medicine  ;  becoming  an  anti-Mason  and 
abolitionist  of  the  most  apjiroved  patterns,  and  an 
honest  and  sincere  believer  in  Millerism.  He  was, 
however,  a  very  useful  citizen.  He  lived  to  be  aged, 
and  his  body  outlived  his  mind." 

MISCELLANEOUS  MATTERS. 

Newburyport  Turnpike. — The  turnpike  from 
Newburyport  to  Boston  was  finished  in  1806  at  a  cost 
of  four  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars.  But 
it  did  not  prove  a  successful  enterprise  pecuniarily. 
A  few  stages  ran  over  it,  but  not  much  of  the  travel 
was  diverted  from  the  large  seaboard  settlements.  It 
ran  through  the  southerly  section  of  Lynnfield,  and 
was  expected  to  bring  great  prosperity  to  the  place. 
Disappointment  followed.  The  capacious  and  well- 
appointed  hotel  was  built,  and  for  many  years,  in- 
25 


deed  excepting  a  few  intervals  of  private  occupancy, 
till  the  present  time,  has  furnished  a  pleasant  resort 
for  summer  visitors  as  well  as  winter  parties.  The 
surroundings  are  picturesque,  one  of  the  most  charm- 
ing features  being  the  beautiful  pond  near  the  border 
of  which  it  stands.  The  drives  in  all  directions  are 
attractive,  and  the  quiet  all  that  the  most  retiring 
can  desire.  Lynnfield  Hotel  (South  Village)  is  four 
miles  and  two  hundred  and  eighty  rods  from  Central 
Square,  Lynn. 

Fires  in  the  Woods. — During  her  whole  history 
Lynnfield  has  periodically  been  subjected  to  exten- 
sive fires  in  her  woods.  Down  to  the  present  day 
such  fires  occur,  frequently  in  the  most  jnysterious 
way.  And  it  has  been  suggested,  perhaps  with  some 
reason,  that  under  peculiar  circumstances  the  pitch 
exuding  from  a  pine  may  accumulate  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  to  act  as  a  lens,  and  in  an  excessively  hot  sun 
so  concentrate  the  rays  as  to  produce  fire.  From  the 
earliest  times  the  attention  of  the  authorities  has 
been  directed  to  this  matter.  But  though  legislation 
has  done  something,  it  has  never  succeeded  in  sup- 
pressing the  dreaded  evil,  and  never  will  while  fric- 
tion matches  continue  to  be  used,  and  careless  boys, 
heedless  smokers  and  thoughtless  gunners  range  the 
woods.  In  November,  1646,  the  General  Court  passed 
this  order  concerning  "  kindlinge  fires  in  wuds"': 
"  Whosoev''  shall  kindle  any  fires  in  y*'  woods,  before 
y^  lO"'  day  of  y^  first  mo."  [March]  "  or  after  y"^  last 
day  of  y^  2"'  mo.,  or  on  y*^  last  day  of  the  weeke,  or 
Lords  day,  shall  pay  all  damages  y'  any  pson 
shall  loose  thereby,  &  halfe  so  much  to  y"^  comon 
treasury."  And  the  same  year  the  court  generously 
allowed  the  use  of  "tobacko,"  under  certain  restric- 
tions, saying,  "  It  shalbe  lawfull  tor  any  man  y'  is  on 
his  journey  (remote  from  any  house  five  miles)  to  take 
tobacco,  so  that  thereby  hee  sets  not  y''  woods  on  fire 
to  y''  damage  of  any  man." 

Duringthe  severe  drought  which  prevailed  in  1864 
very  destructive  forest  fires  raged.  And  also  during 
the  severer  drought  of  the  next  year,  1865,  which, 
continued  from  July  5th  to  October  15th.  And  al- 
most every  season  many  acres  are  burned  over,  de- 
stroying not  only  standing  wood,  but  that  cut  and 
corded.  The  Massachusetts  Legislature,  in  1885-86, 
passed  "  An  Act  for  the  better  protection  of  Forests 
from  Fires,"  and  it  is  hoped  that  the  provisions  will 
be  energetically  enforced  ;  if  they  are,  some  good  may 
result. 

Old  Currency. — About  the  close  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, the  currency,  what  there  was  of  it,  was  in  a  sad 
state  of  confusion.  The  Continental  money,  so  called, 
the  paper  issued  by  Congress,  had  depreciated  to  such 
a  degree  that  a  thousand  dollars  of  it  were  sold  for 
less  than  twenty  dollars  in  silver.  Mr.  Lewis  gives 
the  following  description  of  different  denominations 
of  these  fiscal  pledges,  many  of  which  are  still  pre- 
served among  antiquarian  collections.  Doubtless 
many  specimens  are  to  be  found  among  the  old  Lynn- 


386 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


field  families.  The  pieces  of  paper  were  about  two 
inches  square  :  "  The  one-dollar  bills  had  an  altar  with 
the  words  depressa  resurgit,  the  oppressed  rises.  The 
two-dollar  bills  bore  a  hand,  making  a  circle  with 
compasses,  with  the  raotio,  tribulatio  ditnl,  trouble  en- 
riches. The  device  of  the  three-dollar  bills  was  an 
eagle  pouncing  upon  a  crane,  who  was  biting  the 
eagle's  neck,  with  the  motto,  exitus  in  dubio,  the  event 
is  doubtful.  On  the  five-dollar  bills  was  a  hand  grasp- 
ing a  thorn  bush,  with  the  inscription  smtine  vel  ab- 
stine,  hold  fast  or  touch  not.  The  six-dollar  bills  rep- 
resented a  beaver  felling  a  tree,  with  the  word  perse- 
verando,  by  perseverance  we  prosper.  Another  emis- 
sion bore  an  anchor,  with  the  words,  In  te  Domine 
speramus,  In  thee.  Lord,  have  I  trusted.  The  eight- 
dollar  bills  displayed  a  harp,  with  the  motto  majora 
minoribus  consonant,  the  great  harmonize  with  the 
little.  The  thirty-dollar  bills  exhibited  a  wreath  on 
an  altar,  with  the  legend,  si  rede,  fades,  if  you  do 
right  you  will  succeed."'  In  a  few  years,  however,  the 
government  succeeded  in  so  regulating  matters  that 
confidence  began  to  be  felt.  And  soon  after  Albert 
Gallatin,  who  was  perhaps  the  most  able  financier  of 
the  age,  was  called  to  the  Treasury  Department,  things 
began  to  wear  an  encouraging  aspect.  But  still  there 
remained  for  many  years  a  great  diversity  in  the  mode 
of  reckoning,  if  not  in  real  values,  in  different  sections 
of  the  country  ;  and  the  coins  in  circulation  were  va- 
riously denominated.  But  little  was  as  yet  coined 
here,  and  the  chief  silver  in  circulation,  down  to  a 
time  quite  within  the  recollection  of  multitudes  now 
living,  was  Spanish.  Who  does  not  remember  the 
four-pence-halfpennies  (6]  cents),  the  nine-pences 
(12J  cents),  the  pistareens  (at  first  20  cents,  and  then 
suddenly  reduced  to  17  cents)  ? 

Gold  and  Paper  Currency. — In  thisconnection, 
perhaps  as  appropriately  as  in  any  other,  a  word  may 
be  said  regarding  the  value  changes  in  the  currency 
consequent  on  our  late  Civil  War.  On  the  17th  of 
December,  1878,  for  the  first  time  in  sixteen  years, 
gold  stood  at  par, — that  is,  $100  in  gold  were  worth  just 
$100  in  greenback  government  notes.  The  extreme  of 
variation  was  on  July  11,  1864,  when  $100  in  gold 
were  worth  $285  in  bank  bills.  From  this  last  date 
the  diff'erence  in  values  began  slowly  to  fade  away. 
In  the  gold  room  of  the  New  York  Stock  Exchange 
there  was  much  enthusiasm  manifested  on  the  day 
when  par  was  reached,  and  great  cheering. 

Siamese  Twins. — During  the  warm  season  of  1831 
the  famous  Siamese  twins,  Chang  and  Eng,  so  mys- 
teriously united  in  person,  were  for  a  short  time  rus- 
ticating in  Lynnfield.  It  was  about  the  time  that  they 
were  first  exhibited  in  this  vicinity.  They  were  one 
day  out  on  a  gunning  excursion,  and  becoming  so 
irritated  by  being  followed  and  stared  at  by  men  and 
boys,  they  committed  a  breach  of  the  peace,  were 
taken  before  a  magistrate  and  put  under  bonds.  It 
came  near  becoming  a  serious  question  how  one  could 
be  punished  by  imprisonment,  should  it  come  to  that, 


if  the  other  were  innocent.  The  difficulty  vanished, 
however,  when  it  appeared  that  both  were  guilty. 
They  died  in  North  Carolina  in  the  winter  of  1873, 
within  two  hours  of  each  other,  aged  sixty-three 
years. 

Prize-Fighters. — Edward  O'Baldwin,  known  as 
the  Irish  Giant,  and  Joseph  Warmuld,  an  English- 
man, noted  prize-fighters,  were  arrested  by  the  police 
just  as  they  had  commenced  a  battle  in  Lynnfield, 
on  the  morning  of  October  29,  1868.  A  crowd  of 
those  who  delight  in  such  demoralizing  contests 
had  assembled  from  Boston  and  neighboring  places, 
but  they  very  suddenly  dispersed  in  dismay  when 
the  police  appeared.  O'Baldwin  and  Warmuld  were 
arraigned  before  the  Lynn  Police  Court  and  bound 
over  for  the  action  of  the  grand  jury.  The  former  was 
finally  sentenced  to  the  House  of  Correction  for  two 
years,  but  the  latter  escaped,  forfeiting  his  bail. 

Golden  Spike. — May  10,  1869,  was  the  day  on 
which  the  last  spike  was  driven  in  completion  of  the 
first  continuous  railroad  line  connecting  the  Atlantic 
and  Pacific.  It  was  an  eventful  occasion,  far  away 
there  in  the  Rocky  Mountain  shadows,  and  drew  to- 
gether many  prominent  persons  from  different  parts  of 
the  country.  The  spike  was  of  solid  gold,  and  what 
renders  the  occurrence  of  special  interest  to  the  people 
of  Lynnfield  is  the  fact  that  it  was  driven  by  David 
Hewes,  a  native  of  the  town,  and  a  contractor  on  the 
road.  It  was,  however,  soon  withdrawn  and  deposited 
in  a  museum  in  San  Francisco,  under  the  well- 
grounded  apprehension  that  if  allowed  to  remain,  some 
straying  traveler,  curious  or  covetous,  would  appropri- 
ate it. 

Epizootic. — A  strange  disease  called  epizootic  pre- 
vailed among  horses  during  the  latter  part  of  the 
autumn  of  1872 ;  so  many  were  disabled  that  such 
wheel-vehicles  as  were  drawn  by  horses  almost  ceased 
to  run.  In  Boston  the  United  States  mail  was  carried 
to  and  from  the  post-office  in  ox-teams.  Various  ex- 
pedients were  resorted  to.  Goats  and  dogs,  in  many 
instances,  were  harnessed  for  labor ;  and  sometimes 
men  and  boys  undertook  the  duties  of  the  disabled 
animals.  The  disease  was  not  usually  fatal,  but  such 
as  survived  were  left  in  a  weakened  condition. 

Surplus  Revenue. — In  1837  the  surplus  United 
States  revenue  was  distributed.  The  amount  received 
by  Lynnfield  was  $1328.29,  and  it  was  appropriated  to 
the  payment  of  the  town  debt.  Other  towns,  by  vote, 
devoted  their  shares  to  diff"erent  purposes,  some  even 
distributing  it  per  capita.  Saugus  received  $3500, 
and  appropriated  it  to  the  building  of  a  town-hall. 
Lynn  received  $14,879.00,  and  applied  it  to  the  pay- 
ment of  the  town  debt.  Judging  from  present  ap- 
pearances, it  will  be  a  long  time  before  the  munici- 
palities will  receive  another  such  dividend. 

Forest  Hill  Cemetery. — This  endeared  resting- 
place  for  the  dead  was  consecrated  on  the  14th  of  Oc- 
tober, 1856.  Addresses  were  delivered  by  Rev.  Edwin 
R.    Hodgman,    of    the   Trinitarian    Congregational 


LYNNFIELD. 


387 


Church,  Centre  Vilhige,  and  Rev.  Ariel  P.  Chute,  of 
the  South  ViUage  Church. 

Farm  Products — Manufactures — Statistics. 
— Lynnfield  is  essentially  a  fanning  town,  and  cer- 
tainly an  industrious  one,  as  the  following  items  from 
the  latest  returns  show. 

FARM    PRODUCTS. 

Number  of  farms 55 

Tons  of  liay  raised 9V0 

Gallons  of  milk 141,329 

Pounds  of  butter 5,228 

Dozens  of  eggs 18,486 

Bnsliels  of  potatoes  (oil  35  acres) 3,622 

Bushels  of  Indian  corn  (on  48  acres) 1,899 

Total  value  of  products {54,415 

MAXUFACTURES. 

Average  number  of  emploj'ees  (males,  41  ;  females,  33)  74 

AVages  paid  during  the  year 825,900 

Capital  invested 12,300 

Stock  used 70,350 

Value  of  products 120,500 

Boots  and  Shoes. — Included  in  the  above  is  that  of 
boots  and  shoes,  the  productive  value  of  which  is 
much  larger  than  that  of  all  the  other  manufactures 
combined,  and  foots  up  as  follows  : 

Average  number  of  employees  (males,  35  ;  females  33).  68 

Total  wages  paid  during  the  year 823,800 

Capital  invested 6,300 

Value  of  stock 67,000 

Value  of  products 112,500 

Population. — The  population  at  diiferent  periods 
is  shown  by  the  following  short  table  : 


Years 

.    .  1820. 

1850. 

1870. 

1885. 

Population .  .   . 

.    .      596 

1723 

818 

766 

In  1885  the  number  of  families  was  185  ;  number 
of  ratable  polls,  245;  number  of  voters,  180;  number 
of  dwelling-houses,  167. 

Schools. — There  are  three  public  schools,  known 
as  Centre  School,  South  Grammar  School  and  South 
Primary.  Expenditures  for  schools  during  the  year 
ending  March  1,  1887,  $1235.20.  Whole  number  of 
scholars,  May  1 ,  1886,  between  the  ages  of  five  and 
fifteen,  115. 

Town  Expenses. — The  town  expenses  for  year 
ending  March  1,  1887,  amounted  to  $7949.42,  divided 
as  follows:  Highways,  $1423.70  ;  schools,  $1603.82; 
town  officers,  $432.90 ;  miscellaneous,  $245.05;  State 
and  county  tax,  $1036.15  ;  printing,  $70.10  ;  State  aid, 
$216;  abatements,  $42.32 ;  interest  and  debt,  $1710; 
poor,  $1044.56 ;  discount  on  taxes,  $123.82. 

Valuation  and  Taxation. — The  total  valuation 
for  1886  was  $545,964;  real  estate,  $474,097;  person- 
al, $718,67;  rate  of  taxation,  $9  on  $1000. 

Births,  Marriacies  and  Deaths,  1886. — Births, 
11 — 4  males,  7  females.  Marriages,  17.  Deaths,  15 — 
5  males,  10  females ;  four  were  over  80  years  old ; 
Rev.  Jacob  Hood  was  94  and  Sophia  N.  Hood  90, 
lacking  a  month. 


1826-27.  Josiah  Newhall. 
1828.  Asa  T.  Newhall. 
1829-32.  John  Upton,  Jr. 

1832.  Bowman  Viles. 

1833.  John  Upton,  Jr. 
1834-35.  Joshua  Hewes. 

1836.  John  Perkins,  Jr. 

1837.  William  Perkins. 
1838-41.  David  N.  Swasey. 
1841.  James  Jackson. 
1843.  Joshua  Hewes. 


Representatives. 

1844.  Enoch  Russell. 
1848.  Josiah  Newhall. 
1850-51.  William  Skinner,  Jr. 
1852-53.  John  Danforth,  Jr. 
1856-57.  David  A.  Titcomb. 
1860.  John  Dantorth. 
1865.  George  L.  Hawkes. 
1869.  James  Hewes. 
1874.  Wm.  R.  Roundy. 
1881.  Andrew  Mansfield. 


Town 

Clerics. 

1814. 

John  Upton,  Jr. 

1841. 

Andrew  Mansfield, 

Jr 

1818. 

Andrew  Mansfield. 

1842. 

Joshua  Hewes. 

1823. 

Bowman  Viles. 

1843. 

Andrew  Mansfield, 

Jr 

1832. 

John  Upton,  Jr. 

1844. 

John  Perkins,  Jr. 

1833. 

Bowman  Viles. 

18.')7. 

John  Danforth,  Jr 

1834. 

Andrew  Mansfield,  Jr. 

1878. 

Francis  P.  Russell. 

1837. 

Joshua  Hewes. 

Posfmaislers. 

[South  Village.] 

Office  established  May  25,  1836. 


1836. 
1839. 
1852. 


1848 
1851. 
1850. 


1855.  Henry  \V.  Swasey. 
1869.  James  Jackson. 


Theron  Palmer. 
Charles  Spinney. 
James  W.  Church. 

[Centre  Village.]   - 
Office  established  August  1,  1848. 
George  F.  Whittredge.  1868.  Levi  H.  Russell 

Samuel  N.  Newcomb. 
Jonathan  Bryant. 


1874.  Francis  P.  Russell. 


recapitulation  and  historical  summary. 

1635.  May  6th,  the  General  Court  grants  to  John 
Humfrey  five  hundred  acres  of  land,  including  what 
is  now  called  Lynnfield  Pond,  or  Humfrey's  Pond,  or 
Suntaug  Lake. 

1639.  March  13th,  "  Linn  was  granted  six  miles 
into  the  country,"  by  the  court.  This  was  the  terri- 
tory now  forming  Lynnfield  and  parts  of  adjacent 
towns,  and  was  long  called  Lynn  End. 

1658.  September  22d,  Joseph  Newhall,  the  first 
settler  in  Lynnfield  of  the  name  of  Newhall,  is  born 
in  Lynn.  He  was  the  father  of  eleven  children,  all 
of  whom  survived  him  ;  was  known  as  Ensign  New- 
hall ;  was  a  Representative  in  the  General  Court ;  and 
in  January,  1706,  perished  in  a  great  snow-storm,  on 
his  way  from  Boston. 

1696.  The  winter  of  this  year  was  the  coldest  for 
more  than  fifty  years,  and  occasioned  much  sufiering. 

1706.     Division  of  public  lands  among  the  settlers. 

1712.  November  17th,  Lynnfield  set  oft' from  Lynn 
as  a  separate  parish. 

1715.     First  meeting-house  in  Lynnfield  built. 

1719.  December  17th,  Northern  lights  observed 
for  the  first  time.  People  greatly  alarmed,  some  de- 
claring that  they  could  hear  a  rustling. 

1720.  August  17th,  First  Church  of  Lynnfield 
(the  second  of  Lynn)  formed,  and  Rev.  Nathaniel 
Sparhawk  installed. 

1730.  August  31st,  Andrew  Mansfield  killed  in  a 
well,  by  a  stone  falling  on  his  head. 

1731.  November  24th,  Rev.  Stephen  Chase,  second 
minister  of  Lynnfield  Parish,  settled. 

1732.  May  7th,  Rev.  Nathaniel  Sparhawk,  first 
minister,  died,  aged  thirty-eight. 


388 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


1733.  The  following  entry  appears  on  the  Lynn- 
field  Church  records :  "  December  20,  1733,  att  a 
chh  meeting,  Voted  that  every  communicant  of 
this  church  shall  pay  three  pence  every  sacrament 
day,  in  order  to  make  provision  for  the  Lord's  table." 
1749.  Hot  summer.  Great  drought.  Multitudes 
of  grasshoppers. 

1755.  November  5th,  Rev.  Benjamin  Adams,  third 
minister  of  Lynnfield  Parish,  settled.  The  most  se- 
vere earthquake  ever  felt  in  New  England  occurred 
November  18th. 

1759.  Died  in  Lyunfield,  June  4th,  Margaret,  wife 
of  John  Briant,  of  "  something  supposed  to  breed  in 
her  brain,"  as  the  church  record  says. 

1764.  On  the  public  records  of  Lynn  appears  the 
following.  It  no  doubt  refers  to  a  marriage  that  took 
place  in  Lynnfield  Parish,  as  the  Rev.  Mr.  Adams 
was  minister  there  at  the  time,  and  Gowing  was  an  early 
Lynnfield  name:  "Married,  Daniel  Gowing  to  Mary 
Bowers,  Dec.  25,  1764,  by  Rev.  Mr.  Adams."  And  it 
is  added  that  the  bride  was  clothed  only  in  a  sheet 
and  undergarment,  and  those  "she  borrowed."  Pro- 
bably the  bride  appeared  in  that  remarkable  outfit  un- 
der the  apprehension  that  if  she  brought  nothing  to  her 
husband  he  could  not  be  held  for  any  debt  of  hers.  But 
why  might  she  not  have  borrowed  a  gown  as  well  as 
the  other  articles?  Or  could  it  have  been  a  Christ- 
mas frolic?  Perhaps  she  was  a  widow  and  that  her 
former  husband  died  in  debt,  for  it  appears  that  by  an 
old  "  legal  custom  "  the  new  husband  could  in  such 
case  be  held  responsible  for  the  liabilities  of  his 
marital  predecessor.  At  all  events,  such  was  the  rea- 
son given  regarding  a  marriage  that  took  place  in 
Salem,  April  21,  1818,  where  the  record  says  the  bride 
was  even  less  clothed  "  while  the  ceremony  was  per- 
formed." 

1766.  June  22d.  Ensign  Ebenezer  Newhall,  aged 
seventy- three,  died  "  of  something  supposed  to  breed 
within  him." 

1772.  Extraordinary  amount  of  snow  in  March. 
Storms  on  the  5th,  9th,  11th,  13th,  16th  and  2Uth.  In 
sixteen  days  there  fell  about  five  feet  on  a  level.  On 
the  second  Friday  in  April  so  violent  a  storm  occur- 
red that  drifts  twelve  feet  deep  accumulated. 

1775.  April  19th.  Battle  of  Lexington ;  Daniel 
Townsend,  of  Lynnfield,  killed. 

1780.  May  19th.  The  memorable  dark  day,  which 
extended  all  over  New  England,  creating  great 
alarm.  The  darkness  was  so  great  that  at  noon 
houses  were  lighted  as  at  night.  And  the  succeeding 
night  was  of  indescribable  darkness,  many  declaring 
that  it  could  be  felt.  The  occurrence  has  never  been 
satisfactorily  accounted  for.  The  great  astronomer, 
Herschel,  said  of  it :  "  The  dark  day  in  Northern 
America  was  one  of  those  wonderful  phenomena  of 
nature  which  will  always  be  read  of  with  interest, 
but  which  philosophy  is  at  a  loss  to  explain."  Dr. 
John  Perkins,  of  Lynnfield,  a  learned  physician  and 
author  died,  aged  eighty-five. 


1782.  Lynnfield  Parish  made  a  district,  September 
24th.  Rev.  Joseph  Mottey,  fourth  minister  of  Lynn- 
field, settled. 

1786.  Certain  memoranda  by  Mr.  Sparhawk,  of 
Lynnfield,  in  an  interleaved  almanac  of  this  year,  are 
of  interest  in  various  ways.  The  mode  of  reckoning 
the  currency  is  illustrated  in  this  :  "January  y"  30th. 
Bought  two  piggs  by  y*  hand  of  Mr.  Reed,  the  barrow 
weighing  62  pounds,  at  five  pence  per  pound  .  .  . 
the  other  weighing  54  pounds  att  five  pence  per 
pound;"  the  whole  amounting  to  "two  pound,  eight 
shillings  and  two  pence — which  is  eight  dollars  and 
two  pence."  The  following  relates  to  the  installation 
of  Rev.  Obadiah  Parsons  over  the  First  Parish  of 
Lynn  :  "  Feb.  y*  4th  ;  Then  was  Installed  att  y''  Old 
Parish,  in  Lynn,  Mr.  Obadiah  Parsons.  Y*  Revnd 
mr  Cleaveland  of  Ipswich  began  with  prayer,  y^ 
Revnd  mr.  Forbes  of  Capan  preached  the  sermon,  y'^ 
Revnd  rar.  Roby,  of  Lynn  3d  parish,  gave  the  charge, 
y^  Revnd  mr.  Payson,  of  Chelsea,  made  the  conclud- 
ing prayer,  and  the  Revnd  mr.  Smith,  of  Middleton, 
gave  the  right  hand"  of  fellowship.  The  gentleman 
above  mentioned  was  settled  in  peace,  harmony,  and 
concord."  Still  another  memorandum  says:  "From 
y*  14th  of  June  until  the  13th  of  July,  a  very  dry 
time.  And  upon  y®  14th  of  July,  early  in  the  morn- 
ing, Jove  thundered  to  the  left  and  all  Olympus 
trembled  att  his  nod.  The  sun  about  an  hour  high  ; 
a  beautiful  refreshing  shower.  Again,  July  y*^  15th, 
the  latter  part  of  y"  night,  Jove  thundered  to  the 
left,  three  times,  and  Olympus  trembled.  A  shower 
followed."  It  will  be  observed  that  these  memoranda 
were  not  made  by  Rev.  Nathaniel  Sparhawk,  the  first 
minister  of  Lynnfield,  as  one  or  two  historical  writers 
have  stated,  as  he  died  more  than  fifty  years  before. 

1788.  John  Burnham  chosen  a  delegate  to  the  con- 
vention for  ratifying  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States. 

1794.  Early  part  of  the  winter  unusually  mild. 
Thermometer  on  Christmas  day  reached  eighty  de- 
grees in  the  open  air.  Water  in  the  ponds  sufficiently 
warm  for  boys  to  bathe. 

1800.  June  nth,  Samuel  Dyer,  a  gentleman  from 
Boston,  drowned  in  Humfrey's  Pond. 

1803.  May.  Snow-storm  ;  fruit  trees  being  in  blos- 
som. 

1804.  July.     Snow  fell  this  month. 

1806.  Newburyport  and  Boston  Turnpike  completed 
at  a  cost  of  four  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars. 

1814.  Lynnfield  incorporated  as  a  separate  town. 

1815.  September  23d,  terrific  southeasterly  gale; 
ocean  spray  driven  as  far  inland  as  Lynnfield. 

1820.  Asa  T.  Newhall  elected  a  member  of  the 
Convention  for  revising  the  State  Constitution. 

1824.  January  21st,  Rev.  Joseph  Searl,  fifth  minis- 
ter of  Lynnfield,  settled.  He  was  the  last  preacher 
of  the  old  Puritanical  faith  settled  over  the  first  so- 
ciety, his  successor.  Rev.  Luther  \¥alcot,  being  a 
Universalist. 


LYNNFIELD. 


389 


1833.  November  13th,  extraordinary  shower  of 
meteors.  It  occurred  early  in  the  morning,  and  con- 
tinued several  hours.  As  computed  by  Arago,  not 
less  than  two  hundred  and  forty  thousand,  some  of 
great  brilliancy,  were  at  one  time  visible  above  the 
horizon  of  Boston.  They  radiated  from  a  point  near 
the  zenith,  and  shot  forth  with  great  velocity,  bend- 
ing their  course  towards  the  horizon  ;  were  of  various 
sizes,  with  well-defined  trains.  Their  bodies  were 
not  very  dense,  and  though  some  explosions  were 
heard,  most  of  them  rushed  noiselessly  onward.  The 
"shower,"  if  so  it  should  be  called,  extended  all  over 
the  United  States ;  indeed,  over  the  whole  of  North 
America,  if  not  over  the  whole  world,  invisible  in 
some  places  on  account  of  sunlight  or  clouds.  No 
entirely  satisfactory  explanation  has  yet  been  given. 
It  has,  however,  been  ascertained  that  similar  occur- 
rences take  place  periodically,  though  there  is  no 
record  of  any  that  approached  this  in  brilliancy. 

1837.  Surplus  United  States  revenue  distributed. 
Lynnfield  received  $1328.29,  and  applied  it  to  pay- 
ment of  town  debt. 

1840.  January  4th,  the  house  of  Widow  Betsey 
Newhall,  in  the  South  Village,  burned. 

1842.  September  23d,  the  house  of  Warren  New- 
hall,  in  the  Centre  Village,  burned. 

1843.  Splendid  comet;  first  seen  about  noonday, 
February  1st. 

1850.  A  son  of  Joseph  Ramsdell,  aged  ten,  killed 
a  rattlesnake  in  July,  measuring  five  feet  in  length 
and  having  eleven  rattles.  A  tornado  passed  through 
the  westerly  part  of  the  town,  about  three  in  the  af- 
ternoon, August  1st,  sweeping  all  in  its  path.  Its 
track  was  but  a  few  rods  in  width,  and  fortunately 
no  buildings  stood  therein.  August  15th,  thirteen 
persons  of  a  picnic  party  drowned  in  Lynnfield  Pond. 
August  31st,  railroad  through  South  Village  opened. 
December  18th,  Asa  T.  Newhall  died,  aged  seventy- 
one,  and  was  buried  with  Masonic  honors. 

1852.  November  26th,  first  church-bell  in  Lynn- 
field raised,  on  the  South  Village  Church. 

1853.  James  Hewes  elected  a  member  of  the  con- 
vention for  revising  the  State  Constitution. 

1854.  Railroad  through  Lynnfield  Centre  opened 
October  23d.  Boundary  line  between  Lynnfield  and 
Reading  established.  There  was  a  long  and  unusually 
beautiful  period  of  Indian  summer,  ending  October 
28th. 

1856.  October  4,  Forest  Hill  Cemetery  consecrated. 

1857.  Boundary  line  between  Lynnfield  and  North 
Reading  changed. 

1858.  Magnificent  comet  (Donati's)  visible  in  the 
northwest,  at  evening,  for  several  weeks,  in  the  au- 
tumn. The  tail  was  determined  to  be,  on  the  10th  of 
October,  fifty-one  millions  of  miles  in  length. 

1859.  August  28th,  brilliant  display  of  northern 
lights ;  whole  heavens  covered.  November  18th, 
large  barn  of  John  Mansfield,  South  Village,  burned, 
two  yoke  of  oxen  and  two  horses  perishing. 


1860.  Thomas  Woodward,  a  native  of  Lynnfield, 
manufacturer  of  the  celebrated  Woodward  awls,  died, 
aged  eighty-seven  years.  June  29th,  the  meeting- 
house in  South  Village  was  struck  by  lightning  dur- 
ing a  severe  thunder-storm  of  three  hours'  duration. 
July  18th,  muster  of  Essex  County  fire  companies  in 
Lynnfield. 

1861.  The  great  Civil  War  commenced  early  in 
April.  Lynnfield  furnished  sixty  soldiers.  John  P. 
Mead  was  mortally  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Bull 
Run,  July  21st.  A  military  encampment  was  formed 
in  the  South  Village  and  a  number  of  regiments  there 
drilled  preparatory  to  leaving  for  the  seat  of  war. 
July  2d,  a  splendid  comet  suddenly  appeared.  It  was 
a  little  west  of  north,  extended  from  the  horizon  to 
the  zenith  and  moved  with  extraordinary  rapidity  ; 
insomuch  that  it  was  visible  but  few  nights. 

1862.  May  4th,  Captain  Henry  Bancroft's  barn 
burned,  together  with  carriage-house  and  other  out- 
buildings.    A  horse  and  several  cows  perished. 

1865.  January  17th,  Dr.  Thomas  Keenan,  a  skill- 
ful physician  and  much  esteemed  citizen,  died,  aged 
sixty-one  years.  He  was  an  Irishman  by  birth  and 
served  as  a  surgeon  in  the  British  array  before  coming 
here.  The  town,  at  their  next  annual  meeting,  passed 
resolutions  of  respect  for  his  memory.  April  3d,  news 
of  the  fall  of  Richmond  received.  April  loth,  news 
of  the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln  received. 
During  September  destructive  fires  raged  in  the  woods, 
the  weather  being  verj^  dry  and  warm. 

1866.  June  22d,  bell  on  church  in  Centre  Village 
raised  ;  weight,  eight  hundred  and  thirty  pounds. 

1867.  January  17th,  a  terrible  snow-storm. 

1868.  During  the  summer  a  Lynnfield  farmer  killed 
thirteen  rattlesnakes. 

1869.  April  lath,  in  the  evening  there  was  a  mag- 
nificent disjjlay  of  beautifully  tinted  aurora  borealis. 
During  the  month  of  September  Captain  Henry  Ban- 
croft graded  the  common  land  belonging  to  the  First 
Congregational  Society,  and  known  as  the  "  Common," 
at  the  cost  of  about  thirteen  hundred  dollars,  bearing 
all  the  expense  himself,  September  8th,  severe  gale 
in  the  afternoon,  next  in  violence  to  that  of  Septem- 
ber 23,  1815.     A  multitude  of  trees  uprooted, 

1870.  October  20th,  a  very  perceptible  earth(}uake 
shock  felt  at  about  half-past  eleven  in  the  forenoon, 

1871.  December  18th,  old  mill  on  Saugus  River, 
near  residence  of  George  L.  Hawkes,  burned.  Tra- 
dition says  the  privilege  was  an  ancient  grant  by  the 
King  of  I]ngland,  to  ensure  the  grinding  of  grain. 

1872.  The  summer  of  this  year  was  remarkable  for 
the  frequency  and  severity  of  its  thunder-storms. 

1873.  English  sparrows  began  to  make  their  pres- 
ence known  hereabout  this  year — -probably  the 
progeny  of  those  imported  into  Boston.  It  was  be- 
lieved that  they  would  benefit  agriculturists  by  de- 
stroying ravaging  insects,  but  they  did  not  fulfill  ex- 
pectations, and  were  soon  declared  worthless. 

1874.  March,  a  Lynnfield  lady  gives  birth  to  three 


390 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


children  at  one  time,  making  up  a  family  of  four  in- 
fants, under  the  age  of  thirteen  months,  and  eight 
children,  all  under  twelve  years.  The  parents,  not 
being  in  very  prosperous  pecuniary  circumstances, 
were  deservedly  the  recipients  of  many  useful  gifts. 

1876.  The  destructive  potato  bug  or  Colorado  beetle 
first  appears  in  this  vicinity. 

1879.  December  26th,  General  Josiah  Newhall  died, 
aged  eighty-five  years.  He  was  Lynnfield's  first  rep- 
resentative in  the  General  Court. 

1881.  September  6th,  the  yellow  day,  so  called. 
Early  in  the  afternoon  the  air  assumed  a  dim,  brassy 
hue.  The  obscuration  was  so  great  that  common 
newspaper  print  could  not  be  easily  read  without  ar- 
tificial light;  the  faces  of  people  were  of  a  light  saf- 
fron hue,  and  the  grass  and  foliage  had  a  marked 
golden  tinge.  The  day  was  close  and  warm  and  the 
smell  of  smoke  very  perceptible.  September  20th, 
news  of  the  death  of  President  Garfield  received.  He 
was  shot  by  C.  J.  Guiteau,  July  2d. 

1882.  During  the  latter  part  of  the  summer  an  ex- 
traordinary drought  prevailed  ;  crops  were  almost 
ruined,  and  in  some  places  the  landscape  had  a 
scorched  appearance.  A  splendid  comet  was  visible 
in  the  southeast  for  several  weeks  in  October.  It  rose 
two  or  three  hours  before  the  sun ;  its  speed  was  al- 
most inconceivable  and  the  nucleus  had  the  appear- 
ance of  partial  disruption,  as  if  it  had  met  with  some 
violent  collision. 

1885.  July  2od,  President  Grant  dies.  News  of  his 
death  received  the  same  day. 

1886.  January  17th,  Rev.  Jacob  Hood  died,  aged 
ninety-four  years. 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


GENERAL   JOSIAH   NEWHALL. 

General  Josiah  Newhall  was  born  in  Lynnfield 
June  6,  1794,  and  was  a  lineal  descendant  of  Thomas 
Newhall,  the  first  white  person  born  in  Lynn,  who 
was  himself  the  son  of  Thomas  Newhall,  who  came 
from  England  in  1630,  and  was  the  progenitor  of  the 
Newhalls  of  Lynn. 

General  Newhall's  occupation  was  a  farmer  and 
horticulturist,  his  interest  in  these  pui-suits  leading 
him  to  become  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Horticultural  Society.  During  the  war  of  1812 
he  served  in  the  American  army.  It  was  owing, 
perhaps,  to  his  early  experience  in  bearing  arms  that 
he  became  active  in  the  State  militia.  In  1824  he 
commanded  a  regiment  of  nine  companies  which  was 
among  the  forces  reviewed  on  Boston  Common  by 
General  Lafayette,  at  the  time  of  his  visit  to  Boston 
in  1824.  Subsequently,  he  rose  to  the  rank  of  Briga- 
dier-general, and  was  six  years  in  command  of  the 
First   Brigade.     He  was   also  active  in  civil  aft'airs. 


Under  the  administration  of  General  Jackson  he  was 
several  years  connected  with  the  Boston  custom- 
house. He  was  the  first  Representative  elected  to  the 
General  Court  from  Lynnfield  after  the  incorporation 
of  that  town,  and  served  in  the  Legislatures  of  1826, 
1827  and  1848.  He  was  prominent  in  town  affairs 
and  served  as  chairman  of  school  committee  twenty- 
two  years. 

In  November,  1876,  General  Newhall  was  elected 
a  member  of  che  Royal  Historical  Society  of  London 
and  Great  Britain. 

General  Newhall  died  December  26,  1879. 


JOHN    PERKINS. 

Captain  Perkins  was  born  in  the  northwesterly 
part  of  Lynnfield,  on  the  18th  of  July,  1806.  His 
father  and  grandfather  were  respectable  and  thrifty 
farmers;  and  farming  has  been  his  own  life-occupa- 
tion. 

The  Perkins  family  probably  settled  here  some- 
where about  the  year  1650.  It  is  found  that  Luke 
Perkins  was  a  soldier  in  the  King  Philip  War,  and 
marched  against  the  Indians  in  1675.  He  was  a 
pious  man,  and  before  departure  requested  Mr.  Cob- 
bet,  then  of  Ipswich,  but  previously  of  Lynn,  a  min- 
ister famed  for  his  fervency  in  prayer,  to  jiray  for  the 
safety  of  the  detachment.  And  it  is  added,  "they 
all  returned  in  safety." 

John  Perkins,  a  later  ancestor,  married,  August  29, 
1695,  Anna  Hutchinson,  and  had  five  children, — 
Anna,  John,  Elizabeth,  Mary  and  William.  Eliza- 
beth became  the  wife  of  Rev.  Nathaniel  Sparhawk, 
who  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1715,  studied  divinity 
and  was  settled  over  the  Lynnfield  Parish,  as  its  first 
minister,  August  17,  1720.  He  had  four  children, — 
Elizabeth,  Nathaniel,  Edward  Perkins  and  John. 
Of  these,  Edward  seems  to  have  become  somewhat 
noted,  and  was  the  first  person  appearing  on  the 
Lynn  records  with  three  names,  the  fashion  of  giv- 
ing two  baptismal  names  then  just  beginning.  The 
son  John  became  a  physician  in  Philadelphia. 

Another  of  the  family  was  Dr.  John  Perkins,  who 
was  born  in  1695,  and  lived  to  the  age  of  eighty- 
five,  having  spent  much  of  his  lite  in  other  homes. 
He  was  a  skillful  practitioner,  but  perhaps  most 
widely  known  by  his  literary  and  scientific  writings. 
He  was  well  educated,  having  studied  two  years  in 
London.  And  many  years  practice  in  Boston  gave 
him  an  experience  and  reputation  excelled  by  few 
physicians  of  the  period.  Some  further  notice  of 
him  ajjpears  in  the  historical  sketch  of  Lynnfield. 

It  is  sufficient,  in  this  connection,  to  add  that  the 
Perkins  family  of  Lynnfield  has  all  along  maintained 
a  most  respectable  position.  With  few  exceptions 
they  have  been  prosperous  and  highly  regarded. 

The  present  Captain  John  Perkins,  whose  portrait 
accompanies  this  brief  sketch,  and  who  gained  his 
title  many  years  since  by   being    commander  of  a 


■2^  -^t/yAHIUXcHie  ■ 


-2^  ^TyAM.  RUchu- 


SAUGUS. 


391 


military  company,  has  led  a  quiet,  unostentatious, 
but  useful  life.  He  has  been  a  selectman,  assessor 
and  overseer  of  the  poor  more  than  twenty  years,  and 
for  several  years  town  clerk.  He  has  likewise  held 
a  commission  as  justice  of  the  peace  twenty-one 
years,  and  represented  the  town  in  the  General 
Court.  His  good  judgment  and  neighborly  kindness 
has  always  been  much  in  requisition  for  the  guidance 
and  assistance  of  his  less  qualified  neighbors.  And 
in  the  settlement  of  estates  of  deceased  persons,  and 
as  guardian  of  minors,  his  services  and  sympathies 
have  been  highly  appreciated. 

Captain  Perkins  was  joined  in  marriage  April  22, 
1830,  with  Catharine  S.  Sweetser,  of  South  Reading 
(now  Wakefield),  and  they  became  the  parents  of 
five  children, — Catherine  E.,  born  May  16,  1832 ; 
John  H.,  born  December  8,  1833  ;  Mary  F.,  born 
November  14,  1837  ;  Addia  J.,  born  September  13, 
1845  ;  and  Clara  A.,  born  July  17,  184'J.  All  the  chil- 
dren are  now,  1887,  living,  excepting  Mary  Frances, 
the  second  daughter. 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

SAUGUS. 


BY    WILBUR   F.    XEWHALL,    ESQ. 


Situation — Bnundaries — Area — River — Settlement — iSe(  off  from  Lynn — Pop- 
ulation— Saugus  Centre — Cliftondale — Eaxl  Saiigvs — North  Saugus — Oak- 
landvale — Geology — Town  Meetings— Town  House — Ahnshonse — Ctmetery 
— New  Town  Hall — Eost  Sangus  set  off — Water-Pipes — Toan  Clerks — 
Representatioes —  Valuation,  Taxation — Polls — Post-  Offices. 

Situation. — Saugus  is  situated  in  the  very  south- 
ern corner  of  Essex  County. 

Should  you  open  before  you  a  map  of  the  county, 
you  will  notice  that  its  general  shape  is  a  square  of 
about  twenty-three  miles  on  each  side,  with  its  oppo- 
site corners  or  diagonals  pointing  north  and  south 
and  east  and  west.  At  the  very  southern  corner  you 
will  find  the  township  of  Saugus.  It  is  five  and  six- 
tenths  miles  long  north  and  south,  with  a  trend  some- 
what west  of  north,  and  two  and  four-tenths  miles 
average  width. 

Boundaries. — It  is  bounded  northerly  by  Lynn- 
field  and  Wakefield,  easterly  by  the  city  of  Lynn, 
southerly  by  Revere  and  westerly  by  Revere,  Melrose 
and  Wakefield. 

Area. — Its  area  is  about  thirteen  and  one-half 
square  miles,  of  which  about  two  and  a  quarter 
square  miles  are  salt  marsh,  occupying  the  very  south- 
ern end  of  the  township,  and  only  separated  from 
Massachusetts  Bay  by  the  narrow  strip  of  laud  known 
as  Revere  Beach.  Situated  only  nine  miles  from 
Boston,  you  will  see  at  once  that  the  trafiic  and  travel 
to  and  with  Boston  of  the  whole  county  must  la,rgely 


pass  over  some  portion  of  its  territory.  Before  A. D.,  1800 
Boston  Street,  or  the  old  Boston  road,  so  called,  was 
the  only  thoroughfare.  Soon  after  this  the  Salem 
turnpike  and  the  Newburyport  turnpike  were  built, 
and  in  1838  the  Eastern  Railroad  was  opened  for 
travel ;  and  these  now  remain  the  only  avenues  of 
communication,  through  our  town,  with  Boston  for 
the  county  of  Essex. 

Saugus  is  an  Indian  name,  and,  as  near  as  can  be 
now  ascertained,  signifies  "  extended,"  suggested,  no 
doubt,  by  its  broad  salt  marshes. 

The  Indians  applied  this  name  to  the  whole  terri- 
tory lying  between  Boston  on  the  south  and  Salem  on 
the  north. 

The  Indian  name  of  our  beautiful  river  was  "  Abou- 
sett,"  aud  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  this  name  was  ever 
dropped  ;  but  the  white  settlers  fell  into  the  custom 
of  calling  it  the  river  at  Saugus,  and  finally,  very 
naturally,  Saugus  River;  thus  it  was  we  lost  the 
beautiful  Indian  name  of  our  river. 

Our  river  takes  its  rise  in  Quannapowitt  Lake,  in 
Wakefield,  passes  through  the  broad  meadows  of 
Lynnfield  and  enters  midway  our  northern  boundary, 
when,  continuing  its  southerly  course  through  North 
Saugus  to  Saugus  Centre,  where  just  below  Scott's  fac- 
tory, it  meets  the  tide-water  and  thence  flows  in  its 
crooked  course  through  the  narrow  salt  marshes  south- 
easterly one  mile  to  East  Saugus,  where  it  reaches, 
and  thence  becomes,  the  easterly  boundary  of  the 
town  for  the  remainder  of  its  course  to  the  sea. 

Settlement. — The  first  political  status  of  Saugus 
is  found,  October  19,  1630,  when  John  Taylor  was 
admitted  freeman  to  the  General  Court. 

In  1634  Nathaniel  Turner,  Edward  Tomlins  and 
Thomas  Willis  were  Representatives  from  Saugus  to 
the  first  Legislature. 

In  1636  towns  were  given  authority  to  choose  not 
more  than  seven  "  prudential  men"  to  manage  town 
business. 

At  that  time  Saugus  not  only  comprised  its  present 
territory,  but  also  that  which  now  forms  the  city  of 
Lynn  and  towns  of  Swampscott,  Lynnfield,  Reading, 
Wakefield  and  Nahant. 

But  the  early  settlers,  evidently  dissatisfied  with 
the  Indian  name  of  Saugus,  very  soon  sought  to  find 
some  more  familiar  name,  and  very  naturally  recall- 
ing the  old  English  town  of  Lynn,  from  which,  no 
doubt,  some  of  them  emigrated,  it  was  decided  to 
change  the  name;  and  the  Legislature  granted  their 
petition,  tor,  November  15,  1637,  we  find  on  its  rec- 
ords an  enactment,  said  to  be  the  shortest  ever  passed, 
as  follows:  "Saugust  is  called  Lin." 

Thus  it  was  that  our  name  was  set  aside,  so  to  con- 
tinue until  February  17,  1815,  when,  by  a  legislative 
act,  our  present  territory  was  set  oti"  from  Lynn  and 
received  again  its  original  name  of  Saugus.  For 
many  years  previously  it  had  had  a  separate  ecclesi- 
astical standing,  and  was  known  as  the  "  West  Parish." 
Population. — The  population  of  the  town  in  1815 


392 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


was  very  near  700  persons.  April  3,  1815,  there  were 
150  votes  cast  for  Governor.  We  find  by  the  census 
of  1820  the  population  was  748.  In  1885  it  was  2855. 
The  intermediate  years  show  a  pretty  constant  and 
regular  increase.  And  although  up  to  1815  our  town 
had  been  largely  agricultural  in  its  interests  and  pur- 
suits, yet  it  was  the  approximate  period  of  the  in- 
crease in  our  manufacturing  industries, — shoes  and 
woolen  goods  in  the  centre  of  the  town,  tobacco  in 
Cliftondale  and  shoes  in  East  Saugus. 

Saugus  Centre. — This  brings  us  to  the  division  of 
the  town  into  its  several  villages.  Nature  provided 
for  these  by  its  isolated  sections  of  territory,  suitable 
for  farms  and  dwelling-houses,  while  separating  these 
sections  were,  and  still  are,  rocky  and  wooded  hills, 
rising  to  no  very  considerable  height  and  yet  sufficient 
to  divert  our  connecting  roads  into  fixed  and  almost 
necessary  locations. 

Beginning  with  Saugus  Centre,  by  far  the  largest 
section  of  intervale  in  the  town,  we  find  it  located 
almost  exactly  in  the  geographical  centre  of  the 
town,  being  l)Ounded  on  the  north  by  Pranker's  mill- 
pond  and  on  the  east  by  the  river.  Few  villages  are 
so  beautifully  situated  as  this,  commanding  as  it  does 
from  the  top  of  Round  Hill,  looking  easterly  towards 
the  ocean,  one  of  the  loveliest  views  of  the  river 
valley. 

Cliftondale. — Almost  directly  south  of  the  Cen- 
tre, and  about  one  mile  distant,  is  Cliftondale,  for- 
merly known  as  Sweetser's  Corner,  reached  directly 
by  Central  Street  alone.  Recently  this  village  has 
taken  a  wonderful  start  in  the  erection  of  dwelling- 
houses,  there  having  been  built  within  the  past  year 
about  forty,  mostly  by  l)usiness  men  and  mechanics 
employed  in  Boston  and  Lynn,  while  some  are  built 
by  speculators  who  hope  to  sell.  This  section  already 
promises  to  be  a  populous  portion  of  the  town. 

East  Saugus. — Coming  back  to  the  Centre  again, 
we  shall  find  southeasterly  therefrom,  about  one  mile 
distant,  the  village  of  East  Saugus,  situated  in  the 
river  valley,  and  only  reached  by  one  road,  now  called 
Winter  Street,  on  the  southerly  side  of  the  valley. 
On  account  of  the  small  area  of  eligible  territory  for 
building  purposes,  this  village  is  compactly  built,  and 
consists  principally  of  two  streets — Chestnut  Street 
and  Lincoln  Avenue — leading  up  from  the  bridge  to 
the  hill  at  the  south  of  the  village,  where  stands  the 
village  church. 

The  crooked  reach  of  the  river,  between  the  Centre 
and  the  East  Village,  through  the  narrow  strip  of 
salt  marsh,  is  usually  kept  filled  with  water  by  the  mill- 
dam  at  the  East  Saugus  Bridge,  and  so  serves  as  a 
mill-pond,  replenished  by  successive  fiood-tides  and 
receiving  in  addition  thereto  the  fresh  water  from  the 
river  flowage. 

Almost  directly  west  of  East  Saugus  is  Cliftondale, 
one  mile  away,  and  only  reached  by  Lincoln  Avenue, 
formerly  called  the  old  Boston  road. 

Thus  we  see  that  these  three  principal  villages  of 


Saugus  are  respectively  about  one  mile  from  each 
other,  occupying  the  points  of  an  equilateral  triangle, 
across  the  interior  of  which  no  road  passes. 

It  would  almost  seem  that  this  triangular  district, 
although  made  up  mostly  of  rocky  hills  and  hereto- 
fore neglected,  will,  some  future  day,  be  intersected 
by  winding  avenues  and  dotted  with  beautiful  hillside 
residences.  It  remains  to  mention  two  smaller  villages 
of  our  town. 

North  Saugus. — Some  more  than  two  miles 
from  the  Centre,  and  in  the  extreme  northerly  end 
of  our  township,  is  the  village  of  North  Saugus, 
a  section  of  very  excellent  farming  land.  It  is  reached 
by  Central  Street,  passing  Pranker's  factory,  and  also 
by  the  Newburyport  turnpike.  Saugus  River  flows 
beside  this  village,  and  its  two  tributaries,  Penny 
Brook  and  Hawkes  Brook,  flow  directly  through  the 
vill.ge.  These  two  brooks  have  recently  been  taken 
for  a  water  supply  by  the  city  of  Lynn  ;  their  waters 
have  been  diverted  by  an  artificial  canal  and  carried 
into  Birch  Pond,  so  called,  on  the  eastern  boundary 
of  our  town. 

Oaklandvale. — The  last  village  to  be  mentioned 
is  Oaklandvale.  This  is  situated  a  mile  and  a  half 
from  the  Centre,  northwesterly,  and  is  only  reached 
l)y  the  road  leading  to  Wakefield  and  Melrose.  This 
is  also  an  agricultural  district,  through  whith  flows  a 
stream  sometimes  called  Strawberry  Brook,  which 
empties  into  Saugus  River  below  North  Saugus. 

Geology. — The  geology  of  Saugus  is  a  continuation 
of  that  of  Lynn.  The  rock  formations  in  both  places 
belong  to  the  east  and  west  system  of  Hitchcock,  as 
given  in  his  report  of  the  geology  of  Massachusetts. 

Approaching  the  town  from  the  ocean  side,  we  come 
to  a  broad  belt  of  alluvium,  beneath  which  is  a  thin 
stratum  of  sand  or  gravel,  and  underlying  all  is  a  bed 
of  tough  blue  clay  of  unknown  depth. 

Succeeding  this  is  a  broad  belt  of  felsite,  generally 
known  as  pori)hyry.  It  is  composed  of  the  finely- 
comminuted  remains  of  older  rocks  hardened  by  heat 
and  pressure  to  a  flint-like  substance.  It  is  known  to 
scientists  as  the  Lower  Laurentian  series,  or  the  rocks 
that  contain  the  remains  of  the  earliest  forms  of  life. 

On  the  northern  side  of  the  felsite  the  formation 
has  not  been  sufficiently  studied.  Much  of  it,  how- 
ever, is  syenite,  and  the  curved  lamination  in  some 
portions  of  the  rock  indicate  gneiss.  Trapjiean 
dykes  frequently  occur  in  this  rock  and  in  the  felsite. 
The  dividing  line  between  the  two  formations  is  very 
obscure,  being  generally  covered  by  drift.  On  the 
hill  one-half  mile  east  of  Pranker's  mills,  and  at  the 
railroad  cut  near  the  centre  of  the  town,  the  junction 
of  the  two  formations  may  be  noticed.  Also  near  the 
Lynn  line,  on  Vinegar  Hill,  syenite  is  found  obtrud- 
ing through  the  felsite,  which  is  here  composed  of 
rounded  felsite  pebbles,  cemented  by  a  hardened 
matrix  of  the  same  material. 

The  jasper  bed,  near  Round  Hill,  in  the  Centre, 


SAUG-US 


393 


is  undoubtedly  a  fine  variety  of  felsite,  the  banded 
variety  of  which  furnishes  very  fine  specimens. 

Round  Hill  is  a  conspicuous  object,  and  is  of  un- 
doubted volcanic  origin.  Hitchcock  calls  the  com- 
position of  the  rock  which  forms  the  hill  "  Varioloid 
Wacke."  The  base  of  the  rock  is  of  a  pleasant  green 
color,  and  is  filled  in  places  with  rounded  nodules  of 
quartz,  varying  in  size  from  that  of  an  ordinary  shot 
to  that  of  a  pea.  On  the  north  side  of  the  hill  the 
base  of  the  rock  is  of  a  chocolate  color ;  this,  together 
with  the  white  nodules  of  quartz,  forms  very  pretty 
specimens. 

But  few  minerals  or  metals  have  been  found  in 
Saugus.  The  jasper  locality  is  well  known  and 
many  specimens  have  been  taken  from  the  bed. 

Epidote  is  common,  but  the  crystals  are  too  small 
and  imperfect  to  be  valued.  Good  specimens  of  as- 
bestos, associated  with  epidote,  are  found  near  East 
Saugus,  and  calcite  (nail-head  spar)  has  been  found 
in  the  deep  railroad  cut  near  the  Centre. 

Hematite  (specular)  is  found  in  the  hill  near  the 
railroad  cut,  also  in  bowlders  in  the  northwest  part  of 
the  town.  Pyrite  has  been  found  near  the  head  of 
Birch  Pond,  but  the  specimens  are  poor. 

Bog  iron-ore  was  discovered  soon  after  the  first 
settlement,  in  different  parts  of  the  town,  but  mostly 
in  North  Haugus,  where  very  good  specimens  can 
now  be  found.  This  was  the  ore  used  by  the  old 
Iron-Works  from  1643  to  1680. 

As  heretofore  stated,  Saugus  was  set  off  from  Lynn 
by  act  of  Legislature  passed  February  17,  1815. 

Town-^Iekting8. — The  first  town-meeting  was 
held  in  the  parish  church  March  13,  1815,  and  sub- 
sequent ones  continued  to  be  held  there  until  1818, 
after  which  time  the  school-house  in  the  Centre  gen- 
erally served  as  the  gathering-i)lace  for  the  town,  al- 
though, occasionally,  they  were  gathered  at  the  Rock 
School-house,  so-called,  in  the  South  District. 

Town-House — In  1837  a  town-hall  was  built,  ar- 
ranged for  hall  above  and  two  school-rooms  below. 
This  building  is  still  standing,  and  since  1875,  when 
our  new  town-hall  was  built,  it  has  been  used  for 
school  purposes. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  notice  some  of  the  circum- 
stances of  the  building  of  this  first  hall. 

Some  two  thousand  dollars  had  been  given  to  the 
town  as  their  portion  of  the  United  States  revenue 
surplus,  distributed  by  General  Jackson. 

The  question  was,  how  this  should  be  disposed  of 
Five  town-meetings  were  held  from  May  12  to  July 
8,  1837,  and  as  may  well  be  imagined,  very  strong 
feelings  swept  the  town.  It  was  first  voted  to  divide 
it  among  the  inhabitants;  then  this  was  reconsidered, 
and  it  was  voted  to  pay  it  over  to  the  treasurer. 

Then  this  was  reconsidered,  at  a  third  meeting,  and 
finally  voted  agaiii  to  pay  to  the  town  treasurer. 

At  a  subsequent  meeting  it  was  voted  not  to  build  a 
town-house  ;  and,  at  a  still  later  meeting,  it  was  voted 
to  build, — yeas,  90  ;  nays,  74.     Two  thousand  dollars 
25^ 


was  appropriated,  and  a  committee  of  seven  chosen 
by  ballot,  to  obtain  a  location  and  contract  for  and 
superintend  the  building  of  said  town-house. 

March  12,  1838,  the  town  appropriated  six  hundred 
dollars  more  to  finish  the  town-house. 

Almshouse.— In  1823  the  present  almshouse, 
with  farm  formerly  owned  by  Mr.  Tudor,  was  pur- 
chased. 

Cemetery. — In  1844  the  town  bought  one  acre  of 
Salmon  Snow,  for  a  new  cemetery.  This  proving 
too  small  was  enlarged  in  1858,  by  the  purchase  of 
adjoining  property  of  Roswell  Hitchings. 

Again,  in  1874,  the  two  estates  east  were  purchased 
of  Henry  Newhall  and  others,  so  as  to  further  enlarge 
the  cemetery  substantially  as  it  is  at  present.  Dur- 
ing these  years  the  town  has  taken  excellent  care  of 
the  grounds,  which  have  grown  in  attractiveness  and 
beauty,  year  by  year,  through  the  interest  of  our 
townsmen  and  very  much  to  their  credit.  Few 
things  speak  louder  of  the  tenderness,  sympathy  and 
love  of  a  people  than  its  care  for  the  resting-place  of 
the  departed. 

In  the  most  eligible  part  of  the  cemetery  is  the 
"  Soldier's  Lot,"  surrounded  by  hammered  granite 
border  fence  and  entrance-steps,  ornamented  with 
appropriate  war  emblems,  all  carved  in  solid  granite. 
This  was  built  by  the  town. 

Our  cemetery  is  beautifully  situated  on  the  sloping 
ground  between  Winter  Street  and  Shute's  Brook. 

New  Town-Hall. — In  1875  the  town  built  their 
new  town-hall,  on  the  eastern  side  of  Central  Street, 
purchasing  of  Mr.  Samuel  A.  Parker  a  low,  wet 
piece  of  land,  and  at  great  expense  filling  up  and 
grading  the  same.  There  was  a  great  difference  of 
opinion  in  the  town  in  regard  to  the  expediency  of 
erecting  such  a  building. 

A  number  of  town-meetings  were  held,  in  which 
adverse  action  was  taken,  but  the  building  party 
finally  prevailed,  and  the  town  was  loaded  with  a 
debt  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  in  consequence.  The 
first  story  is  occupied  for  rooms  for  town  officers. 
High  School  and  public  library,  the  second  for  as- 
sembly room. 

East  Saugus  Set  Off. — While  the  new  hall  was 
building  the  inhabitants  of  East  Saugus  made  a  vig- 
orous effort  before  the  Legislature  to  be  set  off  from 
Saugus  and  annexed  to  the  city  of  Lynn,  but  they 
did  not  succeed  in  getting  a  bill  through  both 
branches  of  the  Legislature.  Soon  after  this,  in  def- 
erence to  the  feelings  and  wishes  of  East  Saugus,  the 
town  voted  an  appropriation  of  five  thousand  dollars 
for  the  laying  of  water-pipes  through  the  village  of 
East  Saugus,  connecting  with  the  Lynn  Water- Works 
for  a  supply.  This  work  was  done,  and  August  10, 
1878,  the  water  was  let  into  the  pipes  and  a  public 
celebration  made  of  it  by  the  citizens  of  East  Sau- 
gus. 

Water-Pipes. — The  town  has  just  voted,  July  8, 
1887,  to  extend  this  system  of  water-pipes  through 


394 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Cliftondale  and  the  centre  of  the  town,  and  for  that 
purpose  made  an  appropriation  of  thirty-five  thousand 
dollars  to  lay  seven  miles  of  pipe,  and  chose  Wilbur 
F.  Newhall,  Edward  Franker  and  Charles  H.  Bond, 
water  commissioners,  to  carry  out  the  action  of  the 
town,  and  said  commissioners  have  just  given  the 
contract  to  Messrs.  Goodhue  &  Birnie,  of  Springfield, 
for  the  laying  of  the  cement  pipes,  the  work  to  be 
commenced  forthwith  and  completed  this  season. 

Town  Clerks. — The  following  is  a  list  of  the  town 
clerks,  with  their  terms  of  office  : 


1815-18.  Kichard  Mansfield. 
1819-27.  Thomas  Mansfield,  .Tr. 
1828-30.  Zacheus  Stocker. 
1831-33.  Isaac  Cliilds. 


1834-40.  Wm.  W.  Boardman. 
1841-47.  Benj.  F.  Newhall. 
1848-51.  Harmon  Hall. 
1852-87    Wm.  H.  Newhall. 


Eepresentatives. — The  following  is  a  list  of  the 
Saugus  Representatives  to  the  General  Court.  Until 
about  1857  it  required  a  majority  of  all  the  votes  cast 
to  elect  a  Representative,  and  this  explains  why  of- 
tentimes no  one  was  sent.  In  1835  the  town-meeting 
adjourned  twice  and  balloted  six  times  without  mak- 
ing any  choice  : 


1816,  '17,  '20.  Joseph  Cheever. 
1821.  Dr.  Abijah  Cheever, 
1823.  Jonathan  Makepeace. 
1826.  John  Shaw. 
1827-28.  Wm.  Jackson. 
1829,  '30,  '31.  Dr.  Abijah  Cheever. 
18.32-33.  Zacheus  N.  Stocker. 
1834.  Joseph  Cheever. 
1836-37.  Wm.  W.  Boardman. 

1838.  Charles  Sweetser. 

1839.  Francis  Dizer. 

1840.  Benj.  Hitchings,  Jr. 


1841.  Stephen  E.  Hawkes. 
1842-43.  Beiy.  F.  Newhall. 
1844.  Pickmore  Jackson. 
1846-47.  Sewall  Boardman. 
18.')0.  Charles  Sweetser. 

1851.  George  H.  Sweetser. 

1852.  John  B.  Hitchings. 

1853.  Samuel  Hawkes. 

1854.  Richard  Mansfield. 

1855.  Wm.  H.  Newhall. 

1856.  Jacob  B.  Galley. 


In  1857  the  district  system  Avent  into  operation, 
and  Saugus  was  united  with  Lynnfield,  Middleton 
and  Topsfield.    We  give  below  the  names  of  the  Rep- 


resentatives from  Saugus  alone : 


1857.  Jonathan  Newhall. 
1860.  Harmon  Hall. 

1862.  John  Howlett. 

1863.  Charles  W.  Newhall. 
1866.  S.  S.  Dunu. 
1869.  John  Armitage. 

Valuation  and  Taxation 
the  town  this  year  (1887)  is  : 

Heal  Estate $1,906,061 

Personal  Property 202,835 


1872.  Jacob  B.  Galley. 
1875.  Otis  M.  Hitchings. 
1877.  Joseph  Whitehead. 
1879.  J.  AUston  Newhall. 
1882.  Albert  H.  Sweetser. 
1885-86.  Chas.  S.  Hitchings. 

-The  valuation  of 


Total  valuation 82,108,896 

Kate  of  taxation  per  thousand $13.50 

Number  of  polls 852 

PosT-OrFiCES. — The  first  post-office  was  established 
in  the  village  of  East  Saugus  in  1832.  This  remained 
the  only  post-oflice  in  town  until  1858,  when  two 
others  were  established — one  in  Saugus  Centre  and 
one  in  Cliftondale.  The  following  are  the  names  of 
the  postmasters  of  each  office : 

East  Saugus.— 1832,  Henry  Slade  ;  1832,  George  Newhall  ;  1856,  Her- 
bert B.  Newhall ;  1863,  Charlotte  M.  Hawkes  ;  1873,  Charles  Mills  ; 
1885,  Henry  J.  Mills. 

Saugm  Centre. — 1858,  Julian  D.  Lawrence ;  1870,  John  E.  Stocker. 

Cliftondale.— 1S58,  Wm.  Williams  ;  1860,  George  H.  Sweetser,  A.  H. 
Sweetser  ;  1877,  M.  A.  Putnam  ;  1883,  M.  S.  Fisk. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

S  AUGUS— ( Continued) . 

Early  Settlers — Indians — Fish — Marshes — William  Ballard's  Farm — Land- 
ing Road — Edward  Baker — Nicholas  Brown — Samtiel  Beunet — Thomas 
Dexter — Thomas  Hudson  — Captain  Walker — Ailam  Hawkes — Richard 
Leader  and  Others — Apj^letoii's  Pulpit. 

Early  Settlers. — The  year  1630  brought  a  great 
many  hundred  people  to  our  shores,  and  of  this  num- 
ber some  found  their  way  to  our  town  either  through 
the  primeval  forests  or,  more  likely,  by  boats;  and  it 
is  not  surprising  that  they  should  enter  our  river  and 
select  along  its  banks  favorable  spots  for  their  rude 
houses,  around  which  they  were  to  commence  their 
clearings. 

Indians. — Long  years  before  this  the  Indians  had 
been  attracted  to  this  river,  and  upon  its  sunny  banks 
and  in  its  sheltered  vales  had  built  their  wigwams, 
reared  their  families  and  cultivated  their  small  fields 
of  corn  and  ijumpkins. 

On  the  south  side  of  the  hills,  in  East  Saugus,  on 
both  banks  of  the  river,  are  found  the  relics  of  their 
settlements,  consisting  of  shell-heaps,  pestles,  hatch- 
ets, arrow-heads  and  bones. 

Fish. — Our  river  at  that  time  abounded  with  fish 
of  many  varieties,  .some  of  which,  on  account  of  our 
mills  and  their  ob-structions,  are  now  no  longer  found 
in  our  waters  ;  but  not  the  least  attraction  was  the 
abundance  of  clams  found  in  the  sandy  shores  of  our 
river,  and,  at  low  tide,  accessible  at  all  seasons  of  the 
year. 

Marshes. — Whatever  mav  be  the  changes  in  the 
aspects  of  the  country  since  those  early  days,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  removal  of  forests  and  the  incoming 
of  civilization,  yet  we  have  one  feature  of  our  land- 
scape presenting  substantially  the  same  appearance 
as  then,  namely,  our  salt  marshes. 

Our  early  settlers  looked  very  kindly  on  these 
marshes  as  furnishing  a  sure  supply  of  food  for  their 
horaes  and  cattle,  while  they  were  toiling  to  bring 
into  arable  condition  the  uplands  then  covered  with 
timber.  These  marshes  certainly  afforded  them 
abundance  of  fodder.  And  even  to-day  they  still 
continue  to  yield  their  crops  to  our  farmers,  as  shown 
by  the  numerous  stacks  of  hay  annually  gathered  in 
the  summer,  to  be  removed  in  the  winter  when  the 
marshes  are  covered  with  ice  and  snow. 

William  Ballard  was  one  of  our  early  settlers. 
He  was  a  fiirmer,  and  received  sixty  acres  in  the 
allotment  of  lands  in  1638.  He  was  also  admitted  a 
freeman  in  1638.  His  farm  comprised  what  is  now 
the  village  of  East  Saugus.  His  first  house  stood  in 
the  rear  of  the  dwelling  now  owned  by  George  Oli- 
ver. His  two  sons,  Johu  and  Nathaniel,  divided  the 
farm  in  1697. 

It  was  sold  to  Dr.  Oliver  in  1710,  and  in  1720  to 
Colonel  Jacob  Wendell,  and  about  1760  to  Zaccheus 
Norwood,  who  died  about  1768,  leaving  a  widow  and 


SAUGUS. 


395 


three  children.  On  this  farm  stood  the  Anchor  Tav- 
ern, then  kept  by  Mr.  Norwood,  and  at  his  decease 
by  his  widow,  until  1773,  when  Landlord  Jacob  New- 
hall  took  charge. 

About  1725  a  town  way  was  laid  out  by  the  select- 
men through  the  farm  from  the  old  Boston  road  to 
the  Lower  Landing,  so  called. 

After  almost  a  hundred  years  of  alienation  from  the 
Ballard  family,  one-half  of  this  farm  was  bought  back 
by  William  Ballard  ;  the  other  half  continued  in  pos- 
session of  the  heirs  of  Norwood  until  about  1800,  when 
this  was  bought  by  John  Ballard,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  who 
then  became  the  owner  of  the  entire  farm.  In  1802 
he  built  a  new  hotel  a  few  rods  south  of  the  old  tav- 
ern, and  from  1815  to  1822  he  made  this  house  his 
residence. 

During  subsequent  years  the  farm  was  partly  cut 
up  into  house-lota  and  sold,  making  the  jiresent  vil- 
lage of  East  Saugus, — and  it  was  not  till  a  few  years 
ago  that  the  remaining  portion  of  the  farm,  on  either 
side  of  Ballard  Street,  was  sold  by  the  Ballard  family 
to  Mrs.  John  Pike  and  Henry  W.  Johnson. 

Edward  Baker  was  another  early  settler.  In  the 
allotment  of  1638  he  was  given  forty  acres.  His 
farm  was  on  the  south  side  of  Baker's  Hill,  so  called. 
He  was  admitted  a  freeman  in  1638  and  died  in 
1687. 

Nicholas  Brown  received  in  the  allotment  two 
hundrecl  acres.  His  farm  was  on  the  road  to  North 
Saugus.     He  early  removed  to  Reading. 

Samuel  Bennet,  a  carpenter  and  a  member  of  the 
Ancient  Artillerj'  Company  in  1639 ;  he  received  in 
the  allotment  twenty  acres.  His  farm  was  in  the 
westerly  part  of  the  town. 

Thomas  Dexter,  a  farmer,  was  admitted  a  free- 
man in  1631,  and  in  the  allotment  was  given  three 
hundred  and  fifty  acres.  He  lived  in  the  centre  of 
the  town,  near  the  iron-works,  and  was  generally 
known  as  *'  Farmer  Dexter."  He  was  an  active,  stir- 
ring man  in  the  plantation,  although  frequently  get- 
ting into  trouble  with  his  neighbors,  and  even  quar- 
reling with  the  Governor  of  the  colony.  He  must 
have  posse*!- ed  an  irritable  disposition  as  well  as 
fighting  qualities. 

He  built  a  mill  on  the  river,  for  the  grinding  of 
corn,  and  also  a  fish-weir  in  1632,  wherein  were  cap- 
tured large  quantities  of  alewives  and  bass;  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  barrels  were  cured  the  first  year. 

Thomas  Hudson  lived  on  the  westerly  side  of  the 
river,  near  the  iron-works.  He  received  sixty  acres 
in  the  allotment. 

Captain  Richard  Walker,  a  farmer,  was  lo- 
cated on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  and  in  the  allot- 
ment received  two  hundred  acres.  Born  in  1593,  ad- 
mitted a  freeman  in  1634  and  died  at  the  age  of 
ninety-five  years. 

Adam  Hawkes,  a  farmer,  settled  in  North  Saugus 
about  1634.  He  landed  in  Salem  with  Endicott's 
company   in   1630,  and  probably  soon  after  went  to 


Charlestown,  as  his  wife  Sarah's  name  is  there  found 
on  the  church  records.  LTndoubtedly  he  reached  this 
remote  section  of  land  by  following  up  the  river  in  his 
boat,  and  his  location  was  well  selected. 

In  the  allotment  of  1638  he  was  given  one  hundred 
acres,  but  before  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1671, 
he  acquired  a  great  deal  more  land,  for  in  the  division 
of  his  property,  March  27,  1672,  we  find  him  possessed 
of  five  hundred  and  fifty  acres,  one-half  of  which 
was  given  to  his  son  John,  and  one-half  to  his  grand- 
son, Moses.  A  true  inventory  of  his  estate  was  made 
by  Thomas  Newhall  and  Jeremiah  Sweyen,  March  18, 
1672,  which  contains  many  curious  and  interesting 
items,  which  we  would  like  to  give  here,  but  for  its 
length.  The  total  value  of  his  property,  real  and  per- 
sonal, was  £817  lis. 

Adam  Hawkes  had  only  two  children,  John  and 
Susannah.  John  married  Rebecca  Maverick,  daughter 
of  Moses  Maverick,  and  what  is  very  unusual,  the 
homestead  farm  has  continued  in  the  Hawkes  family, 
in  an  unbroken  succession,  down  to  the  present  time, 
and  is  now  owned  and  occupied  by  Samuel  and  Louis 
P.  Hawkes,  and  the  family  of  Richard  Hawkes. 

Adam  Hawkes  built  his  first  house  on  the  hill,  a 
few  hundred  feet  north  of  the  present  house  of  Louis 
P.  Hawkes ;  this  house  was  burned  down  soon  after 
it  was  built.  Much  of  the  iron-ore  which  was  ob- 
tained by  the  old  iron  works,  in  the  centre  of  the 
town,  for  forty  years  or  more,  was,  without  doubt,  dug 
in  the  meadows  of  Mr.  Hawkes.  And  it  seems  he 
was  troubled  with  the  flowage  of  his  lands  by  the  iron 
works,  the  dam  being  raised  much  higher  than  the 
present  one.  He  obtained  damages  for  this  flowage 
at  several  different  times. 

The  above-mentioned  early  settlers  were  all  farmers, 
and  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  there  is  not  more  defi- 
nite knowledge  of  their  locations  and  history.  Could 
sufficient  time  be  given,  undoubtedly  much  more 
might  be  gleaned  concerning  them  and  others  who  have 
escaped  notice. 

But  there  were  also  many  men  connected  with  the 
iron  works  industry,  in  the  Centre,  some  of  whose 
names  we  have  preserved  to  us.  Among  these  were 
Richard  Leader  (general  agent  till  1651,  after  which 
John  Gifford  was  agent),  Joseph  Jenks,  and  Joseph 
Jenks,  Jr.,  Henry  Leonard,  Henry  Styche  (who  lived 
to  the  great  age  of  one  hundred  and  three),  Arzbell 
Anderson,  MacCallum  More  Downing,  John  Turner, 
John  Vinton  and  Samuel  Appleton,  Jr.,  who  owned 
the  works  after  1677. 

Appleton's  Pulpit.  —An  interesting  incident  in 
our  early  history  is  recorded  on  a  bronze  tablet  fast- 
ened to  the  perpendicular  face  of  a  rocky  cliff  on  Ap- 
pleton Street,  in  the  centre  of  the  town,  a  few  years 
ago,  by  some  of  the  descendants  of  the  Appleton 
family.  The  tablet  is  about  two  and  a  half  feet 
square,  and  firmly  bolted  to  the  rock  just  beneath  the 
place  where  the  stirring  harangue  is  sujjposed  to  have 


396 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


been  made.  This  cliff  forms  the  abrupt  side  of  a 
prominent  hill,  known  as  Calemount  or  Catamount 
Hill. 

Tradition  says  that  in  those  troublous  times  a  watch 
was  stationed  on  the  hill  to  give  alarm  of  any  ap- 
proach of  the  Crown  officers  to  arrest  their  man.  The 
watch  was  to  signal  their  approach  by  crying,  "Caleb, 
mount !"  and  from  this  cry  came  the  name  of  the  hill. 

The  following  is  the  inscription  on  the  tablet : 

"  appleton's  pulpit. 

"  In  September,  1687,  from  thia  rock,  tradition  asserts  that,  resisting 
the  tyranny  of  Sir  Edniond  Andros,  Major  Samuel  Appleton,  of  Ipswicli, 
spoke  to  the  people  in  behalf  of  those  principles  which  later  were  em- 
bodied in  the  Declaration  of  Independence." 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

SAUGUS— ( Continued). 
FARMS,   &C.,   A    HUNDRED    YEARS   AGO, 

Eatt  Saugus — Old  Mill — Moore  Farm — Tavern — Major  Parker'' a — Thomas 
Florence — Amos  Slockei — Lewis  Place — Tliomas  Slocker  Place — John 
Stoclcer  Farm — Boynlon  Farm — Jacob  Fiistis  Farm — Breeden  Place — 
Allen  Place — Colonel  Abner  Cheever — Dr.  Cheeoer  Place — Ezra  Brown 
Farm — Tiulor  Farm — Josiuh  Hhides  Farm — Asa  Rhodes  Farm — Master 
Hitchiiigs  Place — Samuel  Buard)itaii — Aaron  Boardmaii — Ivory  Board- 
man  Farm — John  Dampuey — Deacon  Pratt  Farm—Elkanah  Hawkes 
Farm — Hitchings  Place. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  the  reader  to  take  a  look  at 
some  parts  of  the  town,  but  more  especially  at  the 
farms  as  they  appeared  a  hundred  years  ago  or  there- 
abouts. 

East  Saugus. — Let  us  begin  at  the  bridge  in  East 
Saugus,  now  compactly  built  and  covering  the  entire 
slope  from  the  hill  to  the  river ;  but,  one  hundred 
years  ago  very  few  houses  were  standing  here.  In 
1775  the  old  one-story  shed-like  mill  building,  then 
used  as  a  grist-mill,  was  standing  on  the  west  side  of 
the  bridge,  leaving  a  very  narrow  roadway  over  the 
bridge.  Adjoining  the  mill  on  the  south  was  a  two- 
story  dwelling-bouse,  of  good  size,  built  by  Joseph 
Gould,  who  having  died  the  year  previous,  the  house 
was  then  occupied  by  his  widow. 

Let  us  proceed  southerly  up  the  hill  by  the  only 
road,  and  a  few  rods  will  bring  us  to  a  two-story 
dwelling,  occupied  by  Colonel  Ebenezer  Stocker,  of 
subsequent  Revolutionary  fame.  This  house  was  torn 
down  in  1851  to  give  place  to  the  present  house,  built 
and  owned  by  H.  W.  Brackett. 

A  few  rods  farther  south  we  find  an  old-fashioned 
two-story  house,  where  now  stands  the  liouse  of  Fales 
Newhall.  Jacob  Newhall,  the  grandfather  of  Fales 
Newhall,  then  lived  there  and  he  was  a  farmer  and 
shoemaker. 

This  house  was  torn  down  about  1825. 

Continuing  up  the  bill,  and  near  the  tcp,  we  come 
to  a  two-story  dwelling,  which  is  still  standing  and 
omaed  by  the  heirs  of  the  late  Frederick  Stocker.    In 


1775  it  was  owned  by  a  Mr.  Moore.  His  large  barn 
then  stood  on  the  present  site  of  the  Methodist 
Church. 

The  road  soon  comes  to  the  rocky  hill,  where  it 
turns  to  the  left,  ard  a  few  rods  bring  us  to  the  fa- 
mous tavern  kept  by  Landlord  Jacob  Newhall.  It 
stood  on  the  left  or  northerly  side  of  the  road,  facing 
the  south  ;  it  was  a  two-story  gambrel-roof  house,  with 
a  long  sloping  roof  in  the  rear  covering  the  kitchen. 

From  the  bridge  we  have  found  only  five  houses,  in- 
cluding the  tavern. 

Should  we  continue  along  under  the  hill  on  the 
Boston  road  southerly  a  few  rods,  we  should  pass 
on  the  right,  Major  Parker's  blacksmith-shop  in  full 
blast,  and  just  beyond  this  his  dwelling-house.  This 
house  has  recently  been  torn  down  and  a  large  two- 
story  double  dwelling  built  on  the  site. 

Major  David  Parker  came  from  Maiden  to  Saugus 
when  quite  a  young  man — about  1760.  Having  mar- 
ried a  Miss  Hunnewell,  of  Charlestown,  he  settled  him- 
self in  a  house  which  stood  a  few  rods  south  of  the 
old  tavern.  A  short  distance  north  of  the  house  he 
built  his  long  blacksmith-shop  and  carried  on  a  brisk 
business.  He  was  industrious,  capable  and  enterpris- 
ing. He  held  an  honorable  rank  among  the  people 
and  was  early  honored  with  the  office  of  captain  of 
the  West  Parish  Militia,  one  of  the  largest  companies 
in  Lynn.  This  was  previous  to  the  Revolutionary 
War,  for  we  find  that  Captain  David  Parker  mustered 
his  company  at  an  early  hour  on  the  day  of  the  Con- 
cord fight  and  marched  them  with  all  speed  to  the 
scene  of  the  confiict,  where  his  company  did  gallant 
service.  The  courage  and  bravery  shown  by  Captain 
Parker  led  immediately  to  his  promotion  as  major. 
He  was  a  man  of  great  benevolence  of  feeling,  kind 
and  affable  to  strangers.  He  continued  to  work  at 
his  blacksmith-shop  up  to  the  period  of  his  death, 
which  occurred  in  the  early  part  of  this  century. 

The  next  house  south  of  Major  Parker's  was  Sam- 
uel Oliver's,  a  blacksmith  who  worked  for  Major  Par- 
ker. In  1805  Solomon  Brown  purchased  this  house 
of  Mr.  Oliver  and  lived  in  it  until  his  death.  It  was 
afterwards  removed  to  the  Centre. 

Some  rods  still  south  we  come  to  Thomas  Florence's 
small  one-story  house  standing  on  the  side  of  a  ledge 
to  the  right,  just  where  it  is  to-day,  in  1887. 

Thomas  Florence  was  a  hero  of  the  Revolutionary 
War.  He  was  a  gardener  by  trade,  working  most  of 
the  time  for  Landlord  Newhall. 

His  great-grandson,  Charles  Florence,  now  lives  in 
the  house. 

A  few  rods  south  of  the  Florence  house  we  reach  a 
large  dwelling  occupied  by  Amos  Stocker,  another 
Revolutionary  soldier,  and  by  trade  a  cooper.  This 
house  is  still  standing. 

Still  going  south  a  short  distance,  just  where  the 
road  turns  to  the  west,  on  our  right  is  a  large  two- 
story  dwelling,  built  as  early  as  1740  ;  it  was  consid- 
ered in  that  day  one  of  the  best  houses.     It  was  the 


SAUGUS. 


397 


birth-place  of  John  Ballard,  Esq.,  he  who  built  the 
new  hotel  on  the  Ballard  farm.  This  house  is  still 
(1887)  standing,  and  is  owned  and  occupied  by  Wil- 
liam A.  Trefethen,  farmer. 

Just  opposite  the  last  house  there  was  a  lane,  some- 
times called  "  Lewis  Lane,"  leading  south  ;  some  rods 
down  this  lane  there  was  an  old  dwelling-house,  in 
front  of  which  were  noble  elms.  This  was  the  "  Lewis 
Place,"  one  of  the  earliest  settled  farms  in  this  sec- 
tion. 

In  1800  it  passed  to  the  ownership  of  Landlord 
Newhall. 

The  house  was  torn  down  a  few  years  ago. 

Coming  back  to  the  old  Boston  road  and  continu- 
ing westerly  from  the  Trefethen  house,  we  soon  come 
to  a  dwelling  known  in  the  Kevolutionary  times  as 
the  "Thomas  Stocker  Place,"  then  occupied  by  him- 
self. This  house  is  still  standing,  in  1887,  and  is 
owned  by  Charlotte  M.  Mills.  Some  Ibrty  rods  far- 
ther on  we  find  a  large  dwelling  on  the  right  hand 
side.  It  stood  where  now,  in  1887,  the  "Sunnyside 
House"  is  found,  and  a  part  of  the  old  house  was  un- 
doubtedly used  in  the  erection  of  the  new  one. 

In  coming  thus  far  from  the  tavern  we  have  found 
nine  dwellings,  while  from  the  bridge  to  the  tavern 
we  found  only  five. 

The  large  tract  of  land  lying  west  of  Lincoln  Ave- 
nue, in  Cliftondale,  extending  down  to  the  Revere 
line,  and  intersected  by  the  Saugus  Branch  Railroad, 
and  now  very  recently  bought  and  laid  out  into  town 
lots  by  C.  H.  Bond,  Henry  Wait  and  E.  S.  Kent, 
was  formerly  a  noted  farm. 

Previous  to  the  War  of  1812  John  Stocker  owned 
this  farm,  and  built  himself  a  house.  Subsequently 
it  passed  into  the  possession  of  Captain  Daniel  Bick- 
ford.  In  about  1826  Isaac  Carleton  became  the 
owner.  His  native  place  was  Andover.  He  culti- 
vated the  farm  until  his  death,  in  1841. 

Anthony  Hatch  became  the  owner  in  1847,  and 
continued  such  up  to  his  death,  in  1879. 

Mr.  Hatch,  formerly  a  ship  carpenter  in  Medford, 
did  an  extensive  market  gardening  on  his  farm.  A 
man  of  great  industry  ;  his  broad  well-tilled  acres 
always  presented  a  pleasant  sight  to  the  passer-by. 

About  one-half  mile  south  of  Cliftondale,  on  the 
old  traveled  road  which  bore  to  the  east  of  Lincoln 
Avenue  as  now  traveled,  was  a  famous  farm  of  olden 
time,  being  situated  partly  in  Saugus  (then  Lynn) 
and  partly  in  Chelsea.  The  road  passed  between  the 
barn  and  farm-house,  which  stood  at  the  foot  of  the 
hill  then  knowu  aa  Boynton's  Hill.  This  was  the 
hardest  hill  between  Salem  and  Boston,  and  was 
much  dreaded  by  the  drivers  of  heavy  teams.  Mr. 
Boynton  was  often  called  upon  for  an  extra  lift,  and 
Landlord  Newhall  often  sent  extra  horses  or  oxen 
to  help  teams  which  were  to  stop  at  his  tavern. 

Mr.  Boynton  lived  to  an  advanced  age,  and  the 
farm  passed  to  his  son,  Ellis  Boynton.  The  farm 
was  soon  sold  to  Eben  F.  Draper  and  John  Edmunds, 


who  owned  it  for  a  few  years  and  sold  to  Dr.  Smith, 
of  Boston.  A  large  part  of  this  farm  was  utilized  by 
the  Franklin  Trotting  Park  some  years  ago,  and  is 
still  used  somewhat  for  horse-racing. 

Leaving  Lincoln  Avenue  at  Cliftondale,  and  taking 
Essex  Street,  a  short  distance  brings  us  to  a  fine  res- 
idence on  the  right,  facing  the  depot,  now  owned  (in 
1887)  by  Pliny  Nickerson.  This  dwelling-house  has  not 
always  presented  the  beautiful  a^jpearance  of  to-day, 
for  it  has  met  with  many  changes  since  its  first  con- 
struction, in  1807,  by  Jacob  Eustis,  of  Boston,  a 
brother  of  Governor  Eustis.  The  land  in  front  of 
the  house  constituted  his  farm.  Mr.  Eustis  was  a 
man  of  untiring  industry,  especially  scrutinizing  all 
town  expenses,  and  every  irregularity  received  his 
scathing  rebuke. 

About  1830  he  sold  to  James  Dennison.  It  then 
passed  to  W.  Turpin,  and  soon  to  Seth  Heaton, 
who  occupied  it  until  1853.  Mr.  Heaton  sold  to 
Daniel  P.  Wise  and  others,  who  then  applied  the 
name  of  Cliftondale  to  this  section  of  the  town,  and 
began  a  scheme  of  improvement.  Subsequently  John 
T.  Paine,  Esq.,  of  Melrose,  bought  a  portion  of  the 
land,  with  the  Eustis  house.  The  location  of  the 
old  road,  which  ran  nearer  the  house  and  inside  of 
the  noble  trees  now  standing,  he  caused  to  be  re- 
located outside  of  the  trees,  where  we  find  it  to-day. 
Substantial  stone  walls  were  built  around  the  place, 
and  the  house  itself  remodeled. 

Continuing  our  way  beyond  Mr.  Nickerson's, 
the  road  winding  to  the  north,  we  pass  soon  on  our 
right  a  tract  of  land  (now  being  rapidly  built  over 
with  houses)  that  was  known  seventy-five  years  ago 
as  the  "  Breeden  Place  "  among  the  old  farm  settle- 
ments of  the  town.  Crossing  the  railroad,  are  fine 
tillage  fields  on  the  left.  A  large  part  of  this  farm 
was  reclaimed  from  an  extensive  swamp  by  Timothy 
H.  Brown,  who  settled  here  about  1830  and  died  in 
1851.  This  was  known  years  ago  by  the  name  of  the 
"Allen  Place,"  from  its  owner,  Lemuel  Allen,  who 
married  the  daughter  of  Parson  Roby.  Mr.  George 
N.  Miller  is  the  present  owner,  and  may  be  reckoned 
one  of  our  prosperous  farmers. 

Still  going  westerly  a  short  distance  to  the  corner 
of  Felton  Street,  we  come  to  an  old  house  now  owned 
and  occupied  by  Mr.  Walter  V.  Hawkes.  This  was 
the  home  and  farm  of  Colonel  Abner  Cheever,  of 
Revolutionary  memory.  The  farm  was  one  of  the 
best  of  that  early  day.  On  the  death  of  the  colonel, 
about  1820,  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  his  son, 
Major  Henry  Cheever,  who  occupied  it  till  his  death 
in  1858. 

About  sixty  rods  to  the  north  we  come  to  the  once 
femous  "Dr.  Cheever  Place,"  for  many  years  con- 
sidered the  most  elegant  residence  in  Saugus.  A 
broad  high  two-story  verandah  supporting  the  roof  on 
massive  columns  gave  it  at  once  an  elegant  and  south- 
ern air.  It  was  built  about  1808.  Noble  shade-trees 
surrounded  the  house,  the  grounds  were  kept  neat  and 


398 


HISTOUY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS 


trim,  ponds  were  formed  in  the  rear  of  the  house  for 
fish,  boats  and  bathing.  He  built  a  fine  avenue, 
bordered  with  shade-trees,  leading  direct  from  Jhis 
residence  to  the  turnpilce,  protected  by  gates  at  either 
end.  Dr.  Cheever  was  a  surgeon  in  tlie  Continental 
army.  In  politics  a  Federalist,  in  religion  a  Unita- 
rian, and  for  many  years  attended  public  worship  with 
that  society  at  Lynn. 

He  died  about  1842,  leaving  two  children, — Dr. 
Charles  Cheever,  of  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  and  Eliza  S. 
Cheever,  both  now  deceased.  The  doctor  owned  about 
two  hundred  acres  of  land,  forty  acres  being  tillage. 

About  forty  rods  west  of  the  Dr.  Cheever  place  is 
an  old  house,  now  somewhat  modernized,  and  owned 
by  Mr.  William  H.  Penny.  It  was  formerly  the 
house  of  Ezra  Brown,  and  in  the  Revolution  days  was 
the  abode  of  his  father.  More  recently  the  farm  was 
owned  b}^  Stephen  Hall,  who  lived  there  many  years. 
His  daughter  is  the  wife  of  Mr.  William  H,  Penny. 

About  one  hundred  rods  north  of  Mr.  Penny's 
house,  on  the  Newburyport  turnpike,  is  the  farm  now 
owned  by  the  town  of  Saugus,  and  occupied  for  its 
almshouse.  This  was  one  of  the  forms  of  the  olden 
time.  It  was  formerly  known  as  the  ''Tudor  Place." 
The  old  road  from  Sweetzer's  Corner  (nowCliftondale) 
to  South  Reading  passed  through  this  farm  for  about 
sixty  rods  south  of  the  present  house,  substantially 
where  the  turnpike  was  afterwards  built  and  is  now 
traveled.  Before  the  present  house  was  built  there 
was  a  venerable  old  farm-house  upon  the  same  spot. 
That  flld  farm-house  was  owned  by  William  Tudor, 
Esq.,  known  as  Judge  Tudor.  He  inherited  this 
place  from  his  father,  John  Tudor.  The  late  Freder- 
ick Tudor,  Esq.,  of  Nahant,  was  the  son  of  William 
Tudor,  Esq.  The  improvements  made  by  William 
Tudor,  Esq.,  upon  this  jilace  began  about  the  year 
1800.  The  old  house  was  not  torn  down  entirely,  but 
was  made  the  nucleus  of  the  new  house  by  doubling 
the  size  of  the  old  house  and  modernizing  the  whole 
structure.  Judge  Tudor  no  doubt  intended  to  make 
it  his  permanent  family  residence.  Its  fine  situation, 
its  rich  fields  around  the  dwelling,  its  picturesque 
wooded  hills,  all  afforded  him  the  opportunity  to  dis- 
play his  taste.  An  artificial  pond  was  formed  south- 
westerly of  the  house,  and  into  it  was  conducted  the 
water  from  Long  Pond  by  an  artificial  canal  which  he 
excavated,  partly  through  solid  ledge,  at  great  ex- 
pense. This  canal  can  now  be  seen,  and  through  it 
is  now  running  a  portion  of  the  waters  of  Long  Pond. 
The  magnitude  of  this  work  and  its  speedy  comple- 
tion testify  to  the  energy  of  Mr.  Tudor. 

In  1807  the  house  was  vacated  by  the  Tudor  family, 
and  for  years  was  occupied  by  different  families.  In 
1818  it  was  leased  to  Robert  Fames,  who  lived  there 
until  1822,  when  it  was  purchased  of  Henry  I.Tudor 
by  the  town  of  Saugus  for  a  poor  farm. 

On  Central  Street,  near  the  junction  of  Denver 
Street,  on  what  was  then  the  traveled  road  to  Reading, 
were  two  very  old  farms,  one  on  the  south  side  of  the 


old  road,  owned  by  Josiah  Rhodes,  who  died  about 
1794.  This  dwelling,  which  was  a  small  one-story 
house,  stood  upon  the  elevated  ground  east  of  the 
house  now  standing  and  recently  occupied  by  the  late 
Salmon  Snow.  Mr.  Rhodes'  barn  was  upon  the  op- 
posite side  of  the  old  road.  The  widow  of  Josiah 
Rhodes  soon  after  her  husband's  death  married  Richard 
Shute,  who  came  from  Maiden.  He  combined  farm- 
ing, mercantile  business  and  school-teaching.  He 
bought  the  old  school-house,  attached  it  to  the  farm- 
house as  an  ell  and  made  of  it  a  store.  These  build- 
ings were  all  burnt  one  pleasant  autumn  afternoon, 
about  1820,  with  all  their  contents.  Mr.  Shute  was 
an  active  man,  and  being  lame,  rode  a  great  deal  on 
horseback,  even  sowing  his  grain  from  the  back  of 
his  bay  mare.  He  was  also  tax  collector  for  Lynn 
for  some  three  years.  After  his  death  the  farm  passed 
into  the  possession  of  Benjamin  Swain,  and  by  him 
was  sold  to  Salmon  Snow,  about  1833. 

The  second  farm  above  referred  to  was  on  the 
northerly  side  of  the  Reading  road  and  the  westerly 
side  of  the  road  leading  to  the  meeting-house.  This 
farm  was  owned  about  eighty  years  ago  by  Deacon 
Asa  Rhodes. 

More  recently  it  was  owned  by  the  late  Deacon 
James  Roots.  The  Deacon  Asa  Rhodes  house  was  a 
venerable  relic  of  the  olden  time,  two  stories  high, 
with  a  chimney  in  the  centre  occupying  a  large  part 
of  the  house.  A  little  east  of  the  house  stood  his 
small  shoemaker's  shop,  where  the  deacon  could  al- 
ways be  found  at  his  craft.  The  deacon  was  born  in 
the  old  house,  IMarch  1749,  and  lived  there  all  his 
days,  dying  at  the  age  of  ninety-three  years.  Though 
a  farmer,  yet  his  principal  business  was  shoemaking. 
He  worked  his  own  stock  and  made  shoes  for  the 
Marblehead  market.  He  would  repair  to  Marble- 
head  with  his  saddle-bags,  distribute  their  contents 
among  his  customers,  take  other  orders  and  return 
home.  His  way  of  traveling  was  sometimes  on 
horseback,  sometimes  on  foot  with  saddle-bags  on  his 
shoulder,  and  sometimes,  with  leather-apron  on,  he 
would  wheel  a  barrow.  The  old  house  was  torn 
down  soon  after  his  death,  in  1842.  Deacon  James 
Roots,  who  married  a  daughter  of  Deacon  Rhodes, 
owned  and  lived  on  the  place  until  his  death. 

About  eighty  rods  eastward  of  the  Deacon  Rhodes 
place  was  what  was  known  as  the  Master  Hitchings 
place.  This  place  is  now  our  cemetery.  Thomas 
Hitchings  moved  from  Lynn  to  the  West  Parish, 
about  1802,  so  as  to  lead  the  singing  in  the  parish 
church,  and  also  to  teach  the  singing-school ;  hence 
he  was  called  "  Master  Hitchings."  He  lived  in  the 
old  homestead  and  reared  a  large  family.  This  old 
house  is  still  standing,  although  removed  many  rods 
towards  East  Saugus,  on  land  known  as  the  Bowler 
Field. 

In  the  westerly  part  of  the  town,  now  called  Oak- 
landvale,  a  little  over  a  mile  from  the  Town  Hall,  on 
the  road  to  Wakefield,  were  a  number  of  old  farms 


SAUGUS. 


399 


deserving  some  mention.  Just  before  the  road  de- 
scends to  the  meadow  and  crosses  the  brook  the  loca- 
tion of  the  old  Reading  way  can  be  seen  leading  off 
to  the  left  or  south,  and  making  a  wide  sweep  over 
the  meadow;  the  present  new  location  across  the 
brook  was  laid  out  in  1818.  Just  after  crossing  the 
meadow  an  old  house  is  still  seen  to  the  north,  and 
some  rods  back  from  the  road.  This  was  in  Revolu- 
tionary days  occupied  by  8anuiel  Boardman. 

Just  here  a  road  branches  off' to  the  left,  leading  to 
Melrose.  A  few  rods  on  this  road  brings  us  to  a  ven- 
erable dwelling-house  on  the  right,  a  good  specimen 
of  the  old  time  house;  it  is  fully  two  hundred  years 
old.  During  the  American  Revolution  it  was  occu- 
pied by  Aaron  Boardman,  and  afterwards  it  became 
his  son's,  Abijah  Boardman's,  who  lived  and  died  there. 
When  the  county  of  Suffolk  extended  up  as  far  as 
this  farm,  the  line  dividing  the  counties  passed 
through  this  house,  and  the  court  had  to  decide 
where  Mr.  Boardman  should  pay  his  poll-tax.  Chelsea 
finally  collected  it,  as  his  sleeping-room  was  in  that 
town. 

Coming  back  to  the  Reading  or  Wakefield  road,  and 
continuing  westerly,  we  come  to  some  excellent  inter- 
vale, where  were  several  very  old  farms.  In  the 
Revolutionary  days  there  were  four  farm-bouses  here, 
one  of  which  only  is  now  standing.  This  is  the 
house  on  the  south  side  of  the  road,  the  homestead  of 
the  late  Joseph  Cheever,  and  more  recently  occupied 
by  his  son,  Cyrus  Cheever.  It  was  formerly  Ivory 
Boardman's  house.  Another  of  the  old  houses  also 
stood  on  the  south  side  of  the  road,  before  reaching  the 
Joseph  Cheever  homestead.  This  was  built  about 
1775  by  John  Dampney,  formerly  of  Salem,  grand- 
fiither  of  the  late  Joseph  Dampney,  Esq.,  of  Lynn. 

Another  of  the  old  houses  stood  on  ihe  north  side 
of  the  road  and  west  of  the  Joseph  Cheever  house.  It 
was  occupied  by  Daniel  Floyd. 

But  another  of  these  houses,  and  the  most  remark- 
able, was  the  Deacon  Pratt  house.  It  stood  about 
one  hundred  rods  east  of  the  old  road,  upon  a  level 
plot  of  ground.  The  remains  of  the  old  fruit-trees 
can  yet  be  seen. 

Deacon  Pratt  was  noted  for  his  orderly  habits,  his 
jdace  being  always  in  the  best  of  shajie.  He  was  a 
deacon  in  the  West  Parish  Church,  and  a  highly  ex- 
emplary man. 

Let  us  now  retrace  our  steps  as  far  as  the  Oakland- 
vale  School-house.  Directly  opposite  this  school- 
house  is  a  road  leading  northerly.  We  take  this 
road,  and  about  forty  rods  brings  us  to  a  modern 
two-story  dwelling,  built  by  Joseph  Measui-y,  Esq.,  in 
1847.  Subsequently  he  sold  it  to  CI.  W.  Phillips,  Esq., 
who  recently  died  there,  when  it  was  sold  to  the 
present  owner,  Mr.  Ziegler. 

A  few  rods  beyond  this  house  brings  us  to  a  gate  on 
the  left ;  through  this  gate,  about  twenty  rods,  stands 
a  venerable  farm-house,  now  owned  by  Mr.  Bostwick. 
This  was  one  of  the  ancient  farm-sites  of  the  West 


Parish  of  Lynn.  This  farm  then  included  all  the 
land  extending  to  the  Wakefield  road. 

In  1775  it  was  owned  by  Elkauah  Hawkes,  who  oc- 
cupied it  many  years.  He  combined  by  occupation 
the  blacksmith  and  farmer.  His  shop  stood  near  the 
gate  before-mentioned,  wherein  was  executed  what 
smith-work  the  neighborhood  needed.  When  out 
gunning  in  the  woods  his  hand  was  mutilated  by  an 
accidental  discharge  of  his  gun,  rendering  amputa- 
tion necessary.  With  the  aid  of  his  son,  he  con- 
tinued his  business  several  years.  He  had  a  daugh- 
ter, Love  Hawkes,  who  for  several  years  taught 
school  in  the  neighborhood. 

During  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  the 
farm  came  into  the  possession  of  Nathan  Hawkes, 
son  of  Nathan  of  the  West  Parish,  who  owned  it  till 
its  sale  to  Mr.  Saunders  and  Measury,  in  1846.  After 
the  sale  he  moved  to  the  old  house  farther  east,  near 
where  the  old  road  crosses  the  brook.  He  died  here 
in  18G2,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-seven  years. 
This  old  farm-house,  where  he  died,  was  owned  by 
Daniel  Hitching^  early  in  this  century,  and  after- 
wards was  owned  by  Ira  Draper,  Esq.,  until  about 
1840.  It  still  stands  and  is  occupied  by  Hannah 
Hawkes. 

About  one  hundred  rods  eastward  of  this  last 
farm,  in  a  large  field,  stands  an  old  farm-house,  until 
very  recently  owned  and  occupied  by  the  late  Lott 
Edmunds.  This  farm,  in  the  period  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, was  called  the  "  Hitchings  Place."  Its  site  is 
rather  low,  and  all  these  fields  and  intervales,  in  the 
period  of  the  old  "  Iron- Works,"  must  have  been  cov- 
ered with  water  to  the  depth  of  three  feet  and  more. 

To  the  northwest  of  these  last  farms,  and  contig- 
uous thereto,  is  that  tract  of  rough,  wild  woodland, 
long  and  still  known  as  the  "  Six  Hundred  Acres." 
This  was  the  lot  of  public  land  distributed  among  the 
settlers  about  1706. 


CHAPTER     XXVII. 

fiAVGVS— (Continued). 
RELIGIOUS    SOCIETIES. 

Parish  CHURtH  :  Organization — Edward  Cheever — Peiostin  Church — Parson 
Rohy — His  Salary — His  Death  aud  Epilapli — William  Frothingharn — 
Other  Pastors — Secession  of  the  Calvinistic  Wing — Netv  Church  Edifice — 
Organization  of  Calvinistic  HCcmbers — First  Pastors — First  Church  Edifice 
—New  Church.  First  Methodist  Church  :  Organisation— Rock  School- 
House — Pioneers — Pastors — First  Church — Sundan-schnnl — New  Church. 
Cliftondale  BIethodist  Church  ;  Formation,  etc.  Methodist  Church 
IN  Centre.  St.  John's  Episcopal  Mission.  Congregational  So- 
ciety IN  Cliftondale. 

Old  Parish  Church. — The  first  parish  church  in 
Situgus,  known  as  the  Third  Church  of  Lynn,  or  the 
Church  of  the  West  Parish,  dates  its  organization  in 
the  year  1738.     Previous  to  that  time  the  people  in 


400 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


the  west  part  of  Lynn  attended  meeting  at  the  parish 
church  on  Lynn  Common. 

The  tirst  step  was  the  union  of  all  the  principal  men 
to  build  a  meeting-house.  The  union  was  named  the 
"  Proprietors  of  the  Meeting-House."  In  1736  the 
work  was  commenced,  and  the  best  of  oak  timber  was 
cut  for  the  frame.  The  work  made  considerable 
progress  during  the  year,  although  it  was  not  proba- 
bly finished  till  1737.  The  finishing  only  extended 
so  fiir  as  to  build  a  pulpit  and  cover  the  floor  with 
plain  seats,  one  side  called  the  "men's  seats,"  and  the 
other  the  "  women's  seats."  At  this  state  of  affairs 
the  parish  records  commence.  The  first  book  of  rec- 
ords was  a  present  to  the  parish  from  Thos.  Cheever. 
It  is  a  remarkable  vellum-covered  book,  and  served 
the  parish  ninety  years.  On  the  first  page  of  the 
book  is  written  :  "  This  book  is  a  gift  to  the  Society 
of  Proprietors  of  the  new  meeting-house,  in  the  west- 
erly end  of  the  town  of  Lynn,  by  Thomas  Cheever." 

On  the  5th  of  March,  1738,  a  warrant  was  issued  by 
Ebenezer  Burrill,  Esq.,  of  Lynn,  addressed  to  Joshua 
Haven,  and  requiring  him  to  call  the  first  meeting  of 
the  Third  Parish  of  Lynn  for  organization  and  the 
choice  of  officers. 

(The  Second  Parish  had  previously  been  organized 
in  that  part  of  Lynn  now  called  Lynnfield). 

The  meeting  was  held  by  adjournment  at  the  meet- 
ing-house, the  28th  day  of  March,  1738,  and  William 
Taylor  was  chosen  parish  clerk,  and  William  Taylor, 
Jonathan  Wait  and  Josiah  Rhodes  parish  committee. 
After  this  organization  the  parish  at  once  proceeded 
to  provide  their  first  preacher.  Edward  Cheever,  a 
resident  in  the  parish,  an  educated  man  and  about 
entering  the  ministry,  was  invited  to  preach  for  three 
months. 

It  appears  that  the  people  were  pleased  with  the 
preaching  of  Edward  Cheever,  and  at  a  meeting  held 
June  18,  1738,  they  voted  to  settle  him  as  their  minis- 
ter. For  some  reason  which  does  not  appear,  Mr. 
Cheever  was  not  at  once  settled.  In  the  following 
October  the  parish  voted  to  send  letters  for  ordinaiion, 
although  it  does  not  appear  that  he  was  ordained  till 
October,  1739.  What  salary  he  was  to  have  does  not 
appear  from  the  records,  although  a  certain  gift  of  the 
General  Court  was  appropriated  to  assist  the  settle- 
ment, and  that  forty  members  of  the  parish  were  each 
to  carry  to  the  house  of  Edward  Cheever  a  half-cord 
of  wood  each  year,  and  not  fail.  At  the  same  time 
with  this  settlement  several  things  came  up  for  the 
decision  of  the  parish.  One  was  to  accept  the  legacy 
from  Theophilus  Burrill  of  one  hundred  pounds 
(three  hundred  dollars,  silver)  "'  to  be  expended  in 
furniture  and  vessels  for  the  Lord's  Table."  It  was 
voted  to  accept  and  appropriate.  Another  was  to  as- 
sign a  lot  of  land  for  "  horse-stables,''  each  one  to 
build  his  own  stable.  So  about  ten  stables  were  built, 
})robably  in  front  of  the  burying-ground. 

We  cannot  sufficiently  admire  the  zeal  of  our  an- 
cestors—then few  in  number  and  widely  scattered — to 


undertake  a  work  of  such  magnitude  as  the  building 
of  a  church.  It  was  forty-four  feet  long  by  thirty- 
six  wide,  with  about  twenty-feet  posts.  It  had  upper 
and  lower  windows  all  round,  of  common-sized  glass. 
On  its  front,  or  south  side,  was  the  front  door,  with  a 
large  porch  or  vestibule,  which  was  entered  by  three 
doors.  It  had,  besides,  a  door  on  each  end  opening 
into  the  church.  No  doubt  the  model  of  this  was 
found  in  the  "Old  Tunnel,"  so-called,  on  Lynn  Com- 
mon. Let  us  go  into  the  church.  The  pulpit isupon 
the  north  side  of  the  house,  in  the  centre,  raised  high, 
with  a  seat  in  front  for  the  deacons.  A  gallery  runs 
around  the  front  and  two  ends,  the  front  gallery  seats 
being  appropriated  to  the  singers.  The  floor  of  the 
church  is  seated  with  plain  plank  seats,  divided  into 
two  sections. 

What  a  pattern  of  plain  Puritan  simplicity  must 
this  church  have  presented,  with  its  "  men's  seats  " 
on  one  side  and  its  "  women's  seats  "  on  the  other  ; 
and  then  the  worshippers  with  their  antique  dresses  ! 

The  situation  of  this  church  was  very  pleasant.  It 
was  in  the  centre  of  the  town,  on  a  small  elevation  of 
land  upon  the  west  side  of  the  road  leading  north  to  the 
"  Old  Iron  Works,"  on  a  part  of  the  "  Taylor  Farm," 
so-called,  on  the  triangular  green  where  now  (1887) 
stands  the  flag  staff".  The  road  running  westerly,  now 
called  Main  Street,  was  not  then  made.  For  some 
years  the  people  living  on  the  old  road  to  South 
Reading  probably  passed  through  the  fields,  opening 
bars,  but  afterwards  a  highway  was  built.  This 
church  edifice  continued  to  stand  on  the  same  spot, 
although  undergoing  some  alterations,  until  the  year 
1858,  when  it  was  moved  about  three  rods  north  of  its 
old  site,  and  is  now  occupied  for  a  grocery-store  by 
Mr.  Whitehead,  with  dwelling  above.  The  elevated 
knoll  has  been  graded  down  and  is  now  an  open 
square. 

Let  us  now  return  to  the  old  church  in  1740.  An- 
other question  was  then  brought  up  which  proved  in 
the  sequel  an  encroachment  on  the  "free-seat"  plan. 
They  voted  to  build  a  pew  for  the  minister  at  the 
east  end  of  the  pulpit.  Poor,  blind  mortals !  They 
should  have  known  enough  of  human  nature  to  have 
taught  them  that  it  never  would  be  endured  to  have 
the  minister's  family  sit  above  the  people.  So,  very 
soon  after,  it  was  resolved  that  the  new  church  should 
have  pews,  in  part  at  least.  A  committee  was  chosen 
to  make  a  plan  for  the  pews.  At  a  meeting  held  on 
the  8th  of  December,  1740,  the  committee  on  pews 
made  the  following  report  in  substance  :  "  We  are  of 
opinion,  there  being  room  enough  to  erect  twenty- 
nine  pews  in  said  meeting-house,  nineteen  wall  pews 
and  ten  pews  on  the  floor.  All  persons  that  make 
choice  of  a  wall  pew,  they  maintaining  the  glass 
against  their  own  pews.  The  proprietors  of  the  house 
to  have  the  choice  of  pews.  That  each  person  having 
a  pew  shall  pay  for  erection  of  his  own  pew.  That 
the  pews  shall  be  taxed  forty  shillings  per  week  as 
apportioned." 


SAUGUS. 


401 


The  foregoing  report  was  accepted  and  a  larger 
committee  of  seven  of  the  best  men  was  chosen  to 
superintend  the  whole  matter,  and  after  the  pews 
were  built,  to  tax  them. 

This  committee,  finding  that  more  pews  were 
needed,  made  a  plan  to  increase  the  number  to  thirty- 
foui",  by  making  five  more.  Their  report  read  thus : 
"  By  taking  two  seats  of  the  men's,  and  two  hinder- 
most  seats  of  the  women's,  with  five  feet  of  the 
women's  fore  seat  and  second  seat,  will  make  room 
for  five  pews  more,  making  thirty-four  in  all." 

The  report  was  accepted. 

From  what  can  be  gathered,  it  appears  that  the 
Third  Parish  (now  Saugus)  was  set  off  from  the  First 
Parish  (Old  Tunnel)  on  condition  that  the  parish  tax 
should  be  assessed  and  collected  by  the  First  Parish 
till  the  General  Court  should  incorporate  the  West 
Pai'ish.  That  during  said  time,  the  West  or  Third 
Parish  might  have  separate  preaching,  and  draw  from 
the  treasurer  of  the  First  Parish  their  ratable  proj^or- 
tion  of  the  money  raised.  Their  projjortion  was 
thirty-five  parts  of  every  one  hundred  and  eighty. 
It  is  thus  seen  that  Saugus  was  no  small  part  of  Lynn, 
as  to  taxation  at  that  day.  The  sum  refunded,  with 
forty  shillings  per  week  tax  on  pews,  was  deemed  suf- 
ficient to  meet  the  cash  expenses  of  the  new  parish. 
But  the  young  parish  found  very  soon  the  same  difli- 
culties  that  religious  societies  have  always  found — the 
trouble  of  raising  money.  The  people  were  remiss 
in  paying  the  weekly  assessments  upon  the  j^ews,  and 
also  were  negligent  in  supplying  the  yearly  half-cord  of 
wood  each.  Various  votes  were  passed  threatening 
to  delinquents. 

On  March  6,  1745,  the  parish  chose  a  committee  to 
build  the  five  additional  pews  on  the  lower  floor,  and 
twenty  jiews  in  the  gallery,  ten  in  the  front  gallery  and 
five  in  each  end  gallery.  They  were  also  empowered 
to  let,  tax  and  sell,  as  they  might  judge  best. 

It  was  voted  that  every  pew  occupier  should  sup- 
ply a  half-cord  of  wood  yearly,  and  more  or  less  as 
the  tax  might  be. 

The  course  adopted  by  the  West  Parish  about  the 
construction  of  pews  was  an  improvement  on  the 
"Old  Tunnel"  method.  In  that  house  every  one 
made  his  pew  to  his  own  taste,  but  here  the  society 
built  the  pews  uniformly  and  the  pew-owner  paid  the 
cost. 

In  February,  1747,  the  parish  again  petitioned  the 
General  Court  for  an  act  of  incorporation. 

The  First  Parish  Church  at  Lynn  stoutly  opposed 
all  these  petitions  for  separation  ;  but  it  was  finally 
obtained. 

In  February,  1749,  Ebenezer  Burrill  issued  a  war- 
rant for  organization  under  the  charter.  The  meeting 
was  held  the  10th  inst.,  and  Jonathan  Hawkes  was 
chosen  as  first  parish  clerk  under  the  charter.  (Rev. 
Edw.  Cheever  was  dismissed  December,  1748.) 

At  this  meeting  it  was  voted  that  the  parish  con- 
cur with  the  church  in  inviting  Mr.  J(  seph  Eoby  to 
26 


become  their  minister.  In  this  vote  of  concurrence 
the  parish  voted  all  the  particulars  as  to  the  pay- 
ment of  Mr.  Eoby.     We  here  give  the  vote  verbatim  : 

"Voted  for  the  annual  support  of  Mr.  Eoby  so  long  as  he  shall  carry 
on  the  work  of  the  ministry  in  said  parish,  the  improvement  of  a  suita- 
ble house  and  barn.  Pasturing  and  sufficient  winter  meat  for  two  cows 
and  one  horse,  and  to  put  the  hay,  or  winter  meat  into  the  barn — the 
improvement  of  two  acres  of  land  suitable  to  plant,  and  to  be  kept  well 
fenced,  and  sixty  pounds  in  lawful  silver  money  at  six  shillings  and  eight 
pence  per  ounce,  and  also  the  loose  contribution." 

On  March  1,  1749,  a  committee  was  chosen  "  to  in- 
form Mr.  Joseph  Roby  that  he  was  chosen  to  settle 
in  the  ministry  by  the  church  and  parish."  Soon 
after  this  vote  the  subject  of  giving  the  meeting- 
house to  the  parish  was  discussed  by  the  proprietors, 
and  a  meeting  was  held  for  that  purpose,  wherein  it 
was  voted  that  said  "meeting-house,  with  all  privi- 
leges and  appurtenances,  be  given  to  the  Third  Parish, 
excepting  pew  No.  23,  and  the  place  where  it  stands; 
provided  said  parish  wrong  no  person  of  their  expense 
in  building  the  pews  in  said  house." 

For  reasons  which  do  not  appear,  Mr.  Roby  was  not 
settled  on  the  foregoing  vote,  and  at  a  meeting  held 
April  21,  1750,  a  committee  was  chosen  to  supply  the 
pulpit  with  "  transient  preaching."  Also  to  see  how 
the  parish  could  purchase  a  house  and  land  suitable 
for  a  parsonage. 

From  a  subsequent  vote  it  maybe  inferred  that  the 
support  voted  to  Mr.  Roby  was  not  entirely  satisfac- 
tory to  him ;  we  give  verbatim  the  second  vote,  July 
2,  1750 : 

"  Voted,  That  if  Mr.  Joseph  Roby  accepts  our  Invitation  and  settles  in 
the  work  of  the  ministry  in  this  parish,  his  whole  Salery  as  suport  an- 
nually to  innable  him  to  Carry  on  the  work  of  the  ministry  in  said 
Parish  shall  be  as  foUoweth  :  The  improvement  of  a  suitable  House  and 
Barn  standing  in  a  suitable  place.  Pasturing  and  sufficient  Winter  Meet 
for  two  cows  and  one  Horse,  the  Winter  Meet  put  in  his  Barn,  the  in  . 
provement  of  two  Acres  of  land  suitable  to  plant,  and  to  be  kept  well 
fenced,  Thirty  Pounds  in  lawful  Silver  money  at  six  shillings  and  eight 
pence  per  ounce.  Twenty  cords  at  his  Dore  and  the  lose  contribution. 
And  also  the  Following  Articles  or  so  much  money  as  will  purchase 
them,  viz..  Sixty  Bushels  of  Indian  Corn,  Forty-one  Bushels  of  Eye,  Six 
Hundred  Pounds  wait  of  Pork  and  Eight  Hundred  and  Eighty-eight 
Pounds  wait  of  Beefe,  and  that  the  Salery  or  annual  Suport  as  above 
expressed  shall  begin  at  the  time  of  Mr.  Koby's  giving  his  answer  of  Ex- 
ceptance,  and  continues  so  long  as  he  continueth  in  the  Work  of  the 
ministry  amongst  us,  Said  Parish  Reserving  the  Term  of  one  year  and 
six  months  from  the  time  of  his  giving  his  answer  of  Exceptance  to 
erect  complete  and  finish  the  House  and  Barn  above  mentioned." 

Mr.  Joseph  Roby  finally  concluded  to  cast  his  lot 
with  the  resolute  and  benevolent  little  band  which 
constituted  the  West  Parish  of  Lynn.  Although  a 
Boston  man  by  birth,  he  nevertheless  met  his  hum- 
ble and  rustic  friends  with  becoming  dignity  of  char- 
actei".     We  give  his  letter  of  acceptance  : 

"Boston,  July25tb,  IToO. 

"  Hond  and  Beloved  Brethren : — I  am  obliged  to  you  for  the  respect  you 
have  shown  me  in  the  call  you  have  given  me  to  settle  with  you  in  the 
work  of  the  ministry  among  you,  and  am  extremely  sorry  that  any  diffi- 
culties have  in  time  past  prevented  the  accomplishing  an  affair  so  agree- 
able to  you  as  well  as  myself.  It  is  with  freedom  and  much  satisfaction 
that  I  now  declare  my  acceptance  of  your  call,  hoping  that  an  event  so 
important  to  you  and  me  will  be  overruled  in  great  favor  to  each.  I 
presume  you  will  always  consider  my  circumstances,  and  kindly  supply 
my  wants  as  there  may  be  occasion.    I  hope  we  shall  have  an  interest  in 


402 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


each  other's  affection,  and  that  your  love  to  me  and  mine  to  you  may 
abound— that  we  shall  live  together  in  peace,  and  that  tlie  God  of  love 
and  peace  may  dwell  among  us  and  bless  us  continually.  I  ask  your 
prayers  to  God  for  me,  and  God  forbid  that  I  should  cease  praying  for 
you,  that  the  blessings  of  heaven  may  be  your  portion  and  that  of  your 
children  after  you,  and  that  a  preached  gospel  may  be  to  you  the  power 
of  salvation.     I  am,  honored  and  dear  brethren, 

"  Yours  affectionately, 

"Joseph  Roby. 
"  To  the  Third  Church  and  Parish  in  Lynn." 

Already  in  March,  1750,  a  house  and  barn,  with 
thirty-three  acres  of  land,  had  been  purchased  of  John 
Hutchinson  for  three  hundred  pounds  currency 
(about  nine  hundred  dollars),  for  a  parsonage  and 
parsonage  lands.  In  1780  we  find  the  first  mention  of 
dollars  and  cents — as  then  written,  "dolers  and  sents." 
Pounds  were  fast  becoming  obsolete,  their  value  hav- 
ing so  depreciated  that  in  the  latter  part  of  their  use 
the  parish  voted  eight  hundred  pounds,  instead  of  the 
less  sum,  which  appears  in  the  settlement  stipulation. 

Between  the  minister's  salary,  house  and  barn,  til- 
lage land  and  pasture,  wood  and  hay,  corn  and  rye, 
beef  and  pork,  which  all  had  to  have  particular  care 
every  year,  to  which  may  be  added  the  care  of  the 
church,  the  collections  of  rates,  the  building  and 
taking  up  of  pews,  the  establishing  of  horse-sheds, 
the  fencing  of  burying  ground,  the  building  and  keep- 
ing of  pound,  the  establishing  and  providing  for  a 
school,  with  almost  everything  else  that  appertains  to 
civilized  life,  it  well  may  be  judged  that  parish  meet- 
ings were  no  dull  or  stale  affairs.  An  old  and  some- 
what amusing  practice  prevailed  of  recording  the 
names  of  dissenters  to  a  vote.  For  instance,  Josiah 
Ehodes  might  dissent  about  the  providing  pork  for 
the  minister,  and  would  at  once  request  his  name  re- 
corded as  dissenting. 

"  Parson  Roby,"  as  he  was  familiarly  called,  had 
now  been  settled  over  a  half-century.  Peace  and  love 
had  marked  all  his  intercourse  with  his  people.  In 
July,  1802,  the  loved  pastor,  who  had  always  enjoyed 
the  best  health,  was  suddenly  attacked  with  disease 
while  in  his  pulpit.  He  was  taken  therefrom  to  his 
home,  never  more  to  resume  the  duties  so  long  and  so 
faithfully  discharged.  In  August  a  meeting  was  held 
on  the  matter,  and  Joseph  Emerson  was  employed  as 
a  substitute  for  a  few  weeks.  Thus  matters  went  on, 
several  ministers  supplying  till  January  31,  1803, 
when  the  aged  pastor  died.  The  record  reads  thus  : 
"  January  31st,  1803,  the  Rev.  Joseph  Roby  departed 
this  life,  in  the  80th  year  of  his  life  and  the  53d  of  his 
ministry,  and  was  buried  the  4th  day  of  February,  at 
the  expense  of  the  parish."  The  following  is  the  in- 
scription on  his  gravestone,  slill  standing  in  the  old 
burying-ground  : 

"  Sacred  to  the  memoiy  of  the  Kev*  Joseph  Roby,  who  departed  this 
life  Jany.  31st,  1803,  in  the  80th  year  of  his  age  and  53d  of  his  ministry 
in  this  Parish. 

"Through  life  a  lover  of  learning  and  virtue,  a  sincere  friend,  a  kind 
and  affectionate  husband  and  parent,  and  a  devoted  Christian. 

"By  a  constant  practice  of  the  Christian  and  social  virtues,  he  ren- 
dered himself  greatly  beloved  and  respected  in  the  various  walks  of  do- 
mestic life.  Reader,  would'st  thou  be  honored  in  life  and  lamented  at 
death,  go  and  do  likewise. 


"  No  pain,  no  grief,  no  anxious  fear 

Invade  these  bounds  ;  no  mortal  woes 
Can  reach  the  peaceful  sleeper  here 

Whilst  angels  watch  his  soft  repose. 
So  .Jesus  sleeps,  God's  dying  Son, 

Past  thro'  the  grave  and  blest  the  bed. 
Then  rest,  dear  Saint,  till  fi-om  his  throne 

The  morning  break  and  pierce  the  shade." 

In  April,  1804,  the  church  and  parish  gave  a  call 
to  Rev.  William  Frothingham  —  his  letter  of  accept- 
ance was  dated  June  2,  1804,  from  which  we  give  an 
extract : 

"The  office  to  which  you  have  called  me  is  greatly  important  and  sol- 
emn. It  is  to  be  an  embassador  of  Christ  to  men — to  be  entrusted  with 
the  word  of  reconciliation — to  be  a  guide  and  instructor  in  matters  of 
eternal  moment  to  you — to  watch  for  your  souls  as  one  that  must  give  an 
account — to  be  your  spiritual  steward,  appointed  to  give  every  one  his 
meat  in  due  season — to  be  a  worker  together  with  Christ.  How  sacred 
an  office  I  What  peculiar  talents,  what  spiritual  graces  are  necessary  to 
the  right  discharge  of  it  I  " 

He  was  installed  September  26,  1804.  Mr.  Froth- 
ingham continued  as  minister  for  thirteen  years,  until 
dismissed  at  his  own  request.  May  7, 1817.  The  par- 
ish had  become  weaker  through  the  withdrawal  of 
several  prominent  members  and  other  causes,  and  so 
were  unable  to  support  Mr.  Frothingham — he  left  his 
charge  with  grief  and  the  society  parted  with  him 
with  deep  regret. 

The  parish  voted  the  pulpit  free  to  ministers  of  any 
denomination,  no  expenses  being  made  to  the  parish. 
This  state  of  things  existed  for  three  or  four  years, 
and  very  little  was  done  to  promote  harmony  of 
action. 

From  1821  to  1826  Rev.  Joseph  Emerson  and  Rev. 
Hervey  Wilbur,  being  principals  of  the  Saugus  Fe- 
male Seminary,  also  generally  supplied  the  parish 
pulpit. 

This  year,  1826,  began  that  conflict  of  opinions 
which  finally  resulted  in  dividing  the  society.  The 
Trinitarian  and  Unitarian  elements  could  no  longer 
coalesce. 

Through  the  great  influence  of  Dr.  Abijah  Cheever, 
the  Rev.  Ephraim  Randall,  a  strict  Unitarian,  was  in- 
stalled minister  October  3,  1826.  His  pastorate  was 
short-lived,  lasting  until  the  following  autumn  in 
1827,  when  it  was  dissolved  and  the  parish  left  again 
destitute. 

The  controversy  became  bitter.  From  1827  to  1832 
very  little  was  done, — occasional  preaching  in  the  old 
church,  rarely  orthodox,  but  more  frequently  Univer- 
salist  and  Unitarian. 

In  1832  the  Calvinistic  members  of  the  parish,  see- 
ing no  prospect  of  ever  gaining  the  ascendancy  in  the 
parish  again,  formally  withdrew  and  organized  a  new 
society.  This  left  the  old  parish  in  a  crippled  con- 
dition, which  lasted  up  to  1836. 

In  the  winter  of  1835-36  the  members  of  the  old 
parish  waked  up  and  began  a  general  repairing  and 
remodeling  the  inside  of  the  old  church,  which  had 
now  been  built  one  hundred  years. 

The  old  high-backed  latticed  pews  were  removed, 
also  the  venerable  pulpit  with  the  sounding  board, 


SAUGUS. 


403 


also  the  deacons'  seat,  and  the  galleries  on  the  south 
and  east  sides,  leaving  a  small  gallery  on  the  west  end 
for  the  singers. 

The  broad  south  porch  did  not  escape,  but  was  torn 
down  and  its  doors  closed,  the  only  entrance  now  be- 
ing on  the  west  side.  Such  was  the  change  that  the 
old  church  could  scarcely  be  recognized. 

The  first  minister  after  the  renovation  was  Eev. 
John  Nichols.  After  Mr.  Nichols  the  pulpit  was  sup- 
plied from  1838  to  1848  by  Benjamin  F.  Newhall,  Esq., 
James  M.  Usher  and  others. 

In  1850  Rev.  Josiah  Marvin  was  settled  and  con- 
tinued till  1852. 

From  1852  to  1857,  preaching  by  Eev.  Henry  Eaton, 
Sylvanus  Cobb,  D.D.,  Rev.  J.  W.  Talbot  and  Hon. 
James  M.  Usher. 

From  1857  to  1859,  supplied  by  Rev.  J.  H.  Campbell 

It  was  at  this  time  that  most  of  the  parish  property 
was  sold.  In  1858  some  movement  was  made  for  a 
new  church.  Soon  the  old  parish  church  was  sold  for 
about  two  hundred  and  forty-two  dollars  to  Miss  Eliza 
Townsend,  who  removed  the  church  to  the  northerly 
side  of  Main  Street,  near  by,  and  made  it  into  a  store 
with  dwelling  above.  The  site  of  the  old  church  was 
sold  for  five  hundred  and  seventy  dollars. 

In  1860  a  new  church  was  built  and  dedicated  in  the 
autumn  of  the  same  year.  It  was  located  a  few  hun- 
dred feet  west  of  the  old  site,  at  the  corner  of  Main  and 
Summer  Streets,  where  it  is  now  standing  with  its 
modest  spire.  An  outside  clock  on  its  tower  gives  the 
time  of  day  to  observers. 

Since  1860  the  pulpit  has  been  supplied  as  follows  : 
From  1860  to  1861  by  Rev.  Benjamin  W.  Atwill ; 
1862  to  1865  by  Rev.  J.  H.  Campbell;  1866  to  1873 
by  Rev.  Thomas  J.  Greenwood ;  1875  to  1876  by  Rev. 
Albert  W.  Whitney ;  1876  to  1878  by  Rev.  Thomas 
W.  Uiman;  1878  to  1884  by  Rev.  Charles  A.  Skinner  ; 
1885  to  April,  1887,  Rev.  J.  H.  Mclnerney.  In  June, 
1887,  Rev.  Irving  W.  Tomlinson  is  engaged  to  supply 
for  one  year. 

Having  brought  the  old  parish  history  down  to 
the  present  time,  let  us  return  to  that  portion  of  the 
old  parishioners  who,  although  claiming  to  be  the 
true  successors  in  doctrine  of  the  old  parish  church, 
were  yet  by  the  laws  of  the  State  made  the  seceders. 
being  in. the  minority. 

In  1832  the  Calvinistic  members  of  the  parish 
formed  a  society  and  first  held  separate  services  in  the 
seminary  building,  which  stood  on  the  parish  prop- 
erty. 

Law  was  resorted  to  by  the  old  parish,  and  they 
were  finally  driven  out  from  this  building  and  went 
to  the  public  school-house. 

This  rupture  or  secession  from  the  old  society  was 
led  by  Joseph  Emes,  David  Newhall  and  George 
Pearson.  Their  first  pastor  was  Rev.  Sidney  Hol- 
man,  who  was  installed  January  16,  1833,  and  dis- 
missed December  31,  1834.  From  this  time  till  May, 
1836,  there  was  not  a  settled  minister. 


Worship  was  regularly  maintained  however,  the 
lay  brethren  reading  sermons  and  otherwise  assisting 
in  the  services. 

On  May  1,  1836,  Rev.  Moses  Sawyer  commenced  to 
supply  the  pulpit,  and  continued  his  ministry  for  six 
years. 

On  April  19,  1843,  Rev.  Theophilus  Sawin  was  or- 
dained pastor,  and  was  dismissed  April  30,  1848. 

Rev.  Cyrus  Stone,  a  returned  missionary  from 
India,  now  supplied  for  a  few  years,  and  Rev.  Levi 
Brigham  was  installed  May  7,  1851,  and  continued 
until  September,  1868. 

On  March  10, 1869,  Rev.  F.  V.  Tenney  was  installed, 
and  by  his  request  was  dismissed  May  24,  1877. 

On  April  17,  1878,  Rev.  Samuel  T.  Kidder  was  or- 
dained, and  continued  until  October,  1879. 

On  July  21,  1880,  Rev.  Edw.  L.  Chute  was  installed 
and  continued  until  October,  1882. 

Rev.  C.  H.  Washburn  supplied  in  1885  until  1886, 
when  he  was  followed  in  June  by  Rev.  M.  S.  Hemen- 
way,  who  supplied  the  pulpit  for  one  year,  and  at  the 
present  time  (1887)  the  society  is  without  a  settled 
pastor. 

This  society  built  their  first  church  in  1835, 
Joseph  Emes,  Esq.,  being  the  chief  planner  and 
manager.  This  was  a  stone  church  of  very  plain 
appearance,  and  is  still  standing  (1887),  although 
occupied  as  a  grocery-store  and  post-office. 

The  society  worshipped  in  this  stone  church  until 
1854,  when  they  built  a  larger  and  more  commodious 
church  edifice,  which  still  stands,  and  is  a  command- 
ing structure  in  this  portion  of  the  town.  Originally, 
as  designed  by  Arthur  Oilman,  architect,  it  had  no 
vestry  under  the  audience-room,  but  in  1871  the 
society  raised  the  whole  building,  with  its  tower,  and 
built  under  the  same  a  vestry  story. 

While  this  gave  the  society  better  accommodations, 
it  most  certainly  injured  its  excellent  proportions 
and  took  much  away  from  its  former  beauty. 

The  First  Methodist  Church. — Methodism  first 
gained  a  settlement  in  that  part  of  the  town  now 
known  as  East  Saugus,  but  then  as  the  South  Ward. 

Jesse  Lee,  the  pioneer  Methodist  preacher  from 
the  New  York  Conference,  came  to  Lynn  in  Decem- 
ber, 1790,  and  a  church  was  built  in  Lynn  in  June, 
1791. 

Some  of  our  inhabitants  were  attracted  to  these 
Methodist  services,  which  brought  to  their  hearts  an 
earnestness  and  a  consecration  which  they  had  not 
found  in  the  more  formal  and  cold  services  of  the 
parish  church. 

Whole  families  were  in  the  habit  of  walking  down 
to  the  Methodist  services  on  Sabbath  mornings,  carry- 
ing their  luncheon  with  them,  and  returning  at  night. 

We  find  that  as  early  as  1810  members  came  up 
from  the  Lynn  Church  and  held  prayer-meetings  in 
the  old  Rock  School-house,  so-called.  This  school- 
house,  which  proved  to  be  the  cradle  of  Methodism 


404 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


in  Saugus,  deserves  rather  more  than  a  passing 
notice. 

The  spot  where  this  famous  school-house  stood  is 
plainly  to  be  seen  to-day,  although  the  house  has 
long  since  disappeared. 

It  stood  on  the  eastern  brow  of  the  rocky  hill  on 
the  old  Boston  road,  now  called  Lincoln  Avenue, 
opposite  to  what  was  formerly  the  old  Anchor  Tav- 
ern. The  spot  was  many  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
street,  and  being  rocky  and  comparatively  worthless, 
it  was  thought  just  the  place  for  a  school-bouse,  and 
so  here  it  was  built  in  1806. 

Every  one  who  entered  must  needs  climb  up  a  steep 
ascent  and  then  ascend  the  long  flight  of  steps  into 
its  side  porch. 

The  building  was  about  twenty-four  feet  square, 
one  story  high,  with  hipped  roof.  On  the  southerly 
side  was  a  porch  about  six  feet  square,  from  which 
an  aisle  six  feet  wide  ran  through  the  middle  of  the 
'house  north  and  south.  At  the  north  end  of  the  aisle 
stood  the  teacher's  desk  upon  a  raised  platform :  in 
the  middle  of  the  aisle  stood  a  large,  cajjacious  cast- 
iron  box-stove. 

From  this  central  aisle  three  narrow  passages  on 
each  side  sloped  up  to  the  sides  of  the  house;  between 
these  passage  ways  ran  long  desks  or  forms  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  scholars,  each  tier  being 
higher  than  the  one  in  front. 

In  1838,  a  new  school-house  having  been  built,  the 
old  Kock  School-house  was  sold,  and  during  the  at- 
tempt to  remove  it  from  its  elevated  jilateau  some 
accident  occurred  by  which  it  was  precipitated  into 
the  street  below;  this  necessitated  its  demolition. 

It  was  in  this  building  that  the  Methodist  services 
were  held  for  many  years,  beginning  about  1810  and 
continuing  until  their  new  church  was  built,  in  1827. 
Among  the  early  converts  were  Solomon  Brown, 
John  Shaw,  Amos  Stocker  and  Joseph  S.  Newhall — 
men  who  proved  themselves  worthy  to  uphold  the 
banner  of  the  cross  amid  the  increasing  opposition. 

It  was  not  long,  in  1815,  before  Edward  T.  Taylor, 
then  an  illiterate  young  man,  traveling  as  an  itinerant 
peddler,  found  a  place  in  this  school-house  to  begin 
his  preaching,  which  afterwards  became  so  famous. 
About  1818  this  occasional  preaching-place  was 
joined  to  the  Maiden  Circuit,  and  among  the  preachers 
were  Orlando  Hinds,  Isaac  Jennison,  Aaron  D.  Sar- 
gent, Frederick  Upham,  Jotham  Horton,  Leonard 
Frost,  Eleazer  Steel,  Aaron  Wait,  Jr.,  and  Warren 
Emerson.  As  the  converts  increased  they  were 
formed  into  a  class  and  were  first  connected  with  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at  Lynn  Common.  The 
winter  of  1819  and  1820  was  a  period  of  great  reli- 
gious interest ;  hardly  a  family  in  this  village  but 
shared  in  some  measure  in  the  work. 

The  first  written  church  records  begin  in  June, 
1825,  when  Rev.  Henry  Mayo  was  the  Conference 
preacher  in  charge. 

He    was    appointed  by    the   Conference    June  6, 


1824.  For  this  year  there  was  a  subscription  for  his 
supjjort  of  one  hundred  dollars,  made  up  by  forty- 
eight  subscriptions  ranging  from  five  dollars  down 
to  forty-two  cents. 

Of  this  amount  twenty-five  dollars  was  contributed 
by  friends  in  Lynnfield  ;  also  twelve  dollars  and  twenty- 
two  cents  by  the  "  Honorable  Mite  Society."  This 
was  a  woman's  society  which  met  once  a  month  at 
different  houses  for  conversation  and  prayer  and  pay- 
ment of  dues.  This  money  was  expended  in  the  fol- 
lowing manner  : 

Presiding  elder's  bill      88.92 

Preacher's  traveling  expenses 2.50 

The  table  expenses 18.75 

Quarterage 60.83 

SIOO.OO 

The  record  of  the  names  of  the  members  of  the 
church,  as  made  by  Henry  Mayo  June  4,  1825,  is 
headed  by  Solomon  Brown,  and  contains  sixteen 
males  and  thirty-seven  females,  with  twenty-five  on 
probation.  The  First  Quarterly  Conference  met  in 
the  South  School-house  (also  called  the  Rock  School- 
house),  June  4,  1825. 

The  following  official  members  were  present :  Ed- 
ward Hyde,  presiding  elder  ;  Henry  Mayo,  preacher 
in  charge ;  John  Shaw  and  Joshua  Howard,  stewards  ; 
and  Solomon  Brown  and  Joseph  S.  Newhall,  class- 
leaders.  At  this  meeting  Jonathan  Newhall  and 
Joseph  G.  Goldthwait  were  added  to  the  stewards. 

rOEMATION   OF   A    PARISH. 

"Saugus,  June  .30,  1825. 
"At  a  meeting  of  the  inhabitants  of  Lynn  and  Saugus  convened  In 
said  Saugus,  it  was  voted  first  that  we  form  ourselves  into  a  society,  to 
be  called  the  '  First  Methodist  Ejjiscoiial  Society  in  Saugus.'  Second, 
that  repetition  William  Jackson,  Esq.,  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  iu  and 
for  the  County  of  Essex,  to  grant  a  warrant  calling  a  Legal  meeting  of 
the  members  of  said  Society,  for  the  purpose  of  choosing  officers  and 
transacting  such  other  business  as  may  be  found  proper." 

PETITION   AT    LARGE. 

"  S.\UGUS,  June  30,  1825. 
"  To  William  Jackson,  Esq.,  one  of  the  Justices  of  the  Peace  in  and  for 
the  Count;/  of  Essex  : 
"  We,  the  undersigned  Petitioners,  at  a  meeting  held  in  Saugus,  Voted 
to  organize  ourselves  into  a  Society  called  the  First  Methodist  Society  in 
Saugus,  and  we  would  therefore  beg  leave  to  request  you  to  issue  a  war- 
rant calling  a  legal  meeting  of  the  members  of  said  Society,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  choosing  officers  and  transacting  such  other  business  as  shall 
come  before  the  meeting. 

"  John  Shaw.  Benj.  P.  Oliver. 

Benj.  F.  Newhall.  Benj.  B.  Hitchings. 

Jona.  Newhall.  Levi  D.  Waldron. 

Jos.  G.  Goldthwait.  G.  W.  Baddin. 

Solomon  Brown.  James  Howard. 

Edmund  Brown.  Stephen  Smith. 

James  Hall.  Joshua  Howard." 

The  warrant,  as  requested,  was  issued  by  William 
Jackson,  Esq.,  .Inly  15,  1825,  and  the  legal  meeting 
of  the  Finst  Methodist  Episcopal  Society  in  Saugus 
was  held  at  the  Rock  School-house  on  July  25,  1825, 
when  John  Shaw  was  chosen  moderator,  Benjamin  F. 
Newhall  secretary  and  parish  clerk,  Joshua  Howard 
treasurer,  and  John  Shaw,  James  Howard,  Stej)hen 
Smith,  Jonathan  Newhall  and  Joshua  Howard  a  com- 


SAUGUS. 


405 


mittee.     The  yearly  meeting  was  to  be  held  on  the 
first   Wednesday  in   March,   annually,  at  7    o'clock, 

P.M. 

This  gave  to  the  society  a  legal  status. 

Eev.  Henry  Mayo  saw  the  church  organized  in  all 
its  departments  and  well  started  in  its  long  career  of 
service.  That  the  church  should  have  started  at  this 
time  with  so  much  matured  strength  clearly  indicates 
that  there  had  been  for  years  previous  a  great  deal  of 
labor  put  forth  in  the  interest  of  Methodism.  This 
was  the  case,  as  has  already  been  mentioned. 

Many  of  our  people  had  formed  a  congenial  reli- 
gious home  with  the  Lynn  Common  Methodist 
Church,  had  become  members  therein  and  had  at- 
tached themselves  to  a  "  class,"  which  met  in  East 
Saugus. 

The  following  are  the  successive  pastorates  : 


1S24.  Kev.  Henry  Ma.yo. 
1825.  Eev.  Leroy  Sunderland. 
1826-27.  Rev.  Aaron  Joselyn. 

1828.  Eev.  Nathan  Paine. 

1829.  Eev.  Ephraim  K.  Avery. 

1830.  Eev.  John  J.  Bliss. 

1831.  Rev.  Hiram  H.  White. 

1832.  Eev.  Ebenezer  Blake. 

1833.  Eev.  Joel  Steele. 

1834.  Eev.  John  Lord. 

1835.  Eev.  Lewis  Bates. 

1836.  Eev.  Newell  S.  Spalding. 
1837-38.  Kev.  Sanford  S.  Benton. 
1839-40.  Rev,   Daniel   K.  Bannis- 
ter. 

1841-42.  Rev.  Jona.  P.  Bridge. 
1843-44.  Rev.  William  Rice. 
1845^6.  Rev.  Isaac  A.  Savage. 
1847-48.  Rev.  Edward  Cook. 
1849.  Rev.  Wm.  M.  Mann. 


1850-51.  Rev.  Daniel  K.    Bannis- 
ter. 
1852.  Rev.  J.  A.  Adams. 
1853-54.  Rev.  Ralph  \V.  Allen. 
1855-56.  Rev.  Wm.  H.  Hatch. 
1857-58.  Rev.  Daniel  Richards. 
1859-60.  Rev.  Jonas  M.  Clark. 
1861-62.  Rev.  Cyrus L.  Eastman. 
18H3-64.  Rev.  Daniel  Richards. 
1865.  Rev.  Thomas  Marcy. 
1866-68.  Rev.  Pliny  Wood. 
1869-71.  Rev.  Jesse  Wagner. 
1872-73.  Rev.  M.  B.  Chapman. 
1874-76.  Rev.  Sauil.  Jackson. 
1877-78.  Rev.  P.  M.  Vinton. 
1879-81.  Rev.  Henry  J.  Fox,  D.D. 
1882-83.  Eev.  W.  N.  Richardson. 
1884-86.  Rev.  David  S.  Coles. 
1887.  Rev.  Geo.  W.  Mansfield. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  society  held  in  the  Rock 
School-house  April  17, 1827,  it  Avas  unanimously  voted 
"  to  proceed  immediately  to  erect  a  House  of  Wor- 
ship for  this  society."  Rev.  Aaron  Joselyn,  George 
Makepeace  and  John  T.  Burrill  was  a  committee  to 
obtain  subscriptions  for  the  new  church. 

Accordingly,  the  work  on  their  first  church  at  once 
commenced,  and  was  carried  forward  to  completion 
with  commendable  dispatch,  so  that  its  dedication 
took  jjlace  November  22,  1827. 

This  church  was  of  very  modest  appearance,  forty- 
six  by  forty  feet,  without  spire  or  tower,  bell  or  ves- 
try. It  contained  forty  pews  and  cost  two  thousand 
dollars.  Its  pulpit  was  high  above  the  pews  and  was 
reached  by  two  flights  of  stairs,  at  the  head  of  which 
were  doors  through  which  to  enter  the  box  pulpit. 

The  church  stood  on  the  same  spot  where  now 
stands  the  second  church. 

This  edifice  served  the  society  until  18-42,  when  it 
was  lengthened  by  adding  about  twenty  feet  on  the 
back  end  and  building  a  basement  vestry  under  the 
same.  Twenty-two  new  pews  were  thus  obtained,  and 
fifteen  hundred  dollars  spent.  Rev.  Jonathan  D. 
Bridge  was  then  pastor  and  much  religious  interest 
prevailed. 


In  1854  the  society  sold  their  first  church,  and  it 
was  remoyed  to  the  corner  of  Lincoln  Avenue  and 
Wendell  Street,  where  it  still  stands  under  the  name 
of  Waverly  Hall. 

Active  measures  were  taken  in  building  their  sec- 
ond church  on  the  old  spot,  and  in  the  meantime  ser- 
vices were  held  in  the  school-house  and  in  the  old 
church. 

The  vestry  of  the  new  church  was  dedicated  De- 
cember 3,  1854,  and  public  dedication  services  of  the 
entire  church  were  held  February  22,  1855.  Sermon 
by  Rev.  Bishop  E.  S.  Janes. 

In  1875  the  exterior  of  the  church  edifice  was  thor- 
oughly repaired,  and  the  main  roof  and  spire  were 
slated. 

In  1880  the  interior  was  improved  by  stained-glass 
windows,  new  pulpit  with  enlarged  platform  and  al- 
tar, frescoing,  carpets  and  upholstering. 

In  1835  the  society  built  a  parsonage  just  north  of 
the  church.  It  was  a  modest  one-and-a-half-story 
dwelling,  which  made  a  home  for  the  successive  pas- 
tors until  1871,  when  the  parsonage  was  sold  and  re- 
moved, and  a  new  one  was  erected  on  the  old  site. 
This  cost  about  four  thousand  five  hundred  dollars, 
and  is  still  standing.  It  was  built  during  the  pastor- 
ate of  Rev.  Jesse  Wagner,  who  raised  sufficient 
money  among  this  people  to  pay  for  its  erection. 

A  flourishing  Sunday-school  has  always  been  con- 
nected with  this  church,  and  even  as  early  as  1819  we 
find  a  Sunday-school  formed.  George  Makepeace 
was  the  first  superintendent,  succeeded  by  Harriet 
Newhall,  Miss  Brigdon,  James  Burrill,  Fales  New- 
hall,  Martin  W.  Brown,  George  H.  Sweetser,  Joseph 
C  Hill,  James  S.  Oliver,  Alvah  Philbrook,  Rufus  A. 
Johnson,  Horace  Lovering  and  Wilbur  F.  Newhall, 
who  is  the  present  superintendent,  having  held  the 
same  ofiice  since  1865,  with  the  exception  of  two 
intervening  years. 

This  church  continues  to  be  the  only  one  in  East 
Saugus. 

Cliftondale  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. — 
The  Methodist  Episcopal  Society  of  Cliftondale  was 
organized  March  20,  1850.  There  had  been  preach- 
ing, however,  a  part  of  each  Sabbath  by  Rev.  R.  W. 
Allen  during  1854  and  every  Sabbath  by  James  Blod- 
gett  during  1855. 

The  new  society  at  first  held  its  services  in  the  un- 
finished room  in  the  school- house,  now  the  grammar 
school  room.  In  1857  a  chapel — a  plain,  but  substan- 
tial, structure — was  built,  and  in  December  of  the 
same  year  was  dedicated  to  the  purposes  of  Christian 
worship. 

The  first  pastor  was  Rev.  James  Blodgett,  a  local 
preacher,  who  died  a  few  years  since.  He  was  fol- 
lowed, in  turn,  by  Revs.  George  F.  Poole,  who  re- 
mained as  pastor  from  1856  to  1859;  Solomon  Cbapin, 
1859-61 ;  John  S.  Day,  1861-63  ;  Daniel  Waite,1863- 


406 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


66;  Frank  G.  Morris,  1866-68;  J.  F.  Bassett,  1868- 
69;  George  E.  Eeed,  1869-70  ;  J.  E.  Richards,  1870- 
71 ;  Joshua  Gill,  1871-72 ;  Ralph  W.  Allen,  1872-75 
C.  W.  Wilder,  1875-77 ;  A.  O.  Hamilton,  1877-78 
C.   M.   Melden,   1878-80;    W.    P.    Odell,    1880-83 
George  A.  Phinney,  1883-86,  the  latter  being  suc- 
ceeded by  Charles  A.  Littlefield,  the  present  pastor 
of  the  church. 

This  church  is  the  daughter  of  the  East  Saugus 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  granddaughter  of  the 
First  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Lynn,  and 
mother  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Saugus 
Centre,  which  latter  church,  in  1877,  formed  a  society 
of  their  own,  and  a  year  later  built  and  dedicated 
their  present  place  of  worship. 

The  Sunday-school  connected  with  the  society  was 
formed  in  1852  and  organized  in  1858.  The  superin- 
tendents of  the  school  have  been  S.  S.  Dunn,  Hon. 
George  H.  Swretser,  Horatio  G.  Herrick,  Matthew 
Rawson  and  Albert  H.  Sweetser,  who  holds  the  posi- 
tion at  the  present  time.  The  school  is  in  a  prosper- 
ous condition,  its  present  membership  being  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty-six. 

About  the  beginning  of  the  year  1881  the  pastor, 
Rev.  W.  P.  Odell,  conceived  the  idea  of  building  a 
new  church,  in  which  plan  he  readily  interested  the 
members  of  the  society,  displaying  commendable 
zeal  and  enterprise  in  the  matter.  The  plan  of  build- 
ing a  new  church  was  finally  given  up,  and  it  was 
decided  to  remodel  the  chapel.  The  effort  to  solicit 
subscriptions  met  with  such  success  that  the  building 
committee,  consisting  of  A.  H.  Sweetser,  J.  A.  Rod- 
din,  C.  H.  Bond,  S.  P.  Coates  and  E.  S.  Kent,  feeling 
assured  of  success,  placed  the  matter  in  the  hands  of 
Henry  W.  Rogers,  of  Lynn,  who  submitted  to  the 
committee  the  plan  of  the  present  edifice,  which  was 
accepted,  and  work  was  commenced  on  remodeling 
the  chapel  in  July,  and  was  finished  the  day  before 
its  dedication. 

The  church  is  a  very  handsome  one,  giving  entire 
satisfaction  to  the  people  and  being  an  ornament  to 
the  community.  Its  seating  capacity  is  about  two 
hundred  and  twenty-five.  There  are  two  entrances 
in  front  by  large  double  door?!,  surmounted  with  neat 
pitched  roof  hoods.  The  front  gable  is  ornamented 
with  tracery  of  a  pretty  pattern.  The  exterior  is 
painted  in  shades  of  olive  green,  the  spire,  roofs  and 
belts  of  cut  shingles  around  the  tower  are  painted 
red.  The  vestibule,  audience-room  and  tower-room 
are  lighted  by 'beautiful  stained-glass  windows  of  a 
new  and  attractive  design.  The  audience-room  on 
the  main  floor  is  entered  by  two  large  doors,  opening 
into  aisles  three  and  a  half  feet  wide,  with  rows  of 
ash  pews,  richly  upholstered,  on  either  side.  The 
walls  and  ceilings  are  tastily  decorated  with  rich 
frescoings  of  the  Pompeiian  style.  Below  the  audi- 
ence-room is  a  vestry,  with  a  seating  capacity  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five,  also  store-rooms,  library 
and  class-room. 


The  church  is  in  a  very  prosperous  condition.  Both 
church  and  Sunday-school  are  growing  rapidly.  The 
present  church  membership  (August,  1887)  is  one 
hundred  and  thirty-eight. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Saugus 
Centre. — In  1875  a  few  Christian  men  invited  Rev, 
O.  J.  Pettegrew  to  assist  in  starting  a  Methodist 
mission  in  the  Centre.  A  Sunday-school  was  formed ; 
also  a  Ladies'  Sewing  Circle,  and  preaching  Sunday 
afternoons. 

The  services  were  held  in  Flye's  Hall  at  first,  but 
this  proving  too  small  to  accommodate  the  people, 
a  removal  was  made  in  September  to  "  Hitchings' 
Hall,"  near  the  depot.  Mr.  Pettegrew  continued  his 
labors  with  them  until  April,  1876,  when  Rev.  J. 
Thompson  came  for  a  short  time. 

In  November,  1876,  the  society  united  themselves 
with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at  Clifton- 
dale,  and  in  May,  1877,  Rev.  E.  H.  McKenney  be- 
gan his  services  with  them,  which  continued  three 
years. 

July  23,  1877,  Rev.  Daniel  Dorchester,  presiding 
elder  of  the  New  England  Conference,  met  with 
thirty-eight  members  of  the  society  and  organized 
them  into  a  church.  Rev.  E.  H.  McKenney  was 
made  pastor  and  all  the  usual  church  officers  elected, 
including  a  board  of  trustees.  Steps  were  at  once 
taken  towards  the  building  of  a  chapel. 

A  lot  of  land  on  Main  Street,  nearly  opposite  Vine 
Street,  was  given  by  William  H.  Penny,  and  during 
the  winter  a  church,  thirty-two  by  fifty  feet,  was  erec- 
ted, so  that  April  24,  1878,  it  was  dedicated  by  ap- 
propriate services.  Rev.  V.  A.  Cooper,  of  Lynn, 
preaching  the  sermon. 

The  church  was  placed  in  the  westerly  portion  of 
the  village,  so  as  better  to  accommodate  the  people 
living  in  the  neighborhood,  including  Oaklandvale. 
The  following  are  the  Conference  ministers  who 
have  had  charge :  April,  1880,  Rev.  Charles  M.  Mel- 
den ;  April,  1882,  Rev.  Samuel  Plantz ;  April,  1883, 
Rev.  Arthur  W.  Tirrill ;  April,  1884,  Rev.  Webster 
Miller ;  April,  1886,  Rev.  Daniel  Richards ;  April, 
1887,  Rev.  C.  J.  Mills. 

St.  John's  Mission  (Saugus  Centre). — In  the 
spring  of  1883  the  diocesan  Episcopal  missionary, 
Rev.  John  S.  Beers,  held  a  service  in  a  private  house 
in  Saugus  Centre.  A  goodly  number  of  churchmen 
were  present.  Soon  after  this  a  modest  beginning 
was  made  by  the  establishment  of  a  Sunday-school, 
which,  in  a  few  months,  numbered  forty  scholars,  and 
later  on  increased  to  seventy.  Mr.  Thomas  Ashworth 
was  the  first  superintendent — an  earnest  Christian  man 
— but  in  less  than  two  years  he  died,  after  a  short  and 
painful  illness.  He  was  succeeded  by  Lyman  F. 
Merrill,  a  member  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Maiden,  who 
continued  to  hold  this  office  until  a  short  time  previ- 
ous   to   his  ordination  as  deacon  in   the  Episcopal 


SAUGUS. 


407 


Church.  At  present  Mr.  Frank  Knight,  of  St.  Ste- 
phen's Church  of  Lynn,  is  acting  as  superintendent. 

During  the  first  year  occasional  services  were  held 
in  a  hired  hall,  Rev.  Mr.  Beers  and  others  officiating. 

In  the  summer  of  1884  Rev.  Thomas  L.  Fisher, 
minister  at  St.  Luke's  Church,  Linden,  added  to  his 
heavy  labor  in  his  own  parish  a  regular  Sunday  after- 
noon service  for  this  mission,  together  with  such  pas- 
toral care  as  his  time  w^ould  allow. 

The  hall  on  Central  Street,  near  Mr.  Flye's,  was 
tastefully  fitted  up  under  his  direction ;  several  gifts 
of  church  furniture,  books  and  other  necessary  things 
were  made,  and  the  work  continued  to  prosper  under 
the  name  of  St.  John's  Mission. 

Money  is  now  being  raised  for  the  erection  of  a 
church  edifice,  assistance  having  been  received  from 
St.  Stephen's  Church,  Lynn,  so  that  the  society  hope, 
in  less  than  a  year's  time,  to  have  a  place  of  worship 
of  their  own. 

First  Congregational  Society  of  Clifton- 
dale. — This  religious  society  was  organized  Novem- 
ber, 1886.  About  a  year  previous  to  its  formation 
services  were  held  in  Clifton  Hall,  preachers  being  ob- 
tained as  they  could  be  from  different  denominations. 

A  Sunday-school  was  gathered  in  connection  with 
the  society  in  April,  1886. 

About  the  time  of  the  organization  of  the  society 
Rev.  Theodore  Haven  was  called  as  pastor,  but  he  re- 
mained only  about  two  months. 

Very  soon  after  Rev.  Henry  B.  Miter  was  engaged 
as  pastor,  and  has  remained  with  the  society  up  to  the 
present  time,  September  1887. 

The  society  continues  to  hold  its  services  in  Clifton 
Hall,  owned  by  Mr.  Charles  H.  Bond,  who  has  been 
much  interested  in  the  formation  of  this  society. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

SAUGUS— ( Continued). 
MANUFACTURING    INTERESTS,    PAST    AND    PRESENT. 

Iron  Works — 3Iill  Site  at  East  Sauijus — Praiiker's  3[ilU — Scott's  Mills — 
North  Saugun — Tobacco  Business  at  Cli/tondaJe — CfrocJcery — Shoe  Business 
— Grain  Mill  on  Ballard  Street — Brick  staking — Hair  Btisiness. 

Iron  Works. — Although  iron  ore  was  first  discov- 
ered in  other  sections  of  the  country,  the  first  succes- 
ful  iron  works  were  established  in  New  England  and 
in  that  portion  of  Massachusetts  now  embraced  in 
the  township  of  Saugus.  In  1632  mention  is  made 
by  Morton  of  the  existence  of  "  iron  stone  "  in  New 
England,  and  in  November,  1637,  the  General  Court 
of  Massachusetts  granted  to  Abraham  Shaw  one-half 
of  the  benefit  of  any  "  coles  or  yron  stone  w"''  shal  be 
found  in  any  comon  ground  wch  is  in  the  countryes 
disposeing." 


Iron  ore  had  been  found  in  small  j^onds  on  the 
western  bank  of  the  Saugus  River  soon  after  its  set- 
tlement in  1629,  and  in  1642  specimens  of  it  were 
taken  to  London  by  Robert  Bridges,  in  the  hope  that 
a  company  might  be  formed  for  the  manufacture  of 
iron. 

This  hope  was  realized  in  the  formation  of  "The 
Company  of  Undertakers  for  the  Iron  Works,"  con- 
sisting of  eleven  English  gentlemen,  who  advanced 
£1000  to  establish  the  works.  John  Winthrop,  Jr., 
had  previously  gone  to  England,  and  he  appears  to 
have  assisted  Mr.  Bridges  to  secure  the  organization 
of  the  company.  He  became  a  member  of  the  com- 
pany, as  did  others  among  the  colonists.  Thomas 
Dexter  and  Robert  Bridges,  both  of  Lynn,  were 
among  the  original  promoters  of  the  enterprise. 

Workmen  were  brought  from  England  in  1643,  and 
the  foundry  was  erected  on  the  western  bank  of 
Saugus  River,  just  at  the  head  of  tide  water,  in  what 
is  now  called  the  Centre  of  Saugus,  and  still  marked 
by  the  old  banks  of  scoria,  which  have  bravely  with- 
stood all  changes.  The  village  at  the  foundry  was 
called  "  Hammersmith,"  from  a  place  of  that  name 
in  England,  whence  came  many  of  the  workmen 

In  1644  and  subsequently  the  General  Court  granted 
many  special  privileges  to  the  company.  On  March 
7,  1644,  it  was  granted  three  miles  square  of  land  in 
each  of  six  places  it  might  occupy  in  the  prosecution 
of  its  business. 

On  November  13,  1644,  it  was  allowed  three  years 
"for  ye  perfecting  of  their  worke  and  furnishing  of  ye 
country  with  all  sorts  of  barr  iron."  The  citizens 
were  granted  liberty  to  take  stock  in  the  enterprise, 
"  if  they  would  complete  the  finery  and  forge,  as  well 
as  the  furnace,  which  is  already  set  up." 

On  the  14th  of  May,  1645,  the  general  court  passed 
an  order  declaring  that  "  ye  iron  works  is  very  suc- 
cessful (both  in  ye  richness  of  ye  ore  and  ye  goodness 
of  ye  iron),"  and  that  between  £1200  and  £1500  had 
already  been  disbursed,  "  with  which  ye  furnace  is 
built,  with  that  which  belongeth  to  it;  and  some  tuns 
of  sowe  iron  cast  in  readiness  for  ye  forge.  There 
will  be  neede  of  some  £1500  to  fiuit^h  ye  forge." 

On  the  14th  of  October,  of  the  same  year,  the  com- 
pany was  granted  still  further  privileges  by  the  Gener- 
al Court,  on  the  condition  "  that  the  inhabitants  of 
this  jurisdiction  be  furnished  with  barr  iron  of  all 
sorts  for  their  use,  not  exceeding  tvventye  pounds  per 
tunn,"  and  that  the  grants  of  land  already  made 
should  be  used  "  for  the  building  and  seting  up  of  six 
forges  or  furnaces,  and  not  bloomaries  onely."  The 
grant  was  confirmed  to  the  company  of  the  free  use 
of  all  materials  "  for  making  or  moulding  any  man- 
ner of  gunnes,  potts  and  other  cast-iron  ware." 

On  the  6th  of  May,  1646,  Mr.  Richard  Leader,  the 
general  agent  of  the  company,  who  is  described  as  a 
man  of  superior  ability,  purchased  "some  of  the 
countiy's  gunnes  to  melt  over  at  the  foundery."  On 
August  4,  1648,  Governor  Winthrop  wrote  from  Bos- 


408 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


ton  to  his  son,  who  had  removed  to  Pequod,  Conn., 
that  "  the  iron  work  goeth  on  with  more  hope.  It 
yields  now  about  seven  tons  per  week."  On  Septem- 
ber 30th  he  writes  again  :  "  The  furnace  runs  eight 
tons  per  week,  and  their  bar  iron  is  as  good  as  Span- 
ish." 

Among  the  many  workmen  who  came  over  from 
England  were  Richard  Leader,  already  mentioned, 
Henry  and  James  Leonard,  Henry  Styche,  Archibald 
Anderson  and  Joseph  Jenks,  who  had  come  from 
Hammersmith  in  England.  He  was  a  machinist  and 
a  man  of  much  skill  and  inventive  genius.  He  pre- 
pared the  moulds  for  the  first  castings.  A  small  iron 
pot,  holding  about  one  quart,  was  the  first  article 
cast,  according  to  Lewis'  History,  and  is  still  in  the 
possession  of  a  lineal  descendant  of  Thomas  Hudson, 
who  was  the  original  owner  of  the  lands  on  which  the 
iron  works  were  built,  and  who  obtained  possession 
of  the  pot  immediately  after  it  was  cast. 

Joseph  Jenks,  who  became  the  founder  of  an  emi- 
nent New  England  family,  purchased  from  Richard 
Leader  on  the  20th  of  January,  1647,  the  privilege 
of  building  a  forge  at  the  iron  works  for  the  manu- 
facture of  scythes  and  other  edge  tools. 

This  enterprise  was  successful. 

In  1652  he  made  at  the  iron  works,  for  the  mint 
which  was  that  year  established  at  Boston,  the  dies 
for  the  first  silver  pieces  coined  in  New  England.  On 
one  side  of  these  coins  was  the  impression  of  a  pine 
tree.  In  1654  he  made  for  the  city  of  Boston  the 
first  fire  engine  made  in  America.  In  1655  the  Gen- 
eral Court  granted  him  a  patent  for  an  improved 
scythe.  This  scythe  we  understand  to  be  substan- 
tially the  one  in  present  use,  a  great  improvement 
over  the  short  wide-bladed  scythe  of  English  make. 
He  died  in  1683. 

Henry  and  James  Leonard  were  also  skilled  work- 
men at  the  iron  works.  They  and  their  descendants 
were  afterwards  connected  with  other  colonial  iron 
enterprises. 

They  had  a  brother  Philip,  who  does  not  appear  to 
have  lived  at  Saugus. 

Rev.  Dr.  Fobes,  in  referring  to  the  Leonard  family 
in  his  book  written  in  1703,  says  that  "the  circum- 
stance of  a  family  attachment  to  the  iron  manufacture 
is  so  well  known  as  to  render  it  a  common  observa- 
tion in  this  part  of  the  country  (town  of  Raynham), 
"  where  you  can  find  iron  works  there  you  will  find  a 
Leonard !" 

Henry  and  James  Leonard  are  said  to  have  learned 
their  trade  at  Pontypool,  in  Monmouthshire.  One  or 
both  of  them  superintended  the  erection  of  iron- 
vorks  at  Braintree,  in  1648,  and  also  at  Taunton,  in 
1652,  and  at  Rowley,  in  1668. 

Indeed,  we  read  of  many  other  iron  enterprises  by 
ihese  Leonards  in  many  parts  of  our  State.  For  a 
hundred  years  after  its  settlement  Massachusetts  was 
the  chief  seat  of  the  iron  manufacture  on  this  conti- 
aent.     Most  of  its  iron  enterprises,  during  this  hun- 


dred years,  were  bloomeries ;  but  there  were  blast-fur- 
naces also,  although  the  latter,  as  a  rule,  produced 
only  hollow  ware  and  other  castings,  and  not  pig- 
iron.  During  the  period  mentioned  the  iron  indus- 
try of  Massachusetts  was  confined  to  the  eastern 
counties  of  the  colony,  where  bog  or  pond  ores 
formed  almost  the  only  kinds  of  ores  obtainable. 

But  let  us  return  to  our  own  iron-works  in  Saugus. 
The  General  Court  granted  many  privileges  to  this 
iron  enterprise. 

In  1644  all  engaged  therein  were  exempted  from 
taxes  for  ten  years.  The  workmen  also  were  not 
liable  to  military  service.  They  gave  any  of  the  in- 
habitants liberty  to  share  in  the  work,  by  "  bringing 
in  within  one  year  no  less  than  £100  a  person,  with 
allowance  to  the  adventurers,  &c.,  for  £1000  already 
disbursed,"  if  they  would  complete  the  finery  and 
forge,  as  Avell  as  the  furnace,  which  "  is  already  set 
up."  Liberty  was  given  "  to  make  use  of  all  yron 
ston,  or  yron  ore,"  to  cut  wood  and  to  make  ponds 
and  highways. 

In  1646  arrangements  were  made  with  Thomas 
Dexter  for  opening  a  new  water-course  and  enlarging 
the  pond.  Land  was  purchased  of  Dexter  and  a 
new  dam  was  erected  higher  up  the  river,  and  prob- 
ably very  near  the  present  dam.  The  old  canal, 
which  conveyed  the  water  to  the  mills,  can  be  dis- 
tinctly seen  in  places,  even  at  the  jjresent  time. 

This  new  dam  raised  the  Sowings  of  the  water  and 
caused  damage  to  land  of  Adam  Hawkes,  in  the 
northerly  part  of  the  town. 

In  1652  John  Giftbrd  was  the  new  agent  at  the 
iron-works.  He  seems  to  have  increased  the  height 
of  the  dam  again,  and  also  to  have  flowed  more  of 
Mr.  Hawkes'  land. 

In  1653  Thomas  Savage  and  Henry  Webb,  of  Bos- 
ton, obtained  judgment  against  the  Iron  Company  for 
£2245. 

In  1660  Oliver  Purchis  succeeded  GiflTord  as  agent 
of  Iron-Works. 

Fz'om  this  time  onward  an  increased  amount  of 
trouble  and  annoyance  attended  the  Iron  Company. 
They  had  made  great  inroads  into  the  forests  in  con- 
sequence of  the  large  quantities  of  charcoal  needed, 
— so  much  so,  that  fears  were  everywhere  prevalent 
that  the  wood  would  be  exhausted  and  the  country 
impoverished. 

Debts  and  law-suits  increased. 

In  1671,  during  the  night  the  dam  was  cut  away 
and  the  great  pond  emptied  of  its  water.  This 
caused  much  damage. 

In  1678  Samuel  Appleton,  Jr.,  took  possession  of 
the  Iron  Works,  by  a  grant  in  the  will  of  William 
Payne,  of  Boston.  It  was  estimated  there  were  three 
thousand  acres  of  iron  mill  land.  Mr.  Appleton  then 
owned  three-fourths  of  the  Iron  Works,  valued  at 
£1500,  but,  in  1683,  the  heirs  of  Major  Thomas  Sav- 
age sold  the  remaining  fourth  to  Mr.  Appleton,  who 
thus  owned  the  whole  property. 


SAUGUS. 


409 


In  1688  Mr.  Appleton  sold  the  entire  works  to 
James  Taylor,  of  Boston,  and  it  was  about  this  time 
that  they  probably  ceased  operations  entirely.  Vex- 
atious law-suits  had  much  to  do  with  hastening  its 
cessation,  but  it  would  rather  seem  probable  that  the 
supply  of  iron-ore  had  nearly  become  exhausted. 

From  the  foregoing  details  it  is  plainly  established 
that  the  enterprise  at  Saugus  embraced  a  blast-fur- 
nace or  "  foundery,"  and  a  refining  forge.  The  term 
"foundery"'  was  long  a  synonyme  for  "furnace," 
castings  being  made  directly  from  the  fiirnace. 

This  practice  continued  in  this  country  down  to 
almost  the  middle  of  the  present  century,  and  is  still 
followed  in  many  European  countries.  That  the  fur- 
nace was  in  operation  in  May,  1645,  is  certain,  and 
that  the  forge  was  in  operation  in  September,  1648,  is 
equally  certain. 

These  dates  may  be  accepted  as  definitely  deter- 
mining the  first  successful  attempts  in  this  country  to 
make  "  sowe  iron  "  and  other  castings  in  a  blast-fur- 
nace, and  to  make  "barriron"  in  a  refining  forge 
from  "  sowe  iron." 

Mill -Site  iif  East  Saugus. — In  October,  1721, 
certain  citizens  of  Lynn,  viz.,  Benjamin  Potter,  Ja- 
cob Newhall  and  William  Curtis,  were  granted  a 
right  to  build  a  tide-mill  at  East  Saugus  Bridge,  but 
these  men  failing  to  build,  the  right  was  given,  in 
1722,  to  Thomas  Cheever  and  Ebenezer  Merriam,  and 
they  at  once  built  a  mill  with  two  run  of  stones  for 
grinding  corn.  This  mill  was  a  small  one-story 
building  built  upon  the  west  side  of  the  river,  and 
likely  upon  the  very  spot  now  occupied  by  the  south 
end  of  the  present  mill. 

Merriam  sold  to  Cheever  in  1729,  and  August  10, 
1738  Cheever  sold  the  property  to  Joseph  Gould  for 
six  hundred  and  twenty  i^ouuds. 

Gould  was  a  Quaker,  but  not  a  native  of  Lynn. 
He  was  a  prudent,  energetic  business  man.  Within 
a  few  years  after  the  purchase  he  built  for  himself, 
adjoining  the  mill,  a  two-story  dwelling-house,  one 
room  of  which  he  occupied  for  a  small  grocery-store. 
This  dwelling-house  was  taken  down  in  1844.  Joseph 
Gould  owned  and  occupied  the  mill  till  his  death,  in 
1774.  His  widow  continued  in  possession  up  to 
about  1785,  when,  through  neglect  to  make  necessary 
repairs,  it  became  unserviceable.  The  flood-gates  no 
longer  kept  the  water  in  the  mill-pond,  but  it  was 
allowed  to  ebb  and  flow  with  the  tide. 

This  state  of  things  continued  for  seven  years,  un- 
til 1792,  when  the  Widow  Gould  died. 

It  was  then,  in  1792,  that  George  Makepeace,  Esq., 
of  Boston,  bought  the  mill  of  the  heirs  for  nine  hun- 
dred dollars.  This  was  an  important  time  for  this 
mill  privilege.  Mr.  Makepeace  had  been  a  leading 
importing  merchant  at  Boston.  He  at  once  tore 
down  the  old  one-story  mill,  and  in  its  place  built  a 
good  two-story  building.  This  was  built  in  1794,  and 
comprises  about  two-thirds  of  the  present  building, 
26§ 


being  the  central  part.  In  this  mill  he  put  two  runs 
of  stones  for  grinding  corn  and  in  the  northerly  end 
two  mortars  for  grinding  snuff".  These  snuflf-mortars 
were  rimmed  out  of  large  buttonwood-logs  in  their 
rude  state  with  the  bark  on. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  the  snuff"  business  which 
has  made  Saugus  renowned. 

It  was  through  the  advice  of  Samuel  Fales  that 
Mr.  Makepeace  undertook  the  snuff"  business,  which, 
in  1798,  he  transferred  to  his  nephew,  Jonathan 
Makepeace,  who  continued  it  for  about  fifty  years,  up 
to  1844,  making  his  snuff",  known  as  "Makepeace's 
snuff","  which  obtained  a  reputation  in  all  parts  of  the 
country.  He  gave  his  constant  personal  attention  to 
the  making  of  this  snuff"  from  the  very  best  of  leaf- 
tobacco,  cured  in  the  most  careful  way ;  it  was  then 
ground  and  scented  and  put  up  in  small  wooden  kegs, 
with  his  own  autograph  on  each.  He  was  a  very 
methodical  man,  upright  in  all  his  dealings,  and  gen- 
erous to  all  worthy  objects,  for  many  years  a  consist- 
ent member  of  the  Methodist  Church,  and  respected 
by  the  entire  community.  He  was  more  familiarly 
known  as  Major  Makejieace. 

Chocolate  Business. — About  1796  the  chocolate 
business  had  its  beginning  in  this  mill.  Mr.  Make- 
peace at  this  time  put  on  an  addition  to  the  northerly 
end  of  the  mill  for  a  chocolate-factory.  Another 
water-wheel  was  also  put  in. 

The  machinery  for  roasting,  cracking  and  fanning 
the  cocoa  was  run  by  chains  from  horizontal  shafts. 
The  noise  and  din  of  such  machinery  was  indescriba- 
ble. Benjamin  Sweetser,  Amos  Rhodes  and  Deacon 
John  Wait  were  the  first  chocolate  manufacturers, 
and  the  business  was  continued  for  many  years  by 
Mr.  Amariah  Childs. 

The  following  extract  is  from  the  pen  of  my  father, 
Benjamin  F.  Newhall,  Esq.,  as  printed  in  the  Lynn 
Reporter  in  his  sketches  of  Saugus  : 

He  says  in  regard  to  the  chocolate  business  here, — 

"  In  1812  the  last  war  with  England  commenced,  which  gave  a  new 
impetus  to  the  chocolate  business. 

"  The  mill  was  overwhelmed  with  work,  so  that  it  was  carried  on  in 
summer,  and  the  cooling  was  done  in  cellars.  Jlr.  Cliilds,  with  others, 
entered  quite  largely  into  the  manufacture,  which  yielded,  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war,  a  large  profit. 

"Very  soon,  with  the  largo  demand,  cocoa  began  to  advance  in  price, 
and  continued  to  do  so  till  it  rose  from  eight  cents  per  pound  to  thirty- 
three  cents,  a  rise  of  over  three  hundred  per  cent. 

"After  this  extreme,  it  soon  receded,  and  finally  settled  into  a  healthy 
trade. 

"  One  of  the  most  amusing  things  connected  with  this  old  chocolate 
manufacture  was  the  pretended  art  and  skill  indispensable  to  a  success- 
ful issue.  This  art  and  skill  was  believed  to  be  a  secret  possessed  by 
only  here  and  there  an  individual. 

"  Even  the  persons  who  carried  on  the  manufacture  did  not  pretend  to 
any  knowledge  of  the  art. 

"It  seemed  to  be  a  general  concession  by  the  public  that  the  Bcience  of 
the  manufacture  was  unknown,  except  to  a  very  few,  who  had  obtained 
it,  by  great  labor  and  expense,  from  Spain  or  South  America. 

"  This  acknowledgement  gave  the  pretenders  a  superiority,  and  placed 
them  in  a  position  not  only  to  be  honored,  but  to  be  well  paid. 

"The  man  who  had  brass  enough  to  carry  the  pretence  tlirough  suc- 
cessfully, managed  everything  about  to  his  own  mind. 

"  In  my  early  boyhood  1  used  to  work  in  this  chocolate-mill,  as  consid- 


410 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


erable  of  the  work  could  be  done  by  boys  better  than  by  men.  The 
grand  magician  of  that  early  day  was  Josiah  Khodes,  nicknamed  '  Slim 
Coesar.' 

"  He  exercised  the  most  unlimited  control  over  the  whole  establish- 
ment. So  arbitrary  was  he  in  the  exercise  of  his  pretended  skill  that 
scarcely  anyone  dared  to  look  at  the  chocolate  in  process  of  manufacture. 
The  roaster  and  stirring-kettle  were  objects  forbidden  by  him  to  be  exam- 
ined by  the  ignorant  world.  I  well  remember  with  what  veneration  I 
used  to  look  upon  this  aged,  cadaverous  veteran.  The  smoke  of  the 
roaster  could  be  seen  curling  up  over  the  fire,  but  none  had  the  courage, 
in  his  presence,  to  smell  of  the  forbidden  odor. 

"  Occasionally  a  small,  mysterious  white  powder,  from  a  piece  of  clean 
white  paper,  would  be  cast  into  the  roaster,  or  the  kettle,  in  a  myster- 
ious and  magical  manner,  completely  blinding  the  eyes  of  the  unini- 
tiated. Such  was  the  dignity  and  haughtiness  .attendant  upon  the  exer- 
cise of  his  skill  that  he  rarely  ever  smiled  or  spoke  when  engaged. 

"Even  his  employers  hardly  ever  dared  to  ask  a  question.  Men  who 
labored  years  under  him  never  dared  to  raise  a  pretence  of  knowing 
anytliing.  Such  were  the  pretended  mysteries  of  the  trade  in  olden 
times." 

About  1800  George  Makepeace  built  himself  a 
dwelling-house  on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  near 
the  mill.  He  also  built  a  small  building  for  a  nail 
factory,  with  machinery  to  cut  nails  by  hand.  This 
business  was  carried  on  for  five  or  six  years  very 
vigorously. 

A  machine  was  also  put  in  for  picking  oakum,  but 
this  proved  a  failure. 

Another  unprofitable  expenditure  of  Mr.  Make- 
peace was  the  erection  of  a  saw-mill  on  the  north  side 
of  the  river.  To  do  this  he  had  to  dig  a  channel 
across  the  highway.  Long  after  the  saw-mill  had 
ceased  to  be  used  this  channel  was  filled  up  by  the 
town  of  Lynn  in  1820. 

About  180G  Mr.  Makepeace  leased  the  mill  premises 
to  Amariah  Childs,  and  in  1812  he  sold  the  mill  prop- 
erty to  said  Childs. 

In  1813  Mr.  Makepeace  removed  to  Charlestown, 
where  he  died  in  1820,  about  eighty  years  of  age. 

Mr.  Childs  continued  the  business  at  the  mill  from 
1806  to  1840,  and  very  early  in  this  period  he  added 
the  business  of  grinding  spices. 

This  spice-grinding  was  done  for  Boston  merchants, 
the  spice  being  teamed  out  from  Boston,  and  after 
being  ground  and  put  into  barrels,  was  teamed  back 
again. 

It  was  not  then  put  into  small  packages  with  showy 
labels  as  we  now  see  it  on  the  grocers'  shelves. 

In  1844  Mr.  Childs  sold  the  whole  mill  property  to 
Charles  Sweetser,  Esq.,  for  eight  thousand  dollars. 

During  all  these  years,  with  uninterrupted  fidelity, 
Mr.  Jonathan  Makepeace  had  continued  the  snuff 
business  in  the  mill ;  but  now  he  gave  up  the  busi- 
ness to  Mr.  Sweetser,  who  took  out  the  old  snuff  ma- 
chinery and  put  in  nine  new  snuff  mortars  and  also 
new  water-wheels.  He  also  removed  the  chocolate 
machinery  and  instead  put  in  machinery  for  roasting 
and  grinding  coffee. 

Indeed,  the  whole  mill  was  put  into  excellent  order. 
Mr.  Sweetser,  who  lived  in  Cliftondale,  where  was  his 
business  office,  carried  on  the  grinding  of  snuff  in  the 
mill,  while  he  leased  the  rest  of  the  mill  to  different 
parties.     First  to  Childs  &  Kaddiu,  then    to   Josiah 


Starr  for  a  short  time,  and  finally,  January  1,  1858,  to 
Herbert  B.  Newhall,  who  has  continued  the  spice  and 
coffee  business  up  to  the  present  time. 

Mr.  Sweetser  died  in  1865,  but  some  years  before 
this  he  relinquished  the  snuff  business  to  his  two  sons, 
Charles  A.  and  George  H.  Sweetser,  who  did  a  very 
large  business. 

The  mill  now,  in  1887,  is  owned  by  Charles  A. 
Sweetser.  About  four  years  ago  the  snuff  machinery 
was  removed  and  the  whole  mill  has  since  been  occu- 
pied by  Mr.  H.  B.  Newhall,  he  adding  to  his  business 
the  grinding  and  preparation  of  herbs. 

Almost  while  I  am  writing,  a  fire  has  occurred  in 
the  above  mill,  which  has  caused  its  nearly  total  de- 
struction. Very  early  Friday  morning,  July  8,  1887, 
a  fire  was  discovered  in  the  southerly  end  of  the  mill 
and  such  was  its  rapid  spread  that  the  whole  mill  was 
instantly  enveloped  in  flames. 

The  fire  department  from  Lynn  responded  at  once, 
and  were  successful  in  preventing  the  further  spread 
of  the  fire. 

But  the  mill  was  left  a  wreck;  only  its  charred 
outer  walls  are  standing.  It  was  insured  for  six 
thousand  dollars. 

Nothing  was  saved  of  the  stock  of  H.  B.  New- 
hall. 

So  closes  the  eventful  history  of  this  noted  old 
mill. 

Pranker's  Mills. — The  present  dam  is  about  five 
rods  above  the  locality  of  the  old  iron-works  dam. 

About  1770  Ebenezer  Hawkes  made  a  rude  dam 
upon  the  site  of  the  present  one,  and  excavated,  in 
part,  the  present  canal.  He  built  a  grist-mill  and 
saw-mill. 

In  1794  Benjamin  Sweetser  bought  the  mills  and 
property.  He  was  a  chocolate  manufacturer,  and  had 
carried  the  business  on  to  some  extent  with  horse 
power,  in  a  building  near  his  residence,  which  stood 
in  what  is  now  known  as  Cliftondale,  on  the  Old 
Boston  Road,  where  now  stands  the  public  house 
known  as  "Sunny  Side  House."  This  factory  build- 
ing was  removed,  in  1797,  into  the  Village  of  East 
Saugus,  and  was  afterwards  owned  and  occupied  for 
many  years  by  Jonathan  Makepeace.  It  has  subse- 
quently been  removed  again  into  Lynn,  and  now 
stands  on  Hawkes  Hill,  located  one-quarter  of  a  mile 
east  of  the  river.  But  to  return  again  to  the  mill  site. 
About  two  years  after  buying.  Major  Sweetser  built  a 
new  building  for  a  chocolate-mill  about  seventy  feet 
northwest  of  the  grist-mill.  From  this  period,  1796, 
he  enlarged  and  extended  his  business,  and  very  soon 
became  one  of  the  most  renowned  chocolate  makers 
in  the  country.  The  name  of  Benjamin  Sweetser 
stamped  on  every  cake  of  the  glossy  chocolate  gave  it 
a  reputation  that  none  other  had.  About  1800 
Major  Sweetser  erected  a  dwelling-house  north  of  the 
factory,  which  is  now  standing;  here  he  lived  until 
hi(<  death,  in  1819.     From  1816  to  1820  the  chocolate 


SAUGUS, 


411 


nianufecture  was  in  a  very  prosperous  condition,  and 
the  mill  was  rented  to  William  Smith,  who  manufac- 
tured chocolate  for  Messrs.  ('hase  &  Page,  of  Salem. 
During  this  time  the  chocolate  was  made  in  exact 
imitation  of  the  Spanish,  and  found  a  ready  sale  in 
the  New  Orleans  market  and  for  export. 

From  1815  to  1822  the  grist  and  saw-mills  were 
leased  to  Robert  Earaes,  who  ground  dye-woods, 
principally  cam-wood.  A  very  large  business  was 
done.  About  1822,  William  Gray,  of  Boston,  other- 
wise familiarly  known  as  "Billy  Gray,"  removed  his 
manufacture  of  duck-cloth  from  Stoneham  to  Saugus. 
He  took  the  Stoneham  factory  building  to  pieces  and 
removed  it  to  this  locality,  placing  it  between  the 
chocolate-mill  and  the  grist-mill,  and  forming  but  one 
building  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  length. 
The  duck  was  made  of  flax  and  hemp.  But  this 
business  lasted  only  about  one  and  a  half  years. 

In  1824  the  premises  were  leased  to  Brown  &  Bald- 
win for  the  purpose  of  bleaching  and  printing  calico. 
John  Haskins,  of  Boston,  was  soon  associated  with 
them  under  the  firm-name  of  Brown,  Baldwin  &  Has- 
kins. A  large  amount  of  money  was  expended  in 
new  building  and  further  improvements,  followed  by 
business  embarrassment  and  final  suspension  at  the 
end  of  1825. 

In  1826  the  property  passed  to  True  &  Brodhead, 
who  continued  the  business.  They  repaired  and 
raised  the  dam,  which  led  to  tedious  lawsuits  for 
flowage  damages.  During  the  ownership  of  Messrs. 
True  &  Brodhead,  in  1829,  the  flannel  manufacture 
was  begun  by  Messrs.  Brierly  &  Whitehead,  who 
leased  a  portion  of  the  old  mill.  This  was  the  begin- 
ning of  a  business  which  has  since  given  to  Saugus  a 
reputation  as  well  as  permanent  prosperity. 

In  1830  Mr.  Brodhead  withdrew,  and  Mr.  Street 
entered  the  firm  as  True  &  Street ;  they  continued 
until  1832,  when  their  failure  suspended  business.  It 
was  during  this  time  that  they  built  a  large  brick  fac- 
tory, eighty-five  by  forty  feet,  and  three  stories  high, 
which  is  now  standing,  but  in  consequence  of  a  fire, 
in  186G,  the  upper  story  and  roof  were  removed  ;  it  is 
now  two  stories  high,  with  flat  roof.  In  1834  Whit- 
well,  Bond  &  Co.  were  the  owners  ;  they  introduced 
the  business  of  cleaning  and  assorting  wool.  In  1835 
another  change  in  ownership  took  place,  and  Messrs. 
Livermore  &  Kendall,  of  Boston,  became  possessors 
and  managers — professedly  by  the  New  England  Wool 
Company, — the  establishment  was  known  as  Rockville. 
In  1836  they  removed  to  Framingham,  and  all  busi- 
ness at  the  mills  ceased  for  about  two  years. 

In  1838  Edward  Franker,  Esq.,  bought  the  property 
and  removed  from  Salem,  N.  H.  The  mill  under- 
went a  thoi'ough  renovation  and  new  machinery  was 
put  in.  Although  a  period  of  great  financial  depres- 
sion, yet  Mr.  Franker  showed  energy  and  zeal  in  his 
business,  which  prospered  from  the  first. 

In  1846,  finding  the  old  brick  building  too  small 
for   his   increasing  business,  he  built  another   brick 


factory  adjoining  the  old  one  on  the  west,  seventy 
by  fifty  feet,  three  stories  high.  Both  factories  were 
complete,  with  six  sets  of  cards,  thirteen  jacks  and 
forty  looms.  Each  jack  carried  one  hundred  and 
eighty  spindles. 

In  1857  Mr.  Franker  associated  with  himself  in  the 
business  his  son,  George  Frauker  and  John  Armi- 
tage,  the  new  firm  being  Edward  Franker  &  Co. 
Frame  buildings  were  built  on  the  south  side 
of  the  road  for  wool-pulling  and  tanning  sheepskin 
pelts. 

In  1860  Mr.  Franker  built  a  new  brick  building, 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five  by  sixty  feet,  and  two 
stories  high,  putting  in  four  sets  of  woolen  machinery. 
This  building  was  placed  on  the  east  side  of  the  road, 
nearly  opposite  the  old  brick  mill,  and  extending 
northerly  almost  to  the  river. 

Mr.  Edward  Franker  died  in  1865.  He  was  born 
in  Wilton,  England,  in  1792  ;  by  occupation  he  was  a 
weaver  of  woolen  goods ;  he  came  to  America  in 
1820. 

After  Mr.  Franker's  death  his  son  George  and  Mr. 
John  Parsons  continued  the  business  up  to  1877,  but 
the  death  of  Mr.  George  Franker  brought  a  suspen- 
sion of  the  business  for  about  two  years. 

In  April,  1879,  six  grandchildren  of  Edward  Fran- 
ker associated  themselves  together  under  the  name  of 
the  "  Franker  Manufacturing  Company,"  and  have 
continued  the  woolen-cloth  business  up  to  the 
present  time. 

They  have  increased  the  busine-s  each  year,  and 
have  constantly  been  adding  new  and  improved  ma- 
chinery. They  now  employ  about  one  hundred  oper- 
atives. They  manufectured  the  past  year  goods  valued 
at  three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  requiring  about 
four  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds  of  clean 
wool. 

The  principal  goods  are  all-wool  shirtings  and 
ladies'  dress-goods  and  sackings  of  all  colors  and 
shades.     Also  plain  and  twilled  flannels. 

The  fire,  in  February  1866,  damaged  the  two  brick 
mills  adjoining  each  other  on  the  westerly  side  of  the 
road,  and  caused  a  change  in  their  restoration  ;  the 
older  mill  being  lowered  to  two  stories,  while  the 
newer  mill,  built  in  1846,  was  raised  to  a  four-story 
building;  flat  roofs  were  placed  on  both.  These  two 
buildings,  together  with  the  brick  building  on  the 
east  side  of  the  road,  containing  six  sets  of  ma- 
chinery, now  make  up  the  principal  buildings  in  use 
by  this  company, — in  all  ten  sets  of  machinery.  On  the 
east  side  of  [the  road,  opposite  the  oldest  mill,  they 
have  a  large  brick  steam  boiler  building,  furnishing 
steam  for  power  and  heat  for  all  the  mills,  of  about 
two  hundred  horse-power.  In  1884  they  built 
a  round  brick  chimney,  one  hundred  feet  high  and 
ten  feet  diameter  at  the  base,  adjoining  the  boiler 
building. 

Scott's  Mills. — About  1810  Joseph  Emes,  Esq., 


412 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


then  a  young  man  of  twenty-three  years  of  age, 
bought  this  property,  and  in  1811  finished  the  dam 
and  erected  a  two-and-a-half-story  brick  building  for 
a  morocco  manufactory  and  other  business.  In  1813 
Mr.  Emes  put  in  a  grist-mill  with  one  run  of  stones. 
At  this  time  Robert  Emes,  Esq.,  his  brother,  united 
with  him  in  business.  They  did  a  prosperous  busi- 
ness. 

In  1812  a  fulling-mill  for  softening  skins  and  hides 
was  added  to  the  establishment. 

In  1817  the  grist-mill  was  changed  into  one  for  the 
grinding  of  dye-stuffs,  principally  camwood.  This 
business  continued  for  about  four  years. 

After  1821  Joseph  Emes  continued  the  business 
himself,  manufacturing  kid  and  morocco,  with  the 
grist  and  fulling-mills  running  as  business  could  be 
obtained. 

In  1834  James  Brierly  leased  a  part  of  the  brick 
factory  for  the  manufacture  of  hair  and  woolen  rags. 

In  1844  Mr.  Emes  erected  a  saw-mill  upon  the  east- 
ern bank  of  the  river,  which  was  operated  for  about 
two  years. 

In  the  spring  of  1847  the  brick  factory  was  burned, 
with  all  the  stock  and  machinery  therein.  This  led 
to  the  selling  of  the  property  by  Mr.  Emes  to  Francis 
Scott,  Esq.,  a  merchant  of  Salem,  in  1848.  He  at 
once  repaired  the  dam,  and  erected  on  the  northwest 
side  of  the  river  a  large  brick  factory  building,  eighty- 
five  by  fifty  feet  and  four  stories  high,  put  in  all 
necessary  machinery,  and  commenced  the  manufac- 
ture of  flannel.  In  1857  his  son,  A.  A.  Scott,  was 
taken  into  the  business  as  a  partner,  under  the  firm- 
name  of  Francis  Scott  &  Son.  In  1862  Mr.  Francis 
Scott  was  thrown  from  a  cart,  severely  injured  and 
died  soon  after  his  injury,  since  which  time  the  busi- 
ness has  been  carried  on  by  his  son,  under  the  same 
style  of  firm. 

Mr.  A.  A.  Scott  now  employs  about  fifty  workmen  and 
workwomen.  He  manufactures  all-wool  flannels  and 
dress  goods.  He  makes  eight  hundred  thousand  yards 
annually,  both  fine  and  coarse  grades.  Improved 
machinery  has  been  put  in ;  also  a  steam-engine  of 
eighty  horse-power,  with  which  the  factory  can  be 
run  Avhenever  the  water  power  is  insuflicient. 

North  Saugus. — In  1814  the  manufacture  of  linen 
duck  was  started  in  North  Saugus.  A  dam  was  built 
across  the  river  at  a  short  distance  west  of  the  New- 
buryport  Turnpike,  and  about  a  hundred  rods  above 
the  bridge  through  which  the  river  flows  under  the 
Turnpike. 

A  company  was  formed  under  the  name  of  the 
Lynn  Linen-Spinning  Factory  Company.  The  active 
men  in  the  enterprise  were  Joseph  R.  Newhall  and 
Amos  Binney,  of  Boston.  A  large  three-story  frame 
building,  situated  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  was 
built,  but  the  peace  of  1815,  together  with  sundry 
lawsuits  for  flowage  damage,  soon  caused  a  suspension 
of  business. 

In  1816  Joel  Fox  undertook   to  revive   the  droop- 


ing energies  of  the  concern  by  introducing  machinery 
for  making  fine  linen  cloth,  and  also  shoe-thread. 
After  a  trial  of  three  years  he  sold  out  and  removed. 
The  building  was  divided  and  set  off  to  different  per- 
sons to  satisfy  their  judgments  for  damages.  Thus 
in  five  years  arose,  flourished  and  died  the  "  Linen- 
Factory,"  so-called. 

Let  us  leave  this  spot  and  go  perhaps  a  half  a  mile 
to  the  north,  into  the  present  village  of  North  Sau- 
gus. Directly  opposite  to  the  school-house,  on  the 
easterly  side  of  the  highway,  where  now  are  found 
the  artificial  works  of  the  city  of  Lynn  for  diverting 
the  water  of  Hawkes  Brook  for  their  own  use  ;  it  was 
here,  on  the  south  slope  of  a  bluff  of  land  that  in  1816 
Nathaniel  Perry  built  a  large  frame  building  and  put 
in  machinery  for  spinning  and  weaving  linen,  at  the 
same  time  building  a  dam  across  the  brook  close  by. 
In  the  same  year  (1816)  John  Clark  and  James  How- 
lett  purchased  land  about  ten  rods  northwest  of  Per- 
ry's mill,  on  Hawkes  Brook,  and  built  a  dam  and  a 
frame  building,  and  began  the  manufacture  of  Rappee 
snuff. 

The  effort  of  Mr.  Perry  to  establish  a  linen-factory, 
after  about  a  year's  labor,  proved  a  failure.  Mr.  Per- 
ry sold  out  to  John  Clark  and  James  Hewlett,  who  at 
once  introduced  the  snuff  business  into  this  building. 
A  canal  was  dug  across  the  bluff" of  land,  about  fifteen 
rods  long,  so  that  the  water  of  both  streams  could  be 
connected  into  one  pond  when  necessary. 

The  snuff  business  continued  some  two  years,  when 
this  ceased  also. 

In  1828  John  Clark,  Esq.,  put  into  the  large  build- 
ing the  necessary  machinery  for  a  grist  and  chocolate- 
mill.  This  business  continued  for  about  three  years, 
when  the  whole  was  discontinued  and  the  dams  re- 
moved. Hardly  a  vestige  now  remains  to  mark 
either  site. 

There  is  left  but  one  other  point  in  North  Saugus 
for  us  to  notice  where  business  was  early  started. 

About  a  half  a  mile  westerly  from  the  school-house, 
on  the  Wakefield  road,  is  situated  an  old  mill-site,  on 
Saugus  River.  It  is  now  owned  by  Byron  S.  Hone, 
who  has  a  saw-mill  in  operation. 

In  1811  Dr.  John  Hart,  David  Pratt,  E.  Weston  and 
others  were  incorporated  under  the  name  of  the 
"  Lynn  Wire  and  Screw  Manufacturing  Company  " 
at  this  point ;  land  was  purchased,  the  dam  was  built 
and  a  suitable  building  erected  in  1812.  Although 
the  business  was  commenced  with  vigor,  yet  misfor- 
tune soon  attended  this  company,  and  failure  and  sus- 
pension followed.  From  1816  to  1819  very  little  use 
was  made  of  the  property,  and  in  the  latter  year  it 
passed  into  the  possession  of  John  Clark,  Esq.,  of 
Boston,  who  at  once  changed  its  use  into  a  snuff-mill. 
This  purchase  influenced,  in  part,  the  removal  from 
the  two  other  snuff-mills,  before  alluded  to.  Eight 
large  mortars  were  at  once  introduced  into  this  new 
mill,  and  arrangements  made  for  a  large  business. 

James  Howlett  had  charge  and  superintendence,  but 


SAUGUS. 


413 


afterwards  bought  the  mill,  and  at  his  death  his  son, 
John  Howlett,  bought  out  the  other  heirs,  and  con- 
tinued the  snuff  business,  and  the  cutting  of  tobacco  into 
what  was  called  "  fine-cut.''  A  few  years  before  sell- 
ing the  mill  to  Mi-.  Hone,  Mr.  Howlett  removed  the 
snufT-mortars  and  tobacco-cutter  and  put  in  instead  a 
saw  and  shingle-mill,  which  have  continued  in  op- 
eration to  the  present  time. 

In  1871  Mr.  John  Howlett  sold  the  mill  property 
to  Philip  P.  Hone.  At  his  death  it  passed  to  his  only 
son,  Byron  S.  Hone,  who  is  the  present  owner. 

Cliftondale  Tobacco  Business. — That  portion 
of  the  town  now  called  Cliftondale  was  formerly  for 
many  years  known  as  Sweetser's  Corner.  The  growth 
and  prosperity  of  this  village  is  to  be  traced  to  its 
manufacture  of  tobacco  in  its  various  forms,  viz., 
snutF,  chewing  and  smoking  tobacco,  and  cigars,  which 
had  its  beginning  at  the  very  close  of  the  last  cen- 
tury. 

The  pioneer  in  this  business  was  William  Sweetser, 
known  as  William  Sweetser,  Jr.  He  manufactured 
snufFin  a  hand-mill  previous  to  this  century  and  sold 
his  product  principally  in  Salem  and  Marblehead. 

Following  close  upon  Mr.  Sweetser  was  Samuel 
Copp.  He  was  a  native  of  Boston,  and  his  mother 
was  a  sister  of  the  wife  of  Landlord  Newhall.  Hav- 
ing the  misfortune  to  lose  his  father  at  an  early  age, 
he  was  apprenticed  to  a  tobacconist.  During  this 
time  his  mother  removed  to  Saugus  and  resided  in  the 
family  of  Landlord  Newhall,  where  she  died  before  he 
reached  his  majority. 

On  completing  his  apprenticeship  he  at  once  re- 
paired to  Saugus  and  commenced  a  very  small  busi- 
ness, first  in  East  Saugus,  then  in  Lynn  on  Boston 
Street  near  Federal  Street,  but  after  a  very  few  years 
he  removed  to  Cliftondale  built  him  a  house  and  shop 
and  married  for  his  second  wife  another  daughter  of 
William  Sweetser  who  lived  close  by.  This  was  about 
1807.  Mr.  Copp's  house,  with  the  shop  a  few  feet 
west,  stood  on  the  spot  now  occupied  by  the  palatial 
residence  of  Mr.  Charles  H.  Bond. 

His  factory  was  a  two-story  frame  building  and  the 
business  then  consisted  mainly  in  the  manufacture  of 
"Fig  and  Pig-tail,"  as  they  were  then  called.  The 
upper  story  was  wholly  devoted  to  hand  labor  and 
spinning  "  pig-tail ; ''  in  the  lower  story  were  stout 
wooden  screws  in  strong  oaken  frames,  where  the  man- 
ufactured tobacco  was  pressed  into  boxes  or  kegs. 

Previous  to  the  establishment  of  Samuel  Copp  only 
one  house  existed  at  the  "  Corner;"  this  was  the  house 
of  William  Sweetser,  and  it  is  now  standing,  having 
been  owned  and  occupied  for  many  years  past  by  the 
late  Charles  M.  Bond. 

Mr.  Copp  continued  the  business  till  1820,  when  he 
sold  out  to  Charles  Sweetser,  son  of  William  Sweet- 
ser, who  added  the  manufacture  of  cigars  known  as 
"  short  sixes  "  and  "  long  nines,"  and  also  began  the 
manufacture  of  snuff,  first  grinding  the  snufFat  Salem 


until  1844,  when,  purchasing  the  mill-site  at  East 
Saugus,  he  removed  his  snufF-grinding  thereto.  It 
will  be  seen  that  Mr.  Charles  Sweetser  greatly  enlarged 
the  business,  and  a  market  was  found  all  over  the 
United  States  and  British  provinces  and  to  some  ex- 
tent in  foreign  countries. 

In  1860  Mr.  Charles  Sweetser  gave  up  the  business 
to  his  two  sons,  Charles  A.  aud  George  H.  Sweetser, 
who  carried  it  on  under  the  firm-name  of  Sweetser 
Brothers. 

During  these  years  many  others  took  up  the  same 
business,  viz.,  Charles  Raddin,  who  was  an  extensive 
manufacturer,  also  S.  S.  Dunn,  Charles  M.  Bond,  Silas 
S.  Trull,  Thomas  F.  Downing,  Hiram  A.  Raddin  and 
John  M.  Raddin. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Rebellion,  in  1861,  the  cigar 
manufacture  practically  ceased,  on  account  of  the 
Southern  market  being  lost  and  the  heavy  internal 
revenue  tax  placed  on  these  low-priced  goods.  Pipe- 
smoking  was  resorted  to. 

The  manufacture  of  snufF  continued  throughout 
and  since  the  war  with  little  variation  until  the  past 
five  years,  when  it  began  to  decrease. 

Now,  in  1887,  Joseph  A.  Raddin,  under  the  firm- 
name  of  F.  L.  &  J.  A.  Raddin,  conducts  the  business 
of  his  father  Charles,  having  also  bought  out  the 
Sweetser  Brothers'  business  in  November,  1885.  Mr. 
Raddin's  business  is  largely  in  cut  smoking  tobacco, 
some  brands  of  which  have  become  very  popular. 

The  other  manufacturers  of  to-day  are  S.  S.  Trull, 
Edward  O.  Copp,  grandson  of  Samuel  Copp,  M.  S. 
Fiske  and  Copp  &  Gibbons,  all  of  whom,  excepting 
Copp  &  Gibbons,  confine  their  business  to  cigars. 

Crockery-ware. — The  road  which  now  leads  from 
Cliftondale  to  Saugus  Centre,  called  Central  Street, 
soon  after  leaving  the  village  of  Cliftondale,  descends 
a  hill  and  crosses  a  swamp  or  peat  meadow.  This 
was  known  as  "  Jackson's  Meadow."  It  contains  an 
inexhaustible  quantity  of  peat,  which  many  years  ago 
was  utilized  by  the  inhabitants  to  a  small  extent. 

Underlying  this  peat  deposit  is  a  deposit  of  very 
fine  blue  clay. 

In  1808,  or  thereabouts,  William  Jackson,  an  Eng- 
lishman by  birth  and  education,  came  to  Saugus  (then 
Lynn),  and  bought  a  small  farm  at  what  is  now  Clif- 
tondale, together  with  a  part  of  the  meadow  before 

mentioned. 
He  became  aware  of  this  deposit  of  fine  clay  and 

its  adaptability  for  crockery-ware. 

The  embargo  and  War  of  1810  and  1812  coming  on 
rendered  the  importation  of  crockery  very  difficult. 
Mr.  Jackson  at  once  built  a  large  building  and  two 
smaller  ones.  He  procured  the  best  machinery  and 
most  skillful  workmen  possible  at  that  time,  but  he 
soon  found  out  that  the  clay  was  not  adapted  for  the 
finest  kind  of  ware,  and  so  his  manufacture  was  con- 
fined to  a  superior  kind  of  brown  and  red  earthen- 
ware. 


414 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


This  factory  was  continued  for  about  four  years, 
when,  becoming  unprofitable,  it  was  totally  aban- 
doned. 

Shoe  Business. — We  will  now  rapidly  sketch  the 
rise  and  progress  of  the  shoe  business  in  Saugus.  Let 
us  go  back  to  1802,  when  our  territory  was  included 
in  the  town  of  Lynn.  It  was  in  this  year  that  Eben- 
ezer  Oakman,  Esq.,  a  young  man  of  active  business 
talents,  began  the  manufacture  of  shoes  on  the  north- 
ern side  of  our  river,  about  ten  rods  from  the  bridge, 
in  East  Saugus.  He  built  a  small  factory,  which  he 
enlarged  in  1807,  and  also  built  a  new  factory  in  the 
same  year,  and  again  in  1810  he  built  a  much  larger 
factory,  connecting  it  with  a  large  barn  fifty  feet 
northerly  by  a  lower  building.  At  that  time  this  was 
undoubtedly  the  largest  shoe  factory  in  Lynn.  Mr. 
Oakman's  market  was  found  largely  in  Philadelphia, 
whither  his  shoes  were  shipped  by  sailing-vessels 
from  Boston.  His  example  and  zeal  were  contagious 
in  the  community. 

During  the  War  of  1812,  it  being  too  dangerous  to 
send  his  shoes  to  Philadelphia  by  packet,  he  estab- 
lished a  line  of  large  baggage-wagons,  drawn  by  six 
horses,  with  two  skillful  drivers,  making  the  transit 
to  Philadelphia  and  back  in  about  six  weeks'  time. 
This  was  continued  during  the  war,  although  at  great 
expense.  Among  his  teamsters  were  Captain  Jacob 
Newhall,  Jesse  Rice  and  Captain  Jacob  Baird. 

During  this  time  Mr.  Oakman  was  indefatigable  in 
his  business,  both  at  Lynn  and  Philadelphia,  spend- 
ing a  part  of  his  time  at  each  place.  He  commenced, 
to  some  extent,  also  the  manufacture  of  gentlemen's 
calf  boots.  After  the  peace  of  1815  the  business  was 
not  prosecuted  with  so  much  vigor,  although  Mr. 
Oakman  continued  it  till  about  1818.  After  that  pe- 
riod he  closed  his  business  here  and  removed  to  Phil- 
adelphia for  a  permanent  residence. 

This  was  a  great  detriment  to  Saugus,  for  soon  the 
factory  buildings  were  cut  up  and  removed  to  different 
parts  of  the  town  and  made  into  dwellings.  In  those 
days  shoes  were  manufactured  very  differently  from 
what  they  are  at  this  time.  The  leather  and  kid 
were  brought  to  the  factory  and  cut  up  in  the  rudest 
manner.  The  uppers,  binding,  soles,  thread  and 
everything  necessary  was  counted  out  to  the  work- 
man, who  took  them  away  in  a  bag  or  basket  to  his 
house  or  a  small  shop  near  the  same,  and  while  the 
women  folks  bound  the  uppers,  he  put  on  the  soles 
and  finished  them  entirely  ready  for  market,  after 
which  he  carried  them  to  the  boss,  and  returned  home 
with  a  new  week's  work. 

After  Mr.  Oakman's  removal,  the  shoe  business  was 
carried  on  in  a  very  small  way  for  a  number  of  years, 
until  about  1825.  It  was  at  this  period  that  a  number 
of  resolute  and  active  young  men,  natives  of  our  town, 
took  up  the  business  and  carried  it  on  with  uniform 
success.  These  were  Thomas  Raddin,  Jr.,  George  W. 
Raddin,   Sewall   Raddin,   Jacob  Newhall,  Jr.,  Abel 


Newhall  and  Benjamin  F.  Newhall.  It  was  from  this 
time  until  1838  that  these  manufacturers  did  a  large 
and  prosperous  business. 

John  W.  Newhall  began  business  in  1841 ;  James 
C.  Lockwood,  Levi  D.  Waldron  and  Pickmore  Jack- 
son in  1842  ;  Charles  W.  Newhall  in  1847 ;  Harmon 
Hall  and  Charles  E.  Raddin  in  1850.  Mr.  Hall  was 
associated  with  John  W.  Newhall  from  1852  to  1855, 
but  after  this  he  continued  the  business  himself  for 
many  years.  But  from  this  time  onward  the  shoe 
business  of  Saugus  began  to  decline. 

This  was  caused  by  the  entire  revolution  of  the 
manner  of  manufacturing  shoes.  Machinery  was 
taking  the  place  of  hand  labor.  The  workmen  were 
congregated  together  in  large  factories  instead  of 
being  scattered  about  the  town  and  country  in  their 
little  shops. 

There  was  an  advantage,  as  well  as  convenience,  to 
the  manufacturers  themselves  to  be  in  a  narrow  local- 
ity. So  our  manufacturers,  one  by  one,  began  to 
leave  us,  removing  their  business  into  the  centre  of 
the  city  of  Lynn,  or  elsewhere,  so  that  at  this  time 
(1887)  there  is  only  one  shoe  manufacturer,  L.  Waldo 
Collins,  doing  business  in  East  Saugus.  Our  people, 
men  and  women,  find  their  employment  in  Lynn, 
going  down  in  the  morning  and  returning  in  the 
evening,  either  by  horse-cars  or  steam  railroad. 

But  we  must  not  forget  to  speak  of  the  shoe  business 
in  the  centre  of  the  town. 

Among  the  early  shoe  manufacturers  in  the  centre 
of  the  town  we  will  mention  Moses  Mansfield,  who 
died  in  1806;  he  lived  in  the  Capen  house.  Also 
his  brother,  Thomas  Mansfield,  who  lived  in  the 
Adam  Ames  house,  now  owned  by  Mr.  Scott.  Also 
Richard  Mansfield,  who  died  in  1824;  he  lived  on 
Main  Street,  where  Mr.  FoUett  now  lives.  His  shop 
was  opposite. 

In  1818  Benjamin  Hitchings  moved  into  town  and 
commenced  the  shoe  business,  and  continued  in  bus- 
iness until  about  1850.  Latterly  he  took  his  two  sons, 
John  B.  and  Otis  M.,  into  partnership. 

Mr.  Hitchings  at  first  lived  in  the  Davis  house,  on 
the  Cinder  Banks,  and  manufactured  there  until  he 
removed  to  his  house,  and  shop  connected  therewith, 
on  Main  Street,  near  the  turnpike,  where  he  died. 

Of  the  early  shoe  manufacturers  Mr.  Hitchings 
was  by  far  the  largest,  often  employing  from  forty  to 
fifty  hands. 

David  Newhall  and  W.  W.  Boardman  manufactured 
from  1830  to  1850. 

Otis  M.  Hitchings  manufactured  from  1846  to  1872, 
employing  some  years  one  hundred  hands. 

In  1852  Walton  &  Wilson  commenced  the  shoe 
business,  and  continued  until  1879,  when  they  sold 
out  to  Charles  S.  Hitchings,  who  removed  his  business, 
commenced  in  1867,  into  the  three-story  factory  on 
Central  Street,  corner  of  Pearson,  said  factory  having 
been  built  by  Walton  &  Wilson  in  1872,  and  occupied 


SAUGUS. 


415 


by  them  up  to  1879.  Messrs.  Walton  &  Wilson  did  a 
large  business,  often  employing  as  many  as  a  hundred 
hands,  and  manufacturing  shoes  to  the  amount  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  yearly. 

William  T.  Ash  commenced  in  1877.  His  business 
increasing,  he  soon  removed  to  0.  M.  Hitchings'  fac- 
tory, near  the  depot,  where  he  continued  until  1883, 
when  he  removed  his  whole  business  to  Lynn.  Mr. 
Ash  at  this  time  was  doing  a  good  business,  employ- 
ing some  eighty  hands. 

Charles  S.  Hitchings,  William  F.  Hitchings  and 
Otis  M.  Burrill  are  now  the  only  shoe  manufacturers 
remaining  in  the  Centre.  Mr.  Charles  S.  Hitchings, 
the  largest  of  the  three,  employs  from  forty  to  fifty 
hands. 

Gkain-Mill. — In  1850  Benjamin  F.  Newhall  pur- 
chased the  lands  on  both  sides  of  Fox  Hill  Creek,  so- 
called,  extending  to  the  Salem  turnpike,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  constructing  a  grain-mill,  and  wharf  adjoining 
it  on  the  northerly  side.  The  wharf  was  built  in 
1851,  and  the  earth  for  filling  was  taken  from  the 
southwest  side  of  Ballard  Street,  making  now  a  part 
of  the  mill-pond.  Ballard  Street  was  built  from  the 
old  Boston  road  in  East  Saugus  to  the  Salem  turn- 
pike in  1850.  The  grain-mill  was  built  in  1852. 
From  the  time  of  its  erection  to  the  present  a  very 
large  grain  business  has  been  done  here.  And  until 
very  recently  the  grain  has  been  landed  in  vessels 
directly  to  the  mill,  being  raised  from  the  vessel  by  a 
large  elevator.  From  fifty  to  one  hundred  thousand 
bushels  of  corn  have  been  ground  annually.  Since 
1864  Herbert  B.  Newhall,  son  of  Benjamin  F.  New- 
ball,  has  owned  and  run  this  mill.  During  a  few 
years  last  past  Mr.  Newhall  has  landed  his  grain  by 
railroad  at  Lynn  Common  Depot  and  carted  it  to  the 
mill,  for  the  reason  that  it  could  be  done  more  cheaply 
than  by  vessel. 

Brick-Making. — It  is  now  forty-six  years  since 
Mr.  Frederick  Stocker  began  brick-making  in  East 
Saugus,  with  his  yard  between  Winter  Street  and  the 
river.  Mr.  Stocker  usually  manufactured  from  one- 
half  million  to  a  million  bricks  annually.  About 
nineteen  years  ago  he  gave  up  the  business  to  his  son 
Frederick,  who  continues  up  to  the  present  time.  He 
makes  about  one  million  bricks  annually,  and  con- 
sumes thereby  about  four  hundred  cords  of  wood,  and 
gives  employment  to  a  dozen  men. 

As  long  ago  as  1812  Mr.  Thomas  Raddin  made 
bricks  in  a  yard  on  the  northerly  side  of  the  river, 
where  Mr.  T.  H.  Rhodes'  house  now  stands. 

Mr.  Hatch  also  made  bricks  in  the  same  place  in 
1859  for  about  two  years. 

From  1850  to  1860  William  M.  Newhall  also  car- 
ried on  the  brick  business  on  the  northerly  side  of  the 
river,  not  far  above  the  bridge.  He  manufactured 
about  a  million  bricks  annually,  until  the  clay  was 
practically  exhausted.  From  1858  to  1860  Mr.  H. 
Hard  had  a  yard  adjoining  Mr.  Newhall's. 


Curled  Hair. — In  1848  Enoch  T.  Kent  commenced 
the  business  of  preparing  hair  for  plastering.  He 
then  lived  on  the  place  now  occupied  by  William  A. 
Trefethen,  in  East  Saugus. 

In  1853  he  removed  to  Cliftondale,  and  took  as  a 
business  partner  S.  R.  Marvin,  when  they  enlarged 
their  business,  amounting  to  fifty  thousand  dollars 
yearly.  They  dissolved  partnership  in  1866,  and  in 
1873  Mr.  Kent  built  a  large  factory  in  the  Centre,  on 
what  is  known  as  Shute's  Brook  near  the  railroad 
depot.  This  factory  was  three  stories,  with  basement, 
and  was  furnished  with  steam-power,  the  brook  af- 
fording water  for  Avashing  and  scouring  purposes. 
Here  he  has  continued  the  business  up  to  the  present 
time,  not  only  furnishing  hair  for  plastering,  but  for 
spinning  and  saddlers'  and  upholsterers'  use.  He 
employs  about  twenty  men,  and  does  about  fifty 
thousand  dollars  business  annually.  He  ships  his 
hair  to  all  parts  of  the  country. 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

SA.J]G\JS— {Continued). 

Anchor  Tavei-n — lloadx  aitd  Bridges — Boston  linad — Great  Bridge — S<dem 
Turnpike — Newhuryport  Turnpike — Bailroads — Horse  Railroads. 

Anchor  Tavern. — Very  early  in  the  settlement 
of  the  town,  probably  as  early  as  1643,  a  tavern  was 
established  in  that  part  of  the  town  now  called  East 
Saugus,  on  the  road  from  Boston  to  Salem,  and  about 
half-way  between  these  two  places.  It  was  built  on 
the  Ballard  farm,  under  the  brow  of  the  hill,  just 
where  the  highway  turned  sharply  to  the  south. 

For  about  one  hundred  and  seventy  years  it  atforded 
shelter  for  man  and  beast,  and  became,  during  its  his- 
tory, a  famous  hostelry,  known  far  and  wide. 

Joseph  Armitage  was  its  first  landlord,  and  from 
him  it  received  the  name  of  "  The  Anchor  Tavern." 

Governors  Endicott  and  Bradstreet  early  found  en- 
tertainment here,  as  the  court  records,  in  1669,  show 
Mr.  Armitage's  petitions  for  payment  of  their  ex- 
penses for  "  bear  and  cacks  "  (beer  and  cakes),  "  vit- 
alls,  bear  and  logen,  beare  and  wyne  att  sevrall  times." 

Mr.  Armitage  died  in  1680.  But  probably  many 
years  before  this  he  was  succeeded  by  Captain  Thomas 
Marshall,  who  was  the  second  landlord  and  continued 
to  keep  the  tavern  until  December  23,  1689,  the  time 
of  his  death.  Captain  Marshall  was  a  soldier  under 
Cromwell. 

We  are  not  informed  of  the  landlords  succeeding 
Captain  Marshall  until  we  come  to  Zaccheus  Nor- 
wood, who  bought  the  tavern-stand  with  the  Ballard 
farm  in  1760.  The  house  now  was  very  famous  and 
its  patronage  very  large. 

Mr.  Norwood  died  in  1768,  leaving  a  widow,  who 
continued  to  keep  the  public-house.     She  afterwards 


416 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


married  an  eccentric  Englishman,  named  Josiah 
Martin,  who,  by  his  hypocrisy,  gained  her  affections 
and  afterwards  led  her  a  terrible  life  as  landlord. 

On  May  3d,  1773,  Landlord  Jacob  Newhall  became 
landlord  at  this  tavern.  The  time  of  the  Revolution 
was  now  approaching,  and  it  was  not  long  before 
Landlord  Newhall  took  down  the  Anchor  Tavern 
sign,  with  the  lion  and  unicorn,  and  substituted  in  its 
place  the  "Rising  Sun  Tavern,"  with  a  painted  rep- 
resentation of  the  morning  sun  just  appearing  above 
the  horizon.  Landlord  Newhall  was  an  ardent  pa- 
triot, and  his  means  were  freely  spent  for  the  coun- 
try. No  one  was  allowed  to  go  hungry  past  his 
house.  He  continued  its  landlord  until  about  1800, 
and  when  he  left  it.  carried  away  scarcely  anything 
but  a  good  name  to  show  for  his  many  years'  labor. 

It  was  in  1800  that  the  tavern  and  the  entire  farm 
came  back  into  the  possession  of  the  Ballard  family, 
and  in  1802  Mr.  John  Ballard  built  a  new  public- 
house,  about  nine  rods  south  of  the  old  tavern.  This 
was  the  time  that  the  Salem  turnpike  was  building. 
Mr.  Ballard  had  prevented  the  turnpike  from  being 
built  over  his  farm. 

Disappointment  was  in  store  for  him  in  regard  to 
his  new  public-house,  for  as  soon  as  the  turnpike  was 
opened  the  travel  was  diverted  and  the  stand  was  ruined. 

Joseph  Palmer  was  the  landlord  of  the  new  hotel  ; 
but  he  continued  only  until  the  opening  of  the  turn- 
pike, when  he  went  to  Lynn  to  take  charge  of  the 
Lynn  Hotel. 

From  1815  to  1822  Mr.  Ballard  made  the  hotel 
building  his  own  homestead. 

After  this  it  continued  a  checkered  career  as  a  pub- 
lic-house until  1871,  when  it  was  purchased  by  Wilbur 
F.  Newhall,  and  removed  a  few  hundred  feet  east, 
so  as  to  make  room  for  a  new  dwelling. 

The  old  Anchor  Tavern  building  continued  to  stand 
during  these  years  of  the  new  hotel,  serving  as  a 
farm-house,  until  1836,  when  it  was  torn  down  to 
make  room  for  a  new  street — now  Lincoln  Avenue — 
leading  down  to  the  bridge. 

Roads  and  Bridges. — The  old  Boston  road,  for- 
merly so  called,  running  through  East  Saugus  and 
Cliftondale,  was  one  of  our  earliest  roads.  It  crossed 
the  river  at  East  Saugus,  where  the  upland  on  either 
bank  approached  so  near  to  the  river's  edge  as  to 
leave  but  little  salt  marsh.  Here  was  a  natural  ford- 
ing-place  at  low  tide  ;  and  it  was  here  that  the  Gen- 
eral Court,  June  6,  1639,  ordered,  "  That  those  of 
Lynn  shall  have  £50  from  the  country  towards  the 
building  of  a  cart-bridge  over  the  river  there  ;  when 
the  bridge  is  finished,  to  be  allowed  them." 

On  petition  of  the  town,  October  27,  1648,  the 
court  further  ordered,  "  That  there  shall  from 
henceforth  be  allowed  thirty  shillings  per  annum  out 
of  the  treasury  of  the  county  towards  the  mainten- 
ance of  the  said  bridge,  for  which  the  inhabitants  of 
Lynn  are  forever  to  repair  it." 


This  action  was  probably  caused  by  a  sad  accident 
which  occurred  at  the  bridge,  March,  1648,  to  Ed- 
mund Ingalls,  one  of  the  first  settlers,  then  an  old 
man. 

It  would  seem  that  the  bridge  must  have  been  de- 
cayed and  out  of  repair,  for  Mr.  Ingalls,  while  cross- 
ing on  horseback,  fell  through  and  was  drowned.  His 
heirs  recovered  from  the  State  one  hundred  pounds. 
The  court  appropriated  at  once  twenty  pounds  more 
for  immediate  repairs. 

May  23,  1655,  the  court  again  ordered  that  a  com- 
mittee should  rebuild  the  bridge,  and  the  County 
Court  should  apportion  the  expense  among  the  towns 
of  the  county.  It  so  remained  a  county  charge  until 
a  joint  committee  of  Lynn  and  Saugus,  in  1815, 
agreed  that  the  two  towns  "  shall  support  said  bridge 
equally,  in  conjunction  with  the  county." 

This  bridge,  sometimes  called  the  "  Great  Bridge," 
with  Boston  Street,  was  an  important  avenue  of  com- 
munication for  the  whole  county,  and  indeed  we 
might  say  the  only  one  until  the  building  of  the 
Salem  turnpike,  in  1803.  Before  the  bridge  was 
built  it  was  necessary  to  make  a  long  circuit  to 
the  Centre,  where  was  found  the  only  safe  fording- 
place  at  the  head  of  tide  water.  This  circuit  made  at 
least  two  and  one-half  miles  extra  travel  up  one  side 
of  the  river  and  down  the  other. 

There  has  been  some  difference  of  opinion  in  re- 
gard to  the  location  of  an  ancient  ferry.  In  1639  the 
General  Court  granted  to  Garrett  Spencer  "  the  ferry 
at  Linn  for  2  years."  The  law  also  regulated  the 
tolls.  It  is  generally  thought  that  this  ferry  was 
from  Needham's  Landing  in  Lynn,  to  what  is  now 
called  the  Lower  Landing,  on  Ballard  Street,  in  East 
Saugus.  In  those  days  it  undoubtedly  was  a  great 
accommodation  to  travelers  on  foot  or  horseback,  and 
especially  before  the  building  of  the  bridge  at  E. 
Saugus. 

Another  very  early  road  was  from  Boston  Street, 
leaving  the  same  near  where  the  Methodist  Church 
now  stands  in  East  Saugus,  and  going  up  on  the 
southerly  side  of  the  river,  substantially  where  Win- 
ter Street  is  now  located;  but  when  reaching  where 
now  is  the  New  Cemetery  it  bore  to  the  left,  where 
the  old  track  is  now  seen  and  can  be  traveled,  going 
on  westerly  near  where  Denver  Street  now  is  to  Vine 
and  Main  Streets,  and  then  on  to  the  west  part  of 
the  town  and  to  Reading. 

Another  road  branched  off  this,  going  northerly, 
near  where  Central  Street  now  is,  to  the  iron  works, 
and  to  the  fording-place  across  the  river. 

The  road  from  Lynn,  now  called  Walnut  Street, 
passing  Birch  Brook,  and  on  to  North  Saugus  and 
Lynnfield,  is  also  a  very  old  road. 

It  was  near  this  road,  on  Choose  Hill,  so-called,  that 
it  was  proposed  to  build  the  Old  Tunnel  parish 
church,  so  as  to  accommodate  the  parishioners  from 


SAUGUS. 


417 


Lvnn,  Saugus  and  Lynnfield,  this  being  near  the  geo- 
graphical centre.  But  this  project  was  soon  aban- 
doned, and  three  parishes  was  the  result. 

The  road  from  lancoln  Avenue,  in  Cliftondale,  to 
ISaugus  Centre,  now  called  Central  Street,  was  built  by 
the  town  in  1837. 

The  road  running  from  Lincoln  Avenue,  in  East 
Saugus,  to  the  Salem  turnpike,  now  called  Ballard  St., 
was  built  in  1850.  The  expense  of  its  construction 
was  borne  by  the  town  of  Saugus,  Essex  County,  the 
turnpike  corporation  and  the  owners  of  the  land.  A 
bridge  was  built  across  Fox  Hill  Creek.  It  gave  a 
very  convenient  and  easy  access  to  the  public  town 
landing. 

Salem  and  Boston  Turnpike. — The  charter  for 
the  construction  of  the  Salem  turnpike  was  obtained 
in  1801.  Very  great  opposition  was  made  to  this  road 
by  the  towns  of  Dan  vers  and  Maiden,  and  by  the 
Maiden  Bridge  corporation,  who  had,  only  nine  years 
before,  built  their  bridge  over  the  Mystic  River,  a 
mile  to  the  west  of  the  proposed  Chelsea  Bridge. 

This  turnpike  was  doomed  to  divert  the  great  cur- 
rent of  travel  from  the  old  Boston  road,  in  Saugus,  to 
a  passage  over  its  lonely  salt  marshes. 

But  public  utility  triumphed  over  local  interests, 
and  the  turnpike  was  built  and  opened  for  travel  from 
Salem  to  Lynn,  July  5,  1803,  and  on  September  22, 
1803,  over  the  entire  length  to  Chelsea. 

On  September  22,  1807,  the  turnpike  and  bridges 
were  declared  to  be  fully  finished. 

The  traffic  over  the  turn|)ike  constantly  increased 
up  to  1838,  when,  in  consequence  of  the  opening  of 
the  Eastern  Railroad,  the  stage  travel  ceased,  other 
travel  decreased,  the  tolls  were  reduced  and  the 
stock  of  the  corporation  fell  to  almost  or  quite  forty 
dollars  a  share.  This  turnpike  was  made  a  public 
highway  in  1868. 

The  Newburyport  Turnpike. — The  charter  for 
the  construction  of  this  turnpike  was  obtained  in  1802. 
It  was  finished  about  1805,  and  the  cost  was  nearly 
$480,000. 

About  four  miles  of  this  turnpike  is  in  Saugus, 
passing  through  the  town  from  north  to  south.  At 
the  time  this  road  was  built  Salem  and  Newbury])ort 
were  rival  commercial  towns.  Salem  was  about  build- 
ing an  air-line  turnpike  to  Boston,  and  so  Newbury- 
port could  do  nothing  less. 

It  was  made  straight,  regardless  alike  of  settlements 
on  either  side,  or  of  hills  and  swamps  on  the  direct 
line.  And  although  the  shrewdest  men  of  Newbury- 
port were  its  projectors,  yet  it  proved  from  its  comple- 
tion not  only  to  be  a  ruinous  investment,  but  a  stu- 
pendous folly.     Grass  soon  overgrew  its  road-bed. 

From  1840  to  1846  the  tolls  were  discontinued,  and 
the  turnpike  became  a  public  highway  in  the  several 
27 


towns  through  which  it  passed,  making  a  heavy  bur- 
den to  many  towns,  especially  Saugus. 

Railroads. — The  Eastern  Railroad  was  chartered 
in  1836  and  was  opened  to  travel  in  1838.  Although 
its  route  passed  through  a  portion  of  Saugus  terri- 
tory, over  the  salt  marshes  between  Saugus  and  Chel- 
sea Rivers,  in  the  very  southern  extremity  of  the 
township,  yet  the  town  was  not  recognized  in  its  loca- 
tion and  charter. 

But  this  railroad  as  located  afforded  small  accom- 
modations to  our  citizens,  who  were  still  obliged  for 
many  years  to  travel  a  distance  of  two  and  three 
miles  to  Breed's  Wharf  Depot,  in  West  Lynn.  A 
very  small  westerly  portion  of  the  town  found  the 
Boston  and  Maine  Railroad  at  Melrose  nearer. 

Our  present  railroad  accommodations  with  Boston 
and  Lynn,  in  all  thirty -one  daily  trains  both  ways, 
have  not  been  obtained  without  long  struggles  and 
many  changes  extending  through  years. 

The  earliest  efforts  for  a  railroad  through  Saugus 
were  made  just  previous  to  1844. 

Benjamin  Goodrich  and  others  j)etitioned  for  a 
charter  from  Salem  to  Boston,  passing  through  South 
Danvers  (now  Peabody),  West  Lynn,  East  Saugus, 
East  Maiden  (now  Linden  and  Maplewood),  Maiden 
Centre  and  thence  into  Boston.  This  route  was  sur- 
veyed over  the  Ballard  farm  and  south  of  Baker's 
hifl. 

After  two  or  three  years'  fruitless  trial  for  a  char- 
ter before  the  Legislature  this  project  was  abandoned. 
The  Eastern  Railroad  was  the  main  opponent. 

We  wish  to  mention  here  the  name  of  Joshua 
Webster,  Esq.,  as  the  man,  among  many  others,  to 
whose  untiring  energy  and  zeal  we  finally  obtained 
railroad  accommodations.  Formerly  of  Lynn,  he  at 
this  early  time  bought  a  large  farm  in  Maplewood, 
known  as  the  "  Wait  Farm,"  and  removed  thither. 
He  was  determined  to  have  a  railroad  through  his 
farm.  In  1846  he  projected  a  railroad  from  East 
Saugus  to  Maiden,  connecting  with  the  Boston  and 
Maine  Railroad.  The  route  was  through  the  centre 
of  Saugus,  thence  down  the  valley  of  the  Newbury- 
port turnpike  through  Maplewood  to  Maiden,  a  dis- 
tance of  over  five  miles.  In  1847  a  petition  was 
presented  to  the  Legislature  for  a  charter.  To  oppose 
this  project,  the  Eastern  Railroad  brought  forward  a 
scheme  to  build  a  branch  railroad  from  Breed's 
Wharf  Depot  in  Lynn  through  East  Saugus  to  Saugus 
Centre.  A  survey  was  at  once  made  and  petitions 
presented  to  the  General  Court. 

The  war  for  these  rival  routes  first  began  in  Saugus, 
and  then  in  all  its  warmth  was  carried  to  the  Legis- 
lature. The  Legislature  gave  a  charter  to  the  Maiden 
route.  Among  the  leading  men  who  favored  this 
route  were  Joshua  Webster,  Daniel  P.  Wise,  G.  G. 
Hubbard,  G.  W.  Raddin,  George  Pearson  and  Ed- 
ward Pranker.  The  company  was  soon  organized,* 
and  Joshua  Webster  chosen  president.  This  was  in 
the  spring  of  1848.  In  1849  the  charter  was  amended, 


418 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTS,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


so  as  to  change  the  location  from  the  turnpike  valley 
and  run  through  Cliftondale  and  Linden  to  Maiden. 
Still  another  step  remained.  In  1850  a  further 
amendment  to  the  charter  was  obtained  to  extend  the 
branch  from  East  Saugus  to  Lynn  Common  ;  thus, 
by  yearly  advances,  the  Maiden  branch  party  obtained 
all  they  wished;  Lynn  could  be  reached  in  the  in- 
terest of  the  Boston  and  Maine  Railroad.  This 
amendment  was  obtained  in  spite  of  the  greatest 
opposition  of  the  Eastern  Railroad. 

The  difficult  problem  now  was  to  get  the  stock 
taken  and  to  build  the  road. 

It  was  publicly  stated  that  if  the  residents  along 
the  route  would  take  half  the  stock,  some  one  stood 
ready  to  take  the  remainder.  Who  could  this  be  ? 
Perhaps  the  Boston  and  Maine  Railroad.  It  was  now 
July,  185L  Something  must  be  done  at  once  or  the 
charter  would  be  forfeited.  A  meeting  of  the  share- 
holders was  called  at  the  Saugus  Town  Hall.  Mr. 
Edward  Crane  rose  and  said  he  would  take  the  re- 
mainder of  the  stock.  But  another  month  brought 
new  fears  and  complications.  In  August  it  became 
known  that  Mr.  Crane  had  sold  all  his  stock  to  the 
Eastern  Railroad.  Was  this  to  be  a  defeat  to  the 
whole  project?  Not  so;  thanks  to  a  few  energetic 
men,  led  by  Mr.  Joshua  Webster  of  Maplewood. 
Contracts  for  its  construction  were  given  out  in  No- 
vember, 1851,  and  the  ground  was  broken  on  Pearson's 
Neck,  so-called,  in  Saugus,  February  1852. 

In  October  1852,  the  following  directors  were 
chosen  :  G.  G.  Hubbard,  Joshua  Webster,  Benjamin 
F.  Newhall,  Albert  Thorudike,  Isaiah  Breed,  B.  T. 
Reed  and  Samuel  Hooper.  G.  G.  Hubbard  was 
chosen  president,  and  George  Hood  treasurer. 

In  February  1854,  the  branch  was  so  far  completed 
that  an  engine  and  two  cars  were  provided  for  it, 
and  by  the  latter  part  of  the  month  four  trains  each 
way  were  run  from  Lynn  Common  Depot  to  Edge- 
worth,  in  Maiden,  there  connecting  with  the  Boston 
and  Maine  Railroad. 

Then  one  small  car  more  than  accommodated  all 
its  patrons.  The  experiment  of  combining  car  and 
locomotive  was  tried.  It  caused  a  great  deal  of  mer- 
riment and  was  nick-named  the  "tea-kettle;"'  this  was 
soon  set  aside. 

The  railroad  barely  i^aid  its  running  expenses. 
The  Eastern  Railroad  now  ^became  its  sole  owner, 
and  they  at  once  built  the  two  connecting  links  neces- 
sary to  make  the  Branch  a  part  of  their  railroad  sys- 
tem, viz.,  a  link  from  Lynn  Common  Depot  to  Breed's 
Wharf  Depot,  and  the  other  link  from  Maiden  Centre 
to  South  INIalden  (now  Everett).  Thus  was  estab- 
lished, in  1854,  our  railroad  facilities  substantially  as 
they  exist  to-day,  only  instead  of  four  trains  we  now 
have  sixteen  trains  each  way  daily. 

Since  the  building  of  our  railroad  Maiden  has  be- 
come a  city ;  its  territory  is  rapidly  filling  up  with 
residences,  so  that  the  overflow  is  now  reaching  our  town 
and  everything  bids  fair  for  a  rapid  growth  of  Saugus. 


Horse  Railroads. — Our  horse  railroads  began  by  the 
granting  of  two  charters  to  two  rival  companies  in  the 
spring  of  1859,  requiring  cars  to  be  run  on  each  by 
November  20,  1860,  on  penalty  of  loss  of  charter. 

One  was  the  Lynn  and  Boston  Railroad,  which  built 
its  track  over  the  Salem  turnpike,  thus  running  across 
the  extreme  southerly  part  of  the  town  over  the  salt 
marshes.  So  far  as  the  accommodation  to  the  people 
of  Saugus,  this  road  was  of  very  little  moment;  still, 
after  great  difficulty,  it  was  built  so  that  regular  trips 
were  commenced  over  the  turnpike  June  1,  1861,  and 
have  continued  up  to  the  present  time. 

The  other  was  the  Cliftondale  Horse  Railroad. 
James  S.  Stone,  Esq.,  of  Charlestown,  was  the  princi- 
pal manager.  Ground  was  broken  in  October,  1860, 
and  the  work  was  put  forward  with  great  rapidity,  so 
that  by  November  20th  the  cars  commenced  running. 

It  was  the  intention  to  have  this  horse  railroad  run 
through  to  Lynn,  but  Lynn  refused  the  location,  so 
that  its  starting-point  was  at  the  bridge  in  East  Saugus, 
and  running  to  the  Cliftondale  Depot,  thence  through 
the  woods  to  the  Newburyport  turnpike,  and  so  on  to 
Boston  via  Maiden  Bridge  and  Charlestown.  Had 
this  road  been  permitted  to  extend  its  track  down  to 
the  city  of  Lynn,  it  might  have  had  a  longer  life. 

The  principal  motive  for  its  construction  was  the 
development  and  sale  of  housedots  in  Cliftondale, 
called  the  "  Homes." 

This  land  speculation  not  proving  a  success,  and 
the  passenger  traffic  being  very  light,  it  was  only  a 
question  of  time  when  it  would  be  obliged  to  stop  its 
running. 

As  it  proved,  it  was  only  about  three  years  when  it 
was  abandoned  and  the  rails  taken  up.  It  is  now 
very  difficult  to  find  any  trace  of  its  location. 

But  the  time  finally  came  when  our  town  obtained 
excellent  horse  railroad  accommodations,  which  it  now 
enjoys,  very  much  to  its  benefit  as  well  as  to  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  road. 

The  Lynn  and  Boston  Railroad  extended  its  tracks 
from  Lynn  to  East  Saugus,  Cliftondale  and  Saugus 
Centre,  and  are  now  running  half-hourly  trips  through- 
out the  day  and  evening. 

The  cars  from  Lynn  to  East  Saugus  commenced 
running  June  24,  1882 ;  they  then  stopped  at  Ballard 
Street,  but  the  road  was  soon  extended  to  Cliftondale, 
and  the  cars  commenced  running  June  17,  1885. 

The  next  year  a  branch  was  built  up  Chestnut 
Street  and  Winter  Street  to  Saugus  Centre,  and  the 
cars  commenced  running  July  81,  1886. 

We  are  thus  provided  with  a  horse  railroad  system 
which  will  without  doubt  long  continue. 

Such  is  the  union  of  the  industrial  pursuits  and 
business  of  Lynn  and  Saugus,  that  it  is  a  necessity, 
and  will  add  greatly  to  the  development  of  the  town. 

The  Lynn  and  Boston  Railroad  is  now  building  an- 
other link  from  Cliftondale  via  Lincoln  Avenue  to 
Linden  to  connect  with  the  horse  railroad  from 
Maiden  to  Revere  Beach.     This  will  give  us  another 


SAUGUS. 


419 


connection  with  Boston,  and  also  with  Maiden,  Med- 
ford,  Melrose,  Stoneham  and  Woburn. 

This  route  is  now,  September  15,  1887,  just  opened 
for  travel. 


CHAPTER   XXX. 

SXVGVS— (Continued). 

Schools — West  Parish  School — Ladies'  Seminary — Public  Schools — High 
School— Principals— Cliftundale  Library— Pree  Public  Library — William 
SiUton  Lodge — Abouselt  Division,  S.  of  T. — Sutishine  Lodge  of  Good  Tem- 
plars -  Saugits  Mutual  Insurance  Co. — Farms  and  Farmers. 

Schools. —  West  Parish  School. — The  West  Parish 
verj'  early  felt  their  need  of  school  privileges  for  their 
children,  and  the  people  were  not  slow  in  providing 
them. 

At  first  a  school  was  opened  in  some  private  dwell- 
ing, as  accommodations  could  be  obtained,  but  not 
always  in  the  same  dwelling,  and  it  was  frequently 
changed  to  ditlerent  parts  of  the  parish.  This  ar- 
rangement obtained  until  1775,  when  a  small  one- 
story  building  was  built  in  the  Centre,  on  the  south- 
east end  of  the  burying-ground.  This  building 
served  for  school  uses  until  July  29,  1801,  when  it 
was  sold  for  sixty-three  d(jllars  to  Richard  Shute, 
who  removed  it  and  added  it  to  his  house  for  a  gro- 
cery-store, till  its  destruction  by  fire,  in  1820. 

In  the  year  1800  a  great  school-house  fever  pre- 
vailed in  the  West  Parish.  No  less  than  five  school- 
houses  were  petitioned  for  in  1801, — two  of  these  to 
be  at  the  "  Centre,"  one  at  the  "  North  End,"  one  at 
"  Boardman's  End"  and  the  other  in  the  "South 
part,"  now  East  Saugus. 

The  parish  voted  but  one,  and  that  to  be  in  the 
"Centre,"  southwest  of  the  meeting-house. 

It  was  soon  built,  and  stood  near  to  William  W. 
Boardman's  house,  on  what  is  now  Main  Street. 

This  school-house  was  standing  until  very  recently, 
in  the  yard  of  William  W.  Boardman,  and  was  used 
by  him  for  many  years  as  a  shoe  manufactory.  Within 
a  few  years  it  has  been  torn  down. 

In  1787  the  parish  voted  that  thirteen  families  at 
the  "  North  End"  might  withdraw  and  make  a  new 
school  district. 

This  was  the  first  separation  in  school  matters. 

In  1806  a  school-house  (old  Rock  School-house) 
was  built  in  the  "South  part,"  now  called  East  Sau- 
gus. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  speak  of  a  private  acade- 
my which  was  started  in  our  town. 

Ladies^  Seminary. — In  January,  1821,  the  Rev. 
Joseph  Emerson,  of  Beverly,  projected  the  establish- 
ment of  a  Female  Seminary  in  Saugus. 

The  parish  encouraged  the  project,  and  voted  the 
use  of  the  parsonage,  with  land  near  by,  for  a  school 
building,  which  was  built  in  the  spring  of  1822. 

For    two    years    its    popularity    was    very    great. 


Such  numbers  of  young  ladies  flocked  to  the  institu- 
tion that  board  accommodations  could  scarcely  be 
found. 

While  the  seminary  was  in  a  successful  tide  of 
prosperity,  the  old  parish  aflairs,  now  rapidly  on  the 
wane,  considerably  revived. 

Rev.  Joseph  Emerson  was  a  very  popular  divine, 
and  supplied  the  pulpit  for  the  greater  part  of  the 
time. 

It  unfortunately  happened  that  the  autumn  of  the 
second  year  w'as  a  very  sickly  season. 

The  typhoid  fever  prevailed  in  many  towns,  and 
among  these  was  Saugus. 

Several  young  ladies  of  the  seminary  died,  causing 
many  of  the  pupils  to  be  withdrawn  and  deterring 
others  from  coming,  so  that  the  school  never  recov- 
ered from  the  effects  of  this  unfortunate  sickness. 

Mr.  Emerson's  poor  health  obliged  him  to  leave, 
and  in  the  autumn  of  1824  he  was  succeeded  by  Rev. 
Hervey  Wilbur,  who  also  supplied  the  parish   pulpit. 

But  in  spite  of  Mr.  Wilbur's  efforts  to  revive  the 
seminary  he  was  obliged  to  give  it  up  in  the  autumn 
of  1826. 

Public  Schools. — Our  town  has  always  maintained 
good  public  schools.  If  they  have  not  been  fully  up 
to  the  high  standard  of  our  neighboring  cities,  we 
have  spent  for  them  a  much  larger  pi'oportion  of  our 
valuation.  I  notice  in  the  last  State  report  that  of 
the  thirty-five  towns  and  cities  in  Essex  County, 
Saugus  is  the  eighth  in  the  percentage  of  valuation 
expended  for  schools. 

The  whole  number  of  children  in  our  town  between 
five  and  fifteen  years  of  age  is  five  hundred  and 
twenty-four,  divided  as  follows : 

Ward  1,  North  Savigus 26 

"      2,  Centre    Saugua 175 

"      3,  Cliftondale 167 

"      4,  East  Saugus 128 

"      5,  Oaklandvale 28 

Total 524 

There  are  thirteen  schools  ;  the  two  at  North  Sau- 
gus and  Oaklandvale  are  mixed  schools,  but  those  in 
the  other  wards  are  arranged  into  three  and  four 
grades. 

In  these  schools  there  are  five  hundred  and  twenty 
pupils. 

Our  High  School  had  its  beginning  in  April,  1872. 
Since  1875  it  has  gathered  in  rooms  fitted  up  for  its 
use  in  the  new  Town  Hall.  It  has  a  three  years' 
course  of  study,  including  Latin  and  French. 

Diplomas  are  given  to  graduates. 

There  are  now  about  forty-five  pupils  in  this 
school. 

It  has  had  six  principals  since  its  commencement. 
Mrs.  Frances  H.  Newhall  served  from  1872  to  1875  ; 
Mr.  James  B.  Atwood  a  few  mauths  in  1875 ;  Mr.  F. 
W.  Eveleth  from  October,  1875  to  1879.  He  was  fol- 
lowed by  Mr.  Charles  E.  Lord  for  one  year,  then  by 
Mr.  C.  H.  Smart  for  two  years,  up  to  1881. 


420 


HISTORY  OP  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


The  present  principal,  Mr.  Wilbur  F.  Gillette,  took 
charge  in  April,  1881. 

Cliftondale  Library. — About  two  years  ago  a 
library  association  was  formed  in  Cliftondale,  and  is 
now  in  a  prosperous  condition.  It  has  about  seven 
hundred  volumes. 

Free  Public  Library. — This  last  spring  (1887) 
a  free  public  library  was  started  by  private  subcrip- 
tions  from  all  parts  of  the  town. 

The  town  has  furnished  and  fitted  up  a  room  in 
the  Town  Hall  for  its  use. 

About  thirteen  hundred  volumes  have  already  been 
purchased  and  carefully  catalogued. 

It  will  be  opened  this  autumn,  and  it  is  hoped  that 
it  will  form  a  woithy  nucleus  of  a  large  and  perma- 
nent public  library. 

The  William  Sutton  Lodge  of  Free  and 
Accepted  Masons  was  instituted  in  1866.  Its  lodge- 
room  is  now  in  East  Saugus,  in  Mr.  Sisson's  buikling, 
on  Franklin  Square.  It  now  has  seventy-five  mem- 
bers. 

The  Abousett  Division,  No.  10,  Sons  op  Tem- 
perance, was  organized  in  1850.  It  now  has  forty 
members,  and  holds  its  meetings  at  the  Town  Hall 
every  fortnight. 

The  Sunshine  Lodge,  No.  Ill,  of  Good  Tem- 
plars was  organized  in  1879.  It  has  about  sixty 
members,  and  meets  at  the  Town  Hall  every  week. 

The  Saugus  Mutual  Fire  Insurance  Company 
was  incorporated  February,  1852,  and  commenced 
business  the  following  April. 

Benjamin  F.  Newhall,  Esq.,  was  the  originator  of 
this  company,  and  it  was  through  his  energy  and  re- 
gard for  the  public  welfiire  that  the  company  has  had 
so  prosperous  a  career.  The  community  at  that  time 
was  poorly  provided  with  insurance,  its  cost  being  so 
great  from  the  heavy  assessments  of  companies  lo- 
cated in  other  States  particularly. 

In  forming  this  company  Mr.  Newliall  determined 
to  provide  purely  mutual  insurance,  receiving  no  cash 
premium  in  advance,  but  only  notes  to  be  assessed 
sufficiently  to  pay  the  losses  and  expenses  as  they 
occur. 

He  was  chosen  its  secretary  and  treasurer,  and  Ed- 
ward Franker  its  president. 

Its  office  was,  and  continues  to  be,  in  East  Sau- 
gus. 

On  the  resignation  of  Edward  Franker,  in  1858, 
Hon.  Harmon  Hall  was  elected  its  second  president 
and  has  continued  to  fill  that  office  up  to  the  present 
time. 

Mr.  Newhall  being  severely  afflicted  with  rheuma- 
tism, was   obliged  to  resign  in  the  summer  of  1861, 


when  his  son,  Wilbur  F.  Newhall,  Esq.,  was  chosen 
secretary  and  treasurer,  which  offices  he  now  fills. 

On  April  1,  1853,  the  company  had  $812,500  of 
property  insured.  In  1863  it  had  $2,208,665.  On 
April  1,  1887,  it  had  $2,889,300. 

It  has  paid  out  far  losses  during  these  thirty-five 
years  $36,328. 

By  its  prudent  and  conservative  management  it  has 
not  only  provided  insurance  at  a  very  small  cost  to  its 
members,  but  at  the  same  time  has  given  them  a 
strong  and  reliable  company,  which  has  earned  for 
itself  the  confidence  of  the  public. 

Agricultural. — As  our  farming  interests  are  con- 
siderable, I  will  give  a  list  of  our  farms,  with  a  few 
additional  items. 

North  Saugus. — Louis  P.  Hawkes,  33  acres  of  tillage, 
47  acres  pasture,  21  cows  and  4  horses.  He  also  has 
a  large  silo. 

Samuel  Hawkes,  13  acres  of  tillage  and  10  acres  of 
cranberry  meadow. 

Heirs  of  Richard  Hawkes,  26  acres  tillage  and  9 
cows. 

These  three  farms  form  a  portion  of  the  original 
farm  of  Adam  Hawkes,  settled  in  1634,  and  have  con- 
tinued down  in  an  unbroken  line  from  their  ances- 
tors. 

Byron  S.  Hone,  50  acres  tillage,  114  acres  pasture, 
42  cows  and  4  horses. 

Henry  E.  Hone,  4  acres  tillage,  32  acres  pasture, 
7  cows  and  two  horses. 

Joshua  H.  Coburn,  20  acres  tillage,  15  cows  and  2 
horses. 

Heirs  of  George  W.  Butterfield,  10  acres  tillage,  20 
cows  and  4  horses. 

Elijah  G.  Wilson,  6  acres  tillage  and  23  pasture. 

Francis  M.  Avery,  15  acres  tillage  and  9  cows. 

These  farms  furnish  chiefiy  milk  and  hay. 

Oaklandvale.—Kvtema.^  Edmands,  9  acres  tillage 
and  5  cows. 

Samuel  Simmons,  60  acres  and  13  horses  ;  this  is  the 
Lott  Edmonds  farm,  and  is  now  used  as  a  veterinary 
farm. 

Heirs  of  Nathan  Hawkes,  4  acres  tillage  and  3 
cows. 

E.  W.  Bostwick,  28  acres  tillage. 

J.  M.  Hall,  farm  owned  by  J.  J.  Zeigler,  16  acres; 
this  is  a  veterinary  farm. 

E.  W.  Saunders,  38  acres  tillage,  17  acres  pasture. 
Mr.  Saunders  came  herein  1850,  cleared  his  land, built 
him  an  elegant  residence  and  has  laid  out  his  grounds 
into  lawns,  tillage,  shrubbery  and  forest,  so  as  to  re- 
semble an  English  park,  presenting  to  us  an  elegance 
of  landscape  rarely  found. 

The  long  avenue,  shut  in  on  either  side  by  tall 
evergreen  trees,  is  of  wonderful  beauty.  Mr.  Saun- 
ders has  expended  more  than  fifty  thousand  dollars 
on  this  place. 

A  ride  through  these  grounds  will  well  repay  one. 


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SAuaus. 


421 


Lowell  Howard,  5  acres  tillage  and  2  cows. 

Elbridge  S.  Uphaiu,  8  acres  tillage,  8  cows  and  2 
horses. 

Isaiah  Longfellow,  10  acres  tillage  and  4  cows. 

These  last  three   farmers  give  attention   to  straw- 
berry culture,  and  furnish  great  quantities  for   the  } 
market. 

John  Gillon,  13  acres  tillage. 

Arthur  Watson,   10  acres  tillage,  20  acres  pasture 
and  9  cows. 

J,  Henry  Howard,  8  acres  tillage  and  8  cows. 

Saugus  Centre. — The  Town  Farm,  40  acres  tillage 
and  18  cows. 

William  H.  Penny,  20  acres  tillage,  39  acres  pas- 
ture, 30  cows  and  2  horses. 

John  M.  Berritt,  10  acres  tillage,  15  acres  pasture 
and  4  cows. 

Lewis  J.  Austin,  7  acres  tillage,  14  cows   and    2 
horses. 

Charles  M.  Ames,  11  acres  tillage  and  5  cows. 

Heirs  of  Samuel  A.  Parker,  12  acres  tillage. 

Harrison  Wilson,   10  acres  tillage,  7    cows  and   2 
horses. 

William  Fairchild,  9  acres  tillage  and  2  cows. 

Cliftondale. — Walter  V.   Hawkes,  10  acres  tillage 
and  2  green-houses. 

George  N.  Miller,  24  acres  tillage,  10  cows  and  5 
horses.     He  bought  this  farm  in  1870. 

A.  &  J.  R.  Hatch,  20  acres  tillage,  10  cows  and  5 
horses. 

George  W.  Winslow,  19  acres  tillage,  7  cows  and  2 
horses. 

These  last  four  farms  are  largely   for  market-gar- 
dening for  Boston  and  Lynn. 

East  Saugus. — William  A.   Trefethen,  9  acres  til- 
lage, 16  acres  pasture,  2  cows  and  2  horses. 

John  W.  Blodgett,  31   acres  tillage,   15  acres  pas- 
ture, 22  cows  and  6  horses. 

Mr.  Blodgett  runs  his  farm   for  market-gardening 
almost  entirely.     He  has  owned  it  since  1854. 

Charles  H.  Libbey,  7  acres  tillage,  3  cows  and  2 
horses. 

Frederick  Stocker,  30  acres  tillage,  3  cows  and  12 
horses. 

Henry  W.  &  A.  Dudley  Johnson,  48  acres  tillage, 
34  acres  pasture,  15  cows  and  3  horses. 


and  sixty-three  men  enlisted,  and  of  these,  eight 
served  in  the  navy. 

The  larger  number  of  these  were  in  the  Seventeenth 
and  Fortieth  Massachusetts  Regiments. 

The  following  are  the  names  of  the  soldiers: 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 


SAUGUS  -( Continued). 


MILITARY    RECORD. 


In  the  late  War  of  the  Rebellion  our  town  nobly 
showed  its  patriotism  by  an  early  and  prompt  response 
to  the  country's  call  for  volunteers.     One  hundred 


Bimsley  P.  (jiiilfonl. 
Abel  Wilson. 
Jesse  Hitcliings. 
Willaid  EJmuntls. 
David  H.  Cheever. 
John  H.  H.  Wilson. 
George  H.  Peuiiey. 
Josejih  W.  Flye. 
William  Chanibere. 
William  Noble. 
Edwin  A.  Reed, 
.lolui  F.  Carlton. 
Nathan  J.  Thorns. 
Charles  A.  Newhall. 
Thomas  McDowell. 
Edward  Hitcliings. 
William  M.  Stocker. 
George  H.  McClary. 
Warren  P.  Oopp. 
Hiram  H.  Newhall. 
Charles  F.  Pearson. 
Joseph  Newhall. 
Europe  R.  Newhall. 
Josepli  Wiggin. 
Henry  Baker. 
Thomas  Twisden. 
Isaac  Perkins. 
Daniel  Kidder. 
John  W.   Howlett. 
James  Charlton. 
Oliver  F.  Childs. 
Thomas  Gibbons. 
Philip  F.  Floyd. 
William  H.  Fuller. 
William  S.  Copp. 
Marcus  M.  Sullivan. 
George  A.  Mansfield. 
Abi.jah  S.  Boardman. 
Elisha  Bragg. 
Charles  Osgood. 
Lorenzo  Mansfield. 
William  II.  Rich, 
E.  Herbert  Downing. 
Francis  H  Dizer. 
Edward  A.  Jefllers. 
Isaac  B.  Schofield. 
Robert  Hairison. 
John  L.  Andrews. 
Henry  P.  Nichols. 
Thomas  Florence. 
Theodore  Houghton. 
Elliott  W.  Oliver. 
Reuben  B.  Prince. 
Jacob  E.  Newhall. 
Benj.  N.  Trefethen. 
Wesley  Stocker. 
David  Brierley. 
William  Murray. 
George  W.  Fairbanks. 
William  S.  Copp. 
William  E.  Gabriel. 
Charles  H.  Mansfield. 
Frederick  Dearborn. 
Benjamin  Homan. 
Willard  Edniands. 
George  V.  Carleton. 
William  Halliday. 
Stiles  F.  Sherman. 
Samuel  A.  Guilford. 


Noah  G.  Harriman. 
Charles  A.  Kidder. 
Charles  W.  Sweetser. 
William  T.  Ash. 
Bimsley  P.  Guilford,  Jr. 
James  Roots,  Jr. 
George  McAllister. 
Daniel  Flye. 
William  L.  Stocker. 
Reuben  R.  Coates. 
John  H.  Copp. 
Samuel  T.  Langley. 
Watson  J.  Thorns. 
John  W.  Seward. 
John  H.  Twisden. 
M.  Porter  Newhall. 
John  H.  Hone. 
John  Powera. 
Edward  Charlton. 
George  Childs. 
James  Herk. 
Charles  H.  Williams. 
John  A.  Whittemore. 
Kenedy  McElroy. 
Augustus  W.  Bruce. 
Benjamin  E.  Morgan. 
John  E.  Stocker. 
A.  James  Parker. 
Otis  A.  Foster. 
Edwin  Mansfield. 
James  A.  Parker. 
Stephen  Stackpole. 
Charles  Walwick. 
Charles  A.  Hobbs. 
George  H.  Newhall. 
Elbridge  S.  Upham. 
Thomas  Twisden,  Jr. 
James  Eaton. 
Henry  Kidder. 
John  Tiniony. 
William  Cheney. 
Benjamin  P.  Coates. 
William  H.  Amerige. 
George  S.  Williams. 
Frederick  A.  Trefethen. 
Tristam  Goodale. 
H.  Clay  Cross. 
James  R.  Goodwin 
James  Hughes. 
William  J.  Love. 
Porter  Newhall. 
Walter  E.  Rhodes. 
Alfred  B.  Roots. 
William  Fisk. 
Frederick  Lewis. 
Marcus  M.  Sullivan. 
Moses  Spofford. 
Willard  W.  Bnrbank. 
William  Blanchard. 
Charles  S.  Hicks. 
Moses  E.  McAlpine. 
James  L.  Pike. 
George  Campbell. 
Harrison  E.  Stocker. 
William  C.  Richards. 
William  W.  Brown. 
Luther  Harriman. 
Charles  Malouey. 
John  A.  Whittemore. 


422 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


James  H.  Kent. 
William  E.  Oliver. 
Samuel  S.  Wonnstead. 
George  H.  Oliver. 
Willard  L.  Fiske. 


Henry  A.  Oliver. 
George  Kidder. 
Frank  Peterson. 
Albert  Eaton. 
George  H.  Brown. 


Those  whose  names  do  not  appear  on  the  above 
list  were  credited  to  some  other  town  or  State. 

Among  these  soldiers,  serving  as  they  did  in  a 
great  many  difl'erent  regiments  and  in  almost  every 
arm  of  the  service,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  yet  we 
cannot  certainly  name  any  who  were  killed  in  battle, 
although  many  were  seriously  wounded,  some  to  die 
from  these  wounds,  and  some  from  exposure  and 
disease  in  the  service. 

Some  few  were  unaccounted  for. 

Their  brave  deeds  and  patriotic  service  are  recorded 
on  a  more  enduring  tablet  than  any  earthly  scroll, 
and  our  town  feels  proud  of  the  men  who  bore  her 
escutcheon  through  the  War  of  the  Southern  Rebel- 
lion. 

The  veterans  of  Saugus,  in  June,  1809,  organized 
as  the  General  E.  W.  Hinks  Post  95,  Grand  Army  of 
the  Republic,  with  Charles  A.  Newhall  as  their  first 
Commander. 

The  post  held  their  meetings  at  first  in  the  old 
Town  Hall,  afterwards  in  Flye's  Hall,  and  later  in 
the  new  Town  Hall,  until  they  moved  into  their  own 
new  hall  in  1886. 

Their  new  building  is  situated  near  the  railroad 
depot,  and  was  purchased  of  William  T.  Ash  in  the 
early  part  of  1886.  The  building  was  remodeled  and 
an  assembly  room  for  the  Post  provided  in  the  second 
story  of  ample  dimensions,  and  elegantly  furnished 
throughout. 

The  Po.st  is  now  is  a  very  prosperous  condition, 
having  a  membership  of  some  sixty,  owning  their 
building  and  having  nearly  a  thousand  dollars  in  their 
relief  fund. 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN   NEWHALL.^ 

Benjamin  Franklin  Newhall  was  born  April  29, 
1802.  His  father  was  Jacob,  son  of  Landlord  Jacob 
Newhall.  His  mother  was  Abigail,  daughter  of  Wil- 
liam and  Ruth  Makepeace,  of  Norton,  Mass. 

She  was  a  woman  of  noble  presence,  of  exemplary 
Christian  character,  pious  without  ostentation,  and 
devoted  to  her  family,  which  consisted  of  three  sons 
and  five  daughters,  for  whom  she  labored  day  and 
night  and  lived  to  see  her  prayers  answered  in  their 
behalf. 

Benjamin  Franklin  was  her  first-born  child,  and  so 
very  naturally  upon  him  fell  early  the  burdens  of  the 
family.     Passionately  devoted  to  his  mother,  he  gave 

1  Written  by  his  son,  Wilbur  F.  Newhall,  Esq. 


his  whole  energies  to  her  assistance  in  the  support  of 
the  family,  the  father  being  of  little  help  the  greater 
part  of  the  time. 

Brought  up  in  a  tavern  in  his  earliest  years,  he  was 
exposed  to  great  temptation.  In  his  autobiography 
he  thus  speaks  of  these  days  and  experiences : 
"  What  saved  me  God  only  knows.  But  I  was 
saved.  I  remember  I  always  resisted,  and  often  heard 
the  exclamation,  'What  ails  the  child  that  he  will  not 
drink  ! '  Some  spiritual  guardian  was  about  me  to 
watch  my  infantile  footsteps  and  keep  me  in  the  path 
of  rectitude."  After  writing  of  the  many  beauties 
of  his  birth-place,  he  speaks  of  his  mother  thus  : 
"  And  better  still,  the  glowing  vision  of  that  angel 
form,  who  every  day  supplied  my  infant  wants,  and 
whose  voice  was  sweeter  to  me  than  the  sweetest 
music." 

He  writes  again,  "  How  well  do  I  remember,  in  the 
late  hours  of  the  night,  when  her  husband  was  away 
and  her  dear  ones  were  sleeping,  that  she  would  come 
to  my  bedside  and,  kneeling  with  overflowing  heart, 
pour  out  her  soul  in  prayer  that  God  would  jireserve 
her  darling  boy  from  the  snares  so  thick  around  him. 
She  thought  I  was  asleep,  but  I  was  awake  and  still, 
and  the  silent  tear  moistened  my  young  cheek,  and  I 
vowed  before  God  that  a  mother's  prayers  should  not 
be  in  vain,  How  often  she  kneeled  at  my  bedside 
when  I  was  asleep  I  know  not,  no  doubt  often." 
Again  he  writes,  "My  mother,  in  her  extreme  anxiety 
for  my  welfare,  never  tired  in  giving  me  good  advice. 
She  felt  that  there  was  great  danger  of  my  giving 
way  to  the  use  of  the  dreadful  cup,  and  so  there  was." 

Again  he  writes,  "When  about  four  years  of  age 
my  mother  had  bought  me  some  picture  books,  and 
she  commenced  learning  me  to  read.  About  the  same 
time  the  school-house,  afterwards  called  the  ''Rock," 
was  in  process  of  building.  My  mother  took  me  into 
it  one  pleasant  summer's  eve,  and,  pointing  out  tome 
the  smallest  and  lowest  seat,  saying  at  the  same  time, 
'  there,  my  son,  is  your  .seat.'  This  in  a  few  days  I 
found  to  be  literally  true,  for  on  my  first  entrance 
into  the  school  I  was  appointed  to  the  little  seat." 

It  was  here  that  he  attended  school  during  its  un- 
certain sessions,  until  about  fourteen  years  of  age. 

It  was  at  this  early  age,  in  the  autumn  before  he 
was  fourteen,  that  he  commenced  work  for  Mr. 
Childs  in  the  chocolate  mill,  often  working  day  and 
night. 

He  writes  again  in  his  autobiography,  "  I  could 
scarcely  endure  it.  I  sometimes  declared,  '  this  shall 
he  my  last  night; '  but  when  the  beautiful  sun  shone 
in  the  morning  I  felt  better  and  was  encouraged  to 
go  on.  I  hated  shoemakingand  was  yet  determined  to 
earn  something  for  my  mother.  If  I  could  earn  eighty- 
three  cents  a  day  for  work  night  and  day  it  was  to 
nie  a  great  sum.  But  with  all  the  hard  work  and 
suffering  I  got  through  my  first  winter  in  the  mill. 
How  I  bore  the  fatigue  God  only  knows.  Some  un- 
seen hand  supported  me,  and  when  I  was  just  on  the 


-ri^y  O^/yi^^^TT^. 


SAUGUS. 


423 


point  of  giving   up  several  times  some  impulse  of 
mine  forbade  it.     God  helped  me." 

Such  were  his  early  labors  that  it  might  almost  be 
said  he  had  no  boyhood,  so  early  was  the  yoke  fitted 
to  his  youthful  shoulders.  But  he  bore  it  with  cour- 
age. He  writes,  "  When  I  had  nothing  to  do  I  could 
read,  and  used  always  to  keep  a  book  in  the  mill 
always  ready."  He  soon  also  engaged  in  teaming  for 
Mr.  Childs.  He  writes  of  himself  when  eighteen  years 
old,  "  I  had  so  much  per  day  for  driving  the  team 
and  twenty-five  cents  to  buy  me  a  dinner.  I  always 
managed  to  carry  my  dinner,  and  thus  save  and  lay 
up  twenty-five  cents.  This  I  continued  for  two  years  or 
more.  I  generally  took  my  book  with  me  and  studied 
while  I  was  driving;  so  I  turned  my  labor  into 
amusement.''  Of  this  same  period  he  writes,  "This 
season  I  found  religious  impressions  growing  more 
and  more  in  my  mind.  I  felt  more  and  more  the 
need  of  Divine  strength  to  enable  me  to  resist  suc- 
cessfully the  evil  temptations  of  the  world.  I  read 
the  Bible,  prayed  often  and  frequently  went  to  meet- 
ing. I  began  to  hear  with  new  ears,  because  I  felt  an 
interest  in  the  subject  preached.  Night  and  day  re- 
ligious matters  were  in  my  thoughts,  and  I  was  look- 
ing forward  to  a  period  of  church  membership  as  a 
kind  of  bulwark  of  defense." 

He  identified  himself  at  once  with  the  Methodists 
and  labored  zealously  with  them.  When  twenty 
years  of  age  he  was  baptized  by  immersion  in  the 
pond  at  Melrose. 

He  was  now  making  his  plans  for  more  schooling, 
just  as  soon  as  he  was  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  for 
this  object  he  laid  some  money  aside  until  he  had  one 
hundred  and  seventy  dollars.  He  reached  his  free- 
dom year,  and  away  he  went  to  New  Market  Academy, 
in  New  Hampshire.  We  wish  we  had  space  to  give 
his  account  of  his  start  in  the  stage.  He  says  of  his 
studies :  "  I  pored  into  the  grammar  with  all  my 
energy,  but  it  was  all  darkness  to  me ;  I  knew  nothing 
about  it.  My  boyhood's  studies  of  grammar  were  but 
a  parrot  performance,  as  I  now  found  by  experience. 
What  would  I  not  have  given  for  some  one  to  explain 
to  me  the  first  principles,  and  know  the  meaning  of 
the  Parts  of  Speech.  But  I  had  no  one  and  so  I 
delved  alone.  I  read  and  then  thought,  meditated 
and  then  studied.  One  night,  while  I  was  trying  to 
penetrate  its  mysteries,  I  instantly  saw  it  all  clearly. 
As  the  sun  suddenly  bursts  through  the  obscuring 
clouds  and  shines  upon  the  earth,  so  a  knowledge  of 
English  grammar  burst  suddenly  on  my  mind.  I  saw 
it  all  in  a  glance,  simple  as  my  A,  B,  C.  I  could  pass 
the  most  difficult  passages  instantly."  He  writes 
again  :  "  I  soon  procured  some  French  books,  and 
commenced  that  language.  I  learned  five  thousand 
words  in  about  a  week,  and  in  two  weeks  could  trans- 
late the  New  Testament  pretty  well." 

He  remained  at  the  Academy  about  six  months.  He 
then  returned  home  and  immediately  procured  a 
school  in  Stoneham  and  began  teaching.     As  an  in- 


stance of  his  remarkable  memory,  he  states  that  while 
teaching  this  school  he  committed  to  memory  the 
whole  New  Testament  in  thirty-seven  days.  This  was 
in  1824.  He  taught  this  school  six  months.  April 
25,  1825,  he  married  Dorothy  Jewett,  daughter  of  Da- 
vid and  Sarah  Jewett,  of  Standstead,  Lower  Canada. 
This  explains  why,  soon  after  this,  he,  in  company 
with  his  brother-in-law,  opened  a  store  in  Canada. 
But  this  business  proved  disastrous  and  left  him  in 
heavy  debt.  He  then  returned  to  Saugus  for  good, 
wiser  from  experience,  if  poorer  in  purse. 

We  have  thus  dwelt  upon  his  early  life  experiences 
to  show  the  difficulties,  the  privations,  and  the  hard- 
ships he  met  and  subdued.  He  was  stronger  than  all 
of  these,  even  making  them  his  servants  for  discipline 
and  preparations  for  his  remaining  life's  work.  On 
his  return  from  Canada,  already  in  debt,  he  borrowed 
money  and  commenced  the  shoe  business  in  earnest. 
His  untiring  zeal,  his  strict  business  rules,  his  stead- 
fast integrity,  his  keen  foresight,  and  his  rigid  econo- 
my, brought  him  rapid  success.  He  never  swerved 
from  these  paths,  so  early  chosen.  They  brought  him 
competence,  if  not  wealth;  respect  and  honor  from 
those  who  knew  him  best. 

The  very  poor  privileges  of  the  village  school  in  his 
early  youth,  ending  at  thirteen  years  of  age,  adding  a 
six  months'  term  at  New  Market  Academy  when 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  constitute  his  scholastic 
equipment ;  but  these  were  a  small  part  of  his  endow- 
ments. His  mind  was  always  inquiring,  extremely  re- 
ceptive, and,  what  was  far  more  important,  it  grasped 
with  a  tenacity  never  to  be  loosed  and  never  to  be 
forgotten,  everything  that  could  be  of  value,  benefit, 
use,  or  help  to  him.  He  might  be  called  a  self-edu- 
cated man,  in  the  best  sense  of  that  term.  His  heart 
and  nature  were  sympathetic.  Having  had  so  many 
difficulties  in  his  youth,  he  knew  how  to  sympathize 
with  young  men,  and  many  there  are  of  these,  to-day, 
who  will  testify  to  his  personal  assistance  in  their 
time  of  need.  What  he  espoused  was  with  his  whole 
heart.  Interested  from  his  youth  in  the  temperance 
cause,  having  witnessed  the  direful  effects  of  intem- 
perance, he  never  relinquished  his  warfare  against  the 
demon,  but,  with  sledge-hammer  blows,  on  the  plat- 
form, in  the  pulpit,  as  well  as  in  business  and  social 
walks  of  life,  he  lifted  up  his  voice  for  total  abstinence, 
and  labored  in  every  way  to  save  the  youth  from  this 
destroying  vice,  and  to  make  of  the  inebriate  a  sober 
and  useful  man. 

He  showed  the  same  characteristics  in  politics.  Al- 
ways an  anti-slavery  man,  his  home  and  heart  were 
ever  open  to  the  fugitive  slave,  who  found  a  shelter  at 
his  fireside,  and  a  God-speed  in  his  journey  or  mission. 
He  saw  in  the  old  Liberty  and  Free-Soil  party  the 
cloud  no  bigger  than  a  man's  hand ;  he  entered  its 
ranks,  fought  beside  its  standard,  and  lived  long 
enough  to  see  the  hydra-headed  monster  slain  and 
buried. 

He  very  early  united  with  the  Methodist  church  in 


424 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


East  Saugus,  to  which  his  ardent,  sincere  nature  ren- 
dered no  half-hearted  service. 

He  had  no  place  for  hypocrisy  in  his  heart,  and  he 
could  brook  nothing  of  the  kind  in  others.  He 
became  an  exhorter,  and  then  a  local  preacher,  in  the 
Methodist  Church.  We  may  well  imagine  that  no 
grass  was  allowed  to  grow  under  his  feet.  As  wel! 
bid  the  torrent  cease  its  flow  as  to  curb  his  powers  ol 
mind  and  heart  from  progress  and  growth.  His 
warmth  in  moral  reforms  often  led  to  some  friction 
with  the  stereotyped  ideas  of  the  Methodist  clergy, 
some  of  whom  could  not  allow  interference  with  their 
denominational  tenets  and  labors.  The  church  did 
not,  at  that  time,  stand  where  it  does  to-day  in  relation 
to  these  movements.  If  it  had,  he  probably  would 
never  have  severed  his  union  with  the  people  of  his 
early  choice. 

He  entered  the  Universalist  Church  because  he 
found  there  a  more  congenial  atmosphere,  where  he 
could  exercise  more  freedom  of  thought  and  action. 
He  became  a  very  regular  preacher  for  this  denomi- 
nation, and  even  amid  his  multiplied  business  labors 
he  found  leisure  nearly  every  Sabbath,  for  many 
jears,  to  supply  gratuitously  some  pulpit  either  near 
or  far  away. 

He  also  served  his  native  town  of  Saugus  in  nearly 
every  ofticial  capacity.  As  town  clerk,  selectman, 
overseer  of  the  poor,  school  committee  and  represen- 
tative to  the  General  Court.  In  the  Legislature  he 
strongly  opposed  capital  punishment.  He  was  chosen 
one  of  the  commissioners  of  the  county  of  Essex  for 
two  terms,  from  1844  to  1850,  when  the  labors  of  that 
oflSce  were  as  abundant  and  onerous  as  to-day,  and, 
perhaps,  far  more  so. 

He  organized  the  Saugus  Mutual  Fire  Insurance 
Company  in  1852,  and  was  its  secretary  and  treasurer 
until  incapacitated  by  disease,  in  1861. 

These  were  but  a  few  of  his  labors.  From  his 
awaking  in  the  morning  until  his  sleeping  at  night, 
his  fertile  brain  was  always  active.  He  gave  himself 
little  rest  or  recreation.  Like  a  locomotive,  steam 
was  always  on.  His  style  was  simple,  chaste  and 
clear.  He  wrote  much  for  the  newspapers,  among 
which  contributions  were  his  interesting  "Historical 
Sketches  of  Saugus,"  which  have  furnished  me  much 
material  for  my  "History  of  Saugus"  in  this  work. 
He  also  wrote  a  great  deal  of  poetry,  indeed  his 
writings  in  both  prose  and  verse  would,  if  j)rinted, 
fill  volumes. 

The  last  ten  years  or  more  of  his  life  were  full  of 
pain  and  suffering.  He  was  afflicted  with  chronic 
rheumatism,  which  never  loosed  its  gri])  u^wu  him ; 
his  limbs  became  swollen,  his  joints  distorted  and 
dislocated.  When  walking  was  ditficult,  he  rode ; 
then  was  wheeled  about  in  his  invalid  chair ;  then 
was  confined  to  his  house,  then  to  his  room,  then  to 
his  bed  for  two  years,  until  his  naturally  iron  consti- 
tution gave  way.  During  all  these  years  he  was  busy 
reading  and  writing,  and  his  fortitude  and  cheerful- 


ness never  failed  him.     He  died  October  13,  1863, 
aged  sixty-one  years. 

His  widow  survived  him  twenty-three  years,  dying 
October  7,  1886.  They  had  seven  children,  two  of 
whom  died  in  infancy ;  Benjamin,  their  eldest,  a 
graduate  of  Harvard  and  a  lawyer,  died  in  Milwaukee, 
Wis.,  at  the  aged  of  twenty-nine  years;  two  sons  and 
two  daughters  still  survive,  and  are  residents  of  East 
Saugus. 

The  following  verses  were  written  by  him  just 
before  his  death,  September  17,  1863: 

For  many  years  my  prayer  hath  been, 

That  I  might  end  this  mortal  race 
Witliout  severe  and  torturing  pain, 

And,  calm  and  easy,  die  in  peace. 

And  now  the  Lord  Iialh  heard  my  prayer, 

Assuaged  my  pains,  so  oft  severe, 
And  given  my  frail  body  rest 

The  little  tiiiie  tluit  I  am  here. 

I'll  give  Him  praise  while  life  and  strength 

Shall  let  me  speak  my  gratitude, 
And  w  ith  my  last  expiring  breath 

I'll  calmly  breathe.  The  Lord  is  good. 


CHAPTER   XXXII. 
DANVERS. 


BY   ALDEN   P.  WHITE. 


OLD   SETTLERS   OF   SALEM   VILLAGE— INCORPORA- 
TION   OF   DANYERS. 

In  that  part  of  the  town  which,  a  few  years  ago,  be- 
longed to  Beverly,  the  most  conspicuous  feature  of 
the  landscape  is  a  long,  high  hill,  known  as  Folly 
Hill.  On  its  summit  once  stood  the  lordly  mansion 
of  a  colonial  grandee.  Thecellar  is  still  distinctly 
marked,  and  portions  of  the  building  are  still  in  use 
as  residences  a  mile  or  two  removed  from  the  original 
exalted  situation.  This  building  experiment,  never 
since  repeate<l,  was  known  as  "Browne's  Folly;" 
hence  the  name  of  the  hill.  From  its  top  the  view 
includes  very  much  of  the  original  limits  of  Old 
Salem.  Far  beyond  the  islands  of  the  harbor  the 
ocean  fills  a  wide  space  of  the  eastern  horizon,  while 
close  in  the  western  foreground  lie  the  farms  and 
villages  of  Danvers. 

Many  years  ago  three  boys  were  together  on  Folly 
Hill.  One  of  them  is  living  still  ;  his  name  must  be 
often  mentioned  in  any  history  of  his  native  town, 
and  his  portrait  is  presented  by  the  engraver  at  the 
close  of  this  sketch.  The  second  was  one  who 
reached  such  an  eminence  in  the  science  of  botany 
that  his  name  will  be  found  conspicuous  in  that 
chapter  of  this  book  which  treats  of  the  natural  hi.s- 
tory  of  the  county.  The  third,  not  a  Danvers  but  a 
Salem  boy,  became  known  wherever  English  is  read, 


DANVERS. 


425 


for  he  wrote  the  "Scarlet  Letter;"  he  it  was,  indeed, 
who,  writing  of  this  hill  long  after,  described  its  out- 
line as  a  whale's  back  rising  from  the  calm  sea,  and 
in  one  of  those  stories  into  which  his  wonderful  pen 
wove  much  of  the  history  of  our  Puritan  forefathers, 
he  told  how  John  Endicott  cut  out  the  red  cross  from 
the  baner  of  England. 

Not  long  afterwards  there  was  a  military  muster  at  Salem.  Every 
able-bodied  man  in  the  town  and  neighborhood  was  there.  All  were 
well  armed  with  steel  caps  upon  their  heads,  plates  of  iron  upon  their 
breasts  and  at  their  backs,  and  gorgets  of  steel  around  their  necks. 

Endicott  was  the  cajitain  of  the  company.  While  the  soldiers  were 
expecting  his  orders  to  begin  their  exercise,  they  saw  him  take  the 
banner  in  one  hand,  holding  his  drawn  sword  in  the  other. 

"And  now,  fellow  soldiers,  you  see  this  old  banner  of  England.  Some 
of  you,  I  doubt  not,  may  think  it  treason  for  a  man  to  lay  violent  hands 
upon  it.  But  whether  or  no  it  be  treason  to  man,  I  have  good  iissur- 
ance  in  my  conscience,  that  it  is  no  treason  to  God.  Wherefore,  I  have 
resolved  that  we  will  rather  be  God's  soldiers  than  soldiers  of  the  Pope 
of  Rome,  and  in  that  mind  I  now  cut  the  Papal  cross  out  of  this 
banner." 

And  so  he  did.  And  thus  in  a  province  belonging  to  the  crown  of 
England,  a  captain  was  found  bold  enough  to  deface  the  king's  banner 
with  his  sword. 

Governor  John  Endicott  was  the  pioneer  of  Dan- 
vers.  As  he  sailed  from  Cape  Ann  by  the  rocky  hills 
of  the  north  shore  and  brought  the  "Abigail"  to  an- 
chor off  the  few  cabins  of  the  "  old  planters,"  near 
Collin's  Cove,  doubtless  his  eyes  followed  the  course  of 
the  river  far  inland,  where,  in  the  midst  of  the  prime- 
val forest,  he  was  in  a  few  years  to  hew  out  a  home 
and  found  a  town. 

Endicott  landed  at  Salem  in  September,  1628. 
Nearly  four  years  later  the  company,  who  by  their 
charter,  claimed  absolute  disposal  of  all  lands  therein 
conveyed,  made  him  a  grant  in  these  words  : 

"1632,  July  3.  There  is  a  necke  of  land  lyeing  aboute  3  myles  from 
Salem,  cont.  about  300  ac.  of  land  graunted  to  Capt.  Jo :  Endicott  to 
enioyto  him  and  his  heires  forever  called  in  the  Indean  tonge  Wah 
quamesehcok,  in  English  Birchwood,  bounded  on  the  south  side  with  a 
ryvere  call  in  the  Indean  tonge  Soewampenessett,  comonly  called  the 
Cowe  howse  ryver,  bounded  on  the  North  side  with  a  ryver  called  in  the 
Indean  tonge  Conamabsquooncant,  comonly  called  the  Ducke  ryver, 
bounded  on  the  East  with  a  ryver  leadeing  opp  to  the  2  former  ryvers, 
which  is  called  in  the  Indean  tonge  Orkhussunt,  otherwise  kuowen  by 
the  name  of  Wooleston  ryver,  bounded  on  the  West  with  the  maine 
land." 

Very  soon  the  Governor  entered  with  characteristic 
energy  upon  the  work  of  clearing  his  grant.  He  came 
up  in  his  shallop  bringing  men  well  equipped  with 
tools,  of  which  the  ax  was  all  important.  Within  a 
year  seven  thousand  palisades  were  cut,  and  ground 
was  broken  for  Indian  corn.  Very  early  the  grant 
took  the  name  of  the  "  Orchard  Farm,"  and  the  ex- 
tent to  which  the  Governor  carried  the  raising  of 
fruit  trees  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  some  fif- 
teen years  after  he  began  his  attack  on  the  wilderness 
he  gave  five  hundred  of  them  to  Captain  Trask  for 
two  hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  land.  For  some  years 
the  only  neighbors  were  wolves  and  Indians,  and 
until  his  men  opened  roads  there  was  no  thoroughfare 
to  town  except  by  water.  Just  where  the  Governor 
is  supposed  to  have  made  his  original  lauding  a  high 
railroad  bridge  spans  the  river,  and  on  the  slope  be- 
27  i 


tween  the  river  and  the  site  of  the  homestead  there 
may  be  seen  from  the  car  windows  the  famous  Endi- 
cott pear  tree.  Just  exactly  how  it  came  there,  whether 
from  the  seed  or  by  transplanting,  is  not  known, 
but  tradition  clings  with  the  firmest  grip  to  the  asser- 
tion that  the  Governor's  own  hands  in  some  way  had 
to  do  with  this  very  living  tree,  which  now  for  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years  has  each  spring  put  on  the 
verdure  of  fresh  youth.  The  Orchard  Farm  was  a 
sort  of  training  school  to  which  presently  the  sons 
of  well  to  do  settlers  were  glad  to  come  to  learn  the 
Governor's  methods  of  agriculture  which  they  later 
applied  to  their  own  farms.  The  little  army  of  de- 
fence within  the  "  palisadoes  "  received  a  supply  of 
equipments  on  the  27th  of  the  fourth  month,  163G. 

"This  day  was  brought  into  town  and  carried  up  to  Mr.  Endicott's 
these  corslets  following,  viz. :  eighteen  back  peices,  eighteen  belly 
peices,  eighteen  peices  of  tassys,  eighteen  head  peices  of  three  sorts  and 
but  seventeen  Gorgets.     Itim  sixteen  Pikes  &  nineteen  swords." 

On  the  27th  of  the  eleventh  month,  1636,  John 
Woodbury,  Captain  Trask  and  John  Balch  were  di- 
rected to  "  lay  out  200  acres  for  Mr.  Endicott  next 
adjoining  the  land  which  was  formerly  granted  him.'' 
This  was  a  town  grant — the  simple  but  all  important 
act  of  March  3,  1635,  giving  jurisdiction  to  towns 
over  their  own  lands  having  then  been  passed — and 
was  called  "  The  Governor's  Plain."  It  is  that  which 
lies  at  the  foot  of  Hog  Hill, — its  more  deserving 
and  euphonious  name.  Mount  Pleasant, — and  includes 
Felton's  Corner,  the  Collins  House  property  and  the 
adjacent  lands. 

The  river  which  makes  up  from  the  ocean  to  Dan- 
versport  there  divides  into  three  branches,  much  as 
one  may  spread  the  first  three  fingers  of  the  hand. 
These  rivers,  beginning  with  the  lowest,  are  known 
as  Water's,  Crane  and  Porter's.  The  Orchard  Farm 
comprised  the  peninsula  or  neck  between  Water's  and 
Crane;  that  between  Crane  and  Porter's,  upon  which 
the  principal  village  of  Danversport  is,  was  granted 
contemporaneously  with  the  Orchard  Farm,  to  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Skelton,  a  minister  of  Salem,  in  these 
words : 

"  There  is  another  necke  of  land  lyeing  about  3  myles  from  Salem 
cont.  aboute  2U0ac.  graunted  to  Mr.  Sam"  Skelton  to  enioy  to  him  and 
his  heires  for  ever,  called  by  the  Indeaus  Wahquack,  bounded  on  the 
South  opon  a  little  ryver,  called  by  the  Indeans  Conamabsquooncant, 
opon  the  North  abutting  on  another  ryver  called  by  the  Indeans  Pono- 
menneuhcant,  and  on  the  East  on  the  same  ryver." 

For  a  long  time  the  land  included  in  this  grant  was 
known  as  Skelton's  Neck,  but  it  will  be  seen  that  un- 
til the  middle  of  the  last  century  it  remained  utterly 
unsettled. 

The  land  next  adjoining  the  Orchard  Farm  and 
northerly  of  the  Governor's  Plain,  was  thus  disposed 
of  on  the  11th  of  the  eleventh  month,  1635. 

•'  Granted  by  the  freemen  of  Salem  the  day  and  year  above  written 
unto  Mr.  Townsend  Byshop  of  the  same  his  heirs  and  assigns  forever  one 
farm  conteyning  three  hundred  acres  butting  upon  Mr.  Endicott's 
Farme  on  the  East  and  four  hundred  poles  in  length  and  six  score  poles 
in  breadth,  that  is  to  sa}'  six  score  and  four  at  the  west  end  and  one 
hundred  and  sixteen  at  the  East  end,  bounded  by  the  water  between  the 


426 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


farme  of  the  Executors  of  Mr.  Skelton,  an  (?)  him  at  the  North  east 
corner  of  his  farme,  and  hath  there  allowed  from  Mr.  Endicott's  Farme 
Kight  acres  for  an  highway,  is  bounded  again  at  the  soutli west  corner  by 
the  Brook,  provided  always  tliat  in  case  of  sale,  the  Town  of  Salem  to 
have  the  first  proffer  of  it  before  any  other. 

Roger  Conant. 

John  Endicott.  Jeffrey  Massey. 

Thomas  Gardiner.  Edm.  Batter." 

This  was  the  grant  in  the  midst  of  which  was  the 
famous  Eebecca  Nourse  house,  which  is  stil!  standing. 
The  house  was  Bishop's  mansion,  built  when  he  first 
occupied  the  land.     He  was  one  of  the  judges  of  the 
local  court  and   was  otherwise  honored,  but  he  fell 
from  grace  on  the  question  of  infant  baptism,  and 
after  a  few  years  he  concluded  to  sell  out,  perhaps  to 
seek  a  place  where  he  could  think  as  he  pleased.    He 
sold  to  Henry  Chickering,  who   held  it  from  1641  to 
1648,   and   then   sold  it  to  Governor  Endicott  who, 
with  this  purchase,  owned  about  a  thousand  acres, 
running  from  the  iron  foundry  to  beyond  the  Collins 
Street  station.      The   price   was   one    hundred    and 
sixty  pounds.     The  Governor  settled  the  Bishop  fiirm 
upon  his  oldest  son,  John,  when  he  was  married,  1653 
and  gave  him  the  deed  in  1662.     After  the  death  of 
the  Governor,  in  1665,  there  was  a  controversy  over 
the  settlement  of  his  estate  regarding  this  property, 
but  the  deed  held,  and   instead  of  passing  to  Zerub- 
babel,  the  surviving  brother,  when  John  died  without 
issue  in  1668,  it  was  adjudged  to  have  been  John's  in 
fee,   and   he,   by   will,   left   it  to   his   widow.      She 
mourned  from  February  to  August,  then  married  a 
Boston  minister.  Rev.  James  Allen,  and  died  in  five 
years,  leaving  the  farm  to  him.     Five  years  later  Mr. 
Allen  sold  out  to  Francis  Nourse  for  four  hundred 
pounds.    This  was  April  29,  1678  ;  the  real  estate  had 
more   than    doubled   since   the  Governor  bought  it. 
Very  likely  the  price  was  governed  somewhat  by  the 
terms  of  the  sale,  which  gave  the  grantee  twenty-one 
years  in  which  to  pay  the  whole  purchase  money. 
During  this  time  a  series  of  long  and  bitter  disputes 
and  law-suits  arose  as  to  the  boundaries  of  the  farm 
which,  though  resulting  favorably  to  the  Nourses  and 
adversely  to  the  owner  of  the  Orchard  Farm,  doubt- 
less had  its  influence  in  the  disaster  which  befel  the 
family  when  the  aged  mother  was  taken  away  to  die 
on  the  gallows,  a  condemned  witch.     In  a  little  grove 
just  west  of  the  historic  house,  where  are  other  family 
graves,  a  substantial  monument  marks  her  resting- 
place.     It  was  erected  a  few  j'^ears  ago  as  the  result 
of  a  movement  began  in  1875,  by  which  her  descen- 
dants organized  the  "Nourse  Monument  Association." 
The  inscription  contains  these  lines  written  by  Whit- 
tier : 

"  0  Christian  Martyr, 

Who  for  Truth  could  die, 
When  all  about  thee 

Owned  the  hideous  lie  ! 
The  world  redeemed 

From  Superstition's  sway 
Is  breathing  freer 

For  thy  sake  to-day." 

Just  outside  the  northwestern  corner  of  the  Bishop- 


Nourse  farm,  near  the  angle  of  Prince  Street,  at 
"Muddy  Boo,"  were  to  be  seen,  until  quite  recently, 
certain  depressions  which  were  the  remains  of  ancient 
wolf-pits. 

Having  mentioned  the  two  sons  of  Governor  Endi- 
cott, let  here  a  word  be  said  of  his  descendants.  John 
left  no  children.     Zerubbabel,  who  lived  on  the  orch- 
ard farm,  was  a  phy.sician.      His  second  wife  was  a 
daughter  of  Governor  Winthrop,and  he  had  five  sons, 
of  whom  John  went  to  England  and  there  followed 
his   father's   profession ;    Zerubbabel    and   Benjamin 
lived  in  Topsfield ;  Joseph  went  to  New  Jersey,  and 
Samuel   remained   at  home  and    married  Hannah,  a 
daughter  of  Nathaniel  Felton,  of  Felton's  Hill.     The 
widow,  Hannah  Endicott,  married  Thorndike  Proctor, 
who  in  1764  bought  the  little  old  building  which  was 
the  first  meeting-house  of  Salem,  moved  it  to  his  land 
near  Boston  Street,  where  it  was  used  first  as  a  tavern 
and  later  as  part  of  a  tannery  until  1865,  when  it  was 
restored  and  moved  to  the  rear  of  Plummer  Hall  by 
the  Essex  Institute,  and   has   since  been  visited  by 
thousands.     Samuel  Endicott  had  four  children,  but 
he  died  when  thirty-five  years  old,  leaving  his  only 
son,  Samuel,  a  boy  of  seven,  the  only  representative 
of  the  name  in  the  vicinity  of  the  home  of  his  fathers. 
But  tills  boy  lived  to  re-establish  the  family,  and  died 
an  old  man  and  "  captain  "  in  1766,  and  was  buried  in 
that  Endicott  family  burying-ground,  which  is  plainly 
in  sight  across  the  river  from  the  Danversport  rail- 
road station.     One  of  his  sisters  married  Benjamin 
Porter,  the  other  Martin   Herrick.      Captain  Samuel 
had  a  dozen  children  ;  of  his  sons  John,  the  oldest, 
kept  the  orchard   farm  ;  and   of  his   wife,  Elizabeth 
Jacobs,  it  is  related  that  she  was  at  the  South  Meet- 
ing-house when  Colonel  Timothy  Pickering  halted 
his  men  on  the  way  to  Bunker  Hill,  and  cried  out  in 
patriotic   zeal :    "  Why  on    earth    don't   you  march  ; 
don't  you  hear  the  guns  at  Charlestown  ?  "    The  farm 
passed  next  to  another  John,  oldest  son  of  John  and 
Elizabeth,  one  of  whose  brothers,  Robert,  married  a 
daughter  of  Minister  Holt,  of  South   Parish,  and  es- 
tablished an  Endicott  family  in  Beverly.     The  oldest 
son  of  this  last  John  was  Samuel,  who  married  Eliza- 
beth, daughter  of  William  Putnam,  of  Sterling,  Mass., 
in  1794,  and  was  the  father  of  the  wives  of  Francis 
and  George  Peabody,  of  Salem,  and  of  William  Put- 
nam Endicott,  who  was  born   in  1803,  graduated  at 
Harvard  in  1822,  and  is  still  living  in  Salem,  and  the 
father  of  William  C.  Endicott,  Secretary  of  War.  The 
orchard  farm  is  retained  in  this  branch  of  the  family, 
its  present  owner  being  William  Endicott,  of  London, 
England,  and  js  this  summer  (1887)  undergoing  ex- 
tensive improvements  at  his  hands. 

Elias  Endicott,  son  of  Captain  Samuel,  was  chris- 
tened in  1729 ;  married  Eunice  Andrews  ;  died  in 
1779,  was  buried  in  the  Plains  burying-ground,  and 
left  six  children  :  Anna,  married  Israel  Putnam,  and 
became  the  mother  of  Hon.  Elias  Putnam;  Elias 
Endicott,  Jr.,  who  was  one  of  theeai'ly  shoe  manufac- 


DANVERS. 


427 


turers,  and  lived  where  his  grandson,  Elias  Eudicott 
Porter  now  lives ;  Israel,  who  was  a  mason,  lived  in 
the  brick  house  at  the  Port,  which  descended  to  his 
son,  William  ;  Mary  was  the  wife  of  Zerubbabel  Por- 
ter, whose  son  Alfred  was  the  father  of  Elias  Endi- 
cott  Porter;  and  Margaret  ("Aunt  Peggy")  died  un- 
married. 

The  first  and  most  distinguished  name  in  our  early 
annals  has  become,  in  the  male  line,  utterly  extinct. 
In  the  Danvers  directory  the  name  of  Endicott  ap- 
pears but  once, — "  Lydia  W.,  widow  of  William." 
The  late  William  Endicott  was  one  of  the  early  anti- 
slavery  men,  was  one  of  the  last  of  the  Danvers- 
port  sea-captains,  often  served  as  moderator  of  town- 
meetings,  and  was  otherwise  prominent  in  local  af- 
fairs ;  his  daughter,  Mrs.  H.  G.  Hyde,  resides  in 
Danvers,  and  two  sons  in  Haverhill. 

Ante-dating  the  Bishops'  grant  by  a  month  was  one 
of  three  hundred  acres  to  Robert  Cole.  This  covers 
the  region  back  of  Hog  Hill,  including  Proctor's  cor- 
ner and  extending  a  mile  or  more  towards  West  Pea- 
body.  After  a  short  time  Cole  sold  to  Emanuel 
Downing,  a  brother-in-law  of  Governor  Winthrop,  a 
lawyer,  a  man  of  such  high  repute  and  so  desirable  an 
acquisition  to  the  colonists  that  before  he  arrived  a 
grant  of  five  hundred  acres  was  given  him  by  the 
town.  This  he  sold  to  John  Porter;  it  included  the 
Bradstreet  farm  near  the  Topsfield  line. 

Downing's  son  George,  who  was  one  of  the  first 
graduates  of  Harvard,  became  Sir  George  Downing, 
a  prominent  figure  in  the  history  of  the  Old  Country 
in  Cromwell's  time.  The  old  Ipswich,  road,  the  first 
higliway  connecting  Lynn  and  Boston  with  the  north- 
ern settlements,  was  laid  out  through  this  land,  and 
in  1648  one  of  his  tenants  was  allowed  to  keep  an 
"  ordinary  "  to  accommodate  travelers.  For  a  time 
the  Downings  let  the  farm,  and  in  1666  it  was  occupied 
by  John  Proctor,  who  subsequently  bought  a  part 
of  it.  Proctor,  who  came  from  Ipswich,  was  a  strong 
man  in  every  sense,  and  he  was  one  of  tlie  conspicu- 
ous victims  of  the  witchcraft  delusion.  Many  of  his 
descendants  have  been  prominent  citizens  of  South 
Danvers,  where  the  family  is  still  well  represented. 

The  land  next  east  of  Downing's,  in  the  midst  of 
which  is  the  beautiful  Rogers  estate,  was  granted, 
three  hundred  acres,  to  Thomas  Read,  who,  with 
others,  went  back  to  England  to  bear  a  hand  in  the 
coming  revolution.  In  1701  it  was  sold  to  Daniel 
Epps,  the  famous  school-master,  concerning  whom  it 
was  in  1671  "Voated  that  the  selectmen  shall  take 
care  to  provide  a  house  for  Mr.  Epps  to  keep  skoole 
in."  The  honor  of  his  name  was  preserved  through 
several  generations  by  men  distinguished  in  our  local 
annals. 

The  long,  high  hill  south  of  the  Governor's 
plain  was  from  the  first  the  home  of  the  Feltons. 
The  old  homestead  at  the  end  of  the  road  which  runs 
from  the  Ipswich  road  along  the  top  of  the  hill  was 
built  more  than  two  hundred  years  ago,  and  the  Na- 


thaniel Felton  who  now  owns  and  occupies  it  comes 
near  to  being  the  seventh  Nathaniel  in  direct  line.  A 
Jonathan  in  the  third  generation  is  the  only  break. 
Besides  the  inclosed  burying-ground,  where  the  Ips- 
wich road  makes  its  steep  climb,  in  which  old 
stones  and  new  contain  the  names  of  Proctor  and 
Felton,  there  are  here  and  thei'e  on  the  hillside  traces 
of  more  ancient  and  unmarked  graves. 

The  tract  adjoining  the  Bishop-Nourse  farm  on  the 
north,  covering  the  village  of  Tapleyville  and  ex- 
tending from  Ash  Street  to  a  little  beyond  the  meet- 
ing-house, at  the  Centre,  was  granted  to  Elias  Stile- 
man.  The  latter  sold  in  1648  to  Richard  Hutchinson, 
who  came  over  in  1634,  with  his  infant  son,  Joseph. 
Hutchinson  was  also  one  of  the  grantees  of  the  large 
tract  which  included  Whipple's  Hill,  named  for  the 
husband  of  his  granddaughter,  and  in  1637  he  was 
granted  twenty  acres  on  the  meadow  back  of  the 
meeting-house,  on  condition  that  he  should  "  set  up 
plowing."  He  died  in  1681  at  the  full  age  of  four 
score,  "  a  vigorous  and  intelligent  agriculturist  and  a 
man  of  character."  It  will  be  seen  presently  how  the 
lower  portion  of  his  estate  descended  through  his 
son-in-law  in  an  unbroken  line  of  Putnams — the 
Judge  Putnam  farm.  The  upper  portion  fell  to  Jo- 
seph Hutchinson,  who  was,  like  his  father,  a  prominent 
and  influential  man,  of  sound  sense  and  plain  words. 
He  it  was  who  out  of  his  homestead  lands  gave  one 
acre  for  the  first  meeting-house  and  later  contributed 
several  more  towards  a  home  for  the  first  preacher. 
The  family  name  is  still  well  represented  in  the 
neighborhood.  The  most  distinguished  name  in  the 
family  history  is  that  of  Colonel  Israel  Hutchinson, 
ef  Revolutionary  fame,  of  whom  a  notice  appears 
elsewhere.  He  was  the  son  of  Elisha,  who  died  be- 
fore 1730.  Elisha  was  the  son  of  Joseph,  who  out- 
lived the  son  some  twenty  years ;  Joseph  was  the  son 
of  that  Joseph  who  was  brought  over  from  England 
in  his  infancy.  A  brother  to  Colonel  Israel's  father 
was  Ebenezer ;  Ebenezer's  son  was  Jeremy,  who  mar- 
ried a  daughter  of  Asa  Putnam,  and  lived  from  1738 
to  1805 ;  one  of  Jeremy's  sous  was  Joseph,  who  was 
born  in  1770,  married  Phebe  Upton,  of  North  Read- 
ing, and  died  in  1832,  leaving  two  sons  to  become 
heads  of  families — Deacon  Elijah  Hutchinson  and 
Benjamin  Hutchinson,  both  now  deceased.  The 
home  of  Deacon  Elijah  was  the  house  just  west  of 
Nathaniel  IngersoU's  training-field,  formerly  "  the 
home  of  the  widow  Eunice  Upton,  inholder."  Three 
fine  residences  just  beyond  are  those  of  Deacon 
Elijah's   sons,  Warren,  Alfred  and  Edward. 

Next  west  of  the  Stileman-Hutchinson  land  was 
the  grant  of  Francis  Weston,  which  covered  the  land 
extending  westerly  from  the  church  towards  the 
turnpike.  Weston  was  such  a  man  as  to  be  chosen 
one  of  the  three  Representatives  of  Salem  in  the  first 
House  of  Deputies,  but  like  Bishop  he  was  too  toler- 
ant for  the  age,  and  was  invited  to  leave,  in  1638,  and 
his  wife  was  treated  to  an  experience  in  the  stocks. 


428 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS 


Six  years  later  it  was  sold  by  one  John  Pease  to 
Richard  Ingersoll  and  his  son-in-law,  Wm.  Haynes. 
Ingersoll  had  come  over  in  1629,  and  was  granted 
eighty  acres  at  Rial  Side.  January  12,  1636-37, 
"Richard  Inkersoll  is  to  have  Id.  for  every  person  he 
may  carry  over  the  North  Ferry,  during  the  town's 
pleasure."  He  was  for  a  time  lessee  of  the  Bishop- 
Nourse  farm,  and  shortly  after  this  purchase  of  the 
Weston  grant  he  died.  He  was  another  of  the  right 
sort  of  men,  and  his  son,  Nathaniel,  was  one  of  the 
brightest  characters  of  our  early  history. 

Nathaniel  was  but  eleven  years  old  when  his  father 
died.  His  mother  married  again,  and  soon  the  lad 
found  a  home  Avith  Governor  Endicott,  not  that  he 
was  driven  to  this  step,  but  probably  only  as  other 
boys  and  young  men  were  glad  to  be  educated  in  the 
practical  agricultural  college  at  the  Orchard  Farm. 
"I  went  to  live  with  Governor  Endicott  as  his  servant 
four  years."  He  was  nineteen  when  he  went  back  to 
the  land  which  his  father  had  left  him,  and  near  by 
the  present  parsonage  of  the  First  Church,  he  built  a 
house  of  more  generous  proportions  than  were  com- 
mon. Here,  to  the  end  of  his  three-score  and  ten,  he 
was  mine  host  of  an  open  house,  the  resling-place  of 
weary  travelers,  the  meeting-place  on  all  sorts  of  oc- 
casions of  the  villagers.  Its  ample  public-room  was 
at  once  town-house,  church  and  military  headquarters, 
and  the  whole-souled  landlord  was  looked  upon  as 
the  natural  arbiter  of  neighborhood  quarrels.  He 
was  a  just  man,  whose  guide  of  life  was  the  golden 
rule,  and  the  love  and  respect  universally  accorded 
him  were  but  the  natural  tribute  to  his  worth.  There 
is  nothing  out  of  harmony  with  such  a  character  in  the 
following  permit  granted  in  1673,  though  at  present 
men  of  his  stamp  are  not  found  keeping  bar:  "Na- 
thaniel Ingersoll  is  allowed  to  sell  bear  and  syder  by 
the  quart  for  the  tyme  whyle  the  farmers  are  a  build- 
ing of  their  meeting-house  and  on  Lord's  days  after- 
wards." When  his  only  child,  a  little  girl,  died,  he 
and  his  wife  took  and  brought  up  Benjamin,  one  of 
the  sons  of  his  neighbor  Joseph  Hutchinson,  who 
was  "an  obedient  son  until  he  came  of  one  and 
twenty  years  of  age."  Ingersoll  was  not  rich,  but  he 
gave  the  young  man  a  liberal  marriage  gift  out  of  his 
comparatively  small  farm.  This  was  but  one  of  a 
series  of  gifts  of  land.  When  the  church  was  organ- 
ized, as  will  hereafter  appear,  Nathaniel  Ingersoll 
and  Edward  Putnam  were  colleagues  as  first  deacons. 
It  will  be  seen  that  Deacon  Putnam's  farm  was  on 
the  Middleton  line  two  or  three  miles  from  the 
church,  and  in  1714  he  had  reached  a  time  when  a 
man  sees  old  age  approaching.  Ingersoll  desired  his 
dear  friend  to  pass  his  declining  years  in  the  com- 
fortable proximity  to  the  church  which  he  had  him- 
self ever  enjoyed.  Therefore,  "  for  the  good  affec- 
tion "  which  he  bore  to  him,  he  freely  gave  Deacon 
Putnam  "  a  piece  of  land  bounded  northerly  upon 
the  land  of  Joseph  Green  (the  minister)  next  to  his 
orchard  gate,  westerly  on  the  highway,  and  southerly 


and  easterly  on  my  land,"  and  thither,  it  is  thought. 
Deacon  Putnam  came  to  dwell.  When  pipes  were 
laid  for  the  water-works,  an  old  well  was  dug  into, 
thought  to  have  been  his.  Long  before  this  he  had 
given  four  acres  and  a  half  to  Rev.  Samuel  Parris. 
By  his  will  he  gave  the  church  fifty  shillings  "  for  the 
more  adorning  the  Lord's  Table,  to  be  laid  out  in 
some  silver  cup."  He  gave  a  life  estate  in  the  lands 
of  which  he  died  possessed  to  his  wife,  with  remainder 
to  his  adopted  son,  except  one  piece,  "  a  small  parcel 
of  land  of  about  two  acres,  that  lyeth  between  Mrs. 
Walcots  and  George  Wyotts  by  the  highway,  which  I 
give  to  the  inhabitants  of  Salem  Village,  for  a  train- 
ing place  forever."  Forever !  What  better  monu- 
ment can  a  man  leave  to  his  memory  than  a  reserva- 
tion of  land  for  the  use  of  the  public,  forever.  The 
pleasant  common  at  Danvers  Centre,  bounded  on  one 
side  by  a  street  which  bears  the  giver's  name,  is  the 
old  training-field  of  Nathaniel  Ingersoll.  These 
words  are  Mr.  Upham's :  "  Within  its  enclosure  the 
elements  of  the  military  art  have  been  imparted  to 
a  greater  number  of  persons  distinguished  in  their 
day,  and  who  have  left  an  imperishable  glory  behind 
them  as  the  defenders  of  their  country,  a  brave  yeo- 
manry in  arms,  than  on  any  other  spot.  From  the 
slaughter  of  Bloody  Brook,  the  storming  of  the  Nar- 
ragansett  Fort  and  all  the  early  Indian  wars;  from 
the  Heights  of  Abraham,  Lake  George,  Lexington, 
Bunker  Hill,  Braudywine,  Pea  Ridge,  and  a  hundred 
other  battle-fields,  a  lustre  is  reflected  back  upon  this 
village  parade-ground.  It  is  associated  with  all  the 
military  traditions  of  the  country,  down  to  the  late 
Rebellion." 

About  a  mile  northwest  of  the  training-field  is  the 
high  hill,  upon  which  is  situated  the  Danvers  Luna- 
tic Hospital,  ten  great  buildings  in  one,  whose  roofs 
and  pinnacles  and  central  tower  are  seen  for  miles 
around,  and  form  a  landmark  for  fishermen  far  out  in 
the  harbor.  This  hill  was  in  the  midst  of  a  grant  to 
Captain  William  Hathorne,  soldier,  lawyer,  judge, 
legislator,  whose  "  many  imployments  for  towne  and 
countrie "  were  publicly  recognized.  A  well-pre- 
served old  house  in  which  Francis  Dodge  lived,  when 
he  sold  the  form  to  the  State,  stood  just  south  of  the 
main  building.  Two  hundred  years  ago  it  was  the 
home  of  Joshua  Rea.  The  hill  retains  the  name  of 
Hathorne. 

Thusthelineof original grantssweptinward  from  the 
Orchard  Farm.  Still  to  the  westward  three  hundred 
acres  near  the  crossing  of  the  two  turnpikes  were 
owned  as  early  as  1650,  by  Job  Swinerton,  whose 
brother  was  a  physician  in  Salem  town.  Job  Swiner- 
ton had  formerly  lived  on  the  place  now  owned  by 
Andrew  Nichols,  Jr.;  he  sold  this  to  John  Martin, 
and  Martin  to  Dale.  From  the  latter,  who  was  the 
ancestor  of  Surgeon  General  Dale  and  of  those  of  the 
name  in  Danvers,  came  the  name  "Dale's  Hill." 
Swinerton  died  in  1689,  nearly  ninety  years  old.  One 
of  the  old  Swinerton  homesteads   stood  where  Daniel 


DANVERS. 


429 


P.  Pope  lives,  and  some  parts  of  the  original  estate 
are  still  owned  and  occupied  by  Swinertons.  The 
tract  between  the  Swinerton  grant  and  the  Ipswich 
River,  on  both  sides  of  the  Andover  turnpike,  was 
granted  in  1648  to  Captain  George  Corwin,  a  rich 
merchant  of  Salem.  William  Cantlebury  purchased 
three-quarters  of  this  land.  "Buxton's  Lane"  per- 
petuates the  name  of  John  Buxton,  a  son-in-law  of 
Cantlebury,  and  a  man  whose  name  appears  with 
Nathaniel  Ingersoll's  and  a  few  othei's,  on  a  bond 
which  saved  the  Rev.  George  Burroughs  from  unjust 
imprisonment.  Some  live  hundred  acres  south  of 
Corwin's  grant,  and  covering  much  of  AVest  Peabody, 
came,  by  numerous  conveyances,  to  be  owned  by 
Robert  Goodell,  some  of  which  is  still  owned  by  de- 
scendants of  the  same  name. 

The  present  residence  of  Rev.  Willard  Spaulding, 
in  West  Peabody,  stands  on  the  site  of  the  first  Pope 
homestead.  The  land  about  it  was  first  granted  in 
1640,  to  another  man  of  the  cloth,  the  Rev.  Edward 
Norris,  pastor  of  the  First  Church  of  Salem.  It  was 
bought  by  Joseph  Pope  in  1664,  and  his  homestead, 
which  remained  in  the  family  until  1793,  when  it 
was  sold  to  Nathaniel  Ropes,  of  Salem,  was  standing 
thirty  years  ago. 

Joseph  Pope  came  over  in  the  "  Mai"y  and  John," 
in  1634.  He  and  his  wife  Gertrude  were  both  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  Quakers,  and  were  excommunicated. 
He  died  about  1667,  leaving  nine  children.  Three 
sons  founded  families, — Joseph,  Benjamin  and  Sam- 
uel. Samuel  married  Exercise  Smith,  whose  parents 
were  persecuted  Quakers  in  Governor  Endicott's 
time.  It  is  through  Joseph  that  most  of  the  Popes 
in  this  vicinity  trace  their  ancestry.  Joseph's  wife, 
Abiah  Folger,  of  Nantucket,  was  an  aunt  of  Benja- 
min Franklin.  They  had  four  sons  to  grow  up. 
Three  of  them, — Enos,  "clothier;"  Eleazer,  "cord- 
wainer ;  "  and  Nathaniel,  "  blacksmith,"  went  to  Sa- 
lem. In  1813  the  third  Enos,  who  followed  the  busi- 
ness which  the  first  began,  died  at  the  age  of  ninety- 
two,  the  oldest  man  in  Salem.  Joseph,  oldest  of  the 
four  sons  of  the  second  Joseph,  was  born  in  1687, 
married  Mehitable  Putnam,  and  died  in  1755.  While 
he  was  in  occupation  of  the  homestead  young  Israel 
Putnam,  afterwards  major  general,  came  and  married 
his  daughter  Hannah.  Israel  Putnam  went  to  Pom- 
fret,  Conn.,  and  so  did  his  wife's  oldest  brother,  Jo- 
seph. The  sons  of  another  brother,  Ebenezer,  were 
of  Salem,  while  Eleazer's  descendants  are  found 
principally  in  Vermont.  Another  brother,  Na- 
thaniel, kept  alive  the  family  name  at  the  village. 
He  lived  from  about  1724  to  1800,  married  first,  a 
daughter  of  Jasper  Swinerton  ;  second,  a  daughter  of 
Peter  Clark,  the  minister.  Among  his  children  were 
Mehitable,  wife  of  Caleb  Oakes,  and  mother  of  the 
distinguished  botanist,  William  Oakes ;  Amos  Pope, 
the  father  of  Zephaniah  ;  and  Elijah.  Elijah  died  in 
1846,  eighty  years  old ;  the  last  of  his  sons,  Jasper, 
died  while  yet  these  notes  are  unfinished,  June,  1887, 


having  reached  an  age  some  five  years  greater  than 
his  father's.  Jasper  leaves  no  children  living.  The 
Popes  now  living  here  are  the  children  and  grand- 
children of  the  late  Nathaniel  and  of  the  late  Eli- 
jah. 

Going  back  to  Skelton's  Neck,  the  territory  just 
north  thereof,  aptly  called  the  Plain,  or,  more 
commonly,  the  Plains,  was  originally  granted  to 
Samuel  Sharp,  "the  godly  Mr.  Sharp  who  was  ruling 
elder  of  the  church  of  Salem."  It  will  later  appear 
what  became  of  this  and  other  lands  reaching  toward 
the  Topsfield  line.  East  of  the  Topsfield  road,  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres,  of  which  Augustus  Fowler's 
farm  is  a  part,  was  granted  to  Daniel  Rea,  who  first 
came  to  Plymouth  and  then  to  Salem.  He  died  in 
1662,  and  his  only  son,  Joshua,  founded  an  influen- 
tial and  widely  connected  family,  though  the  name 
has  passed  out  of  the  voting  lists.  Daniel  Rea,  son 
of  Joshua,  was  living  in  Mr.  Fowler's  house  two  hun- 
dred years  ago.  To  the  eastward  of  the  Reas,  the 
Birch  Plain  region,  the  Rev.  Hugh  Peters  had  a  grant 
of  two  hundred  acres,  which,  after  his  execution,  was 
sold  by  Captain  John  Corwin's  widow  to  "Henry 
Brown,  Jr.,  of  Salisbury,  yeoman."  Browns  are  still 
living  on  a  part  of  the  estate.  Far  to  the  east,  in 
what  is  now  North  Beverly,  the  land  including  Cher- 
ry Hill  was  one  of  the  first  grants.  It  was  given  to 
William  Alford  in  1636,  and  the  hill  was  long  called 
after  his  name.  He  sold  to  Henry  Herrick,  a  younger 
son  of  Sir  William  Herrick,  of  Beau  Manor  Park, 
and  the  good  blood  of  the  ancestors  showed  itself  in 
the  sterling  character  of  many  of  the  descendants. 
The  land  between  Cherry  Hill  and  the  Burley  Farm, 
originally  granted  to  John  Holgrave,  was  later  occu- 
pied by  two  Reas,  two  Bishojis,  a  Watts  and  Captain 
Thomas  Raymond.  The  latter  was  of  a  family  of 
military  renown;  Colonel  J.  W.  Raymond,  now  one 
of  the  County  Commissioners,  is  a  descendant.  Three 
Raymonds  were  in  the  Narragansett  fight,  and  one, 
John,  was  the  first  to  enter  the  narrow  pa.>-s  to  King 
Phillip's  redoubt,  which  proved  fatal  to  so  many  who 
went  out  from  this  vicinity,  among  others  to  Captain 
Joseph  Gardner,  son-in-law  of  Emanuel  Downing, 
and  to  Charles  Knight,  Thomas  Flint  and  Joseph 
Houlton,  Jr.,  members  of  his  company. 

Covering  the  Burley  Farm,  east  of  Frostfish  Brook, 
were  some  two  hundred  and  fifty  acres  originally  be- 
longing to  Charles  Gott,  Jeffrey  Massey  and  others, 
a  neighborhood  for  some  time  called  "  Gott's  Cor- 
ner." To  the  southward  of  the  Ipswich  road 
were  the  farms  of  the  Barneys  and  Leaches,  through 
which  runs  the  road  to  Beverly  town.  Folly  Hill 
was  then  Leach's  Hill,  and  its  length  was  bisected  by 
the  division  line  between  the  farms  of  the  two  fami- 
lies. Both  names  have  passed  away  from  the 
locality  ;  in  the  little  burying-ground  by  the  high- 
way in  which  doubtless  are  nameless  graves,  one  is 
marked  with  the  name  of  Martha,  wife  of  Richard 
Leach,  who  died  in  1756, 


430 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


F'rom  the  head  of  canoe  navigation  at  Frostfish 
Brook,  by  the  way,  there  began  a  well-defined  Indian 
trail,  leading,  Mr.  Nichols  says,  as  far  north  as  Cana- 
da. A  glance  at  the  county  map  shows  that  the  lo- 
cation was  well-chosen  as  a  terminus  of  such  a 
trail. 

All  of  this  region  from  Beverly  to  Reading  was 
known  in  very  early  times  as  "  Salem  Farms,"  and 
the  early  settlers  and  their  descendants  were  com- 
monly called  "  the  Farmers."  The  settlement  which 
grew  up  along  the  brooks,  which  come  together  near 
Peabody  Square,  was  at  first  called  Brooksby,  later 
as  the  Middle  Precinct,  and  became  the  South  Parish 
of  Danvers.  Since  1855  it  has  been  a  separate  town, 
and  an  account  of  its  early  settlers  and  growth  be- 
longs to  the  history  of  Peabody,  and  will  there  be 
found. 

Hints  of  the  character  of  some  of  the  Farmers  have 
been  given.  As  a  whole  they  were  a  sturdy,  intelli- 
gent set  of  men,  with  the  energy  and  vigor  requisite 
to  convert  the  wilderness  into  pleasant  homes,  jeal- 
ous of  their  right-5,  too  prone  to  lawsuits,  fair  types 
of  New  England  yeomanry. 

Presently,  children  who  had  been  born  upon  the 
lands,  intermarried,  established  themselves  on  farms, 
carved  out  of  the  ancestral  acres,  and  took  the  places 
of  the  aged  fathers.  A  feeling  grew  that  they  were 
separated,  alike  by  distance  and  by  manner  of  life, 
from  the  dwellers  in  the  town.  It  was  far  to  go  to 
church  over  rough  roads  and  in  all  weathers,  and  the 
church  was  the  centre  of  all  things.  They  wanted  to 
be  a  parish  by  themselves  and  provide  their  own 
minister.  In  1670  this  desire  was  expressed  in  a  pe- 
tition to  the  town,  and  some  two  years  later  the 
town's  consent  was  ratified  by  an  act  of  the  General 
Court.  October  8,  1672,  the  parish  known  as  Salem 
Village  was  established ;  October  8,  1872,  the  first 
church  of  Danvers  observed  the  two  hundredth  anni- 
versary of  that  event. 

"All  farmers,"  so  ran  the  vote  of  the  town,  "that 
now  are  or  hereafter  shall  be  willing  to  join  together 
for  providing  a  minister  among  themselves  whose  hab- 
itations are  above  Ipswich  Highway,  from  the  horse 
bridge  to  the  wooden  bridge  at  the  hither  end  of  Mr. 
Endicott's  Plain,  and  from  thence  on  a  west  line  shall 
have  liberty  to  have  a  minister  by  themselves  and 
when  they  shall  provide  and  pay  him  in  a  maintain- 
ance,  that  then  they  shall  be  discharged  from  their 
part  of  Salem  minister's  maintainance."  The  bounds 
of  Salem  Village,  though  a  source  of  grievous  dispute, 
especially  between  the  farmers  and  "  the  Topsfield 
men,"  sub-tantially  included  all  of  the  present  town 
except  the  two  necks  of  Danversport,  a  part  of  North 
Beverly,  considerable  of  West  Peabody  and  much  of 
the  town  of  Middleton. 

This  Middleton  land  was  an  original  grant  of  seven 
hundred  acres  to  Governor  Richard  Bellingham,  made 
by  the  General  Court  in  1639.  It  was  bought  for  two 
hundred   and   fifty  pounds   by  two   poor  men,  Bray 


Wilkins  and  John  Gingle,  who  paid  down  a  ton  of 
iron  and  one  pound  in  money,  in  all  twenty-five 
pounds,  and  gave  a  mortgage  back  for  the  balance. 
They  paid  off  the  debt,  Wilkins  and  his  sons 
bought  up  the  Gingle  interest,  and,  in  1702,  Wilkins 
died  at  great  age,  a  patriarchal  land-owner,  in  the 
midst  of  the  farms  and  homes  of  his  descendants. 
Though  beyond  the  six  mile  limit,  these  lands  were 
by  special  act  of  the  General  Court,  in  1661,  made  a 
part  of  Salem. 

There  were  \vithin  the  village,  twenty  years  after 
its  establishment,  some  hundred  and  fifty  houses. 
Among  the  farmers  not  already  mentioned  were  Dan- 
iel Andrew,  himself  sometimes  a  school-master,  and 
founder  of  a  family  in  which  a  number  have  followed 
that  calling ;  the  Flints,  some  of  whom  remain 
on  the  lands  of  their  ancestors  in  West  Peabody ; 
Joseph  Houlton,  the  honored  head  of  a  fine  family, 
most  conspicuous  among  whom  is  Samuel  Holten, 
whose  name  will  often  appear  in  these  annals  ;  the 
Kettels,  a  name  now  extinct  here ;  the  Needhams, 
whose  farms  were  divided  by  the  village  line,  are  still 
represented  in  West  Peabody  by  descendants  of  the 
family  name  ;  Robert  Prince,  of  whom  the  late  Moses 
Prince  was  a  descendant  in  the  fifth  generation,  the 
latter  a  man  who  was  eminently  distinguished  for  the 
extent  and  accuracy  of  his  knowledge  of  local  history. 
The  Prince  farm  contained  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  acres  and  the  house  which  Robert  occupied  and 
probably  built,  is  still  standing  on  the  estate  of  J.  E. 
Spring.  The  widow  of  Robert  married  Alexander 
Osborne,  and  under  that  name  she  was  one  of  the 
first  three  arrested  for  witchcraft,  and  was  taken  from 
this  very  house  to  Boston  jail,  where  she  died  May  10, 
1692. 

Lying  partly  within  the  Village  limits  and  partly 
in  Topsfield,  was  the  land  of  William  Nichols,  a 
large  farm  which  he  had  bought  about  1650,  of  Henry 
Bartholemew.  "Nichols  Brook  "  which  flows  through 
these  lands  perpetuates  his  name.  He  lived  to  be 
very  old  and  from  his  only  son,  John,  came  an  exten- 
sive family.  One  of  the  most  prominent  figures  in  our 
local  history  during  the  first  half  of  this  century  was 
Dr.  Andrew  Nichols,  a  son  of  Andrew  of  the  sixth 
generation,  and  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  a  notice 
of  his  life  from  the  pen  of  his  son  Andrew  will  be 
found  accompanying  the  engraving  at  the  close  of  this 
sketch,  it  would  be  fitting  at  this  point  to  pay  a  trib- 
ute to  his  worth.  Andrew  Nichols,  civil  engineer,  son 
of  the  doctor,  whose  home  is  not  far  south  of  the  old 
Nichols  farm  and  whose  land  includes  a  part  of  the 
Prince  land,  of  which  latter  family  he  is  a  descendant 
through  the  marriage  of  John  Nichols  and  Elizabeth 
Prince,  has  written  a  genealogy  of  the  Nichols  family 
and  has  collected  a  rich  store  of  material  for  local 
history.  Abel  Nichols,  a  brother  of  the  doctor,  wa.s 
the  father  of  the  late  Abel  Nichols,  artist,  father  of 
Mrs.  William  E.  Putnam  and  Lewis  A.  Nichols,  and 
brother  of  the  late  Mrs.  E.  G.  Berry. 


DANA^ERS. 


431 


In  the  extreme  southeastern  corner  of  the  town, 
pleasantly  situated  on  the  southern  bank  of  the  river 
below  the  confluence  of  its  three  branches,  is  a  very 
old  and  interesting  house.  It  has  always  remained  in 
the  Jacobs  family,  whose  ancestor,  George  Jacobs, 
was  another  of  the  victims  of  the  witchcraft  delusion, 
and,  according  to  tradition,  was  hung  on  an  oak  tree 
on  his  own  land  and  there  also  buried.  It  was  his 
great-granddaughter,  Elizabeth  Jacobs,  who  married 
John  Endicott  and  spoke  out  loud  to  Colonel  Picker- 
ing as  before  related.  She  lived  to  be  over  ninety 
and  died  in  1809.  Her  ancestor  had  received  from 
Salem  a  grant  of  a  few  acres  and  six  "  cow  leases,"  on 
Rial  Side,  and  it  is  recorded  that  the  old  lady  used  to 
tell  how,  before  her  marriage,  she  used  to  paddle  a 
canoe  across  the  river  to  milk  the  cows  on  this  very 
land,  and  when  the  tide  was  out  she  would  go  across 
the  flats  on  stepping-stones  and  wade  the  channel.  It 
must  be  explained  that  the  channel  was  much  less 
deep  then  than  now,  and,  although  years  ago  it  was 
written  that  "  the  stones  are  to  be  seen  to  this  day," 
they  are  out  of  sight  now  beneath  the  mud. 

One  of  the  sons-in-law  of  Francis  Nourse  was 
Thomas  Preston,  the  ancestor  of  a  family  which  has 
always  had  representatives  prominent  in  local  affairs. 
Much  more  space  deserves  to  be  here  given  them 
than  can  be  afforded.  The  present  Massey  estate  was 
long  in  the  Preston  family.  There,  a  hundred  years 
ago,  lived  Levi  Preston,  who  married  Mehitable 
Nichols,  and  was  the  father  of  eleven  children.  One 
of  these,  Levi,  built  the  present  meeting-house  of 
the  First  Church  ;  Mehitable  married  Ebenezer 
Berry,  inn-keeper ;  Polly  married  Nathaniel  Felton  ; 
Sukey  and  Eliza,  the  brothers  Asa  and  Nathan  Tap- 
ley  ;  Daniel  was  the  father  of  Major  D.  J.  Preston, 
deputy  sheriff'  and  tax  collector,  recently  deceased  ; 
Abel,  Hiram,  William,  John  and  Samuel — not  in  the 
order  of  their  birth — all  of  these  went  out  from  the 
house  on  the  hill.  John  went  not  far.  He  married 
Clarissa,  the  only  daughter  of  Joseph  Putnam,  the 
next  neighbor,  and  building  an  addition  to  her 
father's  place,  they  lived  there.  John  Preston  died 
May  28,  1876,  in  his  eighty-sixth  year.  He  was  the 
oldest  Free-Mason  in  town  ;  was  many  years  a  select- 
man; representative  to  the  General  Court;  for  many 
years  chorister  at  the  First  Church  in  the  days  of 
'cello  and  double-bass  ;  Avas  one  of  the  early  shoe 
manufacturers,  and,  after  he  gave  up  that  business,  a 
good  farmer.  His  widow  still  survives,  and  her  great 
age  is  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  Putnams. 
His  son,  Charles  P.  Preston,  resides  on  the  site  of  the 
old  house  in  which  his  father  and  grandfather,  it 
might  be  carried  farther,  lived.  According  to  the 
Directory  of  1887,  but  three  men  in  Danvers  to-day 
bear  this  family  name,  two  of  whom  are  C.  P.  Pres- 
ton, just  mentioned,  and  his  son. 

Deacon  Samuel  Preston,  brother  of  John,  was  one  of 
the  most  distinctive  figures,  especially  in  the  history  of 
the  First  Church,  of  the  past  half-ceutury.  In  his  later 


years,  as  he  came  regularly  to  the  ancient  place  of  wor- 
ship, there  was  coupled  with  a  venerable  form  and  ap- 
pearance a  youthful,  elastic  step.  "  There  was  no  good 
service  which  he  was  not  prompt,  eager  and  faithful 
to  render.  He  was  of  robust  mind,  of  pure  tastes, 
and  he  had  a  firm  grasp  of  spiritual  and  eternal 
things."  He  read  much  and  the  best  books,  and  it  is 
not  strange  that  in  his  family  there  is  to  be  found  a 
highly  developed  taste  for  literature.  Miss  Harriet 
W.  Preston,  the  well-known  authoress  and  magazine 
contributor,  is  his  daughter.  Something  more  of 
him  in  connection  with  the  shoe  businsss. 

Present  space  permits  only  this  brief  and  incom- 
plete mention  of  the  first  settlers.  Until  1752,  when 
the  district  of  Danvers  was  incorporated,  the  history 
of  the  parish  of  Salem  Village  is  practically  the  his- 
tory of  that  part  of  the  town  which  still  retains  the 
name  of  Danvers,  and  its  outline  will  be  found  in 
the  chapter  of  church  history.  In  the  mean  time 
some  families  thus  far  purposely  omitted  in  the  men- 
tion of  the  early  settlers  will  here  be  somewhat  more 
fully  noticed. 

The  Putkams. — One  of  the  most  beautiful  estates 
in  Danvers  is  that  known  as  Oak  Knoll,  which  owes 
much  of  its  attractiveneifs  to  the  taste  of  its  former 
owner,  William  A.  Lander,  Esq.,  of  Salem.  It  is  in 
the  midst  of  pleasant  surroundings,  a  mile's  drive 
from  the  Plains,  and  passers-by  peer  through  the  trees 
to  the  unostentatious  but  comfortable  mansion  which 
will  ever  be  memorable  as  the  home  of  one  who  now 
for  a  number  of  years  has  been  a  member  of  the  fami- 
ly of  its  present  owners — the  poet  Whittier.  But  this 
very  estate  is,  in  itself,  of  deeper  historical  interest. 
It  is  the  home  of  the  first  Putnam,  the  ancestor  of  that 
family  which  not  only  is  to-day  the  largest  and  most 
distinctive  of  Danvers,  but  has  its  representatives  far 
and  wide,  and  has  illuminated  our  national  history 
with  the  names  of  many  of  its  illustrious  individuals. 

John  Putnam,  this  progenitor,  came  from  Buck- 
inghamshire, England,  when  well  along  in  years.  The 
land  upon  which  he  settled  lay  just  north  of  Elder 
Sharpe's  grant.  Thisi after,  resting  on  Skel ton's  Neck, 
and  covering  the  v.diole  of  the  present  central  village 
of  the  Plains,  ran  northwesterly  to  a  point  at  the  little 
pond  at  Beaver  Dam.  Putnam's  land,  including  his 
own  grant  of  a  hundred  acres,  made  in  1641,  and 
previous  grants  to  Ralph  Fogg,  Thomas  Lathrop  and 
Ann  Scarlett  spread  out  easterly  from  this  point,  so 
as  to  cover  nearly  the  whole  territory  west  of  the  Tops- 
field  road  from  Lindall  Hill  to  beyond  the  Putnam- 
ville  school-house. 

John  Putnam  had  three  sons,  all  born  in  the  old 
country.  Thomas,  the  oldest,  was  a  young  man  of 
twenty-six  at  the  time  of  his  father's  grant  in  Salem 
farms;  he  seems  to  have  first  struck  out  for  himself  in 
Lynn,  where  his  character  and  good  education  quali- 
fied him  to  act  as  magistrate,  and  where  he  married 
Ann  Holyoke,  sister  to  the  grandfather  of  President 
Holyoke  of  Harvard   College.     Nathaniel   who   was 


432 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


just  then  arriving  at  his  majority,  and  John,  a  lad  of 
fifteen,  probably  came  with  their  father  to  the  new 
home  at  Beaver  Dam.  The  father  was  one  of  the 
most  energetic  and  successful  of  the  pioneers,  and  be- 
came a  very  large  land-owner.  A  few  months  before 
he  died  he  bought,  in  company  with  John  Hathorne, 
Richard  Hutchinson  and  Daniel  Rea,  two  very  large 
tracts,  the  one  including  Hathorne's  Hill  and  the  sur- 
rounding territory  ;  the  other  Davenport's,  afterwards 
Putnam's  Hill,  and  the  surrounding  territory.  It 
Avould  seem  as  though  the  lion's  share  of  these  lands 
fell  to  the  Putnams. 

John,  the  youngest  son  of  the  pioneer,  married  Re- 
becca Prince,  and  remained  on  the  father's  home- 
stead. 

Thomas,  who  had  moved  from  Lynn  to  Salem  town 
and  married,  some  four  years  after  his  father's  death, 
for  his  second  wife,  the  rich  widow  of  Nathaniel 
Veren,  receiving  as  his  double  inheritance  a  portion 
of  the  original  grant  to  Captain  William  Hathorne, 
built  at  tne  foot  of  the  easterly  slope  of  the  hill  which 
perpetuates  the  grantees'  name,  a  house  which,  with 
subsequent  additions,  still  remains,  not  only  in  per- 
fect preservation,  but  in  the  hands  and  occupation  of 
Putnams,  who  are  lineal  descendants  of  the  builder, 
and  who  cherish,  with  fond  interest,  the  history  and 
traditions  of  their  family.  This  house  is  about  a 
mile  due  west  from  Oak  Knoll,  and,  according  to  the 
location  of  modern  roads,  is  at  the  intersection  of  the 
highway  to  Middleton  and  the  Newburyport  turn- 
pike, and  is  directly  opposite  a  fine  avenue,  which  at 
this  point  begins  its  winding  climb  of  Hathorne's 
Hill  to  the  newjunatic  hospital. 

Nathaniel,  the  other  son  of  the  pioneer,  married 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Richard  Hutchinson,  the  man 
who  bought  the  original  grant  covering  the  whole  re- 
gion of  Tapleyville,  from  Walnut  Grove  Cemetery  to 
the  site  of  the  first  village  church.  It  was  ou  a  part 
of  this  tract  which  came  to  him  by  this  marriage  that 
Nathaniel  built  his  home.  Though  not  itself  standing, 
another  house  of  respectable  age  stands  on  or  near  its 
site.  Mr.  Nichols  thinks  the  original  house  stood 
near  the  town  gravel-pit,  on  Hobart  Street.  Not- 
withstanding the  laying  out  of  streets  and  house-lots 
in  the  most  thickly  settled  portion  of  the  town,  in- 
cluding the  grounds  of  the  town-house,  the  Peabody 
Institute  and  the  cemetery,  some  of  the  original  farm 
remains  about  the  house  which,  long  the  home  of 
Judge  Samuel  Putnam,  a  lineal  descendant  of  Na- 
thaniel, has  of  late  years  been  owned  by  other  Put- 
nams collateral  to  the  Judge,  but  running  back  to 
the  same  ancestor.  This  Putnam  estate,  also  very 
familiar,  is  on  the  main  thoroughfare  from  the  Plains 
to  Tapleyville,  something  over  a  mile  in  a  straight 
line,  nearly  south  of  Oak  Knoll.  It  is  on  the  banks 
of  the  stream  which  drains  the  meadows  of  Beaver 
Dam,  and  a  short  distance  below  the  house  the  stream 
is  met  by  another  which  drains  the-  meadows  far  to 
the  west  and  south.     This  confluence  takes  place  in  a 


natural  basin  easily  and  effectively  dammed  for  water- 
power,  and  from  very  ancient  times  these  Putnams 
have  utilized  this  power  for  milling,  just  where  Otis 
F.  Putnam  is  to-day  sawing,  grinding  and  storing  ice 
at  the  old  stand. 

From  these  three  homes,  then, — of  Thomas,  near 
Hathorne's  hill ;  of  Nathaniel,  near  the  mill-pond  ; 
of  John,  at  Oak  Knoll, — came  the  three  great  families 
of  Putnams. 

a.  The  family  of  Thomas. — Thomas  had  three 
sons  who  became  heads  of  families,  —  Sergeant 
Thomas,  Deacon  Edward  and  Joseph.  The  two  for- 
mer pushed  up  a  mile  toward  Middleton,  and  estab- 
lished themselves  close  together  on  what  is  now  Day- 
ton Street,  near  the  railroad  station  at  Howe's  cross- 
ing.    Joseph  remained  on  the  home  place. 

No  male  descendants  of  Sergeant  Thomas  are  left 
here.  A  short  time  ago  William  Putnam,  an  old 
man,  died  in  his  ninetieth  year,  in  the  old  farm-house 
on  the  lower  hill,  directly  in  front  of  the  hospital. 
He  was  the  son  of  Deacon  Eben  Putnam,  and  grand- 
son with  three  "  greats  "  of  Deacon  Edward ;  and  of 
the  two  living  sons  of  this  old  man,  one,  James  War- 
ren, keeps  the  place,  and,  rare  in  these  days,  has  a 
fine  family  of  eight  children,  six  of  whom  are  boys, 
to  keep  the  good  deacon's  name  alive  at  home.  The 
brother  of  William,  Deacon  Ebenezer,  was  the  father 
of  Rev.  Hiram  B.  Putnam,  now  at  Derby,  N.  H., 
and  of  Harriet  Putnam.  One  of  Deacon  Edward's 
sons,  Elisha,  moved  away  to  Sutton,  Mass.,  and  thus 
Danvers  claims  some  of  the  honor  which  belongs  to 
the  name  of  General  Rufus  Putnam,  son  of  Elisha, 
and  a  native  of  that  town. 

No  history  of  this  town  will  be  complete  without  a 
full  account  of  the  part  which  Danvers  took  in  the 
settlement  of  the  Northwest  Territory.  The  earliest 
wagon-train,  under  command  of  Captain  Hatfield 
White,  a  Danvers  man,  started  on  its  long  journey 
from  here.  Invitations  have  just  been  received  by 
descendants  of  these  pioneers  to  join  in  the  great 
centennial  celebration,  to  take  place  at  Marietta  in 
1888. 

General  Rufus  Putnam,  Washington's  friend,  a  fa- 
mous engineer  of  the  Revolution,  presided  at  the 
convention  in  Boston,  March  1,  178G,  at  which  the 
Ohio  Company  was  formed,  and  April  7,  1788,  belaid 
out  at  Marietta  the  first  permanent  settlement  in 
Ohio.  Major  Ezra  Putnam,  his  cousin,  also  a  grand- 
son of  Deacon  Edward,  was  another  of  the  Ohio 
pioneers.  Nearer  home,  another  descendant  of  Dea- 
con Edward,  Oliver  Putnam,  honored  the  family- 
name  by  establishing  at  Newburyport  the  Putnam 
Free  School.  Another  descendant  was  the  late  la- 
mented Professor  John  N.  Putnam,  of  Dartmouth 
College. 

Both  the  second  and  third  generations,  and,  indeed, 
at  least  one  of  the  fourth  generation  of  Putnams, 
played  prominent  parts,  and  some  of  them  very  unfor- 
tunate ones,  in  the  terrible  witchcraft  tragedy  which 


DANVEES. 


433 


spread  over  this  neighborhood.  Nearly  all  of  them  were 
deluded.  Howotherwise,  whenoneof  the  worst  afflict- 
ed of  the  "afflicted  children"  was  the  daughter  of 
Sergeant  Thomas  Putnam,  recorder  of  the  parish,  and 
oldest  son  of  the  richest  man  in  the  village?  It 
struck  the  proud  and  powerful  family  to  the  centre, 
and  they  were  not  so  superior  to  the  unreason  of  the 
age  as  to  see  that  spanking  was  much  more  needed 
than  hanging.  The  sad,  dark  days  of  1692  !  None 
who  have  grasped  from  the  wonderful  monograph  of 
Mr.  Upham  anything  of  their  reality  will  speak  in 
jest  of  Salem  witches.  They  were  taken,  most  of 
them,  from  Danvers  homes,  homes  still  standing  in 
our  midst,  and,  condemned  by  blind  terror  in  the 
name  of  Law,  after  mockeries  of  trial  their  necks  were 
broken  on  the  gibbet.  The  Putnams  had  a  hand  in 
this  business,  save  one.  Against  the  black  back- 
ground there  stands  one  grand  stirring  picture.  It  is 
of  a  young  man  twenty-two  years  of  age  standing  at 
his  farm-house  door,  with  loaded  firelock  and  saddled 
horse,  ready  to  resist  arrest  or  flee  from  overpowering 
force.  It  is  Joseph  Putnam,  youngest  of  the  sous  of  the 
first  Thomas,  who,  in  the  face  of  brothers  and  uncles, 
from  the  first  denounced  the  proceedings  through  and 
through.  Such  a  course  was  almost  sure  death,  and 
for  six  months  gun  and  horse  had  been  ready  day  and 
night.  He  had  been  married  but  a  year  to  a  young 
bride  of  less  than  seventeen,  a  granddaughter  both  of 
old  John  Porter  and  Major  William  Hathorne,  and 
she  was  a  worthy  wife  of  a  noble  husband.  It  was 
this  son  who  remained  on  his  father's  place,  the  one 
opposite  the  entrance  to  the  hospital. 

They  had  three  sons,  this  young  couple,  Joseph 
and  Elizabeth,  whose  names  were  William,  David 
and  Israel.  There  is  a  little  chamber  in  the  oldest 
pai't  of  the  old  house,  which,  through  the  kindness 
of  the  occupants,  is  often  visite  1  with  great  interest. 
Perhaps  here  all  three  of  these  boys  were  born,  but, 
alas  for  the  heroes  of  peace,  it  is  the  heroes  of  war 
whom  men  most  idolize,  and  as  one  enters  beneath 
the  oaken  beams  of  the  low  ceiling,  and  sees  in  the 
quiet  room  the  ancient  furniture,  the  fire-place  and 
other  relics  of  long  gone  years,  the  mind  strives  only 
to  grasp  the  strange  reality  that  in  this  very  spot 
that  favorite  hero  of  the  Revolution,  to  whom  tales 
of  bravery  and  courage  seem  as  commonly  attributed 
as  to  the  demi-gods  of  old,  "  Old  Put,"  Major  Gen- 
eral Israel  Putnam,  Washington's  "uncut  diamond," 
actually  kicked  and  cried  just  like  any  other  baby. 
The  wolf's  den,  the  rapid  ride  from  the  plow  to  the 
Lexington  alarm,  the  tender  of  the  first  commission 
at  Boston  from  the  hands  of  Washington,  the  dashing 
plunge  at  Horseneck,  the  long  service  of  one  of  the 
most  trusted  commanders,  these  and  all  other  events 
of  his  distinguished  life,  had  a  sort  of  potential  exist- 
ence in  this  same  little  room. 

He  was  a  little  more  than  twenty-one  years  old 
when  the  event  happened  to  which   this  item  found 
in   an  old  memorandum   book  refers:  "July  ye  19 
28 


1739  Israel  Putnam  and  Hannah  Pope  were  married 
together."  Immediately  the  young  couple  struck 
out,  took  a  farm  at  Pomfret,  Conn.,  and  returned 
thither  no  more.  The  descendants  of  the  general  are 
numerous  in  the  State  of  his  adoption,  in  New  York, 
and  especially  so,  through  his  son,  Colonel  Israel,  an 
officer  with  his  father  in  the  Revolution,  about  Mari- 
etta, O. ;  and  some  also  in  Kentucky  and  other 
Southern  States. 

William,  the  oldest  brother  of  the  general,  had  no 
sons.  David,  the  next  son,  remained  on  the  home 
place.  It  was  a  mistake  to  insinuate  that  Israel  mo- 
nopolized the  military  spirit  of  the  family.  David, 
so  Mr.  Upham  says,  was  a  celebrated  cavalry  officer, 
but,  being  much  older  than  Israel,  flourished  in  the 
period  anterior  to  the  Revolution.  Colonel  Timothy 
Pickering  used  to  mention  as  one  of  the  recollections 
of  his  boyhood,  that  David  Putnam  "  rode  the  best 
horse  in  the  province." 

To  follow  briefly  down  the  old  house  which  may 
now  understandingly  be  identified  by  the  name  it 
commonly  bears,  the  "  Old  Put "  house,  David  had 
these  sons, — William,  Joseph,  Israel  and  Jesse. 
Joseph  was  "Deacon  Joseph"  of  the  Village  Church, 
for  whom  David  built  that  other  Putnam  house  a 
short  distance  from  his  own,  known  as  the  "  Colonel 
Jesse  house."  Of  Colonel  Jesse  and  his  children, 
a  few  words  farther  on. 

William,  eldest  son  of  David,  moved  to  Sterling, 
Mass.  A  daughter  of  his  became  the  wife  of  Captain 
Samuel  Endicott,  of  Salem,  and  their  son,  William 
P.  Endicott,  who  married  Miss  Crowningshield,  is  the 
father  of  Hon.  William  Crowningshield  Endicott, 
President  Cleveland's  Secretary  of  War.  Another 
descendant  of  William  Putnam,  of  Sterling,  was  the 
Rev.  George  Putnam,  D.D.,  long  and  well  known  as 
pastor  of  the  First  Church  of  Roxbury. 

Jesse,  the  youngest  son  of  David,  was  a  graduate 
of  Harvard,  and  a  well  known  merchant  of  Boston, 
whose  earlier  residence  was  on  Summer  Street,  near 
Trinity  Church.  His  daughter  Catherine  was  that 
lady  of  fine  culture  and  patriotic  spirit  who,  in  her 
eighty-fifth  year,  presented  a  silk  banner  to  the  Put- 
nam Guards  of  Danvers  as  they  went  out  to  war. 

Israel,  the  third  son  of  David,  the  fourth  in  line  of 
ownership,  remained  on  the  old  place,  and  from  him 
it  descended  to  the  only  one  of  his  three  sons  who 
married, — Daniel.  Daniel  married  the  daughter  of 
another  Putnam,  Stephen,  whom  we  shall  meet  in 
the  family  branch  of  Nathaniel,  and  of  his  twelve 
children,  two.  Miss  Susan  and  her  brother  Ansel  W., 
are  the  present  occupants  of  the  historic  house.  The 
youngest  daughter  Julia,  widow  of  Hon.  John  D. 
Philbrick,  of  whom  something  is  written  in  connec- 
tion with  our  schools,  resides  nearly  opposite.  Allen, 
the  oldest,  and  Benjamin  Wadsworth,  the  youngest 
son,  reside  in  Boston.  Daniel  and  Ahira  manufac- 
tured shoes  in  a  shop  still  standing  within  the  yard 
of  the  old  house;  the  widow  and  a  granddaughter  of 


434 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Daniel,  who  reside  here,  are  his  only  living  represen- 
tatives; Aliira's  son,  Granville  B.,  is  a  well  known 
teacher  in  Boston,  and  the  name  of  his  other  s^n. 
Major  Wallace  A.  Putnam,  stands  first  on  the  monu- 
ment erected  to  the  Danvers  men,  who  lost  their 
lives  in  the  late  war.  Deacon  William  R.  Putnam 
tilled  his  ancestral  acres  some  thirty  years,  removed, 
to  reside  with  his  children  at  Redwing,  Minn.,  in 
1874,  and  there  died  in  1886.  The  male  lineage  of 
the  old  General  Putnam  house  runs  back  then  thus, 
— Ansel,  Daniel,  Israel,  David,  Joseph,  Thomas. 
There  are  now  living  but  five  grandsons  of  Daniel  in 
the  male  line,  and  none  of  them  live  in  Danvers. 

A  few  words  concerning  the  family  of  Jesse,  "Col. 
Jesse"  before  alluded  to.  He  was  himself  one  of  the 
prominent  and  widely  known  citizens  of  his  day,  one 
of  the  foremost  advocates  of  the  early  temperance 
reform  and  one  of  the  strongest  opponents  of  slavery. 
In  his  manner  he  was  somewhat  brusque,  and,  like 
his  grandfather,  he  was  fond  of  a  good  horse. 

He  died  in  1860,  but  his  widow,  Elizabeth,  daugh- 
ter of  Dr.  Silas  Merriara,  of  Middleton,  whom  he 
married  in  her  twentieth  year,  still  living,  celebrated 
November  14,  1884,  her  one  hundredtli  birthday.  Rare 
event;  fitly  celebrated.  The  "tribe  of  Jesse  "  were 
six  sons  and  six  daughters,  a  family  in  all  respects 
to  be  proud  of.  Four  of  the  surviving  five  were 
present  with  their  mother  on  the  occasion  just  men- 
tioned. These  twelve  children  were,  in  order,  Cathe- 
rine, Andrew,  Elizabeth,  Francis  P.,  Henry  F.,  Cal- 
vin, Mary  J.,  Martha  A.,  Sarah  W.,  Charles,  Emily 
A.  and  John  M.  The  latter  lives  on  his  father's 
place,  and  in  his  family  is  another  Jesse.  The  other 
survivors  are  Calvin;  Sarah,  widow  of  George  W. 
Fuller ;  and  Emily,  widow  of  Rev.  Richard  T.  Searle. 
Francis  died  at  his  home  near  by  his  father's  a  few 
years  ago,  much  respected.  Henry  and  Charles  died 
in  the  West,  the  latter  having  been  superintendent  of 
schools  in  St.  Louis.  (Mrs.  Putnam  died  September 
20,  1887,  at  the  age  of  102  years,  10  months,  6  days.) 

b.  Tlie  family  of  Nathaniel. — N?thaniel,  "  Lieuten- 
ant,"— military  titles  were  common  in  the  family — 
had  two  sons,  Benjamin  and  John,  The  latter  went 
beyond  the  westerly  slope  of  Hatliorne's  hill  and  es- 
tablished himself  near  the  Log  Bridge  over  the 
Ipswich  River,  on  the  farm  now  owned  by  George  H. 
Peabody.  He  was  known  as  "  Carolina  John,"  and 
this  name  occurs  on  a  rough  diagram  of  a  division  of 
land  drawn  in  ink  on  the  parchment  binding  of  one 
of  the  old  volumes  of  records  in  the  registry  of  deeds 
at  Salem.  The  site  of  his  home  is  marked  by  a  very 
old  but  well  preserved  house,  situated  beneath  ancient 
elms,  where  the  high  land  begins  to  slope  to  the 
river  meadows.  It  was  in  the  immediate  neighbor- 
hood of  the  other  river  farms  upon  which  the  broth- 
ers Deacon  Edward  and  Sergeant  Thomas  Putnam, 
cousins  of  this  John,  were  settled.  John  had  these 
sons, — Josiah,  John,  Amos,  Samuel  and  Daniel.  A 
grandson,  Daniel,  was  a  deacon  of  the  village  church  ' 


and  lived  close  by  his  grandfather's  place  on  one  of 
the  Peabody  farms,  and  died  in  1801,  aged  sixty-three 
years.  Neither  of  the  brothers,  except  John,  leave 
descendants  of  the  male  line  in  Danvers.  A  descend- 
ant of  Josiah,  Hon.  Harvey  Putnam,  born  at  Brattle- 
boro,  Vt.,  in  1793,  was  a  prominent  lawyer  in  Schenec- 
tady, N.  Y.,  a  member  of  Congress,  and  his  son,  Hon. 
James  O.  Putnam,  of  Buffalo,  has  long  been  one  of 
the  most  distinguished  men  of  western  New  York, 
John,  brother  of  Josiah,  had  three  sons, — John 
Amos,  Edmund.  An  eccentric  old  man  well-known 
some  years  ago,  published  a  rambling  autobiographi- 
cal sketch  called  "The  Life  and  times  of  Peter  Put- 
nam." Peter's  grandfather  was  the  brother  of  Amos 
and  Edmund,  just  mentioned,  and  their  estate  was  on 
the  turnpike,  south  of  Hathorne's  hill. 

Amos  Putnam  was  a  physician,  and  one  ot  the 
active  patriotic  spirits  of  Revolutionary  times.  His 
name  often  occurs  in  honorable  connection  on  the 
records  of  the  town.  His  residence  was  the  brick 
house  near  Felton's  corner,  where  afterwards  the  late 
Daniel  Tapley  lived.  A  son  of  Dr.  Amos,  James, 
also  a  physician,  is  to  be  remembered  with  his 
estimable  wife  who  long  survived  him,  as  the  parents 
of  those  two  teachers  "  Hannah  and  Betsey,"  names 
always  spoken  together  because  they  always  taught 
together,  and  fondly  cherished  by  many  of  our  older 
people.  Recently  a  number  of  the  survivors  of  their 
old  scholars  met  with  Mrs.  Harriet  P.  Fowler  to  con- 
sider the  erection  of  a  memorial  over  their  hitherto 
unmarked  graves.  Something  further  of  them  will 
be  found  in  the  chapter  on  schools. 

Edmund  Putnam,  brother  or  rather  half-brother 
of  Dr.  Amos,  was  "Deacon  Edmund,"  whose  name 
is  revered  by  Universalists  as  the  pioneer  of  the  de- 
parture of  that  denomination  from  the  old  faith.  He 
served  as  deacon  in  the  village  church  from  1762  to 
1785,  and  died  in  1810,  aged  eighty-six  years.  He 
lived  in  the  old  house  standing  between  the  Topsfield 
road  and  the  railroad,  a  well  preserved  relic  of  witch- 
craft times,  now  owned  by  Augustus  Fowler.  Dea- 
con Edmund's  sons  were  Andrew,  Israel  and  Ed- 
mund. Israel  was  the  father  of  Elias  Putnam, 
"  Squire  Lias,"  a  name  at  which  the  pen  halts  to  find 
words  of  fitting  tribute  and  then  passes  altogether,  on 
the  announcement  that  a  distinguished  son,  Rev.  Dr. 
Alfred  P.  Putnam,  is  to  contribute  a  sketch  of  his 
father's  life,  to  appear  in  subsequent  pages  of  this 
book.  In  the  number  and  character  of  descendants 
the  line  of  Edmund,  Israel  and  Elias  is  well  repre- 
sented at  home  and  abroad. 

Poplar  and  Locust  Streets  cross  each  other  a  third 
of  a  mile  above  the  Square  at  the  Plains.  Both  are 
ancient  roads;  the  former,  the  old  "Dyson  Road" 
from  Beverly  to  Andover ;  the  other,  the  "  Topsfield 
Road."  At  this  corner  was  the  old  homestead  of 
Judge  Timothy  Lindall.  Speaking  roughly,  the  roads 
cross  at  right  angles,  the  Topsfield  road  running 
north,  the  Andover  road  running  west.  Another  road, 


DANVERS. 


435 


now  called  Summer  Street,  starts  from  the  Andover 
road  about  a  half  mile  west  from  the  Lindall  corner, 
and  runs  north  parallel  to  the  Topsfleld  road,  till  it 
meets  a  fourth  road,  now  called  North  Street,  which, 
starting  from  the  Topstield  road  a  mile  and  a  half 
above  the  Lindall  corner,  runs  west,  the  "  back  road  " 
to  Topsfield.  About  the  sides  of  the  parallelogram 
which,  still  roughly  speaking,  is  formed  by  these  four 
roads,  are  a  number  of  old  Putnam  homes.  Oak 
Knoll,  the  family  starting-point,  is  itself  on  the  east- 
erly side  of  Summer  Street,  about  midway  of  its 
length.  The  first  Putnam  to  push  much  northward 
was  Benjamin,  elder  of  the  two  sons  of  Nathaniel. 
He  was  "Deacon  Benjamin,''  who  settled  on  the 
place  now  owned  and  occupied  by  Miss  Goodhue,  the 
very  old  house  standing  on  or  near  the  ancient 
site,  being  on  North  Street,  midway  between  Summer 
Street  and  the  Topsfield  road.  Deacon  Benjamin 
died  in  1714,  fifty  years  old.  By  will  he  gave  his  son 
Daniel  "one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  for  his  learn- 
ing." Daniel  went  to  Harvard,  and  among  his  col- 
lege mates  during  the  last  year  of  his  course  was 
Joseph  Green,  son  of  the  village  minister.  Daniel 
graduated  in  1717,  the  first  of  a  long  list  of  subsequent 
graduates  of  the  same  name.  He  became  a  minister 
in  North  Reading,  and  died  there,  leaving  descend- 
ants. 

Nathaniel,  oldest  son  of  Deacon  Benjamin,  moved 
back  south  to  his  grandfather's,  Nathaniel's,  place 
by  the  mill-pond.  He,  likewise,  was  a  deacon,  serv- 
ing twenty-three  years,  dying  in  1754,  and  he  was  the 
father  of  still  another  deacon,  Archelaus,  who  at  one 
time  lived  where  the  late  Gilbert  Tapley  died,  and  of 
whom  the  story  is  elsewhere  told  how  he  was  the 
pioneer  of  Danversport. 

Tarrant  Putnam,  next  son  of  Deacon  Benjamin, 
and  the  first  of  a  number  of  other  Putnams  to  bear 
that  peculiar  name,  was  the  father  of  Gideon,  still 
another  deacon,  who  died  in  1811,  eighty-four  years 
old.  Gideon  was  a  store-keeper,  who  lived  and  car- 
ried on  his  business  at  the  well-known  corner  where 
subsequently  Jonas  Warren,  Daniel  Richards,  and 
the  sous  of  the  latter,  succeeded  him.  It  was 
Deacon  Gideon  who,  by  selling  cheese  iu  Revolu- 
tionary times  at  nine  shillings  per  pound,  was  declared 
an  enemy  of  his  country,  though  he  so  far  regained 
popular  favor  as  to  be  sent  soon  after  to  the  General 
Court.  He  will  be  remembered  as  the  father  of  that 
distinguished  citizen  whose  name  has  been  already 
mentioned — Judge  Samuel  Putnam,  who  died  about 
thirty  years  ago  on  the  homestead  estate  of  the  origi- 
nal Nathaniel.  He  is  remembered  as  an  old  gentle- 
man courtly  and  refined,  of  the  manners  of  the  old 
school,  esteemed  and  respected  by  all  who  knew 
him. 

After  a  highly  honorable  and  extensive  practice  at 
the  bar,  in  which  his  severe  application  showed  itself 
in  the  fruits  of'  exact  and  comprehensive  legal  learn- 
ing, he  was  appointed  in  1814,  on  the  death  of  Chief 


Justice  Sewall,  to  a  seat  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme 
Court.  This  he  held  until  January  26,  1842.  The 
late  Alfred  A.  Abbott  thus  spoke  of  him  at  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  centennial  of  the  town,  1852  :  "  For  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  century  did  he  fulfill,  ably  and 
faithfully,  the  duties  of  his  high  station,  doing  his 
full  part  to  sustain  and  elevate  that  reputation  of  our 
Supreme  bench  which  has  made  its  decisions  standard 
and  indisputable  authority  throughout  the  land.  Our 
reports  contain  a  great  number  of  his  opinions,  elab- 
orate and  rich,  than  which  few  are  cited  with  more 
frequency,  or  held  in  greater  respect.  At  length, 
when  the  weight  of  increasing  years  began  to  op- 
press him,  Judge  Putnam  voluntarily  put  off  the  judi- 
cial ermine,  with  a  rare  delicacy  and  commendable 
good  sense  resigning  his  lofty  trust  while  yet  his  men- 
tal vigor  was  unabated,  and  retiring  from  his  well- 
earned  and  still  fresh  laurels  to  the  joys  and  comforts 
of  private  life.  No  one  has  illustrated  the  family 
name  with  a  purer  life,  higher  virtues  or  juster  fame." 
He  was  the  grantor  of  the  lands  of  the  Walnut  Grove 
Cemetery,  Peabody  Institute  and  surrounding  es- 
tates. He  carried  on  the  milling  business  before 
alluded  to,  and  numerous  documents  are  on  file  in 
the  Town-House  showing  with  what  courteous  firm- 
ness he  asserted  and  maintained  his  rights  whenever 
the  mill  privilege  was  in  danger  of  being  infringed, 
as  when  Sylvan  Street  was  laid  out  in  1842  over  his 
dam.  As  early  as  1820,  so  wrote  an  aged  citizen  a 
few  years  ago.  Judge  Putnam  was  the  only  man  in 
Essex  County  who  laid  in  ice  fur  market.  Then  the 
ice  was  cut  from  the  pond  with  an  axe,  loaded  upon 
sleds  without  tools,  stored  in  a  cellar  built  for  that 
purpose  and  was  delivered  to  consumers  with  the 
naked  hands.  A  load  was  driven  twice  a  week  to 
Salem.  This  cellar  held  but  a  hundred  tons;  the 
present  harvest  is  more  than  five  thousand  tons.  The 
descendants  of  Judge  Putnam  reside  chiefly  in  Bos- 
ton. A  son,  Samuel  R.,  married  a  sister  of  James 
Russell  Lowell,  and  their  son.  Lieutenant  William 
Lowell,  fell  bravely  fighting  at  Ball's  Bluflf  in  1861. 
His  mother  was  the  writer  of  a  remarkable  series  of 
sketches  on  Plungary  at  the  time  of  the  struggle  of 
Kossuth  and  his  compatriots  for  liberty.  Dr.  Charles 
G.  Putnam,  second  son  of  the  judge,  was  an  eminent 
practitioner  in  Boston,  president  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Medical  Society,  and  through  his  generosity  the 
town  possesses  a  substantial  memorial  of  the  family 
in  the  reservation  known  as  Pickering  Park,  at  the 
meeting  of  several  streets  laid  out  through  the  old 
farm.  This  was  presented  to  the  town  by  Dr.  Putnam 
in  1875. 

Deacon  Tarrant  Putnam,  uncle  to  Judge  Samuel, 
was  the  father  of  Dr.  Israel,  of  Bath,  Me.,  and  Tar- 
rant, a  New  York  merchant  of  great  wealth.  A  son 
of  Dr.  Israel  is  Hon.  William  L.  Putnam,  ex-mayor 
of  Portland  and  a  leading  lawyer  there,  at  present 
prominent  as  representing  the  United  States  in  the 
fishery  controversy  with  the  Dominion, 


436 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Just  opposite  the  junction  of  Summer  and  North 
Streets,  situated  on  a  high  hill  at  the  northwest  cor- 
ner of  the  parallelogram  and  looking  directly  south- 
erly to  Oak  Knoll  is  a  pleasant  old  farm-house  known 
as  the  Wallis  farm.  This  was  the  home  of  Benjamin, 
one  of  the  seven  sons  of  Deacon  Benjamin  and  the 
ancestor  of  Benjamin  C.  Putnam,  now  of  Danvers, 
the  sixth  Benjamin  in  line.  The  fourth  son  of  Dea- 
con Benjamin,  and  the  last  to  be  here  mentioned,  was 
Stephen.  He  pushed  around  to  the  easterly  side  of  a 
long  high  hill  which  monopolizes  much  of  the  north- 
erly portion  of  the  land  included  by  the  roads  spoken 
of  and  which  fittingly  bears  the  name  of  Putnam's 
Hill,  and  established  himself  on  the  site  of  the  pres- 
ent residence  of  Henry  A.  White.  The  descendants 
of  Stephen  have  been  more  conspicuous  and  are  at 
present  more  numerously  represented  than  any  others 
of  this  branch  of  the  family.  The  old  house  is  still 
remembered  by  some,  standing  under  a  great  willow, 
beneath  which  was  a  large  horse-block.  Here,  as 
well  as  on  some  other  estates,  slaves  were  kept ;  one, 
"  old  Rose,"  was  bought  in  Jamaica  by  the  pound. 

The  sons  who  grew  up  on  this  hill-side  farm  in- 
cluded Timothy,  a  Tory,  who  went  to  Nova  Scotia ; 
Moses,  a  Harvard  graduate  of  1759,  who  went  to  Wil- 
ton, N.  H.  ;  Phinehas,  Aaron  and  Stephen,  Jr. 
Phinehas  went  westward  and  established  his  home  a 
half  a  mile  north  of  the  "Old  Put"  house;  of 
his  five  sons,  Joseph  remained  at  home,  and  Charles 
P.  Preston,  a  son  of  his  only  child  Clarissa,  widow  of 
John  Preston,  now  in  her  ninety-fifth  year,  is  the 
present  owner  and  occupant  of  the  premises.  Mat- 
thew, another  son  of  Phinehas,  went  south  to  the 
Rebecca  Nourse  homestead  of  witchcraft  history, 
which  place  has  come  down  through  another  Matthew 
and  Orrin  to  the  heirs  of  the  latter.  Timothy,  an- 
other son  of  Phinehas,  came  to  the  Plains  and  lived 
long  on  the  site  of  the  present  residence  of  his  grand- 
son, Otis  F.  Putnam;  he  was  the  father  of  Elbridge, 
AVillard,  Adrian  and  Gustavus,  of  whom  the  latter 
only  survives,  and  through  these  bons,  except  Willard, 
numerous  descendants  of  "  Uncle  Timmy  "  are  living 
in  the  town. 

Pushing  south  from  his  father's  home,  Stephen's 
son  Aaron  went  to  the  southern  slope  of  Putnam's 
hill  and  probably  built  the  pleasant  old  house 
which  one  can  see  through  the  leafy  lane  lead- 
ing in  from  the  Topsfield  road  near  the  residence 
of  Israel  H.  Putnam.  Aaron  had  two  sons  to  estab- 
lish families,  Simeon  and  Rufus.  Simeon's  sons  were 
Simeon,  Aaron,  Augustus,  Edward  B.  and  Israel  H., 
the  latter  retaining  the  ownership  of  the  old  place; 
the  well  known  face  and  figure  of  the  former,  "Uncle 
Sim,"  for  many  yeans  tax-collector,  will  be  long  re- 
membered ;  he  died  April  14, 1880,  in  his  seventy-fifth 
year.  Rufus,  soon  after  his  marriage,  struck  out  into 
a  new  quarter  for  the  Putnams,  and  bought  one  of 
the  old  Leach  homesteads,  under  the  easterly  slope  of 
Folly  Hill ;  William,  the  survivor  of  his  two  sous,  is 


still  living  near  the  site  of  the  old  house  in  his  eighty- 
fourth  year ;  the  other  son,  Rufus  Putnam,  after  a 
long  and  honorable  service  as  teacher  in  the  higher 
schools  of  Salem,  built  about  thirty  years  ago  on  his 
portion  of  his  father's  farm,  the  house  in  which  he 
died  in  November,  1875.  He  brought  back  to  his 
native  town  the  ripe  wisdom  of  mature  years  and  the 
benefit  of  his  counsel  was  often  sought,  especially  in 
the  settlement  of  estaccs.  He  was  long  president  of 
the  Savings  Bank,  and  long  on  the  school  committee; 
he  was  quiet  in  his  life,  of  unspotted  character,  and 
greatly  respected. 

To  go  back  a  step  now  to  the  farm  of  Stephen  : 
Stephen,  Jr.,  the  youngest  brother  of  Phinehas,  Aaron 
and  the  others,  just  mentioned,  remained  at  home. 
Stephen,  Jr.,  was  a  carpenter  who  built  or  helped  to 
build  the  village  meeting-house  of  1786,  and  he  was 
the  father  of  these  children, — Stephen,  Moses,  Jacob, 
Susanna,  Ruth,  Samuel,  Eben,  Hannah  and  Sally. 
The  first  and  the  last  two  died  unmarried.  Moses 
and  Samuel  established  themselves  close  by  their 
grandfather's  home,  and  each  built  up  a  large  and 
successful  shoe  business  in  the  neighborhood,  which 
as  an  involuntary  tribute  to  the  energy  and  worth  of 
these  brothers  has  for  some  forty  years  borne  the 
name  of  Putnamville.  The  old  name  of  this  locality 
to  the  Topsfield  line  was  Blind-hole,  after  a  swamp. 
Jacob  learned  the  tanner's  trade  at  Elias  Endicott's, 
bought  the  old  Frye's  Tavern,  between  Peabody  and 
Salem,  and  built  up  a  successful  business  there.  George 
F.  Putnam,  of  Salem  and  Boston,  is  his  son.  Eben, 
the  last  survivor  of  the  children,  came  early  down  to 
Danvers  Plains,  in  the  days  when  there  was  no  village 
to  speak  of,  where  now  is  the  business  centre  of  the 
town.  Of  the  daughters,  Susanna  married  Daniel 
Putnam,  lived  in  the  "  Old  Put "  house,  and  was 
the  mother  of  the  present  occupants.  Ruth  was  the 
wife  of  Andrew  Batchelder,  and  lived  in  the  old 
Lindall  house.  A  number  of  old  clocks  bear  his  im- 
print as  "  clock-maker  ;  "  by  a  second  Avife  his  de- 
scendants are  likewise  numerous  and  respectable. 

The  three  sons  who  remained  at  home  all  lived  to  a 
good  old  age,  to  be  popularly  known  as  "  uncles" — 
Uncle  Moses,  Uncle  Sam  and  Uncle  Eben — and  were 
fathers  of  very  large  families.  Uncle  Moses  was  ac- 
cording to  the  tax-list  of  1847  the  richest  man  in 
town.  Those  next  approaching  him  were  Daniel  P., 
Jonathan  and  Samuel  King,  Gilbert  Tapley,  Benja- 
min Porter,  Samuel  Putnam  and  Elias  Putnam.  He 
died  September  10,  1860,  in  his  eighty-fifth  year. 
Four  of  his  children  are  living, — Harriet,  the  wife  of 
Deacon  S.  P.  Fowler  ;  Susan,  widow  of  Daniel  F.  Put- 
nam ;  Moses;  and  Emeline,  wife  of  Charles  A.  Put- 
nam, of  Boston.  Of  Samuel's  children,  these, — Mary, 
widow  of  Elbridge  Trask  ;  Thomas,  Albert,  Charles 
A.  and  Henry.  Of  Eben's  children,  these, — Edwin 
F. ;  Elizabeth,  wife  of  William  Cheever,  of  Staten 
Island ;  Margaret,  widow  of  Joseph  W.  Ropes ;  and 
Mrs.  Hannah  Bomer,  in  the  west. 


DANVEES. 


437 


C.  Tlie  family  of  John.  It  was  "Lieutenant," 
afterwards  "  Captain ''  John,  youngest  of  the  three  sons 
of  the  pioneer,  who  remained  on  the  original  Putnam 
homestead  at  Oak  Knoll.  He  was  impetuous,  rough, 
ever  ready  to  stand  by  his  rights  if  need  be  with  force 
and  arms,  but  when  the  farmers  realized  that  educa- 
tion was  lax  among  them,  it  was  this  same  man  whom 
they  selected  "  to  take  care  that  the  law  relating  to 
the  catechising  of  children  and  youth  be  duly  at- 
tended," and  to  see  "  that  all  families  do  carefully 
and  constantly  attend  the  due  education  of  their 
children  and  youth  according  to  law."  In  his  family 
the  minister,  George  Burroughs,  and  his  wife  lived 
nine  months  in  the  year  1680,  and  on  these  beautiful 
premises  where  the  poet  is  passing  his  declining 
years,  the  minister  gave  evidence  of  that  great 
strength  which  twelve  years  later  was  credited  to  the 
devil  and  cost  him  his  life. 

John  Putnam  had  four  sons, — Jonathan,  James, 
Eleazer  and  John.  Stretching  eastward  from  Oak 
Knoll  a  broad  fertile  plain  lies  between  Lindall  Hill 
and  Putnam's  Hill.  Skirting  the  northern  limits  of 
this  plain  was  an  ancient  road,  traces  of  which  are 
yet  visible,  which  coming  from  Wenham  passed  by 
Oak  Knoll  and  so  on  through  a  pai't  of  the  pleasant 
avenue  which  leads  by  the  old  Prince  house,  a  relic 
of  witchcraft  times,  which  is  now  the  farm-house  of 
J.  E.  Spring's  place,  around  Beaver  Dam  to  the  vil- 
lage church,  a  road  over  which,  without  doubt,  many 
sad  and  anxious  hearts  passed  to  trial  and  condemna- 
tion in  the  terrible  days  of  1692.  Just  opposite  the 
residence  of  the  late  Nathaniel  Boardman,  and  in- 
cluded within  his  estate,  is  an  old  well-preserved 
house,  the  oldest  in  Putnamville.  It  marks  the  point 
at  which  a  traveler  coming  across  the  meadow  from 
Oak  Knoll  would  strike  the  Topsfield  road,  and 
thither  Jonathan  Putnam  pushed  out  and  built,  it  is 
thought  at  least  a  part  of  this  very  house.  Jonathan's 
son  Jonathan  is  the  ancestor  of  Nathan  T.  Putnam 
and  the  descendants  of  his  son  David  in  town  are  the 
Boardman  family. 

James,  second  son  of  John,  seems  to  have  taken 
the  homestead,  Oak  Knoll.  To  follow  down  this  in- 
teresting estate,  it  probably  passed  next  to  James' 
son  Jethro,  at  any  rate  Jethro"s  son  Enoch  lived  there. 
Colonel  Enoch  Putnam  was  one  of  the  distinguished 
men  of  his  time.  He  was  forty -three  years  old  when  the 
Revolution  broke  out,  and  as  a  lieutenant  in  Colonel 
Hutchinson's  Minute -men  went  to  Lexington  ;  by 
good  service  in  the  war  he  won  his  higher  title  of 
colonel.  It  was  the  two  daughters  of  Colonel  Enoch 
whom  two  sons  of  Phinehas  Putnam,  Joseph  and 
Timothy,  married,  and  as  Mrs.  Preston,  the  aged 
lady  before  rel'erred  to  is  the  daughter  of  Joseph, 
she  is  likewise  the  granddaughter  of  Colonel  Enoch, 
and  to  a  young  lady,  her  own  granddaughter,  has 
passed  a  plain  gold  ring,  worn  quite  smooth,  but  with 
this  inscription  legible, — "  Remember  the  giver. — 
E.  P.''     The  giver   was  the   colonel   and  the  wearer 


was  the  great-great-grandmother  of  the  present 
owner.  The  only  son  of  Colonel  Enoch,  Jethro,  mar- 
ried a  daughter  of  the  distinguished  Dr.  Holten,  and 
of  his  family  the  representatives  of  his  son  Philemon 
still  live  here.  As  Jethro  Avent  to  live  on  the  Holten 
place  it  is  probable  that  about  that  time  the  old 
homestead  went  out  of  the  Putnam  family.  Some 
fifty  years  it  was  owned  by  Nathaniel  Smith  and 
wife,  and  was  sold  with  sixty-five  acres  of  land  to 
William  A.  Lander,  April  9,  1841.  By  subsequent 
purchases  Mr.  Lander  became  owner  of  nearly  as 
much  more  adjoining  land.  The  old  house  was  al- 
lowed to  stand  two  or  three  years  after  the  present 
residence  was  built.  It  stood  on  the  level  field  where 
now  is  the  pear  orchard  and  not  far  from  the  old  well 
and  the  large  elm  which  was  dug  and  planted  by 
slave  labor.  Mr.  Lander  lived  on  the  place  which  his 
own  taste  has  made  so  beautiful  until  1875,  when  he 
removed  to  Salem,  and  the  place  then  passed  to  its 
present  owners,  the  family  of  the  late  Colonel  Ed- 
mund Johnson,  of  Boston,  who  died  in  1877.  Mr. 
Whittier  is  a  relative  of  the  family,  and  has  spent 
most  of  his  time  at  Oak  Knoll,  a  name  which  he  him- 
self gave  the  estate. 

But  another  and  later  Putnam  homestead,  just  this 
side  of  Oak  Knoll,  remained  in  the  family  much 
longer  than  the  original  homestead.  It  was  probably 
built  by  James  Putnam,  an  uncle  of  Colonel  Enoch, 
and  passed  down  through  Archelaus  to  his  son,  Doc- 
tor Archelaus,  then  to  his  son,  James  A.,  whose  heirs 
sold  it  to  Mr.  Lander.. 

John  A.  Putnam,  of  Danvers,  is  one  of  the  children 
of  James  A.  Hon.  James  Putnam,  of  whom  Chief 
Justice  Parsons  said,  "  he  was  the  best  lawyer  in 
North  America,"  an  uncle  of  Dr.  Archelaus,  was  un- 
doubtedly born  in  this  old  house.  He  practised  in 
Worcester,  and  among  his  students  was  John  Adams, 
the  second  President;  he  succeeded  Edmund  Trow- 
bridge as  Attorney-General  of  the  province,  was  raised 
to  the  bench  and  held  other  high  positions.  But  he 
threw  the  weight  of  his  powerful  influence  and  char- 
acter in  favor  of  the  Royalists  and  was  proscribed  as 
a  Tory. 

Two  (Jonathan  and  James)  of  the  sons  of  Lieuten- 
ant John  have  been  thus  mentioned.  The  next  (Ele- 
azer) went  over  to  the  site  afterwards  occupied  by  Phin- 
ehas Putnam,  of  the  branch  of  Nathaniel,  and  now 
owned  by  Charles  P.  Preston,  Eleazer  being  of  the 
third  generation  and  Phinehas  of  the  fifth.  One  of 
the  sons  of  Eleazer,  Henry  went  to  Medford,  and  it 
will  be  read  elsewhere  how  he  followed  his  sons  to 
Lexington  and  was  killed.  Samuel,  another  son,  es- 
tablished his  home  where  the  late  Sylvanus  B. 
Swan  died,  which  was  long  the  home  of  Samuel's  son, 
Eleazer,  "  Squire  Ely,"  pronouncing  it  with  the  "  E  " 
long  and  the  "ly"  short,  widely  known  and  trusted 
as  magistrate,  surveyor  and  conveyancer.  Of  the 
'Squire's  three  sons.  Rev.  Israel  Warburton  Putnam, 
D.D.,  born  in  1786,  was  a  very  distinguished  clergy- 


438 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


man,  who  was  settled  twenty  years  at  Portsmouth, 
N.  H.,  and  thirty  years  at  Middleboro',  Mass. ;  Arche- 
laus,  a  physician,  practised  in  Windham,  N.  H. ;  and 
Samuel  was  for  many  years  a  distinguished  teacher 
of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Eeference  has  been  made  to  the  fact  that  Henry, 
son  of  Eleazer,  son  of  Lieutenant  John,  was  killed  at 
Lexington.  One  of  his  sons,  also  Henry,  was  wounded 
in  the  same  engagement.  Allen  Putnam,  a  young  son 
of  this  Henry,  is  said  to  have  beeo  the  first  to  leap 
ashore  of  the  colonists  who  went  out  to  found  Ohio. 
The  Danvers  home  of  Allen's  grandfather  seems  to 
have  been  the  old  Amos  Wilde  house,  on  Locust  Street, 
opposite  Chestnut  Street. 

It  was  John,  another  son  of  Lieutenant  John  Put- 
nam, who,  in  connection  with  his  father,  is  supposed 
to  have  built  the  "old  Clark  house,"  still  standing, 
not  far  north  of  Oak  Knoll.  Among  his  descendants 
the  name  of  Caleb  often  occurs;  none  are  known 
in  Danvers. 

At  a  gathering  of  the  descendants  of  Deacon  Benja- 
min Putnam,  held  a  few  years  ago,  one  of  our  oldest 
citizens,  as  orator,  recalled  how,  in  his  childhood  he 
sat  in  the  old  brick  meeting  house  when  the  familiar 
faces  of  the  Putnams  were  in  every  part  of  the  church, 
their  titles,  positions  and  scriptural  names  all  objects 
of  veneration.     There  were,  he  said, — 

"  Benjamin  and  Joseph,  Timothy  and  Eleazer, 
Philemon  and  Hiram,  James  and  Ebenezer, 
Amos  and  Stephen,  Seth  and  Simeon, 
Israel  and  David,  Peter  and  Gideon, 
Phinelias  and  Matthew,  Ezra  and  Nathaniel, 
Moses  and  Samuel,  Jesse  and  Daniel." 

No  genealogy  of  the  family  has  been  published, 
though  Dr.  A.  P.  Putnam  has  collected  a  rich  store  of 
material,  of  which,  doubtless,  he  will  some  day  gave 
the  public  the  benefit.  For  what  is  here  given  the 
writer  is  indebted  to  certain  members  of  the  famil}' 
and  others  in  Danvers,  and  to  Dr.  Putnam  for  a  num- 
ber of  interesting  notes  which  have  been  mainly  in- 
corporated in  the  manuscript. 

The  Porters. — Among  the  records  of  old  deeds 
at  Salem  is  an  agreement  made  the  10th  day  of  the 
Third  Month,  1643,  between  Samuel  Sharpe,  of  Sa- 
lem, and  John  Porter,  of  Hingham: 

"  Tlie  sd  Samuel  doth  hereby  sell  unto  ye  said  Jno.  his  fearme  lying 
North  ef  Mr.  Skelton's  farme  Deceased  with  ye  meadow  ground  thereto 
annexed  &  all  appurtenances  thereto  belonging  for  ye  summe  of  one 
hundred  &  ten  pounds  to  be  paid  in  money  Cattle  &  come  at  such  rates 
as  2  or  more  indili'erent  men  shall  apprize  them  te  be  paid  at  3  several 
payments  that  is  to  say  fifty  pounds  the  2(lth  of  this  present  mouth  be- 
ing 3rd  month  1643  and  thirty  pounds  of  ye  3d  mo  IG 14  &  other  thirty 
pounds  on  the  first  day  of  ye  3rd  mo  in  1645  In  witness  whereof  the 
parties  above  sd  have  hereunto  set  their  hands  the  day  and  year  above 
written 

"  Samuel  Shaepe 
"John  Pokter" 

The  deed,  acknowledged  before  Governor  Endicott, 
conveyed  all  the  land  now  covered  by  the  central 
village  of  Danvers,  "the  Plains."  The  purchaser, 
John  Porter,  came  from  England  and  settled  at 
Hingham,  where  he  was  in  1(335.     He  was  sent  from 


Hingham  as  a  deputy  to  the  General  Court  in  1644, 
and  that  same  year  moved  his  family  and  his  goods, 
probably  by  water,  to  make  a  new  home  at  Salem 
Farms.  According  to  the  family  tradition,  he  lived 
in  the  old  house  which  was  standing  in  the  field  near 
the  present  location  of  the  Unitarian  Church  within 
the  memory  of  living  persons.  He  was  a  tanner  by 
trade,  and  some  remains  of  his  tan-yard  were  discoj'- 
ered  many  years  ago  near  the  old  house.  An  ancient 
well  is  still  to  be  seen  close  by.  John  Porter  was  a 
man  of  energy  and  influence ;  he  was  well  known 
throughout  the  colony,  held  many  ofiicial  positions, 
— selectman,  deputy  to  General  Court,  etc., — and  he 
became  probably  the  largest  individual  land-owner 
in  what  is  now  the  town  of  Danvers.  He  and  John 
Putnam  stand  together  as  prominent  figures  in  our 
earliest  history.  Both  were  the  ancestors  of  a  very 
numerous  and  honorable  line  of  descendants.  If  the 
Porters  at  first  owned  the  most  acres,  certainly  the 
Putnams  came  next,  and  the  two  families  together 
held  fully  two-thirds  of  the  present  town  and  ex- 
tended beyond  its  limits.  Their  farms  were  adjacent, 
inter-marriages,  of  course,  occurred,  and  many  now 
living  here  and  elsewhere  trace  back  their  ancestry, 
often  in  more  ways  than  one,  through  Porter-Putnam 
unions  to  the  two  Johns. 

John  Porter's  oldest  son,  John,  was  a  distinguished 
exception  to  the  "  honorable  line  "  above  referred  to ; 
he  was  a  reprobate.  He  abused  his  parents  till  they 
appealed  to  the  law.  He  was  punished  condignlj', 
and  were  it  not  for  his  mother's  forbearance  would 
probably  have  been  hung.  Later  his  case  became 
very  conspicuous,  because  upon  his  aj^peal  for  redress 
made  to  the  four  commissioners  of  Charles  II.,  sent 
over  in  1664  to  curb  the  liberties  of  the  colonists, 
occurred  a  memorable  struggle,  in  which  the  General 
Court  had  every  advantage  of  position,  and  used  it, 
to  the  final  rout  of  the  royal  emissaries.  The  elder 
John  refers  in  his  will  to  his  "  sonue  John  Porter, 
who,  by  his  Rebellious  &  wicked  practices,  hath  been 
a  great  grief  to  his  ])arents,  &  greatly  wasted  my  es- 
tate." The  man  left  no  descendants  to  be  ashamed 
of  such  an  ancestor.  Three  other  sons,  like  the  three 
sons  of  John  Putnam,  became  the  heads  of  great 
families, — Samuel,  Joseph  and  Israel. 

Samuel,  "  mariner,"  settled  in  Wenham,  on  the 
easterly  shore  of  the  lake,  and  a  part  of  his  original 
farm  is  still  occupied  by  his  descendants.  His  only 
son,  John,  did  much  to  wipe  out  the  dishonor  with 
which  his  uncle  had  stained  his  grandfather's  name. 
This  John  was  of  high  respectability,  representative 
to  the  General  Court  and  moderator  of  town  meetings 
during  the  first  quarter  of  the  last  century,  and  he 
married  into  another  eminent  family,  the  Herricks, 
of  Alford's — now  Cherry  Hill.  From  the  single 
thread  of  an  only  son  the  line  now  branched  out  in 
the  families  of  five  sons,  they  being  of  a  family  of 
eleven  children,  whose  ages  at  death  aggregated  nine 
hundred  and  fifty-five  years.     Of   these  five  sous, 


DANVEES. 


439 


Samuel,  the  oldest,  lived  on  the  lake-side  homestead, 
and  he,  too,  married  well,  his  wife  being  a  grand- 
daughter of  Governor  Simon  Bradstreet.  Samuel's 
grandson  Isaac  was  the  father  of  Colonel  Paul 
Porter,  commander  of  the  Ipswich  regiment  of 
militia  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  a  very  prominent 
citizen  of  Wenham,  through  whose  children  to  the 
third  and  fourth  generation  the  name  is  preserved  in 
that  town.  One  of  the  younger  of  the  five  sons  just 
mentioned  was  Jonathan,  an  inn-holder  of  Wenham, 
who  was  also  sent  to  the  General  Court.  His  oldest 
son  was  Benjamin,  and  with  him  the  name  returns  to 
Danvers,  and  adds  to  our  list  of  military  heroes  one 
of  the  most  distinguished.  On  the  pleasant  southern 
slope  of  the  first  hill  which  one  meets  in  driving 
from  Danvers  Plains  to  Topsfield  is  a  well-preserved 
gable-roofed  house,  once  one  of  the  Ilea  homes.  In 
a  portion  of  this  old  house  Zerubbabel  Rea  lived,  a 
hundred  and  twenty-five  years  ago,  more  or  less. 
Through  his  marriage  with  Sarah,  widow  of  Barthol- 
omew Brown,  and  daughter  of  Zerubbabel  Eea,  the 
place  thenceforth  became  the  home  of  Benjamin  Por- 
ter, who  had  four  sons.  Of  these,  Moses  was  the 
oldest, — General  Moses  Porter,  of  whom  a  sketch  ap- 
pears in  what  is  written  concerning  the  Revolution. 
He  was  never  married.  The  homestead  passed  to 
the  third  son,  Zerubbabel.  He,  too,  was  a  tanner, 
and  certain  stone  door-steps  in  the  vicinity  are  relics 
of  his  bark-mill,  which  stood  in  the  rear  of  Augustus 
Fowler's  residence,  itself  a  well-preserved  relic  of 
two  centuries  ago.  Zerubbabel  Porter  vvas  also  the 
very  first  shoe  manufacturer  of  Danvers,  the  pioneer 
of  that  industry  for  which  the  town  soon  become 
noted.  Until  within  a  few  years  ago  the  little  square 
shop  was  sitting  in  the  angle  between  the  highway 
and  the  drive  to  the  Rea-Porter  house,  hugging  close 
to  the  hill,  which  was  the  cradle  of  our  shoe  business. 
Of  the  men  who  were  there  employed,  and  of  the 
growth  of  the  liusiness  from  the  beginning,  a  few 
words  will  be  found  elsewhere.  Zerubbabel  Porter 
was  one  of  the  early  Universalists,  "  was  of  rare  in- 
telligence, a  ready  speaker  at  town-meetings,  wrote 
much  and  well  for  the  newspapers,  especially  upon 
political  subjects."  The  writer  happened  to  come 
across  this  letter  in  the  files  of  old  papers  at  the  Town- 
House  : 

"  Gentlemen  Assessors  of  Danvers  : 

"I  lately  received  my  tax  bill  for  18;J9,  lind  addition  to  my  former 
taxes  for  many  years  past  about  fifty  percent.  I  think,  gentlemen,  you 
must  have  wrong  conceptions  of  my  property  and  circiinistances.  I  am 
bordering  on  eiglity  years  of  age  and  feeble  healtli,  .  .  .  as  to  prop- 
erty, not  five  dollars  has  been  added  to  my  estate  the  year  past.  .  .  . 
Perhaps  you  think  I  have  stock  in  the  Village  bank,  by  the  advice  of 
friends  I  gave  my  note  on  Interest  for  five  shares  and  have  paid  the  in- 
terest ever  since,  you  of  course  will  judge  the  value  of  such  property. 
.  .  .  It  has  always  been  my  fortune  to  labor  hard,  at  the  age  of  twen- 
ty-one it  was  my  fortune  to  loose  one  of  my  hands,  of  course  it  made 
work  extiemely  hard,  now  I  am  done,  think  uf  these  things  and  doo 
what  is  right — if  you  can  consistently  with  your  feelings  I  think  will 
abate  some  of  my  tax  -I  am  gentlemen  myself  some  acqvuiinted  with  as- 
sessing taxes.     I  very  well  know  it  is  a  difficult  office  to  perform,  but 


certainly  we  ouglit  feel  for  the  sick  and  feeble,  for  they  are  not  in  a 
capacity  to  gain  property. 

"  I  am  Gentlemen,  your  friend  and  Servant, 

"  Z.  Porter." 

Zerubbabel  Porter  died  November  11,  1845,  in  his 
eighty-seventh  year.  He  left  two  sons,  Warren  and 
Alfred.  The  former  was  lieutenant  in  the  War  of  1812, 
and  afterwards  was  commissioned  lieutenant-colonel. 
Three  males  only  of  the  next  generation  are  living  in 
town,  Elias  Endicott  Porter,  son  of  Alfred  ;  and  Dr. 
Warren  Porter  and  John  W.  Porter,  attorney,  sons  of 
Colonel  Warren,  and  upon  one  little  boy,  the  son  of  the 
latter,  at  present  depends  the  preservation  in  Danvers 
of  this  branch  of  the  family  name. 

Of  the  male  descendants  of  pioneer  John  Porter's 
next  son,  Joseph,  there  are  none  at  all  left  here. 
They  early  scattered.  One — Samuel,  son  of  Eleazer, 
son  of  Samuel,  sou  of  Joseph — graduated  at  Harvard 
in  1763,  became  an  eminent  lawyer  in  Salem,  was 
proscribed  as  a  Tory,  went  to  London  and  died  there, 
after  revisiting  this  country  in  1798, — "  a  gentleman 
of  culture  and  refinement,  who  contributed  greatly  to 
the  enjoyment  of  the  band  of  refugees  at  the  weekly 
meetings  of  the  New  England  Club  in  London  during 
the  war." 

One  of  the  purchases  which  the  first  John  Por- 
ter made,  was  that  of  the  Emanuel  Downing  grant  of 
five  hundred  acres  near  the  Topsfield  line.  This  farm 
he  gave  to  Joseph  upon  his  marriage  with  Anna, 
daughter  of  Major  William  Hathorne,  and  for  many 
years  it  remained  in  the  family,  probably  longer  than 
any  other  in  Danvers.  It  went  down  to  the  fourth 
consecutive  Joseph,  who  died  in  1805,  and  then  passed 
to  Captain  Dudley  Bi-adstreet,  who  married  this  last 
Joseph's  daughter  Polly,  from  whom  it  descended  to 
his  son,  Major  John  Bradstreet.  This  is  why  this  old 
Porter  farm  is  commonly  called  the  "  old  Bradstreet 
farm."  , 

To  Israel,  who  established  the  third  and  last  branch 
of  the  Porter  family,  his  father  by  will  bequeathed 
"  my  new  mansion-house,  with  all  ye  housings  there- 
upon, orchards  and  lands  adjoining,  so  much  as  was 
by  me  purchased  of  Mr.  Sharpe,  also  I  do  give  him 
sixty  acres  of  Skelton's  necke,  i.  e.  that  pt  wh  I  pur- 
chased of  Mr.  Skeltou's  daughters,"  also  "  my  inter- 
est in  the  Saw-mill  near  Skelton's  neck."  By  pur- 
chase from  his  brother  Benjamin,  who  was  unmarried, 
and  otherwise,  Israel  retained  all  the  southern  portion 
and,  as  now  settled,  by  far  the  richest,  of  his  father's 
great  landed  property.  One  of  these  deeds  from  Ben- 
jamin to  Israel,  dated  January  23,  1700,  conveys  "  a 
certain  parcel  of  land  given  unto  me  by  will  of  my 
dearest  father,  and  by  him  purchased  part  of  it  of  Mr. 
Gott,  part  of  Jacob  Barney,  Jeffry  Massey,  William 
Watson,  John  Pickard  and  Pasco  Foot,  all  which  par- 
cels are  commonly  called  Gott's Corner."  This"Gott's 
Corner  "  included  a  part  of  the  beautiful  estate  which 
is  known  as  the  Burley  Farm,  now  owned  by  George 
A.  Peabody,   Esq.,  and  also   the   Proctor  farm,  and 


440 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


other  lands  eastward.  It  was  on  or  near  the  site  of 
Mr.  Peabody's  residence  that  Israel  Porter  himself 
was  living  in  witchcraft  times.  Israel  died  in  1706, 
leaving  by  will  to  his  oldest  sons,  John  and  Israel,  all 
of  Sharpe's  farm  above  the  Ipswich  Road.  A  deed  of 
partition  was  made  between  John  and  Israel  in  1809. 
John  was  a  "  mariner,"  and  probably  died  in  Boston. 
By  virtue  of  a  power  in  his  will  his  widow  Elizabeth, 
in  consideration  of  twelve  hundred  and  ten  pounds, 
"  good  bills  of  credit  on  the  Province,"  sold  to  Timo- 
thy Lyndall,  of  Boston,  gentleman,  four  tracts  em- 
bracing about  two  hundred  and  fifteen  acres,  July, 
1715.  The  old  Lindall  house,  which  stood  at  the  cor- 
ner of  Locust  and  Poplar  Streets,  has  been  referred 
to  in  what  has  been  said  of  the  Putnams. 

Israel  Porter's  second  son,  Israel,  one  of  the  clerks 
of  the  Village  parish,  was  the  father  of  Ginger,  a 
name  now  somehow  gone  out  of  fashion,  who  married 
Elisha  Hutchinson  and  became  the  mother  of  an- 
other Danvers  military  hero,  spoken  of  later.  Colonel 
Israel  Hutchinson. 

William,  the  third  son  to  leave  descendants,  seems 
to  have  lived  east  of  Frost  Fish  Brook,  then  Bever- 
ly, now  East  Danvers;  but,  April  19,  1750,  he  sold 
his  farm  of  two  hundred  and  forty-six  acres  to 
"  King"  Robert  Hooper,  and  thus  another  great  slice 
of  the  Porter  lands  passed  out  of  the  family. 

Benjamin,  the  fourth  and  last  son  of  Israel  to  leave 
descendants,  was  the  father  of  John,  an  inn-holder, 
and  Benjamin,  potter.  One  of  the  latter's  sons  was 
Israel,  who  lived  during  the  last  half  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, and  was  the  father  of  Abijah  and  Benjamin. 
Abijah  lived  and  died  in  the  old  house,  on  High 
Street,  nearly  opposite  Aaron  Warren's.  This  his 
son  Isaac  inherited,  and,  in  a  little  cottage  close  by, 
the  widow  of  Isaac,  Eliza  Jocelyn  Porter,  is  living,  in 
her  ninetieth  year.  Abijah's  brother,  Benjamin,  was 
well  known  as  "Cap'-n  Ben,"  who  made  a  fortune  in 
the  fishing  business  at  Marblehead,  came  back  to 
Danvers  about  1835,  and  bought  the  Nathan  Read 
mansion,  near  the  Iron-Works.  His  son,  Benjamin 
F.  Porter,  with  his  children,  now  live  on  the  same 
estate  ;  and  it  depends  solely  upon  the  young  grand- 
sons of  Capt.  Ben  and  the  lawyer's  little  boy,  before 
alluded  to,  whether  the  family-name  shall  be  longer 
preserved  whei'e  once  it  was  so  numerously  and 
powerfully  represented.  A  few  other  Porters  in  town 
are  not  of  this  stock. 

The  Mudges. — Though  this  family  cannot  be  reck- 
oned among  the  early  settlers,  they  have  been  prom- 
inent in  town  for  more  than  a  century.  Their  ances- 
tor was  Thomas  Mudge,  who  was  born  in  England, 
about  1724,  and  came  to  Maiden,  where  he  was  in 
1657.  His  oldest  son  was  killed  at  Bloody  Brook  in 
1675,  and  two  others  were  in  Captain  Moseley's  com- 
pany. His  son  John  was  one  of  the  grantees  to  whom 
land  was  given  for  services  in  King  Philip's  War. 
John's  son  was  Deacon  John,  and  the  deacon  was  the 
father  of  another  John,  who  was  a  Maiden  farmer 


and  died  in  1762.  This  last  John  had  a  number  of 
sons,  the  eldest  of  whom  was  killed  in  his  nineteenth 
year  in  the  French  War,  under  General  Amherst; 
the  youngest  died  from  the  effects  of  service  in  the 
Revolution  ;  Simon,  the  fifth  of  a  family  of  nine,  is 
of  especial  interest  here. 

Simon  Mudge  was  born  in  Maiden,  April  8,  1748. 
He  was  a  carpenter,  and  he  came  to  Danvers  to  live 
two  years  before  the  Revolution.  The  farm  which  he 
bought  is  the  one  now  owned  by  Amos  Pratt,  on  Cen- 
tre Street.  Subsequently,  his  widow  went  to  live 
with  her  brother,  William  Whittredge,  on  the  farm  at 
the  corner  of  Dayton  and  Newbury  Streets,  where  her 
son  Amos  continued  to  live  and  bring  up  his  family. 
Simon  Mudge  also  served  in  the  Revolution,  and,  in 
July,  1776,  marched  away  with  a  Danvers  company 
for  Ticonderoga.  A  diary  which  he  kept  of  his  march 
is  preserved  in  the  family  and  extracts  have  been 
printed.  Very  likely  its  custodian,  who  is  one  of 
the  most  zealous  of  temperance  men,  fails  of  being 
touched  by  this  pitiful  complaint: 

"August  the  6,  1776.  Last  night  Ly  in  tentoa  the  town  being  go  full 
that  v\o  could  neither  get  vituals  nor  Logeing  till  this  morning  there 
and  Knni  sells  for  nino  Shillings  and  fore  Pence  a  gallon  and  tlie  most 
miserable  stuff  j  ever  Drank.  Drawd  for  62  men  but  uo  sauce  reed.  Or- 
ders to  march  to  Ticonteroga  to-morrow." 

He  was  at  Lexington  in  Captain  Flint's  company. 
His  wife  was  Elizabeth  Whittredge,  of  Danvers,  who 
died  in  1836,  ninety  years  old;  he  died  in  1799,  in 
his  fifty-second  year,  leaving  six  children.  Of  these, 
two  were  sons, — Simon  and  Amo^,  and  but  one  daugh- 
ter married, — Nancy,  wife  of  Elijah  Hutchinson,  of 
Middleton.  Simon  was  like  his  father,  a  farmer  and 
carpenter,  and  lived  and  died,  1775-1853,  on  his 
father's  homestead.  His  wife  was  a  daughter  of 
Silas  Merriam,  of  Middleton,  and  the  family  of  Amos 
Pratt  are  their  only  descendants  in  town  ;  a  son,  Wil- 
liam Whittredge,  married  a  daughter  of  Jonathan 
Perry,  and  moved  to  Bedford,  Mass.,  in  1856. 

Simon's  son  Amos,  born  in  1782,  was  also  a  car- 
penter and  farmer,  and  died  April  7,  1853.  His  wife 
was  Sarah  AViison,  and  they  had  six  children,  four 
sons  and  two  daughters.  Josiah,  the  oldest  son,  to 
whom  the  double  occupation  descended,  is  repre- 
sented by  the  families  of  his  sou  Albert  H.  Mudge 
and  by  those  of  George  H.  Peabody  and  Walter  T. 
Martin.  Otis,  the  next  son  of  Amos,  received  a  good 
academy  education,  for  several  years  was  a  success- 
ful school  teacher,  and  then  began  the  manufacture 
of  shoes,  a  business  in  which  he  was  successfully  en- 
gaged until  the  close  of  his  life.  He  died  in  1862 
in  his  forty-ninth  year,  on  the  old  homestead,  leav- 
ing no  children.  He  was  in  the  Legislature  of  1851, 
and  helped  to  elect  Sumner;  was  on  the  school  com- 
mittee and  a  selectman. 

Edwin  and  Augustus  Mudge  sons  of  Amos,  are 
among  the  most  respected  and  influential  citizens  of 
the  town.  Both  have  represented  their  fellow-citi- 
zens at  the  State  House,  the  former  in  the  House,  the 
latter  in  the  Senate.     Edwin  Mudge's  contribution  of 


DANVERS. 


441 


his  legislative  salary  towards  the  erection  of  the 
Soldier's  Mouument  is  mentioned  in  the  chapter  on 
the  Civil  War.  Augustus  is  president  of  the  savings- 
bank.  In  1849  the  partnership  of  E.  and  A.  Mudge, 
shoe  manufacturers,  was  formed,  which,  with  the  addi- 
tion of  Edward  Hutchinson,  in  1858,  has  remained 
since  unchanged.  Of  this  business  something  further 
appears  in  the  sketch  of  the  shoe  industry  of  the 
town. 

The  two  daughters  of  Amos  Mudge, — Nancy  and 
Caroline,  married,  respectively,  Zephaniah  Pope  and 
James  Marsh. 

Incorporation. — The  municipal  individuality  of 
Danvers  begins  January  25,  1752.  For  a  consider- 
able time  previously  there  had  been  a  growing  desire 
for  separation  from  Salem  both  at  the  Village  and  the 
Middle  Parish.  During  the  preceding  summer  a  spe- 
cial committee,  consisting  on  the  part  of  the  Village, 
of  Samuel  Flint,  Cornelius  Tarball  and  James  Prince, 
and  on  the  part  of  the  parish,  of  Daniel  Epes,  Jr., 
Malachi  Felton  and  John  Proctor,  considered  the 
matter,  and  in  anticipation  of  securing  their  end 
proposed  that  plan  which,  for  more  than  a  hundred 
years,  was  substantially  lived  up  to,  namely, — "  Ye 
major  part  of  ye  selectmen  and  assessors  shall  be 
Chosen  one  year  in  one  parish,  and  ye  next  year  in 
ye  other  parish  successively."  The  committee  were 
instructed  at  once  "to  labour,"  both  at  old  Salem 
and  in  the  General  Court, — a  mild  sort  of  lobby,  per- 
haps, which  was  successful  in  obtaining  desired  legis- 
lation. The  full  text  of  the  act  of  incorporation 
is  as  follows  : 

"  Anno  Regni  Regis  Georgii  Secimdi  <fec.,  Vicessimo  Qninto. 

"  An  act  for  erecting  the  Village  parish  and  middle  Parish  so  called,  in 
the  Town  of  Salem  into  a  Distinct  and  separate  District  liy  the  Name  of 
Danvers. 

"  Whereas,  the  Town  of  Salem  is  Very  Large  and  the  Inhabitants  of 
the  Village  and  Middle  parishes  so  called  within  ye  same  (many  of  them 
at  Least,)  live  att  a  great  Distance  from  that  part  of  Salem  where  the 
Publick  affairs  of  the  Town  are  Transacted  and  also  from  the  Grammer 
School  which  is  kept  in  ye  sd  first  Parish. 

"And  Whereas,  most  of  the  Inhabitants  of  the  sd  first  Parish  are 
Either  Merchants,  Traders  or  Mechanicks  &  those  of  ye  sd  Village  and 
Middle  parishes  are  chiefly  Husbandmen,  by  means  whereof  many  Dis- 
putes &  Difficultys  have  Arrissen  and  May  hereafter  arise  in  the  man- 
ageing  their  public  Affairs  Together,  &,  Espeacially  touching  ye  Appor- 
tioning the  Public  Taxes,  For  preventing  of  wliicli  Inconveniences  for 
the  future. 

"  Be  it  Enacted  by  the  Lieut.  Governour,  Council,  and  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, That  that  part  of  ye  s'd  Town  of  Salem  which  now  consti- 
tutes the  village  and  middle  parishes  in  sd  Town  according  to  their 
boundaries  and  the  Inhabitants  therein,  be  Erected  into  a  separate  and 
Distinct  District  bj'  the  Name  of  Danvers,  and  that  said  Inhabitants 
shall  do  the  dutys  that  are  Required  and  Enjoyned  onjother  Towns,  and 
Enjoy  all  the  Powers,  Privileges  and  Immunities  that  Towns  in  this 
province  by  Law  Enjoy,  except  that  of  separately  chuseing  and  sending 
one  or  more  Representatives  to  Represent  them  att  ye  Genii  Assembly, 
&c. 

"  Jany  ye  25,  1752." 

A  "  district  "  differed  from  a  "town  "  only  in  the 
matter   of  sending   representatives   to    the    General 
Court.    A  district  could  not  do  that ;  it  sent  a  "  dele- 
gate."    And  so  jealous  was  the  King  of  that  body 
28i 


that  the  Governor  was  charged  to  consent  to  no  di- 
vision of  territory  which  would  add  to  its  members. 
The  act  was  considerably  more  than  half  a  loaf,  and 
the  rest  soon  came.  As  to  the  origin  of  the  name 
"Danvers,"  there  is  yet  some  doubt.  "  D'Auvers  "  is 
an  old  English  family  name,  evidently  of  French 
origin.  In  one  of  the  numbers  of  the  London  Art 
Journal  an  article  on  ancient  street  tablets  gives  a  cut 
of  one  in  Chelsea  with  this  inscription  : 


(J:l)i0  is  DaiiDCvs 
0tvcct. 


1696. 


The  conclusion  accepted  by  S.  P.  Fowler,  who  has 
made  the  subject  a  study,  is  that  "in  some  way  not 
yet  discovered  the  name  came  from  Sir  Danvers  Os- 
borne, Bart.,  the  unfortunate  Governor  of  New  York, 
in  1753."  Mr.  Eice  has  added:  "I  think  it  must 
have  been  through  Lieutenant-Governor  Phipps." 

It  is  believed  that  there  is  but  one  other  town  of 
the  same  name  in  the  country,  and  that  one,  in  Mc- 
Lean County,  Illinois,  is  a  namesake  of  the  first.  The 
western  town  was  laid  out  about  fifty  years  ago  "and 
it  was  agreed  to  call  it  Danvers,  out  of  regard  to  Is- 
rael W.  Hall,  who  came  from  Danvers,  Mass."  A 
speaking  acquaintance  is  maintained  between  the 
two  towns  through  the  medium  of  local  papers. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  see  the  record  of  the  first 
meeting  of  the  district,  verbatim  : 

";At  a  Legall  Meeting  of  y"  Inhabitants  of  the  District  of  Danvers, 
Marchlye  4th,  1752,  in  y  first  Parish  in  s*  District — 

"  Voted  Daniel  Epes,  Esq^.,  Moderator  for  s^  Meeting,  Voted  Daniel 
Epes,  .Inn"'.,  Esq'.,  Clerk,  &  Mr.  James  Prince  Treasurer. 

"  Voted  to  Chuse  Seven  Selectmen  for  this  present  year,  viz.  :  four  in 
ye  first  Parish  &  three  in  y  Second  Parish,  &  to  chuse  by  written  Votes, 
&  chose  Mr.  Archelaus  Dale,  M''.  John  Andrew  &  M'.  Henry  Putnam,  to 
tell  y«  Votes  Chosen  Selectmen,  Daniel  Epes,  Jun'.,  Esq'.,  Captain  Sam- 
uel Flint,  Dea  Cornelius  Tarball,  M'.  Stephen  Putnam,  M'.  Samuel  King, 
M'.  Daniel  Gardner,  &  M'.  Joseph  Putnam  ;  &  the  above  Named  Persons 
were  chosen  Assessors  and  Overseers  of  yo  Poor. 

"  Voted  to  Chuse  four  Constables,  viz.  ;  Two  in  y«  first  and  Two  in  yo 
Second  Parish  ;  &  Chose  M'.  David  Goodale  for  y»  West  Ward  in  ye  first 
Parish,  &  M'.  Samuel  White  for  ye  East  Ward  in  s^  first  Parish,  and 
Chose  M'.  Roger  Derby  Constable  in  ye  East  Ward,  and  M'.  Jonathan 
Twiss  Constable  in  ye  West  Ward  in  ye  Second  Parish. 

"  Voted  to  Chuse  five  Tithingmen,  &  Chose  M'.  Samuel  Putnam,  Jun'., 
and  M'.  Archelaus  Putnam,  Jun'.,  for  ye  first  Paiish,  &  Chose  M'.  Sam- 
uel Osbon,  Jun'.,  M'.  James  Upton  &  M'.  Timothy  Upton,  for  ye  Second 
Parish. 

"Voted  M'.  John  Andrew,  M'.  John  Preston,  M'.  Francis  Nurse,  Lieut. 
David  Putnam,  M'.  Jacob  Goodale,  M'.  George  Goold,  Surveyors  of 
High  ways  for  the  first  Parish. 

"Voted  Ens"  John  Procter,  Mr.  Andrew  Mansfield,  M'.  Jasper  Noed- 
ham,  M'.  Jonathan  Russell,  M'.  James  Goold,  M'.  James  Buxton  &  M'. 
John  South  wick,  Jun'.,  Survey"  of  High  ways  for  ye  Second  Parish. 

"Voted  Mr.  Jonathan  Putnam  and  M'.  John  Osbon  Haywards. 

"Voted  Israel  Cheever  and  M'.  James  Upton,  Sealers  of  Leather. 

"  Voted  M'.  Samuel  Holton,  M'.  Benjamin  Pntnani,  M'.  John  Osbon 
and  M' .  Ebenezer  Marsh,  fence  Viewers. 


442 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


"Voted  Jonathan  Putnam  &  M'.  David  Goldthawyt,  Clerks  of  y" 
Markett. 

"  Voted  M'.  Daniel  Kea  to  take  Care  that  y  Laws  Kelatlng  to  y«  Pre- 
servation of  Deer  be  observed. 

"Voted  M'.  Henry  Putnam  &  M'.  David  Goldthawyt  Surv^  of  Lum- 
ber. 

"  Voted  Mr.  James  Chapman,  M^.  Ebenezer  King,  M^.  John  Brown  & 
M'.  Gideon  Foster,  to  Take  care  that  yo  Laws  relating  to  y">  preservation 
of  alewives  be  observed. 

"Voted  M'.  Walter  Smith,  M''.  John  Vinne,  M"".  George,' Wiat,  Jun'. 
Mr.  Israel  Hutchinson,  M'.  John  Oaks,  M'.  Ebenezer  Goldthawyt,  M' 
Daniel  Marble,  Jun'.,  M'.  Jonathan  Osbon  &  M^.  Jonathan  Trask,  Juu"-. 
Hog  Reaves. 

"Voted  Mr.  Hugh  Kelly,  M'.  David  Foster  &  M'.  Ebene^  Boyce, 
Pound  keepers. 

"  Voted  that  ye  Selectmen  be  Hereby  fully  Impowered  to  agree  with 
the  Town  of  Salem  concerning  our  proportion  of  the  poor  in  the  Alms 
House,  &  Settle  y«  Number,  and  take  care  of  them  as  they  shall  think 
best,  and  make  Report  of  their  doings  att  the  Adjournment  of  this  meet- 
ing. 

"  Voted  To  mend  the  High  ways  in  s*  District  by  Days'  works,  and 
that  Surveyors  be  chosen  in  Different  parts  of  y«  Dist^.,  &  that  y"  select- 
men shall  appoint  y  surveyors  their  Respective  Wards,  and  the  select- 
men to  Tax  y»  Polls  &,  Estates,  and  such  persons  as  chuse  to  pay  their  s* 
Tax  in  Labour,  shall  Iiave  free  Liberty  so  to  do  ;  and  such  persons  as 
will  not  pay  thoir  Tax  in  work  on  y«  si*  High  ways,  shall  be  oblidged  to 
pay  the  same  in  mony,  according  as  they  are  Taxed,  and  the  Surveyors 
are  Hereby  fully  Authorized  and  Impovver'd  to  Collect  and  Gatlier  the 
6*  Taxes  in  there  Respective  Wards,  &  to  be  accountable  for  y^  same,  to 
the  Selectmen,  &  the  Allowance  shall  be,  Two  Shillings  and  Eight  pence 
p.  Day  for  a  man,  &  that  boys  &  Teams  be  Left  to  y^  Surveyors  to  sett  y" 
Valine,  &  y  Surveyors  shall  give  Timely  Notice  to  the  Persons  Taxed  in 
their  Lists,  not  Less  than  three  days  and  the  High  way  work  shall  be 
done,  some  time  between  the  first  day  of  April  &  ye  first  Day  of  Novem- 
ber, and  att  no  other  Times,  Except  in  Cases  where  it  may  Happen  that 
there  may  be  Necessity. 

"  Voted  That  this  meeting  be  Adjourned  to  y  18th  Instant,  att  one  of 
the  Clock  in  y"  afternoon,  to  this  Place. 

'•Daniel  Epes,  Juu--.,  Dist«.  Clerk." 

"The  Inhabitants  met  according  to  Adjournment. 

"  Voted  to  Excuse  David  Goodale  from  being  Constable  this  year. 

"  Voted  John  Swinerton  Constable  in  y»  room  of  David  Goodalo. 

"  Voted  Jonathan  Twiss  Surveyor  of , high  ways  in  y«  room  of  James 
Goold. 

"  Voted  Samuel  Osbon,  Jun^  ,  Surveyor  of  high  ways  in  y»  Room  of 
James  Buxton. 

"  It  being  put  to  Vote  whither  ye  Inhabitants  will  raise  Two  Hundred 
Pounds  Lawful!  mony,  to  Defray  ye  Charges  of  ye  District,  &  the  County 
Tax,  Exclusive  of  high  ways  for  this  present  year  It  passed  in  ye  Af- 
firmative. 

"  It  being  put  to  Vote  whither  ye  Inhabitants  will  raise  one  Hundred 
&  Fifty  pounds  LawfuU  mony,  to  Defray  the  High  way  charges.  It 
past  in  the  Affirmative. 

"  Voted  That  ye  Swine  may  go  att  Large,  provided  that  they  are 
yoaked  &  wringed,  &c.,  according  to  Law. 

"  Voted  That  Meetings  of  the  District  shall  be  warned  for  ye  futxire,  by 
posting  attested  coppys  of  ye  Warrants  for  Calling  s'l  Meetings,  on  the 
Meeting-House  in  ye  first  parish,  &  on  ye  Meeting-House  in  ye  second 
parish. 

"  Voted  That  ye  Selectmen  take  ye  Care  of  our  Interest  in  ye  Alms- 
house in  Salem. 

"  Voted  That  ye  Selectmen  be  Hereby  fully  Impower,d  to  Settle  with 
ye  Town  of  Salem,  Relateing  to  ye  School  mony,  &  all  other  accounts, 
and  to  Receive  ye  Mony  that  may  be  Due  from  s*  Salem  to  us. 

"Voted  that  ye  Selectmen  be  Impowered  &  Desired  to  Agree  with 
some  meet  Person  to  keep  a  Gramer  school  in  ye  District  as  soon  as  may 
be. 

"  Voted  Ebenezer  Jacobs  Constable  iu  ye  Room  of  Roger  Derby. 

"Daniel  Epes,  Jun'.,  Dist.  Clerk." 

Within  two  years  boundaries  were  run  between  the 
district  and  all  the  adjoining  towns,  and  many  other 
measures  taken,  but  the  more  the  inhabitants  acted 
after  the  manner  of  towns,  the  more  impatient  they 
grew  to  become  a  town.     So  on  the  3d  of  February, 


1755,  they  passed  a  vote  "  that  it  be  the  minds  of  the 
Inhabitants  that  the  said  District  be  erected  into  a 
separate  Town  Ship,  &  that  the  said  Daniel  Epes, 
Junr.,  Esq.,  be  and  hereby  is  desired  and  impowered 
to  prefer  a  Petition  to  the  Great  and  General  Court, 
and  to  use  his  Endeavours  to  get  the  same  affected." 

The  act  which  conferred  the  full  powers  of  a  town 
upon  Danvers,  was  not,  however,  passed  until  June 
9th,  1757,  and  then  only  after  persistent  demands  and 
against  the  protest  of  Thomas  Hutchinson,  Gov- 
ernor. 

The  population  of  the  town  at  its  incorporation  was 
not  far  from  2000.  The  first  State  census,  1765,  gives 
it  then  2133.  Subsequent  figures  may,  for  conveni- 
ence, be  given  here: 


1776 2,284 

1790 2,425 

1800 2,643 

1810 3,127 

1820 3,646 

1830 4,228 


1840 5,020 

1850 8,106 

18601 5_no 

1865 5,114 

1870 6,000 

1880 6,598 


In  1759  this  memorandum  was  entered  on  the  town 
records  : 

"  Rec*  of  Daniel  Epes,  Jun'.,  a  Province  Note  of  twenty  pound  For 
supporting  the  French  Neutrals  the  year  past.  Being  the  Charge  the 
Town  was  at  for  the  Same." 

It  recalls  the  melancholy  event  of  Longfellow's 
"  Evangeline."  The  English  expelled  some  thousand 
of  these  inoffensive  people  from  Acadia  in  1755,  and  in 
the  scattering  a  few  came  to  Danvers.  The  only  other 
mention  of  the  unfortunate  people  is  eight  years  later, 
when,  on  the  question  of  supply,  "they  being  gooiug 
off,"  these  voi.es  were  passed : 

"  Voted:  to  give  the  French  Neuti'als  something. 

"  Voted:  thattho  Overseers  of  the  Poor  sliall  allow  the  French  people 
what  they  shall  think  just,  and  to  be  drawn  out  of  the  Treasury,  and 
then  the  moderator  dissolved  the  meeting." 

It  is  common  to  find  in  the  town  records  of  a  hun- 
dred years  ago  assessors'  returns  of  the  "  Number  of 
Coaches,  Chaises,  etc.,  in  the  Town  of  Danvers."  There 
is  an  air  of  aristocracy  in  these  lists,  containing  the 
names  of  those  I'ich  enough  to  "  ride  in  chaises."  But 
twenty-three  persons  in  the  whole  town  owned  these 
vehicles  in  1784.  Those  owning  "  fall  back"  chaises 
were  Hon.  Samuel  Holten,  Israel  Hutchinson,  Esq., 
Nathaniel  Pope,  Arch.  Rea,  Colonel  Jere.  Page, 
Joseph  Flint,  Widow  Mercy  Porter,  Daniel  Jacobs, 
Jr.,  Samuel  Gardner,  Captain  Timothy  Orne,  Widow 
Elizabeth  Poole.  Nathaniel  Putnam  owned  two 
"standing-top  "  chaises,  and  the  following,  one  each  : 
Benj.  Putnam,  Zorub.  Porter,  Colonel  Enoch  Putnam, 
Captain  Wm.  Shillaber,  Jos.  Southwick,  Jr.,  John 
Dodge,  Ebenezer  Dale,  Arch.  Putnam,  Phinehas  Put- 
nam, Amos  Putnam,  Gideon  Putnam. 

Regarding  maps  of  the  town,  as  early  as  1794,  the 
selectmen  were  directed  to  take  a  plan  of  the  town  in 
accordance  with  a  Legislative  act.  No  further  action 
was  taken  until  18.30,  when  the  same  instructions 
were  repeated,  and  the  next  year  the  selectmen  were 

1  Town  divided  in  1855. 


DANVERS. 


443 


authorized  to  publish  a  map  if  they  should  think 
proper.  After  some  sixteen  years,  three  lawyers, 
Northend,  Abbott  and  Proctor,  were  directed  to  make 
a  complete  survey  of  the  town  for  the  correction  of 
the  plate.  The  maps  of  the  old  town  of  Danvers, 
now  somewhat  rare,  embellished  with  cuts  of  "  The 
Naumkeag  House,  North  Danvers,  E.  G.  Berry," 
"  Moses  Black,  Jr.,  Wood  and  Coal -Yard,  Danvers- 
port,"  "  Third  Congregational  Church,"  and  a  few 
scenes  in  South  Danvers,  are  printed  from  this  plate. 

For  about  half  a  century,  commencing  with  1S16,  it 
was  the  custom  of  Danvers  people  to  be  reminded  of 
the  dinner-hour  and  of  bed-time  by  the  ringing  of 
church-bells.  In  the  year  mentioned  it  was  first 
voted  "  that  the  Bells  be  rung  at  12  o'clock  at  noon 
and  at  9  o'clock  A.  M.  (P.  M.),  provided  it  does  not 
cost  moriB  than  $25  at  each  Meeting-House." 

In  1832  Moses  Black  and  others  succeeded  in  add- 
ing the  music  of  "the  Bell  at  the  Neck."  The  prac- 
tice has  been  discontinued  since  18G3,  except  for  a 
single  year  (1874),  when  the  sextons  rang  its  final 
knell.  The  dinner-hour  seems  likely  to  take  care  of 
itself,  but  if  the  later  alarm  could  shorten  the  average 
"evening  out"  it  might  be  well  to  bring  it  back 
again. 

There  were  at  least  two  flourishing  local  military 
companies  a  half  a  century  ago.  These  were  the 
Artillery  Company  and  the  Danvers  Light  Infantry. 
Doubtless  much  of  interest  might  be  written  concern- 
ing both.  This  requisition  was  found  among  the 
old  papers  in  the  town-house. 

"Danvers  Oct.  4th,  1816. 
"  Gentlemen  : 

"  Having  been  ordered  to  parade  the  company  which  I  command  for 
the  purpose  of  inspection  and  review  of  arms  on  the  I'lth  day  of  the  pres- 
ent month,  it  is  my  duty  to  request  you,  Gentlemen,  and  I  do  hereby  re- 
quest you,  to  provide  a  quantity  of  good  powder  sufficient  for  100  men 
(that  being  the  number  born  on  the  company  roll)  agreeable  to  the  23d 
section  of  Massachusetts  Militia  Law. 

"  Yours  with  respect, 

"  Daniel  Preston. 
"Gentlemen  Selectmen  for  Danvers." 

Captain  Felton  presented  a  similar  requisition  for 
blank  cartridges  for  his  company  of  forty-five ;  and 
Captain  Asa  Tapley,  Jr.,  for  seventy  men. 

By-laws  respecting  fires,  "  better  to  promote  the 
more  populous  part  of  the  town "  against  danger, 
were  formulated  as  early  as  1819. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  1840,  the  need  of  a  more 
complete  system  of  by-laws  was  met  by  the  election 
of  Dr.  Andrew  Nichols,  J.  W.  Proctor,  John  Page, 
Eben  S.  Upton  and  Elias  Putnam  as  a  committee  of 
revision  and  construction,  which  committee  reported 
to  the  meeting  which  elected  them  that  "on  examin- 
ing the  existing  by-laws,  they  find  them  so  imperfect 
and  incomplete  as  to  demand  an  entire  revision  and 
new  arrangement.  .  .  .  They  would  recommend 
that  a  committee  of  one  from  each  school  district, 
together  with  the  selectmen  and  clerk  prepare  such 
a  system  of  by-laws  as  in  their  judgment  the  interests 
of  the  town  require,  etc.,"  and  that  the  same  be 
printed,  distributed  and  acted  upon  the  next  year. 


This  committee  were:  No.  1,  John  W.  Proctor;  No. 
2,  Moses  Black,  Jr. ;  No.  3,  Elias  Putnam ;  No.  4, 
John  Preston  ;  No.  5,  Jeremy  Hutchinson  ;  No.  6, 
Nathaniel  Felton;  No.  7,  Daniel  P.  King;  No.  8, 
Samuel  Brown,  Jr. ;  No.  9,  John  Mansfield  ;  No.  10, 
Elias  Needham ;  No.  11,  Andrew  Nichols;  No.  12, 
Henry  Poor;  No.  13,  Samuel  Preston. 

Eight  years  afterwards  the  subject  was  revived,  and 
John  W.  Proctor.  Dr.  Nichols,  Moses  Black,  Jr.,  A. 
A.  Abbott  and  Nathaniel  Pope  were  appointed  to 
draft  a  new  code.  At  the  first  annual  meeting  after 
the  division  of  the  town,  that  is,  in  1856,  it  became 
necessary  to  take  a  fresh  start,  and  Moses  Black,  Jr., 
Edwin  Mudge  and  Francis  Dodge  were  appointed  to 
perform  the  duty.  In  1874  important  revisions  were 
made  at  the  suggestion  of  a  committee  chosen  for  the 
purpose,  namely,  Rev.  C.  B.  Rice,  Israel  W.  Andrews 
and  Henry  A.  Perkins.  The  last  revision,  1883,  was 
made  by  a  committee  consisting  of  Rev.  C.  B.  Rice, 
D.  N.  Crowley,  I.  W.  Andrews  and  George  Tapley. 

The  part  which  Danvers  took  in  the  Revolution 
which  came  soon  after  the  incorporation  of  town  has 
been  spoken  of  separately.  During  and  some  time 
after  the  Revolution  the  people  of  the  town  were  con- 
cerned about  small-pox,  which  in  October,  1773, 
seemed  "to  spread  in  several  of  our  neighboring 
Towns,"  and  Ebenezer  Goodale  and  Dr.  Joseph  Os- 
good were  chosen  to  take  preventive  measures  against 
its  appearing  here.  Though  in  some  respects  an  un- 
pleasant topic  to  write  of  or  to  read  of,  nevertheless 
much  may  be  learned  from  the  records  of  these  years, 
before  Jenner's  great  discovery,  of  the  way  in  which 
inoculation,  which  ])receded  vaccination,  was  regarded. 
In  the  spring  of  1777,  Benjamin  Porter  and  others  pe- 
titioned "to  see  if  the  town  will  grant  Leave  to  inocu- 
late for  the  Small-pox  in  that  part  of  the  Town  called 
the  Neck  from  the  house  of  Benj*.  porter  to  the 
Bridge  By  Abel  Watterses,  the  Town  inhabitants  only 
unless  their  should  not  so  many  of  the  inhabitants 
appear  to  Be  Inoculated  as  could  be  convend  in  that 
case  to  take  in  persons  From  other  towns  ;  also  to 
choose  a  committee  to  regulate  the  affiiir,"  and  an- 
other committee  to  apply  to  the  General  Court  for 
their  approbation.  The  record  of  the  meeting  which 
considered  this  petition  is  short  and  to  the  point : 

"At  a  Leagel  meeting  of  the  inhabitants  of  Danvers,  may  19th,  1777, 
Voted,  Dr.  Amos  putnam  moderator  ;  Voted  not  to  Act  on  the  Request 
of  Benj».  porter  and  others  ;  Voted  to  Desolve  s*  meeting,  the  moderator 
Declared  s*  meeting  Desolved." 

The  next  year,  measures  were  taken  for  suitable 
quarters  "for  the  reception  of  those  persons  belonging 
to  this  Town  who  shall  be  taken  with  the  Small  Pox 
the  natural  way."  Another  move  was  also  made  for 
"  Liberty  to  Inoculate  such  persons  as  shall  chuse  to 
take  the  Small  Pox  that  way  belonging  to  this  town  ; " 
it  had  a  momentary  success : 

"Voted  to  Inoculate  in  the  Town  for  the  Small  Pox. 
"Voted  to  reconsider  the  vote  respecting  Inoculation. 
"Voted  to  dismiss  the  clause  in  the  warrant  respecting  Inoculation  : 
Voted  that  this  meeting  be  Disolved." 


444 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


In  May,  1778,  the  advocates  of  inoculation  gained 
more  substantial  yet  temporary  success.  It  was  then 
voted  "  that  Captain  Derby's  house  be  set  apart  for 
the  Inoculation  in  this  Town,"  and  three  men,  whose 
names  signify  the  interest  taken  in  the  matter,  Cap- 
tain Daniel  Jacobs,  Major  Caleb  Low  and  Major  Sam- 
uel Epes,  were  appointed  "to  regulate  said  affair." 
In  less  than  a  fortnight  Ezekiel  Marsh  and  others 
brought  to  the  selectmen  their  petition  to  put  a  stop 
to  inoculation  at  the  Derby  farm,  though  when  the 
selectmen  issued  their  warrant  it  contained  also  an- 
other petition,  of  Benjamin  Balch  and  others,  for  in- 
oculation "in  that  part  of  the  town  called  the  Neck." 
The  former  petition  was  granted  ;  the  latter,  refused. 

Feeling  ran  high  on  the  subject.  This  last  meet- 
ing, held  on  the  8th  of  June,  set  the  seal  of  its  con- 
demnation unequivocally  upon  the  new  and  absurd 
idea.  But  it  was  not  enough ;  it  should  be  killed  and 
buried  beyond  resurrection.  Therefore,  four  days 
later  another  warrant  was  posted  at  the  meeting- 
houses giving  notice  of  a  meeting  on  the  15th  of  June 
to  take  into  consideration  the  desire  of  Mr.  Arch's 
Dale  and  others  for  a  final  stop  of  the  business,  and 
it  peems  worth  while  to  quote  at  length  from  the  rec- 
ord of  this  meeting.  Mr.  Dale  was  himself  modera- 
tor. 

"Voted  to  put  a  final  Stop  to  the  Small  Pox  by  Iiioculation  in  Cap* 
Derby's  House,  that  was  allowed  of  by  the  Town  dureing  their  Pleasure ; 
voted  that  the  Stop  take  place  this  Day  ;  voted  no  person  be  allowed  to 
enter  into  Said  Derby's  House  after  the  15"i  of  June,  1778,  for  Inocula- 
tion ;  voted  if  any  Doci^  or  any  other  person  after  the  Said  IS""  Day  of 
June,  1778,  Shall  Inoculate  any  Person  whatever  with  the  Small  Pox  in 
sd  House  or  Teritories  thereto  belonging,  Shall  be  liable  to  pay  the  Same 
fine  that  they  would  have  been  liable  to  have  paid  had  they  Inoculated 
without  leave  from  the  Town,  and  incur  the  Town's  Displeasure  ;  voted 
if  any  Person  whatever  Shall,  after  the  Said  15  of  June,  1778,  Enter  the 
Said  House  or  teritories  thereunto  belonging  and  be  Inoculated  contrary 
to  the  True  Meaning  of  the  Town,  Shall  pay  the  Same  Fines  &  Suffer 
the  Same  Peualtys,  which  by  Law  they  are  liable  to  as  those  Persona 
that  Inoculate  in  their  own  Houses. 

"  Voted  that  all  the  votes  and  orders  of  the  Town  respecting  the  Stop- 
ing  of  the  Inoculation  that  have  or  Shall  pass  be  fairly  Copied  of  by  the 
Clerk  and  immediately  Sent  to  the  Docters  and  others  Concerned  ;  voted 
to  Choose  a  Committee  ;  voted  the  Committee  to  Consist  of  three  ;  voted 
Cap'  William  Shilhiber,  Stephen  Needham  and  Aaron  Osborn  be  Said 
Committee,  whose  business  Shall  be  to  dul}'  Inspect  into  and  See  that 
every  vote  and  order  of  tlie  Town  respecting  the  Stoping  of  Said  Inocu- 
lation be  faithfully  Complied  with,  and  to  prosecute  any  and  every  Per- 
son (if  need  be)  that  doth  not  Comply  with  the  Same.  Voted  to  Disolve 
this  Meeting,  and  the  Moderator  declared  the  Meeting  Disolved  accord- 
ingly. 

"Attest:  Stephen  Needham,  Town  Clerk.'" 

Thus  the  matterremained  for  twelve  years.  Not  till 
1792  was  any  proposition  bearing  upon  the  subject 
brought  before  the  town,  and  then  public  opinion  had 
so  far  changed  as  to  allow  "  persons  to  inoculate  in 
proper  places,"  under  the  superintendence  of  another 
committee  of  solid  men. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  1793  the  town  was  asked 
to  consider  if  any  allowance  should  be  made  "  to  some 
of  the  Persons  that  have  had  the  Small  pox  that  are 
poor ;  "  and  three  pounds  were  voted  to  Nathan  Up- 
ton, who  was  an  unfortunate  victim  of  the  "natural 
way." 


More  than  twenty  years  later  "  vaccination ''  was  for 
the  first  time  the  subject  of  public  action.  General 
Gideon  Foster's  name  was  at  the  head  of  a  petition 
for  a  town-meeting,  held  in  July,  1815,  for  the  especial 
purpose  of  considering  the  expediency  of  accepting 
certain  proposals  offered  by  one  Dr.  Fansher.  They 
were  as  follows  : 

"  Dr.  Fansher  begs  leave  respectfully  to  propose  to  the  Town  of  Dan- 
vers  that  he  will  (in  case  it  meets  the  approbation  of  the  Town)  Vacci- 
nate at  such  places  in  the  different  Neighborhoods  throughout  the  Town 
as  shall  be  designed  by  a  Committee  for  the  Children  to  assemble  for 
that  purpose,  and  attend  and  examine  his  patients  at  the  proper  time 
to  see  that  each  individual  are  secure  from  the  danger  of  the  small  Pox 
at  25  cents  per  head,  and  he  believes  that  no  person  can  possible  do  this 
nice  business  and  do  it  justice  for  a  smaller  fee  and  be  the  gainer." 

These  proposals  were  accepted  with  the  provisions 
reserved — there  must  be  some  Yankee  to  the  trade — 
that  all  above  six  hundred  were  to  be  treated  gratis. 
And  if  any  one  doubts  that  this  Dr.  Fansher  was  an 
important  man  just  at  this  time,  let  him  read  the  names 
of  the  committee  chosen  to  inspect  him, "  two  from  each 
district  and  three  in  the  districts  where  the  clergymen 
reside:"  No.  1,  Rev.  Samuel  Walker,  Squires  Shove, 
Fitch  Pool ;  2,  Rev.  Jere.  Chaplin,  Nath'l  Putnam ; 
3,  Zerub'l  Porter,  Eben  Putnam,  Jr.;  4,  Eleazer  Put- 
nam, Daniel  Putnam;  5,  Rev.  Benj.  Wadsworth,  Jo- 
seph Hutchinson  ;  fi,  Nathan  Felton,  Jonathan  Proc- 
tor ;  7,  Jesse  Upton,  Asa  Gardner;  8,  John  Marsh, 
Amos  King,  3d;  9,  John  Mansfield,  John  Douty;  10, 
Jona.  Walcut,  John  Jacobs ;  11,  Gideon  Foster,  Eli- 
jah C.  Webster;  12,  Rich'd  Osborn,  Nathan  Poor. 

The  following  resolutions  passed  also  at  this  time 
are  well  in  advance  of  the  times: 

"  Resolved,  That  this  Town  entertain  a  high  opinion  of  Vaccination, 
and  consider  it  (when  conducted  by  skilful  and  experienced  hands)  a 
sure  and  certain  substitute  for  the  small  Pox. 

"Resolved,  That  this  Meeting  deems  it  the  indispensable  duty  of  a 
commi.nity  to  make  use  of  the  means  that  Divine  Previdence  has  given 
us  to  guard  against  every  impending  evil  to  which  we  are  exposed,  espe- 
cially those  which  involve  the  health  or  the  Lives  of  the  Inhabitants." 


CHAPTER   XXXIII. 

DANVERS     (Continued). 
REVOLUTIONARY   HISTORY. 

Not  long  after  the  incorporation  of  Danvers,  began 
the  muttering  of  discontent  all  through  the  colonies 
because  of  the  hardness  of  heart  of  the  Pharaoh 
beyond  the  seas,  and  his  oppression  of  his  people. 
Long,  long  years  was  the  storm  brewing,  and  only  the 
few  saw  with  prophetic  eye  in  the  j^lay  of  lightning 
on  the  distant  cloud  the  outlines  of  that  fearful  word, 
Revolution.  These  years  sifted  out  the  hearts  of  men 
with  crucial  test,  and  when  from  the  nearing  cloud 
rolled  out  the  thunder  of  war,  patriotism  had  heroes 
for  leaders. 

The  "  writs  of  assistance  "  were  issued  in  1761 ;  the 


DANVEKS. 


445 


odious  stamp  act  passed  in  1765,  when  Franklin 
wrote,  "The  sun  of  liberty  is  set,"  and  American 
merchants  agreed  to  non-importation  until  its  repeal. 
In  that  year  the  Colonial  Congress  met  in  New 
York  at  the  invitation  of  Massachusetts,  which  form- 
ulated the  rights  of  colonists,  beginning  "  No  taxation 
without  representation."  New  taxes  and  the  act  for 
the  enforced  quartering  of  troops  by  citizens  in  1767  ; 
the  refusal  of  Boston  to  furnish  quarters;  the 
order  for  the  arrest  and  transmission  to  England  of 
leaders  of  the  opposition ;  three  years  of  constant 
irritation  and  a  massacre  in  the  streets  of  Boston, 
March,  1770;  the  tea-party,  December,  1773;  the 
Boston  Port  Bill ;  the  first  Continental  Congress ; 
John  Hancock's  Provincial  Congress  at  Cambridge 
and  its  measures  for  committees  of  safety  and  minute 
men,  1774;  then  Lexington,  war,  independence,  the 
United  States  of  America. 

Danvers  kept  pace  with  these  events.  How  well 
its  citizens  grasped  the  situation  of  the  times  and  how 
forcibly  and  well  they  expressed  themselves,  it  has 
been  left  on  the  records  for  any  to  read  who  will. 
They  came  together  after  the  passage  of  the  stamp 
act;  Thomas  Porter  was  their  representative  in  the 
General  Court,  and  these  are  the  words  in  which  they 
instructed  him : 

"  S^  we  the  Freeholders  and  Other  Inhabitants  of  said  Town  of  Dan- 
vers, in  Town  Meeting  assemblad  the  Twenty-tJrst  of  October,  A.  D. 
1765,  Professing  tlie  Greatest  Loyalty  to  our  Must  Gracious  Sovereign 
and  our  Sincere  Regard  and  Reverence  for  the  Brittish  Parliament  ai 
the  Most  Powerfull  and  Respectable  Body  of  Men  on  Earth,  yet  being 
Deeply  Sensible  of  the  Difficultys  and  Distresses  to  which  that  August 
Assembly's  Late  Exertions  of  their  Power  in  and  by  the  Stamp  Act,  must 
Necessarily  Expose  us,  Thinks  it  Proper,  in  the  Present  Critical  Con- 
juncture of  affairs,  to  give  you  the  following  Instructions,  Viz  :  That  you 
Promote  and  Readily  Joyn  in  Such  Dutifull  Remonstrances  and  Humble 
Petitions  to  the  King  and  Parliament  and  Other  Decent  Measures  as 
may  have  a  Tendency  to  Obtain  a  Repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  or  aleviation 
of  the  Heavy  Burdens  thereby  Imposed  on  the  Brittish  Colonies. 

And  in  as  Much  as  great  Tumults  Tending  to  the  Subversion  of  Gov- 
ernment have  Lately  Happened  &  Several  Outrages  Committed  by  some 
Evil  Minded  People  in  the  Capital  Town  of  this  Province,  you  are  there- 
fore Directed  to  Bear  Testimony  against  and  do  all  in  your  Power  to 
Seppress  &  prevent  all  Eiortoss  Assemblys  and  unlawfull  Acts  of  Vio- 
lence upon  the  Persons  or  Substances  of  any  of  his  Majesty's  Subjects  ; 
And  that  you  Do  not  give  your  Assent  to  any  Act  of  Assembly  that  shall 
Imply  the  Willingness  of  your  Constituants  to  Submit  to  any  Internal 
Tax  that  are  or  shall  be  Imposed  on  us  Otherwise  than  by  the  Great  and 
General  Court  of  this  Province,  according  to  the  Constitution  of  this 
Government,  and  that  you  be  carefull  not  to  give  your  Assent  to  any 
Extravigant  Grants  out  of  the  Publick  Treasurery. 

"Other  Matters  we  leave  to  your  Prudence,  Trusting  you  will  Act 

with  Honour  &  Justice  to  your  Constituants  and  Due  Regard  to  the 

Publick  Wellfair. 

"Attest:  Akc».  Dale,  T.  CUr. 

On  the  20th  of  September,  1768,  a  meeting  was 
held  at  the  North  Meeting-house  to  "see  if  the  town 
shall  send  one  or  more  persons  to  joyn  committies  of 
Boston  and  other  towns  in  a  convention  to  be  holden 
at  Fanueil  Hall  on  the  22nd  instant,"  and  by  unani- 
mous vote  Mr.  Samuel  Holten,  Jr.,  was  desired  to 
represent  the  town  in  the  convention.  In  December 
following  he  was  voted  two  pounds  and  fifteen  shil- 
lings for  his  service.  Dr.  Holten  was  charged  "  to 
look  well  to   the  rights  of  the  people,"  and  so  con- 


spicuous was  his  service  among  the  "  Sons  of  Liberty" 
that,  as  will  be  seen,  they  were  in  constant  requisi- 
tion wherever  there  was  work  for  a  mind  ready  for 
wise  counsel  and  a  heart  full  of  untiring  devotion. 
Let  a  few  words  be  here  written  of  him,  just  as  his 
name  first  appears,  though  it  be  partly  in  anticipation 
of  events  which  should  follow  later. 

Samuel  Holten  was  born  June  9,  1738 ;  he  died 
January  2,  1816,  in  the  seventy-eighth  year  of  his 
age,  and  is  recalled  as  an  old  man  by  a  few  verj'  old 
citizens.  He  was  of  the  third  generation  from  Jo- 
seph Houlton,  an  original  settler  of  Salem  Village, 
and  one  of  the  honored  heads,  the  line  being  Joseph, 
Henry,  Samuel,  Samuel.  Samuel,  Jr.,  studied  medi- 
cine with  Dr.  Jonathan  Prince,  whose  home  was  on 
the  southern  slope  of  the  Asylum  hill.  He  began 
practice  when  quite  young  in  Gloucester,  but  soon 
returned  here.  In  his  thirtieth  year  he  was  chosen 
representative  to  the  General  Court.  His  services  in 
the  convention  of  1768  have  been  alluded  to.  He  was 
in  the  Provincial  Congress  of  1775,  an  active  member 
of  the  general  Committee  of  Safety,  a  member  of  the 
Executive  Council  under  the  provisional  government, 
and  soon  his  profession  and  all  other  interests,  save 
those  of  his  country,  were  abandoned.  He  was  a 
delegate  in  1778  to  the  Congress  which  framed  the 
Articles  of  Confederation,  being  forty  years  old  when 
his  sphere  of  usefulness  so  broadened,  and  at  some 
time  he  presided  over  the  body,  thus  occupying  tem- 
porarily "  the  first  seat  of  honor  in  his  country."  He 
was  five  years  in  Congress  under  the  coniederation, 
and  two  under  the  constitution.  Ill-health  prevented 
his*  longer  acceptance  of  the  willing  suffrages  of  his 
constituents.  At  home,  he  was  five  years  in  the  Sen- 
ate and  twelve  years  in  the  Council.  Though  he 
seems  to  have  made  no  special  study  of  law,  his  rep- 
utation for  probity  and  good  sense  was  such  that  he 
was  appointed  as  early  as  1776  a  judge  of  Common 
Pleas  for  Essex  County,  a  po-ition  which  he  held 
about  thirty-two  years.  From  1796  to  1815  he  was 
judge  of  probate  for  Essex  County.  Duties  to  the 
State  and  the  country  did  not,  however,  alienate  him 
from  the  small  affairs  of  his  own  town.  His  name 
will  appear  most  conspicuously  in  the  lists  of  town 
officers, — selectman,  town-clerk,  moderator,  treasurer 
for  twenty-four  years,  even  hog-reeve.  In  the  church 
and  parish  he  was  equally  useful,  being  often  instru- 
mental as  an  arbiter  in  matters  of  difference  and  del- 
icacy to  bring  them  to  a  happy  issue.  His  home  was 
the  somewhat  ancient  and  stately  house  where  the 
street  which  bears  his  name  makes,  after  passing 
through  Tapleyville,  a  sharp  bend  to  the  Village 
church, — now  owned  by  Thomas  Palmer.  A  remi- 
niscence of  his  early  practice  as  a  physician  has  been 
preserved, — 

Mr,  Jebemiah  Page  to  Sam'l  Holten,  Jun.,  Dr. 
1763.  £    »•      <*• 

Jan  28  to  Feby  3d.     To  eleven  visits  &  divers  preparations  of 

medicines  for  your  first  child  .       .1 1     17    10 


446 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Feb  1 6  to  March  7.     To  15  visits  &  sundry  medicines  prepared 

and  exhibited  for  your  last  child 2    12      0 

4      9     10 
28th.     By  medicines  returned  2s.  8d. 
March  14.    By  cash  to  make  change. 

Errors  Excep'd 

S.^^m'l  Holten  Jr 
four  shillings  and  13(i.  gave  in. 

The  Holten  High-School  and  the  Holten  Cemetery, 
wherein  he  is  buried,  also  bear  his  name.  He  was 
one  of  the  incorporators  of  the  Massachusett-^  Medi- 
cal Society  in  1781,  and  of  the  Massachusetts  Society 
for  Promoting  Agriculture  in  1792.  He  is  described 
as  majestic  in  form,  yet  graceful,  of  pleasing  counte- 
nance and  engaging  manners.  "  He  was  not  a  bril- 
liant man,  and  perhaps  not  a  great  man  in  ability  for 
any  one  line  of  action  ;  but  he  was  great  in  capacity 
for  general  accomplishment,  in  balance  of  mind  and 
in  the  easy  and  regular  and  effective  working  of  all 
his  faculties  upon  whatever  service  they  might  be 
employed.  He  was  faithful,  too,  in  every  trust.  All 
things  considered,  he  was  the  most  remarkable  man 
the  town  has  ever  produced."  He  left  two  daughters, 
one  of  whom  married  Dr.  George  Osgood,  the  other, 
Jethro,  son  of  Colonel  Enoch  Putnam,  and  the  de- 
scendants of  Jethro's  son,  Philemon,  are  still  livina: 
near  the  old  homestead.  Having  in  mind  the  tradi- 
tional dignity  and  courtly  appearance  of  the  doctor, 
it  occasioned  a  smile  to  come  upon  Gideon  Putnam's 
record  of  a  certain  very  lively  meeting  over  the  Wa- 
ter's River  Bridge,  when,  "there  being  a  Considerable 
Noise,  the  moderator  got  up  on  his  seat  and  Called 
for  order  and  made  a  Speech  to  the  people.''  This 
was  the  doctor. 

The  men  of  Danvers  were  warned  to  meet  May  28, 
1770,  "  to  see  what  methods  said  inhabitants  will 
come  into,  in  regard  to  the  Publick  Grievances  the 
Province  Labours  under  at  this  Day,  in  Particular,  In 
regard  to  a  Duty  on  Tea,  etc.,  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
Raising  a  Revenue  out  of  America,  and  to  Act  upon 
said  affair  what  may  be  thought  most  proper."  Dr. 
Holten,  Arch.  Dale,  Captain  William  Shillaber,  Dr. 
Amos  Putnam  and  Gideon  Putnam  were  instructed  to 
consider  and  report,  and  what  they  reported  was  thus 
adopted  : 

"  Voted  that  this  Town  Highly  Approve  of  the  Spirited  Conduct  of  the 
Merchants  of  our  Metropolis,  and  the  other  Maritime  Town  in  this  Prov- 
ince in  an  Agreement  of  Non  importation  well  calculated  to  Restore  our 
Invaluable  Rights  and  Liberties.  Voted  that  we  will  not  ourselves  (to 
our  knowledge)  or  by  any  person  for  or  under  us,  Directly  or  Indirectly 
Purchase  of  such  Person  or  Persons  any  Goods  whatsoever,  and,  as  far  as 
we  can  effect  it,  will  withdraw  our  connection  from  every  Person  who 
shall  Import  Goods  from  Great  Britain  Contrary  to  the  agreement  of  the 
Merchants  aforesaid. 

"  Voted  that  we  will  not  Drink  any  foreign  Tea  ourselves,  and  use  our 
best  Endeavours  to  prevent  ou"r  Families,  and  those  Connected  with  them, 
from  the  use  thereof;  from  this  Date  until  the  Act  imposing  a  Duty  on 
that  Article  be  repealed,  or  a  general  Importation  shall  take  place.  Cases 
of  sickness  Excepted. 

"  Voted,  that  the  Town  Choose  a  Committee  of  Twelve  men  to  carry  a 
Copy  of  these  votes  to  every  Householder  for  him  to  sign,  and  in  case 
any  Person  refuse  to  sign  ;  as  above  said,  he  shall  be  Looked  upon  as  an 
Enemy  to  the  Liberties  of  the  people,  and  shall  have  their  Name  Regis- 
ter'd  in  the  Town  Book. 

"  Voted,  that  a  copy  of  these  Votes  be  printed  in  the  Essex  Gazette,  that 


the  Publick  may  know  the  sentiments  of  this  town.  The  foregoing  re- 
port being  several  times  read,  voted  to  accept  the  report  by  a  unanimous 
vote. 

"  Voted,  John  Nichols,  Arch'.  Dale,  Benj^  Putnam,  Dr.  Amos  Putnam, 
Capt.  Flint,  Benj».  Russell,  Jun'.,  Samuel  Gardner,  Jona.  Tarbel,  Jesper 
Needham,  Wm.  Shillaber,  Joseph  Seccomb  &  Deacon  Benj».  Sawyer  ;  Be 
a  Committee  for  the  purposes  mentioned  in  the  foregoing  report.  Then 
the  Moderator  Dissolved  the  Meeting. 

"  Attest:  Sam'l  Holten,  Junr.,  T.  Cler." 

In  this  connection  a  story  is  told  of  the  wife  of  a 
distinguished  patriot  who,  not  quite  able  to  forego  the 
luxury  of  enjoying  with  a  few  callers  a  sip  of  the  for- 
bidden beverage,  kept  within  the  agreement  not  to 
drink  a  drop  within  the  house,  by  entertaining  them 
on  top  of  the  house.  The  incident  has  been  charm- 
ingly told  in  the  verse  of  Lucy  Larcom.  The  old 
house  is  a  conspicuous  figure  on  the  Plains,  and  one 
can  easily  imagine,  within  the  low  railing  which  still 
surrounds  the  easy  slope  of  the  upper  portion  of  the 
gambrel  roof,  that  little  party  enjoying  their  innocent 
rebellion.  A  story  is  told,  too,  of  the  suspicion  of 
certain  husbands  of  the  south  parish  that  a  large 
coffee-pot  "several  sizes  smaller  than  a  common  light- 
house," was  surreptitiously  used  by  their  wives  at 
quiltings  and  such  gatherings,  for  tea-drinking,  and 
the  practice  was  effectively  broken  up  by  the  discov- 
ery, one  night  when  the  grounds  were  being  concealed 
as  usual  behind  the  back-log,  of  what  remained  of 
one  of  those  little  creatures  which  inhabit  gardens, 
hop  well  and  look  ugly. 

A  number  of  years  after,  licenses  to  sell  tea  were 
issued,  in  this  form  : 

"Mrs.  Mercy  Porter  is  permitted  to  sell  Bohea  and  other  India  Teas 
by  Retail  for  one  year  to  commence  from  the  Day  of  the  Date  hereof. 
"  Danvers,  Feb'y  20,  1782. 

"  Sylvester  Proctor.    ]  Selectmen 
"  Daniel  Putnam.  [■         of 

"Stephen  Needham.    J  Danvers." 

Similar  permits  were  at  the  same  time  granted  to 
Major  Samuel  Epes,  John  Dodge,  Eben'r  Sprague, 
Captain  Gideon  Foster,  Zach.  King,  David  Foster, 
Nathan  Proctor  and  Captain  Samuel  Page. 

In  the  middle  of  January,  1773,  the  worshippers 
at  the  North  Meeting-House  and  at  the  South  Meet- 
ing-House,  found  posted  conspicuously  a  warrant 
under  the  hand  of  Gideon  Putnam,  town  clerk,  calling 
upon  the  freeholders  and  other  inhabitants  to  assem- 
ble in  town-meeting  at  two  o'clock  on  the  afternoon 
of  the  following  day  at  the  South  Meeting-House  "  to 
see  what  method  said  inhabitants  will  take  in  order 
that  our  civil  Privileges  may  be  Restored  and  trans- 
mitted Inviolate  to  the  latest  Posterity."  At  the 
meeting  so  called  Joseph  Southwick  was  moderator. 
A  motion  was  carried  to  choose  a  committee  to  take 
into  consideration  our  civil  privileges  and  to  "  Draw 
up  something  proper  for  the  town  to  act."  It  was 
voted  that  Francis  Symonds,  Benjamin  Proctor,  Gid- 
eon Putnam,  Captain  William  Shillaber,  Doc'r  Amos 
Putnam,  Tarrant  Putnam,  Jun.,  and  Wm.  Pool  be 
this  committee.  In  two  weeks  the  committee  pre- 
sented this  report : 


DANVERS. 


447 


"The  Freeholders  &  other  Inhabitants  of  the  Town  of  Uanvers  Leg- 
ally assembled,  by  adjournment  y°  1st  Day  of  February,  1773,  Taking 
into  Consideration  the  Unhappy  Situation  of  our  Civil  Privileges, — Pro- 
ceeded to  Pass  the  Following  Resolves — (viz. :) 

"  I,  that  we  will  use  our  utmost  Eudeavoui-s  that  all  Constitutional 
Laws  are  Strictly  adheared  to.  and  Faithfully  Executed,  believing  that 
Next  to  our  duty  to  God,  Loyalty  to  our  King  (in  a  Constitutional  way) 
is  Eequired  in  Order  to  the  wellbeingof  the  Community. 

"  II,  that  when  Government  becomes  Tyrannical  &  Oppresive  we  hold 
ourselves  bound  in  Duty  to  Ourselves,  &  Posterity,  to  use  every  Lawful 
Method  to  Check  the  Same,  least  it  Deprive  the  Subject  of  Every  I'riv- 
Icge  that  is  Valuable. 

"Ill,  that  it  is  the  Opinion  of  this  Town,  that  the  Eights  of  the  Col- 
lonists  in  General,  &  this  Province  in  Particular,  have  of  late  been 
greatly  Infringed  upon  by  the  Mother  Country  by  unconstitutional 
Measurs  which  have  been  Adopted  by  the  Ministry,  tending  wholly  to 
Overthrow  our  Civil  Privileges,  Particularlj'  in  Assuming  the  Power  of 
Legislation  for  the  Colonists,  in  Raining  a  Revenue  in  the  Colonies 
without  their  Consent,  in  Creating  a  Number  of  officers  Unknown  in 
the  Charter,  and  investing  such  Officers  with  Powers  wholly  unconsti- 
tutional, and  Distructive  to  the  Liberties  we  have  a  right  to  Enjoy  as 
Engleshmen  ;  in  Rendering  the  Governor  Independent  of  the  General 
Assembly  for  liis  support,  and  by  Instructions  from  the  Court  of  Great 
Brittain  the  first  Branch  of  our  Legislature  has  so  far  forgot  his  Duty  to 
the  Province,  as  that  he  hath  Refused  his  Consent  to  an  Act  imposing  a 
Tax  for  the  Necessary  support  of  Government,  unless  Certain  Persons 
Pointed  out  by  the  Ministry  were  Exempted  from  Paying  their  just 
Proportion  of  said  Taxes,  and  hath  Given  up  the  Chief  Fortress  of  the 
Province  (Oastle  William)  into  the  Hands  of  Troops,  over  wlioom  he 
Declared  he  had  no  Controul  ;  in  Extending  the  Power  of  the  Courts  of 
Vice  Admiralty  to  such  a  Degree  as  Deprives  the  People  of  the  CoUonies 
(in  Great  Measure)  of  their  inestimable  Rights  of  Tryals  by  juries,  &  in 
that  we  have  Reason  to  fear  (from  Information)  the  judges  of  the  Supe- 
rior Court  &  &c.,  are  Rendered  independent  of  the  People  for  their 
Liberties. 

"IIII,  that  an  act  of  Parliament  intitled  an  Act  for  the  better  Perser. 
vation  of  his  Majestif  s  dockyards  &  &c.  (in  consequence  of  which.  Com 
missioners  have  been  Appointed  to  inquire  after  the  Persons,  Concerned 
in  burning  his  Majesties  Schooner,  the  Gaspee,  att  Providence)  haS 
Greatly  Alarmed  us  tho  we  are  very  far  from  Pretending  to  justyfy  the 
Act,  yet  we  Apprehend  Such  Methods  very  Extraordinary,  as  the  Con- 
stitution has  Made  Provision  for  the  Punishment  of  Such  Offenders — 
by  all  which  it  appears  to  us,  that  in  Consequence  of  Some  Unguarded 
Conduct  of  Particular  Persons,  the  Colonies  in  General,  and  this  Prov- 
ince in  Particular  are,  for  our  Loyalty,  Constantly  receiving  the  Punish- 
ment due  to  Rebellion  Only. 

"V,  that  we  will  use  all  Lawful  Endeavours  for  Recovering,  main- 
taining &  Preserving  the  invaluable  rights  &  Privileges  of  this  Peoplp 
and  Stand  Ready  (if  need  be)  to  Bisque  our  Lives  &  fortunes  in  De- 
fence of  those  Liberties  which  o>ir  forefathers  Purchased  at  so  Dear  a 
Rate. 

"VI,  that  the  Inhabitants  of  this  Town  do  hereby  Instruct  their  Rep. 
resentative,  that  he  use  his  Influence,  in  the  Great  &  General  Court,  or 
Assembly  of  this  Province,  &  in  a  Constitutional  way  Earnestly  Con. 
tend  for  tho  just  Rights  &  Privileges  of  the  People  that  they  may  be 
handed  down  inviolate  to  the  Late  t  Posterity,  and  as  this  depends  in  a 
Great  Measure  on  the  Steady,  firm  and  United  Endeavours  of  all  the 
Provinces  on  the  Continent,  we  further  Instruct  )iim  to  use  his  influ- 
ence that  a  Strict  Union  &  Correspondence  be  Cultivated  &  Preserved 
between  the  Same,  and  that  they  Unitedly  Petition  his  Majesty  &  Parli- 
ment  for  the  Redress  of  all  our  Publick  grievancies ;  we  furtlier  In- 
struct him,  by  no  Means  to  (Jonsent  to  give  up  any  of  our  Privileges, 
whether  Derived  from  Nature  or  Charter  which  we  has  as  just  a  Right 
to  Enjoy  as  anj'  of  the  Inhabitants  of  Great  Brittain  ;  also  that  he  use 
his  Endeavours  that  ample  and  Honerable  Sallarie.s  be  Granted  to  his 
Excellency,  the  Governor,  and  to  the  Honerable  judges  of  the  Superior 
Court  &  &c.,  adequate  to  their  Respective  Dignities. 

"  The  foregoing  was  Put  to  vote  Paragraph  by  Paragraph  and  they 
all  past  in  the  affirmative. 

"Fo^ed,  that  a  Committee  of  three  men  be  appointed  to  Correspond 
with  tho  Committee  of  Correspondence  of  the  Town  of  Boston  and 
Other  Towns  in  this  Province  as  Ocation  shall  or  may  Require. 

"Voted,  Doctor  Samuel  Holten  be  one  of  Said  Committee. 

"Voted,  Tarrant  Putnam,  Jur.,  be  one  of  Said  Committee. 

"Voted,  Capt.  William  Shillaber  be  one  of  Said  Committee. 

"Voted,  that  the  above  Committee  be  Desiied  to  Send  an  attested  Copy 


of  the  Resolves  of  this  Town  to  the  Committee  of  Correspondence  of  the 
Town  of  Boston." 

"Voted,  that  this  meeting  be  Desolved  &  the  moderator  Desolved  it 
accordingly. 

"  Attest,  Gideon  Putnam,  T.  Clerk." 

Early  in  June,  1774,  the  Eoyal  Governor,  General 
Thomas  Gage,  finding  Boston  too  hot  to  be  comfort- 
able, came  out  into  the  country  and  made  his  resi- 
dence in  Danvers.     The  place  thus  distinguished,  not 
far  from  the  present  division  line  of  Danvers  and  Pea- 
body,  called  the  "  Collins  House,"  the  residence  of 
Francis  Peabody,  has  been  kept   in  repair  and  pre- 
served with  fine  taste  in  colonial  style,  and  with  its 
approach  bordered  by  lines   of  ancient  over-hanging 
trees,  is  one  of  the  finest  old  mansions  to  be  seen 
anywhere.     It  was  built  by  Robert  Hooper,  a  mag- 
nate of  literal  "  codfish  aristocracy."     He  was  the  son 
of  a  poor  man   but  rose   to  great  wealth,  and  for  a 
time  nearly  monopolized  the  fishing  business  of  Mar- 
blehead.     Partly  from  the  grandeur  of  his  mode  of 
life  and  equipages,  but  more  especially  because  of  his 
personal   honor    and    integiity    he    was    commonly 
called  "  King  Hooper."     It  is  a  tradition  among  the 
fishermen  that  he,  rare  exception  to  men  similarly 
engaged,  never  cheated  them  or  took  advantage  of 
their  ignorance.     He   built   this   house   in  Danvers 
about  1770.     While  Governor  Gage  resided  here  he 
was  attended  by  a  strong  detachment  of  the  Sixty- 
Fourth  Royal  Infantry,  who  were  encamped  on  the 
opposite  plain.     The  ])resence  of  these  soldiers  was  to 
the  growing  hostility  of  the  people,  what  the  color  of 
their  uniforms  is  to  the  animal  typically  representing 
English  character.     They  were  under  good  discipline 
and  generally  behaved  themselves  well.     The  grand- 
mother of  Deacon  Fowler,  a  daughter  of  Archelaus 
Putnam,   remembers   that  one   day  two  officers  sur- 
prised her  in  Colonel  Hutchinson's,  her  stepfather's, 
orchard  at  New  Mills.     To  one  who  commenced  to 
climb  the  fence,  the  other  said,  "  Wait  till  the  girl 
goes  away;  do  not  frighten  her."     Mrs.  Fowler  used 
to  relate  of  Governor  Gage  that  he  often  conversed 
with  Colonel  Hu!chinson,  was  affable  and  courteous, 
and  once,  while  sitting  on   a  log  before  the  door,  he 
said,  "  We  shall  soon  quell  these  feelings  and  govern 
all  this,"  sweeping  out  his  arm  with  an  expressive 
ge-'ture.     The  camp  was  watchful  against  surprise,  re- 
alizing how  unwelcome  was  its  presence,  and  of  what 
a  lively  spirit  of  rebellion  they  were  in   the  midst. 
"Part  of  the  Sixty-Fourlh  Regiment  encamped  near 
the  G(n^ernor's,  we  hear,  were  under  arms  all  last 
Friday,"    reads  a  contemporaneous   newspaper  item. 
Some  pranks  were  played  on  the  troops;  at  the  drum- 
call  to  arms,  a  man  so  well  disguised  as  to  make  his 
identity   uncertain,   but   said   to   have    been   Aaron 
Cheever,  dashed  in  on  horseback  shouting  "  Hurry  to 
Boston  !  the  Devil  is  to  pay  !  "     Early  in  September 
the  regiment  departed.     There  was  a  large  oak  on  the 
plain  which  had  been  used  for  a  whipping-post  in  the 
camp.     The  timber  of  this  tree  was  afterwards  used  in 


448 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


building  the  frigate  Essex  at  Salem.  The  iron-staple 
to  which  the  British  soldiers  were  strung  up  for  the 
lash  was  found  imbedded  in  the  Avood,  which,  by  a 
singular  turn,  became  the  stern-post  of  the  frigate. 

As  one  passes  the  old  Collins  house  it  is  common 
to  hear  of  a  bullet-hole  which  has  been  preserved  in 
the  door,  and  there  are  various  stories  as  to  where  the 
bullet  came  from,  Hon.  Daniel  P.  King  stood 
sponsor  to  one  of  which  this  is  the  substance:  On 
the  gate-posts  were  large  balls,  ornamented  with  lead. 
A  party  of  patriots  going  to  join  the  army  helped 
themselves  to  this  precious  material.  The  owner 
came  to  the  door  and  remon.strated  with  such  abusive 
ei)ithets  that  a  man  hinted  that  his  presence  could 
be  dispensed  with  by  firing  pretty  near  where  he 
stood.  "  King  Hooper"  was  supposed  to  be  tainted 
with  toryism.  At  a  town-meeting  in  May,  1775,  "a 
letter  was  read  from  Mr.  Hooper,  voted  not  satisfac- 
tory to  the  inhabitants."  Later  he  made,  in  Marble- 
head,  a  more  public  recantation,  and  was  received 
again  in  public  favor,  but  he  died,  in  1790,  insolvent. 
The  house  passed  to  the  hands  of  Judge  Benajah 
Collins,  whose  name  it  commonly  bears.  At  one 
time  it  was  in  the  Tapley  family,  and  again  owned 
and  occupied  by  Rev.  P.  S.  Ten-Broeck,  who  kept  a 
girls'  boarding-school  there.  It  is  said  there  were  but 
two  native  born  Danvers  tories, — Rev.  William 
Clark,  son  of  Rev.  Peter  Clark,  who,  in  1768,  was  an 
Episcopal  minister  in  Quincy,  and  was  afterwards 
confined  in  a  prison-ship  in  Boston  harbor ;  the  other, 
James  Putnam,  went  to  ELalifax,  became  one  of  the 
council  and  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  died 
at  St.  Johns  in  1789. 

In  the  winter  of  1774-75  the  clouds  grew  very  black, 
the  mutterings  more  unmistakable.  On  the  21st  of 
November  the  town  turned  its  back  to  England  by 
voting  to  adhere  strictly  to  all  the  resolves  and  recom- 
mendations of  the  Provincial  Congress.  Early  in  Jan- 
uary each  man  was  supj^lied  with  "  an  effective  fire-arm, 
bayonet,  pouch,  knapsack,  thirty  rounds  of  cartridges 
and  ball,"  and  discipline  was  required  three  times  a 
week,  and  oftener  as  opjjortunity  may  ofter.  Before 
long  something  happened. 

One  of  the  characters  of  New  Mills  was  Richard 
Skidmore,  a  drummer  at  the  siege  of  Louisburg,  a 
soldier  and  privateersman  in  the  Revolution,  and,  as 
will  be  noticed,  a  member  of  the  alarm  list  of  1814. 
At  the  head  of  the  latter  company,  an  old  man,  he 
vigorously  beat  the  same  drum  which  he  had  used 
at  Louisburg.  A  barrel  of  rum  once  fell  to  his  share 
of  a  prize ;  as  long  as  it  lasted,  he  said,  he  heard 
"  How  do  you  do,  Mr.  Skidmore  ?  "  but  as  soon  as  the 
rum  was  gone,  it  was  "  How  are  you,  old  Skid  ?  " 
again.  Skidmore  was  a  wheelwright,  and  had  made 
several  vehicles  of  a  pattern  not  commonly  seen  in 
village  shops,  gun-carriages.  The  guns  themselves 
were  concealed  somewhere,  it  is  supposed,  at  the  North 
Fields.  Information  of  their  existence  reached  Bos- 
ton, and  Colonel  Leslie's  regiment  was  sent  to  effect 


their  capture.  Of  the  bloodless  repulse  at  North 
Bridge,  the  persistent  yet  prudent  conduct  of  Colonel 
Leslie,  the  valiant  resistance  of  the  men  who  blocked 
the  march,  the  story  belongs  to  Salem,  and  will  there 
be  found.  Danvers  men  flew  to  the  spot  as  the  alarm 
spread  swiftly  over  the  country.  Had  one  shot  been 
fired,  right  there  would  have  begun  the  war.  This 
was  the  26th  of  February,  1775. 

Some  seven  weeks  later  a  similar  search  party 
stealthily  moved  out  from  Charlestown  to  seize  stores 
reported  concealed  at  Concord.  Paul  Revere  was  out 
that  night.  Then  followed  Lexington,  and  Liberty 
entered  upon  her  baptism  of  blood. 

It  was  between  five  and  six  o'clock  on  the  morn- 
ing of  April  19,  tiiat  the  engagement  took  place  on 
Lexington  common.  The  British  moved  on  and 
arrived  at  Concord,  some  six  or  seven  miles  beyond, 
about  nine  o'clock.  By  that  time  the  rapid  alarm  had 
reached  Danvers,  sixteen  miles  away.  It  met  with 
instant  response.  Two  companies  of  minute  men  and 
three  companies  of  militia,  from  one  hundred  and 
fifty  to  two  hundred  men,  hurried  to  the  scene  of  ac- 
tion. Learning  of  the  retreat  from  Concord,  the  ob- 
jective point  was  to  reach  Cambridge  soon  enough  to 
cut  off  the  British  from  effecting  a  return.  To  do  this 
they  went  on  a  run,  and  in  a  few  hours  they  were  in 
the  midst  of  action.  Few  well  men  could  be  found 
in  Danvers  that  day  ;  at  New  Mills  not  one. 

The  women  who  were  left  alone  at  New  Mills 
gathered  at  the  house  of  Col.  Hutchinson  to  watch 
and  wait  together.  To  their  anxious  vigil  news  ol 
the  fight  came  on  the  evening  of  the  nineteenth. 
Were  the  men  safe?    Most  of  them.    Were  any  hurt? 

Some.     Were  any ?     Yes,  young  bride  of  a  few 

weeks,  your  husband,  Jotham  Webb,  was  one  of  the 
first  martyrs  to  Liberty.  Six  others,  only  one  more 
than  twenty-five  years  old,  lost  their  lives,  of  the  men 
who  went  out  from  Danvers, — Henry  Jacobs,  Samuel 
Cook,  Ebenezer  Goldthwaite,  George  Southwick, 
Benjamin  Daland,  Jr.  and  Perley  Putnam.  Nathan 
Putnam  and  Dennison  Wallace  were  wounded;  Jos. 
Bell,  missing. 

On  the  evening  of  the  twentieth,  several  men  on 
horseback  drove  up  to  the  house  where  the  women 
waited,  escorting  a  horse-cart  which  bore  a  precious 
burden.  On  the  kitchen  floor  of  that  house  which  is 
still  standing,  the  dead  were  unrolled  from  the  bloody 
sheets,  and  the  next  morning  were  taken  away  for 
burial.  Danvers  suffered  more  than  any  other  town 
after  Lexington.  The  corner-stone  of  the  monument 
at  the  corner  of  Main  and  Washington  Streets,  Pea- 
body,  was  erected  in  commemoration  of  the  dead, 
April  20,  1835,  the  sixtieth  anniversary  of  the  fight. 
Gen.  Gideon  Foster,  who  led  the  way  to  Lexington, 
took  part  in  the  exercises,  and  a  number  of  survivors 
of  the  fight  were  present. 

Of  the  five  Danvers  companies  which  took  part  in 
the  flight,  two,  commanded  by  Captains  Samuel  Epi)s 
and  Gideon  Foster,  were  composed  mostly  of  south 


DANVERS. 


449 


parish  men,  and  their  muster  rolls  will  be  found 
under  the  history  of  Peabody.  The  three  other  com- 
panies were  composed  of  the  following  men,  most  of 
them  then  living  within  the  present  limits  of  Dan  vers  : 

Hutchinson's  Company. — Oajitoiii,  Israel  Hutchinson  ;  Lieutenants, 
Enoch  Putnam,  Aaron  Cheever  ;  Ensign,  Job  Whipple  ;  Privates,  Samuel 
Goodrich,  Bliphalet  Perley,  Nathaniel  Cheever,  Eben  Andrew,  James 
Biirley,  Samuel  Chase,  Nathaniel  Durton,  Henry  Dwinnels,  John  Fran- 
cis, William  Freetoe,  Nathan  Putnam,  James  Porter,  Tarrant  Putnam, 
Thomas  White,  Samuel  Baker,  Samuel  Fairfield,  Benjamin  Porter  (3d), 
Jonathan  Sawyer,  William  Towne,  W.  Warner,  Perley  Putnam,  Benja- 
min Shaw,  William  Batchelder,  Jotham  Webb.  Also  twenty-four  men 
from  Beverly. 

Page's  CoMP.iNV. —  Captain,  Jeremiah  Page  ;  Lieutenants,  .Joseph  Por- 
ter, Henry  Putnam  ;  Ensign,  Richard  Skidmore  ;  Privates,  Samuel  Stick- 
ney,  James  Putnam,  Benjamin  Putnam,  Sr.,  Daniel  Bootman,  David 
Bootman,  John  Nichols,  Jr.,  John  Brown,  Jethro  Putnam,  Jeremiah 
Putnam,  William  Fenno,  John  Ward,  Michael  Webb,  Benjamin  Kim- 
ball, Benjamin  Kent,  Stephen  Putnam,  Joseph  Smith,  Elisha  Hutchin- 
son, Benjamin  Stickey,  Mathevv  Whipple,  Enoch  Thurston,  Phillij 
Nurse,  Kobert  Endicott,  David  Felton,  Daniel  Verry,  David  Verry, 
Archelaus  Rea,  Jr.,  James  Goody,  Nathan  Porter,  Samuel  Whittemore, 
Nathan  Putnam,  Peter  Putnam,  Samuel  Fowler,  Samuel  Dutch,  Eben 
Jacobs,  Jr.,  Samuel  Page. 

Flint's  Company. —C'optom,  Samuel  Flint;  Lieutenants,  Daniel  Put- 
nam, Joseph  Putnam  ;  Ensign,  Israel  Putnam  ;  Privates,  Asa  Upton, 
Abel  Nichols,  Thomas  Andrew,  Amos  Tapley,  William  Putnam,  Joseph 
Daniels,  Joshua  Dodge,  Jonathan  Sheldon,  William  Goodale,  Benjamin 
Russell,  Mathew  Putnam,  Jolin  Hutchinson,  Jr.,  Aaron  Tapley,  Levi 
Preston,  Peter  Putnam,  Juhn  Preston,  Daniel  Lakeman,  Israel  Cheever, 
Eleazer  Pope,  Jr.,  Aaron  Gilbert,  Natlianiel  Smith,  Jonathan  Russell, 
Daniel  Russell,  Jethro  Russell,  John  Hutchinson,  Stephen  Russell,  Geo. 
Small,  Jr.,  Nathaniel  Pope,  Jr.,  Joseph  Tapley,  Simon  Mudge,  William 
Whittredge,  Josiah  Whittredge,  Eben  Mclutyre,  John  Ivettel,  Benjamin 
Nurse,  Eleazer  Goodale,  Amos  Buxton,  Jr.,  Reuben  Barthirk,  James 
Bnrch,  Michael  Cross,  Israel  Smith. 

There  was  another  Danvers  man  killed  at  Lexing- 
ton, the  only  one  credited  to  Medford, — Henry  Put- 
nam. He  was  the  youngest  son  of  Deacon  Eleazer 
Putnam,  and  sold  his  father's  homestead  about  1745 
to  Phinehas  Putnam,  great-grandfather  of  Charles  P. 
Preston,  the  present  occupant  of  the  estate.  Of  this 
Henry,  it  is  related  that,  while  on  a  journey  from 
Medford  to  Connecticut,  he  stopped  over  night  at 
Bolton,  fell  in  love  with  his  host's  daughter,  proposed 
in  the  morning,  was  immediately  married,  and,  with 
his  bride,  drove  back  her  dowry,  consisting  of  two 
cows  and  twelve  sheep.  He  was  captain  of  a  company 
at  Louisburg,  and  was  exempt  by  age  from  duty, 
when  he  followed  his  five  sons  to  Lexington. 

The  record  of  the  next  town-meeting  after  the  bat- 
tle, held  on  1st  day  of  May,  is  expressive  of  the 
watchfulness  of  Danvers  : 

"  Voted  that  there  be  two  watches  kept  in  the  town  of  Danvers.  Voted 
that  one  watch  be  kept  on  the  road  near  the  new  mills  and  the  other 
watch  at  the  croch  of  the  roads  near  Mr.  Francis  Symonds.  Voted  that 
each  watch  consist  of  13  men  every  night.  Voted,  to  choose  a  Commit- 
tee of  Seven  to  regulate  the  watches.  Voted,  John  Nichols,  Benjamin 
Proctor,  Benj.  Porter,  Capt.  Shillaber,  Nathaniel  Brown,  Stephen  Need- 
ham  and  Deacon  Asa  Putnam  be  said  Committee.  Voted  that  if  any  per- 
son refuse  to  watch  if  warned  by  the  Committee  (or  any  one  of  them) 
his  name  shall  be  returned  to  the  Committee  of  Inspection  for  this  town, 
and  if  his  reasons  are  not  judged  sufficient  he  shall  be  posted  in  the 
newspapers.  Voted,  to  choose  a  Committee  of  three  persons  to  procure 
teams  to  cart  stones  to  Watertown.  Mr.  Arch  Dale,  Capt.  John  Putnam 
&  Mr.  Jonathan  Tarble  was  chosen.  Voted,  to  be  concerned  with  the 
nabouring  towns  in  establishing  a  post  between  the  towns  of  Newbury 
Port  and  Cambridge.  Doctor  Putnam,  Mr.  Stephen  Needham  &  Capt. 
Epes  be  a  Committee  to  settle  the  affair  with  the  nabouring  towns.  Voted, 

29 


as  the  sense  of  this  Body  of  people  that  we  Disapprove  of  Fireing  any 
Guns  except  in  cases  of  alarm  or  actual  engagement." 

A  minute  may  here  be  made,  that  in  1850  Danvers 
received  a  courteous  invitation  to  be  present  at  the 
75th  anniversary  of  the  "  Concord  Fight,"  and  the 
delegation  sent  were  John  W.  Proctor,  John  Page, 
Robert  S.  Daniels,  Samuel  Preston,  Henry  Cook, 
Moses  Black,  Dr.  George  Osborne,  Daniel  Putnam, 
Jonathan  King,  Samuel  P.  Fowler,  Eben  Sutton, 
Elias  Savage  and  Fitch  Poole.  At  the  centennial  an- 
niversary our  selectmen  added  to  the  occasion  the 
dignity  of  their  presence. 

After  Lexington  the  yeomanry  suddenly  found 
themselves  a  besieging  army  about  Boston.  The  sec- 
ond Centennial  Congress  met  May  10,  1775,  recog- 
nized the  actual  existence  of  war,  appointed  Washing- 
ton commander-in-chief  and  commissioned  four 
major-generals  ;  but  the  only  commission  delivered, 
and  that  by  the  hands  of  Washington,  was  to  Israel 
Putnam,  a  son  of  Danvers,  whose  biography  is  a  mat- 
ter of  national  history. 

The  watch,  which  had  been  maintained  since 
Lexington,  was  discontinued  July  17,  1775,  Congress 
having  provided  a  guard  for  sea-port  towns.  In  Sep- 
tember following,  Colonel  Benedict  Arnold  camped  at 
Danvers  on  his  march  to  Quebec. 

And  now  that  which  at  first  was  the  dream  of  only 
the  most  daring  of  the  leaders,  became  moulded  into 
a  great  popular  idea — Independence.  On  the  7th  of 
June,  1776,  Lee,  of  Virginia,  offered  in  Congress  the 
resolutions  of  freedom,  which  were  not  adopted  until 
the  2d  of  July.  But  two  days  after  its  introduction, 
and  irrespective  of  it,  for  news  did  not  travel  by 
lightning,  the  citizens  of  Danvers  were  warned  to 
meet  at  the  South  meeting-house,  June  18,  to  con- 
sider a  resolve  of  "  the  late  House  of  Representatives 
passed  on  the  10th  Day  of  May,  1776,"  to  the  effect 
that  each  town  should  come  together  to  instruct  their 
representatives  in  the  next  General  Court  whether, 
in  case  of  a  declaration  of  independence  by  Congress, 
"they,  the  said  inhabitants  will  Solemnly  Engage 
with  their  Lives  and  Fortunes  to  Support  them  in  the 
Measure." 

Captain  William  Shillaber  was  moderator  of  the 
meeting  at  which  these  votes  were  passed : 

Voted  that  if  the  HonW^  Congress  for  the  Safety  of  the  United  Coloneys 
Declare  them  Independent  of  the  Kiugdom  of  great  Britain,  wo  the  In- 
habitants of  this  Town  do  Solemnly  Engage  with  our  live  aud  Fortuens 
to  Support  them  in  the  Measure. 

Voted  that  the  Town  Clark  be,  and  hereby  is  directed  Immediately  to 
Deliver  an  attested  Copy  of  the  Proceedings  of  this  Town  Respecting  In- 
dependentcy,  to  Maj'.  Samuel  Epes  Representative  of  said  Town,  for  his 
Instructions  how  to  Proceed  in  Case  the  Important  question  of  Indepen- 
dentcy  should  come  before  the  Honbio  House  of  Representatives  of  this 
Colony. 

The  Town  taking  into  Consideration  the  Paragraph  in  the  Warrant 
Respecting  giveing  a  bounty  to  their  minute  men  voted  to  give  a  Bounty 
to  one  quarter  part  of  the  militia  that  shall  be  Drafted  out  and  stand  at  a 
minutes  warning  Provided  they  March  voted  that  the  Bounty  or  present 
Given  shall  be  one  pound  p'  month  to  Each  minute  man  so  long  as  they 
Continue  in  the  Province  Service,  voted  to  disolve  this  meeting  and  the 
moderator  declared  this  meeting  Disolved  accordingly. 

"  Att  Stephen  Needham,  T  Clark. 


450 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


When,  on  the  nation's  birth-day  the  Declaration 
was  finally  adopted  by  Congress,  it  was  eagerly  wel- 
comed in  Danvers,  adopted  without  a  dissenting  vote, 
and  spread  for  all  to  read  upon  the  clerk's  records. 
The  Articles  of  Confederation  were  likewise  unani- 
mously approved,  February  9,  1778,  but  the  Consti- 
tution proposed  for  Massachusetts  that  year  met  an 
unanimous  vote  the  other  way.  From  the  summer  of 
1777  consideration  was  from  time  to  time  given  to  en- 
forcing the  "  acts  respecting  the  prices  of  goods  and 
all  other  articles  in  the  Town."  A  meeting  was  called 
July  5,  1779,  "  to  have  the  proceedings  of  Boston  of 
the  17th  of  June  last  communicated,  and  to  know  the 
minds  of  the  Inhabitants  of  the  Town  respecting  a 
convention  of  Delegates  from  the  several  commit- 
tees of  correspondence,  etc.,  in  the  State  proposed  to 
be  held  at  Concord  on  Wednesday,  the  14th  in- 
stant." 

On  this  it  was  resolved  "  that  the  town  will  do 
all  in  their  power  to  reduce  all  the  Exorbitant  prices 
of  the  necessaries  of  Life,  and  Desire  one  of  the 
Committee  of  Correspondence,  etc.,  to  attend  at  the 
said  convention  at  Concord  if  they  shall  think  pro- 
per." 

Dr.  Amos  Putnam  was  moderator  of  the  meeting, 
which,  August  2,  1779,  heard  and  considered  the  ac- 
tion of  the  convention.  Deacon  Edmund  Putnam, 
Colonel  Hutchinson,  Archelaus  Dale,  John  Epes, 
and  Dr.  Putnam  withdrew,  and,  after  a  short  ad- 
journment, reported  "  that  the  resolves  and  addresses 
of  the  convention  are  well  planned  for  the  Public 
Good,"  and  on  their  recommendation  this  vote  was 
passed : 

"  (Viz.) :  Resolved,  That  we  will  Exert  ourselves  and  do  all  iu  our 
power  to  carry  the  Same  with  all  the  wholesome  Laws  heretofore  made 
for  the  Like  Purpose  into  Execution,  and  in  Testimony  of  our  Sincerity 
therein  we  recommend  that  the  Inhabitants  of  this  Town  here  unto  Set 
their  hands  by  Subscribing  their  Names  from  Twenty  one  years  old  and 
upwards  and  that  the  Committee  of  Safty  be  Directed  to  offer  ye  same  to 
the  Inhabitants,  afforesaidand  deal  with  all  that  refuse  to  Sign  the  Same 
(if  any  should  be)  as  Directed  in  the  Eesolves  afforesiid,  and  that  the 
Town  Clerk  be  Directed  to  Give  out  Cepies  to  the  Several  members  of  the 
Committee  afforesaid  for  the  Like  Purpose. " 

Dr.  Putnam,  Aaron  Cheever,  Captain  Shillaberand 
Archelaus  Rea  were  added  to  the  Committee  of 
Safety.  At  a  later  time  it  was  voted  that  "  the  prices 
Set  by  the  Selectmen  and  Committe  of  Saftie  to  the 
Several  Articles  now  read  with  Several  resolves  ac- 
companing  the  Same  be  accepttable  to  the  Town 
Voted  Saml.  Epes  be  a  Committe  to  git  a  Sefient 
Number  of  the  above  Prices  and  resolves  Printed." 

There  was  one  conspicuous  instance  of  violation 
of  these  regulations.  In  the  record  of  a  meeting, 
13,  1779,  appears  this : 

"Voted  Mr.  Gideon  Putnam  has  violated  the  resolves  of  the  Conven- 
tion at  Concord  by  selling  cheese  at  nine  shillings  per  lb.,  as  by  evidence 
fully  appeared. 

"  Voted  Mr.  Gideon  Putnam  be  posted  in  one  of  the  Public  Newspapers 
of  this  State  for  Breaking  one  of  the  resolves  of  the  Convention  at  Con- 
cord, as  an  enemy  to  his  cuntrey. 

"Voted  not  to  excuse  those  persons  who  have  not  subscribed  their 
names  to  carry  the  resolves  of  Concord  into  Execution.     Voted  to  Post 


the  Several  Persons  in  the  public  prints  for  not  complying  with  the  vote 
of  the  Town,  as  by  a  List  from  the  Committee  of  Safety  will  appear." 

Cheese  at  $1.50  per  pound  seems  rather  high,  but 
scarcity  and  inflated  currency  account  for  it.  Rum 
was  quoted  at  from  $20  to  $25  per  gallon  ;  molasses, 
£3  19«. ;  Bohea  tea,  £5  6s.  per  lb. ;  iron,  £30  per  cwt., 
and  other  things  in  proportion.  An  idea  of  the  pur- 
chasing power  of  continental  money  may  be  had  in 
the  appropriations  made  by  the  town  in  October, 
1880,  for  "  beef  for  the  army."  It  was  voted  that  the 
sum  of  thirty  thousand  pounds  be  raised  and  assessed 
upon  the  inhabitants  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  beef, 
and  Enoch  Putnam,  Jona.  Sawyer  and  Timothy  Patch 
were  appointed  a  committee  to  carry  out  the  vote. 
The  vote  to  procure  beef  was  then  reconsidered,  and, 
instead,  it  was  voted  to  send  the  money  direct  to  the 
county  committee,  of  which  Samuel  Osgood,  Esq.,  of 
Andover,  was  one.  The  following  January,  1781,  it 
was  voted  to  raise  eighteen  hundred  pounds  in  silver 
or  an  equivalent  in  paper  money  "  for  the  use  of  the 
town  to  procure  Continental  soldiers."  The  recruiting 
committee  were  Ezra  Upton,  John  Dodge  and  Capt. 
Samuel  Page,  who  were  instructed  not  to  exceed  one 
hundred  and  eighty  silver  dollars  for  each  man  for 
three  years  or  the  war,  "  exchange  of  paper  money 
for  silver  money  at  seventy-five  for  one."  At  the 
same  meeting  these  votes  were  passed  : 

"  Voted  that  this  Town  be  formed  into  as  Many  Classes  as  there  are 
Soldiers  to  procure  for  the  Town  for  three  years  or  During  tho  War 
Voted  that  the  Friends  be  Excused  from  being  Classed  with  the  rest  of 
the  Town.  Voted  to  reconsider  the  vote  respecting  not  Classing  the 
Friends,  and  that  the  Friends  be  subject  to  be  Classed  with  the  other 
Inhabitants  of  the  Town." 

Thus  all  through  the  war  those  who  remained  at 
home  helped  to  uphold  the  government  and  supply 
the  army.  There  were  brave  patriots,  then  as  ever, 
who  never  fired  a  musket,  but  were  none  the  less  de- 
voted and  useful. 

During  the  eight  terrible  years  Danvers  was  repre- 
sented at  the  front  as  well  among  the  leaders  as  in  the 
ranks.  On  the  roll  of  honor  the  names  of  some  of  her 
sons  are  Avritten  very  high.  Ranking  highest  were 
three  Generals,  Israel  Putnam,  Moses  Porter,  Gideon 
Foster ;  next,  three  Colonels,  Jeremiah  Page,  Israel 
Hutchinson,  Enoch  Putnam ;  two  Majors,  Caleb 
Lowe,  Sylvester  Osborn  ;  six  Captains,  Samuel  Eppes, 
Samuel  Flint,  Jeremiah  Putnam,  Samuel  Page,  Den- 
nison  Wallis,  Levi  Preston,  Johnson  Proctor. 

Some  of  these  men  will  bementioned  in  the  history 
of  Peabody,  and  others  are  noticed  in  other  connec- 
tions in  this  sketch.  Of  two  of  them.  Porter  and 
Hutchinson,  something  will  here  be  said  : 

Moses  Porter  was  an  apprentice,  eighteen 
years  old  when  the  war  broke  out.  He  helj^ed  to 
work  one  of  the  guns  at  Bunker  Hill,  and  stuck  to 
his  piece  when  most  of  the  men  had  fled.  His  cotm- 
try  never  allowed  him  to  quit  it  afterwards,  says  Mr. 
Upham,  whose  words  also  are  these :  "  From  that  day 
he   bore  a  commission  in  the   army  of  the  United 


DANVERS. 


451 


States.  He  was  retained  on  every  peace  establish- 
ment always  in  the  artillery,  and  at  the  head  of  that 
arm  for  a  great  length,  and  until  the  day  of  his  death. 
No  man  who  fought  at  Bunker  Hill  remained  so  long 
a  soldier  of  the  United  States.  After  the  Revolution, 
in  which  he  was  wounded,  he  served  with  Wayne  in 
the  Indian  campaign,  and  was  at  the  head  of  the 
artillery  when  the  War  of  1812  took  place.  He  was 
in  active  service  on  the  Niagara  frontier,  and  on  the 
10th  of  September,  1813,  was  breveted  for  distin- 
guished services.  He  defended  Norfolk,  Va.,  in  1814, 
with  great  ability  and  vigilance,  and  saved  that  most 
vital  point  of  coast  defense.  At  successive  periods 
after  the  war  he  was  at  the  head  of  each  of  the  geo- 
graphical military  divisions  of  the  country."  He  died 
at  Cambridge  in  1822,  and  was  buried  on  his  father's 
farm,  from  which  his  remains  have  been  removed  to 
Walnut  Grove  Cemetery.  A  letter  preserved  from 
Captain  Simeon  Brown  to  General  (then  Lieutenant) 
Porter,  1781,  says,  "I  went  yesterday  to  Salem  to  get 
a  Dictionary,  but  there  are  none  to  be  had,  therefore 
I  cannot  send  one  this  time,  but  .will  try  at  Boston 
the  first  opportunity,  and  if  one  can  be  obtained  I 
will  send  it  on."  Though  a  reflection  on  Salem  as  a 
literary  centre,  the  letter  speaks  well  for  the  young 
artillery  officer  who  wanted  a  dictionary.  Moses 
Porter  never  married. 

The  house  which  Colonel  Israel  Hutchinson  built, 
the  one  in  which  the  women  gathered  during  that  nine- 
teenth of  April  and  saw  laid  out  on  the  floor  the  dead 
heroes  brought  back  from  the  fight,  is  still  standing  at 
Danversport,  close  by  the  "  new  mills"  which  Arche- 
laus  Putnam  built.  Indeed,  Hutchinson's  second  wife 
was  the  widow  of  Arehelaus  Putnam.  For  many  years 
this  house  remained  in  the  family  as  the  residence  of 
Briggs  T.  Reed,  who  married  the  colonel's  grand- 
daughter, Betsey;  it  is  now  owned  by  the  Eastern,  or 
Boston  and  Maine  Railroad  Company,  and  before  long 
may  give  place  to  a  much  needed  new  station.  Colo- 
nel Hutchinson  was  a  descendant  of  the  fifth  genera- 
tion from  Richard  Hutchinson,  the  emigrant,  who  came 
from  Arnold,  England,  in  1634,  and  with  his  wife  Alice 
and  four  children,  settled  near  Hathorne's  hill.  He 
was  born  in  1727  and  was  living  on  the  Plains  in 
1762,  moving  soon  after  to  New  Mills.  His  long  and 
honorable  military  record  began  when  he  enlisted  as 
a  scout  in  Captain  Herrick's  company,  in  1757.  The 
next  year,  in  the  Lake  George  and  Ticonderoga  cam- 
paign he  was  a  lieutenant  in  Captain  Andrew  Fuller's 
company  ;  the  next  year  a  captain,  he  led  a  company, 
under  General  Wolfe,  up  the  Heights  of  Abraham. 
A  man  with  this  experience  was  naturally  enough 
chosen  as  a  leader  of  the  minute-men  of  '75.  Soon 
after  Lexington  he  was  commissioned  a  lieutenant- 
colonel  in  Colonel  Mansfield's  regiment,  and  soon  was 
promoted  to  full  rank  of  colonel.  He  was  at  the 
siege  of  Boston,  and  his  regiment  was  one  of  those  de- 
tailed to  fortify  Dorchester  Heights.  He  went  to 
New  York,  commanded  Forts  Washington  and  Lee, 


and  was  with  Washington  throughout  the  memorable 
retreat  through  New  Jersey.  On  his  return  from  the 
war  he  was  conspicuously  honored  by  his  fellow-citi- 
zens, who  sent  him  repeatedly  to  the  General  Court 
and  elected  him  to  other  offices,  until  politics  entered 
more  into  consideration,  and  Federalists  carried  the 
day  against  the  colonel  and  his  fellow-Democrats. 
In  his  old  age  he  kept  busily  engaged  at  his  business, 
which  had  been  interrupted  by  the  war.  He  worked 
in  his  saw-mill  until  he  met  there  the  accident  which, 
in  his  eighty-fifth  year,  caused  his  death,  March  16, 
1811.  He  is  buried  in  the  Plains  Cemetery.  His 
son,  Israel  Hutchinson,  Jr.,  was  a  deacon  of  the  Bap- 
tist Church  and  long  clerk  of  the  society.  The  colo- 
nel's orderly-book,  from  August  13,  1775,  to  July  8, 
1776,  is  in  possession  of  the  Massachusetts  Histori- 
cal Society.  It  contains  a  "  descriptive  list  of  non- 
commissioned officers  and  privates  enlisted  in  the 
county  of  Essex  to  serve  in  the  army  of  the  United 
States,"  comprising  five  hundred  and  twenty-two 
names,  including  thirty  from  Danvers. 

Colonel  Hutchinson  is  recalled  by  Deacon  Fowler, 
who  was  a  boy  of  eleven  when  he  died,  as  a  smart  old 
man,  small  in  stature,  clad  in  a  white  frock,  working 
in  his  saw-mill.  He  was  accustomed  to  call  the  boys 
in  from  the  street  to  help  him  roll  logs.  He  had  not 
himself  a  lazy  bone,  and  he  abhorred  laziness  in 
others  and  despised  loafers.  His  son,  the  deacon,  en- 
tertained visiting  ministers,  and  when  one  of  these 
guests  strolled  in  to  look  over  the  mill,  the  old  man, 
taking  him  for  a  loafer,  threatened  to  throw  him  into 
the  pond. 

How  gladly  the  townspeople  welcomed  the  close  of 
the  war,  and  withal,  how  vigilant  they  were  for  the  pre- 
servation of  the  rights  so  dearly  bought,  may  be  judged 
from  instructions  given  Colonel  Hutchinson,  June  9, 
1783.  After  alluding  to  his  conspicuous  services  dur- 
ing the  war  and  at  the  General  Court,  the  instruc- 
tions proceed, — "The  contest  is  over  and  a  complete 
Revolution  is  happily  acomplished.  This  town,  sir, 
congratulates  you  on  so  glorious  a  period.  .  .  . 
As  the  Independence  depends  solely  (under  Divine 
Providence)  in  the  Union  of  these  United  States,  you 
are  to  consider  the  confederacy  of  the  States  as  Sacred 
and  in  no  point  to  be  violated.  .  .  .  You  are  to 
use  your  endeavor  that  no  Absentee  or  Conspirator 
against  the  United  States,  whether  they  have  taken 
up  arms  against  these  States  or  not,  be  admitted  to 
return,  and  those  persons  that  have  returned,  you  are 
not  to  suffer  such  joersons  to  remain  in  this  Common- 
wealth. ...  In  any  matters  that  turn  up,  which 
you  think  militate  against  your  Constituents,  you 
are  to  apply  for  further  Instructions." 

Danvers  was  represented  in  the  march  of  Colonel 
Wade's  Essex  County  Regiment,  to  suppress  Shay's 
Rebellion.  An  orderly-book,  now  in  possession  of 
Dr.  A.  P.  Putnam,  gives  the  names  of  sixty-eight 
men  of  the  company  of  Captain  (afterwards  Colonel) 
John  Francis,  fourteen  of  whom  were  from  this  town, 


452 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


including  four  ofiicers, — Daniel  Needham,  lieuten- 
ant; Daniel  Bell,  drummer;  Josiah  White,  sergeant; 
Moses  Thomas,  corporal. 


CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

DANVERS— ( Continued). 
ECCLESIASTICAL. 

The  Fibst  Church. — By  the  terms  of  the  act  al- 
ready referred  to,  which  constituted  Salem  Village, 
all  the  farmers  within  the  Village  limits  were  to  con- 
tribute "  to  all  charges  referring  to  the  maintenance 
of  a  minister  and  erecting  a  meeting-house,"  and 
five  persons  were  to  be  appointed  "  among  themselves 
or  town  of  Salem,"  to  collect  rates  and  levies,  the 
constable  of  Salem  to  have  power  to  make  distress  on 
the  goods  of  any  neglecting  to  pay.  At  the  first 
meeting  of  the  Farmers,  about  a  month  after  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  Village,  namely,  November  11, 
1672  (old  style),  five  persons  were  chosen  "to  carry 
along  the  affairs  according  to  the  court  order," — 
Lieutenant  Thomas  Putnam,  Thomas  Fuller,  Joseph 
Porter,  Thomas  Flint  and  Joshua  Rea. 

The  first  preacher  at  the  Village  was  then  also  for- 
mally engaged, — Rev.  James  Bayley.  He  was  a 
young  man,  but  little  over  twenty-one  years  of  age,  a 
native  of  Newbury,  and  a  graduate  of  Harvard  in 
1669. 

For  some  seventeen  years  there  was  no  separate 
and  independent  church.  The  condition  of  things 
was  anomalous.  While  a  considerable  number  of  the 
members  of  the  church  of  Salem  Town  worshipped, 
for  convenience,  at  a  place  nearer  home  than  former- 
ly, but  yet  were  not  allowed  to  sever  their  connection 
with  the  parent  church,  there  was,  on  the  other  hand, 
a  complete  parochial  organization,  corresponding 
somewhat  to  the  modern  "society,"  in  which,  con- 
trary to  the  usual  Puritan  polity,  the  franchise  was 
not  confined  to  church  members.  From  this  half- 
and-half  state  of  things  came,  from  the  very  first, 
trouble.  The  householders  far  outnumbered  the 
church  members.  It  can  easily  be  imagined  that 
certain  non-church  members,  from  the  natural  incli- 
nation to  exercise  newly  acquired  power,  took  too 
prompt  and  vigorous  a  part  to  suit  those  who  had 
hitherto  not  been  obliged  to  consult  them.  However 
that  may  have  been,  the  young  minister  soon  found 
his  congregation  divided  into  very  marked  factions 
for  and  against  himself.  A  majority  favored  him, 
but  the  other  side  was  a  good  instance  of  a  "  strong- 
working  minority."  Mr.  Bayley  was  employed  from 
year  to  year,  and  each  renewal  of  his  engagement 
added  to  the  determination  of  the  opposition.  That 
he  had  the  courage  to  stay  some  seven  years,  as  he 
did,  speaks  better  of  his  grit  than  of  his  wisdom. 
But,  after  appeals  to  the  parent  church  from  both 


sides,  and  a  thorough  investigation  by  the  General 
Court,  out  of  which  Bayley  came  triumphant,  "  or- 
thodox and  competently  able,  and  of  a  blameless  and 
self-denying  conversation,"  he  at  last,  about  the  be- 
ginning of  1680,  gave  up.  He  continued  to  remain 
in  the  village  for  some  time  after  his  resignation  on 
land  given  him  by  certain  parishioners,  among  whom 
was  his  most  conspicuous  opponent,  Nathaniel  Put- 
nam. The  land  consisted  of  about  forty  acres,  situ- 
ated in  part  on  the  meadow  and  hill  east  of  the  meet- 
ing-house. The  deed,  though  dated  after  his  resig- 
nation, seems  to  be  in  confirmation  of  a  gift  promised 
or  actually  given  soon  after  his  engagement  to  preach. 
The  recitation  that  "the  providence  of  God  having 
so  ordered  it,  that  the  said  Mr.  Bayley  doth  not  con- 
tinue amongst  us  in  the  work  of  the  ministry,  yet, 
considering  the  premises,  and  as  a  testimony  of  our 
good  affection  to  the  said  Mr.  Bayley,"  goes  far  to 
show  that,  after  all,  the  spirit  of  fair  play  prevailed. 
Mr.  Bayley  eventually  studied  medicine,  practiced  in 
Roxbury,  and  died  January  17,  1707. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1672  it  was  determined  to 
build  a  meeting-house  "of  34  foot  in  length,  28  foot 
broad  and  16  foot  between  joists."  The  first  meeting- 
house stood  on  the  acre  which  Joseph  Hutchinson 
donated  for  thut  purpose ;  its  site  is  the  northern  side 
of  Hobart  Street,  a  little  east  of  the  old  Hook 
house.  Part  of  the  meagre  furnishings  of  this  build- 
ing consisted  of  the  "  old  pulpit  and  deacons'  seats  " 
taken  from  that  very  meeting-house  preserved  in  Sa- 
lem by  the  Essex  Institute,  the  parent  church  having 
about  this  time  built  a  new  meeting-house,  and  be- 
stowed these  things  on  the  Farmers. 

Mr.  Bayley's  successor  was  George  Burroughs. 
He  was  engaged  in  November,  1680,  having  then 
been  out  of  college  ten  years.  He  came  from  a  rough 
experience  in  the  wild  district  about  Casco,  where 
life  was  in  peril  from  Indian  assaults,  but  after  three 
years  stay  he  went  back  among  the  woods  and  savages, 
and,  doubtless,  preferred  the  certain  dangers  of  the 
frontier  to  the  treatment  he  received  at  Salem  Village. 
The  farmers  voted  sixty  pounds  for  his  first  year's 
support,  one-third  in  money,  the  balance  in  provi- 
sions at  stated  rates,  but  they  neglected  to  fulfil  their 
agreement,  and  compelled  him  to  run  in  debt  to  pay 
his  wife's  funeral  expenses.  The  unjust  suit  brought 
against  him  by  John  Putnam,  in  whose  family  he  had 
boarded  has  been  mentioned. 

The  third  minister  was  one  Deodat  Lawson.  Gift 
of  God,  his  name  implied,  but  Mr.  Rice  pithily  says 
he  could  not  have  been  divinely  given  to  this  people, 
save  in  the  way  of  bare  allowance.  He  remained 
from  early  in  1684,  and  left  in  the  summer  of  1688. 
Daniel  Epj^s,  the  famous  school-master  who  lived  on 
the  present  Rogers  estate,  sui)plied  the  pulpit  as  a 
layman  before  Lawson  was  finally  settled. 

On  the  19th  of  November,  old  style,  1689,  a  church 
was  at  length  organized,  and  on  that  day  began  the 
pastorate  of  a  man  whose  name  will  ever  stand  out 


DANVERS. 


453 


most  conspicuous  in  the  blackest  chapter  of  New 
England  history,  the  Reverend  Samuel  Parris.  For 
in  his  family  broke  out  and  by  him  was  fostered  to  its 
direful  end,  the  Salem  Witchcraft  Delusion.  In  Mr. 
Upham's  book  the  events  of  the  preceding  years 
which  had  a  bearing  in  the  accusations  and  trials,  es- 
pecially the  divisions  and  animosities  which,  com- 
mencing with  the  Bayley  troubles,  grew  from  bad  to 
worse  through  Burroughs'  and  Lawson's  stay,  are  all 
collected  and  told  with  the  skill  of  a  novelist  unfold- 
ing his  plot  to  the  climax  of  the  catastrophe.  Else- 
where in  this  book  appears  a  summary  of  the  sad 
story.  Only  here  let  it  be  said  that  to  Dan  vers,  this 
very  town,  and  not  to  the  present  limits  of  the  city  of 
Salem,  belongs  the  melancholy  distinction  of  being 
the  place  in  which  the  delusion  had  its  origin.  A 
little  back  from  the  present  parsonage  there  is  a  dis- 
tinct depression  which  marks  the  cellar  of  Parson 
Parris'  house;  here  and  there  "witch  houses"  are 
still  standing  and  lived  in ;  and  about  the  present 
meeting-house  of  the  First  Church,  in  some  manner 
as  of  lineal  descent,  centre  those  associations  of  the 
scenes  of  1692  with  which  the  whole  region  is  filled. 

The  covenant  "agreed  upon  and  consented  unto  by 
the  Church  of  Christ  at  Salem  Village,  at  their  first 
embodying  on  y*^  19  Nov.,  1869,''  was  subscribed  by 
these  twenty -seven  persons: 


Eliz.  (wife  to  Sam.)  Parris. 
Rebek  (wife  to  John)  Putnam. 
Anna  (wife  to  Bray)  Wilkins. 
Sarah  (wife  to  Joshua)  Rea. 
Hannah  (wife  to  John,  Jr.)  Putnam 
Sarah  (wife  to  Benjamin)  Putnam. 
Sarah  Putnam. 
Deliverance  Waloott. 
Persia  (wife  to  William)  Way. 
Mary  (wife  to  Sam.)  Abbie. 


Samuel  Parris,  pastor. 
Nathaniel  Putnam. 
John  Putnam. 
Bray  Wilkins. 
Joshua  Rea. 
Nathaniel  IngersoU. 
Peter  Cloyes. 
Thomas  Putnam. 
John  Putnam,  Jr. 
Edward  Putnam. 
Jonathan  Putnam. 
Benjamin  Putnam. 
Ezekiel  Cheever. 
Henry  Wilkins. 
Benjamin  Wilkins. 
William  Way. 
Peter  Prescott. 

Parris  rid  the  church  of  his  ill-fated  presence  on 
the  last  day  of  June,  1696,  having  doggedly  hung  on 
to  a  position  where  he  served  but  to  perpetuate  and 
keep  alive  the  troubles  for  which  he  was  so  largely 
responsible.  It  is  human  nature  to  feel  one's  blood 
boil  at  the  thought  of  the  part  this  man,  a  minister 
of  God,  took  in  the  murder  of  innocent  people,  but 
greater  than  he  were  not  great  enough  to  rise  above 
the  accepted  ideas  of  their  time.  Through  these 
poor  instruments  One  that  is  greater  than  all  was 
working  in  a  way  they  knew  not  of.  Only  such  a 
sacrifice  could  arouse  mankind  to  the  horror  of  their 
own  unreason.  The  rocky  summit  of  Gallows  Hill 
bears  witness  that  never  again  under  civilization  shall 
human  life  be  imperiled  by  such  superstition. 

With  the  departure  of  Parris,  a  leaf  was  turned  on 
the  record  of  the  dark  days  of  the  earliest  history  of 
the  parish  and  church,  and  brighter  days  appeared, 


when  after  much  effort  to  fill  the  vacancy,  an  invi- 
tation to  Rev.  Joseph  Green  was  accepted.  He  was 
a  Harvard  man,  and  was  not  quite  twenty-three  years 
old  when  he  was  ordained,  November  10,  1698.  Be- 
fore this  he  had  preached  many  months,  the  people 
had  ample  opportunity  to  know  him  and  to  become 
settled  in  their  own  minds.  It  was  with  unanimity 
that  he  was  called,  and  the  response  which  he  made 
he  entered  in  the  church  book :  "  I  gave  an  answer  to 
the  church  and  congregation  to  the  effect  that  if  their 
love  to  me  continued,  and  was  duly  manifested,  and 
if  they  did  all  study  to  be  quiet,  I  was  then  willing  to 
continue  with  you  in  the  work  of  the  ministry."  As 
an  evidence  of  the  new  peace  brought  about  by  his 
ministry,  certain  members  who  had  had  nothing  to  do 
with  the  church  since  the  witchcraft  days,  came  to 
communion  February  5,  1699,  a  red-letter  day  in  the 
history  of  the  church. 

Two  years  later,  and  a  day  of  thanksgiving  was 
observed  for  continued  peace  and  prosperity.  The 
change,  says  Mr.  Rice,  was  permanent.  "  Nothing, 
scarcely,  before  the  settlement  of  Mr.  Green,  had  been 
done  by  a  united  people.  Nothing  of  importance, 
scarcely,  since,  in  the  space  of  a  century  and  three- 
quarters,  has  been  done  in  any  other  manner.  No 
minister  has  been  settled  except  with  a  practical  una- 
nimity ;  and  in  each  case  but  one,  I  think,  there  has 
been  no  dissenting  vote  in  church  or  parish.  Nor 
has  there  been,  in  all  that  long  period,  a  single  seri- 
ous and  obstinate  contention  among  the  members  of 
this  church  and  society." 

With  the  beginning  of  a  new  century  the  people 
determined  to  have  a  new  meeting-house.  Very  like- 
ly more  room  was  needed,  but  there  were  plenty  of 
reasons  why  the  old  building  should  be  abandoned. 
It  might  well  have  been  dragged  where  the  gibbets 
had  stood  and  there  burned  to  ashes,  but  with  less 
poetic  justice  it  was  taken  down  and  set  up  again  as 
a  barn  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  road,  where  it  stood, 
Mr.  Ilpham  says,  "  until,  in  the  memory  of  old  per- 
sons now  living,  it  mouldered,  crumbled  into  powder- 
post  and  sunk  to  the  ground."  The  new  building 
was  erected  on  "  Watch-house  Hill,"  the  site  of 
three  succeeding  meeting-houses,  including  that 
now  in  use.  The  hill  had  been  leveled  considerably 
and  otherwise  cleared  ;  it  can  easily  be  seen  that  the 
spot  was  wisely  chosen  by  the  earliest  settlers  for  the 
location  of  a  block-house  defense  against  the  Indians. 
The  meeting-house  of  1701  fronted  north,  facing  Dea- 
con Ingersoll's  house.  It  was  first  occupied  July  26, 
1702.  From  the  thirty -four  by  twenty-eight  of  the 
first  building  the  dimensions  were  increased  to  forty- 
eight  by  forty-two.  The  building  committee  were 
Captain  Thomas  Flint,  Joseph  Pope,  Lieutenant  Jona- 
than Putnam,  Joseph  Herrick  and  Benjamin  Putnam. 
The  cost  was  about  three  hundred  and  seventy  pounds, 
part  of  which  was  raised  by  subscription  among  per- 
sons outside  of  the  village  limits.  Mr.  Green  contrib- 
uted liberally  and  the  town  people  helped  somewhat. 


454 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


A  diary  kept  by  Mr.  Green  has  been  preserved  and 
printed  by  the  Essex  Institute,  with  notes  by  Deacon 
Fowler.  It  reveals  the  lovable  character  of  the 
writer  and  gives  many  a  glimpse  of  life  in  Salem 
Village  during  his  pastorate.  On  the  26th  of  No- 
vember, 1715,  having  just  reached  the  age  of  forty 
years,  and  having  completed  eighteen  years  of  minis- 
try among  his  people,  Joseph  Green  died,  and  was 
buried  in  the  old  cemetery  which  bears  the  name  of 
one  of  his  successors.  Good  and  just  man,  the  great- 
ness of  his  work  far  exceeded  the  length  of  his  life. 
Deacon  Edward  Putnam  made  this  minute  in  the 
church-book. 

"Then  was  the  choyces  flower  and  grenest  olif  tree  in  the  garden  of 
our  Lord  hear  cut  down  in  its  prime  and  llourisliing  estate  at  the  age  of 
forty  years  and  2  days,  who  had  ben  a  faithful  ambasindor  from  God  to 
us  18  years,  then  did  that  brite  star  seet  and  never  more  to  apear  her 
among  us :  then  did  our  sun  go  down,  and  now  what  darkness  is  com 
upon  us.  Put  away  and  pardon  our  Iniqutyes,  o  Lord,  which  have  ben 
the  cause  of  the  Sore  displeasure  and  return  to  us  again  in  marcy,  and 
provide  yet  again  for  this,  thy  flock,  a  pastor  after  thy  one  hearte  as 
thou  hast  promised  to  thy  people  in  thy  word,  one  which  promise  we 
have  hope,  for  we  are  called  by  thy  name  ;  o  leve  us  not." 

June  5,  1717,  a  year  and  a  half  after  Mr.  Green's 
death,  the  Rev.  Peter  Clark  was  ordained.     He  was 
also  a  Harvard  man,  five  years  out,  and  about  twenty- 
five  years  old.     Hobart   Street  is  named   for  Peter 
Hobart,  the  father  of  Mr.   Clark's  wife,  who   came 
here  to  live  about  1730.     Mr.  Clark's  pa.storate  lasted 
fifty-one  years.     Mr.  Rice  says  of  him  :  "  Mr.  Clark 
was  a  man  very  unlike  his  predecessor,  and   yet  well 
fitted  to  serve  the  people  among  whom  he  came.     He 
had  a  sharp  and  vigorous  mind,  with  a  taste  for  theo- 
logical discussions."     A  modern  congregation  would 
find   it   hard   to    sit  through  a  single   sermon   such 
as  the  Rev.  Peter's  people  had  to  endure  every  week.  A 
delegation  once  went  to  him  to  suggest  that  he  adminis- 
ter his  teaching  in  less  heroic  doses ;  but  he  said  "  No ; 
any  could  leave  when  they  had  heard  enough,  but  the 
sermons  must  go  on  to  their  appointed  ends."     Two 
volumes  of  his  works,  as  well  as  a  number  of  scatter- 
ing sermons  have  been   published.     One   of  these, 
which  Mr.  Rice  seems  successfully  to  have  analyzed 
back  to  its  original  plan,  presents  a  scheme  of  heads 
and  sub-heads,  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made — in 
all,   eighty-four  separate   divisions.     No  wonder  he 
was  widely  known  as  a  stalwart  preacher,  and  was 
called  upon  to  deliver  choice  specimens  of  his  liter- 
ary and  oratorical  skill  on  special  occasions  in  Boston 
and  elsewhere.     Once  he  had  neglected  for  some  rea- 
son to  join  in  the  prayers  of  neighboring  ministers 
for   the   cessation   of    existing  drought,   but   having 
been  formally  requested  so  to   do,  he   also   the  next 
Sabbath  prayed  for  rain,  and  it  soon  rained.     His 
negro  man,  who  knew   well   his   master's   character, 
said  "he  knew  that   when   Massa  Clark   took  hold, 
something  would  have  to  come." 

During  Mr.  Clark's  pastorate  the  first  church  bell 
was  hung,  in  1725 ;  the  town  of  Middleton  was  incor- 
porated, 1728,  and  a  church  there  organized  in  1729  oc- 


casioned the  withdrawal  of  twenty-four  members  of 
the  Village  Church ;  and  in  1752  the  Village  was 
separated  from  Salem  and  became  a  part  of  Danvers. 
This  entry  in  the  church  book,  made  by  Deacon 
Asa  Putnam  more  than  half  a  century  after  Deacon 
Edward  Putnam  entered  his  touching  obituary  of  Mr. 
Green,  tells  its  own  story  : 

"  Now,  it  has  pleased  God  in  his  holy  Providence  to  Take  away  from 
us  our  Dear  and  Eev'd  pastor  by  Death,  Mr.  Peter  Clark,  who  departed 
this  Life  June  ye  10,  1768 — in  ye  Seventy-Sixth  Year  of  his  age,  and  on 
ye  15th  day  was  his  funeral,  itt  was  attended  by  Great  SoUemnity  ;  his 
Corps  was  Carried  in  to  ye  Meeting-house  ;  a  prayer  was  made  by  ye 
Rev'd  Mr.  Diman,  of  Salem  ;  a  Searman  Delivered  by  the  Rev'd  Mr. 
Barnard,  of  Salem,  from  Galatians,  3  Chap.,  14  verse.  Then  Removed 
to  his  Grave  with  ye  Church  walking  before  the  Corps,  assisted  by  12 
Bears,  with  a  great  Concours  of  People  following.  .  .  .  Now  he  is 
gone.  Never  to  see  his  face  no  more  in  this  world,  no  more  to  hear  the 
Presious  Instructions  and  Examples  out  of  his  mouth,  in  Publick  or  in 
Private,  any  more ;  that  ye  God  of  all  grace  would  be  pleased  to  sancti- 
fee  this  great  and  Sore  bereavement  to  this  Church  and  Congregation  for 
good,  and  in  his  own  Due  Time  Give  us  another  Pastour  after  his  own 
heart  to  feed  this  People  with  Truth,  Knowledge  and  Understandiug, 
that  this  Church  may  not  be  Left  as  Sheep  without  a  Shepherd,  Jtc." 

It  was  not  until  after  more  than  four  years  that  the 
vacancy  occasioned  by  Mr.  Clark's  death  was  filled. 
The  church  repeated  its  action  of  a  half  century  be- 
fore. It  took  to  itself  another  young  man  fresh  from 
his  studies,  and  relinquished  the  services  of  his  life- 
work  only  when  death  called  him  to  the  fullness  of 
his  years.  More  than  fifty-three  years  was  Dr.  Wads- 
worth  pastor  of  this  people.  Over  more  than  a  hun- 
dred years  the  two  pastorates  of  himself  and  his 
predecessor  extended.  It  was  but  twenty-five  years 
after  the  witchcraft  times — they  seem  far  back  in  our 
annals — that  Mr.  Clark  was  settled.  The  Missouri 
Compromise  had  been  effected  some  years  before  Dr. 
Wads  worth's  death.  What  chapters  of  history  were 
enacted  while  these  two  men  preached  at  Salem  Vil- 
lage and  the  First  Parish  of  Danvers. 

Benjamin  Wadsworth  was  born  in  Milton,  July  18, 
1750,  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1769,  and  was  licensed 
to  preach  a  few  months  before  his  ordination  in  Dan- 
vers. This  event  occurred  December  23,  1772,  and  it 
was  an  especially  great  time  for  the  parish.  Certain 
festivities  incident  thereto  have  been  the  subject  of 
local  tradition  which  gives  some  hint  of  the  nature  of 
the  liquid  refreshment  dispensed  by  some  of  the  villa- 
gers to  numerous  guests  from  out  of  town.  Judge 
Holten  made  this  minute: 

"  The  utmost  decency  was  preserved  through  the  whole  of  the  Solem- 
nity and  the  Entertainment  consequent,  was  generous  and  elegant,  re- 
flecting great  Honour  upon  the  Parish." 

Among  the  items  of  the  bill  of  costs  for  the  "  En- 
tertainment," are : 

"  For  Bisket,  £2  5s.  Od.  ;  Pork,  Beef,  Salt  (?)  and  Rye  and  Injun  Meal, 
£20  17s.  Od. ;  about  one  Ton  of  Good  Hay,  £25  ;  for  Turkeys,  £8  14s.  Od.  ; 
for  Malt,  £0  7s.  fid.  ;  for  Rum,  £0  8«.  Od.  :  Syder  about  half  a  Barrel  £0 
15s.  Od.  ;  New  England  Rum,  £016s.  Od." 

Mr.  Wadsworth's  salary  was  at  first  fixed  at  ninety 
pounds.  Not  long  after  his  coming,  came  the  stirring 
times  of  the  Revolution.  The  young  minister  was 
among  the  Danvers  men  who  flew  to  the  North  Bridge 


DANVERS. 


455 


at  Salem  to  repel  Colonel  Leslie's  march.  About  1784, 
by  way  of  compromise  for  a  new  parsonage,  the  par- 
ish gave  Mr.  Wadsworth  an  acre  of  land  on  the  road 
west  of  the  old  parsonage  lot,  upon  which  he  erected 
the  rather  stately  mansion  which  still  bears  his  name. 
At  this  time,  too,  the  square  hip-roofed  meeting-house 
which  had  stood  the  use  of  some  eighty-four  years, 
was  considered  too  old  and  small,  and  in  1786-87  a 
new  meeting-house,  the  third  in  the  history  of  the  par- 
ish, was  erected.  It  was  sixty  feet  long  by  forty-six 
wide,  twenty-seven  feet  post,  with  an  ordinary  pitch 
roof.  A  square  tower  ran  up  in  front,  surmounted  by 
a  belfry  which  in  turn  was  surmounted  by  a  tall  and 
slender  conical  steeple.  The  old  bell  of  1725  was 
hung  in  the  belfry,  but  in  1802  a  new  bell  was  pro- 
cured weighing  six  hundred  and  seventy  four  pounds 
and  costing  $299.56. 

This  meeting-house  was  burned  on  the  morning  of 
September  24,  1805.  "  It  was  supposed  to  be  set  on 
fire  by  some  incendiary,"  wrote  the  parish  clerk.  The 
accused  person  was  so  evidently  insane  that  he  "  was 
therefore  sentenced  to  receive  no  punishment  but  that 
of  confinement  as  a  lunatick."  The  greater  part  of 
the  plate  was  stolen  and  suspicions  were  strong  and 
well  grounded  that  the  real  criminals  were  certain 
persons  who  used  the  poor  imbecile  for  a  cats-paw, 
but  through  lack  of  evidence  they  escaped  conviction. 
The  ruins  had  not  ceased  smoking  when  the  standing 
committee, — AmosTapley,  Asa  Tapley  and  Jonathan 
Porter,  Jr. — issued  their  warrant  for  a  meeting  to  be 
held  the  next  week  at  the  Upton  Tavern,  to  consider 
rebuilding.  It  was  voted  to  rebuild,  that  the  new 
building  should  be  of  brick,  that  it  should  have  a 
dome.  The  dimensions  of  the  "  Brick  Church  "  were 
sixty -six  feet  by  fifty-six  feet,  twenty-eight  feet  to  the 
eaves,  and  the  tower  was  "  sixteen  feet  four  inches 
square,  having  two  wings,  covered  with  a  cupola,  and 
terminated  with  a  vane  ninety-six  feet  from  the  foun- 
dation,"— Dr.  Wadsworth's  words.  The  corner-stone 
was  laid  May  16,  1806,  and  the  finished  building  was 
dedicated  November  20th  of  the  same  year.  Dr. 
Wadsworth's  sermon,  then  delivered,  was  published. 
Its  rhetoric,  especially  in  descriptions  of  the  fire,  is 
sufficiently  lurid  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  occasion. 
By  an  act  of  the  Legislature,  March  8,  1806,  a  num- 
ber of  Danversport  people  were  transferred  with  their 
estates,  from  the  South  Parish  to  this  parish  ;  they  had 
for  some  time  maintained  a  practical  connection  here, 
though  the  territory  of  Danversport  was  never  within 
the  original  limits  of  Salem  Village  and  its  inhabi- 
tants, belonged  to  the  Middle  Precinct  or  South 
Parish.  "  Ten  respectable  characters  with  their  fam- 
ilies," Dr.  Wadsworth  calls  them.  They  were  Sam- 
uel Page,  John  and  Moses  Endicott,  Nathaniel  Put- 
nam, Samuel  Fowler,  Caleb  Oakes,  William  Pindar, 
Jasper  Needham,  John  Gardner,  Jr.,  and  Amos  Flint, 
the  last  three  being  from  what  is  now  West  Peabody. 

A  vote  was  passed  in  1819  that  the  minister  might 
read  a  portion  of  the  Scriptures  at  the  opening  of  the 


meeting  on  the  Sabbath  and  on  "  all  other  Publick 
Days,  as  in  his  opinion  shall  be  to  the  advantage  and 
benefit  of  his  hearers." 

In  March,  1825,  Dr.  Wadsworth  felt  the  approach 
of  the  end.  Previous  to  that  time  he  had  scarcely 
known  sickness.  On  the  18th  of  January,  1826,  he 
died,  in  the  seventy-seventh  year  of  his  life  and  the 
fifty-fourth  year  of  his  pastorate.  In  his  last  sick- 
ness he  bought  the  old  burial-ground  which  bears  his 
name  and  gave  it  to  the  parish,  and  there  is  his  own 
grave.  An  outline  of  his  character,  as  presented  by 
Mr.  Rice,  is  here  condensed  : 

"Dr.  Wadsworth  was  a  man  of  fine  personal  appearance,  and  with 
the  bearing  of  a  thorough  gentleman  of  those  days.  He  is  described  by 
the  Ute  Judge  Samuel  Putnam  as  'of  great  bodily  vigor,  with  limbs 
finely  proportioned  ;  about  five  feet  ten  inches  in  height,  with  a  hand- 
some and  florid  countenance.'  But  there  ai-e  those  of  yourselves,  with 
whom  the  figure  of  this  former  pastor  is  still  familiar.  '  I  can  see  him 
now,'  says  Dea.  Samuel  Preston,  '  precisely  at  the  minute  appointed,  with 
a  dignified  step  passing  up  the  broad  aisle,  dressed  in  surplice  and  band, 
cocked  hat  in  hand,  the  curls  of  his  auburn  wig  gracefully  waving  over 
his  shoulders  ;  slightly  recognizing  the  powdered  dignitaries,  such  as 
Judge  Holten,  Judge  Collins  and  others,  as  he  passed  ;  ascending  with  an 
agile  step,  the  stairs  of  his  high  pulpit,  and  taking  his  seat  under  the 
huge  canop3'  or  sounding-board  which  hung  suspended  over  his  head.' 

"  The  doctor  was  formal  and  ceremonious,  but  courteous  without  ex- 
ception to  all,  and  warm  and  kindly,  withal,  at  heart.  He  kept  his  po- 
sition, as  the  manner  of  those  times  was  with  ministers,  a  little  apart 
from  his  people.  The  children  looked  upon  him  with  a  kind  of  awe  ; 
and  the  feeling  extended  to  his  family  and  the  house  in  which  he  lived. 
The  lad  who  drove  his  cows  to  their  pasture  was  not  expected  to  enter 
the  yard  by  the  front  way.  He  could  keep  persons  at  a  distance  from 
him  whenever  he  chose  to  do  so.  with  wonderful  civility  and  ease.  He 
was  reckoned  by  many  to  be  reserved  ;  and  he  was  so  with  many,  but 
not  with  his  intimate  friends.  In  his  intercourse  with  hi.s  brother  min- 
isters he  was  often  facetious  and  witty,  which  may  be  thought  a  singu- 
lar circumstance.  But  even  with  his  brother  ministers  he  was  under- 
stood to  be  a  pereon  of  dignity.  By  one  of  them,  Mr.  Huntington,  of 
Topsfield,  it  used  to  be  said  that  '  when  any  of  the  brethren  called  upon 
Dr.  Wadsworth,  they  were  civil  enough,'  but  when  they  came  to  his 
house  'they  threw  in  their  saddles  at  the  front  door.'  The  former  part 
of  this  only  should  be  believed. 

'  He  was  conservative  in  all  his  tastes  and  habits,  and  did  not  enter 
readily  into  new  methods.  He  introduced  the  observance  of  the  month- 
ly concert  near  the  end  of  his  ministry,  held  in  the  afternoon  of  Mon- 
day ;  but  there  w-ere  at  that  time  no  other  prayer-meetings. 

"The  weekly  meeting  on  Friday  evening  dates  from  the  settlement 
of  his  successor.  The  sei-vice  of  public  or  social  prayer  by  the  brethren 
of  the  church  had  fallen,  indeed,  considerably  into  disu.se  at  this  period, 
so  that  at  the  establishment  of  the  Sabbath-school  there  was  some  diffi- 
culty in  finding  persons  who  were  willing  to  offer  the  opening  prayer. 

"But,  if  Dr.  W'adsworth  had  the  weakness  of  a  conservative  temper, 
he  had  also  its  strength.  He  was  steady  and  judicious  in  his  work.  He 
did  little  that  ever  needed  to  be  undone,  either  by  himself  or  by  anj  one 
else.  He  was  a  lover  of  peace,  .and  had  wisdom  to  maintain  it.  He  was 
able  in  his  own  life  to  illustrate,  in  a  good  degree,  the  principles  of  the 
religion  he  taught.  He  exhibited  remarkable  patience  and  calmness  in 
the  midst  of  difficulties,  and  resignation  in  time  of  trial.  He  had  a 
.steadiness  of  devotion  and  of  trust,  the  power  of  which  was  not  lost  upon 
his  people.  And  thus,  if  in  its  later  years  his  ministry  failed  somewhat 
in  general  and  marked  popular  effect,  it  did  not  lack  in  thoroughness 
aud  beauty  of  impression  upon  those  that  cherished  its  iufluences.  It 
was  long  afterwards  to  be  noticed  that  among  those  whose  lives  had 
been  moulded  by  his  ministry,  there  was  to  be  found  a  rare  and  admir- 
able type  of  Christian  character." 

In  a  little  less  than  three  months  after  Doctor 
Wadsworth's  decease  there  was  another  ordination 
in  the  village.  Once  again  the  church  took  unto 
itself  a  young  man  who,  in  his  turn  was  to  grow  old 
in  its  service.     The  young  man,  Milton  Palmer  Bra- 


456 


HISTORY  Of  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


man,  had  preached  somewhat  during  Doctor  Wads- 
worth's  sickness,  and  was  si:)eedily  and  unanimously 
called  to  become  his  successor.  The  date  of  the  ordi- 
nation was  April  12,  1826.  He  resigned  March  31, 
1851,  after  a  pastorate  of  nearly  thirty-five  years. 
Nearly  one  hundred  and  sixty  three  years  before, 
the  revered  young  Joseph  Green  came  to  Salem 
Village,  and  only  four  lives  bridge  the  span  between 
his  coming  and  Doctor  Braman's  resignation.  A 
single  pastorate  of  half  a  century  is  here  and  there 
met  with  in  the  history  of  other  churches,  but  a 
series  of  life  pastorates  like  this,  aggregating  so 
many  years,  will  not  be  easily  paralleled. 

The  present  parsonage  property  was  purchased 
May  26,  1832,  and  was  tirst  occupied  by  Mr.  Bra- 
man  January  8,  1833.  In  1835  a  vestry  or  chapel 
was  built  on  Hobart  Street,  east  of  the  parsonage, 
where  it  stood  until  1871,  when  it  was  bought  and 
removed  by  G.  B.  Martin.  In  1838  an  act  of  the 
Legislature  incorporated  Samuel  Preston,  Samuel  P. 
Fowler,  Jesse  Putnam  and  their  associates  under  the 
name  of  the  First  Religious  Society  in  Danvers,  and 
a  month  later,  April  18,  1838,  this  act  was  repealed, 
and  a  new  act  passed,  beginning,  "  The  North 
Parish  in  Danvers,  of  which  the  Rev.  Milton  P. 
Braman  is  pastor,  is  hereby  made  a  corporation," 
etc.,  and  slightly  altering  the  provisions  of  the  for- 
mer act  so  that  the  society  "  may  assess  the  pews 
in  any  meeting-house  hereafter  erected  by  them  or 
conveyed  to  them.'' 

The  new  meeting-house  to  be  "  hereafter  erected  " 
was  not  long  in  coming.  Fears  were  entertained  of 
the  safety  of  the  brick  meeting-house.  "  A  certain 
cracking  and  settling  of  the  walls  which  had  for 
years  been  noticed,  became  too  serious,  it  was  thought, 
to  be  longer  neglected."  There  was  a  unanimous 
vote  to  pull  it  down  and  build  once  more  a  new 
house.  The  present  meeting-house,  the  •  fifth 
in  line  of  succession,  was  finished  and  dedicated 
November  21,  1839.  Its  cost  was  about  twelve 
thousand  dollars.  Jesse  Putnam,  Samuel  Preston, 
William  Preston,  Nathaniel  Pope,  Peter  Cross, 
Daniel  F.  Putnam  (on  his  decease,  Nathan  Tapley), 
and  John  Preston  were  the  building  committee ; 
Levi  Preston,  master  carpenter.  Dimensions  of  the 
building,  eighty-four  by  sixty  feet. 

Early  in  Mr.  Braman's  ministry,  1832,  a  Benev- 
olent Circle  was  formed  among  the  ladies  of  the 
parish.  Mrs.  Braman  was  its  first  president.  Some 
interesting  reminiscences,  written  by  Harriet  P. 
Fowler,  are  here  condensed  : 

"  Let  yuur  readers  come  with  me  in  imagination  to  some  old-fashioned 
farm-house  in  the  North  Parish,  now  Danvere  Centre.  It  is  fifty  years 
ago.  From  one  to  two  in  the  afternoon  the  members  are  arriving,  some 
in  chuises,  some  in  wagons,  while  others  walk  over  tlie  hills  and  pas- 
tures, not  much  impeded  by  stone  walls  or  fences,  as  trains  and  pull- 
backs  are  not  in  vogue.  At  two  o'clock  quite  a  large  company  has  as- 
sembled, the  President  reads  a  chapter  from  the  Bible,  and  business  com- 
mences. Some  of  the  ladies  have  brought  large  bags  and  boxes.  In  one 
corner  a  smart,  energetic  woman  is  dealing  out  shoes  to  bind  ;  a  trying 


ordeal  for  novices  to  sit  by  an  old  shoe-binder  and  try  to  turn  off  as  many 
as  she  does.  In  another  part  of  the  room  a  lady  is  giving  out  material 
for  stocks,  those  elaborate  structures  of  hair-cloth,  bombazine  and  Satin, 
in  which  men  of  that  generation  arrayed  their  necks.  Wonder  they 
were  not  stiff-necked  for  life  !  Press-boards,  holders  and  flat-irons  show 
that  the  ladies  mean  business. 

"  A  group  of  elderly  women  are  deftly  plying  their  knitting-needles — 
wise  women,  who  know  that  cold  hands  and  feet  make  cold  hearts — so 
they  are  providing  warm  mittens  and  stockings  for  fathers,  husbands, 
sons.  There  is  a  table  where  shirts  and  collars  are  being  made  for  the 
luckless  wights  who  have  neither  mother  nor  wife  to  provide  for  them. 
A  bevy  of  young  misses  are  tastefully  arranging  patch-work  for  quilts, 
to  be  given  to  invalids,  or  sold  to  increase  the  funds  of  the  society.  At 
twilight  work  is  suspended,  and  after  a  cup  of  tea  and  simple  refresh 
nients,  it  is  again  resumed  till  nine  o'clock.  In  the  evening  the  men 
drop  in,  making  themselves  useful  by  holding  yarn  for  the  young  ladies 
or  perchance  threading  the  needles  for  the  older  ones,  and  generously  re- 
sponding when  the  collection  was  taken  at  the  close  of  the  evening. 

'•  With  the  money  earned  we  relieved  the  wants  of  the  poor,  clothed 
Sabbath  school  children,  and  bought  them  books;  we  carpeted  the 
church  and  helped  to  build  the  chapel  ;  we  gladdened  the  heart  of  the 
home  missionary,  and  accumulated  quite  a  little  fund  found  useful  in 
subsequent  emergencies.  In  such  a  meeting  in  one  of  these  old-fash- 
ioned rooms  could  be  seen  the  graceful  and  energetic  Mrs.  Braman,  the 
quiet  but  efficient  Mrs.  Kettelle,  and  many  others  whom  we  of  the  pres- 
ent might  be  proud  to  claim  as  mothers  or  grandmothers." 

At  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  this  society,  cele- 
brated November  8,  1882,  ten  of  the  fourteen  original 
members  then  living  were  present. 

In  the  year  1844  the  church  suffered  the  loss  of  those 
of  its  members,  who  formed  what  is  now  the  Maple 
Street  Church,  at  the  Plains.  This  division  occurred 
chiefly  through  consideration  of  convenience.  The 
earlier  losses,  when  Middleton  was  incorporated,  and 
when  the  South  parish  was  established,  were  of  the 
same  nature.  But  from  time  to  time  in  the  history 
of  the  church,  members  have  separated  from  it  to  ac- 
cept the  doctrines  of  other  denominations.  All  of 
the  churches  hereafter  to  be  mentioned,  except  the 
Catholics,  have  drawn  for  their  organization  in  a 
greater  or  less  degree  on  the  strength  of  the  parent 
church.  Yet  the  numerical  strength  of  the  First 
Church,  in  1867,  when  there  were  two  hundred  and 
two  members,  was  greater  than  ever  before.  The 
congregations  were  largest  just  before  the  withdrawal 
of  the  Plains  people,  a  fair  attendance  on  a  pleasant 
Sabbath  being  about  four  hundred. 

March  31,  1861,  has  been  mentioned  as  the  date  of 
Dr.  Braman's  resignation.  He  had  a  number  of  times 
previously  expressed  a  desire  to  be  dismissed,  but  his 
people  would  not  let  him  go.  This  time  he  had  de- 
cided. "  I  have  reached  that  time  of  life  when  I 
wish  to  retire  from  the  labors  which  the  ministry  im- 
poses on  me,  and  when  it  is  usually  better  to  give 
place  to  younger  men." 

Dr.  Braman  was  the  son  of  a  minister,  Rev.  Isaac 
Braman,  of  Georgetown,  and  his  mother  was  the 
daughter  of  a  minister.  The  father,  in  response  to  an 
invitation  to  attend  the  George  Peabody  reception 
in  1856,  wrote :  "  If  Barzillai,  the  Gileadite,  when 
only  four  score  years  old,  could  think  himself  excus- 
able for  not  going  up  to  Jerusalem  with  his  King, 
whom  he  highly  esteemed  and  loved,  much  more  may 
one  who  is  in  his  eighty-seventh  year  be  excused  from 


^-■-v-  i:".-in.-;'t-U'-' 


U^C/fT^any^^^-^^ 


DANVERS. 


457 


going  to  South  Danvers."  The  son,  Milton  Palmer 
Braman,  second  in  a  family  of  five  children,  went 
from  Phillips  Academy  to  Harvard,  graduated  from 
there  in  1819,  and  after  a  year's  teaching  entered  the 
Andover  Seminary.  He  preached  his  first  sermon  at 
Danvers,  in  December,  1825.  He  married  Mary 
Parker,  of  Georgetown,  in  November,  1826,  seven 
months  after  his  settlement  here.  He  moved  to 
Brookline  shortly  after  his  resignation,  then  to  Au- 
burndale,  where  he  died  April  10, 1882,  in  his  eighty- 
third  year.  He  was  buried  in  the  town  of  his  birth 
after  a  brief  service  at  the  home  of  his  aged  mother. 

Dr.  Braman  was  a  strong  man.  Some  have  placed 
him  at  the  head  of  eminent  divines  reared  in  Essex 
County.  He  was  greatly  assisted  by  his  wife,  one  of 
the  wisest  and  best  of  women,  who  relieved  him  of 
family  cares,  so  that  he  could  devote  his  time  to  par- 
ish duties,  and  in  these  she  was  ever  a  thoughtful 
assistant.  The  son,  grandson  and  great-grandson  of 
ministers,  all  of  whom  were  exemplars  in  their  gen- 
eriition  in  the  discharge  of  the  pastoral  ofiice,  he  like- 
wise, by  his  earnest  and  faithful  preaching,  made  a 
deep  impression  upon  his  hearers,  many  being  led 
to  a  saving  knowledge  of  the  truth  and  a  devoted 
Christian  life,  of  whom  shining  examples  yet  re- 
main. 

The  present  pastor  of  the  church,  Dr.  Braman's 
successor.  Rev.  Charles  B.  Rice,  was  installed  Sep- 
tember 2,  1863,  and  is  api^ruaching  the  twenty-fifth 
anniversary  of  his  settlement.  Mr.  Rice  is  a  nativeof 
Conway,  Mass.  His  father.  Colonel  Austin  Rice,  who 
died  July  15,  1880,  at  eighty-six  years  of  age,  was  for 
fifty  years  one  of  the  leading  men  of  western  Massa- 
chusetts in  religious  and  educational  movements,  but 
a  few  years  before  his  death  was  sent  to  the  Legisla- 
ture, was  one  of  the  founders  of  Mt.  Holyoke  Semi- 
nary and  a  trustee  of  that  institution  at  the  time  of 
his  death.  Rev.  Mr.  Rice  has  always  taken  an  active 
interest  in  town  affairs,  has  served  on  the  school  com- 
mittee almost  continuously  since  1865,  has  represented 
his  fellow-citizens  in  both  houses  of  the  Legislature, 
and  has  served  on  the  State  Board  of  Education.  A 
permiineut  monument  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  Rice  is 
the  published  "  History  of  the  First  Parish  in  Dan- 
vers,'' which  is  an  amplification  of  the  address  deliv- 
ered by  him  at  the  celebration  of  the  two  hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  parish.  This  book  has  been 
chiefly  followed  in  the  preparation  of  this  short  sketch 
of  one  of  the  oldest,  most  historic,  and  in  all  respects 
most  interesting  churches  to  be  found  in  thiscountry. 
Many  interesting  details  have  been  altogether  omit- 
ted for  the  reason  that  they  are  there  easily  accessible. 
Doctor  Braman  was  living  at  ihe  time  of  the  anniver- 
sary. Something  more  must  here  be  said  of  him,  and 
from  a  sermon  delivered  by  Mr.  Rice,  April  28,  1882, 
these  extracts  are  taken  : 

"His  strength  was  in  the  pulpit.  Preaching  stood  foremost  with 
him,  and  it  was  preaching  fit  to  stand  in  that  place  of  forwardness. 
His  mind  was  logical,  and  thus  he  went  clear  of  all  mist  and  vagueness,  j 


and  his  thoughts  ran  steadily  toward  some  point  he  meant  to  reach.  But 
he  was  not  dull  and  dry  in  reasoning.  Along  with  his  logical  move- 
ment there  went  a  certain  enlivening  measure  of  imaginative  and  al- 
most poetical  fancy.  Then  he  had  a  clear,  shrewd  sense  concerning 
common  life  and  common  things,  so  that  his  style  was  terse  and  direct 
and  struck  sharply  on  actual  practice.  And  then,  hiding  hehind  this 
shrewd  practical  sense,  or  in  it,  was  a  line  of  humor,  ready  to  come  into 
play  where  it  might,  and  not  coming  into  sight  where  it  ought  not. 
And  then  he  had  a  gift  of  sarcasm  at  hand  for  use  when  it  might  be 
called  for.  By  all  these  means  he  held  attention  to  what  he  said,  and 
his  hearers  were  interested  and  entertained,  and  sometimes  in  a  man- 
ner fascinated,  even  while  they  might  be  severely  smitten  upon. 

"  He  was  forcible,  direct,  clear  and  pungent.  He  laid  hold  on  the 
intellect  and  sensibilities  of  his  hearers  both  together.  To  an  unusual 
degree  his  sermons  ran  close  to  life.  I  think  this  was  their  most  dis- 
tinguished characteristic.  They  were  apt  to  concern,  in  some  manner, 
those  that  heard  them  ;  and  thus  they  entered  into  their  thoughts  and 
clung  upon  their  memory.  They  were  not  unifoim  in  strength,  a  thing 
not  to  be  expected  ;  but  they  were  apt,  all  of  them,  to  be  in  some  part 
thoughtful,  and  of  a  quality  to  move  one  to  some  thoughtfulnees  for 
himself. 

"  He  preached  upon  all  Christian  doctrines,  and  with  frequency  upon 
some.  The  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  was  dear  to  him.  He  was 
skilled  in  depicting  the  lives  of  men,  and  he  called  often  into  use  the 
great  Scriptural  biographies.  The  dead  of  those  former  ages  rose  up 
here,  with  bones  and  flesh  and  breath,  and  lived  again  under  his  hand. 
He  dealt  in  this  way  with  the  good  and  the  bad,  with  Moses  and  David 
and  Pilate  and  Judas,  and  he  may  seem  sometimes  to  have  had  a  cer- 
tain grimness  of  satisfaction  in  the  work  he  might  thus  make  with  the 
bad. 

"Dr.  Braman  drew  great  attention  upon  what  are  termed  'occa- 
sional sermons,'  discourses  preached  upon  the  occurrence  of  the  Fourth 
of  July  on  a  Sabbath  day,  or  in  connection  with  the  death  of  promi- 
nent men,  as  General  Harrison  or  Daniel  Webster,  or  upon  the  annual 
days  of  Fasting  or  Thanksgiving.  On  these  days  this  house  was  filled. 
People  came  sometimes  in  barges  from  the  neighboring  towns,  and 
strangers  were  here  often  from  a  greater  distance. 

"  His  sermons  were  always  written.  He  never  spoke  in  the  pulpit 
without  notes.  Upon  one  occasion,  as  he  went  to  preach  at  South 
Danvers,  now  Peabody,  his  manuscript  was  forgotten,  and  he  was  greatly 
disturbed  when  he  made  the  discovery,  and  unwilling  to  attempt  to 
preach  ;  but  when  the  time,  in  the  midst  of  the  service,  was  come,  and 
while  yet  he  scarcely  knew  upon  what  he  should  speak,  he  went  down 
to  the  platform  before  the  pulpit,  that  he  might  not  seem  to  preach, 
and  there  he  did  preach  and  in  a  manner  which  seemed  to  those  that 
heard  him  to  surpass  his  usual  powers.  He  preached  also,  though  he 
did  not  call  it  preaching,  in  the  prayer-meetings  he  held  in  the  chapel.  It 
is  remembered  thus  that  at  the  chapel  prayer-meeting,  held  on  the  eve- 
ning of  the  day  of  Daniel  Webster's  burial,  he  spoke  for  a  full  hour, 
dwelling  upon  the  burial  scenes  of  great  men,  and  making  emphatic  as 
he  drew  to  a  close,  the  insignificance  of  all  earthly  honors  to  one  who 
had  just  entered  into  the  presence  ©f  the  holy  angels  and  the  Saviour 
and  Judge  of  men. 

"  He  spoke  usually  with  little  of  gesture  and  nothing  of  oratorical 
art.  His  ordinary  manner  could  not  be  called  graceful.  He  had  a  well- 
known  habit  of  rolling  a  strip  of  paper  upon  the  fingers  of  his  right 
hand,  and  after  a  certain  established  order  of  procedure,  and  he  might  be 
troubled  if  this  resource  failed.  But  when  he  was  once  under  way  in  the 
pulpit  upon  a  theme  that  stirred  him,  and  was  kindled  with  his  topic, 
his  ungraceful  manner  was  either  forgotten  or  it  was  changed,  he  ges- 
ticulated often  with  force  and  freedom,  and  the  spirit  of  an  orator  was 
upon  him. 

"Dr.  Braman  was  faithful  and  utterly  fearless  in  rebuking  wherever 
it  seemed  to  him  rebukes  were  needful.  He  was  a  conservative  man. 
He  was  not  changeable.  He  was  not  like  the  Apostle  Peter.  He  was 
apt  to  stand  for  the  cool  side  of  things.  But  he  stood  for  the  cool  side  of 
things  sometimes,  it  must  be  admitted,  in  a  hot  way,  that  would  not  have 
been  unbefitting  even  to  Peter. 

"He  was  a  strong  opponent  of  slavery.  They  have  misjudged  him 
who  from  anything  that  occurred  in  his  later  years  have  thought  of  him 
differently.  But  in  this  matter  his  natural  conservatism,  and  his  legal 
habit  of  mind,  had  much  force  in  shaping  the  course  he  took.  As 
events  moved  rapidly  forward,  he  himself  advanced  less  rapidly,  and  in 
his  dislike  of  all  that  seemed  revolutionary  in  its  origin  or  nature,  he 
was  led,  we  may  think,  too  far  in  distrust  or  opposition  toward  those 
great  popular    movements    which   were    designed    under   the  shining 


458 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


providence  of  God,  to  bring  the  gigantic  evil  he  himself  deplored— 
though  by  ways  that  did  not  please  him— fearfully  and  gloriously  to  an 
utter  end. 

"  Dr.  Bramau  was  a  member  of  the  School  Committee  of  the  town  for 
twenty-five  years,  and  Chairman  of  the  Board  for  a  considerable  portion 
of  that  period. 

"He  was  also  a  member  from  this  town  of  the  Convention  held  in 
1853  for  revising  the  Constitution  of  the  State,  and  he  bore  an  active 
and  influential  part  in  its  proceedings. 

"  He  went  little  into  general  society,  and  had  not  a  liking  for  social 
aesemblies." 

Mr.  Rice  reached  the  twentieth  anniversary  of  his 
settlement,  September  2,  1883.  Even  then  his  pas- 
torate was  longer  than  any  other  in  the  Essex  South 
Conference.  In  the  twenty  years,  one  hundred  and 
ninety-one  had  been  added  to  the  membership  ;  the 
number  of  members  was  then  two  iiundred  and  seven  ; 
largest  number  in  the  history  of  the  church,  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty-three,  in  1877.  In  1882  the  ratio  of 
church  membership  to  the  population  of  the  parish, 
was  larger  than  ever  before.  Nearly  one-quarter 
part  of  all  who  had  ever  been  members  were  then 
still  living.  Mr.  Rice  had  married  one  hundred  and 
twenty-six  couples,  one  hundred  being  of  the  parish, 
had  attended  three  hundred  and  fifty  funerals,preached 
five  hundred  and  thirty-four  written  sermons  and  three 
hundred  and  ninety-eight  unwritten,  of  which  he 
says  with  characteristic  humor  "all  ought  to  have 
been  better,  and  some  ought  not  to  have  been  at  all." 
Mr.  Rice  observed  the  anniversary  by  a  discourse 
from  the  pulpit  from  which  the  foregoing  statistics 
have  been  taken,  and  the  following  evening  the 
event  was  made  the  occasion  of  a  gathering  of  his 
own  parishioners,  friends  from  other  parts  of  the 
town,  ministers  from  neighboring  churches,  and 
others,  for  congratulations  and  social  enjoyment. 
Augustus  Mudge  presided,  and  after  remarks  review- 
ing the  period,  he  presented  Mr.  Rice  an  envelope 
containing  a  very  substantial  token  of  the  esteem  of 
his  people.  Among  the  letters  read  during  the  even- 
ing was  this : 

"Oak  Knoll,  Dan  vers,  9th  mo.,  3d,  1883. 
"  Hon.  Augustus  Mudge  : 

"  Dear  Friend: — I  very  much  regret  that  I  am  not  able  to  be  with  you 
at  the  gathering  this  evening.  I  am,  it  is  true,  better  acquainted  with 
the  gentleman  whom  you  so  deservedly  honor  on  this  occasion,  as  a  kind 
friend  and  neighbor,  as  a  public-spirited  citizen,  than  as  a  minister  ;  but 
the  fact  that  he  has  held  his  pulpit  for  twenty  years  is  proof  that  he  has 
done  good  service  in  it.  During  this  long  period  I  have  never  heard 
that  his  parish  have  been  troubled  by  the  bodily  presence  of  that  evil 
and  disreputable  Personage  with  whom  his  predecessor,  Parson  Parris, 
fought  such  a  losing  battle.  As  a  consequence  of  this  he  has  had  no 
occasion  to  spend  his  time  in  searching  for  witches  among  the  elderly 
ladies  of  Uis  congregation  ;  and  the  sound  theology  of  his  people  under 
his  ministrations  has  made  heresy-hunting  so  unnecessary  that  the  soli- 
tary Quaker  who  has  sojourned  within  the  parish  limits  still  remains 
unchanged  I 

"  Pleasantry  apart,  I  beg  leave  to  add  my  congratulations  to  yours, 
and  to  express  my  best  wishes  for  my  friend  Rice  and  his  family. 

"  Thine  truly, 

"John  6.  Whittiee." 

The  Sabbath-school  was  organized  in  1818,  in  Dr. 
Wadsworth's  pastorate.  The  names  of  an  even  hun- 
dred of  the  first  scholars  are  given  by  Mr,  Rice,  fifty- 
six  females,  forty-four  males.     The  largest  number  at 


any  time  connected  with  the  school  was  in  1867,  four 
hundred  and  four,  with  an  average  attendance  of 
nearly  three  hundred.  The  school  had  its  origin  at  a 
meeting  held  at  Dr.  Wadsworth's  house,  July  30th  of 
the  year  mentioned.  Those  present  were  the  first 
teachers, — Samuel  Preston,  Eiwin  Joselyn,  Edith 
Swinerton,  Betsey  Pope,  Eliza  Preston,  and  Betsey, 
Hannah,  Harriet,  Nancy,  Eliza  and  Clarissa  Putnam, 
The  latter,  Mrs,  Preston,  now  living,  has  been  men- 
tioned in  another  connection.  The  idea  of  having  a 
Sabbath-school  seems  first  to  have  been  entertained 
by  Miss  Betsey  F.  Putnam,  who  had  seen  the  working 
of  such  a  school  in  Beverly,  started  some  years  prev- 
iously. The  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  Sabbath-school 
was  observed  August  9,  1868.  Mrs.  Emma  Putnam 
Kettelle,  who  died  the  year  before,  had  been  a  teacher 
from  the  first  year.  The  first  superintendent  was 
Samuel  Preston.  His  successors  have  been  Porter 
Kettelle,  Nathan  Tapley,  Samuel  B.  Willis,  John 
Peabody,  Ebenezer  Putnam,  George  W.  Endicott, 
Ahira  Putnam,  Wm.  R.  Putnam,  Moses  W.  Putnanj, 
Augustus  Mudge,  Edward  Hutchinson,  George  W. 
French,  Samuel  A.  Tucker,  William  Siner. 

A  number  of  the  above  served  several  different 
times.  The  longest  consecutive  term  was  that  of  Mr. 
Mudge,  from  1848  to  1868.  There  were  in  1886,  con- 
nected with  the  school  three  hundred  and  four  mem- 
bers, with  an  average  attendance  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty-seven. 


A   LIST   OF   DEACONS. 


1G90-1719. 

Nathaniel  Ingersoll. 

1802-18. 

Joseph  Putnam. 

1690-1730. 

Edward  Putnam. 

1807-19. 

James  Putnam. 

1709-18. 

Benjamin  Putnam. 

1818-31. 

Jonathan  Walcott. 

1718-33. 

Eleazer  Putnam. 

1820-31. 

Ebon.  Putnam. 

1731-54. 

Nathaniel  Putnam,  son 

1832-01. 

John  Thomas. 

of  Benjamin. 

1832-44. 

Frederick  Howe. 

1733-40. 

Joseph  Whipple. 

1845-48. 

Ebenezer  Putnam,  son 

1741-62. 

Cornelius  Tarbell. 

of  Eben. 

1756-57. 

Archelaus  Putnam,  son 

1848-61. 

Samuel  Preston. 

of  Nathaniel. 

1861-85. 

E'.ijali  Hutchinson. 

1757-62. 

Samuel  Putnam,  Jr. 

1861-74. 

William  R.  Putnam. 

1762-95. 

Asa  Putnam. 

1886. 

Alfred  Hutchinson,  son 

1702-85. 

Edmund  Putnam. 

of  Elijah. 

1785-1804. 

Gideon  Putnam. 

18S6. 

Edward  A.  H.  Grover. 

1795-1802. 

Daniel  Putnam. 

STANDINO   COMMIT' 

CEES  (partial  list). 

1672. 

1775. 

Lieut. 

Thomas  Putnam. 

Tarrant  Putnam. 

Thomas  Fuller,  Sr. 

John 

Swinerton. 

Joseph  Porter. 

Cornelius  Tarbell. 

Thorn 

18  Flint. 

Abel  Nichols. 

Joshua  Eea. 

John 

'reston. 

1700. 

1800. 

Lieut. 

Jonathan  Putnam. 

Jonathan  Porter,  Jr. 

Benjamin  Hutchinson. 

Levi  Preston. 

John  Tarbell. 

Elijah 

Flint. 

Benjamin  Putnam. 

1820. 

Thomas  Fuller,  Jr. 

Moses  N.  Putnam, 

1725. 

Jesse  Putnam. 

Samuel  Flint. 

Amoa  Pope. 

Josepl 

Fuller. 

1840. 

John  Preston. 

Jesse  Putnam. 

Natlianiel  Putnam. 

SamuL 

1  Preston. 

Joseph  Putnam. 

Nathan  Tapley. 

BANVERS. 


459 


I860. 

Samuel  Preston. 
Augustus  Mudge. 
Sylvanus  B.  Swan. 

1870. 

Wm.  R.  Putnam. 
W.  B.  Woodman. 
Augustus  Mudge. 

1874. 

Augustus  Mudge. 


S.  B.  Swan. 

S.  Walter  Nourse. 

1880. 

Augvistus  Mudge. 
Alfred  Hutchinson. 
Samuel  W.  Nourse. 

1887. 
Augustus  Mudge. 
Alfred  Hutchinson. 
J.  Peter  Gardner. 
CLERKS  (partial  list). 


First  clerk,  unknown. 

to  1699.  Thos.  Putnam. 

1700.  Jonathan  Putnam 

1702.  Daniel  Rea. 

1703.  John  Putnam. 

1705.  Benj.  Putnam. 

1706.  Jonathan  Putnam. 

1707.  Daniel  Rea. 

1708.  Edward  Putnam. 
17ti9.  Samuel  Andrew. 
1710.  Israel  Porter. 
1720.  Joseph  Porter. 
1731    Joseph  Putnam. 
1740.  Samuel  Holten. 


1750.  John  Preston. 
17C0.  Asa  Putnam. 
1770.  Archelaus  Dale. 
1781.  Samuel  Page. 
1790.  Ebenezer  Brown. 
1806.  Hezekiah  Flint. 
Israel  Andrews. 
1820.  Amos  Pope. 
1832.  Daniel  F.  Putnam. 

1836.  Wm.  R.  Putnam. 

1837.  Franklin  P.  Putnam. 
1838-65.  Rufus  Tapley. 
1866-87.  Augustus  Mudge. 


Baptist. — ^On  the  authority  of  a  letter  written  in 
1817  by  Israel  Hutchinson,  clerk,  the  Baptist  Society 
was  formed  November  12,  1781.  The  first  recorded 
meeting  was  November  26,  1781.  Captain  Gideon 
Foster  was  chosen  Moderator ;  Dr.  Nathaniel  Gott, 
clerk ;  and  Jere.  Hutchinson,  Israel  Porter  and 
Nathaniel  Pope,  a  committee  to  supply  preaching. 
On  the  10th  of  December,  Nathaniel  Pope,  Samuel 
Fairfield  and  Captain  Foster  were  chosen  to  procure 
a  spot  of  land  to  set  a  meeting-house  upon  ;  later 
they  were  directed  to  "go  on  the  spot  or  spots  and 
see  which  is  most  comodose  for  the  society  and  what 
it  can  be  purchased  for."  Ebenezer  Moulton  and 
Benjamin  Jacobs  were  added  to  the  committee  and 
the  dimensions  of  the  building  fixed,  "  sixty  feet  in 
length  and  forty-five  in  wedth."  January  9,  1782,  it 
was  voted  "to  Build  the  Meeting-House  on  Hooper's 
Plane,  so  called."  In  April  this  vote  was  reconsid- 
ered, and  at  a  meeting  held  in  Mr.  Aaron  Cheever's 
house  it  was  voted  to  "  chuse  a  committe  to  purchis 
the  Land  for  the  Meting-House."  Captain  Foster 
was  retained  on  the  new  committee,  and  Aaron  Chee- 
ver  and  Ebenezer  Dale  were  the  others.  They  were 
directed  "  to  purchis  a  Land  to  Sett  the  meting- 
House  on,  and  agree  for  a  fraim  and  Git  the  under- 
pinning." Charles  Hall,  Brickmaker,  conveyed  to 
this  committee  the  land  on  which  the  building  was 
erected,  twenty-nine  poles,  by  deed  dated  September 
20,  1783,  the  consideration  being  twenty-six  pounds. 

Early  in  November,  1783,  "Voted  to  Except  of 
Mr.  Henry  putnams  plan  for  the  pews.  Voted,  that 
the  pews  be  Sold  at  Vandue.  Voted  to  choose  a 
Committee  to  attend  the  Vandue  and  make  sale  of 
the  pews,  and  to  Notify  to  attend  the  Sale  in  ways 
and  manner  the  Committee  shall  think  proper. 
Voted  that  this  committee  consist  of  Seven  persons." 
Colonel  Israel  Hutchinson,  Nathaniel  Webb,  Jona. 
Sawyer,  Nath.  Pope,  Ebenezer  Moulton,  Joseph  Os- 
borne and  Samuel  Fairfield  were  this  committee. 


A  meeting  was  called  jus*,  before  the  following 
Christmas  at  the  house  of  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Boltch, 
to  consider  the  method  of  settling  the  outstanding 
accounts  for  work  on  the  new  meeting-house ;  the 
matter  was  entrusted  to  Colonel  Hutchiusbu,  Nathan- 
iel Webb  and  John  Felt.  Jonathan  Sawyer  was  here 
appointed  the  first  treasurer  of  the  society ;  he  was 
already  "dark,"  Dr.  Gott  having  early  resigned. 

The  record  of  the  sale  of  pews  is  in  this  form  : 

"  Mr.  Aaron  Cheever,  Vandue  master,  Vandue  open  Jonathan  Sawyer 
Clerk. 

"  Jona.  Sawyer,  bid  of  No.  8  at  82  dollai-s. 
"  And  sold  to  Colonel  Israel  Hutchinson. 
"James  Richardson,  Bid  of  No.  35  at  81  dollars. 
"Joseph  Smith,  Bid  of  No.  32  at  77  dollars." 

And  so  on.  Other  bidders  were  James  Richardson, 
Henry  Putnam,  Captain  Samuel  Page,  Nathaniel 
Webb,  Samuel  Fairfield,  Captain  Jeremiah  Putnam, 
Captain  Gideon  Foster,  Nathan  Upton,  Ebenezer 
Dale,  Samuel  Fowler,  Charles  Hall,  Aaron  Cheever, 
Simon  Pinder,  Richard  Skidmore,  Nathaniel  Put- 
nam, John  Felt,  John  Garamell,  Nathaniel  Smith, 
John  Chapman,  Benjamin  Kent. 

The  first  pastor  really  settled  over  the  new  society 
was  Eev.  Benjamin  Foster,  and  the  society  was  re- 
markably fortunate  at  having  such  a  man  at  hand. 
He  knew  his  people  and  they  knew  him,  for  he  had 
grown  up  among  them.  His  father  was  Gideon  Fos- 
ter, a  native  of  Boxford;  his  mother,  Lydia  Gold- 
thwait,  of  Danvers.  He  was  born  in  the  house  which 
formerly  stood  on  Lowell  and  Foster  Streets.  South 
Danvers,  June  12,  1750.  His  brother  Gideon,  about 
a  year  and  a  half  older,  the  hero  of  Lexington,  was 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  church.  Benjamin  at- 
tended the  town  schools,  and  when  about  twenty 
years  old  entered  Yale  College,  from  which  he  gradu- 
ated in  1774.  In  college  he  became  a  decided  con- 
vert to  the  belief  that  immersion  is  the  only  valid 
mode  of  administering  the  ordinance  of  baptism. 
After  graduating  he  joined  the  First  Baptist  Church 
in  Boston,  under  Rev.  Dr.  Stillman,  who  directed  his 
theological  studies.  He  was  ordained  pastor  of  a 
Baptist  Church  in  Leicester,  Mass.,  October  23,  1776. 
He  evidently  had  preached  somewhat  at  New  Mills 
as  a  supply  during  the  latter  part  of  1783. 

January  27,  1784,  the  society  met  "  at  the  house 
where  they  commonly  met  on  the  Sabbath  days  "  to 
see  if  they  would  agree  with  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Fos- 
ter to  preach  any  longer.  They  voted  to  request  him 
to  fill  the  pulpit  for  the  nextSabbath,  adjourned  over, 
and  then  sent  Joseph  Osborne,  Nathaniel  Upton  and 
Thomas  Stevens  "  to  waight  upon  him  "  with  a  result 
thus  reported, — "the  Rev'd.  Mr.  Foster  will  Stay  with 
the  Society  six  months  unless  something  extraordi- 
nary prevents."  When  the  six  months  were  out,  De- 
cember 8,  1784,  it  voted  to  agree  with  Rev.  Mr.  Fos- 
ter to  preach  till  May  next,  and  he,  cautious  as  before, 
agreed  "  if  sickness  don't  prevent." 

Mr.  Foster  remained  here  two  years  and  then  ^c- 


460 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


cepted  a  call  to  Newport.  Another  two  years  and  he 
was  pastor  of  the  First  Baptist  Church  of  New  York. 
In  1792  the  College  of  Rhode  Island  (Brown  Univer- 
sity) conferred  upon  him  the  degree  of  "D.D./'  pro- 
bably because  of  the  talent  and  learning  displayed  in 
his  work,  "  A  Dissertation  on  the  Seventy  Weeks  of 
Daniel,  the  particular  and  exact  fulfillment  of  which 
Prophecy  is  considered  and  proved." 

Dr.  Foster  was  a  fighter  with  arguments,  and  he 
stood  manfully  by  the  guns  of  Pedo-baptism.  He  had 
a  controversy  with  Rev.  John  Cleveland,  of  Ipswich, 
on  the  baptism  question,  and  his  pamphlet,  "Primi- 
tive Baptism  Defended,"  published  September  3, 
1784,  was  widely  noticed  and  a  second  edition  called 
for  and  published  in  1788.  The  introduction  to  this 
pamphlet,  which  is  really  a  letter  to  Mr.  Cleveland, 
contains  a  passage  revealing  the  character  of  the  man, 
which  it  would  be  well  for  every  minister  in  the  land 
to  adopt: 

"  May  God  grant  that  my  pen  be  directed  by  truth,  and  governed  by 
candor  and  moderation,  while  I  attempt  to  correct  the  mistakes  of  one 
whom  I  trust  I  shall  ever  have  reason  to  respect  !  And  the  more  we 
imbibe  of  the  happy  temper  of  our  divine  Master,  the  greater  caution  we 
shall  use  to  suppress  language  which  is  bitter  and  censorious  towards 
Christians  who  differ  from  us  in  those  points  of  religion  which  are  of 
lesser  importance." 

In  the  year  1798,  in  his  forty-ninth  year,  he  died 
in  New  York,  the  death  of  a  hero.  Not  in  that  glory 
of  military  renown,  clothed  with  which  his  brother 
Gideon  lived  to  a  very  old  age,  but  in  a  scourge  of  yel- 
low fever.  When  panic  was  everywhere  and  people  fled 
from  the  city,  he  remained  at  his  post  and  fearlessly 
visiting  the  sick  and  dying,  he  took  his  life  in  his 
hands  and  lost  it.  True  heroism  !  When  the  general 
roll  is  called  how  these  instances  of  unselfish  devo- 
tion, untrumpeted  from  the  house-tops,  will  far  out- 
shine and  outnumber  the  brave  deeds  of  war. 

Dr.  Foster  was  buried  in  the  Baptist  Cemetery, 
N.  Y.,  and  on  the  marble  over  his  grave  are  these 
words  written  by  an  eminent  Presbyterian  clergyman 
of  that  city : 

"  He  excelled  as  a  preacher  ;  as  a  Christian  he  shone  conspicuously  ; 
in  his  piety  he  wag  fervent ;  the  church  was  comforted  by  his  life,  and 
now  laments  his  death." 

At  a  meeting,  early  in  1786,  Nathaniel  Putnam, 
Benjamin  Kent  and  Simon  Pindar  were  chosen  to 
provide  preaching  for  that  year.  A  similar  committee 
the  next  year  were  Jonathan  Sawyer,  Aaron  Cheever, 
Nathaniel  Webb;  1788,  Nathaniel  Upton,  INathaniel 
Webb,  Israel  Hutchinson;  1789,  Messrs.  Upton, 
Hutchinson  and  Ebenezer  Dale ;  1790,  Israel  Porter, 
Eleazer  Wallis,  Colonel  Hutchinson;  1791,  the 
same  ;  1792,  the  latter  two  and  Newall  Wilson.  Bnt 
little  other  business  was  transacted  in  these  years.  A 
vote,  of  1789,  that  the  committee  provide  preaching 
once  a  month  and  as  much  oftener  as  they  can,  is 
significant.  In  1792  the  clerk,  Israel  Hutchinson,  Jr., 
was  directed  to  draft  three  subscription  papers  for 
the  committee  to  see  "  how  much   money  they  can 


gitt  sined  for  the  support  of  the  gauspill  the  present 
year." 

In  the  fall  of  1792,  we  have  a  hint  of  a  law-suit  in 
which  the  Society  was  involved  with  the  Second 
Parish  in  Beverly.  Richard  Waitt  had  been  repre- 
senting the  society  and  Joseph  Batchelder,  Israel 
Porter  and  the  clerk  were  chosen  to  help  him  fight. 
March  26,  1793,  the  society  met  to  see  what  measures 
they  would  take  "respecting  the  Rev.  Thomas  Green 
preaching  for  the  present  year."  Ebenezer  Wallis, 
Israel  Porter,  Josiah  Swett,  I.  Hutchinson,  Jr.,  and 
Nathaniel  Upton  considered  the  matter,  and  their  re- 
port was  accepted  "Respecting  giving  the  Revd. 
Thos.  Green  all  the  monies  that  may  be  Subscribed  on 
the  subscription  papers,  and  that  he  shall  Have  all 
the  Light  Contributions  and  all  other  advantages 
witch  may  arise  by  sd  society." 


"a  cofpey  of  the 
£    8.     d. 

Nathl.  Webb 2 

Israel  porter 2 

Israel  Hutchinson,  Jr 2 

Timothy  Fuller 1 

.fohn  Creasey  ye2 0 

Nathl.  Upton 1 

Amos  Sawyer 1 

Wm.  Johnson 0 

Jos.  Swett 1 

Simon  Dodge 1 

Asa  Woodbury 3 

E.  Wallis 2 

Charles  Dennis 0 

Wm.  Trask 1 

John  Makentiar 1 

Jon".  Wilson 0 

Samuel  Dutch 1 

Josiah  Rayment 0    10 

Joseph  Pettengill 0 

Lemual  Childs 1 

Rich.  Skidmore 0 

Joshua  Prinse 2 

Daniel  Usher 0 

Jerem.  W.  Putman 0 

Nath>.  Pulman 1 

Aaron  Chever 1 

Saml. Fairfield 0 

Jona.  llobbins 0 

James  Burch 0 

Widow  Fowler 0 

Simon  Pinder 1 

Richard  Elliott 0 

John  Endicott 1 

Thos.  Putnam 1 

John  Welch 0 

Gideon  Foster 1 

Deiinison  Wallis 2 

Benj.  Jacobs 1 


8 

0 

8 

0 

8 

0 

0 

0 

12 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

16 

0 

10 

0 

10 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

18 

0 

10 

0 

4 

0 

12 

0 

4 

0 

10 

0 

18 

0 

G 

0 

12 

0 

8 

0 

18 

0 

12 

0 

4 

(1 

0 

0 

9 

0 

8 

0 

6 

0 

12 

0 

16 

0 

10 

0 

16 

0 

12 

0 

8 

0 

16 

0 

2 

0 

4 

0 

SUBSCRIPTION     PAPER. 

£  8.  d. 

John  Bushby 0  12  0 

Jona.  Felton 0  12  0 

Newall  Wilson 1  4  0 

Barnabas  Conant 0  12  0 

Peter  Woodbury 1  4  0 

Nathl.  Prinse 1  0  0 

Jona.  Prince 0  12  0 

Win.  Trask  ye  2 0  18  0 

Jona.  Waitt 0  6  8 

Israel  Hutchinson,  Esq. ..2  10  0 

Moses  Endicott 0  12  0 

Edw.  Dodge 1  10  0 

Israel  Putnam 2  0  0 

Richard  Waitt 0  12  0 

Josiah  Batchelder 1  0  0 

Joshua  Osborne 0  12  0 

Gideon  Batchelder 0  12  0 

Seth  Richardson 0  9  0 

Samuel  McKentiar 0  9  0 

Richard  Skidmore,  Jr 0  6  0 

Wm.  Hilbort,  Jr 0  9  o 

Joseph  Hilbort 0  9  0 

Wm.  Hilbort 0  4  6 

Eph'm  Smith 0  6  0 

Ebenez'r  Browne 1  4  0 

Nicholas  Browne 1  10  0 

Sam'l  Cheever 0  12  0 

Bartholomew  Smith 0  12  0 

Elias  Endicott 0  15  0 

Edmond  Putnam  0  12  0 

John  Hutchinsou 0  6  0 

Nath'l  Batchelder 0  12  0 

Auth.  Buxton 0  18  0 

Elisha  Fuller 1  4  0 

Abigail  Broadstreet 0  tj  0 


£69  19     2 


A  proprietors'  meeting  was  held  in  April,  1793,  to 
further  consider  the  settlement  of  "accounts  and  dis- 
posal of  unsold  pews.  The  committee  were  directed 
to  hang  the  pew  doors  and  make  the  end  doors  to  the 
house ;  James  Richardson  was  given  a  certain  time  in 
which  "  to  cap  his  lot  of  pews."  The  next  year  a 
subscription  paper  was  again  passed  around,  "  to  see 
how  much  they  can  get  sined  for  Rev.  Thomas 
Green  ;  "  and  he  was  also  given  the  light  contribu- 
tion.    It  may   have  been   from   excessive    lightness 


BANVERS. 


461 


that  Mr.  Green  resigned,  November  26,  179(5.  The 
next  March  it  was  voted  "  to  procure  sum  person 
who  possesseth  a  good  Carrictor  to  preach  for  the  So- 
ciety this  year,  and  the  committee  is  to  promise  the 
minister  all  the  contribusian  that  arises  by  the  So- 
ciety or  otherwise  all  the  money  that  the  committee 
shall  see  proper."  Nothing  like  having  these  little 
financial  matters  between  pastor  and  people  plainly 
understood.  It  is  not  shown  in  the  society  records 
who  first  succeeded  Mr.  Green.  There  was  no  set- 
tled minister  for  six  years.  Elder  Joshua  Young 
was  supplying  in  the  fall  of  1800.  In  December. 
1802,  the  standing  committee  made  a  report  on  Lord's 
Day  evening,  after  the  service  that  they  have  agreed 
with  Mr.  Jeremiah  Chaplin  "  to  preach  to  the  Society 
one  year  Exclusive  of  Two  Days  the  committee 
agreed  to  give  him  ;  we  are  to  pay  312  dollars,  equal 
to  6  dollars  pr.  day,  wich  the  Society  appeared  to  be 
very  well  satisfied  with,  and  also  voted  to  pay  the 
same." 

A  minute  has  been  preserved  of  certain  donations 
to  Mr.  Chaplin  for  the  society : 

"The  above  money  was  given  by  Rev.  Samuel    Stilmon's  Church,  Mr. 
Baldin's  Church  and  the  church  at  Charleston,  that  is  to  say, 

From  Doc.  Stilnion's $51.25 

From  Mr.  Baldin's      61.8 

From  Charlston 20.10 

$132.43 
'•  By  a  box  of  Glass  100  f  8  by  10  Inches. 
"Given  by  Deacon  Waitt,  of  D.  Stilnion's 
"Church  cost  $13.75  cents. 
"1804,  Sept.  13,  I  Reed  Eight  Dollars  of 
•'  Deacon  wild,  it  being  a  Remnont  Not 
"  paid  to  Collector  when  Mr.  Chaplin  reed 
"The above  money." 8. 

$140.43 

Dr.  Stillman  was  the  pastor  of  the  First  Baptist 
Church  of  Boston,  with  whom  Benjamin  Foster 
studied.  The  society  sent  grateful  acknowledgment 
of  the  prompt  and  liberal  assistance  thus  aftbrded  in 
repairing  the  meeting-house. 

In  1805  Mr.  Chaplin's  salary  was  raised  to  four  hun- 
dred dollars,  but  the  ordinary  formula  of  the  annual 
meetings  was  a  vote  for  a  subscription  paper,  "  to  see 
how  much  could  be  raised  for  the  continuance  of  the 
gospel,  as  the  Revd.  Jeremiah  Chaplin's  time  is  near- 
ly expired."  Contributions  were  taken,  one  year 
every  Sabbath ;  again,  by  passing  the  box  around 
twice  in  every  three  months  to  collect  the  money  of 
the  subscribers.  To  be  impartial  in  this  business,  in 
1816  Samuel  Whipple,  collector,  was  directed  "to 
carry  Round  the  Book  in  the  gallery  at  the  time 
they  pass  Round  below  to  colect  the  Subscription." 

On  the  17th  and  18th  days  of  September,  1817,  the 
Salem  Baptist  Association  met  with  the  New  Mills 
people. 

There  were  at  this  time  fourteen  churches  within 
the  association,  namely,  the  First  Haverhill,  the  pio- 
neer of  Baptist  Churches  in  this  vicinity,  founded  in 
1765 ;  [Chelmsford,    1771;    Rowley,   1786;    Danvers, 


1793;  Beverly,  1801;  First  Salem,  1804;  South  Read- 
ing, 1804;  Nottingham  West,  1805;  Newbury,  1805; 
Gloucester,  1807;  Marblehead,  1810;  Methuen,  1815; 
Lynn,  1816  ;  Reading,  1817. 

That  the  meeting  was  quite  an  event  may  be 
judged  from  the  preparations.  A  month  before,  there 
was  a  special  meeting  of  church  and  society,  at  which 
there  were  appointed  to  act  with  the  standing  com- 
mittee, a  special  committee  of  ten, — -Dea.  Isaac  Por- 
ter, Benjamin  Kent,  Captain  Thomas  Putnam,  Wil- 
liam Trask,  Captain  Thomas  Cheever,  Captain  Ed- 
ward Richardson,  Major  Joseph  Stearns,  James  Carr, 
William  Johnson,  Israel  Hutchinson.  They  met  at 
Mr.  Hutchinson's  house,  to  perfect  arrangements. 
Major  Black  was  made  chairman.  Messrs.  Kent, 
Porter  and  Hutchinson  were  detailed  to  see  that  pro- 
vision was  made  for  the  care  of  horses;  Captain  Put- 
nam, Major  Black  and  D.  Hardy — the  latter  not  of 
the  ten — were  directed  "to  visit  the  Nabours  to  see 
what  entertainments  they  will  make  both  as  to  pro- 
visions and  Lodging  for  the  ministers  and  messengers 
who  may  attend  the  association  ;  "  "  to  Seete  the  La- 
dies " — there  the  ten  passed  around  sly  jokes,  of 
course,  at  the  expense  of  each  other,  but  they  set- 
tled down  with  commendable  fitness  on  the  three  men 
with  handles  to  their  names  most  suggestive  of  chiv- 
alry,— Captain  Putnam,  Captain  Cheever,  Captain 
Richardson ;  "  to  kc^'p  the  Dores  of  the  meeting- 
house," Dea.  Porter,  Messrs.  Kent  and  Hutchinson  ; 
"  to  attend  in  the  galleries  and  place  the  people  at 
the  best  advantage  to  prevent  Disorder,"  Major 
Stearns,  Mr.  Allen  Gould  ;  "  to  examine  the  meeting- 
house and  report  what  it  will  be  necessary  to  do," 
Captain  Putnam,  Messrs.  Trask  and  Kent.  The  gen- 
eral committee  met  again  and  "  maid  a  report  what 
they  had  Dun  for  the  association,  as  it  Respects  vit- 
ling  &  Lodging,  &  Likewise  to  the  Keeping  of  horses. 
Rev.  Mr.  Chaplin,  Messrs.  Kent  and  Hutchinson,  were 
appointed  to  make  a  division  of  the  guests  among 
the  people ;  it  was  voted  "  that  Mr.  John  Dock  have 
the  Sole  Care  of  the  Singing,  &  that  he  may  invite 
what  assistance  he  may  think  necessary,  to  assist 
him."  One  more  meeting  the  committee  had  ;  Wil- 
liam Trask  and  Major  Black  were  appointed  "to 
keep  good  order  round  the  meetinghouse  in  Divine 
Sarvis."  The  only  record  which  Mr.  Hutchinson 
made  of  the  occasion,  which  presumably  was  carried 
out  with  [pleasure  and  profit,  was  in  regard  to  the 
singing  ;  he  himself  was  called  upon  to  manage  this 
part  of  the  service,  owing  to  John  Dock's  previous 
engagement.  He  employed,  he  writes,  Mr.  Kinne,  of 
Salem,  Mr.  Carey,  of  Salem,  Mr.  Timothy  Berry,  of 
Beverly  and  many  others  attended  with  them. 
"  Kinne's  bill,  $14— Berry's  bill,  4$50— Mr.  Carey 
came  with  others  gratis." 

The  Salem  Association  met  with  the  New  Mills 
Church  again  in  1836  and  again  in  1854;  in  the  latter 
year  it  was  comprised  of  twenty-four  churches. 

In  April,  1818,  Mr.  Chaplin's  salary  was  made  five 


462 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


hundred  dollars,  to  be  raised  by  tax  assessed  on  the 
polls  and  estates  of  those  persons  who  are  or  who  may 
be  petitioners  for  an  incorporation  act,  and  as  if  to 
give  comfort  and  encouragement  to  the  minister,  a 
copy  of  the  record  of  this  action  was  sent  to  him. 
But  a  month  later  he  accepted  a  call  to  another  posi- 
tion. For  sixteen  years  he  had  lived  and  labored 
among  this  people,  how  devotedly  and  with  what  mu- 
tual affection  can  be  judged  from  the  extracts  of  letters 
which  follow.  The  meagreness  of  his  salary  forced 
his  domestic  economy  into  narrow  straits ;  it  is  said 
that  he  often  was  seen  fishing  from  Spite  Bridge,  and 
whether  or  not  he  had  a  weakness  for  angling,  doubt- 
less the  catch  was  welcome  to  the  frying-pan.  It  is  a 
pleasant  thing  to  record  that  his  reputation  for  ster- 
ling manhood,  conscientious  work  and  scholarly  at- 
tainments brought  to  him  an  invitation  to  accept  the 
presidency  of  the  institution  since  known  as  Bates' 
College. 

May  18,  1818,  his  release  was  reluctantly  granted, 
and  the  unfeigned  thanks  of  the  society  were  tendered 
him  for  his  long  and  faithful  services.  Further,  three 
persons  were  chosen  "  to  form  an  address  to  be  pre- 
sented to  him."     Their  names  appear  below  : 

"Danvers,  May  30,  1818. 

"  Bev.  Jeremiah  Chaplin  : 
"  Rev.  &  Dear  Sir, — We  are  authorizid  by  tlie  unanimous  vote  of  tlie 
Baptist  Society  in  Danvers,  in  belialf  of  the  same,  to  present  yo\i  our  un- 
feigned thanks  for  your  long  and  faithful  labors  with  us  as  a  minister  of 
the  Gospel  and  preacher  of  morality  ;  and  to  express  our  sincere  wishes 
that  wherever  you  may  in  providence  be  called  the  smiles  of  Heaven  may 
accompany  you.  You  would  deem  it  superfluous  were  we  to  enlarge 
upon  the  high  estimation  which  we  have  ever  placed  on  your  ministerial 
performances  or  the  love  which  we  have  ever  borne  toward  you  as  a 
citizen.  The  reluctance  with  which  we  have  lately  assented  to  your  dis- 
mission sufficiently  bespeaks  these  sentiments.  Nothing  but  a  sense  of 
duty  in  consideration  of  your  present  feelings  has  drawn  this  assertion 
from  us.  Although  your  removal  is  to  us  not  joyous,  but  grievous,  yet 
the  occasion  of  this  removal  and  the  circumstances  under  which  you 
leave  us,  afford  us  a  very  pleasing  reflection.  We  have  the  satisfaction 
to  believe  that  no  want  of  attachment  to  us,  love  of  honor,  pecuniary 
Tiews  nor  sinister  motives,  of  whatever  nature,  had  any  part  in  Inducing 
you  to  request  a  dismission.  And  much  as  we  regret  the  loss  which  we 
must  sustain  by  this  separation,  we  are  not  disposed  to  complain  of  any 
injustice  on  your  part.  No,  Sir  !  We  are  rather  disposed  to  feel  grateful 
for  the  privileges  which  we  have  already  enjoyed,  and  to  hope  that  the 
usefulness  of  your  labours  will  bo  more  extensive  than  it  could  be  with 
us.  We  sliould  be  criminally  contracted  and  selfish  in  our  views  were 
we  to  wish  the  general  good  to  be  sacrificed  to  our  particular  interest. 
That  yourremoval  will  be  for  the  general  good  we  have  not  undertaken 
to  decide  fi'oni  our  own  knowledge,  but  have  acted  with  deference  to 
your  superior  judgment,  and  so  far  as  self  denial  would  admit  have  acted 
with  cheerfulness. 

"  We  request  and  trust  we  shall  ever  have  an  interest  in  your  suppli- 
cations at  the  throne  of  Him  who  gave  and  whotaketh  away.  Be  assured 
dear  sir,  we  possess  the  most  affectionate  feelings  for  yourself  and  family. 
Wishing  you  may  receive  a  hundred-fold  in  this  time,  and  in  the  world 

to  come  eternal  life. 

"Fredehick  Emerson,     ] 

"Joseph  Stearns, 

"Thomas  Putnam, 

"  Junel,  1818.     Read  in  parish  meeting  and  approved. 

Israel  Hutchinson,  Clerk. 

Many  years  after  Mr.  Chaplin's  departure,  one  of 
his  successors  wrote  :  "  The  parting  scenes  as  they 
still  linger  in  the  memories  of  the  aged,  and  as  re- 
hearsed by  them  with  tearful  eye,  show  how  deep  a 
hold  he  had  upon  his  people." 


Addi-essing 
Committae. 


It  was  at  the  beginning  of  Mr.  Chaplin's  ministry 
that  the  Beverly  people  withdrew  to  form  a  church  of 
their  own,  and  by  reason  of  their  dismissal  and  from 
other  causes,  the  parent  church  was  left  in  a  low  con- 
dition, with  but  thirty-eight  members.  At  the  close 
of  Mr.  Chaplin's  ministry  the  membership  was  seven- 
ty-four. 

On  the  21st  of  June,  1818,  the  next  Sabbath  after 
Mr.  Chaplin  left.  Rev.  James  A.  Bos  well  preached. 
Three  or  four  weeks  later  a  meeting  was  held  to  see 
if  the  society  were  so  "satisfied  with  the  gifts  and 
tallants "  of  this  preacher  as  to  wish  to  have  him 
supply  longer.  The  meeting  left  it  to  the  committee 
and  the  committee  engaged  him  for  three-quarters  of 
a  year.  A  well-known  lady  who  was  then  a  young 
Miss  attending  Miss  Martin's  "  Dame's  School "  at 
New  Mills,  remembers  being  present  at  his  installa- 
tion, and  that  the  new  minister  looked  very  young 
and  small  when  the  old  divines  were  talking  to  him. 
Very  likely  any  man  would  have  felt  somewhat  dim- 
inutive on  such  an  occasion. 

On  the  12th  of  February,  1819,  the  act  was  passed 
which  has  been  hinted  at,  incorporating  the  First 
Baptist  Society  in  Danvers.  The  original  incorpora- 
tors were,  Andrew  Batchelder,  Martin  Bates,  Michael 
Barry,  Moses  Black,  James  Carr,  Benjamin  Chaplin, 
Thomas  Cheever,  Caleb  Clarke,  Parker  Cross,  John 
Doak,  George  Ellis,  Solomon  Emerson,  Israel  Endicot, 
George  Ervin,  Levi  Fish,  Benjamin  Foster,  William 
Francis,  Elijah  Fuller,  Timothy  Fuller,  Daniel  Good- 
hue, Allen  Gould,  Andrew  Gould,  Daniel  Hardy, 
Stephen  Haynes,  Israel  Hutchinson,  Aaron  Jacobs, 
Ebenezer  Jacobs,  Henry  Johnson,  Wm.  Johnson,  Her- 
cules H.  Josselyn,  John  Kenny,  Benj.  Kent,  Benj.  Kent, 
Jr.,  Jos.  Kent,  John  Kent,  Robert  Lefavor,  Nathaniel 
Mayhew,  Samuel  Mclntire,  Jonathan  Mclntire,  John 
Mitchell,  William  Morris,  Amos  Osborn,  Jeremiah 
Page,  John  Page,  Benjamin  Perry,  Allen  Peabody, 
Samuel  Pinder,  John  Porter,  Jonathan  Proctor,  Amos 
Putnam,  Allen  Putnam,  Andrew  Putnam,  Jeremiah 
Putnam,  John  Putnam,  Thomas  Putnam,  Parker 
Richard.son,  Briggs  D.  Reed,  William  Shillaber,  Sam- 
uel Slater,  Ephraim  Smith,  Joseph  Stearns,  Seth 
Stetson,  Timothy  Stevens,  Asa  Stickney,  Thomas  Sy- 
monds,  William  Trask,  Daniel  Upham,  Benjamin 
Webb,  Nathaniel  Webb,  Nathaniel  Webb,  Jr.,  Sam- 
uel Whipple,  Stephen  Whipple,  Amaziah  Whitney, 
Noah  Whittier  and  Moses  W.  Wilson. 

The  first  meeting  under  the  new  act  was  held  at 
School-house,  No.  2,  on  Monday,  March  29,  1819,  at 
six  o'clock,  P.M.,  to  choose  officers  and  levy  a  tax  for 
support  of  the  Gospel  and  other  expenses  for  the  en- 
suing year.  Sixteen  votes  were  cast  for  moderator, 
all  for  Thomas  Putnam ;  twenty  for  clerk,  all  for 
Israel  Hutchinson.  Thomas  Putnam,  Moses  Black 
and  Benjamin  Kent  were  elected  assessors ;  Joseph 
Stearns,  treasurer;  Hercules  H.  Joslyn,  collector. 
The  first  votes  of  money  under  the  new  order  were  in 
this  wise :  "  Voted  to   Raise   $400  for  the   Benefit  of 


DANVERS. 


463 


the  Gospel ;  Voted  to  Eeconsider  the  Vote  for  $400  . 
Voted  to  raise  $350  Dollars  for  the  Benefit  of  the 
Gospel ;  Voted  to  Reconsider  the  Vote  for  $350 ! 
Voted  unanimously  to  Raise  $300  for  the  support  of 
the  gospil  in  Said  Society  the  present  year."  Evi- 
dently a  case  of  a  strong  working  minority.  The  sum 
finally  voted  was  not,  however,  let  it  be  hoped,  the 
limit  of  the  minister's  salary.  The  old  subscription 
was  not  abandoned,  but  the  committee  were  directed 
to  present  it  to  those  persons  who  did  not "  come  under 
the  incorporation  act,"  or  any  others  d'sposed  to 
help. 

In  April  it  was  voted  without,  dissent  -  his  "  gifts 
and  tallants  "  had  stood  the  test — to  give  Mr.  Boswell 
a  call  to  settle.  On  his  acceptance,  it  was  voted 
unanimously  to  give  him  an  ordination  on  the  second 
Wednesday  of  June,  and  that  the  Rev.  Benjamin 
Wadsworth  and  the  Rev.  Samuel  Walker  be  invited 
to  attend.  Ten  dollars  was  subsequently  voted  to 
Benjamin  Chaplin  to  defray  expenses  of  singing  on 
the  occasion. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  next  church  year,  March, 
1820,  there  was  not  a  unanimity  in  the  invitation  to 
Mr.  Boswell  to  continue,  and  after  careful  considera- 
tion he  asked  to  be  dismissed.  Dismission  was 
granted,  but  the  fact  that  both  a  letter  of  recommen- 
dation and — what  was  of  much  greater  import,  judg- 
ing from  the  monetary  votes  of  the  society — a  present 
of  one  hundred  dollars,  were  given  him,  goes  far  to 
remove  the  idea  that  any  ill-feeling  existed  between 
pastor  and  people. 

Rev.  Arthur  Drinkwater  preached  more  or  less  dur 
ing  the  following  spring  and  summer,  and  in  August 
the  society  met  to  consider  his  gifts  and  talents,  and 
requested  him  "  to  make  them  a  visit  and  supply  the 
pulpit  for  a  certain  term  of  time  as  the  Society  may 
think  proper."  In  September  advice  was  received 
from  Dr.  Chaplin,  their  old  pastor,  "respecting  Mr. 
Drinkwater's  character  as  being  a  good  gospel  minis- 
ter," and  he  was  invited  to  settle  over  the  church. 
December  7,  1821,  was  appointed  for  installation. 

In  November,  1822,  there  were  certain  votes  passed 
which  must  have  had  a  meaning  to  somebody, — 
"  Voted  that  there  be  a  committee  chosen  to  wait  on 
the  man  who  stole  the  wood  from  the  Society.  Voted 
that  the  man  that  stole  the  wood  be  allowed  24  hours 
to  produce  the  man  he  bought  the  wood  of,  and  if  he 
does  not  he  must  take  the  course  of  the  law." 

In  1824  Abednego  Rust  and  Nathaniel  Tuttle  were 
chosen  "thything  men  to  keep  the  boys  still ;"  about 
the  time  of  Mr.  Drinkwater's  installation  William 
Johnson  had  been  empowered  to  present  to  the 
grand  jury  any  persons  making  any  disturbance  in 
or  about  the  meeting-house  on  the  Sabbath  ;  in  1825 
Daniel  Hardy  was  deputed  to  take  care  of  the  boys 
in  the  galleries,  and  the  tything  men  chosen  by  the 
town  were  requested  "to  take  cognizance  of  the  boys 
that  throng  the  porch  before  divine  Service,  to  the 
inconvenience  of  the  females  that  are  going  into  the 


meeting-house."  Does  any  grandfather  wink  slyly 
to  himself? 

In  January,  1826,  Gideon  Foster,  Benjamin  Kent 
and  Briggs  R.  Read  were  commissioned  to  draft  a  bill 
and  secure  its  passage  by  the  Legislature,  authorizing 
the  taxation  of  pews ;  such  a  bill  became  a  law  in  the 
following  March.  By  its  provisions  a  person  must 
own,  in  order  to  vote  thenceforth  in  the  society  meet- 
ings, at  least  one-half  a  floor  pew  or  the  whole  of  a 
gallery  pew. 

The  year  1828  is  conspicuous  in  the  annals  of 
the  Baptist  Society  as  the  year  of  a  new  house  of  wor- 
ship. Though  the  first  house  was  but  forty-five  years 
old,  suspicions  were  entertained  as  to  its  strength. 
An  association  of  subscribers,  afterwards  proprietors, 
was  formed  to  build  a  new  house. 

The  proprietors  of  the  new  meeting-house,  though 
composed,  of  course,  of  the  leading  Baptists,  were 
separate  and  distinct  from  the  society.  They  held 
their  own  meetings  and  kept  their  own  records, 
Samuel  P.  Fowler  acting  as  clerk.  At  their  first 
meeting,  in  March,  1828,  it  was  voted,  "  That  if  the 
proprietors  of  the  old  meeting-house  are  willing  to 
dispose  of  their  house  and  the  land  on  which  it 
stands,  for  a  reasonable  consideration  we  purchase  it 
for  the  purpose  of  removing  the  house  and  erecting  a 
new  one  in  its  place,  to  be  governed  by  the  present 
incorporation.  The  property  in  the  house  to  belong 
to  the  subscribers  to  the  new  meeting-house.  It  is 
understood,  in  case  we  purchase  the  old  meeting- 
house, a  new  one  will  be  erected  on  its  site  within 
eighteen  months."  Eben  Hunt,  Arthur  Drinkwater 
and  Moses  W,  Wilson  were  appointed  to  see  if  the 
proprietors  of  the  old  meeting-house  were  willing  to 
dispose  of  their  house  under  such  conditions. 

The  society  held  a  series  of  meetings  about  the 
same  time,  at  which  the  standing  committee  were 
empowered  to  sell  the  building  "  for  four  hundred 
dollars  and  nothing  less,  and  more  if  they  can  get  it," 
the  purchasers  to  remove  the  same  before  the  follow- 
ing June;  and  the  "subscribers"  were  permitted  to 
erect  a  new  meeting-house  on  the  old  lot  for  the  use 
of  the  church  and  society,  to  be  governed  by  the  act 
of  incorporation  already  in  force. 

That  old  church  is  still  in  existence.  It  was  bought 
by  John  A.  Learoyd  and  removed  to  the  Plains,  not 
far  from  Lindall  Hill,  where  its  timbers  grew,  and 
has  ever  since  been  used  as  a  currier-shop.  It  was 
thought,  as  has  been  said,  old  and  unsafe  when  sold, 
but  as  Mr.  Rice,  with  characteristic  humor,  remarks, 
"  it  has  upon  it  at  the  present  time  a  certain  air  of 
breadth  and  settlement  in  configuration  of  such  a 
sort  that  the  eye  of  the  beholder  may  not  readily  dis- 
cern to  what  end  it  should  ever  fall  down." 

The  new  building  committee  were  Samuel  Fowler, 
Arthur  Drinkwater,  Daniel  Hardy,  Briggs  R.  Reed, 
and  Ebenezer  Hunt.  The  chairman  was  directed, 
among  other  things,  to  ascertain  whether  any  compen- 
sation could  be  obtained  for  the  land  belonging  to 


464 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


the  meeting-house  lot,  but  used  as  a  highway  since 
the  widening  of  the  road  in  1802,  and  he  found  that 
the  society  had  slept  too  long  on  their  rights.  The 
proprietors  held  meetings  through  the  summer  and  fall, 
and  from  time  to  time  instalments  of  subscriptions  | 
were  paid  in.  In  December,  1828,  they  wished  to  ] 
know  whether  their  subscription  paper  was  an  instru- 
ment sufficiently  binding  to  sue  upon  for  non-pay- 
ment, and  Messrs.  Fowler,  Hunt  and  Reed  were  sent 
to  obtain  advice  from  Rufus  Choate,  then  at  South 
Parish,  and  'Squire  Benj.  Merrill.  The  advice  was 
that  the  paper  would  hold. 

On  the  17th  of  March,  1829,  the  house  was  finished, 
and  the  committee  were  directed  to  "  inform  the 
Baptist  Society  at  their  annual  meeting  (when  it  is 
understood  that  the  house  will  have  been  accepted) 
that  the  house  is  ready  for  their  use,  and  that  they  be 
desired  to  make  arrangements  for  the  opening  of  the 
house  with  appropriate  religious  services." 

May  1st,  John  Porter,  Benj.  Kent  and  Benj.  Porter 
were  chosen  to  arrange  for  dedication.  May  25th 
Mr.  Kent  and  Daniel  Hardy  were  authorized  to  sell 
the  pews  in  the  new  church  at  public  auction  by  bid- 
ding for  choice  over  and  above  the  appraisal,  the  ap- 
praisal to  cover  the  cost  of  the  house  ;  and  they  were 
also  directed  "to  obtain  a  legal  title  to  the  land  un- 
der a  part  and  adjoining  said  meeting-house  of  the 
family  of  the  late  Captain  Thomas  Putnam,  de- 
ceased." A  summary  statement  of  the  cost  of  the 
church  is  this : 

E.  Felt, 1135.00 

Natliauiel  Galucia,     110.80 

E.  Perry 20.63 

•Tona.  Perry, 20.00 

Israel  Endicott, • •')8-24 

EbenezerHunt 2.00 

Edmund  Needhara I8.!)0 

M.  Pulsifer, ICO.f'O 

Sam'l  Fowler 44.27 

S.  P.  Fowler, - 3.00 

Henry  L.Gould,  • 2170 

M.  Wilson,         1 

W.  Francis,        V  Carpenters S4200.60 

J.  Ross,  ' 

Total, 84826.14 

At  this  time  when  the  people  moved  out  of  the  old 
house  into  the  new,  the  relations  of  pastor  and  peo- 
ple and  of  the  people  to  one  another  should  have 
been  particularly  harmonious.  Mr.  Drinkwater 
closed  his  pastorate  June  26,  1829.  During  the  last 
year  of  his  service  some  very  unpleasant  differences 
of  opinion  arose  in  the  society  which  resulted  in  the 
organization  of  the  Uuiversalist  Society,  weakening 
not  inconsiderably  the  society  in  which  the  division 
occurred.  Universalism  had  its  beginnings  in  Dan- 
vers  much  earlier  than  this,  as  will  hereafter  appear. 
A  hint  at  the  feeling  which  existed  in  1829  may  be 
found  in  a  vote  that  the  committee  be  instructed  "  to 
inquire  into  the  story  that  has  gone  abroad  that  the 
Unitarians  want  to  get  the  new  meeting-house." 

Mr.  Drinkwater  is  remembered  by  certain  old  peo- 


ple as  one  of  the  sort  of  men  that  Caesar  liked  to  have 
about  him,  not  a  bit  "  lean  and  hungry."  He  was  of 
a  light,  florid  complexion,  of  talents  not  rising  high 
above  the  average;  he  made  many  friends  outside  of 
his  own  church. 

In  the  spring  of  1830  the  Rev.  James  Barnabee  was 
by  unanimous  vote  invited  to  fill  the  vacant  pulpit. 
He  is  remembered  by  old  people  as  a  man  with  a 
very  loud  voice.  Mr.  Barnabee's  year  commenced  on 
the  first  of  May,  and  six  hundred  dollars  was  voted 
for  his  support  and  incidental  charges.  His  pastorate 
was  short,  ending  in  May,  1832,  but  very  eventful ; 
soon  after  he  came  the  great  revival  all  through  the 
churches  was  felt  here  with  so  great  effect  that  the 
membership  was  increased  from  ninety-three  to  one 
hundred  and  thirty-nine.  At  the  old  church,  Dr. 
Braman's,  there  were  added  in  the  same  period  one 
hundred  and  twelve  members,  increasing  the  member- 
ship from  about  one  hundred,  in  1828,  to  one  hundred 
and  ninety-five  in  1833. 

July  23,  1832,  the  society  united  with  the  church 
in  giving  a  call  to  the  Rev.  John  Holroyd,  at  a  salary 
of  five  hundred  dollars  for  the  first  year.  Five  years 
later,  November  8,  1837,  Mr.  Holroyd  died  while  at 
Providence,  R.  I.,— the  only  instance  of  a  vacancy  in 
the  pastorate  caused  by  death.  During  his  labors  the 
membership  of  the  church  reached  its  highest  limit- 
one  hundred  and  fifty-five.  He  was  about  sixty 
years  old  at  his  death  ;  a  quiet,  venerable  appearing 
man,  greatly  beloved  and  lamented  by  all  who  knew 
him.  He  left  a  widow,  but  no  children  ;  she  was  the 
daughter  of  Dr.  Benedict,  of  Providence,  a  somewhat 
noted  Baptist  preacher  and  writer. 

May  26,  1838,  Rev.  E,  W.  Dickinson  accepted  a 
call  of  the  church  and  society,  at  a  salary  of  six  hun- 
dred dollars.  His  stay  was  short.  He  resigned  in 
October  of  the  next  year;  in  his  letter  of  resignation 
he  wrote  :  "  The  causes  which  lead  to  this  step,  it  is 
presumed  are  already  known,  and  their  capitulation 
at  this  time  is  not  needed.  The  subject  has  long  been 
before  our  minds,  and  although  the  separation,  to  me 
at  least,  is  painful,  still  the  feelings  natural  to  such 
an  event  are  less  poignant  than  if  it  had  been  sudden." 

For  more  than  a  year  after  Mr.  Dickinson's  resig- 
nation there  was  no  settled  pastor. 

Rev.  J.  Humphrey  Avery  supplied  the  pulpit  some 
of  the  time,  and  in  January,  1841,  he  was  invited  to 
become  settled.  In  response  he  wrote  that  he  would 
come  on  the  following  conditions  : 

"That I  receive  the  ninety  dollars  now  due  for  supplying  your  pulpit, 
before  the  close  of  the  present  week  ;  that  my  salary  commence  the  first 
day  of  Febiuary;  that  I  have  seven  hundred  dollars  per  annum,  to  be 
paid  quarterly  ;  that  I  have  two  Sabbaths  during  the  year  to  dispose  of 
as  I  may  think  fit  ;  that  the  church  and  society  havs  the  rijjht  to  dis- 
miss me  at  any  time  by  giving  me  three  months  notice  ;  that  duplicates 
of  this  contract  be  signed  by  the  committee  of  the  church  and  society 
and  myself,  in  presence  of  competent  witnesses  ;  that  one  of  the  dupli- 
cates be  left  with  the  clerk  of  the  church  or  the  clerk  of  the  society  and 
the  other  with  me.  Should  any  apology  be  deemed  proper,  brethren, 
for  the  formality  of  this  statement,  I  have  only  to  say  that  in  mere  bus- 
iness transactions  I  have  but  one  method  " 


DANVERS. 


465 


The  business  men  at  New  Mills  were  evidently  not 
displeased  with  a  business-like  pastor;  the  conditions 
were  accepted.  After  seven  or  eight  mouths  he  ad- 
dressed another  letter  to  the  committee  in  equally 
plain  terms,  giving  them  the  choice  of  accepting  his 
resignation  February  1,  1842,  or  of  making  his  salary 
six  hundred  dollars  after  that  date  and,  in  addition, 
furnishing  him  "  with  a  good  room  near  the  meeting- 
house, to  which  he  might  remove  his  library,"  and  of 
giving  him  a  regular  installation  as  soon  as  might  be 
convenient.  And  the  terms  of  the  latter  alternative 
were  promptly  accepted.  Mr.  Avery  had  been  a  Con- 
gregationalist. 

On  the  Sth  of  July,  1843,  the  society  voted  unani- 
mously to  concur  with  the  church  in  giving  the  Rev. 
Joseph  W.  Eaton  a  call,  at  a  salary  of  five  hundred 
dollars  for  the  first  year.  His  letter  of  acceptance  is 
dated  July  17,  1843.     The  next  spring  he  wrote: 

"The  satisfaction,  which  you  have  been  pleased  to  express  with  my 
poor  services  for  tlie  past  year  has  been  particularly  grateful  to  my  feel- 
ings. .  .  .  The  union  which  I  am  informed  pervades  jour  body  gives  me 
reason  to  hope  that  my  labors  among  you  may  yet  bo  useful,  and  so  long 
as  this  state  of  things  continues  I  shall  be  encouraged  to  exert  myself  for 
your  Bjiiritual  benefit." 

But  times  were  hard  for  the  church  and  society 
during  Mr.  Eaton's  pastorate.  Among  the  founders 
of  the  church,  it  will  be  remembered,  none  were  more 
prominent  than  Gideon  Foster  and  certain  other  South 
Parish  men,  and  for  a  number  of  years  the  New  Mills 
Church  was  supported  by  all  people  of  that  denomi- 
nation, far  and  wide  in  this  vicinity.  But  we  have 
seen  how,  in  1801,  the  Beverly  people  withdrew  to 
form  a  church  of  their  own;  then,  in  1804,  the  First 
Baptist  Church  of  Salem  was  established,  and,  doubt- 
less, a  number  of  South  Parish  people  who  found 
themselves  more  conveniently  situated  to  Salem  than 
to  New  Mills,  at  once  associated  themselves  with  the 
Salem  Church.  But  in  the  meantime  there  had  been 
a  growing  desire  among  those  parishioners  of  the  New 
Mills  Church  who  lived  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
town  to  have  a  church  of  their  own.  They  began  to 
hold  meetings  in  Armory  Hall  in  1843,  settled  a  min- 
ister and  built  a  chapel  that  same  year.  This  was 
about  the  beginning  of  Mr.  Eaton's  pastorate  at  New 
Mills,  during  which  thirteen  of  his  church-members 
were  dismissed  to  join  the  new  church.  These  dis- 
missals, though  not  great  in  number,  came  at  a  time 
when  the  parent  church  could  ill  afford  any  loss  of 
strength.  But  a  much  more  serious  element  of  dis- 
turbance was  the  storm  of  the  anti-slavery  movement 
which  centered  on  the  old  church  and  struck  hard. 
An  account  of  the  "  Come-outers  "  appears  elsewhere. 
About  the  only  mention  of  anti-slavery  which  apj^ears 
on  the  society's  records  are  these  votes : 

April  4,  1839.  "  Voted  that  the  Lectore  on  Pees,  Temperance  and 
antislavery  be  free  of  expense,  after  having  the  Concent  of  the  Standing 
Committee. 

April  21,  1810.  "  Voted  it  be  left  with  the  Standing  Committee 
whether  there  shall  be  lectures  in  the  meeting  house  on  the  subject  of 
slavery  the  ensuing  year." 

It  was  well  understood  that  Mr.  Eaton  was  to  have 
30 


six  hundred  dollars  after  the  first  year,  but  it  was  not 
easy  to  raise  the  money.  They  asked  him  to  take  five 
hundred  dollars.  "  On  listening,"  he  replied,  "  to  the 
description  you  gave  me  of  the  financial  concerns  of 
the  society,  I  stated  that  I  was  at  a  loss  to  know  ex- 
actly what  my  circumstances  were,  but  promised  that 
if  I  could  do  anything  to  help  to  extricate  the  society 
from  its  embarrassments,  I  would  cheerfully  do  it.  On 
looking  over  my  accounts,  however,  I  find  mj'self  much 
more  largely  indebte<i  to  others  than  I  supposed  my- 
self to  be,  and  that  my  salary  has  been  barely  suffi- 
cient to  enable  me  to  meet  my  expenses.  I  do  not  see 
how  they  can  be  reduced.  The  idea  of  being  in  debt 
without  having  the  means  to  pay  it,  is  to  me  distress- 
ing, both  from  the  sinfulness  of  the  thing  and  from 
its  influence  on  the  cause  of  religion.  I  have  nothing 
to  depend  upon  for  a  support  but  the  compensation  I 
receive  for  my  services,  and  must  look  therefore  to  the 
people  whom  I  serve  for  the  means  of  a  comfortable 
maintenance.  Still,  I  cannot  endure  the  thought  of 
being  a  burden  to  the  society  ;  hence,  hoping  we  may 
have  health  and  strength,  considering  the  dull  state  of 
business,  and  desirous  of  affording  the  society  what 
relief  I  can,  I  will  try,  though  I  know  not  how  I  shall 
succeed,  to  do  this  year  with  five  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars." 

To  add  to  the  difficulty  of  the  situation,  on  the 
morning  of  September  (5,  1847,  the  church  and  vestry 
were  destroyed  by  fire,  and  there  was  no  insurance. 
An  adjoining  dwelling,  owned  by  Aaron  Eveleth,  was 
burned  at  the  same  time. 

The  standing  committee  pluckily  issued  a  warrant 
before  the  close  of  the  day,  calling  upon  the  society 
to  take  action  as  to  building  a  new  house.  In  one 
week  from  the  date  of  the  warrant,  the  shortest  time 
allowable,  the  society  met  and  voted  "  that  we  feel  it 
our  duty  to  make  an  eftbrt  to  erect  a  new  house  in 
place  of  the  one  destroyed  by  fire,"  and  appointed 
twelve  men  to  circulate  a  subscription  paper  for  the 
purpose, — Daniel  Goodhue,  Jr.,  Tristram  Woodbury, 
Hiram  Preston,  David  H.  Caldwell,  William  Putnam, 
Henry  Johnson,  Benj.  Porter,  Moses  Black,  Rev.  J. 
W.  Eaton,  Abijah  Porter,  Peter  Waitt  and  Jacob  F. 
Perry.  Both  the  Universalist  Society  and  the  new 
society  at  the  Plains  promptly  tendered  the  use  of 
their  churches  to  the  Baptists.  Arrangements  were 
made  with  the  former. 

On  the  20th  of  September,  Benjamin  Porter,  Moses 
Black  and  David  H.  Caldwell  were  instructed  "  to  se- 
lect such  a  model  of  a  house  as  they  think  will  best 
suit  the  society." 

On  the  18th  of  October  a  building  committee  were 
chosen  to  carry  out  the  vote  of  its  society  to  rebuild, 
— Benjamin  Porter,  David  H.  Caldwell,  Moses  Black, 
Henry  Johnson  and  Josiah  Ross.  The  third  meeting- 
house of  the  society  was  erected  within  the  next  year 
and  is  the  one  now  in  use.  The  present  church  bell 
was  then  purchased  by  certain  "proprietors,"  and  was 
hung  in  the  tower  on  the  following  conditions : 


466 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


"That  the  bell  be  rung  by  the  sexton  of  the  Baptist  Society  on  Sun- 
days, the  Universalist  Society  paying  one-half  the  expense  ;  that  the  bell 
be  rung  at  any  other  time  by  either  Society,  not  interfering  with  our  re- 
ligious services,  by  each  paying  their  own  sexton  ;  the  door  to  be  locked 
—one  Key  to  be  kept  by  the  sexton,  one  to  the  care  of  the  Fire  Depart- 
ment. The  remains  of  the  bell,  if  ever  burned,  to  ge  to  the  proprietors 
of  the  bell.  The  bell  to  be  hung  on  a  good  substantial  bell  frame  secured 
to  the  deck." 

The  following  clipping  from  an  old  newspaper  is 
interesting  in  this  connection : 

Notice. 
■  The  Ladies  of  the  First  Baptist  Society  in  Danvers  will  give  a  Tea 
Party  on  Wednesday,  Oct.  4th,  in  Citizens'  Hall,  New  Mills,  to  aid  in 
furnishing  the  new  house  of  worship,  now  erected  on  the  site  of  the  one 
destroyed  by  fire  last  year.  Good  music  will  be  secured  for  the  occasion, 
etc.,  etc. 

On  the  23d  of  April,  1849,  Mr.   Eaton  addressed 
to  the  society  a  letter  of  resignation.     Like  his  other 
communications  it  is  full  of  Christian  manliness  and 
forbearance ;  and  it  gives  an  insight  into  the  state  of 
things  which,  by  reason  of  circumstances  beyond  his 
control,  made  his  pastorate  not  a  bed  of  roses.    "  Just 
before  your    former  meeting-house  burnt,  I  was  led 
to  canvass  the  question  whether  I  ought  not  to  resign 
my  office,  but  after  the  occurrence  of  that  event  I  con- 
cluded it  was  my  duty  at  any  rate  to  remain  with  you 
and  aid  you  in  every  way  in  my  power  until  another 
edifice  should  be  erected."     It  was  after  the  comple- 
tion of  the  new  church  that  he  resigned.   In  explana- 
tion he  wrote :  "I  do  this  not  because  as  great  an 
amount  of  success  has  not  been  realized  as  could  have 
been  anticipated,  considering  the  distracted  state  of 
things  when  I  came  among  you,  the  adverse  influences 
with  which  I  have  had  to  contend,  the  disaster  you 
experienced  in  the  burning  of  your  meeting-house, 
the  many  removals  of  whole  families  from  town,  the 
deaths  that  have  occurred  among  you,  some  of  whom 
have  been  your  prominent  men,  the  formation  of  two 
new  societies  at  the  Plains,  the  excitements  of  diifer- 
ent  kinds  that  have  existed  in  the  place,  and  the  low 
state  of  religion.     If  I  mistake  not,  this  society  is  in 
a'far  better  condition  than   any  one,  acquainted  with 
the  facts  in  the  case,  could  reasonably  expect  it  to  be 
in.     I  take  this  step  not  because,  could  a  change  be 
effected  which  might  easily  be  done,  I  could  not  labor 
on  with  zeal  and  hope ;  but  because  of  the  want  of 
that  spirit,  energy  and  co-operation,  which  character- 
izes new  enterprises ;  which  allows  nothing  to  be  un- 
done which  should  be  done,  and  which  is  essential  to 
success." 

In  March,  1850,  a  call  was  extended  to  Rev.  Aaron 
W.  Chaffin.  This  was  his  first  pastorate,  and  he  re- 
mained here  fifteen  years,  an  average  preacher  and  an 
excellent  pastor,  greatly  beloved  not  only  by  his  own 
people  but  by  his  fellow-citizens  generally,  for  he 
took  great  interest  in  all  that  pertained  to  the  good 
of  the  town,  and  especially  in  the  schools.  Genial, 
kind,  witty,  "  everybody  liked  him."  He  accepted  a 
call  to  Manchester,  N.  H.,  died  at  Lynn  in  1874,  and 
was  buried  here  in  Walnut  Grove  Cemetery. 
Rev.  Foster  Henry  succeeded  Mr.  Chafiin,  and  oc- 


cupied the  pulpit  from  December  5,  1862,  to  May  1, 
1865.  Then  followed  Rev.  Charles  H.  Holbrook, 
from  November  14,  1865,  to  September  2,  1870 ;  Rev. 
J.  A.  Goodhue,  from  November  22, 1870,  to  May  1, 
1872;  Rev.  G.  W.  McCullough,  from  June  20,  1873, 
to  April  1,  1876 ;  Rev.  Lucien  Drury,  from  August  3, 
1877,  to  April  29,  1883 ;  Rev.  Gideon  Cole,  from  July 
1,  1884,  to  the  present  time. 

These  notes  have  treated  chiefly  of  the  Society. 
The  Baptist  Church  was  organized  July,  1793,  with 
thirty-six  members.  The  first  deacons  were  Eleazer 
Wallis  and  Israel  Porter.  Benjamin  Kent  was  ap- 
pointed 1823 ;  Hercules  Joselyn,  1832 ;  John  Hood, 
1835;  Parker  Brown,  1838;  Ichabod  Sawyer,  1839; 
Abijah  Porter,  1845 ;  Henry  Johnson,  1855;  James 
Felton,  1855;  Charles  H.  Whipple,  1855  ;  Monroe  B. 
Brigham,  1859;  Francis  Bowen,  1874 ;  Wm.  A.  Jacobs, 
1880.  Deacons  Whipple  and  Jacobs  are  the  present 
incumbents. 

The  committees  appointed  "  to  supply  preaching  " 
in  the  earlier  years  of  the  society  have  already  been 
given.  They  were  the  precursors  of  the  regular 
standing  committees.  A  complete  list  of  the  latter 
cannot  be  given  for  lack  of  space,  but  the  names 
which  appear  at  the  beginning  of  each  decade  of  this 
century  will  give  some  idea  of  the  prominent  sup- 
porters of  the  society  from  time  to  time  : 

1800. 


Deacon  I.  Porter. 
Nathaniel  Prince. 
Nicholas  Bodge. 
Wm.  Trask. 
Amos  Sawyer. 
1810.  Benj.  Porter,  Jr. 
Benj.  Kent. 
Kichard  Elliot. 
L.  Leonard. 
Wm.  Trask. 
1S20.  Benj.  Kent. 
Wm.  Trask. 
Stephen  Whipple. 
1830.  Daniel  Hardy. 
Jacob  F.  Perry. 
John  Porter. 
1840.  Benj.  Porter. 


1840.  Daniel  Hardy. 

Hiram  Preston. 
1850.  Benj.  Porter. 

James  Holt. 

Henry  Johnson. 
1860.  John  Burns 

M.  B.  Brigham. 

Elnathan  Dodge. 
1870.  Wra.  Putnam. 

M.  B.  Brigham. 

Wm.  A.  Jacobs. 
1880.  C.  H.  Whipple. 

W.  A.  Jacobs. 

Geo.  H.  Perkins. 
1887.  C.  H.  Whipple. 

W.  A.  Jacobs. 

Solomon  Fuller. 


The  first  clerk  of  the  society,  chosen  November 
26,  1781,  was  Dr.  Nathaniel  Gott,  but  he  did  not 
serve  through  the  successive  adjournments  of  the  first 
meeting,  and  Jonathan  Sawyer,  chosen  in  his  place, 
held  the  oflice  about  five  years,  until  1786,  when  Na- 
thaniel Fowler's  name  appears.  Ebenezer  Dale  was 
clerk  in  1789,  Israel  Porter  in  1790.  On  April  5, 
1792,  Israel  Hutchinson,  Jr.,  was  chosen,  and  after 
thirty  years  of  continuous  service,  his  neatly  kept 
records  end  with  the  oath  administered  by  him  to  his 
successor,  Stephen  Whipple,  April  17,  1821. 

Stephen  Whipple  served  but  one  year. 

Hercules  H.  Josselyn  was  chosen  at  the  annual 
meeting  of  1822,  and  he  served  till  April,  1841,  nine- 
teen years,  when  it  was  voted  "  that  the  Thanks  ot 
this  Society  be  presented  to  Hercules  Josselyn  for  his 
long  and  faithful  services  as  Clerk  of  the  Society." 

Parker   B.Francis  held   the  office  to  April  1843: 


DANVEKS. 


467 


Hiram  Preston,  1843-45;  Charles  E.  Smith,  1845- 
63 ;  Maurice  C.  Oby,  1853-58 ;  Isaac  N.  Roberts, 
1858-62;  M.  H.  Dorman,  1862-64;  Josiah  Ross, 
1864-75  ;  William  H.  Stetson,  1875-80 ;  Charles  A. 
Gentlee,  1880,  to  the  present,  1887. 

Last  April,  1887,  the  Sunday-school  observed  its 
sixty-ninth  anniversary.  The  original  records,  if 
there  were  any,  are  not  to  be  found.  John  Hood, 
Peter  Waitt  and  Captain  Benjamin  Porter  were  sup- 
erintendents before  1854,  since  which  time,  thirty- 
three  years,  Deacon  Charles  H.  Whipple,  has  been  in 
continuous  service.  There  are  now  one  hundred  and 
sixty  connected  with  the  school. 

January  26,  1879,  the  standing  committee  were  in- 
structed "  to  inquire  into  the  cost  of  buying  the  land 
adjoining  that  of  the  society  on  High  Street,  and  of 
building  thereon  such  a  building  as  the  Society  needs." 
This  vote  was  the  beginning  of  the  new  chapel  which 
was  dedicated  this  spring,  1887. 

"  Among  the  favorable  causes  under  the  blessing 
of  God,"  these  were  Mr.  Chaffin's  words  thirty  years 
ago,  "  which  have  conspired  to  keep  this  somewhat 
ancient  church  in  existence,  we  should  not  fail  to 
notice  the  general  unanimity  of  its  members  and 
their  steadfastness  in  sound  doctrine  and  wholesome 
discipline.  Besides,  there  never  has  been  a  time  when 
there  have  not  been  some  noble,  self-denying  brethren 
and  sisters  whose  faith  in  the  darkest  hour  faltered 
not.  In  the  early,  as  well  as  the  later  history  of  this 
church,  especially  will  the  names  of  Porter,  Kent, 
Richardson,  Whitney  and  Hardy,  with  others  of  kin- 
dred spirit,  now  at  rest  in  Heaven,  be  held  in  long 
and  sacred  remembrance.  While  living  they  were 
known  in  the  churches,  and,  though  dead,  their  deeds 
live." 

Univeesalist. — The  pioneer  of  Universalism  in 
Dan  vers  was  Edmund  Putnam.  He  was  born  here  in 
1724,  moved  to  Topsfield  in  early  life,  returned  when 
about  thirty-five,  and  occupied  the  well-preserved 
old  house  off  Locust  Street,  afterwards  the  home  of 
his  distinguished  grandson,  Elias  Putnam,  and  at 
present  owned  by  Augustus  Fowler.  Edmund  Put- 
nam was  for  twenty-three  years,  from  1762,  a  deacon 
of  the  old  Church.  Probably  his  changed  views  oi' 
theology  led  to  his  resignation  in  1785.  Dr.  Nichols" 
centennial  poem  contains  this  : 

"  still  people  would  think,  read  their  Bibles, 
Embrace 
Other  doctrines  than  those  we  have  named  ; 
Deacon  Edmund,  with  new-fangled  views  of 

God's  grace. 
Universal  salvation  proclaimed." 

An  item  in  the  records  of  the  old  church  is  signifi- 
cant in  this  connection, — "  In  1788  rates  were  abated 
of  Samuel  Cheever,  Jer.  Hutchinson,  James  Smith, 
John  Swinerton,  Henry  Putnam,  Nath'l  Webb,  Wm. 
Giflbrd,  and  Mrs.  Eunice  Hutchinson,  because  they 
entertained  religious  sentiments  diflering  from  those 


professed  by  the  church."  Though,  as  has  been  seen, 
this  was  about  the  time  the  Baptists  organized  their 
church,  some  who  were  thus  "  differing  "  are  known 
to  have  been  early  Universalists. 

It  was  in  the  little  community  at  Putnamville — 
Deacon  Putnam's  neighborhood — that  the  new  ideas 
were  most  thought  about  and  talked  about,  and 
where  they  first  assumed  organic  form. 

Rev.  Henry  P.  Forbes  delivered  a  historical  ad- 
dress of  the  society  on  the  occasion  of  its  fiftieth  an- 
niversary, October  19,  1879,  which  is  here  liberally 
used  in  connection  with  the  series  of  historical  letters 
written  by  Rev.  Dr.  Alfred  P.  Putnam,  a  great- 
grandson  of  Deacon  Edmund.  Mr.  Forbes  has  thus 
well  and  concisely  spoken  of  those  families  in  Put- 
namville in  which  Universalism  was  especially  fos- 
tered : 

"In  true  Danvers  fashion,  they  were  nearly  all  re- 
lated to  each  other.  Israel  Putnam,  2d  (Dea.  Ed- 
mund's son),  married  Anna,  sister  of  Elias  Endicott, 
Jr.  Zorobbabel  Porter  married  Mary,  another  sis- 
ter. Elias  himself,  when  a  young  man,  worked  at 
the  currier's  trade  in  Gloucester,  where  John  Murray 
was  settled  over  the  First  Universalist  Society  organ- 
ized in  America.  He  returned  to  Danvers,  and,  hav- 
ing married,  came  to  live  in  the  house  where  dwelt 
his  sister  Anna.  This  family  of  families— Endicotts, 
Porters,  Putnams — seems  to  have  been  of  one  mind 
in  religious  matters.  They  were  all  persons  of 
character  and  influence,  and  chiefly  from  them  came 
the  impetus  toward  the  formation  of  an  Universalist 
Society.  But  they  were  not  alone.  The  Browns,  the 
Richardsons,  the  Bakers,  and  Woodburys  of  Wenham, 
with  various  others,  had  come  to  be  more  or  less 
earnest  believers.  In  the  year  1815  the  fluid  senti- 
ment began  to  crystalize  into  an  organization.  On 
the  22d  of  April  a  company  of  them  assembled,  or- 
ganized themselves  into  a  society,  and  drew  up  a 
Declaration  of  Principles." 

At  this  first  meeting,  Israel  Putnam,  2d,  was  cho- 
sen moderator  and  treasurer ;  Colonel  Warren  Poi'ter, 
clerk;  John  Baker,  Joseph  and  Zorobbabel  Porter, 
committee.  The  committe  were  instructed  "to  in- 
quire after  a  minister  as  soon  as  funds  can  be  ob- 
tained to  pay  him,  and  invite  any  suitable  person 
that  may  be  willing  to  preach."  The  committee 
found  a  very  suitable  person  in  Rev.  Hosea  Ballon, 
who  came  up  to  preach  occasionally  in  the  little 
school-house  and  gave  the  new  movement  the  im- 
petus of  his  powerful  help.  For  a  number  of  years 
there  was  slow  and  quiet  progress,  the  number  of 
members  recorded  in  1823  being  thirty-six  ;  in  1825, 
forty-four.  Besides  Mr.  Ballon  many  other  ministers 
came  to  preach  in  the  school-house,  among  others 
Rev.  Charles  Hudson,  who,  at  the  semi-centennial 
was  living,  in  his  eighty-fourth  year,  at  Lexington, 
Mass. 

The  last  recorded  meeting  of  the  society  at  Put- 
namville was  May  28,  1827.     "  With  this,  the  ecclesi- 


468 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


astical  stream  sinks  from  the  ledges  of  Blind-hole  in- 
to the  sands  of  the  Plain,  and  working  its  way  south- 
ward bubbles  up  at  the  New  Mills."  This  latter 
place,  the  thriving  commercial  centre  of  quite  an  ex- 
tensive territory,  by  all  odds  the  liveliest  portion  of 
the  town,  having  but  one  church,  and  that  of  rigid 
tenets,  seems  to  have  been  good  ground  for  the  larger 
growth  of  Universalism.  It  has  been  shown  from  the 
records  of  the  Baptist  Society  how  about  this  time 
defections  were  occurring,  and  how  in  1829  a  consid- 
erable number  of  Baptists  formally  withdrew.  This 
withdrawal  marked  the  occasion  of  the  formation  of 
the  Danvers  Universal  Society,  which  was  brought 
about  by  a  sample  agreement  of  association  in  the 
handwriting  of  Dr.  Ebenezer  Hunt,  dated  October 
15,  1829,  and  signed  by  William  Francis,  Hathorne 
Porter,  Josiah  Gray,  John  Ross,  Moses  W.  Wilson, 
Nathaniel  Boardman,  Joshua  Silvester,  B.  C.  Brick- 
ett,  William  E.  Kimball,  Daniel  Woodman,  Ebenezer 
Hunt,  Benjamin  Potter,  Isaac  Caldwell,  William 
Rogers.  A  petition  was  immediately  issued  to  Dr. 
George  Osgood,  justice  of  the  peace,  and  by  him  a 
warrant  was  issued  for  a  first  meeting  for  the  legal 
establishment  of  a  new  religious  society.  Upon  this 
petition  are  the  additional  names  of  John  Hines, 
Joseph  Porter,  Sylvanus  Dodge  and  Simeon  Pendar. 
These  eighteen  men  are  regarded  as  the  charter  mem- 
bers of  the  present  society;  five  were  living  at  the 
serai-centennial,  1879,  and  four  were  present,  but  to- 
day but  one  of  all  the  number  is  surviving,  Joshua 
Silvester.     (Since  writing,  he,  too,  has  passed  away). 

For  some  months  efforts  were  made  to  form  a  union 
with  certain  early  Unitarians  at  New  Mills,  of  whom 
Capt.  Jeremiah  Page,  Jonas  Warren  and  Maj.  Moses 
Black  were  leaders.  A  coalition  committee  were  ap- 
pointed to  agree  on  a  name,  but  no  report  was  ever 
made,  and  March  8,  1830,  these  efforts  seem  to  have 
been  acknowledged  fruitless,  and  it  was  voted  "  that 
this  society  be  called  the  First  Universalist  Society  of 
Danvers." 

The  first  standing  committee,  William  Francis, 
Elisha  Pratt  and  Joseph  Porter,  were  at  once  in- 
structed to  consider  the  expediency  of  hiring  the  old 
Baptist  meeting-house,  which  had  been  removed  in 
1828,  as  has  been  noticed  in  the  sketch  of  the  Baptist 
Society,  to  make  room  for  a  new  house  on  the  origi- 
nal site.  The  committee  hired  the  old  house 
at  forty-five  dollars  for  a  year.  No  clergyman 
was  yet  settled,  and  preaching  was  irregular ;  but 
the  society  grew,  there  being  one  hundred  and 
seventeen  males  at  the  beginning  of  the  next  year. 
Though  a  vote  was  in  the  meantime  taken  "that 
the  contemplated  meeting-house  be  located  at  or  near 
the  Plains  so  called,"  the  old  house  was  hired  again, 
but  the  contract  was  made  not  without  bitterness. 
Major  Black  and  John  Page  now  owned  ll-16ths  of 
the  building,  and  were  willing  enough  to  let  their 
part  at  forty-five  dollars,  but  Deacons  Kent  and  Har- 
dy,  of   the   Baptist    Church,   owners   of   the   other 


5-16ths,  charged  one  hundred  dollars  for  their  share. 
Evidently  the  latter  did  not  wish  the  building  used 
by  the  society  at  all,  and  one  of  them  made  some  re- 
mark about  wishing  to  feed  pigs  in  his  part,  with,  it 
is  alleged,  a  tinge  of  comparison  not  altogether  com- 
plimentary to  the  Universalists.  The  society  simply 
took  the  ll-16ths,  and  fenced  off  the  remainder.  It 
is  not  difficult  to  imagine  the  feeling  of  which  this 
little  episode  is  but  a  hint.  It  could  not  be  otherwise. 
Not  even  Baptist  human  nature  could  look  with  equa- 
nimity on  what,  fi'om  their  standpoint,  was  an  upstart 
and  heretical  body,  which,  having  sapped  the  strength 
of  the  old  church  by  withdrawing  a  considerable 
number  of  its  members,  had  the  audacity  to  set  up  in 
their  old  building  and,  within  ear-shot  of  their 
sterner  doctrine,  to  utter  the  alluring  promise  of  uni- 
versal salvation. 

The  first  regular  pastor  of  the  new  society  was  Rev. 
F.  Hodson,  who  remained  from  the  spring  of  1831  to 
June  of  the  following  year.  During  this  time  the 
old  school-house  in  Putnamville  was  occasionally 
used  for  services,  as  were  also  the  school-houses  at  the 
Centre  and  at  the  toll-gate. 

The  settled  intent  of  the  Universalists  to  have  a 
church  of  their  own  came  to  a  head  in  September, 
1832.  Forty-eight  shares  at  fifty  dollars  were  taken 
in  a  new  house  "to  be  erected  between  Berry's  tavern 
and  the  Baptist  meeting-house,"  and  the  shareholders 
became  and  remained  a  separate,  corporate  body  until 
1847,  when  they  merged  by  mutual  vote  with  the 
society.  A  building  committee,  Nath'l  Boardman,  J. 
Silvester,  Hathorne  Porter  and  Joseph  Porter,  "  fixed 
on  the  piece  owned  by  Mr.  Israel  Endicott  as  the 
most  eligible,"  and  this  lot  was  purchased.  Moses 
W.  Wilson  contracted  October  29,  1832,  to  build  a 
house  fifty-six  by  forty-two,  twenty -two  feet  posts,  for 
twenty-five  hundred  dollars.  With  alterations  and 
additions  the  total  cost  reached  thirty-one  hundred 
dollars.  The  building  was  dedicated  Friday,  June 
28,  1833.  Rev.  Hosea  Ballon,  of  Boston,  made  the 
dedicatory  prayer;  Rev.  Hosea  Ballon,  2d,  of  Rox- 
bury,  delivered  the  sermon;  Revs.  L.  Willis,  of  Salem, 
and  S.  Streeter,  of  Boston,  also  old  helpers  in  the 
society's  infancy,  took  other  parts.  An  original  hymn 
by  Dr.  Hunt  was  sung,  beginning 

"  Eternal  Source  of  Liglit  and  Love, 
Of  all  we  are  or  liojie  to  lie, 
Dwelling  in  majesty  above 

We  dedicate  tlii.s  house  to  Thee." 

Rev.  D.  D.  .'^mith  was  at  this  time  settled  over  the 
society,  though  living  in  Boston.  There  were  one 
hundred  and  thirty-one  male  members,  a  number 
which  has  since  remained  as  high-water  mark.  Soon 
after  the  dedication  of  the  church.  Dr.  Braman,  from 
the  citadel  of  his  pulpit,  preached  a  strong  sermon 
against  Universalism  and  the  danger  of  its  incursions, 
out  of  which  grew  the  memorable  debate  between 
Dr.  Braman  and  Dr.  Whittemore,  November  6,  1833, 
mentioned  elsewhere,  in  which,  of  course,  Danvers 


DANVERS. 


469 


Universalists  lent  their  champion  decided  aid  and 
comfort. 

Rev.  H.  Kuapp  was  installed  as  pastor  of  the  so- 
ciety, December  20,  1833,  and  remained  until  August 
16,  1830  ;  he  died  in  Cambridge  in  1878,  aged  sixty- 
seven.  Rev.  8.  Brimblecom,  of  Westbrook,  Me.,  suc- 
ceeded him  here  and  remained  until  1840;  he  was 
an  earnest  anti-slavery  man,  was  orator  of  the  day, 
July  4,  1837,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Danvers  Anti-slavery 
Society,  and  president  of  the  Young  Men's  Anti- 
slavery  Society.  He  died  in  Haverhill,  1879,  in  his 
eighty-first  year.  Soon  after  his  resignation,  on  mo- 
tion of  Dr.  Hunt,  it  was  resolved  that  the  committee 
procure,  if  practicable,  the  services  of  laymen  in  con- 
ducting Sabbath  worship  ;  accordingly  Moses  Black, 
Jr.,  Joseph  Merrill,  John  Hines,  Dr.  Hunt,  and  per- 
haps others  officiated  as  occasion  required.  In  July, 
1840,  Rev.  A.  A.  Davis,  then  recently  from  Ohio,  ac- 
cepted a  call  and  was  settled  at  a  salary  of  six  hundred 
dollars.  He  gave  an  impetus  to  all  departments  of  the 
society's  work,  and  in  his  pastorate  the  church  was 
organized.  The  church  was  first  publicly  recognized 
October  21,  18-JO  ;  it  numbered  about  sixty  mem- 
bers. John  Hines  was  chosen  clerk;  M.  Bodge  and 
Eben  Putnam,  deacons.  Mr.  Davis'  pastorate  was 
brief,  closing  in  October,  1841,  when  he  went  to  Ja- 
maica for  his  health,  but  it  was  especially  important, 
happening  in  the  height  of  the  anti-slavery  storm 
which  burst  upon  the  community  and  the  churches 
at  this  period.  Something  is  said  of  anti-slavery 
troubles  elsewhere.  Rev.  D.  P.  Livermore  supplied 
during  the  following  winter ;  and  in  the  spring  of 
1843,  Rev.  S.  Bulkley,  of  New  Market,  N.  H.,  was 
chosen  pastor.  Rev.  J.  W.  Hanson  succeeded  him 
in  1846.  Mr.  Hanson  was  a  young  man  of  active 
mind,  a  ready  debater,  inquiring  and  critical.  Though 
here  but  two  years,  he  has  left  a  memorial  behind 
him  in  Hanson's  "  History  of  Danvers,"  a  book  ac- 
customed to  be  sjjoken  of  as  containing  many  inaccu- 
racies, but  as  the  work  of  a  stranger,  on  short  prepar- 
ation and  with  scarcely  any  previously  printed  material 
to  rely  on,  it  is  remarkable  that  the  book  is  as  valua- 
ble as  it  is.  Mr.  Hanson  resigned  in  1848,  went  to 
Norridgewock,  then  to  Gardiner,  Me.,  was  editor  of 
Augusta  Gospel  Banner  six  years,  then  settled  at 
Haverhill,  and  was  chaplain  of  the  Sixth  Massachu- 
setts Regiment ;  removed  to  Dubuque,  Iowa,  and  in 
1870  to  Chicago,  where,  in  1879,  he  was  living,  and 
had  then  been  D.D.  for  three  years,  editor  of  the  New 
Covenant  for  nine  years,  and  author  or  editor  of  some 
thirteen  volumes. 

The  next  pastor  here  was  Rev.  J.  W.  Putnam,  who 
came  in  1849,  a  pupil  of  Rev.  Dr.  Sawyer,  at  Clinton, 
N.  Y.,  and  remained  in  this  his  only  pastorate  till  his 
lamented  death,  November  4,  1864.  He  left  a  widow 
and  two  children,  a  daughter  and  a  son,  all  living. 
Throughout  his  pastorate  "  he  grew  in  mental  stature 
and  in  favor  among  the  people"  to  the  end.  His 
townsmen  honored  him,  his  people  loved  him.     He 


would  not  leave  his  society  ;  his  parish  would  not  let 
him  go.  In  the  noon  of  his  manhood  they  gave  him 
to  the  messenger  from  whose  call  there  is  no  appeal. 
As  a  scholar,  thinker,  writer,  speaker,  pastor,  he 
ranked  high  in  his  profession. 

It  was  during  Mr.  Putnam's  pastorate  that,  in  1858, 
it  was  decided  that  the  "  new  church  "  was  no  longer 
new,— in  fact  so  old  that  another  building  was  de- 
nianded.  There  was  not,  at  first  at  least,  a  unani- 
mous concurrence  in  this  opinion,  but  after  several 
meetings  it  was  decided  to  build  nearer  the  Plains, 
which  had  by  this  time  usurped  the  former  distinc- 
tion of  New  Mills  as  being  the  principal  village  of 
the  town.  A  building  committee  was  chosen,  con- 
sisting of  Joshua  Silvester,  J.  W.  Ropes,  W.  J.  C. 
Kenney,  George  Porter  and  Moses  Black,  Jr.  A  lot 
of  land  was  purchased  of  Eben  G.  Berry,  and  the 
present  house  was  erected  under  a  contract  with  Jo- 
siah  Ross  for  four  thousand  three  hundred  and  thirty- 
seven  dollars.  The  church  was  completed  in  July, 
1859,  and  was  dedicated  August  18th.  From  many  of 
the  surrounding  heights  and  from  many  of  the  ap- 
proaches to  the  town,  the  twin  Gothic  towers  of  the 
Universalist  Church  present  one  of  the  most  promi- 
nent and  picturesque  views  of  a  landscape  beautiful 
in  many  respects.  It  is  one  of  the  many  monuments 
of  Joshua  Silvester.  The  society  formally  tendered 
him  their  thanks  "  for  the  energy  and  assiduity  with 
which  he  has  labored  in  this  work, — to  him  more 
than  any  one  else,  perhaps  more  than  all  else  com- 
bined, do  we  owe  the  valuable  suggestions  and  services 
resulting  in  this  beautiful  edifice." 

The  basement  of  the  church  was  soon  fitted  up  as 
Gothic  Hall,  and  until  the  day  of  the  Peabody  Institute 
was  the  best  hall  in  town  and  much  used  for  lectures, 
entertainments,  and  for  the  graduating  exercises  of 
the  High  School. 

The  society  bid  farewell  to  the  old  meeting-house, 
July  31,  1859,  which  was  then  sold  at  auction  for 
twenty-five  hundred  dollars,  and  soon  was  converted 
to  the  use  of  the  new  Catholic  Church,  in  whose 
hands,  much  enlarged  and  remodeled,  it  still  remains. 

The  vacancy  in  the  pastorate  caused  by  the  death 
of  Mr.  Putnam  was  filled  by  Rev.  H.  C.  Delong,  of 
Binghamton,  N.  Y.,  who  served  from  1865  three 
years,  and  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  G.  J.  Sanger,  who, 
as  faithful  pastor  and  eloquent  preacher  for  six 
years  and  business  man  for  several  more,  was  one  of 
our  best  known  and  worthiest  citizens,  upon  whom 
his  fellow-citizens  bestowed  political  honors  with  a 
generous  hand.  A  few  years  ago  he  decided  to  return  ' 
to  the  ministry,  and  accepted  a  call  to  Essex.  Rev. 
Henry  P.  Forbes  was  installed  November  22,  1875, — 
a  man  of  scholarly  tastes  and  fine  literary  ability,  a 
pastor  much  loved  and  respected,  and  a  citizen  espe- 
cially useful  on  the  school  committee.  He  resigned 
after  five  years  to  accept  a  professorship  in  the  St. 
Lawrence  University,  Canton,  N.  Y.  Rev.  F.  A. 
Dillingham,  his  successor,  was  installed  in  the  spring 


470 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


of  1881,  and  remained  until  February,  1885,  when  he 
in  turn  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Winfield  S.  Williams, 
whose  pastorate  extended  from  June,  1885,  to  Octo- 
ber, 1886.  The  church  is  at  present  (June,  1887) 
without  a  settled  pastor.  (July  5th,  a  call  was  ex- 
tended to  Rev.  C.  B.  Lynn,  of  Boston,  accepted.) 

In  the  old  days  of  the  Putnamville  school-house,  it 
is  said  that  Abijah  Richardson  sustained  the  burden 
of  worship  in  song,  singing  four  parts  at  once.  A 
permanent  choir  was  organized  after  the  society 
built  a  church  of  their  own,  of  which  William  Black 
was  chorister.  For  twenty  years  he  did  not  miss  the 
preaching  service,  and  to  his  own  and  his  brother 
Moses'  family  the  society  were  continually  indebted  for 
important  musical  services.  Among  the  earlier  singers 
were  Henry  and  Augustus  Fowler,  Philip  Smith,  W. 
J.  C.  Kenney,  Moses  Black,  Jr.,  Mrs.  Benjamin  Os- 
good, Mrs.  Sawyer  and  Louisa  Hines.  Later,  Mrs.  S. 
E.  Howe  led  the  soprano  for  twenty  years.  The 
organ  was  purchased  some  time  in  the  forties,  over 
which  Miss  Hattie  Black  first  presided.  Before  that, 
was  the  customary  church  orchestra,  in  which  Mr. 
H.  Dwinell  played  the  violin ;  Aaron  Putnam,  viol ; 
J.  Sawyer,  clarionet ;  assisted  sometimes  by  W.  J. 
Kenney  and  M.  Black,  Jr.,  on  the  clarionet  and  viol. 

The  Sunday-school  was  organized  in  1830.  Among 
the  earlier  superintendents  were  I.  W.  Andrews, 
Aaron  Eveleth,  Henry  Fowler,  Edwin  F.  Putnam 
and  Moses  Black,  Jr.  In  1840  there  were  eighty- 
eight  members,  including  nineteen  teachers.  Among 
the  later  superintendents  were  John  Hines,  William 
E.  Putnam,  William  Rankin,  Andrew  W.  Trask, 
Edward  Tyler,  John  H.  Elliott,  Ezra  D.  Hines,  Rev. 
George  J.  Sanger,  and,  at  present,  Howard  R.  Bur- 
rington.  The  school  now  numbers  about  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty.  In  December,  1880,  a  successful  ef- 
fort was  made  to  raise  a  debt  of  two  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars  against  the  society,  and  the  event 
was  celebrated  by  a  supper  early  in  January. 

Maple  Street  Church. — On  the  15th  day  of  March, 
1844,  Nathaniel  Silvester,  Moses  J.  Currier,  Henry  T. 
Ropes,  Benjamin  Henderson,  Aaron  Bateman,  Gus- 
tavus  Putnam,  represented  to  George  Osgood,  a  jus- 
tice of  the  peace,  that  they  were  about  to  form  them- 
selves into  a  religious  society  for  the  worship  of 
Almighty  God,  and  requested  him  to  issue  a  warrant 
for  the  calling  of  a  meeting  to  be  holden  at  the 
school-house  on  Danvers  Plains  on  Monday  evening, 
March  25th,  to  organize  such  a  society  under  the 
name  of  the  Third  Orthodox  Congregational  Society 
of  Danvers.  Dr.  Osgood  issued  his  warrant  accord- 
ingly to  Nathaniel  Sylvester  to  warn  a  meeting  ac- 
cording to  the  terms  of  the  petition.  At  this  meeting 
Henry  T.  Ropes  was  chosen  the  first  clerk  of  the 
society;  Winthrop  Andrews  was  chosen  moderator; 
Moses  J.  Currier  collector;  Benjamin  Turner,  Samuel 
Brown,  Nathaniel  Silvester  were  the  first  parish  com- 
mittee ;  George  Osgood,  Henry  T.  Ropes,  and  Benja- 


min Turner  were  appointed  committee  on  by-laws  ; 
Nathaniel  Silvester,  Samuel  Brown,  and  Henry  T. 
Ropes,  to  take  into  consideration  a  more  suitable 
place  of  worship ;  M.  J.  Currier,  W.  Andrews  and  John 
A.  Learoyd,  to  solicit  subscriptions  for  preaching. 

At  the  adjournment  of  this  first  meeting,  by-laws 
were  presented  and  accepted ;  the  house  committee 
reported  in  favor  of  a  subscription  in  shares  of  one 
hundred  dollars  each,  the  cost  not  to  exceed  four 
thousand  dollars  ;  the  same  committee  were  instructed 
to  see  what  land  could  be  obtained  in  several  parts  of 
the  plains ;  Rev.  Mr.  Thayer  was  employed  to  preach 
for  six  months  at  seven  dollars  per  day  ;  Watts'  Se- 
lect Hymn  Book  was  adojited ;  John  A.  Learoyd 
was  "  authorized  to  procure  a  Bass  Vial."  At  a  fur- 
ther adjournment  a  building  committee  of  eight  were 
chosen,  as  follows  :  Samuel  Putnam,  John  A.  Lea- 
royd, Henry  T.  Ropes,  Benjamin  Turner,  Joseph 
Adams,  Samuel  Brown,  Daniel  Richards,  Samuel  P. 
Fowler. 

April  29th  it  was  decided  to  purchase  the 
lot  of  land  offered  by  Ezra  Batchelder,  "  8  Rood 
front  by  II5  Roods  deep,  for  $800."  The  committee 
was  instructed  to  build  a  basement  story  of  rough 
granite  of  suitable  dimensions  for  a  hall.  The  mater- 
ial subsequently  suggested  the  name.  Granite  Hall. 
Rev.  Loren  Thayer  was  employed  "  to  supply  the 
desk  until  the  meeting-house  is  completed.''  Benja- 
min Turner,  Gustavus  Putnam  and  Moses  J.  Currier 
took  into  consideration  the  expediency  of  organizing 
a  choir  of  singers.  Daniel  Richards  and  Mr.  Currier 
were  instructed  to  purchase  a  bell  not  to  exceed 
twelve  hundred  pounds.  The  new  house  was  dedi- 
cated Wednesday,  January  22,  1845,  Mr.  Thayer 
preaching  the  dedication  sermon.  This  year  fifty 
dollars  was  paid  Parker  B.  Francis  for  singing,  and 
seventeen  dollars  was  "  paid  Mr.  Stanley  for  a  flute  ;" 
later  the  society  purchased  "  the  Bass  Vial  of  J.  A. 
Learoyd"  for  $30.75.  Moses  Putnam  was  thanked 
for  the  handsome  sofa  and  chairs  he  had  furnished 
the  society,  as  were  also  the  ladies  for  carpeting  the 
house.  The  first  person  called  to  settle  as  minister 
was  Rev.  F.  A.  Barton,  of  Chicopee  Falls,  who  de- 
clined on  account  of  ill  health.  Rev.  Richard  Tol- 
man,  of  Dorchester,  accepted  a  call,  and  was  ordained 
September  17, 1845,  the  first  pastor  of  the  new  church 
and  society, — salary,  six  hundred  dollars  for  the  first 
year,  afterwards  seven  hundred  dollars.  The  ordina- 
tion sermon  was  preached  by  Rev.  E.  N.  Kirk.  Mr. 
Tolman  remained  until  November,  1848.  On  April 
3,  1849,  this  letter  was  sent  to  Rev.  James  Fletcher, 
of  Acton,  then  at  Andover  Theological  Seminary  : 

"Dear  Sir;  W^e,  the  undersigned,  as  a  committee  in  behalf  of  tlie 
Third  Cong.  Church  and  Society  in  Danvers  heieby  extend  to  you  an 
invitation  to  become  our  pastor  and  teacher.  The  salary  which  the  so- 
ciety offer  you  is  six  hundred  dollars. 

Saml.  p.  Fowlek,  \  Com.  of 
Benj.  Turner,  >  Church. 
Fred'k  How,  |    Com.  of 

M.  W.  Putnam,     ^  the  Society." 


DANVERS. 


471 


Mr.  Fletcher  accepted   and  was  ordained  June  20, 

1849,  to  a  pastorship  which  lasted  nearly  fifteen 
years. 

The  expense  of  the  new  church  was  about  eight 
thousand  dollars,  for  more  than  half  of  which  sum 
indebtedness  had  been  incurred.  Strenuous  efforts 
were  made  to  liquidate  this  debt,  and,  February  1, 
1847,  eighteen  men  entered  into  a  written  obligation 
to  contribute,  by  way  of  loan  or  advancement,  in 
four  annual  payments  a  total  of  four  thousand  two 
hundred  and  eighty  dollars ;  of  this  sum  Moses  Put- 
nam subscribed  eighteen  hundred  dollars,  his  brother 
Samuel  five  hundred  and  twenty  dollars,  Nathan 
Tapley  and  Jesse  Putnam  each  three  hundred  dollars. 
The  other  names  which  appear  in  autograph  in  the 
records  are  Elbridge  Trask,  Joseph  S.  Black,  Moses 
W.  Putnam,  Samuel  P.  Fowler,  Frederick  How,  F. 
Howe.",  Eben  G.  Berry,  Richard  Tolman,  Daniel  Rich- 
ards, Stephen  Granville,  Rebeckah  Perry,  James  M. 
Perry,  John  A.  Learoyd,  Nathaniel  Silvester.  In  May, 

1850,  but  seven  hundred  dollars  of  the  debt  remained, 
and  "  whereas  Moses  Putnam,  Esquire,  hfis  generously 
offered  to  pay  the  sum  of  $250,"  measures  were  taken 
to  meet  the  balance.  Upon  the  very  next  leaf  to 
that  which  records  this  happy  state  of  things  appears 
this  memorandum  of  Deacon  Fowler's : 

"Burning  of  the  Meeting-House. 

"On  the  night  of  July  10th,  1850,  the  meeting-house  of  the  Third 
Cong.  Society  was  destroyed  by  fire.  It  broke  out  in  the  entry  of  the 
Hall  about  11  o'clock,  and  was  the  work  of  an  incendiary.  It  was  in- 
sured at  two  mutual  offices  in  Salem  for  the  sum  of  $6,000. 

"  The  house  was  completely  destroyed,  but  the  walls  of  the  basement 
story  were  left  standing,  and  by  many  persons  supposed  to  be  not  much 
injured.  The  sheds  and  fences  around  the  house  are  but  little  injured, 
in  consequence  of  there  being  but  little  wind  at  the  time  of  the  tire. 
The  House,  with  its  furniture.  Church  plate,  and  Sabbath-school  library, 
was  consumed. 

"  The  Selectmen  of  the  Town  have  offered  a  reward  of  500  dollars  for 
the  detection  of  the  sacrilegious  Tillian  who  burnt  our  beautiful  House 
and  laid  waste  our  pleasant  things.  The  Sabbath  evening  after  the  tire, 
Wm.  Duffee,  a  young  man  living  on  the  Plains,  was,  on  the  complaint  of 
Geo.  Perkins,  arrested  and  lodged  in  Salem  jail,  being  accused  of  setting 
fire  to  the  Meeting-House.  He  was  carried  before  justice  Rantoul,  of 
Beverly,  aud,  pleading  guiltj'  of  the  charge,  he  was  sent  to  the  Salem 
jail  to  await  his  trial,  Perkins  being  also  sent  with  him  as  a  witness. 
Both  effected  their  escape  in  November  following.  Duffee  was  retaken, 
couvicted  and  sentenced  to  the  State  Prison  for  life.  Perkins  who  was 
suspected  as  an  accomplice  with  Duffee  in  the  burning  of  the  house,  some 
weeks  after  returned  to  Dan  vers,  gave  himself  up,  was  carried  back  to 
jail,  and,  no  one  appearing  against  him,  at  the  the  term  of  court  follow- 
ing he  was  discharged. 

"  On  Sunday,  .Inly  14th.  public  worship  was  held  by  the  Society  at  the 
Free  Chapel,  on  the  Plains,  where  an  appropriate  and  interesting  dis- 
course was  delivered  by  our  pastor.  The  text  was  from  the  14th  chap- 
ter of  Exodus,  16th  verse,  "  .\nd  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  Wherefore 
criest  thou  unto  me  ?  Speak  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  thil  theij  go  for- 
wnrd." 

"  In  this  discourse  our  Pastor,  in  a  forceable  manner,  enjoined  upon 
us  the  importance  of  immediately  going  forward  in  the  work  of  rebuild- 
ing our  Meeting-House." 

The  very  next  day  the  standing  committee  issued 
their  warrant  for  a  meeting  to  consider  rebuilding. 
It  was  voted  "  that  we  proceed  immediately  to  rebuild 
our  meeting-house — the  vote  passed  unanimously." 
The  offer  of  the  use  of  the  Free  Chapel  was  accepted. 


The  new  building  committee  were  S.  P.  Fowler,  Na- 
than Tapley,  Daniel  Richards,  Alfred  Fellows,  J.  S. 
Black,  Elbridge  Trask,  J.  C.  Butler,  Nathaniel  Sil- 
vester and  Stephen  Granville.  They  went  to  work 
with  six  thousand  dollars  insurance  and  trusted  to 
raise  the  balance.  The  contract  was  originally  given 
to  Boston  parties  for  six  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
seventy-five  dollars,  but  they  failed  to  meet  their  en- 
gagements— "  the  winter  came  upon  us  with  its  snow 
and  rains  with  the  building  completely  exposed." 
The  contractors  were  paid  two  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars  to  leave  the  job,  and  Abel 
Preston's  proposal  to  finish  the  building  for  four 
thousand  dollars  was  accepted.  On  Sunday,  March 
9,  1851,  services  were  first  held  in  the  new  Granite 
Hall,  and  the  church  itself  was  ready  for  dedication 
September  17,  1851.  The  total  cost  of  the  new  or 
present  church  was  $8485.66  ;  the  new  bell  cost  two 
hundred  and  thirteen  dollars.  The  present  organ  was 
purchased  by  subscription,  as  was  also  the  clock  in 
the  tower,  and  at  a  meeting  of  the  subscribers  to  both, 
August  15,  1854,  both  were  "  unconditionally  present- 
ed "  to  the  society.  About  the  same  time  certain  pews 
were  set  apart  to  be  sold  for  the  benefit  of  the  eigh- 
teen subscribers  who  assumed  the  debt  of  the  old 
church,  they  suffering  a  loss  of  twenty-five  per  cent, 
of  their  subscriptions— the  proportional  loss  of  pew- 
holders  over  insurance.  The  new  bell  was  not  up  to 
the  standard  of  orthodoxy,  and  cracked  ;  the  present 
bell  dates  from  1856. 

Moses  Putnam,  foremost  of  the  friends  and  sup- 
porters of  the  church  and  society,  a  few  months  be- 
fore he  died,  which  was  September  10,  1860,  in  his 
eighty-fifth  year,  gave  up  several  notes  amounting  to 
fourteen  hundred  dollars,  which  he  held  against  the 
society.  A  communication  was  sent  to  him  expres- 
sive of  the  heart-felt  gratitude  of  the  society  for  this 
and  former  generous  donations. 

Rev.  Mr.  Fletcher  tendered.  May  21,  1864,  a  letter 
of  resignation. 

A  call  was  extended,  February  1, 1866,  to  Rev.  Wil- 
liam Caruthers,  of  North  Cambridge,  who  accepted, 
and  was  installed  April  18th.  This  call  was  not 
nearly  unanimous,  and  after  a  little  more  than  two 
years  Mr.  Caruthers  tendered  his  resignation,  to  take 
effect  July  31,  1868.  On  the  22d  of  February,  1869, 
by  a  large  and  unanimous  vote,  Rev.  James  Brand, 
then  a  student  at  Andover,  was  invited  to  become 
pastor,  and  he  was  ordained  October  6, 1869.  Shortly 
after,  December  5th,  the  church  celebrated  its  twenty- 
fifth  anniversary.  In  the  spring  of  1872  the  subject 
of  making  extensive  and  radical  changes  in  the  house 
was  first  brought  up,  and  continued  to  be  talked  about 
and  voted  upon  for  two  years,  when  it  was  finally  de- 
cided to  take  the  work  in  hand.  Andrew  M.  Putnam, 
Winthrop  Andrews,  Charles  H.  Gould,  John  S.  Lea- 
royd and  Daniel  Richards  were  the  sujiervising  com- 
mittee. An  addition  was  built  on  the  rear  of  the 
church,  the  interior  was  entirely  remodeled,  the  old 


472 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


galleries  were  abolished,  the  organ  and  choir-loft 
moved  behind  the  pulpit,  modern  black-walnut  pews 
were  substituted  for  the  old  ones,  which  are  now  oc- 
casionally seen  adorning  gardens  and  back  piazzas. 
With  the  change  in  the  building  came  also  a  change 
in  the  organization  of  the  society.  It  was  proposed 
to  abandon  the  system  of  individual  pew-ownership 
for  a  system  of  annual  rental.  By  act  of  the  Legis- 
lature the  existing  corporation  was  dissolved  March 
24,  1874,  and  a  new  society  was  immediately  organ- 
ized under  the  general  statutes,  the  first  meeting  of 
which  was  held  the  next  day.  Under  the  by-laws  of 
the  new  society  all  property  was  vested  in  a  board  of 
five  trustees,  three  at  least  to  be  members  of  the 
church.  Membership  was  open  to  any  person  renting 
a  sitting  and  receiving  a  majority  vote  at  any  regular 
meeting.  There  have  been  but  three  elections  of 
trustees, — 


1874. 

Chester  H.  Gould. 
Edward  A.  Lord. 
Moses  J.  Currier. 
John  S.  Learoyd. 
.John  A.  Putnam. 

1879. 
George  W.  Fiske. 
John  A.  Putnam. 


Moses  J.  Currier. 
Charles  H.  Gould. 
John  S.  Learoyd. 

18S5. 
C.  H.  Gould. 
Samuel  L.  Sawyer. 
G.  W.  Fiske. 
John  A.  Putnam. 
.T.  S.  Learovd. 


Before  these  changes,  however,  Mr.  Brand  resigned 
his  pastorate,  to  take  effect  November  1,  1873.  He 
went  to  Oberlin,  Ohio,  "  to  accept  a  place  where  my 
usefulness  in  the  ministry,  if  I  have  any,  can  be  more 
than  doubled."  He  went  "  with  the  kindest  words  to 
say  and  the  pleasantest  memories  to  carry,"  and  left 
with  his  parishioners  an  abiding  love  and  respect  to- 
wards himself.  He  has  not  failed  by  reason  of  "  the 
greatness  of  the  field  and  the  urgency  of  the  call.'' 
After  nearly  two  years  Rev.  Walter  E.  C.  Wright  ac- 
cepted the  invitation  to  fill  the  vacancy,  and  was  in- 
stalled October  12,  1875,  his  brother,  Rev.  G.  F. 
Wright,  of  Andover,  and  Rev.  Jame«  Fletcher,  a  for- 
mer pastor,  taking  part  in  the  exercises.  During  his 
pastorate  of  seven  years  he  not  only  endeared  himself 
to  his  own  people,  but  won  and  merited  the  greatest 
respect  of  his  fellow-citizens  by  the  many  manifesta- 
tions of  his  active  public  spirit.  Upon  him  fell  most 
of  the  responsibility  of  the  re-arrangement  and  new 
catalogue  of  the  Peabody  Library,  a  work  which 
will  remain  a  substantial  monument  to  his  mem- 
ory. He  was  also  largely  instrumental  in  lifting 
from  the  church  a  heavy  load  of  debt.  He  was 
an  able  debater,  and  the  occasion  in  Gothic  Hall 
when  he  stood  alone  against  an  array  of  advo- 
cates of  woman-suffrage  will  long  be  remembered. 
His  letter  of  resignation  dated  August  12,  1882, 
contains  this :  "  The  experience  of  the  past  few 
months  has  indicated  the  importance,  for  the  health 
of  my  wife  and  perhaps  my  own,  of  a  change  of  resi- 
dence to  a  milder  climate."  An  urgent  call  to  take 
up  a  congenial  and  important  religious  and  educa- 
tional work  at  Berea  College,  Kentucky,  was  there- 


fore accepted,  and  his  resignation  was  tendered,  to 
take  effect  the  last  of  September,  1882.  Rev.  Edward 
r.  Evving,  formerly  of  Enfield,  Mass,  his  successor 
:ind  the  present  pastor,  was  installed  November  1, 
1883. 

The  first  deacons  of  the  church  were  Frederick 
Howe  and  Samuel  P.  Fowler;  subsequently  elected: 
John  S.  Learoyd,  Samuel  P.  Trask,  Eben  Peabody. 
Messrs,  Fowler,  Learoyd  and  Peabody  survive  in 
(iffice.  The  membership  of  the  church  at  its  organi- 
zation was  42;  at  present,  1887,  305;  total  member- 
ship since  organization,  537. 

The  moderator  of  the  first  meeting  of  the  society, 
1S44,  was  Winthrop  Andrews.  Moderators  of  subse- 
•  luent  annual  meetings  have  been  as  follows : — Samuel 
P.  Fowler,  1845,  '47,  '48,  '49;  Nathan  Tapley,  '46, '51, 
•58,  '54,  '5i),  '60;  Joseph  S.  Black,  '50,  '58;  Dr.  D.  A. 
(h-osvenor,  '52;  William  L.  Weston,  '55,  '56,  '57,  '61, 
'68,  '74;  Rufus  Putnam,  '62,  '63,  '64,  '65,  '67  ;  John  A. 
Putnam,  '66,  '75,  '76,  77;  John  S.  Learoyd,  '69;  John 
R.  Langley,  '70,  '72,  '73 ;  Moses  J.  Currier,  71  ;  Sam- 
uel L.  Sawyer,  '78,  '81 ;  George  W.  Fiske,  '79,  '80,  '83, 
'84, '85,  '86,  '87. 

Until  1882,  the  oflUces  of  treasurer  and  collector 
were  considered  as  one,  and  the  persons  holding  the 
office  were  as  follows: — Moses  J.  Currier,  1844;  Moses 
\V.  Putnam,  '45-'47,  '51 ;  Elbridge  Trask,  '48  ;  John 
C.  Butler,  '49,  '50 ;  James  M.  Perry,  '62-'70,  eighteen 
consecutive  years;  John  A.  Putnam,  '71-'81.  In  1882 
the  offices  were  divided.  Webster  F.  Putnam  was 
elected  treasurer,  and  served  two  years;  George  W. 
Fiske,  '84,  '85  ;  Charles  H.  Gould,  '86,  '87.  Winthrop 
.\ndrews  has  held  the  oflice  of  collector  from  1882  to 
the  present,  1887. 

Henry  T.  Ropes  was  the  first  clerk  of  the  society 
and  served  for  three  years.  Joseph  S.  Black  succeed- 
ed him  and  served  three  years.  Deacon  Samuel  P. 
Fowler  began  to  keep  the  records  in  1850  and  has  en- 
tered on  the  thirty-seventh  year  of  his  service.  Dur- 
ing the  whole  period  since  the  organization  of  the  so- 
ciety, the  records  have  been  kept  admirably. 

The  list  of  standing  committees  is  as  follows : 


STANDINO   COMMITTEES. 


1844. 

Benj.  Turner. 
Saml.  Brown. 
Nathl.  Silvester. 

1845. 

Saml.  Putnam. 
Saml.  P.  Fowler. 
Henry  T.  Ropes. 
Nathl.  Silvester. 

I84B. 

Nathan  Tapley. 
Jesse  Putnam. 
Nathl.  Silvester. 
Henry  T.  Ropes. 
Benj.  Turner. 

1847. 

Nathan  Tapley. 
Jesse  Putnam. 
!  J.  Currier. 


Joseph  S.  Black. 
Daniel  Richards. 

1848. 
Nathan  Tapley. 
Joseph  S.  Black. 
Daniel  Richards. 
Bloses  J.  Currier. 
Samuel  P.  Fowler. 

1849. 
S.  P.  Fowler. 
Joseph  S.  Black. 
Jloses  J.  Currier. 
Francis  P.  Putnam. 
Samuel  Putnam. 

18.50. 
Saml.  P.  Fowler. 
Joseph  S.  Black. 
Moses  J.  Currier. 
Frederic  How. 
Nathan  Tapley. 


DANVERS. 


473 


1851. 

Nathan  Tapley. 
S.  P.  Fowler. 
Moses  J.  Currier. 
Joseph  S.  Black. 
Daniel  Bichards. 

1852. 

Nathan  Tapley. 
Jos.  S.  Black. 
Frederick  Perley. 
Francis  P.  Putnam. 
Alfred  Fellows. 

1853.1 
N.  Tapley. 
F.  P.  Putnam. 
S.  P.  Fowler. 
Alfred  Fellows. 
M.  J.  Currier. 

1854. 

Nathan  Tapley. 
M.  J.  Currier. 
F.  P.  Putnam. 
Wm.  L.  WestoB. 
Allen  Knights. 

1855. 

Nathan  Tapley. 
M.  J.  Currier. 
Allen  Knights. 
W.  L.  AVestou. 
D.  A.  Grosvenor. 

185«. 

Nathan  Tapley. 
F.  P.  Putnam. 
Allen  Knight. 
M.  J.  Currier. 
W.  L.  Weston. 

1857. 

Nathan  Tapley. 
Moses  .1.  Currier. 
F.  P.  Putnam. 
W.  L.  Weston. 
Allen  Knight. 

1858. 
Nathan  Tapley. 
M.  J.  Currier. 
W.  L.  Weston. 
F,  P.  Putnam. 
Joseph  8.  Black. 

1859. 

John  A.Learoyd. 
Jos.  S.  Black. 
M.  J.  Currier. 
W.  L.  Weston. 
F.  P.  Putnam. 

1860. 

Nathan  Tapley. 
W.  L.  Weston. 
M.  J.  Currier. 
F.  P.  Putnam. 
J.  S.  Black. 

1861. 

Nathan  Tapley. 
W.  L.Weston. 
M.  J.  Currier. 
John  0.  Butler. 
F.  P.  Putnam. 

1862. 
Nathan  Tapley. 
KufuB  Putnam. 
M.  J.  Currier. 
F.  P.  Putnam. 
J.  C.  Butler. 

1863. 
BufuB  Putnam. 

30* 


Nathan  Tapley. 
F.  P.  Putnam. 
J.  C.  Butler. 
M.  J.  Currier. 

1864. 

Nathan  Tapley. 
Rnfus  Putnam. 
J.  C.  Butler. 
M.  J.  Currier. 
John  R.  Langley. 

1865. 

Ruhis  Putnam. 
Nathan  Tapley. 
J.  M.  Perry. 
Nathaniel  Hills. 
M.  J.  Currier. 

1866. 
Nathan  Tapley. 
Bufus  Putnam. 
M.  J.  Cnrrier. 
J.  M.  Perry. 
J.  R.  Langley. 

1867. 

J.  E.  Langley. 
Rufus  Putnam. 
John  S.  Learoyd. 
M.  J.  Currier. 
Daniel  Richards. 

1868. 

Daniel  Richards. 
J.  S.  Learoyd. 
Rufus  Putnam. 

186». 

J.  S.  Learoyd. 
Robert  S.  Perkins. 
M.  J.  Currier. 
J.  A.  Putnam. 
J.  M.  Perry. 

1870. 

Nathan  Tapley. 
J.  M.  Perry. 
R.  S.  Perkins. 
Charles  H.  Gould. 
M.  J.  Currier. 

1871. 

Nathan  Tapley. 
R.  S.  Perkins. 
M.  J.  Currier. 
C.  H.  Gould. 
J.  R.  Langley. 

1872. 

J.  S.  Learoyd. 
R.  S.  Perkins. 
M.  J.  Currier. 
C.  H.  Gould. 
J.  R.  Langley. 

1874. 

J.  S.  Learoyd. 
George  W.  Fiske. 
Winthrop  Andrews. 
M.  J.  Currier. 
E.  Warren  Eaton. 

1875. 
John  S.  Learoyd. 
M.  J.  Currier. 
G.  W.  Fiske. 
E.  W.  Eaton. 
Winthrop  Andrews. 

1876. 
Winthrop  Andrews. 
Addison  P.  Learoyd. 
M.  J.  Currier. 
Samuel  P.  Trask. 
Beverly  S.  Moulton. 


1877. 

Winthrop  Andrews. 
B.  S.  Moulton. 
S.  P.  Trask. 

A.  P.  Learoyd. 
Samuel  L.  Sawyer. 

1878. 
Winthrop  Andrews. 

B.  S.  Moulton. 
S.  L.  Sawyer. 

A.  P.  Learoyd. 
Edward  A.  Lord. 

1879. 
Winthrop  Andrews. 

B.  S.  Moulton. 
A.  P.  Learoyd. 
Amos  A.  White. 
S.  L.  Sawyer. 

1880. 
Winthrop  Andrews. 
A.  P.  Learoyd. 

A.  A.  White. 
8.  L.  Sawyer. 

B.  S.  Moulton. 

1881. 
Winthrop  Andrews. 

A.  P.  Learoyd. 
J.  Frank  Porter. 
S.  L.  Sawyer. 

B.  S.  Moulton. 

1882. 
A.  P.  Learoyd. 
J.  F.  Porter. 


S.  L.  Sawyer. 
Eben  Peabody. 
Webster  F.  Putnam. 

1883. 

S.  L.  Sawyer. 
J.  F.  Porter. 
W.  F.  Putnam. 
Alden  P.  White. 
Ehen  Peabody. 

1884. 
J.  F.  Porter. 
Eben  Peabody. 
W.  F.  Putnam. 
Wallace  F.  Perry. 
A.  P.  White. 

1885. 
Leroy  L.  Abbott. 
W.  F.  Putnam. 
A.  P.  White. 
W.  P.  Perry. 
■Eben  Peabody. 

1886. 
W.  p.  Perry. 
W.  F.  Putnam. 
A.  P.  White. 
Abram  S.  Beat. 
Dr.  E.  A.   Kemp. 

1887. 
A.  P.  White. 
W.  P.  Perry. 
E.  A.  Kemp. 
A.  S.  Beal. 
Herbert  M.  Bradgtreet. 


The  Sunday-school  in  connection  with  the  Maple 
Street  Church  was  organized  December  4,  1844.  It 
then  consisted  of  one  hundred  and  fourteen  members 
and  twelve  teachers.  The  first  superintendent  was 
Francis  P.  Putnam.  Succeeding  superintendents  have 
been  Moses  W.  Putnam,  Joseph  S.  Black,  Nathaniel 
Hills  and  John  S.  Learoyd. 

By  far  the  longest  term  of  office  is  that  of  the  pre- 
sent superintendent,  Mr.  Learoyd,  who  is  now  in  his 
twenty-second  year  of  consecutive  service.  There  are 
at  present  connected  with  the  school,  four  hundred 
and  thirty-six  members,  forty-two  teachers,  two  hun- 
dred and  seventy-eight  scholars  in  main  school,  ninety- 
one  primary,  and  twenty-five  in  the  pastor's  Bible- 
class.  The  average  attendance  is  three  hundred  and 
six.  Yearly  collection  for  1886,  three  hundred  and 
forty  dollars.  Number  of  library  books,  eight  hun- 
dred and  sixty-five. 

Catholic. — Before  1850  there  were  very  few  na- 
tives of  Ireland  residing  in  Danvers.  Between  1850 
and  1855,  or  even  later,  they  came  here  in  consider- 
able numbers  and  made  homes  for  themselves.  The 
first  man  of  Irish  birth  to  settle  here,  about  1840,  was 
the  late  Daniel  Crowley,  whose  children  are  an  honor 
to  his  name.  Another  early  settler  was  Edward 
McKeigue.  It  was  in  the  latter's  house,  November  1, 
1854,  that  the  first  Catholic  service  was  held  in  Dan- 
vers. Eev.  Thomas  H.  Shahan,  then  of  the  Church 
of  Immaculate  Conception  in  Salem,  officiated.  Af- 
terwards regular  services  began  to  be  held  in  Frank- 
lin Hall,  and  then  a  chapel  was  erected  south  of  the 
High  Street  Cemetery.     When  the  Universalists  gave 


474 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


up  their  church  in  1859,  the  Catholics  bought  it.  This 
building,  since  altered  and  enlarged  beyond  recogni- 
tion as  to  its  original  condition,  is  the  present  church 
of  this  denomination.  A  fine  new  pastor's  house  has 
been  very  recently  erected  on  a  pleasant  site  in  the 
rear  of  the  church,  overlooking  the  river.  It  is  a  fact 
significant  of  the  increase  of  the  Catholic  population 
since  the  time  above  referred  to,  that  in  this  church 
worships  a  congregation  by  far  the  largest  in  town  ; 
and  it  is  also  significant  that  while  many  of  the  old 
names,  common  a  hundred  or  two  years  ago,  have  be- 
come entirely  extinct,  and  others  are  in  danger  of  be- 
coming so,  the  names  of  Sullivan,  Collins,  Gallivan, 
McCarthy  and  others  appear  in  increasing  numbers  in 
each  new  directory  and  voting  list,  and  indeed  those 
names  mentioned  seem  already  to  be  more  numerous 
than  any  other  save  one.  The  largest  collective  set- 
tlement of  the  people  of  this  church  radiates  from  the 
crossing  of  Hobart  Street  and  the  Eastern  Railroad. 
It  used  to  be  called  after  the  capital  of  the  old  coun- 
try. Much  of  the  land  was  bought  by  Captain  An- 
drew M.  Putnam,  and  by  him  was  first  opened  up  for 
building  purposes.  At  his  death,  May  6,  1881,  the 
family  received  a  touching  letter  from  a  commit- 
tee of  Irish  citizens,  requesting  permission  to  march 
behind  the  funeral  procession  to  the  grave.  Twenty- 
eight,  of  them  did  this,  and  some  of  their  number 
filled  the  grave  with  earth.  "  No  pen  can  write,"  such 
was  the  tribute,  "  nor  mind  describe  the  love,  the 
veneration,  we  have  for  him,  who  was  'a  friend  in 
need  and  a  friend  indeed.'  The  name  of  Captain  A. 
M.  Putnam  shall  be  forever  near  and  dear  to  us. 
Many  a  heart  has  he  made  glad,  by  putting  them  in  a 
way  of  having  a  little  home  for  themselves  when 
every  one  else  seemed  against  them." 

The  first  resident  pastor  of  the  church  was  Rev. 
Charles  Raioni,  who  also  had  charge  of  the  church  in 
Marblehead.  Thither  he  removed  on  the  separation 
of  the  parishes  in  1872.  He  was  a  gentleman  ad- 
vanced in  years,  and  greatly  beloved.  His  successor. 
Rev.  Fr.  O'Reilly,  remained  but  one  year.  Rev.  Pat- 
rick Joseph  Halley  was  appointed  to  Danvers  in  April, 
1873,  and  his  pastorate  extended  to  September,  1882; 
Rev.  D.  B.  Kennedy's,  from  the  last  date  to  April,  1885, 
when  the  present  pastor,  Thomas  E.  Power,  was  ap- 
pointed. 

Episcopal. — Calvary  Parish  was  organized  on  the 
14th  of  April,  1858.  Joseph  Adams  and  John  S. 
Pratt  were  the  first  wardens.  Rev.  Robt.  F.  Chase 
entered  upon  his  duties  as  rector,  May  9th,  1858,  ser- 
vices being  held  at  first  in  Bank  Hall. 

The  corner-stone  of  the  present  church  at  the  cor- 
ner of  Holten  and  Cherry  Streets,  was  laid  by  Bishop 
Eastburn,  May  11,  1859,  and  the  church  was  conse- 
crated by  him,  May  25,  1860.  Mr.  Chase  resigned  in 
1862,  but  was  again  rector  from  1868  to  1865.  His 
successors  were  as  follows: — Rev.  George  Horvill, 
rector  from  1865-66  ;  Rev.  William  W.  Silvester,  dea- 
con in  charge  of  the  parish,  1868 ;  Rev.  S.  J,  Evans, 


rector,  1869-71  ;  Rev.  William  I.  Magill,  1872-77. 
Rev.  George  Walker,  the  present  rector,  took  charge 
of  the  parish  October,  1877. 

UNiTARiiiN. — As  was  hinted  in  the  sketch  of  the 
Universalist  Society,  there  were,  many  years  ago,  a 
number  of  influential  families  who  had  accepted  the 
Unitarian  faith.  It  was  not,  however,  until  1865,  that 
the  present  society  was  organized  and  worship  begun, 
the  first  service  being  held  in  the  Town  Hall,  and 
conducted  by  Rev.  A.  P.  Putnam,  then  of  Roxbury. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  P.  H.  Wentworth,  with  their  family 
of  children,  had  recently  removed  to  Danvers  from 
Roxbury,  where  they  had  been  parishioners  of  Mr. 
Putnam,  and  it  only  needed  their  presence  and  ear- 
nest zeal  in  the  town,  to  insure  success  to  the  new 
movement.  One  or  more  meetings  of  the  friends  were 
held  to  consider  the  matter,  previous  to  the  first  pub- 
lic service,  and  arrangements  were  soon  made  for 
regular  Sunday  worship  in  the  Town  Hall  until  more 
suitable  accommodations  could  be  had.  The  desk  was 
supplied  by  different  preachers  until  April  1st,  1867, 
when  Rev.  Leonard  J.  Livermore  became  the  pastor 
of  the  infant  church,  and  remained  the  minister  until 
his  death,  in  the  summer  of  1886,  having  his  residence 
throughout  at  Cambridge,  and  being  the  guest  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Wentworth,  on  his  weekly  visits  to  Danvers. 
The  little  church  prospered,  and  in  a  few  years  erected 
its  present  neat  and  commodious  chapel,  which  is  lo- 
cated very  near  the  site  of  the  first  house  at  Danvers 
Plains,  that  of  pioneer  John  Porter.  The  cost  of  land 
and  edifice  was  about  $13,000.  The  building  took  the 
name  of  Unity  Chapel,  and  was  formally  dedicated  as 
a  house  of  worship  on  the  evening  of  the  16th  of 
March,  1871.  The  opening  prayer  was  by  Rev.  S.  C. 
Beane,  of  Salem;  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  by 
Rev.  J.  B.  Moore,  of  Lawrence ;  the  sermon  by  Rev. 
A.  p.  Putnam ;  the  act  of  dedication  by  the  pastor 
and  people ;  the  prayer  of  dedication  by  Rev.  J.  T. 
Hewes,  of  Salem ;  chants  and  hymns  were  sung  by  a 
quartette  and  by  the  congregation.  The  church  suf- 
fered a  great  loss  in  the  death  of  Mr.  Wentworth, 
about  the  time  of  the  decease  of  its  fir.st  minister. 
For  a  fuller  notice  of  these  two  excellent  men  and 
faithful  friends,  see  Dr.  Putnam's  sketch  of  Mr.  Went- 
worth on  a  subsequent  page.  Mr.  Livermore's  suc- 
cessor is  Rev.  J.  C.  Mitchell,  who  entered  upon  his 
work  here  during  the  last  winter  (1886-87),  having 
previously  been  the  minister  of  the  Orthodox  Con- 
gregational Church  in  Wenham. 

Methodist. — This  is  the  only  church  located  in 
the  village  of  Tapley ville,  and  draws  its  strength  and 
support  largely  from  that  neighborhood. 

The  first  preaching  service,  preliminary  to  organiz- 
ing a  church,  was  held  in  Lincoln  Hall,  October  22, 
1871.  As  a  result  of  this  and  successive  meetings  it 
was  determined  to  build  a  meeting-house.  G.  A. 
Tapley  gave  the  lot  of  land,  and  he  and  his  father 
otherwise  contributed  liberally.  The  present  build- 
ing was  dedicated  early  in   1873.     It  cost  about  fif- 


BANVERS. 


475 


teen  thousand  dollars.  The  church  was  organized 
March  17, 1872.  The  first  pastor  was  Rev.  Elias  Hodge, 
to  whose  enthusiastic  work  much  of  the  first  success 
of  the  new  church  was  due.  He  served  until  1874, 
the  confei'ence  year  beginning  with  April.  His  suc- 
cessors have  been  Rev.  R.  H.  Howard,  1875-76  ;  Rev. 
Garrett  Beekman,  1877-79 ;  Rev.  W.  J.  Hambleton, 
1880-82;  Rev.  W.  M.  Ayres,  1883-85;  Rev.  C.  A. 
Merrill,  the  present  pastor,  came  in  1886. 

The  Sunday-school  was  organized  November  5, 
1871 ;  its  first  superintendent,  Oliver  D.  Ham. 

Seventh  Day  Advent. — In  the  summer  of  1877 
a  very  large  tent  was  pitched  in  the  open  lot  on  Ho- 
bart  Street,  opposite  the  station,  and  large  congre- 
gations went  nightly  to  hear  Elder  Canright's  exposi- 
tions of  the  doctrines  of  the  above  sect.  He  succeeded 
in  making  numerous  converts,  some  from  other 
churches,  more  from  those  not  previously  in  the  habit  of 
attending  church.  Notwithstanding  the  practical  in- 
convenience of  keeping  Saturday  as  the  Sabbath,  a 
considerable  number  hold  firmly  to  that  way.  A 
chapel  was  dedicated  January  6,  1878.  It  stands  very 
near  the  site  of  the  tent.  The  church  was  organized 
December  11,  1877.  There  has  been  for  some  time 
no  settled  pastor.  Very  recently  there  have  been 
quite  a  number  of  baptisms.  Charles  Hartman  is 
superintendent  of  the  Sunday-school. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

BA.IHYERS.— {Continued). 
EDUCATIONAL. 

One  of  the  reasons  why  the  Village  and  Middle 
Parishes  petitioned  to  be  set  off"  from  Salem  was  be- 
cause they  were  so  far  from  the  grammar-school.  But 
there  were  schools,  probably  of  lower  grade  than 
grammar,  in  both  the  Village  and  Middle  Parishes 
many  years  before  the  district  of  Danvers  was  incor- 
porated. The  first  action  taken  towards  a  separate 
school  within  the  present  limits  of  Danvers  and  Pea- 
body  was  in  1701,  under  a  vote  entered  in  the  village 
parish  records  that  "  Mr.  Joseph  Herrick  and  Mr. 
Joseph  Putnam  and  John  Putnam  jun.  are  chosen 
and  empowered  to  agree  with  some  suitable  person  to 
be  a  school-master  among  us,  in  some  convenient 
time  ;  and  make  return  therefor  to  the  people."  The 
man  instrumental  in  building  the  first  school-house 
was  the  minister  of  the  Village  church,  Rev.  Joseph 
Green.  Certain  passages  of  his  diary,  March,  1708, 
bear  upon  the  subject: 

"March  11.  .  .  .  I  spoke  to  several  about  building  a  schoolhouse 
and  determined  to  do  it,  &c. 

"18.  I  rode  to  ye  neighbors  about  a  schoolhouse  and  found  them 
generally  willing  to  help. 

"22.  Meetiug  of  the  Inliabitants.  I  spoke  with  several  about  build- 
ing a  schoolhouse.     I  went  into  ye  Town  Meeting  (village  meeting)  and 


said  to  this  effect :  Neighbors  I  am  about  building  a  schoolhouee  for  the 
good  education  of  our  children  .  .  .  Some  replyed  that  it  was  a  new 
thing  to  them  and  they  desired  to  know  where  it  should  stand,  and 
what  the  design  of  it  was.  To  them  1  answered  that  Deacon  Ingersoll 
would  give  land  for  it  to  stand  ou,  at  the  upper  end  of  the  Training  field, 
and  that  I  designed  to  have  a  good  school -master  to  teach  their  children 
to  read  and  write  and  cypher  and  everything  that  is  good.  Many  com- 
mended the  design  and  none  objected  to  it. 
"  25.  Began  to  get  timber  for  schoolhouse." 

The  teacher  first  mentioned  by  name  is  Katherine 
Daland;  she  taught  before  Mr.  Green's  house  was 
finished.  In  1714  Samuel  Andrew  taught  and  is 
the  first  mentioned  master. 

To  pass  now  at  once  to  the  separate  existence  of  the 
town  and  the  manner  in  which  it  managed  school  af- 
fairs. At  first  the  schools  were  left  to  the  selectmen. 
The  first  school-committee,  as  a  distinctive  board, 
were  chosen  in  1756,  under  the  following  votes : 

"  Voted,  to  chuse  a  com'tee  to  regulate  ye  Grammar  School  &  to  be 
five  men.  Voted,  Dan'l  Gardner  Dan'l  Purington  Dan'l  Epes  Jiin'r 
Nath'l  Felton  Sr.  David  Putnam  voted,  that  the  School  Com'tee  Draw 
up  Something  and  lay  it  before  y«  District  on  y«  adjournment." 

In  the  annual  warrant  for  1766  there  occurred  for 
the  first  time  a  proposition  for  the  division  of  school 
money  between  the  parishes  according  to  the  propor- 
tion of  their  taxes,  but  no  action  was  then  taken.  The 
next  year  the  question  of  establishing  other  than 
grammar-schools  came  up  again.  It  was  four  years 
since  the  same  matter  had  been  referred  to  the  dis- 
cretion of  a  committee,  and  now  the  growing  need  of 
such  schools  seemed  so  imperative  that  it  was  directly 
voted  "  that  there  be  a  number  of  schools  provided 
by  the  selectmen  besides  the  Grammar  Scool  in  the 
winter  Season  in  this  Town  as  the  Selectmen  Shall 
think  proper,  To  be  at  Town  Cost."  The  next  year, 
1768,  "  the  claws  in  the  warrant  "  relating  to  division 
of  the  school  money  between  the  parishes  was  dis- 
missed as  before,  and  again  the  monopoly  of  public 
education  was  restored  to  the  grammar-school ;  but 
before  winter  set  in  the  selectmen  were  instructed  "  to 
set  up  what  schools  they  shall  think  proper." 

So  matters  went,  at  times  only  a  grammar  school, 
at  times  "  other  schools  set  up,"  until,  in  the  midst  of 
the  Revolution,  December  1,  1777,  on  a  petition 
headed  by  Col.  Jeremiah  Page,  a  decidedly  progres- 
sive step  was  taken.  At  a  meeting  held  in  the  North 
Meeting-House,  Archelaus  Dale,  Moderator,  it  was 
voted  that  there  be  Ten  Schools  set  up  in  the  Town  for 
three  months  each,  and  that  the  selectmen  regulate 
the  schools  and  provide  proper  persons  for  School- 
masters. 

In  1780  the  expression  "  district  schools "  is  first 
used ;  it  was  then  voted  "  that  there  be  District 
Schools  set  up  for  three  months  to  begin  as  soon  as 
may  be." 

In  1783  nine  schools  were  "setup  "  for  two  months, 
but  whether  or  not  nine  schools  were  insufficient  to 
meet  the  law,  or  the  setting-ui)  thereof  was  too  large- 
ly on  paper  merely,  the  inhabitants  found  them- 
selves this  year  presented  before  the  Court  of  General 
Sessions  for  not  keeping  schools  according  to  law. 


476 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


and  Samuel  Cheever  was  sent  to  Ipswich  to  answer 
for  the  town  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  April,  and  he 
was  instructed  "  to  use  his  influence,  that  the  Town 
be  not  fined  for  their  neglect  in  not  keeping  schools." 
The  potency  of  Samuel's  endeavors  may  be  inferred 
from  the  fact  that  there  is  no  further  mention  of  the 
subject. 

The  10th  of  November,  1794,  is  the  beginning  of  a 
new  epoch,  it  marks  the  first  step  towards  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  systematic  district  system.  It  was  then 
voted  that  the  selectmen  "divide  the  town  into  as 
many  districts  as  will  best  accommodate  the  town  ;  " 
and  the  next  month  the  first  distinct  and  separate  ap- 
propriation of  money  for  school  purposes  was  made, — 
£90,  exclusive  of  the  grammar  school.  Gideon 
Foster's  record  of  the  laying  out  of  the  school  dis- 
tricts must  here  be  omitted.  There  were  nine  in  all ; 
number  one  including  the  present  central  village  of 
Peabody;  two,  the  Port;  three,  Putnamville;  four, 
Beaver  Brook  ;  five,  the  Centre  ;  six,  Felton's  Corner; 
seven  and  eight,  West  Danvers;  nine,  towards  Hum- 
phrey's Pond.  The  establishment  of  division  lines 
caused  some  uneasiness  among  those  who  lived  on  the 
outskirts  of  the  respective  districts.  For  instance. 
Col.  Jethro  and  Dr.  Archelaus  Putnam,  and  the 
dwellers  on  the  Derby  Farm,  found  themselves,  by 
the  new  dispensation  in  No.  3,  wished  to  be  in  No. 
4,  and  evidently  succeeded  in  getting  there ;  for  the 
next  year,  Aaron  .Putnam  and  others  of  No.  3  peti- 
tioned that  the  lost  sheep  be  brought  back  again. 
Daniel  Taylor  and  others  soon  wanted  a  division  of 
No.  7  by  a  North  and  South  line.  In  1800  Amos 
King  wished  to  be  set  off  from  No.  8  to  No.  G,  but  the 
inhabitants  said  no. 

Early  in  1802  a  special  meeting  was  called,  to  see 
if  the  town  would  make  some  general  alterations  in 
district  lines ;  the  only  changes  made  were  in  num- 
bers two,  three  and  four,  all  within  the  present  limits 
of  Danvers. 

In  180fi  John  Jacobs  and  others  presented  a  peti- 
tion for  the  division  of  No.  7  and,  succeeding  in  ob- 
taining it,  the  new  district,  number  ten,  was  the  result. 
In  the  same  year  the  subject  of  rules  for  the  govern- 
ment of  schools  was  first  considered,  and  the  follow- 
ing code  drawn  up  by  Parsons  Wadsworth  and  Walk- 
er, and  Hon.  Nathan  Read,  David  Daniels  and  Capt. 
Samuel  Page,  will  prove  interesting  reading : 

DK.   WADSWORTH'S   CODE. 

"1.  It  is  reoommended  Uiat  each  Instriu^tor  open  his  School  in  the 
morning  and  close  it  in  the  evening  with  a  short  jjrayer. 

"2.  On  every  School  day  except  Saturday,  each  instructor  shall  em- 
ploy at  least  six  hours  in  the  instruction  of  his  pupils,  and  not  less  than 
three  on  that  day. 

"3.  The  instructor  of  each  School  shall  class  his  pupils  in  such  man- 
ner as  he  shall  judge  most  conducive  to  their  improvement,  not  making 
leBs  than  two  Classes. 

"4.  To  facilitate  the  acquirement  of  an  accurate  &  uniform  mode  of 
Spelling  &  pronunciation,  Perry's  Spelling-book  and  Dictionary  shall  be 
taught  in  all  the  Schools  ;  and  the  following  shall  be  the  (Catalogue  of 
Books  from  which  the  Scholars  shall  be  supplied  at  the  discretion  of  the 
Instructor,  viz.  •' Murray's  English  Gnimmer  Abridged,'  'Morse's  Ge- 
ography,  abridged   Constitution   of  the   State   of  Massachusetts,'    lea., 


'  Wakefield  mental  improvement,'  '  Pikes  Arithmatic '  &  the  '  holy  Bi- 
ble,' together  with  such  Latin  &  Greek  Classics  as  are  usually  taught  in 
Grammer  Schools. 

"5.  To  abridge  the  time  commonly  consumed  by  Children  in  learn- 
ing to  write,  the  plan  discribed  in  Jenken's  '  Art  of  Writing '  shall  be 
adopted  in  all  the  schools;  Jt  Copper-plate  copies  furnished  by  the  In- 
structors shall  be  used  by  those  Scholars  who  are  able  to  write  joining 
hand. 

"6.  The  Scholars  shall  be  taught  punctuation  notes  or  marks,  inter- 
rogation, admiration,  accent,  emphasis  &  cadence. 

"  7.  Every  Instructor  shall  establish  &  maintain  order  &  good  Govern- 
ment in  his  school,  not  by  inflicting  cruel  &  unusual  punishment,  but 
by  addressing  the  understanding  &  ingenious  feelings  of  the  youth  com- 
mitted to  his  care,  &  by  endeavouring  to  excite  a  spirit  of  industry  & 
emulation  stimulating  them  to  their  duty  by  the  hope  of  reward  rather 
than  by  the  fear  of  Punishment. 

"  To  carry  these  rules  &  orders  (should  the  Town  adopt  them)  into  ef- 
fect the  Committee  sensible  that  the  improvement  of  Scholars  depends 
greatly  on  the  attention  &  fidelity  of  instructors  beg  leave  to  recommend 
a  particular  cejurj  to  the  moral  &  literary  quallifications  of  those  who 
shall  be  employed  in  that  capacity  the  annual  choice  of  a  School  commit- 
tee, faithfiiUy  to  discliarge  the  important  trust  reposed  in  them  by  law, 
it  likewise  tu  direct  the  Town  Clerk  to  furnish  the  Grammer  School  Mas- 
ter at  least  with  a  written  copy  of  the  laws  of  this  State  respecting  the 
power  &  duty  of  the  School  committee  &  instructors  of  Schools  prefi.xed 
to  a  copy  of  these  regulations. 

"ben.ia.  wadswohth,  pr.  order." 

In  1808  another  sub-division  of  districts  occurred  ; 
the  people  living  in  the  western  part  of  No.  1  were 
set  off  as  No.  11  ;  and  within  a  few  months  Clark 
Wilson  and  others  secured  a  division  of  No.  11,  and 
a  portion  thereof  was  established  as  No.  12.  At 
the  March  meeting  of  1816  another  very  important 
advance  towards  system  was  made.  Three  persons — 
Nathan  Felton,  Daniel  Putnam  and  Dr.  Andrew 
Nichols  were  chosen  "to  define  the  powers  and  du- 
ties of  School  Committee." 

Ten  years  in  advance  of  the  law  of  the  State 
making  it  the  duty  of  towns  to  choose  a  school  com- 
mittee, Danvers  accepted  the  report  of  these  men, 
which  contained,  among  other  recommendations, 
this, — 

"  That  it  be  proper  and  expedient  to  choose  a  School  Committee, 
whose  powers  and  duties  shall  be  the  same  as  is  given  to  the  ministers  of 
the  gospel  and  the  selectmen  of  the  town  by  the  laws  of  the  Common- 
wealth, excepting  such  as  have  or  may  be  given  to  the  school  districts  by 
a  special  vote  of  the  town." 

And  twenty-two  years  in  advance  of  the  State  law 
requiring  school  committees  to  make  annual  reports, 
Danvers  adopted  this  recommendation, — 

"  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  School  Committee  to  make  a  report  of  so 
much  of  their  doings  and  such  other  particulars  respecting  the  several 
schools  as  they  may  deem  worthy  the  consideration  of  the  town  at  their 
annual  March  meeting." 

At  the  same  meeting  at  which  this  action  was  taken 
it  was  voted  "  that  District  No.  2  be  divided,  agree- 
ably to  a  Petition  of  John  Page  and  others,  dated 
April  19th,  1816,  and  is  on  Town  files."  A  search 
among  the  old  papers  in  the  town-house  vault  was 
rewarded  by  the  finding  of  this  interesting  autograph 
petition,  the  origin  of  the  present  Plains  District,  now 
No.  1,— 

"  To  THE  Selectmen  of  Danvers  : — 

"  Gentlemen  :  We,  the  subscribers,  inhabitants  of  School  District 
number  two,  request  you  to  insert  a  clause  in  your  warrant  at  the  May 


DANVEitS. 


477 


meeting  for  the  choice  of  Representatives  to  this  effect :  to  see  if  the 
town  will  pass  a  vote  to  separate  that  part  of  District  number  two.  Be- 
ginning at  Frost  flsh  brook  bridge,  so  called,  and  from  thence  following 
the  mill-pond  down  untill  you  come  to  the  point  of  land  owned  by  John 
Page,  thence  up  a  branch  of  said  pond,  untill  you  come  to  the  bridge 
near  brick  yards  ;  thence  running  down  by  the  Salem  road  untill  you  come 
to  the  east  corner  of  Seth  .Stetson's  pasture  ;  thence  running  as  the  fence 
stands  to  the  south  corner  of  said  pasture  ;  thence  southerly  as  the  fence 
runs  to  Crane  river,  so  called  ;  thence  following  said  river  to  the  Bridge 
with  all  the  land,  polls  and  estates,  to  the  northward  and  westward  said 
line  now  belonging  to  District  number  two,  wiih  all  the  powers  and 
priviledges  belonging  to  other  school  Districts  in  the  town  of  Danvei'S. 

"  Danvers,  April  19th,  1816. 

"John  Paue. 

"Geokge  Osgood. 

"EzBA  Batchelder. 

"  Eben"'  Berry. 

"  Timothy  Putnam. 

"Eben  Putnam,  Jr. 

"Andrew  Batchelder. 

"Allen  Peabody." 

Very  soon  Benjamin  Wellington  and  Jonathan 
Perry,  with  their  polls  and  estates,  were  set  ofl'  from 
No.  3  to  the  new  district,  No.  13,  and  the  next  year 
'•'the  land  of  Wni.  Burley,  of  Beverly,  which  lies  in 
Danvers  "  was  subjected  to  the  same  transfer. 

In  1820  the  town  directed  the  school  committee  to 
return  the  number  of  children  between  five  and 
eighteen,  with  the  following  result : 


.69    No.  10 46 

,85     "  11 116 

.16    "  12 120 


No.  1 162   No  4 51    No.  7.. 

••    2 184     "  5 104     "  8.. 

"  3 53    "  0 98    "  9.. 

No.  13 66. 

About  this  time  it  is  apparent  that  the  old  "gram- 
mar school  "  was  being  neglected.  In  the  summer  of 
1821  Dr.  Nichols  and  others  petitioned  for  such  a 
school,  and  as  cumulative  evidence  of  its  non-exist- 
ence this  vote  appears  on  the  record  of  the  next  an- 
nual meeting, — 

"  Voted,  To  choose  a  committee  to  answer  a  commuuication  received 
by  the  selectmen  from  the  county  attorney,  relating  to  Grammer 
Schools.  Voted,  that  John  W.  Proctor,  John  Page  and  William  Sutton 
be  said  committee." 

The  spirit  of  Samuel  Cheever  seems  to  have  de- 
scended on  these  men,  for,  as  in  the  case  of  his  mis- 
sion to  Ipswich  forty  years  before,  nothing  was  there- 
after heard  of  this  threatened  indictment. 

Since  the  code  of  1816  there  had  been  annually 
elected  three  committee-men  at  large,  and  each  year 
these  three  were  the  ministers  of  the  three  churches. 
After  seven  years  it  seems  that  it  was  thought  well  to 
give  laymen  a  representation,  and  at  a  meeting  called 
for  that  purpose  and  no  other,  and  on  the  petition  of 
the  school  committee  themselves,  it  was  voted  then  and 
thereafter  to  add  three  to  the  committee  at  large  ;  and 
those  first  added  were  Dr.  Nichols,  Nathan  Felton 
and  John  W.  Proctor. 

In  1827  the  term  "at  large"  was  dropped.  The 
body  which  had  been  thus  distinguished  now  be- 
came, with  the  addition  of  one  more,  simply  the 
School  committee ;  while  the  committee,  chosen  as 
formerly,  one  from  each  district,  received  the  new 
title  of  Prudential  Committee.  To  further  distinguish 
the  "  upper  house  "  from  the  latter,  for  several  years 


the    phrase   "Committee  of  Superintendence"   was 
applied  to  it. 

In  1831,  by  vote  of  the  town  the  Prudential  Com- 
mittee were  thenceforth  to  be  elected  by  the  several 
districts  at  district  meetings. 

In  1835  just  forty  years  had  passed  since  the 
original  establishment  of  districts.  In  the  mean 
time  many  alterations,  onlj^  some  of  which  have 
iiere  been  noted,  had  taken  place  in  the  way  of 
changing  individuals  and  their  estates  from  one  dis- 
trict to  another,  until  there  might  well  have  been  more 
or  less  uncertainty  about  the  true  dividing  lines.  They 
were  therefore  carefully  examined  and  re-located  by 
a  committee  of  delegates  from  each  existing  district, 
and  their  report  was  recorded  by  Dr.  Shed  in  a  vol- 
ume of  school  records. 

In  1836  occurs  the  first  mention  of  compensation  to 
the  school  committee.  They  were  authorized  to  ap- 
point three  of  their  number  to  visit  all  the  schools  in 
town,  and  these  three  were  to  receive  for  their  ser- 
vices the  same  rate  per  day  as  other  town  officers. 

The  next  year,  1837,  the  Massachusetts  School 
Fund  is  first  mentioned.  The  manner  of  disposal  of 
the  town's  share  was  referred  to  the  school  com- 
mittee. 

The  Legislature  of  1838  passed  an  act,  changing 
the  authority  to  employ  teachers  from  the  prudential 
to  the  general  committee  unless  towns  should  other- 
wise order,  and  Danvers  did  so  otherwise  order. 
But  lest  the  district  goverment  should  smack 
too  highly  of  one-man  power,  it  was,  the  next 
year,  recommended  to  each  district  to  choose  two 
other  persons  to  act  and  advise  with  the  prudential 
man  in  superintending  the  concerns  of  the  district. 

The  year  1839  marks  the  beginning  of  our  printed 
school  reports.  The  first  school  report  proper  ever 
made  to  the  town  was  in  1817,  and  was  committed  to 
the  "  files."  Resurrected  from  its  long  repose,  this 
old  document,  somewhat  blotted,  scratched  and  inter- 
lined, signed  "  B.  Wadsworth,  Chairman,  pr.  order," 
makes  very  interesting  reading  to-day,  and  shows  that 
school-report  literature  has  departed  not  far  from  the 
standard  thus  early  set, — the  very  small  iron  hand  in 
the  glove  of  well  wadded  velvet.  There  seems  to  be  a 
certain  familiar  sound  about  expressions  such  as 
these : 

"The  Committee  are  enabled  to  report  that  the  schools  generally  ap- 
peared advantageously  in  comparison  with  their  condition  in  past  years. 
.  .  .  Notwithstanding  the  respectable  character  of  the  schools  gen- 
erally, there  is  still  room  for  improvement.  In  some  districts  the 
committee  did  not  find  the  scholars  had  made  so  great  proficiency  in 
their  studies  as  might  have  been  reasonably  expected.  .  .  .  In  some 
districts  many  of  the  childran  have  been  sent  very  inconstantly  to 
school,  and  the  efforts  of  the  Instructors  have  not  been  met  with  that 
zealous  support  from  Parents  which  is  essentially  necessary  to  give  the 
desired  effect.  In  some  instances  the  committee  did  not  find  thatdegree 
of  Silence  and  regular  order  which  is  necessary  to  enable  schoUars  (Ah, 
Doctor  !)  to  p\irsue  their  studies  most  advantageously.  .  .  .  But  the 
committee  with  pleasure  add  that  in  no  instance  was  there  discovered 
any  marks  of  negligence,  or  want  of  constant  and  faithful  atten  ion  to 
their  laborious  employment  on  the  part  of  the  Instructors.  .  .  .  The 
eonmiittee  would  close   their  remarks    respecting   the  several    schools 


478 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


by  stating,  that  they  derived  the  highest  gratification  in  witnesing  the 
regular  order  and  highly  respectable  attainments  of  the  schoUars  in  the 
school  kept  by  Mr.  Samuel  Preston,  District  N.  4,  in  the  North  Parish, 
and  in  the  school  kept  by  Mr.  Amory  Felton,  District  N.  11,  in  the 
South  Parish. 

The  Committee  conclude  by  earnestly  exhorting  all  concerned  to  ex- 
ert all  their  influence  and  abilities  to  improve  their  respective  schools  by 
employing  the  best  Instructors,  by  sending  the  children  and  youth  to 
school  as  constantly  and  as  many  years  as  possible,  and  by  affording 
them  all  the  aid  and  encouragement  in  their  power  to  attain  at  least  a 
thorough  acquaintance  with  the  several  branches,  or,  rather,  rudiments 
of  science  which  are  taught  in  English  schools." 

Following  the  custom  thus  set  in  1817,  reports  were 
for  eighteen  years  annually  read  at  town-meeting  and 
filed  away.  From  1835  to  and  including  1838  the  re- 
ports are  recorded  at  length,  together  with  many  in- 
teresting returns,  in  Dr.  Shed's  book  of  "School 
Records." 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  1839,  after  Rev.  Allen 
Putnam  had  read  the  report  of  the  year  then  ended, 
it  was  recommitted  with  authority  to  the  committee 
to  cause  as  many  copies  of  it  to  be  printed  as  they 
should  think  proper  for  the  benefit  of  the  inhabitants. 
Israel  H.  Putnam  appears  in  this  earliest  printed  report 
a.s  a  teacher  in  No.  7  ;  subsequently  he  was  given  the 
much  larger  school  in  No.  5.  One  of  his  successors 
in  No.  7  was  John  G.  Walcott,  and  following  Wal- 
cott,  in  the  winter  of  '42-43,  was  a  young  man  from 
the  Village,  Augustus  Mudge.  Of  the  latter  the  com- 
mittee said,  "  the  teacher  seemed  to  feel  an  active  in- 
terest, and  the  appearance  of  the  school  justifies  us  in 
saying  that  in  his  first  attempt,  he  has  succeeded  in 
imparting  that  interest  to  his  scholars.''  In  the 
sequence  of  events,  Mr.  Putnam  and  Mr.  Mudge  are 
now  associated  the  one  as  treasurer  and  the  other  as 
president  of  the  Danvers  Saving  Bank. 

Oliver  A.  Woodbury,  who  became  a  physician  in 
Nashua,  N.  H.,  deceased,  taught  in  No.  10.     Among 
the  lady  teachers  were  Elizabeth  P.  Pope,   Fidelia 
Kettelle,  Margaret  Putnam,  Harriott  A.  Pope,  Emily 
Gould  and  Hannah  J.  Putnam.     The  mention  of  the 
then  young  men,  Putnam,  Walcott  and  Woodbury, 
calls  to  mind  the  fact  that  just  about  this  time  they 
were  themselves  attending  school  at  Pembroke  Aca- 
demy, N.  H.     And  this  was  a  thing   not  uncommon 
among  the  ambitious  young  fellows  of  Danvers,  who 
desired  something  more  than  the  meagre  education  of 
a  few  weeks  each  winter  at  the  home  schools.     They 
left  their  work  and  their  wages  not  for  the  fun  of  a 
term  or  two  at  boarding-school,  but  to  get  the  most 
out  of  it ;  sometimes  spurred  on  by  a  friendly  word  of 
advice,  but  as  often  impelled  merely  by  personal  detei-- 
mination.     Quite  a  number  went  to  Bradford,  a  few 
to  Atkinson,  N.  H.,  and  perhaps  elsewhere,  but  Pem- 
broke seems  to  have  been  the  favorite.     In  the  few 
catalogues  which  have  been  preserved  the  following 
names   appear   of  North    Danvers   young   men   and 
women  who  were  at  Pembroke  about  1840  :  Israel  H. 
Putnam,  Oliver  A.  Woodbury,  Israel  P.   Boardman, 
Francis  Noyes,  Charles  A.  Putnam,  Albert  Putnam, 
Elias  E.  Putnam,  Israel  E.  Putnam,  Moses  W.  Put- 


nam, Thomas  M.  Putnam,  William  Putnam,  John  G. 
Walcott,  Joseph  S.  Black,  Charles  P.  Preston,  Aaron 
W.  Warren,  Charles  H.  Gould,  Harrison  0.  Warren, 
John  H.  Porter,  John  Reed,  Caroline  E.  Page,  Sarah 
P.  Piige,  Emiline  Putnam,  Nancy  Putnam,  Mary  O. 
Black,  Sarah  A.  Kent. 

At  Topsfield  Academy  there  were,  about  1830,  these: 
Ezra  Batchelder,  James  D.  Black,  Thomas  J.  Brad- 
street,  Moses  K.  Cross,  John  C.  Page,  Charles  Page, 
Ebenezer  Putnam,  Francis  Putnam,  William  R.  Put- 
nam, Henry  F.  Putnam,  Charles  H.  Rhoades,  Asa  T. 
Richards,  Richard  West,  Lydia  Bradstreet,  Harriet 
N.  Page,  Harriet  Putnam,  Clarissa  Putnam,  Elizabeth 
A.  Putnam. 

A  fellow-student  with  some  of  these  Danvers  young 
people  at  Pembroke  was  a  young  man  from  Deerfield, 
N.  B.,  who  went  to  Dartmouth  College,  and  helped  to 
pay  his  way  by  teaching,  winters.     About  Thanks- 
giving time,  during  his  first  year,  he  drove  from  his 
home  looking  for  a  school,  and  spent  a  night  in  Dan- 
vers with  Oliver  Woodbury,  calling  the  next  morning 
on  "  Uncle  Moses,"  father  of  Israel   E.  Putnam,  a 
young  man  of  great  promise  who  had  died  at  Pem- 
broke, and  by  Uncle  Moses  he  was  taken   over  to  the 
old  General  Putnam  homestead  to  the  shoe-factory  of 
Daniel  and  Ahira  Putnam,  to  see  in  particular  the 
latter  who    was    prudential    committee-man,    and   to 
Ahira  the  young  man  made  application  to  teach  the 
district  school,  No.  4,  the  ensuing  term  and  was  en- 
gaged.    Julia  Putnam,  a  daughter  of  the  homestead, 
helping  about  the  household  work  which  by  well- 
established   New  England   custom   falls   to   Monday 
morning,  noticed  the  arrival  of  the  young  stranger, 
and  was  interested   in  his   errand   for   she  was  the 
teacher   of  the   summer   school.     The   young  man's 
name  was  John  D.  Philbrick.     It  is  a  proud  thing  for 
Danvers  that  a  name  since  so  widely  and  honorably 
known  should  find  itself  connected  with  her  annals. 
Mr.  Philbrick  taught  the  No.  4  school  three  winters. 
He  became  engaged  to  Miss  Putnam,  and  was  married 
to  her  after  his  graduation,  and  after  his  great  life- 
work  was  accomplished  came  back  to  these  scenes  of 
his  early  labors  and  of  his  early  love  to  die.     It  is  in- 
teresting to  read  in  the  light  of  his  subsequent  career 
what  was  said  of  the  young  student-teacher  by  the 
committee  of  1839 :  "At  the  commencement  of  his 
term  we  feared  that  Mr.  Philbrick  might  fail  to  meet 
the  reasonable  demands  of  the  district ;  but  are  happy 
in  being  able  to  state  that  both  he  and  his  school 
made  progress  that  was  highly  gratifying  to  the  com- 
mittee and  creditable  to  themselves.    We  have  seldom 
found  in  school  so  general  and  thorough  acquaint- 
ance with  the  various  marks  of  punctuation   as  was 
possessed  here ;  and  as  a  necessary  consequence  we 
found  some  of  the  best  readers  here  that  we  have  lis- 
tened to  in  town.   The  various  recitations  approached 
to  uniformity  in  character  and  were  very  fair." 

John    Dudley   Philbrick   was    born    in    Deerfield, 
N.  H.,  May  27,  1818.     He  graduated  from  Dartmouth 


DANVERS. 


479 


in  1842,  having  some  weeks  previous  to  graduation 
entered  upon  the  duties  of  a  position  in  the  Roxbury 
Latin  School.  While  at  Roxbury  he  married,  August 
24,  1843,  Julia  A.  Putnam,  of  Danvers.  He  next 
went  to  the  Boston  English  High  School,  was  master 
of  the  Mahew  School  in  1845-46,  and  achieved  great 
reputation  for  his  admirable  work  as  master  of  the 
Quincy  School,  1847-52.  For  a  few  years  his  labors 
were  then  transferred  to  Connecticut,  first  as  princi- 
pal of  the  State  Normal  School,  and  again  as  State 
superintendent  of  common  schools.  In  December, 
1856,  he  was  recalled  to  Boston  by  his  election  as 
superintendent  of  public  schools,  a  position  which, 
except  for  an  interim  of  a  year  and  a  half,  he  held 
continuously  until  March,  1878.  His  published  offi- 
cial reports  during  this  term  are  a  part  of  the  standard 
literature  of  education.  He  was  sent  by  the  United 
States  to  represent  our  educational  department  at  the 
Vienna  Exposition  in  1873,  and  again  to  Paris  in 
1878.  From  France  he  received  the  decoration  of 
Chevalier  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  and  the  Gold  Palm 
of  the  University  of  France.  St.  Andrew's  Univer- 
sity of  Scotland  conferred  upon  him,  in  1879,  the  de- 
gree of  D.  C.  L.  He  was  one  of  the  original  incor- 
porators of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology, 
and  remained  on  the  board  as  long  as  he  lived  ;  was 
ten  years  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  State  Board 
of  Education,  and  ten  years  a  trustee  of  Bates'  College. 
In  his  later  years  he  was  especially  instrumental  in 
the  establishment  of  free  evening  schools  and  the 
State  Normal  Art  School,  and  in  the  enactment  of  the 
truancy  law  and  teachers'  tenure  of  office  act.  He 
died  at  Danvers,  February  2,  1886.  In  a  private 
letter  to  John  G.  Whittier,  I.  E.  Clark,  of  Washing- 
ton, says  :  "  I  cannot  express  to  you  what  a  personal 
grief  to  me  was  the  news  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Phil- 
brick.  .  .  .  He  was  a  great  educator,  I  think 
worthy  to  stand  beside  Horace  Mann  in  the  memory 
of  his  countrymen."  The  immediate  successor  of  Mr. 
Philbrick  in  this  district  school,  of  Danvers,  was  the 
man  who  is  now  librarian  of  the  Boston  Public  Lib- 
rary, Hon.  Mellen  Chamberlain,  who  also  married  a 
Putnam  of  the  neighborhood,  a  daughter  of  Jesse. 

Mrs.  Philbrick  has  furnished  these  names  of  other 
old  teachers  in  No.  4:  Asa  Cummings,  long  editor  of 
the  Portland  Mirror;  Samuel,  William  and  Eliza 
Preston  (the  latter  Mrs.  Nathan  Tapley),  Catherine, 
Elizabeth,  Susan,  William  R.,  Francis  P.  and  Julia 
A.  Putnam,  Dr.  Joseph  E.  Fiske,  Otis  Mudge. 

Dean  Peabody,  now  clerk  of  E-sex  County  Courts, 
taught  in  Putuamville,  beginning  in  1843-44. 

In  the  winter  of  1846-47  a  young  man,  now  widely 
known  as  Rev.  Dr.  Alfred  P.  Putnam,  taught  the  "senior 
department"  of  the  Plains  School.  "This  was  Mr. 
Putnam's  first  experiment  in  school -keeping.  He 
entered  upon  the  work  in  his  own  district,  and  under 
peculiar  disadvantages.  Yet  the  committee  present 
at  the  closing  examination  testified  to  the  general  good 
appearance   of  the  school   and   its  decided  improve- 


ment during  the  year."  Charles  A.  Putnam,  who 
became  superintendent  of  schools  in  St.  Louis  and 
there  died,  taught  at  No.  4,  in  1847-48.  Freeman 
N.  Blake,  who  some  years  ago  became  a  permanent 
resident  of  Danvers,  was  teaching  thirty-seven  years 
ago  in  No.  12.  Harrison  Gray  taught  at  No.  7.  Ru- 
fus  Sawyer  at  No.  10,  in  1850.  Arthur  A.  Putnam, 
brother  of  Alfred,  son  of  Elias,  lawyer,  of  L^^xbridge, 
began  his  first  experiment,  1852,  where  he  grew  up,  in 
No.  3.  John  W.  Sawyer,  who  recently  died  at  the 
head  of  the  Butler  Insane  Asylum,  Rhode  Lsland,  was 
teaching  in  1852  at  the  "  little  border  school,"  in  No. 
10. 

Other  well-known  names  than  those  already  given 
which  appear  in  the  list  of  teachers  from  1840  to 
1845  are, — Hannah  Pedrick,  Sarah  A.  Osgood,  Han- 
nah P.  Bradstreet,  Sophronia  Fuller,  Asenath  P. 
Pope,  Sarah  B.  Pedrick.  Almira  A.  Putnam,  Eliza  W. 
Preston,   Melicent    P.    Peabody,   Matilda    Peabody. 

From  1845  to  1865, — Elizabeth  Hopkinson,  Clarissa 
A.  Preston,  Mary  P.  Tapley,  Eliza  W.  Preston,  Nancy 
Perry,  Mary  J.  Sawyer,  Adeline  F.  Bomer,  Sophronia 
E.  Tapley,  Mary  E.  Porter,  Nancy  E.  Boardman, 
Sarah  E.  Symonds,  Susan  Putnam,  Julia  A.  Page, 
Lydia  A.  P.  Tapley,  Harriet  Felton,  Amanda  B. 
Hood,  Hannah  P.  Pope,  Harriet  A.  Putnam,  Lydia 
A.  Felton,  Mary  A.  Richards,  Sarah  .J.  Putnam, 
Harriet  M.  Putnam,  S.  A.  Hyde,  M.  A.  Wilkins, 
Pamelia  Needham,  Sarah  F.  Emery,  Ann  J.  Emery, 
Ellen  F.  Towns,  Cornelia  Putnam,  Sophia  J.  Richards. 

In  the  year  of  the  first  printed  report,  1839,  the 
subject  of  high  schools  was  first  brought  up.  Wil- 
liam D.  Joplin,  John  W.  Proctor,  Allen  Putnam, 
Samuel  Preston,  J.  M.  Austin,  Daniel  P.  King  and 
Benjamin  Porter  were  appointed  to  consider  the 
propriety  of  establishing  one  or  more  such  schools 
agreeably  to  the  statutes.  They  reported  that  a  ma- 
jority at  least  felt  that  the  credit  and  interest  of  the 
town  demanded  better  and  higher  schools  than  those 
existing.  In  view  of  the  scattered  location  of  the 
inhabitants,  they  said,  it  would  not  be  practicable  to 
agree  upon  a  site  for  the  establishment  of  one  school  to 
accommodate  all,  and,  perhaps,  it  would  be  equally  dif- 
ficult to  agree  upon  two.  Although  there  were  wise 
men  on  this  committee,  the  concluding  paragraph 
of  their  report  is  a  bit  of  that  rare  wisdom  which 
confesses  its  own  limitations, — 

"They  are  satisfied  that  something  ouglit  to  be  done,  and  they  hope 
something  will  be  done  ;  but  it  requires  wiser  heads  than  theirs  to  deter- 
mine how  it  shall  be  done  in  a  manner  that  will  prove  satisfactory." 

In  the  face  of  such  an  avowal  it  is  not  surprising 
that  high  schools  remained  in  the  realms  of  the  ideal 
for  many  years  to  come.  After  three  years  some 
determined  souls  had  the  courage  to  bring  up  the 
subject  again,  it  was  referred  to  the  school  committee 
and  that  was  the  end  of  it.  Then  after  one  of  the 
periods  of  Jacob's  courtship,  in  1849,  it  was  brought 
up  a  third  time,  and  again  referred  to  the  school 
committee.     The  next  year,  for  the  third  time  in  its 


480 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


history,  an  indictment  hung  over  the  town.  High- 
schools  were  no  longer  a  matter  of  choice,  but  of 
necessity,  and  the  citizens  stirred  themselves  to  get 
at  once  out  of  the  unpleasant  situation.  J.  W.  Proc- 
tor, Samuel  Preston,  Moses  Black,  Jr.,  Andrew 
Nichols  and  Fitch  Poole  were  appointed  to  act  in 
concert  with  the  school  committee. 

On  Monday,  the  8th  of  April,  1850,  Rev.  Thomas 
P.  Field  of  the  South  Church  read  the  report  of  this 
committee  in  town  meeting.  It  was  voted  that  he 
read  it  over  again.  And  after  various  attempts  at 
amendment,  it  was  adopted. 

The  report  begins, — 

"It  is  obvious  that  the  Town  is  under  an  absolute  necessity  of  estab- 
lishing a  High  School  The  Law  on  this  subject  is  imperative,  and  we 
cannot  neglect  its  requisitions,  without  Incurring  a  heavy  penalty. 
But  so  extensive  is  our  Terrritory,  and  so  scattered  our  population, 
that  One  High  School  will  by  no  means  satisfy  the  desires  or  meet  the 
wants  of  our  community.  If  we  have  One  High  School,  we  must  have 
two,  in  order  that  all  the  Inhabitants  of  the  Town,  may  participate  in 
the  benefits  of  Education,  in  the  higher  branches  of  knowledge.  The 
Committee  have  considered  the  subject  of  uniting  the  High  Schools,  in 
some  way  with  one  or  more  of  the  District  Schools,  in  order,  if  possible, 
toobivate  the  necessity  of  establishing  Independent  Schools.  They  have 
come  to  the  conclusion,  however,  that  no  satisfactory  arrangement  of 
this  kind  can  be  made.  It  is  uncertain  whether  any  of  the  Districts 
would  consent  to  it,  and  if  they  would,  it  is  thought  by  the  Committee 
that  the  plan  could  not  be  made  to  work,  in  a  manner  advantageous 
to  the  interests  of  either  District  or  High  School  education." 

The  committee  proposed  certain  votes,  which  by 
the  acceptance  of  the  report,  became  the  action  of 
the  town : 

"First,  That  it  is  expedient  to  establish  two  High  Schools,  independ- 
ent of  the  District  Schools, — One  in  the  North  and  one  in  the  South  pari 
of  the  Town,  the  said  Schools  to  be  free  to  all  the  Inhabitants,  under 
such  uniform  I'egulations  for  the  admission  of  Pupils  as  the  school  com- 
mittee shall  establish.  .  .  .  That  the  School  Committee  he  in- 
structed to  provide  two  suitable  school  rooms,  with  Furniture  and  appa 
ratus,  and  establish  High  Schools,  according  to  Law,  as  early  as  thf 
first  of  May  next,  or  as  soon  after  as  practicable." 

On  the  third  day  of  June,  1850,  the  two  high 
schools  were  opened  for  the  admission  of  such  schol- 
ars as  should  pass  the  examination.  Thirty-eight 
entered  the  south,  thirty-one  the  north  school.  John 
P.  Marshall,  now  of  the  faculty  of  Tuft's  College,  was 
the  first  principal  of  the  north  school.  The  building 
in  which  the  north  school  was  inaugurated  was  situ- 
ated on  Con  ant  Street,  in  a  corner  of  the  lot  now  oc- 
cupied by  the  dwelling  of  Roswell  D.  Bates.  It  is 
described  by  one  of  the  original  pupils  as  "  a  long, 
narrow  and  low  structure,  a  little  back  from  the  road, 
with  two  large  trees  before  it.  The  room  was  very 
low  studded,  at  one  end  the  desk  and  at  the  other  the 
recitation  platform  ;  between  were  only  three  rows  of 
double  seats.  The  pupils  were  of  good  age  and  abil- 
ity." The  first  examination  was  awaited  with  great 
interest.  "  In  consequence  of  the  desire  of  so  many 
to  be  present  at  this  time,  it  was  deemed  proper  to 
hold  the  examination  in  the  new  spacious  school- 
house  at  New  Mills.  The  performances  were  of  a 
high  order,  and  most  gratifying  to  the  committee  and 
the  numerous  visitors." 

After  a  few  months  better  quarters  were  found  for 


the  school.  On  the  present  town-house  lot  was  the 
chapel  of  the  Wesleyan  Society  and,  being  then  little 
or  not  at  all  in  use,  the  real  estate  was  sold  to  the 
town,  and  the  meeting-house  became  a  school -house. 
This  chapel  had  been  called  the  "  Quail  Trap,"  and 
the  name  clung  to  it  so  long  as  it  was  used  as  a  school- 
house.  When  the  town-house  was  built,  the  '  quail 
trap'  was  moved  to  Essex  Street,  where,  ever  since,  it 
has  been  a  residence  in  good  and  regular  standing. 
At  the  close  of  the  second  term  of  the  second  year 
Mr.  Marshall  resigned  to  take  a  better  position  ;  A. 
P.  S.  Stuart  succeeded  him,  and  remained  till  the 
close  of  the  fall  term,  1858.  Mr.  Nathaniel  Hills, 
late  principal  of  the  high  school  at  Great  Falls,  N. 
H.,  was  selected  as  Mr.  Stuart's  successor.  Rev. 
James  Fletcher  succeeded  Mr.  Hills.  The  present 
principal  is  H.  R.  Burrington  ;  Miss  S.  F.  Richmond, 
Miss  Annette  Sawyer,  assistants. 

By  a  letter  dated  London,  30th  November,  1853, 
addressed  to  the  committee  of  the  Holten  and  Pea- 
body  High  Schools,  George  Peabody,  in  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  compliment  paid  him  in  the  name  of  the 
south  school,  stated  that  he  would  transmit  in  the 
autumn  of  1854,  and  thenceforth  annually  during  his 
life,  the  sum  of  two  hundred  dollars  for  prizes  as 
rewards  of  merit  to  pupils  of  both  high  schools  at 
their  yearly  examinations,  the  entire  amount  to  be 
common  to  both,  and  distributed  as  among  the  pupils 
of  one  school.  The  school  committee  determined 
"that  a  suitable  medal  shall  be  awarded  and  presented 
to  every  pupil  who  shall  pass  three  years — constitut- 
ing the  entire  course — in  either  of  these  schools,  and 
whose  attendance,  deportment  and  advancement  shall 
have  been  uniformly  satisfactory  to  the  teachers  and 
committee."  Later,  1867,  Mr.  Peabody  established  a 
fund  of  two  thousand  dollars,  the  income  of  which 
has  been  annually  devoted  to  the  purchase  of  medals 
and  books  for  graduates. 

The  first  graduates  of  the  Holten  High  School  to 
receive  the  Peabodv  Medal  were  the 


CLASS   OF   1855. 


Emily  G.  Berry. 
Mary  A.  Black. 
Harriet  G.  Bradstreet. 
Susan  E.  Perley. 
Mary  F.  Putnam. 
Nancy  W.  Proctor. 
Asenath  A.  Sawyer. 
Elizabeth  P.  Swan. 


Addison  P.  Learoyd. 
Charles  Learoyd. 
Clarence  Fowler. 
Samuel  P.  Fowler. 
,Tohn  H.  Parker. 
Adrian  L.  Putnam. 
Daniel  W.  Proctor. 


In  the  spring  of  1849  a  lively  episode  occurred  in 
No.  6.  There  the  Rev,  Daniel  Foster,  the  preacher 
at  the  Wesleyan  Chapel,  was  teaching,  and  things  did 
not  run  smoothly  between  himself  and  the  commit- 
tee. Rev.  Mr.  Eaton,  one  of  the  committee,  went  in 
to  examine  the  school.  He  undertook  to  hear  a  class 
in  geography,  but  Foster  remarked  that  the  time  was 
up,  and  cut  short  the  committee-man's  questions  by 
sending  the  class  to  their  seats.  Mr.  Eaton  called  a 
meeting  of  the  board  and  reported  what  had  occurred, 
and  the  board  voted  "  that  the  whole  committee  pro- 


DANVERS. 


481 


ceed  this  afternoon  to  examine  the  school  in  District 
No,  6  ;"  and  they  all  filed  into  the  school-house  at  half- 
past  one.  Foster  gave  them  seats,  and  went  on  with 
his  business.  In  a  few  minutes  the  chairman,  Mr. 
Braman,  said:  "  We  have  come  here  to  examine  this 
school."  "It  was  examined  yesterday,"  said  Foster, 
with  the  inference  that  it  wasn't  to  be  examined 
again.  Then  followed  a  scene.  The  committee  or- 
dered scholars  to  stand  up  and  recite,  and  the  teacher 
told  them  to  sit  down.  They  were  more  in  awe  of 
their  teacher  than  of  the  committee  and  they  sat  still 
and  some  cried.  The  committee  finally  withdrew  as 
gracefully  as  they  could,  leaving  behind  a  note  in 
Foster's  hands,  informing  him  that  he  was  forthwith 
dismissed. 

At  the  adjournment  of  the  annual  meeting  the 
matter  was  piping  hot.  The  committee  read  a  long 
report,  covering  nearly  four  newspaper  columns,  giv- 
ing the  facts  of  the  case  and  justifying  their  action. 
On  a  motion  to  print  twelve  hundred  copies,  Foster 
himself  moved  to  strike  out  all  concerning  No.  6  ; 
followed  his  motion  by  a  violent  attack  on  the  com- 
mittee and  carried  his  point.  And  further,  at  the 
subsequent  election,  he  was  a  successful  candidate  for 
membership  of  the  board  which  turned  him  out,  and 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Eaton  failed  of  re-election. 

By  an  act  of  1850  the  Legislature  gave  towns  the 
option  of  abolishing  the  district  system.  There  was 
an  immediate  effort  in  Danvers  to  take  advantage  of 
this  act.  The  larger  expenses  made  necessary  by  the 
establishment  of  the  two  high  schools  just  at  this 
time  gave  a  special  incentive  to  the  movement.  In 
response  to  instructions  to  consider  the  subject  of  a 
radical  change  in  the  school  district  system  with  a 
view  to  greater  economy  a)id  more  efficient  manage- 
ment, the  school  committee,  through  A.  A.  Abbott, 
Esq.,  presented  in  1851  a  very  strong  and  clear  rejiort 
setting  forth  the  desirability  of  abolishing  the  system. 
But  Danvers  never  voted  to  abolish  the  system, 
though  a  number  of  attempts  were  made  to  secure  this 
action.  On  March  24,  1869,  the  Legislature  took  the 
matter  into  its  own  hands  and  broadly  enacted  that 
"  the  school  district  system  in  the  commonwealth  is 
hereby  abolished." 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  1853  William  L.  Weston 
made  a  motion  that  a  superintendent  of  schools  be 
employed.  Subsequently  it  was  voted  that  the  com- 
mittee be  instructed  to  hire  Charles  Northend.  Mr. 
Northend,  a  native  of  the  northern  part  of  the  county, 
had  been  long  and  favorably  known  as  a  teacher; 
his  name  appears  in  the  first  printed  report,  1839,  as 
principal  in  No.  1.  His  salary  as  superintendent 
was  at  first  eight  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  The 
great  extent  of  territory  to  be  covered,  from  the 
"  Rocks  "  to  "  Beaver  Brook,"  from  the  "  Devil's  Dish- 
ful" to  "Blind-hole"  must  have  made  theoccupatiou 
somewhat  akin  to  that  of  a  circuit-rider.  Mr.  North- 
end  served  faithfully  a  number  of  years,  and  was  the 
first  and  only  school  superintendent  of  Danvers. 

31 


In  April,  1841,  a  move  was  first  made  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  what  is  now  the  Tapleyville  district. 
Gilbert  Tapley  presented  a  petition  with  his  own  sig- 
nature and  thirty  others  for  a  new  district  to  be 
carved  out  of  Nos.  5  and  6;  but  inasmtich  as  his 
brother,  Asa,  was  on  hand  with  a  list  of  remonstrants 
twice  as  long,  the  petitioners  were  respectfully  given 
leave  to  withdraw.  They  withdrew  just  five  years, 
and  at  the  end  of  that  time  a  division  of  No.  6  was 
effected  on  the  petition  of  its  own  district  committee, 
and  the  northern  part  thereof  set  off  as  a  new  dis- 
trict,— the  last— No.  14.  No  record  of  a  dividing  line 
was  made  further  than  to  adopt  the  one  described  in 
the  petition,  which  has  not  been  found. 

AVith  the  division  of  the  town  it  became  expedient 
to  readjust  the  districts.  Six  districts,  namely,  Nos. 
2  (Port),  3  (Putnamville),  4  (Beaver  Brook),  5  (Cen- 
tre), 13  (Plains)  and  14  (Tapleyville),  together  with  a 
part  of  No.  6  (Collins  House),  were  left  to  Danvers. 
One  from  each — S.  P.  Fowler,  I.  H.  Putnam,  Francis 
Dodge,  Augustus  Mudge,  Calvin  Putnam,  Orrin  Put- 
nam and  Hix  Richards — were  appointed  to  renumber 
and  relocate  the  districts.  No  alterations  were  made 
in  the  lines  of  Nos.  2,  4  and  13.  A  portion  of  No.  14 
was  annexed  to  No.  5,  and  another  portion  to  No.  6. 
No.  5  previously  had  141  scholars  and  lost  7;  No.  14 
had  193  and  lost  49;  No.  6,  having  but  31  left  in 
Danvers  after  the  division  of  the  town,  gained  66. 
The  districts  numbered  13  and  14  in  the  old  town 
became  1  and  7,  other  numbers  remaining  un- 
changed. 

A  short  time  after  the  dissolution  of  the  annual 
meeting  at  which  this  report  was  accepted,  dissatis- 
faction was  manifest  in  the  calling  of  a  special  meet- 
ing to  alter  the  new  lines  of  Nos.  5,  6  and  7.  It  was 
then  voted  to  annex  all  of  No.  6  that  remained  in 
Danvers  to  No.  7,  and  to  call  the  consolidated  dis- 
trict No.  6,  with  the  proviso  that  if  a  majority  of 
voters  residing  south  of  a  certain  line  should  within 
thirty  days  express  to  the  selectmen  their  wish  to 
form  a  district  by  themselves,  they  should  then  be 
allowed  to  organize  as  District  No.  7. 

The  people  south  of  the  given  line  did  wish  to  re- 
main a  district  by  themselves,  and  did  not  wish  to  be 
deprived  of  the  old  number,  which  had  been  a  fa- 
miliar designation  of  their  locality  for  more  than  sixty 
years,  and  in  June  the  numbers  were  changed  back, 
—No.  6  to  the  old  "  Turkey  Plain  "  District,  and  No. 
7  to  Tapleyville. 

In  the  mean  time  the  people  of  the  old  Village 
district,  No.  5,  were  having  a  hot  little  war.  The 
people  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  church, 
and  so  on  to  Tapleyville,  wanted  to  be  a  separate 
district  and  have  a  school-house  of  their  own.  They 
were  outnumbered  in  the  district,  but  succeeded  in 
obtaining  a  vote  of  the  town  for  the  division  of  No.  5 
by  a  line  crossing  Centre  Street  four  rods  east  of  the 
house  of  John  Roberts ;  and  all  that  portion  lying 
east  of  the  line  was  established  as  District  No.  8.     A 


482 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY.  MASSACHUSETTS. 


nice  large  school-house  was  erected  just  opposite  the 
church ;  but  the  triumph  of  the  seceders  was  short. 
Although  they  had  fortified  themselves  with  the 
opinion  of  eminent  counsel,  the  division  was  tested 
by  a  suit  at  law  and  pronounced  illegal.  For  a  time 
the  disappointed  divisiouists  held  out,  and  many  of 
them  actually  let  their  places  be  sold  under  the  ham- 
mer for  the  taxes  levied  for  No.  5,  and  one  man  re- 
mained in  Salem  jail  six  months  rather  than  pay 
them.  But  better  counsels  soon  prevailed,  the  sold 
property  was  redeemed,  and  now  only  broad  smiles 
wreath  the  faces  of  certain  town  fathers  when  the 
nearly-forgotten  subject  is  mentioned. 

The  school-house  stood  for  a  number  of  years  in 
melancholy  emptiness,  and  was  finally  moved  to  the 
Plains,  where  it  was  used  first  as  a  shoe  manufactory, 
and  was  then  changed  to  a  fine-looking  dwelling,  as 
innocent  of  anything  like  neighborhood  quarrels  as 
is  its  respected  owner  and  occupant.  Deacon  Ebeii 
Peabody,  of  the  Maple  Street  Church. 

It  was  during  the  ephemeral  existence  of  this  No. 
8,  that  the  annexation  of  territory,  east  of  Porter's 
River  and  Frost  Fish  Brook,  from  Beverly  to  Danvers 
took  place.  This  new  territory  was,  February  1, 
1858,  established  as  School-district  No.  9.  But  at 
the  March  meeting  of  1859,  there  being  no  longer  a 
District  No.  8,  it  was  voted  to  change  the  new  terri- 
tory from  No.  9  to  No.  8,  and  thus  without  further 
change  the  districts  have  since  remained :  No.  1, 
Plains ;  2,  Port ;  3,  Putnamville ;  4,  Centre ;  5,  Bea- 
ver Brook;  6,  Collin's  House;  7,  Tapleyville;  8,  East 
Danvers. 

In  1795  the  total  appropriation  made  by  the  town 
for  schools  was  four  hundred  dollars ;  the  propor- 
tion received  by  each  district  is  interesting  as  showing 
their  relative  numerical  importance  :  No.  1,  $111.11  ; 
2,  $50.90;  5,  $46.92;  3,  $43.95  ;  7,  $43.90;  6,  $43.85  ; 
4,  $33.33 ;  8,  $15.50  ;  9,  $10.64. 

In  1810  the  appropriation  had  increased  to  $1250 ; 
1820,  $1800;  1830,  $2500 ;  1835,  $3000;  1840,  $3500; 
1845,  $3  for  each  scholar  between  four  and  sixteen 
years ;  1855,  $5.50  for  each  scholar,  four  to  sixteen, 
$1  of  which  amount  for  each  scholar  was  devoted  to 
high  schools, — estimated,  2,400  scholars. 

After  South  Danvers  was  set  off,  the  first  appro- 
priation of  Danvers,  1856,  for  schools  was  $3800  for 
common  schools,  $1200  for  the  Holten  High  School. 
In  1865,  $5000  for  common,  $1300  for  high ;  in  1875, 
$10,000  for  common,  $2100  for  high  ;  in  1880,  $10,- 
000  for  common,  $1750  for  high ;  in  1887,  $15,600  in 
all.  The  income  on  the  Massachusetts  School  Fund 
and  the  dog  tax  have  been  added,  and  are  not  in- 
cluded in  these  figures. 

At  the  annual  election  of  1880,  next  after  the  pass- 
age of  the  law  enabling  women  to  vote  for  school  com- 
mittee, twenty-seven  Danvers  women  availed  them- 
selves of  the  right.  Mrs.  Andrew  Nichols  was  the 
first  woman  to  vote. 

At  the  last  annual  meeting,  1887,  the  town  voted 


an  appropriation  for  evening  schools.  The  first  and  only 
previous  instance  of  similar  action  was  in  1850,  when 
some  provision  was  made  for  evening  schools  for  the 
poor  from  the  State  school  fund. 

The  first  school-house  at  the  Plains  was  brought 
from  Middleton  the  first  part  of  this  century  by  priv- 
ate enterprise,  for  the  use  of  primary  scholars.  Older 
scholars  went  to  New  Mills  until  the  Plains  district 
was  established,  in  1816.  The  first  district  school- 
house  was  a  small  building  erected  under  contract  by 
Stephen  Whipple,  carpenter,  near  the  spot  occupied 
by  the  bakery. 

The  present  grammar-school  building  at  the  Port 
was  finished  in  1849,  and  was  dedicated  July  25th, 
with  considerable  ceremony.  There  were  addresses 
by  the  presiding  officer,  S.  P.  Fowler,  by  Charles 
Northend,  then  a  teacher  in  Salem,  by  J.  W.  Proctor, 
Rev.  Messrs.  Appleton,  Fletcher  and  Braman,  Mr. 
Rust,  commissioner  of  schools  for  New  Hampshire,  and 
"Mr.  R.  Putnam,  an  experienced  teacher  of  Salem." 
The  immediate  predecessor  of  this  building  was  the 
"  old  brick  school,"  situated  on  a  part  of  the  same  lot 
but  much  nearer  the  street.  Hon.  James  D.  Black 
has  furnished  the  writer  with  some  reminiscences  of 
the  brick  house :  "  With  my  brothers  and  sisters  my 
school  days  were  spent  in  the  district  school -house  at 
the  Port  till  we  attained  the  age  of  fifteen  or  sixteen 
years.  Andrew  Wallace  taught  most  of  the  time  of 
my  earlier  school  days.  I  recall  among  my  school- 
mates Henry  and  Augustus  Fowler;  Jeremiah  and 
Timothy  Page ;  John,  William  and  Parker  B.  Fran- 
cis; Samuel  and  Josiah  Pender;  Warren  M.  and 
John  Jacol)s ;  William  B.  and  Augustus  Read;  Wil- 
liam and  Joseph  Lamson  ;  Benjamin,  Charles  and 
William  B.  Chaplin;  William  Cheever,  Edward 
Stimpson,  William  Endicott,  George  Kent,  Philip 
Smith  and  Setli  Stetson.  Our  schools  were  not 
graded ;  all  ages  attended  the  same  school,  from 
children  in  A  B  C  to  those  in  studies  now  confined  to 
the  high  school.  Quills  were  used  in  writing,  steel 
pens  came  later.  Most  of  Mr.  Wallace's  pui>ils  made 
good  penmen.  He  was  succeeded  by  Richard  Phil- 
lips, of  Topsfield." 

There  was  another  smaller  building  called  the 
"green  door  school-house,"  near  the  present  railroad 
station,  which  was  in  use  some  eighty  years  ago,  and 
was  long  ago  moved  by  Peter  Wait's  father  to  Ash 
Street,  where  it  has  since  been  used  as  a  dwelling  ; 
and  of  still  earlier  date  was  a  school-house,  close  by 
the  First  Baptist  Meeting-house. 

The  very  first  schoolmaster  at  the  New  Mills  was 
Caleb  Clark,  who  kept  his  school  in  the  house  of 
farmer  Porter.  His  writing  desks  were  boards  laid 
upon  barrels.  Of  his  discipline.  Deacon  Fowler  has 
written : 

"  He  was  in  the  habit  of  ■whittling  a  shingle  in  school  and  for  small 
offences  compelling  the  disobedient  to  pile  the  whittlings  in  the  middle 
of  the  room  ;  when  this  was  accomplished  he  would  kick  them  over,  to 
be  picked  up  again.  He  would  sometimes  require  them  to  watch  a  wire, 
suspended  in  the  room,  and  inform  him  when  a  fly  lighted  on  it.     For 


DANVERS. 


483 


greater  offences  he  would  sometimeB  attempt  to  frighten  them  into  obe- 
dience by  putting  his  shoulder  under  the  mantel  piece  and  threaten  to 
throw  the  house  down  upon  them.  It  is  said  of  the  worthy  pedagogue, 
when  deeply  engaged  in  a  mathematical  problem  that  he  became  so  ab- 
sorbed in  the  work  as  to  be  wholly  unconscious  of  anything  transpiring 
around  him,  and  the  boys  taking  advantage  of  this  habit  would  creep 
out  of  school  and  skate  and  slide  by  the  hour  together." 

At  a  meeting  held  in  District  No.  3,  Putnamville, 
July  6,  1812,  a  vote  was  passed  to  build  a  new  school- 
house  after  the  plan  of  the  brick  house  at  the  New 
Mills  and  also  "  voted  to  purchase  a  piece  of  land  of 
Rufus  and  Simeon  Putnam  in  this  district,  being  on 
the  northwest  corner  of  the  school-house  pasture,  so 
called,  adjoining  the  road  and  Zadoc  Wilkins  land, 
and  the  same  land  on  which  the  old  school-house 
stood  before  the  present  school-house  was  built." 

The"  present  school-house"  was  built  in  1787,  under 
this  vote  passed  at  a  meeting  of  "  School  ward  No. 
3,"  at  the  house  of  Zerubable  Porter,  namely  :  "  voted 
that  there  be  a  school-house  erected  for  the  education 
of  children  on  or  near  the  spot  where  the  old  one 
formerly  stood  if  the  ground  could  be  obtained." 

Both  the  original  building,  the  building  of  1787, 
and  the  brick  building  of  1812  stood  farther  up  the 
Topsfield  road  than  the  present  Putnamville  school- 
house,  namely,  at  the  head  of  North  Street. 

The  second  one  of  these  buildings  is  still  in  useful 
existence,  having  been  bought  and  moved,  some 
half  a  century  ago,  by  Perley  Tapley,  to  become  part 
and  parcel  of  the  little  village  which  bears  his  name. 
It  forms  a  portion  of  the  house  next  west  of  the  late 
residence  of  Gilbert  Tapley.  Among  those  who 
taught  in  this  building  were  Master  Andrews,  a 
famous  teacher,  college  educated,  Jonathan  and  Benja- 
min Porter,  Thomas  Savage,  Charles  Wheeler,  Charles 
Kimball,  probably  Clarissa  Endicott,  and  surely 
Esther  Forsaith,  to  secure  whom  Jonathan  Porter  went 
up  to  Chester,  N.  H.  It  was  in  this  building,  too, 
that  Universalist  meetings  were  first  held.  Elias 
Putnam  taught  the  first  winter  school  in  the  brick 
house  in  1812-13,  and  his  youngest  son,  Arthur, 
taught  the  last  in  1851-52.  Between  them  were, 
among  others,  Philemon  Putnam,  Oliver  Woodbury, 
Edwin  Josselyn  ;  ladies,  Clarissa  Endicott  (Porter), 
Nancy  Putnam  (Boardman),  Sarah  Rea  (Bradstreet), 
Sally  Shillaber. 

The  old  school-house  which  preceded  the  present 
one  in  No.  5,  the  Village,  both  being  in  the  line  of 
succession  to  that  first  school-house  of  Parson  Green, 
has  been  thus  described  by  a  former  pupil:  "The  old 
brown  house  stood  on  a  small  barren,  unfenced,  un- 
attractive triangle  at  the  corner  of  Centre  and  Day- 
ton Streets.  There  were  three  rows  of  benches  on 
each  side  of  the  house,  one  side  for  the  girls,  the 
other  for  the  boys.  At  one  end  there  was  a  large 
open  fire-place,  and  opposite  it  stood  the  master's 
lofty  desk,  to  which  he  ascended  by  two  or  three 
steps.  The  windows  were  so  high  that  scholars  could 
not  look  out  from  the  seats,  and  outsiders  could  not 
look  in  without  climbing.     No  paint  or  ornament  of 


any  kind  was  indulged  in.  My  earliest  recollection 
goes  back  about  sixty  years,  when  Miss  Edith  Swi- 
nerton  (Mrs.  Aaron  Tapley)  was  the  teacher. 

"  The  only  other  lady  teachers  to  whom  I  went 
were  Hannah  and  Betsey  Putnam.  They  were  sis- 
ters, 'solemn  sisters.'  They  always  taught  together. 
Though  very  unlike  in  temper,  they  were  devotedly 
attached  to  each  other,  and  would  consent  to  no  other 
arrangement,  no  matter  if  they  together  received  no 
more  than  enough  for  one,  as  was  generally  the  case. 
Each  had  a  chair  and  table,  and  sat  facing  each 
other.  Both  were  very  pious.  Betsey  read  the  Bible  ; 
Hannah  opened  with  prayer.  Betsey  heard  the  les- 
son. She  was  of  a  very  sweet  ^nd  gentle  spirit,  and 
much  beloved  by  her  scholars.  Hannah  was  more 
fiery  and  quick,  and  a  terror  to  evil-doers.  They  al- 
ways spoke  with  punctilious  accuracy  and  dignity. 
A  little  girl  was  sent  one  day  into  the  clothes-room 
to  get  the  teacher's  hose.  Not  knowing  what  was 
meant,  and  yet  not  daring  to  ask,  the  messenger 
brought  in,  perhaps,  a  shawl.  '  I  sent  you  for  my 
hose,  not  my  shawl.'  Again  the  timid  messenger  re- 
tired and  brought  in  a  bonnet,  when  the  exasperated 
teacher,  in  a  sort  of  desperation,  sjioke,  in  unmistak- 
able terms,  '  Well,  if  I  must  so  speak,  bring  in  my 
stockings.' 

"  Betsey's  way  of  showing  her  regard  for  a  favorite 
pupil  was  by  calling  him  out  occasionally  to  read  for 
her  entertainment  '  The  Bears  and  the  Bees,'  '  The 
Beggar's  Petition,'  '  Procrastination  '  or  some  other 
choice  selection  from  the  '  English  Reader.'  Han- 
nah's attentions  were  commonly  bestowed  in  a  some- 
what diflerent  way  when  correction  was  needed.  A 
reverend  gentleman  recalls  an  occasion  of  this  sort, 
when  his  young  form  bent,  at  an  ungraceful  angle, 
over  Hannah's  knee,  and  the  room  reverberated  more 
or  less  with  the  emphatic  correction  applied  to  that 
portion  of  a  boy's  body  by  nature  designed  to  receive 
it.  Their  prized  'rewards  of  merit'  consisted  of  lit- 
tle oblong  bits  of  paper  with  yellow  borders,  and 
mottoes  written  thereon  in  their  own  hands.  On 
Saturdays  hymns  and  Bible  verses  were  repeated  as  a 
sort  of  special  exercise." 

This  present  summer  of  1887  a  number  of  the  sur- 
vivors of  the  pupils  of  these  estimable  sisters  have 
taken  steps  to  erect  a  memorial  over  their  hitherto 
unmarked  graves  in  Wadsworth  Cemetery. 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

DANVERS— ( Continued). 
VILLAGES   OF   THE   TOWN. 

Danvers  is  notably  a  town  of  many  villages. 
There  are  in  all  eight  railroad  stations,  not  counting 
the  junction,  within  its  limits  and   five  post-offices. 


484 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


The  first  post-ofSces  in  Danvers,  it  may  here  be  men- 
tioned, were  established  as  the  result  of  a  town-meet- 
ing held  in  1828,  when  Dr.  Nichols,  Jonathan  Shove, 
Nathaniel  Putnam  and  Samuel  and  John  Preston 
were  chosen  "  to  devise  or  digest  any  scheme  relative 
to  the  Establishment  of  Post-offices  in  this  Town." 
The  action  of  the  meeting  is  thus  recorded  : 

"Voted,  That  there  be  but  one  post-office  in  this  Town. 
"Voted,  That  there  be  one  more  post-office  added  in  this  Town. 
"Voted,  To  reconsider  tlie  last,  05  votes  for  and  (15  votes  against,  the 
moderator  decided  the  vote." 

The  committee's  report  was,  however,  adopted,  in 
which  it  was  recommended  that  the  town  have  two 
post-ofiices,  one  between  the  old  South  Meeting- 
house and  Pool's  Bridge,  to  be  called  the  South  Dan- 
vers Post-oflice,  and  one  at  the  New  Mills,  to  be  called 
the  North  Danvers  Post-ofiice,  and  this  action  was 
communicated  to  the  Postmaster  General.  For  many 
years  this  ofiice  at  New  Mills  or  Danversport  re- 
mained the  only  one  within  the  present  limits  of  the 
town.  Mail  addressed  "  Danvers"  now  comes  to  the 
Plains.  The  other  oflices  are  Danvers  Centre,  Tap- 
leyville  and  Asylum.  The  latter,  established  chiefiy 
for  the  convenience  of  the  hospital,  accommodates 
that  locality  in  the  midst  of  which  is  the  General 
Putnam  homestead,  the  home  of  the  Prestons,  Nich- 
ols, Verrys  and  other  well-known  names,  commonly 
spoken  of  as  "  Number  Four."  While  there  is  no 
central  village  there,  the  community  has  always 
maintained  a  distinctive  identity,  and  has  borne  an 
enviable  reputation  for  the  character  of  its  inhabit- 
ants. The  name  Danvers  Centre  is  misleading;  its 
only  appropriateness  is  in  the  way  of  reminiscence 
and  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  locality  to  which  it  is 
applied  is  the  seat  of  the  church  which  was  the  relig- 
ious and  political  center,  not  only  of  Salem  Village, 
but,  for  many  years  after  the  incorporation  of  the 
town,  of  all  the  northern  portion  thereof. 

It  is  often  called  "  the  Village,"  a  name  altogether 
better,  inasmuch  as  it  is  suggestive  of  the  historic  asso- 
ciations with  which  the  locality  abounds.  Though  by 
the  destruction  of  the  Mudge  shoe-factory  the  Village 
no  longer  has  any  manufacturing  business  of  its  own, 
its  people  are  full  of  life  and  public  spirit.  They 
keep  up  their  end  in  public  affairs,  turn  out  to  cau- 
cuses and  town-meetings,  and  exercise  a  strong  in- 
fluence usually  on  the  safe  and  conservative  side  of 
things.  The  history  of  this  community,  most  inter- 
esting of  all  the  villages  of  the  town,  has  been  given 
somewhat  in  the  sketch  of  the  early  settlers  and  in 
that  of  its  church. 

Forty  or  fifty  years  ago,  perhaps  more,  Putnam- 
ville,  the  name  given  to  school  district  number 
three,  extending  from  Porter's  Hill  to  the  Topsfield 
and  Wenham  lines,  was  the  centre  of  much  wealth 
and  culture ;  of  its  people,  Rev.  Dr.  A,  P.  Putnam  has 
written  in  a  series  of  very  interesting  letters.  Con- 
cerning the  Plains,  the  Port  and  Tapleyville,  some- 
thing remains  to  be  said  here. 


The  Plains.— About  the  time  Elder  Sharpe  sold 
his  grant,  which  included  nearly  all  of  this  present 
principal  village  of  the  town,  to  John  Porter,  the 
General  Court  formally  laid  out,  as  a  great  highway 
connecting  the  lower  and  upper  settlements  of  the 
Colony,  "  the  Ipswich  Road."  It  crossed  Farmer 
Porter's  lands  at  their  greatest  width, — entering  them 
at  some  point  on  Ash  Street,  and  continuing  through 
Elm  and  Conant  Streets  to  Frost-fish  Brook, — and  it 
often  served  as  a  fixed  boundary  in  the  many  subse- 
quent divisions  of  the  Porter  estate.  Almost  exactly 
midway  between  the  limits  of  "Porter's  Plains,"  so 
these  level  lands  were  soon  called,  as  measured  on  the 
Ipswich  Road,  another  road  or  path  was  at  a  very 
early  date  opened  northward,  which,  in  due  course, 
became  the  highway  to  Topsfield  along  the  line  of 
the  present  Maple  and  Locust  Streets.  The  point  at 
which  the  Topsfield  road  left  the  Ipswich  road  is  the 
present"  Square." 

This  meeting  of  roads  had  no  immediate  effect  in 
the  formation  of  anything  like  a  village.  As  late  as 
1692  there  was  but  one  house  in  all  the  region,  and 
that  Avas  the  original  Porter  homestead,  near  the 
Unitarian  Church.  More  than  a  full  century  had 
passed,  when,  in  1755,  another  road,  High  Street,  was 
pushed  down  to  the  embryo  settlement  at  New  Mills 
and  across  the  river  to  Salem,  and  even  then  the  Square 
was  scarcely  more  than  a  country  cross-roads. 

At  the  head  of  High  Street  there  is  standing  a 
well  preserved    gambrel-roofed     house,    which    was 
built  about  the  time  the  street   was  laid  out.     It  is 
the  homestead  of  a  family  which,  though  not  numer- 
ous, has  been  honorably  prominent  in  the  town's  his- 
tory.    About  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  an  An- 
drews, then  living  on  the  Shillaber  farm  at  Putnam- 
ville,  wanted  some  bricks,  and  had  to  go  to  Medford 
for  them.     Andrews  told  the  brickmaker  that  there 
was  excellent  clay  in  Danvers,  and  asked  him  to  send 
some  one  to  commence  working  it.     "  Here's  my  son," 
the  brickmaker  said,  "just  turned  twenty-one,  he  can 
go  if  he  wants  to."     The   son    came,    boarded  with 
Andrews,   married   his   daughter,   started  the    brick 
business  here  and  built  the  house  just  referred  to. 
His  name  was  Jeremiah  Page.     He    died    June  8, 
1806,  in  his  eighty-fifth  year,  and  is  always  spoken  of 
as  Colonel   Jeremiah.     At   the   breaking   out  of  the 
Revolution  he  took  a  very  active  part,  and  commanded 
a  company  of  militia  at  the  fight  on  the  retreat  from 
Lexington,  and  throughout  his  useful  life  he  was  one 
of  the  leaders  in  town  affairs.    He  had  twelvechildren, 
three  of  whom  were  by  a  second  marriage.     His  old- 
est son,  Samuel,  went   with  his  father  to  respond  to 
the  Lexington  alarm,  and  was   where   bullets   were 
thickest.        Subsequently    he   joined    Washington's 
army   about    Boston,   with   a   captain's   commission. 
He  was  at  the  crossing  of  the  Delaware,  at  White 
Plains  and  Monmouth,  and   shared  the  sufferings  of 
Valley  Forge.     He  was  with  Wayne  at  the  storming 
of  Stony  Point,  and  to   insure  success  to  the  bayonet 


DAN  VERS. 


485 


charge  his  company  were  ordered  to  remove  the 
flints  from  their  muskets.  After  the  war  he  became 
a  successful  merchant  at  New  Mills,  Danversport.  In 
the  following  sketch  of  that  village,  which,  for  a  half 
century  after  the  Revolution,  was  the  commercial 
centre  of  the  town,  Captain  Page  must  be  again 
mentioned,  and  as  a  matter  of  convenience,  some 
further  reference  to  the  family  will  there  be  made. 
Capt.  Page  died  September  2,  1814,  aged  sixty-one, 
and  with  his  father  is  buried  in  the  High  Street 
Cemetery.  He  held  many  public  offices,  and  repre- 
sented the  town  many  years  in  the  General  Court. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  century  there  were  but 
twelve  dwellings  in  all  the  Plains,  including  two 
taverns,  one  store,  one  blacksmith's  shop,  one  butch- 
ery and  two  brick  yards.  Until  1816  there  was  no 
public  school  here,  and  children  had  to  go  to  New 
Mills.  That  year,  on  the  basis  of  sixteen  houses  and 
one  hundred  and  thirtj'  inhabitants,  a  new  school 
district  was  formed,  as  told  elsewhere. 

Several  years  before  this,  however,  an  eflbrt  had 
been  made  to  educate  thesmaller  children  near  home, 
and  Deacon  Gideon  Putnam,  Ezra  Batchelder  and 
Timothy  Putnam  bought  a  small  school-house  in  ]Mid- 
dleton  and  moved  it  here.  p]zra  Batchelder's  house 
stood  where  the  Maple  Street  School-house  stands  ; 
"  Uncle  Timmy's "  stood  where  his  grandson,  Otis 
F.  Putnam,  now  lives.  Deacon  Gideon  kept  tavern 
and  store  at  Richards'  Corner.  Deacon  Gideon  was 
the  father  of  the  courtly  Judge  Putnam,  as  has  been 
said,  and  it  is  related  that  when  the  son  was  home 
on  a  vacation  from  college,  and  was  obliged  to  play 
host  to  a  stranger,  he  was  chagrined  at  the  meagre 
fare — -it  was  probably  washing-day — and  paid  the 
price  of  the  meal  to  the  guest  "  for  picking  the 
bones."  In  1820  there  were  but  twenty-one  houses 
from  the  square  along  the  whole  line  of  the  Centre 
horse-car  route.  The  only  house  on  the  easterly 
side  of  Maple  Street  between  the  store  at  the  corner 
of  Conant  Street  and  the  Perry  farm  was  the  Captain 
Eben  Putnam's  house,  which  was  once  a  part  of  the 
mansion  on  Folly  Hill. 

The  butchery  stood  on  Conant  Street  beyond  Al- 
fred Trask's  residence,  and  was  carried  on  by  James 
Sleeper,  who  lived  in  a  three-story  brick  building, 
which  stood  on  the  corner  of  Maple  and  Elm  Streets, 
but  projected  far  into  the  present  widened  location 
of  Maple  Street.  This  brick  building  was  where  the 
bank  was  first  located.  An  "  ell "  fronting  on  Elm 
Street  was  long  since  moved  some  distance  west, 
and  is  now  owned  by  H.  M.  Merrill.  In  this  "  ell  " 
Porter  Kettelle  did  a  small  store-keeping  business. 
The  principal  storekeepers  then  were  Jonas  Warren, 
who  had  bought  out  the  Putnam's,  but  did  not  keep 
tavern,  and  "  Johnny  Perley,"  at  Perley's  Corner. 
Great  was  the  rivalry  of  these  two,  and  great  was  the 
business  they  did.  For  fair  and  liberal  dealing 
Uncle  Johnny's  reputation  suffered  somewhat  in 
comparison  with  Mr.  Warren's.     The  former  was  a 


bachelor,  of  modest  and  soft  speech,  but  sharp  to 
keep  the  half  cents  on  his  side  of  the  bargain.  Amus- 
ing stories  are  told  of  the  way  war  was  waged  be- 
tween the  two  corners.  The  amount  of  goods  sold 
and  bartered  was  enormous.  Heavy  teams  from  far 
hack  in  the  country  came  in  loaded  with  produce, 
as  many  as  forty  in  a  single  day,  and  generally  they 
went  no  farther  than  Danvers  Plains,  but  exchanged 
their  produce  here  for  a  long  supply  of  fish,  salt, 
molasses  and  other  staples,  including,  of  course. 
Sew  England  rum.  Clerks  were  sometimes  busy  till 
midnight  loading  for  the  return  trips. 

The  old  hotel  on  the  site  of  the  present  one  was 
owned  by  Ebenezer  Berry,  who  bought  it  of  Jethro 
and  Timothy  Putnam  in  1804.  Mr.  Berry  came  from 
Andover,  and  married  a  daughter  of  Captain  Levi  Pres- 
ton. His  two  children, — -Eben  G.  Berry  and  Mrs. 
Sperry  are  living,  a  sketch  and  portrait  of  the  former 
appearing  in  subsequent  pages.  The  building  was 
sold  at  auction  in  three  sections,  1838,  and  these  were 
removed  to  make  room  for  the  erection  of  the  pres- 
ent hotel.  One  of  these  sections  has  long  been  the 
home  of  Benjamin  Henderson  on  Elm  Street;  a 
second  sojourned  for  a  while  on  Cherry  Street,  and 
was  finally  settled  near  the  soap  factory,  while  the 
hall  was  removed  to  a  lot  on  Maple  Street,  owned  by 
Amos  Brown,  was  there  occupied  by  Amos  Proctor 
Perley  as  a  diy-goods  store,  and  burned  in  the  fire  of 
1845.  This  hall  had  been  originally  a  part  of  the 
mansion  on  Folly  Hill,  referred  to  in  the  opening 
lines  of  this  sketch.  Its  flour  was  painted  to  repre- 
sent mosaic  work  and  its  finish  was  thorough  and 
costly.  It  was  so  annexed  to  the  hotel  that  its 
length  ran  parallel  to  High  Street,  and  the  uses  to 
which  it  was  put  were  many  and  various.  Here  the 
Danvers  militia  congregated,  with  their  burnished 
flint-locks  and  the  paraphernalia  of  destruction, 
awaiting  officers'  inspection.  Here  the  North  Dan- 
vers Lyceum  met,  as  chronicled  where  other  literary 
societies  are  spoken  of.  Here  the  selectmen  and  as- 
sessors met.  Here  was  the  lodge-room  of  Jordan 
Lodge  of  Masons,  and  here,  by  no  means  last  to  be 
mentioned,  were  held  those  dancing  parties  at  the 
mention  of  which  old  eyes  kindle,  and  limbs,  no 
longer  sprightly,  beat  time  to  the  echoes  of  the 
darkey  Harry's  fiddle,  which  linger  still  in  their  ears. 

At  both  Warren's  and  Perley's  corners  grocery  bus- 
iness is  still  carried  on.  Both  are  decidedly  "  old 
stands."  Samuel  Preston  succeeded  "  Uncle  Johnny" 
and  kept  store  awhile  in  connection  with  the  shoe 
business,  then  Amos  Proctor  Perley  took  it,  and  sub- 
sequently formed  a  partnership  with  his  brother-in- 
law,  Moses  J.  Currier,  under  the  name  of  Perley  and 
Currier.  Mr.  Currier  survives ;  Mr.  Perley,  known 
and  respected  far  and  wide  as  "  Uncle  Proc,"  a  man 
of  sterling  integrity,  died  a  few  years  ago ;  his  son, 
Charles  N.  Perley,  present  post-master,  carries  on  the 
store. 

Mr.  Warren  sold  out  his  property  at  the  Plains  in 


486 


HISTOKY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


1841,  and  thenceforth  carried  on  a  wholesale  business 
at  the  Port.  Frederick  Perley  was  the  purchaser, 
perhaps  a  nominal  one,  for  he  verj'  soon  re-conveyed 
the  whole  to  Elias  Putnam.  There  were  nine  acres 
in  all,  on  which  Mr.  Putnam  built  his  shoe  factory 
and  the  house  in  which  he  died,  and  through  which 
he  laid  out  Park  Street.  One  acre  on  the  corner,  in- 
cluding the  old  store  buildings,  he  sold  for  three 
thousand  dollars  to  Daniel  Richards.  Mr.  Richards 
was  a  native  of  Atkinson,  N.  H.,  who  came  here  as  a 
clerk  to  Mr.  Warren  in  1828,  two  months  before  he 
was  twenty-one.  "It  was  hard  work  to  be  a  grocery 
clerk  then," — these  are  his  own  words — "but  I 
weighed  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  pounds  and 
was  pretty  strong." 

In  1833  the  temperance-reform  movement  was 
working.  The  old  store-keepers  were  unwilling  to  be 
"  driven  ''  to  give  up  the  time-honored  custom  of  sell- 
ing spirits  and,  as  a  consequence,  Mr.  Richards  start- 
ed a  new  "  temperance  store  "  in  a  building  which 
stood  where  Beal  and  Abbott's  store  now  is,  and  was 
well  supported. 

After  Mr.  Richards'  purchase  of  the  old  corner,  he 
sold  the  buildings  and  built  the  present  store.  A 
part  of  the  old  store-tavern  is  the  Dougherty  house 
on  School  Street,  and  another  part  is  the  Abbott 
house,  corner  of  Elm  and  Park  Streets.  Mr.  Rich- 
ards died  last  November,  1886,  in  his  eightieth  year. 
He  was  for  thirty  years  president  of  the  National 
Bank,  was  a  life  trustee  of  Peabody  Institute,  and,  in 
addition  to  the  grocery  busine.ss  which  is  still  carried 
on  by  his  sons,  he  bought  the  Fowler  mill  property 
at  Liberty  Bridge,  and  built  the  grist-mill,  now  used  for 
grinding  rubber,  using  as  many  as  one  hundred  thous- 
and bushels  of  grain  a  year. 

The  open  level  land  at  the  Plains  made  it  a  favor- 
ite place  for  military  musters.  In  1809  the  brigade 
of  General  Eben  Goodale  formed  a  line  nearly  a  mile 
long,  from  Perley's  corner  to  the  old  house  owned  by 
Augustus  Fowler.  Twenty-five  hundred  troops,  in- 
fantry, cavalry,  bands,  Governor  Christopher  Gore,  a 
big  dinner  and  a  sham  fight, — it  was  something  of  a 
day. 

In  1813,  during  the  war,  another  brigade  of  three 
thousand  men  mustered  on  the  same  ground,  and 
Lindall  Hill  Avas  covered  with  sjjectators,  who  never- 
theless took  themselves  out  of  the  way  when  a  fort, 
which  had  been  constructed  on  the  hill,  was  stormed 
and  burned.  The  Plains,  too,  was  the  place  of  cele- 
bration on  "  'Lection  Day,"  the  last  Wednesday  in 
May,  when  the  Legislature  used  to  first  meet.  "Who 
does  not  remember,"  wrote  Dr.  Osgood  in  his  little 
pamphlet,  "how  thousands  upon  thousands  congre- 
gated on  Danvers  Plains  to  see  the  horses  run,  the 
mountebanks  tumble,  the  fandango  whirl  around  and 
the  drinking  of  egg-pop,  punch,  and  something  a 
little  stronger?  And  then  what  lots  of 'lection  cake, 
buns,  and  molasses  ginger-bread,  rolling  marbles  and 
nine-pins,  running  and  wrestling !  "     A  colored  man, 


Milan  Murphy,  a  veteran  of  the  Revolution,  and 
called  "Colonel,"  a  chronic  victim  of  all  sorts  of 
pranks,  was  a  prominent  figure  in  these  festivities. 
He  marched  wearing  his  old  three-cornered  hat,  a 
blue  coat  with  brass  buttons,  and  accompanied  his 
voice  to  an  old  fiddle  on  which  he  played  his  one 
tune,  "sometimes  on  one  string,  sometimes  on  no 
string  at  all."  Colonel  Milan  was  great  at  butting, 
making  nothing  of  going  through  the  head  of  a  mo- 
lasses hogshead.  He  found  his  match  one  day  in  an 
old  ram,  presently  to  be  made,  after  the  manner  of 
his  kind,  into  "  spring  lamb,"  at  the  butchery  already 
mentioned.  There  was  but  one  round,  and  the  de- 
tails have  not  been  so  well  preserved  as  the  conclu- 
sive fact,  that  "the  ram  knocked  Milan  more'n  a  rod." 

It  was  about  1830  that  the  Plains  began  to  be  some- 
thing. Then  Samuel  Preston  was  manufacturing 
shoes  on  the  site  of  the  present  bank  building;  Eben 
Putnam,  in  a  shop  near  his  house ;  and  others  before 
long  came  in.  Joshua  Silvester  moved  his  business 
from  the  little  shop  at  the  foot  of  Porter's  Hill,  and 
built  a  large  factory  and  fine  residence  on  the  westerly 
side  of  Maple  Street,  in  1837.  No  man  deserves  more 
special  mention  in  a  history  of  Danvera  than  he,  and 
a  word  might  as  well  be  written  here  as  elsewhere. 
He  was  eighty-four  years  old,  July  9,  1887,  and  is 
able  to  be  about,  though  his  sight  is  failing.  He  was 
born  in  Wiscasset,  Me. ;  his  family  moved  to  Andover, 
Mass.,  when  he  was  a  child ;  he  came  here  when  he 
was  eighteen  to  work  at  shoe-making;  went  with 
Frederick  Perley  one  term  at  Atkinson  Academy  ; 
clerked  a  year  or  two  at  Jonas  Warren's  store  ;  began 
shoe-manufacturing  in  the  shop  at  Porter's  Hill,  with 
a  partner  named  Brickett,  and  remained  after  the  dis- 
solution of  the  partnership  until  the  date  of  his  le- 
moval  to  the  Plains,  as  above.  The  fire  which  de- 
stroyed the  new  buildings  at  the  Plains  will  be  noticed. 
His  numerous  trips  to  England  in  connection  with 
subsequent  business  enterprises,  and  his  acquaintance 
there  with  Mr.  Peabody,  are  spoken  of  in  connection 
with  the  history  of  the  Peabody  Institute.  He  has 
served  the  town  as  selectman,  in  the  legislature,  and 
in  other  capacities,  but  what  he  is  to  be  chiefly  re- 
membered for,  is  the  far-sighted  public  spirit  which 
he  has  always  shown  in  the  matter  of  public  improve, 
ment,  and  especially  in  encouraging  the  setting  out 
of  shade  trees.  He  has  lived  long  enough  to  see  the 
sticks  which  he  set  in  the  ground  by  hundreds,  years 
ago,  transformed  into  bowers  of  beauty,  and  children, 
who  have  grown  to  manhood  as  the  trees  have  grown, 
and  who  realize  the  richness  of  their  legacy,  rise  up 
to  bless  this  benefactor.  Last  winter  a  public  testi- 
monial was  made  to  him.  (His  death  occurred,  since 
writing,  July  29,  1887). 

Mr.  Silvester  married  a  sister  of  Francis  Noyes,  who 
had  a  large  factory  and  dwelling  just  above  Mr.  Sil- 
vester's. Mr.  Silvester's  sister  Mary  married  Thomas 
Bowen,  the  first  post-master  at  the  Plains,  and  his 
sister  Sarah  married  John  A.  Learoyd.     Mr.  Learoyd 


DANVERS. 


487 


learned  the  currying  trade  in  Byfield,  came  here  in 
1829  and  worked  as  a  journeyman  for  Brickett  &  Sil- 
vester, at  Porter's  Hill,  and  boarded  with  Mr.  Silves- 
ter. He  soon  came  down  to  the  Plains,  bought  and 
moved  the  Baptist  meeting-house  of  1783,  and  began 
in  it  the  currying  business,  which  he  carried  on 
through  life,  and  which  one  of  his  sons  continues. 
He  was  from  the  first  a  leader  in  the  Maple  Street 
Church.  His  own  house  was  planned  for  the  conve- 
nience of  neighborhood  prayer-meetings,  when  all 
went  to  Dr.  Braman's  church,  and  when  the  separation 
took  place  the  new  church  was  formally  organized  in 
his  parlors.  He  died  February  1,  1880,  and  his  wife 
survived  him  but  three  weeks.  They  left  a  family  of 
children  trained  after  their  own  hearts,  and  strong  in 
church  work.  Among  them  one  son  an  Episcopal 
minister;  a  daughter,  the  wife  of  a  minister;  another 
son  for  nearly  twenty-five  years  superintendent  of  a 
model  Sunday-school. 

Amos  Brown's  wheelwright  shop  and  house  were 
between  Noyes'  factory  and  the  place  where  Cherry  St. 
was  soon  laid  out.  He  and  his  brother  Samuel,  mason, 
came  from  North  Beverly.  If  the  life  of  wheels  de- 
pends on  sound  stock  and  honest  work,  every  pair 
which  ever  came  out  of  Amos  Brown's  shop  is  run- 
ning yet.  Right  across  the  street  from  Brown's  shop 
was  Deacon  Frederick  Howe's  house  and  blacksmith 
shop.  The  Deacon  was  born  in  Methueu,  in  1793, 
learned  his  trade  of  the  AVilkinses,  at  the  Centre,  and 
at  length  established  himself  here.  He  died  July  2, 
1880,  eighty-seven  years  old.  He  was  a  deacon  of  the 
First  Church  when  he  was  made  one  of  the  first  dea- 
cons of  the  Maple  Street  Church.  He  entered  from 
the  first  into  temperance  reform,  and  early  attached 
himself  to  the  anti-slavery  movement,  without  for  a 
moment  losing  his  interest,  as  many  did,  in  the  church. 
His  blacksmith  shop  was  naturally  a  centre  for  dis- 
cussion on  such  questions,  and  was  one  of  the  rallying- 
points  of  the  Liberty  party.  "  It  is  remarkable  that 
a  man  so  occupied  and  of  so  laborious  a  life  found 
time  and  strength  to  do  so  much  in  so  many  good 
causes.  Between  his  anvil-strokes  rung  out  true  words 
that  formed  opinions  of  other  men,  and  the  tired  hand 
was  never  too  weary  to  use  the  pen  for  the  same  pur- 
pose." None  of  Deacon  Howe's  family  remain  here. 
One  of  his  sons,  Joseph  W.,  is  a  prominent  member 
of  the  New  York  bar,  and  had  a  hand  in  the  convic- 
tion of  Tweed. 

Frederick  Perley,  a  brother  of  "  Uncle  Proc,"  lived 
and  manufactured  shoes  opposite  Ezra  Batchelder's. 
Joseph  W.  Ropes  came  here  from  Salem  in  1838,  and 
engaged  in  the  tinware  and  stove  business,  which  his 
son  carries  on.  In  subsequent  pages  will  be  found  a 
sketch  of  Alfred  Trask,  who  came  to  the  Plains  about 
1835,  and  built  up  a  large  and  prosperous  business  as 
a  drover. 

The  establishment  of  the  Village  Bank  here  in  1836 
was  brought  about  by  the  efforts  of  leading  shoe  manu- 
facturers,  Elias  Putnam  foremost,  and  tended  very 


much  to  the  making  of  the  Plains  the  business  centre 
of  the  town.  The  new  church  was  organized  in  1844, 
there  were  better  and  larger  schools,  lands  which  had 
long  been  used  only  for  farming  were  laid  open  for 
building,  and  the  prosperity  of  the  place  may  be 
judged  from  this  clipping  from  the  Courier,  May  18, 
1845,  a  paper  published  for  a  few  years  at  South  Dan- 
vers : 

"  But  the  greatest  improvements  seem  to  have  been  made  in  North 
Danvers.  New  streets  have  been  opened,  old  ones  built  up,  old  houses 
transformed  to  new,  and  the  whole  village  presents  a  thrifty  and  go- 
ahead  appearance  to  the  occasional  visitor— not  appreciated  by  the  con- 
stant resident.  The  beautiful  church,  the  noble  public  houee,  the  large 
shoe  factories  and  long  ranges  ot  handsome  dwellings  seem  to  have  arisen 
by  magic.  High  Street  is  so  tilled  up  that  we  can  liardly  tell  where  the 
New  Mills  village  leaves  otf  and  where  the 'Plains'  begins.  They  are 
fast  joining  hands,  and  when  they  come  together  they  will  liave  quite  a 
city-like  appearance." 

But  a  few  mouths  later  a  different  story  appears  in 
the  files  of  the  same  paper. 

"  Disastrous  Fire  in  Danveks  ! 

"  A  very  alarming  fire  took  place  in  the  North  Parish,  in  Danvers,  at 
the  Plains,  last  Tuesday  afternoon  (June  Id,  184.'>),  commencing  at  2 
o'clock. 

"It  broke  out  in  an  outbuilding  lielongiug  to  tlie  dwelling  house  of 
Mr.  Joshua  Silvester,  and  was  said  to  have  been  occasioned  by  some  chil- 
dren playing  with  friction  matches.  The  fire  spread  with  great  rapidity, 
and  seemed  at  one  time  beyond  human  control.  The  number  of  build- 
ings of  all  sorts  destroyed  issaid  to  be  eighteen. 

"These  cons^isted  of  the  dwelling,  extensive  store  and  barn  of  Joshua 
Silvester;  the  building  occupied  by  John  Hayman,  painter,  and  F.  E. 
Smith,  tailor;  the  large  building  occupied  by  Francis  Noyes  as  a  shoe 
manufactory,  together  with  his  dwelling  and  stable  ;  the  building  occu- 
pied by  Amos  Brown,  wheelwright;  and  CofHu  &  Co.,  painters  ;  two 
dwelling  houses,  shoe  nuinufactory,  barn  and  store  house  of  Samuel 
Preston,  who  saved  nothing  but  a  couple  boxes  of  shoes ;  Fran- 
cis (Frederick)  Howe's  blacksmith  shop  ;  barn  and  store  house  belonging 
to  A.  Proctor  Perley;  a  new  building  occupied  by  tlie  post-ottice,  and 
Clough's  restorator.  The  Village  Bank  Building  was  a  good  deal  in- 
jured by  fire  and  water,  and  most  of  the  furniture  of  W.  L.  Weston,  the 
cashier,  was  greatly  injured  ;  but  all  Bank  property  was  saved.  The 
goods  of  Henry  T.  Ropes,  who  occupied  part  of  the  building  as  a  tailor's 
shop,  were  saved.  Mr.  John  Page's  house  was  completely  emptied,  but 
uninjured  by  firo.  The  streets  were  filled  with  property  taken  from  the 
stores  and  hcjuses.  A.  P.  perley  &  C'o.'s  store  was  saved  by  unparalleled 
exertions,  though  for  a  long  time  in  ininiinent  periU  The  stock  was 
removed. 

" There  Wii«  a  great  scarcity  of  water,  it  being  necessary  to  connect 
eight  engines  to  obtain  a  single  stream  of  water  upon  the  fire.  The 
nearest  body  of  water  was  Frost  Fish  Brook,  over  a  half  a  mile  distant, 
at  the  Beverly  line. 

"  The  alarm  reached  Salem  about  a  quarter  past  two  o'clock,  and  sev- 
eral engines  and  fire  companies  innuediately  started,  guided  by  the  di- 
rection of  the  smoke,  although  it  was  not  then  known  where  the  fire 
was,  nor  how  imminent  was  the  danger.  Express  messengei-s  arrived 
sometime  afterwards  for  assistance,  when  the  alarm  was  again  sounded, 
and  several  more  engines  were  despatched,  making  seven  in  all  from 
Salem,  preceded,  accompanied  and  followed  by  great  numbers  of  our 
citizens.  The  progress  over  the  length  of  dusty  road  was  exceedingly 
toilsome,  with  the  almo.st  vertical  sun  beating  down  upon  their  unshel- 
tered heads,  at  a  temperature  of  120  to  1311  degrees.  Some  weie  very 
much  overcome  by  the  exposure  and  fatigue.  One  man  fell  at  the 
brakes  of  No.  6,  and  when  the  engine,  having  exhausted  the  water  at 
the  cistern  where  it  was  posted  was  withdrawn,  he  was  lying  upon  the 
grass  insensible,  under  the  care  of  ^the  physicians  belonging  to  the 
company. 

"  The  amount  of  loss  is  variously  estimated,  some  going  as  high  as 
880,000.  There  was  insurance  in  various  offices — mostly  of  mutual  com- 
panies —to  the  amount  of  over  830,000." 

The  work  of  rebuilding  went  speedily  on,  but,  with 
the  exception  of  the  new  bank  building,  there  was  a 


488 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


lamentable  want  of  anything  like  architectural  de- 
sign, and  it  must  be  confessed  that  from  this  want  of 
foresight  our  main  street  presents  a  shambling  and 
irregular  appearance,  not  worthy  of  the  general  ap- 
pearance of  the  town.  There  is  not  space  to  speak  of 
the  later  development  and  prosperity  of  the  Plains. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  Farmer  Porter's  fields  are  so 
well  built  up  that  few  desirable  house-lots  remain 
unutilized,  and,  generally  speaking,  Danvers  Plains 
is  a  beautiful  village,  and  its  residents  have  many 
rare  advantages. 

Danversport  comprises  two  penin.sulas,  formed 
by  three  divergent  forks  of  tide  water,  into  each  of 
which  flow  inland  streams,  known,  commencing  with 
the  most  southerly,  as  Water's,  Crane  and  Porter's 
Rivers.  As  the  highway  across  them  runs,  the  main 
road  to  Salem,  these  rivers  are  about  a  third  of  a  mile 
apart;  at  each  bridge,  tide-gates  and  mills.  It  is  the 
lower  peninsula  between  Water's  and  Crane  Rivers 
that  formed  Governor  Endicott's  orchard  farm,  the 
first  settled  land  in  Danvers.  The  upper  peniusula — 
Skelton's  Neck,  wherein  came  to  be  much  commer- 
cial activity,  and  for  many  years  the  principal  village 
of  the  town — was  for  a  long  time  wild  and  unsettled. 
It  was  quite  a  hundred  and  twenty  years  after  the 
Governor  had  broken  gruund  on  his  grant  that  Arch- 
elaus  Putnam  went  down  through  the  woods  and  se- 
lected as  a  site  for  a  tide-mill  the  place  where  the  out- 
curving  banks  of  the  Crane  River  make  the  stream 
quite  narrow.  From  his  father,  Nathaniel's,  farm 
(the  Judge  Putnam  place)  he  floated  down  the 
stream,  or  moved  down  its  frozen  surface,  a  cooper- 
shop,  lauded  it  about  where  the  railroad  station  now 
is,  moved  it  across  the  point  made  by  the  sharp  bend 
of  the  river,  and  near  the  present  location  of  Aaron 
Warren's  brick  store  he  made  it  into  a  dwelling, 
wherein,  with  his  wife  Mehitable,  he  lived,  the 
pioneer  of  Danversport.  Soon  after  the  settlement  ol 
Archelaus,  his  brother  John  moved  down,  and  to- 
gether they  built  a  grist-mill.  Tradition  is  that  the 
whole  district  was  covered  by  a  dense  thicket,  in 
which  foxes  abounded.  This  was  a  path  through  the 
neck  to  the  upper  settlements,  marked  by  blazed 
trees,  by  which  wood  was  taken  to  the  water-side  and 
boated  to  Salem.  A  more  respectable  way,  two  rods 
wide,  was  soon  laid  out  from  Porter's  Plains  to  the 
mills,  the  origin  of  High  and  Water  Streets.  In  1760 
this  road  was  pushed  on  over  Endicott's  Neck,  across 
Water's  River,  and  so  on  to  Salem.  It  was  welcomed 
by  land-owners  on  the  lower  side  of  that  river,  who 
conveyed  to  Samuel  Clark,  Jeremiah  Page,  Benjamin 
Porter  and  others  for  the  benefit  of  the  public  "  two 
rods  wide  through  our  land  in  a  straight  line  as  may 
be  from  the  Bridge  when  built  to  North  Field  Pro- 
prietors' way,  so  called,  at  the  Gate  going  into  said 
Small's  land."  But  there  was  almost  no  end  of 
trouble  within  the  town.  The  road  was  strongly  op- 
posed.    For  one  thing  the  New  Mills,  as  the  little 


community  soon  came  to  be  called,  belonged  terri- 
torially to  the  south  parish,  and  the  people  there 
were  unwilling  to  see  the  diversion  of  business  and 
interest  which  the  short  cut  to  Salem  would  render  in- 
evitable. This  is  what  Colonel  Israel  Hutchinson 
meant  when  he  wrote  in  his  private  papers,  "After 
they  found  they  could  not  get  it  discontinued,  they 
proposed  to  make  it  a  toll-bridge.  We  found  that 
would  not  by  any  ways  do,  as  those  people  (of  Salem 
and  Marblehead)  who  had  assisted  us  in  repairing 
the  way  and  building  the  bridges  would  be  great  suf- 
ferers, and  it  would  promote  traveling  that  way, 
which  was  what  the  leaders,  who  were  sellers  of  rum, 
tobacco,  etc.,  wished  to  prevent.''  Application  was 
made  to  the  North  Parish  "  if  they  were  willing  to 
take  us  with  all  ways  and  bridges,  but  they  (the 
South  Parish)  would  not  let  us  go.  We  then,  after 
contending  in  the  law  more  than  seven  long  years, 
and  although  we  had  gained  our  cause  in  every  case, 
being  almost  ruined,  were  under  the  necessity  of  pro- 
posing to  the  General  Court  that  we  would  take  all 
ways  and  bridges  on  ourselves."  And  the  General 
Court  looked  on  the  ])roj)osition  with  favor,  and  in 
1772  passed  "An  Act  lor  the  subjecting  the  Inhab- 
itants of  a  Part  of  the  Town  of  Danvers,  called  the 
Neck  of  Land  hereafter  described,  to  the  charge  of 
maintaining  and  supporting  certain  Bridges  and 
Highways."  After  reciting  the  unhappy  divisions 
and  controversies,  and  the  final  and  amicable  com- 
promise in  ratification  of  which  the  act  was  passed,  it 
was  provided  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  Neck  should 
constitute  an  independent  highway  district  to  main- 
tain existing  highways  and  bridges  therein,  and  also 
any  others  constructed  at  the  special  instance  and  re- 
quest of  the  inhabitants.  The  district,  containing 
about  three  hundred  acres,  was  bounded  by  a  line 
commencing  at  Crane  River  Bridge  on  the  Ipswich 
Road  (Ash  Street) ;  thence  following  the  river  chan- 
nel to  Lieutenant  Thomas  Stevens'  land  (about  at  the 
southerly  end  of  the  railroad  bridge) ;  then  straight 
across  Fox  Hill  to  the  high-water  mark  on  the  south 
side  of  Water's  River,  a  little  west  of  the  bridge  ; 
thence  across  the  further  end  of  the  bridge  to 
Porter's  River,  up  the  whole  length  of  Porter's 
River,  to  the  Ipswich  Road  again  at  Frost-fish  Brook 
Bridge ;  and  so  on  by  the  Ipswich  Road  (Conant,  Elm 
and  Ash  Streets)  to  the  place  of  beginning.  These 
limits  embraced  a  large  tract  now  included  in  the 
Plains.  The  act  remained  in  force  nearly  seventy 
years,  until  its  repeal  March  7,  1840.  Evidently 
matters,  however,  had  not  been  conducted  in  strict 
conformity  to  requirements,  for  in  1836  the  Legisla- 
ture confirmed  the  recorded  proceedings,  giving  them 
the  same  effect  as  if  the  officers  had  been  proprietors 
and  all  meetings  called  by  competent  authority. 

From  the  beginning  made  by  Archelaus  Putnam, 
other  mills  were  in  a  few  years  established  on  Crane 
River — wheat-mills  in  1764,  and  a  saw-mill  in  1768. 
Associated  with  him  in  ownership  were  John  Buxton, 


DAN  VERS. 


489 


Samuel   Clark,  John  Pickman   and  Israel  Hutchin- 
son. 

In  the  mean  time  other  dwellings  were  erected 
along  the  new  highway,  the  woods  were  cleared 
away,  and  a  little  village  s]»eedily  grew  up  at  "New 
Mills."  On  the  banks  of  Porter's  River  sharp-eyed 
men  from  the  ship-building  towns  saw  excellent 
facilities  for  that  business.  The  pioneer  of  ship- 
building here  was  Timothy  Ste])hens,  of  Newbury, 
an  enterprising  and  skillful  builder.  Presently  a 
number  of  young  men  came  down  from  the  North, 
worked  with  Stephens  and  learned  his  trade,  and 
permanently  established  themselves  here.  Some  o( 
these  will  be  mentioned  again. 

For  nearly  half  a  century  after  the  first  mill  on  the 
Crane  River  the  tide-power  on  the  other  two  rivers 
remained  unutilized.  About  1798  Nathan  Read  en- 
ters into  the  history  of  Dan  vers.  He  was  a  graduate 
of  Harvard,  1781,  a  tulor  there  of  Harrison  Gray 
Otis  and  John  Quincy  Adams,  and  afterwards  studied 
medicine  and  kept  an  apothecary  store  in  Salem. 
There  he  married,  October  20,  1790,  Elizabeth  Jaflrey, 
and  built  the  house  in  which  the  historian  Prescott 
was  born,  on  the  present  site  of  Plumer  Hall.  Among 
the  achievements  of  his  inventive  mind  was  the  first 
machine  for  cutting  nails.  He  purchased  the  water- 
power  on  theAVater's  River,  and  with  associates  erected 
the  Salem  and  Danvers  Iron  Works.  At  the  same 
time  he  purchased  part  of  Governor  Endicott's  oM 
Orchard  Farm,  and  on  a  sightly  eminence  overlook- 
ing the  river  built  a  mansion,  which,  after  the  suc- 
cessive ownership  of  Captain  Crowningshield,  Cajj- 
tain  Benjamin  Porter  and  the  heirs  of  the  latter,  still 
retains  much  of  its  original  stateliness.  When  the 
company  were  incorporated,  IMarcli  4,  1800,  Nathan 
Read  is  described  "  of  Danvers  ;  "  seventeen  others, 
of  Salem.  The  corporation  was  authorized  to  hold 
thirty  thousand  dollars  of  real  and  three  hundred 
thou-^and  dollars  of  personal  property,  and  reference 
is  made  in  the  act  to  the  date  of  the  original  partner- 
ship, May  5,  1796. 

In  the  mill-pond,  in  front  of  his  residence.  Read 
experimented  by  applying  steam  to  the  paddles  of  a 
small  boat  long  before  the  Hudson  was  the  scene  of 
Fulton's  larger  results.  He  was  the  first  man  to  ap- 
ply to  the  government  for  a  patent,  and  himself 
framed  the  first  patent  law.  He  represented  the  dis- 
trict in  Congress,  1800-03.  A  [wMticaljeu  d'  esprit 
was  current  at  the  time  of  his  candidacy  for  re-elec- 
tion to  Congress,  when  his  party,  the  Federalists, 
were  called  ''  Jacobins  "  by  their  opponents,  the  Re- 
publicans, and  the  candidate  of  the  latter  party  was 
the  Hdn.  Jacob  Crowningshield  : 

To  The  Feus. 

Witli  disapiiointnieiit  how  f/on'rf  pout, 

With  joy  how  tve  sUouW  grin, 
Should  we  keep  Federal  Nathan  out, 

And  get  a  Jacob  in. 

Soon  after  his  service  in  Congress  he  removed  to 
3U 


Maine,  where  he  had  purchased  a  large  tract  of  land. 
He  was  there  appointed  a  judge  of  Common  Pleas. 
He  died  in  Belfast,  January  21,  1849,  in  his  ninetieth 
year,  leaving  a  numerous  family.  Nathan  Read's 
petition  : 

"To  tlie  freeholders  &  other  inhabitants  of  the  Town  of  Danvers  the 
Petition  of  Nathan  Reed  respectfullj-  sheweth  that  he  has  it  in  contem- 
plation to  build  certain  Blills  near  Water's  bridge,  so  called,  on  Wa- 
terses  river,  so  called,  &  re(iuests  the  Town  to  grant,  convey  &  quit  claim 
to  him,  hi»  heirs  and  assigns  forever  its  consent,  license,  right  &  permis- 
sion to  erect  a  dam  or  dams  on  &  across  said  River  ;  to  build  mills,  piers 
and  wharves  &  to  construct  a  lock  it  flood  gates  any  where  nigh  or  ad- 
joining said  bridge,  &  to  do  everything  necessary  for  compleatingjfe 
using  said  mills  without  any  let,  hindrance  or  molistation  whatsoever  of 
said  Town. 


"Salem,  March  9tli,  179ri. 


"  Nathan  Reed. 


"At  a  legal  meeting  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Town  of  Danvers, 
March  9th,  1795— voted  that  the  prayer  of  above  Petition  of  Nathan 
Reed  be  granted. 

"Att.  :  Gideon  Foster,  T.  Clerk." 

The  business  at  the  foundry  brought  up  from  the 
towns  of  the  south  shore,  nurseries  of  iron-workers, 
several  men  who  established  families  here.  John 
Joselyn  was  one  of  the  earliest  of  these,  among  whose 
children  was  Edwin  Joselyn,  who  for  thirty  years  was 
a  noted  teacher  in  Salem,  and  among  whose  descend- 
ents  are  the  wife  and  children  of  Hon.  Augustus 
Mudge.  John  Bates  who  followed  an  older  brother 
here  from  Dedham  a  few  months  after  he  was  twenty- 
one,  is  still  living  within  sound  of  the  machinery,  and 
on  the  20th  of  this  present  month  May,  1887,  will  be 
ninety  years  old.  Besides  tlie  foundry  on  the  north 
bank  of  the  river  there  was  a  nail-shop,  and  also  an 
anchor-shop  on  the  south  bank.  In  the  latter  were 
forged  the  anchors  of  the  frigate  "  Essex,"  an  occa- 
sion celebrated  by  inuch  punch.  Work  was  steady  at 
the  anchor-shop,  the  plan  being  to  manufacture  a 
supply  for  some  time  ahead,  mostly  of  a  size  for  fisher- 
men and  coasters,  and  when  the  stock  was  too  much 
reduced,  a  gang  of  expett  anchor-men  were  called  up 
from  the  south-shore  who  kept  the  one  trip-hammer 
and  the  two  pairs  of  bellows  busy  until  anchors  were 
sufficiently  plenty  again.  One  of  these  anchor- men, 
John  Silvester,  after  a  progressively  successful  career 
in  the  iron  business,  about  1858  bought  the  works  at 
Danvers,  and  it  is  his  son  Benjamin  Silvester  who  is 
at  present  carrying  on  the  business  of  rolling  iron  at 
the  old  stand.  The  nail  and  anchor  shops  have  long 
since  been  removed,  the  former  fulfilling  a  mission  of 
usefulness  at  Calvin  Putnam's  lumber  yard,  the  latter 
now  a  barn  in  the  neighborhood.  Before  Mr.  Silves- 
ter's purchase  the  works  were  carried  on  by  Matthew 
Hooper  who  built  the  large  brick  residence  on  the 
Salem  side  of  the  river.  Within  a  few  years  a  spur 
track  has  been  laid  from  the  railroad  to  accomm<»date 
the  works. 

The  old-time  ferry  between  Salem  and  Beverly, 
some  two  miles  down  the  river,  gave  place  to  the 
Essex  Bridge,  now  "  Beverly  Bridge,"  the  proprietors 
of  which  were  incorporated  November  17,  1787.  The 
people  at  New  Mills  were  much  opposed  to  the  new 


490 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


bridge  for  more  reasons  than  one.  It  interfered 
somewhat  with  free  navigation,  in  compensation  for 
whicli  tlie  proprietors  were  required  to  pay  £10  an- 
nually to  the  town  treasurer;  then  travel  from  Ryall 
Side  and  the  back  country  would  naturally  be  more 
diverted  from  New  Mills,  and  for  this,  while  there  was 
no  compensation,  the  energetic  inhabitants  attempted 
a  remedy.  They  built  a  bridge  of  their  own  across 
Porter's  River  in  1788.  The  land  on  the  other  side 
of  the  river  then  was  a  part  of  Beverly.  Later,  some 
three  years  after  the  incorporation  of  the  iron  works 
at  Water's  River,  Samuel  Page,  Thomas  Putnam, 
Caleb  Oakes,  Samuel  Endicott,  John  Page  and  Heze- 
kiah  Flint  were,  June  23,  1803,  incorporated  as  the 
Danvers  and  Beverly  Iron  Works  Company.  They 
were  authorized  to  build  a  bridge  of  stone,  thirty-two 
feet  wide,  for  which  Captain  Burley  furnished  the 
material  from  his  land  on  the  Beverly  side,  to  erect 
and  use  forever  an  iron  manufactory  and  any  other  mills 
for  useful  manufacture,  and  to  hold  property  to  the 
value  of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  in  two  hun- 
dred shares.  Option  was  given  to  Beverly  to  build 
the  bridge,  but  the  committee  of  that  town  preferred 
to  relinquish  the  right  of  improving  the  river  for  a 
mill-pond  and  to  pay  twenty  dollars  annually  towards 
the  support  of  the  bridge.  Both  the  original  structure 
and  the  stone  bridge  were  for  a  long  tnne  called 
"Spite  Bridge."  Those  who  built  it  gave  the  name 
of  "  Liberty  Bridge."  By  an  act,  February  8,  1811, 
the  company  having  "  lately  discontinued  their  oper- 
ations," the  Salem  establishment  was  sold  to  the  com- 
pany at  Water's  River.  Nathaniel  Putnam  was  many 
years  agent  and  manager  of  the  works.  Subsequently 
the  works  were  changed  into  a  grist-mill,  were  long 
known  as  "  Fowler's  Mills,  then  "  Richards'  Mills," 
and  within  a  few  years  have  entered  a  new  stage  of 
usefulness,  that  of  grinding  up  old  rubber. 

A  man  without  a  handle  to  his  name  must  have 
been  at  a  discount  in  New  Mills.  The  busy  little  port 
was  thick  with  "  Cap'ns,"  with  here  a  "Colonel," 
there  a  "  Major."  It  was  the  home  of  a  considerable 
number  of  men  who  were  masters  of  ships  out  of 
Salem,  of  others  who  were  prosperous  ship-owners, 
merchants  and  millers.  Such  families  were  not  nu- 
merous, and  they  naturally  became  connected  and 
inter-twisted  by  marriages  in  a  way  perplexing  to 
unravel. 

Among  the  young  men  who  were  attracted  by  the 
ship-building  at  the  new  settlement  was  Samuel  Fow- 
ler, of  Ipswich,  born  there  January  9,  1748-49.  He 
was  but  seventeen  when  he  came.  At  that  time  a 
young  girl  was  just  entering  her  teens  who  had  the 
distinction  of  being  the  rirst  white  child  born  at  New 
Mills.  She  was  Sarah  Putnam,  daughter  of  Arche- 
laus,  the  pioneer,  and  step-daughter  of  Colonel  Israel 
Hutchinson.  Two  years  before  the  battle  of  Lexing- 
ton Samuel  Fowler  and  Sarah  Putnam  were  man-ied. 
She  is  said  to  have  been  a  very  handsome  woman, 
"  with  a  snowy  complexion  and  black  eyes  and  hair." 


She  lived  to  be  over  ninety-two  years  of  age,  and  died 
November  19,  1847,  having  survived  her  husband 
nearly  thirty-five  years.  Samuel  Fowler,  shipwright, 
became  a  ship-owner,  engaged  in  trade  with  the  West 
Indies,  and  is  called  on  the  records  "  merchant." 

Captain  Samuel  Page,  the  oldest  son  of  Colonel 
Jeremiah,  married  Rebecca,  daughter  of  that  William 
Putnam  who  went  to  Sterling,  Mass,  and  he  came 
down  from  Porter's  Plains  to  become  one  of  the  first 
and  leading  citizens  of  New  Mills. 

Simon  Pinder  (sometimes  Pindar,  Pendar)  was  of 
the  same  age  as  Samuel  Fowler,  and  came  also  from 
Ipswich.  He  married  here  Mehitable  Dutch,  and 
probably  built  the  old  house  on  Fox  Hill,  in  which  he 
lived  and  died,  on  the  site  of  which  is  the  new  house 
of  Mr.  Dennett's.  He  was  engaged  in  the  fishing 
business  and  also  kept  a  store  near  his  house.  He 
died  July  4,  1813.  An  older  house  than  his,  by  the 
way,  on  Fox  Hill  is  the  "  Fairfield  House,"  so  called 
for  Samuel  Fairfield,  who  married  Anna,  a  daughter 
of  Colonel  Hutchinson,  and  died  November  26,  1810, 
aged  sixty-two. 

Aaron  Cheever,  some  seven  years  older  than  Fow- 
ler and  Pindar,  was  a  blacksmith.  He  came  early  to 
New  Mills  from  Newburyport. 

Nathaniel  Putnam  was  a  sou  of  Archelaus  and  a 
brother  of  Samuel  Fowler's  wife. 

Moses  Black,  a  full  generation  younger  than  those 
just  mentioned,  was  born  in  Haverhill  in  1779,  and 
came  here  at  the  close  of  the  last  century.  He  was 
a  "  wool-puller,"  and  established  a  prosperous  busi- 
ness, was  known  as  "Major  Moses,"  and  was  the 
founder  of  the  Black  family,  than  which  few  in  town 
have  been  more  prominent  and  influential. 

Nathaniel  Putnam  had  a  large  family,  among 
whom  were  Nathaniel,  known  as  "  Cap'n  Nat,"  Me- 
hitable and  Phebe.  Aaron  Cheever  had  two  sons, 
both  sea-captains, — Thomas  and  William.  Simon 
Pinder  had  seven  or  eight  children,  among  whom 
were  Samuel,  Hitty,  Hannah  and  Sally.  Jere.  Put- 
nam, not  previously  mentioned,  was  the  father  of 
two  other  sea-captains,  "Captain  Jerry"  and  "Cap- 
tain Tom." 

Captain  Nathaniel  Putnam  married  Hannah  Pin- 
dar ;  Samuel  Pindar  married  Mehitable  Putnam  ; 
Moses  Black  married  Phebe  Putnam.  Captain 
Thomas  Cheever  married  Sally  Pindar;  William 
Cheever  married  Betsey  Waters,  and  at  his  death  she 
became  the  third  wife  of  Captain  Nathaniel.  Hitty 
Pindar  became  the  wife  of  "Captain  Jerry"  Put- 
nam. 

One  of  Hannah  Pindar  Putnam's  children,  Na- 
thaniel, married  a  daughter  of  "  Captain  Tom  "  Put- 
nam, and  subsequently  moved  to  New  York  ;  and 
one  of  Betsey  Waters  (Cheever)  Putnam's  children, 
Abby,  was  married  to  a  son  of  Captain  Tom's,  Cap- 
tain Albert.  Samuel  Pindar  lived  in  the  "Mead 
House"  on  Endicott  Street — a  part  of  his  father's 
estate — and  worked  at  times  for  Major  Black ;    he 


DANVERS. 


491 


died  in  1888,  was  tlie  only  son  who  had  a  family 
here,  and  the  removal  of  his  own  sons  leaves  no  one 
now  to  represent  the  family  name.  A  link  between 
the  Pindars  and  Pages  was  the  marriage  of  a  dangh- 
ter  of  John  Pindar,  of  Beverly,  son  of  Simon,  to  Cap- 
tain Samuel  Page's  oldest  son,  Jeremiah. 

"  Captain  Tom  ''  Cheever  and  his  wife,  Sally  Pin- 
dar, lived  with  his  brother,  William,  in  that  large 
house  on  Water  Street  which  has  fallen  to  such  decay 
that  the  roof  is  tumbling  in.  Captain  Thomas  sailed 
forty  years  for  Gaj^tain  Joseph  Peabody,  of  Salem. 
Captain  William  died  at  Calcutta  when  but  thirty- 
two  years  old,  and  left  no  children  to  grow  up ;  his 
widow  re-married  as  noted.  Of  Captain  Thomas's 
children,  two  daughters  became  wives  of  Dr.  Eben- 
ezer  Hunt;  W^illiam  and  his  wife,  Elizabeth,  daugh- 
ter of  Captain  Eben  Putnam,  live  at  Staten  Island, 
N.  Y. ;  and  George,  Miss  Hannah  P.  and  Mary  P., 
widow  of  William,  son  of  Major  Moses  Black,  live 
here. 

Captain  Jerry  Putnam,  who  married  Hitty  Pindar, 
lived  in  the  house  which  he  built,  now  owned  by 
Charles  Warren;  he  was  of  the  fraternity  of  sea- 
captains,  lived  to  be  about  seventy,  and  his  oldest 
daughter,  Mehitable,  married  into  another  family, 
not  yet  mentioned,  well  savored  with  salt — the  John- 
sons. The  Johnson  home  was  a  small  house  which 
stood  near  Dr.  Frost's  residence.  The  father,  Wil- 
liam, and  three  sons,  William,  Henry  and  Thomas, 
were  all  sea-captains.  The  son  William  lived  in 
Salem  ;  Thomas  lived  in  the  house  next  north  oi 
Charles  Warren's,  and  of  his  children,  Thomas  W.,  of 
Salem,  is  the  secretary  of  the  Holyoke  Insurance 
Company,  and  George  was  lost  at  sea,  leaving  two 
boys  now  in  our  schools.  It  was  Captain  Henry 
Johnson  who  married  Captain  Jerry's  daughter ;  he 
first  went  to  sea  when  twelve  years  old  as  cabin-boy 
for  Captain  Tom  Cheever,  and  after  he  gave  up  the 
sea,  settled  down  on  his  father-in-law's  place.  His 
son,  the  late  James  A.  Johnson,  was  the  last  to  fol- 
low the  traditional  occupation  of  the  family. 

The  family  trees  of  the  Pages  and  Fowlers  inter- 
twine in  various  ways.  Samuel  Fowler,  the  young 
man  who  came  from  Ipswich,  had  four  children  to 
grow  uj).  Colonel  Jeremiah  Page  was  twice  married, 
and  his  eldest  son.  Captain  Samuel,  was  much  older 
than  the  children  of  the  second  wife.  It  is  not, 
strange,  therefore,  that  while  Samuel  Fowler's  son, 
Samuel,  married  Captain  Samuel  Page's  daughter, 
Clarissa,  that  the  younger  son,  John  Fowler,  should 
have  married  Captain  Samuel's  half  sister,  Martha, 
and  that  Martha's  brother,  John,  should  have  mar- 
ried Mary,  a  sister  to  Samuel  and  John  Fowler. 
Samuel  Fowler,  Jr.,  born  in  1776  and  died  in  1859, 
lived  in  the  square  brick  house  on  the  corner  of  Lib- 
erty and  High  Streets,  and  carried  on  an  extensive 
milling  and  tanning  business  about  Liberty  Bridge. 
His  tan  yard,  which  remained  in  the  family  until  a 
few  years  ago,  is  one  of  the   longest   established   in 


the  country.  Of  his  children  three  sons  survive, — 
Deacon  S.  P.  Fowler,  whose  life  runs  parallel  with  the 
century,  and  of  whom  a  sketch  follows  this  article, 
Henry  and  Augustus.  A  daughter,  Rebecca,  married 
Aaron  Eveleth  ;  another,  Sally  Page,  James  D.  Black, 
a  son  of  Major  Moses.  The  latter  and  Miss  Maria 
L.  are  the  surviving  daughters.  John  Fowler  built 
the  Bates  house'  near  the  iron  foundry,  from  whom  it 
passed  to  two  sea  captains.  Captain  Edward  Richard- 
son and  Captain  Stephen  Brown,  and  from  them  to 
John  Bates,  its  present  venerable  owner.  John  Fow- 
ler's oldest  son,  "master  mariner,"  died  in  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico  in  1840 ;  another,  Jeremiah,  was  one  of 
the  pioneers  of  California,  established  the  first  diary 
in  San  Francisco,  is  still  living,  a  successful  old  man, 
in  Placer  County,  that  State,  and  within  a  few  years 
his  fiimily  has  re-allied  itself  to  Danvers,  through  the 
marriage  of  one  of  his  sons  to  a  daughter  of  the  late 
Captain  Andrew  M.  Putnam. 

John  Page  and  his  wife,  Mary  Fowler,  lived  in 
his  father's  homestead  at  the  Plains.  He  saw  the 
growth  of  the  Plains  village  from  almost  nothing  to 
the  business  centre  of  the  town,  and  contributed  to 
this  progress.  The  manner  in  which  he  carried  on 
his  father's  business  of  brick-making  will  be  noticed 
when  that  industry  is  spoken  of  He  was  an  hon- 
ored and  representative  citizen  of  the  town.  His 
widow  long  survived  him,  and  died,  lacking  a  month 
of  ninety  years.  Like  her  mother,  Sarah  Putnam, 
she  was  distinguished  in  her  youth  for  the  fine  per- 
sonal appearance,  which  she  retained  in  a  remarkable 
degree  in  her  old  age;  she  was  of  more  than  ordinary 
intelligence,  and  read  extensively  to  the  latest  period 
of  her  life.  The  connection  between  Major  Black's 
family  and  the  Fowlers  has  been  noticed.  A  direct 
Black-Page  alliance  was  made  by  the  marriage  of  the 
Major's  son,  Moses,  Jr.,  to  Harriet  N.,  daughter  of 
John  and  Mary  Page.  Mrs.  Black  and  four  sisters, 
Mrs.  Hunt,  Mrs.  Edgerton,  Mrs.  Weston  and  Miss  A. 
L.  Page  are  the  surviving  children  of  John  Page. 
It  is  unpleasant  to  know  that  in  the  male  line  this 
name,  which  has  been  so  conspicuous  in  our  history, 
is  here  extinct. 

Beside  the  children  of  Major  Moses  Black  already 
mentioned  were  Mrs.  Sarah  L.  Holroyd,  Mrs.  Mary 
O.  Smith,  Archelus  P.  and  Joseph  S.  The  latter  was 
a  son-in-law  of  Moses  Putnam,  and  his  partner;  he 
died  in  1861.  William,  Moses,  James  D.  and  Joseph 
S.  Black  were,  each  in  his  peculiar  way,  prominent 
and  leading  citizens.  James  D.,  the  only  surviving 
son,  who  lives  at  Harvard,  Mass.,  has  furnished  the 
writer  with  some  interesting  reminiscences  which 
have  been  used  in  the  sketch  of  the  schools. 

These  families  here  mentioned  by  no  means  in- 
cluded all  of  the  "  first  families  "  of  New  Mills.  There 
were  Captain  Crowningshield,  and  later  Captain  Ben 
Porter,  at  the  Read  mansion.  Captain  Israel  Endicott 
and  other  Endicotts,  Caleb  Oakes,  Major  Joseph 
Stearns,  Deacon  Benjamin  Kent,  ship  builder,  Josiah 


492 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Gray,  Captain  Jacob  Perry,  the  Webbs  and  so  on. 
Much  might  be  written  of  tliem  were  there  plenty 
of  space  and  time.  Some  will  be  mentioned  again  in 
connection  with  brick-making  and  other  industries, 
and  other  representative  names  than  those  already 
mentioned  will  appear  in  the  sketch  of  the  local 
church,  the  Baptist,  in  the  account  of  the  anti-slavery 
excitement,  and  especially  in  the  lisfof  the  company 
formed  during  the  war  of  1812,  an  account  of  which 
here  immediately  follows. 

In  the  summer  of  1814  nearly  sixty  men,  mostly  of 
New  Mills — the  solid  men  of  the  place  in  more  senses 
than  one,  who  were  exempt  from  service — voluntarily 
associated  themselves  into  an  independent  company 
of  defence.  They  met  in  the  school-house  July  l(3th, 
organized  by  the  choice  of  Captain  Samuel  Page  as 
moderator,  and  Captain  Thomas  Putnam,  clerk,  and 
passed,  among  others,  these  votes: 

"  Voted,  That  the  Alarm  post  be  the  front  yard  of  Capt.  Saml.  Page's 
house.  Voted,  Tliat  the  company  meet  at  their  Alarm  Post  on  Saturday 
next  at  4  o'clock  P.  M.,  well  equipped,  including  Knapsack,  etc. 

"  Voted,  That  as  we  have  pledged  ourselves  on  the  points  of  Honor  to 
be  Always  Read/)  and  willing  to  obey  the  commanding  oflScer  of  said 
company,  therefore  any  member  who  does  not  at  all  times  (when  ordered) 
attend  at  the  Alarm  Post  in  good  season  and  well  armed  and  equipped 
shall  be  liable  to  be  reprimanded  for  each  neglect  by  the  commanding 
officer." 

The  muster-roll  of  the  New  Mills  minute-men  : 

Samuel  Page Captain. 

Thomas  Putnam Lieutenant. 

Caleb  Cakes Sargent. 

.John  Endicott Sargent. 

John  Page Clerk. 

Richard  Scidmore Drummer. 

Stephen  Whipple Fifer. 

Ephraim  Smith Fugle-man. 

Privates. 

Thomas  Cheever.  Daniel  Hardy. 

Edward  Richardson  .Tona.  Sheldon. 

Hooper  Stiuipson.  Seth  Stetson. 

Stephen  Brown.  Michael  Saunders. 

Samuel  Pindar.  Ezra  Batchelder. 

John  Fowler.  Thos.  Symonds. 

Benjamin  Kent.  Ephraim  Smith. 

Moses  Black.  Hercules  Jocelyn. 

Daniel  Putnam.  Jeremiah  Page. 

Samuel  Trickey.  Benjamin  Wellington. 

William  Francis.  William  Trask. 

Samuel  Fowler.  Moses  Putnam. 

Joseph  Stearns.  Israel  Andrew. 

Jonas  Warren.  Nnthl.  Mahew. 

Eben  Dale.  John  Wheeler. 

George  Waitt.  David  Tarr. 

Nathaniel  Putnam.  John  Russell. 

John  W.  Osgood.  John  Kenney. 

Allen  Gould.  Jacob  Allen. 

Ebenezer  Jacobs.  Daniel  Usher. 

George  Osgood.  Israel  Endicott. 

Henry  Brown.  James  A.  Putnam. 

Ebenezer  Berry.  Israel  Hutchinson. 
William  Culler. 

Of  the  permnnel  and  appearance  of  this  company 
fortunately  an  interesting  sketch  has  been  written  by 
Deacon  Fowler.  Here  were  men  whose  age  had  added 
breadth  to  shoulders  and  rotundity  to  forms,  men  who 
held  commissions  in  the  Revolution,  shipmasters  who 
had  visited   foreign   climes,  skippers   and    hook-and- 


Hnemen;  shipwrights,  wealthy  shoe  manufacturers, 
men  who  first  pressed  bricks  by  machinery  and  found 
a  mint  in  the  clay-i:)it;  tanners,  merchants,  farmers, 
artisans,  oflScers  of  the  town,  county,  church,  State, 
physicians,  and — enough  !  Truly  a  company  extra- 
ordinary in  its  make-up.  They  marched,  a  little 
stiff  in  the  knee-joints,  from  their  Captain's  down  to 
the  woods  in  the  lane  (River  Street)  for  practice  in 
firing,  till  "The  Girl  I  Left  Behind  Me"  quickened 
their  energies  and  warmed  them  up.  Amid  generous 
plaudits  it  is  to  be  presumed  th  e  veterans  moved  on  with 
taciturn  dignity.  The  young  men  smiled,  but  only 
some  sour  Federalist  growled,"  There  goes  the  old  ring- 
bone company."  The  weapons  were  of  every  sort — 
the  King's  arm,  good  for  a  charge  of  ten  fingers,  two 
balls  and  five  buck-shot;  the  long  heavy  ducking 
gun,  requiring  liberal  allowance  of  ammunition  ;  the 
large-calibre  "  refugee."  The  firing  by  platoons  was 
somewhat  theoretical — there  was  too  much  individu- 
ality about  it.  Blank  cartridges  being  used  there  was 
little  danger  in  front.  Not  so  in  the  ranks,  for  from 
the  vents  of  the  old  firelocks  a  generous  discharge  of 
powder  was  at  each  shot  directed  towards  the  exposed 
ear  of  the  man  on  the  right,  until  the  word  wns  passed 
down,  "  Turn  up  your  guns  when  you  fire."  At  one 
of  the  numerous  false  alarms  that  the  British  were 
landing  at  Salem,  the  company  marched  at  midnight 
as  far  as  Gardner's  farm.  It  was  noticed  that  they 
were  divided  somewhat  peculiarly.  The  well-fed, 
heavy,  short-legged  and  short-winded  men  held  the 
rear,  under  the  lieutenant,  while  the  front  rank,  com- 
posed of  the  leaner  and  longer-legged,  advanced 
faster  under  the  captain.  The  people  of  Salem  were 
in  constant  fear  of  naval  attack,  and  people  inland 
were  so  alert  that  it  is  said  a  shot  from  a  battery, 
alarmed  by  some  harmless  fishermen,  caused  quick 
commotion  to  the  extreme  limits  of  New  Hampshire. 
The  escape  of  the  "  Constitution"  from  English  ships 
into  Marblehead  harbor  was  witnessed  by  Dan  vers  men 
from  Folly  Hill.  Earthworks,  mounting  two  iron  four- 
pounders,  were  thrown  up  at  Water's  River,  and 
several  prize  vessels  laid  off  the  ship-yards  during  the 
war.  The  last  survivor  of  the  New  Mills  minute-men 
was  Jonas  Warren. 

A  school-boy  of  sixty  years  ago  recalls  that  then 
Capt.  Samuel  Page  was  the  leading  merchant,  and 
that  his  mercantile  business  was  not  confined  to  coast- 
ing, but  foreign  goods  were  largely  imported.  His 
fine  mansion,  still  standing,  was  regarded  as  the  most 
aristocratic  residence  of  the  village.  He  had  years 
before  erected  several  large  warehouses  to  accommo- 
date his  business. 

Capt.  Nat  Putnam  and  Capt.  Tom  Cheever  were 
partners  in  store-keeping  in  the  brick  building  until 
recently  occupied  by  Aaron  Warren.  Capt.  Nat 
built  as  his  residence  the  large  brick  building  oppo- 
site, known  as  the  Bass  River  House,  and  a  very  fine 
residence  it  must  have  been  in  those  days.  After 
Capt.  Page's  death,  Putnam  and   Cheever  occasion- 


DANYERS. 


493 


ally  used  the  storehouses,  and  so  also  Major  Black,  to 
store  sheeps'  pelts.  Into  one  of  them  a  cargo  of 
smuggled  rum  was  surreptitiously  unloaded  in  the 
dead  of  night.  Though  a  blacksmith,  who  had  to  be 
aroused  to  mend  the  broken  cann-hooks,  was  let  into 
the  secret,  the  vessel  got  away  before  daylight,  and 
nothing  was  for  a  long  time  known  of  the  close  prox- 
imity of  so  much  exhilarating  fluid.  But  the  stuff' 
could  not  be  sold,  and  remained  an  elephant  in 
somebody's  hands  until  long  after  its  advent  some- 
body else  "  peached,"  and  a  long  line  of  government 
trucks  entered  the  village  and  confiscated  the  whole 
stock. 

The  following  list  of  the  earliest  Danversport  vessels 
was  made  by  ]\Ir.  Crowley,  of  the  Salem  Custom. 
House,  at  the  writer's  request.  The  date  is  that  of 
register.  The  owner's  name  follows  the  name  of  the 
vessel. 

1789.  Schooner  "Nancy" Samuel  Page. 

1792.  Schooner  "Sally" Samuel  Page. 

1792.  Schooner  "Alice" Haffield  White. 

1792.  Brig  "Lucy" Caleb  Low. 

1793.  Schooner  "Hawk" Samuel  Page. 

1794.  Schooner  ''Clarissa" Samuel  Page. 

1795.  Schooner  "  Industry  " Samuel  Fowler. 

1790.  Schooner  "Sally  " Fowler  &  Pindar. 

1798.  Schooner  "  Esther" Samuel  Fowler. 

1799.  Schooner  "  Eliza  " Samuel  Page. 

1799.  Schooner  "Two  Brothers" Samuel  Page. 

1800.  Schooner  "  Five  Sisters  " Samuel  Page. 

1801.  Brig  "William" Samuel  Pago. 

1802.  Ship  "  Putnam"  266  tons Simuel  Page  and 

others. 

180+.  Schooner  "  Jeiemiah  " Samuel  Page. 

1804.  Schooner  "Rebecca," Samuel  Page  and  Sol. 

Giddings. 

Wm.  Pindar,  Thos. 
Putnam,  Simon 
Pindar,  Caleb  * 
Oakes. 

1806.  Bark  "Wm.  Gray" Wm.  Pindar  A-   Thos. 

Putnam. 

1806.  Schooner  "Polly" John  Fowler  Jt  John 

Page. 

1807.  Schooner  "Augusta" Caleb  Oake.s. 

(  Samuel  Page,  J.  H. 

1810.  Brig  "Rebecca  ' -J  Andrews,      Samuel 

[  Endicott. 

One  of  Samuel  Page's  partners  in  the  ship  "Put- 
nam "  was  the  merchant,  Abel  Lawrence,  and  her 
master  was  Nathaniel  Bowditch. 

The  sturdy  ship-wrights  at  New  Mills  helped  out 
their  country  in  the  times  that  tried  men's  souls. 
Beside  the  smaller  craft,  three  fine  ships, — the 
"  Grand  Turk,"  the  "Jupiter,"  the  "Harlequin,"— 
were  built  here  during  the  Revolution.  Before  the 
war,  Pindar,  Kent  and  Fowler  took  a  contract  to 
build  a  three  hundred  and  fifty  ton  ship  for  a  London 
house.  Capt.  John  Lee  was  sent  from  England  to 
superintend  her  building.  Impending  hostilities 
prevented  the  owners  from  rigging  and  fitting  her, 
and  as  long  as  she  remained  on  the  stocks  the  build- 
ers could  not,  according  to  contract,  demand  their 
pay.  Capt.  Lee  refused  to  allow  her  to  be  launched, 
but  all  the  carpenters  mustered   one   night   and  slid 


1804.  Schooner  "  William  " 


her  into  the  water.  The  builders  might  better  have 
thrown  up  the  bargain  and  make  the  most  of  the 
ship,  but  they  chose  to  bring  a  fruitless  suit  again.st 
the  American  agent  of  the  Englishmen,  and  in  the 
meantime  the  good  ship,  utterly  uncared  for,  floating 
with  the  tides,  rotted  in  the  river. 

Old  newspapers  which  contain  "arrivals"  at  the 
"  Port  of  Danvers  "  give  an  insight  into  the  amount 
and  character  of  the  business  here  transacted.  A 
few  sample  entries  during  the  summer  of  1848  are 
here  given, — 

"  June  2d. — Arr.  sch.  '  Albert,'  with  frame  of  Baptist   Meeting  House. 

"3d. — Arr.  sch.  '  Henry  Chase,'  corn  and  flour,  to  J.  Warren. 

"  4th.— Arr.  sch.  '  New  Packet,'  lumber,  to  J.  W.  Roberts. 

"5th. — Arr.  sch.  '  Franklin,'  lumber,  to  Asa  Sawyer,  Jr. 

"  7th.— Sid.  sch.  'Franklin.' 

"8th.— Sid.  sch.  '  Aurora." 

"9th.— Sid.  sch.  'New  Packet.' 

"  11th. — Arr.  sob.  '  Pilgrim,'  corn,  to  D.  Richards. 

"  20th.— Sid.  sch.  '  Minor,'  bricks,  from  Nathan  Tapley. 

"  22d.— Arr.  Sloop  '  Lady  Temperance,'  stone,  to  M.  Black. 

"27th.— Arr.  Brig  'Ellen,'  corn,  to  D.  Richards.  Schs.  'Franklin' 
with  lumber,  to  A.  Sawyer,  Jr.  ;  '  Regulator,'  wood  and  sleepers,  to 
E.  R.  R. 

"30th.— Arr.  schs.  'Otter,'  lime,  to  A.  W.  Warren  &  Co.;  'Henry,' 
lumber,  to  Calvin  Putnam." 

From  April  1  to  November  30,  1848,  there  were 
172  arrivals  including  58  cargoes  of  lumber,  31  wood 
and  bark,  43  flour  and  grain,  17  lime,  3  molasses,  2 
salt,  4  coal,  12  in  ballast,  2  unknown.  Seventeen 
vessels  loaded  for  shipment  to  other  ports,  two  car- 
goes being  sent  to  the  coast  of  Africa.  It  is  said 
that  the  first  cargo  of  coal  ever  landed  here  was 
owned  by  Parker  Brown,  but  nearly  as  early  a  ven- 
ture in  this  new  combustible  was  that  of  J.  W.  Ropes. 
His  advertisement  thus  appeared  in  August,  1849. — 

"  Coal. 
"  Now  landed  at  Black's  wharf,  and  for  sale  liy  the  subscriber,  a  cargo 
of  very  superior  anthracite  coal  which  will  be  sold  at  the  wharf  or  de- 
livered as  cheap  as  can  be  purchased  in  Salem. 

"  JosKPH  W.  Ropes." 

The  following  is  the  summary  of  the  arrivals  in 
1860: 

Jonas  Warren,  lime,  flour,  grain,  etc., 44 

Joshua  Silvester,  iron, 12 

Daniel  Richards,  gi'ain, 16 

H.  0.  Warren  &  Co.,  coal  and  wood, 32 

Josiah  Gray  &  Son,  wood, 6 

Moses  Black,  Jr.,  coal  and  wood, 34 

Samuel  Low,  wood "••...  1 

Beckford,  grain, 5 

Augustus  Tapley,  coal, 1 

Calvin  Putnam,  lumber 25 

J.  Bragdon  Si.  Co.,  lumber, 10 

Aaron  Eveleth,  lumber 12 

D.  Cann.  lumber, 1 

Whole  number  of  arrivals, 198 

The  Legislature  authorized  the  town  to  put  down 
channel  poles  in  the  rivers  in  1844.  Recently  the 
draw-bridges  at  Beverly  were  widened  to  accommo- 
date larger  coal  vessels  than  could  otherwise  come  to 
Danversport.  Calvin  Putnam  established  the  present 
extensive  lumber  business,  on  the  site  of  Deacon 
Kent's  ship-yard,  about  thirty-five  years  ago. 


494 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


The  Tapleys  and  Tapleyville. — About  the 
first  of  this  century  an  old  man  was  driving  a  heavy 
load  of  oak  ship-timber,  along  one  of  the  roads  in  the 
western  part  of  the  town.  There  had  recently  been  a 
very  heavy  fall  of  snow,  and  the  roads  were  so  full 
that  turning  out  was  a  matter  of  great  difficulty. 
Suddenly  out  of  the  drifts  there  appeared  an  approach- 
ing sleigh,  and  behind  the  driver  sat  the  magnate 
of  whom  something  has  been  said,  "King"  Hooper. 
"  Turn  out,"  cried  Hooper.  "  Can't  do  it,  load's  too 
heavy,"  said  the  old  man,  "  let  your  man  take  one  of 
these  shovels  and  we'll  soon  make  room."  "No,  half 
the  road's  mine,  and  I'll  wait  here  till  I  get  it."  "All 
right"  was  the  complacent  reply,  and  slipping  out 
the  pin  he  went  back  home  with  his  oxen,  leaving  the 
load  of  logs  effectually  blocking  the  narrow  path. 
This  was  Gilbert  or,  as  it  more  often  appears  "Gil - 
bord  "  Tapley,  the  ancestor  of  the  numerous  family 
of  that  name  in  Danvers,  many  of  whom  have  borne 
prominent  and  honorable  parts  in  the  quiet  annals  ol 
the  town.  He  was  the  brother  of  John  Tapley,  from 
whom  Tapley's  Broook,  in  Peabody,  derived  its  name. 
Another  brother  located  in  Maine.  Gilbord  came  up 
to  Salem  Village  and  bought,  in  August,  1747,  of 
Joseph  Sibley,  a  farm  of  sixty-seven  acres,  bounded 
by  Amos  Buxton,  Joshua  Swinerton  and  others,  the 
river-meadows,  and  a  "  way  "  now  called  Buxton's 
Lane.  His  dwelling  on  this  farm  was  standing  until 
within  thirty  to  forty  years  on  the  Andover  turnpike, 
a  few  rods  south  of  the  Wm.  Goodale  place.  He  was 
married  three  times;  first,  to  Phebe,  daughter  of  John, 
and  sister  to  Dr.  Amos  Putiuim  ;  second,  to  Mary, 
widow  of  Nathaniel  Smith ;  third,  to  Mrs.  Sarah 
Farrington.  Phebe  was  the  mother  of  Amos,  Daniel, 
Phebe,  Joseph,  Aaron,  Asa,  Elijah ;  Mary  was  the 
mother  of  Sally,  eight  children  in  all.  Through  only 
two  of  these  was  the  name  preserved  here,  Amos  and 
Asa.  Of  the  daughters,  Phebe  married  Wm.  Good- 
ale,  of  Hog  Hill ;  Sally,  Porter  Putnam.  Of  the  other 
sons,  Daniel  married  Mary  Tarbell  ;  Joseph  went  to 
Lynnfield  and  left  very  numerous  descendants  ;  and 
Elijah  established  a  family  at  Wilton,  N.  H.  Amos 
Tapley's  home  was  in  near  neighborhood  to  his 
father's,  the  present  Joel  Kimball  place.  His  wife 
was  Hannah,  daughter  of  John  Preston,  who  lived 
where  George  H.  Peabody  does  now,  not  far  away. 
They  were  the  parents  of  twelve  children,  seven  sons. 
Of  the  sons, — David,  Amos,  Moses,  Aaron,  Daniel, 
Philip  and  Rufus, — Moses  and  Daniel  were  among 
the  pioneers  of  Indiana;  Amos  went  to  Lynn  and 
was  the  father  of  Amos  P.  Ta{)ley,  one  of  the  most 
respected  citizens  of  that  city;  Philip  died  at  sea, 
young;  and  upon  David,  Aaron  and  Rufus  depended 
their  father's  branch  of  the  family  name  at  home. 
David's  son  Alvin  was  the  father  of  Joseph  A.  Tap- 
ley,  of  Danversport.  Aaron  lived  clo.se  by  his  father, 
on  the  James  Goodale  place,  and  left  no  son.  Rufus 
took  his  father's  home,  and  later  moved  next  south  of 
the  First  Church  ;  three  of  his  children  went  to  Saco, 


Me.,  of  whom  Rufus  P.  was  for  seven  years  a  judge  of 
Maine  Supreme  Court ;  none  of  the  children  are  left 
here.  Thus  the  only  lineal  male  representatives  of 
Gilbord's  son  Amos,  now  in  town,  are  Joseph  A.  Tap- 
ley  and  his  sons. 

Now  of  Gilbord's  son  Asa.  It  was  said  that  Gil- 
bord's second  wife  was  the  Widow  Smith  ;  she  brought 
three  daughters  into  the  family,  two  of  whom  quite 
conveniently  became  wives  of  two  of  the  sons,  while 
a  third,  Ruth,  married  Matthew  Putnam,  and  thence- 
forth presided  over  the  old  Nourse  witchcraft  home- 
stead, and  became  next  neighbor  to  her  sister  P^liza- 
beth.  For  it  was  Elizabeth  Smith  whom  Asa  Tapley 
married,  and  their  home  was  the  old  house  which  was 
sold  to  the  late  Elisha  Hyde,  and  until  within  a  few 
years  stood  on  the  street  which  bears  that  man's  name. 
Asa  came  to  own  a  great  deal  of  land  in  that  neigh- 
borhood. His  children  were  Daniel,  Asa,  Betsey, 
John,  Gilbert,  Sally,  Nathan,  Perley,  Jesse,  Mary. 
Daniel  lived  first  in  the  brick  house  which  was  the 
old  home  of  Dr.  Amos  Putnam,  near  Felton's  Corner; 
Nathan  and  Asa  were  brick-makers,  the  former  liv- 
ing first  in  the  house  which  he  built,  now  occupied 
by  his  son-in-law,  William  H.  Walcott;  Asa  in  the 
house  next  south;  while  the  house  of  Hix  Richards, 
who  married  their  sister  Betsey,  completed  the  trio  of 
adjoining  Tapley  houses.  The  son  John  settled  in 
Dover,  N.  H.  Gilbert  and  Jesse  established  them- 
selves near  their  father's  home  ;  the  former  in  the  old 
Tarbell  house,  which  stood  on  the  corner  of  Hyde 
and  Pine  Streets,  where  he  made  shoes  and  money, 
the  latter  at  the  other  end  of  Hyde,  on  Collins  Street. 
Perley  lived  and  died  in  the  house  into  which  Gilbert 
afterwards  moved  and  died,  on  the  corner  of  Pine 
and  Holten  Streets.  Looking  back  at  the  character 
and  standing  which  these  sons  who  remained  in  Dan- 
vers maintained,  it  is  using  a  very  moderate  expre-s- 
ion  to  speak  of  them  as  a  remarkable  family.  Some 
of  them  died  wealthy,  all  respected.  None  now  sur- 
vive. Gilbert  reached  the  greatest  age,  eighty-five, 
and  was  the  last  survivor,  his  death  occurring  Octo- 
ber 10,  1878. 

Perley  Tapley  was  a  famous  mover  of  buildings, 
and  many  are  the  feats  which  he  and  his  long  team 
of  oxen  accomplished  in  this  direction.  About  1843 
he  moved  a  building  in  which  Matthew  Hooper  had 
manufactured  boxes,  near  Felton's  Corner,  to  the 
brook  at  "  Hadlock's  Bridge,"  and  in  it  Perley  and 
Gilbert  Ta]dey  began  the  manufacture  of  carpets. 
This  building  was  burned  in  June,  1845,  and  another 
was  immediately  built.  Gilbert  Tapley  carried  on 
the  business  alone  from  1847  to  1864,  when  the  Dan- 
vers Carpet  Company  was  formed.  For  many  years 
the  industry  thus  established  gave  employment  to 
many  people.  In  187(5  there  were  about  one  hundred 
employees,  who  turned  out  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  yards  of  ingrain  carpets. 

About  the  time  the  carpet  business  was  started 
Periey  Tapley  began   moving  buildings  from  far  and 


DANVERS. 


495 


near,  and  converting  them  into  dwellings.  Many  of 
these  remain,  the  original  settlers  of  the  village, 
which,  thus  created,  very  properly  took  the  name  of 
Tapleyville.  A  humorous  squib  which  appeared  in 
the  Danvers  Eagle  October  30,  184-4,  was  concocted 
on  one  of  those  trips  which  leading  South  Parish 
men  used  to  make  to  hear  Dr.  Braman  preach  Fast- 
day  and  Thanksgiving  sermons.  It  was  headed 
"Tapleyville  in  1844."  "There  is  one  peculiarity," 
it  says,  "  which  we  believe  is  not  common  to  any 
other  place.  By  the  city  regulations  it  is  provided 
that  no  house  or  other  building  shall  be  erected 
within  the  territory,  and  the  city  is  entirely  composed 
of  buildings  which  have  been  moved  into  it,  and  by 
this  means  it  is  constantly  increasing.  Nothing  is 
more  common  than  to  see  houses  of  all  sizes  and 
shapes  and  of  every  quaint  style  of  architecture  trav- 
eling into  the  place  and  seating  themselves  down  in 
some  comfortable  situation  to  rest  just  so  long  as  the 
mayor  will  allow  them  to  remain.  .  .  .  We  had 
the  curiosity  to  look  into  the  City  Hall  when  the 
Council  was  not  in  session,  and  found  it  ornamented 
with  various  agricultural  implements.  Like  the  rest 
of  the  city,  it  looked  like  a  traveling  concern,  and 
was  built  of  rough  slabs.  We  understand  it  once 
took  a  tour  of  observation  through  the  streets  of  Sa- 
lem, and  afterwards  returned  to  its  native  place." 
The  "  mayor  "  was,  of  course,  Perley  Tapley.  The 
building  last  alluded  to  was  a  log  cabin,  which  had 
been  conspicuous  in  the  Harrison  campaign  process- 
ions. It  was  the  great  feature  of  a  great  procession 
at  Salem,  when  people  gazed  in  admiration  at  Perley 
Tapley's  skill  in  managing  the  forty  or  fifty  yoke  of 
oxen  attached  to  the  cabin,  especially  in  turning  cor- 
ners. A  glee  club  sang  from  the  balcony,  and  a  halt 
was  made  on  Salem  Common,  where  there  was  a  great 
dinner,  and  an  able  and  eloquent  speech  by  Daniel 
Webster. 

Mr.  Tapley  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  to  move  a 
brick  building.  Having  a  church -steeple  on  his 
hands  at  one  time,  he  cut  it  up  sectionally  into  shoe- 
makers' shops ;  one  is  to  be  seen  near  the  Tapleyville 
Station.  He  was  moving  a  building  on  floats  from 
Boston  to  East  Boston  once,  and  being  somewhat  out 
of  his  element  on  any  other  than  a  solid  foundation, 
was  in  danger  of  being  blown  out  to  sea ;  in  the  crisis 
he  is  said  to  have  called  vehemently  to  the  pilot  to 
"  gee."  Wishing  a  new  school-house  for  his  village, 
he  did  what  he  could  to  make  the  old  Number  6 
building  "too  small"  by  loading  every  child  of  school 
age  in  his  neighborhood  into  his  ox-cart  and  filling 
the  room  to  overflowing.  Many  characteristic  stories 
of  his  energetic  way  of  doing  things  might  be  col- 
lected. He  was  not  forty-eight  years  old  when  he 
died.  He  leaves  no  sons,  but  two  daughters  in  town. 
In  addition  to  the  single  family  mentioned  as  the 
representatives  of  old  Gilbord's  son  Amos,  there  are 
now  in  town  but  five  other  adult  male  Tapleys, — 
George  and  his  two  sons,  of  the  line  of  Daniel,  son 


of  Asa,  and  Gilbert  Augustus  and  his  only  son,  of  the 
line  of  Gilbert,  son  of  Asa. 

Tapleyville  is  sujiplied  with  a  post-office  and  a  rail- 
road station.  As  a  school  district  it  ranks  among  the 
three  largest  ;  as  a  business  and  manufacturing  centre 
it  is  one  of  the  busiest  in  town.  Within  a  few  years 
a  large  tract  of  land  bounded  by  Holten,  Pine  and 
Hobart  Streets  has  been  opened  and  is  well  taken  up 
by  new  dwellings.  The  new  streets  are  named  for 
the  pastors  of  the  First  Church, — Clarke,  Wadsworth, 
Braman,  &c.  Within  the  present  year,  1887,  a  fine 
three-story  building  has  been  erected  by  the  Agawam 
Tribe  of  Red  Men  for  society  and  business  purposes. 


CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

DAN  VERS —( Coyitinued). 
MISCELLANEOUS. 

Temperance. — It  is  a  fact  too  well  known  for  com- 
ment that  a  typical  New  Englander  of  a  century  ago 
loved  rum.  It  was  potent  at  "  raisings,"  it  added  to 
hospitality,  it  lent  wisdom  to  council,  eloquence  to 
speech,  strength  to  effort.  It  was  as  necessary  to  set- 
tle a  minister  as  to  swap  a  horse.  It  was  the  article 
most  often  charged  on  the  grocer's  day-book ;  it  was 
absolutely  common.  And  it  made  men  drunk.  After 
the  revolution  home  production  greatly  increased,  and 
during  the  first  part  of  this  century  intemperance  be- 
came a  crying  evil. 

In  the  year  1812  a  temperance  society  was  formed. 
It  was  the  first  in  this  State,  perhaps  the  first  in  the 
world, — The  Massachusetts  Society  for  the  Suppres- 
sion of  Intemperance.  Three  Danvers  men  were  of 
its  members, — Hon.  Samuel  Holten,  Rev.  Dr.  Wads- 
worth  and  Joseph  Torrey,  at  least  two  of  them  lead- 
ers anywhere.  And  this  accounts  for  the  fact  that  so 
early,  two  years  after  the  parent  society,  a  temper- 
ance society  was  started  here.  It  was  called  the  Dan- 
vers Moral  Society,  and  had  for  its  officers  a  fine  set 
of  men  who  neither  shrank  from  the  work  nor  feared 
the  opprobrium  of  an  unpopular  reform, — Dr.  Holten, 
president;  Rev.  Messrs.  Wadsworth  and  Walker, 
vice-presidents;  Drs.  Torrey  and  Nichols, secretaries; 
Fitch  Pool,  treasurer;  Eleazer  Putnam, Samuel  Page, 
John  Endicott,  Sylvester  Osborne,  James  Osborne, 
James  Brown,  William  Sutton  and  Nathan  Felton, 
counsellors.  Deacon  Samuel  Preston  gave  in  his  old 
age  some  reminiscences  of  his  early  connection  with 
the  society,  himself  one  of  the  early  secretaries.  The 
board  of  managers,  he  said,  met  once  a  month.  "As 
cases  one  after  another  came  up,  to  jjarticular  mem- 
bers of  the  board  was  assigned  the  duty  of  visiting  and 
trying  to  persuade  the  fallen  one  to  break  off  his 
habits  and  to  lead  a  sober  and  useful  life.  This  was 
followed  until  reform  was  effected  or  the  case  became 
hopeless,  when  his  or  her  name  was  added  to  a  list  of 


496 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


names  which  were  to  be  handed  to  the  selectmen  of 
the  town  to  be  '  posted '  as  common  drunkards,  and 
the  dealers  in  intoxicating  drinks  were  forbidden  to 
sell  or  give  to  any  person  whose  name  was  so  '  posted.' 
Several  lists  of  some  eight  or  ten  names  were  so  made 
out  and  posted  in  i)ublic  places.  The  process  created 
so  much  bitter  feeling  that  it  was  abandoned  after 
some  years  of  trial.  The  binding  principle  of  the 
societies  was  not,  in  the  beginning,  total  abstinence; 
other  methods  had  to  be  tried  before."  The  Moral 
Society  at  first  went  no  farther  than  to  declare  against 
the  daily  use  of  ardent  spirits.  It  took  nineteen  years 
of  progress  to  strike  out,  in  1833,  the  word  "  daily." 

The  first  indication  of  the  new  reform  upon  the 
records  of  the  town  is  a  vote  passed  at  the  annual 
meeting  of  1818,  thanking  the  selectmen  (Nathan 
Felton.  Jonathan  Walcot,  Sylvester  Proctor,  Daniel 
Putnam,  Nathaniel  Putnam),  for  the  measures  by 
them  adopted  "  to  prevent  those  given  to  intemi)er- 
ance  in  drinking,  from  wasting  their  health,  time,  and 
estates  by  the  excessive  use  of  ardent  spirits;  and 
that  the  present  board  be  instructed  to  pursue  the 
system  commenced  by  their  predecessors." 

Nine  years  later.  May  27,  1827,  Caleb  Uakes  carried 
a  motion  for  a  committee  of  nine  to  enforce  the  laws 
and  "  to  give  notice  to  the  selectmen  of  every  licensed 
person  known  to  violate  the  laws  that  their  approba- 
tion of  such  person  may  hereafter  be  refused."  This 
committee  consisted  of  Caleb  Cakes,  Fitch  Pool, 
Samuel  Fowler,  John  Peabody,  Samuel  Preston,  John 
W.  Proctor,  Elijah  Upton,  Nathan  Poor  and  Samuel 
Taylor.  It  was  in  this  year,  1827,  that  the  first  pub- 
lic address  advocating  total  abstinence  was  delivered 
in  Danvers.  The  speaker  was  a  young  physician, 
Ebenezer  Hunt,  who  thus  early  took  the  advanced 
stand  upon  this  question,  which  throughout  the 
course  of  his  well-rounded  life  he  fearlessly  took  on 
other  great  questions  which  later  agitated  the  country. 

In  1830  the  town  were  asked  to  take  certain  meas- 
ures "  agreeable  to  a  request  of  the  Danvers  Moral 
Society."  The  next  year  the  overseers  of  the  poor 
were  instructed  not  to  furnish  liquors  at  the  almshouse, 
except  as  recommended  by  the  attending  physician. 

Two  years  later,  and  at  a  meeting  held  at  the  Brick 
Meeting-House  in  the  north  parish  March  4,  1833, 
public  sentiment  had  been  so  far  affected  that  the  first 
no-license  vote  was  passed.  John  W.  Proctor,  a 
lineal  descendant  of  the  original  settlers  of  that  name, 
a  young  lawyer  whose  name  must  appear  often  and 
honorably  in  any  chronicles  of  his  native  town,  then 
wrote  in  lead-pencil  certain  resolutions  which  were 
offered  to  the  meeting  by  a  young  man  whose  birth  was 
contemporaneous  with  that  of  the  century,  and  who 
to-day  is  still  with  us,  despite  his  advanced  age  main- 
taining the  active  superintendence  of  the  one  of  the 
most  important  departments  of  town  affairs,  of  whom 
more  may  be  learned  in  the  biographical  sketch 
which  follows,  Samuel  P.  Fowler.  The  resolutions 
were  these : 


"  Voted  that  the  following  order  be  adopted  : 

"  Whereas  in  consequence  of  the  Change  that  has  taken  place  in  pub- 
lic Opinion  in  regard  to  the  use  of  Spirituous  liquors,  it  is  very  generally 
believ^i  that  the  Public  convenience  does  not  require  licenses  to  be 
granted  for  the  vending  of  Ardent  Spirits. 

"And  icliei-eiis  it  is  desirable  to  discountenance  the  use  of  Ardent 
Spirits  in  all  reasonable  and  practicable  ways,  Therefore  voted  as  tlie 
sense  of  the  town  that  it  is  not  expedient  to  license  the  Sale  of  Ardent 
Spirits  within  the  town,  and  that  the  Selectmen  be  hereby  instructed 
and  requested  to  withhold  their  Approbation  of  such  licenses." 

Col.  Jesse  Putnam  headed  a  petition  for  no-license 
next  year,  and  Daniel  P.  King,  Alfred  Putnam,  Ab- 
ner  Sanger,  Robert  S.  Daniels  and  Joshua  H.  Ward 
were  appointed  to  correspond  with  other  towns  on  the 
question.  Women  were  in  no  ways  backward  in  the 
temperance  movement.  At  the  annual  town-maeting 
of  1836,  this  ])etition  signed  by  about  eight  hundred 
of  them  was  presented  : 

"  To  the  Citizens  of  Danvers  in  Town  Meeting  assembled  : — 

"  We,  the  undersigned,  your  IMothers,  wives,  sisters  and  daughters, 
ask  your  attention  for  one  moment  to  the  temperance  cause,  as  it  now 
exists  in  this  community.  We  are  aware  that  you  are  not  unmindful  of 
this  cause,  and  that  you  have  heretofore  done  much  in  support  of  it,  and 
the  present  year  have  instructed  your  Selectmen  not  to  approbate  the 
sale  of  Ardent  Spirits  within  the  town.  We  are  also  aware  that  you 
were  among  the  first  publicly  in  town  meeting  to  denounce  the  trallic  in 
ardent  Spirits  and  to  proclaim  its  evils.  All  this  is  well,  but  still  much 
remains  to  be  done.  Notwithstanding  all  your  efforts,  there  are  many 
still  intemperate,  and  the  means  of  gratifying  their  insatiable  appetites 
are  still  at  hand. 

"Yes,  and  they  who  furnish  tlicse  means  go  unpunislu'd  Miid  disre- 
garded. Of  wliat  are  laws  or  resolutions  in  word  only  ?  Better  by  far  to 
have  uo  laws,  than  permit  them  to  be  violated  with  impunity.  Have 
you  not  again  and  again  resolved  that  the  sale  and  the  u^e  of  ardent 
spirits  are  destructive  of  the  Teace  and  well-being  of  Society  ?  Do  you 
not  all  feel  and  see  that  this  is  true?  Then  why  permit  it?  We  be- 
seech you  delay  no  longer.  Banish  the  evil  fnun  among  y(ui.  Beseech 
those  who  transgress,  in  kindness  to  desist.  But  if  they  will  not,  in 
kindness,  compel  them  to  do  it.  Never  hesitate  or  falter  in  doing  that 
you  know  to  be  right.  We  your  friends,  your  own  consciences,  and  the 
God  of  lieaven,  will  sustain  you  in  the  path  of  duty.  As  you  love  us,  as 
you  regard  yonr  own  welfare,  both  here  and  hereafter,  suftcr  not  the 
evil  of  drunkenness  to  be  any  longer  witliiii  yoiu'  borders;  and  unite  with 
us  in  prayer  that  our  neighboring  Citizens  may  share  the  same 
blessing." 

At  a  special  meeting  held  A})ril  3,  1837,  a  commit- 
tee, in  the  nature  of  a  temperance  vigilance  commit- 
tee, and  the  first  of  the  sort,  was  appointed ;  it  con- 
sisted of  John  Peabody,  Rufus  Wyman,  Jesse  Put- 
nam, John  B.  Peirce  and  Samuel  P.  Fowler.  At  this 
meeting  a  resolve  was  passed  which  reveals  a  state  of 
things  unremedied  to  this  day  and  which  might  with 
greater  pertinence  than  effica<'.y  be  at  any  time  re- 
enacted  : 

"Whehkas,  this  town  for  several  years  past,  while  endeavoring  to 
prevent  the  sale  and  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  within  it,  has  found  its 
etfovts  thwarted,  and  its  citizens  allured  and  enticed  away  to  their  in- 
jury, by  (he  Licensed  shops  and  bouses  on  its  borders  in  the  City  of 
Salem.     Therefore 

"  li'esnlred,  That  the  Selectmen  in  behalf  of  the  town  bo  requested 
respectfully  to  beseech  the  Authorities  of  the  City  (if  such  dram  shops 
shall  still  be  tho\ight  necessary  in  the  City)  not  to  lucate  them  imme- 
diately upon  our  Borders  ;  but  to  remove  them  as  far  off  as  possible." 

There  followed  a  period  of  inactivity  for  some  seven 
yeai's.  Then,  in  1844,  more  resolutions  were  passed, 
and  another  vigilance  committee  was  appointed,  on 
which  with  others  previously  mentioned  were  Joseph 
Osgood,  Elias  Putnam,  William  and  Joseph  S.  Black, 


DANVERS. 


497 


Samuel  Tucker  and  Samuel  Preston.  Four  years  later 
and  another  committee,  another  in  1849,  several  in  the 
fifties,  and  one,  the  last,  as  late  as  1871,  upon  the 
earlier  of  which  appear  as  leading  temperance  men  of 
the  day  these  additional  names  :  Allen  Knight,  Israel 
Adams,  Deacon  Frederick  Howe,  William  Walcott, 
Gilbert  Tapley,  Nathan  Tapley,  Wra.  J.  C.  Kenney, 
Eben  Putnam,  Israel  W.  Andrews,  Edward  T.  Wald- 
ron  and  Moses  Black,  Jr.  In  1819  these  rather  unique 
votes  were  passed : 

"  That  each  minister,  each  Lawyer  and  each  Doctor  be  requested  to 
'leliver  to  the  citizens  of  the  Ttiwn,  one  Lecture  at  least,  each,  during 
the  year,  on  the  subject  of  Teniperance  and  Gambling 

"  That  the  Town  Clerk  send  a  certified  copy  of  the  above  vote  to  each 
of  the  gentlemen  referred  to  and  to  publish  it  in  the  Dfinvers  Courier. 

"That  the  Gentlemen  referred  to  have  the  liberty  to  make  use  of  such 
language  as  they  please  on  the  evils  of  using  tobacco." 

About  1849,  too,  the  subject  of  lotteries  received 
the  attention  of  condemnation,  and  committees  were 
especially  instructed  to  prosecute  violations  of  the 
law. 

Agreeable  to  the  law  of  1855,  the  selectmen  ap- 
pointed as  the  first  liquor  agent  of  the  town,  Needham 
C.  Millett.  He  was  required  to  keep  pure  and  un- 
adulterated liquors,  for  medicinal,  chemical  and  me- 
chanical purposes  only,  at  his  place  of  business  on 
Maple  Street;  to  sell  for  cash  only  at  twenty-five  per 
cent,  net  profit ;  to  make  quarterly  returns  to  the  town 
treasurer;  and  his  compensation  was  one  hundred 
dollars.  His  successors  as  liquor  agents  were  :  1856- 
57,  Olive  Emery,  High  Street;  1858-61,  Hiram  Pres- 
ton, Maple  Street;  1862-65,  Levi  Merrill,  Maple 
Street;  1866,  Daniel  Richards,  corner  High  and  Elm 
Streets;  1867,  A.  Sumner  Howard,  Cherry  Street; 
1869-72,  Abram  Patch,  Jr.,  Maple  Street. 

From  the  stand  taken  so  early,  when  the  resolutions 
of  1833  were  adopted,  neither  the  old  nor  the  present 
town  of  Danvers  has  ever  receded.  Once  only,  in 
1883,  the  vote  went  in  favor  of  license,  four  hundred 
and  twenty-one  to  two  hundred  and  eighty-three;  but 
by  a  singular  coincidence,  the  proceedings  of  this 
meeting  were  technically  illegal,  through  the  omission 
to  use  check  lists  in  balloting  for  moderator,  and  on  a 
subsequent  trial  the  result  was  reversed  by  a  close  vote, 
four  hundred  in  favor  of  license,  four  hundred  and 
thirty-eight  against.  The  first  vote  under  the  local 
option  law  of  1868  was  a  negative  answer,  one  hun- 
dred and  forty-nine  to  five,  to  the  question  "Shall  li- 
censes be  granted  for  the  sale,  to  be  drunk  on  the 
premises,  of  either  distilled  or  fermented  liquors?" 
Late  votes  on  the  license  question  have  been :  1884, 
476  no,  275  yes;  1885,  391  no,  233  yes;  1886,  384  no^ 
183  yes. 

Not  always,  however,  has  the  real  state  of  the  tem- 
perance question  been  in  harmony  with  this  showing. 
A  dozen  years  ago  the  saloon  element,  for  a  time,  suc- 
cessfully defied  the  law,  and  endeavored,  by  terroriz- 
ing prosecutors,  to  avoid  prosecution.  At  least  one 
exteiis've  fire  has  been  traced  to  such  a  source.  Rut 
the  people  at  length  aroused  to  meet  the  emergency, 
32 


and,  under  a  police  who  deserve  great  credit  for  so 
well  performing  their  duty,  have  brought  back  the 
town  to  a  place  essentially  of  law  and  order,  where 
liquor-selling  timidly  skulks  and  drunkenness  is  not 
common. 

Within  recent  years  a  number  of  temperance  so- 
cieties have  been  organized.  Apparently  the  oldest  is 
the  Catholic  Total  Abstinence  Society,  whose  good 
work  cannot  easily  be  over-estimated.  It  was  organ- 
ized November  19,  1871,  and  bought  and  fitted  up  its 
present  building  some  four  years  later.  Its  hall  was 
dedicated  February  17,  1879.  The  Danvers  Reform 
Club  was  organized,  January  21,  1876;  the  Woman's 
Christian  Temperance  Union  of  Danversport,  January 
17,  1876  ;  a  similar  Union  at  the  Plains,  February  6, 
1876. 

Fire  Department. -The  first  action  of  the  town 
regarding  fire-engines  was  in  the  first  year  of  this 
century.  On  the  25th  of  August,  1800,  Robert  Shilla- 
ber,  Israel  Putnam  and  Edward  Southwick  were 
chosen  "to  i)iirchase  two  fire  engines  for  the  use  of 
the  town,  whenever  a  sum  of  money  shall  be  raised 
by  subscription  equal  to  one-half  the  cost  of  said  en- 
gines, and  deposited  in  the  hands  of  the  committee 
aforesaid  for  that  purpose." 

"  Voted  :  Said  engines  shall  be  kept  in  repair  at  the  expense  of  the 
town  and  one  of  them  shall  be  placed  near  the  house  formerly  called 
the  Bell  Tavern  and  the  other  on  the  neck  of  land  near  the  new  mills 
so  called  provided  the  inhabitants  who  may  be  likely  to  receive  the  most 
benefit  therefrom  will  at  their  own  expense  erect  suitable  buildings  to 
receive  them." 

By  a  law  of  the  Commonwealth,  the  selectmen  of 
towns  owning  fire-engines  were  empowered  to  nomi- 
nate "  engine-men."  At  the  beginning  of  1801,  the 
selectmen  made  these  appointments: 


"  FOR   ENGINE   NO.   1. 

Edward  Southwick. 
Nathl.  Storrs. 
Henry  Cook. 
Joseph  Buxton,  Jr. 
Danl.  Eeed,  Jr. 
Isaac  Frye. 
Caleb  Osborn. 
Jona.  Osborn. 
John  Osborn. 
Amos  Osborn. 
George  Stone. 
John  Pierce. 
Vt'm,  Woods. 
\V'm.  Keed. 
David  Osborn. 
Saml.  Osborn,  Jr." 


"  FOR   ENGINE   NO. 

Thomas  Putnam. 
Caleb  Cakes. 
Benj.  Kent. 
James  Carr,  Jr. 
Joseph  Kent. 
Willebe  Wells. 
Kathl.  Putnam. 
Wm.  Trask. 
James  Gray. 
Currier  True. 
Saml.  Pinder. 
Wm.  Pinder. 
Saml.  Mclntire. 
Saml.  Fairfield. 
Joshua  Goodale. 
James  Carr." 


The  names  of  Edward  Southwick,  William  and 
Daniel  Reed,  Jr.,  Caleb  Osborne,  George  Stone,  John 
Pierce  and  Samuel  Mclntire  were  subsequently,  for 
some  reason,  erased. 

Officers  known  as  "  fire-wards "  were  first  chosen 
at  the  annual  meeting  of  1801.  The  persons  then 
chosen  were  Eben(!zer  Sprague,  Samuel  Page,  Edward 
Southwick,  Ebenezer  Shillaber,  Simon  Pindar  and 
Israel  Hutchinson,  Jr.  Ten  years  later  Page  and 
Southwick  were  both  on  the  board,  and  with  them 


498 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Samuel  Fowler,  Jr.,  Gideon  Foster,  Joseph  and  Syl- 
vester Osborne  and  Benj.  Crowninshiekl. 

Some  records  of  the  meetings  of  No.  2,  about  this 
time,  have  been  preserved.  At  Nathaniel  Putnam's 
store  certain  preparations  were  made  one  day  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1808,  which  show  that  charity  went  hand  in 
hand  with  festivity. 

Voted,  That  the  company  have  a  Bupper  to-morrow  night,  as  per  vote 
the  last  meeting. 

Voted,  The  committee  be  authorized  to  invite  the  minister  and  school- 
master to  sup  with  US  in  free  cost,  and  that  tliey  invite  the  fire  ward  in 
said  district  to  sup  with  us  in  club. 

Voted,  That  the  remaining  part  of  the  fines  that  may  be  had  after 
paying  for  said  supper,  &c.,  be  given  to  the  most  needy  persons  in  said 
district. 

Voted,  That  there  be  a  committee  to  distribute  the  same  and  inform 
them  what  fund  it  came  from. 

Voted,  That  this  committee  consist  of  Mr.  Caleb  Cakes,  Mr.  Israel  En- 
dicott  and  Mr.  Wm.  Trask. 

Voted,  That  the  clerk  pay  over  to  the  committee  last  chosen  the  bal- 
ance that  may  be  in  his  hands  after  settling  for  the  supper. 

Voted,  That  the  committee  make  a,  return  of  their  doings  at  the  ad- 
journment. 

At  the  adjournment  the  report  was  accepted  and 
the  committee  duly  thanked.  They  received  from  the 
clerk  thirty  dollars  for  distribution,  and  fourteen  per- 
sons received  from  one  to  four  dollars  each. 

In  1810  the  "  Columbian  Fire  Club  "  is  first  men- 
tioned in  the  town  records.  The  club  petitioned  for 
an  additional  number  of  buckets  to  be  placed  under 
it  s  care.  Three  good  men  and  true  considered  the 
subject, — Jona.  Ingersoll,  Jas.  Foster  and  Samuel 
Page ;  but  whether  the  club  secured  the  buckets  or 
not  is  a  question  of  distressing  uncertainty.  A  sur- 
vivor of  this  club  relates  that  each  member  was  re- 
quired to  keep  a  fire-bucket,  a  bed-key  and  a  canvas 
bag,  hanging  ready  for  use  in  the  front  entry. 

In  1815  there  were  ten  fire-wards, — Sylvester  Os- 
borne, Benj.  Crowninshiekl,  Caleb  Oakes,  Thomas 
Putnam,  Joseph  Ct.  Sprague,  James  Brown,  Moses 
Black,  John  Upton,  Jr.,  Samuel  Fowler  and  Ward 
Pool.  In  that  year  the  New  Mills  engine  was  thus 
manned : 


Thomas  Cheever. 

Wm.  Francis. 

Hercules   H.    Joselyn  (gone    to 

sea). 
Allen  Gould. 
John  W.  Osgood. 
Saml.  W.  Treaky. 
Andrew  Gould. 


Jacob  Jones. 
Samuel  Pindar. 
Bbenzr.  Jacobs. 
Daniel  Brady. 
Benj.  Chaplin. 
Thos.  Symonds. 
Nathaniel  Putnam. 
Jona.  Mclntire. 


Appropriations,  by  direct  vote,  for  the  fire  depart- 
ment were  few  and  far  between  in  the  early  years  of 
its  existence.  In  1837  the  selectmen  were  authorized 
"  to  furnish  the  new  mill  engine  company  with  fire 
Buckets,  as  they  think  proper,  provided  they  do  not 
find  those  they  lost  at  the  late  fire"  and  the  only 
other  recorded  appropriation  for  the  first  twenty 
years  was  on  a  vote  in  1819,  authorizing  the  repair  of 
the  hook-and-ladders  belonging  to  the  town,  and  the 
purchase  of  as  many  new  hooks,  ladders,  pikes,  not  to 
exceed  fifteen,  as  the  fire- wards  should  think  proper. 

In  1821  Oliver  Saunders  and  others  petitioned  for 


a  new  engine.  The  first  thing  was  to  inquire  into 
the  status  and  condition  of  the  old  engines.  It  was 
evidently  an  important  matter.  Notice  the  number 
and  character  of  the  committee  of  inspection  :  Eben- 
ezer  Shillaber,  Andrew  Nichols,  Nathl.  Putnam, 
John  Upton,  Jr.,  John  Page,  Sylvester  Osborne, 
Caleb  Oakes,  John  W.  Proctor,  Danl  Putnam,  Warren 
Porter  and  Samuel  Fowler.  But  the  committee  was 
considered  still  lacking  somewhat  in  weight  and  five 
more  were  added, — Briggs  R.  Reed,  Oliver  Saunders, 
Eben  Putnam,  Jr.,  Joseph  Spaulding  and  Allen 
Gould.  All  these  were  appointed  by  the  moderator, 
yet  "  the  inhabitants  "  were  not  quite  satisfied.  They 
voted  "  to  add  two  more  to  the  above  Committee,  the 
Town  to  have  the  liberty  of  nominating  them,  and 
Edward  Southwick  and  Nathaniel  Watson  were 
added."  Verily,  if  the  old  engines  were  not  thor- 
oughly overhauled,  it  was  not  the  fault  of  the  town- 
meeting.  Subsequently  it  was  voted  to  procure  two 
new  engines  and  repair  the  old  ones,  provided  half 
the  cost  of  the  new  ones  be  raised  by  subscription. 
Squires  Shove,  Caleb  Oakes,  Nathaniel  Putnam, 
Ebenezer  Shillaber  and  Wm.  Sutton,  were  delegated 
to  pass  around  the  hat. 

In  1826  two  sets  of  sail  cloths  were  provided  at  an 
expense  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  one  set  to 
be  located  near  the  south  meeting-house,  the  other  at 
New  Mills.  The  men  who  ran  with  the  machine  this 
latter  year  at  New  Mills  were 


John  Ross. 
Josiah  Gray. 
.Tames  Smith. 
John  Burns.         ■< 
Iliram  Parley. 
Frederick  A.  Tufts. 
John  T.  May. 
.Tames  Haynes. 
Richard  Elliot,  Jr. 
James  Perry. 
John  Herrick. 
Benjamin  Kent,  Jr. 


James  Smith. 
John  Bates. 
John  Kent. 
Andrew  Porter. 
Moses  Wood. 
Daniel  Woodman. 
Franklin  Batchelder. 
Daniel  Caldwell. 
David  S.  Bainard. 
Jesse  P.  Harriman. 
Daniel  Hartwell. 


In  1830  another  engine  was  purchased  for  the  south 
parish ;  the  same  year  an  act  of  the  Legislature  was 
passed  "  to  establish  a  Fire  Department  in  Danvers." 
The  act  provided  for  the  choice  of  twelve  fire-wards ; 
changed  the  power  of  appointment  of  engine-men 
from  the  selectmen  to  the  fire-wards;  limited  the 
number  of  engine-men  to  forty  "  for  each  hydrau- 
lioD  or  suction-engine,  twenty-five  to  each  common 
engine,  four  to  each  hose-carriage,  twenty  to  each 
sail-carriage  and  twenty  for  a  hook-and-ladder  com- 
pany ;"  authorized  the  engine-men  to  organize  them- 
selves into  distinct  companies  under  the  direction  of 
the  fire-wards ;  and  made  the  fire-wards  custodians  of 
all  fire-apparatus.  The  first  board  chosen  under 
this  act  consisted  of  R.  H.  French,  Lewis  Allen,  Ca- 
leb Low,  Richard  Osborne,  S.  P.  Fowler,  Moses 
Black,  Caleb  L.  Frost,  Benjamin  Wheeler,  Henry 
Cook,  Edward  Upton,  Enoch  Poor  and  Jacob  F. 
Perry. 

In  1835  the  New  Mills  people  petitioned  for  a  new 


DANVERS. 


499 


engiue-house,  and  secured  it.  The  same  year  •"  John- 
ny "  Perley,  the  storekeeper  at  the  little  village  which 
was  springing  up  at  Porter's  Plains,  petitioned  for  a 
fire-engine,  to  be  located  near  Berry's  tavern,  and  the 
next  year  Philip  Osborn  and  others  wanted  a  new 
engine-house  at  the  "Pine  Tree  Corner "  (Wilson's 
Corner),  and  secured  an  appropriation  of  three  hun- 
dred dollars  for  that  purpose. 

Mr.  Perley's  petition  not  having  met  with  success, 
another  store-keeper,  Daniel  Richards,  headed  a  peti- 
tion in  April,  1836,  "  for  a  good  and  sufficient  fire- 
engine  to  be  located  at  the  Plains,  and  to  provide  a 
convenient  building  for  the  same."  The  fire-wards 
at  this  meeting  presented  a  report  which,  doubtless, 
influenced  favorable  action,— "The  engine  Niagara, 
No.  1,  is  not  suitable  or  fit  to  work  with  the  Salem 
engines,  they  being  suction  .  .  .  ;  the  Forrest, 
No.  3,  is  in  good  order  and  well  manned  .  .  .  ; 
the  Erie,  No.  2,  is  in  a  bad  condition  and  not  man'd, 
wants  repairing  and  altering     .     .     .     ;  the  , 

No.  4,  a  good,  new  engine,  is  wanted  at  the  Plains, 
with  hose  and  a  house  for  the  same."  A  vote  was 
passed  to  raise  two  thousand  three  hundred  dollars 
for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  two  new  engines,  one 
to  replace  the  old  "  Niagara,"  the  other  for  the  Plains, 
-and  for  hose,  etc.,  and  the  repairing  of  the  ''Erie." 
Richard  Hood's  bill  "for  finishing  the  engine-house 
at  the  neck  "  in  1836  was  $102.85. 

But  the  new  engine  for  the  Plains  was  not  imme- 
diately forthcoming.  At  the  March  meeting  of  1837 
one  of  the  articles  was  "  To  inquire  of  the  Fire  De- 
partment what  they  have  done  towards  obtaining  a 
Fire-Engine  to  be  located  at  the  Plains,  agreeable  to 
the  request  of  Eben  Putnam."  At  an  adjournment  a 
committee  which  had  been  appointed  to  consider  the 
report  of  the  fire-wards  reported  "that  it  is  expedient 
to  procure  a  middling-sized  engine  of  good  construc- 
tion to  be  located  at  the  Plains,  provided  an  efficient 
company  of  thirty  men  can  be  found  in  that  vicinity 
ready  to  take  charge  of  the  same ;  that,  in  case  an 
engine  is  procured,  a  suitable  house  should  be  built 
for  the  accommodation  of  the  same."  These  recom- 
mendations were  adopted,  and  eight  hundred  dollars 
appropriated.  But  the  committee  added  in  their  re- 
port,— "  It  is  worse  than  useless  to  expend  a  thousand 
dollars  for  an  engine  and  to  have  it,  when  the  alarm 
of  fire  is  given  on  a  cold  night,  frozen  up  and  unfit  to 
be  used."  Two  hundred  dollars  was  soon  after  added 
to  the  appropriation  of  eight  hundred  dollars. 

The  election  for  fire-wards  in  1840  resulted  as 
follows,  the  number  of  votes  each  received  being 
given  : 


Miles  Osborne 297 

Francis  Baker 300 

Amos  Osborne,  Jr 300 

Jere  L.  Kimball 297 

Benjamin  Wheeler 298 

Edwin  F.  Putnam 299 


Henry  Fowler 299 

George  Porter 296 

Simeon  Putnam 190 

John  Hart 190 

William  H.  Little 189 

Eben  Sutton 186 


E.  F.   Putnam  and  Simeon  Putnam  declined,  and 


Daniel  Richards  and  Ezra  Batchelder  were  chosen  to 
fill  the  vacancy. 

In  1842  Otis  Mudge  and  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
eight  others  petitioned  for  an  engine  and  house,  "to 
be  located  near  the  North  Parish  Meeting-House 
(Rev.  Mr.  Braman's) ;  "  the  matter  was  referred  to 
Mr.  Mudge,  Miles  Osborne  and  W.  J.  C.  Kenney, 
but  when  a  vote  was  taken — this  was  a  meeting  held 
in  the  South  Parish — only  51  voted  for  the  measure, 
and  59  voted  against  it.  It  was  "  tried  again."  Mr. 
Mudge  and  John  W.  Proctor  were  appointed  tellers. 
They  reported  65  in  the  affirmative  and  65  in  the 
negative.  Then  the  house  was  polled,  and  the  tell- 
ers having  reported  "  68  for  locating  an  engine,  and 
78  against  it,"  it  was  then  voted  that  the  subject  be 
dismissed.  In  1843  the  engine  at  New  Mills  was  re- 
placed by  a  new  machine,  called  the  "Ocean,"  at  a 
cost  not  exceeding  a  thousand  dollars ;  and  what  be- 
came of  the  old  Niagara  appears  in  this  item  of  the 
fire-wards*  report  for  1844 : 

"No.  2. — This  engine,  with  its  apparatus,  is  in  good 
order,  it  having  been  removed  from  the  Neck  to  the 
Tapley  Village,  and  is  now  under  the  charge  of  Per- 
ley Tapley,  who  has  engaged  to  furnish  a  house  for  it 
at  his  own  expense." 

In  this  report  the  story  is  told  at  length  of  the 
great  fire  which  swept  through  what  is  now  Peabody 
Square,  burning  the  South  Meeting-House,  the  old 
Essex  Coftee-House  and  many  other  principal  build- 
ings in  the  vicinity.  "The  sun,  this  morning,  rose 
upon  a  scene  of  desolation  never  before  witnessed  in 
our  town,  disclosing  more  fully  to  view  crumbling 
walls  and  smouldering  ruins  in  the  place  of  those 
buildings  which  the  devouring  element  had  .swept 
from  our  view.  The  destruction  of  property  was  very 
large."  Further  details  will  doubtless  appear  under 
the  sketch  of  the  history  of  Peabody. 

Perley  Tapley  soon  requested  the  town  to  purchase 
his  engine-house,  and  the  fire-wards  were  directed  to 
buy  it  unless  they  could  do  better  otherwise.  In 
1849  Tapleyville  was  given  a  new  engine,  and  the 
"Niagara"  was  finally  disposed  of. 

The  number  and  value  of  the  several  fire-engines, 
houses  and  apparatus  belonging  to  the  town  at  the 
time  South  Danvers  was  set  oft"  as  a  separate  town, 
will  be  found  in  the  inventory  of  town  property  in 
this  sketch,  where  the  history  of  the  division  of  the 
town  is  given.  A  few  days  after  the  act  was  passed 
which  incorporated  South  Danvers,  the  Legislature 
amended  the  act  of  1829,  which  established  the  Dan- 
vers Fire  Department,  so  that  the  town  of  Danvers 
was  required  thenceforth  to  choose  five  fire-wards  an- 
nually instead  of  twelve. 

The  men  elected  as  the  first  fire-wards  of  Danvers, 
after  the  division  of  the  town,  were  Winthrop  An- 
drews, R.  B.  Hood,  A.  G.  Allen,  W.  B.  Richardson 
and  Josiah  Ross. 

The  rising  generation  knows  little  of  the  glory 
which  once  surrounded  the   country  fire  department. 


500 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS 


Only  certain  grandfathers  remember  the  halcyon 
days.  Now  and  then  an  item  in  old  newspaper 
files  recall  them,  days  of  reception  or  visitation,  the 
carefully  polished  machine,  the  well-drilled  company 
of  choicest  young  manhood,  rivalry  not  a  little,  ad- 
miration unbounded.  There  was  such  a  day  in  the 
fall  of  1849,  when  a  great  event  happened  in  Wen- 
ham, — its  first  new  engine  came.  On  the  shore  of 
the  big  pond  where  Hugh  Peters  preached  in  the 
wilderness  of  Enon,  there  was  a  grand  exhibition  oi' 
prowess,  and  Danvers  was  there  by  her  board  of  fire- 
wards,  and  the  "  General  Putnam,  No.  4 ;  "  the  com- 
pany dressed  in  uniform  of  white  frocks,  dark  pants 
and  glazed  caps. 

"  They  marched  lender  the  direction  of  that  pattern 
of  directors,  William  J.  C.  Kenney,  to  the  music  of 
Osgood's  excellent  band,  and  the  way  they  performed 
the  military  evolutions  would  have  done  honor  to  a 
company  of  veteran  soldiers." 

The  idea  of  having  a  "  steamer  "  first  came  up  in 
town-meeting  in  1866,  on  the  petition  of  Henry  F. 
Putnam  and  others.  It  was  then  referred  and  indefi- 
nitely postponed.  Two  years  later  George  W.  Bell 
headed  a  similar  petition,  and  on  the  last  day  of 
March,  1868,  a  series  of  votes  were  taken  on  the 
motion,  "that  the  town  purchase  a  steam  fire  engine." 
The  first  hand  vote  was  declared  lost ;  it  was  then 
voted  to  poll  the  house ;  the  motion  was  again  jJUt 
and  declared  carried,  eighty  to  forty;  the  minority, 
not  satisfied,  doubted  the  count ;  the  voters  passed  in 
front  of  the  moderator,  and  were  counted  as  they 
passed,  and  the  motion  was  finally  declared  carried, 
seventy-six  to  twenty-five.  No  money  was  immedi- 
ately appropriated,  but  at  the  annual  meeting  of  1869 
it  was  voted,  after  another  close  fight,  sixty-seven  to 
sixty-five,  to  appropriate  five  thousand  dollars,  and 
the  fire-wards,  namely,  Timothy  Hawkes,  George  W. 
Bell,  Charles  T.  Stickney,  Wyatt  B.  Woodman  and 
John  C.  Putnam,  together  with  Winthrop  Andrews, 
William  L.  Weston,  R.  B.  Hood,  H.  A.  Perkins  and 
Nathan  Tapley  were  entrusted  with  the  weighty  bus- 
iness of  buying  the  only  "  steamer"  which  the  town 
ever  indulged  in.  Three  thousand  dollars  more  was 
appropriated  for  apparatus  for  the  new  engine  and 
fifteen  hundred  dollars  for  accommodations.  And, 
at  a  final  adjournment,  each  of  these  votes  were  re- 
considered, and  the  whole  matter  indefinitely  post- 
poned. Thus  it  is  ever  with  town-meetings.  But  the 
next  year  and  the  next  the  steamer  agitation  was  re- 
newed, thi-ee  self-acting  extinguishers,  "soda  foun- 
tains," having  been  purchased  in  the  meantime,  and 
so  on  until  in  1873,  the  first  and  only  steam  fire 
engine  came  to  stay — but  a  short  time.  The  fire 
wards,  who  were  entrusted  with  its  purchase,  were 
G.  W.  Bell,  George  Kimball,  J.  C.  Putnam,  Thomas 
Curtis  and  William  J.  Murphy.  The  basement  of 
the  building  known  as  Bells  hall,  on  Maple  Street, 
was  fitted  up  as  a  steamer-house. 

But  now  for  some  time  the  ad\ance  guard  of  public 


sentiment  had  been  laboring  to  bring  up  the  rank 
and  file  to  the  belief  that  Danvers  was  ready  to  in- 
dulge in  the  metropolitan  luxury,  nay,  necessity,  of  a 
water-supply  system.  It  is  now  some  eleven  years 
since  the  pure  water  of  Middleton  Pond  first  appeared 
in  our  streets  and  kitchens.  Who  would  part  with 
it?  Yet  it  came  only  after  much  agitation  and  much 
honest  opposition.  The  matter  of  water  supply  was 
first  brought  up  in  town-meeting  in  1870,  and  was  re- 
ferred to  S.  P.  Fowler,  Daniel  Richards,  Oliver  Rob- 
erts, C.  T.  Stickney  and  W.  L.  Weston.  They  reported 
next  year,  recommending  acceptance  of  certain  terms 
offered  by  the  city  of  Salem  for  supply  for  five  years, 
keeping  an  eye  to  Middleton  and  Swan's  Ponds  for 
an  ultimate  supply.  Nothing  further  until  November 
17,  1873,  when  another  committee  of  consideration 
was  appointed.  They  reported  at  the  annual  meet- 
ing of  1874  in  favor  of  building  a  reservoir  on  Will's 
Hill,  in  Middleton,  at  an  estimated  cost,  with  pipes, 
etc.,  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  The 
following  April,  24th,  the  Legislature  passed  the 
Danvers  Water  Act,  authorizing  the  town  to  take 
water  from  Middleton  and  Swan's  Ponds,  to  issue 
bonds  to  three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  payable  in 
not  exceeding  thirty  years,  to  choose  three  water 
commissioners,  and  to  provide  for  a  sinking  fund.. 
The  validity  of  the  act  depended  upon  its  acceptance 
by  the  town  within  two  years.  In  the  meantime 
another  factor  entered  into  the  water  question.  The 
State  needed  a  new  insane  asylum  ;  sites  were  exam- 
ined here  and  tliere  ;  finally  the  summit  of  Hathorne 
Hill,  in  Danvers,  was  fixed  upon  as  the  most  eligible. 
The  asylum  commissioners  wanted  water  and  were 
willing  to  co-operate  with  the  town.  Their  hill  lay 
almost  in  a  direct  line  from  the  square  to  Middleton 
Pond  and  about  midway.  They  offered  the  town  a 
part  of  the  hill  for  a  reservoir,  thirty  thousand  dol- 
lars towards  the  cost  of  works  and  one  thousand 
dollars  aimually  for  their  supply.  The  proposition 
gave  new  energy  to  the  water  men.  A  motion  to  raise 
two  hundred  thousand  dollars  June  15,  1875,  received 
364  yeas  to  314  nays,  but,  two  days  before,  a  law  went 
into  effect  requiring  a  two-thirds  vote  for  such  extra- 
ordinary appropriations,  and  the  proposition  thus 
failed  of  being  carried.  They  tried  again  very  soon, 
July  2nd.  Then  the  Water  Act  was  accepted,  506  to 
290,  but  a  motion  to  proceed  with  construction  still 
failed  of  two-thirds,— 512  to  336. 

George  H.  Norman,  the  great  contractor,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1875,  made  this  offer ;  to  put  in  the  works, 
including  a  five  million  gallon  reservoir,  twenty 
miles  of  pipes  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  hydrants, 
and  keep  them  as  a  private  speculation  or  sell  them 
to  the  town  for  two  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The 
offer  was  accepted  September  LStli.  The  first  water 
commissioners  were  elected  September  21st;  they 
were  John  R.  Langley,  Otis  F.  Putnam,  Harrison  O. 
Warren.  Then  the  question  arose  as  to  the  authority 
of  the  town  to  transfer   its   rights  under  the  act  to 


DANVERS. 


501 


Mr.  Norinau,  and  the  matter  was  dropped.  The 
next  month  the  town  of  Beverly  made  a  proposition 
to  supply  Danvers,  and  a  vote  was  passed  to  take 
water  from  this  source  provided  a  fair  bargain  could 
be  made,  but  no  bargain  was  made.  In  the  mean- 
time the  asylum  people  would  wait  but  little  longer 
for  further  action  on  their  offer.  The  question  was 
put  to  vote  April  28,  1876,  on  proceeding  to  intro- 
duce water,  in  connection  with  the  State,  at  an  ex- 
pense to  the  town,  not  exceeding  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  dollars.  Yeas,  409,  nays,  230, — not 
two-thirds.  The  water  men  kept  at  work.  May  13, 
1876,  they  were  successful.  Then,  on  the  same  ques 
tion,  the  whole  number  of  votes — the  largest  number 
ever  cast  up  to  that  time — were  933.  ( )f  these  637 
were  yeas  ;  296  nays.  Samuel  Waitt,  an  old  man  of 
eighty-four,  threw  the  last  vote,  a  yea. 

Early  in  July  following,  the  water  commissioners 
closed  a  contract  with  G.  H.  Norman  for  complete 
works  and  twenty-one  miles  of  street  pipes  for  one 
hundred  and  sixty-two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars. 
The  State  built  the  reservoir,  paid  twelve  thousand 
five  hundred  dollars,  and  agreed  to  pay  one  thousand 
dollars  annually  for  twenty  years.  Thus  the  net  first 
cost  of  the  water-works  to  the  town  was  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  which  was  met  by  the 
issue  of  five  per  cent,  bonds.  The  principal  main 
was  completed  to  the  square  August  17,  1876,  and 
water  first  appeared,  direct  from  the  pond,  the  reser- 
voir not  being  completed,  Wednesday,  November  8th. 
Early  in  December  the  reservoir  was  ready  for  use, 
and  on  Thursday,  December  23d,  the  entire  system 
was  in  working  order  and  opened  by  a  formal  trial. 
The  head  was  found  to  be  strong  enough  to  throw  a 
l|-inch  stream,  not  only  over  the  highest  buildings, 
but  well  over  the  flag-staff"  to  a  hight  of  over  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  feet.  Fire-engines  were  im- 
mediately at  a  discount.  At  the  annual  meeting  o^ 
1877  it  was  recommended  that  the  steamer  be  sold, 
and  notices  of  its  sale  at  auction  were  sent  broadcast 
to  towns  and  cities.  Hose  companies  have  taken  the 
place  of  the  engine  companies.  Nine  of  these  com- 
panies and  one  hook-and-ladder  company  comprise 
the  present  fire  department.  Fires  have  happily 
been  comparatively  infrequent,  but  on  more  than  one 
occasion  the  ready  presence  of  Middleton  water  has 
prevented  what  otherwise  threatened  to  the  square  a 
repetition  of  the  ruin  of  '45.  Two  lamentable  and 
disastrous  conflagrations  have  within  a  few  years  oc- 
curred in  spite  of  the  water. 

Benjamin  E.  Newhall  was  appointed  superintend- 
ent of  the  water-works  in  September,  1876,  while  they 
were  in  process  of  construction,  and  held  the  office 
efficiently  to  his  resignation,  July  1,  1883.  The 
duties  of  the  office  were  then  divided.  Henry  New- 
hall  was  appointed  registrar;  David  J.  Harrigan, 
superintendent  of  pipea,  and  no  change  has  since 
been  made. 

In  December,  1880,  the  commissioners  were  obliged 


to  defend  a  suit  brought  by  the  Ipswich  mills  for 
damages  alleged  to  have  been  sustained  by  the  diver- 
sion of  water  from  Ipswich  River  by  lowering  Mid- 
dleton and  Swan's  Ponds,  they  being  tributary  to 
the  river.  The  commissioners  who  heard  the  evi- 
dence, Judge  Choate  of  the  Probate  Court  and 
Messrs.  Frances  and  Darrascott,  engineers,  reported 
in  favor  of  the  mills,  and  awarded  five  thousand  four 
hundred  and  ninety-five  dollars  for  the  diversion  of 
water  from  Middleton  Pond,  and  two  thousand  and 
five  dollars  for  Swan's  Pond,  "if  in  the  latter  case  the 
petitioners  are  entitled  to  an  assessment  under  this 
award."     The  Superior  Court  at  the  October  term, 

1881,  ruled  against  the  Swan  Pond  assessment.  An- 
other law-suit  was  the  result  of  a  ballot  for  water 
commissioner  at  the  annual  meeting  of  1881.  Josiah 
Ross  was  declared  elected  by  one  vote,  five  citizens 
having  been  appointed  to  count  the  votes,  and  having 
so  reported  to  the  moderator.  A  motion  thereupon 
made  that  the  votes  be  recounted  by  a  new  committee 
was  carried.  The  new  committee  reported  that  the 
opposing  candidate,  Otis  F.  Putnam,  was  elected  by 
one  vote,  and  the  moderator  so  declared  the  vote, 
stating  it  so  appeared  on  recount.  These  are  all 
the  facts  of  record.  But  it  seems  that  the  moder- 
ator and  town  clerk  subsequently  counted  the  ballots 
which  had  been  preserved,  and  their  results  coin- 
cided with  the  original  count.  Under  the  circum- 
stances the  two  members  of  the  board  recognized 
Mr.  Ross  as  having  been  elected.  Presently  Mr.  Put- 
nam brought  a  petition  to  the  Supreme  Court  for  a 
writ  of  mandamus,  compelling  the  two  commissioners 
to  recognize  him  and  to  refrain  from  recognizing  Mr. 
Ross.  The  question  was  practically  the  legality  of  the 
recount,  important  and  hitherto  undecided.  Judge 
Endicott,  before  whom  was  the  original  hearing,  dis- 
missed the  petition,  but  by  request  reported  the  case 
to  the  full  court.  The  case  was  argued  at  the  bar  in 
November,  1881,  and  the  judges  present  not  agreeing, 
the  court  afterwards  directed  it  to  be  submitted  on 
briefs  to  all  the  judges.  The  final  decision  reported 
in  One  Hundred  and  Thirty-third  Massachusetts  Re- 
ports was  ''by  a  majority  of  the  court"  in  favor  of 
the  petitioner,  Mr.  Putnam. 

At  the  expiration   of  John   R.  Langley's  term  in 

1882,  resolutions  were  passed  in  recognition  of  his 
efficient  and  valuable  services  as  chairman  of  the 
board  from  its  establishment.  He  was  one  of  the 
earliest  and  most  zealous  advocates  of  water.  The 
full  list  of  water  commissioners  is, — 


1875-82.  John  R.  Langley. 

1875-90.  Otis  F.  Putnam. 

1875-81.  Harrison  0.  Warren. 

1880-83.  Daniel  Richards. 


1882-85.  George  H.  Peabody. 
1883-86.  G.  A.  Tapley. 
1885-88.  C  H.  Giles. 
1886-89.  C.  S.  Richards. 


Law-Suits. — The  early  records  of  the  town  give 
evidence  that  the  inhabitants  in  their  corporate 
capacity  not  infrequently  indulged  in  law-suits,  and 
as  usual   this  species  of  entertainment  seems  to  have 


502 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


been   rather  expensive,  especially  as  the   town  was 
commonly  at  the  unsuccessful  end  of  the  verdict. 
In  March,  1767,  this  action  was  taken, — 

"Voted,  Thomas  Porter  and  Gideon  Putnam  be  agents  in  behalf  of  the 
Town  and   they  or  either  of  them   be  fully  Impowered   to  defend  and 
settle  the  actions   or  Pleas  of  the  Case  which  Benj.  Sawyer  &  Gilbord  ( 
Tapley  has  brought  against  the  Town  as  Surveyors  of  Highways  for  the 
year  1766." 

In  the  following  May,  this, — 

"  To  see  if  the  inhabitants  will  prosecute  their  appeal  against  Benja- 
min Sawyer  at  the  next  Superior  Court  to  be  holden  at  Ipswich. 
"  Voted  that  the  appeal  shall  be  prosecuted." 

The  town  was  beaten,  but  in  that  prime  fighting- 
condition  when  it  hated  to  let  go.  An  article  was  in- 
serted in  the  warrant  of  1768,  "to  see  if  it  be  the 
minds  of  the  Inhabitants  to  Petition  the  General 
Court  for  a  Rehearing  at  the  Superior  Court  on  the 
case  of  Deacon  Benja.  Sawyer,  and  in  another  County 
if  it  can  be  obtained."  But  moderation  prevailed  : 
it  was  voted  "to  dismiss  the  claws,"  and — perhaps 
with  no  reflection  on  their  efficiency — "  also  the 
agents." 

In  March,  1769,  Samuel  Holten,  Jr.,  and  William 
Shillaber  were  appointed  agents  "  to  answer  at  the 
next  Court  of  General  Sessions  of  the  Peace  for  the 
County  of  Essex  to  a  presentment  carryed  into  said 
Court  against  sd  Town  of  Danvers." 

Two  years  later  the  two  men  just  named  and  Gid- 
eon Putnam,  Jona.  Buxton,  Benj.  Porter,  William 
Putnam  and  Robert  Shillaber  were  chosen  "  to  take 
legal  advice  respecting  Mess.  Aaron  and  Enoch 
Putnam  with  regard  to  their  taking  timber  which  the 
town  provided  to  repair  the  bridge  over  Water's 
River  and  to  prosecute  them  in  their  discretion." 
They  did  prosecute,  with  what  disastrous  result  the 
following  document  shows  : 

"  Danvers,  December  '23,  1771. 

"Then  received  of  Mr.  Gideon  Putnam  and  Samuel  Holten,  Jun'r. 
(two  of  the  Select-men  of  Danvers),  the  sum  of  Two  H\indredand  Fifty- 
eight  pounds  fourteen  shillings  and  two  pence  Lawfull  money  in  full  of 
a  judgment  of  the  Superior  Court  &  costs  in  favour  of  Mr.  Aaron  Put- 
nam and  Enoch  Putnam  (two  of  the  Surveyors  of  Highways  in  the  Town 
of  Dauvers  for  the  present  year),  against  the  Inhabitants  of  the  said 
Town  of  Danvers. 

"Witness:  pr.  us,  Gideon  Putnam, 

"Jeremiah  Page,  "  Enoch  Putnam, 

"Isaac  Dempsey." 

For  some  time  after  this  law-suits  were  at  a  dis- 
count. When  next  the  town  was  sued,  by  Archelaus 
Dale,  in  1781,  he  seems  to  have  been  satisfied  by  a 
conference  committee,  and  when,  in  1783,  the  inhabit- 
ants were  asked  what  they  would  do  respecting  an  action 
commenced  against  them  by  Major  Caleb  Low,  they 
voted  to  pay  the  cost  of  the  action  upon  his  with- 
drawing it. 

Commencing  in  1784  and  extending  over  a  period 
of  two  years  there  was  a  long  and  obstinate  series  of 
encounters  at  law  and  otherwise  between  the  town 
and  Daniel  Prince,  on  account  of  taxes  collected  by 
him.     Concerning  the  merits  of  the  case  it  is  difficult 


now  to  understand.  Prince  was  committed  to  Salem 
gaol,  where  the  town  clerk  was  sent  to  desire  him  to 
send  proposals  as  to  his  release,  but  "  no  proposals 
were  sent  by  Mr.  Daniel  Prince  in  writing."  His 
real  estate  was  taken  on  execution  and  agents  were 
appointed  to  bid  oft' the  same  i'orthe  use  of  the  town. 
In  1814  the  town  was  indicted  for  not  being  suffi- 
ciently provided  with  powder.  Several  indictments 
for  not  conforming  to  the  school  laws  have  been 
mentioned  in  connection  with  the  schools. 

"  The  inhabitants  of  the  town  of  Danvers  "  have 
been  parties  to  a  number  of  cases  which  have  gone  to 
the  Supreme  Court  upon  points  of  law.  The  first, 
reported,  10  Mass.,  514,  was  on  a  question  of  taxing 
the  Iron  Foundry  Company.  In  6  Pickering,  20, 
there  was  a  question  between  the  town  and  the  county 
commissioners  on  a  highway  matter;  in  the  same 
volume  the  case  of  Joseph  (3sborne  against  the  town 
to  recover  money  paid  for  taxes  is  reported.  A  ques- 
tion of  a  pauper's  settlement  which  arose  between 
Danvers  and  Boston  was  decided  in  10  Pickering, 
."ilS.  Another  case  in  which  the  town  and  the  county 
commissioners  were  parties  arose  on  the  laying  out  of 
a  new  highway  from  Haverhill  to  Salem,  through  Box- 
ford,  Topsfield  and  Danvers,  2  Metcalf,  185.  A  case 
in  which  John  Page  was  plaintiff,  7  Metcalf,  326,  on 
a  question  of  damages  from  the  laying  out  of  a  road 
over  his  land,  involved  the  validity  of  the  action  of  a 
Topsfield  town  meeting  in  selecting  a  jury-list.  In 
1860  Gilbert  Tapley  was  sued  by  School  District,  No. 
6,  for  "taking  and  carrying  away  a  school- house,"  a 
case  in  which  the  real  defendant  was  the  new  district. 
No.  7 — 1  Allen,  49.  The  injunction  to  restrain  the 
payment  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  voted  for  bounty, 
reported  8  Allen,  80,  is  spoken  of  in  the  war  history ; 
as  the  case  of  Gustin  vs.  School  District  No.  5,  is 
spoken  of  in  the  School  History.  Putnam  vs.  Langley 
ef.  al.,  involving  a  disputed  election,  has  been  referred 
to  in  connection  with  the  water  department. 

Burying  Grounds. — When  Salem  filled  the  North 
River  basin  in  the  summer  of  1885,  gravel  was  taken 
from  West  Danvers  (West  Peabody)  and  on  the  farm 
which  was  owned  in  witchcraft  times  by  the  widow  of 
Joseph  Pope,  neighbor  of  old  Giles  Corey  and  of  the 
Flints,  the  steam  shovel  unearthed  some  ancient 
graves,  and  before  the  work  went  on,  the  remains  were 
carefully  removed  to  a  new  resting-place.  It  was  one 
of  the  many  family  or  neighborhood  burying-grounds 
which  are  to  be  seen  here  and  there  all  over  the  town, 
the  time-worn  head-stones  relieved  now  and  then  by 
a  fresh  marble,  signifying  that  one  of  the  later  gene- 
ration had  gone  to  sleep  with  the  fathers.  Over  on 
the  old  "  Boston  path  "  is  a  lot  in  which  the  Popes 
buried  their  dead  from  the  earliest  times.  Here  lies 
Caleb  Cakes,  his  wife,  Mehitable  Pope,  and  their 
son,  William,  the  di.stiuguished  botanist;  Sarah, 
"relict  of  Nathaniel  Pope  &  daughter  of  the  Rev. 
Peter  Clarke,  who  was  more  than  50  years  the  worthy 
minister  of  this  Parish,"  1802,  and  many  others, — the 


DANVERS. 


503 


familiar  "  Jasper,''  of  which  the  Popes  have  been 
fond,  several  times  appearing. 

On  the  summit  of  Hog  Hill,  well  worthy  of  the 
modern  name  of  INIount  Pleasant,  the  Proctors  and 
Needhams,  families  from  the  first  occupying  the 
heights,  have  a  private  ground.  A  short  distance 
back  of  Governor  Endicott's  old  residenee,  plainly  to 
be  seen  from  the  passing  train,  in  a  quiet,  secluded 
spot,  rest  the  remains  of  many  of  the  great  pioneer's 
early  and  late  descendants. 

Of  the  larger,  more  public  burial-grounds,  that  on 
Summer  Street,  known  as  the  Wadsworth  Cemetery, 
is  the  oldest.  It  was  an  ancient  burial-place,  origin- 
ally set  apart  by  the  Putnam  family  and  purchased 
by  Rev.  Dr.  Wadsworth  of  Jonathan  Perry,  and  by 
him  conveyed  to  the  First  Parish,  to  whom  it  still 
belongs.  The  most  interesting  stone  here  is  that  of 
Elizabeth,  wife  of  Rev.  Samuel  Parris,  the  "  witch 
minister,"  who  died  July  14,  169»).  Judge  Holten  is 
buried  in  the  old  ground  on  Holten  Street,  near  his 
home,  as  are  many  others  who  were  honored  in  their 
day  and  generation.  The  High  Street  Burying- 
grouud,  at  the  Plains,  contains  stones  a  hundred  years 
old  or  more,  many  of  which  are  of  prominent  citi- 
zens of  New  Mills  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  century, 
the  Pages,  Captain  Benjamin  Porter,  Deacon  Benja- 
min Kent  and  many  others. 

These  old  grounds  are  now  seldom  used.  By  the 
foresight  of  certain  men  whose  name-s,  hereafter  ap- 
pearing, are  worthy  of  all  honor,  a  large  tract  of 
land,  originally  twelve  acres,  and  subsequently  much 
increased,  was  purchased  of  Judge  Samuel  Putnam, 
and  laid  out  as  Walnut  Grove  Cemetery.  This  tract, 
extending  from  Sylvan  to  Ash  Streets,  embracing  the 
valley  of  the  two  brooks  which  by  their  union  make 
Crane  River,  and  the  sloping  hills  on  either  side, 
well  wooded  with  walnut,  beech  and  other  trees,  is 
of  rare  natural  beauty,  and  is  prized  inestimably  by 
the  town.  The  movement  for  a  new  cemetery  was 
initiated  at  a  meeting  held  May  5,  1S43,  at  the  Plains 
school-house.  Captain  Eben  Putnam  was  chosen 
chairman  ;  Henry  Fowler,  secretary.  Another  meet- 
ing was  held  October  17th,  Elias  Putnam,  chairman. 
A  committee  reported  a  form  of  organization  with 
by-laws,  and  recommended  the  names  of  fifteen  men 
as  trustees:  Elias  Putnam,  Gilbert  Tapley,  Moses 
Black,  Joshua  Silvester,  Henry  Fowler,  Nathaniel 
Boardman,  Thomas  Cheever,  Eben  G.  Berry,  William 
J.  C.  Kenney,  Daniel  Richards,  Nathan  Tapley, 
Samuel  P.  Fowler,  A.  A.  Edgerton,  John  Bates  and 
Samuel  Preston.  The  first  regular  officers  were 
chosen  at  a  meeting  held  the  next  day  at  Joshua 
Silvester's  shoe  factory,  and  Elias  Putnam  was  elected 
president;  Henry  Fowler,  clerk;  Joshua  Silvester, 
treasurer.  Samuel  P.  Fowler  was  chairman  of  this 
meeting.  He  is  now  both  president  and  treasurer, 
and  his  brother,  Henry,  has  been  the  clerk  from  the 
beginning. 

Incorporation    was    granted    at    this    time.     The 


grounds  were  consecrated  Sunday  afternoon,  June 
23,  1844.  The  exercises,  beginning  at  five  o'clock, 
were, — 

I.  Hymn,  written  for  the  occasion  by  Andrew  Nichols,  M.D.  II. 
[ntroductory  Prayer  by  Rev.  S  C.  Bulkley.  III.  Hymn,  written  for 
the  occasion  by  Rev.  James  Flint,  D.U.  IV.  Address  by  Rev.  John 
Brazer,  D.D.  V.  Hymn,  wiitten  for  the  occasion  by  G.  Forrester  Bar- 
stow,  MD.  VI.  Concluding  Prayer  by  Rev.  J.  W.  Eaton.  VII.  Part- 
ing Hymn.     VIII.  Benediction  by  Rev.  T.  F.  Field. 

The  services  were  held  in  the  grove,  and  were  at- 
tended by  not  less  than  two  thousand  persons.  The 
•ddress  of  Dr.  Frazer  was  said  to  have  been  a  very 
appropriate  and  beautiful  discourse,  and  that  it  made 
a  deep  impression  on  the  many  hearers.  It  remained 
unpublished  for  nearly  forty  years,  when,  through 
the  efforts  of  Dr.  A.  P.  Putnam,  the  original  manu- 
script was  traced  to  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Annie  W. 
Ellis,  of  Dorchester,  who  kindly  furnished  him  a 
copy,  which  was  published  in  full  in  the  Dancers 
Mirror,  December  31,  1881. 

April  13,  1885,  the  corporation  was  empowered  by 
the  Legislature  to  hold  property  in  trust  for  the  im- 
provement of  lots,  etc. 

Up  to  quite  recent  times  the  town  so  far  cared  for 
the  burial  of  its  deceased  citizens  as  to  own  and  pro- 
vide hearses.  They  are  first  mentioned  in  1818,  when 
this  action  was  taken  : 

"  Voted :  to  choose  a  committee  of  five  persons  to  consider  on  the  clause 
I  especting  procuring  herses  to  make  an  estimate  of  the  cost  of  one  or 
more  and  to  make  report  at  the  adjournment. 

"  Voted  :  that  Sylvester  Osborne,  Doctor  George  Osgood,  Jesse  Putnam, 
Caleb  Oakes  and  Sylvester  Proctor  be  of  said  committee. 

''Voted:  that  there  be  two  herses  and  two  houses  for  the  same  pro- 
vided within  in  this  Town." 

In  1842  Moses  Black  and  thirty-five  others  peti- 
tioned "for  a  Hearse  and  Hearse-house  near  the 
Burying  Ground  ou  the  Plains,  near  the  house  ol 
.Joseph  Danforth  "  The  petition  was  referred  to  the 
selectmen,  with  instructions  to  cause  the  things  prayed 
for  "  to  be  placed  in  such  a  location  as  will  best  ac- 
commodate those  who  have  occasion  to  use  them." 

In  1854similar  accommodations  were  asked  for,  to  be 
located  near  Mr,  Braman's  church.  A  house  was  there 
erected,  and  remained  until  1871,  when  the  selectmen 
were  instructed  to  sell  it.  In  the  appraisal,  at  the 
division  of  the  town,  these  items  were  charged  to 
North  Danvers  :  house  at  cemetery,  10  by  15,  $45  ; 
house  at  Braman's  12  by  18,  $120;  two  hearses,  new, 
$440  ;  one  old,  $20. 

The  Anti-Slavery  Movement. — A  few  slaves 
were  owned  in  Danvers  before  slavery  was  abolished 
in  the  State.  At  the  time  of  separation  from  Salem 
there  were  twenty- five  such  chattels,  sixteen  of  whom 
were  women.  A  number  of  documents  such  as  the 
following  have  been  preserved  : 

"  Danvers,  April  19th,  1766. 
"Rec'd  of  Mr.  Jeremiah  Page  Fifty  Eight  pound  thirteen  shillings  and 
four  pence  lawful  money  and  a  negro  woman  called  Dinah  which  is  in 
full  for  a  Negro  girl  called  Combo  and  a  Negro  girl  called  Gate  and 
a  Negro  child  called  Deliverance  or  Dill  which  I  now  Sell  and  Deliver  to 
ye  said  Jeremiah  Page. 

f  JoNA.  Bancroft. 


Witness. 


"  John  Tapley. 


j  EzEK  Maesh.' 


504 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


A  story  has  been  told  that  Cudjo,  owned  by  a  neigh- 
bor of  General  Israel  Putnam,  was  of  fierce  and  re- 
vengeful temper,  and  having  suffered  some  real  or 
fancied  injury  at  the  hands  of  his  mistress,  threatened 
her  life.  To  get  rid  of  him  his  master  sent  him  on  a 
play-day  trip  to  deliver  a  load  of  potatoes  on  some 
vessel  at  Salem.  He  took  his  fiddle  and  played  to  the 
sailors,  went  below  to  "  rosin  his  bow,"  and  when  he 
reached  deck  again  was  far  out  at  sea,  consigned  to 
the  same  southern  market  as  his  potatoes. 

During  the  struggle  on  the  admission  of  Missouri, 
Danvers  addressed  to  Nathaniel  Sillsbee,  representa- 
tive of  the  district  in  Congress,  a  very  forcible  letter 
on  the  subject  of  slavery,  signed  by  Edward  South- 
wick,  William  Sutton,  Thomas  Putnam,  Andrew- 
Nichols  and  John  W.  Proctor,  committee. 

The  history  of  Abolitionism  is,  to  a  great  extent, 
the  biography  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  a  native 
of  this  county  of  Essex.  For  some  ten  years  after 
the  conflict  over  the  admission  of  Missouri,  a  sort  of 
lethargy  prevailed  over  the  country  in  regard  to  slav- 
ery. On  the  4th  of  July,  1829,  Garrison,  then  not 
quite  twenty-five,  delivered  an  address  which  excited 
much  attention  from  its  bold  and  vigorous  assault  on 
the  peculiar  institution  of  the  South.  That  fall,  as 
joint  editor  of  the  Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation 
with  Quaker  Benjamin  Lundy,  of  Baltimore,  he  is- 
sued over  his  initials  his  distinct  avowal  of  the  doc- 
trine of  immediate  emancipation.  He  at  the  same 
time  attacked  the  colonization  societies,  and  was 
soon  thrown  into  jail,  convicted  of  libel  for  charac- 
terizing as  "  domestic  piracy  "  the  transportation  of  a 
cargo  of  slaves  from  Baltimore  to  Louisiana  in  a  ship 
owned  in  Newburyport.  Coming  North,  he  lectured 
in  the  principal  cities,  finding  all  halls  in  Boston 
closed  against  him  save  that  offered  by  a  society  of 
infidels.  But  to  his  mind  Boston  was  the  best  centre 
from  which  to  arouse  the  public  sentiment  of  the 
North  to  a  revolution  in  favor  of  emancipation.  He 
issued  the  first  number  of  the  Liberator  on  the  first 
day  of  the  year  183L  "  I  am  in  earnest ;  I  will  not 
equivocate ;  I  will  not  excuse  ;  I  will  not  retreat  a 
single  inch,  and  I  will  be  heard."  He  was  heard. 
In  December  the  Georgia  Legislature  offered  five 
thousand  dollars  for  his  arrest  and  conviction  under 
the  laws  of  that  State.  January  1,  1832,  he  and 
eleven  others  organized  the  New  England  (afterward 
Massachusetts)  Anti-Slavery  Society,  the  first  based 
on  the  principle  of  immediate  emancipation.  He 
continued  to  be  heard  to  such  effect  that  in  October, 
1835,  to  save  his  life  from  a  mob  Avho  were  dragging 
him  through  the  streets  of  Boston,  the  mayor  jailed 
him  as  a  disturber  of  the  peace.  On  the  other  hand, 
his  burning  words  kindled  here  and  there  sympa- 
thetic hearts,  and  probably  there  were  few  earlier 
and  certainly  no  more  ardent  and  enthusiastic  sup- 
porters of  Garrison  and  his  doctrines  than  a  number 
of  young  men  of  Danvers,  chiefly  residents  of  New 
Mills,  and  the  leading  spirits  of  these  young  men — 


James  D.  Black,  Joseph  Merrill,  Jesse  P.  Harriman, 
William  Endicott,  Richard  Hood,  John  Hood  and 
John  Cutler — came  to  be  called  "  the  Seven  Stars." 

Of  these,  Black  and  Harriman  are  the  only  sur- 
vivors at  the  time  of  this  writing.  Mr.  Black,  now  of 
Harvard,  Mass.,  was  a  member  of  that  family  of 
Moses  Black,  already  spoken  of  as  having  filled  prom- 
inent and  honorable  parts  in  our  town  life.  When 
not  more  than  twenty  years  old  he  took  an  advanced 
position  in  favor  of  immediate  and  unconditional 
emancipation  as  the  only  adequate  remedy  for  the 
evil  of  slavery.  The  occasion  was  at  a  meeting  of  a 
Lyceum,  the  first  established  at  New  Mills,  in  1833, 
and  he  made  such  an  impression  that  he  was  invited 
to  deliver  a  fuller  address  on  the  same  subject  on  the 
4th  of  July  of  that  year,  in  the  Baptist  Church. 
With  the  exception  of  a  lecture  by  the  distinguished 
Oliver  Johnson  in  Mr.  Braman's  church  sometime  in 
1832,  the  words  of  this  young  man,  uttered  in  the 
face  of  such  circumstances  as  only  the  courage  of 
strong  convictions  would  have  led  him  to  oppose, 
seem  to  have  been  the  first  public  utterance  of  such 
radical  and  unpopular  views  in  Danvers.  To  the 
position  thus  early  taken  he  remained  constant,  fore- 
most with  his  tongue  and  pen  in  the  hot  times  which 
were  to  follow.  Others,  who  were  quick  to  ally  them- 
selves with  the  Abolitionists,  were  Hathorne  Porter, 
Alfred  R.  Porter,  William  Francis,  Dr.  Eben  Hunt, 
Rev.  S.  Brimblecom,  Job  Tyler,  Hercules  Jocelyn  and 
a  number  of  ladies.  The  cause  grew  by  continual 
agitation.  Local  societies  were  formed,  the  Liberator 
and  Herald  of  Freedom  went  into  the  shops  and  the 
homes.  Eloquent  and  dauntless  speakers  spoke  wher- 
ever they  could  get  a  hearing,  and  the  seed  thoughts 
grew  by  earnest  talks  over  the  anvil  and  cobble-stone 
or  by  the  formal  debate  of  the  Lyceum.  Among  the 
earlier  orators  at  New  Mills  was  the  Rev.  C.  P.  Gros- 
venor  of  Salem,  in  whose  parlor  was  organized  the 
Essex  County  Anti-Slavery  Society.  George  Thomp- 
son, of  England,  spoke  in  the  Baptist  Church  in  1835, 
after  a  fruitless  attempt  had  been  made  to  procure  a 
church  or  hall  in  Salem.  The  earliest  organized  so- 
ciety in  Danvers  was  among  the  women,  chiefly  of  the 
South  Parish,  in  1837.  Very  soon  the  men  at  the 
North  Parish,  chiefly  of  JNew  Mills,  formed  the  Dan- 
vers Anti-Slavery  Society,  and  this  society  celebrated 
the  4th  of  July,  1838.  Alfred  Porter  wrote  a  hymn 
for  the  occasion  ;  Rev.  S.  Brimblecom  was  the  ora- 
tor. A  "  Young  Men's "  Society  was  organized  in 
August  following,  at  the  Universalist  Church.  Jo- 
seph Merrill,  Thomas  Bowen  and  John  R.  Langley 
drafted  the  constitution.  Rev.  Samuel  Brimblecom 
was  the  first  president. 

The  meetings  were  commonly  held  in  the  brick 
school-house,  or  in  the  engine-house  at  New  Mills. 
Dr.  Putnam,  who  has  devoted  much  attention  to 
gathering  up  the  details  of  this  chapter  of  local  his- 
tory, has  well  said,  of  the  records  of  these  early  meet- 
ings, that  they  "  all  attest  how  these  younger  citizens 


DANVERS. 


505 


of  the  town  were  in  the  habit  of  debating  and  form- 
ing opinions  in  relation  to  matters  of  great  public 
interest.  Their  organization  opened  to  them  a  school 
of  no  little  importance,  where  they  learned  many 
valuable  lessons,  and  became  fully  imbued  with  the 
sentiments  and  principles  of  Liberty.  So  it  was  that 
the  New  Mills  became  in  due  time  a  well-known  cen- 
tre of  Abolitionism.  Thence  the  influence  spread 
through  the  town  and  beyond  its  limits."  Early  in 
1839  a  change  was  made  in  the  name  :  "  This  society 
shall  be  called  the  North  Danvers  Anti-Slavery  So- 
ciety and  shall  be  auxilliary  to  the  Massachusetts 
State  Society."  These  are  the  names  of  the  members 
at  this  time:  William  Etidioott,  Thomas  Bowen,  Jo- 
seph Merrill,  William  Alley,  J.  R.  Langley,  Samuel 
Brimblecom,  Jonathan  Richardson,  J.  F.  Mclntire, 
M.  Black,  Jr.,  Elias  Savage,  J.  D.  Andrews,  J.  M. 
Usher,  C.  P.  Page,  Plercules  Jocelyn,  J.  D.  Black, 
John  Hines,  Hawthorne  Porter,  Richard  Hood,  Jesse 
P.  Harriman,  Wm.  Francis,  Oliver  O.  Waitt,  James 
Keliey,  Archibald  P.  Black,  John  Hood,  John  Cut- 
ler, Winthrop  Andrews,  George  Kate,  Eben  Hunt, 
Joseph  W.  Legro,  Benjamin  Potter,  I.  K.  Mclntire, 
Job  Tyler,  Daniel  Woodbury,  Henry  A.  Potter,  Jo- 
siah  Ross,  A.  R.  Porter  (withdrew),  Edward  Stimp- 
son,  Jonathan  Eveleth,  Charles  Benjamin,  S.  P.  Fow- 
ler, O.  O.  Brown,  A.  A.  Leavitt,  William  Needham, 
E.  G.  Little,  J.  R.  Patten,  Ira  H.  Clough,  Abner 
Mead  and  Joseph  Porter. 

Of  these  men  and  others,  if  any,  like  them,  N.  P. 
Rogers  at  a  later  time  wrote  in  his  Ht; raid  of  Freedom, 
"The  people  of  New  Mills  are  mostly  working  peo- 
ple, and  therefore  favorable  material  for  the  abolition 
movement.  They  embrace  it  readily  and  it  has  done 
everything  for  them  in  the  way  of  mental  imj)rove- 
ment  and  moral  strength.  Young  men  bred  to  labor 
and  unbred  to  learning  have  risen  tip  by  intimacy 
with  the  Anti-Slavery  enterprise  to  an  astonishing 
degree  of  mental  power  and  eloquence."  From  time 
to  time  delegates  were  sent  to  the  State  Society,  often 
traveling  in  the  only  way  they  could  attbrd,  on  foot. 
On  Thanksgiving  Day,  1839,  the  name  was  again 
changed  to  the  Danvers  New  Mills  Society.  It  was 
the  custom  of  the  members  to  express  their  feelings 
in  resolutions,  a  long  series  of  which,  more  or  less 
spirited,  have  been  preserved.  A  sanqjle,  selected 
for  its  brevity,  is  this  : 

"Resolved,  that  it  is  iucousistent  and  uubecoming  in  us  as  Abolitiou- 
ists  to  celebrate  the  Fourth  of  July  as  the  Birthday  of  a  free  country 
while  nearly  three  millions  of  our  countrymen  are  lield  in  most  abject 
slavery." 

In  a  hasty  review  it  is  necessary  to  take  long  strides. 
It  was  not  for  some  ten  years  after  Garrison  began  his 
crusade  that  the  excitement  of  the  times  reached  its 
extreme  in  Danvers,  in  the  collision  with  the  churches. 
In  the  meantime,  the  young  men  here  more  than  kept 
pace  with  the  forward  movement  of  the  Abolitionists. 
They  talked,  wrote,  agitated.  The  files  of  abolition 
papers  abound  in  letters  from  Endicott,  J.  D.  Black, 


32? 


the  two  Hoods,  Harriman  and  others,  sharp  and  caus- 
tic, abounding  in  flings  at  the  chtirches,  enlivened  now 
and  then  by  a  controversy  with  some  minister.  Gar- 
rison himself  came,  February  16,  1841.  Of  the  meet- 
ing he  wrote  in  the  Liberator  : 

"  It  was  our  privilege  to  lecture  in  Danvers,  New  Mills,  on  Sabbath 
evening  last,  to  a  densely  crowded  audience  in  the  Universalist  Meeting 
House — a  house  to  the  praise  of  its  proprietors  be  it  told— that  has  never 
been  shut  against  the  advocacy  of  the  anti-slavery  cause,  not  even  in  the 
troublous  times  of  mobocracy  in  the  Commonwealth." 

Other  speakers,  especially  Foster  and  Pillsbury, 
showed  no  such  courtesy  to  the  churches,  and,  indeed, 
abotit  this  time  the  trouble,  which  had  long  been 
brewing,  culminated.  The  old  First  Church,  Dr, 
Braman's,  did  not  escape  condemnation,  but  was  out- 
side the  storm-line.  On  the  Universalist  and  Baptist 
churches  the  storm  broke.  At  first  both  of  these 
churches  opened  their  houses  freely  to  the  anti-slavery 
meetings,  but  the  speakers  so  often  immediately 
turned  to  the  open  and  violent  denunciation  of  the 
churches  themselves,  that  considerations  of  self-res- 
pect and  self  protection  forced  themselves  upon  the 
churches.  After  sundry  experiences  of  this  kind  the 
committee  having  charge  of  the  Universalist  Church 
called  a  meeting  of  the  Society  for  instructions,  and  a 
committee  was  appointed  to  consider  and  report  upon 
whether  the  further  use  of  the  church  should  be  air 
lowed.  Through  the  chairman,  Elias  Putnam,  this 
committee  reviewed  the  state  of  things  and  concluded  : 
''  We  think  this  Society  should  purstie  a  liberal  policy 
in  granting  the  use  of  their  house  for  moral  and  reli- 
gious purposes,  but  to  say  that  we  should  give  up  the 
house  to  every  one  who  would  please  to  occupy  it, 
would  be  in  effect  to  surrender  our  claim  to  the  house 
and  would  leave  the  Society  without  the  use  of  the 
house  for  any  specific  purpose,"  and  a  resolve  was  rer 
commended  and  adopted,  allowing  the  use  of  the 
church  "  on  all  suitable  occasions  for  the  promotion 
of  religion  and  morality,  and  that  the  committee 
should  refuse  the  house  when  they  have  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  it  will  not  be  used  for  the  promotion  of  these 
objects."  This  majority  report  was  accepted,  and  in 
a  few  instances  the  standing  committee  refused  appli- 
cations for  the  church.  The  sentiments  of  the  more 
radical  reformers  were  expressed  in  a  minority  report 
by  Dr.  Hunt.  Upon  premises  of  the  great  liberality 
of  Universalism,  and  the  doctrine  it  has  always  taught 
that  truth  has  nothing  to  fear  in  conflict  with  error, 
he  said  that  "  any  action  of  the  Society  in  closing 
their  meeting-house  against  the  discussion  of  any 
question  deemed  by  any  one  of  sufficient  importance 
to  gain  the  attention  of  the  ptiblic,  and  not  incom- 
patible with  sound  morality,  would  be  a  gross  depart- 
ure from  those  principles  by  which  we  as  a  denomi- 
nation professed  to  be  governed,  anti -Republican  an  (J 
anti-Christian." 

About  the  middle  of  June,  1841,  the  anti-slavery 
society  passed  a  resolve  "  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
Baptist  and. Universalist  Societies  to  open  their  meet- 


606 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


ing-houses  for  the  sacred   purpose   of  pleading  the 
cause  of  our  brethren   and  sisters  in   bonds   on    all 
proper  occasions  free  of  expense  to  the  Anti-Slavery 
Society  as  such,"  and  talk  began  to  be  common  about 
the  duty  of  anti-slavery  Christians  to  withdraw  from 
or  come  out  of  the  churches  to  which  they  belonged. 
Richard  Hood  had  asked  for  and  received  letters  of 
dismissal    and    recommendation    from    the    Baptist 
Church  to  a  church  of  the  same  denomination  in 
Wenham,  but  a  private  letter  prevented  his  admission 
to  the  Wenham  Church.     Mr.  Hood  turned  upon  the 
home  church  in  vigorous  rebuke  for  its  unfaithfulness 
to  the  slave,  and  quoting  the  text,  "  Come  out  from 
among  them  and  be  ye  separate,  saith  the  Lord,  and 
touch  not  the  unclean  thing  and  I  will  receive  you," 
asked  that  his  name  be  erased  from  the  church  record. 
Mr.  Hood  was  only  one  of  many  who,  by  similar  ac- 
tion, received  and  were  doubtless  proud  of  the  name 
of    "  Come-outers."      At   a  special   meeting  of   the 
Anti-Slavery  Society  August  19,  1841,  it  was  "  Re- 
solved that  nothing  should  be  allowed  to  hinder  the 
progress  of   Abolitionists  in  their  work  of  deliver- 
ance to  the  slave.     If  they  find  themselves  attached 
to  a  pro-slavery  political  party  or  a  pro-slavery  relig- 
ious church  they  should  come  out  from  them  imme- 
diately or  we  cannot  consider  them  in  any  other  light 
than  loving  party  and  sect  more  than  they  love  the 
slave."     A  week  later,  Parker  Pillsbury  in  the  chair, 
the  church  was  characterized  as  "  the  stronghold  of 
slavery."     No  wonder  that  feeling  between  man  and 
man  at  New  Mills  was  wrought  to  a  very  high  pitch. 
No  wonder  that  conservatives  retaliated  by  calling 
the    disturbers    fanatics,    "  Gab-olitionists,"   "Long- 
heels,"  "the  school-house  gang"  and  other  epithets 
even  less  expressive  of  endearment.     So  matters  went 
through  the  following  winter  and  spring,  and  if  in- 
terest had  in  any  respect  flagged,  a  two  days'  conven- 
tion of  the  Essex  County  Anti-Slavery  Society,  held 
at  New  Mills  in  the  latter  part  of  June,  1842,  rekin- 
dled the  fires  to  fiercer  flames.    Wendell  Phillips  was 
there,    and    Rogers,    Foster,   Pillsbury,  Thomas   P. 
Beach  and  others  from  abroad.     There  was  no  lack 
of  material  for  rousing  meetings.     The  third  Sunday 
after  the  convention  Rev.  Mr.  Mansfield,  a  Baptist 
"supply,"  had  closed  the  long  prayer,  and  was  pro- 
ceeding with  the  service  when  a  man,  who  was  recog- 
nized as  Beach,  one  of  the  convention  speakers,  ro-se 
from  his  place  in  the  congregation  and  began  an  an- 
ti-slavery appeal.     He  was  temporarily  choked  off  by 
a  hymn,  but  when   the  music  ceased  he  was  at  it 
again.     Major   Black    and    Captain   Caldwell   with 
righteous  indignation  descended  upon  the  intruder 
and  dragged  him  out  of  the  house.     Beach  was  ac- 
customed to   this   sort   of  thing,   was   non-resistant, 
limp  as  a  wet   rag,  and  while  the  guardians  of  the 
churches  were  struggling  to  carry  his  dead  weight,  he 
quoted  to  them  texts,  "  Love  your  enemies,"  "  If  a 
man  smite  thee,  etc."     Worship  was  broken  off.    The 
congregation,  or  most  of  them,  were  thoroughly  mad. 


The  minister  called  for  a  sheriff,  and  certain  ones 
jumped  out  of  a  window  to  run  to  the  Universalist 
Church  for  an  officer.  Something  was  said  about 
ducking  Beach  in  the  horse-trough  near  by,  but  the 
plug  was  pulled  out  and  no  such  attempt  was  made. 
Service  was  resumed,  but  in  came  Beach  at  a  side 
door  and  again  interrupted  :  "  Come  down  from  the 
pulpit,  and  not  stand  there  like  a  whited  sepulchre." 
In  his  OM'n  subsequent  account,  "the  committee-man 
took  a  vote  of  the  meeting  and  they  decided  I  should 
not  stay  in  the  house.  Whereupon  they  rushed  upon 
me  like  tigers  and  landed  me  in  the  street."  After 
church  an  officer  went  to  arrest  Beach  at  the  house 
of  Jesse  P.  Harriman.  Beach  assumed  his  putty 
state.  The  officer  was  unable  to  handle  his  weight 
alone,  and  commanded  his  host  to  keep  him.  Harri- 
man, an  ardent  come-outer,  refused  in  the  name  of 
God.  Dr.  Hunt  was  commanded  to  assist,  and  in 
terse  English  gruffly  declined  to  obey.  Somehow, 
with  the  help  of  prominent  Universalists,  Beach  was 
put  into  Salem  jail,  but  back  he  was  at  a  meeting  in 
the  Universalist  Church  at  five  o'clock,  speaking  to 
a  large  audience,  at  which,  he  wrote,  "  the  Spirit  of 
God  was  present,  and  several  were  convinced  of  the 
truth  and  openly  confessed  Christ  by  identifying 
themselves  with  the  despised  and  hated  Abolitionists." 
Dr.  Hunt  was  fined  a  hundred  dollars  for  refusing  to 
assist  the  officer,  and  Harriman  went  to  jail  for  the 
same  offence.  Later  William  Black  renewed  the 
complaint,  which  had  been  withdrawn,  against  Beach 
and  united  with  the  Quakers  of  Lynn  in  keeping  him 
for  some  time  in  the  jail  at  Newburyport,  to  the  freely 
expressed  indignation  of  his  friends. 

In  September,  1842,  Richard  Hood  was  another 
guest  from  Danvers  in  Salem  jail.  His  offence  was 
attempting  to  speak  on  anti-slavery  at  a  Friday  even- 
ing prayer-meeting  in  Amesbury,  against  the  orders 
of  the  minister  to  desist. 

It  was  through  such  times  as  these  that  the  people 
finally  emerged  to  a  calmer  consideration  of  the  great 
principles  which  soon  organized  the  advocates  of 
universal  freedom  into  a  great  political  party.  The 
New  Mills  Society  disbanded  about  1844.  Much  bit- 
terness and  personal  feeling  could  not  fail  of  being 
engendered  by  the  events  of  which  only  the  merest 
outline  has  been  given,  but  these  men  were  but  the 
skirmishers  preceding  the  awful,  inevitable  conflict, 
in  which  differences  were  merged  in  loyalty,  and 
Liberty,  unthroned,  was  re-crowned  with  the  blood  of 
heroes. 

Out  of  this  agitation  came  the  beginnings  of  a  great 
political  party,  the  principle  of  which  was  opposition 
to  slavery.  These  beginnings  were  vrry  small  and 
the  men  who  first  stepped  out  of  the  old  parties 
braved  not  a  little  unpopularity  and  opprobrium. 
The  names  of  some  forty  Danvers  men  who  voted  with 
the  "Liberty  Party  "  in  1840,  the  first  year  of  its  ex- 
istence, have  been  recalled.  They  are  Frederick 
Howe,  Jesse  Putnam,  J.  A.  Learoyd,  Jonathan  Perry, 


DANVERS. 


507 


Peter  Cross,  Elias  Savage,  Peter  Wait,  Samuel  Wait, 
Samuel  Harris,  Jr.,  "Warren  Sheldon,  Elijah  Hutch- 
inson, Otis  Mudge,  Kimball  Hutchinson,  Nathan  Tap- 
ley,  Allen  Knight,  Henry  Dwineil,  Joseph  Danforth, 
Eben  Hunt,  Winthrop  Andrews,  Joseph  Verry,  Jr., 
Benjamin  Hutchinson,  Charles  Page,  Samuel  Brown, 
Edward  Waldron,  Amos  Brown,  Abel  Nichols.  01 
these,  Dr.  Hunt  was  perhaps  the  most  active.  From 
interesting  reminiscences  furnished  the  writer  by 
James  D.  Black  these  extracts  are  made:  "The  Free 
Soil  party  was  not  organized  until  some  years  subse- 
quent to  the  earlier  struggles  of  the  Abolitionists. 
We  used  to  vote  at  the  State  elections  scattering  votes 
for  Garrison  for  Governor,  &c.  At  that  time  a  ma- 
jority of  votes  were  required  to  elect,  and  our  scatter- 
ing votes  counted  against  the  regular  tickets  and 
made  politicians  mad,  and  many  times  as  I  approached 
the  ballot-box  the  epithet,  "  Long- heel "  would  be 
hurled  at  me.  After  the  Free-Soil  party  got  a  foot- 
hold the  dominant  party,  the  Whigs,  were  [)ut  to 
their  wits  ends  to  retain  control  of  elections." 

It  was  the  campaign  of  1848,  which  consolidated 
the  anti-slavery  elements.  Throughout  the  summer 
and  fall  of  that  year  politics  waxed  hot.  On  the  4th 
of  July  a  social  gathering  of  the  Friends  of  Liberty 
in  Essex  County  was  held  in  a  beautiful  grove  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  town.  The  convention  was  at- 
tended by  from  fifteen  to  twenty  thousand  persons 
during  the  day.  Addresses  were  made  by  Rev.  W. 
B.  Dodge,  of  Illinois,  by  clergymen  from  Salem, 
Lynn  and  Boston,  Dr.  Hunt  and  Dr.  Nichols  repre- 
senting home  talent.  The  Kimball  family,  of  Wo- 
burn,  sang  a  number  of  liberty  songs,  and  a  glee  club 
and  choir  of  singers  from  North  Danvers,  "  by  their 
sweet  music  added  greatly  to  the  enjoyment  of  the 
people."  Letters  were  read  from  Hon.  S.  C.  Phillips 
and  the  Hon.  D.  P.  King,  breathing  the  spirit  of  lib- 
erty, and  Dr.  Nichols'  muse  was  inspired  by  the  occa- 
sion. 

The  voters  in  District  No.  13  who  were  dissatisfied 
with  the  nominations  of  both  the  Whig  and  the  Dem- 
ocratic Parties,  and  were  in  sympathy  with  the  Con- 
vention of  Freemen  held  at  Buffalo  in  August,  1848, 
at  which  the  Free-Soil  Party  had  its  birth,  immedi- 
ately held  weekly  meetiogs  for  free  and  candid  dis- 
cussion of  the  candidates  and  principles  of  that  con- 
vention. Early  in  September  they  formed  a  Free- 
Soil  Club,  and  upwards  of  eighty  out  of  the  hundred 
and  fifty  voters  of  the  district  signed  a 

CONSTITOTION    OF    THE   NoRTH    DaXVEBS   FRKE-SoIL    ClUB, 

with  this  Preamble  :  'We,  the  undersigned,  beholding  with  feelings  of 
deep  regret,  the  disposition  of  the  slave  power  of  this  Union,  to  sub- 
vert the  spirit  of  our  Government  by  extending  American  Slavery 
over  territory  now  free,  and  the  determination  to  control  the  policy  and 
interests  of  our  country,  and  seeing,  as  we  have  seen,  that  spirit  of 
truckling  to  the  slave  power,  on  the  part  of  the  two  great  parties  of 
our  country— the  Whigs  and  the  Democratic — as  shown  by  their  past 
acts,  but  more  recently  and  more  clearly  in  their  chosen  leaders,  we 
feel  called  upon  as  Patriots,  as  lovers  of  Freedom,  if  we  would  be 
true  to  our  own  interests  and  the  interest  of  our  nation  to  renounce 
both  these  parties  ;  and 


"  Whereas,  We  behold  in  the  Buffalo  Platform,  principles  to  which 
every  friend  of  free  institutions  should  subscribe,  and  candidates  wor- 
thy our  support,  we  do  therefore  endorse  these  principles,  and  that 
we  may  act  with  greater  efficiency  in  the  election  of  the  candidates 
do  form  ourselves  into  an  organization  to  be  called  the  Free-Soil 
Club,  and  to  be  governed  by  the  following  constitution." 

Under  the  articles  which  follow,  these  officers  of 
the  club  were  chosen :  President,  Elias  Putnam  ; 
Vice-Presidents,  Nathan  Tapley,  John  Hood,  Augus- 
tus Mudge,  I.  W.  Andrews ;  Corresponding  Secretary, 
Daniel  Foster  ;  Recording  Secretary,  Jeremiah  Chap- 
man ;  Executive  Committee,  William  Dodge,  John 
R.  Langley,  Allen  Knight,  Otis  Mudge  and  William 
J.  C.  Kenney. 

Who  managed  the  caucuses  forty  years  ago  ?  was  a 
question  put  to  Mr.  Black.  "  I  can't  tell,"  he  writes, 
"  who  ran  the  Whig  and  Democratic  caucuses.  The 
Free-Soil  caucuses  had  such  young  men  as  John  A. 
Putnam,  J.  R.  Langley,  Alfred  Fellows,  Winthrop 
and  I.  W.  Andrews,  Ira  Clough,  E.  F.  Putnam,  Rich- 
ard and  John  Hood,  E,  T.  Waldron  and  the  writer." 
A  clipping  from  a  newspaper  of  the  day  gives  some 
hint  of  the  prominent  Whigs  : 

NOTICE. 

"  The  Whigs  of  Uanvers  are  requested  to  meet  in  Union  Hall  on  Mon- 
day Evening,  August  28th,  at  ^l^  o'clock,  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a 
Taylor  Club,  and  to  adopt  siich  other  measures  as  may  be  necessary  for 
the  thorough  organization  of  the  party  for  the  coming  election  ;  and  to 
choose  six  delegates  to  the  Whig  Convention  at  Worcester,  Sept.  13. 

"  A  full  attendance  of  Whigs  from  all  sections  of  the  town  is  earnestly 

requested. 

"Wm.  D.  Northend,  Henry  Fowler, 

"Samuel  Preston,  Joshua  Silvester, 

"  Eben  S.  Poor,  A.  A.  Edgerton, 

"George  E.  Carleton,  Elijah  W.  Upton. 

"  Danvers,  August  26,  1848." 

At  this  meeting  A.  A.  Edgerton  was  chosen  secre- 
tary ;  George  W.  French  and  Joel  Putnam,  delegates 
from  the  north  parish  ;  town  committee  from  No.  2, 
H.  Fowler,  William  Endicott;  No.  3,  LP.  Board- 
man,  Joseph  S.  Black ;  No.  4,  Albert  Bradstreet, 
Charles  P.  Preston;  No.  6,  Nathaniel  Pope,  Edwin 
Mudge ;  No.  6,  Aaron  C.  Proctor,  Jesse  Tapley ;  No. 
13,  N.  Silvester,  Dr.  Osgood  ;  No.  14,  G.  W.  French, 
Augustus  Tapley.  The  vote  of  Danvers  at  the  election 
of  1848  resulted,  560  for  Taylor,  503  for  Van  Buren, 
146  for  Cass. 

With  the  formation  of  the  Republican  party  Dan- 
vers promptly  wheeled  into  line.  Out  of  a  total  vote 
of  1382  cast  in  1856,  1076  were  for  electors  represent- 
ing the  candidates  of  that  party.  In  1860  John  G. 
Whittier,  elector  for  this  district,  received  564  out  of 
769  votes ;  in  1864  Mr.  Whittier  received  592  votes 
to  125  for  S.  Endicott  Peabody,  of  Salem.  Subse- 
quent presidential  elections  have  resulted  as  follows  : 

Republican.  Democratic. 

1868  720  (Grant.)  201 

1872  645  (Grant.)  195 

1876  701  (Hayes)  335  (Tilden.) 

1880  637  (Garfield.)  295  (Hancock.) 

1884  565  (Blaine.)  270  (Cleveland.) 

In  1880  there  were  also  227  "  Greenback  votes  ;" 
in   1884,   254  Greenback  and  34  Prohibition.     The 


5-08 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Greenback  party  held  its  first  caucus  in  Danvers  in 
the  fall  of  1878,  when  a  local  committee  and  dele- 
gates to  conventions  were  elected.  The  party  grew 
with  surprising  rapidity,  enlisting  great  numbers  of 
active  and  earnest  young  men,  who  developed  great 
skill  in  political  organization,  and  succeeded  in 
controlling  the  Legislative  elections  in  1879,  '82  and 
'83.  See  lists  of  Representatives.  This  party  lost 
much  of  its  cohesive  strength  after  the  disappearance 
of  General  Butler  from  politics,  and  a  number  of  the 
leaders  openly  returned  to  the  Republican  fold  this 
past  spring,  1887. 

Railroads. — One  day  in  the  summer  of  1847  two 
men  might  have  been  seen  on  the  summit  of  the  hill 
which  is  now  crowned  by  the  asylum,  eagerly  scan- 
ning the  winding  valleys  to  the  south  and  to  the 
north.  Presently  they  went  on,  and  climbing  one 
of  the  high  hills  of  Andover  followed  again  the 
course  of  the  lowland  to  the  great  mills  in  the  new 
manufacturing  town  on  the  Merrimac.  These  two 
men,  Elias  Putnam  and  Joshua  Silvester,  always  pro- 
gressive, were  full  of  the  new  idea  of  steam  and  iron, 
which  had  already  begun  to  revolutionize  travel. 
Following  closely  the  old  stage  route  from  Boston, 
east,  were  laid  the  rails  of  the  Eastern  Railroad. 
These  men  on  the  hill-tops  saw  in  the  valleys  the 
course  of  an  iron  highway,  which  uniting  Lawrence 
to  the  main  line  at  Salem,  would  "  bring  the  railroad 
to  Danvers." 

And  soon  it  came,  but  not  while  Mr.  Putnam  lived. 
Cutting  through  the  high  ridge  south  of  Water's 
River,  it  crossed  the  stream  almost  at  the  little  cove, 
where  Governor  Endicott  is  said  to  have  landed  from 
his  shallop  ;  passed  within  a  gun-shot  of  the  ancient 
pear-tree  which  the  Governor  planted ;  bridged  the 
river  down  which  was  brought,  in  a  little  shop,  the 
genesis  of  Danversport ;  entered  Parson  Skel ton's 
grant  close  by  the  old  home  of  the  Revolutionary 
Colonel  Hutchinson  ;  pushed  on  across  the  old  Ips- 
wich road  through  Porter's  Plains ;  beyond  Beaver 
Dam,  almost  under  the  windows  of  that  little  room 
where  "Old  Put"  was  born,  and  so  on  northward. 
But  the  railroad  did  not  come  all  at  once.  It  seems 
to  have  halted  on  the  way.  This  letter  which  ap- 
peared June  9,  1848,  signed  "North  Danvers,"  is  a 
sample  of  other  communications  : 

"  Why  cannot  the  inhabitants  of  North  Danvers  be  accommodated  with 
two  or  three  trains  on  the  Essex  Railroad  per  day  V  The  rails  are  laid 
and  seem  to  be  in  good  condition  to  run  upon.  The  engine  and  cars 
now  have  to  remain  at  South  Danvers  doing  notliing — vv'aiting  for  time. 
Cars  liave  been  running  to  accommodate  South  Danvers  for  a  year  and  a 
half  while  we  have  waited  patiently  until  now.  The  people  of  this  part 
of  Danvers  labored  and  toiled,  and  did  what  they  could  to  have  this  road 
built.  The  time  has  been  designated  repeatedly  by  one  or  more  of  the 
directors  when  we  should  have  this  accommodation,  but  thus  far  we  have 
not  seen  it." 

On  the  1st  day  of  July,  1848,  the  road  was  formally 
declared  open  to  North  Delivers.  Therf^  were  on  the 
first  time-table  three  trains  a  day,  each  way,  to  and 
from  Salem,     On  the  Fourth  of  July  three  thousand 


persons  passed  over  the  road.  Before  the  end  of  the 
summer  trains  were  running  to  Andover.  On  the 
4th  of  September  the  whole  line  was  opened  and  a 
train  of  eight  cars  filled  with  stockholders  and  guests 
took  a  trial-trip  to  Lawrence.  It  has  been  recorded 
that  during  the  parsage  up  a  canvass  was  taken  for 
presidential  preferences.  While  General  Taylor  was 
the  choice  of  401,  Van  Buren  62,  and  Cass  41,  the  in- 
ference is  somewhat  amusing  from  the  fact  that  on  the 
return-trip,  after  a  first-rate  dinner,  the  number  of 
Taylor's  adherents  was  reduced  by  51,  while  those  of 
his  rivals  were  increased. 

The  first  station-agent  at  the  Plains  was  Samuel 
W.  Spaulding.  He  came  here,  a  young  man,  from 
Merrimac,  N.  H.,  and  worked  for  John  Grout,  coach- 
ing  between  Danvers  and  Salem.  Spaulding  bought 
out  Grout,  and  was  running  the  line  himself  when 
appointed  on  the  railroad.  Not  being  willing  to  re- 
linquish the  coaching  business,  he  soon  gave  up  the 
other.  About  twenty  years  ago  Parker  Webber  took  a 
half  interest  in  the  coach-line,  and  a  few  years  later 
Spaulding  sold  out  his  interest  to  Webber,  who  car- 
ried on  the  business  until  the  latest  competitor  for 
public  travel — the  horse-car — made  this  business  un- 
profitable. In  November,  1878,  Benjamin  Henderson 
resigned  the  position  of  station-agent,  which  he  had 
then  held  twenty-eight  years  and  more.  He  is  still 
living,  approaching  his  ninetieth  year;  he  was  chorister 
of  the  First  Church,  and  a  famous  singer  in  days 
gone  by. 

Danvers  has  long  been  provided  with  double  rail- 
road facilities  to  Boston.  Both  lines  are,  by  the 
recent  consolidation  of  the  Eastern  with  the  Boston 
and  Maine,  under  the  control  of  the  latter  company, 
and  the  "know-nothing"  has  become  an  important 
junction.  Instead  of  the  "  Eastern  "  and  the  "  Maine," 
it  is  now  "  the  eastern  division  "  and  "  the  western 
division."  The  latter  was  originally  built  and  in- 
corporated in  several  pieces :  Haverhill  to  George- 
town, Newburyport  to  Georgetown,  Georgetown  to 
Danvers,  Danvers  to  Wakefield,  and  the  main  line 
of  the  present  western  division  of  the  Boston  and 
Maine.  Travel  was  opened  through  Danvers  in 
1854,  and  by  successive  changes  and  consolidations 
the  entire  branch  became  the  property  of  the  Bos- 
ton and  Maine. 

In  1841  the  subject  of  town  clocks  was  brought  be- 
fore the  town.  Petitions  for  clocks,  one  at  South 
Parish,  and  one  on  the  Baptist  Church  at  New  Mills, 
met  with  indefinite  postponement. 

About  ten  years  later  a  subscription  paper,  which 
had  its  origin  in  the  grocery-store  of  Gould  and  Em- 
erson, dated  December  24,  1852,  was  circulated  to 
raise  money  "  for  the  purjDose  of  defraying  the  ex- 
pense of  placing  a  clock  upon  the  meeting-house 
(Rev.  Mr.  Fletcher's),  at  the  plains."  These  items  of 
expense  are  summarized  on  the  original  paper  : 

Paid  Perkins  &  Cressey 8  83.73 

Paid  Putnam  &  Kenney's  bill,  freight 3.37 


DANVERS. 


509 


Novoiuber  lyth,  paiil  Howard  &  Davis,  cash lia.dO 

Eben  Putnam's  bill 2.00 

Paid  balance  to  Howard  &  Davis 150.00 


8414.10 


The  town-clock  thus  established  was  soon  trans- 
ferred to  the  Maple  Street  Society,  and  has  ever  since 
been  maintained  by  the  society.  Once  only,  1861,  a 
petition  was  introduced  for  the  town  to  keep  the 
clock  in  repair,  but  the  subject  was  indefinitely  post- 
poned. 

The  "  gold-fever "  of  '48-49  struck  Essex  County 
and  did  not  leave  Danvers  untouched.  The  local  pa- 
pers devoted  much  space  to  the  subject,  and  many 
heads  were  filled  with  dreams  of  sudden  wealth. 
"  At  present,"  so  run  a  sample  letter,  credited  to  the 
Alcalde  of  Monterey  and  copied  into  the  Danvers 
Courier,  "the  people  are  running  over  the  country 
and  picking  gold  out  of  the  earth  here  and  there, 
just  as  a  thousand  hogs,  let  loose  in  the  forrest, 
root  up  ground-nuts."  An  item  of  January  13,  1849, 
speaks  of  several  young  men  of  this  town  who  will 
leave  for  San  Francisco  in  a  day  or  two.  About  the 
same  time  twenty-one  members  of  the  Naumkeag 
Mining  and  Trading  Company  embarked  in  the  ship 
"  Capitol,"  for  San  Francisco,  among  them  two 
Danvers  men,  George  K.  Radcliife  and  Franklin 
Ward.  Early  in  March  following,  some  thirty  men 
from  Salem  and  vicinity,  comprising  the  "Essex 
Mining  and  Trading  Company,"  left  Boston  for  Cor- 
pus Christi  on  the  schooner  "John  W.  Herbert." 
Of  this  number  was  Mr.  Henry  Fowler,  whose  remi- 
niscences are  of  experiences  far  at  variance  from 
those  depicted  by  that  alluring  old  Alcalde. 

Those  who  paid  the  largest  taxes  forty  years  ago 
in  North  Danvers  may  be  found  in  the  following  list, 
1848  : 


TAX    OF   OVER 

$100 : 

TAX   OF   OVER   $50 

Wm.  A.  Lander 

«  3'J2.38 

Nathaniel  Boardman 

.»  59.74 

Nancy  C^aks 

100.80 

Ebenezer  G.  Berry 

Peter  Cross 

.     69.82 

Moses  Putnam 

382.30 

.     53.20 

Samuel  Putnam 

122.48 

Daniel  Goodhue 

.     50.78 

113.68 

Charles  Lawrence 

James  A.  Putnam 

.     71.50 

John  Page 

112.38 

.     75.98 

Benj.  Porter 

Gilbert  Tapley 

176.22 

Asa  Tapley 

.     54  14 

194.14 

Jonas  Warren 

.     88.30 

Gilbert  Tapley,  in  trust....      84.00 

Stephen  Williins 

.     57.50 

Matthew  Hooper.... 

119.66 

John  Bates 

.     58.62 

The  Centennial. — With  the  year  1852  a  round 
century  had  passed  since  the  farmers  of  Salem  Village 
and  the  settlers  of  the  Middle  Precinct  separated 
from  Salem  and  began  their  corporate  existence  as 
the  district  of  Danvers.  Early  in  the  previous  fall 
those  spirits  who  never  allow  such  anniversaries  to 
pass  unforgotten  were  on  the  alert.  At  a  town-meet- 
ing held  in  Granite  Hall,  September  22,  1851,  a  com- 
mittee of  nineteen, — five  at  large  and  one  from  each 
school  district, — were  chosen  with  full  authority,  to 
make  such  arrangements  and  adopt  such  measures  as 
in  their  judgment  should  seem   most  appropriate  to 


the  occasion.     This  centennial  committee  consisted  of 
the  following  persons  : 


Fitch  Poole. 
Andrew  Nichols. 
Ebenezer  Hunt. 


AT    LARGE. 

John  W.  Proctor. 

Rev.  Milton  P.  Bramea. 


FROM   THE   SCHOOL   DISTRICTS. 


1.  Robert  S.  Daniels. 

2.  Samuel  P.  Fowler. 

3.  Aaron  Putnam. 

4.  Albert  G.  Bradstreet. 

5.  Nathaniel  Pope. 

6.  Moses  Preston. 

7.  Francis  Phelps. 


8.  Samuel  Brown,  Jr. 

9.  Joseph  Brown. 

10.  Leonard  Cross. 

11.  Francis  Baker. 

12.  Miles  Osborne. 

13.  John  Page. 

14.  Gilbert  Tapley. 


The  day  chosen  for  the  celebration  was  Wednesday, 
June  16th.  The  scene  of  the  festivities  was  the  Mid- 
dle Precinct,  South  Parish,  through  whose  streets  a 
procession  a  mile  and  a  half  long  moved  amid  a  very 
large  and  enthusiastic  throng  and  beneath  a  very 
warm  sun.  The  committee  had  half  a  thousand  dol- 
lars at  their  disposal,  and  this,  together  with  private 
enterprise  in  the  way  of  decorations,  gave  the  town  a 
gala-like  appearance.  There  are  plenty  of  men  still 
in  their  prime  who  were  in  that  procession  ;  but  it 
was  thirty-five  years  ago;  anew  generation  has  sprung 
up  since  then  and  the  fathers  will  pardon  a  smile  as 
their  children  read  of  the  pride  and  pomp  of  that 
day.  It  was  the  day  of  days  for  the  engine  com- 
panies. The  choicest  young  manhood  of  Danvers 
tugged  at  the  ropes  of  their  polished  machines.  Com- 
ing at  the  very  head  of  the  line,  after  the  escorting 
military  was  General  Scott,  No.  2,  of  Tapley  ville — ah, 
Fame,  where  is  the  old  tub  now? — drawn  by  Captain 
Calvin  Upton's  forty-eight  men,  dressed  in  fire  hats, 
plaided  sacks  and  black  pants.  Next  the  Torrent, 
and  next  General  Putnam  No.  4,  of  Danvers  Plains, 
Captain  Albert  G.  Allen,  with  forty  men,  likewise  in 
plaided  frocks  and  black  pants,  and  carrying  a  ban- 
ner on  which  was  emblazoned  "  General  Putnam — I 
never  surrender."  This  engine  also  appeared  well, 
says  the  record.  Of  course  it  did;  it  appeared  well 
on  that  little  occasion  already  referred  to,  when  Cap- 
tain Kenney  took  it  over  to  pump  out  Wenhani  pond, 
and  that  occasion  to  this  was  but  a  candle  to  a 
comet. 

After  the  "Eagle"  came  the  "Ocean,"  No.  6,  of 
Danversport,  Captain  Welch,  whose  thirty-five  men, 
clad  in  white  shirts,  black  pants  and  Kossuth  hats, 
were  assisted  by  a  pair  of  roan  horses.  Seven  com- 
panies in  all  there  were,  nearly  four  hundred  strong. 

Then  came  the  civic  division  headed  by  Chief  Mar- 
shall, Dr.  S.  A.  Lord  and  his  assistants.  In  a  long 
line  of  open  barouches  the  people  saw  alive  Governor 
and  many  distinguished  guests.  Then  came  old 
School  Master  Epps  and  other  representatives  of  his 
time.  A  "  Blind  Hole  Shoe  Shop  of  1789,"  and  an 
ancient  up-in-the-lane  pottery  were  both  in  active 
operation. 

Next  followed  the  schools.  Sylvanus  Dodge  was 
chief  of  this  division,  aided  by  Jeremiah  Chapman, 


510 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Edward  W.  Jacobs,  Augustus  Varney,  Alden  Dernp- 
sey,  James  P.  Hutchinson,  Dr.  J.  W.  Snow,  George 
Tapley,  Albert  J.  Silvester,  Loring  Dempsey,  Abner 
Mead  and  Gilbert  A.  Tapley.  Fifteen  hundred  pu- 
pils presented  a  most  beautiful  feature  of  the  occasion, 
but  no  adequate  description — the  record  again — can 
be  given  of  the  ingenious  and  admirable  designs  they 
displayed.  The  Peabody  High  School  came  first, 
then  the  Holten  High  School,  followed  by  the 
schools  from  the  different  districts. 

The  last  division  of  the  procession  was  a  cavalcade 
of  three  hundred  horsemen.  After  great  exertions  on 
the  part  of  the  chief-marshal  and  his  assistants  the 
streets  were  so  far  cleared  of  the  multitude  of  people 
and  vehicles  that  the  procession  was  put  in  motion. 
Moving  down  Main  Street  it  countermarched  at  the 
Salem  line,  near  the  Great  Tree,"  but,  alas,  the 
streets  then  spanned  with  arches  and  gay  with  ban- 
ners and  bunting  are  not  now  Danvers  streets.  At 
noon  the  line  reached  the  Square  again.  The  schools 
moved  up  Lowell  Street  to  a  large  tent  provided  for 
them,  and  the  rest  of  the  procession  entered  the  Old 
South,  in  which  the  following  exercises  had  been  ap- 
pointed. 

1.  Voluntary By  the  organ. 

2.  Invocation By  Rev.  James  W.  Putnam. 

3.  Anthem. 

4.  Keadino  the  Scriptures By  Rev.  James  Fletcher 

5.  Prayer by  Rev.  Israel  P.  Putnam,  of  Middleborough. 

6.  Original  Hymn By  Fitch  Poole. 

7.  Address By  John  W.  Proctor. 

8.  Music By  the  band. 

9.  Poem By  Andrew  Nichols. 

10.  Psalm,  selected  from  a  collection  in   use  one  hundred  years 

ago,  ''Faithfully  translated  into  JEnglish  Stletrc;  for 
the  Use,  Edification  and  Comfort  of  the  Saints  in  Publick 
and  Private,  especially  in  New  England." 
Psalm  Ixvii. 
To  the  Musician,  Neginoth.     A  Psalm  of  Song. 

11.  Prayer By  the  Rev.  F.  A.  Willard. 

12.  Old  Hundred Sung  by  the  whole  congregation. 

13.  Benediction. 

On  account  of  the  heat  Mr.  Proctor's  address 
was  abridged,  and  Dr.  Nichols'  poem  was  entirely 
omitted.  At  a  full  town-meeting  held  shortly 
after,  however,  the  Doctor  was  cordially  invited  to 
read  his  poem  on  an  occasion  to  be  specially  appoint- 
ed, and  such  an  arrangement  was  carried  out. 

Dinner  was  served  after  the  exercises  at  the  church 
in  a  large  canvas  pavilion  erected  near  Buxton's  hill 
on  the  Crowninshield  estate.  After  the  feast  the 
Chief  Marshal  introduced  as  President  of  the  Day, 
Rev.  Milton  P.  Braman,  and  after  the  Doctor's  own 
remarks  there  was  enough  talking,  both  from  men 
prominent  in  local  affairs  and  from  others  of  wider 
renown,  tu  last  perhaps  another  hundred  years.  The 
Commonwealth  was  represented  by  its  Governor, 
George  S.  Boutwell,  and  its  Secretary,  Amasa  Walker. 
Salem,  the  mother-town,  sent  her  mayor,  Charles  W. 
Upham,  afterwards  author  of  "  Salem  Witchcraft ;" 
Daniel  A.  White,  Judge  of  Probate  for  Essex  County; 


William  D.  Northend,  Esq.,  who  begun  his  practice 
in  South  Danvers;  and  another  young  lawyer  who 
to-day  sits  in  the  Cabinet  as  Secretary  of  War,  Wil- 
liam C.  Endicott.  The  historian  of  New  England, 
John  G.  Palfrey;  the  annalist  of  Salem,  Rev.  J.  B. 
Felt,  at  this  time  of  Boston;  Rev.  Messrs.  Thayer,  of 
Beverly  ;  Stone,  of  Providence  ;  Sewall,  of  Medfield  ; 
and  Putnam,  of  Middleboro';  Allen  Putnam,  of  Rox- 
bury ;  Lilley  Eaton,  of  South  Reading ;  John  Web- 
ster, of  Newmarket,  N.  H.;  and  George  G.  Smith,  of 
Boston,  were  nearly  all  present  and  delivered  the 
contributions  which  are  credited  to  them.  Alfred  A. 
Abbott,  Esq.,  P.  R.  Southwick,  R.  S.  Daniels,  S.  P. 
Fowler,  J.  W.  Proctor,  Rev.  F.  P.  Appleton  and  Dr. 
Hunt  were  called  upon  as  representative  citizens  of 
the  town.  Letters  were  received  from  the  Hon.  Rob- 
ert C.  Wiuthrop,  Rufus  Choate,  Robert  Rantoul,  Jr., 
Daniel  Webster,  Edward  Everett,  Jared  Sparks  and 
others. 

In  the  meantime  the  school  children  were  enjoy- 
ing themselves  at  a  feast  of  their  own,  prepared 
by  a  committee  on  which  William  L.  Weston  and 
Henry  Fowler  represented  the  northern  districts. 
William  R.  Putnam,  of  the  school  committee,  pre- 
sided, and  to  his  own  remarks  and  those  of  the  toast- 
master,  Augustus  Mudge,  were  added  addresses  from 
Charles  Northend,  then  recently  elected  superintend- 
ent of  schools,  and  John  D.  Philbrick,  then  of  the 
Quincy  School  of  Boston. 

The  printed  volume  of  something  over  two  hun- 
dred pages,  containing  a  full  record  of  the  Centennial 
Celebration,  forms  an  important  contribution  to  the 
material  for  local  history. 

These  books  are  seen  here  and  there  in  family 
book-cases,  but  they  are  not  popular  reading.  There 
remain,  however,  as  constant  and  conspicuous  re- 
minders of  the  day  thus  celebrated,  certain  memori- 
als of  another  sort. 

The  biography  of  George  Peabody  properly  belongs 
to  that  part  of  old  Danvers  which  now  for  nearly 
twenty  years  has  borne  his  honored  name,  and  there 
it  will  undoubtedly  be  found.  Let  a  few  meagre  facts 
and  dates  appear  here. 

He  was  born  February  18,  1795,  in  a  house  still 
standing  near  the  junction  of  Washington  and  Fos- 
ter Streets,  on  the  old  Lynn  Road,  in  Peabody.  His 
earliest  business  experience  was  as  a  store-boy  for  the 
man  whose  friendship  he  cherished  to  the  last,  Capt. 
Sylvester  Proctor.  At  sixteen  he  became  a  clerk  for 
his  oldest  brother,  David,  in  a  dry-goods  store  at 
Newburyport.  Before  he  attained  his  majority  he 
was  taken  into  partnership  by  Elisha  Riggs,  a  wealthy 
New  York  dry-goods  merchant.  In  1815  Riggs  and 
Peabody  moved  their  business  to  Baltimore  and  sub- 
sequently established  branch  houses  in  Philadelphia 
and  New  York.  In  1827  he  made  his  first  voyage  to 
Europe  in  furtherance  of  his  business.  During  the 
next  ten  years  he  often   repeated   the   trip,  and   at 


DANVERS. 


511 


times  the  United  States  Government,  taking  advan- 
tage of  his  business  sagacity,  entrusted  him  with  im- 
portant financial  negotiations.  He  went  to  England 
for  a  permanent  residence  in  February,  1837,  at  the 
age  of  forty-five.  In  1843  he  retired  from  the  Amer- 
ican house  of  Peabody,  Riggs  &  Co.,  and  thenceforth 
was  George  Peabody,  Banker  and  Merchant,  of  Lon- 
don. 

It  was  for  fifteen  years  then,  when  Dan  vers  cele- 
brated her  Centennial,  that  her  illustrious  son  had 
been  a  stranger  to  his  native  land,  and  nearly  twice 
that  time  since  the  sixteen-year-old  boy  went  away 
from  the  place  of  his  birth  to  seek  and  find  his  for- 
tune. 

An  invitation  had  been  sent  to  him.  When  John 
W.  Proctor  arose  to  respond  to  the  toast  in  his  honor, 
it  was  somehow  generally  expected  that  something  of 
especial  interest  was  about  to  be  made  known.  Mr. 
Proctor  held  up  to  the  view  of  all  a  sealed  envelope, 
and,  in  explanation  thereof,  read  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Peabody,  regretting  his  inability  to  be  present,  con- 
cluding in  these  words, — 

"I  enclose  a  sentiment,  which  I  ask  may  remain  sealed  till  this  letter 
is  read  on  the  day  of  celebi'ation,  when  it  is  to  be  opened  according  to 
the  direction  on  the  envelope." 

This  direction  was  as  follows, — 

["  The  Seal  of  this  envelope  is  not  to  be  broken  till  the  toasts  are  be- 
ing proposed  by  the  Chairman  at  the  dinner,  16th  June,  at  Danvers,  in 
commemoration  of  the  one  hundredth  year  since  its  severance  from  Sa- 
lem. It  contains  a  sentiment  for  the  occasion  from  George  Peabody, 
of  London."] 

The  seal  was  broken  and  the  sentiment  disclosed, 
which  has  long  since  become  as  household  words, — 
"  Education,  a  debt  due  from  present  to  future  gener- 
ations." It  was  followed  by  the  announcement  of  a 
gift  of  twenty  thousand  dollars  for  the  purpose  of 
erecting  and  maintaining  a  public  library  and 
lyceum. 

Among  the  conditions  annexed  to  the  gift  was  one 
that  the  town  should  accept  the  gift  and  choose  a 
committee  of  not  less  than  twelve  to  carry  out  its  pur- 
poses. Both  of  these  things  were  done  at  a  town- 
meeting,  June  28,  1852,  the  action  of  the  town  being 
embodied  in  a  series  of  resolutions  submitted  by  Dr. 
Andrew  Nichols.  The  committee  of  twelve  were 
chosen  on  such  tenure  that  two  vacancies  were  to  be 
filled  by  election  each  year.  The  committee  thus 
first  chosen  and  their  terms  of  office  decided  by  lot 
were  as  follows, — Eben  King,  Joseph  S.  Black,  one 
year,  to  1853 ;  William  L.  Weston,  Aaron  F.  Clark, 
two  years,  to  1854 ;  Francis  Baker,  Joseph  Poor, 
three  years,  to  1855;  Elijah  W.  Upton,  Miles  Os- 
borne, four  years,  to  1856;  Joseph  Osgood,  Eben  Sut- 
ton, five  years,  to  1857  ;  Robert  S.  Daniels,  Samuel  P. 
Fowler,  six  years,  to  1858.  Subsequent  elections  for 
terms  of  six  years  were  as  follows, — In  1853,  Henry 
Poor,  Joel  Putnam;  1854,  Philemon  Putnam,  John 
B.  Peabody;  1855,  Francis  Dane,  Israel  W.  Andrews; 
1856,  Franklin  Osborne,  Isaac  Hardy,  Jr. 


Dr.  Nichols'  resolves  provided  also  that  the  com- 
mittee or  trustees  should  themselves  annually  ap- 
point a  lyceum  and  library  committee  from  the  town 
at  large.  The  trustees  made  this  latter  committee 
equal  to  their  own  number.  The  first  appointees 
were  Dr.  Andrew  Nichols,  who  died  during  his  first 
year  of  service,  Fitch  Poole,  George  A.  Osborne,  Ben- 
jamin C.  Perkins,  Ebenezer  Hunt,  John  B.  Peabody, 
W.  N.  Lord,  Eben  S.  Poor,  Wm.  L.  Weston,  A.  A. 
Abbott,  Philemon  Putnam,  Eugene  B.  Hinkley,  Wra. 
F.  Poole.  The  latter  is  now  widely  known  as  the 
author  of  "  Poole's  Index  of  Periodical  Literature." 

The  corner-stone  of  the  new  building  was  laid 
August  20,  1853,  and  after  its  completion  was  dedi- 
cated September  29,  1854 — a  substantial  brick  edifice, 
eighty-two  feet  by  fifty,  bearing  on  its  front  the  words 
Peabody  Institute,  situate  on  the  main  street  from 
the  South  Meeting-house  to  Salem,  on  the  opposite 
side  and  a  little  northwest  of  the  Lexington  monu- 
ment. 

Division  of  the  Town. — It  is  the  intention  to  speak 
particularly  of  the  Peabody  Institute,  not  of  Peabody 
but  of  Danvers.  It  is  necessary,  therefore,  here,  as 
the  sequence  of  events  will  show,  to  speak  of  no  less 
an  important  matter  than  the  dismemberment  of  the 
old  town,  which  had  celebrated  its  hundredth  anni- 
versary, and  the  separation  of  the  southern  half  of  its 
territory  into  a  new  town,  leaving  to  the  upper  half 
alone  the  name  of  the  old  town.  The  separation  was 
no  sudden  movement.  From  the  very  first,  the  com- 
munities north  and  south  of  Waters  River  and  the 
long  chain  of  hills,  separated,  as  they  were,  by  natu- 
ral barriers,  found  themselves  possessed  of  different 
interests  and  associations.  There  was  no  common 
centre.  Town-meetings  were  held,  as  has  been  seen, 
one  year  at  a  meeting-house  in  the  North  Parish,  the 
next  at  the  South  Parish,  and  each  parish  made  hay 
for  itself  when  the  time  came.  A  recent  letter  from 
a  former  resident  contains  something  of  this  sort : 
"  No.  Danvers  was  rich  in  oratorical  talents,  while  So. 
Danvers  was  exceedingly  deficient  in  that  material. 
They  had  money  and  votes,  but  no  orators,  and  when 
the  town-meetings  were  held  at  So.  Danvers,  there 
all  the  appropriations  in  that  part  of  the  town  could 
easily  pass  the  ordeal ;  and  when  the  town-meeting 
was  held  at  No.  Danvers,  that  was  the  golden  oppor- 
tunity for  appropriations  for  that  part  of  the  town," 
Before  division  was  finally  accomplished  the  anomaly 
was  presented  of  two  town-houses  in  one  town.  The 
history  of  the  agitation  which  brought  this  about 
goes  back  to  1772,  when  Ebenezer  Goodiile  and  others 
prayed  that  the  inhabitants  might  assemble  and  make 
known  their  minds  as  to  whether  meetings  for  the  future 
should  be  held  alternately  in  the  Village  and  Mid- 
dle parishes  according  to  the  agreement  made  between 
the  parishes  before  incorporation,  and  "also  to  see  if  it 
be  their  minds  ^o  Erect  a  House  near  the  Centre  of 
the  Town,  to  hold  their  Town-Meetings  and  other 
Publick  Meetings  in,  &c."     "  The  question  was  put  to 


512 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


see  whether  the  inhabitants  would  act  anything  re- 
specting the  holding  the  Town-Meetings  for  the  fu- 
ture, and,  a  Poll  being  demanded,  it  was  determined 
that  way,  Ninety-four  for  acting  and  Ninety-three 
against.  Voted,  not  to  act  upon  the  paragraph  in 
the  warrant  respecting  the  erecting  of  a  House  near 
the  Centre  of  the  Town." 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  1828  a  committee  was 
chosen  to  consider  the  building  of  "  one  or  more 
Town  Houses,"  but  whatever  their  report  may  have 
been,  it  was  gently  but  effectively  disposed  of  by  a 
motion  that  "the  subject  subside  for  the  Present." 

The  matter  next  came  up  in  1834.  Another  large 
and  representative  committee  was  appointed,  who 
were  instructed  to  make  estimates  for  "  one  or  more, 
designating  the  place  of  location  of  the  same."  But 
their  report  met  no  better  fate  than  the  one  of  1828. 
It  was  "  deferred, — "  just  twenty  years. 

In  the  warrant  for  the  annual  town-meeting  of 
1854  were  two  articles, — one  for  the  erection  of  a 
town-house  "  near  tlie  centre  of  the  population  and 
business  of  Danvers  South  Parish,"  another  for  the 
erection  of  "  two  school-houses  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  the  Peabody  and  Holten  High  Schools." 

After  much  discussion  and  several  special  meetings, 
these  two  propositions  were  combined.  The  High 
School  buildings  were  a  necessity.  It  was  voted  "  to 
construct  them  so  as  to  make  each  building  suitable 
to  convene  the  town-meetings,"  and  twenty-two 
thousand  dollars  was  appropriated  in  all.  The  report 
of  the  building  committee  was  accepted  in  1856,  and 
ordered  "  placed  on  the  file."  From  this  oblivion  a 
part  is  here  brought  back  to  the  light  of  day.  It  is 
interesting  to  know  what  hands  helped  to  build  our 
temple  of  democracy  and  how  much  it  cost : 

Net  cost  of  land $1350  00 

Benjamin  Moce''8  bill,  contract  and  extras  7800  00 

Architect's  bill 85  00 

John  Eollin's  bill  for  well 26  25 

Perkins  &  Cressy,  building  fence,  etc 115  63 

Clark  &  Blether,  stone  gate-pogts 18  50 

Hezekiah  Dwinell,  gate 28  00 

Smith  &  Wallis,  chestnut  rails  for  fence 42  09 

William  H.  Walcott,  teaming 2  50 

Simeon  Putnam,  freight 12  22 

Benjamin  Tnrner,  building  fence 49  84 

E.  T.  Waldron,  turning-posts  and  furnishinggame 87  00 

Calvin  Putnam,  lumber 43  70 

Eben  Putnam,  painting 61  40 

Eliot  &  Kimball,  masons 8  85 

Stephen  Granville,  furniture,  curtains,  etc 174  49 

Joseph  W.  Ropes,  furnace 380  00 

Joseph  L.  Bobs,  furniture 446  00 

William  0.  Haskell,  settees 125  47 

Total «11,148  05 

Total  cost.  South  Danvers fll,803  48 

The  building  committee  were  Fitch  Poole,  Joseph 
Poor,  Nathan  Tapley,  Calvin  Putnam,  E.  T.  Waldron, 
Josiah  Mudge.  In  the  summer  of  1883  the  Danvers 
town-house  was  enlarged  to  its  present  proportions. 

Thus  much  of  the  town-house.  To  take  up  the 
broken  thread  of  the  division  of  the  town  :  in  Feb- 


ruary 16,  1855,  a  warrant  was  issued  under  the  hands 
of  Lewis  Allen,  Leonard  Poole  and  Nathan  H.  Poor — 
the  names  of  Benjamin  F.  Hutchinson  and  Joel  Put- 
nam, North  Parish  members  of  the  board  of  select- 
men, did  not  appear — warning  the  voters  to  meet  at 
Union  Hall,  in  the  South  Parish,  "to  see  what  action 
the  Town  will  take  on  the  order  of  Notice  from  the 
Legislature  on  the  petition  of  Benjamin  Goodridge 
and  others,  relstive  to  a  division  of  the  Town." 

Lewis  Allen  was  chosen  moderator.  Alfred  A. 
Abbott  presented  the  following  resolution  : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  time  has  arrived  when  the  true  interests  of  all 
portions  of  the  Town  of  Danvers,  and  the  convenience  and  well-being  of 
its  citizens  imperatively  demand  a  division  of  its  extended  territory  and 
numerous  population  into  two  separate  and  independent  municipalities — 
that  an  equitable  and  convenient  division  would  be  made  by  a  dividing- 
line  drawn  from  the  mouth  of  Water's  River  on  the  East,  thence  westerly 
through  the  centre  of  said  River,  to  Pine  Street,  and  thence  straight,  in 
a  northwesterly  course,  to  the  bend  in  Ipswich  River,  the  point  of  inter- 
section of  the  stream  running  from  Phelp's  Mill  ;  all  remaining  on  one 
side  of  said  line  to  constitute  a  town  by  itself;  and  all  remaining  on  the 
other  side  of  said  line  to  constitute  another  and  separate  town  ;  and 
that  our  Representatives  in  the  Legislature  he  hereby  requested,  and  a 
committee  of  Ten  to  be  appointed  by  this  meeting  be  and  they  are  hereby 
instructed  to  use  all  fair  and  honourable  means  in  aid  of  the  prayer 
of  the  petition  of  Benjamin  Goodridge  and  others,  and  to  secure  by  an 
Act  of  the  Legislature,  the  division  of  the  Town  substantially  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  plan  above  indicated." 

An  adverse  amendment  offered  by  Samuel  Prfston 
was  voted  upon  four  difierent  times,  and  each  time  the 
amendment  was  declared  lost. 

Messrs.  Hardy  and  Andrews  jjoUed  the  house,  but 
could  not  agree  in  their  count. 

The  South  people  had  the  advantage  of  position. 
As  the  day  wore  away  the  northern  farmers  had  to 
think  of  the  cows  and  the  chores.  To  take  off  the 
keen  edge  of  the  contest,  a  motion  was  interpolated 
that  a  committee  of  ten — five  from  each  section — be 
chosen  "  to  take  into  consideration  the  subject  as  to 
see  what  names  shall  be  applied  should  a  division 
take  place,  and  report  at  the  next  annual  meeting." 
It  would  take  a  long  time  to  choose  ten  men  ;  it  was 
getting  really  dark ;  the  cows  would  be  suffering,  and, 
then  the  committee  just  elected  were  to  report  at  the 
next  annual  meeting.  So  some  went — enough  to  de- 
cide the  contest  against  the  non-divisionists,  for  the 
South  people  had  no  idea  of  deferring  the  matter. 
They  had  come  to  stay.  The  main  question  was  put, 
and  this  time  the  work  of  the  tellers  was  not  difficult., 
At  five  minutes  past  seven  o'clock  the  moderator  de- 
clared the  result :  one  hundred  and  forty-one  opposed 
to  the  resolution  and  two  hundred  and  thirty-five  in 
favor. 

By  vote  of  the  meeting  the  chairman  nominated  as 
the  committee  called  for  by  the  resolution  :  Dr.  George 
Osborne,  R.  S.  Daniels,  Winthrop  Andrews,  Henry 
Poor,  Moses  Black,  Jr.,  Eben  Sutton,  Philemon  Put- 
nam, Joseph  S.  Needham,  Amos  Merrill  and  Francis 
Dane. 

Within  a  very  short  time,  March  8,  1855,  a  special 
meeting  was  held  in  the  new  town-hall  in  North; 
Parish,  to  vote  by  ballot  on  the  question  :  "  Is  it  ex-. 


DANVERS. 


513 


pedient  to  have  the  Town  divided   agreeably  to  the 
petition  of  Benjamin  Goodridge  and  otners?  " 

Though  the  polls  were  kept  open  from  nine  o'clock 
to  five,  the  advocates  of  division,  relying  on  the  vote 
already  secured,  wisely  let  the  day  go  by  default,  and 
the  count  showed  but  four  yeas  to  four  hundred  and 
thirty-six  nays.  The  clerk  was  instructed  to  send  to 
the  Legislature  on  the  next  day  a  copy  of  the  record 
of  this  meeting,  and  Kendall  O.sborne,  Samuel  Pres- 
ton, Andrew^  Torr,  Daniel  Richards,  Joseph  Poor  and 
Henry  Fowler  were  appointed  to  remonstrate  against 
division.  James  D.  Black  was  in  the  Senate,  and  Israel 
W.  Andrews  was  in  the  house.  The  latter  was  the 
champion  of  the  opposition  to  division,  and  by  a 
great  effort  he  succeeded  in  obtaining  an  adverse  vote 
in  one  of  the  earlier  stages  of  the  bill ;  but  on  May 
18,  1855,  the  Legislature  finally  passed  "An  Act  to 
Incorporate  the  Town  of  South  Danvers."  This  act 
established  a  division  line,  but  provided  that  if  a 
majority  of  the  voters  of  Danvers  should  by  vote  ex- 
press within  thirty  days  their  desire  to  have  the  line 
changed,  that  the  Governor  should  appoint  three 
commissioners  to  consider,  and  finally  determine  the 
same.  The  present  line  was  in  this  manner  estab- 
lished by  commissioners. 

An  examination  of  this  line  as  shown  on  any  good 
map  shows  that  instead  of  following  the  channel  of 
Water's  River  to  the  Sulem  line,  it  leaves  the  river 
and  turns  southerly,  so  as  to  include  about  fifty  acres 
south  of  the  bridge.  Upon  this  territory  is  a  part  of 
Hanson's  Grain-Mill,  the  large  brick-house  built  by 
Matthew  Hooper,  a  three-story  brick  tenement  house 
now  owned  by  John  Bates,  the  old  witchcraft  house 
of  the  Jacobs'  family,jand  several  other  dwellings.  Mat- 
thew Hooper  and  some,  if  not  all,  of  his  neighbors 
petitioned  the  Legislature  to  be  set  off  from  Danvers 
to  South  Danvers,  but  Danvers  was  unwilling  to  let 
them  go,  and  nothing  came  of  their  petition. 

A  special  meeting  of  that  part  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  territory  which  still  retained  the  name  of  Dan- 
vers, was  called  on  28th  of  May,  to  take  such  steps  as 
the  new  phase  of  their  muncipal  career  demanded. 
Certain  vacancies  in  offices  formerly  held  by  citizens 
of  the  new  town  were  filled.  In  the  place  of  Francis 
Baker,  William  L.  Weston  was  chosen  treasurer,  a 
position  to  which  he  was  annually  re-elected  for 
eighteen  years.  Samuel  Preston  and  Zephaniah  Pope 
were  elected  overseers  of  the  poor  in  the  places  of 
Wingate  Merrill  and  Andrew  Torr.  Daniel  P.  Pope 
was  added  to  the  health  committee ;  Aaron  Putnam 
was  chosen  auditor.  There  were  already  three  Dan- 
vers men  on  the  old  board  of  selectmen,  and  seven 
out  of  twelve  on  the  school  committee,  and  in  each 
case  it  was  voted  "  to  dispense  with  choosing  any 
more."  It  was  here  voted  that  the  chairmen  of 
the  several  boards  and  the  clerk  procure  all  the  books 
and  records  remaining  in  South  Danvers,  and  that  the 
Danvers  members  of  the  town-hall  building  commit- 
tee provide  a  suitable  place  for  them. 
33 


Another  very  important  subject  was  considered  at 
this  first  meeting  of  Danvers  after  division.  It  is 
sufBciently  explained  in  the  vote  passed,  namely, 
"  that  a  committee  of persons  be  chosen  to  con- 
fer with  a  committee  of  the  town  of  South  Danvers 
for  the  purpose  of  adjusting  the  division  of  town 
paupers,  town  property,  town  debts.  State  and  county 
taxes,  the  government  of  the  Peabody  Institute,  the 
expenses  of  the  bridges  now  existing  in  the  town  of 
Danvers,  and  any  other  matters  arising  from  the  divi- 
sion of  the  town,  and  if  the  said  committee  shall  dis- 
agree they  are  directed  to  apply  to  the  Court  of  Com- 
mon Pleas  for  the  County  of  Essex  for  the  appoint- 
ment of  three  disinterested  persons  to  hear  the  parties 
and  award  thereon."  At  an  adjournment  a  week  later 
the  blank  in  the  vote  was  filled  by  the  appointment 
of  one  from  each  of  the  old  school  districts  remaining 
in  Danvers,  as  follows:  No.  13,  William  Dodge,  Jr.; 
No.  2,  Henry  Fowler;  No.  3,  Aaron  Putnam  ;  No.  4, 
Francis  Dodge ;  No.  5,  Nathaniel  Pope  ;  No.  6, 
Nathan  Tapley ;  No.  14,  George  Tapley. 

South  Danvers  was  represented  by  George  0.->l)orne, 
Henry  Poor,  Robert  S.  Daniels,  Francis  Baker,  Eben 
King  and  Abel  Preston. 

The  two  committees,  acting  in  conference,  first  met 
on  June  25,  1855,  and  proceeded  then,  and  at  suc- 
cessive adjournments,  to  a  very  systematic  appraisal 
and  adjustment  of  accounts  between  the  two  towns. 
The  report,  which  was  accepted  in  all  particulars  save 
that  part  which  referred  to  the  government  of  the 
Peabody  Institute,  on  March  2,  1857,  and  which  was 
finally  accepted  as  a  whole  on  February  1, 1858,  covers 
nearly  twenty  large-sized  pages  of  record,  and,  though 
very  interesting  reading,  is  too  long  to  insert  here.  A 
few  general  items  may  be  culled  from  the  report,  how- 
ever. The  footing  of  the  appraisal  of  the  property  of 
the  old  town,  on  May  18,  1855,  the  day  of  division, 
exclusive  of  the  two  town  houses,  the  Surplus  Revenue 
and  the  Massachusetts  School  Fund,  was  $39,184.50. 

The  assessors'  valuation,  1854,  of  property  north  of 
the  division  line  was  $1,444,900;  south  of  the  line, 
$2,732,600.  Danvers  was,  therefore,  entitled  to  34iW!r 
per  cent,  of  the  corporate  property,  or  the  value  of 
$13,553.14,  and  South  Danvers  to  65iVinj  per  cent., 
$25,691.36. 

To  the  town  of  Danvers  was  assigned  property 
scheduled  as  follows : 

Engine  General  Scott,  fixtures  and  hose $814  00 

Engine  General  Putnam,  fixtures  and  hose 586  50 

Engine  Ocean,  fixtures  and  liose 657  OO 

Sail  car  at  Danversport 15  oO 

Engine  House  No.  2 275  00 

Engine  House  No.  4 300  00 

Engine  House  N06 350  00 

Hearse  House  at  Cemetery 45  00 

Hearse  House  at  Braman's 120  00 

Two  new  hearses,  $440  ;  one  old  hearse,  $20 460  00 

Liquors  and  fixtures  at  J.  W.  Snows 100  50 

Iron  safe,  1400  lbs.  at  8c 112  00 

Case  for  weights  and  measures 6  00 

Bookcase,  7,  Pound  at  Whipple's  Brook,  33 40  00 

Five  ballot  boxes,  3,  stereotype  maps  of  Danvers,  1 4  00 


514 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Keservoir  near  E.  Putnam's 89  25 

Reservoir  near  C.  Pntnani's 164  00 

Reservoir  near  Village  Bank 80  25 

Reservoir  n(3ar  baptist  Church  (interest  in) 1  00 

Houks-and-laUdcrs  near  Baptist  Church 25  00 

Hooks-and-ladilers  near  Fox  Hill 5  00 

Hook-and-ladders  near  Berry's  Stahle 15  00 

Hooks-and-ladders  near  P.  Tapley's  house 25  00 


Total $4297  60 

The  resiflue  of  town  property,  including  the  town 
farm  and  almshouse  (appraised  at  $22,050,  and  jier- 
sonal  property  thereon,  $5,519),  the  whole  valued  at 
$34,887,  was  assigned  to  South  Danvers. 

The  Surplus  Revenue  Fund  ($10,000),  by  the  terms 
of  the  act  was  to  be  apportioned  according  to  the 
number  of  children  between  five  and  fifteen  years  of 
age,  on  May  1,  1855,  on  either  side  of  the  line.  The 
number  of  children  was  ascertained  to  be  as  follows: 

District.     Danvers.     S.  Danvers. 


2 

239 

3 

53 

4 

71 

5 

126 

6 

32 

44 

7 

51 

8 

125 

9 

22 

District     Danvers 

S.  Danver 

10 

47 

11              

359 

12 

170 

13                228 

14                181 

Totals 930 

1170 

Grand  Total 

2107 

To  Danvers  was,  therefore,  assigned  $4,413.85  ;  to 
South  Danvers,  $5,586.15.  The  amount  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts School  Fund,  $862.72,  was,  on  the  same 
basis,  apportioned,  $383.45  to  Danvers,  and  $485.27  to 
South  Danvers. 

The  cost  of  the  two  new  town  houses  was  found,  as 
has  been  already  noticed,  to  be  $22,951.53.  The  north 
building  cost  $11,148.05.  On  tlie  basis  of  valuation, 
Danvers  was  entitled  only  to  the  34/;^^^  per  cent,  of 
the  value  of  both  buildings,  namely,  $7,938.24;  there- 
fore, Danvers  was  indebted  to  South  Danvers  in  this 
matter,  $3,209.81. 

The  total  tax  for  1855  was  found  to  be  $44,698,  of 
which  $15,460.15  was  due  Danvers,  and  $29,237.85 
South  Danvers ;  and  the  balance  of  accounts  showed 
that  Danvers  owed  South  Danvers,  $9,016.98. 

The  total  indebtedness  of  the  old  town,  on  May  18, 
1855,  was  $65,167.38,  of  which  $20,000  was  held  by 
the  Salem  Savings  Bank,  about  $19,000  by  the  Warren 
Bank,  $10,000  by  the  Trustees  of  the  Surplus  Revenue 
Fund,  and  $3,500  by  the  Danvers  Savings  Bank ;  and 
the  total  assets,  $4,829.18 — leaving  the  balance  of  in- 
debtedness, $60,338.20.  Of  this  balance,  Danvers  was 
holden  to  pay,  according  to  the  fixed  ratio,  $20,869.78; 
South  Danvers,  $39,468.42.  And  it  was  decided  that 
South  Danvers  pay  to  Danvers  this  latter  amount  in 
full  discharge  of  its  proportion  of  indebtedness,  with 
interest  from  May  15,  1855,  and  that  Danvers,  retain- 
ing all  the  assets,  continue  liable  for  the  whole  amount 
of  indebtedness. 

One  point  the  joint  committee  could  not  agree  up- 
on. The  Danvers  men  claimed  that  South  Danvers 
was  liable  to  pay  its  proportion  of  two  roads,  Town's 


road  and  Endicott  Street ;  the  South  Danvers  men 
refused  to  allow  the  claim,  and  the  matter  was  passed 
unsettled. 

After  a  careful  examination  of  all  the  bridges  in 
the  old  town,  the  committee  awarded  eight  hundred 
and  seventy-five  dollars  to  be  paid  by  South  Danvers 
to  Danvers  as  an  indemnity  to  the  latter  for  the 
greater  burden  thenceforth  to  be  borne  by  reason  of 
their  maintenance. 

The  final  balance  of  all  accounts  passed  upon 
showed  that  South  Danvers  was  indebted  to  Danvers 
in  the  sum  of  $33,931. 86. 

It  was  found  that  of  the  thirty-seven  paupers  at 
the  almshouse,  seven  had  gained  or  derived  a  settle- 
ment within  the  limits  of  Danvers,  and  the  remainder 
within  the  new  town  and  mutual  releases  were  re- 
commended from  each  town  to  the  other  from  liability 
for  support  of  those  paupers  not  found  to  belong  to 
the  resi)ective  towns. 

The  relative  interests  of  the  two  towns  in  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Peabody  Institute  were  adjusted  so 
that  South  Danvers  should  have  nine  of  the  twelve 
trustees,  a  lion's  share  and  inasmuch  as  four  of 
the  board  were  already  residents  of  Danvers,  it  was 
provided  that  the  first  vacancy  occurring  among 
these  four  should  be  filled  from  South  Danvers. 

Finally,  as  a  matter  of  courtesy,  it  was  agreed  that 
Danvers  should  pay  its  proportional  expense  of  the 
cost  (two  hundred  dollars),  of  copying  the  records  for 
South  Danvers,  and  that  the  latter  town  should  pay 
its  proportion  of  J.  C.  Stickney's  bill  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars,  for  services  in  behalf  of  the  North 
people  before  the  Legislature. 

And  so,  now  for  more  than  thirty  years,  there  have 
been  two  towns  where  there  was  but  one.  Those  who 
went  out  are  richer  and  more  populous  than  tht)se 
who  are  left;  but  to  the  latter,  within  narrowed 
limits,  belong  the  name  and  fame  of  the  old  town. 
The  question  of  division  gave  rise  to  much  bitter  feel- 
ing, but  the  fact  of  division  was  sooner  or  later  one 
of  necessity.  It  is  only  strange  that  it  did  not  come 
earlier.  Traces  of  this  feeling,  it  must  be  acknowl- 
edged, might  still  reward  patient  research,  but  the 
younger  generation  know  it  not.  While  there  is 
little  mutually  attractive  between  the  towns,  but 
each  looks  to  Salem  as  a  centre,  there  is  nothing  re- 
pellant  between  them,  and  with  increased  traveling 
facilities  the  people  are  learning  to  know  each  other 
better  to  the  end  of  a  more  perfect  cordiality  and 
unity. 

And,  now,  to  return  to  the  broken  thread  of  the 
story  of  George  Peabody 's  benefactifms.  In  the 
latter  part  of  the  summer  of  1856  it  was  known  that 
the  man  whose  name  had  become  so  vvidely  honored 
intended  presently  to  leave  London  for  a  visit  to  this 
country.  On  the  petition  of  the  trustees  of  the  insti- 
tute the  selectmen  of  South  Danvers  called  a  town- 
meeting,    August   21,  1856,   at   which   resolutions  of 


DANVERS. 


515 


welcome  were  passed,  and  a  committee  of  twenty, 
together  with  the  selectmen,  were  appointed  to  meet 
Mr.  Peabody  on  his  arrival  at  New  York  "to  invite 
him  to  the  home  of  his  youth,  and  the  seat  of  his 
noble  benefactions;  and,  if  lie  sliall  accept  their  in- 
vitation, to  adopt  such  measures  for  his  reception  and 
entertainment  as,  in  their  judgment,  will  best  express 
the  love  and  honor  which  we  bear  him."  An  attested 
copy  of  the  action  of  South  Danvers  was  sent  to 
Danvers,  with  an  invitation  to  unite  in  the  proposed 
reception. 

On  September  10th  a  Danvers  town-meeting  passed 
a  series  of  resolutions,  thanking  "  our  sister  town  of 
South  Danvers  for  the  invitation  to  co-operate  with 
them  in  the  reception  and  entertainment  of  Mr.  Pea- 
body,"  heartily  concurring  in  the  sentiments  of  the  res- 
olutions adopted  by  them,  and  a  committee  of  twenty- 
one  were  chosen  to  act  with  the  South  Danvers  com- 
mittee.    The  gentlemen  chosen  were, — 

Joshua  Silvester,  chairman. 

Samuel  Preston.  Philemon  Putnam. 

Ebenezer  Hunt.  Levi  Merrill. 

Samuel  P.  Fowler.  Charles  Page. 

William  L.  Weston.  Reuben  Wilkins. 

Matthew  Hooper.  William  Endicott. 

Israel  II.  Putnam.  William  Green. 

Augustus  Bludge.  Charles  P.  Preston. 

James  D.  Black.  Benjamin  F.  Hutcliinson. 

Jolin  A.  Learoyd.  George  A.  Tapley. 

Nathan  Tapley.  Arthur  A.  Putnam,  secretary. 

The  committees  of  the  two  towns  henceforth  acted 
as  a  joint  committee,  and  the  general  expenses  of  the 
celebration  were  l)orne  by  the  inhabitants  of  both 
towns  in  due  proportion,  as  if  no  division  had  taken 
place.  Delegations  from  the  joint  committee  were 
sent  to  New  York  to  welcome  Mr.  Peabody  on  his  ar- 
rival, and,  despite  numerous  invitations  to  accept  of 
metropolitan  honors,  he  declined  to  accept  any  pub- 
lic demonstration  except  from  the  hands  of  his  own 
townsmen.  And  so  on  the  9th  of  October,  1856,  the 
old  town  gave  her  son  a  royal  welcome.  Because  of 
Mr.  Peabody's  modest  refusal  to  be  honored  elsewhere, 
those  who  wished  to  show  him  tlieir  respect  were 
obliged  to  come  to  him.  "From  being  simply  a  vil- 
latre  festival,  it  became  almost  national  in  its  char- 
acter." 

The  day  of  the  reception  opened  auspiciously — 
one  of  the  fine  Indian  summer  days.  Mr.  Peabody 
had  come  from  Georgetown,  driving  over  the  road  in 
a  private  carriage  with  his  two  sisters  and  a  nephew. 
A  salute  of  a  hundred  guns  announced  his  arrival  at 
the  Maple  Street  Church,  Danvers  Plains.  Here  he 
was  met  by  the  committee,  and  was  seated  in  an  ele- 
gant barouche,  drawn  by  six  horses,  accompanied  by 
Robert  S.  Daniels,  Joshua  Silvester  and  Rev.  Milton 
P.  Braman. 

"The  scene  here  was  very  beautiful.  The  spire  of 
the  church  and  private  buildings  were  gayly  dressed 
with  Hags  and  streamers,  and  in  full  view  was  an  ele- 
gant three-fold  arch  spanning  the  wide  street,  the  cen- 
tre arch   rising   high   above   the   others,   and    being 


adorned  with  evergreens,  wreaths,  medalions,  flowers 
and  flags."  This  arch  deserves  more  than  passing 
notice.  One  cannot  easily  imagine  its  imposing  and 
graceful  proportions.  It  was  designed  and  executed 
by  Mr.  Silvester,  and  coming  first  in  the  long  series 
of  decorations  with  which  the  streets  of  both  towns 
were  adorned,  Mr.  Peabody  personally  expressed  his 
surprise  and  grateful  admiration  to  its  designer  at  his 
side. 

Two  cavalcades  were  drawn  up  just  below  the 
arch;  one  wholly  of  ladies,  added  greatly  to  the  at- 
tractiveness of  the  escort.  Each  lady  threw  into  Mr. 
Peabody's  carriage,  as  he  passed,  a  bouquet  of  flowers. 
The  procession  moved  on  through  High  Street  to 
Danversport,  and  so  on  to  South  Danvers,  "  through 
streets  lined  with  decorated  houses  and  under  wav- 
ing flags  and  triumphal  arches,  attended  by  the  boom- 
ing of  cannon  and  strains  of  martial  music.  The 
shouts  and  salutations  of  the  people  were  gracefully 
acknowledged  by  Mr.  Peabody  as  he  bowed  to  the 
throng  on  either  side."  The  cavalcades  and  car- 
riages forming  as  escort  about  half  a  mile  long,  pro- 
ceeded thus  through  and  out  of  Danvers  and  into 
South  Danvers. 

At  Wilson's  Corner  Mr.  Peabody  and  hig  escort 
found  drawn  up  to  receive  them  the  main  body  of  a 
large  and  notable  procession. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  enter  into  the  details  of  the 
day.  The  pageant  of  joy  was  equalled  only  by  the 
pageant  of  sorrow,  when  through  the  same  streets  the 
great  benefactor  was  years  later  borne  to  his  grave. 
On  the  day  following  the  reception  Mr.  Peabody 
went  back  in  company  with  his  sisters  to  George- 
town. A  large  crowd  was  gathered  in  Danvers 
Square,  intent  on  having  a  last  hand-shaking.  Tired, 
as  he  must  have  been,  it  was  evidently  his  intention 
to  proceed  with  only  a  passing  greeting,  but  he 
found  his  way  blocked  by  a  barrier  he  could  not  re- 
sist. A  chain  of  little  children  stretched,  hand  in 
hand,  clear  across  the  wide  street.  He  stopped,  and 
the  informal  reception  held  from  the  open  carriage, 
and  his  expression  of  pleasure  at  the  enthusiastic 
welcome  accorded  him,  made  a  pleasing  close  of  the 
great  reception. 

Branch  Library  and  Peabody  Institute. — 
Reference  has  been  made  to  the  fact  that  Joshua 
Silvester  had  partaken  of  Mr.  Peabody's  hospitalities 
in  London.  Mr.  Silvester  went  to  England  in  the 
latter  part  of  1846,  the  year  after  the  disastrous  fire 
which  swept  away  his  business  on  Danvers  Plains. 
He  took  with  him  his  brother-in-law,  J.  M.  C.  Noyes, 
and  Jacob  Cross,  Samuel  Knights,  Chas.  Wait,  and 
one  Story,  of  ICssex,  and  introduced  the  business  of 
making  pegged  shoes  in  Manchester.  Mr.  Silvester 
came  back  within  a  year,  the  others  soon  following, 
except  Noyes,  who  remained  and  carried  on  the  busi- 
ness until  his  death,  about  ten  years  ago.  Between 
1850  and  1855  Mr.  Silvester  made  four  other  trips  to 
England.     On  one  of  these,  in  '53,  he  took  letters  to 


516 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Mr.  Peabody,  was  invited  to  attend  his  annual 
Fourth  of  July  dinner,  and  being  the  only  Dan  vers 
man  in  London,  was  asked  much  by  him  concerning 
the  progress  of  the  Institute  he  had  then  recently 
given.  This  acquaintance  thus  formed,  ripened  with 
later  visits. 

It  was  to  Mr.  Silvester  that,  soon  after  the  recep- 
tion here  in  1856,  Mr.  Peabody  wrote  from  George- 
town, requesting  a  meeting  on  the  arrival  of  a  certain 
train  at  the  Danvers  station.  While  walking  to- 
gether on  the  station  platform,  Mr.  Peabody  first 
made  known  his  intention  to  give  ten  thousand  dol- 
lars to  establish  a  Branch  Library  for  Danvers,  so 
that  the  citizens  of  this  part  of  the  old  town  would 
not  be  obliged  to  depend  on  the  Institute  at  South 
Danvers.  He  asked  Mr.  Silvester  to  bring  to  him  at 
the  Revere  House,  Boston,  a  list  of  suitable  persons 
to  receive  the  gift.  Mr.  Silvester  found  him  enjoying 
buckwheat  cakes  at  a  late  breakfast;  and  over  an  in- 
formal cup  of  coffee  the  list  was  accepted,  with  Mr. 
Silvester's  name,  which  Mr.  Peabody  insisted  upon 
adding.  This  letter,  soon  written,  is  self  explana- 
tory. 

"  Revere  House,  Boston,  Dec.  22,  1856. 

"  Gentlemen  : — During  my  recent  visit  to  tlie  old  town  of  Danvers,  I 
haJ  opportunities  of  examining  into  and  understanding  the  operations 
of  the  Institute,  and  of  ascertaining  to  some  extent  the  comparative  ad- 
vantages derived  from  it  by  different  portions  of  the  town. 

"In  compliance  with  my  oiiginal  directions  the  Institute  was  located 
within  one-third  of  a  mile  of  the  site  of  the  meeting  house  formerly  un- 
der the  pastoral  care  of  Rev.  Mr.  Walker;  and  while  thus  the  popula- 
tion of  South  Danvers  is  within  a  reasonable  distance  of  the  Institute, 
the  population  of  Danvers  is  mostly  too  remote  therefrom,  and  cannot 
very  conveniently  share  fully  in  its  privileges.  It  has  occurred  to  me 
that  a  Branch  Library  might  be  established  in  Danvers,  in  some  central 
position,  probably  the  Plains,  which  would  remedy  the  existing  difficul- 
ty and  would  secure  to  the  inhabitants  a  more  equal  participation  in  the 
benefits  which  it  was  my  design  to  confer  upon  all. 

"  I  therefore  propose  to  make  a  donation  of  Ten  Thousand  Dollars  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  a  Bi-anch  Library,  to  be  located  as  before 
mentioned  provided  the  suggestions  and  conditions  hereinafter  stated 
are  satisfactory  to  all  the  parties  interested. 

"  First,  the  Library  shall  be  called  and  known  as  the  Branch  Libr.^ry 
of  the  Peabody  Institute,  and  shall  be  under  thg  direction  and  control 
of  the  Trustees  of  the  Institute,  iu  the  same  manner  and  to  the  same  ex- 
tent as  are  the  funds  of  the  Institute  aud  its  library  at  South  Dauvers. 

Second,  Three  Thousand  Dollars  of  the  amount  to  be  expended  at 
once  for  the  purchase  of  books,  and  the  fitting  up  a  room  or  rooms  for 
their  reception  ;  the  remainder.  Seven  Thousand  Dollars,  to  be  safely  in- 
vested by  said  Trustees,  aud  the  income  thereof  to  be  used  by  the  Lyce- 
um and  Library  Committee  of  the  Institute  for  the  increase  of  the  Li- 
brary, the  payment  of  rent,  and  for  defraying  such  other  expenses  as 
may  be  incurred  in  the  proper  care  and  management  of  the  same  ;  the 
whole  income  to  be  used  for  the  exclusive  benefit  of  the  Branch  Li- 
brary. 

"Third,  the  inhabitants  of  Danvers  are  to  be  still  entitled  to  the  full 
enjoyment  of  all  the  privileges  and  advantages  of  the  Parent  Library 
and  of  the  Lyceum,  and  the  inhabitants  of  South  Danvers  are  to  have 
the  right  of  participating  equally  iu  the  privileges  of  the  Branch  Libra- 
ry. If,  however,  it  should  be  found  hereafter  that  this  arrangement 
ought  to  be  modified  for  the  better  accommodation  and  the  greater  ad- 
vantage of  all  concerned,  then  this  last  provision,  as  also  either  of  the 
others,  may  be  altered  by  general  consent  ;  such  alteratien  being  subject 
to  my  approbation. 

"  It  is  my  desire,  gentlemen,  that  you  will,  as  soon  after  the  receipt 
of  this  as  convenient,  confer  with  some  of  our  friends  in  Danvers,  in 
which  conference  it  is  my  wish  that  the  Lyceum  and  Library  Committee 
of  the  Institute  should  take  part,  as  in  all  proceedings  relating  to  this 
matter.  "Very  respectfully  and  truly  yours, 

"George  Peabody." 


Mr.  Peabody  designated  Rev.  Milton  P.  Braman, 
Samuel  Preston,  Joshua  Silvester,  James  D.  Black, 
Matthew  Hooper  and  William  L.  Weston,  to  act  in 
the  conference,  suggested  by  the  above  letter,  with 
the  trustees  of  the  Institute  and  the  Lyceum  and  Li- 
brary Committee.  Appropriate  resolutions  were 
passed  at  a  town-meeting  held  January  12,  1857  ;  and 
at  the  same  time  it  was  voted  to  offer  to  the  trustees 
for  the  use  of  the  branch  library  certain  rooms  in  the 
Town-House  over  the  selectmen's  and  town-clerk's 
offices.  And  here  the  library  was  situated  for  about 
a  dozen  years.  The  first  delivery  of  books  from  the 
branch  library  was  September  5,  1857.  It  then  con- 
tained two  thousand  three  hundred  and  seventy  vol- 
umes. 

But  as  early  as  the  March  meeting  of  1857,  the 
town  took  action  towards  securing  a  suitable  lot 
on  which  some  time  to  erect  a  library  building.  The 
matter  was  referred  with  full  powers  to  a  committee 
consisting  of  the  selectmen  and  Matthew  Hooper  and 
Wm.  L.  Weston  at  large;  and,  by  districts,  Joshua 
Silvester,  Moses  Black,  Jr.,  Aar.u  Putnam,  Francis  P. 
Putnam,  James  (loodale,  Israel  W.  Andrews,  George 
Tapley  and  Frederick  A.  Wilkins.  This  committee 
purchased,  for  four  thousand  dollars,  about  four  and 
a  half  acres,  fronting  on  Sylvan  Street,  of  land 
formerly  a  part  of  Judge  Samuel  Putnam's  estate. 
Mr.  Silvester,  Mr.  Hooper  and  Augustus  Mudge  were 
appointed  to  lay  out  the  ground  in  a  suitable  manner. 
This  latter  committee  expended  $347.13  in  grading, 
laying  out  walks,  etc.,  and  they  set  out  two  hundred 
and  sixty-one  rock-maple  trees.  In  their  report  they 
say: 

"When  Mr.  George  Peabody  was  riding  through  these  grounds  last 
August,  he  seemed  to  inquire  with  much  interest,  what  grounds  ihey 
were  ;  he  was  answered  that  it  was  Peabody  Park,  a  lot  purchased  by 
the  Town  for  the  Branch  Library  Building  site,  and  as  there  is  no  name 
sanctioned  by  the  Town,  the  Committee  would  advise  the  adoption  of 
Peabody  Park  as  the  futui'e  name  of  this  lot.  .  .  .  The  committee 
would  also  express  their  appreciation  of  the  valuable  services  of  one  of 
their  number  who  has  been  removed  by  death,  Mr.  Matthew  Hooper, 
and  add  their  testimony  to  his  worth  as  a  member  of  the  committee  and 
the  high  estimation  in  which  he  was  justly  held  by  citizens  of  the 
town." 

Ten  years  passed,  long,  trying  years ;  and  after  the 
war  was  over,  in  the  spring  of  1866,  it  was  known  that 
Mr.  Peabody  intended  to  visit  this  country  again.  At 
a  special  town-meeting,  April  23,  1866,  Rev.  Milton 
P.  Braman  and  Daniel  Richards  were  sent  to  meet 
Mr.  Peabody  at  New  York,  and  in  concert  with  a 
delegation  from  South  Danvers  to  tender  him  a 
cordial  welcome  in  behalf  of  both  towns. 

This  visit  was  especially  auspicious  to  Danvers. 
Not  contented  with  the  generous  gift  of  the  branch 
library,  Mr.  Peabody  had  come  prepared  to  make  a 
far  more  notable  donation.  The  endowment  of  the 
Peabody  Institute  of  Danvers  is  contained  in  the 
following  letter : 

"To Rev.  Milton  P.  Braman,  Joshua  Silvester,  Francis  Peabody, 
Jr.,  Samuel  P.  Fowler,  Daniel  Richards,  Israel  W.  Andrews,  Jacob 


DANVERS. 


517 


F.  Perrv,  Charles  P.  Preston  and  Israel  II.  Pi  TiNam,  Ksyiis.,  all  of 
Danvers. 

"Gentlemen: — In  a  letter  to  the  Trustees  of  the  Peabody  Institute 
at  South  Danvers,  bearing  date  of  the  •22d  of  last  month,  I  expressed  to 
them  my  purpose  of  giving,  in  addition  to  the  Tea  Thousand  Dollars 
formerly  given  by  me  to  them  for  the  foundation  of  the  Branch  Library 
in  your  town  the  sum  of  Forty  Thousand  Dollars,  making  in  all  Fifty 
Thousand  Dollars  for  the  foundation  of  a  separate  end  distinct  Institu- 
tion in  your  town  ;  and  with  the  understandiug  that  by  the  necessary 
muncipal  action  on  the  part  of  South  Danvers  and  Danvers,  each  town 
should  formally  relinciuish  all  rights  and  privileges  in  the  Library,  Lec- 
tures or  other  benefits  of  the  other  ;  and  I  then  also  stated  that  it  would 
be  necessary  that  the  fund  heretofore  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Trustees 
of  the  Institute  at  South  Danvers  for  the  especial  use  of  the  Branch  Lib- 
rary should  be  transferred  to  those  who  should  hereafter  have  it  in 
charge. 

"  The  Town  of  South  Danvers  having  taken  the  municipal  action  indi- 
cated in  the  letter  to  which  I  have  referred,  I  now,  with  the  understand- 
iug that  the  Town  of  Danvers  has  taken  or  shall  take  like  action,  desig- 
nate j'ou,  gentlemen,  as  the  persons  to  whom  the  funds  heretofore  held 
by  the  said  Trustees  for  the  benefit  of  the  Branch  Library,  shall  now  be 
transferred,  and  give  you  in  addition  the  sum  of  Forty  Thousand  Dol- 
lars; which  with  the  amount  thus  transferred  to  you,  shall  be  by  you 
held  in  trust,  or  expended  under  the  provision  of  such  Trust,  for  the 
establishment  of  an  Institute,  for  the  promotion  of  knowledge  and  Mo- 
rality, in  the  Town  of  Danvers,  similar  in  its  general  character  to  that 
which  now  exists  at  South  Danvers. 

"  Of  the  amount,  I  direct  that  the  sum  of  thirty  thousand  dollars  be 
and  always  remain  permanently  invested  as  a  Fund,  of  which  the 
annual  income  shall  be  expended,  under  the  direction  of  youi-selves  and 
your  successors  for  the  maintenance,  increase,  and  care  of  the  Library, 
and  the  delivery  of  such  Lectures  or  courses  of  Lectures,  as  shall  be  con- 
ducive to  the  purpose  propo.sed  in  the  establishment  of  the  institution. 

"  The  remainder  of  the  amount  I  have  placed  in  your  hands  as  above, 
shall  be  used  for  the  erection  of  a  suitable  building  for  the  Library  and 
other  purposes  of  the  said  Institute,  which  shall  be  completed  within 
two  years  from  the  date  hereof.  In  the  event  of  any  and  all  the  vacan- 
cies occurring  in  the  number  of  you,  my  Tru.stees  above  named,  by  resig- 
nation, by  death,  or  in  what  manner  soever  such  vacancy  shall  occur,  I 
dire'.t  that  such  vacancy  shall  be  filled  by  the  choice  of  the  Inhabitants 
of  the  Town  of  Danvei-s  legally  qualified  to  vote  at  Town-meetings,  who 
shall,  at  a  Town-meeting  to  be  called  for  the  purpose  as  soon  as  conven- 
iently may  be  after  such  vacancy  occurs,  make  such  choice  ;  and  1 
further  direct  that  my  said  Trustees  shall  annually  make  and  print  a 
Report,  which  shall  be  made  public  and  published  setting  forth  the  con- 
dition of  the  Library  and  of  the  funds  invested. 

"And  wishing  as  I  do  to  promote  both  now,  and  for  all  coming  time  a 
spirit  of  Peace,  unity  and  brotherly  love,  I  enjoin  upon  you  and  your 
successors  forever  the  same  principles  and  directions  for  your  guidance 
in  relation  to  party  politics  or  sectarian  theology,  or  any  allusion  to 
them  whatever  in  any  of  the  lectures,  meetings  or  transactions  of  the  In- 
stitute, which  I  have  already  enjoined  upon  the  Trustees  of  the  Peabody 
Institute  at  South  Danvers,  in  my  letter  September  22,  1866,  and  I  beg 
to  refer  you  specially  to  that  letter,  for  the  rules  to  be  observed  in  rela- 
tion to  your  future  course. 

"I  have  further  to  ask,  that  you  will  communicate  the  contents  of 

this  letter  of  trust  to  a  town-meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Danvers  at  as 

early  a  day  as  convenient. 

"  I  am  with  high  respect  your  humble  servant, 

"  George  Peabodv. 
"Oakland,  Md  ,  October  30,  1866." 

rules   REFEEKED   to    in    MR.  PEABODV'S    LETTER. 

"  My  earnest  wish  to  promote  at  all  times  a  spirit  of  harmony  and 
good  will  in  society,  my  aversion  to  intolerance  and  party  rancor  and  my 
enduring  respect  and  love  for  the  happy  institutions  of  our  prosperous 
republic,  impel  me  to  express  the  wish  that  the  Institute  I  have  pur- 
posed to  you  shall  always  be  strictly  guarded  against  the  possibility  of 
being  made  a  theater  for  the  dissemination  or  discussion  of  sectarian 
theology  of  party  politics ;  that  it  shall  never  minister  in  any  manner 
whatever  to  infidelity,  to  visionary  theories  of  a  pretended  philosophy 
which  may  be  aimed  at  the  subversion  of  the  approved  morals  of  society  ; 
that  it  shall  never  lend  its  aid  or  influence  to  the  propagation  of  opin- 
ions tending  to  create  or  encourage  sectional  jealousies  in  our  happy 
country,  or  which  may  lead  to  the  alienation  of  the  people  of  one  state 
er  section  of  the  Union  from  another. 

"  But  that  it  shall  be  so  conducted,  throughout  its  whole  career,  as  to 


teach  political  and  religious  charity,  toleration  and  beneficence,  and 
prove  itself  to  be,  in  all  conditions  and  contingencies,  the  true  friend  of 
our  inestimable  Union,  of  the  salutary  institutions  of  our  free  govern- 
ment, and  of  liberty  regulated  by  law." 

Some  question  arose  as  to  the  best  location  for  the 
New  Institute.      At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  town, 

1867,  the  matter  was  referred  to  a  committee,  of 
which  Wm.  L.  Weston  was  chairman,  who  reported, 
"  There  are  many  considerations  which  would  make 
it  desirable  that  a  building  such  as  is  proposed  should 
be  more  centrally  located  ;  but,  after  conferring  with 
the  Trustees,  they  are  nearly  unanimous  in  tlie  con- 
clusion that  the  interests  of  the  town  will  be  best 
promoted  by  its  location  on  the  spot  originally  se- 
lected. They  therefore  recommend  the  passage  of 
the  following  vote :  That  the  Selectmen  of  the  town 
be  and  they  are  hereby  authorized  to  transfer  to  the 
Trustees  of  the  Peabody  Institute  the  lot  known  as 
Peabody  Park,  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  thereon,  at 
such  time  as  the  Trustees  may  deem  expedieut,  a  Ly- 
ceum and  Library  building." 

These  recommendations  were  accepted.  Time  adds 
each  year  to  the  beauty  of  the  grounds  and  empha- 
sizes the  wisdom  of  the  choice. 

Plans  for  a  building  were  laid  before  Mr.  Peabody 
and   approved  by    him.     On   the  10th  of  February, 

1868,  a  contract  was  made  with  Charles  H.  Smith,  of 
Newburyport,  for  its  construction,  for  the  sum  of 
$18,500.  The  institute  was  completed  in  January, 
1870,  at  a  total  cost  of  $29,241.  It  is  a  woodeu  build- 
ing, inclined  to  the  Gothic  style  of  architecture, 
eighty-six  by  fifty-two  feet,  and  contains  on  the  lower 
floor  the  Peabody  Public  Library,  and  on  the  second 
floor  a  large  lecture-hall. 

Mr.  Peabody  was  ag.iin  expected  from  England 
during  the  summer  of  1870.  The  formal  opening  of 
the  institute  was  deferred  to  the  14th  of  July,  when 
he,  him-elf,  was  present.  A  permanent  record  of  the 
events  of  that  memorable  day  was  made  by  the  gra- 
phic pen  of  Dr.  Braman. 

A  few  months  later,  and  the  world  received  in  sad- 
ness the  news  that  George  Peabody  was  dead.  He 
died  on  the  4th  of  November,  1870,  in  London. 
Once  more  he  was  borne  across  the  Atlantic,  and  the 
cannon  of  a  noble  ship  of  the  Queen  of  England  an- 
nounced to  his  native  land  the  arrival  of  his  body- 
According  to  his  dying  request  he  was  buried  from 
the  place  where  he  was  born,  and  the  funeral  pomp 
was  such  as  when  a  king  dies. 

The  citizens  of  South  Danvers  had  already  honored 
and  perpetuated  his  name  by  the  acceptance  of  an 
act  passed  bv  the  Legislature  April  13,  1868,  that 
"  the  town  of  South  Danvers,  in  the  County  of  Essex, 
shall  take  the  name  of  Peabody." 

The  people  of  Danvers  hold  Mr.  Peabody's  name 
very  dear.  His  gift  to  theiu  was  especially  generous, 
for,  were  his  only  motive  to  remember  his  birth-place, 
that  might  well  have  been  satisfied  by  his  original 
gift  to  the  old  town.      The  Peabody  Institute  of  Dan- 


518 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY.  MASSACHUSETTS. 


vers  is  a  potent  influence  for  education,  which,  in  the 
words  of  the  donor,  "  is  a  debt  due  from  the  present 
to  future  generations." 

Of  the  original  life  Trustees  Francis  Peabody, 
Jr.,  Samuel  P.  Fowler,  Israel  W.  Andrews  and  Is- 
rael H.  Putnam  are  still  on  the  board. 

The  first  vacancies  occurred  in  1S71,  when  Mr. 
Branian  and  Mr.  Preston  resigned.  It  was  then  voted 
that  the  term  of  office  of  trustees  elected  by  the  town 
should  be  four  years ;  and  Mr.  Preston  and  Melvin  B. 
Putnam  were  elected.  In  1875  Mr.  Preston  and  Ezra 
D.  nines  were  elected.  In  1877  Mr.  Perry  resigned^ 
and  Dr.  W.  W.  Eaton  was  elected  in  his  place.  In 
1879  Mr.  Preston  and  Mr.  Hines  were  re-elected.  At 
the  expiration  of  Dr.  Eaton's  term,  in  1881,  J.Peter 
Gardner  was  elected.  In  1883  Lucius  A.  Mudge  and 
William  T.  Damon  were  elected.  In  1885  Mr.  Gard 
ner  was  reelected.  In  1887  Mr.  Mudge  and  Mr. 
Damon  were  re-elected,  and  Joseph  W.  Woodman 
was  also  elected  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the 
death  of  Daniel  Richards. 

A  course  of  free  lectures,  concerts,  etc.,  have  been 
annually  provided  since  the  winter  of  1867-68,  at  an 
average  expense  of  about  $500. 

By  an  act  of  the  Legislature,  March  16,  1882,  the 
trustees  were  incorporated  to  hold  property  to  the  ex- 
tent of  $300,000. 

The  list  of  librarians  since  the  opening  of  the 
Branch  Library,— April  1,  1857,  Nathaniel  Hills; 
June  24,  1865,  S.  P.  Fowler,  pro  tem. ;  October  9, 
1865,  Wm.  Rankin,  Jr.;  January,  1867,  A.  Sumner 
Howard;  April,  1882,  Lizzie  M.  Howard;  January  3, 
1885,  Emilie  K.  Davis.  A  few  summers  ago  the 
library  was  closed  and  the  books  cla.ssified  and  cata- 
logued according  to  modern  scientific  methods.  The 
special  committee  were  Dr.  W.  W.  Eaton  and  Rev. 
W.  E.  C.  Wright,  of  the  Maple  Street  Church.  A 
contemporaneous  report  says  that  "  upon  the  latter 
rested  the  heaviest  burden  of  gratuitous  work  which 
he  has  shouldered,  although  it  was  a  labor  of  love, 
and  carried  through  almost  without  stopping  to  rest 
for  six  months.  With  what  assistance  the  doctor 
could  find  time  to  give,  Mr.  Wright  has  directed  and 
superintended  every  detail  of  its  preparation,  and  per 
formed  himself  a  large  part  of  the  most  responsible 
and  difficult  work." 

The  whole  number  of  volumes  now  in  the  library, 
12,024;  number  of  borrowers'  cards  issued,  2300; 
average  number  of  books  delivered  each  day,  185. 


CHAPTER   XXXVIII. 

BAl^YE^S— (Continued). 
INDUSTRIAL  PURSUITS— SOCIETIES — PHYSICIANS,  ETC. 

Agriculture. — Farming   has  of   necessity   been 
most  developed  within  recent  years  in   the  line  of 


market-gardening.  Pmbably  nowhere  in  the  county 
can  finer  cultivated  fields  be  seen  than  in  this  town. 
Sun  and  rain,  bugs  and  worms,  remain  as  ever  uncer- 
tain elements,  but  there  has  been  a  wonderful  ad- 
vance in  the  application  of  scientific  principles. 
Very  much  of  that  broad  plain,  up  which  swept  the 
tide  of  original  settlement,  is  devoted  to  this  sort  of 
farming.  The  land  here  is  rich  and  level,  and  every 
acre  is  worked  for  all  it  is  worth.  The  Danvers 
onion  is  famous  everywhere.  Hundreds  of  barrels 
are  raised  within  half  a  mile  of  the  Collins  House. 
Much  of  this  land  is  comparatively  new,  "Turkey 
Plain,"  as  it  used  to  be  called,  having  been  covered 
with  bushes  within  the  memory  of  some  living,  and 
a  hundred  years  ago  thought  to  be  the  poorest  land 
in  town.  The  older  farms  are  generally  under  thor- 
ough and  enterprising  management.  Many  of  them 
make  a  specialty  of  producing  milk. 

An  article  by  the  editor  of  the  Massachusetts 
Plouyhman,  in  that  paper  November,  1880,  is  author- 
ity for  tiie  statement  that  the  reputation  of  Danvers 
exceeds  that  of  Weathersfield,  Conn.,  for  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  onion,  and,  further,  that  "  no  town  in  the 
State  is  so  distinguished  for  its  superior  orcharding." 
This  statement  will  not  here  be  challenged.  If  it  be 
true,  it  is  well,  and  fits  well  to  the  fact  that  here  on 
the  "  Orchard  Farm  "  of  Governor  Endicott  the  first 
fruit  trees  of  any  account  in  New  England — perhaps 
the  whole  country — were  raised.  A  hundred  years 
ago  pear-trees  were  to  be  seen  near  every  farm-house. 
Some  had  a  few  plum  and  peach-trees.  These  bore 
abundantly.  Most  of  the  apple-trees  were  then  of 
natural  fruit,  and  the  apples  were  largely  consumed 
in  the  shape  of  cider.  An  old  cider-mill  which  stood 
on  the  General  Putnam  place  was  thus  constructed. 
A  trench  was  dug,  fifteen  inches  wide  and  fiity  feet 
in  circumference,  and  flat  stones  were  placed  on  the 
bottom  ;  the  sides  were  of  brick,  eighteen  inches  deep. 
Apples  were  thrown  in  this  circular  trench,  and  a 
heavy  stone  wheel,  drawn  by  horse-power  and  re- 
volving about  a  central  upright,  did  the  squeezing. 
The  apparatus  was  taken  down  about  1819.  Deacon 
Joseph  Putnam,  who  owned  and  carried  on  this  mill, 
and  Abram  Dodge,  of  Wenham,  were  the  first  in  the 
county  to  plant  apple  orchards  of  improved  varieties 
for  growing  winter  apples  for  market.  This  was  soon 
after  the  Revolution.  At  that  time  farms  were  val- 
ued not  so  much  for  their  location  as  for  the  amount 
of  stock  they  would  keep.  The  Clark  farm  was  then 
considered  the  best  farm  in  Danvers,  so  Wm.  R.  Put- 
nam has  written.  Before  the  discovery  of  the  uses  of 
coal  relieved  the  fear  of  a  scarcity  of  wood,  every 
well-appointed  farm  included  one  or  more  peat  lots. 
Here  and  there  peat  sheds  are  still  seen  in  the  mead- 
ows, but  it  is  not  common,  as  formerly,  to  see  about 
the  farm-buildings  carefully  piled  blocks  of  this  sort 
of  fuel.  Its  most  general  use  was  from  about  1780  to 
about  1830. 

The  Essex  Agricultural  Society  has  from  the  first 


DANVERS. 


519 


been  warmly  supported  by  the  farmers  of  Danvers. 
Among  the  incorporators  of  the  society,  June  12, 
1818,  were  Frederick  Howes  and  Jesse  Putnam.  The 
Danvers  men  have  always  taken  a  good  share  of 
premiums  at  the  annual  exhibitions,  and  they  now 
stand  at  the  head  of  membership.  Charles  P.  Pres- 
ton was  for  twenty-five  years  secretary  of  the  society, 
resigning  in  1885.  Some  minutes  of  the  exhibition  of 
1848  show  that  Elijah  Pope  received  the  first  pre- 
mium for  ploughing  with  double  team,  and  Francis 
Dodge  the  second.  For  working  oxen,  Orrin  Putnam, 
fourth ;  Francis  Dodge,  fifth.  Working  steers, 
Elijah  Pope,  second.  Fat  oxen,  Perley  Goodale, 
first.  Bulls,  Orrin  Putnam,  second.  Milch  heifers, 
Eben  Putnam,  third.  Yearlings,  Francis  Dodge, 
first.  Sheep,  Elijah  Pope,  gratuity,  no  premiums 
given.  June  butter,  Charles  P.  Preston,  first ;  same, 
second  for  September  butter. 

Jonathan  Perry  came  to  Danvers  in  1803,  when  he  was 
twenty-one  years  old.  In  1815  he  bought  the  Towne 
farm  of  some  fifty  acres,  which  has  remained  in  the 
family  since  that  time.  Mr.  Perry  was  the  first  farmer 
in  Essex  County  to  raise  strawberries  and  dandelions 
for  the  market,  and  for  over  thirty  years  he  drove  a 
vegetable  wagon  to  Salem.  His  sons,  Horatio  and 
James,  followed  the  same  business,  and  will  long  be 
remembered  and  missed.  Shortly  before  the  death  of 
the  former,  a  few  months  ago,  he  furnished  the  writer 
with  some  information  in  regard  to  his  father,  who 
was  a  most  excellent  citizen.  In  the  cause  of  temper- 
ance and  liberty  he  was  first  and  foremost ;  he  was 
one  of  the  five  who  first  signed  the  total  abstinence 
pledge  and  stood  alone  for  more  than  a  year ;  he 
labored  earnestly  to  start  the  first  temperance  store  in 
town  ;  he  was  one  of  the  twelve  Liberty  Party  voters  in 
1840 ;  was  captain  of  the  militia  company  for  a  num- 
ber of  years. 

Shoe  Business. — All  over  this  part  of  the  country, 
outside  of  the  thickly  settled  villages,  a  peculiar  type 
of  building  may  be  noticed.  It  has  grown  dingy 
from  lack  of  paint,  and  cob-webs  and  old  hats  have 
not  uncommonly  usurped  the  glazier's  work.  Here 
a  hospital  for  decrepit  plows  and  rusty  guns,  there 
converted  into  sleeping  apartments  for  poultry,  now 
freshened  up  into  quarters  for  a  "  hired  help,"  again 
abandoned  altogether,  sitting  cozily  by  the  roadside 
and  near  by  the  home,  equipped  with  a  chimney  and 
well  supplied  with  windows,  the  observing  stranger — 
and  it  must  be  considerable  of  a  stranger  not  to  know 
all  about  it — struck  by  the  number  of  its  duplicates, 
could  not  fail  to  conclude  that  it  was  originally  de- 
signed for  some  use  to  which  it  is  not  now  put. 

The  little  building  is  a  monument  to  the  departed 
days  of  the  industry  here  spoken  of.  It  is  a  shoe- 
maker's shop.  Here,  for  many  years,  the  "stock'' 
was  brought  from  some  one  of  the  manufacturers, 
and  in  the  intervals  between  farm  chores  was  made 
up.  It  was  a  family  work  shop,  the  boys  learning 
early  to  use  hammer  and  awl,  and  the  girls  "closing" 


and  "  binding."  It  was,  too,  a  sort  of  educational 
and  political  exchange.  While  the  pegs  flew  in  at 
the  swift  strokes  or  the  black-ball  stick  coursed  round 
the  freshly  trimmed  edge,  ears  were  open  to  some  one 
who  read  aloud  what  Horace  Greeley  said  in  the  last 
Tribune  about  Kansas.  Town  topics  and  national 
legislation  were  here  freely  discussed,  and  the  forever 
unsettled  questions,  which  no  man  will  solve  until 
the  mystery  itself  comes,  wore  likewise  earnestly  and 
thoughtfully  debated.  Pair  by  pair  the  finished  shoes 
went  back  into  the  stock  box,  and  when  the  sixtieth 
completed  the  "set,"  the  hinged  lid  was  fastened 
down  and  the  old  horse  took  a  trip  to  town  for  pay 
and  fresh  work.  Business  was  steady,  pretty  much 
the  year  round,  and  there  was  always  the  little  land 
to  fall  back  upon, — no  fear  of  slack  times  between 
trades,  and  no  labor  troubles. 

Machinery  has  closed  the  little  shops.  First  a  sim- 
ple roller  replaced  the  old  lap-stone.  That  made  no 
difference.  Even  when  the  pegging-machine  was 
successfully  introduced  "gangs"  were  formed,  and 
for  a  time  the  shojis  struggled  against  steam.  But 
.-team  conquered,  and  here,  as  elsewhere,  shoes  have 
been  made  by  the  hands  of  many  men  and  women, 
from  cutter  to  packer,  all  working  under  one  roof, 
and,  so  far  as  possible,  by  the  aid  of  power  machin- 
ery. 

Danvers  was  a  representative  shoe-town  in  the 
days  of  the  old  regime,  and  much  business  is  here 
done  in  the  modern  way.  The  first  shoe  manufac- 
turer in  town  was  Zerubbabel  Porter,  and  a  little 
shop  at  the  foot  of  Porter's  Hill,  standing  until  with- 
in a  few  years,  was  the  cradle  of  the  business.  Mr. 
Porter  was  a  tanner  by  trade,  and  he  commenced 
making  shoes  in  order  to  work  up  leather  unsaleable 
U)Y  custom  trade.  This  was  about  the  time  of  the 
Revolution.  That  little  shop,  which  was  raised  from 
its  first  condition  so  that  tanning  was  carried  on  in 
the  basement  and  shoemaking  above,  became  a  sort 
of  normal  school  in  the  latter  art,  from  which  many 
graduated  to  success.  About  the  time  young  Elias 
Endicott  married  Nancy  Creasy,  of  Beverly,  in  1791, 
he,  likewise  a  tanner  and  currier  by  trade,  built  a 
little  shop  for  that  business.  That  shop  now  forms 
the  parlor  of  the  present  residence  of  Elias  Endicott 
Porter,  above  Putnamville.  The  young  man  pres- 
ently added  a  second  story,  moved  into  it,  and  kept 
at  his  business  beneath. 

More  additions  were  made,  and  about  the  com- 
mencement of  this  century,  in  a  small  shop  still  used 
as  a  woodshed,  he  too,  following  the  example  of  his 
brother-in-law,  began  to  manufacture  shoes.  Both 
found  markets  in  Baltimore  and  other  southern  ports, 
packing  their  goods  in  barrels  and  shipping  them 
from  SaUm  on  board  of  coasters. 

Jonathan  Porter  worked  for  his  cousin  Zerubbabel 
as  early  as  1786,  and  among  his  apprentices  was  Caleb 
Oakes,  who  commenced  to  manufacture  in  the  little 
shop,  and  later  l)uilt  up  a  large  and  prosperous  busi- 


520 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


ness  at  Danversport.  His  widowed  mother,  who  was 
a  Putnam,  came  here  from  Portsmouth  when  he  was 
but  two  years  okl.  He  was  brought  up  liy  Colonel 
Enoch  Putnam,  married  Mehitable,  daughter  of  Na- 
thaniel Pope,  and  is  buried  with  her  in  the  old  Pope 
burying-ground.  He  was  the  father  of  William 
Oakes,  the  distinguished  botanist. 

About  1789  a  young  boy  of  fourteen  went  to  Jona- 
than Porter,  to  learn  his  trade,  and  when  he  became 
of  age  he  took  out  work  a  year  for  Caleb  Oakes. 
One  day,  when  he  returned  a  set  of  shoes  and  found 
no  stock  ready  for  him,  Mr.  Oakes  sold  him  a  little 
leather  and  told  him  he  might  cut  it  up  himself. 
The  next  set  of  shoes  he  made  he  put  into  saddle- 
bags and  took  them  to  Boston  on  horseback.  From 
this  beginning  Moses  Putnam  continued  with  patient 
industry  and  sagacity  until  he  became,  in  the  neigh- 
borhood which  bears  his  name,  the  chief  shoe  manu- 
facturer of  the  town.  He  followed  the  business 
steadily  for  fifty-seven  years,  surviving  two  sons  and 
a  son-in-law,  all  of  whom  had  been  associated  with 
him. 

Among  other  farly  manufacturers  were  Samuel 
Putnam,  Nathaniel  Boardman,  Eben  Putnam,  Major 
Joseph  Stearns,  Daniel  Putnam,  Gilbert  Tapley,  the 
Prestons,  Elias  Putnam  and  Joshua  Silvester.  Fifty 
years  ago  the  business  was  confined  mostly  to  Put- 
namville,  the  Plains  and  the  Port.  About  that  time 
James  Goodale  and  Otis  Mudge  began  to  manufacture 
at  the  Centre.  In  1854  there  were  thirty-five  firms, 
making  more  than  a  million  and  a  half  pairs  annu- 
ally, and  giving  employment  to  about  twenty-five 
hundred  men  and  women. 

Samuel  Preston  and  Joshua  Silvester  were  carrying 
on  business  on  opposite  sides  of  the  square  at  the 
time  of  the  great  fire  of  1845.  About  1830  Mr. 
Preston  was  also  running  a  store  at  Perley's  corner. 
David  Wilkins  did  his  teaming,  going  into  Boston 
four  times  a  week  with  a  pair  of  horses.  He  would 
load  up  with  cases  of  brogans  and  start  at  one  or  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  deliver  the  shoes  at  the 
various  wharves  along  old  Commercial  Street.  Then, 
with  a  load  of  groceries  previously  ordered, — molas- 
ses, great  boxes  of  sugar  bound  with  raw  hide,  and 
with  a  hundred  sides  of  leather  on  top  of  all, — he 
drove  back.  One  Hartwell  at  the  Port  was,  at  the 
same  time  teaming  for  the  Putnamville  people,  and 
did  a  good  bu.siness.  Later  Mr.  Wilkins,  still  a  fa- 
miliar figure  with  his  lumber-wagon  in  our  streets, 
formed  a  partnership  with  the  late  D.  J.  Preston, 
and  took  all  the  Boston  teaming.  It  was  the  grow- 
ing importance  of  the  shoe  business  and  the  need  of 
banking  accommodation  that  led  to  the  establishment 
of  the  Village  Bank  in  183(5.  During  the  financial 
crisis  of  the  next  year  Danvers  men  lost  heavily  with 
others.  For  twenty  years  there  was  prosperity,  and 
then  the  crisis  of  1857  and  the  demoralization  of 
business  occasioned  by  the  breaking  out  of  the  war, 
forced  many  to  the  wall.     Those  who  pulled  through 


or  rallied  afresh,  had  prosperous    times  during  the 


war. 


Among  those  who  have  contributed  to  the  fame  of 
Danvers  as  a  shoe  town  within  the  past  twenty  or 
thirty  years,  and  who  have  either  retired,  deceased  or 
engaged  otherwise  in  business,  are  John  Sears,  Daniel 
F.  Putnam,  J.  C.  Butler,  C.  H.  Gould,  Ira  P.  Pope, 
Alfred  Fellows,  J.  R.  Langley,  Amos  A.  and  Henry 
A.  White,  Joel  Putnam,  Aaron  Putnam,  I.  H.  Put- 
nam, William  E.  Putnam,  I.  H.  Boardman,  Henry 
F.  Putnam,  Phinehas  Corning,  J.  M.  Sawyer,  G.  B. 
Martin,  G.  H.  Peabody, 

The  oldest  established  firm  still  in  business  is  that 
of  E.  and  A.  Mudge  &  Co.  Edwin  Mudge,  senior 
partner,  commenced  manufacturing  in  1837,  when 
nineteen  years  old.  From  1840  to  1847  he  was  asso- 
ciated with  his  brother  Otis.  In  1849  he  formed  the 
partnership  with  his  brother  Augustus,  which,  with 
the  admission  of  Edward  Hutchinson  in  1858,  has 
since  remained  without  further  change.  After  a  num- 
ber of  expedients  to  accommodate  their  extensive 
business,  the  firm  erected  a  large  three-story  factory, 
well  fitted  with  all  modern  conveniences.  It  was  sit- 
uated close  by  the  residences  of  its  owners,  and  was 
the  life  of  the  Center,  but  at  present  the  tall  chimney 
is  the  melancholy  monument  of  its  former  existence. 
It  was  burned  about  the  first  of  June,  1885.  Its  loss 
has  not  proved  so  disastrous  to  the  Center  as  was 
feared,  for  it  so  happened  that  the  firm  were  able  to 
move  at  once  into  the  factory  they  now  occupy  at  the 
corner  of  Pine  and  Holten  Streets,  Tapley  ville,  taking 
their  old  help  with  them,  and  the  horse  cars  make  the 
two  villages  practically  one.  Upon  the  corner  men- 
tioned, George  B.  Martin  manufactured  shoes,  and 
built  up  a  prosperous  business  in  a  factory  which,  by 
successive  additions,  had  grown  to  great  size,  and 
was  occupied  by  Martin,  Clapp  and  French  (W.  T. 
Martin,  son  of  G.  B.),  when,  on  the  night  of  February 
23,  1883,  the  whole  establishment  and  five  adjoining 
dwellings  were  burned.  The  firm  at  once  rebuilt,  but 
they  had  not  long  occupied  their  fine  factory  before 
they  experienced  serious  labor  troubles  and  were  in- 
duced to  move  their  business  to  Dover,  N.  H.  Thus 
the  Mudges  were  enabled  to  move  into  it  at  once  after 
their  fire.  G.  W.  Clapp  withdrew  from  the  Martin 
firm  at  the  time  of  its  removal,  and  with  W.  A.  Tap- 
ley  commenced  the  business  carried  on  near  the  old 
carpet  factory.  Other  large  shoe  manufacturers  are 
C.  C.  Farwell  &  Co.,  J.  E.  Farrar  &  Co.,  Glover  &  Co. 
and  Eaton  &  Sears  ;  numerous  other  firms  do  a  smaller 
business. 

Brick-Making. — Danvers  bricks  rival  Danvers 
onions  in  their  reputation  for  sterling  qualities.  Far- 
mer Andrews'  trip  to  Medford  and  young  Jeremiah 
Page's  return  with  him,  the  origin  of  the  business 
here,  has  been  mentioned  in  the  sketch  of  the  Plains. 
Mr.  Page  continued  the  business,  of  which  he  was  the 
pioneer,  to  the  close  of  his  life,  1806,  and  at  his  de- 
cease his  son,  John  Page,  and  son-in-law,  John  Fow- 


DANVERS. 


521 


ler,  carried  it  on  a  few  years  in  partnership.  Mr. 
Page  then  continued  the  business  alone,  and  with 
such  energy  and  success  that  Page's  bricks  were  wide- 
ly known  and  in  great  demand.  He  is  said  to  have 
made  the  first  "  clapped  bricks,"  which  were  really 
pressed  bricks,  made  before  the  invention  of  machin- 
ery facilitated  this  most  important  feature  of  brick- 
making.  For  many  years  Mr.  Page  was  a  large  con- 
tractor for  government  work,  and  many  of  his  bricks 
were  used  in  fortifications  and  light-houses.  A  very 
large  number  were  sent  to  Forts  Taylor  and  Jefferson 
on  the  Florida  coast.  In  fact  Danvers  bricks  were 
the  government  standard,  specifications  calling  for 
them  or  others  as  good.  Mr.  Page  had  yards  on  both 
sides  of  High  Street,  that  on  the  westerly  side  extend- 
ing beyond  the  location  of  the  railroad  and  others  on 
South  Liberty  Street  near  the  Peabody  line. 

Deacon  Joseph  Putnam  and  Israel,  his  brother, 
nephews  of  General  Israel,  many  years  ago  made 
bricks  near  the  driving-park  on  Conant  Street.  The 
Webbs,  too,  were  early  brick-makers,  Nathaniel 
Webb,  grandfather  of  Putnam  Webb,  now  living  at 
the  Port,  having  a  yard  near  the  horse-car  stables  on 
High  Street.  Jotham  Webb  was  just  beginning  busi- 
ness below  the  box-mill  at  the  Port,  when  at  the 
Lexington  alarm,  he  hurriedly  donned  his  wedding 
suit,  and  was  brought  back  to  his  young  bride  slain 
by  a  British  bullet. 

Josiah  Gray  was  born  in  Beverly,  but  his  parents 
moved  to  Bridgeton,  Me.,  when  he  was  a  small  boy. 
He  came  thither  when  a  young  man  and  learned  to 
make  bricks  under  John  Page.  He  then  worked 
some  fifteen  years  making  nails  and  anchors  at  the 
iron  works,  but  on  the  occasion  of  a  sharp  cut  in 
wages  he  began  to  make  bricks  in  East  Danvers,  then 
Beverly.  He  virtually  made  Liberty  Street  what  it 
is  to-day,  erecting  a  number  of  dwellings  and  setting 
out  the  first  shade  trees.  He  died  in  1873  at  an  ad- 
vanced age,  having  been  a  most  excellent  citizen.  The 
business  which  he  began  has  continued  prosperously  in 
his  family  for  more  than  fifty  years.  In  1881  the  old 
yard  oflF  Liberty  Street,  then  carried  on  by  S.  F.  and 
J.  A.  Gray  was  bought  by  the  New  England  Pressed 
Brick  Company.  Expensive  works  proved,  however, 
a  poor  substitute  for  simpler  processes  and  the  com- 
pany failed.  J.  A.  Gray  went  to  Maine,  and  S.  F. 
Gray,  is  carrying  on  the  yard  otf  High  Street,  former- 
ly worked  by  W.  H.  Porter. 

Asa  and  Nathan  Tapley  and  Matthew  Hooper 
were  early  brickmakers  in  District  No.  6.  William 
H.  Walcott  succeeded  Nathan  Tapley,  and  William 
T.  Trask  succeeding  Mr.  Walcott,  at  present  carries 
on  that  yard.  Isaac  Evans,  Samuel  Low  and  Moody 
Elliott  were  also  among  the  early  makers.  G.  H. 
Day  commenced  business  in  1861  ;  his  sons,  G.  H. 
and  E.  F.  Day,  later.  Samuel  Trask,  who  succeeded 
Mr.  Evans,  W.  H.  Porter,  Edward  Carr  and  H.  E. 
Elliott,  began  about  the  same  time.  At  some  time, 
John  C.  Page  made  bricks  on  Lefavour's  Plain, 
33  J 


South  of  Water's  Eiver,  near  Kernwood ;  and  Charles 
Page  in  the  large  pasture  near  Crane  Eiver  bridge  ; 
this  latter  yard  was  reopened  by  the  Grays,  and  some 
of  the  bricks  for  the  Danvers  Lunatic  Hospital,  for 
which  they  had  the  contract,  were  made  here. 

John  Grout  had  a  yard  in  the  rear  of  his  residence 
on  High  Street.  It  is  estimated  that  about  five  mil- 
lion bricks  are  now  annually  made  here,  divided  as 
follows : 

G.  H.  Day 1,600,000 

S.  F.  Gray 1,000,000 

Edward  Carr 1,000,000 

P.  A.  Gallivan 800,000 

Samuel  Trask 600,000 

Will.  T.  Trask 400,000 

Of  these,  at  least,  a  fifth  are  of  first  quality  front 
brick,  rated  in  the  market  as  good  as  any  made  in 
New  England. 

Physicians.— With  the  exception  of  an  uncertain 
report  of  a  Dr.  Gregg,  said  to  have  lived  at  Salem 
Village  in  1692,  there  is  no  evidence  that  the  town 
had  any  settled  physician  until  about  1725,  but  de- 
pended for  medical  and  surgical  services  upon  the 
Salem  doctors. 

Jonathan  Prince  was  probably  born  in  Danvers 
and  was  certainly  the  first  resident  physician  of  whom 
there  is  any  clear  account.  He  studied  medicine 
with  Dr.  Toothaker,  of  Billerica,  and  was  the  pre- 
ceptor of  Drs.  Amos  Putnam  and  Samuel  Holten. 
He  lived  on  the  southern  slope  of  Hathorne  Hill,  at 
a  spot  marked  by  a  cluster  of  pines.  The  house  was 
long  since  removed  to  the  corner  of  Hobart  and  For- 
rest Streets,  where  it  is  known  as  the  "  Hook  house." 

Amos  Putnam  was  born  in  Danvers  1722.  He 
pursued  his  medical  studies  with  Dr.  Prince,  and 
practiced  in  the  town  till  the  opening  of  the  French 
War,  when  he  entered  the  service  as  a  surgeon.  At 
the  close  of  the  war  he  returned  to  Danvers,  and  fol- 
lowed his  profession  until  he  was  more  than  eighty 
years  of  age.  He  was  a  justice  of  the  peace  for  many 
years,  and  one  of  the  most  influential  citizens  of  the 
town.  His  grave  is  in  a  small  inclosure  near  the 
Collins  House,  marked  by  a  plain  head-stone,  on 
which  is  the  following  inscription  :  "  Sacred  to  the 
memory  of  Doct.  Amos  Putnam  and  Hannah  Phil- 
lips, the  wife  of  A.  P."  He  died  July  26,  1807,  aged 
eighty-five.     She  died  Oct.  2,  1758,  aged  thirty-three. 

Samuel  Holten  was  more  distinguished  in  our 
history  in  other  respects  than  as  a  physician.  An 
outline  of  his  biography  has  been  already  given. 

Archelaus  Putnam  was  born  in  Danvers  in  1744. 
His  birth-place  and  residence  through  life  was  the  old 
Putnam  homesteail,  near  Wadsworth  Cemetery.  He 
graduated  from  Harvard  College  in  1763,  and  soon 
after  commenced  to  practice  his  profession  in  town. 
He  was  a  skillful  physician  and  surgeon,  and  a  man 
of  great  influence  among  his  fellow-citizens.  His 
death  occurred  in  1800,  and  his  remains  are  buried  in 
Wadsworth  Cemetery. 


522 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


James  Putnam,  son  of  Dr.  Amos  Putnam,  was 
born  in  Dan  vers  about  1760,  studied  medicine  and 
was  associated  in  practice  with  his  father. 

Andrew  Nichols  was  born  November  2,  1785, 
died  1853.     See  sketch  of  his  life  and  portrait. 

Dr.  Shed  was  a  druggist  rather  than  a  practicing 
physician.  He  was  long  town  clerk,  and  something  is 
said  of  him  in  connection  with  that  office.  He  lived 
in  the  South  Parish. 

During  the  first  years  of  this  century  quite  a  num- 
ber of  physicians  began  business  in  town,  but  after  a 
brief  period  removed  to  other  localities.  Among 
these  may  be  mentioned,  Drs.  Clapp,  Cilley,  Gould, 
Porter,  Patten  and  Carleton. 

Dr.  Carleton  located  at  the  Port,  and  was  famous 
as  a  "singing-master."  Dr,  Patten  lived  in  what  is 
now  the  Bass  River  House. 

George  Osgood  was  born  in  North  Andover, 
March,  1784.  After  receiving  his  medical  degree  he 
came  to  Dan  vers  and  commenced  practice  in  1808. 
He  also  joined  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society 
the  same  year.  His  home  was  for  a  time  near  the 
village  bank  building,  and  afterwai'ds  near  the  Essex 
depot,  in  the  Abbott  House.  He  was  in  active  prac- 
tice more  than  half  a  century,  and  during  this  long- 
time he  was  one  of  the  most  familiar  figures  in  the 
town.  He  was  a  son-in-law  of  Dr.  Holteu,  and  is 
buried  near  the  grave  of  the  latter  in  the  Holten 
Cemetery.     The  headstone  bears  this  inscription : 

George  Osgood,  M.D. 

He  practiced  medicine  in  this  town  fifty-five  yeare. 

Beloved  and  respected  by  all  who  knew  him. 

He  passed  to  his  rest,  May  2G,  1863, 

Aged  79  years,  2  iiioiitlis. 

Ebenezer  Hunt,  whose  name  has  often  appeared 
in  these  pages,  for  more  than  half  a  century  prac- 
ticed in  this  town  of  his  adoption.  He  was  born  in 
Nashua,  N.H.,  April  13, 1799;  died  at  Danversport,  Oc- 
tober 27,  1874.  He  graduated  at  Dartmouth  Medical 
College  in  1822,  and  the  next  year  settled  here.  He 
was  among  the  earliest  and  foremost  in  the  temper- 
ance and  anti-slavery  movements,  and  so  ardent  was 
his  patriotism  that  when  war  came  he  enlisted  as  as- 
sistant surgeon  in  the  Eighth  Regiment.  Radical  in 
his  views,  grufi"  in  manner,  he  was  warm  of  heart 
and  skillful  in  his  profession,  and  will  long  be  re- 
membered as  a  ixseful  citizen. 

David  A.  Grosvenor,  Jr.,  a  son  of  Dr.  Grosve- 
nor,  of  North  Reading,  was  born  in  Manchester, 
Mass.,  1812.  He  pursued  his  medical  studies  with 
his  father,  and  also  with  Dr.  Mussey,  of  Hanover, 
N.  H.  He  received  his  diploma  as  Doctor  of  Medi- 
cine from  Dartmouth  Medical  School  in  1835.  He 
commenced  practice  in  Rutland,  Mass.,  in  1836,  but 
three  years  later  came  to  Danvers  and  settled.  His  resi- 
dence is  on  Elm  Street,  near  the  Essex  depot.  He 
became  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  So- 
ciety in  1840. 

J.  W.  Snow,  born  in  Eastham,  Mass.,  October  10, 


1820.  Studied  medicine  at  Harvard  Medical  School 
and  Hospital.  Graduated  at  Pittsfield  College  ;  com- 
menced practice  at  Liverpool,  Nova  Scotia,  in  1847  ; 
settled  in  Danvers,  January  1,  1850 ;  removed  to 
Saco,  Me.,  in  1867,  and  shortly  after  to  Boston,  where 
he  now  resides. 

Dr.  p.  M.  Chase  was  born  in  Bradford,  Mass.,  May 
11,  1828;  entered  Phillips  Academy,  Andover,  in 
1847  ;  attended  a  medical  course  at  Woodstock,  Vt., 
in  1853  ;  was  a  pupil  of  Dr.  H.  B.  Fowler,  of  Bristol, 
N.  H. ;  entered  the  Medical  Department  at  Dart- 
mouth College  in  1854,  and  in  1855  entered  Harvard 
Medical  School,  and  graduated  from  Harvard  Medi- 
cal College  in  1857  ;  located  at  Danvers  as  practicing 
physician  in  1857;  was  commissioned  examining  sur- 
geon for  recruits  in  the  Rebellion  in  1861  ;  in  1874 
was  commissioned  United  States  Examining  Surgeon 
for  Pensions ;  in  1875  was  commissioned  surgeon  in  the 
Eighth  Regiment,  M.  V.  M.;  was  a  Democratic  can- 
didate for  State  Senator  in  1874-75.  He  died  at  his 
residence,  corner  of  Locust  and  Oak  Streets,  January 
4, 1887. 

Lewis  Whiting,  homeopathist,  was  born  in  Han- 
over, Mass.,  January  24,  1832;  he  graduated  from  the 
Bridgewater  Normal  School,  and  taught  school  till  his 
health  failed  ;  began  the  study  of  medicine  at  Belle- 
vue  Hospital,  N.  Y.,  in  1861  ;  was  afterwards  two 
years  in  the  navy  as  surgeon's  steward  ;  continued  his 
studies  in  1864  at  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons, in  New  York,  and  graduated  in  1865  at  the 
New  York  Homeopathic  Medical  College ;  settled  in 
Danvers  August,  1865.  Residence  on  Putnam 
Street. 

William  Winslow  Eaton,  born  in  Webster,  Me., 
May  20,  1836 ;  graduated  from  Bowdoin  College  in 
1861  ;  began  the  study  of  medicine,  in  1860,  with  Dr. 
Isaac  Lincoln,  of  Brunswick  ;  took  his  first  and  second 
course  of  lectures  in  1861  and  '62,  at  the  Maine  Medi- 
cal School ;  was  a  pupil  of  Dr.  Valentine  Mott  in  the 
winter  of '63  and  graduated  at  N.Y.  University  in  1864; 
entered  the  military  service  as  assistant  surgeon  of  the 
Sixteenth  Regiment,  Maine  Infantry,  in  1862  ;  was 
promoted  to  surgeon  and  served  three  years  ;  began 
practice  in  South  Reading,  Mass.,  in  1865 ;  removed  to 
Danvers  in  April,  1867;  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
Maine  Medical  Association,  and  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Medical  Society  in  1865.  Residence  on  Holten 
Street,  near  the  Peabody  Institute.  Dr.  Eaton  has 
served  on  the  school  committee,  as  trustee  of  Peabody 
Institute,  and  in  other  public  capacities,  and  has  been 
recently  elected  president  of  the  Walnut  Grove  Ceme- 
tery corporation. 

D.  Homer  Batchelder,  born  in  Londonderry, 
N.  H.,  1811,  graduated  at  Berkshire  Medical  College 
in  1840,  practiced  thirteen  years  in  Londonderry, 
then  removed  to  Cranston,  R.  I.,  from  which  town  he 
came  to  Danvers  in  December,  1876.  His  residence 
was  at  the  Port,  and  after  a  few  years  he  moved  else- 
where and  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Frost. 


DANVERS. 


523 


Edgar  O.  Fowler  was  born  in  Bristol,  N.  H., 
May  7,  1853  ;  graduated  at  New  Hampton  Institute ; 
studied  medicine  with  his  father,  Dr.  H.  B.  Fowler, 
of  Bristol,  N.  H.  ;  was  a  student  at  Bellevue  Medical 
College  and  Long  Island  Hospital,  N.  Y.,  in  1872  and 
1873  ;  graduated  at  Dartmouth  Medical  School  with 
the  degree  of  M.D.  in  1873  ;  commenced  practice  in 
Danvers  in  1874  ;  joined  the  Massachusetts  Medical 
Society  in  1875 ;  died  suddenly  of  heart  disease.  May 
1,  1884. 

Woodbury  G.  Frost  was  born  in  Brunswick,  Me. ; 
graduated  at  Bowdoin  College  in  1860  ;  taught  school 
before  and  after  graduation  ;  received  degree  of  A.M. 
in  1863,  and  the  degree  of  M.D.  in  1866  ;  was  acting 
assistant  surgeon  under  Farragut  in  the  W.  G.  B. 
Squadron  ;  practiced  medicine  twenty  years  in  Free- 
port  and  Portland,  Me.,  and  in  Danvers,  Mass.  ; 
served  on  school  committees  in  Maine,  and  at  pres- 
ent is  on  the  Danvers  boai'd. 

Drs.  F.  a.  Gardner  and  Cowles  recently  prac- 
ticed here  a  short  time. 

Dr.  H.  F.  Batchelder,  homeopathist,  has  lately 
settled. 

Lawyers. — At  least  three  natives  of  North  Dan- 
vers have  risen  to  high  judicial  positions, — Samuel 
Holten,  as  probate  judge  of  Essex  County ;  Samuel 
Putnam,  as  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Massa- 
chusetts ;  and  Rufus  Tapley,  as  justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Maine.  Hon.  Nathan  Read  came  also  to 
be  a  Maine  judge.  Arthur  A.  Putnam  has  been,  if  he 
is  not  still,  judge  of  a  local  court  in  Worcester 
County.  Judge  Cummings  of  the  Massachusetts 
Supreme  Court ;  Frederick  Howes  of  the  Burley 
Farm ;  Abner  C.  Goodell,  long  Register  of  Probate 
at  Salem  ;  and  Mellen  Chamberlain,  ex-chief  justice 
of  the  Municipal  Court  of  Boston,  and  now  superin- 
tendent of  the  Boston  Public  Library,  have  lived  in 
North  Danvers.  Wm.  Oakes  was  a  lawyer,  and  prac- 
ticed somewhat  in  Ipswich,  but  devoted  himself 
chiefly  to  botany.  Among  those  who  have  practiced 
here  and  gone  elsewhere  are  William  G.  Choate,  A. 
A.  Putnam  and  Horace  L.  Hadle3^  A  few  devoted 
martyrs  still  remain  to  pour  on  oil  when  life's  Avaters 
are  troubled.  Their  names, — J.  W.  Porter,  E.  L.  Hill, 
D.  N.  Crowley  and  A.  P.  White.  Stephen  H.  Phil- 
lips, at  one  time  attorney-general  of  Massachusetts, 
has  within  a  few  years  taken  up  his  residence  on  a 
part  of  the  estate  which  was  formerly  owned  by  his 
fathei'.  A  number  of  distinguished  lawyers,  includ- 
ing Rufus  Choate,  practiced  in  that  part  of  Danvers 
which  is  now  Peabody,  and  their  names,  here  pur- 
posely omitted,  will  be  found  in  the  sketch  of  that 
town  elsewhere  in  this  book. 

The  Danvers  Lunatic  Hospital. — That  is  the 
official  name,  and  though  it  doesn't  slide  so  easily 
from  the  tongue  as  insane  asylum  it  doubtless  is  pro- 
fessionally more  correct.  The  act  of  1873  author- 
ized the  Governor  to  appoint  commissioners  to  select 
and  buy  a  site  for  a  new  hospital  for  the  insane,  to 


be  located  in  the  northeastern  part  of  the  State. 
S.  C.  Cobb,  of  Boston,  C.  C.  Esty,  of  Framingham, 
and  Edwin  Walden,  of  Lynn,  were  so  appointed,  and 
they  selected  Hathorne  Hill,  in  Danvers,  then  owned 
by  Francis  Dodge,  as  the  best  location.  From  an 
esthetic  and  hygienic  point  of  view,  the  situation  of 
the  great  institution  is  superb,  and  the  beautifully 
kept  grounds  on  the  summit  of  the  sightly  hill  add 
much  to  the  attractiveness  of  Danvers,  yet  on  prac- 
tical grounds,  the  wisdom  of  placing  the  building  so 
high  has  been  questioned. 

Work  was  commenced  on  the  hill  May  1,  1874.  The 
hospital  was  ready  for  use  in  May,  1878.  The  cost 
of  buildings,  land,  etc.,  at  the  latter  date  was  $1,599,- 
287.49.  The  first  superintendent  was  Calvin  S.  May, 
M.D.,  who  served  from  May  13,  1878,  to  August  9, 
1880.  William  B.  Goldsmith,  M.D.,  was  appointed 
superintendent  March  1,  1881,  and  resigned  Febru- 
ary 1,  1886,  to  accept  a  similar  position  at  the  Butler 
Hospital,  Providence,  R.  I.  During  the  year's  ab- 
sence of  Dr.  Goldsmith  in  Europe,  July  15,  1883,  to 
July  15,  1884,  Henry  R.  Stedman,  M.D.,  was  acting 
superintendent.  William  A.  Gorton,  the  present 
superintendent,  was  appointed  on  the  date  of  Dr. 
Goldsmith's  resignation. 

The  first  board  of  trustees  were  Charles  P.  Preston, 
of  Danvers,  Daniel  S.  Richardson,  of  Lowell,  Gard- 
ner A.  Churchill,  of  Boston,  Samuel  W.  Hopkiuson, 
of  Bradford,  James  Sturgis,  of  Boston.  The  present 
board,  1887,  include  Messrs.  Preston,  Richardson  and 
Hopkinson,  and  also  Harriet  R.  Lee,  of  Salem,  Solon 
Bancroft,  of  Reading,  Dr.  Orville  F.  Rogers,  of  Bos- 
ton, Florence  Lyman,  of  Boston. 

Dr.  May  was  treasurer  as  well  as  superintendent. 
After  his  resignation  the  offices  were  separated,  and 
Stephen  C.  Rose,  of  Marblehead,  was  appointed 
treasurer.  He  served  from  August  9,  1880,  to  Sep- 
tember 1, 1882,  when  his  successor,  Charles  H.  Gould, 
of  Danvers,  who  at  present  holds  the  office,  was  ap- 
pointed. There  are  now,  July,  1887,  in  the  institu- 
tion seven  hundred  and  fifty  patients.  The  receipts 
for  the  past  year  were  $151,598.95  ;  payments,  $149,- 
887;  balance  in  favor  of  the  institution,  $1711.95. 
The  coal  bill  was  about  $2500. 

The  officers  at  the  hospital,  1887,  are  as  follows : 
superintendent,  William  A.  Gorton  ;  lady  physician, 
Julia  K.  Carey  ;  first  assistant  physician,  Edward  P. 
Elliot;  second  assistant,  Milo  A.  Jewett;  third  as- 
sistant, Arthur  H.  Harrington  ;  treasurer,  Charles 
H.  Gould ;  steward,  Nathaniel  W.  Starbird,  Jr. ;  clerk, 
C.  A.  Reed;  engineer,  G.  A.  Luf kin ;  farmer,  S.  S. 
Pratt. 

Literary  Societies. — Probably  the  first  was  the 
"New  Mills  Lyceum,"  organized  December  24,  1832. 
Its  original  members  were  Wm.  Francis,  Alfred  Por- 
ter, J.  P.  Harriman,  Edward  Stimpson,  Hathorne 
Porter,  Samuel  Mclutire,  Jr.,  Benj.  Porter,  Aug. 
Fowler,  Jere.  Page,  Jr.,  Wm.  Black,  Wm.  Endicott, 
Wm.  Cheever,  Edward  Perry,  Wm.  Chaplin,   David 


524 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Taylor,  John  Perkins,  Samuel  D.  Pindar,  H.  G.  Bix- 
by,  Moses  W.  Wilson,  Edward  D.  Verry,  Joseph 
Merrill. 

The  meetings  were  held  in  the  school-house  or 
Baptist  vestry.  Many  of  the  young  men  who  be- 
came conspicuous  in  the  anti-slavery  movement 
"  learned  to  talk  "  in  this  debating  club. 

Nearly  fifty  years  ago  the  North  Danvers  Lyceum 
used  to  hold  its  meetings  in  the  hall  of  the  old  tav- 
ern, which  hall  was  part  of  the  mansion  once  stand- 
ing on  Folly  Hill.  On  one  side  sat  the  ladies,  on  the 
other  the  gentlemen.  The  dignitaries,  chief  among 
whom  were  the  ministers,  Dr.  Braman  and  others^ 
sat  at  the  head  of  the  hall.  Just  how  long  the  Ly- 
ceum continued  its  existence  cannot  be  stated,  but 
that  for  a  time  its  meetings  were  the  scenes  of  many 
vigorous  and  beneficial  discussions  on  all  sorts  of 
topics,  and  by  men  who  were  no  mean  gladiators  in 
such  combats  there  is  ample  testimony.  Mrs.  Phil- 
brick  has  preserved  this  interesting  notice: 

"The  question  for  debate  on  Wednesdaj'  evening,  December  25th, 
provided  there  be  no  lecture  is — 

"  Will  the  present  pressure  in  business  on  the  whole  be  a  benefit  to  the 
community  ? 

"niSPUTANTS. 

I.  P.  Proctor,       >  ^^,^ti,,^  0.  A.  Woodbury, 


J.  D.  Philbrick,   ) 


'  V  Negutii 


Otis  Mudge. 
"  North  Danvers,  December  18,  1839. 
"  Mr.  Philbbick  : 
"  At  a  meeting  of  N.  D.  Lyceum  you   were  chosen  one  of  the  Library 

Committee  for  coming  season. 

"I.  P.  Proctor,  Secretary," 

The  BowDiTCH  Club,  which  had  its  origin  among 
the  young  men  of  Putnamville,  grew  to  a  flourishing 
and  very  useful  existence,  and  lived  far  longer  than 
such  societies  usually  do.  Its  first  meetings  were 
held  in  the  Putnamville  school-house  in  1857,  and 
one  of  its  original  members  and  most  enthusiastic 
supporters  has  informed  the  writer  that  so  earnestly 
were  questions  debated  that  after  adjournment  certain 
members  who  lived  at  the  Port  would  be  accompanied 
and  argued  with  all  the  way  home. 

The  club  held  its  meetings  at  the  Plains  after  1858 
or  1859,  and  in  1870  moved  into  very  comfortable 
quarters  in  the  Bank  Building.  A  half  a  dozen  years 
later  it  died  the  inevitable  slow  death  of  its  kind.  It 
has  left  a  fine  record,  and  was  long  an  efiicient  agen- 
cy in  the  promotion  of  culture.  The  club  maintained 
an  annual  lecture  course,  before  the  Peabody  free 
course,  and  brought  here  the  best  talent  to  be  had. 
Its  own  entertainments  were  of  a  high  tone  and  al- 
ways interesting.  The  "  Bowditch  Club  Dinner " 
was  long  a  feature  of  each  winter,  and  a  "  picnic "' 
was  held  each  summer.  It  would  be  well,  indeed, 
for  the  town,  were  just  such  another  society  in  ex- 
istence to-day. 

The  Holten  Lyceum,  Wadsworth  Association,  and 
perhaps  other  societies,  have  had  their  day  and  ceased 
to  be,  at  the  Centre.  A  number  of  others  might  be 
mentioned,  the  Shakespeare  Club,  the  Atlas  Society, 
etc.,  etc. 


The  Danvers  Scientific  Association  was  organized 
September  27,  1882,  and  has  held  fortnightly  meet- 
ings at  Peabody  Institute.  The  Sawyer  Club  is  an 
active  literary  and  social  organization  composed  prin- 
cipally of  members  of  the  Universalist  Society. 

The  Danvers  Women's  Association. — On  the 
18th  of  April,  1882,  a  number  of  ladies  met  with  Miss 
A.  L.  Page,  under  a  call  to  all  interested  in  forming  a 
society  among  the  women  of  Danvers  for  considera- 
tion of  matters  of  common  interest,  furtherance  of 
woman's  work,  general  improvement  and  social  en- 
joyment. One  week  later,  the  first  regular  meeting 
was  held  at  Miss  Shepherd's,  where,  also,  officers 
were  elected  and  a  code  of  by-laws  adopted,  under 
the  name  of  the  "  Danvers  Women's  Association  ;" 
and  until  November  following,  meetings  were  held  in 
private  houses.  Then  the  Grand  Army  Hall  was 
used  until  January  1,  1884,  when  the  Association  took 
and  fitted  rooms  especially  for  its  own  use,  in  the 
Ropes  building.  Upon  the  completion  of  the  new 
post-office  building  it  moved  into  its  present  quar- 
ters, comprising  the  whole  of  both  upper  floors.  The 
membership  of  the  Association  has  been  for  some 
time  necessarily  limited  to  one  hundred  and  twenty, 
and  the  number  is  always  full.  Meetings  have  been 
regularly  held  on  Tuesday  afternoons,  for  seven 
months  each  year,  at  which  instructive  papers  or 
talks  have  been  given,  usually  by  friends  from  out  of 
town.  Three  times  each  winter  "  social  teas  "  have 
been  held,  to  which  gentlemen  have  been  invited. 

To  a  remarkable  degree  the  club  has  been  success- 
ful in  its  aim  towards  '"general  improvement  and 
social  enjoyment,"  and  in  tending  to  break  down 
whatever  prejudices  or  exclusiveness  naturally  clung 
to  the  several  religious  societies  it  has  been  a  potent 
influence  in  the  right  direction.  Mrs.  Harriet  L. 
Wentworth  has  been  its  president  from  its  formation. 
The  other  ofiicers  at  present  (1887)  are:  Vice-Presi- 
dents, Mrs.  E.  A.  Spofford,  Mrs.  C.  E.  Whipple.  Treas- 
urer, Mrs.  V.  A.  Burrington.  Secretary,  Miss  Mary 
W.  Nichols.  Directors,  one  year,  Miss  Maria  L. 
Fowler,  Mrs.  Sarah  D.  Merrill,  Mrs.  Abby  Hutchin- 
son, Mrs.  Alice  G.  Richards.  Two  years,  Mrs.  Mary 
L.  Ewing,  Mrs.  Julia  S.  Spalding,  Mrs.  Hattie  R. 
Keith,  Miss  Isabel  B.  Tapley. 

Secret  Societies. — They  are  a  small  legion.  Yet 
let  no  man  with  a  new  "  improved  "  or  "  ancient"  or 
otherwise  peculiar  "  order  "  hesitate  to  come.  There 
are  still  plenty  of  "joiners." 

Free  Masonry  goes  back  nearly  a  hundred  and  ten 
years  in  Danvers,  to  the  organization  of  the  "  United 
States  Lodge,"  May  1,  1778.  It  ante-dated  the  Essex 
Lodge  of  Salem  by  one  year.  Among  the  members 
of  the  "United  States"  were  Samuel  Page,  Jethro 
Putnam,  Daniel  Squiers  and  the  famous  drummer 
of  New  Mills,  Richard  Skidmore. 

The  latter  was  Tyler,  and  the  jewels  and  regalia 
were  destroyed  at  the  burning  of  his  house  in  1805. 
The  lodge  had   ceased  to    hold  regular  meetings  be- 


DANVERS. 


525 


fore  this,  its  decay  being  attributed  to  the  eulistment 
of  so  many  of  its  members  in  the  Revolution.  A  new 
lodge — the  Jordan  Lodge — was  established  in  1808,  the 
meetings  of  which  were  held  many  years  at  Berry's 
tavern,  but  during  the  anti-masonry  excitement,  from 
1825  to  1835,  meetings  were  held  in  South  Danvers, 
and  only  often  enough  to  preserve  the  charter.  The 
furniture,  regalia,  etc.,  were  moved  there,  and 
when  regular  meetings  were  resumed  the  lodge 
kept  and  has  since  retained  its  establishment  in  South 
Danvers  (Peabody).  Many  North  Danvers  Masons 
went  thither  until  1863,  when  Amity  Lodge  was  es- 
tablished here  and  provided  itself  with  the  comfort- 
able quarters  in  the  Bank  building,  which  are  ex- 
clusively used  for  secret  society  purposes.  The  first 
regular  communication  of  Amity  Lodge  was  held 
October  26,  1863.  Seven  years  later  thirty-three  of 
the  members  petitioned  for  a  new  lodge,  and  the 
present  Mosaic  Lodge,  which  was  chartered  October 
30,  1871,  was  the  result. 

The  Holten  Royal  Arch  Chapter  was  constituted 
March  12,  1872. 

There  is  but  one  lodge  of  Odd  Fellows, — Danvers 
Lodge,  Number  153.  It  was  instituted  September  13, 
1870. 

The  following  list  of  other  societies  is  perhaps  not 
full ;  the  date  is  that  of  establishment : 

Ward  Post  90,  G.  A.  R June  8,  1869 

Agawara  Tribe,  Imp.  Order  of  Red  Men Feb.  24,  1875 

Fraternity  Lodge,  Knights  of  Honor  Mar.  14,  1877 

Arcadian  Council,  No.  249,  Koyal  Arcanum Feb.  10,  1879 

Danvers  Union  Equitable  Aid,  No.  28 Nov.  29,  1879 

Danvers  Lodge,  A.  0.  qf  United  Workmen May  28, 1881 

Tuesday  Evening  Aid  Society  Oct,24. 1881 

Hawthorne  Council,  No.  755,  Legion  of  Honor Oct.  1881 

State  Grand  Union  Equitable  Aid May  15,  1882 

W^ard  Relief  Corps,  No.  12  (Women)   April  12,1883 

Waukewan  Tribe,  No.  16,  Imp.  Order  of  Bed  Men,. ..April  3,  1886 
Daughters  of  Pocahontas 1887 


CHAPTER     XXXIX. 

DAN  VERS— ( Continued). 

f'lVII.  HISTORY. 

Old  Officers.— Under  the  act  of  February  13, 
1789,  any  town  might  "  give  liberty  for  swine  to  go 
at  large  during  the  whole  or  part  of  the  year,"  pro- 
vided they  were  yoked  throughout  spring  and  summer, 
and  "constantly  ringed  in  the  nose,"'  the  legal  yoke 
to  be  "  the  full  depth  of  the  swine's  neck,  above 
the  neck,  and  half  as  much  below  the  neck,  and 
the  soal,  or  bottom  of  the  yoke  full  three  times  as 
long  as  the  breadth  or  thickness  of  the  swines."  To 
see  that  the  laws  were  enforced,  officers  called  "hog- 
reeves  "  were  regularly  elected  until  1827.  Many 
honorable  and  well-known  men  were  incumbents  of 
this  office,  seemingly  not  alluring  to  ambition.  Israel 


Hutchinson,  Jonathan  Osborn  and  Jonathan  Trask 
were  on  the  first  board. 

Daniel  Rea  was,  in  1752,  commissioned  "to  take 
care  that  ye  Laws  Relating  to  ye  Preservation  of 
Deer  be  observed."  "  Deer-reeves  "  were  chosen  from 
1765  to  1797;  the  first,  William  Poole  and  George 
Wiatt ;  the  last,  Eleazer  Putnam  and  Timothy 
Fuller. 

A  Sealer  of  Weights  and  Measures  was  first  chosen 
in  1759,  and  but  for  the  resignation  of  Francis  Sy- 
monds,  of  the  Bell  Tavern,  his  posterity,  instead  of 
the  descendants  of  Joseph  Pairpont,  might  now 
claim  the  ancestral  honor  of  having  first  adjusted 
the  pints  and  pecks  of  the  town  to  legal  standard. 

Sealers  of  Leather  were  chosen  from  the  very  first, 
and  the  office  was  not  altogether  discontinued 
until  within  a  few  years.  Israel  Cheever  and  James 
Upton  were  the  first  leather  measurers.  Deacon  8. 
P.  Fowler  has  in  his  possession  one  of  the  old  iron 
seals  mentioned  in  this  memorandum  : 

"June  18,  1765.  Two  Sett  of  Marks  or  Seals,  wasProvit'jd  at  the  Cost 
of  the  Town  for  Sealing  of  Leather  according  to  the  Law  of  the  Prov- 
ince and  the  same  delivered  to  the  Sealers  of  Leather  for  the  Present 
year,  the  Tees  are  for  Sealing  of  Tanned  Leather,  and  the  Cees  for  Cur- 
ried Leather.     By  order  of  Selectmen. 

"Arch.  Dale,  T.  Glerk." 

"  Wardens  "  were  elected  from  1761  to  1790.  The 
first  to  hold  that  office  were  Jeremiah  Page,  Bar- 
tholomew Rea,  (xideon  Foster,  and  Joseph  Osborne; 
and  the  last,  Benjamin  Proctor  and  Oliver  Putnam. 

The  last  "  clerks  of  the  market,"  chosen  in  1800, 
were  Joseph  Osborn,  Jr.,  Gideon  Foster,  Samuel 
Page  and  Nathaniel  Putnam,  Jr. 

Whether  or  not  it  was  common  for  the  selectmen  to 
appoint  sextons,  the  only  record  of  such  appoint- 
ments is  in  1821,  the  appointees  being  Isaac  Munro, 
Bartholomew  Dempsey  and  William  Johnson. 

From  1752  to  1791  "haywards''  were  annually 
chosen.  Jonathan  Putnam  and  John  Osbon  were 
the  first ;  Jno.  Dodge  and  Gideon  Putnam  the  last. 
That  hay-scales  were  not  in  existence  here  earlier 
than  1770,  witness  the  following  interesting  pe- 
tition : 

"The  Petition  of  Francis  Symonds  to  the  Selectmen  of  Danvers  for  the 
Present  year  1770  Signifieth  that  they  grant  him  the  following  Request 
on  the  following  Conditions  Namely  that  he  may  Erect  a  Convenient 
pair  of  Skails  or  Stilyards  that  will  answer  to  way  Cart  or  Sled  Loads  of 
hay  that  are  Bought  and  Sold  in  our  Markets,  and  that  Said  Selectmen 
Enter  it  in  our  Said  Danvers  Town  Book. 

"  That  no  other  Person  within  two  miles  of  the  Petitioner  shall  liave 
the  Liberty  or  Grant  from  us  to  Entercept  him  by  Entering  the  like  or 
any  Skails  or  Stilyards  for  said  purpose  for  Twenty  year  provided  and  it 
is  understood  that  said  Symonds  hath  this  Grant  allowed  him  by  us  the 
said  Select  Men  on  those  Conditions  That  he  keep  said  Skails  or  Stilyards 
in  good  order  and  see  them  well  tended  and  that  he  Charges  no  more  for 
his  waying  hay  or  anything  Ells  Then  tlie  Comon  Price  Now  Gentle- 
men as  I  trust  you  will  Observe  the  need  we  have  of  such  a  Convenience 
and  how  Likely  to  Bennefit  our  Nabourwhod  for  which  Reson  I  trust 
you  will  due  it  as  well  as  this   to  oblige  your  hombul  Sarvent.       Signed 

Francis  Symonds  Danvers  June  17th  1770. 

"William  Shillabee. 

"Jonathan  Buxton. 

"John  Preston. 

"John  Putnam. 

"The  four  Persons  Above  named  was  Select  Men  of  the  Town  of  Dan- 


526 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


vera  for  the  year  1770  :  aiifi  I   liave   Recorded   the  above  in  the  Town 
Book  According  to  their  order. 

"  Att:  Sam  :  Holten  Jun.  T.  Cler. 

Captain  Jonathan  Ingersoll,  Benajah  Collins  and 
Samuel  Page  were  chosen  in  1811  "to  consider  the 
expediency  of  the  Town  erecting  hay-scales,"  and 
their  report  sets  forth  the  need  of  such  scales  near 
the  south  meeting-house,  "  and  we  also  find  that  a 
considerable  quantity  of  hay  is  annually  purcha.sed 
on  the  road  leading  from  the  plains  (so-called)  to 
Salem,  and  that  a  hay-scale  erected  in  some  suitable 
place  on  that  road  would  make  it  very  convenient  for 
the  inhabitants  of  that  part  of  the  Town,  and  further, 
we  find  from  the  best  information  we  can  obtain  that 
the  expense  of  erecting  one  hay-scale  with  all  the 
apparatus  thereto  will  amount  to  about  one  hundred 
and  seventy-five  dollars." 

The  acceptance  of  this  report  was  doubtless  the 
origin  of  certain  massive  arrangements  of  beams, 
tackle  and  steel-yards,  which,  within  the  memory  of 
older  citizens,  stood  nearly  in  front  of  the  Baptist 
Church  at  Danversport,  and  which  weighed  whatever 
was  driven  beneath  by  lifting  wagon  and  load  bodily 
from  the  ground.  The  selectmen  were,  in  188G,  in- 
structed to  sell  "  the  Hay  Scales  at  the  Neck." 

Among  those  who  were  licensed  to  knock  down 
the  goods  and  chattels  of  their  friends  and  neighbors 
under  the  auctioneer's  hammer  in  the  first  quarter  of 
this  century  were  Sylvester  Proctor,  John  Fowler, 
Benjamin  Porter,  Captain  Thomas  Putnam,  Eleazer 
Putnam,  Joseph  Shed,  Porter  Kettell  and  Stephen 
Upton.  Dr.  Slied  was  an  auctioneer  from  1818  near- 
ly or  quite  all  the  time  to  his  death,  in  1853.  Those 
who  began  service  in  the  second  quarter  were  William 
D.  Joplin,  Hathorne  Porter,  Edward  Stimpson, 
Squires  Shove,  Daniel  P.  Clough,  Thomas  Trask ; 
since  1850,  Richard  Hood,  William  Dodge,  S.  D. 
Shattuck,  Alfred  Porter,  John  A.  Putnam,  Charles 
H.  Rundlett,  William  B.  Morgan,  George  Faxon,  T. 
P.  Conway. 

The  tax  collectors  of  the  early  years  of  the  town 
glad  enough  doubtless  to  meet  with  ready  payment 
in  any  sort  of  money,  were  nevertheless  bothered  to 
reduce  the  several  kinds  of  currency,  silver  and  con- 
tinental notes  of  old  and  new  issues,  to  a  common 
standard.  Distraining  and  tax  sales  were  rare,  and 
abatements  common.  The  assessors  left  short  min- 
utes of  their  reasons  for  abatement,  such  as  "  Gone," 
"  Poor  and  dead,"  "  G.  P's  dam  gave  way,"  "  Under 
captivity  by  the  Indians,"  "  Taxed  twice,"  "  Taxed 
wrong,"  "  Old  and  lost  his  faculty,"  "  Poor  widow," 
"  Being  gone  to  sea  fishing,"  "  Being  not  well,"  "  Broke 
his  leg,"  "  Not  16  years  old." 

A  move  was  made  as  early  as  1813  towards  the 
creation  of  a  Board  of  Health.  At  that  time  certain 
persons  asked  the  town  to  petition  the  Legislature 
for  authority  to  elect  such  officers.  The  proposition 
was  dismissed,  however,  and  not  till  nearly  twenty 
years  later,  1832,   was  the  first  board  chosen.      Its 


members  were  Benjamin  Jacobs,  Oliver  Saunders,  J. 
W.  Proctor,  Thomas  Cheever,  Samuel  Preston,  Joseph 
Stearns,  Jeremiah  Putnam,  Robert  S.  Daniels  and 
Richard  Osborn.  Since  then  a  Board  of  Health  have 
been  annually  chosen. 

Town  Clerks  and  Records. — The  records  of 
the  town  clerks  have  reached  the  thirteenth  volume. 
As  a  whole,  they  have  been  kept  remarkably  well. 
A  good  recording  oflScer  must  have  continually  in 
mind  the  fact  that  the  writing  will  outlive  the  writer 
and  must  preserve  in  his  records  a  full  and  clear 
statement  of  events  which  shall  be  of  use  when  they 
can  no  longer  be  aided  by  the  memory  of  anj'.  Such 
true  quality  was  possessed  by  our  earliest  town  clerks, 
and  the  spirit  has  been,  for  the  most  part,  transmitted 
through  the  line.  In  one  hundred  and  thirty -five 
years  of  town  life  there  have  been  twenty  different 
clerks,  the  average  length  of  whose  terms  is  about 
six  and  a  half  years.  Since  1800  there  have  been 
but  seven,  the  terms  of  three  of  whom  comprise  sev- 
enty-three years.     Here  follows  a  comjjlete  list  of 

TOWN   CLERKS. 


1752-53.  Daniel  Epes,  Jr. 
1754-56.  James  Prince. 
1757.  Benjamin  Prescott,  Jr. 
1758-60.  James  Prince. 

1761.  Benjamin  Prescott,  Jr. 

1762.  Gideon  Putnam. 

1763.  Thomas  Porter. 
1704-66.  Archelaus  Dale. 
1767.  Thomas  Porter. 
1768-71.  Samuel  Holten,  Jr, 
1772.  Gideon  Putnam. 
1773-75.  Samuel  Holten,  Jr. 
1776.  Stephen  Needham. 


1777.  Samuel  Flint. 
1778-86.  Stephen  Needham. 
1787.  Jonathan  Sawyer. 
1788-90.  James  Porter. 
1791-94.  Gideon  Foster. 
1795-1800.  Josejih  Osborn,  Jr. 
1801-28.  Nathan  Felton. 
1829-34.  Be nj.  Jacobs. 
1835-53.  Joseph  Shed. 
1854-55.'  Nathan  H.  Poor. 
1856.  Edwin  P.  Putnam. 
1857-85.  A.  Sumner  Howard. 
1886.  Joseph  E.  Hood. 


Mr.  Howard's  twenty-eight  years  is  the  longest  ser- 
vice, and  was  appropriately  recognized  by  apprecia- 
tive resolutions  when  he  declined  to  serve  longer. 
Mr.  Poor,  who  was  clerk  of  the  old  town  at  the  time 
of  division,  has  ever  since  been  retained  as  clerk  of 
South  Danvers  and  Peabody.  Before  the  building  of 
the  town-houses  the  records  followed  the  abode  of  the 
clerks.  A  small  projection  in  front  of  one  of  the 
houses  where  the  old  Ipswich  Road  crosses  the  An- 
dover  turnpike,  and  begins  to  climb  Hog  Hill,  is  re- 
called by  a  few  aged  people  as  the  headquarters  of 
Nathan  Felton,  whom  they  remember  as  an  old  man 
dispensing  the  rude  justice  of  a  country  squire. 
Much  of  biographical  interest  might  and  ought  to  be 
written  of  many  of  these  town  clerks,  but  space  here 
forbids.  Perhaps  the  model  clerk  of  all  was  Dr. 
Shed,  a  man  who  evidently  loved  to  make  his  records 
clear  and  beautiful.  He  was  a  physician  of  the 
South  Parish,  residing  on  the  main  street  opi:)osite 
and  a  little  below  the  old  bank  building,  where  he 
also  had  an  apothecary  store.  Dr.  Shed  was  a  justice 
of  the  peace,  and  he  drew  aud  acknowledged  most  of 
the  deeds  by  which  his  fellow-citizens  made  their 
real-estate  conveyances.  His  death  was  formally  an- 
nounced at  a  meeting  in  Granite  Hall  April  11,  1853, 


DANYERS. 


527 


when  Dr.  Hunt  presented  resolutions  of  regret  and 
respect,  and  the  selectmen  and  other  town  officers 
were  directed  to  attend,  in  official  capacity,  the  fu- 
neral. 

Up  to  the  annual  meeting  of  1887,  the  town  has  held 
nine  hundred  and  forty  meetings.  Of  this  uuml>er, 
309  were  held  in  the  several  meeting-houses  of  the 
First  or  North  Church  (of  which  number  25  were  in 
the  "  Brick  Meeting-house,"  and  22  at  "  Village  Hall," 
the  basement  of  the  present  meeting-house),  293 
were  held  in  the  South  Meeting-house,  2  in  school- 
house  No.  5,  17  at  Liberty  Hall,  2  at  Chapman's 
Tavern,  4  at  the  hall  of  Benjamin  Goodridge,  96  at 
Union  Hall,  39  at  Granite  Hall  (vestry  of  the  Maple 
Street  Church),  172  in  the  Town-Hall,  6  at  places  not 
named.  One  of  the  meetings  at  "  Liberty  Hall,  in 
the  house  occupied  by  Geo.  Southwick,  Jun.,  Inn- 
holder,"  was  called  there  in  1828  by  reason  of  the  re- 
fusal of  the  proprietors  of  the  South  Church  to  allow 
the  use  of  their  house,  and  at  this  meeting  a  familiar 
parliamentary  form  was  slightly  but  pungently  va- 
ried ;  it  was  voted  "  that  the  communication  from  the 
Proprietors  of  the  South  Meeting-house  pass  under 
the  table." 

The  first  attempt  at  a  systematic  index  of  the 
records  was  made  in  1832.  Then  the  selectmen  were 
directed  to  have  made  a  "  digested  index  of  the  town 
records  from  the  commencement  thereof  in  a  book 
specially  for  this  purpose,  with  reference  to  the  vol- 
ume and  page  in  which  the  subject  may  be  found.'' 
They  were  to  allow  such  compensation  for  the  work 
as  when  completed  they  should  judge  it  worth. 
Nine  years  later,  on  petition  of  J.  W.  Proctor  and 
others,  the  index  was  brought  up  to  date,  and  it  was 
then  made  the  duty  of  the  clerk  to  make  an  annual 
index.  Measures  were  taken  in  184()  "  for  keej)ing 
the  records  in  one  office,  rather  than  in  separate 
places,  as  now  kept."  But  the  old  indexes  have  been 
found  to  be  imperfect,  and,  with  the  accumulated 
records  of  later  years,  need  has  been  felt  of  a  new  in- 
dex, based  upon  a  thorough  and  systematic  overhaul- 
ing of  the  originals.  A  few  years  ago  J.  W.  Porter, 
J.  A.  Putnam  and  I.  W.  Andrews  were  appointed  to 
take  the  matter  in  hand.  They  consulted  at  first  and 
from  time  to  time  with  William  P.  Upliam,  an  ex[)ert 
in  such  matters,  and  obtained  the  services  of  Miss 
Helen  Tajjley  to  do  the  practical  work.  The  town 
clerk's  records  have  all  been  thus  indexed,  and  it  is 
safe  to  say  that  no  other  town  can  surpass  the  ac- 
curacy and  general  excellence  of  this  work,  and  but 
few  can  equal  it.  A  new  vault  has  been  constructed 
for  files  and  plans  in  the  basement,  and  the  old  one 
for  ordinary  use  has  been  much  enlarged. 

Moderators.  —  From  1752  to  1887,  inclusive, 
thirty-five  different  men  have  presided  over  the  one 
hundred  and  thirty-five  annual  town-meetings.  A 
list  of  these  moderators  arranged  chronologically  ac- 
cording as  their  names  first  appear,  with  subsequent 
years  of  service,  if  any,  given,  is  as  follows,  the  right 


hand  column  showing  at  a  glance  the  total  service  of 
each : 

Years. 

Daniel  Epes,  Esq.,  1702,  '.">:i 2 

Capt  Thos.  Porter,  1754 1 

Dauiel  Epes,  Jr.,  Esq.,  n.W,  '5(!,  'r^l,  '59,  '60,  '65,  '66,  '67 8 

Samuel  Flint,  1758 1 

Thomas  Porter,  1761,  ■62,  '6:!,  '71,  '72 5 

Deacon  Malaclii  Feltun,  1761 1 

Samuel  Holten,  Jr.,  1768,  '81,  '84,  '86,  '87,  '89,  '90,  1796-1812..  24 

Gideon  Putnam,  1769,  '79,  '83,  '85,  '93,  '94,  '95 7 

Archelaus  Dale,  1770, '73, '76 3 

Capt.  Wm.  Sliillaber,  1774,  '7.5,  '77,  '78,  '88,  '91.  '92 7 

Amos  Putnam,  1780,  '82 2 

Samuel  Page,  1813,  '14 2 

Dr.  Andrew  Nichols,  181.5,  '16,  '17 3 

Dr.  Joseph  Shed,  1818 1 

Dr.  George  Osgood,  1810,  '21,  '25,  '35 4 

Capt.  Thos.  Putnam,  1820 1 

Nathan  Poor,  1S22,  '23,S'24 3 

Roberts.  Daniels,  1826 1 

Elias  Putnam,  1827,  '29,  '31 3 

Lewis  Allen,  1828,  '40,  '48,  '50,  '52,  '54 6 

John  W.  Proctor,  1830,  '32,  '34,  '36,  '38,  '40 6 

John  Preston,  1833,  '37 2 

Samuel  P.  Fowler,  1839,   43 2 

Abel  Nichols,  1841 1 

Daniel  P.  King,  1842 1 

Jonathan  Shove,  1844 1 

Moses  Black,  Jr.,  184.5,  '47,  '51 3 

James  D.  Black,  1849,  '53,  '55,  '57,  '65 5 

Israel  W.  Andrews,  18.56,  '70,  '77 3 

Wm.  Endicott,  1858,  '59,  '62,  '63,  '66,  '67,  '68,  '69 8 

A.  A.  Putnam,  1860,  '61 2 

Charles  P.  Preston,   1864 1 

George  Tapley,  1871,  '72,  '74,  '78,  '79,  '80,  '81 7 

George  J.  Sanger,  1873,  '75,  '76,  '82,  '83,  '84 6 

Dauiel  N.  Crowley,  1885,  '86 2 

Alden  P.  White,  1887 1 

It  may  be  noticed  with  what  regularity  honors  al- 
ternated from  say,  1826,  to  division,  1856,  the  office 
being  held  by  north  parish  men  odd  years,  and  by 
south  parish  men  even  years. 

Treasurers. — There  have  been  from  1752  to  1887, 
inclusive,  twenty-one  treasurers  of  the  town,  as 
follows : 

Years. 

James  Prince,  1752,  '.53 2 

Samuel  King,  1754 1 

Joseph  Osborne,  1755,56 2 

Cornet  Samuel  Ilolten,  1757,  '58 2 

Joseph  Southwick,  1759 1 

James  Smith,  1760-09 10 

Thos.  Porter,  1770-72 3 

Jeremiah  Page,  1773,  '74 2 

Stephen  Proctor,  1775-83 9 

Gideon  Putnam,  1784-88 5 

Samuel  Holten,  1789-1812 24 

Samuel  Page,  1813, '14 2 

Ward  Pool,  1815-18 4 

Edward  Southwick,  lSl:i-24 6 

Ebeuezer  Sbillaber,  1825-31 7 

Robert  S.  Daniels,  1832,  '41-48 9 

Stephen  Upton,  1833-40 8 

Abner  Sanger,  1849 1 

Francis  Baker,  1850-55 6 

William  L.  Weston,  1856-82 27 

A.  Frank  Welch,  1882-87 6 

Representatives.— The  following  men  have  rep- 
resented Danvers  in  the  General  Court,  arranged  by 
consecutive  years  after  1802,  when  the  town  began  to 
send  several  representatives  annually  : 


528 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS 


Daniel  Epes,  Jr.,  1754,  '55,  '56,  '57,  '65,  '67. 

Daniel  Gardner,  1759. 

Thomas  Porter,  1760,  '61,  '62,  '63,  '65. 

John  Preston,  1764. 

Samuel  Holten,  Jr.,  1768,  '69,  '70,  '71,  '72,  '7.3,  '75,  '80,  '87. 

Wm.  Shillaber,  1776. 

Samuel  Epes,  1776. 

Jeremiah  Hutchinson,  1777,  '78,  '79,  '80-83,  '85-88. 

Gideon  Putnam,  1784. 

Israel  Hutchinson,  1789,  '91-95,  '97,  '98. 

Caleb  Low,  1790. 

Gideon  Foster,  1796,  '99,  1800-2. 

1804. — Gideon  Foster,  Capt.  Samuel  Page.  Dr.  Nathan  Read. 

1805. — Gideon  Foster,  Samuel  Page,  Nathan  Felton. 

1806. — Gideon  Foster,  Samuel  Page,  Nathan  Felton. 

1807.— Nathan  Felton. 

1808.— Samuel  Page,  Nathan  Felton,  Squiers  Shove. 

1809. — Samuel  Page,  Nathan  Felton,  Squiers  Shove. 

1810. — Samuel  Page,  Nathan  Felton,  Dennison  Wallis. 

1811. — Samuel  Page,  Nathan  Felton,  Dennison  Wallis,  Daniel  Putnam. 

1812. — Samuel  Page,  Nathan  Felton,  Dennison  Wallis,  James  Foster. 

1813. — Samuel  Page,  Nathan  Feltou,  Dennison  Wallis,  James  Foster. 

1814. — Samuel    Page,   Nathan    Felton,   Sylvester    Osborn,    Hezekiah 
Flint. 

1815. — Nathan  Felton,  Sylvester  Osborn,  Hezekiah  Flint,  William  P 
Page. 

1816.— Nathan    Felton.   William    P.   Page,    Frederick    Howes,   John 
Swinerton,  Jr. 

1817.— Daniel   Putnam,  Sylvester  Osborn,  Frederick   Howes,  Thomas 
Putnam. 

1818. — Frederick  Howes. 

1819. — Nathan   Felton,   Dennison    Wallis,    Daniel    Putnam,    Thomas 
Putnam. 

1820-21.— Nathan  Felton. 

1822.— William  Sutton. 

1823. — Ebenezer  Shillaber,  John  Page,  Nathan  Poor,  Nathaniel  Put- 
nam. 

1824.— Nathan  Poor. 

1825.— John  Page,  John  Endicott. 

1826. — Jonathan  Shove,  Rufus  Choate. 

1827. — Rufus  Choate,  Jonathan  Shove. 

1828. — Jonathan  Shove,  Nathan  Poor,  Robert  S.  Daniels. 

1829. — Jonathan  Shove,  Elias  Putnam. 

1830.—  Elias  Putnam,   Jonathan   Shove,   Robert  S.    Daniels,   Nathan 
Poor. 

1831  (May). — Nathan  Poor,  John  Page,  William  Sutton,  John  Preston. 

1831  (November). — John  Page,  John  Preston,  Nathan  Poor,  Jonathan 
Shove. 

1832. — John    Preston,   John    Page,    Ebenezer    Shillaber,    Jonathan 
Shove. 

1833. — Jonathan  Shove,  Henry  Cook,  John  Preston,  John  Page. 

1834. — John   Preston,    Henry  Cook,    Andrew   Lunt,    Eben    Putnam, 
.Jacob  F.  Perry. 

1835. — Jacob  F.  Perry,  Andrew  Lunt,  Daniel  P.  King,  Allen  Putnam, 
Joshua  H.  Ward. 

1836. — Joshua  H.  Ward,  Jacob  F.  Perry,  Andrew  Lunt,  Caleb  L.  Frost. 

1837.— Caleb  L.  Frost,  Eben  Putnam,  Samuel  P.  Fowler,  Lewis  Allen. 

1838. — Lewis  Allen,  Samuel  P.  Fowler,  Henry  Poor,  Abel  Nichols. 

1839. — Joshua    H.  Ward,    Henry    Poor,    Samuel   P.    Fowler,    Allen 
Putnam. 

1840.— Allen  Putnam,  Fitch  Poole. 

1841. — Fitch  Poole,  Samuel  Preston, 

1842. — Daniel  P.  King,  Samuel  Preston. 

1843. — Frederick  Morrill,  Joshua  Silvester. 

1844. — Richard  Osborn,  Henry  Fowler. 

1845. — Henry  Fowler,  Richard  Osborn. 

1846.— Henry  Fowler,  Elijah  W.  Upton. 

1847. — Elijah  W.  Upton,  Joshua  Silvester. 

1848.— William  Walcotl,  William  Dodge. 

1849.— A.  A.  Abbott,  John  Hines. 

1850.— William  Walcott,  Otis  Mudge,  Henry  A.  Hary. 

1851. — John  Hines,  Philemon  Putnam,  Alfred  A.  Abbott. 

1852.— William  Walcott. 

1853. — David  Daniels,  Philemon  Putnam,  James  P.  King. 

1854. — Joseph  Jacobs,  Francis  Dodge,  Israel  W.  Andrews. 

1855. — Israel  W.  Andrews,  Eben  S.  Poor,  Alonzo  P.  Phillips. 


1856. — Arthur  A.  Putnam,  Israel  W.  Andrews,  Richard  Smith. 

1857-58.— Francis  P.  Putnam. 

1859.— Arthur  A.  Putnam. 

I860.— George  Tapley. 

1861-62.— James  W.  Putnam. 

1863-64.— Charles  P.  Preston. 

186.5-66.— Simeon  Putnam. 

1867-68.— Edwin  Mudge. 

1869. — Abbott  Johnson,  of  Wenham. 

1870-71.— George  H.  Peabody. 

1872.-73.— George  J.  Sanger. 

1874. — John  L.  Robinson,  of  Wenham. 

1875-76.— Charles  B.  Rice. 

1877. — Israel  W.  Andrews. 

1878.— Charles  B.  Rice. 

1879.— Henry  Hobbs,  of  Wenham. 

1880-81.— Gilbert  A.  Tapley. 

1882.— Alonzo  J.  Stetson. 

1883.— Andrew  H.  Paton. 

1884.— N.  Porter  Perkins,  of  Wenham. 

1885-86.— Malcolm  Sillars. 

To  the  great  convention  called  in  1820  to  make  the 
first  revision  of  the  State  Constitution,  in  which 
Daniel  Webster,  Judge  Story,  Leverett  Saltonstall, 
Josiah  Quincy  and  others  were  prominent  figures, 
Danvers  sent  Caleb  Cakes,  John  Page,  Ebenezer 
Shillaber  and  Ebenezer  King.  At  the  gubernatorial 
election  of  1851  voters  were  called  upon  to  decide 
whether  or  no  a  convention  should  be  called  for 
another  revision  of  the  Constitution.  The  citizens 
of  this  town  said  "No,"  681  to  556.  The  next  year 
on  the  same  question,  "  Yes,"  638  to  636 ;  in  each 
case  the  voice  of  the  town  was  the  voice  of  the  State. 
Delegates  were  chosen  to  meet  at  the  State  House, 
May  4,  1853.  In  this  convention  were  Rufus  Choate, 
Sidney  Bartlett,  Nathan  Hale,  George  S.  Hillard  and 
others  from  Boston.  Robert  Rantoul,  Marcus  Mor- 
ton, Jr.,  Henry  K.  Oliver,  John  B.  Alley,  R.  H.  Dana, 
Jr.,  Asahel  Huntington,  Otis  P.  Lord,  Charles  W. 
Upham  and  others  from  Essex  County.  John  A. 
Putnam,  now  of  Danvers,  represented  Wenham.  At 
the  election,  March  7,  1853,  the  vote  of  Danvers  was 
as  follows  : 

Whole  number  of  votes  736 

Necessary  to  a  choice 369 

MiltonP.  Braman  had   399 

Samuel  P.  Fowler  had  397 

Alfred  A.  Abbott  had 370 

Andrew  Nichols  had  300 

.lames  D.  Black  had   297 

Charles  Esteshad   289 

Sixteen  other  candidates  had  from  1  to  39.  Messrs. 
Braman,  Fowler  and  Abbott  were  elected  delegates. 
Each  of  the  eight  propositions  submitted  by  the  con- 
vention to  the  people  were  rejected  by  this  town  at 
the  fall  election  of  1853  by  an  average  vote  of  about 
715  nays  to  515  yeas. 

Selectmen. — The  following  is  a  complete  list: 


1762.— Daniel  Epes. 

Captain  Samuel   Flint. 

Deacon  Cornelius  Tarball. 

Stephen  Putnam. 

Samuel  King. 

Daniel  Gardner. 

Joseph  Putnam. 
1753. — Daniel  Epes,  Jr. 


1754. 


Captain  Thomas  Flint. 
Corntt.  Samuel  Holten. 
Samuel  King. 
Lieut.  David  Putnam. 
Ens.  John  Procter. 
Jasper  Needhara. 
-Daniel   Epes,  .Tr. 
Jasper  Needhani. 


DAN  VERS. 


529 


Samuel  Putnam. 

James  Prince. 

Ebenezer  Goodale. 
1755. — Daniel  Epes,  ,Jr., 

Jasper  Needham. 

Capt.  John  Proctor. 

James  Prince. 

Capt.  Samuel  Flint. 
1756— Daniel  Epee,   Jr. 

Daniel   Marble. 

Capt.  Thomas  Flint.' 

Deacon  Cornelius  Tarble. 

James  Prince. 
1757 — John  Preston. 

Francis  Nurse. 

Daniel  Gardner. 

Benj.   Prescott,  Jr. 

Joseph  South  wick. 
1758. — James  Prince. 

Nathan  Procter. 

Jasper  Needham. 

Bartholomew  Kea, 

Benj.  Upton. 
1759. — James  Prince. 

Capt.  Samuel  Flint. 

John   Epes. 

Ezekiel  Marsh,  Jr. 

Ebenezer  Jacobs. 
1760. — James  Prince. 

Jasper  Needham. 

John  Epes. 

John  Nichols. 

John  Preston. 
1761.— Samuel  Holten; 

Nathaniel  Pope. 

Abel  Mackintiro. 

Lieut.  Saml.  King. 

Benj.  Prescott,  Jr. 
1762.— Abel  McTntire. 

Benj.  Russell,  Jr. 

Daniel  Purrington. 

Gideon  Putnam. 

Joseph  Putnam. 
1763.— Thos  Porter. 

Saml.  Holten. 

John  Epes. 

John  Proctor,  Jr. 

John  Preston. 
1764. — Benj.  Putnam. 

Archalas  Dale. 

John  Putnam. 

Stephen  Procter. 

Benj.  Moulton. 
1765.— Benj.  Moulton. 

John  Putnam. 

Stephen  Procter. 

Jona.  Buxton. 

Arch.  Dale. 
1766. — Archelaus  Dale. 

Benj.  Upton. 

Jonathan  Buxton. 

John  Swinerton. 

Jonathan  Tarble. 
1767.  —Samuel  Holten,  Jr. 

John  Epes. 

Jonathan  Tarbell. 

Jonathan  Buxton. 

Ebenezer  Goodell. 
1768. — Jonathan  Buxton. 

John  Epes. 

Samuel  Holten,  Jr. 

Ebenezer  Goodell. 

Gideon  Putnam. 
1769.— Samuel  Holten,  Jr. 

Ebenezer  Goodale. 
Samuel  Gardner. 

34 


William  Shillaber. 

Samuel  King. 
1770.— Saml.  Holten,  Jr. 

Lieut.  John  Preston. 

John  Putnam. 

Jonathan  Buxton. 

Capt.  Wm.  Shillaber. 
1771.— Capt.  Wm.  Shillaber. 

Jonathan  Buxton. 

Gideon  Putnam. 

Benj.  Proctor. 

Samuol  Holten,  Jr. 
1772.— Samuel  Flint. 

Wm.  Shillaber. 

Gideon  Putnam. 

Jonathan  Buxton. 

Benj.  Procter. 
177.3.— Samuel  Holten,  Jr. 

John  Putnam. 

Lieut.  Arch.  Putnam. 

Benj.  Porter. 

Stephen   Needham. 
1774  — Samuel  Holten,  Jr. 

Lieut.  Arch.  Putnam. 

Wm.  Poole. 

Stephen  Needham. 

Jonathan  Buxton, 
1775.- Dr.  Saml.  Holten. 

Capt.  Wm.  Shill.aber. 

Capt.  Wm.  Putnam. 

Stephen  Needham. 

Ezra  Upton. 
1776.— John  Epes. 

Wm.  Shillaber. 

Stephen  Needham. 

Ezra  Upton. 

Edmund  Putnam. 
1777. — Capt.  John  Putnam. 

Capt.  Samuel  Flint. 

Capt.  Wm.  Shillaber. 

Stephen  Needham. 

Phineas  Putnam. 
1778.— Stephen  N«odham. 

Capt.  Wm.  Shillaber. 

Benj.  Procter. 

Capt.  John  Putnam. 

Phinehas  Putnam. 
1779. — Colonel  Enoch  Putnam. 

Ezra  Upton. 

Stephen  Needham. 

Major  Samuel  Epes. 

James  Prince. 
1780. — Jona.  Sawyer. 

Daniel  Putnam. 

Capt.  Joseph  Porter. 

Ezra  Upton. 
1781. — Capt.  Joseph  Porter. 

Daniel  Putnam. 

Stephen  Needham. 

Samuel  White. 

Major  Samuel  Epes. 
1782. — Stephen  Needham. 

Daniel  Putnam. 

Jonathan  Sawyer. 

Capt.  Jos.  Porter. 

Capt.  Gideon  Foster. 
1783.— Capt.  Gideon  Foster. 

Daniel  Putnam. 

John  Walcut. 

Aaron  Putnam. 

Stephen  Needham. 
1784. — Stephen  Needham. 

Major  Caleb  Low. 

Aaron  Putnam. 

Capt.  Gideon  Foster. 

Daniel  Putnam. 


1785.— Jona.  Sawyer. 

David  Prince. 

Stephen  Needham. 

Daniel  Putnam. 

Col.  Jeremiah  Page. 
1786.— Stephen  Needham. 

Stephen  Putnam. 

Daniel  Putnam. 

Capt.  Jona.  Procter, 

Capt.  Gideon  Foster. 
1787. — Jona.  Sawyer. 

Samuel  Gardner. 

Amos  Tapley . 

David  Prince. 

Timothy  Leech. 
1788.— David  Prince. 

Capt.  Samuel  Page. 

Amos  Tapley. 

James  Porter. 

Stephen  Needham. 
1789.— David  Prince. 

Samuel  Page. 

John  Kettell. 

Amos  Tapley. 

James  Porter. 
1790.— David  Prince. 

Capt.  Samuel  Page. 

John  Kettell. 

James  Porter. 

John  Brown. 
1791. — Stephen  Needham. 

Gideon  Foster. 

John  Kettell. 

David  Prince. 

Amos  Tapley. 
1792.— Gideon  Foster. 

David  Prince. 

Samuel  Page. 

John  Kettell. 

Stephen  Needham, 
1793.— Gideon  Foster. 

David  Prince. 

John  Kettell. 

Joseph  Putnam. 

Stephen  Needham. 
1794.— David  Prince. 

Stephen  Needham. 

Samuel  Page. 

John  Kettell. 

Gideon  Foster. 
1795. — Joseph  Osborn,  Jr. 

Stephen  Needham. 

David  Prince. 

John  Kettell. 

Zerubbabel  Porter. 
1796. — Joseph  Osborn,  Jr. 

Samuel  Page, 

John  Kettell. 

Stephen  Needham. 

Daniel  Putnam. 
1797.— Joseph  Osborn,  Jr. 

Nathl.  Webb. 

Zerobabell  Porter, 

Amos  Tapley. 

Elijah  Flint. 
1798.— Joseph  Osborn,  Jr. 

Samuel  Page. 

John  Kettell. 

Daniel  Putnam. 

Nathan  Felton. 
1799.— Nathan  Felton. 

Daniel  Putnam. 

John  Kettell. 

Amos  Tapley. 

Joseph  Osborn,  Jr. 
1800. — Joseph  Osborn,  Jr. 


Daniel  Putnam. 

Samuel  Page. 

John  KettelL 

Nathan  Felton, 
1801.— Samuel  Page. 

Joseph  Putnam. 

Nathan  Felton. 

Zerobabell  Portor. 

Elijah  Flint. 
1802.— Nathan  Felton. 

Johnson  Procter. 

Sylvester  Osborn. 

Jona.  Walcut. 

John  Fowler. 
1803.— Nathan  Felton. 

Sylvester  Osborn. 

John  Preston. 

Jona.  Walcut. 

John  Fowler. 
1804.— Nathan  Felton. 

Sylvester  Osborn. 

Jonathan  Walcut. 

Johnson  Procter. 

John  Fowler. 
1805,— Nathan  Felton, 

Amos  Tapley. 

Sylvester  Osborn. 

Jona.  Walcut. 

John  Fowler. 
1806.— Nathan  Felton. 

Sylvester  Osborn. 

Jonathan  Walcut. 

Thomas  Putnam. 

John  Fowler. 
1807.— Nathan  Felton. 

Sylvester  Osborn. 

Jonathan  Walcut. 

John  Fowler. 

Amos  Tapley. 
1808.— Thomas  Putnam. 

Nathan  Felton. 

Sylvester  Procter, 

Daniel  Putnam, 

Amos  Tapley. 
1809.— Nathan  Felton. 

Amos  Tapley. 

Levi  Preston. 

Thos.  Putnam. 

Daniel  Putnam. 
1810.— Nathan  Felton. 

Nathaniel  Putnam, 

Sylvester  Procter, 

Daniel  Putnam. 

Peter  Cross,  Jr. 
1811.— Nathan  Felton. 

Levi  Preston. 

Jena.  Walcut. 

Daniel  Putnam. 

Andrew  Nichols,  Jr, 
1812.— Nathan  Felton. 

Jona.  Walcut. 

Richd.  Osborn. 

Daniel  Putnam. 

Nathl.  Putnam. 
1813.— Nathan  Felton. 

Jona.  Walcut. 

Daniel  Putnam. 

Nathl.  Putnam. 

Kichd.  Osborn. 
1814.— Nathan  Felton. 

Jonathan  Walcut. 

Nathaniel  Putnam. 

James  Brown. 

John  Page. 
1815.— Nathan  Felton. 

Nathaniel  Putnam, 


530 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


1817.- 


1818.- 


Jonathan  Walcut. 
John  Page. 
Sylvester  Procter. 
1816.— Nathan  Felton. 

Sylvester  Procter. 
Nathaniel  Putnam. 
Jonathan  Walcut. 
Daniel  Putnam. 
-Nathan  Felton. 
Jona.  Walcut. 
Sylvester  Procter. 
Daniel  Putnam. 
Nathaniel  Putnam. 
-Joseph  Shed. 
Israel  Putnam,  Jr. 
Thomas  Putnam. 
Jesse  Putnam. 
Moses  Preston,  Jr. 
1819.— Israel  Putnam,  Jr. 
Thomas  Putnam. 
Jesse  Putnam. 
Joseph  Shed. 
Moses  Preston,  Jr. 
1820. — Israel  Putnam,  Jr. 
Thomas  Putnam. 
Jesse  Putnam. 
Joseph  Shed. 
Moses  Preston,  Jr. 
1821. — Thomas  Putnam. 
Joseph  Shed. 
Jesse  Putnam. 
Moses  Preston,  Jr. 
Elias  Putnam. 
1822. — Jesse  Putnam. 
Elias  Putnam. 
Nathan  Felton. 
Moses  Preston,  Jr. 
Joseph  Stearns. 
1823. — Jesse  Putnam. 
Joseph  Stearns. 
Elias  Putnam. 
Moses  Preston,  Jr. 
Jonathan  Shove. 
1824. — Jesse  Putnam. 
Joseph  Stearns. 
Elias  Putnam. 
Moses  Preston. 
Jonathan  Shove. 
1825. — Jesse  Putnam. 
Elias  Putnam. 
Joseph  Stearns. 

Moses  Preston. 
Jonathan  Sliove. 
1826. — Jesse  Putnam. 

Jonathan  Shove. 

Joseph  Stearns. 

Elias  Putnam. 

Moses  Preston. 
1827. — Jesse  Putnam. 

Elias  Putnam. 

Jonathan  Shove. 

Roberts.  Daniels. 

Nathan  Felton. 
1828. — Jesse  Putnam. 

Jonathan  Shove. 

Robert  S.  Daniels. 

Nathan  Poor. 

Elias  Putnam. 
1829. — Jesse  Putnam. 

Elias  Putnam. 

Jonathan  Shove. 

Nathan  Poor. 

Daniel  P.  King. 
1830. — Elias  Putnam. 

Jonathan  Shove. 

Nathan  Poor. 


Jesse  Putnam. 
Benjamin  Jacobs. 
1831. — John  Preston. 

Benjamin  Jacobs. 
Jacob  F.  Perry. 
Eben  Putnam,  Jr. 
Joseph  Shed. 
1832. — Benjamin  Jacobs. 
Kendall  Osborn, 
Lewis  Allen. 
John  Preston. 
Jacob  F.  Perry. 
1833.— John  Preston. 

Kendall  Osborn. 
Jacob  F.  Perry. 
Benjamin  Jacobs. 
Nathaniel  Pope. 
1831.— John  Preston. 

Joseph  Tufts,  Jr. 
Benjamin  Jacobs. 
Nathl.  Pope. 
Kendall  Osborn. 
1835. — Nathaniel  Pope. 

Samuel  P.  Fowler. 
Eben  Putnam. 
Lewis  Allen. 
Henry  Poor. 
1836.— Lewis  Allen. 

Nathaniel  Pope. 
Eben  S.  Upton. 
Samuel  P.  Fowler. 
Joseph  Tufts,  Jr. 
1837.— Nathaniel  Pope. 
Abel  Nichols. 
Samuel  P.  Fowler. 
Joseph  Tufts,  Jr. 
Ebenezer  Sutton. 
1838.— Samuel  P.  Fowler. 
Elijah  Upton. 
Joseph  Tufts,  Jr. 
Ebon  Sutton. 
Nathaniel  Pope. 
1839.— Elijah  Upton. 

Nathaniel  Pope. 
•  Samuel  P.  Fowler. 
Joseph  Tufts,  Jr. 
Abel  Nichols. 
1840.— Elijah  Upton. 
Nathaniel  Pope. 
Andrew  Torr. 
Andrew  Lunt. 
Samuel  P.  Fowler. 
1841. — Henry  Poor. 

William  Black. 
Nathl.  Pope. 
Elijah  Upton. 
Joshua  Silvester. 
1842.— EHjah  Upton. 

Joshua  Silvester. 
William  Black. 
Joseph  Poor,  Jr. 
Wingate  Merrill. 
1843.— Wiiigate  Merrill. 
Joseph  Poor,  Jr. 
Jo-hua  Silvester. 
William  Black. 
Perley  Goodale. 
1844.— Wingate  Merrill. 
Joshua  Silvester. 
Joseph  Poor,  Jr. 
Henry  Fowler. 
Eben  King. 
1845.— Wingate  Merrill. 
Lewis  Allen. 
Henry  Fowler. 
Nathaniel  Pope. 
William  Dodge,  Jr. 


1846.— Wingate  Merrill. 

Kendall  Osborn. 

Nathaniel  Pope. 

William  Dodge,  Jr. 

Lewis  Allen. 
1847.— Lewis  Allen. 

Wingate  Merrill. 

Nathaniel  Pope. 

William  Dodge,  Jr. 

Moses  Black,  Jr. 
1848. —Nathaniel  Pope. 

Wingate  Merrill. 

Moses  Black,  Jr. 

Lewis  Allen. 

Kendall  Osborn. 
1849.— Otis  Mudge. 

Elias  Savage. 

Abel  Preston. 

William  Dodge,  Jr. 

Eben  S.  Upton. 
1850.— Lewis  Allen. 

Richard  Osborn. 

Samuel  Preston. 

Kendall  Osborn. 

Francis  Dodge. 
1851.— Kendall  Osborn. 

Francis  Dodge. 

William  Endicott, 

Daniel  Emerson. 

Aarou  F.  Clark. 
1852. — Kendall  Osborn. 

Richard  Osborn. 

William  Endicott. 

Aaron  F.  Clark. 

Edwin  Mudge. 
1853.— Kendall  Osborn. 

Leonard  Poole. 

Edwin  Mudge. 

Aaron  Putnam. 

Elias  Savage. 
1854. — Lewis  Allen. 
Leonard  Poole. 
Joel  Putnam. 
Beuj.  F.  Hutchinson. 
Nathan  H.  Poor. 

1855.— Abel  Preston. 

William  Walcott. 

Nathaniel  Bodge. 

Moses  J.  Currier. 

Augustus  Fowler. 
1856.— William  Dodge,  Jr. 

Augustus  Fowler. 

Charles  P.  Preston. 

1857. — Augustus  Fowler. 
Charles  P.  Preston. 
William  Dodge,  Jr. 

1858. — Bufus  Putnam. 
Chas.  P.  Preston. 
Otis  Mudge. 

1859.— Bufus  Putnam. 
Chas.  P.  Preston. 
William  Dodge,  Jr. 

I860.— Rufus  Putnam. 
Chas.  P.  Preston. 
James  M.  Perry. 

1861. — Francis  Dodge. 

William  Dodge,  Jr. 
Charles  Chaplin. 

1862.— William  Dodge,  Jr. 
Charles  Chaplin. 
Augustus  Fowler. 

1863. — James  M.  Perry. 
Jacob  F.  Perry. 
John  A.  Putnam. 


1864.— Jacob  F.  Perry. 

John  A.  Putnam. 

William  Dodge,  Jr. 
1865.— Jacob  F.  Perry. 

William  Dodge,  Jr. 

John  A.  Putnam. 
1866.— Jacob  F.  Perry. 

William  Dodge,  Jr. 

John  A.  Putnam. 
1867.— William  Dodge,  Jr. 

Simeon  Putnam. 

Henry  A.  Perkins. 
1868.— William  Dodge,  Jr. 

Simeon  Putnam. 

Henry  A.  Perkins. 
1869.— William  Dodge,  Jr. 

Simeon  Putnam. 

Henry  A.  Perkins. 
1870.— William  Dodge,  Jr. 

Henry  A.  Perkins. 

Josiah  Ross. 
1871.— William  Dodge,  Jr. 

Henry  A.  Perkins. 

Josiah  Ross. 

1872.— William  Dodge,  Jr. 
Henry  A.  Perkins. 
Joshua  Brag  Jon. 

1873.— Henry  A.  Perkins. 
Joshua  Bragdon. 
Samuel  W.  Spaulding. 

1874. — Joshua  Bragdon. 
Henry  A.  Perkins. 
Otis  F.  Putnam. 

1875. — Henry  A.  Perkins. 
Joshua  Bragdon. 
Otis  F.  Putnam. 

1876.— Henry  A.  Perkins. 
Joshua  Bragdon. 
Otis  F.  Putnam. 

1877.— Henry  A.  Perkins. 
Joshua  Bragdon. 
Otis  F.  Putnam. 

1878.— Charles  H.  Adams. 
Otis  F.  Putnam. 
Josiah  Ross. 

1879. — Henry  A.  Perkins. 
Josiah  Ross. 
Harrison  0.  Warren. 

1880.— Henry  A.  Perkins. 

Harrison  0.  Warren. 
Daniel  P.  Pope. 

1881.— Henry  A.  Perkins. 
Daniel  P.  Pope. 
Josiah  Ross. 

1882.— Daniel  P.  Pope. 
Otis  F.  Putnam. 
Joshua  Bragdon. 

1883.— Daniel  P.  Pope. 
Otis  F.  Putnam. 
Joshua  Bragdon. 

1884.— Daniel  P.  Pope. 
Joshua  Bragdon. 
Otis  F.  Putnam. 

1885.— Daniel  P.  Pope. 
Joshua  Bragdon. 
Otis  F.  Putnam. 

1886.— Daniel  P.  Pope. 
Joshua  Bragdon. 
Otis  F.  Putnam. 

1887.— Daniel  P.  Pope. 
Joshua  Bragdon. 
Otis  F.  Putnam. 


DANVERS. 


531 


One  of  the  propositions  for  disposing  of  the  new 
school  building  in  the  short-lived  district  No.  8  was 
to  convert  it  to  a  lock-up  and  tramp-station,  but  the 
town  then  refused  to  believe  itself  sufficiently  ad- 
vanced in  modern  civilization  to  need  a  separate 
building  devoted  to  such  uses.  Soon,  however,  1864, 
accommodations  for  guests  of  the  public,  voluntary 
and  otherwise,  were  fitted  in  the  basement  of  the 
town-hall,  and  there  for  ten  years  some  sin  and  vag- 
rancy retired  behind  the  bars.  When  in  1874,  bet- 
ter conveniences  were  demanded,  a  part  of  the  base- 
ment of  Bell's  Hall,  on  Maple  Street,  was  fitted  up. 
This  past  year,  1886,  a  considerable  addition  was 
made  to  the  old  brick  school-house  on  School  Street 
-  the  original  building  being  now  occupied  by  two 
companies  of  the  fire  department— and  ample  and  re- 
spectable police  headquarters  have  there  been  estab- 
lished, with  plenty  of  room  above  for  a  local  court, — 
when  it  comes.  Michael  J.  Mead  has  been  for  some 
years  chief  of  the  small  police  force,  which  is  efficient 
much  beyond  its  numerical  strength.  William 
O'Neil  presides  over  the  station  and  dispenses  the 
town's  hospitality  to  certain  of  the  traveling  public. 


CHAPTER   XL. 

DAN  VEES— ( Continued). 

THE   CIVIL   WAR. 

At  twenty  minutes  past  four  o'clock  on  the  morn- 
ing of  April  12,  1861,  a  shell  from  Sullivan's  Island 
aimed  at  Fort  Sumter  announced  the  open  defiance 
of  rebellion.  The  loyal  cities  and  towns  of  the  North 
were  alert  for  such  tidings.  About  a  week  previously 
two  of  the  selectmen  of  Danvers,  William  Dodge,  Jr., 
and  Charles  Chaplin,  had  issued  their  warrant  for  a 
town  meeting  "  to  hear  an  act  on  the  petition  of  A. 
A.  Putnam  and  others  to  see  if  the  town  will  raise  or 
appropriate  any  money  in  aid  of  the  families  of  such 
citizens  of  the  town  as  may  enlist  to  serve  in  the 
Volunteer  Militia  of  the  Commonwealth  or  take  any 
action  thereon."  This  is  the  first  intimation  on  the 
town  records  of  preparations  for  probable  war.  But 
the  news  from  Sumter  brought  the  citizens  together 
sooner  than  the  day  appointed  for  town  meeting.  The 
first  "war  meeting"  was  held  in  the  town  hall,  April 
16th,  and  was  crowded  with  earnest  and  enthusiastic 
men.  Arthur  A.  Putnam,  Esq.,  presided.  In  some 
recently  written  reminiscences  he  says,  "  the  meeting, 
though  stormy  in  applause  and  verbally  bellicose, 
was  very  aimless  and  likely  to  end  in  talk  alone  un- 
til a  modest  and  unfamiliar  voice  in  the  town  hall 
reminded  the  assemblage  that  the  meeting  was  not 
for  eloquence,  but  enlistment."  The  voice  was  that  of 
Nehemiah  P.  Fuller,  who  stepped  forward  to  sign  the 
company  roll  which  Nathaniel  A.  Pope  had  received 


permission  from  the  State  Department  to  recruit.  At 
least  one  other  name  preceded  Fuller's,  that  of  Ruel 
B.  Pray,  who  has  the  distinction  of  being  the  first  re- 
cruit in  a  Danvers  company  ;  others  followed  that 
night,  and  in  six  days  the  roll  was  full  and  ready  for 
organization.  As  the  company  was  soon  given  the 
name  of  the  Danvers  Light  Infantry,  it  will  bespoken 
of  by  that  name.  Election  of  officers  resulted  as  fol- 
lows :  Captain,  Nehemiah  P.  Fuller;  First  Lieuten- 
ant, William  W.  Smith  ;  Second  Lieutenant,  Ruel  B. 
Pray;  Third  Lieutenant,  William  W.  Gould  ;  Fourth 
Lieutenant,  D.  W.  Hyde.  Captain  Fuller,  who  was 
promoted  during  the  war  to  major  of  the  Second 
Heavy  Artillery,  was  a  son  of  Putnam  Fuller,  of  this 
town,  and  a  descendant  of  Lieutenant  David,  brother 
of  General  Israel  Putnam,  being  a  grandson  of  Major 
Ezra  Putnam,  one  of  the  founders  of  Ohio.  He  had 
seen  service  in  the  Mexican  War,  and  was  just  the 
man  to  command  a  company  of  willing  but  raw  re- 
cruits. After  the  war  he  removed  to  Missouri,  but 
returned  here  in  broken  health  in  the  fall  of  1880,  and 
died  February  3,  1881. 

Immediately  after  the  meeting  of  April  16th,  some 
young  men  at  the  Plains  took  steps  to  organize 
another  company.  In  the  course  of  a  week  the  num- 
ber, fifty,  were  recruited,  and  met  in  the  unfinished 
rooms  of  the  Maple  Street  School-house,  where  the 
first  lessons  in  drill  were  given  by  Benjamin  E.  New- 
hall.  Organization  was  effected  in  due  form,  April 
30th,  in  the  Bank  Hall,  where  the  following  officers 
were  elected :  Captain,  Arthur  A.  Putnam  ;  Lieuten- 
ants, Benjamin  E.  Newhall,  Charles  H.  Adams,  Jr., 
William  J.  Roome,  George  W.  Kenney.  Mr.  New- 
hall  not  qualifying,  the  other  lieutenants  were  each 
promoted  one  degree,  and  Elbridge  W.  Guilford  was 
added. 

Captain  Putnam,  then  a  lawyer  here,  now  of  Ux-. 
bridge,  Mass.,  was  a  native  of  Danvers,  a  son  of  Hon. 
Ellas  Putnam.  This  year,  1887,  he  delivered  the 
Memorial  Day  Address  before  an  audience  which  in- 
cluded many  survivors  of  his  old  comrades,  and  later 
published  in  the  Danvers  Mirror  a  full  and  interest- 
ing account  of  the  history  of  his  company  up  to  th,e 
time  of  leaving  for  the  front.  Mr.  R.  B.  Pray  had 
previously  printed  a  short  sketch  of  Capt.  Fuller's 
Company.  A  newspaper  clipping  says  of  Capt.  Put- 
nam that  he  had  no  previous  military  training,  "  but 
possessing  that  energy  and  spirit  noted  in  the  Puri- 
tan blood,  will  soon  make  himself  a  proficient  com- 
mander." 

No  sooner  had  the  two  companies  organized  than 
the  ladies  of  the  town  devoted  their  energies  to  the 
making  of  uniforms  and  other  necessary  clothing. 
Gothic  Hall  was  the  busy  scene  of  their  labors.  The 
men  who  enlisted  expected  active  service  at  once,  and 
were  eager  for  it.  But  the  time  which  ensued  be- 
tween organization  and  final  acceptance  by  the  State 
authorities  and  assignment  to  a  State  camp  extended 
from  days  to  long  weeks,  and  made  it  serious  business 


532 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


keeping  the  men  together.  Many  of  them  had  fami- 
lies to  support,  and  while  patriotism  did  not  flag,  the 
bread  and  butter  question  at  home  was  quite  as  vital 
as  the  question  of  slavery  a  thousand  miles  away. 
There  were  no  bounties  at  this  time ;  it  was  only  by 
constant  and  generous  contributions  of  money  and 
provisions  that  the  men  were  encouraged  to  hold  out. 
But  by  dint  of  much  patient  forbearance  both  com- 
panies were  kept  intact,  and  maintained  thorough 
drill.  Long  practice  marches  were  taken  through 
neighboring  towns,  and  charges  were  occasionally 
made  at  double-quick  to  dislodge  an  imaginary  enemy 
on  the  top  of  Folly  Hill.  For  some  time  the  Light 
Infantry  went  into  camp  by  themselves,  at  East  Glou- 
cester, such  a  move  being  deemed  expedient.  Cap- 
tain Putnam's  company  used  Berry's  pasture,  now  the 
Trotting  Park,  for  a  training-field.  The  local  news- 
papers of  the  day  contain  such  items  as  these : 

"  On  Sunday  morning,  May  19th,  the  two Danveis  cornpanieB  marched 
with  drum  and  fife  to  the  Maple  Street  Church,  and  in  the  afternoon 
they  attended  the  Universalist  Church. 

"The  appearance  of  the  men,  one  company  in  grey,  and  one  in  blue, 
is  described  as  having  been  remarkably  fine." 

"Tuesday,  May  28th.  The  Putnam  Guards,  a  well  ordered  company 
of  79  men,  of  un  average  age  of  27  years,  passed  through  our  place  this 
afternoon,  on  their  way  to  Salem.  Their  motion  was  nimble,  their  ac- 
tion strong  and  their  eye  quick  and  piercing.  They  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  toil  and  moderate  fare  without  luxuries,  and  will  do  the  State 
good  service  when  summoned  to  the  field." 

Of  the  origin  of  the  name  of  "Putnam  Guards," 
Captain  Putnam  thus  writes: 

"Of  visitors  at  Gothic  Hall  while  the  ladies,  as  before  mentioned, 
were  immersed  In  the  manufacture  of  the  uniforms,  there  came  one  day 
Mrs.  Julia  A.  Philbrick,  of  Boston,  who,  warmed  at  the  sight  of  the 
scene,  went  away  carrying  it  as  an  fmpressive  picture  in  miud.  A  few 
days  later  she  addressed  an  appreciative  letter  to  one  of  the  chief  work- 
ers, Miss  Anne  L.  Page,  and  in  it  embraced  a  proffer  in  those  pleasant 
words  : — 

"  '  I  have  used  my  pen  in  your  behalf,  and  to-day  have  the  pleasure  of 
informing  you  that,  if  your  Company  is  called  the  Puttiam  Guards,'  they 
shall  have  a  Banner  worthy  the  name  they  bear.  There  is  living  in 
Peterborough,  N.  H.,  a  most  noble  and  patriotic  lady,  who  bears  that 
honored  name,  whose  father^was  born  in  Danvers,  yes,  beneath  the  very 
roof  with  the  old  General  (that  dear  old  home,  the  home  of  my  child- 
hood)—to  this  lady,  Miss  Catherine  Putnam,  you  are  indebted  for  this 
proffered  benefaction.' 

"The  proposition  for  the  name  was  duly  submitted  to  the  Company, 
unanimously  adopted  and  the  Flag  at  once  became  a  matter  of  joyous 
aniicipation." 

The  presentation  of  the  flag,  May  22,  1861,  was  an 
event  of  great  interest.  A  stand  draped  with  the  na- 
tional colors  was  reared  in  front  of  the  Bank  Build- 
ing, and  during  the  exercises  the  Square  and  all  the 
surrounding  buildings  were  densely  crowded  with 
spectators.  Mr.  Nathaniel  Hills,  principal  of  the 
High  School  presided,  and  Hon.  John  D.  Philbrick, 
then  superintendent  of  schools  in  Boston,  to  whom  this 
honor  had  been  assigned  by  the  donor  of  the  flag, 
made  the  presentation  speech.  On  the  same  occa- 
sion Kev.  A.  P.  Putnam,  then  of  Roxbury,  a  brother 
of  the  commander,  presented  each  member  of  the 
company  with  a  Bible,  accompanying  the  act  with  an 
impressive  address.  The  flag  was  of  heavy  silk,  and 
a  silver  plate  upon  its  oaken  staff" was  thus  inscribed: 


"  PRESENTED 

to  the 

PUTNAM  GUARDS 

of 
DANVEES,  MASS., 

BY 

Miss  Catherine  Putnam, 

Daughter  of  a  Son 

of 

Danvers. 

Our  Birth-right  is  Freedom 

and  God  is  our  Trust. 

May,  1861." 

It  is  now,  and  has  been  for  many  years,  in  the  cus- 
tody of  John  G.  Weeden,  one  of  the  original  mem- 
bers of  the  Guards.  The  Danvers  Light  Infantry 
were  also  given  a  reception  before  their  departure  for 
the  State  camp,  on  which  occasion  Rev.  J.  W.  Put- 
nam presented  them  with  a  silk  banner  in  behalf  of 
the  citizens,  and  Allen  Putnam,  of  Roxbury,  in  be- 
half of  Miss  Putnam,  presented  an  elegant  sash  and 
sword  to  Captain  Fuller.  Side-arms  were  also  pre- 
sented to  the  officers  by  certain  citizens. 

It  was  nearly  two  months  after  the  organization  of 
the  companies  that  they  were  finally  called  for  by 
the  State  authorities.  On  June  11th,  1861,  the  Dan- 
vers Light  Infantry  were  ordered  to  report  at  Camp 
Schouler,  Lynnfield,  and  on  June  24th  the  Putnam 
Guards  reported  at  Fort  Warren.  The  Light  Infan- 
try were  assigned  to  the  Seventeenth  Volunteer  In- 
fantry, three  years'  men,  as  Company  C,  were  mus- 
tered into  the  service  of  the  United  States  July  22, 
1861,  and  left  for  the  front  August  22d. 

The  Putnam  Guards  became  Company  I  of  the 
Fourteenth  Volunteer  Infantry,  were  mustered  into 
service  of  the  United  States  July  5,  1861,  and  left  for 
the  seat  of  war  August  7th.  The  regiment  was 
changed,  January  1, 1862,  to  the  First  Massachusetts 
Heavy  Artillery.  It  saw  hard  service  and  partici- 
pated in  engagements  at  Spottsylvania,  North  Anna, 
Tolopotomy,  Cold  Harbor,  Petersburg,  Strawberry 
Plains,  Deep  Bottom,  Poplar  Spring  Church,  Boydton 
Road,  Hatcher's  Run,  Vaughn  Road.  The  original 
members  of  both  these  Danvers  companies  may  be 
determined  by  inspection  of  the  list  of  soldiers  which 
follow  later  on. 

The  first  military  funeral  of  the  war,  in  Danvers, 
was  that  of  Thomas  A.  Musgrave,  of  Captain  Ful- 
ler's company,  who  died  August  9,  1861,  at  the  Lynn- 
field  camp  hospital.  The  whole  regiment  marched  to 
the  Universalist  Church,  where  the  services  were 
held.  Private  William  F.  Guilford,  a  member  of  the 
Salem  City  Guards,  was  buried  under  arms  a  few 
weeks  later  from  Dr.  Braman's  Church. 

At  the  town  meeting  of  May  25,  1861,  which  had 
been  already  called  when  news  came  of  the  attack  on 
Fort  Sumter,  A.  A.  Putnam  presided  and  Dr. 
Ebenezer  Hunt  presented  a  series  of  resolutions, 
which  were  adopted,  one  hundred  and  eighteen  to 
three,  in  the  following  form, — the  clergymen  of  the 


DANVERS. 


533 


town  having  first  been  added  to  the  committee  therein 
called  for : 

"  Whereas,  War  has  been  forced  upon  us  without  justifiable  cause 
by  traitors  whose  avowed  object  is  the  subversion  of  the  Government 
and  the  dissolution  of  the  Union  by  armed  resistance  to  Law,  and  where- 
as our  Patriotic  fellow-citizens  have  been  barbarously  slain  while  has- 
tening to  the  defence  of  the  Cajdtol  at  the  call  of  the  Chief  Magistrate 
in  pursuance  of  his  solemn  Oath  of  office,  and  whereas  our  flag  has  been 
insulted,  and  our  existence  aa  a  nation  put  in  peril,  therefore, 

"  Besoh'ed,  By  the  citizens  of  Danvers,  in  town-meeting  assembled, 
that  we  will  co-operate,  to  the  fullest  extent  in  our  power,  with  all  the 
good  citizens  throughout  the  whole  country,  in  prosecuting  the  war 
with  8uch  vigor  as  to  bring  it  to  a  speedy  close. 

"  Besolved,  That  animated  by  the  glorious  memories  of  the  past,  our 
duty  to  posterity,  our  love  for  the  Union,  our  reliance  upon  a  just  God, 
in  a  righteous  cause,  we  will  devote  our  whole  energies  in  the  ac- 
complishment of  the  object,  regardless  of  its  cost  in  treasure  or  in 
blood. 

"  Resolved,  That  in  this  Contest  there  can  be  no  neutrality ;  whoever 
isnot/orusis  against  us;  and  that  all  bearing  arms  and  not  ranged 
beneath  the  flag  of  the  Union,  wherever  found,  shall  be  dealt  with  as 
traitors. 

"Besolved,  That  the  Treasurer  of  the  town  be  authorized  to  borrow  a 
Bum,  not  exceeding  Ten  Thousand  Dollars,  for  the  uses  of  the  town  for 
the  above  purposes,  which  shall  be  designated  as  a  War  Fund.  In  order 
to  carry  out  the  above  Besolutions  it  is  further 

"  Besolved,  That  a  committee  consisting  of  the  Selectmen  of  Danvers, 
together  with  Daniel  Richards,  John  R.  Langley,  C.  P.  Preston,  E. 
Hunt,  S.  P.  Fowler  (a  committee  appointed  by  the  citizens  to  disbui'se 
the  fund  raised  by  Voluntary  Contribution),  and  five  other  gen- 
tlemen be  appointed  to  take  into  consideration  all  applications  for  aid 
consequent  upon  our  citizens  being  called  upon  to  enlist  in  the  service 
of  our  Country,  either  during  the  time  of  Drilling  in  anticipation  of 
being  enrolled,  or  while  in  actual  service,  and  the  said  Committee  are 
hereby  authorized  and  empowered  to  render  such  aid  to  the  families  of 
any  such  citizens  as  in  their  judgment  is  needful,  by  a  draft  on  the 
Treasury  of  the  Town,  on  the  War  Fund,  signed  by  such  a  sub-com- 
mittee as  said  Committee  shall  select ;  that  said  Committee  shall  hold 
stated  and  regular  meetings  as  ofteu  as  once  in  two  weeks,  of  which 
due  notice  shall  be  given,  and  they  may  hold  meetings  at  such  other 
times  as  they  may  deem  necessary  and  may  make  all  such  rules  and  reg- 
ulations in  reference  to  the  disbursing  of  the  money  appropriated  as  a 
War  Fund  as  may  from  time  to  time  be  deemed  expedient. 

"  They  recommend  to  fill  the  blank  in  the  committee,  by  selecting 
the  following  gentlemen,  who  together  with  those  above  named  will 
distribute  the  Committee  in  the  various  parts  of  the  town,  viz.: 

"Jesse  W.  Sqow,  Philemon  Putnam,  Nathan  Tapley,  Josiah  Gray 
and  John  A.  Sears.     All  of  which  is  respectfully  submitted." 

Seven  months  after  the  first  town  meeting,  another 
was  called  for  December  19,  1861,  to  provide  for  aid 
to  the  families  of  soldiers  agreeable  to  an  act  of  the 
special  session  of  the  Legislature.  Information  was 
first  desired  as  to  the  disbursement  of  the  ten  thou- 
sand dollars  raised  in  May,  and  the  committee  were 
prepared  with  a  report  containing  these  items  : 

"  There  has  been  paid  out  for  drilling  81901.37.  There  has  also  been 
paid  to  one  hundred  and  seveaty-three  families  as  aid  in  various  sums  of 
from  one  dollar  to  five  dollars  and  a  half  per  week,  making  in  the  gross 
amount  88016.36.  There  is  now  due  to  families  and  undrawn  one 
hundred  and  thirty-nine  dollars,  making  the  amount  drawn  from  tlie 
Treasury  89917  73.  Of  this  sum  your  Committee  estimate  that  the  sum 
•of  five  thousand-eight  hundred  dollars  will  be  received  from  the  Common- 
wealth." 

"  The  Committee  wil!  also  say  that  the  number  of  families  assisted  at 
the  present  time  is  one  hundred  and  forty-three,  the  ajnount  now  paid 
each  family  is  from  one  to  four  dollars  per  week.  Your  Committee 
would  further  say,  although  the  amount  of  money  expended  is  a  large 
(  :8um  in  the  aggregate,  yet,  when  we  consider  the  condition  of  many  of 
the  families  of  the  Volunteers  owing  to  thestagnation  of  business  and  the 
want  of  employment  for  several  months  previous  to  their  enlistment,  we 
think  the  wonder  is  that  so  little  has  answered  for  the  purpose.  If  by 
•even  a  greater  sacrifice  of  propertjr  the  Government  uf  the  Country  is 


rescued  from  the  unscnipulous  attacks  of  a  widespread  atid  atrocious 
rebellion,  which  threatens  our  very  existence  as  a  Nation,  we  ought  to 
be  exceedingly  thankful : — at  any  rate,  the  tax -payers  of  the  Town  will 
have  reason  to  feel  that  the  old  Town  of  Danvers,  by  encouragement  of 
the  enlistment  of  her  patriotic  sons,  has  not  fallen  from  the  reputation 
acquired  in  the  times  of  the  Revolution. 

"  And  may  God  grant  us  a  speedy  and  honorable  peace.  All  of  which 
is  respectfully  submitted.     In  behalf  of  the  Committee. 

"Eben  Hunt." 

At  an  adjournment  of  this  meeting  $5000  was  ap- 
propriated for  soldiers'  aid,  in  accordance  with  the 
act  of  May,  1861,  and  $500  additional  to  be  expended 
under  the  authority  of  the  committee  appointed 
May  3d. 

At  the  annual  meeting,  1862,  the  finance  commit- 
tee recommendted  the  adoption  of  annexed  votes  pro- 
posed by  the  chairman  of  the  relief  committee,  which 
were,  first,  that  a  relief  committee,  like  that  of  last 
year,  be  chosen  for  the  ensuing  year  to  aid  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  War  Fund  ;  second,  that  the  sum  of 
$15,000  be  raised  and  appropriated  for  aid  to  soldiers' 
families,  under  the  statutes  ;  and,  third,  that  $500  be 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  relief  commii  tee.  These 
measures  were  all  passed  and  the  committee  re- 
elected. $1000  was  at  the  same  time  added  to  the 
appropriation  for  the  town's  poor. 

At  a  meeting  held  in  midsummer,  July  25,  1862, 
the  Governor's  call  for  one  hundred  and  four  volun- 
teers was  considered,  and,  agreeable  to  the  expressed 
desire  of  a  mass-meeting  of  citizens  held  ten  days  be- 
fore, the  matter  of  bounty  was  the  chief  object  of 
action.  The  first  offer  of  bounty  here  made  by  the 
town  was  on  the  adoption  of  J.  D.  Black's  motion, 
96  to  1,  to  pay  $125  "to  whatever  person  may  report 
himself  to  the  selectmen  of  Danvers,  upon  his  being 
or  having  been  accepted  into  the  United  States  ser- 
vice, as  furnishing  a  part  of  our  quota." 

On  August  4,  1862,  the  first  draft  was  ordered,  for 
300,000  nine  months  men.  Early  in  that  month  a 
town-meeting  was  held,  at  which  it  was  first  voted  to 
continue  the  payment  of  bounty  until  our  quota  of 
volunteers  was  full,  and  to  include  also  drafted  men  ; 
but  this  action  was  reconsidered,  and  Henry  Fowler, 
Wm.  E.  Putnam  and  the  Selectmen  were  appointed 
"  to  wait  upon  the  Governor  and  to  ascertain  if  our 
quota  can  be  reduced,  to  get  further  information  in 
regard  to  the  draft,  and  to  report  at  the  next  town- 
meeting." 

On  the  heels  of  this  meeting  came  Lincoln's  call 
for  300,000  more  men.  Immediately  another  warrant 
was  posted,  calling  upon  the  citizens  of  Danvers  to 
meet  on  Monday,  August  25th,  to  consider  the  call. 
A  motion  that  the  selectmen  open  a  recruiting 
ofiice  and  pay  $100  bounty  to  each  recruit  volunteer- 
ing and  making  one  of  the  quota  under  the  call,  was 
successfully  amended  to  $125. 

The  committee  appointed  August  12th,  to  attempt 
to  secure  a  reduction  of  the  quota,  presented  a  letter 
to  the  Adjutant-General  in  the  following  forcible  and 
direct  terms : 


534 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


"To  Hon.  Wm.  Schouler,  Adjutant-General. 

"  Dear  Sir, — We,  the  undersigned,  would  represent  that  the  town  of 

Danvers  has  furnished  the  following  volunteers  for  the  war  : 

3  months  men 37 

3  years  men,  to  June  1st,  1862 285 

Salem  Cadets,  Fort  Warren 10 

Salem  Light  Infantry,  Co.  B 6 

Under  General  Order  No.  26 70 

398 
3  months  men  re-enlistod 17 

381 

"The  Town  has  paid  to  Volunteers  under  General  Order  No.  26  Eight 
Thousand  Seven  Hundred  and  Fifty  Dollars  ($8750).  By  the  Adjutant- 
General's  Report  to  the  Leg.  of  1862  the  town  of  Danvers  had  furnished 
for  the  war  Eight  officers  and  Two  hundred  and  fifty-six  privates,  giving 
one  Volunteer  to  fifteen  inhabitants  of  the  town,  under  the  State  census 
of  1855. 

"  This  proportion  exceeds  that  of  the  towns  of  Beverly,  Gloucester, 
Haverhill,  Ipswich,  Lawrence,  Lynn,  Marblehead,  Newburyport,  Salem 
and  South  Danvers,  from  9  to  57  per  cent. 

"  The  ninety-nine  Volunteers  received  and  put  into  the  service  of  the 
United  States  since  last  December  makes  the  same  disproportion  between 
the  town  of  Danvers  and  the  towns  above  referred  to,  hold  good. 

"  The  assessor*  of  1861,  in  Danvers,  mistaking  the  law  on  this  matter, 
returned  aliens  on  the  Militia  Roll,  which  materially  increased  our 
number  liable  to  do  military  duty. 

"  The  town  of  Danvers  does  not  shrink  from  any  duty  imposed  on 
her  in  this  great  crisis  of  our  Country,  neither  will  she  fail  to  do  her 
part  in  furnishing  men  to  crush  out  this  rebellion,  but  knowing  from  the 
above  facts  tliat  the  town  has  furnished  more  men  in  proportion  to  her 
Inhabitants  than  the  other  large  towns  in  the  County,  and  feeling  that 
the  payment  of  the  bounty  to  the  thirty-four  Volunteers  required  to  fill 
the  quota  for  Danvers  of  104  men,  will  be  burdensome  beyond  what 
strict  equality  would  require  of  us,  we  ask,  therefore,  that  the  town,  by 
furnishing  seventy  men  under  General  Order  No.  26,  may  be  considered 
as  having  filled  her  quota." 

Respectfully  submitted, 

WiLr.iAM  Dodge,  Jr.      1      Selectmen 
Charles  Chaplin.         r  of 

Augustus  Fowler.        '      Danvers. 

Danvers,  August  14, 1862. 

Approved, 

Wm.  Schouler, 

Adjt.-General. 

In  seventeen  days,  another  meeting  to  act  on 
propositions  for  more  bounties,  for  three-years'  men 
and  drafted  men,  principals  or  substitutes.  A  motion 
made  by  Samuel  Moore  in  the  afternoon  failed  of 
passing,  because  but  fifty-four  voted  for  it,  less  than 
the  by-laws  required — it  was  hard  work  to  get  the 
requisite  number  together,  so  many  were  away  during 
the  war — but  in  the  evening  it  passed,  eighty  to 
twelve,  namely  to  pay  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  dol- 
lars to  each  person,  resident  in  town,  who  had  en- 
listed for  three  years  of  the  war,  and  was  not  already 
in  receipt  of  a  bounty,  "  provided  said  person  has 
served  nine  months,  or  has  been  earlier  discharged 
on  account  of  injuries  received  in  service ;  said  bounty 
to  be  payable  at  the  end  of  said  volunteer's  service." 
It  was  immediately  voted  to  extend  the  bounty  to 
drafted  men. 

Busy  times,  these,  for  selectmen  and  voters.  While 
this  meeting  of  the  11th  was  in  session  a  warrant 
for  still  another  meeting  had  already  been  two  days 
posted,  the  special  object  being  the  consideration  of 
a  matter,  which  was  disposed  of  by  the  unanimous 
adoption,  eighty-six  voting,  of  these  resolutions  pre- 
sented by  W.  L.  Weston  : 


"  Whereas,  at  a  legal  meeting  of  the  town  on  the  25th  day  of  August 
last,  it  was  voted  '  to  pay  a  bounty  of  8125  to  each  recruit  volunteering 
in  the  service  of  the  United  States,  and  making  one  of  the  town's  quota 
under  the  call  of  the  President  for  300,000  military  for  nine  months 
service,'  and 

"  Whereas,  acting  under  the  belief  that  the  town  might  be  called 
upon  for  a  considerable  number  of  recruits  to  fill  this  requisition,  a 
successful  effort  has  been  made  to  raise  a  Company  under  Capt.  A.  G. 
Allen — said  Company  having  made  arrangements  by  which  it  is  to  form 
a  part  of  the  8th  Regt.  now  being  recruited  under  Col.  Coffin,  and  have 
already  placed  themselves  in  Camp,  and 

"Whereas,  it  now  appears  to  be  uncertain  whether  the  men  so 
raised  will  be  required  as  part  of  the  town's  quota,  thus  rendering  said 
vote  inoperative, 

"Therefore,  in  view  of  the  patriotic  action  of  the  young  men  composing 
said  Company,  and  that  the  faith  of  th»  town  has  been  pledged  to  them 
and  also  in  view  of  the  fact  that  other  calls  for  men  may  be  made  upon 
the  town,  it  is  hereby 

"Voted,  that  the  town  will  pay  a  bounty  of  125  dollars  to  each  resi- 
dent of  Danvers  who  has  volunteered,  or  may  volunteer  as  a  member  of 
Capt.  A.  G.  Allen's  Company,  upon  his  having  been  accepted  and  sworn 
into  the  United  States  service. 

"  Voted,  that  the  town  Treasurer  be  and  is  hereby  authorized  to  hire 
a  sum  of  money  sufficient  to  pay  the  bounties  mentioned  in  the  above 
vote." 

The  names  of  the  company  here  referred  to.  Com- 
pany K,  Eighth  Regiment,  nine  months'  men,  mus- 
tered in  October  1,  1862,  and  discharged  August  7, 
1863,  will  be  found  further  on.  The  regiment  sailed 
from  Boston  November  7,  1862,  under  Colonel  Coffin, 
of  Newburyport,  for  Newbern,  N.  C,  and  in  June, 
1863,  was  transferred  to  Baltimore,  thence  to  Mary- 
land Heights  and  experienced  hard  service  in  the 
pursuit  of  Lee  after  the  battle  of  Gettysburg. 

The  adoption  of  the  resolutions  in  regard  to 
Captain  Allen's  company  was  the  only  business  this 
meeting  could  in  strictness  consider.  But  there  was 
a  man  present  with  something  in  his  pocket  to  read, 
the  man  who  in  the  first  war  town-meeting  had 
voiced  the  determination  of  his  fellow- citizens  to 
stand  by  the  government,  who,  long  years  before,  had 
stood  up  to  strike  the  first  blow  for  temperance,  and 
had  been  foremost  in  every  reform  and  the  uncom- 
promising foe  of  wrong  in  whatever  guise,  and  who, 
with  the  courage  of  his  convictions,  entered  active 
service  in  the  war  despite  his  advancing  years — Doc- 
tor Ebenezer  Hunt.  There  is  a  ring  to  his  words 
not  unlike  certain  resolutions  already  quoted  which 
came  from  the  ancestors  of  these  very  men,  citizens  of 
Danvers  in  town-meeting  assembled,  in  those  other 
days  which  tried  men's  souls  : 

"Whereas — The  town  of  Danvers  has  already  furnished  more  than 
her  full  quota  of  men,  and  is  ready  and  willing  to  send  more  if  neces- 
sary, and  to  expend  her  last  dollar  in  defence  of  the  Common  Country, 
Therefore — 

"  Resolved,  that  the  citizens  have  a  right  to  ask  and  do  ask  the  Gov- 
ernment for  a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war  and  that  nothing  shall  be 
permitted  to  stand  in  the  way  of  the  progress  of  our  armies  in  crushing 
out  the  rebellion  and  restoring  to  our  country  a  speedy  and  permanent 
peace. 

•'  Resolved — That  had  there  been  no  slavery,  there  would  have  been 
no  rebellion,  and  as  the  rebellion  will  continue  so  long  as  slavery  exists, 
we,  the  citizens  of  Danvers,  in  town  meeting  assembled,  ask,  that  the 
war  forced  upon  us  by  the  rebels  in  defence  of  slavery,  shall  be  so  prose- 
cuted as  to  leave  no  vestige  ot  that  accursed  institution." 

The  first  of  these  resolutions  was  passed  unanimously ; 
three  voters  could  not  accept  the  second.     At  the  fall 


DANVERS. 


535 


election,  1862,  John  A.  Andrew  received  four  hun- 
dred and  twenty-six  votes  to  one  hundred  and  fifty 
for  Charles  Devens,  Jr.  February  9,  1863,  five 
thousand  dollars  was  appropriated  for  military  aid. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  1863  the  relief  committee 
which  had  been  at  work  during  the  previous  year, 
reported  that  they  had  assisted  two  hundred  and  fifty- 
one  families.  "At  the  present  time,"  they  say,  "  the 
number  is  reduced  to  one  hundred  and  ninety  fami- 
lies receiving  aid  in  various  ways  from  one  dollar  per 
week  to  twelve  dollars  per  month."  A  relief  commit- 
tee for  the  ensuing  year  were  chosen, — Drs.  Hunt  and 
Chase,  William  Dodge,  Jr.,  Nathan  Tapley,  John  A. 
Sears,  C.  H.  Gould,  Josiah  Gray,  C.  P.  Preston,  S.  P. 
Fowler  and  Philemon  Putnam! 

At  this  time  S.  D.  Shattuck  and  others  petitioned 
for  the  purchase  by  the  town  of  a  lot  in  Walnut 
Grove  Cemetery  for  the  burial  of  deceased  soldiers, 
and  the  selectmen  were  instructed  to  purchase  the 
lot  which  has  been  used  for  this  purpose. 

The  vote  of  September  11,  1862,  as  to  bounty  for 
three  years'  men  was  prospective ;  no  appropriation  was 
then  made.  It  became  necessary  to  think  about  a  large 
appropriation.  If  at  any  time  after  nine  months'  ser- 
vice the  war  should  end,  these  bounties  would  be  at 
once  payable.  So  in  midsummer,  1863,  a  special  meet- 
ing was  called  toseeif  the  town  would  raise  money  to 
defray  the  expenditure  contemplated  by  the  vote  of  Sep- 
tember 11th.  This  meeting,  held  first  July  3d,  aftersev- 
eral  adjournments  unanimously  voted  to  appropriate 
fifty  thousand  dollars  for  the  purpose,  a  sum  solarge  that 
Mr.  Howard  underlined  the  words  when  he  entered 
the  vote  on  the  permanent  records  of  the  town.  This 
amount  was  never  paid  nor  raised,  for  the  reason 
that  certain  citizens  petitioned  for  an  injunction,  on 
the  ground  that  such  an  appropriation  was  illegal, 
prohibiting  the  borrowing  or  payment  of  money  under 
said  vote.  The  case  came  before  the  Supreme  Court 
in  January,  1864,  and  is  reported  in  Massachusetts 
Reports,  8  Allen  80,  under  the  title  "Samuel  P.  Fow- 
ler and  others  vs.  Selectmen  and  Treasurer  of  Dan- 
vers."  The  decision  turned  on  the  interpretation  of 
the  statute  of  1863,  ch.  38,  entitled  "An  act  to  legalize 
the  doings  of  towns  in  aid  of  the  war,"  and  the  court 
held  that  the  statute  while  covering  appropriations 
for  bounties  to  induce  enlistment,  did  not  legalize  a 
vote  to  pay  money  to  persons  who  had  already  en- 
listed in  the  service  of  the  United  States. 

There  was  a  light  vote  for  Governor  in  the  fall  of 
1863, — Andrew  receiving  two  hundred  and  seventy, 
Henry  W.  Paine  forty-seven.  At  the  March  meeting 
of  1864,  Dr.  Hunt  was  again  on  hand  with  a  report 
from  his  relief  committee ;  two  hundred  and  forty- 
five  families,  he  said,  had  received  State  aid. 

"Your  committee  propose  to  make  no  prediction  in  relation  to  a 
speedy  peace.  This  subject  is  still  a  question  of  time.  We  can  only  say 
the  omens  are  auspicious,  and  that  if  the  people  of  the  Loyal  States 
shall  do  their  duty  in  sustaining  the  Government  in  a  vigorous  prosecu- 
tion of  the  war,  and  In  following  the  leadings  of  Providence  in  the  path 


of  Justice  and  Humanity,  and  if  the  heads  of  the  Departments  and  other 
Politicians  at  the  Capitol  interest  themselves  as  heartily  in  crushing  out 
the  Rebellion,  as  in  making  a  new  President,  our  honored  flag  will  at 
length  wave  in  triumph  over  a  regenerated  and  glorious  Union,  inhab- 
ited only  by  Freemen." 

At  this  same  March  meeting  of  1864,  fifteen  thous- 
and dollars  were  appropriated  "  for  families  of  volun- 
teers who  have  enlisted  or  may  enlist  during  the 
present  war."  Once  only  in  the  summer  of  1864  was 
there  a  special  meeting,  occasioned  by  the  President's 
call  for  five  hundred  thousand  more  men,  and  at  this 
time  an  appropriation  of  eleven  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars  was  made  for  the  purpose  of  fill- 
ing our  quota  under  this  call. 

At  the  presidential  election  in  the  fall  of  1864,  the 
Lincoln  electors  received  five  hundred  and  ninety-two 
Danvers  votes  against  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
for  the  McClellan  electors;  John  G.  Whittier,  of 
Amesbury,  whom  Danvers  is  now  so  j^roud  to  claim 
among  its  residents,  was  chosen  elector  from  the 
Essex  District  over  S.  Endicott  Peabody,  of  Salem. 
For  Governor,  John  A.  Andrew  received  five  hundred 
and  ninety-six  votes;  H.  W.  Paine,  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five. 

December  19,  1864,  another  call.  "We're  coming. 
Father  Abraham,  three  hundred  thousand  more !  " 
On  the  day  after  Christmas  men  read  a  warrant,  sum- 
moning them  to  meet  on  the  fourth  day  of  the  new 
year  to  face  a  demand  for  still  more  money.  Voters 
were  slow  of  coming  forward,  and,  as  on  some  other 
occasions  during  the  war,  adjournments  and  rallying- 
committee  tactics  were  necessary ;  but  finally,  by  a 
large  vote,  it  was  decided  to  pay  another  bounty  of 
$125  to  each  volunteer  going  to  fill  the  town's  quota 
under  the  new  call. 

Before  November  the  men  whom  the  majority  of 
Massachusetts  citizens  had  kept  at  the  head  of  the 
State  Government  in  these  years  of  trial,  had  done 
with  life.  At  the  election  of  1865  Danvers  helped  to 
elect  his  successor,  Alexander  H.  Bullock,  of  Worces- 
ter, by  a  vote  of  588,  to  64  for  Darius  N.  Couch,  of 
Taunton. 

Recruiting  was  ordered  to  be  discontinued  on  April 
13,  1865.  Danvers  furnished  in  all  seven  hundred 
and  ninety-two  men  for  the  war,  which  was  a  surplus 
of  thirty-six  over  and  above  all  demands.  Forty- 
four  were  commissioned  officers.  The  total  amount 
of  money  raised  on  account  of  the  war,  exclusive  of 
State  aid,  was  $36,596.  The  amount  of  State  aid 
raised  during  the  war  for  soldiers'  families,  1861-65, 
amounted  to  $66,068.11.  The  appropriations  for  aid 
made  subsequently  were,— 1871,  $5000  ;  1872,  $4000, 
also  $200  for  special  cases  not  within  the  law  ;  1873, 
$2000  and  $200  special ;  1874,  $4000,  $200  special ; 
1875,  $3500,  also  $150  special;  1876,  $2500,  $150; 
1877,  $2500,  $150;  1878,  $150 ;  1879,  $100;  1880, 
$800 ;  1881,  $1000  ;  1882,  $1000  ;  1883,  $800  ;  1884, 
$600 ;  1885,  $600 ;  1886,  $700  ;  1887,  $700. 

Of  the   voluntary  contributions   all    through   the 
years  of  the  war,  of  money,  materials,  labor,  amount- 


536 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


ing  in  value  to  perhaps  thousands  of  dollars,  and 
cheerfully  given,  no  record  has  been  kept. 

In  the  warrant  for  the  annual  meeting  of  1868  ap- 
peared this  article  :  "  To  see  what  action  the  town 
will  take  on  the  petition  of  S.  P.  Cummings  and  oth- 
ers to  appropriate  a  suna  of  money  for  the  purpose  of 
erecting  a  suitable  monument  or  tablets  whereon 
shall  be  inscribed  the  names,  age  and  date  of  death, 
of  all  Danvers  soldiers  and  sailors  who  fell  in  the 
late  war  for  the  union."  The  matter,  when  reached, 
was  referred  to  a  committee,  one  from  each  school 
district:  No.  1,  William  Dodge,  Jr.;  No.  2,  E.  T. 
Waldron  ;  No.  3,  J.  F.  Bly  ;  No.  4,  William  R.  Put- 
nam; No.  5,  Dean  Kimball ;  No.  6,  George  Andrews; 
No.  7,  Timothy  Hawkes ;  No.  8,  Rufus  Putnam.  S.  P. 
Cummings  was  added. 

At  an  adjournment,  this  committee  reported  rec- 
ommending the  erection  of  a  monument  at  a  cost  of 
not  less  than  three  thousand  dollars,  that  fifteen  hun- 
dred dollars  be  appropriated  by  the  town  and  the 
balance  by  subscription,  through  a  committee  of  one 
from  each  district.  The  committee  already  appointed 
were  made  a  subscription  committee,  to  report  at  a 
meeting  specially  called  when  they  should  have  se- 
cured the  required  sum. 

At  the  March  meeting  the  next  year,  1869,  the 
committee  reported  that  they  "  have  attended  to  their 
duty,  and  by  the  patriotism  and  generosity  of  our 
citizens  we  have  been  enabled  to  raise  the  required 
sum.  The  committee  would,  with  the  consent  of  the 
Trustees  of  the  Peabody  Park,  recommend  that 
place  as  the  most  appropriate  for  the  erection  of  said 
monument." 

The  old  committee  were  elected  for  the  ensuing 
year,  with  the  addition  of  the  selectmen.  But  the 
question  of  location  was  not  easily  settled.  At  the 
next  March  meeting,  1870,  a  motion  was  introduced 
to  place  the  monument  in  front  of  the  Town  House, 
but  was  withdrawn  to  give  place  to  the  proposition 
that,  at  the  adjourned  meeting  a  ballot-box  be  so 
placed  that  citizens  might  informally  express  in 
writing  their  preferences  for  location.  The  result  of 
this  ballot  showed  ninety-three  votes  for  Peabody 
Park,  and  sixty -six  for  the  Town  House  yard. 

May  2d,  Simeon  Putnam  was  added  to  the  commit- 
tee. On  that  same  day  it  was  reported  that  the 
Trustees  of  the  Peabody  Institute  had  declined,  on 
account  of  some  legal  objection,  to  allow  the  monu- 
ment to  be  erected  in  the  park.  In  the  meantime, 
March  21st,  an  additional  appropriation  of  sixteen 
hundred  dollars  was  voted. 

In  June  a  special  meeting  was  called  to  consider 
several  important  subjects,  first  of  which  was  the  re- 
port of  the  monument  committee.  Those  Avho 
strongly  favored  the  park  as  a  location  disliked  to 
accept  the  decree  of  the  trustees  as  final.  Some  one, 
to  fame  unknown,  succeeded  in  getting  recorded  a 
pithy  motion  "that  the  Monument  be  paid  for  and 
stored   until   consent    be   obtained  of   the    original 


grantors  and  the  Trustees,"  but  not  in  getting  it 
passed. 

Mr.  Augustus  Mudge  moved  that  the  committee  be 
instructed  to  place  the  monument  on  the  Common  at 
Danvers  Centre.  The  motion  was  declared  carried, 
was  doubted,  and  on  division  was  declared  carried, 
one  hundred  and  thirty-five  to  eighty-five.  To  clinch 
the  matter,  a  vote  was  taken  to  re-consider,  and 
lost. 

This  seemed  decisive.  Doubtless  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Centre,  as  they  passed  old  Deacon  Ingersoll's 
training  field  on  some  of  those  summer  evenings, 
saw  with  no  great  stretch  of  imagination  certain 
ghostly  monumental  outlines  rising  from  the  green 
sod,  where  soon  the  substantial  shaft  would  consecrate 
anew  the  historic  ground.  But  no.  In  just  one  week 
a  warrant  was  issued  to  act  on  a  petition  for  the  re- 
location of  the  Soldiers'  Monument.  The  meeting 
was  held  July  11th.  Dr.  Hunt  moved  for  a  re-loca- 
tion within  half  a  mile  of  the  flag-staif  at  the  Plains. 
On  a  large  vote  by  ballot  the  motion  was  carried, — 
yeas,  264;  nays,  161.  The  definite  location  was  then 
left  with  the  committee,  who  decided  upon  the  Town 
House  yard.  The  monument  was  dedicated  No- 
vember 30,  1870,  It  is  of  Hallowell  granite,  thirty- 
three  and  one-quarter  feet  high,  and  seven  and  three- 
quarters  feet  square  at  the  base  ;  its  total  cost,  $6298.- 
20,  towards  which  sum  Edwin  Mudge  contributed  the 
larger  part  of  his  two  years'  salary  as  the  Representa- 
tive in  the  Legislature  of  the  district  composed  of 
Danvers  and  Wenham,  the  remainder  being  pre- 
sented to  the  latter  town  for  a  similar  object.  The 
names  inscribed  upon  the  monument  are  these : 


Major  Wallace 
Lt.  James 


Hector  A.  Aiken. 
Henry  F.  Allen. 
James  Battye. 
Edwin  Beckford. 
Isaac  Bodwell. 
Sylvester  Brown. 
James  H.  Burrows. 
Lewis  Britton. 
John  H.  Bridges. 
William  H.  Oroft. 
Simeon  Coffin. 
H.  Cuthbertson. 
Thomas  Collins. 
Wm.  H.  Channell. 
Charles  W.  Dodge. 
George  H.  Dwinell. 
Moses  Deland. 
William  C.  Dale. 
George  A.  Ewell. 
George  W.  Earl, 
Reuben  Ellis. 
George  A.  Elliott. 
William  S.  Evans. 
Nathaniel  P.  Fish. 
Beuj.  M.  Fuller. 
Eph'm  Getchell. 
E.  I.  Getchell. 
William  F.  Gilford. 
John  Goodwin. 
C.  W.  C.  Goudy. 
Alonzo  Gray. 


A.  Putnam, 

Hill. 

Daniel  H.  Gould. 
Samuel  S.  Grout. 
Ambrose  Hinds. 
Levi  Howard. 
James  J.  Hurley. 
Thomas  Hartman. 
Abiel  A.  Home. 
James  H.  Ham. 
Everson  Hall. 
Charles  Hiller. 
T.  C.  Jeffs. 
William  W.  Jessup. 
James  W.  Kelley. 
Moses  A.  Kent. 
James  E.  Lowell. 
Samuel  A.  Lefflau. 
Joseph  Leavitt. 
Charles  H.  Lyons. 
Charles  E.  Meader. 
John  Merrill. 
T.  A.  Musgrave. 
James  Morgan. 
Michael  McAullff. 
William  Metzgar. 
Allen  Nourse. 
William  H.  Ogdeu. 
William  H.  Parker. 
George  W.  Peabody. 
J.  Frank  Perkins. 
George  W.  Porter. 
Samuel  M.  Porter. 


DANVERS. 


537 


Alfred  Porter. 
Robert  W.  Putnam. 
Isaac  N.  Roberts. 
S.  P.  Richardson. 
S.  A.  Rodgers. 
Israel  Roach. 
Daniel  Smith. 
Henry  A.  Smith. 
Win.  E.  Sheldon. 
Charles  W.  Shelden. 
John  Shackley. 
Frank  Scampton. 
Cornelius  Sullivan. 
Patrick  F.  Shea. 
Joseph  T.  Smart. 
Edward  Splane. 


Milford  Tedford. 
Patrick  Trainer. 
Wm.  F.  Twiss. 
John  N.  Thompson. 
Austin  Upton. 
Angiis  Ward. 
William  Ward. 
Joseph  Woods. 
C.  E.  il.  Welch. 
George  Woodman. 
John  Withey. 
Nathan'l  K.  Wells. 
George  T.  Whitney. 
Joseph  F.  Wiggin. 
Charles  H.  Young. 


A  special  meeting  was  called  a  week  before  Deco- 
ration Day,  1872,  to  see  if  the  town  would  appropriate 
a  sum  of  money  in  aid  of  Post  90,  G.  A.  R.,  for  the 
expenses  of  Memorial  Day,  and  by  a  vote  of  eighty- 
four  to  two,  two  hundred  dollars  was  appropriated. 
Each  subsequent  year  at  the  annual  meeting  an 
amount  varying  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two 
hundred  dollars  has  been  devoted  to  this  purpose. 
Ward  Post,  90,  G.  A.  R.,  was  organized  June  8,  1869. 

The  list  of  Danvers  volunteers  which  follows  is 
made  up  chiefly  from  the  official  lists  of  Massachu- 
setts volunteers  compiled  by  Adjutant-General  Schou- 
ler.  These  two  large  volumes  contain  a  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  names,  more  or  less,  arranged  only  ac- 
cording to  organization,  and  not  according  to  towns, 
and  therefore  a  close  scrutiny  of  the  entire  list  has 
been  necessary  to  ascertain  every  Danvers  volunteer 
credited  to  the  quota  of  the  State.  It  is  thought  that 
no  omissions  have  been  made.  Some  errors  have 
been  noticed  and  corrected ;  if  others  appear,  the 
respon-sibility  must  rest  on  the  official  authority, 
referred  to.  The  figures  opposite  the  names  give 
the  age  of  first  enlistment. 

The  members  of  the  Danvers  Light  Infantry  and 
of  the  Putnam  Guards  were  not  the  first  volunteers 
from  Danvers.  A  number  enlisted  in  the  two  Salem 
companies  assigned  to  the  Fifth  Regiment,  three 
months'  men,  mustered  in  May  1, 18G1.  In  Company 
A,  known  as  the  Salem  Mechanic  Light  Infantry, 
were  these : 


Age. 

James  H.  Sleeper,  corporal 32 

Charles  W.  Allen 20 

Edwin  Bailey 25 

Henry  T.  Briggs 21 

William  Burroughs 28 

Jacob  Burton 25 

Lyman  D.  Crosby 23 

George  M.  Crowell 29 

George  H.  Fuller 25 

John  T.  Gilman 19 


Age. 

James  Hill 20 

John  H.  Howard 19 

William  Lufkin 25 

Joseph  C.  Munsey 19 

James  D.  North 21 

Chas.  H.  Phippen 22 

Chas.  \V.  Ricker 18 

Henry  Sloper 29 

Robert  Smith 20 

Mendall  S.  Webber 23 


In  Company  H  of  the  same  regiment,  the  Salem 
City  Guards,  were  these : 


Age. 

Wm.  F.  Bickford 23 

Charles  W.  Chase 20 

David  A.  Gilford 36 

John  M.  Hines 21 

Edward  Kelley 26 

James  W.  Lowe 19 


Age. 

Henry  H.  Richardson 20 

Wm.  H.  Richardson 22 

Edgar  M.  Riggs 24 

John  N.  Thompson 30 

Herbert  W.  Very 22 

George  Webster 23 


These  men  arrived  at  Annapolis  April  24th,  and 
were  mustered  into  United  States  service  as  stated. 
They  bore  an  honored  part  in  the  disastrous  battle  of 
Bull  Run,  July  21st,  exactly  three  months  after  the 
regiment  left  Faneuil  Hall.  Henry  T.  Briggs  was 
there  taken  prisoner,  and  was  exchanged  in  1862. 

A  list  of  Danvers  volunteers  in  the  three  years' 
regiments : 


Second  Segiment 
Age. 

David  A.  Fuller,  Co.  C 28 

Le vi  E.  Goodale,  Co.  C 19 

John  Stonehall,  Co.  C' 20 

Ninth  Regiment. 
Age. 

John  Fitzpatrick,  Co.  B 20 

James  Brown,  Co.  D 23 

Daniel  Buckley,  Co.  E 18 

Richard  Bush,  Co  E 32 


Age. 

John  Smith,  Co.  1 28 

James  Patterson,  recruit 32 


Age. 

Abram  Tates,  Co.  B 21 

Jas.  McLaughlin,  corp.,  Co.  F..    23 

Ulick  Burke,  Co.  F 24 

I   Patrick  Shea,  Co.  F 20 


Tenth  Regiment. 

Age.     I  Age. 

Wallace  A.  Putnam  i 24    I   George  W.  Bigelow,  2d  lieut...     32 

Eleventh  Regiment. 
Age. 


Alexander  Spinney,  Co.  C 29 

Michael  McAuliffe,  Co.  D 22 

Wm.  Shackley,  Co.  G 30 

Horace  L.  Hadley,  Corp.,  Co.  H.  21 


Age. 

George  A.  Ewell,   Co.  1 28 

Henry  Beckett,  recruit 22 

James  Finnerty,  recruit 23 

George  A.  Wilson,  recruit 27 


Fourteenth.  Regiment. 
(See  1st  Heavy  Artillery  below.) 

Seventeenth  Regiment. 
Age. 


Age- 


Chas.  M.  Goldthwaitt,  Co.  D..  22 

Dominick  McDavitt,  Co.  D 31 

Thomas  J.  Shea,  Co.  D 26 

Artemas  Wilson,  Co.  D 34 

Joseph  H.  Coley,  Co.  G 18 

Nicholas  Congdon,  Co.  G 25 

Ephraim  Getchell,  Co.  G 35 

Wm.  Ober,  Co.  G 27 

Seward  Sylvester,  Go.  G 18 

Jas.  Smith,  sergt.,  2d  and  1st 

lieut.,  Co.  1 30 


Robert  W.  Jessop,  Co.  A 30 

Geo.  Putnam,  Jr.,  corp.,  Co.  B.     18 

James  Battye,  Co.  B 43 

Patrick  Carr,  Co.  B 33 

David  Coleman,  Co.  B 44 

Lawrence  Fox,  Co.  B 39 

George  H.  Goss,  Co.  B 22 

Thomas  Hartmau,  Co.  B 42 

James  McCarty,  Co.  B 47 

Andrew  Patton,Co.  B 38 

George  Pitman,  Co.  B 34 

Reuben  H.  Coffin,  Co.  D 29 

Company  C,  Seventeenth  Regiment. — Those 
marked  with  a  star  were  original  members  of  the 
Danvers  Light  Infantry. 

Age. 

♦Nehemiah  P.  Fuller,  capt.,  promoted  major  2d  H.  Artillery 31 

*Wm.  W.  Smith,  1st  lieut.,  promoted  capt.,  major,  lieut.-colonel 23 

*Buel  B.  Pray,  2d  lieut.,  1st  lieut 24 

*  Lewis  Cann,  sergt.  2d  lieut.,  1st  lieut.,  capt 23 

*  Henry  G.  Hyde,  sergt ,  2d  lieut.,  1st  lieut 22 

*  Uriah  Robertson,  sergt.,  2d  lieut.,  1st  lieut 30 

Timothy  Hawks,  priv.,  2d  lieut.,  1st  lieut 44 

*  Robert  Smith,  sergt.,  2d  lieut.,  Ist  lieut 31 

♦Malcolm  Sillars,  2d  lieut.,  1st  lieut 29 

*  Andrew  Cook,  sergt.,  2d  lieut 30 

*  James  Inman,  sergt.,  2d  lieut 25 

♦Joseph  G.  Martin,  sergt.,  2d  lieut 35 

*  George  H.  Putney,  sergt 28 

*  Richard  W.  Fuller,  pr.,  sergt 19 

*  Timothy  Hawks,  Jr.,  Corp.,  sergt 26 

*JohnB.  Moores,  pr.,  sergt 26 

*Allen  Nourse,  sergt 21 

*  William  H.  Ogden,  pr.,  sergt 21 

*  John  F.Wells,  pr.,  sergt 24 

*Isaac  Bodwell,  corp 38 

*  Charles  F.  Brown,  corp 27 

*  James  Cochrane,  corp 23 

1  Enlisted  as  Ist  lieut.,  promoted  major  56th  Infantry  ;  died  of  wounds. 


34^ 


538 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS 


Age. 

♦David  Cook,  corp 35 

*  David  H.  Ogdeu,  corp 23 

Patrick  Sexton,  pr.,  corp 20 

George  C.  Wilson,  musician 18 

Charles  Hartman,  musician 18 

I'l-ivates. 


Age. 

*  Samuel  D.  Benson 23 

*  Charles  H.  Burchstead 22 

*  Joseph  N.  Burchstead 29 

♦James  H.  Burrows 25 

Simeon  Coffin 21 

*Wm.  K.  Crawford 19 

"Wm.  H.  Croft 17 

John  L.  Cunningham 31 

*  James  W.  Dickey 19 

*George  H.  Dole 28 

*  Samuel  W.  Durgin 22 

Joshua  Goss 43 

*  George  W.  Goss 18 

*  Rufus  Hart 26 

*  Thomas  Hartman 19 

James  A.  Holt 31 

*  Daniel  A.  Hyde 38 

*Thomas  Hynd 41 

Andrew  Kelly 40 

John  Kelly 35 

♦Jackson  Kennedy 31 

*Ezi-a  D.  Kimball 23 

Michael  Kirby 21 

♦David  P.  Lang 24 

Joseph  Leavitt 42 

♦James  Lee 22 

*  James  E.  Lowell 22 

*  Melville  Maley 18 

John  McCreary 36 

♦Alexander  Mon 43 

♦George  E.Moore 24 

♦John  Moore 23 

♦John  B.  Moores 26 

John  K.  Moore 31 


Age. 

♦Lewis  D.  Moore 18 

♦Archibald  Morrison 25 

♦George  H.  Moulton 28 

Andrew  Mullen 24 

♦John  Mundie 27 

Martin  Murray 20 

Owen  Murphy 23 

Wm.  J.  Murphy 27 

Edward  North 19 

♦David  Pettingill 31 

♦Richard  Poor 19 

♦Nathaniel  W.Pope 23 

James  Prince 29 

Charles  H.Putnam 21 

♦  George  F.  Putnam 23 

♦Wm.  Reynolds 23 

♦Michael  Riley 30 

John  A.  Roberts 18 

Frank  Scampton 39 

♦George  Scampton 32 

Joseph  E.  Shaw 18 

♦John  Shackley 33 

♦Daniel  Smith 28 

♦Philip  Sullivan 20 

Jeremiah  Toomey 21 

♦  Patrick  Toomey 23 

♦Patrick  Trainer 19 

♦Ezra  W.  Watson 24 

Charles  F.  Wells 18 

Edwin  G.  Wells 18 

Edwin  F.  Welsh 38 

♦Henry  R.Wiggin 43 

♦Joseph  F.  Wiggin 37 

♦Frederick  Wright 28 


In  the  list  of  original  members  of  the  Light  Infan- 
try Company  are  these  names  which  do  not  appear 
above : 

Edward  Murphy.  Wm.  W.  Flynn. 

Jonas  S.  Monroe.  Jona  Fogg. 

Alden  C.  Shaw.  Thos.  A.  Musgrave. 

John  P.  Stiles.  Peirce  Butler. 

Florence  H.  Crowley.  Geo.  R.  Wentworlh. 

Newell  Durgin.  Wm.  Sillars. 

George  W.  Elliott.  Geo.  S.  Lowe. 
Nineteenth  Regiment. 
Age. 


Age. 

John  Berry,  Co.  H 18 

Joshua  Berry,  Co.  H 28 


John  N.  Thompson,  Co.  B 30 

Robert  W.  Putnam,  Co.  F 18 

Levi  Trask,  Co.  H 44 

Twentieth  Regiment. 
Age.     I 
Robert  McKenney,  Co.  H 34     |   John  T.  Brown,  Co.  K 

Tiiienty-second  Regiment. 


Age. 
..    33 


Daniel  P.  Clough,  Co.  A 18 

John  H.  Moser,  Co.  D 19 

Samuel  F.  Pray,  Co.  D 23 

Twenty-third  Regiment. 
Age. 

Isaac  N.  Roberts,  hosp.  stew..  28 

Joseph  Blake,  corp.,  Co.  A 22 

William  Webber,  Co.  A 18 

Edward  Blake,  Co.  A 20 

Nathaniel  W.  Chaplin,  Co.  A.  23 

Wm.  A.  Chaplin,  Co.  A 18 

Albert  T.  Cressey,  Co.  A 18 

^enj.  M.  TuUer,  Co.  A Ip 


Age. 

Edwin  Starkey,  Co.  D 15 

Thomas  Caldwell,  Co.  E 34 


Age. 

James  Kelley,  Co.  A 45 

James  W.  Kelley,  Co.  A 28 

Thos.  B.  Kelley,  Co.  A 19 

Moses  A.  Kent,  Co.  A 20 

Albert  Kimball,  Co.  A 18 

Jefferson  Nichols,  Co.  A 35 

Henry  H.  Richardson,  Co.  A..  22 

W^.  H.  Richardsop,  Co.  A.  ..  22 


Age. 

AlonzoP.  Dodge,  sgt.,  Co.  G..  23 

Tristram  C.  Jeffs,  corp.,  Co.  G.  33 

Jacob  Bradbury,  Co.  G 41 

Richard  Hood,  Co.  G 58 

Chas.  P.  Trask,  Co.  G 19 

Chas.  Annable,  Co.  K 34 

Abraham  North,  Co.  K 35 

Isaac  N.  Roberts,  Co.  K 28 

Richard  B.  Withey ,  Co.  K 25 


Age. 

Matthew  C.  West,  Co.  A 32 

Abel  N.  Tyler,  Co.  A 18 

Daniel  Fuller,  corp.  Co.  B 22 

Geo.  D.  Choate,  sgt.  Co.  C 28 

Francis  S.  Dodge,  corp.  Co.  F.  19 

Francis  S.  Caird,  Co.  F 24 

Jeremiah  Cook,  Co.  F 35 

Geo.  H.  S.  Driver,  Co.  F 19 

Charles  H.  Field,  Co.  F 46 

George  Newhall,  Co.  F 20 

Twenty-fourth  Regiment. 
David  H.  Cunningham,  Co.  E 18 

Twenty-sixth  Regiment. 
George  T.  Welch,  Co.  B 20 

Twenty-eighth  Regiment. 

Age.    j  Age. 

Jeremiah  Murphy,  Co.  A 26    I    Patrick  R.  O'Grady,  Co.  E 23 

John  Dowdall,  Co.  E 20    1 

Twenty  ninth  Regiment. 

Age.    I  Age. 

Chas.  D.  Bedell,  Co.  D 21    I    John  Smith,  Co.  D 19 

George  W.  Field,  Co.  D 21    ! 

Thirty-second  Regiment. 
Warren  Thomas,  Co.  D 28 

'Thirty-third  Regiment. 


Age. 

Jas.  Hill,  sgt.,  Co.  C 22 

Geo.  0.  Smith,  corp.,  Co.  C...     40 

James  Hopkins,  Co.  C 18 

James  Reynolds,  Co.  C 18 

Richard  Landers,  Co.  E 22 


Age. 

John  Smith,  Co.  E -zS 

Joseph  McKenney,  Co.  F 23 

John  J.  Smith,  Co.  F 22 

Patrick  Dunlay,  Co.  K 18 


Thirty-fifth  Regiment. 
Age. 


Daniel  J.  Preston,  i 45 

Edgar  M.  Riggs,  2d  Lieut 25 

COMPANY    F. 

Jas.  H.  Ham,  corp 24 

Seth  S.  Stetson,  corp 23 

Wm.  G.  Colcord 20 

Lewis  W.  Day 29 

Henry  G.  Dockham 43 

Chas.  W.  Dodge 25 

John  F.  Eveleth 19 

James  A.  Green 21 

Thomas  E.  Green 22 

George  W.  Hanson 19 

Ambrose  Hinds 26 


Age. 


Joseph  E.  Hood 21 

Samuel  L.  Knight 26 

Charles  P.  Le  Gro 25 

Christopher  Metzgar 19 

Wm.  A.  Peabody 21 

Israel  Roach 38 

Jonas  M.  Rollins 32 

Levi  A.  Trask 21 

Lewis  Verry 34 

Chas.  E.  M.  Welch 27 

George  T.  Whitney 27 

Jonathan  E.  Whitehouse 21 

Oliver  P.  Wiggin 21 

Joseph  Wood 24 

Wm.  H.  James,  recruit 2^ 

Thirty-eighth  Regiment. 
George  W.  Stanley,  unassigued  recruit 24 

Thirty-ninth  Regiment. 

Age.  Age. 

John  H.  Perkins,  Co.  A 23 


Chas.W.  Hanson, sergt.-major.    26 
Wm.  S.  Evans,  Co.  A 21 

Fortieth  Regiment, 
Age. 
Patrick  Brannan,  corp.,  Co.  B.    22 
John  Rosenthal,  Corp.,  Co.  B.     18 

John  Withey,  corp.,  Co.  B 44 

Sam'lP.  Withey,  muc.,Co.  B.    18 

Joseph  E.  Annis,  Co.  B 32 

Edwin  Beckford,  Co.  B 19 

Horace  Beckford,  Co.  B 20 

Chas.  W.  Benjauvin,  Co.  B 27 

Wm.  H.  Channel!,  Co.  B 29 

George  H.  Day,  Jr.,  Co.  B 18 

Stephen  S.  Day,  Co.  B 37 

Fifty-sixth  Regiment. 
Wallace  A.  Putnam.     (See  Tenth  Regiment.) 

•  Enlisted  1st  Lieutenant,  aged  45,   promoted  Captain,  and   December 
6,  1863,  commissioned  Major  36th  U.  S.  Col.  Inf. 


Age. 

George  H.  Dwinell,  Co.  B 25 

Henry  Fish,  Co.  B 45 

Wm.  W.  Jessup,  Co.  B 18 

Wm.  H.  Parker,  Co.  B 31 

Samuel  M.  Porter,  Co.  B 40 

Wm.  F.  Twiss,  Co.  B 31 

George  Woodman  Co.  B 35 

Charles  A.  Young,  Co.  B 21 

Charles  E.  Meader,  Co.  K 18 

Lorenzo  A.  Quint,  Co.  K 32 


DANVERS. 


539 


Fifty-ninth  Regiment, 
Thomas  Carney,  Co.  1 42 

First  Regiment  Heavy  Artillery  (three 
years).  —  Those  marked  with  a  star  were  original 
members  of  the  "  Putnam  Guards." 

Age. 

*  Elbridge  W.  Guilford,  sergt.,  2d  lieut,  1st  lieut.,  Co.  A 33 

James  Skene,  Co.  B 30 

Frank  W.  Taggard,  2d  lieut.,  1st  lieut.,  Co.  D 25 

Henry  P.  Fowler,  sergt.,  2d  lieut.,  Co.  D 22 

Charles  H.  Masury,  sergt.,  2(1  lieut.,  Co.  D 19 

John  P.  Witbey,  pr.,  sergt.,  Co.  D 21 

William  F.  Beckford,  Corp.,  Co.  D 24 

Charles  R.  Brown,  cor]).,  Co.  D 21 

James  Murray,  Corp.,  Co.  D 21 

George  H.  Chaplin,  Co.  D 21 

William  H.  Dockhiun,  Co.  D 21 

Charles  W.  C.  Goudy,  Co.  I) 21 

Everson  Hall,  Co.  D .30 

John  M.  Hines,  Co.  D 21 

Charles  L.  McGill,  Co.  D 21 

George  0.  Shattuck,  Co.  D 3-1 

Daniel  K.  Usher,  Co.  D 23 

Daniel  Berry,  Co.  H 21 

*  Charles  H.  Adams,  1st  lieut,  Co.  K 24 

Edward  Murphy,  Co.  L 22 

Nathaniel  K.  Wells,  Corp.,  Co.  M 22 

Samuel  P.  Richardson,  Co.  M 34 

Company  I. 

*  Arthur  A.  Putnam,  capt 30 

*  Jonathan  B.  Hanson,  sergt.,  2d  lieut.,  1st  lieut.,  capt 32 

*William  J.  Roome,  2d  lieut.,  1st  lieut 22 

*  James  Mack,  sergt.,  1st  lieut 31 

*George  W.  Kenney,  2d  lieut 

♦Andrew  0.  Carter,  sergt,  2d  lieut 22 

Charles  F.  Kelley,  pr.,  sergt 24 

*  George  G.  Clark,  pr.,  sergt 26 

*Charles  A.  Shepard,  pr.,  sergt 28 

*WilIiam  H.  Shirley,  pr.,  sergt 28 

*George  E.  Smith,  sergt 26 

Edward  Callahan,  corp 21 

William  F.  Davis,  pr.,  corp 23 

*  Edward  W.  Thomas,  pr.,  corp 27 

♦Sidney  M.  Pearson,  corp 25 

Benjamin  D.  Miles,  corp 30 

*JohnG.  Weeden,  corp 32 

Pi-ivates, 


Age. 

♦  Hector  A.  Aiken 32 

♦  Chas.  G.  Ausenberger 25 

♦George  D.  Batchelder 19 

♦  Chas.  E.  Brown 23 

Gustavus  Brown 23 

♦  Henry  T.  Chalk 23 

Frank  B.  Colby 21 

AVm.  Cunningham 19 

*OscarF.  Curtis 22 

♦William  C.Dale 22 

♦  James  Drysdale 35 

♦  George  W.  Earle 24 

♦  Isaac  0.  Evan.« 18 

♦Nehemiah  P.  Fiske 20 

George  E.  Fleet 32 

♦  Edwin  A.  Fuller 40 

♦  Edwin  I.  Getchell 22 

♦John  Goodwin 37 

♦  Warren  F.  Goodwin 18 

Orlando  C.  Guppy 26 

♦James  H.  Ham 21 

♦  Albert  Henderson 22 

John  V.  Hennessey 22 

Charles  Hiller 22 

♦.John  Hobbs 20 

♦Levi  H.  Howard 42 

♦Charles  Hurd 22 

♦George  Ingraham 22 


Age. 

George  H.  Jones 18 

♦  Frank  S.  Kittredge 23 

♦Samuel  F.  Lefflau 24 

George  S.  Low 19 

Thomas  Maloney 21 

♦John  Merrill 26 

♦John  Metzgar 27 

♦William  H.  Moser 44 

♦Simon  Murray 25 

♦  Elbridge  6.  Pearson 27 

♦Franklin  Perkins 25 

♦George  W.  Perkitis 29 

George  Peterson 21 

♦Oliver  A.  Plummer 27 

♦  Charles  W.  Sheldon 26 

♦  William  E.  Sheldon 27 

Daniel  H.  Smith 26 

♦David  Smith 29 

♦James  C.  Smith 23 

George  W.  Stevenson 25 

♦Milford  Tedford IS 

Angus  Ward 23 

♦  William  Ward 28 

♦Robert  Weigand 26 

♦John  Westcott 26 

♦  James  F.  Whittier 21 

♦Carlton  Woodward 21 


Names  of  original  members  of  the  "  Putnam 
Guards"  not  given  above,  are  Thomas  Turney,  corp., 
George  Beard,  Frank  A.  Burrill,  John  F.  Dudley, 
Ezra  S.  Dudley,  George  A.  Dodge,  Edwin  E.  Dodge, 
George  G.  Esty,  Charles  M.  Goodwin,  Wm.  Johnson 
Charles  F.  Jordan,  Albert  F.  Putnam,  Addison  W. 
Putnam,  Kendall  F.  Richardson,  Philemon  R.  Rus- 
sell, Jr.,  Wm.  Shackley,  Ira  T.  Trask,  John  E.  Tiney, 
drummer,  John  Wesel. 

SECOND   REGIMENT,   HEAVY   ARTILLERY. 

Age. 

Nehemiah  P.  Fuller,  capt.,  major 33 

Arthur  A.  Putnam,  1st  lieut,  capt 25 

Charles  H.  Adams,  2d  lieut 27 

Archelaus  P.  B.  Kelly,  Co.  A 16 

George  A.  Elliott,  sergt,  Co.  B 25 

Abraham  North,  sergt.,  Co.  B ,39 

Albert  D.  Webber,  corp.,  Co.  B 21 

Richard  P.  Abbott,  Co.  B 25 

Samuel  D.  Benson,  Co.  B 25 

George  H.  Fuller,  Co.  B 26 

James  H.  Kelley,  Co.  B 18 

Edwin   H.Marshall,  Co.  B 25 

Henry  Maud,  Co.  B 37 

Stephen  W.  Roberts,  Co.  B 29 

William  H.  Stetson,  corp.,  Co.  C 29 

George  D.  Goldthwait,  Co.  D 32 

39 

26 

30 


Abraham  North,  Co.  D 

Wm.  H.  Southwick,  Co.  D 

Joseph  G.  Whitehouse,  Co.  D 

Addison  W.  Fowler,  sergt.,  Co.  E 22 

John  McCoy,  Co.  E .39 

John  Shackley,  Co.  E 44 

Henry  Sloper,  Co.  E 31 

Joseph  Leavitt,  Co.  F 43 

Edward  P.  Mayhew,  Co.  F 18 

Wm.  Brown,  Co.  6 19 

Company  K. 


Age. 
Charles  H.  Adams,  Jr.,  sergt. ...  26 

Daniel  P.  Clongh,  sergt 19 

Fredk.  A.  Wentworth,  sergt....  24 

Wm.  S.Forrest,  corp 42 

Ezra  W.  Watson,  corp 26 

Henry  F.  Allen 18 

Orion  W.  Clough 18 

James  M.  Collins 23 

Albert  A.  Fowler 22 

George  A.  Freeze 31 

Andrew  J.  Goodwin 21 

Eben  J.  Griffin 18 

John  C.  Harris 23 


Age. 

Geo.  W.  Jellison 18 

Franklin  Johnson 18 

Chas.  T.  Mosier 18 

Allen  Peabody 44 

Jos.  S.  Peabody 18 

Shepard  Pierce 18 

John  F.  Pillsbury 22 

Alonzo  A.  Rackliffe 18 

Amasa  L.  Ross 19 

Albert  Spaulding 18 

Fredk.  T.  Stone 18 

Robert  Tough 20 

AVm.  H.  Weeks 18 


THIRD   REGIMENT    HEAVY    ARTILLERY. 

Age. 

Edward  Mitchell,  2d  lieut 26 

William  0.  Blake,  Co.  D 26 

Edward  Mitchell,  sergt,  Co.  F 26 

Joseph  Inman,  Co.  F 23 

Benjamin  F.  Larrabee,  Co.  F 28 

Frederick  Blarr,  Co.  F 20 

Edwin  F.  Morrill,  Co.  F 18 

Prince  W.  Nash,  Co.  F 18 

Thomas  Nugent,  Co.  F 37 

JohnP.  Thomas,  Co.  G 21 

William  H.  Chadwick,  corp.,  Co.  H 27 

Henry  G.  Abbott,  Co  H 22 

Henry  T.  Briggs,  Co.  H 22 

James  Finnekin,  Co.  H 35 

Joshua  Goss,  Co.  H 41 

Ezra  D.  Kimball,  Co.  H 25 

Solomon  B.Lane,  Co.  H 31 

Thomas  McKeag,  Co.  H 21 

John  A.  Roberts,  Co.  H 19 


540 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Age. 

Douglas  K.  Wilson,  Co.  H 18 

Albert  Woodbury,  Co.  H '■^6 

Calvin  F.  Richardson,  Co.  M 21 

John  Shea,  Co.  M 40 

Ansel  C.  Smart,  Co.  M 18 

John  Stowell,  Co.  M 26 

William  H.  Hosier,  Co.  M 44 


FOURTH    REGIMENT   HEAVY   ARTILLERY. 

Compant/  A. 
Age. 


John  Ambrose 21 

Thomas  H.  Bailey 25 

Wallace  Bailey 20 

Elbridge  Cothran 21 

EbenF.  Creesy 22 

Florence  H.  Crowley 21 

Timothy  D.  Crowley 18 

Lewis  W.  Day 30 

Stephen  S.Day 41 

Wm.  G.  Dickey 38 

Thomas  H.Dodge 19 

John  S.George 24 

Thomas  B.  George 27 


Age. 


Edward  F.  Gourley 23 

Benj.  F.  Grover 23 

Charles  A.  Guppy 23 

John  Kelly 22 

Elbridge  Kennedy 18 

Charles  Newhall 25 

Albert  Parry 36 

Joseph  F.  Pitman 18 

John  W.  Rollins 27 

William  B.  Ross 28 

Jacob  C.  Spaulding 21 

John  Q.  Welch 22 

Douglass  R.  Wilson 22 


Two  companies  of  sharpshooters,  three  years'  men, 
were  recruited  at  Lynnfield,  and  left  for  Washington 
in  December,  1861.  In  the  first  company,  which  was 
ordered  to  report  to  General  Lander  near  Maryland 
Heights  were  the  following  Danvers  men  : 

Age. 

Chas.  N.  Ingalls,  sergt 40 

Austin  Upton,  corp 37 

David  S.  Huse 18 

Horace  Kimball 34 

Joshua  Severance 37 

In  the  second  company,  attached  to  the  Twenty- 
second  Regiment  Infantry,  were  these  : 


Age. 

Joseph  T.  Smart 30 

Alfred  M.  Trask 21 

Austin  Upton 35 

Samuel  A.  Waitt 28 


Age. 

Wm.  I.  Adams 34 

George  Beard 35 

Moses  Deland 22 


Age. 

Richard  Goss 40 

Hiram  B.  Kenniston 36 


In  the  Salem  Cadets,  which  organization  performed 
garrison  duty  in  Boston  Harbor  from  May  26,  1862, 
to  October  11,  1862.  were  these  Danvers  men  : 


Age. 

Eben  F.  Creesy 20 

Florence  H.  Crowley 19 

John  G.  Dervan 19 

George  F.  Dockham 18 

Addison  W.  Fowler 21 


Age. 

Alonzo  Gray 24 

Samuel  F.  Gray 27 

Arthur  C.  Kenney 23 

John  T.  Ross 32 

Charles  F.  Sleeper 25 


In  Company  B,  of  the  Seventh  Regiment  Infantry 
(six  mouths),  July  1,  1862,  to  December  31,  1862, 
were  : 

Age.  Age. 

..     29        Alexander  Caird 19 

..     20        Warren  P.  Dodge 23 

..     29        Richard  Poor 19 

The  company  of  Danvers  men  previously  referred 
to  as  having  been  recruited  in  the  summer  of  1862, 
was  as  follows: 

Company  K.  Eighth  Uegiment,  Volunteer  Infantry,  Nine  Months'  men. 


Geo.  M.  Crowell,  sergt.. 
John  H.  Howard,  corp.. 
Henry  Sloper,  corp 


Albert  G.  Allen,  capt 42 

Edwin  Bailey,  Ist  lieut 25 

Benjamin  E.  Newhall,  2d  lieut.  27 

Charles  W.  Allen,  1st  sergt....  22 

Thomas  Barnett,  sergt 37 

Henry  D.  Wallace,  sergt 22 

James  IL  Sleeper,  sergt 34 

Samuel  P.  Fowler,  sergt 24 


Lorenzo  C.  Rogers,  corp 43 

Denis  W.  Regan,  corp 27 

Alfred  Porter,  corp 36 

Frederick  N.  Putnam,  Corp....  21 

John  Proctor,  corp 34 

Abiel  A.  Home,  corp 32 

Jacob  Bradbury 44 

William  Brady 33 


Age. 

Thomas  Carney 40 

Orion  W.  Clough 18 

Henry  Collins 29 

Patrick  Collins 20 

Thomas  Collins 22 

William  Collins 18 

Edward  Darling 30 

Judson  W.  Dodge 29 

Henry  F.  English 27 

William  T.  Fay 38 

James  L.  Fish 18 

William  Fowle 41 

Cyrus  Fuller 30 

Solomon  Fuller 26 

Charles  W.  Giddings 23 

Charles  A.  Oilman 19 

Mark  Glidden 43 

Samuel  Glover 53 

Charles  Goother 44 

William  W.Goodwin 31 


Age. 

Cleavoland  Gould 29 

Daniel  H.  Gould 17 

James  P.  Margeson 35 

John  M.  Martin 25 

John  McAuliffe 30 

William  O'Neil 38 

Albert  Parry 34 

Amos  Pearson 43 

Charles  W.  Peart 22 

Joel  F.  Phelps 40 

Joseph  M.  Proctor 32 

Albert  F.  Putnam 21 

William  Reynolds 47 

John  Russell 28 

John  H.  Sears 19 

Asa  J.  Spaulding 41 

Alonzo  J.  Stetson, 24 

Walter  F.  Tarleton 27 

William  Webber 18 

Douglass  R.  Wilson 18 


In  the  other  nine  months'  regiments  which  left  for 
the  front,  in  the  latter  part  of  1862,  were  these : 

Age. 

Salmon  B.  Lane,  Co.  C,  42d 30 

Joseph  N.  Burchstead,  Co.  I,  47th 30 

Michael  Joyce,  Co.  E,  48th  (deserted) 27 

Wendell  P.  Hood,  Co.  F,  48th 22 

Augustine  Upton,  Co.  E,  50th 18 

But  four  men  are  credited  to  Danvers  in  the  cav- 
alry.    These  are 

George  S.  Osborne,  asst.  surg.,  1st  Cav 24 

Charles  H.  Lyons,  Co.  E,  1st  Cav 21 

Samuel  W.Lewis,  1st  sergt,  3d  Cav 25 

Reuben  Leighton,  Co.  G,  5th  Cav 18 

But  two  are  credited  to  the  light  artillery : 

Daniel  P.  Avery,  2d  Batt. ,  3  years  (deserted) 23 

John  L.  Edwards,  4th  Batt.,  3  years 28 

Fifth  Regiment,  (100  days),  mustered  in  July 
23,  1864: 

William  Metzgar,  Co.  C 18 

Samuel  W.  Nourse,  Co.  C 23 

Amos  Pearson,  Co.  C 44 

Gideon  Rowell,  Co.  C 33 

Samuel  P.  Trask,  Co.  C 19 

Erdix  T.  Turner,  Co.  C 20 

Sixth  Regiment,   (100  days)    mustered  in   July 
15,  1864: 

George  M,  Crowell,  2d  lieut,  Co.  1 34 

Warren  P.  Dodge,  corp.,  Co.  1 25 

Allen  W.  Bodwell,  Co.  1 18 

Daniel  A.  Caskin,  Co.  1 20 

Patrick  Collins,  Co.  1 20 

William  Collins,  Co.  1 19 

Thomas  Hartman,  Co.   1 22 

Orris  K.  Huff,  Co.  1 21 

AVilliam  S.  Inman,  Co.  1 18 

Jeremiah  Kirby,  Co.  1 19 

Frank  B.  Messer,  Co.  1 19 

Hugh  Murphy,  Co.  1 18 

Edward  North,  Co.  1 21 

Thaddeus  Osgood,  Co.  1 18 

Richard  Poor,  Co.  1 21 

Walter  F.  Tarlton,  Co.  1 28 

John  Thompson,  Co.  1 21 

Joseph  Thompson,  Co.  1 18 

Austin  Towne,  Co.  1 19 

Frederick  Wright,  Co  1 33 

Eighth  Regiment,  (100  days)  Dr.  EbenezerHunt, 
aged  64,  mustered  in  as  assistant  surgeon  July  29, 
1864  ;  discharged  November  10,  1864. 


DANVERS. 


541 


Veteran  Reserve  Corps,  July,  1864: 


Age. 

Wni.  Reynolds 28 

W.  Shackley 28 

Edward  F.  Welch 40 


Age. 

Thomas  Caldwell 36 

HiiP-m  S.  Faye 33 

John  BlcCreaiy 44 

JohnO'Keefe 39 

Thirteenth,  Unattached  Company,  Infantry 
(90  days),  May,  1864,  William  Francis,  aged  45. 

Twenty-Ninth,  Unattached  Company,  Heavy 
Artillery  (1  year)  George  W.  Kenney,  captain, 
aged  34. 

Eegular  Army,  Louis  E.  Goodale,  Signal  Corps, 
aged  21 ;  John  W.  Wiley,  Engineer  Corps,  aged  19. 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


DR.   ANDREW   NICHOLS. 

Dr.  Andrew  Nichols  was  born  in  the  northern 
part  of  Dauvers,  on  that  portion  of  the  "Prince 
Farm  "  now  owned  by  heirs  of  Philip  H.  Wentworth, 
on  the  22d  of  November,  1785.  His  father  was 
Major  Andrew  Nichols,  an  efficient  and  progressive 
farmer.  He  introduced  the  Lombardy  Poplar  into 
this  section  of  the  country,  his  farm  being  lined  with 
them.  His  mother  was  Eunice  Nichols,  the  daugh- 
ter of  John  Nichols  and  Elizabeth  Prince.  It  was 
Elizabeth  Prince,  granddaughter  of  Captain  Robert 
Prince,  who  set  out  the  large  elm  tree  now  standing 
near  the  main  entrance  to  the  Wentworth  estate. 
Sarah  Warren,  of  Watertown,  wife  of  Robert  Prince, 
and  grandmother  of  said  Elizabeth,  who  was  after- 
ward married  to  Alexander  Osborne,  was  cried  out 
upon  as  a  witch,  and  died  in  jail. 

The  first  of  his  ancestors  to  settle  in  this  country 
was  William  Nichols,  born  about  1596,  who  took 
grants  of  land  in  "  Brooksby  "  (now  Peabody),  and 
settled  on  them  in  1638.  In  1652,  as  by  his  deposi- 
tion on  record  in  the  office  of  the  clerk  of  courts,  he 
was  living  on  his  farm  of  about  two  hundred  acres, 
situated  between  Ipswich  River  and  Salem  line.  The 
farm  in  Middleton,  now  owned  by  Walter  L.  Harris, 
of  Salem,  and  adjoining  lands  bounded  by  Nichols 
Brook,  including  the  hill  called  "Ferncroft,"  were  a 
portion  of  it.  His  only  son  was  John  Nichols,  who 
married  Lydia  Wilkins,  a  daughter  of  Bray  Wilkins, 
of  Wills  Hill,  Middleton.  Their  son,  John  Nichols, 
by  his  second  wife,  had  two  sons,  John  Nichols,  who 
married  Elizabeth  Prince,  before  mentioned,  and 
Deacon  Samuel  Nichols,  Avho  married  Abigail  Elli- 
ot, and  they  were  the  parents  of  Major  Andrew 
Nichols.  They  were  all  well-to-do  farmers,  and  lived 
within  a  mile  and  one  half  of  Dr.  Nichols'  birth- 
place. 

After  the  completion  of  the  course  at  Phillips  Acad- 
emy, in  Andover,  in  1804,  he  studied  with  Dr.  Water- 
house,  at  the  famous  "  Cragie  "  or  Longfellow  Man- 


sion at  Cambridge,  and  attended  the  course  of  lectures 
at  the  Harvard  Medical  School  in  1806  and  1807. 

He  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  town  (now  Peabody),  in  1811 ;  it 
soon  spread  to  every  part  of  the  old  town,  also  to 
Middleton,  Lynnfield  and  a  portion  of  Topsfield  and 
Salem,  where,  as  the  beloved  physician,  he  might 
be  seen  early  and  late,  either  walking  or  riding.  I 
think  it  can  well  be  said,  that  no  practitioner  had 
more  names  of  persons  who  were  unable  to  pay  upon 
his  books  than  he.  He  seldom  asked  twice  for  the 
very  moderate  fee,  and  never  asked  for  it  wliere  he 
knew  or  mi>trusted  it  was  hard  for  them  to  pay.  But 
to  rich  or  poor  alike,  he  always  responded  cheerfully, 
and  was  very  sympathetic  to  all.  I  have  seen  him 
performing  surgical  operations  and  appear  to  suffer 
more  than  the  patient. 

He  was  admitted  to  the  Massachusetts  Medical  So- 
ciety in  1811,  and  was  for  many  years  president  of 
the  Essex  South  District  Medical  Society.  He  vvas 
always  a  diligent  student,  and  in  the  advance  guard 
of  his  profession,  delivering  an  essay  on  the  irritation 
of  the  nerves  before  the  Massachusetts  Society  in 
1836. 

He  was  interested  in  all  that  was  going  on  about 
him.  He  was  a  charter  member  and  first  master  of 
Jordan  Lodge  of  Masons,  and  during  his  whole  life 
an  active  member,  of  which  his  poem  on  "  The  Spir- 
it of  Free  Masonry"  in  1831,  gave  evidence. 

He  was  a  distinguished  botanist,  assisting  Dr.  Bige- 
low  in  his  well-known  book.  He  gave  the  first  course 
of  lectures  ever  delivered  upon  that  subject  in  Salem 
in  1818  ;  his  keenlove  of  it  led  him  to  discover  the 
minute  Arctic  flower,  the  Draba  Verna,  on  the 
bleak  hills  of  Peabody,  upon  the  melting  of  the  win- 
ter snows.  He  was  the  first  president  of  the  Essex 
County  Natural  History  Society  in  1836,  which,  with 
the  Essex  Historical  Society  of  1821,  formed  the  Es- 
sex Institute  of  1848. 

Though  in  active  practice  and  living  in  the  south- 
ern part  of  the  town,  he  showed  a  great  interest  in 
agriculture.  He  was  intensely  interested  in  the  man- 
agement of  his  farm  in  Middleton,  some  seven  miles 
away  next  adjoining  the  old  William  Nichols  farm  of 
1652,  which  fell  to  him  through  his  first  wife,  Ruth 
Nichols. 

He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Essex  Agricul- 
tural Society,  and  its  treasurer  for  thirteen  years.  He 
delivered  the  address  at  its  first  cattle  show,  held  at 
Topsfield,  in  1820. 

He  was  one  of  the  old  line  Abolitionists,  and  at  the 
head  of  the  Free  Soil  party  in  Dan  vers.  I  have  seen 
the  poor  fugitive  slave  at  his  house  being  fed  and  in- 
structed on  whom  to  call  as  he  went  northward.  He 
carried  on  the  anti-slavery  lectures  in  town,  lecturing 
and  entertaining  the  lecturers  of  those  days,  Garrison, 
Phillips,  Pillsbury,  Pierpoint,  Henry  (Box)  Brown 
and  many  others,  and  doing  all  in  his  power  to  ad- 
vance the  cause  of  the  oppressed.     He  did  not  live 


542 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


long  enough  to  witness  the  results.  In  this  connec- 
tion I  would  state  that  his  brother,  Abel  Nichols, 
cast  the  first  vote  in  town  in  the  anti-slavery  cause, 
and  the  only  one  at  that  particular  election. 

The  reading  and  study  of  the  poets,  ancient  and 
modern,  was  a  recreation  which  he  thoroughly  en- 
joyed, and  which  gave  him  many  happy  hours.  He 
wrote  many  poems  and  hymns,  some  for  special  occa- 
sions, that  have  been  published,  among  them  the 
"Centennial"  poem  of  Danvers  in  1852. 

It  was  his  regular  habit  to  write  one  every  Sab- 
bath, many  times  quite  late  at  night,  as  his  profession- 
al duties  would  give  him  no  regular  hour.  Also 
poems  to  his  wife,  mother,  children,  friends  and  self, 
on  their  recurring  birth-days. 

He  was  active  in  the  temperance  cause,  and  as 
early  as  1819  lectured  before  the  "  Society  for  Sup- 
pressing Intemperance  and  other  Vices,"  of  which  he 
was  a  member.  He  took  an  active  part  in  the  Wash- 
ingtonian  movement  in  1840,  and  in  his  profession  he 
did  all  in  his  power  to  stay  its  evils. 

He  was  very  inventive,  and  constantly  at  work 
with  mind  or  hands  upon  something  to  the  advance- 
ment of  science,  as  his  improvement  of  Dr.  Arnott's 
Hydrostatic  Bed,  upon  one  of  which  he  died.  He 
had,  that  very  week,  given  instructions  to  a  mechanic 
for  additional  improvements  to  it.  The  rubber  air 
pillows  and  beds  used  at  the  present  day  take  its 
place.  Tubes  for  the  introduction  of  fresh  air  from 
the  window  to  the  bed  of  the  patient.  The  making 
of  zinc  paint.  The  coupling  of  railroad  cars  while  in 
motion.  Object  cards  and  letters  to  place  upon  the 
blackboard  in  our  schools  while  upon  the  School 
Committee,  of  which  he  was  for  many  years  a  mem- 
ber. In  this  connection  it  is  proper  to  state  that  he 
made  the  first  move  for  the  establishment  of  the  High 
School  within  the  town. 

He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  First  Unitarian 
Congregational  Society  of  Danvers  (now  Peabody), 
and  was  a  sincere  friend  and  helper  to  all  of  its  pas- 
tors from  the  first  to  the  last.  The  Rev.  Frank  P. 
Appleton  truly  said  of  him,  "  His  heavenly 
Father  was  a  dear  and  sacred  presence  to  him,"  In 
all  the  brighter  scenes  of  life  he  saw  that  Father's 
love  ;  and  he  laid  his  soul  meekly,  cheerfully  before 
that  infinite  Friend  .  .  .  His  was  a  guileless  worship. 
He  was  open-hearted  to  God,  as  he  was  to  man.  No 
fear  mingled  in  his  communion ;  his  cheerful  love 
cast  out  all  fear,  or  rather  his  unselfishness  made  fear 
of  God  impossible.  ...  To  serve  his  Father  and  to 
help  his  brethren,  this  was  the  aim  of  his  life.  He 
never  lost  his  love  for  his  fellow-beings, — they  were 
always  God's  children  ;  and  the  deep  interest  in  others 
which  rose  uppermost  in  his  heart  during  his  last 
sickness,  the  sacred  counsel,  "to  live  for  man,  to  work 
for  humanity,''  which,  with  faltering  lips,  but  unfal- 
tering soul  and  faith  he  gave,  were  only  simple  repe- 
titions of  what  his  whole  life  had  said. 

His  monument  in  the   Monumental  Cemetery  in 


Peabody  has  the  expressive  inscription,  "  Erected  by 
the  friends  of  Humanity  to  Humanity's  Friend." 

An  intimate  friend  of  George  Peabody  from  his 
boyhood,  in  the  apothecary  shop,  when  he  removed 
the  wen  from  his  forehead,  to  his  success  as  a  London 
banker,  and  corresponded  with  him  until  the  time  of 
his  death. 

He  married  his  cousin,  Ruth  Nichols,  daughter  of 
Deacon  John  Nichols,  of  Middleton,  and  wife  of 
Sarah  Fuller,  the  1st  of  June,  1809;  she  died  without 
issue,  March  31,  1832. 

He  married  secondly,  Mary  Holyoke  Ward,  daugh- 
ter of  Joshua  Ward,  of  Salem,  and  wife  Susanna 
Holyoke,  daughter  of  Dr.  Edward  Augustus  Holyoke, 
the  8d  of  October,  1833. 

He  died  the  30th  of  March,  1853,  and  his  widow 
the  15th  of  April,  1880. 

He  left  two  children,  Andrew  Nichols,  civil  engi- 
neer, who  now  occupies  the  northwesterly  corner  of 
the  Robert  Prince  farm,  which,  to  this  time,  has  never 
been  out  of  the  ownership  of  his  descendants,  though 
for  one  hundred  years  in  the  name  of  Nichols,  and 
a  daughter,  Mary  Ward  Nichols. 

Of  the  next  generation  four  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters are  living  children  of  Andrew  Nichols  and  wife, 
Elizabeth  P.  Stanley,  of  Salem.  The  eldest  Andrew 
inherits  his  grandfather's  taste  for  Natural  History. 


HON.    ELIAS   PUTNAM. 

Elias  Putnam,  son  of  Israel  and  Anna  Putnam, 
was  born  in  Danvers,  Mass.,  June  7,  1789,  and  was 
descended  from  John  and  Priscilla  Putnam,  who,  in 
or  about  the  year  1634,  as  stated  in  a  previous  page, 
came  from  England  to  America  with  their  three  sons, 
and  settled  in  Salem  village.  The  second  of  these 
sons  was  Nathaniel,  whose  son  John  had  a  son,  also 
named  John,  the  father  of  Edmund  and  grandfather 
of  the  above  mentioned  Israel.  Through  the  various 
matrimonial  alliances  of  this  line  of  ancestors,  Eliaa 
might  trace  his  pedigree  back  to  many  others  of  the 
emigrant  colonists  whose  history  has  more  or  less 
been  made  known  to  us,  and  whose  progeny  is  now 
very  numerous  throughout  the  country.  Edmund 
Putnam  dwelt  for  the  greater  part  of  his  long  life, 
and  died  in  the  year  1810,  at  the  old  Daniel  Rea 
house,  which  still  stands  at  the  north  of  the  Plains, 
and  at  a  little  distance  east  of  the  direct  road  from 
Salem  to  Topsfield,  and  which,  having  been  the 
property  and  home  of  four  successive  generations  of 
this  branch  of  the  Putnam  family,  passed  many  years 
ago  into  the  possession  of  Mr.  Augustus  Fowler,  who 
now  occupies  it.  He  was  commonly  known  as 
"  Deacon  Edmund,"  having  served  as  deacon  of  the 
First  Church  from  1762  until  1785,  when  he  became 
a  Universalist.  While  holding  this  office,  he  was 
unanimously  chosen  captain  of  a  Danvers  Alarm 
List  Company,  March  6,  1775.  In  1776  he  was  made 
selectman  and  assessor,  and  in  1778  was  appointed 


^^- 


DANVEKS. 


543 


one  of  a  committee  of  the  town  to  consider  and  report 
upon  the  New  State  Constitution  then  proposed  for 
adoption.  Israel,  the  third  of  his  five  children,  was 
born  November  20,  1754,  at  the  old  Rea  place  just 
referred  to,  and  his  wife,  Anna,  was  a  daughter  of 
Elias  Endicott,  Sr.,  and  lineal  descendant  of  the  old 
Puritan  Governor,  John  Endicott,  whose  "  Orchard 
Farm  "  was  her  father's  native  spot.  Immediately 
after  their  marriage,  in  1788,  they  began  housekeep- 
ing on  another  farm  owned  by  the  family,  situated  at 
a  point  on  the  road  two  miles  farther  north  and 
about  a  third  of  a  mile  south  of  the  Topsfield  line. 
The  house,  which  is  still  standing,  was  built  during 
the  last  century,  and  marks  the  site  of  one  of  the 
earlier  Porter  homes,  which  was  destroyed  by  fire. 
There  Elias,  and  also  two  of  four  other  children, 
were  born,  the  family  then  removing  for  a  time 
to  the  New  Mills  (Danversport),  and  next  to  the 
original  homestead,  where  they  might  have  a  more 
immediate  care  of  the  grandparents  in  their  de- 
clining years.  It  was  here  that  Elias  took  his  first 
real  lesson  in  manual  work,  serving  about  the  house 
and  in  the  field  in  such  ways  as  New  England  lads  were 
then  generally  expected  to  learn  and  practice.  Mean- 
while, the  short  winter  terms  of  the  rural  district 
schools,  located  about  midway  between  the  upper  and 
lower  farms,  afforded  him  about  all  the  opportunities 
foreducation,  which  he  enjoyed  in  his  boyhood.  Early 
in  1812,  in  company  with  several  other  young,  men 
of  the  neighborhood,  he  entered  Bradford  Academy, 
but  had  not  long  been  a  student  at  that  institution 
before  he  gave  much  offence  to  its  teachers  and  offi- 
cers by  a  composition  which  he  prepared  and  pre- 
sented as  one  of  the  required  exercises,  and  in  which 
he  ably  and  boldly  advanced  views  at  variance  with 
the  theology  there  dominant  and  almost  everywhere 
prevalent.  Unwilling  to  remain  where  he  found  that 
he  could  not  enjoy  full  religious  freedom,  he  with- 
drew from  the  school  and  repaired  to  Topsfield  for 
private  instruction  under  Mr.  Israel  Balch,  and  there 
finished  the  one  short  term  that  was  to  end  his 
school-day  life.  His  classmates  or  companions  from 
Danvers  sympathized  with  him,  approved  his  action, 
and  all  joined  him  at  once  in  his  new  scene  of  study 
and  endeavor.  Their  concurrent  and  life-long  testi- 
mony, as  well  as  his  own  subsequent  career,  bore 
abundant  witness  to  the  fidelity  with  which,  at  both 
places,  he  improved  his  all  too  limited  advantages, 
and  to  the  rapid  progress  he  made  in  his  work.  De- 
siring to  qualify  himself  especially  for  the  plain, 
practical  pursuits  that  engaged  so  many  of  his  fel- 
low townsmen,  he  devoted  himself  to  the  common 
English  branches,  and  gave  particular  attention  to 
the  art  of  surveying,  which  he  so  mastered  that  he 
subsequently  made  his  proficiency  in  it,  very  useful 
to  many  others  as  well  as  to  himself.  But  however 
much  he  might  have  been  indebted  to  books  and 
schools,  nature  gave  him  a  still  better  outfit  in  a 
strong  mind,  in  excellent  judgment,  good  common 


sense,  a  high  moral  purpose,  indomitable  energy  and 
a  spirit  of  industry  and  activity  that  never  seemed, 
from  first  to  last,  to  crave,  or  even  need,  relaxation  or 
rest. 

He  was  now  twenty-three  years  of  age,  and  was 
asked  to  teach  the  school  of  his  native  district  for 
the  following  winter  of  1812-13,  and  this  he  did.  The 
old  school-house  had  been  condemned,  and  a  new 
brick  one  had  just  been  erected,  of  whose  long  line 
of  "  masters  "  he  was  to  be  the  first,  as  a  youngest 
son  was  to  be  the  last,  about  forty  years  later.  Hav- 
ing married  Eunice  Ross,  daughter  of  Adam  Ross,  of 
Ipswich  (who  had  been  a  soldier  at  Bunker  Hill  and 
in  the  Revolutionary  War),  he  and  his  bride  com- 
menced housekeeping,  like  his  parents  before  them, 
at  the  upper  farm.  His  father  had  offered  to  send 
him  to  college,  or  to  deed  to  him  this  estate,  as  he 
might  choose.  Too  distrustful,  perhaps,  of  his 
chances  of  success  in  professional  life,  and  fond  of 
agricultural  pursuits,  he  decided  to  hold  to  his  ances- 
tral acres.  Soon  after  he  had  served  out  his  single 
term  as  a  teacher,  he  concluded  to  unite  with  his  occu- 
pation as  a  farmer,  the  business  of  manufacturing 
shoes.  Amongst  the  intelligent  and  sturdy  inhabit- 
ants of  the  district  and  its  vicinity,  this  industrial 
interest,  which  was  destined  to  be  of  prime  import- 
ance to  the  town,  had  already  attracted  the  attention 
and  engaged  the  enterprising  spirit  of  such  men  as 
Caleb  Oakes,  Zerobbabel  Porter,  Moses  Putnam, 
Elias  Endicott,  Jr.,  and  a  few  others  of  like  charac- 
ter. Elias  Endicott,  Jr.,  was  a  near  neighbor  as  well 
as  an  own  uncle  of  the  subject  of  our  sketch.  The 
latter  had  learned  not  a  little  from  him  about  the  art 
of  the  "gentle  craft,"  and  now  wished  to  set  up  busi- 
ness on  his  own  account.  He  bought  the  old  aban- 
doned school-house,  moved  it  up  near  his  own  home, 
reconstructed  and  enlarged  it,  and  began  in  it  what 
was  to  be  the  chief  avocation  of  his  life.  Not,  how- 
ever, without  serious  discouragement  at  the  very  out- 
set ;  for,  through  the  insolvency  of  a  Southern  trades- 
man to  whom  he  had  sold  a  large  lot  of  goods,  he  lost 
the  first  thousand  dollars  he  had  earned  by  hard  and 
patient  work.  But  the  misfortune  only  nerved  him 
to  greater  exertion,  and  his  shop,  as  well  as  his  laud, 
became  ere  long  still  more  the  busy  scene  of  labor. 

In  1814,  or  about  that  time,  "  Deacon  Edmund" 
and  his  wife  having  died,  Israel  returned  with  his 
household  to  the  scene  of  his  early  married  life  to 
spend  the  remainder  of  his  days  with  the  son  and  his 
family,  enlarging  the  habitation  with  a  northern  "  L," 
the  future  birth-place,  it  may  be  noted  by  the  way,  of 
that  distinguished  soldier  and  civilian  of  the  West, 
Major-General  Granville  M.  Dodge.  Israel,  like  his 
father  Edmund,  was  a  Universalist,  and  soon  began, 
with  "'ome  of  his  neighbors,  to  take  the  necessary  steps 
for  the  promulgation  of  the  doctrine  within  the  district. 
He  presided  over  a  meeting,  held  at  the  school-house, 
April  22,  1815,  at  which  the  friends  of  the  new  move- 
ment presented  a  declaration  of  their  principles  and 


514 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


made  arrangements  to  secure  preachers.  Here  was 
the  origin  of  the  present  Universalist  Church  of 
Danvers.  Israel  and  Elias,  both,  were  among  the 
signers  of  the  declaration,  and  the  active  participants 
in  the  enterprise,  and  they  subsequently  welcomed  to 
their  home  many  of  the  early  apostles  of  the  faith 
who  came  from  time  to  time  to  expound  it  to  such  as 
were  willing  to  hear,  Hosea  Ballou,  Charles  Hudson, 
the  Streeters  and  many  others.  As  the  father  was 
prominent  in  the  society  in  its  infant  history,  so 
the  son  was  a  staunch  supporter  of  it  in  its  more 
prosperous  years,  both  of  them  being  identified  with 
its  fortunes  as  long  as  they  lived.  Farmer  Israel  was 
a  deeply  religious,  as  well  as  a  very  intelligent 
man,  and  in  his  zeal  for  Universalism  he  wrote  able 
sermons  in  its  advocacy  and  defence,  several  of  which 
were  published  in  pamphlet  form  for  circulation.  He 
died  in  the  summer  of  1820,  at  the  age  of  sixty-five, 
and  the  Essex  Eegiater,  in  announcing  his  decease, 
referred  to  him  as  "  a  highly  respected  and  worthy 
citizen."  His  wife,  who  was  characterized  by  a  full 
share  of  the  traits  and  qualities  of  her  race,  died  long 
years  afterward,  at  Danversport.atthe-residence  of  her 
only  surviving  daughter,  Mrs.  Mary  P.  Endicott. 

In  1832  Elias,  finding  that  shoe  manufacturing  was, 
and  was  likely  to  be,  a  more  lucrative  calling  than 
farming,  and  that  the  prospective  needs  of  his  family 
of  ten  children,  to  which  one  other  was  added  in  the 
following  year,  required  him  to  engage  in  it  more  ex- 
tensively, let  out  his  house  and  land  and  moved 
down  once  more  to  the  ancient  homestead  on  the 
lower  and  smaller  farm,  where  he  could  be  nearer  the 
heart  of  the  town,  and  enjoy  ample  facilities  and 
opportunities  for  the  end  in  view.  Building  for  him- 
self, out  by  the  i-oad-side,  a  more  commodious  fac- 
tory than  he  had  thus  far  occupied,  he  embarked 
more  and  more  largely  in  business,  furnishing  em- 
ployment to  increasing  numbers  of  workmen  in  Dan- 
vers and  surrounding  towns,  and  supplying  with  the 
products  of  their  labor  the  markets  of  still  other 
cities  in  the  Middle,  Southern  and  Western  States. 

The  qualities  of  character  which  distinguished  him 
had  a  long  time  before  fixed  the  attention  of  his  fel- 
low-citizens, and  he  had  already  received  not  a  few 
marks  of  their  confidence  and  respect.  He  had 
again  and  again  been  chosen  moderator  of  the  annual 
town  meetings,  and  had  repeatedly  been  a  member 
and  also  a  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Selectmen,  in 
years  when  such  ofiices  were  posts  of  honor  more 
than  they  are  now.  In  1829  and  also  in  1830  he  was 
elected  as  Representative  to  the  General  Court,  and 
served  for  the  two  years.  In  1833  he  was  chosen 
Senator  and  served  for  one  term  in  that  branch  of 
the  State  Legislature.  Here  he  had  the  great  pleasure 
of  renewing  his  former  friendship  with  that  sterling 
man,  Charles  Hudson,  who  had  been  an  inmate  of 
his  home  while  preaching  in  Danvers  ten  or  twelve 
years  previously,  but  who  had  now  entered  political 
life,  and  was  destined  to  high  civic  honors.     The  two 


men  were  the  members  from  the  Senate  of  the  joint 
standing  committee  on  railways  and  canals.  It  was 
at  an  important  juncture  in  the  history  of  such  inter- 
nal improvements  in  the  old  commonwealth.  The 
Boston  and  Lowell  Railroad  was  the  only  one  then 
in  existence  in  Massachusetts.  The  eastern  com- 
pany was  now  fighting,  against  much  opposition  and 
under  many  difficulties,  for  a  charter.  Mr.  Putnam 
was  very  earnest  and  active  in  his  efforts  in  behalf 
of  the  measure,  and  his  zeal  for  it,  taken  in  connec- 
tion with  his  acknowledged  ability  to  deal  with  such 
matters  as  these,  and  his  position  as  a  leading  mem- 
ber of  the  committee,  and  the  only  member  of  it  from 
the  county  which  he  represented,  and  in  which  the 
line  was  to  have  one  of  its  immediate  termini,  and 
with  the  interests  and  needs  of  which,  so  largely  to 
be  affected  by  a  successful  issue,  he  was  quite  well 
acquainted,  enabled  him  to  exert,  as  the  late  and 
lamented  Mr.  Joshua  Silvester  and  others  testify  that 
he  did,  a  very  controlling  influence  towards  the  fav- 
orable result  that  was  finally  reached.  In  like  man- 
ner he  defended  and  supported  other  measures  of 
public  utility  while  thus  at  the  capitol. 

More  and  more,  as  life  went  on,  Mr.  Putnam  had 
at  heart  the  prosperity  of  his  native  town,  and  gave 
to  it,  in  no  stinted  degree,  his  thought  and  care,  his 
time  and  his  means.  With  that  object  still  in  view, 
he  was,  as  Mr.  Silvester  again  remarks,  in  a  recent 
biographical  sketch  of  him,  accompanied  with  some 
personal  reminiscences,  the  first  to  propose  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  bank  in  North  Danvers.  The  two 
men  were  near  neighbors,  had  already  known  each 
other  for  some  years,  were  both  engaged  in  the  same 
kind  of  business,  and  were  associated  intimately  in 
political,  religious  and  other  relations,  and  were  on 
terms  of  mutual  trust  and  friendship  which  con- 
tinued to  strengthen  and  ripen  with  each  advancing 
year.  "  During  all  this  time,"  says  the  account  or 
tribute  of  the  revered  and  veteran  survivor  of  his 
long  since  departed  companion  and  co-worker, 
"  scarcely  a  day  passed  that  we  were  not  together.  I 
can  safely  say  that  I  knew  the  man  perfectly.  One 
day  he  asked  me  if  I  did  not  think  we  needed  a 
bank  in  North  Danvers?  I  told  him,  yes,  I  thought 
we  did.  We  then  called  a  meeting  of  the  business 
men  of  the  town  at  the  old  Berry  Tavern  to  consider 
the  matter.  It  was  unanimously  voted  that  applica- 
tion should  be  made  for  a  charter,  and  that  other 
necessary  steps  should  be  taken."  The  end  was  at 
length  accomplished.  The  bank  was  duly  incor- 
porated in  1836,  and  Mr.  Putnam  was  chosen  the  first 
president,  and  held  the  office  to  the  close  of  his  life. 
Mr.  Silvester,  who  was  made  one  of  its  directors, 
adds, — "  the  bank  immediately  went  into  a  success- 
ful business,  which  was  soon  checked,  however,  by 
the  general  crash  of  1837.  Nearly  all  the  banks  of 
the  country  suspended  specie  payment,  and  well  nigh 
all  the  business  houses  failed  or  asked  extensions,  in 
consequence  of  the  embarrassments  occasioned  by  the 


DANVERS. 


545 


removal  of  the  government  deposits  and  by  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  National  bank.  There  followed  the  greatest 
depression  and  stagnation  ever  known  before  or  since 
to  the  industry  and  trade  of  the  people.  But  under 
the  management  of  Mr.  Putnam,  the  village  bank 
was  safely  carried  through  it,  and  to  the  most  perfect 
satisfaction  of  the  stockholders."  And,  notwith- 
standing great  personal  losses,  the  business  of  his 
own  manufacturing  establishment  was  conducted 
with  like  wisdom  and  success. 

In  1842,  with  the  view  of  extending  still  more  his 
operations,  he  built  in  the  village  of  the  Plains,  at  a 
distance  of  about  a  mile  south  from  his  home,  a 
dwelling-house,  and  a  much  larger  factory  than  his 
last  one,  on  land  he  had  just  purchased  of  Mr.  Jonas 
Warren.  Thither  he  moved  his  family  in  the  follow- 
ing January,  and  soon  took  into  business  with  him 
as  a  partner,  his  son,  Elias  E.,  giving  to  the  firm 
the  name  of  "  Elias  Putnam  &  Co.'' 

It  was  in  the  summer  of  1843  that  he  united  with 
others  to  promote  the  plan  of  purchasing  and  laying 
out  the  beautiful  grounds  of  the  Walnut  Grove 
Cemetery  as  a  new  and  fitting  place  for  the  burial 
of  the  dead.  In  pursuance  of  the  object,  a  suitable 
organization  was  formed  at  successive  meetings  of 
citizens,  and  on  the  18th  of  October,  the  first  regular 
ofiicers  of  the  corporation  were  chosen,  Mr.  Putnam 
being  elected  president.  The  consecration  services 
took  place  June  23,  1844. 

He  was  a  warm  friend  of  the  cause  of  education. 
While  in  the  Legislature  he  had  made  the  acquain- 
tance of  Horace  Mann,  then  and  for  a  long  time  a 
member  from  Dedham,  and  was  deeply  interested  in 
the  better  system  of  common  schools  which  the  future 
renowned  philanthropist  had  already  there  advocated 
and  urged.  He  became  a  diligent  reader  of  his 
writings  upon  the  subject,  and  especially  of  his  long- 
continued  and  most  useful  Common  School  Journal. 
Some  trace  of  this  influence  may  perhaps  be  seen  in 
the  part  which  he  took  in  causing  the  large  amount 
of  surplus  revenue  that  was  apportioned  to  Danvers 
in  1838,  to  be  set  apart  as  a  permanent  fund  for  the 
benefit  of  her  schools.  The  proposition  encountered 
much  opposition,  but  it  was  finally  carried  a  few 
years  later,  and  John  W.  Proctor,  Esq.,  in  his  Cen- 
tennial address  of  1852,  says, — "  Considering  the 
many  jealousies  brought  to  bear  on  this  topic,  the 
act  whereby  the  investment  was  made  will  ever  re- 
main most  creditable  to  the  town.  No  man  did 
more  to  bring  this  about  than  the  late  Elias  Put- 
nam who,  in  this  as  in  all  his  other  public  services, 
showed  himself  a  vigilant  friend  of  Danvers."  If, 
in  the  same  connection,  Mr.  Proctor,  long  after  Mr. 
Putnam's  death,  allowed  himself  to  indulge  so  pub- 
licly in  a  less  just  and  generous  word,  those  who  were 
then  conversant  with  affairs,  were  not  slow  or 
mistaken  in  referring  it  to  the  old  frequent  contro- 
versies between  the  northern  and  southern  sections 
of  the  town,  in  which  these  two  men  not  seldom 
35 


stoutly  and  uncompromisingly  antagonized  each 
other,  and  in  which  the  able  and  distinguished  law- 
yer, as  he  could  but  remember,  was  not  always  suc- 
cessful, even  as  he  was  not  always  in  the  right. 

Mr.  Putnam  was  also  among  the  very  first  to  de- 
vise and  agitate  the  project  of  a  railroad  that  should 
connect  Danvers  and  other  towns  north  of  it  with 
the  seaboard  and  more  populous  and  'commercial 
places  at  the  south.  One  of  his  sons-in-law  recalls 
a  ride  which  he  was  early  invited  to  take  with  him 
through  Middleton  to  Andover,  and  the  pleased  in- 
terest with  which  the  latter  sought  out  and  discovered 
a  feasible  route  for  the  proposed  line.  Along  that 
way  the  Essex  Railroad,  extending  from  Salem  to 
Lawrence,  was  constructed  at  length,  but  compara- 
tively few  to-day  are  aware  what  a  protracted  and 
determined  struggle  it  cost  to  give  it  that  direction, 
and  thus  to  ensure  to  Danvers  the  increased  facilities 
and  advantages  for  transportation  and  inter-commu- 
nication which  she  has  consequently  so  long  en- 
joyed. The  road  was  chartered  in  1846,  though 
not  opened  until  1848,  and  Mr.  Putnam  was  one  of 
the  several  persons  in  whose  names  the  grant  of  in- 
corporation was  vested,  and  subsequently,  at  the 
organization  of  the  Board,  was  made  one  of  the  direc- 
tors, though  he  was  not  to  live  to  see  fully  com- 
pleted the  enterprise  which  had  commanded  so  much 
of  his  interest  and  energy,  and  which  he  had  done  so 
much  to  put  into  the  way  of  success. 

Among  the  numerous  offices  which  he  held  at  one 
time  or  another,  was  that  of  county  commissioner, 
and  on  various  occasions  he  was  appointed  a  delegate 
to  county.  State  and  National  political  conventions.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Whig  party,  and  few  felt  more 
keenly  disappointed  than  himself  at  the  defeat  of 
Henry  Clay  in  1844.  As  a  personal  friend,  he  had 
often  taken  counsel  and  been  much  associated  in 
these  relations,  with  such  men  as  Daniel  P.  King, 
Eufus  Choate,  Leverett  Salstonstall,  Stephen  C.  Phil- 
lips and  others  of  like  repute  in  Danvers,  Salem  and 
vicinity,  sharing  fully  their  Whig  principles  and 
sympathies,  and  working  with  them  to  supplant  the 
Democracy.  He  had  a  deep  and  abiding  interest  in 
political  and  national  affiiirs,  and  kept  himself  well 
informed  in  regard  to  what  was  going  on  at  Wash- 
ington, as  well  as  to  matters  of  legislation  nearer 
home.  He  had  a  natural  and  instinctive  abhorrence 
of  the  system  of  slavery,  and  greatly  desired  to  see 
it  brought  to  an  end,  but  he  was  opposed  to  all  rash 
and  violent  measures  to  compass  the  result,  and  was 
persuaded  that  the  best  good  of  the  country  and  the 
higher  interests  of  freedom  itself,  would  most  surely 
be  realized  through  the  triumph  and  continued 
supremacy  of  the  party  with  which  he  was  connected 
and  whose  illustrious  leaders  and  statesmen  he  sin- 
cerely trusted  and  honored.  He  was  fond  of  argument, 
had  debated  similar  questions  long  before  in  the  old 
Danvers  Lyceum,  and  still  liked  to  discuss  subjects 
of  this  kind  with  his  friends  and  neighbors,  and  such 


546 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


was  the  intelligence  and  candor  of  the  man  that  they 
were  equally  ready  and  glad  to  exchange  views  with 
him,  however  much  they  might  differ  with  him  in 
opinion.  Whatever  his  prepossessions,  he  was  a  lover 
of  the  truth,  had  an  inquiring  mind,  aimed  to  get  at 
the  reasons  of  things,  and  was  most  conscientious 
and  deliberate  in  arriving  at  his  convictions.  We 
quote  again  from  Mr.  Silvester,—"  He  had  supreme 
control  of  himself  under  all  circumstances,  and  was 
a  deep  thinker  and  reasoner.  Every  question,  or  new 
movement,  presented  to  him  he  traced  out  in  all  its 
bearings  to  the  end,  after  which  he  was  ready  to  ex- 
press his  feelings  on  the  matter,  and  when  you  got 
his  opinion  on  any  subject,  you  could  rely  on  it  as 
his  best  candid  judgment  and  most  likely  to  be  cor- 
rect." Nor  is  it  diificult  to  say  where  he  would 
have  stood  had  he  lived  somewhat  longer,  only  to  see 
his  old  party  utterly  recreant  at  last  to  its  better 
principles  and  high  trusts,  and  men  taking  sides 
anew  for  the  momentous  conflict  at  hand. 

Mr,   Putnam  was,   morever,  a  person   of  rare   in- 
ventive  skill.      As  he  was  one   of   the   early  shoe- 
manufacturers  of  the  town,  so  he  was  one  of  the  very 
first  in  the  country  to  invent  machines  to  facilitate 
the  various  processes  of  the  art,  and  to  economize,  in 
connection  therewith,  labor,  time  and  material.     It  is 
a  curious  circumstance  that  when,  in  1833,  his  neigh- 
bor, Mr.  Samuel  Preston  who,  like  Mr.  Silvester,  was 
engaged   in   the  same  business,  had  invented  a  ma- 
chine for  pegging  shoes  and  had  got  out  a  patent  for 
it,  Mr.  Putnam  had  at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same 
quiet  or  secret  way,  been  studying  and  toiling  to  ac- 
complish a  like  result,  and  had  actually  constructed 
a  machine  of  his  own  that  did  the  work.     In  a  letter 
which  he  addressed  to  a  friend,  and  a  copy  of  which, 
in  his  own  handwriting,  lies  before  us,  he  manifests  a 
desire  to  know  more  fully  the  principle  of  Mr.  Preston's 
invention,  having  received  an  intimation  that  it  was 
essentially  the  same  as  that  of  his  own,  yet  suspect- 
ing his  own   might  have   certain    merits  which   the 
other  had  not.    Doubtless  the  discovered  resemblance 
was  such  as  to  discourage  him  from  applying  for  a 
patent  in  his  own  case,  since,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
two   machines   worked  about   equally   well,  though 
poorly  at  best.     But  neither  of  these  gentlemen  fol- 
lowed up  his  advantage  so  as  to  make  his  achieve- 
ment practically  useful  to  himself  or  others.     It  was 
reserved  to  men  of  a  later  time  to  bring  to  wonderful 
perfection  what  they  had  created  as  only  humble  be- 
ginnings.    Mr.  Putnam  turned  his  attention  to  other 
contrivances,  and  a  few  years  later  obtained  a  patent 
for  a  machine  which  he  had  invented  for  splitting 
leather,  and  which  was  found  to  be  of  so  much  bene- 
fit to  the  manufacturers,  that  it  commanded  a  brisk 
sale  amongst  them,  far  and  near.     Two  others,  of  like 
utility,  were    soon  afterward  invented  and  patented, 
both   ingenious,  yet  simple  in   plan.     The  inventor 
had  connected  with  his  shop  a  private  apartment  to 
which  few  were  admitted,  and   in  which,   amidst  a 


promiscuous  array  of  drawings,  mouldings,  castings 
and  patterns  of  great  variety,  he  beguiled  in  such 
studies  or  pursuits  as  these  whatever  hours  he  could 
snatch  from  his  busy  and  stirring  life  in  the  world 
without.  In  such,  as  in  so  many  other  ways,  he  ad- 
vanced the  chief  business  of  the  town  and  wrought 
for  the  general  good. 

It  has  always  and  justly  been  said  of  him  by  those 
who  knew  him  that  he  was  one  of  the  most  public- 
spirited  of  men,  and  he  was  not  less  disinterested  and 
benevolent  in  motive  and  feeling  than  he  was  honest 
and  upright  in  thought,  word  and  deed.  His  worldly 
possessions  might  have  been  abundant,  indeed,  had 
he  not  given  himself  so  constantly  and  freely  to  the 
service  of  others.  He  was  the  helper  and  not  the 
hinderer  of  men  around  him,  and  many  were  those, 
in  Danvers  and  elsewhere,  to  whom  he  gave  a  good 
start  in  life,  or  whom  he  assisted  in  their  worthy 
struggles  by  generous  advances  of  money,  or  by  other 
not  less  valuable  forms  of  encouragement  and  aid. 
He  was  a  prodigious  worker  himself,  and  he  had  a 
decided  liking  for  men  who  had  in  them  the  very 
spirit  of  work,  who  were  industrious  and  virtuous, 
and  showed  signs  of  thriftiness  and  prudent  living, 
and  it  was  a  genuine  pleasure  to  him  to  extend  to 
them  his  sympathy  and  support  whenever  they 
chanced  to  get  into  a  hard  place  and  needed  a  friendly 
hand.  In  other  words,  he  was  ever  quick  to  help 
those  who  tried  to  help  themselves,  and  also  those 
who  were  helpless,  indeed,  yet  were  really  deserving. 
He  had  small  patience  with  the  lazy  and  shiftless 
ones,  even  as  the  vain,  the  double-minded  and  the 
false-hearted  found  him  an  uncongenial  presence.  It 
was  pleasant  to  see  what  a  wide  reputation  he  had 
in  Essex  County  for  wisdom,  goodness  and  rectitude, 
and  in  what  varied  and  numerous  ways  the  feeling  of 
absolute  trust,  on  the  part  of  families  or  private  in- 
dividuals in  the  region  round  about,  was  wont  to 
manifest  itself.  He  was  constantly  called  upon  to 
arbitrate  between  contentious  parties,  to  compose 
difficulties,  to  give  advice,  to  settle  estates,  to  read- 
just boundary  lines  and  to  be  himself  a  sort  of  sav- 
ings-bank for  widows  and  orphans  and  others  at  a 
time  when  no  legally  incorporated  institution  of  the 
kind  existed  in  the  town.  Such  depositors  felt  that 
their  little  all,  principal  and  interest  both,  was  safe 
for  them  beyond  all  question  in  the  hands  of  "Squire 
Lias,"  as  he  was  popularly  called,  and  so  it  was.  It  was 
often  at  no  little  inconvenience  and  sacrifice  that  he  ren- 
dered these  different  kinds  of  service  to  strangers  and 
acquaintance  alike,  but  he  never  declined  the  request 
if  it  was  in  h's  power  to  fulfil  it,  and  so  to  di-charge 
an  act  of  kindness.  We  can  hardly  refrain  from 
quoting  once  more  from  the  simple  and  heartfelt 
tribute  of  Mr.  Silvester, — "  His  personal  character," 
he  says,  "  was  the  noblest."  He  was  frank  and  gen- 
erous, sincere  in  all  he  said  and  did,  scorned  a  trick 
or  an  unworthy  act,  and  was  incapable  of  either, 
and  he  bore  about  with  him  wherever  he  went  that 


^'; 


^^ 


€  ^ 


/^^^. 


DANVERS. 


547 


deportment  and  dignity  which  secured  for  him  the 
perfect  confidence  of  every  man  with  whom  he  came 
in  contact.  He  was  one  of  those  who  believe  that 
there  is  a  pleasure  beyond  that  of  benefiting  one's 
self — the  pleasure  of  doing  good  to  others,  and  this 
he  practiced.  Selfishness  was  the  last  trait  which 
the  spirit  of  truth  and  goodness  could  have  imputed 
to  him." 

In  person  he  was  tall,  large  and  well  proportioned 
of  stature,  was  of  reddish  brown  hair  and  fair  florid 
complexion,  with  full  blue  expressive  eyes,  and  was 
of  great  physical  strength  and  of  remarkably  good 
health  through  all  his  life  until  his  last,  lingering  and 
fatal  sickness.  He  was  generally  of  grave  aspect, 
yet  was  not  without  a  native  element  of  humor  and 
not  seldom  indulged  in  more  hearty  sportive  moods, 
was  marked  by  a  certain  puritan  simplicity  of  man- 
ner, and  was  plain  in  his  dress  and  frugal  in  his 
habits.  He  was  a  member  of  one  of  the  earliest 
temperance  societies  in  Essex  County,  and  was  a  total 
abstinence  man  all  his  life,  even  at  a  time  when  it 
was  well  nigh  a  universal  custom  to  make  use,  in 
some  form  or  another,  of  spirituous  liquors.  He  was 
an  early  riser,  and  was  early  to  bed,  filling  the  waking 
hours  with  incessant  work,  and  while  he  was  so  faith- 
ful to  all  the  many  interests  which  we  have  enumer- 
ated .he  had  a  supreme  aad  loving  care  of  home  and 
kindred. 

After  months  of  severe  suffering,  occasioned  by  a 
wrench  or  a  strain  of  the  side,  which  finally  proved 
the  cause  of  his  death,  he  passed  peacefully  away, 
July  8,  1847,  at  his  village  home  and  in  the  pres- 
ence of  his  family  and  other  loving  friends.  The 
trustees,  or  directors,  and  officers,  of  the  various  in- 
stitutions with  which  he  had  been  prominently  con- 
nected, such  as  the  village  bank,  the  Essex  Railroad 
Company  and  the  Walnut  Grove  Cemetery  corpora- 
tion at  once  met,  passed  resolutions  expressive  of 
their  respect  for  the  memory  of  their  deceased  asso- 
ciate, and  of  their  deep  sense  of  the  great  worth  of 
his  character  and  services,  and  of  their  own  private 
as  well  as  of  the  iiublic  loss,  and  voted  to  attend, 
each  board  as  a  body,  his  funeral  obsequies.  The  local 
and  other  papers  contained  just  tributes  in  his  honor, 
voicing  the  general  sorrow  of  the  hour  and  the  senti- 
ments of  high  esteem  and  gratefiil  regard  entertained 
towards  him  by  all  who  had  known  him.  We  copy  from 
one  or  two  of  these  journals  the  following  extracts. 
Said  the  Salem  Gazette,  of  July  12,  1847, -"It  is  with 
sincere  regret  that  we  are  called  upon  to  chronicle  the 
decease  of  the  Hon.  Elias  Putnam,  of  North  Danvers, 
a  gentleman  of  great  worth,  and  a  highly  influential 
and  useful  member  of  the  community  where  he  dwelt. 
Mr.  Putnam  was  much  respected  wherever  he  was 
known.  Enterprising,  sagacious,  of  comprehensive 
views  and  upright  action  he  was  foremost  in  all 
schemes  for  the  promotion  of  the  general  good  with- 
in the  sphere  where  his  influence  could  be  felt, 
and  filled  many  offices  of  public  trust,  from  a  State 


Senator  to  those  more  immediately  local,  with  un- 
swerving fidelity  and  acknowledged  usefulness.  His 
death  cannot  but  be  regarded  as  a  public  loss  by  his 
own  community,  and  he  will  be  sincerely  mourned  by 
a  very  large  circle  of  neighbors  and  friends."  And 
the  Danvers  Courier,  of  July  10th,  said, — "  For  many 
years  he  has  been  looked  to  as  the  counsellor  and 
friend  of  all  around  him.  Ever  ready  to  lend  his  aid 
to  all  who  asked  it,  ever  cool  and  considerate  in  his 
judgment, — the  want  of  his  judicious  advice  will  be 
deeply  felt  in  the  circle  in  which  he  moved.  For 
the  last  thirty  years  he  had  been  repeatedly  called  to 
the  discharge  of  duties  of  trust  and  confidence  by 
his  fellow-citizens,  and  uniformly  met  them  to 
their  entire  satisfaction.  He  never  sought  office,  but 
never  refused  it  when  he  thought  he  could  be  useful 
in  the  fulfilment  of  its  duties.  There  are  none  among 
us  who  have  done  more  to  promote  the  prosperity  of 
the  town  than  Mr.  Putnam.  Discriminating  in  his 
judgment,  persevering  in  his  industry  and  efficient 
in  his  operations,  the  influence  of  his  example  will 
long  be  remembered  with  admiration." 

The  funeral  services  were  held  at  his  residence, 
July  10,  and  were  attended  by  a  large  assemblage  of 
people,  and  the  burial  took  place  on  the  same  day 
at  the  grounds  which  he  had  been  so  much  interested 
in  having  set  apart  and  consecrated  as  a  receptacle 
of  the  dead.  Shortly  after,  Rev.  Mr.  Hanson,  the 
pastor  of  the  Universalist  Church,  preached  an  elo- 
quent sermon  in  which  he  bore  touching  testimony  to 
the  virtues  and  usefulness  of  his  departed  friend  and 
parishioner,  and  to  the  conspicuous  exemplification 
which  his  life  and  character  had  given  of  the  value 
and  power  of  the  faith  he  had  cherished. 

Mrs.  Putnam  survived  her  husband  twenty -six 
years.  Of  their  eleven  children,  seven  are  still  living. 
Of  the  other  four,  Emily  died  in  1843,  and  Elias 
Endicott,  Israel  Alden  and  Louisa  Jane,  in  1848. 


REV.   ALFRED   P.    PUTNAM,    D.D. 

Alfred  Porter  Putnam,  the  eighth  child  of  Elias  and 
Eunice  (Ross)  Putnam,  was  born  January  10,  1827, 
in  Danvers,  Mass.,  in  the  house  in  which  also  his 
father  was  born  thirty-eight  years  before.  He  was 
the  lineal  descendant  of  the  famous  John  Putnam, 
who  immigrated  to  this  country  in  1634,  and  whose 
death,  eighteen  years  later,  simultaneous  with  the 
appearance  of  a  great  comet,  was  publicly  pro- 
claimed, by  the  clergymen  of  the  time,  as  affording 
this  "  very  signal  testimony  that  God  had  then  re- 
moved a  bright  star  and  shining  light  out  of  the 
heaven  of  his  church  here  into  celestial  glory  above."^ 
In  the  female  line  he  traces  his  pedigree  to  some  of 
the  ablest  founders  of  our  New  England  civilization, 
such  as  Governor  John  Endicott,  Francis  Peabody 
and  William  Hawthorne,  men  who  have  made  their 

'See  Morton's  "  Memorial,"  pp.  251,  252. 


548 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


impress  on  every  succeeding  generation  in  Essex 
County  to  the  present  day.  Educated  in  the  common 
schools  of  his  native  town,  he  first  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  mercantile  pursuits.  After  a  short  appren- 
ticeship in  the  village  bank  of  which  his  father  was 
president,  and,  subsequently,  a  year's  study  at  the 
Literary  Institute  at  Pembroke,  N.  H.  he  entered,  as 
book-keeper,  a  dry  goods  establishment  in  Boston, 
where  he  at  once  discovered  an  uncommon  aptitude 
for  a  business  career.  The  intellectual  and  reforma- 
tory movements  of  the  time,  however,  soon  engrossed 
his  attention  ;  and  seeking  a  wider  field  and  a  higher 
aim  for  his  life  work,  he  determined  to  fit  himself  for 
college,  and  thus  acquire  a  mental  equipment  with 
which,  in  the  mighty  contests  then  impending,  he 
might  do  some  service  in  behalf  of  his  fellow-men. 

Accordingly,  in  1848,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  he 
began  his  preparatory  studies  at  an  academy  in  Ver- 
mont, and  the  next  year  entered  Dartmouth  College. 
Attracted  by  the  new  elective  system  under  President 
Wayland  at  Brown  University,  Providence,  he  trans- 
ferred his  membership  to  that  institution  in  1850, 
where  he  was  graduated  with  high  honors  in  1852, 
delivering,  at  the  spring  exhibition,  the  valedictory 
oration  of  his  class  on  "  Religion  and  Art."  Thus, 
in  the  brief  period  of  four  years  after  leaving  his  desk 
in  Boston,  he  had  won  his  A.  B. 

During  the  following  autumn,  as  in  the  preceding 
winters,  he  was  engaged  in  teaching,  and  then  he  en- 
tered the  Divinity  School  at  Cambridge,  under  Drs. 
Noyes  and  Francis.  Ajjprobated  in  due  time  to 
preach  by  the  Boston  Association  of  Unitarian  Min- 
isters, he  delivered  his  first  sermon  in  the  Unitarian 
Church  at  Sterling,  Mass.,  December  17,  1854.  The 
next  year,  and  while  yet  a  student  he  received  unani- 
mous calls  to  settle  at  Sterling,  Bridgewater,  Water- 
town  and  Roxbury,  the  latter  of  which  he  accepted. 
He  was  graduated  at  the  Divinity  School  July  17, 
1855,  and  was  ordained  to  the  ministry  and  installed 
as  pastor  of  the  Mount  Pleasant  Congregational 
(Unitarian)  Church,  Roxbury,  December  19th,  Rev. 
Dr.  George  W.  Briggs,  of  Salem,  preaching  the  ser- 
mon. 

His  ministrations  at  Roxbury  continued,  to  the 
great  acceptance  of  his  people,  nearly  nine  years,  in- 
terrupted only  by  a  visit  to  Europe,  Egypt  and  the 
Holy  Land  in  1862-63.  Perhaps  the  most  notable 
incident,  connected  with  his  travels  abroad,  was  the 
speech  made  by  him  at  the  dinner  of  Americans  in 
London,  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  1862.  It  was  at  one 
of  the  darkest  periods  of  the  Civil  War.  Banks' 
campaign  in  the  valley  of  the  Shenandoah  had  just 
culminated  in  disaster,  and  the  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
the  focus  of  every  loyal  heart,  seemed  to  hang  on  the 
perilous  edge  of  annihilation,  between  the  Chicka- 
hominy  and  the  James.  Under  these  disheartening 
circumstances  and  in  the  midst  of  a  people  flaming 
with  prejudices,  the  assemblage  of  Americans  to  cel- 
ebrate the  anniversary  of  their  national  independence 


was  an  event  that  gained  wide  publicity  on  both  sides 
of  the  Atlantic.  Called  upon  to  respond  to  the  toast, 
"  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States,"  Dr.  Put- 
nam rose  to  the  full  height  of  the  occasion.  It  was  a 
speech  long  to  be  remembered  by  those  who  heard  it. 
Of  commanding  form  and  with  a  voice  of  extraordi- 
nary richness  and  power,  he  roused  his  audience  to 
the  highest  pitch  of  enthusiasm.  The  following  ex- 
tract (which  we  copy  from  a  London  journal),  refer- 
ring to  our  flag,  may  aflTord  some  conception  of  the 
speech  and  the  effect  it  produced  at  that  critical  junc- 
ture of  our  affairs : 

"  And  then,  Bir,  that  old  flag  of  the  Union  which  so  fittingly  symbol- 
izes what  the  constitution  makes  a  reality — that,  too,  shall  go  down  to 
those  who  are  to  come  after  us,  more  precious  far  than  ever  it  has  been 
before — more  signiflcantin  its  moaning — glowing  with  brighter  radiance 
—  not  a  single  star  erased  from  its  field  of  blue — a  thing  of  beauty  and  a 
joy  forever.  Baptized  anew  into  ten  thousand  deaths,  that  azure  field 
takes  on  a  deeper  blue  for  the  faithfulness  unto  the  end  of  all  who  have 
fallen  martyrs  to  the  righteous  cause — those  crimson  stains  wear  an  in- 
tenser  red  for  the  blood  that  has  been  shed  so  freely  in  our  behalf — and 
every  line  and  star  of  light  upon  that  banner  of  our  love  is  whiter  still 
for  the  purity  of  the  souls  that  have  mounted  from  the  battle  fields  of 
the  Union  up  to  God.  Oh  !  within  these  few  past  months,  how  many 
brave  men  has  that  national  emblem  made  braver  !  How  many  a  strug- 
gling host  it  has  inspired  and  led  on  to  victory  I  How  many  a  noble 
fellow  has  been  called  upon  to  sleep  his  last  sleep,  enwrapped  in  its  sa- 
cred folds  !  How  many  of  our  Southern  brethren  have  wept  like  chil- 
dren as  they  have  caught  once  more  a  glimpse  of  its  stars  and  stripes  ! 
And  what  a  promise  it  seems  to  give  us  of  the  hour  when  the  groat  de- 
liverance shall  come  to  us  all,  freeing  us  not  only  from  the  hand  that 
has  been  lifted  up  against  our  country,  but  also  from  that  evil  and 
scourge  of  our  land  which  is  the  source  of  all  our  woe.  Yes,  sir,  it  is 
the  flag  of  our  pride  and  our  affections,  growing  richer  in  associations 
and  more  terrible  in  might  with  every  passing  day.  As  new  Stars  shall 
beadded  to  its  already  splendid  constellation,  it  shall  continue  its  mis- 
sion of  beneficence  and  power.  It  shall  mean  peace  and  love  forever  to 
all  who  befriend  it — defiance  and  war  to  those  only  who  insult  it." 

Returning  home  in  1863,  Dr.  Putnam  delivered  be- 
fore various  Lyceums  lectures  on  "  The  Nile,"  the 
"  World's  Indebtedness  to  Egypt,"  and  other  topics 
suggested  by  his  tour  abroad,  all  of  which  added  to 
his  reputation  and  enlarged  the  sphere  of  his  useful- 
ness. 

From  time  to  time,  while  in  Roxbury,  urgent  calls 
came  to  him  to  settle  elsewhere, — from  Salem,  Boston 
and  Chicago  churches, — all  of  which,  however,  were 
declined.  In  the  spring  of  1864  the  First  Unitarian 
Church  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  presented  a  strong  claim 
for  his  services.  This  was  everywhere  recognized  as 
one  of  the  most  important  posts  in  the  denomination. 
To  hold  its  ground  in  the  City  of  Churches,  it  needed 
an  exceptionally  able  and  vigorous  champion  of  the 
faith  it  professed.  Considerations  of  duty,  strongly 
urged  upon  him  by  leading  men  of  the  denomination, 
finally  induced  Dr.  Putnam  to  sunder  the  peculiarly 
tender  and  affectionate  ties  that  bound  him  to  the 
hearts  of  his  people  in  Roxbury.  He  accepted  the 
call,  and  on  the  28th  of  September  following  he  was 
installed  as  pastor.  Rev.  E.  S.  Gannett,  D.D.,  of  Bos- 
ton, preaching  the  sermon. 

In  the  long  and  eventful  pastorate  that  ensued.  Dr. 
Putnam  made  his  pulpit  a  centre  of  wide  influence  in 
the  city. 


DANVERS. 


549 


His  own  society  testified  their  appreciation  of  his 
pastoral  work  by  the  erection,  in  1866,  of  a  beautitul 
chapel  for  the  use  of  its  Sunday-school,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  resiwnded  generously  to  his  appeals  for 
the  religious  instruction  of  the  children  of  the  poor, 
so  many  of  whom  he  had  observed  spending  the  sa- 
cred hours  idly  in  the  streets  and  alley-ways  of  the 
crowded  city. 

For  this  class,  accordingly,  a  Sunday-school  was 
immediately  opened  in  a  room  over  the  Wall  Street 
Ferry-house,  and  after  a  time  passed  under  the  su- 
perintendency  of  Mr.  A.  T.  White  an  active  member 
and  efficient  co-worker  in  Dr.  Putnam's  Church. 
Six  children  only  attended  the  first  session,  but  by 
the  persistent  and  indefatigable  exertions  of  the 
founder  and  his  willing  assistants,  the  numbers  rap- 
idly increased,  until  now  [1887],  it  is  a  large  and 
flourishing  institution,  with  a  fine,  commodious  chap- 
el, erected  for  its  use,  a  permanently  settled  mission- 
ary to  carry  on  its  beneficent  work,  and  a  constituen- 
cy of  about  a  hundred  families  to  share  its  blessings 
and  send  down  the  stream  of  its  influence,  it  is  to  be 
hoped,  to  many  succeeding  generations. 

Another  philanthropic  enterprise,  to  which  Dr. 
Putnam  directed  his  attention  at  this  time,  was  the 
founding  of  the  Union  for  Christian  work,  since  be- 
come one  of  the  most  important  and  influential  char- 
ities of  Brooklyn.  The  first  conferences  of  the  pro- 
jectors were  held  in  his  study.  At  a  subsequent 
meeting,  already  large  and  enthusiastic,  he  presented 
the  report,  as  chairman  of  the  committee  on  consti- 
tution and  by-laws,  which  was  adopted,  and,  by  re- 
quest, delivered  an  address  on  the  love,  pursuit  and 
practice  of  truth,  striking  the  key-note  of  the  organi- 
zation and  enlisting  still  broader  sympathy  in  its  be- 
half. From  these  beginnings,  the  Union  has  grown 
to  be  a  recognized  power  in  the  community.  Nobly 
endowed  and  established  in  a  beautiful  edifice  of  its 
own,  with  its  library,  reading  and  lecture  rooms,  its 
labor  bureau  and  schools  of  industrial  art,  it  stands 
to-day  a  worthy  monument  to  those  who,  in  the  prov- 
idence of  God,  laid  its  foundations  deep  in  human 
brotherhood  and  love. 

In  1867  Dr.  Putnam  again  signalized  his  pastorate 
by  the  establishment  of  the  Third  Unitarian  Church, 
in  the  suburbs  of  the  city.  The  rapid  growth  of 
Brooklyn  toward  the  East,  which  he  foresaw,  has 
abundantly  justified  the  wisdom  of  the  movement, 
though,  at  the  time  it  was  undertaken,  there  were  not 
wanting  among  well-tried  friends  some  misgivings  of 
the  result.  Sunday  services  were  opened  at  first  in  a 
small  hall  over  a  fish-market,  and  conducted  there 
regularly,  with  ever  deepening  interest,  for  about  a 
year,  when  Dr.  Putnam,  appealing  to  his  people,  se- 
cured the  sum  of  ten  thousand  dollars  for  a  house  of 
worship.  The  building  was  dedicated  December  9, 
1868,  Dr.  Putnam  preaching  a  powerful  sermon  on 
the  "  Freedom  and  Largeness  of  the  Christian  Faith." 
Latterly  the  society  has  again  out-grown  its  accom- 


modations, and  has  purchased  and  fitted  up  anew 
the  ample  and  attractive  structure  it  now  occupies. 
Professor  Foster,  in  his  published  sketch  of  the  new 
church,  thus  testifies  to  its  paternity  :  "  Above  all 
other  human  sympathy  and  aid,  does  it  cherish  the 
friendship  and  services  of  Rev.  Alfred  P.  Putnam. 
It  is  simply  just  to  affirm  that  the  Third  Unitarian 
Society  of  Brooklyn  is  the  offspring  of  his  hope  and 
zeal." 

During  his  ministry  in  Brooklyn  Dr.  Putnam  de- 
livered, from  time  to  time,  to  his  people  courses  of 
lectures  on  a  variety  of  important  subjects,  such  as 
the  Great  Religions  of  the  World,  the  History  of  the 
Bible,  the  History  of  Sacred  Song,  the  Doctrines  ot 
Liberal  Christianity,  the  History  of  Unitarianism,  the 
History  of  Universalism,  the  Religious  Aspects  of 
Europe,  and  on  Egypt,  Sinai  and  Palestine. 

Two  of  these  courses,  on  the  Great  Religions  and 
the  History  of  Sacred  Song,  were  subsequently  re- 
peated to  the  students  of  the  Meadville  (Pa.)  Theo- 
logical School.  Out  of  the  latter  series  grew  Dr. 
Putnam's  ''Singers  and  Songs  of  the  Liberal  Faith," 
a  work  which  required  the  finest  taste  and  most  ex- 
tensive research,  and  which  gives  biographical 
sketches  of  nearly  one  hundred  Unitarian  hymn- 
writers,  with  selections  from  each,  and  copious  illus- 
trative notes.  This  work  was  published  in  1874,  and 
received  with  high  encomiums  by  the  press,  religious 
and  secular,  and  by  critics  and  reviewers  of  every 
sect.  The  late  Dr.  Ezra  Abbott  said  of  it :  "  It  seems 
to  me  in  every  respect  admirably  edited.  I  find  un- 
expected richness  in  the  book  every  time  I  open  it." 
Indeed,  that  a  work  like  this,  avowedly  denomina- 
tional in  its  scope,  should  yet,  by  the  sweetness  of  its 
tone  and  the  catholicity  of  its  spirit,  win  universal 
praise,  is  almost  without  a  parallel  in  our  litera- 
ture. 

The  terrible  conflagration  at  the  Brooklyn  Theatre 
December  5,  1876,  was  an  event  that  called  forth  the 
profoundest  sympathies  of  every  class  in  the  commu- 
nity. In  obedience  to  a  common  impulse,  the  citi- 
zens at  large  promptly  organized  a  Relief  Association 
for  the  benefit  of  the  surviving  sufferers  and  the  fam- 
ilies of  the  deceased.  From  this  was  formed  an  ex- 
ecutive committee,  and  Dr.  Putnam,  who  had  deliv- 
ered the  address  at  the  burial,  in  one  common  grave, 
at  Greenwood  Cemetery,  of  the  unrecognized  dead, 
was  appointed  a  member  to  represent  the  churches 
and  charities  of  the  city.  His  capacity  for  hard 
work,  combined  with  a  practical  knowledge  of  affairs, 
brought  him  at  once  to  the  front.  The  special  dis- 
bursement of  the  fund  among  the  beneficiaries  for 
whom  it  was  intended  largely  devolved  upon  him. 
The  burden  was  cheerfully  and  faithfully  borne.  It 
may  afford  some  conception  of  the  extent  of  his  labors 
in  this  cause,  if  it  be  stated  that  the  sums  disbursed, 
mostly  in  small  checks  about  once  a  week  and  cover- 
ing a  period  of  two  years,  amounted  to  nearly  fifty 
thousand  dollars,  and  that  the  families  receiving  aid. 


550 


HISTOUY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


all  of  whom  required  personal  visitation,  numbered 
one  hundred  and  eighty-eight.  At  the  close  of  the 
trust,  Dr.  Putnam  was  requested  by  his  associates  to 
draw  up  the  final  report.  This  he  did  ;  and  its  pub- 
lication in  the  daily  papers  and  in  jjamphlet  form 
was  followed  by  a  popular  verdict  of  approval  as 
spontaneous  and  hearty  as  it  was  well-deserved. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  events  of  his  life  in 
Brooklyn  was  the  celebration  of  the  centennial  anni- 
versary of  Dr.  Channing's  birth,  April  7,  1880.  It 
may  well  be  deemed  a  landmark  in  the  history  of  the 
Christian  Church  in  America.  Representatives  of 
every  denomination  took  part  in  its  impressive  cere- 
monies. To  Dr.  Putnam,  who  conceived,  and,  as 
chairman  of  the  committee,  carried  out  the  novel  ar- 
rangements for  the  occasion,  it  was  truly  a  labor  of 
love,  for  Channing's  spirit  and  teachings  were  greatly 
instrumental  in  leading  him  into  the  ministry  and 
are  still  very  dear  to  his  heart. 

A  memorial  service  in  the  evening,  at  the  Academy 
of  Music,  presided  over  by  Mr.  A.  A.  Low,  brought 
the  exercises  to  a  fitting  close.  It  was  a  brilliant  as- 
semblage. Five  thousand  people,  including  men 
eminent  in  every  walk  of  life,  filled  the  auditorium. 
Henry  Ward  Beecher,  George  William  Curtis,  Rufus 
Ellis,  Robert  Collyer  and  others  made  addresses,  in 
which  the  dawn  of  a  new  and  better  era  of  Christian 
fellowship  was  confidently  proclaimed.  Dr.  Putnam 
published  the  unique  proceedings  in  a  volume,  entitled 
''  The  Brooklyn  Channing  Celebration,''  containing 
the  addresses  and  letters  of  sympathy  from  distin- 
guished theologians  and  publicists  in  all  parts  of  the 
world. 

He  has  also  published  during  his  ministry  a  con- 
siderable number  of  his  sermons  in  pamphlet  form, 
such  as  those  on  the  "  Death  of  Rev.  George  Brad- 
ford," 1859;  the  "Life  to  Come,"  delivered  in  1865 
at  the  Cooper  Institute  in  New  York  and  afterwards 
printed  as  a  tract  by  the  American  Unitarian  Asso- 
ciation ;  "Edward  Everett,"  1865;  the  "Freedom 
and  Largeness  of  the  Christian  Faith,"  1869;  "Uni- 
tarianism  in  Brooklyn,"  a  historical  address,  preached 
on  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  dedication  of 
the  First  Church  edifice,  1869 ;  the  "  Unitarian  De- 
nomination, Past  and  Present,"  1870  ;  "  Broken  Pil- 
lars," 1873 ;  "  Christianity,  the  Law  of  the  Land," 
1876  ;  a  "  Tribute  to  the  Memory  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Frothingham,"  1877;  "William  Lloyd  Garrison," 
1879;  "The  Whole  Family  of  God,"  1884.  Also 
biographical  memorials  of  Mrs.  Josiah  O.  Low  and 
Mr.  Ethelbert  M.  Low,  1884  ;  and  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Ephraim  Buttrick,  1885. 

For  many  years,  and  until  he  removed  from  Brook- 
lyn, Dr.  Putnam  was  a  director  of  the  Long  Island 
Historical  Society,  and  much  of  the  time  chairman 
of  its  executive  committee,  writing  its  annual  reports 
for  publication  during  the  period  of  1876-81,  and 
giving  to  its  interests,  at  all  times  and  in  full  measure, 
a  firm  and  loving  support.     He  was  also  correspond- 


ing secretary  and  member  of  the  invitation  commit- 
tee of  the  Brooklyn  New  England  Society  from  the 
date  of  its  organization,  and  at  one  of  the  annual 
dinners  he  gave  an  account  of  a  visit  made  by  him, 
in  1883,  to  Scrooby,  the  original  seat  of  the  Pilgrims 
in  England. 

In  the  line  of  historical  investigation,  which  he 
pursued  in  intervals  of  leisure,  con  amove,  we  owe  to 
his  fruitful  pen,  strong  articles,  published  in  denom- 
inational and  other  magazines,  on  "  Hosea  Ballon," 
"  A  Visit  to  Haworth,"  "  The  Origin  of  Hymns," 
"  Helen  Maria  Williams,"  "  A  Story  of  Some  French 
Liberal  Protestants,"  and  "  Paul's  Four  Great  Epis- 
tles and  his  Visits  to  Jerusalem,"  etc.  He  also  con- 
tributed one  of  the  chapters  in  Judge  Neilson's  vol- 
ume, "  Memories  of  Rufus  Choate." 

Scores  of  extended  articles  in  the  Banvers  Mirror 
on  local  history  and  traditions,  running  through  a 
series  of- years,  attest  his  fondness  for  this  sort  of  lit- 
erary work.  Future  historians  will  find  in  them  a 
rich  thesaurus  of  materials,  historical,  biographical 
and  genealogical,  carefully  collated  for  their  use. 

In  1882,  under  the  pressure  of  his  long-continued 
and  laborious  pastorate,  Dr.  Putnam's  health  began 
to  decline.  His  robust  constitution  could  no  longer 
resist  the  strain  to  which  his  multifarious  cares  and 
engagements  subjected  it.  Promptly  and  affection- 
ately, his  church  voted  to  give  him  a  year's  leave  of 
absence,  that  he  might  revisit  foreign  shores,  to  con- 
tinue to  him  his  salary,  and  to  supply  his  pulpit.  He 
was  also  generously  supplied  with  funds  to  defray  his 
personal  expenses  abroad. 

Removing  his  family  for  the  year  to  Concord,  Mass., 
the  ancestral  home  of  his  wife,  he  sailed  for  Europe 
on  his  birthday,  January  10,  1883.  After  a  delight- 
ful wdnter  in  the  south  of  France,  where  his  restora- 
tion to  health  and  to  the  natural  elasticity  of  his 
spirits  was,  as  he  thought,  assured,  he  visited  London 
in  May,  and  was  a  welcome  guest  at  the  Unitarian 
Conferences,  then  in  session  in  the  city.  Here,  be- 
fore various  bodies,  he  delivered  several  addresses, 
one  of  which,  by  special  request,  was  on  the  Aspects 
of  Unitarianism  in  America.  Its  decidedly  conser- 
vative tone  awakened  at  once  a  profound  interest 
among  his  hearers,  and  at  its  close  drew  a  running 
fire  of  criticism,  for  and  against  the  positions  as- 
sumed, from  the  eminent  scholars  and  divines  who 
were  present.  Subsequently,  the  discussion  was  taken 
up  by  the  religious  press,  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlan- 
tic, Dr.  Putnam  publishing  trenchant  articles  in  his 
own  defence. 

He  sailed  from  Liverpool  for  home  July  4,  1883. 
With  some  misgivings,  confirmed  indeed  by  medical 
advisers,  he  immediately  returned  to  his  pulpit,  and 
re-assumed  all  the  burdens  his  versatile  talents  had 
hitherto  imposed  upon  him.  The  struggle,  however, 
was  in  vain.  His  enfeebled  constitution  soon  admon- 
ished him  that  a  longer  period  of  rest  was  impera- 
tively necessary.     Accordingly,  early  in  April,  1886, 


DANVERS. 


551 


he  resigned  his  pastoral  office,  with  regretful  sympa- 
thy on  the  part  of  the  church  he  had  so  long  and  so 
faithfully  served,  and  heartfelt  sorrow  on  his  own.  A 
testimonial  from  his  grateful  parishioners,  accompa- 
nied by  the  munificent  gift  of  fifteen  thousand  dol- 
lars, fitly  expressed  their  appreciation  of  his  high 
character,  and  the  esteem  and  affection  in  which  they 
held  him.  Resolutions  of  similar  import  were  passed 
by  the  other  organizations  with  which  he  was  offi- 
cially connected ;  and  the  papers  of  the  city  made 
warm,  eulogistic  mention  of  his  life  and  labors  in 
Brooklyn. 

The  Long  Island  Historical  Society  generously  put 
on  record  "  the  deep  sense  entertained  by  all  its  mem- 
bers of  the  value  of  the  service  which  Dr.  Putnam 
has  cheerfully  rendered  it  for  many  years,  by  his  wise 
counsels,  by  his  faithful  and  intelligent  participations 
in  its  discussions,  and  his  generous  and  efficient  as- 
sistance in  accomplishing  its  plans,"  Rev.  Dr.  Storrs, 
president,  adding  that  *'  the  highest  regard  and  es- 
teem of  all  the  members  of  the  board  will  follow  Dr. 
Putnam  to  his  future  home,  wherever  that  may  be, 
with  their  best  wishes  for  his  speedy  and  complete 
restoration  to  health,  and  for  his  continued  enjoy- 
ment and  usefulness  in  the  service  which  they  do  not 
doubt  he  will  render  elsewhere,  as  he  has  so  signally 
rendered  it  here,  to  the  cause  of  good  letters,  of  his- 
torical enquiry,  and  of  the  best  social  culture." 

The  Oldening  words  of  a  Brooklyn  Eagle  editorial 
were  as  follows:  "The  resignation  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Putnam,  of  the  First  Unitarian  Church,  will  occasion 
regret  beyond  the  boundaries  of  the  society.  He  has 
been  a  faithful  and  devoted  pastor,  and  this  implies  a 
good  deal  in  a  term  of  service  of  twenty-two  years, 
including,  as  it  does,  not  merely  the  delivery  of  ser- 
mons, but  the  personal  work  which  brings  the  minis- 
ter into  intimate  relations  with  many  people  in  the 
sharp  crisis  of  life  and  death.  Dr.  Putnam,  during 
that  period,  has  been  also  an  active  and  useful  citi- 
zen, bearing  an  interested  part  in  those  public  enter- 
prises which  in  Brooklyn  know  no  denominational 
lines.  An  unanimous  expression  of  good  will,  with 
hearty  hope  for  his  restoration  to  health  and  his 
prosperity  everywhere  and  at  all  times,  will  accompa- 
ny him  in  his  retirement." 

The  Brooklyn  Union  closed  an  article  with  this : 
"  His  name  has  been  connected  with  many  benevo- 
lent movements.  He  was  an  earnest  worker  for  the 
Union  for  Christian  Work,  the  Mission  School  and 
many  other  charitable  enterprises.  He  was  a  con- 
spicuous figure  in  helping  to  relieve  the  distress  of 
those  who  were  made  widows  and  orphans  by  the  de- 
struction by  fire  of  the  Brooklyn  Theatre.  He  also 
did  much  towards  familiarizing  people  of  all  denom- 
inations with  the  life  of  Dr.  Channingin  the  services 
which  w^ere  held  in  his  commemoration.  Apart  from 
his  ministerial  work  Dr.  Putnam  has  filled  a  large 
space  in  the  public  mind  by  his  untiring  labor  in  for- 
warding thg  great  and  growing  interests  of  the  city 


in  which,  as  pastor  and  citizen,  he  has  spent  the  best 
years  of  his  life." 

Rev.  Almon  Gunnison,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the  All 
Souls'  (Universalist)  Church,  in  Brooklyn,  wrote  to 
the  Christian  Leader,  of  Boston,  of  which  paper  he 
has  long  been  the  regular  correspondent : 

"  W^e  record  with  great  sorrow  the  reBignation  of  Bev.  Dr.  A.  P.  Put- 
nam, the  pastor  of  the  First  Unitarian  Church  in  Brooklyn.  He  has 
had  a  long  and  triumphant  pastorate  of  over  twenty  years,  and  gives  up 
a  successful  work  on  account  of  ill-health.  He  has  gone  South,  and  it 
is  expected  that  freedom  from  care  and  rest,  will  hring  complete  restora- 
tion. Dr.  Putnam  is  well-known  in  our  denomination,  as  he  is  of  Uni- 
versalist parentage,  and  has  always  been  in  thorough  sympathy  with 
our  faith  and  the  genius  of  our  church.  He  has  been  outspoken  in  his 
utterances  and  fraternal  in  his  fellowships.  A  preacher  of  large  ability, 
a  gentleman  of  noble  instincts,  he  has  been  identified  with  every  good 
work  in  the  City  of  Churches,  and  his  strong  personality  has  counted  for 
much  in  educational,  philanthropic,  reformatory  and  religious  work. 
He  has  been  the  most  helpful  of  yoke-fellows,  ready  always  for  neigh- 
borly service,  quick  in  his  sympathy  in  sickness,  swift  to  speak  the  ap- 
preciative word  and  to  do  the  kind  act.  His  resignation  will  be  re- 
gretted not  only  by  his  own  people,  but  by  all  liberal  believers,  and,  in 
fact,  by  all  of  every  faith,  who  can  appreciate  the  influence  of  a  strong, 
sweet-souled,  consecrated  Christian  worker." 

Of  the  various  biographical  sketches  of  him  which 
have  appeared  from  time  to  time,  a  ad  to  which  we 
have  been  greatly  indebted  for  our  materials  here,  we 
copy  the  following  extract  from  J.  Alexander  Pat- 
ten's "  Lives  of  the  Clergy  of  New  York  and  Brook- 
lyn," as  showing  his  cuaracteras  a  preacher  and  his 
theological  position : 

"Dr.  Putnam  preaches  with  much  effectiveness.  There  is  great  com- 
prehension in  his  thought,  and  he  is  able  to  give  expression  to  it  in  terms 
of  rare  conciseness,  and  not  le-sof  beauty.  All  that  he  says  has  this 
vigor  of  meaning  and  force  of  application,  and  much  of  it  is  delivered 
in  the  most  classic  and  glowing  picturings  of  eloquence.  In  his  argu- 
ment, he  addresses  himself  to  an  elaborate  and  practical  consideiatiou  of 
his  subject,  and  you  are  led  along  with  him,  without  tediousness,  but 
rather  allured  by  the  attractive  interweavings  of  a  warm  and  chaste 
fancy.  And  herein  is  it  that  this  gifted  preacher  excels.  Your  atten- 
tion is  instantly  riveted  by  the  smoothness  of  his  periods  and  the  ele- 
gance of  sentiment  which  usher  you  to  profound  discussion  and  lofty  im- 
agery. He  belongs  to  the  Channing  school  of  Unitariauism.  Holding 
to  his  particular  tenets  with  all  the  strength  of  his  intellect  and  his  love, 
he  stands  prominent  among  their  ablest  expounders,  and  in  a  pure,  con- 
sistent life  seeks  their  practical  illustration  before  his  fi41ow-men." 

One  of  his  sermons,  delivered  in  Roxbury  in  1861, 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war,  on  the  Flag  of  our 
Country,  has  become  widely  known,  and  is  published 
in  text-books,  as  a  model  of  fine  diction  and  im- 
passioned eloquence. 

Dr.  Putnam  received  his  degree  of  D.D.,  from  his 
alma  mater,  Brown  University,  in  1871. 

In  1877  he  was  invited  to  become  the  pastor  of  the 
Unitarian  Church  in  Quincy,  Mass.,  but  he  declined 
the  call.  While  in  Roxbury  he  was  elected  president 
of  the  Unitarian  Sunday-school  Society.  After  his 
removal  to  Brooklyn  he  was  made  vice-president  of 
the  New  York  and  Hudson  River  Unitarian  Confer- 
ence, and  was  also  elected  as  its  president,  but  the 
latter  position  he  declined.  For  a  time  he  edited  the 
Liberal  Christian,  a  Unitarian  weekly  paper,  pub- 
lished in  New  York  City.  When,  years  ago,  the 
project  was  on  foot  to  remove  the  Meadville  (Pa.) 
Theological  School  toChicago,  111.,  and  there  enlarge 


552 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


and  endow  it,  the  leading  man  of  the  denomination  who 
had  charge  of  the  enterprise  asked  Dr.  Putnam  to  be- 
come president  of  the  new  institution,  but  the  friends  at 
Meadville  could  not  be  reconciled  to  the  loss  of  the 
school,  and  the  plan  was  therefore  abandoned.  Dr. 
Putnam  was  a  member  of  the  Century  Club  in  New 
York,  and  also  of  the  similar  organization,  of  later 
origin,  in  Brooklyn,  the  Hamilton  Club,  as  well  as  of 
the  Brooklyn  Art  Associatian.  He  is  also  a  member 
of  the  New  England  Historical  and  Genealogical  So- 
ciety, and  of  the  American  Historical  Association. 

In  politics  Dr.  Putnam  was  an  ardent  Free-Soiler 
in  old  anti-slavery  days,  and  often  preached  from  the 
pulpit  and  spoke  at  political  meetings  in  behalf  of  the 
slave  and  the  cause  of  liberty.  While  a  student  in 
the  Divinity  School  in  1854,  he  was  sent,  as  a  dele- 
gate from  his  native  town,  to  the  convention  at  Wor- 
cester that  founded  the  Republican  party  and  gave  it 
its  name.  He  has  generally  acted  with  that  party 
since,  but  not  seldom  has  on  occasion  assumed  a  more 
iudeiDendent  attitude. 

In  his  pleasant  retirement  at  Concord,  whither  he 
has  again  removed  his  family,  he  is  now  rapidly  re- 
gaining his  health.  Surrounded  by  his  bonks,  and  by 
many  beautiful  works  of  art  which  are  the  memen- 
toes of  loving  friends,  or  which  have  been  gathered  by 
him  in  his  extensive  travels  at  home  and  abroad,  he 
is  devoting  his  leisure  to  favorite  literary  pursuits. 

In  person  Dr.  Putnam  is  tall  and  imposing.  His 
well-proportioned  form,  his  cultivated  bearing,  his 
classic,  intellectual  face  in  which  strength  and  be- 
nignity combine,  make  him  always  a  marked  man 
among  men. 

His  voice,  sonorous  and  flexible  in  a  high  degree, 
is  also  wonderfully  sympathetic.  It  can  touch  the 
tenderest  chords  of  feeling,  or  express  in  thunder 
tones,  as  so  often  wont  to  do,  hatred  of  wrong  and  op- 
pression. The  courage  of  his  convictions  is  invinci- 
ble. No  man  has  hurled  more  scathing  anathemas 
against  intolerance,  or  held  up  to  public  scorn  cor- 
ruption in  high  places,  more  fearlessly  than  he. 
Courteous,  affable,  open-hearted,  blessed  with  hosts 
of  friends,  he  has  preserved  in  its  freshness  and  in- 
tegrity, through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  a  laborious 
and  useful  life,  the  charming  personality  with  which 
nature  so  richly  endowed  him. 

Dr.  Putnam  was  married  to  Miss  Louise  P.  Preston, 
daughter  of  Mr.  Samuel  Preston,  of  Danvers,  Janua- 
ry 10,  1856.  She  died  in  June,  1860.  For  his  second 
wife  he  married,  in  1865,  Eliza  K.  Butt  rick,  of  Cam- 
bridge, daughter  of  Ephraim  Buttrick,  Esq.,  long  a 
prominent  member  of  the  Middlesex  bar.  Their  five 
children  are  Endicott  Greenwood,  Alfred  Whitwell, 
Helen  Langley,  Ralph  Buttrick  and  Margaret  Ross. 


JOXAS   WARREN. 

The  man  whose  portrait  accompanies  this  short 
sketch,  one  of  the  best  business  men  who  ever  lived 
in  Danvers,  was  not  a  native  of  the  town.     His  an- 


cestor, Joshua  Warren,  emigrated  from  Dover,  Eng- 
land, and  settled  in  Watertown.  Joshua's  son,  Dan- 
iel, married  Rebecca,  daughter  of  Captain  Benjamin 
Church,  the  famous  Indian  fighter.  Daniel  had 
fifteen  children,  and  one  of  his  sons,  Phinehas  had  a 
family  of  the  same  number,  of  whom  five  sous  were  in 
the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  Phinehas'  youngest  son, 
Jonas,  married,  first,  Apphia  Stickney,  and  they  were 
the  parents  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  who  was 
born  in  North  Beverly  July  29,  1787.  In  his  early 
boyhood  the  family  moved  to  Boxford,  and  there, 
when  he  was  still  quite  young,  the  mother  died.  He 
was  brought  up  by  his  uncle,  Ancil  Stickney,  and 
when  he  reached  the  age  when  young  men  struck  out 
for  themselves,  he  came  to  Danvers,  and  soon  found 
a  place  of  usefulness  in  the  store  kept  by  Deacon 
Gideon  Putnam  in  his  old  tavern,  which  stood  at  the 
corner  of  High  and  Elm  Streets.  Before  many  years 
he  bought  the  whole  establishment  of  the  late  Judge 
Samuel  Putnam,  son  of  Deacon  Gideon.  "  Jonas,'' 
said  the  judge,  "  here  you  will  live  and  here  you  will 
die."  Though  the  prophecy  was  not  fulfilled  as  to 
his  death,  Mr.  Warren  did  live  many  years,  full  of 
activity  and  thrift,  on  the  old  corner,  and  he  built  up 
there  a  business  more  extensive  than  can  be  easily 
appreciated  at  this  time.  Some  days,  a  half  a  century 
ago,  as  many  as  forty  great  teams  came  into  Danvers 
Plains  from  surrounding  towns  and  far  back  into  the 
country,  to  dispose  of  their  produce  and  take  back  a 
season's  load  of  staple  groceries.  It  was  chiefly  Mr. 
Warren's  fair  treatment  and  broad  and  far-sighted 
manner  of  doing  business  that  transformed  a  mere 
country  cross-roads  into  a  busy  commercial  centre. 
The  amount  of  goods  handled  thus  in  the  way  of  sale 
and  barter  was  enormous,  and  it  was  no  rare  thing  for 
clerks  to  be  obliged  to  work  till  midnight,  loading 
these  teams,  so  that  customers  could  start  away 
bright  and  early  in  the  morning.  His  policy  was  to 
oflfer  such  inducements  vhat  there  was  no  object  to 
farmers  to  carry  their  produce  four  miles  farther  to 
find  a  market  in  Salem,  and,  as  a  consequence,  he 
and  ''Uncle  Johnnie"  Perley,  on  the  opposite  cor- 
ner, so  controlled  the  situation  that  Salem  dealers 
often  had  to  come  to  Danvers  to  buy  at  second-hand, 
and,  of  course,  at  the  seller's  price.  In  all  this  there 
was  no  trickery  or  meanness  on  the  part  of  Mr.  War- 
ren. Mr.  Joshua  Silvester,  just  deceased,  was  in  his 
early  days  a  clerk  in  the  old  store,  and  a  few  weeks 
before  his  death  he  was  speaking  of  Mr.  Warren : 
"  For  an  up  and  down  square  dealer  he  had  no 
superior." 

In  1841  Mr.  Warren  sold  out  at  the  Plains  and  re- 
moved to  the  Port,  where  he  became  the  pioneer  of 
the  wholesale  flour  and  grain  business,  entering  into 
the  larger  field  with  the  same  energy  and  sagacity 
which  had  characterized  his  previous  operations. 
He  was  the  first  to  bring  grain  to  this  port  by  water, 
and  from  the  cargoes  of  the  many  vessels  in  his  em- 
ployment he  supplied  a  very  extensive  inland  trade. 


-2V^  ^hyAH.Rltchie. 


C^T  ?  irt^J  C^a^'tM^<>;3^ 


'■*! 


'm 


S:na  i 


f-iyA.H-P.i.'^yv.e- 


^r/77^cc(^C^  ^  ^^^^c^o^ 


DANVERS. 


553 


Mr.  Warren  was  one  of  the  earliest  Unitarians  of 
Danvers,  and  was  always  a  steadfast  supporter  of  that 
denomination.  Long  before  the  establishment  of  the 
church  here,  he  regularly  attended  the  church  in 
North  Beverly.  Rev.  E.  M.  Stone,  long  the  pastor  of 
that  church,  has  written  of  Mr.  Warren, — "He  was 
a  parishioner  whose  constant  attendance  on  public 
worship  greatly  cheered  my  ministry.  During  the 
thirteen  years  of  my  pastorate  there  I  do  not  recol- 
lect of  his  being  absent  from  church  for  a  single  Sab- 
bath, unless  detained  at  home  by  sickness,  and  I  do 
remember  of  his  being  present  after  heavy  snow 
storms  and  before  the  roads  were  broken,  when  per- 
sons living  near  the  church  excused  themselves  from 
attendance  for  the  same  reason.  He  was  an  attentive 
hearer,  a  devout  worshipper,  and  an  unostentatious 
Christian  believer."  He  was  much  interested  in  the 
building  of  Unity  Chapel  in  this  town,  and  attended 
there  as  long  as  advancing  age  would  permit,  con- 
tributing always  liberally  towards  its  support. 

He  married  Hannah,  daughter  of  Enoch  Kimball, 
of  Boxford.  She  died  the  year  following  Mr.  War- 
ren's removal  to  Danversport.  Mr.  Warren  was 
himself  nearly  ninety  years  old  when  he  died.  The 
date  of  his  death  was  November  18,  1876,  and  the 
place,  the  home  which  he  built,  now  occupied  by  his 
only  daughter,  on  High  Street.  Besides  his  daughter, 
two  sons  survived  him — Aaron  W.  and  the  late  Har- 
rison O.  Warren.  Mr.  Warren  was  a  director  of  the 
Naumkeag  National  Bank  of  Salem  from  its  organiza- 
tion to  near  the  close  of  his  life.  He  was  the  last 
survivor  of  New  Mills  Alarm  List  of  1814. 

Though  Mr.  Warren  kept  aloof  from  politics,  and 
rarely,  if  ever,  held  office,  his  business  relations  were 
such  that  scarcely  any  man  was  more  widely  known 
in  the  county.  His  strict  integrity  secured  the  con- 
fidence of  all.  He  wronged  no  man  intentionally,  and 
his  word  could  always  be  depended  upon.  In  his 
family,  too,  he  was  just  and  kind,  a  true  husband,  a 
wise  father.  He  left  to  this  community  the  priceless 
example  of  the  life  of  an  honest  man,  and  to  his 
family  the  legacy  of  an  unspotted  name. 


SAMUEL   p.    FOWLER. 

Samuel  Page  Fowler  was  born  in  Danvers  New 
Mills  (now  Danversport),  April  22, 1800.  His  parents 
were  Samuel  Fowler  and  Clarissa  (Page)  Fowler. 
Among  his  ancestors  are  to  be  found  the  names  of 
men,  who,  by  their  patriotism,  military  genius,  busi- 
ness activity  and  enterprise  commanded  the  respect  of 
their  contemporaries,  and  left  their  impress  upon  the 
times  in  which  they  lived. 

The  first  of  the  name  who  came  to  this  country  was 
Philip  Fowler,  born  in  Wiltshire,  England,  in  1590, 
settled  in  Ipswich,  1634.  Joseph,  his  son,  born  in 
1629,  married  Martha  Kimball.  Philip,  their  son, 
born  in  Ipswich,  December  25,  1648,  was  "  a  man  of 
superior  ability,  and  as  a  merchant,  deputy- marshal 
35i 


and  attorney,  left  a  good  record.  He  strongly  opposed 
the  witchcraft  delusion,  was  employed  as  attorney  by 
the  Village  Parish  in  its  lawsuit  with  Mr.  Parris,  and 
in  1692  conducted  the  proceedings  in  Court  against 
the  head  and  front  of  the  witchcraft  prosecution."  He 
married  Elizabeth  Herrick,  daughter  of  Henry  and 
Editha  (Laskin)  Herrick,  and  died  1715.  Their  son 
Joseph,  born  August  7,  1683,  married  Sarah  Bartlett, 
died  December  25,  1745.  Joseph,  born  October  9, 
1715,  married  Mary  Prince,  died  February  1,  1807. 
Samuel,  their  son,  left  Ipswich  in  1765  and  became 
one  of  the  pioneer  settlers  of  "  Danvers  New  Mills." 
A  shipwright  by  trade  he  assisted  in  building  many 
vessels,  both  before  and  after  the  Revolution,  some  of 
which  he  partly  owned;  he  was  a  private  in  Captain 
Jeremiah  Page's  company,  at  the  battle  of  Lexington. 
He  married  Sarah,  daughter  of  Archelaus  and  Mehit- 
able  (Putnam)  Putnam.  Deacon  Putnam,  in  the 
spring  of  1754  moved  a  small  building  used  as  a 
cooper's  shop  from  his  father's  farm,  now  known  as 
the  "Judge  Putnam  farm,"  by  floating  it  down  Crane 
River  to  the  bank  of  the  river  at  what  is  now  Dan- 
versport. He  fitted  it  up  as  a  home  for  his  family, 
and  here  his  daughter  Sarah  was  born,  September  14, 

1775.  She  was  the  first  white  child  born  in  that  part 
of  the  town,  which  was  then  covered  with  woods, 
where  she  was  often  lost  when  a  child.  She  lived  to 
see  the  small  hamlet  a  prosperous  village,  and  died 
in  1847,  aged  ninety-two  years,  having  had  six  child- 
ren, twenty-seven  grand-children  and  sixty  great- 
grand-children.  Deacon  Putnam  built  grist  and 
chocolate  mills  near  his  house,  which  gave  to  this 
section  of  the  town  its  name  of  New  Mills. 

Samuel  Fowler,  the  son  of  Samuel  and  Sarah  (Put- 
nam) Fowler,  was  born  in  Danvers,  September  15, 

1776.  He  was  a  man  of  large  enterprise  and  carried 
on  the  business  of  his  grandfather,  having  a  grist 
mill,  a  mill  for  pulverizing  spices,  as  well  as  one  for 
grinding  bark,  besides  pursuing  the  occupation  of  a 
tanner.  He  died  February  22,  1859.  He  married 
Clarissa  Page,  the  daughter  of  Captain  Samuel  and 
Rebecca  (Putnam)  Page.  "  She  was  greatly  endeared 
to  a  large  circle  of  relatives  and  friends  by  her  social 
and  domestic  virtues."  She  died  April  14,  1854. 
Captain  Samuel  Page  was  the  son  of  Colonel  Jeremiah 
Page  and  Sarah  (Andrews)  Page,  born  in  Danvers, 
August  1,  1753.  "He  enlisted  in  the  cause  of  his 
country  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolutionary 
War,  and  was  engaged  in  the  battles  of  Lexington, 
Monmouth,  and  Stony  Point.  He  was  with  Washing- 
ton at  the  crossing  of  the  Delaware,  and  in  the  severe 
winter  of  1777  shared  in  the  sufferings  of  the  Ameri- 
can ai-my  at  Valley  Forge,  and  he,  with  his  company, 
was  present  when  Wayne  stormed  Stony  Point.  After 
the  close  of  the  war  he  successfully  engaged  in  com- 
mercial pursuits."  He  married  Rebecca,  the  daughter 
of  William  and  Elizabeth  (Putnam)  Putnam.  William 
was  a  son  of  Lieutenant  David  Putnam  (brother  of 
General  Israel  Putnam)  and   Rebecca   (Perley)  Put- 


55^ 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


nam.  David  was  the  son  of  Joseph  and  Elizabeth 
(Porter)  Putnam.  Joseph  the  son  of  Thomas  Putnam 
and  Mary  Veren.  Thomas  was  the  son  of  John  Put- 
nam, 1st.  Samuel  Page's  father,  Colonel  Jeremiah 
Page,  was  an  officer  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  and 
was  the  son  of  Samuel  Page,  who  was  the  pioneer 
settler  of  Fitchburg,  having  been  found  there  with  his 
wife  and  family  by  the  surveyors,  sent  out  by  the 
General  Court,  to  lay  out  the  town  in  1719.  Captain 
Page  died  in  Danvers,  September  2,  1814. 

Descended  from  so  worthy  and  patriotic  an  ances- 
try, we  might  reasonably  expect  that  Mr.  Fowler 
would  inherit  their  many  virtues  and  worthy  traits  of 
character,  and  in  this  we  realize  our  expectations.  In 
boyhood  he  attended  the  district  school,  where  he 
read  from  the  well-known  books:  "The  Columbian 
Orator,"  and  "American  Preceptor,''  also  "  Jedediah 
Morse's  Geography,"  then  a  popular  reading  book. 
He  learned  the  rudiments  of  grammar  from  the 
"Young  Ladies' Accidence,"  and  mastered  the  diffi- 
culties of  "Walsh's  Popular  Arithmetic,"  but  the  best 
advantages  the  town  then  furnished  its  children,  were 
meagre  when  compared  with  those  enjoyed  by  the 
youth  of  the  present  day. 

New  Mills  at  that  time  was  the  home  of  ship-own- 
ers and  sea-captains,  who,  on  their  return  from  their 
voyages,  would  tell  their  listening  townsmen  of  the 
lands  they  had  visited,  so  that  the  boys  of  that  period 
were  made  familiar  with  foreign  countries  and  the 
characteristics  of  their  inhabitants.  Another  factor 
which  helped  to  develop  a  desire  for  knowledge  and 
a  taste  for  reading  in  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was 
the  New  Mills  Social  Library,  formed  in  1808,  with 
the  best  books  then  to  be  found  in  the  range  of  Eng- 
lish literature,  selected  by  Jeremiah  Chaplin,  D.D., 
pastor  of  the  Baptist  Church. 

In  the  War  of  1812  the  inhabitants  of  Danvers 
shared  in  the  excitement  and  the  patriotic  spirit  of 
their  more  maritime  neighbors,  and  Mr.  Fowler,  then 
a  lad  of  twelve  years,  readily  imbibed  that  love  of 
country,  and  hatred  of  oppression,  which  he  has 
shown  through  a  long  life. 

He  has  always  manifested  a  deep  interest  in  every- 
thing pertaining  to  the  welfare  of  the  town,  and  has 
often  been  chosen  to  fill  important  offices,  and  to  re- 
present his  fellow-citizens  in  many  ways.  Before  the 
division  of  Danvers,  he  held  the  office  of  selectman 
and  assessor  from  the  years  1835  to  1840,  was  auditor 
in  1833,  1841  and  1842,  moderator  of  town  meeting  in 
1839,  was  a  member  of  the  school  committee  for  seven 
years,  and  one  of  the  board  of  health  for  three  years. 
He  was  one  of  the  fire-wards  of  the  town  upon  the 
first  organization  of  the  fire  department,  and  continued 
so  for  several  years.  He  was  elected  representative  to 
the  General  Court  in  the  years  1837-38-39,  and  with 
the  Rev.  M.  P.  Braman  and  Hon.  Alfred  A.  Abbott, 
represented  the  town  in  the  Constitutional  Conven- 
tion held  at  Boston  in  1853.  He  was  one  of  the  com- 
mittee appointed  to  make  arrangements  for  the  cele- 


bration of  the  One  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  Dan- 
vers, on  the  16th  of  June,  1852,  and  at  the  dinner  on 
that  occasion  responded  to  the  following  toast:  "The 
Women  of  Danvers  in  Revolutionary  Times — like  the 
staple  manufacture  of  the  town — firm,  tough  and  well 
tanned,  but  unlike  it,  as  they  were  not  to  be  trampled 
upon." 

He  was,  also,  one  of  the  trustees  elected  by  the  town 
to  hold  the  surplus  revenue  funds,  and  one  of  the 
members  of  the  first  committee  chosen  to  confer  as  to 
the  best  methods  of  introducing  water  into  the  town. 
But  it  is  as  overseer  of  the  poor,  a  position  which  he 
still  holds,  that  Mr.  Fowler's  tenure  of  office  has  been 
the  longest,  extending  over  a  period  of  forty-four 
years,  with  only  one  year's  exception,  and  a  greater 
part  of  the  time  he  has  been  chairman  of  the  board.  His 
knowledge  of  the  poor-laws  is  complete  and  exhaus- 
tive, and  his  decisions  are  undisputed  in  the  settlement 
of  the  many  vexatious  questions  which  arise  in  the 
administration  of  these  laws.  His  faithfulness  to  the 
interests  of  the  town,  and  his  kindness  and  consider- 
ation to  the  poor  have  given  him  for  many  years  the 
nomination  of  all  parties.  Although  taking  such  an 
active  part  in  all  town  matters,  Mr.  Fowler  has  never 
been  a  politician,  was  a  member  of  the  old  Whig 
party,  and  has  been  a  supporter  of  the  Republican 
party  since  its  formation. 

He  was  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  Peabody  Insti- 
tute, appointed  by  Mr.  George  Peabody,  served  as  a 
member  of  the  building  committee,  and  upon  the  re- 
signation of  Rev.  M,  P.  Braman.  was  chosen  president 
of  the  board  of  trustees,  which  office  he  held  till 
March,  1879.  At  the  present  time  he  is  chairman  of 
the  committee  on  buildings  and  grounds,  and  in  con- 
nection with  Mr.  Joshua  Sylvester,  has  done  much  to- 
ward the  laying  out  and  beautifying  of  the  park  about 
the  Institute,  making  it  one  of  the  most  attractive 
places  in  the  town.  He  has  also  been  chairman  of 
the  lecture  and  library  committee,  and  in  the  latter 
capacity  gave  much  time  and  thought  to  the  selection 
of  those  books  which  would  instruct  and  elevate  their 
readers,  and  cultivate  in  them  a  desire  for  useful 
knowledge,  having  the  experience  gained  by  many 
years  of  reading  and  study,  to  help  him  in  this  work. 
From  his  youth  he  has  shown  a  great  taste  for  natural 
history,  and  during  his  long  life  has  been  a  close  ob- 
server of  nature,  in  all  her  varied  forms.  By  constant 
observation  and  study,  he  made  himself  thoroughly 
conversant  with  the  notes  and  habits  of  our  native 
birds,  and  contributed  a  series  of  most  interesting  and 
instructive  articles  to  the  New  England  Farmer,  on 
"The  Birds  of  New  England."  A  lover  of  flowers, 
he  has  always  taken  great  pleasure  in  their  cultiva- 
tion, and  has  had  equal  success  with  plants  from 
widely  sei^arated  localities,  so  that  in  his  garden  the 
variously-tinted  blossoms  of  our  woods  and  fields 
grow  side  by  side  with  the  more  gorgeous  flowers  of 
China  and  Japan.  Nor  is  he  selfish  in  the  enjoyment 
of  his  garden,  but  freely  gives  its  treasures  to  all — 


DANVERS. 


555 


from  the  little  child,  who  timidly  asks  for  a  few  flow- 
ers, to  the  learned  botanist,  who  solicits  specimens  for 
analysis.  It  has  been  his  pleasure  for  many  summers 
to  arrange  a  bouquet  each  week  for  the  church,  and 
the  ladies  of  the  Parish  showed  their  appreciation  of 
this  work  by  presenting  him  with  a  beautiful  engrav- 
ing. He  has  not  devoted  his  attention  exclusively  to 
the  cultivation  of  flowers,  but  has  also  studied  the 
characteristics  of  our  native  trees  and  shrubs.  The 
results  of  his  close  observation  in  this  direction  are 
apparent  in  various  articles  written  by  him  on  our 
"  Native  Trees  and  Shrubs,"  published  in  the  New 
England  Farmer,  in  which  he  shows  himself  a  nice 
and  accurate  observer  in  this  department  of  nature. 
He  has  carefully  noted  the  habits  of  the  various  in- 
sects injurious  to  vegetation,  and  in  an  essay  read 
before  the  Essex  County  Agricultural  Society,  gives 
many  valuable  suggestions  as  to  the  best  methods  of 
destroying  the  numerous  insects,  which  infest  the 
orchards  and  gardens  of  the  county.  Possessing 
these  tastes  it  might  be  expected  that  when  the  Essex 
County  Natural  History  Society  was  formed,  Mr. 
Fowler  would  be  one  of  its  first  members.  He  is  now 
the  only  one  living  of  the  founders  of  this  organiza- 
tion. At  its  fiftieth  anniversary,  held  at  Topsfield, 
in  June,  1884,  he  was  present,  and  in  an  address  de- 
livered on  that  occasion,  alluding  to  the  first  meeting 
of  the  society,  says  :  "  After  dinner  a  stroll  was  taken 
in  the  woods  and  fields,  and  among  the  plants  gath- 
ered was  a  fine  specimen  of  Blood  Root  {Sanguinaria 
Canadensis)  which  was  taken  up  with  a  spade,  and 
upon  our  return  it  was  placed  in  the  middle  of  the 
table,  with  a  newspaper  under  it,  when  we  pledged 
ourselves  to  sustain  the  Essex  County  Natural  Histo- 
ry Society,  and  promote  its  interests."  When  the 
Essex  Institute  was  formed  by  the  Union  of  the 
Essex  Historical  and  Essex  County  Natural  History 
Societies  in  1848,  he  was  chosen  curator  of  Natural 
History,  and  vice-president  in  that  department  in 
1861,  and  remained  so  for  several  years;  he  was  also 
on  the  Field  committee  as  early  as  18fi7. 

Fond  of  historical  research,  the  rich  field  of  his 
town,  county  and  State  has  furnished  him  abundant 
material,  so  that  he  has  not  his  equal  as  a  local  his- 
torian, and  has  given  especial  time  and  thought  to 
the  study  of  the  witchcraft  delusion,  and  the  causes 
which  led  to  its  origin  and  continuance.  He  has 
published  an  "  Account  of  the  Life  and  Character  of 
the  Rev.  Samuel  Parris,  of  Salem  Village,  and  of  his 
Connection  Avith  the  Witchcraft  Delusion  of  1692,'' 
and  edited  an  edition  of  "  Salem  Witchcraft,  by  Rob- 
ert Calef,  published  by  H.  P.  Ives  and  A.  A.  Smith, 
in  1861."  He  has  also  made  a  large  manuscript  col- 
lection bearing  upon  this  subject,  copied  from  the 
church  and  court  records  of  that  period.  Upham, 
in  speaking  of  Philip  Fowler,  of  Ipswich,  and  the 
bold  stand  taken  by  him  in  1692  against  the  decisions 
of  the  clergy  and  magistrates,  says :  "  It  is  an  inter- 
esting circumstance  that  one  of  the  same  name  and 


descent,  in  his  reprint  of  the  papers  of  Calef,  and 
other  publications,  has  done  as  much  as  any  other 
person  of  our  day  to  bring  that  whole  transaction 
under  the  light  of  truth  and  justice."  It  is  largely 
due  to  his  research  and  interpretation  of  Mr.  Parris' 
conduct  in  the  affair,  that  has  led  to  a  more  favorable 
construction  of  the  motives  which  actuated  him  and 
the  neighboring  clergy  in  their  treatment  of  those 
persons  accused  of  practising  witchcraft.  Mr.  Fow- 
ler has  published  in  the  Historical  Collections  of  the 
Essex  Institute  the  following  articles:  "  .lournal  of 
Captain  Samuel  Page,  in  the  Campaign  of  1779,  with 
Notes ; "  "  Biographical  Sketch  and  Diary  of  Rev. 
Joseph  Green,  an  Account  of  the  Life  of  Rev.  Peter 
Clark  and  Rev.  Benjamin  Wadsworth,  Ministers  of 
Salem  Village,"  (now  Dan  vers  Centre) ;  "  Records  of 
Overseers  of  the  Poor  of  the  Old  Town  of  Dan  vers 
for  the  years  1767  and  1768,  by  the  Chairman  of  the 
Board,  Captain  Elisha  Flint,  with  Notes."  "  Craft's 
Journal  of  the  Siege  of  Boston,  with  Notes." 

He  is  thoroughly  conversant  with  the  early  history 
of  the  town,  and  often  contributes  to  the  columns  of 
the  local  paper  articles  full  of  historical  facts,  which 
will  yield  a  rich  harvest  to  the  town's  future  historian. 

He  became  a  member  of  the  New  England  Histo- 
ric Genealogical  Society,  in  Boston,  in  1862.  His 
literary  work  has  been  performed  in  the  midst  of  his 
regular  occupations,  for  Mr.  Fowler  learned  the  trade 
of  a  tanner,  and  carried  on  the  business  in  the  same 
establishment  formerly  owned  and  occupied  by  his 
father,  on  Porters  river. 

He  was  one  of  the  cori^orators  of  the  Danvers 
Savings  Bank,  incorporated  in  1850,  and  one  of  its 
first  trustees ;  he  was  also  actively  engaged  in  the 
formation  of  the  First  National  Bank,  and  has  been 
one  of  its  directors  since  1863.  He  was  admitted  to 
Jordan  Lodge  of  Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  March 
26,  1823,  and  is  at  present  an  honorary  member,  and 
one  of  the  oldest  masons  in  the  State. 

He  has  always  shown  a  deep  interest  in  the  tem- 
perance cause,  more  especially  before  it  became  so 
intimately  connected  with  the  political  questions  of  the 
d.ay.  At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  old  town  of  Dan- 
vers, on  the  4th  of  March,  1833,  the  subject  of  intem- 
perance in  the  town  being  under  consideration,  an 
order  and  vote  to  be  presented  to  the  moderator  was 
drawn  up  by  J.  W.  Proctor,  Esq.,  instructing  the 
selectmen  to  prohibit  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors 
in  the  town,  which  vote  was  presented  to  the  meeting 
by  Mr.  Fowler,  who  is  now  the  only  one  living  of 
that  band  of  temperance  workers,  who,  in  one  of  the 
square  pews  in  the  brick  meeting-house  at  the  Cen- 
tre, conferred  together  as  to  the  best  means  to  arrest 
the  drunkenness  in  their  community.  The  passing  of 
this  vote  made  Danvers  the  first  town  in  the  State 
that  took  action  in  its  corporate  capacity  against 
licensing  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors,  and  it  has 
ever  since  maintained  the  same  position.  Before  the 
general  awakening  of  the  public  mind  to  the  subject, 


556 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Mr.  Fowler  was  keenly  alive  to  the  fact  that  our 
burial-places  were  neglected  and  unattractive,  and  it 
was  largely  through  his  efforts,  and  that  of  his  bro- 
ther, Mr.  Henry  Fowler,  that  a  tract  of  land  was 
purchased  to  be  laid  out  as  a  cemetery,  and  the  Wal- 
nut Grove  Cemetery  Corporation  formed,  of  which  he 
has  been  president  for  many  years. 

In  the  year  1832,  he  joined  the  First  Church  dur- 
ing the  pastorate  of  the  Eev.  M.  P.  Braman.  When 
the  Maple  Street  Church  was  organized  in  1844,  he 
became  one  of  the  original  members,  was  chosen  one 
of  its  first  deacons,  which  office  he  still  holds,  and 
has  ever  been  mindful  of  all  that  concerned  the  tem- 
poral and  spiritual  welfare  of  the  church.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  building  committee  to  erect  the  first 
meeting-house,  and  when  this  new  and  beautiful  edi- 
fice was  destroyed  by  fire  only  a  few  years  after  its 
completion,  he  was  one  of  the  members  who  bravely 
took  up  the  work  of  building  the  present  house  of 
worship.  He  has  been  clerk  of  the  parish  for  more 
than  thirty  years,  and  the  distinctly  written  pages  of 
this  record  will  be  a  pleasure  to  the  society's  future 
historian.  Before  his  advanced  years  he  was  a  con- 
stant attendant  upon  the  prayer-meetings  of  the 
church,  contributing  to  their  interest  by  his  words  of 
instruction  and  wisdom,  and  was  for  many  years  an 
efficient  Sunday-school  teacher. 

Although  in  his  eighty-eighth  year,  Mr.  Fowler 
possesses  the  physical  and  mental  activity  of  a  man 
of  much  younger  years,  filling  with  acceptance  and 
fidelity  the  various  offices  bestowed  upon  him  by  his 
townsmen.  The  reading  of  his  favorite  books,  the 
cultivation  of  his  garden  are  as  great  sources  of  jsleas- 
ure  to  him  as  they  ever  were,  and  his  interest  is  un- 
abated in  whatever  concern  the  public  goods. 

The  record  of  such  a  life  shows  what  a  man  can 
accomplish  for  himself  and  others  by  habits  of  indus- 
try and  patient  thought,  combined  with  a  desire  for 
the  best  good  of  those  who  are  associated  with  him  as 
fellow-citizens.  The  public  favors  he  has  received 
have  not  been  obtained  at  the  sacrifice  of  truth  and 
honor,  for  in  all  things  he  has  shown  himself  an 
honest  man,  just  and  upright  in  his  dealings  with 
others. 

Mr.  Fowler  was  married  December  3,  1833,  to  Har- 
riet Putnam  (who  was  born  in  Danvers,  May  11, 1806) 
daughter  of  Moses  and  Betsey  Putnam.  Like  her 
husband,  she  retains  in  a  remarkable  degree  her 
youthful  feelings,  possessing  those  virtues  which 
make  her  a  devoted  wife,  a  good  mother  and  an  earn- 
est Christian. 

Their  children  are,  (1)  Clara  Putnam,  born  March 
20,  1836,  married  November  25,  1856,  George  E.  Du- 
Bois,  of  Eandolph,  Mass.,  who  died  November  3, 
1859;  their  child,  Ellen  Tucker,  born  December  16, 
1857,  married,  April  22,  1886,  Nathan  Putnam  Proc- 
tor, of  Danvers ;  they  have  a  son  born  June  7,  1887. 
(2)  Samuel  Page,  Jr.,  born  December  6,  1838.  (3) 
Harriet  Putnam,  born  July  25,  1842. 


CHARLES    LAWRENCE. 

Mr.  Lawrence  was  among  the  thirteen  children  of 
Abel  and  Abigail  (Page)  Lawrence,  of  Salem,  Mass. 
He  was  descended  in  the  seventh  generation  from 
John  Lawrence,  of  Wisset,  England,  who  came  to 
this  country  and  first  settled  at  Watertown,  but  re- 
moved to  Groton  in  1662,  where  he  died. 

The  subject  of  this  notice  was  born  October  7, 
1795,  and  was  graduated  at  Harvard  University  in 
the  class  of  1815. 

About  1833  he  married  Miss  Lucy  A.  Ward,  sister 
of  Thomas  Ward,  the  banker  of  Boston.  Delicate 
health  prevented  him  from  studying  a  profession  or 
entering  upon  a  business  career.  He  made  several 
voyages  to  India  in  early  life,  and  spent  a  winter  or 
two  in  the  West  Indies  and  Florida  to  combat  dan- 
gerous symptoms  of  lung  disease. 

With  his  brother  and  sisters  he  afterwards  left  Sa- 
lem and  established  a  home  upon  what  was  then 
known  as  the  Phillips  Farm,  Danvers.  There  for 
nearly  forty  years  Mr.  Lawrence  resided  and  found 
occupation  in  open  air  pursuits,  which  no  doubt  were 
the  means  of  prolonging  to  eighty-four  years  a  life 
which  was  never  robust.  Gardening  was  a  favorite 
occupation,  and  he  had  a  passion  for  flowers,  which 
always  flourished  under  his  care. 

Combined  with  these  pursuits  was  a  love  of  litera- 
ture, which  did  not  fail  him  while  life  lasted. 

Though  mixing  little  with  the  world,  he  was  always 
acquainted  with  the  best  and  newest  books,  and  whol- 
ly alive  to  the  political  questions  of  his  time. 

In  November,  1820,  he  was  made  a  member  of  the 
Salem  East  India  Marine  Society,  and  was  elected 
corresponding  secretary  January,  1828,  remaining  in 
that  position  till  January,  1838.  He  was  also  an 
original  member  of  the  Essex  Institute,  and  through 
life  he  felt  a  strong  interest  in  the  welfare  and  success 
of  that  society. 

A  warm  friend,  a  kind  neighbor,  a  genial  and  pleas- 
ant companion  ;  his  charity  to  the  unfortunate  was 
only  fully  known  to  the  many  recipients  of  his  benev- 
olence.    He  died  December  21,  1879. 


GENERAL   GRENVILLE   M.    DODGE.^ 

Essex  County  has  given  birth  to  but  few  more 
remarkable  men  than  General  Grenville  M.  Dodge, 
now,  and  for  many  years,  resident  at  Council  Bluffs, 
Iowa.  Perhaps  no  one  of  her  sons  has  wrought  a 
wider,  and  more  varied  and  important  public  service 
than  has  he.  He  is  not  yet  an  old  man,  but  is  still 
in  his  prime,  and  is  as  active  and  busy  as  ever.  Yet, 
as  civil  engineer,  military  commander,  member  of 
Congress,  projector  of  many  of  the  great  railroad 
enterprises  of  the  West  and  Southwest  for  the  last 
thirty  years  or  more,  and  as  president  or  director  of 
most  of  the  companies  established  to  forward  and 

1  By  Rev.  A.  P.  Putnam. 


-EVy  ^hyAMFUidhis 


^na^ 


ng,  ?iyAH.PMoh^ 


DANVERS. 


557 


complete  these  vast  works  of  internal  improvement 
and  national  development,  he  has  done  quite  enough 
for  fame,  and  quite  enough  to  entitle  him  to  the  last- 
ing gratitude  and  honor  of  his  country.  The  story 
of  his  career,  however  much  it  has  to  do  with  practi- 
cal matters,  is  yet  invested  with  a  wonderfully  roman- 
tic interest,  and  we  are  glad  to  learn  that  a  more 
extensive  biograj^hy  of  him  than  we  can  give  here,  or 
than  has  ever  been  written  of  him,  is  in  course  of 
preparation  by  Mr.  N.  E.  Dawson,  of  Washington,  for 
a  large,  voluminous  work  to  be  entitled,  "Iowa  in  the 
War."  To  Mr.  Dawson's  kindness  we  are  indebted 
for  some  of  the  advance  sheets  of  his  full  and  excel- 
lent sketch,  from  which  we  have  culled  many  of  the 
facts  of  our  hero's  maturer  life. 

General  Dodge  is  a  native  of  Danvers,  Mass.,  and 
was  born  April  12,  1831,  in  a  farm-house  which  was 
situated  a  short  distance  south  of  the  Topsfield  line, 
and  which  was  then  the  home  of  the  family  of  Elias 
Putnam,  who  was  himself  born  there  more  than  forty 
years  before,  as  stated  elsewhere  in  this  volume. 
Israel  Putnam,  the  father  of  Elias,  having  removed 
his  household,  about  the  beginning  of  the  century, 
several  miles  down  the  road,  the  premises  were  let  to 
Captain  Solomon  Dodge,  who  had  lived  in  Kowley, 
Mass.,  and  was  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  two  brothers 
of  the  name  who  early  emigrated  from  England,  and 
settled  in  Essex  County.  There  came  with  Solomon 
a  son,  Sylvanus,  who  had  been  born,  November  25, 
1800,  at  the  old  Rowley  home,  in  what  has  long  been 
known  as  the  "  Old  Dodge  House."  Not  long  after 
the  family  had  taken  possession  of  their  new  quarters, 
the  mother  of  Sylvanus  died,  and  by  and  by,  it  is  said, 
the  surviving  members  returned  to  the  ancestral  seat 
whence  they  came.     The  son  was  married,  November 

22,  1827,  at  New  Rowley  (now  Georgetown),  by  Rev. 
Dr,  Isaac  Braman,  to  Julia  T.  Phillips,  who  was  born 
in  that  town  January  23,  1802.  The  same  evening 
the  nuptial  pair  rode  to  Danvers,  to  enter  there  upon 
their  early  wedded  life  on  the  farm  where  the  husband 
had  lived  as  a  little  child,  and  in  an  L  which  the 
Putnams,  who  had  themselves  long  before  returned 
to  the  place,  had  attached  to  the  northern  side  of  the 
house.     Their  first  child  was  born  to  them  September 

23,  1829,  but  died  about  two  weeks  afterward.  The 
second  was  born  April  12,  1831,  as  we  have  said,  and 
received  the  name  that  had  been  given  to  the  other, 
Grenville  M.  Dodge.  He  first  saw  the  light  in  the 
chamber  of  the  L  to  which  reference  has  been  made, 
and  which,  many  years  later,  was  detached  from  the 
main  part  of  the  building  and  removed  to  a  point 
about  an  eighth  of  a  mile  further  south,  on  the  other 
side  of  the  road,  where  it  was  enlarged,  and  has  since 
been  tenanted  by  various  families.  The  Dodges 
remained  on  the  farm  about  six  years,  and  then  went 
to  Rowley,  where  they  lived  for  a  year  or  two,  at  the 
expiration  of  which  time  they  returned  to  their 
Danvers  abode,  which  Mr.  Putnam  and  family  had 
recently  left  to  fix  their  home  two  miles  below,  in  the 


old  house  now  occupied  by  Augustus  Fowler.  While 
Sylvanus  Dodge  and  his  family  came  back  to  live 
again  in  one  part  of  the  farm-house,  there  came  from 
Wenham,  Benjamin  Dodge  and  his  family  to  dwell  in 
the  other.  Sylvanus  was  then  a  butcher,  and  many 
of  the  present  inhabitants  of  the  town  will  recall  his 
regular  visits  at  their  doors,  as,  arrayed  in  his  clean 
white  frock,  he  rode  about  in  his  well-covered  and 
amply-supplied  wagon  and  ingratiated  himself  into 
the  favor  of  his  patrons  by  his  genial  spirit  and  honest 
dealing.  The  slaughter-house  was  a  barn  which  stood 
at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  a  little  distance  north  of  the 
house,  where  there  is  now,  if  there  was  not  then,  a 
beautiful  grove.  Long  afterward  it  was  moved  to  the 
plains,  and  then  again  outside  of  the  village,  where  it 
was  finally  burnt. 

The  second  sojourn  of  Mr.  Sylvanus  Dodge  and  his 
family  upon  the  farm  continued  for  only  about  one 
year.  Thence  they  proceeded  to  Salem,  where  also 
they -spent  a  couple  of  years,  and  next  went  to  Lynn, 
where  they  remained  one  year,  living  during  the 
twelve-month  in  three  different  houses.  In  April, 
1837,  they  found  a  home  in  South  Danvers,  now  Pea- 
body,  where,  August  20,  of  the  same  year,  was  born  a 
third  child,  Nathan  P.  Dodge.  In  1840  they  removed 
to  the  north  part  of  the  old  town,  and  settled  for  a 
time  in  Tapleyville,  the  native  place  of  their  fourth 
and  last  child,  Julia  M.  Dodge,  now  Mrs.  J.  B.  Beard, 
born  January  14,  1843.  During  their  stay  at  Tapley- 
ville, Mr.  Dodge  was  made  postmaster  for  South  Dan- 
vers, and  accordingly  returned  thither  with  his  wife 
and  children,  and  there  continued  to  reside  until  they 
all  emigrated  to  the  distant  West,  He  held  the  office 
to  which  he  was  thus  appointed  for  ten  years,  and 
through  various  changes  in  the  national  administra- 
tion, securing  the  confidence  and  favor  of  both  politi- 
cal parties  and  of  his  fellow-citizens  generally.  In 
politics  he  was  a  Democrat,  and  was  an  active  and 
earnest  friend  of  such  men  as  Robert  Rantoul,  Jr., 
N.  P.  Banks  and  George  S.  Boutwell.  In  due  time  he 
came  to  be  much  interested  in  the  organization  of  the 
Republican  party,  and  was  henceforth  to  the  end  of 
his  life  its  sincere  and  efficient  sujjporter. 

Grenville,  the  eldest  of  the  three  living  children, 
sought  his  fortunes  in  the  West  as  early  as  1851. 
Between  the  ages  of  ten  and  sixteen  he  had  worked 
at  gardening,  had  been  employed  as  a  clerk  in  a  store, 
had  attended  the  common  schools,  and  had  also  im- 
proved his  leisure  hours  in  fitting  himself  for  college. 
He  entered  the  Military  University  at  Norwich,  Vt.,  in 
1847,  and  there  completed  his  course  of  education 
just  before  he  set  out  to  seek  his  fortunes  in  a  more 
distant  part  of  the  country.  He  first  settled  in  Peru, 
Illinois,  as  a  civil  engineer.  He  participated  in  the 
construction  of  the  Chicago  and  Rock  Island,  and 
Peoria  and  Bureau  Valley  Railroads;  and  in  1853  he 
was  appointed  assistant  engineer  of  the  Mississippi 
and  Missouri  Railroad  of  Iowa,  now  the  Chicago, 
Rock   Island  and   Pacific  Line.     In  the  ^ame  year. 


558 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


having  removed  to  Iowa  City,  he  explored  and  exam- 
ined the  country  west  of  the  Missouri,  and  became 
convinced  that  the  great  Pacific  Railway  would  have 
its  starting  point  where  it  now  is,  at  Council  Bluffs, 
or  Omaha,  on  the  Missouri  river.  At  Council  Bluffs, 
therefore,  he  decided  to  fix  his  permanent  residence. 
He  had  married  Miss  Annie  Brown,  of  Peru,  111.,  at 
Salem,  Mass.,  May  29,  1854,  and  in  the  following 
November  he  left  Iowa  City,  where  his  brother 
Nathan  from  the  East  had  already  joined  him,  for  his 
future  home,  accompanied  by  his  wife.  During  the 
same  month  he  made  a  claim,  and  opened  a  farm  in 
the  Territory  of  Nebraska,  on  the  Elkhorn  river, 
occupying  it  in  February,  1855,  but  staying  there  only 
six  months,  the  Indians  driving  him  away,  and 
obliging  him  to  return  with  his  family  to  Council 
Bluffs. 

Early  in  1855  his  father,  Sylvanus  Dodge,  went  on 
from  South  Danvers,  followed  in  the  autumn  by  the 
mother.  They  lived,  in  the  winter  of  1855-56,  at 
Omaha,  which  the  reader  will  remember  is  on  the 
western  bank  of  the  Missouri,  directly  opposite  Coun- 
cil Bluffs  on  the  eastern  ;  and  in  May,  1856,  they,  too, 
sought  a  home  on  the  Elkhorn,  but  at  the  expiration 
of  eighteen  months  they  returned  to  be  with  Gren- 
ville,  and  Council  Bluffs  has  been  the  home  of  the 
family  from  then  until  now.  The  father  had  taken 
an  active  part  in  settling  the  territory  and  organizing 
the  government  of  Nebraska,  and  was  subsequently 
made  the  Register  of  the  United  States  Land  Office 
for  the  district  where  he  had  lived.  He  died  about 
sixteen  years  ago,  surrounded  by  his  wife,  children 
and  grandchildren,  and  greatly  respected  and  beloved 
by  all  who  knew  him,  while  his  last  days  were  made 
happy  with  the  thought  that,  after  all  the  toils  and 
struggles,  changes  and  pilgrimages  of  seventy  years, 
his  household  was  finally  established  in  a  secure  home, 
and  had  risen  to  prominence  and  prosperity. 

Grenville,  after  his  return  from  the  Elkhorn  to 
Council  Bluffs,  in  1855,  busied  himself  for  several 
years  in  civil  engineering,  banking,  real  estate  and 
mercantile  business.  He  was  active  and  influential 
in  advancing  the  interests  of  the  rising  town,  and 
organized  for  it  a  military  company,  known  as  "  The 
Council  Bluffs  Guards."  He  was  chosen  its  captain, 
and  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  he  tendered  the 
services  of  this  company  to  the  Governor  of  the  State, 
as  the  nucleus  of  the  First  Iowa  Infantry.  The  Gov- 
ernor deemed  it  best  that  this  organization  should 
remain  where  it  was,  in  order  to  protect  the  exposed 
western  frontier  border ;  but  accepted  the  individual 
services  of  Captain  Dodge  himself,  and  sent  him  to 
Washington  to  arrange  for  the  arming  and  equipping 
of  the  Iowa  troops.  The  result  was  that  Captain 
Dodge,  gaining  the  confidence  and  favor  of  Mr.  Cam- 
eron, Secretary  of  War,  was  remarkably  successful  in 
his  mission,  and  at  once  returned  to  rai?e  the  Fourth 
Iowa  Infantry  Regiment,  of  which  he  was  duly  com- 
missioned as  the  colonel,  and  also  the  Second  Iowa 


Battery,  which  took  his  own  name.  With  this  com- 
mand he  marched,  in  July,  1861,  to  Northwestern 
Missouri,  and  drove  out  thence  a  considerable  force 
of  insurgents,  who  were  under  the  lead  of  Poindexter. 
During  the  next  month  he  reported  with  his  regiment 
and  battery  to  General  Fremont  at  St.  Louis,  and,  in 
October,  was  ordered  by  him  to  the  frontier  ])0st  at 
Rolla,  Mo.,  where  he  was  placed  in  command.  At 
the  head  of  the  Fourth  Brigade  of  the  Army  of  the 
Southwest,  he  advanced  upon  Springfield,  in  the  same 
State,  and  captured  it.  Pursuing  the  enemy  south- 
ward, he  led  the  advance,  was  in  the  engagements  at 
Cane  and  Sugar  Creeks,  in  February,  1862,  and  on 
the  27th  of  the  same  month,  defeated  Gates  at  Black- 
burn's Mills,  Ark.  He  bore  a  very  prominent  part, 
and  stubbornly  met  the  very  brunt  of  war,  in  the 
famous  battle  of  Pea  Ridge,  where  the  rebel  power 
was  broken  in  Missouri  and  North  Arkansas.  Here 
he  had  three  horses  shot  under  him,  and  was  severely 
wounded ;  and  for  his  gallantry  in  this  fight  he  was 
made  brigadier-general,  at  the  request  of  Major-Gen- 
eral  Halleck,  who  had  succeeded  Fremont  in  charge 
of  the  Western  Department.  After  recovering  from 
his  wounds  he  reported  by  telegraph  to  the  War  De- 
partment, and  was  assigned  to  the  command  of  the 
District  of  Columbus,  Ky.  Soon  after  receiving  this 
appointment,  he  accomplished  with  great  vigor  and 
success  the  rebuilding  of  the  Mobile  and  Ohio  Rail- 
road, which  had  been  wholly  destroyed  by  the  rebels, 
and  then,  in  June,  he  had  a  sharj)  skirmish  with  a 
body  of  the  enemy,  handling  his  forces  with  such 
skill  and  effect  as  to  call  forth  the  hearty  commenda- 
tion of  both  Halleck  and  Quimby.  In  further  recog- 
nition of  these  services,  he  was  honored  with  the 
command  of  the  Central  Division  of  the  Mississippi, 
with  headquarters  at  Trenton,  Tenn.  While  here  his 
troops  captured  various  towns,  and  defeated  Villipigne 
on  the  Hatchee  river,  after  which  his  command  was 
enlarged,  and  his  headquarters  were  again  established 
at  Columbus.  He  signalized  his  return  to  this  post 
by  another  signal  victory,  capturing  General  Faulkner 
and  his  forces  near  island  No.  10,  and  taking  many 
prisoners. 

In  the  autumn  of  1862,  immediately  after  the  battle 
of  Corinth,  he  was  charged  with  the  Second  Division 
of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee,  in  the  district  organ- 
ized and  commanded  by  General  Grant.  Perhaps  it 
was  here  that  began  the  strong  friendship  which,  for  so 
many  years,  has  subsisted  between  our  hero  and  the 
great  chieftain.  General  Dodge  was  soon  assigned 
to  the  command  of  the  District  of  Corinth.  In  the 
spring  of  1863  he  defeated  the  Confederate  forces 
under  Forrest  and  other  consijicuous  rebel  officers. 
He  raised  and  equipped  large  numbers  of  colored 
troops.  His  education  and  experience  as  a  civil 
engineer  proved  of  invaluable  service  to  him  and  the 
cause  in  rebuilding  the  railroads  destroyed  by  the 
enemy.  But  he  knew  how  to  smash  things  as  well  as 
to  repair  them,  as  when  he  shortly  conducted  the  im- 


DANVERS. 


559 


portant  campaign  up  the   Tennessee  Valley  to  the 
neighborhood  of  Decatur,  in  the  rear  of  Bragg's  army, 
breaking  up  its  connections  and  cutting  off  and  wast- 
ing its  supplies,  and  aiding  in  the  rout  and  destruc- 
tion of  that  general's  forces.     The  Confederate  gov- 
ernment estimated  the  stores  and  property  of  various 
kinds  which  he  thus  destroyed  at  many  millions  of 
dollars.     On  July  5,  1863,  he  was  appointed  to  com- 
mand the  left  wing  of  the  Sixteenth  Army  Corps, 
with  headquarters  at  Corinth,  Miss.     In  connection 
with  a  movement  from  Vicksburg,  he  made  a  raid  on 
Grenada,  of  that  State,  which  drove  the  enemy  south 
of  the  place,  and  resulted  in  the  capture  of  an  immense 
number  of  cars  and  locomotives.     While  at  the  head 
of  the  Sixteenth  Army  Corps  he  joined  General  Sher- 
man in  his  march  to  Chattanooga,  and  wintered  with 
his  men  on  the  line  of  the  Nashville  and  Decatur 
Railroad.     "He  is  an   able  otficer,"  wrote  Grant  to 
Sherman,  "one  whom  you  can  rely  upon  in  an  emer- 
gency."    And  the  reliance  was  to  be  on  his  skill  and 
energy  as  an  engineer,  as  well  as  on  his  sagacity  and 
prowess  as  a  warrior.     Grant  could  not  subsi^^t  his 
forces  at  Chattanooga  except  as  the  Nashville  and 
Decatur  Railroad  should  be  rebuilt ;  and  this  hercu- 
lean task  was  fulfilled  by  General  Dodge  with  amazing 
despatch  and  efficiency.     Within  about  forty  days  he 
reconstructed  and  completed  the  whole  line,  including 
one  hundred  and  eighty-three  bridges,  trestles  and 
other  structures,  while  in  the  same  period  he  captured 
Decatur,  Ala.,  with  all  its  garrison,  in  a  well-planned 
night  attack.     In  the  spring  of  1864  he  was  entrusted 
with  the  advance  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee,  one 
of  the  three  armies  consolidated  for  the  Atlanta  cam- 
paign.    As  the  mighty  host  moved  forward,  Dodge 
drove  back  the  enemy  on  their  railway  at  Resaca,  and 
participated  in  the  battle  at  that  place  a  few  days 
later.     He  repulsed  a  dangerous  night  attack  of  the 
foe  at  Nickajack  Creek,  Dallas,  and  it  was  his  men  who 
reached  nearest  the  rebel  lines  on  the  crest  of  Kene- 
saw  Mountain.     At  Ruff's  Mills  he  defeated  a  strong 
force  from  General  Hood's  Corps,  and  shortly  after- 
ward constructed,  with  his  usual  lightning  sjaeed  and 
wonderful   skill,   a   substantial   double-track    bridge 
across  the   Chattahoochee,   seventeen'  hundred   feet 
long  and  twelve   feet   high,  over  which   the   entire 
Army  of  the  Tenne.^see,  with  all  its  trains  and  artil- 
lery, marched  with  safety.    For  his  brave  and  faithful 
and  effective  services  in  this  campaign  he  was  made 
major-general    by  the   government  at   Washington. 
When  the  Confederates  under  General  Hood  made 
the  fierce  attack  under  which  McPherson  fell  mortally 
wounded.  Dodge's  corps  bore  the  brunt  of  the  encoun- 
ter, and  through  his  skill  and  intrepidity,  rescued  the 
Army  of  the  Tennessee  and  turned  the  tide  of  battle, 
capturing   eight  flags   and   a  very  large   number  of 
prisoners.     Says  a  competent  authority  :  "  It  was  one 
of  the  fiercest-fought  contests  of  the  whole  war.     It  is 
not  too  much  to  say  that  here,  as  at  Pea  Ridge,  Gen- 
eral Dodge  saved  the  Union  army  from  terrible  disas- 


ter. Riding  rapidly  up  and  down  his  lines,  he  encour- 
aged his  men  to  hold  their  ground  or  die  in  the 
attempt.  This  corps  was  in  all  the  battles  in  the 
march  to  Atlanta,  and  no  one,  in  proportion  to  its 
size,  in  the  whole  consolidated  army,  lost  so  many 
killed  and  wounded." 

During  the  siege  of  Atlanta  General  Dodge  was 
himself  again  wounded,  receiving  a  gun-shot  in  the 
forehead  while  he  was  standing  in  the  rifle-pit  on  the 
skirmish  line,  superintending  an  advance.  This  was 
on  the  19th  of  August,  1864.  The  writer  of  this 
sketch  contributed  some  account  of  the  hero  and  this 
peril  to  his  life,  together  with  a  narrative  of  occur- 
rences that  took  place  immediately  afterward,  to  the 
Da?ivers  Mirror,  in  1877  ;  and  the  following  extract 
from  his  communication  may  not  be  amiss  here: 

"  The  papers,  I  remember,  reported  him  killed,  and 
some  of  them  gave  obituary  notices  of  him,  which  the 
general  must  have  read  some  time  afterward  w-ith  a 
lively  interest.  Our  sorrow  was,  however,  soon  turned 
to  joy,  for  it  was  soon  announced  that  he  was  not 
dead,  but  was  still  liviug  and  would  doubtless  recover. 
In  his  weakened  condition  he  was  granted  a  furlough, 
and  took  the  opportunity  to  visit  his  friends  at  the 
East  and  there  recruit  his  strength.  I  met  him  on 
his  way  to  Boston,  on  board  one  of  the  Sound  steamers. 
It  had  been  many  years  since  I  had  seen  him,  but  I 
readily  recognized  him  among  the  passengers  who 
swarmed  the  deck,  and  we  had  a  long  chat  about  the 
recent  occurrences,  and  the  great  events  of  the  war, 
and  about  old  personal  friends  and  associations.  I 
told  him  that  Edward  Everett  was  to  speak  on  the 
afternoon  of  the  next  day  at  Faneuil  Hall,  in  advo- 
cacy of  the  re-election  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  that 
he  ought  certainly  to  be  present.  He  said  he  had 
never  heard  Mr.  Everett,  and  expressed  a  desire  and 
purpose  to  be  there.  On  our  arrival  at  the  Parker 
House  early  the  next  morning,  I  looked  into  the  first- 
issued  papers  and  ascertained  who  were  the  commit- 
tee of  arrangements  for  the  meeting.  The  notices 
made  mention  of  various  distinguished  men  who  were 
expected  to  grace  the  occasion,  but  the  name  of  Gen- 
eral Dodge  was  not  in  the  list,  for  none  knew  of  his 
coming.  I  immediately  despatched  a  messenger  to 
one  of  the  committee,  and  informed  him  that  General 
Dodge  had  just  arrived  in  town.  The  general  was 
speedily  waited  upon  and  invited  to  a  place  on  the 
platform,  with  other  eminent  men,  at  the  approaching 
meeting.  The  hour  of  assembling  came  at  length, 
and  I  was  with  the  crowd  on  the  floor.  By  and  by 
the  long  line  of  State  and  city  officials,  and  of  the 
gifted  sons  of  Massachusetts  who  usually  surrounded 
the  matchless  orator  whenever  he  spoke  in  public 
there  in  Boston,  began  to  file  up  from  below  and  to 
appear  upon  the  stage,  where  they  seated  themselves 
as  best  they  could.  The  general  was  there,  occupying 
a  place  at  the  left  of  the  speaker  and  near  the  front 
of  the  platform,  and  arrayed,  like  certain  other  army 
officers  who  were  with  him,  in  his  military  costume. 


560 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Charles  G.  Loring  presided,  and  in  his  opening  and 
well-prepared  address,  referred  to  some  of  the  renowned 
heroes  of  the  war  and  friends  of  the  country.  I  doubt 
whether  he  knew  that  General  Dodge  was  close  at 
hand.  Certainly  the  thousands  before  him  did  not. 
But  Mr.  Everett  did,  and  I  shall  never  forget  the 
thrilling  effect  which  his  words  and  action  produced, 
when,  on  being  presented  to  the  vast  multitude,  he 
came  forward  in  his  most  spirited,  yet  ever  graceful 
manner,  and  said,  with  eloquent  voice,  that  the  chair- 
man had  given  us  the  names  of  not  a  few  who  had 
deserved  well  of  the  nation,  and  whom  they  all 
delighted  to  honor,  but  he  had  forgotten  to  mention 
one  who  was  present  with  them,  who  was  fresh  from 
the  battle-fields,  and  who  could  tell  us  that  all  was 
well  at  the  seat  of  war — Major- General  Dodge,  of  the 
Army  of  the  West.  The  enthusiasm  was  very  great, 
and  cries  immediately  came  from  all  parts  of  the  hall 
—"Dodge!"  "Dodge!"  "Dodge!"  until  the  modest 
soldier  was  obliged  to  rise  and  allow  himself  to  be 
seen  of  the  assembled  thousands.  The  applause  that 
greeted  him  was  simply  tremendous,  and  the  scene 
which  was  there  witnessed,  as  the  Western  warrior 
with  his  ghastly  wound,  and  the  polished  and  silver- 
tongued  orator  of  the  East,  stood  side  by  side  before 
the  excited  multitude,  only  lacked  one  thing  to  make 
it  beggar  all  description.  A  master  of  the  art  like 
Mr.  Everett  could  not  fail  at  such  a  moment.  "  Yes! 
fellow-citizens,"  he  exclaimed,  with  deepening  emo- 
tion and  ringing  tones,  as  he  pointed  his  quivering 
finger  at  the  brow  of  the  hero — "  Yes,  fellow-citizens, 
and  wearing  upon  his  forehead  honorable  scars,  which 
he  gained  while  imperiling  his  life  in  the  defence  of 
the  Union  !"  This  was  the  needed  climax,  and  it  was 
perfect.  I  think  I  do  not  say  too  much  when  I  add 
that  what  I  have  here  described  was  the  most  interest- 
ing and  inspiring  incident  of  the  occasion,  and  I  felt 
quite  satisfied  with  the  success  of  my  little  plan,  and 
the  reception  which  was  extended  to  the  Danvers  sol- 
dier boy.  The  honors  which  were  showered  upon 
him  a  few  days  later,  in  his  native  town  and  its  vicin- 
ity, your  readers  all  remember." 

Concerning  the  terrible  wound  which  the  general 
had  received,  a  writer  said :  "  The  ball  struck  the 
forehead  at  the  upper  edge  over  the  left  eye,  tore  oflf  a 
portion  of  the  scalp,  and  then,  passing  backwards, 
tore  a  gutter  two  or  three  inches  in  length  through 
the  scalp.  The  skull  is  not  fractured,  though  it  re- 
ceived a  severe  stroke.  He  was  immediately  conveyed 
to  his  quarters,  where  he  now  lies.  He  will  be  sent 
North  as  soon  as  practicable." 

As  soon  as  he  was  again  fit  for  duty,  General  Dodge 
once  more  reported  to  General  Sherman,  who  thought 
he  was  still  too  weak  to  continue  the  great  march  to 
the  sea,  and  President  Lincoln,  at  the  instance  of 
General  Grant,  assigned  him  to  the  Department  of 
the  Missouri,  where  he  relieved  General  Rosecranz. 
The  national  troops  in  Missouri  had  become  quite 
demoralized,  and  the  State  was  run  over  by  guerillas 


and  marauders.  General  Dodge  brought  order  out  of 
anarchy,  notwithstanding  he  had  been  called  upon  to 
send  th«  great  body  of  his  organized  troops  to  Gen- 
eral Thomas  at  Nashville,  who,  by  this  timely  aid, 
was  all  the  more  enabled  to  win  the  glorious  victory 
he  gained  immediately  afterwards.  At  the  same 
time,  Kansas  and  Utah  were  merged  into  his  com- 
mand, adding  greatly  to  his  cares  and  responsibil- 
ties.  Winter  had  come,  and  the  States  and  Territo- 
ries which  were  entrusted  to  him  were  vast  in 
extent ;  yet  he  set  in  motion  the  fresh  forces  he  had 
raised  from  the  loyal  men  in  each  county,  broke  up 
the  bands  of  guerillas  and  marauders,  and  compelled 
the  Indians,  who  were  warring  on  the  settlements 
from  the  Red  River  of  the  North  to  the  Red  River  of 
Texas,  to  sue  for  peace.  He  received  the  surrender 
of  four  thousand  of  Kirby  Smith's  army  in  Missouri 
and  of  the  Confederate  General  Jefferson  Thompson, 
with  eight  thousand  officers  and  men  in  Arkansas. 
His  experience  and  observations  in  these  parts  of 
the  country  led  him  to  advocate  the  handing  over  of 
the  Indian  tribes  to  the  War  Department,  to  be 
treated  as  wards  of  the  nation  and  as  no  longer  inde- 
pendent and  treaty-making  powers. 

Of  the  military  merit  and  the  patriotic  services  of 
this  gallant  and  battle-scarred  soldier  of  the  Union, 
it  is  meet  that  we  should  here  let  those  testify  who 
have  been  most  competent  to  judge  and  from  whose 
words  there  is  no  appeal.  Among  them  are  the 
greatest  of  the  generals  and  not  a  few  of  the  war 
Governors  and  other  illustrious  leaders  of  the  na- 
tion's cause,  to  say  nothing  of  the  concurrent  and 
unanimous  voice  of  subordinate  officers  and  privates 
in  the  armies  which  he  commanded.  He  continu- 
ously and  abundantly  shared  the  trust  and  admira- 
tion of  General  Grant,  through  whose  influence  or 
direct  appointments  he  was  repeatedly  promoted  to 
higher  positions  and  honors,  as  has  already  been  suf- 
ficiently indicated.  Their  strong  friendship  for  each 
other  remained  unbroken,  and  is  a  matter  of  history. 
Ex-Governor  Noyes,  of  Ohio,  himself  a  maimed  and 
noble  veteran  of  the  war,  says :  "  We  all  regarded 
General  Dodge  as  one  of  the  best  officers  of  the  army, 
— a  man  of  great  practical,  common  sense,  of  distin- 
guished gallantry,  of  a  patriotic  spirit  and  of  mili- 
tary genius."  General  Sherman  writes :  "  General 
Dodge  is  one  of  the  generals  who  actually  fought 
throughout  the  Civil  War  with  great  honor  and  great 
skill,  commanding  a  regiment,  brigade,  division,  and 
finally  a  corps  d'armee,  the  highest  rank  command  to 
which  any  officer  can  attain."  General  Sheridan 
acknowledges  the  timely  and  effective  aid  he  received 
from  him  while  he  himself  was  chief  quartermaster 
and  chief  commissary,  and  says  that  he  "  did  splen- 
didly" at  Pea  Ridge,  and  was  "spoken  of  by  officers 
and  men  of  the  array  in  the  very  highest  terms." 
Governor  Kirk  wood,  of  Iowa,  whites :  "General  Dodge 
is  one  of  the  very  best  military  men  from  this  State. 
He  is  emphatically  a  fighting  man.     There  is  not  a 


DANVERS. 


561 


more  gallant  soldier  in  the  army,  nor  one  more 
worthy  or  capable."  Said  the  excellent  Senator 
Grimes :  "  There  are  very  few  officers  the  eq'ual,  and 
none  the  superior,  of  General  G.  M.  Dodge,  of  this 
State,  now  and  for  a  long  time  in  command  at  Cor- 
inth, Miss.  He  has  always  been  selected  for  the 
most  resiDonsible  jiosts,  and  has  always  filled  the 
highest  expectations  formed  of  him."  Judge  Dillon, 
the  eminent  jurist,  testifies:  "No  officer  in  the  ser- 
vice from  Iowa  has  acquired  more  just  and  deserved 
distinction  ;  no  one  has  been  more  faithful,  and  I 
may  and  should  add,  more  useful  and  efficient ;"  and 
in  the  same  connection  he  speaks  of  "  his  great  expe- 
rience, his  sleepless  vigilance,  his  unconquerable  en- 
ergy, and,  above  all,  his  solid  judgment  and  great 
practical  talents."  Major  General  Oglesby,  anxious 
to  serve  the  country's  best  interests,  urged  on  Pres- 
ident Lincoln  his  nomination  as  major  general,  say- 
ing :  "  I  know  of  no  officer  at  this  time  more  deserving, 
nor  of  any  who  seeks  the  honor  less.  I  am  willing  to 
be  held  reponsible  for  his  official  acts."  But  it  is  not 
necessary  to  proceed  further  with  such  tributes,  which 
might  easily  be  multiplied  to  whatever  extent. 

Another  momentous  service  was  entered  upon  by 
General  Dodge  after  the  war  was  ended.  Soon  after 
he  first  went  to  the  West,  and  while  yet  a  youth,  he 
wrote  to  his  father  a  prophetic  letter,  which  was  pub- 
lished in  the  local  paper  in  his  native  town,  and  in 
which  he  indicated  a  plan  or  route  for  a  transconti- 
nental railway.  It  was  a  cherished  dream  which  one 
day  he  was  to  see  realized,  and  that,  too,  very  largely 
through  his  own  instrumentality.  To  this  end,  ex- 
tensive surveys  and  reconnoissances  were  made  by 
him  as  early  as  between  the  years  1853  and  1858. 
The  Union  Pacific  Railroad  was  chartered  by  the 
United  States  Government,  July  1,  1862,  and  the 
next  year  the  first  regular  organization  was  effected, 
General  John  A.  Dix  being  elected  President.  Other 
surveyors  were  in  the  field,  and  the  work  was  in 
process  of  construction  during  the  war.  When  the 
bloody  conflict  was  well  over,  General  Dodge  was 
unanimously  chosen  by  the  directory  as  the  chief 
engineer  of  the  line.  This  was  on  the  1st  of  May, 
186G.  The  service  was  most  congenial  to  him,  and 
he  readily  accepted  it,  General  Sherman,  who  was  in 
command  of  the  vast  department  beyond  the  Missis- 
sippi, yielding  his  consent  as  General  Dodge  resigned 
for  the  purpose  his  commission  in  the  army.  The 
latter  entered  upon  his  new  undertaking  with  all  his 
accustomed  courage  and  zeal,  and  "  organized  a  sys- 
tematic exploration  of  the  country  from  the  Arkansas 
River  on  the  South  to  the  Sweet  Water  on  the  North, 
and  developed  the  country  with  preliminary  lines 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Lodge  Pole  through  to  the 
California  State  line."  His  judgment,  long  years  be- 
fore, as  to  the  best  practicable  route  for  the  road,  was 
confirmed  by  these  fresh  and  extensive  surveys,  and 
the  Union  Pacific  of  to-day  follows  very  nearly  the 
line  which  he  himself  was  the  first  to  mark  out. 
36 


Scarcely  had  he  begun  thus  to  superintend  this 
colossal  enterprise,  when  his  grateful  and  admiring 
fellow-citizens  in  Iowa,  while  he  was  absent  from 
home,  nominated  him,  in  July,  1866,  as  representa- 
tive to  Congress.  Although  he  had  been  and  still 
was  an  ardent  Republican,  and  had  been  a  warm 
friend  and  supporter  of  President  Lincoln  and  other 
great  men  of  the  party,  it  would  have  been  strange  if 
his  name  should  have  failed  to  win  the  sympathy 
and  favor  of  men  of  other  political  associations. 
Consenting  to  be  a  candidate,  he  was  triumphantly 
elected  by  about  five  thousand  majority  over  a  very 
popular  competitor;  but  after  serving  for  a  single 
term  at  Washington,  he  declined  to  allow  his  name 
to  be  used  again  in  this  connection,  choosing  rather 
to  return  to  a  more  uninterrupted,  personal  supervis- 
ion of  his  responsible  and  gigantic  interests  and  cares 
in  the  West.  As  a  member  of  the  National  House  of 
Representatives,  he  served  on  the  Committee  on  Mil- 
itary Affairs,  secured  the  reimbursement  of  Iowa  for 
her  expenses  during  the  war,  gave  special  attention 
to  the  re-organization  of  the  army  and  to  the  defence 
of  the  border  against  the  Indians,  and  advocated  the 
claims  of  the  Union  Pacific  Road  upon  the  country's 
favor  and  support.  He  was  not  a  frequent  speaker 
on  the  floor;  but  whenever  he  felt  called  upon  to 
address  the  house,  his  words  were  pertinent  and 
weighty,  and  were  listened  to  with  marked  attention. 
Yet  his  influence  was  more  particularly  exercised  in 
a  practical  direction,  and  his  exceptionally  large  and 
intimate  acquaintance  with  military  matters  and  with 
the  immense  Territories  of  the  West,  with  all  their 
native  tribes  and  boundless  resources  and  capabil- 
ities, enabled  him  to  be  a  most  valuable  counsellor 
and  helper  in  many  important  questions  of  legislative 
or  governmental  action. 

From  May,  1866,  until  May,  1869,  the  corps  of 
engineers  under  the  direction  of  General  Dodge  had 
run  not  less  than  fifteen  thousand  miles  of  instru- 
mental lines  and  made  as  many  as  twenty-five  thou- 
sand miles  of  reconnoissances,  so  as  thoroughly  to 
develop  the  country  and  determine  the  location  of 
the  road.  Impressive  or  astonishing  as  may  seem 
the  bare  statement,  it  yet  fails  to  give  any  adequate 
idea  of  the  toil  and  the  hardships  that  were  endured, 
and  the  difficulties  and  perils  that  were  overcome,  in 
this  three  years'  service.  The  engineers  were  fre- 
quently exposed,  not  only  to  severe  inclemencies  of 
the  weather  and  to  much  scarcity  of  food  and  water, 
but  also  and  especially  to  the  hostility  of  the  Indians, 
whose  roving  bands  or  more  formidable  organized 
forces  beset  them  and  threatened  them  from  begin- 
ning to  end.  Nothing  could  be  done  without  the 
protection  of  troops;  but  even  with  this  safeguard, 
members  of  the  corps  were  often  killed,  and  their 
parties  dispersed.  Again  and  again  General  Dodge 
and  his  men  were  obliged  to  give  battle  to  these  wily 
and  savage  foes,  and  rout  them,  and  pursue  them  to 
a  distance,  so  that  the  work  could  go  on.     It  was  not 


562 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


alone  that  his  explorers  and  surveyors  had   to  fifld 
their  hazardous  way  across  streams,  and  through  for- 
ests, and  along  deep  valleys,  and   over  high  moun- 
tains, and  amidst  heavy  falls  of  rain  or  snow  ;  but  at 
every  point  the  location  of  the  line  had  to  be  deter- 
mined, with  the  utmost  scientific  skill,  with  reference 
to  the  extraordinary  natural  features  of  the  territory, 
its  climatic  iniiuences  and  the  grade  and  protection 
necessary  to  guard  the   road  against  the  effects  of 
storms  and   floods.    Not  only  was  the  general  the 
chief  engineer  of  the  road,  but  he  was  also  the  agent 
and  trustee  of  the  company,  to  secure  its  right  of 
way,  to  receive  and  dispose  of  the  lands  granted  to  it 
by  the  United  States  government  and  to  lay  out  and 
locate  the  towns  and  town  sites  along  the  route.     If 
he  was  brave  to  fight  and  strong  to  scatter  the  Indian 
bands  that  molested  him,  he  knew  well  how  to  treat 
with  them,  dealing  with  them  equitably  and  never 
betraying  their  confidence.    So  far  as  his  engineering 
achievement  was  concerned,  the  chief  difficulty  was 
to  be  met  in  carrying  the  road  over  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tain range.     But  this  Titanic  work  was  accomplished 
at  length.    The  tracks  of  the  Central  Pacific  and  the 
Union  Pacific  finally  met  on  Promontory,  and  as  the 
lightning    flashed    the    intelligence   to   the   nations, 
"swiftly  the  telegrams   of  congratulation    began   to 
pour  in  upon  the  then  most  conspicuous  engineer  in 
the  world."     General  Sherman   sent  word   to  him : 
''All   honor  to   you,  to   Durant,  to   Jack  and   Dan 
Casement,  to  Eeed  and  the  thousands  of  brave  fel- 
lows who  have  wrought  out  this  glorious  problem 
spite  of  changes,  storms,  and  even  the  doubts  of  the 
incredulous,  and  all  the  obstacles  you  have  now  hap- 
pily surmounted."     General  Dodge  was  immediately 
charged  with  the  delicate  task  of  adjusting  the  rela- 
tions between  the  two  roads,  and  this,  too,  after  much 
negotiation,  was  successfully  done.     And  so  another 
great  victory  was  won  in  the  brilliant  and  eventful 
career  of    this   gifted    and   enterprising  son   of  old 
Essex.     In  the  prosecution  of  the  undertaking,  other 
difficulties  than  those  which  have  been  particularly 
referred  to  had  to  be  met.     There  were  unfriendly 
criticisms,  and  unfounded  accusations,  and  nameless 
hindrances  on  the  part  of  politicians  and  newspapers. 
But  the  general  knew  what  he  was  about.     The  gov- 
ernment saw,  as  well   as  himself,  the  unspeakable 
importance  of  this  transcontinental  railway   to   the 
nation  then  and  in  all  the  future.     While  he  was  in 
Congress  and  while  he  was  out  of  it,  he  commanded 
the  entire  confidence  of  Lincoln  and  Johnson,  Grant 
and  Sherman,  and  all  the  leading  men  at  Washing- 
ton, as  well  as  the  officers  of  the  company  whose  sal- 
aried servant  or  agent  he  was.     Such  was  his  influ- 
ence with  them  that,  in  connection  with  others  whose 
names  will  ever  be  honorably  associated  with  the 
work,  he  was  instrumental  in  securing  the  constantly 
favorable  action  of  Congress,  and  so  making  sure  the 
end  in  view.    More  and  more,  as  the  years  go  on,  the 
vastness  and  beneficence  of  this  service  will  be  appa- 


rent, and  the  approving  words  of  the  several  succes- 
sive committees  appointed  by  Congress  to  examine, 
investigute  and  report  in  relation  to  it  will  find  a 
still  ampler  justification. 

While  General  Dodge  still  held  the  position  as 
chief  engineer,  the  famous  Chinese  embassy,  with 
Anson  Burlingame  at  its  head,  visited  America, 
passed  over  the  Union  Pacific  Road,  and  made 
known  their  desire  to  secure  the  services  of  some 
one  who  should  take  charge  of  like  public  works  in 
their  own  vast  empire.  President  Grant  at  once  rec- 
ommended to  them  General  Dodge,  who  signified  his 
readiness  to  accept  the  position,  willing  to  serve  for 
a  limited  time  and  desiring  to  see  the  country;  but 
Burlingame  died  shortly  after,  and  the  plan  was 
abandoned. 

In  1868  General  Dodge  was  elected  a  director  of 
the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Company,  and  has  since 
remained  in  that  relationship.  The  same  year  he 
was  delegate-at-large  from  Iowa,  and  the  chairman  of 
the  Iowa  delegation  to  the  National  Republican  Con- 
vention at  Chicago,  and  was  very  influential  in  deter- 
mining the  results  of  the  proceedings  of  that  occasion. 
When,  in  1870,  the  Iowa  Legislature  passed  a  law  for 
the  erection  of  a  new  State-house,  he  was  made  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Capitol  Commissioners,  and 
was  charged  with  the  duty  of  supervising  the  work. 
It  was  in  1870,  also,  that  he  tendered  his  resignation 
as  the  chief  engineer  of  the  Union  Pacific,  and 
received  the  "  very  hearty  thanks  "  of  the  company 
for  his  "eminent  services,"  Oakes  Ames,  the  presi- 
dent, writing  to  him  a  letter  in  which  he  said,  "  When 
we  consider  the  great  difficulties  and  dangers  that 
beset  you  on  all  sides  while  locating  the  road  through 
an  uninhabited  country,  and  the  rapidity  with  which 
the  work  was  accomplished,  we  are  gratified  and  sur- 
prised that  you  should  have  finished  this  work  in  so  per- 
fect and  acceptable  a  manner."  Early  in  April,  1872,  he 
became  the  chief  engineer  of  the  company  which  had 
contracted  to  build  the  Texas  and  Pacific  Railway, 
and  has  continued  for  ten  years  to  develop  the  wild 
regions,  and  bring  to  light  the  hidden  resources  of  the 
territory  south  of  the  Red  River,  as  before  he  had 
rendered  a  like,  yet  larger,  service  north  of  it.  A 
portion  of  the  latter  line  was  built  by  the  Pacific 
Railway  Improvement  Company,  a  corporation  which 
he  organized,  and  of  which  he  became  the  president. 
Of  other  such  companies  he  has  also  been  president : 
the  American  Railway  Improvement  Company,  the 
International  Railway  Improvement  Company,  the 
Texas  and  Colorado  Railway  Improvement  Company 
and  the  Missouri,  Kansas  and  Texas  Railway  Com- 
pany, and  he  is,  at  present,  the  president  of  the  Pan 
Handle  Construction  Company  and  the  Colorado  and 
Texas  Railway  Construction  Company.  These  lines 
have  been  projected  with  the  view  of  connecting 
together  the  most  important  and  widely-separated 
points  in  the  West  and  Southwest,  and  of  opening 
the  vast   interiors  to   the   tide  of  immigration   and 


^{'i^etiK^SSR^g^-. 


^. 


-S"^  ^tyAH-RiUTv-e 


^.  iVVM^^AWi^^A;^ 


DANVERS. 


563 


travel,  and  to  the  commerce  of  river,  gulf  and  ocean. 
One  has  but  to  study  a  little  the  advancing  railway 
system  that  is  spreading  over  all  those  immense  tracts 
of  territory,  to  see  what  an  inestimable  service 
General  Dodge  is  still  rendering  to  his  country  and 
to  the  future. 

Of  all  his  pioneer  life,  and  his  explorations  into 
every  part  of  this  mighty  domain ;  his  personal  ven- 
tures, perils  and  escapes;  his  extensive  banking  and 
stock  operations  and  connections;  his  active  partici- 
pation in  political  conventions  and  campaigns,  and  in 
reunions  of  military  organizations;  his  repeated  visits 
abroad  and  tours  in  other  lands ;  his  business  interests 
at  Council  Bluffs  and  vicinity,  and  his  domestic  rela- 
tions, there  is  not  space  here  for  us  to  write  as  we 
gladly  would.  In  character  he  is  modest,  earnest, 
faithful  and  true.  He  is  quiet,  but  forcible  in  con- 
versation, using  no  superfluous  words,  but  expressing 
his  thought  in  language  that  is  simple  and  direct. 
Possessed  of  a  friendly  spirit  toward  all,  and  most 
affectionate  in  his  relations  to  family  and  kindred,  he 
is  an  object  of  great  regard  and  pride  at  home,  and 
amongst  all  who  know  him.  In  person  he  is  of  medium 
height,  of  spare  build  and  agile  frame,  with  strongly 
marked  features,  indicative,  in  every  line,  of  the 
patience  and  perseverance,  the  intelligence,  courage 
and  energy,  that  have  crowned  his  career  with  such 
success. 

The  general's  family  consists  of  his  wife  and  three 
children.  Again  and  again,  when  he  was  sick  or 
wounded  during  the  war,  Mrs.  Dodge  travelled  great 
distances  to  be  at  his  side,  and  to  tenderly  and  faith- 
fully nurse  him  into  health  and  strength  once  more 
for  his  country's  service.  The  children,  who  have 
received  their  education  abroad  as  well  as  at  home, 
are  Lettie,  Ella  and  Annie.  The  first  is  the  wife  of 
Mr.  R.  E.  Montgomery,  a  lawyer  of  Fort  Worth, 
Texas ;  the  second  married  Mr.  Frank  Pusey,  son  of 
ex-Congressman  Pusey,  of  Council  Bluffs;  the  third 
lives  with  her  parents,  and  "  has  displayed  considera- 
ble literary  talent,  being  an  occasional  contributor  to 
some  of  the  magazines."  The  family  mansion  is  one 
of  the  finest  and  most  attractive  in  the  city,  elegant 
in  its  appointments  and  beautiful  for  its  situation. 
Nathan  P.  Dodge,  the  brother  of  the  general,  is  a 
banker,  and  a  prominent  and  very  highly  esteemed 
citizen  of  Council  Bluffs.  Julia,  sister  of  the  two 
brothers,  married,  as  previously  stated,  Mr.  J.  B. 
Beard,  and  they  also  reside  in  the  same  place  with 
their  two  sons.  Living  amongst  this  circle  of  her 
children  and  descendants  of  two  or  three  generations 
is  the  venerable  mother,  Mrs.  Sylvanus  Dodge  herself, 
now  in  her  eighty-sixth  year  and  much  burdened 
with  the  infirmities  of  old  age.  From  this  remarka- 
ble woman  the  renowned  engineer  and  soldier  inher- 
ited no  small  share  of  his  fortitude,  energy  and  deter- 
mination. In  all  her  changeful  and  checkered  life, 
and  amidst  all  its  manifold  struggles  and  solicitations, 
her  devotion  to  her  family,  and  her  faith  in  their 


brighter  future,  have  never  flagged  or  wavered.  For 
many  years  she  has  seen  her  hopes  for  their  prosper- 
ity and  usefulness  pass  into  fulfillment,  and  she  still 
survives  to  receive  the  grateful  care  and  undying 
affection  of  the  objects  of  her  maternal  love  and  ser- 
vice. 


PHILIP   H.   WENTWOETH. 

Philip  Henry  Wentworth,  though  not  a  native  of 
Danvers,  was  a  valued  citizen  of  the  town  during 
many  of  the  last  years  of  his  useful  life,  and  there 
ended  his  days.  He  was  born  in  Boston,  July  6, 
1818,  and  was  the  son  of  Philip  Wentworth,  who 
was  born  in  the  same  city,  in  1787.  His  mother's 
name,  previous  to  her  marriage,  was  Eliza  Orrok. 
While  yet  very  young  he  was  sent  to  a  boarding- 
school  in  Dorchester,  kept  by  a  Mr.  Vose,  and  after- 
ward to  school  at  South  Hadley.  Subsequently,  he  at- 
tended the  English  High  School  in  Boston.  At  the  age 
of  sixteen  he  entered  the  dry -goods  commission  house 
ofSayles  &  Hitchcock,  better  known  in  later  yeara 
under  the  name  of  Sayles,  Merriam  &  Co.  Of  this 
firm  he  became  a  partner  when  but  twenty-one.  In 
1841  he  married  Mary  M.  Loing,  of  Newburyport, 
but  formerly  from  the  State  of  Maine.  A  twelve- 
month or  more  afterward  he  went  to  New  York  and 
accejjted  a  partnership  with  Mr.  C.  Laugley,  in  that 
city  ;  but  in  1848  returned  to  Boston,  and  thenceforth 
was  prominently  known  as  of  the  house  of  Stanfield 
&  Wentworth,  or,  still  later,  Stanfield,  Wentworth  & 
Co.  He  had  been  for  some  years  a  resident  of  Rox- 
bury,  when,  his  wife  having  died,  he  was  again  mar- 
ried, June  4, 1856,  to  Miss  Harriet  Lucetta  Daniell, 
daughter  of  the  late  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  N.  Daniell,  also 
of  Roxbury,  and  both  of  blessed  memory.  Mr.  Dan- 
iell will  be  remembered  as  having  long  been  at  the 
head  of  a  large  dry-goods  establishment  in  Summer 
Street,  Boston,  and  all  who  ever  dealt  with  him  or 
knew  him,  gratefully  call  to  mind  the  purity,  recti- 
tude and  loveliness  of  his  character.  Mrs.  Daniell  was 
a  worthy  helpmeet  of  such  a  man  ;  possessing  a  singu- 
larly sweet  and  beautiful  spirit,  and  richly  adorned 
with  the  virtues  and  graces  of  Christian  woman- 
hood. The  influence  of  such  a  parentage  found  a 
new  sphere  for  its  exercise  as  the  new  bride  entered 
the  home  of  the  husband  and  his  four  motherless 
children.  Early  in  1865,  he  removed,  with  his  family, 
to  Danvers,  and  established  himself  on  a  large  and 
valuable  estate  which,  with  its  elegant  mansion  and 
charming  grounds,  continued  to  be  the  place  of  his 
residence  to  the  end  of  his  life.  It  was  after  foui 
other  children  had  been  born  to  him  under  his  second 
marriage  and  while  yet  he  was  pursuing  still  his  suc- 
cessful business  in  Boston  that  the  great  fire  which 
devastated  so  extensive  a  portion  of  that  city  and 
swept  away  in  an  hour  the  fortunes  of  so  many  of  its 
merchants  visited,  with  the  rest,  the  house  of  Stan- 
field, Wentworth  &  Co.,  with  its  destructive  fury. 
Like  so  many  others,  Mr.  Wentworth  never  quite  re- 


564 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


covered  from  the  terrible  effects  of  the  calamity. 
Says  an  obituary  notice  of  him,  which  appeared  in 
the  Commercial  Bulletin,  shortly  after  his  death, — 
"He  met  with  heavy  reverses  at  the  time  of  the  great 
fire  ;  but,  having  the  undiminished  confidence  of  his 
business  connections  soon  reinstated  himself,  and  was 
for  several  years  in  active  business  in  the  firm  of 
Wentworth  &  Case.  Of  late,  he  had  withdrawn  to  a 
large  extent  from  active  business,  spending  much  of 
his  time  at  his  home  in  Danvers,  retaining,  however, 
an  ofl5ce  in  Boston,  where  he  was  to  be  seen  during 
business  hours." 

Among  the  most  marked  features  of  Mr.  Went- 
worth's  character  were  his  indomitable  courage,  en- 
ergy and  perseverance.  Not  even  the  appalling  disas- 
ter that  had  befallen  him,  and  that  has  just  been 
referred  to,  had  any  effect  to  frighten  or  paralyze 
him.  It  only  nerved  him  to  more  heroic  exertions, 
and  it  was  quite  touching  to  see  with  what  manly 
patience  and  determination  he  bravely  strove,  through 
successive  years  and  against  fearful  odds,  to  retrieve 
his  shattered  fortunes.  Thoroughly  honest  and  just, 
he  could  not  bear  to  owe  a  debt  which  he  could  not 
pay,  and  if  ever  one  purposed  and  labored  that  none 
should  be  losers  by  any  mishap  or  calamity  of  his 
own,  it  was  he.  It  was  quite  wonderful  what  victory 
he  wrung  from  the  jaws  of  such  defeat.  His  losses 
were  great,  but  his  gains  were  greater. 

Whatever  his  discouragements,  his  cheerfulness 
never  forsook  him.  His  fine  face  was  always  lighted 
with  its  glow  of  good  feeling  and  of  the  ioy  that  was 
within  and  that  was  too  deep  to  be  much  disturbed  by 
change  of  outward  circumstances.  He  was  habitu- 
ally hearty  and  cordial.  His  welcomes  were  warm 
and  free,  and  his  hospitality  was  genuine  and  boun- 
tiful. He  was  one  of  the  most  generous  of  men  and 
was  one  of  the  truest  of  friends.  He  scorned  things 
that  were  false  or  base,  and  impressed  all  who  knew 
him  or  had  to  do  with  him  with  a  sense  of  the  noble- 
ness of  his  nature.  Nothing  was  more  characteristic 
of  him  than  his  straightforwardness  and  transpa- 
rency of  mind  and  conduct.  It  was  an  element  that 
revealed  itself  in  every  word,  look  and  deed.  He 
was  just  what  he  seemed,  and  no  one  could  for  a 
moment  mistake  his  thought  or  motive,  or  misinter- 
pret his  action  or  life. 

Full  often  the  child  is  the  father  to  the  man,  and 
a  pretty  story  is  told  of  Mr.  Wentworth  as  a  lad,  that 
goes  to  show  how  the  truthfulness  and  frankness 
that  marked  him  in  all  his  mature  years,  was  with 
him  even  at  the  very  first.  It  seems  to  us  as  good 
as  the  story  of  young  George  Washington  and  his 
hatchet,  and  we  venture  to  say  it  is  much  more 
authentic.  The  boys  of  the  neighborhood  where 
"  Phil,"  or  "  Harry,"  as  he  was  also  called,  lived, 
were  once  on  a  time  at  their  winter  play  on  the  Com- 
mon in  the  vicinity  of  Tremont  Street.  There  was 
then  no  fence,  as  now,  between  the  mall  and  the 
thoroughfare,  and   where   to-day  extends   along  the 


eastern  side  a  row  of  shops  and  stores,  there  was  a 
continuous  line  of  handsome  residences  of  princely 
merchants,  "  Harry  "  threw  a  snow-ball  that  went 
directly  through  a  window  of  one  of  these  fine  man- 
sions. The  little  urchins  all  knew  very  well  that  the 
proprietor  was  a  hot-tempered  and  violent  man,  and 
at  once  cried  out,  "Run,  Harry,  run  !"  And  run  he 
did  ;  not  away,  as  doubtless  many  a  boy  would  have 
done,  but  straight  up  the  steps  to  tell  the  family  with- 
in just  what  he  had  done.  Before  he  had  a  chance  to 
ring  the  bell,  the  old  gentleman  of  the  house  appeared 
at  the  door  in  a  furious  state  of  mind,  but  at  once 
grew  calm  and  gentle  as  the  little  fellow  openly  ac- 
knowledged himself  to  be  the  ofiender  and  oftered 
a  manly  apology.  The  affair  was  instantly  treated  as 
of  no  consequence,  and  "Phil's"  companions  were 
quite  amazed  at  the  friendly  consideration  which  was 
accorded  to  him. 

Very  soon  after  their  removal  from  Roxbury  to 
Danvers,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wentworth  were  foremost  in 
starting  a  new  Unitarian  Church  in  their  adopted 
town.  The  history  of  this  enterprise  is  related  else- 
where in  these  pages,  yet  the  briefest  sketch  of  Mr. 
Wentworth's  life  would  be  defective,  indeed,  without 
a  conspicuous  reference  to  his  agency  and  activity  in 
this  work  and  to  all  which  such  a  beneficent  service 
implies.  It  is  no  disparagement  to  the  efforts  and 
zeal  of  otliers  who  were  associated  with  them  to  say 
that  he  and  his  wife  were  exceptionally  prominent 
in  the  movement,  watching  and  guiding  faithfully 
the  fortunes  of  the  young  society,  and  giving  to  it 
their  time,  means,  energy  and  constant  sympathy  and 
presence  for  more  than  twenty  years,  and  until  their 
common  devotion  to  it  was  broken  by  death.  It  was 
at  their  beautiful  home  that  Rev.  L.  J.  Livermore, 
who  was  so  long  the  pastor  of  the  church,  and  the 
many  others  who  from  time  to  time  supplied  its 
desk,  were  most  heartily  welcomed  as  guests  and 
there  found  strength  and  encouragement  in  the  work 
of  the  ministry.  Both  and  all  had  the  satisfaction  of 
seeing  that  their  unselfish  labors  and  care  were  not  in 
vain.  A  tasteful  and  convenient  house  of  worship 
was  ere  long  built  and  paid  for,  and  it  stands  as  no 
unfit  monument  of  the  earnest  and  unfailing  fidelity 
of  those  who  ensured  its  erection,  but  especially  of 
him  who  was  the  one  main  reliance  in  "  the  day  of 
small  things,"  as  also  afterward  in  seasons  of  greater 
prosperity.  In  such  relations  or  interests  Mr.  Went- 
worth was  ever  ready  and  prompt  to  discharge  any 
task  or  duty  which  seemed  to  be  required  of  him,  or 
in  which  he  might  be  useful  to  the  cause.  Nothing 
here  appeared  to  be  menial  or  trivial.  No  matter  what 
theservice,  itwas  tohim  important,  and  he  was  glad  to 
do  it,  as  unto  the  Lord.  He  made  small  pretensions 
or  professions,  but  he  was  a  man  of  deeds,  and  his 
whole  soul  was  in  what  he  wrought. 

He  died  in  the  fulness  of  his  manhood,  April  10, 
1886.  His  funeral  obsequies  took  place  on  the  14th, 
at  the  church  he  had  done  so  much  to  erect  and  in 


(l/^^^<>^ 


DANVERS. 


565 


which  he  had  so  often  worshipped.  The  services, 
consisting  of  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures,  by  Rev. 
Mr.  Hudson,  of  Peabody ;  prayer  by  Rev.  Mr.  Israel, 
of  Sal§ui,  and  an  address  by  Rev.  S.  J.  Barrows,  editor 
of  the  Christian  Register,  were  very  appropriate  and 
impressive,  and  a  memorial  pamphlet  has  since  been 
published,  giving  just  and  eloquent  tributes,  from 
Mr.  Barrows  and  others  to  the  noble  qualities  of  the 
dejiarted.  One  who  knew  him  perfectly  has  written 
of  him, — "His  spiritual  and  religious  life  grew  and 
deepened  to  the  end.  He  so  loved  to  think  and  talk 
of  the  future  life  that,  when  the  summons  came,  he 
was  only  happy  in  the  thought  of  exchanging  his 
faith  in  the  unseen  to  the  light  of  the  glorious 
reality.  It  was  such  an  accustomed  thought  that  the 
change,  though  it  came  so  suddenly,  did  not  disturb 
his  peace  more  than  a  summons  to  take  a  day's  jour- 
ney would  have  done." 

Mr.  Livermore,  his  beloved  pastor,  survived  him 
just  seven  weeks.  In  death,  as  in  life,  they  were  not 
divided.  Their  friendship  for  each  other  was  pecu- 
liarly strong  and  affectionate,  and  the  trust  and  ad- 
miration which  the  minister  is  well  known  to  have 
cherished  towards  his  parishioner  could  not  have 
been  warmer  or  profounder  than  the  same  sentiments 
entertained  toward  him  by  the  writer  of  this  sketch, 
who  knew  him  even  longer,  had  sustained  like  rela- 
tions with  him,  had  seen  him  much  in  the  church, 
in  the  home  and  in  society,  and  can  only  think  of 
him  as  one  who  was,  indeed,  a  man,  in  the  true  sense 
of  the  word. 


ALFRED   TRASK. 

Alfred  Trask  was  born  in  Newport,  N.  H.,  Decem- 
ber 7,  1811,  his  father,  John  Trask,^  having  moved 
from  Beverly,  Mass.,  the  previous  year.  He  was  the 
youngest  of  nine  children,  five  sisters  and  three 
brothers.  Mrs.  Benjamin  Woodbury,  Mrs.  John 
Moulton  and  Mrs.  Andrew  Boker  resided  in  North 
Beverly;  Mrs.  Timothy  Endicott,  Mrs.  Nathaniel 
Bachelder  and  a  brother,  John  Trask,  residents  of 
Newport  and  Sunapee,  N.  H.  Another  brother,  Isra- 
el Trask,  settled  in  Gloucester,  Mass. 

From  boyhood  blest  with  perfect  health  and  great 
energy,  he  early  displayed  good  judgment  and  execu- 
tive ability,  developing  in  manhood  sagacity  in  busi- 
ness affairs.  He  was  repeatedly  urged  to  accept  posi- 
tions of  honor  and  trust,  thereby  proving  the  confi- 
dence and  esteem  reposed  in  him  by  his  fellow-men, 
but  preferred,  with  his  retiring  disposition,  to  see 
others  enjoy  the  honor,  and  rely  on  his  helping  hand 
to  sustain  them  in  keeping  it.  With  equal  generosity 
is  he  ever  interested  in  matters  pertaining  to  the  i^ub- 
lic  welfare  of  the  town. 

At  twenty-one,  with  an  extremely  limited  school 
education,  he  started  in  life  to  make  his  own  fortune 

ijohn  Trask  was  a  major  and  fought  at  Buukor  Ilill,  also  used  his 
own  oxen,  horses  and  teams  to  throw  up  the  earth  works  at  the  building 
of  the  entrenchments. 


without  a  larthing.  His  mother  gave  him  the  making 
of  a  freedom  suit,  the  cloth  being  afterwards  paid  for 
from  his  own  earnings.  For  two  summers  he  hired 
out  for  ten  dollars  a  month,  and  the  rest  of  the  season 
logging  and  wood  chopping  engaged  his  attention. 
His  twenty-third  year,  in  company  with  others,  he 
worked  a  farm  on  shares,  clearing  one  hundred  dol- 
lars profit.  At  twenty-four,  tired  of  farming  he  left 
Newport  and  came  to  what  was  then  called  Danvers 
Plains,  resolved  to  try  his  hand  in  business  as  drover. 
With  the  small  amount  of  money  saved  he  made 
short  trips  into  the  country,  buying  pigs  and  cattle, 
selling  and  trading  them  on  his  way  home,  where  he 
arrived  after  two  weeks'  absence,  usually  with  a  jjrofit 
that  was  an  incentive  to  continue  in  this  line  of  busi- 
ness, the  same  in  which  his  father  before  him  had  en- 
gaged. 

His  indomitable  will  and  self-reliance  gained  for 
him  the  encouragement  he  craved  from  business  men 
who  recognized  his  ability,  and  an  offer  of  money 
to  execute  his  plans  was  kindly  tendered  from  an  old 
resident  of  his  boyhood  home.  The  indebtedness  of 
one  hundred  dollars  was  promptly  paid  and  a  contin- 
uance of  the  favor  politely  declined,  but,  with  ah  en- 
ergy redoubled  and  a  renewed  will  to  do  and  dare,  he 
pluckily  kejJt  on.  At  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  on 
the  5th  of  March,  1839,  he  married  Mary  J.  Blackey, 
of  Sandwich,  N.  H.  Of  this  union  nine  children 
were  born. 

Alfred  Moulton  Trask,  born  June  25,  1840; 
Julia  Ann  Trask,  born  December  15,  1841 ;  Charles 
Wesley  Trask,  born  February  14,  1844;  Mary  Eliza- 
beth Trask,  born  February  26,  1846 ;  George  Edward 
Trask,  born  February  6, 1848  ;  Sarah  Bachelder  Trask, 
born  September  1,1850;  Nancy  Ellen  Trask,  born 
January  18,  1853 ;  Henry  Woodbury  Trask,  born  No- 
vember 10,  1856 ;  Frank  Boker  Trask,  born  February 
12,  1859. 

Realizing  how  much  he  lacked  from  his  own  limited 
amount  of  schooling,  it  was  his  greatest  desire  that 
his  children  should  enjoy  the  advantages  of  a  liberal 
education,  and  to  further  the  project  no  expense  was 
spared.  After  completing  their  education,  with  rare 
forethought  and  generosity,  he  established  each  in  a 
good  business  and  also  purchased  homes  for  those  who 
were  married. 

The  eldest,  Alfred  M.  Trask,  attended  school  at  New 
London  Academy,  N.  H.,  and  afterwards  was  started 
in  the  stock  business  in  Canada,  and  some  years  later 
settled  in  Brocton,  where  a  house  was  presented  to 
him. 

The  eldest  daughter,  Julia  Ann,  was  graduated  at 
Tilton  Academy,  N.  H.,  but  died  September  7,  1862, 
in  her  twenty-first  year.  * 

Charles  Wesley  Trask,  after  graduating  at  the  Dan- 
vers High  School,  also  attended  school  in  Tilton,  and 
for  a  business  was  started  in  a  fine  market  in  Wal- 
tham,  but  for  several  years  has  been  living  on  an  ex- 
tensive farm  given  by  his  father  in  Sandwich,  N.  H. 


566 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Mary  Elizabeth  Trask  married  quite  young,  but 
died  when  only  twenty  years  of  age,  leaving  one  son, 
William  Alfred  Patch. 

George  Edward  Trask  was  graduated  from  Danvers 
High  School  and  afterwards  attended  a  Commercial 
College  in  Boston.  A  house  was  given  him  in  Wes- 
tern, and  he  started  in  the  slaughtering  business. 

Sarah  B.  Trask  attended  school  at  the  Female 
Academy  in  Ipswich,  Mass.,  and  on  her  marriage  with 
Roswald  D.  Bates,  was.  presented  with  a  house  on  Co- 
nant  Street,  Danvers. 

Nancy  Ellen  Trask  was  a  graduate  from  the  High 
School  in  Danvers  and  later  from  the  Abbot  Acad- 
emy in  Andover,  and  on  her  marriage  Avith  Henry  W. 
Swett,  was  given  a  house  in  Haverhill,  Mass. 

Henry  W.  Trask  also  graduated  at  the  Danvers 
High  School  and  then  attended  the  school  of  Tech- 
nology in  Worcester,  Mass.  At  present  he  is  unmar- 
ried and  living  in  the  State  of  Colorado. 

The  youngest  son,  Frank  B.  Trask,  is  the  only 
member  of  the  family  residing  in  the  old  home.  He 
learned  the  upholstery  trade,  and  has  recently  opened 
an  extensive  furniture  establishment  on  Maple  Street, 
Dan  Vers. 

Aside  from  the  benefits  conferred  on  his  own  fami- 
ly, to  numerous  others  has  his  helping  hand  been  ex- 
tended. By  some  the  confidence  has  been  abused, 
while  others  have  profited  by  the  aid  rendered,  to  the 
mutual  pleasure  of  all  concerned.  It  is  well  to  note 
the  prominent  characteristics  that  mark  Alfred  Trask 
one  of  the  most  successful  self-made  men  of  Essex 
County. 

His  business  of  drover  was  carried  on  for  a  j^eriod 
of  thirty  years,  then  he  changed  it  to  a  wholesale 
butcher  for  ten  yeurs  more,  when  he  concluded  to  re- 
tire from  active  business  and  attend  to  private  afiairs 
and  the  care  of  his  spacious  house  and  grounds, — the 
realization  of  his  boyhood's  hopes,  acquired  by  years 
of  constant  toil,  bucked  by  energy  and  courage,  which 
the  rising  generation  would  do  well  to  emulate. 

June  8,  1872,  he  met  with  a  great  loss  in  the  death 
of  his  wife  who,  with  marked  energy  and  frugality, 
had  ever  been  a  ready  helper  in  amassing  a  compe- 
tency for  the  future. 

His  second  marriage  occurred  September  1,  1873> 
to  a  very  estimable  woman,  Dora  T.  Webster,  of  Law- 
rence, Mass.,  who  has  made  herself  much  beloved  by 
all  those  who  enjoy  her  acquaintance,  and  for  the 
many  Christian  acts  of  unostentatious  charity  and 
kindness.  To  do  good  for  others  is  the  one  thought 
uppermost,  having  great  sympathy  for  young  and 
old,  and  their  good  and  welfare.  The  esteem  in  which 
she  is  held  by  the  little  flock  of  grandchildren  must 
indeed  be  flattering  to  her,  with  her  keen  appreciation 
of  the  beautiful  in  all  things  in  life. 

May  the  Angel  of  Peace  and  Contentment  hover 
for  many  years  over  the  home  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Alfred 
Trask,  is  the  heart-felt  wish  of  their  numerous  friends 
and  acquaintances. 


EBEN    GARDNER   BERRY. 

For  many  years  no  man  has  been  more  familiarly 
associated  with  Danvers  Plains  than  Eben  G.  Berry, 
and  no  portrait  will  be  more  generally  recognized,  not 
only  by  Danvers  people,  but  by  many  others  through- 
out the  county,  than   that  of  him  which  here   ap- 
pears.    For  a  period  extending  from  1808  the  site  of 
the  present  Hotel  Danvers  has  been  sufficiently  iden- 
tified by  the  name  of  "  Berry's  Corner."     In  the  year 
named  Ebenezer  Berry,  who  had  come  down  from 
Andover,  bought  out  the  old  tavern  and  began  inn- 
keeping.     He  married  Hitty  Preston,  a  daughter  of 
Captain  Levi  Preston,  of  Danvers.     The  subject  of 
this  sketch,  the  son  of  these  parents,  was  born  Feb- 
ruary 19,  1809.     He  was  the  only  son,  and  about  the 
time  of  his  coming  of  age  he  succeeded  to  his  father's 
business.     Since  then,  for  nearly  sixty  years,  both  in 
the  old  tavern  and  in  the  new  hotel  which  he  himself 
built,  he  has  either  himself  or  by  lessee  entertained 
such  of  the  public  as  sought  his  hospitality. 

The  hall  of  the  old  tavern  was  the  scene  of  many 
events  of  great  local  historical  interest,  concerning 
which  Mr.  Berry  has  contributed  many  reminiscences, 
which  have  been  incorporated  in  the  sketch  of  the 
Plains  in  previous  pages.  These  reminiscences,  very 
properly  a  part  of  his  biography,  Mr.  Berry  modestly 
insists  are  sufficient  to  accompany  his  portrait.  He 
has  been  twice  married — first  to  Elizabeth  J.  Abbott 
of  Andover;  second  to  Mrs.  Sarah  (Nichols)  Page, 
The  latter  died  recently.  He  has  but  one  survi- 
ving child — Mrs.  Emily  B.,  wife  of  Deacon  John 
S.  Learoyd.  Another  daughter  was  Caroline,  wife  of 
the  late  Captain  James  A.  Johnson,  who  left  two 
children,  now  living  in  Danvers.  He  has  a  sister, 
Mehitable,  widow  of  Henry  Sperry,  living  in  close 
neighborhood  to  him.  A  few  years  ago  he  built 
the  fine  dwelling  in  which  he  resides,  on  Conant 
Street,  next  east  of  the  hotel. 


CHAPTEE   XLI. 
IPSWICH. 


BY   M.  v.   B.   PERLEY. 


PRE-HISTORIC. 


DISCOVERIES, 

1.  Phcenicians  and  Norwegians.  —  This  territory, 
once  the  abode  of  the  red  man,  and  known  to  him  by 
the  name  of  Agawam,  was  settled  by  our  ancestors 
some  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago.  It 
was,  however,  known  to  the  white  race,  no  doubt,  at 
a   very  much   earlier   period.     The  learned  suspect 


-^^-hyAH.nitchxe 


{^07. 


IPSWICH. 


567 


I 


that  the  Phoenicians  visited  our  New  England  shores 
in  ancient  times,  and  tliat  Norwegian  adventurers 
sojourned  here  about  nine  hundred  years  ago. 
Certainly,  their  annals  treat  of  voyages  of  adventure 
and  discovery,  and  it  only  remains  to  find  the  places 
they  describe.  Their  "viuland,"  Mr.  Fewkes,  a 
summer  sojourner  with  us,  and  an  archaeologist,  de- 
clares to  be  located  here,  citing  the  ocean  beacon,  the 
changed  channel,  the  cellars  and  foundations  of  nine 
houses,  and  the  remains  of  three  wells,  which  evince 
a  greater  antiquity  than  do  any  known  works  of  a 
similar  nature  of  Puritan  origin. 

2.  Ilajjs. — In  the  eagerness  of  navigators  to  find  a 
short  northwest  route  to  the  East,  Canada  was  well 
and  very  accurately  mapped,  while  New  England's 
"cartography,"  says  Kohl,  "remained  very  defective 
through  nearly  the  whole  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

3.  ChampJain. — In  1604  Champlain,  who  afterwards 
attached  his  name  to  the  beautiful  lake  at  Vermont, 
explored  the  coast  from  the  St.  Lawrence  River  to 
Plymouth  Bay,  following  the  sinuosities  of  the  shore. 
At  Saco  Bay  he  observed  a  marked  change  in  Indian 
habits,  mode  of  life  and  language.  The  tribes  at  the 
East  were  nomadic,  living  wholly  by  fishing  and  the 
chase.  At  Saco  and  at  the  West  they  were  sedentary, 
and  subsisted  mainly  on  the  products  of  the  soil. 
Around  their  settlements  were  fields  of  Indian  corn, 
gardens  of  squashes,  beans  and  pumpkins,  and  a  gen- 
erous patch  of  tobacco.  At  the  headland  we  call 
Cape  Ann,  the  land  of  Masconnomet,  of  whom  we  are 
soon  to  speak,  the  natives  were  cordial  and  highly  in- 
telligent. Furnished  with  a  crayon,  they  made  an 
accurate  outline  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  indicated 
their  six  tribes  and  chiefs  by  as  many  pebbles. 

4.  Hardie  et  al. — In  1611  Captain  Edward  Hardie 
and  Nicholas  Hobson  were  kindly  received  here.  In 
1614  the  famous  adventurer,  John  Smith,  found  "a 
multitude  of  people."  He  explored  and  mapped  the 
territory,  naming  it  Southampton,  at  the  suggestion 
of  Prince  Charles,  and  thus  described  it, — "  Here  are 
many  rising  hills,  and  on  their  tops  and  descents  are 
many  corne  fields  and  delightfull  groues.  On  the 
east  is  an  isle  of  two  or  three  leagues  in  length,  the 
one  halfe  plaine  marish  ground,  fit  for  pasture  or  salt 
ponds,  with  many  faire  high  groues  of  mulberry  trees. 
There  are  also  okes,  pines,  walnuts  and  other  wood 
to  make  this  place  an  excellent  habitation."  A  mere 
mention  of  these  must  suffice  ;  though  they  may  have 
left  traces  of  their  handiwork,  they  embalmed  no 
thought  or  feeling. 

Indians. 

1.  Territory. — The  Atlantic  Ocean  on  the  east, 
Cochichawich  (now  Andover),  on  the  west,  the  Mer- 
rimack (Sturgeon)  River  on  the  north,  and  theNaum- 
keag  (now  North)  River,  at  Salem,  on  the  south,  en- 
closed the  beautiful  territory  of  one  hundred  and 
eighteen  thousand  five  hundred  acres,  called  Agawam. 
The  name  signified  "  Resort  for  fish  of  passage,"  and 


was  eminently  appropriate.  AVith  the  spring  came 
the  myriad-swarming  alewife  and  the  bone-burdened 
shad,  and  river  and  brook  and  pond  became  an  Eden 
of  new  life.  In  late  summer  schools  of  mackerel 
darkened  the  waters  of  the  bay,  as  they  migrated  to 
their  southern  sequestered  home.  Here  the  blue  fish 
sported  and  the  doughty  sturgeon  pursued  his  prey. 

2.  Sagamore. — The  name  of  the  Sagamore  of  this 
princely  domain  was  Masconnomet,  sometimes  called 
Masconnomo,  or  John,  His  exact  relation  to  other 
tribes  is  unknown.  He  may  have  been  a  sub-tribe  of 
the  Massachusetts,  or  the  Aberginians,  a  great  na- 
tion, the  power  of  whose  sachem  is  said  to  have  ex- 
tended from  the  Charles  River  to  the  Merrimac;  but 
he  seems  to  have  been  under  the  leadership  of  the 
powerful  Pennacooks.  His  subjects  are  represented 
as  kind-hearted  and  tractable.  Captain  Hardie  and 
Nicholas  Hobson,  exploring  the  coast  in  1611,  testi- 
fied to  kinder  treatment  by  these  natives  than  by 
others. 

3.  His  Conversion. — After  Governor  Winthrop  had 
arrived  in  Salem  harbor,  1629,  Masconnomet  and  one 
of  his  men  went  on  board  the  Governor's  ship,  Sun- 
day morning,  June  13th,  and  remained  all  day.  The 
governor's  object  in  coming  to  New  England  was  to 
Christianize  the  Indians.  He  so  far  succeeded  here 
that  March  8,  1644,  Masconnomet  put  himself,  his 
subjects,  and  his  possessions  under  the  government 
protection  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  agreed  to  be 
instructed  in  the  Christian  religion.  The  purpose  of 
this  chief  and  a  few  of  his  friends  is  shown  in  the 
following  examination  : 

1.  Will  you  worship  the  only  true  God  and  not  blaspheme  f  Ans.  We 
do  desire  to  reverence  the  God  of  the  English,  and  to  speak  well  of  him, 
because  we  see  He  doth  better  to  the  English  than  other  gods  do  to  oth- 
ers. 2.  Will  you  cease  from  sweiiring  falsely  ?  Ans.  We  know  not  what 
swearing  is.  3.  Mill  you  refrain  from  working  on  the  Sabbath,  especially 
in  Christian  tojvns  f  Ans.  It  is  easy  for  us — we  have  little  to  do  any  day, 
and  can  well  rest  on  that  day.  4.  Will  you  honor  your  parents  and  all 
your  superiors  f  Ans.  It  is  our  custom  to  do  so.  5.  Will  you  refrain 
from  killing  any  man  without  cause  and  authority  f  Ans.  It  is  good,  and  we 
desire  it.  6.  Will  you  put  away  fornication,  adultery,  incest,  rape,  sodomy 
and  beasticdityf  Ans.  Though  some  of  our  people  do  some  of  these 
things,  we  count  them  naught,  and  do  not  allow  them.  7.  Will  you  put 
away  stealing  f  Ans.  We  answer  this  as  the  sixth  question.  8.  Will  you 
allow  your  children  to  read  the  word  of  God,  so  that  they  may  know  him 
arigid,  and  worship)  him  in  his  own  way  f  Ans.  We  will  allow  this  as 
opportunity  will  permit,  and  as  the  English  live  among  us,  we  desire  to 
do  so. 

4.  Friendly  Tokens. — The  examination  was  satisfac- 
tory; they  were  "  solemnly  received,"  and  were  then 
presented  to  the  court.  They  gave  the  court  twenty- 
six  fathoms  of  wampum,  and  the  court  gave  to  each 
of  them  two  yards  of  cloth,  a  dinner,  and  at  their  de- 
parture a  "  cup  of  sac." 

5.  Depopulation. — At  the  date  of  Champlain's  and 
Hardie  and  Hobson's  visits  the  tribe  seemed  numer- 
ous and  valiant,  but  the  i^estilence  that  prevailed 
among  the  tribes  generally,  about  1617,  reduced  their 
number  and  greatly  enfeebled  the  strength  of  this 
tribe. 

6.  Suspicion. — In  1642  several  tribes  were  suspected 


568 


HISTORY  OP  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


of  an  intention  of  rising  against  the  English,  and 
were,  therefore,  deprived  of  their  arms  for  several 
months.  But  generally  the  English  experienced  no 
trouble  from  the  Agawams. 

7.  Tarratines.— At  the  north  of  Agawam  lay  the 
imperial  realm  of  the  Pennacooks,  and  next  to 
them,  as  allies,  were  the  Pawtuckets  on  the  north 
side  of  the  Merrimack  River,  and  the  Penobscotts  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  Penobscott,  or,  as  they  called  it, 
Pentegoet  River.  Somewhere  in  that  territory  wig- 
wamed  the  Tarratines,  agile,  warlike,  blood-thirsty 
and,  as  some  say,  cannibal.  It  is  said  that  Mascon- 
nomet  had  slain  some  of  the  tribe,  and  so  had  in- 
curred the  price  of  blood,  and  endangered  the  safety 
of  the  English.  Accordingly,  July  5,  1631,  he  was 
banished  from  the  house  of  every  Englishman  for 
one  year,  under  penalty  of  ten  beaver-skins  for  every 
offence.  Of  the  Tarratines  the  Agawams  bad  a  mor- 
tal dread.  In  1629,  and  several  times  after,  they  ap- 
plied to  Governor  Endicott  for  aid,  and  received  it. 
Sagamores  James  and  John,  of  Saugust  and  Charles- 
town,  often  assisted  them.  One  instance  of  such  al- 
liance was  August  8,  1631,  when  the  Tarratines,  to 
the  number  of  a  hundred,  in  three  canoes,  surprised 
the  Agawams,  slew  seven  men,  wounded  Sagamores 
John  and  James  and  some  others,  and  took,  among 
other  captives,  the  wife  of  James,  who,  however,  was 
returned  the  following  September  with  a  demand  of 
wamjium  and  ten  beaver-skins  for  her  ransom. 

8.  Indian  Arts. — Their  arts  were  simple  and  their 
wants  were  few.  Their  wild  dance  and  song  were  the 
life  of  the  wigwam  ;  tobacco  was  their  solace  ;  they 
delighted  in  smoking,  or  "  drinking  the  pipe ; "  fish- 
ing and  hunting  were  their  sustenance,  and  they  ex- 
ulted in  the  capture  of  a  salmon,  a  shad,  or  a  stur- 
geon, of  a  fox,  a  bear,  or  a  deer.  In  spring  their  food 
was  largely  fish,  in  summer  berries,  in  autumn  har- 
vest products,  and  in  winter  clams.  They  cultivated 
only  the  Indian  bean  and  corn,  which  was  always 
their  staple  food.  Rude  granite  mortars  and  pestles 
served  to  powder  the  corn  ;  their  tomahawks  were 
stones  about  the  length  of  a  man's  hand,  with  one 
end  fashioned  for  a  handle  and  with  the  other  end 
beveled  to  an  edge.  Their  arrow-heads  were  of  slate, 
and  a  lapidary  for  their  manufacture  has  been  discov- 
ered near  Prospect  Hill.  Abundance  of  clam-shells 
have  been  found  on  high  ground,  which,  doubtless, 
mark  the  sites  of  their  wigwams.  These  implements, 
even  now  after  the  flight  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years,  the  plow-share  sometimes  discovers.  Their 
highest  art  was  expended  upon  the  bow  and  arrow; 
their  proudest  skill  was  in  throwing  the  tomahawk, 
shooting  the  arrow  and  spearing  the  fish. 

9.  Masconnomefs  Death.  —  Masconnomet  saw  his 
tribe  fade  away,  as  a  summer  cloud;  his  rich  domain 
become  the  abode  of  the  pale-face ;  his  scepter  broken 
fall  from  his  nerveless  grasp.  In  1655,  21st  Febru- 
ary, the  selectmen  granted  him  a  life-interest  in  six 
acres  of  planting  ground.     He  died  6th  March,  1658. 


The  18th  of  the  following  June,  his  widow  was 
granted  the  same  ground  during  her  widowhood. 
Both  were  buried  on  Sagamore  Hill  in  Hamilton. 
With  him  were  interred  his  gun,  his  tomahawk  and 
other  implements  of  the  chase.  The  tribe  lived  in 
scattered  wigwams,  much  at  the  town  charge,  till  it 
was  practically  extinct,  about  1730. 

PLANTERS. 

1.  Definition. — These  were  such  as  obtained  tracts 
or  parcels  of  land,  and  occupied  them  as  fishing  sta- 
tions or  for  the  purpose  of  trafiic  with  the  natives. 
Two  parties  principally  are  concerned  in  this  history, 
John  Mason  and  William  Jeffrey. 

2.  John  Mason  was  a  member  of  the  Plymouth 
Company,  whose  corporation  was  incident  upon  the 
published  maps  and  description  of  this  section,  by 
Capt.  John  Smith,  about  1615.  Sir  Ferdinand  Gorges 
was  president  of  the  company.  They  held  the  land 
between  the  Charles  and  Merrimac  Rivers,  and  had 
trading  posts  and  fishing  stations  along  the  coast  as 
early  as  1619.  About  1621,  Mason  obtained  from  the 
company  the  land  between  the  Naumkeag  and  Merri- 
mac Rivers.  Perchance  he  never  occupied  the  grant, 
or  if  he  did,  he  had  abandoned  it  and  removed  all 
trace  of  his  occupancy,  before  the  settlement  by 
Winthrop  in  1633 ;  for  to  his  claim  made,  in  1680,  the 
settlers  replied:  "We  have  subdued  the  wilderness 
with  great  pains  and  cost;  our  lands  have  passed 
through  several  hands;  we  were  confirmed  in  our 
rights  by  the  law  of  1657  for  settling  inheritances, 
which  was  not  designed  against  Robert  Mason,  of 
whom  and  of  whose  claim  we  were  then  wholly  ignor- 
ant. So  we  contiiiued  till  surprised  by  order  of  the 
General  Court,  according  to  your  letter  of  September 
30th,  requiring  us  to  furnish  agents  and  evidences,  as 
to  our  lands."  Thus  it  was ;  Ipswich  had  been  set- 
tled ;  the  lands  bought,  sold  and  improved ;  houses 
erected  ;  and  the  bustle  of  business  felt  for  nearly 
half  a  century,  when  suddenly  before  the  king  ap- 
peared Mason  with  his  claim.  He  went  before  the 
local  court  for  justice.  Litigation  continued  two 
years  and  a  half  At  last  Mason  won  his  case.  "The 
General  Court  allow  John  Wallace  and  Content 
Mason,  relict  of  John  Tufton  Mason,  to  give  deeds  as 
her  husband  had  done.  Some  paid  a  quit-rent  of  two 
shillings  a  year  for  every  house  built  on  the  land  of 
his  grant,  which  was  in  their  possession."  Mason's 
heirs  hoped  to  establish  their  inheritance,  name  it 
Mariana,  and  hold  it  "  in  fee  and  common  socage." 
Thus  the  decision,  which  was  against  the  settlers, 
was  favorable. 

3.  William  Jeffrey  obtained  his  title  to  Jeffrey's 
Neck  of  the  Indians  and  presumably  of  Masconnomet. 
His  alleged  right  to  the  territory  of  our  Ipswich  may 
have  been  derived  from  Mason.  He  was  here  very 
early.  Winthrop  called  him  "  an  old  planter."  He 
was  probably  associated  with  John  Burslin,  Edward 
Hilton  and  David  Thomson,  fishmonger  of  London,  in 


IPSWICH. 


569 


the  employ  of  the  Plymouth  Company,  and  belonged 
to  Robert  Gorges'  party,  who  settled  at  Wessagusset, 
in  September,  1623.  Mr.  Fewkes'  old  cellars  and 
wells,  evincing  to  him  traces  of  the  Norsemen,  re- 
ferred to  above,  may  have  been  Jeffrey's  trading  and 
fishing  station;  and  so  to  Jeffrey's  diminutive  city- 
by-the-sea  the  Court  of  Assistants  may  have  referred, 
when,  in  1630,  by  warrant,  they  "  ordered  those 
planted  at  Agawam  forthwith  to  come  away."  How- 
ever this  may  be,  William  Jeffrey,  in  1660,  to  satisfy 
his  claim  to  Jeffi'ey's  Neck  within  the  bounds  of  Ips- 
wich, is  granted  five  hundred  acres  of  land  on  the 
south  side  "  of  our  patent,  to  be  a  final  issue  of  all 
claims  by  virtue  of  any  grant  heretofore  made  by 
any  Indians  whatsoever." 

4.  Notice. — Mr.  Jeffrey  is  referred  to  in  one  of  the 
company's  letters  of  instruction  as  "  William  Jeffries, 
Gentleman."  He  was  an  Episcopalian  ;  was  made 
freeman  May  18,  1637;  was  one  of  the  proprietors  of 
Weymouth,  in  1641-42,  where  he  was  commissioned 
to  solemnize  marriages.  Very  early  he  had  property 
rights  at  the  Isles  of  Shoal<.  He  and  his  business 
associates, — Hilton,  Blackstone,  Barslin  and  Thom- 
son's widow  contributed  to  meet  the  expense  of  the 
expedition,  that  dislodged  that  "  merry,  rollicking, 
scholar,  adventurer  and  scape-grace,  Thomas  Morton, 
Gentleman,"  from  Merry-Mouiit,  about  1628.  In 
1634  Morton  called  him  "My  very  good  gossip."  He 
witnessed  the  will  of  William  Waltham,  of  Wey- 
mouth, in  lGi2;  and  his  daughter  Mary  was  born 
.  there  "20  :  1  :  "  of  the  same  year. 


CHAPTER    XLII 

1^^\NICB. -{Continued). 


MUNICIPAL. 


SETTLEMENT, 

1.  Pioneers. — About  twelve  years  after  the  Pilgrims 
landed  at  Plymouth,  four  and  a  half  years  after  Cap- 
tain John  Endicott  colonized  Salem,  and  three  years 
after  Governor  John  Winthrop  established  the  colony 
of  Massachusetts  Bay,  a  rumor  spread  in  Boston  that 
the  Jesuits  were  about  to  establish  a  mission.  This  it 
was  a  part  of  the  Governor's  duty  to  prevent,  and  he 
immediately  organized  a  company  of  thirteen  men 
with  his  son  John  as  leader,  to  forestall  the  move- 
ment. Accordingly  Mr.  John  Winthrop,  Jr.,  Mr. 
John  Thorndyke,  Mr.  William  Clark,  John  Biggs, 
Robert  Cole,  John  Gage,  Thomas  Hardy,  Thomas 
Howlett,  William  Perkins,  William  Sergeant  and 
three  others,  in  March,  1633,  wooed  and  wed  the 
virgin  soil  of  Agawam. 

2.  Incorporation. — ''  A  Court  holden  att  Newe 
Towne, — Cambridge — August  5th,  1634,  ordered  that 

36^ 


Aggawam  shallbe  called  Ipswitch,"  wherefore  Au- 
gust 16th,  new  style,  1634,  dates  the  beginning  of  our 
corporate  capacity.  The  name  is  derived  from  Ips- 
wich, England,  "in  acknowledgment  of  the  great 
honor  and  kindness  done  to  our  people  who  took 
shipping  there.''  The  House  of  Commons,  in  the 
memorable  resolve  of  the  10th  of  March,  1642,  gave 
New  England  the  title  of  Kingdom,  and  Wonder-work- 
ing Providence,  in  consonance,  calls  Ipswich  an  Earl- 
dottie. 

3.  Deed. — The  colonial  records  read  that  Masconno- 
met  sold  his  fee  in  Ipswich  to  John  Winthrop,  Jr., 
March  13,  1638,  and  that  he  expressed  himself  satis- 
fied with  the  consideration,  March  5,  1639.  The  fol- 
lowing is  the  deed: 

"  I  Masconnomet  Sagamore  of  Agawam  do  by  these  presents  acknowl- 
edge to  have  received  of  Mr.  John  Winthrop  the  sum  of  £2(i,  in  full 
satisfaction  of  all  the  right,  property,  and  claim  I  have  or  ought  to  have, 
unto  all  the  land,  lying  and  being  in  the  Bay  of  Agawam,  alias  Ipswich, 
being  so  called  now  by  the  English,  as  well  as  such  land,  as  I  formerly 
reserved  unto  my  own  use  at  Chebacco,  as  also  all  other  laud,  belonging 
to  me  in  these  parts,  Sir.  Dunimer's  farm  excepted  only;  and  I  hereby 
relinquish  all  the  right  and  tuterest  I  have  unto  all  the  havens,  rivers, 
creeks,  islands,  huntings,  and  fishings,  with  all  the  woods,  swamps,  tim- 
ber, and  whatever  else  is,  or  maj'  bo,  in  or  upon  the  said  ground  to  me 
belonging  ;  and  I  do  hereby  acknowledge  to  have  received  full  satisfac- 
tion from  the  said  John  Winthrop  for  all  former  agreements,  touching 
the  premises  and  parts  of  them;  and  I  do  hereby  bind  myself  to  make 
good  the  aforesaid  bargain  and  sale  unto  the  said  John  Winthi'op,  his 
heirs  and  assigns  forever,  and  to  secure  him  against  the  title  and  claim 
of  all  other  Indians  and  natives  whatsoever. 

Witness  my  hand,  28th  of  June,  1638. 
AVitni-sss  hereunto: 
John  Joyliffe, 
James  Downing, 
Thomas  (Joytimore, 
Robert  Harding. 

Ipswich  is  ordered  November,  5,  1639,  by  the 
Court,  to  refund  to  John  Winthrop,  Jr.,  the  twenty 
pounds  named  in  the  above  deed.  The  town  voted 
February  22,  1705,  "  That  Samuel  Appleton,  Esq., 
and  our  two  representatives,  Nehemiah  Jewett  and 
Nathaniel  Knowlton,  treat  with  Hon.  Wait  Win- 
throp about  Masconnomefs  deed  of  Agawam,  made 
to  his  father,  deceased. 

4.  Extent.  When  the  town  was  settled  in  1633, 
the  boundary  on  the  north  and  west  was  the  boundary 
of  ancient  Agawam;  on  the  east  the  ocean;  on  the 
southeast  Cape  Ann,  (Gloucester) ;  and  on  the  south 
Jeffrey's  Creek,  (Manchester) ;  Enon,  (Wenham) ;  and 
Salem  Village,  (Danvers),  four  hamlets  then  belong- 
ing to  Salem.  Newbury,  12,300  acres,  was  set  off  in 
1635,  and  contributed  to  the  sisterhood  Newbury- 
port,  4575  acres,  in  1764,  and  Parsons,  8072  acres,  in 
1819,  which  became  West  Newbury,  June  14,  1820. 
The  court,  in  1636,  established  our  western  limit  six 
miles  in  the  country,  the  southern  and  eastern  boun- 
daries remaining  the  same.  In  1639,  Ipswich  with 
Newbury  contributed  Rowley,  10,310  acres,  for  which 
the  two  towns  received  £800,  and  out  of  which 
were  cut  the  towns  of  Bradford,  4564  acres,  in  1675, 
of  Boxford,  14,200  acres,  in  1685,  of  Middleton,  in 
part,  about  2500  acres,  in  1728,  of  Georgetown,  7548 


Masconnomet.. 
his   f  mark. 


570 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


acres,  in  1838,  and  of  Groveland,  5230  acres,  in  1850. 
In  1650  Ipswich  contributed  tlie  part  of  Topsfield, 
north  of  the  river,  part  of  7375  acres.  The  Hamlet 
of  Ipswich,  9440  acres,  was  incorporated  Harailton  in 
1793,  and  the  Chebacco  of  Ipswich,  7839  acres,  be- 
came Essex  in  1819.  In  1774,  certain  families  of 
Ipswich  were  set  off  to  Topsfield  ;  in  1784  certain 
others  to  Eowley  ;  and  in  1846  still  others  to  Boxford, 
and  there  now  remains  25,478  acres,  the  heart  of 
the  grand  old  town,  pulsating  strong  in  her  original 
integrity  and  enterprise,  and  in  her  wealth  and  pleas- 
ant memories. 

5.  First  Settlers.  These  men  were  largely  citizens 
of  wealth  and  learning,  and  some  were  merchants. 
They  were  thoughtful,  conscientious,  heroic,  righte- 
ous. God-fearing;  thoughtful,  for  they  had  clear 
views  of  the  tenets  of  their  religion  and  of  civil  life ; 
conscientious,  for  they  could  not  brook  known  errors: 
heroic,  for  they  suffered  for  principle;  righteous, 
for  they  made  a  righteous  civil  code ;  God-fearing, 
for  it  was  their  purpose  in  all  things  to  serve  Him. 

The  Wonder-  Working  Providence  reads  : 

"  The  peopling  of  this  towne  is  by  men  of  good  ranke  and  quality, 
many  of  them  having  the  yearly  revenue  of  large  estates  in  England 
before  they  came  to  this  wildernesse."  In  Kev.  Joseph  Felt's  history  of 
the  town,  we  read:  "A  large  proportion  of  the  inhabitants  possessed 
intelligent  minds,  virtuous  hearts,  useful  influence  and  remarkable  char- 
acter. They  well  understood  how  the  elements  of  society  should  be  for 
the  promotion  of  its  welfare,  and  how  such  elements  should  be  formed 
and  kept  pure  from  ignorance  and  ii  religion.  They  were  careful  of  their 
own  example,  and  thereby  gave  force  to  their  precepts.  They  attended 
to  the  concerns  of  society  as  persons,  who  felt  bound  to  consult  the 
benefit  "of  posterity  as  well  as  their  own  immediate  good." 

6.  Citizenship.  The  next  month  after  the  settle- 
ment by  Winthrop  and  his  associates,  April  1,  1633, 
it  was  ordered  by  the  Court  of  Assistants,  that  "noe 
pson  wtsoeuer  shall  goe  to  plant  or  inhabitt  att  Agga- 
wam,  without  leave  from  the  Court."  This  order 
obtained  for  some  time  ;  there  for  a  considerable 
period  the  rule  and  practice  obtained  that  no  one 
should  be  admitted  as  townsman  without  the  consent 
of  the  town's  freemen.  This  practice  served  to  preserve 
the  unity  of  their  religious  belief  and  the  high  stand- 
ard of  their  civil  and  social  life,  by  excluding  the 
immoral  and  the  idle,  the  ignorant  and  the  conten- 
tious. 

7.  Names.  The  following  catalogue  has  been 
gleaned  from  the  town  records,  and,  probably,  con- 
tains nearly  all  the  names  of  settlers  in  the  town 
during  the  first  twenty  years,  arranged  in  the  years 
when  they  were  first  observed  : 

1633. 


Hardy,  Thomas. 
Howlett,  Thomas. 
Perkins,  AVilliam. 
Sellman,  Thomas. 
Sergeant,  William. 
ShatBwell,  John. 


Winthrop,  John,  Jr. 
Thorndyke,  John. 
Clark,  William, 
Biggs,  John. 
Carr,  George. 
Cole,  Kobert. 
Gage,  John. 

1634. 
"Probably  some  from  New  Town,  now  Cambridge,  since   'they  sent 
men  to  Agawam  and  Merrimack,  and  gave  out  that  they  would  move  ' 


to  Connecticutt ;  Rev.  Thomas  Parker  and  his  company  of  about  one 
hundred,  from  Wiltshire,  England,  sojourned  here  about  a  year  before 
settling  Newbury  ;  there  were  also, — 

Currin,  Matthias.  Newman,  John. 

Dillingham,  John.  Parker,  Thomas. 


Easton,  Nicholas. 
Elliot. 

Fawne,  John. 
Franklin,  William. 
Fuller,  John. 
Manning,  John. 


Andrews,  Robert. 
Bartholomew,  William. 
Bracey,  Thomas. 
Bradstieet,  Simon. 
Bradstreet,  Humphrey. 
Bradstreet,  Dudley. 
Cogswell,  John. 
Covington,  John. 
Cross,  John. 
Denison,  Daniel. 
Dudley,  Thomas. 
Dudley,  Samuel. 
Firman,  Thomas. 
Foster,  Reginald. 
Fowler,  Philip. 
French,  Thomas. 
Fuller,  William. 
Gardner,  Edmund. 
Gidding,  George. 
Goodhue,  William. 
Haflield,  Richard. 
Hassell,  John. 
Hubbard,  William. 
Jackson,  John. 
Jacob,  Richard. 
Johnson,  John. 
Jordan,  Francis. 
Kent,  Richard. 
Kinsman,  Robert. 
Knight,  Alexander. 


Bishop,  Thomas. 
Clark,  Daniel. 
Dorraan,  Thomas. 
Hall,  Samuel. 
Harris,  Thomas. 
Hart,  Nathaniel. 
Jennings,  Richard. 
Lord,  Robert. 
Merriall,  John. 

Appleton,  Samuel. 
Archer,  Henry. 
Averill,  William. 
Bishop,  Nathaniel. 
Bixby,  Nathaniel. 
Boardman,  Thomas. 
Browning,  Thomas. 
Challis,  Philip. 
Clark,  Thomas. 
Colby,  Arthur. 
Comesone,  Symond. 
Cross,  Robert. 
French,  Edward. 
Hayes,  Robert. 
Heldred,  William. 
Hovey,  Daniel. 
Jordan  Stephen. 
Kimball,  Richard. 
Ladd,  Daniel. 
Lawson,  William. 


Perkins,  John. 
Robinson,  John. 
Sewell,  Henry. 
Spencei',  John. 
Symonds,  Mark. 
Ward,  Nathaniel. 

1635. 

Lancton,  Roger. 
Metcalf,  Joseph. 
Moody,  William. 
Mussey,  John. 
Mussey,  Robert.  ' 
Osgood,  Christopher. 
Perley,  Allan. 
Procter,  John. 
Saltonstall,  Richard. 
Saunders,  John. 
Sayward,  Edmund. 
Scott,  Thomas. 
Sherrat,  Hugh. 
Short,  Anthony. 
Short,  Henry. 
Symonds,  William. 
Treadwell,  Edward. 
Tuttle,  John. 
Varnum,  George. 
Wade,  Jonathan. 
Wainwright,  Francis. 
Webster,  John. 
Wells,  Thomas. 
White,  William. 
Whityear,  John. 
Williamson,  Paul. 
Woodmouse,  Mr. 
Wyatte,  John. 
Wythe,  Humphrey. 
Younglove,  Samuel. 


1636. 


Norton,  John. 
Norton,  William. 
Peabody,  Francis. 
Rogers,  Nathaniel. 
Sawyer,  Edmund. 
Seaverns,  John. 
Sherman,  Samuel.  1 
Wilson,  Theophilus. 


1637. 


Lord,  Widow  Katherine. 
Morse,  Joseph. 
Northe,  John. 
Perkins,  Isaac. 

Pike, . 

Purrier,  William. 
Quilter,  Mark. 
Rawlinsone,  Thomas. 
Reading,  Joseph. 
Symonds,  Joseph. 
Thornton,  John. 
Turner,  Capt. 
Vincent,  Humphrey. 
Warren,  William. 
Wattles,  Richard. 
Wedgewood,  John. 
Whitred,  William. 
Whittingham,  John. 
Williamson,  Michael. 


IPSWICH. 


571 


1638. 


Baker,  John. 
Brown,  Edward. 
Burnhara,  John. 
Cochame,  Henry. 
Cartwright,  Michael. 
Comniings,  Isaac. 
Cooley,  John. 
Crame,  Robert. 
Dane,  John. , 
Dix,  Widow. 
Emerson,  John. 
Emerson,  Joseph. 
Emerson,  Thomas. 
Englisli,  William. 
Eppes,  Daniel. 
Gibson,  Thomas 
Graves,  Robert. 
Greenfield,  Samuel. 
Hanchet,  John. 
Kimball,  Henry. 
Kingsbury,  Henry. 


Andrews,  John. 
Belcher,  Jeremiah. 
Bellingham,  Richard. 
Bird,  Jathnell. 
Bird,  Thomas. 
Boardman,  Samuel. 
Bosworth,  Nathaniel. 
Button,  Matthias. 
Cochame,   Edward. 
Castell,  Robert. 
Chute,  Lionell. 
Davis,  John; 
Farnum,  Ralph. 
Filbrich,  Robert. 
Firman,  Dr.  Giles. 


Bachelor,  Henry. 
Lee,  John. 


Hart,  Thomas. 
Hoyt,  John. 

Adam.«,  William. 
Annable,  John. 
Beacham,  Robert. 
Bitgood,  Richard. 
Brown,  Thomas. 
Brown,  John. 
Cowley,  John. 
Dane,  Francis. 
Davis,  Richard. 
Day,  Robert. 
Douglass,  William. 
Fellews,  William. 
Green,  Henry. 
Howe,  James. 
Kuight,  Oleph. 


Andrews,  Richard. 
Buckley,  William. 


Bridges,  Edmund. 
Chapman,  Edward. 
Chilson,  Robert. 


Burnhaui,  Thomas. 
Denison,  John. 
Heard,  Luke. 


Knight,  William. 
Lumkin,  Richard. 
Mitcalfe,  Thomas. 
Miller,  William. 
Morse,  John. 
Newmarch,  John. 
Nichols,  Richard. 
Paine,  William. 
Scott,  Robert. 
Sherman,  Thomas. 
Silver,  Thomas. 
Stacy,  Simon. 
Swinder,  William. 
Taylor,  Samuel. 
Tredwell,  John. 
Tredwell,  Thomas. 
Whipple,  Matthew. 
Whipple,  John. 
Whitman,  Robert. 
Wilkinson,  Henry. 


1«39. 


Gilvin,  Thomas. 
Hadley,  George. 
Hodges,  Andrew. 
Humphrey, 


Hattley,  Richard. 
Knowlton,  John. 
Mohey,  Robert. 
Newman,  Thomas. 
Pitney,  James. 
Preston,  Roger. 
Smith,  Thomas. 
Storey,  Andrew. 
Thompson,  Simon. 
Tingby,  Palmer. 
Wallis,  Robert. 


1«40. 


Paine,  Robert, 
Urann, . 


1641. 


Safford,  Thomas. 


1642. 


Knowlton,  William. 
Knowlton,  Thomas. 
Lee,  Thomas. 
Lamson,  Edward. 
Lammas,  Richard. 
Perry,  Thomas. 
Pettis,  John. 
Pinder,  Henry. 
Pengry,  Moses. 
Podd,  Daniel. 
Redding,  John. 
Scofield,  Richard. 
Setchell,  Theophilug. 
Smith,  Richard. 
Warner,  Daniel. 


1643. 


Low,  Thomas. 
Windall,  Thomas. 


1644. 


Roberts,  Robert. 
Wood,  Daniel. 
Whittingham,  Thomas. 


1647. 


Appleton,  John. 
Ayers,  John. 
Betts,  Richard. 
Birdley,  Gyles. 
Bishop,  Job. 
Bosworth,  Haniel. 
Bragg,  Edward. 
Catchame,  John. 
Choate,  John. 
Chute,  James. 
Clark,  Malachi. 
Cogswell,  William. 
Colburn,  Robert. 
Dix,  Ralph. 
Dutch,  Robert. 
French,  John. 
Gilbert,  Humphrey. 
Gillman,  Edward. 
Granger,  Lancelot. 
Green,  Thomas. 
Gutterson,  William. 
Harris,  Anthony. 
Harris,  Thomas. 
Heiphar,  William. 
Lancton,  .Joseph. 
Leighton,  John. 
Long,  Philip. 

Bixby,  Joseph. 
Palmer,  George. 
Potter,  Anthony. 

Griffin,  Humphrey. 
Harinden,  Edward. 


1648. 


Long,  Samuel. 
Pierpont,  Robert. 
Pendleton,  Bryan. 
Perkins,  Jacob. 
Pindar,  John. 
Pengry,  Aaron. 
Podd,  Samuel. 
Ringe,  Daniel. 
Roffe,  Daniel. 
Roffe,  Ezra. 
Salter,  Theophilus. 
Satchell,  Richard. 
Smith,  George. 
Smith,  Robert. 
Stacy,  Richard. 
Stone,  Nathaniel. 
Story,  William. 
Walderne,  Abraham. 
Walderne,  Edward, 
Ward,  Dr.  John. 
W'arner,  John. 
Warren,  Abraham, 
West,  John. 
Whitred,  Thomas. 
W'loddam,  John. 
Woodman,  John. 


1649. 


1651. 


Prichard,  William. 
Wood,  Obediah. 

Leigh,  Joseph, 
Walker,  Henry. 


Hunter,  Robert. 
Lovell,  Thomas. 
Silsbee,  Henry. 


GOVERNMENT   AND   OFFICERS. 

1.  Object  and  Origin. — The  object  of  our  early  an- 
cestors was  religious  freedom,  aud  when  they  had 
obtained  the  right  and  privilege  to  exercise  it,  they 
established  governments  to  protect,  sustain  and  foster 
it.  The  Bible  was  to  them  the  Book  of  books :  it 
contained  the  principles  of  all  municipal,  moral  and 
religious  governments,  and  was  absolute  authority  in 
all  such  matters.  Here  is  the  origin  of  our  unique 
town-government — a  pure  democracy — a  government 
of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people, 
which  was  confirmed  and  established  by  law,  in  1636, 
when  the  General  Court  conferred  upon  the  towns  the 
power  to  grant  lots  of  land,  to  make  by-laws  for  their 
own  common  weal,  under  colonial  approval,  to  impose 
and  collect  fines  not  above  twenty  shillings,  and  to 
elect  such  ofiicers  as  necessity  required.  But  March 
3, 1635-36,  it  was  ordered  that  at  the  next  term  of  the 
General  Court,  Ipswich,  with  other  towns,  "shall 
have  libertie  to  stay  soe  many  of  their  ffreemen  att 
home  for  the  safety  of  their  towne  as  they  judge  need- 
ful, and  that  the  saide  fireemen  that  are  appointed  by 
the  town  to  stay  att  home  shall  have  libertie  for  this 
Court  to  send  their  voices  by  proxy."  Thus,  necessity 
foreshadowed  our  present  representative  form,  which 
was  afterwards  inaugurated  in  place  of  the  unwieldy 
assemblies  of  the  congregated  towns.  In  1631,  it  was 
enacted  that  only  church  members  could  vote,  a  law 
which  was  practically  repealed  in  1644.  In  1692,  a 
voter  for  representative  must  be  worth  a  realty  of 
forty  shillings  a  year,  or  other  estate  of  forty  pounds, 
yet  it  was  practically  a  government  of  equal  rights. 


572 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


2.  Sevenmen. — The  highest  office  in  the  municipal 
gift  was  the  committee  called  The  Sevenmen,  a  title 
suggested,  doubtless,  by  such  scriptures  as  these : 
"Wisdom  has  hewn  out  her  seven  pillars,"  "Seven 
men  that  can  render  a  reason,"  "Look  out  seven  men 
of  honest  report  to  appoint  over  this  business."  The 
Sevenmen  are  now  called  the  Selectmen.  They  were 
entrusted  with  the  concerns  of  church  and  town,  and 
managed  them  ;  cardinal  questions  and  general  prin- 
ciples being  settled  in  town-meeting.  The  duty  of 
exercising  this  duplex  order,  civil  and  religious,  was 
a  most  important  and  responsible  one ;  but  notwith- 
standing the  weight  of  responsibility,  the  breadth  of 
trust,  and  the  possibility  of  satisfaction,  they,  from 
year  to  year,  acquitted  themselves  so  justly,  that  they 
long  since  received,  as  a  badge  of  honor,  the  title: 
"  The  Town  Fathers."  They  began  their  work  when 
the  town  began.  In  1638  they  were  expanded  to 
eleven  men.  For  1723  the  number  was  five.  After 
1740  the  seven  seems  to  have  lost  its  power.  In  1794 
one  man  was  selected  from  the  north  side  of  the  river, 
one  from  the  south  side,  and  one  from  Chebacco.  In 
1798  it  was  voted  to  have  five  selectmen,  at  a  salary 
of  nineteen  dollars.  Fifteen  men  were  chosen,  and 
all  declined  to  serve.  Afterwards  the  salary  was  made 
thirty-eight  dollars,  and  the  five  were  thereupon 
elected.  In  1791  their  office  was  in  the  school-house 
chamber.  The  present  chairman  of  the  Board, 
Nathaniel  Rogers  Farley,  Esq.,  was  first  elected  in 
1844,  and  this  is  his  nineteenth  year  of  service. 

3.  Clerks.— To  be  clerk  of  a  town  was  then,  as  now, 
a  most  important  service.     His  records  become  his- 
tory as  time  advances ;  they  may  be  the  basis  of  legal 
investigation,  and  so   be   arbiter  between  man  and 
man  ;  they  must  approach  absolute  correctness,  to  be 
trustful.     It  has  been  the  practice  of  this  town  to 
continue  this   officer   for   a  series  of  years.     Elder 
Robert  Paine  and  William  Bartholomew  are  said  to 
have  been   the   first   elected  to  this  office.     Daniel 
Penison  was  chosen   in  1635-36,  and  probably  was 
continued    till    1639,   when    Samuel    Symonds   was 
chosen.     Mr.  Symonds  was   successively  chosen   till 
1645,  when  Robert  Lord  succeeded,  and  served  till 
his  death,  August  21,  1683.     John  Appleton  appears 
to    have    been    his    immediate   successor   till    1688. 
Thomas  Wade,  was  clerk,  1688  to  1696-97 ;  Francis 
Wainwright,  1696-97  to  1699-1700;  Daniel  Rogers, 
1699-1700;    John    Wainwright,    1719-20    to    1739; 
Samuel  Rogers,  1739  to  1773  ;  Major  John  Baker,  1773 
to   1785;    Nathaniel   Wade,    1785   to   1814;  Joseph 
Swazey,  1814  to   1816;  Ebenezer  Burnham,  1816   to 
1843;  Samuel  Newman, one  month;  Ebenezer  Burn- 
ham,  1843  to  1846;   Alfred  Kimball,  1846  to   1855; 
John    A.   Newman,    1855 ;  Alfred   Kimball,  1856   to 
1864;    George  R.  Lord,  1864;  Wesley  K.  Bell,  1865, 
his  twenty-third  year  to  the  present  time.     He  has 
been  an  obliging  and  efficient  officer. 

4.  Constables. — The  early   duty  of  constables   was 
principally  the  collection  of  taxes.     Their  badge  of 


office  was  a  staff,  some  five  or  six  feet  long,  and 
tipped  with  brass.  A  similar  badge  may  now  be  seen 
in  the  hand  of  the  court-crier,  an  officer  who  an- 
nounces the  opening  of  a  court.  The  officer,  how- 
ever, with  all  its  insignia  and  distinction,  often 
sought  the  man,  and  not  the  man  the  office.  In 
1738  Robert  Wallis  was  chosen,  and  paid  a  fine  of 
five  pounds  rather  than  serve.  The  records  show 
several  such  cases  at  earlier  dates.  This  duty  apper- 
tains to  the  officer  now  if  a  collector  is  not  chosen. 

5.  Tithingmert. — The  General  Court  as  early  as 
1677  ordered  tithingraen  to  be  chosen  in  the  several 
towns,  and  Ipswich,  December  20, 1677,  chose  twenty- 
five.  In  1681  thirteen  were  chosen  for  the  north 
side  of  the  river,  and  twelve  for  the  south  side.  Their 
duty  was  to  guard  the  public  morals,  to  note  infrac- 
tions of  laws,  and  cite  offenders  to  justice.  But,  in 
the  presence  of  a  vigilant  police,  they  were  not 
needed,  and  so  they  were  not  chosen  after  1871. 

6.  Treasurer. — The  duties  of  this  office  were  the 
same  then  as  now.  Most,  if  not  all,  of  them  were  at 
the  same  time  county  treasurers.  The  following  are 
confidently  named  as  long  time  in  office:  Robert 
Paine  (1665-83),  John  Appleton,  Nathaniel  Apple- 
ton,     Aaron     Porter     ( 1766),     Michael     Farley 

(1766 ),  Nathaniel  Wade,  William  Foster  Wade, 

Jeremiah  Lord,  and  the  present  genial  officer,  Mr. 
Jonathan  Sargent,  who  has  served  since  1872 — six- 
teen years. 

7.  Surveyors. — These  were  the  guardians  of  the 
king's  highways — sometimes  builders,  but  commonly 
only  repairers  of  roads  and  bridges.  The  town  was 
divided  into  districts  for  the  purpose  by  the  select- 
men, pretty  much  as  the  business  is  conducted  now. 

8.  Firemen. — In  relation  to  fires,  our  ancestors 
showed  a  characteristic  caution  and  precaution. 
Their  houses  had  wooden  chimneys,  plastered  with 
clay,  and  thatched  roofs — a  condition  which  rendered 
care  particularly  necessary.  In  1642  it  was  voted 
that  "as  much  hurt  hath  been  done  by  fire,  through 
neglect  of  having  ladders  in  readiness  at  men*s 
houses,  and  also  by  the  insufficiency  of  chimneys  and 
due  cleaning  of  them,  every  householder  shall  have  a 
ladder  in  constant  readiness,  twenty  feet  long,  at  his 
house."  In  1649  the  town  adopted  the  following  order : 
"  Whereas  complaint  hath'been  made  of  the  great  dan- 
ger that  may  accrue  to  the  inhabitants  by  reason  of  some 
men'ssettingstacksof  hay  near  their  dwelling  houses,  if 
fire  should  happen,  ordered  that  whosoever  hath  any 
hay,  or  English  corn,  or  straw  by  their  houses,  or 
hath  set  any  hay-stacks  within  three  rods  of  their 
houses,  shall  remove  it  within  six  days  after  notice, 
on  fine  of  20s."  In  1681  it  is  ordered  that  every 
house  must  be  provided  with  a  ladder,  and  the  tith- 
ingmen  were  instructed  to  note  infractions  of  the 
order.  In  1804  smoking  in  the  streets  was  consid- 
ered dangerous  to  buildings,  and  the  practice  which 
had  become  prevalent  was  prohibited,  on  pen- 
alty of  one   dollar  for  each   offence.     In   1803  the 


IPSWICH. 


573 


town,  by  subscription,  raised  money  to  purchase  a 
fire-engine,  and  January  3,  1804,  the  South  Parish 
voted  to  join  with  the  North  Parish  and  build  a 
house  for  it.  In  1808  the  town  voted  to  have  four 
fire-ladders  and  four  hooks  with  chains,  two  of  each 
to  be  kept  in  the  body  of  the  town,  one  of  each  to  be 
kept  at  Chebacco,  and  one  of  each  at  Linebrook." 
In  March  13,  1821,  the  selectmen  were  ordered  to 
purchase  a  fire-engine  and  to  build  a  house  for  it- 
The  cost  of  the  engine  was  four  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars.  The  department  now  is  in  good,  serviceable 
condition,  and  is  constituted  of  the  Warren  Engine 
Company,  a  hand-machine,  with  fifty-five  men ;  the 
Barnicoat  Engine  Company,  another  hand-machine, 
with  fifty-five  men  ;  and  the  Hook-and-Ladder  Com- 
pany, of  twenty  men.  The  fire  apparatus  is  valued 
at  $5000 ;  the  cost  of  running  the  department  is  nearly 
$800. 

9.  Commigsioner  of  Taxes. — Here  is  a  long  name  for 
a  short  service.  The  duty  was  to  assist  the  selectmen 
in  assessing  the  tax.  A  commissioner  was  chosen 
in  1646,  and  continued  to  be  for  several  years  there- 
after. 

10.  Hog-reeves,  Hog-Ringers,  etc. — In  the  primitive 
days  of  the  town  swine  ran  at  large.  How  naturally 
they  would  poke  their  noses  in  human  affairs.  As  a 
badge  of  their  mischievousness,  they  wore  a  ring  in 
their  snout.  In  1640  they  should  be  yoked;  in  1661 
they  were  liable  to  be  arrested  and  impounded,  and 
in  1794  should  not  go  at  large  at  all.  Deer-reeves  are 
mentioned  in  1739.  The  woods  between  Chebacco 
and  Gloucester  abounded  in  those  animals. 

11.  Hay-wards. — This  word  found  little  favor  with 
us.  Our  forefathers  brought  it  from  England,  but 
seldom  used  it.  It  is  from  an  obsolete  word  "hay," 
which  meant  hedge,  and  it  signified  persons  whose 
duty  it  was  to  guard  the  hedges,  and  hence  to 
keep  cattle  from  breaking  through  them,  and  then  to 
impound  cattle  running  at  large.  It  seems  to  have 
combined  the  duties  of  our  field-driver  and  fence- 
viewer. 

12.  Fence-viewer. — It  was  enjoined  by  the  General 
Court,  October  31,  1653,  that  all  farms  of  less  than 
one  hundred  acres  be  fenced  "of  pales  well  nayled  or 
pined,  or  of  fine  rayles  well  fitted,  or  of  a  stone  wall 
three  foote  and  a  haUe  high  at  least,  or  with  a  good 
ditch  between  three  and  foure  foot  wyde,  with  a  good 
banke  of  two  rayles  or  a  good  hedge  upon  the  banke, 
or  such  as  is  equivolante  to  these."  As  might  be  sup- 
posed, this  order  was  not  complied  with  in  haste.  In 
March,  1663,  the  town  ordered  that  all  "  fences  gen- 
eral and  particular  be  made  sufficient  before  April  4 
next."  Fence-viewers,  or  judges  of  legal  fences,  were 
chosen  as  early  as  1668,  and  are  now  annually  chosen. 

13.  Town-crier. — This  service,  by  law  of  the  Colony, 
began  in  1642.  The  office  was  a  walking  advertise- 
ment to  announce  sales  by  vendue,  the  lost,  strayed 
or  stolen,  or  to  give  immediately  any  public  notice. 
The  pay  was  two  pence  per  article  cried. 


14.  Clerk  of  the  Market.— In  1637,  by  Colonial  order, 
the  purchase  of  venison  was  forbidden  unless  legal- 
ized by  the  town.  Buns  and  cakes  must  not  be  sold 
except  for  funeral  or  marriage  occasions.  The  In- 
dians used  to  steal  the  townspeople's  swine  and  then 
return  them  by  way  of  sale  ;  and  so,  in  1672,  the  Eng- 
lish were  ordered  to  mark  one  ear  of  their  swine. 
The  Indian  must  not  mark  his  at  all,  neither  must  he 
offer  for  sale  a  swine  without  ears.  The  medium  of 
exchange  in  those  days  was  largely  the  vital  com- 
modities. Taxes  were  paid  in  them  and  the  minister 
stipulated  to  receive  a  part  of  .his  salary  in  them. 
The  town  in  its  corporate  capacity  bought  and  sold 
them,  and  thus  helped  the  poor  and  facilitated  busi- 
ness. In  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century 
there  was  also  the  Clerk  of  the  Hay-Market.  Other 
officers,  whose  duties  are  obvious,  were  eai'ly  men- 
tioned in  the  records:  Sealers  of  weights  and  meas- 
ures, in  1677 ;  Packers  of  fish,  in  1678  ;  and  cullers  of 
fish,  in  1715 ;  cullers  of  boards  and  staves  in  1686, 
and  of  bricks  in  1801 ;  corders  of  wood  in  168- ;  gang- 
ers of  casks,  in  1691 ;  surveyors  of  boards  and  timber, 
in  1760,  and  of  leather  in  1681 ;  and  measurers  of 
grain  and  salt  in  1801. 

15.  Inference. — These  various  offices  indicate  some- 
what the  varied  mechanical  skill  of  our  ancestors. 
The  town  then  plied  quite  all  the  practical  arts  that 
now  employ  the  county.  The  exchange,  now  by 
transportation,  was  then  between  townsmen  and 
neighbors.  They  made  their  implements  of  hus- 
bandry, converted  the  raw  hide  into  wearable  leather, 
and  the  wool  of  the  sheep  and  the  flax  of  the  field 
into  garments.  Conspicuous  among  the  common 
trades  were  coopers,  whitesmiths,  cabinet-makers, 
cloth  and  leather  tailors,  millers,  mill-sawyers,  tan- 
ners, curriers,  spinners,  weavers,  fullers. 

WAYS   AND   MEANS. 

1.  Roads. — The  early  roads  were  generally  laid  out 
one  and  a  half  rods  wide,  but  in  practice  were 
hardly  more  than  pathways,  since  walking  and  horse- 
back riding  were  the  common  modes  of  travel- 
ing. The  earliest  carriage-roads  led  to  the  marshes 
and  meadows,  whence  our  ancestors  derived  hay  for 
their  cattle  and  peat  for  fuel ;  and  the  earliest  of  these 
was  the  river  road  which  led  to  the  great  meadow, 
and  over  which  Governor  Winthrop  passed  in  1634. 
In  1637,  "all  those  who  have  planting-grounds  by  the 
river  side,  beyond  Mr.  Appleton's,  are  to  take  the  lot- 
layers  and  lay  out  a  highway  most  convenient  for 
them."  The  General  Court,  March  5,  1639,  ordered 
all  roads  to  be  laid  out.  This  act  gave  all  roads  a 
legal  status  and  assured  proper  care  of  them.  It  re- 
lieved travelers  of  trespass,  and  protected  them  in 
their  public  rights.  The  position  of  the  town  laid 
upon  it  a  vigilant  care  of  its  own  roads.  The  town  is 
in  the  direct  communication  between  Boston  and 
Salem  on  the  south  and  Newburyport,  commercial 
New  Hampshire  and  Maine  on  the  North  ;  so  Haver- 


574 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


hill   and  Andover  on  the  west  and  Gloucester  and 
Cape  Ann  on  the  east. 

In  1635  a  pathway  to  Newbury  was  opened ;  in 
1641  the  road  to  Salem  was  determined  ;  in  1652  the 
road  to  Andover.  The  present  Andover  road  in  town 
was  a  footpath  in  1692.  The  highway  to  Essex  was 
laid  out  about  1651  ;  that  from  Newbury  to  Topsfield 
through  Linebrook  Parish,  in  1717.  The  bridge  in 
the  Salem  road,  at  Mile  Brook,  was  "  broken  up  by 
the  flood  "  in  1665.  In  1667  John,  Nathaniel  and 
Samuel  Adams,  Joseph  Saflbrd,  Nicholas  Wallis  and 
Thomas  Stacey  had  built  a  bridge  over  the  river  and 
were  exempted  from  highway  service  "  for  seaven 
years."  In  1730  John  Lamson,  John  Lamson,  Jr., 
Joseph  Cummings  and  Israel  Cummings,  Jr.,  ask  for 
an  allowance,  having  built  a  bridge  over  the  river, 
and  a  way  having  been  laid  out  from  the  old  Lamson 
house,  on  the  south  side,  to  Gravelly  Brook.  In 
1832  the  length  of  our  roads  was  seventy-two  miles. 
Our  public  ways  are  pronounced  by  bicyclists  the  best 
of  country  roads. 

2.  Turnpikes. — "The  Ipswich  Turnpike"  was  in- 
corporated March  1,  1803.  The  corporators'  names 
were  John  Heard,  Stephen  Choate,  Wm.  Gray,  Jr., 
Jacob  Ashton,  Asa  Andrews,  Joseph  Swasey,  Israel 
Thorndyke,  Nathan  Dane,  Wm.  Bartlett  and  James 
Prince.  The  road  began  at  the  blacksmith's  shop 
of  Nathaniel  "  Batchelder  "  in  Beverly,  ran  by  Nathan 
Brown's  in  Hamilton,  over  the  "old  road"  to  the 
stone  bridge  in  Ipswich ;  thence  through  Rowley, 
over  the  Parker  bridge  to  Newburyport, — four  rods 
wide,  with  toll-gates.  This  road  was  built  in  the  in- 
terest of  the  town,  and  it  served  its  purpose  well. 
How  long  it  was  a  road  with  pikes,  or  if  it  paid  well 
we  know  not.  It  certainly  was  the  great  thorough- 
fare for  land  transit  between  the  east  and  south,  and 
its  width  and  quality  to-day  attest  the  excellence  of 
its  construction.  The  railroad  robbed  it  of  its  pres- 
tige and  left  it  only  a  county  road. 

3.  "  The  Newburyport  Turnpike  Corporation  "  was 
incorporated  March  8,  1803,  and  the  corporators  were 
Michael  Sawyer,  William  Coombs,  Nicholas  Pike, 
Arnold  Welles,  Wm.  Bartlett,  John  Pittingell,  Wm. 
Smith,  John  Codman  and  James  Prince.  This  route 
was  to  be  the  passenger  express,  the  dispatch  for 
freight,  the  swift  mail, — in  short,  the  rapid  transit 
from  Newburyport  to  Boston.  Perhaps  it  was  de- 
signed to  favor  Newburyport  especially,  by  setting 
Ipswich  one  side,  but  Ipswich  enterprise  was  equal 
to  the  emergency.  The  Ipswich  road  was  incor- 
porated a  week  earlier.  This  route  was  thirty-two 
miles  long,  and  so  straight,  that  all  the  angles  to- 
gether in  the  first  twenty  miles  increased  the  distance 
only  eighty-three  feet.  Many  a  strange  story  is  told 
of  the  drivers'  skill,  of  short-time  passages,  of  eques- 
trian speed,  of  frightened  passengers,  and  of  the 
fearful,  headlong  drives  down  the  precipitous  hills. 
Tradition  says,  that  the  construction  was  done  with 
wheelbarrows,  and   not  with   dump-carts,  as  is  the 


practice  in  road-building  at  present.  It  is  further 
told  that  the  road  was  ultimately  to  be  straight  and 
level,  condition  consonant  with  absolute  dispatch. 
The  task  was  herculean.  It  was  the  wonder  of  the 
people,  the  glad  era  of  the  laborer,  the  joy  of  the 
proprietors,  the  hesperian  garden  of  the  capitalist. 
One  thousand  less  five  shares  were  sold.  The  con- 
struction was  begun  August  23,  1803,  completed  in 
1806,  and  cost  nearly  four  hundred  and  twenty  thou- 
sand dollars.  Many  of  the  heaviest  capitalists  were 
involved  in  it.  As  an  enterprise  it  deserved  a  better 
fate,  and  a  generous  remuneration  ;  but  taste  and  the 
exigencies  of  business  led  the  traveling  public  over 
the  Ipswich  road,  through  the  shires  of  Ipswich  and 
Salem,  and  away  from  this,  which  is  now  only  a  costly 
monument  of  the  enterprise  and  perseverance  of  its 
proprietors.  That  portion  of  the  road  lying  in  this 
county  was  sold  to  the  County  Commissioners  May 
10,  1849,  for  two  thousand  two  hundred  dollars. 
Ipswich's  share  of  it  was  two  miles  less  seven  rods, 
and  the  town  was  fortunate ;  for  one  mile  of  it  has 
been  very  serviceable  and  none  of  it  very  expensive. 

4.  The  Railroad. — This  is  a  more  satisfactory  route 
than  its  air-line  predecessor.  It  runs  where  the  peo- 
ple want  to  go,  where  business  and  taste  lead  the 
way.  It  introduced  comfort  and  speed.  "The  East- 
ern Railroad  Company  "  was  incorporated  April  14, 
1836.  The  iron-horse  entered  the  town  first  in  1839. 
It  was  thought  to  be  the  beginning  of  a  golden  era ; 
general  business  would  be  urged  forward  by  steam, 
workshops  enlarged,  dwellings  erected,  wharves  ex- 
tended, vessels  multiplied,  the  streets  more  populous, 
manufactories  more  varied  and  extensive,  farms  more 
remunerative,  merchants  busier  and  less  exacting, 
and  the  whole  hive  of  industry  more  alive  by  per- 
petual endowment.  But  the  corporation  has  not 
cultivated  our  soil,  nor  built  our  houses,  nor  much 
enlarged  our  factories,  nor  removed  the  river  impedi- 
ments, nor  retained  our  courts,  nor  fostered  our  com- 
merce, nor  enlarged  our  fisheries.  It  has,  however, 
removed  "  the  center  "  of  the  county  to  the  extremes, 
and  clustered  the  various  trades  around  other  manu- 
facturing and  commercial  points.  Yet  we  must  not 
undervalue  the  road  ;  it  has  uses  peculiarly  our  own, 
which  the  crowded  city  and  summer  heat,  and  our 
taste  and  enterprise  are  developing  year  by  year,  and 
which  will  bring  full  compensation. 

5.  Tlie  Choate  Bridge. — This  bridge  deserves  a  par- 
ticular notice,  because  it  was  the  first  of  such  con- 
struction in  these  parts,  and  hence  was  so  wonderful 
during  its  construction  and  has  been  so  serviceable 
since.  The  Town  and  County  built  it  in  equal  shares 
of  the  expense.  The  width  was  to  be  not  less  than 
twenty  feet,  the  length  between  the  abutments  sixty- 
eight  feet,  with  one  pier,  twenty  by  eight  feet,  and  a 
water  passage  beneath  each  arch  thirty  feet.  The 
guards  were  to  be  three  feet  high,  fifteen  inches  thick 
at  the  bottom,  and  nine  at  the  top.  The  building 
committee  were  Hon.  John  Choate,  Aaron  Potter,  Esq., 


IPSWICH. 


575 


and  Joseph  Appleton,  Esq.  It  was  completed  in  1764, 
at  a  cost  of  £996,  10s.,  6d.,  3/.  It  was  widened,  as  it 
now  is,  in  1837. 

6.  The  Canal.— In  1652,  22:  12,  Thomas  Clark 
and  Eeginal  Foster  were  "  to  have  ten  pounds  for 
cutting  a  passage  from  this  river  to  Chebacco  river 
of  ten  foot  wide  and  soe  deepe  as  a  lighter  laden 
may  pass,  and  making  a  forde  and  foote  bridge  over." 
In  1669,  the  selectmen  are  "to  take  care  that  the 
bargain  concerning  the  cutting  of  the  creek  at  Castle- 
hill  be  forwarded."  In  1681,  February  7,  any  towns- 
man has  liberty  to  "  perfect  the  cutting  the  Cut  that 
comes  up  to  Mr.  Eppes,  his  bridge."  In  1694,  who- 
ever will  cut  the  Cut  through  the  marsh  at  Mr. 
Eppes'  shall  have  liberty, — who  pays  five  shillings 
towards  it  "  shall  have  liberty  forever  to  pass  as  they 
have  occasion  ; "  others  must  pay  three  pence  a  cord 
or  a  ton,  in  money.  "The  Proprietors  of  the  Essex 
Canal  "  were  incorporated  June  15,  1820.  The  cor- 
porators' names  were  William  Andrews,  Jr.,  Adam 
Boyd,  Tristram  Brown,  Eobert  Crowell,  John  Dexter, 
Moses  Marshall, Parker,  Jonathan,  Benjamin, Samuel, 
Francis,  Jacob,  Jr.,  Ebenezer,  Jr.,  and  Nathan  Burn- 
ham :  Dudley,  George  and  Joseph  Choate;  Enoch, 
Winthrop  and  Joshua  Low ;  Jonathan  4th,  Jacob, 
Jonathan,  Abel,  Daniel,  Perkins  and  Epes  Story. 
The  canal  was  opened  in  1821 ;  was  half  a  mile  long 
and  cost  one  thousand,  one  hundred  dollars.  The 
stock  was  twenty-seven  shares  at  forty  dollars  each, 
and  paid  nearly  six  per  centum.  It  connected  the 
Merrimack  River  with  Chebacco  Eiver  and  so  let  in 
ship-timber  at  reduced  rates.  Late  years  it  has  been 
of  little  use,  and  within  a  year  its  walls  have  fallen 
in  decay. 

7.  Carriages. — These  were  at  first  the  rudest  sort  of 
vehicles,  a  cumbersome  hay-rack,  or  a  pair  of  wheels. 
Conveyance  for  business  or  to  church  was  on  horse- 
back by  saddle  for  a  man,  side-saddle  for  a  female,  or 
saddle  and  pillion  for  both.  The  first  kind  of  vehicle 
for  personal  conveyance  was  introduced  about  1725, 
and  consisted  of  the  body  of  a  chaise  upon  a  pair  of 
wheels,  and  called  a  curricle.  Richard  Rogers,  Esq., 
had  one  in  1730.  About  1750,  a  top  was  put  to  the 
seat,  which  made  it  a  full-grown  chaise,  one  of  which 
a  year  or  two  latter  was  owned  by  Rev.  Samuel  Wig- 
glesworth.  Family  conveyance  to  chui'ch  or  social 
party  was  upon  clean  straw  in  the  bottom  of  the  cum- 
bersome dray.  In  1762  John  Stavers  began  to  run  a 
two-horse  curricle  between  Portsmouth  and  Boston, 
making  the  round  trip  in  five  days,  and  stopping  two 
nights  at  Ipswich.  The  advent  of  the  stage  with  four 
horses  was  as  early  as  1774.  This  welcome  convey- 
ance made  two  trips  weekly  between  Newburyport 
and  Boston,  passing  through  Ipswich  both  ways. 
About  1800,  horse-wagons  began  to  be  used.  Mer- 
chandise by  horse  had  formerly  been  carried  in  sad- 
dle-bags, wallets  and  panniers.  The  wagon-body  at 
first  set  firmly  upon  the  axle-trees,  next  upon  wooden- 
springs,  upon  the  principle  of  a  spring-hole;   then 


upon  long  leather  straps,  or  thorough-braces ;  and, 
lastly,  as  now  upon  steel-springs.  Rev.  Felt  re- 
marked, in  1834 :  "  Should  the  improvements  in 
journeying  be  as  great  for  two  centuries  to  come  as 
they  have  been  in  the  two  already  elapsed,  posterity 
will  as  much  wonder  that  we  are  contented  with  the 
present  degree  of  such  improvements,  as  we  do,  that 
our  ancestors  were  satisfied  with  their  mode  of  trav- 
elling." This  remark  was  penned  five  years  before 
the  steam-cars  entered  the  town. 

8.  The  Mail  Service. — The  earliest  method  of  for- 
warding letters  was  by  such  means  as  chance  offered. 
Thus  William  Jeffrey,  "  the  old  planter,"  brought  a 
letter  to  John  Winthrop,  Jr.,  from  Merry  Morton  in 
1634,  Jeffrey  doubtless  having  been  over  to  Morton's 
on  business.  The  earliest  stated  carrying  of  the  mails 
was  on  horseback,  and  during  the  early  Indian  Wars 
the  messengers  were  watched  for  with  the  greatest 
anxiety  and  hailed  with  the  greatest  earnestness  and 
suspense.  The  Essex  Gazette,  established  1768,  the 
first  newspaper  published  in  Salem,  was  delivered  to 
the  subscribers  here  and  as  far  east  as  Newburyport. 
by  a  post-rider  for  that  express  purpose.  One  of  the 
most  active  of  the  distributors  of  that  paper  was 
Thomas  Dimon,  doubtless  a  descendant  of  our  Mr. 
Andrew  Diamond,  who  died  in  1708.  Early  in  1775, 
our  town  chose  five  delegates  to  a  convention  of  dele- 
gates from  the  several  towns  concerned,  to  establish  a 
regular  post  between  Newburyport  and  Cambridge. 
The  convention  met  May  4th  in  this  town  ;  their  action 
was  to  be  binding  upon  all  alike.  Immediately  fol- 
lowing this  convention — before  May  24th — a  post-office 
was  established  here  by  the  Provincial  Congress,  and 
Deacon  James  Foster  was  the  post-master.  The  fol- 
lowing is  a  list  of  the  post-masters  that  have  served 
since  Deacon  Foster,  with  the  dates  of  their  respective 
appointments :  Daniel  Noyes,  October  5,  1775 ;  Jo- 
seph Lord,  November  25,  1800 ;  Isaac  Smith,  July  1, 
1805;  Nathan  Jaques,  September  14,  1807;  Ammi 
Smith,  October  5,  1818;  James  H.  Kendall,  August 
10, 1829;  Stephen  Coburn,  August  28, 1832;  John  H. 
Varrell,  April  18,  1861;  Joseph  L.  Ackerman,  July 
20,  1865;  John  H.  Cogswell,  January  3,  1868;  Ed- 
ward P.  Kimball,  August  2,  1886. 

9.  Town-House. — About  two  years  after  the  full 
completion  of  the  church  edifice,  the  people  began  to 
desire  a  town-house  and  a  school-house.  They  pro- 
posed a  two-story  building,  with  school-room  on  the 
first  floor  and  town-house  above.  Accordingly,  May 
11.  1704,  the  town  voted  to  build  "forthwith,  if  the 
county  would  pay  half,  as  it  did  for  the  town-house  in 
Salem."  Thus  their  economy  devised  the  triple  ser- 
vice of  school,  town  and  court-house  in  one.  The 
same  year,  December  28th,  a  committee  was  chosen 
to  contract  for  a  building  "  about  32  feet  long,  about 
28  feet  wide  and  about  18  or  19  feet  stud,  with  a  flat 
roof  raised  about  5  feet."  Abraham  Felton  was  the 
contractor.  A  steeisle  was  constructed  upon  it  at  a 
cost  of  £29  7s.  8d,  which  was    voted  August  2,  1767, 


t.76 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Another  town-liouse  was  built  about  1794-95.  This 
was  also  used  for  a  court-house,  and  the  county  paid 
half  the  cost.  Its  use  as  a  town-house  was  discon- 
tinued in  1841,  when,  October  12th,  the  town  sold  its 
interest  to  the  county  for  twelve  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars.  From  that  time  to  1843  they  had  no  town- 
house.  In  that  year,  January  23d,  the  town  instruct- 
ed a  committee  to  purchase  the  unused  Unitarian 
church  edifice,  if  it  could  be  bought  at  two  thousand 
dollars  or  less.  Early  in  that  year  the  purchase  was 
made.  The  building  has  undergone  considerable  al- 
teration and  enlargement,  and  now  is  very  serviceable 
for  all  the  purposes  of  the  town,  for  which  such 
building  is  needed. 

10.  A  List  of  Voters  in  town  affairs,  made  by  a 
committee  for  the  purpose,  to  be  corrected  at  the  next 
town-meeting."  Presented  December  2,  1679:  Maj. 
Gen.  Denison,  Mr.  Thomas  Corbet,  Mr.  William  Hub- 
bard, Elder  Paine,  Mr.  John  Rogers,  Capt.  John  Ap- 
pleton,  Maj.  Samuel  Appleton,  Corp'.  Jo:  Andrews, 
Corp'.  Jo:  Andrews,  Nathaniel  Adams,  Nehemiah 
Abbott,  Arthur  Abbott,  Naniel  Bosworth,  John  Brew- 
er, Sen^,  Tho:  Borman,  Edmund  Bridges,  Sergt.  Bel- 
cher, Henry  Bennett,  Ens.  Tho:  Burnam,  Thomas 
Burnam,  Jr.,  Edward  Bragg,  Moses  Bradstreet,  John 
Burnam,  Sen.,  John  Caldwell,  Sergt.  Clarke,  Corp. 
Tho:  Clarke,  Tho:  Clarke,  mill,  Robert  Cross,  Sen., 
Mr.  William  Cogswell,  John  Choate,  Mr.  John  Cogs- 
well, Edw.  Colburne,  Rob't  Day,  John  Denison,  Sen"^., 
John  Dane,  Sen'.,  Mr.  Daniel  Eppes,  Nathaniel  Em- 
erson, Philip  Fowler,  Renold  Foster,  Sen'.,  Renold 
Foster,  Jr.,  Jacob  Foster,  Joseph  Fellows,  Eus. 
French,  Tho:  French,  Abraham  Fitts,  Isaac  Fellows, 
Ephraim  Fellows,  Isaac  Foster,  Abraham  Foster,  Dea. 
Goodhue,  Wm.  (?)  Goodhue,  Tho:  Giddings,  Joseph 
Goodhue,  Mr.  Richards,  Daniel  Hovey,  Sen.,  Daniel 
Hovey,  Jr.,  Sam:  Hunt,  George  Hadley,  Wm.  (?)  How- 
lett,  James  How,  Sen'.,  James  How,  Jr.,  Nehemiah 
Jewett,  John  Jewett,  Samuel  Ingalls,  Nathaniel  Ja- 
cobs, Tho:  Jacobs,  John  Knowlton,  Sen.,  John  Kim- 
ball, Dea.  Knowlton,  Rob't  Kinsman,  Daniel  Killam, 
Sen.,  Tho:  Lull,  Robert  Lord,  Sen.,  Robert  Lord,  Jr., 
John  Layton,  Thomas  Lovell,  Edwd.  Lumas,  John 
Lampson,  Thomas  Metcalf,  John  Newmarch,  Sen., 
Dea.  Pengrey,  Aaron  Pengry,  Quart. — Mr.  Perkins, 
Sergt.  Perkins,  Jacob  Perkins,  Abraham  Perkins, 
Anthony  Potter,  Samuel  Podd,  Samuel  Perley,  Mr. 
Samuel  Rogers,  Walter  Roper,  Mr.  Smith,  Richard 
Smith,  Wm.  Story,  Sen.,  Wm.  Story,  Jr.,  Symon 
Stace,  Wm.  Smith,  Simon  Tuttle,  Nathaniel  Tread- 
well,  Thomas  Varney,  Mr.  Jonathan  Wade,  Rob't 
Whittman,  Obediah  Wood,  Mr.  Wainwright,  Sen., 
Mr.  John  Wainwright,  Daniel  Warnex,  Sen.,  Na- 
thaniel Warner,  Capt.  John  Whipple,  Isaiah  Wood, 
James  White,  Wm.  White,  Nicholas  Wallis,  Corp'. 
John  Whipple,  Tvvisford  Westt,  Nathaniel  Wells, 
Rich:  Walker,  Joseph  Whipple,  Samuel  Younglove, 
Sen.,  Samuel  Younglove,  Jr.,  Tho:  Low,  Mr,   Jos: 


Willson,  Nath'l   Rust,  Simon   Chapman,  Mr.  Wm. 
Norton,  Mr.  Thomas  Andrews,  Joseph  Quilter. 

11.  Villaijes. — The  Town  Village,  with  the  First 
Church  as  a  centre,  is  about  o^e  mile  from  the  sea  in 
latitude  42^  41^  N.  and  longitude  70°  50^  T^.,— or  ex- 
actly, according  to  the  United  States  Coast  Survey  in 
1850,  the  former  runs  along  and  crosses  High  Street 
from  the  front  of  the  Lord  Mansion  to  Mineral  Street, 
and  the  latter  crosses  Market  Street  into  Union.  It 
is  five  and  a  half  miles  from  the  Linebrook  Church  ; 
five  and  a  quarter  from  Castle  Neck  or  Patch's  Beach, 
and  three  from  the  Almshouse.  It  is  27.8  miles  from 
Boston, the  State  capital;  11.5  from  Salem,  the  county 
capital ;  and  9.5  from  Newburyport.  Other  villages, 
as  reported  by  the  United  States  Census  of  1880,  were 
Argilla,  Candlewood,  Goose,  Ipswich,  Linebrook, 
Mill,  Peatfield,  Turkeyshore  and  Willowdale. 

12.  Population. — The  population  about  1650,  ac- 
cording to  Wonder-working  Providence,  was  "about 
one  hundred  and  forty-families,"  which,  we  compute, 
was  about  700  inhabitants.  In  1680  there  were  one 
hundred  and  twenty-six  voters,  which,  we  presume, 
represented  about  825  people.  The  growth  has  been 
slow,  many  decades  making  little  increase,  a  few 
slightly  retrograding.  The  population  in  1830  was 
2951 ;  in  1885,  4207,  with  a  proportion  of  47  males 
to  53  females.  The  growth  in  fifty-five  years  has 
been  42  per  centum,  making  an  average //er  annum  of 
77-100  of  1  per  centum.  The  growth  of  the  last  dec- 
ade has  been  \2 per  centum.  There  are  at  present,  by 
the  Manual  of  the  Legislature  for  1887,  1,016  voters. 
The  census  of  1880  reports  694  dwellings  and  861 
families,  and  a  population  of  3,699,  of  whom  3,257 
are  native-born  and  442  are  foreign-born  ;  219  being 
Irish,  129  English,  64  Canadians,  16  Nova  Scotians, 
11  Scotch  and  6  Germans.  There  were  25  colored 
persons  of  African  descent. 

SCENERY. 

1.  Its  Character. — Our  town  has  no  White  Moun- 
tains, nor  Berkshire  Hills, — nothing  wild,  awful,  or 
grand ;  but  our  landscape  affords  an  agreeable  variety 
and  a  peculiar  beauty.  The  diversity  of  hill  and 
vale,  of  meadow  and  marsh,  of  woodland  and  field, 
of  river,  and  pond,  and  brook, — enhanced  by  the  va- 
riety of  the  seasons ;  verdure  and  flower,  the  cattle 
upon  the  hillside  and  the  husbandman  in  the  field, 
the  fruit-setting  and  the  waving  grass,  the  ripening 
apple  and  the  purpling  plum,  the  yellow  corn 
and  the  nodding  grain,  and  the  enchanting  beauty  of 
our  frost-painted  forests,  gratifies  the  eye,  educates 
the  heart  and  sheds  over  the  mind  a  soft  radiance  of 
perennial  joy. 

2.  Po7id. — In  the  Linebrook  District  is  a  beautiful 
sheet  of  water,  called  successively  Baker's,  Pritch- 
ard's.  Great  and  Hood's  Pond,  by  which  last  name  it 
is  now  known.  Its  surface  is  eighty  feet  above  Town 
Hill,  or  one  hundred  and  ninety-two  feet  above  sea- 
level.     It  might  be  made  an  excellent  reservoir  for 


IPSWICH. 


577 


fire  or  other  purpose,  for  the  village  of  Topsfield,  or 
Ipswich,  or  perhaps  both.  Rev.  Jacob  Hood,  of 
Lynnfiekl,  who  died,  in  1885,  at  the  age  of  ninety- 
four  years,  surveyed  it,  in  his  youth,  and  computed 
the  area,  at  nearly  eighty  acres.  In  the  winter  of 
1861-62,  the  writer  surveyed  it,  and  made,  by  tra- 
verse-table, sixty-five  and  nine-tenths  acres.  A  third 
of  the  pond  is  in  Topsfield,  and  a  dozen  years  ago 
that  town  stocked  it  with  perch  and  black  bass,  thus 
availing  itself  of  a  State  law,  which,  for  that  purpose, 
gave  that  town  exclusive  control  of  the  waters  for 
fifteen  years.  On  its  bosom  blooms  the  fragrant, 
■white-petal ed  lily  ;  and  boats  for  rowing  and  sailing 
invite  to  healthful  recreation  ;  and  it  lends  a  charm 
to  the  surrounding  hills.  On  the  west,  rising  seven- 
ty feet  jabove  its  surface,  is  a  broad  grazing  field, 
■where  General  Israel  Putnam,  in  his  boyhood,  ■R'hen 
in  the  tutelage  of  his  stepfather,  went  to  find  and 
"  fetch "  the  cows ;  and  on  the  east  is  Burnham's 
Hill,  named  from  James  Burnham,  who,  in  1717, 
owned  the  land. 

3.  Streams. — The  principal  streams  are  Winthrop's, 
Norton's,  Howlet's,  Mile  and  Bull  Brooks,  which  used 
to  be  good  fishing  for  pickerel  and  trout.  Other 
streams  are  North,  or  Egypt  River  (now  Bull  Brook), 
and  Muddy  and  Ipswich  Rivers,  all  of  which  have 
been  serviceable  for  fishing,  for  irrigation  and  for 
mill-privileges.  The  Ipswich  River  rises  in  "  Ma- 
ple Meadow  Brook,"  in  the  town  of  Burlington,  and 
meanders  through  Wilmington,  North  Reading,  Mid- 
dleton  and  Topsfield,  entering  our  town  upon  the 
southwest  border.  Upon  its  banks,  throughout  its 
length,  are  saw,  grist,  paper,  cotton  and  woolen- 
mills,  enhancing  its  picturesqueness  by  its  utility. 

4.  Elevation. — The  seeming  discrepancy  in  the 
area  of  the  pond,  above  mentioned,  and  the  subsi- 
dence of  Egypt  River,  serve  to  illu-trate  the  fact 
of  a  general  elevation  of  the  territory.  Old  deeds 
8p(>ak  of  ponds  in  the  vicinity  of  the  West  Meadow, 
■which  are  unknown  to  the  present  generation ;  yet 
there  are  swamps  which  answer  to  the  location  and 
size. 

5.  Hills. — We  have  two  hills  more  than  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  feet  high,  three  more  than  two  hun- 
dred, and  nine  more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty.  A 
thoughtful  view  from  either  is  delightful  and  in- 
structive. It  was  Heartbreak  Hill,  one  hundred  and 
ninety-six  feet  high,  from  which  an  ancient  hunter's 
fair  daughter  watched  in  vain  for  the  return  of  her 
sailor-lover,  and  died  of  a  broken  heart.  Turner's 
Hill,  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high,  shows  the 
State  Asylum  at  Dauvers,  and  the  nearer  and  mag- 
nificent view  of  forest,  and  farm,  and  river.  The 
hill  is  upon  the  "  Bracket  Farm,"  in  Willowdale.  It 
is  surmounted  by  a  commanding  look-out ;  the  grove 
upon  its  slope  has  been  prepared  for  picnic  parties, 
an  artificial  pond  of  an  acre's  extent,  drawing  its 
supply  from  a  generous  spring  above,  is  furnished 
with  boat  for  recreation,  and    a    huckleberry  field, 

37 


from  which  fifty  bushels    have  been  gathered   in  a 
day,  is  near  and  free  to   all.     Drive-ways,  and  sta- 
bles, and  pond,  and  boat,  and   spring,    and  field,  in- 
vite  the   weary  to   rest   and   recuperation,    and  the 
grounds  which  have  recently  been  christened  "Mount 
Turner,"  are  fast  becoming  a  noted  public  resort  for 
peoples  far  and  near.     There   is   also   Bartholomew's 
Hill,  two  hundred  and  four  feet  high,  at  whose  foot 
once  dw^elt  William  Bartholomew,  an  early  benefac- 
tor of  the  town  ;  Turkey,  two  hundred  and  forty  feet 
high  ;  Jewett's,  or  Muzzy's,  two  hundred   and  twelve 
feet  high ;  Little  Turner,   one  hundred  and  ninety- 
seven  feet  high  ;  Bush,  one  hundred  and  ninety-three 
feet  high;  Scott's,  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  high; 
and  Sagamore,  one   hundred    and    seventy-two  feet 
high,  where,  instead  of  Sagamore  in  Hamilton,  should 
rest  the  bones  of  our  Masconnomet.     Prospect  Hill  is 
two  hundred  and  sixty  feet  above  the  sea-level,  and 
shows  us  the  White  Mountains,  Old   Monadnock  and 
Wachusett.     Town,  or  Cemetery  Hill,  is  one  hundred 
and  eighty-four  feet  high,  and  shows   the  village  and 
surrounding  farms,  the   Pow-wow  Hill  of  Amesbury 
and  the  white  church  spires  of  Newburyport.    Castle 
Hill,  the  grand  old  sentinel  of  "  ye  anciente  tyme," 
located  on  the  famous  Ipswich   Beach,  at  the  mouths 
of  Ipswich  and  Plum-Island  Rivers,  rises  one  hundred 
and  sixty-eight  feet,  and  embraces  in  her  view  the 
winding  stretch  of  the  river,  the  busy  mills,  the  cat- 
tle-grazed hillsides,  the  cultivated  fields,  the  bustling 
village,  far    lonely   Agamenticus,    the   island-bound 
coast  of  Maine,  the  Isles  of  Shoals,  the  white  crests 
of  the  ocean,  the  spreading  sails  of  commerce,  the 
headland  and  silvery  beach  and   rolling  surf  of  Cape 
Ann,  the  villages  of  Lanesville,  Bay  View  and  Annis- 
quam,  and  the  summer  homes  of  Col.   French  and 
Gen.  Butler,  depicting  a  panorama  of  exquisite  beauty 
and  rare  interest.     This  is  the  native  hill  of  Mr.  John 
B.  Brown,  of  Chicago,  who,  after  years  of  absence 
and  success,  having  never  forgotten  the  haunts  of  his 
boyhood,  is  now  grading  and  terracing  it,  planting 
upon  it  trees  and  laying  out  drive-ways,  and  other- 
wise beautifying  it  and  making  it  as  attractive  as  the 
view  from  the  summit. 

BIOGRAPHICAL. 

1.  John  Winthrop,  Jr.,  the  founder  of  this  town, 
was  born  in  Groton,  County  Essex,  England,  Febru- 
ary 12,  1606.  He  was  a  son  of  Governor  John  Win- 
throp  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony.  He  grad- 
uated at  Dublin  University,  at  the  age  of  nineteen ; 
he  became  a  barrister  of  the  Inner  Temple ;  he  was 
a  member  of  the  relief  expedition  to  the  Huguenots, 
at  Rochelle,  in  1627 ;  he  came  to  this  country  in 
1631,  and  to  this  town  in  1633.  He  had  two  houses 
in  town,  one  on  the  Essex  Road,  and  one  at  Castle 
Hill.  Soon  after  the  settlement  of  the  town,  his  first 
wife  died  ;  he  had  a  second  wife,  Elizabeth,  youngest 
daughter  of  Edmund  Reade,  of  Wickford,  County 
Essex,  England.     She  was  the  mother  of  all  his  chil- 


578 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


dren.  After  her  father's  death,  her  mother  married  the 
celebrated  Hugh  Peters.  John  visited  England  many 
times,  and  while  there  was  serviceable  in  many  wayy 
to  the  colony.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Royal  Society,  and  so  wore  the  honorable  title  F.R.S. 
He  was  the  founder  of  the  Connecticut  Colony,  and 
several  years  its  Governor.  He  was  efficient  in  all 
his  enterprises.  He  belonged  to  a  highly  esteemed 
family.  After  the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries 
almost  the  whole  of  the  parish  was  given  to  them  as 
their  future  domain.  Why  they  resigned  their  wealth 
and  distinction  for  the  wilderness  can  hardly  be  con- 
jectured. Governor  Winthrop,  the  younger,  "appears 
in  history  without  a  blemish.  Highly  educated  and 
accomplished,  he  was  no  less  upright  and  generous. 
In  the  bloom  of  life,  he  left  all  his  brilliant  prospects 
in  the  old  M'orld  to  follow  the  fortunes  of  the  new. 
When  his  father  had  made  himself  poor  in  nourish- 
ing the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony,  this  noble  son 
gave  up  voluntarily  his  own  large  inheritance  to 
further  the  good  work."  He  died  in  Boston,  April  5, 
1676. 

2.  Governor  Ihomas  Dudley  was  born  in  Northampton, 
England,  in  1576.  He  settled  in  this  town  soon  after 
the  settlement,  and  during  or  shortly  after  his  first 
term  as  Colonial-Governor.  He  owned  land  on  the 
north  side  of  the  town  upon  which  he  built  a  house, 
all  of  which  he  afterwards  sold  to  Mr.  Hubbard.  He 
also  owned  land  near  Heartbreak  Hill.  He  disposed 
of  most  of  his  estate  in  the  town  about  the  time  of  his 
second  inauguration  as  Governor.  He  was  a  resident 
here  some  nine  or  ten  years.  He  was  assistant  six 
years,  Deputy-Governor  thirteen  years,  and  Governor 
four  years.     He  died  July  27,  1653. 

3.  Oovernor  Simon  Bradsfreet  was  born  in  Holling, 
Horbling,  Lincolnshire,  England,  March,  1603.  He 
matriculated,  July  9,  1618,  as  a  sizer,  Emmanuel  Col- 
lege, when  he  was  fourteen  years  old.  In  two  years 
he  took  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts,  and,  in  1624, 
the  Master's  degree.  When  he  was  about  twenty- 
five  years  old,  he  married  Anne  Dudley,  daughter  of 
Governor  Dudley,  who  became  the  first  New  England 
poetess.  He  came  here  in  1630.  He  was  assistant 
forty-eight  years,  colonial  secretary  thirteen  years, 
Deputy-Governor  five  years,  and  Governor  ten  years. 
He  was  a  resident  of  this  town  about  twenty  years. 
In  March,  1658,  he  was  a  resident  of  Andover.  He 
died  in  Salem,  March  27,  1697,  at  the  great  age  of 
ninety-four  years. 

4.  Deputy- Governor  Samuel  Symonds  came  from 
Yieldham,  County  Essex,  England,  and  settled  here 
in  1637-38.  He  was  made  fireman  in  1638,  was  town 
clerk  from  1639  to  1645,  was  professor  of  the  Gram- 
mar School,  deputy  to  the  General  Court  from  1638 
to  1643,  then  assistant  to  1673,  when  he  was  elected 
Deputy-Governor,  an  office  which  he  held  till  his 
death.  He  was  long  time  a  justice  of  the  Quarter 
Court.  He  was  one  of  the  committee  to  draft  a  body 
of  laws  in  1645.     He  addressed  Governor  Winthrop, 


in  1646,  urging  more  activity  in  the  divine  purpose  in 
the  settlement  of  New  England — Christianizing  the 
Indians.  He  was  of  the  committee  "  to  pass  the  arti- 
cles of  Confederation  with  the  United  Colonies,"  in 
1643,  and  to  examine  the  proceedings  of  the  commis- 
sioners in  May  10,  1648.  The  Legislature  granted 
him  five  hundred  acres  of  Pequod  land,  and  in  1651 
he  was  granted  three  hundred  acres  of  the  land 
beyond  the  Merriraac.  He  was  one  of  these  several 
committees:  To  visit  and  settle  a  government  at 
Piscataqua,  1652 ;  to  prepare  the  case  of  the  United 
Colonies  against  the  Dutch  and  Indians,  1653 ;  to 
prepare  and  present  the  case  of  the  Colony  to  Crom- 
well, 1654;  to  receive  the  allegiance  of  the  natives  to 
Colonial  authority,  July  13,  1658;  to  consider  the 
matter  between  the  King's  Commissioners  and  the 
Assembly,  in  1665;  to  revise  certain  laws  annulled 
by  the  King,  one  of  which  abolished  the  observance 
of  Christmas,  as  a  relic  of  Episcopacy,  1667.  He  held 
court  in  York  County  in  1672 ;  and  he  often  per- 
formed such  service  outside  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Ipswich  Court.  He  was  away  from  home  so  much  on 
public  business,  and  his  house  was  so  remote  from 
neighbors,  that  two  men  were  appointed  to  guard  it, 
during  the  war,  in  1675.  In  December  the  enemy 
burned  his  mills  at  "  Lamperee  River." 

He  died  in  October,  1678.  The  Legislature  as  a 
token  of  respect,  voted  £20  towards  his  funeral 
charges.  His  first  wife  was  daughter  of  Governor 
Winthrop,  and  was  living  September  30,  1648.  His 
second  wife  was  Rebecca,  widow  of  Daniel  Eppes, 
and  died  July  21,  1695,  aged  seventy-eight  years. 
His  estate  was  £2534  9s.  His  Argilla  Farm  is  a  noted 
district  in  town  at  present. 

5.  Joseph  Metcalfe  was  born  about  1605 ;  he  died 
August  or  September,  1665,  aged  sixty  years.  He 
held  various  town  offices  ;  he  was  deputy  eight  years 
between  1635  and  1661.  He  was  a  committee  to  col- 
lect gifts  made  by  friends  in  England,  in  1655,  and 
also  one  of  the  Essex  committee  for  trade.  He  owned 
an  estate  in  the  village,  and  lands  in  the  Linebrook 
district,  which  continued  in  the  family  name  till 
1829,  when  it  was  sold  to  Samuel  Dane  Dodge. 

6.  Nehemiah  Jewett  was  son  of  Jeremiah,  who  died 
in  1714.  He  was  town  officer  in  several  capacities, 
was  deputy  sixteen  years,  between  1689  and  1709, 
three  of  which  he  was  speaker.  He  was  a  justice  of 
the  Court  of  Sessions.  He  was  on  a  committee  to 
compensate  for  damages  in  the  witchcraft  trials.  He 
was  esteemed  and  respected  in  every  walk  in  life. 
He  died  near  the  beginning  of  1720. 

7.  Robert  Paine  was  born  in  1601.  He  was  influ- 
ential in  town  affairs.  He  was  professor  of  the  gram- 
mar school,  and  contributed  very  largely  of  his  estate 
to  its  permanent  establishment.  He  was  a  deputy 
three  years.  He  was  one  of  the  Essex  Committee  for 
trade,  in  1655  ;  was  county  treasurer  from  1665  to 
1683,  inclusive ;  was  ruling  elder  of  the  First  Church. 
He  was  an  exemplary  man.      Wonder-working  Provi- 


IPSWICH. 


579 


dencesajs:  "  A  right  godly  man,  and  one  wliose  es- 
tate hath  holpen  on  well  with  the  work  of  this  little 
commonwealth." 

8.  Francis  Wainvjright  lived  with  Alexander 
Knight,  inn-keeper  in  Chelmsford,  England,  and  came 
with  him  to  Ipswich.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the  Pe- 
quod  War,  and  was  greatly  applauded  for  his  brave  ex- 
ploits. He  became  a  wealthy  merchant.  He  died 
suddenly,  May  19,  1692. 

His  son  Francis  was  born  August  25,  1664 ;  he 
graduated  at  Harvard,  1686.  His  first  wife,  Sarah 
Whipple,  married  March  12,  1686,  died  March  16, 
1709,  aged  thirty-eight  years.  He  made  an  engage- 
ment with  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Hirst,  of  Salem,  but  died 
before  married.  He  was  engaged  in  commerce  and 
as  merchant.  He  bequeathed  five  pounds  to  the 
First  Church.  His  estate  was  valued  at  nineteen 
hundred  and  fourteen  pounds.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery  Company;  was 
colonel,  town  clerk,  representative,  feoffee,  general 
sessions,  justice,  commissioner  and  collector  of  excise 
for  Essex.  He  died  in  the  strength  of  ripe  manhood, 
August  3,  1711. 

9.  Among  the  early  settlers  was  that  Spartan  com- 
pany who  met  at  the  Appleton  Mansion,  the  23d  of 
August,  1687,  and  settled  the  question  for  themselves, 
that  Andros,  the  King  appointed  Governor,  had  no 
right  to  tax  the  people  without  the  consent  of  an 
assembly,  and  who  dared  "  render  a  reason."     That 
miniature  Provincial    Congress,   who   counseled   for 
righteousness,  principle  and  honest  government,  were 
Rev.    John    Wise,   John   Andrew,    John    Appleton, 
Robert  Kinsman,  William  Goodhue,  Samuel  Apple- 
ton  and  Thomas  French.     The  first  two  were  of  Che- 
bacco,  the  rest  doubtless  of  Ipswich.     Goodhue  had 
a  house-lot  in  town  in  1635,  was  afterwards  large  land 
owner,  was  commoner,  was  a  Denison  subscriber,  was 
selectman,  representative  and  a  deacon.     He  was  a 
man  of  rank  and  influence.     He  died  in  1700,  at  the 
age  of  eighty-five.     John  Appleton   was  born  about 
1622,  and  came  here  with  his  father,  Samuel,  from 
Waldringfield,  England,  in  1635.     His  parental  home 
in  this  town  was  a  grant  of  six  hundred  acres  of  land, 
bounded   by   the   river   and    Mile   Brook,   a  part  of 
which  is  still  retained  in  the  family  name.     He  mar- 
ried 1651,  Priscilla,   daughter  of  Rev.  Jesse  Glover. 
She  died  February  18,  1697 ;  he,  November  4,  1699. 
He  had  been  selectman,  militia  captain,  marine  cap- 
tain, county  treasurer,  representative  to  the  General 
Court  sixteen  years.     Samuel  Appleton,   brother  of 
the  above  John,  was  born   about  1626.     He  married, 
first,  Hannah,  daughter  of  William  Payne,  and  had 
Samuel,  born  1644  ;  second,  Mary,  daughter  of  John 
Oliver,  of  Newbury,  December  2,  1656,  and  had  ten 
children.     She  was  born  June  7,  1640,  and  died  Feb- 
ruary 15,  1697.     He  was  selectman,  lieutenant-major, 
colonel,  and  with  his  regiment  achieved  distinction 
in  the  war  against  King  Philip,  in  1676.     He  was  as- 
sistant six  years,  and  was  a  member  of  the  first  coun- 


cil under  the  charter  of  William  and  Mary,  1692.  He 
died  May  15,  1696.  Of  his  sisters,  Sarah  mar- 
ried Rev.  Samuel  Phillips,  of  Rowley,  and  Judith, 
Samuel  Rogers,  son  of  Rev.  Samuel,  April  8,  1657. 


CHAPTER    XLIII. 
IPSWICH— (Confrnwed). 


ECCLESIASTICAL. 


THE   FIRST   CHURCH. 

1.  Origin  and  Methods. — The  church  at  this  time 
was  the  object  and  end  of  government;  and  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  the  organization  of  the  government 
here  and  an  organization  for  religious  instruction  and 
worship  were  practically  simultaneous.  Governor 
Winthrop  recorded  in  his  journal,  November  26,  1633, 
that  "  Mr.  Wilson  (by  leave  of  the  congregation  of 
Boston,  whereof  he  is  pastor),  went  to  Agawam  to 
teach  the  people  of  that  plantation,  because  they  have 
yet  no  minister."  Again,  he  wrote,  April  3,  1634, 
that  himself  "  went  on  foot  to  Agawam,  and  because 
the  people  wanted  a  minister,  spent  the  Sabbath  with 
them,  and  exercised  by  way  of  prophecy,  and  returned 
home  on  the  10th."  There  was,  therefore,  ho  church 
organized  at  that  time,  but  there  must  have  been 
shortly  thereafter  ;  for  Mr.  Parker  came  the  next 
month  and  Mr.  Ward  the  second  month.  According 
to  James  Cudsworth,  1634,  "  a  plantation  was  made 
up  this  year,  Mr.  Ward  P[astor]  and  Mr.  Parker 
T[eacher]."  This  was  the  ninth  church  in  the  colony 
and  the  third  in  the  county. 

The  teacher  appears  to  have  been  an  assistant  who 
might  or  might  not  be  ordained.  His  service  was 
merged  into  the  duty  of  the  pastor  about  1745, 
though  the  idea  still  obtains  in  many  parishes  where 
the  minister  is  installed  as  pastor  and  teacher.  The 
Sabbath  service  ran  thus  :  The  pastor  began  it  with 
prayer;  the  teacher  then  read  and  expounded  a  chap- 
ter; the  ruling  elders  announced  a  Psalm,  which  was 
sung ;  the  pastor  read  a  sermon,  and  sometimes  fol- 
lowed it  with  an  extemporaneous  address,  consuming 
frequently  an  hour  or  more  ;  singing  followed  ;  then 
a  prayer  and  the  benediction.  In  the  afternoon  ser- 
vice, just  before  the  benediction,  the  congregation  re- 
cited :  "  Blessed  are  they  that  hear  the  word  of  God 
and  keep  it."  The  singing  was  peculiar.  One  of  the 
ruling  elders  read  a  single  line  of  the  Psalm,  then 
such  of  the  congregation  as  could  sing,  rose  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  house  and  sang  it ;  then  other  lines 
were  successively  read  and  sung  till  the  conclusion  of 
the  Psalm.  When  elders  were  not  chosen  the  dea- 
cons performed  their  duty,  which  gave  rise  to  the 
phrase,  "Deaconing  the  hymn."  About  1790  the 
whole  stanza  was  read  at  once,  and  about  three  years 


580 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


later  the  whole  hymn  was  read  at  once  by  the  pastor. 
Singing  choirs  began  to  form  as  early  as  1763,  when 
seats  were  assigned  them,  but  they  were  not  elevated 
to  the  gallery  till  about  1781.  A  contribution  every 
Sabbath  was  the  rule  till  some  part  of  1763.  To  de- 
posit the  offerings,  the  magistrates  and  chief  men  first 
walked  up  to  the  deacon's  seat,  then  the  elders  and 
then  the  congregation.  There  was  also  weekly  ser- 
vice, which  was  as  carefully  observed  as  the  service 
of  the  Sabbath.  It  was  called  "  The  Lecture,"  and 
was  attended  each  week  on  Thursday,  which  was 
known  as  "Lecture  Day."  It  consumed  the  best 
part  of  the  day,  beginning  at  eleven  o'clock.  It  be- 
came monthly,  in  1753,  and  our  weekly  prayer-meet- 
ing is  its  successor.  The  old  churches  had  a  practice 
of  holding  a  Fast  just  before  and  in  reference  to  call- 
ing a  pastor.  The  practice  has  much  fallen  into  dis- 
use, much  to  our  disadvantage  and  discredit,  for  if 
prayer  with  fasting  means  anything,  to  discontinue  it 
is  like  cutting  the  telegraph  wires  when  we  need  a 
message  of  instruction  from  a  friend.  It  is  observable 
that  the  various  town  offices,  the  status  of  eligibility 
to  them,  the  offices  in  the  church,  the  church  services 
and  requirements  were  a  practical,  business-like 
method  of  securing  a  punctual  observance  of  religion 
and  a  highly  moral  and  religious  community.  Cotton 
Mather  said,  in  1638,  that  this  "  was  a  renouned 
church,  consisting  mostly  of  such  illuminated  Chris- 
tians, that  their  pastors  in  the  exercise  of  the  ministry 
might,  in  the  language  of  Jerome,  perceive  that  they 
had  not  disciples  so  much  as  judges." 

The  first  to  come  among  this  people  as  pastor  or 
teacher  was  Eev.  Thomas  Parker.  He  came  in  May, 
1634,  with  a  colony  of  about  one  hundred,  who  sub- 
sequently settled  in  Newbury.  They  sojourned  here 
about  a  year,  and  Mr.  Parker  meanwhile  exercised 
the  office  of  teacher.  He  labored,  says  Mr.  Sewell, 
"  preaching  and  proving,  that  the  passengers  came 
over  on  good  grounds,  and  that  God  would  multiply 
them  as  he  did  the  children  of  Israel." 

The  following  will  treat  the  several  church  socie- 
ties by  pastorates  ;  for  in  all  the  work  of  the  church 
and  society  the  pastor  takes  the  lead,  and  as  is  the 
pastor  so  are  the  people. 

2.  First  Pastorate. — The  first  pastor  of  this  church 
was  Eev.  Nathaniel  Ward.  He  was  the  son  of 
Eev.  Johr  Ward,  and  was  born  in  Haverhill,  Eng- 
land, about  1570.  He  was  educated  at  Cambridge ; 
he  studied  and  practiced  law,  and  he  traveled  on  the 
Continent.  On  his  return  to  England,  he  was  or- 
dained a  minister  of  the  gospel,  at  Standon,  where, 
for  the  expression  of  his  Puritan  views,  he  was  sus- 
pended, till  he  made  a  public  recantation.  He  be- 
came a  Puritan  exile,  and  soon  after  his  arrival  here, 
in  June,  1634,  became  pastor  of  this  church.  The 
early  church  records  were  destroyed  by  fire,  and  we 
have  no  account  of  him  as  undershepherd.  His  great 
learning  fitted  him  for  any  of  the  professions;  his 
want  of  health  was  the  only  Impediment  to  a  very 


high  distinction.  His  legal  attainments  fitted  him 
pre-eminently  for  the  important  civil  and  legal  ser- 
vice of  the  colony,  wherein  he  received  many  appoint- 
ments, and  they  served  him  well  in  expounding  clearly 
and  cogently  the  immutable  law  of  God,  wherein  he 
exercised  his  gifts  of  jDrophecy  even  after  his  resigna- 
tion of  his  pastorate,  which  took  place  February  20, 
1637. 

3.  Church  Edifice. — It  is  probable  that  during  the 
early  part  of  his  ministry  the  first  house  of  worship 
was  built.  The  earliest  record  referring  to  it  is  found 
in  the  public  laws  of  September  3,  1635,  which  reads 
Lhat  "Noe  dwelling  house  shallbe  builte  above  halfe 
a  myle  from  the  meeting-house,"  (excej^t  mill-houses 
and  farm-houses  of  such  as  have  their  dwelling 
houses  in  town),  in  Ipswich,  Newbury,  Hingham  and 
Weymouth.  It  stood  on  the  rise  of  ground  where 
the  Wonder- Working  Providence  says  it  "was  a  very 
good  prospect  to  a  great  part  of  the  town  and  was 
beautifully  built." 

Mr.  Ward  was  appointed  March  12,  1638,  on  a 
committee  to  draft  a  code  of  public  laws.  He  was 
the  leader  and  learning  of  the  committee.  He  handed 
the  result  of  their  labors  to  the  Governor  in  Septem- 
ber, 1639. 

About  the  middle  of  1640  he,  with  assistance  from 
Newbury,  formed  a  settlement  at  Haverhill,  where 
his  son  John  became  the  minister.  He  was  granted 
six  hundred  acres  of  land  near  Haverhill,  May  10, 
1643,  probably,  as  Mr.  Felt  expresses  it,  "for  his 
public  services."  He  was  chosen  May  25,  1645,  on  a 
committee  to  codify  the  laws  for  the  consideration  of 
the  next  Legislature.  The  laws  were  printed  in  1648. 
The  justice  and  foresight  which  the  laws  embodied, 
are  conspicuous  in  our  present  code.  Soon  after  com- 
pleting the  work,  he  returned  to  England,  and  be- 
came minister  of  Shenfield,  in  county  Essex.  He 
once  preached  before  the  House  of  Commons.  He 
published,  in  New  and  Old  England,  several  works  of 
a  religious  character,  the  most  noticeable  of  which 
were  "  The  Simple  Cobbler  of  Agawam,"  and  "  The 
Simple  Cobbler's  Boy."  He  brought  out  the  former 
in  1647.  It  illustrates  the  length  to  which  good  peo- 
ple cotild  go  in  vindication  of  intolei'ance  in  days 
when  antinomian  and  aggressive  views  were  troubling 
many  minds.  "  It  is  a  sparkling  satire,"  says  one, 
"  known  and  appreciated  for  its  keenness  and  wit. 
Its  character  and  style  were  suited  to  the  times,  and 
it  served  to  encourage  opposition  to  King  and  Parlia- 
ment, and  to  moderate  party  excess." 

He  died  in  1653,  at  the  age  of  eighty-three  years. 
He  was  a  man,  says  Mr.  Felt,  whose  "  talents,  attain- 
ments and  piety  were  of  a  high  order ;  and  after  an 
examination  of  his  public  and  religious  service,  and 
with  a  good  knowledge  of  the  public's  opinion  of 
him, — since  he  had  probably  then  left  the  colony,  the 
Wonder-ioorking  Providence  declared  him,  a  judicious 
man,  a  very  able  preacher,  and  much  desired." 

His  son  John  was  minister  of  Haverhill.     James 


IPSWICH. 


581 


went  to  England  with  his  father,  and  became  a  phy- 
sician, and  Giles  Firman  married  a  daughter  and  fol- 
lowed them  over  the  sea. 

Mr.  Felt  speaks  of  a  Rev.  Thomas  Bracey,  who 
resided  here  in  1635.  Cotton  Mather  did  not  know 
him.  He  probably  assisted  Mr.  Ward  a  short  time, 
and  early  returned  to  England. 

4.  Second  Pastorate. — The  second  pastorate  was  be- 
gun by  Eev.  Johk  Nortois\  Eev.  E.  B.  Palmer,  of 
the  tenth  pastorate,  says  that  Mr.  Norton  "  was  set- 
tled here  in  1636,  and  continued  in  his  relations  to 
the  church  till  about  the  year  1653,  when  he  removed 
to  Boston  and  became  pastor  of  the  old  church  of 
that  place."  He  was  probably  -a  colleague  with  Mr. 
Ward,  who  resigned  in  1637,  and  then  became  acting 
pastor  till  the  settlement  of  Rev.  Nathaniel  Rogers, 
February  20,  1638,  when  he  was  ordained  teacher. 
Mr.  Norton  was  born  May  6, 1606,  in  Starford,  county 
Hertford,  England.  He  entered  Cambridge  at  four- 
teen years  of  age,  was  a  brilliant  scholar,  and  took 
his  first  degree.  On  account  of  parental  pecuniary 
embarrassment,  he  left  college  to  become  usher  and 
curate  in  his  native  place.  His  intellectual  promise 
attracted  the  attention  of  many.  A  prominent  Cath- 
olic sought  to  win  him  to  Popery ;  his  uncle  offered 
him  a  "  considerable  benefice;  "  he  declined  a  fellow- 
shin  at  Cambridge  ;  he  served  meanwhile  as  chaplain 
to  Sir  William  Masham.  He  could  not  subscribe  to 
the  church  conformity,  and  cast  in  his  lot  with  the 
Pilgrims. 

He  arrived  at  Plymouth  October,  1635,  and  settled 
here  the  next  year.  He  expected  friends  to  follow 
him,  and  he  asked  for  grants  of  land  to  be  held  in 
reserve  for  them.  Accordingly,  lands  were  reserved 
in  several  parts  of  the  town.  His  friends  did  not 
come,  and  the  lands  are  now  known  as  the  "Norton 
Reserves."  He  wis  an  influential  member  of  the 
Synod  that  heard  the  case  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson  in 
1637;  he  composed,  in  1645,  the  reply  of  the  New 
England  ministers  to  the  questions  on  ecclesiastical 
government,  proposed  by  Rev.  William  Apollonius, 
of  Middlebury, — a  work  in  Latin,  the  first  book  in 
that  language  printed  in  this  country, — an  ahl^exposi 
of  the  usages  of  the  church  fathers.  He  was  influen- 
tial in  the  formation  of  the  Cambridge  Platform  in 
1647 ;  and  in  1651  he  made  the  reply  before  the  Gen- 
eral Court  to  the  treatise  of  Mr.  William  Pynchion. 
Rev.  John  Cotton,  of  Boston,  who  died  in  1652,  ad- 
vised his  church  to  call  Mr.  Norton.  They  did  call 
him,  and  his  friends  and  admirers  here  demurred. 
The  controversy  was  long  and  warm,  but  he,  having 
accepted  the  pastorate  in  1653,  was  installed  July  23, 
1656.  While  of  Boston  he  published  several  works, 
and  was  for  two  years  in  England  as  colonial  agent. 
He  was  twice  married,  but  had  no  children.  He  died 
April  5,  1663,  in  his  fifty-seventh  year. 

He  is  said  to  have  been  learned  and  eloquent,  an 
able  disputant  and  a  ready  writer,  a  warm  friend  and 
a  pious  man.     If  failing  he  had,  it  was  a  natural  iras- 


cibility, and  a  weakening  under  compliments,  of 
which  few  men  received  or  merited  more.  In  this 
ordeal,  among  the  most  searching,  his  good  sense  and 
sterling  piety  kept  his  mind  and  heart.  AVhen  he 
left  England,  a  venerable  minister  remarked  that  "  he 
believed  that  there  was  not  more  grace  and  holiness 
left  in  all  Essex,  than  what  Mr.  Norton  had  carried 
with  him."  Mr.  Felt  remarks,  "  He  was,  undoubtedly, 
one  of  the  greatest  divines,  who  ever  graced  this  or 
any  other  country.  He  was  emphatically 'diligent 
in  business,  fervent  in  spirit,  serving  the  Lord.'  As  a 
result  of  this,  many  souls  were  given  him  as  the  seals 
of  his  ministry." 

The  pastor  of  the  church  at  this  time  was  Rev. 
Nathaniel  Rogers.  He  was  the  second  son  of 
John,  best  known  as  minister  of  Dedham,  in  Eng- 
land, and  was  born  in  1598,  while  his  father  minis- 
tered in  Haverhill,  England.  He  was  a  lineal  de- 
scendant of  the  Smithfield  martyr.  He  had  a  pious 
mother,  and  rewarded  her  Christian  care  and  instruc- 
tion with  evidence  of  early  piety.  He  entered 
Emmanuel  College,  Cambridge,  when  about  fourteen 
years  old,  and  was  eminently  scholarly  in  his  attain- 
ments and  Christian  in  his  deportment.  He  began 
his  labors  as  chaplain,  then  he  was  curate,  but  con- 
formity to  the  established  church  troubled  him  and 
he  must  flee  its  power.  He  had  married  Margaret 
Crane,  of  Coggshall,  daughter  of  a  gentleman  of 
wealth,  who  offered  to  maintain  him  and  his  family 
if  he  would  remain  at  home.  His  heart  spoke  his  con- 
viction, and  he  declined  the  generous  offer.  He  ar- 
rived in  Boston  in  November,  1636,  "  after  a  long  and 
tedious  voyage." 

In  1637  he  was  a  member  of  the  Synod  convened 
in  reference  to  the  antinomiaus;  he  received  a  call 
to  settle  at  Dorchester,  but  chose  to  fraternize  with 
Ward  and  Norton  and  Winthrop,  and  he  was  ordain- 
ed here  February  20,  1638.  The  same  year  he  took 
the  oath  of  freeman.  Mr.  Palmer  says  that  "seven- 
teen male  members  of  his  church  in  England  came 
with  him  to  this  town,"  and  that  tradition  names 
them, — William  Goodhue,  Nathaniel  Hart,  Nathaniel 
Dav,  Robert  Lord  and  Messrs.  Warner,  Quilter, 
Waite,  Scott,  Littlefield,  Lambert,  Lumax,  Brad- 
street,  Dane  and  Noyes. 

He  was  long  in  feeble  health,  and  in  consequence 
was  subjected  to  periods  of  despondency.  Hemor- 
rhage of  the  lungs  was  his  boding  trouble.  He  was 
obliged  to  reduce  his  manual  labors  to  their  mini- 
mum, and  his  later  sermons  were  not  written.  He, 
however,  kept  a  diary  ;  but,  as  he  requested,  it  was 
burned  after  his  death.  He  little  realized  how  much 
value  for  other  days  he  thus  destroyed.  He  left  a 
manuscript  production,  in  fine,  classical  Latin,  a  jilea 
for  Congregational  church  government.  He  was 
much  exercised  in  mind  and  heart  when  Mr.  Norton 
went  to  Boston.  He  was  burdened  with  his  infirmity 
and  with  cares,  and  an  attack  of  an  epidemical  in- 
fluenza proved  fatal.     With  his  latest  breath,  he  ex- 


582 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


claimed,— "My  times  are  in  Thy  hands."  Thus  the 
"  reverend  and  holy  man  of  God  fell  on  slee]),"  July 
3,  1655.  During  this  pastorate,  "  this  church,  says 
Wonder-  Working  Providence,  consisted  of  about  one 
hundred  and  sixty  souls,  being  exact  in  their  con- 
versation, and  free  from  the  epidemical  diseases  of 
all  reforming  churches,  which  under  Christ,  is  pro- 
cured by  their  pious  Learned  and  Orthodox  min- 
istry." It  calls  the  pastor  "  a  very  sweet,  heavenly- 
minded  man,  .  .  .  whose  mouth  the  Lord  was 
pleased  to  fill  with  many  arguments  for  the  defense 
of  his  truth."  Rev.  William  Hubbard,  his  son-in- 
law,  says  of  him, — "  He  had  eminent  learning,  sin- 
gular piety  and  holy  zeal.  His  auditory  was  his 
epistle,  seen  and  read  of  all  that  knew  him."  He 
left  an  estate  of  £1200.  His  widow  died  January 
23,  IGGG.  His  children  were  John,  Nathaniel,  Sam- 
uel, Timothy,  Ezekiel  and  the  wife  of  Mr.  Hubbard. 
The  amount  of  all  the  salaries  had  been  £140 
previous  to  1652,  but  was  then  changed  to  £160, 
which  in  1656  was  paid  "three  parts  in  wheat  and 
barley  and  fourth  part  in  Indian." 

Third  Pastorate.  From  the  death  of  Mr.  Rogers 
till  Mr,  Cobbett's  settlement,  the  church  was  without 
a  pastor.  This  was  the  Rev.  Thomas  Cobbett,  who 
was  born  in  Newbury,  England,  in  1608.  He  s*^udied 
at  Oxford,  then  with  Dr.  Twiss.  of  his  native  town, 
and  prepared  for  the  ministry.  Soon  after  his  set- 
tlement, he  was  confronted  with  conformity.  He 
came  to  this  country,  arriving  June  26,  1637.  He  was 
colleague  at  Lynn,  till  he  was  invited  to  succeed  Mr. 
Rogers.     Mr.  Palmer  says  he  was  settled  in  1656. 

5.  Ckurch  Edifice.  —During  his  pastorate  a  new 
house  of  worship  was  built.  Ezekiel  Woodward  and 
Freegrace  Norton  contracted,  June  10, 1667,  to  furnish 
timber,  and  June  18,  1668,  to  furnish  shingles  for 
a  new  meeting-house.  The  steeple  was  completed 
October  22,  1667,  when  the  committee  was  discharged 
with  thanks.  In  1673  they  voted  to  repair  the  house 
"  with  speed."  In  1674  seats  were  put  in  the  gallery. 
Early  in  1677  a  committee  was  to  see  about  keeping 
the  house  "  tite."  In  1681  it  had  a  "  pouder  Roome." 
It  stood  where  the  present  First  Church  edifice 
stands.     In  1665  the  salaries  amounted  to  £210. 

Mr.  Cobbett  was  a  noted  public  man,  sought  out 
for  his  learning,  his  diligence,  his  readiness  in  de- 
bate, the  dexterous  use  of  his  pen  and  his  stabil- 
ity of  purpose  and  action.  Yet  amid  arduous  public 
labors  he  found  time  to  attend  carefully  and  dutifully 
to  his  flock.  In  about  four  months,  beginning  in  De- 
cember, 1673,  nearly  ninety  were  added  to  the 
church,  some  in  full  communion  and  some  by 
"  taking  the  covenant."  There  were  sixty-five  males. 
Twenty-four  of  the  "  young  generation  "  took  the 
covenant.  He  conferred  special  privileges  on  the 
children  of  his  laity  in  full  communion,  thus  enact- 
ing in  advance  a  half-way  covenant,  like  that  sanc- 
tioned by  the  synod  shortly  after  and  drafted,  doubt- 
less, by  his  own  hand  ;  a  covenant  so  noble  in  purpose, 


so  mischievous  in  practice.  He  was  watchful  of  the 
needs  of  the  pious  poor,  and  promptly  excommuni- 
cated the  scandalous.  His  ministry  was  noted  for  its 
Christian  fervor. 

In  1643  his  pen  advocated  a  negative  vote  for  the 
Assistants;  in  1644  he  preached  the  Election  Sermon  ; 
in  1657  was  of  a  committee  of  thirteen  to  answer 
ecclesiastical  questions,  proposed  by  the  Legislature 
of  Connecticut ;  in  1661  was  one  of  a  committee  on 
"  our  patent,"  our  laws  and  privileges  and  duty  to 
His  Majesty;  in  1668  was  one  of  six  ministers  to  rea- 
son several  Baptists  out  of  their  peculiar  views ;  in 
1676  was  one  of  twenty-four  to  counsel  in  the  case  of 
Gorges  and  Mason ;  in  1677  he  handed  Increase 
Mather  "  a  Narrative  of  Striking  Events."  He  pub- 
lished, in  1645,  "  Defense  of  Infant  Baptism," 
"  Prayer,"  "  First,  Second  and  Fifth  Command- 
ments," "Toleration  and  Duties  of  Civil  Magistrates;" 
in  1653,  "  Vindication  of  the  New  England  Govern- 
ment, "  "Civil  Magistrates  in  Religious  Matters;" 
in  1656,  "  Duties  of  Children  to  Parents  and  of 
Parents  to  Children  ;"  and  in  1666  an  Election  Ser- 
mon. "  He  wrote  more  books  than  any  man  of  his 
generation,  yet  not  one  has  survived  to  this  day." 

He  was  a  great  man.  The  great  and  learned  and 
wise  of  his  day  regarded  him  as  their  noble  peer.  He 
was  equally  at  home  in  matters  of  Church  and  State. 
No  invective  deterred  him,  no  flattery  swerved  him; 
once  planted  on  his  judgment  of  duty  and  righteous- 
ness, he  remained  firm  and  garnered  success  in  the 
end.  Says  Mr.  Felt,  "So  far  as  human  imperfections 
permitted,  he  was  a  pastor  after  God's  own  heart." 
He  went  to  his  reward  November  5,  1685,  at  the  age 
of  seventy-seven.  Provisions  for  his  funeral  included 
a  barrel  of  wine,  half  a  hundred  weight  of  sugar, 
men's  and  women's  gloves,  and  spice  and  ginger  for 
"  Syder.''  His  widow,  Elizabeth,  died  the  next  year. 
Three  children  crossed  the  bound  of  life  before  he 
did  and  three  remained  to  mourn, — Samuel,  Thomas, 
John,  who  was  located  at  Newbury  at  the  time,  and 
Elizabeth.  His  estate  was  valued  at  £607.  His  epi- 
taph, as  conceived  by  the  great  Cotton  Mather,  ran 
thus :  "  Stay,  passenger,  for  here  lies  a  treasure, 
Thomas  Cobbett,  of  whose  availing  prayers  and  most 
approved  manners,  you,  if  an  inhabitant  of  New  Eng- 
land, need  not  be  told.  If  you  cultivate  piety,  ad- 
mire him  ;  if  you  wish  for  happiness,  follow  him." 

This  was  the  office  of 

REV.   WILLIAM   HUBBARD, 

Whose  father  was  William  and  who  was  born  in  Eng- 
land in  1621,  and  crossed  the  ocean  with  his  father  in 
1630.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1642,  a 
member  of  the  first  class.  The  same  year,  4th  July, 
he  was  called  as  colleague  with  Mr.  Cobbett,  and, 
says  Mr.  Palmer,  was  "probably  settled  as  such  in 
1656,"  which  statement  seems  corroborated  by  a  vote 
of  the  town,  recorded  in  Mr.  Cobbett's  pastorate. 
This  pastorate  he  occupied  till  his  death,  September 
14,  1704,  when  he  was  eighty-three. 


IPSWICH. 


583 


In  1667  lie  testified  against  the  ''  Old  South,  in  Bos- 
ton, in  the  settlement  there  of  John  Davenport;  in 
1671  he  and  fourteen  others  memorialized  the  Legis- 
lature against  the  censure  of  its  committee  for  advis- 
ing the  formation  of  South  Church  Society  in  Boston  ; 
in  1675  he  was  of  a  council  to  advise  in  Mr.  Jeremiah 
Shepard's  case,  as  minister  in  Rowley ;  in  1676  he 
preached  the  Election  Sermon.  About  ]677  he 
brought  out  his  "Troubles  with  the  Indians  in  1676- 
77,"  to  which  was  appended  "  The  War  with  the 
Pequods  "  in  1637,  and  also  "  Troubles  with  the  In- 
dians from  Piscataqua  to  Pemaquid."  The  works  are 
now  known  as  "'  Hubbard's  Indian  Wars."  In  May, 
1680,  he  had  compiled  a  history  of  New  England. 
The  Legislature  voted  him  £50  for  the  work.  It 
was  then  much  needed,  was  done  in  a  commendable 
manner  and  has  proved  to  be  of  great  value.  He  was 
appointed  to  "manage"  the  Commencement  of  Har- 
vard College,  July  1,  1684  ;  and,  in  June,  1688,  he 
was  appointed  by  Andros  acting  president  at  the  fol- 
lowing Commencement,  a  high  honor  which  he  prob- 
ably did  not  accept.  In  J 699  he  arraigned  the  Brattle 
Street  Church,  in  Boston,  for  irregularity  in  doctrine, 
baptism  and  communion.  In  1701  his  decrepit  age 
was  overburdensome  and  he  asked  for  more  assist- 
ance ;  and  in  1702  gave  up  pastoral  labors  entirely, 
when  his  people  voted  him  a  gift  of  £60,  and  in  1704 
he  rested  from  his  toils. 

6.  Church  Edifice. — In  1686  all  the  salaries  paid 
were  £160,  and  in  1696  the  salaries  were  paid,  one- 
third  money  and  "  the  rest  in  pay."  The  same  year 
the  church  edifice  was  repaired,  but  November  4th, 
two  years  later,  Abraham  Perkins  contracted  to  build 
a  new  house,  for  £900 — £500  money  and  £400  as 
money.  The  house  was  to  be  "  26  feet  stud,  66  feet 
long  and  60  feet  wide,  with  f  gables  on  every  side, 
with  one  Teer  of  gallery  round  said  house  ;  as  far  as 
necessary,  having  five  seats  in  the  gallery  on  every 
side  thereof,  with  as  many  windows  or  lights  as  the 
committee  or  said  Perkins  can  agree  for."  In  1700 
Abraham  Tilton  agreed  to  finish  the  meeting-house, 
and  Abraham  Perkins  is  released.  The  house  stood 
where  the  present  First  Church  edifice  stands.  The 
same  year  the  old  bell,  the  gift  of  "  Hon.  Richard 
Saltonstall,"  was  sold  to  Marblehead  for  £37^,  and  a 
new  one,  weighing  200  pounds,  was  bought  in  Eng- 
land for  £72.     In  1702  a  clock  was  purchased. 

Mr.  Hubbard's  first  wife  was  Margaret  Rogers,  daugh- 
ter of  Rev.  Nathaniel,  alady  of  raresocial  worth.  Their 
children  were  John  and  Nathaniel,  and  Margaret,  the 
wife  of  John  Pynchon,  of  Springfield.  His  last  wife 
was  Mary,  widow  of  Samuel  Pearce,  who  died  in 
1691.     She  was  alive  in  1710. 

He  was  a  judicious  adviser,  a  faithful  laborer  in 
the  Master's  vineyard  and  righteous  in  his  inter- 
course with  men.  John  Dunton  said  of  him:  "The 
benefit  of  nature  and  the  fatigue  of  study  have 
equally  contributed  to  his  eminence.  He  is  learned 
without  ostentation  or  vanity,  and  gave  all  his  pro- 


ductions such  a  delicate  turn  and  grace,  that  the 
features  and  lineaments  of  the  child  make  a  clear 
discovery  and  distinction  of  the  father ;  yet  he  is  a 
man  of  singular  modesty,  of  strict  morals  and  has 
done  as  much  for  the  convertion  of  the  Indians,  as 
most  men  in  New  England."  He  "  certainly  was,  for 
many  years,  the  most  eminent  minister  in  Essex 
County,  equal  to  any  in  the  Province  for  learning  and 
candor,  and  superior  to  all  of  his  contemporaries  as  a 
writer."  For  his  great  labors  and  his  moral  and 
Christian  worth,  he  is  held  in  grateful  remembrance. 

Another  minister  of  this  pastorate  was  Rev.  John 
Rogers,  M.D.,  the  eldest  son  of  Rev.  Nathaniel,  of 
the  second  pastorate.  He  came  to  this  country  in 
1636,  with  his  parents.  He  entered  Harvard  College 
in  his  tenth  year,  and  graduated  in  1649.  He  studied 
medicine  and  divinity.  He  wore  the  title  "  Rev.," 
though  there  does  not  appear  to  be  any  record  of  his 
ordination.  He  was  called  here  to  preach  July  4, 
1656,  by  Mr.  Hubbard,  and  afterwards  became  assis- 
tant to  him  and  Mr.  Cobbett.  Tradition  assigns  to 
him  "  The  Lecture,"  as  his  particular  service,  and  re- 
fers to  his  small  salary  as  commensurate  with  his 
duty.  He  was  the  while,  the  principal  physician  in 
town.  Although  his  youth  was  marked  with  periods 
of  hereditary  despondency,  the  business  of  active  life 
wore  off  the  sharp  angles  of  his  temperament,  and 
made  him  one  of  the  great  men  of  his  day.  He  was 
invited  to  the  presidency  of  Harvard  College  upon 
the  death  of  President  Oakes.  He  accepted  and  en- 
tered upon  his  ofiice  August  12,  1683.  This  was  a 
place  of  honor  and  responsibility,  for  which  his  dig- 
nity and  firmness,  his  deportment  and  culture,  his 
wisdom  and  learning,  particularly  fitted  him ;  but  his 
sun  hardly  rose  above  the  morning's  gray  twilight. 
Just  before  his  first  commencement  he  was  prostrated 
by  a  "sudden  visitation  of  sickness."  Mr.  Hubbard, 
of  this  pastorate,  was  appointed  to  "manage"  the 
commencement,  and  Mr.  Rogers  died  on  the  regular 
Commencement  Day,  July  2,  1684. 

His  wife  was  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Gen.  Daniel 
Denison,  and  died  June  13, 1723,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
two  years.  His  children  were  Elizabeth,  Margaret, 
John,  Daniel,  Nathaniel  and  Patience.  His  tomb  is 
in  Cambridge,  and  his  epitaph  is  as  follows : 

"  There  is  committed  to  tiiis  earth  and  tins  tomb  a  depository  of  kind- 
ness, a  garner  of  divine  knowledge,  a  library  of  polite  literature,  a  sys- 
tem of  medicine,  a  residence  of  integrity,  an  abode  of  faith,  an  example 
of  Christian  sincerity.  A  treasury  of  all  these  excellencies  was  the 
earthly  part  of  Rev.  John  Rogers,  son  of  the  very  learned  Rogers,  of 
Ipswich,  and  grandson  of  the  noted  Rogers  of  Dedham,  Old  England, 
the  excellent  and  justly  beloved  president  of  Harvard  College.  His  spir- 
it suddenly  taken  from  us  July  2,  a.  d.,  1C84,  and  in  the  fifty-fourth 
year  of  his  age.  Precious  is  the  part  that  remains  with  us  even  while  it 
corpse." 

Another  minister  of  this  pastorate  was  Mr.  John 
Dennison,  whose  father  was  John,  whose  grand- 
father was  Gen.  Daniel  and  whose  mother  was  Mar- 
tha Symonds,  daughter  of  the  deputy-governor. 
John   fitted  for  college  at  the  grammar  school,  and 


584 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


graduated  from  Harvard  in  1684.  Mr.  Palmer  saya 
that,  according  to  generally  received  testimony,  he 
became  the  actual  pastor  of  this  church  in  1686. 
Other  statements  represent  him  to  have  been  elected 
to  the  pastoral  office,  but  on  account  of  failing  health, 
he  was  not  ordained.  He  was  permitted,  however, 
to  render  pastoral  service  to  this  people  for  quite 
three  years.  Mr.  Felt  says:  "He  engaged,  April  5, 
1686,  to  preach  one-quarter  of  the  time  as  helper  to 
Mr.  Hubbai'd,  and  the  next  year  one-third  of  the 
time.  Tlie  affection  of  this  people  was  strong  to- 
wards him,  and  their  estimation  of  his  merits  un- 
commonly high.  They  elected  him  for  their  pastor, 
but  he  was  not  ordained."  He  was,  no  doubt,  a 
young  man,  of  rare  attainments  and  virtue;  his  ill- 
health,  however,  crippled  his  activity,  and  finally 
prostrated  him.  He  slept  in  Jesus  September  14, 
1689,  in  his  twenty-fourth  year. 

His  wife  was  Elizabeth  Saltonstall,  daughter  of 
Hon.  Nathaniel,  of  Haverhill.  She  survived  him, 
and  married  Rev.  Rowland  Cotton,  of  Sandwich,  and 
died  in  Boston  July  9,  1726.  He  left  a  son  John,  who 
was  born  in  1689.  Cotton  Mather  describes  him  as 
"a  gentleman  of  uncommon  accomplishments  and 
expectations,"  and  "  a  pastor  of  whose  fruit  the  church 
in  Ipswich  tasted  with  an  uncommon  satisfaction." 

7.  Fourth  Pastorate. — This  was  Rev.  John  Rogers', 
son  of  Rev.  John,  president  of  Harvard  College,  a 
native  of  this  town,  born  July  7,  1666.  He  studied 
in  the  grammar  school  and  graduated  at  Harvard 
College  in  1684,  when  his  father  died  and  when  he 
was  eighteen  years  old.  He  was  called  to  this  church 
during  the  service  of  Messrs.  Hubbard  and  Dennison, 
March  9,  1686.  He  complied  as  early  as  1688,  and 
December  24,  1689,  was  asked  to  settle.  In  relation 
to  his  salary  there  was  a  difference  of  one  hundred 
acres  of  land,  and  for  that  reason  he  was  not  ordained 
till  October  12,  1692.  In  1702  Mr.  Hubbard  was  too 
feeble  to  preach,  and  August  13th  Mr.  Rogers  acceded 
to  the  full  ministerial  duty,  wherein  he  continued  till 
the  next  year,  when  Rev.  Jabez  Fitch  came  as  col- 
league. 

During  this  pastorate,  in  1712,  the  old  diminutive 
turret  was  removed  to  give  place  to  a  commodious 
belfry.  In  1743  there  was  a  very  extensive  revival  of 
religion,  as  a  result  of  the  evangelical  labors  of  Revs. 
Whitefield  and  Tennant,  a  full  account  of  which  was 
published  by  Mr.  Rogers  in  the  "  Christian  History." 

In  1726,  when  he  had  served  his  people,  he  said, 
"thirty-seven  years,"  he  had  sold  a  part  of  his  prop- 
erty and  mortgaged  the  rest  to  meet  the  requirements 
of  his  family,  his  salary  having  depreciated  through 
a  depreciated  currency.  Although  depreciation  was 
a  common  burden,  his  people  promptly  lifted  his 
mortgage  by  a  gift  of  a  hundred  pounds,  and  in  1733 
they  gave  him  forty  pounds  to  repair  his  house.  He 
died  December  28,  1745,  and  his  society  voted  a  fune- 
ral benefit  of  two  hundred  pounds  old  tenor.  His 
portrait  is  with  the  Essex  Historical  Society. 


His  first  wife  was  Martha  Smith,  whom  he  married 
January  12,  1687.  His  second  wife  was  Martha 
Whittingham,  daughter  of  William,  whom  he  married 
November  4,  1691,  and  who  died  March  9,  1759,  at 
the  great  age  of  eighty-nine  years.  His  children  were 
John,  Samuel,  Nathaniel,  Richard,  Elizabeth  (who 
died  an  infant),  Martha,  Mary,  William  and  Daniel 
and  Elizabeth,  twins. 

Mr.  Felt  says  of  him :  "  Such  was  the  strength  of  his 
mind,  the  amount  of  his  acquisitions  in  learning  and 
theology,  the  prominence  of  his  piety  and  the  perse- 
vering labors  of  his  ministry,  that  he  held  a  high 
rank  in  the  estimation  of  his  people  and  of  the  pub- 
lic." Mr.  Wigglesworth,  of  the  Hamlet,  January  5th, 
the  Sabbath  after  the  funeral,  thus  referred  to  him  : 
"  If  the  tree  is  to  be  known  and  judged  by  its  fruits, 
we  have  reason  to  think  him  as  eminent  for  his  piety 
as  learning;  as  great  a  Christian  as  a  divine.  There 
are  many  living  witnesses  of  the  success  of  his  minis- 
terial labors,  as  was  a  multitude  who  went  before  him 
to  glory,  both  of  whom  shall  be  his  crown  when  the 
great  Shepherd  shall  appear.  His  old  age  was  not 
infirm  and  decrepid,  but  robust,  active  and  useful, 
whereby  he  was  enabled  to  labor  in  word  and  doctrine 
to  the  last,  and  quit  the  stage  of  life  in  action." 

Another  minister  of  this  pastorate  was  Rev.  Jabez 
Fitch,  who  was  the  son  of  Rev.  James  Fitch,  of 
Norwich,  Conn.  He  graduated  from  Harvard  College 
in  1694,  was  tutor  there  1697-1703,  and  was  elected 
Fellow  in  1700.  The  town  voted,  October  5,  1702,  to 
call  him  to  the  office  of  assistant  to  Mr.  Rogers.  He 
accepted  December  11,  1702,  and  was  ordained  Octo- 
ber 24,  1703.  His  settlement  was  £150  current  mon- 
ey. His  salary  was  £60  for  the  first  year;  £70  for  the 
second  year  ;  and  £80  for  the  third  year,  "  and  so  to 
continue."  In  1724  he  complained  that  his  support 
was  not  sufficient,  and  though  the  parish  tried  hard 
to  meet  his  demand,  he  began  to  preach  at  Ports- 
mouth with  a  view  to  settle  there,  which  he  did  the 
next  year.  His  claim  upon  this  society  was  adjusted 
by  referees  September  22,  1726. 

He  assisted  Dr.  Belknaj)  in  the  preparation  of  the 
"History  of  New  Hampshire.  The  earthquake  of 
1727  called  forth  a  sermon  which  was  published.  He 
Avas  a  man  of  great  learning,  had  a  strong,  clear  mind, 
a  cheerful  disposition,  a  benevolent  spirit  and  a  pious 
heart.  He  was  eminently  useful  during  a  long  life, 
falling  asleep  in  his  seventy-fifth  year,  November  22, 
1746.  His  wife  was  Elizabeth  Ajipleton,  daughter  of 
Col.  John,  married  June  10, 1704. 

8.  Fifth  Pastorate. — This  we  must  call  Rev.  Na- 
thaniel Rogers'  pastorate.  He  was  son  of  Rev. 
John,  who  then  occupied  the  pulpit,  and  was  born 
March  4,  1702.  He  fitted  for  college  at  the  Grammar 
School,  and  graduated  from  Harvard  College  in  1721. 
He  succeeded  Mr.  Fitch,  and  assisted  his  father  for  a 
year  or  more,  when  August  16,  1726,  the  church  gave 
him  a  call  to  settle.  In  the  call  the  society  concurred 
September   15th,  and   he  was   ordained  October  18 


IPSWICH. 


585 


1727,  as  colleague.     His  salary  was  £130  annually  for 
three  years,  and  £150  annually  thereafter. 

9.  Church  Edifice. — Mr.  Rogers  built  a  new  meet- 
ing-house. The  frame  was  raised  April  19,  1749.  It 
was  twenty-six  feet  stud,  forty-seven  feet  wide  and 
sixty-three  feet  long.  On  either  side  of  the  broad 
aisle  were  seats  instead  of  the  old  box-pews,  one  row 
of  seats  for  females,  and  the  other  for  males.  The 
house  was  supplied  with  wood-stoves.  Hitherto  the 
foot-stoves  had  furnished  all  the  warmth.  In  1743 
there  was  a  fine  of  fifteen  shillings  for  leaving  a  foot- 
stove  in  church,  and  of  five  shillings  for  the  careless 
use  of  them.  The  weather-cock  surmounting  the 
steeple  was  one  hundred  and  eighteen  feet  above  the 
base. 

In  1739  Mr.  Rogers  preached  a  memorial  of  Col. 
John  Appleton ;  in  1743  he  made  with  others  a 
written  statement  "that  there  has  been  a  happy  and 
remarkable  revival  of  religion  in  many  parts  of  this 
land,  through  an  uncommon  divine  influence,  after  a 
long  time  of  great  decay  and  deadness."  This  was 
the  great  awakening  that  was  felt  throughout  New 
England.  This  church  invited  Messrs.  Tennant  and 
Whitefield,  and  engaged,  heart  and  soul,  in  the  work, 
with  these  gratifying  results:  In  the  five  years  follow- 
ing 1741,  during  the  ministry  of  father  and  son,  one 
hundred  and  forty-four  persons  were  added  to  the 
church,  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  of  whom  are 
said  to  have  been  the  result  of  the  Whitefield  revival. 
In  1746  there  were  more  than  three  hundred  mem- 
bers. The  same  year  he  refused  the  assistance  of  Mr. 
John  Walley  as  colleague.  Mr.  Walley  had  declined 
pulpit  exchanges  with  a  minister  who  had  oflaciated 
for  a  new  church,  in  Boston,  composed  of  members 
from  other  orthodox  churches.  The  stand  taken  by 
Mr.  Rogers  caused  a  deep  excitement,  and  the  germi- 
nation of  the  South  Church.  In  1747  he  helped  to  or- 
dain Mr.  Cleaveland  over  a  new  church  in  Essex ;  in 
1763  preached  the  sermon  at  the  ordination  of  Mr. 
John  Treadwell,  of  Lynn,  and  a  memorial  of  Deacon 
Samuel  Williams  of  his  own  church,  which  were 
printed.  In  1765  he  gave  the  right-hand  of  fellow- 
ship to  Rev.  Joseph  Dana  of  the  South  Parish ;  in 
1752  he  asked  for  a  colleague,  and  offered  to  relinquish 
a  third  of  his  salary  for  that  purpose.  He  had  assist- 
ance March  30,  1764,  because  of  sickness.  His 
natural  infirmities  had  been  to  him  for  many  years  a 
cause  of  anxiety,  and  they  seemed  to  grow  with  his 
years.  He  owned  their  power  and  peacefully  submit- 
ted May  10,  1775. 

Mary  Leverett  Denison,  daughter  of  President  Lev- 
erett  of  Harvard  College,  and  widow  of  Col.  John 
Denison,  was  his  first  wife,   married   December   25, 

1728.  His  second  wife  was  widow  Mary  Staniford, 
married  May  4, 1758,  and  died  in  1780.  His  children 
were  Margaret,  Sarah,  Elizabeth,  Martha,  Lucy  and 
Nathaniel. 

He   was  emphatically  a  strong-minded  man ;    he 
could  state  exactly  his  reason  for  the  hope  within 
37J 


him ;  he  could  not  brook  irregularity  in  faith  or  prac- 
tice. Clearly  perceiving  his  way,  he  pursued  it 
without  fear  or  favor  and  with  few  or  many.  His  ob- 
ject was  a  clear  conscience.  He  was  an  industrious 
man  and  charitable.  The  welfare  of  his  church  was 
his  pride,  and  deeds  of  kindness  his  solace.  Read  the 
record  upon  the  tomb : 

"  A  mind  profoundly  gi'eat,  a  heart  that  felt 
The  ties  of  nature,  friendship  and  humanity, 
Distinguished  wisdom,  dignity  of  manners; 
Those  marked  the  man  ;  but  with  superior  grace, 
The  Christian  shone  in  faith  and  heavenly  zeal, 
Sweet  peace,  true  greatness,  and  prevailing  prayer. 
Dear  Man  of  God  !  with  what  strong  agonies 
He  wrestled  for  his  flock  and  for  the  world ; 
And,  like  ApoUos,  mighty  in  the  Scriptures, 
Opened  the  mysteries  of  love  divine, 
And  the  great  name  of  Jesus  ! 
Warm  from  his  lips  the  heavenly  doctrine  fell, 
And  numbers,  rescued  from  the  jaws  of  hell, 
Shall  hail  him  blest  in  realms  of  light  unknown, 
And  add  immortal  lustre  to  his  crown." 

Mr.  Rogers'  assistant  was  Rev.  Timothy  Symmes, 
who  was  born  in  Scituate,  graduated  from  Harvard, 
and  ordained  at  East  Haddam,  Conn.  He  began  his 
work  here  in  1752,  and  labored  in  season  and  out  of 
season,  in  whatever  his  hands  found  to  do,  for  the 
stability  of  the  church  and  the  good  of  souls.  He 
was  called  to  his  reward  in  the  midst  of  his  useful- 
ness, and  the  ripeness  of  his  manhood.  He  died  April 
6,  1756,  in  his  forty-first  year.  His  wife  was  Eunice 
Cogswell,  daughter  of  Francis  and  Hannah.  He  left 
two  sons, — Ebenezer  and  William,  born  about  1755 
and  1756  ;  his  widow  married  Richard  Potter. 

10.  Sixth  Pastorale. — This  was  held  by  Rev.  Levi 
Frisbie.  Mr.  Frisbie  was  born  in  April,  1748,  at 
Brantford,  Conn.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  joined 
Dr.  Wheelock's  Indian  Charity  School,  at  Lebanon, 
where  he  became  seriously  affected,  and  began  a 
preparation  for  college,  which  he  completed  with 
Dr.  Bellamy,  of  Bethlehem.  He  entered  Yale  Col- 
lege and  remained  more  than  three  years,  but  gradu- 
ated at  Dartmouth  College,  with  the  first  class,  in 

1771.  He  was  much  attached  to  Dr.  Wheelock,  in- 
terested in  the  permanency  of  the  school,  and  was 
devoted  to  the  cause  of  Indian  education.  While  a 
senior  at  Dartmouth  College,  he  sung  the  labors,  the 
anxieties  and  the  remarkable  occurrences  attending 
the  removal  of  the  school  and  college  and  their  estab- 
lishment at  Hanover.   His  poem  concludes  as  follows 

"Thus  Dartmouth,  happy  in  her  sylvan  seat, 
Drinks  the  pure  pleasures  of  her  fair  retreat ; 
Her  songs  of  praise  in  notes  melodious  rise, 
Like  clouds  of  incense  to  the  listening  skies  ; 
Her  God  protects  her  witli  paternal  care 
From  ills  distractive  and  each  fatal  snare ; 
And  may  he  still  protect,  and  she  adore. 
Till  Heaven  and  earth  and  time  shall  be  no  more."' 

To  prosecute  his  desire  to  Christianize  the  Indians, 
he  and,  at  the  same  time,  David  McClure  were  or- 
dained missionaries  at  Dartmouth  College   May  21, 

1772,  and  the  next  month  proceeded  to  occupy  their 
chosen  field  along  the  Muskingum.     But  the  year 


586 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


belonged  to  the  decade  of  war,  the  country  was  exer- 
cised with  questions  of  statecraft,  and  agitated  with 
the  precursors  of  war,  and,  more  than  all  to  him, 
the  Indian  was  inimical  to  the  English.  He  aband- 
oned his  mission,  traveled  in  Canada,  labored  awhile 
in  Maine,  and  visited  the  South.  In  March,  1775,  he 
became  an  assistant  to  Mr.  Rogers,  and  after  the 
death  of  that  venerable  pastor,  accepted  a  call  to 
settle,  and  was  installed  February  7,  1776.  His  sal- 
ary was  one  hundred  pounds.  He  was  patriotically 
devoted  to  his  calling.  His  heart  and  hands  were 
warm  and  active  for  his  country.  He  labored  for  her 
salvation,  and  hoped  as  he  hoped  for  the  salvation  of 
souls.  As  his  heart  succeeded  in  his  country's  wel- 
fare, so  the  Blessed  Spirit  aided  him  in  the  church. 
Especially  was  His  power  manifest  in  the  years  1799 
and  1800,  when  twenty- eight  were  added  to  the 
church.  During  his  ministry  there  were  added 
eighty  of  such  as  should  be  saved. 

In  1781  he  published  an  oration  upon  the  an- 
nouncement of  peace;  in  1784  a  memorial  of  Rev. 
Moses  Parsons,  of  Newbury ;  in  1799  two  fast  sermons 
and  a  fellowship  address  at  the  ordination  of  Mr. 
Josiah  Webster;  in  1800  a  eulogy  on  George  Wash- 
ington and  a  thanksgiving  sermon  ;  and  in  1804  a 
sermon  before  the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel 
among  the  Indians. 

In  1805  his  church  contributed  largely  to  the  for- 
mation of  a  Baptist  society  in  town,  which  not  a  little 
disturbed  the  well-earned  quiet  and  the  tender  sensi- 
bility of  his  age.  His  last  official  service  was  to  ad- 
minister the  sacrament  September  21,  1805.  He 
died  February  25,  1806.  His  parish  voted  a  funeral 
benefit  of  one  hundred  dollars,  and  Rev.  Asahel 
Huntington,  of  Topsfield,  preached  at  his  interment 
the  28th. 

His  first  wife  was  Zevirah  Sprague,  eldest  daughter 
of  Captain  Samuel  Sprague,  of  Lebanon,  Conn.  She 
was  born  March,  1747,  and  she  died  August  21, 1778,  in 
her  thirty-second  year.  His  second  wife  was  Mehit- 
able  Hale,  of  Newburyport;  married  June  1,  1780, 
and  died  April  6,  1828,  aged  ninety-six.  His  children 
were  Mary,  Sarah,  Levi,  Nathaniel  and  Mehitable.  In 
his  personal  appearance  he  was,  says  Mr.  Felt,  "  of 
light  complexion,  above  the  common  height,  and  ra- 
ther large."  Dr.  Dana,  of  the  South  Church,  pays  the 
following  tribute  to  his  memory:  "His  manner  was 
serious,  his  conception  lively,  his  expression  natural 
and  easy.  He  was  interesting  and  profitable.  He 
read,  thought  and  conversed  much.  His  labors  were 
blessed.  In  his  catechizing  and  visits  he  was  affec- 
tionate. He  had  great  tenderness  of  conscience. 
The  loss  to  his  family  and  flock  was  great.  The 
vicinity  was  greatly  bereaved.  The  Society  for  Pro- 
moting the  Gospel  have,  in  him,  lost  a  worthy  mem- 
ber. Zion  at  large  will  mourn.  But  to  him  it  is  be- 
lieved that  death  was  a  blessed  release-" 

11.  Seventh  Pastorate. — Mr.  Frisbie's  successor  was 
Rev.   David    Tenney   Kimball.      He    was  born    in 


Bradford  November  23,  1782,  to  Lieutenant  Daniel 
and  Elizabeth-Tenney  Kimball.  He  united  with  the 
Bradford  Church  November  13,  1803,  where  his  pa- 
rents had  consecrated  him  in  baptism  years  before. 
He  dated  his  conversion  from  a  period  in  his  college 
life.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1803, 
taught  one  year  in  Phillips  Academy,  Andover, 
studied  divinity,  or  theology,  with  Rev.  Jonathan 
French,  of  same  place,  and  was  approbated  by  the 
Andover  Association  August  6,  1805.  He  was  intro- 
duced to  this  pulpit  by  Rev.  Mr.  Frisbie  on  the  com- 
munion Sabbath,  September  22,  1805.  He  was  called 
to  settle,  without  a  dissenting  voice,  June  17,  1806, 
was  ordained  October  8th  following,  and  continued 
in  the  ministry  till  1851,  when  he  withdrew  from  the 
activities  and  responsibilities  of  pastor,  retaining, 
however,  his  relationshij)  till  his  death,  February  3, 
1860.  He  had  a  settlement  of  six  hundred  dollars 
and  a  salary  of  six  hundred  dollars. 

Father  Kimball's  was  a  long  and  useful  service. 
He  left  nearly  two  thousand  fairly  written  sermons, 
and  the  Good  Spirit  crowned  his  labors  with  remark- 
able success,  as  appears  from  his  last  pulpit  utterance 
— his  semi-centennial  address,  October  8,  1856.  At 
the  time  of  his  settlement  the  membership  of  the 
church  was  twelve  males  and  forty-one  females — a 
total  of  fifty-three.  He  had  admitted  three  hundred 
and  fifty — three  hundred  and  twelve  by  profession, 
and  thirty-eight  by  letter.  The  address  further  states 
that  he  had  attended  more  than  a  thousand  funerals, 
nine  hundred  and  seventy  of  which  were  in  his  own 
parish  ;  he  had  united  in  marriage  more  than  a  thou- 
sand persons ;  and  that  only  two  of  the  members  of 
the  church  when  he  was  ordained  were  then  living. 

He  was  an  esteemed  and  useful  member  of  the  Es- 
sex North  Association  of  Ministers,  was  chosen 
Scribe  May  12,  1812,  and  continued  in  the  office  till 
his  death.  He  survived  all  who  were  members  of  the 
association  when  he  was  settled,  and  all  but  two  of 
those  who  were  clergymen  in  the  county  at  that  time. 
He  was  a  warm  friend  of  the  cause  of  education,  a 
member  of  the  American  Educational  Society,  whose 
object  it  was  to  assist  young  men  preparing  for  the 
ministry,  and  did  much  to  enlist  the  efforts  of  the 
churches  in  its  behalf,  and  his  service  for  the  schools 
in  his  own  town  was  valuable. 

The  following  are  among  his  publications  :  "  A  Fel- 
lowship Address  at  the  Ordination  of  Messrs.  Cyrus 
Kingsbury  and  Daniel  Smith  as  Missionaries  to  the 
West,"  in  1815;  "Female  Obligations  and  Disposi- 
tion to  Promote  Chi-istianity,"  in  1819  ;  "  Sermon  be- 
fore the  Massachusetts  Society  for  Promoting  Chris- 
tian Knowledge,''  "The  Installation  Sermon  to  Rev. 
William  Ritchie,  of  Needham,"  and  "  Ecclesiastical 
History  of  Ipswich,  in  1821 ;  "  The  Fellowship  Ad- 
dress at  the  Ordination  of  Mr.  Daniel  Fitz  over  the 
South  Church,"  in  1826;  "An  Address  before  the 
Essex  County  Foreign  Mission  Society,"  in  1827 
"  An    Address   before   the   Essex  County   Auxiliary 


IPSWICH. 


587 


Educational  Society,"  in  1828;  "First  Church  Cen- 
tennial Sermon,"  in  1834;  "Sermon,"  in  1838;  "Ser- 
mon," in  1839;  "Last  Sermon  in  Old  Meeting- 
house," in  1846  ;  "First  Sermon  in  the  New  Meeting- 
House,  in  1847  :  "  "  Semi-Centennial  of  his  Ordina- 
tion," in  1856  ;  "  Memorial  of  Rev.  Isaac  Braman,  of 
Georgetown,"  and  "Memorial  of  Rev.  Gardiner  B. 
Perry,  D.D.,  of  Groveland," — which  he  was  preparing 
for  the  press,  when  prostrated  with  his  last  sickness 
— in  1860.  He  also  contributed  to  various  religious 
publications. 

He  married  October  20,  1807,  Dolly  Varnum  Co- 
burn,  daughter  of  Captain  Peter  and  Elizabeth-Poor 
Coburn,  of  Dracut,  and  granddaughter  of  Deacon 
Daniel  Poor,  of  Andover.  They  had  seven  children 
and  one  adopted  child.  See  "  Noted  Natives "  be- 
low. 

Mr.  Kimball  was  a  learned,  laborious  and  eminent- 
ly useful  man  ;  he  had  a  welcome  and  honored  place 
among  the  titled  and  learned  men  of  his  day  ;  yet  it 
was  not  beneath  his  dignity  to  recite  nightly,  with 
his  worthy  consort,  their  cradle  hymn  : 

"  Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep, 
I  pray  the  Lord  my  soul  to  keep  ; 
If  I  should  die  before  I  wake, 
I  pray  the  Lord  my  soul  to  take," 

— a  practice  which  seldom  outgrows  childhood,  but 
which,  if  continued,  would  tend  to  banish  dissipa- 
tion and  profanity,  to  polish  speech,  and  to  ennoble 
character. 

Says  one  who  knew  him  :  "  The  distinct  impression 
which  he  leaves  on  the  memories  of  all  who  knew 
him,  is  his  fidelity  and  untiring  industry.  As  the 
old  divines  used  to  say,  he  was  a  painful  preacher,  a 
painful  pastor,  a  painful  scholar,  a  painful  man.  This 
mark  pervaded  all  his  performances.  His  voice  was 
confined  in  its  compass  and  husky,  and  yet  he  con- 
trived to  impress  on  his  audience  the  conclusion  of 
most  of  his  sermons.  He  always  disappointed  you 
on  the  right  side,  making  a  deeper  impression  than 
you  had  anticipated.  His  sermons  were  very  care- 
fully written.  He  visited  his  people  with  uncommon 
diligence.  He  was  a  respectable  scholar  in  sacred 
Greek,  but  began  Hebrew  after  he  was  forty  years 
old,  and  by  perseverance  enabled  himself  to  profit  by 
the  exegetical  commentaries  of  the  times.  O,  departed 
brother !  if  we  have  something  to  forget,  we  have 
much  to  remember ;  and  may  thy  activity  and  devo- 
tion preach  to  us  forever." 

The  remains  of  this  worthy  man  repose  in  the 
High  Street  Cemetery,  where  a  monument  is  erected 
to  his  memory.  The  shaft  is  of  Oak  Hill  granite,  and 
is  fifteen  feet  high,  surmounted  with  a  cross  and 
crown.     The  inscription  reads  : 

"  Rev.  David  Tenney  Kimball,  born  in  Bradford,  Mass.,  Nov.  23, 1782: 
graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1803,  ordained  the  eleventh  Pastor 
of  the  First  Congregational  Churc'i  in  Ipswich,  Oct.  8, 1806,  in  which 
relation  he  died,  Feb.  3,  1860,  aged  77  year?.' 

"A  fine  classical  tcholar,  a  vigorous  writer,  a  man  of  unsullied  purity 


and  humble  piety,  a  kind  husband  and  tender  parent,  a  sincere  frieud,  a 
faithful  pastor." 

"When  the  summons  came,  catching  a  glimpse  of  heaven,  he  said, 
'The  gates  of  the  New  Jerusalem  are  open,  I  see  within  the  city.'  " 

12.  Eighth  Paatoraie. — Rev.  Robert  Southgate  suc- 
ceeded Father  Kimball.  Mr.  Southgate  was  born  in 
Portland,  Me.,  January  28,  1808.  His  parents  were 
Horatio  and  Nabby-McLellan  Southgate.  He  fitted 
for  college  in  his  native  city,  and  graduated  at  Bow- 
doin  College  in  1826,  when  he  was  eighteen  years  old. 
He  dated  his  conversion  from  the  week  of  prayer  for 
colleges ;  he  unhesitatingly  consecrated  himself,  as 
four  of  his  other  brothers  had  done,  to  the  Christian 
ministry.  He  completed  the  prescribed  course  at  the 
Andover  Theological  Seminary,  then  studied  a  year 
in  the  Yale  Divinity  School,  New  Haven,  Conn.  After 
spending  a  year  in  various  ministerial  labors,  he  was 
called  to  the  Congregational  Church,  at  Woodstock, 
Vt.,  and  he  entered  upon  the  duties  January  4,  1832. 
During  the  winter  of  1834-35,  he  experienced  a  show- 
er of  divine  grace,  which  brought  into  the  churches 
in  the  town  more  than  two  hundred  persons,  and  the 
greater  part  to  the  Congregational  Church.  In  1836, 
his  health  failing,  he  resigned,  and  he  was  dismissed 
October  26th.  He  was  settled  over  the  Congrega- 
tional Church  in  Wethersfield,  Conn.,  February  7, 
1838,  as  colleague  pastor  with  Rev.  C.  J.  Tenney,  D. 
D.,  and  became  full  pastor  on  the  resignation  of  Dr. 
Tenney,  January  10,  1841.  He  had  there  three 
marked  seasons  of  religious  interest.  The  church 
membership  was  enlarged  by  one  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-three accessions.  He  requested  a  dismission, 
which  took  place  November  22,  1843.  The  church 
keenly  regretted  his  withdrawal.  He  was  next  settled 
over  a  young  and  small  Presbyterian  Church,  in 
Monroe,  Mich.,  in  October,  1845.  In  two  years  the 
society  built  and  furnished  a  beautiful  and  commo- 
dious house  of  worship ;  and  while  he  was  there,  he 
experienced  many  seasons  of  refreshing  and  many 
accessions  to  the  church.  Malarial  troubles  in  his 
family  forced  him  to  relinquish  the  pleasant  place 
and  goodly  heritage  for  the  green  hills  and  healthful 
air  of  New  England. 

In  December,  1850,  he  was  called  unanimously 
and  urgently  to  this  church,  and  was  installed  July 
24th  following.  Here  also  his  labors  were  blessed 
with  many  tokens  of  divine  favor,  and  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  persons  became  members  of  the 
church.  In  his  seventeenth  year  he  tendered  his 
resignation,  which  was  not  accepted.  He  renewed  it, 
and  was  dismissed  March  31,  1867.  He  then  preached 
a  year  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  while  the  pastor  of  the 
church  was  in  Europe;  then  a  year  at  Oxford,  N.  H.; 
and  then  a  year  at  Hartford,  Vt.,  where  he  was  called 
to  settle,  and  was  installed  December  20,  1871. 
During  his  service  there,  the  society  repaired  and 
beautified  the  house  of  worship,  and  the  church  mem- 
bership was  enlarged.  In  that  vineyard  of  the  Lord, 
"he  was  not  for  God  took  him."     He  died  of  apo- 


588 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


plexy,  Thursday,  February  6,  1873,  while  visiting  his 
daughter  at  Woodstock,  and  passed 

"  In  the  wink  of  an  eye,  or  the  draught  of  a  breath, 
From  the  blossom  of  health  to  the  paleness  of  death." 

Mr.  Southgate  contributed  forty-two  years  of  earn- 
est Christian  labor ;  five  churches  were  blessed  and 
strengthened  by  his  efficient  ministry,  and  left  har- 
monious and  sorrowing  at  his  departure.  Says  the 
memorial  of  him  :  "  He  was  a  sensitive,  modest,  self- 
distrustful  man,  whose  full  merit  was  slowly  discov- 
ered. He  was  a  plain,  direct,  earnest  preacher, 
glorying  in  the  cross  of  Christ.  He  had  a  tropical 
exuberance  of  feeling  and  language  through  which  he 
always  made  Christian  truth  seem  like  a  garden  well- 
sown  and  cultured,  and  bearing  precious  fruit  in 
abundance.  He  had  an  extraordinary  gift  in  prayer, 
that  showed  he  dwelt  in  the  prophet's  own  cham- 
ber, whose  windows  looked  out  upon  the  glorious 
heavens.  He  excelled  as  a  pastor,  his  heart  was 
quick  and  sympathetic,  and  carried  on  it  the  burden 
of  his  people."  That  "  he  was  a  good  minister  of 
Jesus  Christ "  was  the  people's  verdict. 

Mr.  Southgate  married,  October,  1832,  Miss  Mary 
Frances  Swan,  daughter  of  Benjamin  Swan,  Esq.,  of 
Woodstock.  She  died  October  2,  1867.  There  were 
five  children.  One  died  young,  the  others  are  wor- 
shippers with  the  people  of  God,  one  of  whom  is  a 
minister  of  the  gospel ;  another,  a  native  of  this  town, 
is  noticed  in  "  Noted  Natives  "  below. 

13.  Mnth  Pastorate. — Rev.  Thomas  Morong  was 
installed  February  5,  1868.  His  pastorate  continued 
about  eight  years,  closing  January  12, 1876,  which  we 
believe  was  a  season  of  general  prosperity. 

14.  Tenth  Pastorate. — Rev.  Edwin  Beaman 
Palmer  was  born  in  Belfast,  Me.,  September  25, 
1833.  He  fitted  for  college  at  North  Bridgeton, 
1850-52;  graduated  at  Bowdoin  College  August  6, 
1856,  and  at  the  Bangor  Theological  Seminary  in 
1859.  For  a  year,  while  studying  in  the  Seminary, 
he  held  the  principalship  of  the  high  and  grammar 
schools  in  Brunswick.  He  was  ordained,  September 
20,  1859,  over  the  Second  Congregational  Church  in 
New  Castle,  which  he  resigned  because  of  nervous  ex- 
haustion from  over  work,  and  from  which  he  was  dis- 
missed, February  10, 1862.  From  October  10,  1862, 
to  March,  1863,  he  served  in  the  field  as  chaplain  of 
the  Nineteenth  Regiment  Maine  Volunteer  Infantry, 
and  from  March  to  October,  1864,  the  Pine  Street 
Church,  Lewistou,  when  the  pastor  was  temporarily 
in  the  army.  He  was  installed,  December  26,  1864, 
at  Southbridge,  Mass.,  and  was  dismissed.  May  3, 
1 869,  to  accept  a  call  to  the  Third  Congregational 
Church,  Chicopee,  where  he  was  installed  June  10, 
following.  That  pastorate  closed  March  23,  1875,  in 
which  year  he  was  called  to  this  church,  where  he  was 
installed  January  12,  1876.  He  gave  a  devoted 
Christian  service,  amid  many  untoward  circumstances. 
"His  first  year,"  said  a  friend,  "  seemed  full  of  funer- 
als ;  it  seemed  as  if  he  had  been  called  to  bury  the 


people."  The  same  year  the  seminary  closed,  and 
some  fifty  pupils  were  taken  from  his  congregation. 
He  received  eleven  members  by  profession  of  faith 
and  seventeen  by  letter.  There  were  two  baptisms, 
and  strange  enough  there  were,  during  the  time,  but 
two  births  where  both  parents  were  in  the  church, 
and  only  four  where  either  parent  was  a  member. 
He  soleminized  seventy  marriages,  and  attended  two 
hundred  and  three  funerals,  forty-one  of  which  were 
members  of  his  church.  He  was  dismissed,  upon 
his  request,  May  3,  1885,  and  June  17th,  following, 
was  elected  treasurer  of  the  Massachusetts  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society,  where  he  now  serves,  with  office  in 
Boston  and  residence  in  Winchester. 

15.  Eleventh  Pastorate — Rev.  George  H.  Scott 
is  the  present  incumbent.  He  is  a  native  of  Bakers- 
field,  Vt, ;  he  graduated  at  Williams  College  in  1865, 
and  at  the  Andover  Theological  Seminary  in  1873. 
The  same  year  he  became  pastor  at  Plymouth,  N.  H., 
where  he  continued  with  gratifying  results  till  1881, 
when  he  returned  to  the  Andover  Seminary  to  pursue 
a  post-graduate  course,  during  which  he  received  a 
call  to  settle  over  a  church  at  Lawrence,  Kansas. 
There  he  labored  and  nourished  a  healthful  growth 
of  the  church  for  two  years,  when  he  was  obliged  to 
resign  and  return  East.  He  supplied  one  year  at 
Rockland,  Me.  Upon  call  he  was  installed  here  De- 
cember 30,  1885. 

The  church  and  society  are  practically  free  from 
debt,  and  meet  their  current  expenses  without  diffi- 
culty. The  church  is  heartily  united  and  enjoying  a 
healthful  growth,  there  having  been  additions  at  each 
communion  season  during  the  year.  There  is  now, 
Christmas,  1886,  a  membership  of  about  one  hundred 
and  seventy-three. 

16.  Deacons. — Rev.  David  T.  Kimball  has  furnished 
the  following  list  of  deacons,  which,  for  want  of  suffi- 
cient records,  cannot  be  made  satisfactory: 

John  Shatswell  was  a  resident  in  1634,  and  served 
for  some  time.  Deacon  Whipple  is  recorded  in  1651. 
William  Goodhue  was  called  deacon  in  1658,  and  his 
son  Joseph  some  time  after.  Moses  Pingry  served 
1658  to  1683  ;  Thomas  Knowlton,  1667  to  1678  ;  Dea- 
con Jewett,  1677  ;  Robert  Lord,  1682  ;  Thomas  Low, 
1696;  Jacob  Foster,  1697  to  1700;  Nathaniel  Knowl- 
ton, 1700  to  1723;  Deacon  Abbott,  1710  to  1715 
John  Staniford,  1721;  Thomas  Norton,  1727  to  1737 
Jonathan  Fellows,  1727  to  1736  ;  Aaron  Potter,  1737 
Daniel  Heard,  Mark  Haskell,  Aaron  Potter  and 
Samuel  Williams  (who  died  in  1763),  1746 ;  Jeremiah 
Perkins,  1763-90  ;  Joseph  Low,  1763  to  1782 ;  John 
Crocker,  1781  to  1790  ;  William  Story,  Jr.,  1781  to 
1788;  Caleb  Lord,  1790  to  1804;  Thomas  Knowlton, 
1801  to  1832 ;  Mark  Haskell,  1804  to  1825  ;  Moses 
Lord,  1825  to  1832;  Isaac  Stanwood,  1832  to  1867. 
The  present  incumbents  are  Zenas  Gushing  and 
Aaron  Cogswell,  chosen  April  2,  1866. 

17.  Conclusion. — This  church  has  had  fourteen  pas- 
tors, the  present  incumbent  is  the  fifteenth.     They 


IPSWICH. 


589 


served  during  a  period  of  more  than  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years,  and  during  that  time  rendered  a  col- 
'  league  or  double  pastorate  service  of  more  than  a 
hundred  years,  making  an  aggregate  service  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty-five  years.  The  longest  pastorate 
was  Mr.  Rogers',  1692-1745,  fifty-three  years  ;  the 
average  service  has  been  twenty-five  years.  A  double 
pastorate  in  the  early  times  seems  to  have  been  neces- 
sary, because  of  the  extent  of  territory  covered  by  the 
parish,  including  Essex  and  Hamilton,  and  the  triple 
labor  of  catechizing,  lecturing  and  sermonizing. 
There  seems  to  have  been  very  little  colleague  ser- 
vice after  1745,  about  the  time  the  Linebrook  and 
South  Parishes  were  formed. 

This  church  is  said  to  have  been,  in  early  times, 
the  most  flourishing  and  vigorous  in  New  England ; 
and  probably  no  element  contributed  more  to  give 
the  town  the  prestige  it  enjoyed  than  this  church, 
holding  forth  such  luminous  names  as  Ward  and 
Norton,  asCobbettand  Hubbard  and  the  Rogerses,  au- 
thorities in  the  church  and  molding  influences  in  the 
land.  Thus  we  conclude  our  notice  of  this  mother  of 
churches. 

SOUTH   PARISH   AND   CHURCH. 

1.  First  Pastorate. — This  church  came  off"  from  the 
First  Church,  during  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Nathaniel 
Rogers.  The  first  effort  in  that  direction  was  a  peti- 
tion dated  November  17,  1745.  Little  or  nothing  was 
done  about  the  request  at  that  time,  because  of  the 
death  of  Rev.  John  Rogers,  that  soon  followed.  The 
petition  was  renewed  the  next  year.  The  church 
then  had  three  hundred  and  four  members,  and  the 
edifice  was  crowded  and  unfit  for  its  purpose.  Rev. 
Nathaniel  Rogers,  Rev.  John's  colleague  and  succes- 
sor, opposed  the  movement.  Then  came  the  ques- 
tion of  pastoral  succession,  Rev.  Nathaniel  Rogers, 
the  late  colleague,  or  Mr.  John  Walley,  of  Boston. 
To  effect  a  compromise,  two  houses  of  worship  were 
built,  and  each  minister  occupied  his  own  pulpit  in 
the  morning  and  exchanged  in  the  afternoon.  The 
plan  failed  of  its  purpose,  and  December  2,  1746, 
sixty-eight  members  of  the  Parish  resolved  to  peti- 
tion the  Legislature  for  a  new  parish.  Accordingly 
a  petition,  dated  December  24th,  was  sent  in  to  the 
General  Court.  The  south  part,  however,  made 
further  overtures  of  settlement  January  6,  1747;  and 
again,  May  27th,  petitioned  the  Legislature.  The 
new  parish  was  incorporated  June  20th,  following. 
The  act  provided,  however,  that  the  parish  was  to 
remain  intact,  if  they  took  "  effectual  care  for  build- 
ing a  new  meeting-house"  on  the  south  side  of  the 
river  before  July  20th,  and  settled  another  minister, 
and  supported  the  two  churches  out  of  the  common 
fund,  as  a  joint-stock  company, — which  they  did  not 
do,  and  so  the  new  parish  was  established.  The 
church  was  embodied  July  22d,  of  twenty-one  or 
twenty-two  members  from  the  First  Church.  The 
following  7th  of  August,  they  voted  unanimously  to 
call  Mr.  John  Walley,  at  a  salary  of  £150,  and  a 


settlement  of  £1200,  old  tenor.  Mr.  Walley  was  a  son 
of  Hon,  John  Walley,  of  Boston,  and  was  born  in 
1716.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1734,  and  was  a 
member  of  the  South  Church,  Boston,  In  his  letter 
of  acceptance  he  refers  to  his  feeble  health.  He  was 
ordained  November  4,  1747,  the  day  on  which  the 
frame  of  the  church  edifice  was  raised.  He  labored 
faithfully  more  than  sixteen  years,  and  was  dismissed 
February  22,  1764,  because  of  sickness. 

The  meeting-house  was  first  occupied  May  22, 
1748.  It  was  two-stories  high,  and  sixty  feet  long 
by  forty  feet  wide.  It  was  finished  and  furnished  in 
the  usual  manner  of  that  period.  In  1819  two  stoves 
were  added  to  the  furniture,  much  to  the  good  sense 
and  comfort  of  the  people. 

Mr.  Walley  was  installed  at  Bolton,  in  May,  1773. 
He  was  dismissed  to  that  church  in  1784.  He  died 
in  Roxbury,  March  2,  1784.  His  wife,  was  Eliza- 
beth Appleton.  In  his  will  he  says:  "  I  give,  as  a 
token  of  my  love,  to  the  South  Parish  in  Ipswich, 
£13  6s.  8rf.,  the  yearly  income  to  be  given  by  them  to 
such  persons  in  the  Parish,  as  they  shall  judge  to  be 
the  fittest  objects  of  such  a  charity."  He  was  a  man 
of  average  height,  and  light  complexion,  of  an  affec- 
tionate disposition  and  a  pious  heart ;  he  held  the 
pen  of  a  ready  writer,  and  was  an  eloquent  speaker, 
and  possessed  a  clear,  able  and  learned  mind. 

2.  Secotid  Pastorate. — Rev.  Joseph  Dana,  D.D. — 
He  was  born  in  Pomfret,  Conn.,  November  2,  1742,  to 
Joseph  and  Mary  Dana.  His  father  was  an  inn- 
keeper. His  boyhood  eyes  really  looked  upon  Gen. 
Putnam's  historical  wolf. 

He  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1760,  studied  di- 
vinity with  Rev.  Dr.  Hart,  of  Preston,  Conn.,  and  was 
licensed  to  preach  before  he  was  twenty-one  years 
old.  He  preached  here  several  months  as  candidate, 
and  was  ordained  November  7,  1765,  at  a  salary  of 
£100  lawful  money,  and  a  settlement  of  £160.  "  No 
man  entered  upon  a  duty  with  a  more  devoted  inter- 
est." During  his  pastorate  was  the  struggle  for  In- 
dependence, and  in  word  and  deed  he  displayed  a 
Christian  patriotism.  Many  were  added  to  his 
church.  His  sixtieth  anniversary  sermon  reads  that 
all  who  were  heads  of  families  when  he  was  settled, 
were  dead  except  five ;  that  he  had  followed  about 
nine  hundred  of  his  parishioners  to  the  grave.  He 
was  then  eighty-three  years  old. 

He  was  eminently  worthy  of  the  doctorate,  which, 
in  1801,  Harvard  College  conferred  upon  him.  Mr. 
Felt  says:  In  person,  he  was  about  the  common 
height  and  size,  quick  and  active  in  his  movement. 
In  his  manner  he  was  kind,  accessible  and  gentle- 
manly. In  morals  he  was  exact,  being  diligent  in 
business,  punctual  in  his  engagements,  refined  and 
improving  in  his  conversation  and  upright  in  his  ac- 
tions. His  intellectual  endowments  were  of  a  high 
order,  and  richly  improved  with  attainments  in  litera- 
ture and  theology.  His  style  of  wilting  was  strong, 
lucid   and  sententious.     His    piety    was    the    same 


590 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


everywhere,  and  at  all  times,  bearing  the  impress  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  and  appearing  as  a  sacrifice,  accep- 
table in  the  sight  of  Deity.  He  published  twenty  or 
more  sermons.  He  died  of  lung  fever,  after  an  ill- 
ness of  four  days,  November  16,  1827.  His  funeral 
sermon  was  preached  by  Rev.  Robert  Crowell,  of  Es- 
sex. 

His  first  wife  was  Mary  Staniford,  daughter  of  Dan- 
iel and  Mary-Burnham  Staniford,  and  daughter-in- 
law  of  Rev.  Nathaniel  Rogers,  who  died  May  14; 
1772,  in  her  twenty-eighth  year.  His  second  wife 
was  Mary  Turner,  daughter  of  Samuel,  of  Boston, 
and  died  April  18,  1803,  in  her  fifty-third  year.  His 
third  wife  was  Mrs.  Elizabeth-Green  Bradford,  daugh- 
ter of  Rev.  Jacob  Green,  of  Hanover,  N.  J.,  and  wid- 
ow of  Rev.  Ebenezer  Bradford,  of  Rowley,  who  was 
married  December,  1803,  and  who  died  1824,  aged 
about  seventy-five  years.  His  children  were  Mary, 
who  married  Major  Thomas  Burnbam  ;  Joseph  and 
Daniel  by  first  wife  ;  Elizabeth,  Samuel,  Sarah,  Abi- 
gail and  Anna,  by  the  second.  See  "  Noted  Na- 
tives." 

8.  Third  Pastorate. — Rev.  Daniel  Fitz,  D.D. — 
He  was  born  in  Sandown,  N.  H.,  May  28,  1795.  He 
studied  in  the  Derry  and  Atkinson  Academies  in 
New  Hampshire,  and  August  11,  1818,  graduated  at 
Dartmouth  College.  He  assisted  in  the  Derry  Acad- 
emy one  quarter,  was  principal  of  the  Salisbury 
Academy  two  years  and  being  called  to  the  Academy 
at  Marblehead,  Mass.,  taught  there  one  and  a  half 
years.  He  became  converted  during  a  revival  in 
1819,  while  principal  of  the  Salisbury  Academy,  and 
united  with  the  church  in  that  place  in  1820.  He 
then  resolved  upon  a  theological  course,  and  gradu- 
ated at  the  Andover  Theological  Seminary  in  1825. 
He  was  approbated  to  preach  by  the  "  Hopkinton 
(N.  H.)  Association,"  June  15th,  the  same  year,  and 
the  next  year,  June  28th,  was  ordained  colleague  pas- 
tor with  Dr.  Dana,  of  this  church,  of  which  he  be- 
came the  sole  pastor  upon  the  death  of  the  doctor, 
November  16,  1827. 

He  published  the  following  sermons  :  Memorials  of 
Mrs.  Hannah  C.  Crowell,  wife  of  Rev.  Dr.  Robert 
Crowell,  of  Essex,  in  1837  ;  of  Dr.  Crowell  in  1855,  of 
Rev.  David  T.  Kimball  in  1860,  and  the  thirtieth 
anniversary  of  his  settlement.  The  doctorate  was 
conferred  on  him  by  Dartmouth  College  in  1862.  His 
pastorate  closed  in  1866  ;  he  died  September  2,  1869. 

Dr.  Fitz  had  a  mild,  gentle,  sympathetic  nature, 
was  socially  agreeable  and  public-spirited, — an  exem- 
plary man.  He  was  a  man  of  prayer  and  piety,  and 
delighted  in  the  service  of  the  Master.  He  had  a 
long,  peaceful  and  useful  pastorate. 

4.  Fourth  Pastorate. — Rev.  William  H.  Pierson. 
— Mr.  Pierson  succeeded  to  the  pastorate  January  1, 
1868.  He  was  born  in  Newburyport,  June  12,  1839  ; 
he  graduated  at  Bowdoin  College,  Me.,  in  1864,  and 
at  the  Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  N.  J.,  in 
April,  1867.      This  was  his  first  pastoral  charge,  and 


he  held  it  four  and  a  half  years.  A  parsonage  was 
purchased  during  his  service.  At  the  beginning  of 
his  ministry  a  marked  revival  occurred,  which  re- 
sulted in  some  fifty  accessions  to  the  church.  His 
pastorate  was  dissolved  July  15,  1872,  and  in  the 
August  following  he  began  to  serve  the  church  in 
Somerville,  where  he  remained  nearly  nine  years. 
During  the  latter  pastorate  he  saw  cause  to  change 
his  religious  views  and  to  become  a  Unitarian.  He 
accepted  the  charge  of  the  First  Parish,  Fitchburg, 
Mass.,  and  was  installed  June  7,  1881,  and  is  now 
serving  as  pastor. 

5.  Fifth  Pastor. — Rev.  Marshall  Ballard 
Angier  was  born  in  Southborough,  Mass.,  March 
22,  1819.  His  father  was  Calvin  Angier,  a  farmer, 
and  his  mother,  Anna-Parker  Angier. 

Mr.  Angier  fitted  for  college  at  Leicester  Academy, 
and  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1844.  He  gradu- 
ated at  the  Union  Theological  Seminary,  New  York 
City,  in  1847.  He  was  resident  licentiate  at  the  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  Princeton,  N.  J.,  1847-48.  He  was 
acting  pastor  at  Worcester  and  Orange,  Mass.,  1848-52, 
at  Hopkinton,  N.  H.,  1852-53,  where  he  was  ordained 
and  installed  June  8,  1853.  During  the  following 
twenty  years,  till  1873, — in  addition  to  his  eight 
years'  ministry  in  Hopkinton — he  filled  pastorates 
in  Dorche~ter,  Sturbridge  and  Haydensville,  Mass. 
He  preached  the  first  time  in  this  church  in  March, 
1873,  and  filling  the  pulpit  from  time  to  time  during 
the  year,  he  was  installed  pastor  of  the  church  Febru- 
ary 4.  1874.  His  pastorate  continued  till  August  1, 
1878 — four  and  a  half  years.  During  the  early  part 
of  his  ministry  he  enjoyed  a  refreshing  from  the 
presence  of  the  Lord,  resulting  in  accessions  to  the 
church,  at  one  Communion,  of  fifty-three  persons, 
varying  in  their  ages  from  thirteen  to  seventy -nine 
years.  The  whole  number  uniting  with  the  church 
during  his  ministry  was  about  sixty. 

During  the  time,  the  sum  of  $1500  was  raised  and 
expended  fir  repairs  on  the  church  and  parsonage. 
A  debt  of  $3500  upon  the  property  of  the  society  was 
lifted,  being  raised  by  voluntary  subscription.  The>^e 
make  a  grand  total  for  repairs  and  debt  of  more  than 
$5000.  He  is  now  preaching  at  New  York,  with  resi- 
dence at  No.  839  E.  168th  Street. 

He  married,  September  29,  1864,  in  Newburyport, 
Miss  Emma  S.  Brewster,  daughter  of  Wm.  H.  Brew- 
ster, of  Newburyport.  They  have  a  daughter,  born 
in  Plymouth,  Mass.,  June  23,  1868.  Mrs.  Angier  be- 
longs to  the  tenth  generation,  in  lineal  descent,  from 
Elder  Brewster,  of  the  May  Flower. 

6.  Si.vth  Pastorate.  —  Rev.  Thomas  Franklin 
Waters  is  the  present  pastor.  He  was  born  in 
Salem,  to  Thomas  S.  and  Mary  A.  Waters,  April  12, 
1851.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1872,  at 
Andover  Theological  Seminary  in  1875,  and  the  Aug- 
ust following  entered  the  pulpit  service  at  Edgar- 
town,  Martha's  Vineyard,  where  he  was  ordained  Oc- 
tober 23,  1876.      He  was  installed  here  January  1, 


IPSWICH. 


591 


1879.  In  1885  the  house  of  worship  was  entirely  re- 
modeled; the  galleries,  pulpit  and  pews  were  re- 
moved, and  a  portion  of  the  auditorium  was  cut  off  by 
a  partition,  erected  some  fifteen  feet  in  front  of  its 
posterior  walls.  The  smaller  room  thus  made  was 
finished  with  a  small  vestry  and  a  ladies'  parlor  on 
the  first  floor,  and  a  large  vestry  and  a  kitchen  on  the 
second  floor.  The  former  rooms  are  both  connected 
with  the  main  audience-room,  by  sliding  sashes,  by 
which  the  three  rooms  may  be  converted  into  one. 
In  the  main  audience-room,  by  a  new  arrangement  of 
pews,  thus  economizing  the  space,  there  are  about 
four  hundred  sittings,  an  alcove  for  an  organ  on  the 
left  of  the  pulpit  platform  and  a  platform  for  the 
choir.  The  windows  were  furnished  with  inside 
blinds,  the  walls  and  ceiling  were  frescoed,  gas  was 
fully  supplied  and  the  audience-room  newly  furnished 
with  pulpit-set,  carpet  and  cushions.  They  have  now 
a  very  pretty,  convenient  and  commodious  house, 
and  a  very  pleasant  and  prosperous  pastorate. 

LINEBROOK    PARISH   AND   CHURCH. 

1.  Incorjjoralion. — This  parish  is  centrally  located 
with  reference  to  Topsfield,  Boxford,  Georgetown, 
Rowley  and  Ipswich,  and  is  distant  from  them  re- 
spectively, from  church  to  church,  from  three  to  four 
miles.  It  was  originally  constituted  of  the  last  two 
towns. 

Much  inconvenience  was  felt  as  early  as  1738-39  in 
attending  church  service  at  the  above  places,  and 
thirteen  of  the  freeholders  of  Ipswich,  December  20, 
1739,  O.S.,  petitioned  the  First  Church  to  be  set  off  to 
Topsfield.  The  petitioners,  March  18th  of  the  same 
year,  were  denied  the  set-ofF,  but  were  "  discharged 
from  all  parish  rates  for  the  future."  Soon  after  they 
began  to  employ  a  religious  teacher.  They  again  pe- 
titioned the  First  Church,  and  were  answered  Decem- 
ber 2,  1742,  that  "the  West  End  do  not  become  a 
parish,  but  keep  up  preaching  among  them." 

In  1743  they  and  freeholders  of  Rowley  erected  a 
meeting-house ;  April  12,  1744,  they  all  voted  to  be 
set  off  as  a  distinct  parish,  and  accordingly  petitioned 
the  Great  and  General  Court  for  incorporation.  Fif- 
teen Rowley  men  remonstrated.  The  committee  of 
court,  to  whom  the  matter  was  intrusted,  reported 
favoring  the  petition,  March  21,  1745  o.s.  The  act 
of  incorporation  is  dated  June  4,  1746.  The  first 
meeting  of  the  jDarish  was  held  July  7,  the  same  year. 
The  precinct  was  bounded  on  the  south  by  Howlett's 
Brook  and  Ipswich  River,  on  the  east  by  Gravelly, 
Bull  and  Batchelder's  Brooks,  and  on  the  west  by 
Strait  Brook  and  was  therefore  by  vote  January  27, 
1746-47,  called  Linebrook  Parish. 

2.  Meeting- House.— The  church  was  finished  in  the 
following  manner,  as  the  parish  voted  June  27, 1746-47: 
First,  the  pulpit  and  deacon's  seat;  second,  the  body- 
seats  below  ;  third,  three  fore-seats  in  each  gallery  ; 
fourth,  the  gallery  stairs,  and  plaster  under  the  gal- 
lery;  fifth,  a  pew  for  the  parish.     It  was  voted  May 


18,  1747,  that  the  meeting-house  be  finished  by  the 
last  of  October.  It  was  a  two-story,  square  house, 
was  finished  with  box-pews,  and  was  entered  by  a 
front  door  and  a  door  on  each  side.  It  stood  in  Row- 
ley-Linebrook,  perhaps  an  eighth  of  a  mile  across 
the  Ipswich-Rowley  town-line,  on  the  road  leading 
from  the  Ipswich-Linebrook  school-house,  a  spot  now 
called  "  up  in  the  woods."  The  house  was  removed 
to  the  location  of  the  present  church,  and  rebuilt  in 
1828  by  Daniel  Searl  and  Mark  K.  Jewett,  contrac- 
tors, of  Rowley,  for  six  hundred  dollars.  Rev.  David 
Tullar  was  present  at  the  raising,  and  offered  prayer. 
The  rebuilding  followed  the  old  model.  The  site  was 
purchased  of  Miss  Mehitable  Foster,  about  a  third  of 
an  acre,  for  twenty  dollars.  May  24,  1828.  The  house 
was  dedicated  January  1,  1829. 

The  present  church  edifice  was  built  in  1848.  In 
1847  the  First  and  South  Parishes  gave  this  parish  a 
bell,  which  was  accepted  June  23,  1847,  when  it  be- 
came a  question  whether  the  old  house  should  receive 
needed  repairs  and  be  remodeled  to  accommodate  the 
bell,  or  whether  a  new  house  should  be  built.  The 
parish  determined,  December  22,  1847,  to  build  a  new 
house,  and  to  set  it  on  the  site  of  the  old  one.  The 
necessary  funds  were  raised  by  subscription  at  twenty- 
five  dollars  per  share.  Eighty  shares  were  sold, 
amounting  to  two  thousand  dollars.  Charles  E. 
Brackett,  who  died  at  Quincy  on  the  night  of  Easter, 
1885,  was  the  contractor,  at  nineteen  hundred  and  five 
dollars  and  the  old  house,  which  did  not  include  pay 
for  painting  and  pews.  The  whole  cost,  $2197.55,  for 
structure,  jjainting,  graining  slips  and  hanging  the 
bell.  The  house  was  furnished  by  the  Ladies'  Sewing 
Circle.  A  stockholders'  or  jDroprietors'  meeting  was 
held  December  2,  1848,  when  they  voted  not  to  relin- 
quish any  of  their  rights  to  the  parish ;  they  voted 
also  to  adopt  the  action  taken  by  the  parish  in  rela- 
tion to  the  house,  and  to  proceed  in  the  sale  of  the 
pews.  Forty  slips  were  sold  for  twenty-four  hundred 
and  eleven  dollars,  one  hundred  and  sixty  more  than 
the  appraisal.  The  seating  capacity  of  the  house  is 
about  two  hundred  and  fifty.  It  was  dedicated  No- 
vember 22,  1848. 

3.  Parish  Lands. — The  parish  leased  for  nine  hun- 
dred and  ninety-nine  years  from  July  5,  1753,  a  par- 
cel of  land  for  a  cemetery.  The  land  is  a  few  rods 
north  of  the  site  of  the  old  meeting-house  in  Rowley- 
Linebrook,  and  has  long  been  abandoned.  The  town 
granted  ten  acres  in  Bull-brook  pasture  to  this  pastor- 
ate November  15,  1790,  which  subsequently  were  ex- 
changed for  ten  acres  in  Long-hill  pasture,  which  the 
parish  now  owns.  The  site  of  the  old  meeting-house 
was  sold  to  Mr.  Joseph  B.  Perley  for  twenty  dollars. 

4.  The  Church. — The  church  was  embodied  with 
twelve  or  thirteen  male  members  November  15,  1749. 
They  then  adopted  the  belief  and  polity  of  the  Cam- 
bridge platform  made  the  year  before.  The  following 
is  a  list  of  the  deacons : 

John  Abbott,  chosen  December  13,  1749  ;  died  December  18, 1759. 


592 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Jona.  Burpee,  chosen  December  13,  1749  ;  transferred  to  N.  B.  May  6, 
1764. 

Mark  Howe,  chosen  May  22,  1760  ;  died  February  17,  1770. 

Moses  Chaplin,  chosen  October  13,  1765  ;  died  October  18,  1811. 

Anthony  Potter,  chosen  January  3,  1771;  died  June  21,  1791. 

Abraham  Howe,  Sen.,  chosen  March  12,  1792  ;  died  November  5,  1797. 

Isaac  Potter,  chosen ;  transferred  to  Rowley,  October  1,  1809. 

Joseph  Chaplin,  Sen.,  chosen  October  1,  1809 ;  transferred  to  Byfield 
October  4,  1812. 

Philemon  Foster,  Sen.,  chosen  October  4,  1812  ;  died  May  10,  1818. 

William  Dickinson,  chosen  September  30,  1831 ;  resigned  November  2, 
1844. 

William  Foster  Conant,  chosen  September  30,  1831 ;  died  May  7, 1886, 

Jacob  Symonds  Potter,  chosen  November  2, 1844  ;  transferred  to  George- 
town November  4,  1876. 

John  Harrison  Tenney,  chosen  June  9,  1884. 

James  Davis  and  George  Hibbert  were  elected 
Elders  December  19,  1749;  the  former  died  March 
11,  1752;  the  latter  April  29,  1750.  Deacon  John 
Abbott  was  chosen  January  7, 1752,  and  subsequently 
David  Perley.  Both  declined  to  serve  February  1, 
1757.  Amos  Jewett  and  Jeremiah  Burpee  were 
elected  February  15,  1757,  and  were  ordained  April 
19th.  Elder  Burpee  was  transferred  to  St.  John,  N.  B., 
May  6.  1764,  and  Elder  Jewett  to  Hamilton  August 
30,  1789.     Abraham  Howe  was  chosen  June  11,  1787. 

In  1773  "the  tuners"  of  the  hymns  were  Nathaniel 
Howe  and  Joseph  and  Jonathan  Chapman.  In  April, 
1791,  the  singing-school  was  invited  to  assist  Messrs. 
Howe  and  Joseph  Chapman  in  psalmody. 

5.  First  Pastorate. — Eev.  George  Lesslie  was 
born  in  Scotland  in  1728,  and  came  to  this  country 
when  about  two  years  old.  His  father  was  Rev. 
James  Lesslie.  I  spell  the  name  as  Rev.  George 
spelled  it  in  legal  documents.  Our  subject  graduated 
at  Harvard  College  in  1748,  at  the  age  of  twenty 
years.  He  joined  the  Topsfield  Church  March  5, 
1749,  presumably  upon  profession  of  faith.  He 
studied  for  the  ministry  with  his  own  pastor,  Rev. 
John  Emerson.  He  began  to  preach  for  this  parish, 
in  August,  1748,  shortly  after  his  graduation,  and  re- 
ceived six  pounds  a  Sabbath  for  his  services.  He 
began  to  preach  as  candidate  March  19,  1749,  four- 
teen d?ys  after  joining  the  Topsfield  Church.  His 
transfer  from  that  church  was  October  6,  1749.  He 
was  ordained  and  installed  here  November  15,  1749, 
the  day  of  the  organization  of  the  church.  His  set- 
tlement was  £700  old  tenor,  or  $311.08,  and  his  salary 
was  £100  lawful  money  and  twelve  cords  of  wood. 
The  depreciation  of  paper  money  and  the  failure  of 
the  parish  to  supply  the  deficiency,  and  an  urgent 
call  to  the  new  society  of  Washington,  N.  H.,  deter- 
mined him  to  ask  a  dismission  October  22,  1779.  A 
council  convened  November  4, 1779,  and  advised  that 
the  pastorate  be  dissolved  November  30th,  the  date 
that  had  been  mutually  agreed  upon  by  the  church 
and  the  pastor.  His  transfer  by  letter  was  December 
10th.  Mrs.  Ruth  Conant,  daughter  of  Deacon  Foster, 
wife  of  Esquire  William  Conant,  and  mother  of  Dea- 
con Conant,  wrote :  "  The  Church  was  embodied  with 
thirteen  male  members.  In  that  year  twenty-two 
members  were  added.     From   1749  to  1770  forty-six 


members  were  added.  There  is  no  account  of  other 
additions  during  Mr.  Lesslie's  pastorate." 

Mr.  Lesslie,  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Essex 
North  Association  of  Ministers,  at  New  RoMdey  (now 
Georgetown),  September  8,  1761,  signed  the  rules 
of  government.  The  fifth  meeting  of  the  association 
was  with  him  November  30, 1770.  He  was  a  learned 
and  serviceable  member.  About  the  time  of  his 
removal  from  this  place,  he  was  invited  to  a  profes- 
sorship in  Dartmouth  College,  which  he  declined, 
probably  because  of  his  promising  field  at  Washing- 
ton. He  preached  the  ordination  sermon  of  his 
divinity  student,  Mr.  Samuel  Perley,  at  North  Hamp- 
ton, N.  H.,  January  13, 1765.  The  sermon  was  printed. 
He  has  also  left  two  sermons  written  in  stenography, 
preached  in  1760.  In  July  2,  1778,  he  attended  Ezra 
Ross,  at  the  gallows,  in  Worcester,  and  his  church 
kept  the  day  with  fasting  and  prayer.  Young  Ross 
was  a  member  of  his  society,  and  Ross'  parents  were 
members  of  his  church. 

He  early  adopted  the  following  covenant: 

"  I  take  God,  the  Father,  to  be  my  chief  good  and  highest  end  ;  I  take 
God,  the  Son,  to  be  my  only  Lord  and  Savior ;  I  take  God,  the  Holy 
Spirit,  to  be  my  Sanctifier,  Teacher,  Guide  and  Comforter  ;  I  take  the 
truth  of  God  to  be  my  rnle  in  all  my  actions;  I  take  the  people  of  God  to 
be  my  people  in  all  conditions.  I  do  likewise  devote  and  dedicate  unto 
the  Lord  my  whole  self,  all  that  I  am,  all  that  I  have,  and  all  that  I 
can  do.     This  I  do  deliberately,  sincerely,  freely  and  forever." 

He  was  not  only  a  fine  scholar,  but,  we  may  judge, 
an  apt  teacher.  Many  students  resorted  to  him  for 
instructions ;  in  modern  phrase,  his  house  was  a 
boarding-school.  He  had  students  learning  the  use- 
ful sciences,  fitting  for  college,  and  preparing  for  the 
ministry.  A  few  names  of  them  between  1752  and 
1759  are  preserved  :  Symonds,  son  of  Cajit.  Baker,  and 
Asa,  son  of  Samuel  Bradstreet;  Timothy  Andrews 
and  Daniel  Fuller;  Thomas  Stickney,  Samuel  Per- 
ley, Thomas  Gowing,  Moses  Nichols  and  Samuel 
Porter.  In  September,  1757,  he  went  to  Cambridge 
with  Asa  Bradstreet.  Mark  Howe  of  his  own  parish 
studied  with  him  six  months  in  1757,  and  gave  six 
pounds  in  payment. 

Mr.  Lesslie  was  accustomed  to  write  deeds,  wills 
and  other  legal  documents.  He  had  a  wide  range  of 
knowledge,  and  was  practically  useful  to  such  of  his 
people  as  sought  his  service  or  advice. 

In  July,  1753,  he  exchanged  land  with  his  jiarish 
for  "  land  to  set  a  house  on."  He  built  on  it  a  few 
rods  west  of  his  meeting-house  a  two-story  house  and 
a  barn.  He  sold  his  interest  in  the  property  Septem- 
ber 13,  1780,  The  house  was  burned  some  dozen 
years  ago  ;  the  barn  is  still  standing. 

He  was  a  man  of  mental  strength,  of  studious 
habits,  of  correct  sentiments,  of  strict  integrity,  of 
conscientious  action,  was  a  fine  scholar  and  enjoyed 
the  confidence  of  the  people.  He  had  decided  ortho- 
dox views,  and  was  a  pious  and  learned  minister. 

He  married,  October  26,  1756,  Hephzibah  Burpee, 
youngest  daughter  of  his  junior  deacon.  She  joined 
the  church  June  25,   1756.      Their  children   were 


IPSWICH. 


593 


George,  David,  James,  Jonathan,  William,  Hephzi- 
bah,  Joseph  and  Mehitable.  This  family  left  Line- 
brook  March  6,  1780,  and  was  nine  days  making  the 
journey  of  eighty  miles,  there  being  at  that  time  no 
roads  worthy  the  name.  Their  privations  the  first 
year  were  great,  provisions  were  obtainable  only  at  a 
distance  of  thirty  or  forty  miles.  Their  first  winter 
was  unusually  long,  a  burden  of  snow  lasting  from 
October  till  late  the  next  spring.  Of  the  people's 
cattle  twenty-seven  died  of  starvation.  They  lost 
their  only  cow,  and  were  the  while  without  salt,  a 
bushel  of  which  in  the  spring  cost  five  dollars.  The 
society  observed  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  in  view 
of  the  dismal  prospect. 

Mr.  Lesslie  was  installed  at  Washington,  July  12, 
1780,  in  a  barn  belonging  to  John  Safford,  his  house 
of  worship  not  being  completed  till  1789.  His  salary 
was  fifty-five  pounds,  payable  in  eatables  and  wear- 
ing apparel,  and  his  settlement  was  two  hundred 
acres  of  land  "to  him  and  his  heirs  forever."  He 
died  September  11,  1800,  at  the  age  of  seventy-two 
years. 

6.  Inter-pastorate. — During  this  period  of  nine  years 
the  records  are  very  unsatisfactory.  In  1780  Rev. 
Joseph  Motley  supplied  ;  in  1783  Rev.  Joshua  Spauld- 
ing  who,  by  vote,  March  31st,  was  requested  to 
"  draft  rules  for  the  government  of  the  chui'ch  on  the 
basis  of  the  Cambridge  platform  ;  in  1785,  Mr.  Eben- 
ezer  Cleaves  supplied.  Each  one  was  called  to 
settle. 

7.  Second  Pastorate. — Rev.  Gilbert  Tennent 
Williams  was  invited,  December  23, 1788,  to  preach 
here  six  months,  and  February  18,  1789,  the  church 
called  him  to  the  i)astorate.  He  was  ordained  and 
installed,  August  5,  1789,  when  the  membership  was 
nine  males  and  fifteen  females.  His  salary  was  one 
hundred  pounds  lawful  money.  He  lived  in  the 
house  formerly  owned  and  occupied  by  Mr.  Lesslie. 
Eight  members  were  added  during  his  pastorate.  The 
society  was  small  and  unable  to  give  him  adequate 
support,  and  April  19,  1813,  according  to  advice  of 
council,  dismissed  him  from  pastorate  and  member- 
ship. His  farewell  discourse,  which  was  printed,  was 
preached  May  2,  1813. 

He  was  well  armed  with  "  the  sword  of  the  Spirit, 
which  is  the  word  of  God ;"  was  a  plain  and  easy 
writer ;  was  a  man  of  sound  orthodoxy,  of  pure  mo- 
tives, of  lovely  temper,  of  sterling  integrity,  of  deep 
piety,  and  an  earnest  laborer  for  the  common  good. 

He  was  son  of  Rev.  Simon  Williams,  of  Windham, 
N.  H.,  born  at  Fagg's  Manor,  Pa.,  October  8,  1761. 
He  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College,  1784,  and 
studied  for  the  ministry  with  Rev.  John  Murray,  of 
Newburyport. 

He  was  installed  at  West  Newbury  First  Church, 
June  1,  1814,  and  labored  till  a  paralytic  shock  un- 
fitted him  for  parochial  duties.  He  was  dismissed 
September  26,  1821,  and  died  atFarmington,  Septem- 
ber 24,  1824. 
38 


His  wife  was  Martha  Morrison,  of  Windham,  N.  H. 
She  left  this  church.  May  25,  1814,  and  in  1834  re- 
sided in  Boston.  Their  children's  names  and  births 
in  Linebrook  were:  Simon  Tennent,  1790;  Martha, 
1792;  Samuel  Morrison,  1794;  John  Adams,  1799; 
Constant  Floyd,  1802. 

8.  Inter-pastorate. — From  this  time  to  1860  this 
church  was  without  a  pastor.  It  was  a  period  of  de- 
cay, darkness  and  trial  resulting  in  a  new  lease  of 
life.  From  1829  the  society  had  pecuniary  aid  from 
the  Domestic  Missionary  Society.  In  1814,  when  the 
membership  was  only  one  male  and  three  females, 
an  effort  was  made  to  establish  a  Baptist  church.  The 
faction  called  a  quasi  parish  meeting  and  voted  to  re- 
linquish the  church  to  the  new  society  every  alternate 
Sabbath.  The  Congregational  Society  held  to  their 
purpose,  Rev.  Joseph  Emerson,  of  the  Byfield  Fe- 
male Seminary,  supplied,  and  the  effort  was  baffled. 
In  1819  the  parish  voted  to  occupy  the  church  to  the 
exclusion  of  the  Baptist  brothers.  This  action  aug- 
mented the  strife,  deepened  the  bitterness,  and 
bandied  threats  ;  but  legal  advice  showed  that  "  pos- 
session was  nine  points  of  the  law,"  and  wisdom 
brought  in  peace.  Rev.  Joseph  Emerson,  in  the 
kindness  of  his  heart,  was  very  serviceable  to  this  so- 
ciety during  his  four  years  at  Byfield,  from  1818. 

During  these  years  was  the  dark  period.  The  so- 
ciety had  preaching  but  part  of  the  time,  till  1824, 
when  Rev.  David  Tullar  became  the  stated  sup- 
ply. In  1818  Deacon  Foster  died,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-two  years;  September  3,  1819,  Mrs.  Martha 
Perley  died,  aged  eighty  years  and  ten  months,  and 
October  8  (6),  1831 ,  Mrs.  Mehitable  Chapman  died, 
aged  eighty-five  years.  Mrs.  Chapman  was  lame  and 
unable  to  get  about,  so  Mrs.  Ruth  Conant  was  prac- 
tically alone  in  the  church  from  1819  to  1826,  when 
three  males  and  two  females  joined.  Between  1826 
and  1831,  when,  by  reason  of  age  and  infirmity,  Mr. 
Tullar  retired,  eight  males  and  nine  females  became 
members.  The  membership,  January  1,  1829,  was 
four  males  and  five  females.  A  particular  notice  of 
this  truly  good  man  belongs  to  Rowley  history,  and 
we  will  only  remark  that  he  was  a  judicious  and 
faithful  undershepherd.  He  purchased  half  of  the 
Joseph  Holt  farm  of  William  P.  Kimball,  December 
14,1825,  and  sold  it  to  Jeremiah  Ellsworth,  Decem- 
ber 31,  1835. 

Rev.  Moses  Welch  took  charge  of  this  church 
January  1,  1831,  and  labored  with  success.  Four 
males  and  five  females  were  added  in  that  year,  two 
males  and  four  females  the  next  year,  and  three  fe- 
males in  1833  and  1834.  The  membership  in  1833 
was  thirty-four. 

Mr.  Welch  was  born  in  Plaistow,  N.  H.,  in  1784, 
and  was  son  of  Colonel  Joseph  Welch,  a  Revolution- 
ary patriot.  He  was  a  member  of  the  first  class  of 
the  Bangor  Theological  Seminary.  While  there  he 
was  licensed  a  missionary  in  that  State,  where  he  lab- 
ored several  years.      He  thence  came  to  Amesbury, 


594 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


where  he  became  a  stated  supply  for  five  years.  Then 
he  returned  home  to  Plaistow,  where  he  was  installed 
and  continued  five  years  more.  His  people  were  de- 
votedly attached  to  him,  but  ill  health  forced  his  res- 
ignation. Before  coming  here  he  preached  awhile  on 
Cape  Ann,  that  the  climate  might  help  his  complaint. 
His  salary  here  was  $300.  Our  older  people  remem- 
ber him  with  affection. 

Rev.  John  P.  Tyler  came  here  probably  in  the 
fall  of  1834.  He  continued  through  the  winter; 
a  schism  resulted. 

Rev.  James  W.  Shepherd  followed.  He  proved 
a  physician,  indeed.  After  service,  May  24,  1835,  he 
asked  the  church  to  remain.  The  question  of  the 
schism  was  discussed,  and  the  30th  instant  was  agreed 
upon  as  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer.  The  day  was 
duly  observed  and  the  church  voted  a  Public  Confes- 
sion, on  the  first  Sabbath  in  June,  when  accordingly 
all  but  two  males  and  one  female  stood  forth  in  and 
made  public  confession."  In  1835  three  males  and 
four  females  became  members. 

Rev.  Samuel  Harris  was  the  stated  supply  in 
1836.  In  this  year  eight  males  and  one  female 
joined.  Mr,  Harris'  father,  Deacon  Jacob,  was  a  na- 
tive of  this  town  and  born  in  1741.  Samuel  studied 
divinity  with  Rev.  Seth  Payson,  D.D.  (1809),  of 
Ringe,  N.  H.  He  was  ordained  and  installed  at 
Windham,  N.  H.,  in  1805.  He  lost  the  use  of  his 
voice,  and  was  dismissed  in  1826,  after  a  long  and 
useful  pastorate.  A  partial  recovery  permitted  a  lim- 
ited parochial  service,  and  he  preached  in  several 
places,  including  this  parish.  He  died  at  Windham 
September  5,  1848,  aged  seventy-four  years.  He  had 
twelve  children ;  ten  were  learned,  influential  and 
useful  citizens  ;  five  of  the  six  sons  were  profession- 
ally educated. 

Rev.  Moses  Dow  was  born  in  Atkinson,  N.  H., 
February  4,  1771.  He  studied  in  part  at  the  Atkin- 
son Academy,  and  prepared  to  enter  Dartmouth  Col- 
lege. He  studied  divinity  with  Rev.  Jonathan 
French,  of  Andover.  He  married  Miss  Hannah 
Knight,  of  Atkinson,  and  had  two  daughters  and  one 
son,  who  died  at  the  ages  of  forty-one,  forty  and  forty- 
four  respectively. 

He  was  settled  over  the  First  Church,  York, 
Maine,  November  9,  1815.  Rev.  Benjamin  Wads- 
worth,  of  Danvers,  preached  the  installing  sermon, 
and  said, — "  We  are  not  strangers  to  Mr.  Dow.  We 
have  long  known  him.  We  have  loved  and  esteemed 
him.  We  believe  him  to  be  an  able  and  faithful,  a 
discreet  and  devoted  minister  of  Christ."  He  was 
dismissed  in  1829,  and  he  removed  to  Hampton 
Falls,  N.  H.,  "  where  he  supplied  the  pulpit,  and  also 
in  the  adjoining  town  of  Kensington."  In  the  spring 
of  1833  he  removed  to  Plaistow,  N.  H.,  and  preached 
in  several  pulpits,  including  this.  He  died  at  Plais- 
tow, of  paralysis.  May  9,  1837. 

Rev.  Francis  Welch  was  the  stated  supply  from 
1838   to   1842.      He   was   son   of  Joseph    Welch,    a 


farmer,  of  Hampstead,  N.  H.,  where  he  was  born 
March  30,  1805.  Rev.  Moses  Welch  above  and  Rev. 
Francis  Welch,  of  Amesbury,  were  his  uncles,  and 
sons  of  Joseph  Welch,  of  Plaistow,  who  was  a  colonel 
in  the  Revolution.  They  were  lineal  descendants  of 
Philip  Welch,  who  was  kidnapped  in  Ireland,  and 
sold  in  Ipswich  as  a  slave  for  twenty-nine  pounds  in 
corn  or  cattle  in  1654;  and  Samuel  Welch,  of  Bow, 
N.  H.,  who  was  a  grandson  of  Philip,  and  who  died 
at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  twelve  years  and 
seven  months,  was  Rev.  Moses'  great-uncle. 

Francis  studied  at  the  Hampton  Academy  and  in 
Bowdoin  College.  He  was  approved  a  minister  by 
the  Haverhill  Association  May  15, 1833.  He  preached 
at  Brentwood,  N.  H.,  where  he  was  ordained,  at 
Perry,  Maine,  and  in  this  pulpit.  He  has  for  many 
years  resided  upon  his  farm  in  Topsfield.  He  mar- 
ried, April  4,  1839,  Miss  Harriet  Atwood  Conant, 
daughter  of  William,  Esq.,  and  Mrs.  Ruth  Conant, 
of  this  parish.  She  was  born  March  9,  1818,  and 
died  at  Topsfield  October  22,  1886.  She  had  ten 
children;  nine  survive  her,  one  of  whom  is  a  lawyer 
in  St.  Paul,  Minn. 

In  1838  and  1839  six  males  and  four  females  became 
members,  which  made  the  membership  between  forty 
and  fifty ;  from  1840  to  1843,  inclusive,  one  male  and 
five  females. 

Rev.  Jacob  Coggik  followed  and  continued  till 
1848.  He  preached  the  last  sermon  in  the  old  meet- 
ing-house, and  also  the  dedicatory  sermon  in  the  new 
house.  Rev.  Isaac  Braman  making  the  prayer. 

Mr.  Coggin  was  born  in  Woburn  September  5, 
1781,  to  Jacob  Coggin,  who  graduated  at  Harvard 
College  in  1761,  and  became  a  teacher  by  profession, 
though  he  sometimes  preached.  Jacob,  the  son, 
graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1803,  studied  divin- 
ity with  his  pastor.  Rev.  Joseph  Chickering,  of  Wo- 
burn, and  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
Church  in  Tewksbury  October  22, 1806,  and  continued 
in  that  relation  till  his  death,  serving  the  last  years 
as  senior  pastor. 

He  represented  his  town  in  the  State  Legislature 
two  successive  years ;  he  was  a  member  of  the  con- 
vention called  to  revise  the  State  Constitution  in 
1853 ;  he  was  a  Presidential  elector  in  1852 ;  was  an 
inspector  of  the  State  Almshouse  from  its  institution, 
and  the  chaplain  there  till  his  death,  from  congestion 
of  the  lungs,  December  12,  1854,  at  the  age  of  sev- 
enty-three. 

Mr.  Coggin  was  one  of  the  acceptable  preachers  ot 
his  day,  sound  in  doctrine  and  faithful  in  its  presenta- 
tion. He  was  a  careful,  wise,  social  and  beloved 
pastor.  He  was  the  author  of  the  Ladies'  Benevolent 
Society  here,  the  fruit  of  whose  earnest,  meritorious 
work  furnished  the  new  church  in  1848 — a  society 
which,  after  some  years'  relapse,  was  revived  in  the 
acting  pastorate  of  Rev.  Joseph  W.  Healy.  The 
writer,  then  a  mere  lad,  now  well  remembers  the 
tall,  erect,  manly  form  of  that  servant  of  God,  as  he 


IPSWICH. 


595 


ascended  the  pulpit  stairs,  and  his  polite  and  genial 
manner  in  his  visits.  His  labors  here  covered  a  pe- 
riod of  some  three  or  four  years  and  were  blessed. 
In  the  years  1840  to  1843,  inclusive,  one  male  and 
five  females  became  members,  and  from  1844  to  1852, 
inclusive,  eight  males  and  sixteen  females. 

Rev.  Eliphalet  Birchard  was  the  first  minister 
to  occupy  the  new  church  edifice.  He  preached  here 
while  an  undergraduate  at  the  Andover  Theological 
Seminary,  and,  after  completing  his  course  there,  be- 
came the  stated  supply  here.  He  was  born  in  licb- 
anon.  Conn.,  January  21,  1812,  and  died  there  Sep- 
tember 20,  1854.  He  was  always  an  invalid;  he 
called  his  affliction  rheumatism,  but  it  ended  in  con- 
sumption. He  was  a  great  sufferer,  but  patient  and 
hopeful.  His  parents  were  Arial  and  Abigail-Met- 
calf  Birchard.  He  had  a  brother,  Rev.  William 
Metcalf  Birchard,  born  February  14,  1810,  died 
March  20,  1883,  and  a  sister,  Abbie  Correlia.  He 
graduated  at  Harvard  in  1843.  This  church  ^voted 
February  24,  1849,  to  call  him  to  settle  on  a  salary  of 
four  hundred  dollars.  He  did  not  accept.  He 
drafted  a  government  for  the  Church,  which  was 
adopted  May  28,  1849.  In  1850  Rev.  James  Gala- 
gher,  a  revivalist,  labored  with  Mr.  Birchard,  and 
there  was  a  very  general  awakening.  Many  indulged 
a  hope;  but  only  four  joined  the  Church.  In  1850 
there  was  a  membership  of  fifty-six.  He  remained 
here  about  three  years,  and  afterwards  preached  at 
Andover,  Conn.  In  the  pulpit  he  was  serious,  awak. 
ening  and  effective,  and  left  a  very  desirable  im- 
pression upon  the  peojile;  he  was  excellent  in  visit- 
ations, a  reliable  spiritual  counselor  and  a  firm 
friend. 

Rev.  Willard  Holbrook  and  his  wife  joined 
this  church  April  14,  1851,  He  began  to  preach  here 
some  time  before,  and  remained  about  four  years.  A 
sketch  of  him  properly  belongs  to  Rowley  history. 
He  was  one  of  those  noble  spiritual  workers  whom 
this  church  must  hold  in  grateful  remembrance, — 
Tullar,  Holbrook,  Kimball  and  Dana,— names  to  be 
respected  everywhere,  but  here  to  be  revered  for  their 
labors,  advice  and  prayers. 

Rev.  Joseph  Warren  Healy,  M.D.,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
was,  by  this  church,  made  a  life-member  of  the  For- 
eign Missionary  Society,  April  10,  1856.  He  then 
had  been  preaching  here  probably  about  six  months. 
He  was  at  the  time  the  enterprising,  able  and  popular 
principal  of  the  Topsfield  Academy.  This  church 
under  his  guidance  enjoyed  a  period  of  harmony  and 
prosperity,  and  grew  in  numbers  and  healthful 
strength.     He  remained  about  three  years. 

He  was  born  in  South  Hero,  Vt.,  April  11,  1827,  to 
Nathaniel  and  Jane-Tabor  Healy.  He  fitted  for  col- 
lege at  Newbury  Seminary  and  Bradford  Academy, 
Vt.  He  graduated  at  the  University  of  Vermont  in 
1852.  He  was  principal  of  the  Bath  Academy,  N.  H., 
and  afterwards  of  the  Topsfield  Academy,  He  at- 
tended  lectures  at  the  Andover  Theological   Semi- 


nary, and  was  licensed  by  the  Salem  Congregational 
Association.  After  supplying  this  pulpit,  he  preached 
at  Royalston,  Gardner  and  Walpole.  Then  removing  to 
the  West,  he  preached  six  years  in  Milwaukee,  and 
four  years  in  Chicago.  While  there  he  was  called  to 
the  pastorate  and  presidency  of  Straight  University, 
in  New  Orleans,  La.  There  he  attended  medical 
lectures  and  received  the  medical  degree.  In  1871, 
Olivet  College,  Mich.,  conferred  upon  him  the  doctor- 
ate of  divinity.  The  same  year  he  was  delegated  by  the 
American  Missionary  Association  to  visit  Great  Britain, 
and  organize  an  auxiliary  to  that  society.  He  re- 
sided in  London  as  its  secretary  for  three  years. 
While  abroad,  he  visited  the  Continent  and  the  East, 
and  lectured  in  the  principal  cities  of  Great  Britain, 
Returning  home  he  was  elected  professor  of  English 
literature  and  pastoral  theology  in  Maryville  College, 
Tenn.  Preferring  an  active  pastorate  to  the  routine 
of  professional  life,  he  returned  to  Milwaukee  in  1878. 
The  death  of  his  wife  prostrated  him.  Subsequently 
he  went  to  California  for  his  health.  In  1853  he  was 
a  pastor  in  Oakland,  Cal.  Upon  the  incorporation  of 
Sierra-Madre  College,  at  Passadena,  in  1884,  he  was 
selected  as  the  president,  a  position  which  he  now 
holds. 

The  writer  remembers  him  at  the  academy  with 
sentiments  of  high  esteem.  He  excelled  as  a  teacher, 
and  readily  won  the  regard  of  his  pupils.  He  was  an 
exemplary  man — one  of  nature's  noblemen.  He  was 
magic  to  untie  purse-strings.  Several  societies  re- 
gard him  as  their  pecuniary  savior.  He  has  risen  by 
his  own  exertions,  and  achieved  a  grand  success. 
His  titles  are  emblems  of  his  character  and  attain- 
ments. 

He  married,  October  8,  1848,  Miss  Jane  Hibbard 
Clark,  who  was  born  in  Groton,  Vt,,  May  12,  1830. 
She  studied  in  the  Female  Seminary,  Burlington,  Vt., 
taught  with  her  husband  at  Bath  and  Topsfield,  and 
adorned  the  place  of  a  pastor's  wife  wherever  he 
labored.  She  died  at  her  mother's  home  in  Corinth, 
Vt.,  September  12,  1880,  beloved  and  lamented,  a 
pure  and  gentle  spirit.  Their  children, — Jane  Corinne, 
born  March  6th,  and  died  October  8,  1850  ;  and  Frank 
Joseph,  born  March  4,  1857,  studied  at  Olivet  College 
and  London  Universities,  admitted  to  the  bar,  1878, 
and  is  now  editor  of  The  Gazette,  Fort  Wayne,  Ind, 

9.  Third  Pastorate. — Rev.  Ezekiel  Dow  was  set- 
tled. He  was  born  April  9,  1807,  His  father  was 
James,  of  Warren,  N.  H.,  and  was  born  in  Plaistow, 
April  23,  1775  ;  his  mother  was  Hannah  Merrill,  and 
was  born  in  Warren,  May  24,  1781.  Ezekiel  was  the 
second  son  of  five  children,  four  of  whom  were  sons 
and  became  farmers.  He  studied  at  the  Academy, 
Haverhill,  N.  H.  He  commenced  preaching  as  a 
Universalist,  but  early  in  his  ministry  changed  in  his 
belief,  and  studied  in  the  Theological  Seminary, 
Andover,  for  the  Congregational  pulpit.  He  preached 
in  Massachusetts,  at  South  Welfieet,  Monument,  Chil- 
tonville,  Linebrook,  Huntington  and  Becket,  where 


59G 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


he  closed  his  labors  in  1880.  He  was  settled  over  this 
society  December  25,  1860,  and  dismissed  November 
14,  1866.  He  was  a  good-hearted  man,  socially  pecu- 
liar yet  agreeable,  took  good  care  of  his  pastorate,  had 
a  good  mind,  never  overworked,  and  we  may  say 
was  fairly  successful. 

10.  Fourth  Pastorate.— Rev.  Alvah  Mills  Rich- 
ardson was  born  in  Woburn — now  Winchester — 
April  30,  1833,  to  Gilbert  and  Hannah-Davis  Rich- 
ardson. He  had  four  brothers— Gilbert  Brainard, 
who  died  February  20, 1883,  and  Martin  Luther — who 
were  ministers,  and  two  sisters.  He  fitted  for  college 
at  the  Warren  and  Phillips  Academies,  Woburn  and 
Andover,  and  graduated  at  Amherst  College  in  1862. 
He  entered  the  service  against  the  Rebellion  for  nine 
months  in  September,  1862,  a  member  of  the  band  of 
the  Forty-fifth  Massachusetts  Regiment.  He  gradu- 
ated at  the  Andover  Theological  Seminary  in  1866. 
He  was  ordained  and  installed  here  November  14th, 
the  same  year.  He  tendered  his  resignation  October 
10,  1870,  and  his  pastorate  closed  when  his  successor 
was  installed,  May  3,  1871.  (He  left  the  church  with 
a  membership  of  fifty-nine).  Part  of  1871  and  1872 
he  managed  for  the  Lincoln  County,  Me.,  Bible  Soci- 
ety, and  since  then  has  superintended  his  widowed 
mother's  farm.  He  was  a  jjious  man,  scrupulously 
exact,  conscientious,  studious,  a  good  writer,  but  an 
unsuccessful  preachei".     He  has  never  married. 

11.  Fifth  Pastorate. — Rev.  Benjamin  Howe  was 
a  native  of  this  parish,  and  born  November  4,  1807. 
His  parents  were  Joseph  and  Mehitable-Stickney 
Howe,  He  was  eighth  in  a  family  of  ten  children. 
When  a  mere  lad,  he  was  thrown  upon  his  own  re- 
sources. Any  acquisition  he  made  was  wholly  his. 
He  commenced  his  studies  at  the  Topsfield  Academy, 
shortly  after  the  founding  of  that  institution,  in  1828, 
and  completed  his  preparatory  course  at  the  Meriden 
Academy,  N.  H.  He  graduated  at  Amherst  College 
in  1838,  and  at  the  Theological  Seminary,  Hartford, 
Conn.,  in  1841. 

He  married.  May  31,  1842,  Miss  Waty  Williams 
Tyler,  born  August  27,  1814,  a  lady  of  excellent 
worth,  of  a  gentle  and  godly  spirit.  They  had  two 
children  :  Homer,  who  was  born  August  16,  1848,  and 
Cecil  Putnam,  who  was  born  November  8,  1857,  and 
died  February  13,  1866. 

He  joined  the  Topsfield  Church  November  7,  1830, 
and  was  transferred  to  the  Seminary  August  30,  1839. 
He  was  acting  pastor  at  Coventry,  Conn.,  1833-34, 
and  at  Wells,  Me.,  1844,  till  he  was  ordained  and  in- 
stalled there  November  5,  1845.  He  was  dismissed 
November  5,  1849;  was  teacher  and  preacher  at 
Brooklyn,  Conn.,  1850-55;  acting  pastor  at  Meredith, 
N.  Y.,  1855-60;  without  charge,  N.  H.,  1860-66; 
acting  pastor  at  Hudson,  N.  H.,  1866-67;  at  Lemp- 
ster,  N.  H.,  1867-70 ;  and  was  settled  here  May  3, 
1871.  His  death  October  18,  1883,  closed  his  pastor- 
ate. His  walk  was  exemi^lary.  His  service  for  the 
Master  was  sincere ;  he  had  an   exalted  and  abiding 


faith  and  an  earnest  love  for  souls  committed  to  his 
care.  Frowning  uijon  sin  as  such  with  the  severest 
rebuke,  but  charitable  to  the  erring,  he  was  a  man  of 
noble  and  generous  impulses.  As  a  neighbor,  he  was 
kind,  obliging  and  discreet;  as  a  citizen,  intelligent 
and  declared ;  in  his  home,  gentle  and  kind,  loving 
and  loved.  His  life,  as  we  knew  it,  was  a  perpetual 
benediction.  Taking  into  the  account  the  severity  of 
his  teacher.  Experience,  the  quick  impulses  of  ^his 
nature,  his  wise  discretion  and  his  godly  life,  he 
stands  before  us  a  massive  character,  a  grand  and  no- 
ble manhood,  commanding  our  respect  and  winning 
our  love.  He  rests  in  Harmony  Cemetery,  George- 
town ;  his  widow  is  living  at  Hudson,  N.  H. 

12.  Sixth  Pastorate. — Rev.  Edward  Holman 
Briggs  was  installed  December  6,  1883.  He  was 
born  in  Boston  Highlands,  March  8,  1851,  to  George 
Washington  and  Anna  Matilda-Ross  Briggs.  In  the 
autumn  of  1857,  after  the  death  of  his  father,  he  went 
to  live  in  Columbus,  Ga.,  with  his  paternal  aunt,  the 
wife  of  John  Johnson,  Esq.,  Judge  of  Probate.  His 
preparatory  studies  were  pursued  with  a  private 
teacher.  He  entered  the  Sophomore  class,  half-ad- 
vanced, in  June,  1869,  in  the  University  of  Georgia, 
at  Athens,  and  graduated  there  in  1871.  His  scholar- 
ship was  excellent.  He  matriculated  at  the  Presby- 
terian Theological  Seminary,  Columbia,  S.  C,  in 
September,  1871,  and  completed  the  course  in  April, 
1874.  He  was  licensed  to  preach  April  19,  1874,  by 
the  Presbytery  of  Macon,  Ga.  He  supplied  at  Whit- 
ing and  Newton  several  months,  and  at  Mount  Tabor 
and  Smyrna  about  two  years.  In  January,  1877,  he 
went  to  Palatka,  Fla., 'where  he  was  installed  July  8, 
1877.  The  pastorate  was  dissolved  in  November, 
1880.  He  then  labored  a  few  months  at  Memphis, 
Tenn.,  a  work  he  was  forced  to  relinquish,  being 
stricken  with  malaria.  In  November,  1881,  he  re- 
sumed his  ministerial  labors,  and  served  in  Good- 
Water,  Hatchet-Creek,  Hackneyville  and  Nixbury, 
Ala.,  till  the  close  of  1882.  Early  in  1883  he  re- 
turned to  Massachusetts,  and  had  no  regular  minis- 
terial work  till  his  settlement  here.  In  his  labors  he 
appears  to  have  been  fairly  successful.  He  began  to 
prfach  here  in  mid-summer.  The  circumstances  of 
his  settlement  were  very  favorable.  The  death  of  our 
venerable  pastor,  Mr.  Howe,  and  the  memorial  ser- 
vice of  him  left  a  marked  seriousness  upon  the  minds 
and  hearts  of  all.  An  awakening  among  the  young 
was  already  observed,  and  in  January  following  his 
settlement,  some  fifteen,  it  was  said,  were  ready  for 
church  membership.  Eleven  joined  the  first  Sab- 
bath, and  several  others  soon  after.  Such  haste 
against  the  wishes  of  older  and  oflicial  members  was 
not  wise.  From  a  remarkable  unity  in  his  favor  at 
first,  he  held  till  there  was  a  remarkable  unity  against 
him  at  last.  The  church  was  in  a  ferment  for  nearly 
three  years — from  the  Sabbath  he  administered  the 
sacrament,  of  which  he  did  not  partake,  till  he  arbi- 
trarily refused  to   administer  it  at  all, — a  usurpation. 


IPSWICH. 


597 


which  apparently  forced  his  resignation  November 
7,  1886,  to  take  effect  as  soon  as  his  successor  could 
be  installed. 

Mr.  Briggs  may  purpose  well,  but  he  reads  books 
better  than  men,  and  he  is  wedded  firmly  to  the 
Presbyterian  Church  polity;  he  will,  therefore,  suc- 
ceed better  as  a  Presbyterian  clergyman  or  as  a  busi- 
ness man,  than  as  a  Congregational  pastor. 

13.  Seventh  Pastorate. — Rev.  William  Penn  Al- 
COTT,  the  present  incumbent,  was  born  in  Dorchester, 
July  11,  1838.  His  parents  were  William  A.,  M.D. 
and  lecturer,  and  Phebe  L.-Bronson  Alcott,  who  was 
a  student  in  the  Ipswich  Academy  when  Misses 
Grant  and  Lyon  taught.  They  are  natives  of  Wol- 
cott.  Conn. 

The  son  graduated  at  Williams'  College  in  1861, 
and  at  the  Andover  Theological  Seminary  in  1865. 
After  his  college  graduation  he  taught  in  the  Pitts- 
burgh Female  College,  Pennsylvania,  and  in  1867  was 
elected  tutor  in  Williams'  College,  and  taught  chem- 
istry and  mineralogy.  As  minister,  he  was  seven 
years  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church,  in  North 
Greenwich,  Conn.,  and  two  years  in  the  First  Church 
in  Boxford.  He  preached  for  short  periods  at  Barton 
Landing,  Vt.,  and  at  West  Newbury,  this  State.  In 
1877,  he  traveled  extensively  with  Dr.  Philip  Schaff, 
in  the  Orient — Palestine,  the  Sinaitic  region  and 
Egypt — and  Southern  Europe. 

During  his  pastorates,  he  was  accustomed  to  make 
scientific  studies  his  relaxation.  The  practice  grad- 
ually conducted  him  into  correspondence  for  the 
press,  and  to  authorship.  His  contributions  to  the 
j^ress  have  been  principally  upon  temperance  and 
scientific  subjects.  He  edited  the  Natural  History 
department  of  Dr.  Schaff's  Bible  Dictionary,  and,  as 
a  member  of  the  Lowell  Hebrew  Club,  is  interested 
in  the  publication  of  a  de  novo  translation  of  the 
Book  of  Esther,  with  notes  and  excursuses,  exhibit- 
ing much  careful  and  patient  philological  and  scien- 
tific research  and  study, — to  which  he  was  a  liberal 
contributor.  He  is  now  at  work  upon  the  Books  of 
Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  to  be  presented  uniform  in  mat- 
ter and  size  with  Esther. 

He  married,  in  1868,  Sarah  Jane  Merrill,  daughter 
of  Rev.  David  Merrill,  of  Peacham,  Vt.  She  died 
in  1876,  and  he  married,  two  years  later,  Lucy  R. 
Davis,  daughter  of  Andrew  Davis,  Esq.,  of  Boston. 
He  has  three  children  in  "  the  better  land,"  and  two, 
a  daughter  by  the  first  wife  and  a  son  by  the  second 
wife,  living. 

His  service  began  here  the  last  Sabbath  in  Septem- 
ber, 1886,  and  his  installation  took  jjlace  May  4th  fol- 
lowing. 

The  notice  of  this  church  would  be  very  incom- 
plete without  reference  to  the  society's  liberal  bene- 
factor, John  Perley,  Esq.  He  died  May  11,  1860, 
and  by  will  placed  in  trust  seven  thousand  dollars,  as 
a  perpetual  fund,  "  the  income  of  which  shall  be  paid 
to  the  Orthodox  Congregational  Society,  Liuebrook 


Parish  in  the  towns  of  Ipswich  and  Rowley,  for  the 
support  of  preaching  and  a  Sabbath-school  in  said 
society  annually,  while  said  society  has  a  settled  min- 
ister." 

Mr.  Perley  was  born  September  3, 1782,  in  Rowley- 
Linebrook.  Becoming  of  age,  he  went  to  live  with 
his  uncle  (afterwards  deacon)  Philemon  Foster,  in 
Ipswich-Linebrook,  where  he  plied  his  trade  as  cord- 
wainer.  Upon  "  breaking  ground  "  for  the  Newbury- 
port  turnpike,  he  opened  a  shop  in  connection  with 
his  trade.  The  enterprise  was  a  success,  and  he  there 
laid  the  foundation  of  his  subsequent  wealth.  He 
never  married.  He  devoted  most  of  his  estate  to 
public  benefactions,  eleemosynary,  educational  and 
religious,  among  which  was  an  annuity  fund  of  three 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars  for  the  worthy  poor  of 
Georgetown,  another  of  seven  thousand  dollars  for 
the  Orthodox  Congregational  Society,  where  he  wor- 
shipi^ed,  and  anothei' — the  residue  of  his  estate — to 
found  a  free  school  in  Georgetown. 

This  man's  body  has  long  since  returned  to  its 
mother  earth,  but  he  still  lives.  So  long  as  wealth 
has  value,  and  learning  is  sought,  and  charity  is  kind, 
his  name  will  be  mentioned  with  praise,  and- his  life 
will  be  fresh  and  fruitful  as  the  dew,  and  redolent  as 
the  lily  upon  the  bosom  of  crystal  waters. 

THE   BAPTIST   SOCIETY. 

"  This  society,"  says  Mr.  Felt,  "  was  formed  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1806.  Their  first  preacher  was  Rev.  H.  Pot- 
tle. They  occupied  the  building  formerly  a  woolen 
factory.  Their  church  contained  sixty-eight  commu- 
nicants in  1813.  A  secession  took  place  from  the 
church,  because  discipline  was  not  exercised,  June  4, 
1816.  This  secession  was  justified  by  a  council  July 
16th.  The  seceders  formed  themselves  into  a  new 
church  August  27th,  and  met  in  a  building  on 
High  Street,  opposite  North  Main.  They  were  in- 
corporated "  The  First  Baj^tist  Society  in  Ipswich," 
June  16,  1817. 

The  names  of  the  corporators  were  Samuel,  Samuel 
G.  and  Timothy  Appleton,  Samuel  and  Robert  Stone, 
Josiah  Symonds  and  Charles  Simonds,  William  Den- 
nis, Frederick  Mitchell,  Jacob  M.  Farnum,  Daniel, 
Jr.,  and  Joseph  L.  Ross,  James  Caldwell,  Moses 
Graves,  John  Lord,  Daniel  W.  Low,  Nathan  Perkins, 
Major  Woodbury,  Simeon  Spafford,  Amos  Jones, 
Francis,  John,  Levi  and  Joseph  Hovey.  William 
Taylor  was  their  first  minister.  He  continued  with 
them  till  August,  1818,  and  took  his  dismission,  be- 
cause his  people  Avere  few  and  unable  to  support  him. 
When  he  left  the  church,  it  contained  thirty  mem- 
bers. Thus,  destitute  of  one  to  guide  them,  they 
continued  to  hold  meetings  and  have  the  sacrament 
administered  occasionally  till  August,  1823.  In  the 
course  of  this  year  they  dissolved.  The  original  So- 
ciety of  Baptists  continued,  after  the  secession  from 
them,  only  one  year." 


598 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


PROTESTANT   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH   AND   PARISH. 

1.  First  Rectorship. — The  Parish  was  organized  in 
1867,  The  service  of  the  church  had  been  regularly 
maintained  from  1861,  and  occasional  services  had 
been  held  for  some  time  before  that  date.  Rev. 
Henry  Wall  was  the  first  rector,  and  occupied  the 
office  about  two  months. 

2.  Second  Rectorship. — Rev.  Benjamin  Rowley 
GiFFORD,  the  second  rector,  was  born  in  Fa-lmouth, 
Mass.,  October  18,  1819.  His  parents  were  Braddock 
and  Mary.  He  received  his  education  at  the  Fal- 
mouth Academy  and  Amherst  College,  leaving  the 
latter  institution  in  1840.  He  subsequently  went  to 
St.  Francesville,  La.,  and  pursued  his  theological 
studies  under  the  direction  of  the  Rev.  Daniel  Lewis, 
D.D.,  rector  of  the  church  in  that  town.  He  was  or- 
dained to  the  ministry  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in 
Davenport,  Iowa,  August  28,  1857,  by  the  Right  Rev- 
Henry  W.  Lee,  bishop  of  that  diocese.  He  was  rec- 
tor of  parishes  in  Cedar  Falls,  Waterloo,  Mount 
Pleasant  and  Ottumwa,  in  Iowa,  and  in  Kewanee,  in 
Illinois.  Early  in  1866,  he  returned  to  Massachu- 
setts, and  then  traveled  extensively  in  Europe  and 
the  East,  visiting  Palestine,  Egypt,  Turkey,  Greece 
and  other  countries,  returning  the  following  spring. 

He  entered  the  rectorship  of  this  church  Novem- 
ber 3d  of  the  same  year.  The  services  were  then 
held  in  the  Damon  Hall  ;  subsequently  they  were 
held  in  the  Town  Hall.  In  1869,  his  second  year 
here,  October  26th,  the  corner-stone  of  the  present 
church  edifice  was  laid,  by  the  Right  Rev.  Manton 
Eastburn,  bishop  of  the  diocese  of  Massachusetts,  in 
the  presence  of  a  large  audience  of  the  people,  the 
bishop  making  the  address. 

In  the  spring  of  1870,  before  the  edifice  was  com- 
pleted, Mr.  Giffbrd  resigned,  and  in  June,  1871,  enter- 
ed the  rectorship  of  Trinity  Church,  Bridgewater.  In 
1873  he  A'isited  England,  and  there,  Sei)teraber  9th, 
he  married  Miss  Mary  M.  Hewett,  in  All-Saints' 
Church,  near  Taunton,  Somersetshire.  The  following 
March  he  returned  to  America  and  resumed  the 
charge  of  the  Parish  of  Bridgewater.  His  connection 
with  the  church  continued  till  the  next  spring,  when 
he  went  to  Natick  and  became  rector  of  St.  Paul's 
Church  there.  He  continued  in  Natick  five  years, 
when  in  May,  1880,  mainly  owing  to  ill-health,  he  re- 
signed, deciding  not  to  take  regular  charge  of  another 
parish.  In  1882  he  and  his  wife  spent  the  summer  in 
England,  when  he  preached  in  various  parts  of  the 
country.  Returning  to  America  he  took  up  his  per- 
manent residence  in  Wood's  Holl,  a  famous  summer 
resort  in  his  native  town.  In  the  meantime  he  has 
quite  frequently  officiated  in  the  local  church  and 
the  neighboring  parishes.  After  Mr.  Gifford's  resig- 
nation, there  was  a  vacancy  in  the  rectorship  till  1873, 
when  Rev.  B.  F.  Newton  was  elected. 

3.  Third  Rectorship. — Rev.  Benjamin  Franklin 
Newton.  He  was  born  October  20th,  1846,  in  St, 
Albans,   Vt.      He    graduated  at   Hillsdale  College, 


Hillsdale,  Mich.,  in  1870;  at  the  Union  Seminary, 
New  York,  in  1873 ;  and  at  the  Episcopal  Theological 
School,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  in  1874. 

This  was  his  first  rectorship,  and  he  continued  in  it 
till  1877,  when  he  removed  to  St.  James'  Church, 
Texarkana,  Texas,  whence,  in  1881,  he  went  to  the 
rectorship  of  the  Church  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  St. 
Louis,  Mo.,  where  he  is  at  present  engaged. 

While  he  was  here  the  church  made  steady  and 
substantial  progress,  increasing  in  numbers  and 
efficiency,  and  doing  a  large  amount  of  missionary 
and  benevolent  work.  Some  progress  was  made  upon 
the  church  edifice. 

4.  Fourth  Rectorship. — Rev,  Reuben  Kidner  suc- 
ceeded, and  entered  upon  the  duties  of  the  office  Jan- 
uary 1, 1878.  Mr.  Kidner  is  a  son  of  James  Frederic 
Kidner,  merchant,  of  Bristol,  England,  and  was  born 
March  18,  1848.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  College 
in  1875,  and  at  the  Episcopal  Theological  School, 
Cambridge,  in  1878.  He  resigned  the  rectorship  Feb- 
ruary 1,  1882,  to  become  assistant  minister  of  Trinity 
Church,  Boston,  where  he  is  in  active  service.  He 
married  July  3,  1878,  Miss  Katharine  Clinton  Si- 
monds,  and  has  one  son,  Frederic  Clinton.  Mr,  Kid- 
ner's  successor  is  the  present  incumbent. 

5.  Fifth  Rectorship.— Rby.  Julius  W.  At  wood, 
who  entered  upon  the  duties  of  this  office  in  1882, 
was  born  in  Salisbury,  Vt.,  June  27th,  1857.  He 
graduated  at  Middlebury  College  in  1878,  where  in 
course  he  took  the  Master's  degree  ;  studied  a  year  in 
the  General  Theological  Seminary  in  New  York  City 
and  in  1879  entered  the  middle  class  of  the  Episcopal 
Theological  School,  Cambridge,  In  1880-81  he  spent 
a  year  in  study  and  travel  in  Europe  and  the  East. 
Returning  in  the  latter  year,  he  resumed  his  studies 
in  the  Cambridge  Theological  School,  where  he  grad- 
uated in  1882  with  the  degree  of  B.D.  Shortly  after 
graduation,  the  same  year,  he  was  elected  to  the  rec- 
torship of  this  church. 

In  1883,  during  Mr.  Atwood's  rectorship,  the  church 
edifice  was  completed,  and  was  consecrated  as  the 
Ascension  Memorial  Church,  in  memory  of  the  gener- 
ous contributions  and  personal  efforts  of  the  Rev. 
John  Cotton  Smith,  D.D.,  of  New  York  City,  who 
was  the  principal  donor  of  funds  and  who,  from  the 
organization  of  the  parish,  was  a  warm  and  devoted 
friend  of  the  church.  Dr.  Smith  and  Joseph  E.  Bo- 
mer,  M.D.,  might  be  considered  the  founders  of  the 
society  and  church.  Some  one  has  given  a  very  just 
and  vivid  description  of  the  edifice : 

"It  stands  forth  in  all  its  architectural  beauty  unadorned  by  tree  or 
paling.  Within  it  has  all  the  richness  and  refinement  of  tlie  costly  ca- 
thedrals of  the  old  world,  which  it  resembles  so  much  in  miniature. 
Nothing  flashy  or  gaudy  can  be  seen.  Its  very  richness  is  softened  to 
harmonize  with  the  spirituality  of  its  creations.  It  has  none  of  the  un- 
finished look  which  so  often  mars  otherwise  elegant  church  edifices.  Its 
very  coloring  seems  to  give  a  restful,  quiet  atmospliere  to  the  place.  It 
contains  two  memorial  windows,  one  given  by  the  citizens  of  Ipswich  to 
the  late  Joseph  E.  Bonier,  who  did  so  much  in  creating  and  fostering  the 
Episcopal  Church  in  Ipswich.  On  the  lectern  we  noticed  a  large  Bible 
presented  to  the  church  by  his  wife,  who  plays  the  organ,  and  who  takes 


IPSWICH. 


599 


a  deep  interest  in  the  clmrch.  The  other  memorial  window  is  dedicated 
to  a  little  daughter  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  John  Cotton  Smith,  to  -nhose  gener- 
osity Ipswich  is  indebted  for  one  of  the  most  beautiful  church  edifices 
that  we  ever  have  seen  in  this  country.  The  pulpit  used  by  the  late  Dr. 
Smith  in  his  church  in  New  York  was  sent  to  the  Ipswich  Church  after 
his  death.  Over  the  door  is  a  tablet  stating  that  the  church  is  dedicated 
to  the  memory  of  Dr.  Smith." 

The  cliurch  organizations  are :  The  Beneiit,  the 
Church- Aid,  the  St.  Agnes  Societies,  the  St.  Andrew's 
Guild  and  the  Children's  Mission  Circle.  The  ofiicers, 
teachers  and  scholars  of  the  Sunday  school  number 
about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five.  The  wardens  are 
E.  H.  Martin  and  C.  S.  Tuckerraan,  Esquires.  The 
society  enjoys  a  harmony  of  sentiment  and  a  unity  of 
purpose,  and  has  a  hopeful  future. 

6.  Oue  of  the  founders  of  the  church  and  society 
was  Joseph  Edward  Bomer,  M.D.  Dr.  Bomer  was 
born  in  Beverly,  March  14,  1819.  His  father,  of 
French  descent,  went,  in  early  life,  to  Windham, 
N.  H.  At  the  age  of  twenty-eight  years,  he  removed 
to  Beverly,  where  he  married  Abigail  Friend,  who 
was  descended  from  the  old  Puritan  istock.  He  was  a 
farmer  and  highly  respected.  He  had  a  family  of 
nine  children.  Joseph  E.  was  the  fifth  son.  He  had 
a  delicate  constitution,  was  unequal  to  farm  labor, 
was  fond  of  books,  and  so  was  devoted  to  intellectual 
pursuits.  He  was  a  Beverly  scholar  till  he  was  four- 
teen years  old ;  then  he  became  a  student  in  the 
Topsfield  Academy,  under  principal  Edmund  F. 
Slafter,  who  became  very  much  interested  in  him  and 
soon  engaged  him  as  assistant  teacher.  Leaving 
Topsfield,  he  studied  in  the  Phillips  Academy,  Exe- 
ter, N.  H.,  and  afterwards  in  the  Phillips  Academy, 
Andover.  Having  completed  his  course  at  Andover, 
he  entered  Harvard  Medical  School,  from  which  he 
graduated  in  1848.  In  February,  1849,  he  settled  in 
this  town,  a  jahysician  of  the  old-school  of  practice. 
His  office  was  next  to  the  Agawam  House,  and  near 
the  residence  of  Dr.  Thomas  Manning,  then  the 
oldest  and  most  skillful  physician  of  the  town, 
through  whose  influence  and  kindness  the  young 
physician  soon  secured  a  large  and  lucrative  prac- 
tice. 

In  October,  1850,  Dr.  Bomer  married  Miss  Caroline 
Elizabeth  Hayes,  of  Gloucester.  Soon  after  this 
event.  Dr.  Manning,  feeling  the  burden  and  cares  of 
business  and  professional  life  weighing  upon  him,  and 
wishing  on  that  account  to  retire,  invited  our  young 
doctor  to  reside  with  him  and  assume  his  practice. 
Dr.  Bomer  accepted  and  lived  in  reciprocal  confi- 
dence, till  the  death  of  his  aged  friend. 

Dr.  Bomer  was  physician  to  the  House  of  Correc- 
tion and  the  Insane  Asylum  from  1850  till  his  death. 
He  was  examining  surgeon,  of  the  Eastern  District, 
of  those  who  enlisted  for  the  War  of  the  Rebellion, 
during  which  time  he  attended  professionally  the 
families  of  the  soldiers  free  of  charge.  He  was  placed 
upon  the  school  board  and  served  while  he  lived.  A 
high  school  graduate  gives  the  following  estimate  of 
him :  "  I  refer  to  him  who  was  so  respected  and  be- 


loved among  us.  The  physician  who  was  always 
welcome  in  the  schools,  and  for  his  ready  tact  in  ask- 
ing questions  and  eliciting  answers,  as  well  as  pleas- 
ant manner,  won  the  favor  of  the  schools."  In  poli- 
tics, in  early  life,  he  was  a  "  Webster  Whig."  He 
believed  in  freedom  of  thought,  and  was  courteous 
and  liberal  to  all  who  differed  from  him  in  politics  or 
religion.  _  In  the  latter  he  was  a  firm  Episcopalian, 
and  an  earnest  worker.  Some  years  before  his  day, 
the  service  of  that  church  had  been  started,  but  failed 
to  succeed  for  want  of  interest  and  funds.  Through 
the  doctor's  influence  and  perseverance  it  was  again 
revived.  Dr.  Bomer  and  John  F.  Clothey,  of  Mar- 
blehead,  then  a  resident  and  merchant  here,  secured, 
though  the  kindness  of  the  trustees  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  the  use  of  their  church  edifice,  and 
then  invited  the  Rev.  Robert  F.  Chase,  of  Danvers, 
to  officiate.  He  preached  to  an  audience  of  devout 
listeners,  and  from  that  service  sprung  the  present 
church.  The  doctor  continued  a  firm  supporter  of 
the  church  and.  society  through  life.  He  was  a 
devout,  genial,  sympathetic  and  exemplary  Christian. 
He  was,  too,  eminently  a  public-spirited  citizen,  and 
among  the  foremost  in  all  works  of  public  utility. 
He  bore  an  unblemished  reputation. 

METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH   AND   SOCIETY. 

Origin. — This  denomination  of  Christians  arose  in 
England,  in  1729,  and  derived  their  name  from  the 
exact  regularity  ol  their  lives,  a  very  pleasing  com- 
mentary upon  theii  character.  In  1741  they  divided 
into  two  parties,  under  George  Whitefield  and  John 
Wesley.  The  former  adopted  the  views  of  John  Cal- 
vin ;  the  latter  of  Arminius.  The  followers  of  Ar- 
miuius  compose  the  great  body  of  Methodists  in  this 
country  and  Great  Britain.  In  1830  seceders  from 
the  Wesleyan  Methodists  established  a  government 
and  discipline  of  their  own  and  styled  themselves 
"The  Methodist  Protestant  Church."  This  church 
diflers  from  its  parent  church  only  in  certain  matters 
of  discipline,  particularly  those  relating  to  Episco- 
pacy and  the  manner  of  constituting  the  general  con- 
ference. 

Methodism  first  came  into  this  country  with  Rev. 
George  Whitefield  in  1739,  and  was  an  important 
factor  in  the  deep  and  extensive  revivals  that  soon 
after  followed.  Its  power  was  first  felt  in  Ipswich 
when  that  eloquent  divine  electrified  the  populace 
from  "  the  Whitefield-Pulpit "  rock  near  the  First 
Church,  and  "Pulpit  Rock,"  in  Linebrook. 

Methodism,  as  now  taught,  "  was  first  introduced 
in  New  England,  in  1789,"  says  Miss  Archer,  in  her 
excellent  and  serviceable  sketch  of  this  church,  and 
"  in  Ipswich  in  the  year  1790,  by  Rev.  Jesse  Lee,  who 
was  sent  by  the  venerable  Bishop  Francis  Asbury, 
still  active  and  ardent  in  the  cause."  The  sketch 
relates  that  the  first  convert,  by  the  preaching  of  Mr. 
Lee,  was  the  mother  of  Gen.  James  Appleton.     She 


600 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


fixed  the  date  August  12. 1791,  and  ever  after  remem- 
bered the  day  with  adoring  gratitude. 

Mr.  Felt,  in  1834,  wrote:  "The  remainder  of  the 
first  Baptist  Society  and  some  Methodists  began  to 
have  preaching  of  the  latter  denomination  in  1817  " 
but  Miss  Archer,  discriminating  in  the  call  and  the 
doctrine,  says  "  no  other  Methodist  preacher  labored 
in  Ipswich  till  October,  1821,  when  Rev.  Aaron 
Wait  (1821-25  or  '26)  came."  His  coming  was  for- 
tuitous. Passing  through  the  town  on  business,  on 
Saturday,  the  6th,  he  stopped  at  the  "  Treadwell  tav- 
ern." He  was  invited  to  preach,  and  the  next  day 
addressed  three  audiences  in  "  the  old  woolen  factory,'' 
in  which  the  Baptists  had  worshipped,  and  which 
stood  north  of  and  contiguous  to  the  famous  Choate 
Bridge.  In  November,  he  came  again  and  preached 
three  times.  In  four  weeks  he  came  again,  and  again 
preached  three  times,  and  held  a  prayer-meeting, 
when  five  inquirers  came  forward.  On  Christmas, 
he  preached  twice,  and  held  an  inquiry-meeting. 
Two  weeks  later  he  made  a  fourth  visitj  and  found 
the  work  he  had  done  was  "  good."  Soon  after  he 
removed  his  family  to  Ipswich,  but,  like  Paul,  "  cov- 
eting no  man's  silver,"  he  worked  at  shoe-making 
during  the  week  and  preached  on  Sundays.  Mr. 
Charles  Dodge  was  Mr.  Wait's  first  convert. 

The  seed  thus  sown  by  Mr.  Wait  budded  and  blos- 
somed in  the  spring  of  1822,  and  was  named  The 
Methodist  Episcopal  Society.  The  first  class- 
meeting  was  held  in  the  dwelling  of  Mr.  Aaron  Wal- 
lace, afterwards  of  Mr.  Amos  Jones,  on  South  Main 
Street.  It  had  twenty-two  members,  eight  of  whom 
came  from  the  Baptists.  Prayer-meetings  were  held 
in  various  parts  of  the  town.  The  first  love-feast  was 
had  with  Capt.  William  Gould,  in  the  Robbins 
house,  on  High  Street,  near  the  North  Cemetery. 
The  Sunday-school  was  organized   in  the  summer  of 

1824,  with  three  classes  and  twenty  members,  and 
Charles  Dodge  as  Superintendent.  The  first  meeting- 
house was  begun  in  September,  1824,  and  dedicated 
the  Christmas  following.  Rev.  John  Lindsey  preach- 
ing the  sermon.  It  was  built,  fifty  by  forty  feet, 
with  galleries,  and  cost,  all  finished,  less  than  two 
thousand  dollars,  including  two  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars,  the  price  of  the  land.  It  stood  where  now 
stands  the  residence  of  Mr.  Robert  Jordan.  Within 
six  months  after  this  time,  the  society  was  called  to 
mourn  the  deaths  of  Dr.  John  Manning,  Aaron 
Treadwell,  Sr.  and  Judge  Sutton,  three  ardently  ac- 
tive friends. 

In  1825  Mr.  Wait  joined  the  New  England  Con- 
ference. Ipswich  and  Gloucester  were  made  a  cir- 
cuit, and  Rev.  Aaron  Wait  and  Rev.  Aaron  Josselyn 
were  appointed  Circuit  preachers.  The  first  Quar- 
terly Conference  for  this  circuit  was  held  September, 

1825,  and  there  were  present  Rev.  E.  Hyde,  P-residing 
Elder;  Rev.  Aaron  Wait  and  Rev.  Aaron  Josselyn, 
Pastors;  and  Charles  Dodge  and  Daniel  B.  Lord,  of 
Ipswich,  and  Thomas  Hillard,  of  Gloucester,  Stewards. 


Mr.  Wait  was  a  native  of  Maiden,  and  was  born 
September  24,  1799.  He  united  with  the  church 
when  quite  ycung,  and  with  the  Conference  in  his 
twenty-sixth  year.  His  appointments  were  to  Ips- 
wich, Gloucester,  Wilbraham  and  Ludlow.  About 
1830  he  retired,  though  he  i)reached,  more  or  less, 
till  his  death,  September  1,  1864.  His  personal  pres- 
ence was  good ;  he  was  an  easy,  pleasant  speaker,  had 
a  fair  pulpit  ability  and  an  unblemished  Christian 
character. 

Rev.  Aaron  Josselyn  was  born  in  Pembroke 
May  4,  1804.  He  entered  the  ministry  August  9, 
1825,  and  continued  twenty  years,  but  preached  occa- 
sionally till  age  and  infirmity  disqualified  him  for 
pulpit  labor.  He  was  ,an  ardent  advocate  of  Anti- 
slavery,  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature  three  years, 
a  justice  of  the  peace  fourteen  years  and  held  various 
town  offices.  He  was  thirty  years  a  resident  of 
Duxbury,  but  now  resides  with  his  daughter,  in  East 
Cambridge.  This  church  had  a  steady  growth  dur- 
ing his  ministry,  and  among  the  number  added  was 
Apollos  Hale,  afterwards  Rev.  The  number  re- 
turned for  this  circuit  this  year  was  forty-six. 

1826.  Rev.  Nathan  Paine. — The  number  re- 
turned this  year  for  this  church  was  twenty-eight 
members.  Mr.  Paine  was  born  in  Burrellville,  R.  I., 
September  30,  1791.  He  was  converted  in  his  seven- 
teenth year,  and  soon  received  a  license  to  preach. 
He  joined  the  New  England  Conference  in  1815,  and 
continued  in  active  service  till  1853,  a  period  of 
thirty-eight  years.  In  1853  he  took  a  superannuated 
relation,  and  removed  to  New  Bedford,  where  he 
lived  with  his  children,  till  his  death,  September  9, 
1863.  Says  Rev.  Dr.  Allen :  "  He  was  remarkably 
cheerful,  affectionate  and  unpretentious  ;  he  was  wise 
in  counsel,  and  of  unswerving  integrity.  He  was  a 
true,  earnest  and  faithful  minister,  and  accomplished 
great  good,  though  his  pulpit  ability  was  not  of  the 
highest  order.  Few  ministers  have  lived  of  purer 
character,  of  nobler  purpose,  of  more  unselfish  aims 
and  of  greater  devotedn ess  to  their  work.  He  was  a 
noble  specimen  of  ministerial  purity  and  goodness. 
The  closing  years  of  his  life  were  full  of  Christian  joy 
and  hope." 

1828.  Rev.  John  Thompson  Burrell. — Mr. 
Burrell  was  born  in  Lynn  December  25,  1799,  and  he 
died  in  Chelsea  September  20,  1885.  He  qualified 
for  membership  in  the  Conference  under  direction  of 
pastors,  while  a  local  preacher,  and  entered  when  he 
was  twenty-eight  years  old.  This  was  his  first  pulpit, 
to  which  he  was  returned  in  1833  and  1834.  He 
preached  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Ministry  till 
1850,  then  in  the  Methodist  Protestant  Ministry.  His 
were  among  the  best  pulpits.  Rev.  J.  L.  Estey  re- 
cords him  as  a  man  "  of  fine  presence,  of  gentlemanly 
bearing,  of  eloquent  oratory  and  faithful  instruction. 
He  was,  wherever  he  labored,  beloved  and  success- 
ful." He  is  said  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  pleas- 
ing and  talented  men  ever  stationed  here.     The  mem- 


IPSWICH. 


GOl 


bers  returned  for  liis  first  year  number  fifty-two,  and 
the  number  returned  for  the  two  years  is  twenty  pro- 
bationers. 

1829.  Rev.  John  J.  Bliss. — Mr.  Bliss  united  with 
the  Conference  in  1826  or  '27,  and  for  about  seven 
years  was  an  earnest,  active  and  successful  minister. 
In  1834  lie  was  excluded  from  the  church,  upon 
charges  that  may  not  have  affected  his  chai'acter, 
and,  it  is  thought,  went  West.  He  was  a  man  of 
considerable  ability,  and  had  been  highly  esteemed 
by  those  who  knew  him. 

His  pastorate  here  was  very  successful.  Rev, 
John  N.  Maffitt  assisted  and  preached  sixty  successive 
nights.  The  religious  intei'est  was  so  great  that  for 
an  entire  week  business  was  suspended,  most  of  the 
stores  were  closed,  the  cottou-mills  shut  down  for 
want  of  help,  and  people  seemed  bent  on  seeking 
"first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness.'' 
The  number  returned  for  this  year  is  two  hundred. 

1830.  Rev.  Jacob  Sanborn. — Mr.  Sanborn  en- 
tered the  ministry  in  1812,  and  continued  fifty-five 
years.  He  died  March  16,  1867,  at  the  age  of  seven- 
ty-nine. During  his  pastorate  a  parsonage  was 
built. 

1831.  Rev.  Enoch  Mudge. — This  man  was  the 
first  native  Methodist  preacher  in  New  England.  He 
was  born  in  Lynn  June  28,  1776.  He  entered  the 
New  England  Conference  when  seventeen,  received 
Deacon's  orders  when  nineteen,  and  Elder's  when 
twenty.  He  continued  in  active  seryice  fifty-seven 
years.  His  fields  of  labor  were  chiefly  in  Maine. 
In  Massachusetts  he  was  a  member  of  the  convention 
to  revise  the  State  Constitution,  and  was  two  years  a 
member  of  the  Legislature. 

He  occupied  this  pulpit  ten  months  and  was  called 
to  the  responsible  charge  of  the  Seaman's  Chapel, 
New  Bedford.  He  remained  there  as  chaplain  of  the 
Port  Society,  abundant  in  labors  and  honored  by  all, 
till  1844,  when  failing  health  compelled  him  to  seek 
repose.  He  went  to  his  kindred  at  Lynn,  where  he 
died  April  2,  1850.  Enoch  Redington  Mudge,  the 
famous  Boston  mill-agent,  recently  deceased,  was  his 
son. 

1832.  Rev.  Epaphkas  Kibby. — He  served  the 
church  well,  and  there  was  a  steady  growth.  He  en- 
tered the  ministry  in  1798,  and  after  a  service  of 
forty-three  years,  died,  August  16,  1864,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-six  years. 

1833-34.  Rev.  J.  F.  Burrell.— This  pastor  is 
noticed  in  1828,  above. 

1835.  Rev.  Neavell  S.  Spaulding. — During  this 
pastorate  there  was  quite  an  extensive  work  of  grace, 
and  fifty  probationers  were  received.  Mr.  Spaulding 
began  to  preach  in  1822,  and  after  a  ministry  of  sixty- 
two  years,  died  August  17,  1884,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
four  years. 

1836-37.  Rev.  Edward  Murphy  Beebe. — Dur- 
ing this  pastorate  the  church  edifice  was  enlarged  at 
a  cost  of  one  thousand  and  forty  dollars,  and  a  bell 
38  i 


was  purchased  at  a  cost  of  three  hundred  dollars, 
raised  by  subscription.  Mr.  Beebe  was  in  the  minis- 
try sixteen  years.  He  died  March  19,  1845,  aged 
forty  years. 

1838-39.  Rev.  Joel  Knight.— Mr.  Knight  con- 
tinued in  the  ministry  thfrteen  yeai*.  While  here 
forty  probationers  were  received.  He  died  August 
13,  1843,  at  the  age  of  thirty-nine  years. 

1840-41.  Rev.  Daniel  Wise,  D.D.— This  church 
kept  the  1st  day  of  January,  1841,  with  fasting  and 
prayer.  It  was  the  beginning  of  a  very  gracious  re- 
vival. The  following  winter  was  also  a  season  of  re- 
freshing. Eighty-eight  were  received  on  probation. 
Because  of  failing  health,  he  resigned  in  March, 
1842. 

The  doctor  was  born  in  Portsmouth,  England,  June 
10,  1813.  He  was  educated  in  the  Portsmouth  Gram- 
mar School,  a  classical  institution,  under  the  patron- 
age of  the  dean  and  canons  of  Christ  Church,  Oxford. 
He  removed  to  America  in  the  summer  of  1833.  He 
received  the  Master's  degree  in  1849,  and  the  doctor- 
ate in  1859,  from  the  Wesleyan  University,  Middle- 
town,  Conn.  He  was  licensed  to  preach  in  1834,  or- 
dained deacon  in  1839,  and  elder  in  1843.  He  has 
published  two  books,  highly  recommended :  "  Boy 
Travelers  in  Arabia,"  and  "  Our  Missionary  Heroes 
and  Heroines."     He  resides  in  Euglewood,  N.  J. 

1842.  Rev.  Daniel  Webb. — During  this  pastor- 
ate a  steady  growth  was  maintained,  and  "  a  few 
valuable  members  were  added  to  the  church." 
"Twenty-five  members  withdrew  and  joined  the 
'Methodist  Wesleyan  Church  in  the  United  States.' 
Some  of  them  soon  returned."  Mr.  Webb  was  sixty- 
nine  years  in  the  ministry,  and  died  March  19,  1867, 
aged  eighty-nine  years. 

1843-44.  Rev.  John  S.  Springer. — In  this  pas- 
torate the  church  edifice  was  re-modeled,  and  a  new 
pulpit  constructed.  The  expense  was  about  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars.  He  joined  the  Conference  in 
1839,  and  for  seven  years  was  a  very  successful  min- 
ister. In  1847,  while  stationed  at  Lowell,  he  with- 
drew from  the  church.  It  is  thought  he  stood  well 
in  his  Christian  and  moral  character.  He  was  a  man 
of  considerable  ability,  was  popular,  and  filled  some 
of  the  best  puipits  in  the  Conference. 

1845.  Rev.  Joseph  Denison,  D.D. — Though  he 
left  no  special  vestige  of  his  service  here,  he  was  an 
able  and  learned  man.  He  was  born  in  Bernardston 
October  1,  1815.  He  entered  Wesleyan  Academy, 
Wilbraham,  in  1833,  and  the  sophomore  class  of  the 
Wesleyan  University,  Middletown,  Conn.,  in  1837, 
graduating  in  1840.  He  taught  the  languages  in 
Amenia  Seminary,  Dutchess  County,  N.  Y.,  three 
years ;  he  spent  about  twelve  years  in  the  ministry, 
and  in  1855  went  to  Kansas.  He  was  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  State  Agricultural  College,  and  was 
its  president  from  1863  to  1873,  and  was  president  of 
Baker  University  from  1874  to  1879.  He  received 
the  doctorate  from  McKendree  College.     He  is  an 


602 


HISTORY  OP  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


ardent  and  active  Prohibitionist.  He  is  now  presid- 
ing elder  of  the  Atchison  District  (Kansas)  Confer- 
ence, and  resides  in  Atchison. 

1846-47.  Rev.  Lorenzo  R.  Thayer. — During 
this  time  a  vestry,  fifty  by  forty  feet,  was  built,  in  the 
rear  of  the  church,  at  a  cOst  of  four  hundred  dollars, 
and  about  twenty  probationers  were  received.  He 
preached  at  the  dedication  of  the  new  church  edifice 
in  1860.  He  was  born  in  Winchester,  N.  H.,  De- 
cember 2,  1814.  He  studied  for  college  in  the  New- 
bury Seminary,  Vt.,  and  in  1841  graduated  at  the 
Wesleyan  University,  Middletown,  Conn.  He 
joined  the  New  England  Conference  the  same  year. 
He  was  stationed  at  Lynn  in  1848-49;  is  now  in 
Newtonville. 

1848.  Rev.  Stephen  Cushing. — This  pastorate 
was  pleasant,  and  attended  with  much  spiritual  inter- 
est. Fifteen  were  received  into  the  church.  Mr. 
Cushing  was  born  in  Boston  March  15,  1813.  He 
was  two  years  at  Wesleyan  Academy,  Wilbraham, 
and  took  a  partial  course  in  the  Wesleyan  University, 
Middletown,  Conn.,  in  1832.  He  entered  the  New 
England  Conference  in  June,  1833.  He  now  resides 
in  Boston. 

1849.  Rev.  Charles  Baker. — During  this  pas- 
torate about  thirty  were  received  on  trial.  He  was 
born  in  Scituate,  R.  I.,  April  7,  1798.  He  did  not 
graduate.  After  a  ministry  of  forty-three  years,  he 
died  at  Somerville,  August  16,  1864,  aged  feixty-six 
years. 

1850-51.  Rev.  James  Shepherd. — During  the 
first  year  of  this  pastorate  the  meeting-house  was 
again  enlarged,  at  a  cost  of  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars.  He  preached  twenty-two  years.  He  died 
May  22,  1855,  at  the  age  of  fifty-three  years. 

1852.  Rev.  Moses  A.  Howe.— With  Mr.  Howe 
the  New  England  Conference  held  its  annual  session. 
He  died  January  27,  1861,  aged  sixty-one  years,  after 
a  successful  ministry  of  twenty-two  years. 

1853-54.  Rev.  John  William  Dadman. — This 
was  a  period  of  great  harmony,  in  the  church  and 
out  of  it.  Mr.  Dadman  and  Mr.  Southgate  made  the 
first  pulpit  exchange  between  the  Methodist  and 
Congregational  Churches,  and  the  event  marked  a 
new  era  in  Christian  fellowship  among  the  good  peo- 
ple of  the  town.  Mr.  Dadman  was  born  in  Hub- 
bardston,  December  20,  1819.  He  entered  Wesleyan 
Academy,  Wilbraham,  in  1840,  and  graduated  in 
1842.  Indigent  circumstances  obliged  him  to  forego 
a  collegiate  course,  and  he  at  once  entered  the  minis- 
try. He  was  licensed  April  10,  1841,  joined  the 
Conference  June  29,  1842,  and  was  ordained  elder 
May  3,  1846.  His  fields  of  labor  have  been  Boston, 
Worcester,  Lowell,  Roxbury  and  the  western  part  of 
the  State.  The  last  twenty-  two  years  he  has  been  chap- 
lain and  superintendent  of  schools  in  the  city  insti- 
tutions. Deer  Island,  Boston.  One  of  his  children, 
Luella  Jane,  was  born  here  June  30,  1853. 

1855-56. — Rev.  Jeremiah  L.   Hanaford.     At 


this  time  there  was  another  great  outpouring  of  the 
Divine  Spirit,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  were  re- 
ceived on  trial,  and  Rev.  George  S.  Noyes  and  Rev. 
F.  G.  Jlorris  were  among  them.  Mr.  Hanaford  was 
born  June  7,  1824,  at  Northfield,  Vt. 

1857-58.— Rev.  William  Carpenter  High.  Mr. 
High  took  up  the  good  work  and  labored  earnestly 
and  well.  He  baptized  about  sixty.  He  was  born  in 
Waitsfield,  Vt.,  March  30,  1822.  He  was  educated  at 
the  Montpelier  Academy  and  the  Newbury  Semi- 
nary. His  first  appointment  was  at  Danvers  (now 
Peabody).  He  took  a  supernumerary  relation,  and 
has  since  resided  in  Somerville.  Mr.  High  conducted 
several  large  revivals,  and  was  generally  considered  a 
successful  minister. 

1859-60. — Rev.  C.  L.  Eastman.  At  this  time  the 
present  house  of  worship  was  built,  and,  marvelous 
to  relate,  not  a  dollar  was  pledged.  •  The  trustees  be- 
came personally  responsible  for  it.  Their  names 
were  Joseph  Wait,  Ezekiel  Peabody,  Oliver  Under- 
bill, Daniel  L.  Hodgkins,  Daniel  P.  Nourse,  William 
H.  Graves,  Abraham  D.  Wait,  James  M.  Wellington, 
Frederick  Willcomb,  ever  worthy  of  remembrance. 
The  size  of  the  house  is  eighty-four  by  sixty-two  feet; 
chancel,  twenty-nine  by  eleven  feet ;  vestibule,  eight 
and  a  half  feet  wide;  tower,  eighteen  feet  square; 
and  several  hundred  sittings.  Rev.  George  Bowler 
was  the  architect,  and  our  townsman,  William  H. 
Smith,  the  contractor.  The  cost  was  twelve  thousand 
dollars,  including  the  site.  It  was  dedicated  January 
8,  1861,  Rev.  L.  R.  Thayer,  noticed  above,  preaching 
the  sermon.  Mr.  Eastman  was  born  in  Weare,  N.H., 
June  11,  1822.  He  joined  the  conference  in  1844. 
His  pulpits  have  been  among  the  most  onerous  and 
best.     He  now  resides  in  Chelsea. 

1861-62.— Rev.  Austin  F.  Herrick.  Mr.  Her- 
rick  was  born  in  Otis,  June  17,  1824.  He  entered 
Wesleyan  University,  Middletown,  Conn.,  in  1849; 
but  left  before  graduation,  and  entered  the  Biblical 
Institute,  Concord,  N.  H.  (now  the  Theological 
School  of  Boston  University),  graduating  in  1852. 
He  joined  the  conference,  at  the  session  with  this 
church,  April  27,  1853.  He  came  here  as  pastor  on 
that  memorable  April  19,  1861.  In  two  or  three 
months,  Ipswich's  first  company  for  the  war,  in  full 
military  dress,  on  the  Sabbath  before  marching,  wor- 
shipped with  his  church.  Those  were  years  of 
thrilling  events,  and  of  general  prosperity  to  this 
church ;  some  twenty  were  received  on  trial. 

1863 — Rev.  Joseph  Chapman  Cromack.  This 
clergyman  was  born  in  Boston,  May  11,  1812,  to 
Joseph  and  Judith  Millett  Cromack,  who  were  some- 
time of  Amesbury.  He  was  educated  at  Wesleyan 
Academy,  Wilbraham,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  in 
1835. 

1864-65. — Rev.  I.  J.  P.  Collyer.  This  pastor  was 
in  the  ministry  twenty-eight  years.  While  stationed 
here,  twenty  persons  were  received  on  trial.  He  died 
May  7,  1872. 


IPSWICH. 


603 


1866-68.— Rev.  Jesse  Wagner.  Mr.  Wagner 
was  born  in  Williamsburg,  Pa.,  August  14, 1835.  He 
graduated  at  the  Methodist  Biblical  Institute,  Con- 
cord, N.  H.,  in  1861,  and  entered  the  ministry  the 
following  year.  While  here,  by  his  personal  efforts; 
an  organ  was  bought  at  an  expense  of  two  thousand 
dollars,  and  twenty  probationers  were  received. 

1869-70. — Rev.  Charles  Atwood  Merrill. 
This  jiastor  is  a  native  of  Woodstock,  Me.  He  grad- 
uated at  the  Biblical  Institute,  Concord,  N.  H.  While 
located  here,  twenty  persons  were  received  on  proba- 
tion. 

1871-72. — Rev.  Charles  H.  Hanaford.  Mr. 
Hanaford  was  born  at  Northfield,  N.  H.  He  was 
educated  at  the  New  Hampshire  Conference  Semi- 
nary, without  graduation.  He  entered  the  ministry 
in  1858,  and  joined  the  New  England  Conference  in 
April,  1859.  The  semi-centennial  of  the  establish- 
ment of  the  church  was  celebrated  in  this  pastorate? 
when  money  enough  was  raised  to  liquidate  the  debt 
of  the  society,  and  also  a  large  part  of  the  cost  of  the 
present  parsonage.  Twenty-eight  persons  were  re- 
ceived on  probation  the  first  year. 

1873-75.— Rev.  E.  A.  Smith.  Mr.  Smith  is  a 
native  of  Howard,  Pa.  He  fitted  for  the  Junior  Class 
of  Dickinson  Seminary,  Williamsport.  He  afterwards 
taught  three  years  there,  filling  the  chair  of  natural 
sciences  one  year.  In  1858  he  joined  the  New  Hamp- 
shire Conference,  and  graduated  at  the  Biblical  Insti- 
tute, Concord,  in  June,  1859.  He  preached  in  the 
chief  cities  in  the  State,  built  the  Main  Street  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  at  Nashua,  had  extensive  re- 
vivals in  many  of  the  churches,  and  bought  and  built 
several  parsonages.  He  entered  the  New  England 
Conference  in  1873,  and  while  stationed  here,  the 
society  built  and  furnished  a  parsonage,  at  an  ex- 
pense of  nearly  six  thousand  dollars;  and,  in  Decem- 
ber, 1873,  a  great  revival  began,  which  continued 
nearly  a  year.  More  than  three  hundred  persons 
knelt  at  the  altar,  and  persons  of  all  ages,  from  seven 
to  eighty-five,  were  among  the  converts. 

1876-77.— Rev.  Frederick  Woods,  D.D.  Dr. 
Woods  is  a  native  of  St.  John's,  Newfoundland.  He 
studied  in  Sackville  Academy,  N.  B.,  Genesee  Col- 
lege, Lima,  N.  Y.,  and  graduated  in  1859,  at  Wes- 
leyan  University,  Middletown,  Conn.,  where  he  re- 
ceived the  Master's  degree  in  1862.  He  joined  the 
New  England  Conference  in  1859,  and  has  done  very 
efficient  pulpit  service.  He  has  published  several 
sermons  and  addresses.  He  preached  the  baccalaure- 
ate sermon  at  Mount  Alleston  University,  Sackville, 
N.  B.,  1886,  and  received  the  doctorate.  His  service 
in  this  pulpit  was  efficient  and  progressive. 

1878. — Rev.  George  Whitaker.  This  pastor 
was  born  in  Boston,  May  14,  1836.  His  father  was  a 
government  official,  son  of  Rev.  Jonathan  Whitaker, 
of  Sharon  and  New  Bedford,  and  nephew  of  Rev. 
David  T.  Kimball,  of  the  First  Church.  George  pre- 
pared for  college  at  the  Wesleyan  Academy,  Wil bra- 


ham,  graduated  at  Wesleyan  University,  Middleiuwn, 
Conn.,  in  1861,  and  entered  the  ministry  the  same 
year.  He  was  presiding  elder  of  the  Springfield  Dis- 
trict, 1874—77.  His  pastorate  here  was  very  satisfac- 
tory. The  church  was  repainted,  frescoed  and  gener- 
ally improved;  the  society  debt  of  about  three  thous- 
and three  hundred  dollars  was  canceled;  and  a 
gracious  revival  blessed  the  church. 

1879-80.— Rev.  P.  M.  Vinton. 

1881-82.— Rev.  Charles  Nelson  Smith.  Mr. 
Smith  was  born  in  Brookfield,  Vt.,  December  14, 
1816.  He  studied  at  Newbury  Seminary,  entered 
college,  but  did  not  graduate.  In  1865  he  received 
the  Master's  degree  from  Wesleyan  University,  Mid- 
dletown. He  joined  the  conference  July,  1842,  was 
presiding  elder  in  New  Hampshire  one  year,  and  in 
Massachusetts  one  year;  he  has  had  nine  two-year 
pastorates,  four  three-year  pastorates,  and  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  General  Conference  in  1856.  He  has  built 
and  repaired  several  churches,  and  by  the  blessing  of 
Heaven  has  had  his  full  share  of  success.  He  re- 
ported his  full  membership  to  be  two  hundred  and 
sixty-one. 

1883-84. — Rev.  Charles  T.  Johnson.  He  was 
born  in  Lynn — now  Nahant — October  16,  1838.  His 
father  was  a  grocer  there  nearly  fifty  years,  and  was 
postmaster  thirty-two  years.  He  studied  at  Wesleyan 
Academy,  Wilbraham,  and  graduated  at  Wesleyan 
University,  Middletown,  Conn.,  in  1863,  and  entered 
the  ministry  the  same  year.  His  pastorate  here  was 
blessed,  the  society  prospered,  several  united  with  the 
church.  The  membership  reported  was  two  hundred 
and  seventy-eight  full  members  and  thirty-two  proba- 
tioners. 

1885.— Rev.  John  Galbraith,  Ph.  D.  Dr.  Gal- 
braith  is  a  graduate  of  Wesleyan  University,  Middle- 
town,  Conn.,  whence  he  received  the  Master's  degree  in 
1882.  He  is  also  a  trraduate  of  Boston  University, 
whence  he  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philoso- 
phy in  1886.  The  present  church  membership  is  two 
hundred  and  thirty-six  full  members  and  forty-two 
probationers. 

the  unitarian  society. 

A  society  of  this  belief  was  formed  in  1830,  the 
several  churches  contributing  to  the  membership. 
Their  services  were  held  in  the  court-house  till,  at  a 
cost  of  three  thousand  dollars  or  more,  they  built  a 
church  edifice,  which  was  dedicated  October  23,  1833. 
They  continued  a  worshiping  congregation  some  six 
or  seven  years,  and  then  formally  dissolved.  A  few 
years  later — 1843 — they  sold  their  house  of  worship 
to  the  town  for  a  town-house,  at  a  price  not  exceeding 
two  thousand  dollars.  The  house,  with  alterations 
and  additions,  is  the  present  town-house,  and  the 
pews  are  those  of  the  Linebrook  CLurch. 

ST.   JOSEPH'S   CATHOLIC   SOCIETY. 

This  is  a  mission  society.  At  first  it  belonged  to 
Rev.  Father  Teeling's  parish  in  Newburyport,  but  in 


604 


HISTOKY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


1871  was  transferred  to  Eev.  William  H.  Eyan's  par- 
ish in  Beverly.  They  have  a  very  pretty  church  edi- 
fice, which  was  completed  in  1872.  The  society  con- 
sists of  about  five  hundred  and  fifty  wor.shipers. 

Conclusion— The  proportion  of  service,  by  the  vari- 
ous denominations,  is  about  as   follows :    The  First 
Church,  by  its  double  pastorates  and  colleagues,  355 
years;    the   South,    140   years;    the   Linebrook,  138 
years;    the  Methodist,  65  years;    the  Episcopal,  26 
years;  the  Catholic,  about  20  years;  the  Baptist,  17 
years;  and  the  Unitarian,  7  years,  making  a  total  of 
more  than  750  years  for  one  man,  which  is  equivalent 
to  three  pastorates  for  the  actual  time.     The  several 
pastors  and  assistants  have  been,  almost  to  a  man, 
liberally  educated.     They  have  brought  an  apparent 
zeal  to  their  work,  and  a  good  conception  of  their 
duty  therein.     They  have  been  watchful,  diligent,  la- 
borious, prayerful.     A  good  proportion  of  them  have 
been  dignified,  trusty,  efficient  leaders.     They  have 
been  able  to  read  the  signs  of  the  times,  to  under- 
stand the  needs  of  their  people,  and  to  utilize  circum- 
stances, as  well  as  actual  means.    They  have  watched 
the  ripening  grain  in  their  respective  fields  of  labor, 
and  gathered  their  gracious  harvests  ;  their  doctrines 
have  been  a  leaven  that  has  permeated  the  whole 
mass  of  the  populace ;  that  has  endowed  the  legisla- 
tor, the  justice,  the  mariner,  the  mechanic,  the  manu- 
facturer, the  farmer;    that  has  impeded  crime  and 
corrected  the  erring ;  that  has  superinduced  a  nobler, 
truer,  more  earnest  and  more  eifective  manhood  ;  and 
has  first,  last  and  midst,  been  our  people's  enlighten- 
ment and  guide.     Such  is  our  hope  of  the  future. 


CHAPTER   XLIV. 

IPS  WICH— ( Continued). 
EDUCATIONAL. 

Initial  Status. — It  has  been  said  that  the  Plymouth 
Colony  had  only  one  University  man,  the  Elder 
Brewster,  while  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  was 
noted  for  its  men  of  wealth,  social  position  and  edu- 
cation. Ipswich,  in  this  respect,  was  a  representative 
town — not  a  whit  behind  the  metropolis  in  mental 
and  educational  influence  and  ability.  She  under- 
stood and  appreciated  the  value  of  a  varied  learning 
practical  and  polite,  of  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
home  arts  and  social  culture,  and  of  the  acquisition 
of  ancient  history,  literature  and  tongues;  and  to  this 
end  she  was  willing  to  contribute,  even  to  a  sacrifice, 
to  obtain  them. 

Why  Latin  ? — It  may  be  asked  why  our  forefathers 
so  valued  a  knowledge  of  the  ancient  languages,  es- 
pecially the  Latin,  as  to  give  them  immediate  at- 
tention. Doubtless  they  studied  them  for  the  same 
reasons  we  do  to-day,  but  we  apprehend  that  they  did 


then  chiefly  because  they  were  intensely  English  ; 
and  on  that  ground  anything  that  did  not  conflict 
with  or  savor  of  religious  tenets  must  be  intensely 
English  also.  The  Latin  language,  at  that  time,  was 
in  its  old  age,  only  dead  in  the  sense  that  it  had 
passed  the  period  of  its  growth.  It  may  be  said  to 
have  been  the  language  of  the  time,  the  English 
tongue  sharply  vying  with  it  for  the  supremacy.  It 
embodied  the  laws  of  the  realm  and  Biblical  ex- 
egesis, and  scientific  essays  and  important  documents 
were  presented  in  it.  The  learned  addressed  their 
compeers  in  public  assemblies,  and  statecraft  was 
orally  discussed  in  its  elegant  phrases.  Queen  Eliza- 
beth spoke  it,  and  Lord  Bacon,  "  the  great  glory  of 
literature,"  composed  most  of  his  writings  in  it.  The 
devotion,  benefactions  and  labors  of  our  emigrant 
ancestors  in  the  matter  of  schools  excites  not  our 
wonder  so  much  as  our  gratitude.  The  kind  and  de- 
gree of  learning  at  their  native  homes  must  be  the 
kind  and  degree  here,  so  far  as  practicable;  and  while 
the  exigences  of  the  occasion  made  the  family  a 
school  in  the  rudiments,  and  the  mother  the  teacher, 
a  grammar  school,  in  the  English  sense,  was  early  es- 
tablished for  preparing  young  men  for  college. 

The  Grammar  School. — According  to  the  records,  a 
grammar  school  was  "set  up '' in  1636,  and  Lionel 
Chute  appears  to  have  been  the  teacher.  The  record 
further  states  that  the  school  did  "not  succeed."  It 
began  some  two  years  after  the  incorporation  of  the 
town,  and  the  young  town  doubtless  made  no  appro- 
priation for  its  support.  Its  success  would  have  been 
phenomenal.     Mr.  Chute  died  in  1644  or  '45. 

The  School  Endowed. — This  attempt  of  Master 
Chute  was  followed  by  "several  overtures  and  en- 
deavors among  the  inhabitants  for  settling  a  Grammar 
School,"  which  failed  to  realize  their  object,  as  did 
he.  The  spirit  of  education,  however,  had  taken  pos- 
session of  the  public  mind,  and  when  about  1649, 
Robert  Paine,  the  leading  spirit  in  the  endeavor, 
off"ered  to  "  erect  an  edifice  for  the  purpose,  provided 
the  town  or  any  particular  inhabitant  of  the  town 
would  devote,  sett  apart  or  give  any  land  or  other 
annuity  for  the  yearly  maintenance  of  such  one  as 
should  be  fitt  to  keep  a  Grammar  School."  The  town 
accordingly,  January  11,  1650,  granted  to  Robert 
Paine,  Mr.  William  Paine,  Major  Denison  and  Mr. 
Bartholomew  in  trust  "  for  the  use  of  schools  all  that 
neck  beyond  Chebacco  River  and  the  rest  of  the 
ground  (up  to  Gloucester  line)  adjoining  to  it." 
Soon  after  this  the  Jand  Avas  leased  to  John  Cogswell, 
his  heirs  and  assigns,  for  the  space  of  one  thousand 
years,  at  an  annual  rental  of  fourteen  pounds.  The 
tenants  began  to  build  upon  the  land  as  early  as 
1723,  and  a  part  of  the  village  of  Essex  now  occupies 
a  large  portion  of  it,  and  the  rent  continues  to  be 
paid. 

The  citizens  are  now  fully  awake  to  the  occasion, 
and  give  body,  shape  and  purpose  to  the  enterprise 
by  ordaining,  January  26,  1651,  the  following: 


IPSWICH. 


605 


"  The  Feoffees.— For  the  better  ordering  of  the  school  and  the  affairs 
thereof,  Mr.  Simonds,  Mr.  Roggers,  Mr.  Norton,  Maj.  Denison,  Mr.  Rob- 
ert Paine,  Mr.  William  Paine,  Mr.  Hubbard,  Dea.  Whipple,  Mr.  Bar- 
tholomew were  chosen  a  committee  to  receive  all  such  sums  of  money  as 
have  or  shall  be  given  toward  the  building  or  maintaining  of  a  Gram- 
mar School  and  school-master,  and  to  disburse  find  dispose  sucli  sums  as 
are  given  to  provide  a  school-house  and  school-master's  house  eitlier  in 
building  or  purchasing  the  said  house  with  all  convenient  speed.  And 
such  sums  of  mone3-,  parcels  of  land,  rents  or  annuities  as  are  or  shall 
be  given  towards  to  the  maintenance  of  a  school-master  they  shall  re- 
ceive and  dispose  of  to  the  school-master  that  tliey  sliall  call  or  choose 
to  that  oflSce  from  time  to  time  to  his  maintenance,  which  tliey  have 
power  to  enlarge  by  appointing  from  year  to  year  what  each  scholar 
shall  yearly  or  quarterly  pay  or  proportionately  ;  who  shall  also  have 
full  power  to  regulate  all  matters  concerning  the  school-master  and 
scholars,  as  in  their  wisdom  they  think  meet  from  time  to  time  ;  who 
shall  also  consider  the  best  way  to  make  provisions  for  teaching  to  write 
and  cast  accounts." 

In  1652  Mr.  Robert  Paine  purchased  a  house,  with 
two  acres  of  land  belonging  to  it,  for  the  use  of  the 
school-master,  and  in  1653,  at  his  own  expense,  as 
per  agreement,  erected  an  edifice  upon  the  land  for 
the  grammar  school,  and  October  4,  1683,  he  and  his 
wife  gave  the  house  and  land  to  the  town  for  the 
school's  use.  About  the  same  time  Mr.  William 
Hubbard  gave  about  an  acre  of  land  adjoining  the 
school-master's  house.  In  1650  Mr.  John  Cross  "  se- 
cured "  on  his  farm  near  Rowley  a  perpetual  annuity 
of  ten  shillings  towards  a  free  school  in  the  town.  In 
1696  the  town  grants  ten  acres  of  marsh  at  Castle 
Neck.  These  gifts  were  sold  by  order  of  the  General 
Court  in  1836,  and  netted  the  ftoffees  about  three 
thousand  two  hundred  dollars.  In  1660  Mr.  William 
Paine  gave  the  land  near  the  mouth  of  ihe  river  called 
Little  Neck.  In  1661  "the  barn  erected  by  Ezekiel 
Cheever  and  the  orchard  planted  by  him  were,  after 
his  removal  to  Charlestown,  bought  by  the  feollVes,'' 
as  the  trustees  were  then  and  have  since  been  called, 
and  presented  by  them  for  the  school-master's  use  or 
for  rent. 

We  can  hardly  say  too  much  in  praise  of  the  exer- 
tions, devotion,  benefactions  and  leading  spirit  of  the 
original  donor  of  this  school,  Mr.  Robert  Paine. 
He  was  timely,  efficient,  provident,  public-spirited, 
noble,  wealthy,  generous.  Of  a  hundred  and  fifty- 
five  subscriptions  "  to  encourage  Major  Denison  in 
his  military  helpfulness,"  Mr.  Paine's  was  the  largest, 
to  be  paid  annually.  Pie  was  a  ruling  elder  in  the 
church,  ranking  next  to  the  minister.  He  was  repre- 
sentative three  years.  He  was  county  trea>urer  from 
1665  till  his  resignation  in  1683,  the  year  before  he 
died,  at  the  age  of  eighty-three  years. 

William  Paine,  brother  of  the  above,  seems  to 
have  been  wealthy  and  active  for  the  public  good. 
He  removed  to  Boston  about  1656,  where  he  died 
October  10,  1660.  He  was  buried  in  the  Granary 
Cemetery,  and  his  tombstone  forms  a  part  of  the 
basement  wall  of  the  Athenseum.  Besides  his  liberal 
bequest  to  our  Grammar  School,  he  gave  twenty 
pounds  to  Harvard  College. 

Mr.  William  Hubbard,  another  original  bene- 
factor of  the  school,  came  with  the  elder  Winthrop  to 


Boston  in  1630,  and  settled  in  this  town  in  1635.  He 
was  representative  six  years  between  1638  and  1646. 
In  1651  he  was  commissioned  to  solemnize  marriages, 
clergymen  at  that  time  being  denied  such  authority. 
He  removed  to  Boston  in  1662,  where  he  died  in 
1670.  He  left  a  large  estate.  Two  of  his  children, 
Richard  and  William,  the  historian  and  colleague  of 
Rev.  Mr.  Norton  in  our  pulpit,  were  professors  of  the 
school. 

The  Board  of  Feoffees  consisted  originally  of  nine 
members ;  in  1662  the  town  voted  that  the  number  be 
"increased  to  nine."  In  1664  the  number  was  ten, 
but  after  the  death  of  Robert  Paine,  Jr.,  the  number 
never  appears  greater  than  nine.  The  town  by  vote, 
April  7,  1687,  ordered  the  selectmen  to  obtain  deeds 
of  all  the  school  lands,  that  they  may  know  the  power 
the  feoffees  have  to  order  the  schools ;  and  May  19th, 
of  the  same  year,  voted  that  the  former  feoffees  now 
living  (Rev.  William  Hubbard,  Robert  Paine  and 
Elder  and  Captain  John  Appleton)  with  the  select- 
men shall  manage  the  schools  till  further  action  by 
the  town.  If  this  vote  was  inoperative  or  effective  we 
know  not.  Vacancies  in  the  board  seem  to  have  been 
filled  by  the  remaining  members  without  reference  to 
any  action  of  the  town.  Their  history  for  the  colo- 
nial period  seems  to  have  been  only  the  routine  work 
of  the  school. 

The  First  Master. — The  first  master  of  the  school 
was  Ezekiel  Cheevei-.  He  kept  it  ten  years.  He  then 
removed  to  Charlestown  and  afterwards  to  Boston, 
where  he  was  master  of  the  Boston  Latin  School.  He 
was  born  in  London,  England,  January  25,  1615,  and 
died  in  Boston  August  25,  1708,  at  the  great  age  of 
ninety-three  years  and  seven  months,  after  seventy 
years  of  tedious  labor  as  school -master. 

In  six  years  from  the  opening  of  the  school  this 
town  had  six  students  in  Harvard  College.  They 
were  Robert  Paine,  son  of  the  founder  of  the  school  ; 
John  Emerson,  son  of  Thomas,  and  afterwards  minis- 
ter of  Gloucester;  Nathaniel  Saltonstall,  son  of  Rich- 
ard, and  afterwards  minister  of  Haverhill ;  Ezekiel, 
Rogers,  son  of  Rev.  Nathaniel;  Samuel  Cheever,  son 
of  the  master ;  Samuel  Belcher,  son  of  Jeremy,  min- 
ister of  the  Isle  of  Shoals  and  later  of  Newbury. 
Other  pupils  of  Master  Cheever's,  who  were  students 
in  Harvard,  vvere  William  Wittingham,  son  of  John  ; 
Samuel  Cobbett,  son  of  Rev.  Thomas ;  and  Samuel 
Symonds,  son  of  the  deputy-governor. 

Mr.  Cheever's  successor  was  Thomas  Andrews, 
who  began  August  1,  1660,  and  kept  it  twenty-three 
years.  During  this  time  Ipswich  sent  to  Harvard 
College  Samuel  Bishop ;  Samuel  and  Daniel  Epes, 
sons  of  Daniel ;  John  Norton,  son  of  William  and 
nephew  of  Rev.  John;  John  Rogers,  son  of  President 
John  of  Harvard ;  John  Denison,  son  of  John  and 
grandson  of  General  Daniel,  and  pastor-elect  of  this 
church;  Francis  Wainwright;  and  Daniel  Rogers? 
another  son  of  the  president,  and  many  years  master 
of  the  school.     Mr.  Andrews  died  July  10,  1683,  and 


606 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


left  a  considerable  property  to  his  relatives,  probably 
never  having  married. 

Mr.  Noadiah  Eussell,  of  Cambridge,  succeeded 
Mr.  Andrews,  and  took  charge  of  the  school  October 
31,  1683.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Harvard  in  1681. 
He  continued  master  of  the  school  till  his  resignation 
February  23, 1686-87,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Mr. 
Daniel  Rogers. 

Mr.  Rogers'  mastership  completed  the  colonial  pe- 
riod and  began  the  provincial,  probably  from  1687  to 
1715.  It  was  during  his  service,  also,  that  the  old 
school-house  was  abandoned,  having  been  the  subject 
of  extensive  repairs  several  times,  and  the  new  rooms 
in  the  court  and  town-house  occupied,  which  change 
was  made  about  1704. 

From  Mr.  Rogers'  tuition  fifteen  pupils  entered 
Harvard  College,  among  whom  were  John  Wade,  son 
of  Colonel  Thomas;  Francis  Goodhue,  son  of  Deacon 
William;  Jeremiah  and  Henry  Wise,  sons  of  Rev. 
John ;  John  Perkins,  son  of  Abraham ;  William 
Burnham,  who  became  a  minister;  Benjamin  Choate, 
son  of  John;  Francis  and  John  Wainwright;  John 
Denison,  son  of  Rev.  John  ;  Nathaniel  Appleton,  son 
of  Colonel  John,  and  afterwards  minister  of  Cam- 
bridge; and  Francis  Cogswell,  son  of  Jonathan. 

Made  a  Free  School. — The  town  and  feoffees  agreed 
April  8,  1714,  to  make  the  Grammar  School  for  the 
present  year  "  absolutely  free  to  all  such  scholars  be- 
longing 10  the  town."  The  town  appropriated  twen- 
ty-five pounds  and  chose  a  committee,  who  with  the 
feoffees,  provided  a  master,  who  shall  attend  "con- 
stantly in  teaching  grammar  scholars  and  also  Eng- 
lish scholars,  to  perfect  them  in  reading  and  instruct 
them  in  writing  and  ciphering."  Master  Rogers  is 
sketched  as  registrar  of  probate. 

Ebenezer  Gay,  who  graduated  at  Harvard  in 
1714,  was  the  next  teacher  for  one  year,  and  had  a 
salary  of  fifty-six  pounds.  He  was  afterwards  the 
celebrated  Dr.  Gay,  of  Hingham.  He  was  followed 
by  Mr.  Thomas  Norton,  who  was  master  in  1716. 
He  was  a  deacon.  His  son,  Thomas,  graduated  at 
Harvard  in  1725,  and  taught  this  school  ten  years, 
1729-39,  under  the  direction  of  the  selectmen. 

Benjamin  Crocker  took  the  school  June  4,  1717, 
at  a  salary  of  eighty  pounds,  old  tenor,  and  left  it 
November,  1719  [1718?].  He  taught  afterwards  two 
years,  1746-47,  at  a  salary  of  one  hundred  pounds, 
old  tenor,  and  again  two  years,  1759-60.  He  gradu- 
ated at  Harvard  in  1713.  He  was  feoffee  1749-64;  he 
occasionally  preached.  Deacon  John,  of  the  First 
Church,  was  his  son. 

Revolution  in  School. — At  this  date  began  the  period 
of  contention  and  revolution  in  the  school.  For  the 
encouragement  of  the  school  the  town  voted,  May  8, 
1718,  to  make  up  sixty  pounds  to  the  school,  if  neces- 
sary, after  the  collection  of  rents  and  a  tuition  of 
twenty  shillings  per  scholar,  for  that  year.  The  se- 
lectmen, it  was  voted  November  5, 1718,  shall  provide 
"  with  all  convenient  speed  "  a  master  for  the  rest  of 


the  present  year.  The  town  chose  a  committee  Feb- 
ruary 9,  1719,  to  eject  the  tenants  of  the  great  farm, 
leased  to  John  Cogswell,  and  release  it  for  a  period 
not  exceeding  twenty-one  years.  Rev.  John  Rogers 
and  Rev.  Jabez  Fitch  enter  their  protests.  The  dis- 
satisfaction seems  to  be  "  especially  of  the  younger 
sort."  The  town  voted  June  6,  1720,  to  hire  a  gram- 
mar school  teacher;  and  also  chose  a  committee  to 
recover  the  great  farm,  and  re-lease  it  for  twenty-one 
years.  The  town  thus  took  control  of  the  school  and 
the  school  property  ;  the  feoffees  entered  their  protest 
in  their  records  and  retired.  The  tenants  of  the  great 
farm  took  advantage  of  the  quarrel  and  refused  to  pay 
the  rent  till  it  might  be  determined  who  was  entitled 
to  receive  it.  The  town  January  4,  1720-21,  consti- 
tuted John  Wainwright,  Ens.  George  Hart  and  Mr. 
Thomas  Boardman  trustees,  to  eject  all  persons  in 
l^ossession  of  school  lands,  but  failed  in  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  March,  1722,  to  establish  their  claim. 
An  inadvertence  of  the  clerk  failed  to  enter  their  ap- 
peal to  the  Superior  Court,  and  Sarah,  the  widow  of 
John  Cogswell,  still  held  possession. 

In  1721  the  town  brought  ati  action  at  law  against 
the  tenants  of  the  school  farm,  and  in  1729  Gifford 
Cogswell  is  ordered  to  pay  £100  in  adjustment  of  the 
claims,  which  sum  was  apportioned  to  the  several 
parts  of  the  town  according  to  their  proportion  of  the 
Province  tax,  whence  dates  the  beginning  of  the  dis- 
trict school  system. 

Reading  and  Writing  School. — The  above  appropri- 
ation of  £100  probably  lasted  about  three  years  ;  but 
no  other  is  recorded  till  after  the  town  is  required, 
April  26,  1739,  to  answer  to  the  Court  of  General 
Sessions,  for  not  maintaining  a  Reading  and  Writing 
School  according  to  law.  Then,  March  4,  1739-40, 
the  town  appropriated  £150  for  both  the  grammar 
and  the  reading  and  writing  schools,  put  them  un- 
der one  teacher  and  began  the  practice  of  moving 
them  at  the  judgment  of  the  selectmen.  The  appro- 
priations were  thus  applied  while  the  town  had  con- 
trol of  the  school  property. 

Incorporation. — In  1749  Jonathan  Wade  was  the 
only  survivor  of  ihe  feoffees,  and  February  10th,  of 
that  year,  he  filled  the  vacancies  by  appointments ; 
but  in  1756,  the  General  Court  incorporated  Thomas 
Berry,  Daniel  Appleton  and  Samuel  Rogers,  E«qs., 
with  Mr.  Benjamin  Crocker,  on  the  part  of  the  pri- 
vate persons  who  granted  lands  for  the  school,  to- 
gether with  Francis  Wash,  Esq.,  Capt.  Nathaniel 
Treadwell  and  Mr.  John  Patch,  Jr.,  three  of  the  board 
of  selectmen  of  the  town,  a  Joint  Committee,  or 
Feoffees  in  Trust,  with  full  power  to  grant  leases,  re- 
cover rents  and  annuities,  appoint  masters,  regulate 
their  salaries,  appoint  clerk  and  treasurer  and  if 
necessary,  impose  a  tuition.  The  act  was  limited  to 
ten  years ;  it  was,  at  the  end  of  the  period,  continued 
twenty-one  years ;  and  at  the  end  of  that  period,  or 
February  14,  1787,  it  was  made  perpetual,  the  feoffees 
representing  private  persons  filling  vacancies  in  their 


IPSWICH. 


607 


number,  while  the  three  senior  members  of  the  suc- 
cessive Boards  of  Selectmen  represent  the  town. 

Masters. — Mr.  Henry  Wise  was  the  first  master 
in  the  employ  of  the  selectmen.  He  accepted  the 
trust  June  20,  1720,  and  continued  eight  years.  His 
salary  was  £55.  Thomas  Norton,  Jr.,  before  men- 
tioned, succeeded  and  continued  ten  years.  After 
him  was  Daniel  Staniford,  a  graduate  of  Harvard 
in  1788,  who  continued  five  years,  1740-45.  He  was 
master  of  both  schools,  at  a  salary  of  £80.  He  was 
afterwards  a  successful  merchant ;  and  also  a  Repre- 
sentative three  years.  His  successor  was  Benjamin 
Crocker,  above  mentioned,  who  taught  two  years, 
1746-47,  at  a  salary  of  £150.  John  Dennis  taught 
in  1753,  for  the  school  rents.  In  1754  the  town 
claimed  to  have  conducted  the  affairs  of  the  school 
for  more  than  twenty  years  ;  yet  she  practically  re- 
linquished the  school  at  the  close  of  Mr.  Crocker's 
mastership. 

Under  the  act  of  incorporation,  the  first  master  was 
Samuel  Wigglesworth,  son  of  Rev.  Samuel  of  the 
Hamlet.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1752,  and 
taught  the  school  two  years,  1757-58.  His  salary  Avas 
£40.  He  afterwards  practiced  medicine.  Benjamin 
Crocker,  before  mentioned,  taught  two  years,  1759- 
00.  Joseph  How  succeeded  and  taught  one  year. 
17G1.  His  salary  was  £33  (is.  8c/.  He  graduated  at 
Harvard  in  1758,  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Hon.  Thomas  Berry  and  died  March  26,  1762,  at  the 
age  of  twenty-five,  and  his  wife  May  6,  1759,  at  the 
age  of  twenty-two  years.  Daniel  Noyes,  who  is 
sketched  in  "  Registrars  of  Probate,"  kejit  the  school 
thirteen  years,  1762-73  and  1780,  at  a  salary  of  £46 
13s.  4g?.  Thomas  Burnham,  a  graduate  of  Harvard, 
in  1722,  kept  the  school  five  years  from  1774,  at  a 
salary  of  £50,  and  than  entered  the  army,  where  he 
attained  the  rank  of  major.  After  the  war  he  taught 
six  years,  178()-91 ;  then  one  year,  1793  ;  then  eleven 
years,  1807-17,  when,  in  1815,  the  income  was  $205.- 
78,  a  total  service  of  twenty-three  years.  Nathan- 
iel Dodge,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  in  1777,  taught 
two  years,  1779  and  '84.  Jacob  Kimball,  a  gradu- 
ate of  Harvard  in  1780,  taught  one  year,  1781.  Rev. 
John  Treadwell,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  in  1758, 
taught  two  years,  1783  and  '85.  Daniel  and  Joseph 
Dana,  graduates  of  Dartmouth  College  in  1788, 
taught  two  years,  1792  and  '93  respectively,  at  a  sal- 
ary of  £65.  Samuel  Dana,  a  brother  of  the  above 
Daniel  and  Joseph,  and  son  of  Rev.  Joseph,  of  the 
South  Parish,  and  a  grjiduate  of  Harvard  in  1796, 
taught  three  years,  1797-99,  when,  in  1797,  the  in- 
come was  $139.66.  Joseph  McKean,  a  graduate  of 
Harvard  in  1794,  taught  three  years,  1794-96.  His 
salary  was  £80.  He  became  a  minister  and  a  professor 
in  Harvard  College.  Amos  Choate,  a  graduate  of 
Harvard  in  1795,  taught  seven  years,  1800-6.  He 
was  afterwards  registrar  of  deeds  for  the  county. 
George  Choate,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  in  1818, 
taught  four  years,  1818-21.  Richard  Kimball 
taught  nine  weeks  in  1822,  "  for  the  income  of  the 
school  lauds."  Charles  Choate,  son  of  Hon. 
John,  taught  in  1823-24  on  the  same  terms.  Steph- 
en Coburn  taught  in  1825 ;  Richard  Kimball  in 
1826,  when  the  income  was  $165.23  ;  James  W.  Ward 
in  1827;  Nathan  Brown  in  1828;  Daniel  Perley 


in  1829;  David  Tenney  Kimball,  Jr.,  in  1830; 
Joseph  Hale  in  1831-33,  when,  in  1831,  the  income 
was  $163.61  ;  TolmanWilley  in  1834  ;  Dan  Weed, 
Jr.,  in  1835-40 ;  Ebenezer  S.  Stevens  in  [1841  ; 
Dan  Weed,  Jr,,  in  1842-45 ;  George  W.  Tewks- 
HURY  in  1846  ;  Ezra  W.  Gale  in  1847-48;  Caleb 
Lamson  in  1849.  Arrangements  were  made)  with 
Rev.  John  P.  Cowles,  of  the  Seminary,  to  instruct 
the  grammar  scholars,  at  forty  cents  a  week,  per 
capita,  1850 ;  then  with  the  town  for  a  High  School, 
wherein  Benjamin  P.  Chute  taught,  1851-52;  Jo- 
seph A.  Shores,  1853-56  ;  Issachar  Lefavour,  of 
Beverly,  1856-74.  In  1874,  when  the  present  Man- 
ning School  was  established,  the  feoffees  arranged 
with  the  trustees  and  town,  to  meet  the  obligation  of 
the  enfeoflment,  and  pradicalhj  have  contributed  since 
then  three  hundred  dollars  annually. 

Present  Value  of  the  Fund. — The  condition  of  this 
trust,  March  28,  1887,  according  to  the  treasurer's  re- 
port, was  as  follows:  "26|  old  rights  in  Jeffrey's 
Neck,  2  house-lots  in  Revere,  school-farm  in  Essex, 
Little  Neck,  deposit  in  Savings  Bank,  town  notes, 
Lynn  water-bond  and  cash,  valued  at  $11,514,  and 
yielding  an  income  of  about  $500." 

The  school  has  been  practically  in  the  control  of 
the  town  from  a  very  early  period,  by  right,  assump- 
tion, or  agreement,  and  since  1851  has  been  popular- 
ly called  the  Ipswich  Nigh  School.  Along  near  the 
close  of  the  first  century,  and  again  near  the  close  of 
the  second,  it  was  less  efficient  than  at  other  times ; 
and  ]>erhaps,  on  the  whole,  has  not  attained  to  the 
very  high  distinction  hoped  for  by  its  founders,  yet  it 
has  been  a  permanent  good  always,  and  most  of  the 
time  of  excellent  worth.  The  trust  is  now  rapidly 
growing  in  pecuniary  value,  and  wisely  managed,  as 
now,  will  be  in  the  future  a  large  and  efficient  educa- 
tional support. 

THE    MANNING    SCHOOL, 

The  Founder. — This  school  was  established  in  1874. 
Dr.  Thomas  Manning,  from  whom  it  took  its  name, 
was  the  founder.  He  was  son  of  Dr.  John  Manning 
who  died  in  1824,  at  the  age  of  eighty- six  years,  after 
a  long,  useful,  public  service,  especially  given — aside 
from  his  professional  service — to  the  cause  of  educa- 
tion.      Dr.    Thomas    inherited  his    father's  sterlina- 

o 

qualities,  his  generous  public  spirit,  and  perchance 
excelled  him.  He  was  devoted  to  the  prosperity  of 
the  town,  energetic  in  advancing  her  business  inter- 
ests, and,  when  in  age  he  bethought  him  "  to  set  his 
house  in  order,"  as  a  crowning  service  of  his  life,  he 
devoted  the  greater  part  of  his  ample  fortune  to  the 
purpose  of  establishing  "a  High  School  in  the  town  of 
Ipswich,  which  should  be  free  to  the  youth  of  the 
town  of  both  sexes." 

He  was  born  February  7,  1774,  and  died  February 
3,1854.  He  gave  the  property  to  Richard  H.  Man- 
ning, of  Brooklyn,  Francis  C.  Manning,  of  Boston — 
brothers — and  Francis  H.  Blanchard,  of  Waltham,  in 
trust,  and  provided  that  the  school-house  should  be 
built  and  the  school  begun  in  the  year  of  the  one 
hundredth  anniversary  of  his  birth,  the  cost  not  to  ex- 
ceed one-third  of  the  devise. 

The  Trust. — The  doctor's  son,  however,  thought  that 
his  father's  long  and  serious  illness  in  his  old  age  had 


608 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


improperly  influenced  the  making  his  will,  which 
made  what  was  thought  by  many  an  inadequate  pro- 
vision for  him,  and  he  contested  it,  and  it  was  disal- 
lowed. The  son  then  paid  all  the  minor  bequests,  and, 
to  carry  out  the  views  of  his  father,  generously  gave 
the  trustees,  in  1857,  about  one-third  of  the  remain- 
der, the  sum  of  $10,000. 

Here  Mr.  Blanchard  declined  to  serve  and  Mr.  Otis 
Kimball  was  elected  to  the  vacancy.  The  board  thus 
constituted  made  and  declared  the  deed  of  trust.  In 
1869  Mr.  F.  C.  Manning  died,  and  Mr.  Joseph  Ross, 
of  Ipswich,  was  elected  to  his  place  ;  and  in  April, 
1874,  Dr.  Y.  G.  Hurd  was  appointed  a  trustee  in  place 
of  Otis  Kimball,  who  had  then  died.  About  thi." 
time  Otis  Kimball,  Jr.,  was  elected. 

Other  Bequests. — When  the  century  was  nearly 
completed  and  the  house  was  to  be  built,  and  the 
fund  was  fonnd  too  small  to  meet  the  desired  end, 
providentially  came  to  hand  the  generous  bequest  of 
$4000  from  Dr.  Joseph  Green  Cogswell,  of  New 
York  and  Cambridge,  one  of  Ipswich's  most  distin- 
guished sons  and  a  gentleman  of  unusual  scholarly 
attainments.  About  this  time,  too,  one  of  the  trus- 
tee Mr.  Richard  H.  Manning,  contributed  the 
princely  sum  of  $15,000.  The  present  condition  of 
the  trust,  exclusive  of  the  buildings  and  land,  which 
cost  $32,000,  is  about  $40,000. 

The  House  and  Appointments. — The  school -house  is 
a  two-story,  square  structure,  with  mansard  roof,  and 
has  rooms  for  cabinets,  apparatus  and  recitations, 
and  on  the  third  floor,  a  spacious  and  serviceable 
hall.  The  architectural  design  was  by  Edward  R. 
Brown;  the  interior  design,  by  George  W.  Archer; 
the  trustee  supervision  of  the  work,  by  Joseph  Ross 
and  Dr.  Y.  G.  Hurd;  and  the  design  of  the  furniture, 
by  Joseph  L.  Ross — all  Ipswich  men. 

The  cabinets  illustrative  of  natural  history  and 
mineralogy,  and  the  apparatus  for  chemical  and 
philosophical  experiments  are  excellent.  In  1842 
Mr.  Abraham  Hammatt  donated  to  the  school  his  pri  • 
vate  cabinet  of  minerals,  which,  with  additions  pre- 
sented by  friends  of  the  school,  is  now  large,  choice 
and  well  arranged. 

Its  Dedication. — Thus  the  trustees  were  enabled  to 
meet  the  desire  of  the  founder  in  establishing  the 
school.  It  was  dedicated  in  the  afternoon  of  Wed- 
nesday, August  26,  1874.  The  exercises  were  con- 
ducted by  the  trustees  and  the  school  committee  of 
the  town,  and  consisted  of  addresses,  the  reading  of 
a  paper  on  the  Genealogy  of  the  Manning  Family, 
and  music.  The  president  of  the  trustees,  in  his 
opening  addresses,  remarked:  "The  noble  legacies  of 
the  dead  and  more  noble  gifts  of  the  living  have 
completed  and  furnished  a  structure  which  the  citi- 
zens of  Ipswich  may  look  upon  with  grateful  pride 
and  satisfaction." 

Mr.  R.  H.  Manning,  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the 
trustees,  on  the  same  occasion  said,  that  the  equip- 
ments of  the  school  were  ample  to  prepare  students 
for  professional  studies,  but  its  special  object  was  "  to 
lay  the  foundation,  and  do  what  time  and  opportunity 
may  allow  towards  the  superstructure  of  a  useful 
education  of  all  the  children  of  the  town."  "  The 
school  has  but  little  to  do  with  regularly  organized 
religious   matters."     It  was  open  for    "  all  who   are 


qualified  to  receive  its  instructions  without  distinc- 
tion of  sex,  color,  race  or  religion."  "  While,  there- 
fore, it  will  be  quite  within  its  province  to  do 
much  for  those  who  intend  to  make  literary  pursuits 
the  business  of  their  lives,  its  purpose  will  rather  be 
to  provide  an  education  which,  through  its  general 
influence  as  well  as  by  its  special  teaching,  shall 
tend  to  make  all  who  receive  it  able  to  perform  the 
common  duties  and  enjoy  the  common  blessings  of 
life  ;  to  make  them  better  observers  and  thinkers, 
and  consequently  better  farmers,  engineers  and  men 
of  business;  and  also,  by  laying  a  good  foundation, 
better  lawyers  and  doctors  and  ministers  and  states- 
men ;  and  above  all,  better  neighbors  and  citizens; 
better  and  manlier  men  and  better  and  more 
womanly  women." 

The  Principals. — The  teachers  have  been  Martin 
H.  Fiske,  1874-80;  George  N.  Cross,  1881-82;  A.  M. 
Osgood,  1883-84;  and  George  M.  Smith,  the  present 
incumbent.  The  school  has  graduated  one  hundred 
and  twenty-three  pupils,  and  is  now,  more  than  ever, 
growing  in  popular  favor  and  influence. 

The  Trustees. — The  Board  of  Trustees,  as  at  present 
constituted,  is  Dr.  Yorick  G.  Hurd,  president ;  Rich- 
ard H.  Manning,  secretary  and  treasurer ;  Joseph 
Ross,  Otis  Kimball  and  Theodore  F.  Cogswell. 

Richard  Henry  Manning.^ — The  subject  of 
this  sketch  was  born  in  Ipswich,  February  1,  1809. 
His  name  at  first  was  Henry.  It  was  after  his 
father's  death,  which  occurred  in  1815,  that  he  as- 
sumed his  name.  His  mother,  whose  maiden-name 
was  Lydia  Pearson,  died  when  he  was  only  a  few 
months  old,  and  soon  after  he  was  taken  home  by  his 
grandfather.  Dr.  John  Manning,  and  his  wife,  Lucy 
Bolles,  with  whom  his  father  also  lived  until  his 
death.  The  grandfather  was  a  leading  jiioneer  of 
woolen  manufacturing  in  Massachusetts,  if  not  the 
first.  The  father  also  engaged  in  this  business  in  the 
old  building  which  stood  where  the  "  Caldwell  Block" 
now  stands.  A  good  mathematician  and  surveyor,  he 
was,  for  one  winter  at  least,  master  of  the  district 
school,  and  his  little  son,  six  years  old  when  his 
father  died,  was  subject  to  his  instruction.  The  death 
of  his  grandmother,  with  whom  his  early  years  were 
very  happy,  consigned  him  to  the  care  of  his  paternal 
aunts,  whose  good  intentions  sometimes  failed  of 
meeting  the  requirements  of  the  sensitive  and  grow- 
ing boy.  It  was  probably  on  this  account  that  he 
acceded  to  their  plan  for  sending  him  to  Dummer 
Academy,  in  Byfield,  where  the  preceptor  was  Nehe- 
miah  Cleavelaud,  who  had  married  his  cousin,  Abby 
P.  Manning.  But  it  was  a  heart-breaking  business  to 
leave  his  grandfather,  who  had  been  very  kind  to 
him  and  to  whom  he  was  verj'^  necessary,  and  he  dared 
not  trust  himself  to  say  good-bye,  but  stole  away  early 
in  the  morning.  The  experience  entered  on  so  pain- 
fully was  very  beneficial,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cleaveland 
proving  admirable  directors  of  his  studies  and  help- 
ing the  formation  of  his  character  with  affectionate 
and  judicious  guidance  of  his  habits  and  his  tastes. 
To  a  period  of  repression  succeeded  a  period  of 
genial  growth.  "  I  have  often  thought,"  he  wrote  not 
long  before  his  death,  "that  if  I  had  grown  up  from 

1  By  Rev.  John  W.  Chadwick,  Brooklyn,  N.T. 


^Jezfruf^r 


/S^'r'Ml 


/Id-^-^^-t-L 


IPSWICH. 


608a 


early  childhood  with  more  sunshine  and  less  wind,  I 
should  not  have  wrapped  the  cloak  of  reserve  so 
closely  about  me,  and  might  have  been  less  censo- 
rious, of  gentler  and  more  considerate  speech,  and 
altogether  a  more  agreeable  member  of  society."  But 
if  he  ever  was  censorious,  harsh,  or  inconsiderate,  it 
must  have  been  at  a  period  to  which  the  memory  of 
his  later  friends  did  not  go  back. 

In  1825,  after  about  eighteen  months  at  Byfield,  his 
school-days  came  to  an  end,  and  on  the  day  before  the 
laying  of  the  corner  stone  of  Bunker  Hill  Monument, 
June  24th,  he  entered  on  his  business  life  in  Boston, 
which  continued  with  a  single  change  of  employers 
till  he  removed  to  Philadelphia  in  1831.  At  this 
time  his  intellectual  tendency  of  mind  and  earnest- 
ness of  character  had  already  sensibly  declared  them- 
selves. With  no  taste  for  dissipation,  refusing  the 
summer  evening  punch  and  winter  Sunday  toddy 
proffered  by  his  employer,  in  whose  family  he  lived, 
he  devoted  his  leisure  hours  to  the  reading  of  well- 
chosen  books  and  to  various  literary  exercises  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Mercantile  Ijibrary  Association,  of 
which  he  was  a  director.  He  was  a  lover  of  the  poets 
as  well  as  of  the  historians  and  novelists,  and  could 
"  drop  into  poetry "  himself  upon  occasion,  once 
keej)ing  up  for  some  time  a  tilt  of  verse,  incognito,  with 
Mrs.  Frances  Osgood,  not  unknown  to  fame;  and  he 
never  got  to  be  so  practical  or  scientific  but  that  he 
could  revert  to  this  early  habit.  He  was  fond  of  re- 
vising the  hymns  sung  at  church  in  accordance  with 
his  scientific  predilections,  and  he  often  turned  a 
graceful  rhyme  to  bless  some  birthday  festival  or 
other  happy  anniversary  of  home  and  friends. 

Within  a  year  after  his  going  to  Philadelphia  he  be- 
came a  partner  in  the  firm  of  Farnsworth  &  Manning? 
and  the  confidence  with  which  he  had  inspired  his 
employer  in  Boston  was  evidenced  by  his  willingnesB 
to  go  security  for  him  to  the  amount  of  several 
thousand  dollars.  In  Boston  he  had  not  taken  kindly 
to  the  Unitarianism  of  his  employer,  but  in  Phila- 
delphia, coming  under  the  influence  of  Dr.  Furncss, 
he  became  an  ardent  Unitarian,  and  with  increasing 
liberality  and  growing  satisfaction  in  rationalistic  and 
scientific  methods,  he  remained  a  Unitarian  until  his 
death,  connected  for  the  last  thirty-five  years  of  his 
life  with  the  Second  Unitarian  Church  in  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.,  of  which  he  was  a  trustee  for  several  terms 
and  in  which  he  was  always  greatly  loved  and  honored 
for  the  wisdom  of  his  counsels  and  the  goodness  of  his 
heart.  It  was  during  his  stay  in  Philadelphia  that  he 
made  the  acquaintance  of  Frances  Augusta  Moore,  who 
became  his  wife  Jan.  15,  1835,  and  died  in  March,  1839 
leaving  a  daughter  Adeline.  Mr.  Manning  was  again 
married,  Nov.  7, 1840,  to  Sarah  P.  Swan,  who  died  leav- 
ing a  daughter  Sarah,  Dec.  21, 1841.  The  domestic  hap- 
piness, twice  laid  in  ruins,  was  again  renewed  June  29. 
1843,  when  he  married  Mary  D.  Weeks,  who  remained 
until  his  death  the  fit  companion  of  his  earnest  purpose 
and  generous  heart.   They  never  wearied  in  "  devising 


liberal  things"  forthoseof  their  own  household  and  for 
many  far  and  near  who  were  in  need  of  such  encourage- 
ment and  help  as  they  could  give.  The  children  of  this 
marriage  were  Henry  Swan  and  Mary  Channing,  and 
their  children,  with  those  of  the  daughter  Sarah,  were 
the  crowning  happiness  of  Mr.  Manning's  later  life. 
Through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  his  domestic  life,  from 
1835  until  her  death,  in  1880,  his  sister  Elizabeth  was 
a  member  of  his  family,  with  a  mother-heart  for  all 
his  children  and  a  helping  hand  for  every  needful  work. 
Mr.  Manning's  business  life  in  New  York  had  hardly 
begun  when  the  great  fire  of  1835  and  the  financial 
crash  of  1836  gave  a  sudden  check  to  his  incipient 
prosperity.    With  a  courageous  heart  he  set  out  again, 
this  time  alone,   as  a  dry-goods  jobber,  and  he  re- 
mained in  the  same  business  till  1851,  with  two  or 
three  different  partners  at  different  times.     After  a 
year  of  leisure,  he  entered  into  partnership  with  Wil- 
liam C.  Squier,  of  the  New  Jersey  Zinc  Company.     In 
1855,    with    the   same   partner,    he  took   the  selling 
agency  of  the  Passaic  Zinc  Company,  and  made  no 
further  change  for  the  remainder  of  his  active  busi- 
ness life,  which   terminated    only  four  years   before 
his  death.     His  partner  testifies,  that  in  the  thirty- 
two  years  of  their  connection,  they  never  had  one 
hour's  misunderstanding  or  one  word  of  anger  or  re- 
proach.     His  year  of  leisure,  1851,  was  marked  by 
one  of  the  most  agreeable  and  characteristic  episodes 
of  his  career.     For  some  years  he  had  been  deeply 
interested    in    the   teachings   of  Fourier   and   other 
writers  upon  social  reorganization.      With  others,  he 
had  induced  the  Rev.  William  Henry  Channing  to 
come  to  Brooklyn  as  minister  of  a  society  wholly  free 
from   any  conventional  limitations.     Mr.  Channing 
was   profoundly  interested   in   social   questions   and 
stirred  up  a  generous   enthusiasm  for   them   in  the 
minds  of  his  hearers.     For  two  or  three  years  there 
was  a  series  of  parlor  meetings,  at  which  the  times 
and  the  eternities  were  discussed  with  equal  warmth. 
To  these  meetings  came  many  able  men  and  women — 
Horace  Greeley  not  the  least  among  them,  and  Mar- 
garet Fuller,  in  Mr.  Manning's  estimation,  the  great- 
est ;  or,  at  any  rate,  the  ablest  talker.     For  several 
months  she  was  a  member  of  his  family,  while  on  the 
staff  of  the  New    York   Tribune.     In  the  summer  of 
1850  Mr.  Manning  boarded  at  the  North  American 
Phalanx,  the  New   York  "  Brook  Farm,"  with  sev- 
eral  friends   and   their   families.      The  doctrines  of 
social    reorganization  which  he  had  been    brooding 
on  so  long,  were  thus  practically  tested,  and  the  result 
was  so  assuring  that  in  1851  he  built  a  cottage  on  the 
Phalanx  grounds  and  spent  the  summer  there.     This 
was   the   episode  to  which    we   have   referred.     Mr. 
Manning  always  maintained  that  the  failure  of  the 
movement   was   owing   more   to   accidental    circum- 
stances  than   to   intrinsic   causes,  and   held    to   the 
necessity  for  changes  in  our  present  social  order  in 
the  direction  of  co-operative  life. 

Mr.  Manning  never  forgot  his  native  town  and  had 


608b 


HISTOKY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


at  all  times  relations  of  kinship  and  affection  with 
many  Ipswich  Iblks  ;  but  that  which  brought  him 
into  the  closest  and  most  gratifying  contact  with  his 
former  townsmen  was  his  connection  with  the  "Man- 
ning School."  His  uncle,  Dr.  Thomas  Manning, 
dying  in  1854,  left  nearly  all  his  moderate  fortune  in 
trust  to  liim,  his  brother  Francis  and  Francis  H. 
Blanchard,  of  Waltham,  for  th-e  establishment  and 
maintenance  of  a  High  School  in  Ipswich.  The  will 
was  contested  by  the  only  son  of  Dr.  Manning  and 
it  was  disallowed  by  the  Probate  Court.  But  after  the 
son  had  paid  all  the  minor  beciuests  of  the  will,  he  gave 
one-third  of  the  sum  remaining,  about  ten  thousand 
dollars,  to  the  trustees  named  in  the  will,  with  which 
to  carry  out  his  father's  wishes.  As  only  one-third 
could  be  spent  for  the  building,  it  seemed  best  not  to 
build  until  investment  had  considerably  increased 
the  sum  in  hand.  The  investment  was  made  by  Mr. 
R.  H,  Manning,  and  so  successfully,  that  in  1874  the 
original  sum  had  increased  to  more  than  forty  thou- 
sand dollars,  and  then  the  bonds  representing  the 
whole  amount  were  stolen  by  a  thief,  who  had  fol- 
lowed Mr.  Manning  into  his  ottice.  The  loss  of  no 
other  money  could  have  been  so  hard,  but  though  his 
cheek  was  for  a  moment  blanched,  the  next  morning 
(New  Year's  day)  he  made  his  usual  round  6f  calls 
with  his  habitual  cheerfulness.  Of  the  stolen  money, 
he  at  length  recovered  tlie  larger  part.  What  could 
not  be  recovered,  he  made  up ;  adding  to  this  a  sum 
which,  with  a  bequest  made  in  his  will,  constitutes 
an  amount  more  than  double  that  originally  in  hand. 
These  were  the  benefactions  of  a  man  of  moderate 
means,  of  whom  a  friend  has  said  that  "he  was  wisely 
economical,  in  order  that  he  might  be  nobly  gener- 
ous." But  he  gave  the  school  more  and  better  than 
money.  He  gave  a  well-selected  library,  into  the 
choice  of  which  he  put  hundreds  of  thoughtful  hours. 
He  gave  his  constant  oversight  and  private  counsel, 
and  several  times  some  well-considered  public  word 
in  furtherance  of  the  cause  he  had  so  much  at  heart. 

Mr.  Manning  apprehended  his  position  as  a  citizen 
ill  the  most  serious  manner.  He  was  always  deeply 
interested  in  State  and  national  politics  and  in  ques- 
tions of  municipal  reform.  His  anti-slavery  senti- 
ments dated  from  the  beginning  of  the  great  debate. 
Horace  Greeley  had  no  more  honored  friend,  and  he 
made  him  one  of  the  administrators  of  his  will.  He 
was  a  stanch  Republican,  and  when  the  ordeal  of 
battle  succeeded  to  the  strife  of  words,  he  was  proud 
to  have  a  soldier-son,  and  with  the  co-operation  of 
his  wife  and  sister,  did  what  he  could  for  the  allevia- 
tion of  the  suffering  and  sorrow  of  the  time.  His 
connection  with  civil  service  reform  was  close  and 
earnest  from  the  start,  and  the  last  public  duty  he 
assumed  (but  did  not  live  to  perform)  was  that  of  an 
examiner  under  the  civil  service  rules.  His  last  ill- 
ness began  October  25th  and  he  died  Nov.  2d,  1887. 

There  was  no  more  hospitable  roof  than  his  in  all 
the  land.     There  was  welcome  under  it  not  otily  for 


the  fortunate  and  happy  who  could  bring  their  health 
and  cheer,  but  for  those  who  had  been  bruised  and 
maimed  in  life's  hard  fray.  Madame  Zulavsky,  an 
exile  from  Hungary,  the  sister  of  Louis  Kossuth,  had 
her  last  sickness  here.  The  gravity  of  Mr.  Manning's 
mind  and  character  attracted  to  him  many  wise  and 
noble  spirits.  He  had  a  genius  for  friendship,  and  his 
friends  were  often  persons  of  exceptional  ability  and 
worth.  Horace  Greeley  and  Margaret  Fuller  have 
been  already  named.  Samuel  Johnson,  the  Salem 
thinker  and  reformer,  was  another.  Professor  E.  Ij. 
Youmans,  with  whose  scientific  thought  he  was  en- 
tirely sympathetic,  was  perhaps  the  closest  of  them  all 
But  he  did  not  demand  high  culture  and  ability  from 
all  his  friends.  To  be  simple  and  sincere  and  kind  was 
a  sufficient  claim  on  his  regard  ;  or  to  be  in  need  of  any 
help  that  he  could  give.      He  had  a  gift  for  doing 

"  Little  kindnesses  which  most  leave  undoue  or  despise." 

An  "  advanced  thinker  ''  always,  he  never  lost  the 
art  of  sweet,  old-fashioned  courtesy.  He  was  remark- 
able for  the  comprehensiveness  and  balance  of  his 
powers.  With  great  practical  ability  he  united  an 
admirable  gift  for  speculative  thought,  and  while  thus 
profoundly  intellectual,  he  was  pre-eminently  a  "man 
of  sentiment,"  without  ever  Iteing  sentimental.  His 
feelings  were  extremely  sensitive  and  warm.  And  so 
it  was  that,  however  admirable  in  every  wider  sphere, 
it  was  in  his  home-life  that  he  revealed  his  most  es- 
sential character.  He  wrote  such  letters  as  men 
used  to  write  when  as  yet  there  was  no  penny  post. 
They  were  not  often  long,  but  they  were  always  care- 
fully considered  and  gracefully  expressed.  For  other 
forms  of  literary  expression  he  was  well  equipped. 
His  printed  speeches  and  addresses  and  the  papers 
that  he  published  upon  various  subjects,  though  but 
few,  are  evidence  that  if  he  had  devoted  himself  ex- 
clusively to  a  life  of  thought  and  literary  exja-ession, 
he  might  have  won  an  enviable  fame.  But  there  is 
nothing  to  regret.  He  could  have  done  no  better 
than  to  show  by  his  example  that  a  life  of  constant 
and  exacting  business  cares  can  be  conjoined  with 
intellectual  pursuits  and  noble  charities  and  genial 
fellowship,  and  such  social  usefulness  as  is  still  alive 
and  operative  when  the  places  that  have  known 
us  know  us  no  more  forever. 

THE   DISTRICT   SCHOOLS. 

Origin. — This  system  has  been  the  growth  of  years 
and  exigencies.  In  1642  the  town  voted  that  there 
be  a  free  school.  Such  a  school  was  to  teach  "  read- 
ing, writing  and  cyphering."  In  1664  Mr.  Andrews 
was  invited  to  teach.  In  1695  Nathaniel  Rust,  Jr., 
taught  at  Chebacco,  and  the  following  year  was  in- 
vited to  settle  as  master.  la  1702  Chebacco  was  al- 
lowed to  erect  a  school-house  on  the  common,  and  in 
1713  William  Giddings  was  master  there.  In  1714 
the  town  voted  to  have  a  school  in  the  watch-house, 
and  in  1719  it  was  used  for  the  same  purpose.  Wil- 
liam SoNE,  a  fisherman,  by  reason  of  sickness,  was 
granted  a  room  in  the  Almshouse  for  a  school.     The 


IPSWICH. 


609 


Hamlet  voted  March  10, 1730,  to  build  a  school-house 
for  their  accommodation  ;  and  on  the  30th  the  town 
appropriated  one  hundred  pounds  for  three  masters 
for  the  First,  Chebacco  and  Hamlet  Parishes.  This 
was  the  sum  paid  by  Giffbrd  Cogswell  in  settlement 
of  the  Grammar  School  claim.  The  First  Parish  had 
£41,  the  Hamlet  committee  £20,  the  Chebacco  com- 
mittee £20,  Mark  How  for  West  Parish  (afterwards 
Linebrook)  £4 18s.  9(1,  Moses  Davis  for  his  neighbor- 
hood £6  lis.  10c?.,  and  Deacon  Fellows  for  his  neighbor- 
hood £2  4.?.,  thus  outlining  the  present  district  system. 
The  selectmen,  May  22,  1732,  engaged  Henry  Spil- 
LAR  to  teach,  and  granted  him  the  use  of  one  end  of 
the  Almshouse  for  that  purpose. 

;:  Supervision. — The  committee  of  the  First  Parish 
agreed  with  him  to  teach  a  quarter  for  eight  pounds. 
No  further  appropriation  was  made  till  ordered  by 
the  Court  of  General  Sessions,  when,  1740,  the  Gram- 
mar School  (which  see)  and  the  reading  and  writing 
schools  were  served  together.  In  1742  eighteen 
pounds  of  the  school  rents,  old  tenor,  were  "ad- 
judged "  to  each  Chebacco  and  Hamlet,  and  twenty- 
eight  pounds  of  said  rents,  old  tenor,  "  to  those  jxirts 
of  the  First  Parish  as  have  least  benefit  from  the 
Grammar  School,"  and  the  same  year  the  selectmen 
were  to  visit  the  schools  once  a  quarter,  and  invite 
the  minister  to  attend  with  them,  the  germ  of  our 
present  committee  supervision. 

In  1743  a  committee  of  five  were  chosen  to  visit 
the  schools,  as  often  as  they  thought  proper,  and  in- 
quire into  the  conduct  of  the  master  and  the  behavior 
of  the  scholars,  and  report  to  the  town.  In  1756  the 
town  appropriated  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds,  old 
tenor,  for  a  master  who  was  to  be  employed  three 
months  and  two  weeks  at  Chebacco,  three  months 
and  two  weeks  at  the  Hamlet,  two  months  at  Line- 
brook,  and  otherwise  as  directed  by  the  selectmen. 
This  amount  and  plan  of  appropriation  continued  a 
number  of  years. 

In  1761  the  General  Court  authorized  the  sale  of 
school  rights  in  Birch  Island,  Bush  Hill,  Bartholo- 
mew Hill  and  Chebacco  Woods,  and  the  next  year 
rejected  pi-oposals  to  sell  the  school  farm.  A  school 
house  was  built  at  Linebrook,  on  land  two  rods  front 
and  four  rods  deep,  enfeofied  by  Jeremiah  Smith 
October  30,  1765,  so  long  as  used  for  the  purpose  of  a 
school.  In  1783  the  town  employed  two  masters,  and 
raised  one  hundred  and  forty  pounds  for  schools,  and 
granted  land  for  a  school-house  near  Joseph  Fowler's 
lane. 

Appropriations. — The  yearly  appropriation,  1785- 
94,  was  £160  ;  1795-96,  £23o';  1797-1801,  $766.66  ; 
1802,1900;  1810,  $1200;  1816,  $1500;  1840,  $1600; 
1854,  $2000;  1861,  $2500  ;  1866,  $3000;  1868,  $3500; 
1871,  $4000;  1886,  $4400  and  $2300  for  High 
School. 

In  1791  the  visiting   committee   consisted  of  forty 
members  ;    eleven  in  the  body  of  the  town,  seven  at 
Chebacco,  nine  at  the  Hamlet,  five  at  Linebrook,  two 
39 


at  Candlewood,  two  at  Argilla,  two  at  Moses  Jewett's 
and  two  at  John  Patch's. 

The  Studies. — The  variety,  extent  and  relative  im- 
portance of  the  studies  a  century  ago,  may  best  be 
learned  from  perusing  the  committee's  instruction 
from  the  town  April  2,  1792,  viz.:  "To  go  with  the 
Latin  scholars  to  the  Grammar  School,  are  those  who 
study  English  grammar,  those  who  are  to  be  taught 
in  book-keeping  and  after  them,  the  foremost  in  read- 
ing and  spelling,  until  the  number  in  the  Grammar 
School  shall  rise  to  a  third  part  of  the  whole  existing 
number  in  both.  To  read  well  in  the  Bible  and  spell 
should  be  necessary  qualifications  for  entering  as  stu- 
dents in  English  grammar.  To  be  taught  in  book- 
keeping, the  pupil  must  have  gone  through  the  four 
first  rules  of  arithmetic,  simple  and  compound ;  Re- 
ductions in  both  parts ;  the  Eules  of  Proportion,  di- 
rect, inverse  and  compound  ;  and  the  rules  of  Prac- 
tice. The  master  of  the  English  school  shall  attend 
upon  all  in  Arithmetic  except  the  Latin  scholars  and 
those  in  book-keeping  as  aforesaid.  In  both  schools 
the  Catechism  of  the  Assembly  of  Divines  with  Dr. 
Watts'  explanatory  Notes  and  the  Catechism  by  the 
same  author  be  constantly  used  as  much  as  three  or 
four  times  a  week  according  to  the  different  grades  of 
the  scholars,  until  the  same  are  committed  to  memo- 
ry." The  practice  of  teaching  the  Catechism  lasted 
till  1826. 

Covimittees  Chosen. — In  1794  a  committee  of  seven 
was  chosen  to  consider  the  subject  of  schooling.  They 
recommended  a  committee  "to  regulate  and  visit  the 
schools,  as  it  is  thought  it  would  be  an  encourage- 
ment to  the  masters  and  scholars,  and  consequently 
would  be  beneficial  to  the  education  of  the  youth." 
A  committee  of  nine  were  chosen.  In  1795  five  were 
chosen;  in  1796,  nine;  in  1798,  seven  ;  and  the  same 
in  1800.     The  number  now  is  three. 

Districts. — Shortly  after  1800  the  school  districts 
were  defined  by  metes  and  bounds.  Some  twenty- 
five  years  later,  prudential  committees  were  em- 
ployed. This  plan  was  probably  the  remains  of  the 
old  system  of  parish  committees  respectively.  Still 
later,  by  some  ten  years,  the  prudential  committees 
were  empowered  to  hire  their  respective  teachers. 
The  prudential  system  was  abolished  in  April,  1869, 
when  the  district  property  was  appraised  and  pur- 
chased by  the  town. 

Expense. — The  present  number  of  pupil?  enrolled 
is  six  hundred  and  eighty,  distributed  in  seven  un- 
graded schools,  three  primary,  three  intermediate  and 
one  high.  The  total  cost  for  the  year  is  seventy-six 
hundred  dollars,  making  a  per  capita  cost  of  eleven 
and  eighteen-one-hundredths  dollars. 

Our  Schools  Free. — The  existence  and  importance 
of  schools  was  inbred  in  our  ancestors,  and  the  first 
and  leading  thought  in  relation  to  them  was  that  they 
should  be  free.  Their  first  vote  declared  the  senti- 
ment, and  along  the  years  circumstances  have  been 
made  subservient,  and   pecuniary  ability  has    been 


610 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


pledged  to  hasten  tlie  grand  consummation.  With 
free  text-books  in  the  hands  of  the  scholars,  as  has 
been  the  case  for  the  last  year  or  two,  our  schools  are 
absolutely  free.  If  the  spirits  of  the  departed  are 
conversant  with  the  affairs  of  men,  there  is  a  multi- 
tude of  our  citizen  benefactors  with  tlie  Paines,  and 
Hubbard,  and  Cross,  and  Burley,  and  Manning,  and 
Cogswell  at  their  head,  uniting  with  the  generous 
living  in  one  glad  acclaim  for  the  fruition  of  their 
hope — absolutely  free  schools  for  all  our  sons  and 
daughters. 

THE   IPSWICH   FEMALE   SEMINARY. 

The  Academy. — The  institution  now  or  lately  known 
by  the  above  title  was  incorporated  February  28, 
1828,  by  the  name  of  the  Proprietors  of  Ipswich  Acad- 
emy. The  incorporators'  names  were  Nathaniel  Lord, 
Jr.,  Joseph  Farley,  Ammi  E.  Smith,  George  W.  Hart 
and  Charles  Kimball.  They  could  hold  a  personal 
estate  of  ten  thousand  dollars  and  a  real  of  eight 
thousand  dollars.  The  building  was  completed  early 
in  1826,  fifty-six  feet  long,  thirty-five  wide  and  two 
stories  high,  at  a  cost  of  four  thousand  dollars.  The 
last  Wednesday  in  the  following  April,  Rev.  Hervey 
Wilbur  opened  the  school  and  with  a  female  assist- 
ant taught  one  year.  In  his  advertisement  he  called 
the  school  a  Classical  Seminary  for  Young  Ladies.  In 
May,  1827,  James  W.  Ward  began,  and  he  continued 
to  March,  1828. 

The  Seminary.— In  1818  Rev.  Joseph  Emerson,  a 
descendant  of  Thomas,  of  Ipswich  in  1642,  opened  in 
Byfield  the  pioneer  school  for  educating  young  ladies. 
Two  of  his  assistant  pupils.  Miss  Grant  and  Miss 
Lyon,  went  out  and  opened  schools  on  the  same  plan. 
These  designs  were  not  long  in  maturing;  female 
schools  soon  became  a  settled  fact,  and  the  proprietors 
of  the  Ipswich  Academy,  imbibing  the  sentiment, 
made  their  school  a  seminary,  and,  in  the  well-chosen 
words  of  another, 

"  Ipswich  was  favored  for  nearly  balf  a  century  with  a  celebrated 
school  for  young  ladles.  A  large  and  commodious  edifice,  erected  in 
1825,  was  in  April,  1828,  placed  without  rent  in  the  hands  of  Miss  Z.  I. 
Grant,  then  already  well  and  widely  known  as  an  instructor.  Many  of 
her  scholars  followed  her  from  the  Adams  Female  Academy  in  Derry,  N. 
H.,  where  she  had  taught  with  great  success,  and  her  Ipswich  School 
became  at  once  the  resort  of  young  ladies  from  all  parts  of  the  country. 
Her  able  associate,  Mary  Lyon,  and  other  competent  assistants  helped 
her  to  make  it  one  of  the  best  in  the  land.  She  arranged  a  course  of 
study,  liberal  for  the  times,  established  regular  classes— junior,  middle 
and  senior— to  which  students  were  admitted  on  examination,  and  intro- 
duced the  custom  of  conferring  diplomas  on  those  who  completed  the 
course.  She  made  education  the  handmaid  of  religion,  the  Bible  a  daily 
study,  and  the  school  a  nursery  of  character  and  scholarship.  Her 
scholars  were  in  great  demand  as  teachers,  and  so  known  and  prized  for 
purity  of  intention  and  active  usefulness  that  wherever  they  went  their 
presence  was  a  recommendation  and  advertisement  of  the  Seminary. 

"Miss  Grant's  hope  of  founding  a  college  for  ladies  at  Ipswich  was 
frustrated  more  by  the  delicate  state  of  her  health  than  by  the  want  of 
funds,  but  her  ideas  were  happily  incorporated  in  the  Mt.  Holyoke  Sem- 
inary by  her  associate,  Mary  Lyon,  its  eminent  founder.  Miss  Grant 
resigned  the  charge  of  the  school  in  18u9,  having  had  during  her  eleven 
years  at  Ipswich  1458  scholars,  of  whom  IHO  were  full  graduates,  and  to 
that  date  twenty  hftd  become  missionaries  of  the  American  Board,  and 
488  teachers  in  various  parts  of  our  own  country. 

"In  1841  Miss  Grant  was  married  to  Hon.  Wm.  B.  Barrister,  of  New^- 


buryport ;  she  survived  in  honor  and  usefulness  till  1874.  Her  memory 
is  preserved  in  an  e.\cellent  volume,  "The  Use  of  a  Life,"  printed  by 
the  American  Tract  Society. 

"  In  the  spring  of  1844  the  trustees,  after  various  changes  and  disap- 
pointments, installed  Rev.  and  Mrs  John  P.  Cowles  as  principals.  Mr. 
Cowles  was  a  graduate  of  Yale  College,  class  of  1826,  and  has  been  pro- 
fessor of  Hebrew  in  the  Oberlin  Theological  Seminary,  while  Mrs. 
Cowles,  for  ten  years  before  her  marriage,  had  been  iissociated  either  as 
pupil  or  teacher  with  Miss  Grant  or  Miss  Lyon.  They  brought  to  their 
work  industry,  energy  and  zeal,  and  with  the  aid  of  vigorous  and  accom- 
plished assistants,  mostly  of  their  own  training,  they  not  only  kept  up 
the  previous  moral  and  religious  tone  of  the  institution,  but  raised  its 
classical  and  literary  character  to  equal,  if  not  surpass,  the  general  ad- 
vance in  the  country.  Young  ladies,  from  one  to  two  hundred,  according 
to  the  accommodations  for  boarding  in  the  village,  soon  gathered  around 
them,  often  continuing  with  them  three,  four  or  five  years  before  grad- 
uation. 

"  Although  the  stochholders  had  granted  the  use  of  thair  property 
rent  free,  yet,  for  the  sake  of  miich  needed  improvements,  the  principals 
bought  it  and  added  to  it  the  adjacent  Dutch  estate,  thus  extending  the 
grounds  to  the  river,  and  by  means  of  fencing,  terracing,  grading  and 
planting  fruit  and  ornamental  trees,  shrubs  and  vines,  they  transformed 
it  into  one  of  the  fairest,  as  it  had  always  been  one  of  the  airiest  and 
healthiest,  sites  of  the  village.  For  thirty-two  years  they  continued 
their  onward  and  upward  way,  ever  teaching  and  training  minds  in  the 
lino  of  natural  development,  faithful  study,  careful  investigation  and  un- 
shackled freedom  and  independence  of  thought.  Their  students,  no  less 
than  Mrs.  Barrister's,  have  enrolled  themselves  as  thinkers,  toilers, 
teachers  and  writers,  whose  names  their  countrymen  and  country-wo 
men  will  not  soon  nor  willingly  let  die." 

The  school  was  closed  in  1876. 

Sunday-Schools. — One  of  the  most  powerful  edu- 
cational agencies  of  the  present  time  is  the  Sunday- 
school.  Our  schools  enroll  as  many  scholars  as  the 
day  schools  and  even  more.  They  embrace  all  ages, 
and  although  they  have  one  grand  central  theme 
there  is  a  correlation  of  themes,  which  gives  breadth 
and  scope  to  their  work  and  enhances  their  influence 
and  importance.  The  youngest  are  taught  to  talk, 
to  read,  to  memorize ;  others  study  geography,  his- 
tory, biography,  and  still  others  comparative  ethics, 
and  the  methods  and  principles  of  Christian  living, 
preparing  the  mind  and  heart  and  soul  for  an  intelli- 
gent reception  of  the  gift  of  eternal  life.  As  re- 
ported, there  are  8,034,478  scholars  thus  engaged  in 
the  United  States,  seven  millions  of  whom  are  child- 
ren and  youth.  The  same  report  estimates  nine  mil- 
lion children  and  youth  not  yet  reached — a  glorious 
work  and  opportunity.  The  schools  here  were  or- 
ganized in  the  First  and  South  Churches  in  1816, 
and  at  Linebrook  about  1818.  In  1832  or  1833  the 
First  Church  school  had  two  hundred  scholars  and 
three  hundred  and  eighty-four  volumes  in  the  library ; 
the  South  Church  school  had  two  hundred  scholars 
and  four  hundred  and  fifty  volumes;  the  Methodist 
Church  school  one  hundred  and  thirty  scholars  and 
three  hundred  and  ninety  volumes.  The  First  Church 
school  now  has  two  hundred  scholars  and  three  hun- 
dred and  fitly  volumes.  The  Line  Brook  Church 
school  fifty  scholars  and  two  hundred  and  fifty 
volumes.  These  teachers  labor  without  pay ;  they 
give  their  time  and  exertions  for  the  love  they  bear 
the  cause.  Their  influence  upon  the  moral  and  social 
condition  of  the  town  is  great,  and  their  office  deserves 
a  more  helpful  public  recognition. 


IPSWICH. 


611 


Libraries. — There  were  two  libraries  in  town  in 
1833.  They  were  called  the  social  and  the  religious, 
and  had  each  about  three  hundred  volumes.  They 
are  now  out  of  remembrance.  One  was  kept  in  the 
town  house,  and  unpaid  fines  and  dues  excluded  one 
and  another  of  the  proprietors  till  only  two  or  three 
remained,  when  the  books  were  divided  to  each,  and 
the  library  closed. 

The  present  "  Free  Public  Library  "  was  founded 
in  1868  by  the  munificence  of  Captain  Augustine 
Heard.  It  was  opened  to  the  public,  March  1,  1869. 
Captain  Heard  donated  the  building,  three  thousand 
volumes,  and  an  endowment  fund  of  $10,000,  making 
a  grand  total  of  about  $40,000.  This  gift  was  sup- 
plemented by  Prof.  Daniel  Treadweli,  of  Harvard 
College,  who  gave  his  private  library,  some  valuable 
paintings  and  a  fund  of  $20,000.  These  princely 
gifts  have  made  the  lives  of  these  gentlemen  a  per- 
petual blessing.  The  trustees  are  Hon.  George  Has- 
kell. Zenas  Gushing,  Joseph  Ross  and  ex  officio,  the 
principal  of  the  Manning  High  School  and  the  pas- 
tor of  the  First  Congregational  Church.  Miss  Lydia 
Caldwell  has  been  the  librarian  from  the  very  first 
and  has  proved  herself  very  efficient.  The  library 
contains  some  more  than  ten  thousand  volumes, 
Avhich  have  been  selected  with  great  care,  especially 
the  works  of  fiction,  which  are  scrupulously  stand- 
ard, and  which  constitute  three-fourths  of  the  books 
loaned. 

Books. — New  England's  first  book  of  poetry  was 
by  Mrs.  Anna  Bradstreet,  early  of  Ipswich.  One  of 
the  first  histories  of  New  England  was  by  an  Ips- 
wich clergyman,  William  Hubbard.  The  first  Latin 
book  printed  in  America  was  by  Rev.  John  Norton, 
of  Ipswich.  The  "  Body  of  Liberties,"  containing 
the  essence  of  our  civil  rights  to-day,  and  the  "  Sim- 
ple Cobbler  of  Agawam,"  long  to  be  remembered  as 
an  old-time  classic,  were  the  work  of  the  author, 
preacher,  jurist  and  scholar,  Nathaniel  Ward,  of  Ips- 
wich. These  are  a  few  of  the  most  illustrious  names. 
For  two  centuries,  Ipswich  clergymen  and  scholars 
issued  many  publications  ;  but  now  the  profession  of 
authorship  precludes  the  double  vocation  that  for- 
merly obtained,  and  clergyman  and  scholar  and 
author  have  each  his  respetive  province.  A  little 
volume  of  poems,  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Edward  G. 
Hull,  was  issued  in  1886.  Mr.  John  Patch  has  pub- 
lished a  volume  of  poems.  He  was  a  poet  of  very 
high,  if  not  the  highest  rank.  He  had  genius  of  a 
marked  character.  His  compositions  evince  poetic 
fervor  and  keen  appreciation  of  both  moral  and  physi- 
cal beauty.  He  had  warm  partialities  for  the  sea  and 
all  that  concerns  it,  and  for  nature  in  all  her  varying 
moods.  Many  of  his  best  poems  are  sea  pictures  and 
descriptions  of  rural  scenes.  His  versification  is 
noble,  and  his  poems  in  general  have  worthy  com- 
pleteness. A  tone  of  calm  elevation  and  hopeful 
contemplation  is  well  sustained  throughout.  The 
rhythm  is  well  modulated,  and  in  some  of  his  shorter 


poems  inexpressibly  pathetic.  His  poems  are  richly 
ideal,  and  abound  in  detached  images  of  exceeding 
beauty  and  of  high  merit. 

Neavspapers. — One  of  the  best  popular  educators  is 
a  carefully  edited  family  newspaper.  The  first  news- 
paper started  Lere  was  The  Ipsivich  Journal.  It  was 
issued  weekly  by  John  H.  Harris,  who  began  its  publi- 
cation in  July,  1827,  and  discontinued  it  August,  1828. 
The  next  venture  was  The  Ipswich  Register,  edited 
by  Eugene  F.  W.  Gray,  and  published  by  Gray  & 
Smith.  It  was  a  weekly  ;  it  began  June  1, 1837,  and,  we 
presume,  was  issued  last,  May  25, 1838.  The  next  was 
The  Ipswich  Clarion,  begun  February  23,  1850,  and  is- 
sued fortnightly  by  Timothy  B.  Ross.  It  was  folio 
and  very  newsy.  The  first  Saturday  in  January, 
1868,  the  Ipswich  Bulletin  first  appeared.  It  continued 
till  about  August  1st.  The  proprietor,  Mr.  Charles 
W.  Felt,  of  Salem,  proposed  to  furnish  a  paper  to 
each  of  several  towns,  cheaply,  by  having  local  cor- 
respondents who  were  to  manage  their  respective 
localities,  and  by  changing  the  name  of  the  print  to 
correspond.  Thus  the  Rochport  Quarry  and  the  Ips- 
wich Bulletin  were  the  same  with  change  of  name. 
The  plan  was  new,  an  advance  thought,  and  had 
merits,  besides  being  the  first  deviation  from  the  old 
method.  Soon  after  came  the  "  patent"  sheets,  then 
sterotyped  stories  and  news.  The  next  was  The  Ips- 
wich Advance  with  Mr.  Edward  B.  Putnam  as  editor 
and  proprietor.  He  began  July  3,  1871,  and  con- 
tinued till  March  16,  1872,  when  Edward  L.  Daven- 
port and  Frederick  W.  Goodwin,  having  purchased 
the  establishment,  began  its  publication  as  The  Ips- 
ivich Chronicle.  They  ran  it  about  ten  months,  and 
Mr.  Goodwin  sold  his  interest  to  his  partner,  who 
alone  began  January  4,  1873,  and  continued  four 
years,  when  Lyman  H.  Daniels  bought  it  and  began 
its  publication  January  6,  1877.  Mr.  Daniels  asso- 
ciated with  him,  January  1,  1881,  Mr.  I.  J.  Potter, 
who  purchased  Mr.  Daniels'  interest,  June  4th,  of  the 
same  year,  and  September  9,  1882,  changed  the  large, 
unwieldy  folio  to  the  present  neat  quarto.  Within  a 
year  or  two,  Mr.  Potter  has  associated  himself  with 
his  brother,  J.  M.  Potter,  and  is  now  joint  proprietor 
of  the  Ipsivich  Chronicle,  the  Amesbury  Villager,  the 
Lynn  Reporter,  the  Lynn  Bee,  and  the  Yankee  Blade, 
Boston.  Recently,  September  10,  1886,  began  The 
Ipswich  Independent,  a  sizable  folio,  edited  by  Mr. 
Charles  G.  Hull. 

The  Burley  Fund.— Captain  William  Burley 
was  a  native  of  Ipswich,  born  January  6,  1750.  He 
died  in  Beverly  December  22, 1822,  and  left  to  his  na- 
tive town  a  bequest  of  fifty  dollars  to  be  paid  annu- 
ally for  ten  years  "  for  the  sole  purpose  of  teaching 
poor  children  to  read  and  instructing  them  in  the 
principles  of  the  Christian  religion."  The  town 
voted,  April  7,  1823,  "  expressive  of  their  respect  to 
his  memory."  The  executors  agreed  with  the  town 
that  the  equity  should  be  liquidated  in  one  payment. 
Accordingly,  an  act  of  incorporation,  dated  June  18, 


612 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


1825,  was  obtained,  and  "Nathaniel  Lord,  Jr.,  and 
William  Conant,  Jr.,  Esquires,  Josiah  Brown  and 
John  Kimball,  gentlemen,  and  Daniel  Cogswell,  mer- 
chant," became  a  "body  politic"  by  the  name  of 
"The  Trustees  of  the  Burley  Educational  Fund  in 
Ipswich."  The  amount  of  the  trust  vVas  five  hundred 
dollars,  but  the  Sunday-schools  and  the  Bible  socie- 
ties, and  our  admirable  system  of  free  schools  and 
school-books,  are  performing  the  mission  of  this  be- 
quest almost  entirely,  and  the  fund  only  labors  to 
grow.  It  is  now  seven  thousand  five  hundred  dol- 
lars. Some  future  Legislature  may  reappropriate  it, 
when,  in  a  maturer  growth  and  strength,  it  will  per- 
form a  wider  range  of  service,  and  the  generous 
thoughtfulness  of  the  donor  build  wiser  and  better 
than  he  planned. 

Abraham  Hammatt. — Among  the  men  who  have 
fostered  the  educational  growth  of  our  town,  and  de- 
serve a  warm  sentiment  of  regard,  is  Mr.  Hammatt. 
He  was  born  in  Plymouth  in  1780  of  Puritan  ancestry, 
and  there  learned  the  trade  of  rope-making.  In  1800 
he  removed  to  Bath,  Me.,  and  began  business  for  him- 
self. Years  of  industry  and  frugality  gave  him  a 
competence.  He  then  devoted  his  time  and  talents 
to  literature  and  science,  for  which  he  had  a  fine 
taste.  He  was  said  to  have  been  the  best  scholar  in 
Bath,  not  excepting  the  men  of  any  of  the  learned 
professions.  He  died  August  9,  1854,  aged  seventy- 
four  years.  About  eighteen  years  before,  he  removed 
to  this  town.  He  was  a  member  of  the  New  England 
Historical-Genealogical  Society,  and  was  by  them 
considered  a  true  antiquarian  and  an  accurate  gene- 
alogist. In  his  death  they  sustained  a  severe  loss. 
He  was  for  a  long  time  feoffee  of  the  grammar  school 
and  member  of  the  Town  School  Board.  He  was  an 
earnest  and  efficient  officer,  and  his  genial  presence 
was  always  welcome  in  the  school-room.  In  his 
later  years  he  prepared  "Early  Inhabitants  of 
Ipswich,"  copied  the  ancient  inscriptions  in  the 
High  Street  Cemetery,  and  wrote  a  bi-centennial  his- 
tory of  the  grammar  school — all  noble,  serviceable 
labors.  His  death  closed  a  blameless,  benevolent  and 
useful  life. 

Anne  Bradsteeet  was  born  in  Northampton, 
England,  in  1612.  She  married  at  the  age  of  sixteen, 
and  in  1630  came  to  this  country.  Her  father  was 
Governor  Thomas  Dudley,  her  husband  Governor 
Simon  Bradstreet.  She  resided  in  Ipswich  about 
twenty  years,  and  then  removed  with  her  husband  to 
Andover.  She  was  the  earliest  poet  of  New  Eng- 
land, and  was  noble  and  gifted.  Rev.  Cotton  Mather 
wrote, — "  Her  poems,  divers  times  printed,  have  af- 
forded a  grateful  entertainment  unto  the  ingenious, 
and  a  monument  for  her  memory,  beyond  the  state- 
liest marble."  Rev.  John  Norton  calls  her  "  the  mir- 
ror of  her  age  and  the  glory  of  her  sex."  The  second 
edition  of  her  poems  is  said  "  to  be  the  work  of  a 
woman  honored  and  esteemed  where  she  lives  for  her 
gracious  demeanor,  her  eminent  parts,  her  pious  con- 


versation, her  courteous  disposition,  her  exact  dili- 
gence in  her  place,  and  discreet  managing  of  her 
family  occasions  ;  and,  more  than  so,  these  poems  are 
the  fruit  of  but  some  few  hours  curtailed  from  her 
sleep  and  other  refreshments."  She  was  as  much 
loved  for  gentleness,  discretion  and  domestic  dili- 
gence as  she  was  admired  for  her  genius,  wit  and  love 
of  learning.     Her  death  occurred  September  16, 1672. 


CHAPTER    XLV. 


IPSWICH  (Contmued). 


MILITARY   AND   MARTIAL. 


The  Situation. — Although  this  town  had  a  very 
fortunate  situation  as  regards  the  Indians,  yet,  in  the 
same  manner,  though  not  to  the  same  extent,  as  the 
frontier  towns,  our  ancestors  were  obliged  to  be  ever 
on  the  alert,  and  ever  ready  to  meet  an  active  display 
of  the  treachery,  perfidy  and  jealousy  of  the  red  man. 
As  our  later  New  England  ancestors  planted  the 
school-house  by  the  church,  very  truly  and  wisely 
our  early  ancestors  planted  a  fort  also.  The  Eastern 
Indians  were  jealous,  blood-thirsty  and  cruel,  and  any 
day  or  night  their  war  canoes  might  float  in  our  har- 
bor. They  were  active,  among  other  tribes,  in  plot- 
ting mischief  and  instilling  a  spirit  of  dissatisfaction. 
At  the  south — in  Eastern  Connecticut  and  Western 
Rhode  Island,  and  extending  frona  the  sea  several 
leagues  to  the  north — were  the  Pequods,  a  race,  the 
quintessence  of  jealousy,  cruel  mischief  and  murder. 
Their  emissaries  were  in  every  camp ;  they  were  a 
scourge  from  the  very  first.  Every  hamlet,  every 
home,  was  in  jeopardy  and  fear.  The  sudden  rush 
of  attack  and  the  startling  war-whoop  were  their  dec- 
laration of  war,  and  whoever  was  surprised  thereby 
paid  the  penalty  with  his  blood  and  scalp. 

Caution. — This  condition  of  circumstances  occa- 
sioned a  careful  carriage,  and  an  adequate  protection 
of  some  weapon  of  defence.  The  musket  was  the 
white  man's  vade  mecum  upon  the  road,  in  the  field 
and  workshop,  and  at  church  and  home.  To  meet 
this  emergency  the  town's  people  maintained  watches 
and  erected  forts ;  powder  was  kept  in  store  under 
penalty;  night  signals  and  day  signals  of  alarm  were 
established;  companies  were  formed,  and  the  entire 
populace  were  minute-men. 

Means. — In  1633  it  was  ordered  that  Saugus,  Sa- 
lem and  Agawam  assist  Boston  in  building  a  fort. 
The  next  year  the  Ipswich  assistant  is  ordered  to  so- 
licit funds  for  a  movable  fort  at  Boston  ;  every  man 
must  be  trained  for  service.  Daniel  Denison  and 
Nicholas  Easton  have  charge  of  the  powder  here. 
The  town  was  to  receive  its  proportion  of  muskets, 
bandoleers  and  rests,  just  then  imported,  and  to  have 


IPSWICH. 


613 


the  use  of  two  sakers,  if  they  will  provide  carriages 
for  them. 

Ill  1635  the  company  was  ordered  to  maintain  its 
officers ;  eight  swords  were  added  to  their  equipments. 
In  1636  the  military  force  of  the  jurisdiction  was  di- 
vided into  three  regiments — Saugus,  Salem,  Ipswich 
and  Newbury  making  one,  with  John  Endicott,  Esq., 
of  Salem,  colonel ;  and  John  Winthrop,  Jr.,  of  Ips- 
wich, lieutenant-colonel.  The  next  year  it  was  or- 
dered that  "  no  person  shall  travel  above  a  mile  from 
his  dwelling,  except  where  other  dwellings  are  near, 
without  some  arms,  upfi)n  pain  of  12.s.  for  every  de- 
fault ;  "  each  town  must  have  a  watch-house,  and 
keep  a  watch;  eight  annual  trainings  were  ordered; 
Daniel  Denison  was  commissioned  captain. 

The  Pequod  War. — This  year  occurred  the  mem- 
orable Pequod  War,  wherein  Ipswich  was  repre- 
sented by  twenty-three  soldiers  and  William  Fuller 
as  gunsmith.  History  depicts  the  overwhelming  dis- 
aster of  the  Indians.  Therein  Francis  Wainwright 
attacked  a  knot  of  Pequods,  expended  his  ammuni- 
tion, broke  his  gun  over  them  and  brought  in  two 
scalps.  John  Wedgewood  was  wounded  and  taken 
prisoner,  and  John  Sherman  was  wounded  in  the 
neck.  The  following-named  persons  were  granted 
from  two  to  ten  acres  of  land  for  their  services : 
John  Andrews,  John  Burnum,  Robert  Castell,  Rob- 
ert Cross,  Robert  Filbrick,  Edward  Lumus,  Andrew 
Story,  William  Swynder,  Palmer  Tingley,  Francis 
Wainwright  and  William  Whitred.  In  1668  Edward 
Thomas  was  granted  six  acres  of  land  for  services 
rendered  at  some  time,  against  the  Indians. 

Other  Means. — In  1639  a  reservation  is  made  for 
a  fort  on  Castle  Hill,  where  the  land  was  granted 
John  Winthrop,  Jr.  The  town  has  two  barrels  of 
powder,  and  may  sell,  on  the  county's  account,  at  two 
shillings  per  pound ;  and  the  following  year  the 
meeting-house  was  used  as  a  watch-house.  In  1642 
there  was  a  general  suspicion  and  alarm.  It  was 
thought  the  various  tribes  of  Indians  had  conspired 
to  annihilate  the  white  man,  and  Ipswich,  Rowley 
and  Newbury  were  ordered  to  disarm  the  Merrimac 
sachem.  Forty  men  went  the  next  day,  and  not 
tiuding  the  chief,  they  took  away  his  son  as  a  hostage. 
The  town  record  allows  "  twenty  men  12d.  each  per 
day  for  three  days."  That  year  a  retreat  for  wives 
aud  children  must  be  provided  ;  twelve  saker  bullets 
were  allowed  to  the  town  ;  the  town  must  have  spe- 
cial alarms — sentinels  who,  going  to  the  houses,  shalb 
in  case  of  attack,  cry :  "  Arm,  Arm  !  "  This  general 
suspicion  and  alarm  of  the  colonists  was  the  pre- 
cursor of  the  famous  colonial  league  of  March  19, 
1643,  and  its  earnest,  unanswerable  though  silent  ad- 
vocate. In  1643  worshippers  must  go  in  arms  to 
meeting  on  Lord's  day.  In  1644  the  counties  of  Es- 
sex and  Norfolk — which  extended  from  the  Merri- 
mac River  and  included  Exeter,  Dover  and  Ports- 
mouth in  New  Hampshire,  while  Essex  then  ex- 
tended only  to   the   Merrimac — form   one   regiment, 


and  Captain  Daniel  Denison  was  commissioned  colo- 
nel. 

In  1645  all  lads  from  ten  to  sixteen  must  be  drilled 
in  the  use  of  the  musket,  the  half-pikes  and  of  bows 
and  arrows.  Thomas  Whittingham  was  lieutenant, 
and  Thomas  Howlett  ensign  of  the  Ipswich  compa- 
ny; every  town  must  set  a  guard,  a  pike-man  and  a 
musketeer,  about  sunset,  and  must  keep  a  daily  guard 
on  the  outskirts  and  scour  the  woods  for  lurking  foes; 
each  company  was  divided  in  two-third  musketeers 
and  one-third  pikemen,  who  were  to  wear  corselets 
and  head-pieces. 

In  1648  boys,  allowed  by  their  parents  or  guardians 
on  the  training  fields,  were  to  be  "exercised  "  in  mil- 
itary discipline.  In  1649  each  town  must  provide 
for  each  fifty  soldiers,  one  barrel  of  powder,  one 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds  of  musket  bullets,  and 
twenty-eight  pounds  of  match,  which,  for  a  long 
time,  subserved  the  use  of  flint. 

In  1652  a  company  was  to  consist  of  sixty-four  or 
more  privates,  and  to  have  at  least  two  drums, 
and  the  military  aflairs  of  each  town  were  to 
be  administered  by  a  committee  of  magistrates 
and  three  chief  officers.  In  1653  John  Apple- 
ton  was  commissioned  lieutenant  of  the  troop  of 
horse  for  the  Essex  regiment.  General  Daniel  Den- 
ison ordered  a  squad  of  twenty-seven  men  from  Ips- 
wich and  Rowley,  to  "descry  the  distant  foe,  where 
lodged,  or  whither  fled  ;  or  if  for  fight  in  motion  or 
in  halt;"  for  it  was  reported,  as  ten  years  before, 
that  a  general  conspiracy  had  been  formed  to  sweep 
the  white  man  from  the  soil.  Each  private  was  al- 
lowed a  shilling,  the  sergeant  two  shillings,  and  two 
troopers  two  shillings,  six  pence  a  day  for  four  days. 

Officers. — In  1664  the  following  were  confirmed  as 
the  officers  of  the  Ipswich  Company  :  Thomas  French, 
ensign  ;  Thomas  Burnam,  Jacob  Perkins  and  Thomas 
Wait,  sergeants;  and  Thomas  Hart  and  Francis 
Wainwright,  corporals  ;  and  in  1668,  John  Appleton, 
captain,  and  John  Whipi^le,  cornet,  of  the  troop.  In 
1672  a  new  fort  was  built;  Gen.  Denison  wrote  the 
Governor  that  great  fear  and  alarm  prevailed  ;  that 
the  enemy  had  crossed  the  Merrimac,  and  that  a 
detachment  of  fifty  men,  under  Capt.  John  Apple- 
ton,  was  proceeding  to  Andover.  The  following  year 
Ipswich  was  required  to  furnish  her  quota  of  one  hun- 
dred men  for  service  against  the  Dutch. 

Philip's  War. — The  year  1675  is  memorable  for 
the  beginning  of  King  Philip's  War.  It  was  a  long, 
agonizing  struggle.  Philip  was  sagacious,  crafty,  of 
great  native  mental  strength,  and  as  chief  of  a  civil- 
ized people,  would  have  been  known  as  their  patriot- 
ic defender.  He  was,  with  all,  a  powerful  monarch, 
chief  of  thirty  tribes  and  the  powerful  Passaconaway 
was  his  ally.  His  eagle-eye  scanned  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  English  upon  his  lauds,  their  usurpa- 
tion of  his  fruitful  hunting-grounds,  their  growth  in 
numbers  and  power,  and  in  all  this  and  more,  the 
doom  of  his  race,  which  he  could  no  longer  brook. 


614 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Further  Means. — "The  Indians  lurked  in  ev- 
ery forest  and  covert;  they  watched  for  the  lonely 
settler  as  he  opened  his  door  in  the  morning,  as  he 
was  bu.sy  at  his  work  in  the  field,  as  he  rode  out  on 
business  or  followed  the  forest  path  to  church."  The 
fearful  war-whoop,  the  deadly  tomahawk  and  the 
treacherous  ambuscade  were  a  terror  to  every  Eng- 
lish home.  The  soldiers  of  every  town  were  ordered 
to  scour  and  ward  to  prevent  the  skulking  and  lurk- 
ing of  the  enemy  about  it  and  give  notice  of  danger ; 
the  brush  along  the  highway  must  be  cut  up ;  and 
the  watch  must  not  come  in  till  sunrise,  when  the 
scouts  go  out ;  the  inhabitants  shall  flee  to  the  garri- 
sons for  defense,  if  invaded. 

Fearful  Cost  of  the  War. — The  war  cost  the 
Colonial  League  a  million  of  dollars  and  six  hundred 
lives,  of  which  Ipswich's  j^roportion  must  have  been 
about  forty.  Every  eleventh  house  in  the  colony 
was  burned,  and  every  eleventh  soldier  killed.  Ips- 
wich was  represented  in  Capt.  Prentice's  troop,  and 
in  the  "  Flower  of  Essex,"  that  perished  at  Deerfield, 
and  she  furnished  her  quota  of  the  four  hundred  and 
sixty  men  levied  the  next  year  and  led  by  Maj.  Sam- 
uel Appleton  ;  of  eighty  men  called  for  sixty  days; 
and  of  seventy  for  service  in  the  East. 

Fatalities. — In  this  war  fell  Edward  Coburn, 
Thomas  Scott,  Benjamin  Tappan,  Freegrace  Norton, 
sergeant  John  Pettis.  John  Cogswell  was  a  prisoner. 
In  the  great  battle  of  tlie  war, — with  the  Narragan- 
setts, — three  were  killed  and  twenty-two  were  wound- 
ed in  the  Ipswich  Company.  One  of  the  saddest 
events  of  the  war  was  "  the  Deerfield  Massacre."  Of 
a  company  of  eighty  men,  known  as  the  "  Flower  of 
Essex,"  forty  perished  by  one  fell  swoop  of  the  sav- 
ages. Here  Robert  Dutch  was  prostrated  by  a  ball 
which  wounded  his  head,  was  mauled  with  a  hatchet, 
stripped  and  left  for  dead.  After  several  hours  he 
was  discovered  and  restored  to  consciousness.  In  a 
list  of  the  names  of  the  slain  the  following  look  like 
Ipswich  names :  Thomas  Manning,  Caleb  Kimball, 
Jacob  Wainwright,  Samuel  Whittridge,  Josiah  Dodge, 
William  Day,  John  and  Thomas  Hobbs. 

Officers. — In  1680  Ipswich  had  three  companies ; 
the  year  following  a  magazine  is  kept  in  the  meeting- 
house, and  in  1682  the  companies'  officers  were:  Capt. 
Samuel  Appleton,  Lieut.  Thomas  Burnum,  En.  Simon 
Stacey  ;  Capt.  Daniel  Eppes,  Lieut.  John  Appleton,  En. 
Thomas  Jacobs,  Lieut.  John  Andrews  and  En.  Wil- 
liam Goodhue,  Jr.  In  October,  Thomas  Wade  was 
cornet  in  place  of  John  Whipple,  promoted  to  lieu- 
tenant in  place  of  Lieut.  Appleton,  who  assumed  com- 
mand of  the  troop  upon  the  death  of  Capt.  John 
Whipple ;  and  in  1689  Thomas  Wade  was  captain, 
John  Whipple  lieutenant,  John  Whipple,  Jr.,  quar- 
ter-master ;  and  under  Maj,  Samuel  Appleton,  Simon 
Stacey  was  lieutenant  and  Nehemiah  Jewett  ensign. 
That  year  wards  were  ordered  to  guard  the  church- 
es, during  service. 

William's  War.— This  year    began    King  Wil- 


liam's War,  which,  by  sympathy,  extended  to  and 
involved  New  England.  Ipswich  contributed  her 
proportion  of  three  hundred  soldiers  to  be  raised  in 
the  county.  The  Ipswich  troops  rendezvoused  at 
Haverhill.  The  following  year  she  furnishe.il  her 
quota  of  sixty-five  recruits  from  the  Essex  Middle 
Regiment,  composed  of  Ipswich,  Rowley,  Wenham, 
Gloucester,  Topsfield  and  Boxford,  and  her  quota  of 
four  hundred  from  the  Province.  Nathaniel  Rust 
was  quarter-master  in  the  expedition  against  Canada, 
and  in  1691  Samuel  Ingalls  was  lieutenant,  and  Rob- 
ert Kinsman  quaner-master  in  Thomas  Wade's 
troop.  About  1700  the  town  voted  to  purchase  three 
field-pieces;  to  supply  themselves  with  powder  and 
flints ;  and  to  repair  the  watch-house  and  fort  near 
the  meeting-house.  The  town's  proportion  of  four- 
teen men  from  the  Essex  Middle  Regiment  was 
called  for;  Maj.  Samuel  Appleton  led  sixty  men  to 
defend  Gloucester ;  Col.  Symonds  Eppes  was  ordered 
to  "empress"  a  man  into  the  service  at  Y'ork  in 
place  of  Archelaus  Adams,  whose  time  had  expired, 
and  the  colonel  was  also  to  hold  his  regiment  for  im- 
mediate service.  The  town  furnished  her  quota  of 
ninety  men ;  she  stored  her  powder  in  the  meeting- 
house ;  her  troops  use  carbines.  In  1697  William 
Wade  was  killed  and  Abraham  Foster  was  wounded. 
These  particulars,  in  which  we  have  thus  far  in- 
dulged, serve  to  show  the  small  beginning,  the  inade- 
quate means,  the  slow  but  steady  growth  and  the  pe- 
culiar phases  of  primitive  warfare. 

Annes,  George's  and  French  Wars. — Queen 
Anne's  War  followed ;  it  fell  with  merciless  force 
upon  New  England.  Ipswich  was  true  to  English 
instincts ;  she  honored  every  call  for  men  with  her 
quota,  and  gave  a  devoted  and  efficient  service.  Ips- 
wich was  rejsresented  at  Port  Royal,  in  1707,  where 
Samuel  Appleton  had  a  command.  In  1710  William 
Cogswell  was  killed,  and  ten  years  later  Samuel 
Clark  was  wounded.  In  1737  John  Hobbs  was 
wounded,  and  ten  years  later  asked  of  the  General 
Court  pay  for  his  care  of  the  sick  at  Cape  Breton. 

So  in  the  Austrian  succes'<ion,  known  as  King 
George's  War,  wherein  Louisburg,  the  Gibraltar  of 
America,  was  reduced  by  four  thousand  fishermen 
and  farmers  of  New  England,  with  whom  served  the 
strength  and  support  of  Ipswich  homes. 

Peace  returned  in  1748,  but  it  was  of  short  duration ; 
it  served  only  for  recuperation  and  preparation  for  an 
intenser  struggle.  This  was  known  as  the  French 
and  Indian  War,  and  was  waged  for  conquest;  for 
long  years  of  conflict  had  demonstrated  that  the 
French  and  English  could  not  live  contiguously  in 
peace.  Five  points  of  attack  were  agreed  upon,  and 
Ipswich  men  served  at  three.  Crown-point,  Quebec  and 
Nova  Scotia.  In  1756  the  town  appropriated  <£50  for 
powder  and  other  military  stores.  Dr.  John  CalefFe 
was  surgeon  in  the  expedition  to  Quebec  ;  Abraham 
Smith  and  Philemon  How  died  at  Louisburg.  Mr. 
Smith  made  his  will  about  the  time  of  enlisting,  and 


IPSWICH. 


615 


gave  "  the  residue  and  remainder ''  of  his  property  to 
Linebrook  Parish.  In  1760  the  town  voted  that 
"such  private  soldiers,  as  are  in  the  war,  exclusive  of 
tradesmen  and  carpenters,  shall  be  excused  from 
their  poll-tax."  Besides  the  town's  occasional  indi- 
vidual appropriations,  she  met  with  promptness  every 
provincial  demand  for  men  and  tax. 

This  war  solved  an  old  and  vexatious  problem, 
whicli  is  stated  and  illustrated  in  Longfellow's  unique 
and  beautiful  Evangeline,  and  is  called  The  French 
Neutrals.  In  the  distribution  of  that  people,  Essex 
County  had  about  two  hundred.  Ipswich  had  the 
families  of  Francis  and  John  I^andrey  and  Paul 
Breau,  twenty  persons.  At  the  expense  of  the  State, 
the  town  rented  them  a  house  and  furnished  them 
with  provisions,  in  which  were  included,  as  the  State 
archives  show,  items  of  "  Cyder  and  Rum,"  at  a  total 
cost  of  about  a  shilling  per  week  for  each  person.  In 
June,  1758,  the  General  Court  ordered  that  the  ''sick, 
infirm  and  aged"  among  them  be  maintained  at  the 
expense  of  the  government,  but  that  others  must  earn 
their  living.  In  1760  the  province  distributes  its  en- 
tire ward  among  the  various  towns  according  to  the 
rate  of  taxation.  Ipswich's  proportion  was  twenty- 
three.  The  original  number  of  twenty  had  been 
augmented  at  the  time  of  the  distribution  by  four 
births,  and  there  had  been  one  death,  or  else  one  was 
removed,  to  adjust  the  proportion.  Our  next  notice 
of  them  was  August  18,  1766,  when  the  town  refused 
to  appropriate  money  to  convey  them  to  Canada,  and 
November  25th  following,  when  £20  was  voted  for 
their  support  for  that  year.  They  probably  soon  after 
removed  to  Canada.  They  were  apparently  a  clever, 
sober,  industrious  people,  and  on  the  whole  desirable 
citizens. 

The  Revolutiox. — Our  narrative  has  now  ad- 
vanced a  century  and  a  quarter.  Ipswich  has  as- 
sisted, by  her  treasures  and  skill  and  bravery,  in 
silencing  the  fierce  Tarratines,  in  annihilating  the 
Pequods,  in  forcing  the  Narragansetts  to  sue  for  peace, 
in  burying  King  Philip  and  four  thousand  of  his 
brave  warriors,  in  gathering  scalps  in  the  North  for 
the  bounty,  in  keeping  at  bay  the  powerful  Penna- 
cooks,  and  has  fought  the  allied  French  and  Indians, 
to  defend  their  homes,  their  religion  and  their  coun- 
try. What  a  fearful  cost.  "The  dear  purchase  of 
our  fathers."  But  that,  appalling  as  it  was,  was  only 
part  of  the  price.  The  war-whoop  had  hardly  ceased 
its  terror,  when  the  precursor  of  another  ordeal 
stalked  through  the  land  and  inaugurated  the  War 
of  The  Revolution. 

Though  occasional  irritations  from  the  same  source 
had  been  felt  from  the  early  days  of  the  colony,  this 
contest  was  unexpected.  Our  fathers  had  faithfully 
labored  and  hoped;  they  had  "fought  and  bled  and 
died"  with  only  one  purpose  in  reference  to  their 
nationality,  and  that  purpose  was  to  be  Englishmen 
"  first,  last,  midst  and  without  end."  But  while  they 
were  English  the  same  spirit  that  made  them  true 


and  devoted  patriots,  gave  them  a  deep  sense  of  jus- 
tice, so  that  they  could  not  brook  a  scathing  insult  or 
endure  a  flagrant  wrong,  though  they  be  inflicted  by 
a  brother. 

For  nearly  a  hundred  years  they  had  fought  for 
their  homes  and  freedom  to  worship  God,  in  the 
wildest,  most  barbarous  and  bloodiest  wars.  They 
had  sued  for  no  peace  ;  they  had  begged  no  quarter. 
Their  brothers  across  the  sea  had  furnished  few  troops, 
little  money,  and  perchance  no  sympathy ;  and  when 
the  strife  for  territorial  acquisition  came,  when  the 
valor  of  English  arms  was  on  trial,  and  the  grand  old 
flag  beckoned  them  by  its  waving  folds  to  service  and 
duty,  they  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  in  the  serried 
ranks  with  the  confident  regular;  they  fought  while 
he  fought;  conquered  where  he  fled.  Mainly  by 
their  spirit  and  skill  was  English  rule  established 
over  these  verdant  hills  and  picturesque  vales,  and 
English  arts  and  arms  extended  from  the  Great 
River  on  the  west  to  the  ocean  on  the  east,  and  from 
frozen  seas  on  the  north  to  the  delightful  savannahs 
of  the  south. 

For  all  this  devoted  service  and  baptism  of  blood, 
not  a  word  of  sympathy,  nor  an  expression  of  thanks, 
and  only  a  pittance  to  reimburse  an  impoverished 
treasury.  The  service  and  baptism  only  inflamed  old 
jealousies,  fashioned  new  rigors  and  forged  new 
chains.  History  is  replete  with  the  mockery  of 
justice,  the  travesty  of  righteousness,  by  which 
a  jealous  hatred  sought  to  stamp  our  ancestors 
as  an  inferior  class  and  to  bind  them  to  perpetual  de- 
pendence. But  the  flinty  purpose  that  brought  our 
forefathers  to  these  shores  struck  fire  upon  the  steel 
rigors  of  the  laws  forged  for  their  subjugation.  Maga- 
zines of  indignation  were  fired  from  Maine  to  Georgia. 
Subjugate  !  Why,  as  well  attempt  to  draw  out  levi- 
athan with  a  hook  or  to  turn  back  Niagara  by  com- 
mand. The  seed  sown  in  the  compact  penned  in  the 
cabin  of  the  May  Flower  had  its  fruitage  in  the  Dec- 
laration of  Independence ;  and  while  John  Adams 
and  Patrick  Henry,  in  advocating  the  principles  of 
that  immortal  document,  electrified  the  people,  the 
stout-hearted  yeomanry,  in  town-meeting  assembled, 
voted  and  recorded  the  sentiments,  and  by  their  votes 
pledged  money  and  life  to  the  cause.  Ipswich  met 
the  issue  on  the  threshold  with  no  uncertain  voice. 
"No  representation,  no  taxation,"  was  a  sentiment 
indigenous  to  her  very  soul.  She  recorded  her  in- 
structions to  her  representatives,  October  21,  1765  : 
"  We  must  maintain  the  Charter.  When  our  fathers 
left  their  native  land,  they  left  its  laws,  its  Constitu- 
tion and  its  peculiar  institutions  and  customs, — all  but 
what  was  secured  by  their  Charter.  Three  things  are 
necessary  to  make  this  otherwise  :  first,  the  migra- 
tions should  have  been  authorized  and  regulated  by 
legal  authority  ;  second,  the  expense  of  the  coloniza- 
tion should  have  been  borne  by  the  government ;  and 
third,  the  colony  should  have  been  sent  to  settle 
some  place  or  territory  that  the  nation  had  before,  in 


616 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


some  way  or  other,  made  their  own,  as  was  usual — if 
not  always — the  case  with  the  ancient  Romans.  But 
neither  of  them  obtained  in  this  case.  Our  only  hope 
of  freedom  in  religion  and  law,  and  our  only  ground 
of  patriotism  and  manhood,  is  the  Charter."  Again, 
August  11,  1768,  the  town  recorded  a  vote  of  thanks 
to  the  ninety-two  members  of  the  House  who  stood 
firm  against  rescinding  the  resolves  of  the  last 
House,  and  so  declared  anew  the  righteousness  of  the 
cause  and  their  determination.  The  town  voted 
Captain  Michael  Farley  delegate  to  Convention  at 
Boston,  to  advise  measures  for  the  peace  and  safety 
of  the  people.  A  meeting  was  "  called  for  February 
28, 1770,  to  determine  upon  some  satisfactory  method 
to  prevent  the  use  of  that  pernicious  weed  called 
Tea,"  to  advise  in  the  matter  of  withholding  our  cus- 
tom from  those  merchants  who  traffic  in  it.  A  com- 
mittee, to  whom  the  questions  involved  were  submit- 
ted, reported,  "That  we  retrench  all  extravagances; 
and  that  we  will,  to  the  utmost  of  our  power  and  abil- 
ity, encourage  our  own  manufactures;  and  that  we 
will  not,  by  ourselves  or  any  for  or  under  us,  di- 
rectly or  indirectly,  purchase  any  goods  of  the  per- 
sons who  have  imported,  or  continued  to  import,  or 
of  any  person  or  trader  who  shall  purchase  any  goods 
of  said  importers,  contrary  to  the  agreement  of  the 
merchants  in  Boston  and  the  other  trading  towns  in 
this  government  and  the  neighboring  colonies,  until 
they  make  a  public  retraction  or  a  general  importation 
takes  place."  It  was  voted  also,  "  that  we  will  abstain 
from  the  use  of  tea  ourselves  and  recommend  the 
disuse  of  it  in  our  families,  until  all  the  revenue  acts 
are  repealed." 

The  Crisis  Approaching. — Affairs  grew  in  inter- 
est and  importance;  the  situation  became  more  try- 
ing ;  but  their  brave  hearts  grew  braver  and  stronger. 
Learning  the  action  of  Boston  in  the  crisis,  the  town, 
December  17,  1772,  recounted  the  common  grievances 
at  length,  complimented  the  metropolis  for  the  stand 
she  had  taken,  pledged  her  support  and  chose  the  fol- 
lowing "Committee  of  Correspondence'' :  Captain 
Farley,  Mr.  Daniel  Noyes  and  Major  John  Baker.  In 
December,  1773,  the  town  was  gratified  with  the  ac- 
tion taken  by  Boston  and  records  resolutions  of  sym- 
pathy and  firmness  of  purpose.  The  people  are  now 
fully  aroused.  June  29,  1774,  Daniel  Noyes,  Deacon 
Stephen  Choate,  Captain  Michael  Farley,  John 
Choate  and  Nathaniel  Farley  were  voted  a  committee 
to  see  what  could  be  done  "  in  the  distressing  state  of 
afiairs."  The  same  year  a  lot  of  land,  fifty  by  twenty- 
five  feet,  east  of  the  town-house,  was  granted  for  mili- 
tary discipline  ;  a  committee  was  chosen  to  fix  the 
compensation  of  "Minute-Men  ;  "  the  proposals  and 
resolves  of  the  Continental  Congress  were  adopted ;  a 
committee  of  eleven  members  was  chosen  to  see  that 
"said  resolves  are  most  punctually  observed;"  and 
Colonel  Michael  Farley  and  Daniel  Noyes  were  mem- 
bers of  the  Great  and  General  Court  ordered  to  meet 
at  Salem,  and,  meeting  in   the   absence  of  the  Gover- 


nor, resolved  themselves  into  a  Provincial  Congress 
and  adjourned  to  Concord. 

The  next  year  was  1775,  the  ever-memorable  one 
in  the  annals  of  the  province.  In  April  Ipswich  met 
with  other  towns,  by  committee,  to  plan  for  coast  de- 
fences; the  town  voted  to  hire  money  to  pay  "  minute 
men."  Then  came  the  clash  of  arms  the  19th.  In 
May  five  men  were  chosen  a  committee  of  intelli- 
gence; a  watch  was  set  on  Castle  Hill,  lest  an  apmed 
cutter  come  and  take  away  cattle ;  Michael  Far- 
ley and  Dummer  Jewett  were  chosen  to  represent  the 
town  in  the  Provincial  Congress  at  Watertown.  It 
was  now  time  to  put  none  but  Americans  on  guard. 
Congress  ordered  that  committees  of  safety  and  cor- 
respondence be  sworn.  Hence  such  committees  were 
dismissed,  and  these  chosen  and  sworn  in  their  stead, 
— Daniel  Noyes,  Captain  Daniel  Rogers,  Captain 
Isaac  Dodge,  John  Crocker,  Samuel  Lord,  Captain 
Ephraim  Kindall,  Major  Jonathan  Cogswell,  Captain 
Abraham  Howe,  Mr.  John  Patch,  3d. 

The  Alarm. — It  was  a  beautiful  moonlight  even- 
ing of  the  18th  of  April,  1775,  when  Governor  Gage 
sent  out  Lieutenant-Colonel  Smith  and  Major  Pit- 
cairn,  with  eight  hundred  regulars,  to  seize  the  stores 
at  Concord.  It  was  Paul  Revere  and  William  Dawes 
who  simultaneously  started  and  gave  the  alarm.  The 
ringing  of  bells  and  the  firing  of  guns  told  the  patri- 
ots of  their  needed  presence  and  valor.  Early  on  the 
19th,  the  day  when  the  bloody  die  was  cast,  five 
Ipswich  companies  of  infantry  and  a  troop  of  horse 
left  their  homes  for  the  scene  of  conflict.  They  Avere 
led  by  Cajitains  Thomas  Burnhani,  Daniel  Rogers, 
Abraham  Dodge,  Elisha  Whitney,  Abraham  Howe 
and  Nathaniel  Wade,  and  Colonel  John  Baker.  As 
Putnam  left  his  cattle  yoked  in  the  field,  so  no  less,  if 
not  the  same,  did  Ipswich  men.  Nearly  three  hun- 
dred stout-hearted  yeomanry  marched  to  the  defence 
of  righteousness  against  tyranny,  with  banner  stream- 
ing and  drums  beating  and  hurried  pace,  "  while 
their  zeal  outran  their  footsteps." 

The  following  rolls  of  Ipswich  minute-men  have 
been  gleaned  from  the  State  archives,  and  will  doubt- 
less gratify  many  a  patriotic  interest.  They  marched 
upon  the  alarm  of  April  19th. 

COMPANY   ONE. 

Captain.  Thomas  Burnham.  Isi  Lieut,  Charles  Smith. 

2(J  Lieut.,  John  Farley. 

Sergeants. 

Daniel  Lord.  John  Potter. 

Ebenezer  Lord.  John  Lakeman. 

Privates. 
Neheiiiiah  Abbott,  Nicholas  Babcock,  Samuel  Baker,  Elijah  Boynton, 
John  Brown,  4th,  Isaac  Burnhau),  Jr.,  Jeremiah  Brown,  Thomas  Cald- 
well, Thomas  Chun,  Benjamin  Cross,  Nathaniel  Cross,  Nehemiah 
Choate,  Nathaniel  Dennis,  Benjamin  Emerson,  Ephraim  Fellowg,  John 
Fellows,  Isaac  Fellows,  Nathan  Fellows,  John  Glazier,  James  Harris, 
John  Harris,  Abraham  Hodgkins,  Nathaniel  Heard,  John  Heard,  Jr., 
Thomas  Hodgkins,  Amos  Heard,  Ebenezer  Kimball,  Moses  Kinsman, 
William  Kinsman,  Abraham  Lord,  Aaron  Lord,  Caleb  Lord,  Samuel 
Lord.  John  Manning,  Elisha  Newman,  Samuel  Newman,  Nathan  Par- 
sons, William  Goodhue,  Francis  Pickard,  James  Pickard,  Jr.,  John  Por- 
ter, Jeremiah  Rose,  Simeon  Safford,  Moses  Smith,  Jr.,  Henry  Spellar, 


IPSWICH. 


617 


Henry  Spellar,  Benjamin  Sweet,  Daniel  Lowe,  Kichard  Shatswell,  Pliilip 
Lord,  Elisha  Treadwell,  Samuel  Wallis,  Nathaniel  Wells. 

Total  pay  was  £26,  9s,  4c?.  for  thirty  miles  and  three 
days. 

COMPANY   TWO. 

Captain,  Nathaniel  Wade.  1st  Lieut.,  Joseph  Hodgkins. 

2d  Lieut.,  William  Dennis. 
Sergeants. 
Aaron  Perking.  Jabez  Farley. 

Michael  Farley,  Jr.  Thomas  Boardman. 

Corporals. 
Asa  Barker.  Francis  Merrifield. 

John  Graves.  Joseph  Appleton,  Jr. 

Privates. 
Thomas  Appleton,  Samviel  Burnham,  Stephen  Dutch,  Jonathan  Fos- 
ter, John  Fowler,  Jr.,  Joseph  Fowler,  3d,  John  Fitts,  Jr.,  Isaac  Gid- 
dings,  Daniel  Goodhue,  Jr.,  William  Goodhue, Ephraim  Goodhue,  Fran- 
cis Hovey,  Benjamin  Heard,  John  Harris,  5th,  Nathaniel  Jewett, 
Abiah  Knowltou,  Nathaniel  Lakeman,  Nathaniel  Lord,  3d,  Charles 
Lord,  Samuel  Lord,  5th,  James  Fuller  Likenun,  Nathaniel  Ross,  Ben- 
jamin Ross,  Nathaniel  Rust,  Jr.,  Jabez  Ross,  Jr.,  Kneeland  Ross, 
Thomas  Hodgkins,  4th,  Henry  Spellar,  Jabez  Sweet,  Jr.,  John  Stan 
wood,  Isaac  Stanwood,  Daniel  Stone,  Nathaniel  Souther,  Edward  Stacy, 
James  Smith,  Nathaniel  Treadwell,  Ebenezer  Lakeman,  Nathaniel 
March,  John  Peters,  Nathaniel  Brown. 

This  company  was  in  service  as  minute-men  till 
May  lOth.  The  distance  was  eighty-eight  miles  and 
their  pay  £101,  15s.  2d. 

COMPANY    THREE. 

Captain  Abi-aham  How.  \st   Lieut.  Thomas  Foster. 

Eau.  Paul  Lancaster.* 

Sergeants. 


How. 

Dresser.* 

Smith. 

Chapman. 

Corporals. 

Fisk. 

Chaplin* 

Potter. 

Abbott. 

Drummer,  Foster. 

Privates. — Jeremiah  Smith,  John  Daniels,*  Joseph  Chapman,*  Caleb 
Jackson,*  Amos.Iewett,  Jr.,*  John  Perley,  Jonathan  Foster,  Jr.,  Samuel 
Woodbury,*  David  Chaplin,*  Moses  Chaplin,  Jr,*  Moses  Foster,  Abra- 
ham How,  3d,  Allen  Foster,*  Charles  Davis,  John  Fowler,  .Jr.,  Daniel 
Kimball,  Jr.,  Joshua  Dickinson,*  George  Abbott,*  JamesJSmith.  Joseph 
Nelson,*  Philemon  Foster,  Timothy  Morse,  John  Fowler,  Elijah  Foster, 
Moses  Chaplin,*  Daniel  Kimball,  Allen  Perley,  Ezekiel  Potter,  Edmund 
Tenney,*  Moses  Conant,  John  Chapman. 

The  distance  for  most  of  this  company  was  eighty 
miles,  and  their  total  pay  was  £22  6s.  8d.  2f.  Those 
marked  with  a  star  (*)  belonged  to  Kowley-Liue- 
brook,  and  perhaps  two  or  three  others. 

COMPANY   FOUR. 

Captain  Daniel  Rogers.  1st  Lieut.  Thomas  Burnham. 

2d   Lieut.  Abraham  Dodge. 


Martin. 
Wade. 

Kimball. 

Lord. 


Sergeants. 

Wallis. 
Treadwell. 

Corporals. 

Pearson. 

Appleton . 

Privates. — John  Andrews,  William  Baker,  Pliilip  Abbott,  Jonathan 
Appleton,  Samuel  Beal,  Benjamin  Brown,  Thomas  Caldwell,  Abraham 
Choate,  John  Cross,  Aaron  Day,  Jeremiah  Day,  Thomas  Day,  Ebenezer 
Caldwell,  Joshua  Fitts,  Ebenezer  Goodhue,  Barnabas  Dodge,  Samuel 
Henderson,  Mark  Haskell,  John  Hodgkins,  Thomas  Hodgkins,  Jr., 
Cols.  (?)  Jewett,  Richard  Kimball,  Jeremiah  Kinsman,  Israel  Kinsman, 
Ephraim  Jewett,  Nathaniel  Grant,  Ebenezer  Hovey,  Purchase  Jewett, 
John  Lord,  Daniel  Lord,  Jr.,  Gideon  Parker,  Nathaniel  Perley,  Daniel 
Potter,  Joshua  Smith,  Simon  Smith,  Robert  Stocker,  Richard  Sutton, 
Moses  Treadwell,  Asa  Warner,  William  Warner. 


39f 


Their  distance  was  sixty  miles,  their  time  was  four 
days,  and  their  total  pay  was  £28  12s.  6rf. 

TROOP  OF   HORSE. 

Captain  Moses  Jewett.  Lieut.  Robert  Perkins. 

Comet,  John  Kinsman.  Quarterm.,  Elisha  Brown. 
Corporals. 

Nathaniel  Smith  Pelatiah  Brown. 

Nehemiah  Choate.  Nehemiah  Brown. 

Trumpeter,  John  Brown.  Clerk,  John  Pearson. 

Privates.  —Ebenezer  Brown,  John  Bradstreet,  Samuel  Bragg,  Allen 
Baker,  Francis  Brown,  Joseph  Brown,  Jonathan  Curamings,  Pelatiah 
Ciimmings,  William  Conant,  Abner  Day,  John  Emerson,  Joseph  Good- 
hue, Seth  Goodhue,  Mark  Haskell,  John  Harris,  Nehemiah  Jewett, 
Aaron  Jewett,  Michael  Kinsman,  Joseph  Metcalfe,  Nehemiah  Patch, 
Thomas  Smith,  Zebulon  Smith,  Nehemiah  Jewett,  Jr. 

The  distance  was  sixty  miles,  they  served  ninety- 
nine  days,  and  their  total  pay  was  £16  9s.  3c?.  2/. 

Ipswich  hamlet  furnished  thirty-eight  minute-men, 
under  Captain  Elisha  Whitney.  They  were  out  three 
days,  and  returned  to  Cambridge,  1st  of  May. 

Captain  Abraham  Dodge's  company  did  not  go  into 
the  conflict,  except  such  as  volunteered.  They  were 
encamped  in  sight. 

The  War. — They,  however,  soon  returned ;  but 
enlistments  immediately  began.  Captain  Abraham 
Dodge  enlisted  forty  men ;  Caiptain  Gideon  Parker, 
twenty-two;  Captain  Elisha  Whitney,  thirty-nine; 
Captain  Daniel  Rogers,  fiftj'--one;  Captain  Nathaniel 
Wade,  sixty-nine.  Our  statement  is  necessarily 
short.  Enlistments  were  constant.  The  only  busi- 
ness that  received  first  attention  was  the  war.  The 
citizens  contributed  of  their  service,  their  sympathy, 
their  kindness,  their  money,  their  prayers  for  the  one 
great  end.  They  were  represented  in  every  depart- 
ment. Our  soldiers  fought  at  Bunker  Hill,  and 
helped  drive  Howe  from  Boston.  They  fought  under 
Gates  at  the  North,  on  Long  Island,  in  New  Jersey 
and  Pennsylvania  and  Rhode  Island.  They  helped 
conquer  Burgoyne,  and  they  guarded  his  troops  at 
Pro-spect  Hill,  near  Boston.  They  suffered  in  the 
retreat  through  New  Jersey  and  at  Valley  Forge. 

Colonel  Hodgkins  wrote  February  22, 1778:  "What 
our  soldiers  have  suffered  this  winter  is  beyond  ex- 
pression, as  one-half  has  been  barefoot  and  all  most 
naked  all  winter;  the  other  half  very  badly  on  it  for 
clothes  of  all  sorts;  and  to  com  Pleat  our  messery, 
very  shorte  ont  for  provisions.  Not  long  since  our 
brigade  drue  but  an  half  days  Lounce  of  meet  in 
eight  days.  But  these  defettis  the  men  bore  with  a 
degree  of  fortitude  becoming  soldiers."  The  bloody 
foot-track  in  the  "  Flight  through  Jersey "  and  the 
extreme  sufferings  at  Valley  Forge  are  no  myth. 
"These  benign  institutions,  the  dear  purchase  of  our 
fathers,  are  ours,"  bought  at  a  price  unparalleled. 
On  June  10,1776,  "Voted  that  this  Town  instruct 
their  representatives  that  if  the  Continental  Congress 
should,  for  the  safety  of  the  said  Colonies,  declare 
them  independent  of  the  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain, 
they,  the  said  inhabitants,  will  solemnly  engage  with 
their  lives  and  fortunes  to  support  them  in  the  meas- 
ure."    The  town  had  expended  November  28,  1777, 


618 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


£1737  5s.  That  year  was  voted  £1000  for  recruits. 
In  February  the  town  voted  to  pay,  in  addition  to 
Continental  and  State  bounty,  £18  for  three  years,  or 
during  the  war,  or  in  lieu  of  it,  £6  for  the  first  year, 
£8  for  the  second,  and  £10  for  the  third,  if  detained 
so  long. 

In  May  £16  was  voted  for  eight  months'  men. 
Voted  in  September  that  the  selectmen  supply  the 
families  of  soldiers,  who  were  enlisted  for  three  years, 
or  during  the  war.  In  November  a  committee  was 
chosen  for  that  purpose  according  to  law,  and  it  was 
voted  to  raise  £100  for  the  purpose.  In  April,  1777, 
at  a  very  full  meeting,  the  town  approved  the  Gen- 
eral Court's  order  to  prevent  monopoly  and  oppres- 
sion, and  instructed  the  selectmen  "  not  to  approbate 
any  innholder  or  retailer  that  does  not  strictly  adhere 
to  it."  In  1778  the  town  instructed  her  represent- 
atives to  vote  for  the  "Articles  of  Confederation," 
and  voted  to  hire  £900  to  supply  the  families  of  sol- 
diers in  the  Continental  Army.  In  1779  voted  to 
raise  £3000  for  town  charges  and  war  services,  and 
£12,000  (old  tenor)  to  pay  men  to  be  hired,  if  need  be. 
In  1780  the  town's  proportion  of  supplies  is  106 
shirts,  106  pairs  of  shoes  and  stockings,  33  blankets 
and  31,800  pounds  of  beef.  Voted  £1200  for  hire  of 
soldiers.  In  March,  1781,  voted  £1000  to  pay  inter- 
est,— taxed  for  that  purpose  alone.  In  1781  voted 
£500  for  soldiers'  pay,  £220  for  Rhode  Island  service, 
£400  for  hiring  four  months'  men,  £200  for  clothing, 
and  £300  for  beef.  On  January  1,  1782,  the  town 
earnestly  desires  instruction  to  be  given  the  Commis- 
sion for  negotiating  peace,  that  they  make  "  the  right 
of  the  United  States  to  the  fisheries  an  indispensable 
article  of  treaty."  The  town  voted  £440  to  pay  four 
men  lately  engaged,  and  old  Continental  soldiers. 
These  extracts  exhibit  the  town  as  among  the  fore- 
most in  sustaining  the  cause  and  the  most  discerning 
in  the  conditions  of  treaty.  Our  fathers  hailed  with 
joy  the  return  to  the  arts  of  j^eace  and  the  amenities 
of  home. 

Biographical. — Conspicuous  in  our  Revolutionary 
history  is  the  name  of  CoL.  Nathaniel  Wade.  He 
began  as  captain  of"  Minute-Men,"  in  the  town  during 
their  "discipline"  for  service.  He  led  his  company 
out  on  the  memorable  19th  of  April,  and  commanded 
them  at  Bunker  Hill,  where  they  rendered  efficient 
service.  He  was  afterwards  in  the  siege  of  Boston, 
and  participated  in  the  joyous  acclamations  of  the 
citizens,  when  Gen.  Howe  sailed  with  his  army,  navy 
and  tories  for  Halifax.  He  was  in  the  campaign  on 
Long  Island,  participated  in  the  dexterous  manoeuver- 
ing  of  the  troops  through  New  York,  and  in  the  noble 
stands  at  Harlem  Heights  and  White  Plains.  He 
suffered  in  the  "  Flight  through  New  Jersey,"  where 
"  many  of  the  patriots  had  no  shoes  and  left  their 
blood-stained  foot-prints  on  the  frozen  ground  ;  "  and 
at  Valley  Forge,  where  a  paucity  of  provisions  and 
clothing  severely  tried  their  patience  and  endurance 
and   cemented  their  patriotism.      He   attained  the 


rank  of  colonel  in  the  Continental  Army.  He  waa 
actively  engaged  in  the  whole  campaign  in  Rhode 
Island.  He  was  president  of  a  court-martial  there, 
December  23,  1777.  He  was  under  Gen.  Arnold  at 
West  Point  in  1780,  and  upon  Arnold's  defection  suc- 
ceeded to  the  command  of  the  fort.  On  this  occasion 
Gen.  Washington  wrote  him,  under  date  of  Septem- 
ber 25,  1780 : 

"Gen.  Arnold  has  gone  to  the  Enemy.  .  .  .  The  command  of  the 
Fort  for  the  present  devolves  upon  you.  I  request  you  will  be  as  vigi- 
lant as  possible,  and  as  the  Enemy  may  have  it  in  contemplation  to 
attempt  some  enterprise  even  to-night,  against  those  Posts,  I  wish  j'ou 
to  make,  immediately  after  receipt  of  tliia,  the  best  disposition  you  can  of 
your  force,  so  as  to  have  a  proportion  of  meu  in  each  work  on  the  west 
side  of  the  River.    You  will  hear  from  or  see  me  to-morrow." 

Col.  Wade  was  suspicious  for  some  time,  that  all 
was  not  right  about  Gen.  Arnold ;  but  the  general 
was  so  vigilant  and  adroit,  that  nothing  could  be  ob- 
tained upon  which  to  base  a  charge. 

The  most  tearfully  joyous  occasion  of  the  colonel's 
life  was  probably  the  greeting  of  Gen.  Lafayette, 
when  the  latter  visited  this  country  in  1824.  At  a 
collation  provided  by  Col.  Treadwell  in  honor  of  the 
town's  distinguished  guest  at  which  were  delegations 
from  Ipswich,  Haverhill  and  Newburyport,  Col.  Wade 
was  presented  to  the  general.  Their  embrace  was 
cordial  and  "affecting  beyond  description."  They 
had  been  companions  in  arms  ;  they  had  planned  to- 
gether for  success  in  the  noble  cause ;  they  had  fought 
for  the  same  purpose;  they  had  hoped  together  for 
the  fullest  realization;  and  now  they  rejoiced  together 
in  the  grand  consummation  and  the  glorious  fruition 
of  their  hope.  Their  converse  was  earnest;  their 
theme  was  familiar  and  involved  points  of  the  deepest 
interest;  and  their  feelings  at  times  bearing  sway 
"  became  too  strong  for  utterance." 

Col.  Wade  retired  from  the  army  near  the  close  of 
the  war  and  returned  home ;  but  upon  the  insurrec- 
tion led  by  Captain  Daniel  Shays,  he  entered  the  ser- 
vice under  Gen.  Lincoln  and  commanded  the  Middle 
Essex  Regiment.  The  winter  campaign  was  particu- 
larly severe,  and  he  often  afterwards  spoke  of  his  suf- 
ferings.    This  campaign  closed  his  martial  career. 

He  enjoyed  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  his  fel- 
low-citizens, and  held  many  important  civil  trusts  as 
their  gifts.  He  was  town  clerk  from  1784  to  1814, 
and  Repi'esentative  to  the  General  Court  from  1795  to 
1816  inclusive,  and  was  county  treasurer  twenty-five 
years.  He  is  said  to  have  possessed  a  remarkable 
equanimity  and  mildness  of  temper.  Says  one,  "He 
did  not  have  a  blot  on  his  character."  He  died  Octo- 
ber 26,  1826,  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven  years. 

Another  pleasant  name  of  Revolutionary  memory 
is  Col.  Joseph  Hodgkins.  He  was  first  a  lieutenant 
in  Captain  Wade's  company  of  "  Minute-Men."  He 
was  one  of  the  score  or  more  who  were  voluntarily 
led  by  Captain  Wade  into  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 
He  was  in  the  siege  of  Boston,  the  campaign  of  Long 
Island,  the  battles  of  Harlem  Heights,  White  Plains 
and  Princeton.     He  witnessed  the  surrender  of  Bur- 


IPSWICH. 


619 


goyne's  army  and  guarded  it  on  parole  near  Boston. 
He  wrote  numerous  letters  to  his  family  while  he  was 
in  arms,  valuable  mementos  of  his  noble  patriotism 
and  descriptive  of  his  campaigns,  his  sentiments  and 
his  sufferings,  to  which  reference  is  made  in  the  quo- 
tation above.  He  succeeded  Col.  Wade  as  commander 
of  the  Middle  Essex  Regiment,  was  Representative  to 
the  General  Court  from  1810  to  1816  inclusive,  and 
held  various  town  offices.  It  is  needless  to  speak  of 
his  exemplary  character.  He  died*  September  25, 
1829,  eighty-six  years  old. 

Another  illustrious  man,  the  Gen.  Denison  of  this 
period,  who  deserves  an  extensive  notice,  was  Gen. 
Michael  Farley.  He  was  a  man  of  commanding 
influence,  of  varied  ability  and  comprehensive  views. 
He  was  a  tanner  by  trade.  He  excelled  in  State- 
craft. He  was  elected  for  many  years  to  the  princi- 
pal town  offices.  He  was  a  long  time  town  treasurer 
and  feoffee  of  the  grammar  school.  During  the 
Revolutionary  period  he  was  vigilant,  earnest,  active, 
efficient,  in  meeting,  in  behalf  of  the  town,  the  de- 
mands of  the  government,  for  men,  clothing  and 
provisions.  He  was  a  member  of  the  General  Court 
from  1775  to  1779  inclusive,  and  of  the  Provincial 
Congress  1774  and  1775.  The  General  Court  accord- 
ing to  the  Governor's  warrant  for  the  election  was  to 
convene  at  Salem  October  5th.  Gen.  Farley  was 
chosen  a  deputy.  Meanwhile  the  Governor  recalled 
his  warrants,  but  ninety  deputies,  including  Gen. 
Farley,  appeared  and  after  waiting  a  day  for  the 
Governor,  resolved  themselves  into  a  Provincial  Con- 
gress and  adjourned  to  meet  at  Concord  the  11th. 
He  was  high  sheriff,  was  a  major-general  of  the  mili- 
tia, and  a  member  of  the  executive  council,  that  ad- 
minist^jed  the  government  from  1775  to  1780.  When 
Gen.  Lafayette  came  to  this  country  to  offer  his  ser- 
vices to  this  government,  he  came  to  Ipswich  and 
was  the  guest  of  Gen.  Farley.  The  general  was  a 
very  polite  man,  and  "remarkably  hospitable."  Rev. 
Levi  Frisbie  wrote:  "  He  was  genei'ous,  public-spir- 
ited, humane  and  impartial ;  a  great  loss  to  the  town 
and  country."  He  died  June  20,  1789,  aged  seventy 
years. 

General  Daniel  Denison. — These  annals  of  the 
wars  would  be  very  incomjjlete  without  some  notice 
of  General  Daniel  Denison,  the  foremost  man  of  the 
times.  He  was  born  in  England  in  1612,  and  came 
to  this  country  with  his  parents  when  about  nineteen 
years  old.  He  was  at  first  a  citizen  of  Roxbury,  then 
of  Newton,  now  Cambridge.  He  married  Patience, 
daughter  of  Governor  Thomas  Dudley,  and  shortly 
after  chose  a  permanent  home  in  this  town,  then  the 
home  of  his  wife's  father.  He  entered  uj:)on  jjublic 
life  shortly  after  his  majority,  being  elected  depu'y 
in  1635.  He  was  deputy  the  five  following  years  and 
in  1648,  1649,  1651  and  1652.  Three  years  he  was 
speaker.  He  was  town  clerk  in  1636,  and  probably 
held  the  office  till  Mr.  Symonds  was  chosen  in  1639. 
In   1636   he   was  made   captain.     In  1638  he,   with 


others,  began  a  plantation  at  Merrimack,  now  Salis- 
bury. In  1641  he  was  one  of  a  committee  to  advance 
trade  in  the  town.  In  1643  he  had  a  grant  of  two 
hundred  acres  to  encourage  him  to  remain  here. 
Soon  after  the  union  of  the  colonies,  March  19,  1643, 
he  was  called  as  a  military  leader.  In  May  of  that 
year  he  was  one  of  five  who  were  to  organize  and 
equip  an  army  and  set  up  fortifications.  He  was 
chosen  the  leader  or  drill  master  of  the  Ipswich 
militia,  and  they  agreed  to  pay  him  £24  7s.  an- 
nually. Wonder-working  Providence  calls  him  "a 
good  souldier,  of  quick  capacity,  not  inferior  to  any 
other  of  these  chief  officers." 

He  was  one  of  three  commissioners  with  full  powers 
to  treat  with  D'Aulney  in  the  La  Tour-D'Alney 
imbroglio.  In  1647  he  was  made  a  justice  in  the  In- 
ferior Court.  He  assisted  in  organizing  and  estab- 
lishing the  grammar  school  and  was  one  of  the 
feoffees.  He  was  made  major-general  in  1653, 
and  was  appointed  several  times  afterwards. 
In  1657  he  was  one  of  a  committee  to  ad- 
just the  claims  of  Gorges  to  Kittery,  York  and  other 
places,  which  they  did  with  satisfaction.  In  May, 
1658,  he  was  requested  by  the  General  Court 
thoroughly  to  revise  and  codify  the  colonial  laws,  (or 
which  service  he  received  half  of  Block  Island,  which 
was  sold  in  1660  for  four  hundred  pounds.  In  1660 
he  joined  the  Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery  and 
was  chosen  their  commander.  In  June^  1664,  him- 
self, Bradstreet  and  Symonds,  who  were  sometime 
Ipswich  men,  prepared  a  "  Narrative  "  defending  the 
course  of  Massachusetts  in  "  the  great  confederacy  of 
colonial  times,''  against  the  accusation  of  the  other 
colonies.  He  entered  the  Quaker  controversy  with 
decided  views,  and  advocated  strenuous  measures  to 
prevent  their  "  mischief."  He  took  an  active  part  in 
the  controversy  with  the  Dutch,  and  it  was  chiefly  by 
his  advocacy  that  war  was  averted.  He  was  one  year 
colonial  secretary. 

In  the  troubles  between  King  and  colony  in  1660, 
Denison  and  Bradstreet  counseled  "  the  golden 
mean,"  basing  their  advocacy  upon  kingly  preroga- 
tive and  law,  a  course  which  was  wise  and  prevailed. 
He  was  called  to  the  front  again  when  the  Dutch  took 
possession  of  New  York.  He  was  the  general  command- 
ing the  Bay  forces  in  the  King  Philip's  War.  His 
general's  commission  for  this  war,  dated  June  26, 
1675,  is  in  the  State  Archives,  67:  206.  This  war 
closed  his  military  career.  In  1680  he  was  chosen 
assistant,  an  office  which  he  held,  by  re-election,  till 
his  death,  September  20,  1682. 

He  was  continually  in  the  public  service,  and  we 
know  nothing  of  his  private  life  excejit  as  it  is  mirrored 
in  that  service.  The  fact  that  he  was  a  deputy  ten 
years,  assistant  twenty-nine  years,  major-general 
eleven  years,  inter-colonial  commissioner  eight  years, 
shows,  after  allowing  for  double  service,  that  his 
public  career  began  soon  after  he  attained  his  major- 
ity ;  that  he  was  continually  honored  by  his  towns- 


620 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


men  shows  his  home  life  to  have  been  exemplary, 
and  that  public  honors  crowned  the  service  of  his 
youth,  his  manhood  and  his  age,  exhibits  him  a  man 
of  varied  talents  and  learning,  of  stout-hearted  virtue, 
of  fullest  integrity  and  unswerving  purpose.  He  was 
quick  to  adapt  means  to  ends,  was  a  persuasive  advo- 
cate, a  faithful,  judicious  and  wise  counselor.  He  was 
an  earnest  Christian  man  and  defender  of  the  faith. 
He  was  one  of  the  greatest  men  of  his  day. 

A  Painful  Incident. — It  is  proper  here  to  di- 
gress a  little  and  relate  an  incident  of  peculiar  sad- 
ness, the  capital  punishment  of  a  youth  of  sixteen, 
who  Avas  accidentally  made  partaker  of  a  heinous 
crime. 

Jabez  Eoss  was  the  father  of  seventeen  children,  of 
whom  nine  were  living  in  1775 — six  sons  and  three 
daughters.  Five  of  the  sons  were  in  the  army  of  the 
Revolution  ;  four  fought  at  Bunker  Hill ;  one  perished 
in  the  army  of  ihe  North;  three  were  enlisted  for 
three  years,  and  one,  Ezra,  the  youngest,  for  one  year. 
This  son,  only  sixteen  years  of  age,  is  the  subject  of 
this  narrative.  He  had  served  the  term  of  his  enlist- 
ment and  was  returning  to  the  home  of  his  parents. 
The  toils,  hardships  and  sufferings  of  the  war  had 
been  too  much  for  his  tender  years,  and  he  fell  sick 
at  Brookfield.  He  was  brought  very  low,  and  for  a 
time  his  life  depended  upon  kind  attention  and 
watchful  care.  Providence  placed  him  in  the  home 
of  Mr.  John  Spooner,  whose  wife  gave  him  "  every 
kind  oflBce  and  mark  of  attention  that  could  endear 
and  make  grateful  a  child  of  sixteen,  sick  and  desti- 
tute.'' "  After  the  evacuation  of  Ticonderoga,  in  his 
march  to  reinforce  the  Northern  army,  gratitude  for 
past  favors  led  him  to  call  on  his  old  benefactress, 
who  then  added  to  the  number  of  her  kindnesses  and 
engaged  a  visit  on  his  return." 

The  woman  in  question  was  Mrs.  Bathsheba 
Spooner;  she  was  the  sixth  and  favorite  child  of 
Chief-justice  Ruggles,  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  a  man 
of  wealth,  honor  and  social  distinction.  She  was 
born  February  17,  1745  ;  was  in  the  vigor  of  woman- 
hood and  well  educated.  She  had  inherited  wealth 
and  social  pride,  and  was  haughty  and  imperious. 
Mr.  Spooner,  her  husband  from  1766,  was  a  retired 
trader,  a  weak  character,  and  the  marriage  was  not 
happy.  Dissension  followed  dissension,  till  she  hated 
him  and  flew  to  criminal  indulgence.  Ross  had  a 
fine  physique,  and  stature  far  beyond  his  years.  He 
was  youthful,  ruddy,  active,  social,  handsome.  His 
youth  and  inexperience  unconsciously  became  the 
prey  of  the  strong-minded,  artful,  seductive,  profli- 
gate woman.  Once  in  her  toils,  his  youth  furnished 
him  with  no  power  to  extricate  himself.  He  heard 
her  hellish  proposals  and  her  flattering  promises,  but 
he  "  never  attempted  an  execution  of  the  detestable 
crime,  notwithstanding  repeated  solicitation  and  as 
frequent  opportunities,  until  on  an  accidental  meet- 
ing he  became  a  party  with  those  ruffians  who,  with- 
out his  privity,  had  fixed  on  the  time  and  place." 


The  news  of  the  deed  spread  far  and  wide  ;  the  case 
became  famous  as  the  crime  was  heinous.  Its  secret 
could  not  long  be  kept ;  the  perpetrators  were  soon 
ferretted  out,  and  Mrs.  Spooner,  two  vagabond  sol- 
diers and  young  Ross  were  arrested.  The  trial  was 
short,  the  evidence  conclusive  and  the  sentence 
severe  and  condign.  Much  sympathy  was  felt  for 
the  woman  because  of  her  delicate  condition,  and  for 
Ross  because  of  his  accidental  knowledge  of  the  deed, 
his  youth  and  inexperience;  but  several  petitions  for 
executive  clemency,  in  both  cases,  were  of  no  avail. 
The  criminals  met  their  fate  upon  the  gallows,  July 
2,  1778.  This  history  is  a  solemn  warning  to  youth, 
and  will  ever  excite  our  sympathy  and  pity. 

Shays'  Rebellion. — The  town  was  active  in  sup- 
pressing the  Shays'  Rebellion  in  1786-87.  This  grew 
out  of  the  scarcity  of  money,  caused  by  the  interrup- 
tion of  trade  and  the  long,  tedious  drain  upon  the 
energies  and  finances  of  the  government  by  the  late 
war,  and  was  led  by  Captain  Daniel  Shays,  who  him- 
self participated  in  the  Nation's  struggle  for  freedom. 
Ipswich  furnished  twenty-five  men,  who  were  out 
sixty  days,  a  winter  campaign  of  great  severity. 

War  of  1812.— In  speaking  of  the  War  of  1812, 
we  must  begin  with  the  Embargo  Act,  or,  as  the  op- 
ponents of  the  administration,  spelling  it  backwards, 
called  it  "The  0-grab-me  Act."  England  and  France 
were  in  a  desperate  struggle.  Between  the  "Berlin" 
and  "  Milan  "  decrees  of  Napoleon  on  the  one  hand 
and  the  "Orders  in  Council"  of  England  on  the 
other,  the  commerce  of  the  United  States  suffered  in 
the  extreme.  We  reasoned,  we  remonstrated,  we  ex- 
postulated-— all  in  vain.  England  was  haughty,  mo- 
rose, insulting.  She  vauntingly  searched  our  vessels 
and  impressed  our  seamen,  with  apparent  imjiunity. 
This  government  retaliated  by  passing  the  "Embargo 
Act,"  by  which  all  American  vessels  were  prohibited 
from  sailing  for  foreign  ports,  all  foreign  vessels  from 
taking  out  cargoes,  and  all  coasting  vessels  were  re- 
quired to  give  bonds  to  discharge  their  cargoes  in  the 
United  States.  The  effect  of  this  act  was  to  embitter 
political  parties  more  deeply  and  to  work  disastrously 
upon  the  remnant  of  our  commerce.  It  fell  particu- 
larly heavy  upon  Boston  and  Es?ex  County,  of  which 
Ipswich  was  an  important  element  and  factor.  The 
feeling  was  so  intense  in  Massachusetts — and  Ipswich 
representatives  aided  in  expressing  that  feeling — that 
the  President  was  informed  "  that  New  England,  if 
the  measure  were  persisted  in,  would  separate  from 
the  Union,  at  least  until  the  obstacles  to  commerce 
were  removed ;  that  the  plan  had  already  been  ad- 
justed, and  it  would  be  supported  by  the  people."  In 
1808  the  obnoxious  act  was  in  part  repealed. 

But  our  difficulty  with  England  continued.  She 
stirred  up  the  Indians  to  prey  upon  our  western  bor- 
der; she  searched  our  vessels  upon  the  high  seas ;  she 
stationed  vessels  at  the  entrances  of  our  harbors,  and 
there  searched  our  vessels  and  impressed  our  seamen 
under  the  pretense  that  they  were  English  born.     In 


IPSWICH. 


621 


eight  years  nine  hundred  American  vessels  were  cap- 
tured, and  more  than  six  thousand  seamen  had  been 
impressed.  These  wrongs  had  to  be  avenged.  The 
United  States  at  last  declared  war  June  19,  1812.  It 
was  a  Democratic  measure  and  was  bitterly  opposed 
by  the  Federalists,  and  the  seaports  were  particularly 
bitter. 

A  short  lime  before  the  declaration  of  war  our  town 
held  a  convention  to  consider  "the  momentous  sub- 
iect  of  our  national  affairs,"  to  reply  to  communica- 
tions from  Boston  and  Salem  and  to  pass  upon  ad- 
dresses from  Congress  and  the  Legislature.  They  de- 
clared "  that  the  county  of  Essex  has  of  late  been 
most  grossly  misrepresented  to  the  agents  of  our 
country  by  men  in  whom  this  town  have  no  confi- 
dence; they  animadverted  upon  the  administration; 
they  "  were  not  convinced  that  any  war  in  am/  case 
should  be  declared ;"  and  they  exclaimed,  "  Who  is 
not  convinced  that  enlarging  the  power  of  the  authors 
and  aiding  the  common  enemy  of  free  States  was  its 
prime  object !"  They  heartily  approved  the  minority 
address  of  Congress,  and  declared  the  address  of  the 
State  House  of  Representatives  to  be  a  true  expression 
of  the  will  of  the  people.  The  records  further  declare 
"  We  are,  nevertheless,  determined  to  do  our  duty  to 
bring  our  beloved  and  afflicted  country  to  a  better 
state  of  things." 

A  company  of  "  Sea  Fencibles"  was  raised,  and 
commanded  by  Major  Joseph  Swasey,  captain ;  Col- 
onel Joseph  Hodgkins,  first  lieutenant;  Jabez  Far- 
ley, second  lieutenant;  and  Colonel  Thomas  Wade, 
orderly.  Of  the  three  hundred  men  raised  in  Essex 
County,  Ipswich  furnished  her  quota,  and  October  3, 
1814,  voted  to  make  the  pay  of  drafted  men  seventeen 
dollars  per  month  for  the  time  in  actual  service. 
Ipswich  commerce,  however,  never  recovered  from 
the  stroke. 

The  last  of  these  war  veterans  to  fall  was  Thomas 
Smith.  He  died  September  29th  of  last  year,  at  the 
great  age  of  ninety-three  years,  three  months  and 
twenty-six  days.  He  was  a  hatter  by  trade,  but  had 
not  worked  at  it  since  the  use  of  machinery  in  that 
industry.  He  drew  a  pension  for  many  years.  He 
was  a  good  kind  of  man,  always  well  posted  in  Dem- 
ocratic measures  and  principles,  was  of  a  retiring  dis- 
position, generous  and  a  good  citizen.  He  never 
married. 

The  Rebellion. — The  spirit  with  which  Ipswich 
entered  the  war  against  the  Rebellion  was  fervent 
and  active.  It  was  a  vital  resurrection  of  the  same 
spirit  that  bearded  the  tyranny  of  Andros,  and  that 
pledged  life  and  treasure  to  support  the  Declaration 
of  Independence.  She  met  the  issue  squarely  and 
effectively.  At  an  initial  meeting  she  voted  three  thou- 
sand dollars  in  aid  of  the  families  of  volunteers,  which 
she  supplemented  from  time  to  time  with  ample  sup- 
ply. Her  bounties  were  commensurate  with  those  of 
sister  towns.  She  was  instant  in  season  and  out  of 
season  in  providing  comforts  and  delicacies  for  the 


soldier  upon  the  field  and  in  the  hospital.  There 
were  committees  of  the  town,  of  the  societies,  of  the 
churches,  of  the  lodges  and  of  the  citizens,  vying 
with  each  other  in  "the  labor  of  love."  The  town's 
average  enrollment  during  the  war  was  about  three 
hundred  and  eighty.  She  furnished  about  three 
hundred  and  seventy-five.  She  furnished  her  full 
quota  upon  every  call.  Fifteen  of  her  men  were 
commissioned  officers.  At  the  end  of  the  war  she 
had  furnished  a  surplus  of  thirty-three  men.  She  ex- 
pended $52,692  ;  $13,200  exclus-ively  of  State  aid. 

The  Monument. — When  the  cruel  war  was  over, 
in  1869  the  town  selected  a  conspicuous  and  central 
location,  and  erected  upon  the  rock-ribbed  earth,  at  a 
cost  of  two  thousand  eight  hundred  dollars,  a  i^ightly 
granite  memorial,  "a  single  shaft,  simple  and  plain," 
commemorative  of  her  patriot  dead.  The  front 
panel,  which  faces  the  north,  is  inscribed, — 


"  ERECTED 

BY   THE    TOWN    OF   IPSWICH 

IN    MEMORY    OF   HER 

BBAA'E   AND   LAMENTED   SONS 

WHO   GAVE   THEIR   LIVES   TO 

THEIR   COUNTRY   IN   THE   WAR 

FOR   UNION   AND   LIBERTY 

1861-1865." 


The  other  panels  record  their  names.  On  the 
plinth  in  front  is  the  year  "  1871,"  when  the  shaft 
was  erected ;  on  the  west,  "  Their  deeds  we  cher- 
ish ;  "  on  the  south,  "  Our  patriot  Dead  ;  "  and 
on  the  east,  "  Their  record  our  union." 

When  the  Roman  matron,  Cornelia,  was  asked  to 
exhibit  her  jewels,  she  naively  turned  towards  her 
boys  and  said,  "  These  are  my  ornaments."  These 
are  our  jewels. 

The  Roll  of  Honor. — [The  roll  includes  the 
names  of  those  who  died  in  the  service,  and  have 
their  names  upon  the  soldiers'  monument.  The  first 
semi-colon  is  the  name  ;  second,  age  ;  third,  com- 
pany; fourth,  branch  of  service  ;  fifth,  mustered  in  ; 
!-ixth,  mustered  out ;  seventh,  remarks.  The  abbre- 
viations are :  B.,  battalion  ;  Bat.,  battery  ;  Cav.,  cav- 
alry ;  d.,  died,  or  dead  ;  H.  A.,  heavy  artillery  ;  I., 
infantry  ;  ss.,  sharpshooters  ;  tr.,  transferred  ;  V.  R.  C, 
veteran  relief  corps  ;  en.,  expiration  of  term  of  en- 
listment.] 

Andrews,  Luther  B. ;  31 ;  D  ;  48  I.;  10  Oct.'l ;  d.  2  June,  '4. 
Barker,  John  A.  ;  42  ;  I ;  23  I.;  9  Oct.'l ;  d.  Pliila.  30  Aug.  '4. 
Batchelder,  Clias.  P. ;  18  ;  L  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  28  Feb.  '2  ;  d.  of  wounds,  Wash- 
ington, 23  Aug.  '4. 
Bridges,  Gelois  F. ;  23  ;    I ;    23  I ;    16  Oct.  '1 ;   d.  Richmond  prison,  Va., 

16  May,  '4. 
Bridges,  John  0.  ;    27;    I;    23  L;    16  Oct.  '1  ;    d.  Newbern,  N.  C,   26 

April,  '2. 
Brown,  Henry  A. ;    18  ;    I ;    23  I.;    28  Sept.  '1  ;    d.  Newbern,   N.  C,  21 

April,  '2. 
Brown,  Jeremiah  W.  ;  19  ;  — ;  4  Bat.  H.  A. ;  24  Feb.  '4  ;  14  Oct.  '5. 
Butler,  Pierce  L.  ;  20 ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1  ;  d.  2  Jan.,  '5. 
Cash,  William  ;   33  ;    L ;    1  H.  A.  ;    20  Mch.,  '2 ;    d.   Andersonville,   26 

Mch.,  '2. 
Chambers,  Nathl. ;  20  ;    A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;   5  July,  '1  ;   d.  Patrick  Station,  IG 

Feb..  '5. 
Clarke,   James   A.;    61;    I;    23  L;    28  Sept., '1;    d.   Hatteras  Inlet,  7 

May,  '2. 


622 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Cowles,  Henry  A. ;  18  ;  K  ;  150  CfiS^at.  G'ds ;  15  April,  '4  ;  d.  Fort  Sara- 
toga, 14  July,  'i. 
Crowley,  Peter  ;  22  ;  G  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  4  Dec,  '3  ;  d.  of  wounds,  near  Peters- 
burg, Va. 
Dow,  Chas.  H.  ;  18  ;  I ;  23  I  ;  10  Oct.,  '1  ;    kid.  Cold  Harbor,  3  June,  '4. 
Estes,  William  A.  ;    19 ;    I ;    1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1 ;  made  prisoner  Ander- 

sonville,  22  June,  '4. 
Gordon,  James ;    —  ;    A;    1   H.  A.  ;    5  July, '1 ;    kid.  Spottsylvauia,  19 

May,  '4. 
Gray,  William  ;  34 ;  A  ;  1  H.  A. ;  17  Feb.,  '2 ;  kid.  21  June,  '4. 
Harris,   Edward  ;    27  ;    I ;    19  I. ;  28  Aug.,  '1 ;    d.   Bolivar  bosptl.,   27 

Oct.,  '2. 
Harris,  James. 
Hayes,  Nathaniel ;    34  ;    2    SS.  ;    10  July,  '3  ;    d.   Petersburg,    Va.,  2 

July,  '4. 
Jewett,  John  H.  ;    20;    I;    231.;     28  Sept., '1 ;    d.  Getty's  Station,   5 

April,  '4. 
Jewett,  John  J. ;  31 ;  K  ;  2  I ;  8  Aug.,  '2  ;  kid.  Gettysburg,  2  July,  '3. 
Jewett,  Lorenzo  T. ;  19  ;    A  ;    1  H.  A.  ;    5  July,  '1  ;    d.  Washington  of 

wounds  at  Spottsylvania,  2fi  May,  '4. 
Jewett,  William  H.  ;  42;  C;  19,1.;  31  Dec,  '1;  20  Oct.,  '2. 
Johnson,  Nathaniel    A.;    43;     C;    191.;    28  Aug., '1;    d.  Ipswich,  17 

May,  '4. 
Lavalette,  Philip  C.  ;    21;     H;    1  H.  A  ;    5  July, '1 ;  d.  Washington,  6 

June,  '4. 
Lavalette,  Pike  N. ;    18  ;    A  ;    141.;    6  July,  '1 ;    d.  Andersonville,  24 

Sept.,  '4. 
Liuburg,  Marcus  ;  42  ;  D ;  48  I. ;  23  Dec,  '2 ;  kid.  15  Nov.,  '3. 
Lord,  Caleb  H.  ;  22  ;  K  ;  2  I. ;  8  Aug.,  '2  ;  kid.  by  SS.,  29  June,  '4. 
McGregor,  Alex.  B. ;    27  ;    L  ;    1  H.  A.  ;  11  Mch.,  '2  ;  kid.  New  Haven, 

Ct.,  26  Oct.,  '4. 
McGregor,  Parker;  24  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1  ;  kid.  l(i  June,  '4. 
Morley,    George    W.  ;     19  ;     D ;     48  I.  ;     24  Sept.,  '2  ;     d.   19  July,  '3  ; 

wounded  13. 
Morris,  George  ;,35  ;  —  ;  Navy ;  — ;  drowned  "  Cumberland,"  7  Mch.  '2  ; 

sailmaker's-mate. 
Noyes,  James  W.  ;    22  ;    I ;  1  H.  A.  ;  20  Feb.,  '2  ;  kid.  Spottsylvania,  18 

3Iay,  '4. 
Otis,  George  W.  ;    20  ;    A;    1   B.  H.  A.  ;    29  Feb.,  '2  ;    d.  Ipswich,  19 

Nov.,  '3. 
Patterson,  William  ;    35  ;    A  ;    1  H.  A.  ;    5  July,  '1 ;   d.  10  June,  '4,  of 

wounds  at  Petersburg. 
Peatfield,  Joseph  S.  ;    18  ;    I ;   23  I.  ;  4  June,  '2  ;  d.  Newbern,   N.  C,  31 

July,  '3. 
Peatfleld,  William  P.  ;   18  ;  I  ;    23  I.  ;  5  Oct.,  '1 ;  kid.  Whitehall,  N.  C, 

16  Dec,  '4. 
Pickard,  Samuel  R. ;    — ;    L;    4  H.  A;    ;   d.  Alexandria,  Va.,  25 

Feb.,  '5. 
Potter,  Daniel  J.  ;    21 ;    A ,    1  H.  A.  ;    5  July,  '1 ;    d.    Fort  Albany,  27 

Nov.,  '1. 
Richardson,  Alfred;    — ;    D.  ;   48  1.;   ;  d.  Baton  Rouge,  La.,  8 

Aug.,  '3.   . 
Schanks,  Daniel  B. ;    25  ;  D  ;  48  I.  ;  24  Sept.,  '2  ;  d.  of  wounds  at  Baton 

Kouge,  20  April,  "3. 
Schanks,  John  G.  ;  25  ;  —  ;  4  N.  T.  I.  ;  1  July,  '1  ;  d.  wounds  at  Antie- 

tam,  20  Sept.,  '2. 
Schofield,  Cornelius  ;    24  ;    A  ;     1  H.  A.  ;   2  Aug.,  '2  ;   d.  of  wounds,  13 

Aug.  '4. 
Shattuck,  W.  William;  21  ;  I  ;  23  I  ;  16  Oct.,  '1  ;  2  Jan.,  '4  ;  re-enlisted  '> 

kid.  [Petersburg. 
Smith,  Asa  ;  31 ;  —  ;  10  Bat.  ;  21  Sept.,  '2  ;  kid.  28  Oct.,  '4. 
Smith,  Charle8_D. ;    28 ;    E  ;    9  1.;    21  Aug.,  '3  ;    kid.   Spottsylvania,  8 

May,  '4. 
Smith,  J.  Albert;  25  ;  A  ;  1  Cav.  ;  -  Aug.,  '2  ;  d.  24  Oct.,  '4. 
Thurston,  Timothy  J.,  Jr.  ;    40  ;    A  ;    1  H.  A.  ;    7  Dec,  '1  ;    d.  Alexan 

dria,  10  Oct.,  '4. 
Tozer,  John  M. ;  19  ;  I ;  23  I.  ;  10  Oct.,  '3  ;  d.  Newport  News,  20  Oct.,  '3 

Turner,  Joshua  ;  —  ;  I ;  1  H.  A.  ;  ;  d.  Washington,  D.  C. 

"Wade,  David  L.  ;    41  ;    K  ;    2  1.;    8  Aug.,  '2  ;    d.  20  July,  '3  ;  wounded 

Gettysburg,  2. 
Wells,   Samuels.;    20;    A;    1  H.  A. ;    5  July,  '1  ;    d.  Andersonville,  4 

Nov.,  '4. 
Whipple,  Daniel  M. ;    22  ;    A  ;    1  H.  A. ;    5  July,  '1  ;  d.  Washington,  26 
Dec,  '4. 

Additions. — The  following  died   in  the  war,  and 
seem  to  be  connected  with  Ipswich,  but  are  not  upon 


the   monument.       Conant  and   Howe,  and  perhaps 
others,  were  natives : 

Bailey,  George  W.  ;  35  ;  L  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  20  Mch.,  '2  ;  d.  Portsmouth  Grove, 

15  Aug.,  '4. 
Conant,  Alvin  T. ;  36  ;  K  ;  40  I.  ;  3  Sept.,  '2 ;  d.  20  Oct.,  '3. 
Fish,  Charles  W.,  32  ;  —  ;  23  I.  ;  15  Feb.,  '3  ;  d.  Salem  30  Sept.,  '0. 
Guilford,    Hiram  ;    34  ;    D  ;     1  H.  A. ;     17  Feb.,  '2 ;    d.  City  Point,  17 

Oct.,  '4. 
Howe,    Leonard;    21;    H;     2   1.;     11   May,  '1;    d.    Seneca   Mills,  28 

Nov.,  '1. 

Lefflan,  Samuel  A.  ;  —  ;  I ;  1  H.  A. ;  ;  kid.  19  May,  '4. 

Murray,  Patrick  ;  —  ;  F  ;  2  1.;  ;  kid.  North  Bridgewater. 

Shattuck,  James  ;  19  ;  A ;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1  ;  tr.  V.  R.  C. 

Those  Beturned  to  Citizenship. 

Akerman,  Joseph  L. ;  41 ;  K  ;  2  I.  ;  9  Aug.,  '2  ;   4  Feb.,  '4  ;    disability  ; 

d.  6  June,  '70. 
Andrews,  Calvin  ;  18  ;  D  ;  48  I. ;  24  Sept.,  '2  ;  3  Sept.,  '3  ;  en. 
Andrews,  Charles  0. ;  22  ;  C  ;  2  I.  ;  25  May,  'I ;  9  June,  '3  ;  disability. 
Andrews,  Daniel  H. ;  29 ;  H ,  24  I.  ;  27  Nov.,  '1  ;  close  of  war  ;  d. 
Andrews,  Eben  A.  ;  24  ;  I  ;  1  H.  A. ;  19  Mch.,  '2  ;  4  Oct.,  '4. 
Andrews,  George  M. ;  24;  I  ;  16  I.  ;  12  July,  '1  ;  27  July,  '4. 
Andrews,  Isaac  M.  ;  38  ;  D ;  48  I.  ;  24  Sept.,  '2  ;  3  Sept.,  '3  ;  en. 
Andrews,  John  J.  ;  30  ;  E  ;  19  I.  ;  23  Feb.,  '5  ;  30  June,  '5. 
Andrews,  Luther  B.  ;  31 ;  D  ;  48  I. ;  10  Oct.,  '1  ;  2  June  '4  ;  d. 
Andrews,  Prince  ;  19  ;  F  ;  2  I. ;  25  May,  '1  ;  28  May,  '4  ;  d. 
Atkinson,  Samuel  D.  ;  29  ;  D  ;  48  I.  ;  24  Sept.,  '2  ;  3  Sept.,  '3 ;  en. 
Averill,  Ephraim  P. ;  25  ;  D  ;  12  I.  ;  20  June,  '1,  for  three  years  ;  en. 
Averill,  William  W. ;  20  ;  —  ;  —  ;  10  May,  '4 ;  11  Aug.,  '4. 
Bailey,  Amasa  P.  ;  33  ;  A ;  IB.  H.  A.  ;  25  Feb.,  '2 ;  27  Feb.,  '5  ;  en. 
Bailey,  John ;    20  ;  F  ;  9  I.  ;  22  Aug.,  '3  ;  19  June.  '4  ;  en. 
Bailey,  Oliver  A. ;    29  ;    C  ;    Engr.  Troop,   Bat.,N.  C.  ;24  Sept.,  '1 ;  11 

April,  '2  ;  en. 
Baker,  Charles  H.  ;  31 ;  A  ;  1  B.  H.  A ;  21  Feb.,  '2  ;  27  Feb.,  '5. 
Baker,  Francis  ;  —  ;  Navy,  master's  mate. 
Baker,  George  H.  ;  —  ;  —  ;    43  N.  Y. ;    ;  ;  discharged  for 

wounds ;  d. 
Baker,  George  AV. ;  23  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  26  Feb.,  '2  ;  16  Aug.,  '5  ;  en. 
Baker,  John  R. ;  27  ;  D;  48  I.  ;  24  Sept.,  '2  ;  3  Sept.,  '3  ;  en. 
Baker,  Samuel  Hazen  ;  24 ;  E  ;  12  N.  H.  I.  ;  26  Aug.,  '2  ;  2 )  July,  '5  ;  en 
Bamford,  Charles  W. ;  19  ;  L  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  28  Feb.,  '2  ;    16  Aug.,  '5;  en. 
Barker,  George ;  34  ;  I, ;  30  I. ;  17  Apr.,  '1 ;  18  July,  '0  ;  en. 
Barker,  George  W. ;  23  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  2i;  Feb.,  '2  ;  16  Aug.,  '5  ;  en. 
Barton,  John  F.  ;  3.1  ;  K  ;  2  I.  ;  8  Aug.,  '2  ;  28  May,  '4  ;  en. 
Barton,  William  R.  ;  26 ;  A  ;  1  B.  H.  A. ;  24  Feb.,  '2 ;  24  Feb.,  '5  ;  en. 
Batchelder,  Hiram  R. 

Beck,  Hardy  M ;  21  ;  — ;  1  H.  A. ;  5  July,  '1 ;  16  Aug.,  '5  ;  en. 
Blaisdell,  Leauder  M.  ;  20  ;    L  ;    1  H.  A.  ;    28  Feb.,  '2 ;  28  Dec,  '4  ;  tr. 

Vet.  Corps. 
Blake,  Asher ;  55 ;  L  ;  1  H.  A. ;  18  Mch.,  '2  ;  7  Mch.,  '5  ;  disability  ;  d 
Bodwell,  John  ;  — ;  —  ;  Navy. 
Boyd,  Neil ;  21  ;  F  ;  9  I. ;  27  Aug.,  '3  ;  ;  tr.  10  Juno,  '4,  to  32  I.  ; 

29  Apl.,  '5,  to  Navy. 
Boyntoii,  Charles;     27;     A;     1   B.   H.   A.;     20  Feb., '2  ;    9   Oct.,  '3  ; 

disability. 
Boynton,  Warren  ;  25  ;  A  ;  1  B.  H.  A.  ;  25  Feb.,  '2  ;  20  Oct.,  '5. 
Bowen,  George  W.  ;  16  ;  A  ;  Navy  and  3  H.  A.  ;  8  Dec,  '2  ;  7  Dec,  '5. 
Bradstjreet,  George  S.:  21  ;  A;  1  B.  H.  A.  ;  25  Feb.,  '2  ;  27  Feb.,  '5. 
Bridges,  Richard  A.  ;  22  ;  D  ;  48  I.;  29  Oct.,  '2;  12  Sept.,  '5 ;  en. 
Brocklebank,  Lewis  A. ;  18  ;  I ;  23  I. ;  28  Sept.,  '1  ;  13  Oct.,  '4 ;  en. 

Broderick,  Dennis  ;  30  ;  F  ;  9  I. ;  21  Aug.,  '3 ;    ;  tr  Navy. 

Brown,  Benjamin  ;  24  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A. ;  5  July,  '1  ;  8  July,  '4 ;  en. 

Brown,  Edward ;  22  ;  D ;  48  I.  ;  29  Oct.,  '2  ;  3  Sept.,  '3  ; 

Brown,  George  A.  ;  23  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  15  Feb.,  '2  ;  16  Aug.,  '5  ;  en. 

Brown,  Irving;  19 ;  A ;  IH.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1 ;  8  July,  '4  ;  en. 

Brown,  John  B. ;  24  ;  I ;  16  I ;  1  Aug.,  '1  ;  31  Oct.  3. 

Brown,  Jesse  F.  ;  22  ;  D  ;  48  I.  ;  24  Sept.,  '2  ;  27  Sept.,  '5  ;  en. 

Brown,  Leverett;  21  ;  D  ;  48  I.;  24  Sept.'  '2;  3  Sept.,  '3  ;  en. 

Brown,  Luther  C.  ;  27  ;  B ;  7  Cal.  I.  ;  12  Oct.,  '4  ;  29  April,  '6. 

Brown,  Tristram ;    42;    A;    1   H.  A. ;     lJan.,'2;    13  Jan.,  '3;    disa. 

bility  ;  d. 
Brown,  Walter,  Jr.  ;  20 ;  D;  48  I.  ;  24  Sept.,  '2  ;  18  Sept.,  '5  ;  en. 
Burnham,  Abraham  ;    53;    I;  231.;    28  Sept., '1  ;    21  July, '2  ;    disa- 
bility. 
Buruham,  Nathaniel  ;  21  ;  D  ;  48  I ;  24  Sept.,  '2;  3  Sept.,  '3;  en. 


IPSWICH. 


623 


Buinham,  William ;  22  ;  D  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  20  Feb.,  '2;  6  Jan.,  '3  ;  disability. 

Butler,  Alonzo  ;  21 ;  F  ;  2  I.  ;  25  May,  '1  ;  30  June,  '5  ;  en. 

Butler,  JohuF.;  27  ;  A  ;  1  B.  H.  A. ;  21  B"eb.,  '2;  20  Oct., '5;  en. 

Buzzell,  George  ;  19  ;  I  ;  4  Cav. ;  31  Dec,  '4  ;  14  Nov.,  '5  ;  en. 

Buzzell,  Isaac  ;  25  ;  A;  IH.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1 ;  5  Nov.,  '5  ;  en. 

Coffery,  Thomas;  38  ;  D  ;  48  I.;  24  Sept.,  '2  ;  3  Sept.,  '3;  en. 

Caldwell,  John  6.  ;  28  ;  B  ;  23  I.;  28  Sept.,  '1  ;  26  Mch.,  2  ;  disability  ; 
d.  12  Oct..  '81. 

Callahan,  "William  ;  21  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1  ;  IG  Aug.,  '5 ;  en. 

Capwell,  James  ;  42;  A  ;  1  H   A.  ;  5  July,  '1  ;  20  Dec,  '1 ;  disability. 

Carr,  Patrick  H. ;  24  ;  F  ;  2  I.  ;  25  May,  '1  ;  30  Dec,  '3 ;  en. 

Channel,  Joseph  H.  ;  24 ;  I ;  23 1.;  28  Sept.,  '1 ;  3  Jan.,  '4 ;  d. 

Chaplin,  William  A.  ;  16  ;  A  ;  23  I.;  28  Sept.,  '1  ;  28  Sept.,  '4  ;  en. 

Chapman,  Charles  H.  ;  21  ;  A ;  3  H.  A.  ;  10  Jan.,  '3  ;  18  Sept ,  '5  ;  en. 

Chapman,  Moses ;  27  ;  D ;  48  I.  ;  24  Sept.,  '2  ;  3  Sept ,  '3  ;  en. 

Chapman,  Thomas  T.  ;  36  ;  A ;  1  H.  A.  ;  8  Aug.  '1  ;  8  July  '4  ;  en. 

Clarke,  John  F.  G.  ;  30  ;  I ;  23  I ;  16  Oct.,  M  ;  6  Jan.,  '2  ;  disability. 

Clarke,  John   W.  ;  21  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  8  Aug.,  '2  ;  5  April,  '5  ;  en. 

Clarke,  Philip  E.  ;  24  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A. ;  21  Feb.,  '2  ;  20  Oct.,  '5  ;  en. 

Coburn,  Clarence  ;  — ;  —  ;  19  I  ;  ;  . 

Cogswell,  William  ;  26 ;  K  ;  2  1;  8  Aug.,  '2 ;  26  April  '3  ;  disa- 
bility; d. 

Conant,  Cyrus  W.  ;  25  ;  K  ;  40  I  ;  3  Sept.,  '2  ;  ;  disability. 

Conant,  George  W.  ;  33  ;  K  ;  40  I  ;  3  Sept.,  '2  ;  6  Feb.,  '4  ;  en. 

Condon,  Patrick ;  56  ;  —  ;  Navy  ;  15  Sept.,  '1 ;  20  Sept.,  '3  ;  en. 

Condon,  Thomas  E.  ;  19  ;  D  ;  Navy,  48  I. ;  April,  '1  ;  3  Sept.,  '3  ;  er.  ; 
wounded  at  Port  Hudson,  17  June,  '3. 

Conlace,  John  ;  24;  6  ;  20  I. ;  12  July  '3  ;  12  June,  '5. 

Coombs,  Samuel  ;  13 ;  H.  ;  31  Me.  I.  ;  Apr.,  '4  ;  1  July,  '5  ;  en. 

Cotton,  Charles  T.  ;  22  ;  D  ;  48  I.  ;  24  Sept.,  '2  ;  30  Juno,  '5  ;  en. 

Cotton,  John  S.  ;  — ;  —  ;  Navy  ;  ; . 

Cotton,  Moses  ;  —  ;  C  ;  53  I.  ;  ;  ;  en. 

Coughlin,  Patrick;  41  ;  I  ;  23  I.  ;    5  Oct.,  '1 ;  27  Oct.,  '2;  disability;  d. 

Cressey,  Alvin  0.  ;  28  ;  A ;  17  I.  ;  21  July,  '1  ;  3  Aug.,  '4 ;  en. 

Crane,  Silas ;  44  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1  ;  11  April,  '4  ;  disability ;  d. 

Crane,  William  P.  ;  43  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1  ;  8  July,  '4  ;  en.  ;  d. 

Crane,  William,  Jr.  ;  22;  D  ;  48  I. ;  14  Oct  ,  '2;  3  Sept.,  '3  ;  en. 

Cross,  William  H. ;  23  ;  C  ;  23  I.  ;  3  Dec,  '3;  11  July,  '5 ;  discharged 
by  order  War  Dept. 

Cummings,  Chas.  S.  ;  23  ;  F  ;  3G  I.  ;  27  Aug.,  '2  ;  19  Nov.,  '4  ;  disability. 

CummingB,  John  ;  —  ;  —  ;  —  .  ; ;  d. 

Dent,  William  ;  —  ;  —  ;  Navy  ;  ;  . 

Dodge,  James  P.  ;  25;  A;  1  H.  A.  ;  7  Aug., '2;  8  July, '4  ;  en.  ;  of 
Wenliam. 


;  of  Weiiham; 


Dodge,  Jefferson  ;  —  ;  —  ;  — ;  ;  — 

Downes,  Thomas  J.  ;  22  ;  L  ;  2  I. ;  25  May,  '1  ;  12  Feb.,  '3  ;  disability. 
Dunnels,  Henry  F.  ;  25  ;  — ;  Navy;  22  April,  '1  ;  7  Oct.,  '5  ;    to  reduce 

naval  officers ;  disabled,  Aug.,  '4,  at  Deep  Bottom,  Va. 
Dunnels,  John  M.  ;  23  ;  K  ;  2  I. ;  8  Aug.,  '2  ;  28  May,  '4  ;  en. 
Ellsworth,  Thomas;  F.  ;    22  ;    K  ;  55  I. ;  tr.  2  I.  ;  8  Aug.,  '2  ;  20  June 

'4;  en. 
Ellsworth,  William  ;  19  ;  D  ;  1  Bat. ;  10  May,  '4  ;  30  June,  '5  ;  en. 
Ellwell,  Alvin  F.  ;  38  ;  B  ;  50  I. ;  15  Sept.,  '2  ;  24  Aug.,  '3 ;  en. 
Estes,  Charles  W.  ;  28  ;  I ;  23  I.  ;  9  Dec,  '1  ;  13  Oct.,  '4  ;  en. 
Fall,  Hamden  A.  ;  21 ;  C  ;  3  Me.  I.  ;  3  May,  '1 ;  4  June,  '4  ;  en. 
Fellows,  Daniel  H.  ;  20  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A  ;  5  July,  '1 ;  16  Aug.,  '5  ;  en. 
Felton,  Andrew  P.  ;  39  ;  B  ;  22  I.  ;  26  Sept.,  '1  ;  9  Apr.  '3  ;  wounded. 
Fields,  Chas.  H.  ;  39  ;  A  ;  6  Cav. ;  29  Jan.,  '4;  31  Oct.,  '5  ;  en. 
Fiske,  William. 

Flagg,  Joseph  ;  21  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  Nov.,  '3  ;  16  Aug.,  '5. 
Forbes,  Henry  ;  23  ;  I ;  23  I  ;  1  Oct.,  '1  ;  13  Oct.,  '4 ;  en.  ;  d. 
Foss,  Jonathan  ;    24  ;    A  ;    1  H.  A.  ;    5  July,  '1 ;    8  July,  '4  ;   en.  ;  d.  18 

Oct.,  '77. 
Foster,  Cyrus  ;  39  ;  —  ;  40  I.  ;  3  Sept.,  '2  ;  25  Mch.,  '4  ;  en. 
Foster,  Edwin  K. ;  24  ;  D  ;  48  I.  ;  24  Sept.,  '2  ;  3  Sept.,  '3  ;  en. 
Foster,  Richard  R.  ;  18  ;  C  ;  19  I. ;  26  July,  '1;  30  June,  '5  ;  re-enlisted 

20  Dec,  '3. 
Foster,  Solomon  L.;  26  ;  F  ;  48  I. ;  6  Nov.,  '2  ;  3  Sept.,  '3  ;  en. 
Foster,  Samuel  P. ;  26  ;  K  ;  2  I  ;  8  Aug.,  '2  ;  28  May,  '4  ;  en. 

Foster,  Thomas  E.  ;  21  ;  H;  1  H.  A  ;  ,  '1 ;  ,  '4. 

Foster,  Walter  C.  ;  25  ;  I ;  23  I  ;  15  Oct.,  '1 ;  30  Sept.,  '2  ;  disability. 
Fowler,  Eben  E. ;    20;    I;    23  1.;    28  Sept.. '1  ;    13  Oct., '4  ;    en. ;  d.  24 

Mch.,  '86. 
Fowler,  John  J.  ;  24  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1  ;  2  Jan.,  '5  ;  en. 
Galbraith,  John  ;  18  ;  D  ;  48  I.  ;  1  Dec,  '2  ;  3  Dec,  '3  ;  en. 
Galbraith,  Thomas  ;  15  ;    —  ;    Navy ;    -  July,  '1  ;    -  July  '4  ;  en.  ;  d.  14 

Apl.,  '79. 


Goodhue,  Nathaniel ;  23  ;  D  :  48  I. ;  24  Sept.,  '2  ;  3  Sept.,  '3  ;  en.  ;  d. 

Goodwin,  George  W. ;  19  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1  ;  16  Aug.,  '5  ;  en. 

Goodwin,  Sylvester  ;  53  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A. ;    8  Aug.,  '2  ;  ;    tr.  V^.  R.  C. 

3  July,  'C3;  d. 

Goss,  James  W,  ;  35  ;    H  ;   1  H.  A.  ;    5  July,  '1  ;    9  Apr.,  '5  ;    en.  ;  pris- 
oner. 

Grant,  George  F.  ;  18  ;  —  ;  3  H.  A.  ;  10  Jan.,  '3  ;  ;  en. 

Grant,  James  H. ;  28  ;  D  ;  48  I.;  23  Dec,  '2  ;  3  Sept.,  '3  ;  en. 

Grant,  James  0.  ;  23  ;  B  ;  32  I.  ;  21  Aug.,  '3  ;  30  June,  '5  ;  en. 

Guillord,  Samuel  A. ;  21 ;  I ;  8  I. ;  15  Aug.,  '2  ;  7  Aug.,  '3  ;  en. 

Gwinu,  William  H.  ;  26  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  23  Nov.,  '1 ;  18  Sept.,  '5  ;  en. 

Hall,  William  H. ;  18  ;  F  ;  2  I. ;  25  May,  '1  ;  28  Sept.,  '5  ;  en. 

Hardy,  Charles  A. ;    21 ;    F  ;    7  I.  ;  15  June,  '1 ;  27  June,  '4  ;  en.;  d.  5 
Nov., '71. 

Hardy,  Clarendon  B.  ;  18  ;  A  :  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  1  ;  8  June,  '4;  en. 

Hardy,  Freeman  ;    19;    A;     1  H.  A.  ;     8  July,  '1  ;   30  June, '6  ;    en.; 
drowned  since. 

Hardy,  Josiah  ;  45  ;  M  ;  3  Cav.  ;  2  Nov.,  '1  ;  -  June,  '2  ;  disability. 

Hardy,  Joshua  M.  ;  20  ;  L ;  1  H.  A.  ;  2  Feb.,  '2  ;  31  Mch.,  '4  ;  en. 

Hardy,  Otis  C.  ;  16  ;  A  ;  3  H.  A.  ;  10  Jan.,  '2  ;  18  Sept.,  '5 ;  en. 

Harris,  Aaron  W.  ;  18  ;  B  ;  44  I.  ;  13  Oct.,  '2  ;  18  June,  '3  ;  en. 

Harris,  George  ;  ^7  ;  K  ;  2  I ;  8  Aug.,  '2  ;  30  Dec,  '3  ;  en. 

Harris,  George   W.  ;    23  ;    —  ;    Signal  Corps  ;    29  Mch.,  '4  ;    18  Aug. 
'5  ;  en. 

Harris,  James  L.  ;  —  ;  —  ;  Regular  ;  ;  ;  d.  30  Sept.,  '66. 

Harris,  Mark  ;     21  ;    A  ;     1  H.  A.  ;     5  July,  '1 ;     17  Jan.,  '3  ;     en  ;  died 
since. 

Hart,  Andrew  J. ;  21  ;  H  ;  24  I.  ;  5  Nov.,  '1 ;  4  Nov.,  '4  ;  en. 

Haskell,  Charles ;  21  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1  ;  5  Oct.,  '4 ;  en. 

Haskell,  Henry  ;    21 ;    L  ;     1  H.  A. ;    18  Mch.,  '2  ;     18  Mch.,  '5  ;    en. 
wounded  ;  d. 

Hazeltine,  Ira  G. ;  19 :  C  ;  1  Vt.  I.  ;  2  May,  'I  ;  15  Aug.,  '1  ;  en. 

Henderson,  George  ;  —  ;  —  ;  Navy  ;  ;  ;  d.  at  sea. 

Henderson,  Moses  K  ;    18  ;     —  ;     Regular  Navy  ;   23  Apr.,  '1  ;  27  Sept. , 
'70  ;  en. 

Hennesey,  Peter  ;  16  ;  E  ;  3  N.  H.  ;  10  July,  '1  ;  15  July,  '4  ;  en. 

Hills,  Albert  P  ;  15 ;  I  ;  23  I.  ;  28  Sept.,  '1 ;  13  Oct.,  '4;  en. 

Hills,  Albert  S.  ;  40  ;  I ;  23  I.  ;  10  Oct.,  '1 ;  13  Oct.,  '4 ;  en. 

Hitchcock,  Henry  ;  18  ;  A  ;  3  H.  A.  ;  10  .Tan.,  '3  ;  18  Sept.,  '5 ;  en. 

Hobbs,  John  ;  45  ;  I  ;  23  I  ;  11  Oct.,  '1  ;  22  July,  '2  ;  en. 

Hobbs,ValonisC;    21;     A;     1  H.  A.  ;     5  July. '1 ;    20  July, '5  ;    disa- 
biUty;  d. 

Holland,  Charles  L.  ;  27  ;  —  ;  1  Bat.  ;  30  Dec,  '4  ;  30  June  '5  ;  en. 

Holmes,  Otis  S.  ;  21  ;  — ;  1  B.  H.  A. ;  25  Feb.,  '2  ;  27  Feb.,  '5  ;  en. 

Holt,  Augustus  ;    26  ;    A  ;    1  H.  A. ;    5  July,  '1  ;  7  July,  '5  ;  en.  ;  disa- 
bility. 

Horton,  George  ;  32 ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  6  Aug.,  '2  ;  8  July,  '4  ;  en  ;  d. 

Hovey,  J.  Thomas  ;  18  ;  A  ;  3  H.  A.  ;  i!6  Apr.,  '3  ;    25  July,  '4  ;  en.  ;  tr. 
Navy. 

Howard,  Frank  ;    21  ;     I  ;  23  I. ;    10  Oct.,  '1 ;     8  July,  '2  ;   wounded  at 
Roanoke  Island. 

Howe,  Charles  H.  ;  23 ;  —  ;  3  H.  A.  ;  12  Aug.,  '4  ;  14  June,  '5  ;  en. 

Howe,  Levi  L.  ;  29 ;  A ;  1  B.  H.  A.  ;  22  Feb.,  '2 ;  20  Oct.,  '5 ;  en. 

Howe,  Theodore ;  18  ;  D  ;  3  Cav.  ;  7  Dec,  '3  ;  5  Oct.,  '5;  en. 

Howe,  Willard  P.  ;  38  ;  H ;  50  I.  ;  19  Sept.,  '2  ;  5  Aug.,  '5  ;    en.  ;  tr.  H, 
59  I.  12  Mch.,  '4,  and  H.  51  I..  1  June,  '5. 

Howes,  Edwin  A.  ;  26  ;  —  ;  21.;  -jS  May,  '1  ;  24  May,  '4  ;  en. 

Hubbard,  John  ;  —  ;  H  ;  16  I.  ;  17  Aug.,  '3  ;  ;    tr.  Vet.  Corps. 

Hull,  Edward  G.  ;  27 ;  I;  23  I.  ;  28  Sept.,  '1  ;  27  Sept.,  '2 ;  en. 

Hull,  James ;  20  ;  A ;  5  N.  H.  I.  ;  20  Aug.,  '3  ;  14  June,  '5;  en. 

Hull,  John  ;  30  ;  A  ;  3  H.  A.  ;  28  Apr.,  '3  ;  12  June,  '3  en. 

Hurd,  Yorick  G.  ;  35  ;  —  ;  48  I ;  8  Dec,  '2  ;  3  Sept.,  '3  ;  en. 

Irving,  George  W. ;  21;  I  ;  23  I. ;  17  Oct.,  '1  ;  2  Dec,  '1 ;  en. 

Irving,  Leander ;  19  ;  G  ;  3  H.  A. ;  4 Dec,  '3  ;  18  Sept.,  '5  ;  en. 

Irving,  Washington  ;  23  ;  H  ;  3  H.  .\.  ;  4  Dec.,  '3  ;  18  Sept.,  '5  ;  en. 

Jewett,  Henry  B.  ;  18 ;  C  ;  19  I.  ;  26  July,  '1  ;  28  Aug.,  '2  ;  en. 

Jewett,  Thomas  L.  Jr.  ;  26  ;  I  ;    23  I.  ;    28  Sept.,  '1  ;    26  Oct.,  '3  ;    disa- 
bility. 

Johnson,  Joseph  ;  33 ;  H  ;  3  H.  A.  ;  20  Nov.,  '3;  18  Sept.,  '5  ;  en. 

Kimball,  Daniel  B. ;  26  ;  K  ;  2  I. ;  8  Aug.,  '2  ;  28  May,  '4  ;  en. 

Kimball,  Joseph  E.  ;  21 ;  B  ;  1  I.  ;  23  May,  '1  ;  10  Jan.,  '4  ;  en. 

Kimball,  John  H.  ;  18  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1  ;  8  July,  '4  ;  en. 

Kinsman,  Joseph  F.  ;  18  ;  D  ;  48  I.  ;  24  Sept.,  '2  ;  3  Sept.,  '3., 

Kneeland,  Josiah  ;  36;  C;  2  I.  ;  25  May,  '1 ;  30  Dec,  '3. 

Knox,  James  H.  ;  17  ;  — ;  Navy  ;  1  Jan.,  '3  ;  1  Jan.,  '4. 

Knox,  Rufus  ;  35  ;  K  ;  2  I  ;  18  Aug  ,  '2  ;  11  May,  '4. 

Lakeman,  Asa  ;  24 ;  A ;  17  I.  ;  21  July,  '1  ;  ;  dropped  18  July,'2. 


624 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Lakeman,  Perlpy  B.  ;  41  ;  D ;  48  I.  ;  24  Sept.,  '2;  3  Sept.,  '3;  en. 

Lang,  Thomas  ;  —  ;  E  ;  2  I.  ;  ;  ;  tr.  to  Navy. 

Langdon,  George  W.  ;    30;     —;  Fort  Warren ;     21  Feb., '60  ;     20  Oct., 
'5,  en. 

Lavalette,  Charles  C.  ;    25  ;    C  ;    32  I.  ;    12  Nov.,  '1  ;  29  June,  '5  ;  en.  ; 
re-enlisted  5  Jan.,  '4;  d. 

Lefflan,  John  M.  ;  26  ;  — ;  3  H.  A. ;  11  June  '3  ;  18  Sept.,  '5  ;  en. ;  d. 

Leonard,  Isaac  M. ;    3  J;     A;     1  H.  A.  ;    5  July, '1;     ;    tr.  Vet. 

Corps  ;  d. 

Lord,  Charles  W. ;  28  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A. ;  .5  July,  '1  ;  8  July,  '4  ;  en. 

Lord,  Henry  A  ;  41  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A. ;    23  Nov.,  '3  ;  22  June,  '5  ;    en.  ;  from 
Lowell. 

Lord,  James  A.  ;  21  ;  B  ;  28  L  ;  15  Mch.,  '4 ;  22  June,  '5  ;  en. 

Lord,  Moses  G.  ;  42  ;  K  ;  2  I.  ;  8  Aug..  '2 ;  ;  tr.  Vet.  Corps. 

Lord,  Nathaniel,    3d  ;    44  ;    K  ;    2  1.;     8  Aug.,  '2  ;     9  May,  '3  ;    disa- 
abilitj' ;  d. 

Lord,  Robert;  — ;  — ;  Navy;  ;  ;  en. 

Lord,  William,  4th  ;  39  ;  D  ;  48  I  :  24  Sept.,  '2 ;  3  Sept.,  '3  ;  en. 

Low,  Winthrop;  31 ;  K  ;  2  I.  ;  8  Aug.,  '2  :  22  Sept.,  '2  ;  disability. 

Lucy,  Daniel ;  33  ;.K  ;  2  I. ;  8  Aug.,  '2  ;  28  May,  '4  ;  en. 

Maguire,  John;  27  ;  D  ;  48  I.  ;  24  Sept.,  '2;  3  Sept.,  '3  ;  en. 

Mallard,  Levi  W. ;  31  ;  6  ;  2  I. ;  25  May,  '1 :  17  June,  '5 ;  en. 

Mann,  Josiah  H.  ;  22  ;  A  ;  44  I. ;  12  Sept.,  '2  ;  18  June,  '3  ;  en. 

Manning,  Joseph  S.  ;  18 ;  K;  29  I. ;  25  Nov.,  '1  ;  15  Aug.,  '4  ;  en. 

Manning,  Thomas;  35  ;  C;  2  I. ;  25  May,  '1  ;  30  Aug.,  '4  ;  en. 

Marshall,  John  ;  35  ;  M  ;  3  H.  A.  ;  27  Aug.,  '4  ;  17  June,  '5 ;  en. 

McDonal,  William  ;    20  ;    H  ;   9  1.;    2  Aug.,  '3;    16  June,  '5  ;  en.  ;  disa- 
bility. 

McGregor,  Alex.,  Jr. ;    IS;     A;    1   H.  A.  ;    5  July, '1  ;     16   Aug., '5  ; 
en.  ;  d. 

McGuire,  Thomas ;  44 ;  D  ;  48  I. ;  24  Sept.,  '2  ;  3  Sept.,  '3  ;  en. 

Mclntire,  Charles  W. ;  28  ;  K  ;  II.  ;  12  Aug.,  '2  ;  25  May,  '4.  ;  en. 

Mclntire,  Dexter. 

McNeil,  James  ;  23  ;  I ;  9  I.  ;  11  Aug.,  '3 ;  29  June,  '5  ;  en. 

Merrill,  Dennis ;  21  ;  I ;  23  I. ;  9  Oct.,  '1 ;  10  Dec,  '2  ;  disability. 

Merrill,  Samuel  H. ;  21;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1  ;  8  July,  '4  ;  en. 

Mooar.  Charles  A. ;  23  ;  G  ;  2  I.  ;  13  Aug.,  '2  ;  28  May,  '4-;  en. 

Montgomery,  John  H.  ;    27;    I;    23  1.;    9  Nov., '1 ;    21  Apr., '3;    disa- 
bility ;  d. 

Moore,  Kichard  ;  34 ;  E  ;  9  I.  ;  1  Aug.,  '2  ;  16  Oct.,  '4  ;  en. 

Morris,  Charles  ;  d. 

Murbey,  John  ;  24  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1 ;  8  July,  '4  ;  en. 

Murbey,  Thomas  ;  40  ;  — ;  4  Div.  Bridge  Corps ;  2  Dec,  '3  ;  ,  '5. 

Nason,  Joseph  A.  ;     21  ;     G  ;     3  H.  A. ;     30 ,  '3  ;     18  May,  '4  ;  disa- 
bility. 

Newman,  Benj.  B.  ;    18;    A;    3  H.  A.  ;    10  Jan., '3  ;   31  Mch., '3;    disa- 
bility ;  d.  12  May,  '72. 

Nichols,  Augustus  ;  14  ;  -  ;  Navy  ;  15  Mch.,  '3  ;  14  Mch.,  '4  ;  en. 

Nichols,  Albert  N. ;  18  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A. ;  5  July,  '1 ;  8  July  '4  ;  en. 

Nichols,  Edward  F.  ;  22  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1 ;  8  July,  '4 ;  en. 

Nichols,  William  0.  ;  23  ;  K  ;  2  I. ;  8  Aug.,  '2  ;  2  Apr.,  '3  ;  disability. 

Noland,  Malachi ;  30  ;  H  ;  1  H.  A. ;  3  July,  '2;  8  July,  '4  ;  en. 

Norman,  Alfred  ;  22  ;  D  ;  48  I.  ;  24  Sept.,  '2  ;  3  Sept.,  '-  ;  en. 

Norwood,  Samuel ;  22 ;  F  ;  35  I.  ;  22  Aug.,  -  ;  9  June,  '5  ;  en.  ;  d.  '85. 

Noyes,  John  W.  ;  33  ;  L ;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  'I ;  18  Sept.,  '5  ;  en. 

O'Connel,  Cornelius,  Jr.  ;  23  ;    A  ;     1  H.  A.  ;    7  Aug.,  '2  ;    28  July,  '3  ; 
disability. 

O'Connel,  John  ;  20  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A. ;  5  July,  '1  ;  31  July,  '5  ;  en. 

O'Connel,  Michael  ;  18  ;  —  ;  Regular  Army  ;  4  Mch.,  '4  ;   . 

Palmer,  Rev.  Edwin   B.  ;    29  ;     —  ;     19  Me.  I.  ;     24  Sept.,  '2  ;     3  Sept. 
'3  ;  en. 

Peabody,  Thomas ;  36 ;  I ;  23  I.  :  9  Oct.,  1  ;  16  Aug.,  '3  ;  disability. 

Perkins,  Charles  N. ;  42  ;  A  ;    1  B.  H.  A.  ;    7  Nov.,  '3  ;    20  Oct.,  '5  ;  en  ; 

d.  23  Dec,  '79. 
Perkins,  Josiah  ;  29 ;  I ;  23  I.  ;  9  Mch.,  '4;  21  June  '5  ;  en. 

Pickard,  David;  44  ;  K  ;  2  L  ;  8  Aug.,  2  ;  6  Jan.,  '4;  en.;  disability. 

Pickard,  William   G. ;    20  ;    D  ;     Frontier  Cav.  ;    2  Jan.,  '6  ;    3  June, 
'5  ;  en. 

Pickard,  Washington  P. ;  30 ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1 ;  8  July,  '4  ;  en. 
Pierce,  George  W.  ;  21  ;  K  ;  40  I.  ;  3  Sept.,  '2  ;  25  Feb.,  '4  ;  disability. 
Pike,  Edwin  T.  ;  27  ;  C  ;  48  I.  ;  23  Sept.,  '2  ;  3  Sept.,  '3  ;  en. 
Pinder,  Daniel  F.  ;    19  ;    I ;    23  I. ;   10  Oct.,  '1 ;    13  Oct.,  '4  ;    en.  ;  d.  U 

June,  .'70. 
Pingree,  David  M.  ;  21  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1  ;  8  July,  '4;  en. 
Plouff,  Edward,  Jr. ;  22  ;  D  ;  48  I.  ;  -  Sept ,  2  ;  3  Sept.,  '3  ;  en. 
Plouff,  John  W.  ;  24;  D,  48  L  ;  23  Dec,  '2;  3  Sept.,  '3;  en. 
Plummer,  Hiram  ;  19  ;  M  ;  3  Cav. ;  31  Dbl-.,  '4  ;  28  Sept.,  '5  ;  en. 


Plummer,  William  ;  34 ;  D  ;  48  I.  ;  24  Sept ,  '2  ;  3  Sept.,  '3  ;  en. 

Poor,  Benjamin  ;  26  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1  ;  16  Aug.,  '5  ;    en.  ;    d.  24 
Mch.,  '80. 

Poor,  David  H.  ;  32  ;  A  ;  1  B.  H.  A.  ;  9  May,  '3  ;  20  Oct.,  '5  ;  en. 

Poor,  George ;  23 ;  I ;  23  I ;  5  Oct.,  'I  ;  1  Dec,    '1  ;  d. 

Poor,  Thomas  A.  ;  20  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1  ;  ;  d. 

Porter,  Charles ;  18  ;  A  ;  3  H.  A. ;  16  May,  '3  ;  18  Sept.,  '3  ;  en. 

Porter,  Thomas. 

Potter,  Asa  T.  ;  29  ;  — ;  1  B.  H.  A.  ;  21  Feb.,  '2  ;  29  Feb.,  '4 ;  en.  ;  d, 

Putnam,  Jeremiah  ;  —  ;  — ;  40  I. ;  ;  . 

Beady,  Michael ;  30  ;  A  ;  I  H.  A.  ;  7  Aug.,  '2  ;  ;  en. 

Ready,  Thomas  ;  3  I  ;  B  ;  48  I. ;  24  Oct.,  '2  ;  3  Sept ,  '3  ;  en. 

Beily,  Edmund ;  38 ;  A  ;  1  H.  A. ;  7  Aug.,  '2  ;  16  Aug.,  '5  ;  en. 

Richards,  Cliarles. 

Riggs,  Charles  A . 

Roberts,  Charles. 

Roberts,  Edward  T.  ;     23;     — ;     2  1.;     3IJuly,'l;    16Aug.,'4;     en.; 
L.  T.  Bat. 

Roberts,  George  B.  ;    27;     G;     II.;    23  May, '1  ;    20  Dec, '2;     disa- 
bility. 

Roberts,  John  S. ;  19  ;  C  ;  19  I. ;  26  July,  '1  ;  13  Oct.,  '3  ;  en. 

Ross,  Edward  ;  21 ;  I  ;  23  I.  ;  9  Nov.,  '1  ;  25  Sept.,  '2  ;  en. 

Ross,  William  P.  ;  19  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;    27  Feb.,  '2  ;  22  Jan.,  '5  ;  en. 

Rowe,  George ;  18  ;  I  ;  23  I.  ;  1  Oct.,  '1  ;  2o  May.'2;  en.  ;  disability. 

Russell,  Henry  F.  ;  32  ;  —  ;  3  H.  A.  ;  4  Dec,  '3  ;  18  Sept.,  '5  ;  en. 

Russell,  Edward  W.  ;  27  ;  A  ;  IB.  II.  A.  ;  21  Feb.,  '2 ;  20  Oct.,  '5  ;  en. 

Russell,  John  Ward  ;  17  ;  F  ;  14  Me.  I.  ;  11  Jan.,  '2  ;  13  Jan.,  '5  ;  en. 

Russell,  John  W.  ;  21  ;  — ;  3  H.  A.  ;  4  Dec.  '3;  18  Sept.,  '5  ;  en. 

Sanderson,  James  H.  ;  31  ;  H ;  81.;  19  Sept.,  '2  ;  7  Aug.,  '3  ;  en. 

Sargent,  George  H.  ;    38;     I;    23  1.;    5  0ct.,  '1;     8  Aug., '3  ;    disa- 
bility. 

Sargent,  Kendall ;    42  ;    A  ;    1  H.  A.  ;    5  July  '1 ;    -  May,  '2  ;    disa- 
bility. 

Saunders,  Moses  ;  21  ;  K  ;  40  I.  ;  3  Sept.,  '3  ;  10  June,  '5;  en. 

Schaffer,  William  ;    23  ;     K  ;     9  1.;    21  Aug.,  '3  ;    ;  tr.  32  I.,  10 

Jan.,  '4. 

Schanks,  Jacob  ;  20 ;  H  ;  17  I.  ;  22  July,  '1  ;  11  July,  '5  ;  en. 

Schanks,  Jacob  P.  ;    44;    D;    48  1.;    21  Sept.,  '2;    30  May,  '5  ;    disa- 
bility ;  d. 

Scott,  James,  Jr.  ;  18  ;  F;  14  Me.  I. ;  25  Feb.,  "5  ;  28  Aug.,  '5 ;  en. 

Scott,  John  ;  24  ;  — ;  Navy  :  -  July,  '2  ;  ,  '7. 

Semple,  John  ;  29  ;  —  ;  Navy  ;  -  June,  '1 ;  -Aug.,  '1 ;  disability. 

Shatswell,  Nathaniel ;  27  ;  A;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1 ;  18  Aug.,  '5  ;  en. 

Shattuck,  Milton  B.  ;  32;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  6  July,  '1 ;  20  Jan.,  '3  ;  en.  ;  d. 
24  May,  '84. 

Sherburne,  George  W. ;  25  ;  D  ;  48  L  ;  24  Sept.,  '2 ;  3  Sept.,  '3  ;  en. 

Sherburne,  John  T.  ;  34  ;  I ;  23  I.  ;  28  Sept.,  '1 ;  ,  '3  ;  disability. 

Shirley,  Reuben  W.  ;  18  ;  A;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1 ;  8  July,  '4  ;  en. 

Smith,  Charles  W. ;  26  :  B ;  1  B.  H.  A.  ;  8  Oct.,  '2  ;  29  June,  '5  ;  en. 

Smith,  Edwin  F.  ;  18  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1 :  15  July,  '5  ;  en. 

Smith,   Edward    P.  ;    20  ;    A  ;    1  H.  A.  ;    5  July,  1  ;    1  May,  '2  ;  disa- 
bility. 

Smith,  George  ;  22  ;  I  ;  23  I.  ;  10  Oct.,  '1 ;  13  Oct.,  '4;  en. 

Smith,  Henry  R.  ;  19;  H  ;  19  I.  ;  10  Dec,  1  ;  31  Mch.,  '3;  en. 

Smith,  John  Allen  ;  22  ;  D  ;  1  Cav.  ;  2  Jan.,  '5  ;  30  June,  '5  ;  en. 

Smith,  John  H.  ;  20  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July  '1  ;  1  Jan.,  '4;   disability  ;  d. 
3  Aug.,  '5. 

Smith,  John  J.  ;  27  ;  G  ;  1  H.  A. ;  5  July,  '1 ;  16  Aug.,  '5  ;  en. 

Smith,  Thomas  B. ;  24  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  8  Aug.,  '2  ;  8  July,  4  ;  en.  ;  d.  11 
Nov.,  '68. 

Smith,  William  H.  ;  23  ;  A  ;  1  I.  ;  7  Aug.,  '2  ;  31  July,  '5  ;  en. 

Spear,  William  M.  ;  — ;  —  ;  38  I.  ;  ;  . 

Spinney,  J.  F.  ;     21  ;     E  ;     17  Ills.  I.  ;     25  May,  '1  ;     2  Aug.,  '2  ;     disa- 
bility. 

Spofford,  William  H.  ;    30;    —  ;    Fort  Warren  ;     7  Apr., '3  ;    18  Sept., 
'5 ;  en. 

Stacey,  John    B.  ;    30;     A;    2   1.;    12    Oct., '1 ;    16  Jan.,    '3;    disa- 
bility. 

Stackpole,  William  A.  ;  16  ;  C  ;  5  I.  ;  23  July,  '4  ;  16  Nov.,  '4  ;  en. 

Stanley,  Francis  A. ;  —  ;  —  ;  38  I.  ;  ;  . 

Staten,  William  H.  ;  19  ;  F  ;  2  I.  ;  25  May,  '1  ;  14  July,  '5 ;  en. 

Stevens,  Henry  L. ;     19;     A  ;   1  H.  A.  ;     2  Aug., '2  ;     tr.  Navy,  2  April, 
'4;  d. 

Stevens,  William;  44  ;  K  ;  2  I. ;  8  Aug.,  '2  ;  22  June,  '5  ;  en. 

Stevens,  William,  Jr  ;  25  ;  D  ;  48  I.  ;  24  Sept.,  '2  ;  3  Sept.,  '3  ;  en. 

Stone,  Daniel  W.  ;  23  ;  D  ;  1  B.  H.  A. ,  30  Dec,  '4  ;  30  June,  '5  ;  en. 
Stone,  Lorenzo  R.  ;  18;  D;  48  I.  ;  24  Sept.,  '2  ;  3  Sept.,  '3  ;  en. 


IPSWICH. 


625 


stone,  William  L.  ;  24  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1 ;  8  July,  '4  ;  en. 
Sweet,  Elliridge  ;  23  ;  D ;  48  I.  ;  24  Sept.,  '2  ;  20  June,  '4  ;  en. 
Tarleton,  Walter ;  27  ;  K  ;  8  I.  ;  1  Oct.,  '2  ;  24  Oct.,  '4'  en.  ;  d. 
Taylor,  Edmund  T. ;  21  ;  E  ;  11  I. ;  15  Aug.,  '3  ;  14  July,  '4  ;  en. 

Taylor,  Trowbridge  C.  ;  —  ;  A  ;  23  I.  ;  1  Oct.,  '1  ;    . 

Teague,  Theodore  P.  ;  21 ;  D  ;  4  Cav. ;  31  Dec,  '4  ;  14  Nov.,  '6  ;  en. 
Tenney,  Albert;  21  ;  K  ;  2  I.  ;  8  Aug.,  '2  ;  14  July,  5  ;  en. 
Tenney,  John  E. ;  20  ;  H  ;  3  H.  A.  ;  20  Nov.,  '3  ;  18  Sept.,  '5  ;  en. 
Terhune,  Henry  ;  33  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A. ;  5  July,  '1  ;  16  Aug.,  '5  ;  en. 
Thomas,  Eben  ;  26  ;   -  ;  Navy  ;  12  Aug.,  '1 ;  26  Oct.,  '3  ;  en. 
Thompson,  Charles  H. ;     21 ;    I ;    23  I. ;    28  Sept.,  '1  ;  5  Oct.,  '2  ;  disa- 
bility. 
Tibbetts,  John  L. ;    39  ;    C  ;    19  I.  ;    28   Aug.,  '1  ;    23  Apr.,  '3  ;    disa- 
bility. 

Todd,  Thomas  M. ;    22;    F;    2  1.;    25  May, '1 ;     ;     tr.  navy  28 

Feb.,  '2. 
Tonge,  Henry  F.  ;    27;    —  ;    3  R.  I.  ; , '1 ;    7  Jan., '6  ;  tr.  Han- 
cock's corps,  30  Dec,  '4. 
Towle,  Jenness  ;  39  ;  D  ;  48  I. ;  24  Sept.,  '2  ;  3  Sept.,  '3 ;  en. 
Tozer,  William  H.  ;  27  ;  K  ;  2  I.  ;  8  Aug.,  '2  ;  28  May,  '4  ;  eu. 
Treadwell,  Henry  S.  ;  20 ;  C  ;  53  I.  ;  6  Nov.,  '2 ;  2  Sept.,  '3  ;  en. 
Treadwell,  Marcus  M.  ;  20  ;  D ;  12  I.  ;  26  June,  '1 ;  8  July,  '4  ;  en. 

Turner,  John  ;  29  ;  L  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  20  Feb.,  -  ;  . 

Tyler,  Colman  J.  ;  18 ;  F  ;  2  I.  ;  25  May,  '1 ;  28  May,  '4 ;  en. 
Waite,  Charles  W.  ;  16  ;  —  ;  Navy ;  4  Dec,  '2 ;  15  Jan.,  '4  ;  en. 
Waite,  Joseph,  Jr.  ;  19  ;  D;  48  I.  ;  24  Sept.,  '2;  3  Sept.,  '3  ;  d. 
Waite,  Luther  ;  19  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1;    5  July,  '5;  en. ;    tr.  navy 

9  May,  '4. 
Waite,  Rogers  ;    18  ;    D  ;    48  I.  ;    24  Sept.,  '2  ;    3  Sept.,  3  ;    en. ;    d.  21. 
April,  '79. 

Wallis,  Henry  ;  —  ;  D  ;  48  I.  ;  ;  . 

Watts,  James  W. ;  23 ;  A ;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1 ;  17  Feb. ,  '5  ;  disability  ; 

d.  31  Jan.,  '71. 
Webber,  Moses;  32  ;  K;  2  I.  ;  8  Aug.,  '2  ;  28  May,  4. 
West,  John  ;  44  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1 ;  8  July,  '4 ;  en. 
Whedon,  Edward  M.  ;  30  ;  — ;  2  H.  A. ;  24  Sept.,  '2  ;  3  Sept.,  '3  ;  en. 
Whipple,  John  F.  ;    20;     L;    1  H.  A. ;    20  Feb.,  -  ;    3  July,  '5  ;    disa- 
bility. 

White,  W.  Charles  ;—;—;!  Cav.  ;  ;  . 

AVillard,  Benjamin   D.  ;    21;    I;    26  1.;    7  Sept.,  '1  ;    4  Jan., '4 ;    re- 
enlisted. 
Willett,  George  A.  ;  30;  B  ;  5  I.  ;  19  Sept.,  '2  ;  2  July,  '3;  en. 
Winslow,  James  ;  d. 

Winslow,  William  H.  ;    35  ;    L  ;  1  H.  A.  ;    2  Dec,  '1;  31  Jan.,  '4  ;  disa- 
bility. 
Wood,  Francis  L. ;  25  ;  E  ;  32  I.  ;  10  July,  '2  ;  2  June,  '3  ;  en. 
Worcester,  Leigh  R ;  27  ;  A  ;  1  H.  A.  ;  5  July,  '1  ;  18  Sept.,  '5  ;  en. 
Worcester,  James  T. ;  20  ;  D  ;  48  I. ;  24  Sept.,  '2  ;  2  Sept.,  '3  ;  en. 
Worsley,  Pandon  E.  ;  19  ;  L ;  1  H.  A.  ;  26  Nov.,  '1 ;  15  Dec,  '4 ;  en. 
Worth,  William  K.  ;  19  ;  I ;  23  I. ;  28  Sept.,  '1 ; ;  en  ;  d. 

A  Noble  Gift. — I  cannot  more  fittingly  close  this 
chapter  than  by  quoting  from  the  records,  page  367, 
the  town's  action  of  June  15,  1863,  which  is  self-ex- 
plaining and  as  follows  : 

"  Whereas,  Mr.  Augustine  Heard  of  this  town,  in  conjunction  with 
bis  nephews,  Mr.  John  Heard,  Mr.  Augustine  Heard,  Jr.,  Mr.  Alfred  F. 
Heard  and  Mr.  George  F.  Heard,  have  placed  in  the  hands  of  trustees 
ten  thousand  dollars  to  be  applied  for  the  relief  of  such  persons  belong- 
ing to  this  town  as  may  suffer  from  sickness  or  wounds  incurred  in  the 
service  of  their  country  in  the  present  civil  war,  and  for  the  relief  of 
such  persons  as  may  be  deprived  of  support  by  the  loss  of  relations  en- 
gaged in  the  like  service  ;  therefore, 

"Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  citizens  of  Ipswich,  assembled  this 
day  in  town-meeting,  be  tendered  to  the  above  named  gentlemen,  re- 
spectively, for  their  munificent  donation  to  so  noble  a  cause,  together 
with  our  best  wishes  for  their  continued  health  and  prosperity  ;  that  we 
receive  with  lively  sensibility  this  token  of  their  remembrance  of  the 
place  of  their  nativity,  rejoice  in  the  anticipation  of  the  relief  which  in 
future  years  will  come  to  many  of  the  suffering  poor  in  Ipswich  iu  con- 
sequence of  their  generous  gift. 

"Resolved,  That  we  sympathize  with  the  gentlemen  in  their  patriotic 
devotion  to  the  welfare  of  the  country,  and  that  we  hope  their  generous 
sacrifices  will  soon  be  amply  rewarded  by  the  restoration  of  the  Union 
and  the  Constitution  more  complete  and  vital  than  ever,  with  every  root 

40 


of  bitterness  removed,  with  stable  peace  and  enduring  prosperity  in  all 
our  borders,  and  with  the  stars  and  stripes  floating  with  renewed  and 
increased  splendor  and  power  over  every  American  citizen  by  land  and 
by  sea,  at  home  and  abroad." 


CHAPTER    XLVI. 

IPS  WICH— ( Continued). 
LEGAL   AND   PENAL. 

The  Colonial  Period. — Our  legal  policy  was,  in 
general,  based  upon  the  laws  of  England,  but  it  was 
moulded  by  a  wise  and  cautious  exercise  of  au- 
thority, according  to  our  exigencies  and  circum- 
stances. The  royal  charter  of  March  4,  1628,  which 
Governor  John  Winthrop  brought  out  with  him, 
created  a  corporation  styled:  "The  Governor  and 
Company  of  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New  England." 
By  this  charter  the  seat  of  government  was  trans- 
ferred to  these  shores,  and  the  corporators  were  per- 
mitted to  make  their  own  laws  and  to  choose  their 
own  rulers — to  make  "  laws  and  ordinances  not  con- 
trary or  repugnant  to  the  laws  and  statutes  of  the 
realm."  The  charter  held  the  company  to  be  British 
subjects,  and  was  granted  in  the  hope  of  increasing 
the  royal  domain  and  of  augmenting  the  national 
wealth.  It,  then,  conferred  only  such  powers  as 
were  necessary  to  the  company's  existence,  business 
and  business  prosperity,  other  matters  being  reserved 
for  adjustment  at  home. 

The  Great  Court. — Our  fathers,  however,  inter- 
preted the  instrument  in  its  freest  sense;  for  they 
early  felt  an  urgent  need  of  a  high  and  wide  range  of 
authority,  so  great  was  the  tide  of  emigration,  and  so 
many  and  varied  were  the  interests  involved.  Under 
it  the  colonists  turned  their  prow  ocean-ward,  and 
spread  their  sails  for  a  prosperous  voyage  upon  an 
untried  sea.  Their  polity  of  church  and  State  was 
new  and  peculiar.  Although  they  based  their  laws 
upon  the  English  code,  they  ignored  its  authority ; 
in  fact,  in  one  instance  at  least,  they  denied  it — they 
disfranchised  all  but  members  of  churches,  and  the 
magistrates  had  power  to  determine  or  select  what 
churches.  Their  laws  reached  public  and  private 
relations,  and  not  only  such  crimes  as  were  known  to 
common  law,  but  many  recognized  in  the  Hebraic 
code.  They  proposed  a  State  dependent  upon  the 
church,  where  the  elders  and  clergy  were  at  the  head, 
the  reciprocal  of  their  former  relation,  where  the 
church  was  dependent  upon  the  State,  and  the  king 
the  head.  The  entire  administration  of  the  govern- 
ment was  held  or  controlled  by  clergymen,  who 
sought  to  imitate  the  regal  action  of  the  supreme  au- 
thority of  Israel.  They  made  no  distinction  in  courts 
or  court  actions — civil  or  criminal,  at  law  or  in  equity, 

lay  or  ecclesiastical — all  were  held  and  determined 

in  one  great  and  General  Court. 


626 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


This  court  was  at  once  the  great  source  of  law 
and  justice.  For  the  first  few  years,  it  consisted 
of  the  Governor,  Deputy-Governor,  eighteen  assist- 
ants and  the  freemen,  but  in  1684  the  number  of 
freemen  so  increased,  and  the  inconvenience  and 
danger,  from  leaving  their  homes  exposed  to  Indian 
barbarities,  during  their  absence,  were  so  great,  that 
the  town  chose  deputies  to  represent  them  in  all 
matters,  but  the  choice  of  officers,  wherein  the  free- 
men sent  their  votes  by  proxy.  The  court  was  legis- 
lative, judicial  and  executive.  It  held  quarterly  ses- 
sions, and  enacted  the  laws.  The  assistants  were 
chosen  by  the  freemen,  and  were  the  magistrates, 
who  with  the  Governor  constituted  the  Great  Quarter 
Court.  The  Governor  and  assistants,  as  council,  were 
the  executive  head.  For  about  ten  years  the  court 
exercised  discretionary  powers,  hearing  and  determin- 
ing all  cases,  and  "seems,''  says  a  writer,  "to  have 
been  more  disposed  to  puuish  the  religious  than  the 
civil  offender." 

Ipswich's  Influence. — During  the  decade,  what- 
ever may  have  been  the  methods  or  results,  it  cannot 
be  denied  that  Ipswich  was  an  important  factor. 
Next  to  the  metropolis,  she  was  the  seat  of  wealth 
and  learning,  and,  therefore,  of  power.  Her  voice 
was  potent  in  every  department  of  the  government. 
There  was  Winthrop,  the  son  of  our  Governor,  the 
founder  of  our  municipality,  a  man  of  learning  and 
wealth,  and  a  governor  in  embryo  himself;  Dudley, 
who  had  already  been  Governor  one  term  ;  Bradstreet, 
a  man  of  vast  executive  and  business  ability  ;  Salton- 
stall,  a  gentleman  of  business  enterprise,  of  wealth 
and  culture,  of  pure  and  just  sentiment,  the  first 
American  abolitionist;  Denison,  the  man  of  war  and 
continually  in  the  public  service;  and  Ward,  a  man 
of  polished  learning,  profound  in  divinity  and  law, 
the  compiler  of  the  Colonial  Magna  Charta.  The 
mere  mention  of  these  names  was  like  "  the  sweet  in- 
fluence of  the  Pleiades,"  and  the  sentiment  of  Ips- 
wich citizenship  with  such  leaders  worked  like  des- 
tiny. 

The  Demands  of  Growth. — But  the  State  grew 
rapidly  in  population  and  business  interests,  and  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Court  as  largely  and  rapidly  ex- 
panded. The  people  at  length  became  alarmed  at 
such  exercise  of  courtly  power,  and  cried  for  a  legal 
code  resembling  Magna  Charta.  The  deputies  feared 
that  "great  damage  to  our  State"  mightaccrue,  if  the 
magistrates  should  "  proceed  according  to  their  dis- 
cretion." Accordingly,  committees  were  appointed 
at  various  times  to  frame  a  code.  They  failed  to 
meet  the  approbation  of  the  Court ;  even  the  great 
Cotton  Mather,  who  reported  a  "  copy  of  Moses  his 
judicials,  compiled  in  an  exact  method,"  did  not  suc- 
ceed. It  remained  for  the  committee,  of  which 
Rev.  Nathaniel  Ward,  of  Ipswich,  was  the  leading, 
active  and  efficient  member  to  perform  the  work. 
The  work,  however,  was  not  published  till  1641,  The 
delay  was  occasioned  by  a  desire  to  prepare  a  code 


commensurate  with  the  need  and  adapted  to  the  public 
temperament  and  our  institutions.  It  was  a  herculean 
task,  but  Mr.  Ward  performed  a  thorough  work. 
His  great  ability,  his  broad  learning,  his  legal  train- 
ing and  practice  and  his  peculiar  cast  of  mind,  made 
him  the  fittest,  and  his  work  shows  it.  He  embodied 
one  hundred  civil  and  criminal  laws.  The  civil  laws 
were  far  in  advance  of  English  law  at  the  time ;  they 
have  been  adopted  in  new  codifications  from  time  to 
time  since  ;  and  some  are  in  force  at  present,  after  a 
period  of  nearly  two  centuries  and  a  half.  In  the 
criminal  code  he  followed  Moses  in  a  great  measure, 
but  he  distanced  England  in  mildness,  and  for  scope 
was  far  in  advance  of  his  time.  He  thus  embodies 
personal  rights : 

"No  man's  life  shall  be  taken  away,  no  man's  honor  nor  good  name 
shall  be  stained,  no  man's  person  shall  be  arrested,  restrained  or  dis- 
membered, nor  any  ways  punished,  no  man  shall  be  deprived  of  his  wife 
or  children,  no  man's  goods  or  estate  shall  be  taken  away  from  him  nor 
any  ways  endamaged  under  color  of  law  or  countenance  of  authority, 
unless  it  be  by  virtue  or  equity  of  some  express  law  of  the  country  war- 
ranting the  same,  established  by  a  General  Court  and  sufficiently  pub- 
lished, or  in  case  of  a  defect  in  a  law  in  any  particular  case,  by  the 
Word  of  God.  And  in  capital  cases,  or  in  cases  concerning  dismember- 
ment or  banishment,  according  to  that  word  to  be  judged  by  the  General 
Court." 

In  his  "Body  of  Liberties,"  it  is  said,  there  was  "a 
notable  disregard  of  English  law,"  which  had  sorely 
discomforted  the  Puritan  temper,  and  the  work  was 
annotated  with  chapter  and  verse  in  the  Bible — their 
sure  palladium  of  both  civil  and  religious  liberty. 

Other  Courts. — Moreover,  as  population,  busi- 
ness, personal  complications  and  infelicities  increased, 
the  necessity  for  other  tribunals  became  apparent. 
Accordingly,  the  General  Court  March  3,  1636,  re- 
lieved the  Court  of  Assistants,  or  "  Great  Quarter 
Court,"  by  establishing  an  Inferior  Quarter  Court, 
which  held  four  terms  annually — one  term  in  each 
of  these  places:  Ipswich,  Salem,  Cambridge  and  Bos- 
ton. The  judge  was  such  magistrate  or  assistant  as 
lived  in  or  nearest  the  town  where  the  Court  was 
held,  assisted  by  "  Commissioners,"  as  they  were 
called,  who  were  appointed  by  the  General  Court 
from  a  list  of  nominations  by  the  several  towns.  The 
judge  and  four  commissioners  constituted  the  full 
Court,  and  himself  and  two  commissioners  a  quorum. 
The  jurisdiction  of  the  Court  extended  to  all  matters 
ecclesiastical,  and  sometimes  to  family  infelicities — 
divorces — and  the  settlements  of  estates;  to  civil  con- 
troversies, wherein  the  damage  or  debt  was  less  than 
ten  shillings,  and  to  criminal  cases  not  involving  life 
or  banishment. 

Ipswich  Court. — The  original  act  establishing 
this  Court  was  changed  June  2,  1641.  Four  Quarter 
Courts  were  held  in  Ipswich  and  Salem  for  this 
county  by  all  the  magistrates  of  both  these  i)laces 
sitting  together.  This  Court  exercised  the  jurisdic- 
tion before  exercised  by  the  Great  Quarter  Court,  ex- 
cept trials  for  life,  limb  or  banishment,  and  cases 
whose  damage  exceeded  one  hundred  pounds,  wherein 
the  Oreat  Quarter  Court  had  concurrent  jurisdiction. 


IPSWICH. 


627 


To  this  Court  was  attached,  September  9,  1639,  a 
recorder's  office,  and  October  7th  of  the  next  year 
Samuel  Symonds,  of  Ipswich,  was  appointed  for  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Ipswich  Court.  Previous  to  this 
the  records  of  deeds  and  the  conveyances  of  real 
estate  were  recorded  in  the  records  of  the  town.  The 
office  of  recorder  was,  after  a  while,  blended  with  the 
office  of  the  clerk  of  the  Court,  and  Robert  Lord, 
then,  by  virtue  of  his  office  as  clerk,  succeeded  Mr. 
Symonds.  By  the  first  act  Newbury  was  placed  in 
the  jurisdiction  of  Ipswich  ;  by  the  second,  Salisbury 
and  Hampton. 

Court  Offices. — The  first  court  at  Salem  June  27, 
1636  ;  the  first  at  Ipswich  probably  soon  after, 
though  no  records  appear  "  till  from  the  year  1646," 
when,  March  31,  Eobert  Lord,  of  Ipswich,  was  clerk. 
The  judges  were  appointed  May  25,  1636,  and  those 
for  Ipswich  were  Messrs.  Dudley,  Dummer,  Brad- 
street,  Saltonstall  and  Spencer.  The  sittings  of  the 
court  at  Ipswich  were  twice  a  year, — March  and 
September, — till  by  Quo  Warranto,  1684,  the  colonial 
government  was  arrested  and  the  courts  suspended, 
to  be  resumed  1689,  after  the  removal  of  Andros,  and 
in  1692  superseded  by  authority  of  the  province 
charter  with  Sir  William  Phipps  as  Governor, 

JuRiSDiCTiOK. — These  courts  laid  out  highways, 
licensed  "  taverns,"  guarded  the  orthodoxy  of  the 
church,  admitted  freemen,  probated  estates,  recorded 
deeds  and  adjudicated  upon  the  most  important  con- 
cerns in  the  county.  During  the  period,  Ipswich 
enjoyed  an  eminence,  advantage  and  influence  second 
to  none  but  the  metropolis,  where  the  highest  tribu- 
nals always  sat.  She  was  a  legal  centre,  and  was  the 
home  of  lawyers,  judges  and  the  colonial  law-giver. 

CouRT-HousE. — During  this  period,  it  is  probable, 
there  was  no  court-house,  and  that  the  meeting- 
house was  used  instead.  Their  civil  life  was  under 
the  patronage  of  their  religion,  was  subservient  to  it, 
and  wore  a  sanctity  that  gave  it  a  proper  place  in  the 
house  of  God.  In  that  house  they  counseled 
together  "after  lecture,"  they  voted  the  minister's 
salary,  they  elected  church-officers,  they  chose  the 
seven-men,  the  clerk  and  the  treasurer,  they  raised 
moneys,  and  arranged  the  municipal  concerns,  they 
counseled  for  war,  they  stored  their  munitions,  they 
worshipped  in  arms,  they  made  it  a  watch-house, 
they  meted  out  justice  and  exposed  the  criminal  for 
punishment.  The  meeting-house  to  that  practical 
people  was  serviceable  next  to  their  homes;  it  was 
the  emblem  of  righteousness,  justice  and  equal  rights 
— God's  proper  peerage.  They  wore  out  their  houses, 
we  remodel  ours  to  conform  to  fashion. 

Jail. — There  was  but  one  prison  in  the  colony  be- 
fore 1652.  That  year,  May  22d,  the  Court  ordered 
one  to  be  built  at  Ipswich,  and  September  26Lh,  the 
seven-men  contracted  with  Henry  Binder  and  Thomas 
Rowell  to  construct  it.  It  was  to  stand  near  the 
watch-house, — a  site  near  the  First  Church, — and 
was  to  be  of  the  "  same  hight  and  wyndes."     They 


were  to  make  three  floors  of  joist  thick  set  and  well 
bound  with  partition  above  and  below  the  sides  and 
ends,  stud  and  stud  spaces,  and  to  clap-board  the  house 
round  and  shingle  it,  and  to  daub  its  whole  wall,  all  but 
the  gable  ends,  and  to  underpin  the  house  and  make 
doors  and  hinges,  and  hang  the  doors  and  fit  on  locks, 
which  said  house  shall  be  finished  with  all  the  appurte- 
nances, drawings,  iron-work  for  the  doors  and  nails  by 
the  15th  of  May  next,  at  their  own  proper  cost  and 
charges,  without  allowance  for  help  or  diet  for  their 
reasing,  in  consideration  of  which  they  shall  have  for 
their  worth  £40  out  of  country  rate  by  the  first  of 
the  next  March.  Theophilus  Wilson  was  keeper  in 
1656,  and  received  a  compensation  of  £3  a  year,  5s.  for 
each  prisoner,  and  further,  each  prisoner  was  to  pay  his 
board  if  he  was  able  to  do  so ;  if  he  was  not  able,  he 
was  to  be  kept  on  bread  and  water.  The  prisoners 
were  required  to  work,  and  the  seven-men  were  re- 
quired by  law  to  furnish  hemp  and  flax  for  that  pur- 
pose. Another  prison,  or  house  of  correction,  was 
built  about  1684.  This  was  ordered  to  be  built  by 
the  Quarterly  Court,  and  the  expense  was  to  be 
borne  by  those  towns  that  sent  juries  to  Ipswich. 

The  Causes. — The  causes  determined  in  these 
courts  have  already  been  indicated.  These  may  be 
noticed  as  illustrative:  In  1633  a  man  was  fined  ten 
pounds  and  to  wear  a  badge  marked  "Drunkard" 
during  the  discretion  of  the  court,  for  drunkenness 
and  undue  familiarity  with  his  neighbor's  wife,  and 
she  was  fined  fifteen  shillings  for  drunkenness.  In  1637 
William  Schooler  was  examined  by  the  magistrates 
here  on  a  charge  of  murder.  After  a  year  he  was 
convicted  and  hanged  at  Boston.  In  1639  "  lewd  at- 
tempts" were  punished  by  whipping.  In  1663  a  wo- 
man was  sentenced,  for  perjury,  to  stand  at  the  meet- 
ing-house door  on  "  lecture  day,"  with  "for  taking  a 
false  oath"  conspicuous  upon  her  garments.  In  1665 
a  woman  was  tried  for  burning  Gen.  Daniel  Denisou's 
house.  She  was  acquitted  of  arson,  but  was  fined  for 
theft  and  whipped  for  lying.  In  1667  a  man  was 
prosecuted  for  digging  up  Masconnomet's  bones  and 
sporting  with  the  skull  on  a  pole.  In  1677  a  highway 
robber  was  sentenced  to  be  branded  and  fined.  In 
1684  a  burglar  was  sentenced  to  be  branded  with  B,  to 
pay  treble  damages  and  receive  fifteen  lashes.  Dur- 
ing this  period  there  were  several  arraignments  for 
witchcraft,  but  no  convictions.  This  glance  of  the 
trials  presents  a  picture  not  so  pleasing  to  contemplate 
as  we  might  wish,  but  still  it  is  such  as  in  the  nature 
of  things  we  might  expect. 

Representative  Men. — Among  the  representa- 
tive men  of  the  Colony,  upon  whom  we  have  more  or 
less  claim,  we  note  the  following : — 

Governors. — Simon  Bradstreet  and  Thomas  Dudley. 
Deputy-Governors. — Simon  Bradstreet,  Thomas  Dud- 
ley, Samuel  Symonds,  John  Winthrop,  Jr.  Governor's 
Council. — Andros'. — Samuel  Appleton,  ten  years  be- 
tween 1681  and  1692.  Colonial  Secretaries. — Simon 
Bradstreet    and    Daniel    Denison.       Speaker    of   the 


628 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


House. — Daniel  Denison.  Commissioners  of  the  Unit- 
ed Colonies.— Thomas  Dudley,  Simon  Bradstreet  and 
Daniel  Denison.  Assistants. — Samuel  Appleton,  Si- 
mon Bradstreet,  Daniel  Denison,  Thomas  Dudley,  Sir 
Richard  Saltonstall,  Samuel  Symonds,  John  Winthrojj) 
Jr.  Justices  Inferior  Quarter  Court. — Samuel  Apple- 
ton,  Simon  Bradstreet,  Daniel  Denison,  Thomas  Dud- 
ley, Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,  John  Spencer,  Samuel 
Symonds.  Begistrar  of  the  Court. — Samuel  Symonds. 
Clerk  of  the  Court. — Robert  Lord.  Deputies. — John 
Appleton,  fifteen  years ;  Samuel  Appleton,  nine  years; 
William  Bartholomew,  five  years;  Thomas  Bishop, 
one  year;  Thomas  Boreman,  Sr.,  one  year;  Hum- 
phrey Bradstreet,  one  year;  Simon  Bradstreet,  one 
year;  Thomas  Burnham,  two  years ;  Daniel  Denison, 
ten  years:  Daniel  Epps,  three  years;  George  Gid- 
dings,  twelve  years ;  John  Giddings,  one  year;  John 
Goodhue,  one  year;  William  Goodhue,  eight  years; 
Thomas  Howlett,  one  year;  William  Hubbard,  eight 
years ;  Robert  Lord,  one  year  ;  Richard  Lumkin,  two 
years ;  Joseph  Metcalfe,  eight  years ;  John  Perkins, 
one  year;  Moses  Pingrey,  one  year;  Robert  Paine, 
three  years;  Lyman  Stace,  three  years;  John  Spen- 
cer, one  year ;  Samuel  Symonds,  six  years ;  Jonathan 
Wade,  two  years ;  John  Whipple,  twelve  years ;  Sam- 
uel Whinsley,  one  year. 

Biographical. — Most  of  the  parties  named  above 
are  sketched  in  Early  Settlers;  Daniel  Denison  in 
Martial  and  Military ;  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall  in  Bus- 
iness ;  here  it  is  proper  to  speak  briefly  of  Robert 
Lord,  John  Appleton,  Jr.,  and  Thomas  Wade,  who 
were  the  clerks  of  the  Ipswich  Courts  for  the  Colonial 
period. 

No  name  is  oftener  met  in  the  Colonial  records  for 
this  section  than  Mr.  Robert  Lord's.  His  life  was 
occupied  in  the  details  of  the  courts.  By  virtue  of 
his  ofiice  as  clerk,  he  was  also  registrar  of  probate. 
His  clerkship  covered  a  period  of  forty-seven  years — 
from  September,  1636,  to  August  21,  1683.  He  was 
born  about  1602  or  '3,  and  appears  to  have  been  son 
of  widow  Katherine,  who  came  with  her  sons  to  Ips- 
wich as  early  as  1635.  He  married,  about  1630,  Mary 
Wait,  who,  with  eight  children,  survived  him.  He 
was  made  freeman  March  3,  1635-36,  deputy  to  the 
General  Court  March  12,  1636-37,  and  was  on  a  com- 
mittee to  raise  fifteen  hundred  pounds  for  the  Colony. 
He  fixed  the  boundaries  of  towns  and  private  lands, 
was  clerk  of  court  a  year  in  Norfolk  before  the  estab- 
lishment of  that  county ;  was  clerk  of  the  Salem 
Court  in  June,  1658;  in  1649  was  town-sealer  of 
weights  and  measures;  March  30,  1652,  was  empow- 
ered by  the  magistrates  to  "  issue  all  executions  in 
civil  and  criminal  cases;"  was  "searcher  of  coins"  in 
1654;  was  sheriff  of  the  Ipswich  Court  till  March  27, 
1660,  when  he  was  superseded  by  his  son,  Robert.  He 
was  also  clerk  of  writs,  whose  duty  it  was  to  issue  at- 
tachments, summons,  replevin,  etc.  He  made  his  last 
entry  July  13,  1683,  and  on  or  before  August  21st 
closed  his  mortal  record.     He  was  a  good  penman 


and  a  faithful  and  correct  official.  His  line  has  fur- 
nished two  rc'  istrars  in  the  person  of  Nathaniel  and 
Nathaniel's  son  George  Robert. 

Mr.  Lord's  successor  was  Johk  Appleton,  Jr., 
who  received  the  appointment  August  21,  1683.  The 
appointment  was  confirmed  September  25th,  and  held 
till  April  18,  1698.  Mr.  Appleton  was  born  in  Ips- 
wich October  17,  1652.  He  married,  November  23, 
1681,  Elizabeth  Rogers,  daughter  of  Rev.  John,  fifth 
jwesident  of  Harvard  College.  He  was  lieutenant  of 
a  company  of  foot-soldiers,  and  rose  to  colonel,  and 
was  feofiee  of  the  grammar  school  and  clerk  of  writs. 
He  was  clerk  of  the  new  court  established  by  Presi- 
dent Joseph  Dudley,  1686,  was  town  clerk.  Represen- 
tative to  the  General  Court,  member  of  the  Governor's 
Council  from  1698  to  1722  inclusive,  county  treasurer 
many  years.  Judge  of  Probate  thirty-seven  years  from 
October  23,  1702,  and  chief  justice  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  from  1702  to  1732.  He  wrote  a  bold, 
legible  hand,  remarkably  modern,  and  was  a  superior 
clerk.  He  did  much  to  reduce  the  former  practice  to 
the  modern  and  exact  form,  and  was  the  first  to  use 
printed  blanks.  He  died  September  11, 1739,  wealthy, 
respected,  honored. 

His  successor  as  registrar  was  Thomas  Wade,  who 
served  from  April  18,  1689,  to  June  18,  1692.  Mr. 
Wade  was  born  in  Ipswich  in  1650  to  Jonathan  Wade, 
one  of  the  wealthiest  men  in  the  Colony,  He  mar- 
ried Elizabeth  Cogswell  February  22,  1670,  who,  with 
nine  children,  survived  him.  He  was  town  clerk 
some  nine  years,  was  chosen  clerk  of  writs  July  29, 
1684.  After  the  Andros  revolution,  he  was  chosen, 
March  25,  1690,  "  clerk  of  probate,"  was  made  mili- 
tary captain  in  1689,  and  in  1692  was  a  retailer  of 
liquor — a  polite  ofiice  at  that  time.  He  was  a  justice 
in  the  Court  of  General  Sessions  of  the  Peace.  His 
last  military  service  was  to  lead  the  Essex  Middle 
Regiment  against  the  Indians  in  April,  1696,  He 
died  October  4, 1696,  at  the  age  of  forty-six.  He  was 
an  excellent  penman,  and  a  worthy  man.  "  When 
he  fell,"  says  Felt,  "death  had  *a  shining  mark.'" 
Colonel  Nathaniel  Wade,  of  Revolutionary  fame,  is 
supposed  to  be  a  descendant  of  his. 

Resistance  to  Tyranny. — The  Colonial  period 
would  be  very  incomplete  without  a  notice  of  those 
noble  patriots  who  "knew  their  rights  and  dared 
maintain  them,"  against  the  tyrannical  measures  of 
Andros.  Ipswich  at  that  time  was  the  foremost  town 
in  the  county  ;  she  was  wealthy  and  influential.  She 
could  not  brook  the  abolition  of  the  people's  govern- 
ment and  the  usurpations  of  regal  power.  She  was 
outspoken  and  determined,  and,  therefore,  incurred 
the  particular  enmity  of  the  regal  vassal.  Andros 
and  his  subservient  council  ordered  that  the  towns 
choose  "  commissioners  "  who  should  aid  the  select- 
men in  laying  a  tax  of  "  a  penny  on  the  pound — four 
and  a  sixth  dollars  on  the  thousand.  This  order  sapped 
the  vital  principle  of  the  Colonial  Government,  and 
was,  therefore,  extremely  obnoxious  to  the  colonists. 


IPSWICH. 


629 


They  had  hitherto  paid  no  taxes  but  those  ordered 
by  their  own  deputies;  but  now  the  House  of  Depu- 
ties, or  the  General  Court,  was  abolished,  and  men  of 
adverse  tendencies  ruled.  Ipswich  recognized  the 
violation  of  principle,  and  sounded  the  clarion  note 
of  resistance.  It  was  not  the  amount  of  the  tax  nor 
the  purpose,  in  this  case,  to  which  it  was  to  be  ap- 
plied— little  or  much  the  tax,  wise  or  unwise  the  pur- 
pose, it  was  all  the  same;  the  principle  was  wrong^ 
and  must  not  obtain.  Where  there  is  no  representa- 
tion, there  can  be  no  just  taxation." 

A  town-meeting  was  called  for  August  23,  1687, 
and  the  evening  before,  a  few  leading  men  assembled 
at  the  house  of  John  Appleton,  located  on  a  site  near 
the  depot,  to  counsel  what  was  best  to  be  done  in  the 
trying  emergency.  Among  them  was  Eev.  John 
Wise,  patriotic,  pious,  learned  and  very  able,  who 
used  to  assert  "  Democracy  is  Christ's  government  in 
Church  and  State."  That  little  Colonial  Congress, 
a  prototype  of  the  Provincial  a  hundred  years  later, 
perceived  the  gravity  of  the  situation ;  they  felt  its 
boding,  but  duty, pressed  thtm  more.  The  ancestral 
lamp,  whose  light  illumined  their  hearts  and  minds> 
burned  brightly,  their  sacrifice  in  the  Indian  struggle, 
their  love  of  home  and  freedom  and  the  hope  of  re. 
alizing  the  former  in  the  sunlight  of  the  latter,  nerved 
them  to  action,  strengthened  their  purpose  and 
armed  them  with  power.  They  planted;  the  fruit 
was  gathered  in  the  Revolution,  and  we  are  partakers 
of  it.  They  counseled  resistance  to  the  unrighteous 
demand,  and  Mr.  Wise  prepared  (he  sentiment  to  be 
presented  to  the  town-meeting  the  next  day.  The 
town  voted  as  follows : 

"That  considering  the  said  act  doth  infringe  their  liberties  as  free 
born  Euglisli  subjects  of  his  Majesty,  and  by  interfering  with  the  sta- 
tute laws  of  the  land,  by  which  it  was  enacted  that  no  taxes  should  be 
levied  upon  the  subjects  without  the  consent  of  an  Assembly  chosen  by 
the  freemen  for  assessing  the  same,  they  do,  therefore,  vote  they  were 
not  willing  to  choose  a  commissioner  for  such  an  end  without  such  a 
privilege ;  and  they,  moreover,  consent  not  that  the  selectmen  do  pro- 
ceed to  levy  any  such  rate  until  it  be  appointed  by  a  general  assembly 
concurring  with  the  Governor  and  Council." 

Immediately  and  heavily  swept  the  besom  of  pow- 
er. Samuel  Appleton,  sketched  in  Early  Settlers  of 
this  town,  a  member  of  Andros'  Council,  was  already 
under  a  £1000  bond  for  refusing  to  concur  with  the 
council's  action.  Rev,  John  Wise,  John  Appleton, 
brother  of  the  above  Samuel,  John  Andrew,  Robert 
Kinsman,  William  Goodhue  and  Thomas  French, 
were  arrested,  cast  into  prison  in  Boston  and  denied 
the  privilege  of  habeas  corpus.  They  langui^-hed 
twenty-one  days  in  prison  after  the  trial,  and  were 
fined  from  £50  to  £15  each,  including  costs,  which 
the  town  afterwards,  injustice  and  in  honor,  paid. 

To  that  memorable  town-meeting,  Mr.  Wise,  coun- 
seling resistance,  said  :  "  We  have  a  good  God  and  a 
good  King;  we  shall  do  well  to  stand  to  our  privi- 
leges." When  the  patriots  were  on  trial,  a  member 
of  the  tyrannical  council  exclaimed,  "  You  have  no 
privileges  left  you,  but  not  to  be  sold  as  slaves."  Two 


years  later  the  iniquitous  Andros  went  home  in  dis- 
grace. 

At  the  Bi-Centennial  Celebration  of  the  town,  Aug. 
16,  1834,  Hon.  Rufus  Choate,  the  orator,  in  speaking 
of  this  occasion,  said  : 

"  The  latter  and  more  stormy  spectacles  and  brighter  glories  and  visi- 
ble results  of  the  age  of  the  Revolution,  have  elsewhere  cast  into  shade 
and  almost  covered  with  oblivion  the  actors  on  that  interesting  day,  and 
the  act  itself,— its  hazards,  its  intrepidity,  its  merits,  it:!  singularity  and 
consequences.  But  you  will  remember  them  and  teach  them  to  your 
children." 

The  Provincial  Period. — During  the  transition 
period  from  colony  to  province,  under  both  the  Pres- 
ident and  Council  and  the  Governor  and  Council,  the 
administration  of  justice  was  unstable  in  method. 
The  charter,  creating  "  The  Province  of  Massachu- 
setts Bay  in  New  England,"  was  signed  October, 
1691,  and  arrived  with  Sir  William  Phipps  as  Gov- 
ernor in  May,  1692.  But  hardly  had  the  new  Gov- 
ernor entered  upon  his  career,  when  occurred  that 
strangest  of  delusions,  the  Witchcraft  tragedy,  making 
the  wildest  and  saddest  chapters  in  our  New  England 
history. 

Witchcraft. — For  years  before  this  date  there 
had  been  trials  for  witchcraft  in  Connecticut,  New 
York  and  Pennsylvania  ;  there  were  trials  in  Boston, 
Charlestown  and  several  before  the  Ipswich  courts, 
but  the  records  of  the  latter  show  no  convictions. 
The  Rowley  ministers.  Rev.  John  Wise,  of  Chebacco 
Parish,  and,  we  may  j^resume,  the  Ipswich  ministers 
generally,  opposed  the  proceedings.  But  at  this 
time  it  seems  as  if  a  tidal  wave  from  all  the  seas  at 
once  had  rolled  in  upon  our  "  stern  and  rock-bound 
coast."  It  was  a  terrible  culmination.  The  prisons 
in  Salem,  Cambridge  and  Boston  were  crowded.  It 
seems  as  if  "the  i^rincipalities  and  powers  and  rulers 
of  darkness "  had  conspired  to  reign.  The  entire 
populace  was  delirious  and  enthralled ;  society 
agonized  and  struggled  to  be  free.  Almost  everybody 
suspected  his  neighbor,  and  on  the  slightest  provoca- 
tion was  likely  to  be  accused. 

At  this  time,  when  the  delirium  was  wildest,  Sun- 
day, May  29,  1692,  Ephraim  Wildes,  constable  of 
Topsfield,  came  to  the  home  of  James  Howe,  Jr., 
whose  site  was,  or  was  near,  the  nativity  of  Rev. 
Nathaniel  Howe,  the  celebrated  divine  of  Hopkinton, 
and  took  into  custody  the  wife  and  mother  as  a  witch. 

She  was  charged  with  sundry  acts  of  witchcraft, 
done  or  committed  on  the  bodies  of  Mary  Walcott 
and  Abigail  Williams  and  others  of  Salem  Village, 
now  Danvers.  She  was  examined  the  next  Tuesday 
at  the  house  of  Nathaniel  Ingersoll,  of  that  place. 
She  plead  7iot  guilty,  denied  all  knowledge  of  the  mat- 
ter, and  testified  that  she  had  never  heard  of  the  girls, 
Mary  and  Abigail,  till  their  names  were  read  in  the 
warrant.  But  in  the  court  they  fell  down,  they  cried 
out,  they  were  pinched  and  pricked,  and  they  accused 
Mrs.  Howe.  She  was  remanded  to  prison  in  Boston 
to  await  the  action  of  the  jury  of  inquest.  Her  case  was 


630 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


called  June  29th  and  30th.  The  jury  heard  the  testi- 
mony of  twenty-three  persons— eleven  for  and  twelve 
against  her.  Of  those  against  her,  one  quarreled 
.  with  Mr.  Howe  about  some  boards,  and  his  cows,  in 
consequence,  gave  less  milk;  three  others  gave  the 
history  of  a  child  that  for  several  years  had  had 
"fits,"  and  in  them  would  call  "Goody  Howe,"  and 
cry  out,  "There  she  goes,  there  she  goes,  now  she 
goes  into  the  oven,  etc;  "  another  would  not  loan  his 
horse  to  Mr.  Howe,  and  the  horse  strangely  died ; 
another,  several  years  before,  had  some  rails  broken 
by  Goody  Howe  without  her  approach  to  them ; 
another  refused  to  attend  upon  her  preliminary  trial, 
and  his  "pig  jumped  up  and  fell  dead;  "  five  others 
opposed  her  admission  to  membership  in  the  church, 
and  were  concerned  in  the  loss  of  two  mares.  Of 
those  for  her.  Rev.  Samuel  Phillips  and  Rev.  Edward 
Payson,  gospel  ministers  of  Rowley,  had  seen  the  in- 
sane girl  and  the  families  concerned,  and  entirely 
dissipated  the  theory  of  withcraft.  Deborah  Hadley 
had  been  a  neighbor  to  Mrs.  Howe  for  twenty-four 
years  ;  Daniel,  John  and  Sarah  Warner  about  twenty 
years ;  Simon  and  Mary  Chapman,  and  Joseph  and 
Mary  Knowlton  about  ten  years,  and  they  each  testi- 
fied to  her  neighborly  courtesy,  to  her  conscientious 
dealings,  to  the  faithful  observance  of  her  promises, 
to  her  Christian-like  conversation  and  character. 
Her  father-in-law,  then  ninety-four  years  old,  who 
had  known  her  for  thirty  years,  testified  to  her 
daughterly  conduct  in  leading  him  in  his  feebleness 
and  blindness,  and  her  loving  attention  to  him,  and 
to  her  exemplary  home  character  as  wife  and  mother. 
She  was,  nevertheless,  condemned,  and  July  19th 
following  executed  upon  Gallows  Hill,  Salem.  The 
good  Christian  woman  fell  a  victim  to  the  prevailing, 
wild  infatuation. 

These  proceedings,  to  us  who  are  removed  two 
hundred  years,  seem  at  first  unaccountable,  mortify- 
ing and  persuasive  of  disowning  our  fathers,  and  of 
forgetting  the  period  of  their  folly ;  but  the  Hon. 
Joseph  Story,  associate  justice  of  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court,  after  surveying  the  field,  considering 
the  circumstances,  weighing  the  conditions  and  bal- 
ancing the  conclusions,  wrote, — "Surely  our  ances- 
tors had  no  special  reason  for  shame  in  a  belief  which 
had  the  universal  sanction  of  their  own  and  all 
former  ages,  which  counted  in  its  train  philosophers 
as  well  as  enthusiasts,  which  was  graced  by  the  learn- 
ing of  prelates  as  well  as  by  the  countenance  of 
kings,  which  the  law  supported  by  its  mandates,  and 
the  purest  judges  felt  no  compunctions  in  enforcing." 

On  September  9,  1710,  Mrs.  Howe's  daughters, 
Mary  and  Abigail,  the  only  survivors  of  the  family, 
petitioned  the  General  Court  for  indemnity,  making 
the  cash  expenses  of  the  imprisonment  £20,  yet  "yt 
ye  name  may  be  Repayard,  are  content  if  your 
honors  shall  allow  us  twelve  pounds."  The  sum  was 
duly  allowed  and  paid  in  1712. 

The  First  Court. — The  first  court  provided  for 


in  this  period  was  the  Probate,  which  the  Governor, 
by  authority  of  His  "Majesties  Royal  Charter" — 
authority  more  implied  than  expressed  and  at  the 
time  sharply  questioned,  but  fully  confirmed  in  1760 
— established  for  the  counties  June  18,  1692.  Their 
oflicers  he  appointed  July  21st,  following. 

There  were  during  this  period  eight  judges,  three 
of  whom  were  Ipswich  men :  John  Appleton,  Thomas 
Berry  and  John  Choate,  and  eight  registrars,  of 
whom  four  were  Ipswich  men :  Daniel  Rogers,  Dan- 
iel Appleton,  Samuel  Rogers  and  Daniel  Noyes. 

Judge  Appleton  is  sketched  in  Colonial  Courts. 

Thomas  Berry  was  Hon.  Thomas  Berry,  M.D. 
He  was  the  fourth  judge,  and  officiated  from  October 
5,  1739,  to  September  14,  1756.  He  was  born  in 
Ipswich  in  1695.  His  father  was  a  graduate  of  Har- 
vard College,  and  came  to  this  town  in  1687;  his 
mother  was  Margaret  Rogers,  who  was  second  daughter 
of  President  Rogers,  and  after  the  death  of  her  husband 
about  1697,  when  Thomas  was  about  three  years  old, 
married  Hon.  John  Leverett,  F.R.S.,  President  of 
Harvard  College.  Thomas  was  a  graduate  of  Har- 
vard in  the  class  of  1712.  He  married  his  cousin, 
Martha  Rogers,  second  child  and  oldest  daughter  of 
Rev.  John,  of  Ipswich,  who  was  the  eldest  son  of  the 
present.  She  died  August  25,  1727,  and  he  married 
Elizabeth  Turner,  daughter  of  Major  John,  of  Salem. 

He  rose  to  great  distinction  as  medical  doctor,  and 
"he  was  eminently  distinguished  for  his  energy  and 
activity  in  public  affairs  as  well  as  his  own."  He 
was  colonel  of  militia,  representative  to  the  General 
Court,  justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  judge 
of  Probate,  and  many  years  of  the  Executive  Coun- 
cil. In  1749  he  was  active  in  re-establishing  the 
grammar-school.  It  is  said  he  kept  a  chariot,  with 
servants  in  livery,  and  made  other  display  of  wealth 
and  rank.  He  died  August  10,  1756,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-one  years.     The  inscription  on  his  tomb  is, — 

"Sic  transit  gloria  mundi." 

He  lived  at  first  near  the  site  of  the  depot;  after- 
wards at  his  farm,  now  the  home  for  the  town's  poor. 
He  was  interred  in  Ipswich. 

Hon.  John  Choate  was  son  of  Thomas,  and  born 
in  Chebacco  Parish,  July,  1697.  He  was  educated  at 
the  Grammar  School.  He  married  March  3,  1717, 
Miriam  Pool,  probably  of  Gloucester.  He  lost  all 
his  children  during  the  prevalence  of  throat  distem- 
per in  1735.  He  was  a  colonel  of  militia;  a  repre- 
sentative to  the  General  Court  for  fifteen  years  be- 
tween 1730  and  1761,  inclusive;  justice  of  the  Court 
of  General  Sessions  from  1746  till  his  death  ;  justice 
of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  for  the  last  ten 
years  chief  justice,  successor  to  Judge  Berry;  judge 
of  Probate  from  September  14,  1756,  to  February  5, 
1766.  He  was  chairman  of  the  committee  that  built 
the  Choate  Bridge,  which,  because  of  his  enterprise, 
energy  and  usefulness  to  the  town,  was  called  by  his 
name.     He   died  February  5,  1766.     By  his  will  he 


IPSWICH. 


631 


emancipated  two  slaves,  and  gave  £12  for  a  commu- 
nion service  for  the  South  Church,  of  which  he  was 
an  honored  and  worthy  member.  His  estate  was 
valued  at  quite  £3000,  He  was  a  man  of  sound  judg- 
ment, enterprising,  firm  and  energetic,  and  a  faithful 
public  officer. 

Hon.  Daniel  Rogers  was  registrar  from  October 
23,  1702,  to  January  9,  1723.  He  was  second  son  of 
Rev.  John  Rogers,  M.D.,  fifth  President  of  Harvard 
College,  and  was  born  September  25,  1667,  fitted  for 
college  under  Master  Thomas  Andrew,  of  the  Gram- 
mar School,  and  graduated  at  Harvard,  1686.  He 
married  Sarah  Apj^leton,  daughter  of  Captain  John 
and  sister  of  Hon.  John.  He  was  the  fourth  teacher 
of  the  Grammar  School,  and  succeeded  Master  An- 
drew. He  fitted  fifteen  young  men  for  Harvard. 
He  was  feoffee  of  the  Grammar  School,  town  clerk, 
judge  of  the  Court  of  Sessions  of  the  Peace.  He  per- 
ished on  the  marshes,  in  a  snow-storm,  returning 
fr  /m  Newbury,  December  1,  1722, 

Hon.  Daniel  Appleton  was  registrar  from  Janu- 
ary 9,  1723,  to  August  26,  1762.  He  was  born  in  Ips- 
wich, August  8,  1692,  the  fourth  child  of  Judge  Ap- 
pleton, and  nephew  of  Daniel  Rogers,  registrar.  He 
married  Elizabeth  Berry,  daughter  of  Thomas  Berry, 
of  Boston  and  Ipswich,  and  sister  of  Dr.  Thomas,  who 
was  judge  of  probate.  He  was  a  colonel,  a  feoffee 
of  the  grammar  school,  was  named  in  the  act  of  its 
corporation  in  1756,  was  several  years  Representative 
to  the  General  Court,  and  was  justice  of  the  Court  of 
Sessions  of  the  Peace.    He  died  August  17,  1762. 

Hon.  Samuel  Rogers  was  the  sixth  registrar, 
holding  from  August  26,  1762,  to  September  29,  1773. 
He  was  born  in  Ipswich,  August  31,  1709,  the  young- 
est often  children  of  Rev.  John.  He  was  nephew  of 
Daniel,  the  fourth  registrar,  and  grandson  of  Presi- 
dent John,  of  Harvard.  His  mother  was  Martha 
Whittingham,  great  great-granddaughter  of  William, 
who  married  Katherine  Calvin,  sister  of  John  the 
Reformer,  and  who  was  a  Puritan  refugee  and  com- 
piler of  the  famous  Geneva  Bible. 

He  studied  in  the  grammar  school,  and  graduated 
at  Harvard,  1725,  when  he  was  sixteen  years  old. 
He  studied  medicine  and  had  a  successful  practice. 
He  was  town  clerk,  colonel  of  militia,  justice  of  the 
Court  of  Sessions  of  the  Peace,  and  Representative  to 
the  General  Court.  His  death  occurred  December 
21,  1772,  at  the  age  of  sixty-three.  He  employed 
clerks;  his  office  was  well  kept.  His  nephew,  Hon. 
Daniel  Rogers,  who  was  son  of  Richard,  a  captain  in 
the  Revolutionary  War,  and  also  a  justice  of  the 
Court  of  Sessions  of  the  Peace,  was  acting  registrar, 
during  his  last  sickness  and  for  some  time  after  his 
death. 

Daniel  Noyes,  Esq.,  was  the  eighth  registrar,  and 
occupied  the  office  from  September  29,  1775,  to  May 
29,  1815.  He  was  born  in  Newbury-Byfield,  Janu- 
ary 29,  1737,  to  Joseph  and  Elizabeth  (Woodman) 
Noyes,  and  was  fifth  in  lineal  descent  from  Nicholas, 


a  brother  of  Rev.  James,  Newbury's  first  minister. 
He  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1758,  and  adopted  Ips- 
wich as  his  home.  He  was  master  of  the  grammar 
school  from  1762  to  1774  inclusive,  and  again  in  1780 
and  1781.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  Continental 
Congress,  1774-75; .  Representative  to  the  General 
Court,  1775 ;  was  postmaster,  1775,  succeeding  Dea- 
con James  Foster,  and  the  last  under  the  province 
and  the  law  of  1711 ;  was  on  committees  of  corres- 
pondence and  safety,  during  the  Revolutionary  period ; 
was  grantor  of  permits  under  the  non-importation 
act ;  was  feoff"ee  of  the  grammar  school ;  was  dele- 
gate to  the  convention  that  ratified  i he  State  Consti- 
tution, with  Michael  Farley,  John  Choate  and  John 
Cogswell;  and  was  justice  of  the  peace  and  quorum 
in  1797.  He  is  said  to  have  been  ''  methodical  and 
accurate,"  and  "the  faithfulness  and  ability  with 
which  he  discharged  his  various  duties  deservedly 
gained  for  him  high  and  extensive  respect,"  He  died 
March  21,  1815, 

Early  Records. — The  early  probate  records  were 
kept  by  the  registrar  in  his  private  custody,  and 
usually  in  his  dwelling-house,  which  was  his  oflSce. 
After  1722,  the  office  was  in  the  court-house,  Ipswich, 
but  the  records  were  kept  at  the  registrar's  home. 
This  practice  obtained  through  this  period  and  prac- 
tically till  1817. 

Other  Courts. — Other  Province  Courts  were  es- 
tablished by  act  of  November  25,  1692, — High  Court 
of  Chancery,  which  did  not  receive  regal  sanction. 
Superior  Court  nf  Judicature,  ox  as  it  was  commonly 
called  "Superior  Court,"  having  one  chief-justice 
and  four  associate  justices,  taking  the  place  of  the 
Court  of  Assistants,  and  exercising  appellate  jurisdic- 
tion from  Inferior  Court,  holding  two  sessions  an- 
nually, one  at  Salem  in  November,  and  the  other  at 
Ipswich  in  May,  a  court  which  under  the  constitu- 
tion became  the  Supreme  Judicial.  Inferior  Court  of 
Commoii  Pleas  for  Essex  County,  having  original 
jurisdiction  in  all  actions  of  real  title  and  all  civil  ac- 
tions where  the  debt  or  damage  was  forty  shillings  or 
more,  an  appellate  jurisdiction  from  justices  of  the 
peace  in  civil  cases,  and  presided  over  by  four  justices, 
a  court  which,  in  1859,  became  the  Superior;  Court 
of  Quarter  Sessions  of  the  Peace  which  June  26,  1699, 
became  General  Sessions  of  the  Peace,  presided  over  by 
justices  of  the  peace  fur  the  county,  "or  so  many  of 
them  as  are  or  shall  be  limited  in  commission  of  the 
peace,"  and  having  original  jurisdiction  in  all  cases 
not  given  to  the  Superior  Court,  and  not  triable  be- 
fore single  justices  with  appellate  jurisdiction  from 
them.  This  court  granted  licenses  and  laid  out  high- 
ways, etc.  In  1804  its  criminal  jurisdiction  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  in  1827  it 
became  the  County  Cummissioners'  Court.  Commis- 
sioners of  justices  of  the  peace  were  authorized  at  the 
same  time. 

The  Courts  of  Common  Pleas  and  General  Sessions 
were  held  simultaneously  at  Ipswich    in    March,  at 


632 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Newbury  in  September,  and  at  Salem  in  December. 
Thus  Ipswich  during  this  period  retained  her  courtly 
prestige,  as  shown  by  the  frequency  of  court  sessions 
and  the  supremacy  of  their  jurisdiction,  whereby  she 
was  a  peer  among  her  sister  towns  and  executed  a 
commanding  influence. 

Eepresentative  Men. — The  representative  men 
of  the  town  for  this  period  were  among  the  ablest 
men  of  the  times.  We  append  as  good  a  list  as  we 
are  able  to  obtain :  Justices  of  the  Superior  Court  : 
Eichard  Saltonstall,  twenty  years  from  1736,  and 
Wait  Winthrop  twenty-five  years  from  1692,  nine  of 
which  he  was  chief  justice.  Special,  Dr.  Thomas 
Berry  and  Ezekiel  Cheever,  the  famous  Ipswich 
Grammar-schoolmaster,  Justices  of  the  Inferior  Court 
of  Common  Pleas :  John  Appleton,  Dr.  Thomas 
Berry,  John  Choate ;  Special:  John  Wainwright, 
David  Appleton  and  Samuel  Rogers.  Justices  of  the 
General  Sessions :  Samuel  Appleton,  Daniel  Eppes, 
Thomas  Wade,  John  Wainwright,  Francis  Wain- 
wright, Nehemiah  Jewett,  John  Whipple,  John  Ap- 
pleton, Amnii  Ruhami  Wise,  Dr.  Thomas  Berry, 
Andrew  Burley,  Daniel  Appleton,  John  Choate, 
Samuel  Rogers,  Joseph  Appleton  and  John  Baker. 
Sheriffs:  Major  Francis  Wainwright,  Major  Daniel 
Denison,  John  Denison  and  Richard  Saltonstall. 
Councilors  to  the  Governor :  John  Appleton,  twenty- 
six  from  1698 ;  Dr.  Thomas  Berry,  seventeen  years 
from  1735,  and  John  Choate,  five  years  from  1761. 
Simon  Bradstreet,  Richard  Saltonstall,  Ezekiel 
Cheever  and  John  Wainwright.  Speakers  of  the 
House:  Nehemiah  Jewett,  three  years,  1693, 1694  and 
1701.  Clerk  of  the  House:  John  Wainwright  eight 
years,  beginning  1723.  Provincial  Congressmen: 
Michael  Farley  and  Daniel  Noyes.  Bepresentatives : 
Daniel  Appleton,  five  years;  John  Appleton,  one; 
Dr.  Thomas  Berry,  three ;  Andrew  Burley,  two  ;  John 
Caleffe,  two ;  John  Choate,  sixteen  ;  Stephen  Choate, 
four ;  Thomas  Choate,  four ;  Francis  Cogswell,  three ; 
Jonathan  Cogswell,  one;  Benj.  Crocker,  three;  John 
Crocker,  one  ;  Daniel  Eppes,  one;  Samuel  Eppes,  one; 
Michael  Farley,  fourteen  ;  Thomas  Hart,  two  ;  Dum- 
mer  Jew^ett,  two ;  Nehemiah  Jewett,  sixteen ;  Nathaniel 
Knowlton,  nine  ;  Daniel  Noyes,  one  ;  Abraham  Per- 
kins, one;  Richard  Rogers,  three;  Samuel  Rogers, 
three ;  Nathaniel  Rust,  one  ;  Simon  Stacy,  one ; 
Daniel  Staniford,  three  ;  William  Story,  two  ;  Francis 
Wainwright,  one;  John  Wainwright,  nineteen; 
Nicholas  Wallis,  one ;  Ammi  R.  Wise,  two ;  John 
Whipple,  one.  Framers  of  the  State  Constitution: 
Daniel  Noyes,  Dummer  Jewett,  Stephen  Choate, 
John  Crocker  and  Jonathan  Cogswell. 

Jail. — In  1751  the  town  voted  to  petition  the 
Court  of  General  Sessions  "  that  the  late  prison  be  ef- 
fectually repaired  and  established  as  heretofore  as  a 
prison  and  a  house  of  correction."  In  1760  a  com- 
mittee reported  that  the  town  petition  the  same  court 
to  have  a  house  of  correction  built  here,  and  to  per- 
mit the  dissolute  poor  of  the  town  to  be  put  in  the 


jail  till  the  house  of  correction  shall  be  completed. 
In  1771  a  new  jail  was  built  on  the  site  of  the  old 
one. 

It  is  needless  to  comment  upon  notable  cases.  Since 
the  arch  fiend  lied  to  Eve,  our  first  parents  stole  the 
forbidden  fruit,  and  Cain  killed  his  brother,  neither 
era  nor  people  has  been  exempt  from  crime  ;  one 
age  exemplifies  another.  Our  forefathers  had  a  spe- 
cific mission,  a  glorious  cause,  and  they  were  true 
to  their  calling.  They  wrought  nobly  and  well;  but 
to  err  is  human ;  we  embalm  their  purpose,  their 
deeds,  their  renown  ;  we  bury  their  errors  in  oblivion. 

The  Constitutional  Period. — The  constitu- 
tional period  opens  with  the  adoption  of  the  State 
Constitution  in  1780.  The  representatives  to  1817 
were  John  Choate,  five  years ;  John  Crocker,  one ; 
John  Heard,  one  ,  Joseph  Hodgkins,  of  Revolution- 
ary fame,  seven  years;  Dummer  Jewett,  one;  John 
Manning,  ten ;  John  Patch,  four ;  Joseph  Swasey, 
another  of  Revolutionary  fame,  eight ;  John  Tread- 
well,  two;  and  Nathaniel  Wade,  our  most  noted 
officer  in  the  Revolution,  twenty-two.  Speakers  of  the 
House, — Joseph  Story,  1811-12,  and  Otis  P.  Lord, 
1854.  President  of  the  Senate,  Samuel  Dana,  1811-13. 
Justice  of  the  Superior  Court,  Otis  P.  Lord,  1859-75, 
and  of  the  Supreme  Court,  from  1875  till  his  resigna- 
tion in  1882. 

County  Buildings. — A  new  court-house  was 
completed  in  the  early  part  of  1795.  It  cost  $7000 
of  which  the  town  paid  half.  In  1794,  May  1,  a  com- 
mittee was  empowered  to  confer  with  the  county, 
and  sell  the  old  court-house.  The  new  court-house 
served  till  1855,  when  upon  the  removal  of  the 
courts  that  year,  it  was  sold  to  the  Methodist  So- 
ciety, removed  and  converted  into  a  chapel.  After 
the  erection  of  their  present  beautiful  and  commo- 
dious church  edifice,  they  sold  it  in  1862  to  Mr.  Cur- 
tis Damon,  who  removed  it  to  Depot  Square,  where 
it  now  stands,  and  converted  it  into  a  store. 

A  new  stone  jail  was  built  here  by  the  county  in 
1809-10,  which  was  occupied  February  2l8t,  of  the 
latter  year.  It  cost  $27,000,  and  was  a  model  for 
security  and  convenience.  It  stood  on  the  premises 
of  the  present  "  County-House  "  and  "  Hospital,"  as 
they  are  called,  and  served  its  purpose  well  till 
1866,  when  it  was  sold  to  the  Eastern  Railroad 
Company,  who  used  it  to  arch  a  roadway  just  east  of 
the  Merrimac  River  bridge,  at  Newburyport.  The 
"County-House,"  or  house  of  correction,  was  occu- 
pied in  1828,  when  the  old  one,  at  Norton's  Bridge, 
where  Messrs.  Stackpole's  soap-manufactory  stands, 
was  discontinued.  The  "  Hospital,"  or  the  receptacle 
for  the  chronic  insane  was  erected  about  1841  or 
1842.  Some  two  or  three  years  ago  in  connection 
with  the  reformatory,  a  workshop,  one  hundred  by 
thirty  feet,  was  erected. 

The  first  probate  repository,  as  such,  was  occupied 
December  15,  1817.  It  was  built  of  brick  and  fire- 
proof,  forty  feet   long,   twenty-eight  wide  and   one 


IPSWICH. 


600 
00 


story  high,  and  cost  $3700.  During  the  early  part  of 
this  period  the  records  were  kept  in  the  registrar's 
private  dwelling,  while  his  office  was  in  the  new 
court-house.  From  1795  to  1815  the  repository  was 
also  in  the  court-house.  At  the  latter  date  both  the 
records  and  the  office  retired  to  the  dwelling  of  Na- 
thaniel Lord,  the  registrar,  to  come  forth  in  1817  to 
occupy  the  safe  repository  till  1852  when  by  order  of 
the  county  commissioners  they  were  removed  to  Sa- 
lem. The  building  is  now  the  property  of  the  Odd 
Fellows,  and  contains  a  drug-store,  the  post-office  and 
the  Odd  Fellows'  Hall  in  an  added  story. 

Two  of  the  registrars  of  this  period  have  been  Ips- 
wich men, — Nathaniel  Lord,  3d,  and  his  son  George 
E.)bert,  whose  biographical  sketches  close  this  chap- 
ter. 

The  only  court  held  here  now  is  trial-justice  Bell's. 
The  attorneys  and  couuselors-at-law  are  Hon.  Charles 
A.  Sayward,  Edward  P.  Kimball,  Esq.,  John  R.  Baker, 
Esq.,  James  Brown  Lord,  Esq.,  who  are  natives  here 
and  Hon.  George  Haskell,  is  a  native  of  Newburyport. 

This  decadence  is  entirely  attributable  to  the 
country's  growth  in  population,  the  consequent  ex- 
tension of  business  and  change  of  business  centres- 

Biographical. — Nathaniel  Lord,  3d,  was  the 
ninth  registrar,  and  his  service  covered  a  period  from 
May  29,  1815,  to  June  12,  1851.  He  fitted  for 
college  with  Daniel  Dana,  D.D.,  son  of  Rev. 
Joseph,  his  pastor,  and  he  graduated  at  Harvard  in 
1798.  His  graduation  exercise  was  a  poem,  and  the 
subject,  "Astronomy."  In  his  class  were  Dr.  Chan - 
ning.  Judges  Story  and  Fay,  Dr.  Tuckerman  and  Rev. 
Prof.  Emerson,  who  may  be  considered  the  first  to 
devise  and  put  in  practice  a  curriculum  of  study  and 
discipline  especially  designed  for  and  adapted  to 
female  education  and  culture. 

He  married,  at  Ipswich,  Eunice  Kimball,  daughter 
of  Jeremiah  and  Lois-Choate  Kimball.  His  children 
were  Nathaniel  James,  born  October  28,  1805  ;  Mary, 
born  July  17,  1807,  died  March  11, 1846  ;  Lois  Choate, 
born  July  9,  1810  ;  Otis  Phillips,  born  July  11,  1812  ; 
Isaac,  born  July  2,  1814,  died  April  1,  1816  ;  George 
Robert,  born  December  16, 1817, — three  of  whom  were 
lawyers,  of  whom  one  was  an  eminent  judge.  His 
wife  died  April  9,  1837,  and  he  married,  September  6, 
1838,  Mary  Holt  Adams,  daughter  of  John  Adams, 
Esq.,  of  Andover. 

Mr.  Lord  was  scholarly  ;  he  never  relinquished  the 
study  of  the  classics.  He  had  the  habit  of  a  student ;  he 
was  mathematically  exact,  careful  in  verbal  dis- 
tinctions ;  also  methodical  and  accurate ;  and 
when  in  Judge  White's  tenure  of  office  it  was  de- 
termined to  improve  the  old  methods,  to  multiply 
new  and  remodel  old  forms,  Mr.  Lord's  taste,  judg- 
ment and  learning  were  requisite,  and  the  present 
practice  of  the  Court  attests  his  good  sense  and  fore- 
sight. 

Politically,  Mr.  Lord  was  a  Conservative  Whig, 
and  when,  in  the  course  of  human  events,  the  politics 
40  J 


of  the   appointing  power   changed,  and   democracy 
rules  the  registrar  must  be  a  Democrat. 

He  had  no  taste  for  public  life.  He  delivered  a 
Fourth-of-July  oration  when  a  young  man  ;  welcomed 
General  Lafayette  to  Ipswich  in  1824 ;  presided  at 
the  town's  bi-centennial  celebration  in  1834 ;  he  was 
a  justice  of  the  peace  and  quorum;  was  one  year, 
1823,  selectman  and  several  years  on  the  school 
board. 

He  fell  from  his  chair,  at  home,  and  died  October 
16,  1852.  His  residence  was  on  High  Street ;  his  es- 
tate is  now  known  as  the  "  Lord  Mansion."  The 
house  was  built  in  1728  by  Rev.  Nathaniel  Rogers. 

George  Robert  Lord,  Esq.,  was  the  eleventh 
registrar.  He  is  a  son  of  the  last  mentioned  registrar, 
and  was  born  as  there  stated.  He  was  registrar  from 
February  14,  1853,  to  February  27, 1855,  soon  after  the 
advent  of  the  American,  or  Know-Nothing,  party  to 
power.  He  is  an  excellent  penman  and  exemplary 
recorder.  He  has  spent  most  of  his  life  in  the  service 
of  the  courts.  He  is  employed  now  where  he  has 
for  vears  been — in  the  office  of  the  Clerk  of  Courts. 


CHAPTER   XL  VII. 
IPS  WICH.— ( Continued). 
BUSINESS. 

The  early  and  leading  industries  of  the  town  were 
farming,  grazing  and  fishing.  The  various  trades 
met,  with  facility  and  skill,  the  demand  of  home 
consumption,  furnishing  the  house,  and  the  farm, 
equipping  the  mariner  and  manufacturing  the  cloth- 
ing. 

Farming. — This  may  be  said  to  have  been  the  lead- 
ing industry,  the  first  requisite  of  which  is  the  soil. 
The  underlying  rock  of  the  town,  and,  of  the  coun- 
ty, is  syenite,  or  hornblendic  granite,  an  excellent 
building  and  flagging  stone  that  has  made  Cape  Ann 
famous,  but  is  not  quarried  here.  The  soil  above  is 
light,  consisting  of  gravel,  sand,  clay,  and  the  pro- 
duct of  organic  decay,  not  mixed  in  a  favorable  pro- 
portion to  make  a  strong,  productive  land.  The  soil 
requires  as  constant  care  and  judicious  handling  and 
fertilizing  as  the  crops  need  cultivation.  The  best 
soil  is,  of  course,  between  the  hills,  and  it  rewards 
the  husbandman  as  a  garden.  The  hill-sides  and 
plains,  of  which  there  are  many,  are  not  poor,  but  are 
much  worn  in  the  lapse  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years.  They  were  sought  and  valued  by  our  ances- 
tors. Well  might  the  Wonder-working  Providence 
remark:  "They  have  very  good  land  for  husbandry, 
where  rocks  hinder  not  the  course  of  the  plow."  This 
land  was  adapted  to  the  growth  of  the  cereals,  such  as 
corn,  oats,  barley,  rye,  wheat  and  flax.  "The  potato 
was  cultivated,"  says  Felt,  "  in  1733,  but  was  not  much 
used.     It  was  a  delicacy,  accompanying  a  roast-beef 


634 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


dinner  and  unusual  occasions;  the  turnip,  then  raised 
in  abundance,  took  its  place  on  all  common  occasions." 
Corn  and  rye  were  the  principal  bread-stuff  of  our 
sires.  Barley  made  a  nutritive  food,  a  palatable  coffee, 
and  a  healthful  beer;  flax  was  easily  converted  into 
linen,  which  supplied  various  needs  of  the  household ; 
and  hemp,  which  had  been  grown  by  the  Indians,  was 
cultivated  and  converted  into  clothing  and  other  uses. 
Their  pasturage,  which  consisted  of  more  than  seven 
thousand  five  hundred  acres,  was  good.  The  soil  was 
new  and  feed  abundant,  and  the  numerous  large  hills 
were  peculiarly  serviceable ;  the  best  beef  could  be 
produced  simply  at  the  expense  of  the  herdsman's 
time.  The  Wonder-  Working  Providence  tells  us,  "  the 
Lord  hath  been  pleased  to  increase  them  in  Corneand 
Cattell  of  late  [1650]  ;  insomuch  that  they  have  many 
hundred  quarters  to  spare  yearly,  and  feed,  at  the  lat- 
ter end  of  summer,  the  Town  of  Boston  with  good 

beefe." 

The  Marshes. — The  salt  marshes  and  fresh  mead- 
ows were  an  important  factor  in  the  agricultural 
economy.  There  are  more  than  3300  acres  of  the 
former  and  some  500  acres  of  the  latter.  In  the  early 
years  of  the  town  these  were  the  only  sources  of  food 
for  the  cattle  in  winter.  The  grass  of  either  is  not 
very  valuable;  but  when  properly  mixed  and  fed  out 
with  care  it  is  fairly  relished  and  served  particularly 
well  to  winter  young  stock.  The  fresh  meadows 
have  served  largely  for  fuel,  furnishing  an  incipient 
coal  called  j^eat.  This  is  an  accumulation  of  half-de- 
composed vegetable  substance  formed  under  water, 
without  pressure,  and  contains  fifty  or  more  per 
centum  of  carbon.  It  began  to  be  used  at  a  very  early 
period  ;  so  long  since  was  it  dug,  that  some  of  the 
ditches  thus  made  had,  fifty  years  ago,  grown  over 
and  become  sufficiently  solid  to  allow  the  picking  of 
cranberries  growing  thereon.  A  hundred  and  twenty- 
four  years  ago  it  was  in  great  demand.  The  land 
sold  from  $75  to  $100  per  acre,  or  in  family  yearly 
supplies,  at  about  two  dollars  per  square  rod.  Coal 
began  to  be  used  about  1830,  and  has  now  supplanted 
peat  except  in  a  few  instances,  in  the  rural  districts, 
where  the  families  own  peat  meadow. 

Where  this  formation  of  vegetable  matter  has  prog- 
ressed subject  to  atmospheric  action,  muck  has  been 
formed,  which  has  been  much  used  as  a  fertilizer. 

Some  of  these  meadows  are  more  or  less  valuable 
for  the  production  of  cranberries,  yielding  from  a  few 
bushels  to  forty  or  fifty  per  acre.  The  berry  grows 
without  cultivation,  and  with  little  attention. 

Wood  and  Timber. — The  woodlands  have  been 
very  productive;  oak  and  pine  wood  and  timber  be- 
ing the  staples.  Since  the  introduction  of  coal,  wood- 
fuel  has  fallen  in  price  nearly  half;  and  the  price  of 
timber  has  been  greatly  diminished  since  the  easy 
transportation  of  timber  and  lumber,  by  rail  from  the 
North  and  the  East.  Timber  and  wood  merchants, 
with  heavy  teams  of  oxen  or  horses,  u<ed  to  do  a 
profitable  business,  but  such  teams  now  are  not  seen. 


The  Cultivation. — There  are  besides  the  above, 
probably  three  thousand  acres  now  under  cultivation. 
The  leading  productions  are  fruit,  vegetables,  corn 
and  milk.  Much  attention  late  years  has  been  given 
to  garden  productions,  especially  early  vegetables. 
Hay  has  been  grown  with  much  care,  especially  the 
so-called  English  hay,  since  its  introduction  at  the 
first,  by  obtaining  the  seed  from  England.  "Grayne 
seed," — wheat,  rye  and  barley, — was  introduced  from 
England  in  1629,  with  which  probably,  or  soon  after, 
came  our  fine,  English  grass-seed.  In  1666  those  who 
had  taken  ground  of  the  town,  and  agreed  to  sow  four 
bushels  of  good  English  grass-seed,  were  called  to  an 
account  for  their  neglect  to  do  so.  In  1694,  for  the  pay- 
ment of  taxes,  the  town  made  the  following  prices : 
barley,  barley-malt  and  rye,  four  shillings  per  bushel  ; 
wheat,  six  shillings ;  Indian  corn,  three  shillings ;  and 
oats,  two  shillings. 

Hay.— Hay  merchants  from  fifty  to  a  hundred 
years  ago  made  their  toil  remunerative  by  purchasing 
hereabouts  and  selling  in  the  Salem  and  Boston 
markets.  They  employed  teams  of  from  four  to  six 
horses,  and  carried  from  four  to  six  tons  to  a  load. 
Hay  is  now  pressed  in  the  East  and  elsewhere,  put  up 
in  bales  and  transported  by  rail,  so  that  the  trade  in 
hay  is  hardly  more  than  local. 

Berries. — The  prolific  huckleberry  and  blueberry, 
the  attatash  of  the  Indians,  demands  a  notice.  It  is  a 
delicious  little  berry,  and  by  its  fine  palatable  quality 
has  ingratiated  itself  into  public  favor,  and  the  mar- 
ket demands  it.  In  ripens  in  July  and  August,  dur- 
ing the  long  school  vacation,  and  many  a  family  of 
children  earns  from  twenty  to  thirty  dollars  in  a  sea- 
son,— an  essential  help  to  the  poor,  and  a  profitable 
recreation  for  the  scholars.  A  hill  in  the  Linebrook 
District,  written  "  Hurttlebery  Hill  "  two  hundred 
years  ago,  is  now  visited  from  the  towns  about  us,  by 
huckleberry-parties  yearly,  so  plentiful  the  berry  still 
continues.  One  of  the  many  market-men  hereabouts 
sold  last  year  nearly  three  hundred  bushels  of  them. 

Fruits. — Apples  and  pears  were  introduced  from 
the  mother-country.  The  houses  of  the  settlers  were 
surrounded  by  "pleasant  gardens  and  orchards,"  and 
to-day  if  you  find,  in  the  woods  or  a  pasture,  an  old 
cellar  that  long  since  was  abandoned,  there  you  are 
likely  to  find  the  old  wall  that  enclosed  its  orchards, 
and  some  of  the  old,  old  trees.  So  valuable  were 
the  orchards  to  our  ancestors,  so  late  even  as  a  cen- 
tury ago,  that  the  father  divided  his  orchard,  by  will, 
among  his  children,  devising  or  bequeathing  certain 
trees  to  jDarticular  children,  while  one  child  only  was 
to  possess  the  land.  During  the  last  fifty  years  or- 
chards have  been  cultivated  with  profit  in  jiroducing 
the  choicest  varieties  of  apples  and  pears. 

Tobacco. — Our  early  ancestors  derived  much  profit 
in  the  cultivation  of  tobacco.  In  the  Virginia  Colo- 
ny, it  was  a  source  of  large  revenue.  Our  Legislature 
frowned  upon  it  as  hurtful,  and  in  1634  attached  a 
fine  of  2s.  6d.  to  every  occasion  of  its  public  use,  and 


IPSWICH. 


635 


in  1635  prohibited  traffic  in  it  after  September.  But 
in  1682  tobacco-yards  were  common,  and  its  cultiva- 
tion was  continued  for  a  century,  at  least.  Families 
had  their  gardens  of  "  the  weed,"  and  their  peculiar 
"  mode  of  twisting  it  and  curing  it,  with  molasses  and 
rum,  to  make  it  palatable." 

Sumach  and  sassafras  were  exported,  the  former  as 
a  dye-stuff,  the  latter  for  medicine. 

Statistics. — The  United  States  Census  of  1880 
reported  153  farms,  357  persons  engaged  in  farming 
pursuits,  of  whom  4  were  females,  a  production  of 
129,692  gallons  of  millc,  4806  tons  of  hay,  43,482 
pounds  of  butter,  375  pounds  of  cheese,  28,511  dozen 
of  eggs,  17,940  bushels  of  potatoes  on  211  acres  of 
land  and  11,355  bushels  of  corn  on  266  acres  of  land, 
having  a  total  value  of  $98,413. 

From  the  latest  official  statistics  of  the  State  we 
make  the  following  interesting  comparison  with  the 
State  statistics  of  1875. 

Farmt  and  Appurtenances  1875.  1885. 

No.  of  Farms _ 450  216 

Value  of  Laud 8(l79,47'J  }569,G16 

Value  of  Buildiugs 305,790  486,262 

Value  of  Fruit-trees 62,296  51,656 

Value  of  Domestic  Animals 90,449  105,738 

Value  of  Agricultural  Implements 56,2  J7  48,513 

Total  value 81,184,251     $1,261,815 

Value  of  Products. 

Butter Sia,179  f  12,842 

Milk 35,276  52,075 

Corn,  Indian 3,310  6,783 

Potatoes 14,213  10,815 

Vegetables 2,908  9,833 

Eggs 6,819  12,453 

Apples 17,024  6,123 

Hay 101,880  77,328 

Other  products 44,000  55,653 

Total 8243,609        8243,905 


The  selectmen  for  1886  report  495  horses,  845  cows, 
312  other  neat  cattle,  162  sheep,  and  744  dwelling- 
houses. 

This  tabulated  statement  shows  a  decrease  in  the 
value  of  farm  lands,  fruit-trees,  and  implements,  and 
of  butter,  potatoes,  apples,  and  hay  ;  and  an  increase 
in  the  value  of  buildings  and  animals,  and  of  corn, 
milk,  eggs  and  vegetables,  clearly  setting  up  in  fig- 
ures the  wise  departure  from  the  olden  time,  hekvy 
farming  to  the  easy,  more  agreeable  and  profitable 
traffic  in  milk  and  vegetable  products.  The  alluvial 
river-borders  and  the  mountain  districts,  however 
distant,  may  furnish  us  with  potatoes,  and  hay,  and 
butter,  and  cheese;  but  the  morning's  milk,  fresh 
eggs  and  green  stuffs  from  the  garden  must  be  pro- 
duced nearer  the  place  of  sale. 

Our  Essex  County  Agricultural  Society  has  done 
a  great  good  in  years  past,  in  stimulating  a  healthful 
emulation  among  our  farmers  by  premiums  for  best 
farms,  fruits,  grass  and  methods;  but  a  greater  prac- 
tical good,  in  later  years,  has  been  done  by  our  minia- 
ture or  local  societies,  where  the  farmers  of  the  town 


met  for  practical  discussion  upon  live  topics  of 
local  interest.  This  makes  a  learned,  intelligent, 
practical,  diligent,  progressive  farmer,  and  gives  us 
the  best  results  with  less  labor  and  expense.  So  we 
compliment  the  Ipswich  Farmers'  Club  and  the 
"  Ipswich  Fruit-Growers'  Protective  Association." 

Fisheries. — There  is  no  doubt  that  a  fishing-station 
had  existed  here  for  a  number  of  years  before  March 
1633.  Gorges  and  his  company  had  stations  all  along 
this  coast.  Jeffrey,  or  Burslim,  or  both  managed  here. 
The  place  was  excellent  in  two  respects:  The  Neck 
furnished  the  wharfage,  and  Ipswich  and  Plum-Island 
Rivers,  with  Plum-Island  as  a  breakwater,  the  harbor ; 
the  shallow  water  and  the  high  bar  forming  no  im- 
pediment to  the  small  crafts  or  boats  then  in  use. 
Second,  the  supply  offish  along  the  shore  and  in  the 
rivers  was  abundant.  Cod  and  sturgeon  and  bass 
then  belonged  to  our  shores  and  streams.  The  fishery 
increased  and  became  lucrative.  The  town  took 
measures  to  make  the  business  inviting.  In  1641  the 
fishermen  could  enclose  their  fishing-stages,  and  each 
crew  could  plant  an  acre  of  ground.  In  1670  they 
could  take  wood  from  the  common  for  needed  build- 
ings and  for  fuel,  and  each  crew  could  feed  a  cow 
upon  the  common.  In  1696  Jeffrey's  Neck  was  well 
covered  with  fish-flakes  on  the  south  side.  A  com- 
mittee was  chosen  to  regulate  the  flakes,  which  were 
"to  run  up  and  down  the  hill,"  so  that  one  party 
might  not  interfere  with  or  hinder  another.  That 
year  there  seems  to  have  been  an  impetus  given  the 
business  from  the  fact,  that  "new  flakes"  were  set 
up.  These  were  apparently  to  in\ite  and  accommo- 
date new  parties  "to  carry  on  the  fishing  design." 
At  this  time  there  was  a  community  of  some  seven  or 
eight  hundred  persons  doing,  in  connection  with  other 
industries  and  trades,  a  large  and  prosperous  business, 
and  still,  wise  and  generous,  holding  out  inducements 
and  inviting  co-operation.  The  business  grew,  and 
with  it  grew  its  hazards,  perils,  sorrows,  losses ;  and 
it  was  necessary  to  hedge  it  in  with  safeguards  and 
positive  law.  Accordingly,  in  1729,  the  town  pro- 
vided that  owners  of  vessels  should  register  their 
names  and  the  names  of  the  crew  with  the  clerk,  or 
forfeit  20s.  for  each  and  every  name  omitted.  But 
with  all  the  liberality  of  accommodation  and  assist- 
ance, the  industry  waned ;  better  natural  facilities 
led  the  fishermen  away,  and  only  six  schooners  re- 
mained to  Ipswich  in  1758.  From  that  time  Ipswich 
managed  to  retain  the  remnant,  so  that  in  "  1797  a  lew 
vessels  were  employed  in  the  fishery." 

Stream  Fisheries. — The  catches  of  sturgeon,  blue- 
fi-h,  shad  and  alewives  were  of  considerable  import- 
ance in  the  early  days.  They  were  a  revenue  to  the 
town,  of  some  commercial  importance  in  trade  with 
the  West  Indies,  and  "last  though  perhaps  not  least" 
they  were  of  much  value  to  the  poorer  families. 
Their  importance  has  been  considered  so  great,  that 
the  Legislature  has,  again  and  again,  been  petitioned 
for  fishways  by  the  dams  of  the  manufactories.     The 


636 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


petition  of  May  25,  1768,  says  :  The  Ipswich  River 
has  been  reported  "from  age  to  age  one  of  the  best 
fish  streams,  particularly  for  shad,  bass  and  alewives, 
in  the  county  if  not  in  the  country."  Within  fifty 
years,  several  barrels  of  alewives  have  been  taken,  in 
a  season,  from  a  single  brook.  These  fish  are  now 
little  if  at  all  known  in  our  streams. 

Clam-digging,  also,  has,  from  the  first,  been  of  con- 
siderable importance.  Measures  were  early  taken  to 
protect  the  flats.  Fishermen  and  the  poor,  in  early 
years,  had  special  privileges  to  them.  In  1789  a 
thousand  barrels  were  dug.  They  sold  for  five  or 
six  dollars  per  barrel,  and  were  much  used  for  bait. 
It  is  a  good  paying  industry  now,  the  product  finding 
a  ready  sale  in  the  city  markets,  and  furnishing  a 
dainty  relish  for  poor  and  rich  alike.  The  Ipswich 
clams  rank  in  celebrity  with  the  Providence  River  or 
Norfolk  oyster.  Even  the  shells  pulverized  find  a 
ready  sale,  in  the  country,  among  poulterers  far  and 
near.  Shore  and  stream  fishing  is  all  that  is  left  to 
us  now.  The  dory,  the  seine  and  the  fork  are  the 
chief  implements  of  the  industry.  In  1875  the  capital 
employed  was  nine  thousand  dollars,  and  the  value  of 
fish  caught  was  twenty  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
forty-eight  dollars ;  while  in  1885  the  capital  was 
only  two  thousand  two  hundred  dollars,  yet  the  value 
of  the  fish  was  twenty-one  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  eighty-four  dollars. 

Commerce. —  The  Wonder-  Working  Providence  says, 
that  Ipswich,  in  1650,  "  was  a  very  good  Haven  Town, 
yet  a  little  barr'd  up  at  the  mouth  of  the  River. 
Some  merchants  are  here."  The  maritime  enterprise 
of  the  town  long  kept  up  her  merchant  service, 
though  compared  with  Boston,  it  was  small.  There 
is  no  source  of  information  on  this  topic ;  the  cus- 
tom-house files  are  barred  by  law;  and  inferences  only 
are  left.  Ipswich  was  a  port  of  entry  as  early  as  June 
28,  1701-2.  The  port  establishments  of  1692-93  did 
not  receive  regal  sanction.  The  building  of  wharves 
began  1641,  when  William  Paine  had  one  for  a  ware- 
house. A  wharf  was  built  in  each  of  the  following 
years,  1660,  '62  and  '68.  Again  in  each  of  these 
years  a  wharf  was  built,  1682,  '85,  '86,  '87  and  '93. 
In  1730  two  wharves  were  built.  In  1732  Joseph 
Manning  built  one  and  the  town  agreed  to  have  one, 
as  a  landing-place  at  six  pence  a  load.  In  1750 
Daniel  and  Thomas  Staniford  were  granted  liberty 
for  wharfage  for  a  warehouse.  In  1756  William 
Dodge  had  one,  and  in  1764  Nathaniel  Farley  an- 
other. The  coasting  business  is  said  to  have  begun 
about  1768.  Dr.  Morse's  Gazetteer  says  that  Ipswich, 
in  1779,  "  employed  few  vessels  in  the  fisheries, 
and  a  few  traded  in  the  West  Indies."  That  year 
thirteen  vessels  were  enrolled  at  the  Ipswich  Custom- 
House  and  registered  at  four  hundred  and  fifty  tons. 
In  1807  twenty-three  vessels  were  enrolled  with  thir- 
teen hundred  and  sixty-two  tons ;  in  1817  twelve 
vessels  and  seventeen  hundred  and  forty  tons  ;  in 
1827  twenty-five  vessels  and  thirty-two  hundred  and 


seventy-three  tons ;  in  1832  twenty-three  vessels  and 
twenty-six  hundred  and  nineteen  tons.  During  the 
first  quarter  of  this  century,  Robert  Farby  built  a 
vessel  of  three  hundred  tons,  which  was  about  three 
times  the  average  size.  At  j^resent  there  are  no  ves- 
sels belonging  to  Ipswich  enrolled  at  the  custom- 
house, which  compasses  all  of  five  tons  or  more 
in  the  district.  There  are  two  or  three  coalers,  which 
supply  the  coal-wharves  yearly  with  ten  thousand 
tons  of  the  ''diamonds,"  and  an  occasional  sloop, 
bringing  stone  for  building  purposes;  but  they  are 
owned  elsewhere.  There  is,  however,  Captain  N. 
Burnham's  fine  excursion  steamer  "  Carlotta,"  which, 
during  the  summer  season,  rung  her  regular  trips  to 
the  Island,  besides  making  occasional  trips  to  points 
of  interest  along  the  coast.  Capt.  Moses  Treadwell, 
I  am  told,  owned  the  last  vessel  belonging  here;  and 
that  she  lay  neglected,  for  many  years  in  "  The  Cove," 
and  went  to  pieces  before  1824. 

This  was  made  a  national  customs  collection  dis- 
trict by  act  of  Congress  approved  May  7,  1796.  By 
this  act  a  collector  of  customs  was  authorized,  and 
the  surveyorship  formerly  existing  and  held  by  Jere- 
miah Staniford  was  abolished.  The  first  collector  of 
customs  was  Asa  Andrews.  The  letter  informing 
him  of  his  apj^ointment  was  dated  June  9,  1796.  His 
immediate  successor,  Timothy  Souther,  received  no- 
tice of  his  appointment,  by  a  letter  dated  July  22, 
1829.  Mr.  Souther  was  succeeded  by  Asahel  Wilde.«, 
August  2, 1840,  who  continued  in  office  to  and  includ- 
ing July  20,  1844,  when  the  office  was  merged  in  the 
Newburyport  office,  and  Essex,  which  had  been  a  part 
of  the  Ipswich  District,  was  joined  to  Gloucester,  ac- 
cording to  an  act  of  Congress  approved  June  15, 1844. 
At  this  time  Daniel  L.  Wilcomb  was  inspector  and 
Issachar  Burnham  occasional  inspector,  each  at  three 
dollars  a  day  when  employed.  Daniel  Lakeman  was 
revenue  boatman,  at  one  dollar  a  day  when  employed. 
Other  inspectors  have  been  Reuben  Daniels,  Philip 
E.  Clarke,  James  W.  Bond.  Mr.  Andrews  was  born 
in  June,  1762,  and  he  died  January  13,  1856,  in  his 
ninety-fourth  year.  He  held  the  office  of  collector 
about  thirty-three  years.  He  was  a  very  able  man 
and  had  honorable  mention  as  candidate  for  Congress. 
He  had  a  son  who  graduated  at  Harvard,  at  the  age 
of  eighteen  years,  and  was  rector  at  Binghamton, 
N.  Y.,  for  fifteen  years. 

MECHANICS   AND   MANUFACTURES. 

Trades. — Herein  particularly  old  Mother  Necessity 
exhibits  her  large  family  of  inventions.  The  people 
of  those  early  days  did  not  live  to  eat  so  much  as  eat 
to  live.  Every  day's  labor,  on  the  whole,  must  be  a 
positive  advance.  We  of  to-day  have  abundance  out 
of  an  abundance  by  means  abundant;  they  lived  fru- 
gally and  healthfully,  cheerfully  and  hopefully,  by  a 
poverty  of  means  ;  and  however  unpolished  and  rude 
may  have  been  the  results  of  their  workmanship,  it 
served  thtir  purpose,   advanced  thir  State,  and  we 


IPSWICH. 


637 


must  accord  their  meed  of  praise.  In  1638  Thomas 
Einersou  was  a  baker.  Tliomas  Bridan  was  granted 
six  acres  of  land,  on  which  to  phmt  osiers,  or  wil- 
lows, for  basket-making,  in  1639.  Mr.  Samuel  Apple- 
ton  had  a  malt-house  in  1642.  The  "  mault-kills  " 
may  cut  walnut  trees  for  drying  malt,  in  1669  ;  and 
James  Burnam  was  granted  land  for  a  malt-house  in 
1696  ;  "John  Low's,"  then  discontinued,  having  been 
beneficial  to  the  neighborhood."  John  Paine  was  al- 
lowed a  brewery  and  warehouse  in  1663,  but  there 
has  been  none  since  1800.  Andrew  Peters  might  cut 
trees  for  a  cider-mill  in  1668.  A  disiillery  for  the 
manufacture  of  rum  from  molasses  was  set  up  about 
1750  ;  the  manufacture  ceased  in  1830.  There  were 
two  smiths  in  1667.  In  1682  Thomas  Day  had  a  place 
granted  for  a  brickyard,  and  Andrew  Burley  burned 
bricks  on  Jeffrey's  Neck  in  1687.  Thomas  Howlett 
was  carpenter  in  1633 ;  Samuel  Boreman,  cooper  in 
1639;  William  Bulkley,  cordwainer  in  1664;  Nath- 
aniel Bishop,  currier  in  1638;  and  Henry  Keerle  was 
admitted  to  citizenship  and  allowed  to  set  up  the 
trade  of  currier  in  1665.  John  Brown,  Jr.,  was  gla- 
zier in  1664;  Nathaniel  Rust,  glover  in  1690;  Wil- 
liam Fuller,  gunsmith  in  1635  ;  Samuel  Wood,  hatter 
in  1692  ;  Simon  Tomson,  ropemaker  in  1648  ;  Moses 
Pingrey  may  set  up  salt-pans  and  works  in  1651,  and 
in  1669  the  town  voted  £8  to  James  Hudson  to  set  up 
salt-works.  In  1642  each  town  was  to  have  a  house 
for  the  manufacture  of  saltpetre.  Henry  Russell,  of 
Ipswich,  and  Richard  Woodey,  of  Boston,  were  pre- 
paring for  the  manufacture  of  saltpetre  and  gunpow- 
der in  1666  ;  and  in  1667  the  town  ordered  that  each 
family  should  provide  a  hogshead  of  earth  as  a  urinal, 
auxiliary  to  the  manufacture  of  gunpowder.  Nath- 
aniel Brown  had  a  grant  of  land,  whereon  to  make 
ashes  and  soap.  In  1691  there  was  an  old  "  sope- 
house."  John  Annable  was  a  tailor  in  1647  ;  Nicholas 
Easton  was  a  tanner  in  1634 ;  Thomas  Clarke,  in 
1641  ;  Ens.  Thomas  Hart,  in  1700 ;  and  Thomas 
Brown's  son,  in  1734.  In  1832  the  tanneries 
employed  ten  men,  at  $1.20  per  day,  used  ninety 
cords  of  bark,  converted  10,000  hides  into 
leather,  which  was  sold  in  the  county  for  $25,250- 
James  How  was  a  weaver  in  1642,  and  John  Denison 
in  1647.  Richard  Kimball,  Jr.,  was  a  wheelwright  in 
1638  ;  Thomas  Fuller  had  land  for  a  wheelwright- 
shop  in  1685  ;  in  1671  Freegrace  Norton  could  cut 
timber  for  "  cogs  and  rounds  and  starts  for  the  mill ;'' 
Deacon  Pingrey  built  a  small  lighter;  and,  in  1691, 
"Jacob  Foster  could  cut  timber  for  pails,  measures, 
&c."  Thus  the  records  record,  but  of  course  there 
may  have  been  other  names  at  earlier  dates. 

Geist-Mill  Machinery. — The  first  man  to  make 
use  of  machinery  was  Richard  Saltonstall,  and,  we 
think,  Sir  Richard.  Richard  Saltonstall  was  a  man  of 
liberal,  advanced  and  pronounced  ideas.  He  openly 
and  fearlessly  denounced  the  African  slave-trade. 
This  man  set  up  a  grist-mill  in  1635,  on  the  site  of 
Mr.  Farley's  stone  mill.    Jonathan  Wade  was  allowed 


to  take  timber  for  a  wind-mill,  which  was  built  and 
gave  name  to  the  hill  where  it  stood.  This  kind  of 
motive  power  was  not  much  resorted  to  in  Ipswich, 
because  of  the  abundant  water-power,  Thomas 
Bishop  and  Robert  Lord  might  erect  a  grist-mill,  in 
1666.  In  1671  the  town  declare  one  corn-mill  insuf- 
ficient for  their  use,  and  as  if  there  were  but  one  in 
town,  a  complaint  was  made  against  Mr.  Saltonstall, 
with  a  request  that  he  erect  another.  In  1686-87 
Sergt.  Nicholas  Wallis  might  dam  the  river,  not  ex- 
ceeding three  feet,  and  erect  mills  for  the  town's  use. 
In  1687  Nehemiah  Jewett  might  erect  a  mill  on 
Egypt  River.  In  1691-92  Thomas  Boreman  desired 
to  erect  a  tide  grist-mill,  on  Labor-in-vain  Creek.  In 
1695-96  Abraham  Tilton,  Jr.,  and  Edmund  and  An- 
thony Potter  asked  that  they  might  erect  a  mill  on 
Mile  Brook.  In  1696-97  John  Adams,  Sr.  and  Jr., 
and  Michael  Farley  might  dam  the  river,  against 
Adams'  land,  and  erect  corn  and  fulling-mills. 

Saw-Mills. — There  seems  to  have  been  no  early 
saw-mills  on  the  territory  of  the  present  Ipswich, 
Several  were  at  Chebacco.  In  1656  sawyers  might  fell 
trees  in  the  woods  three  and  a  half  miles  or  more 
from  the  meeting-house,  if  they  would  allow  the 
town  one-fifteenth  and  charge  the  inhabitants  no 
more  than  four  per  centum. 

FuLLiNG-MiLLS. — The  first  fulling-mill  seems  to 
have  been  built  about  1675;  another  was  attempted 
in  1676,  on  Egypt  river,  but  was  not  completed  in 
the  prescribed  three  years,  and  the  dam  was  after- 
wards removed.  Joseph  Calefte  might  erect  one 
"  where  it  will  not  prejudice  others,"  if  he  will  full 
for  the  town's  people  "ibr  their  pay  sooner  than  for 
other  '  towns  '  men  for  money,"  in  1692.  Joseph 
Caletle  and  Thomas  and  Anthony  Potter,  in  1692-93, 
might  erect  one  on  Mile  Brook.  These  were  mills 
that  received  the  cloth  woven  at  home  and  cleansed, 
scoured  and  pressed  it, — that  removed  the  dirt  and 
grease,  and  made  the  material  more  compact,  firmer 
and  stronger,  with  a  soft,  glossy  nap. 

Cloth. — In  1641  children  and  servants  were  to  be 
taught  the  manufacture  of  cloth  from  wild  hemp, 
with  which  the  country  abounded.  In  1645,  wool 
was  scarce,  and  in  1654  no  sheep  might  be  trans- 
ported, and  none  killed  under  two  years  of  age.  In 
1656  the  town  was  divided  into  classes  of  five,  six 
and  ten,  and  taught  the  art  of  spinning.  One  per- 
son shall  spin  three  pounds  of  linen,  cotton,  wool, 
monthly,  for  thirty  weeks  each  year,  or  forfeit  twelve 
pence  per  month,  for  each  pound  short.  Half  and 
quarter  spinners  were  required  to  do  the  same  propor- 
tionally. Samuel  Stacy  was  clothier  in  1727.  Those 
were  the  days  of  the  "  independent  farmer."  All 
his  needs  were  supplied  by  his  skill  or  care.  Even 
his  clothes  grew  on  his  own  field  in  the  azure-hued 
flax  or  the  silvery  fleece  of  his  sheep.  His  family 
converted  these  into  fine,  cool  thread,  or  soft,  warm 
yarn,  and  these  latter  they  wove  into  cloth  from 
which  they  made  his  and  his  family's  garments.  Our 


638 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS 


childhood's  lips  delighted  to  cord  with  the  hum  of 
the  spinning-wheel.  We  have  a  vivid  remembrance 
of  the  little  wheel  for  linen  and  the  big  wheel  for 
wool,  but  the  clatter  of  the  loom,  that  so  deftly  ar- 
ranged the  warp  and  woof  was  a  home-thrumming 
hardly  so  late  as  our  day.  The  weaver's  thrums  are 
now  supplanted  by  a  noisy,  profitless  thrumming  of 
the  piano. 

Woolen-Mill — Dr.  John  Manning,  in  1792,  was 
granted  a  lot  of  land,  fifty  by  thirty  feet,  at  the  north- 
west corner  of  Choate  Bridge,  for  a  woolen  factory. 
In  1794  he  had  a  further  grant  for  the  same  purpose, 
and  July  8,  1795,  a  full  and  complete  title  was  given. 
The  mill  went  into  operation  in  1794,  and  manufac- 
tured cloths  and  blankets.  The  enterprise  was  not  a 
success,  and  the  business  was  closed  in  1800.  The 
site  was  afterwards  occupied  by  "  Coburn's  Block," 
the  structure  now  there  is  called  "  Caldwell's  Block." 

Lace  Manufacture. — This  product  was  made  in 
families.  The  manufacture  probably  had  a  small 
beginning, — was  confined  to  a  few  families,  but  grew 
till  "almost  every  family''  was  engaged  in  it.  It 
particularly  suited  the  employment  of  women  and 
children,  for  profit  and  leisure.  "The  lace  was 
formed,"  says  Mr.  Felt,  "  on  a  lap-pillow,  which  had 
a  piece  of  parchment  round  it  with  the  particular 
figure,  represented  by  pins  stuck  up  straight,  around 
which  the  work  was  done  and  the  lace  wrought." 
Black  and  white  laces,  in  silk  and  thread,  and  of  all 
widths  and  qualities,  were  made.  It  was  considerably 
exported  in  1797.  In  1790  nearly  forty-two  thou- 
sand yards  were  made,  and  the  business  was  then 
rather  increasing.  It  continued  till  about  1821  or 
'22,  when  a  Boston  lace  company  removed  to  this 
town  and  set  up  their  machinery.  They  located  on 
South  Main  Street,  near  the  Foot-bridge,  and  Feb- 
ruary 4,  1824,  were  incorporated  as  the  "  Boston  and 
Ipswich  Lace  Company."  Joseph  Farley,  William 
H.  Sumner,  Augustine  Heard  and  George  W.  Heard, 
were  the  proprietors ;  and  could  hold  real  estate  to 
the  value  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  personal  to 
the  value  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  could 
manufacture  "lace  and  other  articles  made  of  linen, 
silk,  cotton  and  woolen  material."  The  company,  of 
course,  achieved  success  for  a  number  of  years;  but 
the  deepest  streams  are  not  always  smooth.  It  is 
said  the  company  "  split,"  and  occasioned  the  forma- 
tion of  another.  "Thomas  Manning,  Ammi  Smith, 
John  Clark,  their  associates,  successors  and  assigns, 
were  incorporated  the  "New  England  Lace  Com- 
pany," January  17,  1827,  and  could  hold  thirty  thou- 
sand dollars  in  real  estate,  and  fifty  thousand  dollars 
in  personal.  The  factory  was  located  on  High  Street, 
on  the  site  of  Mr.  Joseph  Ross'  residence.  In  some 
way,  by  English  competition  or  interference,  the  busi- 
ness became  unprofitable,  and  the  factories  closed, — 
the  former  in  1828,  and  the  latter  soon  after  1833. 

Cotton  Manufacture. — Joseph  Farley  had  leave, 
June  19,  1827,  to  close  a  town  way,  then  used  as  a 


watering-place,  between  the  lace-factory  and  his  saw- 
mill, that  he  might  construct  a  new  dam   and  erect  a 
factory  in  the  place  of  the  saw-mill.     In  due  time  the 
preparation  was  completed,  and  the  factory  was  built 
of  stone  in   1828  and '29.     Augustine  Heard,  Joseph 
Farley  and  George  W.  Heard,  were  incorporated  the 
"  Ipswich  Manufacturing  Company,"    June  11,  1828, 
with   a  capital  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  in  real,  and 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  personal  estate,  for 
manufacturing  from  cotton    and    woolen    materials. 
The  manufacture  was    begun    in    1830.     James  H. 
Oliver,  of  Boston,  was  the  treasurer,  and  in  1834  Otis 
Holmes   was    superintendent.      Samuel    Davis    was 
overseer  of  carding,  Barnum   Leonard   of  spinning, 
Calvin  Locke  of  weaving.     Joseph  Farley,  Jr.,  was 
clerk  and  paymaster,  and  Joseph  Kendall  was  master- 
mechanic.     "The   machinery   of    the    mill,"    says  a 
correspondent  of  the  American   Journal  of  Fabrics, 
"  consisted  of  one  conical  willow  for  cleaning  the  cot- 
ton ;   one  picker  twenty-four  inches  wide,  with  two 
beaters,  without  lapper ;  fourteen  breaker  and  four- 
teen finisher  cards,  eighteen  inches  wide,  with  wooden 
cylinders,  thirty-six  inches  in  diameter;  four  drawing 
frames  with  tljree  heads  each ;    four    Taunton  tube 
speeders.     The  most  of  the  warp-spinning  were  the 
Engli-h  live  spindle  frames, — part  of  them  had  circu- 
lar and  some  of  them    straight    fronts.     The  flyers 
were  screwed  to  the  top  of  the  spindle^^,  and  must  be 
unscrewed  at  each   doffing.     There   were    two  dead 
spindle  frames  in  the  room,  built   by  a  Mr.  Derby,  of 
Exeter,  N.  H.     Two   cradle    warpers,   two  dressers, 
two   pairs  of  hand  mules,   sixty  Scotch  looms,  with 
the  crank  motion  or  sweep  outside  of  the  ends;  speed 
of  the  looms  one  hundred  and  twenty  per  minute, 
speed  of  the  front  rollers  on  the  live  spindle  running 
fifty  per  minute,  speed  of  the  card  cylinders  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty.     The     cotton    was    weighed    and 
spread  on  a  cloth,  about  ten  feet  long  by  eighteen 
inches   wide,   was   rolled   on  a  stick,  placed  on  the 
breaker  card,  the  cloth  dropping  slowly  to  the  floor, 
while  the  cotton,  as  it  was  carded,  passed   on  to  a 
light  drum  thirty  inches  in  diameter,  by  twenty  inch- 
es wide.     The  thickness  of  one  lap  was  the  product 
of  one  weighing.     The  lap  was  folded  when   taken 
from  the  drum  and  placed  in  a  box  back  of  the  finish- 
er-card, and  then  fed   to   the    card.     The    mill  ran 
nearly  fourteen  hours  per  day  to  ten  hours  of  the  pres- 
ent time;  but  the  speed  of  the  spinning  has  been  in- 
creased about    forty  turns   of  the   front   roller,  and 
looms  in  many  places  are  now  running  from  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  to  one  hundred  and   eighty  picks  per 
minute  on  similar  numbers  of    yarn.     In    place  of 
card  cylinders,   eighteen  inches   wide   by  thirty-six 
inches  in  diameter,  may  be  seen  the  colossal  English 
carding  engine,  forty-two  by  sixty;    but  cards  thirty- 
six  by  thirty-six  and  forty-two   by  forty-eight  inches 
are  generally  in  use  in  this  country.     The  doublings 
of  this  mill  were  very  limited,  and  were  confined  to 
the  drawing.     The  first  head  doubled  four  to  one,  the 


IPSWICH. 


639 


second  head  the  same  and  the  third  head  two  to  one, 
equal  to  sixty-four  doublings.  (A  mill  in  Lowell  to- 
day on  about  the  same  number  of  yarn  doubled 
twenty-seven  thousand  six  hundred  and  forty-eight 
times.")  The  cloth  they  made  sold  for  nine  and  one- 
half  and  ten  cents  per  yard  ;  the  same  quality  to-day 
would  bring  only  three  and  one-half  and  four  cents. 
Notwithstanding  this  seeming  disparity,  the  mill  was 
a  peer  in  its  day,  and  was  run  for  many  years  with  a 
fair  degree  of  success.  It  was  an  exponent  of  the  en- 
ergy and  enterprise  mainly  of  Captain  Joseph  Farley. 
The  Census  of  1880  reported  three  clothing,  hosiery, 
etc.,  manufactories,  employing  452  operatives,  210 
males,  241  females,  and  one  child,  at  a  yearly  pay  of 
$147,466,  and  a  capital  of  $254,-^00,  and  producing 
goods  valued  at  $441,312  from  stock  valued  at  1204, 
890 ;  two  boot  and  shoe  shops,  employing  49  persons, 
35  males  and  14  males,  and  a  capital  of  $21,000, 
and  producing  goods  valued  at  $77,900  ;  one  box  fac- 
tory, employing  eight  men  and  a  capital  of  $25,000, 
and  yielding  products  valued  at  $12,000 ;  and  one 
brickyard,  employing  12  men  and  a  capital  of  $5000, 
and  producing  bricks  worth  $3000.  No  woven 
fabrics  were  reported.  None  are  reported  in  the 
latest  official  returns.  The  principal  manufactures,  in 
the  order  of  their  value,  are  knit  goods  (chiefly 
hosiery),  boots  and  shoes,  buildings,  isinglass,  butcher- 
ing, carriages  and  wagons,  clothing,  bread  and  pastry. 
The  manufactories  use  five  steam  engines,  of 
three  hundred  and  fifty-five  actual  horse-power; 
nine  water-wheels  of  162  nominal  horse-power.  Of  the 
631  employes  in  1875,  444  were  males  and  187  were 
females,  of  whom  six  males  and  five  females  were 
under  fifteen  years  of  age.  Of  the  nine  hundred  em- 
ployees in  1885,  600  worked  by  the  piece  and  300  by 
the  day.     This  tabulation  is  self-explaining  : 

Items.  1875.  1885. 

No.  of  manufactories 73  51 

Employes G31  896 

Wages  for  the  year 8267,210  8264,551 

Capital  invested 423,004  1,107,203 

Value  of  raw  material 435,730  512,473 

Goods  made 858,532  1,018,532 

This  table  shows  a  decrease  in  the  number  of  man- 
factories  of  more  than  thirty  per  centum  in  ten  years. 
The  disparity  is  due  to  various  causes,  but  chiefly, 
probably  to  the  concentration  of  capital.  It  shows,  on 
the  other  hand,  a  greater  number  of  employes  by 
more  than  forty-two  per  centum;  but  though  they  do, 
per  capita,  the  same  amount  of  work,  their  per-capita 
pay  is  much  less.  To  be  definitely  instructed  herein, 
however,  would  require  a  comj^lete  statement,  but  the 
general  showing  of  growing  industries,  employing  a 
greater  number  of  persons  at  fair  remuneration  is  in- 
teresting and  gratifying. 

Money. — For  about  twenty  years  the  town  had  no 
money.  Trade  was  carried  on  mainly  by  way  of 
barter.  The  medium  of  exchange  was  musket-bul- 
lets, wampum  and  latterly  some  English  coins.     In 


1652  silver  was  coined  in  Boston.  Rogues  soon  be- 
gan to  clip  and  counterfeit  the  pieces,  which  occa- 
sioned the  appointments  of  "searchers  of  coins." 
Massachusetts  coined  copper,  silver  and  gold  from 
1786  to  1789,  and  the  United  States  began  to  coin 
them  in  1793  and  1794.  Paper  money  was  issued  as 
early  as  1690,  and  has  continued  meanwhile.  The 
bills  at  first  were  expedient  to  meet  the  great  expense 
of  the  government  in  prosecuting  the  wars  and  other 
necessary  expenses.  Though  serviceable  at  first,  they 
proved  hurtful  ultimately.  The  people  lost  confidence 
in  government  paper,  and  great  and  wide-spread  dis- 
tress ensued.  In  1781  seventy-five  dollars  in  jiaper 
would  only  equal  one  in  silver.  In  1794  a  tax  of  £1 
meant  £1  17s.  Gd.,  in  new  emission,  and  12s.  6d.  in 
hard  money.  In  this  century,  besides  the  national 
coinage,  a  system  of  State  banking  obtained  till  the 
war  of  the  Rebellion.  The  banks  facilitated  local  ex- 
change. Their  service  was  circumscribed,  because 
their  ability  was  seldom  known  beyond  their  respec- 
tive precincts.  In  many  instances,  on  the  other 
hand,  they  continued  to  serve  for  the  same  reason. 

An  institution  of  this  kind  was  chartered  here 
March  25,  1833,  when  Thomas  Manning,  Michael 
Brown,  Ephraim  F.  Miller,  Charles  Kimball,  Samuel 
N.  Baker,  and  Samuel  S.  Farrington  became  "the 
president,  directors  and  company  of  the  Ijiswich 
Bank,"  to  continue  till  October  1,  1851.  The  capital 
was  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  It  continued  a 
number  of  years  with  indifferent  success.  The  bank- 
ing-house stood  nearly  opposite  the  present  new  Sav- 
ings Bank  building. 

"Joseph  Ross,  Aaron  Cogswell,  Frederick  Will- 
comb  and  their  associates  and  successors"  were  in- 
corporated March  20,  1869,  the  "Ipswich  Savings 
Bank."  It  began  business  in  the  following  year,  and 
has  proved  very  opportune  and  serviceable.  Theo. 
F.  Cogswell  is  the  clerk  and  the  treasurer. 

BENEFACTIONS   AND   CHARITIES. 

The  Poor. — "  The  poor  ye  have  always  with  you," 
said  the  Greatest  of  earth  ;  and  in  accordance  with 
the  suggestion,  the  benefactions  and  amenities  of 
home  and  neigbborhood  are  commended  by  the  wise 
and  good  always  and  everywhere.  "  Liberality  of 
disposition  and  conduct,"  says  Cogan,  "  give  the 
highest  zest  and  relish  to  social  intercourse."  To 
tithe  our  incomes,  and  give  as  God  has  prospei-ed  us, 
is  a  fundamental  law  of  all  honest  living.  The  man 
who  does  not  plan  and  work  with  both  heart  and  head 
is  likely  to  learn  in  the  end  that  he  has  ignored  the 
most  ennobling  zest  of  labor,  and  the  most  ennobling 
joy  of  life.  Beneficence  and  charity  are  business,  and 
a  part  of  business  is  beneficence  and  charity.  Our 
ancestors  early  provided  for  the  needy.  There  was 
one  such  in  1666.  Twelve  years  later  there  was  one, 
— probably  others.  In  1688  the  bill  for  doctoring  the 
poor  was  £2.  Is.  In  1701-02,  was  voted  some  "con- 
venient building  for  the  entertainment  of  the  widow 


640 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Dent,  or  any  of  the  poor  of  the  town."  In  1717  a  con- 
venient house  for  the  poor  was  to  be  built  of  logs. 
Its  length  was  forty  feet,  width  sixteen,  stud  six  and 
its  roof  "  flat  as  may  be  suitable."  In  1738  the  town 
paid  £400  for  the  poor.  In  1740  the  poor  were  let 
out.  In  1742  a  hundred  bushels  of  corn  were  pur- 
chased to  be  distributed  among  the  poor,  and  there 
was  talk  of  building  a  "  work-house."  In  1760  there 
was  voted  £66.  13s.  4d.  to  purchase  a  house  for  two 
men  who  had  become  reduced  to  poverty.  In  1784 
it  was  voted  to  sell  the  old  almshouse, — that  stood 
near  the  county-house,  and  which  in  1770  was  much 
decayed, — for  the  most  it  would  bring.  The  same 
year  they  talked  of  erecting  an  almshouse,  and  the 
next  year  instructed  a  committee  to  furnish  one.  In 
1786  the  cost  of  the  poor  was  £300,  and  in  1792  it 
was  more  than  £500.  In  1795  John  Harris'  farm 
was  purchased  for  a  poor-farm,  for  £250.  In  1796 
the  whole  number  of  the  poor  was  twenty-eight, 
twenty  of  whom  were  supplied  in  part.  The  present 
poor-farm,  formerly  the  estate  of  Hon.  Thomas  Berry, 
M.  D.,  was  purchased  April  10,  1818,  of  Billy  Emer- 
son, of  Topsfield,  three  hundred  and  twenty-one 
acres  for  $9,500.  There  are  fifty  acres  of  mansh. 
The  soil  is  excellent  for  hay  and  grain,  yielding  one 
hundred  and  fifty  tons  of  the  former,  and  six  hundred 
bushels  of  the  latter  in  a  year.  The  old  farm  was  sold 
in  1819,  and  the  proceeds  were  expended  in  improve- 
ments upon  the  new  farm.  The  present  almshouse  of 
brick  was  built  in  1838  or  '39. 

The  town  September  3,  1766,  instructed  Captain 
Farley,  the  representative,  "  to  oppose  paying  money 
out  of  the  treasury  to  relieve  the  suffering  occasioned 
by  the  riot  of  the  stamp-act,  but  to  move  that  the 
Governor  call  for  subscriptions  as  in  case  of  fire." 
Such  plan  was  adopted,  and  Ipswich  promptly  voted 
to  raise  by  subscription  £100.  To  the  sufferers  by 
fire  at  Portsmouth  in  1803,  she  gave  $100  ;  and  to 
similar  sufferers  at  Newburyport  in  1811,  she  gave 
$1,000.  In  1825  she  contributed  $200  for  the  Bunker 
Hill  monument. 

As  early  as  about  1640,  subscriptions  from  the  pro- 
vince towns  were  requested  in  aid  of  Harvard  College. 
The  general  court  advised  liberal  contributions.  De- 
puties and  elders  were  enlisted  in  the  cause ;  grain 
or  money,  or  both  would  be  gladly  received.  The 
rates  for  Ipswich  in  1664-65  were  £7.  6s.  Id.,  and  in 
1681  her  contribution  in  grain  was  valued  at  £19|. 

Commons. — The  town  lands  were  held  and  man- 
aged by  the  freemen  of  the  town,  as  if  they  were  a 
company  for  that  purpose.  In  1644,  moved  by  gene- 
rosity and  public  spirit,  they  set  apart  a  tract  on  the 
north  side  of  the  river,  containing  by  estimation 
three  thousand  two  hundred  and  forty-four  acres, 
and  gave  and  granted  it  "  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
town  with  themselves,  their  heirs  and  successors  for- 
ever." In  1788  the  commoners  of  Ipswich  "  make  an 
absolute  grant  of  all  their  interest,  both  real  and  per- 
sonal, lying  within  the  town  of  Ipswich  unto  the  in- 


habitants of  said  town,  to  be  sold  to  pay  the  town 
debt."     The  grant  yielded  £600.  2s.  2c/. 

Societies. — The  various  societies  have  exerted  a 
powerful  influence  in  collecting  resources,  assisting 
the  worthy  and  fostering  social  amenities.  The  Gen- 
eral James  Appleton  Post,  No.  128,  of  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic,  and  the  Woman's  Relief  Corps, 
connected  with  the  posts,  have  exercised  a  watchful 
and  most  beneficent  care,  exhibiting  a  mutual  devo- 
tion equal  to  their  patriotism.  They  meet  weekly. 
The  post  has  about  one  hundred  members,  and  a  fund 
of  some  three  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  The  Relief 
Corps  fund  is  some  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars. 
Both  expend  about  one  hundred  dollars  a  year  in 
money,  besides  oft-repeated  personal  attention  and 
assistance.  Another  earnest  worker  in  the  general 
field  is  the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union. 
It  meets  weekly,  and  conducts  a  temperance  school. 
Its  work  upon  the  pliant  mind  of  our  youth  is  wor- 
thy the  sincerest  prayer  of  faith  and  a  generous  ma- 
terial support.  The  object  of  the  "  Ipswich  Mutual 
Benefit  Society  "  is  to  render  monetary  and  personal 
assistance  in  sickness  and  death.  The  society  was 
organized  in  March,  1879,  and  has  about  eighty-five 
members  in  full  benefit.  About  a  year  ago  Bay-  View 
Lodge,  No.  2,  of  the  International  Order  of  Odd  Fel- 
lows, was  organized.  The  Masons  were  represented 
here  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago.  Unity  Lodge 
was  organized  March  9,  1779.  It  was  the  ninth  char- 
ter granted  in  the  State.  It  held  no  meetings  after 
1829.  The  present  John  T.  Heard  Lodge  was  char- 
tered August  26,  1864.  It  meets  monthly,  and  has  a 
membership  tf  about  a  hundred.  It  has  a  fund  of  a 
few  hundred  dollars,  and  is  otherwise  a  strong  society. 
The  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  is  represented 
by  the  Agawam  Lodge,  No.  52,  and  the  Daughters  of 
Rebecca,  who  compose  Martha  Washington  Lodge, 
No.  5,  and  a  Mutual  Benefit  Association.  Agawam 
has  a  membership  of  about  one  hundred  and  ten,  a 
fund  of  a  few  hundred  dollars  and  is  harmonious  and 
efficacious  in  her  peculiar  work. 

Here,  too,  we  find  the  church.  It  is  one  of  her 
twin  fields  of  labor,  and  with  her  powerful  ally — the 
Sunday-school — might  crush  out  error  with  the  force 
of  an  avalanche.  In  seven  years,  about  1830,  the 
First  Church  gave  $2100  to  religious  charities,  and 
the  South  Church  more  than  $1500.  The  First 
Church  last  year  gave  about  $600. 

RESULT   OF   BUSINESS. 

Valuation. — The  capital  invested  at  the  beginning 
was  determination,  energy  and  perseverance.  The 
struggle  has  been  long  and  vigorous ;  it  has  not  yet 
ended  and  is  not  likely  soon  to  end.  In  1831  the 
assessors  valued  the  town  property  at  $505,995;  in 
1886,  at  $2,120,017,  of  which  $527,621  was  personal 
estate  and  $1,592,396  real,  and  $107,426,  an  increase 
over  the  previous  year's  valuation.  The  following 
table  of  Province  taxation  is  interesting  in  showing 


IPSWICH. 


641 


the  increase  of  expense  during  the  periods  of  war, 
and  the  relative  valuation  and  growth  of  several  old 
towns  compared  with  this  : 


^1 

l3 

P 

<;^ 

(2; 

^1 

1 

1204 

27.;9 

746 

*159 

305 

887 

1308 

1642 

1422 

1439 

948 

517 

675 

1372 

2985 

8391 

6884 

46685 

1036 

2380 

736 

III 

854 
290 
215 
267 
950 
1000 
465 
299 
171 
400 
571 
311 
208 
568 
908 
387 
711 
588 

579 
270 
2j0 
239 
814 
814 
378 
269 
159 
372 
532 
291 
21)9 
556 
924 
391 
702 
632 

589 
220 
150 
184 
698 
698 
325 
232 
143 
334 
477 
224 
177 
41S 
741 
354 
649 
530 

1747-48... 
1748-49... 
1752-53... 
175 '-54... 
1754-55  .. 
1756-57... 
1757-58... 
1759-60... 
1761-H2... 
1762-03... 
1764-65... 
1770-71 ... 
1773-74  .. 
1775-76... 
1776-77... 
1777-78... 
1778-79... 
1779-80... 

1133 

2560 

567 

280 

426 

1249 

1854 

2174 

1406 

1418 

932 

487 

368 

734 

1651 

4543 

3685 

35573 

1694-95 

1696 

1697 

1700-1 

272' 

1705  6 

572  

1710-11 

1715  16 



15931 

2579I 

1718-19  .. 

2937; 

1723-24 

1937  

1724-25 

1725-26 

1728-29 

1733-34 

1921 
787 
■379 
35'' 
681 

530 
303 
336 

1734-i5 

701 

1736-37 

1489   1.544 

1738-39 

1740-41 

1742-43 



4243 

3919 

32530 

4331 

3518 
37811-. 

*  Danvers,  £30,  set  oif.    Before  1765  Newbury  included  Newbury- 
port. 

The  town  grows  as  much  in  five  years  now  as  it  grew 
in  the  first  two  hundred  ;  and  by  opening  streets  along 
the  river  margin  and  inviting  the  tourists  and  summer 
residents  to  our  beaches,  and  coast,  and  mounts,  unsur- 
passed for  picturesque  beauty  and  interesting  moun- 
tain and  ocean  views,  we  may  achieve  still  greater  ad- 
vances, instill  a  new  and  vigorous  life,  and  so  ennobh 
and  embalm  the  cherished,  quaint,  weird  and  hoarv 
past. 

ABSENT    NATIVES. 

Biographical. — "  And  what  shall  I  say  more  ?  for 
the  time  would  fail  me  to  tell  of  the  Gideons,  th( 
Jephthas,  the  Davids,  the  Samuels,  who,"  having  lef 
their  nativity  and  engaged  in  other  towns,  and  in  cit- 
ies and  other  States,  "  have  wrought  righteousness, 
obtained  promises,  escaped  the  edge  of  the  sword,  om 
of  weakness  were  made  strong,  waxed  valiant  in  fight, 
turned  to  flight  the  armies  of  the  aliens,  and  have 
obtained  a  good  report."  The  influence  of  Ipswich 
homes  is  felt  abroad  for  good  in  the  professions  and 
every  honorable  vocation.  We  have  had  opportuni- 
ties to  gather  but  few  names. 

Rev.  William  Adams  was  son  of  William,  of 
this  town,  and  born  May  27,  1650.  For  want  ol 
funds  he  was  obliged  to  make  several  attempts  to  en- 
ter Harvai'd  College,  where  he  graduated  August  8, 
1671.  The  fir-it  pastor  of  the  Dedham  Church  died 
the  26th  of  the  same  month,  and  the  society  at  once 
determined  upon  Mr.  Adams  as  his  successor.  He 
declined  several  calls,  but  at  last  acccepted,  and  was 
ordained  pastor  December  3,  1673.  He  nuirried, 
first,  Mary  Manning,  of  Cambridge,  in  1674;  second, 
Alice  Bradford,  daughter  of  Major  William  Bradford, 
of  Plymouth.  He  was  a  devout  and  ft-rvent  man 
and  public-spirited.  He  died  August  17,  1685,  at  the 
age  of  thirty -six  years,  and  after  a  pastorate  of  twelve 
years. 

Rev.  Nathaniel  Appleton  was  born  December 
9,  1693.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1712,  was  or- 
dained pastor  at  Cambridge  October  9,  1717,  where 
he  died  February  9,  1784,  at  the  great  age  of  ninety- 
one  years,  and  after  a  pastorate  of  sixty-two.  His 
daughters  married, — Elizabeth,  Rev.  Jabez  Fitch ; 
Margaret,  President  Holoyke  ;  Priscilla,  Rev.  Robert 
Ward,  of  Wenham,  as  his  first  wife. 


John  B.  Brown  was  born  December  10, 1837,  in 
Argilla  District,  Ipswich.  His  father,  Manasseh 
Brown,  was  a  farmer,  owning  the  Castle  Hill — or 
Governor  Winthrop — Farm,  and  here  young  Brown 
spent  his  early  years,  working  upon  the  farm  sum- 
mers, attending  the  district  school,  and  High  School 
winters.  This,  with  a  few  terms  at  Phillips  Acad- 
emy, comprised  his  educational  opportunities. 

At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  entered  the  employ  of 
Blanchard,  Converse  &  Co.,  Boston,  who  were  at  that 
time  the  leading  dry-goods  merchants.  Here,  begin- 
ning as  a  boy,  he  received  his  mercantile  training, 
and  rose  through  the  various  departments.  At  the 
opening  of  the  war  he  entered  the  service,  going  into 
the  field  with  the  Sixteenth  Massachusetts  Volun- 
teers, Colonel  Powell  T.  Wyman,  as  first  lieuten- 
ant. He  was  appointed  aide-de-camp  to  General 
Cuvier  Grover,  of  the  regular  army  (at  that  time 
commanding  one  of  Hooker's  brigades)  while  before 
Richmond,  and  served  upon  the  staff  of  that  general 
during  the  Seven  Days'  Battles  of  the  "Peninsula 
Campaign,"  ending  at  Malvern  Hills;  and  later 
through  the  "  Virginia  Campaign  "  under  Pope,  end- 
ing at  Second  Bull  Run  ;  afterwards  in  the  battles  of 
the  "Louisiana  Campaign"  under  Banks.  In  order 
that  he  might  remain  with  General  Grover,  to  whom 
he  was  greatly  attached,  he  declined  all  promotions 
and  leaving  the  service  with  the  same  rank  with 
which  he  entered  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  he  was 
commended  in  general  orders  for  gallant  conduct  in 
the  battles  of  Burker's  Farm,  Savage  Station,  Glen- 
dale,  Malvern  Hills,  (first  and  second  battles),  Bull 
Run  (second)  Irish  Bend  (La.)  and  in  the  battles  of 
the  siege  of  Port  Hudson — being  one  of  the  officers 
who  volunteered  to  lead  the  storming  party  in  the 
preparation  for  the  last  grand  assault  on  the  date  of 
the  capitulation. 

On  returning  to  civil  life,  he  married  Lucy,  the 
daughter  of  George  J.  Tenney,  an  extensive  shoe 
manufacturer  in  Georgetown,  Massachusetts,  and 
entering  the  employ  of  ex-Governor  Gardner,  in 
the  dry-goods  commission  business,  he  shortly  after- 
wards became  a  partner  with  his  former  employer, 
James  C.  Converse,  and  removed  to  New  York,  re- 
maining in  charge  of  the  New  York  branch  of  that 
house  till  1869. 

The  rapid  growth  of  railroads  in  that  period  af- 
fording such  an  attraction,  he  left  mercantile  life, 
and,  with  his  brother  Leverett,  was  engaged  in  rail- 
road construction  for  many  years  in  the  Western  States. 
The  most  important  work  accomplished  by  him 
was  the  organizing  and  building  of  the  Chicago  and 
Western  Indiana  Railroad  (of  which  he  was  presi- 
dent), a  trunk  line  road  into  the  city  of  Chicago, 
which  to-day  gives  entrance  into  that  city  to  five  or 
six  railways,  among  the  most  important  of  which 
are  the  Grand  Trunk,  Wabash  and  the  Erie. 

Leaving  railroad-building  on  the  completion  of 
that  work,  he  has  since  been  engaged  in  the  develop 
ment  of  the  Grape  Creek  coal-fields  in  Illinois,  and 
in  the  construction  of  an  extensive  system  of  docks 
on  the  Calumet  River,  in  South  Chicago.  Though 
actively  engaged  in  the  development  of  important 
enterprises  in  the  West,  he  still  retains  his  interest 
and  affection  for  his  native  place,  and  the  Castle  Hill 


642 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Farm,  on  which  his  boyhood  years  were  spent, 
claims  much  of  his  time  and  contributes  much  to  his 
pleasure  in  its  improvement. 

Children  of  Ezekiel  Cheever. — Thomas  was 
born  in  Ipswich,  was  minister  of  Maiden  from  Feb- 
ruary 14,  1679-SO,  till  dismissed  in  1686.  He  was 
then  at  Chelsea,  where  he  settled  October  19,  1715. 
He  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1677.  He  died 
November  27,  1749,  at  the  great  age  of  ninety-one 
years.  Samuel  was  also  born  in  Ipswich,  did  not 
lose  a  single  Sabbath  in  forty-eight  years'  preaching, 
and  "  died  without  pain,  with  no  disease  but  mere 
age,"  in  his  eighty-fifth  year  and  the  fifty-sixth  ol 
his  ministry.  JMr.  Hammatt  says  he  was  a  student  at 
Harvard  in  1656. 

Dr.  Joseph  Green  Cogswell. — John  Cogswell, 
the  doctor's  progenitor,  a  merchant  in  London,  Eng- 
land, sailed  from  '.Bristol  May  23,  1635.  The  cargo, 
mostly  his  own,  was  shipwrecked  off  the  coast  ol 
Maine  August  15th,  and  he  lost  in  cash  about  five 
thousand  pounds.  Chartering  a  bark,  he  brought 
his  family,  furniture,  silver-plate,  etc.,  saved  from  the 
wreck,  to  Ipswich.  He  left  English  opulence  for  a 
log  hut,  "  that  the  ancient  faith  and  true  worship 
might  be  found  inseparable  companions  in  their 
practice,  and  that  their  posterity  might  be  undefiled 
in  religion." 

Dr.  Cogswell  was  born  in  Ipswich  Sept.  27,  1786. 
He  prepared  for  college  at  the  Grammar  School,  and 
in  his  twenty-first  year  graduated  at  Harvard. 

He  then  made  a  voyage  to  India  as  supercargo. 
Returning,  he  practiced  law  in  Bangor,  Me.,  with  not 
much  success.  He  was  then  called  to  a  tutorship  in 
Harvard.  In  1816  he  visited  Europe  with  George 
Ticknor.  He  was  two  years  at  the  University  ol 
Gottiugeu  a  student  in  literature  and  bibliology, 
wherein  he  ranked  with  the  highest.  He  spent  twu 
years  more  at  various  European  capitals  with  the 
same  purpose.  Returning  in  1820,  he  was  appointed 
professor  of  geology  and  mineralogy  in  \n^  alma  mater 
and  librarian.  He  resigned  in  1823,  and  with  George 
Bancroft,  the  historian,  established  the  Round-Hill 
School  at  Northampton,  based  upon  the  most  ap- 
proved English  and  German  systems.  Mr.  Bancroft 
retired  from  the  school  in  1830,  and  Mr.  Cogswell 
continued  until  1835,  when  he  went  to  Raleigh, 
N.  C,  in  a  similar  institution.  He  was  next  editor 
of  the  New  York  Review,  one  of  the  ablest  critical 
journals  of  its  period,  a  position  he  retained  till 
1842.  Hi^  intimacy  and  friendship  with  John  Jacob 
Astor  made  him,  with  Fitz-Green  Halleck  and 
Washington  Irving,  one  of  the  projectors  of  the  Astor 
Library.     He  was  also  one  of  the  trustees. 

When  Washington  Irving  was  appointed  minister 
to  Spain,  he  wished  Mr.  Cogswell  to  accompany  him, 
and  accordingly  wrote  Washington  to  appoint  him 
as  Secretary  of  Legation.  Irving  wrote :  "  He  is  a 
gentleman  with  whom  I  am  on  confidential  terms  of 
intimacy,  and  I  know  of  no  one  who  by  his  various 
acquirements,  his  prompt  sagacity,  his  knowledge  of 
the  world,  his  habits  of  business  and  his  obliging  dis- 
position is  so  calculated  to  give  me  that  counsel,  aid 
and  companionship  so  important  in  Madrid,  where  a 
stranger  is  more  isolated  than  in  any  other  capital  in 
Europe." 


He  was  appointed,  and  Astor  finding  he  was  to 
lose  him,  made  him  librarian  in  embryo.  He  went 
abroad  to  purchase  books,  and  his  selections  are 
marked  with  economy  and  discrimination. 

He  gave  to  the  Astor  Library  his  own  valuable 
works  in  literature,  and  he  presented  to  Harvard  a 
valuable  cabinet  of  minerals.  He  prepared,  in  a 
series  of  eight  volumes,  a  critical  and  analogical  cat- 
alogue of  the  Astor  Library,  wherein  he  exhibited 
"an  extraordinary  knowledge  of  the  history,  compar- 
ative value  and  significance  of  the  books  he  had  col- 
lected." He  served  the  library  with  industry  and 
fidelity.     After  1862  he  resided  in  Cambridge. 

He  is  authority  for  the  statement  that  Essex  County 
had  "given  birth  to  more  literary  people  than  any 
other  in  the  country,"  and  he  substantiated  the  re- 
mark by  naming  a  remarkably  long  list. 

He  married  young,  and  his  wife  died  young;  he 
never  married  again.     He  died  November  26,  1872. 

Children  of  Dr.  .Joseph  Dana. — Joseph  was 
born  June  10,  1769;  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College 
in  1788;  approbated  a  preacher  June  9,  1795;  taught 
school  in  Newburyport  and  studied  law  ;  removed  to 
Athens,  Ohio,  1817  ;  was  Professor  of  Ancient  Lan- 
guages in  Ohio  University  twelve  years  from  1822; 
died  November  18,  1849,  at  the  ripe  old  age  of  eighty 
years. 

Daniel  was  born  July  24,  1771  ;  graduated  at  Dart- 
mouth in  1788;  approbated  May  14,  1793;  ordained 
and  installed  over  the  First  Pi'esbyterian  Church, 
Newburyport,  November  19,  1794;  dismissed  to  take 
the  presidency  of  Dartmouth  College,  November  19, 
1820  ;  resigned  the  presidency  in  1821 ;  installed  over 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  Londonderry,  N.  H.,  May 
31,  1822,  and  was  dismissed  in  April,  1826  ;  installed 
over  the  Second  Presbyterian  Charch,  Newburyport, 
May  31,  1826,  and  was  dismissed  October  29,  1845. 
He  died  August  26,  1859. 

Samuel  was  born  May  7, 1778;  graduated  at  Dart- 
mouih  in  1796  ;  ordained  at  Marblehead,  October  6, 
1801,  and  installed. 

Sarah  was  born  May  6,  1780,  and  married  Hon. 
Israel  Thorndyke,  of  Boston. 

John  C.  Donovan,  Esq.,  is  yet  a  young  man.  He 
was  born  in  Ipswich  Village,  Mai-ch  18,  1861.  He 
pursued  his  studies  in  the  Ipswich  public  schools, 
graduating  from  the  academic  department  and  rank- 
ing high  as  a  scholar.  He  then  entered  the  law- 
office  of  Hon.  Charles  A.  Sayward  as  student.  He 
was  examined  October  1,  1885,  for  admission  to  the 
Essex  bar,  and  was  admitted  the  15th  of  the  same 
month.  He  is  now  practicing  his  profession  in  New- 
buryport. In  1885  he  was  commissioned  by  Governor 
Robinson  a  justice  of  the  peace  for  the  Common- 
wealth. In  connection  with  his  other  work,  he  has 
taken  an  active  interest  in  politics.  He  identified 
himself  with  the  Democratic  party  at  an  early  age, 
and  has,  by  voice  and  action,  aided  in  promoting  its 
welfare.  Early  in  life  he  was  forced  to  rely  mainly 
upon  his  own  exertions  and  native  ability,  through 
which  he  must  achieve  success. 

Prof.  Levi  Frisbie,  son  of  Rev.  Levi  Frisbie,  of 
the  First  Church,  was  born  September  15,  1783.  He 
graduated  at  Harvard  in  1802 ;  was  tutor  there  from 
1805  to  1811  ;  professor  of  Latin  language  and  litera- 


IPSWICH. 


643 


ture  from  1811  to  1817;  Alford  professor  of  natural 
religion,  moral  philosophy  and  civil  polity  from  No- 
vember 5,  1817.  He  died  at  Cambridge  July  9,  1822, 
at  the  age  of  thirty-eight. 

Eev.  Nathaniel  Howe,  third  son  of  Captain 
Abraham  and  Lucy-Appleton  Howe,  was  born  in 
Ipswich,  Linebrook,  October  6,  1764.  In  preparing 
for  college  he  studied  at  Dummer  Academy,  Byfield, 
then  with  Rev.  George  Lesslie,  of  his  native  parish, 
and  later  with  Rev.  Ebenezer  Bradford,  of  Rowley. 
While  with  Mr.  Bradford  he  made  a  public  profession 
of  faith  in  Christ,  and  joined  Mr.  Bradford's  church. 
In  September,  1784,  he  entered  the  junior  class  of 
Princeton  College,  New  Jersey,  a  fact  which  speaks  well 
for  his  scholarship.  He  asked  and  obtained  an  hon- 
orable dismission  at  the  end  of  the  year,  and  then 
entered  the  senior  class  of  Harvard  College,  where 
he  graduated  with  the  usual  honors. 

He  studied  divinity  with  a  Dr.  Hart,  of  Connecti- 
cut, and  completed  his  course  with  Dr.  Emmons,  of 
Franklin.  He  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Essex 
North  Association  May  8,  1787.  His  was  the  first 
license  granted  by  that  association.  He  preached  at 
Londonderry  and  Francistown,  N.  H. ;  at  Hampton, 
Conn. ;  and  at  Grafton,  Mass.,  where  he  received  a 
call  to  settle  which  he  declined.  In  January,  1781, 
he  began  to  preach  at  Hopkinton  as  a  candidate, 
and  was  unanimously  called^  in  the  May  following. 
He  was  settled  for  life,  as  was  the  custom  in  those  days, 
October  5,  1791,  on  a  salary  of  £70  and  the  use  of 
ministerial  land — one  hundred  acres — and  a  settle- 
ment of  £200.  Rev.  Ebenezer  Bradford,  his  old  in- 
structor at  Rowley,  preached  the  installing  sermon. 
For  more  than  thirty-eight  years  he  was  the  minister 
at  Hopkinton,  and  during  the  time  added  two  hun- 
dred and  forty-five  to  the  church.  He  was  a  preacher 
of  the  Gospel  for  half  a  century  ;  he  died  February 
15,  1837. 

Mr.  Howe  married,  some  three  months  after  his 
settlement.  Miss  Olive  Jones,  the  sixth  daughter  of 
Colonel  John  Jones,  of  his  parish.  She  proved  a 
very  estimable  lady,  and  adorned  her  station.  One 
who  knew  her  well  says, — "  I  ever  viewed  her  as  a 
person  of  superior  mind,  quick  perception,  peculiar 
energy,  and  an  unconquerable  fortitude  and  resolu- 
tion. She  was  as  distinguished  as  her  husband  for 
unaffected  affability,  unwavering  and  affectionate 
friendship,  as  well  as  for  correct  thinking,  keen  jjene- 
tration  and  sound  judgment."  She  was  a  careful 
and  judicious  housewife,  she  was  a  praying  mother, 
and  a  lady  of  unostentatious  piety.  She  died  Decem- 
ber 10,  1843. 

Their  children  were  Appleton,  born  November  26, 
1792,  a  distinguished  physician  of  Weymouth,  State 
Senator  by  two  elections,  major-general  of  militia,  a 
man  who  possessed  a  strong  character  resembling  his 
father's  for  manly  independence,  made  fast  friends 
and  commanded  universal  respect;  Eliza,  born  June 
4,1794,  and  died  of  consumption,  December  27,  1815; 


Maiy  Jones,  born  February  2,  1802,  married  Rev. 
Samuel  Russell,  of  Boylston,  and  died  November  26, 
1836  ;  Lucy  Ann,  born  August  27, 1805,  married  John 
Fitch,  son  of  Deacon  Elijah  Fitch,  and  is  thus  honor- 
ably mentioned  in  the  Century  Sermons.  "  Whose 
descendants  can  vie  with  the  descendants  of  Rev. 
Elijah  Fitch." 

Soon  after  his  marriage  he  purchased  the  messuage 
and  farm  of  Deacon  S.  Kinsman,  lying  contiguous  to 
the  ministerial  lands  and  some  half  a  mile  from  the 
church.  At  that  time  his  status  w^as  excellent  and 
his  prospects  bright.  Says  Rev.  Elias  Nason,  to 
whose  memorial  of  Mr.  Howe  we  are  much  in- 
debted, — 

"He  had  married  into  an  Influential  family;  his  pecuniary  circum- 
stances were  easy,  his  health  good  and  his  church  flourishing.  His 
prospects  of  usefulness  were  unclouded  ;  and  buoyant  with  hope,  he 
dedicated  all  his  energies  to  the  work  before  him.  But  increasing 
family  expenses  and  the  decreasing  value  of  his  salary  drove  him  from 
his  study  to  the  field  and  the  woods.  He  was  obliged  to  adopt  a  rigid 
economy  ;  but  his  economy  was  not  parsimony,  for  by  dint  of  hard  labor 
and  by  frugality  he  was  enabled  to  educate  his  son  liberally,  maintain  his 
respectability  and  keep  out  of  debt.  This  was  his  oft  repeated  maxim, — 
'  The  second  vice  is  lying,  the  first  is  running  in  debt.'  " 

He  frequently  chided  his  people,  because  they 
neglected  to  provide  fully  for  his  support.  He  felt 
that  the  laborer  wg,s  worthy  of  his  hire,  and  that  the 
cause  of  God  suffered  from  neglect.  He  chided  though 
"  more  in  sorrow  than  in  anger."  His  people  under- 
stood the  justice  of  his  demand  and  respected  him, 
yet  replied :  "  a  bargan  is  a  bargain."  After  years, 
the  rise  in  real  estate  and  legacies  from  relatives  en- 
abled him  to  store  a  few  thousand  dollars ;  neverthe- 
less, his  legacies  at  interest  till  his  death  would  have 
amounted  to  three  times  the  value  of  his  estate  at 
that  time. 

Mr.  Howe  was  charitable  and  generous.  He  wanted 
property  for  the  good  he  could  do  with  it.  One  day 
noticing  the  need  of  a  family  of  his  parish,  he  went 
to  his  woods,  and  drew  out  a  load  to  the  door  of  the 
needy  and  offered  it  for  sale.  The  lady  replied,  she 
could  not  buy  for  she  had  no  money ;  he  answered.  I 
ask  only  one  cent,  and  exacting  that  unloaded  the 
wood.  When  his  parish  would  settle  a  colleague,  he 
relinquished  a  good  part  of  his  salary,  when  with 
propriety  he  could  have  replied,  "a  bargain  is  a  bar- 
gain." One  winter  he  supplied  a  family  with  two  loads 
of  wood,  and  left  a  third  near  the  house  and  told  the 
family  to  use  it  if  they  had  need.  Later,  noticing  it 
was  not  used,  and  perhaps  hardly  needed,  he  reloaded 
it  and  left  it  at  the  door  of  another  that  needed  it 
more.  Several  young  men,  by  his  advice  and  pecun- 
iary aid,  obtained  liberal  educations,  and  some  of 
them  became  distinguished.  He  frequently  visited 
the  widow,  the  fatherless,  and  the  unfortunate  and 
usually  took  some  substantial  token  of  his  sympathy. 
He  often  carried  provisions  to  the  poor  by  night, 
that  he  might  "  not  be  seen  of  men." 

He  did  much  to  encourage  the  youth.  He  always 
noticed  them  with  a  cheering  word.  He  was  particu- 
lar to  visit  all  the  schools  in  town  several  times  each 


644 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


year.  He  was  very  fond  of  children,  and  had  a  rare 
faculty  of  interesting  them  in  whatever  he  said  and 
of  winning  their  respect. 

In  1822  he  was  made  a  life-member  of  the  Ameri- 
can Bible  Society;  and  in  1827  of  the  American 
Educational  Society. 

There  was  no  place  in  his  theology  for  isms,  new 
measures,  or  innovations.  Yet  those  of  varying  belief 
from  his,  he  treated  with  respect  and  tolerance.  He 
was  no  bigot;  the  erroneous  views  of  others  he 
claimed  were  not  suppressed  by  calumny,  but  by 
better  action  than  theirs  and  by  dint  of  merit. 

Mr.  Howe  practiced  in  his  reading  that  excellent 
motto  of  the  great  Webster: 

Legere  multum,  non  imilta. 

He  read  mnch,  Baxter,  Bunyan,  Saurin,  South, 
Hopkins,  Witherspoon  and  Emmons,  and  not  many 
others.  He  thought  much,  as  the  field,  the  woods 
and  the  road  offered  him  opportunity,  and  many  of 
his  thoughts  found  expression  in  concise  and  pointed 
language.     He  wrote ; 

Q.  Who  are  the  wise  ? 

A.  None  but  such  as  are  deterniined  to  be  wiser  still. 

Q.  What  is  the  reason  that  man  is  so  unhappy  in  his  family? 

A.  Because  he  keeps  a  bottle  of  rum  in  his  house. 

Q.  What  hurt  does  that  do  ? 

A.  None  at  all  if  he  let  it  alone. 

Q.  What  has  the  rich  man  more  than  the  poor? 

A.  Nothing  but  what  God  has  given  him. 

Q.  What  reason,  then,  has  he  to  exult  over  the  poor? 

A.  None  at  all. 

Q.  Who  are  the  rich  ? 

A.  All  such  as  have  health,  peace  and  liberty  and  none  to  make  them 
afraid. 

Q.  What  is  the  reason  that  man  is  more  prosperous  than  his  neighbor? 

A.  Because  he  always  takes  care  of  little  things;  he  lets  nothing  be 
lost ;  strikes  when  the  iron  is  hot ;  and  keeps  his  dish  right-side  up. 

"  To  do  nothing  is  to  he  nothing.  Leisure  is  the  time  to  do  something 
useful.  The  careless  man  is  seldom  fortunate.  Would  you  have  a  faith- 
ful servant  and  one  that  suits  you,  serve  yourself.  If  you  will  not  hear 
reason,  she  will  rap  your  knuckles.  A  dead  fish  can  swim  with  the 
stream,  but  a  live  one  can  swim  against  it.  Great  minds  are  always  can- 
did. Common  sense  is  the  best  sense  in  the  world.  Who  marries  for 
money  buys  money  dear.  Many  things  can  be  proved  by  facts  that  never 
happened.  Whoever  does  not  feel  himself  to  be  a  sinner  cannot  become 
a  Christian.  We  can  enjoy  nothing  but  what  God  is  pleased  to  give  lis. 
We  can  lose  nothing  but  what  He  is  pleased  to  take  away.  "We  can  suf- 
fer nothing  but  what  He  lays  upon  us." 

He  was  a  remarkable  man.  "The  cast  of  his  mind 
was  original  and  severe ;  the  bent  of  his  genius,  to  be 
useful.  He  was  a  man  of  sterling  probity  ;  he  thought 
correctly,  and  said  what  he  thought.  In  politics  he 
advocated  the  leading  measures  of  the  Whig  party. 
He  despised  every  kind  of  political  artifice.  As  a 
citizen  he  was  public-spirited  and  liberal-minded. 
As  a  husband  and  a  father  he  was  uniformly  kind  and 
aff'ectionate.  He  was  constant  in  his  friendships,  so- 
cial and  amiable  in  disposition  and  a  lover  of  good 
men.  His  friends  at  his  home  have  remarked  his 
cordial  hospitality.  The  standard  trait  of  his  char- 
acter was  his  regard  for  truth.  He  was  indeed  a  Na- 
thanael. 

His  publications  were,  a  sermon  on  the  death  of 


three  persons,  1808  ;  a  century  sermon,  delivered  De- 
cember 24,1815;  a  sermon  on  "John's  Baptism," 
preached  before  the  Mendon  Association,  and  pub- 
lished at  their  request,  1819;  a  defense  of  the  same, 
in  reply  to  Rev.  Dr.  Baldwin,  1820 ;  and  a  catechism 
for  the  children  under  his  pastoral  care,  1834.  The 
century  sermon  was  celebrated.  It  was  noticed  by 
the  North  American  Review,  passed  through  several 
editions,  and  was  translated  into  foreign  languages. 

As  a  preacher  he  was  unaffected,  plain  and  impres- 
sive. His  sermons  were  often  composed  during  thfi 
toil  of  the  day,  and  written  after  the  family  had  re- 
tired at  night.  He  aspired  not  to  be  eloquent,  but 
useful.  Perhaps  no  other  man  practiced  more  scru- 
pulously what  he  taught;  his  life  was  a  living  epistle 
of  his  doctrine. 

Rev.  David  Tenney  Kimball's  Children. — 
Father  Kimball  had  seven  children,  two  daughters 
and  five  sons: — 

David  Tenney  was  born  September  7,  1808.  He 
graduated  at  Middlebury  College  in  1829,  at  Andover 
Theological  Seminary  in  1834,  preached  at  Hartford, 
Conn.,  and  in  the  West,  but  was  obliged  to  relinquish 
preaching  on  account  of  bronchitis.  He  married, 
October  10, 1837,  Miss  Harriet  W.  Webster ;  he  lived 
the  greater  part  of  his  life  in  Lowell,  where  for  twen- 
ty years  he  was  a  deacon  in  the  John  Street  Congre- 
gational Church,  and  ^'here  he  died  in  1886,  much 
respected. 

Daniel  was  born  May  25,  1810.  He  was  educated 
at  Middlebury  College,  from  which  he  received  his 
Marter's  degree  in  1855.  He  has  spent  more  than 
ten  years  exclusively  in  the  cause  of  temperance — a 
part  of  which  time  as  editor  of  the  Middlesex  Wash- 
ingtonian,  Lowell,  and  the  Massachusetts  Temperance 
Standard,  Boston.  He  lectured  in  all  the  principal 
towns  in  this  State  and  in  many  in  Rhode  Island, 
New  Hampshire  and  Vermont  with  good  results.  He 
excelled  as  a  lecturer.  The  Salem  Observer  said  of  his 
lecture  at  Ipswich  October  16,  1846,  before  the  E-sex 
County  Teachers'  Association,  "  It  was  not  only  well- 
written,  but  in  the  manner  of  delivery  it  was  supe- 
rior. We  have  rarely  listened  to  a  lecture  which  gave 
such  evident  f-atisfaction."  Of  a  temperance  address 
at  Shelburne  Falls,  July  4,  1847,  the  ^Imencan  Repub- 
lic said,  •'  It  was  of  a  very  high  character  as  a  literary 
composition,  and  very  impres-ive  from  its  matter  and 
manner  of  delivery.  His  appeal  to  young  men  was 
full  of  energy,  pathos  and  power."  He  was  engaged 
in  teaching  nine  years,  one  as  principal  of  the  Cen- 
tral Grammar  School  at  Woburn,  and  eight  as  pre- 
ceptor of  Williams  Academy,  Stockbridge,  in  both  of 
which  places  he  was  a  member  of  the  school  boards. 
He  was  an  officer  in  the  Boston  Custom-House  twelve 
years.  He  resided  at  Lexington,  1876-82.  He  now 
resides  at  Woburn. 

Augustine  Phillii^s  was  born  September  9,  1812. 
He  was  a  merchant  in  Boston  many  years, — a  man  of 
enterprise,  generous  and  public  spirit.     Prosperity  at- 


IPSWICH. 


645 


tended  him  in  his  business  for  a  considerable  period, 
but,  his  health  failing  him,  he  returned  to  Ipswich 
and  passed  his  later  years  in  horticultural  pursuits. 
He  died  August  13,  1859. 

Elizabeth,  born  July  9,  1814,  married,  August  8, 
1839,  Eugene  F.  W.  Gray,  son  of  Rev.  Cyrus  W. 
Gray,  of  Stafford,  Conn.,  and  some  time  editor  of  the 
Ipswich  Register. 

John  Rogers  was  born  August  23,  1816 ;  wa*  for 
more  than  twenty  years  an  enterprising  and  success- 
ful merchant  in  Boston.  He  married.  May  30,  1844, 
Lydia  Ann  Coburn,  of  Dracut.  In  1866  he  retired 
with  a  competency  and  established  his  permanent 
home  in  Woburn,  where  he  soon  became  identified 
with  many  public  interests.  He  united  with  Rev. 
Jonathan  Edwards'  church,  and  was  atterwards  one 
of  the  deacons.  He  was  an  efficient  worker  in  every 
good  cause  ;  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  use- 
ful citizens.  He  represented  his  town  in  the  Legis- 
lature one  year,  during  the  period  of  the  late  war,  and 
did  good  service.  In  announcing  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  1859,  the  Woburn  Journal  said,  "Deacon 
Kimball  was  a  man  of  marked  individuality,  influen- 
tial, of  great  integrity,  commanding  the  respect  of 
every  one.  He  was  active  in  good  works,  set  a  good 
examole — a  real  Christian,  charitable,  kind  and 
greatly  beloved." 

Levi  Frisbie  was  born  April  25, 1818,  and  died  May 
9,  1818. 

Mary  Sophia  was  born  August  16,  1820,  and,  March 
25,  1849,  married  John  Dunning  Coburn,  merchant, 
of  Brunswick,  Me.  He  died,  and  she  married,  sec- 
ondly, John  Quincy  Peabody,  of  Ipswich.  Both 
daughters  graduated  at  the  Ipswich  Female  Semi- 
nary. 

Joseph  E.  Kimball,  son  of  John  Kimball,  was 
born  in  this  town,  June  12,1839.  He  enlisted  in  the 
service  of  his  country,  for  the  war,  in  April,  1861,  and 
was  mustered  in  May  23d.  He  entered  Company  B, 
First  Regiment  Massachusetts  Infantry,  Colonel  Cow- 
din  commanding,  who  reported  at  Washington,  D.  C, 
June  17th. 

His  brigade,  under  colonel,  afterwards  Major-Gen- 
eral Richardson,  who  was  killed  at  Antietam, 
formed  the  advance  of  General  McDowell's  "on  to 
Richmond  "  army,  and  the  first  blood  shed  was  in 
the  reconnoissance,  known  as  the  battle  of  Blackburn's 
Ford,  July  17th,  three  days  before  the  main  engage- 
ment. They  took  no  part  in  the  panic,  and  so  felt 
no  subsequent  chagrin,  remaining  near  Centerville 
till  after  midnight,  when  they  marched  to  Washing- 
ton, covering  the  main  army's  retreat. 

In  the  autumn  of  1861  he  was  in  Hooker's  brigade, 
afterwards  Hooker's  division,  which  won  the  dis- 
tinction of  "  Fighting  Joe  Hooker's  Division."  With 
that,  in  the  spring  following,  he  participated  in  the 
operations  before  Yorktown,  the  battles  of  Williams- 
burg, Seven  Pines,  and  Fair  Oaks. 

Immediately  before  the  Seven-days  Retreat  he  was 


stricken  down  with  "  Chickahominy  fever,"  yet  left 
his  sick  bed,  joined  his  company,  and  engaged  in  all 
the  battles  of  that  toilsome  and  distressing  retreat.  At 
Harrison's  Landing  the  fever  returned,  but  an  effort  to 
join  in  the  expedition,  under  Hooker,  against  Mal- 
vern Hills,  caused  a  relapse,  and  he  was  taken  to  the 
hospital  and  thence  to  Fortress  Monroe,  where  the 
fever  raged  for  several  weeks. 

He  next  joined  his  company  near  Alexandria,  and 
was  in  the  battles  of  Fredericksburg,  Chancellorsville 
and  Gettysburg.  On  this  march  his  shoes  gave  out, 
and  he  trod  more  than  sixty  miles  of  the  mountain 
roads  and  macadamized  pike  with  swollen  and  bleed- 
ing feet. 

General  Hooker,  at  Harrison's  Landing,  recom- 
mended him  to  Governor  Andrew  for  a  commissioner, 
and  again  at  Gettysburg  to  the  Secretary  of  War. 
While  in  pursuit  of  Lee's  army  his  regiment  was 
ordered  to  quell  the  draft-riots  in  New  York.  While 
there,  1863,  he  was  commissioned  second-lieutenant 
and  ordered  to  report  to  General  E.  A.  Wild,  at  New- 
bern.  That  done,  he  was  enrolled  in  the  Thirty- 
seventh  United  States  Colored  Regiment. 

In  the  following  spring  he  joined  the  Army  of  the 
James,  which  was  afterward  merged  in  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac,  under  General  Grant. 

In  the  September  following  he  commanded  a  com- 
pany in  the  successful  assaults  iipon  Deep  Bottom 
and  New  Market,  and  was  commissioned  first-lieuten- 
ant in  the  One  Hundred  and  Sixteenth  United  States 
Colored  Regiment.  Delaying  to  rej^ort  to  his  new 
command,  he  was  a  volunteer  commander  of  a  com- 
pany in  the  fiasco  against  Fort  Fisher,  He  then 
joined  his  new  regiment;  was  engaged  in  the  oper- 
ations about  Petersburg  ;  was  in  the  final  assault  that 
precipitated  Lee's  flight,  whence  he  was  breveted 
captain,  followed  by  forced  marches  and  intercepted 
his  retreat,  and  witnessed  the  final  triumph  of  our 
arms. 

Later  in  tbe  si)ring  he  joined  Sheridan's  "army  of 
observation,"  of  the  Rio  Grande,  and  served  till  the 
overthrow  of  the  Imperial  Government  of  Mexico. 

He  was  mustered  out  in  February,  1867,  having 
served  five  years  and  ten  months,  the  last  campaign 
being  in  the  regular  service.  He  bears  upon  his  per- 
son reminders  of  many  a  struggle,  yet  in  all  the  time, 
wonderful  to  relate,  he  received  no  disabling  wound. 
He  entered  the  service  when  bounties  and  pensions 
and  pecuniary  rewards  were  unsought,  and  gave  a 
singleness  of  purpose,  a  devotion  of  heart,  and  a  pa- 
triotism that  found  their  full  reward  in  the  emanci- 
pation and  the  final  restoration  of  his  country. 

Mr.  Kimball  was  in  the  rudiments  of  his  trade  when 
the  war  broke  out,  and  when  he  returned  from  the 
conflict  he  returned  to  his  trade,  and  associated  him- 
self with  his  brother  in  Abington,  in  the  manufacture 
of  tack  and  nail  machinery  for  boot  and  shoe  manu- 
facturing, and  they  were  enabled  so  to  improve  them 
that  they  gained  an  enviable  reputation  at  home  and 


646 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


in  foreign  countries.  Their  reputation  was  such  that 
a  powerful  combination  of  tack  manufacturers  to 
control  these  goods  in  the  United  States  paid  them  a 
coni-iderable  sum  in  cash,  with  the  sole  right  to  man- 
ufacture their  machines  and  no  others. 

In  1876  and  1877  Mr.  Kimball  perfected  and  pat- 
ented a  nailing  machine.  This  aroused  a  powerful 
antagonist, — the  McKay  Metalic  Fastening  Company. 
A  hard  struggle  ensued.  His  brother  retired  from 
the  firm.  At  last  the  McKay  Company  offered,  on  the 
score  of  economy,  to  purchase  the  surrender  of  his 
patents  rather  than  expend  more  money  in  litigation. 
Just  then,  very  opportunely,  Mr.  James  E.  Mayna- 
dier,  a  patent  lawyer,  took  the  case,  cleared  the 
patents,  and  was  instrumental  in  establishing  a  com- 
pany with  a  capital  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars 
to  utilize  them.  The  capital  was  soon  increased  to 
fifty  thousand  dollars,  then  to  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  and  then  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars,  which  is  now  paying  good  dividends.  Mr. 
Kimball  received  twenty  thousand  dollars  for  his  in- 
vention and  held  stock  in  the  company. 

Ere  long  appeared  a  fastening  called  the  "  Estabrook 
and  Wire-clinching  screw,"  which  was  cheap  and  pos- 
sessed other  merits,  but  had  to  be  worked  by  hand. 
Mr.  Kimball  invented  machinery  to  make  it  a  suc- 
cess.    He  then  removed  to  Milford. 

Within  the  last  two  years  he  has  invented  an  im- 
proved metalic  fastening  and  all  the  new  machinery 
for  its  manufacture.     This  is  now  his  main  product. 

Lastly  he  has  invented  a  machine  for  sole-fastening, 
upon  which  is  placed  a  simple  coil  of  threaded  wire 
from  which  at  each  revolution  of  the  machine  a 
clinching  screw  is  completed,  automatically  governed 
in  length  to  conform  exactly  to  the  thickness  of  the 
material  to  be  fastened  together  at  the  exact  point 
necessary  to  be  fastened,  inserted  in  the  material  and 
securely  riveted.  By  this  machine,  within  a  period 
of  about  fifteen  seconds  every  fastening  is  made,  in- 
serted and  riveted,  necessary  to  fasten  the  sole  to  a 
boot  or  shoe.  The  machine  is  on  trial,  with  apparent 
prospect  of  success. 

Here  is  a  lively  epistle  to  young  men,  showing 
what  may  be  done  by  energy,  perseverance  and  dili- 
gence, and  calling  upon  them  to  improve  their  minds, 
be  watchful  of  their  opportunities,  husband  their 
energies  and  work  for  a  purpose.  The  world  needs 
such,  and  will  amply  reward  them. 

Rev.  Samuel  Peeley  was  born  in  Ipswich-Line- 
brook,  August  11,  1742,  son  of  Samuel  and  Ruth- 
Howe  Perley.  He  was  twelve  years  old  when  his 
father  died,  and  Abraham  Howe  became  his  guardian. 
He  prepared  for  college  under  Rev.  George  Lesslie, 
his  pastor,  and  entered  Harvard  at  the  age  of  seven- 
teen years,  where  he  graduated  in  1763.  He  was  in- 
vited to  a  professorship  in  his  Alma  Mater,  which  he 
declined.  He  studied  divinity  with  Rev.  Mr.  Lesslie, 
his  former  instructor.  At  the  age  of  twenty-two 
years  he  received  a  call  to  settle  over  the  Presbyte- 


rian church  at  Hampton  Falls,  N.  H.,  where  he  was 
ordained  and  installed,  January  31,  1765.  Rev.  Mr. 
Le=slie  preached  the  ordaining  sermon,  which  was 
published. 

He  was  preaching  in  Seabrook  in  1771  and  '74. 
He  led  a  company  of  soldiers  to  Bunker  Hill,  on  that 
ever  memorable  occasion,  but  they  arrived  too  late  to 
participate  in  the  action.  He  was  next  installed  Oc- 
tober 8,  1778,  at  Groton,  Stafford  County,  N.  H.,  over 
the  church  that  had  been  gathered  the  year  before. 
He  continued  but  a  few  months,  and  was  next  in- 
stalled in  Moultouborough  October  20,  1780,  over  the 
church  which  was  organized  the  previous  year.  Hia 
next  and  last  pastorate  was  over  the  Congregational 
Church,  Gray,  Me.,  where  he  resided  till  his  death. 
His  installation,  as  their  first  minister,  took  place 
September  8,  1784.  He  retired  from  the  ministry 
about  1791. 

He  was  a  delegate  from  Gray  to  the  Convention  in 
Faneuil  Hall,  Boston,  to  consider  the  ratification  of  the 
Federal  Constitution  in  1788.  Upon  the  floor  he  ad- 
vocated its  adoption  and  with  heartiness  gave  it  his 
vote.  He  was  for  many  years  the  only  physician  in 
Gray.  For  many  years  also  he  had  an  extensive 
practice  in  probate  law.  He  was  three  times  com- 
missioned a  justice  of  the  peace,  covering  a  period  of 
twenty-one  years.  He  was,  then,  in  his  time,  the 
minister,  the  physician  and  the  lawyer  of  Gray,  and 
he  filled  each  office  with  credit,  and  left  a  name  that 
is  now  revered  and  honored. 

Mr.  Perley's  manners  were  open  and  agreeable. 
His  dress  was  always  tidy  and  j^lain  ;  he  wore  a  ruf- 
fle but  once,  when  he  took  his  diploma  at  college. 
He  was  an  easy  and  interesting  talker,  and  was  nota- 
bly hospitable.  As  a  preacher  he  has  been  highly 
commended.  He  was  a  man  of  good-natured  ability, 
and  he  had  acquired  a  store  of  learning.  His  library 
was  large,  and  embraced  valuable  works  upon  theo- 
logy, law,  medicine,  literature  and  general  knowledge. 
He  was  tenacious  of  his  opinions,  and  had  just  that 
proportion  of  self-esteem  to  give  his  talents  free  scope, 
and  make  them  eminently  useful.  Preceding  the 
war  of  1812,  he  held  a  long  correspondence  with 
President  John  Adams,  upon  State  polity,  wherein 
he  disclosed  a  wide  knowledge  of  history  and  of 
jDractical  state-craft. 

A  few  months  after  his  settlement  at  Hampton 
Falls,  May  21,  1765,  he  married  Miss  Hephzibah, 
daughter  of  John  and  Mercy-Howe  Fowler,  of  his 
native  parish.  She  was  mother  of  all  his  children, — 
eight  in  numbei',  now  a  numerous  and  influential 
progeny.  She  was  baptized  May  22,  1743,  and  died 
Friday,  August  28,  1818.  Mr.  Perley  died  Sunday, 
November  28,  1830.  A  monument,  costing  from  a 
thousand  to  fifteen  hundred  dollars,  marks  the  fam- 
ily tomb.  His  children  regard  his  memory  with  pride 
and  affection, 

Fkederick  Chester  Southgate,  Esq. — Rev. 
Robert   Southgate,  the  twelfth  pastor  of  the   First 


L..:-V-;-r   -'»•, 


M 


-£>».''; 


'^■'byAHFUtchie^ 


CC 


U^a^cL^ 


IPSWICH. 


647 


Church  here,  had  five  children, — Horatio  died  at 
Wethersfield,  Conn.  A  daughter  is  married  and  liv- 
ing in  Woodstock,  Vt. ;  Charles  M.  is  a  gospel  minis- 
ter in  Worcester,  Mass, ;  and  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  is  a  lawyer  in  Woodstock.  He  is  the  only  one 
of  the  family  native  here,  and  was  born  January  28, 
1852.  He  completed  his  preparatory  studies  at  Phil- 
lips Academy,  Andover,  in  1869,  and  graduated  at 
Dartmouth  College,  in  1874.  He  selected  one  of  the 
prettiest  of  New^  England  villages  for  his  future  home. 
He  married,  August  31,  1877,  Miss  Anna  S.  French, 
of  that  town  ;  they  have  two  children.  He  has  ac- 
quired a  lucrative  practice,  and  enjoys  the  fullest  con- 
fidence of  his  people,  which  is  shown  in  their  be- 
stowal upon  him  of  many  public  offices  and  important 
trusts.  He  has  twice  declined  a  candidacy  (which  as 
a  Eepublican  in  Vermont  means  election),  to  legisla- 
tive distinction,  preferring  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession, and  the  quiet,  social  amenities  of  his  people 
and  home. 

Samuel  Symonds'  Children. — There  appears  to 
be  two  Samuels, — one  who  was  a  graduate  of  Harvard, 
in  1663,  died  in  November,  1669,  and  bad  a  will  pro- 
bated Ninth  mouth  30th,  1669;  and  another  called 
junior,  who  died  in  1664 ;  William  was  freeman  in 
1670,  a  representative  from  Wells,  Me.,  1676,  married 
Mary  Wade,  daughter  of  Jonathan,  and  left  no  chil- 
dren. He  died  May  22,  1679.  His  estate  was  £33-59. 
9s.  3rf. ;  Hurlakendine ;  Elizabeth  married  Daniel 
Eppes ;  Martha,  John  Dennison,  and  afterwards 
Eichard  Martyn,  of  Portsmouth  ;  Ruth,  Eev.  John 
Emerson,  of  Gloucester ;  Pnsci^to,  Thomas  Baker,  of 
Topsfield  ;  Mary,  Peter  Duncan,  of  Gloucester  ;  Re- 
becca, Henry  Bylie,  of  Salisbury,  England,  then  John 
Hall,  of  England,  then  Eev.  William  Worcester,  of 
Salisbury,  Mass.;  Dorothy,  Joseph  Jacobs;  and 
Susannah. 


BIOGEAPHICAL. 


ASA   LORD. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  one  of  six  children 
who  were  born  to  Asa  and  Margaret  Lord.  On  the 
25th  day  of  September,  1797,  young  Asa  first  saw  the 
light  in  Ipswich,  Mass. 

In  December  of  1804  his  father  sailed  from  New- 
buryport  for  the  West  Indies,  but  was  lost  at  sea,  and 
two  years  later  we  find  the  boy,  As^a,  actuated  by  a 
strong  filial  affection,  eager  to  assist  his  widowed 
mother,  on  a  pleasant  autumn  day  (the  9th  of  Octo- 
ber, 1806),  walking  to  Newburyport  in  search  of  em- 
ployment. 

At  this  early  age  of  nine  years  commenced  the 
business  life  of  Asa  Lord,  for  here  he  obtained  em- 
ployment as  errand  boy  in  the  family  of  William 
Titcomb,  w'ith  whom  he  remained  seven  years.  Ee- 
turning  to  Ipswich  he  learned  the  shoemaker's  trade 


with  Mr.  Jacob  Stanwood,  and  continued  in  this  bus- 
iness several  years. 

In  the  spring  of  1821,  being  in  poor  health,  he  took 
a  four  months'  trip  to  Mount  Desert,  and  returned 
improved  and  has  been  blessed  with  good  health  ever 
since. 

Being  ambitious  and  anxious  for  a  larger  field  for 
his  business  talent,  on  the  16th  of  May,  1825,  he 
rented  a  small  shop  on  High  Street,  Ipswich,  for  fif- 
teen dollars  per  year,  and  purchased  on  credit  a  stock 
of  general  merchandise  at  Salem,  valued  at  two  hun- 
dred dollars. 

He  still  worked  at  his  bench,  leaving  his  shoes  to 
attend  to  the  calls  of  his  few  customers.  By  his  fair 
dealing,  prompt  payment  of  all  obligations  and  his 
pleasant,  genial  manner,  he  made  firm  friends  in  bus- 
iness circles,  and  soon  found  his  quarters  too  limited, 
and  accordingly  built  a  new  house  and  large  store  up- 
on the  site  first  occupied  by  him,  and  has  continued 
there  for  more  than  three-score  years,  and  has  been 
successful  in  winning  the  respect  and  love  of  the 
community,  as  well  as  in  accumulating  a  competency 
which  he  has  obtained  not  by  dishonest  gains,  not  by 
failing  in  business  and, paying  a  percentage  to  his 
creditors,  but  by  a  devotion  to  business  rarely  equal- 
ed, by  an  honesty  of  purpose  never  tarnished,  by 
making  his  word  as  good  as  his  bond,  he  has  steadily 
gone  on  from  little  to  much,  from  much  to  more,  un- 
til at  life's  eventide  he  reaps  the  success  of  a  well 
rounded  life. 

May  he  long  live  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  applica- 
tion, honesty,  energy  and  indomitable  will! 

On  November  3,  1825,  Mr.  Lord  was  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Miss  Abigail  Hodgkins,  of  Ipswich,  the 
daughter  of  Captain  John  Hodgkins.  Five  children 
blessed  this  union,  as  follows:  Lucy  A.,  Thomas  H., 
Abbie  B.,  Francis  G.  and  Mary  A.;  of  this  number 
but  two  survived,  namely,  Lucy  A.  and  Thomas  H., 
both  of  whom  reside  near  the  old  home.  Mary  A. 
married  John  A.  Brown  on  December  8,  1872,  and 
died  July  8,  1873,  leaving  one  child,  Hattie  W. 

Thomas  H.  married  Lucretia  Smith  on  November 
13,  1859,  and  has  all  his  life  been  associated  with  his 
father  in  business,  and  for  several  years  has  had  al- 
most entire  charge  of  the  large  trade  established  by 
his  father,  which  he  conducts  upon  the  same  never- 
failing  principles  of  honesty  and  integrity. 


DAVID   TENNEY   KIMBALL. 

Eev.  David  Tenney  Kimball,  born  at  Bradford  No- 
vember 23,  1782,  died  at  Ipswich  February  3,  1860, 
aged  seventy-seven  ;  married  Dolly  Varuum  Coburn, 
of  Dracut,  October  20,  1807,  who  died  his  widow  De- 
cember 12,  1873,  aged  ninety. 

He  was  the  seventh  child  of  Lieutenant  Daniel  and 
Mrs.  Elisabeth  Kimball.  His  mother  had  a  brother, 
David  Tenney  (H.  C,  1768),  a  devoted  minister  of 
much  promise,  who  died  a  short  time  before  the  birth 


648 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


of  the  subject  of  our  sketch,  after  whom  she  named 
her  young  son.  The  home  of  his  boyhood  was  emin- 
ently Christian,  and  to  its  influence  and  that  of  these 
parents  may  be  traced  the  marked  and  prominent 
features  in  the  character  of  their  children,  ten  of 
whom,  all  that  lived  to  mature  age,  entered  into 
covenant  with  God.  Two  of  the  sons  became  ministers 
of  the  gospel  and  two  of  the  daughters  married  clergy- 
men. His  father  was  not  only  one  of  the  best  farmers 
in  the  town,  but  one  of  its  most  influential  citizens, — 
a  man  of  intelligence  and  sound  integrity,  faithful  to 
all  his  engagements.  Born  in  1747,  he  was  in  early 
manhood  when  our  Revolutionary  struggle  com- 
menced. In  company  with  all  the  hardy,  liberty- 
loving  yeomanry  of  New  England,  he  espoused  the 
cause  of  the  colonies  and  devoted  himself  to  it,  with 
a  courage  that  never  failed  and  a  constancy  that 
never  faltered,  till  his  country  passed  from  impend- 
ing servitude  to  acknowledged  independence.  The 
land  which  he  cultivated  descended  to  him  from  Ben- 
jamin Kimball,  through  Jonathan  and  Nathaniel, 
and  was  greatly  impi'oved  under  his  care ;  but  after 
his  decease,  having  been  in  possession  of  the  family 
more  than  two  hundred  years,  it  passed  into  other 
hands. 

The  house  in  which  he  was  born  was  situated  in  a 
secluded  spot,  on  a  cross-road,  more  than  a  mile  from 
the  public  thoroughfare  and  a  considerable  distance 
from  any  dwelling.  Though  retired,  it  was  the  abode 
of  intelligence,  of  manly  virtue  and  gladsome  child- 
hood. Here  it  was  that  he  learned  to  love  his  mother, 
his  father  and  his  God.  But  our  records  of  his  child- 
hood are  brief.  From  all  we  can  learn  it  appears 
that  in  every  respect, — in  character,  temperament 
and  manner — the  boy  was  father  to  the  man.  His 
brothers  and  sisters  all  spoke  of  him  as  a  boy  of  rare 
seriousness  and  devotion  to  books,  and  of  a  most  ami- 
able and  lovely  disposition.  Said  his  brother  Samuel, 
"  I  never  kne\v  him  to  utter  a  mean  or  profane  word. 
He  was  always  pleasant  in  his  intercourse  with  his 
family  and  playmates,  and  beloved  by  all  who  knew 
him.  He  was  a  great  lover  of  the  Bible,  which  he 
read  through  aloud  three  times  before  he  was  eight 
years  old.  His  sister  Jane  wrote  :  "  On  the  Sabbath 
he  would  stand  by  a  table  and  read  the  whole  day 
when  he  did  not  go  to  church,  except  to  leave  for 
meals.  This  was  his  practice  from  the  time  he  was 
six  years  old  till  he  was  too  tall  to  stand  at  a  table 
and  read.  I  think  that,  as  a  child  and  a  young  man, 
he  had  as  many  lovely  traits  of  character  as  I  ever 
knew  combined  in  one.  He  delighted  in  the  memo- 
ries and  associations  of  his  childhood  and  youth."  In 
the  introduction  to  a  discourse  delivered  in  Bradford, 
he  said,  "  Everything  relating  to  your  town,  rather  let 
me  say  to  our  town,  interests  me, — your  hills,  your 
valleys,  your  brooks,  your  river,  your  ancient  dwell- 
ings,— your  burial-places,  these  gray  hairs;  in  short, 
everything  of  yours  excites  in  me  the  tenderest  emo- 
tions.    Here  rest  my  pious  and  beloved  parents,  who, 


in  my  infancy,  gave  me  up  to  God  for  His  service  in 
general  and  for  the  work  of  the  ministry  in  particu- 
lar ;  and  who  watched  over  my  youth  with  the 
greatest  solicitude  for  my  temporal  and  eternal  wel- 
fare ;  and  here  I  first  entered  into  covenant  with  God.'' 

The  education  by  which  his  boyhood  was  instructed 
was  such  as  could  be  obtained  by  attending,  during 
the  winter  months,  the  district  school,  till  he  was 
past  fifteen.  In  May  1798,  he  became  a  student  in 
Atkinson  Academy,  an  institution  then  much  resorted 
to  by  students  preparing  for  college.  That  he  was 
regarded  as  one  of  the  most  promising  scholars  ap- 
pears from  the  fact  that,  when  a  request  came  to 
Mr.  Vose,  preceptor,  from  the  neighboring  town  of 
Plaistow,  for  a  Fourth-of-July  speaker,  he  recom- 
mended young  Kimball,  "  whose  oration,  pronounced 
in  the  jiresence  of  more  than  one  thousand  people, 
was  well  received." 

Leaving  the  academy  August  14, 1799,  he  entered 
Harvard  College.  He  had  now  reached  the  position 
in  his  academical  career  to  which  he  had  been  looking 
with  fond  desire,  and  in  which  his  most  sanguine  ex- 
pectations were  to  be  fully  realized.  In  after  years 
he  was  wont  to  speak  with  admiration  and  enthusiasm 
of  college  life  and  the  friendships  there  formed,  and 
of  the  four  years  spent  there  as  among  the  happiest 
of  his  life.  While  here,  he  was  remarkably  free  from 
all  youthful  indiscretions,  and  was  then,  as  ever  after, 
the  decided  friend  of  law  and  order,  of  obedience  to 
the  powers  that  be.  In  sophomore  year  there  was 
trouble  in  his  class,  and  one  of  their  number  was  sus- 
pended for  insulting  a  college  officer.  The  censure  was 
resented  by  his  classmates  as  a  great  indignity,  which 
they  manifested  by  raising  the  flag  of  rebel  lion  and  es- 
corting the  criminal  on  the  way  to  the  place  of  his  des- 
tination. The  whole  class,  with  the  exception  of  three, 
were  engaged  in  this  rebellious  movement.  Among  the 
excepted  was  Kimball.  The  honorable  course  of  this 
trio  was  considered  the  result  of  principle,  and  not 
of  a  desii'e  to  procure  special  favor  from  the  college 
government,  and  was  subsequently  approved  by  those 
who  were  carried  away  by  the  excitement  of  the 
moment. 

As  a  student,  he  was  noted  for  the  accuracy  of  his 
recitations  in  every  department  of  study,  and  at  once 
took  rank  among  the  best  scholars  of  his  class.  That 
he  sustained  this  position  during  his  whole  collegiate 
course  is  evident  from  the  fact,  that  in  taking  his  de- 
gree of  A.  M.,  in  1806,  he  pronounced  the  valedictory 
oration  in  Latin.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  Society,  and  active  and  prominent  in  various 
other  societies  for  literary  and  moral  improvement. 
His  classmates  and  college  acquaintances  bear  testi- 
mony to  his  honorable  standing.  Says  Samuel  Greele 
(H.  C,  1802),  for  nearly  fifty  years  deacon  of  the 
Federal  Street  Church,  Boston,  in  a  letter  to  a  son  of 
Mr.  K.,  "I  believe  no  one  in  his  class  surpassed 
him  as  a  belles-lettres  scholar.  His  themes  were  re- 
markable for  their  chaste  and  classic  elegance.     Pro- 


'^"^  byAH.BttchiR. 


Ov 


IPSWICH. 


649 


fessor  Pearson,  who  had  charge  of  that  department, 
used  to  distinguish  compositions  of  superior  excel- 
lence by  a  double  mark.  Your  father's  themes  usu- 
ally had  this  distinction,  and  in  one  or  two  instances 
he  received  a  treble  mark,  a  distinction  which,  I  be- 
lieve, was  awarded  to  no  one  else  during  my  collegi- 
ate life.  In  Andover  we  were  fellow-students  in  div- 
inity, and,  as  we  were  chums  together  for  some 
months,  I  became  intimately  acquainted  with  him.  I 
think  I  never  knew  one  of  our  sex  more  remarkable 
for  amiability  of  disposition.  To  manline-s  of  char- 
acter he  united  a  loveliness  of  temperament  that 
seemed  almost  feminine.  He  pursued  his  studies 
with  conscientious  fidelity  and  became  popular  as  a 
preacher.  His  settlement  in  one  of  the  oldest  and 
most  respectable  parishes  of  the  commonwealth  indi- 
cates his  professional  standing.  I  take  a  melancholy 
pleasure  in  planting  this  forget-me-not  on  the  grave 
of  one  whom  I  shall  never  cease  to  respect  and  love 
as  a  Christian,  a  gentleman  and  a  friend." 

He  took  his  first  collegiate  degree  August  31,  1803, 
and,  a  week  from  that  day,  became  assistant  for  one 
year  in  Phillips  Academy,  Andover,  Mr.  Mark  New- 
man, preceptor. 

The  time  had  now  arrived  when  he  was  to  enter 
upon  the  study  of  that  profession  to  which  his  mother 
devoted  him  in  her  heart  when  he  was  a  child,  for 
which  he  had  a  strong  predilection,  and  upon  which 
he  deliberately  and  prayerfully  entered.  He  com- 
menced his  preparatory  studies  under  the  direction 
of  Rev.  Jonathan  French,  pastor  of  the  South  Church 
in  Andover.  In  theology  he  was  an  Andover  stu- 
dent, on  what  was  then  called  the  Abbot  Foundation. 
Mr.  French,  who  was  an  orthodox  minister  in  the 
sense  of  the  Assembly's  Catechism,  had  several  young 
gentlemen  as  students  in  theology  at  that  time,  con- 
stituting the  Theological  Seminary  in  embryo.  On 
August  6,  1805,  he  was  approbated  by  the  Andover 
Association  for  the  work  of  the  gospel  ministry,  in- 
duced thus  early  to  engage  in  preaching  at  the  earn- 
est desire  of  Mr.  French,  a  step  which  he  always  re- 
gretted, as  it  prevented  him  from  prosecuting  his 
studies  as  he  had  intended.  But  from  the  time  of  his  ap- 
probation to  that  of  his  settlement  he  preached  every 
Sabbath  but  one  or  two.  It  was  on  September  22, 
1805,  that  he  preached  for  the  first  time  in  Ipswich, 
and  June  17,  180(i,  that  the  First  Church,  without  a 
dissenting  voice,  made  choice  of  him  as  pastor,  in 
which  action  the  parish  concurred  with  great  unan- 
imity, only  one  dissenting,  and  he  a  Baptist  in  prin- 
ciple. On  October  8,  1806,  he  was  ordained  pastor 
of  the  First  Church  in  Ipswich — the  ninth  in  the 
Massachusetts  Colony.  He  was  the  eleventh  pastor 
in  succession  of  predecessors,  most  of  whom  were 
men  of  note  in  their  day,  and  all  of  whom  maintained 
the  doctrine  of  the  Puritan  Fathers.  The  young  pas- 
tor, then  in  his  twenty-fourth  year,  felt  no  slight 
degree  of  diffidence  and  distrust  in  regard  to  meeting 
the  high  expectations  which  he  had  awakened.      But 


the  doctrines  which  he  professed,  and  the  course  he 
had  marked  out  at  his  ordination,  he  firmly  main- 
tained and  steadily  pursued  during  his  public  minis- 
try. He  devoted  not  only  his  affections  but  his  time 
and  talents  to  the  service  of  his  Master  and  the  inter- 
ests of  His  kingdom.  He  felt  that  Paul's  charge  to 
Timothy,  "Be  instant  in  season  and  out  of  season," 
was  addressed  also  to  him;  and  he  acted  accordingly.  In 
his  visits  to  the  sick  he  was  prompt,  affectionate  and 
faithful.  When  called,  at  whatever  hour  of  the  night, 
he  instantly  obeyed  the  summons,  and  he  not  unfre- 
quently  passed  whole  nights  in  the  chamber  of  the 
sick  and  by  the  beds  of  the  dying.  He  made  many 
social  calls  and  visits,  the  object  of  which  was,  in 
part,  to  promote  kind  and  friendly  feelings  and  to  in- 
cite in  his  hearers  a  deeper  interest  in  his  public  la- 
bors. These  visits,  which  averaged  five  hundred  a 
year,  were  in  all  more  than  twenty  thousand. 

In  person  Mr.  Kimball  was  well  proportioned,  six 
feet  in  height,  and  in  the  prime  of  life  weighed  a 
hundred  and  seventy-five  pounds ;  hair  and  eyes 
black,  .step  firm  and  elastic.  He  had  a  pleasing 
voice,  his  enunciation  was  distinct,  his  manner  never 
violent  nor  denunciatory,  but  calm  and  impressive. 
In  summer  he  generally  appeared  in  the  pul{)it  in 
the  canonicals  presented  to  him  at  his  ordination  by 
the  ladies  of  the  parish,  and  supplemented  by  them 
as  occasion  demanded. 

Though  at  the  time  of  his  settlement  he  was  in  deli- 
cate health,  and  thought  by  some  not  sufficiently  ro- 
bust to  warrant  his  engaging  in  the  labors  and  respon- 
sibilities of  the  ministerial  office,  and  though  for 
years  he  suffered  from  headache,  often  for  weeks  in 
succession,  yet  he  lived  to  preach,  in  his  own  pulpit 
and  those  of  his  brethren,  more  than  five  thousand 
sermons,  having  had  no  vacation  and  having  been 
prevented  from  preaching  but  a  few  times,  when  he 
supplied  his  place  or  the  people  worshipped  with  other 
congregations. 

He  maintained  pleasant  pulpit  exchanges  with  his 
ministerial  brethren  and  his  labors  were  highly  ac- 
ceptable. These  exchanges  were  not  only  with  the 
Congregational  and  Presbyterian  ministers  of  the 
county,  but  occasionally  with  others  more  remote.  It 
is  believed  that  his  exchanges  were  never  more  fre- 
quent or  more  acceptable  to  his  clerical  brethren  and 
their  societies  than  at  the  time  of  closing  his  labors  at 
Ipswich,  at  which  time  more  than  sixty  pulpits  were 
ojsen  to  his  ministrations. 

As  a  monument  of  his  industry  he  left  above  three 
thousand  sermons,  written  out  with  remarkable  legi- 
bility. Indeed,  he  took  a  pride  in  doing  with  clear- 
ness whatever  he  attempted  ;  he  never  slighted  any 
trust  which  he  assumed. 

The  following  is  a  sketch  of  his  more  public  ser- 
vices : 

His  Labors  among  the  Young  — His  labors  in  be- 
half of  the  lambs  of  his  flock  were  abundant  and  in- 
cessant.    For  eleven   years,  in  the  earlier  period  ot 


4lf 


650 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


his  ministry,  he  instructed  the  children  at  the  church 
and  in  his  house  in  the  Assembly's  Catechism,  the 
number  varying  from  one  hundred  and  tifty  to  more 
than  two  hundred.  At  the  establishment  of  the  Sun- 
day-school, June  18,  1818,  he  acted  as  super- 
intendent and  took  part  in  its  immediate  instruc- 
tion. In  December  of  that  year  he  formed  a  class 
of  young  ladies  in  Wilbur's  Catechism,  which  con- 
tinued for  a  long  time.  He  also  taught  the  youth  of 
both  sexes  in  Sacred  History;  preached  during  his 
ministry  more  than  one  hundred  sermons  exclusively 
to  the  young;  occupied  fourteen  Sabbath  evenings  in 
one  winter  with  lectures  to  young  men  on  the  text, 
"  Is  the  young  man  Absalom  safe?"  For  years  the 
Bible  class,  composed  of  the  young  people  and  others 
more  advanced,  numbered  from  two  hundred  to  three 
hundred.  With  this  exercise  he  went  through  most 
of  the  Pentateuch,  the  whole  of  John's  gospel,  the 
four  evangelists  in  their  connection  and  harmony, 
and  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 

Education. — Impressed  with  the  special  importance 
of  knowledge  to  the  citizens  of  a  country,  the  stabil- 
ity and  permanence  of  whose  institutions  rest  upon 
intelligence  and  good  morals,  he  had  no  sooner  en- 
tered on  his  pastoral  duties  than  he  visited  the 
schools,  to  encourage  the  children  and  youth  by  his 
presence,  his  sympathy  and  friendly  counsel.  For  more 
than  forty  years  he  was  a  member  of  the  school  commit- 
tee, and  no  small  part  of  the  time  chairman,  and  accus- 
tomed to  examine  the  teachers  and  the  eight  schools 
repeatedly  every  year,  to  pray  with  and  examine  the 
same.  In  his  fiftieth  anniversary  discourse  he  re- 
marked that  he  had  probably  made  more  than 
two  thousand  visits  to  these  schools.  He  was  ever 
the  advocate  of  the  most  liberal  appropriation  and  of 
the  most  complete  organization,  instruction  and  dis- 
cipline of  the  common  schools,  and  he  did  much  by 
pen  and  voice  for  their  improvement.  The  school 
board,  in  their  annual  report  for  the  year  ending 
March,  1860,  thus  speak  of  his  services  :  "  As  a  mem- 
ber of  the  feoffees  of  the  grammar  school  for  a  period 
of  more  than  thirty  years,  and  as  one  of  the  school 
committee  for  forty  years  of  his  useful  life  among  us, 
he  has  done  much,  both  by  precept  and  example,  for 
the  moral  improvement  of  our  youth,  and  his  active 
exertions  and  untiring  zeal  in  the  cause  of  education 
will  long  be  held  in  grateful  remembrance." 

He  always  took  special  interest  in  scholars  belong- 
ing to  the  grammar-school,  particularly  in  those  con- 
templating a  collegiate  course.  By  the  term  "  gram- 
mar-school," we  do  not  mean  the  common,  or  public 
school,  as  it  now  exists  in  our  commonwealth,  sup- 
ported by  a  tax  and  free  of  charge,  to  rich  and  poor, 
but  a  school  where  Greek  and  Latin  were  taught,  and 
where  youth  could  befitted  for  college.  The  Ipswich 
grammar-school  was  established  in  1650.  In  six 
years  from  its  opening  there  were  six  young  men 
from  this  town  pursuing  at  the  same  time  their  stud- 
ies at  Harvard  College;  and  all  of  them  undoubtedly 


pupils  of  this  school.  But  the  grammar-school  no 
longer  exists  as  such ;  it  has  been  merged  in  the 
Manning  School,  and  its  funds  appropriated,  in  part, 
to  the  support  of  its  teachers.  It  was  a  grand  old 
school  some  sixty  or  seventy  years  ago,  when  Richard 
Kimball,  George  Choate,  Charles  Choate  and  Stephen 
Coburn  reigned  there.  In  it  more  than  one  hundred  of 
the  natives  of  Ipswich,  who  have  received  collegiate 
honors,  acquired  their  elementary  education. 

Female  Uducafion  and  Ipswich  Female  Seminary. — 
He  was  among  the  earliest  and  most  earnest  to  call 
attention,  public  and  private,  to  the  whole  subject  of 
female  education,  and  especially  to  the  more  exten- 
sive employment  of  women  as  teachers.  Of  so  great 
importance  did  he  regard  this  subject,  that  early  in 
his  ministry  he  kept  a  private  school  in  his  own 
house  for  several  years,  to  which  a  goodly  number  of 
the  young  ladies  of  his  society  and  the  town  resorted. 

The  Ipswich  Female  Seminary  was  opened  for  the 
reception  of  pupils,  April  23,  1828,  on  which  occasion 
an  address  was  delivered  by  Mr.  Kimball.  As  presi- 
dent of  the  board  of  trustees  during  the  eleven  years 
in  which  Miss  Grant  was  principal,  he  delivered  the 
diplomas  with  an  address  annually  to  the  graduating 
class.  At  no  small  sacrifice  he  received  Miss  Grant 
and  her  associated  teachers  into  his  family,  when  she 
made  the  so  doing  the  sine  qua  non  of  her  establish- 
ment in  Ipswich. 

His  labors  in  education  were  not  confined  to  his 
place  of  residence.  He  frequently  spoke  on  the  sub- 
ject by  request  in  other  towns.  Soon  after  the  or- 
ganization of  the  Essex  County  Teachers'  Association, 
in  1829,  the  first  of  the  kind  in  the  United  States, 
"  when,"  says  one,'  "  few  could  be  prevailed  upon  to 
favor  the  enterprise,  Mr.  Kimball,  who  had  himself 
been  an  able  and  successful  instructor,  readily  yielded 
to  the  request  of  the  society  to  lecture  before  it.  This 
he  did  with  ability  and  peculiar  acceptance." 

Foreign  Missions. — Through  his  whole  ministry  he 
was  the  earnest  advocate  and  efficient  helper  of  the 
American  Board  ;  was  present  at  its  organization  at 
Bradford  in  1810,  frequently  presented  its  claims  to 
his  own  people,  and  occasionally  addressed  audiences 
in  its  behalf  in  other  places.  "  Among  the  arguments 
that  the  early  friends  of  missions  had  constantly  to 
meet,"  says  Rev.  William  Kincaid,  at  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  Board  at  Des  Moines,  October  6, 1886, 
"  was  the  complaint  that  the  sending  out  of  so  much 
money  to  the  heathen  would  impoverish  the  country. 
So  wide-spread  and  persistent  was  this  objection  that 
in  1826  two  prominent  ministers,  of  whom  Dr.  Lyman 
Beecher  was  one"  (and  Rev.  David  Kimball  the 
other,  see  Proceedings  of  the  Auxiliary  Mission  Society 
of  Fssex  County,  April  11,  1826),  were  appointed  by 
this  board  to  prepare  elaborate  papers  in  answer  to 
it.  The  manner  in  which  Mr.  Kimball  acquitted 
himself  may  be  seen  in  the  following  remarks  which 

1  Rev.  Gardner  B.  Perry,  D.  D. 


IPSWICH. 


651 


he  offered  on  that  occasion  :  "  Sir,  the  resources  of 
our  country  are  not  easily  exhausted.  When  I  look 
around  this  country ;  when  I  consider  its  extent  of 
territory,  fertility  of  soil  and  salubrity  of  climate,  its 
agricultural  improvements,  its  extensive  and  lucrative 
commerce,  the  rapidly  increasing  growth  of  its  manu- 
factures ;  when  I  consider  the  number,  intelligence, 
industry  and  enterprise  of  its  husbandmen,  mechanics 
and  merchants,  and  its  favorable  situation  in  respect 
to  every  kind  of  business  tending  to  the  increase  of 
wealth  ;  when  I  survey  the  vast  resources  of  my 
country  ;  I  feel  as  little  apprehension  that  these  re- 
sources will  be  exhausted  by  its  charities  to  the  hea- 
then, as  that  the  waters  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  will  be 
exhausted  by  natural  exhalation.  And  I  would  as 
soon  accuse  that  ocean  of  a  wanton  waste  of  its  waters, 
for  suffering  them  to  ascend  for  the  purpose  of  falling 
on  the  pastures  of  the  wilderness,  and  clothing  them 
with  verdure,  as  charge  the  friends  of  missions  with 
profusion  for  collecting  a  portion  of  the  riches  of  this 
world,  and  causing  it  to  descend  in  the  dew  of  gospel 
charity  on  the  moral  wilderness.  Were  I  to  surren- 
der the  point  which  I  undertook  to  maintain,  I  would 
still  hold  on  to  the  object  to  which  we  are  devoted, 
and  say,  let  the  wealth  of  this  world  go,  if  on  such 
terms  souls  may  be  rescued  from  degradation,  guilt 
and  death,  and  raised  to  that  world  where  they  will 
be  praising  God,  and  advancing  toward  him  by  new 
accessions  of  glory,  forever  and  ever.  But  I  do  not 
surrender  the  point  which  I  undertook  to  maintain. 
I  do  not  believe  that  the  property  of  the  community 
has  been  lessened  by  the  interest  in  foreign  missions, 
nor  that  it  would  be  lessened,  if  the  object  were  to 
interest  our  entire  population,  and  the  contributions 
to  it  were  increased  a  hundred-fold." 

Ant  i- Slav  try. — He  was  the  uncompromising  enemy 
of  oppression  and  tyranny  in  all  their  forms,  and 
early  declared  himself  the  friend  of  liberty,  personal 
and  national.  In  an  address  in  his  native  town,  he 
said  :  "  I  appear  this  evening,  not  as  a  member  of  any 
anti-slavery  organization,  but  as  an  anti-slavery  man, 
independent  of  all  organizations.  As  to  this  cause 
blame  me  not,  my  friends,  for  my  love  of  it ;  for  here, 
in  the  days  of  my  childhood  and  youth,  was  that  love 
kindled.  Yes,  between  those  hills  my  father  taught 
me,  and  in  these  ancient  houses,  your  fathers  taught 
me,  and  at  the  house  of  worship  which  recently  stood 
there,  the  pastor  taught  me,  that  slavery  is  a  sin, 
being  a  transgression  of  the  law  which  says:  'Thou 
shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself  I  received  it  as 
true  ;  I  believed  it ;  and  I  proclaimed  it  in  this  house 
of  prayer,  when  at  twenty-one  our  fathers  called  me 
on  the  daj'^  of  our  nation's  birth,  to  echo,  as  I  could, 
the  just  and  noble  sentiment,  '  all  men  are  created 
free  and  equal.'  From  the  first  moment,  that,  as  I 
trust,  I  began  to  love  God  for  what  he  is,  for  his 
holiness,  justice  and  mercy;  I  have  felt  that  slaverj^ 
is  a  sin,  and  that  like  every  other  sin,  it  should  be 
immediately  renounced;  and  I  must  think  and  feel 


so,  as  long  as  God's  law  remains  as  it  is,  and  as  long 
as  God  remains  what  he  is." 

As  he  believed  he  spoke,  and  unhesitatingly  gave 
utterance,  on  all  suitable  occasions,  to  the  sentiments 
he  entertained.  Into  the  structure  of  his  mind, — 
which  was  conservative,  judicious  and  catholic, — 
ultraism,  fanaticism  and  bigotry  did  not  enter.  He 
had  zeal,  but  according  to  knowledge  ;  he  hated  op- 
pression, but  his  hatred  was  tempered  with  prudence ; 
he  had  opinions  of  his  own  to  which  he  tenaciously 
adhered,  yet  he  allowed  in  others  the  same  freedom 
of  expression  that  he  claimed  for  himself.  Early  in 
the  agitation  of  this  subject  he  took  an  open  and  de- 
clared an ti -slavery  position ;  took  it,  and  held  to  it, 
through  evil  report  and  good  report,  and  though  he 
did  not  live  to  see  the  day  of  deliverance  and  triumph, 
yet  he  believed  it  would  come  and  gloriously  too.  He 
identified  himself  with  the  enterprise  at  a  time  when, 
through  indifference,  or  cowardice,  or  selfishness  the 
voice  of  the  pulpit  and  press  was  dumb,  and  few  de- 
sired to  have  the  subject  agitated  in  the  community. 
The  American  Colonization  Society  was  then  at  the 
hight  of  its  popularity,  and  it  was  regarded  as  almost 
impious  to  question  the  benevolence  of  its  scheme. 
That  dark  period  of  ignorance  and  apathy,  delusion 
and  prejudice  should  be  carefully  pondered  and  pro- 
perly estimated  in  order  that  the  amount  of  moral 
courage  requisite  to  meet  it  should  also  be  measured 
and  appreciated.  Mr.  Kimball  though  a  diffident 
man  and  one  who  shrank  from  contending  with 
an  antagonist  in  oj^en  extemporaneous  debate,  was 
yet  firm,  decided  and  earnest  in  the  discussion  of 
any  question  in  which  he  conscientiously  believed, 
whether  popular  or  unpopular  with  the  people. 
The  thing  for  him  to  decide  was,  whether  the  sen- 
timents he  entertained  were  in  accordance  with 
the  word  of  God.  If  they  were  he  was  bold  in  pro- 
claiming them  ;  and  undeterred  by  the  fear  of  man 
and  the,  consequences,  went  straightforward  in  the 
discharge  of  duty,  sustained  by  the  belief  that,  though 
all  men  might  be  against  him,  the  God  in  whom  he 
trusted  would  be  with  him.  His  name,  which  stood 
at  the  head  of  the  Massachusetts  delegation,  is  among 
the  one  hundred  and  fifty-four  clergymen  who  came 
before  the  public  in  1834  as  the  advocates  of  imme- 
diate emancipation,  by  signing  a  document  giving  a 
decided  expression  of  opinion  on  these  two  cardinal 
points,  viz.  :  1.  That  colonization  is  not  an  adequate 
remedy  for  slavery,  and  must  therefore  be  abandoned 
for  something  else  that  is ;  and  2.  That  the  scheme  of 
Immediate  Emancipation  is  such  a  remedy,  and  is, 
therefore,  to  be  adopted  and  urged. 

In  the  formation  of  the  Essex  County  Anti-slavery 
Society  he  took  an  active  part.  At  a  convention  held 
at  Topsfield  April  4,  1834,  to  consider  the  expediency 
of  forming  said  society,  he  was  chosen,  with  others, 
to  prepare  a  constitution.  When  the  New  England 
Anti-slavery  Society  met  in  Boylston  Hall,  Boston, 
May  2(3,  1834,  he  was  on  the  committee  to  report  on 


652 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


the  District  of  Columbia  and  the  Territories  ;  and  in 
June  of  the  same  year,  when  the  Essex  County  Anti- 
slavery  Society  was  organized  at  Salem,  he  was  one 
of  the  vice-presidents.  Thus  early  and  openly  did  he 
commit  himself  steadfastly  and  zealously  to  this  great 
enterprise. 

Temperance. — His  mother  instilled  early  into  his 
mind  and  heart  the  great  principle  of  brotherly  love, 
including  in  its  wide  embrace  love  of  all  humanity, 
thus  striking,  with  her  heaven-inspired  hand,  the  key- 
note of  philanthropy  in  his  heart,  and  laying  the 
foundation  of  that  spirit  of  benevolence  which  led 
him  to  adopt  and  proclaim  the  great  reformatory  doc- 
trines which  in  the  last  half  century  have  so  exten- 
sively occupied  the  attention  of  the  more  thoughtful 
of  our  fellow-countrymen.  Hence  it  was,  that  war 
and  slavery  and  intemperance  had  in  him  an  uncom- 
promising foe,  ready  on  all  proper  occasions  to  em- 
ploy against  them  "  a  sling  and  a  smooth  stone  out  of 
the  brook,"  weapons  which,  if  not  mighty,  did  good 
service  in  the  cause  of  humanity.  The  second  ser- 
mon which  he  wrote  was  on  temperance,  and  during 
his  ministry  he  frequently  discoursed  upon  it  on  the 
Sabbath,  and  always  readily  and  cheerfully  complied 
with  the  invitations  of  his  fellow-citizens  and  others 
to  speak  on  the  subject,  lending  his  influence  and  giv- 
ing his  labor  to  promote  it  at  a  period  when,  in  popu- 
lar feeling,  attachment  to  the  cause  did  not  add  to  a 
raan's  public  reputation. 

He  was  one  of  the  original  members  of  the  first 
State  temperance  society  in  the  country, — "  The 
Massachusetts  Society  for  the  Suppression  of  Intem- 
perance," instituted  in  1813.  In  1826,  when  the 
American  Temperance  Society  was  formed,  on  the 
principle  of  total  abstinence,  he  united  with  it,  as  he 
did  with  the  Washingtonian  movement  of  1840. 

The  American  Education  Society. — While  he  took  a 
deep  interest  in  all  the  benevolent  and  religious  en- 
terprises of  the  day,  the  American  Education.  Society 
in  particular,  whose  object  was  the  education  of  pious 
young  men  for  the  gospel  ministry,  occujjied  much  of 
his  time  and  attention.  In  the  preliminary  work  of 
the  Essex  Auxiliary  Education  Society  he  bore  a 
prominent  part.  At  its  organization,  October  30, 
1816,  he  was  made  secretary.  As  such  he  prepared, 
in  December  of  that  year,  a  circular  addressed  to  the 
evangelical  ministers  of  the  county,  inviting  them  to 
recommend  to  their  several  churches  an  annual  col- 
lection for  this  object;  and  in  1828  he  caused  to  be 
printed  five  hundred  copies  of  the  constitution,  with 
a  list  of  officers  and  an  address  prepared  by  himself. 
Having  acted  as  secretary  for  twenty-three  years,  in 
1839  he  resigned  the  office.  His  resignation  not 
being  accepted,  he  continued  the  secretaryship,  at- 
tending the  annual  meetings  and  preparing  the 
yearly  reports  to  the  close  of  his  life,  a  period  of 
forty-four  years.  During  this  time,  says  Rev.  Dr.  Perry, 
"  he  never  failed  in  an  appointment,  nor  at  the  an- 
nual meeting  came  unprepared  with  a  report  carefully 


made  out.  His  reports  were  often  extended  to  a 
considerable  length,  were  directed  to  different  bear- 
ings and  responsibilities  of  the  society,  and,  if 
brought  together,  would  make  a  volume  filled  with 
important  truths  and  practical  instruction ;  and  I 
must  regard  it  as  no  small  loss  to  the  religious  world 
that  they  should  be  hid  in  the  depository  of  finished 
business,  comparatively  unknown  and  unread." 

Essex  North  Association. — Soon  after  his  ordination 
he  united  with  this  association.  Having,  as  scribe 
pro  tempore,  kept  the  minutes  and  conducted  the  cor- 
respondence of  the  society  for  a  year,  he  was  chosen 
permanent  secretary,  May  12,  1812,  which  office  he 
held  till  his  death,  a  period  of  forty-eight  years,  dur- 
ing all  which  time  he  was  punctual  in  attendance  at 
the  meetings,  and  always  ready  to  contribute  his  full 
share  of  time  and  labor  to  its  interests.  Three  times 
he  was  called  upon  to  deliver  the  annual  sermon 
at  the  conference  of  the  churches  in  Essex  North. 
He  was  unanimously  chosen  to  preach  the  anniver- 
sary sermon  before  the  Massachusetts  General  Associ- 
ation at  Woburn  in  1844,  which  discourse  was  pub- 
licly commended  as  most  appropriate  and  excellent. 
He  was  one  of  four  who  formed  a  society  separate 
from  the  association  for  the  purpose  of  studying  the 
Scriptures  in  their  original  languages,  and  for  mak- 
ing themselves  better  men  and  better  ministers.  "It 
is  a  noble  example,  worthy  to  be  put  into  the  history 
of  our  body,"  [The  "  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Es- 
sex County"],  "that  Father  Kimball  commenced 
and  prosecuted  the  study  of  Hebrew  after  he 
was  forty  years  old."  The  distinct  impression  which 
he  left  on  the  memories  of  his  associates  was  his 
fidelity  and  untiring  industry.  His  productions,  says 
Rev.  Dr.  Pike,  were  always  scholarly  and  his  heart 
always  true  to  the  Redeemer's  kingdom. 

Church  in  Linehrook  Parish. — This  church,  organ- 
ized in  1749,  but  which  in  1819  had  been  reduced  in 
membership  to  two  women,  one  of  whom  was  very 
aged  and  infirm,  was  watched  over  by  him  with  a 
fatherly  eye.  For  several  years  he  occasionally  held 
meetings  for  prayer  among  the  people,  and  for  a  con- 
siderable period  conducted  a  Bible-class  exercise  one 
evening  a  week  ;  visited  their  sick,  buried  their  dead, 
and,  whenever  a  religious  interest  was  manifest,  how- 
ever slight,  he  instantly  hastened  to  their  aid.  Said 
a  member  of  that  church,  "  I  shall  never  forget  the 
expression  of  his  countenance  nor  the  tears  I  have 
seen  flow,  when  I  have  been  telling  him  of  persons  in 
our  parish  whom  I  knew  to  be  anxious  about  the  sal- 
vation of  the  soul."  His  labors  for  the  church  during 
its  struggle  for  existence  knew  no  abatement.  In  this 
he  proved  himself  a  wrestling  Jacob  and  a  prevailing 
Israel.  When  at  its  lowest  point  and  without  a  suitable 
place  of  worship,  the  old  meeting-house  having  gone 
to  decay,  he  urged  the  people  to  hold  together  and 
make  a  united  effort  for  the  erection  of  a  new  house ; 
and,  when  they  had  decided  to  build,  he  addressed  the 
secretary  of  the  Massachusetts  Missionary  Society  for 


IPSWICH. 


653 


aid  in  support  of  a  minister,  and  received  from  him 
the  assurance  that  the  society  would  appropriate  to 
this  object  one  hundred  dollars  annually.  The  con- 
tinued interest  of  Mr.  K.  in  this  parish  was  shown  by 
the  action  of  his  society,  in  j^resenting  to  it,  at  his 
suggestion,  in  1848,  for  its  present  church  edifice,  the 
bell  which  had  formerly  hung  in  the  steeple  of  the 
old  meeting-house  in  Ipswich.  In  1860  the  church 
had  increased  from  two  in  1819  to  seventy.  A  bequest 
of  $7000,  by  John  Perley,  Esq.,  of  Georgetown,  has 
enabled  it  to  secure  the  services  of  a  regularly  settled 
minister,  and  it  is  in  a  prosperous  condition. 

Publicatioyis. — While  the  modesty  of  Mr.  Kimball 
was  such  as  to  prevent  him  committing  to  the  press 
the  earlier  productions  of  his  pen,  copies  of  which 
had  in  several  instances  been  requested,  and 
among  them  an  oration  delivered  in  Andover,  July 
4,  1804  ;  an  addresss  on  education  in  Bradford  Acad- 
emy, 1805;  a  sermon  on  peace  in  Ipswich,  July  4, 
1817 ;  and  while  he  declined  similar  requests  in  later 
years,  he  was  the  author  of  sixteen  published  dis- 
courses, which  were  regarded  as  valuable  contribu- 
tions to  the  religious  literature  of  the  day, — notice- 
ably, a  sermon  bel'ore  the  Society  for  the  Promotion 
of  Christian  Knowledge,  in  Park  Street  Church, 
Boston,  1821 ;  a  Sketch  of  the  Ecclesiastical  History 
of  Ipswich,  1821;  a  Centennial  Discourse  before  the 
First  Church  and  Congregation  in  Ipswich,  August 
10,  1834,  two  hundred  years  after  the  gathering  of 
that  church;  a  sermon  on  the  Utility  of  a  Permanent 
Ministry,  1839;  The  Last  Sermon  in  the  Ancient 
Meeting-House  of  the  First  Parish  in  Ipswich,  Feb- 
ruary 22,  1846  ;  the  First  Sermon  in  the  New  Meet- 
ing-house of  that  Parish,  February  4,  1847:  a  Dis- 
course on  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  his  Ordination, 
October  8,  1856.  He  also  furnished  many  miscel- 
laneous articles  to  secular  and  religious  magazines 
and  papers. 

Hospitality. — His  house  was  the  seat  of  a  generous 
hospitality.  He  followed  the  injunction  of  St.  Paul, 
"  Be  not  forgetful  to  entertain  strangers,"  many  of 
whom  he  cordially  received.  B'or  most  of  the  time 
from  his  settlement  to  the  completion  of  the  Eastern 
Railroad,  his  company,  in  addition  to  that  of  particu- 
lar friends,  averaged  not  less  than  one  person  for  the 
whole  time,  and  one  horse  in  the  stable.  It  was  not 
uncommon  for  strangers  passing  through  the  town  by 
stage  to  come  directly  to  his  house  to  dine,  while 
their  companions  were  being  entertained  at  the  pub- 
lic-house. 

Revivals- — There  were  several  interesting  religious 
awakenings  during  his  ministry.  As  the  fruit  of 
which  there  were  received  into  the  church  in  1808, 
16;  in  1820,  13;  in  1825-26,  35;  in  1829,  88;  in  1830, 
22;  in  1838,  16;  in  1849-50,  45;  an  aggregate  of 
235.  "  In  such  seasons  of  merciful  visitations,"  said 
Rev.  Mr.  Fitz  in  his  sermon  at  the  funeral  of 
Mr.  K.,  "  he  spared  not  himself,  multiplying  his  meet- 
ings and  going  from  house  to  house  to  preach  repent- 


ance, to  offer  to  the  inquiring  sinner  an  Almighty 
Saviour,  and  to  implore,  on  behalf  of  every  house- 
hold, the  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit." 

On  July  24,  1851,  he  withdrew  from  the  active  du- 
ties of  the  pastoral  office,  which  he  had  filled  with 
distinguished  ability  and  faithfulness,  and  became 
pastor  emeritus.  After  his  retirement  he  preached 
in  various  places,  and  continued  to  do  so  till  the 
time  of  his  death,  ''  being  never  so  happy,"  to  use  his 
own  words,  as  "  when  engaged  in  this  delightful  em- 
ployment." As  he  drew  near  "  the  shining-shore," 
he  must  have  found  comfort  in  the  thought,  that  by 
God's  blessing,  the  church,  which  at  his  ordination 
consisted  of  but  fifty-three  members,  had  been  quad- 
rupled under  his  ministry. 

The  great  aim  which  Mr.  Kimball  seems  ever  to 
have  had  in  view  was  usefulness.  He  lived  to  do 
good  ;  and  although  it  cannot  be  said  of  him,  or  of 
any  man  that  ever  lived,  that  he  made  no  mistake  in 
the  devising  or  the  carrying  out  of  his  plans,  yet  no 
one  could  question  the- purity  of  his  motives  or  the 
integrity  of  his  acts.  If  he  possessed  little  of  what  is 
called  genius,  he  had  two  of  the  greatest  of  all  posses- 
sions, diligence  and  perseverance;  if  not  a  man  of 
profound  erudition,  his  requirements  were  more  than 
respectable.  He  was  a  careful  and  cautious  thinker, 
an  accomplished  writer,  an  accurate  scholar,  a  forci- 
ble and  instructive  preacher.  In  every  department 
of  duty  he  was  diligent,  prompt  and  faithful,  deeply 
interested  in  all  the  philanthropic  movements  of  the 
day,  and  zealous  for  the  Lord  of  Hosts, — a  consecrated 
champion  of  Christian  truth.  And  having  lived  a 
life  of  faith  and  obedience,  he  died  the  death  of  the 
righteous. 

His  last  sickness,  pneumonia,  was  short,  but  very 
painful.  As  he  drew  near  the  river's  brink,  and 
some  thought  he  had  passed  over,  he  revived  and  ex- 
claimed, "  The  gates  of  the  New  Jerusalem  are 
opening ;  "  and  after  a  pause,  "  I  see  within  the  city." 
He  then  took  affectionate  leave  of  his  family,  and 
breathing  benedictions  on  his  people,  for  whom  his 
last  audible  prayer  was  offered,  he  fell  asleep.  There 
was  no  pang  in  the  dying  hour.  *At  the  moment  of 
the  soul's  departure,  according  to  the  testimony  of  his 
daughter,  Mary,  there  came  to  his  lips  a  smile  of  in- 
effable beauty,  and  there  it  remained  till  he  was  bur- 
ied out  of  sight,  never  more  to  be  seen  till  the  morn- 
ing of  the  resurrection. 

The  citizens  of  the  town  exhibited  the  most  pro- 
found respect  for  the  deceased  pastor.  A  man  of 
spotless  character,  he  was  universally  beloved.  From 
the  time  the  intelligence  of  his  illness  spread  through 
the  community  till  his  burial  the  house  was  thronged. 
Many  children  came  to  see  the  face  of  him  they 
loved.  At  twelve  o'clock  of  the  day  following  his 
death,  all  the  bells  in  the  town  tolled  in  concert.  At 
his  funeral  all  classes  pressed  to  show  their  love  and 
express  their  grief.  The  people  of  Ipswich  without 
distinction  of  sect  or  party,  formed  a  most  honorable 


654 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


procession  and  accompanied  the  remains  to  the  ap- 
pointed place  of  burial.  He  was  greatly  honored  in 
his  death.  Many  clergymen  and  distinguished  lay- 
men from  abroad  were  present  at  his  funeral.  Through 
the  kindness  and  generosity  of  his  nearest  neighbor 
and  ever  constant  friend,  Deacon  Aaron  Cogswell,  an 
eligible  burial  spot  was  secured  for  him  and  his 
family,  near  the  centre  of  the  ancient  cemetery  in 
High  Street,  where  he  reposes  in  the  midst  of  a  thou- 
sand of  ihe  people  of  his  charge,  and  where  the  sun 
smiles  upon  his  rest  as  his  Heavenly  Father  smiled 
upon  his  departing  spirit. 


EDWARD    p.  KIMBALL. 

Edward  P.  Kimball,  son  of  Hon.  Charles  Kimball, 
was  born  March  22,  1836.  Acquiring  the  rudiments 
of  his  education  at  the  common  schools  of  the  town 
and  at  the  old  High  School,  he  finished  his  course 
there  at  a  time  when  there  sprang  up  among  the 
young  men  of  the  place  quite  an  enthusiastic  desire 
to  fit  and  enter  college,  and  he  was  one  of  a  class  of 
several  who.  with  that  end  in  view,  recited  their 
Latin  and  Greek  before  breakfast  at  an  early  morn- 
ing hour  to  Rev.  John  P.  Cowles,  then  principal  of 
the  Ipswich  Female  Seminary.  Continuing  under 
Mr.  Cowles'  instruction  for  a  year,  he  completed  his 
preparation  for  college  at  Thetford  Academy,  Thet- 
ford,  Vt.,  and  at  the  Williston  Seminary,  Easthamp- 
ton,  Mass.,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1852  entered  the 
Freshman  Class  of  Amherst  College.  Remaining 
there  two  years,  he  was  obliged  to  leave  on  account 
of  ill  health,  and  staying  out  a  year,  entered  the  Ju- 
nior Class  at  Williams  College,  where  he  graduated 
in  1857.  The  late  ex-President  Garfield  was  then  a 
member  of  Williams,  and  rooming  near  him,  he  there 
made  his  acquaintance,  as  well  as  that  of  other  men 
afterwards  distinguished  in  public  life  and  in  the 
various  professions.  After  graduating,  he  taught  in 
the  Shippensburg  Collegiate  Institute  at  Shippens- 
burg,  Pa.,  practically  having  charge  of  the  school. 

In  1858  he  entered  upon  the  study  of  the  law  in 
the  office  of  Hon.  Otis  P.  Lord  at  Salem,  remaining 
there  till  Judge  Lord  took  his  seat  upon  the  bench,  and 
then  completing  his  studies  in  the  ofliQC  of  his  father, 
he  was,  in  1861,  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  practiced 
his  profession  in  Ipswich  for  a  few  years,  and  after- 
wards in  Gloucester,  and  then  associated  himself 
with  his  father  in  business  at  Salem,  and  continued 
it  after  his  father's  decease  until,  in  October,  1886,  he 
assumed  the  duties  of  postmaster  of  Ipswich  under 
appointment  from  President  Cleveland.  Mr.  Kim- 
ball has  held  various  public  offices,  having  served 
upon  the  school  committee  of  Ipswich  for  six  years, 
and  as  selectman  of  the  town  for  two  years,  besides 
being  candidate  for  the  House  of  Representatives 
and  State  Senate,  failing  of  election  only  because  his 
party  were  in  the  minority.  He  has  always  taken  a 
great  interest  in  music,  is   a   fine    bass  singer,  has 


given  instruction  in  vocal  music,  and  was  leader  of 
the  South  Church  choir  for  eighteen  years.  Mr. 
Kimball  was  married  in  1867  to  Sarah  M.  Kimball, 
daughter  of  Rev.  Reuben  Kimball,  of  North  Conway, 
N.  H.,  and  has  four  children, — two  sons  and  two 
daughters.  Mrs.  Kimball  is  a  lady  of  intelligence,  of 
a  bright,  cheerful  and  sunny  disposition,  remarkably 
conscientious,  interested  in  every  good  work,  devoted 
to  her  family  and  a  leader  in  the  affairs  of  church 
and  society  which  come  within  the  sphere  of  wo- 
man's activities. 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  in  families  the  peculiar 
traits  that  descend  from  father  to  son,  and  in  Mr. 
Kimball's  case  they  are  especially  noticeable. 

He  has  inherited  from  his  father,  and  possesses  in 
a  remarkable  degree,  a  spirit  of  thoroughness  in 
everything  which  he  undertakes.  There  is  nothing 
so  abhorrent  to  him  as  the  disposition  sometimes  dis- 
played of  an  arrogant,  dogmatic  assertion  as  facts  of 
things  of  which  the  speaker  is  profoundly  ignorant. 
Indeed,  his  exceeding  caution  in  this  respect  may 
have  sometimes  worked  to  his  disadvantage  in  giving 
him  an  appearance  of  hesitation,  betokening  ignor- 
ance of  subjects  on  which  he  was  really  better  in- 
formed than  more  flippant  and  showy,  but  at  the 
same  time  more  superficial,  thinkers. 

He  is  of  a  kindly  and  genial  disposition,  thought- 
ful of  the  feelings  of  others  and  considerate  of  the 
rights  of  all. 

In  manner  and  deportment  he  is  unassuming.  His 
natural  reserve  has  sometimes  given  the  impression 
of  haughtiness,  but  this  is  an  erroneous  view  of  his 
temperament. 

Though  dignified  in  bearing,  he  is  not  distant.  He 
has  a  quick  perception  of  the  humorous.  His  opin- 
ion and  judgment  are  often  sought  in  questions  of 
disjiute. 

In  matters  pertaining  to  the  welfare  of  the  town  he 
is  deeply  interested,  and  takes  pride  in  her  grand  his- 
toric past  and  its  present  growth  and  prosperity. 

In  the  preparation  of  legal  papers  and  in  advising 
upon  legal  subjects,  this  mental  quality  of  his  con- 
spicuously appears,  so  that  whatever  is  said  or  done 
by  him  can  be  depended  upon  without  hesitation, 
subject  only  to  such  qualifications  as  he  expressly 
lays  down.  Weighing  well  a  subject,  and  coming 
slowly  and  carefully  to  a  conclusion,  we  cannot  won- 
der that  his  opinions,  once  formed,  are  held  with 
great  tenacity ;  but  no  one,  however  much  he  may 
differ  himself  from  his  views,  can  but  respect  the  de- 
liberate and  careful  way  in  which  his  judgment  is 
made  up  or  the  conscientious  fiiirness  and  candor 
with  which  his  views  are  entertained.  At  the  same 
time  tolerant  and  deferential  to  those  who  are  con- 
strained to  disagree  with  him,  it  is  not  strange  that 
he  commands  the  undivided  respect  and  esteem  of 
the  entire  comunity  in  which  he  dwells. 


&djU^-€bl-A^        (f^    Jtj^TMj^-tuJ^J^- 


Ena^-, 


'>Tf.^iyAJ{.B3.tchie- 


IPSWICH. 


655 


REV.  DANIEL   FITZ,  D.D.^ 

The  Fitz  family  ranks  among  the  very  early  Puri- 
tan families  of  New  England.  Its  first  Anglo-Ameri- 
can ancestor  was  Robert  Fitz.  He  was  born  in  1617, 
and  came  to  this  country  from  Fitz  Ford  or  its  vicin- 
ity, near  Tavistock,  in  the  county  of  Devonshire, 
England,  as  early,  certainly,  as  1640.  Mrs.  Bray  has 
directed  attention  to  this  locality  by  making  it  the 
scene  of  her  novel  entitled  "Fitz  of  Fitz-Ford."  She 
says  of  it,  in  the  introduction  to  her  book : 

"To  the  west  of  the  town,  by  the  side  of  the  new  road  to  Plymouth, 
stand  the  ruins  of  the  gate- way  of  Fitz-ford,  which,  except  an  old  barn, 
is  all  that  now  remains  of  the  mansion  and  olBces  of  the  family  of  Fitz. 
This  gate-way  is  spacious,  and  the  label  ornaments  of  its  architecture 
proclaim  it  to  be  a  structure  of  the  time  of  Henry  the  Seventh.  Such 
portions  of  the  carving  as  appear  through  the  ivy,  with  which  it  is  am- 
ply hung,  are  well  sculptured  ;  and  the  whole  might  form  an  interesting 
subject  for  the  pencil  of  a  Harding  or  a  Prout.  The  ancient  mansion  of 
Fitz-ford,  that  once  stood  in  an  open  court  beyond  this  gate-house,  was 
many  years  since  pulled  down,  and  the  materials  used  to  erect  the  pres- 
ent market-house  in  the  town." 

There  is  a  tradition  that  Robert  Fitz  was  at  Ips- 
wich in  1635.  The  most  prominent  member  of  his 
family  at  the  time  of  his  emigration  was  Sir  John 
Fitz,  a  London  barrister  of  position  and  wealth,  whose 
country  seat  was  upon  the  bank  of  the  river  Tavy  on 
the  west  side  of  Tavistock  as  above  stated  by  Mrs. 
Bray. 

Robert  Fitz  is  said  to  have  been  induced  to  leave 
his  native  land  by  the  discomforts  to  which  he  was 
subjected  on  account  of  his  Puritan  principles. 
Whether  he  was  at  Ipswich,  in  1635,  or  not,  it  is  cer- 
tain that  he  and  his  wife  Grace  D.  were  among  the 
original  settlers  of  Salisbury,  in  1640.  From  that 
time  the  genealogy  of  his  descendants  has  been  care- 
fully preserved. 

Rev.  Daniel  Fitz  belonged  to  the  seventh  genera- 
tion of  his  family  in  this  country,  and  his  ancestry 
may  be  traced  back  in  unbroken  line  through 
Samuel  Currier,  of  Derry,  of  the  sixth  generation  ; 
Daniel,  of  Sandown,  N.  H.,  of  the  fifth  ;  Richard,  of 
South  Hampton.  N.  H.,  of  the  fourth  ;  Richard,  of 
Salisbury,  of  the  third  ;  Abraham,  of  Ipswich,  of  the 
second ;  and  Robert,  of  Salisbury,  the  Anglo-Ameri- 
can head. 

He  was  the  second  child  and  oldest  son  of  Samuel 
Currier  Fitz,  above  named,  and  of  Sarah  George  Fitz. 
He  was  born  at  Sandown,  N.  IL,  May  28,  1795,  and 
in  early  childhood  accompanied  his  parents  ujjon 
their  removal  to  Derry,  where  they  ever  afterwards 
lived.  He  graduated  in  1818  at  Dartmouth  College, 
then  under  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Francis  Brown,  and 
just  emerging  from  its  great  controversy,  finally  set- 
tled by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and 
since  famous  as  the  Dartmouth  College  case.  His 
class  numbered  twenty-eight,  some  of  whom  subse- 
quently attained  positions  of  eminence.  Among  these 
were  Prof.  George  Bush,  D.D.,  of  New  York  Univer- 

i  By  Joseph  B.  Walker. 


sity,  and  Prof.  Thomas  C.  Upham,  of  Bowdoin  Col- 
lege.    Not  one  of  this  class  now  survives. 

Upon  leaving  college,  Mr.  Fitz  devoted  himself  to 
teaching  for  a  while,  as  thousands  of  other  New  Eng- 
land students  before  and  since  have  done.  By  this 
means  he  strengthened  his  resources,  both  mental 
and  financial,  the  first  by  a  review  of  former  studies, 
and  the  latter  by  the  moderate  compensation  then  al- 
lowed for  such  work.  For  a  single  term  he  was 
assistant  teacher  of  Pinkerton  Academy,  established 
but  a  few  years  before  in  his  town  of  Derry.  Soon 
afterwards,  Salisbury,  N.  H.,  Academy,  then  in  its 
palmy  days,  offered  him  its  principalsliip,  which  he 
accepted  and  continued  to  hold  for  some  two  years, 
until  he  was  called  to  assume  that  of  the  Academy  at 
Marblehead  in  which  he  continued  for  about  a  year 
and  a  half. 

The  objects  sought  by  teaching  having  been  at- 
tained, he  entered  Andover  Theological  Seminary  in 
1822,  there  to  prosecute  the  studies  which  were  to  pre- 
pare him  for  the  work  of  his  chosen  profession,  under  a 
corps  of  stalwart  theologians,  prominent  among  whom 
were  Dr.  Leonard  Woods  and  Dr.  Moses  Stuart.  It 
was  near  the  close  of  the  period  of  the  great  warfare 
waged  by  the  theological  Titans  of  New  England  ;  a 
fierce  warfare  in  which  no  quarter  was  asked  or  given 
by  either  party,  but  which,  like  most  religious  contro- 
versies, was  most  effective  in  confirming  the  com- 
batants in  their  own  cherished  views.  As  was  most 
natural,  Mr.  Fitz  accepted  the  doctrines  of  his 
teachers.  These,  with  slight  modifications,  he  held 
throughout  his  whole  subsequent  life. 

Mr.  Fitz  completed  the  prescribed  course  of  study, 
and  graduated  in  1825.  At  this  time,  the  health  of 
the  venerable  Dr.  Joseph  Dana,  who  had  been  in 
continuous  service  as  pastor  of  the  South  Congrega- 
tional Church,  of  Ipswich,  for  sixty-one  years,  had 
become  impaired  by  age,  and  he  was  wanting  a  col- 
league. The  position  was  offered  by  the  church  and 
society  to  Mr.  Fitz,  and  he  accepted  it.  On  the  26th 
day  of  June  of  the  next  year  he  was  ordained  and  in- 
stalled as  associate  pastor. 

The  services  of  this  occasion  were  held  in  the  an- 
cient meeting-house  of  the  society,  which  stood  near 
the  location  of  the  present  house,  by  which  it  was 
superseded  in  the  year  1837.  The  clergymen  who 
took  part  in  the  exercises  were  well  known  in  their 
day  and  have  been  favorably  remembered  ever  since. 
The  ordination  sermon  was  by  the  Rev.  Daniel  Dana, 
D.D.,  of  Newburyport,  a  son  of  the  senior  pastor. 
His  text  was  the  26th  verse  of  the  20th  chapter  of 
Acts.  The  installing  prayer  was  by  Rev.  Robert 
Crowell,  of  Essex ;  the  prayer  of  consecration  by  Rev. 
Samuel  Dana;  the  concluding  prayer  by  the  Rev. 
Joseph  B.  Felt,  of  Ipswich;  the  address  to  the  church 
and  society  by  the  Rev.  Edward  L.  Parker,  of  Lon- 
donderry, N.  H.,  the  home  pastor  of  Mr.  Fitz ;  the 
right  hand  of  fellowship  by  Rev.  David  T.  Kimball 
of  the  First  Congregational  Church  of  Ipswich,  and 


656 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


the  charge  to  his  young  brother,  by  the  senior  pastor. 
The  church  had  not  had  an  ordination  before  for  two 
generations,  and  the  occasion  was  as  interesting  as  it 
was  solemn. 

There  occur  in  human  life  periods  of  intense  inter- 
est which  exact  approbation  and  move  the  heart.  It 
is  a  glorious  hour  when  the  soldier,  in  unselfish 
defense  of  his  country,  buckles  on  his  harness  and 
hies  to  scenes  of  peril.  So  is  it  when  a  venerable  and 
able  statesman,  as  regardless  of  the  opposition  of 
rank  and  numbers  as  of  his  own  comfort,  raises  his 
voice  in  the  parliament  house  of  his  nation  in  aid  of 
the  helpless,  and  spends  his  last  strength  in  a  desperate 
struggle  for  right,  conscious  the  while  that  his  tongue 
will  be  dumb  in  death  when  the  pjean  of  victory  is 
sounded.  We  follow  with  bated  breath  and  admira- 
tion the  modest  figure  of  a  Florence  Nightingale  as 
it  moves  noiselessly  at  midnight  through  dimly  lighted 
hospital  wards,  now  pausing  to  moisten  the  parched 
lips  of  the  suffering,  and  anon  to  gently  close  the  eye- 
lids of  the  recent  dead. 

But  a  nobler  than  any  of  these  is  the  sight  of  a 
young  man,  of  clean  hands  and  a  pure  heart,  coming 
to  God's  altar  for  solemn  consecration  of  himself  to 
his  chosen  life-work  of  aiding  his  fellows  in  their 
efforts  for  delivery  from  the  curse  of  sin.  The 
warrior,  the  statesman,  the  philanthropist  minister  to 
social  and  physical  needs,  which  are  temporal ;  the 
priest  at  God's  altar  to  spiritual  wants  which  are 
eternal. 

At  the  time  of  his  ordination,  Mr.  Fitz  was  thirty- 
one  years  of  age,  in  vigorous  health  and  possessed  of 
a  sound  mind  in  a  sound  body.  His  figure  was  of 
medium  height,  compact  and  firm.  His  complexion 
was  dark,  and  his  hair,  which  inclined  to  curl,  was  as 
black  as  the  raven's  wing.  His  eyes  of  a  hue  similar 
to  that  of  his  hair  were  soft  and  gave  to  his  face  when 
in  repose  a  mild  expression,  which  changed  immedi- 
ately to  one  of  great  earnestness  when  his  mind  was 
roused.  He  was  of  graceful  manners,  and  easily  and 
equally  accessible  to  persons  of  all  conditions.  His 
mind,  which  was  strong  and  well-balanced,  working 
actively  and  incisively,  reached  correct  conclusions, 
partly  by  reason  and  partly  by  instinct.  His  imagina- 
tion, which  was  quick  and  enhanced  the  interest  of 
his  utterances,  was  kept  in  subjection  to  a  calm 
judgment  which  rarely  led  him  wrong.  His  quick 
sympathies  made  him  appreciative  of  the  real  charac- 
ter of  the  person  with  whom  he  had  to  do,  and  pro- 
tected him  from  the  impositions  to  which  a  miaister 
is  often  exposed.  While  naturally  inclined  to  be 
much  guided  in  his  opinion  by  an  abounding  charity, 
he  intuitively  tempered  these  by  a  clear  insight  into 
the  motive  which  underlaid  proffered  professions. 

By  descent  Mr.  Fitz  was  a  Puritan.  As  above 
stated,  the  emigration  of  his  Anglo-American  ances- 
tor, Robert  Fitz,  was  due  to  his  Puritan  principles. 
Spiritual  constraints,  rather  than  physical  discom- 
forts, prompted  this.     In  the  latter  respect  he  was  no 


gainer  by  leaving  home.  No  part  of  England  pos- 
sessed greater  attractions  than  the  one  he  abandoned. 
Devonshire,  the  "  Emerald  County,''  was  a  county  of 
small  farms,  of  pastures  and  cattle  and  dairies ;  of 
numerous  streams  and  water-powers  and  forests.  It 
possessed  a  fair  soil  and  a  good  climate.  It  was  near 
to  the  sea,  and  ever  open  to  the  southwest  winds  which 
floated  over  it  continually,  freighted  with  the  mild 
winds  and  moisture  of  the  gulf  stream  just  before  it 
loses  itself  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay — tho?e  winds  which 
are  a  benediction  to  some  of  the  southern  counties  of 
England ;  securing  to  them  perpetual  mildness  of 
climate  and  a  verdure  unsurpassed. 

The  transition  from  which  such  a  land  to  one  upon 
which  the  Arctic  current  breathed  even  in  summer, 
as  yet  in  possession  of  savages  and  a  wilderness,  was 
as  disheartening  as  it  was  marked.  But  great  moral 
purposes  afford  a  sustaining  power  which  regards  but 
little,  either,  hardship  or  danger  or  even  death  itself. 
So  the  Puritan  left  his  old  home  and  religious  con- 
straint upon  the  Tavy  for  a  new  one  and  freedom, 
three  thousand  miles  away  upon  the  bank  of  the 
Merrimac. 

All  the  way  down  the  succeeding  generations  of  his 
family,  we  find  apparent  strong  religious  traits  of 
character.  Sarah  Thorne  Fitz,  the  great-great-grand- 
mother of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  displayed  these 
in  a  very  marked  degree.  She  was  a  mtmber  of  the 
first  Ipswich  Church,  but  lived  in  Salisbury,  sixteen 
miles  away.  Tradition  says  that  to  enjoy  its  Sunday 
worship,  she  was  accustomed  at  times,  to  rise  very 
early  in  the  morning,  and,  having  milked  her  cows, 
to  paddle  across  the  Merrimac  River  to  Newbury, 
whence  she  went  on  foot  to  Ipswich,  arriving  in  sea- 
son for  the  morning  service.  This  journey  was  re- 
versed in  the  afternoon  and  finished  in  season  for  the 
evening  milking. 

To  anticipate  a  little,  for  the  sake  of  convenience, 
it  may  be  here  said  in  regard  to  some  of  the  religious 
opinions  which  he  held  in  mature  life,  that  Mr.  Fitz 
received  his  theological  training  at  Andover  Theloogi- 
cal  Seminary,  under  the  distinguished  professors  who 
had  raised  it  to  an  eminent  power  in  the  land.  He 
then  accepted  and  ever  held  the  doctrines  there 
taught,  which  were  in  full  accord  with  the  orthodox 
branch  of  the  Christiau  Church.  But  while  he  re- 
ceived these  and  held  them  firmly,  he  held  them 
broadly.  He  had  little  sympathy  with  narrow  inter- 
pretations of  great  truths,  and  was  free  from  the  un- 
charitableness  which  comes  from  the  magnifying  of 
minor  points.  While  as  a  Calvinist  he  adopted  Cal- 
vin's views,  he  yet  took  them  with  such  modifications 
as  more  quiet  times  and  a  wider  learning  had  sug- 
gested. But  the  deep,  underlying  foundation  of  his 
religious  faith  was  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  This 
he  read  and  pondered  all  his  life,  and  upon  this  rested 
his  belief  that  the  Son  of  God  had  made  provi- 
sion for  the  salvation  of  all  and  not  for  that  of  an 
elect  few  only.     Hence,  he  urged  all  men  to  repent, 


IPSWICH. 


657 


inasmuch,  as   faith   and   repentance   made   salvation 
possible  to  all. 

He  had  little  taste  for  polemical  divinity,  not  very 
much  for  metaphysics,  by  which  almost  anything  can 
be  proved,  and  no  admiration  whatever  for  hair-split- 
ting theorists.  As  was  usual  in  his  day,  he  preached 
doctrinal  sermons  from  time  to  time  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  his  people,  but  with  an  unfeigned  respect  for 
the  views  of  others  from  whom  he  differed  upon  unes- 
sential points.  Both  the  conservative  bent  of  his 
mind  and  his  wide  knowledge  of  mankind,  led  him 
naturally  to  this,  as  well  as  a  native  courtesy  which 
never  forsook  him.  But  this  was  not  the  courtesy  which 
weakness  or  timiditj'^  engenders.  Fear  was  an  emo- 
tion to  which  he  was  a  stranger.  If  attacked,  he  was 
always  ready  to  encounter  heavy  blows,  and  return 
them  if  necessary,  not,  however,  from  any  love  of  con- 
test, but  from  loyalty  to  what  he  deemed  the  right. 
Consequently,  like  most  peace-loving  men  of  like 
character,  he  was  very  rarely  assailed. 

Such  was  the  ancestry,  bent  and  religious  training 
of  the  young  minister,  who,  on  the  26th  day  of  June, 
1826,  stood  upon  the  threshold  of  his  career,  gazing 
into  a  future  which  his  dark  eye  could  not  penetrate, 
with  faith  and  a  hearty  submission  to  the  will  of 
him  to  whom  he  had  consecrated  his  every  power. 

But,  he  was  not  to  go  on  far  alone.  Protestantism 
has  never  favored  the  celibacy  of  its  clergy.  It  has 
rather  made  prominent  the  injunction  of  the  great 
apostle  that,  "A  bishop  must  be  the  husband  of  one 
wife."  Mr.  Fitz's  parishioners  could  not  consent 
that  he  should  serve  them  unaided,  and  his  own  lov- 
ing nature  was  in  accord  with  their  wishes. 

The  writer  of  this  memorial  sketch  would  be  un- 
worthy of  his  delicate  trust,  if  he  omitted  a  passing 
tribute  to  the  gifted  woman  who  soon  after  the  pas- 
tor's installation  became  his  wife.  She  was  the 
oldest  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Moses  Sawyer,  of  Hen- 
niker,  N.  H.,  who,  for  nearly  twenty-four  years,  had 
been  the  faithful  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church 
of  that  town,  where  she  was  born  on  the  8th  day  of 
May,  1804,  and  subsequently  reared,  amid  the  duties 
of  a  country  ministerial  life. 

We  omit  all  record  of  her  earlier  years,  except  to 
note  that  she  received  her  higher  education  partly  at 
Byfield  Academy,  then  in  charge  of  Rev.  Joseph 
Emerson,  and  partly  at  Derry  Female  Academy,  of 
which  Miss  Grant  and  Mary  Lyon  were  the  in- 
structors. 

After  her  graduation,  she  was  herself  a  teacher 
until  her  marriage  to  Mr.  Fitz,  on  the  5th  day  of 
September,  1826,  transferred  her  from  a  New  Hamp- 
shire School  to  a  Massachusetts  parsonage. 

Mrs.  Fitz  brought  to  her  new  home  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  a  New  England  pastor's  wife.  This 
she  had  acquired  in  the  best  of  all  schools,  that  of  ex- 
perience ;  and,  from  the  lips  and  lives  of  the  best  of 
all  teachers,  those  of  her  father  and  mother. 

She  possessed  high  mental  endowments  which  had 
42 


been  enhanced  in  power  by  thorough  training.  She 
naturally  took  broad  views  of  a  subject,  and  had  a 
ready  insight  to  its  vital  points.  Having  the  rare 
power  to  divest  herself  of  all  personal  predilections, 
when  her  opinion  was  asked,  and  to  look  disinter- 
estedly at  the  matter  under  consideration  from  all 
sides,  she  almost  uniformly  reached  correct  con- 
clusions. She  had  common  sense — the  gift  of  God — 
in  large  measure.  Courage  she  also  had,  and  was 
undaunted  in  the  presence  of  obstacles.  Possessing 
executive  and  organizing  ability,  she  was  naturally 
a  leader  in  her  husband's  parish ;  not  from  choice, 
but  from  the  demands  of  her  position  and  of  her  as- 
sociates. Skillful  was  she  in  dissipating  the  apathies 
and  in  allaying  the  various  frictions,  not  unfrequently 
present  in  society  work ;  mingling  love  with  energy 
and  intuitively  comprehending  the  various  forces 
operating  to  advance  or  retard  its  progress. 

Besides  these  qualities,  the  power  of  which  time 
and  experience  greatly  enhanced,  to  Mrs.  Fitz  was 
given  great  sweetness  of  disposition  and  marked  come- 
liness of  person.  Natural  grace  of  manner,  and  a 
charming  affability,  founded  upon  innate  modesty 
and  brilliancy  of  intellect,  combined  to  give  her 
presence  an  unusual  attractiveness.  Both  at  home 
and  in  society,  these  marked  characteristics  secured 
to  her  the  popularity  which  usually  attends  upon  the 
gifted  and  the  good. 

She  was  always  accessible  to  all  who  would  ap- 
proach her.  To  the  burdened  soul  which,  in  it^  per- 
plexity confidentially  sought  her  advice,  she  gave 
wise  counsel  mingled  with  the  most  delicate  sym- 
pathy. The  giddy  and  the  wayward  were  rebuked  so 
lovingly  that  they  blessed  in  very  gratitude  the  hand 
which  chastened  them.  Her  ministrations  to  the 
sick  were  abundant,  and  in  her  presence  there  was 
healing. 

At  the  general  assemblages  at  the  parsonage  from 
time  to  time,  she  dispensed  hospitality  mingled  with 
grace  and  seasoned  with  love.  The  kindly  glances  of 
her  dark  eyes  and  the  graceful  pose  of  her  attractive 
figure  increased  the  fascination  of  her  conversation. 
It  was  natural  for  her  to  be  agreeable,  and  she  knew 
not  how  to  be  otherwise.  Indeed,  Madame  Recamier, 
in  her  splendid  salon,  surrounded  by  the  beauty  and 
talent  of  the  French  capital,  never  presided  with 
more  grace  and  sweetness  than  did  she  on  those  sim- 
ple occasions.  We  must  not  be  surprised,  therefore, 
at  the  remark  of  one  who  knew  her  well,  "  She  had 
never  a  peer  in  Ipswich." 

For  nearly  forty  years  Mrs.  Fitz  discharged  with 
great  ability  the  double  duties  which  she  had  as- 
sumed with  her  marriage  ring.  She  was  faithful  to 
her  family,  and  faithful  to  her  husband's  people, 
and  when,  in  January,  1862,  her  pure  spirit  rose  to 
companionship  with  "the  just  made  perfect,"  and  her 
mortal  remains  were  lowered  tenderly  to  their  last 
rest,  hot  tears  fell  upon  the  cold  ground,  and  hearts 
ached  with  a  sorrow  as  lasting  as  lite. 


658 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


In  about  a  year  after  his  settlement,  the  death  of 
Dr.  Dana  left  Mr.  Fitz  sole  pastor  of  his  church  and 
society.  He  accepted  willingly  the  increase  of  labor 
which  this  event  devolved  upon  him.  He  was  fortu- 
nate in  his  people  who  were  reasonable,  peaceful  and 
intelligent.  Part  of  them  resided  in  the  village,  and 
a  part  upon  some  of  the  hay  farms  for  which  Ipswich 
is  so  celebrated.  They  were  not  rich,  yet  poverty 
was  unknown  to  them.  They  were  blessed  with  that 
golden  mean  of  life's  condition  for  which  the  Hebrew 
sage  so  wisely  besought  his  God. 

With  the  acres  of  their  forefathers,  they  had  in- 
herited the  traditions  of  two  hundred  years  or  more. 
These  were  influencing  and  moulding  their  characters 
constantly.  The  generations  of  many  of  the  families 
of  Mr.  Fitz's  parish  went  back  in  unbroken  succes- 
sion to  the  foundation  of  the  town.  They  were  good 
old  English  stock,  with  hearts  of  oak;  stock  which 
had  been  improved  by  transplanting,  and  grew  better 
continually.  They  were  a  people  who  feared  God, 
and  respected  every  man  entitled  to  respect.  No 
where  outside  of  New  England  can  such  a  commun- 
ity be  found,  a  happy  society  of  villagers  and  farmers 
which  had  flourished  for  two  hundred  years,  without 
deterioration,  upon  a  fertile  tract  of  coast  land,  with 
three  thousand  miles  of  ocean  in  front  of  them,  and 
three  thousand  miles  of  continent  behind  them.  The 
ocean  was,  and  had  ever  been,  a  blank.  Over  the 
continent  the  waves  of  new  populations  had  been  ad- 
vancing continually,  a  hundred  miles  each  decade,  to 
meet  ere  long  the  great  Pacific  Sea,  whose  eastern 
billows  wash  the  Occident,  and  whose  western  breakers 
dash  upon  the  shore  of  the  orient.  Yet  the  Ipswich 
farms  were  to  change  only  to  increased  productiveness, 
and  the  village  to  wider  borders  and  greater  beauty. 

Among  this  people  Mr.  Fitz  went  in  and  out,  a 
welcome  visitor  at  every  house.  He  had  come  among 
them  to  stay.  For  better  or  worse  they  had  taken 
him  and  he  them,  and  the  bond  which  united  both  in 
one  was  to  endure  as  long  as  he  lived.  He  soon 
learned  their  habits  of  life  and  thought,  and  so  ad- 
justed his  ways  to  theirs,  that  he  came  into  their 
sympathies  and  gained  their  confidence  and  love. 
Indeed,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  characteristics  of 
his  pastorate  was  the  mutual  affection  and  respect 
which  ever  existed  between  him  and  the  people  of 
his  charge. 

In  labors  for  their  good  he  abounded.  He  preached 
a  carefully-written  sermon  the  forenoon  and  after- 
noon of  every  Sunday,  and  conducted  a  less  formal 
meeting  for  conference  and  prayer  in  the  evening. 
Besides  these,  he  held  frequent  week-day  meetings  in 
the  rural  parts  of  his  parish,  and  for  many  years,  as 
chaplain  of  the  county  almshcuise,  held  there  a  Sun- 
day morning  service.  Yet  his  strength  failed  not, 
and  he  never  grew  weary  in  his  work.  He  had 
scarcely  a  vacation  in  all  his  life.  His  chief  recrea- 
tion was  in  the  variation  of  his  daily  duties. 

In  his  pulpit,  his  full  figure  clothed  with  scrupu- 


lous neatness,  his  dark  eye  and  fine  face  enhanced 
the  effect  of  his  ministrations.  His  manner  was 
simple  and  reverential.  He  never  assumed  familiarity 
with  the  Deity,  but  seemed  to  feel  that  it  was  a  sol- 
emn thing  to  minister  at  God's  altar,  and  to  be  deeply 
sensible  of  the  responsibility  of  standing  between 
Him  and  those  he  sought  to  aid. 

His  sermons  were  logical,  lucid,  earnest,  practical. 
He  drew  his  illustrations  largely  from  sacred  history. 
Whatever  the  subject  discussed,  the  application  was 
close  and  personal  to  every  heart.  The  commonest 
individual  could  understand  his  message  and  retain 
in  mind  the  truths  uttered  in  his  hearing.  He  was 
always  animated,  and  at  times  eloquent.  His  prayers, 
which  were  filial,  earnest  and  expectant,  were 
prompted  by  his  nice  appreciation  of  the  wants  of 
those  for  whom  he  plead.  He  had  a  strong,  clear, 
flexible  voice,  and  so  read  the  sacred  scriptures  that 
his  simple  reading  became  a  luminous  commentary  to 
those  who  listened. 

He  could  hardly  be  called  a  literary  man ;  yet  a 
perusal  of  some  of  his  written  sermons  proves  that  he 
wielded  a  pen  of  much  ability,  evidently  writing  with 
fluency,  and  always  with  clearness  and  vigor.  His 
reading  was  more  extensive  than  that  of  the  average 
minister  of  his  time.  Some  of  his  discourses  on  spe- 
cial occasions,  which  have  been  published,  and  are 
models  of  their  kind,  afford  evidence  of  the  possession 
by  their  author  of  broad  views  and  a  well-trained 
mind.  But  his  regular  clerical  duties  absorbed  his 
time,  and  to  these  he  gave  his  strength. 

Dr.  Fitz  understood  perfectly  the  character  of  all 
his  people,  and  how  to  influence  them  for  good.  In- 
deed, he  measured  their  several  capacities  for  excel- 
lence, and  was  reasonable  in  his  expectations  and  pa- 
tient. He  attempted  the  possible  only,  but  never 
sought  the  manifestly  unattainable.  Like  all  active 
clergymen,  his  course  was  at  times  through  channels 
narrow  and  devious,  with  Scylla  on  one  side  and 
Charybdis  on  the  other ;  yet  he  was  never  wrecked 
on  either  shore.  An  amusing  incident,  which  oc- 
curred one  Sunday  morning  during  our  late  war,  will 
illustrate  his  skill  on  such  occasions.  His  people 
were  divided  in  their  sympathies  for  the  two  contend- 
ing parties.  As  he  was  going  out  of  church  at  the 
close  of  the  service,  a  good  deacon  of  democratic  pro- 
clivities whispered  sternly  in  his  ear:  "You  were 
altogether  too  outspoken,  sir,  in  your  prayer  this 
morning;  your  plainness  of  speech  will  give  just 
offense."  Farther  down  the  aisle  he  encountered  a 
second  official  of  the  same  grade,  who  also  whispered, 
as  he  passed  him,  "  Too  lukewarm,  sir,  too  lukewarm, 
you  didn't  come  come  up  to  the  mark."  These  con- 
flicting assurances  which  offset  one  another,  we;e 
answered  by  a  silent  smile,  and  in  a  few  days  both 
his  friends  were  complaisant  again. 

Dr.  Fitz  mingled  little  in  civil  affairs,  and  probably 
never  held  a  political  office  in  all  his  life.  But  he 
took  a  deep  interest  in  the  general  welfare,  and  with 


A.'D  GirLft-r^:-^  t .  S  g.TS  ^. 


IPSWICH. 


659 


unostentatious  independence  exercised  his  rights  of 
citizenship.  He  rejoiced  in  the  prosperity  of  his 
townsmen,  and  was  always  ready  to  aid,  as  he  could, 
in  the  promotion  of  their  interests.  He  did  much 
for  the  improvement  of  the  schools  of  Ipswich,  and 
to  the  furtherance  of  all  useful  local  enterprises,  he 
never  declined  to  lend  a  willing  hand. 

He  possessed  courage,  and  was  rarely  disheartened. 
But  his  was  a  courage  based  upon  knowledge,  guided 
by  wisdom  and  sustained  by  activity.  He  believed 
that  the  realization  of  faith  came  from  persistent 
effort,  and  that  all  hopes  of  success  without  this  were 
vain. 

But  the  most  marked  trait  in  his  character  was  his 
abounding  love  for  all  mankind.  It  was  the  domin- 
ant quality  of  his  nature.  His  appeals  in  behalf  of 
the  effete  nations  of  the  East  manifested  it,  and  this 
prompted  his  earnest  calls  in  aid  of  the  missionaries 
upon  our  Western  frontier ;  thus  laboring  to  mould 
into  homogeneity  and  elevate  to  a  higher  manhood 
the  discordant  i^opulations  which  have  come  to  us 
from  the  nations  beyond  the  sea.  Everything  which 
promised  highest  good  to  his  fellow-men  commanded 
at  once  his  interest. 

Particularly  strong  was  his  love  for  children,  who, 
apprized  of  this  by  their  unerring  instincts,  returned 
it  in  full  measure.  With  their  love  they  mingled 
respect,  but  never  fear.  Sober  Ipswich  never  enjoyed 
a  more  charming  sight  than  that  of  the  sleigh  of  the 
good  doctor,  when  carrying  his  children  to  their 
school,  into  which  others  had  climbed,  and  piled  one 
upon  another,  until  it  was  full,  and  more  than  full. 
As  he  sped  along  as  best  he  could,  buried  in  this  liv- 
ing load  of  clamorous  joy,  no  heart  beat  happier 
than  his  own.  Was  all  this  a  little  thing  and  unim- 
portant? It  was  a  significant  one,  and  thoughtful 
observers  saw  more  than  the  animated  pile,  and  re- 
membered that  childhood  would  soon  grow  to  youth, 
and  youth  in  a  short  time  change  to  maturity,  but, 
that  the  love  then  engendered  would  never  grow  cold, 
and  the  good  counsels  which  it  enfolded  would  never 
be  forgotten. 

It  was  his  invariable  custom  when  driving  upon 
the  road  to  invite  any  chance  footman  he  might  over- 
take to  a  seat  in  his  carriage.  One  of  his  daughters 
has  remarked  that,  when  riding  with  her  father,  and 
up  almost  to  the  time  when  she  considered  herself  a 
young  lady,  she  had  repeatedly  been  asked  to  sit  in 
his  lap  to  make  room  for  some  wayfarer  whom  he  had 
never  seen  before  and  was  most  likely  to  never  see 
again. 

The  soiled  tramp  who  called  at  his  door,  ragged 
and  redolent  perhaps  of  whiskey,  was  always  treated 
with  kindness.  He  bore  God's  image  upon  his  face, 
and  that  must  be  respected. 

The  ministry  of  Dr.  Fitz  was  a  successful  one.  His 
active  pastorate  lasted  forty-one  years.  He  and  his 
predecessor.  Dr.  Joseph  Dana,  were  the  sole  pastors 
of  the  church  for  a  continuous  period  of  one  hundred 


and  two  years,  a  fact  not  easily  paralleled.  The  re- 
cords show  that  at  the  time  of  his  settlement,  its 
members  numbered  fifty-four  and  that  three  hundred 
and  thirteen  joined  it  while  he  held  the  sacred  office. 
But  the  most  important  acts  of  his  pastorate  were  not 
recorded  upon  the  register  of  the  church,  but  the 
hearts  of  his  people,  to  be  read  only  by  the  eye  of 
Omniscience. 

It  was  impossible  that  such  a  life,  identified  with 
all  that  was  best  in  Ipswich,  and  flowing  on  for 
nearly  half  a  century  in  a  channel  ever  widening  and 
ever  deepening,  should  fail  to  be  a  power  for  good. 
It  was  impossible  that  its  beneficent  fame  and  in- 
fluence should  be  restricted  to  the  scene  of  its  own 
labors.  As  the  decades  came  in  and  went  out, 
one  after  another.  Dr.  Fitz  became  more  and  more 
widely  known.  Neighboring  parishes  in  their  per- 
plexities sought  his  counsel.  To  pulpits  more ,  im- 
portant than  his  own,  he  was  invited  for  exchanges 
of  ministrations.  In  1862  his  Alma  Mater,  in  recog- 
nition of  his  merit,  conferred  upon  him  a  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Divinity.  He  rose  into  high  esteem  among 
his  brethren  in  the  ministry,  and  became  at  length 
an  honored  father  in  their  midst. 

But  his  heart  of  hearts  remained  where  it  had  ever 
been,  and  clung  closest  to  the  people  he  was  ordained 
to  serve.  His  settlement  had  been  for  life.  With 
the  union  then  formed  both  parties  were  satisfied, 
and  never  wished  it  sundered.  So  it  continued  on 
until  his  strong  arm  began  to  weaken,  and  physical 
infirmity  compelled  a  surrender  of  his  sacred  trust. 
In  1867  he  resigned  the  active  duties  of  his  ministry. 
For  two  years  longer,  in  declining  health,  he  went 
about  among  those  he  had  loved  so  long,  until,  on 
the  second  day  of  September,  1869,  "he  was  not;  for 
God  took  him."  His  manly  form  was  laid  before  the 
altar  at  which  he  had  ministered,  and  his  friend,  Dr. 
Pike,  of  Rowley,  comforted  as  well  as  he  could  the 
sad  hearts  which  had  gathered  around.  From  the 
church  it  was  borne  to  the  cemetery  near  by,  and 
laid  to  sleep  in  the  company  of  dear  ones  gone  on 
before, — there  to  rest  until  "this  mortal  shall  have 
put  on  immortality,  and  Death  is  swallowed  up  in 
victory." 


GENERAL   JAMES   APPLETON. 

Among  those  who  have  done  good  and  signal  ser- 
vice in  the  cause  of  temperance,  the  name  of  the 
late  James  Appleton,  of  Massachusetts,  should  be 
held  most  gratefully  and  most  tenaciously  in  remem- 
brance by  all  who  have  faith  in  the  expediency  and 
the  necessity  of  a  prohibitory  liquor  law.  It  was  he 
who  first  publicly  maintained — as  most,  if  not  all, 
who  believe  in  total  abstinence  now  maintain  is  the 
logical  outcome  of  the  temperance  movement — that 
legislation  has  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  moral 
evil  except  to  aim  at  its  complete  suppression.  If 
this  is  to  be  the  legislative  policy  of  the  future  as  to 


660 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


the  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks,  as  it  already  is  that 
of  several  of  the  States,  it  is  interesting  to  trace  that 
policy  to  its  source,  and  to  learn  something  of  the 
man  who  first  promulgated  it. 

James  Appleton  was  born  in  1786  on  the  farm  in 
Ipswich,  Mass.,  granted  to  his  ancestor,  Samuel  Ap- 
pleton, in  1636;  to  this  home  he  returned  in  his  old 
age,  when  the  work  of  his  life  was  finished,  and  there 
he  died  in  1862.  For  many  years  his  home  was  in 
the  neighboring  town  of  Marblehead,  and  for  twenty 
years,  from  1833  to  1853,  he  resided  in  Portland,  Me. 
But  wherever  he  lived  he  was  known  and  esteemed 
for  his  interest  and  energy  in  public  affairs,  and  was 
looked  up  to  as  a  born  leader  of  men.  Though  a 
Federalist  in  politics,  he  gave  his  services,  as  a  col- 
onel of  a  regiment,  to  his  country  when  it  became  in- 
volved in  a  second  war  with  England  in  1812.  Those 
old  enough  to  remember  the  earlier  days  of  the  anti- 
slavery  movement,  if  they  know  anything  about  it  or 
those  engaged  in  it,  will  recall  the  name  of  General 
Appleton  as  con.'spicuous  in  that  little  band  of  men 
and  women,  who,  like  their  great  leader,  would  not 
equivocate,  who  would  not  retreat  a  single  inch,  who 
would  be  heard  and  who  were  not  afraid.  Nor  was 
he  less  earnest  in  upholding  the  saving  grace  of  total 
abstinence  from  all  intoxicating  drinks;  but  that 
doctrine,  even  half  a  century  ago,  had  so  grown  into 
popular  favor  that  the  most  zealous  on  its  behalf  were 
not  easily  distinguished  in  the  multitude  of  its 
apostles,  nor  has  the  memory  of  them  been  so  care- 
fully preserved. 

But  it  was  James  Appleton,  as  chairman  of  a  legis- 
lative committee  to  which  had  been  referred  a  peti- 
tion in  regard  to  the  license  laws  of  Maine,  made  a 
report,  herewith  published,  which  would  in  time  be 
recognized  as  the  beginning  of  a  new  and  auspicious 
era  in  the  temjjerance  reform.  Its  argument  was  that 
inasmuch  as  "it  is  now  ascertained,  not  only  that  the 
traffic  is  attended  with  most  appalling  evils  to  the 
community,  but  that  ardent  spirit  is  entirely  useless 
— that  it  is  an  unmitigated  evil,"  the  committee,  there- 
fore, were  "  not  only  of  opinion  that  the  law  giving 
the  right  to  sell  ardent  spirits  should  be  repealed,  but 
that  a  law  should  be  passed  to  prohibit  the  traffic  in 
them,  except  so  far  as  the  arts  or  the  practice  of 
medicine  may  be  concerned." 

But  the  legislative  report,  though  the  most  com- 
plete, was  not  the  earliest  attempt  made  by  General 
Ai)pleton  for  the  suppression  by  law  of  all  traffic  in 
ardent  spirits.  It  is  remembered  in  his  family  that 
he  dated  his  convictions  upon  the  subject  from  the 
year  1831.  It  came  to  him — when  listening  to  an 
earnest  debate  in  the  Massachusetts  Legislature,  of 
which  body  he  had  been  a  member — as  a  sudden  rev- 
elation, as  a  discovery  in  morals,  that  the  way  to  stop 
intemperance  was  to  stop  it.  If  the  drinking  of 
spirits  was  always  wrong  and  dangerous,  and  the 
source  of  all  the  monstrous  evils  charged  to  it,  then 
it  was  not  to  be  tolerated,  nor  dallied  with  by  license 


laws,  but  put  an  end  to.  If  there  was  no  liquor,  there 
would  be  no  drunkenness  ;  if  the  sale  was  made  ille- 
gal, the  traffic  in  it  and  the  use  of  it  would  become 
disgraceful  as  well  as  dangerous.  It  might  not,  in- 
deed, be  possible  to  suppress  it  altogether  and  at  once 
by  act  ot  the  Legislature;  but,  as  an  argument,  this 
was  just  as  true  of  the  laws  against  murder,  arson, 
forgery,  theft,  or  any  other  acknowledged  crime, 
which  bad  men  would  still  commit  in  defiance  of  the 
law. 

Though  persuaded  in  his  own  mind  that  he  had 
discovered  the  true  remedy  for  the  monstrous  evil, 
the  first  application  he  proposed  was  tentative  and 
indirect ;  not  that  he  wanted  faith  in  the  perfect 
efficacy  of  that  remedy,  but  he  doubted  if  the  public 
mind  was  yet  ready  for  heroic  treatment.  Accord- 
ingly, he  prepared  a  petition  to  the  Massachusetts 
Legislature — this  was  before  he  removed  to  Portland, 
and  when  he  was  residing  at  Marblehead — praying 
that  the  sale  of  liquor  in  any  quantity  less  than  thirty 
gallons  be  forbidden  by  law. 

The  proposition  was  clearly  meant  as  the  first  step 
toward  absolute  prohibition  ;  indeed  there  was  no 
pretence  in  the  petition  of  concealing  the  hope  of  its 
author  that  a  limitation  of  the  sale  of  ardent  spirits 
to  a  minimum  of  thirty  gallons  would  take  from  the 
large  majority  of  drunkards  all  chance  of  getting 
drunk.  The  purchase  of  rum  in  so  large  a  quantity 
would  be  beyond  their  means,  while  the  moderate 
drinker  who  could  affijrd  it  would  easily  and  almost 
unconsciously  abandon  a  habit,  unless  very  firmly 
fixed,  which  called  for  more  forethought  and  larger 
immediate  outlay  than  the  gratification  was  worth. 

But  even  this  compromise  aroused  more  opposition 
than  ])robably  General  Appleton  was  prepared  for. 
The  agent  of  the  Massachusetts  Temperance  Society, 
a  Rev.  Mr.  Hildreth,  pounced  upon  it  at  once  as  a 
mischievous  measure.  His  notion  evidently  was  that 
among  the  "inalienable  rights"  of  man  was  the  right 
to  rum.  He  fairly  represented  the  timid  public 
opinion  of  that  day,  which  in  the  temperance,  as  in 
the  anti-slavery,  movement,  shrunk  from  any  denun- 
ciation in  "  harsh  language  "  of  a  popular  wrong,  and 
from  any  proposed  remedy  that  would  be  pronounced 
"  radical."  Moral  suasion  "  was  the  cant  phrase  of 
the  time,  and  if  there  were  a  few  tender  souls — 
Mr.  Hildreth  may  have  been  one  of  them — who  used 
the  term  in  its  true  sense,  with  the  multitude  it  only 
meant  that  they  would  not  tolerate  any  onslaught 
upon  evil  which  reflected  upon  respectable  sinners, 
was  likely  to  open  their  eyes  and  bring  them  to  re- 
pentance. 

The  letter  of  Mr.  Hildreth  and  that  of  another 
writer,  who  signs  himself  "  Danvers,"  show  the 
spirit  in  which  General  Appleton's  moderate  pro- 
posal was  met.  He  was  quick  to  reply  whether  to 
argument  or  cavil,  and  in  three  clear  and  forcible 
letters  signed  "  Essex,"  to  be  found  in  the  Salem  Ga- 
zette of  February,  1832,  he  sets  forth  his  reasons  for 


Cltfvf,,   \Vv\v\iv£^- 


IPSWICH. 


661 


the  faith  that  is  in  him,  and  the  real  object  he  had  in 
view  in  the  petition.  On  one  point,  however,  he  ac- 
knowledged his  error,  and  accepted,  in  his  own  way, 
the  rebuke  of  his  opponents.  He  ought  not,  he  con- 
fessed, to  have  asked  the  Legislature  for  a  limitation 
in  the  traffic  in  ardent  spirits,  whether  to  thirty  gal- 
lons or  any  other  quantity.  The  trade,  it  was  plain 
to  him  now,  should  be  not  regulated,  but  prohibited. 
The  opposition  he  had  aroused  was  an  evidence  of 
the  foolishness  of  any  proposed  compromise  between 
right  and  wrong.  He  meant  prohibition,  and  ought 
to  have  said  so  directly,  rather  than  have  conde- 
scended to  an  expedient  which  pleased  nobody  and 
would  deceive  but  few.  "  I  made  a  great  mistake," 
he  said  to  a  member  of  his  family — "  a  great  mis- 
take." And  this  he  publicly  reiterates,  it  will  be  ob- 
served, in  a  postscript  to  his  third  and  final  letter, — 
"  We  wish  the  prayer  of  the  petition  had  been  with- 
out any  qualification,  for  its  authors,  we  believe,  in- 
tended the  absolute  prohibition  of  the  traffic,  as  their 
argument  abundantly  evinces."  But  here  was  the 
end  of  the  matter.  Perhaps  he  had  gained  all  he  had 
hoped  for  in  provoking  some  discussion  of  the  sub- 
ject, and  it  is  doubtful  if  the  petition,  which  probably 
nobody  but  himself  would  have  signed,  was  ever  pre- 
sented to  the  Legislature. 

Here  for  ihe  first  time  prohibitory  legislation  was  pro- 
posed, though  with  no  other  immediate  result,  appar- 
ently, than  to  convince  its  author  that  the  opposition 
to  it  would  be  formidable,  if  not  insurmountable.  He 
may  have  been  for  a  time  discouraged,  but  he  was  not 
defeated.  He  knew  he  was  right,  and  he  had  learned, 
moreover,  a  lesson  of  practical  value.  If  ever  again 
he  could  make  an  opportunity  to  urge  his  principles 
upon  any  legislative  body,  there  should  be  no  mistake 
of  a  want  of  directness  in  his  method. 

Meanwhile  he  had  removed  to  Portland,  and  in 
1836  he  was  elected  a  member  to  the  Maine  Legisla- 
ture. The  opportunity  he  had  vvaited  for  came  when 
a  petition  on  the  license  laws  was  referred  to  a  Com- 
mittee of  which  he  was  chairman.  He  could  speak 
now  with  a  certain  authority,  and  did  not  need,  even 
were  he  so  minded,  to  appeal  to  public  attention  by 
the  suggestion  of  an  indirect  and  experimental 
measure.  The  whole  subject  was,  no  doubt,  much 
clearer  in  his  mind  than  when  he  put  forth  his  thirty 
gallons  petition,  and  he  was  ready  to  meet  the  unbe- 
lieving or  the  timid  at  all  possible  points  of  difficulty 
or  objection.  He  covers  the  ground  so  completely, 
presents  his  argument  so  frankly,  confidently  and 
forcibly,  that  the  report  might  go  before  any  State 
Legislature  to-day  as  an  exhaustive  presentation  of 
the  whole  question  of  prohibition. 

The  report,  of  course,  was  laid  upon  the  table,  and 
it  is  not  remembered  whether  it  gave  rise  to  any 
debate.  Very  likely  not;  for  doubtless  to  most,  if 
not  all,  of  the  honorable  members,  it  seemed  as  pre- 
posterous as  it  was  novel,  and  not  even  worth  talking 
about.     Nevertheless,  "The  Maine  Law  "  was  born 


then  and  there,  though  it  was  not  till  nine  years  later 
that  the  first  tentative  act  M-as  passed  as  the  begin- 
ning of  prohibitory  legislation.  The  years  of  agita- 
tion and  discussion  which  preceded  and  prepared  the 
way  for  legislation  also  had  a  beginning,  and  there  is 
neither  record,  nor  tradition,  nor  memory  of  the  old- 
est inhabitant  that  can  trace  it  beyond  the  Appleton 
Report  to  the  Maine  Legislature  of  1886-37,  unless  it 
be  to  the  Appleton  petition  to  the  Massachusetts 
Legislature  of  1832.  But  both  came  from  the  same 
man,  and  together  they  leave  nothing  more  to  be 
said  as  to  the  question  of  the  origin  of  this  special 
temperance  policy.  James  Appleton,  as  a  private 
citizen  of  Massachusetts,  publicly  suggested  in  1832 
the  wisdom  of  a  prohibitory  liquor  law,  and  in  1837 
the  same  James  Appleton,  as  a  member  of  the  Maine 
Legislature,  urged  upon  that  body  the  enactment  of 
such  a  law.  When  at  last,  in  1851,  the  "  Maine 
Law,"  as  it  now  stands  upon  the  statute-books  of  the 
State,  was  passed,  it  was  a  fitting  recognition  of  his 
early  devotion  to  the  principle  of  prohibition  that  he, 
among  others,  should  have  been  called  upon  to  aid  in 
the  preparation  of  the  act. 

He  lived  to  see  ten  years  of  the  enforcement  of  the 
perfected  law  in  Maine  and  in  other  States.  It  was, 
in  spirit  and  purpose,  of  his  own  devising,  and  he 
would  sometimes  speak  at  his  own  fireside  with  nat- 
ural pride  and  profound  thankfulness  of  the  result  of 
his  work.  But  he  left  it  to  others  to  show  at  some 
future  time  how  much  was  due  to  his  foresight,  his 
keen  moral  sense  and  his  courage. 

The  following  is  the  inscription  on  the  stone  over 
General  Appleton's  grave  in  Ipswich  : 

"A  Philantbropist,  a  Patriot  and  a  Christian." 

He  served  his  fellow-men,  his  country  and  his  God 
by  laboring  for  the  emancipation  of  the  American 
slave. 


HON.    CHARLES   KIMBALL. 

Charles  Kimball  was  born  in  Ipswich,  Mass.,  on 
December  24,  1798.  His  parents  were  Jeremiah  and 
Lois  Kimball.  Twelve  children  were  born  to  them, 
of  whom  he  was  the  youngest.  His  mother  was  of 
the  Choate  family,  of  Essex,  made  famous  by  the 
"great  Rufus."  His  father  was  a  lineal  descendant 
of  Richard  Kimball,  who  came  from  Ipswich,  Eng- 
land, in  1634,  the  same  year  in  which  its  namesake 
on  this  side  of  the  water  began  its  existence  as  a  body 
corporate.  This  ancestor  located  in  Watertown, 
Mass.,  but  three  years  later,  1637,  removed  to  Ips- 
wich, and  there  made  a  permanent  settlement ;  and 
from  that  date  to  the  present  the  male  line  in  Ips- 
wich has  been  unbroken.  The  father  of  Charles, 
like  his  progenitors,  was  of  sturdy  mould,  and  "hon- 
est, manly  and  efficient."  Of  the  twelve  children, 
five  of  them  attained  the  age  of  moi-e  than  eighty 
years,  two  of  them  the  age  of  seventy-five  or  more, 
one   the  age  of  ninety-one  and  another  the  a£e   of 


6G2 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


ninety-seven,  a  remarkable  record  of  longevity  for 
one  single  family.  In  1815,  when  Charles  was  sixteen 
years  old,  he  entered  the  office  of  Nathaniel  Lord, 
Jr.  (who  married  his  sister  Eunice,  and  who  was 
the  father  of  the  late  Judge  Otis  P.  Lord),  in 
Ipswich,  then  register  of  probate,  and  at  the  same 
time  became  a  member  ot  his  family.  He  began  ac- 
tive life  with  few  educational  privileges,  but  the  head 
of  the  family  in  which  he  made  his  home  was  a 
graduate  of  Harvard  College,  a  man  of  letters,  of  ex- 
act knowledge  and  accurate  business  methods,  and  of 
the  advantages  these  afforded  he  fully  availed  him- 
self. In  1827  he  was  elected  colonel  of  one  of  the 
militia  regiments  from  the  office  of  adjutant,  the  lat- 
ter being  equal,  only  in  rank,  to  the  modern  lieuten- 
ant, a  very  marked  promotion,  and  the  cause  of  many 
heart-burnings  at  the  time,  but  soon  forgotten,  as  his 
special  fitness  for  the  position  became  apparent.  His 
precision  and  promptness  in  the  discharge  of  his  du- 
ties was  readily  acknowledged,  and  his  dignified  and 
soldierly  bearing  and  easy  and  graceful  horsemanship 
won  many  commendations.  In  1830  he  voluntarily 
resigned  this  office,  but  the  title  followed  him  through 
life.  In  1829  he  married  Mary  Ann  Outein.  Her 
father  was  of  French  origin  ;  her  mother  of  New  Eng- 
land birth.  Three  children  were  the  fruit  of  this 
union,  two  sons  and  one  daughter.  The  elder  son, 
Charles  A.,  was  a  lawyer,  and  died  at  the  age  of 
thirty-eight ;  and  the  daughter  died  at  the  age  of 
thirty-five.  Both  were  unmarried.  The  surviving 
son,  Edward  P.,  is  a  lawyer,  and  at  present  postmas- 
ter, and  resides  at  the  homestead.  The  wife  and 
mother  was  a  woman  of  great  intelligence,  of  remark- 
able simplicity  of  character,  of  earnest,  sincere  piety, 
faithful  in  her  conjugal  relations  and  her  filial  duties, 
and  self-sacrificing  to  the  last  degree  in  her  devotion 
to  her  family.  In  1836  he  was  elected  to  the  State 
Senate,  and  served  therein  till  1840,  the  Hon.  Ed- 
ward Everett  being  then  Governor.  This  was  also  a 
marked  honor,  as  he  had  had  no  previous  legislative 
experience.  From  1841  to  1847  he  was  county  com- 
missioner, and  perhaps  the  highest  compliment  ever 
paid  him  was  that  of  one  of  his  associates  on  this 
board  who  remarked  that  he  "  never  saw  a  man  so 
anxious  to  know  and  do  the  right."  In  politics  he 
was  a  Whig,  but  upon  the  dissolution  of  that  party, 
he,  like  many  other  conservatives,  associated  himself 
with  the  Democracy.  In  1851  he  was  candidate  for 
State  Treasurer.  In  politics,  as  in  everything  else, 
he  acted  from  conviction  and  principle.  He  held,  at 
different  times,  various  town  offices ;  was  selectman 
one  year.  School  Committee  man  and  clerk  and  treas- 
urer of  two  boards  of  trustees  of  educational  funds 
for  many  years,  and  for  thirty  or  more  consecutive 
years  moderator  of  town  meetings.  In  1851,  on  the 
retirement  of  Mr.  Lord  from  the  office  of  register  of 
probate,  he  established  an  office  in  Salem.  He  had 
been  all  this  time  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  probate 


law. 


and  had   become    well    known    throughout  the 


county  as  a  practitioner  in  the  Probate  C  )urts  of  rare 
skill  and  experience.  In  1858,  at  the  age  of  fifty- 
nine,  on  the  petition  of  Judge  Perkins,  Wm.  C.  En- 
dicott,  Wra.  D.  North  end  and  others  of  mark  in  the 
profession,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  a  very  high 
compliment  to  his  ability,  learning  and  personal 
worth,  and  unique  in  itself.  Hitherto  in  all  his  cases 
before  the  courts,  except  the  Probate  Court,  he  had 
been  obliged  to  call  to  his  aid  some  member  of  the 
bar;  but  now  a  wider  field  of  practice  was  open  to 
him,  and  from  that  date  to  the  close  of  his  business 
career,  he  devoted  himself  assiduously  to  his  profes- 
sion. On  the  10th  day  of  December,  1877,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-nine,  he  suddenly  lost,  while  in  his  office,  all 
capacity  for  business.  In  a  moment  the  power  of  con- 
nected thought  was  gone.  Everything  became  one 
confused  mass  in  his  mind,  and  in  this  condition  he 
remained  to  the  day  of  his  death,  November  30,  1880. 
It  was  not  alone  in  business  that  he  was  active.  In 
1880  he  united  with  the  South  Congregational  Church, 
in  Ipswich,  and  to  its  spiritual  welfare  gave  much  of  his 
time  and  thought.  He  served  on  church  and  parish 
committees,  was  superintendent  of  the  Sabbath- 
school  for  over  forty-five  years,  and  in  1868  was  chosen 
deacon.  He  understood  the  creed  of  his  church,  and 
could  and  did  stoutly  maintain  it  against  all  antagon- 
ism. He  was  versed  in  ecclesiastical  law,  and  was 
prominent  in  Ecclesiastical  Councils,  notably,  the 
famous  one  at  Manchester,  in  the  deliberations  ot 
which  he  took  an  active  and  leading  part.  He  pre- 
pared a  paper  on  ecclesiastical  law,  which  he  read 
before  the  Essex  Congregational  Club,  and  which  was 
regarded  as  a  valuable  contribution  to  this  difficult 
and  occult  branch  of  legal  lore.  On  the  occasion  of 
his  funeral,  which  was  largely  attended  by  the  people 
of  the  town  and  many  others,  including  members  of 
the  bar,  his  pastor,  the  Eev.  T.  F.  Waters,  preached 
a  discourse  which  was  a  discriminating  analysis  of 
his  life  and  character,  and  a  glowing  tribute  to  his 
sterling  worth. 

At  the  December  Term  of  the  Supreme  Court,  1880, 
resolutions  in  memoriam  were  offered  by  the  Hon. 
Wm.  D.  Northend,  seconded  by  James  Gillis,  Esq., 
and  responded  to  by  his  Honor,  Judge  Bacon,  the 
presiding  judge,  and  by  him  ordered  to  be  entered  on 
the  records  of  the  court. 

Such  is  the  mere  outline  of  this  long  and  useful 
life.  While  the  record  speaks  for  itself,  behind  it 
lies  the  secret  of  his  success.  Slow  and  patient  toil, 
close  application  and  an  absorbing  interest  in  his 
work,  led  him,  step  by  step,  thro'  rugged  paths  to  the 
standing  in  his  profession  which  he  attained.  Unlike 
the  majority  of  the  profession,  he  entered  upon  his 
work  without  any  knowledge  derived  from  the  text- 
books. He  learned  first  in  the  school  of  experience, 
and  then  he  sought  the  books,  and  they  accompanied 
him  in  his  labors.  His  keen  observation,  quick  per- 
ception, logical  acumen  and  retentive  memory,  en- 
abled him  to  build  on  a  sure  basis  and  to  acquire  an 


IPSWICH. 


663 


accurate  and  precise  knowledge  of  the  law.  The 
bare  routine,  the  mere  knowing  how  to  do  a  thing, 
did  not  satisfy  him.  He  must  know  the  theory,  the 
underlying  principle  of  every  legal  rule,  and  he  delved 
deep  till  he  found  it.  With  the  law  relating  to  real 
estate,  to  trusts  and  matters  in  equity,  with  their  tech- 
nicalities and  fine  distinctions,  he  was  specially  fa- 
miliar. In  the  drafting  of  wills  and  in  all  matters 
pertaining  to  probate  law  and  practice,  he  was  regard- 
ed as  authority.  His  clientage  included  every  town 
in  the  county.  For  sound  and  judicious  advice  and 
delicate  and  intricate  business  he  was  sought  after. 
He  became  an  instructor  of  those  who  desired  to 
practice  in  the  Probate  Courts,  and  many  are  they 
who  owe  all  their  knowledge  of  probate  matters  to  his 
tuition.  His  name  was  frequently  mentioned  in  con- 
nection with  the  judgeship  of  the  Probate  Court. 
The  late  Judge  White,  of  that  court,  said  of  him, 
"  No  man  was  better  fitted  than  Col.  Kimball  for 
Judge  of  Probate."  His  qualifications  for  the  posi- 
tion were  generally  recognized,  and  he  probably  would 
have  been  so  appointed  if  he  had  urgently  pressed 
his  own  claim.  This  his  sense  of  propriety  forbade. 
While  his  business  life  covered  a  period  ofsixty-three 
years,  during  which  he  never  took  a  vacation,  and 
his  professional  services  were  in  constant  demand 
he  yet  found  time  for  other  duties.  He  responded  to 
every  call  of  the  church,  the  parish,  the  town  or  larger 
community.  Whatever  he  did  he  aimed  to  do  with 
care  and  exactness.  His  standard  was  of  the  highest. 
He  allowed  no  opportunity  for  mental  or  moral  ad- 
vancement to  escape  him.  He  was  of  an  intense  re- 
ligious nature.  As  the  Constitution  was  his  guide  in 
civil  life,  so  were  the  Scriptures  his  guide  in  moral 
action.  He  was  true  to  his  convictions,  possessed  of 
great  moral  cournge,  and  when  he  had  once  deter- 
mined upon  the  right  nothins^  could  swerve  him  from 
his  course  of  action.  He  had  the  confidence  of  his 
fellow-men.     They  felt  safe  with  him. 

He  was  prominent  in  every  public  gathering  of  the 
citizens  of  his  native  town.  He  presided  over  their 
meetings  with  efficiency,  impartiality,  ease  and  dig- 
nity. His  self-possession  never  forsook  him.  He  was 
a  natural  leader  of  men. 

In  temperament  he  was  moderate  and  cautious. 
His  sense  of  humor  was  keen,  and  in  repartee  he  was 
always  ready. 

In  disposition  he  was  kindly  and  sympathetic,  gen- 
erous and  liberal  in  every  good  cause,  and  his  deeds 
of  charity  were  numerous  and  at  the  same  time  unos- 
tentatious. He  loved  his  family,  his  home  and  the 
town. 

In  person,  he  was  of  large  stature,  well  propor- 
tioned, erect  figure,  commanding  presence  and  digni- 
fied bearing. 

In  the  closing  years  of  his  life,  when  the  chain  of 
thought  was  broken,  and  the  affairs  of  the  world 
which  once  engaged  his  attention  had  become  a 
myth  to  him,  his   religious   principles  had  been  so 


firmly  grounded,  and  his  religious  observances  so 
habitual,  that  they  remained  clear  and  distinct  in  his 
otherwise  clouded  intellect,  and  still  controlled  his 
thought  and  action.  He  went  regularly  to  the  sanctu- 
ary and  to  the  weekly  meetings,  and  often  spoke  on 
religious  subjects  with  intelligence  and  force.  Dur- 
ing the  last  week  of  his  life  his  constant  plea  was  to 
"go  home,"  and  thither  he  has  gone,  leaving  behind 
him  a  fragrant  memory  and  a  shining  example  of  fi- 
delity, integrity  and  worth. 


.JOHN   MERRILL   BRADBURY. 

John  Merrill  Bradbury,  born  in  Newburyport  Octo- 
ber 29,  1818,  was  son  of  Hon.  Ebenezer  and  Mrs. 
Nancy  (Merrill)  Bradbury.  Major  Bradbury,  the  fa- 
ther, was  one  of  the  prominent  men  of  the  town  for 
many  years,  noted  for  his  intelligence,  public  spirit 
and  genial  temper,  and  for  his  interest  in  the  public 
schools  of  the  town.  He  was  frequently  entrusted 
with  public  otfice,  representing  Newburyport  in  the 
legislature  in  various  years,  from  1828  to  18-17,  at 
which  time  he  was  chosen  speaker  of  the  House  of 
Representatives.  In  1845  and  1846  he  was  a  member 
of  the  executive  qouncil,  and  in  1849  he  was  chosen 
treasurer  of  the  commonwealth,  which  office  he  held 
for  two  years.  In  1853  he  was  delegate  from  the  town 
of  Newton  to  the  Constitutional  Convention,  and 
was  later  judge  of  the  Municipal  Court  in  the  town 
of  Milford,  filling  all  the  offices  with  which  he  was 
entrusted  with  ability,  and  winning  the  confidence  of 
all  who  knew  him. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  a  worthy  son  of  such 
a  father,  and  it  was  a  family  which  had  been  promi- 
nent in  New  England.  The  earliest  immigrant  an- 
cestor was  Thomas  Bradbury,  who  came  to  New  Eng- 
land in  the  year  1G34  as  the  agent  of  Sir  Ferdinando 
Gorges,  and  after  a  few  years'  residence  at  Agamenti- 
cus,  now  York,  Maine,  settled  in  Salisbury,  Mass., 
where  he  was  long  prominent  in  the  affairs  of  the 
town,  county  and  colony.  "His  hand-writing,  pre- 
served in  the  colony  records,  has  been  admired  for 
clearness,  elegance  and  force,  having  no  superior  in 
our  colonial  archives.  In  every  generation  of  his  de- 
scendants there  has  been  one  or  more  prominent  in 
public  office."  There  are  strong  reasons  for  believing 
that  Thomas  Bradbury,  of  Salisbury,  was  a  son  of 
Wymond  Bradbury,  of  Wicken  Bonant  in  Essex,  of 
the  same  family  as  Sir  Thomas  Bradbury,  who,  in 
1500,  was  mayor  of  London,  and  that  his  mother  was 
a  niece  of  Archbishop  Whitgift. 

Mr.  Bradbury's  youth  was  spent  in  his  native  town, 
where  he  received  a  good  English  and  classical  educa- 
tion at  the  public  schools,  and  also  at  the  Dummer 
Academy  in  the  adjoining  town  of  Newbury,  while 
this  institution  was  under  the  charge  of  Nehemiah 
Cleveland,  LL.D.,  recently  deceased.  In  Newbury- 
port he  was,  at  one  time,  a  pupil  of  Albert  Pike,  the 
poet,  lawyer  and  confederate  general,  who,  in  his  old 
age,  is  a  resident  of  the  capital  of  the  country. 


664 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


One  of  his  earliest  schoolmates  and  most  intimate 
friends  was  Rev.  George  Wildes,  D.D.,  who  was  in  the 
same  class  in  the  High  School,  in  the  Latin  Depart- 
ment of  which,  under  Roger  S.  Howard,  they  occu- 
pied neighboring  desks  and  formed  a  life-long  friend- 
ship, and  Dr.  Wildes  said  of  his  friend  that  the  sight 
of  a  mathematical  problem  was  to  him  an  inspiration, 
that  he  was  well  grounded  in  historical  studies  and 
had  a  love  for  the  English  classics. 

In  April,  1835,  in  his  seventeenth  year,  Mr.  Brad- 
bury entered  Dickinson  College  at  Carlisle,  Penna., 
where  he  studied  three  years,  leaving  college  in  April^ 
1838,  after  completing  his  junior  year.  On  leaving 
college  he  visited  Philadelphia,  but  soon  returned  to 
his  native  town,  and  engaged  in  teaching  for  several 
years. 

On  the  28th  of  August,  1843,  he  was  married  at 
Gloucester  to  Miss  Sarah  Ann  Hayes,  daughter  of 
Daniel  and  Abigail  (Sargent)  Hayes,  a  lady  of  culti- 
vated tastes,  who  appreciated  and  encouraged  his 
studies,  and  made  his  home  pleasant  and  attractive. 

In  May,  1849,  he  went  to  Boston,  and  soon  after 
received  an  appointment  to  the  second  clerkship  in 
the  State  Treasury,  and  on  the  resignation  of  the  chief 
clerk,  in  Dpcember,  1850,  he  was  advanced  to  fill  the 
vacancy.  Very  soon  after  this  promotion,  he  engaged 
with  Messrs.  Gilmore,  Blake  and  Ward,  bankers,  as 
their  accountant,  which  position  he  held  through  va- 
rious changes  of  the  firm  to  the  summer  of  the  year 
1868,  when  his  interest  in  the  house  ceased,  and  he 
retired  with  a  competent  fortune.  Mr.  Bradbury's 
tastes  and  attainments  fitted  him  for  the  banking  busi- 
ness, and  he  applied  himself  assiduously  to  its  duties, 
but  during  his  leisure  hours  he  cultivated  his  liter- 
ary tastes,  his  favorite  reading,  his  history  and  belles- 
lettres, 

Joseph  E.  Brown,  Esq.,  of  New  York,  who  was  in 
the  banking-house  with  him,  wrote  the  following, 
which  characterizes  him  in  his  business : 

"  Mr.  Bradbury's  iiiiuc  was  eminently  of  a  mathematical  and  ana- 
lytical cast  ;  and  in  ainuist  every  conversjition  and  discussion,  whether 
upon  literature,  art,  science,  or  religion,  the  tendency  'to  analyze  was 
apparent.  Mr.  Blake  used  to  say  frequently,  that  Mr.  Bradbury  under- 
stood the  relations  of  figures  better  than  any  man  he  knew  ;  and  the  fa- 
eility  he  displayed  in  mathematical  calculation  was  surprising.  The 
following  incident  will  illustrate.  On  one  occasion,  the  State  of  Massa- 
chusetts, being  about  to  issue  a  new  loan,  submitted,  through  the  State 
Treasurer,  certain  questions,  the  answers  to  which  involved  some  very 
nice  calculations.  In  order  to  secure  accuracy  in  the  matter,  Mr.  Blake 
handed  the  questions  to  three  clerks,  Mr.  Bradbury,  Mr.  Harris  and  my- 
self, and  requested  that  we  work  out  the  pioblems  independently.  The 
following  morning  Mr.  Harris  and  myself  appeared  each  with  a  formid- 
able bundle  of  paper  containing  our  calcuhitions.  Mr.  Bradbury,  how- 
ever, quietly  took  from  his  pocket  two  half  sheets  of  note  paper,  on 
which  he  had  worked  out,  by  the  use  of  logarithms,  the  problems  which 
had  cost  his  junior  clerks  quires  of  paper  and  the  midnight  oil.  He  had 
frequent  recourse  to  algebraic  solutions  of  problems. 

"On  one  occasion,  the  examination  of  a  foreign  account,  embracing 
many  hundreds  of  items,  resulted  in  a  discrepancy  of  just  one  penny.  I 
think  Mr.  Bradbury  and  myself  devoted  the  greater  part  of  ten  d.ays  to 
a  vain  search  for  the  error,  so  that  finally,  utterly  vexed  and  out  of  pa- 
tience, I  threw  down  the  account  declaring  that  I  would  pursue  the 
matter  no  further.  I  remember  distinctly  the  unruffled  manner  of  our 
friend  on  taking  up  the  account  and  saying,  "Joseph,  the  error  is  some- 


where, and  can  be  found."     Ho  quietly,  and  I  need  hardly  say  success- 
fully, continued  the  examinations." 

In  September,  1868,  Mr,  Bradbury,  accompanied 
by  his  wife,  took  passage  for  Europe.  They  travelled 
in  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  France,  Italy,  the  Ty- 
rol, Switzerland,  Germany  and  Belgium.  In  London 
they  met  his  friend  and  correspondent,  the  late  Hor- 
atio G.  Somerby,  Esq,,  like  himself  a  native  of  New- 
buryport,  who  was  of  much  assistance  in  directing 
them  to  the  points  of  interest  to  be  visited,  and  in 
whose  society  they  spent  many  pleasant  evenings 
during  their  stay  in  that  city.  Soon  after  Mr,  Brad- 
bury's arrival,  he  obtained,  through  Mr,  Somerby,  a 
reader's  ticket  at  the  British  Museum,  and,  at  a  later 
period,  to  the  department  of  Literary  Inquiry  in  the 
principal  registry  of  Her  Majesty's  Court  of  Probate, 
commonly  called  Doctors'  Commons.  After  he  had 
become  weary  with  sight-seeing,  he  spent  much  time 
in  historical  and  genealogical  research  at  these  two 
institutions.        ' 

While  at  London  he  made  several  excursions  into 
the  country,  especially  to  places  where  his  ancestors 
lived  or  which  had  a  special  interest  to  Americans, — 
Boston,  in  Lincolnshire,  and  Wicken  Bonant,  in 
Essex,  where  his  emigrant  ancestor  is  supposed  to 
have  been  born. 

On  the  18th  of  November,  1868,  Mr.  Bradbury  left 
London,  and  the  same  evening  arrived  in  Paris, 
where  he  remained  till  the  following  spring,  and  then 
returned  to  London.  On  the  31st  of  August  he  again 
left  London  on  a  brief  tour.  After  travelling  a  few 
weeks  in  Ireland  and  Scotland  he  returned  to  Eng- 
land, arriving  in  York  on  the  23d  of  September, 
As  several  of  the  early  settlers  of  Essex  County,  from 
whom  he  had  descended,  came  from  Yorkshire,  he 
remained  there  nearly  a  week,  employing  much  of  his 
time  in  genealogical  researches.  From  York  he  went 
to  Hull,  and  also  visited  other  places  in  the  country 
of  genealogical  interest  to  an  Essex  man,  and  on  his 
way  to  London  he  spent  one  day  in  Oxford, 

The  following  winter  he  visited  the  continent  and 
saw  Rome  and  Naples,  and  ascended  Vesuvius,  re- 
turning to  England  in  the  autumn.  In  the  spring  of 
1870  a  lameness  came  upon  him  which  at  first  he  did 
not  suppose  to  be  serious,  but  it  was  more  than  the 
sprain  which  he  considered  it,  and  resulted  in  the 
necessity  of  amputating  his  foot. 

He  returned  to  this  country  in  July,  1871,  and  re- 
sided in  Boston  till  the  next  spring,  when  he  pur- 
chased an  estate  in  Ipswich,  where  he  resided  till  his 
death.  His  residence  was  near  the  summit  of  Town 
Hill,  from  which  the  fine  view  is  obtained,  which  his 
friend,  the  Rev.  Mr,  Nason,  paints  in  such  vivid 
colors.  Here  he  died  on  Tuesday  morning,  March 
21,  1876,  in  his  fifty-eighth  year,  leaving  a  widow  but 
no  children. 

In  his  will  he  left  one  thousand  dollars  to  his  na- 
tive city,  frtr  the  benefit  of  its  public  library,  and  two 
thousand  dollars  and  certain  stock  securities  to  the 


'(^-t^c-^t^    ^', 


IPSWICH. 


665 


New  England  Historic  Genealogical  Society.  Both 
these  bequests  have  been  funded  and  named  '"The 
Bradbury  Fund." 

Mr.  Bradbury  was  admitted  a  resident  member  of 
the  New  England  Historic  Genealogical  Society, 
April  11,  1853,  and  in  1863  he  made  himself  a  life- 
member.  From  1863  to  1867  he  served  on  the  com- 
mittee on  finance,  and  from  1867  to  1870  was  one  of 
the  board  of  directors.  In  1860  his  eminent  fitness 
for  the  position  induced  the  nominating  committee  to 
tender  him  the  office  of  treasurer,  and  he  took  the 
matter  into  consideration,  but  finally  decided  that  he 
would  not  have  the  requisite  leisure  to  perform  the 
duties  of  the  office.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the 
Prince  Society  of  Boston,  and  the  Essex  Institute  of 
Salem, 

Mr.  Bradbury  published  "  The  Bennet  Family  of 
Ipswich,"  and  "The  Whitgift-Bradbury  Family," 
"  A  Memoir  of  Horatio  Gates  Somerby,"  and  a  num- 
ber of  shorter  articles  in  the  Historical  and  Genealogical 
Register.  No  better  summing  up  of  the  character  and 
tastes  of  Mr.  Bradbury  can  be  given  than  that  of  his 
friend,  Charles  W.  Tuttle,  Esq.,  who  has  himself 
since  died,  and  who  was  a  man  of  rare  discrimina- 
tion though  ardent  in  his  friendships.  Mr.  Tuttle 
says : 

"I  became  acquainted  with  the  late  Mr.  Bradbury  while  I  was  living 
*n  Newbiiryport  about  twenty  years  ago.  His  intelligence,  frankness, 
and  gentle  manners  attracted  me  to  him  at  once  ;  and  I  saw  much  of 
him  after  I  came  to  Boston,  where  he  was  then  living. 

"  While  he  was  familiar  with  a  wide  range  of  subjects,  being  a  con- 
stant reader,  there  were  two  on  which  he  most  frequently  discoursed 
with  me.  Of  astronomy  he  had  considerable  knowledge,  having  been 
drawn  to  that  science  by  his  early  fondness  for  mathematics.  He 
watched  its  progress  with  more  than  ordinary  interest,  and  was  ac- 
quainted with  the  names  and  discoveries  of  the  great  observers  through- 
out the  world. 

"  But  his  chief  delight  and  interest  were  in  the  history  and  antiqui- 
ties of  New  England.  He  had  a  keen  relish  for  antiquarian  research, 
and  never  lost  an  opportunity  to  add  to  his  stock  of  this  kind  of  infor- 
mation. He  was  as  familiar  as  one  could  well  be  with  the  local  history 
of  both  banks  of  the  Merrimac  River  where  the  early  settlements  were 
made.  His  ancestors  for  six  and  seven  generations  had  lived  and  died 
there,  and  he  knew  the  history  of  each  generation  with  marvellous 
accuracy  and  fullness.  He  had  gathered  local  traditions  and  exam- 
ined ancient  records  till  he  was  master  of  the  history  and  genealogy  of 
all,  or  nearly  all,  of  the  old  families  between  Haverhill  and  Plumb 
Island. 

"  In  these  researches  he  was  careful  and  exact  beyond  any  one  I  ever 
knew.  A  result  was  carefully  weighed,  and  only  the  highest  degree  of 
probable  evidence  would  satisfy  him  of  its  being  true.  This  fastidious- 
ness, the  consequence  of  mathematical  training,  prevented  his  quickly 
arriving  at  results  satisfactory  to  him,  and  giving  to  the  world  nmny 
things  he  had  undertaken.  A  retentive  and  exact  memory  greatly  facil- 
itated his  investigations. 

"While  in  England,  and  suffering  from  severe  lameness,  he  found 
time  to  w?'ite  several  letters  giving  me  information  which  he  had  copied 
from  ancieut  records,  of  persons  of  my  surname  who  had  died  there  in 
the  fure  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  telllug  me  of  his  wander- 
ings in  that  merry  land.  These  letters  show  how  ardently  he  was  pur- 
suing his  inquiries,  and  how  thoroughly  he  was  enjoying  his  rambles 
among  the  venerable  antiquities  of  England,  especially  any  connected 
with  our  New  England  forefathers. 

"Mr.  Braillinry  was  a  man  of  large  practical  common  sense.  There 
was  no  ])etty  jealousy  in  his  composition.  He  was  serene  under  all 
circumstances.  He  loved  peace  and  minded  his  own  affairs.  I  remem- 
ber, with  mingled  feelings  of  pleasure  aud  sadness,  how  cheerful  and 
happy  he  was  in   his  pleasant  home  in   Boston  where   he   always  was 

•12* 


when  not  at  his  office ;  how  he  made  every  one  welcome  there,  and 
how  like  a  benediction  his  politeness  and  hospitality  were.  I  am  sure 
all  who  had  the  pleasure  of  his  acquaintance  revere  his  memory." 


EICHARD   SUTTON   RUST,  A.M.,  D.D.,  LL.D.^ 

Mr.  Rust  is  one  of  the  most  energetic,  enthusiastic 
and  successful  ministers  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church;  and  in  the  varied  official  po.sitions  to  which 
he  has  been  called  has  rendered  valuable  service  and 
exhibited  rare  executive  ability  in  the  administration 
of  affairs  intrusted  to  his  care.  He  was  born  in  Ips- 
wich, Mass.,  September  12,  1815.  His  mother,  from 
whom  he  inherited  many  of  his  traits  of  character, 
was  a  woman  of  deep  piety  and  superior  attainments, 
the  daughter  of  Richard  Sutton,  distinguished  among 
his  townsmen  for  integrity,  independence  aud  intel- 
ligence. He  was  left  an  orphan,  his  father  dying 
when  he  was  eight  years  old,  and  his  mother  when 
he  was  ten,  leaving  him  no  patrimony  but  a  parent- 
age spotless  and  revered.  One  of  his  uncles,  residing 
in  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  gave  him  a  year's  schooling, 
where  he  first  formed  a  taste  for  studj',  which  never 
forsook  him.  Another  uncle  gave  him  a  home  till  he 
was  fourteen,  during  which  time  he  was  compelled  to 
work  hard  upon  a  farm,  with  only  three  months' 
schooling  each  winter.  He  was  then  aj^prenticed  to 
learn  a  cabinet-maker's  trade,  and  at  the  end  of  three 
years,  yearning  for  school  and  more  congenial  pur- 
suits, purchased  the  balance  of  the  apprenticeship, 
and  entered  Phillips'  Academy,  Andover,  Mass.,  to 
prepare  for  college. 

While  at  Andover,  the  distinguished  abolition  lec- 
turer, George  Thompson,  of  England,  visited  Phil- 
lips' Academy  aud  lectured  to  the  students  on  sla- 
very. With  his  wonderful  eloquence,  wit  and  logic 
the  students  were  charmed,  and  a  large  number  of 
them  became  abolitionists  and  formed  an  anti-slavery 
society.  The  teachers  were  displeased  at  this  action, 
and  required  the  students  to  leave  the  anti-slavery 
society  or  the  academy.  Nearly  one  hundred  of 
them,  rather  than  to  give  up  their  principles  and 
rights,  left  the  school;  some  went  into  the  anti-sla- 
very field  as  lecturers,  and  others  to  institutions 
where  freedom  of  thought  and  speech  could  be  en- 
joyed. Young  Rust,  with  several  others,  went  to 
Canaan,  N.  H.,  where  an  academy  had  been  estab- 
lished upon  liberal  principles,  and  where  young  men 
and  women  of  color  were  allowed  to  enter  and  enjoy 
the  advantages  of  culture.  So  bitter  was  the  oppo- 
sition to  this  school,  because  it  extended  its  privi- 
leges alike  to  all  without  distinction  of  color,  that 
the  mandate  went  forth  that  it  must  be  broken  up, 
and  the  farmers  in  the  vicinity,  with  a  hundred 
yokes  of  oxen,  drew  the  academy  more  than  a  mile 
out  of  town  into  the  woods  and  broke  up  the  school! 

Our  young  friend  finished  his  preparatory  studies 
at  the  Wilbraham  Academy,  and  in  1837  entered  the 

'  From  the  Ohio  Encycloijsedia. 


666 


HISTOKY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Wesleyan  University,  Middletown,  Conn.,  where  he 
was  graduated  in  1841,  and  received  the  degree  of 
Master  of  Arts  in  1844.  In  1859  he  received  the 
honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  the  Wes- 
leyan University  at  Delaware,  Ohio.  While  in  col- 
lege he  paid  his  expenses  by  teaching  and  lecturing 
winters.  He  was  one  of  the  first  anti-slavery  lec- 
turers in  Connecticut,  and  in  New  Haven  County 
was  mobbed  repeatedly  while  delivering  lectures 
against  slavery.  He  aided  the  ladies  in  organizing 
the  First  Anti-Slavery  Fair  at  Hartford,  Conn.,  and 
published  for  that  occasion  "Freedom's  Gift,"  an 
annual  of  anti-slaverj^  poems  and  prose.  The  great 
anti-slavery  struggle  reached  its  height  as  he  came 
to  his  manhood,  and  he  did  valiant  service  in  the 
good  cause,  and  was  a  pioneer  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  this  grand  conflict.  In  1842  he 
was  principal  of  Ellington  School,  Connecticut;  in 
1843,  principal  of  Middletown  High  School.  In 
1844  he  joined  the  New  England  Conference  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  was  stationed  at 
Springfield,  Mass.;  in  1846  he  was  stationed  at 
Worcester,  Mass. 

During  the  next  five  years  Mr.  Rust  passed 
through  one  of  the  most  interesting  periods  of  his 
life.  He  originated  and  published  the  "American 
Pulpit,"  was  transferred  to  the  New  Hampshire  Con- 
ference, was  principal  of  the  New  Hampshire  Con- 
ference Seminary  and  Female  College,  and  was 
elected  State  Commissioner  of  Common  Schools  for 
New  Hampshire  for  three  years.  He  delivered  pop- 
ular lectures  on  education  all  over  the  State,  awa- 
kened the  deepest  interest  in  the  schools,  assailed 
with  wit,  sarcasm  and  invectives  the  miserable  old 
school-houses,  and  did  a  grand  work  in  introducing 
into  New  Hampshire  good  school-houses,  teachers' 
institutes  and  an  improved  system  of  common-school 
education. 

In  1859  Dr.  Rust  was  transferred  from  the  scenes 
of  his  early  struggles  and  triumphs  to  the  Cincinnati 
Conference.  The  name  and  character  of  the  man 
preceded  him  in  the  West,  and  he  was  at  once  wel- 
comed to  active  service  in  the  leading  enterprises  of 
the  church.  He  was  four  years  president  of  the  Wil- 
berforce  University,  at  Xenia,  Ohio,  after  which  he 
became  pastor  of  Morris  Chapel,  Cincinnati,  where 
he  was  elected  president  of  the  Wesleyan  Female 
College,  Cincinnati,  where  he  remained  until  the  old 
college  was  sold  and  vacated,  and  the  school  was 
suspended  until  the  new  college  could  be  erected. 
He  was  corresponding  secretary  of  the  Western 
Freedmen's  Aid  Commission,  and  in  connection  with 
Bishops  Clark  and  Walden,  aided  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Freedmeii's  Aid  Society  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  and  for  the  last  twenty  years  has 
been  its  corresponding  secretary,  and  has  discharged 
its  duties  with  such  marked  efficiency  and  ability  as 
to  meet  the  highest  commendation  of  the  whole 
church.     The   society   under   the   administration   of 


Dr.  Rust,  has  established  and  sustained  in  central 
locations  in  the  South  thirty  institutions  of  learning, 
styled  seminaries,  colleges  or  universities,  for  the 
training  of  teachers  and  preachers  for  the  elevation 
of  this  long-neglected  race,  so  lately  admitted  to  all 
the  rights  and  duties  of  American  citizens.  For  the 
successful  management  of  this  important  educational 
work,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  by  his  deep,  long, 
life  interest  in  this  people,  his  attainments  as  a 
scholar,  his  previous  experience  as  an  educator  and 
shrewd  business  habits,  was  pre-eminently  fitted,  and 
the  results  achieved  by  this  society  have  exceeded 
the  highest  anticipations  of  its  friends. 

Dr.  Rust  was  successful  as  a  pastor,  a  fine  writer 
and  an  impressive  preacher ;  pre-eminent  as  an  edu- 
cator, possessing  great  power  over  the  young  of  awa- 
kening them  to  high  and  noble  purj^ose ;  and  there 
are  but  few  men  in  this  country  who  have  aided  in 
educating  so  many  of  her  youth  who  now  fill  impor- 
tant positions  in  society  and  wield  so  great  influence 
for  Christ  and  the  right.  In  his  boyhood  he  espoused 
the  cause  of  the  slave,  labored  for  his  emancipation, 
and  his  mature  life,  attainments  and  ample  means 
are  consecrated  t6  the  preparation  of  this  emanci- 
pated people  for  the  appropriate  discharge  of  the 
important  duties  imposed  upon  them  by  freedom,  so 
that  liberty  may  prove  a  blessing  rather  than  a  curt'e 
to  them.  As  a  Christian  philanthropist,  he  has  done 
his  noblest  work,  and  for  this  by  a  grateful  people 
he  will  be  held  in  remembrance. 

The  society  is  now,  under  the  supervision  of  Dr. 
Rust,  establishing  a  system  of  schools  for  the  benefit 
of  whites  similar  to  what  it  has  done  for  the  colored 
people.  Little  Rock  and  Chattanooga  Universities 
and  ten  seminaries  as  feeders  have  been  established 
and  superintended  by  the  Freedman's  Aid  Society, 
and  the  venerable  Dr.  Rust  still  remains  as  the 
efiicient  administrator  of  its  affairs. 


COL.   YORICK   G.   HURD,  M.D. 

Col.  Hurd  was  the  eldest  son  of  Col.  Smith  and 
Mehitable  (Emerson)  Hurd,  and  was  born  in  Lemps- 
ter,  Sullivan  County,  N.  H.,  February  17,  1827. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  settlement  of  the  town  of 
Lempster,  Uzzel  (or  "Squire,"  as  he  was  best  known) 
and  his  brother,  Shubael  Hurd,  made  settlement. 

Shubael  and  his  wife  coming  on  horseback  from 
Connecticut  to  the  farm,  which  is  still  retained  in  the 
family.  He  was  the  first  deacon  of  the  First  Congre- 
gational Church,  organized  November  13,  1781,  and 
was  widely  known  as  "  Deacon  Hurd." 

As  a  fruit  of  the  second  marriage  of  Deacon  Hurd 
with  Mrs.  Smith  {nee  Ames,  and  one  of  the  Fisher 
Ames  family),  two  sons  were  born,  viz:  Smith  and 
Justus  (physician). 

The  former  husband  of  Mrs.  Hurd  was  Robert 
Smith,  of  Pelerboro,  N.  H.  (a  brother  of  Judge  Jere- 
miah Smith),  to  whom  were  born  three  sons,  viz: 
Robert,  Stephen  and  Jesse  (physician)  Smith. 


# 


■^V  ^h'A.H.Riix.-hM 


J 


IPSWICH. 


667 


Col.  Smith  Hurd,  son  of  Shubael,  was  born  in 
Lempster,  N.  H.,  in  1804,  and  married  Mehitable 
Emerson. 

Col.  Hurd  died  in  March,  1877,  but  his  wife  is  still 
living,  at  the  age  of  eighty-three  and  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  good  health. 

Col.  Smith  Hurd  was  very  prominent  in  town 
affairs,  holding  various  offices  of  trust  and  responsi- 
bility with  marked  fidelity.  He  was  captain  of  a 
Volunteer  Eifle  Company,  which  had  quite  a  local 
reputation,  and  he  was  subsequently  colonel  of  the 
Twenty-seventh  Regiment,  New  Hampshire  Militia. 

Yorick  G.  Hurd,  M.D.,  the  eldest  son  of  Col.  Smith 
and  Mehitable  (Emerson)  Hurd,  was  eminently  a  self- 
made  man,  having  in  early  life  attended  the  District 
School,  when  three  months  of  winter  teaching  was 
made  to  suffice  for  the  year. 

After  one  fall  term  at  the  academy,  at  the  age  of 
seventeen  he  commenced  school  teaching,  working 
upon  the  farm  when  not  engaged  in  study. 

One  term  he  attended  the  Hancock  Literary  and 
Scientific  Institution,  and  was  then  employed  as  a 
teacher  at  Dublin,  N.  H.,  where  he  attracted  the  at- 
tention of  that  ripe  scholar.  Rev.  L.  W.  Leonard, 
D.D.,  who  invited  him  to  his  residence  for  study  and 
rendered  him  every  possible  assistance. 

By  the  advice  of  Dr.  Leonard  Mr.  Hurd  com- 
menced the  study  of  medicine  with  Dr.  Albert  Smith, 
of  Peterboro,  N.  H.,  professor  of  Materia  Medica 
and  Therapeutics  in  Dartmouth  College  March,  1850, 
teaching  the  public  Grammar  School  in  the  winter 
and  the  Pine  Grove  Academy  in  the  spring  and  au- 
tumn for  three  years,  attending  one  course  of  Medical 
Lectures  at  Woodstock,  Vt.,  and  two  courses  at  Dart- 
mouth, graduating  November,  1853,  proceeding  im- 
mediately to  Amesbury,  Essex  County,  Mass.,  where 
he  commenced  the  practice  of  medicine,  soon  secur- 
ing a  large  and  remunerative  practice. 

During  his  long  residence  here  he  was  for  several 
years  a  member  of  the  school  committee,  and  by  his 
constant  and  untiring  efforts  materially  aided  in  the 
establishment  of  the  present  high  state  of  efficiency 
and  success  of  the  public  schools  of  the  town. 

On  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War  the  military 
spirit,  inherited  from  his  father,  caused  him  to  enter 
fully  into  the  spirit  of  the  North,  and  in  September, 
1862,  he  was  appointed  post  surgeon  at  Camp  Lander, 
Wenham,  Mass.,  and  in  December  8th  following,  was 
appointed  surgeon  of  the  Forty-eighth  Regiment, 
Massachusetts  Volunteers,  following  its  fortunes  to 
New  Orleans,  where  he  was  assigned  to  the  First  Bri- 
gade, First  Division  of  the  Nineteenth  Army  Corps, 
where  he  remained  until  June  20, 1863,  when  by  order 
of  Gen.  Auger,  commanding  the  First  Division,  he 
was  detached  and  sent  to  Baton  Rouge,  La.,  in  charge 
of  the  division  hospitals,  and  sick  and  wounded  offi- 
cers in  quarters  about  Baton  Rouge. 

Returning  home  with  the  regiment  at  the  expiration 
of  its  term  of  service.  Dr.  Hurd  was  reported  to  Sur- 


geon General  Dale,  of  this  State,  as  being  the  best 
regimental  surgeon  in  the  division  ;  certain  it  is  that 
his  regiment  had  the  smallest  sick-list  and  the  fewest 
deaths  from  disease  of  any  in  the  corps  to  which  it 
was  attached. 

The  practice  of  his  profession  was  resumed  imme- 
diately on  his  return  from  the  service  of  his  country, 
and  the  various  and  responsible  official  positions  to 
which  he  was  successiveh^  chosen,  attest  to  the  high 
esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  community. 

In  1865  and  again  in  1866  he  was  chosen  a  member 
of  the  Massachusetts  Senate,  and  in  January,  1866, 
while  a  member  of  the  Senate,  was  appointed  super- 
intendent of  the  Essex  County  House  of  Correction 
and  Insane  Asylum  at  Ipswich. 

Immediately  upon  the  assumption  of  the  duties  of 
the  responsible  position  of  superintendent  of  the 
house  of  correction  he  instituted  such  reforms  in  its 
management  as  secured  a  state  of  quiet  and  good  order 
among  those  placed  in  his  charge  as  had  never  been 
known  in  the  previous  history  of  the  institution,  which 
by  his  even-tempered  management  he  was  able  to 
preserve  so  long  as  the  institution  was  under  his  su- 
pervision. 

His  management  of  the  insane  soon  attracted  at- 
tention, and  for  many  years  he  was  the  consulting 
authority  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  was  often 
called  in  the  courts  as  an  expert  in  insane  cases. 

Dr.  Hurd  continued  in  the  position  of  superintend- 
ent of  these  institutions  until  January,  1887,  resigning 
his  charge  at  the  close  of  a  service  of  twenty-one  years 

In  1867  he  was  appointed  medical  director  of  Divis- 
ion Ma-sachusetts  Volunteer  Militia,  with  the  rank  of 
colonel  on  the  staff"  of  Major  General  Benjamin  F. 
Butler,  serving  in  that  capacity  eight  years. 

In  1877  Bowdoin  College  conferred  upon  him  the 
honorary  degree  of  A,  M. 

In  April,  1874,  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the 
board  of  trustees  of  the  "  Manning  School  Fund," 
and  on  the  decease  of  its  president,  Otis  Kimball,  Esq. 
in  1878,  he  was  chosen  his  successor,  a  position  which 
he  still  retains. 

A  gentleman  whose  knowledge  of  the  care  of  this 
fund  is  not  to  be  questioned  says  of  Dr.  Hurd :  "  Dr. 
Hurd  brought  to  the  councils  of  the  board  rare 
advisory  and  executive  abilities,  and  has  ever  since 
discharged  the  duties  of  his  trust  with  intelligence 
and  fidelitJ^  Having  in  early  years  been  a  successful 
teacher,  he  has  by  his  experience  and  by  his  friendly 
advice  and  co-operation,  stimulated  and  encouraged 
the  teachers,  contributing  thereby  very  largely  to  the 
success  and  usefulness  of  the  school," 

In  1879  he  was  appointed  by  his  excellency,  Gov- 
ernor Long,  as  medical  examiner  for  the  Second  Essex 
District,  resigning  in  1883. 

He  is  at  the  present  time  a  trustee  of  the  Ipswich 
Savings  Bank  and  a  director  of  the  Ipswich  Gas-Light 
Company — offices  which  he  has  held  since  the  date 
of  the  charter  of  these  corporations. 


668 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Dr.  Hurd  was  married  to  Mary  Ann  Twitchell,  of 
Lempster,  N.  H.,  May  17,  1853,  who  died  October  8, 
1858.  He  was  married  again  November  5,  1861,  to 
Ruth  Ann  Brown,  of  Salisbury,  Mass.  They  have  no 
children  as  the  result  of  marriage,  but  adopted  one 
who  has  since  married  H.  K.  Dodge,  of  the  firm  of 
Dodge  «&  Spiller,  of  Ipswich. 


AVILLIAM  G.  BROWN. 

Says  an  old  philosopher  :  "  AH  men,  whatever  their 
condition,  who  have  done  anything  of  value,  ought  to 
record  the  history  of  their  lives."  Eventful  periods 
occur  at  rare  intervals  in  the  lives  of  men  the  most 
distinguished,  but  even  in  their  more  retired  walks  of 
private  life,  there  are  few  whose  lives  are  not  marked 
by  some  vicissitudes  of  fortune,  which,  however  triv- 
ial they  may  seem,  are  yet  sufficient  to  excite  great 
interest.  The  events  which  give  the  highest  interest 
to  biography  are  of  a  volatile  and  evanescent  nature, 
and  are  soon  forgotten.  It  is  the  part  of  the  biogra- 
pher to  collect  these  passing  events  and  fix  them  in- 
delibly on  the  page  of  history,  that  succeeding  gene- 
rations may  know  how  their  predecessors  lived,  what 
ideas  governed  them,  what  trials  and  difficulties  they 
encountered,  and  how  they  overcame  them,  and  even 
their  domestic  relations ;  for  all  these  teach  a  lesson  that 
will  be  serviceable,  by  pointing  out  what  paths  lead 
to  success  and  what  roads  are  to  be  avoided  as  lead- 
ing to  failure.  There  is  none  so  humble  that  his  life 
can  fail  to  be  an  object  of  interest  when  viewed  in  the 
right  light.  How  much  more  will  this  interest  be  en- 
hanced when  we  contemplate  the  life  of  a  man  who, 
by  his  own  heroic  struggles,  has  hewn  out  his  own 
pathway  to  success,  and  compelled  the  fates  to  grant 
him  his  reward.  Most  certainly  one,  who,  entirely 
by  his  own  effiirts,  has  attained  affluence  and  social 
position,  and  through  all  the  changing  events  of  life 
has  preserved  his  integrity  unimpaired,  is  well  de- 
serving of  the  pen  of  the  historian. 

William  Gray  Brown,  son  of  Jacob  and  Frances 
Quarles  Brown,  was  born  in  Ipswich,  January  27, 
1830.  His  parents  were  both  born  in  Ossipee,  N.  H., 
from  which  place  they  came  to  Ipswich,  and  made  a 
permanent  home.  They  had  six  children,  four  sons 
and  two  daughters.  Three  died  in  early  childhood. 
One  daughter,  Mary  F.,  a  young  girl  of  lovely  dispo- 
sition and  of  bright  promise,  died  in  1846  at  the  age 
of  fifteen  years. 

Jacob  Franklin,  the  eldest,  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools  of  Ipswich,  and  graduated  at  the  State 
Normal  School  at  Bridgewater,  Mass.  He  had  thus 
fitted  himself  to  be  an  instructor  of  youth,  and  de- 
voted his  whole  after-life  to  that  vocation.  He 
wrought  well  in  this  his  chosen  profession.  His 
knowledge  was  exact,  his  discipline  strict,  his  mode 
of  imparting  instruction  clear  and  precise,  and  he  soon 
gained  a  reputation  which  placed  him  in  the  front 
rank  of  able  instructors.      For  a  long  series  of  years 


he  taught  in  Salem,  Mass.,  and  just  prior  to  his  de- 
cease, April  26,  1877,  he  was  head  master  of  the  Brown 
School  in  that  city. 

Jacob  Brown,  the  father,  was  a  farmer,  and  in  ad- 
dition to  his  farming  did  considerable  teaming 
about  the  village.  William  G.  lived  with  him  and 
worked  for  him,  when  not  at  school,  and  at  an  early 
age  learned  the  need  of  industry  and  frugality,  a  les- 
son which  he  never  forgot  in  after  life.  His  educa- 
tional privileges  were  limited  to  the  schools  of  his 
native  town,  but  in  them  he  became  thoroughly 
grounded  in  the  elementary  principles  of  a  good  Eng- 
lish education. 

In  his  fifteenth  year  he  left  school,  and  from  that 
time  till  the  present  he  has  been  hard  at  work,  either 
for  his  father  or  for  himself.  At  the  time  the  first 
church  was  erected,  in  1846,  William  G.  Brown,  then 
a  mere  youth,  volunteered  to  assist  in  the  work,  and 
to  him  was  assigned  the  duty  of  drawing  the  lumber 
from  Salem,  and  for  six  consecutive  days  he  drew 
from  that  city  to  Ipswich  an  enormous  load  each  day, 
helping  to  load  and  unload,  and  taking  the  sole  care 
of  his  horses. 

"I  well  remember,"  said  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
"the  first  money  I  ever  earned.  It  was  ten  cents  paid 
me  by  Mr.  James  Fuller,  for  drawing  home  his  grist 
from  mill,  when  I  was  nine  years  old.  The  next  was 
thirty  cents  earned  in  planting."  These  sums  were 
not  spent  for  notions,  so  dear  to  the  boyish  heart,  but 
were  deposited  on  interest,  and  have  never  been  dis- 
turbed. To  this  principle  of  economy  and  the  habit 
of  saving  and  making  money  may  be  attributed  much 
of  his  subsequent  success.  Hard  work,  prudence  and 
foresight  were  the  foundation-stones  upon  which  he 
reared  the  superstructure  of  a  successful  business 
career.  At  the  age  of  eleven  years  he  commenced 
the  sale  of  pastry,  made  by  his  mother,  to  the  passen- 
gers on  the  trains  that  stopped  near  his  father's  house 
for  water.  One-half  the  money  he  gave  to  his  mother, 
the  other  half  was  carefully  saved  and  put  away.  At 
the  age  of  eighteen  his  father  gave  him  "his  time," 
and  he  began  life  on  his  own  account,  supporting  him- 
self and  every  year  adding  something  to  his  store. 
With  i-ovae  of  the  money  he  had  earned  in  his  various 
youthful  business  ventures  he  purchased  a  pair  of 
horses  and  commenced,  in  a  small  way,  the  business 
of  teaming  and  the  letting  of  horses. 

With  a  steadfast  resolution  not  to  go  beyond  his 
means,  he  worked  until  the  increase  of  his  business 
obliged  him  to  add  to  his  facilities,  by  purchasing 
more  horses  and  by  employing  men  to  do  what  he 
himself  could  not  do.  His  father  was  a  pioneer  in 
the  ice  business,  and  among  the  first  who  brought 
coal  (Anthracite)  into  Ipswich.  Both  the  ice  busi- 
ness and  coal  business  were  then  small,  the  markets 
being  limited. 

For  many  years  he  was  the  sole  dealer  in  ice  and 
coal.  Jacob  Brown  died  in  1863,  and  his  son  William 
G.  succeeded  to  the  business,  and  since  that  time  he 


m 


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IPSWICH. 


669 


has  constantly  and  continuously  increased  it.  By 
close  application  to  the  principles  laid  down  and  the 
habits  formed  in  early  life,  by  constant  and  untiring 
labor,  and  by  prompt  attention  to  the  necessities  of 
the  hour,  he  has  established  the  most  varied  and  the 
most  extensive  business  in  his  native  town.  He  deals 
in  ice,  cutting  and  storing  annually  about  four  thou- 
sand tons.  He  deals  extensively  in  coal,  handling 
from  six  to  seven  thousand  tons  every  year,  most  of 
which  is  sold  at  retail.  He  still  retains  the  farm 
where  his  father  lived  and  where  he  was  born,  and 
carries  it  on.  He  is  the  owner  of  the  ''Agawam 
House,"  a  famous  Ipswich  hostelry.  This  house  he 
has  thoroughly  repaired,  renovated  and  enlarged,  so 
that  to-day  it  is  an  ornament  to  the  town  and  a  con- 
venient and  agreeable  stopping-place  for  its  guests. 

At  the  stable  in  the  rear  of  this  house  he  conducts 
an  extensive  livery  business.  He  employs  many  men 
in  his  various  business  operations.  He  is  a  large 
owner  of  real  estate  which  brings  him  a  good  rental 
every  month,  and  is  the  largest  individual  tax-payer 
in  the  town.  By  steady  application,  prompt  decision, 
sound  judgment,  and  carefully  looking  after  every- 
thing personally,  he  has  made  all  his  business  ventures 
profitable.  He  married  Elizabeth  M.  Cogswell, 
daughter  of  Ebenezer  and  Elizabeth  B.,  January  12, 
1853. 

Mrs.  Brown  proved  a  true  help-meet  to  her  hus- 
band. She  is  a  bright  clear-headed  woman.  Pos- 
sessing both  business  tact  and  energy,  she  has  ably  as- 
sisted her  husband  by  her  advice  and  counsel,  and 
with  a  capacity  for  business  possessed  by  few  women, 
she  has  made  herself  familiar  with  the  immense  busi- 
ness of  her  husband,  and  thus  has  been  able  to  advise 
him  intelligently.  She  is  a  woman  of  intellect,  taste 
and  judgment,  she  is  vivacious  and  sociable,  fond  of 
her  home,  and  a  capital  manager  of  her  household. 

William  G.  Brown  has  a  generous,  charitable  dis- 
position, free  from  every  miserly  taint.  His  hand  is 
ever  ready,  and  his  purse  ever  open  to  assist  and  aid 
any  one  in  suffering  or  want.  He  is  never  a  harsh 
creditor,  but  always  ready  to  extend  to  the  deserving 
all  possible  leniency.  His  manners  are  kind  and  af- 
fable. He  has  never  sought  or  accepted  any  official 
position,  although  repeatedly  urged  so  to  do  by  his 
fellow-townsmen,  preferring  to  give  his  whole  time  to 
the  interests  of  his  constantly  increasing  business. 

He  enjoys  the  confidence  and  respect  of  the  com- 
munity in  which  he  dwells,  and  is  recognized  as  a 
representative  business  man  and  a  prominent  factor 
in  the  growth  and  prosj^erity  of  his  native  town. 


ship  "Planter,"  and  settled  in  Ipswich  in  1635,  where 
he  died  in  1675,  aged  sixty-five  years.  His  youngest 
son  Timothy,  born  1653  and  died  1719,  married  Dor- 
othy   ,  by  whom  he  had  Patience,  born 

March  28,  1682;  Stephen,  born  June  15,  1684;  Allan, 
born  March  1,  1688;  and  Joseph,  born  June  3,  1695. 

Stephen  died  1725,  leaving  a  son  Allan,  born  1718, 
who  died  1804,  leaving  a  son  Allan,  born  1763,  who 
died  1843.  He  left  a  son  Abraham,  born  1793,  who 
died  1861,  who  was  the  father  of  David,  the  subject 
of  this  sketch. 

Abraham  Perley  was  a  farmer  and  dealer  in  cattle. 
He  lived  in  Linebrook  Parish,  where  he  owned  a  large 
farm,  and  carried  on  an  extensive  business.  David 
was  educated  in  the  jmblic  schools  and  at  Topsfield 
and  Dummer  Academies.  He  succeeded  to  his  fa- 
ther's business,  and  owns  the  largest  and  best  con- 
ducted farms  in  the  western  part  of  the  town. 

He  married  first  Sophronia  0.  Plummer,  of  New- 
bury, June  12, 1851,  by  whom  he  had  one  child,  Oscar 
Wentworth,  born  March  3,  1853,  who  now  resides  in 
Lincoln,  Nebraska.  Mr.  Perley's  first  wife  died 
March  14,  1853.  His  second  wife  was  Abigail  Kent 
Stevens,  of  West  Newbury,  whom  he  married  May 
16,  1861.     They  had  three  children,  namely  : 

David  Sidney,  born  February  21, 1862.  He  married 
Annie  L.  Hart,  of  Ipswich,  February  21,  1887,  and 
resides  on  the  old  homestead  with  his  father. 

Eoscoe  Damon,  born  August  11,  1864.  He  fitted 
for  college  at  the  Jpswich  High  School  and  Dummer 
Academy,  and  entered  Dartmouth  College  at  the  fall 
term.  1887. 

Carrie  S.,  born  October  18,  1865,  She  graduated 
from  the  Ipswich  High  School  in  the  class  of  1885. 

The  mother  of  these  children  died  June  19,  1879, 
aged  fifty-three  years.  He  married  Lizzie,  daughter 
of  Nathaniel  H.  Lavalette,  of  Ipswich,  October  18, 
1880,  by  whom  he  has  had  three  children,  viz :  Ches- 
ter C,  born  November  13,  1881 ;  Mabel  A.,  born  Au- 
gust 19,  1883;  Bertha  C,  born  December  18,  1886. 

Mr.  Perley  has  never  sought  or  held  any  public 
office,  but  has  devoted  himself  entirely  to  his  business 
and  has  been  very  successful,  both  as  a  farmer  and 
dealer  in  cattle. 


DAVID   TULLAR   PERLEY. 

David  Tullar  Perley  ^  was  born  in  Linebrook  Par- 
ish in  Ipswich,  January  17,  1824.  He  is  of  Puritan 
stock  and  a  descendant  in  the  seventh  generation 
from  Allan   Perley,  who  came  from  London  in   the 

1  By  C.  A.  Say  ward. 


COLONEL   NATHANIEL   SHATSWELL. 

Colonel  Nathaniel  Shatswell  was  born  in  Ipswich, 
Essex  County,  Mass.,  November  26,  1834.  He  was 
the  son  of  John  Shatswell  and  Anne  Shatswell  7iee 
Lord.  The  name  of  his  grandfather  was  Moses 
Shatswell,  that  of  his  grandmother  Sarah  Lord.  His 
ancestors  came  from  England  in  1634,  settling  in  Ips- 
wich on  High  Street,  building  the  old  homestead, 
still  owned  by  him.  Here  they  have  always  lived,  a 
sturdy  race  of  thrifty  farmers  distinguished  for  their 
pluck  and  indomitable  energy.  All  seem  to  have 
been  imbued  with  a  military  spirit  and  each  genera- 
tion furnished  its  soldier.  In  all  the  campaigns  and 
wars  which  the  earlier  settlers  waged  against  the  In- 


670 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


dians  the  name  of  Shatswell  appears  among  the 
troops.  The  great-grandfather  of  Colonel  Shatswell 
served  with  distinction  in  the  American  army  during 
the  Revolution.  John  Shatswell,  his  father,  was 
captain  of  the  Ipswich  troop,  a  cavalry  company  at- 
tached to  General  Low's  brigade  of  the  militia  of 
Essex  County.  The  early  life  of  Colonel  Shatswell 
was  passed  on  his  father's  farm,  and  did  not  differ 
from  that  of  every  farmer's  son — working  on  the  farm 
in  the  summer,  attending  school  in  the  winter.  He 
received  the  rudiments  of  his  education  at  home 
under  the  instruction  of  his  mother  and  afterwards 
was  sent  to  "the  old  Pudding  Street  School" 
under  the  famous  master,  Jonathan  Pressey.  Sub- 
sequently, he  attended  the  Latin  grammar  school. 
Leaving  school,  he  remained  with  his  father  at  work 
on  the  farm  until  the  spring  of  1855,  when  becoming 
a  little  tired  of  farming  life  and  with  the  resistless 
curiosity  of  an  energetic  young  man,  wishing  to  see 
something  of  the  world  beyond  the  limits  of  his  native 
village,  he  went  to  East  Boston  to  live.  Here  he 
found  employment  in  a  planing-mill  and  remained 
two  years.  The  old  Shatswell  military  spirit  began 
to  stir  within  him,  and  in  December,  1855,  he  joined 
the  old  Boston  Fusiliers  and  continued  his  member- 
ship with  this  company  until  the  breaking  out  of  the 
War  of  the  Rebellion.  In  the  spring  of  1857  he  re- 
turned to  Ipswich  and  since  that  time  has  resided, 
with  the  exception  of  the  years  spent  in  the  service  of 
the  United  States,  at  the  old  homestead  on  High 
Street.  During  the  lifetime  of  his  father  he  assisted 
him  in  the  management  of  the  farm  and  since  his 
decease  has  had  the  exclusive  control  of  it.  When 
in  April,  1861,  news  came  that  Sumter  had  been  fired 
upon  and  war  began  the  great  tidal  wave  of  patriot- 
ism that  swept  over  the  country  reached  Ipswich,  and 
the  historic  old  town  not  unmindful  of  her  ancient 
renown  at  once  proceeded  to  enlist  and  organize  a 
company.  Nathaniel  Shatswell  was  one  of  the  first 
to  enlist  and  was  chosen  first  lieutenant  and  commis- 
sioned May  14,  1861,  by  Governor  John  A.  Andrew. 
June  24th  the  company  left  Ij^swich  for  Fort  Warren, 
Boston  Harbor,  to  join  the  Fourteenth  Regiment 
Massachusetts  Infantry.  On  July  5th  the  company 
was  mustered  into  the  service  of  the  United  States, 
and  Lieutenant  Shatswell  was  commissioned  captain. 
The  regiment  remained  at  Fort  Warren,  drilling  and 
learning  the  duties  of  a  soldier,  until  August  4,  1861, 
when  it  was  transferred  to  Washington,  and  went 
into  camp  at  Kaloraraa.  On  the  12th  of  August  the 
regiment  was  ordered  to  Fort  Albany,  across  Long 
Bridge  on  the  south  side  of  the  Potomac.  Here  it 
remained  two  years,  doing  duty  in  the  fortifications 
around  Washington,  and  guarding  Long  Bridge  and 
other  bridges  across  the  Potomac.  January  1,  1862, 
the  regiment,  by  orders  from  the  War  Department, 
was  changed  from  an  infantry  to  a  heavy  artillery 
regiment,  two  additional  companies  were  enlisted  and 
the  regiment  was  recruited  to  its  maximum  strength 


and  was  known  as  the  First  Regiment  Massachu- 
setts Heavy  Artillery.  In  August,  1862,  when  General 
Banks  was  retreating  down  the  Shenandoah  Valley  the 
regiment  was  hurried  to  the  front  and  at  Fairfax  Court- 
House,  Va.,  met  the  Union  army  in  full  retreat.  Cap- 
tain Shatswell  led  the  advance.  Halting  his  men  across 
the  turnpike  he  afforded  an  opportunity  for  the  tired 
Union  troops  to  reform  in  his  rear  and  boldly  charging 
with  his  own  men  he  checked  the  advance  of  the 
enemy,  and  after  a  sharp  skirmish  saved  a  battery 
from  capture  which  becoming  demoralized  early  in 
the  day,  deserted  their  guns  as  soon  as  halted  by 
the  skirmish  line.  As  a  reward  for  these  services  the 
guns  were  assigned  to  the  companies  under  the  com- 
mand of  Captain  Shatswell.  Captain  Shatswell  was 
commissioned  major  December  31,  1862,  and  for 
the  next  year  he  was  with  his  regiment  continu- 
ously, building  roads,  guarding  bridges,  doing 
picket  duty,  drilling  and  exercising  his  men  and 
making  it  one  of  the  best  disciplined  and  drilled 
regiments  in  the  army.  Returning  to  the  forti- 
fications around  Washington  Major  Shatswell  re- 
mained until  May  15,  1864,  when  the  regiment  was 
ordered  to  the  front,  and  started  at  once  from  Alex- 
andria, Va.,  for  Belle  Plain  with  its  full  complement 
of  twelve  companies  and  each  company  with  full 
ranks,  marching  from  Belle  Plain  by  way  of  Frede- 
ricksburg, May  18,  1864,  it  reported  to  General 
Meade  near  Spotsylvania.  General  Meade  assigned 
the  regiment  to  General  R.  0.  Tyler's  division  of 
heavy  artillery,  placing  its  Colonel,  Thomas  R.  Fan- 
nalt,  in  command  of  the  brigade.  May  19th  the 
brigade  while  supporting  a  battery  on  the  extreme 
right  of  the  Union  lines.was  exposed  to  a  terrible  fire 
from  the  rebel  troops.  Leading  the  advance  Major 
Shatswell's  regiment  was  engaged  with  Rhode's  divi- 
sion of  General  Ewell's  Corps.  At  the  first  fire  the 
senior  major  of  the  regiment  was  killed  and  the  com- 
mand devolved  upon  Major  Shatswell  who,  from  that 
time  till  the  close  of  the  war,  commanded  the  regi- 
ment. All  through  the  terrible  fight  of  that  day 
Major  Shatswell  held  the  enemy  in  check  until  they 
were  finally  repulsed,  and  the  supply  train  of  Gene- 
ral Grant,  which  was  the  objective  point  of  General 
Ewell,  was  saved.  In  this  engagement  the  regiment 
lost  ninety-one  killed  and  three  hundred  and  four 
wounded.  Major  Shatswell  was  severely  wounded  in 
the  head  by  a  minnie  ball  which  partially  stunned 
him.  He  was  taken  to  the  rear,  and  his  wound  was 
dressed.  Recovering  consciousness  he  returned  to 
the  command  of  his  regiment  and  remained  until  the 
retreat  of  the  rebels  at  dark  gave  him  an  opportunity 
for  rest.  On  the  2d  and  3d  of  June,  the  major  was 
engaged  at  Cold  Harbor,  successfully  repelling  five 
attacks  made  by  the  rebels  on  the  regimental  line  of 
breast- works. 

Crossing  the  James  River  on  June  14th,  Major 
Shatswell  arrived  at  Petersburg  in  time  to  engage  in 
the   night   attack    on   the  rebel    works   June    16th  ; 


IPSWICH. 


671 


during  this  engagement  liis  sword  was  shot  away 
from  his  side.  On  June  18th,  the  major  was  or- 
dered to  charge  the  rebel  lines  in  front  of  him. 
Driving  in  their  picket-line  he  charged  with  his 
whole  regiment,  the  enemy  drawn  up  behind  a  sunken 
road,  and  succeeded  in  driving  them  from  their  posi- 
tion. While  leading  this  charge  Major  Shatswell  was 
struck  in  the  side  by  a  minnie  ball,  which  prostrated 
him  to  the  ground.  Quickly  regaining  his  horse,  he 
continued  to  lead  his  men.  After  the  enemy  had 
been  driven  from  his  position  the  major  examined 
his  side  and  discovered  what  a  narrow  escape  he  had 
had.  He  found  in  the  pocket  of  his  blouse  a  small 
book  tilled  with  papers  and  orders  through  which  the 
ball  had  penetrated,  lodging  in  the  cover  of  the  book 
against  his  side.  The  colonel  has  the  book,  papers 
and  ball  now  in  his  possession.  June  22d,  while 
division  officer  of  the  day  he  was  ordered  to  examine 
carei'ully  the  ground  in  front  of  his  lines  and  ascer- 
tain if  it  was  practicable  to  advance  the  picket  line. 
He  reported  that  it  was  practicable  to  advance  a 
short  distance.  Eeceiving  orders  to  advance  five 
hundred  yards  he  endeavored  to  carry  out  the  orders. 
While  doing  this  the  rebels  attacked  his  flank  with 
three  lines  in  echelon  and  drove  him  back.  Many  of 
his  men  were  captured  and  he  himself  was  only  saved 
by  the  cover  of  a  friendly  thicket.  At  one  time  the 
rebel  line  passed  all  around  him  and  he  was  nearly 
certain  of  being  captured.  Keeping  closely  under 
cover  he  remained  concealed  from  nine  o'clock  in  the 
morning  until  dark,  when  he  succeeded  in  gaining  the 
Union  lines. 

July  27th,  the  major  led  an  attack  at  Deep  Bottom, 
charging  across  an  open  field  and  relieving  a  battery. 
August  15th  and  16th  he  was  engaged  in  another 
battle  at  Deep  Bottom.  August  25th  he  was  fighting 
on  the  Weldon  Railroad.  From  that  time  till  Octo- 
ber he  was  in  fort  Alec  Hays  in  front  of  Peters- 
burg. He  was  at  the  battle  of  Poplar  Spring  Church, 
October  2d,  in  which  his  regiment  lost  heavily  in 
killed  and  wounded.  The  battle  at  Boydton  Plank 
Road,  October  27th,  was  one  of  the  most  desperate 
of  all  the  battles  in  which  the  colonel  was  engaged. 
The  whole  corps  was  cut  oflf"  from  the  rest  of  the 
army,  and  so  near  were  the  combatants  to  each  other 
that  each  side  alternately  drew  men  through  the 
fence  that  separated  the  two  opposing  forces,  and 
made  prisoners  of  them.  In  this  battle  the  colonel 
performed  one  of  the  most  difficult  tactical  move- 
ments which  is  ever  attempted,  and  then  only  under 
the  pressure  of  dire  necessity,  that  is,  to  change  front 
in  line  of  battle  while  under  fire.  The  colonel  with 
keen  military  sagacity  seized  just  the  right  moment 
to  irisue  the  necessary  orders,  which  were  jjromptly 
executed,  and  the  movement  was  a  success,  the  rebel 
assault  repulsed  and  the  day  won.  Until  the  middle 
of  December  the  colonel,  with  his  regiment,  was  in 
the  field  continuously  and  constantly  under  fire. 
January  27,  1865,  Major  Shalswell  was  commissioned 


lieutenant-colonel  and   the   next   day   received   his 
commission  as  colonel. 

In  January,  in  consequence  of  a  cold,  contracted 
in  a  raid  on  the  Weldon  Railroad,  which  brought  on 
a  serious  attack  of  rheumatism.  Colonel  Shatswell  was 
granted  leave  of  absence  for  sixty  days,  and  came  to 
Ipswich.  He  again  reported  for  duty  March,  5,  1865, 
and  never  left  the  regiment  again  until  the  expiration 
of  its  term  of  service.  The  rebels  charged  the  Union 
lines  for  the  last  time  March  25th.  After  that,  until 
the  surrender  of  General  Lee  at  Appomatox,  Colonel 
Shatswell  was  engaged  in  one  continuous  skirmish, 
closely  following  the  retreating  forces  of  General 
Lee,  and  was  present  when  that  general  surrendered. 
Major  Shatswell  was  breveted  lieutenant-colonel  and 
colonel  for  meritorious  conduct  on  the  field.  Colonel 
Shatswell  was  mustered  out,  with  his  regiment,  at 
Washington,  August  16,  1865,  and  soon  after  re- 
turned to  Ipswich,  where  he  immediately  resumed 
the  occupation  of  farming.  In  April,  1869,  Colonel 
Shatswell  was  appointed  assistant  superintendent  of 
insane  at  the  county  institution,  situated  in  Ipswich, 
and  continues  to  hold  that  position  at  the  present 
time. 

In  1883  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  board  of 
selectmen  for  the  town  of  Ipswich  and  re-elected  in 
1884  and  1885.  Colonel  Shatswell  is  a  member  of 
John  T.  Heard  Lodge,  of  F.  &  A.  M.,  of  which  lodge 
he  was  W.  M.  five  years.  He  is  also  a  member  of 
Washington  Royal  Arch  Chapter  and  Winslow 
Lewis  Commandery  of  Knight  Templars,  of  Salem 
He  is  an  active  member  of  General  James  Appleton 
Post  G.  A.  R.  Colonel  Shatswell  was  married,  June 
15,  1861,  to  Mary  White  Stone,  and  has  two  daughters, 
Fannie  W.  and  Annis  L.  Shatswell.  Colonel  Shats- 
well is  a  man  of  indomitable  will,  cool,  firm  and  with 
a  wonderful  powder  of  commanding  men. 

With  steady  courage,  undismayed  by  repulse  or 
defeat,  under  fire  he  never  faltered,  but  was  as  calm 
and  undisturbed  as  on  dress  parade.  He  carried 
the  same  characteristics  into  civil  life.  In  the  admin- 
istration of  affairs  of  the  town  and  in  his  position  as 
assistant  superintendent  of  the  county  insane  he  was 
and  is  an  able  executive  officer,  far-seeing,  skillful 
and  well  versed  in  the  requirements  of  his  position. 
Steady  in  his  private  attachments,  his  affection  is 
warm  and  sincere ;  open  and  social  in  his  temper,  his 
generosity  is  limited  only  by  his  means;  with  a  lively 
and  delicate  sense  of  honor,  neither  public  trust  or 
private  interest  was  ever  betrayed  by  him.  Intel- 
lectually strong  and  vigorous,  he  weighs  carefully 
every  matter,  and  is  firm  and  tenacious  in  his  opinions 
without  obstinacy.  He  was  a  brilliant  soldier,  and 
he  is  an  exemplary  private  citizen.  Modest,  quiet 
and  unassuming  in  his  demeanor,  he  has  shown  him- 
self capable  and  efficient  in  every  position  he  has 
been  called  upon  to  fill.  In  politics  he  is  a  staunch 
Republican  without  being  a  bitter  partisan.  In 
stature  the  colonel  is  rising  six  feet,  his  frame  of 


672 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


body  is  remarkably  robust,  and  his  physical  strength 
fully  developed. 

JAMES   PEATFIELD. 

James  Peatfield  was  born  in  1804,  at  Arnold,  a 
small  town  three  miles  from  Nottingham,  England. 
He  was  the  son  of  Joseph  Peatfield,  a  man  somewhat 
remarkable  in  his  day.  He  was  a  bleacher  by  occu- 
pation, and  carried  on  an  extensive  bleachery  works 
at  Arnold,  doing  work  for  the  Nottingham  spinners. 
Afterwards  he  came  to  the  United  States  and  was  one 
of  the  first  to  engage  in  buying  coal  lands  in  Penn- 
sylvania, having  firm  faith  in  the  enormous  coal-fields 
that  were  just  then  beginning  to  attract  the  attention 
of  miners  and  capitalists.  Mr.  Peatfield  did  not  live 
to  realize  the  full  extent  of  the  immense  resources  of 
the  Pennsylvania  mines,  or  to  see  this  gigantic  in- 
dustry assume  the  controlling  interest  in  the  United 
States.  He  did  acquire  a  competency  by  his  mining 
operations,  and  died  at  a  ripe  old  age  in  St.  Clair, 
Pennsylvania,  where  his  remains  now  lie  buried. 
Joseph  Peatfield  married  Jane  Spenser.  She  bore 
him  five  children, — Jamea  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 
Mary  afterwards  married  to  Jabez  Mann,  Sandford, 
Joseph  and  John,  all  of  whom  came  to  the  United 
States  and  settled  at  Ipswich.  James  Peatfield  se- 
cured his  early  education  at  home,  under  his  mother, 
and  afterwards  in  the  schools  at  Bulwell  and  Three 
Knights  Bridge. 

Playing  as  a  boy  or  helping  in  his  father's  bleachery 
he  early  became  familiar  with  machinery,  and  readily 
understood  the  principles  which  govern  its  construc- 
tion. He,  when  a  mere  youth,  showed  a  strong  pre- 
dilection lor  mathematics,  and  even  to  this  day  has 
a  strong  love  for  them.  He  was  bound  as  an  appren- 
tice to  John  Atherly,  of  Arnold,  with  whom  he  re- 
mained until  his  "  coming  of  age,"  and  thoroughly 
learned  the  building  of  lace  and  woolen  machinery.  In 
July,  1827,  he  came  to  the  United  States,  lauding  in 
New  York  city.  That  same  month  he  journeyed  to 
Ipswich,  where  he  took  up  his  residence,  and  has  re- 
mained in  this  town  ever  since  his  first  arrival.  At 
this  time  the  manufacture  of  lace  was  receiving  much 
attention  in  this  country,  and  at  Ipswich  were  two 
factories  wherein  lace  was  manufactured,  one  situated 
on  Hight  Street  and  owned  by  the  late  Dr.  Thomas 
Manning,  and  is  the  present  mansion-house  of  Joseph 
Ross,  Esq.  ;  the  other  was  situated  on  what  is  now 
known  as  County  Street,  and  is  now  used  by  S.  F. 
Canney  as  a  factory  for  the  manufacture  of  boxes  and 
as  a  planing  mill.  This  latter  was  owned  and  oper- 
ated by  the  Heards.  When  James  Peatfield  came  to 
Ipswich  he  at  once  entered  the  emj)loy  of  the  Heards, 
as  machinist.  He  found  the  machinery  then  in 
use  old  and  imperfect.  All  the  machines  had  been 
brought  from  England  and  had  been  in  use  for  a  long 
time.  Mr.  Peatfield  immediately  went  to  work  to  re- 
pair these  machines  and  to  make  improvements,  and 
finally  built  a  new  machine,  which  was  one  of  the 


first  lace  machines  made  in  this  country.  This  ma- 
chine did  the  work  so  much  better  than  the  old  ma- 
chine, and  with  a  large  increase  in  its  productive 
power  that  the  business  rapidly  increased  and  bid 
fair  to  become  one  of  the  leading  industries  of  the 
country.  Afterwards  a  heavy  tarifl'was  laid  on  the  raw 
material  out  of  which  the  lace  was  manufactured,  and 
this  industry  began  to  languish  and  at  length  died 
out  entirely.  Mr.  Peatfield  then  turned  his  attention 
to  other  fields  of  manufactures,  and  in  1839  he  in- 
vented and  built  a  warp  machine,  and  began  the 
manufacture  of  woolen  underclothing.  This  was  the 
beginning  of  that  immense  business,  the  manufacture 
of  woolens,  which  at  the  present  time  gives  employ- 
ment to  many  thousands  of  workmen  and  millions  of 
capital,  and  to  James  Peatfield  belongs  the  honor  of 
being  the  first  person  to  manufacture  woolen  under- 
clothing in  the  United  States.  The  goods  were  man- 
ufactured in  the  lace  factory  of  the  Heards',  the  lace 
machinery  was  removed  and  warp  machines  put  in 
their  place.  The  Ipswich  River  afforded  ample 
water  power  to  run  the  machinery,  and  the  business 
was  very  successful.  A  ready  sale  was  found  for  all 
the  goods  that  could  be  manufactured.  This  mill 
continued  to  make  woolen  goods  under  the  management 
of  James  Peatfield  until  the  Heards  moved  into  the 
stone  mill  farther  up  the  river,  where  was  greater 
water-power  and  increased  facilities  for  manufactur- 
ing. Mr.  Peatfield  was  transferred  to  this  mill  and 
continued  here  for  several  years,  making,  repairing 
and  improving  machinery.  He  devoted  his  time  es- 
pecially to  the  loom  department.  In  1842,  in  com- 
pany with  his  brother  Sandford,  he  built  the  brick 
mill  on  Washington  Street,  near  the  Boston  and 
Maine  Railroad  Station,  and  continued  the  manufac- 
ture of  woolen  goods,  hosiery  and  underclothing  until 
1877,  when  he  retired  from  active  labor  in  the  mill 
to  the  quiet  enjoyments  of  rural  life.  Mr.  Peatfield 
always  had  a  great  fondness  and  aptness  for  mathe- 
matical studies,  and  has  pursued  them  into  the  higher 
branches  of  pure  mathematics,  and  even  to  this  day, 
at  the  age  of  more  than  four-score  years,  nothing 
pleases  him  more  than  to  find  some  difficult  mathe- 
matical problem  to  solve  or  some  mathematical  puz- 
zle to  unravel.  He  at  one  time  constructed  a  very 
ingenious  labyrinth,  which  was  the  wonder  and  de- 
light of  all.  He  also  made  a  most  intricate  puzzle 
which  he  calls  the  puzzle  of  the  squares,  which  has 
proved  a  very  difficult  nut  for  mathematical  scholars 
to  crack.  James  Peatfield  was  always  a  great  lover 
of  horticulture.  In  1846  he  bought  some  seven 
acres  more  or  less  bounded  by  the  Topsfield  road  and 
the  Ipswich  River,  and  planted  a  nursery  in  a  part  of 
this  purchase.  After  leaving  the  building  of  machinery 
and  the  manufacture  of  woolens  he  devoted  himself 
to  the  care  of  his  nursery  and  the  developing  of  his 
lands.  He  sold,  from  time  to  time,  small  portions  of 
his  original  purchase  to  various  parties  for  house  lots, 
but  he   retained  the  part  which  he  had  planted  as 


Ena^, 


'ng?-byA.Biatcyde- 


^<iA^^^^^,;^-<^'^e££. 


IPSWICH. 


673 


a  nursery  until  1885.  Knowing  alnnost  every  kind 
of  fruit  tree  and  plant,  it  has  been  his  great  pleasure 
to  cultivate  his  garden  and  his  orchard,  and  in  the 
pure  enjoyment  of  watching  them  thrive  and  grow, 
his  latter  days  have  passed  in  peace  and  quiet.  Since 
1885  he  has  not  been  engaged  in  any  active  business. 
October  2,  1834,  he  was  married  to  Susan  Heard,  of 
Ipswich.  Two  daughters, — Hannah  Moore  and  Mar- 
garet Fox — were  born  to  them,  and  they  are  living  at 
the  present  time.  Mr.  Peatfield,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
three,  has  his  mental  faculties  unimpaired.  His  memo- 
ry is  wonderfully  retentive.  He  remembers  every  in- 
cident of  his  life,  and  can  give  the  most  minute  de- 
tails of  every  circumstance  and  event  ofhis  long  life.  He 
retains  a  strong  interest  in  all  the  affairs  of  his  adopt- 
ed town,  and  is  interested  in  every  effort  to  advance 
its  prosperity. 

James  Peatfield  is  a  man  of  undoubted  probity  and 
honesty,  liberal  in  every  sense  of  the  word  and  inter- 
ested in  every  good  work.  Temperate  in  all  things, 
simple  in  his  habits,  amiable  in  his  disposition,  quiet 
in  his  manner,  conscientious  and  upright  in  all  his 
dealings,  genial  and  affectionate,  his  later  years  af- 
ford him  the  pleasant  consciousness  of  a  well-spent 
life. 


DANIEL   POTTER. 

Daniel  Potter,  one  of  Salem's  most  respected  and 
honored  citizens,  was  the  second  of  thirteen  children 
of  Daniel  and  Eunice  Fellows  Potter,  of  Ipswich, 
and  was  born  in  that  historic  town  on  the  24th  of 
March,  1800. 

His  earlier  years  were  passed  in  his  native  town, 
and  here,  in  his  school-boy  days,  by  persevering  in- 
dustry and  attention  to  his  studies,  he  laid  the  foun- 
dation for  a  life  of  usefulness  and  honor,  worthy  of 
emulation. 

In  April,  1815,  he  removed  to  Salem  and  became 
apprenticed  as  a  blacksmith  to  David  Safford,  with 
whom  he  remained  until  he  reached  the  age  of  twen- 
ty-two years,  when  he  commenced  in  business  for 
himself  on  Sewell  Street,  Salem,  continuing  uutil 
1827,  when  he  removed  to  Roxbury,  Mass. 

Two  years  later,  ou  the  29th  of  November,  1829, 
he  returned  to  the  city  of  Salem  and  took  a  shop  on 
West  Place  ;  he  there  pursued  his  trade  until  1852 
and  with  marked  success. 

The  industry  and  integrity  of  character  with  which 
he  pursued  his  business  commended  itself  to  the  peo- 
ple, and  he  was  repeatedly  called  to  positions  of  honor 
and  responsibility. 

He  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Common  Council 
fortheyearsl842, '43, '44, '45, '46,  '48,  '54,  '65,  '69, 
and  "70,  receiving  the  additional  honor  of  being  se- 
lected as  its  presiding  officer  for  the  years  1854'  and 
'55. 

The  ability,  faithfulness  and  dignity  which  he 
brought  to  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  this  high 
position  in  these  years  when  to  be  a  member  of  the 
43 


government  of  a  city  was  only  attained  by  men  of 
honesty  and  integrity,  mark  him  as  a  man  of  worth 
and  excellence. 

In  1852  retiring  from  his  trade  he  was  appointed  to 
the  very  responsible  position  of  deputy-sheriff  of  Es- 
sex County  by  High  Sheriff  Robinson  of  Marblehead, 
which  position  he  continued  without  interruption  to 
hold,  by  reappointments,  until  his  resignation  in  Jan- 
uary, 1887,  rounding  up  thirty-five  years  of  almost 
uninterrupted  official  life. 

In  politics  a  recognized  Republican.  As  a  citizen, 
an  upright  man,  as  an  ofl3cial  incorruptible.  In  so- 
cial life,  jovial  and  witty,  and  in  all  those  character- 
istics which  go  to  make  up  a  man  to  be  honored,  re- 
spected and  beloved  by  his  fellows,  a  man  of  note. 

On  the  10th  day  of  March,  1824,  he  was  married  to 
Dolly  Newell,  daughter  of  John  and  Hannah  B. 
Ferguson,  of  Salem,  a  union  which  has  been  happily 
continued  for  more  than  three-score  years. 

Of  thirteen  children  born  to  them  one  son  and  three 
daughters  remain  to  honor  and  cheer  them  in  their 
declining  years,  viz.:  Daniel,  Jr.,  resides  in  South 
Braintree  ;  Dolly  Ann,  married  to  Nathaniel  Jack- 
man,  of  Salem;  Ellen,  married  to  George  H.  Pous- 
land,  of  Salem  ;  and  Margaret  F.,  who  resides  at  home 
with  her  parents  in  Salem. 


WESLEY   KENDALL   BELL. 

Wesley  Kendall  Bell  was  born  in  Albany,  Oxford 
County,  Me.,  August  10,  1827. 

He  was  the  second  son  of  John  and  Betsej^  Kendall 
Bell,  whose  farm  home  was  one  of  comfort  and  tiirift, 
so  that  Wesley,  after  attending  the  Common  District 
School  was  sent  for  one  term  to  Wilbraham  (Mass.) 
Academy,  and  thence  to  Greenwich,  R.  I.,  where  he 
was  fitted  for  college. 

He  came  to  Ipswich  in  1850,  where  he  received  an 
appointment  as  teacher  in  the  Grammar  School,  in 
which  position  he  remained  for  sixteen  years,  giving 
eminent  satisfaction  by  his  close  application  to  the 
duties  of  the  position,  and  retaining  the  resj^ect  of  all 
the  pupils  who  were  favored  by  being  under  his  tui- 
tion. 

In  1858  he  was  appointed  by  his  excellency,  Gov- 
ernor Banks,  a  justice  of  the  peace. 

Mr.  Bell  married  on  the  24th  of  November,  1863, 
Kate  B.,  daughter  of  Isaac  and  Elizabeth  Noyes. 

At  the  town-meeting,  in  the  sj^ring  of  1865,  he  was 
chosen  to  the  responsible  position  of  town  clerk,  and 
the  satisfactory  manner  in  which  he  has  performed  his 
duties  has  assured  his  re-nomination  and  election  in 
each  succeeding  year  up  to  the  present  time. 

In  1866  Mr.  Bell  was  appointed  an  Assistant  Asses- 
sor of  United  States  Revenue  (Internal),  which  posi- 
tion he  retained  for  three  years. 

In  the  autumn  of  1869  he  was  elected  a  member  of 
the    Massachusetts   House   of   Representatives,  and 


674 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


during  the  term  for  whicli  he  was  chosen  did  most 
excellent  service  as  a  member  of  the  committee  on 
education. 

In  1872  he  was  appointed  by  his  excellency,  Gov. 
Washburn,  as  a  trial  justice  for  the  trial  of  criminal 
cases.  The  terms  of  appointment  to  this  position  are 
for  three  years,  and  so  ably  has  the  duty  been  per- 
formed that  he  has  received  four  re- appointments  to 
this  important  office. 

In  1878  he  was  chosen  treasurer  and  clerk  of  the 
Ipswich  Gas-Light  Company,  which  position  he  con- 
tinues to  occupy  with  great  credit  to  himself  and  to 
the  satisfaction  of  the  corporation. 

Mr.  Bell  is  a  cousin  to  the  Hon.  Charles  H.  Bell,  of 
Exeter,  N.  H.,  the  genial  ex-governor  of  that  State, 
and,  like  his  relative,  is  in  politics  a  positive  Repub- 
lican— reliable  and  true  to  his  party — not  the  blind 
partisan,  but  the  well-read,  thinking  man,  able  to 
defend  and  "  give  a  reason  for  the  faith  which  is  within 
him." 

Mr.  Bell  has  taken  an  active  interest  in  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  has  held  various 
ofKcial  positions  in  the  order.  He  is  a  member  of 
Agawam  Lodge,  No.  52,  Naumkeag  Encampment, 
No.  13,  and  Canton  Wildey,  No.  2. 

It  would  seem  that  Mr.  Bell,  while  he  has  had  the 
fortune  to  be  much'in  public  life,  has  continued  and 
still  continues  to  have  the  full  confidence  of  the  peo- 
ple of  our  town. 

Said  a  gentleman  who  had  known  of  him  from  the 
time  he  first  came  among  us,  "  For  the  citizen  of  good, 
sound,  practical  ability,  of  sterling  integrity  and  un- 
doubted character,  his  superior  cannot  be  found." 
Said  another,  "For  a  man  who  has  been  upwards  of 
thirty-sdx  years  in  public  life  as  a  teacher,  as  a  politi- 
cian, as  a  judicial  officer,  while  I  am  not  of  his  polit- 
ical faith,  I  believe  him  to  be  the  same  honest,  upright 
citizen  as  when  he  first  made  this  place  his  home," — 
and  these  are  but  the  faint  expressions  of  esteem  and 
confidence  which  are  heard  on  every  hand  among  the 
townspeople. 

In  these  days  it  is  a  pleasure  to  note  cases  where 
after  long  terms  of  ofiicial  life,  the  communities  where 
men  live  are  still  ready  to  endorse  them  as  faithful 
and  honest  in  the  discharge  of  responsibilities,  and  it 
is  to  be  hoped  that  examples  like  this  will  be  appre- 
ciated by  the  young  and  that  his  conduct  may  be  em- 
ulated by  them. 


CHAPTER    XLVIIL 
BEVERLY. 


BY  FREDERICK  A.  OBER. 


Its  Physical  Features. — The  township  of  Bev- 
erly is  locally  bounded  on  the  north  by  Wenham, 


east  by  Manchester,  west  by  Danvers,  south  by  the 
waters  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  the  channel  of  its 
own  harbor,  separating  it  from  Salem. 

The  centre  of  this  township  (which  has  a  length 
of  about  six  miles  and  an  average  breadth  of  three) 
is  in  north  latitude  42°  34'  38^',  and  west  longitude 
70°  54'  5''. 

Within  its  boundaries  are  included  surface,  soil 
and  vegetation,  in  greater  variety  perhaps  than  with- 
in the  limits  of  any  other  section  of  equal  area  in 
the  State.  Though  greatly  diversified,  the  general 
aspect  is  hilly,  with  no  elevation  approaching  the  al- 
titude of  mountains,  yet  without  any  considerable 
tract  of  level  land.  The  general  trend  of  the  surface 
towards  the  ocean  gives  a  southerly  exposure  to  its 
slopes  and  valley-lands,  of  material  advantage  to  its 
agriculturists. 

Geologically  considered,  Beverly  lies  very  close  to 
the  primitive  rock;  diorite  in  the  western  portion, 
and  its  eastern  half  the  granite  structure  that  forms 
the  hills  of  Cape  Ann,  beginning  here  and  culminat- 
ing in  the  headlands  of  Gloucester  and  Rockport. 
Its  geological  structure,  then,  is  granitic,  with  a  few 
shore  strips  of  older  and  more  thoroughly  crystal- 
line rocks. 

Some  of  the  numerous  out-cropping  ledges  contain 
rare  specimens  of  columbite  polymignite,  green  feld- 
spar and  ore  of  tin ;  but  the  mineralogical  field  is 
necessarily  a  restricted  one,  though  exceedingly  in- 
teresting. A  peculiar  feature  of  the  scenery  are 
these  denuded  ledges,  as  well  as  the  great  superim- 
posed boulders,  giving  character  to  the  hills  and 
headlands.  These  furnish  a  coarse  quality  of  gran- 
ite, which  has  been  extensively  quarried  and  utilized 
in  the  construction  of  the  best  buildings. 

Although  there  is  much  rocky  land,  there  is  very 
little  absolutely  sterile  within  the  limits  of  the  town. 
Even  the  rocky  pastures,  though  often  discouraging 
to  an  ambitious  ruminant,  are  rich  in  multitudinous 
examples  of  the  indigenous  flora. 

The  soil,  in  the  main  clayey,  gravelly  or  sandy,  is 
strong  and  productive,  yielding  good  returns  when 
fertilized. 

Natural  elements  of  fertility,  such  as  peat  and  sea- 
weed, were  formerly  found  here  in  great  abundance. 

Valuable  strata  of  clay  give  much  material  for 
brick  and  pottery,  while  even  the  sand  of  the  sea- 
shore has  been — anciently,  at  least — a  source  of  profit 
to  those  who  engaged  in  shipping  it  to  other  parts. 
On  the  beach  near  Hospital  Point  is  a  deposit  of 
"black  sand,"  which  was  at  one  time  much  sought 
after,  for  a  purpose  explained  by  one  of  the  writers  on 
New  England,  two  hundred  years  ago,  the  curious 
Josselyn : 

"  There  is  likewise  a  sort  of  glittering  Sand,  which 
ia  altogether  as  good  as  the  glasse  powder  brought 
from  the  Indies,  to  dry  up  Ink  on  paper  newly  writ- 
ten." 

The  only  ore  which  has  been  discovered  in  quan- 


BEVERLY. 


675 


tity  sufficient  for  export  is  an  inferior  quality  of  bog 
iron,  which  was  at  one  time  worked  in  the  primitive 
foundries  of  Rowley  and  Lynn. 

This  deposit  lies  near  the  present  railroad  station 
of  Montserrat,  and  is  to-day  only  indicated  by  a 
chalybeate  spring,  locally  famous  as  "  Iron-Mine 
Spring,"  whose  waters  are  sufficiently  impregnated  to 
be  nauseous  without  being  positively  medicinal. 

But  one  other  mineral  spring  is  known  to  occur  in 
Beverly,  though  the  subterranean  flow  of  water  is 
copious  and  pure,  and  can  be  reached  by  wells  with 
an  average  depth  of  thirty  feet. 

Beverly's  woods  and  water  are  its  chief  attractions, 
although  its  ponds  and  streams  are  few  and  small. 
The  largest  body  of  water,  lying  partly  within  its 
boundaries,  is  Wenham  Lake,  about  one-third  of 
which  pertains  to  this  township.  The  purity  of  its 
water  and  the  crystal  clearness  of  its  ice,  have  made 
this  beautiful  lake  famous,  even  beyond  the  seas.  It 
is  some  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  in  area,  lies 
at  an  elevation  of  thirty-four  feet  above  the  sea,  and 
supplies  Beverly  as  well  as  the  city  of  Salem  with 
water.  It  is  known  in  the  early  chronicles  as  the 
"  Great  Pond,''  and  figures  prominently  in  deeds  and 
grants.  A  lesser  sheet  of  water,  though  in  some  re- 
spects more  interesting,  is  Beaver  Pond  of  twenty 
acres,  which  is  still  secluded  within  the  embrace  of 
the  pine  woods,  not  far  from  the  Wenham  line. 

Its  outlet,  a  small  stream,  winding  through  the 
woods,  connects  with  Norwood  Lake,  a  submerged 
meadow-tract  of  some  forty  acres  additional,  which 
gives  a  large  head  of  available  water-power  at  a  point 
formerly  occupied  by  the  old  "Conant  Mill."  Both 
Wenham  and  Beaver  are  stocked  with  fish,  though 
not  to  an  extent  to  make  them  famous.  Their  shores 
are  in  places  well-wooded,  delightfully  adapted  to 
out-door  recreation,  and  hence  much  frequented  by 
the  inhabitants  of  the  adjacent  territory.  Round 
Pond,  in  North  Beverly,  and  Little  Pond,  not  far 
from  Beaver,  are  the  only  others,  and  scarce  worthy 
of  mention. 

To  its  abundant  supply  of  pure  water  and  to  its 
perfect  surface  and  subterranean  drainage,  Beverly 
owes  much  of  its  reputation  for  healthfulness.  Its 
streams,  though  neither  numerous  nor  large,  are  ex- 
cellently adapted  for  the  carrying  away  of  the  surplus 
Avater. 

In  the  western  part  of  the  township  is  Bass  River 
Brook,  which  flows  into  the  arm  of  the  sea  known  as 
Bass  River.  Another,  which  pursues  a  course  nearly 
parallel  with  the  main  line  of  the  railroad,  and  empties 
into  Bass  Rivei',  is  Tan  Yard  Brook,  while  yet  another 
flows  along  the  Gloucester  Branch  Railroad,  and  was 
formerly  known  as  Job's  Pond  Brook. 

A  region  lying  near  the  base  of  Brimble  Hill,  known 
as  Cat  Swamp,  and  adjacent  territory,  is  drained  by  a 
bi'ook  variously  called  Cedar  Stand  and  Sallow's 
Brook,  which  enters  the  extreme  head  of  Mackerel 
Cove ;  a  meandering  stream,  forked   and   branched. 


running  through  alder  swamps  and  open  meadows, 
alternate,  locally  famous  for  their  wild  flowers.  A 
tradition  of  trout  lurks  about  its  deeper  and  gloomier 
portions,  and  it  was  once  a  stream  of  importance 
enough  to  support  a  grist-mill  at  its  mouth,  though  in 
latter  times  it  is  prone  to  withdraw  within  itself  and 
disappear  almost  entirely  from  sight,  during  the  heat- 
ed months  of  midsummer.  Farther  to  eastward  is 
Patches'  or  Thissell  Brook,  where  one  of  the  earliest 
settlers,  Nicholas  Woodbury,  had  a  grist-mill.  Some 
distance  beyond  is  a  streamlet,  crossing  Mingo's 
Beach  and  another  flowing  into  Plum  Cove,  while  the 
largest  is  near  the  eastern  border  of  the  town ;  Saw- 
mill Brook,  where  trout  are  said  to  have  been  caught 
within  the  memory  of  people  now  living.  No  one  of 
these  streams  is  of  sufficient  importance  to  claim  the 
attention  of  a  stranger,  yet,  collectively,  these  water- 
courses play  an  important  part  in  giving  the  coast 
that  diversity  of  aspect  which  is  its  most  attractive 
feature. 

Of  the  elements  of  the  landscape  those  natural  fea- 
tures most  prominent  are,  of  course,  the  hills,  which, 
though  of  moderate  elevation,  afford  the  observer  from 
their  summits  views  unsurpassed  of  their  kind. 

One  of  the  finest  water  views,  perhaps,  is  that 
spread  below  and  beyond  "  Josh's  Mountain,"  near 
and  to  the  west  of  the  bridge  connecting  Beverly  with 
Salem  ;  from  the  summit  of  Brown's  Hill  (the  crown 
of  which,  however,  is  now  in  Danvers)  the  most  ex- 
tensive view  is  afforded,  though  equally  good  may  be 
obtained  from  the  crests  of  Chipman  and  Brimble 
Hills,  especially  from  the  latter.  All,  indeed,  of  the 
numerous  hill-tops  favor  a  visitor  with  charming 
scenes,  such  as  are  afforded  by  the  contiguity  of 
wooded  hills  and  valleys  with  the  ocean. 

Flora  and  Fauna. — To  obtain  an  adequate  con- 
ception of  this  region  as  it  existed  prior  to  the  visit 
of  the  first  settlers,  one  should  become  acquainted 
not  only  with  its  geological  and  topographical  feat- 
ures, but  with  the  leading  types  of  its  flora  and 
fauna.  These  are,  to  a  great  extent,  interdependent, 
and  collectively  throw  light  upon  the  subsequent 
actions  of  the  settlers  themselves.  It  was  not  a  bar- 
ren country,  this,  when  first  seen  by  civilized  man ; 
for  the  primitive  rock  was  covered  with  a  rich  soil 
clothed  in  an  attractive  and  exuberant  vegetation. 
Many  plants  and  fruits  were  found  here  indigenous, 
while  nearly  everything  brought  by  the  settlers  from 
their  own  country  took  root  and  flourished  sponta- 
neously. 

The  principal  native  trees  and  those  which  give 
color  to  the  woods  and  a  distinctive  tone  to  the 
masses  of  foliage  (especially  as  seen  from  the  sea)  are 
the  pines,  variously  intermixed  with  oaks,  maples, 
hemlocks  and  birches.  These  compose  mainly  the 
masses  or  "bulks"  of  trees,  while  there  are  numerous 
other  natives,  such  as  the  elm,  butternut,  ash,  cherry, 
red  and  white  cedar,  and  a  host  of  shrubs  and  bushes 
of  lesser  growth. 


676 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


The  remarks  of  Captain  John  Smith  upon  the 
coast  productions  of  New  England  in  general  are 
particularly  applicable  here:  "First,  the  ground  is  so 
fertill  that,  questionless,  it  is  capable  of  producing 
any  Grain,  Fruits  or  Seeds  you  will  sow  or  plant, 
growing  in  the  region  afore-named;  but  it  may  be 
not  eviry  kinde  to  that  perfection  of  delicacy,  or 
some  tender  plants  may  miscarie,  because  the  sum- 
mer is  not  so  hot,  and  the  winter  is  more  cold,  in 
those  parts  wee  have  yet  tryed  neere  the  Seaside  than 
wee  finde  in  the  same  height  in  Europe  or  Asia.  .  .  . 
The  hearbes  or  fruits  (native)  are  of  many  sorts  and 
kinds,  as  alkermes,  currants,  mulberries,  raspices, 
gooseberries,  plummes,  walnuts,  chestnuts,  pumpions, 
gourds,  strawberries,  beans,  pease  and  mayze;  a^kind 
or  two  of  flax  (wherewith  they  make  nets,  lines  and 
ropes,  both  small  and  great).  Oke  is  their  chief 
wood ;  firr,  pine,  walnut,  chestnut,  birch,  ash,  elme, 
cedar  and  many  other  sorts." 

Its  diversity  of  surface  gives  to  Beverly  a  flora 
equally  varied ;  in  the  gloom  of  its  most  secluded 
dells  and  swamps  grow  plants  rare  in  localities  more 
to  the  southward,  while  the  southern  exposure  of  its 
coast  slopes  offers  a  congenial  habitat  for  several 
unknown  much  farther  north.  Its  fragrant  pasture 
lands  breathe  the  incense  of  spiciest  bloom  in  the 
season  of  inflorescence,  and  here  are  found  those 
plants  of  mystical  and  medicinal  virtues  so  beloved 
of  the  Indian  medicine-man  and  the  "yarb  doctor" 
of  early  times.  Nowhere  in  the  world  is  there  a 
greater  variety  of  berries  and  native  small  fruits 
than  may  be  found  in  the  coast  country  of  New  Eng- 
land :  such  as  blueberries,  high  and  low,  blackberries 
of  several  varieties,  barberries,  cranberries,  whortle 
or  huckleberries,  elderberries,  strawberries,  raspber- 
ries, wild  currants  and  gooseberries,  cherries,  grapes, 
etc.,  to  which  may  be  added  many  other  kinds  and 
the  nuts  and  fruits  of  various  trees. 

In  this  region,  favored  of  nature,  may  be  found 
most  of  the  flowering  plants  belonging  to  Massachu- 
setts, many  of  brightest  bloom  being  especially 
abundant;  as  the  laurel  (Icalmia),  occasionally  the 
magnolia  (m,  glauca),  on  the  borders  of  Man- 
chester; the  cardinal  flower  {lobelia  car dinalis),  the 
bright  rhodora,  the  fringed  gentian  {g.  crinita),  late  in 
autumn,  the  fragrant  water  lily  {nymjihcea  odorata), 
the  choicest  species  of  the  violet  family,  the  wild  rose 
and  clematis;  in  fact,  the  entire  range  of  flowering 
plants  peculiar  to  New  England.  That  early  blooming 
plant  of  adjacent  regions,  the  mayflower  {epigosa 
repens),  is  rarely  found  here,  but  almost  cotemporary 
with  it  are  the  saxifrage,  dog-tooth  violet,  anemone 
and  Housatonia,  close  followed  by  the  columbine 
{aquilegia  CanocZeresis),  the  "  Solomon's  seal,"  "ladies' 
slipper"  {ajpripedium pubescens),  the  star  flowers  and 
a  constantly  augmented  troop  of  summer  flowers. 
Certain  meadows,  in  June,  are  red  with  that  delicate 
orchid,  the  arethusa  bulhosa,  and  white  with  the 
buckbean,  while  along  the  water-courses,  later,  grow 


the  sagittaria  (the  arrow-heads),  the  thickets  are 
green  with  the  parasitic  dodder,  and  all  the  road- 
sides, later  yet,  lined  with  the  golden-rod.  It  would 
be  impossible  to  merely  enumerate  the  species  (in  this 
brief  introductory),  that  fill  the  months  of  spring, 
summer  and  early  autumn,  with  bloom  and  fragrance. 
It  was  of  this  (Cape  Ann)  coast  that  the  reverend 
Higginson  wrote,  when  on  his  voyage  to  Salem : 

"By  noon  we  were  within  three  leagues  of  Cape  Ann,  and  as  we 
sayled  along  the  coast  we  saw  every  hill  and  dale,  and  every  island,  full 
of  gay  woods  and  high  trees. 

"The  nearer  we  came  to  the  shore  the  more  flowers  in  abundance, 
sometynies  scattered  abroad,  sometimes  joyued  in  sheets  nine  or  ten 
yards  long,  which  we  supposed  to  be  brought  from  the  low  meadowes  by 
the  tyde. 

"  Now,  what  with  tine  woods  and  greene  trees  by  land,  and  these  yel- 
low flowers  paynting  the  sea,  made  us  all  desirous  to  see  our  new  para- 
dise of  New  England,  whence  we  saw  such  forerunning  signals  of 
fertilitie  affarre  off'." 

There  is  in  Beverly,  growing  wild  in  the  fields,  a 
native  grass,  peculiarly  fragrant;  and  the  odors  from 
these  fragrant  fields,  mingled  with  the  balsamic 
breath  of  the  pine  woods,  and  borne  to  a  sea-stranger 
by  an  oflT-shore  breeze,  must,  indeed,  have  seemed  to 
him  like  favored  gales  direct  from  paradise. 

Having  glanced  at  Beverly  in  its  aspects  topograph- 
ical, geological  and  botanical,  it  only  remains  now 
(in  order  to  complete  our  picture  of  this  region  as  it 
existed  prior  to  the  Europeati  visitation  \  to  view  it 
in  its  aspect  zoological.  Its  elementary  features : 
rocks,  soils,  water-courses,  vegetation, — these  have 
been  described ;  from  them^from  their  relative  ar- 
rangements and  combinations — it  may  be  deduced 
that  this  section  was  eminently  favored  by  nature, 
and  well  fitted  to  support  a  numerous  population. 

Nor  was  that  population  lacking,  although  com- 
posed principally  of  the  humbler  inhabitants  of  the 
woods  and  meads,  in  fur  and  feather.  With  a  few 
exceptions,  the  animals  found  here  by  the  early  set- 
tlers may  be  assumed  to  have  existed  here  from  time 
immemorial.  The  knowledge  acquired  by  the  early 
planters  was  necessarily  imperfect,  but  they  soon  be- 
came acquainted  with  the  larger  and  more  obtrusive 
members  of  the  lower  animals  that  ranged  the  wil- 
derness around  them.  Says  the  inquisitive  Higgin- 
son, writing  at  that  time,  and  of  it  : 

' '  For  beastes,  there  are  some  beares,  and  they  say  lyons  ;  for  they 
have  been  seen  at  Cape  Anne.  Here  are  several  sorts  of  deers,  also 
wolves,  foxes,  beavers,  otters,  martins,  great  wild  cats,  and  a  great  beast 
called  a  molke  (moose)  as  bigge  as  an  oxe." 

Fifty  years  later,  Josselyn  writes  : 

"  There  are  not  many  kinds  of  Beasts  in  New  England;  they  may  be 
divided  into  Beasts  of  the  chase  of  the  stinking  foot,  as  Roes,  foxes, 
Jaccals,  Wolves,  Wild-cats,  Kaccoons,  Porcupines,  Squncke,  Musquashes, 
Squirrels,  Sables,  and  Mattrisses ;  and  Beasts  of  the  chace  of  the  sweet 
foot :  Buck,  Bed  Deer,  Rain  Deer  Elk,  Marouse,  Bear,  Maccarib,  Beaver, 
Otter,  Martin,  Hare." 

The  larger  quadrupeds,  such  as  the  bear,  deer,  bea- 
ver, otter,  martin,  wolf  and  wild-cat,  have  long  since 
been  exterminated  here  (though  the  locality  known 
as  Cat  Swamp  derived  its  name  from  the  abundance 
of  wild-cats  once  found  there),  but  several  of  the 
smaller  yet  remain.     The  fox  yet  haunts  the  hills  of 


BEVERLY. 


677 


the  northern  part  of  the  townshija,  leading  a  preca- 
rious existence,  even  though  the  feeling  towards  him 
is  friendly,  rather  than  otherwise,  as  the  survivor  of 
a  race  now  nearly  extinct. 

The  hunter  instinct  still  remains  in  the  breasts  of 
our  people,  and  many  here  would  gladly  reimburse 
the  farmers  the  loss  of  an  occasional  fowl  rather  than 
that  reyuard  should  be  exterminated,  and  the  spark 
that  lingers  from  the  frontier  existence  of  our  ances- 
tors become  extinguished.  Scarce  a  clover-field  on 
the  forest  border  that  has  not  still  a  resident  beneath 
its  surface,  in  the  shape  of  the  woodchuck — arcfomys 
monax — that  gray  hermit,  indigenous  to  the  soil. 
This  animal,  likewise,  would  be  sadly  missed  and 
even  lamented,  though  occasionally  destructive  to 
clover  and  early  vegetables. 

There  is  another,  however,  whose  presence  would 
be  gladly  dispensed  with  ;  a  small  animal  of  inotien- 
sive  habit,  generally,  but  endowed  by  nature  with 
most  pungent  possibilities  when  thoroughly  aroused. 
"The  Squnck,"  says  Joselyn,  referring  to  the  skunk 
[mephitis  mephitica),  "is  almost  as  big  as  a  Raccoon, 
perfect  black,  white,  or  pye-bald,  with  a  bush  tail 
like  a  Fox — an  offensive  carion."  And,  of  a  truth, 
he  is  offensive  when  at  his  worst ;  yet,  indirectly  of 
great  benefit  to  our  agriculturists  as  he  is  insectivo- 
rous in  his  habit.  "The  Musquash,"  says  the  same 
writer  just  quoted,  "is  a  small  Beast  that  lives  in 
shallow  ponds."  This  is  the  Indian  name  for  the 
musk-rat  {nndrata  zibethicus),  which  still  inhabits  our 
shallow  ponds,  and  within  a  score  of  years  was  quite 
numerously  represented. 

That  the  beaver  once  dwelt  in  our  ponds  and  built 
his  dams  in  our  waters  there  yet  remain  tradition  and 
ocular  evidence  ;  yet  none  is  found  here  to-day. 

Another  fur-bearing  animal,  the  mink,  is  occasion- 
ally seen,  as  also  the  weasel ;  the  other  has  long  been 
extinct.  But  Beverly,  even  to  the  present  day, 
constitutes  with  several  adjoining  towns,  a  fine  range 
for  the  unambitious  fur  hunter  to  trap  in  during  the 
winter  months.  In  the  larger  swamps  the  hare  is 
still  found,  while  the  rabbit  is  a  denizen  of  every 
woodland,  and  moles,  rats  and  field-mice  are  in 
the  fields  in  modern  abundance.  The  squirrels,  red 
and  gray,  are  quite  numerous,  especially  the  former; 
occasionally  the  flying-squirrel  is  seen,  and  the 
striped  squirrels,  or  "  chipmonks,"  are  everywhere  in 
the  woods  and  j^asture  lauds. 

Birds  of  Beveely. — Although  the  number  of  fe- 
rous  quadrupeds  is  not  large,  the  territory  embraced 
in  this  township  contains  nearly  every  representative 
genus  of  the  avifauna,  or  bird-life,  of  the  Eastern 
States.  The  first  settlers,  though  not  particularly  ob- 
servant of  animated  nature,  could  not  avoid  noticing 
the  numerous  birds.  Captain  John  Smith  (1616), 
mentioned  some  of  the  many  birds  seen  in  coasting 
Cape  Ann,  as  "  Eagles,Gripes,  divers  sorts  of  Hawkes, 
Cranes,  Geese,  Brantz,  Cormorants,  Ducks,  Shel- 
drakes, Teals,  Meawes,  Guls,  Turkies,  Dive-hoppers, 


etc.,  and  divers  sorts  of  vermin  whose  names  I  know 
not." 

Higginson,  a  decade  later,  speaks  of  wild  ducks,  pig- 
eons, geese,  and  turkeys,  partridges,  eagles  and  hawks. 
But  their  attention,  though  called  to  the  coast  species 
and  water  birds,  and  such  as  from  their  size  or  habits 
were  conspicuous,  was  not  drawn  to  the  numerous 
species  resident  within  the  woods  and  secluded  meadow- 
lands.  The  species  resident  in  Beverly  to-day,  and  those 
found  here  at  some  season  of  the  year  as  migrants, 
number  about  two  hundred,  and  these  were  (at  least 
conjecturally)  identified  with  this  region  three  hundred 
years  ago. 

Our  ancestors,  those  who  first  settled  here  and  re- 
claimed the  country  from  its  original  wildness,  gladly 
welcomed  the  birds,  especially  those  harbingers  of 
spring,  forerunners  of  the  coming  of  milder  air,  and 
the  relaxation  of  the  rigors  of  winter.  Our  best  lit- 
ei'ature  has  celebrated  the  softening  influence  of  the 
birds  and  flowers  upon  those  stern  settlers  who  were 
compelled  to  battle  with  nature  for  the  mere  elements 
of  subsistence.  Without  these  free  gifts  of  a  benefi- 
cient  Providence  there  would  be  little  to  cheer  them 
at  their  toil.  That  they  appreciated  the  coming  of 
the  birds  and  looked  forward  anxiously  to  their  pres- 
ence among  them,  and  encouraged  it  in  every  way,  is 
well-known.  They  drew  from  the  ranks  of  their  feath- 
ered friends  only  such  as  were  necessary  for  food,  and 
allowed  the  harmless  and  smaller  members  of  the 
fraternity  to  flit  and  warble  unmolested.  But  even 
the  savage,  the  red  Indian,  equalled  them  in  this, 
never  slaying  except  for  sustenance  and  the  simple  de- 
mands of  ornamentation. 

With  a  few  j'light  additions,  perhaps  through  the 
introduction  of  strangers — such  as  the  English  spar- 
row— the  avifauna  of  Beverly  is  essentially  the  same 
as  it  was  when  the  first  settlers  landed  here.  Assum- 
ing this,  then,  they  would  have  found,  had  they  in- 
vestigated and  classified  the  results,  nearly  two  hun- 
dred species.  Of  the  hawks,  nine  or  ten,  besides  oc- 
casional visitants  in  the  bald-headed  eagle  and  the 
fish-hawk.  Of  owls,  there  are  eight  or  nine  species, 
including  the  great  Arctic  owl  (though  rarely  seen) 
and  the  great-horned. 

The  cuckoos  give  us  two  species,  the  woodpeckers 
six,  while  of  the  humming  bird  there  is  one  species  as  a 
summer  resident  (the  ruby-throat),  whip-poor-will,  one 
night-hawk,  and  one  kingfi^her. 

The  fly-catchers  are  represented  by  seven  species, 
which  include  the  "king-bird,"  pewees,  etc. 

The  thrushes,  also,  seven  species,  containing  our 
most  delightful  songsters :  the  brown,  hermit  and 
wood-thrushes,  and  the  cat-bird,  as  well  as  the  robin. 
There  is  one  blue-bird,  one  gold-crested  and  one 
ruby-crowned  wren,  one  of  the  tit-mice,  the  chicka- 
dee, two  nut-hatchers,  one  creeper,  three  wrens  (in- 
cluding the  house-wren),  and  one  titlark.  Of  that 
large  family  termed  the  warblers,  we  have  at  least 
twenty  species.     They  comprise  a  considerable  num- 


678 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


ber  of  our  migrants ;  for  not  very  many  birds  are 
resident  here  throughout  the  year. 

Every  season  a  host  of  birds  may  be  noted  winging 
their  way  from  woodland  to  woodland,  copse  to 
thicket.  This  aerial  army  of  invasion  comes  to  us, 
mainly,  from  the  far  South,  making  its  long  journey 
of  thousands  of  miles  by  progressive  stages,  never 
fairly  halting  at  any  one  place,  except  for  food  and 
short  intervals  of  rest,  until  its  ultimate  destination 
is  reached. 

The  advance  pickets  of  this  flying  column  arrive 
early  in  March,  their  posts  continually  being  occu- 
pied by  later  visitants,  and  finally  succeeded  by  the 
army  of  occupation. 

The  black-birds,  robins,  song-sparrows,  blue-birds, 
are  among  the  first  arrivals,  and  these  are  followed 
by  others  of  their  kind  so  obscure  of  coloration  (some 
of  them — though  others  are  of  beautiful  color),  and 
of  such  secluded  habits,  that  they  escape  the  obser- 
vation of  any  but  the  trained  eye  of  the  ornithol- 
ogist. 

These  are  the  warblers, — quiet  and  unobtrusive 
tree  inhabitants.  They  take  their  places  amongst 
the  ranks  of  the  winter  residents,  such  as  the  crows, 
jays,  snow-birds  and  chickadees,  while  some  of  these 
latter  retire  yet  further  north  to  make  room  for 
them. 

Thus  it  is  that  our  fields  and  forests  are  occupied 
by  the  feathered  flocks.  The  shores  are  swept  by 
sand-pipers,  plover,  gulls  and  terns,  while  the  so- 
called  birds  of  prey,  the  hawks,  owls  and  eagles,  cir- 
cle in  the  ether  of  the  upper  air  or  lie  in  wait  in  the 
dim  recesses  of  the  wood. 

The  interesting  oven-bird,  or  golden-crowned 
thrush,  is  included  in  the  warbler  group.  In  the 
oak  woods  the  scarlet  tanager  is  found.  Of  the 
swifts,  swallows  and  martins,  there  are  six  species. 
Of  chatterers,  one,  the  cedar-bird,  one  shrike  (the 
butcher-bird),  five  vireos  and  one  skylark. 

Four  members  of  the  finch  family,  two  cross-bills 
and  two  red-polls  and  snow-buntings,  sparrows  and 
snow-birds  give  us  twelve  representatives;  there  is 
one  grosbeak  (the  rose-breasted),  one  indigo-bird  and 
one  towhee-bunting,  or  "chewink."  That  most  de- 
lightful melodist,  the  bobolink,  resides  in  our  mead- 
ows after  the  first  week  in  May,  and  we  are  favored 
with  the  presence  of  four  species  of  blackbirds. 

The  meadow-lark  is  found  occasionally,  and  two 
orioles;  one,  the  golden  robin,  builds  its  pensile  nest 
in  the  elms  of  our  principal  streets.  One  species  of 
crow  resides  here  throughout  the  year;  the  blue  jay, 
also;  and  a  specimen  of  the  raven  may  occasionally 
descend  to  this  latitude. 

The  wild  pigeon  once  visited  our  territory  in  im- 
mense flocks,  though  now  rarely  found,  since  the 
great  wheat  fields  of  the  West  offer  it  food  nearer 
home.  Within  a  score  of  years,  however,  it  was  very 
abundant  in  the  month  of  September,  passing  over 
our  woods  in  great  flocks. 


That  it  was  equally  numerous  at  the  opening  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  we  have  testimony  from 
Higginson,  writing  of  Salem  in  1631: 

"Upon  the  eighth  of  March,  from  after  it  was  faire  daylight  until 
about  eight  of  the  clock  in  the  forenoon,  there  flew  over  all  the  towns 
in  our  plautacons  soe  many  flocke  of  doues,  each  flock  contayning  many 
thousands,  and  soe  many  that  they  obscured  the  light,  that  paeseth 
credit,  if  but  the  truth  should  be  written." 

One  species  of  turtle-dove  is  a  visitor  here,  "  par- 
tridges "  (ruffled  grouse)  are  found  in  every  wood,  and 
quail  in  the  pastures.  Of  herons  and  bitterns,  five 
species  visit  our  meadows  and  marshes  ;  plover,  five 
species,  on  the  shore ;  one  species  of  woodcock  and 
one  of  snipe.  Ten  species  of  curlew  and  sandpipers 
may  be  shot  here,  and  three  of  rails  and  coots. 

The  Canada  goose  sometimes  alights  here,  on  its 
way  to  the  far  north,  and,  in  olden  times,  doubtless 
bred  here.  Ducks  and  sheldrakes,  to  the  number  of 
sixteen,  swim  along  shore  and  sometimes  penetrate 
our  creeks ;  now  and  then  a  few  remain  to  breed. 

Six  species  of  gulls  and  terns  visit  the  shore;  two 
breed  on  the  islands  in  the  harbor.  Two  of  the  pe- 
trels (or  "  Mother  Gary's  chickens  "),  may  be  detected 
by  the  more  observant,  in  the  winter.  Of  loons  and 
grebes  five'  species,  the  most  conspicuous  being  the 
great  northern  diver.  To  end  the  list,  mention  should 
be  made  of  four  sub- Arctic  birds  ;  the  auks  and  puf- 
fins, which  come  down  from  hyperborean  regions  in 
mid-winter.  That  species  now  extinct,  the  great  auk 
{alca  impennis),  doubtless  existed  here  in  the  time  of 
our  forefathers ;  but  the  only  representative  of  the 
family  to-day  is  the  little  auk,  or  dovekie,  which  is 
sometimes  blown  upon  our  coast  during  severe 
storms. 

In  the  preceding  pages  are  enumerated  nearly  all 
the  higher  forms  of  animal  life  indigenous  here  at 
the  time  of  which  we  write.  Space  will  not  permit 
of  a  description  in  detail  of  these,  nor  even  mention 
of  those  still  lower  families,  of  the  insect  world, 
which  are  numerous  ;  yet,  with  few  noxious,  or  even 
annoying,  representatives. 

Tradition  has,  perhaps,  invested  some  reptiles  with 
fateful  attributes,  but  it  is  not  known  that  there  are 
many  harmful  here,  unless  they  have  been  introduced 
from  other  parts.  In  a  word,  then,  this  territory  was 
amply  provided  by  the  Creator  with  animals  neces- 
sary to  man's  subsistence,  and  even  to  minister  to 
his  sesthetic  tastes ;  but  with  none  noxious  so  numer- 
ous as  to  cause  him  excessive  apprehension. 

The  Aborigines. — Mention  ought  to  be  made, 
before  this  general  subject  is  dismissed,  of  the  origi- 
nal proprietors  of  this  territory,  at  least,  who  were 
found  in  possession  when  it  was  discovered  by  while 
men. 

There  is  abundant  evidence  that  this  region  was 
looked  upon  as  a  favored  abiding-place  by  the  red 
men,  the  American  aborigines.  Not  alone  tradition 
points  to  it  as  the  ancient  home  of  the  Indian,  but  the 
material  evidence  of  his  occupation,  in  the  shape  of 


BEVEELY. 


679 


remains  of  his  feasts,  his  village  sites  and  specimens 
of  his  domestic  utensils  and  implements  of  war  and 
the  chase.  Banks  of  shells,  where  the  wigwam  was 
once  pitched,  and  the  refuse  of  the  kitchen  deposited, 
are  yet  found  here.  The  largest  yet  discovered  was 
near  the  head  of  Galley's  Brook,  doubtless  an  ancient 
estuary,  on  the  slope  leading  to  the  cemetery.  These 
ancient  encampments  were  always  at  or  near  the 
head  or  mouth  of  some  stream  contiguous  to  the  sea; 
for  almost  the  entire  subsistence  of  the  Indians, 
during  the  summer  months  especially,  was  drawn 
from  the  sea.  "They  hunted  in  the  winter,"  says  an 
ancient  writer,  "  the  moose,  bear,  etc.  ;  for  this  pur- 
pose making  long  excursions  into  the  interior,  but 
their  tishing  followes  in  the  spring,  summer  and  fall 
of  the  leaf;  first  for  Lobsters,  Clammes,  Flouke, 
Lumps  or  Poddlers,  and  Alewives,  and  afterwards  for 
Bass,  Cod,  Rock,  Bluefish,  Salmon,  etc." 

"  All  these,  and  diverse  other  good  things,"  says 
Captain  John  Smith,  "  do  heere,  for  want  of  use,  in- 
crease and  decrease  with  little  diminution  ;  whereby 
they  growe  to  that  abundance  that  you  shall  scarce 
find  any  Baye,  or  shallow  Cove  of  sand,  where  you 
may  not  take  many  Clampes  (clams)  or  Lobsters,  or 
both,  at  your  pleasure,  and  in  many  places  lode  your 
boat,  if  you  please  ;  nor  iles  where  you  finde  not 
fruites,  birds,  crabs,  rauskles,  or  all  of  them,  for  the 
taking,  at  low  water.  And  in  the  harbors  we  fre- 
quented, a  little  boye  might  take  of  Gunners  and 
Pinacks  and  such  delicate  fish,  at  the  ship's  sterne, 
more  than  sixe  or  tenne  can  eat  in  a  dale." 

They  are  not  quite  so  plentiful  to-day;  but  in  the 
season  our  forefathers  (like  the  Indians)  only  had  to 
go  forth  with  hook  and  line,  or  spade,  or  lobster  spear, 
to  be  assured  of  abundant  material  for  a  dinner.  The 
shell-heaps  of  Ipswich  sand-hills  have  yielded  many 
a  specimen  of  Indian  relics,  and  the  fields  of  Beverly, 
likewise,  though  not  so  many  as  the  former,  where 
numbers  of  the  Aborigines  were  gathered  together, 
for  many  seasons,  to  feast  upon  the  products  of  the 
sea.  Skeletons  have  been  found  here,  in  different 
places,  which  were  undoubtedly  those  of  the  red  men, 
sometimes  with  various  articles  of  stone  in  the  graves, 
as  arrow  and  spear  heads,  stone  hammers,  pestles  and 
gouges.  This  was  undoubtedly  a  favorite  resort  of 
theirs,  but  not  held  in  so  high  estimation  as  the  sand- 
hills of  Ipswich.  It  was  one  of  the  outlying  posses- 
sions of  the  Sagamore  of  Agawam,  Masconomo,  some- 
times known  to  the  settlers  as  "Sagamore  John."  His 
possessions  extended  from  the  Merrimac  River  south 
to  the  Naumkeag,  and  from  Gochicewick,  or  Andover, 
to  the  coast  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  Being  well  dis- 
posed toward  the  English  who  sought  settlement  here, 
he  freely  granted  them  all  the  territory  they  desired. 
But  in  the  year  1700,  when  the  descendants  of  the 
Sagamore  were  very  few  in  number  and  without  pos- 
sessions, a  claim  was  set  up  by  his  grand-children  to 
the  township  territory.  Although  such  a  claim  could 
not  be  enforced,  and  the  inhabitants  of  Beverly  were 


well  aware  of  this  fact,  yet  they  exhibited  the  fair- 
ness of  their  intentions  towards  the  impoverished  In- 
dians by  settling  with  them,  giving  them  £6  6s  8d., 
and  taking  a  formal  deed  of  the  property. 

The  fate  of  the  Agawams,  who  were  so  closely  con- 
nected with  our  earliest  history,  furnishes  an  illus- 
tration of  that  of  all  the  Eastern  tribes.  They  were 
at  enmity  with  the  Tarrantines,  or  wilder  Indians  of 
Maine,  in  conflicts  with  whom  they  lost  heavily  ;  but 
appear  to  have  wasted  gradually  away,  even  though 
kindly  treated  by  the  English.  In  1638  Masconomo, 
who  seems  to  have  been  high-minded  and  generous, 
sold  his  fee  in  the  soil  of  Ipswich  to  John  Winthrop, 
Jr.,  for  £20.  He  died  in  1658,  and  was  buried  on 
Sagamore  Hill,  in  Hamilton,  still  known  by  its  orig- 
inal name.  His  gun  and  valuables  were  buried  with 
him;  but  a  certain  vandal,  a  few  years  later,  dug  up 
his  bones  and  paraded  his  skull  through  Ipswich 
streets.  For  this  act  he  was  punished,  but  the  ancient 
home  of  the  Agawams  no  longer  afforded  them  more 
than  a  mere  tarrying-place ;  the  last  record  of  the 
survivors  is  in  1726-30,  when  a  few  were  living  at 
Wigwam  Hill,  in  the  Hamlet,  or  Hamilton. 

1626.  Earliest  White  Inhabitants. — A  shore 
so  attractive  as  that  subsequently  called  "  Cape  Ann 
Side,"  could  not  long  remain  unnoticed  by  the  first 
arrivals,  and  it  must  have  early  drawn  the  attention 
of  those  fishermen  of  Gape  Ann  itself:  Roger  Gouant 
and  his  associates  in  1624. 

When,  in  1626,  the  fishing  station  there  was  aban- 
doned, and  these  people  removed  to  Naumkeag,  they 
coasted  the  Manchester  and  Beverly  shore,  which 
l^reviously  had  seemed  so  beautiful  to  Gapt.  Smith, 
that  he  called  it  "the  paradise  of  all  these  parts," 
and  subsequently  won  the  admiration  of  Endicott 
and  Higginson.  They  passed  by  its  numerous  head- 
lands and  embayed  beaches,  seeking  a  site  nearer  the 
head  of  navigation  than  these  afforded,  and  landed 
on  a  rock  on  the  southwest  side  of  Beverly  Harbor. 

1  "Near  the  extremity  of  North  Point,  or  at  Cape  Ann,  or  Ipswich 
Ferry,  as  it  was  variously  called,  now  a  little  west  of  the  junction  of 
Beverly  Bridge,  may  be  seen  the  outcropping  of  a  metamorphic  rock,  as 
it  slopes  its  checkered  surface  to  the  sea,  that,  with  its  intersected  dikes 
and  veins,  fills  the  mind  of  the  geologist  with  wondering  interest,  as  he 
counts  the  deeply-graven  records  of  eleven  of  the  old  earth's  eruptions." 

To  this  description,  by  a  son  of  Salem,  a  one-time 
resident  of  Beverly,  adds  : 

-  "  Well  might  we  wish — and  with  no  irreverence,  surely— that  the 
Almighty  Being,  who,  in  His  wonder-working  caused  them,  had,  as  a 
twelfth  signature  of  His  di:  ine  power,  affixed  the  very  footprints  of  the 
worthy  company  that  first  stepped  on  that  rock,  to  make  here  their  per- 
manent abode. 

"  Here  on  this  spot,  thus  scored  by  the  hand  of  Deity,  we  believe 
Conant  and  his  followers,  the  pilgrim  band  of  Massachusetts,  stayed 
their  wandering  feet,  and  commenced  their  permanent  abode  ;  and  here, 
too,  we  believe,  they  welcomed  Endicott  and  his  company  to  their  wil- 
derness home ;  thereby  tallying  another  epoch  in  the  world's  history  ; 
fur  here  it  was  that  freedom,  long  confined  in  the  mother  country,  burst 
the  crust  of  oppression  that  bound  her  and  began  to  overflow  the  land 
with  its  blessings,  and  spread  out  the  solid  foundations  on  which  our 
republic  rests." 

1  "Old  Planters  of  Salem,"  G.  D.  Phippen,  1858. 
2  Rev.  C.  T.  Thayer's  Bi-Centennial  Address,  1868. 


680 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Their  first  settlement,  where  they  began  their 
plantation,  living  in  perfect  amity  with  the  resident 
Indians,  was  on  the  peninsula  lying  between  Collins 
Cove  and  North  River, 

1  "Here  they  took  up  their  station,  upon  a  pleasant  and  fruitful  neck 
of  land,  environed  with  an  arm  of  the  sea  on  each  side,  in  either  of 
which  vessels  and  ships  of  good  burthen  might  easily  anchor." 

Nearly  two  years,  they  remained  here,  courageously 
clinging  to  the  soil  they  had  won  from  the  forest,  and 
portions  of  which  they  cultivated  in  common  with 
the  Indians;  then  arrived  the  "Abigail,"  with  Gov- 
ernor Endicott  and  his  colonists,  who,  at  the  same 
time,  furnished  them  succor  and  superseded  their 
leaders  in  authority. 

The  new  arrivals  were,  in  point  of  numerical  strength, 
double  those  of  the  original  settlers;  but  the  latter 
were  of  seasoned  stock,  and  not  desirous  of  yielding 
up  their  hard-earned  territory  and  freedom.  A  con- 
troversy followed  which,  but  for  the  '\prudent  modera- 
tion of  Mr.  Conant,  agent  before  for  the  Dorchester 
planters,"  might  have  proved  a  serious  matter. 
These  good  people,  however,  "who  came  so  far  to 
provide  a  place  where  to  live  together  in  Christian 
amity  and  concord,"  ^  finally  allowed  reason  to  pre- 
vail, and,  in  commemoration  of  this,  changed  the 
name  of  the  place  from  Naumkeag  to  Salem,  City  of 
Peace. 

With  the  "  Old  Planters,"  however,  this  was  but  a 
compromise,  for  sake  of  peace;  they  cast  about  for 
another  location,  where  they  could  be  permitted  to 
exercise  a  portion  at  least  of  that  freedom  they  had 
previously  enjoyed. 

That  they  were  highly  respected  by  the  promoters 
of  the  new  company,  and  that  their  assistance  and 
counsel  were  desired,  is  shown  by  their  retention  in 
official  capacity  for  many  years,  as  also  in  a  letter 
from  Matthew  Craddock,  governor  of  the  company's 
affairs  in  London,  to  Governor  Endicott,  in  April, 
1629: 

"As  to  the  old  planters  themselves,  .  .  .  wee  are  content  they 
shall  be  partakers  of  such  privileges  as  wee,  from  his  Majesty's  espetial 
grace,  with  great  cost,  favor  of  personages  of  note,  and  much  labor,  have 
obtained,  and  that  they  shall  be  incorporated  into  this  societj',  and  enjoy 
not  only  their  lauds,  which  formerly  they  have  manured,  but  such  a 
further  proportion  as,  by  the  advice  and  judgment  of  yourself  and  the 
rest  of  the  council,  shall  be  thought  fit  for  them  or  any  of  them,"  etc. 

Certain  privileges  were  also  to  be  granted  them,  but 
their  leaders  concluded  to  change  their  residence. 

"The  legal  title  was  now  in  the  new  company,  who,  strong  in  wealth 
and  influence,  were  decidedly  aggressive  in  spirit,  and  the  only  alterna- 
tive for  their  leaders  in  the  forlorn  hope  was  dispersion,  and  an  aban- 
donment of  the  now  ripening  fruits  of  their  labors.  They  submitted  to 
the  lesser  evil  ;  but  historic  impartiality,  upon  a  survey  of  the  facts, 
will  yield  a  verdict  of  exact  justice,  unvitiated  by  superior  interests  and 
.  prejudices."  2 

We  need  not  to  seek  for  any  other  cause  than  this 
feeling  of  insecurity  and  the  desire  to  occupy  the 
fertile  meadow  lands  about  the  bays  of  the  opposite 
coast. 

1628.  As  early  as  1628  the  dwellers   at  Naumkeag 


Hubbard. 


2  Thorntou. 


were  attracted  by  the  fields  of  natural  grass  on  Bev- 
erly side.  Says  one  of  them,  Richard  Brackenbury, 
in  a  deposition  : 

"  The  same  yeare  we  came  over,  it  was,  that  wee  tooke  a  farther  pos- 
session on  the  north  side  of  Salem  Ferrye,  commonly  call'd  'Cape  An 
Side,'  by  cutting  thatch  for  our  houses;  and  soone  after  laid  out  lotts 
for  tillage,  land  on  the  said  Cape  An  Side,  and  quickly  after  sundry 
houses  were  built  on  the  said  Cape  An  Side." 

"The  marshes  where  thatch  grew  were  reserved  for  roofing  ;  in  1628, 
one  in  Beverly  was  especially  mentioned  for  that  purpose."  3 

Most  of  the  dwellings  of  that  period  were  cottages, 
with  thatched  roofs  and  wooden  or  "catted"  (mixed 
clay  and  stick)  chimneys.  The  first  house  erected  in 
Salem  was,  probably,  that  of  Roger  Conant ;  and  one 
he  had  occupied  at  Cape  Ann  was  subsequently  taken 
down  and  removed  to  Salem,  for  Endicott's  use. 

The  leaders  of  the  Cape  Ann  plantation,  and  the 
most  prominent,  men  of  the  first  Salem  settlement 
were,  doubtless,  the  founders  of  the  first  permanent 
colony  of  "  Cape  Ann  Side,"  later  incorporated  as  Bev- 
erly. 

Tradition  points  to  a  small  colony  of  fishermen  at 
Tuck's  Point  as  early  as  1628-'30 ;  but  the  first  sub- 
stantial house  was  probably  erected  farther  down  the 
coast. 

As  nearly  as  can  be  determined,  the  first  settlers 
who  came  here  to  stay  were  the  Woodburys.  In  the 
spring  of  1628,  John  Woodbury,  who  had  come  to 
Naumkeag  with  Conant  in  1626,  returned  from  Eng- 
land (whither  he  had  been  sent  for  assistance)  with 
his  son  Humphrey  and  his  brother  William.  Hum- 
phrey (probably  with  his  father's  aid),  located  at  or 
near  the  Cove,  between  two  rocky  points  directly  op- 
posite the  "  Willows  "  of  the  Salem  shore. 

William  Woodbury  settled  near  the  lower  point  of 
the  name  (Woodbury),  and  here  was  built  (tradition 
states),  the  first  dwelling,  a  large,  double,  oak-framed 
structure,  called  the  garrison  house,  about  the  year 
1630.  This  was.  says  an  old  resident,  built  with 
loopholes  and  scuttles,  open  underneath,  and  some  of 
its  oak  timbers  are  in  the  lower  portion  of  the  house 
afterwards  built  there  by  John  Prince.  The  first  set- 
tlers were  probably  as  above  mentioned,  the  first 
great  house  at  William  Woodbury's  Point  and  the 
first  town-born  child  (accepting  current  tradition), 
was  of  the  name  of  Dixey ;  a  William  Dixey,  who 
followed  Conant  to  Bass  River  side,  was  admitted 
freeman  in  1634,  and  died,  aged  eighty-two,  in  1690. 

It  will  not  fail  to  be  noticed,  that  the  settlement  of 
Cape  Ann  side,  afterwards  Beverly,  virtually  began 
with  the  arrival  of  those  sturdy  pioneers,  Roger  Co- 
nant and  his  associates.  They  were  but  temporarily 
located  at  Naumkeag,  the  leaders  of  this  band,  styled 
the  "  Old  Planters  ;  "  and  removed  hither  as  soon  as 
grants  of  land  were  secured,  though  retaining  for  a 
while,  in  Naumkeag,  their  gardens  and  improved 
lots. 

1635.  In  the  original  "Book  of  Grants,"  yet  to  be 
seen  in  Salem,  is  found  the  following  entry: 

3  "Felt's  Annals." 


BEVERLY. 


681 


"On  the  25th  ©f  the  11th  moneth,  1635."     Voted  that  "Capn  Trask, 

Jno.  Woodbery,  Mr  Coiiant,  Peter  Palfrey  &  John  Balch  are  to  have  5 

fearnies,  viz  ;  each  200  acres  a  piece,  to  form  in  all  a  thousand  acres  of 

Land,  togeather  lying,  and  being  at  the  head  of  Bass  River,  124  pole  in 

breadth  and  soe   runne    northerly   to  the    Kiver   by   the    great  pond 

8ide,i  and  soe  in  bredth  making  up  the  full  quantitye  of  a  thousand 

acres.     These  limits  laid  out  and  surveyed  by  vs. 

John  Woodbeev, 

John  Balch." 

Of  the  same  date  : 

"  Mem.  the  limits  of  a  fearme  of  ground  granted  to  Ilenery  Herrick, 
between  two  and  three  acres  of  ground,  lying  on  the  north  side  of  Jeffry 
Mercy's  Cove,  bounded  by  the  Rock  on  one  side  and  Woolytons  (Porter's) 
River  on  the  other." 

And  on  the  "  8th  of  the  twelfth  month,  1635." 

"That  Israel  Burnet  may  have  a  tenne  acre  lott  at  the  upp.  end  of 
Bass  River." 

In  1639,  "  23d  day  of  the  10th  moneth," 

"Granted  to  John  Woodbery,  John  Balch  &  Mr  Connaught  5  acres  of 
medow  a  piece  in  some  convenient  place." 

The  best  lands  were  then  found  at  the  heads  of 
creeks  and  the  margins  of  rivers,  the  higher  sections 
being,  for  the  most  part,  covered  with  dense  forest, 
while  these  meadow-lands  were  open,  or,  in  great 
part,  free  from  forest. 

There  were  no  roads  in  those  days,  there  being,  for 
many  years,  but  a  single  Indian  trail  between  Boston 
and  Agawam,  or  Ipswich;  hence  all  communication 
between  different  settlements  was  by  water. 

It  is  related  of  the  origin  of  the  first  road  in  Beverly 
that  it  was  laid  out  by  a  heifer,  which,  having  been 
driven  from  Woodbury's  Point  to  the  farms  at  the 
head  of  Bass  River,  by  a  circuitous  irail  along  the 
shore,  escaped,  and  made  her  way  back  home  directly 
through  the  woods.  This  trail  was  followed,  and 
subsequently  became  a  line  of  communication  be- 
tween the  two  places.  "  Two  hundred  years,"  says 
the  historian  of  Beverly  (Stone),  "still  leave  us  in 
possession  of  many  highways  whose  numerous  wind- 
ings bear  ample  testimony  to  the  same  scientific 
origin." 

Regarding  means  of  travel  at  that  time,  a  contem- 
porary,'^ writing  in  1634  of  Salem,  says:  "Although 
their  land  be  none  of  the  best,  yet  beyond  the  rivers 
is  a  very  good  soyle,  where  they  have  their  farmes 
and  get  their  Hay  and  jjlant  their  corne;  there  they 
crosse  these  rivers  with  small  cannowes  (canoes), 
which  are  made  of  whole  pine  trees,  being  about  two 
foot  and  a  half  over,  and  20  foot  long;  in  these  like- 
wise they  goe  a  fowling  sometimes  two  leagues  to 
sea;  there  be  more  cannowes  in  this  town  (Salem) 
than  in  the  whole  Patent,  every  household  having  a 
water-house  or  two." 

Of  the  lives  of  the  planters  of  that  time,  the  same 
writer  gives  us  a  glimpse:  "For  all  New  England 
must  be  workers  in  some  kinde;  and  wheresoer  it 
hath  been  reported  that  boyes  of  tenne  or  twelve 
yeares  of  age  might  doe  much  more  than  get  their 
living:  that  cannot  be,  for  he  must  have  more  than  a 

1  Wenham  Lake. 

2  William  Wood ;  "New  England's  Prospect,"  London,  1634. 

43i 


boye's  head,  and  no  lesse  than  a  man's  strength,  that 
intend-)  to  live  comfortably;  and  he  that  hath  under- 
standing and  Industrie,  with  a  stock  of  an  hundred 
pound,  shall  live  better  there  than  he  shall  doe  here 
(in  England)  of  twenty  pound  per  annum." 

This  pioneer  life  led  by  our  forefathers,  passed  in 
felling  forests,  clearing  land  and  opening  roads  and 
trails,  is  well  described  in  several  books  treating  of 
that  formative  period  of  New  England's  history. 

Of  the  "Old  Planters"  who  received  the  thousand- 
acre  grant  of  land  between  Bass  River  and  Wenham 
Lake,  three — Roger  Conant,  John  Balch  and  John 
Woodbury — soon  settled  on  their  respective  tracts. 
Captain  Trask's  grant  went  by  exchange  to  Thomas 
Scruggs,  whose  daughter,  Rachel,  married  John  Ray- 
ment  (Raymond),  by  a  descendant  of  whom  it  is  oc- 
cupied (or  a  portion  of  it)  to-day. 

The  two-hundred-acre  grant  to  Peter  Palfrey  was 
not  occupied  by  him,  but  subsequently  came  by  pur- 
chase (1644)  into  the  possession  of  William  Dodge, 
the  founder,  with  his  brother  Richard,  of  this  numer- 
ous family  in  Wenham  and  Hamilton.  He  was 
known  as  Farmer  Dodge;  his  son,  Captain  William 
Dodge,  married  a  daughter  of  Conant,  a  portion  of 
whose  grant  was  sold  by  one  of  his  descendants,  to 
John  Chipman,  the  first  minister  of  the  Second  So- 
ciety, ordained  December  28,  1715. 

3  "  The  grant  of  a  thousand  acres,  comprising  the  five  farms,  was 
always  known  as  the  'Old  Planters'  Farms.'  The  first  proprietors  of 
them,  and  their  immediate  successors,  appear  to  have  arranged  and 
managed  them  in  concert — to  have  had  homesteads  near  together  between 
the  head  of  Bass  River  and  the  neighborhood  of  the  'Horse  Bridge,' 
where  the  meeting-house  of  the  Second  Congregational  Society  (or  of  the 
Precinct  of  Salem  and  Beverly)  now  stands.  Their  woodlands  and  pas- 
ture lands  were  farther  to  the  north  and  east The  dividing 

line  between  Beverly  and  Salem  Village,  finally  agreed  upon  in  1703,  ran 
through  the  'Old  Planters'  Farms,'  particularly  the  portions  belonging 
to  the  Dodges,  Raymond,  and  Woodbury.  It  went  through  'Capt.  John 
Dodge's  dwelling-house,  six  feet  to  the  eastward  of  his  brick  chiniDey  as 
it  now  stands.'  At  the  time  of  the  witchcraft  delusion  (1692),  the  Ray- 
monds and  Dodges  mostly  belonged  to  the  Salem  Village  parish  and 
church.  They  continued  on  the  rate-list  and  connected  with  the  pro- 
ceedings entered  on  the  record-books  until  the  meeting-house  at  the 
horse-bridge  was  opened  for  worship,  in  1715,  when  they  transferred 
their  relations  to  the  'Precinct  of  Salem  &  Beverly.'  " 

It  would,  perhaps,  be  well  to  digress  from  the  fol- 
lowing of  events  in  chronologic  sequence  to  glance  at 
three  of  these  "Old  Planters,"  the  fathers  of  Bev- 
erly:— Conant,  Balch  and  Woodbury.  Roger  Conant, 
one  time  Governor  of  the  Plantation  at  Cape  Anne 
and  at  Naumkeag,  was  born  in  Budleigh,  England, 
in  Devonshire,  in  April,  1591.  He  came  to  New 
England  (Plymouth  Colony)  in  1623,  removing  to 
Nantasket,  where  he  remained  a  while,  and  then  went 
to  Cape  Ann  as  superintendent  of  the  Dorchester 
(England)  Company's  venture  there,  being,  in  point 
of  fact,  "the  first  Governor  of  the  Colony  of  Massa- 
chusetts." Removing  to  Naumkeag  in  1626  (as  al- 
ready related),  he  was  instrumental,  through  his 
firmness  and  constancy  of  purpose,  in  keeping  his 
little  band  together  until  the  arrival  of  Endicott,  in 

s  "Upham's  Witchcraft,"  vol.  i.,  pp.  1.30,  131. 


632 


HISTOKY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


1628.  He  proved  himself,  according  to  Cotton 
Mather,  "a  most  religious,  prudent  and  worthy  gen- 
tleman, always  maintaining  an  interest  in  the  affairs 
of  the  town  to  the  last  of  his  life."  An  original  mem- 
ber of  the  first  church  in  Salem,  he  was  also  one  of 
the  founders  of  that  of  Beverly,  was  made  a  freeman 
in  1630,  and  represented  Salem  in  the  General 
Court,  In  addition  to  the  grant  of  lands  in  Beverly, 
he  received,  in  1671,  two  hundred  acres  more,  near 
Dunstable,  as  a  "  very  ancient  planter."  He  died  on 
November  19,  1679,  in  his  eighty-ninth  year,  leaving 
seven  children, — four  sons  and  three  daughters :  Lot, 
born  1624,  died  1674 ;  Roger,  born  1626,  died  1672 ; 
Mary,  married  John  Balch,  and  afterwards  William 
Dodge;  Sarah;  Exercise  (son),  baptized  December 
24,  1637,  died  April  28,  1722;  Elizabeth;  Joshua, 
died  1659. 

The  ancestor  of  the  Beverly  branch  of  the  family 
was  Lot,  some  of  his  descendants  yet  residing  here. 
The  second  son,  Roger  Conant,  Jr.,  enjoyed  the  dis- 
tinction of  having  been  the  first  child  born  in  Salem 
(in  1626),  and  was  granted  tw'enty  acres  of  land  in 
1639  in  recognition  of  this. 

On  the  fly-leaf  of  an  old  Bible,  once  the  property 
of  the  Conants  (according  to  Mr.  G.  D.  Phippen,  in 
his  memoir^),  is  this  entry  by  the  widow  of  Roger, 
Jr.,  who  lost  both  son  and  husband  within  the  space 
of  six  weeks: 

"The  4  day  of  May,  1672,  being  Saturday,  my  dere  littel  sone  Samuel 
Conant  dyed.  The  15  of  June  1672,  being  Saturd.ay,  my  dere,  dere,  dere 
husband  Koger  Conant  dyed." 

A  most  pathetic  chronicle  of  the  old,  sad  story. 

John  Balch  descended  from  a  very  ancient  family  of 
Somersetshire,  England,  where  he  was  born  at  or  near 
Bridgewater  about  1579.  He  came  to  New  England 
in  September,  1623,  with  Captain  Robert  Gorges  and 
settled  at  Salem  with  Conant.  He  was  made  a  free- 
man May  18,  1631,  and  was  one  of  the  original  mem- 
bers of  the  first  church  in  Salem,  also  holding  various 
offices  of  trust, — an  "intelligent,  exemplary  and  use- 
ful citizen." 

He  removed  to  his  Bass  River  grant  in  1638,  and 
there  resided  until  his  death,  in  June,  1648.  His  will, 
dated  May  15,  1648,  was  witnessed  by  Peter  Palfrey, 
Nicholas  Patch  and  Jeffrey  Massey,  and  proved  in 
the  same  court  a  fortnight  later. 

It  brings  in  a  vivid  manner  before  us  the  life  of  his 
times  to  read  in  his  inventory  of  the  "great  fruit 
trees,  the  young  apple-trees,  the  corn  that  is  growing 
upon  the  ground,"  and  two  of  his  cows  "Reddie"  and 
"  Cherrie."  Even  at  that  early  time  our  first  settlers 
were  firmly  rooted  in  the  soil  of  Beverly. 

Balch's  children  were:  Benjamin, born  1629;  John, 
drowned  in  1662,  June  16th,  at  Beverly  Ferry  during 
a  violent  storm.  It  was  his  widow,  daughter  of  Roger 
Conant,  who  afterwards  married  Capt.  Wm.  Dodge. 

Freeborn  (who,  from  his  name,  is  believed  to  have 


1  Essex  Hist.  Col.,  vol.  i,  No.  4. 


been  born   the  year  his  father  was  made  freeman,  in 
1631)  went  to  England  and  never  returned. 

The  widow  of  Balch  died  in  1657. 

The  most  numerous  family  in  Beverly  to-day  is  de- 
scended from  the  Woodburys. 

John  Woodbury,  the  first  of  the  name  in  America, 
came  from  Somersetshire,  England,  to  Cape  Ann  in 
1624,  afterward  removing  with  Conant  to  Salem,  in 
1626.  The  year  following  he  went  to  England  for 
supplies,  returning  in  1628,  bringing  with  him  his 
son  Humphrey.  He  and  his  wife,  Agnes,  were  of  the 
original  members  of  the  first  church  in  Salem,  and  he 
was  made  a  freeman  May  18,  1631. 

It  is  stated  that  John  and  his  brother,  William,  went 
over  to  Cape  Ann  Side  about  1630,  where  the  latter 
settled  at  what  is  now  called  William  Woodbury's 
Point.  From  them,  it  is  thought,  are  descended  all 
of  the  name  in  New  England.  •  After  his  grant  at 
Bass  River,  John,  or  "  Father  Woodbury  "  (as  he  is 
called),  removed  thither  and  there  died,  "  after  a  life 
of  energy  and  faithfulness  to  the  colony,"  1641,  aged 
about  sixty  years. 

Humphrey,  son  of  John,  came  to  Naumkeag  with 
his  father  in  1628,  and  at  that  time  was  nineteen 
years  old,  having  been  born  in  1609.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Salem  Church  in  1648,  and  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  first  church  in  Beverly,  of  which  he 
was  chosen  deacon  in  1668. 

Other  children  of  John,  whose  names  are  recorded, 
were  Hannah,  baptized  1636;  Abigail,  1637;  Peter, 
1640.  Humphrey  is  said  to  have  reached  the  age  of 
three-score  and  ten,  and  his  widow  died  about  1689. 
Peter,  son  of  John,  was  made  freeman  in  1668,  a  rep- 
resentative to  General  Court  in  1689,  and  died  July  5, 
1704. 

William  Woodbury,  John's  brother,  had  also  grants 
of  land  in  Salem,  and  is  mentioned  in  the  records  of 
1639.  His  children  :  Nicholas  (the  oldest),  William, 
Andrew,  Hugh,  Isaac  and  Hannah.  His  will  was 
dated  1st  Fourth  month,  1663,  and  he  died  in  1676. 
Nicholas  died  1686,  leaving  a  widow,  who  survived 
till  June  10,  1701.  His  daughter,  Abigail,  married 
Richard  Ober,  and  died  1727,  aged  eighty-six. 

It  is  an  honorable  as  well  as  ancient  family  of  Bev- 
erly. "Few  enterprises  of  'pith  and  moment' were 
set  on  foot  in  the  colony  except  a  Woodbury  was  of 
the  party,  and  they  seem  to  have  been  ready  early 
and  late,  whether  in  humble  or  conspicuous  station, 
and  whatever  might  betide,  to  bear  a  man's  part. 
Two  Beverly  Woodburys  piloted  the  little  fleet  in 
the  capture  of  St.  Johns  and  Port  Royal,  in  the  N.  E. 
expedition  of  1654.  And  a  full  century  later  a  Bev- 
erly Woodbury  stood  by  the  side  of  Wolfe  as  he  fell 
in  victory  upon  the  plains  of  Abraham,  and  wore  that 
day  a  sword  which  is  still  an  heirloom  with  his  fam- 
ily." ^ 

Two  other  names,  equally  honorable,  and  linked 

2  Kobert  S.  Rantoul. 


BEVERLY. 


683 


with  those  of  the  Old  Planters,  were  those  of  Brack- 
enbuiy  and  Lothrop.  Richard  Brackenburj"^  came  with 
Endicott  in  1628,  was  a  member  of  the  first  church, 
made  freeman  in  1630,  and  was  granted  seventy-five 
acres  of  land  in  1636. 

He  was  an  active  member  of  the  first  church  in 
Beverly,  where  he  lived  till  1685,  and  died  at  the  age 
of  eighty-five.  The  family  long  ago  became  extinct 
here,  though  the  name  is  perpetuated  in  one  of  our 
streets,  Brackenbury  Lane,  which  runs  through  his 
former  farm. 

Captain  Thomas  Lothrop  was  another  man  of  force 
and  integritj^  who  came  early  from  England,  and  who 
received  a  grant  of  land  on  Bass  River  Side  in  1636, 
in  which  year  he  became  a  member  of  the  first  church 
of  Salem.  He  was  a  representative  to  General  Court 
for  several  terms  from  Salem,  assisted  in  founding  the 
church  in  Beverly,  and  was  there  elected  selectman 
for  many  years. 

The  more  important  events  of  his  history  will  be 
narrated  in  proper  sequence,  but  it  will  be  well  to 
keep  in  mind  this  eminent  man  as  one  of  the  leaders 
of  this  young  and  struggling  colony.  His  grant  of 
land  was  at  the  Cove,  not  far  from  Humphrey  Wood- 
bury's, where  traces  of  his  house-cellar  were  shown 
until  a  very  recent  period,  and  there  he  lived  for  forty 
years,  a  model  of  fidelity  to  all  his  public  and  private 
relations. 

"Biave  and  gentle,  penerous  and  just,  confiding,- yet  cautious  and 
wise,  of  large  estate  for  the  time,  bountifully  as  skilfully  administered, 
never  sparing  of  his  own  exertions,  but  always  ready  for  every  good 
word  or  work,  he  had  a  rare  and  remarkable  hold  on  the  confidence  and 
affection  of  the  comniuuity  in  which  he  lived.  .  .  .  His  house  was  not 
only  the  abode  of  a  liberal  hospitality,  but  an  asylum  for  the  orphan 
and  distressed.  .  .  .  Among  those  who  shared  his  fostering  care  was  a 
sister,  Ellen,  whom  he  brought  with  him  on  his  return  from  a  visit  to 
England.  She  became  the  second  wife  of  the  veteran  schoolmaster 
Ezekiel  Cheever,  who  taught  for  more  than  s-eventj'  years  in  New  Haven, 
Ipswich,  Charlestown  and  Boston." 

Lothrop,  in  1654,  was  lieutenant  under  Captain 
Hawthorn,  and  a  captain  under  Major  Sedgwick  at  the 
capture  of  St.  Johns  and  Port  Royal.  From  the  latter 
place  he  brought  home  a  bell,  taken  from  the  "New 
Friary  "  there,  for  the  use  of  the  church  in  Beverly. 

We  will  return  now  to  the  chronological  narration  : 

1636. — "  It  is  agreed,  December  26,  that  John  Stone 
shall  keep  a  ferry,  to  begin  this  day,  betwixt  his 
house  on  the  neck  upon  the  north  point  and  Cape 
Ann  side,  and  shall  give  diligent  attention  thereupon 
dureing  the  space  of  three  yeares,  unless  he  shall 
give  just  occation  to  the  contrary;  and  in  considera- 
tion thereof  he  is  to  have  twopence  from  a  stranger 
and  one  penny  from  an  inhabitant.  Moreover,  the 
said  John  Stone  doth  engage  to  provide  a  convenient 
boat  for  the  said  purpose,  betwixt  this  and  the  first 
month  next  coming  after  the  date  hereof." 

In  1653  the  profits  of  the  ferry  "  towards  Ipswich,'' 
were  allowed  to  Richard  Stackhouse's  family  provided 
he  find  boats  and  men.  He  continued  in  charge  till 
1686,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  John  Massey,  "the 


oldest  town-born  child  then  residing  in  Salem."  Two 
years  later,  Massey  had  charge  of  the  south  side,  and 
Bogers  Haskins  of  the  north  (or  Beverly)  side.  In 
1694  the  latter  was  succeeded  by  Edmund  Gale,  and 
he,  in  1701,  by  the  widow  of  Haskins,  who,  in  1708, 
leased  the  ferry  for  a  term  of  twenty  years.  In  1742, 
over  one  hundred  years  after  the  establishment  of  the 
ferry,  the  rates  for  crossing  were  "  3c?.  for  a  person, 
9d.  for  a  horse  and  3s.  for  a  chair  or  chaise." 

In  1749  it  was  leased  by  Robert  Hale,  of  Beverly, 
at  three  pounds  sterling  per  annum  for  seven  years'. 
In]  769  B.  Waters,  of  Salem,  and  Ebenezer  Ellin- 
wood,  of  Beverly,  hired  the  ferry  for  three  years.  The 
rates  then  were,  "  Id.  for  an  individual,  2  half-pence 
for  ahorse,  4  half-pence  for  man  and  horse,  5c?.  for  a 
chair,  7d.  for  two-wheeled  chaise,  and  9d.  for  a  four- 
wheeled." 

The  building  of  a  bridge  over  the  ferry  was  agi- 
tated in  1787,  the  principal  mover  in  the  matter  being 
an  eminent  merchant  of  Beverly,  George  Cabot. 
As  the  proposition  gave  rise  to  angry  discussion,  a 
certain  Mr.  Blyth  remarked,  that  he  "  never  knew  a 
bridge  to  be  built  without  a  '  railing  '  on  both  sides.'' 
The  following  year,  1788,  the  bridge  was  built  by  a 
distinguished  contractor,  Lemuel  Cox.  It  rested 
upon  ninety-three  piles,  was  thirty-two  feet  span, 
fourteen  hundred  and  eighty-four  feet  long,  entirely 
of  wood.  Its  cost  was  about  sixteen  thousand  dollars, 
which  sum  was  divided  into  two  hundred  shares, 
worth,  prior  to  1830,  five  times  the  original  value, 
but  steadily  declining  later,  after  the  railroad  was 
built,  and  in  view  of  its  approaching  reversion  to  the 
commonwealth. 

It  was  called  Essex  Bridge,  as  so  beneficial  to  the 
county,  and  its  cost  was  to  be  remunerated  by  tolls 
for  a  period  of  seventy  years,  after  which  it  became 
free  to  the  public. 

This,  in  brief,  is  the  history  of  the  Salem  and  Bev- 
erly ferry  and  tlie  Essex  Bridge.  In  1789  General 
Washington,  then  on  his  famous  tour,  was  so  inter- 
ested in  it  that  he  dismounted  after  he  had  crossed 
the  "  draw,"  which  was  hoisted  that  he  might  examine 
it. 

1638. — John  Winthrop,  Jr.,  having  settled  at  Aga- 
wam  (1633)  has  leave  to  set  up  salt-works  at  Eyal 
Side — then  part  of  Salem,  now  of  Beverly — and  to 
have  wood  enough  for  carrying  on  his  works,  and 
pasturage  for  his  cows.  The  name  of  Salt-house,  or 
Salter's  Point,  remains  to  this  day,  applied  to  the 
point  between  Danvers  River  and  Duck  Cove. 

1639. — "  At  genall  towne  meeting,  the  11th  month. 
Granted  to  Roger  Conant.  the  Sonne  of  Eoger  Co- 
nant,  being  the  first  borne  childe  in  Salem,  20  acres 
of  Land." 

This  individual  was  Roger  Conant,  Jr.,  born  1626, 
died  June  15,  1672. 

1642. — "  At  a  particular  meeting  of  the  seven  men, 
Granted  to  Samuel  Edson  25  acres  of  Land  joyning 
to  Humphrey  Woodburys  farme  in  Mackerell   Cove, 


684 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


&  2  acres   of  medow  where  he  can   find  yt  there 
about." 

1643. — "  8th  moneth  :  John  Balch,  for  the  Basse 
Eiver,  and  William  Woodbury  for  the  Mackerell  Cove, 
were  nominated  to  receive  donations  of  corne  for  a 
certain  John  Moore." 

"  It  is  ordered  that  all  those  that  have  land  granted 
them  at  the  great  pond,  shall  fence  with  the  rest  or 
els  leave  theirre  Lands.  And  all  that  have  lotts  at 
Bass  Eiver  are  bound  to  the  like  conditions." 

1644.—"  The  29  of  the  2d  moneth, 

"  Ordered  that  Guydo  Bayly  shall  have  soe  much  of 
the  swamp  that  lyeth  along  by  his  lott  over  at  Cape 
Ann  side  as  he  can  ridd  within  3  yeares  next  insu- 
ing." 

Bayly  emigrated  to  Plymouth  colony,  and  sold  his 
lands  to  Humphrey,  the  son  of  John  Woodbury. 

These  extracts,  from  the  Salem  Book  of  Grants', 
give  us  a  glimpse  of  the  toiling  pioneers  and  enable 
us  to  localize  some  of  those  hitherto  in  doubt. 

1646.—"  The  26  day  of  the  8th  moneth, 

"  Ordered,  that  Willm  Woodbury  and  Richd  Brack- 
enbury,  Ensign  dixie,  Mr.  Conant,  Lieftenant  Lo- 
Ihrop,  Lawrence  &  Leech,  shall  forthwith  Lay  out  a 
way  between  the  ferry  at  Salem  &  the  head  of  Jef- 
fryes  creek,  and  that  it  be  such  a  way  as  men  may 
travell  on  horse  back  &  drive  cattle  ;  and  if  such  a 
way  not  be  found,  then  to  take  a  speedy  course  to  sett 
up  a  foote  bridge  at  Mackrell  Cove." 

The  original  roads  were  merely  tracks  or  trails,  over 
the  beaches,  and  leading  from  one  house  or  settlement 
to  another,  not  having  a  well-defined  objective  point; 
hence  their  meandering  courses  at  the  present  day. 
From  foot-paths  and  bridle-trails,  those  most  in  use 
finally  hardened  into  roads,  which  were  ultimately 
extended  so  as  to  connect  distant  points,  or  with  the 
great  public  highways,  as  between  Boston  and  Ips- 
wich. 

Our  forefathers  came  here,  primarily,  for  religious 
freedom ;  they  accepted  the  country  and  conditions 
of  life  as  they  found  them,  striving  hard  and  always 
to  improve  both,  They  could  not,  like  settlers  at  the 
present  day,  project  a  town  or  city  in  advance,  on  pa- 
per, laying  out  streets  and  highways,  broad  and 
straight,  and  defining  beforehand  the  position  of 
every  public  building,  park  and  station. 

A  home,  first  of  all,  they  sought ;  a  farm,  where  the 
land  was  most  fertile  and  its  surface  most  easily  pre- 
pared for  the  plough.  They  found  no  broad  acres  of 
prairie  land  lying  open  to  cultivation ;  but  were 
obliged  to  labor,  for  many  months,  at  the  surface- 
work  of  preparation.  There  was  at  first  a  struggle 
for  mere  existence  ;  their  sustenance  was  to  be  drawn 
from  the  soil,  supplemented  by  the  various  products 
of  the  sea.  Theirs  was  not  a  high  ambition,  yet  it 
was  the  noblest  man  can  conceive:  to  have  a  home 
of  their  own  for  the  possession  of  themselves  and 
their  descendants. 

This  characteristic  trait  has  descended  to  the  pres- 


ent generation  :  this  desire  to  retain  an  ownership  in 
the  soil ;  and  jjerhaps  explains  the  thrift  and  pros- 
perity that  has  ever  attended  upon  the  town. 

As  the  founding  of  homes  was  the  main  occupation 
of  the  inhabitants  during  the  first  century  or  so,  and 
as  this  gave  them  little  leisure  for  visiting,  there  was 
not  much  attention  paid  to  the  means  of  intercom- 
munication. Thus  it  was  the  original  trails,  with  all 
their  sinuous  traceries,  became  indurated,  as  it  were, 
into  the  roads  of  the  present  day.  The  cow  path  of 
the  "  stray  "  from  the  Woodbury  farm  at  the  Cove  to 
the  larger  farms  on  the  Bass  River,  is  now  crossed  by 
portions  of  Cross  and  Colon  (or  Cow  Lane)  Streets. 

It  may  be  well  to  note,  in  passing,  that  the  right  to 
traverse  the  ancient  bridle-trail  along  the  shore  is 
still  claimed  by  many  inhabitants. 

1647.— 27  th  October:  The  inhabitants  of  Mackerell 
Cove  (as  the  coast  settlement  was  called),  were  re- 
leased from  watching  in  Salem,  except  in  seasons  of 
danger.  They  had  preaching  soon  after  at  Cape  Ann 
Side,  and  erected  a  house  of  worship.  Twelve  years 
later,  they  built  a  parsonage,  as  appears  from  the  cu- 
rious deposition  in  the  Salem  Records : 

1659.— 9th  month,  29th  : 

"Wee  whose  names  are  heareunfler  written  being  desired  to  vew  and 
to  take  notice  what  work  is  yet  to  be  done  to  the  house  whicli  John 
Norman  built  for  the  use  of  the  Minislrie  on  Cape  An  Side,  having 
vewed  the  same  accordinge  to  our  best  vnderstandinge  wee  doe  judge 
tliat  the  work  yet  to  be  donne  is  worth  att  least  fiftie  shillings,  besides 
the  dividing  of  the  rooms. 

"The  Tmark  Cof  Thomas  Chubb. 

"TheZ      "      of  Zachariah  Heerich. 

"  William  Seakgent." 

This  house  was  built  on  the  slope  of  the  hill  oppo- 
site the  (Bancroft)  house  at  present  standing,  which 
was  built  for  the  minister's  use  about  1690. 

First  Church  of  Beverly. — The  records  of  the 
First  Church  contain  a  faithful  description  of  the 
first  foundation  in  Beverly,  as  follows  :  "  The  Lord  in 
mercy  alluring  and  bringing  over  into  this  wilder- 
ness of  New  England,  many  of  his  faithfull  serv- 
ants from  England,  who:<e  aymes  were  to  worship 
God  in  purity  according  to  his  word;  they,  in  pursu- 
ance of  that  work,  began  to  sett  up  particular 
churches ;  and  the  First  Church  gathered  in  Massa- 
chusetts colony  was  in  the  town  of  Salem  ;  a  gratious 
beginning  of  that  intended  church  reformation,  which 
hath  beine  farther  prosecuted  and  prospered  through 
the  Lord's  mercy  in  divers  parts  of  the  land.  This 
church  of  Salem  entered  church  covenant  with  pub- 
lique  fasting  and  prayer  upon  the  sixth  day  of  the 
sixth  month,  1629 ;  their  number  att  the  beginning 
very  small,  was  soon  greatly  increased  and  inriched 
with  divers  worthy  labourers  in  God's  vineyard  as 
Pastors  and  Teachers  successively,  viz. :  Mr.  Samuel 
Skelton,  Mr.  Francis  Higginson,  Mr.  Hugh  Peters, 
Mr.  Edward  Norris  and  Mr.  John  Higginson,  their 
present  Pastor. 

1650.  "As  their  church  increased,  divers  of  the 
members  came  over  the  Ferry  to  live  on  Bass  River 


BEVERLY. 


685 


side,  who,  on  the  10th  of  the  12th  mo.,  1649  (Me. 
Norris  beinge  teacher),  presented  their  request  to  the 
rest  of  the  church  for  some  course  to  be  taken  for  the 
means  of  grace  among  themselves,  because  of  tedious- 
ness  and  difficulties  over  the  water  and  other  incon- 
veniences, which  motion  was  renewed  againe  the  22d 
of  1st  mo.,  1650,  and  on  the  2d  day  of  the  8th  mo. 
they  returned  their  answer,  viz. :  that  we  should  look 
out  some  able  and  approved  teacher,  to  be  emploied 
amongst  us,  wee  still  holding  communion  with  them 
as  before. 

"But  upon  farther  experience  wee,  uppon  the  23 
of  the  first  month,  1656,  presented  our  desires  to  be  a 
church  of  ourselves,  and  after  some  agitation  about 
it,  wherein  our  teacher  stood  for  us,  it  was  put  to 
voat  and  yielded  unto,  none  appeering  opposite,  we 
protesting  there  was  no  disunion  in  judgment  or  af- 
fection intended  but  brotherly  communion. 

"Our  desire  being  consented  unto,  wee  proceeded 
to  build  a  meeting-house  on  Bass  River  Side,  and  we 
called  unto  us  successively  to  dispense  the  word  of 
life  unto  us,  Mr.  Joshua  Hubbard,  Mr.  Jeremiah 
Hubbard  and  Mr.  John  Hailes ;  and  after  almost 
three  yeares  experience  of  Mr.  John  Hailes,  our  mo- 
tion was  'again  renewed  the  23d  of  4th  mo.,  1667." 
The  petition  follows  of  Mr.  Roger  Conant  and  some 
eighty  others,  to  be  set  off  from  the  First  Church  in 
Salem  to  form  the  First  Church  of  Beverly. 

Rev.  John  Hale  was  ordained  1667,  with  John 
Higginson,  pastor  of  the  First  Church,  Salem,  Thomas 
Cobbett,  of  the  Church  of  Ipswich  and  Antipas  New- 
man, of  the  Church  in  Wenham,  officiating. 

The  first  fast  day,  or  day  of  humiliation,  entered  on 
the  parish  records  is  in  1667,  8th  day  of  Tenth 
month.  On  the  26th  day  of  First  month,  1668,  "  The 
Councill  of  Magistrates  apoynt  a  General  Fast,  to 
mourne  for  prophainess,  superstition  &  herisie,  in 
ceasing  to  pray  for  the  encouragement  of  religion, 
disapoynting  of  its  Enemys,  yt  the  great  motions  of 
ye  world  bee  overruled  by  God's  glory.  That  He 
would  bless  &  direct  ye  King,  Counsell  &  Parlament, 
bless  ye  peace  with  Hollend,  &  sanctifie  ye  late  war, 
pestilence  &  burning  of  ye  city  of  London,  &  contin- 
ue to  New  England  peace,  liberty  &  ye  gospel,  &  pre- 
vent in  ye  ensuing  yeare  blasting  mildew  &  caterpil- 
lars, &  convert  the  rising  Generation." 

1669,  17th  day.  Ninth  month,  was  a  day  set  apart 
for  Public  Thanksgiving,  "  to  bless  ye  Lord  for  stay- 
ing ye  immoderate  raines  wch  thretened  to  destroy  ye 
harvests  of  corne  &  fresh  hay,  &  for  ye  harvests  the 
Lord  has  given." 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  first  records  of  the  growing 
settlement,  still  to  be  found  in  the  custody  of  the 
town  clerk,  and  in  excellent  preservation  : 

1665. — lit  month. — "  A  booke  of  such  publicke  con- 
cernements  as  appertaine  to  the  people  of  Bass  river 
or  Cape  An  side,  relating  bothe  to  theire  civill  &  min- 
isteriall  affairs,  from  the  first  of  the  first  month,  1665. 

"  'id  7)10.  '65. —  Whereas,  we  doe,  with  one  consent, 


invite  Mr.  John  Hayle  to  come  amongst  us,  in  order 
to  setling  with  us  in  the  worke  of  the  ministry  ;  for 
his  due  encouragement  in  the  work  of  the  Lord, 
amongst  us,  according  to  2  Chron.  31,  4;  &  that  he 
may  attend  upon  the  worke  of  the  ministrie  without 
distraction,  we  doe  promise  &  engage  to  pay  unto  him 
£70  per  annum,  &  his  fierwood  raised  amongst  us  by 
a  rate  in  equall  portions,  according  to  our  former 
custome;  &  for  the  manner  and  time  of  payment, 
that  he  may  not  have  to  doe  with  particular  men's 
portions  of  allowance,  the  bill  shall  not  be  delivered 
unto  him,  nor  shall  he  be  troubled  with  gathering  of 
it  in ;  but  2  men  shall  be  chosen  yeere  by  yeere,  to 
take  the  care  of  bringing  it  into  his  house,  and  to 
make  up  the  account  at  the  time  appointed.  Also, 
whereas  we  have  built  a  house  for  the  ministrie, 
wherein  it  is  defective  to  be  finished  by  us.  And 
there  are  2  akers  of  home  lot  (to  be  fenced  in  by  us) 
&  as  much  meadow  land  belonging  to  it  as  commonly 
bears  about  fower  load  of  hay  ;  we  doe  agree  that  he 
shall  have  the  use  of  that  so  long  as  he  continues  in 
the  worke  of  the  ministrie  with  us;  yet,  because  we 
do  acknowledge  it  his  duty  to  provide  for  wife  and 
children,  that  he  may  leave  behind  him,  and  our 
duty  to  have  a  care  of  him  in  that  respect,  we  doe 
therefore  promise  and  engage  that  in  case  he  die  in 
the  mini.strie  with  us,  that  either  the  house  and  two 
aker  house  lot  forementioned  shall  be  his,  or  that 
which  is  equivalent,  to  be  paid  (according  to  his  last 
will  and  testament)  within  the  compass  of  one  yeare 
after  his  decease,  and  for  the  repaire  of  the  house  and 
fenced  home  lot,  to  be  done  by  him  living  thereon  for 
the  time  being. 

"Also,  it  is  agreed  that  Mr.  Hayle  shall  have  the 
use  and  benefit  of  a  pasturing,  the  time  he  lives  with 
us. 

"  [William]  Dodge  &  Humphrey  Woodbury  be 
chosen  to  gather  the  rates  for  the  ministrie. 

"  May  15th. — There  was  chosen  at  a  publick  meet- 
ing, for  to  make  the  rate  for  Mr.  Hails  maintenance 
for  this  yeere  ('65),  as  followeth :  Captain  Lathrop, 
Mr.  Thorndick,  Roger  Conant,  Samuel  Corning,  Jo- 
seph Rootes. 

"Mr.  John  Haile  his  year  begineth  with  us  for  his 
allowance  of  £70  and  his  fierwood." 

From  this  date  on,  through  a  long  period,  the  his- 
tory of  the  church  is  that  of  the  community. 

1667. — The  first  meeting-house  was  erected  in  1656, 
just  easterly  of  the  present  building;  but  the  first 
church  was  organized  in  1667,  September  20,  and  the 
Rev.  John  Hale  ordained  as  pastor.  The  names  of 
original  members  are  here  given:  John  Hale,  Rich- 
ard Dodge,  William  Woodbury,  Richard  Bracken- 
bury,  John  Stone,  John  Dodge,  Roger  Conant,  Wil- 
liam Dodge,  Humphrey  Woodbury,  Nicholas  Patch, 
John  Hill,  Thomas  Lothrop,  Samuel  Corning,  Robert 
Morgan,  John  Black,  Lot  Conant,  Ralph  Ellingwood, 
William  Dixey,  Henry  Herrick,  Peter  Woolfe,  Josiah 
Rootes,  Exercise  Conant,  Edward   Bishop,  Elizabeth 


686 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Dodge,  Mary  Lovett,  Elizabeth  Haskell,  Mary  Wood- 
bury, Sarah  Leech,  Freegrace  Black,  Eliz.  Corning, 
Eliz.  Woodbury,  Ellen  Brackenbury,  Hannah  Wood- 
bury, Eliz.  Patch,  Hannah  Sallows,  Bethiah  Lothrop, 
Anna  Dixey,  Anna  Woodbury,  Eliz.  Woodbury, 
Martha  Woolfe,  Hannah  Baker,  Mary  Herrick, 
Bridget  Luff,  Mary  Dodge,  Anna  Woodbury,  Ede. 
Herrick,  Mary  Dodge,  Jr.,  Abigail  Hill,  Lydia  Her- 
rick. Mrs.  Rebekah  Hall  was  subsequently  admitted 
by  letter  from  the  Church  at  Salisbury,  and  a  month 
later  Humphrey  Woodbury's  wife,  Sarah,  Humphrey 
Jr.,  John  Clark,  Jr., Remember  Stone  and  Sarah  Conant, 
were  received  into  full  communion.  The  first  sacra- 
ment was  observed  September  29th,  and  the  first  infant 
baptized  was  Abigail,  daughter  of  John  and  Hannah 
Sallows. 

1667. — "  At  a  generell  meeting  of  [the  inhabytants 
of  Cape  An  side,  the  11th  of  the  9th  month,  there  is 
chosen  to  make  the  rate  for  Mr.  Hale  for  the  year 
Mr.  [I.]  Thorndike,  Thomas  Lowthropp,  Robert  Mor- 
gan, Richard  Brackenbury,  Ensigne  Corninge,  Wil- 
liam Ramond  &  John  Dodge  Sen.,  to  see  it  brought 
in." 

Four  men  were  appointed  for  ihe  year,  to  see  that 
the  cutting  and  hauling  of  wood  were  attended  to, 
viz.:  "(1)  Goodman  West,  from  his  house  to  Cedar 
Stan  (from  West  Beach  to  Sallow's  Bridge) ;  (2) 
Humphrey  Woodbury,  from  his  house  to  the  ferry 
(probably  from  Humphrey  Woodbury's  point  to 
bridge),  and  soe  to  the  meeting-house  (and  from  the 
ferry  via  Cabot  street  to  the  Old  South);  (3)  Ensigne 
Corning,  from  his  house  to  Mr.  Conant's  bridge  (or 
from  the  Old  South  to  Tan-yard  brook) ;  (4)  Mr.  Co- 
nant is  for  all  the  rest "  (probably  all  north  of  Tan- 
yard  brook  to  the  Wenham  line). 

"  Cart  waves.  It  is  agreed  that  the  waves  to  the 
meeting-house  &  mill  be  laide  out  wheare  it  is  most 
convenient,  &  those  that  are  damnified  thereby  shall 
be  satisfied  by  those  that  make  use  of  the  same." 

The  first  mill  was  at  the  head  of  Bass  River,  near 
Balch  Street. 

The  Town  Incokporated. — The  Bass  River  peo- 
ple were  allowed  by  General  Court  to  exercise  some 
of  the  powers  of  a  town  in  1665,  a  step  preliminary  to 
final  separation  from  the  mother-settlement.  They 
were  still  subordinate  to  Salem  until  1668,  Xovember 
23d. 

"  Whereas,  wee  the  inhabitants  of  Basse  River  and  Cape  Ann  side, 
after  many  agitations  in  publique  meetings  what  might  be  for  our  com- 
fortable settleing,  made  choise  of  some  amongst  us  to  draw  upp  a  writ- 
ing specifying  our  desires  and  deputing  messengers  to  the  General  Court 
held  att  Boston  the  29th  of  Aprill  1668,  by  petition  to  our  Governor  & 
magistrates  to  invest  them  with  power  to  choose  yearly  a  fitt  number  of 
persons,  who  might  have  power  within  themselves  as  Selectmen  have  in 
other  places,  and  so  to  act  in  the  behalfe  of  the  place  by  imploying 
others,  officers  or  persons,  as  the  affairs  of  the  place  may  occasion. 

"Att  the  next  General  Court  att  Boston  the  14th  of  October  1668, 
Wee  received  this  answer ;  that  they  judged  meets  that  henceforth  wee 
should  be  a  towneshipp  of  ourselves,  nomanating  itt  Beverly." 

The  County  (Essex)  was  incorporated  in  1643.  The 
eight  original  towns  wereNaumkeag,  1626  ;  Salem,  set- 


tled 1628;  Lynn,  1629;  Ipswich,  1633-34;  Cochichew- 
ic  (Andover),  1634;  Enon  (Wenham),  1639;  Row- 
ley, 1639 ;  Newbury  (offshoot  of  Ipswich),  1635 ;  Glou- 
cester (Cape  Ann,  1624).  1642;  chronologically,  the 
settlements  were:  Cape  Ann,  1624-25;  Naumkeag, 
1626;  Salem,  1628;  Lynn,  1629;  Cape  Ann  Side 
(Beverly),  1630  ;  Ipswich,  1634,  etc. 

"  It  was  not  long,"  says  Cotton  Mather,  in  his 
Magnalia  Christi  Americana,  "before  the  Massachu- 
setts colony  was  become  like  an  hive,  overstocked 
with  bees;  and  many  of  the  new  inhabitants  enter- 
tained thoughts  of  swarming  into  plantations  extended 
further  into  the  country." 

Thus  had  "Cape  Ann  Side"  and  "Bass  River" 
grown  from  its  small  beginnings  until  strong  enough 
to  set  up  a  hive  of  its  own,  and,  in  turn,  send  out  the 
avant  couriers  of  conquest  and  colonization.  And  re- 
garding the  name  selected,  "As  there  are  few  of  our 
towns  but  what  have  their  namesakes  in  England,  so 
the  reason  why  most  of  our  towns  are  called  what 
they  are,  is  because  the  chief  of  the  first  inhabitants 
would  thus  bear  up  the  names  of  the  particular 
places  there  from  whence  they  came.''  This  may  not 
have  been  the  case  with  Beverly,  though  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Cape  Ann  Side  were  exceedingly  fortunate  in 
the  euphonious  appellation  bestowed  by  General  Court. 
The  name  may  have  been  suggested  by  Beverley  i  n  Eng- 
land, in  the  East  Riding  of  Yorkshire,  celebrated  for 
its  beautiful  minster  and  as  the  home  of  John  de 
Beverley,  Archbishop  of  York,  a  thousand  years  ago. 
The  name  also,  may  have  been  derived  from  "  Beaver 
Lea  "  or  beaver  meadow,  as  we  have  "  Beaver  Pond  ;  " 
and  remains  of  beaver  dams  have  been  found  here. 
Notwithstanding  the  beauty  of  the  name  and  its  asso- 
ciations, some  of  the  settlers  were  dissatisfied,  as  ap- 
pears in  1671  (May  28).  in 

"The  umble  petition  of  Roger  Conant,  of  Bass  river,  alias  Beverly 
who  have  bin  a  planter  in  New  England  fortie-eight  yeers  and  vpwards, 
being  one  of  the  first,  if  not  the  very  first,  that  resolved  and  made  good 
my  settlement,  vnder  God,  in  matter  of  plantation  with  my  family,  in 
this  collony  of  the  Massachusett  Bay,  and  haue  bin  iustrumentall,  botti 
for  the  founding  and  carrying  on  of  the  same  ;  and  when  in  the  infancy 
thereof,  it  was  in  great  hassard  of  being  deserted,  I  was  a  meaus,  through 
grace  assisting  me,  to  stop  the  flight  of  those  few  that  then  were  heere 
with  me,  and  that  my  vtter  deniall  to  goe  away  with  them,  who  would 
haue  gon  either  for  England  or  mostly  for  Virginia,  but  therevpon 
stayed  to  the  hassard  of  our  Hues. 

"Now  my  vmble  suit  and  request  is  vnto  this  honorable  Court,  onlie 
that  the  name  of  our  town  or  plantation  may  be  altred  or  changed  from 
Beuerly  and  be  called  Budleigh.  I  haue  two  reasons  that  haue  moved 
me  vnto  this  request.  The  first  is  the  great  dislike  and  discontent  for 
this  name  of  Beuerly,  because,  (wee  being  but  a  small  place)  it  hath 
caused  on  vs  a  constant  nickname  of  beggarly,  being  in  the  mouths  of 
manj',  and  no  order  was  giuen  or  consent  by  the  people  heere  to  their 
agent  for  any  name  vntill  they  were  shure  of  being  a  town  granted  in 
the  first  jilace. 

"  Secondly,  I  being  the  first  that  had  house  in  Salem  (and  neuer  had 
any  hand  in  naming  either  that  or  any  other  towne)  and  myself  with 
those  that  were  then  with  me,  being  all  from  the  western  part  of  Eng- 
land, desire  this  western  name  of  Budleigh,  a  market  town  in  Deuon- 
shier  and  neere  vnto  the  sea  as  wee  are  heere  in  this  place,  and  where 
myself  was  borne. 

"Now  in  regard  to  our  firstnesse  and  antiquity  in  this  soe  famous  a 
colony,  we  should  umblie  request  this  littell  priuelidg  with  your  fauors 
and  consent,  to  giue  this  name  abouesaid  vnto  our  town. 


BEVERLY. 


687 


"I  neueryet  made  sute  or  request  vnto  the  Gcnerall  Court  for  the 
least  matter,  tho'  I  thinks  I  might  as  well  haue  done,  as  many  others 
haue,  who  haue  obtained  much  without  hassard  of  life  or  preferring  the 
publick  good  before  theire  own  interest,  which,  I  praise  God,  I  haue 
done.  If  tills  my  sute  may  find  acceptation  with  your  worships,  I  shall 
rest  vmbly  thankfull  and  my  praires  shall  not  cease  vnto  the  throne  of 
grace  for  God's  guidance  and  his  blessing  to  be  on  all  your  mightie  pro- 
ceedings and  that  iustice  and  righteousness  maybe  eurie  where  admlnls. 
tered,  and  sound  doctrine,  truth,  and  holiness  eurie  where  taught  and 
practised  throughout  the  wilderness,  to  all  posterity,  which  God  grant. 
Amen. 

"  Your  worships  vmble  petitioner  and  servant, 

"  EOGER   CONANT."! 

His  petition  was  not  granted,  fortunately,  though 
the  General  Court  gave  him,  in  recognition  of  his 
services,  two  hundred  acres  of  land,  near  Dunstable. 

This  petition  is  inserted,  at  length,  owing  to  its 
great  value  in  authenticating  several  facts  in  Beverly's 
early  history. 

1668. — November  23. — "Att  a  generall  meeting  of 
the  Inhabitants  of  Beverly,  this  23d  Nov.,  1668,  se- 
lectmen were  nominated,  &  by  vote  5  chosen,  to  or- 
der the  affaires  &  consernments  of  the  town  for  this 
yeare  following,  viz. :  Capt.  Thomas  Lothropp,  Wm. 
Dixey,  Wm.  Dodge,  sen.,  John  West,  Paule  Thorn- 
dike.  .  .  . 

"  It  is  ordered,  that  the  selectmen  shall  call  in  all 
old  accompts  &  see  them  rectified. 

'•  It  is  also  agreed  at  this  present  meeting,  that 
Capt.  Lothropp,  Wm.  Dodge,  sen.,  John  Rayment, 
Edw'd  Byshopp  &  Wm.  Rayment,  shall  meet  with  our 
neighbours  of  Salem,  to  divide  the  grounds  between 
us  .  .  ,  in  tyme  convenient." 

A  little  previous  to  this  time,  in  1660,  Salem  had 
applied  to  the  Legislature  for  a  grant  of  the  islands 
lying  off  her  harbor,  though  nearer  the  Beverly  shore. 
Baker's  Island  and  the  Miserys. 

"  Whereas  there  are  certayne  Hands  neare  our 
towne  commonly  known  by  the  names  of  the  Miserys 
and  Baker's  Hand,  fit  for  fishing  emi^ioyments,  etc." 
In  1662-63  Thomas  Tyler,  then  of  Martha's  Vine- 
yard, son  of  Masconomo,  the  Ipswich  sagamore,  sold 
his  claim  on  these  islands  to  Bartholomew  Gale;  but 
it  was  disallowed  by  Salem. 

They  were  then  covered  with  primitive  forest. 

The  "  Misery "  was  so  called  from  a  disastrous 
shipwreck  happening  there. 

Baker's  Island  was  so-called  after  one  Robert  Baker, 
a  ship-carpenter,  ancestor  of  the  present  families  of 
the  name  in  North  Beverly  and  the  Cove,  who  was 
accidentally  killed  while  felling  timber  there. 

1669. — June  11. — "At  a  generall  towne  meeting, 
legally  warned  by  the  Inhabitants  of  Beverly,  it  is 
agreed  upon  that  Mr.  John  Hailes  shall  have  hold 
and  enjoy  that  parcell  of  land  being  within  the  gen- 
erall fence  of  the  field  adjoyning  unto  his  pasture 
which  he  bought  of  Wm.  Dodge,  sen.,  for  him  and  his 
heirs  forever,  hee  maintaining  the  side  fence  liing 
against  the  Common  without  the  field.  (This  land 
probably  lies  along   Esses    St.,   adjoining    Prospect 

1  Mass.  Hist.  Collections. 


Hill,  which  was  Hale's  pasture).  It  is  allso  oi-dered 
this  present  tyme  by  a  generall  vote  that  no  man 
shall  fall  any  timber  in  the  Commons  without  order, 
except  it  be  for  his  own  use ;  but  he  shall  pay  the 
value  of  twenty  shillings  for  each  tree,  to  him  or 
them,  that  are  deputed  to  receive  it  for  the  publique 
good  of  the  place." 

1670. — 29th  April. — Ordered  and  generally  voted, 
"that  there  shall  not  be  any  of  the  towne  land  liing 
in  the  Commons  disposed  of  uppon  any  accoumpt ; 
but  by  the  consent  of  the  whole,  att  a  Generall  towne 
meeting,  legally  warmed." 

"  March  'l\th.  It  is  ordered  that  all  swyne  above  3 
month  shall  be  sufficiently  ringed  and  yoaked." 

1671. — It  is  ordered  that  the  country  highway 
from  Cederstand  up  to  the  meeting-house,  as  far  as 
the  ferry,  be  made  sufficient  for  horse  and  cart. 

It  is  agreed  with  Jonathan  Byles  to  make  a  pound 
for  the  town.  "And  the  said  Jonathan  is  to  have 
for  this  pound  aforesaid  &  to  make  a  payre  of  stocks, 
both  to  be  brought  in  and  sett  up  in  '  Beverly,  50 
shillings,'  part  of  it  in  trees  from  the  Commons. 

nth  Aug.  "It  is  ordered  that  their  shall  be  a  rate 
made  to  make  provision  for  powder  &  shott  &  ammu- 
nition, according  as  the  law  requires,  by  the  select- 
men. 

13;;^  Sept.  "  It  was  agreed  that  a  place  for  buriall 
should  be  provided,  and  an  acre  of  ground  to  be  got- 
ten,— which  was  bought  of  Lieut.  Wm.  Dixey,  lying 
by  the  country  highway  on  the  one  side,  bounded  on 
the  other  side  uppon  Nathaniel  Stone  &  Josias 
Rootes."  (This  land  extended  from  Milton  to  Wallis 
stieets,  between  Cabot  street  and  Stephen's  hill,)  and 
was  not  used  for  burial  purposes,  but  exchanged  for 
land  of  John  Lovett. 

1672.— The  town  contributed  (February  14th),  £13 
to  Harvard  College. 

The  bounds  between  Beverly  and  Manchester  were 
defined  and  settled  about  as  they  stand  to-day.  The 
land  bought  for  a  cemetery  was  "  exchanged  with 
John  Lovett,  Jun.,  for  one  acre  of  Land,  on  part 
whereof  the  publique  meeting-house  standeth,  begin- 
ing  at  the  bound  tree  on  the  northeast  &  so  to  make 
up  the  acre  compleat  towards  the  house  of  the  said 
John  Lovett."  (This  latter  is  the  one  first  used  as  a 
cemetery,  on  a  portion  of  which  the  present  Old 
South  chapel  stands,  and  through  which  Abbott 
Street  now  runs.) 

1674. — "  It  was  agreed  upon  and  voted  that  there 
shall  as  soon  as  conveniently  may  be,  a  school-house 
built  that  shall  likewise  be  for  a  watch-house  ;  and 
that  the  said  house  shall  be  set  upon  the  town's  land 
by  the  meeting-house."  Its  construction  was  de- 
layed, and  for  a  time  the  school  continued  to  be  held 
in  the  church. 

1675. — "  It  is  agreed  at  a  publick  towne  raeetinge, 
in  the  two  &  twentie  day  of  October,  that  they  should 
have  forthwith  a  forte  builte,  about  the  meeting- 
house, &  one  at  Bass  River,  &  one  at  Mackrill  Cove 


688 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


&  another  at  Johu  Dodge's,  senior,"  near  the  Wen- 
ham  line. 

The  Narragansett  War. — These  preparations  for 
defense  announce  that  the  mutterings  of  war  were  be- 
ginning to  disturb  the  cahii  of  their  peaceful  occupa- 
tions. Philip  of  Pokanoket,  the  dreaded  sachem  of 
the  Wampanoags,  broke  the  peace,  which  had  existed 
between  his  tribe  and  the  settlers  for  fifty  years,  and 
began  the  series  of  massacres  that  alarmed  every  resi- 
dent in  the  colonies.  No  section  felt  safe  from  at- 
tack; all  the  towns  joined  in  sending  soldiers  to  the 
seat  of  operations  in  the  Connecticut  Valley.  And 
even  Beverly,  though  remote  from  the  field  of  active 
warfare,  felt  the  necessity  for  not  only  defensive,  but 
aggressive  action. 

Her  favorite  son.  Captain  Lothrop,  was  appointed 
to  the  command  of  a  company  of  infantry  in  the 
Massachusetts  forces,  and  with  them  hastened  to  the 
frontier.  The  town  of  Hadley  was  then  the  head- 
quarters of  the  troops  in  that  region,  and  at  that 
place  Captain  Lothrop  was  soon  found,  with  his  choice 
company  of  young  men,  selected  from  the  best  fam- 
ilies in  the  county,  and  styled  the  "  Flower  of 
Essex." 

The  provisions  and  forage  of  Hadley  ran  short,  but 
in  the  near  town  of  Deerfield  was  a  large  amount  of 
grain,  estimated  at  3000  bushels,  stacked  in  the  fields, 
which  had  been  abandoned  by  the  farmers  when 
driven  out  by  the  Indians.  To  thresh  this  grain  and 
transport  it  to  Hadley,  Captain  Lothrop  and  his  com- 
pany were  detached,  and  set  out  for  Deerfield  with  a 
number  of  teams  and  drivers. 

Having  secured  the  grain,  Lothrop  began  the  re- 
turn march  to  Hadley,  on  the  18th  of  September, 
without  apprehension  of  attack  from  Indians,  as  none 
had  been  seen.  But  the  wily  Philip  had  marked  him 
for  his  prey.  The  following  account,^  published  many 
years  ago,  describes  the  terrible  event : 

"  For  the  distance  of  about  three  miles,  after  leaving  Deerfield  mea- 
dow, Lothrop's  marcli  lay  through  a  very  level  country,  closely  wooded, 
where  he  was  every  moment  exposed  to  an  attack  on  either  flank  ;  at 
the  termination  of  this  distance,  near  the  south  point  of  Sugar-loaf  hill, 
the  road  approximated  the  Connecticut  River,  and  the  left  was  in  some 
measure  unprotected.  At  the  village  now  called  Muddy  Brook,  in  the 
southerly  part  of  Deerfield,  the  road  crossed  a  small  stream,  bordered  by 
a  narrow  morass,  from  which  the  village  has  its  name ;  though  more 
appropriately  it  should  be  denominated  Bloody  Brook,  by  which  it  is 
sometimes  known.  Before  arriving  at  the  point  of  intersection  with  the 
brook,  the  road  for  about  half  a  mile  ran  parallel  with  the  morass,  then, 
crossing,  it  continued  to  the  south  point  of  Sugar-loaf  hill.  On  discov- 
ering Lothrop's  march,  a  body  of  upwards  of  seven  hundred  Indians 
planted  themselves  in  ambuscade  at  the  point  of  crossing,  and  lay  in 
waiting.  Without  scouring  the  woods  in  front  and  flank,  or  suspecting 
the  snare  laid  for  him,  Lothrop  arrived  at  the  fatal  spot,  crossed  the 
morass  with  the  principal  part  of  his  force,  and  probably  halted  to  allow 
his  teams  to  drag  through  their  loads.  The  critical  moment  had  arrived 
— the  Indians  instantly  poured  a  heavy  and  destructive  fire  upon  the 
column,  and  rushed  furiously  to  the  attack.  Confusion  and  dismay 
succeeded.  The  troops  broke  and  scattered,  fiercely  pursued  by  the 
Indians,  whose  great  superiority  enabled  them  to  attack  at  all  points 
Hopeless  was  the  situation  of  the  scattered  troops,  and  they  resolved  to 
seU  their  lives  in  a  vigorous  struggle.  Covering  themselves  with  trees, 
the  bloody  conflict  now  became  a  trial  of  skill  in  sharpshooting,  in  which 

1  Hoyt's  "Indian  Wars." 


life  was  the  stake.  Difficult  would  it  be  to  describe  the  havoc,  barbarity 
and  misery  that  ensued.  The  dead,  the  dying,  the  wounded,  strewed 
the  ground  in  all  directions;  the  devoted  force  was  soon  reduced  to  a 
small  number,  and  resistance  became  faint.  At  length  the  unequal 
struggle  terminated  in  the  annihilation  of  nearly  the  whole  of  the  En- 
glish, only  seven  or  eight  escaping  to  relate  the  dismal  tale  ;  and  the 
wounded  were  indiscriminately  butchered.  Captain  Lothrop  fell  in  the 
early  part  of  the  action." 

The  whole  loss,  including  teamsters,  amounted  to 
ninety,  and  among  the  slain  were  included,  from  Bev- 
erly, besides  the  lamented  Lothrop,  Josiah  Dodge, 
Peter  Woodbury  and  John  (Joseph)  ?  Balch,  John 
Bennett,(?)  Edward  Trask,  (?)SaiTiuel  Whitteridge.  (?) 
Unsusjiicious  of  danger,  it  is  said,  the  soldiers  had 
laid  aside  their  arms  and  were  gathering  grapes  by 
the  roadside  when  the  destructive  volleys  were  poured 
into  their  ranks. 

2  "This  catastrophe  sent  a  thrill  of  terror  and  dismay  through  all  the 
New  England  colonies.  Especially  did  the  news  of  it  come  with  appall- 
ing force  to  this  county,  from  which  its  choicest  flowers,  all  culled  out 
of  its  towns,  and  blooming  so  lately  in  manly  beauty  and  strength,  had 
been  thus  suddenly  cut  down  and  withered  as  by  untimely  frost. 
Throughout  its  length  and  breadth,  scarcely  was  there  a  village  or 
hamlet  left  unscathed  by  this  great  calamity.  More  particularly,  and 
with  stunning  effect,  did  the  blow  fall  here,  where,  besides  several  that 
were  deeply  lamented,  the  fallen  chief  was  best  known,  and  for  that 
reason  most  respected,  trusted  and  loved." 

In  the  year  1835  the  burial-place  of  Lothrop  and 
his  thirty  men  was  identified,  and  a  monument  erect- 
ed (1838)  in  commemoration  of  the  battle  of  Bloody 
Brook.  At  the  laying  of  its  corner-stone,  Edward 
Everett  delivered  a  memorable  address,  saying,  in  con- 
clusion, "The  '  Flower  of  Essex  '  shall  bloom  in  un- 
dying remembrance,  as  the  lapse  of  time  shall  con- 
tinually develop,  in  richer  abundance,  the  fruits  of 
what  was  done  and  suffered  by  our  fathers."  In  order 
that  the  descendants  of  such  '  fathers  '  should  remem- 
ber one  of  the  most  valiant  of  their  deeds,  we  should 
acquaint  them  with  the  story,  and  locality,  of  the 
famous  Bloody  Brook.  The  monument  erected  may 
be  seen  to-day,  standing  in  South  Deerfield,  overshad- 
owed by  the  towering  mass  of  sandstone  known  as  the 
Sugar-loaf,  where,  beneath  a  shelving  cliff,  is  shown 
the  hollowed  rock  known  as  King  Philip's  Seat, 
whence  he  overlooked  the  surrounding  country  and 
that  day  noted  the  movements  of  Captain  Lothrop's 
command. 

The  original  list  of  the  slain  at  "  Muddy  Brook, 
being  y*"  18  of  Sept.,"  is  in  the  State-House,  Boston  : 
"A  List  of  Men  slain  in  the  county  of  Hamshire, 
tho'  we  cannot  gett  y''  names  of  all,  yet  as  many  as 
wee  can  gett  are  here  ynserted  ;  also,  the  time  when 
and  place  where  they  were  slain." — Mass.  Military 
Records,  v.  68,  p.  33. 

"  Ah,  gallant  few  !    No  generous  foe 
Had  met  them  by  that  crimsoned  tide  ; 
Vain  even  despair's  resistless  blow, — 
As  brave  men  do  and  die, — they  died  ! 
Yet  not  in  vain, — a  cry  that  shook 
The  inmost  forest's  desert  glooms, 
Swelled  o'er  their  graves,  until  it  broke 
In  storm  around  the  red  man's  homes  ! 

2  Thayer's  Memorial. 


BEVERLY. 


689 


"  But  beating  hearts,  far,  far  away, 
Broke  at  their  story's  fearful  truth, 
And  maidens  sweet,  for  many  a  day, 
Wept  o'er  tlie  vanislied  dreams  of  youth  ; 
By  the  liliie  distant  ocean-tide. 
Wept  years,  long  years,  to  liear  tlieni  tell 
How  by  the  wild  wood's  lonely  side 
The  Flower  of  Essex  fell." 

In  the  same  year,  1675,  in  the  expedition  against 
the  Narragausett  Fort,  when  Philip  met  his  Waterloo, 
Beverly  contributed  her  quota,  nothing  dismayed  at 
her  previous  losses.  We  find,  as  the  soldiers  engaged 
under  the  brave  Captain  Gardner,  of  Salem,  who  fell 
December  19th,  the  following  persons,  townsmen  of 
ours  :  William  Allen,  William  Balch,  Wm.  Bonner, 
Josejjh  Bayley,  Thomas  Blashfield,  Jonathan  Biles, 
Christopher  Browne,  Lot  Conant,  John  Clark,  Wm. 
Dodge,  John  Dodge,  John  Ellingwood,  Wm.  Ferry- 
man, Samuel  Harris,  Richard  Hussband,  Moses  Mor- 
gan, Jos.  Morgan,  Elias  Picket,  Thos.  Rayment,  Wm. 
Rayment,  Cliristopher  Reed  (wounded),  John  Trask. 

At  the  capture  of  Port  Royal,  in  1654,  where 
Lothrop  served  as  captain,  he  had  with  him,  from 
Beverly,  Lieut.  Thomas  Whittredge,  Lieut.  Elias 
Rayment,  Wm.  Woodbury,  Humphrey  Woodbury  and 
Peter  Wooden.  From  the  very  beginning  of  their 
settlement,  the  people  of  Beverly  furnished  their 
share  of  soldiers  for  the  common  defense  and  con- 
quest. 

In  addition  to  these  soldiers,  engaged,  there  were 
others,  in  a  company  on  the  eastern  frontier,  under 
the  command  of  Captain  Frost.  These  were  John 
Ellingwood  (who  had  the  fore-finger  of  his  right 
hand  shot  away,  for  which  he  subsequently  received 
a  pen-ion),  Thomas  Parlor  and  Samuel  Collins. 

Previous  to  tlie  attack  upon  the  Narragausett  Fort, 
when  the  soldiers  were  assembled  on  Dedham  Plain, 
they  were  promised  a  reward  in  land  for  their  services 
in  addition  to  their  pay,  provided  they  "played  the 
man,  and  drove  the  Narragansetts  from  the  fort." 
This  promise  was  eventually  fulfiled,  but  not  until 
nearly  sixty  years  had  passed  away,  when  the  soldiers 
engaged  in  this  campaign  were  granted  several  town- 
ships of  land,  each  six  miles  square,  in  the  wild 
region,  now  included  in  the  States  of  Maine  and  New 
Hampshire.  The  township  shared  in  by  the  Beverly 
soldiers  or  their  heirs,  was  known  then  as  Souhegan 
West,  at  present  Amherst,  New  Hampshire.  The 
names  of  the  proprietors  from  Beverly,  in  1741,  when 
they  met  to  take  possession,  were  ^  *  Henry  Bayley, 
Henry  Blashfield  and  assigns,  *  Jonathan  Byles,  *Lott 
Conant,  Andrew  Dodge  for  J.  EUinwood,  Jona.  Dodge 
for  John  Dodge,  Wm.  Dodge's  heirs,  *  Ralph  Ellin- 
wood,  Saml,  Harris'  heirs,  Joseph  Morgan  for  his 
father,  Joseph  Picket  for  his  father,  Elias,  *  Thomas 
Rayment,  Wm.  Raymeut's  heirs,  and  *  Christopher 
Reail. 

1676. — At  a  public  meeting,  December  5th,  it  was 

— ^ .   I 

iFroni  "Hist,  of  Amherst."     The  stars  denote  the  then  survivors  of  I 
the  fight.  I 

44 


voted  to  employ  two  constables,  in  place  of  one,  on 
account  of  the  extraordinary  troubles  of  the  times. 
And  "  It  is  ordered  by  the  selectmen  that  the  hinder 
site  of  the  olders  galery  in  the  meeten  house  is  to  be 
altered,  and  the  Boise  ar  to  seete  there,  and  Robert 
Hibberd,  senior,  is  to  hafe  an  Eie  out  fer  them,  and 
for  the  first  ofense  to  aquaint  thar  parants  or  masters 
of  it,  and  if  they  do  ofend  again  to  aquante  the  Select- 
men with  it,  who  shall  dele  with  them  according  to 
lawe." 

1677. — May  12th,  "  It  is  agreed  between  the  select- 
men, in  behalf  of  the  towns,  and  Mr.  Samuel  Hardie, 
that  the  said  Mr.  Hardie  is  to  begin  to  teach  a  scoole, 
according  to  the  utmost  of  his  ability,  .  .  .  and 
the  said  Hardie  is  to  have  the  meeting-house  to  teach 
scoole  in  during  the  somer  tyme,  and  some  other 
place  against  winter."  He  was  to  receive  £20;  and 
it  is  explained  that  "  by  ordinary  learning  is  meant 
reading,  writing,  arethmetick,  and  Latin  according  to 
his  ability." 

June  25th,  "In  obedians  to  a  law  of  the  honored 
Jenerall  Corte  they  made  choise  of  ten  men  to  in- 
specte  thar  naibours  to  prevente  as  much  as  may  be, 
privet  tipling  and  Drunckenness,"  whose  names  be 
as  followeth:  Wm.  Dodge,  Robt.  Bradford,  Humph. 
Woodbury,  Josiah  Root,  Robert  Heberd,  Nath.  Hay- 
ward,  Exsersis  Conant,  John  Hill,  Richard  Ober, 
John  Dodge. 

1679. — 28th  April,  "  We  whose  names  are  under- 
written beeing  by  the  apointraent  of  the  selectmen  of 
our  respective  towns,  mett  to  goe  a  perambulation  in 
the  bounds  between  our  said  towns  from  the  Rock  at 
the  head  of  Bass  River  to  the  pine  stump  in  the 
swamp  that  runneth  out  of  Laurence  Leach's  meadow, 
have  acordingly  gone  the  said  preambulation,  and 
renewed  the  said  bounds  as  neere  as  one  could  guess," 
etc. 

Beverly.  S.^lem. 

John  Kaiment.  John  Corwin. 

Paul  Thonidilie.  Thomas  Putnam. 

John  Dodg.  Phillip  Cromwell. 

William  Raiment.  Richard  Leach. 

Andrew  Elliott.  John  Putnam. 

Peter  Woodbery.  Israeli  Porter. 

1679. — 25fh  November,  "  Leftenent  Thorndike  and 
William  Rayment  was  chosen  to  manage  the  case  in 
ye  behalf  of  ye  towne  of  Beverly  at  the  present 
corte  held  at  Salem,  which  controversy  is  between  the 
town  of  Beverly  and  Captaine  Moore;  about  a  bell." 
(This  was  a  controversy  on  the  freight  on  the  bell 
brought  from  Port  Royal  in  1654.) 

1680. — December  10,  The  selectmen  agreed  with 
William  Hoar  to  .  .  .  "sweep  the  meeting-house  as  is 
necessary  and  usual),  keep  and  turn  the  (hour)  glass, 
&  doe  in  all  respects  as  Goodman  Bayly  hath  done 
before  him  ;  and  further,  the  said  Goodman  Hoar  is 
to  ring  the  meeting-house  bell  at  nine  of  the  clock 
every  night  a  sufficient  space  of  time,  and  as  is  usugiU 
in  other  places.  In  consideration  whereof  the  said 
Hoar  is  to  have  for  his  pains  as  goodman  Bayley  had, 


690 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


viz, :  of  every  family  in  the  towne  one  peck  of  corne 
per  year." 

It  is  said  that  the  town  was  troubled  by  wolves,  and 
in  1678  John  Edwards  was  allowed  £3  for  killing 
three  of  them.  These  creatures  were  numerous  and 
troublesome  in  the  neighboring  village  of  Ipswich,  so 
late  as  1750. 

Beverly  resisted  the  claims  of  the  Mason  heirs  to 
their  portion  of  the  territory  between  the  Naumkeag 
and  the  Merrimac,  and  memorialized  the  king. 

After  reciting  their  loyalty  to  King  Charles,  etc. 

IQSl.— February  22flJ,  "So  that  we  can  produce 
quires,  yea  Eheams  of  paper,  which  we  conceive  it 
would  be  presumption  for  us  to  desire  our  dread  sov- 
ereign to  bee  diverted  from  the  mighty  affairs  of 
three  kingdoms  for  the  hearing  of;  for  we  had  above 
fifty  years  possession,  &  entered  upon'^the  place  with 
the  good  liking  of  the  Indians,  the  ancient  inhabit- 
ants of  this  country.  Wee  have  adventured  our  lives 
and  estates  &  worn  out  much  time  and  strength  in 
the  subduing  a  wilderness  for  the  increasing  his  Maj- 
esties dominions  &  customs ;  and  in  the  late  wars  with 
the  heathen  have  carried  our  lives  in  our  hands  to  de- 
fend our  possessions,  with  the  loss  of  about  12  English 
lives  of  our  towne,  &  and  expended  some  hundreds  of 
pounds  to  maintain  our  lands,  &  in  this  time  of  above 
fifty  years  neither  Mr.  Mason  nor  any  for  him  did 
either  take  possession  or  disburse  estate,  or  make  de- 
mand of  our  lands  or  expended  one  penny  to  defend 
them." 

The  testimony  of  the  aged  inhabitants  of  the  town, 
as  Richard  Brackenbery,  William  Dixy  and  Humphrey 
Woodbury,  to  the  effect  that  the  Massachusetts  Com- 
pany had  purchased  of  the  Dorchester  Company  all 
their  rights  and  property  at  Cape  Ann,  before  Gov. 
Endicott  arrived,  was  regarded  as  conclusive.  They 
further  declared  that  they  had  "  free  lease  to  build 
and  plant "  from  the  resident  Indians,  and  that  the 
same  year,  or  the  next  after  they  had  come  to  Salem, 
they  had  cut  hay  for  their  cattle  on  the  Cape  Ann,  or 
Beverly  side,  and  ''  had  been  in;  possession  of  Beverly 
side  ever  since." 

Although  the  occupants  of  the  soil  were  never  actu- 
ally molested,  it  was  not  until  1746,  after  nearly  a 
century  of  agitation,  that  the  Mason  claimants  aban- 
doned this  pretension  and  left  the  settlers  in  jseaceful 
possession.    ' 

1683. — Beverly  became  a  lawful  port  of  entry,  this 
year,  annexed  to  the  port  of  Salem. 

1684. — September  1st,  "  At  a  meeting  of  the  select- 
men it  was  agreed  with  Andrew  Elliott  Sen.,  and 
Samuel  Hardie,  to  transcribe  all  that  is  necessary  to 
be  transcribed  out  of  the  old  town  book  into  the  new 
one  within  two  months  after  the  date  hereof;  &  that 
when  the  work  is  completed  then  the  selectmen  in  the 
town's  behalfe  shall  pay  to  said  Andrew  Elliott  ten 
shillings  in  money,  and  unto  Samuel  Hardie  five  shil- 
lings in  money,  besides  ten  already  paid  him  on  the 
same  account."  The  second  volume  of  records  begins  : 


"  Third  Nov.  1685,  then  this  book  was  improved  for  the  town  of 
Beverly,  as  a  town  book  to  record  the  town  concerns  by  the  selectmen 
of  said  town  successively,"  etc. 

1686. — One  of  Beverly's  aged  and  worthy  citizens, 
John  Lovett,  died  this  year  ;  he  was  born  1610,  and 
was  "  one  of  the  eight  admitted  inhabitants  of  Salem,'' 
July  25,  1639.  At  the  "seven  men's  meeting,"  Nov. 
3,  1665,  he  received  a  grant  of  two  acres  of  marshland 
lying  near  the  old  planter's  meadow,  near  Wenham 
Common.  He  owned  much  real  estate,  and  his  de- 
scendants maintain  the  name  in  Beverly  to  this  day. 

1690. — The  town  had  no  regularly-appointed  clerk 
until  1690,  hence  the  fragmentary  character  of  the 
records,  which  were  begun  in  1665,  until,  in  April  of 
this  year,  Andrew  Elliott  was  elected  to  the  office  at  a 
salary  of  30  shillings  in  money  and  40s.  in  "  pay,"  or 
produce.  He  was  one  of  the  five  witnesses,  in  1680, 
taken  from  Beverly  to  attend  at  the  execution  of  the 
Indian  deed  of  the  town  of  Salem.  He  was  town 
clerk  until  his  death,  in  1703-4,  when  Robert  Wood- 
bury succeeded  to  the  office.  His  entries  in  the  rec- 
ord were  very  circumstantial,  as  witness  the  follow- 
ing : 

"John  Tovy,  sometime  of  Winserd  in  Old  England,  near  Bristow, 
afterward  apprentice  with  Andrew  Elliott,  shoemaker,  of  Beverly,  Ivew 
England,  &,  nextly,  husband  unto  Mary  Ilerrick  (now  widdow)  was  un- 
fortunately drowned  coming  from  Winter  Island  in  a  Canuoo  unto  said 
Beverly,  not  to  be  forgotten,  on  the  24th  day  of  August,  in  the  year  of 
our  Lord  God  1686." 

"Andrew  Elliott,  the  dear  and  only  son  of  Andrew  Elliott,  (whose 
mother's  name  was  Grace)  &  was  born  in  East  Coker  in  the  County  of 
Somerset  in  Old  England,  being  on  board  of  a  vessel  appertaining  unto 
Phillip  English  of  Salem,  one  Bavidge  being  master,  said  vessel  being 
then  at  Cape  Sables,  by  an  awful  stroke  was  violently  thrown  into  the 
sea  &  there  perished  in  the  water,  to  the  great  grief  of  his  said  father, 
the  penman  hereof ;  being  aged  about  37  years  on  the  12th  day  of  Sep- 
tember, about  10  of  the  clock  in  the  morning,  according  to  the  best  in- 
formation, in  the  year  of  our  Lord  God  1688. 

"Deep  meditation  surely,  every  man  in  his  best  estate  is  wholly 
vanitie." 

The  year  1690  was  signalized  by  the  unfortunate  ex- 
pedition against  Quebec,  under  Sir  William  Phipps. 
The  town  borrowed  money  "to  buy  great  guns  and 
ammunition,"  and  a  company  was  raised  and  sent  with 
the  expedition,  under  Capt.  William  Rayment.  This 
adventure  is  said  to  have  cost  Massachusetts  £50,000, 
besides  many  men,  and  was  disastrous  from  the  be- 
ginning. Captain  Rayment  and  his  command  were 
subjected  to  great  privations,  for  which  they  were 
"subsequently  rewarded  by  a  grant  of  a  township  of 
land." 

1692.  Witchcraft  Proceedings. — It  is  on  record 
that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hale  served  as  chaplain  in  this  cam- 
paign, and  that  on  his  return  he  found  the  country 
agitated  over  the  witchcraft  sensation.  Although 
none  of  Beverly's  inhabitants  perished  in  this  diaboli- 
cal cyclone,  yet  several  were  cried  out  against  by  the 
"Salem  wenches,"  the  "afflicted"  children,  and  nar- 
rowly escaped  with  their  lives.  Four,  at  least :  Dorcas 
Hoar,  Sarah  Morell,  Susanna  Rootes  and  Job  Tuckey, 
were  accused,  arrested,  condemned  and  imprisoned. 
Sarah  Morell  and  Dorcas  Hoar  were  arrested  by  Mar- 


BEVERLY. 


691 


shal  Herrick/  May  2,  1692,  on  a  warrant  issued  by 
Capt.  Jona.  Walcot  and  Sergt.  Thos.  Putnam,  of  Salem 
Village,  which  included  the  well-known  merchant  of 
Salem,  Philip  English.  So  far  as  we  may  judge  from 
the  records  of  the  trials,  Dorcas  Hoar  was  the  bravest 
and  most  outspoken  of  any  of  that  innocent  band  of 
accused,  penetrating  through  the  transparent  deceit 
of  the  "  wenches,"  and  promptly  characterizing  the 
proceedings  as  infamous.  When  she  was  brought  into 
court  the  afflicted  pretended  to  fall  into  fits  at  sight  of 
her.  "  After  coming  out  of  them  they  vied  with  each 
other  in  heaping  all  sorts  of  accusations  upon  the 
prisoner;  Abigail  Williams  and  Ann  Putnam  charg- 
ing her  with  having  choked  a  woman  in  Boston ;  Eli- 
zabeth Hubbard  crying  out  that  she  was  pinching  her, 
and  showing  the  marks  to  the  standers-by.  The  mag- 
istrate, indignantly  believing  the  whole,  said:  'Dorcas 
Hoar,  why  do  you  hurt  these?'  She  answered, — 'I 
never  hurt  any  child  in  my  life ! '  The  girls  then 
charged  her  with  having  killed  her  husband,  and  with 
various  other  crimes.  Mary  Walcot,  Susanna  Sheldon 
and  Abigail  Williams  said  they  saw  a  black  man 
whispering  in  her  ear.  The  spirit  of  the  prisoner  was 
raised,  and  she  said :  '  Oh,  you  are  liars,  and  God  will 
stop  the  mouth  of  liars ! '  The  anger  of  the  magistrate 
was  roused  by  this  bold  outbreak.  '  You  are  not  to 
speak  after  this  manner  in  court.'  '  I  will  speak  the 
truth  as  long  as  I  live,'  she  fearlessly  replied." 

Having  ventured  to  oppose  the  bigoted  and  insen- 
sate magistrate  and  those  inspired  idiots  the  "afflicted 
children,"  she  was,  of  course,  sent  to  jarison.^ 

Susanna  Bootes  was  arrested  the  21st  of  May,  Job 
Tookey  on  the  4th  of  June.  Against  Job  it  was  de- 
clared that  he  could  "as  freely  discourse  with  the 
devil "  as  with  his  accuser,  John  Lander ;  that  he  had 
afflicted  three  of  the  "  children,"  and  had  caused  the 
death  of  Andrew  Woodbury.  Job  Tookey  is  described 
as  a  "laborer,"  and  was  charged  with  having  said  that 
he  would  take  Mr.  Burroughs'  (the  accused  minister's) 
part,  and  that  "he  was  not  the  devil's  servant,  but 
that  the  devil  was  his."  When  charged  that  his  shape 
afflicted  persons,  he  stoutly  assumed  that  in  that  case 
"  it  was  not  he,  but  the  devil  in  his  shape,  that  hurt 
them."  The  three  girls,  Susanna  Sheldon,  Mary  War- 
ren and  Ann  Putnam,  then  ci'ied  out  upon  him  and 
then  were  struck  dumb ;  after  which  performance 
Mary  Warren  recovered  her  speech  and  exclaimed : 
"There  are  three  men,  and- three  women,  and  two 
children,  all  in  their  winding  sheets ;  they  look  pale 
upon  us,  but  red  upon  Tookey — red  as  blood."    Then 


1 "  Marshal  Herrick  does  not  appear  to  have  been  connected  with  Joseph 
Herrick,  who  lived  on  what  is  now  called  Cherry  Hill,  but  was  a  man  of 
an  entirely  different  stamp.  He  was  thirty-four  years  of  age,  and  had 
not  been  long  in  the  country." — Upham. 

2  Dorcas  Hoar  was  the  wife  of  sexlon  "Goodman  Hoar,"  and  their 
house  was  near  the  Hale  parsonage,  probably  not  far  from  West  Dane 
Street  (as  it  now  runs).  She  was  a  daughter  of  John  Galley,  free  of 
speech  and  independent  in  her  bearing.  A  friend  of  hers  had  been  ac- 
cused of  stealing  by  Blrs.  Hale,  and  this  fact  may  have  led  to  the  accusa- 
tion of  the  latter  by  the  affiieted  children. 


she  saw  "a  young  child  under  the  table,  crying  out 
for  vengeance,"  and  one  of  her  confederates  was  struck 
speechless,  pointing  in  horror  to  the  same  shape  under 
the  table. 

Poor  Job  may  well  have  been  struck  with  amaze- 
ment upon  hearing  himself  accused  of  murdering 
nearly  all  who  had  died  at  Byal's  Side  for  the  year  or 
two  past,  and  the  magistrates — Bartholomew  Gedney, 
Jona.  Corwin  and  John  Hathorne — are  represented  as 
having  been  highly  incensed  at  his  obduracy  in  deny- 
ing the  charges,  and  promptly  committed  him  to  jail. 

That  these  people  were  eventually  released  does  not 
lessen  the  guilt  of  their  accusers  and  of  those  who 
lent  themselves  as  accessories  to  their  conviction. 
Even  the  revered  minister  of  Beverly,  the  Rev.  John 
Hale,  countenanced  the  proceedings  against  the  ac- 
cused Bridget  Bishop,  at  one  time  a  communicant  in 
his  church.  About  the  year  1687  there  resided  at 
Ryal's  Side  "A  woman  in  the  neighborhood,  subject 
to  fits  of  insanity,  who  had,  while  passing  into  one  of 
them,  brought  an  accusation  of  witchcraft  against  her; 
but,  on  the  return  of  her  reason,  solemnly  recanted, 
and  deeply  lamented  the  aspersion."^ 

Rev.  Mr.  Hale  had  examined  into  the  case  at  the 
time  and  exonerated  Sister  Bishop  from  the  charge, 
yet  "  under  the  malign  influence  of  his  friend,  the 
Rev.  Sam.  Parrish,"  he  went  into  court  in  1692, 
"  without  any  pretence  of  new  evidence  touching  the 
facts  of  the  case,  and  related  them  to  the  effect  and 
with  the  intent  to  make  them  bear  against  her." 
Bridget  Bishop,  innocent  of  crime,  was  condemned 
and  soon  after  executed,  June  10,  1692. 

In  October  of  the  same  year,  Mr.  Hale's  own  wife 
was  accused,  and  then  his  feelings  underwent  a 
change.  In  a  treatise,  subsequently  written  against 
tlie  "  delusion,"  he  says:  "I  have  had  a  deep  sense 
of  the  sad  consequences  of  mistakes  in  matters  capi- 
tal, and  their  impossibility  of  recovering  when  com- 
pleted ;  and  what  grief  of  heart  it  brings  to  a  tender 
conscience  to  have  been  unwittingly  encouraging  of 
the  suflferings  of  the  innocent." 

The  remarks  of  Cotton  Mather  may,  not  inaptly, 
be  quoted  here  :  "  They  now  saw  that  the  more  the 
afflicted  were  hearkened  unto  the  more  the  number 
of  the  accused  increased  ;  until  at  last  many  scores 
were  cried  out  upon,  and  among  them  some  who  by 
the  unblameableness,  yea,  and  serviceableness,  of 
their  whole  conversation,  had  obtained  the  just  repu- 
tation of  good  people  among  all  that  were  acquainted 
with  them.  The  character  of  the  afflicted,  also,  added 
unto  the  common  distaste  ;  for  though  some  of  them, 
too,  were  good  people,  yet  others  of  them,  and  such 
of  them  as  were  most  flippant  at  accusing,  had  a  far 
other  character."  Setting  aside  this  labored  apology 
for  the  accusers,  this  admission  of  Mather's  shows 
that  the  "  afflicted "  had  overreached  themselves, 
and  had  struck  too  high. 

3  Upham's  Witchcraft,  Vol.  ii..  pp.  25,  et  seq. 


692 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


As  the  first  victim  executed,  Bridget  Bishop,  was  at 
one  time  a  resident  within  the  present  limits  of 
Beverly,  and  a  member  of  the  first  church  here;  so 
likewise,  the  last  to  be  selected  was  a  shining  light 
in  this  same  church  and  community.  But  Mistress 
Hale,  of  Beverly,  was  one  whose  piety  and  "  un- 
blameableness  "  was  known  to  all. 

"The  whole  community  became  convinced  that 
the  accusers,  in  crying  out  upon  Mrs.  Hale,  had 
perjured  themselves,  and  from  that  moment  their 
power  was  destroyed;  the  awful  delusion  was  dis- 
pelled, and  a  close  put  to  one  of  the  most  tremen- 
dous tragedies  in  the  history  of  real  life."  ^ 

It  is  curious  to  note,  in  this  connection,  that  one 
of  the  four  daughters  of  the  ill-fated  Giles  Corey, 
who  was  "pressed  to  death,"  was  the  wife  of  William 
Cleeves,  of  Beverly.  Two  of  the  wretched  man's 
sons- in-law  were  among  his  accusers,  but  the  other 
two  remained  constant  in  their  belief  in  his  inno- 
cence. To  them  he  willed  his  entire  property,  and 
(it  is  believed),  in  order  not  to  invalidate  their  right 
to  it,  endured  the  tortures  of  a  horrible  death ;  since, 
if  he  had  come  to  trial,  his  property  would  have  been 
confiscated.  By  refusing  to  plead,  either  guilty  or 
not  guilty,  he  obliged  the  court  to  stay  his  trial ; 
but,  in  order  to  force  him  to  speak  the  magistrates 
imposed  upon  him  the  terrible  sentence,  which  he 
suffered. 

Eeturning  to  the  town  records,  we  find  among  the 
entries  of  that  same  fateful  year,  one  that  will  lend  an 
additional  interest  to  investigation  ;  under  the  head 
of  "  births  "  is  recorded  :  "  John,  son  of  Rev.  John 
Hale,   and   Sarah  his  wife,    December  24th,    1692." 

Following  along  a  little  later,  and  without  over- 
stepping a  strictly  chronological  record  of  events,  we 
may  note :  "  Mrs.  Sarah  Hale,  wife  of  Rev.  John 
Hale,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Beverly,  departed  this 
life  on  the  20th  day  of  May  in  the  year  1695." 

A  loving  tribute  to  departed  worth,  is  the  poem  by 
our  townswoman,  Lucy  Larcom,  entitled,  "Mistress 
Hale,  of  Beverly,"  in  which  the  life  of  that  troublous 
witchcraft  year,  with  its  local  color  and  environment, 
is  finely  delineated.  After  a  description  of  the  pro- 
ceedings and  of  the  part  taken  in  them  by  the  minis- 
ter from  Beverly,  comes  the  denouement,  the  ac- 
cusation of  his  wife,  as  the  pastor  of  the  first  parish 
enters  the  court-house.     *    *    *    *    * 

"  '  Woe  !  Mistress  Hale  torraenteth  me  !  she  came  in  like  a  bird, 
Perched  on  her  husband's  shoulder  ! '    Then  silence  fell  ;  no  word 
Spake  either  judge  or  minister,  while  with  profound  amaze 
Each  fixed  upon  the  other's  face  his  horror-stricken  gaze. 

"  But,  while  the  accuser  writhed  in  wild  contortions  on  the  floor, 
One  rose  and  said,  '  Let  all  withdraw  !  the  court  is  closed  ! '  no  more  ; 
For  well  the  land  knew  Mistress  Hale's  rare  loveliness  and  worth  ; 
Her  Tirtues  bloomed  like  flowers  of  heaven  along  the  paths  of  earth. 

"The  minister  of  Beverly  went  homeward,  riding  fast, 
His  wife  shrank  back  from  his  strange  look,  affrighted  and  aghast. 
'  Dear  wife,  thou  ailest !     Shut  thyself  into  thy  room  ! '  said  he, 
'  Whoever  comes,  the  latch-string  keep  drawn  in  from  all  save  me  ! ' 

1  Upham's  Witchcraft,  Vol.  ii.,  p.  346. 


"  Nor  his  life's  treasure  from  close  guard  did  he  one  moment  lose. 
Until  across  the  ferry  came  a  messenger  with  news 
That  the  bewitched  ones  acted  now  vain  mummeries  of  woe, 
Tlie  judges  looked  and  wondered  still,  but  all  the  accused  let  go. 

"The  dark  cloud  rolled  from  off  the  land,  the  golden  leaves  dropped  down 

Along  the  winding  wood-paths  of  the  little  sea-side  town  : 

In  Salem  Village  there  was  peace  ;  with  witchcraft  trials  passed 

The  nightmare-terror  from  the  vexed  New  England  air  at  last. 

"  Again  in  natural  tones  men  dared  to  laugh  aloud  and  speak  ; 
From  Naugus  Head  the  fisher's  shout  rang  back  to  Jeffry's  Creek  ; 
The  phantom  soldiery  withdrew,  that  haunted  Gloucester  shore  ; 
The  teamster's  voice  through  Wenhani  Woods  broke  into  psalms  once 
more. 

"  The  minister  of  Beverly  thereafter  sorely  grieved 
That  he  bad  inquisition  held  with  counsellors  deceived ; 
Forsaking  love's  unerring  light,  and  duty's  solid  ground. 
And  groping  in  the  shadowy  void,  where  truth  is  never  found. 

»  n:  m  *  *  *  * 

V 

'•  Truth  made  transparent  in  a  life,  tried  gold  of  character, 
Were  Mistress  Hale's  ;  and  this  is  all  that  history  says  of  her  ; 
Their  simple  force,  like  sunlight,  broke  the  hideous  midnight  spell, 
And  sight  restored  again  to  eyes  obscured  by  films  of  hell. 

"  The  minister's  long  fields  are  still  with  dews  of  summer  wet ; 
The  roof  that  sheltered  Mistress  Hale  tradition  points  to  yet. 
Green  be  her  memory  ever  kept  all  over  Cape  Ann  Side, 
Whose  unobtrusive  excellence  awed  back  delusion's  tide  !  " 

1700.  To  close  the  chapter  of  this  eventful  century, 
the  last  decade  of  which  had  been  so  crowded  with 
sensations  and  horrors,  it  remains  only  to  transcribe 
here  the  last  pathetic  entry  in  the  records  pertaining 
to  the  honored  head  of  the  church.  "  The  Rev.  Mr. 
John  Hale,  Minister  of  the  Gosjjel  in  Beverly,  &  Pas- 
tor of  the  Church  of  Chri.st  there,  aged  about  sixty- 
four  years,  departed  this  life  on  the  15th  day  of  May, 
Anno  Domini,  1700."  Thus  went  out  with  the  cen- 
tury a  life  of  piety  and  broad  humanity. 

"The  storms  of  fanatical  excitement  and  of  war 
with  savages  and  civilized  men  bad  subsided,  when, 
in  May,  1700,  the  primeval  epoch  of  this  parish  was 
closed,  and  Hale,  its  first  minister,  sank  peacefully — 
honored,  beloved,  deeply  lamented — to  his  final  earthly 
rest."  The  last  few  years  of  his  life  must  have  been 
full  of  sorrow,  and,  doubtless,  the  messenger  that 
summoned  him  hence  to  join  the  company  of  the  be- 
loved departed  was  welcomed  and  expected.  Born  in 
Charleslown  in  1636,  he  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1657, 
and  thus  lived  through  the  crucial  period  of  New 
England's  existence.  It  is  a  matter  of  lasting  regret, 
that,  with  such  great  abilities  as  he  possessed,  with 
such  opportunities  for  observing  the  growth  of  our 
town  from  its  veriest  inception,  with  such  intercourse 
as  he  had  with  the  great  men  of  his  day,  he  had  not 
chronicled  some  of  the  passing  events  and  preserved 
for  us  memoirs  of  his  contempi^raries. 

In  the  family  enclosure  of  the  old  cemetery  stands 
the  grave-stone  with  this  inscription  : 

"Here  lies  the  body  of  the 

KEV.  MR.  JOHN  HALE, 

A  pious  and  faithful  minister  of  the  Gospel, 

And  Pastor  of  the  First  Church  of  Christ  in  this  town  of  Beverly, 

Who  rested  from  his  labors  on  the  15th  day  of  May, 

Anno  Domini,  1700, 

In  the  G4th  year  of  his  age." 


BEVERLY. 


093 


In  1696  four  soldiers,  John  Burt,  Benj.  Carrill,  John 
Pickworth  and  Israel  Wood,  were  serving. in  Captain 
John  Hill's  company  at  Fort  St.  Mary,  near  Saco. 

1700.  A  grammar  school  was  established  this  year, 
with  Mr.  Robert  Hale  as  master;  and  the  claim  of 
Sagamore  John's  grandchildren  to  the  township  terri- 
tory was  cancelled,  by  the  payment  to  them  of  a  sum 
of  money,  and  a  deed  taken. 

Prior  to  1700  something  had  been  done  in  the  way 
of  ship-building  and  the  fisheries,  so  that  with  the 
opening  of  the  new  century  Beverly  was  Avell  em- 
barked upon  that  career  of  maritime  conquest  and 
adventure  which  so  distinguished  her  during  the  period 
of  the  Revolution.  Upon  the  land,  engaged  in  occu- 
pations mainly  agricultural,  was  a  steadily-growing 
community  of  sturdy  proprietors;  on  the  sea,  an 
equally  vigorous  floating  population,  with  rights  in 
the  ships  they  sailed,  as  well  as  an  attachment  for  the 
soil  of  their  fathers. 

Pioneer  Families  of  Beverly. — In  reviewing 
the  eventful  epoch  closed  with  the  17th  century,  we 
should  not  lose  sight  of  those  men  and  women  who 
labored  for  the  welAire  of  the  community.  Theirs 
was  a  struggle  with  elemental  forces,  from  beginning 
to  end.  They  were  sturdy,  intense,  giving  their  whole 
strength  to  the  overcoming  of  obstacles  such  as  their 
descendants  are  unacquainted  with.  They  brought  to 
their  administration  of  affairs  the  same  good  sense 
that  characterized  their  private  life.  Their  object 
was  to  live,  and  live  in  freedom,  in  this  new  land,  giv- 
ing to  every  man  an  opportunity  equal  to  that  of  every 
other.  The  excitements  of  those  distracted  times 
they  sometimes  shared  in,  but  of  themselves  they 
provided  no  fuel  for  the  baleful  fires  that  burned  so 
long  in  Salem  Village.  They  were  ready,  with  men 
and  weapons,  to  respond  to  every  call  in  defence  of 
the  frontier  towns,  and  joined  every  expedition  under- 
taken for  the  preservation  of  their  territory. 

Among  the  names  mentioned  in  this  connection 
those  accompanied  by  an  asterisk  (*)  have  descend- 
ants bearing  the  same  name  still  (1887)  living  in 
Beverly. 

The  "Old  Planters,"  Balch,*  Conant,*  Woodbury,* 
and  their  associates  (whose  names,  doubtless,  have  not 
all  been  preserved),  deserve  first  mention,  as  having 
adventured  first  over  at  Cape  Ann  Side.  The  three 
above-mentioned  have  already  been  noticed  at  length; 
as  also  Brackenbury,  Dixey,  Palfrey,  Trask,*  Dodge* 
and  Scruggs.* 

John  Woodbury*  (as  already  noticed)  took  posses- 
sion of  the  farm  granted  him  in  1635,  and  from  him 
descended  many  of  the  name  in  Upper  Beverly  and 
adjacent  territory.  William  Woodbury,*  his  brother, 
doubtless  first  built  upon  the  headland  now  known  as 
Woodbury's  Point,  just  east  of  Thissel's  Brook  and 
Patch's  Beach.  William  and  his  descendants  gradu- 
ally progressed  eastwardly,  obtaining  possession  of 
lands  on  the  shore  as  far  as  the  Paine  estate,  at  the 
westerly  head  of  West's  Beach.     His  son,  Nicholas, 


succeeded  to  his  estates,  which  later  fell  to  the  latter's 
son,  Benjamin,  whose  daughter,  Anna,  inherited  the 
property  now  known  as  the  Paine  place. 

John  Woodbury's  son,  Humphrey,*  settled  on  land 
extending  from  the  seashore  at  or  below  Mackerel 
Cove,  to  the  region  known  as  Snake  Hill,  back  of  the 
school-house  in  that  district.  He  probably  built  on 
the  slope  lying  between  Ober  Street  and  the  headland 
westerly  from  the  light-house.  In  contradistinction 
to  that  owned  by  his  uncle,  this  should  be  called 
Humphrey  Woodbury's  Point,  in  order  to  properly 
localize  these  first  settlers.  Several  families  of  the 
name,  descendants  of  Humphrey,  are  still  living  in 
this  locality,  though  retaining  little,  if  any,  of  the 
original  grant  made  to  their  ancestor. 

The  first  projection  into  Beverly  harbor,  easterly 
from  the  bridge.  Tuck's  Point,  bears  the  name  of 
another  early  settler  in  Beverly,  Thomas  Tuck,*  who 
owned  estates  in  this  vicinity.  Ellingwood's  Point, 
the  bold  projection  west  of  the  bridges,  bears  the 
nama  of  Ralph  EUingwood,*  who  owned  all  the  land 
lying  along  B.iss  River,  westerly  of  the  railroad,  as  it 
now  runs.  The  first  ferryman,  John  Stone,*  it  is  said, 
kept  an  inn  or  "  ordinary  "  near  the  junction  of  Cabot 
and  Front  Streets;  and  a  neighbor  of  his  was  William 
Dixey  (who  was  captain  of  a  military  company),  and 
who  owned  land  extending  from  the  present  Bartlett 
and  Lovett  Streets  to  the  seashore.  The  land  granted 
Captain  Trask  (one  of  the  five  farms,  in  1635)  went  to 
Thomas  Scruggs,  by  exchange,  but  the  name  is  early 
identified  with  Beverly's  history  in  the  persons  of  Os- 
man  Trask  *  and  his  nephew,  John.  The  Trask  grant 
came  by  marriage  into  the  possession  of  John  Ray- 
ment,*  whose  brother,  the  distinguished  military 
leader  of  that  period,  located  farther  eastward  towards 
Brimble  Hill. 

Captain  Thomas  Lothrop,  who  fell  in  the  ma.ssacre 
at  Bloody  Brook,  left  no  direct  descendants. 

Andrew  Elliott  *  lived  in  the  upper  part  of  the 
town ;  his  connection  with  town  affairs  has  already 
been  mentioned.  His  descendants  have  made  the 
name  distinguished,  including  a  celebrated  divine. 
Rev.  Dr.  Andrew  Elliot;  an  ex-mayor  of  Boston,  Hon. 
Samuel  A.  Elliot,  and  a  president  of  Harvard  College, 
Charles  W.  Eliot. 

The  name  of  Blackleach  occurs  in  the  early  annals  ; 
John  Blackleach  was  made  freeman  in  1635,  and  had 
a  grant  of  three  hundred  acres  and  more  at  what  is 
now  Beverly  Farms. 

John  West,*  who  came  from  Ipswich  about  1650, 
bought  the  large  property  of  Blackleach,  extending 
from  the  Woodbury  (or  Paine)  estate  westerly  to  Jef- 
frey's Creek,  or  Manchester  line,  and  beyond;  and 
also  a  tract  of  land  towards  Wenhara  granted  to 
Gardner.  From  him  the  beautiful  West's  Beach  de- 
rived its  name,  as  bordering  his  property. 

Robert  Woodbury,*  who  succeeded  Andrew  Elliot 
as  town  clerk,  in  1704,  and  who  held  the  office  many 
years,  married  a  daughter  of  farmer  West  (Thomas, 


694 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


son  of  John),  and  the  house  he  lived  in  is  still  stand- 
ing, near  West's  Beach,  and  now  occupied  by  Dr. 
Curtis.  He  obtained  a  large  farm  by  this  marriage,  as 
also  did  Joseph  Woodbury,  who  married  another 
daughter  and  settled  on  the  Manchester  property. 

The  origin  of  the  Dodge*  family  has  been  already 
adverted  to,  the  first  one  of  the  name  here  being  far- 
mer William  Dodge,*  who  purchased  the  grant  to 
Peter  Palfrey,  and  resided  on  it  during  his  life-time. 
He  was  made  freeman  in  1637. 

Captain  William  Dodge,  son  of  William,  Sr.,  had 
an  enviable  military  record;  and  through  him  are 
descended  many  of  the  name  in  Beverly. 

A  nephew  of  these  brothers,  William  Dodge,  mar- 
ried a  daughter  of  Roger  Haskell  *  of  Beverly.  Wil- 
liam Haskell  *  married  a  daughter  of  farmer  West, 
and  settled  at  the  Farms,  where  the  old  Haskell  house 
still  stands,  built  about  1690. 

An  early  immigrant  into  Beverly  from  the  contem- 
porary settlement  of  Ipswich,  was  John  Thorndike,* 
whose  son,  Paul,  married  Mary,  daughter  of  James 
Patch.*  These  two  names  are  perpetuated  by  Paul's 
Point  and  the  contiguous  Patch's  Beach. 

Another  acquisition  from  Ipswich  was  Anthony 
Wood,*  who  located  in  that  part  of  the  town  known 
as  the  '■'  city,"  or  "  old  haymarket,"  above  the  Glou- 
cester crossing. 

John  Lovett*  was  the  first  of  this  name  here,  born 
1610,  died  1686,  and  who  settled,  it  is  said,  near  the 
farm  at  present  owned  by  General  Pearsons. 

John  Lovett,  Jr.,  who  died  1727,  aged  about  ninety- 
one,  married  a  daughter  of  Josiah  and  Susannah 
Rootes,  and  owned  a  large  lot  of  land  extending  from 
opposite  the  present  Milton  Street  to  beyond  Central, 
and  from  Cabot  Street  to  the  sea. 

Peter  Pride,*  it  is  said,  received  his  house-lot  at  or 
near  the  present  Pride's  Crossing,  on  condition  that  he 
direct  travelers  passing  that  way. 

A  group  of  settlers  in  that  region  lying  between  the 
town  proper  and  the  Farms  contained  George  Stanley,* 
or  Standley,  Nicholas  Patch,*  Jonathan  By  les,  Richard 
Thissell,*  and  Richard  Ober.*  Joshua  Bisson*  (from 
the  Isle  of  Jersey)  married  the  daughter  of  John 
Black  and  grand-daughter  of  Peter  Woolfe.  Cornelius 
Baker,*  a  blacksmith  and  grandson  of  Robert,  married 
Abigail  Sallows  and  settled  near  or  on  property  adja- 
cent to  Bisson.  The  name  Sallows  is  no  longer  found 
in  Beverly  and  has  been  long  extinct. 

A  name  prominent  at  that  time  was  that  of  Samuel 
Corning,*  made  freeman  1641,  whose  estates  once  in- 
cluded land  in  different  parts  of  Beverly,  at  one  time 
near  the  meeting-house,  and  also  near  Bald  Hill,  where 
his  descendants  still  reside. 

The  first  Wallis  *  was  Nathaniel,  from  Cornwall, 
England  (who  t-ettled  first  at  Casco  Bay,  whence  he 
was  driven  by  Indians),  whose  son,  Caleb,  married  a 
grand-daughter  of  Corning.  A  street  of  this  name 
extends  from  Cabot  to  Rantoul. 

The  names  of  Stackhouse  and  Hoskins,  who  owned 


easterly  of  Ellingwood,  are  now  believed  to  be  extinct 
in  Beverly.  Another  which  has  shared  the  same  fate 
is  that  of  Robert  Briscoe,  brother-in-law  of  Samuel 
Stone,  who  came  here  between  1680-90,  and  who  held 
various  important  offices  during  thirty  years.  His 
house  stood  nearly  opposite  the  first  church,  and  was 
taken  down  in  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century,  He 
is  remembered  for  his  numerous  benefactions  and 
legacies,  and  the  principal  school-building  of  the  town 
now  bears  his  name. 

Richard  Ober,*  founder  of  the  name  in  New  Eng- 
land, and  collateral  branches  in  other  States,  came 
from  "  Absburg,"  Abbotsburg,  England  (where  he 
was  baptized  November  21,  1641),  to  these  shores 
about  1664.  In  1671  he  married  Abigail,  daughter  of 
Nicholas  Woodbury,  by  whom  he  had  five  children : 
John,  Anna,  Elizabeth,  Hezekiah  and  Richard,  Jr. 
The  Obers  and  the  Thissells  were  from  the  same  vil- 
lage in  old  England,  came  to  this  place  at  about  the 
same  time,  and  their  estates  joined  each  other.  The 
Obers'  property  was  between  Mingo's  Beach  and  Plum 
Cove  River.  In  later  times  Jeffi'ey  Thissell,  a  Revolu- 
tionary pensioner,  lived  in  a  house  west  of  the  hill, 
towards  town  from  Mingo's  Beach. 

Robert  Morgan  *  owned  the  estate  north  of  and  op- 
posite the  central  fire  station,  extending  thence  to  the 
Bancroft  estate  and  to  the  sea.  Many  descendants  re- 
side here  and  others  are  settled  throughout  the  West, 

The  estate  of  Robert  Briscoe  fell  to  Thomas  Steph- 
ens* (who  came  here  in  1700),  on  condition  of  his 
paying  several  legacies.  Lawrence  Leach,*  who  died 
1662,  aged  eighty-two,  came  to  Salem  in  the  fleet  with 
Higginson,  was  proposed  for  freeman  1630,  and  a 
member  of  Salem  church  before  1636.  The  Leach 
farm  was  at  Ryal  Side,  and  long  remained  in  the 
family. 

Conspicuous  among  these  first  citizens  was  Henry 
Herrick,*  one  of  the  thirty  who  founded  the  first 
Church  of  Salem,  1629;  and,  with  his  sons,  joined  in 
establishing  the  first  church  of  Beverly.  He  purchased 
several  farms  at  Cherry  Hill  and  Birch  Plain,  on 
which  he  settled  his  sons,  Zacharie,  Ephraim,  Joseph 
and  John.  His  wife  was  Edith,  daughter  of  Hugh 
Laskin.  In  the  times  of  religious  intolerance  he  and 
his  vvife  were  fined  by  the  authorities  for  entertaining 
and  comforting  an  excommunicated  person.  He  died 
in  1671. 

The  first  of  the  Grover  family  was  Nicholas  Le 
Grove ;  of  the  Smiths,*  Hazadiah,  a  large  property 
owner,  who  came  from  the  eastward,  married  a 
daughter  of  Edmund  Grover  and  settled  near  the  old 
haymarket. 

Of  these  families  of  the  17th  century,  it  is  not  pos- 
sible to  more  than  enumerate  such  as  the  imperfect 
records  have  preserved  to  us ;  but  it  is  thought  that 
mere  mention,  even,  may  be  of  service  to  future  his- 
torian or  antiquarian,  seeking  to  trace  home  some  an- 
cestral name. 

Of  the  dwellings  erected  during  the  first  century  of 


BEVERLY. 


695 


the  town's  existence  few  remain  in  their  entirety.  Por- 
tions of  the  original  structures,  as  of  the  Old  Planter's, 
and  of  the  garrison  house  on  Woodbury's  Point,  still 
stand,  but  incorporated  with  buildings  of  later  date. 
The  oak  frames  of  these  buildings  were  well-nigh  in- 
destructible, but  there  are  few  houses  in  town  typical 
in  their  architecture  of  that  of  those  early  times.  The 
homestead  of  Eev.  John  Hale  still  remains  in  the 
possession  of  the  descendants,  the  Bancroft  heirs ; 
another  erected  about  that  time  (1690)  is  the  house  on 
Essex  Street,  lately  occupied  by  Wm.  W.  Baker,  long 
the  Putnam  property,  and  probably  the  ancient  Pic- 
ton  house. 

At  the  Cove,  the  Pea  house,  on  Hale  Street,  erected 
by  Thorndike,  gives  evidence  of  antiquity  beyond  any 
other  ;  at  the  Farms  are  two  of  the  past  century,  the 
Haskell  house  and  the  Robert  Woodbury,  both  dat- 
ing from  1680-'90.  In  Montserrat  are  the  Corning 
and  Morgan  houses,  the  former,  probably,  next  to  the 
Rea  house  in  age.  In  North  Beverly  the  "  Dudley 
Dodge  "  house,  the  Cleaver  and  the  Woodbury  house, 
and  also  the  Chipman  parsonage  (1715),  residence  of 
the  first  minister  of  the  second  parish. 

Near  the  town  centre,  several  bearing  evidences  of 
age,  and  having  the  halo  of  antiquity  about  them.  At 
the  "  city,"  or  near  the  old  Haymarket,  are  two  or 
three,  as  the  Lovett,  the  Brown  and  the  Davis  houses. 
Just  beyond  is  the  locality  of  a  group  of  the  Old 
Planters  ;  William  Dodge's,  on  the  site  of  tvhich  is 
the  house  of  Lyman  Mason  ;  farther  on  the  house 
lately  owned  by  Azor  Dodge  perpetuates  the  old 
Balch  homestead,  within  a  stone's  throw  of  which  was 
the  residence  of  Henry  Herrick. 

Houses  of  a  later  period,  built  by  our  famous 
merchants  of  the  Revolution,  as  the  Cabot  mansions 
(now  owned  by  Edward  Burley,  and  heirs  of  Seth 
Norwood)  stand  on  Cabot  vStreet,  fine  specimens  of 
the  architecture  of  that  time. 

That  we  have  so  few  examples  of  colonial  architec- 
ture is  because  the  citizens  of  Beverly  have  ever  been 
progressive,  lending  their  efforts  to  further  the  aims 
of  advanced  civilization,  and  thus  aiding  the  march 
of  progress,  which,  while  it  creates  the  new,  yet  ef- 
faces the  old. 

1701.  Events  of  the  Eighteenth  Century. — 
Succeeding  Mr.  Hale  in  the  ministry  came  Thomas 
Blowers,  "  who  was  highly  esteemed  for  his  learning 
and  virtue,  and  particularly  for  his  devotedness  to  the 
duties  of  his  profession."  He  was  born  August  1, 
1677,  graduated  at  Harvard,  1695,  and  was  ordained 
here  October  29, 1701 ;  his  salary,  eighty  pounds  per 
annum,  with  an  allowance  of  one  hundred  pounds  for 
a  settlement.  His  residence  was  near  Charnock 
Street,  which  takes  its  name  from  that  of  his  married 
daughter,  Emma  Charnock.  A  new  meeting-house 
had  been  ereeted  in  1682,  fifty  feet  in  length  by  forty 
feet  in  width,  with  a  tower  in  the  centre  from  which 
the  bell-rope  hung,  at  a  cost  of  three  hundred  and 
seventy  pounds  in  silver. 


1703-04.  The  town-clerk,  Andrew  Elliott,  who  was 
the  first  to  keep  the  records  in  a  systematic  manner, 
died,  aged  seventy-six  years.  He  was  succeeded  by 
Robert  Woodbury,  who  was  equally  faithful  in  the 
discharge  of  his  duties. 

1705.  The  tract  of  land  known  as  the  training-field 
or  common,  was  deeded  to  the  town  March  13,  1705. 
"  The  said  town  of  Beverly  are  hereby  obliged  not  to 
convey,  exchange,  or  dispose  of  the  said  land  unto 
any  particular  person  or  persons  whatsoever,  but  it 
shall  lay  and  remain  for  the  publick  use  of  said  town, 
especially  for  military  exercise." 

1707.  A  negro  slave  named  Robin  Mingo,  the  pro- 
perty of  Thomas  Woodbury,  was  married  to  Deborah 
Tailor,  an  Indian  woman.  Before  the  ceremony  was 
performed  (says  Stone)  she  agreed  to  live  with  her 
husband's  master  and  mistress  during  her  life,  "to  be 
then  discharged  with  only  two  suits  of  clothes  suitable 
for  such  persons."  This  seems  a  hard  bargain,  but 
the  claims  of  slavery  and  servitude  hung  lightly  upon 
the  servitors.  Fifty  years  later,  in  1754,  the  number 
or  slaves,  so-called,  was  twenty-eight.  On  July  15, 
1722,  Mingo  received  the  rite  of  baptism  and  was  ad- 
mitted a  member  of  the  church.  He  died  in  1773, 
by  which  time,  at  least  by  1776,  "public  opinion  had 
virtually  emancipated  the  slaves  of  Massachusetts," 

The  little  bay  on  our  coast  known  as  Mingo's 
Beach,  is  supposed  to  have  derived  its  name  from 
him.  There  is  a  tradition  extant  that  his  humble 
cottage  was  near  and  above  it,  and  it  is  also  related 
that  his  master  promised  him  his  freedom  when  the  tide 
should  recede  so  far  as  to  leave  a  dry  passage  between 
the  shore  and  "  Becky's  Hedge,"  lying  off"  the  beach 
harbor.  That  event  occurred,  it  is  said,  but  once, 
and  that  was  the  year  of  his  death. 

1708.  The  population  this  year  is  given  at  sixteen 
hundred  and  eighty.  Since  the  period  of  King 
Philip's  War,  and  with  the  exception  of  the  witch- 
year,  very  little  had  occurred  to  disturb  the  peaceful 
growth  of  the  population. 

1710. — Peter  Wooden,  an  able  pilot,  is  sent  from 
Beverly  to  guide  the  expedition  to  Port  Royal. 

1711-12. — The  Ryal's-Side  people  were  allowed  to 
associate,  as  a  religious  society,  with  Beverly;  but 
were  not  united  with  them  until  September  11,  1753. 

This  year,  two  people  of  Beverly,  Nihil  Sallowes 
and  Joseph  Gray,  were  killed  by  Indians  at  Winter 
Harbor.  At  Cape  Sable,  three  or  four  years  later, 
another  native  of  the  town,  Benjamin  Dike,  was  slain 
by  savages.  A  curious  entry  in  the  town  records, 
throwing  a  side  light  upon  the  customs  of  the  day,  is 
the  following:  March  24, 1711-12.  An  order  "  to  pay 
unto  Richard  Ober,  seur.,  9  shillings,  money,  out  of 
ye  town  rate,  yt  being  for  half  a  barrel  of  aider,  for 
Laurence  Davis  his  burial  (6s.)  and  for  50  feet  of 
bords  for  sd  Davis  his  coffin  (3s.)." 

1713.^Land  was  granted  by  the  town  to  the  Farms, 
on  which  to  erect  a  school-house. 

In  October,  the  Second  or  North  Pari^i  was  incor- 


696 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


porated,  and  a  meeting-house  erected,  fifty  by  forty 
feet. 

1715. — The  Second  Church  was  organized,  Decem- 
ber 28th,  and  the  Rev.  John  Chipman  ordained. 
This  good  and  learned  man  was  born  in  Barnstable, 
and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1711.  He  resided  here 
nearly  sixty  years,  and  left  a  name  and  posterity  yet 
well-known  in  the  town.  The  old  parsonage  in  which 
he  resided  still  stands,  not  fiir  distant  from  the  church 
at  North  Beverly. 

The  original  members  of  this  church,  and  signers 
of  the  covenant,  28th  December,  1715,  were  John 
Chipman,  Edward,  Joseph,  Jonathan,  Elisha  and 
John  Dodge,  John  Cressey,  John  Brown,  Jacob 
Griggs,  Joseph  Herrick,  John  Leach,  Nehemiah 
Wood,  Josiah  Woodbury,  Jonathan  Rayraent  and 
Moses  Fluant.  A  body  of  worshippers  w^ere  after- 
wards admitted  from  Beverly  and  Wenham.  There 
were  appointed,  to  seat  the  worshippers,  persons  who 
were  "  to  show  respect  to  ye  aged  people  amongst  us, 
as  allso  to  have  a  speciall  regard  unto  persons  that 
have  don  service  for  ye  benefit  of  ye  precinct,  &  have 
contributed  high  in  building  of  ye  hous  for  ye  pub- 
lick  worship  of  God,  and  purchasing  land  for  ye  use 
of  ye  people  of  sd.  precinct,  and  are  likely  to  pay  con- 
siderable in  ye  charge  of  ye  ministry  amongst  us  ;  as 
allso  not  to  seat  above  two-thirds  so  many  persons  in 
any  seat  as  ye  seats  will  comfortably  hold."  March 
29th,  same  year,  it  had  been  voted  that  the  front  seat 
in  the  east  gallery  "  be  parted  in  ye  middle  "  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  young  unmarried  women. 

1723. — The  records  of  Ipswich,  our  near  neighbor 
remind  us  that  wolves  were  so  abundant  there,  and 
even  in  the  vicinity  of  the  meeting-house,  that 
parents  would  not  suffer  their  children  to  attend 
worship  without  some  grown  person  as  company.  A 
bounty  was  offered  for  heads,  and  many  were  taken 
by  means  of  wolf-hooks.  These  were  made  by  en- 
closing four  mackerel-hooks  in  brown  bread,  and  dip- 
ping them  in  melted  tallow  "till  they  be  as  big  and 
round  as  an  egg."  They  were  then  exposed  near 
some  dead  carcass,  where  they  were  found  and  swal- 
lowed by  the  wolves. 

A  noted  resort  for  bears,  at  that  period,  was  the 
great  swamp  along  Ipswich  River,  and  one  was  killed 
in  the  Hamlet  (Hamilton)  so  late  as  1757.  Deer 
were  abundant  in  Chebacco  woods  up  to  the  year 
1790,  but  soon  afterwards  disappeared. 

1727. — This  year  is  memorable  for  the  great  earth- 
quake, October  29th,  which  was  felt  throughout  the 
colonies  and  "  made  strong  religious  impressions  on 
the  minds  of  many  in  this  town  and  other  places." 

Twenty-five  new  members  were  added  to  the  Second 
Church,  and  the  pastor.  Rev.  Mr.  Chipman,  gave 
thanks  to  God  who  hath  shaken,  violently,  the  earth 
and  also  poured  out  his  Spirit  upon  the  people.  '^  Soli 
Deo  Laus,  qui  et  terram  violenter  exagitavit  et  super 
populam  suum  spiritum  sinim  cffudit.'^ 

The  ancient  record-book  of  the  Second  Parish  may 


yet  be  seen,  at  present  (1887)  in  charge  of  Henry 
Wilson,  now,  in  his  ninety-third  year,  the  oldest  male 
resident  of  Beverly.  Mr.  Wil-ion  came  here  in  1848, 
from  Gloucester ;  his  wife,  who  died  in  1844,  was 
then  eighty-eight  years  of  age.  The  following  is  the 
first  entry  in  the  record-book :  "  This  book  belongs 
to  the  Second  Church  of  Christ  in  Beverly,  gathered 
out  of  Salem  and  Beverly,  and  embodyed  into  a  dis- 
tinct Society  on  the  28th  day  of  December  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord,  1715.  .  .  .  That  part  of  the 
Precinct  of  Salem  and  Beverly  which  was  a  part  of 
Salem  was  by  an  Act  of  the  Great  and  General  Court 
annexed  to  Beverly  and  incorporated  in  the  one  real 
Town  therewith  upon  the  12th  day  of  Sept.,  A.D. 
1752."  A  note  is  added  by  Rev.  Mr.  Stone:  "  In  this 
Book  of  Records,  Salem  usually  signifies  the  territory 
west  of  Maj.  Conant's  brook,  and  embraced  Ryal 
Side,  all  of  which  was  set  off  to  Beverly  in  1752." 

1729. — The  second  minister  of  the  First  Parish, 
Rev.  Mr.  Blowers,  died  June  17,  and  £50  were  ap- 
propriated for  his  funeral  expenses.  In  December 
of  this  year,  the  Rev.  Joseph  Champney  was  ordained, 
whose  period  of  service  extended  until  1773,  when  he 
was  followed  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  Willard,  who  had 
been  his  colleague  for  about  a  year. 

1730. — Very  little  of  public  moment  occurred  to 
disturb  the  serenity  of  the  inhabitants  at  this  period, 
but  in  1730,  the  members  of  the  Second  Parish  were 
agitated?  over  the  question  of  psalm-singing.  The 
older  members  wished  to  adhere  to  the  practice  of 
"lining  out"  the  hymn^,  while  the  nnre  progressive 
wished  to  sing  by  note.  A  compromise  was  at  first 
effected,  but  later  on  it  was  voted  that  they  would  in 
future  sing  "at  all  times  of  singing  in  public  worship 
the  psalm  tunes  by  rule,  according  to  the  notes 
pricked  in  our  psalm-books." 

1747. — "At  a  meeting  of  the  proprietors  of  the  Com- 
mon Lands  in  Beverly,  legally  warned  and  assembled 
at  the  First  Parish  meeting-house  in  said  Beverly,  on 
Monday  the  Seventh  day  of  September,  1747,  Cap- 
tain John  Thorndike  was  chosen  moderator  of  sd. 
meeting ;  voted,  Isaac  Woodberry,  clerk  of  the  pro- 
perty: voted  Captain  Henry  Herrick  and  Isaac 
Woodberry,  two  of  the  committee  in  the  rume  of  Cap- 
tain Robert  Woodberry  and  Deacon  William  Dodge, 
deceased;  voted  that  the  same  meeting  be  adjourned 
unto  October  13,  at  3  o'clock,  afternoon. 

"At  the  ajournment,  Oct.  13,  of  the  meeting  of  the 
proprietors  of  the  Common  Lands  in  Beverly,  ad- 
journed the  same  meeting  to  Jno.  Thorndike,  Jun., 
and  there  drank  two  and  a  half  Dubel  Boles  of  punch, 
and  put  it  to  vote  if  theay  act  any  further  and  it 
passed  in  the  negative,  and  then  Desolved  the  meeting." 

1752. — That  section  known  as  Ryal  Side,  though 
of  the  first  to  receive  permanent  settlers,  was  not 
united  to  Beverly  till  1752.  At  the  time  Danvers  was 
made  a  town  all  that  territory  between  Bass  River 
and  Bass  River  Creek  on  the  east,  and  Frost-Fish 
brook  on  the  west,  was  annexed  to  Beverly. 


BEVERLY. 


697 


One  hundred  years,  or  so,  later,  in  1857,  a  portion 
again  was  set  ofT  and  joined  to  Dan  vers.  Within  this 
section  so  recently  detached  from  Beverly  lies  Browne's 
Folly  hill,  named  after  William  Browne,  a  native  of 
Salem,  born  1709,  and  educated  at  Harvard  College. 
This  gentleman,  about  1750,  selected  the  summit  of 
this  high  hill  as  the  site  for  a  noble  mansion,,  which 
he  called  Browne  Hall,  a  costly  structure,  with  every 
appointment  the  wealth  of  the  owner  could  supply. 

The  great  hall  was  often  the  scene  of  revelry  on  a 
magnificent  scale,  and  tradition  states  that  on  at 
least  one  occasion  an  ox  was  roasted  whole,  for  the 
entertainment  of  the  guests.  Mr.  Browne  died  in 
1763,  and  the  mansion  was  disposed  of  by  the  pur- 
chaser of  the  estate,  William  Burley. 

The  exact  shape  of  the  great  house  may  be  traced 
in  its  sunken  cellar-walls  to-day.  The  hill  has  ever 
since  been  known  as  "  Browne's  Folly,"  yet  the 
view  from  its  summit  is  one  of  the  finest  in  the  county. 

1753. — An  enumeration  of  the  population  gave 
two  thousand  and  twenty-three;  an  increase  of  about 
four  hundred  in  fifty  years.  Of  this  number  twenty- 
eight  were  negro  slaves.  Twenty  years  later,  there 
were  sixty  less. 

The  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  is  pretty 
well  epitomized  in  the  life  of  one  of  Beverly's  fore- 
most citizens,  the  physician  of  the  town  at  this  period, 
Dr.  Robert  Hale,  jr. 

Born  February  12th,  1702-3,  he  was  at  an  early 
age  (when  between  fifteen  and  sixteen),  employed  to 
teach  the  grammar-school,  which  was  established  in 
1700.  In  1721  he  was  graduated  at  Harvard,  imme- 
diately after  which  he  began  the  study  of  medicine 
with  Dr.  Manning,  of  Ipswich.  He  was  married  in 
1723.  and,  his  wife  dying  in  1736,  leaving  him  with 
three  children,  contracted  a  second  marriage  in  1737. 
His  medical  practice  soon  brought  him  into  notice  in 
the  neighboring  towns,  even  as  early  as  1723,  and 
with  an  estate  of  above  £1000,  (part  of  which  was 
left  him  by  his  parents),  he  was  early  possessed  of 
independent  means.  The  energy  of  character,  sound 
judgment  and  business  capacity  of  Dr.  Hale,  (says 
Mr.  Stone,  from  whose  excellent  history  the  materials 
for  this  sketch  are  taken),  were  early  appreciated  by 
his  townsmen.  He  was  successively  chosen  to  fill  the 
various  oflices  of  surveyor,  selectman,  assessor,  town 
clerk  and  treasurer ;  besides  the  duties  of  which  he 
discharged  those  of  justice  of  the  peace,  and  collector 
of  excise  for  the  county.  As  chairman  of  the  school 
committee,  he  took  an  active  and  efficient  part  in  the 
measures  adopted  to  improve  the  school  system  of  the 
town.  For  thirteen  years,  he  represented  the  town 
in  General  Court,  during  which  time  he  was  chair- 
man of  several  important  committees. 

In  1726  he  united  with  the  first  church,  and  for 
nearly  twenty  years  was  of  infinite  service  in  ecclesi- 
astical and  parochial  concerns. 

In  1740,  as  one  of  the  managers  of  the  "  land  bank," 
a  scheme  for  relieving  the  pecuniary  embarrassments 


of  the  colony,  he  incurred  the  hostility  of  the  famous 
Governor  Belcher,  who  persistently  opposed  him  until 
succeeded  by  Governor  Shirley, 

In  1745  Dr.  Hale  received  the  commission  of  colo- 
nel, and  commanded  a  regiment,  in  the  expedition 
projected  by  Governor  Shirley  against  Louisburg. 
The  land  force  employed  consisted  of  three  thousand 
two  hundred  men  from  Massachusetts,  three  hundred 
from  New  Hampshire,  three  hundred  from  Rhode 
Island  and  five  hundred  from  Connecticut,  all  under 
command  of  General  William  Pepperell,  The  co- 
operating naval  force  was  from  England,  and  com- 
manded by  Commodore  Warren,  A  company  for 
this  enterprise  was  enlisted  in  Beverly  under  Captain 
Benjamin  Ives,  Colonel  Hale's  son-in-law. 

1744. — The  soldiers  and  officers  engaged  in  the  ex- 
pedition against  Louisburg  were  fifty  in  number: 

Capt.,  Benj.  Ives,  Jr. ;  Lieut.,  Geo.  Herrick  ;  Euaigii,  Josiah  Batchel- 
der ;  Sergts.,  Job  Cressj'  and  Samuel  Woodbury;  Clerk,  Benj.  Cleaver, 
Jr. ;  Corporals,  Bartli.  Brown,  John  Picket ;  Drummer,  Jos.  Raymond  ; 
Privates,  Chris.  Bartlett,  Wni.  Badcock,  Thos.  Butman,  Israel  and  Jona. 
Byles,  Edmund  Clark,  Samuel  Chute,  Benj.  Clark,  Samuel  Cole,  Edward 
and  Ebenezer  Cox,  Benj.  Dike,  Francis  and  Joseph  Elliot,  Israel  Ehvell, 
Eleazer  Giles,  John  Grover,  Ebenezer  Hadley,  Jona.  Harris,  Samuel 
Harris,  Andrew  Herrick,  Benj.  Hervey,  Benj.  Howard,  William  James, 
William  Leach,  John  Morgan,  Jona.  Morgan,  Richard  Ober,  Caleb  Page, 
Elias  Picket,  John  Pressou,  Joshua  Rea,  John  Roundy,  Benj.  Smith, 
Daniel  Stephens,  Ezra,  Benjamin  and  James  Xrask,  Israel  and  Josiah 
Woodbury. 

"There  were  not  wanting  those  in  influential  stations  who,  moved 
with  an  unworthy  jealousy  for  British  glory,  sought,  in  public  and  pri- 
vate, to  undervalue  the  services  of  the  provincial  troops.  .  .  .  Col. 
Hale  (who,  with  his  regiment,  took  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  dangers 
and  fatigues  of  Mie  siege)  was  keenly  alive  to  American  honor:  and  this 
ungenerous  attempt  to  wrest  from  the  provincial  forces  the  tribute  of 
approbation  justly  their  due,  deeply  wounded  his  sensibilities.  He  re- 
pelled the  insinuations  of  the  British,  and  pointed  out  (in  a  letter  writtcH 
at  the  time)  that  the  great  error  of  the  British  government,  in  all  their 
provincial  enterprises  which  failed  of  success,  consisted  in  the  appoint- 
ment of  foreign  officers  to  the  command  of  troops  raised  here,  when 
between  the  former  and  latter  there  was  no  reciprocity  of  respect  or 
confidence." 

While  at  Louisburg  Colonel  Hale  enclosed  a  jjiece 
of  ground  which  was  long  known  (and  may  be  still),  to 
our  fishermen  as  "  Col.  Hale's  garden." 

"When  the  government  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  1755,  had  determined 
on  an  expedition  against  the  French,  and  the  reduction  of  Crown  Point, 
Col.  Hale  was  selected  by  Governor  Shirley  as  a  suitable  agent  to  lay  ihe 
subject  before  the  government  of  Jsew  Hampshire  and  solicit  their  aid. 
His  commission  bears  date  Feb.  22,  1755,  and  the  same  day  he  received 
from  the  governor  a  series  of  instructions,  by  which  he  was  to  conduct 
the  negotiation." 

These  instructions,  together  with  the  correspond- 
ence between  Governors  Shirley  and  Wentworth,  are 
given  in  the  history  above  cited. 

He  was  successful  in  his  commission,  and  succeeded 
in  securing  five  hundred  men  as  the  quota  from  New 
Hampshire,  though,  for  some  reason,  he  did  not  him- 
self join  in  the  expedition. 

In  1761  Colonel  Hale  received  a  commission  of 
sheriff"  for  Essex  County.  In  1767,  after  holding  near- 
ly every  office,  civil  and  political,  within  the  gift  of 
his  townsmen,  he  died,  full  of  honors  and  lamented 
by  all. 

Among   the   curious   memoranda   left  by  Colonel 


698 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Hale  are  several  of  value  to  the  local  antiquarians, 
as:  "A  list  of  deaths  in  Beverly,  1730-64;"  "An 
account  of  all  the  houses  in  Beverly,"  1723-51 ;  "Per- 
sons now  living  in  Beverly  who  have  had  the  small- 
pox ;  "  "  A  list  of  Widows  and  Widowers  in  ye  First 
Parish,"  which  begins  with  the  widow  of  Mingo  (the 
slave);  and  under  date  of  February  12,  1747-48,  is 
this  remark :  "  This  day  there  are  7  Widows  to  one 
AVidower  in  this  Parish — 63  W.,  9  Widowers."  ^ 

1756. — For  the  Crown  Point  expedition,  this  year, 
the  Beverly  soldiers  enlisted,  in  Captain  Andrew 
Fuller's  Company,  were : 

Benj.  Balch,  William  Eborn,  Bauiel  Gloyd,  Corporal  John  Simonds, 
Joseph  Baker,  John  Clark,  Daniel  Butman  (again  in  1759),  Eliezer  El- 
lingwood,  Robert  Matthews,  William  Moneys,  Azor  Roundy,  Peter 
Stokes,  George  Spence  {re-enlisted  1759  and  1761),  and  Andrew  Wood- 
bury. 

In  another  company  at  Fort  Edward,  Moses 
Dodge. 

1757.— In  Captain  Israel  Herrick's  company  of 
Eastern  Rangers,  are  enrolled  :  Osman  Baker,  Robert 
Baker  (also  in  the  Canada  expedition  1759),  Barth. 
Peart,  John  Simonds,  John  Trask,  Josiah  Trow. 

1758. — In  Captain  John  Tapley's  company  :  John 
Clark  (at  the  capture  of  Fort  William  Henry),  Wil- 
liam Herrick,  Wells  Stanley  and  Barth.  Taylor. 

In  various  other  companies:  John  Smith,  Samuel 
Tuck,  Jonathan  Thorndike,  Samuel  Woodbury,  Jo- 
siah Woodbury,  James  Woodbury,  Jonathan  Corning 
(seaman),  Zebulon  Putman,  David  Hill  (drummer), 
Jonathan  Dodge,  Nathaniel  Woodbury,  John  Hub- 
bard, Abraham  Hix  (again  in  1761),  William  Dodge 
(1761). 

1759. — Robert  Elliott,  James  Giles,  Jonathan  Lar- 
com.  Corporal  Andrew  Woodbury,  Benjamin  Brown, 
William  Presson,  Richard  Standley,  Barebeel  Wood- 
bury, John  Wallis,  Samuel  Bean,  Josiah  Cressy, 
Aaron  Crowell,  Andrew  Elliot,  Amos  Hilton,  William 
Morgan,  Robert  Picket,  Nicholas  Standley. 

1761. — Benjamin  Presson,  Ralph  Tuck,  Wilks 
West,  Robert  Standley,  Joseph  Williams,  Benjamin 
Dike,  Jonathan  Dodge,  Timothy  Howard,  Jacob  Po- 
land, Nathaniel  Butman,  Samuel  Stickney. 

1757. — Two  families  of  Acadians,  those  unfortu- 
nate people  who  were  expelled  from  their  homes  in 
Nova  Scotia,  were  quartered  upon  the  town,  and  a 
house  hired  for  them.  They  were  partially  self-sup- 
porting, making  wooden-ware  and  baskets  ;  but  their 
stay  was  brief,  and  they  soon  wandered  on  and  were 
lost  to  the  view  of  their  Beverly  friends. 

1765.  Revolutioijary  Period. — Troublous  times 
were  approaching,  and  the  records  of  the  day  show 
that  the  people  of  Beverly  were  alive  to  every  fateful 
prognostication  from  over  the  water. 

They  anticipated  every  movement  of  the  home  gov- 
ernment, and  while  conditionally  loyal  to  their  dis- 
tant sovereigns,  made  it  appear,  by  their  acts  in  town 
meetings  assembled,  that  they  would  suffer  no  infrac- 


1  See  Fssex  Inst.  Hist.  Collections  for  details. 


tion  of  their  liberties.  The  odious  stamp  act  was  as 
unpopular  here  as  in  Boston,  and  its  repeal  (1765) 
was  heralded  by  bonfires  and  celebrated  by  patriotic 
speeches. 

The  i^roceedings  of  the  "  Boston  Tea  Party  "  were 
promptly  approved,  and  measures  taken  for  the  ex- 
clusion of  the  obnoxious  vehicle  of  taxation.  The 
men,  as  may  be  imagined,  were  more  in  favor  of  non- 
importation than  the  Avomen,  and  amusing  stories  are 
told,  in  which  some  of  the  latter  evaded  the  strict  let- 
ter of  the  law  and  joined  together  for  private  tea- 
drinkings.  Some  of  these  meetings  are  said  to  have 
taken  place  in  the  cellars  of  their  respective  resi- 
dences, and,  on  at  least  one  occasion,  an  aerial  "  tea- 
drawing  "  Avas  held  on  the  roof-top  of  a  house. 

The  story  of  a  parallel  occurrence,  with  all  attendant 
circumstances,  is  pleasantly  told  in  Miss  Larcom's 
poem,  "  The  Gambrel  Roof." 

"  In  this  old  house,  even  then  not  new, 
A  Continental  Colonel  true 
Dwelt,  with  a  blithe  and  wilful  wife, 
The  sparkle  on  his  cup  of  life  ; 

A  man  of  sober  mood, 
He  felt  the  strife  before  it  came 
Within  him,  like  a  welding  flame, 
That  nerve  and  sinew  changed  to  steel  ; 
And,  at  the  opening  cannon  peal, 

Beady  for  fight  he  stood. 

"  Cheap  was  the  draught,  beyond  a  doubt, 
The  mother  country  served  us  out ; 
And  many  a  housewife  raised  a  wail. 
Hearing  of  fragrant  chest  and  bale 
To  thirstleSR  mermaids  poured. 
And  Mistress  Audrey's  case  was  hard. 
When  her  tall  Colonel  down  the  yard 
Called,  '  Wife,  be  sure  you  drink  no  tea! 
For  best  Imperial,  prime  Bohea, 
Were  in  her  cupboard  stored. 

"  Young  Hyson,  too,  the  finest  brand ; 
And  here  the  good  wife  made  a  stand ; 
'  Now,  Colonel,  well  enough  you  know 
Our  tea  was  paid  for  long  ago, 

Before  this  cargo  came, 
With  threepence  duty  on  the  pound  ; 
It  won't  be  wasted,  I'll  be  bound  1 
I've  asked  a  friend  or  two  to  sup, 
And  not  to  offer  them  a  cup 

Would  be  a  stingy  shame.' 

"  Into  his  face  the  quick  blood  flew: 
'Wife,  I  have  promised,  so  must  you, 
None  shall  drink  tea  inside  my  house  ; 
Your  gossips  elsewhere  must  carouse  ; ' — 

The  lady  curtsied  low; 
'  Husband,  your  word  is  law,'  she  said ; 
But  archly  turned  her  well-set  head 
With  roguish  poise  toward  this  old  roof, 
Soon  as  she  heard  his  martial  hoof 

Along  the  highway  go. 


"  But  lightly  dined  the  dame  that  day  ; 
Her  guests,  in  Sunday-best  array, 
Came,  and  not  one  arrived  too  soon. 
In  the  first  slant  of  afternoon  ; 

An  hour  or  two  they  sat. 
In  the  low-studded  western  room, 
Where  hollyhocks  threw  rosy  bloom 
On  sampler  framed,  and  quaint  Dutch  tile ; 


BEVERLY. 


699 


They  knit ;  they  sewed  long  seams  ;  the  while 
Chatting  of  this  and  tliat : — 

"  Of  horrors  scarcely  died  away 
From'memory  of  the  heads  grown  gray 
On  neighboring  farms ;  how  wizard  John 
And  Indian  Tituba  went  on, 

When  sorcerers  were  believed  ; 
How  Parson  Parris  tried  to  make 
Poor  Mary  Sibley's  conjuring  cake 
The  leaven  of  tliat  black  witchcraft  curse, 
That  grew  and  spread  from  bad  to  worse. 

And  even  the  elect  deceived. 

"  Dame  Audrey  said  :  '  The  sun  gets  low  ; 
Good  neighbors  mine,  before  you  go, 
Come  to  the  house-top,  pray,  with  me  ! 
A  goodly  prospect  you  shall  see, 

I  promise,  spread  around. 
If  we  must  part,  ere  day  decline, 
And  if  no  hospitable  sign 
Appear,  of  China's  cheering  drink, 
Not  niggardly  your  hostess  think  '. 

We  all  are  patriots  sound.' 

"  They  followed  her  with  puzzled  air  ; 
But  saw,  upon  the  topmost  stair, 
Out  on  the  railed  roof,  dark-faced  Dill, 
Guarding  the  supper-board,  as  still 

Au  solid  ebony. 
'  A  goodly  prospect,  as  I  said. 
You  here  may  see  before  you  spread  ; 
Upon  a  house  is  not  tvithin  it ; 
But  now  we  must  not  waste  a  minute  ; 

Neighbors,  sit  down  to  tea  ! '  " 

"The  women  were  all  liberty  men,"  quaintly  re- 
marked a  survivor  of  the  Eevolution,  "  and  threatened 
to  scald  the  Tories ; "  yet  they  parted  with  their  tea 
with  great  reluctance. 

A  tale  was  current  in  town  some  years  ago  of  an  in- 
terrupted tea-drinking,  caused  by  the  lord  of  the 
house  happening  home  unexpectedly  and  surrepti- 
tiously dropping  a  quid  of  tobacco  in  the  teapot !  But, 
as  a  rule,  the  clandestine  meetings  for  indulgence  in 
the  fragrant  beverage  were  winked  at  by  the  pa- 
triots. 

The  right  of  women  to  hold  ofBce  was,  this  year, 
recognized  by  the  appointment  of  Widow  Priscilla 
Trask  as  pound-keeper. 

The  eager  patriotism  of  our  forefathers  was  tempered 
by  commendable  moderation,  though  they  were  the 
very  first  to  apprehend  approaching  dauger  and  pre- 
pare for  it. 

1765. — Ocfofter  21,  The  letter  of  introduction  to  their 
representative.  Col.  Henry  Herrick,  amply  defines 
this  position  : 

"We  cannot"  (they  write),  "  without  criminal  injustice  to  those 
glorious  princes,  King  William  and  Queen  Mary,  or  the  memory  of  our 
venerable  fathers,  nor  without  the  highest  injustice  to  ourselves  and  to 
posterity,  consent  to  yield  obedience  to  any  law  whatsoever,  which,  by 
its  natural  constitution  or  just  construction,  deprives  us  of  the  liberty  of 
trial  by  juries  ;  or  of  our  choosing  meet  persons  to  represent  us  in  the 
assessing  or  taxing  our  estates  for  his  Majesty's  service.  And  we  do 
accordingly  advise  and  instruct  you,  our  representative,  to  refuse  your 
consent  in  any  sucli  case,  and  do  all  that  in  you  lies  to  prevent  any  un- 
constitutional drafts  upon  the  public  treasury." 

17Q9.—May  22,  In  another  letter  to  him,  they  re- 
affirm these  propositions: 


"We  apprehend  that  no  power  on  earth  can  justly  deprive  us  of  our 
essential  rights,  and  that  no  man  can  be  safe,  either  as  to  his  life,  liberty, 
or  property,  if  a  contrary  doctrine  should  prevail  ;  therefore,  we 
recommend  to  you  a  firm  but  prudent  opposition  to  all  unconstitutional 
measures." 

A  powder-house  was  erected  on  the  south  side  of  the 
common  in  1767,  to  contain  the  town  ammunition, 
which  had  heretofore  been  stored  in  the  basement  of 
the  first  parish  meeting-house.  Increasing  supplies 
necessitated  this. 

1770. — The  first  parish  meeting-house  was  taken 
down  and  a  new  edifice  erected  at  a  cost  of  about  £1300. 
During  its  construction  services  were  held  near  the 
big  elm  on  the  common.  . 

1772. — December  21,  In  town  meeting  assembled, 
and  in  an  adjournment  of  January  5,  1773,  they  again 
assert  that  "  the  rights  of  the  colonists  in  particular  as 
men,  as  Christians,  and  as  subjects,  are  studiously, 
rightly,  and  justly  stated  by  the  committee  of  corres- 
pondence for  the  town  of  Boston ;  and  Col.  Herrick 
is  instructed  to  "endeavor,  as  much  as  possible,  in  a 
legal  and  constitutional  way,  to  effect  the  redress  of 
the  intolerable  grievances,  and  secure  the  rights,  liber- 
ties and  privileges,  both  civil  and  sacred,"  guaranteed 
them  by  the  charter. 

1773. — A  "  committee  of  correspondence  and  safety" 
was  appointed  the  latter  part  of  this  year,  consisting 
of  representative  citizens  as  follows:  John  Leach, 
Benjamin  Jones,  Henry  Herrick,  Joseph  Rea,  Samuel 
Goodridge,  Josiah  Batchelder,  J.  Batchelder,  Jr., 
William  Taylor,  Joshua  Cleaves,  Larkin  Thorndike, 
Joseph  Wood,  Isaac  and  Nicholas  Thorndike,  William 
Bartlett,  Andrew  Cabot,  Joseph  Orne,  Benj.  Lovett, 
Jr.,  Nathan  and  Asa  Leach,  Caleb  and  William  Dodge, 
Livermore  Whitteredge,  Benj.  Smith,  William  Long- 
dell,  Thomas  Stephens,  Edmund  Giles,  John  and 
Jona.  Grant,  Isaac  Chapman  and  John  Lovett,  3d. 

The  following  letter  "  to  the  committee  of  corres- 
pondence for  the  town  of  Boston,"  January  11,  1773, 
is  referred  to  above,  and  illustrates  their  alert  and  ac- 
tive interest. 

"Gentlemen:  Inclosed  you  have  the  transactions  of  this  town,  in 
consequence  of  the  resolves  of  the  metropolis  of  this  province,  and  the 
letter  of  correspondence  herewith  transmitted,  whereby  you  will  perceive 
the  sentiments  of  this  town  with  regard  to  the  common  cause  in  which 
we  are  all  concerned.  In  the  name  of  the  town,  we  return  thanks  for 
the  early  care  taken  by  the  town  of  Boston  to  communicate  the  most 
early  intelligence  of  any  alarming  circumstances  that  they  have  with 
regard  to  any  infringements  on  our  rights,  as  Christians,  subjects,  or 
colonists. 

"And,  gentlemen,  inasmuch  as  we  are  all  concerned  in  one  common 
cause,  we  shall  esteem  it  as  a  favor  of  a  free  correspondence,  that  we 
may  have  the  most  early  intelligence  of  any  interesting  events  of  a  public 
nature,  as  you  live  in  the  metropolis,  that  we  may  concur  with  you  in 
any  salutary  constitutional  measures  for  the  good  of  all ;  and  are,  gen- 
tlemen, with  the  greatest  regards, 

"  Your  most  humble  servants, 
"  John  Leach,  Samuel  Goodridoe, 

Benj.  Jones,  Josiah  Batchelder,  Jr., 

Henry  Herrick." 

1774. — In  the  town-meeting,  January  4,  it  was  re- 
solved : 

"  That  the  method  of  introducing  tea  into  this  province  in  the  manner 
proposed  by  the  British  Ministry,  for  the  benefit  of  the  East  India  Co.,  is 


roo 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


justly  and  fairly  stated  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  of  Boston  ;  and 
that  it  is  the  sentiment  of  this  meeting,  that  they  will  always,  in  every 
salutary  method,  cheerfully  join  with  our  brethren  of  the  town  of  Boston 
and  every  other  town  in  this  province,  in  withstanding  every  unlawful 
measure  tending  to  enslave  us,  or  to  take  our  money  from  us,  in  any  un- 
constitutional manner." 

At  a  county  convention  held  in  Ipswich  September 
6th  and  7th,  the  town  was  represented  by  three  of  its 
citizens:  Benj.  Lovett,  Saml.  Goodridge  and  Joseph 
Wood,  who  subscribed  to  the  report  of  the  committee, 
which,  after  asserting  their  continued  loyalty  to  the 
crown,  continued  : 

"  But  though,  above  all  things,  slavery  excepted,  we  deprecate  the 
evils  of  a  civil  war;  though  we  are  deeply  anxious  to  restore  and  pre- 
serve harmony  with  our  brethren  in  Great  Britain  ;  yet,  if  the  despotism 
and  violence  of  our  enemies  should  finally  reduce  us  to  the  sad  necessity, 
we,  undaunted,  are  ready  to  appeal  to  the  last  resort  of  States;  and  will, 
in  support  of  our  rights,  encounter  even  death,  sensible  that  he  can 
never  die  too  soon  who  lays  down  his  life  in  support  of  the  laws  and 
liberties  of  his  country  ! " 

Abundant  assurances  of  their  sincerity  are  found  in 
the  minutes  of  the  numerous  meetings  of  citizens. 

1775. — February  27th,  Along  with  other  articles  in 
the  warrant  for  town-meetibg  this  year,  are  the 
following: 

"To  see  if  the  town  will  have  a  watch  kept  for  the  preservation  of 
the  town,  and  come  into  such  measures  relative  thereto  as  may  then  be 
thought  best ;  and  there  was  a  warrant  issued  out  to  the  several  con" 
stables  to  warn  the  same,  as  follows  :  viz.,  to  Samuel  Woodberry  3d,  to 
warn  Farms  and  Bald  Hill  Districts;  to  Joseph  Woodberry  to  warn 
Koyal  Side  and  Bass  River  Districts,  and  to  Wm.  Elliott  to  warn  tlie 
Ferry  District." 

It  was  later  voted  that  a  watch,  consisting  of  nine 
persons,  be  posted  at  three  different  places  ;  and  that 
"  if  the  watch  discover  that  any  Hoistilities  are  likely 
to  be  made  on  the  town  or  any  of  the  inhabitants 
thereof,  they  are  to  make  an  alarm,  by  the  iireing  of 
three  guns  and  the  ringing  of  the  bell." 

Voted,  also,  "  that  the  town  will  raise  fifty-four 
minute-men,  including  officers.'' 

Voted,  "  to  give  the  captain  of  the  minute-men 
three  shillings  and  four  pence  for  each  half  day  ser- 
vice in  larning  of  the  art  military  ;  the  lieutenants 
two  and  eightpence,  the  en>ign  two  and  sixpence,  and 
each  private  one  shilling,  eightpence." 

Voted,  "  that  the  minute-men  turn  out  two  half 
days  in  a  week,  and  four  hours  each  half  day  be 
spent  in  larning  the  art  military,  Col.  Henry  Herrick 
was  empowered  to  hire  £80,  with  interest,  to  pay  ofi' 
the  minute-men." 

"  Boston,  Feby.  7th,  1775. 
"  Roceived  from  the  town  of  Beverly,  by  the  hands  of  Mr.  Henry 
Herrick,  a  donation,  consisting  of  the  following  articles,  viz. :  Two  bar- 
rels of  sugar  four  liundred  one  quarter  of  sugar,  one  bbl.  rum,  five  and 
]/^  qtls.  of  fish,  ICO  lbs.  of  coflee,  two  cheeses,  eight  pair  of  woniene  and 
five  pair  of  mens  leather  boots,  one  hide  upper  leather,  and  thin  calf 
skins  curried,  sixteen  pounds  chocolate,  ten  pounds  of  pork,  25  lbs.  fiax, 
one  barrel  flower,  &  one  and  }A  bush,  corn  ;  for  the  relief  and  support  of 
the  poor  of  the  town  of  Boston,  suffering  by  means  of  the  Boston  Port 
Bill. 

"Samuel  PARTRincE, 
"  one  of  the  committee  of  Donations." 

These  excerpts  from  the  records  of  the  town,  show 
that  our  people  were  ready,  with  money  and  musket, 
to  resent  the  first  invasion  of  their  rights.     Thus  it 


was,  the  eventful  nineteenth  of  April,  1775,  found 
them  not  unprepared.  Though  every  householder 
bad  gone  forth  to  his  daily  occupation,  and  was 
peacefully  following  his  duty  for  the  day,  yet  the  ar- 
rival of  the  breathless  messenger,  announcing  the 
departure  of  a  British  detachment  from  Boston  to 
seize  the  military  stores  at  Concord,  was  a  spark  that 
kindled  into  flames  their  smouldering  tires  of  patriot- 
ism. The  business  of  the  day  was  abandoned,  each 
man  seized  his  musket  and  hastened  to  the  appointed 
place  of  rendezvous.  The  captains  of  the  militia 
companies,  Joseph  Rea,  Caleb  Dodge  and  others, 
mounted  their  horses  and  posted  to  the  Farms  and 
other  districts,  arou-«ing  the  whole  population  along 
their  routes.  By  three  o'clock  that  afternoon  a  large 
proportion  of  the  male  inhabitants  of  Beverly  capable 
of  service  were  armed  and  ready  for  the  conflict.  No 
troops  engaged  in  that  memorable  fight  had  so  long  a 
distance  to  march,  yet  they  arrived  in  season  to  par- 
ticipate in  the  skirmishes  that  followed  the  battle  of 
Lexington,  and  assisted  in  driving  the  British  back  to 
Boston.  One  of  their  number  was  killed,  Reuben 
Kennison  ;  and  three  wounded,  Nathaniel  Cleaves, 
William  Dodge  (3d)  and  Samuel  Woodbury. 

These  names  are  given  in  "George's  Almanac"  for 
1776,  though  Kennison's  name  is  spelled  as  Kinnym. 
The  widow  of  Kennison  (it  is  stated  by  Stone  in  1842) 
retained  in  her  possession  till  her  death  (which  oc- 
curred October  22,  1842,  at  the  age  of  eighty-nine), 
the  shirt  worn  by  her  husband  when  killed. 

The  present  historian,  learning  that  a  portion  of 
that  interesting  relic  was  still  in  possession  of  con- 
nections of  the  widow  Kennison's  family,  was  per- 
mitted to  see  it,  August,  1887,  one  hundred  and 
twelve  years  after  the  fatal  bullet  had  pierced  it  that 
deprived  Reuben  of  his  life.  ^  The  fragment  is  about 
a  foot  square,  of  striped  homespun,  with  a  jagged  hole 
in  it  that  may  have  been  made  by  the  bullet.  It  was 
wrapped  in  a  j-heet  of  blue  paper  of  ancient  manu- 
facture on  which  was  written :  "  Reuben  Kenniston 
of  Beverly,  killed  at  Lexington  April  19,  1775.  Part 
of  his  shirt."  It  now  belongs  to  Mrs.  Huldah  Her- 
rick, whose  mother  was  niece  to  Reuben's  wife.  Mrs. 
Kennison  was  married  a  second  time,  to  Uriah 
Wright,  and  lived  at  Ryal  Side.  Reuben  lived  at 
Ryal  Side  previous  to  1775,  and  is  said  to  be  buried 
in  the  old  Leach  burial-lot  near  Brown's  Folly  Hill. 

The  house  he  lived  in  has  disappeared.  Tradition 
states  that  his  body  was  brought  to  Ryal  Side  on  an 
ox-cart.  An  elm  tree  which  was  planted  near  Kenin- 
son's  house,  April  19,  1775,  was  blown  down  a  few 
years  ago. 


1  At  the  seventy-fifth  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Lexington  (April 
19,  1850)  the  president  of  tlie  day  said  :  "  You  may  see  on  the  table  be- 
fore me  the  powder-horn  of  Isaac  Parker,  of  Chelmsford,  who  wore  it  at 
the  North  Bridge,  and  a  fragment  of  the  shirt  in  which  Reuben  Ken- 
niston of  Beverly,  was  killed,  which  was  preserved  witli  pious  care  by 
liis  wife.  The  holes  through  it  have  decayed  from  the  bloud stains,  which 
were  left  uneffiiced." 


BEVERLY. 


701 


A  valuable  lesson  in  history  might  be  acquired  by 
tracing  the  route  of  our  first  Kevolutionary  soldiers, 
as  they  so  eagerly  pressed  on  to  join  their  brothers-in- 
arms and  that  of  their  return,  bearing  with  them  their 
slain  and  wounded  couirades. 

Nathaniel  Cleaves,  who  was  wounded  in  the  fight, 
having  had  his  fingers  cut  off  and  ramrod  carried 
away  by  a  bullet,  is  included  in  the  "  list  of  the  names 
of  the  provincials  who  were  killed  and  wounded  in  the 
late  engagement  with  his  Majesty's  troops  at  Con- 
cord." He  seems  soon  to  have  recovered  of  his 
wound,  for  he  was  in  the  Bunker  Hill  fight  of  June 
17th,  and  with  the  troops  at  Cambridge  within  a  month 
of  the  Lexington  engagement. 

An  extremely  interesting  relic  of  the  times  is  the 
journal  of  this  same  soldier,  which  is  now  in  posses- 
sion of  one  of  our  most  estimable  citizens.  It  com- 
mences : 

"  Tlmrsda;/,  May  ye  25,  1775.  Captain  Low  marched  from  Beverly  to 
CaDibridge ;  took  up  our  quarters  at  mister  bloggets  ;  tlie  27,  Saturduy 
(forenoon),  plesent  ;  at  night  a  scurmig  (skirmish)  came  on  between  the 
regulars  and  our  peopel  on  the  island  (?)  ;  burnt  a  house  and  barn, 
killed  —  horees,  burnt  one  schooner  and  took  sum  plunder,  and  lost  no 
lives  on  our  side,  but  supposed  that  we  killed  a  number  of  them.  Sun- 
day, 28,  Some  guns  fired  on  our  peopel  that  were  getting  sum  guns  out 
of  the  racks,  but  no  damage.  Monday,  the  29,  brought  off  the  island  27 
head  of  cattel,  20  od  horses,  300  sheep  and  lams,  and  no  damage.  Tues- 
day, the  30,  great  movement  made  with  the  troops  in  Boston,  by  which 
means  the  country  was  alarmed,  and  no  men  to  go  out  of  the  camp. 
Wens.,  31   Capt.  Cimbel's  (Kimbal's  (?)  company  came  to  Cambridge. 

"  Thursday,  June  1, 1775,  Cloudy  morning  ;  cleared  of  pleasant.  Had 
Mister  Willard,  Mr.  Cutler  and  Mr.  Hichcock  in  the  afternoon.  [These 
■were  the  ministers  of  First  Parish,  Beverly,  Hamilton,  and  Second 
Parish,  Beverly.  These  three  also  rode  to  Lexington  ininiedintely  on 
receipt  of  the  alarm.]  A  meeting  concerning  our  field  officers  adjourned 
to  next  day.  Cornelos  Maurice  hanged  hisself  with  his  hanchirchif. 
The  next  day,  pleasant  morning ;  guns  were  fired,  supposed  to  be  at 
Nodels  island  (East  Boston),  and  so  continued  all  day  by  spurts;  sent  a 
party  of  about  200,  and  2  field  peises,  for  Chelsea.  The  day  ended  with 
the  meeting  of  the  officers  ;  had  the  mager  before  us  and  had  a  full 
hearing;  so  that  day  ended.  The  same  night  a  scout  ^^cnt  to  Dear 
Island,  took  of  400  sheap,  sum  cattel,  fore  priseners. 

"  Tlie  Zd  day,  Saturday,  a  plesent  morning  ;  this  day  the  whole  army 
was  mustered  on  the  common  to  see  2  theives  whipped,  one  20  stripes, 
negro  10  ;  one  man  drumed  out  of  the  army  with  36  drums  and  40  fifes, 
with  the  rogues  march.  Sunday,  the  4th  day,  fair  whether  ;  went  to 
meeting,  heard  2  sermons.  Monday,  the  5  day,  fair  wether  ;  nothing  re- 
markibel.  The  Ith  day  set  out  for  Beverly,  reached  it  about  12  o'clock, 
and  ret'd  to  Cambridge  Saturday,  the  10th. 

"  Monday,  the  12  day,  a  number  of  the  priseners  under  the  main  gard 
ris  and  abused  the  captain  of  the  gard,  and  a  gineral  cort  marshel  was 
ordered  to  try  the  same  ;  the  common  report  for  this  day  is  that  their  is 
3  rigement  and  3  company  of  horse  off  in  the  Bay  ;  this  day  ended  with- 
out anything  new. 

"15  day  Monday,  cool  morning  ;  cort  marshel  continued  till  Fryday  ; 
nothing  new. 

"  the  10  Bay,  a  pritty  hot  Fire,  said  to  be  at  the  effege  of  Hancock. 
This  day  the  nuse  came  to  Cambridge  that  Philadelphia  had  taken  a  ship 
with  750  stand  fire-arms  and  quantity  of  ammunition.  This  is  good  nuse 
for  which  I  am  thankful.  About  6  o'clock  there  was  mustered  about 
1000  men  to  go  and  take  possession  of  Bunker  hill  (!),  which  they  did 
the  same  night  without  any  disturbance. 

Battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 

"  Till  Saturday  morning  about  s'jnrise  the  Lively  fired  on  our  men  ; 
killed  Asa  poUerd  of  Billerica  ;  Orders  for  our  rigement  to  parade  at  5 
o'clock  with  3  other  rigements  to  relieve  those  at  Bunker  hill,  but  was 
alarmed  at  12  when  the  troops  began  to  land,  which  caused  a  hot  fire  on 
both  sides,  which  our  side  left  the  ground  for  want  of  field  peices  and 
powder  (!).     Soon  after  the  engagement  began  they  set  Charlestown  on 


fire  ;  our  rigement  returned  at  night  to  Prospect  hill  and  intrenched  all 
night. 
"  The  18  day,  Sunday,  they  fired  upon  our  peopel  but  did  no  damage." 

In  this  brief  chronicle  of  the  soldier's  life  in  Cam- 
bridge is  given  his  i-hare  in  the  important  battle  of 
Bunker  Hill,  which  he  treats  merely  as  a  skirmish  of 
little  consequence.  His  point  of  view  was  not  suffi- 
ciently removed  from  the  scene  of  conflict  for  him  to 
appreciate  its  magnitude.  He  wastes  no  words  in  ex- 
cuses for  their  retreat,  nor  stops  for  gratulation  : 

"  The  24  day,  Saturday,  in  the  morning  was  alarmed  by  a  groat  move- 
ment of  the  regiilars  on  Bunkers  hill,  sui)posed  to  be  a  coming  out,  but 
did  not.  25,  Sunday,  in  the  forenoon  stayed  at  our  camp  at  Cambridge  ; 
about  12  o'clock  went  down  to  the  hill  and  begun  our  brestwork.  There 
was  a  packet  of  letters  came  to  gineral  Putnam  from  our  priseners  in 
Boston  and  say  that  they  are  treated  vary  wel.  Mister  Cleveland 
preached  on  the  hill,  from  John  20,  22;  this  day  dug  up  the  bones  of  a 
man  buried  about  a  foot  under  ground. 

"  Went  up  to  see  Capt.  Francessis  men  Thursday  ;  went  to  breakfast 
without  butter  or  cheas  ;  had  Capt.  Batchelder  to  dine  with  us,  we  had 
biled  vittels  and  I'ost  veal  .  .  .  the  sargcuts  went  to  supper  on  New 
England  grog,  and  then  went  to  our  logings  in  peace. 

'^  Fi-yda — this  day  chool  and  clowdey  ;  gineral  orders  to  be  on  the 
parade  at  5  o'clock,  and  william  Anderson  to  receive  29  stripes  and  one 
Russel  80,  and  one  rid  the  wooden  hors  and  then  went  down  to  Prospect 
hill  to  work  on  the  intrenchments.  A  whooman  was  drumed  of  the 
hill  for  playing  the  roge  with  a  drummer,  and  bob  Picket  was  as  focksey 
as  the  Divel.     .    .     . 

"  J«?2/ tte  3  Doj/,  this  morning  cloudy.  There  was  four  cannon  fired 
to  Rocksbury  and  one  hous  sot  on  fire.  General  Washington  came  to 
Cambridge  about  twelve  o'clock  and  was  atended  with  a  great  number 
of  gentlemen  from  nabering  towns  !  Captain  Low  went  to  Beverly  this 
morning;  Ensign  Henery  Herrick  went  with  him." 

Leaves  of  absence  to  visit  Beverly  were  frequently 
obtained,  and  in  one  of  them  Lieutenant  Cleaves 
walked  home  on  a  Friday,  stopping  at  Colonel  Her- 
ricks  to  "  fix  up,"  and  "  brought  up  "  at  Mister  Chip- 
mans. 

"The  next  day,  'Saturday,'  in  the  morning  went  down  to  Mister 
Joshua  Herricks  ;  in  the  afternoon  to  the  Hamlet  (Hamilton),  from  there 
over  to  Topsfield,  to  David  Perkinses,  from  there  to  Beverly,  down  to  the 
lower  perrish  (parish).  Sunday  the  9,  went  to  meaten  in  the  forenoon, 
Mister  Hichcock  preached  ;  ihen  sot  of  for  Cambridge." 

The  camp-life  seems  not  to  have  been  entirely  with- 
out its  relaxations,  as  witness  the  following  : 

"  Fviday  the  14  Day,  Cap. and  Capt.  Low  went  to  Watertown  after 

bords  to  finish  our  barracks  ;  I'.ad  a  very  plesent  time  ;  they  fel  In  com- 
pany with  a  very  butiful  Lady  and  took  her  into  the  shay  with  them; 
the  recompense  she  gave  them  is  not  yet  none  (known)  for  carying  of 
her.  .  .  .  Tusdat/  the  18,  this  morning  warm  and  clear.  I  went 
down  to  Chelsea  with  more  ofisers  and  130  men  after  a  mast  for  a  liberty- 
pole  ;  had  a  fine  prospect  of  the  enemy,  saw  83  horses  paraded  and  near 
40  more  in  the  paster.  I  went  into  a  hoxise,  got  sum  biled  sider,  and 
kissed  the  old  whomans  Daughter  to  pay  for  it,  had  a  fine  frolick  ;  at  the 
tavern  drove  a  dog  out  of  the  windo,  and  sum  other  things  worthy  of 
note.  Coming  back  met  the  chief  general  aidecamp  from  Cambridge, 
who  said  that  there  was  a  great  movement  with  the  troops  at  Kockslery 
and  had  struck  a  number  of  tents,  supposed  to  bo  going  somewhere- 
Arrived  a  little  after  sunset  very  much  fatigued,  went  to  bed  at  ten 
o'clock,  and  was  under  arms  by  half-past  two  the  next  morning.  Wens- 
day  the  19,  Captain  Low  and  Lieut.  Herrick  went  to  Watertown  for 
bagonets,  and  this  afternoon  I  secured  some  powder  and  ball." 

This  excerjit  gives  a  fair  picture,  probably,  of  the 
soldier's  life  at  that  period,  before  the  hardships  of 
war  had  begun.  The  brave  fellow,  whose  diary  we 
have  been  permitted  to  glance  at,  was  lost  at  sea  in 
1780,  so  he  must  have  resigned  his  commission  in  the 
army  before  the  war  was  over. 


70. 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


In  the  great  work  of  preparation  for  inevitable  war 
the  women  of  Beverly  ably  assisted  their  husbands 
and  brothers— weaving  cloth,  knitting  stockings, 
making  garments — and  dividing  with  the  soldiers 
their  household  supplies. 

1775__j^pHZ  22,  "Col.  Henry  Herrick,  Capt. 
Benjamin  Lovett  and  Capt.  Wm.  Bartlett  chosen  to  be 
a  committee  in  behalf  of  this  town  to  confer  with  the 
committees  of  the  several  seaport  towns  of  this  county 
what  steps  shall  be  most  expedient  for  them  to  take 
at  this  difficult  time,  and  for  to  meet  at  the  tavern 
near  Beverly  meeting-house  on  Monday,  the  24th 
instant,  at  9  o'clock  in  the  morning." 
"Also,  Col.  Henry  Herrick,  Capt.  Ebenezer  Francis, 
Capt.  Edward  Giles,  Capt.  Benj.  Lovett,  Jr.,  Capt. 
Nicolas  Thorndike,  Mr.  Peter  Pride,  and  Lieut. 
Elisha  Dodge,  were  chosen  a  committee  of  safety  for 
this  town,  for  to  act  in  that  affair  in  the  best  manner 
they  can  for  the  Publickgood." 

May  19,  A  town-meeting  was  warned  "to  elect  and 
depute  as  many  members  as  to  them  shall  seem  neces- 
sary and  expedient  to  represent  them  in  a  Provential 
Congress,  to  be  held  at  the  meeting-house  in  Water- 
town,  on  the  31st  of  May  inst.,  ...  to  consult,  delib- 
erate and  resolve  upon  such  further  measures  as, 
under  God,  shall  be  effectual  to  save  this  people 
from  impending  ruin,"  etc. 

Their  representative,  Capt.  Josiah  Batchelder,  Jr., 
was  instructed  to  lay  before  Congress  the  exposed 
situation  of  the  town  and  ask  for  soldiers  to  defend  it, 
as  many  of  their  men  had  enlisted  in  the  army. 

October  12,  It  was  voted  that  the  committee  of  cor- 
respondence procure  "six  peases  of  cannon  ;"  two  six 
and  four  four-i^ounders,  mount  them  on  carriages  and 
place  in  position  ;  to  have  two  breastworks  thrown  up, 
one  at  Woodbury's  Point  and  the  other  at  Paul's 
Head.  It  was  later  voted  to  place  one  nine-j^ounder 
and  one  four  at  Woodbury's  Point,  the  other  nine  and 
one  four-pounder  at  Paul's  Head,  and  the  two  field- 
pieces  wherever  the  committee  should  judge  best  for 
the  public  safety. 

"  After  the  collision,  which  extinguished  the  last  lingering  hope  of 
recouciliation,  the  County  of  Essex,  essentially  maritime  in  her  habits, 
launched  her  thundei'bolts  on  the  deep,  and  trailed  the  flag,  that  for  a 
thousand  years  had  braved  the  battle  and  the  breeze,  ignomiuiously  on 
many  a  conquered  deck,  whence  went  up  the  pine-tree  flag  of  the  rebels 
in  token  of  victory.  The  first  flag,  under  the  Continental  authority,  that 
ever  floated  at  an  American  mast-head  in  defiance  of  British  supremacy, 
was  hoisted  on  board  the  '  Hannah,'  from  Beverly  !  The  first  comman- 
der who,  under  Washington's  commission,  threw  down  the  gauntlet  of 
maritime  warfare,  was  Capt.  Manly  of  Marblehead.  .  .  .  The  har- 
bors of  Salem,  Marblehead  and  Beverly  swarmed  with  prizes.  The 
same  hardy  fishermen  of  the  seaports  of  Essex,  driven  from  the  theatre 
of  their  adventurous  industry  by  the  breaking  out  of  hostilities,  trod  the 
decks  of  these  little  wanderers  of  the  sea,  who  afterwards  manned  the 
'  Constitution'  in  the  second  War  of  Independence,  when  St.  George's 
Cross  went  down  before  the  stars  and  stripes  "  i 

A  dramatic  episode  of  the  conflict  was  witnessed  in 
Beverly  harbor,  this  same  autumn  of  1775,  which  is 
graphically  described  in  Stone's  "  History  of  Beverly." 


2  Kantoul's  Oration  at  Concord,  19th  April,  1850. 


One  pleasant  morning  a  privateer  schooner  sailed  out 
of  Beverly  on  a  cruise.  She  had  not  been  long  out 
when  she  was  discovered  by  a  British  sloop-of-war, 
the  "  Nautilus,"  of  twenty  guns,  which  immediately 
bore  down  upon  her.  The  superior  force  of  the  enemy 
induced  the  captain  of  the  privateer  to  put  back  ;  but 
in  the  confusion  of  the  chase  he  grounded  on  the  flats. 
It  being  ebb  tide,  the  "  Nautilus  "  came  to  anchor 
outside  the  bar,  from  which  jjosition  she  opened  fire  on 
the  town.  The  meeting-house  being  the  most  con- 
spicuous object,  several  shots  were  aimed  at  it,  one  of 
which  penetrated  the  chaise-house  of  Thomas  Steph- 
ens, destroying  the  chaise,  and  another  struck  the 
chimney  of  a  house  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street. 

The  worthy  man  whose  chaise  was  destroyed  did 
not  rest  an  idle  spectator,  but  seizing  his  musket  he 
hastened  to  the  beach,  retui-ningthe  fire  of  the  enemy 
in  gallant  style.  Here  he  was  joined  by  several  other 
patriotic  inhabitants  of  the  town,  conspicuous  among 
them  being  Col.  Henry  Herrick,  an  active  member  of 
the  committee  of  correspondence,  in  full  military  cos- 
tume. Their  fire  may  not  have  been  very  effectual,  but 
it  at  least  showed  their  good  intentions,  and  warned 
the  commander  of  the  sloop-of-war  that  he  had  stirred 
up  a  veritable  hornet's  nest  of  rebel  musketeers.  The 
receding  tide  soon  left  the  "Nautilus"  in  an  awk- 
ward position  aground,  so  that  she  careened  and  could 
not  use  her  guns.  In  this  condition  she  lay  till  dark, 
the  target  for  the  cannon  of  Hospital  Point,  on  Salem 
side,  and  of  the  small  arms  of  the  Beverly  patriots. 
The  tide  rising,  after  dark,  the  baflied  commander 
weighed  anchor  and  stood  for  Boston,  "carrying  with 
him  no  very  pleasant  recollections  of  his  introduction 
to  the  citizens  of  this  town." 

Between  March  and  November,  1781,  52  vessels, 
carrying  746  guns,  with  crews  of  3940  men,  were  fitted 
out  and  chiefly  owned  in  Salem  and  Beverly. 

Beverly  has  the  honor  of  having  sent  out  the  first 
commissioned  privateer  of  the  Revolution.  This 
vessel  was  the  "  Hannah,"  the  papers  for  which  were 
issued  September  3,  1775,  and  signed  by  General 
Washington. 

The  first  to  commence  operations  against  Great 
Britain's  mercantile  marine,  Beverly  maintained  her 
privateers  throughout  the  war.  Our  most  noted  and 
most  successful  privateersman  was  Captain  Hugh  Hill, 
who,  as  early  as  1775,  brought  into  port  a  valuable 
prize,  the  British  schooner  "  Industry,"  the  cargo  of 
which  was  sold  and  the  vessel  turned  over  to  the  pub- 
lic service.  Captain  Hill  (the  first  of  his  family  in 
this  town),  commenced  privateering  in  the  "  Pilgrim,'' 
of  twenty  guns,  which  was  built  under  his  superin- 
tendence in  Newburyport.  He  captured  numerous 
prizes,  and  nearly  all  were  sent  into  Beverly,  which 
was  then,  as  one  writer  has  expressed  it,  the  head- 
quarters for  our  infant  navy.  More  captured  vessels 
(it  is  said),  were  brought  into  this  port  than  into  any 
other  in  New  England.  The  first  navy  agent  was 
William    Bartlett    (after   whom    Bartlett   Street  was 


BEVERLY. 


703 


named),  who  had  charge  of  the  captured  cargoes,  which 
were  of  such  material  aid  to  the  continental  army  in 
their  time  of  sorest  need. 

Many  anecdotes  are  related  of  our  great  privateer 
captain  Hill,  illustrating  his  sagacity,  bravery  and 
humanity. 

On  one  cruise,  while  sailing  with  the  English  en- 
sign at  mast-head,  as  a  decoy,  he  was  boarded  by  the 
captain,  of  a  British  man-of-war,  who,  unsuspicious 
of  his  host,  remarked  that  he  was  in  search  of  "  that 
notorious  Hugh  Hill."  Captain  Hill,  at  that  mo- 
ment unprepared  for  an  engagement,  answered  that 
he  was  on  the  lookout  for  the  same  individual,  and 
hoped  soon  to  meet  him.  The  officer  departed,  but 
in  a  few  days  they  met  again ;  the  American  flag  was 
run  up,  and  an  engagement  followed,  in  which  the 
Englishman  was  captured,  and  the  prize  sent  into 
Beverly. 

Captain  Hill,  who  was  own  cousin  to  General  An- 
drew Jackson,  proved  himself  such  a  terror  to  British 
commerce,  that  his  capture  would  have  been  looked 
upon  as  a  great  achitivement. 

Several  other  townsmen  shared  with  Captain  Hill 
the  honor  of  successful  commanders,  among  them 
Captain  Eleazer  Giles,  Elias  Smith,  John  Tittle  and 
Benjamin  Lovett.  Captain  Giles,  in  1776,  sailed  from 
the  port  of  Beverly  in  a  ten-gun  brig,  with  which  he 
captured  four  merchantmen  out  of  a  large  fleet,  two 
of  his  prizes  being  ships  of  four  hundred  and  three 
hundred  tons,  respectively,  and  the  other  two  brigs 
of  lesser  tonnage.  He  was,  hovvever,  captured  on  a 
later  cruise  by  a  British  vessel  of  superior  force,  and 
sent  prisoner  to  Halifax. 

Captain  Elias  Smith,  commander  of  the  ship  "  Mo- 
hawk," of  twenty  guns,  cruised  mainly  in  the  West 
Indies,  where,  in  1781,  he  captured  a  Guineaman 
(slaver)  of  sixteen  guns,  which  was  sent  into  Bev- 
erly. 

Captain  John  Tittle,  when  sailing  in  a  letter  of 
marque,  was  attacked  by  two  cruisers,  being  engaged 
with  them  for  three  hours.  All  his  canvas  above  the 
lower  yards  was  shot  away,  and  his  crew,  looking  upon 
their  condition  as  hopeless,  began  to  abandon  their 
guns,  when  the  gallant  captain  drew  his  sword  and 
threatened  to  run  the  first  man  through  who  left  his 
quarters.  A  fortunate  shot  soon  taking  effect  upon 
one  of  the  enemy  and  night  coming  on,  he  was  en- 
abled to  escape. 

These  meagre  gleanings  from  the  annals  of  our  town 
indicate  the  spirit  of  this  little  community,  which  sent 
its  citizens  forth  to  battle  for  freedom,  on  land  and  sea. 

1776. — In  January  of  this  year  the  town  voted  to 
hire  twenty-four  men  as  night- watchers  on  the  sea 
coast,  at  AVest's  beach  and  near  Benjamin  Smith's 
house  at  Plum  Cove,  and  one  hundred  pounds,  to  de- 
fray these  expenses.  A  watch  at  the  fort  was  main- 
tained by  Colonel  Glover,  with  the  Fourteenth  Regi- 
ment of  the  Continental  army. 

At  a  town-meeting  June  13,  1776,  three  weeks  be- 


fore the  Declaration  of  Independence,  it  was  voted 
that,  in  event  the  Continental  Congress  declare  the 
independence  of  the  colonies,  they  would  "solemnly 
pledge  their  lives  and  fortunes  to  support  them  in  it." 
This  pledge  was  fulfilled  on  almost  every  battle-field 
of  the  Revolution  ;  yet,  in  1779,  a  fine  of  five  thousand 
four  hundred  pounds  was  assessed  on  the  town,  by 
the  General  Court,  for  failing  to  furnish  a  prescribed 
number  of  men  for  the  militia. 

In  a  petition  for  its  remission  in  1780  the  town  ap- 
pealed to  the  records  in  evidence  that  (which  was 
strictly  true)  they  had  "  furnished  more  men,  and 
been  at  greater  expense  to  carry  on  the  war,  than  al- 
most any  other  town  in  proportion  to  their  abilities." 

1776. — Town-meetings  were  held  with  increasiag 
frequency,  as  the  exigencies  of  the  occasion  de- 
manded the  building  of  breastworks,  the  purchase  of 
ammunition,  instructions  to  their  representatives  and 
protection  of  the  harbor  and  coast.  It  was  put  to  vote 
(November  7th)  if  the  town  would  stop  up  their  har- 
bor, and  it  passed  in  the  negative.  Voted  that  "  the 
selectmen  be  empowered  to  petition  to  General 
Washington,  or  any  other  department,  for  ammuni- 
tion and  men  for  the  safety  of  this  town  whenever 
they  shall  think  it  necessary  and  expedient."  They 
were  also  empowered  to  procure  two  hundredweight 
of  powder,  "in  the  best  manner  they  can." 

Interleaved  in  the  volume  of  records  for  1774-83, 
opposite  the  entry  for  July  2,  1776,  is  a  copy  of  the 
original  proclamation  of  independence  (July  4, 1776,) 
in  accordance  with  the  order  accompanying  it,  that  a 
"copy  be  sent  to  the  ministers  of  each  parish  of  every 
denomination,  who,  after  reading  it  to  their  congre- 
gations, were  to  deliver  it  to  the  clerks  of  their  re- 
spective towns,  who  are  hereby  required  to  record 
it  in  their  respective  town  or  district  books,  there  to 
remain,  as  a,  perpetual  memorial  thereof." 

The  town  records  for  1776  show  that  the  regular 
business  of  the  town  went  on  uninterruptedly,  but 
their  pages  throughout  indicate  active  preparation  for 
warfare  and  defense,  and  seem  to  smell  of  gunpow- 
der and  bristle  with  bayonets. 

1777. — Under  date  of  February  17th  is  a  list  of  men 
paid  for  watching  at  night,  comprising  twenty-six 
names.  The  chief  bills  of  the  town  are  for  watching, 
militia  service,  bounties  to  soldiers,  etc.,  as  "  to  time 
spent  in  making  Brestworks ;  procuring  and  hauling 
cannon  ;  to  hauling  500  cwt.  of  powder  from  Ando- 
ver;  to  going  to  Danvers  to  procure  intrenching 
tools  ;  "  and  finally,  as  war's  bloody  returns  come  in, 
"  to  choose  a  committee  to  supply  the  soldiers'  fami- 
lies that  are  in  the  continental  army  ;  "  and,  "  or- 
dered the  treasurer  to  pay  the  several  persons,  soldiers 
in  the  continental  army,  the  sums  annexed  to  each  of 
their  names,  they  being  extremely  poor,  and  unable 
to  procure  things  of  the  committee  of  supply." 

1777.  The  town  voted  to  give  fourteen  pounds  to 
each  non-commissioned  officer  and  private  who  would 
enlist  in  the  Continental  army  for  three  years,  or  dur- 


704 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


ing  the  war,  and  four  pounds  additional  to  such  as  had 
been  in  the  army  and  would  re-enlist.  Provision 
was  made  for  barracks  for  the  sea-coast  men  at  Wood- 
bury's Point.  Three  hundred  pounds  was  voted  for 
the  relief  of  families  of  soldiers,  and  the  next  year 
two  hundred  pounds  additional. 

In  1779  a  "sum  not  exceeding  twelve  thousand 
pounds  "  was  voted  for  procuring  men  for  the  army, 
and  in  succeeding  years  sums  varying  from  five 
thousand  to  fifty  thousand  pounds  were  provided  for 
the  same  purpose. 

In  1780  the  selectmen  were  authorized  to  procure 
five  horses  for  the  public  service,  and  a  bounty  was 
offered  to  soldiers  enlisting  of  100  pounds  sugar,  100 
pounds  coffee,  10  bushels  corn,  100  pounds  beef  and 
50  pounds  cotton  or  £1370  in  money,  to  which  was  later 
added  67  pounds  coffee,  and  the  money  bounty  in- 
creased to  £1611.  Price  of  labor  on  the  highway  was 
then  fixed  at  £12  per  day.  Salt  sold  for  £50  per 
bushel. 

1777.  A  prominent  man  in  military  aflfairs  at  this 
time  was  Colonel  Ebenezer  Francis,  born  at  Medford, 
in  1743,  and  removed  to  Beverly  in  1764.  He  received 
a  captain's  commission  in  the  Continental  Army, 
July  1, 1775,  the  year  following  was  colonel,  and  com- 
manded a  regiment  on  Dorchester  Heights.  By  com- 
mission of  November  19,  that  year,  he  was  authorized 
to  raise  a  regiment  in  Massachusetts,  and  at  the  head 
of  this  regiment,  the  Eleventh  Massachusetts,  he 
marched,  in  January,  1777,  for  Ticonderoga.  His 
death  occurred  July  7,  1777,  at  Hubbardston,  N.  Y., 
near  Whitehall,  where  he  was  shot  while  leading  his 
troops  to  battle. 

Previous  to  setting  out  on  this  march  his  company 
was  assembled  in  the  first  parish  meeting-house,  at 
religious  service,  and  "  associated  with  him  on  that 
perilous  exi^edition  into  the  wilderness,  were  many 
brave  and  noble  spirits,  and  some  of  them  highly  ed- 
ucated." 

His  brother,  John  Francis,  fought  by  his  side,  an  ad- 
jutant in  his  regiment  when  he  fell,  and  was  subse- 
quently in  several  battles,  was  wounded  at  the  cap- 
ture of  Burgoyne,  and  retired  with  honor.  Later,  in 
1786,  he  raised  a  company  in  Beverly  and  Danvers, 
and  marched  to  suppress  Shay's  rebellion  ;  after  his  re- 
turn was  captain  of  the  militia  company  of  the 
second  parish,  and  commanded  the  Beverly  regiment, 
dying  in  1822,  aged  sixty-nine  years.  Two  other 
brothers  of  Colonel  Francis,  Aaron  and  Thomas, 
fought  in  the  Revolution.  As  chaplain  of  Colonel 
Francis'  regiment  went  the  minister  of  the  second 
parish.  Rev.  Enos  Hitchcock,  a  graduate  of  Harvard 
in  1767,  colleague  of  Rev.  Mr.  Chipman  in  1771, 
whom  he  succeeded  in  1775. 

He  had  been  preceded  as  chaplain  in  the  regiment 
by  the  Rev.  Mamasseh  Cutler,  the  celebrated  minister 
at  Hamilton.  Mr.  Hitchcock  was  at  Valley  Forge, 
and  wrote  of  the  condition  of  the  army  in  1778 : 
"  Numbers  of  our  brigade  are   destitute,  even  of  a 


shirt,  and  have  nothing   but  the  ragged  remains  of 
some  loose  garments  as  partial  covering." 

This  brave  chaplain  survived  the  war;  was  dismiss- 
ed from  the  Second  Parish  in  1780,  and  became  pas- 
tor of  a  church  in  Providence,  in  October,  1783.  He 
is  remembered  as  an  eloquent  preacher  and  as  the 
author  of  a  work  of  fiction  and  several  publiahed  dis- 
courses. 

In  this  regiment  also  was  Henry  Herrick,  a  gradu- 
ate of  Harvard,  and  a  successful  teacher  in  Beverly 
after  the  war,  and  Moses  Greenleaf,  captain  of  a  com- 
pany, whose  private  journal  contained  incidents  of 
the  expedition. 

1777.  The  women  of  Beverly  "  took  a  hand  "  in  af- 
fairs this  year,  a  company  of  them  gathering  and 
leading  a  raid  upon  the  storehouse  of  one  of  the 
merchants  who  had  a  stock  of  sugar  on  hand  which 
he  refused  to  sell,  on  account  of  the  depreciation  of 
the  paper  money.  With  the  assistance  of  some  of  the 
men  one  cold  November  morning,  about  sixty  of  them 
marched  down  Main  (Cabot)  and  Bartlett  Streets  to 
the  wharves,  where  they  broke  open  the  warehouse 
and  loaded  up  two  ox-carts  with  sugar.  The  foreman 
of  the  establishment  offering  resistance,  he  was 
promptly  charged  upon  by  the  ladies,  one  of  whom 
seized  him  by  the  hair,  at  which  he  fled,  leaving  his 
wig  in  her  grasp 

The  sugar  was  carted  to  the  shop  of  the  leader,  who 
retailed  it  at  a  fair  price  to  customers,  and  rendered 
her  account  faithfully  to  its  owners. 

1778.  Out  of  a  list  often  abatements  for  taxes,  op- 
posite five  of  the  names  is  entered  "  on  account  of 
being  in  captivity;"  two  others  were  " long  absent 
abroad,"  and  one  "dead  and  left  nothing." 

Out  of  seven  such  abatements  in  1779,  two  were  for 
persons  who  had  been  "long  in  captivity;"  one,  An- 
drew Ober,  "long  missing  if  alive;"  and  another, 
Joseph  Ober,  second,  "  died  in  captivity." 

1779.  At  the  March  town-meeting  it  was  voted  to 
hire  five  hundred  pounds,  for  the  use  of  the  commit- 
tee for  supplying  the  familes  of  soldiers. 

Forty  men  were  lost  at  sea  this  year,  and  in  conse- 
quence the  town  petitioned  to  be  released  from  sup- 
plying its  quota. 

As  late  as  1783,  in  a  list  of  abatements  of  taxes, 
fourteen  were  on  account  of  the  persons  taxed  then 
being  or  having  been  in  captivity. 

The  following  names  of  soldiers  have  been  mostly 
copied  from  the  original  muster  rolls  in  the  State 
House  at  Boston : 

Captain  Caleb  Dodges  Muster -Roll  of  Minute  Men. 

Captain — Caleb  Dodge.  First  Lieutenant — Jona.  Batchelder.  Second 
Lieutenant— Nathan  Smith.  Ensign — Benj.  Shaw.  Sergeants — Jno. 
Batchelder,  Saml.  Woodbury,  Peter  Woodbury,  Benj.  Jones,  Jona. 
Perliins.  Privates— Jacob  Dodge,  Benj.  Cressy,  Jr.,  Natlil  Cressy,  Wm. 
Cammel,  Jos.  Raymond,  Elisha  Woodbury,  Steph.  Felton,  Dea.  Wm. 
Dod^e,  Wm.  Woodbury  3d,  Ebenr.  Trask,  Marli  Dodge,  Chas.  Dodge, 
Joshua  Dodge,  Sanil.  Conant,  Israel  Greene,  Barth.  Trask,  John  Cressy, 
Nathan  Cressy,  Aaron  Salley  (?),  Robert  Dodge,  Joshua  Cleaves,  Jona. 
Dodge,  Nathan  Wyman. 


BEVERLY. 


705 


"  These  may  certify  that  this  list  above  is  a  true  list  of  the  commission 
officers,  non-commission  officers  and  Privates  in  ye  alarm  list  under  my 
command  in  y<'  second  Parish  in  Beverly,  wh  wont  to  assist  at  y"=  alarm  at 
Lexington  &  Ooncord,  on  ye  !'.)">  &  2ii*  of  April  last. 

"Beverly,  Deer,  ys  16th,  1775. 

"Caleb  Dodge,  Capt." 

Cai^tain  Dodge's  company  arrived  in  season  to 
overtalce  the  British  at  Lexington,  and  materially  re- 
tarded their  retreat. 

A  copy  of  the  "  Muster  Roll  of  the  First  Foot  Company 
of  Beverly,  at  the  alarm  of  the  Concord  fight,  on  the 
19th  of  April  last." 

Captain — Larkin  Thorndike.  First  Lieutenant — Joseph  Wood.  Second 
Lieutenant — John  Dyson.  Ensign — Theophilus  Herrick.  Sergeants — 
Moses  Brown,  Henr^'  Herrick,  Benj.  Leech,  John  Low.  Corporal — 
Sewal  Tuck.  Privates — Robert  Roundy,  Benj,  Lovett,  Jr.,  Sol.  Loafkin, 
Benj.  Corning,  Jos.  Larkin,  Henry  (?)  Staudley,  Wm.  Herrick,  Benj. 
Parsons,  Andrew  Smith,  Elisha  Woodbury,  Josiak  Ober,  Jos.  Lovett  2d, 
Jos.  Herrick,  Josiali  Woodbury,  Steph.  Cabot,  Wm.  Taylor,  Joseph 
Baker,  Nathl.  Lamson,  Ezra  F.  Foster,  Jos.  Goodridge,  Robert  Stone, 
Jas.  Smith,  Timothy  Leech,  John  Pickett,  Beuj.  Briant,  Henry  Thorn- 
dike,  John  Low  2d,  Sanil.  Dane,  Richard  Ober,  John  Morgan,  Benj. 
Beck'ford,  Benj.  Adams,  Wm.  Trask,  Henery  Herrick  3d,  Jos.  Wyer, 
Benj.  B.  Lovett,  Hazadiah  Smith,  George  Stephens. 

"Then  Capt.  Larkin  Thorndike,  aforesaid,  personally  appeared  before 

me  and  made  solemn  oath  that  the  foregoing  muster-roll  is  true  and 

just.     Before  me, 

"  Benj.  Jones,  J.  P." 

In   Captain  John  Loiv's    Company,  August,  1775;    in 

Colonel  Hutchinson'' s  Regiment. 

Captain — John  Low.  Lieutenant — Nathl.  Cleaves.  Ensign — Jos. 
Herrick.  Sergeants— Luke  Roundy,  Geo.  Steavens,  John  Low,  Henery 
Herrick.  Corporals— Gid.  Batchelder,  Arch.  Dale,  John  Morgan,  An- 
drew Wood.  Drummer — Samuel  Cole.  Fifer — Hale  Hilton.  Privates — 
Benj.  Adams,  Sainl.  Arbuckell,  Danl.  Bunker,  Benj.  Bootmau,  Thos. 
Butman,  Jas.  Brazill,  Jas  Buchman,  John  Cleaves,  Thos.  il.  Colo,  Alex. 
Carico,  Thos.  Carry,  Sol.  Cole,  Mat.  Furnesse,  Jos.  Foster,  Edw.  Foster, 
Jona.  Foster,  Wm.  Goodridge,  Sanil.  Giles,  Geo.  Gross,  Geo.  Gallop,  Wm. 
Hales,  Thos.  Hogans,  John  Herrick,  Jona.  Knowlton,  Jos.  Lovett,  Wm. 
Lovett,  Mark  Morse  (last  survivor),  Wm.  Lewis  (?),  Ashael  Moore,  An- 
drew Ober, Pickett, , Raymond,  Robert  Stone,  

Standley, Symmes,  Sharley,  Jona.  Setcliel,  Eph.  Smith,  Israel 

Nash,   Moses  Trask,  Wm.  Tuck,  Wm.  Woddel,   Benj.  Woodman,  Caleb 
Wallis,  Benj.  Woodbury,  Corn.  Woodbury,  Jona.  Young. 

Captain  Peter  Shaw's  Company  ;  sworn  to  before  Henry 
Herrick,  J.  P.,  January  16,  1776. 

Captain — Peter  Shaw.  Lieutenant — Caleb  Balch.  Clerk — Jona.  Co- 
nant.  Sergeant — Saml.  Dodge.  Privates — Joshua  Corning,  Simeon 
Dodge,  Joseph  Poland,  Israel  Woodbury,  James  Dodge,  John  Cressy, 
Abner  Smith,  Phineas  Hovey,  Benj.  Woodbury,  John  Conant,  Gideon 
Rea,  Jona.  Leach,  Saml.  Conant,  Jr.,  Ebenr.  Waldron,  Nathl.  Raymond 
Barnabas  Trask,  Jona.  Raymond,  Robt.  Baker,  Robert  Cambel,  Aaron 
Putnam,  Ebenz.  Trask,  Jr.,  Lot  Conant,  Wm.  Trask  2d,  Prise  (?)  Dodge, 
Cornelius  Dodge,  Andrew  Eliot,  Israel  Perkins,  Ebenr.  Raymond,  Benj. 
Raymond,  Wm.  Synis,  Joseph  Serls,  Timothy  Batchelder,  Saml.  Nurse, 
Nehemiah  Dodge,  Benj.  Shaw,  Jr.,  Edward  Dodge,  Joseph  Foster, 
William  Pearce. 

Muster-Roll  of  the  Company  under  Captain  Ebenezer 
Francis,  in  Colonel  Mansfield's  Regiment,  August, 
1776. 

Captain — Ebenr.  Francis.  Sergeants — Nathl.  Ober  (Wenham)  and 
Benj.  Shaw.  Privates —Aaron  Francis  John  Smith,  Nathaniel  Hyat  (?), 
Jos.  Raymond,  Timothy  Batchelder,  Jno.  Bowles,  Wm.  Cox,  Wm.  Cressy, 
Job  Cressy,  Edward,  Nehemiah,  Nathaniel,  Richard  (?)  and  Cornelius 
Dodge,  Robert  Edwards,  .Tosiah  Foster,  Israel  Greene,  Joseph  Larkin, 
Stephen  Masury,  Joseph  Marble,  Saml.  Nurse,  Wm.  Parice,  Jos.  Picket, 
Jos.  Potter,  Benj.  Raymond,  Benj.  Shaw,  Daniel  Twist,  William  Wood- 
burj',  Gideon  Woodbury. 

45 


From  the  Mileage- Roll  of  Captain  John  Gaifs  Company, 
in  C"lonel  Francis'  Regiment. 

Lieutenant— Hen.  Herrick.  Sergeants — Edward  Dodge,  Cornelius 
Dodge,  Jos.  Serle  (?),  Peter  Trask,  Jas.  Thistle,  John  Austin,  Joseph 
Standley. 

1776. — ^The  following  list  of  patriots  in  Captain 
Moses  Brown's  company,  raised  in  August,  1776,  is 
given  by  Historian  Stone  : 

Richard  Ober,  Jona.  Harris,  Freeborn  Thorndike,  Jona.  Foster,  Sam- 
uel Stone,  William  Crowther,  Cornelius,  Luke  and  Andrew  Woodberiy, 
John  Cressy,  Amos  Cressy,  Robert  Lovett,  Thos.  Parker,  Barth.  Snuth, 
Mihill  Woodberry,  Tliomas  Cox,  Natli.  Batchelder,  Nathaniel,  Joseph 
and  James  Ober,  Wni.  Cook,  Abner  Stone,  Benj.  Foster,  James  Patch, 
Henry  Peirce,  Asa  Larcom  (Salem?),  Robert  Stone,  Esop  Hale,  Herbert 
Standley,  John  Biles,  Josiah  Woodberry,  Jacob  Poland,  Andrew  Elliot, 
William  Herrick,  Ebeu'r  Rogers,  John  Stone,  William  Cressy,  Israel 
Greene,  Benj.  Porter,  Thos.  Morse,  Joseph  Hall,  William  Kimball,  Dan- 
iel Carleton,  William  Gage,  Jona.  Gage,  Caleb  Wallis,  Ebenezer  Messer, 
Joseph  Cross,  Elisha  Webber,  William  Harriman,  John  Berry,  Joseph 
Foster,  John  Swain.  Officers  :  First  Lieutenant — Wm.  Grover.  Second 
Lieutenant— John  Wallis.  Ensign — John  Clark.  Sergeants — William 
Bowles,  Richard  Ober  and  Samuel  Cressy.  Corporals- Wm.  Dike, 
Joshua  Ellingwood,  Francis  Ober  and  Ezra  Ober. 

Men  enlisted  November,  1776  : 

Sergeants — Richard  Butman,  Isaac  Thorndike.  Corporals — Simeon 
Lovett,  Bart.  Wallis.  Privates — Benj.  Leach,  Richard  Ober  (2d),  Joha 
Porter,  Josiah  Foster,  Nathan  Cressy,  Benj.  Ober,  Nathl.  Woodbury, 
Jeffrey  Thissell,  John  Woodbury,  Andrew  Eliot  (2d),  George  Standley, 
Ebenezer  Rea,  Joshua  Ellingwood,  Nicholas  Woodbury,  Edward  Smith, 
Obed  Woodbury,  AVm.  Lovett,  John  Harmon,  Ezra  Lovett,  Benj.  Blash- 
field. 

1779. — In  Captain  Billy  Porter's  company,  and  in 
Colonel  Tapper's  regiment  at  West  Point  (Stone's 
History)  : 

Lieutenants  —  Thos.  Francis  and  William  Burloy.  Ensign  —  Benj. 
Shaw.  Sergeant — John  Pickett.  Corporal— Jer.  Woodberry.  Drum- 
mer— B.  B.  Wood.  Privates — Asa  Batchelder,  Jona.  Conant,  Benj. 
Corning,  Mathias  Claxton,  Alex.  Carrico,  Samuel  Dodge,  Simeon  Dodge, 
George  Grose,  Andrew  Herrick,  Clatou  Jones,  Nathan  Jones,  John 
Kennedy,  Abner  Raymond,  Benj.  Woodberry,  Benj.  Woodberry,  Jr., 
Israel,  Nathaniel  and  William  Woodberry. 

In  Captain  Page's  company  (of  Danvers) : 

Lieutenant— Samuel  Goodridge.  Sergeant — .los.  Raymond.  Privates 
— Robt.  Edwards,  Scipio  Bartlett,  James  Harley,  Joseph  Poland  and 
Primas  Green. 

Jonathan  Conant,  Sr.,  was  paymaster  under  Colonel 
Francis,  and  was  in  the  battle  of  Monmouth  ;  Joshua 
Twist  was  in  Gates'  army  at  the  surrender  of  Bur- 
goyne  ;  William  and  Samuel  Cressy  were  in  the  bat- 
tle of  Trenton  ;  Luke  Roundy,  a  lieutenant  in  Cap- 
tain Low's  company,  was  wounded  at  Saratoga,  and 
died  at  Albany,  and  Nathaniel  Cleaves  was  in  the 
same  engagement  (says  Mr.  Stone),  who  adds  further 
names  of  soldiers  in  the  service,  as : 

William  and  Robert  Goodridge,  Israel  Trask,  Benj.  Ellingwood,  Thos. 
Lovett,  Benj.  Bickford,  Benj.  bickford,  Jr.,  John  Bickford,  Nath'l 
Friend,  Isaac  Smith,  Jona.  Woodberry,  Zachariah  Morgan  and  Benj. 
Spriggs. 

From  the  muster  roll: 

Captain  —  Billy  Porter  (of  Wenham).  Thos.  Francis,  Jr.,  Luke 
Roundy,  Aaron  Putnam,  Jona.  Bowles,  Robert  Twist,  Joseph  Foster, 
Jos.  Searle,  Abner  Raymond,  Benj.  Shaw,  Jcma.  Conant,  Edw.  Shaw, 
Sam'l  Dodge,  Simeon  Dodge,  Benj.  Corning,  William  Woodbury,  Beuj. 
Woodbury,  Benj.  Wood,  Wm.  Clark,  John  Kaudy,  Job  Cressy,  Richard 
Lee,  Asa  Batchelder,  Dan'l  Lampson,  Philip  Crush,  Wm.  Cook,  Wm. 
Collins,  Francis  Thompson,  Matthias  Claxton,  John  Paris,  Peletiah  War- 


706 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


ren,  Matthew  Tobin.  Jona.  Standly,  Jere.  "Woodbury,  Israel  Woodbury, 
Alex.  Carico,  Joseph  Picket,  Jacob  Keed,  George  York,  Joseph  Freethey 
(?),  Andrew  Heirick,  John  Carter,  Wni.  Dodge,  George  Gross,  Win. 
Cutler,  Wm.  Webber. 

1780. — Men  who  served  for  six  months  : 

Wm.  Clerk,  Weeden  Cole,  Jona.  Conant,  Joseph  Carr,  Blchard  Craft, 

Asa  Leach,  Abner  Eaymond,  Eob't  Standley,  John  Trask, Trask, 

Joseph  Wood,  Benj.  Woodbury. 

Beverly's  sufferers  by  sea  were  not  few  during  the 
Eevolution,  and  of  those  committed  to  Mill  Prison 
are  the  following : 

Benj.  Chipman,  of  schooner  "Warren,"  taken  December  27,  1777. 

Michael  Down,  of  brig  "Kambler,"  taken  October  21,  1779. 

Joseph  Leach,  taken  and  committed  to  Pembroke  Prison  in  1779. 

Joseph  Perkins,  Levi  V  oodbury,  Robert  Kaymond,  Matthew  Cham- 
bers and  Andrew  Peabody,  of  ship  'Essex,"  taken  June  10, 1781  ;  also 
James  Lovett  and  Benjamin  Sprague. 

William  Haskell,  Alexander  Carrico  and  George  Groce,  of  brig 
"Eagle,"  taken  June,  1780. 

John  Baker,  of  brig  "Black  Princess,"  taken  October  11, 1781. 

John  Tuck,  Thomas  Hadden,  Jo.siah  Foster,  Ilezekiah  Thissell,  Na- 
thaniel Woodbury  and  Zebulon  Ober,  of  snow  "  Diana,"  taken  June  15, 
1781,  and  committed  January  23,  1782. 

William  Herrick  was  killed  at  sea,  off  Bermuda,  in  the  snow  "Diana," 
the  year  before  ;  Benj.  Bickford  was  mate  of  the  "Diana"  when  Her- 
rick was  killed. 

The  "Diana"  was  a  letter  of  marque,  and  a 
"  snow  "  was  a  vessel  half  brig  and  half  schooner. 

1780.  In  the  annals  of  this  period  the  "  dark  day  " 
(May  19th)  held  a  conspicuous  place.  The  sun,  that 
morning,  rose  clear,  but  "soon  assumed  a  brassy 
hue,"  and  at  two  o'clock  was  totally  obscured.  Dur- 
ing three  hours  time  it  was  extremely  dark,  the 
birds  and  iowls  went  to  roost  in  silence,  and  every- 
thing portended  an  awful  visitation.  The  alarm  of 
the  people  was  universal,  many  supposing  that  the 
judgment  day  was  at  hand,  and  one  old  gentleman,  it 
is  said,  dressed  himself  with  great  care,  took  his  sil- 
ver-headed cane  with  him  into  the  field  and  calmly 
awaited  the  event.  The  darkness  became  dispelled 
during  the  afternoon,  but  the  night  succeeding  was  of 
such  intense  gloom,  until  midnight,  that  even  the 
horses  refused  to  go  out  into  it  from  their  stables.  In 
explanation  of  this  event,  it  is  said  that  the  smoke 
from  great  forest  fires  in  the  interior  had  settled  over 
this  region,  thus  obscuring  the  sun  and  necessitating 
a  resort  to  candle-light  by  the  frightened  inhabitants. 

From  the  journal  of  a  resident  of  Beverly  came  this 
quaint  record . 

"  Beverly,  Friday,  May  19,  1780. 
"  This  day  happened  something  very  Kemarkable.  From  10  o'clock 
in  the  forenoon  till  half  after  two  in  the  afternoon,  there  was  totale 
Darkness.  But  about  1  o'clock  the  Darkest ;  the  sky  was  as  Bed  as 
though  the  Element  had  been  a  Fire.  This  was  Wrote  by  me  in  my 
Bed  chamber  in  the  house  of  coll.  Thorndike,  where  Joseph  Baker 
keeps  Tavern." 

The  first  town-meeting  under  the  new  constitution 
was  held  September  4th,  this  year,  for  the  election  of 
governor,  lieutenant-governor  and  councillors,  and 
the  first  representatives,  Larkin  Thorndike  and  Jon- 
athan Conant,  were  then  chosen. 

1781.  The  constables  were  instructed  to  receive,  in 
the  payment  of  taxes,one  silver  dollar  instead  of 
seventy-five  dollars  of  the  old  continental  paper,  and 


one  dollar  of  the  new  emission  instead  of  forty  dol- 
lars of  the  old. 

1781. — The  Rev.  .Joseph  Willard,  who  had  been 
for  e'ght  years  pastor  of  the  First  Parish,  was  called 
to  the  presidency  of  Harvard  College,  a  position  he 
held  until  his  death,  in  1804,  "  after  the  longest  term 
of  service,  but  one,  in  the  series  of  Harvard's  presi- 
dents." His  loss  was  deeply  felt  in  Beverly,  where 
he  had  the  respect  and  love  of  every  inhabitant.  It 
was  he,  who,  during  the  darkest  hour  of  the  dark 
day,  acted  the  part  of  the  true  i^hilosopher,  and  in- 
stead of  giving  way  to  fear,  calmly  made  observations 
of  the  attendant  phenomena.  As  he  was  thus  engaged, 
he  became  surrounded  by  frightened  citizens,  whose 
alarm  was  soon  allayed  by  his  own  indifference. 
When  one  of  them  rushed  up,  breathless,  with  the 
announcement  that  the  tide  had  done  flowing,  he 
drew  out  his  watch  and  quietly  remarked  :  "  So  it 
has,  for  it  is  just  high-water." 

It  is  not  very  generally  known,  perhaps,  that  Mr. 
Willard  Avas  at  one  time  custodian  of  the  literary 
treasure?  of  a  privateer.  In  1781,  the  famous  priva- 
teer. Captain  Hugh  Hill,  brought  a  prize  into  port, 
containing,  among  other  things,  the  celebrated  Kir- 
wan  library,  consisting  of  more  than  one  hundred 
scientific  works,  ancient  and  modern,  which,  when 
taken,  was  in  transit  from  England  to  its  proprietor 
in  Ireland.  At  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Willard,  the 
owners  of  the  prize  generally  relinquished  their  title 
to  it,  allowing  it  to  be  sold,  in  compliance  with  law, 
to  an  association  of  gentlemen  resident  here  and  in 
Salem,  for  a  mere  nominal  price. 

"  To  the  honor  of  Eichard  Kirwan  it  should  bo  mentioned  that  he 
declined  an  offer  of  compensation  for  his  property  in  it,  preferring  to 
have  it  pass  for  an  outright  gift  to  the  infant  cause  and  scanty  means  of 
scientific  progress,  in  a  country  not  yet  emerged  from  the  clouds  of  des- 
perate strife  with  his  own  for  separate  national  existence. 

"  The  books,  so  fortunately  secured,  were  first  committed  to  Willard's 
keeping,  but  upon  his  removal  from  Beverly  they  were  transferred  to 
Salem,  where  they  were  united  with  other  collections,  first  under  the 
name  of  the  Philosophical  Library,  then  that  of  the  Salem  Athenseum, 
and  finally  of  the  Essex  luotitute,  of  which  flourishing,  richly-endowed, 
greatly-valued  and  useful  institution  it  may  be  considered  as  the  possible 
germ.  From  that  germ  alone  great  advantage  has,  bj'  not  a  few,  been 
derived.  Our  famous  mathematician,  Nathaniel  Bowditch,  of  world- 
wide fame,  availed  himself  extensively  of  the  aid  of  the  Kirwan  books, 
especially  in  the  earlier  portions  of  his  remarkable  career,  when  such 
works  were  rare,  and  difficult  (at  least  in  this  country)  to  be  procured  ; 
and  his  sense  of  indebtedness  was  freely  and  gratefully  acknowledged  by 
him  while  living,  and  testified  at  his  decease  by  a  liberal  legacy  to  the 
institution  in  which  they  are  deposited,  and  of  which  they  form  a 
part."  1 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  above,  that  Beverly  con- 
tributed (though  perhaps  unwittingly  yet,  not  un- 
willingly), to  swell  the  stream  of  knowledge  that 
flowed  from  the  early  founts. 

1783. — French  troops  passed  the  night  in  the  Sec- 
ond Parish,  on  their  way  to  Portsmouth  to  embark 
for  France. 

Beverly  received  the  news  of  assured  peace,  pro- 
mulgated  this   year,  with   the   greatest    satisfaction. 

--* ■ -. 

1  Thayer's  Bi-Centennial  Address. 


BEVERLY. 


707 


Having  performed  her  whole  duty  in  the  perilous 
times,  throughout,  having  lost  many  of  her  noblest 
citizens,  and  having  freely  expended  of  her  substance 
to  bring  about  this  consummation,  it  was  with  joyful 
anticipations  for  the  future  that  she  entered  upon  the 
era  of  peace.  It  was  some  time,  however,  before  the 
tangled  web  of  debt  and  obligations,  woven  about  her 
by  the  war,  could  be  unraveled,  and  her  paralyzed 
commerce  regain  its  wonted  activity. 

In  1786,  especially,  the  burden  of  debt  and  taxa- 
tion, together  with  the  weight  of  a  depreciated  cur- 
rency, bore  heavily  upon  Beverly,  in  common  with 
every  town  in  the  State.  It  was  in  this  year  that 
Shay's  rebellion  occurred,  to  aid  in  suppressing  which 
soldiers  from  Beverly  joined  the  Essex  company,  un- 
der Colonel  Wade,  of  Ipswicli,  an  officer  known  and 
trusted  by  General  Washington. 

1785. — Rev.  Joseph  McKean,  who  was  born  in 
Londonderry,  N.  H.,  1757,  and  graduated  at  Dart- 
mouth College,  was  ordained  over  the  First  Parish 
May  11th,  on  which  occasion  a  large  number  of 
churches  were  represented.  His  salary  was  fixed  at 
two  hundred  pounds  and  his  settlement  at  three  hun- 
dred pound-',  to  which  two  hundred  pounds  was  added 
in  1801.  He  was  a  man  of  great  piety  and  learning, 
honored  by  all  our  citizens.  In  1802  he  received  and 
accepted  a  call  to  the  presidency  of  Bowdoin  College. 
Among  other  papers  i)ublished  in  the  Rantoul  Rem- 
iniscences is  the  following  bill,  for  entertaining  the 
council  and  delegates  at  Mr.  McKean's  ordination  : 

±   s.    d. 

"  30  Bowles  of  Punch  before  the  people  went  to  meeting  3    0    0 

80  People  Eating  in  the  morning 6     00 

10  bottles  of  Wine  before  they  went  to  meeting    ...  1  10     0 

68  Dinners 19    4    0 

44  Bowles  of  punch  while  at  dinner  and  after  ....  480 

18  bottles  of  "Wine id  14    0 

6  people  drank  tea 090 

40  Horses 30    0 

4  Horses  two  days  and  nights 0  16    0 

8  Bowles  of  Brandy 0  12    0 

Cherry  Rum 100 

3  of  the  gentlemen's  servants,  2  meals  each  and  drink, 

the  day 0  12     0 

43    5    0" 

1787. — Beverly  cast  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
votes  for  Governor,  of  which  seventy-seven  were  for 
John  Hancock,  and  forty-eight  for  James  Bowdoin  ; 
George  Cabot,  Joseph  Wood  and  Israel  Thorndike 
were  this  year  chosen  delegates  to  the  convention  in 
Boston  January,  1788,  for  considering  the  framing  of 
a  constitution  for  the  United  States.  For  several 
years  later,  it  was  difficult  to  find  people  willing  v,o 
serve  the  town  in  official  capacity,  and  fines  were 
imposed  upon  those  who  refused  offices. 

1788. — The  first  fruits  of  peace  were  not  long  in 
showing  themselves,  and  the  most  important  step 
taken  in  the  securing  of  independence  of  the  mother 
country  was  the  establishment  of  a  cotton  fiictory. 
This  factory,  the  first  in  America,  was  erected  in  the 
Second  Parish,  near  Baker's  Corner,  at  the  junction 


of  Cabot  and  Dodge  streets.  A  company  of  proprie- 
tors was  incorporated  February  3, 1789  •  but,  the  enter- 
prise proving  unprofitable,  it  was  afterwards  aband- 
oned. The  factory  attracted  much  attention  at  the 
time,  and  was  visited  by  General  Washington  when 
on  his   tour  through  the  country  in  1789. 

A  contemporary  periodical  said  of  it :  "  An  experi- 
ment was  made  with  a  complete  set  of  mac  hines  for 
carding  and  spinning  cotton,  which  answered  the 
warmest  expectations  of  the  jiroprietors.  The  spin- 
ning jenny  spins  sixty  threads  at  a  time,  and  with  the 
carding  machines  forty  pounds  of  cotton  can  be  well 
carded  per  day.  The  warping  machines  and  the 
other  tools  and  machinery  are  complete,  and  jjromise 
much  benefit  to  the  public,  and  emolument  to  the 
patriotic  adventurers." 

The  Salem  Gazette,  of  1790,  says :  "  The  wear  of  the 
Beverly  corduroys  is  already  become  very  common  ;  " 
yet  the  enterprise  failed,  and,  after  several  other  at- 
tempts, the  proprietors  suspended  operations. 

For  nearly  thirty  years  preceding  1800,  the  town 
was  agitated  over  the  spread  of  the  small-pox,  and  in 
1788,  even  threw  fences  across  the  roads,  to  prevent 
the  passing  of  persons  infected  with  the  disease, 
erecting  a  hospital  and  smoke-houses  for  fumiga- 
tion. 

1788. — The  Essex  Bridge  was  built  this  year,  one 
thousand  four  hundred  and  eighty-four  feet  long  and 
thirty-two  feet  wide,  at  a  cost  of  sixteen  thousand 
dollars.  It  was  to  be  a  toll-bridge  for  seventy  years, 
at  the  expiration  of  which  period  it  reverted  to  the 
State.  Robert  Rantoul  states,  in  his  reminiscences, 
that  (then  a  Salem  school-boy  of  ten),  he  walked  over 
the  bridge  the  day  it  was  opened,  and  again  in  his 
eightieth  year,  in  1858,  on  the  day  its  charter  ex- 
pired. 

Town  fire-wards  were  first  chosen  in  the  preceding 
year  :  1787,  Moses  Brown,  Andrew  Cabot,  George  Ca- 
bot, Joseph  Lee  and  Joseph  Wood. 

In  October,  1787,  the  Rev.  Daniel  Oliver  was  or- 
dained over  the  Second  Church,  continuing  here  for 
ten  years,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  Ste- 
phen Dorr,  who  was  ordained  in  March,  1800. 

Several  of  our  inhabitants  joined  the  famous  expe- 
dition of  Dr.  Cutler  (of  Hamilton),  that  initial  migra- 
tion to  Ohio,  which  resulted  in  the  settlement  of  our 
vast  Western  prairies. 

1789. — The  event  of  this  year  was  the  visit  of 
Washington,  on  his  tour  of  the  North,  when  he  called 
on  his  friends,  William  Bartlett  and  George  Cabot ; 
the  latter  then  occupying  the  mansion  now  owned  by 
Mrs.  Seth  Norwood.  In  the  Book  of  Records  of  the 
Second  Parish  is  a  note  by  Mr.  Stone  of  the  following 
communication  made  to  him  by  Isaac  Babson  March 
13,  1835: 

"  When  General  Washington  came  to  visit  the  cotton  factory  (near 
Baker's  Tavern  corner),  he  rode  from  Salem  on  horseback  and  was 
greeted  by  a  great  number.  As  he  passed  the  residence  of  Col.  Francis 
he  bowed  to  Mrs.  F.,  who  was  at  the  window.    In  the  factory  a  number 


708 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


of  females  were  arranged,  holdicg  pieces  of  cloth  in  their  laps  for  in- 
spection. The  General  stopped  opposite  Miss  Francis  (afterwards  Mrs. 
Low)  and  examined  the  cloth  in  her  lap.  On  leading  the  factory  he 
entered  his  carriage  (his  servant  riding  his  horse)  and  went  on  to  Ips- 
wich." 

As  recently  as  1863  there  died,  one  who  was  con- 
versant with  these  details  :  Mrs.  Beisey  Grant  (widow 
of  Joseph,  and  mother  of  Benjamin  D.  Grant),  a 
lineal  descendant  of  John  Balch,  one  of  the  first  set- 
tlers. She  was  born  in  the  "  Upper  Parish,"  Febru- 
ary 10,  1772,  and  was  seventeen  years  old  at  the  time 
of  Washington's  visit,  which  she  distinctly  remem- 
bered in  1861.  Washington  paused  at  her  side  and 
asked  her  several  questions  about  the  work,  "  little 
realizing,  perhaps,  the  reverent  affection  with  which 
he  was  regarded  by  her,  and  which  would  embalm  his 
sentences  in  her  heart  forever." 

The  last  individual  living  in  Beverly  to  whom 
Washington  then  spoke  was  Captain  Peter  Homan 
(it  is  said),  who  died  in  1871,  at  the  age  of  ninety-one. 
He  was  then  a  boy  of  nine,  at  work  in  the  factory. 
As  a  child,  Mrs.  Grant  "  assisted  in  laboring  for  the 
soldiers  of  freedom  at  that  early  day  of  our  nation's 
history  ;  when  a  woman,  wife  and  mother,  she 
worked  for  the  sons  of  America  in  1812,  and  as  an 
aged  grandmother,  she  knit  stockings  for  the  soldiers 
of  the  Union  in  1861." 

Her  eldest  sister  was  a  participant  in  the  famous 
female  riot  of  1777,  and  the  mother  of  Captain  Ho- 
man was  also  one  of  the  company. 

1791. — The  town  treasurer  was  directed  to  fund  the 
paper  money  on  hand,  and  in  1793  it  was  voted  that 
all  contracts  should  be  paid  in  hard  money,  instead 
of  town  orders. 

1793. — The  proclamation  of  neutrality,  by  the 
President,  was  warmly  approved  by  the  merchants  of 
Beverly. 

1795. — A  petition  was  presented  to  Congress,  drawn 
up  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  McKean,  William  Burley,  Israel 
Thorndike,  Moses  Brown  and  John  Stephens,  praying 
for  the  immediate  fulfilment  of  the  treaty  between 
the  United  States  and  Great  Britain. 

1798. — A  health  officer  was  appointed,  for  the  first 
time,  and  in  1801  a  small-pox  hospital  was  built  at 
Paul's  Head.  This  promontory,  where  the  light- 
house now  stands,  and  where  the  breastworks,  erected 
during  the  Indian  wars  and  the  Revolution,  may  yet 
be  seen,  was  early  the  property  of  Paul  Thorndike, 
one  of  the  first  selectmen  of  the  town. 

The  hospital,  built  here  in  1801,  costing  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars,  was  destroyed  by  fire,  and  the 
land  is  now  included  within  the  boundaries  of  the 
light-house  property.  The  residue  of  Paul's  Point  is 
now  occupied  by  some  of  the  finest  houses  on  the 
coast. 

1799. — This  year,  departed  one  of  the  least  of  Bev- 
erly's population,  in  point  of  size,  yet  who  had  a 
wide-spread  provincial  reputation, — Miss  Emma 
Leach,  sixty-one  years  of  age  and  but  twenty-two 
inches  in  height.     She  was  the  daughter  of  William 


and  Tryphosa  (Herrick)  Leach,  and  was  born  here 
June  27,  1717.  She  measured  nearly  as  much  at  the 
age  of  two  years  as  at  her  death,  being  then  twenty- 
two  inches  in  height. 

In  the  almanac  for  1777,  published  by  Nathaniel 
Ames,  on  the  cover  of  which  is  a  wood-cut  of  the 
"  prodigy,"  is  "  A  short  description  of  the  extraordi- 
nary person  that  lately  made  her  appearance  in  this 
town  (Boston),  which  may  not  be  disagreeable  to  our 
readers,  although  it  may  not  be  so  particular  as  the 
curious  may  desire,  as  she  would  not  admit  of  an  ac- 
curate examination."  From  this  it  is  learned  that 
"she  was,  at  her  birth,  as  well  a  shaped  child  as  any 
of  the  ten  which  the  same  mother  bore.  Her  friends 
early  discovered  her  bones  to  be  in  a  flexible  state, 
and  unable  to  resist  the  action  of  the  muscles,  which 
made  it  very  difficult  to  support  her  in  any  other  than 
a  horizontal  position.  After  two  years  the  bones  ac- 
quired some  considerable  degree  of  firmness  ;  but  they 
had  been  so  long  inflected,  by  the  action  of  the  mus- 
cles, that  they  never  recovered  their  proper  figure  or 
function." 

"  She  measured  in  a  right  line  from  the  crown  of 
the  head  to  the  feet,  twenty-two  inches.  The  head 
was  as  large  as  is  usual  for  persons  of  a  common 
stature,  and  not  at  all  deformed.  The  vertebrae  of 
the  back  were  somewhat  elevated.  Her  feet  were 
about  the  size  of  a  child's  of  four  or  five  years  old, 
and  not  at  all  deformed.  She  could  never  walk,  but  was 
either  carried  by  her  friends,  or  moved  herself  about 
with  the  assistance  of  a  small  chair  and  stick.  She 
enjoyed  a  tolerable  share  of  health,  free  from  most 
complaints  except  indigestion.  In  her  conversation 
she  discovers  a  vivacity  which  very  much  surprises 
all  who  hear  her.  She  now  enjoys  herself  very  agree- 
ably at  her  native  place." 

The  Leach  homestead,  where  she  resided,  has  de- 
scended to  Benjamin  Goldsbury,  through  the  mar- 
riage of  his  grandfather,  Nicholas  Goldsbury,  to 
Tryphosa  Leach,  daughter  of  Benjamin,  brother  to 
Emma  Leach. 

In  this,  the  last  year  of  the  century,  a  schooner  of 
Beverly,  the  "  Alert,"  was  set  upon  by  three  French 
privateers,  as  she  was  entering  the  harbor  of  Santan- 
der,  and,  after  a  desperate  resistance,  captured  and 
sent  into  Bayonne ;  an  outrage  upon  American  neu- 
trality deeply  resented. 

1800. — A  review  of  the  century  past  shows  a  con- 
tinued advance,  since  the  close  of  the  "primeval 
epoch,"  in  every  native  industry  and  all  the  elements 
of  prosperity. 

The  population  of  the  town  had  doubled  in  the 
century :  from  1680  in  1708,  to  3300  in  1800. 

A  large  area  of  land  had  been  brought  under  culti- 
vation, remote  districts  connected  by  roads,  six  school 
districts  were  now  established,  and  two  flourishing 
churches ;  the  fleet  of  fishing- vessels,  numbering  thir- 
ty-two, employed  three  hundred  men,  and  foreign 
commerce  was  in  a  flourishing  condition. 


BEVERLY. 


709 


For  a  short  period  of  the  nineteenth  century,  prox- 
imate, even  while  the  inhabitants  of  Europe  were 
distracted  by  wars,  employing  four  millions  of  their 
fighting  men,  our  people  were  to  enjoy  the  blessings 
of  peace. 

Some  Notable  Names  of  the  Century. — Many 
of  those  who  contributed  to  the  prosperity  of  Beverly, 
either  on  land  or  sea,  some  who  aided  in  shaping  its 
destinies,  and  otbers  who  acted  as  the  conservators  of 
the  morals  of  the  community,  have  been  mentioned 
in  the  pages  preceding.  Yet  it  is  not  claimed  that 
many  may  not  have  escaped  mention,  through  the  in- 
complete chronicles  of  the  times.  A  distinguished 
merchant  of  the  war  period,  was  Moses  Brown,  born 
in  1748,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  in  1768,  who  began 
business  here  in  1772.  He  took  an  active  part  in 
military  affairs,  raised  a  company  of  soldiers  in  1775, 
and  in  1776  joined  the  army  as  a  captain  in  Glover's 
regiment,  serving  in  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  and 
being  present  at  the  battle  of  Trenton. 

Resuming  business  in  1777,  he  retired  in  1800  with 
a  fortune,  and  died  in  1820,  after  a  life  of  acknowl- 
edged usefulness. 

Associated  with  him  in  business  at  one  time  was 
another  famous  merchant,  Israel  Thorndike  (born  in 
Beverly  in  1755),  who  owned  several  large  ships,  and 
through  extensive  trade  with  China  and  the  East 
Indies,  amassed  a  fortune  (immense  for  those  times), 
of  nearly  a  million  and  a  half  of  dollars.  He  re- 
moved to  Boston  in  1810,  and  expired  in  1832.  He 
subscribed  five  hundred  dollars  for  the  founding  of 
a  proi'essorship  of  Natural  History  in  Harvard,  and 
the  same  sum  for  the  library  of  the  Theological 
School.  In  1818  he  purchased,  in  Hamburg,  at  a 
cost  of  six  thousand  five  hundred  dollars,  and  pre- 
sented to  Harvard,  a  large  library  "thereby  securing 
to  his  country  one  of  the  most  complete  and  valuable 
collections  of  works  extant  in  American  history." 

The  Cabots,  George,  Andrew,  and  John,  left  an  en- 
during fame  as  great  merchants ;  the  first,  who  was 
born  in  1751,  residing  here  nearly  forty  years.  He 
was  one  of  the  most  enlightened  men  of  his  time,  a 
delegate  to  the  provincial  Congress  in  1779,  the  con- 
fidential friend  of  Washington  and  adviser  of  Ham- 
ilton. He  removed  to  Boston  in  1793,  where  he  died 
in  1823  ;  but  the  foundation  of  his  fortune  was  laid, 
and  his  most  brilliant  labors  performed,  while  a  citi- 
zen of  Beverly. 

Josejih  Lee,  a  brother-in-law  of  the  Cabots,  was  also 
associated  with  them  in  business.  He  was  born  in 
Salem  in  1744,  and  died  in  Boston  in  1831.  During 
his  residence  in  Beverly,  and  throughout  his  life,  he 
gave  great  attention  to  the  designing  of  vessels,  being 
of  material  aid  to  naval  architecture.  He  gave  twen- 
ty thousand  dollars  to  the  Massachusetts  general  hos- 
pital. His  grandson,  Henry  Lee,  who  married  a 
granddaughter  of  Andrew  Cabot,  resides  on  a  fine 
estate  at  Beverly  Farms. 

In  the  year  1780,  deceased  in  Beverly,  Henry  Her- 


r/c^,  one  of  the  most  active  and  influential  members 
of  the  "Committee  of  Correspondence"  in  the  Revo- 
lution, a  direct  descendant  of  the  first  American  an- 
cestor of  the  same  name.  He  was  an  active  agent, 
says  the  historian,  in  all  the  first  Revolutionary  move- 
ments, and  for  many  years  (twenty-four)  represented 
the  town  in  General  Court. 

From  his  relative,  Joshua,  have  descended  most  of 
the  name  still  residing  in  Beverly,  and  others  in 
Maine,  including  Horatio  G.  Herrick,  sheriff  of  Es- 
sex County  for  many  years  past;  and  Joshua  and 
Benjamin  Herrick,  of  Maine.  The  Herricks  are  inti- 
mately connected,  through  marriage,  with  several  of 
the  oldest  families  of  Beverly, 

In  1807  (March  27),  Captain  George  Raymond,  de- 
ceased, at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-nine  years, 
having  been  born  December  21,  1707.  This  aged 
citizen,  whose  life  embraced  the  greater  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  was  influential  in  town  aftairs, 
and  at  one  time  in  military,  having  taken  part  in  the 
Cape  Br^on  expedition.  From  generation  to  genera- 
tion, and  from  century  to  century,  as  in  the  Herrick 
and  Raymond  families,  the  military  prestige  has  been 
kept  alive. 

Another  eminent  citizen,  who  died  in  1809,  was 
Josiah  Batchelder,  Jr.,  whose  father  served  in  the 
Port  Royal  expedition  of  1707,  His  early  years  were 
passed  at  sea,  and  in  1761  he  had  the  misfortune, 
while  in  command  of  a  vessel,  to  be  captured  by  a 
French  privateer.  He  succeeded  in  having  the  ves- 
sel released,  but  was  detained  for  its  ransom  for  some 
time,  in  a  prison  at  Martinique.  His  name  appears 
frequently  in  the  Revolutionary  correspondence,  and 
he  was  actively  engaged  in  privateering ;  he  was 
several  times  elected  a  member  of  the  Provincial 
Congress,  and  during  his  declining  years  was  sur- 
veyor and  inspector  of  the  port  of  Salem  and  Bev- 
erly. 

William  Burley,  born  January  2,  1751,  died  Decem- 
ber 22,  1822.  Was  a  native  of  Ipswich,  but  gave 
freely  of  his  wealth  to  the  poor  of  this  town,  leaving 
legacies  to  Beverly  and  Ipswich  to  promote  the  in- 
struction of  poor  children.  He  not  only  aided  the 
American  cause,  with  advice,  but  took  an  active  part, 
enlisting  as  a  soldier,  and  while  a  lieutenant,  under 
Colonel  Thompson,  in  February,  1780,  was  taken  pri- 
soner near  White  Plains,  remaining  in  captivity  a 
year  and  nine  months.  His  son,  Edward  Burley,  is 
living  in  Beverly,  at  the  age  (1887)  of  eighty-four,  and 
two  grandchildren,  Mrs.  Cabot  and  Mrs.  Susan  Howes. 

To  the  neighboring  town  of  Ipswich,  the  town  of 
Beverly  has  been  placed  under  deep  obligations 
for  some  of  its  most  vigorous  and  brightest  intellects. 
Notable  above  all  his  professional  brethren  of  that 
time  was  iVai'/ia?i  i)ane,  born  in  Ipswich,  December  29, 
1752.  He  was  of  English  ancestry,  the  first  of  the  name 
having  settled  in  Andover,  Ipswich  and  Gloucester.  It 
will  be  noticed,  by  one  who  will  closely  scan  the  chroni- 
cles of  our  early  settlements  and  note  the  achievements 


710 


HISTOKY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


of  our  foremost  citizens,  that  no  Englishman  became 
so  truly  great  as  when  transplanted  to  America.  All 
the  inherent  nobility  of  character  of  long  linesi  of  an- 
cestors, latent  for  generations,  first  finds  expression 
here. 

The  son  of  a  farmer,  Mr.  Dane  worked  on  his  fa- 
ther's farm  till  he  was  twenty-one,  acquiring  that 
physical  stamina  which  supported  him  through  the 
unremitted  labors  of  a  long  life.  He  graduated  from 
Harvard  in  1778,  immediately  after  which  he  taught 
school  in  Beverly,  where,  in  1782,  he  began  practic- 
ing law.  In  this  latter  year,  and  the  three  years  suc- 
ceeding, he  was  a  representative  at  the  General  Court 
of  Massachusetts ;  after  which  for  three  years  he  was  a 
delegate  to  Congress,  and  for  five  years,  beginning  with 
1790,  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Senate.  He 
was  on  a  committee  to  revise  the  State  laws,  in  1795, 
and  a  presidential  elector  in  1812.  His  enduring 
monument  is  the  celebrated  "  ordinance  of  1787,"  of 
which  Daniel  Webster  said,  in  the  United  States 
Senate,  in  1830  : 

"  We  are  accustomed  to  praise  the  law-givers  of  antiquity  ;  wc  help 
to  perpetuate  the  fame  of  Solon  and  Lycurgus  ;  but  I  doubt  whether  one 
single  law  of  any  law-giver,  ancient  or  modern,  has  produced  effects  of 
a  more  distinct  and  marked  and  lasting  character  than  the  ordinance  of 
'87.  ...  It  fixed,  forever,  the  character  of  the  population  in  the 
vast  regions  northwest  of  the  Ohio,  by  exchuliug  from  them  involuntary 
servitude.  It  impressed  upon  the  soil  itself,  while  it  was  yet  a  wilder- 
ness, an  incapacity  to  bear  up  any  other  than  freemen.  It  laid  the  in- 
terdict against  personal  servitude,  in  original  compact,  not  only  deeper 
than  all  local  law,  but  deeper,  also,  than  all  local  coustitution." 

The  great  labor  of  his  life  was  "  A  General  Abridge- 
ment and  Digest  of  American  Law,"  published  1823- 
'29,  the  material  for  which  he  began  to  gather  as 
early  as  1782  ;  the  first  general  code  of  American  law, 
and  of  incalculable  value  to  the  country.  The  pri- 
vate life  of  Mr.  Dane  was  exemplary,  his  public  life 
every  way  to  be  admired.  By  his  benefactions,  as 
Avell  as  by  his  literary  productions,  he  has  caused  his 
name  to  be  remembered.  By  a  donation  of  $15,000, 
he  established  the  "Dane  Professorship  of  Law,"  at 
Harvard,  and  was  a  donor  to  the  Dane  Law  Lib- 
rary, of  Ohio,  and  other  institutions. 

His  valuable  life  was  prolonged  to  eighty-three 
years,  during  sixty  of  which  he  pursued  his  studies. 
Although  surviving  to  1835,  well  into  the  nineteenth 
century,  he  yet  belongs  to  the  eighteenth,  the  forma- 
tive period  of  our  political  history.  His  home  was 
opposite  the  old  South  Church,  in  the  house  (still 
standing)  built  by  Capt.  Benjamin  Ellingwood  about 
1784,  one  of  the  first  (four)  brick  houses  erected  in 
Beverly,  the  others  being  the  dwellings  of  Andrew, 
George  and  John  Cabot.  The  monument  to  Mr. 
Dane,  in  the  Hale  Street  Cemetery,  bears  an  inscrip- 
tion by  Judge  Story. 

In  the  year  1781,  Robert  Endicott,  a  descendant  of 
Governor  John  Endicott,  removed  from  Danvers  to 
Beverly,  where  he  died  in  1819,  aged  sixty-two  years. 
He  was  born  on  the  ancient  Endicott  farm,  now  be- 
longing to  William  Endicott,  of  London.  His  son, 
the  venerable  and  well  known  William  Endicott,  the 


only  survivor  in  the  seventh  generation  from  Gov. 
John  Endicott,  resides  in  Beverly,  at  the  advanced 
age  of  eighty-eight.  He  began  business  here  as  a 
clerk  with  "Squire"  Rantoul,  and  for  thirty-six  years 
owned  and  occupied  the  drug  store  at  the  corner  of 
Cabot  and  Washington  Streets.  He  retired  from  act- 
ive business  twenty-five  years  ago,  but  still  maintains 
relations  with  several  financial  and  charitable  institu- 
tions. 

We  have  seen  that  our  town  was  particularly  favor- 
ed in  its  ministers,  such  as  Hale,  Blowers,  Willard, 
McKean  and  Chipman.  The  medical  profession  also  was 
adorned  with  names  whose  lustre  is  yet  undimmed. 
The  minister  and  the  doctor  of  early  times  exerted  a 
greater  influence  than  even  the  politician  ;  in  truth, 
he  who  attended  to  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  people, 
as  well  as  he  who  ministered  to  their  physical  well 
being,  was  considered  competent  also  to  shape  their 
political  affairs. 

The  first  school-master,  Mr.  Hardie,  was  also  a  dis- 
penser of  medicines,  and  succeeding  him  came  the 
Hales,  Robert  and  Eobert,  Jr.,  the  latter  already  no- 
ticed. Robert  Hale  was  son  of  the  Rev.  John  Hale, 
born  November,  1668,  died  1719. 

A  Dr.  John  Herrick  was  here  in  1721,  and  a  resi- 
dent physician  was  Dr.  Benj.  Jones,  a  native  of  Bev- 
erly in  the  second  parish,  who  had  an  extensive  prac- 
tice, and  died  in  1778.  He  was  distinguished  for  his 
active  interest  in  public  affairs  and  in  the  welfare  of 
the  community. 

Dr.  Timothy  Clement,  who  married  a  daughter  of 
Capt.  William  Dodge,  had  a  promising  practice,  but 
died  at  an  early  age.  His  successor  was  Dr.  Israel 
Woodbury,  born  1734,  died  1797,  who  resided  on  his 
ancestral  estate,  and  whose  life  was  a  blessing  to  the 
parish.  Dr.  Isaac  Spofford,  who  died  1786,  at  the 
early  age  of  thirty-five,  was  skilled  alike  in  his  pro- 
fession and  in  music,  and  was  very  popular.  His 
gravestone  in  the  old  cemetery  is  consijicuous  for  its 
Latin  inscriptions  and  Masonic  emblems.  Dr.  Larkin 
Thorndike,  another  native  of  this  town,  who  died  at 
Norfolk,  Va.,  also  practiced  here,  and  was  appointed 
a  surgeon  in  the  navy  under  the  administration  of 
President  Adams.  Dr.  Tucker,  Dr.  Orne  and  Dr. 
Lakeman  [from  Hamilton)  all  died  without  achieving 
the  great  distinction  promised  in  early  life. 

A  man  of  prominence  was  Dr.  EHsha  Whitney,  born 
1747,  graduated  at  Harvard,  1766,  who  began  practice 
in  Ipswich.  After  several  voyages  as  surgeon  on 
board  the  privateers  under  Captains  Hill  and  Giles, 
he  returned  to  his  profession,  removing  to  Beverly  in 
1792,  where  he  resided  till  his  death,  in  1807,  beloved 
and  highly  respected. 

Dr.  Joshua  Fisher,  who  was  born  in  Dedham,  1749, 
and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1766,  came  to  Beverly 
in  early  manhood,  after  practising  a  while  in  Ipswich 
and  Salem.  Like  Dr.  Whitney,  he  sailed  as  surgeon 
in  a  privateer,  but  was  unfortunate  in  his  maritime 
experiences,  the  vessel   being   driven  ashore   in  the 


-^M-n.,. 


oUtll 


BEVERLY. 


711 


British  Channel,  and  he  with  difficulty  avoiding  cap- 
ture. Escaping  from  England  to  France,  after  a  num- 
ber of  dangerous  ad  ventures,  he  embarked  in  another 
privateer  for  America,  which  he  ultimately  reached. 
He  was  interested  in  that  first  cotton  factory  in  1788, 
and  his  public  spirit  always  led  him  into  similar  en- 
terprises for  the  good  of  the  people.  Through  his 
great  talent  and  active  pursuit  of  his  profession,  he 
amassed  a  large  fortune,  much  of  which  he  expended 
in  charitable  works.  He  endowed  the  Fisher  Pro- 
fessorship of  Natural  History  at  Harvard,  with  twenty 
thousand  dollars,  and  founded  the  Beverly  Charitable 
Society,  now  known  as  the  Fisher  Charitable  Society, 
which  has  been  so  beneficial  in  ameliorating  the  con- 
dition of  the  poor. 

Of  the  donation  to  this  society  one  hundred  dollars 
was  to  be  set  aside  to  accumulate  for  one  hundred 
years,  as  an  available  fund  at  the  expiration  of  that 
period.    Dr.  Fisher  died  in  1835,  aged  eighty-four. 

From  this  brief  biographical  excursion,  let  us  re- 
turn to  the  narration  of  events.  It  is  a  matter  of  re- 
gret that  we  cannot  much  more  than  enumerate  the 
names  of  those  departed  worthies,  whose  many  vir- 
tues adorn  the  age  in  which  they  lived.  The  best 
lessons  of  history  are  to  be  drawn  from  the  lives  of 
great  and  good  men  and  women,  who  worked  with 
singleness  of  purpose  and  high  aims  for  the  advance- 
ment of  their  fellows.  Many  such — though,  from  the 
limitations  of  their  environment,  unknown  to  the 
world  at  large — we  find  living  in  the  pages  of  our  lo- 
cal history.  Their  lives  shine  with  devotion  to  prin- 
ciple and  religion  ;  they  had  faith  in  their  God,  their 
country  and  the  home  of  their  adoption  ;  and  the 
torch  they  lighted  at  the  fires  of  their  primitive 
hearth-stones  they  have  handed  down  to  us,  their  de- 
scendants. 

The  Mother  Churches.— As  two  new  churches 
were  founded  in  the  opening  years  of  this  century,  and 
important  changes  took  place  in  the  first  and  second 
parishes,  at  this  point  it  would  seem  fitting  to  take  a 
survey  of  some  matters  ecclesiastical. 

What  was  the  origin  of  the  First  Church,  has  been 
shown  ;  that  its  growth  was  identical  with  that  of  the 
town,  and  their  affairs  inseparably  interwoven.  Its 
first  ministers  and  officers  were  the  leaders  of  the  com- 
munity, as  the  church,  indeed,  formed  the  nucleus  of 
the  town. 

Its  ministers,  mentioned  in  order,  were :  Hale, 
Blowers,  Champney,  Willard,  McKean,  up  to  the  close 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  when  the  last-named  was 
called  to  the  presidency  of  Bowdoin  College,  and  was 
succeeded,  Dec.  13,  1803,  by  the  Eev.  Abiel  Abbott. 

The  following  biographical  sketch  of  Dr.  Abbott 
was  prepared  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  A.  P.  Peabody,  a  life- 
long friend  of  the  family,  and  is  entitled  to  the  read- 
er's thoughtful  attention  : 

"  Ariel  Arrott,  the  youngest  son  of  John  and  Abi- 
gail Abbott,  was  born  at  Andover,  August  17,  1771. 
Two  elder  brothers — John,  professor  of  ancient  lan- 


guages at  Bowdoin  College,  and  Benjamin,  the  so 
widely-known,  revered  and  beloved  principal  of  Phil- 
lips' Exeter  Academy — had  already  graduated  at  Har- 
vard. Abiel  was  the  pupil  of  Dr.  Pemberton,  at  Phil- 
lips' Academy,  in  Andover,  whence  he  entered  col- 
lege, graduating  the  second  scholar  in  his  class,  in 
1792.  He  maintained  ever  afterwards  a  close  connec- 
tion with  the  college,  where  he  was  held  in  high  re- 
gard, as  was  evinced  in  his  appointment  as  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  orator  in  1800,  his  being  invited  to  deliver  the 
Dudleian  Lecture  in  1819  and  his  receiving  the  degree 
of  Doctor  of  Divinity  in  1821.  On  graduating  he  re- 
turned to  Andover  and  became  assistant  teacher, 
afterwards  principal  of  the  academy,  at  the  same  time 
pursuing  the  study  of  theology  under  the  direction  of 
his  pastor.  Rev.  Jonathan  French.  In  1795  he  was 
ordained  as  minister  of  the  First  Church  in  Haverhill. 
In  the  following  year  he  married  Eunice,  daughter  of 
Ebenezer  Wales,  of  Dorchester.  His  ministry  at 
Haverhill  was  eminently  successful.  Its  precious 
memory  long  survived  him,  and  was  lovingly  recalled 
by  old  people  who  had  him  for  their  pastor  in  their 
childhood  or  youth.  But  his  salary  was  inadequate 
to  the  support  of  his  family  and  he  was,  therefore,  and 
for  that  sole  reason,  compelled  to  resign  his  charge. 

On  his  release  from  his  engagement  at  Haverhill, 
Mr.  Abbott's  services  were  eagerly  sought  by  several  va- 
cant parishes.  He  preached  with  great  acceptance  at 
the  Brattle  Square  Church,  in  Boston,  and,  anticipat- 
ing the  probability  of  his  being  invited  to  its  pastor- 
ate, the  First  Church  in  Beverly  chose  him  as  its 
minister,  voting  him  as  salary  the  stipend  which  (with 
the  addition,  however,  of  a  parsonage-house  and  fuel 
for  its  fires,  and  the  education  of  his  sons)  would  have 
been  offered  him  in  Boston. 

This  salary  throughout  his  lifetime  was  larger  than 
was  paid  by  any  parish  in  Massachusetts,  except  in 
Boston.  The  Beverly  parish  was  and  continued  to  be, 
during  his  entire  ministry,  very  large,  embracing  a 
population  at  the  outset  of  twenty- three  hundred,  and 
never  less  than  fifteen  hundred.  The  town  was  then 
the  fourth  in  the  State,  in  point  of  wealth,  with  a 
better  harbor  than  that  of  Salem,  with  a  great  deal 
of  foreign  commerce  as  well  as  with  a  large  amount 
of  capital  lucratively  invested  in  the  fisheries.  It 
was  the  residence  of  several  merchants  of  distinc- 
tion, who  afterwards  removed  to  Boston,  and  whose 
ships  sailed  thence  and  brought  thither  their  return 
cargoes.  It  was  also  the  home  of  several  professional 
men  of  the  highest  eminence,  as  Nathan  Dane  and 
Joshua  Fisher,  and  the  parish  comprised  many  fam- 
ilies of  wealth  and  culture.  Hence,  in  a  worldly 
point  of  view,  the  place  was  especially  desirable,  while 
its  pulpit  had  been  filled  by  men  of  superior  ability 
and  merit,  his  two  nearest  predecessors  having  been 
called  to  the  presidency — one  of  Harvard,  the  other 
of  Bowdoin  College.  Such  a  pastorate  made  great  de- 
mands on  its  incumbent,  and  in  this  case  they  were 
more  than  fully  met. 


712 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


No  ministiy  can  ever  have  been  more  prosperous 
than  Dr.  Abbott's,  in  the  full  attendance  on  its  ser- 
vices, in  the  undivided  respect  and  affection  of  the 
people,  and  in  the  tokens  of  religious  interest  and 
spiritual  edification.  By  those  who  knew  Dr.  Abbott 
best  it  has  been  often  said  that  they  never  knew 
his  like,  or,  for  his  peculiar  life-work,  his  equal.  His 
personal  endowments  were  of  a  rare  order.  His 
countenance  bore  the  impress  of  his  character,  at 
once  grave  and  gracious,  commanding  and  winning, 
with  a  benignity  whose  attractions  none  could  re- 
sist, yet  with  a  dignity  which  would  keep  a  flip- 
pant tongue  in  silence.  His  manners  were  those  of  a 
born  gentleman,  who  could  not  be  otherwise  than 
courteous,  meek,  considerate  and  kind.  His  conversa- 
tional power  was  almost  unique.  In  whatever  society 
he  might  be,  without  assuming  the  leadership,  he 
could  not  bear  other  than  the  chief  part,  and  those 
who  were  else  the  most  ready  to  talk,  in  his  pres- 
ence subsided  into  greedy  listeners.  He  was  unsur- 
passed in  vivid  and  picturesque  description  and  nar- 
rative, and  he  possessed  the  rare  and  precious  art  of 
giving  religious  admonition,  counsel  or  consolation, 
without  seeming  to  give  it — of  virtually  preaching 
the  gospel  without  unseasonably  interlarding  his  con- 
versation with  conventionally  sacred  names  and 
phrases,  so  that  all  that  he  meant  to  say  reached  the 
inward  ear,  only  after,  sometimes  long  after,  his  voice 
had  died  upon  the  outvvard  ear.  When  Monroe,  as 
President  of  the  United  States,  was  making  his 
northern  tour,  he  breakfasted  with  Israel  Thorndike, 
and  Dr.  Abbott  was  one  of  the  guests.  Some  time 
afterward  the  President  said  to  a  visitor  that  the 
best  talktr  that  he  ever  heard  was  a  clergyman  who 
breakfasted  with  him  at  Mr.  Thorndike's.  While 
Dr.  Abbott  thus  adorned  the  choicest  society,  he  made 
himself  none  the  less  welcome  in  the  poorest  homes, 
and  with  persons  of  the  lowest  standard  of  intelli- 
gence and  culture.  Without  the  wretched  farce  of 
condescension,  he  so  identified  himself  with  all  the 
people  under  his  charge  that  he  felt,  and  therefore 
always  seemed,  at  his  ease  among  them,  as  belonging 
with  them,  and  they  had  no  experience  of  restraint  or 
awkwardness  as  with  one  who  stooped  to  them  from  a 
loftier  plane  than  theirs.  He  was  the  most  assiduous 
of  pastors.  Of  course,  in  so  large  a  parish  he  would 
not  be  a  frequent  visitor  in  every  house,  yet  there  was 
not  a  family  in  his  flock  which  he  did  not  know 
intimately,  and  in  which  there  was  not  a  correspond- 
ing sense  of  intimacy  with  him  ;  nor  was  there  a  child 
whom  he  did  not  know,  or  w^ho  was  not  made  the  hap- 
pier by  meeting  him  and  having  hia  unfailing  smile 
and  kind  word  of  recognition.  A  large  part  of  his 
time  was  devoted  to  the  sick,  infirm  and  afilicted,  who 
received  his  most  tender  ministries  and  always  felt 
that  he  came  to  them  in  their  need  and  sorrow  as 
a  messenger  of  divine  support  and  comfort.  Nor 
was  he  less  mindful  of  the  poor,  and  while  gener- 
ous to  them  to  the  utmost  of   his    means,  he  knew 


how  to  stimulate  and  direct  the  charity  of  those 
who  had  ability  and  leisure  for  the  work  of  Chris- 
tian love. 

Dr.  Abbott  was,  in  an  important  sense,  the  minis- 
ter of  the  town,  no  less  than  of  his  own  parish. 
There  was  no  public  occasion  on  which  he  did  not 
oflSciate,  nor  any  public  enterprise  that  tended  to  im- 
provement or  progress  in  which  he  did  not  bear  a 
foremost  part.  For  many  years  he  was  chairman  of 
the  school  committee,  and  his  reading  of  his  annual 
report  was  among  the  first  items  of  business  at  the  an- 
nual town-meeting,  which  he  always  opened  with  an 
impressive  prayer.  He  presided  at  the  school  exami- 
nations, and  the  pupils  listened  eagerly  on  those  oc- 
casions to  the  closing  address  which  he  always  gave. 

In  the  pulpit  Dr.  Abbott's  manner  was  impressive 
to  the  last  degree.  He  was  never  impassioned,  and 
never  cold;  but  there  was  a  calm,  equable  f  rvor,  in- 
dicating a  full  flow  of  devout  feeling,  without  ebb  or 
ripple,  sustaining  the  unflagging  attention  of  the 
audience,  and  adapted  to  make  the  entire  service  to 
the  serious  hearer,  as  it  manifestly  was  to  the  preach- 
er, a  continuous  act  of  devotion.  His  voice  was  clear, 
strong  and  flexible,  and  his  utterance  was  perfectly 
natural,  with  no  pulpit  tone,  but  as  it  might  have  been 
in  conversation  on  solemn  themes.  Nature  shaped 
him  for  an  orator,  and  he  remained  unspoiled  by  art. 
What  he  should  say  seemed  his  sole  concern  ;  his  un- 
studied saying  of  it  could  have  been  only  made  worse 
by  the  attempt  to  make  it  better.  His  sermons  were 
scriptural,  evangelical,  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word, 
in  a  style  elegant  without  being  ornate,  sufiiciently 
simple  for  the  recejjtivity  of  any  person  of  ordinary 
intelligence,  yet  so  thoughtful  as  to  command  the  close 
attention  and  strong  interest  of  those  of  the  most  ad- 
vanced culture.  They  were  remarkable  for  so  strict 
an  appropriateness  to  time  and  space  that  many  of 
the  best  of  them  could  have  been  preached  elsewhere 
or  at  a  later  time  only  with  large  omissions  or  changes. 
No  phase  of  the  passing  day,  or  occasion  of  public  inter- 
est, or  striking  event  in  the  larger  or  smaller  circle, 
was  suffered  to  pass  without  being  made  to  yield  up 
its  fitting  les?ons  of  truth  or  duty.  His  sermons  for 
the  Sunday  service  were  always  carefully  written,  and 
such  of  them  as  admitted  of  it,  especially  his  frequent 
exj^ository  sermons,  bore  the  tokens  of  extended  read- 
ing and  faithful  study.  He  had  at  the  same  time  a 
great  facility  of  extempore  utterance,  or  rather,  of 
thorough  preparation  without  writing;  and  some  of 
his  most  appreciative  hearers  thought  that  he  ap- 
peared at  his  very  best  in  the  unwritten  discourses 
sometimes  in  series  lasting  through  several  weeks  or 
months,  which  he  was  wont  to  deliver  in  a  chapel 
erected  expressly  for  evening  services. 

Dr.  Abbott's  devotional  services  jhad  an  indelible 
and  cherished  place  in  the  memory  of  all  who  listened 
to  them.  They  were  not  preaching  prayers,  but  com- 
posed wholly  of' simple  and  lofty  forms  of  praise  and 
supplication.     It  was  the  custom  in  his  church,  as  in 


BEVERLY. 


713 


the  New  England  churches  generally,  to  send  in 
'  notes,'  requesting  public  prayer,  or  thanksgiving,  in 
case  of  bereavement,  severe  illness,  or  recovery  there- 
from, the  birth  of  a  child,  being  '  bound  to  sea,'  or  re- 
turn from  a  voyage. 

Dr.  Abbott,  without  ever  compromising  the  digni- 
ty of  the  service,  or  entering  into  details  unfit  for  the 
sanctuary,  would  so  make  reference  to  every  individ- 
ual case,  that  he  would  seem  to  bear  heavenward  and 
to  lay  upon  the  heavenly  altar  the  burden  or  joy  of 
each  soul  in  a  form  denuded  of  all  earthliness,  and 
fully  fit  to  be  heard  on  high.  The  children  of  the 
parish  enjoyed  his  special  care.  The  old  institution 
of 'catechizing'  was  with  him  a  matter,  not  of  form, 
but  of  deep  concern,  and  he  made  it  such  a  service 
that  no  child  was  ever  willingly  absent  from  it.  He 
not  unfrequently  addressed  the  children  on  Sundays, 
and  sometimes  had  special  services  for  them  in  the 
chapel,  while  they  learned  very  early  to  listen  to  his 
sermons,  and  many  a  dull  child  who  carried  home  no 
meagre  report  of  one  of  his  discourses,  would  com- 
mand neither  attention  nor  memory  when  any  one  else 
filled  the  pulpit. 

The  earliest  Sunday-school  in  New  England,  if  not 
in  the  United  States,  was  opened  in  1810,  by  two 
ladies  of  his  church,  after  the  example  and  method  of 
Robert  Raikes.  This  school,  which  had,  from  the 
outset,  their  pastor's  approval  and  furtherance,  was 
never  discontinued,  but  was,  after  a  few  years,  re- 
moved to  the  church,  and  was  the  nucleus  of  a  still 
flourishing  Sunday-school,  subsidized  by  a  considera- 
ble fund,  the  legacy  of  one  of  its  superintendents,  who 
was  trained  under  Dr.  Abbott's  nurture  and  influ- 
ence. 

Dr.  Abbott  added  to  his  distinctively  professional 
gifts  that  of  superior  musical  taste  and  talent.  He 
had  the  best  voice  in  the  congregation.  The  old 
church  had  no  space  in  which  an  organ  could  be 
erected  till  it  was  remodelled  after  his  death,  and 
whenever  the  chorister  Avas  absent,  Dr.  Abbott  led  the 
singing  from  the  pulpit,  as  he  did  at  the  communion 
service,  at  the  monthly  ante-communion  lecture,  and  at 
the  chapel.  Dr.  Abbott  was  a  Unitarian,  of  the 
type  commonly,  though  incorrectly  denoted  under 
the  name  of  Arian.  But  while  he  explicitly  de- 
clared and  defended  his  own  opinions  in  the  pulpit, 
he  was  indisposed  to  controversy,  sought  peace  among 
the  churches,  was  at  many  points  in  close  sympathy 
\sith  clergymen  of  a  different  creed,  and  was  associated 
with  not  a  few  of  them  in  intimate  friendship  and  in 
the  interchange  of  professional  services. 

When  the  disruption  of  the  Congregational  body 
took  place,  probably  no  member  of  that  body  had  so 
much  reason  to  regret  it  as  he  had,  nor  was  there  any 
one  with  whom  his  friends  of  the  opposite  party  were 
so  sorry  to  part  fellowship.  In  his  family  and  in  all  the 
relations  and  intercourse  of  society  Dr.  Abbott,  by  his 
sweetness,  gentleness,  unselfishness  of  spirit,  was  con- 
stantly diffusing  happines.-,  and  in  his  cheerful,  sunny 
45i 


temperament  received  largely  of  the  happiness  which 
he  gave.  His  home  was  rich  in  all  that  can  make  life 
beautiful,  and  that  can  render  the  Christian  house- 
hold at  once  a  centre  of  refining  and  beautifying  min- 
istries and  influences  for  this  world,  and  a  training 
school  for  heaven. 

In  1818  Dr.  Abbott's  health  had  become  so  far  im- 
paired by  incessant  labor  as  to  make  a  rest  and  change 
of  scene  desirable,  and  he  spent  the  winter  in  South 
Carolina  and  Georgia.  He  performed  the  return  jour- 
ney alone,  in  a  sulky,  driving  through  regions  where 
he  was  warned  of  serious  danger  from  the  savageness 
of  the  poor  whites;  but  all  along  his  way  making 
friends  and  receiving  civilities  and  kindnesses. 

In  1827  he  was  again  an  invalid,  and  spent  the 
winter  principally  in  Cuba.  He  seemed  in  the  spring 
entirely  restored,  but  on  his  passage  homeward,  in 
the  harbor  of  New  York,  he  was  seized  with  a  sudden 
and  profuse  hemorrhage  from  the  lunss,  which  proved 
almost  instantlv  fatal,  leaving  him  but  a  few  moments 
for  some  last  directions  as  to  his  worldly  affairs,  and 
for  the  expression  of  his  cheerful  readiness  to  de- 
part in  the  full  assurance  of  a  blessed  immortality. 
His  death  occurred  on  the  7th  of  June,  1828. 

Dr.  Abbott  published  a  considerable  number  of 
sermons  and  other  pamphlets.  The  only  volume  that 
he  gave  to  the  press  was  of  '  Sermons  to  Seamen,' 
which  in  its  time  was  highly  prized,  especially  by 
shipmasters  and  sailors. 

After  his  death  his  '  Letters  from  Cuba,'  a  charm- 
ing record  of  travel  and  sojourn  in  an  island  then  lit- 
tle known  at  the  North,  were  edited,  with  a  memoir  of 
the  author,  by  his  friend,  Judge  Story. 

A  volume  of  his  sermons,  edited  with  a  memoir, 
by  his  son-in-law,  Rev.  Stevens  Everett,  was  also 
published. 

Dr.  Abbott's  excellent  wife  survived  him  only  two 
years.  Of  his  nine  children  there  remain :  Emily, 
widow  of  Rev.  Stevens  Everett,  now  resident  at  Cam- 
bridge, Anne  Wales,  a  member  of  her  sister's  family 
and  Rev.  William  Ebenezer  Abbott,  formerly  pastor 
of  the  Fir-it  Church  in  Billerica,  now  living  in  the 
Dorchester  district  of  Boston." 

Dr.  Abbott  was  everywhere  welcomed  in  the  town, 
and  his  good  offices  as  peacemaker  were  often  sought. 
He  had  one  parishioner  who  frequently  quarreled 
with  his  wife,  and  who,  disregarding  the  figurative 
meaning  of  his  pastor's  advice,  to  "throw  water  on 
the  fire,"  obeyed  it  literally,  drenching  his  wife  with 
a  full  bucket,  the  next  time  she  scolded. 

When  the  good  parson  chided  him,  telling  him  the 
woman  was  the  weaker  vessel,  and  should  be 
cherished,  he  retorted:  "The  weaker  vessel,  is  she; 
then,  blast  her,  let  her  carry  less  sail !  " 

A  gradual  divergence  from  the  tenets  of  the  original 
church  took  place  during  Dr.  Abbott's  ministry,  and 
his  successor,  the  Rev.  Christopher  T.  Thayer,  was 
settled  over  the  first  parish  as  a  Unitarian,  by  a  vote 
of  two  to  one,  January  27,  1830.     Mr.  Thayer,  though 


714 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


coming  to  Beverly  from  Lancaster,  was  a  descendant 
of  Andrew  Elliot,  our  first  town  clerk.  He  was  a 
graduate  of  Harvard  (1824),  always  interested  in  the 
welfare  of  the  town  during  his  pastorate,  and  the 
author  of  a  valuable  contribution  to  its  history — a 
"Bi-Centennial  Address,"  on  the  two  hundredth  an- 
niversary of  the  formation  of  the  First  Church.  He 
retired  in  1859,  followed  by  the  best  wishes  of  all  his 
townspeople,  and  passed  his  remaining  days  in  Bos- 
ton, where  he  died  June  23,  1880,  at  his  residence  on 
Beacon  Street,  and  was  buried  in  Mount  Auburn  Ceme- 
tery. Mr.  Thayer  served  as  chairman  of  the  School 
Committee  many  years,  and  at  his  death  left  a  legacy 
of  five  thousand  dollars  to  the  church. 

He  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  John  C.  Kimball,  a 
native  of  Ipswich,  and  graduate  of  Cambridge  Theo- 
logical School,  the  period  of  whose  pastorate  was 
eleven  years,  and  who  has  since  preached  in  Oregon, 
Newport,  R.  I.  and  Hartford,  Conn. 

In  1872  (March  7),  Rev.  Ellery  Channing  Butler 
was  settled  over  this  church,  the  ninth  in  the  line  of  dis- 
tinguished ministers,  beginning  with  Rev.  John  Hale. 
Mr.  Butler  was  born  in  Otego,  N.  Y.,  and  is  a  grad- 
uate of  Meadville  College,  Pa.  Under  him  the  parish 
continues  in  a  prosperous  condition,  the  present  con- 
gregation numbering  two  hundred  and  eighty  fami- 
lies. 

The  First  Meeting-house. — The  first  house  of 
worship  was  erected  as  early  as  1G56,  a  rude  structure, 
which  answered  the  needs  of  the  people  until  1682, 
when  a  new  building  was  raised,  fifty  by  forty  feet, 
which  stood  on  the  site  of  the  present  church.  It  was 
used  as  a  town-house  also,  and  as  no  fires  were  allowed 
in  the  meeting-houses  of  those  days,  it  was  considered 
the  safest  depository  for  the  town  ammunition,  a  pow- 
der-room in  it  having  been  built  in  1727. 

In  1770  a  third  meeting-house  was  erected,  on  the 
site  of  the  second,  and  is  at  present  standing,  having 
been  enlarged  in  1785,  remodeled  in  1835  and  again 
some  twenty  years  ago. 

Its  first  bell  was  brought  by  Capt.  Lothrop,  from 
Port  Royal,  in  1656 ;  this  was  replaced  by  another  in 
1685,  by  yet  a  third  in  1712,  the  gift  of  Robert  Bris- 
coe, and,  by  the  fourth  one,  which  remains,  in  1803, 
from  the  foundry  of  Paul  Revere  &  Son. 

The  first  town  clock  was  obtained  in  1796,  and  has 
done  good  service  for  ninety  years.  The  first  parish 
meeting-house,  the  "Old  South,"  is  one  of  the  land- 
marks of  the  town,  and  around  it  cluster  associations 
that  should  never  be  dispelled.  From  its  bell-tower, 
these  many  years,  have  rung  the  noon-day  hour  and 
the  vesper  peals,  proclaiming  the  hour  of  nine  and 
warning  the  youth  of  generation  after  generation  of 
the  time  for  retiring. 

The  venerable  sextons  of  the  church  have  been, 
at  times,  reckoned  as  personages  of  almost  as  much 
importance  as  the  ministers  themselves.  The  first  to  be 
mentioned  (1665),  is  Goodman  Bailey,  who  received 
for  his  services  a  peck  of  corn  annually  from  each 


householder;  and  to  the  emoluments  of  this  office,  in 
1680,  succeeded  Goodman  Hoar,  during  whose  term 
the  nine  o'clock  bell  was  introduced.  An  important 
service  of  these  early  sextons  was  the  turning  of  the 
hour-glass,  as  a  gentle  reminder  to  the  minister  that 
time  was  fleeting.  In  1748  Josiah  Woodbury  held 
the  office,  remaining  its  incumbent  for  forty-one 
years,  when  he  died.  Wells  Standley  came  next,  in 
1790,  dying  in  office  1797,  in  which  year  Joshua 
Wallis  fell  dead  while  ringing  the  bell,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Thomas  Barrett.  This  faithful  servitor 
held  the  position  from  June,  1797,  to  1844,  the  year 
he  died.  Ezra  Woodbury  was  appointed  his  colleague, 
in  1842,  and  for  over  thirty  years  attended  to  the  va- 
rious duties,  dying  in  January,  1876, 

The  first  meeting-house  of  the  Second  Parish  was 
erected  1713,  with  a  turret,  but  no  steeple  or  bell. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Chipman  was  ordained  1715,  and  Janu- 
ary 11,  1716,  the  church  held  its  first  meeting.  As  a 
special  mark  of  honor,  in  1759,  Lieut.  Henry  Herrick 
was  invited,  when  he  attended  worship  there,  to 
"  take  the  second  seat  on  the  floor  before  the  pulpit." 
In  1771  Mr.  Enos  Hitchcock  was  settled  to  succeed 
Mr.  Chipman,  who  died  in  1775,  and  was  buried  in 
the  old  cemetery  of  the  parish. 

In  1787  Mr.  Daniel  Oliver  accepted  a  settlement 
here,  but  resigned  in  1797,  dying  in  Roxbury  in  1840, 
at  the  age  of  eighty-nine.  Mr.  Moses  Dow,  of  At- 
kinson, N.  H.,  was  the  next  minister,  called  here  in 
October,  1800,  ordained  March,  1801,  resigned  1818. 

The  Rev.  Humphrey  C.  Perley  was  settled  here  in 
1818,  leaving  in  June,  1821,  and  in  1823  Mr.  Ebenezer 
Poor,  who  retired  in  March,  1827. 

The  Rev.  Ebenezer  Robinson  succeeded  Mr.  Poor, 
in  October,  1830,  but  was  dismissed  in  January,  1833. 
Rev.  Edwin  M.  Stone  was  pastor  for  thirteen  years 
succeeding.  Rev.  Mr.  Stone  is  the  author  of  the  ex- 
cellent "  History  of  Beverly,"  published  in  1842,  a 
book  of  reference  to  which  all  writers  on  the  subject 
must  turn  for  exact  information.  Mr.  Stone's  pastor- 
ate began  March  21, 1834,  and  ended  in  1847.  For  a 
period  of  nearly  twenty  years,  there  was  no  settled 
minister  here,  and  the  church  dwindled  to  less  than  a 
score  of  members.  At  the  end  of  this  time  its  history 
was  joined  to  that  of  the  Fourth  Congregational,  in  a 
curious  manner.  This  latter  was  organized  1834,  and 
the  Rev.  John  Foote  installed  as  first  minister,  1836  ; 
who  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Allen  Gannet,  installed 
December  15,  1847,  and  dismissed  April  26,  1853. 

He  was  succeeded  by  J.  W.  Lounsbury,  and  he  by 
Eli  W.  Harrington,  in  1860.  Rev.  Mr.  Harrington 
continued  pastor  until  1866,  when  the  Fourth  Con- 
gregational was  merged  in  the  Second,  taking  the  name 
of  the  "  Second  Congregational  Church."  Rev.  Mr. 
Harrington  continued  to  reside  here  till  1884,  though 
with  no  pastoral  charge,  active  in  educational  work, 
when  he  removed  to  another  town.  In  1865  the 
church  celebrated  its  one  hundred  and  fiftieth  anni- 
versary by  a  re-dedication,  and  began  its  worship  in 


BEVERLY. 


715 


May,  1866,  with  Eev.  Chas.  S.  Porter  officiating. 
This,  the  Second  Congregational,  continues  to  occuidv 
its  original  church,  though  the  building  has  several 
times  been  altered  and  improved. 

Rev.  Robert  Southgate  succeeded  Mr.  Porter,  and 
he  was  followed  by  Rev.  Wm.  Phipps  in  1869,  Rev. 
T.  D.  P.  Stone  in  1870,  the  Rev.  Alexander  J.  Ses- 
sions, installed  as  acting  pastor,  in  1872,  and,  since 
1876,  various  preachers  have  occupied  the  pulpit,  it 
being  filled,  at  present,  by  Rev.  William  Merrill. 
The  church  now  numbers  thirty-five  persons,  the 
parish  twenty,  with  one  hundred  in  the  Sunday- 
school.  The  locality  of  the  Second  Parish  (or  North 
Beverly)  is  a  historic  one,  with  its  old  house,  the  par- 
sonage of  John  Chipman  (the  first  minister)  erected 
1715,  still  standing  in  good  preservation,  and  the  old 
cemetery  with  its  ancient  head-stones. 

ISOl.— March  25th,  the  First  Baptist  Church  of 
Beverly  was  organized,  and  a  meeting-house  erected 
the  same  year,  on  Cabot  Street,  nearly  opposite 
Elliot,  with  the  Rev.  Joshua  Young  as  pastor.  He 
departed  in  1802,  and  in  1803,  in  June,  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Rev.  Elisha  S.  Williams,  a  graduate  of 
Yale  College,  who  ministered  until  1812,  when  he  re- 
signed. In  early  life,  Mr.  Williams  had  served  under 
Washington,  on  Long  Island  ;  in  his  later  years  he 
returned  to  Beverly,  and  died  here  in  1845,  at  the 
home  of  Mrs.  Samuel  S.  Ober,  his  daughter,  at  the 
age  of  eighty-seven  years,  four  months. 

In  1814,  the  Rev.  Harvey  Jenks,  of  Hudson,  N.  Y., 
was  called  to  the  society,  but  died  before  settlement; 
and  the  next  pastor  ordained  was  Rev.  Nathaniel  W. 
Williams,  of  Salem,  whose  ministry  extended  from 
1816-24,  when  he  resigned ;  in  1836  he  accepted  an- 
other call  to  the  church  and  continued  till  1840. 
His  successor,  in  1825,  was  Rev.  Francis  G.  Macomber, 
a  graduate  of  Waterville  College,  who  suddenly  ex- 
pired July  1,  1827,  and  there  was  again  no  settled 
pastor  until  1830.  Then  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Aldrich 
was  ordained  and  served  till  1833,  during  which  time 
twenty-six  members  of  the  church  were  dismissed,  to 
form  a  new  society  at  Wenham.  1834,  September 
10th,  the  Rev.  John  Jennings  was  ordained  and 
continued  two  years,  followed  by  Rev.  Nathaniel 
W.  Williams  a  second  time,  from  1836-40.  On 
November  lltli,  this  year.  Rev.  Charles  W.  Flanders, 
a  graduate  of  Brown  University,  was  ordained.  He 
remained  ten  years,  but  in  1850  resigned  his  pastor- 
ate here  and  afterwards  occupied  pulpits  at  Con- 
cord, N.  H.,  Westboro',  Mass.,  and  Kennebunk- 
port.  Me.  Finally  returning  to  Beverly,  he  built  here 
a  home,  doing  occasional  ministerial  work,  especially 
at  the  Farms,  in  the  Second  Baptist,  and  expired  here 
August  2,  1875,  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight. 

In  1852  the  Rev.  Edwin  B.  Eddy  was  ordained,  re- 
signing three  years  later,  and  in  the  year  following, 
August  7,  1856,  Rev.  Joseph  C.  Foster  was  settled 
over  the  church. 

During  Mr.    Foster's   pastorate   of    sixteen    years. 


which  was  a  highly  successful  and  memorable  one, 
the  beautiful  church  was  erected,  now  occupied  by 
the  society,  at  the  corner  of  Abbot  and  Cabot  Streets. 

In  1837  the  original  church  building  had  been 
taken  down  and  a  new  one  erected  in  a  more  eligible 
locality  on  the  same  street.  This  was  several  times 
enlarged  and  improved,  and  a  chapel  built,  but  the 
needs  of  the  society  demanded  better  accommodations, 
hence  the  spacious  structure  now  in  use.  It  is  the 
finest  house  of  worship  in  the  town,  cost  forty-five 
thousand  dollars,  and  its  handsome  spire  is  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty-two  feet  in  height. 

It  was  built  by  a  member  of  the  society,  master- 
builder  John  Meacom,  who  also  rebuilt  the  older 
structure  in  1854,  and  who  has  followed  his  honorable 
calling  here  for  nearly  sixty  years, 

Mr.  Foster  resigned  in  1872,  and  was  succeeded, 
for  one  year,  by  Rev.  E.  B.  Andrews,  late  president 
of  Deuison  University,  Ohio,  and  now  professor  in 
Brown  University,  Providence,  R.  I.  The  present 
pastor.  Rev.  D.  P.  Morgan,  gallantly  served  (as  did 
Mr.  Andrews)  in  the  Union  army  in  the  War  of  the 
Rebellion. 

1802. — The  most  important  offshoot  of  the  First 
Church  was  the  Third  Congregational,  subsequently 
called  and  now  known  as  the  Dane  Street  Society. 
The  church  was  organized  November  9,  1802,  incor- 
porated March  7, 1803,  present  name  adopted  in  1837. 
Their  first  meeting-house  was  raised  in  1802,  finished 
in  December,  1803,  and  dedicated  by  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Worcester,  of  Salem.  This  building  was  altered  and 
improved  in  1831,  but  destroyed  by  fire  in  December, 
1832.  In  1833  the  present  commodious  building  was 
erected,  since,  from  time  to  time,  enlarged  and  beau- 
tified in  accordance  with  the  demands  of  the  times. 

The  first  minister  was  Rev.  Joseph  Emerson,  born 
in  Hollis,  N.  H.,  October  13, 1777,  a  graduate  of  Har- 
vard, a  teacher  and  preacher  in  several  places  prior 
to  his  ordination  here,  September  21,  1803.  After 
thirteen  successful  years  he  resigned,  his  health  de- 
manding a  cessation  of  labor  for  awhile,  and  for  some 
time  was  engaged  in  educational  work,  occasionally 
preaching  in  various  places.  He  established  a  liter- 
ary seminary  in  Byfield,  removing  thence  to  Saugus, 
and  later  to  Weathersfield,  Conn.,  where  he  died  May 
13,  1833.  To  Beverly,  where  he  was  highly  honored 
and  esteemed,  he  frequently  returned,  delivering  here 
several  courses  of  historical  lectures,  and  writing  a 
memoir  of  Miss  Fanny  Woodbury,  a  missionary  from 
this  town. 

His  successor  was  the  Rev.  David  Oliphant,  in- 
stalled February  18,  1818,  and  dismissed,  by  mutual 
council,  1833,  after  a  long  period  of  profitable  la- 
bor. He  died  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  in  1871.  October 
13,  1834,  the  Rev.  Joseph  Abbot  was  ordained,  an 
occasion  which  witnessed  also  the  dedication  of  the 
present  house  of  worship.  After  a  pastorate  of  thirty 
years,  during  which  his  serene  and  beautiful  life  was 
ever  a  beneficent  presence  to  his  people  and  the  com- 


716 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


munity,  this  beloved  minister  was  dismissed  in  De- 
cember, 1865.  He  was  removed  by  death  April  10, 
1867,  at  the  age  of  fifty-eight  years,  eight  months. 
Mr.  Abbot  was  born  in  Philadelpliia  August  16, 
1808,  and  graduated  from  Union  College,  N.  Y.  In 
early  life  he  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  McClellan, 
father  of  Gen.  George  B.  McClellan,  but  became  con- 
vinced that  the  ministry  should  be  his  calling,  and 
pursued  his  theological  studies  at  Andover.  He  early 
became  aware  that  he  was  subject  to  disease  of  the 
heart,  and  considered  himself  in  the  light  of  a  "min- 
ute man,"  liable  to  call  at  any  moment.  This  con- 
sciousness served  to  restrict  his  labors  somewhat,  and 
gave  to  his  aspect  that  repose  and  serenity  which  were 
his  characteristics. 

Of  marked  piety  (says  an  obituary),  of  ripe  and  rare 
scholarship  and  culture,  of  a  peculiarly  social,  amia- 
ble and  genial  nature,  his  companionship  was  a  bene- 
diction at  all  times,  and  our  community  have  been 
favored  indeed  in  enjoying  so  much  of  the  blessing 
of  his  well-spent  life  and  labors.  Able  as  a  writer, 
and  instructive  and  discriminating  as  a  preacher,  yet 
he  published  but  little,  although  there  were  but  few 
if  any  of  his  finished  productions  that  would  not 
have  well  stood  the  test  of  severe  criticism.  Feeling 
a  deep  interest  in  the  cause  of  education,  he  aided 
many  in  travelling  those  cherished  walks  of  literature 
in  which  he  was  so  much  at  home,  doing  public  serv- 
ice also  as  chairman,  and  for  about  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury as  member,  of  our  school  committee.  He  was, 
said  his  friend.  Rev.  J.  C.  Foster,  a  true  man.  "  To 
this,  his  whole  life  was  a  beautiful  testimony.  He 
was  genuine  and  sincere,  and  his  artlessness  and 
truthfulness  were  uncommonly  prominent.  He  was 
as  unselfish  as  unpretentious,  and  he  shrank  instinct- 
ively from  publicity.  He  did  not  appreciate  his  own 
claims  to  be  ranked  high  among  the  strong  men  in 
the  ministry,  and  his  remarkably  unobtrusive  spirit 
would  not  allow  him  to  gain  the  reputation  abroad 
which  he  could  have  easily  sustained  with  his  supe- 
rior abilities." 

"  Death  did  not  take  him  by  surprise  ;  but  he  had 
been  looking  for  the  event  which  at  length  came  un- 
noticed by  him  in  its  actual  coming,  permitted  as  he 
was  '  to  wake  up  in  glory '  from  the  peaceful  slumber 
of  the  midnight  hour." 

It  was  with  difficulty — so  attached  to  their  life-long 
teacher  had  become  his  parishioners — that  an  accept- 
able successor  was  found. 

In  1866  (February  15th)  Rev.  Eugene  H.  Titus  was 
ordained,  but  dismissed,  after  an  active  pastorate, 
June  16,  1867.  He  died  in  Georgetown,  Mass.,  July, 
1876. 

He  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Orpheus  T.  Lanphear, 
who  was  installed  October  23,  1867.  Dr.  Lanphear 
was  dismissed  June  3,  1880,  but  fixed  his  residence  in 
Beverly,  in  whose  prosperity  he  has  always  taken  a 
lively  interest.  In  1881  (July  7th)  Rev.  Samuel  W. 
Eddy,  a  graduate  of  Union   College,  N.  Y.,  was  or- 


dained, but  dismissed  April  8,  1887,  on  accou^-t  of  ill 
health,  to  the  great  regret  not  only  of  his  own  par- 
ishioners, but  the  entire  community  as  well. 

The  Dane  Street  Society  now  numbers  about  nine 
hundred  and  fifty,  with  three  hundred  and  forty-one 
in  the  church,  and  has  a  large  and  constantly  in- 
creasing membership  in  its  Sunday  school.  Its  oldest 
living  member  is  Mrs,  Adeline,  the  widow  of  Rev. 
Francis  Norwood,  who  united  with  the  church  in 
1826. 

CIVIL   HISTORY   CONTINUED. 

1802. — Having  thus  outlined  the  history  of  the 
four  oldest  churches  in  Beverly,  and  prepared  the 
way  for  mention  of  the  others  in  sequence,  attention 
will  now  be  given  again  to  civil  affairs.  The  Beverly 
Bank,  one  of  the  most  important  of  the  town,  was 
incorporated  1802,  with  capital  at  $160,000,  reduced 
in  1815  to  $100,000,  but  increased  in  1836  to  $125,000. 
Under  successive  charters  it  has  continued  in  corpor- 
ate capacity  to  the  present  time,  becoming  the  Bev- 
erly National  Bank  in  1865,  with  a  charter  for  twenty 
years,  renewed  for  twenty  more  in  1885,  with  a  capi- 
tal of  $200,000.  Its  first  president  was  Israel  Thorn- 
dike,  succeeded  by  Moses  Brown,  Joshua  Fisher, 
William  Leach,  Pyam  Lovett,  Albert  Thorndike, 
Samuel  Endicott  and  John  Picket,  names,  all  of 
them,  synonyms  for  integrity,  and  identified  with 
the  town's  highest  interests. 

In  the  course  of  its  long  existence,  eighty-five 
years,  it  has  had  but  three  cashiers :  Josiah  Gould, 
Albert  Thorndike  and  Robert  G.  Bennett.  Mr.  Ben- 
nett succeeded  Mr.  Thorndike,  when  the  latter  was 
elected  president,  in  1844,  and  held  this  position  of 
trust  during  forty-one  years,  when  he  was  chosen 
treasurer  of  the  Savings'  Bank.  The  present  cashier, 
Mr.  Augustus  Stevens,  was  connected  with  the  bank 
thirty-one  years,  as  teller,  when  he  succeeded  Mr. 
Bennett  as  cashier. 

The  bank,  for  a  long  time,  occupied  a  portion  of 
the  brick  building  at  the  corner  of  Cabot  and  Central 
Streets,  built  by  John  Cabot  in  the  latter  year  of  the 
last  century,  and  now  owned  and  occupied  by  Ed- 
ward Burley.  It  was,  for  a  period,  located  in  the 
Masonic  building,  but  in  1885  entered  into  the  beau- 
tiful edifice,  corner  of  Cabot  and-  Thorndike  Streets, 
which  it  now  occupies  conjointly  with  the  Beverly 
Savings'  Bank,  which  built  it.  This  latter  institution 
was  chartered  in  1867,  and  has  deposits  to  the  amount 
of  about  a  million  dollars.  Its  president  is  William 
Endicott,  who  has  held  this  position  since  1867,  as 
also  has  its  treasurer,  R.  G.  Bennett.  The  bank 
building,  erected  in  1885,  at  a  cost  of  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars,  is  in  the  Queen  Anne  and  Colonial 
style  of  architecture,  of  brick,  with  trimmings  of 
freestone  and  is  considered  one  of  the  finest  and 
most  complete  of  its  kind  in  the  country.  It  occu- 
pies the  site  of  the  former  residence  of  Albert  Thorn- 
dike (long  time  cashier  and  president  of  the  old 
bank),  a  house  built  above  one  hundred  years  ago. 


BEVERLY. 


717 


and  once  the  home  of  Joshua  Fisher,  the  third  presi- 
dent. 

1802. — January  20,  a  Social  Library  was  started, 
by  subscription,  with  thirty-two  shares  at  five  dollars 
each,  the  money  raised  being  invested  in  valuable 
books.  These  were  selected  by  Joshua  Fisher,  Na- 
than Dane,  Thomas  Davis  and  Rev.  Mr.  McKean, 
and  the  collection  steadily  auo;mented  by  purchase 
and  donation,  amounted  in  1842  to  one  thousand  vol- 
umes. Other  libraries,  later  established,  were  those 
of  the  Mechanics' Association  and  the  "School  Dis- 
trict.'' In  1851  the  Legislature  authorized  towns  to 
establish  public  libraries,  and  that  year  John  I.Baker 
introduced  a  petition  for  an  appropriation  in  the 
town-meeting,  by  which  one  hundred  dollars  was 
voted.  It  was  also  voted  that  the  library  be  located 
in  the  Social  Library  room  of  the  town  hall.  The 
first  library  was  in  the  Briscoe  Hall. 

Each  succeeding  year  the  town  appropriated  one 
hundred  dollars  more  towards  the  library,  until  1860, 
when  the  amount  was  increased  to  five  hundred  dol- 
lars, and  since  1870  to  one  thousand  dollars,  at  which 
figure  it  now  stands.  When  the  question  was  first 
discussed,  some  of  our  best  citizens  raised  two  thou- 
sand five  hundred  dollars  by  subscription  ;  donations 
were  later  made,  and  the  interest  in  the  subject  has 
increased  to  the  present  day. 

The  first  trustee*,  who  were  also  active  in  securing 
the  subscriptions  (aided  by  several  ladies),  were:  Dr. 
Chas.  Haddock,  Wm.  Endicott,  Jr.,  Chas.  W.  Galloupe, 
Benj.  O.  Peirce,  Richard  P.  Waters.  The  present 
trustees  are:  Wm.  C.  Boyden,  president;  Franklin 
Leach,  secretary  ;  Joseph  D.  Tuck,  treasurer;  Edward 
Giddings  and  Wm.  R.  Driver.  A  new  trustee  is 
elected  each  year;  Mr.  Tuck  has  been  re-elected  for 
nearly  thirty  years,  and  Mr.  Leach  twenty-five.  Un- 
der the  intelligent  supervision  of  its  trustees  the  li- 
brary has  prospered  exceedingly,  containing  to-day 
over  ten  thousand  volumes  and  proving  itself  a  ne- 
cessity to  all,  only  limited  in  its  beneficent  work  by 
the  scantiness  of  the  appropriations.  It  is  open  to 
the  public  every  week  day  afternoon,  and  Saturday 
evenings. 

1806. — Miss  Elizabeth  Champney,  daughter  of  the 
third  pastor  of  the  First  Church,  and  for  many  years 
a  successful  teacher,  died,  April  23d,  aged  sixty-six. 

1807. — The  Beverly  Charitable  Society  (already 
mentioned),  was  incorporated.  The  town  was  called 
to  lament  the  death  of  Dr.  Elisha  Whitney.  The 
sons  of  Dr.  Whitney  became  world-famous  as  mer- 
chants and  ship  owners,  and  his  descendants  to-day 
maintain  in  Beverly  the  honorable  name  of  their  dis- 
tinguished ancestor. 

An  old  soldier,  in  the  person  of  Capt.  George  Ray- 
mond, died  this  year,  aged  ninety-nine  years,  having 
been  born  December  21,  1707.  He  was  in  the  expe- 
dition to  Cape  Breton,  and  in  1770,  as  appears  by  the 
records,  was  moderator  of  a  town-meeting  assembled 
for  the  purpose  of  condemning  the  use  of  tea  by  patriots. 


1808. — Joseph  Wood,  who  died  this  year,  at  the 
age  of  sixty-eight,  was  a  survivor  of  the  Committee 
of  Correspondence  during  the  Revolution,  in  1778  a 
member  of  the  convention  for  ratifying  the  United 
States  Constitution  and  from  1771  to  the  day  of  his 
death  held  the  office  of  town  clerk,  discharging  every 
public  duty  with  conspicuous  fidelity. 

1809. — The  Beverly  Marine  Insurance  Company 
was  chartered,  with  a  capital  of  one  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars.  Its  rooms  were  in  the  building  then 
occupied  by  the  bank. 

1809. — December  10,  Josiah  Batchelder,  jr.,  expired, 
aged  seventy-three.  From  his  tombstone  standing 
in  the  Second  Cemetery,  we  learn  that,  "The  whole 
assemblage  of  associate  virtues,  which  so  superlatively 
exalt  the  Christian  and  endear  him  to  society,  his 
friends  and  his  God,  conspired  to  portray  in  the  liveli- 
est colors  the  character  to  whose  memory  this  stone 
is  sacred." 

A  curious  ofiicial  paper  is  preserved  by  one  of  our 
citizens,  as  follows : 

"To  Josiah  Batchelder  jr.,  Esqr.  one  of  the  Justices  assigned  to  keep 
the  Peace  in  and  for  the  County  of  Essex.— Ebenezer  Woodbury,  of 
Beverly,  gentleman,  in  the  county  aforesaid,  on  oath  informs  the  said 
Justice,  that  on  the  first  day  of  February,  instant,  and  on  divers  other 
days,  in  the  night  time,  the  following  Goods,  viz  :  five  pecks  of  Indian 
Corn.  &  one  canvas  bag,  two  bushels  &  one  half  Bushel  of  meal,  and  two 
Bags  (one  of  said  bags  being  of  plain  coarse  Cloth  and  marked  J.  K.)  all 
which  were  stol^^n  and  carried  away  from  the  Grist  Mill  then  in  the  care 
&  occupation  of  the  said  Ebenezer  Woodbury — the  first  mentioned  corn 
and  bag  the  property  of  Benj"  Butman  ;  5  pecks  of  the  meal  &  the  bag, 
marked  E  W.,  is  the  property  of  Elizabeth  Woodbury,  widow;  &  5 
pecks  of  the  meal  and  the  bag  mark'd  J.  R.  was  the  property  of  Joseph 
Rea  of  s'd  Beverly,  Gentleman,— of  the  value  of  twenty-four  shillings  & 
nine  pence,  the  property  of  the  said  Benj"  Butman  Eliz»  Woodbury  &  J. 
Ray— were  feloniouslj'  stolen,  taken  and  carried  away  from  the  Grist 
Mill  of  the  said  Ebenezer,  &  others,  now  in  the  occupation  of  s'd  Eben'r 
at  Beverly,  as  aforesaid,  and  that  thoy,  and  he,  hath  probable  cause  to 
suspect,  and  doth  suspect,  that  one  Jtjpitek  Bunn,  of  Beverly,  in  the 
county  of  Essex,  labourer,  did  steal,  take,  and  carry  away,  the  same 
goods,  as  aforesaid,  and  prays  that  he,  the  said  Jupiter  Bunn,  may  be 
apprehended,  and  held  to  answer  to  this  complaint,  and  further  dealt 
with,  relative  to  the  same,  according  to  law  ;  and  the  said  Eben'r  saith 
that  he  hath  cause  to  suspect,  and  doth  suspect,  that  the  aforesaid  corn, 
meal,  etc.,  are  secrtted  in  the  dwelling-house  of  one  Anthoney,  and 
prays  for  a  Warrant  to  search  there  for  the  same." 

"  Received  and  sworn  to  on  the  seventeenth  day  of  February,  a.p.  1794, 
betore  me,  Josi.  Batchelder,  Jr., 

Justice  of  the  Peace." 

And  the  sherifTof  said  County  of  Essex  is  instructed, 
forthwith  to  apprehend  said  Jupiter  Bunn,  and  bring 
him  before  said  Josi  Batchelder;  from  which  it  is  in- 
ferred that  said  Bunn  was  apprehended,  and  had  good 
cause  to  repent  his  misdeed. 

There  are  some  grounds  for  believing  that  Jupiter 
Bunn  was  not  the  guilty  party,  since  he  was  at  one 
time  a  trusted  servant  in  one  of  the  first  families  of 
Beverly.  In  the  possession  of  Mi>s  Hannah  Rantoul 
is  an  antique  chair,  which  once  belonged  to  the  fami- 
ly referred  to,  and  which  was  always  called  "  Jupi- 
ter's chair,"  becatise  this  individual  always  insisted 
upon  occupying  it,  refusing  to  sit  in  any  other. 

In  January,  1852,  there  died  here  a  native  of  Africa 

named  Phyllis  Cave,  aged  ninety,  who  was  the  sister 

'  of  Jupiter  Bunn.     She   is  remembered  as  a   faithful 


718 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


and  devoted  servant,  by  Mr.  Rantoul,  in  his  "  Remi- 
niscences," who  states  tliat  she,  when  a  child,  was 
sold  to  a  Mr.  Cave,  of  Middleton,  who  paid  for  her 
in  iron,  and  took  her  in  his  chaise  from  Salem  to 
Middleton. 

She  came  to  this  town  about  the  beginning  of  the 
Revolutionary  war,  and  maintained  herself  by  labor. 
"  She  resided  upon  that  portion  of  the  old  Gloucester 
road,  now  traversed  by  the  railroad,  between  Pride's 
Crossing  and  West's  Beach,  and  habitually,  within  a 
few  years  of  her  death,  walked  by  starlight  from  this 
point  to  the  town,  some  four  miles  distant,  whenever 
she  had  a  day's  work  to  perform,  that  she  might  be 
ready  to  begin  her  labors  with  the  sun." 

1810. — The  Earliest  Sunday-School  in  New 
England. — At  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  war, 
that  sturdy  privateersman  and  patriot.  Captain  Hugh 
Hill,  then  in  the  employ  of  Messrs.  John  and  An- 
drew Cabot,  sailed  for  Ireland,  with  the  intention  of 
bringing  to  Beverly  his  brother  James  and  family. 
On  the  return  voyage  to  Philadelphia,  on  board  the 
ship  "  Rambler,"  in  the  Delaware  River,  Hannah 
Hill  was  born,  September  17th,  1784.  And  this 
daughter  of  James  and  Elizabeth  Hill,  in  connection 
with  Miss  Joanna  B.  Prince,  established,  in  the  year 
1810,  the  first  Sunday-school  in  America,  for  the  reli- 
gious instruction  of  the  young.  Misses  Hill  and 
Prince  both  taught  private  schools  during  the  week, 
and  in  the  summer  of  1810,  they  gathered  a  company  of 
about  thirty  neglected  children,  who  were  accustomed 
to  play  about  the  wharves  on  the  Sabbath,  in  a  cham- 
ber of  Miss  Prince's  house,  corner  of  Davis  and  Front 
streets,  and  taught  them  that  knowledge  which  is  be- 
yond all  price.  This  later  grew  into  a  school  for 
children  of  all  families.  Miss  Hill  is  described  by  a 
person  who  knew  her  as  a  woman  of  great  originality, 
intellectual  and  scholarly,  possessing  a  lively  interest 
in  children.  It  was  said  by  Dr.  Peabody,  at  the  fif- 
tieth anniversary  of  the  school,  that  he  was  a  pupil 
in  her  class  in  Sunday-school  for  several  years,  and 
that  later  in  life,  at  her  earnest  solicitation,  he  gave 
her  lessons  in  Greek,  so  that  she  had  the  satisfaction 
of  reading  the  New  Testament  in  the  very  language 
in  which  it  was  written.  Miss  Hill  continued  her 
connection  Avith  Sunday  school  work  until  her  death, 
which  occurred  in  1838,  at  the  age  of  fifty-three 
years.  She  lies  in  the  Dane  Street  Cemetery,  where 
her  grave-stone  may  still  be  seen. 

Miss  Joanna  B.  Prince  was  born  in  Castine,  Me., 
February  23,  1789,  and  removed  to  Beverly,  the  na- 
tive home  of  her  mother,  with  her  parents  during  her 
childhood.  She  was  a  person  of  entirely  different 
temperament  from  Miss  Hill,  but  like  her,  delighted 
in  doing  good.  In  1819  she  married  Ebenezer  Everett, 
and  removed  to  Brunswick,  Me.,  where  she  died,  Sep- 
tember 5, 1859.  Her  son.  Professor  C.  Carrol  Everett, 
is  now  Dean  of  Harvard  Divinity  School. 

The  school,  after  its  formation,  was  removed  to  the 
house  of  Colonel   Abraham  Edwards,  thence  to  the 


brick  school-house  in  the  south  district,  the  Dane 
Street  Chapel,  the  Briscoe  School-house,  and  finally, 
about  1819,  to  the  First  Parish  Church.  It  is  proba- 
ble, says  Robert  R.  Endicott,  (from  whose  report  as 
superintendent  of  this  school  in  1885,  this  account  is 
mainly  taken),  that  the  children  who  attended  the 
school  at  the  start  had  no  church  connection,  but  as 
the  school  widened  its  sphere  and  increased  its  num- 
bers it  embraced  scholars  and  teachers  from  the  var- 
ious parishes  in  town.  In  the  year  1819,  the  Dane 
Street  and  the  First  Baptist  societies  organized  par- 
ish schools,  and  from  that  time  to  the  present  the 
various  societies  have  formed  schools  under  their  own 
organizations. 

On  the  4th  of  July,  1842,  a  union  celebration  was 
held  on  the  Town-Hall  square,  1,123  scholars  and 
teachers  being  present ;  and  in  1860  occurred  the 
Fiftieth  Anniversary,  with  large  floral  processions, 
music,  a  collation  on  the  common,  under  a  mammoth 
tent,  and  addresses  by  distinguished  speakers.  The 
Eightieth  Anniversary,  doubtless,  will  find  within 
the  limits  of  the  United  States,  100,000  Sunday- 
schools,  10,000,000  scholars,  and  a  million  teachers, 

1812. — The  manufacture  of  Britannia  ware  was 
begun  here,  the  first  in  America,  by  Israel  Trask. 

Throughout  the  years  1809,  '10,  '12  and  '14,  the 
citizens  of  Beverly  entered  frequent  and  eloquent 
protests  against  the  embargo,  and  restrictive  laws  of 
that  period,  which  eventually  (as  they  had  foreseen) 
destroyed  the  commerce  it  had  taken  a  hundred 
years  of  self-sacrifice  to  found  and  maintain. 

In  the  petition  of  1812,  it  is  stated :  "  They  find 
themselves  totally  deprived  of  their  commerce,  coast- 
ing-trade and  fisheries,  even  in  their  own  bays  and 
harbors  within  the  State,  by  the  restrictive  laws 
of  the  Union,  and  another  embargo,  which,  for  sever- 
ity and  oppression,  is  without  precedent." 

But,  though  finding  themselves  plunged  into  a  con- 
flict they  could  not  conscientiously  approve,  they  yet 
contributed  soldiers  for  the  manning  of  the  ancient 
breastworks  and  sailors  for  service  by  sea. 

The  surviving  sailors,  some  of  them,  can  be  remem- 
bered by  the  present  generation,  the  last  having 
passed  away  within  the  past  decade. 

Under  act  of  Congress,  March  9,  1878,  pensions 
were  granted  to  those  who  had  served  in  the  war  of 
1812;  and  in  June,  1879,  the  venerable  Stephens 
Baker  wrote  an  account  of  the  militia  and  the  pen- 
sioners, from  which  the  following  is  an  extract :  In 
this  town,  the  first  coast  guard  consisted  of  a  ser- 
geant's guard  of  fifteen  men,  with  a  ser^reant  and  two 
musicians.  The  place  of  meeting  was  in  front  of 
the  First  Parish  meeting-house.  On  the  alarm  being 
given,  their  location  was  at  Hospital  Point. 

There  were  three  companies  of  militia  in  the  time  of 
the  war,  in  which  were  enrolled  some  three  hundred 
and  fifty  men.  The  North  Beverly  Company  was 
commanded  by  Abraham  Lord,  with  Israel  Trask, 
second  lieutenant;  the  Cove  and  Farms  Company  by 


BEVEKLY. 


719 


Aaron  Foster,  with  Jona.  Foster,  lieutenant.  The 
comj^any  in  the  centre  of  the  town,  in  which  were 
nearly  half  of  all  the  men  enrolled,  was  commanded 
by  Capt.  Nathaniel  Lamson,  John  Davis,  lieutenant; 
James  Hill,  ensign,  Isaac  Gallop,  Jonathan  Stickney, 
Thomas  Farris  and  Stephens  Baker,  sergeants,  with 
the  latter  recording  clerk.  Ebenezer  Trask  and  Rob- 
ert Gary  were  the  musicians.  This  company  attended 
a  regimental  muster  in  Danvers  numbering  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty-five  muskets,  three  commissioned  offi- 
cers, four  sergeants,  four  corporals  and  two  musicians. 

They  were  under  excellent  discipline  and  consid- 
ered one  of  the  best  companies  in  the  State.  But 
three  of  this  company  were  known  (by  Mr.  Baker)  to 
be  living  in  1879, — Thos.  Farris  (died  1882,  aged 
ninety),  S.  P.  Lovett  (died  recently),  and  Stephens 
Baker  (died  1883,  aged  ninety  one  years,  ten  months), 
and  four  of  the  company  commanded  by  Gapt.  Fos- 
ter,—Eben  Ray,  Peter  Corning,  Joseph  Russell  and 
Jesse  Woodbury.  The  following  persons  received 
pensions  under  the  act  of  78 :  Stephens  Baker,  Peter 
Corning,  Samuel  P.  Lovett,  Joseph  Russell,  Eben 
Ray.  Fourteen  widows  are  enumerated  as  entitled  to 
pensions,  several  of  whom  died  after  application  had 
be^en  made,  and  several  other  applications  were  pend- 
ing. But  two  survive.  Many  sailors  from  Beverly 
were  taken  prisoners  in  that  war,  John  Bradshaw, 
who  died  1880,  aged  ninety-three  ;  and  James  Stone 
died  1881,  aged  ninety-one,  were  both  confined  as 
prisoners  at  Bermuda,  and-  both  returned  to  Beverly 
to  live  many  years.  Peter  Homan  died  1871,  aged 
ninety-one,  Jacob  Grace  died  1876,  aged  ninety-six, 
John  Bradshaw  in  1880,  at  ninety-three.  Of  the 
widows  of  1812  veterans  but  two  are  living.  One  of 
these,  Mrs.  Nancy  Trowt,  who  lives  at  the  Farms,  is 
active  and  cheerful,  at  ninety  years  of  age. 

The  Dartmoor  prisoners  surviving  in  1866,  from  a 
list  furnished  at  that  time  by  Mr.  James  Brazil  : 

James  Brazil,  died  187'2  ;  Joseph  Kobinson,  died  1808  ;  James  Biiant, 
died  1807  ;  Natlianiel  Roberts,  died  Feb.  10th,  187-1 ;  Benj.  Briant,  died 
Oct.  5,  1874  ;  Dixey  Woodbury,  died  1861. 

DECEASED. 

John  Bridges,  Joshua  Ellingwood,  Joseph  Givens,  John  Udson,  Isaac 
Lakeman,  John  VVyer,  John  Dempsey,  Moses  Green,  Benj.  Elliot,  Asa 
Andrews,  Jas.  Andrews,  Jedediah  Stiles,  William  Toung,i  John  Ayers, 

Sam'l  Bartlett, Hodgdon,  Edw.  Pousland,!  Capt.  John  Giddiugs, 

Amos  Stickney,  Thos.  Roberts,  Wm.  Glover,  Edw.  Stone,  Robert  Clax- 
ton,  Jo.siah  Pickett,  Archibald  Dale,  Larry  Osborne,  James  Burke,  Scipio 
Bartlett,  Jos.  W'yer,  Richard  Vickary,  Robert  Grimes. 

There  were  many  veterans  and  pensioners  scattered 
throughout  the  town,  and  of  the  local  "  characters," 
"  Uncle  "  Peter  Woodbury  is  one  of  the  best  remem- 
bered. He  was  a  sailor  on  board  the  "Constitution," 
and  lost  his  thumb  while  at  the  helm  during  a  fight, 
by  having  it  struck  by  a  splinter.  Another  veteran 
was  John  Crampsey,  who  had  both  arms  shot  off  at 
the  shoulders,  and  who  was  yet  an  expert  fisherman 
in  later  life. 

1814. — Of  the  momentous  events  ot  the  war-period, 

1  Died  in  prison. 


a  large  number  of  our  aged  citizens  yet  retain  vivid 
recollections.  The  battle  between  the  Chesapeake 
and  Shannon  was  witnessed  from  many  house-tops, 
and  the  excitement  in  town  was  intense.  An  inci- 
dent that  brought  the  vicissitudes  of  the  war  home 
to  our  doors,  was  the  chasing  ashore  of  a  schooner 
belonging  to  Manchester,  by  a  barge  load  of  sailors 
from  a  British  man-of-war,  who  destroyed  her  cargo 
and  set  her  on  fire.  The  flames  were  extinguished 
by  the  rallying  inhabitants  of  the  shore,  but  vessel 
and  cargo  were  a  total  loss.  Great  alarm  spread 
throughout  the  country,  and  a  town  meeting  was 
promptly  called  to  provide  for  the  protection  of  our 
coast.  This  event  is  remembered  and  vividly  narrated 
by  several  of  our  venerable  citizens. 

The  arrival  of  the  artillery  company  from  Danvers 
(which,  with  others  from  Haverhill  and  Methuen,  was 
stationed  here  for  a  period),  and  which  he  followed 
to  its  station  at  Hospital  Point,  is  distinctly  remem- 
bered by  one.  At  the  alarm,  his  grandfather  hastily 
entered  the  room  in  which  he  was  sleeping,  strapped 
powder-horn  and  accoutrements,  seized  his  musket 
and  ran  out  to  join  with  his  fellow-citizens  in  rei^ell- 
ing  the  anticipated  invasion.  He  was  followed  by 
the  boy  of  seven,  who,  now  a  man  of  eighty  years, 
gives  this  narrative  to  the  writer. 

The  affair  is  remembered  also  by  William  Endi- 
cott,  now  eighty-eight  years  old,  by  Richard  Clark, 
eighty-six,  and  by  several  others.  Mr.  Clark  was 
working  in  a  garden  above  the  beach  itself  when  the 
schooner  was  driven  ashore,  and  stayed  to  watch  pro- 
ceedings until  the  flying  bullets  drove  him  behind  a 
house.  He  saw  one  of  the  English  sailors  climb  the 
rigging  and  cut  a  strip  of  canvas  out  of  the  topsail, 
and  remembers  that  he  thought  him  an  excellent 
mark  for  a  bullet  and  wondered  they  had  not  shot 
him. 

Mr.  Clark's  father  was  in  a  privateer  in  the  Revo- 
lutionary war  commanded  by  Captain  Herbert  .Wood- 
bury. Their  vessel  was  taken  by  an  English  brig  of 
fourteen  guns,  which  they  retook  and  brought  safely 
to  an  American  port.  The  first  American  ancestor 
of  the  Trowts — the  widow  of  whose  son,  Mrs.  Nancy, 
over  ninety  years  old,  draws  a  pension  for  her  hus- 
band's services  in  the  war  of  1812 — came  here  as  one 
of  the  prisoners. 

Richard  Clark,  Sr.,  who  was  then  quite  young,  took 
his  share  of  the  prize  money  and  went  to  school.  It 
was  just  after  the  War  of  1812,  says  Mr.  Clark, 
that  the  most  money  was  made  by  the  fishermen,  as 
for  so  long  a  period  the  embargo  had  kept  their  ves- 
sels in  port  and  prices  were  high.  He  went  fishing 
twenty-five  summers,  beginning  when  a  mere  boy, 
and  distinctly  remembers  landing  at  "  Col.  Hale's 
garden,"  at  Cape  Breton. 

In  the  procession  on  Memorial  Day,  1874,  walked 
two  veterans  of  1812 — Thomas  Farris  and  Thomas 
Pickett, — who  were  once  shopraates  with  John  Smith, 
a  survivor  of  the  Chesapeake  engagement,  and  known 


720 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


as  "Chesapeake  John,"  who  lived  in  Beverly  and 
worked  at  cabinet-making. 

In  consequence  of  this  occurrence  (at  Mingo's 
Beach),  writes  Eobert  Eantoul,  in  his  "  Reminis- 
cences," "  a  town-meeting  was  held  on  Saturday, 
June  11th,  and  measures  were  taken  to  procure  from 
the  State  field-pieces  of  cannon,  ammunition,  etc., 
for  the  defence  of  the  town.  A  number  of  persons 
were  associated  together  as  artillery  men,  and  on  the 
17ih  of  June,  at  a  meeting  held  for  the  purpose, 
Nicholas  Thorndike  was  chosen  captain,!  was  chosen 
first  lieutenant,  and  Benj.  Brown,  Jr.,  2d  lieut.  Fre- 
quent meetings  were  held  to  exercise  with  the  two 
brass  six-pounders,  which  the  State  had  furnished. 
The  number  of  persons  associated  was  fifty-four. 
We  turned  out  twice  on  alarms  that  the  British  were 
landing,  which  proved  to  be  groundless,  and  met 
frequently  for  practice  until  February  13,  1815,  when 
information  was  received  that  a  treaty  of  peace  had 
been  signed  at  Ghent,  24th  Dec,  1814.  In  the  after- 
noon of  the  day  of  the  receipt  of  this  news,  the  com- 
pany assembled,  and,  dragging  the  cannon  to  the 
Watch-house  Hill,  near  Hale  St.,  fired  a  salute  of  18 
gnns,  under  my  command,  Capt.  Thorndike  being  out 
of  town." 

1815.— Celebration  of  the  peace,  February  22, 
1815  : 

"  The  town  of  Beverly,  tbo'  almost  bent  to  the  ground  by  the  pressure 
of  the  times,  has  not  lost  its  elasticity.  True  to  their  principles,  the  in- 
habitants have  never  engaged  in  a  War  which  they  believed  to  be  im- 
politic and  unjust.  They  have  undergone  their  full  share  of  suffering  in 
a  variety  of  forme,  from  the  interruption  of  business  and  loss  of  property, 
to  the  alarms  of  threatened  attack  and  actual  aggressions  on  their  shores 
by  the  enemy.  The  intelligence  of  the  Peace  found  them  almost  in  de- 
spondency, for  that  blessing  was  supposed  to  be  still  distant.  The  change 
from  that  despondency  to  excess  of  joy  can  only  be  described  by  an 
appeal  to  the  feelings  of  every  patriotic  bosom  on  the  occasion.  Indi- 
vidual pleasure  was  expressed  by  congratulations,  and  countenances  once 
more  illuminated  with  smiles,  whilst  i-eiterated  huzzas  were  at  once  the 
effect  aud  stimulus  of  their  united  rejoicings.  A  large  sled  fancifully 
dressed  with  the  national  colours  was  soon  manned  with  a  crew  of  gal- 
lant seamen,  and  dispatched  through  the  street  with  the  intelligence. 

"The  assembled  people  flew  to  the  gun-house,  dragged  the  heavy 
artillery  to  the  top  of  the  highest  hill,  and,  amidst  the  peals  of  bells,  fired 
salutes  which  proclaimed  the  pleasure  they  felt.  In  the  evening,  the 
destruction  by  fire  of  the  dwelling-house  of  an  unfortunate  citizen,  sus- 
pended for  a  while  the  natural  joy,  which  had  begun  to  flow  from  the 
domestic  circle. 

"On  Wednesday,  the  22d  inst.,  when  the  memory  of  Washington  was 
again  associated  with  peace,  in  conformity  to  previous  arrangements,  the 
inhabitauts,  at  an  early  hour,  assembled  at  the  Bank,  where,  after  listen- 
ing to  the  official  declaration  of  Peace,  read  by  the  first  Marshal,  they 
were  escorted  in  procession  to  the  South  Meeting-house.  A  large  con- 
course of  people  was  assembled.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Emerson  read  appropriate 
scriptural  selections,  and  then  addressed  the  God  of  Peace  with  mingled 
effusions  of  patriotism  aud  devotion.  An  elegant  and  interesting  address 
was  delivered  by  the  Bev.  Mr.  Abbot,  with  his  characteristic  energy  and 
propriety  of  manner,  followed  by  a  pertinent  concluding  prayer  by  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Whiting.  Select  pieces  of  music  were  well  performed  by  an 
uncommonly  numerous  choir  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Isaac  Flagg. 
The  bells  were  rung  and  salutes  fired  by  the  two  artillery  companies  of 
exempts,  at  sunrise  and  during  the  moving  of  the  procession.  The  escort 
honors  were  handsomely  performed  by  the  Light  Infantry  company, 
commanded  by  Capt,  Wm.  Thorndike,  which  on  this  occasion  made  its 
first  public  appearance  ;  aiid  all  the  proceedings  were  conducted  with  the 
attention  and  decorum  due  to  the  day.  After  the  jjublic  performances,  a 
large  number  of  the  citizens  dined  together  in  the  town  hall  ;  Moses 
Brown,  Esq.,  was  elected  their  President,  and  Nicholas  Thorndike,  Na- 


thaniel Goodwin,  and  Josiah  Gould,  Esqrs.,  Vice-Presidents.  A  large 
number  of  patriotic  toasts  circulated  with  the  glass,  and  the  company 
separated  at  a  seasonable  hour,  after  a  temperate  foretaste  of  the  blessings 
of  Peace.  In  the  evening,  the  Bank  and  several  conspicuous  private 
buildings  were  neatly  illuminated." 

Among  the  twenty  "patriotic  toasts  circulated  with 
the  glass,"  at  this  "temperate  foretaste,"  are  a  few 
which,  like  the  above-quoted  description,  give  us  an 
insight  of  the  times,  the  motives  for  action,  and  the 
prevailing  condition  of  affairs. 

"(1.)  The  Treaty  of  Ghent — The  last  seal  to  a  universal  Peace  through- 
out Christendom — Woe  to  its  wanton  disturbers  ! 

"(4.)  The  Union  of  the  States— May  it  be  perpetuated  by  impartial 
laws,  and  a  communion  of  rights,  and  undisturbed  by  local  jealousies. 

"(5.)  His  Excellency,  Caleb  Strong  —  May  we  never  forget,  that 
though  we  have  felt  the  inconveniences  of  War,  it  is  to  him  we  owe  our 
preservation  from  ita  horrors. 

"(6.)  The  Nations  of  Europe— Our  joy  at  Iheir  emancipation  is  no 
longer  clouded  by  fear  for  ourselves. 

"  (8.)  The  Fisheries  :  the  Grand  Bank — May  its  charter  be  perpetuated 
and  its  capital  unlimited. 

"  (9.)  The  American  Navy — Its  well-deserved  glory  points  to  the  only 
field  where  '  Sailors'  Rights '  should  ever  be  defended. 

"  (10.)  Our  Army — Having  gathered  a,  full  harvest  of  honor,  in  defence 
of  our  own  territory,  may  it  never  have  occasion  to  glean  in  the  field  of 
our  neighbors." 

Among  the  "  volunteers,"  we  find  : 

"  By  Joshua  Fisher :  The  Fisheries— '  Free-trade  and  sailors'  rights' — 
May  they  not  be  abandoned  by  our  Government,  although  forgotten  by 
our  Envoys. 

"  By  Cc  1.  Francis  :  May  party  spirit  subside,  and  true  patriotism 
revive. 

"By  Eben'r  Everett,  Esq.:  The  Emperor  of  all  Elba— We  come  to 
bury  Cresar,  not  to  praise  liini." 

1818. — The  town  voted  to  purchase  a  hearse. 

1820. — Four  delegates  were  elected  to  attend  the 
convention  of  five  hundred  met  for  amending  the  con- 
stitution,— Nathan  Dane,  Robert  Rantoul,  John  Low 
and  Rev.  Nathaniel  W.  Williams. 

1824,  August  31st. — The  great  event  of  this  year 
was  the  reception  to  Ge  neral  Lafayette,  who  passed 
through  the  town  (August  3ist)  on  his  grand  tour 
through  the  country.  A  salute  of  thirteen  guns  on 
Ellingwood  Point  announced  his  approach;  anarch 
spanned  the  bridge,  decorated  with  flowers  and  flags, 
and  inscribed:  "  Welcome,  Lafayette,  the  man  whom 
we  delight  to  honor !  " 

He  was  welcomed  in  a  brief  but  eloquent  address  by 
the  Hon.  Robert  Rantoul,  to  which  he  feelingly  re- 
plied, and  then  continued  his  journey.  Many  people 
yet  residing  with  us  remember  the  visit  of  Lafayette, 
and  all  allude  to  the  day  as  having  been  exception- 
ally rainy.  The  following  is  Mr.  Rantoul's  account 
of  the  visit,  taken  from  his  "  Reminiscences,"  pub- 
lished in  the  Essex  Institute  "  Historical  Collec- 
tions : " 

"A  committee  of  arrangements  was  constituted  to  prepare  for  liis  re- 
ception. This  committee  invited  me  to  make  an  address  to  him.  He 
was  so  situated,  in  regard  to  his  stopping  at  Salem  and  at  Ipswich,  that 
he  could  not  alight  here ;  it  was  therefore  arranged  that  he  should  stop 
with  the  escort  and  cavalcade  in  front  of  the  bank-house  on  Cabot  St., 
and  receive  the  address  in  his  coach.  When  he  arrived  at  the  proposed 
place  there  was  a  heavy  shower  of  rain  ;  his  coach  stopped  abreast  the 
front  door  of  the  house,  the  door  of  his  carriage  was  thrown  open,  and 
I  proceeded  in  the  midst  of  the  heavy  rain  from  the  door  of  the  house  to 


BEVERLY. 


721 


the  side  of  the  coach,  having  first  secured  Nathaniel  Lamson  to  hold  an 
umbrella  over  me.  I  stood  in  the  water  with  my  hat  under  my  arm,  and 
read  the  address  I  had  prepared,  to  which  he  made  a  reply  ;  but  his  for- 
eign accent,  the  excitement  of  the  occasion  and  my  perturbation  pre- 
vented mo  from  fully  understanding  it.  This  being  accomplished,  the 
cavalcade  moved  on  for  Ij^swich,  amidst  the  cheers  of  those  assembled 
around  the  bank,  and  the  pelting  of  a  drenching  rain." 

In  1824  was  established  the  Liberty  Lodge  of  Free- 
masons, with  Colonel  Jesse  Sheldon  as  its  first  master, 
and  Stephens  Baker  as  secretary.  This  lodge  has 
flourished  from  the  first,  and  now  embraces  many  of 
our  leading  citizens. 

In  1867  the  Masons  erected  a  large  brick  building 
at  the  corner  of  Cabot  and  Washington  Streets, 
which  was  then  considered  the  finest  of  its  class  in 
town,  and  cost  over  twenty  thousand  dollars.  The 
Amity  Chapter  of  Royal  Arch  Masons  was  chartered 
subsequently,  and  occupies  the  hall,  while  stores  and 
numerous  ofiices  absorb  the  space  of  the  first  and  sec- 
ond floors. 

1826. — May  15th  the  town  lost  a  valued  citizen  by 
the  death  of  Dr.  Abner  Howe,  who  was  born  in  Jaf- 
frey,  N.  H.,  1781,  and  graduated  from  Dartmouth  in 
1801.  He  was  eminently  successful  as  a  physician, 
and  interested  in  public  and  private  charities  and 
the  schools.  The  house  he  lived  in,  on  Washington 
Street,  is  now  occupied  by  his  son,  Captain  Octavius 
Howe. 

1827. — Captain  John  Low,  a  one-time  resident  of 
Beverly,  who  died  in  Lyman,  Maine,  in  his  eighty- 
second  year,  raised  a  company  here  for  the  Continen- 
tal army  at  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution,  and 
at  one  time  kept  a  public  house  near  the  ferry  land- 
ing. 

1829.  —At  the  Farms,  this  year,  a  church  was  or- 
ganized, and  the  Re^.  Benjamin  Knight  ordained 
pastor,  September  2d.  It  started  as  a  "  Christian  " 
Church,  but  afterwards  became,  under  the  lead  of 
Mr.  Knight,  united  with  the  Baptist  denomination  in 
1834.  The  cost  of  its  first  house  of  worship,  which 
was  built  of  bricks  from  the  old  factory  at  North 
Beverly,  was  one  thousand  six  hundred  dollars,  and 
it  was  dedicated  February  23,  1830.  In  1831  it  was 
presented,  by  the  First  Church,  with  a  silver  tankard, 
as  a  token  of  its  love  and  good-will.  Mr.  Knight 
severed  his  pastoral  relations  with  the  church  in  1834, 
and  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Mr.  Gilbert,  then  by  Rev. 
P.  P.  Sanderson,  March,  1840-42 ;  Rev.  Sumner 
Hale,  1842-47 ;  Rev.  C.  W.  Redding,  1848-56 ;  Rev. 
Samuel  Brooks,  1857-60  ;  various  "supplys" 
from  1860-67 ;  Rev.  J.  W.  Lothrop,  1867-70 ;  Rev. 
Chas.  W.  Flanders,  1870-74;  Rev.  C.  W.  Redding. 
1874—81,  when  he  resigned,  on  account  of  ill  health, 
but  still  resides  at  the  Farms ;  Rev.  E.  M.  Shaw,  1881 
-84;  Rev.  J.  D.  Smith,  1885-86;  Rev.  T.  R.  Reed, 
stated  supply  from  October,  1886,  to  present  date. 
The  present  church  was  erected  in  1843-44,  at  a  cost 
of  five  thousand  dollars. 

1829-30. — About  this  time,  says   the   annalist  of 
Salem,  the  spirit  for  lyceums  broke   forth,  and  a  con- 
46 


vention  was  held  in  Topsfield  to  found  a  county  ly- 
ceura.  This  most  valuable  method  of  disseminating 
knowledge  was  publicly  advocated  in  this  town,  and 
the  Beverly  Lyceum  was  one  of  the  very  first  estab- 
lished, by  independent  effcM't  of  its  citizens.  As 
early  as  1830,  '31  and  '32,  Robert  Rantoul,  Sr.,  deliv- 
ered before  it  his  lectures  on  local  history,  which 
formed  the  basis  of  Stone's  work  on  Beverly.  During 
the  twenty  years  and  more  of  its  existence,  it  was 
ably  supported,  and  many  famous  names  appear 
among  the  lecturers  on  its  platform.  It  is  recorded 
that  Horace  Greeley  and  Elihu  Burritt  each  re- 
ceived fifteen  dollars  for  a  lecture,  and  that  the 
former  was  very  much  surprised  to  receive  an  invita- 
tion to  appear  a  second  time.  George  Bancroft, 
Wendell  Phillips,  Chas.  Sumner  and  Theodore  Park- 
er, received  twelve  dollars  each.  Ex-President 
John  Q.  Adams  lectured  here,  as  also  Miss  Lucy 
Stone,  Wilson  Flagg,  Robert  Rantoul,  Jr.,  Mr.  Thorn- 
dike,  Dr.  W.  C.  Boyden,  Dr.  Augustus  Torrey  and 
others  of  our  townsmen. 

Owing  to  the  rise  of  rival  associations,  the  old  Ly- 
ceum lost  support,  but  the  impulse  toward  this  form 
of  intellectual  recreation  continued,  and  has  been 
sustained  to  the  present  day. 

In  the  Athenajum  course  of  1860  lectured  Nath'l 
P.  Banks,  Josiah  Quincy,  Jr.,  Dr.  R.  H.  Neale  and 
six  others,  while  invitations  were  extended  to  Wen- 
dell Phillips,  Dr.  T.  D.  Anderson  and  John  G.  Saxe. 

Of  late  years,  the  most  active  promoter  of  lectures 
here  have  been  the  oflQcers  of  the  Royal  Arcanum, 
led  by  Austin  D.  Whitcomb. 

The  earliest  lyceum  lectures  were  held  in  the  Bris- 
coe Hall,  and  the  later  ones  principally  in  the  large 
hall  of  the  town-house. 

1830-31. — The  introduction  of  coal  into  this  town 
began  about  this  time.  In  October,  1831,  Messrs. 
Pickett  &  Edwards  carted  two  thousand  seven  hun- 
dred and  ninety  pounds  of  coal  to  the  hay-scales 
near  the  Old  South,  to  be  weighed,  and  then  to  the 
house  of  Jonathan  Batchelder;  and  also  other  small 
lots  to  a  few  other  individuals.  October,  1834,  forty- 
seven  tons  were  landed  here  from  a  vessel,  of  which 
Capt.  Stephen  Woodbury  was  master.  This  lot  was 
sold  to  forty-three  different  persons  in  the  space  of 
eleven  and  one-half  mouths.  It  came  in  large  blocks, 
and  had  to  be  broken  up  with  the  top-maul  or  axe, 
to  prepare  it  for  the  stove.  Many  weary,  fretful  hours 
(says  Mr.  Pickett),  were  spent  in  trying  to  make  the 
"strange  stuff"  burn;  some  would  finally  give  it  up 
in  despair,  but  others  persevered  and  made  it  a  suc- 
cess. At  present,  it  is  estimated,  twelve  thousand 
tons  are  annually  consumed. 

Fuel  at  first  came  (after  the  home  supply  became 
diminished)  from  the  forests  of  Maine;  but  even 
these  are  now  exhausted,  and  wood  is  brought  from 
Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick. 

1833. — The  Beverly  Academy,  projected  as  a  pri- 
vate school  by  an  association  of  gentlemen  became, 


722 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


although  its  existence  was  relatively  brief,  an  impor- 
tant factor  in  the  intellectual  development  of  the 
town. 

In  May  of  this  year,  the  association  purchased 
land  on  the  northeasterly  side  of  Washington  Street, 
and  erected  a  building  in  which,  June  17th,  a  school 
was  opened,  with  Abiel  Abbott,  of  Wilton,  N.  H.,  as 
principal,  and  Miss  Mary  R.  Peabody  assistant. 

Chas.  A.  Peabody,  of  Tamworth,  N.  H.  (since  a 
judge  and  a  prominent  citizen  of  New  York  City), 
succeed  Mr.  Abbott  for  one  terra,  next  year,  when  Ed- 
ward Bradstreet  assumed  the  position,  retaining  it 
till  June  30,  1836. 

A  year  previous,  January  30,  1835,  an  act  of  incor- 
poration had  been  obtained  by  Elliot  Woodbur}^  Jo- 
siah  Lovett  2d,  Michael  Whitney  and  their  associates 
and  successors,  as  the  Beverly  Academy. 

The  officers  of  the  Institution  elected  February 
18,  1835,  as  trustees,  were :  Robert  Eantoul,  Josiah 
Lovett  2d,  Elliott  Woodbury,  Albert  Thorndike, 
William  Endicott,  with  Wm.  Endicott  treasurer,  and 
Stephens  Baker  clerk. 

Between  the  years  1836-41,  Thos.  B.  Webb  was 
principal,  followed  by  Edward  Appleton,  a  Cam- 
bridge graduate  of  1835.  Valued  assistants  under 
Mr. , West  were:  Miss  Ann  W.  Abbott,  Miss  Mary 
Williams  and  Miss  Mary  T.  Weld. 

After  Mr.  Appleton  came  John  F.  Nourse,  from 
January,  1844,  to  August,  1847,  with  exception  of  two 
terms,  taught  by  James  W.  Boyden. 

From  September,  1847,  to  November,  1854,  Issachar 
Lefavour  was  principal,  with  Miss  Phoebe  E.  Abbott 
as  assistant.  Mr.  Lefavour,  a  graduate  of  Amherst 
College,  who  began  teaching  in  Beverly,  in  1834.  in 
the  old  school-house  at  the  Cove,  purchased  the 
Academy  building  in  1848.  The  building  was  then 
situated  on  the  corner  of  Brown  and  Washington 
Streets,  but  was  removed  thence,  and  is  now  occupied 
as  a  shoe  fafctory,  on  Park  Street.  Mr.  Lefavour  was 
the  last  to  maintain  the  Academy  here,  and  in  1855 
accepted  a  situation  as  principal  of  the  Ipswich  Gram- 
mar School,  where  he  taught  without  interruption 
nineteen  years.  He  always  remained  a  citizen  of 
Beverly,  however,  and  still  maintains,  after  half  a 
century  of  valuable  service,  an  undiminished  interest 
in  the  cause  of  education.  A  short-lived  academical 
school  was  opened  previous  to  the  above  mentioned, 
in  a  building  on  Washington  Street,  since  removed  to 
Beckford  Street,  where  it  was  used  as  the  Ryal-Side 
School-House,  but  now  owned  and  occupied  as  a 
dwelling-house. 

1834. — February  21st,  the  Beverly  Anti-Slavery 
Society  was  formed.  There  died  in  Camden,  Maine, 
December  10,  1834,  a  native  of  Beverly,  Mr.  Robert 
Thorndike,  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  years  and  five 
months. 

1835. — On  February  5th  Nathan  Dane  departed 
this  life,  who  was  born  in  Ipswich  December  27, 1752. 
Another  lawyer  of  local  eminence,  who  at  one  time 


studied  in  the  office  of  Mr.  Dane,  closely  followed 
him'  at  his  departure, — William  Thorndike,  born  in 
Beverly  January,  1795,  died  July  12,  1835.  He  fitted 
for  college  at  Phillips  Academy  in  Exeter,  and  grad- 
uated with  distinction  from  Harvard  in  1813.  He 
was  admitted  to  the  Essex  bar  in  1816,  and  com- 
m  enced  the  practice  of  law  in  Bath,  Me.,  but  in  a 
few  years  returned  to  his  native  town  to  engage  in 
mercantile  pursuits.  Here  he  was  elected  to  fill  posi- 
tions of  trust  and  honor ;  he  pronounced  the  Fourth 
of  July  oration  of  1816,  was  a  representative  at  Gen- 
eral Court  in  1826  and  '27,  and  a  senator  in  1828  and 
four  years  succeeding,  during  the  last  of  which  he 
was  i^resident  of  the  Senate.  He  was  for  several 
years  superintendent  of  the  First  Parish  Sunday- 
school,  and  at  his  death  at  the  head  of  financial  in- 
stitutions in  Boston. 

A  noteworthy  celebration  of  America's  independ- 
ence was  that  of  this  year's  anniversary,  on  the  occa- 
sion of  which  Edward  Everett  delivered  the  oration, 
taking  for  his  theme  the  early  life  of  George  Wash- 
ington. 

An  immense  audience  greeted  him  in  the  Dane 
Street  Church  meeting-house,  where,  for  an  hour  and 
a  half,  they  had  the  enviable  pleasure  of  listening  to 
this  distinguished  orator.  After  the  intellectual  feast 
had  concluded,  the  citizens  of  the  town,  with  invited 
guests,  repaired  to  the  Common,  where  a  pavilion  bad 
been  erected,  and  there  sat  down  to  a  substantial  din- 
ner. Robert  Rantoul,  Sr.,  presided,  and  among  the  as- 
sembled participants  were  twelve  Revolutionary  sol- 
diers, probably  the  last  survivors  of  those  gallant  sons 
of  liberty  our  town  had  provided  in  such  numbers. 
Although  many  toasts  were  drunk,  it  is  related  that 
the  president  of  the  occasion  and  many  influential 
citizens  set  a  commendable  example  of  total  absti- 
nence from  intoxicants. 

Among  the  toasts  was  one  to  the  "  orator  of  the 
day,"  responded  to  by  Mr.  Everett  in  his  happiest 
vein : — 

"  The  orator  of  the  day  :  The  union  of  genius,  talents  and  industry, 
regulated  by  virtuous  principle,  will  alwaj's  command  respect  and  es- 
teem from  a  free  and  enlightened  community.  The  power  of  eloquence, 
when  employed  to  promote  harmony,  union  and  peace  among  friends 
and  neighbors,  excites  the  most  grateful  feelings  and  merits  the  warm- 
est praise." 

Josiah  Lovett,  2d,  was  chairman  of  the  committee 
of  fourteen  who  so  wisely  conceived  and  ably  elabor- 
ated the  plan  of  the  celebration,  and  the  Beverly 
Light  Infantry  did  escort  duty  on  the  occasion.  There 
is  a  tradition  current  now,  at  this  date  fifty  years  re- 
moved from  the  event,  that  there  was  prospect  of  the 
festivities  being  interrupted,  early  in  the  day,  by  the 
appearance  of  a  "suspicious-looking  Southerner," 
armed  with  pistols.  As  this  gentleman  made  earnest 
enquiry  for  Mr.  Everett,  some  zealous  officials 
promptly  arrested  him  and  took  his  pistols  away  from 
him.  But  when  he  was  permitted  to  send  a  note  to 
Mr.  Everett,  his  identity  was  established  as  a  reporter 
for  the  New  York  Herald,  at  all  events  not  an  enemy 


BEVERLY. 


723 


thirsting  for  his  blood,  and  he  was  promptly  discharg- 
ed and  invited  to  the  dinner. 

At  a  town  meeting  held  August  20,  183.5,  a  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  secure  the  change  of  location 
of  the  Eastern  Railroad,  from  the  east  side  of  Essex 
Bridge  (as  projected)  to  the  west,  and  this  was  com- 
plied with  in  1837. 

The  old  ways  of  traveling  were  now  to  give  way  to 
the  new  method  with  propulsion  by  steam,  and  at 
the  advent  of  the  iron  horse  came  the  edict  of  ban- 
ishment for  the  antiquated  coach  and  stage,  with 
their  numerous  and  interesting  retinues  of  attendants. 
But  various  stage  and  transportation  lines  were  kept 
up  until  very  recent  times,  the  last  (or  one  of  the 
last)  being  Trask's  stage  to  Gloucester,  terminated 
within  the  memory  of  many  of  the  younger  genera- 
tion. 

Even  this  solitary  representative  of  the  past, — this 
lumbei-ing  stage  with  its  four  prancing  horses  and 
jolly  driver,  making  its  daily  trips  between  Salem  and 
Gloucester,  awoke  great  interest  all  along  the  line, 
and  gave  us  a  hint  of  what  the  stage-coach  must  have 
been  in  tlie  hey-day  of  its  existence. 

It  is  a  tradition,  firmly  believed  in  by  all  who  were 
favored  with  a  glimpse  of  Trask  and  his  "turn-out," 
that  the  stage  of  ancient  times  was  a  most  glorious 
thing,  bright  with  varnish,  with  gorgeous  landscapes 
painted  on  its  panels,  numerous  straps  dangling 
temptingly  just  out  of  reach  of  the  small  boy,  and 
mysterious  recesses  within  its  spacious  interior.  And 
thebroad-visaged,  rubicund  driver,  with  his  expansive 
smile  and  hearty  ways,  his  long-lashed  whip  that 
could  easily  reach  a  "cut  behind" — but  rarely  did — 
he  was  a  king  on  a  throne,  and,  if  he  were  conscious 
of  the  envy  and  admiration  he  excited,  would  cer- 
tainly have  put  on  kingly  airs. 

The  last  stage  coach  has  now  been  relegated  to  the 
most  neglected  corner  of  shed  and  barn,  its  only 
occupants  the  feathered  bipeds  of  the  farm-yard  ;  for, 
even  in  regions  remote,  that  were  wholly  unknown 
in  the  days  of  its  glory,  such  as  Texas,  California 
and  the  highlands  of  Mexico,  it  has  been  steadily 
pursued  and  persistently  demolished  by  the  iron 
monster — that  first  entered  our  territory  as  a  humble 
servitor,  but  now  threatens  to  crush  us  beneath  the 
steel-shod  hoofs  of  monopoly.  The  last  of  the  old 
stage-drivers  of  the  Boston  line  was  Woodbury  Page, 
who  was  also  the  first  station  agent  here  of  the  rail- 
road company.  His  old  stage,  "  The  Rambler,"  was 
for  a  long  time  stored  in  a  barn  on  the  Bancroft  estate, 
which  was  burned  to  the  ground,  with  all  its  contents, 
about  1850.  Woodbury  Page,  though  a  native  of  New 
Hampshire,  was  connected,  through  his  mother,  with 
the  AVoodburys,  of  Beverly. 

1836. — A  body  of  its  members  retired  from  the 
Dane  Street  Church,  and  organized  as  a  distinct  so- 
ciety, February  8,  1837,  by  the  name  of  the  "Wash- 
ington Street  Church." 

A  house  of  worship   was   erected,  and  dedicated 


March  29,  1837,  on  which  occasion  religious  services 
were  performed  by  Rev.  David  Oliphant,  formerly 
pastor  of  the  Third  Congregational. 

The  first  pastor  was  Rev.  William  Bushnell,  in- 
stalled January  3,  1838,  and  dismissed  May  9,  1842. 
Rev.  George  T.  Dole  was  ordained  October  6,  1842, 
and  dismissed  July  1,  1851. 

Rev.  Alonzo  B.  Rich,  installed  December  8,  1852, 
was  dismissed  August  G,  1867.  During  his  ministry 
the  greatest  number  (one  hundred  and  fourteen)  were 
added  to  the  church. 

Rev.  Charles  Van  Norden  was  installed  March  18, 
1868,  and  dismissed  April  14,  1873. 

Rev.  Benson  M.  Frink  was  installed  October  1, 1873, 
and  dismissed  September  30,  1876. 

Rev.  William  H.  Davis  was  ordained  July  5,  1877, 
and  dismissed  May  1,  1884. 

Rev.  William  E.  Strong  was  ordained  July  15,1885, 
and  is  the  present  pastor . 

1840. — The  first  Universalist  Society  was  organized 
February  17,  1840,  with  Daniel  Hildreth,  Stephen 
Homaus,  Jeremiah  Wallis,  Benjamin  D.  Grant  and 
William  A.  Foster  as  parish  committee.  Among  its 
early  preachers  were  Revs.  John  Prince,  Henry  Ba- 
con, William  Hooper  and  Sylvanus  Cobb,  but  the 
first  settled  jjastor  was  Rev.  E.  H.  Webster,  in 
1843. 

In  1846  a  church  was  erected,  which  was  enlarged 
and  beautified  in  1863,  and  every  demand  anticipated 
of  the  increasing  needs  of  its  congregation.  After 
Mr.  Webster  came  Rev.  W.  G.  Cambridge,  for  a 
year  and  a  half,  followed  by  Rev.  John  L.  Stephens, 
who  remained  a  year  and  then  withdrew  from  the 
ministry  and  entered  political  life.  He  was  after- 
wards editor  of  the  Keimebec  Journal  and  subsequent- 
ly was  appointed  United  States  Minister  to  Uruguay 
and  Paraguay,  and  later  to  Norway  and  Sweden. 

Rev.  Mr.  Washburn  came  to  the  pastorate  in  1847, 
and  continued  till  May,  1851,  when  he  resigned,  on 
account  of  ill-health,  and  died  the  same  year.  Rev. 
Stillman  Barden  occupied  the  pulpit  two  years,  re- 
signed in  1853,  and  died  in  Rockport  in  1865. 

Rev.  L.  W.  Coffin  was  pastor  for  two  years,  between 
1853  and '55,  then  resigned;  died  in  Barnardston  in 
1879. 

September  19,  1856,  Rev.  John  Nichols  was  settled 
over  the  church,  and  continued  in  service  here  for 
eleven  years,  impressiug  the  entire  community  with 
the  purity  of  his  life  and  sincerity  of  purpose.  The 
day  of  his  valedictory  sermon  was  also  the  day  of  his 
death,  as  he  was  stricken  with  paralysis  of  the  brain 
that  afternoon,  and  died  the  same  evening. 

Rev.  G.  W.  Whitney  was  ordained  July  24,  1867, 
and  resigned  in  April,  1872.  In  November,  1872, 
the  Rev.  J.  N.  Emery  was  installed,  remaining  here 
until  1884,  and  is  now  at  Bellows  Falls,  Vt.  Like  his 
predecessors,  he  acquired  the  confidenceof  his  fellow- 
citizens  and  exerted  an  infiuence  for  good.  From 
1884-85  Rev.  E.  W.  Prebble  preached  here,  and  Rev. 


724 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Charles  S.  Nickerson  in  1886;  but  at  present  (1887) 
there  is  no  settled  pastor. 

The  present  congregation  numbers  about  three 
hundred  individuals.  There  is  a  well-attended  Sun- 
daj'-school,  of  which  one  of  our  influential  citizens, 
Samuel  Porter,  was  (until  1886)  superintendent  for 
thirty  years. 

1840. — In  the  great  Whig  campaign  of  this  ye^r 
Beverly  partook  of  the  general  excitement.  The 
population  of  the  Farms  and  Cove  marched  to  the 
Centre  in  procession,  with  banners  flying,  and  on  the 
day  of  the  great  convention  at  Charlestown  the  town 
seemed  almost  entirely  deserted,  so  universal  was  the 
attendance. 

1841. — All  town-meetings,  previous  to  1798,  had 
been  held  in  the  First  Parish  meeting-house,  but  in 
this  year  a  building  was  erected  as  a  town  and  school- 
house  combined.  In  town-meeting  March  12,  1798, 
"  the  committee  appointed  to  view  and  report  the  dis- 
position of  the  rooms  in  the  new  Grammar  School- 
house  find  the  large  chamber  in  the  upper  story  in 
said  house  (with  another  row  of  benches),  will  accom- 
modate one  hundred  and  forty  persons,  and  therefore 
recommend  that  this  chamber  in  future  be  appropri- 
ated to  and  occupied  for  the  purposes  of  town-meet- 
ings and  town  affairs,  and  that  the  western  room  be 
appropriated  more  immediately  for  the  use  of  the 
selectmen  and  assessors. 

"  N.  B. — In  case  of  a  very  full  meeting  it  may  be 
adjourned  to  the  meeting-house." 

It  was  then  voted  that  "  All  future  town-meetings 
shall  be  warned  and  holden  in  the  chamber  in  the 
new  Grammar  School-house,  known  by  name  of  the 
Town  Hall,  instead  of  the  place  they  are  now  held." 

This  old  town  hall  stood  on  the  hill  back  of  the 
present  Briscoe  school-house,  was  of  two  stories  in 
height,  with  a  cupola  and  bell.  In  1842  it  was  given 
over  to  the  exclusive  use  of  the  Grammar  School,  and 
was  thereafter  known  as  Briscoe  Hall,  until  1874. 
In  1841,  with  a  portion  of  the  United  States  surplus 
assigned  the  town  it  purchased  the  Thorndike  man- 
sion, which  was  built  by  Andrew  Cabot  some  sixty 
years  previously,  and  fitted  it  up  for  the  uses  of  the 
town  officials,  with  a  large  hall  for  public  meetings. 
This  edifice  was  a  beautiful  example  of  the  best 
buildings  of  the  period  of  its  construction,  and  long 
stood  an  ornament  to  the  business  centre  of  the 
town. 

It  was  opened  to  the  public  October  26,  1841,  with 
religious  exercises  and  an  address  by  Robert  Rantoul, 
Jr.,  who,  though  at  first  opposed  to  its  purchase, 
gracefully  admitted  his  mistake.  The  work  of  alter- 
ation was  ably  supervised  by  a  committee  of  citizens, 
of  whom  the  only  survivor  is  Augustus  N.  Clark,  who 
has,  for  nearly  fifty  years,  been  prominent  in  works 
for  the  welfare  of  the  town.  This  hall,  at  various 
times  enlarged  and  improved,  answered  the  needs  of 
the  community  for  nearly  thirty  years.  But  the 
growing  demands  for  hall  and  library  space,  for  rooms 


in  which  to  transact  town  affairs,  and  greater  security 
of  property,  necessitated  its  enlargement  in  1874. 
The  lines  of  the  original  structure  were  obliterated, 
but  ample  accomodations  were  secured  for  all  the 
purposes  of  town  business.  The  cost  of  the  later 
alteration  was  about  thirty  thousand  dollars. 

The  Thorndike  property,  which  included  a  garden 
of  great  attractiveness,  and  extended  from  Cabot  to 
Lovett  Streets,  was  thrown  open  to  occupation,  at  the 
time  of  its  purchase  by  the  town,  and  is  now  covered 
by  some  of  our  finest  estates. 

A  grandson  of  Rev.  Thomas  Blowers  (second  minis- 
ter of  the  First  Parish)  died  at  Halifax,  N.  S.,  in  Oc- 
tober, 1842,  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  years.  He  was 
the  oldest  surviving  graduate  of  Harvard  College,  and 
had  long  occupied  an  eminent  judicial  position. 

1845-46. — The  Mexican  war  was  more  unpopular 
in  Beverly  than  the  War  of  1812,  and  there  were  few 
enlistments  of  our  citizens.  These,  it  is  believed, 
joined  the  ranks  of  the  regular  army :  Thos.  J.  Pous- 
land  (who  was  among  the  missing  in  the  last  war  ot 
the  rebellion) ;  Joseph  Bradshaw  and  Charles  F. 
Dodge.  Mr.  Bradshaw  (now  seventy-two  years  old, 
and  Mr.  Dodge,  who  is  about  ten  years  his  junior,  re- 
ceive pensions  from  the  general  government,  under 
the  new  law.  Mr.  Dodge,  who  is  still  hale  and 
hearty,  and  who  diligently  pursues  bis  vocation,  as  a 
builder,  retains  vivid  recollections  of  the  most  event- 
ful scenes  of  the  Mexican  invasion.  He  enlisted  in 
December,  1846,  in  the  battery  of  mountain-howitzers 
which  became  so  famous  as  "  Reno's  Battery  "  in  the 
operations  of  the  Valley  of  Mexico.  As  he  was  with 
the  troops  under  General  Scott,  he  was  at  the  bom- 
bardment of  Vera  Cruz,  where  he  first  landed  on 
Mexican  soil,  and  marched  thence  up  the  mountain 
slopes  to  Cerro  Gordo.  In  this  famous  pass  of  CeiTO 
Gordo  the  Mexicans,  under  Santa  Anna,  were  strong- 
ly posted,  with  a  numerous  force,  and  guns  guarding 
every  possible  approach.  Contrary  to  the  expecta- 
tions of  the  enemy.  General  Scott  did  not  march  di- 
rectly into  the  yawning  jaws  of  the  gorge,  where  cer- 
tain destruction  awaited  him  and  his  army,  but  spent 
several  days  in  opening  a  road  along  one  of  the  high 
and  apparently  inaccessible  hills,  in  this  manner 
flanking  the  strongest  batteries  and  forcing  the  Mexi- 
cans to  retreat  in  confusion. 

This  masterly  move  won  the  admiration  of  all  the 
old  soldiers,  many  of  whom  had  been  with  the  dash- 
ing Taylor  at  Monterey  and  Buena  Vista,  and  were 
disposed  to  murmur  at  Scott's  slow  advances.  But 
this  was  the  secret,  perhaps  of  his  success,  for  the 
lives  of  his  men  were  precious  to  him,  not  only  for 
their  own  sakes,  but  on  account  of  the  small  force 
with  which  he  was  making  this  invasion. 

Mr.  Dodge  was  detailed  to  go  back  to  communicate 
with  the  lieutenant  of  his  company,  and  in  doing  so 
saw  the  brave  General  Shields,  who  was  lying  on  a 
hillside  desjierately  wounded.  He  had  the  pleasure 
of  meeting  General  Shields  thirty  years  later,  in  1878, 


BEVERLY. 


Y25 


on  the  occasion  of  a  lecture  delivered  here  by  the  lat- 
ter, when  they  spent  several  hours  in  recounting  the 
scenes  through  which  they  had  passed  together,  and 
Mr.  Dodge  occupied  a  place  on  the  platform,  while 
the  General  gave  his  lecture  on  the  war.  In  the  great 
march  up  the  slopes  of  the  plateau  to  the  table-land, 
through  Jalapa,  Perote  and  Puebla,  and  in  the  strat- 
egic operations  about  the  Valley  of  Mexico,  Mr. 
Dodge  was  in  constant  service.  In  addition  to  Cerro 
Gordo,  he  was  in  the  battles  of  Contreras,  Churubusco, 
Chapultepec  and  the  city  of  Mexico. 

When  the  brave  Reno  was  wounded  the  command 
of  the  battery  devolved  upon  Beauregard,  for  whom, 
as  well  as  Pillow  and  Scott,  he  had  great  admiration. 
For  General  Scott,  indeed,  he  had  that  fervent  admi- 
ration understood  only  by  one  who  participated  in 
the  desperate  conflicts  on  Mexican  soil,  when  the 
great  general  so  successfully  led  that  little  army  of 
ten  thousand  against  such  overwhelming  odds  and 
into  the  heart  of  a  country  swarming  with  enemies. 
Our  townsman  was  one  of  the  first  tlirough  the  breach 
in  the  western  wall  of  Chapultepec,  but  declares  that 
General  Scott  was  on  the  castle  esplanade  almost  as 
soon,  looking  about  solicitously  for  the  wounded  and 
complimenting  the  boys  on  their  gallant  and  success- 
ful charge. 

After  Chapultepec  had  been  carried,  the  city  of 
Mexico  was  virtually  in  Scott's  possession,  for  the 
guns  of  the  castle  on  its  rock-ribbed  hill  commanded 
every  portion.  But  the  enthusiastic  soldiers  dashed 
down  the  sides  of  the  hill  and  along  the  great  aque- 
duct away  from  Chapultepec  to  the  city,  charging  in 
and  out  its  hundred  arches,  to  the  very  gates  of  the 
ancient  Aztec  stronghold.  They  carried  the  gates  and 
overcame  some  of  the  barricades,  when  night  fell 
about  them  and  necessitated  a  halt;  bat  they  held 
what  they  had  captured,  and  completed  the  conquest 
on  the  morrow.  One  of  the  guns  of  the  battery  to 
which  Mr.  Dodge  was  attached  was  taken  by  General 
(then  Lieutenant)  Grant  into  the  tower  of  a  church, 
and  this  mountain  howitzer  figures  conspicuously  in 
the  account  of  the  doings  of  Grant  at  that  time.  Dur- 
ing the  American  occupation  of  Mexico  Mr.  Dodge 
twice  performed  the  journey  between  Vera  Cruz  and 
the  city  of  Mexico  and  return  ;  once  in  doing  'escort 
duty  after  the  Mexican  surrender.  This  is  but  one 
episode,  briefly  sketched,  of  a  single  soldier  of  Bever- 
ly ;  could  the  history  of  each  one's  adventures  be 
given,  it  would  fill  a  volume. 

1848-49.— "  The  California  Fever."— Through 
the  acquisition  of  Texas,  New  Mexico  and  California, 
a  vast  territory  was  thrown  open  to  exploration,  as 
the  outcome  of  the  Mexican  War.  The  great  excite- 
ment over  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California  was  felt 
in  Beverly  as  in  few  other  places,  the  majority  of  its 
male  inhabitants  being  fishermen,  or  connected  in 
some  way  with  maritime  affairs. 

It  was  at  least  twenty  years  prior  to  this  event  that  gold 
was  brought  from  the  Pacific  coast  by  Capt.  John  Brad- 


shaw,  who  got  it  of  the  Indians  in  trade.  It  was  in 
the  form  of  gold-dust,  of  a  coarser  grain  than  the  Af- 
rican gold,  and  of  a  different  color.  Capt.  Bradshaw, 
who  claimed  to  be  the  first  to  hoist  the  American  flag 
on  the  Northwest  coast,  traded  there  for  many  years  ; 
he  used  to  refit  in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  is  men- 
tioned in  Dana's  "Two  Years  before  the  Mast."  Mr. 
Joseph  D.  Tuck  was  postmaster  during  this  period, 
and  says  the  great  event  of  this  time  was  the  arrival  of 
the  first  mail  acros>  the  Isthmus  from  California.  The 
rate  for  letter  postage  was  forty  cents  per  ounce,  yet 
some  gold-dust  and  even  grains  of  the  precious  metal 
found  its  way  through  the  mails  to  expectant  friends 
of  the  tar-distant  miners.  Although  the  gold  country 
was  on  the  other  side  of  the  continent  and  in  a  region 
almost  inaccessible,  yet  neither  distance  nor  prospec- 
tive danger  deterred  our  hardy  population  from  mak- 
ing the  venture.  They  had  faced  the  dangers  of  the 
seas  for  years,  and  a  voyage  around  the  Horn  was  to 
them  a  matter  of  small  moment. 

Of  those  who  had  determined  to  seek  the  golden 
country,  many  united  in  purchasing  and  fitting  out 
vessels.  One  party  started  on  the  overland  journey 
across  Texas,  but  some  of  them  died  of  cholera  at 
Corpus  Christi,  and  the  others  were  obliged  to  return 
and  seek  a  more  practicable  route. 

There  was  then  no  railroad  reaching  out  westwardly 
across  the  Mississippi,  and  only  the  trail  was  known 
across  Texas  and  New  Mexico  opened  by  American 
soldiers  a  year  or  two  previously.  Even  this  was  lit- 
tle known,  the  territory  through  which  it  led  having 
then  but  recently  been  acquired  from  Mexico.  The 
first  vessel  to  fit  for  Californi'a,  it  is  said,  was  the  brig 
"Sterling,"  Capt.  Edmund  Gallop,  whose  residence 
was  at  the  Cove. 

The  second  party  sailed  from  Salem  in  the  "  Eliza- 
beth ; ''  in  1850  the  "  Metropoli-*,"  Capt.  John  C  Ben- 
nett. Various  parties  were  fitted  out,  in  fact,  Bev- 
erly's population  being  greatly  depleted.  If  a  man 
could  not  go  himself,  he  would,  perhaps,  invest  in 
another's  venture,  and  sometimes  two  or  more  would 
combine  to  fit  out.  a  man  who  had  no  capital  other 
than  his  brain  and  muscle.  A  frequent  question  of  those 
times  was :  "  Don't  you  want  half  a  man  ?  "  meaning 
a  half-interest  in  some  miner's  adventure. 

The  most  important  venture  was  made  by  forty  men 
of  the  county,  thirty-six  of  whom  belonged  to  Beverly, 
who  purchased  and  fitted  for  a  long  sea-voyage,  the 
new  and  fine  barque  "San  Francisco,"  of  320  tons, 
then  just  built  in  Portland. 

They  chose  Capt.  Thomas  Remmonds  as  master, 
John  G.  Butman  as  chief  mate,  and  Andrew  Larcom 
second  mate.  They  set  sail  from  Beverly,  these  later 
Argonauts  in  search  of  the  golden  fleece,  with  as  lit- 
tle concern  for  the  vast  voyage  ahead  of  them  as  now 
we  of  the  present  generation  would  take  palace-car 
for  "  Frisco."  They  were  five  months  on  the  voyage, 
doubled  the  Horn, .coasted  the  western  shore  of  the  two 
'  continents,  and  arrived  at  their  destination  without 


726 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


mishap,  for  they  were   sailors   all,  and   nearly   every 
man  capable  of  taking  charge  of  the  vessel. 

They  landed  first  in  San  Francisco,  and  then  went 
up  to  Sacramento,  where  they  shared  out  their  provi- 
sions, sold  their  vessel  at  a  great  sacrifice,  and 
went  into  the  mines.  The  story  of  their  adventures 
has  been  practically  repeated  a  thousand  times ;  in 
fine,  they  did  not  find  the  golden  treasure  they  had 
dreamed  of,  and  few  of  them  returned  with  much  to 
show  for  their  labors.  They  could  have  made  more 
in  California  at  labor  in  the  woods  and  fields,  for  wood 
that  any  one  might  cut  brought  sixteen  dollars  a  cord, 
and  labor  was  from  ten  to  fifteen  dollars  per  day. 

Many  of  them  remained  two  years ;  some  even  stayed 
from  ten  to  twenty  years ;  but  the  homeward  migra- 
tion soon  commenced.  Most  of  them  returned  via 
the  Isthmus,  and  suffered  terribly.  One  of  our  citi- 
zens, Samuel  O.  Gallop,  broke  his  leg  on  the  Isthmus, 
and  died  of  the  accident  in  New  York. 

Mr.  Larcom  and  a  companion  came  across  Nicara- 
gua, in  an  ox-cart,  with  two  Indian  guides,  who 
couldn't  speak  a  word  of  English.  As  they  spoke  no 
Spanish,  their  course  was  sometimes  a  difficult  one 
and  their  adventures  amusing,  as  well  as  sometimes 
dangerous.  Mr.  Larcom,  who  is  now  living  at  eighty 
years  of  age,  and  who  is  one  oi^  our  keenest  sportsmen 
yet,  was  on  the  coast  of  Sumatra,  in  1831,  when  the 
ship  "  Friendship  "  was  taken  by  native  pirates  who 
killed  some  of  the  crew  and  drove  the  rest  overboard. 
The  crew  of  his  ship,  the  "  James  Monroe,"  retook 
the  abandoned  vessel  after  a  lively  fight  with  the 
pirates  and  brought  her  home.  Mr.  Larcom  is  prob- 
ably the  only  survivor  who  participated  in  this  fight ; 
and  there  are  but  seven  others,  living  in  town,  who 
went  in  the  "San  Francisco"  around  the  Horn; 
Albert,  Charles  and  Edward  Perry,  Charles  Pickett, 
Daniel  Wallis,  Thos.  D.  Davis  and  Josiah  Bennett. 
Many  of  the  original  "  Forty-niners  "  died  on  the 
voyage  or  at  the  mines,  and  but  few  are  left  of  those 
who  returned. 

1851. — Bass  River  Lodge  of  the  Independent  Order 
of  Odd  Fellows,  installed  at  Bell's  Hall,  February  21st, 
by  M.  W.  G.  Master  Usher.  A  hall  built  for  its  use  in 
1857  was  destroyed  by  fire  1873,  but  in  1874-75,  the 
fine  block  now  owned  by  the  Order  was  erected,  at  a 
cost  of  about  sixty-five  thousand  dollars.  It  is  sit- 
uated opposite  the  town-hall,  is  of  brick,  with  trim- 
mings of  granite,  and  contains,  besides  the  halls  used 
by  the  lodge,  some  of  the  most  eligible  store-space  in 
town.  The  post-office  occupies  the  entire  rear  half  of 
the  lower  floor,  with  entrances  from  Wallis  and 
Thorndike  Streets. 

The  lodge  now  numbers  about  four  hundred  mem- 
bers, its  receipts  during  its  existence  have  been  large, 
and  its  expenditures  for  benefits  and  charities  on  a 
generous  scale- 

The  auxiliary  Friendship  Lodge  of  the  Daughters 
of  Rebecca  was  installed  January  10,  1870,  and  the 
Summit  Encampment  September  20,  1870. 


1852.— August  7th,  this  year,  Robert  Rantoul,  Jr. 
died,  in  Washington,  a  biographical  sketch  of  whom 
is  elsewhere  given  in  this  volume.  It  needs  no  mention, 
perhaps,  that  the  greatest  in  the  land  brought  their 
tributes  here  and  laid  them  on  Rantoul's  grave.  In 
the  United  States  Senate,  Charles  Sumner  sketched 
his  career  and  pronounced  his  eulogy: 

"He  was  born  August  13th,  1805,  at  Beverly,  the  home  of  Nathan 
Dane,  author  of  the  immortal  ordinance  by  which  freedom  was  made  a 
perpetual  heirloom  in  the  broad  region  of  the  Northwest.  Here,  under 
happy  auspices  of  family  and  neighborhood,  he  commenced  life.  Here 
his  excellent  fitther,  honored  for  his  public  services,  venerable  also  with 
years  and  flowing  silver  locks,  yet  lives  to  mourn  his  last  surviving  son. 

"  The  bad  fortune  of  Burke  is  renewed  :  he  who  should  have  been  as 
posterity  is  now  to  this  father  in  the  place  of  ancestor. 

********* 

"The  death  of  such  a  man,  so  suddenly,  in  mid-career,  is  well  calcu- 
lated to  arrest  attention  and  to  furnish  admonition.  From  the  love  of 
family,  the  attachment  of  frieads  and  the  regard  of  fellow-citizens  he 
has  been  removed.  Leaving  behind  the  cares  of  life,  the  concerns  of 
State  and  the  wretched  strifes  of  party,  he  has  ascended  to  those  man- 
sions where  there  is  no  strife,  or  concern,  or  care.  At  last  he  stands  face 
to  face  in  His  presence  whose  service  is  perfect  freedom .  You  and  I,  sir, 
and  all  of  us,  must  follow  soon.  God  grant  that  we  may  go  with  equal 
consciousness  of  duty  well  done." 

The  offering  of  Whittier  has  become  a  part  of  the 
permanent  literature  of  our  country,  familiar  to  every 
reader  of  his  poetry ;  yet  we  must  be  pardoned  if 
we  quote  it  here  entire ;  for  it  belongs  to  us,  who 
dwell, — 

Here,  "where  his  breezy  hills  of  home 
Look  out  upon  his  sail-white  seas — " 

this  noble  poem ;  a  joint  legacy  of  the  bard  of  free- 
dom and  its  eloquent  advocate. 

"  RANTOUL." 

"  One  day,  along  the  electric  wire 

His  manly  word  for  Freedom  sped  ; 
We  came  next  morn  :  that  tongue  of  fire 
Said  only,  "  He  who  spake  is  dead  !  " 

Dead  !  while  his  voice  was  living  yet. 

In  echoes  round  the  pillared  dome  ! 
Dead  !  while  his  blotted  page  lay  wet 

With  themes  of  state  and  loves  of  home  ! 

Dead  !  in  that  crowning  grace  of  time, 

That  triumph  of  life's  zenith  hour  ! 
Dead  !  while  we  watched  his  manhood's  prime 

Break  from  the  slow  bud  into  flower  ! 

Dead  !  he  so  great,  and  strong,  and  wise. 
While  the  mean  thousands  yet  drew  breath  ; 

How  deepened,  through  the  dread  surprise, 
The  mystery  and  the  awe  of  death  ! 

From  the  high  place  whereon  our  votes 
Had  borne  him,  clear,  calm,  earnest,  fell 

His  first  words,  like  the  prelude  notes 
Of  some  great  anthem  yet  to  swell. 

We  seemed  to  see  our  flag  unfurled. 

Our  champion  waiting  in  his  place 
For  the  last  battle  of  the  world, — 

The  Armageddon  of  the  race. 

Through  him  we  hoped  to  speak  the  word 

Which  w  ins  the  freedom  of  a  land  ; 
And  lift,  for  human  riglit,  the  sword 

Which  dropped  from  Hampden's  dying  band. 

For  ho  had  sat  at  Sidney's  feet. 
And  walked  with  Pym  and  Vane  apart  ; 

And,  through  the  centuries,  felt  the  beat 
Of  Freedom's  march  in  Cromwell's  heart. 


BEVERLY. 


727 


He  knew  the  patlis  the  worthies  held, 

Where  Englaud's  hest  and  wieest  trod  ; 
And,  lingering,  drank  the  springs  that  welled 

Beneath  the  touch  of  Milton's  rod. 

No  wild  enthusiast  of  the  right, 

Self-poised  and  clear,  he  showed  alway 
The  coolness  of  his  northern  night, 

The  ripe  repose  of  autumn's  day. 

His  steps  were  slow,  yet  forward  still 
He  pressed  where  others  paused  or  failed ; 

The  calm  star  clomb  with  constant  will, — 
The  restless  meteor  flashed  and  paled  ! 

Skilled  in  its  subtlest  wile,  he  knew 

And  owned  the  higher  ends  of  Law  ; 
Still  rose  majestic  on  his  view 

The  awful  Shape  the  schoolman  saw. 

Her  home  the  heart  of  God  ;  her  voice 

The  choral  harmonies  whereby 
The  stars,  through  all  their  spheres,  rejoice, 

The  rhythmic  rule  of  earth  and  sky  ! 

We  saw  his  great  powers  misapplied 

To  poor  ambitions  ;  yet,  through  all. 
We  saw  him  take  the  weaker  side 

And  right  the  wronged,  and  free  the  thrall. 

Now,  looking  o'er  the  frozen  North 

For  one  like  him  in  word  and  act. 
To  call  her  old,  free  spirit  forth. 

And  give  her  faith  the  life  of  fact, — 

To  break  her  party  bonds  of  shame, 

And  labor  with  the  zeal  of  him 
To  make  the  Democratic  name 

Of  Liberty  the  synonyme, — 

We  sweep  the  land  from  hill  to  strand, 

We  seek  the  strong,  the  wise,  the  brave, 
And,  sad  of  heart,  return  to  stand 

In  silence  by  a  new-made  grave  ! 

There,  where  his  breezy  hills  of  home 

Look  out  upon  his  sail-white  seas. 
The  sounds  of  winds  and  waters  come. 

And  shape  themselves  to  words  like  these  : 

"  Why,  murmuring,  mourn  that  he,  whose  power 

Was  lent  to  Party  over-long, 
Heard  the  still  whisper  at  the  hour 

He  set  his  foot  on  Party  wrong  ? 

"  The  human  life  that  closed  se  well 

No  lapse  of  follj'  now  can  stain ; 
The  lips  whence  Freedom's  protest  fell 

No  meaner  thought  can  now  profane. 

"  Mightier  than  living  voice  his  grave 

That  lofty  protest  utters  o'er  ; 
Through  roaring  wind  and  smiting  wave 

It  speaks  his  hate  of  wrong  once  more. 

"Men  of  the  North !  your  weak  regret 

Is  wasted  here  ;  arise  and  pay 
To  freedom  and  to  him  your  debt 

By  following  where  he  led  the  way  ! " 

1853. — The  Beverly  lasurance  Company  was  incor- 
porated, with  a  capital  of  fifty  thousand  dollars. 
Frederick  W.  Choate  was  president  for  many  years. 
About  1880  the  stock  was  sold  at  par  to  gentlemen  of 
Boston,  and  the  name  changed  to  the  Merchants'  In- 
surance Company,  with  Chas.  H.  Fuller,  president, 
and  Elisha  Whitney,  secretary,  doing  business  in 
Boston  till  1886. 

The  Last  Survivor  or  the  Eevolution. — In 
the  year  1854  expired  the  last  (as  diligent  inquiry, 


and  thorough  examination  of  the  records  and  muster- 
rolls  inform  us)  of  Beverly's  Revolutionary  heroes. 

Mark  Morse,  who  died  March  18,  1854,  at  the  great 
age  of  ninety-six,  was  a  private  in  Capt.  John  Low's 
Company,  in  Col.  Hutchinson's  Regiment,  August 
1,  1775,  according  to  the  muster-roll  of  that  date, 
which  is  still  preserved  at  the  State  House  in  Boston. 
Mr.  Morse  was  a  respected  resident  of  that  part  of 
Beverlv  known  as  the  Cove,  and  lived  in  the  house 
(still  standing)  on  Ober  Street,  just  west  of  its  junc- 
tion with  Woodbury  Street.  It  is  within  a  short  dis- 
tance of  the  spot  on  which  Humphrey  Woodbury 
(about  1630)  built  one  of  the  first  houses  in  Beverly; 
a  section  rich  in  reminiscence,  and  the  home  of  many 
of  the  hardy  fishermen  that  once  materially  contri- 
buted to  the  wealth  of  Beverly. 

It  is,  the  historian  is  well  aware,  contrary  to  the 
popular  opinion  that  any  survivor  of  the  Revolution 
abode  with  us  beyond  1850.  On  the  occasion  of  the 
seventy-fifth  anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  Lexington, 
in  1850,  but  two  survivors  of  that  fight  are  mentioned 
as  among  the  living :  Jonathan  Harrington,  of  Lex- 
ington, aged  ninety-two,  and  Amos  Baker,  of  Lincoln, 
aged  ninety-four.  These  honored  men  sat  on  the 
platform,  the  chief  guests  of  the  occasion,  and  were 
feelingly  alluded  to  by  the  speakers. 

In  the  town  records,  between  1820-30,  are  many  al- 
lusions to  the  demise  of  Revolutionary  veterans,  be- 
coming less- and  less  frequent  beyond  the  thirties  and 
forties,  and  ceasing  entirely  within  forty  years  of  the 
present  time.  In  1822  (to  cite  a  few  illustrious  names) 
Col.  John  Francis  died,  aged  sixty-eight;  he  was 
wounded  in  the  war  and  received  a  small  pension. 
Aaron  Francis,  his  brother,  died  1825,  aged  seventy- 
four,  an  oflicer  in  the  Revolution.  The  year  follow- 
ing died  Peter  Glover,  aged  eighty-five.  In  1821  Asa 
Herrick,  aged  seventy-nine.  Capt.  Hugh  Hill,  our 
famous  privateer,  deceased  1829,  at  the  ripe  old  age 
of  eighty-eight.  The  same  year,  Jeffrey  Thissell,  at 
seventy-four. 

In  1833,  at  the  age  of  ninety-one,  departed  Sarah 
Wyer,  a  sister  of  the  brothers  Francis.  Sergt.  William 
Taylor  Manning,  a  Virginian  by  birth,  but  long  a 
resident  of  Beverly,  died  in  1838,  aged  eighty-one. 
Sergt.  Manning  served  throughout  the  war,  and  at  the 
close  received  an  honorable  discharge  signed  by 
Washington,  bespeaking  his  worth  and  merit.  In 
1842,  the  year  Stone's  "  History  of  Beverly  "  was  pub- 
lished, casual  mention  is  made  of  a  Revolutionary 
soldier,  Ebenezer  Rea.  According  to  the  muster-roll 
of  November,  1776,  he  was  then  enlisted.  He  died 
November  11,  1843,  aged  eighty-three.  Upon  his 
tomb-stone,  to  be  seen  in  the  second  cemetery,  is  in- 
scribed :  "  He  was  beloved  and  honoured  all  his  life 
and  lamented  in  death  as  the  true  friend,  the  upright 
and  patriotic  citizen,  the  enlightened  and  devoted 
Christian  ;  "  but  no  mention  is  made  of  his  war 
record.  He  lived  in  the  old  house  at  the  Cove,  on 
Hale  Street,  still  known  as  the  Rea-house,  the  oldest 


728 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


in  that  neighborhood,  perhaps  in  the  town,  built  by 
one  of  the  first  Thorndikes,  and  a  fine  example  of 
the  colonial  architecture.  Ebenezer  E,ea's  father 
was  Capt.  Joseph  Eea,  who  was  one  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary committee  of  correspondence,  and  commanded 
the  company  enlisted  in  Beverly  and  Lynn  which 
went  to  the  aid  of  Washington  in  New  Jersey.  Capt. 
Ebenezer  was  fifteen  years  old  at  the  time  of  the  bat- 
tle of  Lexington,  and,  it  is  said,  used  to  relate  many 
anecdotes  of  events  that  transpired  in  town  during 
the  war. 

After  serving  in  the  army,  he  sailed  for  the  West 
Indies,  in  the  "  Resource,"  with  Capt.  Richard  Ober, 
when  he  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  British  and  car- 
ried into  Jamaica.  He  was  not  confined  closely,  but 
was  transferred  with  other  sailors  to  the  "Pelican,"  a 
British  man-of-war  which  foundered  at  sea,  four  of 
the  crew  being  lost.  He  obtained  his  liberty  in  1782, 
and  arrived  safely  home,  to  dwell  with  his  neighbors 
during  sixty  years  of  comparative  peace. 

Rev.  Elisha  S.  Williams,  at  one  time  pastor  of  the 
Baptist  Church,  and  who  died  in  Beverly  in  1845, 
aged  eighty-seven  years,  four  months,  was  a  soldier 
under  Washington.  The  last  of  these  patriots,  prob- 
ably, next  to  Mark  Morse,  was  Josiah  Foster,  who 
died,  at  the  age  of  eighty-nine,  in  1849.  Mr.  Foster 
was  one  of  the  captured  crew  of  the  snow  "  Diana," 
imprisoned  in  Mill  Prison,  England,  in  1781,  By  no 
means  complete,  this  scattering  record  of  "  Revolu- 
tioners "  is  given  merely,  to  indicate  the  probable 
survivors,  at  difi'erent  periods,  of  that  most  important 
epoch  of  our  historj'. 

1858. — October  24th,  Robert  Rantoul,  deceased,  in 
his  eightieth  year. 

To  the  faithful  portraiture  following,  from  the 
skilled  and  loving  hand  of  Rev.  Dr.  A.  P.  Peabody,  who 
knew  so  intimately  the  departed,  little  may  be  added. 

"  Robert  Rantoul  was  the  son  of  Robert  Rantoul  (a 
native  of  Scotland,  who  early  became  an  American 
citizen,  was  a  shipmaster,  and  was  lost  at  sea  in  1783), 
and  of  Mary,  daughter  of  Andrew  and  Mary  (Lam- 
bert) Preston,  of  Salem.  The  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  born  in  Salem,  November  23,  1778.  The  eldest 
child  of  a  family  left  with  a  scanty  competence,  it  was 
the  ambition  of  his  boyhood  to  relieve  his  mother's 
burdens,  and  to  minister  to  her  support  and  comfort, 
and  after  a  short  but  thorough  apprenticeship,  at  the 
age  of  eighteen,  he  invested  his  small  patrimony  in 
the  establishment  of  a  druggist's  shop  in  Beverly. 
He  understood  his  business,  was  diligent,  frugal  and 
enterprising,  obtained  the  respect  and  confidence  of 
his  townsmen,  and  remained  in  his  original  calling 
for  more  than  twenty  years,  till  forced  to  abandon  it 
by  the  pressure  of  various  public  trusts  and  duties 
which  demanded  and  filled  his  whole  time,  till,  in  a 
late  old  age,  he  yielded  to  disabling  infirmity.  Mean- 
while he  had  acquired  not  wealth,  but  property  amply 
sufficient  for  his  comfortable  living,  and  his  never 
stinted  charities. 


In  1801  he  married  Joanna,  daughter  of  John  and 
Elizabeth  (Herrick)  Lovett,  of  Beverly,  whose  pre- 
eminently lovely  character  gave  grace  and  happiness 
to  his  home  for  nearly  half  a  century,  and  whose  pre- 
cious memory  has  an  enduring  place  in  the  hearts  of 
all  that  knew  her. 

Shortly  after  his  marriage  he  built,  on  a  beautiful 
site  near  the  seashore,  the  house  in  which  he  lived  for 
more  than  fifty  years,  and  which  is  still  in  the  posses- 
sion and  occupancy  of  his  only  surviving  daughter. 

Of  Mr.  Rantoul's  public  life  the  following  synopsis 
is  an  authentic,  and  probably  a  full  record.  It  would 
hardly  permit  of  being  fuller:  He  was  an  overseerof  the 
poor  of  Beverly  from  1804  to  1854,  when  he  resigned, 
having  written  fifty  consecutive  annual  I'eports ;  a 
justice  of  the  peace  and  acting  trial  justice  for  the 
town  from  1808  until  his  death  in  1858,  as  well  as 
parish  clerk  of  the  First  Parish  for  the  same  period, 
and  deacon  of  the  First  Church,  for  forty-six  years 
before  his  death ;  an  original  and  life-long  member  of 
the  Massachusetts  Temperance  Society  from  its  incep- 
tion in  1812;  was,  from  1830  to  1851  inclusive,  an 
original  trustee,  on  the  part  of  the  State,  of  the  Insti- 
tution for  the  Education  of  the  Blind;  represented 
the  town  in  the  General  Court  for  the  years  from 
1809  to  1819,  from  1823  to  1827  and  from  1828  to  1833 
inclusive,  having  been  chosen  a  Senator  from  Essex 
County  for  the  years  1820,  '21  and  '22, — a  total  legis- 
lative term  of  twenty-five  years ;  was  captain  of  the 
Light  Infantry  Company  of  Beverly  from  1805  to 
1809;  and  first  lieutenant  of  the  Coast-guard  Artillery 
Company  in  1814-15;  was  for  some  years  one  of  the 
county  commissioners  of  highways,  and  presented,  at 
the  invitation  of  the  town,  August  31, 1824,  an  address 
to  Lafayette  on  his  tour  through  Beverly ;  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  school  committee  lor  forty  years ;  a  member 
of  two  State  Conventions  which  have  been  held 
(1820  and  1853)  for  amending  the  Constitution  of 
Massachusetts,  and  called  the  latter  to  order;  and, 
after  reaching  his  majority  in  1799,  attended  every 
annual  town  meeting  but  one,  and  nearly  every  town 
meeting  held  in  Beverly,  until  1854,  a  period  of  fifty- 
five  years. 

It  may  well  be  inferred  from  this  list  that  his  was  a 
pre-eminently  busy  life,  especially  as  it  was  his  uni- 
form habit  to  do  thoroughly  to  the  full  measure  of  his 
ability  whatever  he  undertook  to  do.  For  many 
years,  as  justice  of  the  peace,  he  had  probably  nine- 
tenths  of  the  business  of  Beverly  and  the  smaller 
adjacent  towns,  and  his  office  became  a  well-known 
and  frequented  court-room.  At  the  same  time,  his 
intimate  knowledge  of  the  laws  actually  in  force  made 
him  a  safe  and  wise  counsellor,  and  he  was  constantly 
called  upon  for  his  opinion  and  advice,  which  was 
always  given  gratuitously,  and  always  with  the  jiur- 
pose  of  settling  disputes  and  superseding  litigation. 
During  the  greater  part  of  his  service  in  the  Legisla- 
ture he  was  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Accounts, 
and  in  that  capacity  it  was  his  wont  to  audit  the 


s^htav^ 


(jPM(/2a.^^^^-^^ 


BEVERLY. 


729 


entire  accounts  of  the  State,  and  to  report  against 
every  charge  that  W8S  not  reasonably  fair,  fully  author- 
ized and  legally  due.  In  his  care  of  the  poor  he  kept 
the  almshouses  under  constant  supervision,  while  the 
merits,  claims  and  needs  of  outside  pensioners  Avere 
made  the  subject  of  careful  enquiry.  He  took  great 
interest  in  the  public  schools,  and  the  teachers  and 
pupils  found  in  him  a  judge  of  their  work  equally  dis- 
criminating and  kind.  These  various  offices  he  bore, 
not  because  he  sought  them,  but  because  they  sought 
him.  His  public  life  lay  chiefly  within  the  period 
when  fitness  was  deemed  the  prime  qualification  for  a 
public  charge.  He  would  not  have  lifted  his  finger 
to  obtain  the  highest  place  in  the  government  of  the 
State  or  the  nation,  and  had  he  been  elected  to  the 
humblest  post  of  civic  duty,  he  would  have  accepted 
it,  and  have  put  into  it  the  best  work  that  could  be 
done  for  and  in  it.  He  belonged  (as  long  as  it  existed) 
to  the  Federalist  party,  and  had  the  singleness  and 
tenacity  of  aim  and  purpose  which  constituted  the 
enduring  praise  of  its  leader,  yet  undoubtedly  led  to 
its  Inevitable  defeat  and  disorganization.  In  the  lat- 
ter years  of  his  life  he  voted  with  the  Democratic, 
then  with  the  Free  Soil  party,  but  took  no  active  part 
in  the  measures  of  either.  In  addition  to  his  public 
and  official  duties,  Mr.  Rantoul  had  a  large  and  benefi- 
cent life-work.  Private  trusts  seemed  to  gravitate 
spontaneously  in  his  direction,  and  no  man  can  have 
had  them  in  greater  number  or  diversity  than  he,  if 
we  except  those  who  make  the  management  of  them 
a  profession.  As  executor,  administrator,  guardian  or 
trustee,  he  had  in  his  hands  a  large  proportion  of  the 
estates  in  Beverly,  especially  when  such  a  charge  was 
a  charity.  If  there  was  a  small  or  heavily-encum- 
bered estate  from  which  there  was  a  possibility  of 
saving  a  pittance  for  a  widow  or  children,  he  was 
almost  always  solicited  to  assume  its  management, 
and  there  were  many  instances  in  which  a  family  that, 
but  for  him,  would  have  been  left  in  utter  penury, 
had  their  s-lender  means  secured,  invested  and  hus- 
banded by  him,  without  cost,  and  without  ever  being 
reminded  of  their  indebtedness  to  him.  His  widowed 
sister  and  her  children  were  hardly  less  under  his 
assiduous  and  generous  charge  than  if  they  had  lived 
under  his  own  roof.  Of  the  two  orphan  children  of  a 
brother-in-law,  he  adopted  one  as  his  own  daughter, 
and  so  managed  the  patrimony  of  both  as  to  surrender 
it  on  their  majority  with  an  incredibly  large  increase. 
The  late  Rev.  Dr.  Anderson  and  his  two  brothers 
were  the  step-sons  of  his  sister-in-law,  and  the  sons 
of  a  clergyman  who  left  them  a  very  scanty  inherit- 
ance, which  Mr.  Rantoul,  as  their  guardian,  so  admin- 
istered as  to  make  it  suffice,  so  far  as  they  were 
informed,  for  their  college  and  professional  education. 
Two  of  the  brothers  died  young,  but  the  venerable 
survivor  never  ceased  to  speak  with  the  warmest 
gratitude  and  affection  of  his  early  care-taker  and 
benefactor. 

Mr.  Rantoul  was  among  the  pioneer  reformers  of 
46J 


his  time.  When,  as  a  military  officer,  several  years 
before  the  existenceof  the  earliest  temperance  society 
in  the  world,  he  received  the  company  under  his 
command  at  his  own  house,  he  omitted  the  usual 
supply  of  intoxicating  liquors,  taking  care  to  add  to 
the  entertainment  more  than  a  full  equivalent  for 
their  cost.  From  that  time — how  long  before  we  do 
not  know — he  never  tasted  such  liquors,  or  had  them 
in  his  house,  and  for  a  long  time  he  found  himself,  at 
public  tables  and  on  festive  occasions,  the  only  water- 
drinker. 

He  was  the  first  person  in  Massachusetts  to  stir  the 
question  of  capital  punishment,  which  he  kept  con- 
stantly before  the  I^egislature,  and  toward  the  discus- 
sion of  which  he  contributed  largely  by  legislative 
reports  and  through  the  public  i>ress. 

Always  opposed  to  slavery,  yet  equally  opposed  to 
philanthropy  of  the  denunciatory  type,  he  was  in 
full  sympathy  with  the  advanced  opinions  of  wise  and 
patriotic  men  in  favor  of  emancipation. 

Of  Mr.  Rantoul's  private  character  it  is  impossible 
that  any  eulogy  should  exceed  the  truth.  His  firm 
religious  faith  and  principle  were  made  manifest  in  a 
rigid  conscientiousness  which  could  not  neglect  or 
slight  any  known  duty.  His  integrity  was  not  only 
strict  and  unswerving,  but  often  transcended  its  own 
proper  measure,  so  that  in  what  he  meant  as  simple 
justice  he  was  not  unapt  to  wrong  himself,  sometimes, 
indeed,  at  a  very  serious  loss  and  sacrifice,  assuming 
responsibilities  which  no  one  else  would  have  regarded 
as  in  anywise  belonging  to  him.  While  always  ready 
to  meet  every  legitimate  call  of  charity,  he  was,  in 
fact,  much  more  generous  than  he  seemed.  He  obeyed 
in  full  the  evangelic  precept  of  reticence  as  to  his 
good  deeds,  and  there  were  many  cases  in  which  funds 
inadequate  for  the  needs  which  they  were  to  meet 
could  have  been  made  sufficient  only  as  supplemented 
by  his  unostentatious  kindnes-'. 

In  his  family,  as  a  neighbor,  as  a  friend,  as  a  citizen, 
no  man  could  have  been  more  trusted,  honored  and 
revered  than  he  was,  or  more  deservedly. 

Of  church  and  State  he  was  one  of  the  strong  pil- 
lars, that  are  never  replaced  in  the  public  esteem  and 
confidence  till  the  generation  that  relied  on  their  sup- 
port has  passed  away.  Mr.  Rantoul  was  never  in 
vigorous  health,  but  seldom  ill ;  his  mind  retained  its 
unimpaired  vigor  till  his  last  illnes-^.^ 

1859. — The  first  local  paper,  The  Citizen,  estab- 
lished on  a  sure  foundation  was  started  this  year,  af- 
ter several  previous  but  unsuccessful  attempts.  The 
first  paper  to  bear  this  name  was  published  by  An- 
drew F.  Wales,  now  deceased,  the  first  number  bear- 
ing date  of  March  17,  1851,  with  Rev.  Ira  Washburn 
as  editor. 

The  later  Citizen  was  founded  by  John  Batchelder 


1  Fuither  details  of  Mr.  Rantoul's  life,  and  his  connection  with  town 
affairs,  may  be  found  in  his  "  Eeminisceuces,"  published  in  the  "  His- 
torical Collections  of  the  Essex  Institute." 


730 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Cressy,  who,  during  twenty-three  years  of  ownership, 
wisely  maintained  it  as  a  valued  depository  of  local 
news  and  history.  In  1882  it  became  the  property  of 
Irving  W.  Allen,  under  whose  management  it  has 
been  enlarged,  but  with  the  main  features  preserved 
that  conduced  to  its  success. 

1860. — In  the  presidential  election  of  this  year  the 
vote  of  Beverly  is  recorded  :  for  Lincoln  and  Ham- 
lin, 739;  Bell  and  Everett,  120;  Douglas,  72;  Jef- 
ferson Davis,  23  ;  total,  954. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  the  people  of  Beverly 
were  not  unanimously  in  favor  of  the  Anti- Slavery 
movement,  although  its  principles  had  won  with  the 
majority.  The  struggles  and  triumphs  of  the  friends 
of  the  cause  are  a  part  of  yet  unwritten  history. 

One  of  them,  Mr.  A.  N.  Clark,  kindly  furnishes  the  fol- 
lowing data  regarding  the  formation  of  the  Beverly 
Anti-Slavery  Society  :  Although  the  plan  of  coloniz- 
ing Liberia,  as  a  means  of  civilizing  and  Christianiz- 
ing Africa,  as  well  as  helping  to  rid  our  own  country 
of  the  curse  of  slavery,  had  been  earnestly  presented 
to  the  people  of  Beverly,  in  their  churches,  and  con- 
tributions sought  in  aid  of  that  endeavor,  it  was  not 
till  about  the  year  1832  that  immediate  emancipation 
began  to  be  advocated  and  the  rights  of  the  slave  to 
his  freedom  and  citizenship  upon  the  soil  where  he 
was  born.^  Lectures  were  frequently  delivered  upon 
this  exciting  theme  and  earnest  debates  held  before 
the  Beverly  Lyceum. 

The  universal  sentiment  was  opposed  to  the  exten- 
sion of  slavery,  but  very  few,  then,  were  in  favor  of 
complete  emancipation.  The  temper  of  the  public 
mind  at  that  time  is  well  known.  By  some,  Garrison 
and  his  immediate  followers  were  denounced  as  dan- 
gerous to  the  well-being  of  the  nation  ;  while  they,  in 
turn,  accused  the  northern  churches  of  being  in  fel- 
lowship with  the  South — the  "  Bulwark  of  American 
Slavery " — and  declared  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  a  "covenant  with  hell." 

There  were  other  advocates  who  were  listened  to 
with  more  of  patience,  and  who  did  good  service  in 
correcting  and  moulding  public  opinion :  such  men 
as  Pierpont,  May,  Staunton,  Leavitt,  Phelps  and 
Phillips. 

The  church  doors,  however,  had  become  barred 
against  the  Anti-Slavery  advocates,  and  the  Old 
Town  Hall  became  the  battle-ground;  and  this  only 
was  secured  by  some  of  the  citizens  giving  a  bond  for 
its  security  against  violence. 

As  early  as  1833  an  Anti-Slavery  Society  was 
formed  in  Beverly,  not  numerous,  for  it  required 
courage  to  "  stand  up  and  be  counted."  The  object 
of  the  society  was  to  educate  public  sentiment  in  re- 
gard to  the  great  evil  of  American  slavery  and  the 
safety  to  both  races  in  its  immediate  overthrow.  A 
library  was  established  for  the  circulation  of  tracts 


1  See,  also,  Wilson's  "  Bise  and  Fall  of  the  Slave  Power,"  vol.  i.,  p. 
2C4.  et.,  seq. 


and  other  literature  on  the  question  of  slavery  as  was 
then  available.  This  library,  as  a  matter  of  conve- 
nience, was  located  at  the  drug-store  of  Augustus  N. 
Clark,  on  Cabot  Street,  the  proprietor  of  the  store 
acting  as  librarian.  The  library  case  was  made  by 
John  Tuck,  2d,  and  by  him  presented  to  the  society  ; 
it  has  been  carefully  preserved,  while  the  library, 
made  up  as  it  was  mostly  of  pamphlets  and  unbound 
books,  has  disappeared. 

Of  the  original  members  of  the  society,  Augustus 
N.  Clark,  John  I.  Baker,  Charles  Moulton  and  Eben 
H.  Moulton,  still  survive. 

The  society  continued  during  six  years,  when  slav- 
ery becoming  (1840)  an  issue  in  politics,  it  ceased  to 
exist;  but  the  impetus  of  the  movement  could  not 
be  arrested  ;  the  result  the  world  knows. 

BEVERLY   IN   THE   CIVIL   WAR. 

It  has  been  fully  shown,  in  the  pages  preceding, 
that  the  people  of  Beverly  were  ever  animated  by 
highest  principle,  and  were  never  wanting  in  military 
spirit.  A  well-trained  militia  was  always  to  be  found 
here  at  call ;  as  early  as  1662  there  was  a  foot  com- 
pany under  Captain  Thomas  Lothrop.  After  his 
lamented  death,  at  Bloody  Brook,  Lieutenant  William 
Dixey  was  appointed  to  the  command,  by  the  Gen- 
eral Court,  and  he  was  succeeded  by  Paul  Thorndike. 
A  company  of  horse  had  been  organized  previous  to 
1689,  with  William  Rayment  as  captain,  William 
Dodge  as  lieutenant,  John  Dodge,  Jr.,  cornet,  and 
Thomas  West  quartermaster. 

They  were  on  the  point  of  being  disbanded,  by  or- 
der of  General  Court,  in  1690,  but  at  their  earnest 
request  were  allowed  to  continue,  provided  they  could 
furnish  "  forty  able-bodied  troopers,  equipped  accord- 
ing to  law,"  which  they  did.  The  services  of  our 
soldiers  in  the  various  fights  with  the  Indians,  and 
during  the  Revolution  and  the  war  of  1812,  have 
been  detailed.  Between  the  peace  of  1783  and  the 
end  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  military  spirit  was 
at  an  ebb,  but  rose  promptly  with  the  exigencies  of 
the  occasion. 

In  1800  (October  17th)  the  first  voluntary  associa- 
tion of  men  as  a  light  infantry  company  was  formed, 
but  not  organized  ^under  the  law  till  June  2,  1801. 
They  were  then  regularly  enlisted  under  an  order 
from  Lieutenant-Colonel  James  Burnham,  of  the 
Third  Regiment.  Jonathan  H,  Lovett  was  chosen 
captain,  Josiah  Gould  lieutenant,  and  Robert  Ran- 
loul  ensign. 

This  company  was  disbanded  in  1814,  but  in  1815 
another  light  infantry  company  was  organized,  which 
has  existed  to  the  present  time.  Its  first  captain  was 
William  Thorndike,  and  his  successors  various  re- 
spected citizens  eminent  in  different  walks  of  life. 
This  organization  kept  alive  the  spark  that  might 
otherwise  have  become  extinguished  during  the  long 
period  of  peace ;  especially  at  the  annual  "  May  train- 
ings" and  "Fall  musters." 


BEVEELY. 


731 


During  nearly  fifty  years  of  peaceful  life,  the  Bev- 
erly militia  had  fought  its  bloodless  battles  on  the 
training-field  ;  the  monotony  of  its  existence  seemed 
likely  to  continue  unbroken  during  an  equal  period, 
when  suddenly  there  came  the  occasion  for  its  ser- 
vices. 

1861. — It  is  significant,  that,  though  there  were 
formerly  three  military  companies  in  Beverly,  these 
had  dwindled  to  one  in  1860,  and  that  one  a  volun- 
tarj^  association.  But  this  one.  Company  E.,  Beverly 
Light  Infantry,  Avas  alert  and  prepared  for  action  ; 
its  commander  had.  his  "  ear  to  the  ground  ''  for  the 
first  premonitions  of  war. 

In  the  Citizen  for  January  19th,  1861,  is  printed 
the  oflicial  order  by  Governor  Andrew,  for  Beverly  to 
be  ready  at  all  times  to  furnish  her  quota  of  troops 
upon  any  requisition  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States.  The  original  of  this  order  is  now  in  posses- 
sion of  Colonel  Francis  E.  Porter,  then  captain  of 
Company  E.  The  paper  adds  :  "  In  accordance  with 
this  order,  Captain  Porter  has  notified  Company  E. 
to  meet  at  the  armory  on  Monday  next,  at  seven 
o'clock." 

The  sequel  is  thus  stated  :  "  Company  E.  at  a  spec- 
ial meeting,  in  response  to  the  order  of  Governor 
Andrew,  had  a  full  and  enthusiastic  rally,  and  sixty- 
seven  readily  volunteered  for  any  service  that  might 
be  required  of  them  by  the  government." 

And  two  months  later  the  following  : 

"  The  order  for  the  meeting  of  the  Eighth  Kegiment  was  received 
here  on  Monday,  April  16th,  and  early  on  Tuesday  morning  the  flag  of 
the  Beverly  Light  Infantry  was  waving  on  their  armory.  The  compa- 
ny mustered  in  full  ranks,  and  with  music,  marched  to  the  station  to 
take  the  10  50  train  for  Boston,  being  frequently  greeted  by  the  waving 
of  handkerchiefs  bj'  the  young  ladies  in  the  shoe  factories  on  Railroad 
Avenue.  Some  time  elapsed  before  the  arrival  of  the  train,  during 
which  the  company  went  through  the  drill  exercise  quite  satisfactorily. 
Before  leaving,  each  oflficer  was  the  recipient  of  a  splendid  sword  and 
revolver,  gifts  from  friends  here." 

"After  they  had  entered  the  train,  and  as  it  left,  cheer  after  cheer 
rose  from  the  assembled  multitude  who  had  gathered  to  witness  their 
departure.  The  company  is  composed  of  young  men  who  are  called 
away  from  the  scenes  of  home  and  cherished  associations  to  serve  the 
land  of  their  birth  in  the  hour  of  need,  and  most  cheerfully  have  they 
responded  to  the  call.  The  wishes  of  every  loyal  citizen  and  lover  of  his 
country  go  with  them. 

"  While  the  company  were  drilling  at  the  station,  Mr.  William  J. 
Smith,  not  a  member,  but  whose  breast  was  filled  with  patriotism,  and 
who  has  experienced  some  of  the  hardships  of  Texan  life,  hearing  the 
sound  of  the  drum,  dropped  his  axe  and  hastened  to  respond  to  the  call 
to  arms.     He  left  with  the  company  and  his  name  appears  on  the  roll. 

"  On  arrival  at  Boston  the  company  marched  to  Faneuil  Hall,  where 
they  quartered  until  Thursday,  when  they  left  for  Washington  at  6 
P.  M." 

The  same  paper  announcing  their  departure  con- 
tained, also,  the  President's  proclamation  for  75,000 
troops,  dated  Washington,  April  15th,  the  surrender 
of  Sumter,  April  13th,  the  attack  on  the  Sixth  Regi- 
ment by  the  Baltimore  mob,  and  the  additional  in- 
formation that  the  Eighth  had  safely  reached  Phila- 
delphia and  was  quartered  in  the  Continental  hotel. 

"On  the  loth  of  April,  1801,  (says  Schouler's  'Massachusetts  in  the 
Rebellion  ')  Governor  Andrew  received  a  telegram  from  Washington  to 
send  forward  at  once  15,000  men.  The  drum-beat  of  the  long  roll  had 
been  struck. 


"  On  the  morning  of  the  16th  the  companies  began  to  arrive  in  Bos- 
ton, and  before  nightfall  every  company  that  had  received  its  order  in 
time  reported  at  headquarters  for  duty." 

Company  E.  was  the  first  in  Massachusetts  to  re- 
port for  duty ;  Captain  Porter  received  his  orders  at 
five  P.  M.,  April  15th,  when  he  immediately  notified 
his  men  in  person,  reporting  ready  for  duty  that 
night.  It  was  the  second  to  arrive  in  Boston,  and 
could  have  been  the  first,  had  not  Adjutant-General 
Hinks  sent  word  that  the  company  was  not  needed 
before  twelve  o'clock. 

Subscriptions  were  started  for  a  relief  fund  for  sol- 
diers' families  in  town,  and  had  reached  the  amount 
of  two  thousand  eight  hundred  dollars  on  the  morn- 
ing of  their  departure. 

April  20th,  a  mass  meeting  was  held  in  the  town- 
hall,  and  patriotic  speeches  were  made  by  many  citi- 
zens. The  relief  fund,  at  the  close  of  the  meeting 
amounted  to  three  thousand  dollars. 

The  ladies  of  Beverly  organized  a  society  for  the 
furnishing  of  clothing  and  other  necessaries  to  the 
militia  of  the  State.  One  hundred  and  thirteen  la- 
dies attended  the  first  meeting;  Miss  Hannah  Ran - 
toul  was  chosen  president,  with  an  able  corps  of  as- 
sistants. 

Military  companies,  formed  in  various  parts  of  the 
town,  received  over  one  hundred  members  during  the 
first  week. 

Following  Schouler's  "  Massachusetts  in  the  Civil 
War,"  we  find  that  the  Eighth  Regiment,  which  had 
arrived  in  Boston  on  the  16th,  did  not  leave  the  city 
till  the  18th,  when  it  marched  to  the  State-House  and 
was  presented  with  a  set  of  regimental  colors  by  Gov- 
ernor Andrews,  who  also  addressed  the  soldiers  in 
spirited  terms.  The  regiment  left  Boston  at  four 
o'clock  that  afternoon,  greeted  everywhere  along  the 
route  to  Philadelphia  "  with  the  same  unbounded 
enthusiasm  the  Sixth  had  received.  General  Butler 
accompanied  it  as  commander  of  the  Massachusetts 
brigade.  The  regiment  reached  New  York  on  the 
morning  of  the  eventful  19th  of  April, — when  the 
soldiers  of  the  Sixth  were  attacked  by  the  Baltimore 
mob, — and  marched  down  Broadway  amid  the  con- 
gratulations of  the  vast  multitude.  This  was  the 
second  Massachusetts  regiment  that  had  marched 
through  that  city  in  advance  of  all  others,  while  two 
other  regiments  were  on  the  seas  for  Fortress  Monroe." 

It  was  in  Philadelphia,  where  they  arrived  that 
evening,  that  they  received  details  of  the  attack  upon 
the  Sixth,  that  day,  in  Baltimore. 

"This  intelligence  gave  new  energy  and  enthusiasm 
to  the  men,  and  made  them  more  eager  to  press  for- 
ward to  Washington.  They  had  expected  to  reach 
the  capital  by  way  of  Baltimore;  but  that  route  was 
now  closed,  and  a  new  one  had  to  be  opened,  which 
served  as  the  military  highway  to  Washington  for 
Eastern  troops,  until  sedition  was  suppressed  in  Bal- 
timore, and  that  city  assumed  a  loyal  attitude.  The 
new  route  was  by  the   Susquehanna  and  Chesapeake 


732 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS] 


Bay  to  Annapolis,  the  capital  of  Maryland.  A  branch 
railroad  of  seventeen  miles  connected  Annapolis 
with  the  Baltimore  and  Washington  Railroad.  By 
this  route,  Washington  could  be  reached  without 
touching  Baltimore The  railroad  from  An- 
napolis to  the  Junction,  where  it  connects  with  the 
Baltimore  and  Washington  Railroad,  had  in  part  been 
destroyed,  and  the  engines  and  cars  j^artially  dis- 
abled. After  considerable  delay,  the  track  was  re- 
laid  and  the  engines  and  cars  put  in  order  by  the  men 
of  the  Eighth,  To  the  Eighth  Regiment  will  ever  be 
the  honor  of  having  opened  the  route  to  Washington 
by  the  way  of  Annapolis,  and  of  having  saved  from 
possible  loss  the  frigate  '  Constitution,' the  '  Old  Iron- 
sides' ofthe  War  ofl812." 

The  regiment  arrived  in  Washington  on  the  after- 
noon of  Friday,  April  26th,  eight  days  after  its  de- 
parture from  Boston. 

Referring  to  the  achievements  of  this  regiment  at 
Annapolis,  the  Naiional  Intelligencer  of  the  next 
morning  remarked : 

"  We  doubt  whether  any  other  single  regiment  in  the  country  could 
furnish  such  a  ready  contingent  to  reconstruct  a  steam  engine,  lay  a 
railroad  track  and  bend  the  sails  of  a  mau-of-\\  ar." 

One  of  the  company  wrote  home  that  week,  that 
President  Lincoln  appeared  on  their  arrival  in  Wash- 
ington, and  said : 

"Three  cheers  for  the  Eighth  Regiment  of  Massachusetts,  who  can 
build  locomotives,  lay  railroad  tracks  and  re-take  the  Constitution." 

On  the  arrival  of  the  Eighth  Massachusetts  Regi- 
ment at  Annapolis,  General  Butler  found  the  rail- 
road engine-house  locked  up.  He  broke  it  open, 
and  discovered  the  engine  all  in  pieces.  "  Who 
knows  anything  about  an  engine  ? "  was  the  ques- 
tion. 

One  man  stepped  out  of  the  ranks  and  said  :  "  I  do, 
General,  I  made  that  locomotive,  and  can  repair  her 
in  two  hours," — and  he  did. 

This  was  Chas.  S.  Homans,  a  native  of  Beverly. 
When  in  Washington  he  was  visited  and  congratula- 
ted in  person  by  President  Lincoln. 

A  member  of  the  New  York  Seventh  writing  of 
this  event  at  the  time,  said  that  Charles  S.  Homans, 
of  the  Beverly  Light  Infantry,  was  the  deus  ex  ma- 
china,  who  found  his  mark  written  on  the  disabled 
locomotive  at  Annapolis,  and  superintended  its  con- 
struction. 

Mr.  William  Isaac  Smith,  who  volunteered  as  fire- 
man on  this  occasion,  was  the  gentleman  who  left  his 
labors  to  join  the  company  in  the  depot  at  Beverly. 

He  is  now  living  at  Ryal  Side,  and  Mr.  Homans  is 
still  living,  though  an  invalid. 

A  letter  from  Capt.  Porter,  dated  May  8,  1861,  des- 
cribes the  regiment  as  in  good  condition,  undergoing 
thorough  drill  and  quartered  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives. 

The  Si:?:th  Massachusetts  Volunteers,  he  adds, 
were  the  first  to  reach  Washington,  and  the  Eighth 
opened  thp   nii)itary   route    from   Annapolis.     "We 


should  have  been  the  next,  had  we  not  received  a 
despatch  from  General  Scott  to  stop  at  Annapolis, 
and  guard  that  post  until  the  arrival  of  another  regi- 
ment." 

The  first  man  of  the  regiment  injured  was  Lieut. 
Moses  S.  Herrick,  of  the  Beverly  Company,  who  was 
shot  in  the  foot  by  the  accidental  discharge  of  a  mus- 
ket, in  the  rotunda  of  the  Capitol.  The  muskets, 
loaded  with  ball  cartridges,  were  stacked  around 
near  the  wall,  and  as  some  men  were  bringing  in 
mattresses,  they  knocked  a  stand  down,  one  of  the 
guns  being  discharged  into  Lieut.  Herrick's  foot, 
mutilating  it  terribly.  The  limb  was  amputated  by 
the  surgeon  of  the  Sixth,  and  Lieut.  Herrick  bore  his 
great  misfortune  bravely,  only  lamenting  that  he 
could  not  have  received  the  wound  while  fighting  in 
the  field.  Attentions  of  every  sort  were  showered 
upon  him  as  he  lay  in  hospital,  and  also  en  route 
home  and  in  Beverly,  He  is  residing  in  Beverly  to- 
day, in  the  Upper  Parish,  the  house  of  the  Chipmans 
and  Herricks. 

1861. — May  15,  At  a  town-meeting  in  aid  of  the 
Beverly  soldiers,  the  following  resolutions  were  unani- 
mously adopted : 

"  Resolved,  That  we  tender  to  the  officers  and  soldiers  now  absent  in  the 
service  ofthe  country,  our  warmest  meed  of  praise  for  their  noble  and 
manly  self  sacrifice,  in  so  readily  responding  to  the  national  call,  and  for 
the  skill,  energy,  perseverance,  courage  and  ability  which  they  so  faith- 
fully evinced  in  their  triumphal  progress  and  march  to  the  nation's 
capital. 

"  Resolved,  That  we  tender  to  the  far-famed  Seventh  Regiment  of  New 
York,  our  heart-felt  thanks  for  their  many  kindnesses  to  our  Eighth 
Massachusetts  Regiment,  and  especially  for  their  liberality  towards  our 
wounded  fellow-citizen,  Lieut.  Moses  S.  Herrick. 

"  Resolved,  Ih&t  our  wurmest  sympathies  be  tendered  to  Lieut,  Her- 
rick in  his  misfortune,  and  (hat  we  pledge  ourselves  to  him  and  to  all 
his  associates  in  our  Beverly  company,  and  our  other  Beverly  soldiers, 
and  to  their  respective  families,  to  render  all  the  material  aid  and  com- 
fort that  we  can  legitimately  bestow." 

The  last  of  August,  1861,  Lieut,  John  W,  Raymond, 
who  had  returned  with  the  Eighth,  proposed  to  re- 
cruit a  company  in  Beverly,  to  be  attached  to  the  old 
regiment,  if  revived,  otherwise  to  some  other  Massa- 
chusetts regiment. 

In  less  than  a  month  he  had  raised  over  sixty  men, 
who  were  encamped  under  his  command  on  the  com- 
mon. The  name  proposed  for  the  company  was  the 
"  Rantoul  Guard."  The  first  of  October  the  company 
chose  as  officers  :  Captain,  John  W.  Raymond  ;  First 
Lieutenant,  Henry  P.  Woodbury  ;  Second  Lieutenant, 
Daniel  W.  Hammond. 

On  the  Sunday  succeeding  (October  5th),  they  at- 
tended, in  a  body,  divine  services  at  the  Washington 
Street  Church,  in  the  morning,  and  at  the  Bapti-Jt  in 
the  afternoon. 

October  15th  the  gallant  captain,  with  nearly  his 
full  complement  of  one  hundred  ofthe  picked  men  of 
the  town,  went  into  camp  at  Lynnfield.  Before  they 
had  fairly  departed  from  the  town  a  new  movement 
was  on  foot  for  the  recruiting  of  another  company, 
with  the  promise  of  more  than  members  enough  to  help 
fill  it  at  the  outset. 


BEVERLY. 


733 


This  Company  G  was  attached  to  the  Twenty-third 
Regiment,  Col.  Kurtz,  and  in  November  we  find  them 
encamped  at  Annapolis. 

The  interdependence  of  soldiers  and  citizens  is  well 
shown  in  one  little  incident  of  this  period.  A  request 
was  sent  from  Capt.  Raymond  to  Capt.  F.  E.  Porter, 
at  home,  for  a  supply  of  such  shirts  as  the  Ladies' Aid 
Society  had  furnished  them.  The  letter  arrived  on 
Monday,  on  Tuesday  the  ladies  were  industriously  at 
work,  and  on  Friday  they  packed  and  forwarded  over 
one  hundred  of  the  required  garments  to  their  brave 
brothers  at  the  front. 

The  history  of  the  Twenty-third  Regiment  has 
been  carefully  written  by  Dr.  James  A.  Emmerton,  of 
Salem:  "  A  Record  of  the  Twenty-third  Regiment," 
Boston,  1886. 

"  Hardly  had  the  year  (1862)  opened,  says  the  his- 
torian, "  when  these  new  made  soldiers  found  them- 
selves amid  the  dangers  and  privations  of  Hatteras, 
and  in  early  February  they  took  a  prominent  part  in 
the  battle  of  Roanoke  Island — one  of  the  completest 
as  it  was  one  of  the  first  of  Union  victories. 

"  The  capture  of  Newbern  soon  followed,  and,  after 
that,  the  regiment,  though  by  no  mean^  inactive,  saw 
little  of  pitched  battle  for  two  years. 

"  In  the  Virginia  campaign  of  1864,  it  was  in  the 
forefront  of  the  almost  uninterrupted  fighting  which 
followed  the  landing  at  Bermuda  Hundred,  and  cul- 
minated in  the  stubborn  and  bloody  repulse  of  Beau- 
regtrd  at  Drury's  Bluff;  it  gained  the  foremost  ground 
reached  and  held  by  the  Eighteenth  Corps  at  Cold 
Harbor,  and  bore  its  full  share  of  the  dangers  and  pri- 
vations of  the  early  days  of  the  siege  of  Petersburg.  A 
remnant  of  its  veterans  and  recruits  was  employed  in 
picket  and  outpost  duty  till  the  campaign  of  1885, 
when  they  shared  the  fortunes  of  the  column  which 
opened  communication  with  Gen. Sherman.'' 

The  first  week  in  May,  1864,  the  Beverly  boys  of 
the  Twenty-third  lost  heavily  in  killed  and  wounded. 
Captains  Raymond  and  Woodbury,  of  Companies  G 
and  F,  were  captured  and  wounded,  but  the  former 
effected  his  escape  by  cutting  his  captor  nearly  in 
twain  with  his  sword,  while  the  latter  shot  his  assail- 
ant with  his  revolver.  Officers  and  privates  all  sus- 
tained the  honor  of  their  native  town  at  the  peril,  and 
many  with  the  sacrifice,  of  their  lives. 

An  episode  of  the  Drury's  Bluff  battle  (May  16,  '64) 
in  which  Captain  Raymciid  was  a  participant,  is  nar- 
rated in  the  "Record  of  the  Regiment." 

"  Captain  Raymond,  of  '  G,'  following  the  retreat- 
ing regiment,  stopped  to  help  a  wounded  man,  Bray, 
of  his  company.  Concluding,  from  the  bloody  torrent 
gushing  from  his  breast,  that  he  could  do  no  good,  he 
rose  to  leave  him,  and  found  the  rebel  line,  with  col- 
ors, close  upon  him.  His  ccmtemptuous  refusal  to 
surrender  brought  a  volley  upon  him  which  tore  his 
clothes,  carried  away  his  sword-belt  and  almost  blinded 
him  with  the  dust  and  bits  of  bark  torn  from  neigh- 
boring trees.     Yielding  to  first  impulse,  he  opened  a 


return  fire  from  his  revolver,  but  speedily  recognizing 
the  odds  against  him,  he  left  the  field  in  the  hands  of 
the  enemy  and  escaped  into  the  favoring  fog." 

And  again,  of  the  fighting  before  Petersburg,  the 
regiment  historian  says : 

"  About  the  1st  of  July,  Captain  Raymond,  of  "  G,"  who,  since  we  had 
lost  Colonel  Chambers,  and  Major  Brewster  was  disabled  by  his  wound, 
was,  practically,  in  command  of  the  regiment,  had  another,  and  perhaps 
the  closest  of  his  escapes  from  serious  injury.  I  do  not  forget  that  the 
bullet  which,  hitting  him  in  the  head  at  Drury's  Bluff,  left  him  for  a 
time  unconscious,  or  the  missile  which  passed  just  below  his  right  arm- 
pit, grazing  his  thorax  and  arm,  at  Gold  Harbor,  came  very  near  his 
life.  This  time  the  immediate  disability  was  more  lasting,  and  the  re- 
mote effects  have  never  disappeared.  He  was  sitting  on  a  trench,  read- 
ing a  letter,  when  a  shot  or  shell  from  some  rebel  gun  plunged  through 
the  heaped  earth,  struck  the  log  on  which  the  captain's  shoulder  rested, 
and  threw  him  against  the  sharp-angled  abutment  of  the  stairs.  Exam- 
ination showed  a  rib  broken,  another  bent,  and  a  third  bruised  ;  but 
Captain  Raymond  would  not  go  to  the  hospital,  insisting  that  he  could 
not  be  spared,  and  that  his  euro  would  progress  as  well  iu  the  trenches 
as  anywhere  else." 

Letters  from  the  front,  from  our  brothers  encamped 
before  the  enemy  throughout  the  South,  from  on 
board  men-of-war  and  gunboats,  were  for  three  years 
prominent  in  our  local  papers.  They  all  breathe  the 
same  spirit,  of  fervent  patriotism,  disregard  of  danger 
and  high  devotion  to  principle,  that  infused  their  an- 
cestors under  similar  circumstances  a  hundred  years 
before. 

Until  the  latter  part  of  '61,  Beverly  had  been  for- 
tunately exempt  from  grave  casualties,  but  as  the 
next  year  opened  began  the  list  of  dead  and  wounded 
that  soon  lengthened  portentously. 

The  fir-t  Beverly  soldier  who  died  during  the  Re- 
bellion, private  Levi  F.  Larcom,  was  buried  with  mil- 
itary honors. 

The  religious  services  were  held  in  the  First  Baptist 
Church  by  Rev.  J.  C.  Foster,  Rev.  Dr.  Abbott  pro- 
nouncing the  benediction. 

1862. — The  first  soldier  killed  in  conflict  with  the 
enemy  was  private  William  Wallis,  who  was  fatally 
wounded  in  the  battle  of  Newbern,  on  the  14th  of 
March,  and  died  on  the  16th.  As  a  specimen  of  the 
thousands  of  soldiers'  letters  n(  w  speeding  back  to 
the  north  with  their  sad  tidings,  the  following  is 
quoted  ;  written  by  a  comrade  of  the  deceased  to  his 
widow. 

"  Dear  Friend  : — I  now  take  u  ji  my  pencil,  with  a  sad  heart,  to  inform 

you  of  the  death  of  your  beloved  husband.     I  was  close  by  him  when  he 

fell.     I  carried  him  back  to  the  rear,  out  of  the  range  of  the  shot,  and 

left  him  in  the  care  of  the  doctor.     He  was  willing  to  die,  but  you  and 

the  children  were  all  that  seemed  to  trouble  him.     He  gave  me  your 

likeness  and  his  Bible,  and  asked  me,  if  I  lived  through  the  battle,  to 

write  to  you  and  let  you  know  all  about  it.    I  then  had  to  leave  him,  as 

the  battle  was  raging  with  fury.     We  drove  the  rebels  out  of  their  dens, 

and  took  possession  of  the  city.     It  was  then  night  ;  the  next  morning  I 

made  enquiries  for  him,  but  he  had  passed  away,  with  a  good  faith  in 

God.     He  gave  his  life  for  his  country's  cause,  and  he  now  lies  in  his 

silent  grave,  far  from  home.     May   God,  in  his  tender  mercy,   watch 

over  the  little  ones  he  has  left  behind  !     I   shall   send   the   likeness  and 

Bible  to  you  as  soon  as  I  can. 

"  No  more  at  present,  from  your  friend, 

"  Wm.  F.  Early." 

The  chaplain  of  his  regiment,  and  also  his  captain, 
pausing  in  the  heat  of  conflict,  sent  home  loving 
tributes  to  liis  worth. 


734 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


On  the  19th  of  April,  just  a  year  from  the  Balti- 
more massacre,  died,  private  James  Williams,  an- 
other of  the  soldiers  wounded  in  the  Newbern  fight. 
He,  with  two  other  comrades,  James  Dodge  and  John 
Glidden,  had  been  badly  wounded,  he  in  the  leg,  by 
a  ball  which  passed  through  the  knee  and  dropped 
into  his  boot;  Glidden  was  shot  through  the  thigh, 
and  Dodge  through  the  shoulder.  Funeral  services 
were  held  in  the  Dane  Street  Church,  Eev.  Dr.  Abbott 
preaching  an  impressive  sermon.  The  coffin  was  de- 
posited in  the  church,  and  upon  its  lid  the  fatal 
bullet. 

Thus  were  we  reminded  of  the  terrible  consequences 
of  war.  Scarce  a  week  passed,  now,  that  some  name 
was  not  added  to  the  death-roll,  or  that  did  not  wit- 
ness the  return  of  some  disabled  patriot.  Williams 
was  the  first  man,  as  Dr.  Abbott  said,  who  had  died 
among  us  from  a  wound  received  on  the  field  of 
battle. 

At  a  town-meeting,  July  10th,  which  was  a  full  and 
enthusiastic  one,  it  was  voted  : 

"  That  the  selectmen  of  this  town  be  authorized  to  allow  and  pay,  in 
addition  to  the  customary  allowance  for  the  benefit  of  the  families  of 
volunteers,  the  sum  of  one  hundred  dollars  to  each  person  who,  as  a 
part  of  the  quota  of  this  Commonwealth,  shall  within  twenty  days  be 
duly  enlisted  in  this  town  into  the  volunteer  service  of  the  U.  S. ;  paya- 
ble when  mustered  into  service.  The  selectmen  are  ai.thorized  to  use 
the  credit  of  the  town  fully  to  carry  this  into  effect." 

At  the  same  time,  recruiting  was  going  on  vigor- 
ously, with  the  prospect  of  a  full  company  of  one 
hundred  and  one  men  being  raised  in  a  short  time. 

The  Beverly  company  raised  at  this  time,  Company 
K,  was  attached  to  the  Fortieth  Massachusetts,  with 
Edward  L.  Giddings  as  captain,  John  F.  Piper,  first 
lieutenant,  Leonard  G.  Dennis,  second  lieutenant, 
and  left  for  the  seat  of  war  September  4,  1862. 

Company  E,  of  the  Eighth,  was  mustered  out 
August  1,  1861.  The  next  call  was  made  May  26, 
1862.  Banks  having  been  driven  back  into  the 
Shenandoah  Valley,  the  government  called  for  more 
men.  Ninety  men  responded  in  two  hours  after 
orders  were  received.  They  proceeded  to  Boston 
where,  after  remaining  two  days,  they  found  they 
were  not  wanted  at  that  time  and  returned  home. 

On  the  19lh  of  September,  Company  E  was  again 
mustered  in  for  nine  raonlhs,  with  three  officers  and 
ninety-eight  men.  They  departed  for  Newbern,  the 
day  before  Thanksgiving,  and  arrived  there  on  the 
4th  of  December.  The  next  day,  before  the  company 
received  its  arras  and  equipments,  it  was  ordered  with 
Company  A  of  Newburyport  to  Roanoke  Island 
where  it  remained  till  June  28th.  It  then  received 
orders  to  join  the  regiment  at  Newbern.  On  reach- 
ing Newbern,  the  company  found  that  the  regiment 
had  been  ordered  to  Baltimore  and  followed  on,  ar- 
riving there  July  12th,  only  to  learn  that  the  regi- 
ment had  gone  to  Maryland  Heights  where  the  com- 
pany found  it  finally.  The  same  day,  the  company 
started  with  the  regiment  for  Funkstown  Md.,  where 
it  arrived  on  the  afternoon  of  the  next  day,  just  in 


season  to  see  the  rear  of  Lee's  army  across  the  Poto- 
mac. After  following  it  down  the  Potomac  to  Beal- 
ton's  Station  on  the  Rappahannock,  the  company  was 
ordered  to  report  at  Massachusetts,  its  term  of  service 
having  expired,  arriving  about  the  first  of  August. 

1864. — April  2Sfh,  another  call  was  made  on  Com- 
pany E,  this  time  for  garrison  duty  at  forts  in 
Massachusetts.  It  proceeded  at  once  to  Readville. 
It  was  mustered  into  service  with  three  officers  and 
eighty-eight  men  who  served  ninety  daj^s  and  were 
then  mustered  out  and  re-enlisted  for  one  hundred 
days'  service.  At  the  expiration  of  that  time  they 
were  mustered  out  and  nearly  all  the  men  re-enlisted 
again,  for  a  year,  in  the  Second  Unattached  Com- 
pany, Massachusetts  Volunteers.  The  company  was 
reorganized  at  once  in  Beverl}'-  with  three  officers  and 
one  hundred  men  and  Avas  ready  for  service  during 
the  winter  of  1864-65. 

On  the  21st  September,  1887,  Company  E  held  a 
reunion  of  its  surviving  members,  at  which  were 
present  many  who  had  served  during  the  Rebellion. 
With  the  field  music  marched  drummer  George  M. 
Tucker,  beating  the  old  drum  which  he  brought  from 
Washington  in  the  summer  of  '61,  with  the  same 
sticks  which  sounded  the  calls  and  the  long  roll,  not 
only  for  Company  E,  but  for  three  years  in  the  First 
Massachusetts  Heavy  Artillery. 

The  following  is  the  original  roll  of  the  company, 
stars  indicating  those  who  have  since  died  : 

Captain,  Francis  E.  Porter. 


1st  Lieut.,  John  W.  Raymond. 
3d  Lieut.,  *Albert  Wallis. 
IstSerg.,  *Henry  P.  W'oodbury. 
3d  Serg.,  Benjamin  F.  Herrick. 
1st  Corp,  *Saniuel  Bell. 
3d  Corp.,  *George  R.  Sands, 


2d  Lieut.,  *Eleazer  Giles. 
4th  Lieut.,  Moses  S.  Herrick. 
2d  Serg.,  *Beuben  Herrick,  Jr. 
4th  Serg  ,  Alfred  Porter. 
2d  Corp.,  Hugh  J.  Mun-sey. 
4th  Corp  ,  *.lohn  Low. 


Drummer,  George  M.  Tucker. 


Charles  B.  Allen. 
*W.  A.  Andrews. 

Jesst  A..  Blake. 
*A.  ,1.  BUmchard. 

James  Brown. 

Thomas  D.  Brown. 

William  E.  Choate. 
*William  A.  Cleaves. 

Fred.  A.  Currier. 
*John  H.  Chipman. 

Charles  L.  Darling. 
*John  Dean. 

John  II.  Dennis. 
*Leonard  G.  Dennis. 

Alonzo  P.  Dodge. 

Chas.  H.  Ferguson. 

W'illiam  A.  Friend. 

Thomas  Gavin. 
*Ezra  A.  Glidden. 


Pricales. 
*George  H.  Goodridge. 
*Samuel  Goodridge. 

Samuel  Gordon. 
*William  E  Grant. 

Daniel  W.  Hammond. 
*Henry  A.  Hale. 

Francis  P.  Haskell. 
*Josiah  T.  Hitchings. 

George  C.  Holden. 

Charles  S.  Homans. 
*Henry  P.  Larcom. 

Samuel  0.  Lee. 

Charles  A.  Lord. 

John  W.  Masury. 

Arthur  Bleldram. 

Chas.  W.  Mitchell. 

John  E.  Moses. 

George  A.  Mowatt. 

John  Neville. 


Edward  H.  Ober. 

*Moses  A.  Pedrick. 

George  H.  Pickett. 

John  F.  Piper. 

*George  W.  Pevier. 

Wm.  H.  B.  Poland. 
*J.  S  S.  Rogers. 
*Godfrey  Scott. 

Thomas  J.  Smith. 

William  I.  Smith. 
*Joseph  G.  Stone. 

Charles  Story. 

Edwin  South  wick. 
*William  A.  Teague. 

Amos  B.  Traak. 

Eben  Tra.sk. 

Fred.  A.  Wallis. 

W'illiam  H.  Warren. 

William  W.  Warren. 
*Sheribiah  S.  Webber. 


1864.— On  the  26th  of  April,  the  Fifty-ninth  Regi- 
ment left  the  State,  to  join  the  command  of  General 
Burnside.  In  this  regiment  were  thirty-one  soldiers 
from  Beverly,  in  Companies  A,  B,  C,  G  and  H.  Com- 
pany C  was  commanded  by  Captain  John  H.  Chip- 
man,  who  had  returned  to  recruit  for  the  regiment. 


BEVERLY. 


735 


The  Fifty-niuth  went  into  active  service  at  once,  and 
within  a  month  were  coming  back  the  sad  returns  of 
killed,  wounded  and  missing. 

Beverly  Men  in  Company  E,  2Sd  Regiment. 

Captain,  John  W.  Raymond. 
1st  Lieut.,  Henry  P.  Woodbury.        2d  Lieut.,  Daniel  W.  Hammond. 

Sergeants. 
Wm.  E.  Choate.  William  G.  Blunsey.        William  F.  Earley. 

Samuel  Goodridge,  Jr.     Joseph  H.  Balver.  Charles  Friend,  2d. 

Charles  W.  Mitchell.      Charles  R.  Dennis. 


Charles  R.  Allen. 
Dennis  Carney. 
John  W.  Clayton. 
John  J.  Dalton.i 


Corporals. 
Thomas  D.  Davis. 
James  Dodge.l 
Charles  G.  Femald.l 
Austin  Glidden. 


Edward  B.  Perry. 
George  H.  Pickett. 
Thomas  J.  Smith,  Jr. 
Joseph  P.  Wallis.i 


Musicians,  Alfred  J.  Hall  and  Charles  H.  Webber. 
Wagoner,  George  F.  Bragdon. 

Privates. 
Dennis,  Charles  K.* 
Dow,  John  E. 
Dupee,  Autoine.* 
Elliott,  Charles,  2d.* 
Elliott,  Israel,  Jr.* 
Ferguson,  Alfred  W. 
Floyd,  Joseph  M. 
Gavin,  Thomas. 
Goodwin,  Joseph  D. 
Glidden,  Austin.* 
Glidden,  John. 
Glover,  Charles  F. 
Grush,  Addison  E. 
Handley,  Michael.* 


Abbott,  Stephen  W.* 
Agent,  Joseph  F.* 
Allen,  Joseph  C. 
Allt-n,  Stephen  B. 
Arnold,  James  H. 
Ayers,  Jacob  E. 
Bariy,  Patrick,  Jr. 
Bassett,  Thaddeus. 
Batchelder,  Ira  D. 
Berry,  Thomas. 
Blanchard,  Andrew  J. 
Boden,  James  W. 
Bray,  Benjamin.* 
Bradbury,  Jacob. 
Bjendou,  Robert.* 
Brown,  Robert  W. 
Burke,  Edward  K.* 
Burke,  Thomas.* 
Caldwell,  Augustus. 
Caldwell,  Jacob. 
Carrico,  Charles. 
Carey,  Robert,  Jr. 
Caswell,  Joseph  W. 
Clark,  Nathaniel  W.* 
Clark,  William  T. 
Crarapsey,  Israel. 
Cressy,  Benj.,  3d. 
Crombie,  Enoch. 


Maxcy,  William. 
McGrath,  Lewis. 
Morgan,  Edmund  C. 
Ober,  Edward  H. 
Parker,  Charles  F 
Pickett,  George  A.* 
Randall,  Lewis  J. 
Reed,  Perrin  W.* 
Sands,  Stephen  B. 
Soutliwick,  Lakeman. 
Stocker,  Charles  H. 
Taylor,  Charles  W.* 
Taylor,  William  K.* 
Thissell,  Ebenezer. 


Higginbottom,  Joseph.  Thissell,  Levi  A. 


Holden,  Charles. 
Jewett,  George  S. 
Johnson,  Joseph  H. 
Jones,  Charles  W. 
Kenuison,  Benjamin. 
Lefavour,  James  A. 
Leach,  John. 
Liffin,  John. 
Luf  kin,  William  H. 
Lull,  John. 
Marshall,  John  D. 
Masury,  George,  2d. 

*  Deceased. 


Trask,  Albert.* 
Trask,  Amos  B. 
Trust,  Peter. 
Vickery,  Joseph  F. 
Wallis,  William,  2d.* 
Webber,  Eleazer  A.* 
Weeks,  Stephen  L. 
Whidden,  David.* 
Williams,  James  E.* 
Williams,  Oscar  P. 
Woodbury,  Levi  J. 
Young,  Isaac  T.* 


Beverly  Men  in  Company  K,  AQth  Regiment. 

Captain,  Edward  L.  Giddings. 
Ist  Lieut.,  John  F.  Piper.  2d  Lieut.,  Leonard  G.  Dennis. 


Reuben  Herrick,  Jr.* 
Joseph  W  Stocker. 
John  M.  Brown.* 


Alfred  Corning.* 
Benjamin  F.  Cressy. 
Dexter  H.  Fawcett. 
George  W.  Glidden.* 


Sergeants. 
William  H.  Brown.* 
David  M.  Carter. 
Albert  W.  Haskell. 

Ciirporals. 
Samuel  W.  Greer.* 
Eph   Hathaway,  Jr. 
Chas.  H.  Henderson.* 


J.  Francis  Jenness. 
Varnuni  S.  Pedrick. 
J.  Lewis  Preston.* 

George  W.  Howard. 
Edmund  G.  Josephs. 
George  J.  Nutter. 


Musician,  Addison  A.  Center.* 


Andrews,  Asa. 
Blanchard,  Henry  J. 
Blanchard,  Wm.  H. 
Bryant,  George  W. 
Burchstead,  John. 
Butman,  William  A. 
Crampsey,  Isaac. 
Crafts,  Samuel  0.* 
Donegan,  Thomas  J. 
Ferguson,  Jere.  W. 
Grush,  Joseph.* 
Hall,  Benjamin  D. 
Harwood,  Francis. 
Haskell,  George  E. 


Privates, 
Holden,  Elbridge  J. 
Howe,  George  F.* 
Jenness,  Charles  H. 
Lord,  Charles  W.* 
Lovett,  Francis  S. 
Lovett,  Josiah  W. 
Marshall,  George  W. 
Pickett,  Charles  H. 
Pierce,  George  W. 
Pierce,  George  W.,  2d. 
Pierce,  Thomas  L. 
Poland,  William  H.  B. 
Poor,  William  H.* 
Porter,  Nathaniel,  Jr.* 
*  Deceased. 


Prince,  George  W. 
Selfe,  William  A.* 
Seeley,  George  S. 
Stickney,  Charles.* 
Taylor,  John  M. 
Teague,  William  A. 
Thissell,  Jonas.* 
Thissell,  Nicholas  S. 
Tuttle,  C.  Frank.* 
Webber,  Timothy  R. 
Webber,  Tristara  L. 
Wentworth,  Charles  A. 
Wilbur,  Henry.* 
Woodbury,  Benjamin.* 


1  Holding  this  rank  on  their  return. 


Beverly's  War  Record,^ — The  whole  number  of 
men  furnished  to  the  army  during  the  Civil  War,  un- 
der the  various  calls,  was  as  follows: 

April  16,  1861  — Three  months'  men 75 

June  17,  1861. — Three  years'  men  (rec.  as  bounty  817,100)...  172 

July  4,   1862. — Three  years'  men  (rec.  as  bounty  $9,900) 140 

August 4,  1862. — Nine  months'  men  (rec.  as  bouu'y  glO.OOO)  101 
March  14,  July  8  and  December  19,  1864. — Three  years'  men 

and  one  two  years  (received  as  bounty  f24,0.;0) 127 

Also  three  years,  including  re-enlisted,  who  received  no 

bounty lis 

In  addition  to  the  above  we  have  furnished,  for  ninety  days    86 

For  one  hundred  daj's 77 

Making  a  total  of  89G  men,  and  $61,120  in  bounties,  of  which 
the  State  refunded  Sl8,000. 

Besides  the  foregoing,  some  hundred  at  least  of  the 
Beverly  men  have  served  in  the  array  for  other  pla- 
ces, and  nearly  as  many  more  have  served  in  the 
navy. 

The  whole  number  of  Beverly  men  who  have  died 
in  the  army  and  navy  is  about  ninety,  or  ten  per  cent, 
of  the  whole  number  enlisted, — a  much  less  percent- 
age than  that  of  our  early  California  emigration. 

A  reception  to  our  esteemed  veterans  was  given 
August  4,  18G5,  when  the  day  was  observed  as  a  gen- 
eral holiday.  Soldiers  and  citizens  marched  in  pro- 
cession to  Standley's  Grove  (where  the  tables  were 
spread),  marshalled  by  Col.  John  W.  Raymond,  of 
the  military  veterans,  and  Masters'  Mates  George  P. 
Abbott  and  George  Woodbury,  of  the  navy. 

Recapitulation.— The  number  of  enlistments 
from  Beverly  in  the  United  States  army  during  the 
Rebellion  was  608 ;  in  the  navy,  74  ;  total,  682.  The 
whole  number  of  enlistments,  counting  re-enlistments 
for  nine  months,  one  hundred  days  and  three  years, 
was  988.  The  several  calls  of  the  government  for 
men  were  promptly  met,  and  at  the  close  of  the  war 
Beverly  stood  credited  with  a  surplus  of  90  men,  suf- 
ficient to  meet  her  quota  on  a  call  of  300,000  men, 
had  it  been  given.  Beverly  furnished  32  com- 
missioned officers  from  the  army,  most  of  whom  were 
promoted  from  the  ranks.  A  large  number  in  the 
naval  service  also  received  commissions  as  volunteer 
officers. 

Three  military  organizations  represented  our  town 
in  the  army  :  Companies  E,  of  the  Eighth  Regiment; 
G,  of  the  Twenty-third;  and  K,  of  the  Fortieth, 
while  the  rolls  of  almost  every  regiment  from  the 
eastern  part  of  the  State  bore  the  names  of  Beverly 
men. 

The  effects  of  the  war  did  not  cease  with  the  sur- 
render of  Lee  ;  indeed,  they  may  be  traced  to-day  in 
the  battle-scarred  and  maimed  veterans  yet  in  our 
midst. 

1863. — The  street  railway  lines  of  Salem,  introduced 
there  in  1862,  were  extended  through  the  business 
portions  of  Beverly. 

In  July,  a  mission  service  of  the  Episcopal  Church 
was  opened  at  Union  Hall,  under  the  charge  of  the 

2  From  the  Citizen,  of  August  5,  1865. 


736 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUiNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


rector  of  St.  Peter's,  of  Salem,  the  Eev.  Wm.  R. 
Pickman.  The  following  year  Rev.  S.  H.  Hilliard 
had  it  in  charge,  and  in  1865  the  church  was  erected 
at  the  corner  of  Cabot  and  Bow  Streets,  with  Rev. 
Mr.  Pickman  as  rector,  until  his  removal  to  Michigan 
about  a  year  later.  Rev.  F.  M.  Cookson  was  rector 
till  1870,  and  Rev.  George  Denham  till  Easter,  1872. 
From  May  13,  1873,  to  1878,  the  Rev.  William  G. 
Wells,  succeeded  by  Rev.  J.  C.  Wellwood.  In  1885, 
Rev.  Roland  C.  Smith. 

1866.— June  15th,  Capt.  John  H.  Chipman  died  of 
disease  contracted  in  the  service  of  his  country, 
through  exposure,  wounds,  and  the  cruelties  of  the 
infamous  Libby  prison.  He  was  scarcely  twenty- 
eight  years  old  at  the  time  of  his  death,  yet  had  won 
for  himself  and  the  place  of  his  birth  the  highest 
honors.  He  was  a  descendant  in  the  third  generation 
from  the  Rev.  John  Chipman,  pastor  of  the  Second 
Parish  Church,  1715-75. 

Captain  Chipman  volunteered  with  the  Eighth  at 
three  hours'  notice  and  left  behind  him  a  bride  of  but 
two  months.  He  participated  in  the  march  to  the 
capital,  but  was  prostrated  by  hemorrhage  from  the 
lungs,  and  returned  home.  Rapidly  recovering,  he 
once  more  enlisted  for  nine  months,  serving  which  he 
returned,  but  was  soon  commissioned  a  captain  in 
the  Fifty-ninth  Regiment,  raising  a  company,  and 
was  assigned  to  Burnside's  corps.  At  Cold  Harbor 
he  was  accidentally  wounded  in  the  hand,  came  home 
on  a  furlough,  but  soon  recovered,  resumed  his  com- 
mand, and  entered  the  rifle-pits  before  Petersburg. 
Soon  after  he  was  taken  prisoner,  and  confined  in  sev- 
eral of  the  horrible  pens  in  which  the  rebels  kept 
their  captives,  and  was  not  released  until  February, 
1865.  His  constitution  was  now  undermined  by  sick- 
ness, but  he  reported  to  his  regiment  as  soon  as  re- 
covered sufficientV,  only  to  be  honorably  discharged. 
A  year  later  he  sank  beneath  his  infirmities  and  soon 
was  carried  to  the  grave,  having  been  preceded  there- 
to, two  months  before,  by  his  young  and  devoted 
wife. 

The  school  district  system  was  abolished,  and  an 
improved  order  of  things  educational  inaugurated. 
The  first  steam  fire-engine  was  purchased  this  year. 
1867. — The  first  Methodist  Church  was  organized 
April,  1867,  with  Rev.  Allen  J.  Hall  as  pastor.  Ser- 
vices were  held  in  the  town-hall  at  first,  but  a  church 
and  parsonage  were  built  on  Railroad  Avenue  in  1869, 
during  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  J.  M.  Bailey.  The 
church  building  was  enlarged  to  its  present  dimen- 
sions in  1886,  and  is  a  conspicuous  feature  of  the  sec- 
tion in  which  it  stands.  In  1870  Rev.  C.  S.  Rogers 
was  settled  here;  in  1872,  Rev.  S.  C.  Jackson;  in 
1874,  Rev.  M.  E.  Wright ;  in  1877,  Rev.  A.  P.  Adams ; 
in  1878,  Rev.  Daniel  Waite;  in  1881,  Rev.  Seth  C. 
Cary ;  in  1883,  Rev.  John  Capen ;  in  1885,  Rev. 
James  W.  Barter. 

1867.— Ancient    and    Modern    Cemeteries. — 
An  important  addition  was  made  to   our   cemetery 


grounds  in  the  purchase  by  the  selectmen  of  about 
ten  acres  of  the  Bancroft  estate,  known  as  Walnut 
Hill.  This  hill,  which  commands  one  of  the  finest 
prospects  in  town,  lies  immediately  east  of  Galley  s 
Bridge. 

Fifty  years  ago  there  were  eight  burial  places 
in  the  township, — two  near  the  second  parish  church, 
one  in  Dodge's  Row,  one  at  Ryal  Side,  one  at  the 
Farms  and  the  three  in  the  town  proper.  The  oldest 
of  which  mention  is  made  in  the  records  is  that  near 
the  vestry  of  the  First  Parish  and  intersected  by  Ab- 
bott Street,  in  which  lie  the  remains  of  the  first  three 
ministers  of  Beverly, —  Hale,  Blowers  and  Champney. 
This  was  the  only  burial-place  within  the  limits  of 
the  First  Parish  until  1790. 

The  earliest  decipherable  dates  on  stones  in  the  an- 
cient burial-place  are  1678,  1686,  1683,  the  last  of 
which  is  at  the  grave  of  Rebecca,  wife  of  Rev.  John 
Hale. 

The  old  graveyard  of  the  Second  Parish  shows  as 
its  most  ancient  stone  that  at  the  grave  of  Joseph 
Herrick,  bearing  date  1717.  It  was  opened  1715,  and 
the  first  occupants  were  a  child  of  John  Dodge,  Jr., 
and  the  wife  of  John  Trask.  The  second  cemetery 
here  was  laid  out,  near  the  meeting-house,  in  1803. 
In  the  old  Leach  burial-lot  at  Ryal  Side,  is  the  un- 
marked grave  of  Reuben  Kennison,  the  first  Beverly 
soldier  killed  at  the  battle  of  Lexington. 

In  1788  a  lot  of  land  was  purchased  near  the  com- 
mon, and  the  first  grave  there  was  that  of  Mary  Allen, 
widow  of  Capt.  Barnabas  Allen,  in  January,  1790. 
Other  stones  here  indicate  the  last  resting-places  of 
many  famous  in  the  eighteenth  century  and  first  part 
of  the  nineteenth. 

An  extension  of  the  second  cemetery  was  made  in 
1829,  easterly  towards  the  beautiful  Walnut  Hill, 
with  which  it  was  joined  in  1867,  forming  one  contin- 
uous tract  of  about  forty  acres. 

Longevity. — It  may  be  interesting,  in  this  connec- 
tion, to  note  some  of  the  examples  of  longevity  in  the 
past,  as  shown  by  the  grave-stones  and  the  records  of 
the  town.  On  one  stone  in  the  Dane  Street  ceme- 
tery are  the  names  of  five  members  of  the  Appleton 
family,  whose  combined  ages  reach  four  hundred  and 
four  years,  among  them  one  who  died  at  one  hundred 
and  three. 

Beverly  has  had  a  good  many  nonogenarians, 
among  those  of  the  past  half  century  being : 

Huldah  Davis,  who  died  in  1843,  aged  96  years  ;  Lydia  Appleton,  1845, 
103  years,  8  months,  4  days  ;  Amos  Trask,  1846,  91  ;  Mrs.  Judith  Pick- 
ett, 1846,  92  ;  Lucy  Gage,  1846,  98  ;  Mollie  Dodge,  1846,  91 ;  Elizabeth 
Trask,  1849,  92  ;  Anna  Woodbury,  1849,  91  ;  Anna  Miller,  1851,  93  ; 
Sarah  Trask,  1851,  95  ;  Abigail  Tarbell,  1851,  96  ;  Phyllis  Cane  (colored), 
1852,  90  ;  Elizabeth  Lowe,  1853,  96  ;  Rose  Larcom,  1853,  94 ;  Mark 
Morse,  1854,  96  ;  Susanna  Standley,  1855,  93 ;  Joanna  Prince,  1856,  90  ; 
Asa  Osier,  1857,  91  ;  Molly  Trask,  1858,  90  ;  Elizabeth  Prince,  1858,  90 ; 
Miss  Judith  Pickett,  1858,  93  ;  Chloe  Turner,  1859,  95  ;  Susanna  Stone, 
1859,  91  ;  Hannah  Moulton,  1859,  91  ;  Charity  Glover,  1863,  93;  Betsey 
Grant  (who  saw  Washington  on  his  visit  to  Beverly),  1803,  91  ;  Eliza- 
beth Standley,  1864,  92  ;    Moses   Howard,   1866,  91  ;    Mary  Pierce,  1867, 

93  ;  John  Falls,  1867,  92  ;  David  Tarbox,  1868,  96 ;    John  Cressy,  1869, 

94  ;  Samuel  Thissell,  1870,  92;  Catherine  Lane,  1870,  94  ;  Peter  Homan 


BEVERLY. 


737 


(who  also  saw  Washington),  1871,  91  ;  Sally  Adams,  1873,90;  Jacob 
Groce,  1876,  96  ;  Nancy  Reynolds,  1876,  91  ;  Mary  Heard,  1877,  91  ; 
William  Dodge,  1877,92;  John  Coleman,  1878,94;  Elizabeth  Page, 
1878,  95  ;  Betsey  Morse,  1878,  93  ;  Lydia  Stone,  1878,  90 ;  Elizabeth 
Woodbury,  1879,  90;  Nancy  Stocker,  1879,  93;  John  Bradsliaw,  1880, 
93  ;  Jesse  Woodbury,  1881,  94;  James  Stone,  1881,  91 ;  Mary  Connolly, 
1882,  90 ;  Thomas  Ferris,  1882,  90 ;  Charlotte  Smith,  1883,93;  Judith 
Sands,  1883,  90  ;  Margaret  Brady,  1883,94;  Stephens  Baker,  1883,91; 
Margaret  Eoundy,  1884,  96  ;  Elizabeth  Wilkinson,  1884,  93  ;  Nancy 
Morgan,  1885,  90  ;  Joseph  K.  Russell,  1885,  nearly  95  ;  Abigail  Young, 
1886,  93  ;  Lucinda  Howard,  1886,  90  ;  Jane  Hill,  1886,  90. 

There  are  nearly  sixty  residents  of  Beverlj',  eighty 
years  old  and  upwards,  as  follows  : 

Age. 

Daniel  Foster 80 

Andrew  Larcom 80 

Mrs.  Louisa  loster 80 

Mrs.  Elsie  Kent 80 

John  Picket 80 

Mrs.  Lucy  K.  Shaw 80 

Mrs.  Johanna  P.  Foster '. 80 

Mrs.  Adaline  A.  Wallis 80 

Israel  Trask 80 

Paul  H.  Ober 80 

John  Clark 81 

Mrs.  Eben  Smith 81 

Mrs.  Serena  Ingersoll 82 

David  P.  Roberts 81 

Mrs.  Robert  Goodwin 81 

Sullivan  Brown 81 

Francis  A.  Smith 81 

Mrs.  Abigail  Prince 81 

John  0.  Standley 82 

William  Ferguson 82 

Mrs.  Mary  Preston 82 

Oliver  D.  Kinsman 82 

Samuel  Odell 82 

Franklin  Haven 82 

Mrs.  Nancy  Webb 82 

Lyman  Mason 82 

Mrs.  Betsey  Lefavour 82 

Hiram  Preston....   83 

Mrs.  Emeline  Caldwell 83 

Israel  Elliott 84 

Mr.  Corson 84 

Mrs.  Nabby  Sheldon 84 

Edward  Burley 84 

George  Babcoch 84 

Mrs.  Mary  Vickery 84 

Ebenezer  Rogers 84 

Mrs.  Theresa  Haskell 84 

Mi-g.  Sarah  0.  Perry 84 

Mrs.  Abby  Pedrick 84 

Charles  Marshall 85 

Mrs.  Mary  Glidden  85 

John  Porter  (died  September  7, 1887) 85 

Mrs.  Sarah  C.  Tracy 85 

Robert  Goodwin 85 

Mrs.  Augusta  Goodrich 86 

Richard  Clark 86 

Benjamin  Ludden 86 

Benjamin  Preston  (born  the  last  day  of  the  last 

month  of  the  last  century) 87 

Mrs.  Mary  Kendall 87 

Mrs.  Nancy  Sargent 87 

William  Endicott 88 

Mrs  Hannah  Leach 89 

Mrs.  Nancy  Woodbury 90 

Mrs.  Nancy  Trowt 90 

Thomss  Banners 90 

Hannah  Batchelder 91 

Henry  Wilson 93 

Mrs.  Lydia  Elliott nearly  93 

1868.— Miss  Joanna  Quiner,  who  was  born  August 
17,  1796,  and  died  September  20,  1868,  acquired  more 
47 


than  local  fame  as  a  sculptor,  after  she  was  forty  years 
of  age.  Said  the  editor  of  the  North  American  Re- 
view, July,  1843 : 

"  In  a  town  more  remarkable  for  the  sober  good  sense  and  uaostenta- 
tious  manners  of  its  inhabitants  than  for  their  tastes  in  the  fine  arts,  the 
discovery  of  an  undoubted  genius  is  a  remarkable  event  and  deserving 
of  record.  Miss  Quiner,  of  Beverly,  with  proper  patronage  and  advan- 
tages, would  take  no  mean  rank  among  American  artists.  Without  in- 
struction or  cultivation  of  any  sort,  her  talent  for  modeling  in  clay  has 
already  attracted  much  notice." 

She  died  in  poverty  without  having  secured  that 
recognition  of  her  genius  it  so  richly  deserved.  Her 
portrait,  painted  by  Frothingham,  was  presented  to 
the  public  library,  and  a  highly  appreciative  sketch 
of  her  life  and  work  apjieared  in  the  Citizen  of  about 
the  date  of  her  death. 

Memorial  Day,  1868,  Post  89,  G.  A.  R.,  placed  iron 
"markers"  at  the  head  of  every  soldier's  grave.  They 
then  identified  one  hundred  and  fifty  in  all ;  a  list  of 
names  is  given  in  the  Citizen  of  November  2,  1868. 

1869. — The  Roman  Catholic  Church,  organized  this 
year,  purchased  and  remodeled  the  house  of  worship 
formerly  occupied  by  the  First  Baptist  Society,  and 
built  a  parsonage  adjoining.  It  was  dedicated  in  1870 
by  the  Very  Rev.  P.  F.  Lyndon,  Vicar  General  of  the 
Diocese  of  Boston,  assisted  by  Rev.  Fr.  Singer,  of  St. 
Patrick's,  Montreal,  Rev.  Fr.  Haskins,  of  Boston, 
Rev.  Fr.  Delehanty,  Rev.  Fr.  Higgins  and  Rev.  J.  J. 
Gray,  of  Salem.  The  first  pastor  was  Rev.  Fr.  Sha- 
han,  who  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Fr.  Keiley,  he  by 
Rev.  W.  J.  J.  Denvir  and  he  by  Rev.  W.  H.  Ryan. 

At  the  Farms,  in  1887,  a  handsome  church  was 
built  for  the  Roman  Catholics  in  that  section,  at  a  cost 
of  eleven  thousand  dollars.  It  is  one  hundred  and 
ten  feet  long,  sixty-five  in  width,  with  seats  for  five 
hundred  people. 

It  was  dedicated  October  9,  1887,  by  the  Very  Rev. 
Archbishop  John  J.  Williams,  assisted  by  several 
others,  and  is  known  as  St.  Margaret's. 

1870.— January  14th.  This  date  died  Charles  Da- 
vis, at  the  age  of  seventy-four,  a  prominent  and 
wealthy  citizen  who,  at  his  death,  left  bequests  to  the 
Essex  Institute,  of  Salem,  and  to  the  First  Parish 
Sunday  School,  five  thousand  dollars  each.  He  pass- 
ed most  of  his  life  on  the  homestead  farm,  inherited 
through  his  mother,  near  the  head  of  Bass  River. 
The  old  house  here  has  a  connection  with  witchcraft 
times,  as  having  been  the  residence,  in  1692,  of 
Thomas  Gage,  who  made  deposition  against  one  Dr. 
Toothaker.  It  is  related  that  during  the  War  of  1812 
a  brick  oven  containing  rows  of  bean-pots  stored  full 
of  Spanish  dollars  was  bricked  up,  and  the  treasure 
there  secreted  was  not  disclosed  till  many  years  had 
passed.  Not  far  away  lies  the  homestead  farm  of 
Roger  Conant,  who  came  here  in  1635,  one  of  the 
"  Old  Planters." 

1871.— Israel  Whitney,  a  son  of  Dr.  Elisha  Whit- 
ney, died  November  12th,  aged  seventy-four  years; 
one  of  Boston's  most  respected  merchants,  and  of 
Beverly's  cherished  sons.     As  a  shipmaster,  he  was 


738 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


for  many  years  in  the  employ  of  Israel  Thorndike. 
His  adventures  as  merchant  captain  were  sometimes 
perilous,  as  when  his  ship  "  Beverly  "  was  burned  at 
sea,  despite  his  heroic  efforts  to  save  her,  and  when 
he  was  exposed  to  great  suffering  in  an  open  boat,  for 
several  days.  Leaving  the  sea,  he  became  .interested 
in  manufacturing,  was  for  thirty-four  years  director 
in  the  Massachusetts  Bank  and  for  thirty  years  a  di- 
rector in  the  National  Insurance  Company,  besides 
having  other  interests  in  Boston. 

He  left  nine  children,  six  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters. His  appreciation  of  the  natural  beauties  of  his 
native  place  was  emphasized  by  early  residence  here, 
after  his  retirement  from  maritime  life,  in  one  of  the 
most  delightful  retreats  on  the  shore,  near  the  mouth 
of  Sallow's  Brook. 

1872. — On  the  28th  January,  died  an  old  and 
highly-respected  shipmaster  of  Beverly,  Capt.  Samuel 
Endicott,  for  a  long  time  president  of  the  Bank,  and 
for  forty  years  one  of  its  directors. 

Capt.  Endicott  was  the  seventh  in  the  line  of  di- 
rect descent,  from  Gov.  John  Endicott,  who  came  to 
Salem  from  England  in  1629,  as  follows: 

(1)  Gov.  John  Endicott,  (2)  Samuel,  (3)  Samuel, 
(4)  Samuel,  (5)  John,  (6)  Robert,  (7)  Samuel.  He 
was  born  July  18,  1793,  and  was  the  son  of  Robert 
and  Mary  (Holt)  Endicott, his  mother  being  a  daugh- 
ter of  Rev.  Nathan  Holt,  of  Dan  vers.  Capt.  Endi- 
cott was  a  fine  specimen  of  the  shipmasters  cf  the 
old  school,  and  sailed  for  many  years  in  the  employ 
of  that  eminent  Salem  merchant,  Joseph  Peabody. 
He  was  for  several  years  in  command  of  the  famous 
ship  "  George,"  whose  arrival  from  Calcutta  in  the 
spring  was  as  regularly  looked  for  and  realized  as  the 
recurrence  of  the  months,  and  which  was  largely 
manned  by  Beverly  sailors. 

Two  worthy  citizens,  whose  lives  of  probity  and 
industry  as  mechanics  endeared  them  to  all,  passed 
away  in  January  ;  Deacon  Joseph  Wallis,  at  the  age 
of  sixty-five,  long  connected  with  the  First  Baptist 
Church  and  Sunday-school,  and  Reuben  Herrick,  at 
the  age  of  sixty-seven  years.  Deacon  Wallis  lived  in 
the  house  of  Mr.  Herrick,  who  had  three  sons  in  the 
Civil  War :  Reuben,  Jr.,  who  lost  his  life,  and  two 
others,  Benjamin  T.,  and  Frank  S.,  who  served  in  the 
Union  Army. 

The  new  almshouse  was  finished  in  February, 
which  is  located  on  the  side  of  the  cedar-covered  hill 
near  Essex  Street,  commanding  delightful  prospects 
by  sea  and  land.  The  main  structure  is  fifty  by 
sixty  feet,  with  three  stories,  mansard  roof  and  base- 
ment. It  contains  every  convenience  of  the  times, 
thirty-six    furnished   rooms   for  inmates,   offices,  etc. 

The  town  owns  real  estate  adjoining,  to  the  extent 
of  twenty-seven  acres,  the  cost  of  which,  with  the 
buildings,  was  about  twenty-five  thousand  dollars. 
Owing  to  its  eligible  location,  and  its  natural  ad- 
vantages, this  property  could,  probably,  be  sold  at 
any  time  at  a  price  exceeding  its  total  cost. 


The  town  early  gave  attention  to  the  condition  of 
its  poor,  and  the  few  paupers  lived  well,  "  boarding 
around"  after  the  manner  in  which  teachers  of  coun- 
try schools  are  even  yet  entertained.  One  of  the  con- 
ditions of  contract  with  a  pauper,  in  1723,  was  that 
he  should  be  "  kept  as  a  Christian  ought  to  be  kept," 
and  doubtless  he  was.  The  name  of  a  certain  Joshua 
Turland  frequently  appears  in  the  town  records  as 
the  first  supjjorted  at  the  town  charge,  being  enter- 
tained first  by  one  substantial  citizen,  and  then  by 
another.  The  first  almshouse  was  built  in  1803, 
though  the  town  voted  to  provide  one  nearly  a  cen- 
tury earlier.  This  was  situated  in  Charity  Court, 
near  Essex  Bridge,  and  during  the  latter  years  of 
its  existence  its  hospitalities  were  severely  taxed  by 
numerous  representatives  of  the  genus  "  tramp."  It 
was  a  comfortable  old  house,  and  gave  a  pleasant 
home  to  the  poor  and  friendless,  who  had  acquired  a 
right  of  residence. 

A  notable  character  deceased  January  17,  1872,  in 
the  person  of  a  life-time  inmate  of  the  almshouse, — 
Hector  Ross.  This  "  child  of  natural  and  unbiased 
affection ''  was  born  in  the  poor-house,  October  9, 
1809;  his  mother,  Joanna  Stoutly,  and  his  father,  a 
French  West  Indian  of  color,  reported  of  fabulous 
strength.  Hector  himself  was  of  great  strength  (im- 
agining himself  a  Hercules),  and  though  a  little  "off 
color,"  and  in  intellect  a  "  little  below  the  average," 
he  was  yet  a  great  favorite  with  the  children.  Two 
or  three  generations  have  been  amused  by  his  vagar- 
ies, his  droll  stories  and  his  comic  songs.  He  had  a 
quick  wit  and  retentive  memory,  but  his  hallucina- 
tions possessed  him  completely.  He  claimed  to  re- 
semble the  great  Bonapai'te  (and  his  profile  was  in- 
deed markedly  Napoleonic),  although  his  color  was 
that  of  rich  mahogany.  He  firmly  believed  himself 
the  rightful  heir  to  immense  wealth,  which  various 
citizens  of  the  town,  now  one  individual  and  now  an- 
other, retained  from  him  in  their  possession. 

Schools  and  Education. — There  is  nothing  on 
record  in  regard  to  the  education  of  the  young  prior 
to  1656,  when  a  meeting-house  was  built  and  used  as 
a  school-room,  which  arrangement  continued  for 
eighteen  years.  In  1674  a  school-house  was  built  on 
the  town's  land  near  the  meeting-house,  twenty  by 
sixteen  feet  and  nine  foot  stud,  which  was  also  used 
for  a  watch-house.  Samuel  Hardie  was  the  first 
school-master,  at  a  salary  of  twenty  pounds.  He  kept 
the  school  several  years. 

In  1686  an  agreement  was  made  with  Corporal  Per- 
kins to  furnish  a  school-room,  with  a  fire-room  in  it, 
for  the  space  of  six  months,  for  ten  shillings,  and 
John  Perley  was  engaged  for  the  term  ensuing ;  his 
salary,  twenty  pounds  "  in  pay"  or  ten  pounds  in 
money  per  year. 

In  1700  a  Grammar  School  was  established,  and 
Robert  Hale,  son  of  the  first  minister,  appointed 
teacher  at  a  salary  of  ten  pounds.  In  1701  Daniel 
Dodge  was  the   teacher,  and   in  1704  James   Hale, 


BEVERLY. 


739 


brother  of  Robert,  taught  writing,  reading,  casting 
accounts,  Latin  and  Greek  grammar,  at  a  salary  of 
thirty  pounds. 

In  1720  this  school  was  kept  by  Pyam  Blowers,  son 
of  the  second  minister. 

In  1782  the  Grammar  School  was  discontinued,  for 
which  the  town  was  presented  to  the  Court  of  Ses- 
sions, when  it  was  resumed  and  kejjt  till  1825.  It  was 
held  in  variourj  places  till  1798,  when  it  was  estab- 
lished in  a  new  house  on  Watch  Hill,  the  second 
story  being  fitted  up  for  town  purposes. 

About  the  middle  of  the  century  the  teacher  was 
required  to  return  a  list  to  the  selectmen  of  the 
names  of  parents  and  masters  and  the  number  of 
children  and  servants  instructed  by  him.  The  select- 
men were  to  tax  the  parents  arid  masters  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  schools,  and  the  children  and  servants  of 
persons  refusing  to  pay  their  proportion  of  fuel 
were  not  allowed  to  warm  themselves  by  the  school- 
house  fire. 

In  1749  the  sum  of  thirty-two  pounds,  old  tenor, 
was  granted  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  eastern  part  of 
the  town,  towards  a  school,  during  four  months,  and 
in  1752  a  Grammar  School  was  kept  there  a  time  pro- 
portionate to  the  amount  of  taxes  paid.  From  1754- 
1825  various  changes  were  made,  until  the  Grammar 
School  was  abolished,  and  it  was  voted  to  divide  the 
school  money  raised  among  the  ten  school  dis- 
tricts. 

In  1836  these  school  regulations  were  revised,  and 
a  list  of  books  for  study  prescribed. 

In  1797,  "  considering  the  populous  and  increasing 
state  of  the  town,  and  the  decayed  state  of  the  school- 
house  on  the  common,  the  town  voted  it  expedient  to 
build  a  new  Grammar  School-house,  43x32^  feet,  of 
two  stories,  each  about  ten  feet  stud,  with  room  below 
of  about  thirty -one  feet  square  for  the  school,  and  the 
same  above  for  town-meetings  and  other  purposes, 
with  room  convenient  for  selectmen  and  assessors, 
with  one  below  for  a  library  and  with  a  convenient 
entry  and  stairway." 

The  site  on  Watch  Hill  was  bought  of  the  heirs  of 
Larkin  Thorndike,  by  the  building  committee,  and 
the  next  year,  1798,  school  was  opened  here  under  the 
tuition  (it  is  believed)  of  Andrew  Peabody,  father  of 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Peabody,  whose  successor  was  Silas 
Stickney,  who  was  succeeded  by  Isaac  Flagg. 

Until  1841,  when  the  town,  having  bought  the 
Thorndike  mansion  and  fitted  it  for  a  town-house,  the 
hall  in  this  building  was  used  for  municipal  pur- 
poses. 

Then  the  district  bought  the  school-house  and  land 
and  gave  it  the  name  of  Briscoe,  in  honor  of  Robert 
Briscoe.  In  1873  the  school-grounds  were  enlarged 
by  the  addition,  by  purchase,  of  the  lands  of  several 
adjoining  estates,  and  the  old  school-house  removed 
to  the  lot  on  the  common,  where  it  now  stands,  but 
little  distant  from  the  site  of  the  original  school 
building  of  1674. 


In  1875  the  Central  Grammar  School  was  opened 
in  this  building,  the  name  of  which  was  changed  to 
the  Hardie  School,  in  honor  of  the  first  school -mas- 
ter, Samuel  Hardie. 

Just  after  the  Revolution  a  school  was  established 
by  a  few  of  the  citizens  in  Dike's  Lane  (now  Elm 
Square).  It  was  in  a  small,  plain  building,  heated  by 
a  large  open  fire-place,  and  about  forty  scholars  was 
the  maximum  attendance.  The  price  of  tuition  was 
four  dollars  per  quarter,  and  none  of  the  teachers,  all 
of  them  college  graduates,  received  over  five  hundred 
dollars  salary.  There  was  a  class  in  Latin  and  Greek, 
and  the  English  scholars  were  divided  into  three 
classes.  The  sexes  were  about  equally  represented. 
This  school  lasted  about  thirty  years,  Isaac  Flagg 
being  the  last  teacher,  who,  when  this  was  discon- 
tinued, took  charge  of  the  Grammar  School  in  Bris- 
coe Hall. 

Among  the  early  teachers  of  this  school  was  Wil- 
liam Prescott,  a  son  of  Colonel  Prescott,  of  Bunker 
Hill  fame,  afterwards  a  distinguished  judge,  who 
came  to  Beverly  to  study  law  with  Hon.  Nathan 
Dane.  He  established  his  first  law-ofllice  in  Beverly  ; 
his  daughter,  Mrs.  Franklin  Dexter,  is  one  of  the 
oldest  sea-shore  residents. 

The  High  School  was  not  established  until  after  a 
conflict  of  several  years,  the  ojiposition  being  not  so 
much  against  the  establishment  of  the  school  itself 
as  from  a  fear  that  the  money  devoted  to  its  support 
would  be  proportionately  taken  from  the  various 
district  schools,  all  of  them  being  popular  local  in- 
stitutions, and  each  with  its  special  neighborhood  at- 
tractions. 

The  towns  had  become  large  enough  to  be  liable  in 
law  to  support  a  High  School,  and  some  of  its  friends 
got  so  far  out  of  ])atience  in  waiting  for  the  town  to 
establish  it  that  they  had  it  indicted.  This  but  in- 
tensified the  opposition,  which  was  then  a  decided 
majority,  and  they  at  first  attempted  to  defend  the 
town  ;  but  eventually  yielded,  though  the  school  was 
at  first  established  at  the  W"st  Farms,  at  some  dis- 
tance from  the  centre  of  population. 

It  was  established  in  October,  1857.  under  John  R. 
Baker  as  master,  the  scholars  mostl}»  going  to  it  by 
railroad. 

In  1860  it  was  voted  to  discontinue  the  school,  but 
in  1861  the  subject  was  referred  to  a  committee  of  one 
from  each  school  district,  who  reported  in  favor  of 
locating  it  in  Odd  Fellows'  Hall,  then  on  Railroad 
Avenue.  Afterwards  the  town  bought  the  present 
armory  building  on  Cabot  Street,  where  the  school 
was  held  until  the  completion  of  the  Briscoe  Build- 
ing, in  which  excellent  accommodations  had  been 
provided  for  it.  The  principals  have  been  John  R. 
Baker,  Joseph  Hale  Abbott,  Leroy  N.  Griffin,  Wil- 
lard  G.  Sperry,  Edwin  C.  Colcord,  Enoch  C.  Adams, 
Benjamin  S.  Hurd,  who  have  always  had  the  services 
of  valuable  assistant  teachers. 

Within  the  past  twenty  years  the  greatest  improve- 


740 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


m en t  has  been  made  in  the  schools  and  buildings. 
Anticipating  for  several  years  the  abolition  of  the 
district  system  in  1866,  the  school-houses  throughout 
the  town  had  fallen  into  decay ;  and  this  condition 
of  things  necessitated  vigorous  measures  when  the 
town  took  charge.  New  buildings  were  erected  in 
every  district  save  one  (at  the  Cove),  where  the  house 
was  enlarged  and  beautified. 

1875. — In  January  of  this  year  the  finest  school 
building  in  town  was  dedicated,  standing  in  the  place 
of  the  Hardie  school-house,  and  known  as  the  Bris- 
coe. The  total  cost  of  this  brick  structure,  the  arch- 
itect of  which  was  J.  Foster  Ober,  a  son  of  Beverly, 
was  about  seventy-five  thousand  dollars. 

The  school  census  of  Beverly  recently  completed, 
shows  sixteen  hundred  and  eighty-four  children  be- 
tween the  ages  of  five  and  fifteen  years — an  increase 
of  twenty-eight  over  last  year, — 

In  the  South  District  about 479 

In  the  Briscoe  District  about 417 

In  the  Washington  District  about 364 

In  the  Cove  District  about 142 

In  the  Farms  District  about 180 

In  the  Bass  River  District  about fi5 

In  the  Centreville  District  about .'J2 

In  the  Dodge's  Kow  District  about 35 

In  1873,  at  the  age  of  seventy  years,  Joseph  Hale 
Abbot  deceased,  in  Cambridge.  Mr.  Abbot  was 
well  known  to  the  people  of  this  town  through  his 
long  connection  with  the  High  School,  and  his  mar- 
riage with  the  only  daughter  of  a  prominent  citizen. 
Captain  Henry  Larcom.  He  was  a  descendant  of  the 
fi  rst  minister  of  Beverly,  Eev.  John  Hale,  and  a  rela- 
tive of  Rev.  Abiel  Abbott.  He  left  a  widow,  who  sur- 
vived him  but  a  short  time,  and  several  children. 
One  of  his  sons,  Edward  S.  Abbot,  is  buried  here, 
having  died  in  his  country's  service. 

Of  Beverly's  place  in  literature,  it  is  yet  early  to 
write.  Of  the  published  productions  of  the  earlier 
writers — Hale  (tract  on  witchcraft,  and  sermons), 
Champney,  Hitchcock,  Willard,  McKean  (published 
sermons),  Dr.  Abiel  Abbott  and  Rev.  Joseph  Emerson 
(sermons  by  the  former,  and  "  Letters  from  Cuba;" 
scientific  and  educational  essays  by  the  latter) — men- 
tion has  been  made.  The  greatest  contribution  to  legal 
lore  was  by  Hon.  Nathan  Dane,  in  his  "  Digest  of 
American  Laws,"  etc. 

A  daughter  of  Dr.  Abbott,  Miss  Anne  W.  Abbott 
(still  living,  at  nearly  eighty  years  of  age),  wrote 
many  charming  story-books  for  children,  as:  "Kate 
and  Lizzie,"  1845;  "The  Tamed  and  the  Untamed," 
"  The  Olneys,"  etc. ;  and  a  popular  game  of  her 
invention  forty  years  ago,  "  Dr.  Busby,"  is  still  pub- 
lished for  the  delight  of  the  youth  of  to-day. 

One  of  the  first  books  descriptive  of  the  islands  of 
the  South  Sea  was  written  by  a  Beverly  lady,  Mrs.  M. 
D.  Wallis,  under  the  title  of  "  Life  in  Fejee." 

One  who  wrote  throughout  a  long  life  was  Wilson 
Flagg,  whose  delightful  descriptions  of  nature  are 
unsurpassed.     His  first  observations  were  conducted 


in  Beverly,  and  his  first  literary  productions  ema- 
nated hence.  The  books  that  have  made  his  reputa- 
tion, as  a  poetic  and  thoughtful  student  of  nature, 
are  "  Birds  and  Seasons,"  and  "  Woods  and  By-ways 
of  New  England."  Besides  these,  he  published  other 
books  and  contributed  for  many  years  to  the  maga- 
zines and  papers. 

Another  eminent  author,  whom  we  may  claim  as  a 
native  of  Beverly  by  right  of  birth,  is  Rev.  Dr.  A. 
P.  Peabody,  whose  valued  works  on  Christianity  and 
Ethics  are  familiar  to  all  readers.  His  most  popular- 
ly-known books,  perhaps,  are  "  Conversation"  and 
"  Reminiscences  of  European  Travel." 

Of  America's  distinguished  women,  one  who  has  , 
modestly  won  an  enviable  position  in  the  world  of 
letters,  is  Miss  Lucy  Larcom,  another  descendant  of 
Beverly's  pioneer  families.  Mi?s  Larcom  began  to 
write  verses  while  running  about  the  fields  and  hills 
of  Beverly,  as  a  child,  and  continued  to  do  so  during 
her  earlier  years,  while  a  mill-girl  at  Lowell.  She 
was,  perhaps,  the  youngest  contributor  to  the  Lowell 
Offering,  published  by  the  working-girls  of  that  city, 
many  years  ago.  She  continued  to  write  for  publica- 
tion during  the  years  that  followed,  while  studying 
and  teaching  in  young  ladies'  schools. 

Her  first  volume  of  poems  was  published  by  Fields, 
Osgood  &  Co.,  about  1868.  This  was  followed  by 
other  volumes  of  verses :  "  An  Idyl  of  Work,"  "  Child- 
hood Songs"  and  "Wild  Roses  of  Cape  Ann."  A 
complete  collection  of  her  poems  has  recently  been 
added  to  their  "Household  Edition,"  by  Houghton. 
Mifflin  &  Co,  She  has  also  compiled  several  works, 
as,  "  Breathings  of  a  Better  Life,"  "Roadside  Poems 
for  Summer  Travelers,"  "  Hillside  and  Seaside  in 
Poetry,"  etc. 

To  travel  and  history,  Frederick  A.  Ober,  a  native 
of  Beverly,  has  contributed  "  Camps  in  the  Carib- 
bees,"  a  personal  narrative  of  adventure  in  the  West 
Indian  forests,  " Travels  in  Mexico,"  a  "History  of 
Mexico,"  the  "  Silver  City,"  and  other  stories  of  ad- 
venture. 

Yet  another  descendant  of  the  first  of  his  name  in 
Beverly,  is  George  E.  Woodberry,  author  of  a  "  His- 
tory of  Wood  Engraving,"  a  "  Life  of  Edgar  A.  Poe," 
of  a  threnody  entitled,  "The  North-Shore  Watch," 
and  of  other  poems,  which  have  won  the  admiration 
of  scholars  and  critics. 

In  1849  deceased,  at  West  Needham,  William  B. 
Tappan,  who  was  born  in  Beverly,  the  author  of  that 
beautiful  hymn,  "  There  is  an  Hour  of  Peaceful  Rest." 
Of  other  writers,  mention  maybe  found  in  the  pages 
preceding  ;  but  it  is  not  claimed  that  the  list  is  an  ex- 
haustive one,  and  the  historian  craves  the  reader's  in- 
dulgence. 

In  January,  1875,  Rev.  George  Trask,  the  anti-to- 
bacco philanthropist,  died  in  Fitchburg,  at  the  age 
of  seventy-seven.  Mr.  Trask  did  battle  for  principle 
throughout  a  long  and  active  life,  and  was  an  honor 
to  Beverly,  the  town  of  his  birth. 


BEVERLY. 


741 


1876. — The  oldest  inhabitant  of  Beverly  died  April 
20th,  this  year — Jacob  Groce,  who  was  born  February 
12,  1780.  In  early  life  he  followed  the  sea,  making 
many  trips  to  the  West  Indies,  Europe  and  elsewhere. 
In  1800  or  1801,  while  on  a  passage  to  the  West 
Indies  in  the  schooner  "  Sally,"  with  Capt.  Gideon 
Ray,  his  vessel  was  chased  by  a  French  privateer, 
captured  and  taken  into  Guadaloupe;  sailing  thence, 
on  board  the  privateer,  they  were  again  captured,  by 
a  British  man-of-war,  and  afterwards  sent  home  on 
an  eastern  lumber  vessel,  after  remaining  a  while  in 
Martinique.  In  1812  he  was  taken  prisoner  by  a 
British  sloop-of-war,  carried  into  Bermuda  and  thence 
to  Halifax,  where  he  and  his  companions  were  nearly 
starved,  Mr.  Groce's  life  was  unambitious  though 
serene  in  his  latter  years,  and  his  example  was  one  of 
goodness  and  charity  to  his  fellow-men. 

1878. — March  17th  passed  away  the  then  oldest  in- 
habitant, in  the  person  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Whitney 
Page,  at  the  age  of  ninety-five  years  and  three  months. 
Her  husband  was  Josiah  Page,  who  was  drowned  off 
the  coast  of  Sumatra,  1810 ;  and  she  was  a  daughter 
of  Dr.  Elisha  Whitney,  whose  wife,  Eunice,  was 
daughter  of  General  Michael  Farley,  of  Ipswich,  a 
descendant  of  the  Farley  who  came  from  England  in 
1675. 

1879. — Dr.  Wyatt  C.  Boyden  deceased,  after  a  long 
residence  in  Beverly,  at  the  age  of  eighty-seven.  He 
was  born  in  Gardner,  Mass.,  in  1794,  but  reared  in 
Tamworth,  N.  H.,  where  his  early  life  was  passed  on 
a  farm.  He  graduated  from  Dartmouth  in  1819,  a 
class-mate  with  Rufus  Choate,  and  he  was  the  last 
survivor  of  his  class.  Dr.  Boyden  came  to  Beverly 
Farms  in  1823,  where  he  first  taught  school,  and 
there  married  and  began  j^ractice  as  physician.     In 

1825  he  removed  to  the  centre  of  the  town,  and  in 

1826  succeeded  to  the  practice  of  Dr.  Abner  Howe. 
As  citizen  and  physician  he  was  held  in  high  esteem ; 
he  took  a  lively  interest  in  local  affairs,  and  especially 
in  the  cause  of  education  ;  was  a  trustee  of  the  Fisher 
Charitable  Society  for  fifty-one  years. 

1880. — November  1st,  Dr.  Augustus  Torrey,  son  of 
Dr.  Joseph  Torrey,  a  well-known  physician  of  Salem, 
and  in  his  later  years  of  Beverly,  and  a  grandson  of 
the  famous  Rev.  Manasseh  Cutler,  of  Hamilton,  died, 
this  date,  in  his  seventy-sixth  year.  He  graduated  at 
Harvard  in  1824,  and  from  its  medical  school  in 
1827.  He  married  a  niece  of  Nathan  Dane,  and  left 
a  family  of  five  sons  and  two  daughters.  He  is  re- 
membered as  a  worthy  citizen,  a  man  of  fine  literary 
tastes  and  a  skilled  practitioner.  In  the  same  profes- 
sion as  his  father  and  grandfather  is  Dr.  Samuel  Tor- 
rey, son  of  Dr.  Augustus  Torrey,  who  maintains  the 
prestige  of  the  family  to-day. 

Two  physicians  long  identified  with  the  town  were 
the  Drs.  Kitteredge,  father  and  son,  who  are  men- 
tioned elsewhere  in  this  volume. 

1881.— There  died  in  Philadelphia,  March  31st, 
where  he  had  resided  since  1867,  Dr.  Isaac  Rea,  at 


the  age  of  seventy-four.  He  was  a  son  of  Beverly, 
educated  at  Phillips  Academy  and  Bowdoin  College, 
and  studying  medicine  at  the  Harvard  Medical  Col- 
lege. He  practiced  medicine  in  Portland  and  East- 
J)ort,  Me.,  and  was  appointed  superintendent  of  the 
Maine  State  Lunatic  Hospital  in  1841,  and.  of  the 
Butler  Hospital  for  Insane,  at  Providence,  R.  I.,  in 
1846,  where  he  remained  till  1867.  He  won  high 
recognition  for  his  practice  and  theory  of  the  medical 
treatment  of  insanity,  and  published  many  valuable 
books  on  the  subject,  which  are  recognized  as  author- 
ities. The  physicians  practicing  in  Beverly  to-day 
maintain  the  reputation  of  their  predecessors.  The 
oldtst  practitioner  is  Dr.  Chas.  Haddock,  who  has 
had  thirty-five  years  of  service  here,  and  with  whom 
is  now  associated  his  son,  Dr.  Chas.  W.,  the  next 
being  Dr.  Oscar  F.  Swazey,  with  thirty  years  of  prac- 
tice in  our  midst. 

September  28th,  James  Stone,  long  prominent  in 
maritime  offairs.  and  a  prisoner  of  1812,  deceased,  at 
the  age  of  ninety -two  years. 

1882. — October  ISth,  the  soldiers'  monument  was 
dedicated,  which  stands  on  the  triangular  lot  of  land 
at  the  junction  of  Abbot  and  Endicott  Streets.  It 
was  erected  by  the  comrades  of  "  John  H.  Chipman  " 
Post  89,  G.  A.  R.,  from  the  proceeds  of  various  fairs, 
during  several  years,  and  subscriptions  by  our  towns- 
people. Four  years  previously,  after  advertising  for 
designs  for  a  soldiers'  and  sailors'  monument,  the 
post  accepted  the  design  submitted  by  the  Hallowell 
Granite  Company,  of  Maine,  at  the  price  of  four 
thousand  eight  hundred  dollars. 

The  corner-stone  was  laid  October  10,  1882,  and  a 
box  deposited  beneath  it  containing,  among  other 
papers,  a  brief  sketch  of  each  full  company  furnished 
by  Beverly  for  the  war :  Company  E,  Eighth  Regiment, 
Capt.  F.  E.  Porter;  Company  G,  Twenty-third  Regi- 
ment, Capt.  John  W.  Raymond;  and  Company  K, 
Fortieth  Regiment,  Capt.  E.  L.  Giddings,  as  also  their 
memorable  battles,  etc. 

The  dedicatory  exercises  were  held  on  the  13th,  and 
called  to  Beverly  many  distinguished  people  as  par- 
ticipants, among  them  the  Governor,  John  B.  Long, 
and  staff,  and  veterans  from  other  Grand  Army  of 
the  Republic  organizations. 

The  procession  formed  was  the  largest  the  town  had 
ever  witnessed  within  its  limits,  containing  twenty- 
six  hundred,  with  delegates  from  all  the  county  posts, 
members  of  the  entire  Fire  Department  of  Beverly, 
and  no  less  than  fourteen  bands  of  music  and  drum 
corps.  A  section  of  Battery  C,  of  Melrose,  fired  the 
salutes  of  the  day,  opening  with  seventeen  guns  for 
the  Governor,  and  closing  with  a  national  salute  of 
thirty-eight  guns,  at  the  end  of  the  exercises  at  the 
monument. 

The  chief  marshal  was  Col.  John  W.  Raymond,  of 
Beverly,  with  Col.  H.  P.  Woodbury  as  chief  of  staff, 
and  Dr.  Chas.  Haddock  surgeon-general.     Col.  F.  E. 
Porter  commanded    the    First    Brigade,    which    con- 


742 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


tained  Post  89  with  its  one  hundred  and  fifty  mem- 
bers, led  by  Wm.  H.  Morgan,  commander.  The  mon- 
ument was  dedicated  by  Post  Commander  Wm.  H. 
Morgan ;  jjrayer  was  offered  by  Wm.  Staftbrd,  chap- 
lain of  the  post,  and  an  address  by  Rev.  J.  F.  Lover-' 
ing,  of  Worcester.  Owing  to  an  accident,  by  which 
the  platform  on  which  were  the  invited  guests,  seventy- 
five  in  number,  was  thrown  to  the  ground  and  several 
people  injured,  the  exercises  here  were  interrupted 
and  the  procession  moved  to  the  common,  where  a 
dinner  was  served  in  the  mammoth  tent,  and  toasts 
were  responded  to  by  the  eminent  guests  of  the  oc- 
casion. 

Many  buildings  along  the  route  of  the  procession 
were  handsomely  decorated.  At  one  point  was  sta- 
tioned an  old  war-horse,  thirty-four  years  of  age, 
from  whose  back  was  killed  Col.  Wells,  of  the  Thirty- 
fourth  Massachusetts  Volunteers,  and  in  whose  body 
were  several  bullets  received  in  battle. 

The  monument  was  cut  from  fine  white  granite,  is 
thirty-six  feet  in  height,  with  a  square  base,  twelve 
by  twelve  feet.  The  plinth  is  six  feet  six  inches 
square,  and  on  the  dies,  five  feet  four  inches  square, 
are  the  inscriptions : 

"  To  the  soldiers  and  sailors  of  Beverly  ; 

"Erected  in  behalf  ot  the  citizens  of  the  town  by  Post  89, 

'Department  of  Massachusetts,  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  18S2  ; 

"Embalmed  in  the  memories  of  the  succeeding  generations,  the  heroic 
dead  will  live  on  in  immortal  youth  ; 

"Teaching  in  eloquent  silence  the  lesson  of  the  Citizen's  duty  to  the 
State." 

The  corners  of  the  dies  are  ornamented  with  carved 
cannon.  The  shaft  is  surmounted  by  the  figure  of  a 
soldier  loading  at  will. 

Post  89,  Beverly,  G.  A.  R.,  was  organized  June  6, 
1869,  and  took  its  name  from  John  H.  Chipman,  who 
went  out  a  second  time  to  the  war  as  captain  of  Com- 
pany C,  Fifty-ninth  Regiment  Massachusetts  Volun- 
teers, which  was  recruited  in  town  and  composed  in 
part  of  Beverly  men. 

The  Post  has  a  membership  of  200,  and  has  paid 
out,  for  the  benefit  of  comrades  and  families  of  de- 
ceased members,  in  the  past  six  years,  over  $6,000.  On 
the  1st  of  November,  1882,  the  monument  was  for- 
mally presented  by  the  Post  to  the  town,  with  public 
exercises  in  the  town  hall,  presented  by  Commander 
Morgan,  and  accepted  by  John  I.  Baker  in  behalf  of 
the  town,  and  a  list  was  published  of  the  soldiers  and 
sailors  who  had  died  in  service  since  the  war.^ 

In  April,  of  this  year,  died  Capt.  Jona.  H.  Lovett,  a 
retired  sea-captain,  and  David  Lefavour,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-six,  one  of  the  first  shoe  manufacturers  of  the 
town. 

The  Beverly  Times,  a  valuable  local  paper,  was  es- 
tablished this  year  by  Messrs  Morgan  &  Bates. 

1883.— The  Rev.  Edwin  M.  Stone,  formerly  minis- 
ter of  the  Second  Parish  Church,  1834-47,  representa- 
tive 1842  and   1844,  and  the  author   of  a  "  History  of 

1  Pub.  in  Citizen  of  Nov.  4,  1884. 


Beverly,"  died  in  Providence  December  22d,  aged 
seventy-eight  years.  The  latter  i^art  of  his  life  was 
passed  in  Providence,  R.  I.,  where  for  some  years  he 
was  a  city  missionary.  He  had  done  much  literary 
work  in  the  course  of  his  life,  his  latest  and  most  val- 
uable publication  being  "  Our  French  Allies  in  the 
Revolution." 

Miss  Elizabeth  Manning  Hawthorne,  the  last  sur- 
viving sister  of  Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  died  January 
1st,  aged  eighty  years  and  nine  months.  For  the 
thirty  years  then  past  she  had  lived  a  very  retired  life 
in  a  farm-house  at  Monserrat,  almost  unknown  to  her 
neighbors.  She  was  two  years  the  senior  of  her  gifted 
brother,  who,  it  is  said,  often  declared  that  she  could 
attain  fame  if  she  would  devote  herself  to  literary  pur- 
suits. Hawthorne's  grandmother,  daughter  of  Jona- 
than and  Lydia  (Cox)  Phelps,  was  born  in  Beverly, 
June  1, 1734,  in  the  house  that  stood  on  or  near  the 
site  occupied  by  the  Roman  Catholic  parsonage. 

In  excavating  for  the  foundation  of  the  Lawrence 
Pottery,  to  replace  the  one  destroyed  by  fire,  an  an- 
cient brick  kiln  was  unearthed.  The  bricks  were 
somewhat  longer  and  wider  than  those  now  in  use,  and 
thinner. 

November  n,  Benjamin  0.  Pierce,  aged  seventy-one, 
died  in  Beverly,  well  known  as  a  public  educator. 

1884. — Jamiary  9,  Lieut.-Col.  Henry  P.  Woodbury 
died  at  the  age  of  forty-eight  years.  One  of  the  first 
to  respond  to  the  call  for  three  months'  men,  in  1861, 
as  first  sergeant,  under  Col.  Porter,  he  re-enlisted  at 
the  expiration  of  this  term  of  service  as  first  lieu- 
tenant under  Capt.  Raymond,  in  Company  G,  Twenty- 
third  Regiment.  He  fought  gallantly  to  the  end  of 
the  war  in  1865,  sustaining  injuries  from  which  he 
never  recoA^ered.  He  left  a  widow  and  two  sons,  and 
an  aged  mother,  Mrs.  Nancy  Woodbury,  who  is  now 
living  (1887),  in  excellent  health,  at  ninety  years  of 
age.  Colonel  Woodbury  represented  the  town  in  the 
Legislature  in  1877. 

3Iay  6,  at  Cambridge,  died  Wilson  Flagg,  aged 
seventy-eight  years  and  six  months.  Mr.  Flagg  was 
an  ardent  lover  of  nature,  and  the  author  of  several 
books  on  birds  and  trees:  "Studies  in  Field  and 
Forest,"  1857  ;  "  Woods  and  Byways  of  New  Eng- 
land," 1872,  and  other  books,  as  well  as  many  arti- 
cles in  the  Atlantic  Magazine.  His  rare  musical 
talent  he  inherited  from  his  father,  Isaac  Flagg,  the 
school-master  and  choir-leader  of  the  old  South  for 
many  years.  '"One  of  his  most  wonderful  feats  in  the 
musical  line  was  his  arrangement  of  the  songs  and 
notes  of  the  birds  to  music,  as  given  in  their  grand 
anthems  of  May  and  June,  particularly  the  song  of 
the  vesper  bird,  the  peculiar  trilling  notes  of  the 
'veery'and  the  solemn  tones  of  the  wood-thrush 
with  its  strange  cadence.  One  can  say,  in  the  words 
of  Emerson,  as  he  wrote  of  Thoreau  :  'His  soul 
was  made  for  the  noblest  society ;  wherever  there  is 
knowledge,  wherever  there  is  virtue,  wherever  there 
is  beauty,  he  will  find  a  home.'  " 


BEVERLY. 


'43 


In  December,  1884,  the  South  School-house  was 
destroyed  by  fire  with  a  loss  to  the  town  of  $2,000. 
A  new  building  was  erected  in  1885  at  a  cost  of 
$25,000. 

1885. — In  June  this  year  the  old  mill  at  the  head 
of  Bass  Eiver  was  burned.  It  is  about  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years  since  the  first  mill  was  erected  in 
Beverly,  probably  by  John  Friend,  who  had  a  grant 
of  land  (ten  acres)  in  1637,  and  one  hundred  more 
in  1638.  In  1665,  after  Friend's  death,  his  heirs 
granted  and  confirmed  to  John  Leach,  son  of  Law- 
rence, "the  mill  and  mill-house  standing  in  Bass 
River,  with  all  the  appurtenances,  with  two  acres 
of  land  adjoining  and  twenty  acres  a  little  dis- 
tance otF,  all  on  Eyall's  Neck  side.  "  This  was  re- 
ognized  as  the  property  of  Lawrence  Leach  by 
the  town  of  Salem,  in  1627,  when  it  decided  that 
the  way  from  the  meeting-house  to  said  mill  shall 
be  directly  in  the  country  way  to  Edmund  Grover's 
(near  the  present  corner  of  Cabot  and  Beckford), 
etc.,  substantially  as  Mill  Street  to-day,  but  crossing 
the  mill-i^ond  farther  up  the  stream  than  the  present 
road  over  the  dam.  Relics  of  the  old  dam  and  gate- 
way may  still  be  seen,  and  the  course  of  the  ancient 
roadway  may  yet  be  traced. 

The  original  mill  was  probably  much  nearer  the 
head  of  the  stream  than  the  last  one.  At  the  point 
where  Bass  River  Brook  meets  the  tide-water  is  a 
high  embankment,  which  once  served  as  a  dam  and 
another  still  farther  up.  One  of  these  dams  was 
used  to  confine  the  water  for  the  cotton-mill  erected 
there  in  the  last  century. 

The  oak  frame  of  the  old  mill,  or  a  portion  of  it,  is 
in  one  of  the  barns  formerly  owned  by  Aaron  Dodge, 
near  the  mill-dam.  In  1669,  John  Leach,  miller,  sold 
to  John  Dodge,  Jr.  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds, 
all  the  lands,  dwelling-house,  mills  and  privileges. 
This  Capt.  John  Dodge,  Jr.,  was  a  son  of  William 
Dodge,  the  first  of  the  name  here.  In  1702  he  deeds 
to  his  son-in-law,  Ebenezer  Woodbury,  for  two  hun- 
dred pounds  in  silver,  "all  my  grist-mill,  alias  corn- 
mill,  in  Salem,  with  2  acres  of  land  in  Salem  &  1^ 
acres  in  Beverly,  with  all  streams,  water  tools,  imple- 
ments, etc." 

Bass  River  was  then  a  boundary  between  Salem 
and  Beverly.  The  heirs  of  Ebenezer  Woodbury,  in 
1798,  sold  the  mill  property  to  Thomas  Davis,  Jr., 
who  had  married  a  daughter  of  Israel  Woodbury. 

This  property  was  purchased  in  1848  by  Aaron 
Dodge,  who  in  1851  enlarged  it  and  added  the  eleva- 
tor and  tower,  said  to  be  the  first  in  the  State. 

This  well-known  mill  was  run  by  tide-water  as  a 
grist-mill  until  1882,  when  it  was  purchased  by  a  Bos- 
ton man  and  used  for  grinding  rubber. 

In  1882-83  a  son  of  Mr.  Dodge,  Israel  W.,  and  as- 

.  pociates,  erected    the  large  structure   known    as   the 

Eastern  Elevator  and   Mills,  four  stories  in  height, 

surmounted  by  a  tower  three  stories  higher,  or  ninety 

feet  from  summit  to  basement.     This  is  one  of  the 


best  establishments  of  its  kind,  and  is  furnished  with 
every  known  appliance  for  discharging  and  loading 
cars,  grinding  grain,  etc. 

In  1885  there  were  in  Beverly  nine  claimants  en- 
titled to  reparation  for  French  spoliation,  on  account 
of  the  losses  to  brig  "Nancy"  in  1798,  and  to  the 
schooner  "  Esther"  in  1799. 

The  oldest  person  in  Beverly,  Joseph  K.  Russell, 
died  at  the  age  of  ninety-four  yeary,  seven  months. 
He  was  a  soldier  and  pensioner  of  1812,  and  had 
lived  for  seventy  years  in  the  same  house  in  Black 
Swamp,  from  which  he  had  not  been  absent  a  month. 

In  August  one  of  the  most  promising  of  Beverly's 
daughters.  Miss  Alice  L.  Moulton,  died  in  Steelen- 
bosch,  South  Africa,  whither  she  had  gone  as  a  teach- 
er in  February,  1884.  Miss  Moulton  was  a  graduate 
of  Wellesley  College,  where  she  had  won  high  honors 
Her  ideals  and  aspirations  were  pure  and  elevated, 
and  her  young  life  was  consecrated  to  the  cause  of 
Christianity. 

Fire  Depaetmext  and  Water-Works. — In 
August  and  September,  1885,  the  town  voted  to  accept 
the  act  of  Legislature  giving  it  permission  to  erect 
water-works  and  maintain  an  independent  water  sup- 
ply, at  a  cost,  exclusive  of  land  damages,  not  to  ex- 
ceed one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars. 

A  committee  of  sixteen  was  appointed,  who  made 
a  report  in  November,  recommending  a  pumping  sta- 
tion at  Wenham  Lake,  with  two  pumps,  each  of  two 
million  gallons  daily  capacity,  a  reservoir  on  Brimble 
Hill  capable  of  holding  three  million  gallons,  an 
eighteen-inch  main  to  connect  with  the  street  pipes 
already  laid,  and  a  twelve-inch  main  to  the  Farms. 
Brimble  Hill  is  one  hundred  and  seventy  seven  feet 
above  sea-level,  and  is  thirty  higher  than  the  Salem 
reservoir. 

Ground  was  broken  for  the  reservoir  on  Brimble 
Hill,  the  highest  elevation  in  town,  in  May,  1886, 
land  having  been  bought  here  and  on  the  shore  of 
Wenham  Lake,  where  a  pumping-station  and  a  cot- 
tage for  the  engineer  have  since  been  erected.  The 
sy-tem  was  completed  within  the  appropriation,  and 
went  into  full  operation  on  the  1st  day  of  October, 
1887,  and  the  town  is  abundantly  supplied  with  water, 
both  highlands  and  lowlands,  having  over  fifty  miles 
of  pipes  extending  throughout  its  length  and  breadth. 
Beverly  had  been  served  with  water  from  the  Salem 
system  of  supply,  which  was  established  in  1807,  its 
reservoir  and  pumping-station  being  within  the  town- 
ship limits. 

Wenham  Lake,  from  which  Beverly  and  Salem  ob- 
tain their  water  supply,  is  from  forty  to  fifty  feet  in 
depth,  and  is  fed  by  springs  beneath  the  surface.  The 
bottom  of  the  lake  is  composed  of  white  quartz  or 
sand,  and  the  water,  from  analysis  by  our  best  chem- 
ists, has  been  pronounced  remarkably  pure.  The  ice 
formed  here  is  so  clear  that  it  has  been  used  success- 
fully as  a  lens  in  igniting  powder  by  the  sun's  rays. 

The  pond  was  once  famous  among  the  Indians  as 


744 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


the  local  fishing-ground  of  the  Naumkeags,  a  stream 
flowing  from  it  being  a  tributary  of  the  Ipswich 
River,  on  the  banks  of  wliich  their  principal  settle- 
ment was  located. 

The  first  murder  committed  in  colonial  times,  of 
■which  we  have  any  record,  was  near  its  shore,  on  the 
main  road  from  Salem  to  Ipswich,  and  the  famous 
Hugh  Peters  (who  was  afterwards  executed  by  Arch- 
bishop Laud)  preached  here  from  the  summit  of  a 
conical  hill  (now  removed)  fi-om  the  text,  "At  Enon, 
near  Salim,  for  there  was  much  water  there." 

At  a  town-meeting  in  1774  it  was  voted  that  if  a 
number  of  men,  not  exceeding  thirty-five,  would  pur- 
chase a  good  fire  apparatus  and  engine,  and  contract 
ro  improve  the  same  for  extinguishing  fires,  they 
should  be  exempt  from  serving  in  any  town  office,  or 
as  jurymen.  This  vote  was  carried  into- effect,  a  com- 
pany formed  and  engine  purchased.  The  company, 
in  1795,  gave  up  their  apparatus  to  the  town,  and  in 
1805  it  was  voted  to  raise  $1,000  and  purchase  a  new 
fire-engine,  and  in  1828  another. 

The  fire  apparatus,  in  1843,  consisted  of  three  en- 
gines, with  hose,  buckets,  axes,  etc.,  one  company  in 
the  North  Parish  and  two  in  the  centre  of  the  town. 

Fire  hooks-and-ladders  were  placed  convenient  for 
use.  In  addition  to  these,  the  Union  Fire  Society, 
formed  in  1804,  had  ladders,  fire-hooks,  sails  and  axes, 
each  member  being  provided  with  two  leather  buck- 
ets, a  two-bushel  bag,  a  bed-key  and  a  screw-driver. 
For  furnishing  a  supply  of  water  for  fires,  four  cis- 
terns had  been  built.  The  Union  Fire  Society  had  a 
fund  of  $4,000,  which  was  divided  among  its  members 
when  they  disbanded,  their  services  becoming  of  less 
importance  as  public  facilities  increased. 

The  first  steam  fire-engine  was  purchased  by  the 
town  in  1866,  and  on  the  introduction  of  Wenham 
water  int')  the  town,  hydrants  were  established  exten- 
sively, hose-houses  were  built  and  efficiently  equipped, 
and  the  most  approved  system  of  apparatus  purchased. 
In  all  six  hose-houses  were  erected,  so  that  every  sec- 
tion, no  matter  how  remote  from  the  town-centre, 
was  thoroughly  protected.  In  addition  to  these 
was  the  steam  fire-engine  at  the  central  station  ;  and 
in  November,  1885,  the  building  known  as  the  Cen- 
tral Fire  Station  was  dedicated,  which  cost  nearly 
$20,000,  and  is  provided  with  a  tower,  with  perfect  ap- 
paratus, two  engines,  trained  horses  and  efficient  en- 
gineers. 

At  the  Farms,  in  addition  to  the  hose-house,  is  a 
new  building  containing  a  fine  steamer  and  appoint- 
ments equally  good  with  those  in  the  central  dis- 
trict. 

1886. — An  electric  fire-alarm  was  established  in 
February,  beginning  in  the  manufacturing  district, 
and  extending  thence  into  the  outlying  sections  of  the 
town.  It  started  with  ten  boxes,  two  in  the  manufac- 
turing centre,  two  on  Cabot  Street,  and  one  each  in 
the  South,  Washington,  Cove,  Montserrat,  North 
Beverly  and  Farms  Districts. 


An  indicator  and  a  two-circuit  repeater  was  put 
into  the  Central  Station,  a  striker  attached  to  the 
First  Baptist  bell,  and  a  whistle-blower  on  one  of  the 
factories. 

In  July,  1886,  electric  lights  were  introduced  into 
the  town,  under  the  management  of  the  parties  con- 
trolling the  gas  company,  superseding  gas  for  street 
lights  in  the  most  densely-populated  parts. 

The  Beverly  Gas-Light  Company  was  incorporated 
in  1859,  furnishing  gas  to  light  the  streets  and  to  pri- 
vate consumers. 

The  sti'eet  railway  system  was  extended  in  one  di- 
rection to  Chapman's  Corner,  at  the  Cove ;  in  another, 
through  North  Beverly,  to  Wenham. 

Temperance  and  other  Societies. — We  may  say 
of  Beverly  to-day,  as  was  said  of  her  by  the  historian 
of  forty  years  ago,  that,  "  on  the  subject  of  temper- 
ance she  has  kept  in  the  van  of  enlightened  public 
sentiment." 

The  customs  of  early  times  prescril)ed  "drinks" 
upon  nearly  all  public  occasions,  but  this  town  was 
one  of  the  first  to  abolish  that  custom.  By  a  vote  of 
March  9th,  1807,  the  selectmen  were  requested  "  not 
to  approbate  or  recommend  for  the  renewal  of  their 
license  any  person,  in  the  future,  as  an  innholder,  who 
was  not  provided  with  accommodations  for  entertain- 
ing travelers." 

Such  popular  educators  as  Rev.  Joseph  Emerson 
and  Dr.  Abiel  Abbott  used  their  influence  in  promot- 
ing the  cause  of  temperance ;  but  the  first  temperance 
society  was  not  formed  until  about  1830,  up  to  which 
time  nearly  every  grocer  in  town  was  licensed  to  sell 
intoxicating  liquors. 

The  Beverly  Baptist  Temperance  Society  was  or- 
ganized in  1832,  as  also  was  a  similar  association  at 
the  Farms.  A  Temperance  Association  was  formed 
in  the  Second  Parish  in  1833,  the  Union  Temperance 
Society  in  1835,  and  a  Total  Abstinence  Society  in 
1838.  In  1840  the  Washingtonian  movement  swept 
over  the  land,  the  beneficial  influence  of  which  Bev- 
erly experienced. 

In  1844  the  Sons  of  Temperance,  Franklin  Division, 
organized  and  contained  a  large  and  influential  mem- 
bership, which,  after  many  years  of  valued  service, 
finally  disbanded  ;  the  new  division  of  the  same  name 
in  1882. 

The  Young  Men's  Catholic  Temperance  Society  was 
organized  in  1872,  the  Woman's  Christian  Total 
Abstinence  Union  organized  in  1875,  and  the  Woman's 
Christian  Temperance  Union,  at  the  Farms,  in  1885. 

The  Crystal  Fountain  Lodge  of  Good  Templars  was 
organized  in  1882. 

Other  societies  of  various  kinds,  which  illustrate 
the  intellectual  and  industrial  life  of  the  town,  are 
numerous,  as  follows: 

The  Female  Charitable  Society  was  incorporated 
1836;  Beverly  Fuel  Society,  already  mentioned  ;  Sea- 
man's Widows'  and  Orphans'  Friend  Society,  organ- 
ized   1833  ;  Fisher  Charitable,  organized  1810  ;    Old 


BEVERLY 


745 


Ladies'  Home  Society,  organized  1886  ;  New  England 
Industrial  School  for  Deaf  Mutes  (on  a  farm  of  fifty-six 
acres,  at  Eyal  Side),  organized  1876;  Woman's  Re- 
lief Corps,  John  H.  Chipman,  Jr.,  No.  30,  organized 
1883  ;  Knights  of  Honor,  organized  1877;  American 
Legion  of  Honor,  Reuben  Kenuison  C  ouncil,  organ- 
ized 1881 ;  Beverly  Gas-Light  Company,  capital 
stock,  $40,000,  par  value  $100  ;  Light  Infantry  Com- 
pany, organized  1814  ;  Beverly  Co-operative  Associa- 
tion, organized  1879 ;  Grand  Army  Post,  organized 
1869 ;  Shoe  Manufacturers'  Association,  organized 
1865;  Lasters'  Protective  Union,  organized  1882; 
United  Order  American  Mechanics,  organized  1883  ; 
Independent  Order  of  Red  Men,  Chicataubut  Tribe, 
organized  1886;  Royal  Arcanum,  Roger  Conant 
Council,  organized  1879 ;  Sons  of  Veterans,  Camp 
John  Low,  organized  1882  ;  Thorndike  Bicycle  Club, 
organized  1881 ;  Daughters  of  Liberty,  Mayflower 
Council,  organized  1885;  Golden  Rule  Alliance,  or- 
ganized, 1885  ;  Beverly  Fireman's  Relief  Association 
has  a  fund  of  $4,500. 

The  Post-Office. — Owing  to  its  contiguity  to  Sa- 
lem, Beverly  did  not  possess  distinct  postal  facilities 
so  early  as  some  other  towns  in  the  county.  The 
first  postmaster  was  Asa  Leech,  before  the  building 
of  Essex  bridge,  who  also  had  charge  of  the  ferry  and 
kept  a  public-house  at  the  corner  of  Cabot  and  Davis 
Streets.  He  was  postmaster  for  many  years.  Previous 
to  the  establishment  of  the  oflSce  here  our  citizens, 
as  well  as  those  of  some  other  towns,  obtained  their 
mail  from  the  Salem  office. 

Dr.  Josiah  Batchelder  succeeded  Mr.  Leech,  at  his 
death,  and  kept  the  ofiice  in  a  house  on  the  corner  of 
Davis  and  Front  Streets.  On  his  removal  to  Maine, 
John  Burley  was  appointed,  who  resigned,  and  was 
succeeded  by  John  Lemon,  he  by  Farnham  Plum- 
mer,  who  removed  the  office  to  a  building  next  to  the 
Thorndike  mansion,  now  the  town-hall.  Jonathan 
Smith  was  the  next  postmaster,  who  held  the  office 
nine  years,  until  Stephens  Baker  was  appointed,  in 
1833.  Mr.  Baker  held  office  sixteen  years,  at  first  in 
his  store,  where  the  Hinkley  Block  now  stands,  and 
during  his  last  ten  years  in  the  building  he  erected 
on  the  corner  of  Cabot  and  Milton  Streets.  Joseph 
D.  Tuck,  who  succeeded  him,  kept  the  office  in  the 
same  place,  until  another  change  of  administration 
gave  it  in  charge  of  Gilbert  T.  Hawes,  who  established 
it  at  the  corner  of  Cabot  Street  and  Railroad  Avenue. 
Thomas  A.  Morgan  succeeded  him,  under  whom  the 
office  was  opened  in  the  Masonic  Block,  where  his 
successor,  Thomas  D.  Davis,  continued  it.  Mr.  Davis 
was  a  soldier  of  the  late  war,  whose  health  was  seri- 
ously shattered  by  barbarous  treatment  in  the  pris- 
ons of  Richmond  and  Andersonville.  His  successor 
was  another  veteran  of  the  war.  Colonel  Francis  E. 
Porter.  Under  him  and  his  predecessor  the  office  had 
been  brought  into  a  high  state  of  efficiency  ;  but  the 
accession  to  power  of  a  Democratic  ad  ministration 
caused  the  removal  of  Colonel  Porter,  and  the  appoint- 
47^ 


ment  of  the  present  incumbent,  Jeremiah  Murphy, 
Within  the  year  past  the  post-office  was  removed  to 
the  Odd-Fellows'  Block,  at  the  instance  of  the  inspec- 
tor from  Washington,  and  fitted  with  every  ap- 
pointment, so  that  it  is  now  second  to  none  of  its 
class  in  the  State. 

Beverly's  Representatives. — Of  the  early  lead- 
ing settlers  of  Beverly,  Roger  Conant  was  one  of  the 
Representatives  for  Salem  to  the  first  General  Court 
in  1634 ;  John  Woodbury  in  1635,  '38  and  '39 ;  John 
Blackleach  and  Thomas  Scruggs  in  1636 ;  Captain 
Thomas  Lothrop  in  1653,  '62  and  '64,  and  from 
Beverly  in  1672,  '73,  '74  and  '75.  The  other  Repre- 
sentatives from  Beverly  have  been  Lieutenant  John 
Dodge,  son  of  Richard  Dodge,  in  1676,  '78,  '79,  '80, 
'81,  '83,  '89  and  '90  ;  John  West,  1677  ;  William  Dodge, 
Sr.,  1680  ;  Lieutenant  Paul  Thorndike,  1681 ;  Exercise 
Conant,  1682,  '83  and  '84;  Captain  William  Raymond, 
1683,  '85  and  '86  ;  Thomas  West,  1687  (he  was  also  the 
first  Representative  from  Manchester) ;  Sergeant  Peter 
Woodbury,  1690 ;  Lieutenant  Andrew  Elliott,  1691, 
'92,  '94,  '95  and  '97;  Captain  John  Dodge,  son  of 
William,  Sr.,  1693,  '96  and  1702;  Deacon  Samuel 
Balch,  1698,  '99,  1700/01,  '05, '06,  '07,  09, '10, '13,  '14, 
'15,  '16,  '19;  Isaac  Woodbury,  1703,  '04;  Robert  Hale, 
Sr.,  1708;  Lieutenant  John  Balch,  1711,  '12,  '27; 
Captain  Joseph  Herrick,  1717,  '18,  '20,  '21 ;  Lieutenant 
Robert  Briscoe,  1721, '22;  Lieutenant  John  Thorn- 
dike, 1723;  Deacon  Jonathan  Rayment,  1724,  '25; 
Captain  Robert  Woodbury,  1726,  '30  ;  Andrew  Dodge, 
1728,  '29;  Lieutenant  (afterwards  colonel)  Robert 
Hale,  1731,  '32,  '33,  '34,  '35,  '38,  '40,  '41.  '42,  '43,  '44, 
'45,  '46,  '47,  '48,  '54,  '56,  '57 ;  Captain  Henry  Herrick 
(of  the  French  and  Indian  War),  1736,  '37,  '39,  '51, 
'52,  '53 ;  Lieutenant  Daniel  Conant,  1749,  '50  ;  Captain 
John  Leach,  1755  (who  had  been  Representative  from 
Salem  in  1750  and  '51,  before  Ryall's  Side  was  annexed 
to  Beverly) ;  Lieutenant  (afterwards  colonel)  Henry 
Herrick,  son  of  Captain  Henry,  1758,  '59,  '60,  '61,  '62. 
'63,  '64,  '65,  '66,  '67,  '68,  '69,  '70,  '71,  '72,  '73 ;  Captain 
Josiah  Batchelder,  1774,  '75,  '76,  '77,  '78,  '79  (and  in 
the  Provincial  Congress  for  three  of  those  years) ; 
Jonathan  Conant,  1779,  '81 ;  Colonel  Larkin  Thorn- 
dike, 1780,  '82,  '86,  '87,  '90,  '91,  '92;  Nathan  Dane, 
1782,  '83,  '84,  '85  (also  Senator,  1790,  '94,  '96,  '97,  '98. 
Representative  to  Congress,  1785, '86, '87;  Presidential 
elector,  1812,  in  Constitutional  Convention,  1820); 
Joseph  Wood,  1786,  '87,  '88,  "89,  '92,  '93,  '94,  '95,  '96, 
'97,  '98,  1802,  '03,  '04,  '05,  '06;  Captain  (afterwards 
colonel)  Israel  Thorndike,  1788,  1802,  '03,  '04,  '05,  '06, 
'08  (also  Senator,  1807,  '08,  '10,  and  in  State  Conven- 
tion, 1788,  to  consider  the  Federal  Constitution) ;  John 
Cabot,  1792;  Captain  Moses  Brown,  1799,  1800,  '01 
(and  elector  of  President,  1808) ;  John  Stephens,  1800, 
'01 ;  James  Burnham,  1800,  '01 ;  Abner  Chapman, 
1804,  '05,  '06,  '07,  '08,  '09,  '10,  '11,  '12,  '13,  '14,  '15; 
Thomas  Davis,  1805,  '06,  '07,  '08,  '09,  '10,  '11,  '12,  '13, 
'14,  '15,  '16,  '17,  '19,  '20,  '22,  '23  ;  Thomas  Stephens, 
1808, '09,  '10  (and  Senator,   1811,  '12,  '13, '14,  '15); 


746 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Robert  Rantoul,  1809,  '10,  '11,  '12,  '13,  '14,  '15,  '16, 
'17,  '18,  '19,  '23,  '24,  '25,  '26,  '28,  '29,  '30,  '31,  '32,  '33 
(Senator,  1821,  '22,  23,  and  in  Constitutional  Conven- 
tions of  1820  and  1853);  Isaac  Rea,  1809,  '10,  '11,  '12, 
13;  Nathaniel  Goodwin,  1811,  '12, '13,  '14,  '15, '16, 
17;  Nicholas  Thorndike,  1814,  '15,  '16,  '17;  Josiah 
Lovett,  1816,  '20,  '21  ;  Oliver  Obear,  1823,  '24,  '25,  '26; 
William  Thorndike,  1824,  '25,  '26  (in  the  Senate,  1828, 
'29,  '30,  and  its  President  in  1831) ;  Pyam  Lovett,  1823, 
'37 ;  Henry  Larcom,  1827,  '28,  '29,  '30 ;  Thomas  Ste- 
phens, Jr.,  1829,  '30;  Josiah  Lovett  2d,  1829  (Senator 
1852);  Amos  Sheldon,  1829,  '30;  John  SafFord,  1833, 
'34,  '35,  '36,  '38,  '39  (and  in  Senate,  1842,  '44) ;  Charles 
Stephens,  1833,  '57;  Jesse  Sheldon,  1833,  '34;  Cotton 
Bennett,  1834,  '35,  '36;  Neheraiah  Roundy,  1834,  '35, 
'36;  Stephen  Nourse,  1835, '36;  John  Conant,  1835, 
'36;  David  Larcom,  1837;  Ezra  Dodge,  1837;  Daniel 
Cross,  1837;  Jonathan  Batchelder,  1836,  '38;  Andrew 
Ober,  1838;  Edwin  M.  Stone,  1839,  '42,  '44;  Thomas 
B.  Smith,  1839,  '40 ;  William  Lamson,  1840,  '41 ;  Ed- 
ward Stone,  1841;  John  Pickett,  1842.  '44;  Albert 
Thorndike,  1845.  '46,  '47  (and  Senator,  1850,  '51); 
John  I.  Baker,  1840,  '45,  '46,  '47,  '52,  '56,  '65,  '66,  '69, 
'71,  '75,  '78,  '79,  '80,  '81,  '82,  '83,  '84  (Councillor,  1860, 
'61,  Senator,  1863,  '64);  William  H.  Lovett,  1848,  '49, 
'50;  Paul  Hildretb,  1848, '49, '50 ;  Levi  A.  Abbott, 
1852,  '54;  William  Endicott  and  Joseph  E.  Ober,  and 
the  latter  in  the  Constitutional  Convention  ;  John  B. 
Hill,  1855,  '74,  '76;  Richard  P.  Waters,  1856  (and  in 
the  Peace  Congress  of  1861);  John  Knowlton,  1857; 
Robert  S.  Rantoul,  1858;  Thomas  A.  Morgan  and 
James  Hill,  1859;  Andrew  F.  Wales,  1860  ;  Augustus 
N.  Clark,  1861  (and  Presidential  elector,  1880) ;  Elijah 
E.  Lummus,  1861;  John  Meacom,  1862 ;  Robert  R. 
Endicott  and  Robert  S.Foster,  1863;  Benjamin  D. 
Grant,  1864;  Charles  H.  Odell,  1865;  John  W.  Ray- 
mond, 1866,  '67 ;  Joseph  Wilson,  1868  ;  Freeborn  W. 
Cressy,  1869, '72;  Henry  P.  Moulton,  1870;  Nathan 
H.  Webb,  1870,  '71,  '72;  Francis  E.  Porter,  1873,  '74; 
John  H,  Woodbury,  1875  ;  David  A.  Preston,  1876 ; 
Henry  P.  Woodbury,  1877 ;  Charles  L.  Dodge,  1885, 
'86,  '87.  Senators  who  have  not  been  Representatives : 
Joshua  Fisher,  1805  ;  Warren  Tilton,  1859,  '60;  Fred- 
erick W.  Choate,  1866,  '67;  Francis  Norwood,  1881,  '82. 
Beverly's  Industries. — The  Fisheries. — The  ear- 
liest industries  of  Beverly  were  farming  and  fishing. 
From  the  sea  came  the  principal  subsistence,  until 
the  meadows  and  forests  were  cleared  and  planted. 
The  first  settlements  in  Beverly  were  located  with 
special  reference  to  their  contiguity  to  the  fishing- 
grounds,  as  the  houses  erected  by  William  and  Hum- 
phrey Woodbury  and  their  people.  After  the  fish- 
eries were  established  nearly  every  male  inhabitant 
old  enough,  and  not  too  old,  went  off  for  the  sum- 
mer's fishing.  Few  were  left  at  home,  except  the 
old  men  and  young  boys,  women  and  girls.  Even 
the  boys  were  taken  away  at  a  very  early  age,  some 
at  eleven,  and  nearly  all  of  them  at  fourteen  or  fif- 
teen. 


At  the  outset  the  voyages  were  greatly  prolonged 
by  the  custom,  then  prevailing,  of  drying  the  fish  be- 
fore the  return  of  the  vessel  to  port,  on  the  Mag- 
dalen or  the  coast  of  Labrador,  which  they  after- 
wards took,  in  the  same  vessels,  to  the  West  Indies, 
etc.  Later  on,  and  for  the  past  hundred  years  or  so, 
the  fish  were  salted  in  the  hold  and  brought  home  to 
be  "  cured."  Then  it  was  possible  to  make  two  voy- 
ages each  season,  sailing  on  the  1st  of  March  or 
April,  and  returning  about  the  4th  of  July, — this 
was  the  "  first  fare ;  "  the  "  second  fare  "  would  keep 
them  out  till  cold  weather  had  commenced,  into  No- 
vember, and  sometimes  even  December.  In  all, 
from  six  to  eight  months  were  taken  for  the  two 
fares ;  sometimes  three  fares  were  made.  Every  avail- 
able headland  on  the  coast,  from  Tuck's  Point  to 
Paine's  Head,  was  covered  with  fish-flakes,  where,  in 
the  summer  and  autumn  months,  thousands  of  tons 
of  fish  were  cured  for  market. 

These  fish-drying  places  have  now  become  too  valu- 
able as  real  estate  to  be  used  for  this  purpose,  and 
but  a  few  fish-flakes  can  be  seen  on  our  shores.  Most 
of  the  fishermen  resided  on  the  coast,  between  the 
Old  South  and  the  Manchester  line.  When  the  cod 
fishery  was  at  its  best,  which  was  probably  between 
the  years  1 840-50,  there  were  seventy  or  eighty  vessels 
engaged,  and  all  manned  by  natives  of  this  town. 
Each  vessel  carried  from  six  to  nine  men,  and  rarely 
exceeded  eighty  or  ninety  tons  burthen.  The  i)rin- 
cipal  vessel-owners  were  Thorndike  &  Endicott, 
Stephen  Nourse,  Foster  &  Lovett,  Pickett  &  Ed- 
wards, James  Stone,  (Japt.  Bradshaw,  Ezra  Batchel- 
der, Samuel  Ober,  John  Morgan  ;  and  some  vessels 
were  owned  by  the  crews. 

But  the  co-operative  system  did  not  work  very 
well,  as  all  the  "combined  powers"  wanted  to  be 
skippers,  and  could  not  agree. 

The  average  cost  of  a  new  schooner  was  about  four 
thousand  dollars.  A  good  season's  receipts,  even  for 
the  "skippers,"  was  five  hundred  dollars,  and  an  av- 
erage of  two  hundred  quintals  of  fish  was  considered 
a  "great  catch."  The  fishermen  did  remarkably  well 
immediately  after  the  withdrawal  of  the  embargo,  in 
1815,  and  during  the  period  of  the  Civil  War,  as 
prices  were  very  high  in  the  first  instance,  and  crews 
scarce  in  the  second. 

The  fishermen  led  a  hard  life  at  the  best,  and  in 
the  early  times  lacked  the  many  conveniences  that 
their  .>-uccessors  enjoy,  some  even  being  subject  to 
piracy.  Until  within  a  comparatively  recent  period 
they  carried  no  stoves,  but  in  each  vessel  was  a  capa- 
cious fire-place,  in  cabin  as  well  as  in  forecastle.  In 
de-icending  into  the  fo'castle  the  sailors  were  obliged 
to  go  "down  the  chimney,"  as  they  expressed  it, 
there  being  no  other  aperture  for  the  escape  of  the 
smoke  than  that  by  which  their  quarters  were  reached. 
Bat  they  had  "  lots  of  comfort "  with  theirgreat  wood- 
fires,  especially  in  the  autumn  months,  even  though 
the  smoke  was  annoying.     At   first,  every  man  was 


BEVERLY. 


747 


his  own  cook,  and  it  is  likely  that  the  fare  was 
hard. 

With  the  advent  of  a  special  cook,  or  a  man  drafted 
from  the  crew  for  that  purpose,  the  "grub"  was  im- 
proved a  little,  the  staple  articles  of  diet  being  beef, 
salt  pork,  beans  twice  a  week,  potatoes,  bacon,  fish, 
"  duff,"  doughnuts  and  pies„  Duff  and  doughnuts 
were  great  luxuries,  however,  and  "  duff  day  "  was 
always  looked  forward  to  with  pleasurable  anticipa- 
tions Although  the  distance  traversed  by  the  fish- 
ing schooners  was  not  vast,  yet  the  length  of  the  voy- 
age made  it  wearisome,  especially  as  land  was  I'arely 
sighted  after  Cape  Ann  had  been  left  astern  until  it 
hove  in  sight  again  four  months  later;  on  the  return 
the  government  gave  a  bounty  of  four  dollars  per 
ton  for  each  voyage  of  four  months  and  over,  and 
even  if  a  full  fare  was  secured  in  half  that  time,  the 
requisite  numbers  of  days  must  be  passed  at  sea  be- 
fore port  could  be  entered.  The  great  event  of  the 
voyage  was  "  washing  out  day,"  when  the  fish  had 
been  landed  and  the  crew  were  given  a  royal  dinner. 
As  winter  came  on,  the  vessels  were  hauled  up  at  the 
wharves  and  the  crews  dispersed  to  seek  employment 
at  shoe-making,  or  to  spend  their  hard-earned  money 
in  completing  their  education.  Many  a  boy,  taken 
from  home  at  an  early  age,  returned  to  the  vilhige 
school  on  successive  winters,  to  acquire  what  learn- 
ing he  could  in  the  time  at  his  command.  It  was  a 
wholesome  discipline  they  got  at  sea,  and  a  school 
in  which  were  reared  many  who  afterwards  served 
faithfully  their  country  when  volunteers  were  needed 
for  the  navy. 

At  the  present  day  our  fisheries  are  of  little  im- 
portance. The  great  fleet  of  schooners  has  disap- 
peared, and  scai'cely  half  a  dozen  vessels  sail  from 
our  port  for  the  Banks  each  season  ;  and  these  are 
manned  by  strangers.  How  far  the  policy  of  the  Na- 
tional Government  has  contributed  to  this  result  is 
one  of  the  debated  questions. 

Between  the  years  1828-40  there  were  two  full- 
rigged  ships,  the  ''Shamrock"  and  "Malabar,"  and 
nine  brigs,  making  a  total  of  eleven  "square-riggers," 
owned  in  Beverly,  besides  one  hundred  and  twenty 
schooners.  In  1859  the  schooner  "  Dove  "  was  sold  to 
Eastern  parties.  This  vessel  was  built  in  1817,  and  was 
the  last  of  her  class,  of  half-deck  vessels,  in  Beverly. 

In  186U,  just  prior  to  the  Civil  War,  fifty-four  ves- 
sels from  Bev.rly  were  engaged  in  the  fisheries,  with 
4072  tonnage,  a  valuation  of  $166,800,  carrying  457 
men,  and  using  5366  bushels  of  salt  and  1172  bush- 
els of  bait.  In  1861  the  amount  of  fish  bounty  paid 
was  $15,000.  In  1863,  when  the  greatest  number  of 
our  fishermen  were  away,  serving  in  the  navy,  but 
thirty-seven  vessels  were  engaged.  The  value  offish 
and  oil  obtained  that  year  was  about  $200,000.  The 
"catch"  was  large,  but  fishermen  were  scarce.  In 
1875  some  twenty-four  vessels  were  fitted  out  here; 
in  1877  twenty-two,  besides  smaller  craft,  carrying 
about  300  men. 


But  even  this  small  number  has  been  reduced  in 
the  past  ten  years,  so  that  the  present  year  finds  but 
four  fishing-vessels  employed  at  the  Banks,  and  one 
of  those  is  supposed  to  have  been  lost,  with  all  on 
board.  A  hundred  years  ago,  in  1786,  Beverly 
owned  sixty  vessels,  manned  by  492  men ;  nineteen 
of  these  were  in  the  West  Indian  trade.  In  1788 
thirty-two  vessels,  with  271  men. 

Shoes  and  ShoemaJcing. — For  nearly  two  centuries 
the  industries  of  Beverly  were  essentially  agricultural 
and  maritime ;  farming,  fishing,  coastwise  and  for- 
eign commerce  engaged  the  attention  of  its  inhabit- 
ants, with  an  occasional  digression  to  repel  the  In- 
dians or  beat  off  foreign  invaders.  It  has  been 
already  shown  that  the  town  took  active  part  in 
every  affair  of  national  importance  from  the  Pequod 
War  in  1637  to  the  Rebellion  of  1861.  The  growth 
of  the  town  was  slow,  and  resulted  more  from  the  nat- 
ural increase  of  its  native  population  than  from  alien 
accessions.  The  early  industries  were  few  in  number, 
and  newer  forms  of  occupation  were  adopted 
cautiously.  Unlike  Lynn,  which  seems  to  have  been 
predestined  to  traffic  in  leather  from  earliest  times, 
Beverly  did  not  choose  deliberately  that  which  has 
now  become  its  chiefest  industry.  Resident  shoe- 
makers were  scarce  within  its  borders  before  the  close 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  One  of  the  first  re- 
corded cordwainers  is  Andrew  Elliot,  who  M'as  also 
our  first  town  clerk,  who  lived  in  that  part  of  the 
town  known  as  the  "Haymarket"  or  "City,"  where 
also  resided  another  shoemaker — John  Smith,  son  of 
James,  born  in  1662.  He  probably  worked  upon  the 
low  bench,  having  the  "kit" — knives,  hammer,  la^^- 
stone,  awls,  etc. — on  one  end  and  the  seat  at  the 
other,  and  with  the  shoe  held  by  a  strap  over  the 
knee. 

Of  those  who  first  carried  on  shoemaking  as  a  busi- 
ness, Joseph  Foster,  who  removed  hither  from  Ips- 
wich just  before  the  Revolution,  is  most  conspicuous. 
He  supplied  shoes  to  the  Continental  army  and  to 
the  various  grocery-stores  of  this  town  and  others, 
and  later  shipped  shoes  to  the  Southern  States  and 
the  West  Indies.  Descendants  of  shoemaker  Foster 
are  still  engaged  in  the  business  here,  in  which  they 
were  prominent  for  nearly  a  century.  Others  who 
learned  their  trade  of  Joseph  Foster's  son,  Daniel, 
may  be  remembered  by  our  citizens  as  Captain  Dan- 
iel Cross,  Olphert  Tuttle  and  Osman  Gage. 

A  leading  manufacturer  of  a  later  period  was  Dea- 
con Nehemiah  Roundy,  whose  three  sons  assisted 
him,  and  who  supplied  shoes  to  the  trade  in  Boston 
and  shipped  to  Africa  and  other  countries.  Captain 
Thomas  B.  Smith  in  1829  built  a  factory  in  which  he 
manufactured  large  numbers  of  heavy  boots  and 
shoes.  In  1830  Daniel  Lefavour  began  the  manu- 
facture of  women's  shoes  at  the  Cove,  in  which  also  his 
brother  John  engaged  some  fifteen  years  later.  The 
business  established  by  them  has  since  been  contin- 
ued respectively  by  their  sons.     Another  manufac- 


748 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


turer  of  that  period  was  Ebenezer  Moses,  wlio,  it  is 
said,  first  introduced  the  system  of  division  of  labor, 
and  first  used  tin  patterns  for  the  shaping  of  the  soles 
of  shoes.  The  Herricks  and  Trasks,  fathers  and  sons, 
Wm.  D.  Crossfield,  Wm.  Larrabee,  the  Wallises  (de- 
scended from  the  firdt  deacon)  and  the  Norwoods,  are 
names  prominent  in  the  history  of  shoe  manufacture 
here.  One  of  the  last  century  Wallises  was  the  aged 
shoemaker  Henry  Wallis,  well  remembered  by  the 
middle-aged  of  our  community,  who  worked  at  his 
trade  for  nearly  seventy  years  in  the  same  shop, 
which  was  over  two  hundred  years  old  when  it  was 
removed  from  its  location  at  the  corner  of  Cabot  and 
Bow  Streets. 

Real  Estate  and  Improvements. — The  era  of  progress 
may  be  said  to  date  from  the  advent  of  the  railroad, 
and  the  largest  and  most  important  transaction  in 
real  estate  took  place  at  the  time  the  railroad  station 
was  removed  from  its  original  site  to  its  present  location 
on  Park  Street,  about  1852.  Nearly  all  the  large  sec- 
tion between  Cabot  Street  and  Bass  River,  and  ex- 
tending from  the  Gloucester  crossing  to  the  southerly 
junction  of  Cabot  and  Rantoul  Streets,  was  open 
field,  without  house  or  factory.  To-day  hundreds  of 
dwellings  are  seen  here,  and  the  numerous  shoe  facto- 
ries, in  which  are  conducted  the  leading  industry  of  the 
town.  An  impulse  was  given  to  business  that  has  been 
continued  to  the  present  day. 

Twenty  years  ago,  or  in  1868,  a  section  of  territory 
lyingbetweenLovett,  Lothrop  and  Washington  Streets 
which  had,  for  more  than  a  hundred  years,  lain  unde- 
veloped, and  used  as  fish-yards,  was  purchased  by  Israel 
Lefavour,  and  thrown  open  for  building  purposes.  Mr. 
Lefavour,  then  quite  a  young  man,  divided  the  property 
into  lots,  some  of  which  he  sold,  and  upon  others 
erected  houses,  and  to-day  it  is  covered  with  some  of 
the  most  attractive  residences  in  town.  He  also  pur- 
chased and  improved,  more  recently,  the  Wilson  land 
and  Pickett  fish-yards,  on  Lothrop  Street,  and  has 
built  thereon  houses  commanding  beautiful  outlooks 
over  the  sea. 

In  the  past  twenty  years  Cabot  Street,  which  was 
formerly  lined  mainly  with  dwellings,  has  undergone 
most  radical  changes,  nearly  forty  stores  and  places 
of  business  having  been  erected  there. 

In  1867  the  Masonic  Association  erected  the  fine 
three-story  brick  block  at  the  corner  of  Washington 
and  Cabot  Streets;  in  1875  the  Odd  Fellows  built,  at 
the  corner  of  Cabot  and  Broadway,  the  finest  block  in 
town ;  in  1877  Israel  Lefavour  purchased  the  Little 
estate,  corner  of  Cabot  and  Vestry  Streets,  and  en- 
larged and  altered  the  house  there  into  a  three-story 
block,  with  a  commodious  Opera  House  more  lately 
added  ;  in  1883  Rich  and  Newcomb  built  a  very  large 
and  convenient  wooden  block  on  the  property  ad- 
joining and  extending  to  Railroad  Avenue,  and  in 
1885  Webber  Brothers  erected  a  fine  brick  building 
of  three  stories  adjacent  to  the  Masonic  structure. 

In  1881  Augustus  N.  Clark  altered  the  store  and 


house  of  the  Smith  estate,  owned  by  him,  on  the 
corner  of  Cabot  and  Broadway,  into  a  large  block  for 
stores  and  dwellings,  and  added  much  to  the  beauty 
of  Broadway. 

In  1885  the  Savings  Bank  built  its  beautiful  struc- 
ture at  the  corner  of  Cabot  and  Thorndike  ;  in  1886 
Robert  R.  Endicott  reconstructed  and  enlarged  the 
buildings  corner  of  Cabot  and  Washington  Streets. 

George  Butman  erected  a  large  building  of  three 
stories  on  Cabot,  near  Essex  Street.  A  dozen  years 
before,  Messrs.  Lee  and  Cressy,  George  H.  Southwick 
and  William  W.  Hinkley  had  put  up  fine  business 
blocks.  These  facts  but  indicate  a  steady  and  rapid 
growth  in  the  business  of  Beverly. 

Beyond  the  more  densely  populated  portion  also 
important  improvements  have  been  wrought  within 
twenty  years  and  less. 

The  extension  of  Central  and  Abbot  Streets,  and 
others,  was  followed  by  active  building  of  houses, 
until  nearly  all  were  lined  with  comfortable  and  ele- 
gant dwellings.  The  extension  of  Lothrop  Street  to 
Cross  Lane,  the  extension  of  Ober  and  Corning 
Streets,  the  improving  of  Common  Lane,  etc.,  gave 
an  impetus  to  building,  even  in  remote  places. 

In  1874  Andrew  K.  Ober  purchased  a  portion  of 
the  woodland  known  as  Snake  Hill,  laying  out  drives 
and  walks,  and  building  there  a  stone  mansion,  which 
improvements  were  followed  by  the  construction  of 
Lake-shore  Avenue,  and  the  elegant  station-building 
at  Montserrat.  Within  ten  years  past  radical  changes 
have  been  made  at  Hospital  Point,  so  that  this  bleak 
and  once  desolate  promontory  is  now  the  abode  of 
some  of  our  wealthiest  citizens. 

One  of  the  largest  land-owners,  whose  purchases 
have  been  made  mainly  within  a  few  years  past,  is 
Henry  W.  Peabody,  who  owns  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  acres,  principally  near  the  Montserrat  Sta- 
tion, and  including  such  fine  property  as  Hibbert 
and  Laurel  Pastures,  Turtle  and  Prospect  Hills.  At 
the  Farms,  after  the  shore  margin  had  been  absorbed, 
summer  residents  purchased  much  of  the  hill  prop- 
erty in  the  interior,  especially  wherever  commanding 
views  were  afforded  of  the  sea.  Hence  it  is  that, 
with  Beverly's  unrivaled  possession  of  hillside  and 
seaside,  it  is  not  necessary  that  land  should  be  of 
great  fertility  to  command  high  prices.  In  truth, 
the  poorest  land  as  to  production  is  often  that  which 
is  held  the  dearest. 

What  is  known  as  the  "shore  movement,"  when 
the  manifold  attractions  of  the  Beverly  coast  drew 
hither  an  appreciative  population,  began  nearly  fifty 
years  ago. 

About  this  time  Beverly  began  to  receive  acces- 
sions in  peojile  who  came,  at  first,  merely  for  a  sum- 
mer's stay,  but  who  eventually  purchased  property 
here  and  obtained  a  foothold  as  owners  of  real  estate. 
Attracted  by  the  beauties  of  the  shore,  several  resi- 
dents of  Salem  and  Boston  sought  and  obtained  board 
with  the  farmers  of  the  eastern   part  of  the  town,  in 


BEVERLY. 


749 


the  section  known  as  Beverly  Farms.  This  region 
was  always  a  rural  one,  and  thinly  populated,  though 
early  settled  :  the  Wests,  Woodburys,  Haskells,  This- 
sells,  Obers  and  Larcoms  being  among  the  first;  the 
Woodburys  especially  numerous,  descendants  of  the 
original  William  and  Humphrey,  who  located  at 
Woodburys'  Points  about  1630.  By  direct  inherit- 
ance, by  grants  and  by  Intermarriage,  they  had  ac- 
quired a  great  deal  of  the  coast  property. 

Throughout  several  generations  these  farmers  and 
fishermen  of  Beverly  had  contentedly  tilled  the  soil 
and  ploughed  the  sea,  leaving  their  ancestral  homes 
only  to  participate  in  the  business  affairs  of  the  town, 
or  when  summoned  by  the  imperative  calls  of  war. 
By  intermarriage,  by  the  ties  of  constant  association, 
and  by  family  tradition,  they  were  one  with  the  peo- 
ple at  the  Centre.  During  the  first  century  of  its 
corporate  existence  the  town  relied  upon  them  as 
upon  those  who  lived  in  the  shadow  of  the  First 
Parish  meeting-house,  and  they  were  prominent  mem- 
bers of  the  church  itself.  The  short  distance  that 
separated  them  from  the  business  centre  of  the  town 
did  not  prevent  a  frequent  inter.change  of  visits  on 
Sundays,  when  all  gathered  at  the  Old  South,  and 
on  training  days  and  town-meetings. 

"A  town  becomes  a  true  home  for  men  through  its 
history,  not  less  than  by  reason  of  its  physical  and 
social  features."  Every  family  native  to  the  Farms 
had  historical  traditions  in  common  with  every  other 
at  the  Centre,  and  thus,  though  in  a  measure  territori- 
ally distinct,  the  people  resident  here  were  individu- 
ally members  of  one  and  the  same  great  family ;  their 
interests  and  their  traditions  were  identical.  But  the 
time  had  come  when  a  new  element  was  to  be  intro- 
duced, and  this  was  when  the  first  "summer-boarder" 
appeared,  about  the  year  1840.  It  does  not  appear 
that  our  ancestors  were  heedless  of  the  attractions 
nature  had  so  lavishly  spread  aiound  them;  but,  in 
the  stress  of  their  life  of  toil,  these  may  have  seemed 
of  secondary  importance.  At  all  events,  though  the 
superlative  beauty  of  their  environment  may  have 
as-erted  itself,  and  they  may  have  unconsciously 
imbibed  that  love  for  nature  now  inherent  in  their 
descendants,  yet  they  did  not,  perhaps,  attach  the 
importance  to  it  that  should  have  prevented  them 
from  parting  with  their  priceless  heritage.  The 
consequent  hardships  of  successive  wars,  and  the 
perpetual  struggle  for  existence,  inevitably  the  lot 
of  the  pioneer,  had  impressed  upon  them  rather  the 
value  of  substantial  gain,  than  that  of  a  beautiful 
landscape.  In  a  word,  this  "  fatal  gift  of  beauty," 
which  was  to  them  a  thing  imponderable,  attracted 
strang'ers  to  their  birthright,  and  it  passed  from  their 
possession. 

The  first,  or  one  of  the  first,  who  took  up  residence 
at  the  Farms  ft)r  the  summer  season  was  John  G. 
King,  as  early  as  1840,  who  bought,  in  1844,  the 
John  M.  Thissell  place  at  Mingo's  Cove.  He  boarded 
with    Isaac   Prince,   then    occupying   the    farm   now 


known  as  the  "Paine  Place."  Early  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  this  one  hundred-acre  farm  was  inherited 
by  Anna  Woodbury,  daughter  of  Benjamin  Wood- 
bury, who  married  Rev.  John  Barnard,  of  Mar- 
blehead  She  willed  it  to  the  children  of  her  kins- 
woman, Anna  Woodbury,  wife  of  Samuel  Swett,  who 
sold  it  to  Josiah  Ober,  whose  heirs  sold  it  to  Isaac 
Prince,  and  he  to  Cha-i.  C.  Paine,  whose  wife  was  one 
of  the  Swett  family  above  mentioned.  Mr.  Paine 
subsequently  bought  the  entire  property,  paying  six 
thousand  dollars  for  it.  From  this  farm,  it  is  said, 
have  been  sold  estates  to  the  amount  of  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  and  with  a  portion  of  perhaps  equal 
value  still  remaining. 

Nearly  cotemporary  with  Mr.  Paine  was  Charles 
G.  Loring,  who  bought  the  farm  of  Benjamin  Smith, 
and  built  the  first  house  thereon  for  summer  resi- 
dence. 

Patrick  T.  Jackson  and  Franklin  Dexter  were 
other  early  visitors  who  purchased  shore  estates  about 
this  time,  and  in  1846  Messrs.  Haven,  Neal,  Cabot 
and  Lee.  A  little  later  the  Sohiers,  Lowells,  Pick- 
mans,  Lawrences  and  Burgesses  became  dwellers  here. 

Thus  the  Beverly  shore,  says  a  recent  writer,  "  was 
probably  the  fir^t  in  New  England  to  be  sought  for 
summer  homes.  Its  southerly  exposure,  the  coast 
line  trending  nearly  east  and  west,  gives  it  a  matchless 
summer  climate.  The  prevailing  winds  of  the  warm 
months — those  from  the  southwest — elsewhere  bearing 
a  parching  heat,  are  here  wafted  across  the  salt  floods 
of  Salem  Bay,  filled  with  a  delicious  and  invigorating 
freshness. 

The  hills  and  woods,  rising  directly  from  the  shore, 
also  break  the  force  of  the  harsh  winds  from  the 
northerly  quarters.  In  consequence,  many  of  the 
summer  residents  come  as  early  as  possible  in  the  sea- 
son and  often  linger  late  in  the  fall,  enjoying  the  quiet 
drives  amidst  the  autumnal  glories  of  the  Essex 
woods,  until  even  the  rich  hues  of  the  oaks  have 
changed  to  a  uniform  dry  brown,  under  the  blighting 
touch  of  the  frost. 

Sailing  along  the  coast  on  a  pleasant  summer  day, 
one  sees  a  moderately  high  reach  of  hills  sloping 
gracefully  back  from  the  sea.  The  deep  water  per- 
mits a  near  approach  to  the  land,  so  that  in  the  dense 
foliage  masses  which  often  come  close  down  to  the 
water's  edge  and  give  to  this  shore  a  luxuriant  aspect 
quite  exceptional  in  New  England  coast  scenery  south 
of  the  spruce-clad  capes  of  Maine,  may  be  distin- 
guished the  intermingling  hues  of  pines  and  oaks  and 
the  other  deciduous  trees,  whose  light  leafage  relieves 
the  sombreness  of  the  evergreen  masses.  Bold  pro- 
montories jut  out  into  the  water,  the  waves  ceaselessly 
tossing  up  white  greetings  at  their  feet,  and  between 
the  cliffs  stretch  intervals  of  glittering  beach,  with 
smooth,  green  lawns  reaching  far  back  into  the  shad- 
owy recesses  of  forest  glades.  All  along  this  shore 
stand  the  beautiful  villas;  not  huddled  in  vulgar 
promiscuousness,   as    at    popular   shore   resorts,    nor 


750 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


dniwii  up  in  showy  dress  parade,  as  at  Newport ;  but 
disposed  in  tlie  easy  attitudes  of  a  high-bred  com- 
pany, thoroughly  assured  of  its  place  in  the  world,  and 
neither  eager  for  prominence  nor  solicitous  about 
privacy.  Embowered  in  the  woodlands,  occupying 
castle-like  heights,  or  standing  out  amid  sunny  lawns 
with  the  dignified  repose  surrounding  them  of  broad 
verandas,  there  are  few  of  these  houses  that  are  not 
in  admirable  keeping  with  their  surroundings. 

A  drive  over  the  beautiful  roads  that  meander  in 
easy  grades  over  the  diversified  region  has  a  charm 
equally  great  with  sailing  the  shore.  Not  so  much  is 
seen  of  the  villas  themselves  as  from  the  water,  for 
they  mostly  stand  retired  from  the  highways,  and 
only  approached  by  pleasant  avenues. 

Few  places  could  be  found  affording  such  a  multi- 
plicity of  romantic  sites ;  there  might  be  almost  a 
surfeit  of  picturesqueness,  were  not  the  variety  so 
great  that  every  turn,  every  new  view,  reveals  a  fresh 
charm.  In  short,  the  lavish  disposition  of  nature 
and  the  costly  efforts  of  art  have  together  made  of 
the  Beverly  shore  a  region  that  approaches  the  ideal 
of  an  earthly  paradise  as  nearly  as  is  possible  in  this 
part  of  the  world. 

One  rolls  over  the  smooth  roads  among  blooming 
gardens  and  wide  lawns,  with  broad  reaches  of  the 
bay  visible  between  splendid  houses.  A  turn  of  the 
way,  and  the  natural  forest  incloses  the  scene,  and 
the  air,  just  redolent  with  the  fragrance  of  blossoming 
shrubs,  is  now  tilled  with  the  tonic  breath  of  the 
pines.  Again,  reaching  a  slight  elevation,  the  sea 
comes  into  sight,  framed  by  a  wild  margin  of  rocks 
and  trees. 

And  so  the  enchanting  picture  continues  in  scores 
of  lovely  glimpses,  until  it  seems  as  if  nature's  port- 
folio would  be  exhausted  of  its  novelties.  Life  on  the 
Beverly  shore  duiing  the  season  has  a  character  quite 
distinctive,  and  very  different  from  that  of  the  usual 
summer  resort,  as  may  be  inferred  from  the  character 
of  its  population.  This  is  composed  chiefly  of  lead- 
ing Boston  families,  with  a  few  fron^  neighboring 
Salem,  and  some  permanent  residents  of  Beverly — 
whose  ancestry,  like  that  of  the  Endicotts,  is  identi- 
fied with  the  founding  of  the  town — nearly  all  more 
eminent  for  social  position  and  culture  than  for 
wealth ;  which,  however,  needs  be  considerable  to  en- 
able residence  in  such  a  place." 

Census  of  Town  of  Beverly  for  1885.^ 

(Courteously  furnished  in  advance  of  publication  by  the  Chief  of  the 
Bureau  of  Statistics.) 
Occupations.  Number. 

3Iales. 

Government 32 

Professional 53 

Clergymen 14 

Other  "professional  " 39 

1  This  table  shows  the  arrangement  by  "Classified  Occupations"  (in 
italks),  with  detail  for  certain  classes  by  principal  lines  of  occupation. 
Also,  the  "Explanatory  Note,"  defining  the  distribution  of  the  people 
into  classes  of  occupations,  that  is,  those  having  related  occupations,  as, 
for  Census  purposes,  all  persons  are  supposed  to  bo  "occupied." 


Occupations.  Number. 

Domestic  Service 64 

Coachmen  and  servants  (in  familie.s) 53 

Other  "domestic  service  " 11 

Personal  Service 44 

Trade 356 

Merchants  and  dealers 141 

Salesmen 43 

Book-keepers  and  clerks 114 

other  "  trade  " 58 

Transportation 208 

Drivers  of  delivery  wagons 25 

livery  stable  keepers  and  employes 29 

Officials  and  employes  of  express  companies 26 

Teamsters 32 

Steam  railroad  employes 61 

Mariners  (sailing)  23 

other  "transportation" ; 12 

Agriculture 355 

Farmers 122 

Farm  laborers 174 

Florists 10 

Gardeners  and  garden  laborers 47 

Other  "agriculture" 2 

Fisheries 57 

Fishermen 55 

other  "  fisheries  " 2 

Manufactures I,5(j9 

Shoe-factory  operatives 1,001 

Carpenters 161 

Masons 62 

Masons  and  plasterers 13 

Painters 49 

Bakers 22 

Morocco  Workers 30 

Blacksmiths 24 

other  "  manufactures  " 207 

Mining 2 

Laborers 153 

Apprentices 7 

Children  at  Work 4 

Scholars  and  Students 798 

Retired 136 

Afflicted,  etc 20 

Unemployed  (12  months) 19 

Dependents 32 

At  Home 420 

Not  Given 20 

Total  males 4,349 

Females. 

Government 1 

Professional 64 

Teachers 55 

other  "professional" 9 

Domestic  Service 2,751 

Housekeepers 39 

Housewives 2,009 

Housework 475 

Servants  (in  families) 214 

other  "  domestic  service" 14 

Personal  Service 37 

Trade 32 

Book-keepers  and  clerks 25 

Other  "trade  " 7 

Transportation 1 

Manufactures 614 

Shoe-factory  operatives .401 

Dressmakers 47 

Milliners 9 

Oil-clothing  makers 20 

Seamstresses 12 

Tailoresses 9 

other  'manufactures" 16 

Children  at  Woi-k 1 

Scholars  and  Students 797 


BEVERLY. 


751 


Occupations. 


Retired 

Afflicted,  etc. 

Dependent 

At  Home 

Not  Gioen.... 


Number. 

24 

29 

38 

..       436 

...       112 


Total  females 4,837 

EXPLAN.iTORY    NoTK. 

Government.— VeTSor\s  engaged  in  the  service  of  the  national,  state  and 
city  governments,  or  in  the  U.  S.  army  and  navy. 

Professional. — Persons  connected  witli  religion,  law,  medicine,  litera- 
ture, art,  music,  amusements,  education  and  science. 

Domestic  Service. — Persons  concerned  or  employed  in  the  hotel,  board- 
ing and  lodging  service,  housewives,  persons  engaged  in  house  work 
(without  remuneration,  generally  in  own  family),  housekeepers  and  do- 
mestic servants. 

Pers  inal  Service. — Persons  who  render  personal  service,  as  barbers, 
boot-blacks,  carpet-cleaners,  companions,  janitors,  matrons,  nurses,  stew- 
ards, ushers,  valets,  washer-women,  watchers,  watchmen,  etc. 

T/afie.^Merchants  and  dealers,  salesmen,  book-keepers,  clerks,  agents, 
bankers,  brokers,  messengers,  porters,  etc. 

Transportation. — Carriers  on  roads,  steam  railroads,  seas  and  rivers. 

.i4<7n'<;Htt((re.— Farmers,  farm  laborers,  gardeners,  persons  engaged  in 
the  care  of  animals,  etc. 

Fisheries. — Persons  engaged  in  the  fisheries. 

Manufactures. — As  specified. 

Mining. — Persons  employed  in  mines,  quarries,  pits,  etc. 

Laborers. — General  day  laborer.-j. 

Apprentices  — Learning  trades. 

Children  at  Work. — Children  of  legal  school  age  (ten  to  thirteen)  who 
both  work  and  go  to  school  or  work  only. 

Scholars  and  Students. — Public  and  private  school  scholars,  persons  at 
college,  or  studying  special  branches,  as  law,  dentistry,  medicine,  etc. 

Retired  — Persons  retired  from  active  business. 

A^licted,  etc. — Persons  suffering  with  acute  or  chronic  diseases,  blind, 
deaf,  dumb,  maimed,  lame,  insane,  idiotic,  and  other  afflicted  persons  and 
paupers  and  homeless  children. 

Uneni^loi/ed  (12  mo)i(/js). — Persons  not  employed  at  their  accustomed 
occupation  at  all  during  the  census  yciir. 

Dependents  {in  Private  Families). — Kelatives  or  other  persons  more  or 
less  dependent  for  support. 

At  Home  — Children  too  young  to  go  to  school. 

Not  Given — Young  persons  or  adults,  of  working  age,  who,  for  some 
reason,  have  no  occupation. 

Manifactures  of  Beverly,  from  Census  of  1885. 

Capital  invested  (value) $1,327,218 

Stock  or  material  used  (value) 2,401,.SG7 

Goods  made  and  work  done  (value) 4,412,647 

Males  employed  (number) 1,727 

Females  employed  (number) 9S7 


Total 2,714 

Average  hours,  day's  work,  adult  male 10.1 

Average  yearly  working  time  (days) 293J^ 

Day  hands  (number) S42 

Piece  hands  (number) 1,779 

Salaries  paid  (amount) $34,954 

Wages  paid  (amount) $1,174,539 

Machinery  (value)  122,540 

LIBRARIES. 

Number  and  value  of  books  and  circulation. 


Kind  of  Libraries. 


Beverly. 


Secular.. 


Town  public 

Private  circulating.. 


Religious... 
Sunday -scliool. 


11 

12 

number  of  books. 

Value 

of 
Books. 

as 

"3. 
1 
27 

Bound 
Books 

Total. 

16,649 

16,676 

16,354 

2 

... 

11,017 

11,017 

12,400 

1 

1 

...... 

li',017 
1,000 

10,017 
1,000 

12,000 
400 

10 



27 

5,632 

5,659 

3,954 

10 



27 

5,632 

5,659 

3,954 

Circula- 
tion. 


54,220 

25,000 

22,000 

3,K00 

29,''2G 
29,220 


PUBLIC  SCHOOLS. 


School  Buildings. 

Number 

of 
Buildgs 

Value. 

Buildings. 

Property. 

Beverly 

9 

$100,000 

$1,000 

PRIVATE   SCHOOLS. 


Number  of  School 

Value. 

Kind  of  School. 

Build'gs 
Owned. 

Total. 

Own'd 

Hired. 

School 
property 

Beverly 

1 

1 

1... 

1 
1 

... 

5,100 
5,100 

110 

10 

100 

Incorporated 

Unincorporated 

1  One  school  kept  in  a  hired  room. 

PRIVATE   SCHOOLS. 

By  name  and  dates  of  establishment  and  incorporation. 


Name  of  School. 

Date  of 
Establishment. 

Date  of 
Incorporation. 

Kindergarten  (Fannie  K.  Kilham)... 
New  England  Industrial  School  for 
Deaf  Mutes 

1881 
1879 

1879 

MARRIED    WOMEN   AND   MOTHERS  :    CHILDREN,  ETC, 


Total  married  women 

ij 

Married  Women  having  Children. 

Nativk   and 

II 

Total  Number  of — 

Average  No.  of 

FoREiuN  Born. 

c 
o 

c  a 

£ 

o 

3.75 
3.01 
1.34 

s  s>ij 

ta 

!5 "~ 
o 

2.61 
2.49 
3.08 

O  a 

2,319*  39S 

1 ,9.'l 

1,539 

382 

7,211 
5.553 
1,658 

5.013 
3,837 
1,176 

2,198 

1,716 
482 

1  14 

Native  liorn.. 
Foreign  born 

1,845 
474 

306 
92 

112 
1.26 

TOTAL   ILLITERACY. 


Sex. 

Population  : 
Ten  years  of  age  and  over. 

Illiterates. 

Native. 

6,401 
3,082 
3,319 

Foreign. 

Total. 

Number 

Per  cent 

l,.3l)2 

527 
775 

7,703 
3,609 
4,094 

211 

73 

138 

2  74 

IMales 

2  02 

Females 

3  37 

DEGREE    OF   ILLITERACY,   ETC. 


Age  Periods. 


Beverly 

Cannot  write 

20  to  29  years 

36  to  49  years 

50  years  and  over... 
Neither  read  ncr  write 

10  to  13  years 

14  to  19  years 

20  to  29  years 

30  to  49  years 

50  years  and  over.. 


Born 

in 

Massachu- 

setts. 

M 

F 

T 

14 

21 

3i 

3 

3 

6 

2 

... 

2 

1 

1 

1 

2 

3 

11 

18 

29 

1 

2 

3 

3 

3 

6 

1 

2 

3 

1 

1 

2 

5 

10 

15 

Other 

Native 

Born. 


M 

F 

4 

5 

1 

1 

1 

1 

"3 

"i 

"2 

"i 

1 

3 

Foreign 
Born. 


M 


55 


112 

27 

3 

14 

li. 
85 

"2 

8 
37 
38 


167 

35 

3 

20 

12 

1.32 

1 

3 

17 

53 

58 


Aggregates 


M 


138  211 

31 1  43 

3i     6 

16    22 

121   15 

107  108 


4 

9 

20 


39    58 
51    77 


752 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


AGRICULTURAL   PRODUCTS   AND   PROPERTY. 

PRODUCTS. 

Quantity.  Value. 

Animal   Products.  S13,07G 

Beeswax  (use) pounds,  5  1 

Calf-skins 10  8 

Hides : 9  14 

Honey pounds,  371  94 

Manure cords,  1,6713^  12,955 

Pelts 5  4 

Clothing,  Needle-work,  eie.  $7,513 

Boots  (including  "work  on") pairs,  9,070  3,612 

Crocheted  goods  (sale) •••  5 

Mats  (.sale) 2  1 

Mittens  (sale) pairs,  15  8 

Shoes  (including  "work  on") pairs,  9,950  3,887 

Dairy  Products.  ^57,729 

Butter  (sale) pounds,  2,665  999 

Butter  (use) pounds,  2,476  910 

Cheese pounds,  40  4 

Cream gallous,  332  934 

Milk gallons,  303,719  54,882 

Food  Products.  82,888 

Canned  fruit  (sale) pounds,  50  8 

Canned  fruit  (use) pounds,  49  8 

Ice : tons,  5U0  2,500 

Pickles  (use) barrels,  14  5 

Vinegar  (sales) , gallons,  1,530  330 

Vinegar  (use) gallons,  175  37 

Greenhouse  Products.  83,900 

Flowers,  leaves,  and  vines,  cut ...  700 

Plants,  flowering  and  other ...  3,200 

Hothouse  and  Hotbed  Products.  $435 

Cabbage  plants 31,400  191 

Tomato  plants 733  244 

Liquors  and  Beverages.  $854 

Cider  (sale) gallons,  3,848  406 

Cider  (use) gallons,  4,017  448 

Nursery  Products.  527 

Trees,  fmit 2  2 

Trees,  ornamental 100  25 

Poultry  Products.  812,291 

Eggs dozen,  37,299  9,115 

Eggs.fancy dozen,  400  400 

Feathers pounds,  14  4 

Manure,  hen  and  bird bushels,  1,607  607 

Poultry,  dressed:  chickens pounds,  8,841  2,143 

Poultry,  dressed:  other  than  chickens,  geese,  and  tur- 
keys  pounds,  95  22 

Wood  Products.  82,930 

Ashes  (sales) bushels,  20  5 

Ashes  (use) bushels,  431  209 

Firewood  (sale) cords,  214  1,106 

Firewood  (use) cords,  325  1,550 

Hoop  poles  (use) 200  2 

Lumber  (use) thousand  feet  2  30 

Posts,  fence  (sale)  25  15 

Posts,  fence  (use) 40  4 

Wooden  Goods.  80 

Axe  handles  (use) 14  4 

Ox-yokes  (use) 1  2 

Other  Products.  $951 

Hops pounds,  5  1 

Hotbed  mats  (sale) (J  0 

Hotbed  mats  (use) 90  95 

Manure,  sea cords,  370^^  790 

Seeds,  garden,  field,  and  flower pounds,  62  59 

Cereals.  82,046 

Barley bushels,  87  72 

Corn,  Indian bushels,  2,502  1,510 

Corn,  pop bushels,  229l^  305 

Oats bushels,  127  83 

llye bushels,  96  76 


Fruits,  Berries  and  Nuts.  $6,164 

Apples bushels,  7,401  2,314 

Barberries bushels,  IJ^  3 

Blackberries quarts,  1,139  174 

Blueberries quarts,  3,300  295 

Cherries bushels,  12^  23 

Citron pounds,  150  15 

Crab-apples bushels,  7  11 

Cranberries barrels,  52J^  225 

Currants quarts,  916  87 

Grapes bushels,  i  48}^  54 

Grapes pounds,  J  2,025  487 

Huckleberries quarts,  671  63 

Melons 5,312  601 

Peaches bushels,  5  7 

Pears bushels,  772i^  658 

Plums bushels,  3  5 

Quinces bushels,  151^  35 

Raspberries quarts,  4  0  81 

Shellbarks bushels,  2  4 

Strawberries quarts,  8,276  1,012 

Hay,  Straw  and  Fodder.  833,751 

Hay,  clover tons,  24  419 

Hay,  English tons,  1,308  24,856 

Hay,  meadow tons,  139>^  1,690 

Hay,  millet tons,  64  569 

Hay,  salt tons,  43}^  401 

Hay,  not  classified tons,  4  75 

Straw tons,  4  82 

Fodder,  barley tons,  34  303 

Fodder,  corn tons,  674  2,871 

Fodder,  dry tons,  25  274 

Fodder,  oat tons,  122%  1,115 

Fodder,  rye tons,  13>^  172 

Beets  (for  stock) bushels,  2,052  481 

Turnips  (for  stock) bushels,  1,693  443 

3Ieals  and  Game..  $3,603 

Beef pounds,  8,395  647 

Pork pounds,  29,055  2,895 

Veal pounds,  785  61 

Game,  wild pounds,  25  10 

Vegetahles.  $57,947 

Asparagus bunches,  4,130  471 

Beans bushels,  166  406 

Beans,  string  and  shell bushels,  560  536 

Beet  greens bushels,  25  60 

Beets  bushels,  1,530  786 

Cabbage  greens bushels,  20  10 

Cabbage heads,  379,680  25,061 

Carrots bushels,  3,672  1,122 

Cauliflower heads,  560  116 

Celery bunches,  8,710  714 

Corn,  green bushels,  4,382  2,.382 

Cucumbers bushels,  ■>  80  84 

J  20,400  388 

Dandelions .bushels,  548  418 

Lettuce heads,  1,904  137 

Onions bushels,  3,989  3,638 

Parsley bushels,  37  37 

Parsnips bushels,  293  207 

Pease bushels,  66  72 

Pease,  green bushels,  726  684 

Peppers bushels,  30  14 

Potatoes bushels,  21,351  11,304 

Pumpkins pounds,  5,400  29 

Radishes bunches,  100  4 

Rhubarb pounds,  590  40 

Spinach bushels,  336  83 

Squashes pounds,  437,920  4,081 

Tomatoes bushels,  1,109  574 

Turnips,  table bushels,  964  445 

Not  classified 3,384 


BEVERLY. 


753 


PROPEKTY. 

Cultivated  :                                    Land.                 acres,  5,512J  $585,991 

Hay  (used  tor) acres,  1,405}^  199,635 

Principal  crops  (used  foi) acres,  4131/^  57,189 

Market  gardens acres,  226J^  32,305 

Nurseries acres,  1  150 

Orchards acres,  99  15,95l> 

Other  cultivated acres,  96%  17,485 

Uncultivated  : 

Permanent  pasture acres,  1,581  107,093 

Other  unimproved acres,  iO\%  37,444 

Unimprovable acres,  53^  2,700 

Mines,  quarries,  pits,  etc acres,  i<^  25 

Woodland  : 

Over  thirty  years' growth  acres,  308  32,300 

Of  thirty  years  or  less acres,  927  83,655 

Bnildings.  (f563,866 

Dwelling-houses 184  395,850 

Barns 174  124,937 

Carriage-houses 34  9,085 

Granaries 15  720 

Greenhouses 9  7,550 

Han-houses 126  4,011 

Outbuildings 113  3,105 

Sheds 65  6,765 

Shops 42  4,135 

Stables 15  5,535 

Storehouses 12  1,885 

Other  buildings ...  288 

Mac/lines,  Implements,  etc.  535,479 

Carts,  wagons,  harnesses,  etc ...  26,190 

Cultivators 104  545 

Feed  cutters 23  179 

Harrows 115  1,126 

Hay-cutters 54  267 

Hay  tedders 12  304 

Horse  hoes 20  207 

Horsepowers 4  220 

Horse  rakes 62  868 

Implements ...  1,699 

Manure  spreaders 4  225 

Mowing  machines 57  1,920 

Plows 208  1,208 

Seed  sowers 23  164 

Other  machines ...  357 

Domestic  Animals,  etc.  $66,516 

Bees  (swarmsof) 39  208 

Bulls 11  505 

Calves 54  445 

Dogs 64  498 

Ducks Ill  73 

Guinea  fowls 16  8 

Heifers 98  1,936 

Hens  and  chickens 9,174  7,014 

Hogs 131  1,858 

Horses 2.50  25,595 

Milch  cows 580  26,230 

Oxen 9  760 

Pigeons 250  48 

Pigs 168  5ij7 

Turkeys 12  25 

Other  animals ...  806 

Fruit   Trees  nnd   Vinen.  $26,208 

Apple 4,865  16,092 

Apricot 1  5 

Butternut 6  47 

Cherry 136  639 

Chestnut 2  6 

Crab-apple 54  116 

Fig 14  140 

Hickory 159  161 

Mulberry 4  4 

Peach 459  496 

Pear 2,040  6,954 

•         48 


Plum 

Quince 

Shellbark 

Walnut 

Grape  vines., 


102 
169 

2 
10 

672 


AGGREGATES. 

Products. 

Animal  products 

Clothing,  needle- work,  etc 

Dairy  products 

Food  products 

Greenheuse  products 

Hothouse  and  hotbed  products 

Liquors  and  beverages 

Nursery  products 

Poultry  products 

Wo  )d  products 

Wooden  goods 

Other  products 

Cereals 

Fruits,  berries  and  nuts 

Hay,  straw  and  fodder  

Meats  and  game 

Vegetables 


252 

33") 

5 

23 

938 


$206,111 

13,076 

7,513 

57,729 

2,888 

3,900 

435 

854 

27 

12,291 

2,930 

6 

951 

2,046 

6,164 

33,751 

3,603 

57,947 


Properly. 


$1,278,060 

Land 585,991 

Buildings 563,886 

Machines,  implements,  etc 35,479 

Domestic  animals,  etc 66,516 

Fruit  trees  and  vines 26,208 

Population — valuation. — A  resume  of  popula- 
tion gives, — 

In  1776,  2754  ;  1790,  3290  ;  1800,  3881  ;  1810,  4608  ;  1820,  4285  ;  1830, 
4033  ;  1840,  4689  ;  1850,  .5376  ;  1860,  6154  ;  1865,  5942  ;  1870,  6507  ;  1875, 
7271 ;  1880,  8456  ;  1885,  9186. 

The  assessors'  valuation  of  the  public  property  of 
the  town  in  May,  1887,  was  as  follows  : 

School-houses $145,000 

Public  library 10,000 

Other  public  buildings 115,000 

Public  grounds ; 25,000 

Cemeteries 20,000 

Other  real  estate 4,900 

Water-works 565,451.85 

Fire  apparatus 25,000 

Trust  funds 4,300 

Sinking  fund 215,947.16 

Other  assets 25.000 


Total $1,115,599.01 

Aggregates  for  1887, — 

Number  of  persons  assessed 3495 

Number  paying  poll-tax  only 1662 

Paying  property  tax 1833 

Polls  assessed 2725 

Total  value  of  personal  estate $5,269,325 

Total  value  of  bank  stock 144,375 

Total  value  of  buildings,  excluding  land 3,856,645 

Total  value  of  land,  excluding  buildings 5,016,775 


Total  valuation $14,287,100 

The  tax  on  pereonal  estate $69,295.36 

The  tax  on  real  estate 113,579.52 

The  tax  on  polls 5,450.00 


Total  tax $188,324.88 

Kate  of  taxation $12i3c 


.54 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


ISRAEL   THORNDIKE. 

Israel  Thorndike  was  bora  in  Beverly,  Mass.,  in 
1755.  He  was  fifth  in  descent  from  John  Thorndike, 
who  came  to  this  country  in  1633,  and  returned  in 
1668  on  a  visit  to  his  brother,  Herbert  Thorndike,  in 
England,  where  he  soon  after  died,  and  was  buried  on 
November  3d  of  that  year  in  the  Cloisters  of  West- 
minster Abbey.  The  Eev.  Herbert  Thorndike,  above 
referred  to,  was  prebendary  of  Westminster  and  a 
profound  scholar  and  theologian.  He  wrote  many 
ecclesiastical  works  in  English  and  Latin,  some  of 
which  are  still  of  so  much  interest  that  they  have 
been  recently  republished.  He  died  in  1672  and  was 
buried  in  Westminster  Abbey.  In  his  will  he  left 
property  to  his  nieces,  Martha  and  Alice,  daughters 
of  John,  who  had  accompanied  their  father  on  his 
visit  to  England,  on  condition,  however,  "that  they 
should  neither  return  to  New  England,  their  birth- 
place, nor  yet,  remaining  in  England,  marry  with  any 
who  went  to  mass  or  to  the  new  Licensed  Con- 
venticles." 

These  brothers,  John  and  Herbert,  were  sons  of 
Francis  Thorndike,  who  in  1634  signed  the  pedigree 
for  the  first  visitation  of  Heralds  recorded  in  the 
family,  and  were  fifth  in  descent  from  William 
Thorndike,  who  lived  at  Little  Carlton,  County  of 
Lincoln,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.,  and  died  in 
1539.  The  arms  borne  by  the  family  were  "Argent, 
six  guttees,  three,  two  and  one,  gules,  on  a  chief  of 
the  last  three  leopards'  faces,  gold." 

President  Quincy,  in  his  "History  of  Harvard 
University,"  speaks  of  Israel  Thorndike  as  follows  : 
"  He  had  in  youth  no  advantages  of  education,  ex- 
cept those  which  the  public  schools  of  his  native 
town  afforded,  but  he  possessed,  in  the  vigor  of  his 
own  mind,  a  never-failing  spring  of  self-advancement. 
The  war  of  the  American  Revolution  was  an  event 
adapted  to  call  into  activity  his  powers  and  spirit  of 
enterprise.  Embracing  with  zeal  the  cause  of  his 
country,  he  became  part-owner  and  captain  of  an 
armed  ship,  and  the  judgment  with  which  he  planned 
his  cruises,  and  the  intrepidity  and  diligence  with 
which  he  conducted  them,  were  rewarded  with  dis- 
tinguished success.  Having  entered  into  partnership 
with  his  brother-in-law,  the  late  Moses  Brown,  he 
engaged,  after  the  peace  of  1783,  in  an  extensive  and 
most  profitable  commerce  with  the  East  Indies  and 
China.^  Sagacity,  judgment,  industry,  strict  at- 
tention to  business,  and  thorough  acquaintance  with 
the  details  of  every  commercial  enterprise  in  which 
he  engaged,  were  the  chief  causes  of  his  success.  He 
was  also  an  early  patron   of  manufactures,  and  in- 


1  This  partnership  began  during  the  War  of  the  Kevolution,  and  ap- 
parently continued  till  the  close  of  the  century.  See  also  the  biography 
of  Moses  Brown  in  this  work. 


vested,  *it  was  said,  a  greater  amount  of  capital  in 
them  than  any  other  individual  in  New  England. 

"  Mr.  Thorndike  was  at  different  periods  of  his  life  a 
member  of  the  convention  called  for  the  adoption  of 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  a  Repre- 
sentative and  Senator  in  the  Legislature  of  his  native 
State.  He  was  a  generous  contributor  to  all  patriotic 
and  charitable  objects,  and  often  gave  an  active 
agency  in  their  support.  In  1806  he  subscribed  five 
hundred  dollars  for  the  foundation  of  the  Natural 
History  Professorship  in  the  University,  and  also  the 
same  amount  in  1818  for  the  library  of  the  theological 
school.  In  the  same  year,  being  informed  that  the 
library  of  Professor  Ebeling,  of  Hamburg,  was  for 
sale,  and  that  an  agent  of  the  King  of  Pruss-ia  was 
negotiating  for  it,  Mr.  Thorndike  ordered  it  to  be 
purchased  at  the  cost  of  six  thousand  five  hundred 
dollars,  and  presented  it  to  Harvard  University, 
thereby  securing  to  his  country  one  of  the  most  com- 
plete and  valuable  collections  of  works  extant  on 
American  history." 

In  1810  Mr.  Thorndike  removed  to  Boston  for  the 
greater  convenience  of  carrying  on  his  now  immense 
business  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  until  his  death 
resided  in  Summer  Street,  in  that  city.  "  He  was 
eminently  social  in  his  feelings,  and  none  more  than  he 
delighted  in  dispensing  a  princely  hospitality."  But 
he  still  retained  his  mansion  in  Beverly,  afterwards 
the  Town  Hall,  passing  a  considerable  portion  of  his 
time  there,  ever  manifesting  a  warm  interest  in  the 
welfare  of  his  native  town,  and  the  first  parish  of 
Beverly  received  from  his  estate  an  addition  to  its 
funds  of  about  twenty-six  hundred  dollars. 

Mr.  Thorndike  died  in  May,  1832.  He  retained  to 
the  last  his  great  energy  and  activity,  and  left  a  large 
fortune.  Mr.  Quincy,  in  allusion  to  an  obituary  no- 
tice of  Mr.  Thorndike  in  the  Boston  Daily  Advertiser 
in  May,  1832,  after  referring  to  his  remarkable  men- 
tal powers,  says  that  "  when  their  influence  is  united, 
as  was  his,  with  high  moral  i>owers,  and  exerted 
during  a  long  life  on  the  side  of  virtue,  and  in  pro- 
moting the  best  interests  of  society,  it  is  enduring, 
and  serves  to  give  a  character  to  the  age  in  which 
they  live." 

Mr.  Thorndike  was  married  three  times.  His  first 
wife  was  Mercy,  daughter  of  Osmyn  Trask,  of  Beverly. 
By  her  he  had  one  son,  who  died  in  infancy,  and  a 
daughter,  wife  of  Ebenezer  Francis,  an  eminent  mer- 
chant in  Boston.  Mr.  Thorndike's  second  wife,  the 
mother  of  his  twelve  other  children,  was  Anna, 
daughter  of  George  Dodge,  of  Salem.  He  married 
thirdly,  in  1818,  Sarah,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Joseph 
Dana,  of  Newburyport.  She  survived  him,  and  died 
in  1845. 

The  accompanying  engraving  of  the  portrait  of  Mr. 
Thorndike  was  made  from  the  oil  painting  by  Gilbert 
Stuart,  taken  towards  the  end  of  his  lii'e.'-^ 

2  For  most  of  the  above  see  "  Quincy's  History  of  Harvard  University," 
and  "  Stone's  History  of  Beverly." 


C-au.en   Stuan  rinxt 


Taig"^  Inr  HWSimtlt 


C/^^Z^/  /^7 


BEVERLY. 


755 


MOSES   BROWN. 

Moses  Brown,  of 
Beverly,  was  born  in 
Waltham,  formerly  a 
]>art  of  Watertown, 
Massachusetts,  April 
4,  1748.  He  was  the 
eldest  surviving  sou  of 
Isaac  Brown,  a  very 
active  business  man, 
who  resided  on  Wal- 
tham  Plain,  and  who 
descended  in  the  fifth 
generation  from  Ab- 
raham Browne,  one  of 
the  original  settlers  of 
...        .......•,.    u       .  J   Watertown.  Abraham 

"  I  hereby  certify  that  the  above  Arms  and 
Crest   are  "tliose  of  Christopher   Browne,  of    ^yaS  admitted  freCmaO 
Slamford,  Co.  liineoln,  and    of  Tolethorpe, 
Co.  Rutland,  and  of  his  descendants.  ^f     IVT  q  a  a  Q  n  Vi  II  «  p  (■  t  a 

(Vide  c.  23,  folio  r-,  and  Grants  II.,  627.)"       '^^     iVlRSSacnUSeitS 

March  6,  1631-2,  and 
soon  became  promi- 
nent in  the  place  of 
his  adoption,  receiv- 
ing, as  is  manifest 
from  the  early  records 
of  the  town,  "import- 
"  ant  appointments  and  trusts  more  numerous  than 
"were  conferred  upon  any  other  person."  He  was 
descended,  in  the  fifth  generation,  through  the 
Browues  of  Swan  Hall,  Hawkedon,  in  Suftolk,  Eng- 
land, from  Christopher  Browne  of  Stamford,  in  Lin- 
colnshire,   and   of    Tolethorpe,    Rutlandshire,    who, 


Mfi^cxlela  CaiUijA  ^WvC^bv^  . 

3  o^^pOy.  1-3.^(52. 


again,  was  descended,  in  the  fifth  generation,  from 
John  Browne,  a  merchant  of  Stamford,  and  Alderman, 
or  chief  magistrate,  of  that  town  in  1376,  the  office  of 
Mayor  not  having  been  created  till  1663.  Several 
mortuary  brasses  of  the  family,  called  by  Fuller,  in 
his  Worthies,  "the  ancient  family  of  Brownes  of  Toll- 
Thorp,"  still  remain  on  the  walls  of  the  Church  of  All 
Saints  in  Stamford,  and  on  the  floor  of  a  chapel  of  the 
same  "  proper  to  the  family  ",  and  also  in  the  church 
at  Little  Casterton,  near  Tolethorpe.  The  church  of 
All  Saints,  itself,  was  in  great  part  rebuilt  about  the 
year  1465  at  the  expense  of  John  Browne,  father  of 
Christopher  Browne,  above  named  ;  and  its  beautiful 
steeple  was  erected  by  William  Browne,  uncle  of 
Christopher.  This  William  Browne,  under  a  charter 
dated  1485,  also  founded  the  "Browne  Hospital  or 
Bead  House  "  for  the  support  of  "twelve  poor  men," 
and  endowed  it  liberally  by  grants  of  lands.  This 
institution  still  flourishes  in  Stamford,  and,  by  the 
large  increase  in  the  value  of  its  land,  the  scope  of 
its  charities  has  been  greatly  extended.  The  Manor 
of  Tolethorpe,  near  the  village  of  Little  Casterton,  in 
Rutlandshire,  about  three  miles  from  Stamford,  was 
purchased  by  Christopher  Browne,  above  named,  of 
the  Burton  family  towards  the  end  of  the  15th  centu- 
ry, and  thenceforth  continued  to  be  the  seat  of  the  head 
of  the  family  until  into  the  present  century,  a  period  of 
nearly  four  hundred  years.  About  thirty  years  ago  it 
was  sold,  and  the  ancient  stone  manor  house  is  now 
owned  and  occupied  by  Charles  Orniston  Eaton, 
Esq.,  a  prominent  banker  of  Stamford,  who  kindly  en- 
tertained there  the  writer  of  this  article  in  the  sum- 
mer   of   1886.       Mr.  Eaton  has   added  wings  to  the 


^<^''^i^<^ytSA4>J^3»'iC-  ^ 


MANSION   OF   MOSES    BROWN,    BEVEIILY,    MASS. 


756 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


original  mansion,  but  has  otherwise  carefully  pre- 
served this  venerable  structure,  as  nearly  as  possi- 
ble, in  the  condition  in  which  he  found  it.  A 
wood-cut  copied  from  a  photograph  of  the  house, 
before  its  recent  alterations,  is  inserted;  together 
with  wood-cuts  from  photographs  of  the  church  of 
All  Saints,  and  of  the  Bead  House.  The  two  large 
windows,  at  the  further  end  of  the  latter  building, 
are  those  of  the  little  chapel  in  which  the  "twelve 
poor  men"  are  required  to  attend  daily  services. 
The  rest  of  the  building  is  occupied  by  two  large 
halls,  the  whole  structure  forming  one  side  of  an 
interior  quadrangle  on  which  are  the  residences  of 
the  beneficiaries. 

The  three  mascles,  in  the  coat  of  arms  given  at 
the  beginning  of  this  article,  were  granted,  together 
with  the  crest  and  motto,  to  Christopher  Browne,  above 
mentioned,  July  20,  1480  ;  but  are  here  combined 
with  a  still  earlier  grant  to  the  family  of  the  three 
mallets  with  a  slightly  different  crest,  which  latter 
coat  and  crest  are  cut  in  stone  on  the  walls  of  the 
Bead  House.  The  original  parchment  grant  to  Chris- 
topher still  exists,  and  is  in  the  possession  of  Freder- 
ick Sayres  Browne  of  Norwich,  England.  It  is  a  curi- 
ous bit  of  old  French,  and  is  printed  in  full  in  the 
Heraldic  Journal,  Vol.  IV.,  page  146.  The  herald, 
Mr.  Alfred  Scott  Gatty,  of  the  Heralds'  College, 
London,  stated  to  the  writer  that  he  knew  of  but 
one  other  instance  where  two  grants  of  arms  had 
been  made  to  the  same  family. 

Moses  Brown,  the  subject  of  this  memoir,  was  fitted 
for  Harvard  College  by  his  maternal  uncle,  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Balch  of  Dedham,  and  graduated  in  1768. 
He  taught  school  for  three  or  four  years  in  Framing- 
ham,  Lexington  and  Lincoln,  and  then  settled  in 
Beverly  as  a  merchant,  in  the  autumn  of  1772.  The 
cause  of  American  Independence  was  warmly  es- 
poused by  him,  and  a  commission,  dated  August  7, 
1775,  signed  by  James  Warren,  President  of  the  Pro- 
vincial Congress,  appointed  him  Captain  of  a  com- 
pany enlisted  by  him  in  Beverly,  under  a  commission 
dated  July  11th  of  the  same  year.  In  January  1776 
he  joined  the  line  of  the  American  army  as  Captain  in 
the  fourteenth  regiment.  Colonel  John  Glover,  under 
a  commission  dated  January  1,  1776,  and  signed  by 
John  Hancock,  President  of  the  Continental  Congress^ 
This  regiment,  of  which  many  of  the  privates  were 
seamen,  and  which  is  accordingly  called  the  "  Am- 
phibious Regiment"  by  Irving  in  his  Life  of  Wash- 
ington, did  good  service  at  Brooklyn  in  ferrying  over 
the  army  to  New  York  when  it  was  obliged  to  evacu- 
ate Brooklyn  Heights.  It  also  performed  similar  ser- 
vice for  the  army  on  its  crossing  the  Delaware,  pre- 
liminary to  the  battle  of  Trenton,  in  which  it  took  a 
prominent  part.        Captain    Brown's  Orderly  Book  ^ 


1  The  following  extract  from  this  book,  in  commendation  of  Col. 
Glover's  command  for  its  gallant  attack  upon  Sir  William  Howe  Oct.  18, 
1776,  on  his  mai-ch  to  New  Eochelle,  may  be  of  interest,  as  showing  the 


beginning  in  January  1776,  kept  with  his  characteris- 
tic neatness  and  exactness,  is  still  preserved  by  his 
descendants,  together  with  his  sword,  field-glass  and 
commissions.  At  the  expiration  of  the  term  of  enlist- 
ment of  his  coni^any  he  returned  to  Beverly,  where  he 
resumed  his  business  with  his  partner  and  brother  in 
law,  Israel  Thorndike,  and  some  of  the  vessels  of 
"  Brown  and  Thorndike,"  transformed  from  their 
peaceful  character  as  merchantmen  into  armed  ships, 
continued  the  patriotic  work  which  Captain  Brown 
had  begun  in  the  field,  and  did  good  service  to  his 
country. 

After  the  close  of  the  war,  Mr.  Brown  continued  to 
be  energetically  and  successfully  engaged  in  com- 
merce until  the  year  1800,  when  he  retired  from  ac- 
tive business  with  what  was,  for  those  days,  an  am- 
ple fortune.  His  house  on  the  main  street  of  Bev- 
erly, in  which,  together  with  Mr.  Thorndike,  he 
resided  for  several  years,  and  until  the  latter  erected 
a  separate  mansion,  afterwards  the  Town  Hall,  is  still 
standing,  is  a  good  specimen  of  the  Colonial  resi- 
dences of  the  better  class.  Of  this  also,  a  wood-cut, 
taken  from  a  photograph,  is  inserted.  Here,  for  many 
years,  Mr.  Brown  dispensed  a  generous  hospitality, 
and  paid  much  attention  to  the  cultivation  of  fruit 
and  flowers  in  the  ample  garden  belonging  to  his 
house.  The  noble  elms,  w'hich  still  adorn  the  main 
street  of  Beverly,  were  also  set  out  by  him.  He  was 
largely  instrumental  in  the  construction  of  Essex 
Bridge,  between  Beverly  and  Salem,  and  also  of  the 
Salem  and  Boston  Turnpike,  the  latter  having  been 
constructed  under  his  personal  supervision.  In  both 
of  these  enterprises  he  Avas  among  the  largest  orig- 
inal proprietors.  He  was  a  Federalist  of  the  Wash- 
ington school,  was  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts 
Legislature,  and  one  of  the  Presidential  Electors  in 
1808.  "  His  manners  were  dignified  and  courteous. 
He  always  took  an  important  part  in  public  enterpri- 
ses." President  Quincy,  in  his  History  of  Harvard 
University,  says  of  him  that  "  He  united  integrity  with 
benevolence,  was  exemplary  in  all  social  and  domestic 

character  and  usefulness  of  the  Essex  troops  and  the  esteem  in  which 
they  were  lield. 

'.'  Orders  for  Gen.  Lee's  Division,  Mile  Square,  Oct.  19, 1776.  Gen.  Lee 
"  returns  his  wannest  thanks  to  Col.  Glover  and  the  Brigade  under  his 
"  Command,  not  only  for  their  gallant  behavior  yesterday,  but,  for  their 
'•  prudent,  cool,  orderly  and  soldierlike  conduct  in  all  respects,  he  as- 
"  sures  these  brave  men  that  he  shall  omit  no  opportunity  of  shewing  his 
"  gratitude.  All  the  wounded  to  be  sent  immediately  to  Valentine's  hill 
"at  the  second  Liberty  Pole,  where  surgeons  should  repair  to  dress  them. 
'■They  are  afterwards  to  be  forwarded  to  Fort  Washington."  And,  two 
"  days  later,  Washington  issued  general  orders  as  follows,  "Headquar- 
"  ters  21  Oct.  177fi.  The  hurried  situation  of  the  General  for  the  last  two 
"  days,  having  prevented  him  from  paying  that  attention  to  Col.  Glover 
"and  the  officers  and  soldiers  who  were  with  him  in  the  skirmish  on 
"  Friday  last  that  their  merit  and  good  behavior  deserved,  he  flatters 
"  himself  that  his  thanks,  tho'  delayed,  will  nevertheless  be  acceptable 
"  to  them,  as  the3' are  offered  with  great  sincerity  and  cordiality.  At 
"the  same  time  he  hopes  that  every  other  part  of  the  army  will  do 
"  their  duty  with  equal  bravery  and  zeal  whenever  called  upon  ;  and 
"  neither  dangers,  nor  difficulties  nor  hardships  will  discourage  soldiers 
"engaged  in  the  cause  of  liberty,  and  while  we  are  contending  for  all 
"that  freemen  hold  dear  and  valuable." 


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BEVERLY. 


757 


relations,  and  a  generous  contributoi*  to  public  and 
private  charities  and  associations."  [n  his  will  he 
bequeathed  two  thousand  dollars  to  the  Theological 
School  at  Cambridge  connected  with  the  College,  to 
be  applied  in  any  way  that  "  will  best  promote  the 
cause  of  Christianity,  and  the  design  and  utility  of 
this  religious  establishment."  He  deceased  June  15th, 
1820,  and  his  funeral  sermon  was  preached  by  his 
friend  and  pastor,  the  Rev.  Abiel  Abbott  of  Beverly. 
He  married  first  Oct.  16,  1 774,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Osmyn  Trask  of  Beverly.  She  died  without  issue, 
and  he  married  secondly.  May  3d,  1789,  Mary,  daugh- 
ter of  the  Rev.  Matthew  Bridge  of  Framingham,  Har- 
vard College  1741,  and  grand-daughter  of  the  Rev. 
Daniel  Perkins  of  Bridgewater,  Harvard  College  1717. 
His  children  were  first,  Charles,  born  in  Beverly,  May 
24,  1793,  who  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1812. 
He  then  studied  law  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  but 
never  practised  his  profession.  He  soon  removed  to 
Boston,  where,  for  some  years,  he  was  engaged  in  busi- 
ness. During  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he  was  much 
interested  in  genealogical  jjursuits,  and  was  largely 
instrumental  in  tracing  his  ancestors  in  this  country 
to  their  origin  in  England.  He  returned  to  the  for- 
mer spelling  of  the  name  by  resuming  the  final  e.  He 
married  Dec.  14,  1825,  Elizabeth  Isabella  Tilden,  and 
died  in  Boston,  July  21,  1856,  leaving  three  children, 
Harriet  Tilden,  Francis  Perkins  and  Edward  Inger- 
soll  Browne  (Harvard  College  1855)  all  now  living. 
The  name  of  the  old  firm  has,  of  late  years,  been  re- 
vived by  the  association  of  Edward  Ingersoll  Browne 
with  Charles  Thorndike,  grandson  of  Israel,  as  part- 
ners in  the  law  business,  under  the  name  of  Browne 
and  Thorndike  of  Boston,  in  which  city  they  have 
long  been  established. 

The  second  and  only  other  child  of  Moses  Brown, 
except  one  who  died  in  infancy,  was  George,  born 
Nov.  24,  1799.  For  several  years  he  was  a  captain  in 
the  merchant  service.  In  1843  he  was  appointed  Com- 
missioner to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and,  with  his  eld- 
est son,  was  lost  at  sea  on  a  voyage  to  China  in  August, 
1846.  He  married,  Dec.  9,  1821,  his  cousin,  Harriet 
Bridge  by  whom  he  had  several  children,  all  of  whom 
have  deceased,  his  two  sons  Samuel  and  Moses  alone 
leaving  issue.^ 


ANDREW   PRESTON   PEABODY,   D.D.,    LL.D. 

Dr.  Peabody  is  descended  from  Lieutenant  Francis 
Peabody,  who  was  born  in  1614  in  St.  Albans,  Hert- 
fordshire, England,  and  came  to  New  England  in  the 
ship  "Planter"  in  1635,  settling  in  Lynn,  and  later, 
in  1638,  in  Hampton,  Old  Norfolk  County,  subse- 

1  See  Bond's  Genealogies  and  History  ofWateitown  ;  Stone's  "  History 
of  Beverly";  Quincy's  "  History  of  Harvard  University"  ;  tbe  Nevf 
England  Hist,  and  Genealogical  Register  for  January  18S5  ;  the  Heraldic 
Journal,  Boston  1865  ;  Wright's  "  History  of  Rutlandshire  "  ;  Blore'g 
"  History  of  Rutlandshire  ; "  and  Drakard's  "  History  of  Stamford."* 


*  By  Edward  I.  Browne. 


quently  to  which  time  he  became  an  inhabitant  of 
Topsfield,  where,  in  1657,  he  married  Mary  Foster, 
dying  February  19,  1697-98.  He  is  the  American 
ancestor  of  a  numerous  and  honorable  posterity  in 
Essex  County  and  elsewhere,  among  whom  the  dis- 
tinguished philanthropist,  George  Peabody  of  London, 
is  especially  to  be  named. 

Lieutenant  'Francis  Peabody's  son  ^Joseph,  born  in 
1644,  who  lived  in  Boxford,  was  the  father  of  ^Zeru- 
babel,  born  February  26,  1707,  who  lived  in  Middle- 
ton,  married  Lydia  Fuller  February  21, 1733,  and  was 
the  father  of  ^Andrew,  born  July  21,  1745,  married 
Ruth  Curtis  December  13,  1769,  lived  in  Middleton, 
and  died  October  14,  1813.  His  son  ^Andrew,  born 
February  29,  1772,  married  Mary  Rantoul,  sister  of 
Hon.  Robert  Rantoul,  Sr.,  of  Beverly,  at  Salem, 
May  30,  1808,  lived  in  Beverly,  where  he  kept  the 
grammar  school  and  was  a  teacher  of  repute,  and  died 
December  19,  1813.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
born  in  Beverly  March  19,  1811.  In  a  reminiscence 
contributed  to  a  series  of  autobiographical  articles  by 
eminent  men  (jsublished  in  the  Forum  for  July,  1887) 
he  has  himself  unconsciously  disclosed  the  dominant 
chord  in  his  own  character,  while  describing  the 
SiDartau  educational  methods  of  the  earlier  years  in 
this  century  : — 

"  I  learned  to  read  before  I  was  three  years  old,  and  foremost  among 
the  books  that  have  helped  nie  I  must  put  Webster's  'Spelling-book.'  I 
knew  the  old  lexicographer.  He  was  a  good  man,  but  hard,  dry,  unsen- 
timental. I  do  not  suppose  that  in  his  earliest  reading-lessons  for  chil- 
dren he  had  any  ulterior  purpose  beyond  shaping  sentences  composed  of 
words  consisting  of  three  letters  and  less.  But  while  1  believe  in  the 
inspii-ation  of  prophets  and  apostles,  I  agree  with  the  Christian  fathers 
of  the  Alexandrian  school  in  extending  the  theory  of  inspiration  far 
beyond  the  (so  called)  canon  of  Scripture,  and  I  cannot  but  think  that  a 
divine  afflatus  breathed  upon  the  soul  of  Noah  Webster  when  he  framed, 
as  the  first  sentence  on  which  the  infant  mind  should  concentrate  its 
nascent  capacity  of  combining  letters  into  words,  and  which  thus  by 
long  study  and  endless  repetition  must  needs  deposit  itself  in  undying 
memory,  '  No  man  can  put  off  tlie  law  of  God.'  When  I  toiled  daj'  after 
day  on  this  sentence,  I  probably  had  no  idea  of  its  meaning  ;  but  there 
is  nothing  better  for  a  child  than  to  learn  by  rote  and  to  fix  in  en(hiring 
remembrance  words  which  tlius  sown  deep,  will  blossom  into  fruitful 
meaning  with  growing  years.  Since  I  began  to  think  and  feel  on  sub- 
jects within  the  province  of  ethics,  this  maxim  has  never  been  out  of  my 
mind.  I  have  employed  it  as  a  text  for  my  experience  and  observation. 
It  is  a  fundamental  truth  in  my  theology.  It  underlies  my  moral  phi- 
losophy. It  has  molded  my  ethical  teaching  in  the  pulpit  and  tlie  class- 
room, in  utterance  and  print." 

From  his  sixth  year  until  he  entered  college,  he 
supplied  himself  "  with  books  from  a  library  of  sev- 
eral hundred  very  good  books,  the  proprietors  of 
which  were  assessed  fifty  cents  a  year.''  His  earliest 
teacher,  to  whom  he  owed  much,  was  Miss  Joanna 
Prince,  who  later  married  Ebenezer  Everett,  of  Bruns- 
wick, Me.,  and  was  the  mother  of  Prof.  Charles  Car- 
roll Everett.  He  was  also  a  pupil  of  Miss  Hannah 
Hill  in  the  first  Sunday-school  in  the  United  States, 
which  these  two  ladies  had  gathered  in  Beverly,  and 
had  the  satisfaction  later  of  teaching  Miss  Hill  Greek 
in  her  old  age,  in  fulfillment  of  her  desire  to  read  the 
New  Testament  in  the  original  tongue.  A  child  of 
precocious  promise,  he  was  on  the  point  of  being  sent 


758 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


to  Exeter  Academy,  when  the  wise  minister,  Dr. 
Abbot,  persuaded  his  mother  to  have  him  prepared 
for  college  at  home  under  the  teaching  of  Mr.  Bernard 
Whitman,  who  was  then  pursuing  his  studies  for  the 
Unitarian  ministry  with  that  distinguished  clergy- 
man, and  he  was  fitted  for  college  in  a  year,  passing 
the  examinations  for  the  Freshman  class  in  1823,  and 
returning  to  live  in  Beverly  under  the  same  teaching 
another  twelvemonth,  in  which  he  went  over  the 
studies  of  the  first  two  years  of  the  college  course, 
returning  again  to  Cambridge  to  join  the  Junior  class 
in  August,  1824,  and  graduating  in  182G,  in  the  same 
class  with  his  cousin,  Hon.  Robert  Rantoul,  Jr.  No 
less  than  fourteen  members  of  this  class  entered  the 
Christian  ministry,  among  them  the  theologian  Oliver 
Stearns,  the  eloquent  preacher  George  Putnam,  and 
Nehemiah  Adams,  the  Calvinistic  divine.  His  father 
had  set  him  apart  for  the  ministry,  as  far  as  it  could 
be  done,  by  a  request  on  his  death-bed,  but  the  boy 
who  had  graduated  at  fifteen,  finishing  his  academic 
course  at  an  earlier  age  than  any  other  graduate  of 
Harvard  College,  with  the  possible  exception  of  Paul 
Dudley  and  Cotton  Mather,  was  too  young  to  begin 
his  theological  studies,  and  the  following  three  years 
were  spent,  the  first  in  study  at  Beverly,  teaching  in 
the  winter  the  same  district  school  in  Middleton 
where  his  father  had  first  taught,  the  second  as  private 
tutor  in  the  family  of  Mr.  Huidekoper,  of  Meadville, 
Pa.,  where  not  a  few  eminent  men  have  both  given 
and  received  much,  in  a  home  of  patriarchal  simplic- 
ity and  manorial  beauty,  and  the  third  in  teaching  in 
the  academy  at  Portsmouth,  N.  H.  In  1829  he  en- 
tered the  Cambridge  Divinity  School,  graduating  from 
it  in  1832.  The  next  year  was  spent  as  college  tutor  of 
Hebrew  and  mathematics  at  Cambridge.  At  this  time 
his  first  publication  ajjpeared,  "Address  on  Taxation," 
being  No.  1,  Vol.  1,  of  the  "  Workingmen's  Library." 
President  Quincy  desired  to  secure  Mr.  Peabody 
for  permanent  academic  service.  He  had,  however, 
been  preaching  in  various  places  during  the  year,  be- 
ing called  to  settle  over  churches  in  Fall  River  and 
Framingham,  and  accepted  an  invitation  to  become 
minister  of  the  South  Parish  in  Portsmouth,  N.  H., 
as  colleague  with  the  Rev.  Nathan  Parker,  D.D.,  one 
of  the  most  honored  clergymen  of  his  time  in  New 
England,  whose  lofty  character,  distinguished  alike 
for  wisdom  and  for  goodness,  has  left  an  abiding  mark 
upon  that  intelligent  Christian  community.  Mr. 
Peabody  took  charge  of  that  jnilpit  September  1, 
1833.  His  previous  year  spent  in  Portsmouth  as  a 
teacher  had  brought  him  into  such  personal  relations 
with  Dr.  Parker  as  to  make  him  appreciate,  as  a  spe- 
cial privilege,  the  opportunity  of  laboring  in  such 
companionship,  but  the  hope  was  sadly  disappointed, 
as  Dr.  Parker's  rapidly  failing  health  did  not  even 
permit  him  to  take  part  in  the  ordination  of  his  col- 
league and  successor  in  October,  1833,  and  his  death 
a  few  days  later  left  the  young  clergyman  alone  in 
charge  of  a  most  important  parish. 


The  South  Church,  which  was  the  second  in  Ports- 
mouth, had  its  origin,  as  was  the  case  in  many  of  the 
older  parishes  in  New  England,  in  a  dissension  about 
the  best  locality  for  a  new  meeting-house.  It  early 
leaned  to  Arminianism,  while  the  North  Church,  long 
under  the  ministry  of  the  elder  Buckmiuster,  held 
fast  to  the  more  strict  theology  ;  and  at  the  separation 
of  the  Congregational  body  in  the  earlier  years  of 
this  century,  the  former  had  become  a  leading  parish 
in  the  "  Unitarian  movement."  Under  the  serious 
evangelical  preaching  of  Dr.  Parker,  it  had  been 
strengthened  and  increased  in  numbei's  till  not  long 
before  his  death  it  had  built  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
and  costly  stone  churches  of  the  time  in  New  Eng- 
land, which  was  filled  with  worshipers.  This  respons- 
ible charge  was  borne  by  the  young  minister,  and 
prospered  in  his  hands.  The  further  increase  of  the 
congregation,  to  the  number  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
families,  made  it  necessaiy  to  enlarge  the  church ;  a 
handsome  chapel  was  built  for  the  large  and  flourish- 
ing Sunday  school,  and  all  the  signs  of  professional 
success  in  a  high  degree  were  evident. 

On  September  12,  1836,  Mr.  Peabody  was  married 
to  Catherine  Whipple,  daughter  of  Edmund  Roberts, 
of  Portsmouth,  who,  as  Envoy  of  the  United  States 
Government,  negotiated  the  first  treaty  between  this 
country  and  Siam  and  Cochin  China,  the  journal  of 
whose  travels  in  remote  Eastern  lands,  at  that  time 
almost  un  visited,  was  published  after  his  death,  which 
took  place  in  1837,  while  abroad  on  public  business. 
Of  the  eight  children  of  this  marriage,  two  sons  and 
two  daughters  died  in  early  childhood,  and  four 
daughters  are  living.  Mrs.  Peabody  died  in  Novem- 
ber, 1869. 

The  Portsmouth  pulpit,  as  filled  by  Mr.  Peabody, 
was  metropolitan  to  New  Hampshire.  While  the 
most  important  part  of  a  faithful  minister's  labors  is 
silent  and  hidden  in  the  endless  round  of  pastoral 
duty,  the  calls  to  public  services  outside  his  parish 
multiplied  upon  him  in  the  educational  and  charita- 
ble duties  which  fall  in  such  a  community  to  the 
minister  of  a  prosperous  and  influential  congregation. 
He  early  became  a  trustee  of  Exeter  Academy,  hold- 
ing that  position  for  forty-three  years.  One  of  the 
earliest  of  the  many  addres-es  which  he  gave  on  aca- 
demic occasions,  that  on  "Conversation:  its  faults 
and  its  graces,"  delivered  before  the  Newburyport 
Female  High  School,  and  first  printed  in  1846,  be- 
came a  classic  on  the  subject.  Meantime,  in  the  re- 
ligious discussions  which  were  being  earnestly  carried 
on  in  the  Unitarian  Church,  Mr.  Peabody  soon  be- 
came a  recognized  leader,  in  1846  giving  the  address 
before  the  Senior  class  in  the  Cambridge  Divinity 
School  on  "  Anti-Supernaturalism,"  and  being  widely 
known  as  a  preacher  of  positive  spiritual  Christianity. 
In  1844  he  published  "  Lectures  on  Christian  Doc- 
trine," which  became  a  handbook  of  the  belief  of  the 
evangelical  portion  of  the  religious  body  to  which  he 
belonged,  while  a  wider  congregation  than  his  Ports- 


BEVERLY. 


759 


mouth  parish  was  addressed  by  his  "  Christian  Con- 
solations: sermons  designed  to  furnish  comfort  and 
strength  to  the  aifiicted,"  of  which  the  first  of  many 
editions  was  published  in  1846,  and  by  his  "Sermons 
to  Children,"  published  in  1867.  He  also  was  an  ed- 
itor of  the  Christian  Register  for  two  years. 

In  1852  he  received  from  Harvard  College  the  de- 
gree of  Doctor  of  Divinity.  During  all  this  period 
he  was  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  Christian  Exam- 
iner and  the  North  American  Review,  and  in  1852  he 
became  proprietor  and  editor  of  the  latter  publica- 
tion, which  duties  hti  retained  till  1863,  when  he 
was  succeeded  by  Professors  Lowell  and  Norton. 

The  invitation  to  the  Plummer  professorship  of  the 
heart  and  of  Christian  morals  in  Harvard  College 
found  Dr.  Peabody  in  a  happy  and  successful  ministry 
at  Portsmouth,  over  a  parish  to  whom  he  was  bound 
by  ties  of  mutual  attachment,  such  as  no  other  call 
could  have  been  strong  enough  to  break.  He  had 
seen  the  first  generation  of  his  people  pass  away  and 
give  place  to  children  and  grandchildren,  whose  feel- 
ing toward  him  was  not  lessened  by  his  removal  to 
the  large  sphere  of  duties  which  Cambridge  ofl'ered. 
On  September  1,  1860,  he  assumed  the  Plummer  pro- 
fessorship, and  when,  after  a  generation  had  inter- 
vened, on  September  1,  1883,  the  fiftieth  anniversary 
of  his  settlement  at  Portsmouth  was  celebrated  by  his 
former  parish,  it  was  with  a  joy  and  sympathy  not 
dimmed  by  the  lapse  of  time. 

The  new  work  on  which  Dr.  Peabody  now  entered, 
as  successor  to  the  Rev.  Frederick  Dan.  Hunting- 
ton, D.D.,  was  waiting  to  be  shaped  by  him  into  a 
large  and  unique  opportunity  of  service  and  influ- 
ence. The  wise  munificence  of  Miss  Caroline  Plum- 
mer, of  Salem,  had  been  led  to  endow  the  "Professor- 
ship of  the  Heart  and  of  Christian  IMorals,"  by  the 
conviction  that  the  "  dry  light"  and  unsympathetic 
methods  of  college  training  needed  to  be  suftused 
with  the  warmth  and  glow  of  a  personal  influence, 
exerted  by  a  Christian  minister  of  wide  and  ready 
sympathy,  hearty  interest  in  young  men  and  belief 
in  them,  not  a  teacher  only  nor  a  preacher  only, 
though  both  of  these  he  was  to  be,  but  one  who 
should  find  what  possibilities  existed  in  Harvard  Col- 
lege for  the  function  of  pastor  to  the  most  difficult 
class  of  persons  in  the  world  to  reach. — youths  of  the 
student  age.  It  had  been  the  conviction  of  this  ex- 
cellent lady  that  such  a  place  could  be  created  and 
filled  by  a  wise,  devout  scholar,  in  whom  the  weight 
of  genuine  character  and  the  persuasiveness  and  charm 
of  Christian  faith  should  be  a  "  living  epistle,  known 
and  read  of  all  men,"  but  no  one  could  have  ventured 
to  anticipate  the  way  in  which  Dr.  Peabody  was  to 
grow  into  the  place  and  the  place  to  grow  round  him, 
or  the  degree  in  which  his  influence  was  destined  to 
pervade  the  Cambridge  atmosphere  like  sunshine,  do- 
ing more  perhaps  than  any  other  single  cause  to  sof- 
ten and  change  the  temper  of  mutual  antagonism  and 
mutual  distrust  which  largely  affected  the  relations  of 


the  faculty  and  the  students.  This  condition  of 
things  was,  of  course,  not  without  shining  exceptions 
on  both  sides,  and  as  a  survival  from  the  semi-me- 
devial  conditions  of  the  college  in  Puritan  times. 
The  years  of  Dr.  Peabody's  incumbency  of  the  one 
position  which  was  created  to  be  mediatorial  between 
the  two  elements,  witnessed  a  change  for  the  better 
gt eater  than  had  been  wrought  in  the  two  previous 
centuries.  This  process  went  on  side  by  side  with  the 
great  enlargement  of  the  college  on  all  sides,  trans- 
forming it  into  a  veritable  university,  with  the  free- 
dom and  opportunity  of  the  elective  system  ;  and  it  is 
not  too  much  to  say  that  Dr.  Peabody's  presence  and 
influence  at  Cambridge  did  more  than  any  other 
thing  to  inspire  confidence  in  the  whole  community 
that  these  changes  would  only  give  opportunity  for 
growth  in  Christian  manhood,  and  leave  the  college 
freer  to  become  a  training-school  in  virtue  and  good- 
ness and  faith.  The  proper  official  work  of  the  Plum- 
mer profe.-sorship  had  included  the  duties  of  preacher 
to  the  university  and  some  slight  teaching  of  each 
class  at  the  beginning  of  the  Freshman  and  at  the 
end  of  the  Senior  year,  while  the  pulpit  services  were 
lightened  by  being  assumed  by  the  president  (when 
he  was  a  clergyman)  on  one  Sunday  of  each  month. 
Except  during  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Hill,  however, 
the  burden  of  the  University  pulpit  now  fell  wholly 
upon  Dr.  Peabody,  and  for  twenty-one  years  was  so 
borne  as  to  keep  that  distinguished  place  at  the 
height  of  its  reputation,  as  the  voice  in  sacred  things 
of  the  mother  and  chief  of  American  colleges. 

The  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  was  conferred  upon 
Dr.  Peabody  by  the  University  of  Rochester  in  1863. 

The  publications  of  Dr.  Peabody  during  the  period 
after  his  removal  to  Cambridge  may  be  in  part  noted 
here.  In  1861  he  delivered  and  published  a  course  of 
lectures  before  the  Lowell  Institute,  entitled  "  Chris- 
tianity the  Religion  of  Nature,"  and  in  1873  a 
volume  of  sermons  on  "Christian  Belief  and  Life." 
Besides  a  multitude  of  single  sermons,  lectures,  ora- 
tions, discussions  in  the  influential  reviews  of  great 
questions  of  public  interest  and  memoirs  of  distin- 
guished persons,  the  following  volumes  have  also  been 
given  to  the  public  by  him:  "Manual  of  Moral 
Philosophy,"  1872;  "Christianity  and  Science,"  a 
serios  of  lectures  delivered  in  New  York,  in  1874,  on 
the  Ely  foundation  of  the  Union  Theological  Semi- 
nary, 1874.  The  Baccalaureate  sermons  which  he 
preached  to  successive  classes  on  the  Sunday  before 
commencement,  and  which  were  long  a  marked  fea- 
ture of  the  academic  life,  were  gathered  up  in  a  vol- 
ume embracing  those  preached  in  successive  years, 
from  1861  to  1883,  when  the  emeritus  professor  might 
well  have  supposed  that  his  long  service  in  the  inter- 
esting duty  was  ended,  but  in  1885  and  1886  the  grad- 
uating classes  still  felt  that  from  no  other  could  they 
ask  the  farewell  word  in  behalf  of  their  alma  viater.  A 
part  of  the  fruit  of  his  ethical  instruction  in  the  divinity 
school  and  in  the  college  appeared  in  his  translations 


760 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


of  Cicero's  De  Officiis,  De  Senectute,  De  Amicitia, 
and  the  Tusculan  Disputations,  published  in  1883, 
1884  and  1886,  and  of  Plutarch's  De  Sera  Numinis 
Vindicta,  published  in  1885.  In  1887  he  published 
further  fruits  of  his  college  teaching  in  the  vahiable 
work  on  Moral  Philosophy,  which  embodies  a  portion 
of  the  lectures  given  by  him  to  the  senior  class  in  col- 
lege and  in  the  Divinity  School  at  Meadville,  Pa. 

The  Cambridge  life  devolved  upon  Dr.  Peabody,  be- 
yond the  duties  of  his  professorship,  not  a  few  such 
obligations  as  seek  a  public-spirited  citizen  with 
heavy  demand  upon  his  time.  On  the  school  com- 
mittee he  gave  many  years  of  service,  and  in  other 
matters  which  furthered  the  cause  of  good  govern- 
ment of  the  city,  he  was  never  backward.  Only  an 
exceptional  endowment  of  health  and  a  bodily  frame 
strong  as  iron  which  was  able  to  bear  habitual  labor 
far  into  the  small  hours  of  the  night,  could  have  en- 
dured the  toil. 

As  a  teacher,  the  work  which  fell  into  his  strong 
and  willing  hands  naturally  broadened  more  and 
more.  The  subject  of  ethics  belonged  strictly  to  his 
department  as  religious  teacher  to  the  university,  but 
in  addition  he  taught  logic,  political  economy  until 
the  appointment  of  Professor  Dunbar,  and  had  the 
care  of  the  senior  forensics  for  some  years,  also  filling 
gaps  when  they  occurred  in  the  college  and  in  the 
divinity  school.  A  portion  of  this  labor  bore  fruit  in 
several  of  his  printed  works. 

Meantime,  the  friendly  and  fatherly  relation  in 
which  he  stood  to  the  students  had  beneficent  re- 
sults. When  the  wise  generosity  of  Mr.  Nathaniel 
Thayer  provided  the  means  for  reviving  in  a  better 
form  the  old  "  Commons,"  furnishing  good  food  to 
the  great  mass  of  the  students  for  a  moderate  sum, 
the  task  of  organizing  this  large  enterprise  and  of  its 
supervision  for  a  considerable  time  was  undertaken 
by  Dr.  Peabody  until  he  had  proved  that  it  was  a 
wise  experiment  and  had  established  it  on  a  perma- 
nent basis  at  the  public  tables  of  Memorial  Hall.  The 
thoughtful  and  abounding  private  charities  which 
sought  his  aid  as  almoner  in  finding  and  relieving 
needy  students  who  deserved  such  aid,  a  form  of  col- 
lege benefit  which  escapes  all  public  record,  were 
very  great  in  amount  and  were  alone  sufficient  to  oc- 
cupy much  of  the  time  of  a  busy  man.  It  would  be 
impossible  to  overstate  the  quantity  and  quality  of  his 
service  in  personal  and  private  relations  as  adviser 
and  confidential  friend  to  the  multitude  of  young  men 
who  sought  his  help  in  any  kind  of  trouble  and  never 
sought  in  vain.  For  all  this  the  unsolicited  reward 
of  a  love  and  veneration,  such  as  it  is  the  privilege  of 
few  to  win,  was  poured  forth  upon  him.  No  one  can 
have  heard  without  a  thrill  the  cheers,  ringing  with 
the  enthusiasm  of  youth  and  of  personal  affection  and 
rising  again  and  again  as  if  they  would  never  cease, 
which  greeted  the  mention  of  his  name  or  welcomed 
his  presence  on  all  public  occasions  of  the  university. 

The  Plummer  professorship  also  offered  an  oppor- 


tunity to  bring  the  university  into  religious  relations 
with  the  whole  community  by  making  its  pulpit  not 
the  property  of  a  single  sect,  but  hospitable  to  all 
branches  of  the  Protestant  Church,  which  Dr.  Pea- 
body's  large  and  sympathetic  Christian  temper  ful- 
filled to  the  utmost.  While  himself  recognized  as  a 
leader  in  his  own  denomination,  he  had  the  gift  of 
winning  the  Christian  fellowship  and  conciliating  by 
his  own  reconciling  spirit  the  friendly  respect  of 
churchmen  of  all  names,  welcoming  them  to  the  col- 
lege chapel  and  being  welcomed  as  a  preacher  in 
their  pulpits,  while  he  was  sought  to  give  addresses  on 
the  public  days  of  the  theological  schools  of  Newton, 
Bangor  and  Andover,  representing  various  Christian 
bodies;  and  the  catholic  system  of  administration  of 
religion  in  Harvard  University,  introduced  in  1885, 
in  which  a  group  of  the  ablest  preachers  of  different 
churches  are  associated  in  the  care  of  spiritual  interests 
which  are  recognized  to  be  so  large  and  various  as  to 
demand  their  united  care,  is  the  legitimate  outgrowth 
of  the  si^irit  in  which  Dr.  Peabody  admitted  this  great 
religious  opportunity. 

The  most  important  part  of  Dr.  Peabody's  public 
services  at  Cambridge  still  remains  to  be  mentioned. 
The  death  of  President  Felton,  in  February,  1862,  not 
only  removed  his  closest  personal  friend  in  the  col- 
lege, but  devolved  upon  him  most  laborious  and  re- 
sponsible duties  as  head  of  the  university,  being  ap- 
pointed by  the  corporation  acting  president,  and  dis- 
charging the  duties  of  that  office  until  the  installation 
of  President  Hill  late  in  the  following  autumn.  On 
the  resignation  of  Dr.  Hill,  in  September,  1868,  he 
was  again  called  to  the  same  responsibility,  and  con- 
tinued to  preside  over  the  university  until  the  inaug- 
uration of  President  Eliot.  His  administration  as 
acting  president  thus  covered  two  periods,  amounting 
in  all  to  about  two  years,  while  he  was  specially  as- 
sociated with  the  counsels  of  his  immediate  prede- 
cessors in  the  office,  and  in  the  plans  which  marked 
their  administrations  and  which  resulted  in  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  old  "  hazing  "  system  and  the  introduction 
of  a  healthier  spirit  of  mutual  regard  in  the  instruc- 
tors and  students,  and  the  first  broadening  out  of  the 
college  curriculum  beyond  its  narrow  limit  by  intro- 
ducing the  elective  system.  The  success  of  Dr.  Pea- 
body as  an  administrator  was  marked,  and  it  seemed 
natural  that  he  should  have  been  elected  to  the  per- 
manent incumbency  of  the  office  which  he  adorned  ; 
the  strong  secular  tendency  in  college  affairs  had, 
however,  predetermined  that  the  office  should  not  be 
held  in  any  event  by  a  clergyman. 

In  these  very  important  duties  Dr.  Peabody  re- 
mained at  his  post  for  twenty-one  years,  with  an  in- 
terval of  travel  in  Europe  from  June,  1867,  to  March, 
1868,  which  he  accomplished  by  compressing  the 
work  of  two  terms  into  that  of  a  single  one  after  his 
return,  and  of  which  he  published,  in  1868,  a  record 
in  his  "Reminiscences  of  European  Travel."  A 
briefer  visit  to  Russia,  and  the  neighboring  countries 


■^'^g  -\AJI.nitc'hie: 


,^^-p^    /^y/C 


BEVERLY. 


761 


in  which  he  shared  the  hospitalities  enjoyed  by  Gen- 
eral Grant,  was  made  by  him  in  the  summer  of  1876, 
and  a  longer  sojourn  in  Europe  with  his  family  after 
resigning  the  Plummer  professorship,  from  June, 
1881,  to  September,  1882.  His  resignation  had  gone 
into  effect  after  the  commencement  of  1881,  but  he 
was  at  once  appointed  professor  emeritus,  retiring 
from  the  burdens  of  his  official  position,  but  in  no 
sense  from  his  place  in  the  heart  of  the  college  nor 
from  the  opportunities  of  service  which  awaited  him. 
The  key-note  of  Dr.  Peabody's  public  services  is 
given  in  the  paper  already  quoted,  where  he  men- 
tions three  biographies  to  which  he  has  been  specially 
indebted.     The  first  is  that  of  Niebuhr  : 

"  If  I  have  been  able,  in  things  secular  and  sacred,  as  to  reports  of  cur- 
rent and  records  of  past  events,  to  steer  a  safe  way  between  credulity 
and  skepticism,  I  owe  it  in  great  part,  not  to  Niebuhr's  'History  of 
Rome,'  but  to  the  virtual  autobiography  that  gives  shape  and  vividness 
to  his  'Memoir.'  If  I  remember  aright,  he  expressed  his  confidence  in 
the  wubstantial  authenticity  of  our  canonical  gospels,  and,  however  this 
may  be,  I  owe  largely  to  him  my  firm  faith  and  trust  in  them. 

"  I  would  next  name  the  'Life  of  Thomas  Arnold.'  When  I  read  it  I 
was  pastor  of  a  largo  parish,  with  many  young  persons  under  my  charge 
and  influence,  and  I  was  at  the  same  time  chairman  of  a  school-board. 
I  had  no  need  of  Arnold  to  awaken  my  sympathy  with  young  life,  but 
he  has  lielped  me  to  understand  it  better,  and  to  minister  more  intelli- 
gently and  efficiently  to  its  needs  and  cravings.  His  '  Kugby  Sermons ' 
have  a  great  charm  for  me,  and  while  I  have  not  been  guilty  of  the  ab- 
surd and  vain  attempt  to  imitate  them,  I  have  felt  their  inspiration  both 
in  the  pulpit  and  in  the  lecture-room.  I  have  also,  in  a  large  and  diver, 
sifted  experience  in  educational  trusts  and  offices,  felt  myself  constantly 
instructed,  energized  and  encouraged  by  Arnold. 

"My  third  biography  is  that  of  Dr.  Chalmers,  fruitful  of  beneficent 
example  in  more  directions  than  could  be  easily  specified,  but  to  me  of 
peculiar  service  in  his  relation  to  poverty  in  Glasgow,  with  its  attendant 
evils  and  vices  In  his  mode  of  relieving  want  in  person  and  in  kind, 
of  bringing  preventive  measures  to  bear  on  the  potential  nurseries  of 
crime,  and  of  eTilisting  the  stronger  in  the  aid  and  comfort  of  the  feebler 
members  of  the  community,  I  found  many  valuable  suggestions  for  the 
local  charities  which  came  under  my  direction  while  I  was  a  parish 
minister." 

It  is  allotted  to  few  men  to  fulfil  with  conspicuous 
ability  so  many  and  various  kinds  of  public  service  as 
have  fallen  to  the  lot  of  Dr.  Peabody.  As  a  parish 
minister,  building  up  his  church  in  the  prosperity  of 
numbers  and  in  the  better  welfare  of  a  spiritual  growth, 
never  stronger  in  his  hold  on  the  affections  of  his 
people  than  when  he  parted  from  them,  and  always 
remaining  the  pastor  of  their  affectionate  regard  ;  as 
a  preacher,  devout,  earnest,  persuasive,  a  powerful 
expounder  of  the  truth  of  the  gospel,  and  never  more 
effective  or  listened  to  with  more  interest  than  in  the 
years  after  he  had  passed  threescore  and  ten ;  as  a 
theologian,  strong  in  his  grasp  and  luminous  in  his 
statement  of  the  central  verities  of  Christianity  ;  as  an 
ethical  and  moral  teacher,  lucid,  eloquent  and  con- 
vincing ;  as  the  incumbent  of  the  most  difiicult  posi- 
tion in  Harvard  College,  turning  its  diSiculties  into 
unrivalled  opportunities  and  creating  an  exceptional 
work  ;  as  a  successful  administrator,  numbered  among 
the  honored  heads  of  the  university  ;  it  has  been  his 
to  win  the  love  and  reverence  of  the  successive  gen- 
erations among  whom  his  work  has  been  wrought 
from  youth  to  age. 
48^ 


"WILLIAM   AND   ALBERT   THORNDIKE. 

The  Thorndikes  of  America  are  descended  from  a 
Lincolnshire  family,  at  one  time  lords  of  the  manor 
of  Little  Carlton.  The  first  recorded  signature  of 
pedigree  was  made  at  the  visitation  of  Heralds,  in 
the  year  1634;  but  thepedigreeitself  is  traced  at  least 
a  hundred  and  fifty  years  earlier,  to  the  middle  or 
end  of  the  fifteenth  century.  The  ancestor  of  the 
American  family  was  John  Thorndike,  who  was  one 
of  the  twelve  associates  of  John  Winthrop,  Jr.,  by 
whom  the  first  permanent  settlement  at  Ipswich  was 
commenced,  in  1633.  John  Thorndike  was  the 
brother  of  Herbert  Thorndike,  Prebendary  of  West- 
minster, a  distinguished  clergyman  of  the  Church  of 
England.  It  is  not  probable  that  John  Thorndike's 
emigration  proceeded  from  religious  motives.  He 
never  joined  a  New  England  Church,  he  sent  his 
only  son  to  England,  to  be  baptized  by  his  uncle,  the 
prebendary,  and  he  himself  went  back  to  England  to 
die,  and  was  buried  by  the  side  of  his  brother,  in  the 
cloisters  of  Westminster.  He  had  passed  thirty- 
years  in  America.  From  Ipswich  he  went  to 
"  Brooksby  "  (now  Peabody),  where  he  is  mentioned 
in  1636  as  a  grantee  of  a  hundred  acres  of  land.  This 
grant  he  relinquished  the  same  year  for  one  of  a 
hundred  acres  in  Beverly,  then  a  part  of  Salem,  and 
in  the  following  year  his  holding  was  enlarged  to  a 
hundred  and  eighty-five  acres,  extending  back  from 
the  shore  at  the  point  afterwards  called  "  Paul's 
Head,"  from  his  son  Paul. 

Paul  Thorndike  was  prominent  in  the  town  affairs 
of  Beverly,  and  discharged  the  various  ofiices  of  se- 
lectman, captain  of  the  military  company,  deputy  to 
the  General  Court  and  the  like.  But  he,  like  his 
father,  never  became  a  member  of  a  New  England 
Church,  and  not  until  ten  years  after  his  death  did 
his  oldest  son,  John,  the  first  Puritan  in  the  family, 
make  "  public  profession."  Paul's  three  sons,  John, 
Paul  and  Herbert,  probably  lived  upon  the  land 
which  had  come  to  them  through  their  fiither  from 
their  grandfather.  But  they  all  had  numerous  chil- 
dren, and  the  i^arental  acres  gradually  departed  from 
the  family  under  a  series  of  petty  subdivisions  and 
alienations.  Nothing  now  remains  to  indicate  the 
original  ownership  but  the  mere  name  "  Paul's 
Head." 

Of  the  generations  which  followed  the  first  two  in 
Beverly,  most  of  the  members  were  sailors.  As  Haw- 
thorne picturesquely  says  of  his  own  ancestors, 
"From  father  to  son  for  above  a  hundred  years 
they  followed  the  sea;  a  grey-headed  shij)master  in 
each  generation  retiring  from  the  quarter  deck  to  the 
homestead,  while  a  boy  of  fourteen  took  the  heredi- 
tary place  before  the  mast,  confronting  the  salt  S2;)ray 
and  the  gale  which  had  blustered  against  his  sire  and 
grandsire.  The  boy  also,  in  due  time,  passed  from 
the  forecastle  to  the  cabin,  spent  a  tempestuous  man- 
hood and  returned  from  his  world-wanderings  to  grow 
old  and  die  and  mingle  his  dust  with  his  natal  earth." 


762 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Nicholas  Thorndike,  the  father  of  the  subjects  of 
the  present  sketch,  was  born  in  1764.  He  began  his 
seafaring  life  early  enough  to  be  captured  in  the 
Revolution  by  a  British  cruiser,  and  to  have  a  short 
experience  of  the  Jersey  Prison  Ship.  He  passed  his 
youth  as  a  sailor  and  shipmaster,  retired  in  middle 
life  with  a  moderate  competency  and  spent  the  re- 
mainder of  his  days  in  mercantile  pursuits  in  Bever- 
ly. Except  that  he  commanded  a  volunteer  company 
of  artillery  during  the  War  of  1812,  and  that  he  occa- 
sionally represented  Beverly  in  the  General  Court,  he 
held  no  public  office.  He  was  a  man  whose  strong 
sense  and  sound  judgment  in  affairs  commanded  the 
respect  of  the  community.  He  was,  moreover,  like 
many  shipmasters  of  his  day,  not  without  a  smack  of 
literary  cultivation.  The  deck  of  a  ship  in  the  trade 
winds  gives  great  opportunity  for  general  or  special 
reading,  and  one  is  sometimes  astonished  at  discover- 
ing the  sort  of  books  which  accompanied  our  sailors 
on  their  voyage. 

Captain  Thorndike's  wife  was  Mehetabel  Eea, 
whom  he  married  in  1789.  She  was  the  daughter  of 
Captain  Joseph  Rea,  a  man  of  some  local  note  in  the 
Revolution,  an  efficient  member  of  the  Committee  of 
Correspondence  and  the  commander  of  a  company 
from  Beverly  and  Lynn,  sent  to  the  aid  of  Washing- 
ton in  New  Jersey.  Mrs.  Thorndike  passed  the  quiet, 
uneventful  life  of  a  sailor's  wife,  occupied  at  home 
with  the  care  and  education  of  her  children,  while 
her  husband  was  employed  abroad.  She  lived  until 
her  youngest  son  was  nine  years  old,  and  died  at  the 
early  age  of  forty.  She  was  little  known  beyond  her 
own  family,  but  the  remembrance  of  her  pure  relig- 
ious character,  her  love  and  her  many  virtues,  con- 
stantly appears  in  the  affectionate  allusions  of  her 
children.  Of  this  marriage  there  were  four  children, 
of  whom  two  were  daughters ;  Hitty,  who  married 
Thomas  Stephens,  Jr.  (Harvard  1810),  a  well-known 
lawyer  and  town  officer  of  Beverly,  and  Clara,  the 
wife  of  Asa  Rand  (Dartmouth  1806),  a  clergyman  of 
some  prominence  as  a  preacher  and  editor,  and  of 
more  as  an  early  Abolitionist  and  friend  of  Garrison 
and  George  Thompson. 

William  Thorndike,  the  oldest  son  of  Nicholas  and 
Mehetabel,  was  born  in  Beverly  January  22,  1795. 
His  earliest  book  learning  was  obtained  in  the  excel- 
lent schools  of  his  native  town.  In  the  formation  of 
his  character,  kindly  and  manly,  and  at  the  same 
time  of  a  certain  strictness  which  sat  upon  him  not 
ungracefully  in  after  life,  one  may  trace  the  precepts 
and  example  of  his  excellent  mother.  From  Beverly 
he  passed  to  Phillips  Exeter  Academy  in  1807,  where 
he  spent  three  years  under  the  tuition  of  the  famous 
teacher.  Dr.  Benjamin  Abbot.  He  entered  Harvard 
College  as  a  Sophomore  in  1810,  and  was  graduated 
in  1813.  He  was  faithful  in  his  studies  as  in  all 
things,  took  an  excellent  rank  in  his  cla.'s  and  was  a 
member  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society,  whose  rib- 
bon was  then,  as  now,  a  badge  of  scholarship.     But  he 


was  also  of  social  disposition,  and  his  name  appears 
on  the  rolls  of  several  of  the  clubs  devoted  to  good 
fellowship  and  conviviality.  On  leaving  college  he 
entered  his  name  as  a  student  in  the  office  of  the  emi- 
nent jurist,  Nathan  Dane,  and  was  admitted  to  the 
Essex  Bar  in  1816.  While  a  law  student  he  gave 
some  attention  to  military  art,  and  was  the  first  cap- 
tain of  the  Light  Infantry  Company,  which  succeeded 
in  1814,  the  Artillery  Company,  commanded  by  his 
father  during  the  war.  In  1816,  the  year  of  his  ad- 
mission to  the  bar,  he  delivered  in  Beverly,  the 
Fourth  of  July  oration.  In  the  autumn  of  that  year 
he  opened  an  office  in  Bath,  Me.,  and  commenced  the 
practice,  so  often  discouraging,  of  a  young  lawyer. 
Maine  was  not  a  wealthy  State,  commerce  was  dull 
and  there  were  more  lawyers  than  business.  But  he 
persevered,  and  probably  had  a  fair  share  of  what 
business  there  was.  He  also  applied  himself  to  the 
study  of  politics,  history  and  political  economy,  wrote 
articles  for  the  newspapers,  delivered,  in  1818,  the 
Fourth  of  July  oration  at  Brunswick  and  published 
a  series  of  essays  upon  the  constitutional  struggles  in 
the  Pyrensean  Peninsula  and  Italy.  The  death  of 
his  father  in  1821  left  him  in  comfortable  pecuniary 
circumstances,  and  in  the  autumn  of  that  year  he 
married  Nancy  Stephens,  a  sister  of  his  brother-in- 
law,  Thomas  Stephens. 

His  wife,  a  most  lovely  person,  to  whom  he  was  de- 
votedly attached,  died  in  less  than  two  years  from 
their  marriage.  Her  death  was  followed  by  a  period 
of  depression,  during  which  he  was  completely  un- 
fit for  active  life.  He  abandoned  his  profession, 
never  to  resume  it,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1823  re- 
turned to  his  old  home  in  Beverly. 

Here  his  interest  in  affairs  gradually  revived.  With 
the  means  inherited  from  his  father,  he  pursued  with 
success  various  mercantile  enterprises.  He  was  upon 
the  board  of  the  banking  and  insurance  corporations 
of  the  place  and  active  in  its  charities.  He  also  gave 
much  time  to  town  affairs,  as  selectman,  overseer  of 
the  poor,  moderator  of  town-meetings  and  the  like. 
In  matters  of  education  he  was  especially  earnest,  did 
much  good  work  upon  the  School  Committee  and  was 
one  of  the  early  promoters  of  the  Debating  Society 
and  Lyceum,  before  which  he  delivered  several  care- 
fully prepared  lectures. 

In  1826  and  1827  he  represented  the  town  in  the 
General  Court.  In  the  House  he  rarely  spoke,  but 
his  intelligence,  clear  judgment  and  familiarity  with 
business,  made  him  valuable  as  an  adviser  and  as  a 
member  of  committees.  In  1828  he  was  chosen  Sena- 
tor for  Essex,  and  was  re-elected  in  the  four  following 
years.  His  popularity  in  the  County,  as  in  his  own 
town,  was  very  great,  though  he  was  by  no  means  a 
good  politician  in  the  way  of  strict  party  allegiance. 
In  the  Senate  he  joined  in  debate  ofteHcr  than  in  the 
House,  and  always  spoke  and  voted  from  his  own 
judgment  and  conscience,  rather  than  from  regard  to 
the  expectations  of  his  friends  or  his  constituents.   In 


BEVERLY. 


763 


short,  as  his  distinguished  contemporary,  Mr.  Choate, 
once  said  of  him,  "He  was  not  able  enough  to 
agree  with  any  set  of  men  to  succeed  in  politics." 
But  his  steadfast  integrity  and  purity  of  motive  cer- 
tainly carried  him  a  great  way  towards  success.  In 
National  affairs,  which  got  into  the  debates  and  reso- 
lutions of  the  Legislature  more  frequently  than  now, 
he  probably  would  have  called  himself  a  Federalist, 
but  still  he  was  heretical  upon  some  of  the  old  Fed- 
eralist articles  of  faith.  His  name  was  upon  the  Na- 
tional Republican  ticket  after  that  party  was  formed, 
but  he  refused  to  subscribe  to  the  tenet  of  protection, 
which  was  its  criterion  of  orthodoxy,  and  remained  a 
free  trader  to  the  end.  And  upon  the  question  of  re- 
moval of  the  Cherokees  beyond  the  Mississippi,  he 
drew  down  upon  himself  a  storm  of  indignation  be- 
cause he  believed,  as  afterwards  proved  true,  that 
their  removal  was  not  only  for  the  good  of  the  coun- 
try, but  for  their  own  good.  In  1830  there  was  talk 
in  the  County  of  sending  him  to  Congress,  but  he  was 
too  poor  a  politician  for  this,  and  the  contest  fell  be- 
tween Mr.  Choate  and  Mr.  Crowningshield,  the  for- 
mer being  triumphantly  elected  and  beginning  at  this 
time  his  brilliant  public  career.  In  1832  he  was  elec- 
ted president  of  the  Senate,  and  filled  the  chair  with 
great  ability,  dignity  and  imjjartiality.  His  public 
life  ended  here.  In  the  same  year  he  was  made  presi- 
dent of  two  Boston  corporations,  the  Hamilton  Bank 
and  the  National  Insurance  Company,  and  to  the  du- 
ties of  these  offices  he  devoted  with  his  wonted  faith- 
fulness and  industry  the  brief  remainder  of  his  life. 
He  died  of  consumption  on  July  12, 1835,  at  theearlj^ 
age  of  forty. 

It  remains  only  to  speak  of  his  religious  character 
and  relations.  Brought  up  by  a  mother  who  was  a 
Puritan  of  the  Puritans,  he  retained  through  life  a 
certain  spirit  of  that  stern  faith.  His  mind  always 
tended  towards  independence  in  things  spiritual  of 
all  human  authority,  implicit  reliance  upon  Divine 
Revelation,  constant  regard  for  moral  and  religious 
principle  and  the  reference  of  every  daily  action  to 
the  tribunal  of  conscience.  Further  than  this  he  was 
no  Puritan,  or  rather  he  carried  the  Puritan  spirit  to 
its  logical  outcome,  and  threw  off  the  authority  of 
that  church  in  matters  of  dogma,  as  that  had  rejected 
the  authority  of  its  predecessors.  On  his  return  to 
Beverly  he  took  prominent  and  active  part  in  the  af- 
fairs of  the  First  Parish,  and  spent  much  time  and 
pains  in  bringing  those  affairs  into  a  satisfactory  fi- 
nancial condition.  His  interest  in  the  church  be- 
longing to  that  parish  was  constant  and  unflagging, 
and  he  heartily  sympathized  with  its  tendency  to- 
wards Unitarianism  under  the  pastorate  of  Dr.  Ab- 
bot, and  its  open  profession  of  the  Unitarian  faith  at 
the  settlement  of  Mr.  Thayer.  The  Sunday-school  of 
that  church  he  found  a  most  congenial  sphere  of  la- 
bor and  usefulness.  His  zealous  services  as  teacher 
and  superintendent  are  gratefully  acknowledged  in 
the  appreciative  memoir  of  his  life,  contributed  by 


Mr.  Thayer  to  Reverend  Mr.  Stone's  History  of  Bev- 
erly. 

Albert  Thorndike,  the  younger  brother  of  William, 
was  born  March  18,  1800.  He,  like  his  brother,  re- 
ceived his  early  education  at  home,  and  afterwards, 
in  1813,  went  to  Exeter.  He  had  a  desire  to  go  to 
college,  but  did  not  wish  to  become  afterwards  either 
a  lawyer,  a  doctor  or  a  minister.  His  father  had  the 
old  notion  that  college  is  a  place  to  learn  Latin  and 
Greek,  and  that  Latin  and  Greek  are  of  little  use  except 
in  the  three  so-called  learned  professions.  The  idea 
that  a  college  education  has  less  to  do  with  earning  a 
living  than  with  the  true  life  which  lies  beyond  and 
apart  from  getting  means  to  live,  is  of  later  growth. 
So  Albert  spent  his  three  years  under  Dr.  Abbot,  and 
then  returned  home  to  commence  a  business  life.  At 
first  he  assisted  his  father  and  kept  his  books.  In 
1819  he  took  a  clerkship  in  the  Beverly  Bank,  and 
was  promoted,  in  1822,  to  the  office  of  cashier,  which 
he  retained  for  twenty-four  years.  During  this  time 
he  did  many  things  beside,  at  first  in  connection  with 
his  brother  William  and  afterwards  with  the  late 
Samuel  Endicott.  They  owned  shares  in  coasting 
and  fishing  craft  and  in  larger  vessels  -for  foreign 
trade,  sent  adventures  to  Indiaandthe  Mediterranean 
and  engaged  in  the  manifold  enterprises  open  to  the 
inhabitants  of  a  thriving  sea-port  town;  for  Beverly, 
as  a  part  of  the  port  of  Salem,  had  then  much  more 
to  do  with  the  world  beyond  the  ocean  than  now. 

In  1823  he  married  Joanna  Batchelder  Lovett, 
daughter  of  John  and  Hannah  (Batchelder)  Lovett. 
Her  parents  had  died  in  her  infancy,  and  she  had 
grown  to  womanhood  in  the  home  and  under  the  pa- 
ternal care  of  her  uncle,  the  late  Robert  Rantoul.  Of 
this  marriage  there  were  born  nine  children,  of  whom 
two  are  still  living,  Samuel  Lothrop  Thorndike,  of 
Cambridge,  and  Charles  Francis  Thorndike,  of  Bev- 
erly. There  are  also  living  three  sons  of  another 
child,  the  late  Dr.  William  Thorndike,  of  Milwaukee. 
Mrs.  Thorndike  survived  her  husband  sixteen  years, 
and  died  in  1874. 

In  1846  Mr.  Thorndike  took  the  presidency  of  the 
Bank,  which  he  kept  until  1853.  In  addition  to  its 
local  transactions,  the  Bank  did  a  considerable  busi- 
ness with  Boston,  of  which,  during  his  cashiership 
and  presidency,  he  had  entire  charge.  This  carried 
him  often  to  the  city,  and  after  the  Railroad  made 
communication  easy,  he  spent  much  of  his  time 
there. 

For  the  routine  of  the  affairs  of  the  town  Mr.  Thorn- 
dike was  too  busy  a  man,  but  he  always  found  time 
for  its  charities  and  for  its  higher  interests.  He  was 
an  early  officer  of  the  Lyceum,  and  always  an  active 
member  of  the  Fisher  Charitable  Society. 

From  1845  to  1847  he  represented  Beverly  in  the 
General  Court,  and  in  1850  was  a  member  of  the  Sen- 
ate. He  seldom  took  the  floor,  except  to  make  a  re- 
port or  a  motion.  Oratory  was  not  one  of  his  gifts. 
But  his  familiarity  with  commerce  and  with  financial 


764 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


matters  in  general,  made  him  an  important  member 
of  the  Mercantile  Committee,  as  well  as  of  the  State 
Valuation  Committee  of  1850. 

During  this  period  he  was  a  director  of  the  Eastern 
Railroad,  and  spent  much  time  upon  its  affairs;  and 
in  1852  he  was  elected  to  the  presidency.  In  the  du- 
ties of  this  oiBce,  which  he  held  until  1855,  and  that 
of  auditor,  to  which  he  was  afterwards  appointed,  he 
passed  the  rest  of  his  vigorous  business  life.  Into 
these  duties  he  put,  as  was  his  wont,  his  whole  ener- 
gy, not  content  to  be  simply  the  head  of  a  board,  but 
fomiliarizing  himself  with,  and  actively  directing,  all 
the  operations  of  the  road.  More  than  one  important 
reform  in  railway  management  was  either  originated 
by  him  or  received  early  adoj^tion  upon  his  line.  He 
was  esteemed  and  beloved  by  those  under  him,  and 
with  his  associates  he  formed  warm  and  lasting  friend- 
ships. But  a  shadow  fell  upon  his  term  of  office  from 
the  crime  of  a  trusted  subordinate.  Honest  himself, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  and  beyond  the  conception  of  be- 
ing otherwise,  he  had  little  suspicion  of  the  possibility 
of  dishonesty  in  another;  and  the  blow  which  he  re- 
ceived saddened  the  whole  remainder  of  his  life. 

Mr.  Thorndike's  religious  feelings  were  strong,  his 
faith  liberal,  his  charity  universal.  He  succeeded  his 
brother  William  as  superintendent  of  the  Parish  Sun- 
day-school in  1833,  and  for  several  years  carried  on 
the  good  work  his  brother  had  begun.  From  1842 
until  his  death  he  was  one  of  the  deacons  of  the 
church. 

His  favorite  recreation  was  music.  He  was  a  sing- 
er from  boyhood,  and  kept  his  fine  bass  voice  to  the 
end.  A  pupil  of  Keller,  one  of  the  first  German  in- 
structors who  came  to  this  country,  he  was  no  mean 
proficient  upon  the  organ  and  piano.  He  attended 
all  the  concerts  far  and  wide,  Avas  a  member  of  the 
various  musical  societies  of  the  neighborhood  and  led 
the  parish  choir  for  thirty  years. 

If  space  permitted,  it  would  be  pleasant  to  speak  at 
length  upon  Mr.  Thorndike's  disposition  and  tastes, 
as  they  showed  themselves  at  home, — his  fondness  for 
children,  his  love  of  books  and  pictures,  his  admira- 
tion of  the  beauties  of  nature,  his  skill  in  horticul- 
ture, his  deft  handiness  as  an  amateur  mechanic.  But 
with  all  this  a  brief  public  record  has  little  concern. 

He  died  after  a  half  year's  illness,  which  he  bore 
with  patience  and  fortitude,  June  14,  1858,  mourned 
by  all  who  knew  him,  and  affectionately  remembered 
by  those  who  knew  him  best. 


CAPTAIN   JOHN   E,   GIDDINGS. 

John  Endicott  Giddings  was  born  in  Danvers, 
Mass.,  October  6,  1794.  His  father  was  Solomon 
Giddings,  born  in  Ipswich  in  1767,  a  descendant  of 
George  Giddings,  who  settled  in  Ipswich  in  1635; 
and  his  mother  was  Anna  Endicott,  born  in  Danvers 
in  1769,  and  a  descendant  of  Gov.  John  Endicott. 
His  family  removed  to  Beverly  when   he  was  about 


eleven  years  of  age,  and  he  soon  after  commenced 
sea  life,  accompanying  his  father  to  the  West  Indies. 
During  the  War  of  1812  he  enlisted  in  a  privateer, 
and  was  captured  by  an  English  sloop  of  war,  off 
Halifax,  and  he  was  taken  to  Dartmoor  Prison,  in 
England,  where  he  was  confined  for  nearly  two  years. 
After  his  release  he  entered  the  employ  of  the  Hon. 
Wm.  Gray,  of  Salem,  and  soon  rose  to  the  position  of 
captain.  Entering  the  employ  of  Joseph  Peabody, 
of  Salem,  he  had  command  of  the  noted  ships,  "Car- 
thage" and  "Augustus,"  making  voyages  to  China 
and  Bombay.  After  the  death  of  Mr.  Peabody  he 
commanded  the  ship  "Duxbury,"  owned  by  Mr. 
John  L.  Gardner,  of  Boston,  in  the  Cuba  and  Eussia 
business  until  he  retired  from  active  sea  service. 

As  a  shipmaster  he  was  prudent  and  skilful,  never 
meeting  in  his  long  sea  life  with  any  disaster  entail- 
ing loss  upon  the  Insurance  Companies;  and  he  was 
a  worthy  representative  of  that  remarkable  class  of 
men  justly  termed  "merchant  captains." 

He  married,  in  April,  1824,  Martha  Thorndike 
Leach,  descended  from  Lawrence  Leach,  one  of  the 
first  settlers  of  Beverly.  He  had  five  sons, — two  of 
whom  died  in  infancy.  His  oldest  son,  Charles 
Stephens,  died  February  9,  1856. 

Two  sons,  John  E.  and  Edward  L.,  are  still  living. 
Capt.  Giddings  died  April  28,  1849,  and  is  buried  at 
Beverly. 


DR.    INGALLS   KITTEEDGE,    SB. 

Ingalls  Kittredge,  who  w«s  born  at  Amherst,  N.  H., 
on  the  10th  of  December,  1769,  and  died  at  Beverly 
June  17,  1856,  was  one  of  the  sixth  generation  in 
descent  from  John  Kittredge,  of  Billerica,  who  re- 
ceived grants  of  land  in  1660,  and  in  1663  in  Biller- 
ica, and  in  1661  in  Tewksbury,  where  his  descendants 
were  located. 

He  was  the  son  of  Solomon  and  Tabitha  (Ingulls,  of 
Andover),  who  removed  about  1766,  to  Amherst,  N. 
H.  (now  called  Mount  Vernon),  and  was  one  of 
twelve  children.  He  married  Sarah  Conant,  daugh- 
ter of  Jonathan  and  Mary  Conant,  who  was  in  direct 
descent  (of  the  sixth  generation),  from  Roger  Conant, 
the  first  settler  and  founder  of  Salem,  which  at  that 
period  (.1626)  was  called  Naumkeag,  and  included  the 
territory  between  Portsmouth  and  Salem. 

Their  children  were  Ingalls,  who  was  born  at 
Townsend  May  30,  1798,  and  Sarah,  born  at  Town- 
send  October  1,  1800.  Ingalls,  Jr.,  who  followed  the 
profession  of  his  father,  was  a  graduate  of  Harvard 
College  of  the  class  of  1820,  and  studied  medicine  (in 
company  with  Dr.  D.  Humphreys  Storer),  with  the 
celebrated  Dr.  John  C.  Warren.  His  children  were 
seven  in  number  (all  daushters),  the  eldest  of  whom, 
Sarah,  married  Charles  W.  Galloupe,  Esq.,  of  Boston 
(a  native  of  Beverly),  and  another,  Susan,  married 
Captain  Edward  L.  Giddings,  of  Beverly. 

Dr.  Kittredge's  opportunities  of  an  early  education 
were  exceedingly  limited,  but  a  hereditary  genius  for 


'Tyn.  c^    yx. 


'yU^^€  Vi^'UtJ 


Bnish 


'^^''byAH  Ritchie. 


'.i^i^^^ 


^ 


BEVERLY, 


765 


the  practice  of  medicine  seems  to  have  existed  in  the 
Kittredges  for  generations,  and  the  tendency  is  still  a 
remarkiible  one  in  the  family,  the  name  of  Kittredge 
being  almost  synonymous  with  doctor. 

Dr.  Benjamin  Kittredge,  of  Tewksbury,  had  eight 
sons  who  were  doctors,  and  Ingalls  had  four  brothers 
who  practiced  the  healing  art,  the  eldest  of  whom, 
Dr.  Zephaniah,  who  lived  in  Mount  Vernon,  was  a 
man  of  famous  skill,  and  with  him,  no  doubt,  Ingalls 
studied. 

The  name  of  Ingalls  Kittredge  first  appears  in  the 
tax  list  of  1803,  but  as  no  poll  lax  was  included,  he 
probably  did  not  become  a  resident  until  August  6, 
1804,  when  his  first  poll  tax  was  asse^'sed,  indicating 
him  at  that  date  a  citizen  of  Beverly.  It  is  said  that 
he  occupied  the  so-called  "Asa  Woodbury"  house, 
lately  demolished,  which  stood  upon  the  site  of  the 
house  since  built,  and  now  owned  and  occupied  by 
Mr.  Mark  B.  Avery. 

In  April,  1803,  in  consideration  of  the  sum  of  four- 
teen hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  he  purchased  of  "  Si- 
meon Brown,  Gent,"  a  tract  of  land  consisting  of  nine 
acres,  bounded  by  the  county  road,  a  portion  of  the 
grant  of  two  hundred  acres,  made  by  the  Colonial 
Government  to  the  "  Old  planter,"  Roger  Conant 
(Mrs.  Kittredge's  paternal  ancestor),  upon  which  he 
erected  a  large  mansion  house,  with  suitable  outbuild- 
ings for  agricultural  purposes.  It  is  a  portion  of  the 
well-known  "  Kittredge  Farm,"  and  through  the 
present  proprietor,  Mr.  Charles  W.  Galloupe,  still  re- 
mains in  the  fiimily. 

In  the  deed  of  purchase  of  the  nine  acres,  he  is 
mentioned  as  "a  physician  of  Townsend,  Middlesex 
Co.,"  and  his  superior  intelligence  and  ability  soon 
gained  for  him  in  his  new  home  a  large  and  successful 
practice,  particularly  in  surgery,  which  extended 
widely  to  the  surrounding  towns,  where  he  was  well 
known,  as  the  most  skilful  surgeon  of  the  vicinity. 
His  early  visits  were  made  on  horseback,  but  a  largely 
increasing  jiractice,  soon  compelled  a  more  convenient 
means  of  communication,  and  he  adopted  the  so- 
called  "  Sulky,"  a  narrow,  high-hung,  old-fashioned 
"  Chaise,"  barely  two  feet  in  width  and  only  capable 
of  holding  one  person,  furnishing  scanty  enough 
accommodation  for  even  a  single  person  of  ordinary 
size.  The  quaint  old  vehicle  was  known  as  the 
"  Doctor's  Sulky,"  and  was  soon  as  familiar  to  the 
people  of  the  surrounding  towns  as  was  the  face  of  the 
sturdy  doctor  himself.  After  his  death  the  vehicle 
speedily  fell  iutodisuse,  and  but  few  of  the  present  day 
are  aware  that  it  ever  had  an  existence. 

In  his  practice  Dr.  Kittredge  did  not  hesitate  to  de- 
part from  the  established  regulations  of  the  "  Facul- 
ty," whenever,  in  his  judgment,  the  condition  of  his 
patients  could  be  improved  by  such  treatment.  This 
course  subjected  him  to  the  unfavorable,  and  often  un- 
kind criticism  of  his  contemporaries,  but  his  remark- 
able successes  sustained  and  secured  to  him  the  public 
confidence,  which  during  his  whole  lifetime,  he  never 


forfeited.  He  was  often  urged  to  accept  membership 
in  the  "  Medical  Faculty,"  but  his  independent  na- 
ture could  brook  no  rules  inconsistent  with  his  own 
conclusions,  and  during  the  length  of  his  active  pro- 
fessional life,  he  declined  associating  himself  with  any 
society.  Later  in  life,  however,  after  repeated  solici- 
tations, he  consented  to  permit  his  name  to  be  pre- 
sented for  membership. 

The  death  of  his  esteemed  wife,  which  occurred 
October  7,  1833,  and  his  marriage  in  April,  1836,  in- 
duced him  to  change  his  residence  from  the  upper 
part  of  the  town  to  a  more  central  location,  and  he 
purchased  the  "Chapman  Estate,"  one  of  the  finest 
and  most  elegant  of  the  old  Colonial  mansions,  which 
was  situated  at  the  corner  of  Federal  and  Cabot 
Streets.  Here,  with  a  constantly  increasing  practice, 
he  lived  until  the  month  of  June,  1844,  when  a  most 
disastrous  fire  occurred,  which  reduced  the  beautiful 
building  to  ashes,  entailing  a  heavy  and  discouraging 
loss  upon  its  proprietor ;  but  under  his  indomitable 
will  and  perseverance,  the  ashes  were  hardly  cold  be- 
fore he  commenced  the  erection  of  the  sightly  and  ele- 
gant mansion  which  still  stands  upon  the  same  site, 
one  of  the  finest  and  best  residences  within  the  limits 
of  the  town,  and  a  fitting  monument  to  his  energy 
and  enterpri-e. 

Dr.  Kittredge  was  a  man  of  ideas  greatly  in  ad- 
vance of  the  times  in  which  he  lived.  A  man  of 
deep  and  penetrating  thought,  with  clear  convictions 
ba-ed  upon  reasonable  deductions,  upon  which  he 
acted  so  frequently  without  consulting  the  opinion  of 
others,  that,  as  a  natural  consequence,  he  was  often 
upon  the  unpopular  side  of  the  public  issues. 

As  a  temperance  man  he  advocated  total  abstinence 
from  the  first,  and  devoted  his  best  energies  to  recov- 
er society  from  the  abuses  of  unlimited  liquor  selling, 
which  in  that  day  required  no  small  amount  of  moral 
courage. 

In  politics  he  was  an  outspoken  adherent  of  the 
"  Anti -Slavery  "  party,  a  companion  of  Sumner,  Gar- 
rison, Phillips,  Whittier  and  other  notable  men,  and, 
though  not  an  active  public  advocate,  he  was  always 
ready  with  his  purse,  and  an  ever  generous  contributor 
to  its  treasury.  He  was  an  indefatigable  manager  in 
the  so-called  "  under-ground  railroad,"  and  his  house 
as  well  as  his  purse,  were  always  open  to  the  unfortu- 
nate refugees,  in  their  attempts  to  escape  from  the 
servitude  of  the  South  to  the  freedom  of  the  North. 

The  well-known  escaped  slaves,  George  Latimer 
and  the  since  famous  Fred.  Douglas,  were  both  aided 
by  him,  and  by  him  introduced  to  a  public  audience 
in  Beverly  very  soon  after  their  escape  from  slavery. 
George  Thompson,  the  noted  English  philanthropist, 
Member  of  Parliament  and  Abolitionist,  found  in  him 
a  friend,  who,  without  fear  or  favor,  espoused  his  then 
unpopular  cause  and  gave  him  substantial  support 
and  efficient  aid.  Actuated  by  a  desire  that  the  citi- 
zens of  Beverly  should  hear  the  distinguished  man 
speak,  the  doctor  applied  to  a  religious  society  of  which 


766 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


he  was  a  prominent  member,  for  the  use  of  their  edi- 
fice for  a  public  lecture.  The  favor  was  refused. 
Later  on  the  society  had  a  meeting,  and,  anticipating 
some  trouble  from  the  doctor,  in  order  to  propitiate 
him,  chose  him  moderator  of  the  meeting.  He  never 
failed  to  improve  his  opportunities,  and  before  the 
adjournment  he  had  secured  the  adoption  of  a  series 
of  Anti-Slavery  resolutions,  which,  much  to  the  cha- 
grin of  the  officers,  but  greatly  to  the  satisfaction  of 
the  members  of  the  audience,  committed  the  society 
to  the  support  of  the  unpopular  "Anti-Slavery 
party." 

A  descendant  of  two  eminent  families,  he  was  a 
vigorous  representative  of  New  England  character. 
Quick  in  his  decisions  and  as  quick  to  act,  fearless  in 
the  discharge  of  all  his  duties,  prompt  and  punctual 
in  all  his  professional  engagements,  exact  in  his 
dealings,  somewhat  imperious  in  his  manner,  he 
quickly  decided  between  the  good  and  the  evil,  al- 
ways extending  a  hearty  encouragement  to  the  right, 
and  administering  to  the  wrong  a  deserving  rebuke. 
He  was  a  man  of  activity  in  the  pursuits  of  human 
life,  and  reverent  in  his  relations  to  the  Deity.  The 
citizens  of  the  town  heartily  accord  to  him  an  emi- 
nent place  in  their  history. 


JOHN   I.    BAKER. 

John  I.  Baker  was  born  in  Beverly  August  16, 
1812.  He  left  school  at  twelve  years  of  age,  and  af- 
ter store-keeping  in  Salem  and  Beverly  for  two  years, 
served  a  fourteen  months'  apprenticeship  at  the  trade 
of  shoemaking,  and  worked  thereat  for  several  years 
thereafter,  with  a  large  shop's  crew,  and  did  more  or 
less  manufacturing  on  his  own  account.  He  was  af- 
terwards engaged  in  rubber  manufacturing,  and  in 
store  trade,  and  did  much  as  land  surveyor,  scrivener 
and  in  the  settlement  of  estates.  His  business  of 
late  years  has  been  in  real  estate.  He  has,  during  all 
these  years,  been  much  in  public  life.  Chosen  town 
clerk  in  1836,  he  continued  in  that  position  for  nearly 
twenty  years,  serving  also  nearly  half  of  that  time  as 
selectman.  He  was  Representative  in  1840,  and  in 
seventeen  other  years  between  that  and  1884;  Sena- 
tor in  18G3  and  '64;  councillor  with  Governor  Banks 
and  Governor  Andrew ;  County  Commissioner  from 
1847  to  1855.  He  has  also  held  several  appointments 
from  different  Governors  of  the  commonwealth,  serv- 
ing now  as  a  harbor  and  land  commissioner,  to  which 
he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Butler  in  1883,  and 
reappointed  in  1886,  by  Governor  Robinson.  When, 
in  1868,  the  town  entered  upon  the  project  of  build- 
ing its  water-works,  in  connection  with  Salem,  he  was 
again  chosen  on  the  Board  of  Selectmen,  and  its 
chairman  for  seven  years  continuously,  and  when,  at 
the  abolition  of  the  school  district  system,  it  was 
found  necessary  to  provide  new  school-house  accom- 
modations throughout  the  town,  he  was  chosen  chair- 
man of  the  committee  to  carry  out  this  purpose,  and 


was  also  chosen  on  the  school  committee  (a  service  he 
had  repeatedly  declined),  and  has  been  chairman  of 
that  board  to  this  time.  In  1884  he  was  again  chosen 
on  the  Board  of  Selectmen,  and  made  its  chairman, 
and  co-operated  with  others  in  securing  the  Legisla- 
tive right  to  secure  an  independent  water  supply,  and 
is  chairman  of  the  large  committee  that  has  now 
those  works  substantially  and  successfully  completed 
He  has  also  co-operated  in  carrying  forward  other  of 
the  important  public  works  in  town,  and  has 
done  something  himself  to  demonstrate  the  capacity 
of  the  town  for  growth  and  improvement.  He  is 
president  of  Liberty  Masonic  Association,  which 
built  Masonic  Block  ;  was  president  during  its  active 
existence,  of  Bass  River  Association,  which  built 
Odd  Fellows'  Block.  He  is  likewise  president  of  the 
Beverly  Gas  Light  Company,  and  of  Beverly  Co-op- 
erative Store ;  vice-president  of  the  Beverly  Savings 
Bank,  whose  charter  he  obtained  in  1867,  and  which 
now  has  deposits  amounting  to  one  million  dollars. 
He  was  an  early  Abolitionist  and  teetotaller,  and  re- 
ported the  platform  of  the  first  preliminary  Republi- 
can State  Convention  in  favor  of  "  equal  rights"  and 
of  "the  right  and  duty  of  the  people  to  prohibit  by 
law  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage." 
He  was  an  active  worker  in  the  Republican  party  till 
1870,  when,  dissatisfied  with  the  uncertain  course 
of  that  party  on  the  liquor  question,  he  united  in  an 
Independent  Temperance  Convention,  which  nomi- 
nated a  full  State  ticket,  on  which  he  was  a  candidate 
for  State  Treasurer,  receiving  about  eight  thousand 
votes.  He  again  united  in  conventions  in  1875  and 
'76,  which  put  his  name  at  the  head  of  the  ticket  for 
Governor,  receiving  the  first  year  over  nine  thousand 
votes,  and  the  second  year  over  twelve  thousand 
votes.  In  1877  Hon.  Robert  C.  Pitman,  whom  Mr. 
Baker  supported,  received  over  sixteen  thousand 
votes.  The  election  of  Governor  Talbot  that  year 
divided  the  Temperance  forces,  and  this  movement 
was  retarded  thereby.  Since  then  Mr.  Baker  has  oc- 
cupied somewhat  of  an  independent  position  in  poli- 
tics, but  has  frequently  been  elected  Representative 
during  that  time  by  very  flattering  votes. 

In  the  Legislature  he  has  served  on  some  of  the 
most  important  committees,  often  as  chairman,  and 
has  always  given  faithful  attention  to  the  work  of  the 
sessions.  It  has  been  his  fortune  for  eight  different 
years,  as  the  oldest  member  who  had  served  there  be- 
fore, to  call  the  House  to  order,  and  to  preside  until 
an  organization  was  effected.  He  is  connected  with 
the  First  Baptist  Society,  and  was  chairman  of  the 
committee  that  had  charge  of  building  the  spacious 
and  elegant  house  of  worship  of  that  society,  and 
was  also  actively  instrumental  in  building  the  former 
neat  chapel  of  said  society  now  occupied  by  the  Bev- 
erly Light  Infantry,  one  of  the  neatest  and  best  pro- 
portioned buildings  in  town.  He  was  many  years 
connected  with  the  Beverly  Light  Infantry  and  with 
the  Beverly  Fire  Department,  and  has  actively  co-op- 


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BEVERLY 


767 


erated  with  the  latter  in  securing  its  modern  advanced 
equipment  throughout  the  town,  and  retains  his  in- 
terest in  the  military,  continuing  a  member  of  the 
Veteran  Associates.  During  the  war  of  the  rebellion 
he  was  not  only  in  active  work  with  Governor  An- 
drew at  the  State  House,  but  also  did  much  of  home 
work  in  co-operation  with  the  Union  Committee  and 
all  other  loyal  helpers  in  the  service  of  their  country. 
And  he  constantly  insists  upon  the  public  duty  of 
fulfilling  the  promises  then  made,  "that  as  those  who 
went  into  the  perilous  service  of  that  war  were  loyal 
to  the  country  in  their  service,  so  would  we  be  faith- 
ful to  them  and  those  dependent  upon  them  for  all 
time  to  come." 


EEV.   AVILLIAM   E.  ABBOT. 

Rev.  William  E.  Abbot,  seventh  child  of  Rev.  Dr. 
Abiel  and  Eunice  Abbot,  was  born  in  Beverly,  Mass., 
May  2,  1810. 

He  was  prepaied  for  college  at  Phillips  Exeter 
Academy,  Exeter,  N.  H.,  under  Benjamin  Abbot, 
brother  of  Dr.  Abiel  Abbot.  He  entered  the  sopho- 
more class  of  Bowdoin  College  in  1827,  and  graduated 
in  1830.  In  September  of  the  latter  year  he  entered 
the  Cambridge  Theological  School,  where  he  gradu- 
ated in  1833. 

Mr.  Abbot  was  settled  as  pastor  over  the  First 
Church  in  Billerica,  Mass.,  in  1837,  where  he  re- 
mained until  1839,  when  he  resigned  and  went  to 
Dorchester,  Mass. 

April  20,  1837,  Mr.  Abbot  united  in  mariage  with 
Ann  S.  Wales,  daughter  of  Joseph  and  Betsey  Wales, 
who  still  survives. 


JOHN   PICKETT. 

Mr.  John  Pickett  was  born  on  Central  Street,  in 
Beverly,  November  9,  1807.  His  father,  Thomas,  was 
born  in  Beverly  December  10,  1775,  and  died  at  St. 
Pierre  in  the  West  Indies,  when  master  of  the  brig 
"Alice"  of  Beverly,  January  4,  1817.  He  was  son  of 
Thomas  of  Marblehead,  born  1720,  and  lost  at  sea 
1750;  and  he  a  son  of  John,  born  in  Marblehead 
about  1680,  who  died  in  May,  1763,  a  fisherman  and 
shoreman.  The  father  of  John  was  Nicholas  who 
was  of  Marblehead,  and  forty-three  years  old  in  1692. 
The  mother  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  Annis, 
daughter  of  Benjamin  and  Thankful  (Larcom)  Pres- 
ton :  said  Benjamin,  a  son  of  Nehemiah  and  Annis 
(Bradford)  Preston;  said  Nehemiah,  a  son  of  Nehe- 
miah and  Abigail  (Allen)  Preston  ;  this  Nehemiah,  a 

son  of  William  and  Priscilla  ( )  Preston,  whose 

early  home  was  at  Preston  Place  at  Beverly  Farms, 
where  some  of  their  descendants  still  live.  One  son 
of  theirs  was  Randall  Preston,  who  married  a  Stone, 
and  was  the  ancestor  of  the  Rantouls  a)id  other 
honored  posterity.  Thankful  Larcom  was  daughter 
of  David  and  Lucy  (Downing)  Larcom  ;  he,  a  son  of 
Cornelius   and   Abigail    (Balch)    Larcom;  said   Cor- 


nelius, a  son  of  Mordecai  Larcom,  who  came  from 
Ipswich  with  John  West,  when  the  latter  bought  his 
great  farm  extending  from  near  the  present  Pride's 
crossing  into  Manchester;  a  jjortion  of  which  was 
bought  by  said  Cornelius,  who  built  a  home,  where  F. 
Gordon  Dexter's  summer  place  now  is.  Annis  Brad- 
ford was  daughter  of  John  and  Annis  (Lovett)  Brad- 
ford, whose  home  w.is  by  Essex  Street,  at  the  present 
site  of  the  Hardie  School-House.  He  was  a  son  of 
William  and  Rachel  (Raymond)  Bradford,  whose 
home  was  at  North  Beverly,  where  her  parents,  John 
and  Rachel  (Scruggs)  Raymond,  resided  on  the  origi- 
nal grant  to  her  father  Thomas  Scruggs,  a  leading 
citizen  who  had  the  courage  of  his  theological  opin- 
ions, and  was  among  those  disarmed,  therefor,  in  1637. 
This  last  named  Annis  was  daughter  of  Simon  and 
Agnes  (Swetland)  Lovett,  whose  homestead  was  on 
Cabot  Street,  extending  northerly  from  Franklin 
Place.  He  was  son  of  John  and  Bethiah  (Rootes) 
Lovett,  whose  home  was  on  Cabot  Street,  next 
northerly  of  Simon's,  extending  to  about  opposite 
Milton  Street,  and  a  part  of  the  great  estate  of  her 
father  Josiah  Rootes,  who  owned  from  the  sea,  on 
both  sides  of  Cabot  Street,  nearly  down  to  Bartlett 
Street.  His  wife,  Susanna,  was  one  of  those  accused 
of  witchcraft  and  lodged  in  Boston  gaol  in  1692,  where 
as  her  grandson,  John  Lovett  testifies,  he  visited  her. 
After  some  months  her  innocence  was  acknowledged 
by  her  discharge  from  prison.  She  was  manifestly  a 
person  of  independent  character,  who  would  not  con- 
form her  opinions  to  those  of  some  of  her  more  illib- 
eral neighbors,  and  hence  came  the  false  accusations 
against  her;  but  her  excellent  and  numerous  poster- 
ity may  well  honor  her  memory.    Her  husband,  John 

Lovett,  was  son  of  John  and  Mary  ( )  Lovett, 

whose  early  home  was  near  where  now  is  General 
Pierson's  farm  on  Boyles  Street,  and  where  their  son 
Joseph  succeeded  to  that  homestead,  which  continued 
to  his  posterity  for  many  years.  Of  other  ancestry 
named  it  is  believed  that  Abigail  Allen  was  of  Man- 
chester stock ;  Lucy  Downing,  of  Ipswich  ;  Abigail 
Balch,  a  daughter  of  Deacon  Benjamin,  who  was  son 
of  John  Balch,  the  ancient  planter  whose  home  was  at 
the  southerly  corner  of  Cabot  and  Balch  Streets.  Agnes 
Swetland  may  have  been  of  the  Swetland  family  who 
owned  the  estate  at  the  corner  of  Cabot  and  Hele 
Streets,  now  the  home  of  Peter  E.  Clark. 

After  the  death  of  his  father,  John  Pickett  lived 
with  his  uncle  Richard  Pickett,  and  betbi'e  he  was 
thirteen  years  old  began  his  apprenticeship  at  sail 
making,  in  the  sail-loft  of  the  old  Bartlett-Haskett 
store,  where  his  grandfather,  Thomas,  first  established 
the  business,  and  where,  at  twenty-one  years  of  age, 
John  joined  in  partnership  wath  his  uncle,  who  be- 
came also  largely  interested  in  the  coasting  and  fish- 
ing trade,  and  their  partnership  ultimately  extended 
so  as  to  include  this,  as  well  as  the  grocery  and  fuel 
trade.  More  or  less  of  anthracite  coal  was  consumed 
here  experimentally,  down  to  1834,   when  the  first 


768 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


cargo  brought  to  Beverly  of  about  forty-eight  tons 
was  landed  on  the  Whittredge  wharf,  and  distributed 
to  forty-three  different  persons,  of  whom  there  now 
survive,  only  Edward  Burley,  Augustus  N.  Clark, 
William  Lord  and  Calvin  Tuck.  The  price  was  eight 
dollars  a  ton  on  the  wharf,  and  all  of  it  had  to  be 
carted  to  the  public  hay-scales,  by  the  old  South 
Church,  to  be  weighed.  At  the  death  of  his  uncle^ 
Capt.  Richard  Pickett,  in  1865,  Mr.  John  Pickett 
succeeded  to  the  large  business  of  the  firm,  and  while 
the  coasting  and  fishing  trade,  in  which  he  has  been 
owner  in  twenty-eight  different  vessels,  has  been  re- 
duced to  a  pretty  small  factor,  the  coal  trade  has  been 
steadily  growing,  and  the  facilities,  therefor,  have 
been  largely  increased.  The  Whittredge  wharf  and 
the  old  sail-loft  wharf  have  been  consolidated  into 
one,  and  large  buildings  erected  there  for  the  storage 
of  Cumberland  coal,  the  demand  for  which,  for  steam, 
purposes  constantly  increases.  In  1855,  the  present 
coal  wharf,  by  the  junction  of  Water,  Front  and  Cabot 
Streets,  was  built,  and  enlarged  to  its  present  propor- 
tions in  1875. 

During  all  these  years,  the  confidence  and  respect 
of  his  business  contemporaries  and  fellow-townsmen, 
has  been  manifested  in  his  election  as  assessor  in 
1838  and  '39,  as  Representative  in  1842  and  '44, 
selectman  in  1845  and  '46,  and  in  the  war  period  of 
1861  and  '62,  director  of  Beverly  Bank  since  1851,  and 
its  president  since  1872,  and  vice-president  of  the 
Beverly  Savings  Bank  from  its  start  in  1867,  to  the 
present  time.  He  has  always  been  interested  in  mat- 
ters det^igned  to  promote  the  public  welfare,  serving 
as  a  fireman  with  Engine  No.  2,  when  eighteen  years 
old,  and  many  years  thereafter,  and  afterwards  of  the 
board  of  firewards.  He  was  early  a  member  of  the 
Beverly  Light  Infantry,  and  in  its  ranks,  in  its  escort 
service  at  the  independence  celebration  in  1835,  when 
Edward  Everett  delivered  the  oration  in  the  Dane 
Street  Church.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Beverly 
Young  Men's  Temperance  Society  in  1835,  and  always 
on  the  side  of  good  morals  and  good  conduct.  Early 
a  member  of  the  First  Baptist  Society,  he  took  an  ac- 
tive interest  in  its  progress,  especially  in  the  enlarge- 
ment of  its  meeting-house  in  1830,  and  serving  upon 
the  committee  who  purchased  the  present  site  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  and  took  down  the  old  church,  and 
rebuilding  it  somewhat  enlarged  in  1837,  and  still 
farther  interested  in  its  enlargement.  After  this, 
Mr.  Pickett  connected  himself  with  the  Dane  Street 
Society,  where  he  has  continued  his  interest  in  good 
works.  His  memory  of  the  waning  days  of  the  an- 
cient commerce  of  Beverly,  is  quite  interesting,  and 
gives  glimpses  of  what  was  once  a  great  business. 
Among  the  historic  events  of  his  day,  which  he  recalls 
with  interest,  are  his  presence  when  Robert  Rantoul, 
Sr.,  welcomed  Lafayette  to  Beverly  on  his  journey 
through  the  town  in  1824  ;  and  also  being  at  Bunker 
Hill  when  Daniel  Webster  delivered  the  oration  at 
the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  monument. 


December  13,  1832,  he  married  Martha,  daughter 
of  John  and  Rachel  Fornis,  who  died  in  1834,  leaving 
an  infant  daughter,  Martha  Preston,  who  survived 
her  mother  only  about  a  month.  Mr.  Fornis  was  a 
builder,  whose  father  was  David  Fornis,  also  from 
Marblehead,  who  built  by  himself  and  his  sons  a 
large  number  of  the  noted  Fornis  houses,  with  their 
three  rooms  to  a  floor,  which  have  made  so  many  of 
the  pleasant  homes  of  Beverly.  In  1838  Mr.  Pickett 
married  Susan,  daughter  of  Seth  Clark,  a  leading 
citizen  of  Salisbury,  whose  record  may  be  found  in 
that  portion  of  the  county  history  relating  to  that 
town.  After  nearly  half  a  century  of  happy  married 
life,  she  passed  away  in  1882.  Mr.  Pickett,  despite 
his  four-score  years,  gives  his  constant  attention  to 
his  many  responsibilities,  with  the  same  courtesy, 
diligence  and  intelligence  which  has  characterized  all 
of  his  career. 


SETH   NORWOOD. 

Seth  Norwood  was  born  in  Rockport,  Mass.,  June 
23,  1815,  a  son  of  Major  Francis  Norwood,  a  deacon 
of  the  Congregational  Church,  and  a  man  of  good 
standing  in  the  community,  and  of  his  wife  Lucy 
(daughter  of  Caleb  Pool),  whose  services  in  the  cause 
of  religion  and  morality  entitle  her  to  remembrance 
as  a  "  Mother  in  Israel."  She  was  a  descendant  of 
John  Pool,  a  carpenter,  who,  before  1690,  worked 
near  Corning  Street  at  Beverly  Cove,  with  Richard 
Woodbury,  who  died  that  year  in  returning  from  the 
Canada  military  expedition,  and  whose  widow,  Sarah 
(Haskell)  Woodbury  married  said  Pool,  and  emigrated 
to  Sandy  Bay  (now  Rockport).  Major  Francis,  hus- 
band of  said  Lucy,  was  descended  in  part  from  Ed- 
mund Grover,  whose  early  home  was  in  Beverly,  near 
the  junction  of  Cabot  and  Beckford  Streets.  When 
Seth  Norwood  was  five  years  old,  his  father  died,  and 
two  years  later  he  went  to  live  with  the  family  of  J. 
O.  Drown,  a  shoe  manufacturer  at  Rockport,  learn- 
ing of  him  a  shoemaker's  trade,  and  attending  school 
at  intervals.  At  the  age  of  twenty,  having  mastered 
the  trade,  he  opened  a  shoe-shop  at  Rockport  on  his 
own  account  and  secured  a  moderate  success.  Here 
he  continued  till  1839,  when  he  sold  out  his  interest 
there,  and  removed  to  the  wider  field  of  Beverly, 
where  he  obtained  employment  as  a  journeyman 
shoemaker,  and  continued  therein  for  about  five  years. 
About  1844,  with  the  small  capital  thus  far  acquired, 
he  began  the  manufacture  of  American  Isinglass,  at 
Warner's  Mills,  in  Ipswich,  which  business  he  carried 
on  there  until  1855,  when  he  sold  it  out  to  the  Rock- 
port Isinglass  Company.  In  1856  he  bought  out  the 
factory  and  business  of  Friend  &  Lord,  shoe  manu- 
facturers in  Beverly,  at  the  corner  of  Rantoul  Street 
and  Railroad  Avenue,  where  the  Norwood  family  now 
have  their  large  factory ;  and  here  he  continued  the 
shoe  business,  taking  in  as  partner,  in  1857,  Joshua 
W.  Carrier,  who  retired  from  the  firm  after  about  two 
years  connection   therewith,  and  Mr.  Norwood  con- 


■Van  SlyckA: Co.Boston- 


METHUEN. 


769 


tinned  the  business  in  his  own  name  until  1865,  when 
his  eldest  son  Francis  became  a  partner,  and  the  firm 
name  became  Seth  Norwood  &  Co.  This  name  is 
still  retained  by  his  sons,  who  have  continued  and 
much  increased  the  business,  the  factory  having  been 
quadrupled  in  size  to  supply  the  necessary  room  for 
their  trade.  A  portion  of  the  factory  was  burned  in 
1873,  but  soon  restored  and  enlarged. 

Soon  after  he  came  to  Beverly,  Mr.  Norwood  be- 
came interested  in  real  estate,  and  many  marked  im- 
provements grew  out  of  his  operations  therein.  He 
became  a  prominent  citizen  of  Beverly ;  was  on  the 
board  of  selectmen  for  three  years  when  the  water- 
Avorks  were  built  and  other  important  public  improve- 
ments were  made.  He  was  also  a  director  in  Beverly 
National  Bank,  a  trustee  of  Beverly  Savings  Bank,  a 
leading  member  of  the  Dane  Street  Congregational 
Society,  and  interested  in  other  good  works.  Having 
just  about  completed  sixty  years  of  an  honored  and 
useful  life,  he  died  of  consumption,  June  20,  1875,  at 
his  home  on  Cabot  Street  in  Beverly,  the  former  his- 
toric homestead  of  Hon.  George  Cabot ;  a  mansion 
hallowed  by  the  belief  that  George  Washington  had 
there  sought  and  obtained  rest  and  refreshment  from 
his  trusted  friend,  Mr.  Cabot. 


CHAPTER    XLIX. 
METHUEN. 


BY  JOSEPH  S.   HOWE. 


The  town  of  Methuen  is  situated  in  the  westerly 
part  of  Essex  County,  bordering  on  New  Hampshire, 
and  contains  within  its  limits  about  twenty-two 
square  miles. 

Before  the  incorporation  of  the  City  of  Lawrence, 
it  was  a  section  of  land  on  the  north  bank  of  the 
Merrimack  River,  about  nine  miles  long  and  three 
miles  wide,  following  the  curves  of  the  river.  The 
north  part  of  the  City  of  Lawrence  was  taken  out  of 
Methuen,  on  the  side  next  the  river,  near  the  middle 
of  the  town,  thus  leaving  the  two  ends  three  miles 
wide,  and  the  middle  of  the  town  little  more  than  a 
mile  at  its  narrowest  part. 

The  towns  surrounding  Methuen  are  the  City  of 
Lawrence  and  the  town  of  Andover  on  the  South, 
Dracut  and  Salem,  N.  H.,  on  the  West,  Salem,  N. 
H.,  and  Haverhill,  on  the  North  and  Haverhill  and 
Bradford  on  the  East.  The  Spicket  River,  a  narrow 
and  crooked  stream,  flows  from  Island  Pond,  in 
Derry,  N.  H.,  through  Methuen,  into  Lawrence,  and 
empties  into  the  Merrimack  in  the  lower  part  of  the 
City.  The  village  of  Methuen  is  situated  upon  both 
sides  of  the  Spicket,  between  Lawrence  and  the  New 
Hampshire  line,  thus  dividing  the  farming  portions 
49 


of  the  town  into  two  not  unequal  sections.  The  sur- 
face of  the  town  is  uneven,  somewhat  Iiilly  and  pic- 
turesque, though  not  ledgy  and  abrupt.  The  soil  in 
the  main  is  strong,  and  good  for  ordinary  agricul- 
ture, but  like  most  New  England  land,  more  or  less 
rocky,  requiring  much  labor  to  insure  agricultural 
success,  but  capable  of  producing  excellent  crops  un- 
der judicious  management. 

There  is  a  strip  of  intervale  land  of  varying  width 
on  the  bank  of  the  Merrimack,  free  from  stone,  easy 
to  cultivate  and  excellent  for  farming  purposes. 
Leaving  this  level  intervale,  the  land  rises  into  ridges 
and  hills,  much  of  it  covered  with  a  growth  of  wood. 
There  are  extensive  peat  meadows  in  both  sections  of 
the  town,  which  not  only  contain  lacge  quantities  of 
alleged  fuel,  but  when  drained  and  cultivated,  prove 
to  be  the  most  valuable  lands  for  the  production  of 
many  crops. 

The  hill  formerly  known  as  "  Bare  Hill,"  near  the 
house  of  Joel  Foster,  is  the  highest  elevation  in  the 
east  part  of  the  town,  and  affords  a  magnificent  view 
of  the  country  in  every  direction  for  miles  around. 
As  many  as  fifteen  towns  and  cities  may  be  seen 
from  its  summit.  It  overlooks  Lawrence  on  the 
South,  with  the  two  Andovers  beyond,  and  the  spires 
of  Haverhill  and  Bradford  may  be  seen  on  the  East. 
Far  off  to  the  North  can  be  seen  the  Nottingham 
Hills,  and  in  the  West  the  Uucanoonucks,  the  Peter- 
boro'  Hills,  Monadnock  and  Wachuset,  "  Like  giant 
emeralds  in  the  Western  sky."  The  view,  besides 
being  extensive,  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  to  be 
found.  In  the  west  part  of  the  town,  the  highest 
land  is  the  hill  on  which  is  the  residence  of  Stephen 
W.  Williams,  Esq, 

The  view  from  its  top  is  nearly  as  extensive,  and 
quite  as  beautiful,  as  that  from  Bare  Hill,  and  it  is  a 
favorite  resort  for  lovers  of  fine  scenery. 

The  ponds  in  Methuen  are  few  in  number. 

Harris  Pond,  in  the  extreme  west  part  of  the  town, 
contains  about  fifty  acres,  and  drains  through  "Lon- 
don Meadow "  into  Spicket  River.  Mystic  Pond,  a 
little  west  of  Methuen  village,  drains  into  Spicket 
River.  Worlds  End  Pond,  a  mile  or  more  north  of 
Methuen  village,  lies  mostly  in  Salem,  N.  H.,  although 
a  very  small  part  of  it  is  within  the  limits  of  Methuen, 
and  drains  into  the  Spicket. 

There  is  also  a  small  jsond  in  Strong  Water  Mead- 
ow, known  as  "Strong  Water  Pond,"  which  is  un- 
doubtedly a  small  remnant  of  what  was  once  a  large 
body  of  water.  Bloody  Brook  runs  from  Strong  Wa- 
ter Meadow  southerly  into  Lawrence,  and  empties 
into  the  Spicket.  Hawkes  Brook  is  in  the  extreme 
northerly  part  of  the  town,  rising  near  Ayers  village, 
in  Haverhill,  and  emptying  into  the  Merrimack, 
where  Methuen  and  Haverhill  join.  Bartlett  Brook, 
in  the  west  part  of  Methuen,  runs  from  Mud  Pond  in 
Dracut,  into  Methuen,  and  empties  into  the  Merri- 
mack. 

There  are  no  stone   quarries   or    ledges    that  are 


770 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


worked  in  the  town.  A  bed  of  secondary  rock  for 
the  most  part  underlies  the  town  a  short  distance  be- 
low the  surface,  and  crops  out  in  a  few  places,  par- 
ticularly in  the  neighborhood  of  the  village,  but  the 
quality  of  the  stone  is  not  such  as  to  make  it  specially 
valuable  for  building  purposes.  The  rocks  found  in 
the  soil,  and  on  the  surface  of  the  land,  are  mainly 
boulders,  many  of  them  primary  rock,  and  nearly  all 
of  a  different  kind  of  stone  from  the  underlying  ledge, 
indicating  that  the  mass  of  gravel  and  stones,  resting 
upon  the  ledge,  has  been  brought  there  from  a  dis- 
tance by  glacial  action. 

There  are  in  Methuen  some  very  marked  examples 
of  glacial  action  in  the  ridges  known  to  geologists  as 
"  Kames,"  and  to  the  unscientific  as  "  Hogbacks." 
One  of  these  ridges  extends  from  Tower  Hill,  in  Ijaw- 
rence,  through  the  west  part  of  Methuen  village  into 
New  Hampshire,  and  is  a  continuation  of  the  series 
of"  Kames  "  running  through  Andover  and  Reading, 
and  known  in  Andover  as  "  Indian  Ridge."  There  is 
also  another  line  of  "Kames,"  extending  from  the 
easterly  part  of  the  City  of  Lawrence  through  ''Ger- 
mantown "  northward.  In  the  early  times  these 
ridges  were  thought  by  many  to  be  the  remains  of 
ancient  fortifications,  but  the  investigations  of  ge- 
ologists have  determined,  beyond  question,  that  they 
were  deposits  formed  in  the  great  ice  age,  from  ac- 
cumulations of  gravel  in  the  melting  ice.  Methuen 
contains  few  natural  objects  of  special  interest,  Spick- 
et  Falls  being  perhaps  the  most  prominent.  The 
Nevins  Memorial,  and  grounds  of  Henry  C.  Nevins, 
near  by,  and  the  extensive  grounds  of  Chas.  H.  Ten- 
ney,  are  beautifnlly  laid  out  and  kept,  contain  many 
rare  and  costly  trees  and  shrubs,  and  are  all  places 
which  would  attract  attention  anywhere. 

It  is  not  now  known  who  the  first  white  man  was 
who  settled  within  the  limits  of  what  is  now  Methuen, 
nor  exactly  when  or  where  he  settled.  We  have  no 
historic  record  of  what  occurred  here  previous  to  that 
time.  Undoubtedly  the  land  was  inhabited  for  cen- 
turies by  the  red  men,  who  were  as  familiar  with  all 
its  natural  aspects,  and  as  strongly  attached  to  their 
favorite  haunts,  as  the  native  children  of  the  town 
are  now. 

When  the  country  first  became  known  to  the  white 
race,  the  hills  and  uplands  were  mainly  covered  by  a 
heavy  growth  of  timber.  The  meadows  were  mostly 
cleared  and  covered  with  a  thick,  heavy  growth  of 
grass,  which  the  Indians  were  accustomed  to  burn  in 
the  autumn.  These  meadows  were  favorite  haunts  of 
deer,  who  came  there  to  feed  on  the  young  grass  in 
the  spring,  and  could  easily  be  killed  by  the  Indians 
from  their  hiding-places  on  the  wooded  bushy  edges. 
It  is  said  that  some  of  the  hills  were  bare,  and  others 
had  only  a  growth  of  small  wood.  This  would  natur- 
ally result  from  the  fires  set  by  the  Indians  in  dry 
weather,  which  might  spread  from  the  meadows  to 
the  upland,  and  kill  the  standing  wood  and  timber. 
It  would  also  appear  that  the  Indians  cultivated  corn 


to  some  extent,  and  for  that  purpose  selected  the 
lands  free  from  stones,  easily  worked,  on  the  river 
intervales  or  sandy  plains.  We  can  easily  imagine 
the  appearance  of  this  town  as  the  earliest  settlers 
saw  it: 

The  meadows  on  Hawke's  Brook,  in  the  east  part  of 
the  town,  Bare  meadow.  Strong-water  meadow.  Mystic 
meadows,  London  meadows,  and  the  meadows  on  the 
banks  of  the  Spicket,  mostly  bare,  and  producing  a 
heavy  crop  of  grass ;  the  intervale  land  on  the  Mer- 
rimack, more  or  less  cleared,  and  a  few  spots  of  plain 
land  here  and  there,  bare  of  trees  and  grass,  and  bear- 
ing marks  of  the  rude  Indian  agriculture,  the  rest  of 
the  lands  covered  with  wood  and  timber.  The  only 
paths  traversing  this  wilderness  were  Indian  trails,  of 
whose  location  we  have  now  no  knowledge,  though  it 
is  not  unlikely  that  some  of  our  oldest  roads  were 
developed  from  an  Indian  path. 

The  earliest  settlers  found  very  few  Indians  living 
in  this  vicinity.  Some  years  before  the  first  settle- 
ment of  this  country,  a  violent  war  broke  out  among 
the  Indians  living  in  what  is  now  New  England, 
which  resulted  in  the  destruction  of  a  large  number. 
This  war  was  followed  by  a  pestilence  which  carried 
off  many  more,  and  was  especially  fatal  in  the  eastern 
part  of  New  England.  This  destruction  of  the 
Indians  was  particularly  favorable  to  the  occuj^ation 
of  the  country  by  the  white  settlers.  The  native 
inhabitants  of  the  valley  of  the  Merrimack,  so  far  as 
we  know,  were  the  Pennacooks  or  Pawtucket  Indians. 
These  were  subdivided  into  smaller  tribes  or  families. 
The  Agawams  had  their  home  on  the  coast  fi'om  the 
Merrimack  to  Cape  Ann  ;  the  Wamesits,  at  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Concord  and  Merrimack  Rivers,  where 
Lowell  now  stands  ;  the  Pawtuckets,  at  the  mouth  of 
Little  River  in  Haverhill. 

No  historic  evidence  appears  that  any  Indian  tribe 
had  a  permanent  home  in  Methuen,  but  it  is  known 
that  BodwelTs  Falls  (at  the  Lawrence  dam),  the  region 
around  the  mouth  of  Bartlett's  Brook,  and  the  shores 
of  the  Spicket,  as  far  as  Spicket  Falls,  were  favorite 
resorts  of  the  Indians,  especially  during  the  fishing 
season.  There  are  also  strong  indications  that  there 
were  once  permanent  Indian  settlements  near  Spicket 
Falls  and  near  the  mouth  of  London  Brook.  The 
stone  fire-places  or  hearths  of  their  wigwams  were 
found  years  ago,  before  the  ground  was  disturbed,  on 
the  hillside  where  the  east  part  of  Methuen  village  is 
now  built.  Arrow-points,  spear-heads  and  other  In- 
dian relics  were  found  while  digging  the  cellars  of 
AVoodbury's  Block,  the  hotel  stable  and  in  other 
places.  A  large  stone  pot  was  discovered  while  exca- 
vating for  the  foundation  of  Tenney's  hat-shop  and 
an  Indian  grave  was  found  in  the  fall  of  1886,  while 
digging  on  Union  Street,  which  contained  eight  very 
fine  spear-heads,  besides  arrow-heads  and  pottery,  in- 
dicating that  the  occupant  of  the  grave  was  a  person 
of  distinction.  The  early  records  of  Haverhill  speak 
of  an  old  wigwam  near  the  "  foot  of  far  west  meadow," 


METHUEN. 


(71 


which  was  probably  what  is  now  known  as  "  Loudon 
Meadow."  The  Indian  fire-places  can  be  found  there 
now,  where  the  land  has  not  been  cultivated  and  the 
stones  disturbed.  These  old  hearths  and  graves  would 
seem  to  show  that  the  spots  where  they  are  found 
were  at  some  time  the  sites  of  permanent  Indian  vil- 
lages, and  not  merely  a  transient  place  of  abode  for  a 
few  weeks  while  fishing. 

The  rivers  in  those  early  times  swarmed  with  ale- 
wives,  shad,  salmon,  bass  and  sturgeon.  The  salmon 
was  the  principal  fish  used  as  food,  and  the  shad  and 
alewives  were  used  by  the  Indians  to  manure  their 
corn.  These  fish  were  caught  by  them  around  the 
falls  and  rapids  in  the  rivers.  It  would  be  natural, 
therefore,  for  them  to  settle  about  such  a  spot  as 
Spicket  Falls,  which  must  have  afforded  an  excellent 
fishing-place,  while  the  land  south  and  east  of  the 
falls  was  easy  for  them  to  cultivate  for  corn.  The 
neighborhood  of  London  Brook  and  Policy  Brook — 
up  which  the  alewives  and  suckers  must  have  run  in 
great  numbers — would  also  have  been  an  excellent 
place  for  an  Indian  village,  particularly  as  there  was 
plenty  of  land  easy  to  work  near  by. 

Probably  the  white  man  first  set  foot  in  Methuen 
about  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago.  The  settlers 
at  Ipswich  and  other  towns  along  the  coast  explored 
the  country  before  its  settlement  to  find  the  most  de- 
sirable places  to  locate.  In  1640  about  a  dozen  colo- 
nists from  Newbury,  headed  by  Mr,  Nathaniel  Ward, 
settled  at  Haverhill,  where  the  city  proper  now  stands. 
Two  years  later  they  purchased  from  the  Indians  a 
tract  of  land  embracing  the  greater  part  of  what  is 
now  Methuen.  The  original  deed  is  now  in  posses- 
sion of  the  city  of  Haverhill,  and  reads  as  follows: 

"  Know  all  Men  by  these  Presents,  that  we,  Tassaquo  and  Sagga- 
hew,  with  ye  consent  of  Passaconnaway :  have  sold  unto  ye  inhabitants 
of  Peutufkett  all  ye  lands  we  have  in  Pentuckett ;  that  is  eyght  miles  in 
length  from  j'e  little  Rivver  in  Pentmkett  Westward  ;  Six  myles  in 
length  from  ye  aforesaid  Rivver  northward  ;  And  six  myles  in  length 
from  ye  foresaid  Rivver  Eastward,  with  ye  Ileaud  and  ye  rivver  that  ye 
ileand  stand  in  as  far  in  length  as  ye  land  lyes  by  as  formerly  expressed  : 
that  is  fourteen  myles  in  length  ; 

"And  wee  ye  said  Passaquo  and  Sagga  Hew  with  ye  consent  of  Passa- 
connaway, have  sold  unto  ye  said  inhabitants  all  ye  right  that  wee  or 
any  of  us  have  in  ye  said  ground  and  Ileand  and  River. 

"And  we  warrant  it  against  all  or  any  other  Indians  whatsoever  unto 
ye  said  Inhabitants  of  Pentuckett,  and  to  their  heirs  and  assigns  forever. 
Dated  ye  fifteenth  day  of  november  Ann  Dom  1642. 

"  Witness  our  hands  and  seales  to  this  bargayne  of  sale  ye  day  and  year 
above  written  (in  ye  presents  of  us)  we  ye  said  Passaquo  &  Sagga  Hew 
have  received  in  band,  for  &  in  consideration  of  ye  same  three  pounds  & 
ten  shillings. 

"  John  Ward, 

"  Robert  Clements^  ye  niarke  of 

"  Tristram  Coffin,  Passaquo  (a  bow  and  arrow) 

"  Hugh  Sherratt,  Passaquo.   [Seal] 

"  William  White, 

ye  sign  of  ( 1  )  ye  marke  of 

Sagga  Hew  (a  bow  and  arrow) 

"  Thom.\s  Davis.  Sagga  Hew.  [Seal]" 

It  is  not  easy  to  determine  exactly  what  the  In- 
dians intended  to  convey  by  this  deed,  nor  does  it  ap- 
pear to  have  been  clear  to  the  early  settlers.  No  reg- 
ular survey  was  made  until  1666,  when  a  committee 


was  appointed  by  tlie  General  Court  to  "  run  the 
bounds  of  the  Town  of  Haverhill."  They  began  at 
the  meeting-house  which  was  situated  about  half  a 
mile  east  of  Little  River,  near  the  cemeteries  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  pre-tent  city  of  Haverhill,  and  ran 
due  west  eight  miles,  and  "reared  a  heap  of  stones." 
Then  they  ran  from  that  heap  of  stones  due  south 
until  they  reached  the  Merrimac  River,  and  due 
north  from  the  heap  of  stones  until  they  struck  the 
northern  line  of  the  town.  The  shape  of  Haverhill, 
as  finally  determined,  was  triangular.  Starting  from 
Holt's  Rock  (Rocks  Village),  the  line  ran  due  north- 
west until  it  met  the  north  and  south  line  from  Mer- 
rimac River,  as  mentioned  above.  Tliere  is  an  old 
plan  in  the  County  Records,  made  previously  to  1700, 
and  probably  as  early  as  1675,  from  which  it  appears 
that  the  Haverhill  line  started  from  the  little  island 
in  the  Merrimac,  situated  nearly  opposite  the  .junc- 
tion of  Lowell  and  North  Lowell  Streets.  From 
thence  the  line  ran  due  north,  very  near  the  house  of 
A.  W.  Pinney,  across  Policy  Pond,  and  struck  the 
Haverhill  north  line,  northwest  of  Island  Pond,  in- 
cluding most,  if  not  all,  of  that  fine  sheet  of  water 
within  the  limits  of  Haverhill.  Thus  it  appears  that 
the  title  to  all  that  portion  of  Methuen  east  of  the 
above-described  line,  came  directly  from  the  aborigi- 
nal owners. 

It  is  noticeable  that  the  Indian  deed  conveyed  the 
river  and  the  islands  in  it,  and  thus  that  Haverhill 
and  Methuen  are  bounded  by  the  opposite  shore. of 
the  Merrimac,  instead  of  the  centre  or  channel.  It 
will  also  be  noticed  that  this  land  was  conveyed  to 
"ye  inhabitants  of  Pentuckett,"  and  consequently 
was  owned  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  or  colony 
in  common.  Here  was  an  example  of  the  common 
ownership  of  land  by  a  community,  the  practical 
working  of  which  is  interesting  to  follow  now,  when 
so  many  reformers  (?)  are  holding  forth  the  idea  that 
such  ownership  of  the  land  would  be  the  chief  rem- 
edy for  the  evils  of  modern  civilization.  But  the 
early  settlers  were  evidently  not  possessed  with  the 
idea  that  this  would  be  good  for  them,  and  did  not 
long  cultivate  the  land  in  this  way,  but  took  steps  to 
let  every  man  have  his  own  land  in  severalty.  The 
records  of  the  town  of  Haverhill  show  that  no  one 
was  admitted  to  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  colo- 
ny unless  first  voted  in  by  the  town. 

In  1643  it  was  voted  that  "there  shall  bee  three 
hundred  acres  laid  out  for  house  lotts  and  no  more  ; 
and  that  he  that  was  worth  two  hundred  pounds 
should  have  twenty  acres  to  his  house  lott,  and  none 
to  exceed  that  number;  and  so  every  one  under  that 
sum,  to  have  acres  proportionable  to  his  house  lott, 
together  with  meadow,  and  common  and  planting 
ground,  proportionably." 

The  site  of  these  "  house  lotts"  was  where  the  city 
proper  of  Haverhill  now  stands,  a  short  distance  east 
from  Little  River.  Here  all  the  colonists  had  their 
houses,  from  which,  as  a  centre,  they  sought  out  the 


772 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


meadows  and  planting  grounds  in  tlie  more  distant 
part  of  the  town.  The  meadow-lands  seem  to  have 
been  the  most  highly  valued,  and  sought  after  on  ac- 
count of  the  grass,  which  was  the  principal  subsist- 
ence for  their  cattle.  They  cut  and  stacked  the  hay 
in  the  summer,  and  in  the  winter  drew  it  home  on 
sleds.  The  planting  grounds  were  probably  patches 
of  upland  which  had  been  cultivated  by  the  Indians, 
and  were  free  from  trees.  An  early  writer  says  of 
Haverhill :  "  the  people  are  wholly  bent  to  improve 
their  labor  in  tilling  the  earth  and  keeping  of  cattel 
whose  yearly  increase  encourages  them  to  spend  their 
days  in  those  remote  parts.  The  constant  penetrat- 
ing further  into  this  Wilderness  hath  caused  the  wild 
and  uncouth  woods  to  be  filled  with  frequented 
wayes,  and  the  large  rivers  to  be  overlaid  with  Bridges 
passeable  both  for  horse  and  foot;  this  Town  is  of 
large  extent,  supposed  to  be  ten  miles  in  length,  there 
being  an  overweaning  desire  in  most  men  after  Mead- 
ow-land, which  hath  caused  many  towns  to  grasp 
more  into  their  hands  than  they  could  afterward  pos- 
sibly hold." 

Lot  layers  were  chosen  by  the  town  to  divide  the 
meadows  and  planting-grounds  among  the  inhabit- 
ants, from  time  to  time,  as  these  lands  became  access- 
ible and  in  a  condition  to  cultivate.  The  records  of 
these  divisions  show  that  the  lots  set  off  at  first  were 
small,  often  not  more  than  two  or  three  acres  in  a 
lot,  and  the  meadow-land  seems  to  have  been  taken 
uj)  first.  So  it  happened  that  a  man  would  own  lots 
in  the  eastern  part  of  Haverhill,  and  on  Spicket 
River  and  might  be  obliged  to  travel  several  miles  to 
his  planting-ground  in  another  direction.  The  dis- 
tribution of  land  went  on  from  year  to  year,  and  the 
natural  result  was  that  land-owners  desiring  to  have 
their  lands  as  much  as  possible  in  one  body,  traded 
with  each  other  until  they  became  possessed  of  a 
compact  body  of  land  sufiicient  for  a  farm.  The  next 
step  was  to  build  and  settle  on  the  farm  for  greater 
economy  and  convenience  in  cultivation  of  the  land, 
and  so  the  settlers  gradually  scattered  from  the  first 
compact  settlements  out  over  the  town.  The  descrip- 
tions of  the  lots  as  set  off"  by  the  lot  layers  are  re- 
corded in  the  Haverhill  ri'cords,  but  it  is  very  difiicult 
to  exactly  locate  them  now,  because  the  bounds  were 
usually  marked  trees,  stumps  or  other  perishable 
monuments. 

These  old  descriptions  show,  however,  that  some  of 
our  local  names  are  of  very  ancient  date.  In  1658 
five  acres  of  meadow  were  laid  off  in  "  Strongwater," 
near  a  little  pond.  In  1666  a  parcel  of  meadow  was 
laid  out  to  Matthias  Button,  on  the  south  side  of 
"  Spicket  Hill."  In  1659  there  was  a  division  of  the 
land  west  of  the  Spicket  River,  with  a  provision  that 
"  if  more  than  two  acres  meadow  be  found  on  any 
one  lot,  it  shall  remain  to  the  town."  In  the  same 
year  we  find  a  record  of  the  laying  off  three  acres  of 
land  in  "  Mistake  Meadow "  in  the  western  part  of 
Haverhill,  whence  we  may  fairly  conclude  that  our 


present  name  "  Mystic,"  was  once  "  Mistake."  In  1678 
"eleven  score  acres  of  upland  "  were  laid  off  to  James 
Davis,  Sr.,  bounded  on  the  west  by  Spicket  River, 
Spicket  Falls  being  the  southwest  bound.  In  1683 
we  find  that  a  lot  adjoining,  on  the  southerly  side, 
runriing  from  Spicket  Falls  to  "  Bloody  Brook  "  on 
the  east  was  taken  up  by  James  Davis,  Jr. 

These  two  lots  included  the  land  now  occupied  by 
the  east  part  of  Methuen  village.  The  family  of  Mr. 
David  Nevins  have  in  their  possession  a  grant  from 
the  "  proprietors  "  of  the  Islands  in  the  Spicket  above 
the  falls,  to  Asa  and  Robert  Swan,  for  two  pounds  ten 
shillings,  and  bearing  the  date  of  1731.  The  di-tri- 
bution  of  the  common  lands  was  continued  from  time 
to  time,  until  finally,  after  much  contention  between 
the  town,  and  the  original  settlers  and  their  heirs, 
the  "  proprietors  "  or  owners  of  the  common  land 
organized  sejiarately  from  the  town,  and  disposed  of 
the  remaining  land  as  they  saw  fit.  Thus  it  appears 
that  the  titles  to  the  land  in  Methuen,  east  of  the  old 
Haverhill  line,  have  all  come  from  the  Indians,  Pas- 
saquo  and  Saggahew,  through  the  "  proprietors."  The 
strip  of  land  in  Methuen,  perhaps  a  mile  and  a  half 
in  width,  between  Haverhill  line  and  "  Drawcut"  or 
Dracut  line,  seems  to  have  been  granted  by  the  Gen- 
eral Court  to  individuals.  Major  Denison,  who  had  a 
grant  of  six  hundred  acres  from  the  General  Court  in 
1660,  owned  more  than  a  thousand  acres  on  the  river 
above  the  Haverhill  line,  including  what  is  now 
known  as  the  Bartlett  farm,  and  lands  south  and 
west.  West  of  that  was  Colonel  Higginson's  farm  of 
over  three  hundred  acres.  A  little  north  of  these  was 
Marshall  Nicholson's  tract  of  three  hundred  acres. 
Printer  Green  had  three  hundred  acres  lying  on  each 
side  of  the  brook,  which  runs  from  "  White's  Pond, 
then  called  "  North  Pond." 

As  we  have  already  stated,  we  can  find  no  record 
showing  when  the  first  settlement  was  made  within 
the  present  limits  of  Methuen,  or  who  made  it. 

It  is  certain  that  the  east  and  south  parts  of  the 
town  near  the  river,  were  first  occupied,  doubtless 
because  they  were  nearer  the  villages  of  Haverhill 
and  Andover.  It  is  said  that  when  repairing  the  old 
"Bodwell  House,"  now  in  Lawrence,  some  years  ago, 
a  brick  was  found  bearing  the  date  1660,  which  had 
been  marked  upon  it  before  the  brick  was  burnt. 
This  would  seem  to  indicate  that  a  house  was  built  in 
the  neighborhood  near  that  date.  It  set-ms  doubtful 
whether  there  were  many  settlers  in  Methuen  until  near 
the  time  it  was  set  off  from  Haverhill.  The  Indian 
troubles  which  extended  over  many  years  previous  to 
1700,  must  have  seriously  checked,  if  they  did  not 
entirely  prevent,  the  settlement  on  farms.  Andover 
and  Haverhill  were  both  made  frontier  towns  by  act 
of  General  Court,  and  both  towns  suffered  severely 
during  the  Indian  War.  But  we  have  never  seen  a 
record  of  an  Indian  attack  on  settlers  living  upon 
territory  which  afterwards  became  Methuen.  There 
were  many  attacks  on  the  scattered  setilers  in  West 


METHUEN. 


773 


Haverhill  and  in  Andover,  and  if  there  had  been 
many  inhabitants  in  Methuen,  it  is  hardly  probable 
that  the  Indians  would  have  passed  them  by.  The 
incursions  of  the  Indians  seem  to  have  come  sometimes 
from  the  North,  by  way  of  Dover  and  Saco,  and 
sometimes  from  the  West,  down  the  Merrimack  val- 
ley, as  was  the  case  when  Hannah  Duston  was  taken 
captive,  and  sometimes  the  depredations  were  com- 
mitted by  small  parties  of  Indians  who  had  lived 
among  the  whites  and  were  acquainted  with  their 
victims.  In  February,  1698,  Jonathan  Haynes  and 
Samuel  Ladd,  with  their  sons,  had  been  to  Loudon 
Meadow  from  their  homes  in  West  Haverhill  for  hay, 
each  with  a  team  consisting  of  a  pair  of  oxen  and  a 
horse.  The  path  lay  along  between  World's  End 
Pond  and  what  is  now  Howe  Street.  When  returning 
home,  just  northeast  of  the  pond,  they  were  suddenly 
attacked  by  a  party  of  Indians  who  had  concealed 
themselves  in  the  bushes  on  each  side  of  the  path. 
These  Indians,  fourteen  in  number,  were  returning 
from  Andover,  where  they  had  killed  and  captured 
several  persons.  They  killed  Haynes  and  Ladd  with 
their  hatchets,  took  one  of  the  boys  prisoner  and  kept 
him  for  some  years ;  the  other  boy  cut  one  of  the 
horses  loose,  jumped  on  his  back  and  got  away.  The 
Indians  then  killed  the  oxen,  took  out  the  tongues 
and  best  pieces  and  went  on  their  way.  This  is  the 
only  authentic  instance  we  can  find  of  an  Indian  out- 
rage happening  on  Methuen  soil. 

In  1712  nine  persons  living  in  that  part  of  Haver- 
hill which  is  now  Methuen,  jjetitioned  the  town  to 
abate  their  rates  for  the  support  of  the  ministry  and 
the  schools,  "on  account  of  the  great  distance  they 
lived  from  the  town,  and  the  difficulty  they  met  with 
in  coming,"  and  the  town  voted  to  abate  one-half  the 
ministry  rates. 

The  names  of  these  persons  were  Henry  Bodwell, 
John  Gutterson,  Thomas  Austin,  Joshua  Stephens, 
Robert  Swan,  John  Cross,  William  Cross,  Robert 
Swan,  Jr.,  Joshua  Swan. 

In  July,  1719,  a  petition  was  presented  the  Town  of 
Haverhill  by  Stephen  Barker,  Henry  Bodwell  and 
others  "to  grant  oi  set  them  off' a  certain  tract  of  land 
lying  in  the  township  of  Haverhill,  that  so  they  might 
be  a  township  or  parish,"  but  this  request  was  de- 
nied. 

At  the  next  March  meeting  the  following  petition 
was  presented  :  "  Whereas  there  is  a  certain  tract  of 
land  in  the  west  end  of  Haverhill  containing  fifty  or 
sixty  acres,  lying  on  the  south  and  southwest  of  a 
meadow  commonly  called  bare  meadow,  which  land, 
together  wiih  a  piece  of  land  lying  on  a  hill  called 
meeting-house  hill,  in  times  passed  reserved  by  our 
forefathers  for  the  use  of  the  ministry,  might  in  hard 
times  make  a  convenient  parsonage ;  if  by  the  blessing 
of  God,  the  gospel  might  so  flourish  amongst  us,  and 
we  grow  so  populous  as  to  be  able  to  carry  on  the  gos- 
pel ministry  amongst  us.  We  therefore  humbly  pray 
that  you  would  take  into  consideration  the  circum- 


stances we  are  in,  and  the  difficulty  we  may  here- 
after meet  with  in  procuring  a  privilege  for  the  min- 
istry ;  and  that  you  would  grant  and  settle  and  record 
the  above  said  lands  in  your  Town  book,  for  the  above 
said  use,  and  you  will  gratify  your  humble  petitioners 
and  oblige  us  and  our  posterity  to  serve  you  hereafter 
in  what  we  may."  This  petition  was  signed  by  Joshua 
Swan  and  twenty-six  others,  "  was  granted  according 
to  the  proposals  therein  made,"  and  in  July  following 
a  committee  was  chosen  to  lay  out  the  land. 

It  seems,  from  this  petition,  that  the  proprietors  of 
the  common  land  had  sometime  previously  "reserved 
for  the  use  of  the  ministry"  two  tracts  of  land  in  what 
was  afterwards  Methuen,  but  that  this  land  had  not 
been  formally  laid  out.  In  1724  Lieutenant  Stephen 
Barker  and  other  inhabitants  of  the  western  part  of 
Haverhill,  petitioned  the  General  Court  for  a  new 
town,  to  be  formed  by  setting  off"  that  part  of  Hav- 
erhill above  Hawke's  Meadow  Brook. 

The  town  of  Haverhill  voted  to  oppose  the  petition, 
and  chose  Captain  John  White  agent  for  that  pur- 
pose. Opposition,  however,  was  unavailing,  and  the 
act  was  passed  December  8,  1725,  and  was  as  fol- 
lows: 

"  An  act  for  DividlDg  the  Town  of  Haverhill  and  erecting  a  new  Town 
there  and  in  parts  adjacent,  by  the  name  of  Methuen.  Whereas  the  West 
part  of  the  Town  of  Haverhill  within  the  County  of  Essex,  and  parts  ad- 
jacent not  included  within  any  Township  is  Competently  filled  with  In- 
habitants, who  labor  under  great  Difficulties  by  their  remoteness  from 
the  place  of  Publick  W^orship,  &c.,  and  they  having  made  their  applica- 
tion to  this  Court  that  they  may  be  set  off  a  distinct  and  separate  Town 
and  be  vested  with  all  the  Powers  and  Privileges  of  a  Town.  Be  it  there- 
fore enacted  by  the  Lieutenant  Governor,  Council  and  Eepresentatives 
in  General  Court  assembled  and  by  the  authority  of  the  same.  That  the 
West  part  of  the  said  Town  of  Haverhill  with  the  land  adjoining,  be  and 
hereby  are  set  off  and  constituted  asepiirate  Township  by  the  name  of  Me- 
thuen, the  bounds  of  the  said  Township  to  be  as  follows,  viz : — Begin- 
ning at  the  mouth  of  Hawke's  Meadow  Brook,  so  called,  in  Merrimack 
Kiver,  and  from  thence  to  run  half  a  point  to  the  northward  of  the 
northwest  to  an  heap  of  stones,  or  till  it  intersect  Haverhill  line  ;  from 
thence  upon  a  straight  course  to  the  head  of  Dunstable  line,  and  so  upon 
Dracut  line  about  four  miles  to  a  pine  southeast,  from  thence  six  miles  or 
thereabouts  upon  Dracut  line,  South  to  Merrimack  Kiver,  and  from 
thence  to  run  down  said  river  ten  mile  and  forty  pole  till  it  come  to  thx 
first  mentioned  bounds.  And  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  said  lands  aa 
before  described  and  bounded,  be  and  hereby  are  invested  with  the  Pow- 
ers, Privileges  and  Immunities  that  the  Inhabitants  of  any  of  the  towns 
of  this  Province  by  law  are  or  ought  to  be  vested  with. 

"  Provided,  That  the  Inhabitants  of  the  said  Town  of  Methuen,  do 
within  the  space  of  Three  Years  from  the  Publication  of  this  Act,  erect 
and  finish  a  suitable  house  for  the  Publick  Worship  of  God,  and  procure 
and  settle  a  Learned,  Orthodox  minister  of  good  conversation  and  make 
provision  for  his  comfortable  and  honorable  support,  and  that  they 
set  apart  a  lot  of  Two  Hundred  acres  of  land  in  some  convenient  Place 
in  the  said  Town,  for  the  use  of  the  ministry,  and  a  lot  of  fifty  acres  for 
the  use  of  a  School.  .\nd  that  thereupon  they  be  discharged  from  any 
further  payments  for  the  maintenance  of  the  ministry  in  Haverhill. 
And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  That  the  Inhab- 
itants of  the  said  Town  of  Methuen,  be  and  hereby  are  empowered  to 
assess  all  the  lands  of  Non  Residents  lying  within  the  said  town.  Two 
pence  per  acre  towards  the  building  of  the  Meeting  House,  and  settling 
of  a  minister  there.  Provided,  nevertheless  that  there  be  and  hereby  is 
made  a  Reservation  or  Saving  of  the  Bight  and  property  of  the  Province 
Lands  (if  any  there  be)  within  the  bounds  aforesaid,  to  this  Province." 

So  far  as  we  can  learn,  no  other  town  in  the  country 
bears  the  name  of  "  Ilethuen.''  How  this  name  orig- 
inated has  been  a  matter  of  considerable  speculation. 


774 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Some  have  thought  that  it  took  its  name  from  a  town 
in  Scotland  called  "  Methven,"  and  others  have  sup- 
posed that  this  town  was  named  in  honor  of  Lord 
Methven  of  Scotland.  But  Melhuen  was  not  settled 
by  Scotch,  nor  does  there  appear  any  reason  why  the 
town  should  have  received  its  name  from  a  Scotch 
town  or  nobleman.  A.  C  Goodell,  Esq.,  of  Salem, 
who  is  engaged  in  preparing  the  Provincial  Laws  for 
publication,  suggests  a  theory  which  seems  most 
likely  to  be  the  true  one.  It  was  a  common  thing 
in  those  days,  when  a  new  town  was  incorporated,  for 
the  Governor  to  give  it  a  name.  The  act  of  incorpo- 
ration was  passed  by  the  Legislature,  engrossed  on 
parchment  and  sent  to  the  Governor  for  his  signature, 
with  a  space  for  the  name  of  the  new  town  in  blank. 
When  he  signed  the  act,  he  gave  the  town  its  name 
and  inserted  it  in  the  proper  place.  The  original  act 
of  incorporation  of  the  Town  of  Methuen,  in  the 
office  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  clearly  shows  that 
the  name  was  inserted  by  a  hand  different  from  the 
one  that  engrossed  the  bill.  The  act  is  written  upon 
the  parchment  in  a  large,  full  hand,  while  the  name 
"  Methuen"  is  written  in  a  small,  running  hand,  and 
with  ink  of  a  different  color,  but  similar  to  that  used 
by  Governor  Duramer,  in  writing  his  signature. 
Had  the  name  been  suggested  by  the  petitioners  for 
the  act  of  incorporation,  it  would  have  been  likely  to 
be  inserted  in  the  bill  and  so  copied  by  the  engrossing 
clerk.  But  a  careful  examination  of  the  writing 
leaves  little  doubt  that  Governor  Dummer  wrote  the 
name  with  his  own  hand,  when  he  attached  his  sig- 
nature. Of  course  it  is  now  impossible  to  ascertain 
with  certainty  the  reason  which  suggested  the  name 
to  him.  But  at  that  time  there  was  one  Lord  Paul 
Methuen,  who  was  Privy  Councillor  to  the  King,  and 
who  was  for  some  years  prominent  in  the  English 
Government.  It  is  very  likely  that  Governor  Dum- 
mer was  a  personal  or  political  friend  and  admirer 
of  this  nobleman,  and  so  named  the  town  in  his 
honor. 

The  town  of  Methuen,  as  originally  set  off,  must 
have  included  more  than  double  the  territory  now 
within  its  limits.  Starting  from  the  mouth  of  Hawke's 
Meadow  Brook,  the  line  ran  where  it  now  does, 
through  Ayers  Village,  and  continued  on  until  it  met 
the  west  line  of  Haverhill,  which  must  have  been 
somewhere  southwest  of  North  Salem  Village ;  thence 
it  ran  straight  to  the  "  head  of  Dunstable  line," 
which  was  in  Pelham,  "  in  sight  of  Beaver  Brook," 
and  a  little  to  the  west  of  it;  thence  it  ran  southeast 
about  four  miles  to  Dracut  line,  at  a  point  about  six 
miles  fi'om  Merrimack  River.  The  easterly  line  of 
Dracut  has  not  been  materially  changed,  and  there- 
fore the  present  line,  prolonged  to  six  miles,  would 
indicate  the  old  corner  of  that  town.  The  old  plan 
in  the  County  Records,  already  referred  to,  shows  that 
this  corner  was  west  of  Policy  Pond,  and  must  have 
been  in  the  vicinity  of  "Spear  Hill,"  almost  between 
the   most  southern    parts   of    Policy  and   Cobbett's 


Ponds.  From  this,  it  would  seem  that  Methuen,  as 
originally  incorporated,  included  nearly  all  of  Salem, 
Windham  village  and  perhaps  two-thirds  of  that 
town,  and  a  little  of  Pelham.  Cobbett's  Pond  and 
Policy  Pond  were  both  in  Methuen.  The  old  plan 
referred  to  gives  the  name  of  Policy  Pond  as  "  Poliss' 
Pond,"  which  fact  may  possibly  furnish  a  clue  to  the 
origin  of  the  name  "  Policy."  The  lands  in  the 
westerly  part  of  Methuen  were  evidently  disputed 
territory. 

Londonderry,  settled  by  the  "  Scotch-Irish,"  was 
incorporated,  in  1722,  by  the  General  Court  of  New 
Hampshire,  and  the  act  incorporating  that  town 
included  quite  a  slice  of  land  set  off  to  Methuen  by 
the  Massachusetts  General  Court.  It  is  probable, 
however,  that  the  territory  claimed  under  both  acts 
was  not  much  settled  upon,  or  considered  of  mtich 
value,  until  after  the  line  between  Massachusetts  and 
New  Hampshire  was  established  in  1740. 

To  organize  the  new  town,  it  was  ordered  by  the 
Court  "that  Mr.  Stephen  Barker,  a  principal  inhab- 
itant of  the  Town  of  Methuen,  be  and  hereby  is  em- 
powered and  directed  to  notifie  and  summons  the 
inhabitants  of  the  said  town,  duly  qualified  for  voters, 
to  assemble  and  meet  sometime  in  the  month  of 
March  next,  to  choose  town  officers  according  to  law, 
to  stand  for  the  year.''  In  compliance  with  this  order, 
a  meeting  was  appointed  for  the  9th  of  March,  1726. 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  record  of  the  first 
town  meeting  held  in  Methuen  : 

"  Att  our  fii-st  annual  meeting  in  the  town  of  methuen,  march  ye  9th 
1725,6  Lieutenant  Stephen  Barker  was  leaguly  chosen  moderator  for  ye 
meeting. 

•'Att  the  same  meeting  william  whittier  was  chosen  town  clerk  & 
sworn  for  ye  yerinsewing. 

"  Att  the  same  meeting  selectmen  were  leaguly  chosen  for  ye  yer. 


1  John  Bailey, 

2  Ebenzrr  Barker 

3  AsiE  Swan 

4  Daniel  Bodwel, 

5  Thomas  Whittier. 


1    Selectmen  sworn 
I    to  the  faithful  discharg 

of  the  ofies  of  assesers 

august  ye  second  1726 
J    before      me      William     Whittier 
town  dark. 


"  att  ye  same  meeting  Richard  Swan  is  leaguly  chosen  cunstable  for 
the  year  iusewing. 

"  voted  that  the  cunstable  or  colector  shall  be  paid  one  shilling  for 
each  twenty  shillings  of  money  that  he  shall  colect  or  gather  of  the 
Taxes  which  shall  be  laied  upon  the  nonrazedance  or  people  which 
belong  to  other  towns.  March  ye  9th  1725,6  the  toun  voated  that 
Thomas  silver  should  be  expected  to  serve  cunstal)Ie  or  colector  instead 
of  Richard  swan  for  ye  year  insewing  and  ye  same  day  thomas  silver 
was  sworn  to  the  faithfuU  discharge  of  the  office  of  a  cunstable  by  the 
selectmen  of  Methuen.  Robert  swan  is  leaguly  chosen  town  treasurer 
att  the  same  meeting  march  ye  0th  for  ye  year  insewing.  town  treasu- 
rer sworn. 

1  Robert  Swan.  1    ofhighwaye 


Servelrs  of 
high  ways. 

fence  vewers 


2  Epheaim  Clark, 
.3  Benzamin  Stephens, 
2  Thomas  Masser. 


serveirs  all  sworn. 


John  Cross, 

Samuel  Stephens.    2  Both  sworn. 


Tithen  men    1  James  How, 

2  William  Gdtterson. 

field  drivers    1  John  Hastings, 

2  Zebadiah  Austing. 


Both  tithen  sworn. 


METHUEN. 


775 


att  the  same  meeting  March  ye  9  1725,6")  Samuel  Smith 

I  hog  riefs 

hoge  riefs  was  leaguly  chosen  f  Thomas  Austing 

J  Both  sworn. 

"  Att  ye  same  meeting  march  ye  9  voted  yt  hogs  should  go  att  large 
according  to  law. 

"  Att  a  town  meeting  march  ye  9  1725,6. 

"Voted  that  the  select  men  should  have  power  to  a  gree  with  an 
athadoxt  minester  to  serve  in  the  work  of  the  minestry  for  ye  year  in. 
sewing  and  not  to  exceed  five  and  forty  pownds  and  find  the  minester 
his  diat. 

The  records  of  the  town-meetings  held  since  that 
time  appear  to  be  complete,  and  the  early  records 
quite  as  full  as  such  records  usually  are.  The  first 
business  done  by  the  new  Board  of  Selectmen  was  to 
lay  out  a  road  "  three  rods  wide,  beginning  at  a  white 
oak  tree  marked,  near  Ephraim  Clark's  land ;  from 
thence  across  Thomas  Eaton's,  and  by  the  west  side  of 
Samuel  Clark's  cellar;  thence  by  the  west  side  of  a 
white  oak  tree  marked  with  H,  by  Hawks'  meadow, 
and  so  along  said  meadow,  as  near  as  is  convenient,  to 
the  lower  end,  crossing  the  brook  between  two  maple 
trees  marked;  from  thence,  as  the  trees  are  marked, 
to  a  white  oak  by  Haverhill  path,  running  from  the 
east  side  of  the  tree  in  the  path  until  we  come  to  a 
stake  by  James  How's  well,  and  thence  to  a  white  oak 
marked  with  H,  the  way  being  to  the  east."  This  was 
undoubtedly  the  road  north  of  the  Taylor  farm,  on 
Howe  Street,  and  the  above  description  is  a  good  ex- 
ample of  the  recorded  descriptions  of  the  ancient 
ways.  The  records  of  the  town  of  Haverhill  show 
that  previous  to  this  time  a  large  number  of  town-ways 
had  been  laid  out  in  the  west  part  of  the  town,  prob- 
ably for  convenience  in  reaching  the  meadows  and 
woodland.  At  this  distance  of  time  it  is  almost  im- 
possible to  trace  them  unle.ss  they  happen  to  touch 
some  well-known  point.  They  generally  commence 
at  a  marked  tree  by  some  jsath,  thence  to  some  other 
tree,  thence  to  a  stump  marked,  and  finally  come  out 
at  another  path,  and  are  almost  invariably  two  rods 
wide. 

The  roads  of  those  days  were  probably  little  better 
than  an  ordinary  cart-path  in  the  woods.  Occasion- 
ally we  find  a  record  of  money  paid  to  the  owners  of 
land  over  which  a  public  way  passed,  but  no  money 
appears  to  have  been  paid  by  the  town  for  building. 

In  fact,  scarcely  more  than  a  path  was  necessary, 
for  there  were  no  vehicles  but  ox-carts  and  sleds. 
People  traveled  on  horseback,  and  went  to  market 
with  their  goods  in  saddle-bags.  Persons  are  now  liv- 
ing in  the  town  who  say  they  can  remember  when  there 
were  no  wagons  of  any  kind,  or  pleasure  carriages, 
except  a  few  chaises,  which  were  introduced  about 
the  beginning  of  the  century. 

On  the  14th  of  June,  1726,  the  second  town-meet- 
ing was  called  at  the  house  of  Asie  Swan,  "to  prefix 
a  place  whereon  to  build  a  meeting-house"  and  make 
other  necessary  arrangements  for  religious  service. 
At  this  meeting  a  bitter  controversy  began  about  the 
location  of  the  meeting-house.  Votes  being  called 
for,  the  following  persons  voted  for  "  a  place  between 


James  Davis'  and  Samuel  Smith's  house,"  supposed 
to  be  on  what  is  now  known  as  "Powder-House  Hill:" 


John  Hastings. 
Samuel  Clark. 
John  Messer. 
Daniel  Lancaster. 
Thomas  Messer. 
Eobert  Corgill. 
Samuel  Smith. 
John  Gross. 
William  Cross. 
John  Bailej'. 
Richard  Messer. 
Thomas  Silver. 
Nathaniel  Messer. 
Thomas  Eaton. 


Thomas  Whittier. 
Samuel  Currier. 
Robert  Swan. 
Ephraim  Clark, 
.fames  Emery. 
Joseph  Pudney. 
John  Rue. 
Asie  Swan. 
James  How. 
Abraham  Masters. 
James  Wilson. 
Abiel  Messer. 
Daniel  Peaslee. 
Richard  Swan. 


The  following  persons  entered  their  dissent  against 
the  meeting-house  being  carried  from  the  meeting- 
house land  or  hill, — 


Stephen  Barker. 
Henry  Bodwell. 
John  Gutterson. 
Joseph  Morse. 
Henry  Bodwell,  .Jr. 
Daniel  Bodwell. 
Sanuiel  Huse. 
James  Bodwell. 
John  Harris. 
John  Gutterson. 
William  Gutterson. 


Benjamin  Stevens. 
James  Barker. 
Samuel  Stevens. 
Zebediah  Austin. 
Joseph  Gutterson. 
Zebediah  Barker. 
Thomas  Austin. 
Thomas  Richardson. 
Abel  Merrill. 
Ebenezer  Barker. 
Joshua  Swan. 


It  is  likely  that  these  two  lists  comprise  the  names 
of  about  all  the  persons  entitled  to  vote  then  living  in 
Methuen.  We  infer  also  that  this  dispute  was  one 
concerning  convenience  of  access  to  the  meeting- 
house, and  that  the  voters  cast  their  ballots  for  the 
location  that  was  nearest  or  would  best  accommodate 
them. 

On  the  2Gth  of  August  another  meeting  was  called 
to  perfect  the  arrangements  for  building  the  new 
meeting-house.  It  was  voted  that  the  meeting-house 
should  be  built  forty  feet  long,  thirty-five  feet  in 
width  and  twenty  feet  stud. 

It  was  also  voted  to  choose  a  committee  to  procure 
land  to  set  the  meeting  house  on,  to  provide  timber, 
and  hire  a  carpenter  and  other  workmen,  and  provide 
for  the  raising,  "all  upon  the  town's  cost  and 
charge."  The  meeting  then  adjourned  to  meet  Sep- 
tember 6th.  At  this  meeting  the  dissenters  above 
named  presented  the  following  quaint  and  vigorous 
protest, — 

"  We,  the  subscribers,  dissent  against  the  proceedings  pursuant  to  sun- 
dry of  the  particulars  as  mentioned  in  the  warrant  for  this  meeting, 
first,  for  that  in  the  warrant,  the  day  being  prefixed,  but  the  year  is  not. 
2.  Eor  the  bigness  of  the  meeting-house  according  to  the  warrant,  to 
this  we  dissent,  for  the  bigness  cannot  be  known  until  a  committee  be 
chosen  and  bound  out  the  land,  for  the  particulars  being  placed  in  the 
warrant  agreeably  to  the  old  saying  'the  cart  before  the  horse,'  there- 
fore in-egular.  3.  To  choose  a  committee  to  procure  so  much  land  as 
they  shall  think  convenient  for  to  set  the  meeting-house  on,  to  this  we 
dissent,  for  that  there  is  no  land  to  be  purchased.  Our  fathers  in  time 
past,  whilst  we  belonged  to  Haverhill,  voted  and  granted  a  piece  of  land 
for  a  parsonage  for  the  west  end  of  said  town,  which  since  by  an  act 
of  incorporation  of  the  General  Court,  is  constituted  by  the  name  of 
Methuen  a  township  ;  and  the  aforesaid  parsonage  being  most  suitable 
and  convenient  for  the  inhabitants  to  build  the  meeting-house  on, 
although  in  a  former  meeting  of  this  town,  as  may  be  seen  by  the  town 


776 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


book,  and  a  number  of  freeholders  and  other  inhabitants,  did,  by  a  pre- 
tended vote,  contrary  to  law,  or  rather  by  a  petition,  carry  the  meeting- 
hotise  to  another  place,  which  we  then  gave  our  dissent  against,  and  do 
now  dissent  against  the  proceedings  consequent  upon  said  vote  or  peti- 
tion. For  a  Committee  to  have  the  disposal  of  our  estates  after  the 
manner  as  is  set  forth  in  the  warrant  to  purchase  any  land  is  unreason- 
able, for  that  by  the  warrant  they  are  invested  with  a  power  too  great. 
Our  estates  ought  not  to  lie  at  their  will  and  doom.  The  great  Charter 
of  England  lately  confirmed  to  us  by  our  sovereign  lord,  king  George, 
wherein  is  contained  liberty,  right  and  property,  reference  thereto  be- 
ing had,  gives  us  the  disposal  and  ordering  of  our  estates,  all  debts  and 
demands  to  oiir  sovereign  lord  the  king  being  paid  first.  AVhat  commit- 
tee then  shall  assess  our  lands  by  tax  to  pay  for  the  purchase  of  land 
without  our  free  consent?  4.  That  the  said  committee  may  procure  one 
acre  of  land  in  some  convenient  place  for  a  burying-place, — to  this  we 
dissent.  Our  right  and  property  that  we  have  in  voting  and  procuring 
such  a  place,  we  deny  the  giving  of  it  into  the  hands  of  a  committee  in 
the  manner  as  is  expressed  iu  the  warrant.  For  that  it  is  every  man's 
right  and  property  that  belongs  to  the  town  to  have  his  vote  in  the 
choice  of  a  committee,  or  rather  to  vote  the  place  where,  and  not  to  have 
them  appointed  by  the  Selectmen.  5.  The  .said  committee  are  to  provide 
timber  and  to  draw  it  to  the  place,  or  hire  it  drawn  ;  we  dissent ;  for  that 
there  is  no  need  of  making  a  land  tax  for  such  a  thing,  when  every 
man  by  consent  may  draw  his  own  proportion  of  timber,  carting,  &c. 
6.  To  see  whether  the  town  will  agree  that  every  man  in  this  town 
shall  have  an  equal  proportion  of  the  common  land  within  this  town, 
according  to  what  rates  lie  shall  paj'  in  the  town  ;  we  dissent  first,  for  it 
is  unreasonable  that  an  hired  servant,  who  is  rated  only  for  his  head, 
and  hath  no  freehold,  shall  have  an  interest  in  our  right  and  property  ; 
and,  farther,  the  Province  law  provides  that  all  persons  that  reside  in 
any  town  for  the  space  of  twenty  days,  if  they  trade,  shall  be  rated.  By 
this  you  will  give  our  right  and  land  to  strangers.  To  the  parciculars 
as  above,  and  for  the  reasons  annexed,  we  offer  our  dissent  as  freeborn 
subjects  to  the  Crown  of  Great  Britain  having  an  intei-est  in  the  whole- 
some laws  and  liberties  by  and  from  which  we  expect  to  be  protected." 

It  seems,  however,  that  this  protest  failed  to  con- 
vince the  obstinate  majoi'ity  of  their  injustice,  but 
work  on  the  meeting-house  went  on,  and  the  building 
was  raised  on  Powder  House  Hill.  As  a  last  resort, 
the  minority  then  appealed  to  the  "Great  and  Gen- 
eral Court,"  in  a  petition  that  the  town  be  ordered  to 
set  the  meeting-house  on  Meeting-House  Hill.  It 
seems  that  a  committee  of  the  Legislature  was  then 
commissioned  to  visit  Methuen  to  examine  the  im- 
portant question.  The  only  record  we  find  of  their 
visit  is,  that  Richard  Swan  was  afterwards  allowed  by 
the  town  one  pound,  ten  shillings  for  the  entertain- 
ment of  the  visiting  statesmen.  But  the  result  of  it 
all  was,  that  the  town  was  ordered  by  the  General 
Court  to  set  the  meeting-house  on  Meeting-House 
Hill,  and,  accordingly,  in  1727  the  town  voted  to  re- 
move the  frame  to  that  spot,  and  the  minority  tri- 
umphed. We  find  from  the  town  records  that  nine 
town-meetings  were  held  during  the  first  year,  and 
that  the  principal  business  was  locating  the  meeting- 
house, and  perfecting  the  necessary  arrangements  for 
religious  service.  At  that  time,  and  for  many  years 
after,  the  minister  and  meeting-house  were  supported 
by  a  town  tax,  as  schools  and  highways  are  now.  The 
town  records  show  that  the  Sunday  services,  as  well 
as  the  town-meetings  were  held  at  the  house  of  Asie 
Swan  until  the  meeting-house  was  ready  for  occu- 
pancy. Asie  Swan  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the 
men  prominent  in  town  affairs,  and  his  house  is  said 
to  have  been  situated  a  little  east  of  Prospect  Hill. 
The  meeting-house  frame  was  moved  in  the  fall  of 
1727,  and  raised  on  "  Meeting-House  Hill "  on  the 


common,  a  little  south  of  the  "  Frye  place,"  where  it 
stood  for  nearly  seventy  years.  It  was  finished  in  the 
spring  of  1728,  and  it  appears  from  the  town  records 
that  a  town-meeting  was  held  in  the  new  meeting- 
house on  Wednesday,  August  28,  1728,  among  other 
purposes,  "To  see  if  the  Town  will  order  that  the 
public  worship  of  God  should  be  exercised  in  said 
meeting-house,"  and  it  was  voted  "that  the  meeting 
for  public  worship  should  be  removed  from  the  house 
of  Asie  Swan,  and  held  at  the  meeting-house  next 
Sabbath."  It  strikes  one  now  as  a  little  strange  that 
a  community  so  devout  should  have  begun  to  use 
their  house  of  worship  without  any  dedicatory  exer- 
cises. 

The  next  business  of  the  town  was  to  get  a  minister 

To  that  end  a  town-meeting  was  called  December 
16,  1728,  of  which  the  first  business  was  to  "appoint 
a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  to  spread  our  united  sup- 
plication before  the  Lord,  for  his  gracious  assistance 
and  conduct  in  our  endeavors  to  settle  a  minister 
amongst  us,  and  to  act  such  things  as  may  be  neces- 
sary in  order  thereunto,"  and  Wednesday,  January 
2d,  was  appointed  for  that  purpose.  A  committee 
was  also  appointed  to  agree  with  the  neighboring 
ministers  concerning  keeping  this  fast.  The  records 
do  not  tell  us  how  the  fast  was  kept,  but  Robert  Swan 
was  paid  twelve  shillings  for  providing  for  the  minis- 
ters on  the  day  set  apart  for  fasting  and  prayer. 

On  the  third  of  March,  1729,  it  was  voted  "  That  a 
committee  be  chosen  to  discourse  with  Mr.  Christo- 
pher Sargent  in  order  to  his  settlement  with  us  in  the 
work  of  the  ministry."  Mr,  Sargent  was  a  young 
man,  then  twenty-six  years  of  age,  a  graduate  of  Har- 
vard, and  had  been  acting  pastor  of  the  congregation 
for  some  time. 

It  is  a  fact  of  interest  showing  how  permanent  the 
pastoral  office  was  regarded  in  those  days,  that  at  the 
annual  town  meeting,  held  on  March  12th,  it  was 
voted  to  give  Mr.  Sargent  eighty  pounds  a  year  for 
the  first  four  years,  ninety  pounds  a  year  for  the  next 
four  years  and  after  that  one  hundred  pounds  a  year. 
Mr.  Sargent's  proposal  was,  that  they  should  pay 
eighty  pounds  a  year  for  the  first  two  years,  ninety 
pounds  a  year  for  the  next  two  years  and  one 
hundred  pounds  a  year,  and  also  thirty  cords  of  wood 
yearly  from  the  time  he  began  to  keep  house.  After 
considerable  discussion  between  Mr.  Sargent  and  the 
people,  the  terms  of  settlement  were  agreed  upon, 
and  he  was  ordained  pastor  over  the  church  Novem- 
ber 5,  1729.  Of  the  festivities  which  attended  that 
occasion  we  have  no  record,  but  there  is  no  doubt 
that  the  day  was  celebrated  according  to  the  customs 
of  the  time,  with  great  rejoicing,  and  by  all  the  peo- 
ple round  about. 

The  new  town  now  seems  to  have  fairly  started  on 
its  career,  and  little  is  to  be  found  in  the  records 
worthy  of  notice.  The  town  meetings  were  frequent, 
and  the  business  transacted  in  those  meetings  in  the 
different  years  much  the  same.     The  officers  of  the 


METHUEN. 


777 


town  were  chosen  then,  as  now,  in  the  month  of 
March. 

The  officers  were  about  the  same  as  now,  with  the 
addition  of  tithing  men  and  the  exception  of  School 
Committee. 

Persons  were  annually  chosen  "  to  clear  the  fish- 
ways  "  and  "  to  take  care  that  the  fish  have  a  con- 
venient course  over  Mr.  Huse's  Mill  Dam  that  is  in 
Spicket  Kiver." 

Two  persons  called  deer  reeves  were  also  chosen 
annually  for  many  years,  to  take  care  of  the  deer,  and 
a  reward  was  generally  offered  each  year  for  the 
killing  of  a  grown  wolf,  and  a  smaller  one  for  "a 
bitch  wolf's  whelp." 

Each  bill  against  the  town,  however  small,  seems 
to  have  been  presented  to  the  town  meeting  for  al- 
lowance ;  and  there  was,  nearly  every  year,  one  or 
more  roads  laid  out  by  the  selectmen  and  accepted 
by  the  town. 

The  amount  of  money  annually  appropriated  for 
town  charges,  outside  of  the  minister  rate,  for  the 
first  fifty  years,  ranged  from  forty  to  one  hundred  and 
seventy  pounds.  This  does  not  include  the  highway 
tax,  which  was  paid  in  labor,  and  of  which  we  find  the 
first  record  in  1736. 

In  1735  Henry  Saunders  and  twenty-eight  others 
living  in  the  north  part  of  the  town, — probably  most 
of  them  in  what  is  now  Salem,  N.  H.,  presented  a  i)e- 
tition  to  the  town  setting  forth  that 

"  Whereas  we,  the  subscribers,  li^  e  at  so  great  a  distance  from  the  pub- 
lic worship  of  God  in  this  place,  that  we  cannot  attend  upon  it  with  our 
families  without  a  great  deal  of  difficulty,  we  have  therefore  been  at  the 
charge  to  hire  a  minister  to  preach  to  us  in  a  more  convenient  place, 
which  we  think  is  hard  for  us  to  do,  so  long  as  we  are  obliged  to  pay  our 
full  proportion  towards  the  support  of  the  public  worehip  of  God  in  this 
place  ;  and  although  we  have  of  late  made  our  application  to  this  town 
for  some  help  under  our  difficult  circumstances,  we  have  been  denied 
any.  We  therefore  pray  that  you  would  set  us  off  a  distinct  precinct  by 
ourselves.  .  ." 

This  petition  was  presented  to  the  town  December 
15,  1735,  and  the  record  says  : 

"  That  the  town,  bj'  a  majority  vote,  manifested  their  willingness  to 
set  off  the  north  jiart  of  this  town  for  a  precinct  by  themselves,  viz.  : 
Beginning  at  the  north  side  of  the  World's  End  Pond,  so  running  easter- 
ly to  the  south  side  of  Peter  Jlerrill's  land,  and  so  to  llaverliill  line,  and 
from  World's  Knd  Pond,  to  a  wading  place  in  Spicket  Kiver  by  Jonathan 
Corliss',  and  so  running  with  a  straight  line  to  a  pine  tree  standing  in 
the  line  between  Dracut  and  Methuen,  on  the  south  side  of  Porcupine 
Brook." 

The  territory  north  of  this  line  formed  what  was 
afterwards  known  as  the  North  Parish  of  Methuen,  and 
most  of  it  soon  after  fell  within  the  limits  of  New 
Hampshire. 

The  relative  number  of  inhabitants  in  the  two 
parishes  at  that  time  cannot  be  exactly  determined. 

The  nearest  approach  to  a  correct  estimate  may 
perhaps  be  made  from  the  statement  that  the  number 
of  highway  tax  payers  in  1736,  in  the  whole  town, 
was  one  hundred  and  thirty-six.  The  number  of  tax 
payers  of  the  minister  rate  in  the  First  Parish  in  that 
year  was  ninety-eight,  leaving  thirty-eight  in  the 
North  Parish. 
49* 


The  next  important  event  in  the  history  of  the 
town  occurred  in  1741,  when  the  State  line  was  run, 
thereby  depriving  Methuen  of  a  large  part  of  her  ter- 
ritory. Previous  to  1740  there  seems  to  have  been 
much  controversy  between  the  Province  of  Massachu- 
setts and  New  Hampshire  about  the  boundary  line 
between  them.  The  charter  first  given  to  the  Massa- 
chusetts colony  granted  "  all  that  part  of  New  Eng- 
land lying  between  three  miles  to  the  north  of  the 
Merrimack  and  three  miles  to  the  south  of  the  Charles 
river,  and  of  every  part  thereof  in  the  Massachusetts 
Bay ;  and  in  length  between  the  described  breadth 
from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  to  the  South  Sea."  Under 
the  charter  the  Ma.ssachusetts  colony  claimed  that 
their  northern  boundary  was  three  miles  to  the  north 
of  the  northernmost  point  of  the  Merrimack,  and  they 
fixed  upon  a  rock  near  the  outlet  of  Lake  Winnipis- 
seogee,  as  the  most  northern  j^art  of  the  river.  This 
would  have  given  to  Massachusetts  a  large  part  of 
Vermont  and  New  Hampshire,  and  a  large  section  in 
Maine.  The  New  Hampshire  grantees  claimed  that 
under  the  Massachusetts  charter  the  line  could  not 
extend  in  any  place  more  than  three  miles  from  the 
river.  The  territory  between  these  lines  became  dis- 
puted ground  concerning  which  there  was  constant 
contention. 

In  1720  the  New  Hampshire  colonists  modified  their 
claim,  so  far  as  to  propose  that  the  line  should  begin 
at  a  point  three  miles  north  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Merrimack,  and  thence  run  due  west  to  the  South 
Sea.  The  Massachusetts  colony  refused  to  agree  to 
this,  and  the  contention  became  more  violent,  until 
finally  the  Legislatures  of  the  two  colonies  met — the 
New  Hampshire  Legislature  at  Hampton  Falls  and 
the  Massachusetts  at  Salisbury — for  the  purpose  of 
settling  the  difficulty.  They  appointed  committees 
of  conference,  but  were  unable  to  agree,  and  after 
several  weeks  of  angry  discussion  by  agreement  of  both 
parties  the  whole  subject  was  referred  to  the  King  of 
England  for  decision.  The  matter  was  decided  by 
the  king  in  council  in  1740,  and  it  was  decreed  that 
the  northern  boundary  of  the  Province  of  Massachu- 
setts Bay  "  is  and  be  a  similar  curved  line,  pursuing 
the  curve  of  Merrimack  River  at  three  miles  distance, 
on  the  north  side  thereof  and  beginning  at  the  Atlantic 
Ocean."  The  king  also  decreed  that  the  line  should 
be  run  and  established  by  the  two  Provinces,  but  if 
either  should  refuse  to  act  the  other  might  fix  and 
establish  it. 

Massachusetts  was  dissatisfied  with  this  decision, 
and  refused  to  have  anything  to  do  about  running  the 
new  line.  New  Hampshire  api>ointed  George  Mitchell 
to  run  the  line  from  the  ocean  to  a  point  three  miles 
north  of  Pawtucket  Falls,  and  the  line  was  thus  es- 
tablished by  New  Hampshire  as  it  has  been  recog- 
nized by  the  border  towns  on  both  sides  of  the  line 
ever  since.  Massachusetts  has  never  formally  agreed 
to  this  line,  and  the  old  controversy  has  been  recently 
revived.      Commissioners   were  appointed   by   both 


778 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


States  in  1885  to  settle  this  question,  if  possible,  and 
they  have  not  yet  completed  their  work.  Tradition 
says  that  this  decision  was  brought  about  by  sharp 
practice  on  the  part  of  the  agent  appointed  by  New 
Hampshire  to  lay  the  subject  before  the  king;  and  it 
gave  to  New  Hampshire  seven  hundred  square  miles 
more  than  she  asked  for.  It  cut  off' a  large  slice  of  the 
original  territory  of  the  town  of  Methuen,  and  nearly 
a  third  of  the  population.  The  northern  and  western 
boundaries  of  the  town  have  remained  unchanged 
from  that  time  to  the  present.  From  1740  to  1775  we 
find  record  of  very  few  important  events. 

There  was  no  census  until  1765,  but  we  judge  from 
the  increase  in  the  number  of  tax-payers,  that  the 
growth  was  simply  the  slow  and  steady  increase  of  an 
exclusively  agricultural  population.  As  the  land  grad- 
ually became  cleared,  it  became  more  thickly  dotted 
with  dwellings.  The  produce  raised  upon  the  farms, 
and  food  taken  from  the  river  supplied  nearly  all  the 
w'ants  of  the  inhabitants.  The  money  necessary  for 
their  few  purchases,  and  the  payment  of  taxes,  was 
obtained  partly  by  the  sale  of  wood  and  timber  which 
was  rafted  to  Newburyport,  partly  by  the  production 
of  flax  which  was  sold  to  the  inhabitants  of  London- 
derry, and  partly,  probably,  by  the  sale  of  some  pro- 
ducts, such  as  they  could  carry  on  horseback  to  Salem. 
We  find  little  information  of  the  part  Methuen  had 
in  the  French  and  Indian  Wars.  Two  or  three  extra 
ajipropriations  for  powder  and  flints,  some  taxes 
abated  to  those  who  were  in  the  service,  and  pay- 
ments of  money  by  the  town  for  "  taking  care  of  the 
French  "  seem  to  be  all  that  shows  action  on  the 
part  of  the  town.  Tradition  has  it  that  Methuen 
sent  her  share  of  soldiers  at  that  time,  but  whether 
there  was  a  company  from  the  town,  or  whether  the 
soldiers  were  scattered  among  different  companies 
from  neighboring  towns  we  have  no  means  of  know- 
ing. 

There  seems  to  have  been  at  this  time  a  remarkable 
reluctance  to  hold  office,  as  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
Methuen  was  fined  in  1770,  '72  and  '73,  for  not 
choosing  a  Representative  to  the  Legislature.  Possi- 
bly, however,  this  may  have  resulted  more  from  a  dis- 
inclination on  the  part  of  the  tax-payers  to  pay  for 
the  service,  than  from  a  disinclination  to  serve  on  the 
part  of  the  possible  candidates.  In  1774  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  west  part  of  Methuen  petitioned  to  be  set 
off  with  the  easterly  part  of  Dracut  to  make  a  new 
township,  "  so  that  both  the  above  said  towns  may  be 
better  accommodated  to  attend  i>ublic  worship."  The 
division  line  of  the  proposed  new  town  commenced 
"  on  the  bank  of  the  Merrimack  River  about  four 
poles  to  the  east  of  Mr.  Daniel  Bodwell's  ferry  (at 
the  foot  of  Tower  Hill),  thence  running  northwesterly 
to  the  province  line,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty-six 
poles  to  the  west  of  Spicket  River,  including  all  to 
the  west  of  said  line,"  thus  cutting  off' a  large  portion 
of  the  town.  There  was  a  strong  opposition  on  the 
part  of  Methuen,  and  the  scheme  failed.     About  this 


time  we  begin  to  find  indications  of  the  coming  con- 
test. The  first  record  we  find  of  any  action  by  the 
town  in  relation  to  the  questions  then  stirring  the  pub- 
lic mind,  is  a  vote  passed  in  August,  1774,  to  pay  one 
pound,  sixteen  shillings  and  seven  pence,  lawful 
money  to  defray  the  charges  of  the  Congress  held  at 
Philadelphia.  In  December,  1774,  it  was  voted  that 
Mr.  Enoch  Merrill,  former  constable  should  pay  the 
remainder  of  the  province  money  to  Henry  Gardner, 
and  also  "that  the  Selectmen  should  conduct  them- 
selves respecting  the  Constable's  warrants  according 
to  the  Provincial  Congress  instructions."  At  that 
time  the  constables  collected  the  taxes,  and  paid  them 
over  under  instructions  of  the  selectmen,  and  the 
meaning  of  these  votes  probably  was.  that  the  prov- 
ince tax  was  to  be  paid  under  the  instructions  of  the 
Provincial  Congress  rather  than  the  English  Govern- 
ment. 

No  other  record  of  action  at  that  time  appears  in 
the  regular  records  of  the  town,  but  on  one  of  the  last 
leaves  of  the  book  of  records  then  in  use,  we  find 
the  following : 

"At  a  leggel  meeting  of  the  freeliolders  and  otlier  inhaliitants  of  the 
Town  of  Methuen  held  by  adjourn iiient  from  the  ninth  of  August,  1774, 
to  the  20th  of  September,  1774.  Taking  into  serious  consideration  the 
State  of  public  affairs,  Voted,  that  a  Committee  be  chosen  to  consult  and 
Advise  with  Each  otlier.  Likewise  with  Oommitlees  of  otlier  Towns,  niid 
if  need  be  to  coniniunicate  to  any  other  Town  any  measure  that  may  ap- 
pear to  be  conducive  to  the  publick  Benefite,  more  Especlay  to  be 
Watoh-full  that  no  Encroachments  are  not  made  on  our  Constitutional 
Riglits  and  Liberties,  that  we  may  enjoy  the  Blessing  we  have  Left  in 
peace  and  not  be  Deprived  of  them  from  any  quarter  but  may  Devise 
prosecute  the  most  vigorous  and  roseluto  niesuics  as  far  as  Lyes  in  our 
sphere,  retrieve  our  iuvaluabl  privileges.  Voted  that  tliis  Committee 
consist  of  fifteen  persons. 


"  Stephen  Barker,  Esq. 
John  Bodwell. 
Nathaniel  I'etteiigill. 
Samuel  Bodwell. 
Cutting  Marsh. 
David  Whittier. 
Jonathan  Swan. 
James  Jones. 

"  Voted,  that  the  above  should  be  entered  In  the  Town  Clerk's  office. " 


John  Huse. 
James  IMalloon. 
John  Pettengill. 
Ijieiit.  .lohn  Sargent. 
Richard  Whittier. 
Ebenezer  Colten. 
John  Hasten. 


That  the  people  began  to  contemplate  the  possibil- 
ity of  war  with  Great  Britain  is  indicated  by  the  fol- 
lowing, which  is  an  exact  copy  of  the  original  now  in 
possession  of  A.  C.  Goodell,  Esq.,  of  Salem. 

"Whereas,  milartrary  Exercise  hath  been  much  nelicked  We  the 
Subscrbers  being  th«  first  comptrey  in  Methuen  Do  Covenant  and  En- 
gage to  form  our  sevels  in  to  aBodey  in  order  to  Larn  the  manual  Ex- 
ercise, To  be  Subegat  To  Such  officers  as  the  Comptrey  shall  chuse  by 
Voat  in  all  constutenal  marsher  according  to  our  Chattaers. 


"Methuen  ye  6th  of  octr.  1774 

"  James  Jones. 
Ichabod  Perkins. 
James  Wilson. 
Timothy  Eaton. 
Ebenezer  Calton. 
Thomas  Runnels. 
Henry  Morss. 
Samuel  Messer. 
Daniel  Messer. 
Nathi  Haseltine. 
Richard  Hall 
Samuel  Parker. 


W^illiam  Runnels. 
Asa  Currier. 
Nathaniel  Messer. 
Ebenezer  Messer. 
Nathan  Perley. 
John  Keley. 
Asa  Messer. 
John  Eaton. 
John  Davison. 
William  Stevens. 
Silas  Brown. 
William  Whittier. 


METHUEN. 


779 


Stephen  Webster,  Jr. 
.Jacob  Messer. 
Daniel  R.  Whittier. 
Samuel  Weliber. 
Jacob  Hall. 
Amos  Gage. 
John  Cross. 
Nathan  Russ. 
Richard  Jaques. 
Robert  Hastings. 
James  Chase. 
Nath.  Heniik. 
Joseph  Hastings. 
Kimball  Calton. 
Richard  Currier. 
Ebenezer  Eaton. 
.Simeon  Hasttens. 
John  How,  Jr. 
Faruum  Hall. 
Ephraini  Clark. 


John  Marsten,  Jr. 

Nathaniel  Smith  Messer. 
James  Silver,  Jun. 
Abiel  How. 
Timothy  Emerson. 
Joshua  Emerson,  Jr. 
Oliver  Emei'son. 
Timothy  How. 
Isaac  Barker. 
Simeon  Cross. 
Francis  Swan,  Junr. 
■lames  Davl.son. 
.Jacob  How. 
Elijah  Carlton. 
Joseph  How. 
Jonathan  How. 
Asa  Morss. 
Nathl.  Clark. 
John  Merrill. 
Abiel  Cross. 


Theodore  Emerson. 

"  the  ferst  t!om|)yney  in  IMethueu   meat   att   Mr.    Eben.   Carlton's  in 

order  to  ch use  officers,  and  thay  Chose  Lieut.   Beuj'm.  Hall    Moderator. 

they  chose  Mr.  James  .Jones  for  tliar  Capt.     Mr.   Ichobied   Perkins  furst 

Iieut.     Mr.  James  Wilson  Sonent  Lent.     Mr.    Saml   Messer   Ens.     Mr. 

Nath"  Messer  Jr.  Clark  for  said  Compvnev. 

Clark 

"  Wii,i,r.\M  P.^GE     for  sd. 

Metten. 
"  Methuen  ye  Gof  (Ictor  1774." 

In  January.  177r),  the  town  voted  to  give  to  the 
poor  of  the  town  of  Boston  by  subscription,  and  chose 
a  committee  to  receive  donations.  At  the  same  meet- 
ing it  was  voted  that  the  minute-men  "  drawn  out  or 
exposed  to  train,  should  have  eight  pence  per  day  for 
their  trouble  to  the  last  of  March." 

Mr.  John  Bod  well  was  also  chosen  at  that  meeting 
to  meet  the  Provincial  Congress  on  the  first  day  of 
February  at  Cambridge.  At  the  annual  meeting  in 
March  it  was  voted  to  provide  bayonets,  "  which 
should  be  brought  to  Captain  John  Davis,  and  after 
the  service  was  over  said  Davis  is  to  return  said  bayo- 
nets unto  the  selectmen  of  said  town."  It  was  also 
voted  that  the  committee  of  safety  or  correspondence 
should  continue  a  committee  for  the  same  purpose, 
and  also  that  John  Masters  and  Jonathan  Barker  be 
a  committee  to  make  uj)  the  "  cartrages "  for  those 
persons  who  were  not  able  to  provide  for  themselves, 
out  of  the  town  stock.  Soon  after,  the  town  voted  to 
provide  guns  for  all  minute  men  unable  to  furnish 
theiuselves ;  also  to  provide  blankets  and  cartridges. 

Another  interesting  document,  dated  about  this 
time,  is  also  found  out  of  place  on  one  of  the  last 
leaves  of  the  book  of  records,  as  follows : — 

"We,  the  subscribers,  being  appointed  a  committee  by  the  town  of 
Methuen  to  give  some  instructions  to  a  certain  Committee  of  Safety  and 
Correspondence,  that  was  chosen  by  this  town  in  September  last  or  maj- 
hereafter  be  chosen  as  above,  that  it  is  recommended  that  the  above 
committee  do  stiMctly  observe  and  conform  to  the  instructions  hereatter 
mentioned. 

"  First.  That  you  will  be  vigilant  in  this  time  of  public  distress ;  that 
no  infractions,  vi»lations  be  made  on  the  good  and  wholesome  laws  of 
this  province,  whereby  the  morals  of  the  people  are  endangered  of  being 
corrupted,  and  in  case  you  should  be  unsuccessful  in  your  endeavors  in 
all  proper  ways,  then  to  publish  their  names  that  the  public  may  see  and 
know  them  to  be  enemies  of  their  country  and  the  privileges  of  the 
same. 

"Secondly.  That  you  correspond  with  committees  of  other  towns,  if 
you  see  it  needful,  as  ma}'  be  necessary  on  all  important  occasions. 


Thirdly.  As  a  Committee  of  Inspection  we  recommend  to  you  that  you 
will  not  buy  or  purchase  any  British  manufactures  or  superfluities  in 
your  families  but  such  as  are  of  absolute  necessity,  and  likewise  that 
yon  recommend  to  others  to  do  the  same,  for  we  think  that  a  reforma- 
tion of  this  will  greatly  tend  to  lessen  our  private  expense  and  the  better 
enable  us  to  bear  the  publick  charges  and  prevent  those  mischiefs  that 
may  ensue  thereupon. 

"Fourthly.  That  you  will  suppress  as  much  as  possible  those  persons, 
if  any  such  there  be,  who  travel  as  pedlers  to  introduce  British  goods 
and  impose  on  the  inconsiderate,  which  may  impoverish  us.  And  where- 
as, it  is  said  that  our  enemies  are  sending  out  spies  in  order  to  get  infor- 
mation of  our  schemes  ;ind  plans  which  are  contrived  for  our  defence  so 
as  they  may  frustrate  them,  it  is  recommended  that  you  take  care  that 
they  receive  that  resentment  due  to  their  deeds. 

"Fifthly.  If  any  trader  or  other  person  within  this  town  shall  take 
the  advantage  of  the  present  distressed  circumstances  in  America  and  by 
an  avaricious  thirst  after  gain  shall  raise  the  price  of  any  comnioditj' 
whatsoever  beyond  their  usual  reasonable  price,  or  shall  use  their  influ- 
ence by  words  or  actions  to  weaken  the  measures  advised  by  the  Grand 
Continental  Congress  when  made  to  appear  to  you  that  he  or  they  persist 
in  the  same,  you  are  to  publish  their  names  that  they  may  be  publickly 
known  and  treated  as  enemies  to  their  country. 

James  Ingalls,     "j 


Jonathan  Swan 
John  Hus 


JommtUee. 


N  Swan    j.  C(, 
JSE,  '  J 

Metui  EN,  Ainil  nil,  1775." 

It  will  be  noticed  that  this  paper  was  dated  about 
two  weeks  before  the  battle  of  Lexington.  It  shows 
the  resolute,  deeis-seated  earnestness  with  which  our 
fathers  entered  the  contest,  and  that  the  men  of  Me- 
thuen were  as  fully  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  resist- 
ance to  tyranny  as  the  more  widely  known  men  of 
the  time.  As  might  be  expected,  the  town  records 
are  silent  in  regard  to  the  events  at  Lexington  and 
Bunker  Hill.  There  was  no  reason  why  the  town 
as  a  body  should  take  action  in  reference  to  those 
battles.  Nevertheless  the  men  of  Methuen  had  an 
active  share  in  those  great  events,  and  we  are  not 
without  an  official  record  of  the  part  they  took. 

The  archives  at  the  State  House  contain  the  names 
of  those  who  went  from  Methuen  on  the  memorable 
19th  of  April,  and  also  the  names  of  the  Methuen 
Company  who  fought  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 

There  were  four  Methuen  comjianies  at  the  battle 
of  Lexington,  and  the  following  is  a  lull  list  of  the 
names  Just  as  they  are  found  on  the  original  muster 
rolls  now  on  file  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of 
State : 

Capfain  John  Davis'  Company  in  Colonel  Fryers  Regi- 
ment, enlisted  Feb.  14//;,  1775. 

Cnpla'm,  John  Davis. 
First  Lieutriiaut,  Niithl.  Herrick.       Second  Lieuleiiaid,  Eliphalet  Bodwell. 

Sergeants. 
Eleazer  Carleton.  Richard  Hall. 

Francis  Swan.  Jona.  Barker. 

Corporals. 
Jonathan  Baxter  William  Stevens. 

John  Davison  Joshua  Emerson. 


Privates. 


James  Campbell. 
Silas  Brown. 
Enos  Kings. 
Asa  Morse. 
Ebenr.  Pingrief. 
Simeon  Tyler. 
Amos  Harrimon. 


Daniel  Jennings. 
Wm.  Wliitcher. 
Nathan  Swan. 
Peter  Barker. 
Joseph  Jackson. 
Aaron  Noyes. 
Parker  Bodwell. 


780 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Daniel  Morse. 
James  Ordway. 
Ebeuezer  Herrick. 
Daniel  Messer. 
Natlian  Russ. 
James  Ingalls. 
James  Davison. 
Amos  Gage  (drummer). 
Joseph  Morse. 
Dudley  Noyes. 
Joseph  Hibbard. 
Prince  .lohnnot. 


Solomon  Jennings. 
Joshua  Bodwell. 
Dudley  Bailey. 
James  Silver. 
Peter  Webster. 
John  Swan. 
Daniel  Bailey. 
Thomas  Bace. 
Jeremiah  Stevens. 
Ebeuezer  Sargeut. 
John  Merrill. 
Samuel  Barker  (fifer). 


This  muster  roll  made  for  seven  days,  from  April  19tli.     Sworn  to 

John  Davis. 
Total,  49. 

Muster  roll  of  the  following  number  or  party  of 
men  that  belonged  to  Methuen,  in  the  county  of 
Essex,  on  the  alarm  on  the  19th  of  April,  1775,  and 
never  joined  to  any  particular  commanding  officer: 

Captain. 
James  Mallon. 


Privities. 


Abner  Morrill. 
Isaac  Austin. 
Isaac  Austin,  Jr. 
Benj.  Herrick. 
Peter  Harris. 
Joseph  Griffin. 
Francis  Richardson. 
Eli.sha  Parker. 
John  Parker,  Jr. 
Isaac  Hughs. 
Timothy  Chellis. 
Total,  22. 


Bodwell,  2d. 

Austin,  Jr. 

Parker,  Jr. 

Oljadiah  INIorse. 
Wm.  Russ,  Jr. 
Wm.  McCleary. 
Hezekiah  Parker. 
Jesse  Barker. 
Moses  Morse, 
.lames  Dennis. 


The  pay  roll  of  the  company  under  the  command  of 
Major  Samuel  Bodwell,  exhibited  in  consequence  of 
the  alarm  on  the  19th  of  April : 

1st.  Lieut.,  David  Whittier.  2d  Lieut.,  Nathl.  Pettengill. 

£»(si(/n,  Enoch  Merrill.  Clerk,  ,]ohu  Hughs. 

Sergeant,  John  Mansur. 

Privates. 

Joshua  Stevens. 


Wm.  Gutterson. 
Nathl.  Pettengill. 
Thomas  Pettengill. 
Dudley  Pettengill. 
Daniel  Tyler. 
John  Pettengill,  Jr. 
Saml.  Cross. 
John  Bodwell. 
Parker  Richardson. 
Thomas  Dow. 
Wm.  Bodwell. 
Wm.  Morse. 
John  Barker. 
Simeon  Dow. 
Samuel  Cole. 
Samuel  Hughs. 
John  Pettengill. 
John  Webber. 
Benj.  Mastin. 
Elijah  Sargeut. 
Total  45. 


John  Whittier,  Jr. 
Abel  Merrill. 
Joseph  Morrill. 
John  Richardson. 
Wm.  Richardson. 
Nathl.  Hibbard. 
James  Hibbard. 
Bodwell  Ladd. 
.John  Ladd. 
Stephen  Barker. 
Mitchell  Davis. 
Ebenr.  Barker. 
Nehemiah  Barker. 
Saml.  Richardson. 
Enoch  Cheney. 
Jona.  Barker,  Jr. 
Benj.  Stevens,  Jr. 
John  Hibl>ard. 
Wm.  Ili1)bard. 


Captain  James  Jones'  pay  roll  for  the  campaign  in 
the  defence  of  the  country  at  the  battle  of  Concord, 
made  at  the  rate  of  twenty-eight  days  per  month,  four 
days'  service. 


Captain,  James  Jones. 
Lieutenant,  Ichabod  Perkins. 


Sergeiiiits. 


Timothy  Eaton. 
Ephraim  Clark. 


Nathan  Perley. 
Jacob  Messer. 


Nathl.  Hazeltine. 

John  Kelly  (drummer). 
Abiel  Cross. 
William  Page. 
Jloses  Sargent. 
James  Fry. 
Thomas  Herrick. 
Joseph  Granger. 
Isaac  Barker. 
Day  Emerson. 
Joseph  Perkins. 
Jona.  How. 
Nathl.  S.  Clark. 

Total  32. 


Corporals. 
Elijah  Carlton. 


Simeon  Cross. 


Prirules. 


John  Tippets,  3d. 
Oliver  Emerson. 
James  Messer. 
Henry  Mors. 
Stephen  Webstor,  Jr. 
Elisha  Perkins. 
Job  Pingrey. 
Joseph  Cross. 
Asa  Cross. 
John  Morris. 
Kimball  Carleton. 


I/i  the  Comjyany  of  Captain   Charles  Furbush. 

Privates. 

.lames  Silver. 
John  Hancock. 
Nehemiah  Kidah. 
Daniel  Pettengill. 


Theodore  Emerson. 

Isaac  Maloon. 

Jos.  Pettengill. 

Abraham  P.  Silver. 
Total  8. 
Grand  Total  15G. 


The  number  of  inhabitants  in  Methuen  in  1776,  ac- 
cording to  the  colonial  census,  was  thirteen  hundred 
and  twenty-six. 

The  tax  book  of  that  year  gives  the  names  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty-two  poll-taxpayers.  It  is  surprising 
that  a  town  of  so  small  population  could  have  sent  so 
many  men  at  the  first  call  to  meet  the  British.  Noth- 
ing could  more  forcibly  impress  us  with  the  universal, 
deep-seated  determination  of  our  fathers  to  protect 
their  rights  at  all  hazards,  than  this  simple  list  of 
names.  When  we  consider  that  they  were  not  called 
out  by  any  order  of  the  authorities,  that  their  enthu- 
siasm had  not  been  stirred  by  appeals  from  the  daily 
press  or  by  public  speakers,  that  they  only  knew  from 
the  signal  guns  and  fires  on  the  hills  that  the  British 
were  in  motion,  and  that  the  war  had  actually  begun, 
and  that  nearly  every  able  bodied  man  in  town,  more 
than  half  the  poll-taxpayers,  must,  of  their  own  ac- 
cord, have  shouldered  their  muskets  and  marched  at 
a  moment's  warning  to  meet  the  foe,  those  of  us  who 
claim  descent  from  those  men  cannot  help  feeling  the 
blood  tingle  in  our  veins  with  an  honest  pride  in  such 
an  ancestry.  Such  facts  show  better  than  anything 
else  can,  the  quality  of  the  Revolutionary  spirit,  and 
how  it  was  that  the  colonies  were  finally  successful. 
The  next  important  event  was  the  battle  of  Bunker 
Hill,  on  the  17th  of  June  following,  in  which  it  is 
certain  that  a  Methuen  comi)any  bore  an  important 
part.  The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  original  muster- 
roll  on  file  at  the  State  House. 

"Cambriimje,  Oct.  5,  1775. 

"Return  of  the  men's  names,  when  they  enlisted  and  where  they  be- 
longed. Belonging  to  Captain  John  Davis'  Company,  in  Colonel  Frye's 
Regiment  : 

Captain,  John  I»avis. 

First  Lieutenant,  Nathl.  Herrick.      Second  Lieutenant,  Eliphalet  Bodwell. 
Major,  Jonathan  Barker. 
Sergeants. 
Ebeuezer  Carllton.  Francis  Swan. 

Richard  Hall.  Peter  Barker. 


METHUEN. 


781 


Corporals. 


Jonathan  Baxter. 
William  Stevens. 

Abraham  Anness. 
John  Asteu. 
Silas  Brown. 
Parker  Bodwell. 
David  Bailey. 
Dudley  Bailey. 
Timothy  Chellis. 
David  Corliss. 
Jauie.s  Oi'dway. 
Jeremiah  Stevens. 
James  Silver. 
Simeon  Tyler. 
Amos  Gage  (drummer). 
Samuel  Barker  (fifer). 
James  Campbell. 
James  Davison. 
Mitchel  Davis. 
Amos  Harriman. 


Joshua  Emerson. 
John  Davison. 


Prirales. 


Lazarus  Hubbard. 
Ebenezer  Herrick.' 
Joseph  Hibbard." 
James  Ingalls.-' 
Dudley  Noyes. 
Aaron  Noyes. 
Peter  \\'ebster. 
James  Woodbury. 
Ebenezer  Sargent. 
Samuel  Parker. 
Thomas  Pace. 
Nathan  Russ. 
John  .Swan. 
Nathan  Swan. 
Ebenezer  Pingrief. 
Joshua  Bodwell. "1 
Solomon  Jennings.^ 


It  is  by  no  means  certain  that  this  list  includes  the 
names  of  all  Methuen  men  engaged  in  the  battle  ;  there 
may  have  been  some  in  companies  from  the  neigh- 
boring towns.  It  is  known  that  the  ]\Iethuen  company 
was  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  that  it  was  stationed 
in  the  redoubt,  and  was  among  the  last  to  leave  it.  It 
is  said  that  it  came  near  being  surrounded  towards 
the  end  of  the  battle,  and  that  as  the  enemy  came  up 
on  each  hand  a  British  soldier  ran  up  to  Captain 
Davis,  saying,  "  You  are  my  prisoner.'' 

Captain  Davis,  who  was  a  resolute,  powerful  man, 
replied,  "  I  guess  not,"  at  the  same  time  running  the 
soldier  through  with  his  sword.  The  blood  spurted 
over  his  breeches  as  he  drew  back  the  sword,  but  he 
made  his  escape.  It  is  also  said  that  Captain  Davis 
took  one  of  his  wounded  men  upon  his  back  just  after 
escaping  from  the  redoubt,  and  carried  him  out  of  the 
reach  of  danger.  As  he  was  crossing  the  hollow  be- 
tween the  hills,  which  was  swept  by  the  fire  from  a 
British  vessel,  he  saw  before  him  a  board  fence.  Cap- 
tain Davis,  tired  by  excitement  and  the  weight  of  his 
comrade,  said  :  "  I  don't  see  how  we  can  get  over  that 
fence."  But  in  an  instant  after,  a  cannon  ball 
knocked  it  in  pieces  and  left  the  way  clear. 

Mr.  Asa  M.  Bodwell  tells  a  story  of  James  Ordway, 
who  afterwards  lived  on  the  west  side  of  Tower  Hill. 
Mr.  Ordway  was  in  poor  circumstances  in  his  old  age, 
and  had  a  bad  ulcer  on  his  leg.  Mr.  Bodwell  says 
that  his  father  sent  him  one  day  to  Mr.  Ordway  with 
a  gallon  of  rum  to  bathe  his  lame  leg,  and  with  it 
a  message  saying  that  the  rum  was  sent  to  pay  for 
throwing  stones  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  The 
story  being,  that  when  the  ammunition  gave  out,  at 
the  close  of  the  battle,  Ordway  laid  down  his  gun  and 
threw  stones  at  the  British  until  driven  out.  Methuen 
lost  three  men  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  Ebenezer 
Herrick  was  killed  in  the  battle,  Joseph  Hibbard 
was  wounded  and  died  June  20th,  James  Ingalls  was 
wounded  and  died  July  8th.     It  is  impossible  to  as- 


1  Died  June  ITtli. 

2  Died  June  20th. 


3  Died  July  8th. 
<In  train  June  17th. 


6  In  train  .Tune  17tli. 


certain  the  exact  number  of  soldiers  Methuen  had  in 
the  Kevolutionary  War.  The  town  records  give  us 
no  information  on  this  point,  and  the  State  records 
are  imperfect,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  Methuen 
kept  her  quota  in  the  field.  After  the  evacuation  of 
Boston  by  the  British,  the  seat  of  war  was  so  far  away, 
that  probably  few  of  the  soldiers  from  this  town 
were  actively  engaged  with  the  enemy. 

There  are  stories  told  of  Methuen  men  who  went 
to  fight  Burgoyne,  and  helped  to  conduct  the  captured 
soldiers  to  Cambridge,  and  guard  them  while  there ; 
other  soldiers  from  this  town  were  stationed  at  dif- 
ferent points  on  the  coast  exposed  to  attack. 

During  those  years,  the  town  business  went  on  as 
usual.  A  Committee  of  Safety  and  Correspondence 
was  appointed  each  year,  and  in  February,  1778,  the 
town  voted  that  the  Selectmen  should  supply  the 
families  of  soldiers  in  the  Continental  Army  with  the 
necessaries  of  life.  At  the  same  meeting  the  town 
was  called  upon  to  see  what  instructions  it  would 
give  to  their  Representative,  relative  to  a  resolve  of 
the  Continental  Congress  for  all  the  United  States  of 
America  to  join  in  a  perpetual  union  with  one 
another.  The  subject  was  referred  to  a  committee, 
consisting  of  Major  Bodwell,  Captain  James  Jones, 
Colonel  Thomas  Poor,  Lieutenant  John  Huse  and 
Mr.  Enoch  Merrill.  At  an  adjourned  meeting,  the 
question  was  put  whether  the  town  would  receive 
and  accept  the  Articles  of  Confederation  and  per- 
petual union,  and  "voted  in  the  aflirraative." 

The  currency  question  seems  to  have  been  as  trou- 
blesome in  those  days  as  it  has  been  later.  At  a 
meeting  held  April  2,  1778,  there  was  an  article  in 
the  warrant  "  To  see  what  the  town  will  do  with  those 
persons  who  refuse  to  take  our  paper  currency, — and 
passed  a  resolve  to  treat  them  as  enemies  to  their 
country,  and  voted  to  publish  the  same  in  the  Boston 
newspaper."  The  rapid  decrease  in  value  of  this 
currency  is  shown  by  the  fact,  that  while,  in  1777,  £30 
was  raised  for  the  ordinary  repairs  of  the  highways, 
in  1781  £G000  was  raised  for  the  same  purpose. 

In  1779,  Lieut.  John  Sargent  was  chosen  delegate 
to  rej^resent  the  town  in  the  convention  to  be  held  at 
Cambridge,  to  form  a  new  constitution.  In  1780,  the 
new  Constitution  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts  took 
effect,  and  in  that  year  we  find  the  first  record  of  a 
vote  for  Governor  and  Senators.  It  is  evident  that 
party  feeling  did  not  run  very  high,  from  the  fact  that 
for  the  office  of  Governor,  John  Hancock  had  sixty- 
four  votes  and  James  Bowdoin  two. 

In  that  year  the  town  furnished  8780  pounds  of 
beef  for  the  army,  and  hired  sixteen  men.  The  next 
year  they  furnished  6957  pounds  of  beef,  and  raised 
twelve  men  to  serve  as  soldiers. 

We  find  nothing  in  the  town  records  to  indicate  the 
end  of  the  war,  except  a  vote  to  sell  the  entrenching 
tools  belonging  to  the  town,  and  the  frequency  of 
military  titles,  indicating  that  the  soldiers  were  at 
home  and  active  in  town  matters. 


782 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


From  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  there  is 
little  of  interest  to  be  gleaned  from  the  town  records 
for  many  years.  About  this  time  we  find  that  the 
town  voted  "not  to  give  liberty  for  inoculation  for 
small-pox,"  and  to  "choose  a  committee  of  five  to 
take  care  of  those  persons  lately  inoculated  with,  the 
small-pox,  and  prosecute  them,  and  take  effectual 
care  that  the  distemper  spread  no  further." 

In  1793,  a  company  was  organized  to  build  a  bridge 
over  the  Merrimack  at  Bodwell's  Falls.  Up  to  that 
time  ferries  had  furnished  the  only  means  of  crossing 
this  river.  We  find  mention  of  five  different  ferries, 
as  follows: 

Gage's  Ferry,  near  the  end  of  Pleasant  Valley 
Street. 

Swan's  Ferry,  at  Wingate's  farm. 

Marston's  Ferry,  at  the  Alms-house,  Lawrence. 

Bodwell's  Ferry,  at  the  Pumping  Station,  Lawrence. 

Harris'  Ferry,  a  little  east  of  Dracut  line. 

The  early  inhabitants  did  not  dream  that  a  bridge 
could  be  built  across  so  broad  a  stream,  and  a  common 
way  of  expressing  the  impossibility  of  doing  a  thing 
was  to  say,  "It  is  as  impossible  as  to  build  a  bridge 
over  the  Merrimack  River."  It  seems,  too,  that  some 
of  the  inhabitants  did  not  take  kindly  to  the  new 
project,  probably  deeming  it  a  base  scheme  on  the 
part  of  the  proprietors  to  make  money  out  of  the 
public ;  for  a  meeting  was  held  soon  after  to  see  if  the 
town  would  send  a  remonstrance  to  the  General 
Court  against  its  erection.  This  proposition  was 
decided  in  the  negative.  The  opponents  of  the 
bridge  then  called  a  meeting  to  see  if  the  town  would 
petition  the  General  Court  to  order  the  proprietors  to 
pay  the  cost  of  the  town  roads  leading  to  the  bridge. 
This  also  was  voted  down,  and  the  town  decided  to 
repair  the  road  over  Currant's  Hill  to  the  New 
Hampshire  line. 

The  bridge  was  built  shortly  after,  and  for  some 
years  the  travel  from  thence  to  New  Hampshire 
passed  over  Currant's  Hill,  curving  around  over  the 
old  road — now  discontinued — on  the  hill  in  the  rear 
of  the  house  of  James  Ingalls. 

The  "Turnpike"  (now  Broadway)  was  built  in 
1805-6,  by  an  incorporated  comjjany.  A  system  of 
toll  was  established,  but  it  caused  such  dissatisfaction 
that  in  a  few  years  the  "Turnpike"  was  made  a 
public  highway  by  the  County  Commissioners. 

The  town  first  voted  for  a  Representative  to  Con- 
gress and  for  a  Presidential  Elector,  December  18, 
1788,  the  highest  candidate  voted  for  receiving 
twenty-three  votes.  It  seems  that  at  the  first  Presi- 
dential elections,  the  town  voted  for  only  one  elector; 
but  in  1804  votes  were  cast  for  nineteen  electors. 

The  change  from  the  use  of  English  money  to 
Federal  currency  took  place  about  1795-96.  The 
last  time  we  find  "pounds"  used  in  making  up  the 
town  records  was  in  1795. 

In  1805,  the  town  voted  that  the  Annual  Town 
Meeting  should   be    held    on   the   first   Monday    in 


March,  for  the  future ;  and,  at  the  same  meeting,  for 
the  first  time  voted  that  swine  should  not  go  at  large. 
Previous  to  that  time,  the  town  had  always  voted  the 
largest  liberty  to  swine,  except  that  for  a  few  years 
this  liberty  had  been  coupled  with  the  condition  that 
they  should  be  "  yoaked  and  ringed." 

In  the  War  of  1812  Methuen  sent  her  proportion  of 
men  to  meet  the  old  enemy.  The  only  reference  to  that 
war  in  the  town  records,  is  a  vote  passed  "  to  give  the 
detached  soldiers  a  sum  to  make  them  up  twelve  dollars 
a  month  while  in  active  service  with  what  Govern- 
ment gives  them."  We  have  been  told  by  veterans 
of  that  war,  now  dead,  that  the  number  of  men  (;alled 
for  from  Methuen  was  not  large.  They  were  mostly 
stationed  to  defend  the  forts  along  the  coast.  It  is 
said,  however,  that  a  small  number  of  soldiers  went 
from  Methuen  to  meet  the  British  in  Canada,  and 
that  they  were  present  at  the  surrender  of  Hull.  It 
appears  from  the  census  returns  and  the  tax  lists  that 
Methuen  grew  but  little  in  wealth  and  population, 
during  the  forty  years  subsequent  to  the  Revolution- 
ary War.  In  1776  the  population  of  the  town  num- 
ber one  thousand  three  hundred  and  twenty-six,  and 
in  1820  one  thousand  three  hundred  and  seventy- 
one. 

There  was  no  village  in  the  town  at  that  time,  and 
no  neighboring  markets  to  induce  growth.  At  the 
beginning  of  this  century,  there  were  only  six  houses 
in  the  now  thickly  settled  part  of  Methuen  Village. 
The  Miller  Cross  house,  corner  of  Hampshire  and 
Lowell  Streets  ;  Sargent  house,  where  Exchange 
Hotel  stands  ;  Deacon  Fry  house.  Butters  farm  ; 
Swan  place,  Nevins  farm ;  Jonathan  Cluff  house, 
Mill-yard;  John  Sargent  house,  at  elm  tree  by  mill- 
yard. 

There  was  then  one  grist-mill,  a  little  south  of 
Fisher's  grocery  store,  another  on  the  opposite  side  ot 
the  river,  and  a  fulling-mill  just  below  the  foot-bridge 
at  the  falls.  From  1820  to  1840  the  town  gained 
about  seventy  per  cent,  in  population,  with  a  corre- 
sponding increase  in  wealth.  This  was  in  consequence 
of  the  building  of  the  cotton-mills,  and  increase  in 
the  manufacture  of  shoes  and  hats.  During  that  time 
there  were  few  events  of  special  interest  to  this  gen- 
eration. In  1837  it  ajjpears  that  a  new  town-house 
was  talked  about,  and  a  committee  was  chosen  at  the 
March  meeting  to  select  a  location  and  ijrejiare  esti- 
mates. The  committee  reported  at  an  adjourned 
meeting,  and  the  town  voted  to  build.  A  Aveek  or 
two  afterwards  another  meeting  was  called,  the  vote 
reconsidered  and  committee  discharged.  The  same 
year  the  selectmen  were  authorized  to  hire  the  vestry 
of  the  Baptist  meeting-house  for  holding  town-meet- 
ings, and  that  house  continued  to  be  the  place  for 
town-meetings  until  the  present  town-house  was  built 
in  1853.  In  1844  rumors  began  to  circulate  of  a  pro- 
ject to  dam  the  Merrimack,  and  build  factories  at 
Bodwell's  Falls.  The  town  voted  to  give  Daniel 
Saunders  and  his  associates  a  refusal  of  the  town- 


METHITEN. 


783 


farm,  which  was  situated  on  Broadway,  the  buildings 
being  on  the  east  side,  south  of  Haverhill  Street,  at  its 
cost,  with  an  addition  of  thirty-three  per  cent. 

The  terms  on  which  the  Essex  Company  bonded 
the  land  now  occupied  by  the  2)rincipal  parts  of  the 
city  of  Lawrence  were,  a  fair  cash  value,  with  an  ad- 
dition of  thirty-three  per  cent.  The  land  was  bought 
in  due  time,  and  the  "New  City"  as  it  was  then 
called,  grew  with  wonderlul  rapidity.  When  opera- 
tions first  began  there  were  only  nine  or  ten  houses 
standing  on  what  is  now  the  thickly  settled  part  of 
North  Lawrence.  There  was  a  paper-mill,  operated 
by  Adolphus  Durant,  on  the  Spicket,  a  little  above 
its  mouth.  In  1847  Chas.  S.  Storrow  and  others  j^eti- 
tioned  for  an  act  of  incorporation  of  a  new  town  to  be 
called  Lawrence.  There  was  a  strong  opposition  to 
this  scheme  on  the  part  of  Methuen,  a  town-meeting 
was  called,  and  John  Tenney  and  George  A.  Waldo 
were  chosen  to  oppose  the  petition  before  the  com- 
mittee of  the  Legislature.  They  were  unsuccessful  in 
this  opposition  ;  Lawrence  obtained  an  act  of  incor- 
poration, and  Methuen  lost  a  large  section  of  her  ter- 
ritory. Another  small  slice  was  subsequently  taken 
from  Methuen  and  added  to  Lawrence,  since  which 
time  the  boundaries  of  Methuen  have  remained  un- 
changed. Doubtless  old  residents  of  the  town  will 
recall  many  matters  of  much  interest  in  their  day, 
such  as  the  bickerings  about  the  enforcement  of  the 
liquor  laws,  the  efforts  made  to  suppress  the  liquor 
traffic  in  Salem,  the  contests  over  the  dividing  lines  of 
school  districts,  and  the  disputes  over  the  building  of 
new  roads,  but  they  would  hardly  be  of  general  inter- 
est now.  From  1850  to  1860  there  was  little  change 
in  population,  and  few  events  of  general  interest.  In 
1861  came  the  war  which  laid  its  hand  so  heavily  on 
the  whole  land.  W'hen  the  first  note  of  war  was 
sounded,  and  President  Lincoln  called  for  seventy- 
five  thousand  troops  to  protect  Washington  in  April, 
1861,  Governor  Andrew  ordered  the  Sixth  Massa- 
chusetts Regiment,  with  others,  to  start  at  once. 
Company  F  of  that  Regiment,  Capt,  Chadbourne,  had 
its  armory  in  Lawrence,  and  eight  members  of  that 
company  belonged  in  Methuen  as  follows: 


Henry  ('iiiiiiiiings. 
Albert  L.  Dame. 
Amos  G.  Jones. 
George  Kent. 


Frank  SanlMnn. 
George  ThuVlow. 
.James  Troy. 
Henry  Turkington. 


They  were  notified  of  the  call  late  in  the  afternoon, 
and  immediately  reported  for  duty,  and  the  next 
morning  they  all  left  Lawrence  for  Washington.  On 
the  19th  they  made  the  memorable  passage  through 
Baltimore  where  they  met  the  first  resistance  to  the 
Federal  troops.  Thus  Methuen  has  had  the  honor  of 
seeing  her  sons  foremost  in  the  fight  in  both  of  our 
great  wars ;  for  as  Lexington  and  Concord  were  the 
initial  events  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  so  was  Bal- 
timore in  the  Civil  War. 

The  first  action  taken  by  the  town  was  immediately 
afterwards  on  April  30th,  when  a  town-meeting  was 


held,  and  the  sum  of  five  thousand  dollars  voted  for 
the  purpose  of  arming,  equipping  and  furnishing  vol- 
unteers. A  committee,  consisting  of  the  selectmen, 
Eben.  Sawyer,  J.  P.  Flint,  John  C.  Webster  and 
Daniel  Currier  was  appointed  "  to  disburse  the 
money."  A  company  was  at  once  formed,  all  of  vol- 
unteers from  Methuen  and  vicinity,  and  most  of  them 
from  Methuen,  and  they  were  uniformed,  e(|uippcd 
and  drilled,  so  as  to  be  ready  for  action.  This  com- 
pany became  Company  B,  Fourteenth  Massachusetts 
Infantry,  and  for  some  time  were  stationed  at  Fort 
Warren,  and  went  to  Washington  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  summer  of  1861.  In  August  of  that  year,  the 
town  voted  to  pay  State  aid  to  the  families  of  volun- 
teers according  to  law. 

In  July,  1862,  forty-seven  men  were  called  for,  and 
the  town  voted  to  ]>ay  a  bounty  of  one  hundred  dol- 
lars to  each  volunteer  when  mustered  into  the  United 
States  service.  On  the  2d  of  August  the  town  held 
another  meeting,  in  which  it  was  voted  to  pay  two 
hundred  dollars  in  addition  to  the  sum  already 
voted,  making  three  hundred  in  all,  to  volunteers  when 
mustered  into  the  service  Immediately  after  came  an- 
other from  the  President  for  three  hundred  thousand 
nine  months'  men.  A  meeting  was  at  once  called  to 
adopt  measures  to  obtain  the  number  required  from 
Methuen.  it  was  voted  to  pay  one  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars  to  each  nine  months'  man  when  mus- 
tered in  and  credited  to  the  town. 

The  next  call  for  recruits  came  in  November,  1863, 
and  the  town  voted  "  to  fill  its  quota  under  the  call 
for  three  hundred  thousand  men."  A  vote  also  passed 
to  pay  the  families  of  drafted  men  the  same  State  aid 
that  was  paid  to  families  of  volunteers. 

In  May,  1864,  the  selectmen  were  authorized  to 
pay  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars  bounty  to 
volunteers  in  anticipation  of  a  call  from  the  Presi- 
dent for  more  men.  After  this  time,  however,  few  re- 
cruits were  mustered  in.  The  volunteers  from  Me- 
thuen were  scattered  through  several  different  regi- 
ments, but  the  largest  number  was  in  Company  B, 
First  Massachusetts  Heavy  Artillery,  which  was 
noted  as  a  remarkably  well-drilled  and  disciplined 
body  of  men.  When  the  regiments  were  detailed  for 
the  defence  of  Washington,  the  Fourteenth  Massa- 
chusetts Infantry  was  selected  after  a  competitive 
inspection  with  other  regiments,  for  iheir  excellent 
discijdine,  well-regulated  camp,  good  appearance  and 
reliable  men. 

The  name  of  the  regiment  was  changed  from  the 
Fourteenth  Massachusetts  Infantry  to  the  First  Mas- 
sachusetts Heavy  Artillery,  and  the  men  remained  on 
duty  in  the  forts  in  front  of  Washington,  on  Arlington 
Heights,  until  towards  the  end  of  the  war,  when  they 
were  ordered  to  the  front,  and  performed  distin- 
guished service.  They  were  engaged  in  sixteen  to 
twenty  different  battles,  and  at  Spottsylvania  they  oc- 
cupied an  important  position  in  the  centre  of  Grant's 
army,  and  held  at  bay  Ewell's  force  of  more  than 


784 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


four  times  their  number,  until  reinforcements  ar- 
rived from  a  distance  of  five  miles,  thus  preventing 
Grant's  army  from  being  cut  in  two.  For  their  heroic 
behavior  on  that  occasion  they  received  the  unusual 
distinction  of  a  special  commendation  from  General 
Grant.  The  Methuen  men  received  their  heaviest 
blow  in  this  battle,  where  fifteen  were  killed  and 
many  more  wounded.  The  news  that  the  company 
from  Methuen  had  suffered  heavily  in  this  battle 
caused  great  excitement  throughout  the  town,  and  a 
meeting  of  the  citizens  was  immediately  held.  Reso- 
lutions expressive  of  sympathy  and  condolence  were 
passed,  and  it  was  voted  to  send  an  agent  to  look 
after  the  wounded. 

It  ought  to  be  mentioned  also  that  the  Methuen 
company  held  an  honorable  position  in  this  regiment 
of  eighteen  hundred  men.  At  the  battle  of  June  16 
the  regimental  color-bearer  was  twice  shot  down. 
Our  well-known  townsman,  Albert  L.  Dame,  was  then 
given  this  honorable  and  dangerous  place  in  the  reg- 
iment, and  had  the  honor  of  carrying  the  colors  to 
the  end  of  the  war,  and  delivering  them  up  to  the 
State.  The  number  of  men  lost  from  Methuen  during 
the  war  was  fifty-two,  exclusive  of  those  serving  in 
the  navy.  According  to  General  Schouler,  the  town 
furnished  three  hundred  and  twenty-five  men  for 
the  war,  which  was  a  surplus  of  fifty-one  over  and 
above  all  demands.  Fifteen  were  commissioned  offi- 
cers. The  whole  amount  of  money  appropriated  and 
expended  by  the  town  on  account  of  the  war,  exclu- 
sive of  State  aid,  was  $38j651iVo. 

In  addition  to  this  amount  seven  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars  were  gratuitously  given  by  individu- 
al citizens  to  aid  soldiers'  families  and  to  encourage  re- 
cruiting. The  total  amount  of  State  aid,  which  has 
been  paid  to  soldiers  and  their  families  in  Methuen, 
up  to  January  1,  1887,  is  $56,747.03.  There  were 
about  a  thousand  dollars  in  money  raised  by  fairs  and 
levees,  and  the  ladies  of  Methuen  devoted  a  great 
deal  of  time  to  work  for  the  soldiers. 

There  were  two  societies,  the  Sanitary  Commission 
and  Christian  Commission,  which  performed  a  vast 
amount  of  work  whose  valne  cannot  be  measured  in 
dollars  and  cents.  Thus  it  appears  that  there  must 
have  been  paid  out  in  Methuen,  directly  on  account 
of  the  war,  considerably  more  than  $100,000. 

As  we  look  back  over  the  record  of  Methuen  in  the 
Civil  War,  on  the  readiness  with  which  her  men 
mustered  in  the  field,  and  the  heartiness  with  which 
they  were  supported  by  those  left  at  home,  we  cannot 
deny  that  this  generation  has  proved  itself  worthy  its 
Revolutionary  ancestry. 

On  the  7th  of  September,  1876,  Methuen  celebrated 
the  one  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  its  in- 
corporation as  a  town.  The  day  was  fine,  and  the 
event  was  observed  with  great  enthusiasm.  The 
booming  of  cannon  in  thi  early  morning  aroused  the 
slumberers  in  the  valley  of  the  Spicket,  and  gave  the 
signal  for  the  festivities  of  the  day  to  begin. 


The  Town-House  and  most  private  dwellings  were 
tastefully  decorated,  business  was  suspended  and  the 
busy  tt>wn  took  on  a  holiday  appearance  quite  un- 
usual. The  exercises  of  the  day  began  with  a  pro- 
cession, composed  of  a  cavalcade  of  horsemen,  a 
military  company  improvised  for  the  occasion, — part 
equipped  in  the  old  style  and  part  in  the  new, — the 
fire  department,  carriages  representing  the  different 
trades  and  business  of  the  town,  school  children,  dis- 
tinguished visitors  and  citizens  in  carriages,  making 
quite  an  imposing  display.  Governor  Rice,  Surgeon 
Gen.  Dale,  Hon.  Allen  W.  Dodge  and  Hon.  Carroll 
D.  Wright,  were  among  the  visitors.  The  president 
of  the  day  was  Hon.  Jacob  Emerson,  orator,  Hon. 
John  K.  Tarbox,  chief  marshal.  Adjutant  James 
Ingalls,  chaplain.  Rev.  Lyman  H.  Blake. 

The  procession,  with  bands  of  music,  passed  through 
the  principal  streets  of  the  town  to  the  "  Barker 
Lot,"  near  the  corner  of  Lowell  and  Barker  Streets, 
where  a  stand  had  been  erected.  Here  an  eloquent 
oration  was  delivered  before  a  large  audience,  by 
Hon.  John  K.  Tarbox,  a  son  of  Methuen.  After  the 
oration  a  banquet  was  served  under  a  large  tent  near 
by,  at  the  conclusion  of  which  speeches  were  made  by 
the  orator  of  the  day,  Hon.  Allen  W.  Dodge,  treasur- 
er, of  Essex  County,  Rev.  Dr.  A.  A.  Miner,  once  pas- 
tor of  a  church  in  Methuen,  Hon.  Carroll  D.  Wright, 
Hon.  J.  C.  Blaisdell,  of  Fall  River,  Hon.  J.  K.  Jen- 
ners,  mayor  of  Haverhill,  Major  George  S.  Merrill,  of 
Lawrence,  Rev.  Moses  How,  of  New  Bedford  and  sev- 
eral others. 

Rev.  Moses  How  was  a  resident  of  Methuen  in  his 
youthful  days,  and  at  this  time,  though  eighty-seven 
years  of  age,  a  hale  and  vigorous  man.  After  giving 
his  audience  many  interesting  reminiscences  of  old 
Methuen,  he  stated  that  he  had  preached  eight 
thousand  sermons,  attended  two  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  sixty-five  funerals,  married  one  thousand 
nine  hundred  and  four  couples  and  had  distributed 
five  thousand  two  hundred  and  eleven  Bibles  and 
fifteen  thousand  Testaments  to  seamen.  The  day 
closed  with  social  and  family  reunions  at  the  homes  of 
citizens  of  the  town. 

The  occasion  will  be  long  remembered  by  those 
who  participated  in  it,  for  the  good  fellowship  which 
characterized  the  day,  and  the  greetings  of  the  sons 
and  daughters  of  the  old  town,  who  had  come  back 
to  revisit  the  old  homestead,  revive  the  memories  of 
early  days  and  take  once  more  by  the  hand  the  com- 
panions of  their  youth. 

From  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  to  the  present 
time,  the  town  has  passed  through  the  most  prosper- 
ous period  of  its  history.  The  population  has  in- 
creased from  two  thousand  five  hundred  and  seventy- 
six  in  1865,  to  four  thousand  five  hundred  and  seven 
in  1885,  and  the  wealth  of  the  town  has  gained  in 
like  proportion. 

The  territorial  limits  have  not  been  changed,  al- 
though there  has  been  a  desire  on  the  part  of  some 


METHUEN. 


785 


to  annex  Methuen  to  Lawrence.  The  gain  has  been 
almost  entirely  in  the  thickly  settled  portions  and  has 
been  due  partly  to  proximity  to  Lawrence,  but  prin- 
cipally to  an  increase  in  manufacturing  enterprises. 

Schools. — The  founders  of  Methuen  seem  to  have 
provided  for  the  educational  interests  of  the  town  at 
an  early  date.  In  1729  it  was  voted  to  lay  out  a  school 
lot  and  a  parsonage  lot  north  of  World's  End  Pond. 
These  were  undoubtedly  tracts  of  woodland,  whose 
income  should  be  devoted  to  the  purposes  for  which 
they  were  respectively  laid  out.  In  1731  it  was  voted 
to  keep  school  one  month  in  Ebenezer  Barker's  house, 
one  month  in  Thomas  Eaton's  house  and  a  month  at 
Joshua  Swan's.  In  1733  we  find  that  Ebenezer  Bar- 
ker, Zebediah  Barker  and  Thomas  Eaton  were  each 
paid  £2  10s.  for  keeping  school.  In  1735  the  town 
voted  to  build  a  school-house  eighteen  by  twenty  feet 
near  the  meeting-house,  school  to  be  kept  two  months 
at  the  school-house  and  one  month  at  Spicket  Hill. 
The  school  appears  to  have  been  kept  at  the  school- 
house  part  of  the  time,  but  chiefly  at  private  houses 
until  1792.  Beading  and  writing  and  a  little  arith- 
metic were  the  principal  branches  taught,  and  the 
latter  study  was  not  required.  The  schools  appear  to 
have  been  taught  by  male  teachers  only  until  1749, 
when  it  was  voted  "  to  choose  school-mistresses  to  in- 
struct children  in  their  reading."  Also  voted  "to 
choose  James  How,  Nathaniel  Messer,  James  Ord- 
way  and  Ebenezer  Hibbard  a  committee  to  agree 
with  school-mistresses  and  appoint  convenient  places 
for  them  to  be  kept  in.  .  ."  In  1775  the  town  was 
divided  into  seven  school  districts,  each  of  which 
was  to  have  its  proportions  of  the  school  money,  pro- 
vided it  built  a  comfortable  school-house.  It  appears 
from  the  return  made  by  the  committee  whose  duty 
it  was  to  build  the  school-houses,  that  the  building 
of  them  was  let  out  at  auction  to  the  lowest  bidder, 
and  that  the  houses  cost  about  £29  each.  The  town 
also  appropriated  in  the  same  year  £30  for  schools, 
and  continued  to  appropriate  that  amount  each  year 
until  1792.  £60  a  year  was  afterwards  appropriated 
for  three  years,  or  until  1795,  when  the  first  mention 
of  "dollars"  apj^ears  in  the  town  records.  A  pound 
at  that  time  appears  to  have  been  equivalent  to  $3.33. 
In  1797,  $300  was  appropriated,  and  the  amount  was 
increased  from  time  to  time,  until  in  1823  the  sum 
appropriated  for  schools  was  $600.  From  that  time 
to  the  present  the  increase  in  the  annual  school  ap- 
propriation  has  more  than  kept  pace  with  the  growth 
in  population  until  the  present  year,  when  the 
amount  appropriated  for  school  purposes  was  about 
$11,000. 

Up  to  the  year  1775  the  selectmen  seem  to  have 
had  usually  the  sole  care  of  the  schools,  and  from 
that  time  to  1798  there  was  no  school  committee  reg- 
ularly chosen.  It  was  considered  a  part  of  the  min- 
ister's duty  to  visit  the  schools  and  look  after  the 
moral  instruction,  which  in  those  days  formed  an  im- 
portant part  of  the  training,  as  well  as  to  see  that  the 
50 


literary  instruction  did  not  fall  below  the  proper 
standard.  But  in  1798  the  town  chose  a  committee 
of  one  from  each  school  district,  "  to  inspect  the 
schools  in  the  town  the  present  year."  This  way  of 
managing  the  schools  seems  to  have  been  followed 
until  1 804,  when  a  committee  of  three  was  chosen  by 
the  town  from  each  of  the  nine  school  districts,  mak- 
ing twenty-seven  in  all.  It  was  also  voted  "  that  each 
committee  with  the  minister  visit  their  respective 
schools."  There  seems  to  have  been  about  this  time 
an  unusual  interest  taken  in  school  matters,  for  we 
find  among  the  records  of  1800,  a  system  of  School 
Regulations  adopted  by  the  town,  which  show  what 
the  duties  of  School  Committees  and  teachers  were 
then  supposed  to  be,  as  follows  : 

"Section  I. 
"  Concerning  the  duty  of  the  School  Committee. 

"  Art.  1.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  school  committee  to  visit  the 
several  town  schools,  in  each  district  twice  every  year  and  more  if  iiec- 
essary,  giving  seasonable  notice  to  the  Master  or  Mistress. 

"  Art.  2.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Committee  to  enquire  into  the 
regulations,  the  mode  of  government,  and  the  method  of  instruction 
practised  in  the  school,  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  committee  to  use 
their  best  endeavors  to  correct  any  deficiency  in  the  mode  of  govern- 
ment, the  manner  of  instruction,  or  the  discipline  of  the  schools. 

"Art.  3.  Should  any  Master  or  Mistress  appearso  essentially  deficient 
in  the  mode  of  government,  the  method  of  instruction,  or  the  discipline 
of  the  school  as  not  to  be  useful,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Committee 
and  Selectmen,  a  majority  of  them  concurring,  to  dismiss  him  or  her 
from  the  school,  and  the  Committee  or  the  Selectmen,  shall  provide 
another  who  may  be  more  useful. 

"  Art.  4.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Committee  to  close  each  visit  to 
the  scliool  with  addressing  themselves  to  the  Scholars  upon  the  duty  of 
order,  the  necessity,  respectability  and  advantages  of  good  educa- 
tion." 

"  Section  II. 

"  Concerning  the  duty  of  School  Masters. 

"Art.  1.  It  shall  he  the  duty  of  every  School  Master  to  open  his  school 
in  the  morning,  and  close  it  in  the  evening  with  prayer. 

"  Art.  2.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  master  or  mistress  to  adopt  such 
general  regulations  as  will  have  a  tendency  to  operate  uniformly 
throughout  the  whole  school,  that  every  one  may  have  an  equal  chance 
to  pursue  and  improve  in  his  particular  branch  of  study  and  be  subject 
to  the  same  rules  of  government. 

"  Art  3.  The  instructor  shall  endeavor  to  govern  his  respective  school 
by  the  skilfullnegs  of  his  hand,  and  the  integrity  of  his  heart,  with 
using  as  little  severity  as  he  shall  judge  will  be  for  the  best  good  of  the 
school,  bnt  when  mild  measures  will  not  subject  the  idle  to  the  good  or- 
der and  regulations  of  the  school  the  instructor  shall  have  a  right  to 
inflict  reasonable  and  decent  corporal  punishment." 

The  system  of  management  above  outlined  con- 
tinued until  1822,  when  the  town  adopted  the  plan 
usually  followed  throughout  the  State  until  the  abol- 
ishment of  the  School  District  system,  in  1869.  This 
consisted  of  a  superintending  school  committee  of 
three,  chosen  by  the  town,  to  look  after  the  qualifica- 
tions of  teachers  and  the  management  of  the  schools, 
and  a  prudential  committee  chosen  by  the  district  to 
hire  the  teachers,  furnish  supplies  and  manage  the  fi- 
nances. 

The  school  districts  were  abolished  by  statute  in 
1869.  In  the  winter  of  that  year  the  High  School 
was  organized,  and  has  since  been  in  successful  oper- 
ation. There  are  eighteen  schools  in  town  besides 
the  High  School,  all  kept  open  nine  months  in  the 
year. 


786 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Churches. — The  fact  that  strikes  oue  most  forci- 
bly in  reading  over  the  early  town  records  is  the 
prominence  given  to  religious  observances.  The  chief 
and  only  reason  given  for  setting  ofl'  the  new  town 
was  that  the  people  might  more  easily  attend  the  pub- 
lic worship  of  God.  The  first  business  done  was  to 
provide  themselves  a  minister  and  a  place  of  public 
worship.  The  principal  money  tax  was  for  the  sup- 
port of  these  objects.  Nothing  could  show  more 
plainly  that  the  hardy  pioneers  of  Methuen  were  of 
genuine  Puritan  stock.  Whatever  we  may  think  of 
Puritan  austerity  and  fanaticism  and  intolerance,  we 
cannot  help  admiring  the  indomitable  energy,  the 
iron  will  and  lofty  purpose  of  those  men  who  braved 
the  dangers  of  hostile  Indians  and  suffered  the  priva- 
tions of  the  wilderness,  that  they  might  worship  God 
in  their  own  way. 

The  old  papers  which  have  been  preserved,  the 
town  records,  and  the  old  traditions  all  show  that  the 
first  settlers  in  Methuen  were  men  of  rugged,  vigor- 
ous intellect,  accustomed  to  think  for  themselves,  and 
not  afraid  to  express  their  opinions. 

The  early  history  of  the  town  was  almost  identical 
with  the  history  of  the  church  and  society  for  many 
years.  We  have  already  related  some  of  the  inci- 
dents connected  with  the  building  of  the  meetinghouse 
and  settlement  of  a  pastor,  and  it  remains  to  give 
some  account  of  the  organization  and  history  of  the 
church  since. 

From  the  "  Church  Records,"  which  were  kept  by 
Rev.  Christopher  Sargent  during  his  ministry,  we  find 
that  "  the  first  church  in  Methuen  was  founded  by 
Rev.  Samuel  Phillips,  of  Andover,  October  29,  1729." 
On  that  day  a  fast,  preparatory  to  the  ordination  of 
Mr.  Sargent  was  kept,  a  sermon  was  preached.  Rev. 
Mr.  Phillips  gathered  the  church,  and  the  covenant 
was  consented  to  by  twenty-four  persons,  and  within 
a  month  thirty-five  others  joined. 

A  week  afterwards  Rev.  Mr.  Sargent  was  ordained 
pastor,  and  continued  in  the  pastoral  office  until  1783, 
when  the  town  consented  to  release  him  from  the 
active  duties  of  the  ministry.  Mr.  Sargent  was  born 
in  Amesbury,  Mass.,  in  1704  and  graduated  from  Har- 
vard College  in  1725.  Although  he  must  ha\e  had 
a  large  influence  in  moulding  the  religious  and  intel- 
lectual character  of  the  people  of  Methuen,  there  is 
now  very  little  to  be  found  to  show  exactly  what 
manner  of  man  he  was.  He  was  evidently  a  man  of 
strong  common  sense,  good  talents,  a  moderate  man, 
and  one  who  could  unite  and  harmonize  the  church. 
We  should  also  infer  that  he  was  a  more  broad-minded 
man  than  the  average  Congregational  minister  of  his 
day,  from  the  fact  that  he  was  several  times  called 
upon  by  some  of  his  hearers  to  defend  his  orthodoxy, 
and  that  his  Calvinism  was  not  extreme  enough  to 
suit  them.  The  church  prospered  under  his  minis- 
trations, and  during  his  pastorate  five  hundred  and 
nine  members  were  received  into  it.  He  died  March 
20,  1790,  and  was  buried  in  the  old  grave-yard  on 


Meeting  House  Hill,  close  to  the  church  where  he  had 
ministered  so  long.  One  of  his  sons,  born  in  Methuen, 
Nathaniel  Peaslee  Sargent,  became  a  prominent 
lawyer,  and  in  1790  was  appointed  chief  justice  of  the 
Supreme  Judicial  Court  of  Massachusetts.  The  only 
evidence  we  find  in  church  or  town  records  of  serious 
trouble  in  the  church  during  Mr.  Sargent's  long  min- 
istry of  fifty-three  years,  was  in  1766,  when  the 
"Second  Church  in  Methuen"  was  formed.  This 
church  was  composed  of  those  persons,  who,  to  use 
their  own  language,  "were  dissatisfied  with  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Sargent's  doctrine  and  manner  of  discipline  or 
church  government."  The  records  show  that  church 
meetings  for  business  were  frequent  during  these 
times,  the  discipline  strict,  and  the  members  closely 
looked  after.  It  must  be  admitted,  however,  judging 
from  some  of  the  entries,  that  there  was  need  of  vigi- 
lance, and  even  then  that  sin  was  not  always  pre- 
vented. 

After  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Sargent  it  was  nearly 
five  years  before  another  minister  was  settled. 

The  next  pastor  was  Simon  Finley  Williams,  of 
Windham,  N.  H.,  who  was  ordained  December  13, 
1786.  He  was  dismissed  in  1791,  under  suspicion  of 
misconduct.  The  next  pastor  was  Humphrey  C. 
Perley,  of  Boxford,  who  was  ordained  December  2, 
1795.  The  church  was  not  prosperous  during  his 
ministry,  although  he  Avas  a  man  of  good  repute,  and 
continued  in  the  pastoral  office  until  May  24,  1815, 
when  he  was  dismissed  at  his  own  request. 

Jacob  Weed  Eastman,  of  Sandwich,  N.  H.,  was  the 
next  pastor,  was  ordained  December  13,  1815,  and  re- 
mained till  July  4,  1828.  He  was  succeeded  by  Spen- 
cer F.  Beard,  of  West  Brookfield,  who  was  installed 
January  21,  1829,  and  dismissed  April  29,  1832. 

He  was  followed  by  Sylvester  G.  Pierce,  of  Wil- 
mington, Vt.,  who  was  installed  June  27,  1832,  and 
continued  in  the  pastoral  office,  greatly  beloved  by 
his  people,  until  his  death.  May  8,  1839.  John 
Charles  Phillips,  of  Boston,  was  installed  as  the  next 
pastor  December  25,  1839. 

He  was  a  broad-minded  and  cultured  man,  of  fine 
talents,  and  his  pastorate  was  characterized  by  peace 
and  harmony  in  the  church.  On  account  of  failing 
health  he  resigned,  in  July,  1860,  and  gave  up  active 
work  in  the  ministry.  Edward  H.  Greely,  of  Hop- 
kinton,  N.  H.,  was  the  next  pastor,  and  was  installed 
over  the  church  in  1861,  and  dismissed  in  September, 

1866.  The  next  pastor  was  Thomas  G.  Grassie,  born 
in  Scotland,  and  installed  in  Methuen  September  10, 

1867.  He  was  dismissed  August  7,  1873.  Lyman  H. 
Blake,  of  Cornwall,  Vt.,  was  settled  in  Methuen 
June  25,  1874,  and  was  dismissed  September  4,  1877. 

Zephaniah  S.  Holbrook,  of  Berea,  0.,  was  the  next 
pastor.  He  was  installed  December  4,  1878,  and  dis- 
missed June  29,  1881.  He  was  succeeded  by  Joseph 
Henry  Selden,  of  Hadlyme,  Conn.,  who  was  settled 
May  10,  1882,  and  dismissed  May  16,  1884.  Charles 
H.  Oliphant,  of  Boston,  the  present  pastor,  was  set- 


METHUEN. 


787 


tied  October  29,  1885,  having  acted  as  pastor  of  the 
church  for  a  year  previous  to  his  installation. 

The  church  now  numbers  about  two  hundred  and 
fifty  members. 

In  171)0  the  old  "athadoxt"  meeting-house,  first 
built,  was  torn  down,  and  a  new  one  built  on  or  near 
the  same  spot,  the  congregation  worshipping  in  the 
meanwhile  in  the  house  of  the  Second  Parish.  The 
building  of  this  house  seems  to  have  excited  much 
interest  through  the  town,  and  it  is  a  curious  fact,  il- 
lustrating the  habits  of  the  time,  that  it  was  voted 
"  That  the  spectators  be  given  a  drink  of  grog  ajjiece 
at  the  raising."  As  the  village  sprung  up  around 
Spicket  Falls,  "Meeting-House  Hill"  ceased  to  be 
the  most  central  place,  and  to  better  accommodate 
the  congregation,  it  was  decided  in  1832,  to  remove 
the  house  to  the  spot  now  occupied  by  the  stone 
meeting-house.  It  stood  there  until  1855,  when  the 
wooden  house  was  torn  down  and  the  present  stone 
house  erected.  In  1880  the  parish  received  generous 
contributions  from  the  family  of  Rev.  John  C.  Phil- 
lips, and  also  from  the  family  of  Mr.  David  Nevins, 
for  the  purpose  of  erecting  a  chapel.  The  stone  chap- 
el now  on  the  grounds  was  built  shortly  after.  The 
grounds  have  since  been  tastefully  laid  out  and 
adorned  by  Henry  C.  Nevins,  Esq.,  and  the  church 
property  of  the  First  Parish,  Methuen,  is  now  unsur- 
passed in  beauty  by  any  in  the  County. 

In  1766,  April  16,  a  second  church  was  organized, 
and  Rev.  Eliphaz  Chapman  was  installed  as  its  pas- 
tor in  November,  1772. 

About  this  time  the  "  Second  Parish  "  was  formed 
by  act  of  the  Legislature.  Under  this  arrangement 
every  taxable  person  in  town  was  taxed  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  minister,  but  he  paid  to  the  parish  to 
which  he  belonged,  instead  of  to  the  town.  The 
meeting-house  of  the  Second  Parish '  stood  on  the 
north  side  of  Pelham  Street,  a  little  west  of  the  house 
formerly  occupied  by  Leonard  Wheeler.  It  was  af- 
terwards removed  to  the  hill,  near  the  house  of  Ste- 
phen W.  Williams,  whence  it  was  removed  to  Law- 
rence, and  afterwards  destroyed  by  fire.  We  have 
found  no  record  of  the  termination  of  the  ministry  of 
Mr.  Chapman,  but  we  find  that  Rev.  J.  H.  Stevens 
was  ordained  May  18,  1791,  and  was  dismissed  March 
10,  1795.  Rev.  Josiah  Hill  was  settled  April  9,  1832, 
and  retired  April  9,  1833.  The  Second  Parish  exis- 
ted for  half  a  century, — until  1816, —  when  it  was 
united  with  the  First  Parish.  In  1830  it  was  again 
organized,  but  was  again  united  with  the  old  church 
and  parish.  At  present  there  is  but  one  Congrega- 
tional Church  in  the  town. 

The  next  church  in  point  of  age  is  the  Baptist. 

To  an  historical  discourse  prepared  by  Rev.  K.  S. 
Hall,  and  delivered  at  the  semi-centennial  celebration 
of  that  church  and  society,  October  18,  1865,  we  are 
indebted  for  much  of  what  follows.  For  many  years 
there  had  been  persons  of  the  Baptist  faith  scattered 
through  the  town,  and  Isaac  Backus  preached  here  as 


early  as  March  30,  1756.  It  is  also  known  that  Bap- 
tist sentiments  were  held  by  the  Messer  family  in 
Methuen  a  century  and  a  half  ago,  and  that  Jacob 
Whittier,  of  Methuen,  was  chosen  one  of  the  deacons 
of  the  Baptist  Church  in  Haverhill  May  9,  1765. 
Sometime  during  the  last  century  a  Baptist  Church 
was  constituted  in  the  west  part  of  Methuen,  but  no 
record  is  in  existence  of  its  formation  or  subsequent 
proceedings.  A  meeting-house  was  built  about  the 
year  1778,  near  the  burying-ground  west  of  the  Bart- 
lett  Farm,  and  simply  boarded  and  supplied  with  a 
floor.  Services  were  held  in  it  occasionally  for  some 
years,  but  some  of  the  leading  families  removed  from 
town,  and  the  church  ceased  to  exist.  Religious 
meetings  continued  to  be  held  occasionally  at  private 
houses,  and  baptisms  were  administered  at  different 
times,  until  the  formation  of  the  Baptist  Society  in 
Methuen,  March  1,  1815,  when  a  number  of  the  in- 
habitants met  at  the  house  of  "  Mr.  Ebenezer  Whit- 
tier, innholder,"  and  chose  a  committee  to  draft  ar- 
ticles of  signature,  which  were  signed  by  seventy-one 
members  during  the  first  year.  The  Baptist  Church 
was  constituted  March  8,  1815,  and  the  recognition 
services  were  held  in  the  house  of  Daniel  Frye,  now 
the  "  Butters  Place."  During  the  first  year  of  its  or- 
ganization the  church  held  religious  meetings  in  dif- 
ferent i^arts  of  the  town,  the  church  meetings  being 
usually  held  at  the  house  of  Daniel  Frye,  afterwards 
chosen  deacon.  Charles  O.  Kimball,  a  licentiate  of 
the  Haverhill  Church,  commenced  j^reaching  June 
25,  1815,  and  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  church  and 
society  May  8,  1816. 

In  the  summer  of  1815  steps  were  taken  for  build- 
ing a  meeting-house,  and  it  was  finally  voted  to  build 
a  "two-story  meeting-house"  on  a  half-acre  lot  given 
by  Bailey  Davis,  where  the  Baptist  Church  now 
stands.  Several  other  lots  were  contemplated  on 
which  to  build  the  house ;  one,  the  "  mill  lot,"  embrac- 
ing a  quarter  of  an  acre  near  where  the  Town  House 
now  stands,  and  another  on  "Liberty  Hill,"  a  little 
southwest  of  the  stone  church  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  street.  The  house  was  built  and  publicly  dedi- 
cated December  5,  1816.  During  the  long  pastorate 
of  Mr.  Kimball,  the  church  seems  to  have  been  char- 
acterized by  activity  and  zeal  in  its  membership,  and 
steadily  increased  in  numbers  and  influence.  For 
the  first  ten  years  all  moneys  for  the  support  of 
preaching  and  other  expenses  connected  therewith 
were  raised  by  voluntary  subscription ;  afterwards 
taxes  were  assessed  on  members  of  the  society.  Mr. 
Kimball  closed  his  labors  October  4,  1835.  Rev.  Ad- 
dison Parker,  of  Sturbridge,  was  the  successor  of 
Mr.  Kimball,  and  was  publicly  installed  February  3 
1836.  The  church  seems  to  have  prospered  during 
his  ministry,  which  closed  May  1, 1839.  Rev.  Samuel 
W.  Field  was  the  next  pastor,  and  was  installed  April 
22,  1840.  During  the  first  year  of  his  pastorate  the 
old  meeting-house  was  torn  down  and  a  new  one  built 
on  the  old  site,  the  congregation  holding  services  in 


788 


HISTORY  OP  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


the  Congregational  Meeting-House  until  their  vestry- 
was  ready  for  u.->e.  Mr.  Field  resigned  August  2, 
1846. 

In  June,  1847,  Rev.  Joseph  M.  Graves  became  pas- 
tor of  the  church,  and  remained  until  May  11,  1850, 
when  he  tendered  his  resignation.  Rev.  B.  F.  Bron- 
son  was  the  successor  of  Mr.  Graves,  and  after  a  pros- 
perous pastorate  of  seven  years  and  a  half,  resigned 
May  30,  1858. 

Rev.  Hownrd  M.  Emerson  was  ordained  pastor 
January  2,  1861,  and  continued  in  the  ofBce  until  his 
death.  May  16,  1862.  Rev.  King  S.  Hall  was  install- 
ed December  23  of  the  same  year,  and  resigned  April 
30, 1867.  He  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  N.  M.  Williams, 
who  was  settled  February  13,  1868,  and  left  March 
31,  1871. 

Rev.  Lyman  Chase  became  pastor  in  May,  1871, 
and  i-emained  until  the  summer  of  1876.  He  was 
succeeded  by  Rev.  Thomas  J.  B.  House,  who  com- 
menced his  labors  January  1,  1877,  and  left  April  24, 
1883.  Rev.  Simeon  L.  B.  Chase  became  the  next 
pastor  August  19,  1883,  and  resigned  May  29,  1887. 

On  Sunday.  March  21, 1869,  the  meeting-house  took 
fire  during  the  morning  service,  and  was  totally  de- 
stroyed. The  society  erected  the  house  which  is  now 
standing  in  the  following  summer  on  the  old  spot, 
and  it  was  dedicated  January  13,  1870.  This  church 
is  strong  and  prosperous,  numbers  about  two  hundred 
members,  and  is  the  only  one  of  its  denomination  in 
the  town. 

The  Universalist  Church  and  Society  was  organ- 
ized in  1824.  At  first  religious  services  were  held  at 
irregular  intervals  in  the  different  school-houses  in 
town.  As  the  church  became  stronger,  meetings  were 
held  regularly  in  "  McKay's  building,"  on  Lowell 
Street,  and  later  in  "  Wilson's  Hall,"  Hampshire 
Street.  The  present  Universalist  meeting-house  was 
built  in  1835-36,  and  dedicated  in  July,  1836.  Rev. 
John  A.  Gurley  was  the  first  settled  minister,  and 
was  pastor  at  that  time.  He  left  about  1837.  The 
next  pastor  was  Rev.  E.  N.  Harris,  who  did  not  re- 
main long.  Rev.  A.  A.  Miner  was  settled  over  the 
church  in  November,  1839,  and  remained  until  July, 
1842,  when  he  left  to  settle  in  Lowell.  Rev.  H.  R. 
Nye  was  the  next  pastor,  and  remained  about  three 
years,  leaving  in  1845.  Rev.  Willard  Spaulding  suc- 
ceeded Mr.  Nye,  and  preached  at  this  time  two  or  three 
years.  Rev.  O.  A.  Tillotson  succeeded  Mr.  Spauld- 
ing,  and  was  followed  by  Rev.  William  H.  Waggoner 
in  1851  and  1852.  Rev.  Willard  Spaulding  was  pas- 
tor a  second  time  in  1855  and  1856.  Rev.  Edwin  Da- 
vis became  pastor  in  the  spring  of  1861,  and  remained 
until  1863.  Rev.  John  E.  Davenport  followed  Mr. 
Davis,  and  continued  in  the  pastoral  office  about  two 
years.  Rev.  C.  A.  Bradley  became  pastor  in  1869, 
and  resigned  March  22,  1871. 

During  the  pastorate  of  Mr.  Bradley  the  church 
and  grounds  were  remodeled  and  much  improved. 
Rev.  W.  W.  Heywood  became  pastor  in  1871,  and  his 


resignation  was  accepted  by  the  society  March  29, 
1875.  Rev.  R.  T.  Polk  was  installed  as  the  next  pas- 
tor March  21,  1877,  and  resigned  August  31,  1879. 

Rev.  G.  T.  Flanders,  of  Lowell,  supplied  the  pulpit 
for  a  year,  beginning  his  labors  February  29,  1880, 
was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Nathan  S.  Hill  from  Novem- 
ber 1,  1881,  to  March  1,  1883.  In  October,  1883,  the 
society  called  Rev.  Donald  Eraser  to  the  pastorate, 
and  he  remained  until  his  resignation  in  November, 
1885.  Rev.  A.  F.  Walch,  the  next  minister,  was  in- 
stalled October  14,  1886,  and  is  now  in  the  pastoral 
office.  The  congregation  numbers  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty. 

We  are  informed  that  the  Methodists  first  held 
meetings  in  Methuen  in  1833  or  '34.  They  occasion- 
ally occupied  the  Second  Parish  meeting-house,  and 
held  meetings  in  the  school-houses,  but  after  the  in- 
stitution of  regular  religious  services,  they  occupied 
"  Wilson's  Hall."  The  building  now  used  as  a 
school-house  on  Lowell  Street  was  built  by  them  for 
a  meeting-house,  and  occupied  for  several  years,  un- 
til the  establishment  of  a  Methodist  Church  and  so- 
ciety at  the  new  city  of  Lawrence  drew  off"  a  portion  of 
the  members,  and  so  weakened  the  society  in  Methuen 
that  it  was  thought  advisable  to  sell  the  building.  After 
the  sale  of  the  meeting-house  no  regular  religious  ser- 
vices were  held  in  Methuen  by  that  denomination 
until  1853  or  1854,  when  a  reorganization  was  eflfected, 
and  religious  services  were  held  in  the  library  room 
in  the  town  hall.  As  the  society  increased  in  num- 
bers, more  commodious  quarters  were  needed,  and 
the  society  held  their  meetings  in  the  town  hall  until 
1871,  when  the  present  meeting-house  was  built  at 
the  junction  of  Lowell  and  Pelham  Streets.  John 
Barnes,  of  Lawrence,  was  the  first  pastor  after  the  re- 
organization, and  since  then  the  pastors  have  been  as 
follows : 

Eev.  Charles  Young,  from  June,  1856,  to  April,  1857. 
Rev.  Elijah  Mason,  from  April,  1857,  to  April,  1858. 
Rev.  Nathaniel  L.  Chase,  from  April,  1858,  to  May,  1859. 
Rev.  John  L.  Trefreu,  from  Blay,  1859,  to  April,  1861. 
Rev.  Charles  R.  Harding,  from  April,  1861,  to  April,  1862. 
Rev.  Joshua  B.  Holnian,  freni  April,  1862,  to  April,  1864. 
Rev.  William  Hewes,  from  April,  1864,  to  April,  1865. 
Rev.  Nelson  Green,  from  April,  1865,  to  April,  1866. 
Rev.  Larnard  L.  Eastman,  from  April,  186(1,  to  April,  18fi9. 
Rev.  James  Noyes,  from  April,  1869,  to  April,  1872. 
Rev.  George  I.  Judkins,  from  April,  1872  to  April,  1875. 
Rev.  Charles  A.  Cressy,  from  April,  1875,  to  April,  1877. 
Rev.  S.  C.  Farnham.  from  April,  1877,  to  April,  1879. 
Rev.  J.  W.  Walker,  from  April,  1879,  to  April,  1881. 
Rev.  0.  S.  Baketel,  from  April,  1881,  to  April,  1884. 
Rev.  H.  H.  French,  from  April,  1884,  to  April,  1886. 
Rev.  Alexander  McGregor,  from  April,  1886. 

The  church  numbers  one  hundred  and  thirty-two 
members. 

In  1833,  or  thereabout,  there  was  an  Episcopal 
Church  formed  in  Methuen.  It  seems  to  have  had  a 
short  existence  as  an  organized  body,  and  little  can 
be  learned  about  it,  except  that  it  held  its  meetings 
in  "  Wilson's  Hall."  In  1878  another  Episcopal 
Church  was  organized  under  the  name  of  St.  Thomas' 


METHUEN. 


789 


Church,  and  a  church-building  erected  on  Broadway 
near  Lawrence  line.  The  membership  is  largely  com- 
posed of  residents  of  Lawrence. 

The  first  rector  was  Rev.  Belno  A.  Brown,  whose 
energy  and  zeal  contributed  much  to  the  success  of 
the  new  church.  The  present  rector  is  E.ev.  Thomas 
De  Learsy. 

The  Catholics  have  a  large  and  prosperous  branch 
of  that  church  in  Methuen.  For  many  years  there 
have  been  a  large  number  of  persons  in  the  town, 
holding  that  faith,  who  attended  church  in  Lawrence. 
In  January,  1878,  a  movement  was  made  by  leading 
Catholics  in  Methuen,  and  approved  by  Father  Gil- 
more,  then  Parish  Priest  in  Lawrence,  to  establish 
religious  services.  The  Town  Hall  was  engaged,  and 
has  been  occupied  for  that  i:>urpose  on  Sundays  ever 
since.  Father  Marsden  ofliciated  from  the  beginning 
until  his  death  nearly  two  years  afterwards. 

The  pastors  who  succeeded  him  have  been  Father 
O'Farrell,  about  one  year ;  Father  Riley,  about  two 
years;  Father  O'Connell,  about  two  years;  Father 
Rowan,  about  two  years;  and  Father  Murphy,  who 
is  the  present  pa.stor.  The  congregation  numbers 
about  four  hundred  persons. 

Methuen  has  her  full  share  of  social  and  charitable 
organizations. 

Grecian  Lodge,  F.  A.  A.  M.,  was  formed  in  Methuen 
December  14, 1825,  and  seems  to  have  prospered  until 
the  Anti-Masonic  excitement  overspread  the  country. 
In  consequence  of  this  it  surrendered  its  charter  in 
1838.  The  lodge  reorganized  in  1847  under  the  old 
charter,  but  within  the  limits  of  Lawrence.  Methuen 
Masons  associated  themselves  with  the  old  lodge  until 
1860,  when  John  Hancock  Lodge  was  constituted. 
It  holds  its  meetings  in  "Currier's  Building,''  where 
it  has  a  cosey  well-furnished  lodge-room,  and  num- 
bers about  one  hundred  and  fifty  members. 

Hope  Lodge  of  Odd-Fellows  was  instituted  in  1844, 
and  for  a  time  held  its  meetings  in  "  Currier's  Build- 
ing." It  surrendered  its  charter  to  the  Grand  Lodge 
in  1855.  The  lodge  was  reinstated  in  1869,  and  since 
that  time  has  flourished.  It  has  pleasant  rooms,  well- 
furnished,  in  Dodge's  Building,  and  numbers  about 
one  hundred  and  forty  members. 

A  branch  of  the  Royal  Arcanum  was  established 
here  in  December,  1877.  It  commenced  with  a  mem- 
bership of  twenty,  and  now  has  eighty-five.  It  holds 
its  meetings  in  Corliss'  Hall,  and  seems  to  be  a  pros- 
perous society — if  we  can  call  an  Insurance  Associa- 
tion of  that  size  prosperous,  which  has  had  only  one 
death  among  its  members  for  ten  years. 

The  United  Order  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  also  have 
a  strong  organization  in  Methuen.  It  was  formed 
March  15,  1879,  and  numbers  about  one  hundred 
members.  They  hold  their  meetings  in  the  hall  of 
tlie  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic. 

Wm.  B.  Green  Post  100,  Grand  Army  of  the  Repub- 
lic, was  organized  in  February,  1877,  and  has  seventy- 
four  members.     It  has  one  of  the  finest  Grand  Army 


halls  in  the  region,  tastefully  finished  and  elegantly 
furnished.  As  the  Grand  Army  is  composed  only  of 
veterans  in  the  late  war,  the  post  cannot  expect  to  in- 
crease much  in  numbers,  but  the  zeal  and  interest  of 
its  members  seem  in  nowise  to  diminish  as  time 
goes  on. 

In  1873  Minerva  Lodge,  Daughters  of  Rebecca, 
I.  0.  of  O.  F.,  was  instituted.  It  numbers  about 
ninety  membeis. 

The  "Home  Circle,"  numbering  about  fifty  mem- 
bers, was  organized  in  May,  1880.  They  hold  their 
meetings  in  the  hall  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Re- 
public. 

A  branch  of  the  "  United  Order  of  Workmen  "  was 
organized  January  25,  1886,  and  has  thirty-one  mem- 
bers.    They  meet  in  the  hall  of  the  G.  A.  R. 

The  Knights  of  Labor  have  a  strong  and  well  or- 
ganized association  in  Methuen,  and  hold  their  meet- 
ings in  Corliss'  Hall. 

Methuen  does  not  appear  to  have  been  behind 
other  towns  of  like  population  and  wealth  in  efforts 
for  literary  culture  and  entertainment.  About  1819 
a  society  was  formed  called  the  "Addison  Literary 
Society,"  for  purposes  of  mental  culture  and  improve- 
ment. We  have  been  informed  by  Robert  S.  Rantoul, 
Esq.,  of  Salem,  that  two  or  three  years  after,  princi- 
pally through  the  ettbrts  of  Timothy  Claxton,  an 
English  mechanic  and  machinist  in  the  cotton  mill, 
this  society  was  transformed  into  what  was  afterwards 
known  as  a  lyceum.  And  there  is  some  reason  to 
suppose  that  this  was  the  beginning  of  the  "lyceum" 
in  this  country.  This  society  flourished  nearly  or 
quite  twenty  years,  had  a  small  library  and  erected  a 
building  in  which  to  hold  meetings  on  Broadway 
Street  near  Park  Street.  But  after  awhile,  a  sinful 
desire  for  dramatic  entertainment  entered  into  the 
minds  of  some  of  its  members,  and  the  acting  of  far- 
ces and  short  plays  to  some  extent  took  the  place  of 
the  sober  discussions  of  great  questions  which  formed 
the  staple  of  the  earlier  exercises.  The  sober,  sub- 
stantial people  of  the  town  looked  on  more  in  sorrow 
than  in  anger,  and  refused  to  countenance  such  loose 
and  immoral  practices.  From  this  time  on  the  socie- 
ty declined  and  fell,  and  utter  ruin  overtook  it  with 
the  i^erformance  of  Richard  III  by  some  of  its  mem- 
bers. 

The  building  was  sold  and  removed  to  the  west  side 
of  the  river  and  converted  into  a  dwelling-house,  now 
owned  and  occupied  by  Hon.  James  0.  Parker.  For 
many  years  courses  of  lectures  were  given  almost  ev- 
ery winter,  and  sometimes  a  debating  club  was  organ- 
ized, until  the  easy  access  to  Lawrence  made  it  possi- 
ble for  Methuen  people  to  attend  entertainments 
there  almost  as  easily  as  at  home. 

In  1873,  and  every  year  thereafter  until  1887,  the 
town  voted  that  the  proceeds  received  from  dog  li- 
censes should  be  devoted  to  the  purchase  of  a  public 
library.  From  this  small  beginning  the  number  of 
volumes  increased  year  by  year  until  in  1886  a  library 


790 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


of  about  twenty-five  hundred  well  selected  volumes 
was  collected,  which  was  much  used  by  the  people  of 
the  town,  until  the  Nevins  Memorial  Library  was 
opened  to  the  public — January  1,  1887. 

There  is  nothing  in  Methuen  in  which  the  citizens 
take  so  much  pride,  and  for  which  they  are  so  grate- 
ful, as  the  Nevins  Memorial.  The  design  of  this  in- 
stitution is  so  well  stated  in  the  "Note  by  the  Trus- 
tees," published  in  the  catalogue  of  the  library,  that 
we  quote  it  entire  : 

"  The  Nevins  Memorial  was  founded  in  memory  of  the  late  David 
Nevins,  who  was  born  in  Salem,  N.  H.,  Dec.  12,  1809,  and  was  brought 
to  Methuen  by  his  parents  at  an  early  age,  and  passed  here  the  years  of 
hi8  childhood.  In  his  later  years  he  assumed  the  duties  of  a  citizen,  and 
here  at  the  family  homestead  he  was  seized  with  the  illness  which,  on  the 
10th  of  March,  1881,  unexpectedly  closed  his  active  and  useful  career. 

"  Desiring  to  promote  the  intellectual  and  moral  well  being  of  the 
community  whose  material  interests  had  been  so  greatly  advanced  by  his 
business  sagacity  and  energy,  it  was  his  expressed  intention  to  found, 
during  his  lifetime,  an  institution  similar  in  scope  to  that  of  this  Memo- 
rial. His  sudden  decease  prevented  his  execution  of  this  design,  but  the 
purpose  he  had  declared  was  at  once  taken  up  by  his  widow  and  sons,  and 
the  Nevins  Memorial  Building  was  erected  upon  the  site  chosen  and 
purchased  for  that  use  some  years  before  his  death.  The  building  was 
planned  and  its  construction  supervised  by  Mr.  Samuel  J.  F.  Thayer, 
architect,  of  Boston  ;  ground  for   its  erection  being  broken  March  27, 

1883,  and  the  completed   structure   first  opened  to  the  public  June  11, 

1884.  It  contains  a  public  hall,  ample  in  size  and  beautiful  in  decora- 
tion, a  library,  waiting  and  reading  rooms,  well  adapted  to  their  respec- 
tive uses,  and  suitable  rooms  for  the  trustees  and  librarian.  The  gov- 
ernment of  the  Memorial  is  vested  in  a  board  of  seven  trustees,  five  of 
whom,  yira.  Eliza  S.  Nevins  and  Messrs.  David  Nevins,  Henry  C.  Nevins, 
Jacob  Emerson  and  John  H.  Morse,  were  incorporated  by  the  Massachu- 
setts legislature  of  1885  as  permanent  members.  The  two  additional 
members  are  chosen  by  the  town  of  Methuen  for  the  term  of  two  years, 
Dr.  George  E.  Woodbury  and  James  Ingalls  being  the  present  elective 
members. 

"  When  experience  shall  have  shown  what  amount  is  needed  for  the 
proper  maintenance  of  the  Memorial,  it  is  the  design  of  the  founders  to 
make  an  endowment  sufficient  to  render  it  entirely  self-supporting.  The 
library  comprises  nearly  ten  thousand  volumes  of  standard  works,  care- 
fully selected,  and  covering  a  wide  range  of  general  literature  and  spe- 
cial topics.  To  Miss  Ames  was  intrusted  iti<  entire  organization,  includ- 
ing the  selection  of  the  books,  the  details  of  classification  and  arrange- 
ment, and  the  preparation  of  the  catalogue. 

"  We  feel  confident  that  the  result  of  her  labors  will  not  only  facili- 
tate the  use  of  the  library  for  general  readers,  but  will  be  found  of  par- 
ticular advantage  to  those  pursuing  a  systematic  course  of  reading,  or 
engaged  in  special  studies.     The  end  crowns  the  work." 

The  building  is  of  brick,  with  freestone  trimmings, 
of  beautiful  architectural  design,  and  built  in  the 
most  substantial  manner.  Every  foundation  wall  and 
pier  rests  upon  the  solid  rock,  and  the  walls  are  ex- 
ceptionally strong  and  heavy. 

The  building  is  finished  in  oak  throughout,  and  all 
the  ornamentation,  within  and  without,  is  in  the  most 
exquisite  taste,  No  expense  was  spared  to  make  it  a 
perfect  work,  according  to  the  designs  of  the  found- 
ers. The  library,  selected  and  arranged  by  Miss  Har- 
riet H.  Ames,  is  admirably  well  chosen,  and  the  cata- 
logue, also  arranged  and  prepared  by  her,  is  a  well- 
nigh  perfect  specimen  of  the  art  of  cataloguing.  It  is 
in  two  volumes,  of  nearly  five  hundred  pages  each, 
and  is  an  encyclopedia  in  itself.  The  following  in- 
scription on  the  front  of  the  building  explains  the 
purpose  of  the  founders  : 


"  This  Hall  and  Library 

erected  and  endowed  by 

Eliza  S.  Nevins,  his  widow 

and  by  David  and  Henry  C. 

Nevins,  his  children, 

is  a  memorial  of 

David  Nevins, 

Born  1809.     Died  1881." 

About  three  and  a  half  acres  of  laud  surrounding 
the  building  have  been  set  apart  and  tastefully  laid 
out  and  ornamented  with  rare  trees  and  shrubs.  And 
all  this  beautiful  and  costly  estate  is  placed  in  the 
hands  of  trustees,  and  is  to  be  endowed  with  a  fund 
to  make  it  self-supporting,  for  the  benefit  of  the  in- 
habitants of  Methuen  in  all  coming  time.  Surely 
no  more  noble  or  lasting  tribute  could  have  been  paid 
to  the  memory  of  a  beloved  husband  and  father,  and 
no  benevolence  could  have  been  made  wider  in  its 
scope  or  more  far-reaching  in  its  influence.  The  in- 
tellectual growth  and  culture  resulting  from  the  use 
of  this  library  and  reading-room  will  only  begin  to 
be  seen  in  this  generation ;  the  best  results  can  never 
be  known  to  those  who  have  established  this  noble 
beneficence. 

The  beautiful  and  well-kept  grounds  will  be  an 
educator  of  no  small  influence,  and  many  a  home 
will  be  made  j^leasanter  and  more  attractive  from  the 
example  there  perpetually  shown. 

The  interest  already  manifested  by  the  young  peo- 
ple of  the  town  in  the  use  of  the  library,  and  the 
average  high  character  of  the  books  most  sought  for, 
must  be  to  the  generous  founders  a  most  pleasing 
feature  of  the  opening  of  the  library  to  the  public. 

The  first  newspaper  published  in  Methuen  was  the 
Iris,  which  was  removed  here  from  Haverhill  in  1833. 
It  was  supposed  to  have  been  printed  as  a  campaign 
paper  in  the  interest  of  Caleb  Gushing,  and  was  soon 
discontinued.  The  next  newspaper  was  the  Methuen 
Falls  Gazette,  which  was  first  issued  January  2,  1885, 
by  S.  Jameson  Varney.  It  was  "  neutral  in  politics" 
and  not  published  many  years. 

The  Methuen  Transcript  and  Essex  Farmer  was  es- 
tablished in  1876  by  C.  L.  Houghton  &  Co.,  and 
edited  by  Charles  E.  Trow,  who  soon  after  became  its 
proprietor,  and  continued  to  edit  the  paper  until  it 
passed  into  the  hands  of  Fred.  A.  Lowell,  Esq.,  its 
present  editor  and  publisher.  It  is  a  weekly  paper  ot 
excellent  moral  tone,  published  every  Friday,  and 
the  only  newspaper  now  published  in  Methuen. 

The  Methuen  Enterprise  was  established  by  Daniel 
A.  Eollins  March  6,  1880,  and  published  by  him  till 
his  death,  March  25,  1882,  and  was  a  bright,  readable, 
spicy  sheet. 

After  his  death  it  was  purchased  by  Sellers  Bros., 
and  published  by  them  until  September,  1883,  when 
it  was  merged  in  the  Lawrence  Eagle. 

In  1826  or  '27  a  small  fire-engine,  the  "  Tiger,"  was 
bought,  one-half  the  cost  being  paid  by  the  Methuen 
Company,  and  the  other  half  by  Major  Osgood,  John 
Davis,  Thomas  Thaxter,  George  A.  Waldo  and  J.  W. 


METHUEN. 


791 


Carleton.  Thomas  Thaxter  was  the  first  foreman. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  the  town  had  any  concern 
in  its  management.  This  was  the  only  protection 
against  fire  until  1846,  when  the  selectmen  were 
authorized  to  purchase  a  new  fire-engine  and  hose, 
and  erect  a  house.  This  engine  (The  Spiggot)  was 
manned  by  an  active  and  elficient  comj^any,  and  did 
good  service  till  1870,  when  the  steamer  E.  A.  Straw, 
was  purchased  and  the  Spiggot  laid  aside. 

Methuen  now  has  an  excellent  fire  department ;  the 
E.  A.  Straw  Company  of  seventeen  men,  and  the 
Mystic  Hose  Company  of  ten  men,  organized  in  1878, 
all  well  trained  and  efficient. 

In  addition  to  this  there  are  iron  pipes  laid  through 
the  principal  streets,  and  connected  with  the  power- 
ful engines  of  the  Methuen  Company,  through  which 
water  can  be  forced,  over  the  principal  portion  of  the 
village,  in  case  of  fire. 

One  of  the  first  things  done  by  the  old  settlers  was 
to  lay  out  a  place  to  bury  their  dead.  In  1828  the 
town  voted  "that  there  should  be  a  graveyard  pro- 
vided in  the  town,  somewhere  near  the  meeting- 
house," and  chose  William  Whittier  and  Joshua 
Swan  to  measure  and  bound  out  the  said  graveyard. 

Their  report  to  the  town  describes  the  lot  as  fol- 
lows: — "Beginning  with  a  small  pine  tree  marked 
with  the  letter  B,  thence  running  southei'ly  to  a  pine 
stump  marked  with  B,  twenty  rods  in  length  ;  thence 
to  a  pine  tree  marked  with  a  B,  northeasterly  about 
six  or  seven  rods  in  width,  and  so  to  another  pine  tree 
marked  with  a  B,  northwesterly  about  twenty  rods, 
and  so  to  the  bounds  first  mentioned."  This  was  un- 
doubtedly the  north  end  of  the  "  old  burying-ground" 
on  Meeting-House  Hill.  In  1803  it  was  enlarged  "  on 
the  south  side,"  and  a  hearse  was  purchased  "  for  the 
more  convenient  solemnization  of  funerals." 

In  1772,  the  Selectmen  were  ordered  to  lay  out  a 
burying-ground  in  the  west  part  of  the  town.  They 
laid  out  one-fourth  of  an  acre,  on  land  given  for  the 
purpose  by  Richard  Whittier.  The  lot  was  after- 
wards enlarged,  and,  as  the  ground  became  occupied, 
it  was  again  enlarged  in  1876. 

The  burial-ground  on  Lawrence  Street  was  pur- 
chased and  laid  out  about  1830. 

These  three  burial-places  comprise  those  owned  by 
the  town,  and  are  now  but  little  used. 

Walnut  Grove  Cemetery  was  laid  out  by  an  asso- 
ciation of  individuals,  in  1853.  It  is  situated  on  the 
high  land  overlooking  the  village  on  the  west  side, 
and  is  a  place  of  much  natural  beauty,  which  has 
been  greatly  increased  by  tasteful  arrangement  of  the 
grounds,  and  beautiful  memorials  erected  to  the 
dead. 

Business. — The  Town  of  Methuen  was  at  first 
almost  exclusively  an  agricultural  community.  Still 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  there  was  a  variety  of 
occupations  in  the  town  at  an  early  day.  There  are 
traditions  of  coopers,  tanners,  hatters,  shoemakers, 
morocco-dressers,   and  there    is    mention   of  "Iron 


works  "  on  the  Spicket,  in  that  part  of  Methuen  now 
within  the  limits  of  Lawrence.  Probably  there  were 
persons  in  the  town  to  make  almost  everything 
required  for  use  by  the  inhabitants.  There  was  no 
village,  and  these  mechanics  were  scattered  over  the 
town,  and  at  first  probably  found  small  market  for 
their  products  outside  of  the  community  immediately 
around  them.  The  farmers  were  so  far  from  market 
that  their  money  incomes  must  have  been  very  small. 
They  depended  on  the  city  of  Salem  as  a  market  for 
their  produce,  and  their  wood  and  timber  was  rafted 
to  Newburyport.  Hemp  and  flax  perhaps  found  a 
market  to  some  extent  in  Londonderry. 

These  places  were  the  only  outlets  of  importance 
for  their  surplus  products,  until  after  the  city  of 
Lowell  was  founded,  when  everything,  except  wood* 
was  carried  there,  and  the  farmers  found  the  new 
market  greatly  for  their  advantage.  Lowell  con- 
tinued to  be  the  principal  market  for  agricultural 
products,  until  the  building  of  Lawrence  furnished  a 
more  convenient  and,  in  some  respects,  better  market 
than  Lowell,  and  gave  the  farmers  of  Methuen  as 
good  facilities  for  the  successful  cultivation  of  the 
land  as  can  be  found  in  any  part  of  New  England. 
Nevertheless,  it  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  population 
of  Methuen,  outside  of  the  village,  is  no  larger  now 
than  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolutionary  War.  It 
is  even  doubtful  if  there  is  a  much  greater  acreage 
of  cleared  land  now  than  at  that  time.  It  is  not  to  be 
suppo-ed,  however,  that  there  are  no  more  farmers 
now  than  then,  or  that  the  value  of  the  agriculture  of 
the  town  is  no  greater  than  it  was  a  century  ago. 
The  system  of  farming  is  entirely  changed,  and  the 
product  of  a  single  acre  now  frequently  has  a  greater 
value  than  the  entire  crop  of  a  large  farm  in  the 
olden  time. 

From  the  old  traditions,  we  should  judge  that  the 
manufacture  of  hats  has  been  carried  on  in  Methuen 
from  a  very  early  date.  There  are  several  places 
pointed  out  in  the  east  part  of  the  town,  as  the  site  of 
ancient  hatters"  shops.  The  work  was  done  entirely 
by  hand,  no  doubt  in  a  small  way  at  first,  and  half  a 
dozen  men  or  less  could  carry  on  the  whole  business 
of  a  shop.  Within  the  memory  of  many  hatters  now 
living,  the  manufacture  was  done  entirely  in  this  way. 
But,  with  the  introduction  of  machinery,  the  business 
has  been  concentrated  into  a  few  factories,  by  which 
the  production  has  largely  increased.  Nearly  all  the 
hats  now  made  in  the  town,  are  manufactured  at  the 
factories  of  James  Ingalls  and  J.  Milton  Tenney. 

A  similar  statement  would  perhaps  be  true  of  the 
shoe  business,  which  for  many  years  has  been  an  im- 
portant industry  in  Methuen.  In  the  early  days  shoe- 
making  was  not  carried  on  to  so  great  an  extent  as 
hatting.  But  within  the  recollection  of  many  now 
living,  there  was  a  shoemaker's  shop  in  every  neigh- 
borhood and  at  almost  every  house. 

Shoes  were  all  made  by  hand,  and  the  workmen 
took  out  the  stock,  all  cut,  from  the  shop  of  their  em- 


792 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


ployer,  and  carried  it  home  to  make  up.  In  tliose 
days  to  be  a  shoemaker  was  to  know  how  to  make  an 
entire  shoe.  Farmers'  and  shoemakers'  wives  and 
daughters  "  bound"  shoes,  and  the  board  of  the  shoe- 
makers formed  an  important  part  of  the  income  in 
many  families.  It  would  have  been  liard  to  find  a 
spot  in  Methuen,  where  in  the  still  summer  days,  the 
sound  of  the  shoemaker's  hammer  did  not  penetrate. 
But  after  the  war  came  on,  and  labor  became  scarce, 
machinery  was  devised  to  do  the  work  which  had 
been  performed  by  hand,  and  the  business  began  to 
centre  into  factories,  like  hatting,  where,  by  the  use 
of  machinery,  the  production  is  largely  increased. 

In  past  times  it  is  probable  that  more  persons  in 
Methuen  have  been  dependent  on  the  shoe  business 
for  a  livelihood,  than  on  the  manufacture  of  hats.  At 
present  the  shoe  factory  of  Tenney  &  Co.,  is  the  only 
one  in  operation  in  Methuen. 

The  first  store  in  town  was  opened  by  Abial  Howe, 
at  a  building  on  Howe  Street,  nearly  opposite  the 
house  of  Charles  L.  Tozier.  The  exact  date  is  un- 
known,but  it  is  within  the  recollection  of  persons  now 
living.  Later,  Esquire  Russ  opened  another  store  a 
little  south  of  the  Russ  place,  but  it  does  not  appear 
that  either  of  them  had  an  extensive  business. 

It  is  not  known  precisely  when  Spicket  Falls  was 
first  utilized  as  a  water-power.  A  deed  is  in  existence 
from  the  widow  of  John  Morrill,  dated  December, 
1709,  in  which  she  conveys  to  Robert  Swan,  for  the 
sum  of  thirty  pounds,  one-fourth  of  a  saw-mill  and 
land  "  on  Spicket  River  Falls,  the  mill  that  was  built 
by  and  belonged  to  and  amongst  Robert  Swan,  John 
Morrill  and  Elisha  Davis  "  Without  doubt  this  was 
the  first  mill  built.  Afterwards  a  grist-mill  was  built 
on  each  side  of  the  river,  and  as  there  was  not  busi- 
ness enough  to  keep  them  both  running,  it  was  agreed 
between  them  that  they  should  run  on  alternate  weeks. 
This  arrangement  was  kept  up  until  the  cotton  factory 
was  built.  The  first  cotton  factory  was  built  some- 
where near  1812,  by  Stephen  Minot,  Esq.,  of  Haver- 
hill, on  the  north  side  of  the  river. 

This  was  burned  in  1818,  and  soon  after  rebuilt. 
In  July,  1821,  the  whole  privilege  and  lands  con- 
nected therewith  were  purchased  by  the  Methuen 
Company.  The  old  carding  or  fulling-mill,  which 
had  stood  on  the  south  side  of  the  Falls,  was  moved 
away  and  converted  into  a  dwelling-house,  which  now 
stands  on  the  north  side  of  Pelham  Street.  In  1826- 
27  the  brick  mill  was  built  as  it  now  stands.  In  1864 
the  property  came  into  the  possession  of  David 
Nevins,  Esq.,  by  whom  it  was  largely  increased  in  ca- 
pacity and  value,  and  to  whose  enterprise  the  town 
is  greatly  indebted  for  its  prosperity  in  recent  years. 
He  erected  a  large  addition  to  the  brick  mill,  and  in- 
troduced the  manufacture  of  jute,  which  was  contin- 
ued until  his  death  in  1881.  The  mill  has  since  been 
kept  in  operation  by  his  family.  The  principal  man- 
ufacture of  the  Methuen  Company  has  been  cotton 
goods.     "Methuen  duck  "  has  been  for  many  years  a 


well-known  article  in  the  market,  and  "  Methuen 
ticking  "  has  always  been  a  principal  article  of  man- 
ufacture. After  the  death  of  Mr.  Nevins  the  jute 
machinery  was  removed,  and,  in  addition  to  duck  and 
ticking,  the  Methuen  Company  now  manufacture 
awning  material  and  light  and  heavy  cotton  flannels. 

In  1824  a  saw-mill  and  grist-mill  were  built  where 
the  Methuen  woolen-mill  stands.  They  came  into 
the  possession  of  Samuel  A.  Harvey,  Esq.,  by  whom 
the  business  of  the  respective  mills  was  carried  on  for 
some  years.  In  1864  the  Methuen  Woolen  Company 
bought  out  the  privilege,  and  erected  a  factory  where 
the  manufactui'e  of  woolen  goods  has  been  since  car- 
ried on.  The  Arlington  Mills  have  a  large  factory  in 
Methuen,  near  the  Lawrence  line,  built  in  1881,  de- 
voted to  the  manufacture  of  fine  cotton  yarn.  The 
other  mills  of  this  enterprising  and  prosperous  cor- 
poration are  situated  a  little  below  on  the  Spicket, 
but  within  the  limit  of  Lawrence. 

The  extensive  chemical  works  of  Lee,  Blackburn 
&  Co.  are  also  situated  in  Methuen.  They  produce 
commercial  fertilizers  and  chemicals  used  in  manu- 
facturing processes. 

The  variety  of  manufacturing  interests  in  the  town, 
the  nearness  to  Lawrence,  and  close  connection  by  the 
horse-railroad,  which  has  been  in  operation  since 
1867,  have  combined  in  times  of  business  depression 
to  prevent  that  utter  stagnation  in  business,  which 
has  been  so  severely  felt  in  isolated  manufacturing 
towns  having  only  one  important  industry. 

We  have  thus  presented  such  of  the  principal 
features  in  the  history  of  Methuen,  past  and  present, 
as  space  will  permit.  Many  details  have  been  omit- 
ted, and  some  subjects  altogether  neglected,  which 
would  doubtless  be  of  interest  to  those  acquainted  with 
the  town,  but  the  limits  assigned  to  this  paper  will 
not  admit  of  an  exhaustive  history. 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


DAVID   NEVINS. 

David  Nevins  was  born  in  Salem,  New  Hampshire, 
December  12,  1809.  His  parents  were  John  Nevins 
and  Achsah  Swan,  who  removed  to  Methuen,  the 
native  place  of  his  mother,  while  David  was  quite 
young.  He  received  such  education  as  could  be  ac- 
quired at  the  public  schools,  and  in  1824,  at  the 
age  of  fourteen  was,  apprenticed  to  Hall  J.  Howe 
&  Co.,  of  Boston,  a  dry  goods  commission  house, 
and  selling  agents  of  the  Methuen  Company,  then 
just  beginning  business.  He  remained  with  this 
firm  until  he  reached  the  age  of  twenty-one  years, 
and  there  laid  the  foundation  of  those  business  habits 
and  methods  which  contributed  so  largely  to  his  sub- 
sequent success.  Immediately  after  coming  of  age  he 
entered  into  partnership  with  Philip  Anthony,  of  New 


^ng?~hvAH  Ritchie 


METHUEN. 


793 


Bedford,  and  carried  on  a  flourishing  business,  fitting 
out  whaling  vessels  and  merchantmen  for  long  voy- 
ages. During  several  years  of  his  life  he  kept  up  his 
interest  in  shipping,  in  connection  with  his  firm,  and 
managed  this  branch  of  his  extensive  business  so 
skillfully  as  to  make  it  also  one  of  his  most  profitable 
ventures.  In  1838  he  married  Miss  Eliza  S.  Coffin, 
of  Nantucket,  an  estimable  lady  who  still  survives 
him.  After  remaining  in  New  Bedford  eight  years, 
he  left,  and  formed  a  partnership  w'ith  George  Baty 
Blake,  in  the  dry-goods  importing  business,  under  the 
firm  name  of  "  George  B.  Blake  &  Co.,"  in  Boston, 
and  "  Nevins  &  Co.,"  in  New  York. 

While  a  member  of  this  firm,  he  occasionally  visited 
Europe,  where  he  made  the  purchases  for  the  house, 
and  thus  acquired  an  extensive  acquaintance  with  the 
manufacturers  of  England  and  the  Continent.  Mr. 
Blake  retired  from  the  firm  in  1845,  and  the  New 
York  house  continued  business  under  its  old  name. 
Soon  after,  Mr.  Nevins  re-established  the  Boston 
house  under  the  name  of  "Nevins  &  Co."  In  1846 
he  first  became  engaged  in  manufacturing,  when  with 
E.  R.  Mudge  and  others,  he  built  the  Victory  Mills, 
at  Schuylerville,  New  York,  in  which  he  was  always 
a  large  owner.  After  the  financial  crash  in  1857,  he, 
with  George  Howe  purchased  the  Pemberton  Mills, 
in  Lawrence,  which  had  been  built  and  proved  a 
financial  failure.  Under  the  new  management,  the 
mills  were  run  with  great  success  until  their  fall  on 
the  evening  of  January  10,  1860.  Mr.  Nevins  then 
purchased  the  ruins,  formed  a  new  company,  and  re- 
built the  mills,  getting  them  ready  for  operation 
early  in  the  spring  of  1861,  and  continued  to  operate 
them  as  president  of  the  corporation  and  selling 
agent,  successfully  and  continuously  until  his  death. 
In  1864  he  purchased  the  entire  plant  of  the  Methuen 
Company,  which  had  suspended  operations  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war.  The  mill  was  not  put  in  opera- 
tion, however,  until  the  succeeding  year. 

In  1870  the  mill  was  greatly  enlarged,  and  in  1871 
he  introduced  the  manufacture  of  fine  and  coarse  jute 
fabrics.  When  he  bought  the  mills,  they  furnished 
employment  to  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  persons  ; 
when  he  died  they  required  six  hundred  and  fifty 
operatives,  and  his  enterprise  had  been  instrumental 
in  largely  increasing  the  population  and  business  of 
the  town.  About  1868,  the  Stevens'  Linen  Works,  of 
Webster,  Ma-s.,  came  into  his  hands  through  the 
failure  of  the  former  proprietors,  and  by  his  energy 
and  ability  it  soon  became  a  successful  business  en- 
terprise, and  continued  so  until  his  death.  About 
1874  he  purchased  tlie  mills  of  the  India  Bagging 
Company,  at  Salem,  Mass.,  and  two  years  later,  the 
entire  plant  of  the  Bengal  Bagging  Company,  of 
Salem,  both  of  which  had  been  unsuccessful  business 
ventures.  He  soon  made  a  success  of  both,  and  so 
increased  the  production  of  jute  fabrics  at  these  and 
his  other  mills,  that  at  the  time  of  his  death  he  was 
the  largest  manufacturer  of  this  stajjle  in  the  United 


States.  His  manufacture  was  not  confined  to  one 
article,  but  embraced  the  four  great  staples  of  cotton, 
wool,  jute  and  flax,  and  with  marked  success  in  all. 
He  carried  on  his  business  so  successfully  that  he  ac- 
cumulated a  large  fortune,  and  directly  employed  at 
his  death,  probably  two  thousand  people,  and  in- 
directly afibrded  employment  to  many  more. 

His  extraordinary  business  capacity  was  shown  in 
nothing  more  clearly,  than  in  his  ability  to  take  up  a 
broken  down  business  enterprise,  infuse  into  it  new 
life,  and  make  it  profitable  for  himself  and  the  com- 
munity in  which  it  happened  to  be  located.  He  was 
an  excellent  judge  of  men,  and  rarely  made  a  mistake 
in  the  selection  of  those  whom  he  was  obliged  to 
place  in  important  positions.  So  systematically  and 
perfectly  had  he  organized  his  immense  business,  that 
at  the  time  of  his  death  all  parts  continued  to  run, 
like  a  perfect  machine,  without  a  jar  or  break,  a 
splendid  tribute  to  his  foresight  and  ability,  and  the 
capacity  and  faithfulness  of  those  to  whom  the  details 
of  his  business  were  entrusted.  Endowed  with  an 
iron  constitution  he  was  accustomed  from  early  boy- 
hood to  his  latest  days,  to  severe  and  long  continued 
labor,  and  no  task  was  too  difficult  for  him  to  under- 
take. His  business  career  was  characterized  from  the 
first  by  an  indomitable  energ}%  far-sighted  policy  and 
an  unvarying  attention  to  all  the  details.  Through 
all  the  financial  revulsions  of  over  half  a  century  his 
busineiis  credit  i-emained  untarnished,  and  an  unvary- 
ing success  rewarded  his  strict  adherence  to  rules  of 
probity  and  honor.  In  addition  to  his  extraordinary 
mental  powers,  keen,  quick  and  accurate  in  solving 
the  intricate  questions  presented  to  him,  was  a  rare 
taste  and  love  for  fine  literature  which  amidst  all  his 
cares  and  duties  he  found  time  to  gratify  and  cultivate. 
He  was  a  devoted  student  of  Shakspeare,  Milton  and 
the  old  English  classics,  and  withal  was  remarkably 
well  informed  on  all  questions  of  the  time.  He  de- 
lighted in  nature,  and  whether  driving  his  horses  over 
his  favorite  country  roads,  or  interesting  himself  in 
the  details  of  his  farm,  he  manifested  a  fondness  for 
her  beauty  and  works.  He  took  great  delight  in 
the  management  of  his  farms,  always  keeping  them 
in  a  high  state  of  cultivation,  and  giviug  personal 
supervision  to  the  details.  He  had  a  strong  affection 
for  the  home  of  his  boyhood,  and  always  took  an  ac- 
tive interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  town.  He  seldom 
failed  to  be  present  at  the  town-meetings,  and  partici- 
pate in  the  debates  over  town  matters.  Within  two 
weeks  of  his  death  he  attended  the  annual  town- 
meeting,  and  as  usual  took  an  active  interest  in  the 
proceedings.  Mr.  Nevins  was  of  a  social,  genial 
nature,  generous  in  his  instincts  and  liked  to  enter- 
tain his  friends.  In  personal  a^^pearance  he  was 
nearly  six  feet  in  stature,  had  a  superb  figure  and  a 
remai'kably  handsome,  refined  and  intellectual  head 
and  face,  and  presented  a  commanding  and  patrician 
bearing. 

A  few  days  before  his  death,  he  took  a  severe  cold, 


794 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


which  gradually  grew  worse,  and  developed  heart 
difficulty,  causing  his  death  in  the  midst  of  his  ex- 
tremely active  and  useful  career,  on  the  19th  of 
March,  1881. 

He  left  two  sons, — David  Nevins  and  Henry  C. 
Nevins,  who  with  their  mother  have  continued  his 
extensive  and  varied  business  enterprises. 


CHAPTEE    L. 
GEORGETOWN. 


BY  HENRY  M.   NELSON. 


INTRODUCTORY    AND   TOPOGRAPHICAL. 

The  town  of  Georgetown,  the  twenty-seventh  in 
the  sisterhood  of  Essex  County,  and  numbering  three 
hundred  and  three  in  the  line  of  date  of  incorpora 
tion  of  the  towns  then  existing  within  the  limits  of 
the  State,  has  for  its  natal  day  April  21,  1838.  Two 
municipalities  besides  Georgetown  were  at  that  ses- 
sion of  the  General  Court  granted  permission  "to  be." 
One,  a  poor,  feeble  child  of  the  commonwealth,  on 
the  extreme  western  border,  was,  just  a  week  before, 
in  exquisite  raillery  it  would  seem,  ushered  into  the 
family  as  Boston  Corner,  and  then,  after  a  few  brief 
years,  with  its  square  mile  of  territory  and  seventy- 
three  inhabitants,  was  quietly  or  otherwise  disposed 
of  to  our  New  York  neighbors.  The  other,  known 
originally  as  "  Erving's  Grant,"  became  the  town  of 
Erving,  in  Franklin  County.  That  town  has  had  a 
moderate  growth  in  a  fairly,  fertile  agricultural  dis- 
trict, and  to-day  continues  with  but  slight  increase 
from  one  census  point  to  another.  Georgetown  is  lo- 
cated about  six  miles  northerly  of  the  geographical 
centre  of  the  county,  and  on  the  southern  border  of 
the  Merrimac  towns.  It  has  an  outline  of  five  sides 
known  as  quinquangular,  having  that  number  of 
rather  unequal  sides,  but  bounded,  however,  by  four 
towns  only,  viz :  Boxford,  extending  along  the  west 
and  south;  Rowley  on  the  southeast;  Newbury  on 
the  east;  Groveland  along  the  entire  north;  and 
without  any  marked  change  of  boundary  line,  exists 
to-day  as  when  set  off  from  Rowley,  the  mother-terri- 
tory, nearly  a  half-century  ago.  Its  greatest  length 
is  from  west-northwest  to  east-southeast,  nearly  five 
and  three-fourths  miles.  This  is  from  the  angle  north 
of  the  house  of  Mrs.  Edward  Poor,  on  West  Street,  to 
a  point  about  one-half  mile  southeast  of  the  new 
cemetery  in  Byfield,  and  its  extreme  width,  three  and 
one-half  miles,  is  from  just  north  of  the  Thurlow  es- 
tate, on  Thurlow  Street,  to  the  noted  boundary-mark 
where  Rowley,  Boxford  and  Georgetown  lines  diverge 
a  large  red  oak  tree  of  which  the  charred  stump  now 


remains,  known  from  early  times  as  the  "  Three  Sis- 
ters." A  Sunday  raccoon  hunt  by  some  of  our  local 
sportsmen  is  understood  to  tell  the  story  of  its  de- 
struction, a  score  or  more  of  years  ago. 

The  seventy-first  deg'ree  west,  Greenwich,  at  the 
Boxford  boundary  is  just  west  of  the  B.  &  M.  R.  R., 
across  which  the  railroad  diverges  to  the  west  of  the 
line  near  the  residence  of  H.  P.  Chaplin,  Esq.,  cross- 
ing Georgetown  village  very  nearly  where  the  First 
Congregational  Church  stands  and  Main  Street  a  few 
rods  northwest  of  the  centre,  having  the  eastern  cor- 
ner of  Groveland  and  the  villages  of  West  Newbury 
and  Merrimac  on  the  same  line  at  the  north.  Direct- 
ly south  is  the  most  westerly  section  of  Lynn,  East 
Saugus,  West  Peabody,  Middleton  and  Boxford  vil- 
lage. Located  within  the  latitude  of  42°  42'  to  45', 
this  town  has  exactly  on  the  western  line  the  city  of 
Lawrence,  the  denser  part  of  Methuen,  the  river  side 
of  North  Andover,  West  Boxford,  and  eastwardly  the 
entire  town  of  Rowley,  the  Great  Neck  district  of 
Ipswich,  and  along  the  ocean  all  that  part  of  Plum 
Island  within  Rowley  and  Ipswich.  The  nearest 
point  to  the  open  Atlantic,  from  the  village  centre  on 
the  air  line,  is  across  Hog  Isl'and  and  just  south  of 
the  division  on  Plum  Island  between  Rowley  and 
Ipswich,  about  ten  and  one-half  miles.  The  entrance 
to  Ipswich  River,  the  same  distance.  In  favoring 
conditions  of  wind  and  atmosphere,  the  beating  of  the 
surf  on  Plum  Island,  after  or  during  a  gale,  and  Ips- 
wich beach  before  the  storm  is  upon  us,  is  distinctly 
heard  in  this  town.  The  nearest  point  to  Merrimac 
river,  is  at  the  boundary  between  Bradford  and  Grove- 
land, distance  three  and  one-fifth  miles.  Direct  line 
to  Haverhill  bridge  railroad  station  five  and  one-half 
miles.  Nearest  point  to  State  line,  a  point  about 
midway  of  Plaistow,  N.  H.,  just  north  of  Kenoza 
Lake,  six  and  three-fourths  miles.  City  of  Lawrence 
eight  and  one-half  miles  ;  and  the  factory  bells  are 
heard  frequently  and  very  clearly.  The  tide-water  at 
Byfield  not  quite  four  miles  distant. 

The  topographical  features  of  the  town  are  first,  the 
Baldpate  as  the  most  prominent  elevation,  extending 
in  its  foot  hills  nearly  to  Central  Street  on  its  western 
side,  and  includes  the  entire  southwestern  section  of 
the  town.  It  attains  at  its  highest  altitude  about  four 
hundred  feet  above  the  sea,  with  a  broad,  level  tract 
at  its  northeast  base,  terminating  sharply  at  Rock 
Pond.  This  hill  was  known  as  Baldpate  (or  including 
the  hill  in  Boxford  near  by,  known  as  Shaven-crown) 
as  the  Bald  hills  from  early  times.  The  divisional 
line  between  Baldpate  and  its  neighbor  is  distinctly 
defined,  extending  over  the  town  limits  just  beyond 
the  boundary  line.  This  is  a  well-watered  country, 
Lake  Raynorand  a  small  pond  at  the  head  of  Raynor 
with  a  swampy  margin,  both  in  Boxford,  absorbing 
all  of  the  several  streams,  coursing  down  the  southern 
slope.  The  eastern  water-shed  is  into  the  westerly 
branch  of  Pen  Brook,  while  the  northwestern  flowing 
into  Half-Moon  Meadow  reaches  Parker  River  just 


GEORGETOWN. 


795 


westerly  of  Scrag  Pond.  The  Uptake  district,  in  the 
northwest,  has  its  southern  side  only  in  Georgetown, 
quite  precipitous  and  ragged.  This  district  is  princi- 
pally in  Groveland.  Another  hilly  section  west  uf 
Pen  Brook  and  east  of  Elm  Street,  separated  from  the 
Baldpate  district  by  the  plain  at  South  Georgetown 
called  in  early  times  Fair-face,  extends  from  a  gentle 
upland  at  the  northern  end  of  this  section,  three- 
fourths  of  a  mile  southerly,  to  an  abrupt  and  peculiar 
termination,  just  in  the  rear  of  the  residence  of  S.  K. 
Herrick,  anciently  the  home  of  Capt.  Benj.  Adams, 
designated  formerly  as  "Tanner  Adams."  This  is  the 
"  Red  Shanks  "  locality,  and  has  been  known  as  such 
for  at  least  one  hundred  and  sixty  years ;  why  it  bears 
this  name  is  difficult  to  conjecture,  although  it  may 
have  been  from  the  color  of  the  rock  formation.  East 
Street  traverses  a  natural  notch  up  the  western  slope 
of  this  district.  This  tract  at  its  highest  point  is  not 
far  from  two  hundred  feet  above  the  ocean,  and  has 
such  singular  features,  that  experienced  travellers 
and  scientists  as  Profs.  C.  H.  Hitchcock  and  J.  H. 
Huntington  have  noticed  and  remarked  its  peculiari- 
ties. 

Old  Californians  have  claimed,  that  this,  with  the 
moraines  and  broken  country  on  the  opposite  side  of 
Fair-face  Plains,  had  striking  resemblances  to  the  min- 
eral districts,  with  which  they  were  femiliar,  and  as 
evidences  are  apparent,  mineral  deposits  have  been 
sought  for.  The  water-shed  is  toward  Pen  Brook  on 
the  one  side,  and  the  branch  of  Pen  Brook  which  flows 
west  of  Elm  Street,  on  the  other.  Still  another  ele- 
vated locality  in  this  town  was  designated  as  the 
Rocky  Hills,  from  the  earliest  period,  showing  that 
familiarity  with  the  peculiar  natural  features  of  the 
place,  which  results  in  a  characteristic  name.  Along 
the  base  of  this  rocky  front,  may  have  been  an  In- 
dian trail,  travelled  by  them  while  on  their  inland 
journeys,  and  from  the  southern  margin  of  this 
ragged  ledge,  our  fathers  no  doubt  first  saw  the  coun- 
try beyond.  From  this  point,  just  in  the  rear  of  the 
house  of  E.  S.  Sherburne,  begins  an  extended  tract  of 
upland  of  varied  character,  moderate  elevation  and 
of  peculiar  features,  u'^like  any  others  in  town,  more 
especially  in  the  northern  section,  or  in  that  part 
known  in  modern  times  as  Atwood's  Hill.  Here  is  a 
sharp  ascent  of  perhaps  one  hundred  feet,  rising  quite 
abruptly  from  the  narrow  intervale  of  Pen  Brook  be- 
low. The  country  eastwardly  is  broken  and  undulat- 
ing, rising,  however,  on  the  south  at  the  Searl  place, 
to  a  sufficient  height  to  give  an  attractive  prospect. 
This  upland  region  extends  to  Tenney  Street  on  the 
southeast,  with  a  descent  on  the  northeast,  to  the  in- 
dentation known  as  Spruce  swamp,  encircling  a  di- 
minutive pond  of  the  same  name.  The  water-shed 
from  this  tract,  embracing  the  country  from  North 
Street  to  Marlborough,  oi  Elders  Plain,  as  formerly 
called,  and  Tenney  Street,  is  into  Pen  Brook  along' 
the  southwest  to  the  northwest  side,  and  on  the  north- 
ern side  into  Parker  River  and  also  into  the  brook, 


which,  flowing  from  Spruce  Pond  by  a  northerly  course, 
runs  into  Parker  river. 

In  the  east  the  waters  take  a  new  channel,  seeking- 
their  level  at  a  branch  of  Muddy  Brook,  one  of  the 
main  feeders  of  Mill  River,  that  prominent  feature 
in  the  topography  and  history  of  the  mother  town  of 
Rowley.  This  same  brook  also  receives  the  waters 
of  the  southerly  slope  of  Long  Hill,  an  elevation  hav- 
ing an  altitude  of  two  hundred  and  thirty-three  feet, 
the  summit  of  which  is  in  Georgetown,  with  its  easter- 
ly side  in  Rowley.  Here  again  the  water  fall  of  the 
north  is  into  Parker  River,  through  Wheeler's  Brook, 
and  one  or  two  of  its  branches ;  but  further  to  the 
eastward  into  Great  Swamp  Brook,  another  of  the 
numerous  feeders  of  Mill  River.  Between  the  eastern 
branch  of  Wheeler's  Brook  (a  stream  which  enters 
Parker  River  in  Newbury,  about  one-half  mile  from 
the  town  boundary)  and  Great  Swamp  Brook,  is  a 
considerable  part  of  the  Byfield  district,  of  slight  ele- 
vation, most  of  the  area  being  a  plain  of  light  soil, 
known  on  its  eastern  side  as  "  Rye  Plain,"  from  a 
very  early  date. 

In  tracing  the  brooks  and  streams  of  the  towii, 
Parker  River  naturally  becomes  the  central  object. 
It  flows  along  the  northern  boundary,  at  some  points 
so  near,  as  if  with  an  eagerness  to  cross,  and  at  none 
of  its  windings,  hardly  three-fourths  of  a  mile  within 
the  town.  Its  head  waters  are  but  a  short  distance 
from  Great  Pond  in  Andover,  fed  by  a  small  pond, 
and  a  few  streams  in  West  Boxford.  Entering  George- 
town its  first  course  is  through  Haselltine's  meadow, 
absorbing  the  brook  from  Half-moon  meadow,  then 
taking  Scrag  Pond  in  its  course,  now  a  mere  quag- 
mire of  bushes,  it  reaches  Rock  Pond,  a  fine  sheet  ot 
pure  water  of  forty  or  more  acres,  and  hurrying  on  by 
the  outlet  at  its  northern  end,  it  enters  by  a  northerly 
curve,  at  about  eighty  rods  distance.  Lake  Pentucket, 
of  perhaps  one  hundred  acres,  and  passes  out  at  its 
southeastern  margin.  At  this  point,  in  volume,  it 
begins  to  show  its  powers  as  the  servant  of  the  com- 
ing man.  The  Englishman  who,  on  his  return  home, 
wrote  such  a  glowing  account  of  Parker  River,  which 
he  claimed  to  have  explored  a  score  or  two  of  miles 
into  the  interior,  enlarging  upon  its  great  width,  mak- 
ing it  in  resource  almost  a  rival  to  the  Thames,  drew 
on  his  imagination  like  a  true  Munchausen  or  a  mod- 
ern speculator  in  Western  and  Florida  lands,  and  no 
doubt  had  a  satisfactory  sale,  for  a  history  so  marvel- 
ous and  entertaining. 

One-half  mile  beyond  the  outlet,  a  vigorous  brook, 
it  receives  through  Pen  Brook,  all  the  surplus  of 
Lake  Raynor  and  the  adjacent  country,  the  water- 
shed of  an  area  of  not  less  than  two  thousand  acres  ,* 
this  grand  tribute  added,  after  receiving  a  slight  stream 
from  the  north,  and  the  Spruce  Pond  Brook  near  the 
Hilliard  tannery,  at  a  mile  beyond,  it  reaches  the  ter- 
ritory of  our  northern  neighbor. 

While  at  an  early  period  both  of  ourpo«(/s  were  re- 
corded with  the  names  they  now  bear;  the  stream  be- 


796 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUiNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


tween  Scrag  Pond  and  Eock  Pond  was  named  "  the 
brook  that  runneth  from  Scrag  Pond,"  simply,  that 
part  of  Parker  River  which  connects  Rock  and  Pen- 
tuckets  Ponds  was  " Rock  Pond  Brook,"  and  "that 
which  issueth  out  of  Peutucket  Pond  "  was,  when  des- 
ignated, recorded  as  Crane  Brook. 

Aside  from  the  limited  Long  Hill  section,  which 
is  a  supply  through  Muddy  Brook  for  Mill  River, 
wholly  a  Rowley  stream,  until  in  the  salt  marshes 
northeast  of  the  ox-pasture  it  unites  with  the  Parker, 
and  together  they  journey  to  the  sea  ;  the  whole  rain- 
fall of  this  town,  besides  that  which  falls  on  two  or 
three  thousand  acres  of  land  in  West  Boxford  and 
North  Andover  with  that  along  Lake  Raynor,  seeking 
its  natural  level,  enters  Parker  River,  either  before 
crossing  into  Groveland  or  even  after  reaching  New- 
bury. 

These  brooks  and  streams — seven  in  number,  and 
their  branches,  which  are  of  themselves  permanent 
brooks — are  bounded  by  meadows  of  varying  width, 
in  places  a  mere  fringe  of  intervale,  but  mostly  of  a 
width  of  many  rods,  of  peaty  soil,  aggregating  not 
liess  than  five  hundred  acress.  This  meadow-land  of 
itself  was  a  prize  in  the  eyes  of  the  first  settlers. 
These  brooks,  bordered  by  such  extensive  natural 
clearings,  had  a  value  then  that  to-day  we  can 
scarcely  realize.  Rowley  had  none  of  these  fresh 
meadows  at  or  near  the  town.  The  "  large  accommo- 
dations" offered  by  the  General  Court  of  Massachu- 
setts Bay  to  Mr.  Ezekiel  Rogers  and  his  company  in 
the  winter  of  1638  included  these  especially  valuable 
lands  in  the  territory  now  known  as  Georgetown. 
The  location  was  accepted,  however,  without  any 
definite  knowledge  of  the  land  of  the  interior.  Neigh- 
bors near  enough  for  aid  and  assistance  when  needed, 
with  land  sufficient  for  the  support  of  the  plantation, 
was  one  requisite ;  another  was  water  communication 
with  Boston.  Both  were  included  in  the  offered 
grant.  All  the  seaboard  in  the  vicinity  of  Boston 
had  been  already  occupied. 

Between  Newbury,  a  compact  little  village  of  four 
or  five  years'  growth,  not  far  from  the  entrance  to  the 
river  Parker,  and  Ipswich,  already  a  plant  of  strength 
and  vigor,  having  watchful  friends  at  court,  was  a 
nearly  level  tract  of  three  or  more  miles  in  width,  and 
at  Boston  was  probably  not  under.-tood  to  be  included 
in  the  privileges  of  the  already-established  towns. 
So  near  the  doors  of  both  towns  this  pleasant  locality 
became  familiar  to  those  who  journeyed  from  Ipswich 
to  Newbury  to  and  fro ;  and  as  the  limits  of  the  two 
towns  may. not  have  been  very  carefully  drawn,  a 
few  settlers,  more  adventurous  or  selfish  than  their 
associates,  had  opened  up  their  little  clearings,  and 
it  is  probable  had  settled  here. 

The  winter  of  1638  and  1639,  the  first  winter  of 
Mr.  Rogers  and  his  twenty  families  in  New  England, 
was  spent  in  Salem,  and  was  one  of  suspense  and  un- 
certainty. The  original  company  numbered  perhaps 
one  hundred  persons.     One  hundred  and  twenty  pas- 


sengers was  the  limit  at  this  time  by  colonial  law  for 
a  vessel  of  two  hundred  tons  burden. 

Mr.  Rogers,  according  to  Johnson,  had  given 
Messrs.  Eaton  and  Davenport  encouragement,  and 
perhaps  a  partial  promise,  that  he  would  join  them  in 
the  Connecticut  colony,  and  some  of  the  company 
having  relatives  there,  as  Matthew  Boyes  it  is  known 
had,  a  party  were  sent  around  to  investigate  and 
report. 

A  disturbed  feeling  having  for  some  time  existed  in 
the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  at  the  widespread 
movement  toward  emigration  to  Connecticut,  by 
planters  already  settled  in  Watertown  and  other 
places,  the  officials  were  led  to  make  strenuous  efforts 
to  retain  the  new  arrivals,  and  special  inducements 
were  offered. 

Mr.  Rogers  was  well  known  to  the  Puritans,  both 
here  and  in  England,  as  a  man  of  marked  ability  and 
high  moral  worth,  and  to  secure  him  and  his  company, 
some  of  whom  were  men  of  education  and  perhaps  of 
fortune,  and  all  of  the  best  material  for  the  building 
of  the  State,  was  a  work  which  promised  good  returns. 
Those  who  were  already  settled  in  these  infant  colo- 
nies were  anxiously  looking  for  emigrants.  Men  and 
women  of  any  rank  or  station  were  welcomed,  who,  to 
maintain  a  pure  faith,  were  ready  to  forswear  all  that 
England,  with  the  ease  and  pomp  of  the  State  Church, 
could  offer.  More  than  once  had  the  General  Court 
ordered  public  thanksgiving  for  the  "arrival  of  per- 
sons of  special  use  and  quality,"  and  for  "safe  arrival 
of  ships  and  many  passengers."  No  mere  adventurers 
were  wanted;  no  schismatics;  these  were  returned 
from  whence  they  came,  and  shipmasters  warned, 
under  penalty,  not  to  repeat  the  offence. 

Some  rivalry  is  manifest  toward  Connecticut,  prob- 
ably of  a  fairly  friendly  nature ;  but  as  regards  Mr. 
Rogers  and  his  company  with  that  colony,  the 
inducements  to  remain  were  presented  so  forcibly 
that  on  the  return  of  the  party  sent  for  investigation, 
a  definite  settlement  was  made,  and  the  location  for 
the  plantation  fixed.  Another  moving  cause  for  the 
intense  pressure  used  to  keep  them  within  the  limits 
of  the  Massachusetts  Colony,  was  the  knowledge  that 
this  little  company  were  but  the  pioneers  of  a  grand 
exodus  of  "  many  persons  of  quality  in  England,  who 
depended  on  Mr.  Rogers  to  choose  a  fit  place  for 
them."  The  privations  of  the  earlier  settlers  had  in 
a  degree  parsed ;  the  country  in  the  vicinity  of  Bos- 
ton, as  has  been  said,  was  occupied  and  gradually 
becoming  cleared ;  roads  opened  from  one  town  to 
another ;  the  foundations  of  a  college  laid,  and  a  per- 
manent occupation  of  the  country  assured.  Mr.  Ro- 
gers had  confidential  relations  with  families  of  influ- 
ence in  England  ;  he  came  here  as  their  trusted  agent, 
and,  in  consequence,  these  especially  "  large  accom- 
modations" were  granted  him,  with  the  fond  antici- 
pation that  at  an  early  day  many  others  would  follow. 
These  families  of  wealth  and  quality,  whoever  they 
wei'e,  will  perhaps  never  be  known  by  us,  and  their 


GEORGETOWN. 


797 


names  are  now  locked  in  oblivion.  Late  researches 
in  England  by  Mr.  Waters,  of  Salem,  however,  show 
intimate  personal  relations  between  the  family  of 
Oliver  Cromwell  and  the  immediate  family  of  Mr. 
Rogers,  and  possibly  they  might  be  traced  from  this 
distinguished  point. 

The  conflict  between  the  Cavalier  and  Roundhead 
soon  raged  madly,  and  thoughts  of  a  voluntary  exile 
to  New  England,  for  peace  of  conscience,  gave  place 
to  hymns  of  triumph  at  home.  The  rise  of  the  Com- 
mons,— the  people ;  a  change  of  a  kind  such  as  the 
world  never  saw  before;  a  king  at  the  tribunal  of  the 
people.  Like  the  image  seen  in  vision  by  the  Eastern 
monarch,  unfortunately  part  was  of  iron  and  part 
clay ;  yet  truly  a  mighty  work  was  accomplished, 
which  the  world  will  never  forget.  All  this  stopped 
emigration,  as  in  a  moment;  and  "Mr.  Ezekiel  Ro- 
gers' plantation"  is  believed  to  have  closed  the  period 
by  which  emigrants  came  here  for  settlement,  as  an 
organized  body,  before  leaving  England. 

In  the  spring  of  1639,  Mr.  Rogers  and  the  new 
planters,  their  jiinnace  laden  with  the  household 
beginnings  of  a  new  republic,  anchored  at  the  place 
designated  for  the  plantation.  Eight  hundred  pounds 
wei'e  expended  to  buy  the  claims  of  the  few  who  had 
preceded  them.  Thomas  Nelson,  the  deputy,  sur- 
veyor, road  locator,  and  the  agent  of  the  Colonial 
government  in  settling  boundary  lines,  gave  of  his 
wealth  to  establish  the  plantation,  and  in  his  will, 
nine  years  later,  dated  in  England,  where  he  was  at 
the  time,  perhaps  there  to  receive  the  estate  of  an 
elder  brother,  killed  at  Marston  Moor,  refers  to 
"  goodman  Seatchwell"  (Shatswell  of  Ipswich),  to 
whom  he  "  payd  eleven  pounds  &  seventeen  pounds" 
for  "  his  fferme,"  probably  one  of  the  settlers  who 
preceded  them. 

Clearing  land,  seed-sowing,  the  erection  of  a  meet- 
ing-house, and  also  several  common  houses  for  shelter, 
occupied  their  first  year.  These  common  houses  were 
the  homes  of  the  two  hundred  or  more  settlers  for 
perhaps  three  years.  The  lands  were  held  and  culti- 
vated in  commonalty,  for  at  least  that  length  of  time. 

Now  begins  the  struggle  for  the  means  of  living. 
The  dependence  on  the  yearly  harvest  for  existence, 
until  the  crops  of  the  next  season  were  gathered,  is 
an  impressive  feature,  both  of  colonial  and  town 
legislation.  Rarely  any  surplus  carried  over,  the 
pressing  need  of  husbanding  all  their  resources,  is 
seen  from  the  beginning  of  the  history  of  this  planta- 
tion ;  and  this  was  but  a  type  of  every  other. 

The  General  Court  passed  a  law  requiring  the 
inspection  of  corn,  to  see  that  none  of  a  quality  fit  for 
human  food  is  heedlessly  fed  to  animals.  Here  at 
the  outset,  with  a  wise  foresight,  a  community-system 
was  established,  where  careful  watch-care  could  be 
had,  the  true  spirit  of  socialism  made  imperative,  and 
all  waste  and  selfishness  prevented. 

Here  was  a  true  paternalgovernment,  and  the  result 
was  a  most  symmetrical  system.     Streets  were  located 


and  lot-laying,  with  a  care  and  exactness  such  as  but 
few,  if  any,  other  town  in  New  England  had.  With- 
out change  or  alteration,  those  streets  exist  to-day, 
and  the  same  careful  system  of  lot-laying  was  inher- 
ited bj^  the  descendants  of  the  first  settlers,  as  will  be 
seen  in  all  town  action  on  the  division  of  lots,  down 
to  a  late  day. 

In  the  fall  of  1639,  the  plantation  was  incorporated, 
and  "M^Ezechi:  Rogers'  plantation  shalbee  called 
Rowley."  No  controversy  or  war  of  words,  as  in  this 
day  ;  but  positive,  immediate  action.  Having  a  lim- 
ited harvest  that  year,  the  General  Court  granted  ex- 
emption from  taxation  in  1640,  because,  says  the 
statute,  "of  their  hindrance  in  planting." 

When  they  forsook  their  common  houses,  it  was  to 
occupy  humble  family  homes,  but  located  so  near 
each  other  that  close  communal  relations  must  for 
some  time  have  continued  to  prevail. 

With  roofs  covered  with  thatch,  there  was  at  all 
times  great  danger  from  fire,  and  one  early  town 
ordinance  called  for  ladders  of  a  certain  length  for 
every  house.  But  it  is  with  the  backwoods  with 
which  we  have  to  do. 

When  the  first  explorations  of  their  territory  in 
the  interior  took  place,  it  is  of  course  impossible  to 
tell.  Naturally,  on  arrival,  curiosity  would  be 
awakened  to  know  what  the  country  eight  miles 
from  the  settlement  had  that  was  of  immediate 
value  to  them.  It  was  theirs,  of  that  they  were 
assured  by  a  satisfactory  title,  a  grant  from  the 
Government  of  Englishmen.  No  sagamore  had  as  yet 
asserted  his  claim,  as  was  done  at  a  later  day.  The 
Indians  who  were  here  were  evidently  a  dwindling 
race,  and  so  little  regarded  that  probably  because 
of  the  annoyance,  at  about  this  time,  the  sagamore 
of  Agawam  was  forbidden  by  Colonial  law,  to  en- 
ter a  white  man's  house.  Curiosity  would,  of  course, 
be  excited  by  a  tramp  through  the  dense  wood- 
growth  up  the  hill  now  called  Prospect,  and  from 
the  summit  of  that  hill,  on  seeing  the  delightful  and 
unlooked-for  view,  one  would  then  very  naturally  give 
to  the  hill  the  name  it  has  always  borne,  and  then 
looking  westward,  see  our  Georgetown  hill,  with  its 
top  cleared  and  barren  of  trees.  Conspicuous  as  it 
must  have  been,  encircled  everywhere  by  forest, 
how  naturally  would  the  word  Baldpate  spring  to  the 
lips,  and  ever  after  this  hill  bear  this  peculiar 
name. 

Besides  these  first  attempts  to  get  a  clue  to  the 
secrets  of  the  wilderness  came  eager  questionings  of 
their  Newbury  and  Ipswich  neighbors.  Dummer  and 
Spencer,  of  Newbury,  had  gone  up  Parker  River  to 
the  falls  in  1635,  and  had  the  right  granted  to  erect  a 
mill.  Two  years  later  the  attention  at  Boston  was 
turned  toward  "  Shaweshin,  to  see  whether  or  not 
it  be  a  fitt  jjlace  for  a  plantacon."  This  settlement 
was  not  granted,  however,  until  1641,  and  then  to 
the  town  of  Cambridge  on  certain   conditions. 

As  soon  as  settlements  were  contemplated,  there 


798 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


may  have  been  those  who  were  bound  to  know  for 
themselves  whether  "  Shaweshin  was  fitt  for  habita- 
tion," and  Newbury  men  crossed  what  is  now  George- 
town. The  opening  of  roads  is  always  an  important 
work  in  new  countries.  Most  of  the  towns  were 
summoned  by  the  General  Court,  once  and  again, 
for  their  delinquencies  in  the  neglect  of  the  high- 
ways. 

The  first  roads  for  Rowley  to  attend  to  were  with 
Newbury  and  Ipswich,  and  the  law  required  highways 
to  be  opened,  of  six,  eight  and  ten  rods  width,  to  avoid 
marsh  and  miry  spots.  Early  in  the  year  1640  the 
need  of  accurate  knowledge  of  their  grant  led  to  a 
sufficiently  careful  survey  of  the  western  boundary, 
now  the  Bradford  and  Boxford  lines,  to  show  that 
the  eight  miles  in  a  direct  line  from  the  meeting- 
house in  Rowley  would  not  reach  for  two  or  more 
miles,  the  boundary  line  between  Rowley  and  Cochi- 
tawick,  that  Mr.  Rogers  claimed  he  and  his  planta- 
tion were  entitled  to.  Mr.  Rogers  pressed  his  claim 
for  this  land  "  upon  Merrimack,  near  Cochitawick," 
with  such  tenacity,  that,  after  some  hesitation,  his 
wishes  were  granted,  and  the  first  step  was  taken  for 
a  corrected  line  between  Rowley  and  Andover,  that 
fixed  the  boundary  quite  eleven  miles  from  the  cen- 
tre of  the  village  at  Rowley.  This  action  of  the  court 
was  at  the  October  session  of  that  year. 

The  survey  and  running  of  the  eight  mile  direct 
line  from  the  meeting-house  towards  the  western 
bounds,  if  carefully  done,  must  have  led  directly 
across  the  central  part  of  the  tract  now    Geoi'getown. 

The  experience  of  Thomas  Nelson  would  probably 
designate  him  for  the  work,  and  yet  inaccurate,  per- 
haps, at  the  best,  for  complaints  of  defects  in  the  run- 
ning of  town  lines  were  constantly  coming  before  the 
General  Court.  These  defects  are  explained  when  we 
consider  that  the  lines  ran  through  forest  and  bog 
rough  and  untraveled.  Compensation  for  a  prior 
grant  of  five  hundred  and  fifty  acres  to  Governor  En- 
dicott,  and  found  to  be  within  the  limits  of  the  grant 
to  Mr.  Rogers,  was  one  cause  of  a  change  of  boundary, 
beyond  the  eight  mile  limit  into  the  interior.  Besides, 
the  original  grant  of  May  13,  1640,  declared  the 
bounds  in  the  other  direction  to  be  a  "  cross-line  diam- 
eter from  Ipswich  Ryver  to  Merrimack  Ryver." 

Had  this  been  adhered  to  it  would  have  included 
most  of  the  New  Meadows,  now  Tojjsfield,  and  per- 
haps also  the  country  of  the  Wills-hill  men,  in  Mid- 
dleton,  a  district  which  seems  to  have  been  conceded 
to  these  settlements  without  controversy,  at  an  early 
date.  Perhaps,  with  Eadicott,  they  could  also  lay 
claim  to  prior  grants.  The  concession  of  all  this  tract, 
bordering  on  the  "  Ipswich  Ryver,"  when  the  boun- 
daries of  the  grant  were  so  definitely  and  clearly 
stated,  was  also  compensated  for  by  this  extension 
westward. 

Most  of  the  grants  of  that  day,  private  or  corporate, 
were  loosely  drawn,  with  but  a  vague  and  indefinite 
idea  of  the  geographical  situation  of  the  locality,  and 


disputes  in  consequence  were  rife  for  a  long  time 
afterward.  Salem  had  as  its  grant  all  the  country,  from 
Ipswich  River  to  the  sea  on  one  side,  Rowley,  all  be- 
tween this  river  and  Merrimack  on  the  other.  In 
1639  these  were  adjoining  towns  by  Colonial  action, 
but  how  few  in  Essex  County  realize  it  to-day.  This 
Rowley  territory,  thus  parting  Ipswich  and  Newbury, 
turned  both  at  the  right  and  left,  a  few  miles  from  the 
sea,  effectually  closing  to  both  towns  any  exten- 
sion of  growth  in  the  interior,  and  doubled  in  area 
both  of  those  towns  combined.  At  the  rapidity  with 
which  emigrants  had  been  flocking  here  for  years,  and 
towns  becoming  incorporated  at  that  time,  such  "  large 
accommodations  "  were  unquestionably  given  to  the 
Rowley  grantees,  to  be  held  in  reserve  for  the  large 
number  who  were  expected  to  follow  Mr.  Rogers. 


CHAPTER    LI. 

GEORGETOWN— ( Continued). 

EARLIEST  LAND-GRANTS  AND  PIONEER  SETTLEMENTS. 

Twelve  years  after  the  readjustment  of  the  western 
boundary,  Francis  Parrot,  the  town  clerk  of  Rowley, 
entered  in  the  book  of  records,  under  date  1652,  this 
town  action,  viz.  :  Thomas  Mighill  has  granted 
"  twenty-three  Akers  at  the  place  called  the  pen, 
where  young  cattell  were  formerly  kept."  The  land 
was  said  to  adjoin  Mr.  Humphrey  Rainers'  land,  per- 
haps not  attached,  but  near  by.  This  was  stated, 
evidently  to  make  the  record  clear.  Also  laid  out 
"  Fifteen  Akers  meadow  commonly  called  Spruce 
meadow,  and  formerly  in  the  possession  of  John 
Brocklebank." 

The  above  is  the  first  record  on  the  town  books, 
having  a  reference  to  the' territory,  now  the  town  of 
Georgetown. 

Thomas  Mighill,  who  began  at  this  early  day,  to 
show  his  intentions  of  making  a  permanent  settle- 
ment in  this  part  of  the  town,  was  very  prominent  in 
the  affairs  of  the  church  and  the  town  of  Rowley 
from  the  beginning,  and  was  elected  deacon  in  De- 
cember, 1639.  He  was  a  man' of  considerable  wealth 
for  the  time,  had  many  household  furnishings  brought 
from  England,  of  which  one  heavy,  leather-seated 
chair,  now  owned  by  some  of  his  descendants  in 
the  family  of  the  writer,  is  said  to  be  a  part.  Mr. 
Mighill  in  everything  pertaining  to  the  interests  of 
the  town,  was  active  and  useful.  His  death  was  un- 
timely, occurring  March  14,  1664-65.  Had  he  lived, 
he  would  probably  have  made  an  extensive  clearing 
here  at  an  early  day.  His  will  in  the  possession  of 
Chas.  P.  Mighill,  of  Rowley,  is  an  interesting  docu- 
ment. Mr.  C.  P.  Mighill  and  brother,  who  are  direct 
descendants  through  Stephen,  the  youngest  son  of 
Thomas  (as  are  all  of  the  name  or  lineage  in   this 


GEORGETOWN. 


799 


vicinity),  own  and  reside,  upon  the  original  lot  on 
Wethersfield  Street  in  Rowley,  laid  out  to  Mighill  in 
1643,  nearly  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago.  An- 
other fact  worthy  of  mention,  is,  that  this  lot  in 
Georgetown  at  the  pen  land,  has  been  in  the  family 
of  the  present  owner,  Mr.  Humphrey  Nelson  (a  lineal 
descendant  through  a  great-granddaughter  of  Stephen), 
for  many  years.  Not  long  after  it  was  laid  out,  a 
part  of  it  was  fenced,  and  styled  a  field.  This  was 
done  either  by  the  first  grantee,  or  Thomas,  the 
eldest  son.  In  this  record,  is  the  first  mention  of  the 
herding  of  the  young  cattle  on  this  common  land. 
Pen  Brook  constantly  referred  to,  in  the  land  convey- 
ances and  allotments  of  the  first  hundred  years,  was 
the  westerly  bounds  of  one  piece  of  meadow,  laid  out 
at  this  time.  This  is  near  Union  Cemetery.  The 
pasturing  of  the  young  stock  in  these  upper  commons, 
began,  no  doubt,  some  years  before,  and  had  become 
the  established  practice.  Herdsmen  were  sent  to  give 
the  care  necessary  for  the  j^rotection  of  the  cattle  and 
sheep.  A  little  later,  in  a  descriptive  record,  is  this, 
1661 :  "Adjoyning  vnto  the  s''  Land  at  the  end  where 
the  pen  house  stood." 

There  was,  it  is  probable,  good  pasturage  here,  for 
while  the  country  generally  was  heavily  timbered,  no 
doubt,  much  of  the  area  was  free  from  shrub  growth 
and  underbrush,  the  result  of  the  fires  set  by  the  In- 
dians, when  grasses,  of  course,  would  start  up  abund- 
antly. This  firing  of  the  weeds  and  valueless  growth 
continued  later  on. 

In  the  list  of  the  charges  for  the  town  of  Rowley 
for  the  year  1666,  is  this:  "  Left.  Samuel  Brocklebank 
for  burning  ye  young  cattle  walk,  5  shillings."  This 
is  the  first  record  for  town  labor  in  Georgetown. 

The  pen  house  had  been  moved  further  up.  The 
land  spoken  of  was  sold  in  1661,  "  to  John  Brockle- 
bank, by  the  men  appointed  to  sell  Land,  to  pay  the 
Legacy  to  Ipswich  Rogers,"  the  record  rather  curtly 
says.  One  of  the  conditions  of  Mr.  Ezekiel  Roger's 
will  was,  that  the  church  and  town  of  Rowley,  on  the 
receipt  of  the  bulk  of  his  property,  were  to  pay  eight- 
score  pounds  in  country  pay,  to  his  nephew,  Ezekiel 
Rogers,  of  Ijiswich,  two  years  after  the  testator's 
death.  Mr.  Rogers  died  January  23,  1661,  and  this 
land  was  by  order  of  the  town  sold  soon  after.  This 
same  John  Brocklebank,  was  the  youngest  son  of 
Jane,  a  widow,  who  with  her  two  sons,  Samuel  the 
eldest  being  a  boy  of  eight,  were  among  the  original 
Rowley  company. 

The  Spruce  meadow  may  have  been  at  what  is  now 
known  as  such,  south  of  the  Hilliard  place  on  North 
Street,  and  yet  it  seems  a  question  whether  at  that 
early  period,  any  land  in  that  locality  had  been  en- 
tered. 

One  fact  seems  api:)arent,  that  the  earliest  move- 
ment for  a  settlement  of  Georgetown,  was  east  of  Pen 
Brook,  on  Mr.  Humphrey  Nelson's  farm,  and  in  that 
locality  on  East  Main  Street.  The  upland  along  the 
Rocky  hills,  with  the  meadows  southerly,  was   the 


first  to  be  laid  out.  That  extensive  tract  of  meadow 
along  Pen  Brook  to  its  source,  had  been  explored  at  as 
early  a  date  as  cattle  had  been  herded,  and  at  some  time 
prior  to  1652,  a  grant  was  made  to  Elder  Humphrey 
Rainer,  of  at  least,  most  of  the  land  from  Lake 
Raynor  for  some  distance  down,  and  possibly  nearly 
to  the  pen-land.  All  the  deeds  given  in  what  is  now 
South  Georgetown  as  late  as  seventy-five  years  after- 
wards, which  have  as  a  boundary'  these  meadows  along 
Pen  Brook,  describe  these  pieces  of  meadow  as  the 
"  Elder's,"  or  "  Elder  Rainer "  meadow.  It  can  be 
safely  said  that  this  worthy  member  of  a  family,  noted 
in  the  early  church  annals  of  New  England,  was  the 
first  landholder  in  South  Georgetown,  and  probably 
in  the  town. 

In  describing  the  land  laid  out  to  Mighill,  it  seems 
to  have  been  well  understood  at  the  time  where  the 
Rainer  meadows  were.  It  was  comparatively  easy  to 
secure  pasturage  and  protection  for  the  farmer's 
herds  through  the  summer,  but  with  so  little  un- 
cleared land  and  the  entire  human  food-supply  of  all 
dependent  on  the  harvest  from  the  land  they  had 
slowly  and  laboriously  cleared,  the  hay  from  the 
Rainer  meadows  was  carefully  secured  and  carted  to 
Rowley.  The  improvement  of  their  highways  began 
to  be  necessary;  in  1661,  says  the  record,  of  a  ten 
acre  lot  of  land  laid  out  to  John  Brocklebank;  that, 
"  The  Town  hath  secured  a  sufficient,  and  convenient 
highway  for  driving  cattle  and  carts,  as  they  may 
have  occasion  to  make  use  of  it."  The  value  of  the 
hay  from  the  salt  marshes,  tradition  says  was  not  un- 
derstood by  the  Rowley  people,  until  a  bull  lost  from 
the  settlement  in  the  autumn  was  caught  in  the 
spring  after  a  winter  of  grazing  on  the  mai'sh  grasses 
in  such  fine  condition,  that  ever  after,  these  lands 
were  regarded  as  their  most  valuable  treasure. 

The  land,  both  upland  and  meadow,  now  owned  by 
S.  K.  Herrick,  has  by  the  elderly  people  until  lately, 
been  called  the  Rainer  land  or  meadow.  The  pond 
in  Boxford,  at  the  foot  of  Baldpate  Hill,  had  the 
name  of  "Elders"  in  the  documents  of  the  early  period, 
but  later  as  "  Elders,  or  Baldpate,"  finally  as  "Baldpate." 
It  seems,  however,  like  nothing  more  than  justice  to 
an  honored  name  in  the  early  history  of  Rowley,  one 
who  served  as  deputy  in  1649,  and  especially  in  the 
fact,  that  he  was  the  original  owner  of  the  lands  bor- 
dering this  brook,  so  noted  a  locality  in  the  early 
history  of  Georgetown,  to  perpetuate  his  name  here 
by  giving  this  pond  the  permanent  name  of  Lake 
Raynor.  The  earliest  name  the  plain  now  known  as 
"  Marlborough  "  had,  was  "  Elders  Plain,"  named  for 
this  same  Humphrey  Rainer.  It  disappears  as  a  Row- 
ley name  early  in  the  eighteenth  century,  and  except 
to  a  few  who  make  local  history  a  study,  has  become 
unknown  and  as  though  it  had  never  existed  there. 
A  very  sad  and  pathetic  story  is  revealed,  where  Jachin 
Rayner,  a  nephew,  about  the  year  1700,  petitions  for 
right  to  convey  land  in  the  interest  of  a  son,  who  as 
a  confirmed  invalid,  needed  support.     This  land  thus 


800 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


deeded  was  in  the  middle  commons,  at  some  point 
west  of  Muddy  Brook.  Jachin  was  a  Rowley  tanner 
and  figures  prominently  for  a  time.  Rev.  John  Ray- 
ner,  a  brother  of  Elder  Humphrey,  educated  at  Cam- 
bridge, England,  was  the  second  minister  of  Ply- 
mouth, Mass.,  dying  in  Dover,  N.  H.  He  and  Mat- 
thew Boyes,  of  Rowley,  married  sisters.  They  were 
Ladies  from  a  family  of  distinction  in  England. 

From  a  grant  of  land  to  Samuel  Brocklebank  of 
seventy-five  acres  in  1661,  there  were  fifty,  the  record 
states,  which  was  purchased  of  William  Hobsou's 
widow,  who  before  marriage  was  Anne  Raiiier,  a 
daughter  of  Humphrey  Rainer;  the  balance  was  his 
own  lot  and  land  previously  belonging  to  Matthew 
Boyes,  who  was  as  we  have  seen  also  connected  with 
the  Rainor  family. 

These  records  show  the  influence  of  the  Rainers 
in  the  earliest  times,  and  the  intimate  connection, 
which  the  family  in  its  various  branches  had  with 
the  earliest  history  of  Georgetown. 

This  piece  of  upland  so  early  secured  by  Samuel 
Brocklebank,  was  situated  easterly  of  Elm  Street,  ex- 
tending southerly  nearly  to  South  Georgetown,  the 
locality  known  at  a  later  day  as  Fairface  plain.  The 
record  says  this  land  was  bounded  on  the  north  by  a 
highway,  where  cattle  used  to  go  over  the  brook  to 
the  pen  land,  laid  out  to  Thomas  Mighill ;  the  west- 
erly side  of  the  tract  adjoined  a  highway  leading  to 
Andover;  Pen  Brook  along  the  east,  and  extending 
unto  Mr.  H.  Rainer's  land.  This  Andover  road  was 
unquestionably  at  that  time  the  way  for  Newbury 
and  Rowley  settlers  to  visit  the  Rowley  Village  (now 
Boxford)  people,  also  the  settlement  on  the  Shawshin, 
then  Andover. 

Several  families  had  already  settled  in  Boxford  ;  a 
road  by  order  of  the  General  Court,  had  been  opened 
from  Ipswich  to  Andover  several  years  before,  and  to 
connect  with  that  along  Elm  Street,  the  earliest 
road  opened  through  what  is  now  part  of  Georgetown. 

East  Main  Street,  from  Marlborough  Village  to  Elm 
Street,  was  as  at  present.  There  was  some  change  at  Elm 
Street,  the  record  referring  to  a  highway  now  in  use, 
and  where  it  is  to  run,  but  probably  essentially  the 
same.  Leaving  Elm,  this  old  way  passed  along  Brook 
Street,  crossing  Central,  into  Chaplin's  Court,  and  over 
Fairface  plain  to  Mrs.  W.  M.  Shutes'  on  Nelson  Street 
(known  years  after  as  Fairface  highway),  and  along 
Nelson  Street,  to  the  residence  of  Messrs.  Patton  and 
Metcalf,  in  Boxford.  About  thirtj'  years  later  Thom- 
as Palmer,  had  land  set  off  to  him,  described  as 
extending  on  one  side,  from  "  Elders  pond  to  ye  old 
high  way  from  Andover  to  Newbury,  on  ye  south 
side  of  ye  bald  hills ;  which  was  a  continuation  of 
this  ancient  road,  and  crossed  the  Patton  and  Met- 
calf farm  to  connect  with  the  Ipswich  and  Andover 
road.  This  seventy-five  acres  of  laud  of  Samuel 
Brocklebank's,  also  included  the  present  homestead  of 
Melvin  G.  Spoflbrd,  upon  which  a  house  was  built  soon 
after. 


The  present  mansion-like  dwelling-house  of  Mr. 
Spofford  is,  in  part,  at  least,  unquestionably  veiy  an- 
cient, and  tradition  has  it  that  some  portion  of  the 
original  house,  probably  the  westerly  front,  is  in- 
cluded in  this. 

In  Humphrey  Rainer,  Thomas  Mighill,  Samuel 
and  John  Brocklebank,  we  have  the  pioneers  who 
opened  for  settlement,  the  town  of  Georgetown.  At 
about  this  time,  the  country  west  of  the  Pen  Brook, 
including  all  that  territory  which  in  1685  was  incor- 
porated as  Boxford,  was  known  as  "Village  lands."  Not 
long  before,  in  1649,  measures  had  been  taken  for  a 
settlement,  in  that  part  of  Rowley  situated  on  the 
Merrimac  River.  These  lands  became  at  once  known 
as  "Merrimac  lands,"  and  the  division  made  between 
what  was  later  known  as  the  Village  lands.  The  set- 
tlement had  the  name  of  "  Rowley  Village  on  the 
Merrimac,"  for  a  time,  but  in  1675,  was  incorporated 
as  Bradford. 

Boxford  for  some  time  had  been  known  simply  as 
Rowley  Village,  and  so  continued,  even  after  it  had 
received  its  corporate  name.  Zaccheus  Gould,  of 
Topsfield,  the  ancestor  of  all  the  Goulds  originating 
in  this  locality,  comes  prominently  before  us  in  con- 
nection with  Georgetown's  early  history,  at  a  period 
soon  after  1650.  From  the  vast  land  grants  which  he 
held,  it  would  seem  as  if  he  had  something  of  the 
spirit  of  a  land  speculator  and  grabber.  By  some  un- 
known parties  he  had  been  employed  as  an  agent  to 
purchase  lands,  and  an  extensive  tract  of  not  less  than 
three  thousand  acres,  including  nearly  all  of  George- 
town west  of  Pen  Brook,  was  for  some  consideration, 
secured  to  him.  Circumstances  preventing  its  dis- 
posal, to  the  parties  for  whom  it  was  intended,  it  was 
sold  to  Joseph  Jewett,  of  Rowley,  as  a  deed  on  record 
says,  "  for  eighty  od  pounds."  It  further  says,  that 
this  was  "  one  sixt  part  of  village  land  belonging  to 
Rowley,  which  the  sayd  Gould  bought  of  Jewett." 
Carelessly  estimated,  this  evidently  was  the  tract  pre- 
viously named.  Gould  adds  to  the  above,  "  As  alsoe, 
the  one  half  of  village  land,  which  I,  the  sayd  Zac- 
cheus Gould,  bought  of  M^  Ezekiel  Rogers  &  Mat- 
thew Boyes."  This  was  dated  July  2,  1661,  and  Mr. 
Jewett  had  died  February  26th  of  the  same  year. 
Jewett  had  doubtless  been  the  representative  of  the 
town  of  Rowley,  in  confirming  the  grants  of  Village 
lands. 

There  are  several  deeds  on  record,  of  these  original 
grants  to  Peabody,  Bigsbye,  Stiles,  Gould,  Dorman 
and  others,  bearing  dates  from  May  to  July,  1661, 
and  in  each  the  grantors  are  Philip  Nelson  and  oth- 
ers, as  the  executors  of  Mr.  Jewett,  who  probably  died 
suddenly,  as  the  wording  of  each  is,  "  he  having  de- 
parted this  life  before  a  legal  assurance  was  made." 

It  was  necessary  that  this  claim,  which  Gould  had 
upon  what  is  now  Georgetown,  should  be  closed,  and  on 
the  same  date,  July  2,  1661,  we  find  Jewett's  execu- 
tors, doubtless  by  authority  of  the  town  of  Rowley, 
selling  Gould  two-sixths  parts  village  land  in  Box- 


GEORGETOWN. 


801 


ford;  the  previous  day  Stiles  and  Eeddington  having 
had  their  lands  conveyed.  From  the  action  of  the 
town  of  Rowley  December  20,  1658,  more  than  two 
years  before,  it  would  seem  that  Jewett  had  a  claim 
upon  this  three  thousand  acre  tract  at  that  time. 
As  a  persuasive  to  yield  his  claim, 

"  It  was  Agreed  and  Voated  at  a  general  and  LeaguU  towne  meeting, 
that  Mr.  .Joseph  Jewit,  Should  have  a  thousand  Acres  of  Land  in  yo 
North,  beyond  ye  Haseltines  part  of  ye  thousand,  in  exchange  of  Three 
thousand  Acres  of  Land,  which  is  to  be  laid  out  as  conveniently  as  can 
bee,  for  ye  Town  of  Kowley,  in  ye  village  land  about  ye  bald  hills,  and 
he  to  have  forty  Acres  of  Medow,  as  conveniently  as  can  bee  with  yo 
towns  land." 

This  town  action  towards  liquidating  Mr.  Jewett'^ 
claim  (however  his  claim  was  founded),  began  to 
look  like  an  attempt  for  a  settlement.  It  is  doubtful 
whether  this  proposition  was  accepted  at  the  time ;  ii 
it  was,  then  the  action  of  Gould  with  the  executors, 
the  .July  after  Jewett's  death,  was  in  the  form  of  aij 
acquittance  to  any  claim'  he  had  on  this  famous  tract, 
so  tossed  about  in  shuttlecock  fashion.  Ferhap.s,  in 
tho-'e  early  days,  having  hopes  that  a  more  speedy 
settlement  of  the  wilderness  would  follow,  special 
privileges  were  granted  to  such  as  Jewett  and  Gould, 
that  they  might  be  encouraged  to  stimulate  and  has- 
ten emigration.  In  the  villages  along  the  sea,  there 
was  doubtless  a  fixed  timorousness,  from  fear  of  prowl- 
ing Indians  ;  and  settlers  in  the  interior  gave  a  sense 
of  protection,  and  were,  to  a  certain  extent,  a  safe- 
guard. 

The  colonial  laws  forbidding  persons  journeying 
alone,  receiving  Indians  into  the  houses  of  the  colo- 
nists, and  similar  enactments,  whether  from  a  troubled 
conscience,  because  of  known  wrong  in  dealing  with 
the  Indian,  or  whatever  the  cause,  all  show  a  sense 
of  lurking  danger.  To  the  herdsmen  in  their  loneli- 
ness at  the  pen-house  on  the  rocky  hills,  there  must 
have  been  fear  in  a  special  manner  continually  with 
them,  not  probably  from  their  aboriginal  neighbors 
of  Pentucket  and  Agawam,  but  from  the  unsubjected 
tribes  of  the  wilderness  beyond.  Wild  and  ferocious 
beasts,  and  possibly  savage  men,  made  every  sense 
alert,  and  their  life  here  certainly  was  no  holiday  task. 
The  nights  may  not  have  altogether  been  spent  here, 
but  the  days  most  assuredly  were. 

While  harvesting  the  hay  on  the  Rainer  meadow 
one  can  imagine  their  watchfulness  and  their  thoughts 
of  probaljle  danger.  The  frequent  stories  of  frontier 
life  are  of  death  from  the  Indian  arrow  or  bullet, 
while  at  work  haying  in  the  meadows.  When  the  men 
of  every  household  were  ordered  to  have  their  mus- 
kets with  them  while  in  the  meeting-house  on  the 
Lord's  or  lecture  days,  there  was  fear  of  a  subtle 
enemy,  and  how  numerous  and  powerful  they  had  no 
possible  means  of  knowing.  We,  to-day,  know  that 
they  were  but  comparatively  few  in  number,  but  their 
methods  of  warfare  were  such  that  imagination  vastly 
magnified  the  numbers  of  the  foe  and  greatly  in- 
creased the  timorousness  and  alarm.  Besides,  in  spite 
of  continual  colonial  restriction  against  supplying 
50^ 


the  Indians  with  arms  or  ammunition,  there  were 
from  the  first,  those  who  withdrawing  from  the  set- 
tlements, defied  the  law,  and  living  apart  from  the 
white  man,  fraternized  with  the  Indian  to  the 
Englishman's  fear  and  often  injury. 

At  the  time  the  young  cattle  of  theRowley  planters 
were  first  herded  above  Pen  Brook,  on  this  tract,  which 
was  .sometimes  called  the  "  Upper  Commons,"  only 
the  few  families  which  were  then  located  at  each  of 
the  plantations,  Pentucket  and  Cochicowick  (Haver- 
hill and  Andover),  shut  off  the  frontier.  All  beyond, 
both  north  and  west,  was  an  untraversed  wilderness. 

At  a  later  day  both  of  these  towns  were  raided,  once 
and  again  by  Indians,  bringing  dismay  and  death  to 
many  a  peaceful  home.  The  locality,  now  George- 
town, was  doubtless  a  favorite  Indian  fishing  ground, 
often  visited.  Many  of  the  rude  Indian  household 
utensils  have  been  turned  up  by  the  plough  near  the 
brooks  and  Parker  River,  and  also  at  a  distance 
from  them ;  by  the  shores  of  the  ponds ;  and  in  By- 
field,  near  Warren  Street,  quite  a  large  storehouse  of 
cutting  instruments  and  stone  points  has  been  un- 
covered. Perhaps  more  prolific  fields  for  these  coveted 
relics  of  a  buried  past  than  any  other  are  Parker 
River,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  woolen-mill,  and  the 
southeasterly  slope  of  the  foot-hills  of  Baldpate. 

On  the  warm  sunny  hillsides  near  Baldpate,  which 
are  sheltered  from  the  driving  blasts  of  winter,  the 
race  who  got  the  start  and  came  before  us  had  their 
frequent  camping-ground. 

The  Indian  became  extinct  in  this  immediate  lo- 
cality about  a  century  ago  ;  the  last  representatives 
were  Papahana,  a  man  who  died  in  Groveland,  and 
another  who  died  at  Captain  George  Jewett's,  in  Row- 
ley. 

When  our  fathers  first  saw  them  they  were  shrunken 
from  their  former  condition;  perhaps  they  would  have 
rallied  and  evolved  a  partial  civilization  like  their 
New  York  neighbors,  but  it  was  not  to  be.  Another 
race  doubtless  preceded  them,  leaving  only  faint  traces 
behind. 

Professor  Putnam,  the  anthropologist  and  archaeol- 
ogist, if  we  mistake  not,  places  the  period  of  the 
stone  age,  to  which  the  triangular  stones  found  buried 
deeply  in  the  gravel  belong,  as  pre-historic  and  the 
work  of  a  prior  race ;  the  labor  of  man  just  begin- 
ning to  realize  his  position,  his  relations  to  the  ani- 
mal world  around  him,  and  his  undeveloped  power. 
These  peculiar  stones  are  occasionally  found  here,  and 
of  various  sizes,  but  having  similar  outlines.  A  furore 
for  collecting  Indian  curios  was  awakened  here  some 
years  ago,  and  intensified  by  the  Georgetown  Advocate, 
through  its  junior  editor,  H.  N.  Harriman,  Esq.,  who 
is  himself  an  ardent  investigator  and  enthusiastic  col- 
lector. 

Returning  to  the  early  land  grants,  it  is  recorded 
that  March  23,  1651,  Anthony  Crosbie  had  seven  hun- 
dred acres  laid  out ;  the  deed  says  near  Elder's  Pond, 
whether  in  Georgetown  or  Boxford  it  is  impossible  to 


802 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHTTSETTS. 


say ;  but  in  1672  he  had  seventy  acres  laid  out  in 
Georgetown,  located  somewhere  between  North 
Street  and  Marlborough,  and  recorded  in  the  Rowley 
book  as  "  Crosbie's  farm,"  adjoining  land  of  Francis 
Parrot,  also  Reedy  Meadow,  and  Deacon  Thomas  Mig- 
hill's  land.  A  part  of  this  land  was  in  the  right  of 
Philip  Nelson. 

This  Crosbie  was  the  first  i^hysician  in  Rowley  and 
probably  a  son  of  Cushins  Crosbie,  one  of  the  first 
settlers  of  Rowley.  Perhaps  his  death  or  the  Indian 
war  of  three  or  four  years  later  prevented  his  settle- 
ment, as  there  is  no  record  of  any  occupancy. 

In  1661,  besides  the  Brocklebank  grant  east  of 
Pen  Brook,  was  an  allotment  of  land,  near  and  on 
the  west  side  of  Pentucket  Pond,  to  Mary,  the  widow 
of  Mr.  Ezekiel  Rogers.  This  lot  was  bounded  on  the 
east  end  by  a  highway  leading  to  Andover,  and  as 
this  highway  was  probably  the  Andover  Street  of  to- 
day, the  lot  must  have  reached  the  town  centre,  and 
included  the  land  between  the  two  ponds,  eastward  to 
the  centre.  Those  who  settled  on  Mrs.  Rogers'  land, 
more  than  half  a  century  afterward,  had  farms  at  sev- 
eral points  on  this  very  tract,  from  above  Pond  Street 
westward  to  beyond  Main  Street.  On  the  south  and 
west  it  was  bounded  by  common  land.  This  was  a 
grant  in  the  interest  of  Thomas  Barker  (the  first  hus- 
band of  Mrs.  Rogers),  who  died  in  1650.  It  was  to 
make  his  lot  proportionable  to  the  lower  lots,  and  a 
large  lot  at  this  distance  from  the  town  would  not  ex- 
ceed in  value  a  small  area  there. 

January  22, 1663-64,  another  tract,  containing  three 
hundred  and  seventy  acres,  was  laid  out  to  Mrs. 
Rogers,  also  in  the  right  of  Thomas  Barker.  This 
was  situated  on  the  north  side  of  the  pond  known  as 
Pentucket,  and  also  on  the  north  side  of  the  brook 
running  in  and  out  of  the  pond,  westerly  to  the  great 
rock,  and  extending  easterly  to  a  marked  tree,  to 
the  brook  which  "  issueth  out  of  the  pond  runneth 
into  the  Crane  meadow,  so-called." 

At  this  early  day  these  meadows  and  Parker  River 
were  known  as  Crane  Meadows  and  Crane  Brook. 
Probably  the  lot  previously  laid  out  extended  to 
the  south  side  of  Rock  Pond  Brook. 

In  1666  or  1667  the  "  Three  thousand  acre "  tract, 
made  public  domain  once  more  by  the  clearance  of 
all  private  claims,  was  laid  out  to  the  town  of  Rowley. 

John  Pickard  and  Ezekiel  Northend,  appointed  by 
Rowley  for  this  important  work,  also  laid  out,  as 
carefully  as  their  appliances  and  the  wildness  of  the 
territory  traversed  permitted,  the  balance  of  the  "Vil- 
lage land  to  citizens  of  Rowley  and  Rowley  Village. 
This  covered  all  of  the  town  of  Boxford,  excepting 
the  land  already  settled  upon.  The  system  of  divi- 
sional grants  to  individuals  was  based  on  the  size  of 
the  house  lots  as  laid  out  to  the  first  settlers  at  Row- 
ley. In  this  village  land  allotment  some  of  the 
larger  grants  covered  land  previously  laid  out  to  in- 
dividuals, as,  for  instance,  Mr.  Philip  Nelson's  two 
thousand    acres    included    the    meadow    previously 


granted  to  Joseph  Jewett,  which  had  been  allowed  in 
extinguishment  of  his  claim  on  the  Georgetown  three 
thousand  acres. 

As  Mr.  Nelson's  first  wife  was  of  the  Jewett 
family,  perhaps  no  difficulty  arose.  Gould  received  a 
large  tract  in  one  corner  of  the  territory,  and  any 
special  claims  he  may  have  had  were,  no  doubt,  satis- 
factorily cancelled.  The  action  by  the  executors  of 
.Joseph  Jewett  in  1661,  as  shown  by  the  deeds  on 
record  at  Salem,  were  of  at  least  one-half  of  the  entire 
territory,  confirmed  to  Francis  Peabody,  Thomas 
Dorman,  Robert  Stiles,  Joseph  Bigsbye,  Abraham 
Reddington,  William  Foster  and  Zaccheus  Gould. 
That  these  deeds  were  recognized  as  having  at  least  a 
partial  validity  can  be  seen  by  examining  the  list  of 
grantees  at  this  final  division,  for  each  of  these  parties 
are  recorded  as  having  a  large  grant.  These  parties 
had  probably  been  buying  for  years  the  rights  that 
families  at  Rowley  had  in  the  village  lands;  so  that 
when  the  time  came  to  grant  private  ownership  of 
what  the  Henry  Georges  of  to-day  contend  should 
never  be  held  as  private  property — the  land,  all  there 
was  for  them  to  do  was  to  show  that  they  had  pur- 
chased these  rights,  and  these  large  allotments  were 
secured.  There  is  no  other  way  to  account  for  the 
striking  disparity  in  these  divisions. 

One  thing  to-day  is  beginning  to  be  recognized, 
that  as  from  the  land  all  existence  is  principally 
maintained,  monopoly  in  land  should  be  condemned, 
and  no  man  or  family,  even  in  the  infancy  of  a  settle- 
ment, be  permitted  to  mark  oft' or  fence  in  more  than 
may  be  cultivated  or  cared  for.  A  part  of  a  lot 
south  of  Lake  Raynor,  laid  out  by  Ezekiel  Northend 
for  himself  at  that  time,  was  through  one  of  his  female 
descendants,  owned  by  the  family  for  about  two  hun- 
dred years. 

At  about  this  period  the  permanent  settlement  of 
Georgetown  begins.  This  westerly  part  of  the  town, 
from  the  centre  across  Baldpate  Hill,  to  where, 
twenty  years  afterwards,  the  boundary  line  between 
Rowley  and  Boxford  was  run,  was  at  last  unincum- 
bered, and  the  Rowley  people  were  discussing  earnestly 
the  wisest  course  to  take  in  the  encouragement  of  a 
settlement. 

Northend  and  Pickard  having  completed  their  work, 
probably  in  1667  (a  thankless  task  no  doubt,  as  for 
many  years  afterward  it  was  difficult  to  get  men  to 
serve  as  lot-layers,  many  positively  refusing  to  serve), 
a  meeting  of  the  town  of  Rowley  was  therefore  ac- 
cordingly called  for  February  23d,  1667-68.  At 
this  date  "  It  was  agreed  and  voted  that  there  should 
be  a  small  farms  laide  out  in  the  three  thousand 
Acres  of  Land  that  was  exchanged  for  the  land  at 
the  necke,  and  the  rent  of  the  saide  farme  it  is  agreed 
that  it  shall  be  for  ever  for  the  use  of  the  ministry  or 
the  towne's  use."  Directly  beneath  this  record,  ap- 
parently written  by  another  hand,  and  at  a  later  date, 
is  found  this, — ^"Samnell  Brocklebank  that  no  line 
convenient  will  give  Leas  on."     The  principal  busi- 


GEORGETOWN. 


803 


nessof  the  meeting  seems  to  have  been  matters  pertain- 
ing to  this  "  farme,"  as  the  next  record  is  "Chose 
John  Pickard,  John  pearson  and  Ezekiel  Northend, 
to  bee  Added  to  tlie  select  men,  to  make  a  bargon 
with  any  who  should  appeare  to  take  the  saide 
ferme,  provided  that  they  Let  not  above  thirty  Acres 
of  meddow,  or  halfe  of  the  meddow  belonging  to  the 
thre  Thousand  Acres,  provided  allso  that  they  put 
the  towne  to  no  charges,  provided  allso  that  they  lay 
not  out  above  thre-score  Akres  of  upland  to  the  saide 
farme."  The  same  parties  were  made  the  committee, 
to  lay  out  the  "  saide  farme,"  which  was  done  that 
year. 

A  partial  "  bargon  "  had  been  made  with  John  Spaf- 
ford,  an  original  settler  in  the  town  of  Rowley.  He 
was  a  Yorkshireman,  whose  family  was  one  of  the 
twenty  who  were  among  the  first  comers,  having  a 
house-lot  on  Bradford,  near  Wethersfiekl  Street,  and 
not  long  before  his  acceptance  of  the  agreement  with 
the  town,  had  leased  and  occupied  the  farm  of  Sam- 
uel Bellingham,  of  Boston,  styled  gent ;  and  was  liv- 
ing on  it  at  the  time  of  its  sale  to  Joseph  Jewett, 
clothier.  This  farm  in  Rowley  was  a  legacy  to  Sam- 
uel from  William  Bellingham,  and  probably  included 
the  house-lot  on  Holmes  Street,  adjoining  Mr. 
Thomas  Nelson's.  March  17th,  1668,  is  this  rec- 
ord: "Seventeenth  day  of  March,  in  the  year  one 
Thousand  six  hundred  sixty-eight,  it  was  agreed  and 
voated,  that  John  Spoflbrth,  if  he  would  goe  to  the 
farme  that  was  granted  to  be  laide  out  in  the  thre 
Thousand  Akers,  that  he  should  have  the  benefit 
of  penninge  the  cattell,  for  the  terme  of  seven  years, 
he  keepinge  the  herde  of  the  younger  eattel  as  care- 
fully and  as  cheape,  as  any  other  should  doe." 

So  carefully  had  the  surveyors  supposed  they  had 
examined  and  classified  the  land,  that  the  thirty 
acres  of  meadow  was  said  to  be  one-half  of  this  class 
of  land,  found  within  the  three  thousand  acre  tract. 
Their  meadow  land  was  our  bog  of  to-day,  and  thirty 
years  ago  was  free  from  trees  and  bushy  growth,  but 
much  that  was  at  that  time  familiar  to  us  as  cleared 
meadow,  was  in  ihe  early  days,  covered  no  doubt,  in 
patches  at  least,  with  a  dense  growth  of  maple, 
birch,  pine  and  other  trees.  "March  19,  1668-69, 
John  Spotibrth  took  a  Lease  of  this  farm,  laid  out  for 
the  vse  of  the  ministry,"  in  a  specific  document 
drawn  up  at  considei-able  length,  and  signed  in  the 
presence  of  witnesses   by  "  John  Spofard,  his  mark." 

"  Twenty  and  one  yeares  it  extended,  without  rent 
or  rates  for  the  first  five,  exceptings  three  hundred  oi 
good  white  oake  two  inch  planke,  some  time  within 
two  yeares,  to  be  delivered  at  the  meeting-house," 
the  secular  as  well  as  the  religious  centre  of  the  town, 
and  "  after  five  years,  ten  pounds  yearly  for  the  saide 
land  and  meddow,  and  thirty  shillings  for  all  stocke 
and  land  that  he  shall  improve  yearly,"  not  in  money 
payment,  either,  but  with  a  tenderness  which  might 
sometimes  be  extended  to  the  farmer  in  our  day,  its 
value  in  farm  commodities,  as  "  oue-halfe  in    English 


come  at  price  currant,  the  other  half  in  fat  cattell  or 
leane ;  if  he  pay  in  leane  cattell,  they  are  not  to  ex- 
ceede  above  seven  yeares  of  age,  or  in  Indian  corne 
if  he  pleas,"  however,  "what  he  doth  pay  in  fat  cat- 
tell, he  is  to  pay  at  or  before  Mihilraas  "  (September 
29th).  He  was  restricted  to  the  use  of  "  timber  for 
buildings  and  other  neceessaryes  for  farminge,"  and 
'  no  saile  of  timber  but  to  the  town  of  Rowley,  and, 
no  hay  exceeding  above  five  loads  yearly."  "  All 
dunge  to  be  laide  u^jon  the  saide  land,  none  to  be 
given  or  soulde."  "  And  what  buildings  he  shall 
erect,  he  is  to  uphold  them,  and  leave  them  tenant- 
able  at  the  end  of  his  lease,  and  allsoe  all  fences  that 
he  shall  make,  and  he  is  to  pay  yearly  cuntry  rates, 
at  the  last  yeare  to  live  in  the  house  untill  May  day, 
that  so  he  may  spend  his  fotherupon  the  saide  land." 
The  mark  of  Spofard  thus  attached  is  the  letter  o, 
horizontally  placed. 

In  locating  the  land  in  the  preamble  to  the  lease,  it  is 
said  to  be  "  at  the  pen  where  the  young  cattell  of  the 
towne  have  beene  herded  this  last  yeare,  called  by  the 
name  of  gravelle  plain." 

The  cabin  or  log-hut,  known  as  the  pen-house,  was 
near  by,  and  the  responsible  position  of  the  herdsmen 
was  now  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  theSpoflibrd  family. 
John  SpofFord  and  his  sons  may  have  previously  been 
entrusted  with  the  serious  duties  of  seeing  that  no 
harm  befell  this  valuable  property  of  the  Rowley 
farmers  seven  miles  away.  Mr.  Spoffbrd  had  charges 
against  Rowley  the  year  before,  of  £3,  13«.  for 
overseeing  fences,  and  of  £2,  10s.  for  killing  a  wolfe. 
Perhaps  this  wolfe  was  killed  here,  and,  accustomed  to 
live  in  the  wilderness,  he  readily  accepted  the  offer  of 
the  town,  and,  building  his  home,  became  a  perma- 
nent settler.  Soon  after  this  date  the  town  of  Rowley 
required  Boxford  to  pay  the  bounty  on  all  wolves 
killed  in  this  part  of  the  town. 

This  family  had  a  love  for  border  life,  or  they  would 
not  so  readily  have  come  here.  While  there  was 
heroism  and  daring,  one  can  also  conceive  that 
thoughts  of  the  Indian  must  have  stalked  like  a  spec- 
tre before  their  cottage  as  the  nightfall  gathered,  and 
that  the  howling  of  the  fierce  winter  wind  brought 
vividly  to  memory  stories  of  Indian  cruelty,  listened  to 
shiveringly,  around  the  fireside  at  their  old  home,  to 
which  their  loneliness  here  added  a  tenfold  terror.  Es- 
pecially to  the  wife  and  mother  the  danger  doubtless 
clung,  with  but  little  to  make  life  buoyant  or  cheer- 
ful. Besides,  with  all  of  that  day,  they  firmly  be- 
lieved and  looked  for  the  malice  of  the  prince  of  evil 
on  every  hand. 

This  darkened  their  lives,  and  could  this  family 
have  looked  ahead  a  century  or  more,  and  heard  and 
seen  the  visible  manifestations  of  an  invisible  and  oc- 
cult force  beneath  the  roof  of  some  to  come  after  them 
as  bone  of  their  bone,  but  scarcely  an  arrow's  flight 
from  where  they  then  were,  they  would  all  have  fled 
from  their  wilderness  home,  back  to  the  village  from 
whence  they  came.     They  did  remain,  however,  with 


804 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


nothing  to  disturb  them,  beyond  the  ordinary  difficul- 
ties that  await  those  who  in  a  new  country  sow  the 
seed  and  gather  the  harvest.  At  a  period  some  years 
before  a  path  of  bhized  trees  had  probably  been 
opened  toward  Andover,  but  for  years  at  least  in  the 
long,  wearisome  winter,  as  they  looked  abi'oad  from 
this  elevated  country,  not  a  column  of  smoke  from  a 
neighbor's  chimney  could  be  seen  curling  upward  as  a 
friendly  sign  and  beacon.  Their  nearest  neighbors 
were  three  miles  away,  with  the  old  primitive  forest 
between.  From  the  records  at  Rowley  it  is  probable, 
however,  that  before  the  Spofibrds  came  Captain 
Samuel  Brocklebank  had  a  house  at  his  farm  on 
Pen  Brook,'which  he  occupied  during  the  farm-season, 
spending  the  winters  in  Rowley. 

This  was  an  occasional  occurrence,  and  the  Colonial 
laws  exempted  the  farmers  or  their  servants  from  cer- 
tain duties  while  living  on  the  farms  at  a  distance  from 
the  villages.  The  road  which  passed  this  SpofFord 
cottage  connected  with  the  highway,  laid  out  at  the 
same  time,  from  Topsfield  to  Haverhill,  leading  from 
the  old  Ipswich  and  Andover  road,  southwest  of 
Baldpate  hill,  just  east  of  Shaven  Crown,  past  the 
present  Thwing  farm,  and  across  what  is  now  the 
Andover  road,  over  the  "  Haselltine  brook  (says  the 
record)  where  they  of  Rowley  Village  have  made  a 
bridge  over  it,  near  the  lower  end  of  Robert  Hasill- 
tine's  meadow,  and  soe  along  as  the  highway  now 
goeth,  to  A  place  commonly  called  the  aptake."  This 
aptake  or  uptake,  was  evidently  then  known,  and  the 
path  from  this  point  was  already  a  highway.  It  had 
been  used  as  such  for  some  time,  as  trees  were  said  to 
have  been  marked  at  various  points,  but  the  road  had 
not  been  definitely  laid  out.  Now  changes  were  made, 
and  the  work  was  final.  A  re})ort  to  that  effect  was 
made  March  16,  1668-69.  Two  who  signed  the  re- 
port were  Samuel  Brocklebank  and  Ezekiel  Northend. 

The  connection  with  this  ancient  Salem  and  Haver- 
hill road  was  by  the  three-fourths  mile  of  highway,  at 
the  northwest  foot  of  Baldpate  Street,  known  now  as 
Spoftbrd  Street.  For  more  than  a  century  and  a  half 
this  was  the  great  central  thoroughfare  between 
Northern  and  Southern  Essex,  until  the  rapid  growth 
of  "  Georgetown  corner  "  turned  the  course  of  travel, 
and  attracted  it  two  miles  to  the  eastward.  In  later 
years  there  were  many  farm-houses  scattered  along  at 
frequent  intervals,  where  entertainment  for  m.an  and 
beast  was  provided,  and  "the  sounds  of  revelry  "  and 
tales  of  good  cheer  had  these  old  inns  but  a  tongue  to 
reveal  them,  would  fill  many  a  volume. 

In  March,  1662,  Rowley  appointed  Lieut.  Samutl 
Brocklebank  and  Richard  Swan  to  join  with  the 
selectmen  of  Haverhill  to  decide  where  the  road  from 
Haverhill  to  Rowley  should  be.  The  preceding  year 
Lieut.  Brocklebank  had  his  seventy-two  acre  farm 
laid  out  by  Pen  Brook,  and  as  his  evident  intentions 
were,  at  that  day,  to  make  this  his  home,  performing 
this  duty  for  the  town,  he  had  more  than  official  duty, 
for  by  opening  up  this  road   he  was  making  his  own 


property  accessible  to  the  Merrimac  River  settle- 
ments, and  his  own  settlement  here  seemingly  an  as- 
sured thing.  The  record  from  the  Rowley  1st  book, 
as  previously  given,  is  good  evidence  that  this  partial 
settlement  actually  occurred.  The  lamented  ending 
of  his  useful  life,  may  as  well  be  told  here. 

June  24, 1675,  was  ever  memorable  in  New  Eng- 
land history  as  the  date  of  the  opening  tragedy,  in 
that  calamity  known  as  King  Philip's  War.  This  was 
followed  by  an  alliance  of  several  tribes,  of  which 
some  had  previously  been  friendly.  This  action  of 
the  Indians  awakened  general  alarm  throughout  both 
Massachusetts  and  Plymouth  Colonies.  Soldiers  were 
ordered  to  be  raised,  and  Samuel  Brocklebank,  now 
captain,  reports  on  the  29th  of  November,  1675,  to 
Governor  John  Leverett  that  "  This  may  certify,  that 
we  have  impressid  twelve  men  according  to  our  war- 
rant, and  have  given  them  charge  to  fit  themsellves 
well  with  warm  clothing,  and  we  hope  they  will,  and 
doe  endeavour  to  fixe  themsellves  as  well  as  they  can  ; 
only  some  of  them  are  men  that  but  latly  come  to 
town,  and  want  arms,  the  which  to  provide  for  them 
we  must  press  other  men's  arms,  which  is  very  griev- 
ous (except  they  can  be  provided  for  upon  the  coun- 
try's account,  which  would  be  very  acceptable  if  it 
could  be.)  " 

Writing  this  kindly  note,  in  behalf  of  this  little 
company  of  distressed  townsmen,  he  bids  farewell  to 
all  those  useful  labors  for  the  town  of  his  adoption, 
where,  in  the  forest,  he  had  fixed  the  highways,  since 
traveled  by  myriad  feet ;  a  lingering  look  up  the  long 
extent  of  hill  and  plain,  along  what  is  now  Elm 
Street,  which  he  had  fondly  expected  to  redeem  from 
the  wild  reign  of  Nature,  then  controlling  it;  a  final 
farewell  to  his  wilderness  home,  with  the  peaceful 
sound  of  Pen  Brook  the  only  break  upon  the  stillness, 
and  to  his  village  friends,  now  agitated  with  many  an 
unwonted  fear,  and  to  Boston,  and  then  from  Marl- 
borough he  makes  his  repcn-t,  as  a  soldier  ready  for 
service,  if  his  duty  calls. 

He  wrote  to  Major  Denison,  of  Ipswich,  March  27, 
1676,  from  the  place  last  named.  Asks  to  be  dismissed 
with  his  men,  saying  that  they  can  do  nothing  of  ad- 
vantage where  they  are.  Impatient  to  escape  from 
this  idle  waiting,  says  also  "that  they  have  been  in 
the  country's  service  ever  since  the  first  of  January 
at  Narriganset,  and  within  one  week  after  their  return 
were  sent  out  again,  having  neither  time  or  money, 
save  a  fortnight's  pay,  upon  the  march  to  recruit 
themselves."  The  previous  day  he  wrote  the  Council 
an  interesting  letter,  with  a  graphic  account  of  the 
burning  of  many  houses  and  barns  in  Marlborough, 
ending  with  a  prediction  of  greater  havoc  soon  to  be 
made. 

His  premonitions  were  more  than  realized.  On  the 
21st  of  the  following  April  Captain  Brocklebank,  Cap- 
tain Wadsworth  of  Milton,  Lieutenant  Shar]^  of 
Brookline,  with  about  one  hundred  men,  were  drawn 
into  ambush  by  the  Indians  in  the  town  of  Sudbury, 


GEORGETOWN. 


805 


and  the  three  officers  and  probably  upwards  of  fifty  of 
the  men  were  killed.  They  were  all  buried  in  one 
grave,  in  the  forest  near  where  they  fell.  About  1730 
President  Benjamin  Wadsworth,  of  Harvard  College, 
a  son  of  the  captain,  erected  a  plain  slab  over  the 
burial-place  of  these  men,  which,  in  1840,  was  in  a 
good  state  of  preservation.  A  granite  monument  was 
also  erected  by  the  State  of  JVIassachusetts  and  the 
town  of  Sudbury  in  1852,  and  dedicated  November 
23d  of  that  year,  with  an  address  by  Governor  Bout- 
well.  The  former  headstone  is  placed  directly  in  front 
of  it.  Two  centuries  later,  on  the  anniversary  of  this 
sad  event,  a  general  observance  of  the  day  was  had, 
many  visiting  Sudbury  from  the  surrounding  country. 
The  writer,  as  a  lineal  descendant  of  Captain  Brockle- 
bank  and  as  a  representative  of  the  town,  was  invited 
by  the  committee  of  arrangements  to  be  present. 

This  was  the  sad  ending  of  the  career  of  a  brave 
and  useful  man.  He  had  been  a  deacon  of  the  church 
in  Rowley,  probably  from  the  death  of  Thomas  Mig- 
hill.  His  age  was  but  forty-six.  Had  he  lived,  un- 
doubtedly his  energies  and  enthusiasm  would  have 
been  strongly  felt  in  the  early. history  of  Georgetown. 

Ninety-nine  years  later,  and  that  same  locality  was 
the  theatre  of  events  equally  bloody,  and  the  descend- 
ants of  Captain  Brocklebank's  Rowley  neighbors  were 
there  by  forced  marches,  too  late,  however,  to  join  the 
"  embattled  farmers  as  they  stood,  and  fired  the  shot 
heard  round  the  world."  Coming  here  a  lad  of  eight, 
growing  up  with  the  Rowley  settlement,  his  ti'agic 
ending  gives  a  gleam  of  story  to  our  history  in  the 
seventeenth  century  such  as  we  get  from  no  other 
source.  But  Georgetown  in  an  especial  manner  can 
claim  his  career  as  her  own,  for  here  was  his  farm, 
cleared  to  some  extent  by  him,  and  here  was,  we  be- 
lieve, his  first  habitation  looking  toward  a  permanent 
home.  His  inventory  has  this  item :  "  farme  toward 
Bradford,  150  lbs."  With  house  in  Rowley  is  added 
"kilne."  Whole  estate,  £442  lis.  His  eldest  son, 
Samuel,  born  November  28,  1(353,  occupied  the  farm 
in  1G85,  and  unquestionably  lived  here. 

November  20,  168G,  a  committee  met  at  Samuel 
Brocklebank's  house  to  consider  his  claim  for  damage 
by  a  highway  opened  through  his  farm.  This  may 
have  been  the  Elm  Street  road,  now  formally  opened, 
and  perhaps  by  a  more  direct  route  to  the  Ipswich 
and  Andover  road  than  before — ^crossing  Nelson  Street 
at  the  foot  of  Adams  Hill,  near  Mrs.  W.  M.  Shute's, 
and  so  easterly  and  close  beside  the  sharp  range  of 
hills,  parallel  with  the  railroad,  until  we  pass  Oak 
Dell  Grove  and  reach  the  wooden  bridge  across  Pen 
Brook,  just  below  Lake  Raynor.  This  ancient  way, 
the  direct  way  to  Thomas  Hazen's,  who,  two  years  be- 
fore, had  settled  about  midway  of  a  large  tract  south 
of  and  adjoining  Lake  Raynor,  and  also  to  Daniel 
Wood's  was  opened  probably  at  this  time.  In  1712 
Hazen  aold  his  three  hundred  acre  farm,  all  lying  in 
one  body  and  south  of  the  lake,  with  his  dwelling- 
house  in  what  is  now  the  Samuel  Perley  lot,  and  re- 


moved to  Connecticut.  Two  hundred  and  fifty  acrea 
were  deeded  to  Jacob  Perley,  and  the  balance  of  sixty 
acres  to  Timothy  Perkins,  of  Tojisfield.  This  was  a 
Boxford  farm,  but  the  connections  of  Thomas  Hazen 
were  so  identified  with  South  Georgetown  for  nearly 
a  century  after  that  a  brief  mention  does  not  seem  amiss. 
Sixteen  acres  of  land  were  granted  Brocklebank  for 
damage  because  of  highway.  This  land  given  him 
was  on  the  west  side  of  his  farm,  with  one  corner  on 
"  Widdow  Lambert's  farme,"  who  was  probably  the 
widow  of  Francis  Lambert,  of  Rowley.  This  was  the 
same  tract  which,  nearly  twenty-five  years  before,  had 
been  laid  out  to  Mrs.  Rogers,  but  at  this  time,  prob- 
ably, all  of  Mrs.  Rogers'  land  had  come  into  the  pos- 
session of  the  Lambert  family. 

Returning  to  our  pioneers  on  the  hill,  we  find  John 
Spofford  continuing  his  labors  from  year  to  year. 
Without  any  competitors  to  cheapen  the  price  of  his 
labor,  watching  over  the  young  cattle,  penning  them 
by  night,  with  freedom  to  roam  where  they  might  by 
day,  generally,  however,  up  the  slopes  and  on  the 
summit  of  Baldpate,  where,  from  some  cause,  there 
was  a  natural  clearing,  an  entire  want  of  the  old  tim- 
bered growth  which  covered  all  the  upland  beside. 

With  the  regularity  of  the  seasons  he  gathers  the 
hay-harvest  from  "Half-moon  Meadow,"  still  called 
by  the  same  expressive  name.  Only  at  long  intervals, 
and  then  in  settled  weather,  would  a  traveler  be  seen 
on  foot  or  horse,  journeying  along  the  "old  path  that 
goeth  toward  Andover."  Eight  years  passed,  and  on 
the  16th  of  March,  1(577,  the  lease  was  transferred  by 
Mr.  Spofford  to  his  sons  John  and  Samuel,  and  ex- 
tended to  the  new  lessees  sixty  years  from  date.  Per- 
haps the  father  thought  the  town  had  driven  a  hard 
"  bargon  "  with  him,  or  the  "  gravelle  plain  "  was  not 
as  productive  as  was  expected,  or,  possibly,  further 
encouragement  was  needed  to  keep  the  young  men 
from  returning  to  Rowley  village,  but  from  some  cause 
there  was  an  abatement  of  the  rent.  Unlike  the  hard 
fate  of  the  Irish  peasant,  who  sees  his  rent  rise  with 
every  slight  improvement  on  his  acre  of  bog,  their 
rent  was  reduced  to  eight  pounds,  with  the  results  of 
eight  years'  labor  added  to  its  original  value. 

Ministry  rates  to  be  paid  "for  what  stocke  they 
keep  upon  the  saide  land,  and  for  all  broke-up  land 
and  unbroke  land,  as  the  inhabitants  of  the  town 
doe  pay."  "  AUso  they  have  liberty  to  pay  in  porke 
their  rent  if  they  see  cause."  Acorns  and  all  species 
of  mast  (walnuts  of  every  kind)  were  especially  abun- 
dant in  all  the  country  south  of  this  parish  farm,  and 
swine  must  have  been  grown  at  a  nominal  cost. 

To  this  day  the  same  district  south  and  east  of 
Baldpate  Hill  is  noted  for  the  abundance  of  its  crop 
of  walnuts,  making  quite  an  item  in  the  aggregated 
products  of  the  farms.  Included  in  this  supplemen- 
tary lease  is  this  clause,  "And  duringe  the  times  of 
the  Indian  wars  there  rent  is  to  be  abated  accordinge 
to  the  iudgment  of  indifl'erent  men,  if  they  be  hin- 
dered in   carrying  on  the  saide   farme."      A  strong 


806 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


probability  that  they  might  have  to  return  to  Rowley 
with  at  least  pecuniary  loss. 

This  anticipated  danger  from  the  Indian  fighter, 
with  the  fever  for  blood  raging  in  him  just  at  this 
time,  reveals  the  cause  which  had  prevented,  more 
than  anything  else,  that  rapid  settlement  of  the  three 
thousand  acres  expected  by  the  town  fathers  eight 
years  before.  One  of  the  most  valued  citizens  of  the 
town,  and  to  a  certain  extent  their  only  neighbor, 
had,  but  a  few  years  before,  given  up  his  life  to  pro- 
tect such  as  they  and  theirs  from  the  bullet  and  the 
torch.  In  Captain  Brocklebank's  death  the  realities 
of  Indian  war  came  home  to  them  with  a  force  never 
felt  before.  The  conclusion  of  the  lease,  showing  but 
a  faint  conception  of  the  opulence  which  a  century 
later  would  surround  some  branches  of  the  family,  is 
this,  "  At  the  end  of  there  lease  they  are  to  be  allow- 
ed for  all  buildings  on  the  saide  farme,  to  be  vallued 
by  indifferent  men,  provided  they  are  not  to  exceede 
above  twenty  pounds."  At  the  date  of  the  lease  John 
Spoftbrd  was  twenty-nine  and  his  brother  Samuel 
twenty-five  years  of  age.  The  father  probably  returned 
to  Rowley  village. 

The  will  of  John  Spoftbrd  is  on  record  at  the  regis- 
ter of  deeds'  ofliice  in  Salem.  A  few  bequests  are 
given.  He  bequeaths  a  portion  to  son  Francis,  and 
that  it  may  be  at  his  wife's  disposal  until  he  become 
of  the  age  of  one  and  twenty  years,  and  that  he  may 
be  helpful  to  her  to  carry  on  her  husbandry  work. 
Francis  to  have  the  small  gun  and  rapier.  The  long 
fowling-piece  to  go  to  son  John.  Four  acres  toward 
great  meadow  to  go  to  Francis,  and  son  Thomas  his 
village  land.  Sons  Samuel  and  John  the  lease  of  the 
farm.  Two  cows  to  wife,  one  cow  to  each  of  his 
daughters.  To  Francis,  two  young  oxen,  one  mare 
and  one  cart.  The  gray  horse  to  Thomas.  Three 
sheep  to  each  of  his  daughters  and  to  sons  John  and 
Thomas.  One  sheep  to  his  wife  and  one  heifer  or 
calf  to  wife  and  each  of  his  daughters.  The  date  of 
this  death  is  not  known.  Was  not  living  in  1691. 
His  name  does  not  appear  in  the  tax  list  of  that  year. 
Probably  owned  property  in  Rowley,  on  which  Fran- 
cis and  the  widow  lived  for  a  time. 

His  inventory  as  valued  is  recorded  as  £223  9s. 
Another  of  the  first  settlers  of  Rowley,  whose  name 
figures  somewhat  prominently  in  the  land  transfers 
of  the  seventeenth  century  in  this  section  of  the  town, 
now  Georgetown,  was  Richard  Swan.  It  is  not 
thought  that  he  lived  here,  but  he  had  land  bounded 
by  Pen  Brook,  and  partly  by  ye  farme  granted  to 
Mr.  Samuel  Shepard,  of  Rowley,  on  the  northwest,  on 
the  southeast  by  land  of  Mr.  Edward  Payson,  on  the 
southwest  by  land  in  possession  of  Ebenezer  Boyn- 
ton  and  jjartly  by  land  of  Samuel  Brocklebank,  and 
on  the  northeast  by  Benjamin  Plumer's  land.  This 
was  centrally  located,  between  what  is  now  North 
Street  and  Main  Street,  toward  the  Marlborough  dis- 
trict extending  from  Pen  Brook  on  the  west,  over  or 
near  the  laud  of  John  Preston  eastwardly,  to  an  un- 


known distance.  The  bounds  of  this  tract  were  the 
same  as  those  recorded  in  the  deed  of  June  5,  1712, 
from  Hannah  Swan,  the  widow,  then  of  Haverhill,  to 
Joseph  Bointon,  who  was  doubtless  a  son-in-law.  Swan 
having  died  in  1078.  That  deed  conveyed  all  the  lands 
and  meadows  within  the  town  of  Rowley,  which  the 
said  Boynton  deeded  to  her  late  husband,  of  date  May 
27,  1678.  These  lands  were  seemingly  held  by  Swan 
but  ibr  a  few  months  only,  having  been  bought  of 
Bointon,  who  held  the  oflice  of  town  clerk  of  Rowley 
for  thirteen  years,  from  1679  to  '91,  and  who  was  the 
original  owner.  In  1672  these  lands  were  again  in 
Boynton's  hands,  and  that  deed  was  probably  a  quit- 
claim by  the  widow. 

Mrs.  Swan  was  then  evidently  quite  aged  and  prob- 
ably living  with  a  son,  whose  house  and  family  dur- 
ing the  Indian  attack  on  Haverhill  four  years  before, 
were  saved.  Tradition  says  that  several  Indians  were 
about  to  force  an  entrance  into  the  Swan  house 
through  the  partially  open  door,  when  the  wife  with 
Amazonian  courage,  seizing  her  s[)it,  which  was  near- 
ly three  feet  in  length,  collected  all  the  strength  she 
possessed,  and  drove  it  through  the  body  of  the  fore- 
most Indian.  This  was  a  resistance  they  little  ex- 
pected, and  thus  repulsed  they  retreated  and  molested 
them  no  further. 

This  land  grant  adds  the  names  of  Boynton  and 
Swan  to  the  list  of  early  land  owners,  the  Brockle- 
banks  (Samuel  and  John),  Humphrey  Rainer  and 
Thomas  Mighill,  having  taken  much  of  the  land  at  the 
south  of  this. 

Besides  the  above,  there  was  of  the  Swan  land  a 
piece  of  meadow  at  the  eastward  near  Stony  Brook  so 
called,  perhaps  the  Hilliard  Brook.  This  was  owned 
by  Boynton,  and  sold  by  him  to  Benj.  Plumer  in 
1708.  ' 

In  May,  1714,  Joseph  Bointon  deeded  to  Richard 
Bointon  one-half  of  this  land,  said  to  have  belonged 
to  Richard's  grandfather  Swan,  Richard  not  being 
satisfied  with  previous  gifts,  and  Joseph  also  agreed 
"to  defend  from  Benoni  Boynton,  who  aims  to  cut 
off  Richard  from  what  my  father  hath  given  him." 
This  Joseph  was  said  to  be  a  brother  of  Richard,  but 
there  is  some  mistake,  for  he  must  have  been  a  brother 
of  Richard's  father.  Swan  was  deputy  for  several 
years,  and  prominent  in  town  aftairs. 

In  town  expenses  for  1667-68  we  find  Richard  Swan 
paid  for  deputyship  £S  9s.  6d.  In  those  days  the  towns 
bore  the  expense  of  deputies.  Also  "  for  lainge  out 
land  and  goinge  to  Salem  and  horse  hire,  13s."  Swan, 
with  others,  was  selected  for  locating  highways  (a  very 
responsible  work),  also,  "  to  agree  with  the  sons  of 
John  Spoffoitl  about  ye  farm,"  and  was  appointed,  with 
Lieut.  Brocklebank  and  Ezekiel  Northend,  February 
21,  1672,  to  lay  out  the  farm  of  one  hundred  acres 
near  Crane  Meadows,  voted  to  be  laid  out  to  the  child 
of  Mr.  Samuel  Shepard  at  the  meeting  on  the  previ- 
ous January.  This  Mr.  Shepard,  the  third  minister 
in  Rowley,  was  a  colleague  with  Rev.  Mr.  Phillips  from 


GEORGETOWN. 


807 


November,  1665,  to  his  death,  April  7,  1668,  at  the 
early  age  of  twenty-seven  years.  He  left  one  sou,  an 
orphan,  the  mother  dying  about  two  months  before 
the  father.  The  town  voted  in  January,  1672,  the 
before-named  grant  to  the  Shepard  boy,  then  past 
three  years  old,  provided  "it  did  live  unto  the  age  of 
twenty-one  years,"  but  March  13th,  on  re-considera- 
tion, it  was  granted  without  conditions,  probably  on 
the  remonstrance  of  the  boy's  grandmother,  Mrs. 
Margery  Hoar,  widow  of  Rev.  Henry  Flint,  first 
minister  of  the  old  church  in  Quincy,  then  in  Brain- 
tree.  Mrs.  Flint,  then  sole  executor  of  the  will  of  her 
son-in-law,  Mr.  Shepard,  and  the  education  of  young 
Samuel  Shepard,  the  son  of  her  daughter  Dorothy, 
devolving  upon  her,  wrote,  like  a  strong-minded  wo- 
man, a  sharp  letter  to  the  town  of  Rowley,  which  no 
doubt  brought  about  definite  action.  The  tomb- 
stone of  Mrs.  Flint  informs  us  that  for  many  years 
she  was  noted  as  an  instructress  of  young  gentlewo- 
men, many  being  sent  to  her,  especially  from  Boston. 
This  "Shepard  farm,"  as  it  was  named,  for  many 
years  was  quite  noted  as  a  boundary  point  in  deeds. 
Young  Shepard  was  graduated  from  Harvard  College 
in  1685,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  and  this  land  con- 
tinued to  be  held  by  him  until  1694.  August  2Sth,  of 
that  year,  he,  while  living  in  Lynn,  probably  with  his 
uncle  Jeremiah  Shepard,  pastor  of  the  first  church  in 
that  town,  sold  his  "  ferme"  to  Joseph  and  Jonathan 
Plummer. 

This  famous  Shepard  land  was  doubtless  located  on 
the  southerly  side  of  North  Street,  but,  perhaps,  in- 
cluded both  sides  of  the  street,  from  Pen  Brook  at  the 
present  causeway,  to  the  residence  of  S.  S.  Hardy, 
then  eastwardly  for  some  distance  at  the  south  of  the 
street,  including  what  was  afterwards  known  as  the 
"  Baptist  Parsonage  Farm."  It  is  said  in  the  deed  to 
be  "on  the  south  side  of  ye  old  path  called  Andover 
path."  At  about  the  same  time  as  this  Shejiard 
grant,  land  was  laid  out  to  Mr.  Francis  Parrot,  In  the 
vicinity  of  what  is  now  known  as  the  Searl  place,  on 
the  hill.  This  Parrot  was  town  clerk  of  Rowley  for 
several  years,  and  is  said  to  have  returned  to  Eng- 
land, and  died  there.  If  this  is  correct,  this  grant 
was  a  freehold  to  his  heirs.  It  adjoined  Anthony 
Crosbies'  land,  and  was  near  Reedy  meadow  and  also 
the  Shepard  farm.  In  the  farm  purchase  is  the  first 
mention  of  the  Plumer  name  in  Georgetown.  Origi- 
nally a  Newbury  family,  the  name  of  Benjamin  Plumer 
first  appears  as  a  Rowley  resident  in  1678. 

Returning  to  1665,  we  find  from  all  the  records  of 
the  town  of  Rowley,  an  eagerness  for  land-grants  in 
the  commons.  There  were,  at  least,  three  divisions 
prior  to  the  year  1700,  the  first  division  being  made 
soon  after  the  establishment  of  the  settlement.  In 
the  year  1667  the  three  thousand  acres  were  surveyed. 
This  tract  seems  to  have  been  nearly  preserved  intact, 
the  only  diminishing  of  the  town  commons  being 
the  setting  oft' of  the  parish  farm  the  following  year. 
Dec.  30th  of  the  same  year,  with  perhaps  accusation  of 


favoritism,  and  complaints  of  an  assumption  of  author- 
ity floating  about  "the  Lot-layers  were  ordered  by  the 
town  not  to  Lay  out  any  Lands  with  in  the  Township 
of  Rowley,  but  by  notis  of  some  Express  grant  in 
writing,  both  for  plan  and  quantity."  Envy  and  de- 
traction were  doing  its  work,  and  as  has  been  pre- 
viously said,  it  was  becoming  difl5cult  to  find  men 
who  would  perform  the  duty  with  the  certainty  that 
fault-finding  was  sure  to  follow. 

The  death  of  King  Philip  giving  a  relief  from  the 
anxiety  of  the  two  years  preceding,  and  renewed 
courage  in  back-woods  life,  it  was  voted  by  the  town, 
January  22,  1677 : 

"That  those  appoynted  to  Returnp  Land  or  cases,  to  wit,  the  old  Select 
men,  and  the  lottlajerB  of  both  ends  of  the  tewne,  Shoulde  also  Examine 
the  right  that  men  have  to  freeholds  they  lay  claim  to,  that  they  may  be 
Recorded." 

Human  nature  is  alike  grasping,  within  the  nar- 
row limits  of  Rowley,  as  on  the  broad  prairies  of  the 
West.  In  1679  the  town  went  further  and  chose  a 
committee  at  the  meeting  March  27th,  to  consider  the 
situation,  and  endeavor  to  reconcile  energy  and  am- 
bition, with  equity  and  fair-dealing,  a  problem  equally 
diflicult  to  solve,  then,  as  well  as  now. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  they  partially  succeeded,  for 
the  "  men  chosen  to  joyne  with  the  Select  men,  to 
consider  of  questions  that  may  arise  about  the  Divi- 
sion of  the  Comons,  and  are  to  Returne  their  thoughts 
about  them,"  were  men  of  the  prominence  of  "thomas 
lambert,  John  pickard,  I\Ir.  (Philip)  Nelson,  leonard 
harriman,    John    tod   and    thomas    leaver.    Junior." 

May  20,  1685,  "At  a  Leaguel  Towue  meeting,  it  was 
Agreed  and  voted,  that  corporal  northend,  daniel 
wicam,  Ezekiel  Mighill,  John  pickard  and John- 
son, be  a  committee  to  fixe  the  bounds  of  the  three 
thousand  akers,  comonly  so-called."  Considerable 
interest  began  to  be  felt  in  rokds  and  other  improve- 
ments here,  and  some  were  considering  a  possible 
settlement.  It  seems  to  have  been  feared  that  this 
tract  might  be  encroached  ujion,  it  having  been  evi- 
dently reserved  for  a  general  and  careful  distribution, 
and,  therefore,  this  renewed  survey  was  ordered. 

For  years,  the  hay  on  the  meadow  laud,  where  ac- 
cessible, had  been  cut,  being  the  only  product  of 
this  common  land,  but  at  the  time  of  this  survey 
Rock  Pond  Meadow  had  been  granted  temporarily. 
The  meadows  were  still  ap])reciated  so  highly,  that 
when  Bradford  appealed  to  Rowley  in  a  pathetic  let- 
ter, dated  March,  1680-81  (now  in  the  Rowley  records), 
for  an  additional  grant  of  land,  or  aid  of  some  kind, 
Rowley,  a  few  days  later  replies,  that  they  cannot 
grant  more  territory,  but  will  "give  Rev.  Mr.  Symmes 
Liberty  for  Six  or  Siven  Loads  of  Hay  yearly,  of  that 
meddow  called  Rock  Pond  Meddow,  till  the  towne 
Shall  Se  Cause  to  order  it  otherwise."  It  was  poor 
satisfaction  for  Bradford  to  ask  for  a  change  of  bound- 
ary, and  only  get  a  few  loads  of  meadow  hay,  with  the 
privilege  of  cutting  it  themselves. 

But    to    again   continue   the   earlier   land   grants. 


808 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Before  1687,  land  was  laid  out  on  Long  Hill,  to  John 
Acie,  probably  a  son  of  William,  who  was  an  original 
settler  of  Rowley.  This  land  was  inherited  by  a 
daughter,  who  married  a  Burbank.  Acie  continued 
to  have  land  there,  as  late  as  1701.  This  name  seems 
to  be  an  anomaly  among  Essex  County  names.  In 
1691  Sarah,  the  widow  of  John  Brocklebank,  sold 
land  to  a  Boynton,  probably  Joseph.  She  had  been 
a  widow  for  more  than  twenty-five  years,  her  husband 
dying  a  few  years  after  his  grant  near  Pen  Brook,  in 
1661,  perhaps  in  1663.  The  heirs  bought  some  of  the 
Thomas  Mighill  land.  This  Brocklebank  family  had 
all  this  land  east  of  the  brook,  extending  to  Marl- 
borough, and  it  is  thought,  only  held  it  for  one  gen- 
eration, when  it  was  probably  sold  to  the  Boyntons, 
perhaps  to  Ebenezer.  What  became  of  them  is  not 
known ;  all  of  the  name  in  this  vicinity  are  descend- 
ants of  Capt.  Samuel's,  eldest  and  youngest  sons. 
Another  name  of  an  early  date,  is  that  of  David 
Wheeler,  found  on  a  deed  of  date  1691,  on  a  transfer 
of  land  to  Nathaniel  Browne.  He  was  probably  the 
first  to  settle  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Goodrich  house  on 
North  Street.  Was  the  father  of  Jonathan  Wheeler, 
who  a  few  years  later  rose  to  especial  prominence. 
David  Wheeler  had  removed,  or  was  not  living  in  town 
in  1701,  as  his  name  is  not  found  on  the  list  of  Rowley 
men  in  that  locality,  petitioning  for  an  abatement  of 
minister  rates.  He  sold  June  6,  1693,  thirty  acres  of 
land  to  John  Spofford,  said  to  adjoin  Behj.  Goodrich's 
land. 

In  1707  Jonathan  Wheeler  deeded  all  the  undivided 
lands  in  Newbury,  belonging  to  his  father,  David 
Wheeler,  to  a  Mr.  Coffin. 

In  1697  Jonathan  Wheeler  was  said  to  be  of  Row- 
ley, and  was  perhaps  living  in  the  town  four  years  be- 
fore. 

August  24,  1693,  he  deeded  about  twenty  acres  of 
upland  and  meadow,  lying  near  Crane  Pond,  said  to 
have  been  bought  previously  of  Philip  Nelson,  to  the 
next  heirs  of  the  late  Benjamin  Guttridge  ((Toodrich), 
the  former  deed  sujjposed  to  have  been  burnt  in  the 
house.  This  land  was  granted  to  Wheeler  by  the 
town  of  Rowley. 

"  John  Spawford's "  land  was  on  the  northwest ; 
bought  the  same  year  of  the  Brownes.  Nathaniel 
BrownesoldSpoffordfifty-fouracres,  his  brother,  Eben- 
ezer twelve,  making  with  that  sold  Spofibrd  by  Wheeler 
a  tract  of  ninety-six  acres.  This  land  was  on  or  near 
Thurlow  Street,  then  known  as  Bradford  highway, 
by  which  it  was  bounded,  also  by  the  brook  (Parker 
River),  and  owners  of  Ox-pasture  Hill.  The  house 
and  land  of  John  Brown  is  mentioned  in  David 
Wheeler's  deed ;  where  it  was,  it  is  not  possible  per- 
haps to  tell  at  this  day. 

Cornet  Parsons'  land  is  said  to  be  on  the  southwest 
of  the  land  deeded  by  Jonathan  Wheeler  to  the 
Goodrich  heirs,  and  "  Three  logg  bridge  "  named,  was 
the  bridge  over  Parker  River,  on  Thurlow  Street. 
These  three  Brownes,  John,  Ebenezer  and  Nathaniel, 


were  on  the  list  of  parish  petitioners  in  1701.  Nathaniel 
soon  after  removed  to  Groton,  Conn.  While  there, 
January  8,  1708,  he  sold  for  four  pounds  a  freehold  in 
Row  lev  to  Daniel  Wood,  of  Boxford.  Ebenezer 
probably  remained ;  twenty  years  later  land  was 
known  by  his  name.  The  mention  in  Wheeler's  deed 
of  the  former  deed  being  burned  in  the  house  of 
Goodrich,  reveals  of  itself  nothing  but  a  barren  fact. 
We  have  the  story,  however.  It  was  the  year 
previous  to  this  just  act  of  Wheeler's  when  the  tragedy 
we  are  now  to  relate  occurred. 

October  23,  1692,  was  the  Lord's  day.  Mr.  Good- 
rich living  in  this  locality,  in  a  house  of  small  dimen- 
sions, doubtless  such  as  were  common  on  the  frontier 
at  that  time,  was  at  evening  prayer  with  his  family, 
when  the  house  wassuddenly  attacked  by  a  small  band 
of  Indians,  and  Mr.  Goodrich,  his  wife  and  several 
children  were  killed.  One  daughter,  a  girl  of  seven, 
is  said  to  have  been  carried  off  a  captive,  but  redeem- 
ed at  the  expense  of  the  Province  the  spring  fol- 
lowing. 

The  house,  after  being  sacked,  was  at  least  partially 
Ijurned.  It  was  a  common  occurrence  for  the  Indians 
to  destroy  in  wantones.s  what  plunder  they  could  not 
carry  away,  and  if  time  would  warrant  also,  to  burn 
the  house  raided.  This  family  were  living  here  in 
fancied  security,  but  tor  some  time  before  there  had 
been  frequent  Indian  raids  on  the  frontier,  especially 
at  the  eastward.  In  1688  the  former  enmity  incited 
by  the  French  in  Canada  was  renewed,  and  the  ex- 
pedition of  Sir  William  Phipps  against  Canada,  in 
1690,  having  proved  the  most  disastrous  failure  New 
England  had  ever  known,  the  Indians  became  daring, 
and  for  two  years  after  were  busy  with  carnage. 

This  tragedy  seems  to  have  been  an  unpremeditated 
act  by  a  roving  band,  and  tradition  says  they  were  so 
angered  at  not  accomplishing  the  object  of  their  raid, 
the  death  of  some  one  in  Newbury,  against  whom 
they  had  a  long  standing  grudge,  that  accidentally 
approaching  this  house,  the  unprotected  inmates  were 
made  the  mark  for  their  malice  and  wrath.  As  one 
thinks  of  it  the  incident  seems  hardly  credible,  and 
that  it  could  have  occurred  miles  from  the  border  and 
the  raiders  escape  with  iheir  captives  and  booty.  We 
can  imagine  the  horror  felt  by  the  Brownes  on  the 
Bradford  road,  by  the  Wheelers,  Plumers,  Poors, 
and  especially  so  by  Deacon  Brocklebank's  family  up 
l)y  Pen  Brook,  and  the  Spoffords  on  the  hill,  as 
guided  by  the  burning  house,  they  hastened,  only  to 
find  a  family  silent  in  death,  mangled  and  bloody, 
with  their  house-dog  howling  his  agony  over  his 
slain  friends  and  playmates.  Whether  the  house  was 
entii'ely  or  partially  burned  may  be  a  matter  of  con- 
troversy and  an  open  question.  In  1840,  when  Gage's 
"History  of  Rowley  "  was  written,  a  wood-cut  of  the 
Lull  house,  then  standing  a  few  rods  west  of  the  resi- 
dence of  G.  D.  Tenney,  Esq.,  was  inserted  as  the 
house  where  the  massacre  occurred,  and  the  window 
pointed  out  through  which  the  Indians  fired.     That 


GEORGETOWN. 


809 


the  burning  was  at  least  partially  accomplished,  per- 
haps all  the  interior,  is  from  the  deed  of  Wheeler 
made  almost  a  certainty,  and  that  by  the  efforts  of  the 
neighbors  the  fire  was  extinguished  and  a  jiart  of  the 
house  saved.  From  this  saved  part,  east  of  the  front 
door,  extensions  were  made  at  different  times  until 
the  spacious  mansion  we  knew  as  the  old  Lull  house 
was  the  result.  It  seems  that  such  an  event  would 
have  been  so  impressed  upon  the  occupants  of  the 
Lull  house,  from  one  generation  to  another,  that  they 
could  not  possibly  have  been  entirely  in  error  when 
the  story  was  brought  down  from  sire  to  son,  that  in 
this  room  and  through  that  window  the  Goodrich 
family  were  shot.  The  one  grave  in  which  they  were 
buried  is  near  by,  unmarked,  however,  by  any  memo- 
rial. It  should  be  a  pleasing  duty  for  those  bearing 
the  name  to  place  something  there  in  recognition  oi 
their  sad  fate.  It  is  doubtful  whether  they  had  lived 
there  above  a  year  or  two. 

From  this  date  to  1700  every  movement  looking  to- 
ward a  settlement  was  in  this  locality  or  just  east- 
ward. 

December  1,  1693,  Henry  Poor  bought  twenty-eight 
acres  of  land  of  John  Pierson,  of  Rowley.  "Miller" 
Pierson  owned  the  old  Nelson  Mill  on  Mill  River. 
This  was  a  part  of  Pierson's  common  land  in  the  third 
division.  John  Bayley,  probably  of  Boston,  owned  land 
near  by.  The  other  boundary  points  named  in  the 
deed  were  "  the  meadow  laid  out  to  Samuel  Shepard 
(not  the  Shepard  farm),  Bradford  highway,  also  south- 
west of  Whet^ler's  and  Goodrich  land."  Perhaps  Poor 
built  on  the  north  side  of  Thurlow  Street.  The  laud 
extended  to  "  Three  logg  bridge  brook,''  which  must 
then  have  been  the  name  of  Parker  River,  at  the  point 
where  Thurluw  Street  crosses  it. 

About  thirty  years  later,  Henry  Poor  and  his  sou 
Benjamin,  in  a  deed  to  Benjamin  Plumer,  sold  a 
corner  of  the  land  on  which  (the  deed  states),  "we 
now  dwell,"  indicating  a  change  of  residence  in  the 
meantime.  Poor  was  Newbury  born.  Benjamin, 
the  eldest  son,  was  married  about  the  time  of  the 
change  of  house. 

In  1707  Jonathan  Wheeler  sold  to  Nathaniel  Cof- 
fin, one-half  of  Poor's  interest  in  the  undivided  lauds 
of  Newbury. 

Very  early  deeds  imply  that  Crane  Pond  was,  for 
some  years  after  the  incorporation  of  Bradford,  in- 
cluded in  Rowley.  Crane  Pond,  and  the  meadows 
near,  were  known  by  the  present  name,  as  early,  it  is 
thought,  as  1670.  Many  of  the  earlier  grants  and 
transfers  were  of  Crane  Pond  lands,  and  the  records 
of  the  locality  refer  to  an  old  grant,  and  a  new  grant ; 
the  former  line  is  supposed  to  have  run  north  and  the 
latter  south  of  the  pond.  There  are  deeds  ou  rec- 
ord from  John  Wallingford,  to  his  brother-in-law, 
Jonathan  Look,  of  land  near  Pond  Brook  (this  pond 
must  have  been  Crane  Pond,  for  Pentucket  and  Rock 
were  always  designated  by  their  names),  also  Jona- 
than Wheeler  is  said  to  have  had  a  division  with  the 
51 


above  on  the  south  side  of  the  pond  in  Rowley. 
Without  the  pond  being  named,  it  seems  to  show  an 
apparent  knowledge  of  but  one  pond,  and  from  the 
names  of  the  parties,  Wallingford,  Look  and  Wheel- 
er, it  is  conclusive  that  the  pond  was  Crane  Pond, 
and  was  then  (1604),  within  the  limits  of  Rowley. 
Look  probably  lived  in  the  neighborhood  of  these 
Crane  meadows.  Seven  years  later  he  signed  the 
parish  petition  with  the  others.  His  name  disap- 
peared from  Rowley  history  soon  after. 

These  owners  of  lands  in  Rowley  were  under  the 
old  grant.  The  new  grant  was  made  not  long  after. 
It  will  be  recalled  that  in  1681,  a  request  came  to 
Rowley  from  Bradford,  for  an  enlargement  of  their 
territory,  and  perhaps  after  many  appeals,  the  town 
of  Rowley,  April  7,  1699,  appointed  a  committee,  "  to 
meet  with  the  Bradford  Committee,  when  there  may 
be  a  convenient  opportunity,  to  settle  thelinebetween 
Rowley  and  Bradford,  and  what  they  shall  do  (says 
the  record),  shall  be  a  valid  act."  Probably  the  con- 
venient time  did  not  arrive,  for  in  1701,  nothing  ap- 
parently having  been  done,  Bradford  petitioned  the 
General  Court  to  interfere.  Rowley,  then  forced  to 
definite  action,  chose  on  September  22,  1701,  a  com- 
mittee "  to  meet  a  Bradford  committee,  at  the  house  of 
Samuel  Hale,  and  to  come  to  some  agreement  if  pos- 
sible, but  if  they  could  not  agree,  then  to  refer  it  for 
a  settlement  by  arbitration." 

Doubtless  a  satisfactory  agreement  was  reached  at 
that  meeting,  and  the  new  line  run  at  the  south  of 
Crane  Pond,  as  before  stated,  making  it  essentially  the 
line  between  Georgetown  and  Groveland,  as  it  exists 
to  this  day.  About  the  time  that  the  Wheelers,  Brownes, 
Goodrich,  Look,  Plumer  and  Henry  Poor  were  taking 
the  first  steps  toward  clearing  the  land  and  establish- 
ing homes  along  what  is  now  Thurlow,  North  and 
Jewett  Streets,  complaints  were  rife  of  trespassing 
on  the  undivided  land,  to  the  injury  of  those  who 
might  follow  them. 

We  have  seen  Goodrich  and  his  family,  by  one 
sharp  blow  taken  from  this  little  band  of  hardy  axe- 
men and  pioneers,  but  this  did  not  deter  the  others  ; 
they  held  the  ground  gained,  but  sometimes,  no  doubt, 
entertained  bitter  thoughts  against  the  Rowley  men  at 
the  village,  that  they  should  fret  and  fume,  over  the 
cutting  of  a  little  wood  and  fencing  stuff.  These 
were  braving  all  the  danger  of  opening  up  the  wil- 
derness, while  their  Rowley  neighbors  were  living  in 
peace  and  security,  and  one  can  imagine  that  a  sense  of 
injustice,  sometimes  impelled  them  to  a  degree  of 
lawlessness.  However,  in  spite  of  any  consciousness 
of  freedom,  these  few  families  may  have  felt,  the  town 
saw  fit  to  vote,  January  14,  1694-95,  for  an  appoint- 
ment "  of  a  Committee  to  prosecute  any  persons,  and 
especially  Benjamin  Plumer  and  Henry  Poor,  that 
have  trespassed  by  falling  or  carting  away  timber." 
The  forest  was  preserved  with  jealous  care  from  the 
first,  one  town  ordinance  following  another  in  quick 
succession,  and  making  the  laws  operative  over  the 


810 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


whole  territory,  from  Merrimac  to  the  sea.  The 
peat-bogs  were  as  yet  unopened,  although  right  at 
their  feet.  The  coal-fields  were  waiting  for  the  trans- 
portation by  steam  as  the  motive  power,  and  the 
vast  lumber  districts,  were  practically  almost  as  far 
away  as  if  in  the  moon. 

This  severe  ordinance  not  proving  effectual,  and 
the  clamors  of  some  of  the  people  still  demanding  ac- 
tion, an  evidently  annoyed  citizen,  at  a  meeting 
March  19,  1699-1700,  moved,  and  it  was 

"  Agreed  &  Voated,  that  if  any  person  or  persons  shall  fall,  top,  or 
Carry  away  any  tree  or  trees,  or  part  of  any  of  sd  tree,  from  of  any  part 
of  the  Town's  Comon,  called  the  three  Thousand  Acres,  for  any  use 
whatsoever,  without  liberty  from  the  Select  men,  being  niett  together, 
<fe  in  writing  under  hands,  they  Shall  pay  for  every  tree  fallen,  lopped, 
or  carried  away,  nineteen  Shillings,  Six  pounds  &  tree  (threepence),  the 
one-halfe  of  sd  penalty  to  the  Informer,  the  other  half  to  the  use  of  the 
Towne." 

This  seemes  like  a  kind  of  half-waggery,  and  yet 
it  may  be  that  there  was  a  desperation  at  seeing  one 
of  their  dearest  laws  set  at  naught,  "ffeb.  6,  169-1-5, 
Committee  chosen  to  Issue  a  Controversie  Between 
the  Town  and  Beniamin  Plumer,"  about  some  land 
that  it  was  thought  Plumer  had  fenced  in,  supposed 
to  belong  to  the  town. 

He  rebutted  the  charges  of  encroachment,  by  call- 
ing the  attention  of  the  town  to  a  highway  through 
his  farm.  Plumer  declared  himself  ready  to  submit 
his  case  to  the  committee  named.  There  seems  to 
have  been  no  definite  settlement  reached  for  many 
years,  for  the  next  record  informs  us,  of  date  January 
2,  1712-13,  that  Benjamin  Plumer  is  satisfied  about  the 
road  across  his  farm.  Probably  the  question  of  the 
land  encroachment  was  also  settled. 

The  roads  in  this  locality  were  becoming  more  of  a 
question  to  consider  at  the  meetings  of  the  town. 
April  12,  1699,  the  importance  of  one  road  at  the 
northwestern  corner  of  the  town  resulted  in  this  ac- 
tion :  "  Rock  brook  meddow  to  be  leased  to  Robert 
Haseltine,  Thomas  Carleton,  Jona.  Platts  (all  jDerhaps, 
of  Bradford)  and  John  Spofford,  of  Rowley,  for  seven 
years,  they  to  maintain  the  bridge  called  Haseltines, 
and  in  addition,  to  pay  three  shillings  yearly.  This 
was  the  bridge  near  the  Edward  Poor  place,  on  West 
Street.  Nothing  looking  toward  a  settlement  in 
South  Georgetown  had  as  yet  been  done.  There 
were  a  few  land  grants,  however." 

At  about  1683  or  '84,  Thomas  Palmer  had  fifty-six 
acres  laid  out  near  Lake  Raynor,  and  at  the  westerly 
end,  bounded  by  the  old  Newbury  and  Andover  road, 
on  the  southerly  side  of  the  Bald  hills.  Others,  with 
acreage  not  stated,  were  Deacon  William  Tenney, 
Thomas  Stickney,  John  Burbank  aud  Samuel  Cooj^er. 
Some  of  these  lots,  as  laid  out,  are  said  to  have  bor- 
dered "  on  the  path  now  used  from  Samuel  Spofford 
to  Jacob  Pearly."  Spofford  was  then  married,  and 
may  have  built  the  house  that  very  anciently  was 
built,  on  what  is  now  the  northwesterly  limits  of  the 
farm  on  Baldpate  Street,  now  owned  by  Henry ^Keu- 


nett.     It  is  possible,   however,   that  this  house  was 
built  at  a  later  day  by  Richard  Dole. 

Not  far  from  this  time,  Thomas  Nelson,  of  Rowley, 
and  John  Rolfe,  of  Newbury,  sold  this  Samuel  Spof- 
ford two  hundred  and  fifty  acres  near  Shaving  Crown 
hill,  which  was  one-fourth  part  of  Mrs.  Rogers'  one 
thousand  acre  grant.  This  immense  tract  came  into 
the  hands  of  Gershom  Lambert,  as  a  gift  from  Mrs, 
Rogers.  Lambert  was  a  brother  of  Thomas  Nelson's 
first  wife,  and  uncle  of  the  wife  of  Rolfe,  and  pre- 
sented this  land  to  Mrs.  Rolfe  with  the  other  children 
of  Thomas  Nelson,  that  it  might  be  sold  for  their 
benefit. 

In  1712  another  fourth  part  was  sold  to  Moses  Tyler. 
Gershom  Lambert  was  a  resident  of  Salem  for  some 
time,  but  as  early  as  1691  had  removed  to  New  Lon- 
don, Conn. 

Cooper,  Stickney,  and  Palmer  probably  about  to 
be  dispossessed  of  their  grants  for  some  unknown 
cause,  perhaps  because  they  were  laid  out  on  the  re- 
served tract,  petitioned  the  town  of  Rowley,  March  18, 
1700-01,  to  relieve  them,  and  find  them  some  common 
land,  belonging  to  the  town,  on  the  southerly  side  of 
the  line,  between  Rowley  and  Boxford.  All  these 
lots  had  evidently  been  laid  out  north  of  and  near 
Lake  Raynor.  Cooper  seems  finally  to  have  secured 
his  grant,  for  in  1727  a  long  narrow  tract  in  Boxford, 
north  of  the  lake,  from  the  shore  to  the  town  line, 
was  sold  by  a  Samuel  Cooper,  to  Nathaniel  Perkins 
and  Jacob  Pearley.  May  22,  1704,  Captain  John 
Spoflbrd,  had  sixty  acres  laid  out  to  him,  also  on  this 
north  shore  of  the  lake.  This  was  a  grant  to  his  father, 
John  Spofford,  then  deceased.  It  adjoined  Palmer's 
land. 

To  return  for  a  brief  sj^ace  to  another  part  of  the 
Byfield  district,  from  that  already  described,  we  find 
just  as  the  seventeenth  century  was  closing  the  name 
of  Benjamin  Stickney,  as  another  of  the  earlier  settlers, 
and  who  was  a  brother  of  Andrew  Stickney,  who  is 
supposed  to  have  lived  near  the  Rowley  line  by  the 
Ewell  place.  This  Benjamin  is  said  to  have  built  a 
log  house  on  the  summit  of  Long  Hill,  at  as  early  a 
date  as  1699. 

In  1700  a  framed-house  was  erected  by  him,  which 
as  late  as  1870  was  occupied  by  Mayor  Ira  Stickney, 
a  direct  descendant  in  the  sixth  generation.  Some 
few  years  later  it  was  accidentally  burned  to  the  ground. 
In  1713  the  road  over  Long  Hill  and  past  his  house 
was  opened.  In  the  great  snow  of  1717  he  kept  a 
path  open  by  drawing  a  log  every  day.  A  bear  is 
said  to  have  once  taken  a  pig  from  his  pen  in  the 
night ;  he  arose,  caught  a  whip  and  chasing  the  ani- 
mal, lashed  him  until  he  dropped  the  pig,  when  he 
secured  it  and  returned  to  the  house.  Mr.  Stickney 
was  never  known  to  be  sick  until  he  had  passed  his 
eightieth  birthday. 


GEORGETOWN. 


811 


CHAPTER  LII. 
GEORGETOWN— (Co/(<triue(i). 

PARISH    PETITIONERS   AND    OTHERS   WHO   SETTLED 
PRIOR   TO    17.30. 

At  the  dawning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the 
question  of  the  validity  of  the  Indian  title,  to  the 
territory  within  the  original  limits  of  Rowley,  began 
to  cause  something  of  a  ferment.  About  1700  three 
Indians,  who  claimed  to  be  grandsons  of  Musquonomo- 
net,  the  former  Sagamore  of  Agawam,  and  were  then 
probably  living  in  this  or  some  town  near  by,  were 
encouraged  by  parties,  to  assert  their  claim  to  the 
territory,  on  the  ground  that  the  aboriginal  title  had 
never  been  extinguished.  This  claim,  if  based  on 
precedents,  was  undoubtedly  correct.  Many  towns 
had  apparently  recognized  at  an  early  period  of  their 
settlement  the  Indian  ownership,  and  by  the  payment 
of  some  trifle  in  money  or  goods,  had  gone  through 
the  farce  of  a  purchase.  Rowley,  unlike  many  of  her 
neighbors,  had  done  nothing,  however,  simply  from 
neglect.  At  that  time,  after  seventy  years  of  settle- 
ment, the  claim  was  made  by  these  Indians,  with 
many  precedents  in  their  favor.  Late  in  the  year 
1700,  a  committee  was  appointed  by  the  town,  *'to 
treat  with  the  Gentlom  Improved  and  Impowered  as 
Attorneys  for  the  Indians,  which  make  a  Demand  of 
our  Lands,  &  Labour  to  cleare  up  our  Title  to  s'^ 
Lands.'' 

Soon  after,  by  the  payment  of  nine  pounds  to  Sam- 
uel English,  Joseph  English  and  John  Umpee,  the 
title  to  the  territory  now  included  in  the  towns  ol 
Georgetown  and  Rowley,  was  made  good,  to  the  ac- 
knowledged satisfaction  of  these  three  claimants. 
These  upper  commons  were  still  but  a  slight  remove 
from  the  ancient  solitude. 

In  1705  John  Holmes,  then  of  Newbury,  and  con- 
nected in  some  way  with  Bartholomew  Pearson,  deeded 
fifteen  acres  wf  st  of  Rock  Pond,  to  Eldad  Cheney,  oi 
Bradford,  and  Nicholas  Cheney,  of  Newbury.  The 
highway  now  known  as  Bailey  Lane  was  crossed,  and 
the  lot  touched  on  Crag  (Scrag)  and  Rock  Pond 
Brooks.  Holmes  perhaps  permanently  settled  near 
the  Bradford  line  about  1731.  It  is  thought  that  he 
was  living  in  Byfield  in  1730,  as  his  name  was  not  on 
the  list  of  parish  petitioners,  but  it  appears  in  1732, 
as  dismissed  from  the  church  in  Byfield,  to  the  church 
in  the  west  parish  in  November  of  that  year.  We 
find  him  in  1722  deeding  land  to  Jonathan  Harriman, 
and  again  to  Harriman  in  1725  several  lots  on  range 
H,  in  the  vicinity  of  Rock  Pond,  and  at  the  same 
time  one-eighth  part  of  the  iron  works,  said  to  be  on 
the  south  side  of  Rock  Brook,  and  the  deed  adds, 
"  with  what  provision  is  now  made,  and  the  privilege 
of  the  yard  and  stream,  for  nineteen  years  from  date." 
These  iron  works  had  probably  been  opened  but  a 


few  years  at  the  longest.  Gage  records  that  they 
were  worked  in  1739,  and  that  a  Samuel  Barrett  lived 
near  by,  who  it  is  thought  carried  them  on.  Besides 
the  bog  ore  which  was  dug  near  the  yard,  the  farmers 
carted  the  ore  to  be  worked  at  the  yard  from  other 
bogs  in  the  town. 

Dr.  Jeremiah  Spofford,  of  Groveland,  at  a  late  day, 
could  show  places  on  his  father's  farm  on  West  Street, 
where  this  iron  ore  had  been  dug.  The  remains  of 
these  iron  works,  not  far  from  the  embankment  of  the 
Georgetown  and  Haverhill  Railroad,  were  plainly 
traceable  a  few  years  ago. 

In  1707,  Benjatnin  Plumer,  styled  clothier  in  1718, 
who  had  made  so  much  trouble  for  the  town  by  his 
trespassing  some  years  before,  bought  of  Mark  Prime 
one-half  of  the  Mrs.  Rogers  or  Lambert  farm,  for  two 
hundred  pounds.  Plumer  had  regained  the  confi- 
dence of  the  town,  for  in  1702-3,  he  was  made  over- 
seer (the  English  term)  of  all  the  highways  in  Rowley, 
above  and  including  "  Ry  plain  bridge"  (the  bridge 
near  the  Georgetown  Town  farm).  This  Lambert 
farm  was  to  a  slight  extent  improved  by  him,  while 
he  is  supposed  to  have  been  living  at  the  time  in  the 
vicinity  of  Thurlow  or  Jewett  Street,  for,  in  1713,  he 
bought  forty-two  acres  of  land  of  Jonathan  Spofford, 
where,  the  deed  states,  "  my  house  now  is."  This 
laud,  John  Spoftbrd,  the  father  of  Jonathan,  bought 
of  the  Browues  in  1G93.  Joseph  and  Jonathan 
Plumer,  who  had  purchased  the  Shepard  farm  in 
1694,  were  perhaps  brothers  of  Benjamin,  but  probably 
never  lived  here. 

The  name  of  Jonathan  Bradstreet  is  seen  on  the 
record  at  about  this  date,  appearing  first  as  an  owner 
of  land  near  Crane  pond  and  brook.  This  land  in 
Rowley  was  held  in  partnership  with  David  Wheeler, 
John  and  Ebeuezer  Browne.  Nathaniel  Browne,  the 
former  owner,  had  removed  to  Connecticut.  About 
1710  or  '11,  Bradstreet  bought  of  Jonathan  Wheeler 
sixty  acres,  or  a  part  of  the  Payson  farm.  This  farm 
was  a  special  grant  of  the  town  of  Rowley  to  Rev. 
Edward  Payson,  their  fourth  minister,  and  was  in 
harmony  with  the  land-allotment  to  all  the  previous 
ministers.  Wheeler  had  bought  this  farm  not  long 
before  this  partial  sale.  The  word  farm,  as  used  at 
that  time,  was  misleading,  it  being  in  anticipation. 
The  farming  operations  of  the  Rowley  ministers  did 
not  contemplate  agriculture  in  the  wilderness,  and 
this  grant  to  Mr.  Payson  was  the  last  of  its  class. 
This  land  was  located  near  Elder's  plain  (now  Marl- 
boro' district),  but  on  the  hilly  tract  at  the  north  and 
northeast. 

The  Bradstreet  house  may  have  been  that  which, 
for  three-fourths  of  a  century,  was  known  as  the 
Kezar  house,  and  was  demolished  by  Dr.  David  Mig- 
hill  about  1850.  The  material  was  used  in  enlarge- 
ment of  the  Mighill  house  on  Baldpate.  The  family, 
in  1739,  removed  to  Lunenburg,  Mass.  Jonathan 
Bradstreet,  then  known  as  Captain,  with  his  wife, 
Sarah,  and  Dorcas  Spofford,  the  wife  of  his  son  Sam- 


812 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


uel,  were  dismissed  to  the  church  in  Lunenburg. 
April  15th  of  that  year. 

At  the  same  period  when  Bradstreet  settled,  the 
names  of  several  Boyntons  frequently  occur.  Men- 
tion has  already  been  made  of  Captain  Joseph  and 
Richard  Boynton,  as  owners  of  the  Swan  lands,  ex- 
tending from  Pen  Brook  north  and  east  of  Pen  Brook 
avenue. 

Ebenezer  Boynfoti,  who  may  have  been  a  cousin  or 
brother  of  Joseph,  was  an  early  landholder,  and 
owned  the  house  in  "  Marlboro',"  now  the  property  of 
Mrs.  Jacob  F.  Jewett.  The  name  of  this  Boynton  is 
found  as  early  as  1714,  as  the  owner  of  land  near  that 
belonging  to  Samuel  Brocklebank. 

In  1725,  he  sold  his  house  and  thirty  acres  of  land 
situated  on  Elder's  plain,  to  Joseph  Nelson,  for  one 
hundred  and  forty-three  pounds.  This  farm  was  a 
part  of  the  original  Elder  Humphrey  Raynor  grant, 
from  which  the  plain  took  its  name.  By  inheritance 
it  came  to  Humphrey  Hobson,  a  grandson,  who 
deeded,  in  1709,  sixty-two  acres  to  Edward  Hazen, 
said  to  be  an  exchange.  Hazen,  who  sold  to  BoyntoTi, 
may  have  built  here,  intending  it  for  his  home.  It 
is  suj>posed,  however,  that,  after  selling  here,  he  was 
the  builder  and  occupant  for  many  years  of  the  an- 
cient house  in  Boxford,  on  the  Salem  road,  lately  de- 
molished by  Thomas  B.  Masury,  upon  the  site  of  which 
the  present  house  stands. 

Joseph  Nelson,  the  first  of  this  surname  to  locate  in 
Georgetown,  bought  in  1707,  the  year  after  his  mar- 
riage to  Hannah,  the  daughter  of  Deacon  Samuel 
Brocklebank,  the  Jonathan  Harriman  place  on  Brad- 
ford Street,  Rowley,  and  probably  lived  there  until 
his  removal  here.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  a 
part  of  this  house  was  built  by  Boynton  or  Hazen,  as 
early  as  1715.  Boynton,  perhaps,  intended  after  sell- 
ing to  build  for  himself  more  to  the  westward,  but  was 
prevented,  for  we  find  him  selling,  the  next  year, 
thirty  acres  more  to  Mr.  Nelson,  with  a  barn  upon  it. 
This  tract  adjoined  land  he  had  previously  sold  to 
John,  the  eldest  son  of  Deacon  Brocklebank.  He  also 
sold  Richard  Boynton  nine  lots  on  range  T,  in  the 
"Three  thousand  acres."  Nelson  had  been  an  owner 
of  land  for  years  in  this  same  Elders  plain,  buying  of 
Jonathan  Boynton  and  his  father-in-law.  Deacon 
Brocklebank. 

This  Jonathan  Boynton  was,  we  think,  a  son  of  Cap- 
tain Joseph,  and  figures  prominently  in  our  early  his- 
tory. In  1710  or  1711  Joseph  deeds  to  Jonathan  one 
hundred  and  twenty  acres,  located  on  the  east  side  of 
the  above-named  tract  of  land,  then  belonging  to  Ha- 
zen. This  ran  back  to  the  south,  reaching  the  town 
commons.  Doubtless  he  built  on  this  land  ;  perhaps 
it  included  the  Tenney  estate,  on  Tenney  Street,  and 
that  the  house  occupied  by  three  generations  of  that 
name  was  built  by  him,  Boynton  was  the  first  parish 
clerk,  and  in  oflSce  until  1740.  A  Boynton  family  re- 
moved toTewksbury  from  this  town  about  1738,  and  a 
Jonathan  Boynton  to  Lunenburg  in  1758.     Jonathan 


Boynton  and  wife,  Elizabeth,  were  dismissed  in  June 
to  the  church  in  that  town.  It  is  not  known  whether 
this  was  the  parish  clerk,  or  a  Jonathan  Boynton  of 
a  later  generation.  Others  of  this  surname  who  were 
not  residents,  were  Caleb,  a  land-holder  in  South 
Georgetown,  and  Benoni,  who  married  a  sister  of 
Nathaniel  Mighill,  and  had  a  freehold  in  this  part  of 
the  town.  It  is  a  curious  fact,  not  generally  known, 
that  Sir  William  Phips  at  one  time  bought  or  rented 
a  Boynton  house  in  Rowley  and  perhaps  resided  there. 

In  the  spring  of  1714  Deacon  Samuel  Brocklebank, 
the  son  of  the  captain,  who  was  killed  by  the  Indians 
deeded  to  his  son  John  for  £60,  to  be  paid  to  his 
eldest  son,  Samuel  S.,  (then  probably  deceased),  three 
daughters  £20  to  each  when  they  come  of  age,  or 
marriage,  which  may  come  first,  all  the  land  "  then 
belonging  to  this  farm,  west  of  the  brook,  which  runs 
midway  of  the  present  Elm  and  Central  Streets, 
known  to  the  present  generation  as  the  Brocklebank 
house,  recently  taken  down  by  Mrs.  G.  W.  Boynton, 
and  upon  the  site  of  which  her  present  house  stands. 
Its  demolition  removed  a  distinguishing  time-mark 
from  the  central  village. 

At  the  time  this  land  was  deeded  to  John  Brockle- 
bank, Main  Street,  from  his  father's  house,  now  M.  G. 
Spofford's,  to  the  present  centre,  was  not  opened. 
There  is  no  reference  to  a  highway  or  a  path  even, 
and  the  land  as  deeded  beginning  in  the  rear  of  the 
Chaplin  shoe  factories,  had  the  brook  for  a  boundary 
until  it  came  "  unto  ye  great  brook  "  with  that  for  a 
bounds  until  the  angle  is  reached,  and  from  that  bend 
across  the  wooded  upland  to  the  "  Andover  road," 
now  North  Street,  at  some  point  east  of  the  Baptist 
Church.  The  land  of  Richard  Boynton  bounded  on 
the  east.  The  course  was  then  westward,  with  Ando- 
ver road  as  the  bounds,  until  near  the  house  of  Miss 
M.  A.  Sawyer,  on  Andover  Street.  "  It  (says  the 
deed),  come  to  Land  that  I  had  allowed  for  my  high- 
way Through  my  farm."  This  old  proprietors'  way, 
the  westerly  bounds  of  this  ancient  farm,  not  far  from 
the  railroad,  is  visible  to  this  day,  a  lane  south  of  the 
residence  of  D.  C.  Smith,  on  Central  Street,  being, 
perhaps,  its  southern  terminus.  This  road  was  used 
by  the  farmers  on  Spoffords'  hill,  until  the  opening  of 
Central  Street  from  the  Brocklebank  house  to  Chaplin- 
ville,  which  was  laid  out  about  midway  of  this  farm. 
The  sandy  knoll,  now  Harmony  Cemetery,  had  for 
some  years  a  watch  or  block-house  on  its  highest 
point,  built  to  guard  against  raids  from  the  Indians. 
In  1720  Deacon  Brocklebank  deeded  the  remaining  half 
of  his  farm  ("where  I  now  dwell,"  says  the  deed)  to  his 
youngest  son  Francis  Brocklebank.  The  conditions 
were  specified  sums,  to  daughters  Elizabeth  (Pingry) 
and  Hannah  (Nelson),  and  several  granddaughters, 
with  care  for  himself  and  wife  through  life,  and  Chris- 
tian burial.  The  father  was  living  in  1722,  and  aided 
in  correcting  the  boundary  line  west  of  Baldpate  hill. 

In  January,  1715,  Jonathan  Harriman,  the  same, 
who  several  years  before  had  sold  his  homestead  in 


GEORGETOWN. 


813 


Rowley  to  Joseph  Nelson,  bought  of  Thomas  Lam- 
bert, one-half  of  the  Rogers  or  Lambert  farm,  near 
Pentucket  Pond.  The  other  half,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, Benjamin  Plumer,  had  been  in  possession  of, 
since  1707.  This  extensive  tract  of  six  hundred  acres 
or  more,  not  having  been  divided,  a  division  was  then 
made  by  Harriman  and  Plumer.  One  Bayley  had  land 
near  this  farm.  Perhaps  the  Bailey  road  was  named 
for  him.  On  the  southwesterly  side  of  the  pond,  it 
was  agreed,  that  Harriman  should  have  the  easterly, 
and  Plumer  the  westerly  part  of  the  farm. 

On  the  northeasterly  side,  a  line  was  run  at  some 
distance  from  the  pond,  Harriman  to  have  the  laud  at 
north  of  this  line,  and  Thomas  riumer,  a  son  of  Ben- 
jamin, on  the  southerly  side,  or  nearest  the  pond. 
This  part  of  the  Harriman  land,  must  have  crossed  the 
boundary  into  Bradford,  but  when  granted  to  Mrs. 
Rogers,  before  the  new  line  between  Rowley  and 
Bradford  was  run,  was  all  within  Rowley  limits. 
Such  a  division  seems  to  have  been  philosophical 
and  harmonious.  In  its  primitive  aspects,  it  reminds 
one  of  the  Orient,  and  recalls  the  story  of  Abram  and 
Lot. 

The  brook  above  Pentucket  was  equally  divided 
between  Benjamin  Plumer  and  Harriman,  both  hav- 
ing seen  a  mill  privilege  on  the  brook,  and  Harriman 
included  in  the  division  agreement,  liberty  to  "  Digg 
rocks  and  Gravel  to  make  a  Damm,  and  a  conven- 
ient yard  for  a  Mill." 

This  deed  to  Thomas  Plumer  from  Benjamin,  was 
given  on  the  same  day  as  Harriman's  from  Ijambert, 
and  was  for  one  hundred  and  forty  acres.  At  about 
this  date  (1715),  was  doubtless  the  erection  of  the 
Plumer  house  on  Mill  Street,  now  occupied  by  Mrs. 
J.  C.  Hoyt  and  Wra.  Day.  This  house  on  the  end 
toward  the  lake,  has  a  facing  of  brick,  and  is  said  to 
have  been  so  built,  as  a  protection  against  Indians, 
and  on  this  end  only,  because  of  its  nearness  to  the 
lake,  and  that  in  approaching  the  house  for  attack, 
the  builders  supposed,  the  Indians  would  come  along 
the  lake  in  their  canoes.  This  land  of  Thomas 
Plumer,  all  lay  at  the  left  of  Parker  River,  as  one 
descends  the  stream. 

No  highways  are  mentioned,  therefore  Mill  Street, 
the  Jacobs  Road  and  North  Street,  to  its  junction  with 
Tliurlow  Street,  at  Hale's  corner  in  Groveland,  were 
as  yet,  unopened.  Jonathan  Harriman,  in  1721,  then 
styled  Sergt.,  deeds  to  his  son  Leonard,  forty  acres  of 
the  Lambert  farm,  and  one-eighteenth  part  of  the 
saw-mill.  Afterwards,  perhaps  on  the  same  day,  an 
equal  area,  with  an  eighteenth  part  of  the  saw-mill  to 
his  son  Nathaniel.  John  Harriman,  another  son  it 
is  supposed,  built  the  house  now  owned  by  Flint 
Weston.  He  was  the  ancestor  of  H.  N.  Harriman, 
town  clerk  and  publisher  of  the  Georgetown  Advocate. 
At  a  later  date  a  son  of  his  of  the  same  name,  built 
near  by.  The  house  of  the  father,  is  said  to  have  been 
on  the  north  side  of  the  upper  end  of  Pentucket  Pond. 

This  land  given  to  Nathaniel  Harriman  was  bounded 


on  the  south  by  land  of  John  Adams.  This  land  of 
Adams  had  been  bought  of  Benjamin  Plumer,  the  year 
before  the  Harriman  purchase,  and  included,  what  has 
been  known,  since  about  1800,  as  the  Jacobs  farm.  The 
last  of  the  name  to  occupy  the  Jacobs  house,  supposed 
to  have  been  built  by  John  Adams,  was  Israel  Adams, 
known  in  the  parish  as  "Pond  Israel."  Mr.  Benja- 
min Jacobs,  of  Maine,  then  became  the  purchaser  and 
lived  here.  Moses  Tenney,  the  father  of  State  Treas- 
urer Tenney,  once  lived  here. 

Nearly  a  half  century  ago,  the  house,  a  one  story 
building,  was  removed,  and  is  a  part  of  the  Aaron 
Pillsbury  house  on  North  Street. 

The  deed  to  Plumer  from  Prime,  in  1707,  has  no 
reference  to  the  Bradford  road,  now  Main  Street,  but 
this  to  Adams,  in  1714,  has  and  it  is  so-called.  An- 
other of  the  name  of  Adams,  who  bought  thirty- five 
acres  of  land  of  Plumer  in  171G,  was  Isaac,  who  as 
well  as  John,  was  previously  of  Rowley.  This  was 
situated  at  the  southerly  end  of  Pentucket  Pond,  on 
both  sides  of  what  is  now  Main  Street,  and  was  just 
one  mile  in  length,  on  Harriman's  line.  The  deed 
concludes,  that  "  Whereas  there  is  a  road  or  way  laid 
out  over  Sd.  land,  and  whereas  no  Satisfaction  has 
been  made  for  it,  Sd.  Plumer  doth  by  these  Presents, 
Consign  over  to  Sd.  Adams,  all  that  ye  towne  Shall 
Allow  for  it." 

This  road  was  Main  Street,  and  the  Clark  house, 
now  owned  by  Mrs.  Laura  Ham,  was  probably  built 
by  him,  or  William  Adams,  who  was  doubtless  a  son, 
not  many  years  afterwards.  This  William  was  living 
in  the  parish  in  1730.  There  was  an  Isaac  Adams,  who, 
in  1729,  bought  the  homestead  of  Jonathan  Look,  in 
Byfield  parish,  of  forty-five  acres,  with  dwelling- 
house  and  barn.  This  was  on  the  borders  of  Newbury, 
and  near  the  brook,  called  Andover  Spring  Brook 
(Parker  River),  and  was  in  the  vicinity  of  the  old 
Pearson  house  if  not  that  house  itself.  The  last  of 
the  name  to  live  in  the  Clark  house  was  Capt.  Benja- 
min Adams,  known  as  "  Lawyer  Ben."  He  won  the 
title  from  his  pugnacitj'  and  fondness  for  litigation. 
Capt.  "Mirabeau"  was  another  familiar  name.  He 
obtained  this  from  a  fancied  resemblance  to  the  famous 
French  advocate.  A  family  likeness  to  Isaac,  who 
was  probably  his  grandfather,  is  seen  in  the  complaint 
of  neglect,  and  the  demand  for  settlement,  of  land 
damages,  in  the  original  deed  from  Plumer.  He  was 
captain  of  infantry  in  several  campaigns  during  the 
Revolutionary  War,  was  on  duty  in  Rhode  Island, 
and  in  New  York  in  1777.  Repi-esentative  to  General 
Court  in  1778  and  1780.  He  removed  to  Ohio  about 
1812,  and  aged  citizens  can  recall  the  appearance  of 
the  wagons  loaded  with  his  household  goods  as  they 
left  the  town  for  the  long  journey  westward.  Some 
yeai's  afterwards,  a  son,  who  was  a  physician,  returned 
on  a  visit,  driving  a  superb  pair  of  horses  which 
created  quite  a  sensation  in  the  town. 

Abraham  Adams,  of  Newbury,  styled  mariner  in 
many  deeds  of  land,  began  to  buy  freeholds  in  1715. 


814 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


In  1721,  and  later,  he  purchased  twenty-eight  lots, 
mostly  on  Range  G,  in  the  "  Three  thousand  acres." 
He  had  not  less  than  two  hundred  acres  of  land,  but 
whether  he  ever  settled  here  or  not  is  uncertain.  He 
doubtless  had  that  intention,  but,  as  a  mariner,  may 
have  been  lost  at  sea.  From  the  name,  it  is  probable 
that  he  was  the  father  of  Abraham  Adams,  whose 
name  first  appears  on  the  parish  records  in  1755,  and 
who  bought  the  original  Chaplin  house,  which  was 
built  about  1723,  just  front  of  the  present  residence 
of  Mrs.  W.  M.  Shute,  on  the  early-named  Fairface 
Plain  (now  South  Georgetown)  and  Nelson  Street. 
This  house  was  bought  of  Jeremiah  Chaplin  or  his 
heirs  not  far  from  1750,  and  was  occupied  during  the 
building  of  the  present  house,  which  was  erected  about 
3812.  The  original  building  was  removed  to  King 
Street  near  Groveland  Village  and  is  still  occupied. 
This  was  a  building  of  two  stories,  having  but  one 
room  in  width,  without  a  kitchen  in  the  rear. 

Rev.  Phineas  Adams,  pastor  of  Third  Church 
(West  Haverhill),  was  from  this  house.  He  had  the 
title  of  A.M.  in  1766,  was  probably  a  collegiate  grad- 
uate, and  ordained  in  1771.  During  the  investment 
of  Boston  by  General  Washington,  after  the  battle  of 
Bunker  Hill,  the  patriotism  of  this  colonial  pastor  was 
shown  by  a  contribution  of  his  entire  herd  of  cattle, 
numbering  twenty  or  more  head,  which  were  driven 
to  Cambridge  to  be  slaughtered  for  the  army.  Pre- 
vious to  1720  there  were  several  other  families,  set- 
tling or  buying  land  preparatory  to  settlement. 

Jonathan  Wheeler,  a  son  of  Jonathan,  then  styled 
merchant,  bought  in  1715  the  balance  of  the  Payson 
land.  This  tract  was  on  the  southeast  of  the  Shepard 
farm,  and  probably  included  what  is  now  known  as 
the  Searl  farm,  so  that  Wheeler,  as  well  as  Bradstreet, 
lived  near,  or  on  Searl  Street.  This  Captain  Jonathan 
W^heeler  and  family  removed  to  West  Haverhill  in 
1738,  and  were  dismissed  to  the  Third  Church;  selling 
their  farm  to  Samuel  Harriman,  who  was  the  direct 
ancestor  of  Governor  Walter  Harriman,  of  Warner, 
N.  H.,  for  Samuel,  it  has  been  said,  for  a  time  lived 
in  that  neighborhood.  This  Samuel  was  one  of  the 
sons  of  Jonathan  Harriman. 

John  Hazen,  carpenter,  son  of  Edward,  of  Boxford, 
built  in  1717  a  house  in  South  Georgetown  on  East 
Street.  He  was  the  first  to  build  in  that  afterwards 
(for  the  time)  populous  locality.  He  married,  in 
1715,  Sarah,  the  twin  sister  of  the  third  Philip  Nel- 
son. His  house  is  supposed  to  have  stood  on  the 
south  side  of  the  street,  not  far  from  the  Dry 
Bridge  road,  and  on  the  road  known  as  the  Red 
Shanks  highsvay.  This  highway  began  at  what  is  now 
Elm  Street,  near  the  Deacon  Haskell  Perley  house,  and 
extended  along  the  height  of  the  land,  over  the 
farm  now  owned  by  John  S.  Kimball,  past  the  an- 
cient Merrill  house  at  the  corner,. and  southerly  to 
this  Hazen  house.  From  this  point  it  crossed  the 
upland  to  the  present  Salem  road,  near  Mr.  Buck- 
minister's,  and  then  westerly,  until  it  made  a  junc- 


tion with  the  early- opened  Salem  road,  on  the  plain 
near  Timothy  Perkins'  in  Boxford,  not  far  from  the 
house  of  Francis  Marden.  The  Salem  road,  past  Ed- 
ward Hazen's  (now  T.  B.  Masury),  was  not  opened, 
and  some  one  living  there  had  often  said  that  he 
hoped  not  to  live  long  enough  to  see  a  highway  past 
this  house.  His  wish  was  realized,  for  at  about  the 
time  this  road  was  opened,  tradition  tells  us,  his 
death  occurred.  There  was  also  a  road  over  the  hills 
to  the  westward,  leading  to  the  Spottbrds',  probably 
the  path  now  tised  by  Sherman  Nelson,  to  the  hill 
known  as  the  Vineyard  lands.  Where  the  bridge 
over  Pen  Brook,  on  East  Street,  now  is,  was  then  the 
fording-place.  Edward  Hazen  having  used  this  path 
in  going  to  Deacon  Brocklebank's  and  beyond,  it  be- 
came the  road.  John  Hazen's  land  was  south  of  the 
fording-place  or  bridge.  On  meadow  bought  of  Ja- 
cob Perley  at  this  time  a  dam  is  mentioned  in  the  deed. 
Samuel  Hazen  had  land  in  1725  below  Pen  Brook, 
and  in  1729  had  settled,  or  was  about  to  settle,  in  this 
locality.  He  was,  it  is  thought,  the  first  owner  of  the 
farm  now  owned  by  John  S.  Kimball.  Until  1717, 
any  land  sold  in  this  part  of  Beverly  was  somewhat 
indefinitely  located.  From  the  date  of  the  third 
division  of  common  land,  which  was  made  at  about 
1700,  any  lots  disposed  of  were  in  the  form  of  free- 
holds, but  in  1717  the  "  Three  Thousand  Acres  "  was 
laid  out  in  ranges,  not,  however,  beginning  at  one 
boundary  line  of  the  town  and  continuing  in  regular 
alph.abetical  order,  but  on  a  method  understood  at  the 
time.  It  seems  to  have  been  attempted  to  make  a 
highway,  or  at  least  a  proprietors'  way ;  a  boundary 
on  one  or  both  of  the  sides  of  these  ranges.  A  and  B 
were  located  in  the  Red  Shanks  Hill  district.  L  was 
south  of  Nelson  Street.  C  and  D  south  of  and  along 
Baldpate  Street.  Around  Rock  Pond  the  land  was 
laid  out  as  H.  South  of  Andover  Street  over  the 
Thurston  land  (now  a  part  of  the  Samuel  Little  farm) 
was  range  R,  with  S  and  T  opposite,  on  the  present 
Samuel  Noyes'  place,  and  beyond  westwardly.  Land 
grants  were  often  made  before  this  careful  mapping 
of  the  territory,  and  afterwards  it  would  be  found  that 
the  lot  was  already  included  in  a  previous  grant  or 
purchase,  as,  for  instance,  eleven  years  after  Isaac 
Adams  bought  his  farm  near  Pentucket  Pond  of 
Phimer,  he  found  that  the  town  had  given  John 
Hazen  two  acres  within  the  same  farm.  This  was 
made  satisfactory  by  a  deed  from  Hazen.  After  John 
Hazen  had  built  his  house  on  East  Street,  his  father 
was  obliged  to  get  his  title  to  the  farm,  which  he  had 
given  John,  confirmed  by  the  town.  Something  of 
the  irritation  which  resulted  can  be  conceived,  and 
yet  one  can  imagine  that  at  an  early  period  a  little  of 
the  squatter-sovereignty  feeling  prevailed,  and  that 
possession  and  improvement  were  at  least  considered 
as  nine  points  in  the  law.  After  1717,  the  disposal  by 
the  town  of  both  the  upper  and  the  middle  commons 
was  by  a  methodical  system  of  ranges  and  lots.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  the  Brocklebank  farms,  all 


GEORGETOWN. 


815 


the  Elder  Reyner  lands,  which  had  come  to  the  Hob- 
sons,  and  by  them  sold  to  other  parties,  and  the  Lam- 
bert farm,  at  this  time  owned  by  the  Plumers,  Harri- 
mans,  Holmes  and  Adams,  were  by  special  grants,  and 
already,  in  some  cases,  private  deeds  had  been  given, 
not  once  but  twice,  at  different  dates  for  the  same 
land.  This  disposal  in  1717  was  the  balance  of  the 
common  land  above  and  below  Pen  Brook,  and  was 
by  lots,  and  each  lot  recorded  when  drawn.  The 
record  of  the  names,  as  drawn,  is  missing  from  the 
collection  of  books  at  the  Clerk's  office  in  Rowley. 
In  the  deeds  of  these  lots,  given  by  individuals  at  a 
later  day,  this  record  was  called  the  Book  of  Com- 
moners. The  diagrams  of  these  ranges,  of  different 
lengths,  with  the  lots,  from  two  to  forty  in  number, 
are  on  record,  carefully  executed  by  some  draughts- 
man before  the  lots  were  drawn. 

The  original  titles  to  all  the  lands  in  the  "  Three 
Thousand  Acres"  not  previously  granted,  and  much 
of  the  intervening  middle  commons,  bear  date  at  this 
important  point,  1717.  The  community,  the  corporate 
body,  the  town,  had  the  power  thus  delegated  to  it  by 
the  Colonial  Government  to  grant  personal  titles  to 
all  land  included  within  its  domains,  and  the  same 
power  that  granted,  it  would  seem,  could  compel  a 
surrender  if  needful  for  the  public  good. 

The  lots  on  these  ranges  were  generally  of  aboul 
five  acres  in  extent,  long  and  quite  narrow,  a  minute 
subdivision  which  is  seen  in  the  numerous  division- 
fences,  the  stone  foundations  of  which  are  still  visible 
all  over  this  tract.  This  division  into  such  small  lots 
led  to  many  jiurchases  by  those  intending  to  settle,  so 
as  to  have  acreage  equal  to  the  needs  of  a  farm. 

Perhaps  the  first  of  the  early  settlers  to  buy  free- 
holds extensively  in  the  three  thousand  acre  tract  was 
Richard  Dole,  cordwainer,  of  Rowley.  He  secured 
several,  and  after  the  division  into  lots,  obtained  from 
one  and  another  by  purchase  or  exchange,  lots  to  the 
number  of  twenty-one.  His  first  intentions  were  per- 
haps to  locate  on  Red  Shanks  highway,  buying  land 
there  in  1722.  In  1726,  however,  he  purchased 
largely  south  of  Baldpate  Street,  and  doubtless  built 
a  house  there  soon  after.  This  house  was  probably 
built  on  land  now  owned  by  G.  S.  Weston,  and  which 
had  for  its  last  occupant  the  widow  of  Captain  Moses 
Dole.  Cufiee  Dole,  an  African  of  ebon  blackness, 
was  the  servant  of  this  family  until  the  death  of  the 
aged  widow.  It  is  said,  that  when  but  an  infant,  he 
was  bought  by  CajJtain  Dole,  in  Danvers,  for  about 
ten  pounds.  A  death-bed  confession  of  the  woman 
who  sold  him,  was,  that  he  was  free-born  and  had  been 
placed  in  her  care  by  his  mother  living  in  Boston. 
Cuffee,  by  diligent  search,  after  years  of  servitude, 
found  the  story  was  true.  Still  he  clung  to  his  old 
home,  until  at  the  demolition  of  the  old  mansion, 
early  in  the  present  century,  he  became  a  member  of 
the  family  of  Rev.  Mr.  Braman,  where  he  died.  For 
many  years,  any  invasion  of  his  prerogatives,  as  care- 
taker at  funerals  and  other  public  occasions,  met  with 


his  wrath  and  scorn.  His  grave  in  Union  Cemetery 
is  marked  with  this,  "  A  respectable  man  of  color." 
His  estate,  of  one  thousand  dollars,  was  left  to  Mr. 
Braman. 

There  was  another  house,  which  was  probably  built 
on  the  Dole  lands,  not  far  from  Baldpate  Street,  on 
land  now  owned  by  Henry  Kennett.  It  has  been 
thought  that  this  was  an  early  Spofford  house,  but 
possibly  it  was  the  original  house  of  Richard  Dole. 
It  had  the  reputation  for  many  years  of  being  "a 
haunted  house."  Mr.  Nathan  Perley,  John  Bettis 
and  others,  watching  with  sick  people,  told  strange 
stories  of  what  they  heard  and  saw.  It  was  removed 
before  this  century  and  re-built  in  Sherman  Nelson's 
house  on  Elm  Street.  No  person  now  living  can 
give  any  definite  clue  as  to  who,  at  any  time,  lived 
in  it  when  on  its  former  site. 

Richard  Boynton,  perhaps  the  same,  whose  land 
adjoined  the  farm  of  John  Brocklebank,  near  Pen 
Brook,  bought  thirteen  lots  on  ranges  S  and  T  in 
1724-25,  on  the  north  side  of  Andover  Street,  and 
built  there.  The  house  on  the  summit  of  SpofTord's 
Hill,  now  owned  by  Samuel  Noyes,  is  in  part  at  least 
quite  ancient,  and  doubtless  is  the  original  house. 
Moses  Boynton,  carpenter  and  bridge-builder,  was 
living  there  less  than  three-fourths  of  a  century  ago. 

Another  family  of  some  prominence  who  settled 
about  a  mile  to  the  south,  was  that  of  Burpee.  From 
the  fact  that  Thomas  Burpee,  the  west  parish  settler, 
sold  his  dwelling-house  at  the  east  end  of  the  Ox- 
pasture  in  Rowley,  in  the  winter  of  1724,  it  is  proba- 
ble that  he  came  here  soon  afterwards.  He  built  on 
the  southerly  slope,  of  what  was  soon  known  as  Vine- 
yard Hill,  on  land  now  owned  by  Chas.  E.  Chaplin, 
and  just  about  midway  of  Baldpate  and  Nelson 
Streets.  From  its  sunny  location,  and  the  abund- 
ance of  choice  fruit  grown  on  this  sixty  acre  farm,  it 
obtained  the  name  of  the  Vineyard.  On  the  height  of 
the  hill,  just  in  the  rear  of  the  site  of  the  house,  on 
land  that  is  now  owned  by  Sherman  Nelson  (then 
Dole  lands),  stands  the  walnut  tree,  which  has  been  a 
conspicuous  mark  for  sailors,  on  our  eastern  coast,  per- 
haps from  the  time  that  Thomas  Burpee  first  came 
here,  and  it  is  still  fresh  and  vigorous.  There  was  a 
cross-way  from  the  parish  farm,  occupied  by  the 
Spoffords,  past  this  house,  reaching  Nelson  Street, 
near  the  ancient  Elm,  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  by  Mrs. 
W.  M.  Shute's.  From  thence  it  connected  with  the 
Salem  road  past  Oak  Dell  and  over  Pen  Brook.  Al- 
though this  path  has  not  been  travelled  for  nearly  a 
century,  it  shows  in  places  the  marks  of  the  travel  of 
former  times.  About  1787,  this  farm  was  sold,  and  a 
part  of  the  house  re-built,  in  the  house  of  L.  L.  Dole 
on  Elm  Street.  Amos  Nelson  who  built  about  1767, 
the  house  of  C.  E.  Chaplin,  on  Nelson  Street,  bought 
the  land  surrounding  this  Burpee  house,  and  used  a 
part  as  a  kitchen  for  his  own  dwelling.  Ebenezer  Bur- 
pee, who  lived  here,  a  carpenter,  was  probably  a  son 
of  Thomas,  and  was  parish  clerk  for  twenty-five  years. 


816 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Nathaniel  Perkins,  a  son-in-law  of  Edward  Hazen, 
about  1722,  began  to  buy  lots  on  range  L,  extending 
from  Nelson  Street  (Fairface  highway,  then  called)  to 
Boxford  Line,  north  of  Lake  Raynor.  Afterwards 
buying  the  Cooper  land,  south  of  the  town  boundary, 
it  carried  his  land  to  the  shore  of  the  lake.  He  also 
owned  the  Raynor  meadow,  just  below  and  adjoin- 
ing the  lake.  His  house  was  about  midway  between 
Nelson  Street  and  the  lake,  and  was  erected  about 
1725.  This  farm  was  owned  by  himself  and  heirs 
until  1788,  when  it  was  sold  to  Major  Asa  Nelson, 
who  lived  on  Nelson  Street.  Mr.  Perkins  was  not 
connected  with  the  west  parish,  and  in  no  wise  iden- 
tified with  its  interests.  In  1766,  he  aided  in  the  en- 
largement of  the  cemetery,  near  B.  8.  Barnes'  house, 
in  Boxford.  In  the  winter  of  1778,  there  were  several 
sick  with  the  small-pox  in  the  Perkins  house  and 
vicinity,  the  sickness  finally  became  epidemic,  and 
this  hotise  being  isolated  from  other  habitations 
was  used  as  the  hospital  or  pest  house.  Several  vic- 
tims were  buried  near  the  foot-path  leading  to  the 
lake,  about  forty  rods  from  the  house.  It  was  claimed 
that  the  smoke,  from  the  chimneys  of  houses  where 
the  sick  were,  carried  the  disease  from  one  house  to 
another  in  this  locality.  The  families  of  Amos  and 
Asa  Nelson,  Mr.  Perkins'  neighbors  on  Nelson  Street, 
removed,  the  one  to  the  Burpee,  the  other  to  the 
Brocklebank  house,  the  men  only  daily  returning  to 
care  for  the  barns  and  farm-stock.  This  Perkins 
family,  like  many  others  at  that  time,  are  said  to  have 
removed  to  New  Hampshire.  On  a  little  knoll  just 
southeast  from  Edward  U.  Nelson's  house,  who  with 
his  sister  are  owners  of  this  farm,  is  a  hollow,  said  to 
have  been  dug  by  a  member  of  the  Perkins  family,  as 
the  cellar  for  an  intended  house.  It  is  said  the  death 
of  this  young  man,  during  the  war  of  the  Revolution, 
whether  abroad  or  at  home,  is  not  known,  left  this 
hollow  as  the  only  memorial  of  the  house  that  was  to 
be.  This  Perkins  house  had  a  chequered  history, 
much  more  than  the  average  New  England  farm- 
house. It  was  taken  down  in  1856,  the  material  being 
used  in  building  the  house  of  W.  M.  Dorgan,  on 
Pond  Street. 

William  Fiske  was  settled  in  this  town  as  early 
as  1727.  His  father,  Samuel  Fiske,  of  Wenham, 
bought  property  in  Boxford  late  in  the  seven- 
teenth century.  In  1716  he  deeded  to  his  son  William 
the  dwelling-house  he  was  then  in  possession  of  In 
the  spring  of  1727  William  bought  of  Abraham  How, 
of  Ipswich,  a  lot  on  range  H  below  Pen  Brook.  In 
October  of  that  year,  he  was  in  Rowley.  It  is  said 
that  his  house  was  built  east  of  the  house  of  Mrs. 
Sylvanus  Merrill,  near  the  lower  end  of  the  garden. 
He  was  a  constituent  member  of  the  First  Congrega- 
tional Church  in  Georgetown,  being  one  of  the  eigh- 
teen males  dismissed  from  Byfield,  and  was  at  once 
elected  deacon.  The  family  seems  to  have  become 
extinct  at  his  death. 

William  Searle  was  an  early  settler  on  the  Raynor 


Plain  (Marlborough).  His  father,  William,  came  to 
Rowley  perhaps  from  Ipswich  between  1680  and  '90, 
and  doubtless  died  as  a  member  of  Captain  Philip 
Nelson's  company,  in  Governor  Phips'  expedition 
against  Quebec.  William  Searle,  of  the  west  parish, 
married  Jane,  a  granddaughter  of  Captain  Philip 
Nelson,  about  1722,  and  settled  here  soon  afterward. 
The  ancient  house,  supposed  to  be  built  by  him,  was 
demolished  by  Deacon  John  Platts  more  than  a  half- 
century  ago.  The  house  now  owned  by  Mrs.  Sylva- 
nus Merrill  was  built  on  the  same  site.  Mr.  Searle 
was,  like  his  neighbor  Deacon  Fiske,  a  constituent 
member  of  the  First  Church,  and  was  also  made  a 
deacon  at  the  organization. 

Another  house,  thought  to  have  been  built  prior  to 

1730,  and  still  standing,  is  on  Chaplin's  Court,  and 
the  property  of  Miss  Jane  Edmonds.  This  was  per- 
haps built  by  Jonathan,  a  brother  or  son  of  Jeremiah 
Chaplin.  Here  lived  Elder  Asa,  and  here  was  born, 
in  1776,  or  early  resided,  his  son  Jeremiah  Chaplin, 
D.D.,  the  first  president  of  Colby  University,  Water- 
ville.  Me.,  and  who  continued  in  ottice  fifteen  years.  It 
is  said  that  Gen.  B.  F.  Butler  was  under  his  instruction 
for  several  years.  Descendants  noted  as  educators 
and  in  the  world  of  letters  are  his  son  Jeremiah,  a 
Baptist  clergyman  and  writer,  the  husband  of  Jane 
Dunbar,  and  the  father  of  Heman  L.,  a  bnvyer  in 
Boston  ;  Mrs.  Hannah,  wife  of  Prof.  George  Conant, 
of  Hamilton,  N.  Y.,  in  whose  family  his  last  years 
were  spent,  and  other  daughters,  who  married  Baptist 
ministers.  Dr.  Chaplin  united  with  the  Baptist 
Church  in  Georgetown  before  his  eleventh  year.  He 
was  a  graduate  of  Brown  University,  1799.  An  item 
in  the  account  book  of  Benjamin  Adams,  of  South 
Georgetown,  is,  "Dr.,  June,  1799,  Elder  Asa  Chaplin 
for  use  of  chaise  to  go  to  Providence  to  see  Jeremiah 
graduate." 

A  name  of  distinction  for  about  three-fourths  of  a 
century  was  that  of  Thurston.  Sergt.  Daniel  Thurs- 
ton, of  Newbury,  bought  freeholds  west  of  Pen  Brook 
as  early  as  1714. 

After  the  division  into  ranges  and  lots,  he  acquired 
several  lots  by  purchase  or  exchange  on  Range  R, 
south  of  Andover  Street,  upon  which  a  house  was  built. 
It  is  not  known  vvhether  he  setttled  here,  but  Jonathan 
Thurston,  probably  a  son,  was  living  here  doubtle-s  in 

1731.  He  and  wife  Lydia  were  original  members  of 
the  First  Church,  and  may  have  been  settled  here  a 
year  or  two  2>rior  to  1730.  Mr.  Thurston  was  the  first 
parish  clerk,  holding  the  office  eight  years.  The  house, 
a  spacious  mansion  with  eight  square  rooms,  was  sold 
in  1800,  with  the  farm  of  forty  or  more  acres  to  Rev. 
Isaac  Braman.  Much  of  the  material  of  this  vener- 
ated mansion  when  demolished  was  used  by  George  J. 
Tenney  in  the  erection  of  Tenney's  Hall,  now  the 
residence  of  Mr.  H.  N.  Harriman.  Three  generations 
of  the  Thurston  family  had  dwelt  under  its  roof,  Daniel 
and  Stephen  finally  removing,  the  one  to  Ipswich  the 
other  to  Andover.     The  descendants  who  visit  with 


GEORGETOWN. 


817 


reverence  the  spot  where  the  house  once  stood  are 
numerous  and  influential. 

The  southerly  slope  of  Baldpate  Hill  was  partially 
cleared  by  Nathaniel  Mighill,  of  Rowley,  who  was 
a  grandson  of  Deacon  Thomas  Mighill  (the  first  who 
cleared  land  in  Georgetown),  at  an  early  date.  In  1716 
Nathaniel  began  his  extensive  purchase  of  land.  Later, 
perhaps  in  1724  or  '25,  having  bought  lots  on  ranges 
D  and  E,  he  built  the  easterly  front  of  the  present  Mig- 
hill house,  on  Baldpate  Street.  It  is  a  family  tradition 
that  it  was  not  permanently  occupied  for  some  years. 
Some  of  the  family,  it  is  said,  spent  the  summer 
months  here,  returning  to  Rowley  in  the  autumn,  and 
that  one  son  and  then  another  would  attempt  to  set- 
tle, only  to  go  back  to  the  old  homestead.  Finally, 
Stephen  Mighill,  the  eldest,  about  1733  or  '34  removed 
here,  was  elected  deacon  in  1747,  and  was  quite  active 
in  parish  affairs.  In  all  deeds  he  was  styled  "maltster." 
This  was  the  partial  occupation  of  the  family  in  Row- 
ley; the  malt-house  of  Deacon  Thomas  of  date  1650, 
was  located  just  east  of  the  barn  of  his  descendants, 
the  present  ownei's  of  the  estate.  The  malt-house  at 
their  Georgetown  estate  was  standing  and  continued 
to  bear  this  name  until  within  the  past  twenty  years. 
The  family  of  Deacon  Stephen  Mighill  were  quite 
aristocratic,  and  had  negro  servants.  One  by  the  name 
of  Sabina  was  afterwards  in  Rev.  Mr.  Chandler's  family, 
and  was  remembered  by  him  in  his  will.  Chloe  was 
another,  and  is  said  to  have  been  purchased  by  Mr. 
Amos  Nelson.  He  gave  her  the  freedom  she  coveted. 
Another  of  Mr.  Nelson's  colored  friends  lived  for  many 
years  in  Boxford,  and  annually  presented  her  bene- 
factor with  stockings  and  mittens  of  her  own  knit- 
ting. 

David  Mighill,  a  grandson  of  the  Deacon,  graduated 
at  Dartmouth  in  1809,  and  was  a  town  physician  for 
about  forty  years.  He  had  conferred  upon  him  the 
degree  of  LL.D.  as  well  as  that  of  M.D.  He  first 
practiced  in  Dunbarton,  N.  H.,  where  he  married 
Betsy  Mills  and  where  his  eldest  son  John  (Mills)  was 
born,  who  now  resides  on  the  old  farm.  He  had  quite 
an  inventive  gift,  and  one  of  his  devices,  a  pump, 
proved  very  valuable  to  the  party  who  obtained  the 
patent.  Stephen,  a  son  of  the  above,  Avas  in  medical 
practice  for  several  years  in  Roxbury  and  Boston.  His 
sister  Irene  married  Dr.  Moses  Spofford,  who  for  many 
years  divided  the  practice  of  the  town  and  parish  with 
Dr.  Mighill,  his  brother-in-law. 

Solomon  Nelson  was  another  early  settler.  Soon 
after  his  marriage  to  Mercy,  the  daughter  of  Jeremiah 
Chaplin  in  1725,  he  and  his  cousins  followed  their  uncle 
Gershom  to  what  was  then  the  town  of  Mendon,  now 
Hopedale,  where  he  bought  land  in  the  wilderness,  and 
remained  there  until  1729.  Returning  to  Rowley  in 
April,  he  bought  a  lot  of  five  acres  on  range  M,  and 
probably  built  that  year  on  the  spot  upon  which  the 
house  of  the  writer  stands,  now  occupied  by  Leon  S. 
Gifford.  The  original  house,  with  its  additions,  be- 
came quite  extensive,  and  was  taken  down  in  1838. 
51  i 


Mr.  Nelson  was  highly  esteemed  by  the  parish,  was 
frequently  an  assessor,  and  was  treasurer  and  collector 
for  perhaps  twenty  years. 

His  descendants  of  special  prominence  are  Hon. 
Jeremiah  Nelson,  late  of  Newburyport,  who  was  a 
member  of  Congress  from  the  Essex  North  district 
for  several  terms ;  Rev.  William  B.  Dodge,  who  for 
years  was  noted  as  an  educator  and  philanthropist, 
the  "Master  Dodge,"  of  Salem,  Mass.,  and  General 
G.  M.  Dodge,  chief  engineer  of  the  Central  Pacific 
Railroad,  who  was  urged  by  President  Grant,  it  has 
been  said,  to  take  the  position  of  Secretary  of  War  in 
his  first  cabinet,  but  declined  the  honor.  A  daughter, 
Huldah,  who  married  Elder  Samuel  Harriman,  died 
in  March,  1848,  aged  one  hundred  years  and  nearly 
six  months.  In  native  vigor  of  mind  and  mental 
acumen,  and  although  comparatively  uneducated,  hav- 
ing much  of  the  masculine  force  of  the  historian  Han- 
nah Adams,  she  pei'haps  exceeded  any  other  person  of 
her  sex  ever  born  in  the  town. 


CHAPTER    LIII. 

GEORGETOWN.— eo?i<i:nu€d. 

PARISH  ORGANIZATION — FIRST   CONGREGATIONAL 
AND   BYFIELD, 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1700  there  were  about 
twenty  families  settled  within  the  limits  of  the  terri- 
tory now  known  as  Georgetown.  Of  this  number 
four-fifths  at  least  were  in  the  easterly  or  Byfield  sec- 
tion of  the  town.  With  two  possible  exceptions,  that 
of  John  and  Samuel  Spoflford,  Avho  went  to  Bradford 
meeting,  all  attended  religious  services  at  Rowley. 
Not  less  than  one  hundred  and  twenty  families,  with 
a  population  of  over  six  hundred,  were  residents  of 
Rowley  at  that  time.  They  were  liberal  toward  their 
ministers.  The  estate  of  Mr.  Rogers  was  appraised 
at  fifteen  hundred  pounds,  perhaps  equal  to  twenty- 
five  thousand  dollars  in  our  day,  while  Mr.  Shepard, 
after  a  pastorate  of  only  about  three  years  died,  leav- 
ing an  estate  equal  by  our  standard  to  nearly  ten 
thousand  dollars. 

The  Rowley  farmers  were  prosperous,  and  in  view  of 
their  prosperity  there  should  have  been  a  readiness  to 
aid  the  weak  parishes  in  the  interior.  Instead,  the 
people  of  Rowley  village  (afterwards  Boxford),  were 
to  pay  one-AaZ/"  of  their  minister-rates  to  Topsfield. 
The  Topsfield  meeting  was  the  one  they  attended,  and 
why  not  have  granted  them  authority  to  pay  all  their 
rates  to  Topsfield  and  aid  that  slow-growing  settle- 
ment. Communities  were  isolated,  wrapped  up  in 
their  own  local  interests,  and  there  was  very  often 
manifest,  a  marked  want  of  breadth  and  generous 
feeling.  One  peculiar  feature,  shown  in  documents 
of  the  time,  bearing  on  the  alliance  between  church 


818 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


and  State,  was  that  the  church  preceded  the  State, 
the  organization  of  the  State  being  apparently  to 
maintain  and  perpetuate  the  church,  and  therefore 
we  find  it  made  the  basis  of  appeals  from  commu- 
nities for  incorporation  as  towns.  Under  that  system 
the  civil  law  was  the  source  of  the  strength  of  the 
church,  and  the  Boxford  petitioners  then  said  to  the 
General  Court,  when  asking  for  town  rights,  "  now 
we  have  no  way  to  compel  any  person  to  do  his  duty, 
if  he  will  not  doe  it  of  himself"  and  to  have  the  power 
to  compel  a  person,  they  asked  for  separate  sovereignty, 
and  it  was  granted.  When  town  incorporation  was 
not  thought  advisable  parishes  were  established.  This 
word  happily  becoming  obsolete  in  the  New  England 
signification,  and  probably  in  its  primal  meaning 
(that  of  the  source  of  a  benefice  or  supply),  was  first 
considered  as  feasible  in  what  is  now  Georgetown  in 
1701. 

December  16th,  of  that  year,  a  religious  service  hav- 
ing been  established,  perha^ss  for  a  year  or  more 
westerly  of  Rye  Plain  Bridge,  the  families  located 
there  asked  Rowley  to  have  their  rates  abated.  This 
was  partially  granted,  the  vote  being  to  abate  one- 
half  of  the  minister-rates  of  Jonathan  Wheeler,  Ben- 
jamin Plumer,  Samuel  Brocklebauk,  John  Browne, 
Nathaniel  Browne,  Jonathan  Look,  James  Chute, 
Andrew  Stickney,  Henry  Poor,  Duncan  Stewart, 
Ebenezer  Browne,  Ebenezer  Stewart,  John  Lull, 
James  Tenney,  John  Plumer,  Richard  Boynton  and 
Josiah  Wood. 

This  petition  and  the  partial  response  implies  some 
action  already  taken,  perhaps  a  meeting-house  raised 
and  covered,  in  which  services  were  held,  and  on  the 
completion  of  it  the  vote  of  the  town,  March  16, 
1702-3,  was  passed,  which  verbatim  is  this  :  "  The 
Inhabitants  of  ye  Rowley  living  on  the  Northwest 
side  of  the  bridge  called  Rye  plain  bridg,  and  on  the 
North  west  side  of  the  hill  called  Long  hill,  and 
Joyned  with  the  farmers  of  Newbury  that  doth 
border  on  us,  in  building  a  new  meeting  house  for  the 
worship  of  God,  Shall  be  Abatted  their  Rattes  in  the 
ministry  Rate  in  the  Towne  of  Rowley,  if  they  do 
maintain  with  the  help  of  our  neighbors  of  Newbury, 
an  Otthoxdoxs  ministry  to  belong  and  teach,  in  that 
meeting-house  that  they  have  built,  until  Such  time 
as  it  is  judged  that  their  is  asufishant  Number,  to 
maintain  a  minister  in  the  North  west  part  of  our 
Towne,  without  the  help  of  our  neighbors  of  Newbury, 
that  doth  border  upon  us,  whose  names  are  as  fol- 
loweth : "  (The  seventeen  as  above,  with  Lionel 
Chute  added.)  When  the  population  would  warrant, 
another  parish  was  to  be  formed,  exclusively  of  Rowley 
families.  The  first  meeting-house  in  this  parish  was 
near  where  the  present  house  stands.  This  part  of 
Newbury  was  the  "  Falls,"  and  this  part  of  Rowley 
was  "  Rowlbery." 

In  the  records  of  the  Rowley  church  the  parish  was 
called  Byfield  in  1706,  and  yet  that  year  it  was  incor- 
porated as  "  The  Falls."     Hon.  Nathaniel  Byfield,  of 


Boston,  perhaps  connected  with  some  of  the  families 
in  the  parish,  may  have  aided  in  building  the  meet- 
ing-house, and  some  proposed  giving  it  his  name. 
After  his  gift  of  a  bell,  it  was  decided  to  call  it  Byfield 
in  his  honor.  An  endeared  name  to  multitudes  living 
and  dead. 

Rev.  Moses  Hale,  of  Newbury,  was  ordained  No- 
vember 17,  1706,  as  the  first  minister.  A  graduate  of 
Harvard  in  1699.     Died  January  16, 1744-45. 

The  records  of  the  Church,  to  the  death  of  Mr. 
Hale,  are  lost.  Perhaps  a  search  might  be  successful. 
In  1707  the  parish  lines  were  established.  This  in- 
cluded from  Rye  Plain  bridge,  up  an  ancient  way 
near  Francis  Nelson's  house,  over  Long  Hill,  across 
Elder's  Plain,  by  Deacon  Brocklebank's  (now  M.  G. 
Spoffbrd's),  and  to  the  Bradford  line,  including  within 
its  limits  all  of  the  Lambert  farm,  near  Pentucket  Pond, 
being  in  all  one-half  of  the  area  now  Georgetown.  It 
probably  being  "judged  that  there  is  asufishent  Num- 
ber to  maintaine  a  minister  in  the  Northwest  part  of 
our  Town,"  in  the  language  of  the  Rowley  records, 
steps  were  taken,  perhaps  as  early  as  1727,  prepara- 
tory to  petitioning  for  incorporation  as  a  separate 
parish.  Since  1700,  and  especially  since  1725,  as  is 
seen  in  Chapter  LI,  a  rapid  settlement  had  gone  for- 
Avard.  We  can  imagine  John  Spofford  and  the  Plum- 
ers,  in  earnest  conversation  with  their  near  neighbors 
on  the  question,  and  some  strong  assertions  that  the 
time  had  come  to  build  a  meeting-house  here. 

There  is  no  doubt  such  important  action  was  dis- 
cussed for  at  least  one  or  two  winters  around  the  broad 
hearth  and  in  the  light  of  their  hickory  fires,  some 
confident,  others  doubting,  until  at  a  meeting  in  some 
one  of  the  old-time  kitchens,  it  was  decided  that  in 
the  coming  winter  of  1728-29,  they  would  sled  to  the 
Harriman  &  Plumer  mill  on  Rock  Pond  Brook,  logs 
for  the  lumber  needed  for  the  house.  The  Brockle- 
banks  were  interested,  suggested  the  lot  below  Pen 
Brook  on  Main  Street,  at  the  corner  of  the  early 
opened  road,  near  where  David  Brocklebanks'  hou«e 
stands,  and  the  heavy  oak  frame  was  jsrovided,  squared, 
and  in  June  1729  was  raised,  soon  boarded  in,  and  the 
first  rude  meeting-house  completed.  This  was  a  pro- 
prietors' building;  some  in  the  vicinity  were  not  then 
interested,  and  the  erection  of  this  first  meeting-house 
was  not  a  general  affair.  There  were  no  dedication 
ceremonies,  that  is  an  innovation  of  much  later  times. 
The  name  was  properly  meeting-house,  and  at  that 
day  it  meant  nothing  more.  There  was  no  sacredness 
in  the  building  itself,  for  that  savored  of  the  Episco- 
pacy they  abhorred.  In  most  cases  there  was  no  burial 
of  their  departed  friends  in  the  shadow  of  these  New 
England  houses  for  meetings. 

To  be  nearly  central  as  possible  was  one  thing,  to 
have  it  open  to  the  public  highway  for  convenience, 
seems  to  have  been  another. 

May  27th,  1730,  a  petition  for  a  distinct  parish  was 
signed  by  forty-two  persons  and  presented  to  the 
General  Court. 


GEORGETOWN. 


819 


October  1, 1731,  it  was  ordered  "  That  Mr.  Benjamin 
Plummer,  a  Principal  Inhabitant  of  the  precinct 
Lately  set  off  from  the  town  of  Rowley,  and  parish  of 
Byfield,  is  Authorized  to  Notifie  the  Inhabitants  to 
convene  in  some  publick  Place,  to  Choose  precinct 
officers,  to  stand  until  the  Anniversary  meeting  in 
March  next."  J.  Quincy  was  speaker  and  Jonathan 
Belcher,  governor  (later  a  friend  of  Whitefield),  who 
approved.  The  names  of  Captain  John  Spofford, 
Benjamin  Plummer  and  Jonathan  Thurston  do  not 
appear  on  the  petition.  They  were,  doubtless,  origi- 
nally not  favorable  to  the  movement. 

"  By  Virtue  of  the  above  Precept  the  Inhabitants 
of  the  New  precinct  assembled  togather  on  the  fifth 
of  October,  1731." 

Lieutenant  John  Spaflfurd  was  elected  moderatorand 
Jonathan  Boynton  clerk,  to  serve  until  the  meeting  in 
March.  Lieutenant  John  Spaflbrd,  Elder  Jeremiah 
Chaplin,  Ensign  Benjamin  Plummer,  Mr.  William 
Searl  and  Mr.  Aaron  Pengiy  were  elected  assessors, 
and  Jonathan  Thurston  and  Samuel  Johnson,  collect- 
ors. These  were  the  first  legal  officers  of  most  of  the 
territory  now  known  as  Georgetown. 

Nearly  a  year  before  the  church  was  organized,  on 
October  25,  1731,  the  parish  voted  "to  call  Mr.  Daniel 
Rogers,  that  hath  preached  with  us,  to  be  our  minys- 
ter."  "  Nov.  9,  1731,  voated  that  Lieut.  John  Spafford 
Should  build  the  Galery  Stairs,  and  Joyce  for  the 
Galery  flore,  and  Lay  the  said  flore  with  Yalow  pine 
boards,  and  to  make  three  Seats  in  the  frunt  Galery, 
and  two  Seats  on  each  Side  Galierys." 

This  describes  the  house  in  part,  a  plain  building, 
without  steeple  or  spire,  and  at  this  date  still  unfin- 
ished. 

"  Jan.  4,  1731-32,  It  was  a  Greed  &  Voated  to  call 
Mr.  Chandler  of  Andover,  the  Gentleman  that  hath 
preached  with  us  of  Late,  to  be  our  Minister,  and  it 
was  Voated  by  every  man  then  Assembled."  Salary 
to  be  "  one  hundred  and  ten  pounds  pr.  year,  to  be 
Stated  by  the  Standard,  acording  as  mony  Should 
Grow  better  or  worse,"  and  "  three  hundred  pounds 
for  Settlement."  Five  parish  meetings  had  been 
held. 

March  27,  1731-32,  First  annual  meeting  "  voated 
Mr.  Chandler  twenty  cords  of  wood  a  year."  August 
8,  1732,  voted  "  By  the  major  part  of  the  Builders  of 
the  Meeting-House,  that  the  Rest  of  the  people  in 
said  parish  should  have  an  Equal  prevelige  with  us, 
in  s**.  meeting-house,  so  Long  as  it  stands  in  the  place 
where  it  now  is."  John  Harriman  dissented.  Some 
were  not  satisfied  with  the  location,  and  the  same  dis- 
satisfaction continued  for  several  generations. 

Mr.  Chandler  accepted  this  purely  parish  call,  and 
it  was  voted  by  the  parish,  September  20, 1732,  for  the 
ordination,  October  18,  1732.  The  minister  was  in 
this  particular  instance  selected  by  the  parish,  which 
virtually  represented  the  town  of  to-day. 

Three-fourths  of  a  century  of  independent  churches 
makes  it  somewhat  difficult  to  have  a  clear  compre- 


hension of  the  conditions  of  Church  and  State,  as 
then  existed.  The  law  of  the  colony  recognized  but 
one  religious  organization,  and  that  equally  with  all 
other  public  interests,  was  sustained  and  perpetuated 
by  the  "law's  strong  arm."  The  church  was  organ- 
ized just  two  weeks  before  the  ordination,  for  which 
preparations  were  going  on  among  the  thirty  or  more 
families  with  harmony  and  enthusiasm. 

Perfectly  united  as  the  parish  was  in  Mr.  Chandler,  as 
Jonathan  Boynton  informs  us  in  his  careful  record,  we 
can  believe  that  every  housewife  did  her  best  to  make 
the  important  affair  something  to  recall  with  pride, 
long  afterward.  Ten  pounds  was  voted  to  Jeremiah 
Harriman  to  make  provision  for  ministers  and  mes- 
sengers and  "some  other  Gentlemen  that  wateson  the 
ministers,"  colored  servants,  probably. 

The  lofty  airs  common  to  their  class  at  this  period, 
on  occasions  of  the  importance  of  an  ordination,  have 
often  been  described.  The  ministers  and  their  attend- 
ants, doubtless  assembled  at  the  Deacon  Brocklebank 
house,  where  his  son  P^rancis  then  lived.  It  was  voted 
that  "  William  Fiske  have  ten  pounds,  to  provide  for 
Scholars  and  other  Gentlemen."  The  churches  of 
Byfield,  Bradford,  Boxford,  Andover,  Rowley,  and  the 
Second  of  Newbury  were  represented.  The  sermon 
was  by  Mr.  Rogers  of  Boxford,  from  John  21  :  15,  16, 
17;  and  the  services  were  concluded  by  singing  part 
of  the  132d  Psalm. 

At  the  church  organization,  two  weeks  previously, 
Mr.  Hale  of  Byfield  constituted  and  Mr.  Balch  of 
second  Bradford  (now  Groveland),  preached  a  sermon, 
afterwards  printed. 

The  records  of  the  church  from  this  date  are  in  the 
minute  and  delicate  penmanship  of  Mr.  Chandler. 
"Nov.,  1732,  a  Desent  Seat  for  Deacons  and  a  Com- 
munion table  ordered  to  be  built."  "  Mar.,  1732-33, 
Ebenezer  Burpee  instructed  to  put  up  two  rails,  bools 
and  banisters  at  the  end  of  the  pulpit  stairs."  "July 
17,  1733,  voted  to  Joseph  Nelson,  twelve  pounds,  to 
provide  for  the  raising  of  Mr.  Chandler's  house  and 
barn."  The  house  was  built  just  west  of  the  church, 
on  the  site  of  which  the  house  of  Humphrey  Nelson 
now  stands.  This  house,  built  in  1733,  was  burned 
on  Town  Meeting  day,  April  4,  1825.  The  cause  was 
a  defective  chimney.  Most  of  the  adulfmales  of  the 
parish  were  in  Rowley  at  the  time. 

At  this  date,  1733,  the  line  between  Byfield  and  this 
parish  was  settled  "with  Leonard  Harriman 's  widow 
and  David  pearsons  to  belong  to  the  west  parish  of 
Rowley,  and  so  Jedediah  pearsons'  Land  to  belong  to 
Byfield."  "  Dea.  Searl  was  chosen  to  go  down  to  the 
Generall  Court,  to  see  what  may  be  gotten  of  the  town 
rents."  December,  1735,  the  same  was  chosen  to  re- 
ceive the  money  that  the  parish  is  to  have  of  the 
town,  and  also  the  rent  of  the  thatch-bank.  This 
land  in  Rowley,  marsh  and  upland,  was  often  ditched, 
leased  by  the  pai'ish  every  three  years,  and  finally,  in 
1856,  was  leased  for  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine 
years.    The  railroad  near  the  Rowley  station  was  laid 


820 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


out  over  it  for  a  considerable  distance,  and  land  dam- 
age awarded  in  1839. 

Pews  in  the  raeeting-liouse  were  not  made  as  yet, 
but  in  December,  1736,  Mr.  Chandler  had  the  "  Lib- 
erty of  a  pew  at  the  west  end  of  the  pulpit."  It  was 
also  voted  "  to  lease  that  p'art  of  Spofford's  farm  that 
has  been  set  off  to  the  west  parish."  This  division  of 
the  parish  land  had  been  made  in  July,  1735. 

The  northerly  side  of  the  farm,  then  occupied  by 
Samuel  Spofford,  had  come  to  the  west  parish,  one- 
half  of  Half-moon  meadow,  four  lots  of  land  in  the 
upper  commons,  or  two  freeholds,  and  the  thatch- 
bank  at  Oyster  Point.  John  and  Jonathan  Spofford, 
nephews  of  Samuel,  occupied  the  southerly  half 
March,  1737,  the  parish  voted  to  lease  the  wood  lots, 
and  voted  again  to  lease  their  Spofford  farm.  The 
Parish  farm  at  that  time  had  been  improved  by  the 
Spoiford  family  for  nearly  seventy  years.  Samuel  was 
nearly  ninety  years  of  age  and  an  extensive  land- 
holder, especially  in  Boxford.  He  had  seen  this  farm 
reclaimed  from  the  wilderness  by  his  father,  himself 
and  brothers,  and  now  it  was,  like  the  parish,  to  be 
divided  in  twain.  He  had  lived  to  see  a  meeting- 
house, with  the  houses  of  energetic  farmers,  scattered 
all  along  the  easterly  slope  below  him,  and  forming  in 
themselves  and  families  the  west  parish  of  Rowley. 
At  their  first  coming  this  family  expected  others 
would  soon  follow,  and  no  doubt,  as  the  years  moved 
wearily  on,  with  a  monotonous  tread,  and  they  were 
still  nearly  alone,  it  seemed  as  if  Elders  and  Fairface 
plains,  the  Lambert  farm.  Red  Shanks,  the  Rocky 
hills  and  Baldpate  would  never  have  the  clearings 
they  so  longed  to  see.  He  had  heard  from  many  a 
lip  the  thrilling  story  of  Mrs.  Dustin  and  her  Indian 
captors  ;  saw,  perhaps,  the  murdered  Goodrich  family 
buried  near  where  they  were  slain  ;  the  smoke  from 
the  burning  homes  of  his  Haverhill  neighbors  had 
spoken  a  tale  of  horror  on  that  fateful  October  morn- 
ing, 1706 — and  still  he  and  his  kindred  had  been 
nearly  alone,  doubtless  only  the  Brocklebanks  to  re- 
lieve the  solitude.  Father  and  brothers,  the  only 
companions  of  his  youth  and  earlier  manhood,  had 
long  before  passed  from  this  wilderness  into  the 
"pleasant  land,"  and  still  he  had  lived  on,  and  when 
an  aged  patriarch,  as  the  last  decade  in  his  life  draws 
near,  all  at  once,  as  it  were,  there  is  the  stir  of  human 
life  on  every  hand.  The  sound  of  the  axe  and  the 
crash  of  the  giants  of  the  forest  is  heard,  and  land 
grants,  transfers  and  allotments  is  the  animated  de- 
bate that  makes  it  seem  like  a  new  world  upon  which 
he  has  entered.  This  venerable  pioneer,  soon  after 
the  organization  of  the  West  Parish  Church,  was  re- 
ceived into  membership,  being  dismissed  from  the 
Rowley  Church.  He  died  January  1, 1743,  aged  ninety- 
one  years. 

The  farm  was  leased  February  22, 1737-38,  for  nine 
hundred  and  ninety-nine  years.  Five  members  of  the 
parish  objected. 

The  divisional   parts   of  the   meeting-house  were 


early  called  pens,  and  in  the  year  1741  the  parish 
voted  "to  sell  the  penes  in  the  gallery  to  David  Nel- 
son, also  to  lay  out  the  Rome  for  the  penes,  and  sell 
the  Rome  for  the  penes  at  the  liiest  bider."  In  1742 
an  addition  to  the  house  of  thirteen  feet  four  inches 
was  voted,  and  Richard  Thurston  was  engaged  to 
build  this  extension. 

In  1744  it  was  voted  that  the  builders  of  the  house 
should  have  the  two  hind  seats  of  the  men  and  the 
women's  below,  they  giving  a  bill  of  sale  of  the  meet- 
ing-house. Until  then,  the  proprietors  had  the  house 
under  their  control.  The  pulpit  was  to  be  painted, 
and  Samu:l  Harriman  had  twenty  pounds  for  "  Red- 
ing the  meeting-house."  A  few  buildings  painted 
that  peculiar  shade  of  red,  were  to  be  seen  thirty 
years  ago.  About  that  date,  the  Ipswich  farmers 
(afterwards  known  as  Linebrook),  petitioned  for  some 
families  to  be  set  off  to  them.  The  Linebrook  parish 
probably  asked  for  a  part  of  what  is  now  Dodgeville, 
as  the  west  parish  ran  easterly  of  what  at  present  is 
known  as  the  Phillips'  place.  To  illustrate  the  spirit 
of  the  New  England  minister  at  this  period,  while  an 
improvement  was  shown  in  the  outward  work  of  the 
parish,  Mr.  Chandler  suggested,  in  May,  1747,  to 
prevent  profanation  of  the  Lord's  Day,  and  as  many 
live  at  considerable  distance,  to  have  a  sermon  read 
between  public  service,  through  the  summer  season. 
This  custom  was  continued  for  half  a  century. 

A  severe  drought  in  1749,  was  a  cause  for  alarm, 
and  a  church  fast  was  voted  June  4th.  The  hay  crop 
is  said  to  have  been  so  short,  that  weeds  and  almost 
every  imaginable  green  thing  was  cured  for  substi- 
tutes. The  meeting-house  needed  repairs,  and  a  vote 
so  passed  in  1758.  The  question  of  removal  to  the 
"  senter  of  the  parish,"  was  agitated.  "  Mr.  John 
Brocklebank's  corner,  near  his  house,"  was  suggested, 
the  expense  to  be  raised  by  subscription.  In  1759  a 
motion  was  made  "  to  get  an  artice  to  mesure  and 
draw  a  plan,  to  know  where  the  senter  of  sd  parish  is." 
The  above  motion  was  promptly  negatived.  In  1760 
the  controversy  was  such,  that  as  some  were  for  re- 
pairs and  others  for  removal,  or  a  new  house,  that 
ai'bitration  was  voted.  The  committee  were  Caleb 
Cushing,  Samuel  Phillips  and  Captain  Thomas  Den- 
nis. Their  decision  was  to  continue  the  house  where 
it  then  stood.  Dudley  Tyler,  who  then  owned  the 
Brocklebank  house  near  the  meeting-house,  was  Inn- 
keeper, and  provided  for  the  committee.  Only  some 
limited  repairs  voted,  while  a  jaediment  over  the  front 
door  and  other  attractive  improvements  had  been 
suggested. 

In  1762  it  was  voted  that  "  those  that  have  taken 
pains  to  Learn  the  art  of  Singing,"  may  set  in  the 
front  gallery.  The  first  reference  to  singing,  is  in  the 
church  records  for  1736,  viz.:  "Mr.  Burpee  continued 
to  tune  the  Psalm  in  Publick  Worship." 

In  1763  an  innovation  was  made,  which  was  "  to 
admit  Dr.  Watts'  Imitation  of  David  Psalms,  but 
not  wholly  to  exclude  ye  old  Version."     In  1765  Mr. 


GEORGETOWN. 


821 


John  Cleveland  (then  of  Ipswich,  Chaplain  at  Fort 
AVilliam  Henry,  in  1757),  "  and  other  gospel  minis- 
ters, not  intending  on  Mr.  Chandler's  ministry,"  are 
invited  to  "Preeh  Lectors."  About  twenty  years  be- 
fore, Whitefield  had  crossed  parish  lines,  and  itine- 
rated in  the  open  air  if  the  meeting-houses  were  de- 
nied him.  but  before  this,  whatever  the  opposition  to 
the  multitude  of  others,  that  were  busy  in  religious 
service  in  an  irregular  way,  Whitefield's  abilities 
were  recognized,  and  his  special  work  seemingly  ap- 
proved. Still,  at  this  late  date,  there  were  many 
ministers  and  churches,  so  trammelled  by  the  fetters 
of  the  period,  that  their  recognition  of  Whitefield  was 
but  half-hearted. 

Tradition  says  that  Mr.  Chandler  was  earnest  in 
persuading  Elder  Asa  Chaplin  to  attend  a  service  in 
Georgetown  where  Whitefield  was  to  preach,  and  that 
the  elder  objected,  saying  that  he  had  no  fault  to  find 
with  his  own  minister.  "  But,"  said  Mr.  Chandler, 
with  an  emphatic  gesture,  "  Mr.  Whitefield  does  not 
preach  as  I  do  ;  he  preaches  with  power." 

As  early  as  1754  Mr.  Timothy  Symmes  began  to 
preach  in  private  houses,  and  his  perhaps  intemper- 
ate remarks,  had  produced  a  feeling,  which  at  about 
that  time,  in  this  church,  was  something  more  than 
an  annoyance.  In  1768  again  the  old  debate  came  up 
on  repairing  the  old  house,  or  building  a  new  house, 
with  a  more  satisfactory  location. 

April  8,  1768,  another  meeting,  to  see  whether  they 
would  build  on  the  southeasterly  end  of  Mr.  SolomOn 
Nelson  Juna  house,  as  near  as  may  be,  with  conven- 
iency."  Voted  in  the  afiirmative.  Later  in  April, 
met  again,  to  see  if  the  parish  would  build  at  Brock- 
lebank's  or  Burbank's  corner,  but  the  former  site  had 
the  preference.  Meetings  were  frequently  called 
during  the  haying  season  that  summer,  but  the  party 
in  favor  of  building,  and  of  building  on  Mr.  Nelson's 
land,  were  always  successful.  In  1769  the  parish  or- 
dered to  be  purchased  and  a  deed  taken.  At  this  date, 
with  a  new  meeting-house  assui-ed,  we  close  the  chap- 
ter. 


CHAPTER     LIV. 

GEORGETOWN— ( Continued). 
EDUCATION — SCHOOLS,   LIBRARIES   AND   LECTURES. 

The  establishing  of  schools  was  of  colonial  action 
at  an  early  date.  In  1637  the  college  was  located ;  in 
1642  legislation  for  local  schools,  and  in  1647  it  was 
ordered  that  every  township  of  fifty  families  should 
have  a  school  to  teach  children  to  write  and  read,  be- 
cause, says  the  act,  "  It  being  one  chiefe  prect  of  ye 
ould  deluder  Satan,  to  keepe  men  from  the  knowledge 
of  ye  Scriptures,"  and  "y'  learning  may  not  be  buried  in 
y®  grave  of  o"^  fath",  in  ye  church  &  commonwealth." 

With  few  evasions,  this  law  was  obeyed.   One  hun- 


dred householders  required  a  Grammar-school,  and 
churches  were  also  urged,  to  aid  any  "  pore  scholler  " 
to  get  a  collegiate  education.  Under  this  system,  the 
schools  were  essentially  parochial,  the  teachers  serv- 
ing in  that  office  and  as  ministers'  assistants.  When 
Mr.  Rogers,  of  Rowley,  added  as  one  of  the  condi- 
tions in  his  will,  that  the  church  should  always  have 
two  ruling  elders,  or  pastor  and  teacher,  his  intention 
may  have  been  to  bring  the  secular  instruction  of  the 
young,  within  church  limits.  The  residents  of  the 
West  Parish,  or  Georgetown,  March  20,  1737,  voted 
to  "  Bould  a  Schoal  House,  &  to  set  it  between  the 
Brook  by  Capt.  Bradstreets,  and  M''  ffrancis  Brockle- 
bank's  Brook." 

The  dimensions  of  this  first  building  erected  for 
schools,  was  twenty  feet  long,  sixteen  wide,  with  a 
height  of  eight  feet.  The  proportions  were  similar, 
in  all  buildings  for  the  same  purpose,  for  a  century 
afterwards.  This  school-house  was  on  the  hill  near 
the  Searl  place,  and  was  placed  there  to  accommodate 
Byfield,  as  well  as  the  West  Parish.  Later,  a  vote 
was  passed,  "  to  allow  seven  shillings  and  a  piney  for 
Rhum,  at  the  Raising  of  the  School  House."  In- 
struction on  the  injurious  effects  of  alcohol  on  the 
human  constitution  would  seem  rather  inconsistent 
in  that  school-room. 

November  6th  Samuel  Payson  was  invited  to  serve 
as  teacher.  Mr.  Payson,  our  first  "  master,"  was  a 
son  of  the  Rowley  minister,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  in 
1716,  and  taught  in  the  various  sections  of  the  town 
from  1722  to  1756.  Ebenezer  Burpee,  the  carpenter, 
made  the  furniture  at  his  house  in  the  Chaplin  field, 
under  Vineyard  hill,  for  this  primitive  school-room, 
where  the  sires  of  our  grandparents  had  their  first  in- 
sight into  the  mysteries  of  the  three  "  R's."  The  vote 
on  the  bill  to  pay  Burpee,  is  novel,  and  was  for 
"meching  forms  and  tables,  for  said  school-house." 

The  above  vote  was  passed  November  3,  1740,  and 
the  house  was  doubtless  ready  for  the  boys  that  month. 
In  November  or  December  was  the  time  for  this  school 
to  begin,  and  eight  weeks'  schooling  in  winter  was 
the  rule  for  more  than  a  century.  Doubtless  the  meth- 
ods of  Pedagogue  Payson  were  strict  discipline  as  the 
summum  bonum,  and  his  Bible  as  a  leading  text-book. 
This  was  a  boys'  school ;  the  daughters  in  those  days 
did  not  learn  the  art  of  writing,  and  to  learn  how  to 
read  the  Bible  and  catechism  merely,  could  be  taught 
as  well  at  home.  One  can  imagine  the  Spoffbrd  boys 
coming  down  from  the  hill,  David  Nelson  and  the 
Chaplins  from  Nelson  Street,  the  Harrimans,  Stick- 
neys  and  others,  with  a  few  from  Byfield,  all  perhaps 
eager  to  get  the  benefit,  of  this  first  school. 

December  30, 1745,  the  parish  voted  another  school- 
house,  and  to  set  it  at  the  south  end  of  Francis 
Brocklebank's  Hill,  between  Mr.  Chandler's  house 
and  the  brook.  This  was  where  Edward  E.  Sher- 
burne's house  now  stands,  and  may  partly  have  been 
known  to  the  present  generation,  in  the  "Poole 
house,"  burned  many  years  ago,  on  the  site  of  which, 


822 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Mr.  Sherburn  built  his  house.  This  school-house  was 
to  cost  forty  pounds,  and  to  be  completed  by  May  Ist. 
A  relative  of  the  writer,  Aunt  Huldah  Harriman, 
taught  the  girls  and  children  of  the  parish,  in  this 
building,  the  useful  lessons  of  knitting  and  plain 
sewing,  with  the  equally  useful  reading  and  spelling, 
in  their  rudiments.  After  her  hundredth  year,  she 
would  tell  the  story  of  the  gigantic  black  snake,  sud- 
denly uncoiling  itself  from  the  rafters  of  that  same 
school-house,  and  dropping  into  her  little  company  of 
pupils  below.  This  was  known  as  the  "Parish,"  and 
the  first  one  built,  as  the  "  Upper  School-House''  for 
years  afterwards. 

For  several  years  there  was  an  attempt  made  to 
have  a  school  kept  in  this  Parish-House,  and  in  No- 
vember, 1750,  it  was  voted  "  that  the  winter,  or  writ- 
ing and  Reading  School,  Should  be  kept  only  one- 
third  part  of  the  time  at  the  uper  School-House,"  or 
the  first  house.  After  the  parish  had  employed  Mr. 
Payson  as  teacher,  for  some  years  the  town  took  ac- 
tion, and  Mr.  Benjamin  Adams  taught  in  1742  and 
again  in  1746,  four  months  the  first  year,  and  six  the 
second,  half  of  the  time  in  Byfield  and  half  in  the 
West  Parish. 

This  is  the  first  mention  of  a  school  in  the  Byfield 
part  of  Georgetown,  and  as  a  geographical  centre, 
was  the  first  point  to  be  considered,  it  might  be  pos- 
sible to  locate  it.  Perhaps  it  was  near  the  present 
location  of  what  might  properly  be  called  Cleaveland 
School  or  No.  7,  possibly,  however,  in  a  private 
house.  At  a  later  date,  early  in  the  century,  this 
school-house  was  located  not  far  from  Stickney's 
Corner,  opposite  the  Pike  House.  The  peculiar  site 
of  the  first  house  on  Searl  Street,  Avas,  as  a  probable 
centre,  of  the  west  part  of  Rowley.  This  teacher  was 
doubtless  from  one  of  the  Adams  families,  of  Rowley 
or  Newbury.  He  was  evidently  not  a  professional  in- 
structor. March,  1753,  the  parish  again  took  up  the 
question  of  schools,  and  voted  that  the  school  be  kept 
one-third  of  the  time  each,  at  the  Parish,  at  the  Up- 
per House  and  at  the  house  at  the  easterly  end  and 
northerly  jiart  of  the  parish.  The  last  named  house 
was  built  about  this  time,  at  some  point  near  the 
Parker  River  Woolen  Mills. 

In  1749  the  town  voted  that  each  parish  have  a 
sum  granted  for  the  support  of  schools,  in  accordance 
with  the  county  taxes  paid  by  each,  and  this  appor- 
tionment continued  down  to  modern  times,  only  with 
the  difference  of  a  division  among  the  school  districts, 
instead  of  parishes. 

October  30,  1770,  a  committee  was  chosen  to  find 
suitable  persons  to  keep  school,  and  as  was  done  sev- 
enteen years  before,  the  parish  voted  that  the  time 
for  the  school  be  equally  divided  between  the  parish, 
upper  and  easterly  end.  Mr.  Moses  Johnson,  of 
Rowley,  was  offered  the  school  at  the  easterly  end  for 
three  months,  at  seven  dollars  per  month.  William 
Chandler  was  engaged  to  keep  the  parish  school. 

Master  Chandler   was  a   cousin    of   Rev.    James 


Chandler,  somewhat  bookish,  and  may  have  kept  a 
fairly  good  school.  Not  long  after  this  he  removed 
to  Salem,  Mass.,  where  he  died.  At  that  time  the  se- 
lectmen were  requested  to  set  up  this  Second,  or  Par- 
ish School,  "ye  Monday  after  Thanksgiving."  In 
the  calendar  of  the  New  England  farm-house,  what 
possibilities  have  hung  on  the  issues  of  that  day  ?  the 
beginning  of  the  winter  term  of  the  district  school. 
A  few  weeks  of  study  under  the  guidance  of  a  skilful 
teacher  has  changed  the  after-life  of  many  a  country 
boy,  and  made  him  a  man,  valuable  to  himself  and 
the  world  around  him. 

November  9,  1773,  Mr.  Greenleaf  Dole  was  em- 
ployed as  master,  for  two  pounds  thirteen  shillings 
per  month.  Graduated  at  Harvard  1771,  and  George- 
town born.  Master  Dole  achieved  such  greatness  as 
an  instructor  that  his  fame  has  come  down  to  us. 
His  discipline  was  severe,  and  it  has  been  said  that 
one  swing  of  his  muscular  arm,  has  sent  a  whole  class 
ignominiously  to  the  floor.  We  imagine  from  all  ac- 
counts that  his  severity  was  sometimes  scarcely  tem- 
pered with  mercy.  He  has,  however,  left  behind 
him  a  record  in  the  memories  of  his  pupils,  such  as 
no  other  teacher  of  that  age  did,  and  a  picture,  that 
needs  no  fancy  to  make  complete. 

March  26,  1776,  an  attempt  was  made,  to  allow  the 
Grammar  School  to  be  kept  at  the  South  School- 
House,  their  proportion  of  time.  This,  the  first 
school-building  in  South  Georgetown,  was  on  the 
corner  of  Brook  and  Central  Streets,  where  the  brick 
house  of  Lowell  G.  Wilson  now  stands.  The  request 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  acted  upon,  the  war  then 
bursting  upon  the  country  with  all  its  uncertainty, 
drove  all  other  thoughts  from  their  minds.  In  1777 
the  teacher  divided  his  services  for  the  year,  with  the 
school  at  the  North,  that  on  Searl  Street,  the  South 
School  and  the  ea-^terly  end  of  the  parish,  but  not 
further  down  than  Mr.  Phinehas  Dodge's  house,  and 
that  each  family  signify,  what  school-house  they 
choose. 

The  Parish  School-House  needed  repairs,  and  a 
year  later  it  was  attempted  to  repair,  or  sell.  Also 
voted  that  the  school  at  the  easterly  part  of  the  parish 
be  kept  at  Mr.  Sanders,  or  at  Mr.  Jeremiah  Searl's. 
Three  days  afterward,  agreed  to  build  a  school-house  on 
Spoffbrd's  Hill,  near  Benj.  Thurston's  house.  If  we 
are  not  mistaken,  this  stood  at  the  right  of  the  road, 
not  far  from  Nathaniel  Marble's.  The  southeasterly 
part  of  the  parish  seems  to  have  been  complaining  at 
this  time,  of  unfair  treatment  in  the  school  ajapropria- 
tion,  and  December  17,  1778,  it  was  voted  that  all 
below  Muddy  Brook  (now  Dodgeville),  and  also 
Abraham  Foster,  Samuel  Kezer,  Jedediah  Ivilborn, 
Nathaniel  Kezer  and  Samuel  Johnson,  draw  their 
part  of  the  town's  money  for  schools,  and  for  no 
other  use. 

In  November,  1779,  "Master  Dole"  was  engaged, 
and  all  below  Muddy  Brook  were,  probably  by  the 
vote  allowed  to  hire  whom  they  pleased.     February 


GEORGETOWN. 


823 


3,  1785,  the  important  vote  was  passed,  to  build  a 
school-house  "Somewhere  near  the  Centure,"  but 
February  8th,  the  vote  was  re-considered,  and  that  is 
the  last  reference  to  the  noted  Centre  School-House, 
in  the  records  of  the  parish.  The  last  record  relating 
to  schools  was  December  4, 1792,  when  John  Brockle- 
bank  had  twelve  shillings  allowed,  for  the  use  of  his 
house  for  a  school  in  1791.  This  school-room  was  at 
the  east  end  of  the  house,  and  until  the  building  of 
the  red  "  centre  school-house,  served  a  good  purpose." 
This  same  old  house  opened  its  doors  for  a  popular 
singing  school,  and  was  a  sort  of  a  parish  centre.  On 
that  December  day,  the  record  says,  "  from  nine  of 
the  clock  in  the  morning,  to  nine  in  the  evening, 
under  the  direction  of  the  school  committee,  the  as- 
sessors are  directed  to  order  the  several  districts  or 
part  districts  in  the  parish,  their  jiroportion  in  money 
or  wood." 

Before  1795  this  red  school -house  was,  by  order  of 
the  town,  built  on  what  was  then  Andover  Street, 
where  the  soldiers'  monument  now  stands.  It  soon 
became  the  educational  centre  of  the  parish,  and 
teachers  like  Dr.  Jeremiah  Spofford,  of  Groveland, 
Colonel  Edward  Todd,  of  Rowley  (a  good  mathema- 
tician) and  otliers,  for  many  years  afterwards,  would 
talk  with  animation  about  their  pupils  in  this  famous 
old  house.  In  later  days,  neglected  and  dilapidated, 
strolling  Indians  made  it  their  abode,  and  with  un- 
latched door  it  was  the  temporary  home  of  any  passer- 
by. Finally,  becoming  an  eyesore  to  some  enterpris- 
ing unknowns  of  the  town,  on  the  night  of  April  20, 
1840,  it  was  mysteriously  demolished. 

Text-books  for  schools  were  almost  unknown  prior 
to  1800.  Bailey's  and  Johnson's  dictionaries,  one  or 
two  geographies,  an  arithmetic  or  two,  with  an  acci- 
dence, Covered  about  the  list  of  popular  aids  to  knowl- 
edge, at  least  in  the  country  towns,  and  these  books 
were  of  English  make.  Lindley  Murray's  grammar, 
and  Walsh's  arithmetic  did  a  good  work,  and  the 
models  of  eloquence  in  the  English  Reader  were  as  a 
new  inspiration  to  the  young,  early  in  the  present 
century. 

In  1789  towns  were  authorized  by  law  to  locate 
school  districts.  In  1840,  by  subdivisions  of  the  orig- 
inal districts,  Georgetown  had  seven,  and  the  same 
number,  when  by  the  law  district  lines  were  abolished. 
Could  a  truthful  history  of  the  action  of  some  of 
tliese  school-district  meetings,  from  1830  to  1850,  be 
made  a  part  of  the  annals  of  the  town,  it  would  give 
a  better  picture  of  the  times  than  could  be  drawn  from 
any  other  source.  The  prudential  committee-man 
during  his  term  of  office,  was  the  most  important  man 
in  the  district.  He  employed  the  teachers,  cared  for 
the  house  and  the  property  of  the  district.  Without 
compensation  he  served  wholly  with  an  eye  to  the  pub- 
lic good. 

For  some  years  the  town  of  Rowley  appointed  a 
committee  to  secure  teachers,  as  under  the  parish  law, 
but  from  1830,  or  earlier,  this  was  left  to  the  district. 


The  supervisors,  in  the  person  of  Father  Braman  and 
perhaps  Dr.  David  Mighill,  served  without  pay, 
because  of  their  interest  in  the  future  of  the  town. 
Rev.  Mr.  Pond  was  paid  a  small  amount  in  1843  for 
school-committee  service,  and  since  with  but  one  or  two 
exceptions,  the  general  supervision  of  the  schools  has 
been  apart  of  the  expense  of  the  town.  The  build- 
ing of  school-houses,  under  the  old  law,  giving  dis- 
tricts control,  sometimes  rent  local  communities,  as 
with  an  earthquake.  This  was  the  effect  in  South 
Georgetown  in  1843  or  1844.  Frequent  meetings  were 
called,  and  sharp  personalities  were  used.  One  prom- 
inent citizen  denounced  all  who  favored  the  new 
house  as  "  tbreigners,"  because  it  happened  that  those 
who  had  just  moved  into  the  district  were  especially 
prominent  in  advocating  a  new  house.  The  present 
house  in  District  2  (which  it  would  be  well  to  call  the 
Chaplin  District),  was  built,  however,  in  the  summer 
of  1844,  and  modelled  after  the  school-house  on  Tojis- 
field  common.  Mr.  Montgomery,  of  Londonderry, 
N.  H.,  was  the  first  teacher.  The  house  in  District  5 
(which  should  be  called  Plumer),  was  built  in  1851, 
and,  if  we  are  correct,  was  not  until  after  considerable 
of  a  contest.  The  school-house  in  the  central  district 
was  situated  nearly  opposite  the  Clark  house,  on  Main 
Street,  and  began  to  be  inconvenient  and  at  a  dis- 
tance from  the  centre  of  population.  After  much  de- 
lay and  many  district  meetings,  some  declared  illegal, 
a  vote  was  secured  in  1854  for  a  brick  building.  Tris- 
tram Brown  was  a  committee.  When  half  built  the 
contractor  failed,  and  the  work  placed  in  new  hands 
for  completion.  The  present  house,  in  District  6,  (which 
might  properly  be  called  Tenney)  was  enlarged  and 
improved  in  1861,  making  it  almost  a  new  building, 
and  the  same  work  was  done,  to  some  extent,  in  Dis- 
trict 1  in  1865.  The  old  house  in  this  district  was 
near  the  house  of  Moses  Merrill.  For  this  district  the 
name  of  Chandler  is  aj^propriate. 

The  town  High-school,  after  much  opposition  and 
persis^tent  obstruction,  was  established  at  the  close  of 
the  year  1856,  in  the  Town-house  (then  recently 
erected),  with  Wra.  Reed  as  teacher.  He  is  still  living, 
and  if  we  mistake  not  is  the  father  of  Senator  Reed, 
of  Taunton,  who  was  a  lad  at  the  time,  and  attended 
this  first  term.  One  or  more  of  the  scholars  were 
twenty-two  years  of  age.  Dr.  D.  M.  Crafts  succeeded 
Mr.  Reed  the  following  year.  In  1858  Edwin  Parker, 
of  Charlestown,  a  graduate  of  Bowdoin,  was  engaged, 
and  held  the  position  until  1860,  when  A.  J.  Dutton 
was  employed,  who  taught  the  school  until  1862,  when 
the  services  of  S.  C.  Cotton,  of  Sandown,  N.  H.,  were 
secured  as  a  teacher.  Mr.  Cotton  taught  until  1866, 
when  Edward  S.  Fickett  was  engaged,  and,  as  princi- 
pal, still  holds  the  position.  In  the  year  1868, 
assistants  were  employed,  Mrs.  M.  R.  Holmes,  M.  E. 
Choate  and  Sarah  R.  Barnes,  serving  in  that  position 
and  the  last  named  part  of  the  following  year.  Miss 
Choate  was  also  assistant  for  1870  and  1871. 

In  1872  there  was  a  change  of  assistants  each  term.  In 


824 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


1873  Miss  Lizzie  N.  Bateman,  of  this  town,  was  engaged 
and  continued  as  assistant  until  1886,  when  ill  health 
compelled  her  retirement,  and  Miss  Alfreda  Noyes 
was  appointed. 

Some  years  ago  an  association  of  graduates  and 
past  and  present  pupils  of  the  High-school  was  or- 
ganized, the  annual  reunion  occurring  on  the  evening 
of  graduation  day. 

Perhaps  the  teaching  of  Miss  Sarah  E.  Horner,  in 
her  long  term  of  service,  has  been  more  productive  of 
good  than  that  of  any  other  teacher  in  town.  Her  in- 
fluence has  been  felt  in  every  district  and  about  every 
school-room  has  been  witness  to  her  industry  and 
tact. 

One  of  the  teachers  of  the  private  schools,  J.  C. 
Phillips,  of  Lawrence,  who  about  1847  kept  a  good 
school  in  Tenney's  Hall,  a  room  on  the  second  floor 
of  what  is  now  the  residence  of  H.  N.  Harriman, 
Central  Street,  was  very  successful  in  impressing  some 
love  for  study  on  the  dullest  of  his  pupils.  The  hall 
on  the  third  floor  was  for  years  the  exhibition  room 
for  panoramas  and  the  like.  Mr.  Thompson,  after- 
wards a  physician,  also  taught  a  school  of  a  high 
grade  about  1850.  Besides,  there  were  two  teachers  of 
select  schools  in  the  vestry,  on  the  second  floor  of 
what  is  now  W.  B.  Hammond's  house,  on  Elm  Street. 
Miss  M.  A.  Nelson,  of  Worcester,  a  direct  descendant 
from  the  Rowley  family  of  this  name,  taught  there 
several  years,  perhaps  from  1840  to  1846. 

The  advantages  of  a  town  Library  were  advocated 
by  Dr.  Jeremiah  Spoffbrd,  then  a  teacher  in  the  town, 
in  1806,  and  a  small  collection  of  theological  and  other 
books  was  made,  known  as  the  New  Rowley  Social 
Library.  There  were  thirty  or  more  shareholders. 
In  1860  an  Agricultural  Library  was  purchased  by 
seventy-five  of  the  citizens  of  the  town,  and  including 
with  it  what  remained  of  the  former  collection,  there 
had  accumulated  volumes  to  the  number  of  about 
eleven  hundred,  owned  by  one  hundred  and  seventeen 
shareholders,  at  the  time  George  Peabody,  of  Loudon, 
in  1868,  made  his  gift  of  the  Library  and  building, 
now  known  by  his  name,  to  the  town  of  Georgetown. 
The  former  Library  was  then  by  vote  given  to  the 
town,  to  be  added  to  the  Peabody  gift,  and  the  two 
combined  at  the  opening  of  the  Peabody  Library,  were 
about  three  thousand  five  hundred  volumes.  At 
present  there  are  about  sixty-four  hundred  volumes, 
excluding  duplicates. 

The  Trustees,  by  condition  of  the  gift,  are  the 
pastors  of  the  churches  ex-officio,  and  six  others, 
elected  at  the  annual  town  meeting  in  March.  This 
Town  or  Peabody  Library  was  first  opened  July  3. 
"1869,  and  fifty-five  books  delivered,  with  O.  B.  Tenney, 
Librarian,  who  was  in  office  until  his  resignation,  in 
December  of  that  year.  Richard  Tenney  was  Libra- 
rian until  1880,  when  the  writer  was  elected,  holding 
the  position  until  the  spring  of  1887,  when  Mrs.  S.  A. 
Holt  assumed  the  duties.  During  the  incumbency  of 
the  writer,  J.  Henry  Scates  was  assistant.     For  the 


eighteen  years  since  the  opening,  the  combined  de- 
livery aggregates  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
volumes.  The  corner-stone  of  the  Library  building 
was  laid  September  9,  1866,  by  Chas.  Northend,  of 
Connecticut.  The  hall  was  added  in  1872,  and  an 
extension  to  the  hall  some  years  afterward. 

The  First  Congregational  Church  have  a  small 
Library,  which  was  a  bequest  from  Rev.  Mr.  Chandler. 
Some  of  the  ancient  works  are  in  Latin,  and  the 
collection  is  unquestionably  of  great  value. 

About  1830  there  was  awakened  an  ardent  longing 
for  knowledge  and  solid  reading  in  many  country 
villages  in  New  England,  and  to  meet  this  demand  in 
part  the  Lyceum  was  founded.  Lecture  courses  were 
frequent  and  well  patronized.  A  periodical,  called 
The  Lyceum,  was  published  in  Boston  or  Salem,  illus- 
trative of  the  Natural  Sciences,  as  shown  in  practical 
every-day  life,  and  many  of  the  lectures  given  were  in 
that  field  of  thought.  A  familiar  talk  on  the  Electric 
Telegraph,  by  Professor  Morse  (then  but  comparatively 
little  known),  in  1843  or  1844,  given  in  Savory's  (of 
late  known  as  Grand  Army  Hall),  was  well  attended. 
This  oral  instruction,  so  popular  at  that  day,  in  the 
elements  of  Astronomy  and  Geology  (by  Dr.  Boynton), 
Chemistry  and  the  like  by  others,  was  supplemented 
by  the  School  District  Libraries,  which  were  edited  by 
Alexander  Everett,  a  cousin  of  Edward  Everett.  The 
State  of  Massachusetts,  because  of  its  importance,  as 
urged  by  Horace  Mann,  aided  in  the  work  by  bring- 
ing the  cost  of  these  standard  volumes,  which  made 
the  bulk  of  the  Libraries,  to  an  extremely  low  figure. 
One  of  the  school  district  officers,  annually  elected, 
was  the  Librarian,  and  the  library  was  often  changed 
from  one  house  to  another. 

Most  of  the  districts  in  Georgetown  had  these  libra- 
ries. It  was  "knowledge  under  difiiculties,"  but 
knowledge  highly  prized.  The  school  district  at  that 
time  was  a  little  democracy  in  itself.  It  was  a  period 
of  intellectual  awakening,  and  the  mental  faculties 
were  aroused  to  grasp  at  every  new  feature  in  mental 
or  physical  phenomena.  Mesmerism  excited  more 
than  a  nine  days'  wonder,  and  Phrenology,  as  pre- 
sented by  Prof.  Fowler,  was  an  accepted  truth  to 
many,  and  his  charts  Gospel  verities. 

In  1841,  O.  S.  Fowler  was  at  the  hou.se  of  Benjamin 
Adams,  in  South  Georgetown,  receiving  the  curious  . 
and  believers.  A  general  examination  of  heads,  by 
those  who  were  his  disciples  and  who  studied  his 
numerous  works,  was  made,  and  character  and  the 
true  path  of  life  mapped  out. 

These  are  some  of  the  mental  features  of  the  period. 
They  seem  contracted  to  us,  who,  with  the  daily  pa- 
per, have  the  world  at  our  doors.  Mr.  John  Knapp, 
now  almost  a  uonogenarian,  began  the  delivery  of 
Boston  daily  papers  in  this  town  about  thirty  years 
ago.  In  his  rounds  from  house  to  house,  the  sales 
from  his  basket  at  first  were  perhaps  hardly  a  score 
of  copies.  To-day  the  sales  must  average  four  hun- 
dred copies  daily. 


GEORGETOWN. 


825 


Before  1850,  a  Boston  daily  paper  was  a  rare  sight 
to  many.  A  copy  of  the  Boston  Atlas  or  Times  was 
occasionally  seen.  After  the  erection  of  Library 
Hall,  the  town  was  annually  favored  for  several  years 
with  a  course  of  lectures  and  concerts  of  a  high 
standard  of  merit.  Among  the  lecturers  were  Chapin 
and  Phillips,  whose  "Lost  Arts"  was  delivered  in  the 
afternoon,  also  Charles  Kingsley,  whose  only  public 
appearance,  with  one  exception,  while  in  this  coun- 
try, was  in  this  hall.  In  a  letter,  included  in  the 
volume  containing  his  "  Life  and  Works,"  is  a  refer- 
ence to  Georgetown,  its  inn  (Pentucket  house),  and  a 
pleasant  anecdote  of  George  E.  Poor,  the  son  of  the 
landlord.  Chas.  Bradlaugh,  Wm.  Parsons  and  others 
of  note,  also  lectured  in  this  hall,  and  concerts  by  the 
leading  musical  talent  of  Boston  were  frequently  en- 
joyed. 

These  varied  courses  were  at  an  annual  cost  of  five 
hundred  dollars.  While  the  town  has  no  gifts  as 
formerly  for  entertainments  of  this  class,  there  is  in- 
cluded in  the  gift  of  Mr.  Peabody  and  his  sister,  Mrs. 
Daniels,  a  fund  for  the  purchase  of  books,  another  for 
expenses  of  library,  and  a  building  fund  of  about  ten 
thousand  dollars,  which  by  the  provisions  of  the  gift, 
can  be  used  at  the  discretion  of  the  town,  in  the  erec- 
tion of  a  new  library  building,  in  any  location  and  at 
any  time,  after  1889.  Georgetown  also  has  in  the  inter- 
est of  education,  a  prospective  free  school,  of  a  stand- 
ard above  the  average  high  school  in  country  towns, 
the  funds  for  which,  from  about  thirty-one  thousand 
dollars,  at  the  first  report  of  the  trustees  in  1865,  has 
now  reached  nearly  ninety  thousand  dollars.  The 
original  sum  was  the  bequest  of  John  Perley  and  the 
school  when  established  will  be  known  as  the  "Perley 
Free  School.  Of  the  original  trustees,  but  one,  Geo. 
W.  Chaplin,  is  now  living.  The  location  of  this  school 
is  not  as  yet  decided  upon.  To  conclude  this  chapter 
we  record  one  thing  that  is  noticeable,  in  the  history 
of  the  schools  of  thirty  years  ago,  and  that  was 
the  frequent  change  of  teachers.  Formerly,  many 
were  young  men  from  New  Hampshire,  seeking  the 
means  to  get  a  collegiate  course.  Now  permanency 
in  the  position,  is  the  rule  in  this  town,  rather  than 
the  exception.  Then  the  amount  of  schooling  varied, 
ranging  from  twenty  to  thirty  weeks  in  the  different 
districts,  now  a  gradation  of  classes,  and  a  school  year, 
gives  a  beautiful  system,  but  whether  all  the  mechan- 
ism of  to-day,  is  of  especial  advantage  to  the  young, 
is  to  some  minds  questionable. 


CHAPTER    LV. 

GEORGETOWN— ( Continued). 

PARISH     AND     RELIGIOUS     MOVEMENTS     CONTINUED 
TO   ABOUT   1830. 

In  March,  1769,  it  was  decided  that  the  new  meet- 
ing-house should  be  set  on  the  southerly  side  of  the 
52 


road,  and  on  Mr.  Nelson's  land ;  that  the  front  should 
be  to  the  south,  leaving  sufficient  room  on  the  north 
for  a  roadway  ;  a  porch  eleven  feet  square  was  voted 
for  the  east  end,  with  one  door  and  window;  and 
this,  says  the  record,  ''to  be  all  finished  in  good  work- 
manship, with  good  stairs  up  the  Galliery,  and  well 
painted,  all  to  be  Done  in  workmanship,  answering 
with  the  new  house."  This  and  more  is  recorded  by 
Jeremiah  Searl,  with  some  pride  in  his  new  office, 
and  enthusiam  over  the  prospects  of  a  new  meeting- 
house. 

In  June,  at  a  meeting  of  the  parish,  a  committee 
was  chosen  to  make  ready  for  the  raising  and  provide 
for  the  workmen.  The  stores  were  to  be  kept  in  the 
school-house,  and  John  Tenney,  William  Chandler 
and  Jeremiah  Hazen  were  to  look  after  them.  A 
committee  was  necessary  to  watch  some  of  the  stores 
and  see  that  they  were  handled  properly.  The  wise 
fathers  of  the  parish  knew  from  experience,  the  dan- 
ger of  careless  handling,  of  that  part  of  the  stores 
which  doubtless  flowed  freely.  To  conclude  the 
meeting  with  a  climax,  all  votes  for  repairing  the  old 
house  were  reconsidered.  There  was  some  positive 
opposition,  and  ten  names  were  recorded,  principally 
from  members  living  at  the  north  part  of  the  parish 
as  dissenting. 

Rev.  Mr.  Braman  in  his  "  Centennial  Discourse," 
December  6,  1832,  refers  to  three  of  those  who  are 
named  on  the  record,  as  declaring  that  they  would 
never  cross  the  threshold  of  the  new  house.  Tradi- 
tion says  that  they  never  did,  and  that  before  the 
house  was  finished,  the  following  year,  death  had 
come  to  each  of  them.  Whether  an  "ower  true  tale" 
we  know  not;  such  tales  of  divine  judgment  seem 
frequent  at  that  period.  This  prospective  change 
from  the  red  barn-like  building  was  so  exhilarating 
that  we  find  the  record  of  the  raising  given  in  this 
precise  manner :  "  Upon  the  fifth  day  of  July,  Anno 
Domini,  One  Thousand  Seven-hundred  Sixty  &  nine, 
the  Parish  Raised  their  New  Meeting- House  Fraime 
&  Compleatly  raised  it  in  one  Day."  The  expense 
for  refreshment  was  upwards  of  twenty  pounds,  but 
what  the  families  provided  was  only  told  around  many 
a  fireside  afterwards.  The  rigging  for  raising  the 
building  was  brought  from  Newburyport  by  Abraham 
Foster,  and  spars  were  provided  by  Capt.  Moses  Dole. 
Eightpence  was  allowed  John  Tenney  for  two  lost 
mugs. 

In  October  the  room  was  divided,  and  a  committee 
appointed  to  "Dignify  it,  and  to  sell  not  below  the 
Dignity,  which  dignity  shall  amount  to  twenty-five 
pounds  old  tenor."  Family  pride  and  distinction 
had  its  votaries  here  at  that  time,  but  better  than  a 
flaunting  vulgar  pride  in  dollars  merely,  it  had,  at 
least,  a  certain  foundation.  Square  pews  in  the  gal- 
lery and  on  the  floor,  twenty-five  pews  at  the  right, 
and  twenty-three  at  the  left  of  the  pulpit.  On  the 
east  end  six,  and  on  the  west  end  seven  pews.  In  the 
old  house  there  were  but  two  or  three  pews,  and  these 


826 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


few,  besides  plain  seats  on  the  men's  side  and  the 
women's  side  of  the  house.  The  pews  in  the  new 
house  were  to  be  family,  and  were  sold  January,  1770, 
from  a  plan  shown  at  Mr.  Solomon  Nelson's  house. 
Two  diagrams  of  these  family  pews,  neatly  drawn,  are 
in  the  ancient  book  of  parish  records.  They  are 
valuable,  as  giving  us  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
residents  of  the  parish,  in  1770.  An  eight-square 
tower  and  spire  was  voted,  and  later  a  "  Wether  Cock 
on  ye  tops  of  ye  Spindle  of  ye  Spire." 

This,  the  crowning  glory,  was  at  one  hundred  and 
two  feet  from  the  ground,  and  had  an  attraction  all 
its  own,  to  successive  generations.  As  it  became 
tarnished,  battling  with  the  warring  elements,  twice, 
at  least,  it  was  regilded.  This  emblem  of  courage 
cost  Deacon  Thurston  four  pounds  sixteen  shillings. 
Mr.  Whitefiekl  made  a  final  visit  to  this  parish,  but  a 
short  time  before  his  death,  and  while  here  preached 
what  the  people  were  pleased  to  call  the  dedica- 
tion sermon.  Had  it  been  considered  such  at  the 
time,  with  the  fame  of  the  speaker,  some  record, 
either  by  the  church  or  parish,  would  have  been  made 
of  it,  but  as  there  is  none,  it  api>ears  as  if  it  was  a  lit- 
tle questionable,  even  then,  to  recognize  Whitefield 
as  exactly  regular.  The  text  selected  was  1  Kings 
8  :  11.  "  The  glory  of  the  Lord  hath  filled  the  house 
of  the  Lord."  The  meeting-house  was  unfinished, 
with  unplastered  walls,  unbuilt  galleries  and  without 
pews  or  pulpit.  The  hearers,  however,  were  many, 
seated  on  tlie  timbers,  blocks  and  rough  boards  scat- 
tered through  the  edifice.  It  is  said  the  service  was 
in  the  morning,  and  probably,  either  on  September 
12th  or  13th,  as  he  was  in  Kowley  both  of  those  days. 
A  journey  of  miles  seems  to  have  been  at  any  time,  but 
a  holiday  jaunt  for  him. 

During  one  of  Whitefield's  visits  to  Newburyport, 
he  attended  a  meeting  in  west  parish,  accompanied 
by  a  daughter  of  Deacon  Noyes,  and  dined  with 
"Aunt  Jenny  Hazen,''  who  lived  on  East  Street, 
nearly  opposite  John  Hazen's.  The  cellar  of  her 
house  is  still  visible.  Her  fame  as  a  theologian  was 
widespread.  Mr.  Whitefield  had  heard  of  her,  and  at 
this  time  he  came  to  hear  from  her.  After  a  pleasant 
interview  with  her  and  the  neighbors,  he  departed, 
leaving  in  the  memories  of  those  who  were  present 
this  incident  of  dining  with  Whitefield  as  the  most 
noted  event  of  their  lives.  During  the  fatal  epi- 
demic among  children  in  173G,  Aunt  Jenny  lost  by 
death  thirteen  nephews  and  nieces  in  the  Hazen 
neighborhood.  About  1770  she  removed  to  New 
Hampshire,  where  she  died. 

Returning  to  parish  action  in  1770,  a  right  to  erect 
horse-stables  was  granted.  None  were  built  at  that 
time,  and  when  built  were  for  those  coming  to  meet- 
ing on  horse-back,  but  not  large  enough  for  vehicles. 
There  were  no  pleasure-carriages  in  town  in  1771,  or 
even  ten  years  later.  Originally,  there  were  two 
stone  horse-blocks,  one  near  the  wall  on  the  north  of 
the  meeting-house,  which  was  removed  at  the  widen- 


ing of  the  road;  the  other,  similar  to  it,  near  the  east 
door,  for  lady  riders  coming  on  side-saddles  or  pillions. 

In  1780  the  singing  question  came  up,  and  Jona- 
than Chaplin  was  chosen  to  assist  Colonel  Daniel 
Spaffbrd  in  "Raising  the  Tune,"  and,  in  addition. 
Lieutenant  Moody  Spaftbrd,  Phinehas  Dodge,  John 
Tenney  and  John  Palmer  were  appointed  to  invite 
persons  to  fill  up  the  singer's  seats  whom  they  think 
best  qualified. 

The  wise  system  of  payment  in  goods  as  legal  tender 
not  having  become  obsolete,  Mr.  Chandler  at  that 
time  was  to  have  three  bushels  of  Indian  corn  for 
taking  care  of  the  meeting-house  that  year.  Although 
the  minister  was  highly  respected,  a  young  man  as 
assistant  for  Mr.  Chandler,  who  was  now  quite  in- 
firm, began  to  be  suggested.  Mr.  William  Bradford 
was  offered  as  salary  ninety  pounds  yearly,  the  money 
to  be  as  good  as  any  year  I'rom  1770  to  1775.  Continen- 
tal currency  was  circulating ;  it  had  been  issued  for  a 
noble  purpose,  but  the  government  not  being  strong 
enough  to  compel  obedience  to  its  fiat,  distrust  was 
engendered,  and  depreciation  followed.  Mr.  Brad- 
ford was  called  elsewhere.  The  next  year  the  parish 
agreed  to  carry  on  Mr.  Chandler's  "Husbandry  in 
good  Husbandry  manner."  During  the  increasing 
infirmity  of  the  pastor  there  was  some  dissatisfaction, 
and  frequent  attemjjts  made  to  have  an  assistant,  but 
nothing  was  done.  The  singing  became  more  popu- 
lar, and  in  1785  women  singers  were  invited  to  sit  in 
the  gallery,  and  the  singing  to  be  performed  once 
on  the  Lord's  day,  without  the  deacons  reading  the 
line  for  one  year.  It  seemed  to  the  deacons  as  if  the 
world  was  out  of  joint.  Could  they  have  seen,  as  was 
seen  about  sixty  years  later,  the  pupils  of  Allison 
Palmer,  under  the  grand  leadershij)  of  Lowell  Mason, 
in  those  same  galleries,  they  would  have  said  that  the 
invitation  to  the  women  singers  had  been  perma- 
nently accepted.  A  history  of  the  musical  conven- 
tions which  have  been  held  in  this  grand  old  house, 
and  the  musical  talent,  both  vocal  and  instrumental, 
that  seems  to  be  a  special  gift  to  the  citizens  of  this 
town,  and  never  more  so  than  at  present,  or  more  care- 
fully cultivated,  would,  if  written  in  detail,  make  ma- 
terial for  a  volume. 

Sunday  morning,  April  19,  1789,  Rev.  James 
Chandler  died  in  his  eighty-third  year.  He  was  a 
native  of  Andover  and  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  1728. 
His  wife  was  Mary,  daughter  of  Rev.  Mr.  Hale,  of 
Byfield,  who  survived  him.  The  parish  was  at  the 
expense  of  his  funeral.  The  memorial  over  his  grave 
in  Union  Cemetery  was  erected  in  1791.  The  parish 
ordered  a  "Decent  Monument."  Mr.  Chandler  left 
his  estate  to  the  parish,  on  condition  that  his  widow 
and  colored  servant,  Sabina,  should  be  the  wards  of 
the  parish  until  the  decease  of  each.  Perhaps  there 
were  other  conditions,  but  these  were  the  most  im- 
portant. John  Tenney,  who  lived  opposite  Union 
Cemetery,  was  executor  of  the  will.  Some  difficulty 
arose  between  him  and  the  parish,  and  the  conditions 


GEORGETOWN. 


827 


not  being  satisfactory,  a  vote  was  passed  to  relinquish 
the  gift.  Mr.  Solomon  Nelson  accepted  the  condi- 
tions, and  the  Chandler  farm,  now  in  part  owned  by 
his  grandson,  Humphrey  Nelson,  came  into  his  pos- 
session. While  "Madam  Chandler"  lived  the  parish 
abated  all  taxes. 

Mr.  Tenney  had  oversight  of  the  property,  and  was 
frequently  brought  in  conflict  with  the  parish.  At  a 
later  date  he  removed  to  Northwood,  N.  H.  From 
Mr.  Chandler's  death  until  1797,  when  Mr.  Isaac 
Braman,  of  Norton,  Mass.,  was  called  as  pastor, 
sixty-four  candidates  and  pulpit  supplies  made  their 
gifts  known  to  the  parish.  Samuel  Tomb,  afterwards 
of  West  Newbury,  was  one  of  them  and  popular. 
Mr.  Braman  was  "  voted  eighty  pounds  and  ten  cords 
of  good  merchantable  wood,  to  be  delivered  at  his 
door,  as  his  yearly  salary,  and  added  ten  pounds 
yeai-ly ;  when  corn  shall  be  more  than  four  shillings 
per  Bushel,  with  two  hundred  pounds;  one-half  to  be 
paid  in  one  year;  the  other  half  to  be  paid  within 
two  years.  Provided  he  should  not  remain  twenty 
years,  then  a  part  to  be  refunded ;  or,  if  he  prefers, 
one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  without  conditions ; 
then  one-half  in  one  year ;  the  other  in  two  years." 
Mr.  Braman  accepted  the  last  amount.  Committees 
were  appointed  to  provide  for  the  council,  to  shore 
the  meeting-house,  to  see  good  order  kept,  and  to 
keep  the  parsonage  and  elders'  pews,  deacons'  and 
other  seats  clear  for  the  council  and  singers.  The  or- 
dination took  place  June  7,  1797.  It  is  said  to  have 
been  a  great  event;  the  parish  kept  open  house,  and 
many  booths  and  rei'reshment  wagons  supplied  the 
multitude  with  food.  Mr.  Palmer,  of  Needham, 
preached  from  Luke  xiv.  23.  Dr.  Dana,  of  Ipswich, 
gave  the  charge;  other  parts  wereby  Messrs.  Cleve- 
land, of  Chebaco  (now  Essex) ;  Clark,  of  Boston  ; 
Bradford,  ot  Rowley  ;  and  Phineas  Adams,  of  West 
Haverhill.  The  parish  were  not  perfectly  united  in 
Mr.  Braman.  Eighteen  members  signed  a  remonstrance 
on  the  ground  of  suspected  Arminianism  as  under- 
stood in  the  theological  terms  of  that  day.  One 
would  have  seemed  wild  to  have  suspected  it  at  a  later 
period.  Rev.  Mr.  Braman's  first  service  in  this  town 
was  November  13,  1796  ;  the  text  at  the  morning  ser- 
vice was  from  2  Cor.  xiii.  5,  and  in  the  afternoon  from 
Lam.  iii.  27.  Soon  after  his  settlement,  the  question 
was  agitated,  whether  the  parish  had  a  title  to  the  lot 
on  which  the  meeting-house  stood,  which  led  to  some- 
thing of  a  controversy  and  litigation  at  much  expense. 
No  deed  could  be  found,  and  what  the  result  was  is 
not  known.  There  were  extensive  made  repairs  on 
the  house  in  1816.  There  is  an  itemized  statement  of 
the  cost  in  the  hand-writing  of  Samuel  Adams,  in  the 
second  book  of  parish  records.  There  was  a  bell  pur- 
chased at  that  time  which  was  hung  in  the  tower.  It 
was  cast  at  Paul  Revere's  foundry.  Its  weight  was 
eight  hundred  pounds,  and  its  cost  about  four  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars.  The  names  of  the  donors  of  the  bell 
are  on  record  in  the  second  book  of  the  parish  and 


were  seventy-five  in  number.  Capt.  Benjamin  Adams, 
father  of  the  parish  clerk,  headed  the  list,  and  CufFee 
Dole,  with  his  single  dollar,  ended  it.  It  is  remem- 
bered as  worthy  of  note  that  two  men  lifted  the  bell ; 
not  a  remarkable  feat.  This  same  bell  now  swings  in 
the  tower  of  the  new  church  on  Clark  Street. 

In  1817  there  was  an  attempt  to  introduce  instru- 
mental music  into  the  choir.  A  bass-viol,  bassoon 
and  clarionet  were  suggested.  That  year  it  was  neg- 
atived ;  the  next  year,  however,  the  parish  voted  that 
either  of  the  Crombie  brothers — Aaron,  Benjamin  or 
Nathaniel — were  to  have  five  dollars  for  one  year's 
performance  on  either  of  the  above-named  instru- 
ments.    In  1819  the  parish  bought  a  bass-viol. 

At  about  this  time  some  method  of  warming  the 
meeting-house  was  debated,  and  in  1822  a  stove,  then 
just  coming  into  use,  was  set  up,  and  in  1828  another, 
on  an  improved  pattern  (a  gift  from  Paul  SpofTord,  of 
New  York),  was  placed  in  its  stead.  In  1832  a  com- 
plete change  of  the  interior  was  made.  The  square 
pews,  so  familiar  for  more  than  sixty  years,  were  all 
removed,  and  narrow  slips  of  the  modern  style  built 
in  their  room.  The  pulpit  was  also  removed  from  the 
side  to  the  easterly  end  of  the  building,  and  the  door 
where  formerly  the  ladies  of  the  parish  had  been  as- 
sisted to  dismount  from  their  pillions  was  boarded  up. 

Leaving  at  this  point  the  (Congregational  Parish  in 
what  was  then  generally  called  New  Rowley  in  their 
remodeled  house  for  worship,  to  commemorate  which 
and  the  first  century  of  their  existence  Rev.  Mr.  Bra- 
man, on  December  6,  1832,  delivered  his  historical 
discourse,  we  return  to  Byfield,  and  briefly  trace  the 
leading  events  in  the  history  of  that  parish,  which 
was  apparently  of  Newbury  origin,  and  yet  around 
which  the  dearest  interests  of  very  many  Rowley 
families  have  always  centred.  The  pastorate  of  Mr. 
Hale  was  doubtless  successful.  Rev.  Moses  Parsons, 
of  Gloucester,  the  second  minister  was  a  graduate 
of  Harvard  in  1736,  and  was  ordained  in  Byfield  June 
20, 1744.  His  eminent  sons — Eben,  the  merchant,  and 
Theophilus,  chief  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
State — have  made  Byfield  widely  known. 

In  1746  the  second  meeting-house,  fifty-six  by  forty- 
five  feet,  with  steeple  and  spire,  was  built.  The  bell 
was  the  gift  of  Ebenezer  Parsons.  Its  weight  was 
eight  hundred  and  eighty-five  pounds.  This  church 
and  parish  were  much  agitated  by  the  religious  ex- 
citement that  resulted  from  Whitefield's  preaching. 
A  complaint  of  Benjamin  Plumer  against  Mr.  Par- 
sons was  that  he  had  never  given  "  Thanks  for  such 
an  unspeakable  favor  to  the  World  as  Mr.  Whitefield." 

In  October,  1768,  "the  difficult,  perplexed  State  of 
our  public  affairs"  called  for  a  church  fast.  Another 
fast  day  was  called  for  in  Nov.,  1773,  "on  account  of 
the  severe  sickness."  This  sickness  was  said  to  have 
been  a  malignant  fever,  perhaps  of  a  typhoid  type. 
Throat  distemper  was  very  fatal  here  in  1735  and  '36. 
From  October  of  one  year  to  the  same  month  in  the 
following  year  one  hundred  and  four  died — said  to 


828 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


have  been  one-seventh  of  the  population.  Nearly 
one-half  of  the  number  are  thought  to  have  been  from 
the  Rowley  families  in  the  parish.  Again  there  was 
a  day  of  fasting  in  June,  1774,  "  That  God  would  in- 
terpose for  our  help,  and  save  this  Province  and  land 
in  this  day  of  perplexity  and  distress." 

Late  in  Mr.  Parsons'  life  charges  were  made  against 
him  by  Deacon  Coleman,  with  Garrisonian  vehe- 
mence, that  he  had  attempted  to  sell  his  colored  ser- 
vant Violet.  Coffin,  in  his  "  History  of  Newbury," 
gives  a  minute  account  of  this  controversy.  The 
third  pastor  was  Rev.  Elijah  Parish,  of  Lebanon, 
Conn.,  a  graduate  of  Dartmouth  in  1785  (Hanover, 
N.  H.,  then  was  but  little  changed  from  a  wilderness) 
and  ordained  December  20,  1787.  He  was  remark- 
able for  untiring  industry  and  mental  endowments  of 
no  ordinary  kind.  Jointly  with  Dr.  Morse,  he  pub- 
lished "The  Gazetteer  of  the  Eastern  Continent"  and 
the  "  History  of  New  England."  "  Modern  Geogra- 
phy "  and  the  "  Bible  Gazetteer"  are  his  own  works. 
They  were  all  useful  books,  and  were  highly  appreci- 
ated. At  many  an  American  fireside  these  books  were 
read  with  deep  interest,  conveying  that  information 
about  their  own  country  and  the  great  world  without 
which  was  never  forgotten.  After  the  death  of  Dr. 
Parish,  which  occurred  Oct.  25,  1825,  a  volume  of  his 
sermons  was  published, — a  remarkable  collection,  to 
have  been  delivered  to  a  small  country  congregation. 
His  people  strongly  objected  to  his  being  absent  from 
his  own  pulpit,  and  he  but  rarely  exchanged  with 
other  ministers.  It  has  been  intimated  that,  to  some 
extent,  he  was  thought  to  have  sympathized  with  the 
Unitarian  wing  of  the  Congregational  body,  but  his 
published  discourses  show  that  any  such  ideas  were 
purely  imaginary,  and  born  of  the  agitation  of  the 
times. 

During  the  early  part  of  the  century,  when  political 
spirit  ran  high,  Dr.  Parish  took  an  uncompromising 
stand  for  the  Federalist  doctrine,  and,  in  consequence 
had  some  bitter  enemies,  especially  in  the  Rowley 
part  of  the  parish.  These  feuds  all  died  out,  how- 
ever, and  this  truly  noble  man  left  the  world  lamented 
by  all  who  knew  him.  In  the  religious  history  of  the 
town  we  have  now  to  consider  the  entering  wedge  of 
separation  from  the  only  legally-recognized,  ecclesias- 
tical body  of  the  eighteenth  century  in  New  England, 
viz.,  the  Congregational  Church.  The  thought  of 
any  divergence  was  probably  never  conceived  among 
the  illiterate  members  of  Mr.  Chandler's  congregation 
until  the  awakening  caused  by  the  preaching  of  Mr. 
Whitefield.  Many  impulsive  men  were  soon  stirred 
to  enthusiasm  by  his  work,  and  the  Middle  and  East- 
ern States  were  alive  with  itinerants. 

The  first  record  of  any  such  irregular  work  in  what 
is  now  Georgetown,  was,  as  has  been  previously 
stated,  early  in  1754,  when  Timothy  Symmes  was 
accused  of  sharp  and  (as  some  of  the  brethren  called 
it)  impious  criticisms  on  the  preaching  of  Mr.  Chand- 
ler at  an  evening  meeting  conducted  by  Mr.  Symmes  at 


Ensign  John  Plumer's  on  February  10th.  These 
meetings,  held  perhaps  on  Sunday  evenings,  had  evi- 
dently been  going  on  for  some  time,  and  had  been 
opposed  by  Mr.  Chandler,  who  in  his  sermon,  Febru- 
ary 10th,  becoming  alarmed  at  the  strength  or  spirit 
of  the  movement,  openly  condemned  it.  In  1755  so 
many  had  withdrawn  that  the  absentees  are  referred 
to  as  in  a  way  of  separation  (or  in  a  partial  state  of 
organization).  The  families  of  Brocklebank,  Pluraeri 
A-dams  and  Boynton  seem  to  have  been  the  most 
prominent. 

Their  meetings  were  held  in  the  school-house,  which 
stood  near  the  house  of  Mr.  Wood,  now  James  Gor- 
don's. This  movement,  originally,  perhaps,  only  the 
result  of  a  dislike  to  Mr.  Chandler  for  lack  of  zeal, 
finally  became  so  positive  that  those  interested  de- 
clared themselves  Separatists,  and  in  1757  were  so 
named  by  the  parent  Church,  and  the  result  was  they 
then  withdrew  from  the  Church  and  congregation 
permanently.  After  the  new  meeting-house  was 
built,  the  old  house  was  sold  to  the  Separatists,  taken 
down  and  rebuilt  at  Hale's  Corner,  in  what  is  now 
Groveland.  At  this  time,  however,  probably  through 
the  influence  of  Rev.  Mr.  Smith  and  the  Baptist 
Church  in  Haverhill,  organized  in  1765,  they  began 
to  be  called  Anabaptists. 

January  13,  1769,  the  parish  voted,  "to  abate  the 
People  called  Annabaptists  their  Parish  rates  the  year 
past,  those  of  them  that  had  tendered  their  Sertificats 
To  the  Assessors  of  said  Parish,  thereby  signifying 
the  Baptist  method  to  be  their  Purswaision."  In  the 
meeting-house  thus  rebuilt  they  held  meetings  for 
several  years,  Mr.  Eliphaz  Chapman,  afterwards  of 
Maine,  preaching  for  them  more  than  any  other  min- 
ister, Rowley,  Bradford  and  Newbury  were  repre- 
sented in  the  congregation.  The  critics  of  Rev.  Mr. 
Parsons,  of  Byfield,  were  perhaps  among  them.  Mr. 
Smith,  of  Haverhill,  doubtless  had  preached  here 
before  1769,  and  in  so  satisfactory  a  manner  that  even 
at  that  early  day  the  Separatists  began  popularly  to 
be  known  as  Anabaptists.  Samuel  Harriman,  after- 
wards elder  in  New  Rowley,  is  thought  to  have  been  the 
first  Separatist  to  unite  with  the  Baptists,  he  being  a 
constituent  member  of  the  Haverhill  Church.  On 
May  4,  1781,  eight  males,  three  of  whom  were  resi- 
dents of  Boxford,  who  had  been  baptized,  but  were 
not  as  yet  members  of  any  church,  petitioned  the 
Baptist  Church  in  Haverhill  to  become  a  branch  of 
that  church.  Some  Baptist  churches  like  Newton, 
N.  H.,  and  this  of  Haverhill,  had  several  branch 
churches  socn  after  this  time.  The  old  meeting-house 
having  come  into  their  possession,  was  again  taken 
down,  and  this  time  was  rebuilt  within  the  old  parish 
limits,  to  the  chagrin,  it  has  been  said,  of  some  who 
twelve  years  before  had  been  highly  gratified  to  see  it 
removed,  and  those  who  worshipped  in  it,  across  the 
parish  borders.  It  was  set  directly  in  front  of  the 
saw-mill  then  or  soon  after  owned  by  John  Wood. 
On  August  19,  1785,  this  branch  was  established  as  a 


GEORGETOWN. 


829 


distinct  church,  with  twenty-eight  members.  Rev. 
Mr.  Smith,  of  Haverhill,  preached  on  the  occasion 
In  May  of  that  year  Elder  William  Ewing,  of  Shutes- 
bnry,  became  the  first  minister  of  this  church,  and  was 
dismissed  to  Medfield  in  March,  1789.  Dr.  Jeremiah 
Chaplin  became  a  member  at  the  age  of  ten  years, 
during  Mr.  Ewing's  ministry.  Rev.  Charles  Wheeler, 
a  few  years  later,  when  a  mere  boy,  also  became  a  mem- 
ber. He  was  afterwards  President  of  Washington  Col- 
lege in  Virginia.  Both  of  these  were  from  what  is  now 
South  Georgetown.  In  July,  1789,  Abishai  Grossman, 
of  Chelmsford,  was  called  to  the  pastorate,  and  was 
dismissed  in  1793.  The  membership  of  the  church  at 
this  time  included  Salem,  Beverly,  Wenham  and 
Danvers.  In  1793  forty  living  in  these  four  towns 
were  dismissed  to  form  the  church  in  Danversport. 
In  June,  1797,  Shubael  Lovell,  of  Barnstable,  was 
settled  as  the  minister.  At  this  time  the  Congrega- 
tional Treasurer  required  to  be  shown  a  receipt  from 
the  Baptists  that  their  parish  tax  had  been  paid  to 
their  own  minister,  and  that  all  who  had  signed  the 
Baptist  books,  so  doing,  should  then  have  their  tax 
abated.  For  several  years  after  Mr.  Lovell  came, 
rather  inharmonious  relations  between  the  old  parish 
and  the  Baptists  existed,  finally  followed  by  a  civil 
suit  entered  against  the  Congregational  parish  by  Mr- 
Lovell.  The  law  in  1798  required  that  any  public 
teachers  of  piety,  religion  and  morality  should  be  en- 
titled to  legal  support,  and  the  Baptists,  under  this 
law,  claimed  what  was  due  them.  In  1802  the  diffi- 
culties seem  to  have  come  to  a  settlement.  Mr. 
Lovell's  pastorate  continued  until  1810.  He  was  a 
man  highly  esteemed.  Josiah  Converse,  of  Portland, 
came  in  1810  and  remained  until  1818.  Mr.  Con- 
verse was  deeply  interested  in  improved  agriculture, 
and  is  said  to  have  introduced  the  fii'st  merino  or  fine- 
wooled  sheep  into  town.  June  21,  1811,  the  First 
Baptist  Society  in  Rowley  (now  Georgetown)  was  in- 
corporated, with  forty-eight  members.  Among  them 
were  the  Pearsons,  Larkins,  Dummers  and  Floyds,  of 
Newbury  ;  Harrimans,  Hales  and  Hardys,  of  Brad- 
ford (now  Groveland) ;  Perley  and  Emerson,  of  Box- 
ford  ;  Smiths,  of  West  Newbury ;  and  Poors,  Thur- 
lows,  Tenneys,  Chaplins,  Nelsons,  Jacobs  and  Morse, 
of  Rowley.  The  amended  law  gave  any  property- 
holders  the  right  of  choice  as  to  the  religious  organi- 
zation they  would  support.  Some,  perhaps  partly 
from  a  mercenary  motive,  chose  the  Baptist  Society  at 
that  time,  because  the  expense  or  tax  would  be  less  ; 
others  because  they  were  believers  in  the  doctrines  of 
Thomas  Jefferson,  as  the  friend  of  religious  liberty ; 
and  all,  because  more  or  less  opposed  to  the  spirit 
which  had  wholly  in  theory,  if  not  in  practice,  ruled 
in  Massachusetts  from  the  first  settlement,  of  com- 
pulsion in  matters  of  conscience.  First  meeting  of 
the  society  held  on  February  13,  181 2.  Solomon  Nel- 
son, afterwards  deacon,  joined  the  society  in  1812,  the 
church  in  1816,  and  soon  after  was  conceded  by  all  to 
be  the  chief  adviser  and  wise  counselor  of  the  Bap- 


tists. His  house  on  Nelson  Street  was  the  journeying 
ministers'  home.  One  of  the  last  nights  that  George 
Dana  Boardman,  the  Kar6n  apostle,  spent  in  this 
country  was  under  his  roof.  First  annual  meeting 
was  held  April  7,  1812,  with  Captain  Moses  Tenney 
moderator  and  Timothy  Morse,  Jr.,  clerk.  From  this 
date  to  1823  committees  were  appointed  annually  to 
fill  out  certificates  of  membership,  signed  by  the  min- 
ister and  clerk,  as  the  legal  method  of  exemption  from 
paying  parish  tax  to  the  Congregational  collector. 
After  1823  the  law  was  changed  or  became  obsolete. 

January  7,  1823,  sixty  acres  of  the  old  "Shepard 
farm,"  then  owned  by  Samuel  and  Benjamin  Plumer, 
was  deeded  to  this  society,  for  the  support  of  a  Cal- 
vinistic  Baptist  Gospel  ministry,  and  the  society  was 
to  come  into  possession  at  the  decease  of  the  grantors. 
Not  long  after  it  came  under  the  control  of  the  society. 
It  had  been  occupied  and  improved  as  the  parsonage 
farm  from  the  time  of  Mr.  Lovell,  and  perhaps  from 
a  much  earlier  date.  The  fifth  minister  was  Simeon 
Chamberlain,  of  Westmoreland,  N.  H.,  who  continued 
from  July,  1819  to  September,  1825,  followed  by  Ezra 
Wilmarth,  of  Wilmot,  N.  H.,  who  came  in  1826,  re- 
maining until  June,  1834.  The  old  meeting-house 
which  had  been  twice  removed  and  entirely  rebuilt, 
was  in  January,  1829,  by  forty  yeas  to  eight  nays  voted 
to  be  too  far  gone  for  repairs.  Grin  Weston  bought 
this  I'elic  of  the  past  at  auction  in  1830  for  eighty-nine 
dollars.  It  had  seen  a  century  of  existence,  and  was 
from  all  accounts  but  a  shell.  The  birds  had  nested 
in  its  interior  above,  and  mice  hud  played  on  the  floor 
below ;  and  it  has  been  said  that  one  of  Mr.  John 
Woods'  hens  once  "stole  her  nest"  under  the  pulpit, 
and  would  come  out  cackling  in  service  time. 

The  sounding-board  which  had  echoed  the  reson- 
ant voice  of  Whitefield,  that  wonderful  voice,  which 
could  be  heard  a  mile,  might  until  recently,  be  seen 
near  the  roadside  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Weston's  family 
on  Main  Street. 

In  1829  a  new  meeting-house,  forty-five  by  thirty- 
five  feet,  was  built  near  the  old  house  on  the  parson- 
age grounds,  at  a  cost  of  seventeen   hundred  dollars. 

As  early  as  about  1800,  and  perhaps  earlier,  another 
class  of  irregular  meetings  in  the  line  of  the  Separa- 
tists of  a  half-century  before  began  to  be  held  to  the 
annoyance  of  the  Congregational  ist  people  and  as  these 
meetings  lessened  the  Baptist  audiences,  when  services 
were  held  on  Sunday,  perhaps  partly  to  their  annoy- 
ance also.  These  school-house  preachers,  as  Mr.  Bra- 
man  called  them,  were  fluent,  possibly  vituperative, 
not  bound  by  formal  rules  or  customs,  and  were  at- 
tractive to  those  eager  for  novelty.  A  Mr.  Foster 
was  one  of  the  first,  although  Elias  Smith  was  doubt- 
less the  first  to  speak  here,  and  meetings  were  held  at 
the  Pillsbury-house,  near  Edwin  Brown's,  on  Pills- 
bury  Street,  then  the  home  of  Jonathan  Harriman 
and  family.  Many  traveling  preachers,  of  both  sexes 
followed,  all  glorying  in  the  name  of  "  free-will  "  as 
typical  of  their  faith. 


830 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Nancy  Toles,  not  claiming  much  gift  of  argument, 
but  abundant  vehemence  and  zeal ;  Clarissa  Dan- 
forth,  keen  and  energetic;  Harriet  Livermore,  a  rare 
genius,  later  a  pilgrim  to  the  Holy  Land,  and  other 
women  were  active  in  proclaiming  the  truth.  Scores 
of  converts  were  baptized  in  Pentucket  pond.  Mr. 
Moses  Howe,  of  Haverhill,  a  Methodist  in  belief,  but 
independent  of  church  regulations,  often  preached,  as 
did  all  the  others"  in  the  Centre  school-house  ;  a  man 
of  superior  natural  gifts,  enriched  by  thought  and 
reading.  He  lived  to  a  great  age.  "  Christian  " 
itinerants,  creedless,  and  with  but  that  one  name,  but 
Baptists  in  practice,  were  frequently  here  in  the  inter- 
ests of  their  sect ;  among  them.  Rev.  Benjamin^Knight, 
afterwards  a  Baptist,  who  died  as  the  Salem  city  mis- 
sionary. Unitarians,  as  Rev.  Mr.  Loring,  of  North 
Andover,  (the  fiither  of  Hon.  G.  B.  Loring)  and  Dr. 
Flint,  of  Salem,  both  of  whom  as  another  class  of 
Separatists,  proclaimed  the  cardinal  principles  of  their 
faith  in  that  same  school-house. 

Mr.  Nathaniel  Nelson,  who  built  in  1797,  the  at- 
tractive old  mansion  on  Elm  Street,  now  owned  by 
his  son,  William  Nelson,  was  perhaps  more  continu- 
ously active  in  sustaining  these  varied  religious  move- 
ments, than  any  other  of  the  residents  of  New  Row- 
ley. From  some  cause,  they  all  found  a  congenial  field 
here,  especially  the  sects  which  made  immersion  the 
baptismal  rite.  At  a  later  day  a  meeting-house  was 
in  contemplation  for  the  Christians  or  Freewill  be- 
lievers, and  some  material  purchased,  of  which  the 
windows  can  still  be  seen  in  the  shoe-shop  of  Joshua 
How,  on  Elm  Street.  The  Universalist  doctrine  was 
perhaps  first  announced  in  town  in  the  school-house 
at  South  Georgetown,  by  a  Mr.  Flagg,  and  Mr.  Farns- 
worth  at  the  Centre  school-house,  succeeded  about 
1818.  It  early  took  a  tenacious  hold,  presented  a.s  it 
was  by  the  leading  spirits  of  the  denomination,  such 
as  Hosea  Ballon,  Whittemore,  Otis  Skinner  and 
others,  who  often  spoke  at  the  same  school-house. 
Gradually  the  movement  developed,  until  on  March 
13th,  1829,  at  a  meeting  held  at  the  house  of  Moses 
Nelson,  now  Chas.  E.  Chaplin's  on  Nelson  Street,  ten 
males  signed  a  call  for  a  meeting,  to  form  a  religions 
society  to  be  called  the  First  Universalist  Society  in 
Rowley.  On  IMarch  26,  1829,  they  met  at  the  Centre 
School-house,  with  Captain  John  Ki  11am,  moderator, 
and  Sylvanus  Nelson,  clerk.  Had  preaching  five  times 
that  year,  and  six  the  year  following. 

In  1830,  fifty-two  males  became  members  of  the 
Society  by  signing  the  Constitution.  The  Lows, 
Nelsons,  Harrimans,  Spoftbrds  and  Killams  were  ac- 
tive and  especially  Colonel  John  Kimball,  the  wealthy 
tanner  and  farmer,  who  then  owned  the  Captain 
Benjamin  Adams'  place  on  the  Salem  road,  and  who 
was  afterwards  regarded,  at  home  and  abroad,  as  the 
Universalist  leader. 

In  1831,  the  Society  had  services  nine  times,  and 
probably  all  held  in  the  school-house,  but  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1832,  at  a  meeting  at  Colonel  Savory's  hotel, 


it  was  decided  to  build  a  meeting-house,  forty -five  by 
thirty-five  feet,  which  was  erected  that  year  at  a  cost 
of  about  twenty-one  hundred  dollars.  The  site  was 
on  the  knoll,  much  more  elevated  than  at  present, 
where  the  Town-house  now  is,  and  was  a  part  of  the 
old  Brocklebank  farm.  Two  stoves  were  given  to  the 
Society,  one  a  gift  from  John  Kimball,  the  other  from 
David  Pingree,  Esq.,  of  Salem. 


CHAPTER  LVI. 

GEORGETOWN-  ( Continued). 

GENERAL   TOWN    HISTORY   TO    DATE   OF   INCOR- 
PORATION. 

From  1730  to  1770,  there  are  a  few  surnames  to  be 
added  to  those  which  are  already  given  as  residents 
in  the  west  parish  of  Rowley.  One  was  that  of 
Daniel  Woodbury,  who  had  doubtless  removed  here 
from  Beverly,  just  after  the  first-named  date.  Mr. 
Woodbury,  was  one  of  the  constituent  members  of 
the  church  in  October,  1732,  but  was  not  a  parish 
petitioner  in  1730.  In  November,  1732,  Richard 
Woodbury  was  received  to  church  membership  from 
the  second  church  in  Beverly.  In  November,  1734, 
Daniel  Woodbury  was  dismissed  to  the  church  in 
Townsend.  This  family  while  here  probably  lived  in 
Marlboro'.  Early  in  1734,  Elizabeth,  the  wife  ot 
Richard,  was  admitted  to  the  church.  They  must 
have  left  this  locality  soon  after  this  date. 

The  names  of  Moses  Cooper  and  Phebe  his  wife,  ap- 
pear on  the  record  in  1735.  Several  of  this  surname 
are  buried  in  Union  Cemetery.  As  the  ancestor  of  this 
family  in  Rowley  bore  the  name  of  Peter,  it  has 
been  thought  that  the  celebrated  Peter  Cooper  of  New 
York  might  be  a  descendant,  and  attempts  have  been 
made  to  trace  the  connection,  but  letters  of  inquiry 
were  unanswered. 

ThePingreesof  this  date  (as  did  "  widow  Anne,"  who 
was  the  mother  of  Job  Pingry,  a  petitioner),  lived  in 
the  limits  of  what  is  now  Rowley,  on  the  Blooming- 
dale  road,  which  was  a  travelled  way  as  early  as  1720. 

In  1736,  the  names  of  Robert  Grag  and  his  wife 
Hannah,  were  recorded.  They  lived  near  Spofford 
Street,  in  the  vicinity  of  Lieut.  Abel  SpofTord's  house. 

In  1737,  Samuel  Hazen,  supposed  to  have  settled  on 
the  John  F.  Kimball  place  on  East  Street,  removed 
to  Groton,  Mass.  This  was  afterwards  the  home  of 
Jeremiah  and  Moses  Hazen.  Here  on  Pen  Brook  a 
saw-mill  was  built  about  1750,  and  was  in  use  as  late 
as  1800.  This  was  the  homestead  of  one  of  the  num- 
erous Hazen  families  perhaps,  until  its  purchase  by 
Captain  William  Perley  about  1790.  About  one  mile 
southerly,  on  land  then  partially  cleared  but  now 
forest,  was  the  home  of  another  family  of  this  name, 
and  fifty  years  ago  the  barn  was  still  standing. 


GEORGETOWN. 


831 


It  is  said  that  in  the  same  locality,  in  a  wood-tract 
now  owned  by  heirs  of  W.  B.  Harriman,  there  were 
anciently  one  or  two  small  houses,  one  of  them  occu- 
pied by  a  Crorabie  family,  John  and  Rebecca  Smith 
were  living  in  this  pai-ish  in  1736,  supposed  to  be  on 
West  Street,  not  far  from  Mrs.  Edward  Poor's.  They 
removed  to  Haverhill  in  173S.  Of  this  family  was 
perhaps  the  John  Smith  who  lived  in  a  West  Street 
house,  kept  an  inn  or  what  was  so-called,  by  trade 
a  cooper,  and  by  virtue  of  a  warning  of  the  town  of 
Rowley,  sixty  years  before,  was  removed  to  Newbury 
poor-house  about  1800.  The  house  was  then  demol- 
ished. 

The  Kilbourne  family  were  residents  for  many 
years.  The  name  oi  Daniel  is  found  in  1730,  Jedediah 
and  Samuel  in  1735,  and  David  in  1737.  Their  house 
or  houses  must  have  been  on  or  near  Searl  Street. 

Richard  FAisty  was  living  here  in  1736. 

Robert  Moors  troubled  the  parish  in  the  spring  of 
1738.  After  the  death  of  Samuel  Spojf'urd  he  rented 
the  west-parish  half  of  the  farm  and  cut  wood  con- 
trary to  the  provisions  of  the  lease,  and  other  delin- 
quencies.    Prosecution  was  threatened. 

Before  1740  Amos  Pillsbury  was  here.  He  is  sup- 
posed to  have  built  the  house  on  the  plain  near  Mr. 
Humphrey  Nelson's.  He  appears  in  1740  as  parish 
clerk  and  John  Pillsbury  ajjpears  in  1743.  These  two 
carried  on  blacksmithing.  The  Iniildings  were  re- 
moved, some  by  Mr.  Nathaniel  Nelson,  to  what  is  now 
Chestnut  Street,  and  the  shop  to  Box  ford  more  than 
sixty  years  ago  by  Daniel  Davis,  the  father  of  Mrs. 
Francis  Marden,  who  converted  it  into  his  dv/elling. 

In  1742  John  Bayley  and  Mary,  his  wife,  admitted 
to  church.  The  name  of  Stephen  Bayley  recorded  in 
1746.     Supposed  to  have  lived  on  Bailey  lane. 

In  1747  Mr.  Moses  Hale  was  treasurer  of  i»arish  and 
quite  prominent  for  some  years.  The  constant  use  of 
the  title  of  Mr.,  indicates  a  man  of  importance. 

Samuel  Johnson's  name,  in  1730,  recorded.  This 
family  lived  on  Searl  Sti'eet,  on  the  Benjamin  Merrill 
place.  His  sou  Samuel  sold,  about  1800,  to  Dudley 
Stickney,  who  again  sold  to  Merrill  Johnson,  remov- 
ing to  Winthrop,  Me. 

The  first  mention  of  Crombies  is  in  1742,  when  Re- 
becca, the  wife  of  Benjamin,  and  Peter,  a  negro  serv- 
ant of  Jeremiah  Harriman,  in  Christian  equality, 
owned  the  covenant  (the  half-way  covenant,  so-called) 
the  same  day. 

On  the  church  records  in  1764,  the  name  of  David 
Tenney  is  recorded  as  a  "  Student  of  ye  College,  aged 
fifteen  years  and  almost  seven  months."  Jonathan 
Searl,  also  a  student,  received  to  church  same  year. 

In  1760,  the  name  of  Benjamin  Wallingford  first 
seen.  He,  and  a  son  of  the  same  name,  lived  on  An- 
dover  Street,  where  John  Pickett's  house  now  is.  The 
Wallingford  house  was  demolished  about  1825  by 
Benjamin  S.,  father  of  John  Pickett.  The  junior 
Mr.  Wallingford  was  a  lame  man,  a  maker  of  saddle 
bags,  etc. 


About  1760  Captain  Benjamin  Adams'  house  on 
Central  Street,  now  owned  by  S.  K.  Herrick,  was 
built.  Was  the  first  house  in  the  parish  to  be  painted 
white,  and  was  considered  rather  aristocratic.  Capt. 
Adams  was  a  large  laud-holder,  both  in  this  town 
and  Boxford. 

Other  surnames  found  are  as  follows : — 31ary  Blais- 
dell  was  received  from  the  Byfield  church  in  Decem- 
ber, 1732,  and  Elijah  BlaisdeJl  was  admitted  to  church 
in  1736.  Dr.  Fowler  and  Margaret,  his  wife,  were 
doubtless  of  liinebrook,  Ipswich.  Joseph  Dickinson, 
Caleb  Foster  and  his  wife  Priscilla,  James  Foster  and 
his  wife  Anna,  in  1737.  Stephen  Cross,  Thomas  Cross 
and  his  wife  Mary,  in  1742,  and  Abigail  Jackson,  in 
1743,  were  of  families  living  within  Rowley  or  Ipswich 
limits  of  to-day. 

In  1746  Eleazer  Burbank,  who  doubtless  built  the 
Burbank  house  of  sixty  years  ago,  which  stood  where 
the  Samuel  Little  shoe  factory  now  is,  removed  into 
this  town  from  East  Bradford,  now  Groveland.  The 
yard  in  front  of  the  house  at  a  later  day  extended 
into  the  road  and  enclosed  the  corner  of  the  street 
where  the  pump  is  now  seen. 

Moses  Tyler  built  his  house  about  1700  on  land  given 
to  Thomas  Nelson's  children  by  Gershom  Lambert, 
of  Connecticut.  This  house  was  taken  down  about  1792, 
and  Mrs.  Edward  Poor's  house  on  VVest  Street  built 
on  the  same  site. 

The  house  of  Lieutenant  Abel  Spofford  was  on  Spof- 
(brd  Street,  and  built  about  1745.  Here  was  born,  in 
1792,  Paul  Spotlbrd,  a  grandson,  afterwards  of  the 
firm  of  Spoftbrd  and  Tileston,  New  York  city.  Mr. 
Spofford,  now  deceased,  was  for  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tury a  leading  merchant,  and  amassed  a  large  fortune. 
He  supplied  the  government  with  vessels  for  trans- 
portation of  troops  during  the  Rel^ellion.  He  bought 
shoes  for  many  years  of  the  manufacturers  in  this 
town.  His  son,  Paul  Nelson  Spofford,  is  the  owner 
of  the  summit  and  much  of  Baldpate  Hill.  This 
house,  removed  about  1830,  is  now  the  original  part 
of  Little's  shoe  factory.  The  house  on  West  Street, 
now  owned  by  James  McLain,  the  birth-place  of  Dr. 
Jeremiah  Spoftbrd,  was  built  about  the  commence- 
ment of  this  period.  The  Esquire  Moody  Spoftbrd 
house  on  the  same  street,  was  burned  about  1780,  and 
the  house  now  owned  by  James  Grimes  was  built 
on  the  same  site.  The  present  or  the  original  house, 
doubtless  the  original,  has  associated  with  it  a  veritable 
witch  story,  in  the  noted  meal-chest  which,  without 
hands  and  ajiparently  possessed  with  occult  power, 
travelled  about  the  attic  of  the  house,  to  the  horror 
of  all  beholders.  The  "  Esquire "  was  away  from 
home  at  the  time  the  excitement  began,  engaged  in 
meeting-house  building,  and  was  hurriedly  sent  for 
by  the  alarmed  family.  Nothing  unusual  occurring, 
with  some  misgivings,  perhaps,  he  started  on  his  jour- 
ney to  complete  his  unfinished  work,  and  had  only 
reached  his  brother  William's  house  when  a  messen- 
ger came  to  inform  him  that  this  humble  but  erratic 


832 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


chest  was  again  in  motion.  There  was  an  immediate 
necessity  then  for  some  check  to  be  placed  on  sucli 
Satanic  action,  and,  it  is  said,  that  it  was  only  by  the 
prayers  of  Mr.  Chandler  that  this  chest  was  restored 
to  its  normal  condition.  The  story  is  often  ridiculed, 
bat  good  authority  states  that  the  "  Esquire,"  Major 
Asa  Nelson,  the  great-grandfather  of  the  writer,  and 
another  townsman,  two  of  whom  were  men  of  unusual 
weight,  placed  themselves  upon  it,  and  yet,  in  utter 
disregard  of  all  known  laws  of  natural  philosophy, 
this  chest  still  continued  those  gliding,  sinuous  move- 
ments along  that  attic  floor.  However,  quiet  finally 
came,  and  the  cause,  if  possible,  was  then  to  be  un- 
raveled. This,  the  witnesses  and  investigators  of  these 
uncanny  acts,  attributed  to  a  young  girl  living  in  the 
family  by  the  name  of  Hazen  who,  it  was  said,  had 
been  daring  enough  to  experiment  with  the  black 
art.  To-day,  with  many,  a  search  for  the  cause  would 
be  in  the  direction  of  abnormal,  electric  or  magnetic 
power.  It  is  claimed  that  this  veritable  chest  is  still 
in  existence,  and  in  the  possession  of  a  relative  of  the 
original  owner.  In  Mr.  Spoffbrd's  shop  who,  besides 
a  carpenter,  was  a  noted  bridge-builder,  Timothy 
Palmer,  also  noted  in  this  same  work,  aided  in  construc- 
ing  the  model  of  the  first  bridge  that  spanned  the  Mer- 
rimac,  Piscataqua,  Kennebec,  Schuylkill  and  Poto- 
mac Rivers.  The  latest  mention  by  tradition  of  a 
wild  bear  in  this  town  was  in  1791,  when  one  of  the 
sons  of  Esquire  Spofford  is  said  to  have  seen  one  in 
the  forest,  not  far  from  his  father's  house.  Wolves, 
down  to  a  century  ago,  during  some  winters  were 
quite  numerous.  Mrs.  Huldah  Plarriman,  who  lived 
on  Nelson  Street,  had  known  them,  as  late  as  1770,  to 
prowl  around  her  father's  barn  at  night.  The  swamp 
easterly  of  the  house  was  a  lair  for  them,  and  was 
then  and  still  is  known  as  "Wolf  Swamp."  There 
were  several  other  Sjiofford  dwellings  built  early  in 
the  "  SpoflTsrd  hill "  district ;  some  are  still  occu- 
pied and  in  good  condition.  Col.  Daniel  Spofford's, 
now  owned  by  Charles  S.  Spofford,  a  great-grandson, 
is  the  most  ancient.  The  venerable-looking  cottage 
where  the  first  Spoflbrd  families  dwelt,  near  the  Colo- 
nel Spofford  house,  was  taken  down  about  1866.  It  is 
said  that  Dr.  Amos  Spoflbrd,  the  first  physician  to 
practice  in  New  Rowley,  who  was  a  son  of  "  Colonel 
Daniel,"  occupied  this  place,  and  once,  as  was  an  oc- 
casional occurrence  among  farmers,  exchanged  farms 
for  a  time  with  his  brother  William,  who  lived  a  short 
distance  at  the  westward.  At  one  time  there  were 
ten  or  twelve  houses,  occupied  by  Spofford  families, 
almost  in  sight  of  each  other.  The  house  of  Dr. 
Moses  D.  Spoflbrd,  a  son  of  Dr.  Amos,  now  owned  by 
J.  E.  Johnson,  was  owned  a  century  ago  by  David 
Thurston,  who  sold  and  removed  to  Maine. 

In  Bailey  lane  there  may  have  been  two  or  three 
houses  built  at  an  early  day  and  demolished  before 
the  present  century.  Weird  tales  anciently  clustered 
around  this  locality.  One  of  a  dismal  nature  was  told 
of  a  negro  boy,  who  was  seen  in  company  with  several 


strange  men  to  enter  the  shadows  of  the  woods  near 
Rock  Pond,  but  was  not  with  them  when  they  again 
appeared,  and  from  the  cries  of  terror  which  were 
heard,  it  was  feared  that  a  foul  murder  had  been  com- 
mitted, and  other  equally  dark  and  mysterious  stories 
of  a  later  day.  A  house  built  on  this  road  by  Dr. 
Amos  Spofford,  was  removed  about  1800  by 
Joseph  Nelson  to  Baldpate  Street,  and  is  now  owned 
by  Henry  K.  Kennett. 

The  Dodge  house,  where  the  mother  of  George  Pea- 
body  was  born,  was  northerly  of  the  house  above 
named.  The  mansion  of  Silas  Dole,  for  many  years 
the  home  of  Major  Paul  Dole,  the  millwright,  and  his 
brother,  Edmund,  the  inventive  genius,  almost  a  re- 
clu.se,  who  devised  a  machine  for  making  shoe  pegs, 
which  he  kept  secluded  from  mercenary  eyes,  must 
have  been  built,  in  part  at  least,  prior  to  1770.  It  was 
taken  down  with  timber  still  sound  by  Samuel  Little 
some  ten  or  twelve  years  ago. 

There  were  doubtless  one  or  more  houses  built  in 
"  Hampshire,"  or  "  Federal  City,"  at  an  early  period. 
About  1800  Stephen  Hardy  lived  there,  who  removed 
to  Henniker,  N.  H.  This  locality  has  had  more  than  a 
town  fame,  rather,  has  had  a  sort  of  immortality  confer- 
red upon  it  by  the  genius  of  our  native  Burdette,  the 
lamented  Solomon  Nelson.  He  had  the  talent  which 
gives  prominence  in  certain  fields  of  literary  labor. 
His  descriptive  record  of  war  experience  when  in  the 
southwest  with  the  Fiftieth  Massachusetts  Volunteer 
Militia,  published  in  the  Advocate  as  a  serial  was  a 
rare  picture.  Wit  and  pathos,  with  exact  fact,  were 
delightfully  commingled.  Many  of  the  roads  were,  in 
1770,  but  partially  opened.  West  Street  to  the  old 
Salem  road  had  four  gates  as  late  as  1797.  Nel- 
son Street  as  late  as  1770  had  its  cross  fences,  and  also 
North  Street  near  the  Plumer  House.  The  farmer-boys 
had  many  a  penny  given  them  by  travelers  for  opening 
the  gates. 

The  Sherman  Nelson  house,  on  Elm  Street,  was 
early  occupied  by  William  Chandler,  who  doubtless 
made  it  in  part  what  it  now  is  from  another  house, 
about  1770.  The  Sylvanus  Nelson  house  now  owned 
by  L.  P.  Tidd,  was  built  before  1747,  by  Joseph  Nel- 
son, the  great-grandfather  of  the  late  owner. 
Other  ancient  houses  are  that  of  James  Gordon,  on 
North  Street,  known  as  the  Wood  house,  but  perhaps 
originally  a  Pearson  house,  and  another  upon  the  site 
on  which  Eben  Poor's  small  house  was  built.  This 
was  owned  early  in  the  century  by  Paul  Stickuey, 
previously  by  Benjamin  Chaplin,  and  had  the  reputa- 
tion in  those  days  of  being  occasionally  haunted.  Next 
was  the  Peter  Clougbn  house,  now  owned  by  Mr. 
Virgin.  This  "Clouglin,"  from  the  name,  was  evi- 
dently of  the  Irish  race.  Near  by  was  a  Cheney 
house,  and  beyond  was  a  Pearson  house,  probably 
Jedediah's,  the  parish  petitioner.  This  was  owned 
about  1800  by  Henry  Hilliard,  and  was  accidentally 
burned  in  1806.  Still  further  eastward,  on  Jewett 
Street,  there  were  two  or  three  houses  in  1800,  built 


CtEORGETOWN. 


833 


before  1750,  owned  by  members  of  the  Poor  family. 
The  Jonathan  Harriman  house,  on  Pillsbury  Street, 
was  built  by  Leonard  Harriman,  the  great-grandfather 
of  Mrs.  O.  B.  Tenney  of  this  town  and  Jesse  P.  Har 
riman,  now  an  octogenarian  in  his  western  home 
Nathaniel,  the  ancestor  of  Charles  A.  Harriman,  set- 
tled on  Pond  Street. 

In  1713  a  road  had  been  granted  by  Rowley  to  ac- 
commodate the  "  Weelers  and  Brownes,"  and  "  other 
inhabitants  there  about,"  which  is  thought  to  have 
been  North  Street,  from  No.  6  school-house  (or  Ten- 
ney's  as  it  would  be  fitting  to  call  it),  to  some  point 
near  Newbury  line.  Some  years  before  Jonathan 
Look's  bourse  had  been  the  only  one  named.  Some 
of  the  earlier  built  houses  on  Warren  Street,  and  iii 
that  part  of  Byfield  near  the  Jackson  and  Cheney 
neighborhood,  must  have  been  built  before  1750- 
Several  have  been  leveled  within  twenty  years.  The 
Paul  Pillsbury  house,  with  the  jutting  second  story, 
the  only  building  of  this  architecture  in  the  town,  is 
unquestionably  very  ancient.  Mr.  Pillsbury,  nearly 
related  to  Parker  Pillnbury,  until  recently  the  owner 
was  very  ingenious.  He  made  the  first  shoe  pegs  ever 
used  in  the  town. 

The  Massachusetts  Legislature  offered,  thirty 
or  more  years  ago,  ten  thousand  dollars  to  any  one 
producing  an  infallible  remedy  for  the  potato  disease. 
Mr.  Pillsbury  claimed  that  he  had  found  it,  in  the 
planting  of  an  oyster  shell  in  each  hill.  For  a  second 
wife  he  married  a  widow,  the  mother  of  the  gifted 
poet  and  Confederate  general  of  Arkansas,  Albert 
Pike,  who  visited  his  old  home  a  few  years  ago.  In 
1744,  among  the  surnames  in  this  locality,  were 
Joseph  and  Josiah  Smith.  Their  home  was  on  War- 
ren Street.  Some  of  this  family  removed  to  Hopkin- 
ton,  N.  H.,  in  1768.  An  ancient  Chute  house,  per- 
haps that  of  James  or  Lionel,  his  son,  was  situated 
west  of  the  church.  The  venerable  trees  which  over- 
shadowed it  have  been  felled,  and  desolation  reigns. 
Ariel  P.  Chute,  a  teacher  and  clergyman,  was  born 
here  about  1805.  One  other  house  of  this  family,  on 
Chute  Street,  still  exists,  with  marks  of  age  and  the 
wasting  tooth  of  time.  James  Chute  Peabody,  a 
native  of  this  town,  is  another  in  this  honorable  line 
of  descent.  The  author  of  a  volume  of  poetry  with  the 
title  "  Keynotes,"  which  is  to  be  found  in  the  Peabody 
library  in  this  town,  and  as  a  translator  of  Dante,  he 
is  said  to  have  produced  a  work  of  rare  merit.  Dr. 
Parker  Cleaveland  occupied,  as  early  as  1775,  a  house 
on  Warren  Street  which  is  supposed  to  have  been 
built  long  before  that  time.  Parker,  a  son,  was  a 
graduate  of  Harvard  in  1799,  and  became  a  professor 
of  mineralogy  in  Bowdoin  College.  He  was  also  an 
author  in  his  favorite  science.  A  brother,  John  P., 
was  a  Congregational  minister  of  prominence.  The 
descendants  of  Maximillian  Jewett  of  Rowley  have 
been  in  this  neighborhood  since  about  1700.  A  house 
of  considerable  age  which  bears  the  Jewett  name  is 
still  standing. 
53 


The  Pike  family,  originally  of  Salisbury,  Mass.,  or 
Newbury,  were  in  the  Rowley  part  of  Byfield,  as  early 
as  1750  ;  "they  were  prominent  in  military  and  civil 
affairs.  Nicolas  Cheney,  Timothy  Jackman,  Jona- 
than Thurlow,  Nathan  and  Moses  Wheeler,  Abraham 
Brown,  Joseph  Searl,  Daniel'Chute,  Thomas  Lull,  Jr., 
Jedediah,  Jonathan  and  David  Pearson,  and  Amos 
Pillsbury  are  supposed  to  have  been  all  Byfield  house- 
holders in  1744,  in  what  is  now  Georgetown. 

On  East  Street  the  Pingree  house  built  about  a 
century  ago,  was  the  birth-place  of  the  Pingree 
brothers,  David,  Asa  and  Thomas,  who  were  the  heirs 
of  their  opulent  uncle.  Captain  Perkins,  of  Topsfield. 
David,  who  lived  in  Salem,  was  rated  as  the  only  mil- 
lionaire in  the  State,  and  perhaps  in  New  England, 
forty  years  ago.  He  owned  immense  tracts  of  wild 
land  in  upper  New  Hampshire,  and  the  Aroostook, 
Maine,  of  which  some  is  being  surveyed  at  present. 
Very  costly  agricultural  improvements  were  made  by 
Mr.  Pingree  on  the  old  homestead,  forty  years  ago, 
but  through  neglect  everything  has  relapsed  to  more 
than  its  original  wildness.  Twenty  years  ago  about 
five  hundred  acres  of  forest,  belonging  to  this  estate, 
were  cleared  of  its  wood  and  timber  by  Lamprey  and 
Eaton,  of  Haverhill,  employing  in  the  work  a  large 
force  of  French  Canadians. 

Several  houses,  then  standing,  were  occupied  by  the 
workmen.  Now  all  the  houses,  excepting  the  farm- 
house, are  gone,  almost  dropped  piecemeal,  and  it  is 
indeed  a  solitude.  Here  were  the  Hazen  clearings, 
and  here  were  Nathaniel  Burpee,  the  drummer  of  the 
Revolution,  returned  to  New  Rowley  in  the  dead  of 
winter,  from  Lunenburg,  about  1795,  with  an  ox  sled 
and  his  family  upon  it,  a  cottage  was  built,  and  here 
they  found  a  home. 

At  the  corner  of  that  part  of  East  Street  leading 
past  the  school-house,  which  road  was  opened  in  1829 
at  a  cost  of  three  hundred  dollars,  was  a  wide,  low 
house,  which  crumbled  to  a  ruin  one-third  of  a  cen- 
tury ago.  This,  for  many  years,  was  known  as  a 
Merrill  house,  but  perhaps  built  by  a  Hazen.  Here 
Charles  Wheeler  lived  in  boyhood,  and  went  from 
here  South,  to  the  presidency  of  a  college.  The  house 
on  Nelson  Street,  owned  by  Henry  C.  Perley,  was 
built  about  1780  by  Nathan  Perley,  the  maternal 
grandfather  of  Sherman  Nelson.  The  Dea.  Solomon 
Nelson  house  was  built  in  1803.  The  south  roof  is 
still  covered  with  the  original  shingles  laid  eighty- 
four  years  ago.  About  1740  the  section  of  Main 
Street  from  the  "  Corner  "  to  M.  G.  Spofford's,  began  to 
be  traveled.  Previously  the  circuit  is  supposed  to 
have  been  made  over  Pillsburys'  plain,  and  the  high- 
lands at  the  east  of  the  village.  Where  the  Pentucket 
house  now  stands,  and  some  portion  of  the  hotel,  may 
be  of  this  original  house,  one  of  the  brothers  of  John 
Brocklebank,  by  whom  the  Brocklebank  house  on 
Central  Street  was  then  owned,  built  a  house  abou  i 
1765.  Job  Brocklebank  lived  there  for  some  time, 
and  John  Pillsbury  was  living  there  before  1800,  and 


834 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


blacksmithing  near  by.  His  widow  kept  a  tavern 
there  for  many  years,  which,  became  somewhat  noted 
as  a  halting-place  for  travelers. 

From  about  1780  the  "  Corner,"  a  point  of  land 
largely  composed  of  loose  sand,  and  in  its  subsoil  for- 
mation the  base  of  the  Baldpate  district,  and  but 
slightly  elevated  above  the  adjoining  meadows, 
then  in  many  places  covered  with  a  dense  growth  of 
maple  trees,  began  to  show  its  probable  future,  as  the 
centre  of  the  village.  Several  other  localities  for  a 
time  had  the  start,  like  Elm  Street,  near  the  meeting- 
house, but  circumstances  unthought  of,  soon  turned 
the  tide  in  the  direction  of  "  Burbank  Corner."  Some 
years  later,  it  has  been  said,  that  Mr.  Bartlett,  of 
Newburyport,  while  contemplating  the  founding  of 
the  theological  seminary  looked  with  especial  favor  on 
the  extended  tract  of  Spofford's  hill  as  well  adapted 
for  the  site,  but  the  owner  could  not  be  induced  to  sell. 
Had  Georgetown  been  selected  instead  of  Andover 
how  different  our  surroundings  might  have  been  from 
what  they  now  are. 

David  Teuney  was  living  before  1800  in  a  cottage  on 
Main  St.  He  was  the  grandfather  of  Hon.  O.  B.  Tenney, 
of  this  town,  and  of  D.  B.  Tenney,  city  clerk  of  Haver- 
hill. This  house  was  doubtless  built  by  him.  It  was 
removed  some  fifteen  years  ago  to  the  court  not  far 
from  the  Clark  house,  on  Main  Street. 

Others  living  at  the  village  in  1800  were  Daniel 
Clark  and  Samuel  Norris,  tailor.  The  house  occu- 
pied by  Mr.  T.  J.  Elliott,  and  removed  in  1843  or 
1844,  to  a  site  near  the  corner  of  Library  and  Cen- 
tral Streets  was  then  standing  at  the  corner,  upon 
the  site  of^which  Mr.  EUiiott  built  his  present  house. 

The  Dresser  house  has  for  a  part  of  it  the  building 
occupied  from  about  1770  to  1800,  by  Major  Asa 
Nelson,  on  Nelson  Street,  as  a  grocery,  and  was 
situated  in  front  of  Deacon  Solomon  Nelson's  house. 
This,  was,  perhaps  the  first  grocery  store  in  the  west 
parish.  The  New  Hampshire  farmers  of  those  days 
would  make  trips  in  the  winter  to  the  sea-board  at 
Salem  and  elsewhere,  with  loads  of  pork,  poultry 
and  other  farm  products,  and  return  with  West 
India  goods  and  other  necessaries.  Ezekiel,  the 
father  of  Daniel  Webster,  made  it  his  stopping- 
place  with  Major  Nelson  when  on  those  journeys, 
who  would  often  buy  his  load  of  meats  and  sell  him 
other  goods  in  return.  Mr.  Webster  would  freqently 
speak  of  his  boys,  and  would  say,  "Ezekiel  is  smart 
and  I  think  will  be  somebody,  but  of  Daniel  I  am  a 
little  doubtful." 

An  Adams  house,  owned  by  "Newtown  Ben,"  was 
situated  at  the  entrance  of  what  is  now  Nelson 
Avenue,  and  was  destroyed  by  fire  under  rather  mys- 
terious circumstances  about  1800.  Other  surnames  in 
town  at  about  this  time  were  those  of  Lincoln,  and  a 
few  years  later  that  of  Lowe.  At  about  this  date, 
and  for  half  a  century  afterwards,  many  of  the  farm- 
ers owned  large  tracts  of  pasturage  in  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  other  land  in  the  northern  part  of  Worces- 


ter County.  Nathaniel  and  Jonathan  Nelson,  in 
partnership  with  Captain  Chaplin,  owned  a  large 
pasture  in  Warren,  N.  H. ;  Moses  Nelson  was  an  exten- 
sive owner  in  Danbury,  N,  H. ;  Deacon  Asa  Nelson,  at  a 
later  day,  owner  in  Dunbarton,  N.  H.  Annually,  in 
the  middle  of  May,  with  a  large  drove  of  their  own  and 
their  neighbors'  cattle  andsheared  sheep,  parties  would 
start  as  drovers  on  their  journey  of  seventy-five  or 
one  hundred  miles.  In  October  the  fall  trip  would 
be  made,  and  the  stock  returned,  often  half-wild,  but 
in  good  condition.  The  Mighills  were  possessors  of 
many  acres  in  Lunenburg,  Mass.,  on  which  Samuel 
C,  the  father  of  L.  P.  Tidd,  who  married  Ruth  Mig- 
hill,  lived  for  some  years.  On  returning,  he  built 
about  1819  the  house  on  Baldpate  Street,  now  owned 
by  J.  A.  Hoyt.  This  land  in  Lunenburg  became  in  late 
years  veiy  valuable,  and  sales  have  been  made  from 
it  in  the  aggregate  to  the  amount  of  forty  thousand 
dollars.  The  tide  of  emigration  prior  to  the  Revolu- 
tion was  generally  to  Northern  Middlesex  and  Wor- 
cester. The  writer  has  found  the  names  of  several 
West  Parish  or  Georgetown  natives,  at  dates  of  emi- 
gration from  1730  to  1750,  recorded  in  the  register  of 
deeds  office  in  the  city  of  Worcester.  Sterling,  with 
its  Nelson  Hill,  named  for  a  New  Rowley  Nelson, 
Leominster  and  Lunenburg,  in  Worcester  County, 
Groton,  Townsend  and  Templeton  in  Middlesex, 
and  other  towns  near  by,  are  the  localities  to  trace 
many  of  the  families  of  this  town.  Some  at  one 
time,  however',  removed  to  Killingly,  Conn. 

From  1800  to  1810  there  was  but  little  change.  At 
about  the  last-named  date,  Benjamin  and  Joseph 
Little  moved  into  town  from  West  Newbury.  They 
opened  a  store  and  shoe  factory  in  a  long  extension, 
built  eastwardly  from  the  old  tavern  stand  of  Dudley 
Tyler  and  Solomon  Nelson,  near  the  meeting-house, 
and  began,  by  various  devices,  one  of  which  was  to 
have  the  roads  opened  as  soon  as  possible  after  a 
snow-storm,  to  attract  the  travel  from  the  old  Haver- 
hill road  over  Uptake  to  this  central  road.  They 
kept  an  extensive  stock  of  salable  goods  ;  were  ready 
to  barter,  taking  in  exchange  odd  lots  of  coarse  shoes 
by  the  dozen  pairs,  which  the  farmers  brought  from 
Newbury  and  other  places,  some  coming  a  long  dis- 
tance on  foot,  with  the  shoes  under  their  arms,  the 
work  of  their  off-hours,  rainy  days  and  evenings ;  they 
were  ready  to  encourage  young  men  to  start  business, 
and  made  the  parish  generally  lively.         • 

With  good  roads,  better  both  in  summer  and  winter 
than  in  Boxford,  and  fewer  hills  to  climb,  the  travel 
was  soon  turned  toward  the  centre  of  New  Rowley. 
We  can  hardly  realize  the  serious  loss  the  change 
must  have  caused  to  the  tavern-stands  of  Capt.  Batch- 
elder,  now  the  summer  residence  of  Mr.  Ballou,  and 
of  Dea.  Spofford's,  burned  some  years  ago. 

Solomon  Nelson,  the  father  of  Nathaniel  Nelson, 
who  was  to  a  marked  extent  a  central  figure  in  the 
growth  and  general  life  of  this  community,  died  in 
1821,  just  as  the  energy  of  the  people  was  assuming  a 


GEORGETOWN. 


835 


new  phase.  His  second  son,  Jeremiah,  was  a  member 
of  Congress,  and  elected  as  a  Federalist,  and  his  father 
was  so  unflinching  a  Republican  that  he  always  voted 
for  his  son's  political  opponent. 

Everything  indicated  that  the  junction  of  the  roads 
would  be  the  village  centre,  and  a  removal  was  made 
by  the  brothers  Little  from  their  first  locality  to  this 
centre,  where  they  built,  about  1814,  the  store  build- 
ing which  was  used  for  that  purpose  about  sixty  years, 
and  upon  the  site  of  which  the  Odd  Fellows'  Block 
was  erected  in  1871.  The  house  now  owned  by  W.  K. 
Lambert  was  also  built  at  this  time.  They  carried  on 
a  large  trade,  and  continued  the  manufacture  of  shoes 
in  a  building  in  the  rear. 

Three  or  four  years  later,  Benjamin  Winter  and 
William  Perley  opened  a  store  in  a  building  which 
was  situated  near  where  the  new  business  block  now 
is.  This  building,  which  was  removed  across  the 
street,  is  thought  to  be  that  now  occupied  by  John  W. 
Bailey  as  a  stove  store.  Mr.  Perley  went  to  Virginia, 
where  he  died  many  years  ago. 

Where  now  is  the  Main  Street  extension  of  Little's 
shoe  factory,  Robert  McQuestion  kept  a  store  for  some 
years,  from  about  1820.  The  whole  community  was 
astir.  The  industries  of  New  Rowley  were  all  sus- 
tained, rapidly  advancing,  and  general  prosperity 
prevailed.  About  1830,  several  of  the  houses  on 
Elm  Street,  near  the  meeting-house,  were  built.  In 
1836,  a  bank  of  issue  was  established,  with  a  capital 
of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  with  Benjamin 
Little,  President,  and  George  Foot,  Cashier.  It  was 
styled  the  Manufacturers'  Bank  of  Rowley.  The 
rapid  growth  after  1830  gave  anticipation  of  a  more 
rapid  increase,  and  separation  from  Rowley  began  to 
be  discussed. 

Not  very  many  years  after  the  young  and  rising 
business  men  (who,  coming  here  as  strangers,  were  in- 
difterent  to  the  sentiment  that  made  an  attachment  to 
the  name  of  Rowley  and  all  connected  therewith,  a 
sacred  thing),  began  to  demand  and  even  clamor  for  a 
separation.  The  distance  between  the  two  parishes 
disturbed  their  business  interests.  Letters  intended 
for  New  Rowloy  were  addressed  to  Rowley,  and  were 
delayed  in  the  delivery,  often  resulting  in  trouble  and 
difficulty.  A  meeting  in  1837  was  called  to  consider 
the  question  and  arrange  for  a  division.  This  was  the 
prelude  for  a  succession  of  meetings,  the  west  parish 
demanding  a  division  along  the  parish  line,  east  of 
the  Phillips'  house  in  Dodgeville,  and  the  first  parish 
declaring  that  if  a  division  must  take  place  it  shall  be 
west  of  Phineas  Dodge's  house. 

A  partial  compromise  was  finally  made ;  Muddy 
Brook  being  made  the  easterly  bounds  of  the  proposed 
new  town  at  one  point  and  Rye  Plain  bridge,  near 
Newbury  line,  as  a  prominent  bound  at  another  point. 
The  west  parish  strove  hard  to  include  what  is  now 
known  as  Dodgeville  in  the  new  town,  but  failed,  and 
Warren  Street,  with  three-fourths  of  the  Rowley  part 
of  Byfield  parish,  was  allowed  instead.    (About  thirty 


years  afterward  Dodgeville  petitioned  the  legislature 
to  be  annexed  to  Georgetown,  but  their  request  was 
not  granted). 

A  remonstrance  against  the  division  was  signed  by 
about  three  hundred  citizens,  headed  by  Dr.  David 
Mighill.  It  was  only  after  considerable  debate,  that 
the  decision  was  reached,  to  call  the  new  town  George- 
town. There  were  those  who,  for  a  long  time,  felt 
that  the  name  had  too  pretentious  a  sound,  and  were 
shy  about  repeating  it.  There  were  several  names 
proposed,  as  Howard,  Littleton,  Nelson,  and  Mrs.  La- 
vinia  Spofford  Weston  suggested  Lagrange.  In  the 
heat  of  the  controversy  and  perhaps  the  babel  of 
voices,  one  facetious  individual  proposed  the  name  of 
Babylon.  There  has  always  been  a  conflict  of  opinion 
as  to  the  honorable  citizen  who  first  suggested  the 
name  finally  decided  upon.  By  some  it  has  been  said 
to  have  been  Mrs.  Judith  Daniels,  then  Mrs.  J.  Rus- 
sell, and  that  it  was  named  in  honor  of  her  brother, 
George  Peabody.  Others  have  claimed  that  they  were 
the  sponsors,  and,  doubtless,  at  this  day  it  never  will 
be  definitely  known,  from  what  source,  or  why  it  was 
so  called. 

The  erection  of  buildings  was  going  on  at  a  rapid 
rate.  Two  churches  had  been  built  in  the  village,  the 
old  parish  meeting-house  modernized  in  its  interior, 
and  the  church  in  Byfield,  which  is  within  George- 
town limits,  also  built.  In  1840  an  outside  observer, 
in  a  sketch  of  the  town  as  it  appeared  at  that  date, 
stated  that  "Georgetown  is  a  pleasant  and  very  flour- 
ishing place.  Its  growth  has  been  more  rapid  than 
that  of  any  village  in  the  county.  The  greater  part 
of  it  has  been  built  since  1827.  Real  estate  has  more 
than  doubled  in  value  during  the  last  twelve  years. 
More  than  fifty  buildings,  including  shops,  were 
erected  in  1839.  The  inhabitants  are  probably  more 
extensively  engaged  in  the  manufacturing  of  boots 
and  shoes  than  those  of  any  place  of  the  same  popu- 
lation in  the  United  States."  At  that  date,  Spencer, 
Mass.,  and  Georgetown,  with  similar  industries,  were 
nearly  alike  in  population,  with  Georgetown,  however, 
slightly  ahead  in  value  of  manufactured  products, 
having  twenty-seven  manufactories  of  boots  and  shoes : 
product,  $221,900;  invested  capital,  $99,000.  Nine 
tanneries:  product  about  $60,000;  invested  capital, 
$10,300.  Carriages :  product,  $2,500.  The  aggregate 
product  of  boots  and  shoes  in  1880  was  about  one-half 
million  dollars. 


CHAPTER   LVII. 

GEORGETOWN— ( Continued). 

CONCLUSION  OF  PARISH    AND    RELIGIOUS  HISTORY — 
UNION   AND   HARMONY   CEMETERIES. 

After    the  re-opening  of  the    Congregationalist 
meeting-house  in  1832,  the  parish  voted  the  following 


836 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


April  that  the  town-meeting  should  no  longer  be 
held  there.  With  the  rapidly  increasing  population, 
had  the  town  not  been  divided  as  was  done  five  years 
later,  a  commodious  hall  would  at  an  early  day  have 
been  necessary.  Town-meetings  began  to  be  held  in 
Savory's  Hall.  In  1836  a  church  vestry  was  sug- 
gested. The  building  which  is  now  the  dwelling- 
house  of  W.  B.  Hammond,  was  then  owned  by  Benja- 
min Winter,  the  second  floor  of  which  had  been  used 
for  vestry  purposes  and  social  meetings  for  some 
years.  In  August,  1840,  under  the  influence  of  the 
exciting  questions  of  the  day,  which  were  then  in- 
tensely agitating  this  community,  several  members  of 
the  parish,  with  one  exception  now  all  deceased,  peti- 
tioned for  the  use  of  the  meeting-house  for  discussions 
and  lectures  upon  the  great  moral  questions  of  the 
day.  This  request  was  not  granted  at  the  time,  the 
meeting  adjourning  without  any  action  upon  the  call. 
A  similar  petition  signed  by  twenty  citizens  asking 
for  the  use  of  the  house  for  debates  on  slavery  was 
approved   at  a  meeting  of  the  parish  in    February, 

1841,  and  conditionally  granted.  At  this  meeting  a 
colleague  pastor  was  voted,  and  George  Prime  Smith, 
of  Salem,  Mass.,  who  had  assisted  Mr.  Braman,  and 
with  marked  acceptance  was  invited,  but  declined  the 
call.  Mr.  Smith,  who  died  in  early  manhood,  was  of 
Rowley  ancestry,  and  on  the  maternal  side  by  the 
Primes,  was  a  direct  descendant  of  Solomon  Nelson, 
who  settled  on  Nelson  Street,  in  1729.     In  February, 

1842,  a  vote  was  passed  to  leave  it  discretionary  with 
Mr.  Braman  as  to  the  speakers,  who,  on  the  slavery 
question,  are  to  be  admitted  to  the  desk.  December 
8,  1842,  Enoch  Pond,  Jr.,  was  ordained  as  colleague, 
his  father.  Prof.  Pond,  of  Bangor  Seminary,  deliver- 
ing the  sermon.  Rev.  Mr.  Pond  was  a  young  man  of 
much  promise,  deeply  beloved  by  the  church  and  peo- 
ple and  highly  esteemed  by  the  whole  community. 
The  zeal  and  energy  he  displayed,  wasted  a  perhaps 
not  naturally  robust  constitution.  March  15,  1846, 
he  preached  his  last  sermon  and  returned  to  Maine, 
where  at  Bucksport  he  died  December  17th,  of  that 
year,  at  the  age  of  twenty-six  years.  One  week  later 
his  remains  were  conveyed  to  this  town  and  buried 
in  Harmony  cemetery.  The  church  and  parish 
erected  a  monument.  During  the  ministry  of  Mr. 
Pond  in  the  autumn  of  1844,  the  meeting-house  was 
widened  eleven  feet  on  each  side  by  an  extension  the 
entire  length  of  the  audience-room,  of  one  story  in 
height.  Furnaces  were  added,  and  in  the  early  part 
of  1845  a  new  pulpit,  with  furnishings,  the  gift  of 
George  Peabody,  and  a  clock,  the  gift  of  Mrs.  Apphia 
S.  Tenney.  In  the  evening  of  February  3, 1847,  John 
M.  Prince,  Jr.,  was  ordained  as  colleague,  the  succes- 
sor of  Rev.  Mr.  Pond ;  sermon  by  Rev.  Uriah  Balk- 
ham,  of  Wiscasset,  Maine;  Rev.  Isaac  Braman  gave 
the  charge  to  the  candidate.  The  venerable  pastor 
was  nearing  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  his  ordination, 
and  on  Monday,  June  7th  of  that  year,  the  jubilee  was 
observed   with   a   discourse   by  the   aged   man,  then 


almost  an  octogenarian.  The  services  were  held  in  the 
afternoon,  with  assistance  from  Rev.  Messrs.  Hartshorn, 
of  the  Georgetown  Baptist  Church,  Milton  P.  Braman, 
of  Danvers  (son  of  the  pastor),  and  Prince,  the  junior 
pastor,  and  original  hymns  by  Mrs.  L.  S.  Weston,  of 
this  town,  and  W.  B.  Tappan,  of  Newburyport.  A 
[)rocession  was  then  formed  with  Dr.  William  Cogs- 
well as  chief-marshal,  which  marched  from  the  meet- 
ing-house to  Tenney's  Hall,  where  a  collation  was 
served. 

There  were  present  as  guests, — Drs.  Dana  of  New- 
buryport, Perry  of  Groveland,  Pierce  of  Brookline, 
Cogswell  of  Boston,  Rev.  Messrs.  Braman  of  Danvers, 
Phelps  of  Groton,  Withington  of  Newbury,  Judge 
Gummings  of  Boston  and  A.  Huntington  of  Salem. 
0.  S.  Tenney  presided. 

Several  hymns,  written  by  the  talented  Mrs.  Weston, 
were  sung,  and  a  song  with  music  composed  by  D.  B. 
Tenney,  was  sung  by  Messrs.  Tenney,  Palmer  and 
Holmes,  and  gifts  were  presented  at  the  house  of  the 
pastor,  among  them  the  easy  chair  from  the  young 
men  of  the  parish,  so  familiar  for  many  years  after- 
wards. The  need  of  a  vestry  had  been  felt  for  years, 
and  during  the  pastorate  of  Mr.  Pond,  the  ladies  of 
the  church  and  society  were  actively  engaged  in 
furtherance  of  the  movement.  This  was  especially 
ihe  work  of  the  "  New  Rowley  Female  Benevolent 
Society,"  an  organization  which  was  begun  in  No- 
vember, 1834,  with  Mrs.  Hannah  Braman  and  Miss 
Susan  Nelson  (now  Mrs.  G.  J.  Tenney),  as  the  first 
president  and  secretary.  In  March,  1849,  a  commit- 
tee previously  appointed  to  purchase  or  build  a  ves- 
try, reported  favorably  on  the  purchase  of  Adams 
Hall,  now  the  residence  of  Jophanas  Adams.  This 
building,  erected  about  1835  by  Josiah  Adams,  had 
originally  a  hall  used  for  social  purposes  on  the 
second  floor,  a  store  below,  and  was  bought  that  year 
for  eight  hundred  dollars,  and  used  for  a  vestry  until 
August  25,  1852,  when  it  was  sold,  becoming  the  resi- 
dence of  Rev.  Mr.  Prince,  and  later  the  home  of  Hon. 
Moses  Tenney,  the  State  Treasurer  at  the  time.  The 
chapel,  now  the  Catholic  Church,  was  built  in  the 
autumn  of  1852,  and  on  completion  was  at  once  occu- 
pied for  vestry  meetings.  The  society  under  whose 
auspices  this  property  had  been  purchased,  and  held, 
accepted  July  20,  1852,  the  act  of  the  Legislature  of 
April  23,  1852,  incorporating  it  as  the  "  Woman's 
Benevolent  Society.''  Rev.  Mr.  Prince  resigned  Feb- 
ruary 8,  1857,  and  removed  to  Bridgewater  in  1858, 
where  he  died  the  following  year.  He  was  born  in 
Portland,  June,  1820 ;  graduate  of  Bowdoin,  1841  ; 
Bangor  Seminary,  1845. 

Rev.  Charles  Beecher  was  installed  November  19, 
1857,  as  the  third  colleague  pastor  with  sermons  by 
Professor  Calvin  Stovve.  Other  clergymen  assisting 
were  Doctors  Withington,  J.  P.  Cleveland  and  Pike, 
E.  B.  and  Revs.  D.  W.  Foster,  McCoUum  and  Willcox. 

December  26,  1858,  Rev.  Isaac  Braman  died  at  the 
advanced   age  of   eighty-eight  years.     Rev.   D.   T. 


GEORGETOWN. 


837 


Kimball,  of  Ipswich,  preached  the  funeral  sermon. 
A  suggestive  memorial  in  Union  Cemetery  marks  the 
grave  of  the  venerated  second  pastor  of  this  church. 
Kev.  Mr.  Beecher  continued  in  active  service  as  i^as- 
tor  until  1870,  and  nominally  for  some  years  after- 
wards. He  is  now  pastor  of  a  church  in  Pennsylvania. 
A  daughter,  the  wife  of  Mr.  G.  W.  Noyes,  still  resides 
in  this  town,  whom  he  often  visits.  Mr.  Beecher  is 
much  beloved  by  his  former  charge,  and  highly  es- 
teemed by  the  community.  His  presence  is  ever  a 
benison  of  peace  to  many,  and  the  gift  of  music  w'hich 
God  has  given  him,  had  its  birth  in  a  nobler  world 
than  ours.  January  30th,  1873,  Thomas  R.  Beeber, 
now  of  Pennsylvania,  was  ordained  with  sermon  by 
Rev.  T.  T.  Munger,  of  Lawrence.  Ordaining  prayer 
by  Rev.  Dr.  John  L.  Taylor,  of  Andover.  Doctors 
Campbell  and  Fiske,  of  Newburyport,  Rev.  Messrs. 
Marsh,  of  Georgetown,  Voorhees,  of  North  Wey- 
mouth, Ecob,  of  Augusta,  Me.,  and  Coggin,  of  Box- 
ford,  aided  in  the  service. 

The  erection  of  a  new  house  of  worship  soon  be- 
gan to  be  contemplated,  and  May  16, 1873,  the  society 
voted  to  purchase  and  build  on  a  lot,  then  owned  by 
Messrs.  Moulton,  Chaplin  and  Noyes,  at  the  left  of  a 
court  then  extending  from  Central  to  Middle  Streets. 
Since  the  erection  of  the  church  building  this  court 
has  been  opened  beyond  to  School  Street,  and  to  com- 
memorate the  Daniel  Clark  house,  which  was  ancient- 
ly near  by,  has  been  named  Clark  Street. 

December  13,  1874,  the  final  service  was  held  in  the 
old  meeting-house.  Rev.  Mr.  Beeber  preaching  an 
historical  sermon.  December  17,  1874,  the  new 
church  was  dedicated,  with  sermon  by  Rev.  J.  H. 
Ecob,  of  Maine.  Prayer  of  dedication  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Seelye.  The  old  house  was  demolished  tlie  following 
year.  August  30,  1876,  Rev.  Alfred  F.  IMarsh  was  in- 
stalled, with  a  sermon  by  Rev.  Dr.  Campbell,  of  New- 
buryport. Other  parts  of  the  service  w^ere  by  Rev. 
Messrs.  Fulsom,  Boyd,  Kimball,  Childs,  Spauldingand 
Marsh. 

The  present  pastor.  Rev.  Levi  Rodgers,  was  in- 
stalled May  4, 1881.  The  sermon  by  Professor  Smythe, 
of  Andover.  Other  parts  by  Doctors  Seelye  and 
Spaulding,  Rev.  ]\Iessrs.  Kingsbury,  Hubbard,  Marsh 
and  Barnes.  The  Sunday-school  of  this  church  was 
begun  about  1816.  For  many  years  before,  exercises 
in  the  catechism  were  sustained  on  Saturday  after- 
noons by  the  pastor.  This  parish  have  a  ministei'ial 
fund  of  seven  thousand  dollars,  a  bequest  from  John 
Perley. 

Should  the  society  cease  to  have  a  settled  minister, 
or  be  dissolved,  then  the  income  is  to  revert  to  the 
Perley  Free  School.  This  society  has  a  flourishing 
mission  circle.  Miss  Theodora  Crosby,  a  member,  is 
a  missionary  in  the  Pacific  Islands. 

In  the  settlement  of  Mr.  Beecher  as  pastor  of  the 
Congregational  Church,  some  positive  opposition  was 
manifested  by  a  prominent  minority  of  the  parish. 
The  objections,  openly  expressed  at  the  outset,  gath- 


ered force,  and  finally  culminated  in  a  public  council 
of  ministers  and  churches,  on  the  ground  that  the 
doctrines  advocated  by  Mr.  Beecher  were  not  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  accepted  theology  of  the  Orthodox 
Congregational  Church.  The  result  of  the  council 
was  eventually  the  wathdrawal  of  those  not  in  har- 
mony with  Mr.  Beecher,  and  the  establishing  by  them 
of  a  separate  religious  service  in  the  chapel,  as  a  ma- 
jority of  the  members  of  the  society,  controlling  this 
chapel  property,  are  said  to  have  been  among  the  la- 
dies who  withdrew.  They  were  organized  into  a  dis- 
tinct church  January  27,  1864,  Dr.  Pike,  of  Rowley, 
preaching  the  sermon  on  the  occasion  from  Phil.  1  : 
27.  Rev.  Mr.  McCullom,  of  Bradford,  gave  the  fel- 
lowship of  the  churches  ;  Rev.  IMr.  Thompson,  of 
Amesbury,  the  consecrating  prayer;  Rev.  Mr.  Dog- 
get,  of  Groveland,  read  the  Scripture  lesson ;  and 
Rev.  Mr.  Edgell,  of  West  Newbury,  administered  the 
sacrament.  This  church  had  the  pulpit  service  of 
several  clergymen,  most  of  them  young  men,  and 
some  of  rare  gifts. 

Rev.  Eugene  Titus,  afterwards  settled  in  Gorham, 
N.  H.,  and  Beverly,  Mass.,  a  son-in-law  of  Mr.  George 
W.  Chaplin,  of  this  town,  a  longer  period  than  any 
other.  Mr.  Titus,  born  November,  1834,  died  July 
21,  1876,  and  is  buried  in  Harmony  Cemetery.  During 
the  visit  of  George  Peabody,  of  London,  to  this 
country  in  1866,  he  conferred  with  his  sister,  Mrs. 
Daniels,  formerly  the  wife  of  Jeremiah  Russell,  Esq. 
(the  first  attorney  to  settle  in  this  town),  who  was  a 
member  of  this  church,  and  the  result  was  the  erec- 
tion of  the  Memorial  Church  building,  which  was 
made  a  joint  gift  from  the  brother  and  sister,  to  this 
new  religious  organization.  The  corner-stone  of  this 
attractive  brick  edifice  was  laid  by  Dr.  Jeremiah 
Spoftbrd,  of  Groveland,  in  the  afternoon  of  Septem- 
ber 9,  1866,  the  ceremonies  preceding  those  at  the  Li- 
brary Building  on  the  same  day. 

This  building,  the  cost  of  which,  including  the 
grounds  adjoining,  was  not  less  than  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  is  a  memorial  to  Judith  Dodge 
Peabody,  the  daughter  of  Jeremiah  Dodge,  who  re- 
moved with  his  family  from  his  home  on  the  Bailey 
Lane  road,  about  1793,  to  South  Danvers  (now  Pea- 
body), and  who  was  the  mother  of  George  Peabody 
and  Mrs.  Daniels.  The  house  was  dedicated  January 
8,  1868,  M.  P.  Braman,  D.D.,  of  Danvers,  delivering 
the  sermon,  and  a  dedication  hymn  by  John  G.  Whit- 
tier,  with  an  additional  service  in  the  evening,  and 
sermon  by  Mr.  Richardson,  of  Newburyport.  Two 
tablets  in  the  rear  of  the  desk  are  memorials,  one  of 
Mrs.  Peabody,  the  mother  of  George  Peabody,  who 
while  living  in  New  Rowley,  was  a  member  of  the 
Congregational  Church,  and  the  other  of  Rev.  Isaac 
Braman. 

Rev.  David  Dana  Marsh,  the  first  and  present  pas- 
tor, was  ordained  September  12,  1868  ;  Rev.  Mr.  Bar- 
bour, of  Peabody,  delivering  the  sermon.  Ordaining 
prayer  was  by  Rev.  Dr.  Pike,  of  Rowley.  Other  exer- 


838 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


cises  were  by  Messrs.  Tolman,  of  Wilmington,  Kings- 
bury, of  Bradford,  and  McCullom,  of  Medford.  The 
Sunday-school  connected  with  this  church  was  estab- 
lished where  public  services  were  begun,  and  has 
John  F.  Jackson  as  present  superintendent,  and 
Henry  Hilliard  as  Librarian. 

There  is  also  a  society  of  Christian  Endeavor,  or- 
ganized at  an  early  period  in  the  formation  of  these 
societies,  and  a  flourishing  branch  of  the  "  Woman's 
Missionary  Society."  The  original  benevolent  socie- 
ty, dating  back  to  1834,  of  which  this  church  is  re- 
garded as  the  direct  sequence  still  exists  with  regular 
meetings,  and  annual  meeting  in  November.  The 
fine  house  adjoining,  formerly  the  home  of  Mrs. 
Daniels,  and  a  place  that  in  its  quiet  had  more  attrac- 
tions to  Mr.  Peabody,  when  in  this  country,  than  any 
other,  is  now  the  permanent  residence  of  the  pastor. 
This  church  is  in  no  wise  allied  to  a  parochial,  secu- 
lar body  or  society,  but  is  incorporated,  and  controls 
all  its  property  in  its  own  name. 

The  Byfield  parish  were  afflicted  March  1,  1833,  by 
the  loss  of  the  meeting-house  by  fire.  Their  third 
and  present  house  was  built  the  same  year,  and  dedi- 
cated November  7th,  with  a  sermon  by  Rev.  Dr.  J. 
P.  Cleveland,  then  of  Salem,  Mass.  Rev.  Henry 
Durant,  the  fourth  pastoi',  was  ordained  December 
25,  1838.  He  continued  in  the  jsastorate  until 
March  31,  1849.  About  two  years  previously,  the 
Trustees  of  Dummer  Academy  had  urged  his  accep- 
tance as  2^rincipal  of  that  institution,  but  his  Byfield 
parish  were  decided  in  retaining  him  as  pastor.  Rev. 
Francis  V.  Tenney  was  installed  March  1,  1850,  and 
was  the  pastor  until  April  22,  1857. 

June  16,  1858,  Rev.  Charles  Brooks  was  settled. 
Other  pastors  who  followed,  are  Rev.  James  H. 
Childs,  who  was  ordained  October  7,  1875,  and  dis- 
missed December  22,  1880.  The  present  incumbent, 
Rev.  Geo.  L.  Gleason,  of  Manchester,  Mass.,  was  in- 
stalled September  20,  1882.  The  cemeteries  of  this 
parish  are  near,  and  adjoining  the  church.  The  first 
interment,  was  that  of  Mrs.  Mehetable  Moody,  a 
daughter  of  Henry  Sewall,  in  1702.  The  new  ceme- 
tery was  opened  some  years  ago,  and  already  many 
have  been  buried  there.  All  the  surroundings  of 
this  church  are  peculiar  and  Engli.sh-like,  and  the 
parish,  in  its  entire  history,  is  unique  and   attractive. 

This  history  in  Chapter  LV.  left  the  Baptists  in 
possession  of  their  new  meeting-house.  Rev.  Ezra 
Wilmarth,  after  his  dismission  from  the  pastorate  in 
1834,  remained  in  the  town,  as  several  of  his  daugh- 
ters w^ere  married  here,  residing  here  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  November  28,  184G.  He  was  born 
January  19,  1772.  He  was  buried  in  Harmony 
Cemetery.  For  eighteen  months  the  church  was 
Avithout  a  pastor,  and  the  pulpit  supply  for  much  of 
the  time  was  Rev.  Daniel  F.  Richardson,  afterwards 
a  tutor  in  Wake  Forest  College,  N.  C,  and  later,  for 
many  years,  the  postmaster  of  Hanover,  N.  H.,  where 
he  died  a  few  years  ago. 


February  4,  1836,  John  Burden,  of  Hampstead, 
N.  H.,  was  ordained  the  pastor,  with  sermon  by  Rev. 
John  Holroyd,  of  Danvers ;  Dr.  Jeremiah  Chaplin, 
who  had  not  long  before  resigned  his  position  as 
president  of  the  college  at  Waterville,  Me.,  was  then 
the  pastor  of  the  Baptist  Church  at  Old  Rowley,  and 
counselled  the  young  candidate  of  this  church,  into 
whose  fellowship  he  had  been  baptized  about  a  half 
century  before.  Late  in  1837,  or  early  in  1838,  the 
meeting-house  was  removed  from  its  site  near  the 
mill,  now  the  woolen-factory,  to  where  it  now  is. 
This  removal  was  in  the  face  of  much  opposition, 
largely  from  the  Thurlows,  Pearsons  and  other  mem- 
bers of  the  society,  living  in  the  vicinity  of  Byfield. 
The  founding  of  the  Methodist  interest  at  Byfield 
Mills  can  largely  be  attributed  to  the  removal.  Rev. 
Mr.  Burden  continued  as  pastor  until  the  autumn  of 
1840.  He  was  a  warm  anti-slavery  advocate,  and 
during  his  ministry  much  of  the  moral  atmosphere 
was  seething  hot  with  reform  movement,  and  he  was 
not  backward  about  entering  the  lists.  The  Grirake 
sisters  spoke  from  the  Baptist  pulpit,  with  Deacon 
Solomon  Nelson,  although  a  Henry  Clay  moderate, 
willing  listener  until  Angeline  denounced  Washing- 
ton as  a  man-stealer,  then  he  could  listen  no  longer. 
I'he  appeal  had  been  made  to  the  Congregational 
Parish  for  a  recognition  of  the  importance  of  this 
slavery  question,  but  at  first  withont  a  hearing. 

The  community  at  large  had  already  become  one  of 
the  most  active  in  the  propagation  of  the  new  ideas. 
The  Baptists  did  not  wholly  indorse  the  views  of 
Garrison  and  his  associates  on  the  issue  of  southern 
slavery,  woman's  rights  and  kindred  topics,  but  were 
ready  to  grant  them  a  candid  hearing.  The  Liberator 
was  read  approvingly  by  some  of  them,  the  abolition 
almanac  was  cherished  as  almost  a  sacred  thing,  as 
the  writer  well  remembers  he  so  regarded  it  in  his 
boyhood,  and  many  of  the  most  active  of  the  women, 
who  met  to  pray  for  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves 
were  of  the  Baptist  people.  The  Liberator,  that  fire- 
brand, was  excluded  from  the  United  States  mails  in 
the  South,  but  the  writer  and  his  brother  with  boyish 
enthusiasm  were  agents  in  sending  several  copies  to 
Charleston,  S.  C,  in  the  packing  of  their  father's  shoes, 
for  which  they  received  a  severe  reprimand,  when 
complaints  came  as  they  soon  did  from  the  Southern 
consignee.  The  Moral  Reform  Society,  an  organiza- 
tion of  ladies,  for  the  lifting  up  of  their  unfortunate 
sisters,  was  active  from  1835  and  onward,  and  was 
largely  under  Baptist  auspices.  For  some  years  after 
the  resignation  of  Mr.  Burden,  the  Baptist  church  ex- 
cept for  a  brief  period,  when  Rev.  L.  E.  Caswell  was 
pastor  (afterwards  for  many  years  a  popular  city  mis- 
sionary in  Boston,  was  pastor,  was  without  a  settled 
minister.  They  had,  however,  the  services  of  some 
men  of  fine  talent,  especially  Rev.  Mr.  Moody,  of  Eng- 
land, who  not  long  after  he  preached  here  returned 
home. 

Others  who  supplied  were  Mr.  Freeman,  who  went 


GEORGETOWN. 


839 


South ;  Horace  Richardson,  later  noted  as  an  educa- 
tor in  California ;  Isaac  Sawyer,  of  Deerfield ;  Stephen 
H.  Mirick,  George  Keely  and  his  son,  Josiah  B.,  of 
Haverhill.  October  9,  1844,  Joseph  C.  Hartshorn  of 
Chelsea,  was  ordained  the  pastor,  with  sermon  by  Dr. 
Barnas  Sears,  the  successor  of  Horace  Mann  as  Super- 
intendent of  State  Board  Education.  Rev.  Mr.  Harts- 
horn was  scholarly,  had  a  very  successful  pastorate, 
and  much  esteemed  in  the  community.  His  resigna- 
tion occurred  August  29,  1848.  He  soon  after  retired 
from  the  ministry,  entered  into  business  as  a  manu- 
facturer of  gas-fixtures  in  Providence,  R.  I.,  and  ac- 
quired an  ample  fortune.  He  is  now  a  resident  of 
Newton,  Mass.,  retired,  but  perhaps  retaining  an  in- 
terest in  his  former  business. 

The  public  gifts  of  Mr.  Hartshorn,  expressive  of  his 
peculiar  character,  are  ten  thousand  dollars  to  Dr. 
CuUis's  Consumptives'  Home,  for  a  ward  which  is 
known  by  his  name,  and  a  very  large  sum  in  1884  to 
found  and  endow  the  Hartshorn  Memorial  College  for 
females  only  at  Richmond,  Va.,  a  gift  in  memory  oi 
his  wife  Rachel  Thurber  Hartshorn,  who  was  a  sister 
of  one  of  the  leading  members  of  the  Gorham  Silver 
Ware  Company  in  Providence,  and  who  died  very 
suddenly,  a  few  years  ago.  In  the  summer  of  1844, 
the  meeting-house  was  lengthened,  by  the  addition  oi 
about  fifteen  feet  at  the  easterly  end,'the  pulpit  removed 
from  the  west,  between  the  entrance  doors,  to  the  east 
end,  and  the  slips  reversed,  to  front  the  pulpit  in  its 
new  position.     A  bell  was  also  hung  in  the  belfry. 

In  December,  1848,  Rev.  Arlow  M.  Swain,  of  New 
Hampshire,  became  the  tenth  pastor.  While  he  was 
with  the  church,  a  vestry  for  social  meetings  was  fin- 
ished in  the  basement  of  the  house.  In  July,  1850, 
Rev.  Paul  S.  Adams,  of  Newbury  port,  became  the 
eleventh  settled  pastor.  The  rightfulness  of  capital 
punishment,  Avas  under  general  debate  at  the  time.  Mr. 
Adams  taking  the  affirmative,  had  a  sharp  controversy 
with  Rev.  Mr.  Baker,  the  Universalist  minister.  Mr. 
Adams  was  chaplain  of  a  New  Hampshire  Regiment 
during  the  Rebellion,  and  died  not  long  since  in 
Newport,  N.  H. 

In  September,  1850,  the  Salem  Association  met  with 
this  church.  In  November,  1851,  Rev.  Philemon  R. 
Russell,  ordained  a  minister  of  the  Unitarians,  and 
later  a  Universalist  Restorationist,  became  the  pastor, 
and  continued  until  May,  1853.  In  the  summer  of 
that  year  he  was  residing  in  the  Baptist  parsonage, 
where  his  wife,  one  Sunday  afternoon,  just  after  re- 
turning from  church,  was  seated  with  an  infant  in  her 
arms,  during  a  violent  shower,  and  was  instantly 
killed  by  lightning.     The  child  escaped  unharmed. 

In  November,  1855,  Rev.  William  Read,  of  Rayn- 
ham,  was  settled,  resigning  in  March,  1857.  Both 
Mr.  Read  and  wife  were  of  literary  tastes,  a  gift  which 
is  inherited  by  their  children.  Rev.  Joseph  H.  Seaver, 
of  Salem,  Mass.,  was  settled  in  November,  1858,  re- 
signing in  April,  1862.  Rev.  Joseph  M.  Burtt  suc- 
ceeded, assuming  the  pastoral  office  in  March,  1863, 


resigning  in  March,  1871.  During  his  pastorate  the 
meeting-house  was  modernized  in  the  interior,  with 
other  improvements,  at  an  expense  of  about  one 
thousand  dollars. 

The  parsonage  property  was,  by  permit  of  the  leg- 
islature, sold,  and  valuable  property  opposite  the 
church  building,  for  some  years  the  residence  of  Dr. 
H.  N.  Couch,  bought  for  a  parsonage  with  the  pro- 
ceeds. Mr.  Burtt  removed  to  Buxton  Center,  Me.  He 
was  chaplain  of  the  State  Almshouse  in  Tewksbury 
for  some  years  previously,  was  also  founder  and  sole 
proprietor  of  the  Christian  Era,  a  Baptist  weekly  pa- 
per, now  merged  in  the  Watchman.  Rev.  R.  G.  Far- 
ley was  installed  in  the  evening  of  May  31, 1871,  with 
sermon  by  Dr.  Bosworth  of  Haverhill,  Mr.  Farley 
was  su[)erintendent  of  the  public  schools  one  year 
during  his  pastorate.     He  removed  to  Maine. 

In  May,  1874,  Rev.  E.  T.  Lyford,  of  Rowley,  was 
settled  and  was  pastor  until  May,  1878,  when  he  re- 
moved to  Billerica,  Mass.  Mr.  Lyford  was  chaplain 
of  the  Eleventh  Regiment,  New  Hampshire  Volun- 
teers (Colonel  Harriman),  during  the  Rebellion.  In 
March,  1879,  Rev.  N.  B.  Wilson,  a  city  missionary  in 
East  Boston,  succeeded,  but  resigned,  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing January  removed  to  Newton,  N.  H.  He  was 
much  esteemed  in  town,  and  found  a  congenial  field 
in  the  active  temperance  work  of  the  time. 

In  1880,  Rev.  J.  M.  Burtt  again  assumed  pastoral 
duties,  remaining  until  the  spi'ing  of  1881,  when  he 
returned  to  Buxton,  Me.  W.  D.  Athearn,  a  student 
of  Newton  Seminary,  was  pulpit  supply  until  1883, 
when  he  became  the  pastor  of  the  Baptist  Church  in 
Spencer,  Mass.  Other  students  followed,  among  them 
Robert  MacDonald  of  Boston,  who  on  graduation  ac- 
cepted the  call  of  the  church  and  was  ordained  pastor, 
early  in  June,  1885,  Rev.  Mr.  Braislin,  of  Newton, 
Mass.,  preaching  the  sermon.  Other  parts  by  Rev. 
Messrs.  Gardner,  Stetson  and  Tilson.  Extensive  im- 
provements on  the  church  building  began  November 
9, 1886. 

The  Sunday-school  was  founded  in  June,  1820,  and 
Deacon  Solomon  Nelson  and  wife  were  especially  in- 
terested in  its  organization.  The  Sunday-school  Con- 
vention of  the  Merrimac  River  Association,  with 
George  S.  Merrill,  of  Lawrence,  secretary,  met  with 
this  church  in  June,  1870,  to  commemorate  the  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  their  school.  For  many  years  prior  to 
1840  the  ladies  of  this  church  had  amission  organiza- 
tion known  as  the  Female  Mite  Society. 

The  Universalist  Society  held  services  about  one- 
fourth  of  the  time,  as  speakers  could  be  obtained, 
until  the  spring  of  1835,  when  Rev.  Joseph  B.  Morse 
was  engaged  for  one-half  of  the  time,  and  this  en- 
gagement was  renewed  for  1836.  The  three  following 
years  their  meeting-house  was  opened  about  one-half 
of  the  Sundays  of  the  year,  with  a  frequent  change  of 
ministers,  until  1840,  when  Rev.  D.  P.  Livermore, 
afterwards  the  husband  of  the  now  famous  Mrs.  Mary 
A.  Livermore,  was  engaged  and  the  Society  had  his 


840 


HISTOKY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


services  regularly  for  that  year.  The  next  year  he 
preached  one  half  of  the  time.  In  1842  some  im- 
provements in  the  meeting-house  and  various  speak- 
ers as  before.  In  1843  Rev.  George  Hastings  supplied 
regularly  for  that  year,  but  the  next  year  but  one- half 
of  the  Sundays.  Mr.  Hastings  was  a  practical  ma- 
chinist, working  at  his  trade  when  not  employed  in 
pastoral  duty.     He  also  served  as  school  committee. 

James  T.  Dunbar,  then  the  hotel-keeper  in  the 
house  now  the  residence  of  Dr.  R.  C.  Huse,  was  quite 
active  in  the  affairs  of  this  Society  at  this  date,  and 
for  several  years  afterwards.  After  Mr.  Hastings, 
who  had  married  a  daughter  of  Jonathan  Harriman, 
left  town,  services  were  not  held  regularly,  and  Mr. 
Dunbar,  who  was  the  financial  representative  of  the 
Society,  had  authority  to  hire  whom  he  pleased.  In 
December,  1849,  Rev.  Henry  H.  Baker,  from  Essex, 
Mass.,  was  engaged  for  three  months,  and  the  engage- 
ment successively  renewed  for  the  two  following  years, 
retiring  in  the  spring  of  1852.  He  was  the  represent- 
ative of  the  town  in  the  legislature  in  1852. 

Charles  II.  Webster,  whose  name  was  changed  from 
Kent,  born  in  the  Merrill  House  on  East  Street,  was 
from  1840  one  of  the  active  and  talented  young  men 
of  this  Society.  He  became  a  Universalist  minister, 
had  several  pastorates  in  this  State,  was  once  pastor 
at  Dedham,  was  a  chaplain  in  a  Massachusetts  regi- 
ment during  the  Rebellion,  and  died  some  years  ago 
in  Maryland. 

Samuel  Chase  was  another  Universalist  minister 
who  attended  service  here.  So  did  his  brothers,  John 
K.  and  James  Chase,  for  a  time;  both  afterwards  be- 
came Baptist  ministers  of  considerable  note,  of  whom 
John  K.  is  still  living.  These  young  men  were  all 
shoemakers,  working  in  the  cozy  home  shops  and  in 
the  old-fashioned  manner,  debating  and  studying 
while  their  hands  were  employed.  After  Mr.  Baker 
left,  and  Spiritualism  making  inroads  into  this  So- 
ciety, the  interest  in  sustaining  religious  meetings  of 
the  denomination  gradually  lessened,  until  the  Pro- 
prietors decided  to  sell  their  property. 

March  27,  1855,  a  committee  reported  the  sale  of 
the  meeting-house  and  lot  to  the  town  of  Georgetown, 
for  two  thousand  dollars.  The  church  building  was  sold 
by  the  town  for  about  three  hundred  dollars,  removed 
to  land  owned  by  William  Boynton,  made  into  a  dwel- 
ling-house, is  at  present  occupied  in  part  by  Edward 
S.  Fickett,  Principal  of  the  High  School.  The  So- 
ciety held  an  occasional  preaching  service,  and  much 
of  the  time  a  Sunday-school.  W.  H.  Harriman,  the 
successor  of  Sylvanus  Nelson  as  Society  clerk,  was 
more  prominent  than  any  other  person  in  sustaining 
the  school.  After  the  sale  of  the  meeting-house  and 
erection  of  the  Town  Hall  on  the  site,  all  meetings 
held  were  in  the  hall  and  those  supplying  were  gen- 
erally of  high  denominational  talent,  as  Drs.  Patter- 
son, Miner,  St.  John  Chambre,  Rev.  Willard  Spaul- 
ding  and  others  equally  noted.  This  appointment  of 
Mr,  Fickett  as  teacher  of  the  High  School,  with  his 


known  religious  views,  encouraged  the  members  of 
the  school  to  renewed  efforts,  and  for  a  time  while  he 
was  superintendent  there  was  a  large  membership,  but 
since  about  1872  or  73,  all  meetings  of  the  denomina- 
tion have  been  discontinued. 

This  Society  never  had  a  church  organization,  al- 
though at  times  the  question  was  under  favorable 
consideration.  There  was  fine  musical  talent  among 
them  and  the  services  of  the  choir  were  always  of  a 
high  order.  Their  observance  of  Christmas,  with 
decorated  house,  sermons,  songs  and  choruses,  now 
general  in  all  denominations,  was  then  regarded  as  a 
dangerous  innovation,  almost  heathenish  even,  by  the 
other  churches.  Perhaps  the  last  service  of  local  im- 
portance, held  in  the  church,  was  that  of  the  funeral 
of  Mr.  Nathaniel  Nelson,  in  March,  1853. 

The  first  Roman  Catholic  service  held  in  this  town 
was  in  1849,  in  Mr.  Nathaniel  Nelson's  house  on  An- 
dover  Street,  now  the  residence  of  J.  P.  Jones,  Esq., 
with  Rev.  Mr.  Lannen  of  Newburyport,  as  officiating 
priest.  The  Newburyport  parish  included  at  that 
time  all  Northern  Essex.  This  celebration  of  mass 
was  in  the  part  of  the  house  then  occupied  by  James 
McLain,  now  living  on  West  Street.  Several  Irish 
emigrant  families,  antedate  Mr.  McLain  by  many 
years.  Mr.  Delaney,  a  Conuaught-man,  Mr,  Dorney, 
the  harness-maker,  who  it  is  said  began  a  course  of 
study  for  the  priesthood,  Timothy  O'Brien,  and  per- 
haps two  or  three  others,  were  in  town  as  early  as 
1842  or  43,  but  Nicholas  Reynolds,  who  returned  to 
Ireland  and  whom  L.  H.  Bateman  afterwards  visited, 
was  perhaps  the  first  Irish  born  resident  of  this  town. 

From  1840  to  50,  Mr.  Nathaniel  Nelson  had  several 
farm  laborers  of  Irish  birth  transiently  employed. 
In  1850,  Father  Lannen  officiated  in  the  service  of 
the  mass  several  times  in  the  Brocklebank  house  on 
Central  Street,  then  occupied  by  James  Molloy.  The 
opening  of  the  Newburyport  Railroad,  led  to  the 
permanent  location  of  several  Catholics  in  town,  who 
had  been  employed,  among  them  Michael  and  Dennis 
Buckley.  Three  brothers  of  the  same  name  of  Mol- 
loy, cousins  of  James,  one  of  whom  had  arrived  in 
1849,  were  settled  here  1852.  The  families  of  Hughes, 
Haley,  Barry,  with  Gauley,  O'Doyle,  Monaghan,  ap- 
pear at  about  this  date,  some  before  and  others  a 
little  later,  most  of  whom  remained  and  are  i)er- 
manent  residents.  Several  young  men  also  arrived 
and  located,  as  Donaghue,  Moan,  Kane  and  others, 
and  but  little  time  elapsed  before  the  Catholic  popu- 
lation was  sufficiently  numerous  to  require  a  frequent 
service  of  their  church. 

The  attic  hall,  known  as  Tammany,  in  the  Boyn- 
ton building,  burned  in  the  October  fire  of  1874,  was 
temporarily  engaged,  afterwards  an  upper  room  in  the 
Masonic  building,  and  at  a  later  date,  the  Town 
Hall.  Haverhill  was  then  a  parish  centre,  and 
Georgetown  was  attached  to  it,  with  Rev.  John  Mc- 
Donald in  charge  of  the  service  here,  continuing  to 
about  1870.     The  next  appointment  was  that  of  Rev. 


GEORGETOWN. 


841 


Richard  Cumraings,  who  was  recalled  from  the  pa- 
rochial oversight  in  1871,  and  Rev.  John  Cumming.* 
appointed,  who  soon  located  here,  living  at  first  in 
the  faniil}^  of  Dennis  Donaghue,  afterwards  renting 
the  house  at  the  head  of  Clark  Street,  near  the 
carriage  factory.  In  1870  the  Congregational  Chapel 
which  the  Memorial  Church  had  vacated  four  year;- 
before,  was  purchased  for  the  Catholics,  of  Mr.  G.  J. 
Tenney,  by  Mr.  Donaghue,  at  a  cost  of  one  thousand 
dollars.  It  was  soon  made  ready  for  occupancy,  and 
the  first  mass  was  celebrated  in  what  was  then  known 
as  St.  Mary's  Church,  in  October  of  that  year.  In  ad- 
dition to  the  original  cost,  there  has  been  expended 
on  improvements,  before  and  since  entering,  an  esti- 
mated sum  of  not  less  than  another  thousand  of  dol- 
lars. Rev.  John  Cummings  was  removed  about 
1876,  and  Rev.  Thomas  O'Brien,  of  Somerville,  wa^ 
the  priest,  until  about  1878,  when  Rev.  Edward  L. 
McClure,  who  had  been  very  successful  in  general 
parochial  work  in  Woburn,  Mass.,  was  assigned  the 
care  of  this  parish. 

About  1881  the  very  attractive  dwelling-house  and 
grounds  of  Mrs.  G.  W.  Boynton,  on  Central  Street, 
was  purchased  for  a  parochial  residence,  at  a  cost  ol 
about  four  thousand  dollars.  About  one-fifth  of  the 
Catholic  population  at  present,  are  of  P'rench  Cana- 
dian descent.  For  many  years  there  were  but  two 
families  of  this  race  in  the  town,  and  not  until  six  or 
seven  years  ago,  were  they  sufficiently  nu)nerous  to 
be  noticeable. 

Most  of  the  prominent  divisions  of  the  religious 
world  have  had  their  representatives  in  this  town. 
The  Mormon  faith,  while  strongly  entrenched  in 
Groveland,  had  an  outpost  here  on  Main  Street,  and 
some  converts.  In  1846  Elder  Nathaniel  Holmes 
was  a  firm  believer  and  zealous  worker  for  the  doc- 
trines of  that  church,  as  preached  by  the  pioneers, 
but  a  strong  opposer  of  the  spiritual  wifehood  or 
polygamy  views,  as  was  then  advocated.  It  has  been 
said  that  they  had  a  church   organization  for  a  time. 

The  opinions  of  Wm.  Miller,  and  the  excitement  of 
184?,  were  not  popular  here.  As  far  as  is  known, 
there  was  but  one  person  in  town,  who  practically  ac- 
knowledged faith  in  the  speedy  closing  of  all  things 
earthly. 

Late  in  December,  1840,  a  movement  toward 
Church  Union,  led  to  the  founding  of  an  organiza- 
tion, composed  of  some  previously  connected  with 
both  the  Congregationalist  and  Baptist  churches,  and 
the  engaging  of  the  Universalist  meeting-house  for 
services,  when  it  was  not  wanted  by  the  Universallsts. 
These  were  known  as  "  Christian  Unionists,  "  and 
regular  services  were  held  in  Savory's  Hall,  when  the 
meeting-house  could  not  be  had.  Their  minister 
who  was  an  "Oberlin  Perfectionist, "  founded  a 
church,  and  claimed  that  all  the  true  element  in  town 
would  eventually  rally  under  their  name. 

After  1841  or  42,  they  suspended  all  meetings.    The 
"  Comeouterism  "  which  soon  rocked  the  churches  here 
534 


like  a  whirlwind,  was  to  some  extent  the  outgrowth 
of  this  union  movement,  and  was  also  the  result  of 
the  abolition  agitation  of  the  preceding  year.  Shut 
out  from  the  meeting-houses,  as  Henry  C.  Wright, 
Parker  Pillsbury,  S.  S.  Foster,  Abby  Kelly,  Rev.  Mr. 
Beach  and  the  other  earnest  enthusiasts  claimed  they 
began  to  gather  audiences  in  the  open  air.  Their 
cry  was  "  come  out  from  the  churches, ''  and  from 
this  they  derived  their  name.  Addresses  were  made 
in  this  town  from  the  Central  Street  front  of  Little's 
shoe  factory,  the  barn  belonging  to  T.  J.  Elliott,  in 
Little's  grove,  and  elsewhere.  The  Sunday  question 
was  soon  brought  in,  and  that  all  days  were  alike 
holy,  and  that  there  was  no  especially  holy  time. 
The  believers  claimed  that  this  Gospel  of  Liberty, 
was  taught  by  Jesus,  when  he  plucked  the  ears  of 
corn  on  the  Sabbath  day,  and  for  a  sign  to  their  en- 
slaved neighbors,  they  conspicuously  performed  un- 
necessary labor  on  Sunday,  seeking  persecution  in 
so  doing.  One  sister  carried  her  knitting  to  the 
Baptist  Church,  the  click  of  her  needles,  keeping 
time  with  the  exhortations  of  the  speaker.  Practi- 
cal non-resistant  as  she  was  (and  as  they  all  were), 
and  refusing  voluntarily  to  leave  the  meeting-house, 
she  was  forcibly  carried  out,  the  next  day.  ,  She 
was  carried  up  the  narrow  stair-way  at  Savory's 
Hall  for  trial  on  the  charge  of  disturbing  religious 
worship.  Immensely  corpulent  as  she  was  she  gave 
another  severe  burden  to  the  officers,  in  carrying  her 
to  the  vehicle  which  conveyed  her  to  the  Ipswich 
House  of  Correction. 

Physical  reforms  were  also  made  a  religious  duty, 
and  a  vegetarian  and  Graham  diet  with  daily  ablu- 
tions and  shower  baths  were  supplemented  by  open 
discussions  on  the  delicate  questions  of  Heredity, 
Marriages  and  congenital  topics. 

At  one  of  the  grove  meetings,  while  a  speaker  was 
fluently  denouncing  the  eating  of  meat  and  applaud- 
ing the  use  of  Graham  flour,  the  audience  were  elec- 
trified by  a  facetious  listener  shouting,  as  a  poser, 
"  Peter  was  commanded  to  slay  and  eat.  Could  he 
slay  bread  V  It  was  a  queer  period,  and  Georgetown 
more  than  most  towns  in  the  county  was  a  sort  of  a 
battle-ground.  There  was  but  little  persecution  here, 
only  legal  correction,  when  some  of  the  most  earnest 
persisted  in  invading  the  churches  and  interrupting 
meetings,  but  much  undisguised  dislike  and  scorn. 
Their  radical  crusade  against  Southern  Slavery  is  now 
endorsed,  and  the  statue  of  Garrison,  their  grand  pio- 
neer, is  one  of  the  glories  to-day  of  that  mammon- 
worshipping  Boston,  that  sought  his  death.  Spiritu- 
alism had  many  disciples  in  this  town  at  an  early  pe- 
riod of  the  manifestations,  but  while  public  services 
are  rarely  held,  there  are  many  who  still  hold  to  this 
belief  embraced  a  score  or  more  of  years  ago.  Frank 
Baxter  has  spoken  in  town,  as  have  several  others 
equally  celebrated,  and  until  recently  private  seances 
were  occasionally  held.  A  Methodist  class-meeting 
was  established  some  twenty  years  ago,  in  the  hope 


842 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


that  it  would  result  in  a  permanent  interest  of  that 
denomination,  but  it  soon  died  out.  The  Seventh-day 
Adventists  held  a  series  of  tent-meetings  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1877  or  '78,  at  the  easterly  end  of  Lincoln 
Park,  Elder  Haskell,  prominent  in  the  denomina- 
tion, was  the  active  spirit.  For  a  time  there  were  a 
few  persons  who  adhered  lo  the  distinctive  tenets  of 
their  faith  and  observed  Saturday  as  the  Sabbath,  but 
with  but  one  or  two  exceptions,  they  returned  to  their 
former  views.  About  1881-82  Episcopal  services  were 
held  in  town  ;  at  first  in  Grand  Army  Hall  in  the  ho- 
tel building  and  afterwards  in  Library  Hall.  These 
services  were  the  result  of  the  efforts  of  the  Misses 
De  Wolf,  young  ladies  residing  in  the  town.  The 
rectors  of  South  Groveland  and  Trinity  Church,  Hav- 
erhill, officiated,  and  the  diocesan  missionary  was  here 
several  times,  but  there  was  not  sufficient  interest 
aroused  to  give  permanency  to  the  movement,  and, 
after  a  few  weeks,  meetings  were  suspended.  The 
Bible-readings  of  Mr.  Charles  in  1877  and  '78  were 
popular  at  Byfield  depot  village,  and  several  families 
living  on  North  Street,  near  the  Newbury  line,  became 
believers.  Dwelling-house  services  are  still  held  in 
that  locality,  A  few  open-air  meetings  were  held  at 
Georgetown  Corner,  with  but  little  encouragement. 
The  Salvationists,  with  Haverhill  as  headquarters, 
are  the  latest  attempt  of  a  new  religious  organization 
to  secure  a  hold  in  this  town.  Two  or  three  short 
campaigns  have  already  seemed  abortive.  The  pres- 
ent may  be  more  of  a  success  than  any  that  have  pre- 
ceded it. 

Cemeteries. —  Union  Cemetery,  for  more  than  one 
hundred  years  the  only  public  burial-ground,  is  loca- 
cated  in  the  Marlboro'  district.  The  original  part, 
at  the  extreme  easterly  end,  of  one-fourth  acre,  was 
purchased  of  Joseph  Nelson,  March  6,  1732-33,  Mr. 
Nelson's  wife,  Hannah,  who  was  the  grand-daughter 
of  Captain  Brocklebank,  killed,  as  has  been  said, 
many  years  before,  by  the  Indians  at  Sudbury,  had 
been  already  buried  there,  dying  in  June  of  the  pre- 
vious year,  and  during  the  following  autumn  and 
winter,  several  others  who  had  also  died  in  the 
parish,  had  been  buried  beside  her.  In  1755  the  first 
enlargement  was  made,  and  the  following  year,  the 
ground  was  enclosed  by  a  close  board  fence,  colored 
with  "  Spanish  brown"  (as  reads  the  record)  in  front, 
and  a  substantial  stone  wall,  four  feet  in  height,  in 
the  rear.  In  1769  a  stone  wall  was  built  along  the 
road,  replacing  the  fence  of  some  years  before.  The 
entire  fence  was  rebuilt  in  1783,  A  further  enlarge- 
ment in  1805,  of  land  bought  of  Job  Brocklebank. 
Dr,  Amos  Spoffbrd,  one  of  the  committee  chosen  by 
the  parish  to  purchase  this  land,  was  the  first  person 
who  died  in  the  parish  after  it  was  made.  His  death 
occurred  December  20, 1805,  and  he  was  buried  in  the 
new  ground.  The  following  year  a  faced  wall  was 
built  along  the  front,  which  continued  until  the  erec- 
tion of  the  present  iron  fence,  which  was  set  upwards 
of  forty  years  ago,  and  was  a  gift  to  the  town  by  David 


Pingree,  of  Salem.  A  burial-cloth  was  purchased  by 
the  parish  in  1836,  another  in  1800,  and  a  hearse  in 
1819.  Mrs.  Huldah  Harriman  was  the  oldest  person 
ever  buried  there.  She  died  March  5,  1848,  aged  one 
hundred  years,  five  months  and  twenty-six  days.  By 
the  last  enlargement,  now  many  years  ago,  this  upland 
knoll  was  then  entirely  enclosed  for  the  purpose  for 
which  the  first  quarter  of  an  acre  was  selected  more 
than  a  century  and  a  half  ago,  and  no  further  increase 
of  suitable  land  was  possible,  consequently,  nearly 
a  half  century  ago,  the  selection  of  another  locality 
for  a  cemetery  began  to  be  agitated.  In  1845,  the 
opening  of  the  "  New  Yard,"  as  it  was  at  first  called, 
awakened  an  intense  interest  throughout  the  commu- 
nity. 

The  first  interment  in  the  new  yard,  now  known  as 
Harmony  Cemetery  was  that  of  a  lady  named  Mrs.  Cram, 
The  father  of  J.  M.  Clark  was  the  second  person 
buried.  As  we  think  of  some  who  are  buried  there, 
we  recall  events  peculiarly  painful  in  the  history  of 
the  town,  as  that  of  the  Beecher  sisters,  Esther  and 
Hattie,  younger  daughters  of  Rev.  Charles  Beecher, 
who,  with  their  cousin,  a  son  of  Rev.  Edward  Beech- 
er, were  drowned  by  the  capsizing  of  a  boat  on  Lake 
Pentucket,  at  noon-day,  August  27,  1867.  Lieuten- 
ant Frederick  Beecher,  who  was  killed  with  General 
Custer,  is  also  remembered  by  a  stone  near  by.  Here 
were  also  laid,  during  the  Christmas  season  of  1885, 
George  A.  Chase  and  J(iseph  A.  Illsey,  the  two  young 
men  who  were  almost  instantly  killed  in  the  service  of 
the  town,  while  battling  against  the  incipient  fire  that 
then  raged,  threatening  to  destroy  the  village,  and  a 
few  weeks  later  their  comrade,  Clarence  M,  Clark, 
who  was  spared  for  but  a  few  weeks  of  suffering. 
Captain  George  W.  Boynton,  chief  constable  of  the 
State,  who  died  March  23,  1877,  is  also  buried  here. 
John  Perley,  who  bequeathed  the  fund  for  the  Pros- 
pective Free  School,  has  a  memorial  of  Italian  mar- 
ble, said  to  have  cost  upwards  of  three  thousand  dol- 
lars, an  exact  copy  of  that  erected  to  the  memory  of 
Sir  Walter  Scott.  This  in  a  central  position,  and  on 
the  highest  part  of  the  ground,  probably  covers  the 
spot  upon  which  the  ancient  watch-house  stood. 

The  burial  of  the  Catholic  dead  of  the  town  is  in  the 
cemetery  at  Haverhill.  Twice,  at  least,  some  steps 
have  been  taken  by  some  of  that  faith  towards  the  pur- 
chasing of  ground  for  a  Catholic  cemetery  in  this 
town.  At  one  time  the  lot  at  the  corner  of  Mill  and 
North  Streets  was  suggested,  and  at  a  later  day  land 
of  Sylvanus  Nelson's,  on  Elm  Street,  but  nothing  re- 
sulted, and  for  some  years  the  matter  has  not  been 
considered. 

The  only  family  burial  ground  ever  in  the  town  was 
many  years  ago  on  North  Street.  This  was  used  for 
the  interment  of  several  persons.  The  removal  of 
those  buried  there  to  the  public  cemeteries,  was  in 
harmony  with  the  almost  universal  sentiment  in  North- 
ern Essex,  as  regards  the  burial  of  the  dead. 


GEORGETOWN. 


843 


CHAPTER    LVIII. 

GEORGETOWN— ( Continued). 
THE   MANUFACTURING   INDUSTRIES. 

The  colonists,  at  their  first  settlement  in  New  Eng- 
land, were  alive  to  the  importance  of  encouraging 
home  industries.  Burr-stones,  for  milling  use,  were 
shipped  here  as  early  as  1628,  and  the  emigration  of 
coopers,  millers  and  all  artisans,  was  especially  urged. 
In  1639,  millers,  ship-carpenters  and  others,  were  ex- 
empted from  the  burden  of  training-day.  As  soon  as 
Thomas  Nelson  had  taken  a  survey  of  the  out-lands 
around  the  village  of  Rowley,  he  found  a  good  loca- 
tion for  a  mill ;  and  but  a  year  or  tw^o  elapsed  before 
a  grist-mill  was  in  operation.  A  fulling-mill  and 
clothiers'  works  soon  followed.  Many  of  the  early 
settlers  of  Rowley  were  skilful  cloth-makers,  having  a 
celebrity  throughout  the  colony  for  skill  in  this  par- 
ticular industry. 

One  of  the  first  mills  built  to  accommodate  what 
was  afterwards  the  west  parish,  was  bj^  Sergt.  Jere- 
miah Pearson.  The  town  granted  him  authority  in 
1697,  to  build  a  mill,  provided  a  convenient  place 
could  be  found.  In  January,  1699-1700,  a  lot  of  land, 
which  had  been  granted  to  Samuel  Platts,  Jr.,  was 
returned  to  the  town,  Platts  receiving  other  land  in 
exchange ;  and  on  this  convenient  site  Pearson  erected 
a  grist-mill,  which  was  in  use  about  one  hundred 
years.  This  was  situated  near  the  afterwards  some- 
what famous  Stickney  mills.  How  long  a  time  the 
Harriman  mill  on  Rock  Brook  was  run  is  not  known, 
but,  whatever  the  length  of  time,  it  was  unques- 
tionably the  first  to  be  built  within  the  limits  of 
Georgetown. 

Some,  if  not  all,  the  earlier-built  Houses  in  this 
west  parish,  were  of  logs.  Pine  trees  were  scarce 
down  to  a  late  day  in  this  locality.  A  severe  penalty 
was  imposed  by  special  statute,  in  Massachusetts,  for 
unnecessary  injury  to  pine  trees,  as  late  as  1790 ;  and 
this  species  were  so  rare  where  now  they  are  almost 
the  exclusive  growth,  that  Capt.  Solomon  Dodge  has 
been  known  to  say  that,  when  a  boy,  a  pine  tree  was 
something  of  which  but  few  could  be  seen  for  a  long 
distance  around  his  home  in  Dodgeville.  The  board- 
ing of  the  houses  was  of  oak,  as  well  as  the  frames, 
until  past  the  middle  of  the  last  century  ;  and  whether 
originally  the  boards  were  sawed  or  split,  with  a 
shaved  surface  afterward,  is  uncertain.  There  was  a 
class  of  mechanics  known  as  sawyers  at  a  very  early 
day,  and  perhaps  the  boards  may  have  been  worked 
out  by  hand  with  pit-saws.  The  shingles  were  split, 
and  the  durable  ones  are  said  to  have  been  from 
trees  killed  by  burning,  while  in  a  growing,  vigorous 
condition. 

The  Harriman  mill  was  doubtless  a  saw  as  well  as 
grist-mill,  for,  at  the  time  it  was  first  projected,  there 
were  several  houses  in  contemplation,  and  evidently 
much  enterprise  in  the  eighteen  mill-owners.   Deacon 


Abner  Spofford  had  a  saw-mill  in  operation,  in  1734, 
on  the  stream  which  finds  its  outlet  at  Parker  River, 
above  Scrag  Pond.  Forty  years  afterward,  his  half- 
brother,  Col.  Daniel  Spofford  and  his  sons,  run  a 
grist-mill  at  the  same  site,  and  three  thousand 
bushels  of  grain,  grown  in  the  neighborhood,  have 
been  ground  there  in  a  single  year.  The  same  mill- 
stones, no  doubt,  had  been  previously  used  in  another 
grist-mill,  a  sort  of  an  improvised  affair,  on  a  dry  spot 
originally,  the  only  power  being  what  water  was  con- 
veyed by  several  uncertain  streams.  This  mill  was  in 
the  rear  of  William  B.  Howe's  house,  and  was  run  by 
John  Spofford,  another  of  this  Spofford  family. 

About  1740  Daniel  Pierce,  perhaps  the  grandfather 
of  the  late  Major  Daniel  Pierce,  commenced  digging 
a  canal  below  Pentucket  Pond,  preparatory  to  the 
erection,  or  possible  enlargement,  of  a  mill  already 
in  operation,  and  at  the  site  now  occupied  by  the 
Parker  Woolen  Mills.  The  interest  that  Pierce  had 
was  soon  sold  by  him,  the  purchaser  running  a  grist- 
mill, which,  for  a  century,  was  in  use  from  the  mid- 
dle of  October  to  the  middle  of  April  of  each  year. 

In  1807  John  Wood,  who  lived  near  by,  was  the 
owner,  and  added  a  saw-mill.  Paul  Stickney  was  at 
one  time  the  proprietor,  and  also  Major  Paul  Dole, 
for  more  than  twenty  years.  About  1851  or  '52, 
money  was  raised  by  subscription,  land  damage  paid  ; 
the  meadow  around  Pentucket  Pond  flowed  through 
the  year,  and  the  mill  was  run  constantly  during  the 
summer  months.  This  made  a  precedent ;  the  result 
of  which  has  been  the  permanent  flowage  of  these 
lands,  or  sufficiently  so,  as  to  make  them  valueless. 

About  1863  Hon.  Moses  Tenney  bought  and  en- 
larged the  mills,  adding  improved  machinery  at  a 
large  expense.  Many  were  hoping  when  the  pur- 
chase was  made,  that  the  intentions  were  to  remove 
the  entire  structure,  and  thus  give  unobstructed  pas- 
sage to  the  vast  body  of  water  which  flowed,  or 
would  flow,  if  unchecked,  through  the  central  and 
southern  part  of  the  town ;  but  their  hopes  were 
doomed  to  disappointment.  About  five  years  ago, 
the  property  changed  owners,  and  the  manufacture 
of  blankets  was  begun,  with  an  enlargement  of  the 
buildings.  Under  the  present  competent  manage- 
ment, the  production  is  largely  cassimeres.  There  are 
about  fifty  employees,  with  Edward  C.  Aldrich  as 
superintendent,  and  the  corporation  name  is  the 
"Parker  River  Mills."  Returning  to  the  last  cen- 
tury, we  find  other  industries.  The  iron  works  have 
been  referred  to,  and  the  Hazen  Saw-mill  at  J.  S. 
Kimball's  place.  All  the  little  streams,  only  available 
for  one-half  of  the  year,  were  utilized. 

Eleazar  Spofford,  the  son  of  Deacon  Abner,  began 
about  1775  the  work  of  wire-drawing  near  his  father's 
saw-mill.  Jonathan  Chaplin,  the  father  of  Captain 
Eliphalet,  built  a  rope- walk  where  the  road  now  is, 
just  north  of  Wilfred  S.  Chaplin's  house.  Deacon 
Stephen  Mighill,  like  his  predecessors,  manufactured 
malt.     The  Burpy  family  dammed  a  swift-running 


844 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


little  brook  that  coursed  through  their  land,  and 
made  a  rude  mill  for  breaking  flax.  Jeremiah,  the 
father  of  Dr.  Jeremiah  Spofford,  had  a  mill  for  the 
making  of  snuff  in  operation  during  the  Revolution. 
Molasses  was  made  from  Indian  corn-stalks  and  water- 
melons during  this  war.  Saltpetre  was  made  from 
the  dried  earth  found  under  old  buildings.  A  part 
of  the  house  of  the  late  Deacon  Moses  Merrill  was 
the  workshop  of  Deacon  Thomas  Merrill,  in  which 
his  eldest  sons  were  employed  during  the  Revolution- 
ary War  in  making  nails  with  forge  and  hammer. 

Benjamin  Wallingford,  Sr.,  and  son  of  the  same 
name,  manufactured,  in  a  humble  way,  articles  from 
leather,  as  saddle-bags,  harness  and  horse-collars  in 
their  house  on  Andover  Street.  Mr.  Burbank,  who 
lived  at  the  "Corner,"  was  a  chaise-maker  before  1800. 
One  of  the  chaises  of  that  period — perhaps  of  his 
make — was  called  the  "  Ark  ;  "  doubtless  the  name 
was  appropriate. 

The  old  gambrel-roofed  shop  of  Burbank,  which 
stood  in  front  of  where  Mr.  Pettengill's  brick  black- 
smith shop  now  stands,  was  on  the  same  site  at  the 
"  Corner  "  some  years  after  his  death.  There  were 
several  cooper-shops  in  the  parish.  One  was  where 
L.  G.  Wilson's  house  now  is. 

Charcoal-burning  was  common  as  late  as  seventy- 
five  years  ago.  The  farmers  often  find  the  remains 
of  the  charcoal  pits  turned  up  by  the  plough.  Philip 
Nelson  had  a  blacksmith  shop  near  the  "  Pound  '' 
in  '1760.  He  afterwards  removed  to  Haverhill. 
Several  fishing-vessels  of  eighteen  or  twenty  tons 
burden  were  built  near  the  meeting-house  by  Solo- 
mon Nelson  and  his  sons,  nearly  one  hundred  years 
ago.  These  were  for  Chebaco  (now  Essex)  parties, 
and  were  hauled  to  the  water,  either  at  Rowley  or 
Byfield,  to  be  floated  around.  Up  to  about  1860 
there  have  been  those  at  ditterent  periods  who  did 
considerable  business  in  cutting  and  roughing  ship- 
timber  and  plank  for  the  Essex  and  Newburyport 
builders. 

At  one  time,  when  repairs  were  being  made  on 
the  frigate  "  Constitution,"  some  valuable  timber 
cut  on  Baldpate  Hill  was  used.  Captain  Eliphalet 
Chaplin,  who  kept  several  pairs  of  oxen,  and  em- 
ployed a  number  of  men,  was,  in  the  first  quarter 
of  this  century,  largely  engaged  in  this  ship-stock 
industry,  also  Mr.  William  and  Ensign  Daniel  Spof- 
ford, and,  in  after  years,  Mighill  Nelson,  father  of 
the  writei'.  The  clipper-ship  building  of  forty  years 
ago,  drew  heavily  on  the  primitive  timber-growth, 
which  had  been  spared  up  to  that  time. 

Captain  Benjamin  Adams  began  the  tanning  and 
currying  of  leather  at  his  home  on  the  Salem  road, 
now  Central  Street,  about  1780.  The  next  to  begin 
this  important  industry  was  Captain  William  Parley, 
at  the  Hazen,  now  Kimball  place,  where  he  for  some 
time  ground  bark  by  water-power.  Deacon  Solomon 
Nelson,  on  Nelson  Street,  and  perhaps  Daniel  Clark, 
on    North    Street,  where  Henry  Milliard  afterwards 


carried  on  the  business,  continued  by  a  son  and  a 
grandson,  both  of  the  same  name,  which  at  present 
is  the  only  manufacture  of  the  kind  in  town.  Some 
domestic  or  slaughter  hides  (the  skins  of  cattle  killed 
in  the  vicinity)  with  the  dressing  of  skins  of  some 
unusual  kind,  is  now  the  only  work  performed,  and 
the  business  is  more  from  pleasure,  as  one  of  the 
past  customs  of  the  fiimily,  than  from  necessity  or 
special  profit.  Another  yard  opened  was  that  of  Noyes 
Pearson,  on  a  little  romantic  streaiu  which  crosses 
North  Street,  near  the  Newbury  line,  having  its  out- 
let eastwardly,  at  Wheeler's  brook.  Others,  estab- 
lished at  an  early  day  were  the  Westen  and  Phineas 
Hardy  yards,  on  ''  Rock  Brook,"  or  Parker  River,  very 
near  the  site  of  the  Harrimau  mill  of  nearly  a  centu- 
ry before.  At  about  the  same  period  Nathaniel  Nelson 
began  the  same  industry  near  the  meeting-house. 

In  1815,  or  near  that  date,  Deacon  Asa  Nelson, 
who  had  served  his  three  years'  apprenticeship  with 
his  relative,  Deacon  Solomon  Nelson,  and  had 
worked  at  the  business  for  two  or  three  years  at  the 
Pearson  tannery,  on  North  Street,  began  operations 
at  his  home  on  Elm  St.,  now  owned  by  his  son,  Sher- 
man Nelson.  He  conducted  a  large  business.  About 
1824  or  '25  Major  Jeremiah  Nelson,  a  son  of  Stephen 
M.,  who  had  also  learned  the  trade  of  Deacon  Nel- 
son, began  the  same  business  near  the  meeting- 
house, and  about  1835  was  the  first  to  introduce 
steajn  as  a  motive  power  into  town.  This  engine, 
with  the  buildings,  was  the  property  of  a  corporation. 
Nathaniel  Morse  had  also  a  yard  near  by.  Most  of 
the  young  men  who  learned  this  trade  in  New  Row- 
ley from  1810  to  1830  served  their  apprenticeship  to 
Deacon  Solomon  Nelson.  The  privileges  of  the  ap- 
prentice were  to  dress  for  himself  two  dozen  calf-skins, 
one-half  dozen  sides  of  leather,  and  as  many  sheep- 
skins as  the  apprentice  pleased.  These  were  not 
statutes  from  the  law-books,  but  were  recognized  as 
having  equal  authority.  Colonel  John  Kimball, 
about  1825,  began  an  extensive  manufacture  of 
leather  at  the  Captain  Adams  tannery,  then  owned 
by  him.  One  year  he  tanned  and  curried  four  thou- 
sand South  American  horse-hides.  Manj'  of  the  im- 
ported skins  of  those  days  were  of  Russian  red  cattle. 
Besides  those  in  town  who  had  yards  and  were  em- 
ployers of  labor,  there  were  those  who,  like  Amos 
Nelson,  had  the  use  of  pits  and  carried  on  an  inde- 
pendent business  of  their  own,  and  Benjamin  Low, 
who  was  a  currier,  and  worked  in  his  own  shop  for 
many  years.  Patented  leather  splitting-machines, 
worked  by  hand,  were  an  awkward  thing,  but  only 
one  could  be  used  in  a  town.  New  Rowley  manu- 
facturers, to  evade  the  law,  had  one  in  Gideon  Ba- 
ker's barn,  just  beyond  the  Boxford  line.  An  exten- 
sive business  in  the  slaughtering  of  cattle  was  carried 
on  in  town  early  in  the  present  century  and  during 
the  war  with  England.  This  was  conducted  princi- 
pally by  Deacon  Solomon  Nelson  and  his  cousin,  Na- 
thaniel Nelson.  Droves  of  fiftv  or  more  head  were  often 


GEORGETOWN. 


845 


purchased  at  one  time.  Cattle  were  frequently 
bought  of  Governor  Colby,  of  New  Hampshire.  The 
deacon  was  also  State  insjjector  of  beef.  The  cellar- 
floor  under  his  house  has  at  times  been  completely 
covered  with  barrels  of  beef  awaiting  shipment.  The 
hides  were  converted  into  leather,  and  both  in- 
dustries carried  on  simultaneously.  The  shoe  busi- 
ness, in  its  manufacture  outside  of  family  use,  is 
thought  to  have  been  begun  by  Deacon  Thomas  Mer- 
rill, father  of  I.  Newton  Merrill,  at  his  home  in  Marl- 
boro'. He  used  to  carry  in  his  horse-cart  the  shoes 
which  he  had  made,  to  Gloucester,  Marblehead  and 
Salem,  for  sale,  as  four-wheeled  vehicles  had  not  then 
become  common. 

There  were  cordwainers  from  an  early  day  who  had 
their  patrons,  and  going  from  house  to  house  would, 
in  the  corner  of  the  farmer's  kitchen,  make  the  shoes 
needed  for  the  family.  John  Bridges,  in  1775,  worked 
in  this  way  through  the  west  parish.  After  the  shoe 
industry  was  started,  there  were  many  who  had  much 
of  the  cutting,  making,  dressing  and  other  parts  of 
the  work  done  in  their  dwelling-house.  It  was  with 
most  a  mixed  industry,  combined  with  farming  or 
some  other  employment.  The  Brothers  Little  were  at 
Solomon  Nelson's,  near  the  meeting-house,  manufac- 
turing in  1810,  and  were  afterwards  at  the  "  Corner," 
but  in  both  places  combined  the  business  with  trade 
in  general  merchandise.  Richard  Tenney  and  his  son, 
Amos  J.  Tenney,  began  early  at  their  home  on  Tenney 
Street.  Deacon  Nelson  on  Nelson  Street,  and  Nath- 
aniel Nelson  at  his  home,  were  both  engaged  in  shoe- 
manufacturing  before  1812.  To  have,  as  it  were, 
"many  irons  in  the  lire"  was  the  rule  with  these 
business  men  of  that  day.  Benjamin  Winter  followed 
a  few  years  later,  and  is  said  to  have  made  the  first 
boys'  brogans  ever  made  in  town.  Stephen  Little 
claimed  to  have  made  the  first  pegged  shoes ;  Paul 
Pillsbury,  as  has  been  said,  the  first  shoe  pegs,  Paul 
Spofford  was  the  consignee  or  purchaser  of  many 
goods  shipped  at  that  early  period.  A  bill  of  lading 
before  the  writer  while  penning  this,  is  for  shoes 
shipped  to  Spoftbrd,  Tileston  &  Co.,  New  York  City_ 
Deacon  Asa  Nelson  soon  added  the  shoe  manufacture 
to  his  tanning  business.  D.  M.  Winter  began  a  limited 
business  about  1830.  Amos  J.  Tennev  and  his  son 
George  J.,  built  at  the  Corner  the  dwelling-house  and 
factory  in  1829,  which  were  burned  in  the  first  exten- 
sive fire  in  1874.  The  boots  made  by  the  Tenneys 
soon  became  generally  known  in  the  boot  and  shoe 
towns  of  the  State  as  a  standard  make  both  in  style 
and  quality,  and  the  firm  became  known  as  a  leading 
firm  in  the  business  centres  of  the  country.  Samuel 
Little  began  the  same  business  in  1831,  establishing  a 
trade  with  Pittsburgh,  and,  as  the  population  spread 
westward,  with  points  beyond  Western  Pennsylvania, 
and  finally,  under  the  firm  name  of  Little  &  Noyes 
(Hiram  N.),  afterwards  Little  &  Moulton,  became  the 
leading  business  house  of  the  town. 

It  is  a  fact  worthy  of  record  that  Daniel  Wood,  of 


Boxford,  who  worked  for  Deacon  Solomon  Nelson  as 
early  as  1813,  carrying  home  his  stock  and  returning 
with  his  saddle-bag  of  shoes  on  horseback,  as  Mr. 
Amos  Nelson,  now  an  octogenarian,  well  remembers 
seeing  him,  is  at  ninety-five  years  of  age,  still  at  work 
on  his  shoemaker's  bench.  The  business  was  managed 
loosely,  as  it  would  be  thought  to-day,  the  shoemaker 
sometimes  taking  the  uncut  leather,  and  cut,  as  well 
as  made,  the  shoes.  About  every  farm-house  by  1830 
had  its  shop  near  by.  The  trade  was  largely  with 
Baltimore,  Norfolk  and  Charleston,  as  well  as  with  New 
York  City.  At  first  goods  were  carried  over  the  road 
to  Boston  in  medium-sized  wagons,  but  as  the  business 
became  extensive,  large  baggage-wagons,  drawn  by  six 
horses,  were  in  use  for  carrying  shoes,  with  a  return 
load  of  West  India  goods  for  the  several  stores.  After 
the  opening  of  the  Eastern  Railroad  boots  and  shoes 
were  sometimes  carted  to  Rowley,  and  shipped  by  rail 
from  there.  By  1840  thirty  or  more  persons  in  the 
south  part  of  the  town  had  been,  or  were  to  some  extent, 
engaged  in  the  shoe  industry.  Besides  those  already 
named,  there  were  the  brothers  C.  G.  &  John  Baker, 
Benjamin  Adams,  John  A.  Lovei'ing  (continued  re- 
cently by  his  son,  John  H.  Lovering),  George  W. 
Chaplin,  Mighill,  Asa  and  Harrison  Nelson,  Ignatius 
Sargent  (a  partner  of  the  last-named)  and  many  oth- 
ers. There  were  several  in  Byfield,  as  James  Peabody, 
near  the  Newbury  line,  the  Jackmans  and  perhaps 
others.  Nathaniel  and  Major  Jeremiah  Nelson  did 
an  extensive  business,  and  something  was  done  in 
Marlboro'.  Somewhat  later  there  were  M.  A.  Tidd 
(who  removed  to  Iowa),  in  what  is  now  C.  G.  Baker's 
shop ;  Henry  P.  Chaplin,  in  what  is  now  Mrs.  Allen 
G.  Hood's  home ;  G.  M.  Nelson  and  Coleman  Platts, 
where  A.  B.  Noyes  now  is,  and  where  David  Holmes, 
G.  H.  Carleton  and  others  have  carried  on  business  in 
the  past;  W.  B.  Harriman,  on  Elm  Street,  continued 
by  his  son,  Horace  E.  Harriman,  John  P.  Coker  and 
others.  Moses  Spofford  did  a  small  business  in  a 
building  where  G.  S.  Harnden's  house  now  stands. 
Perhaps  the  first  light  work  made  in  town  was  by  Al- 
fred Hale,  in  the  building,  on  Main  Street,  formerly 
the  residence  and  private  school  of  the  Misses  Cross. 
Besides  these  there  have  been  Charles  M.  Stocker, 
George  B.  Miller,  one  or  two  Haverhill  firms,  who 
have  had  for  a  time  the  third  floor  of  Odd  Fellows' 
Block  in  recent  years,  and,  in  a  limited  way,  one  or 
two  others.  In  addition  to  those  named,  there  are  at 
present  using  steam-power  W.  M.  Brewster,  on  Park 
Street,  who  makes  a  specialty  of  boots,  many  of  high 
grade,  and  has  had  from  seventy-five  to  ninety  em- 
ployed ;  A.  B.  Noyes  &  Co.,  on  Main  Street,  largely 
engaged  in  miners'  wear,  and  George  W.  Chaplin  & 
Co.,  on  Central  Street,  who  make  a  varied  stock, 
some  miners'  goods,  and  of  late  are  manufacturing 
new  styles.  Those  not  using  power  are  the  Boot  and 
Shoe  Corporation,  with  E.  S.  Daniels,  superintendent, 
in  the  Samuel  Little  factory,  and  took  at  their  organ- 
ization, 1881,  the  trade  Mr,  Little  had  when  business 


846 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


was  suspended  by  him,  H.  P.  Chaplin,  on  Central 
Street ;  J.  B.  Giles,  who  occupies  the  D.  M.  Winter 
factory  on  Elm  Street;  H.  E.  Harriman,  also  on  Elm 
Street,  makes  boots  for  Essex  County  and  hoine  trade 
generally,  and  C.  G.  Baker  with  a  similar  product. 
Mr.  George  W.  Chaplin,  now  the  veteran  of  this  in- 
dustry, can  recall  more  than  fifty  persons  in  this  town, 
mostly  in  South  Georgetown,  who  have  at  one  time 
or  another  manufactured  boots  and  shoes.  From 
1830  to  1850,  there  were  two  harness-shops  in  town, 
with  several  journeymen  and  apprentices ;  Robert 
Savory  had  one  of  the  establishments.  Later  this 
work  was  limited  to  one  or  two  persons.  At  present 
T.  F.  Hill  conducts  a  successful  business  of  this  kind. 

Perhaps  about  1843  or  1844,  Moses  Atwood  began 
the  manufacture  of  "  Atwood's  Bitters."  This  has 
become  one  of  the  standard  patent  medicines  of  the 
country.  Moses  Carter  and  Lewis  H.  Bateman  after- 
wards individually  continued  this  same  manufacture. 
These  three  persons  became  to  some  extent  manufac- 
ing  druggists,  of  which  the  business  of  Mr.  Carter  is 
continued  in  that  of  Luther  F.  Carter,  his  son.  Mr. 
Atwood  removed  West,  and  the  widely  known  "  Bit- 
ters," are  now  it  is  believed,  the  product  of  a  New 
York  city  firm.  A  deposit  of  ochreous  earth  was  dis- 
covered by  Mr.  Atwood  at  the  base  of  the  hill  known 
by  his  name  about  1846  or  1847,  and  from  it  many 
buildings  in  town  were  painted.  The  newspaper 
printing  business  and  job  work  were  begun  in  June, 
1846,  in  Little's  shoe  factory,  or  the  "  Phenix  Build- 
ing," as  the  advertisement  reads,  and  the  Watchtower, 
a  semi-religious  weekly,  issued.  This  paper  was  also 
published  and  mailed  from  Newburyport ;  Rev.  Allen 
Garnett  was  editor,  and  William  Cogswell,  proprietor. 
Volume  ten  began  March,  1848  ;  this  was  sustained 
for  about  three  years,  when  after  a  brief  interim  the 
Georgetown  Reporter,  another  weekly  or  semi-monthly 
published  by  a  Mr.  Green,  became  the  village  paper, 
but  of  a  lower  standard  than  the  Watchtoiver.  This 
paper  was  continued  until  about  1853  or  1854.  In 
1867  the  town  had  occasional  newspaper  ventures 
in  the  Evangelist,  published  by  Major  Moses  Tenney 
&  Son,  partially  for  trade  purposes,  and  in  1871  the 
Star,  which  was  issued  monthly  throughout  the  year  by 
Calvin  E.  Howe,  and  another  trade  sheet,  the  Gran- 
ger, in  1874. 

September  23,  1874,  W.  B.  Hammond,  of  Peabody, 
who  had  been  running  a  job  printing  office  in  Odd 
Fellows  Block  for  about  two  years,  issued  the  first 
number  of  the  Georgefotvn  Advocate.  The  following 
year  he  entered  into  partnership  with  the  present 
town  clerk,  H.  N.  Harriman,  who  for  some  time  pre- 
viously had  been  amember  of  the  State  Constabulary, 
and  located  at  Salem,  the  firm  greatly  enlarging  the 
size  of  the  paper.  They  print  »  weekly  edition  of 
about  twelve  hundred  copies,  have  a  well-appointed 
office,  issue  a  sheet  deservedly  popular,  from  its  ty- 
pography and  general  make-up,  the  files  of  which 
will,  to  the  future  local  historian,  be  invaluable.     A 


steam-power  press  is  used.  The  making  of  men's 
clothing  was  anciently  done  by  itinerating  tailors 
going  from  family  to  family,  as  women  tailors  did  half 
a  century  ago.  "Tailor  Tliurlow"was  perhaps  the 
most  noted  in  this  town. 

Samuel  Plumer,  of  Rowley,  who  had  been  living 
in  Haverhill  for  a  year  or  two,  began  the  manufac- 
ture of  clothing  in  town  in  1838.  Was  in  partnership 
with  Stephen  Osgood  for  some  years,  but  later  with 
H.  L.  Perkins.  He  is  still  in  business,  and  after  some 
removals,  again  occupies  his  old  stand  of  nearly  fifty 
years  ago.  Mr.  Blodgett  was  in  the  same  industry, 
from  about  1842,  for  some  years.  Had  some  twenty 
or  more  employees.  Was  of  an  inventive  turn  and 
devised  the  first  sewing-machines,  but  it  was  only  by 
the  aid  of  a  Boston  machinist  that  it  was  made  prac- 
tical. Afterwards  took  out  patents  in  England  ;  lo- 
cated in  Philadelphia  and  became  wealthy.  David 
Haskell,  an  ingenious  carpenter  of  this  town,  invent- 
ed an  attachment  to  the  sewing  machine,  now  in  uni- 
versal use,  but  others  secured  the  money-value.  Ste- 
phen Osgood  began  the  clothing  business  in  1848  ; 
afterwards  a  "Forty-niner''  in  the  early  California 
furore,  and  for  many  years  has  been  extensively  en- 
gaged as  a  merchant-tailor,  having  for  style  and  finish 
of  garments  a  very  wide  celebrity.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Massachusetts  Senate.  H.  L.  Perkins,  for  some 
years  in  partnership  with  Mr.  Plumer,  but  of  late 
in  business  in  Odd  Fellows'  Building,  recently  re- 
moved to  Haverhill.  He  makes  a  specialty  of  par- 
ticular lines  of  gentlemen's  wear.  L.  H.  Bateman 
twenty  years  ago  manufactured  cigars  in  the  second 
story  of  the  store  which  formerly  was  near  Dr.  Huse's 
residence.  Shoe-pegs  were  made  by  Charles  Coburn 
forty  years  ago,  in  a  building  on  Chestnut  Street.  The 
tannery  of  Deacon  Solomon  Nelson  was  improved  by 
the  father  of  the  writer  about  1843,  a  bark  mill,  cir- 
cular saws  and  lathe  added.  Shuttle  stock  for  the 
Lowell  mills,  carriage,  laths  and  fencing  stuff  manu- 
factured, grinding  bark  for  the  tanneries,  then  doing 
business  and  threshing  grain,  nearly  every  farmer 
growing  the  small  grains  at  that  time. 

The  first  use  of  steam  for  manufacturing  purposes, 
was  on  Chestnut  Street,  about  1836,  as  has  been  sta- 
ted. Since  that  time,  an  engine  was  run  for  about 
two  years,  near  the  Pingree  farm-house,  to  saw  the 
timber  into  lumber,  at  the  time  of  the  extensive 
clearing  of  the  forest;  another,  about  twenty  years 
ago,  on  West  Street,  by  Patrick  Grimes,  in  a 
wool-cleaning  business,  in  a  building  just  in  the  rear 
of  the  James  Grimes  (formerly  the  Esquire  Spofford 
place),  also  one  in  the  building  on  Main  Street,  near 
Pen  Brook  Avenue,  where,  a  few  years  ago,  parties 
from  Haverhill  extracted  oil  from  leather  waste  and 
still  another  in  an  apple-evaporating  business,  about 
five  years  ago,  in  the  building  on  Main  Street,  former- 
ly the  residence  of  the  Misses  Cross,  upon  the  site  of 
which  the  Bailey  block  of  stores  and  tenements  now 
stands.     The  carriage  manufacture  was    introduced 


GEOHaETOWN. 


847 


some  years  ago,  by  a  brother  of  Stephen  Osgood,  iu 
the  large  and  convenient  building  erected  for  the  pur- 
pose, at  the  head  of  School  Street,  but  unfortunately 
did  not  prove  remunerative.  Here  steam  power  was 
also  used.  George  S.  Weston  has  steam  power  in  a 
cider  factory,  erected  some  ten  or  twelve  years  ago, 
near  his  residence  on  Main  Street.  Mr.  Weston  and 
his  cousin  Charles,  run  in  the  winter  season,  the  old 
Spofford  saw-mill  on  Andover  Street.  Henry  Petten- 
gill,  has  in  his  old  blacksmith  shop,  the  engine  for- 
merly used  in  the  Batchelder  peg-mill,  in  Boxford, 
which  was  burned  about  1848.  In  1866  a  company 
of  capitalists  in  Newburyport,  began  the  manufacture 
of  peat  at  the  Raynor  meadows,  on  the  west  side  of 
Central  Street,  not  far  from  the  Boxford  boundary. 
A  building  of  three  stories  was  erected,  machinery 
and  steam  power  put  in,  upland  graded  for  drying 
ground  and  much  expense  incurred.  The  result 
was  not  satisfactory,  and  after  a  few  months,  work 
was  suspended.  This  locality,  now  owned  by  Boston 
parties,  is  locally  known  as  "  Peatville." 

During  the  silver  mining  excitement,  in  1875  and 
'76,  a  shaft  was  sunk  by  a  Dr.  Taylor,  on  Hilliard 
Idnd,  near  the  Parker  River  Mills,  and  much  experi- 
menting and  land-bonding  iu  that  locality,  and  along 
Red  Shanks  and  on  Nelson  Street,  was  the  result. 
Some  galena  and  silver  was  found.  Recently,  further 
mining  operations  have  been  made  near  C.  E.  Chap- 
lin's, on  Nelson  Street,  on  land  then  owned  by  parties 
in  Providence,  R.  I. 

The  business  of  a  machinist  was  carried  on  for  sev- 
eral years  by  Manly  Morse,  son  of  Nathaniel  Morse, 
and  by  George  Hasting,  the  Universalist  minister. 

The  first  wind-mill  erected  was  that  of  Robert 
Boyes,  about  thirty-five  years  ago,  for  wheelwright 
purposes,  on  the  building  iu  the  rear  of  Liitle's  shoe 
factory,  now  occupied  by  J.  E.  Messenger.  Lately 
modern  wind-mills  have  been  in  use  for  stabling  pur- 
poses by  Jophanas  Adams  and  G.  H.  Carlton. 

Soap  manufacture  has  been  carried  on  for  some 
years  by  Charles  Smith,  on  North  Street,  and  John 
T.  Hilliard,  on  Thurlow  Street.  Elisha  Hood,  of 
South  Georgetown,  was  at  one  time  in  this  business. 

The  shoe-box  industry,  at  present  carried  on  by  M. 
F.  Carter  at  the  steam  factory  near  the  railroad  sta- 
tion, was  begun  twenty  or  more  years  ago  on  Pond 
Street,  by  J.  P.  Folsom,  and  continued  by  William 
Sawyer,  who  removed  here  from  Boxford. 

The  cutting  of  ice  from  Lake  Pentucket  was  begun 
as  early  as  1853  or  1854,  by  Messrs.  Little  and  Tenney, 
and  soon  after  the  buildings  were  erected.  This 
Pentucket  ice  industry  was  afterwards  the  property  of 
Sherman  Nelson,  but  at  present,  and  for  some  years 
past,  is  controlled  by  John  A.  Hoyt  &  Sons. 

A  few  years  ago  two  brothers  by  the  name  of  Ab- 
bott, who  are  in  the  business  elsewhere,  began  cutting 
ice  from  Rock  Pond.  They  cut  and  store  wholly  for 
shipment,  while  much  of  the  Pentucket  product  is  for 
local   consumption.      Besides   the  blacksmith  shops 


named  there  was,  as  early  as  1740,  that  of  Amos 
Pillsbury,  on  Pillsbury  Plain,  near  Humphrey  Nel- 
son's, later,  another  Dresser  shop  near  Library  Street, 
afterwards  occupied  by  Captain  Asa  Bradstreet  and 
D  W.  Perkins.  Fifty  years  ago  South  Georgetown 
had  Goodrich  and  Richards  in  this  industry,  and  dur- 
ing work  on  the  road-bed  of  the  Danvers  Railroad,  a 
shop  was  built  at  the  corner  of  Chaplin  Court,  after- 
wards burned.  Byfield  had  one  or  two  on  Warren 
Street,  and  has  at  present,  on  North  Street,  a  very  en- 
terprising establ ish m en  t,  i n  the  carriage  and  smith  shop 
of  Morse  &  Poor.  At  the  village  there  have  been  the 
shopsof  J.  A.  lUsley,  James  Cogswell,  now  Charles 
Holmes,  also  that  of  McKenney,  Morrill  and  the  vet- 
eran Henry  Pettengill,  now  of  nearly  sixty  years 
labor  in  this  town.  One  curious  feature  of  the  early 
times  was,  that  before  the  use  of  "slings"  when  oxen 
were  to  be  shod  they  were  turned  upon  their  backs,  a 
custom  still  in  use  in  Syria. 

Many  of  the  earlier  house-builders  have  been  al- 
ready named,  as  several  of  the  SpofFords,  eminent  in 
this  especially  honorable  avocation,  also  two  or  three 
of  the  Hazens,  and  others.  Captain  John  Kilham 
was,  for  about  half  a  century,  a  skillful  artisan, and 
many  of  the  dwellings  in  town  are  the  results  of  his 
steady  and  ))ainstaking  industry.  Isaac  Wilson, 
residing  on  Spofford  hill,  William  George,  who  died 
recently  at  the  age  of  ninety-six,  Sylvanus  Nelson, 
S.  Eustace  Clark  and  others,  now  gone  to  join  the 
silent  majority,  were  always  busy  in  the  duties  of 
their  calling. 

The  Kimball  brothers,  of  which  John,  survives, 
were  active  for  many  years  in  their  chosen  work,  and 
is  now  repeated  in  their  sons  also;  also  John  W.  Pin- 
gree  in  South  Georgetown,  Chauncey  O.  Noyes,  Caleb 
S.  Chaplin,  in  Byfield,  George  B.  Poor  and  James  E. 
Messenger,  of  whom  the  last-named  has  a  business  var- 
ied with  carriage  repair  (assuming  the  work  laid  aside 
by  Joseph  Currier  and  Robert  Boyce)  are,  with  per- 
haps others  not  named,  the  active  members  of  the 
fraternity  in  the  town  to-day.  A  few  contractors 
have,  at  times,  resided  here,  but  in  most  cases  their 
labor  was  not  as  productive  of  good  to  the  community, 
as  was  anticipated. 

One  industry  to  be  added  to  the  foregoing  is  that 
of  heel-making,  which  is  connected  naturally  with  the 
shoe  and  leather  interests.  This  business  is  of  consid- 
erable importance  in  towns  near  by,  but  from  some 
cause  has  not  been  successful  in  this  town.  Recently 
an  attempt  was  made  to  conduct  this  industry  on  a 
large  scale,  but  all  work,  after  several  months  of  trial, 
has  been  suspended.  Previously  the  Cokers,  father 
and  son,  for  a  time  did  a  moderate  business.  Another 
quite  important  industry  to  be  added  is  the  manufac- 
ture of  lasts  by  Cyrus  Dorman,  who  conducted  this 
business  at  the  head  of  Mechanics'  Court  for  several 
years. 

A  bakery  was  established  by  John  Hale  in  a  build- 
iug  erected  for  the  purpose,  near  Peabody  Library, 


848 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


ten  years  or  more  ago.  The  public  demand  hardly 
warranted  the  outlay,  and  the  business  was  not  a  suc- 
cess. Later  J.  S.  Hilliard  carried  on  the  same  busi- 
ness in  Little's  Block,  selling  out  some  three  years  ago 
to  S.  D.  Bean.  Nearly,  or  quite,  forty-five  years  ago 
William  Boynton,  now  of  Melrose,  conducted  quite  a 
trade  in,  and  some  manufacture  of,  furniture  on 
Central  Street.  He  was  also  undertaker  for  the  town. 
The  Farmers'  Mutual  Company,  of  Georgetown,  or- 
ganized about  forty  years  ago,  had  its  office  under  his 
roof,  an  institution  of  which  he  was  treasurer.  This 
company  has  been  extinct  for  about  twenty  years. 


CHAPTER   LIX. 

GEOPvGETOWN— ( Continued). 

THE   MILITARY   HISTORY. 

In  examining  the  early  history  of  New  England 
towns  for  their  military  records,  one  fact  impressed  on 
the  mind  by  all  investigators  is  the  frequent  use  of 
military  titles  in  the  records  both  of  the  parish  and 
town,  and  especially  from  about  1700  down  to  1850, 
while   with    us   some   of  the   captains,    majors    and 
colonels  are  still  living,  and  are  familiarly  so  called. 
A  pride  in    military   duty   parade    seems    to    have 
been  a   trait   in   some    families,   and   in    this   vicin- 
ity, for  a  century  or  more,  in  the  iSpofibrd  family, 
more  than  in  any  other.      Perhaps  the  first  names 
found  in  active  service  as  Indian  fighters,  are  those 
of  the  Stickneys  on  Long  Hill,  one  of  whom  was 
called  out  for  a  short  campaign  against  the  Indians  at 
the  eastward  about  1707.     Jonathan  Wheeler  was  on 
duty   at   Fort   Independence,   Boston    harbor   (then 
Castle  William),  at  some  date  not  later  than  1735. 
He  was  probably  the  Marlboro'  resident.     Lieutenant 
Benjamin   Plumer,  perhaps   Ensign    Benjamin,  who 
was  prominent  in  parish  work,  was  on  the  eastern 
frontier  in  1754.    Two  or  three  from  this  part  of  Row. 
ley  were  at  Lake  George  in  1755  with  the  Rowley 
Company.      At  this  early  period  of  the  French  war, 
our  soldiers  wore  their  homespun  clothing,  and  car- 
ried their  own  muskets,  blankets  only  provided.    The 
militia  was  organized,  and,  in  the  prospect  of  a  pro- 
longed war,  were  frequently  drilled.    In  1757  Ebenezer 
Burpee,  the  parish  clerk,  was  lieutenant,  and  Deacon 
Stephen  INIighill  was  clerk  of  Capt.  Pearsons'  company 
of  cavalry.     In  the  return  of  militia  for  1757    Cap- 
tain Richard  Thurston's  train-band,  or  West  Parish 
Infantry,   had   fifty-four   men.      The    crisis    in    our 
country's  history,  when  the  French  were  victorious  in 
every  important  encounter,  brought  the  realities  of 
war  to  the  homes  of  these  West  parish  farmers.     The 
contest  at  this  time  had  peculiar  features  all  its  own. 
The  Fort  William  Henry  massacre  soon  followed,  and 
as  the  wearied  and   disheartened  soldier    returned 


after  the  campaign,  it  was  to  tell  the  story  of  tor- 
tured prisoners  and  cannibalism,  and  of  a  French 
and  Indian  alliance,  which  it  seemed  the  colonies 
were  almost  powerless  to  meet.  The  alarm  list  at  this 
period  was  headed  by  Mr.  Chandler,  the  pastor,  and 
others  on  the  list  were  Thomas  Merrill,  who,  about 
1750,  had  removed  from  what  is  now  the  Eldred  Par- 
ker 2)lace  in  Groveland,  and  had  bought  the  Joseph 
Nelson  house  in  Marlboro'  district,  now  the  Jacob 
F.  Jewett  house ;  also  Dudley  Tyler,  the  inn-keeper, 
at  that  time,  the  owner  of  the  Francis  Brocklebank 
place,  near  the  meeting-house,  and  seventeen  others, 
equally  prominent.  Dudley,  a  son  of  Mr.  Tyler,  was 
in  active  service  in  1757,  again  in  1759,  and  perhaps 
in  later  campaigns.  He  was  a  jiublic  charge  for  the 
last  ten  or  fifteen  years  of  his  life,  making  it  his 
home  most  of  the  time,  with  Moses  Nelson,  on  Nelson 
Street. 

At  Mr.  Solomon  Nelson's  request,  the  town  at  the 
annual  meeting,  in  view  of  Mr.  Tyler's  military  record, 
both  in  this  and  the  Revolutionary  war,  always  granted 
him  liberty  of  choice  (with  much  opposition,  how- 
ever,) as  to  the  family  where  he  wished  to  live.  The 
Tyler  family  becoming  embarrassed,  Mr.  Nelson  had 
bought,  about  1765,  their  place,  now  owned  by  M.  G. 
Spotford.  This  place  descended  from  Mr.  Solomon 
Nelson  to  his  son.  Major  I'aul  Nelson,  from  whose  heirs 
it  was  bought  by  Rev.  Charles  Beecher,  and  by  him 
sold  to  the  present  owner.  The  sign  which  swung 
before  this  ancient  tavern  for  many  a  year,  with  its 
painted  soldier,  in  the  uniform  of  King  George's 
army,  is  now  the  property  of  Mr.  Humphrey  Nelson, 
of  this  town.  During  the  French,  and  part  of  the 
subsequent  war,  the  enlistments  were  for  a  short  ser- 
vice or  for  the  campaign,  the  soldiers  usually  entering 
the  army  in  the  spring,  and  returning  home  in  the 
early  winter  of  the  same  year. 

In  1759,  Francis  Nelson,  who  lived  near  the  Long 
Hill  road,  was  a  soldier  under  Captain  Herrick,  of 
Boxford.  Amos  Nelson,  who  afterwards  built  the 
Charles  E.  Chaplin  house  on  Nelson  Street,  was  in 
service  in  1757,  and  was  in  Colonel  Appleton's  regi- 
ment, in  1759,  and  Benjamin  Winter,  the  grand -father 
of  Benjamin  and  D.  M.  Winter,  was  in  the  army  the 
same  year,  and  also  in  1760.  Other  names,  in  different 
campaigns,  from  the  West  parish  and  Byfield  families, 
were  Richard  Easty,  Robert  Gragg,  Abner  Moores, 
Thomas  Pike,  f^zra  Bnrbank,  David  Plumer,  John 
Plumer,  Jonathan  Gragg,  Abner  Burbank,  Moses 
Harriman,  John  Jackman,  Mark  Thurlow,  Abel 
Dodge,  Rufus  Wheeler,  Peter  Hardy,  John  Crombie, 
and  doubtless  many  others. 

In  1756,  the  Province  of  Massachusetts  called  for 
volunteers,  and  if  there  was  not  the  requisite  number 
at  the  given  time,  then  a  conscription  was  to  be  or- 
dered. A  bounty  of  six  dollars  was  oflfered,  and  pay 
for  privates  of  one  pound;  six  shillings  a  month.  If 
the  volunteer  brought  his  own  gun,  a  bounty  of  two 
dollars  extra.     Their  powder-horns,  with  figures  and 


GEORGETOWN. 


849 


ornamentations  on  them,  the  work  of  these  men  in 
their  idle  hours,  are  now  heir-looms  in  families,  and 
curios  in  cabinets. 

The  Province,  as  "the  combat  deepened,''  in- 
creased the  supplies,  providing  in  1756,  bullet-pouch, 
blanket,  knapsack  and  wooden  bottle,  besides  the 
powder-horn  and  musket.  Later  a  uniform  of  breeches 
of  blue  and  red  was  added.  This  forced  travel 
from  home  by  the  stern  demands  of  war  to  the  novel 
sights  at  distant  Louisburg,  in  Acadia,  along  Lake 
George,  Oswego  and  elsewhere,  gave  an  impetus  to 
the  peaceful  emigration  to  New  Hampshire,  Vermont, 
and  New  York,  which  took  plaje  at  the  close  of  the 
contest. 

In  1764,  the  West  Parish  Militia  was  organized  into 
one  company,  with  Daniel  the  great-grandfather  ol 
Charles  Sew  all  Spotibrd,  as  Captain.  Dudley  Tyler, 
who  married  a  daughter  of  Dea.  Abner  Spoftbrd,  was 
Lieutenant  and  Eliphalet  Spoffbrd,  the  grandfather  ol 
the  late  Dea.  Jeremiah  Spoftbrd,  was  Ensign.  Some  ol 
this  company  had  survived  the  dangers  of  one  con- 
flict, with  personal  experiences  of  Indian  ambuscade, 
pestilence  and  all  that  made  the  seven  years  French 
war,  a  trial  which  tested  the  strength  of  the  country, 
apparently  to  the  utmost,  but  another,  and  a  more 
terrible  test  of  the  abilities  of  the  colonies  was  coming. 
In  1770,  papers  were  in  circulation,  pledging  the 
subscribers  to  non-intercourse  with  Great  Britain. 
This  Whig  covenant  was  an  agreement  not  to  use  w 
their  families,  any  goods  of  English  manufacture  or 
any  imported  from  England,  while  tea  was  especially 
named.  The  paper  which  circulated  in  Byfield  had  the 
names  of  such  patriots,  as  Reuben,  Moses,  Jeremiah, 
Enoch,  Daniel,  Jacob  and  Noyes  Pearson,  Jeremiah 
and  Henry  Poor,  John,  Samuel  and  John  Searl,  Jr., 
Benjamin  and  Amos  Stickney,  Mark,  Jonathan  and 
John  Thurlow,  Nathaniel  and  John  Tenney,  Samuel 
Northend,  William  Longfellow,  Oliver  Dickinson, 
Amos  Jewett,  Abraham  Sawyer,  Israel  Adams, 
Moses  Lull,  Benjamin  Jackmau,  Samuel  Pike, 
Moses  Smith  and  Abraham  Colby.  A  few  of  these 
were,  perhaps,  not  residents  of  the  Georgetown  part  of 
the  parish.  Special  enlistments  as  minute  men  were 
voted  by  the  town,  as  early  as  January,  1775,  and  a 
weekly  one-half  day's  drill  was  begun.  The  West 
Parish  voted  February  9,  1775,  that  minute  men 
should  be  raised  according  to  the  advice  of  the 
Provincial  Congress. 

In  March  military  drill,  of  two  half-days  in  each 
week,  was  begun.  Daniel  Spofford,  then  colonel,  led 
his  regiment  to  Cambridge,  on  the  report  of  the  Lex- 
ington fight.  Who  were  engaged  in  the  battle  at 
Bunker  Hill  from  this  part  of  Rowley,  except  Dud- 
ley Tyler  and  James  Boynton,  who  was  killed  (a 
brother  of  Moses),  it  seems  to  be  difficult  to  ascer- 
tain. 

The  firing  of  the  artillery  was  distinctly  heard  here, 
as  we  have  often  learned  from  aged  citizens,  and  the 
alarm  and  anxiety  must  have  been  intense.     Captain 
54 


Eliphalet,  the  grandfather  of  Dr.  Jeremiah  Spofford, 
commanded  a  company  in  his  brother  Daniel's  regi- 
ment, in  which  the  doctor's  father  was  a  private,  and 
some  of  these  Spoftbrds  may  have  been  at  Bunker  Hill. 
Jeremiah  and  William  Chandler,  the  only  children  of 
William,  the  schoolmaster,  were  in  the  army  in  1775, 
and  again  in  1778  ;  one  of  them  never  returned  to  his 
wife,  whom  he  left  behind  him,  but  at  the  expiration 
of  his  term  of  service,  remained  in  Pennsylvania, 
and,  it  is  said,  married  there.  Twice,  at  least,  the 
town  was  divided  into  classes,  intermixing  the  poor 
with  the  rich,  and  each  class  was  called  upon  to 
procure  a  soldier. 

One  of  the  classes  had  Lieutenant  Benjamin  Stick- 
ney at  the  head.  Among  those  who  were  in  this  war, 
was  one  captain,— Benjamin  Adams, — at  least  five 
lieutenants,  viz. :  Thomas  Pike,  who  lived  early  in 
this  century  in  the  Sherman  Nelson  house,  on  Elm 
Street,  and  who  was  a  pioneer  advocate  of  Universal- 
ism,  removed  to  New  London,  N.  H.;  Moody  Spofford, 
the  bridge  and  church  builder,  who  was  at  Ticonder- 
oga,  and  commonly  known  as  "  Esquire  Spofford  ;  " 
John  Tenney,  Benjamin  Stickney  and  Rufus  Wheel- 
er. Nathaniel  Burpee  was  drummer.  David  Poor 
was  a  corporal.  A  few  names  of  privates  are  Abel 
Dodge,  the  cooper,  who  occupied,  and  perhaps  built, 
the  house  on  Main  Street,  until  recently  the  Daniel 
W.  Perkins  house ;  Paul  Stickney,  William  Searle, 
Joseph  Nelson,  who  removed  to  Wallingford,  Me., 
soon  after  the  war;  Jeremiah  Dodge,  maternal  grand- 
father of  George  Peabody  ;  Samuel  Plumer,  supposed 
to  be  the  father  of  the  Plumer  brothers,  who  gave  the 
parsonage  farm  to  the  Baptist  Society;  Francis  Nel- 
son, afterwards  drowned  in  Rowley  River;  Aaron 
Crombie,  father  of  the  well-known  Crombie  brothers; 
John  Crombie,  probably  a  brother,  who  died  of  small- 
pox in  New  York  State ;  Silas  Dole,  and  many  others. 
Some  of  these  were  living  when  the  pensioning  of 
aged  soldiers,  and  the  Revolutionary  veterans  in  par- 
ticular, began,  which,  it  is  said,  was  first  suggested  by 
President  Monroe,  because  of  finding,  when  on  his 
tour  through  the  North,  an  army  chum,  by  the  name 
of  Barnes,  in  the  Waltham  Almshouse,  who  was  a 
fellow-officer  with  him  in  the  Revolutionary  War. 
Doubtless  the  last  worn  survivor  of  that  war  in 
this  town  was  John  Phips,  a  native  of  Gloucester, 
who  died  in  the  family  of  Dr.  David  Mighill  about 
1843. 

During  the  Shay  insurrection,  Joseph  Pike  of  By- 
field  enlisted  for  thirty  days,  the  time  called  for. 
Militia  organization  was  maintained  by  careful  legis- 
lation, after  the  formation  of  the  new  government. 

The  death  of  Washington  in  1799,  caused  a  general 
outburst  of  sorrow  and  a  special  recognition  from  the 
militia.  The  writer  has  an  order  of  January  1800, 
requiring  all  the  members  of  the  company  of  cavalry 
(a  company  composed  of  Topsfield  and  Boxford,  as 
well  as  Rowley  men)  then  living  in  the  West  Parish, 
to  attend  religious  service  in  uniform  and  mourning 


850 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


emblems  for  six  months.  This  order  came  to  Ste- 
phen M.  Nelson,  who  was  sergeant.  In  1807  troubles 
were  threatened  because  of  the  embargo  and  other 
disturbing  acts,  and  volunteers  were  enlisted. 

At  that  time  what  is  now  Georgetown  began  to  bo 
called  New  Rowley,  and  from  the  place  were  enrolled 
Joseph  Adams,  Robert  Bettis,  John  Bridges,  Jr., 
Richard  and  James  C'hute,  Jr.,  Andrew  Horner,  Ste- 
phen W.  and  Moses  Nelson,  Benj.  S.  Picket,  Paul 
Stickney,  Jr.,  and  Samuel  C.  Tidd. 

In  the  second  war  with  England,  there  were  but  few 
in  service  from  this  town,  and  these  in  the  sea-coast  de- 
fence for  one  month  only.  From  New  Rowley  were 
John  Bridges,  Jr.,  David  Brocklebank,  Edmund  Dole, 
Paul  Dole,  Jr.,  Ralph  Dole,  Phineas  Hardy,  Thomas 
Merrill,  Jr.,  Daniel  Palmer,  Paul  Stickney,  Jr.,  and 
Mighill  Spotford.  During  the  contest  party  spirit 
ran  so  high  and  ojiposition  to  the  measures  of  the 
National  Government  was  so  general  in  Massachu- 
setts, that  the  position  assumed  was  but  little  re- 
moved from  an  armed  neutrality.  It  has  been  said 
that  the  English  naval  forces  on  our  coast,  received 
supplies  by  boats  from  Rowley  River.  This  may  seem 
to  have  been  rather  unpatriotic,  but  perhaps  not  more 
so  than  supplying  the  Southern  Confederacy  with 
shoes,  by  the  blockade  runners,  via  St.  John,  New 
Brunswick.  Fears  of  British  invasion  were  so  rife 
at  one  time,  that  specie  and  other  valuables  were 
taken  for  safety  into  the  interior.  Several  thousand 
silver  dollars,  the  property  of  a  Rowley  man,  were 
secreted  for  several  months  in  Deacon  Solomon  Nel- 
son's house. 

In  the  Florida  War  only  one  person  who  was  living 
in  Georgetown  is  known  to  have  enlisted  :  this  was 
Samuel  C.  Hood,  a  native  of  Topsfield.  The  north- 
eastern boundary  dilHculty,  known  as  the  Aroostook 
War,  looked  threatening  for  a  time,  and  it  was  ex- 
pected that  troops  would  be  ordered  from  this  State. 
These  were  happily  not  called  for.  Charles  E.  Chap- 
lin, of  this  town,  then  living  in  Maine,  was  in  the 
detachment  of  State  Militia  ordered  out,  and  was  in 
service  about  three  months  in  the  early  spring  of 
1840,  at  Fort  Fairfield,  below  Houlton. 

Before  leaving  the  frontiers,  these  hastily,  half- 
equipped  troops  were  reviewed  and  complimented  by 
that  stern  old  martinet,  Winfield  Scott.  At  least  three 
residents  or  natives  of  Georgetown  were  in  the  Mexi- 
can War.  Laban  S.  Keyes,  who  recently  died  in 
New  Hampshire,  was  one  ;  also  Edward  Currier ;  and 
a  resident  of  Byfield,  was,  if  we  mistake  not,  another. 

To  many  now  living,  the  excitement  and  attractions 
of  the  "  training  field  "  of  their  earlier  days  is  ever 
pleasant  to  recall.  Twice  the  Brigade  of  Northern 
Essex  mustered  on  Pillsbury's  Plain,  near  Mr.  Hum- 
phrey Nelson's  house  ;  the  first  time  about  1820,  aiul 
again  in  1822.  Several  thousand  of  the  militia  were 
present,  with  General  Solomon  Lowe,  of  Boxford, 
commanding.  These  October  gatherings  were  made 
a  general  holiday,  and  the  principal  one  of  the  year. 


The  observance  of  Independence  Day,  until  1835  or 
1836,  was  of  a  quiet,  reflective,  semi-religious  char- 
acter, very  different  from  what  followed  for  thirty 
years  or  more,  when  it  became  the  chief  holiday  of 
the  year,  and  enthusiastic  public  demonstrations  were 
made  everywhere.  Until  the  date  named,  an  occa- 
sional address  like  that  of  Mr.  Braman's  or  Caleb 
Cushing's,  with  possibly  the  formality  of  a  military 
escort  to  the  old  meeting-house,  and  calm  thought- 
fulness  on  the  part  of  the  people,  made  the  day  but  a 
slight  remove  from  a  Sunday  service.  They  were  too 
near  the  actual  events  to  encourage  the  noisy  demon- 
strations of  a  later  day.  For  this  middle  period,  the 
Fourth  of  July,  as  a  public  holiday,  had  the  pre- 
eminence, but  later,  under  the  shadows  of  our  last 
and  greatest  conflict,  this  has  been  transferred  to 
Memorial  Day.  Under  the  old  militia  law,  three 
seasons  for  drilling,  besides  the  October  muster,  were 
required.  Many  parades  were,  for  convenience,  by 
detachments  or  battalions.  On  the  farm  of  De  AV^itt 
C.  Mighill,  in  Boxford,  about  1814,  the  New  Rowley 
and  the  Buxford  Militia  drilled  in  companies,  having 
a  sham  fight,  and,  as  a  special  feature,  a  sham  ambus- 
cade of  fifty  or  more  soldiers  dressed  as  Indians. 
About  1815,  at  a  brigade  training  on  the  Dole  or 
"  Esquire  Gage ''  Farm  in  Byfield,  now  the  Town 
Farm,  Governor  Brooks  was  present,  and  it  was  a 
great  day  generally  for  Northern  Essex. 

When  Governor  Everett  began  to  express  his  dis- 
approbation of  the  general  militia  system,  and  the 
demoralizing  influences  of  muster  days,  the  law  soon 
became  obnoxious,  and  intentionally  was  made  ridi- 
culous by  those  liable  to  do  dut)^  Men  came  to  the 
parade-ground  in  their  working  clothes,  and  these 
Falstatfian  soldiers,  in  derision,  had  the  exjiressive 
name  of  Stringbeaners  flung  at  them,  by  the  stylish, 
independent  companies,  which  began  to  be  popular. 

Georgetown  had,  at  that  time,  the  La  Fayette 
Guards,  a  company  of  infantry  highly  commended 
for  drill  and  discipline.  By  1843  or  '44  most  of  these 
military  organizations  had  disbanded. 

About  1858  or  '59  an  independent  company,  com- 
manded by  Capt.  Joseph  Hervey,  known  as  the  "  Citi- 
zens Guard,"  was  organized,  largely  through  the  in- 
fluence of  the  gentleman  afterwards  elected  comman- 
der, and  was  in  regular  drill-practice,  when  the  War 
of  the  Rebellion  opened.  When  Company  "  K,"  of 
the  Fiftieth  Regiment  Massachusetts  Volunteers  went 
into  camp  at  Boxford,  this  independent  corps  per- 
formed escort  duty.  This  Company  K  was  recruited 
largely  from  this  town,  and  several  of  the  recruits 
were  previously  members  of  the  Citizens  Guard.  On 
the  morning  in  August,  or  early  September,  before 
they  entered  camp,  a  public  testimonial,  in  the  form 
of  a  breakfast,  at  the  Town  Hall,  was  tendered  them 
There  was  a  reception,  at  a  later  day,  with  a  parade 
of  the  regiment  through  our  streets. 

Of  this  company  several  never  returned  to  the 
home  of  their  birth.     At  Baton  Rouge,  Island  No. 


GEORGETOWN. 


851 


10,  and  at  other  points  near  the  broad  Mississip- 
pi, they  lie,  far  from  their  friends  and  kindred.  Much 
indignation  was  felt  that  the  survivors,  while  returning 
from  their  service  of  nearly  a  year  in  the  defence  of 
their  country,  had  in  the  rude  provision  made  for  their 
journey  across  the  country,  only  coarse  box-cars,  filthy 
from  use  in  the  transportation  of  cattle.  Many  of  the 
Georgetown  soldiers  were  prostrated  by  the  malarial 
influences  of  the  Lower  Mississippi,  and  the  rough 
ride  still  further  reduced  their  strength,  so  that  sev- 
eral crossed  the  home  threshold,  but  to  die.  Others 
lived,  but  recovery  was  only  after  a  long  and  tedious 
illness.  , 

The  funeral  services  of  SpofTord,  Pickett,  Sherburne 
and  others  followed  in  quick  succession.  With  C. 
W.  Tenney,  the  expressman,  S.  S.  Jewelt  and  others, 
it  seemed  for  a  time,  that  in  an  unfavorable  moment, 
they  also  would  be  swejjt  on  to  join  their  comrades. 
In  March,  1865,  Capt.  G.  W.  Boynton  visited  Louisi- 
ana, exhuming  the  bodies  of  his  son  George,  and 
comrades  R.  D.  Merrill  and  Amos  Spofford.  On  his 
return  a  joint  funeral  service  Avas  held  in  the  Town 
Hall,  with  a  sermon  by  Rev.  Chas.  Beecher,  from  the 
Scripture  which  refers  to  the  three  mighty  men,  who 
drew  the  water  from  the  well  at  Bethlehem,  for  David 
to  drink.  The  little  hamlet  at  "Marlboro',"  sent 
five  of  its  young  men  to  an  early  grave  in  the  first 
years  of  the  war,  four  of  whom  were  of  this  company. 
The  names  of  Amos  G.  Dole,  Charles  A.  Spofford,  M. 
F.  Jewett,  R.  D.  Merrill  and  Leonard  Howe,  will 
ever  be  held  in  tender  remembrance.  The  first  town 
action  in  reference  to  the  War  was  on  A2)ril  30,  1861. 
The  meeting  was  called  seven  days  earlier.  It  was 
voted  to  appropriate  the  sum  of  five  thousand  dol- 
lars, to  aid  enlistments,  and  further  voted,  a  commit- 
tee of  one  from  each  school  district,  to  see  what  sup- 
plies may  be  needed  by  volunteers  or  their  families. 

Many  of  the  recruits  in  Company  "  C,"  Nineteenth 
Regiment  Massachusetts  Volunteers,  were  from  this 
town. 

D.  Webster  Spofford,  of  Boxford,  now  a  resident  of 
the  town,  was  a  private  in  Company  "  A,"  same  regi- 
ment, and  saw  four  years  of  service  in  this  hard- 
fighting  body  of  volunteers. 

The  first  death  in  the  service  from  Georgetown,  is 
supposed  to  be  that  of  Isaac  V.  Bickford,  of  Company 
A.,  Seventeenth  Regiment  Massachusetts  Volunteers, 
who  died  in  Baltimore,  Md.,  January  29,  1862.  He 
enlisted  December  24,  1861. 

The  Seventeenth  Company  Unattached  Infantry  went 
into  camp  at  Readville,  in  August,  1864,  expecting  to 
do  service  in  the  forts  around  Washington.  This  com- 
pany was  afterwards  assigned  to  duty  in  Salem  har- 
bor. This  was  a  one  hundred-day  service,  and  at  the 
expiration  of  their  term  of  enlistment  many  of  the  men 
re-enlisted  for  one  year.  John  G.  Barnes,  who  com- 
manded, had  served  as  captain  of  Company  "  K,"  Fif- 
tieth Regiment,  in  the  South  in  1862-68.  Many  of 
this  unattached  company  were  from  Georgetown.  The 


Fourth  Regiment  of  Heavy  Artillery  had  several  men 
from  this  town.  Several  of  our  musicians  belonging 
to  the  band  of  the  Seventeenth  Regiment  Massachu- 
setts Volunteers  were  also  from  this  place.  One  soldier, 
M.  W.  Follansbee,  suffered  in  Salisbury,  N.  C,  prison, 
and  returned  home  but  to  die.  Another,  Ariel  Pea- 
body,  was  a  prisoner  in  Andersonville.  A  few  were 
in  the  navy.  John  Spofford  and  Lewis  M.  Perley 
were  two  of  the  number.  More  than  two  hundred  in 
the  different  arms  of  the  service  enlisted  from  the 
town.  Memorial  day  was  first  observed  May  30, 
1867.  The  school  children  were  in  the  procession,  and 
for  many  years  afterwards,  the  Fire  Department  also 
joined  in  the  observance  of  the  daJ^ 

In  1872-'73  the  erection  of  a  soldiers'  monument 
began  to  be  discussed,  and  an  aged  lady  is  reported 
to  have  offered  the  sum  of  one  hundred  dollars  as  a 
basis  of  subscriptions  for  the  purpose.  Finally  town 
action  was  taken,  and  after  much  earnest  and  per- 
haps acrimonious  debate,  the  locality  was  decided 
upon,  and  the  granite  memorial,  which  very  nearly 
occupies  the  site  of  the  "Old  Red  School-house," 
was  erected.  The  dedication  took  place  May  30, 1874, 
with  an  address  by  W.  H.  Cudworth,  D.D.  Thou- 
sands of  spectators  were  present.  The  names  of  fifty 
soldiers,  dying  in  the  service,  are  inscribed  upon  it. 
The  entire  cost  was  about  thirty-five  hundred  dollars. 

Post  108,  G.  A.  R.,  was  organized  August  18,  1869, 
by  George  S.  Merrill,  of  Lawrence,  Mass. ;  Count  L. 
B.  Schwabe  was  largely  instrumental  in  the  work. 
Charter  members  were  C.  O.  Noyes,  E.  P.  Wildes,  G. 
H.  Spofford,  J.  G.  Scates,  Solomon  Nelson,  Isaac 
Wilson,  R.  C.  Huse,  F.  M.  Edgell,  H.  N.  Harriman 
and  J.  O.  Berry.  The  Post  was  named  for  Everett 
Peabody,  of  Springfield,  a  son  of  W.  B.  O.  Peabody. 
Born  June,  1830,  he  graduated  at  Harvard  University, 
and  was  a  civil  and  railroad  engineer  at  the  West. 
While  colonel  of  the  Twenty-fifth  Missouri  Regiment, 
he  was  killed  at  Pittsburgh  Landing,  April  6,  1862. 
The  Peabody  family  annually  remember  this  Post  by 
gifts  of  value. 

Past  Commanders,  C.  O.  Noyes,  F.  M.  Edgell,  J.  G. 
Scates,  E.  P.  Wildes,  Cleveland  Gould,  H.  N.  Harri- 
man, Patrick  Cole,  W.  E.  Day,  Charles  Smith,  D.  N. 
Bridges,  C.  W.  Tenney;  present  Commander,  John 
Munroe.  Other  ofliicers  are  Walter  Brown,  Pluumier 
Falls,  I.  S.  Dodge,  H.  N.  Harriman,  Allen  Robinson, 
Colonius  Morse,  R.  C.  Huse,  M.D.;  chaplain,  Rev.  C. 
L.  Hubbard;  L.  G.  Wilson,  J.  F.  Harvey. 

Relief  Corps  No.  4  organized  April  2,  1883,  with 
Sarah  S.  Harriman,  Emma  M.  Howe,  Emily  A.  Wad- 
leigh,  Jane  T.  Merrill,  Naomi  C.  Dodge,  Susan  S. 
Bickford,  Lizzie  C.  Putnam  and  others,  charter  mem- 
bers. The  presidents  have  been  Susan  S.  Bickford, 
Sarah  S.  Harriman,  Emma  M.  Howe,  Lizzie  A.  Put- 
nam, Emily  A.  Wadleigh. 

General  Burnside  Camp,  No.  12,  S.  of  V.,  was  or- 
ganized December  1,  1881,  with  James  R.  Smith, 
captain;  relinquished  its  charter  in  1884. 


852 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


CHAPTER  LX. 

GEORGETOWN— ( Continued). 
THE   LATER   HISTORY   AND   CONCLUSION. 

In  the  general  history  of  the  town  there  were  but 
few  events  of  a  marked  character,  aside  from  the 
opening  of  railway  communication  with  Newburyport, 
Haverhill  and  Boston  direct  via  Danvers,  during  the 
two  decades  from  1840  to  1860.  The  first  road  to  be 
opened  was  that  to  Newburyport,  about  1849.  Pre- 
vious to  the  final  decision  to  run  this  line  where  it 
now  is,  a  movement  was  projected  in  1847  to  connect 
Newburyport  with  Haverhill,  nearer  the  Merrimac 
River,  passing  through  West  Newbury  and  East  Brad- 
ford, now  Groveland,  and  later  a  movementto  connect 
with  the  Eastern  Railroad,  at  Rowley  instead  of  New- 
buryport, 

At  a  meeting  of  the  town,  when  but  few  voters  were 
present,  the  town's  proportion  of  the  "  surplus  reve- 
nue," the  income  of  which  had  been  used  for  school 
purposes,  was  voted  in  aid  of  the  railroad.  At  a  later 
day  this  fifteen  hundred  dollars  in  the  town  assets  was 
recorded  by  ciphers.  In  the  early  history  of  the  road 
two  accidents,  resulting  in  death,  occurred.  Both  of 
the  killed  were  citizens  of  this  town.  One  was  Ben- 
jamin Hilliard,  for  some  years  a  stage  driver  and  ex- 
pressman, who  was,  while  conductor,  crushed  beneath 
an  overturned  car,  July  16, 1851 ;  the  other  was  Leander 
Spofford,  killed  September  7,  1853,  by  the  bursting  of 
the  boiler  of  the  locomotive  "  Baldpate,"  at  Grove- 
land. 

The  stage-coaches,  with  the  veterans  Pinkhara  and 
Carter  as  the  presiding  genius  of  each,  one  of  them 
making  Lowell  and  Newburyport  the  termini,  had 
reached  the  acme  of  their  fame,  although  the  first- 
named  still  continued  his  Salem  and  Haverhill  jour- 
neys until  the  opening  of  the  Georgetown  and  Danvers 
Railroad,  in  October,  1854.  The  Haverhill  branch 
some  time  previously  had  been  opened  for  travel. 

George  Spofford,  an  expressman  between  this  town 
and  Boston,  was  appointed  the  first  ticket  agent,  and 
the  passenger  station  was  the  westerly  half  of  the 
building  at  the  east  of  Main  Street,  which  was  after- 
ward removed  to  the  site  of  the  present  station,  and 
was  used  as  the  station  until  the  erection  of  the  pres- 
ent building.  The  easterly  part  of  the  original  depot 
remained,  and  is  now  the  freight  house. 

The  California  fever,  in  1849,  drew  a  number  of  the 
citizens  into  its  vortex.  Among  them  were  Messrs. 
Osgood,  Elliott,  Hosmer,  and  perhaps  others  at  the 
village,  and  the  brothers  Marshall,  Nelson,  McLaugh- 
lin and  Follansbee,  from  South  Georgetown. 

In  the  early  part  of  this  period  the  Derry  Fair,  an 
assemblage  peculiar  to  some  localities,  was  in  active 
operation  in  this  town,  once  and  again.  The  Essex 
Agricultural  Society  held  here  its  earlier  annual  exhi- 
bitions, several  times  previous  to  1840,  and  again  in 
1841  or  1842,  and  not  again  until  1862,  when,  amidst 


the  throes  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  this  Society 
continued,  under  difficulties,  to  carry  forward  its 
chosen  work. 

The  temperance  movement  began  in  this  town  as 
early  as  1815,  and  was  continued  in  an  organized 
form,  as  the  New  Rowley  Temperance  Society  in 
1829,  with  a  large  membership  of  both  sexes,  and 
Rev.  Isaac  Braman,  president.  This  broadened  and 
deepened  until  the  Washingtonian  movement  stirred 
the  country.  That  in  its  turn  started  the  Cadets  of 
Temperance,  a  juvenile  body,  which  existed  here 
about  1844,  and  the  Cold  Water  Army.  The  Band 
of  Hope  was  of  later  origin,  and  iji  the  next  decade 
the  Good  Templars  were  active  for  a  time. 

The  Reform  Club  some  yeai's  ago  did  good  service 
here,  and  Floral  Division,  Sons  of  Temperance,  al- 
though its  fortunes  have  varied,  still  exists,  with  a 
record  of  much  good  done. 

The  stores  during  the  period  named  did  a  thriv- 
ing business.  One  of  the  best  was  that  of  C.  G.  Tyler 
in  South  Georgetown,  who  was  a  skillful  buyer,  and 
whose  goods  were  in  great  variety.  This  building, 
now  the  shoe-factory  of  C.  G.  Baker,  has  had  as  gro- 
cers in  trade,  Leverett  S.  Crombie,  C.  H.  Adams,  and 
later  John  A.  Hoyt,  M.  N.  Boardman  and  T.  B. 
Masury. 

Moses  Carter  in  the  old  establishment,  previously 
kept  by  his  relatives  the  Bros.  Little,  did  a  large  busi- 
ness. He  made  a  purchase  at  one  time  of  one  hun- 
dred hogsheads  of  molasses  for  retail  trade,  an  article 
used  to  a  nuich  greater  extent  forty  years  ago  than  at 
present. 

Other  dealers  were  Jos.  P.  Stickney  in  the  Phenix 
Building.  George  Spofford,  J.  Gove  Low,  and  later  Na- 
thaniel Lambert,  were  all  in  the  old  store  which  stood 
near  where  Geo.  ,J.  Tenney's  house  now  is.  Wicom 
Savory  and  William  Boynton  &  Son  occupied  at 
different  times  a  building  further  westward,  since 
burned. 

The  names  of  Lake,  Hathaway,  Wilson,  Nelson, 
Tenney,  Haley,  one  can  recall  in  this  connection. 
William  E.  Wheeler,  on  North  Street,  is  one  of  the 
traders  of  to-day,  as  are  S.  T.  Poor,  Dennis  Donaghue 
and  M.  N.  Boardman.  As  a  druggist,  the  name  of 
Bateman  has  descended  from  father  to  son.  Wm. 
B.  Dorman  had  the  corner  drug-store  in  Little's  Block 
(now  occupied  by  L.  H.  Bateman)  for  some  years.  He 
also  manufactured  colognes  and  other  articles  in 
variety.  The  telegraph-office  is  in  the  drug-store, 
with  Mr.  Bateman  as  operator. 

On  Jewett  Street,  at  Stickney's  corner,  the  father 
of  Joseph  P.  Stickney  had  a  grocery  in  a  building 
opposite  his  dwelling-house ;  the  latter  is  now  the 
home  of  Daniel  Dawkins.  This  store  was  for  many 
years  quite  a  village  centre,  for  Warren  and  Jewett 
Street  residents. 

This  town  has  never  had  a  celebrity  for  special 
agricultural  work. 

Samuel  Little,  about  1854,  bought  the  Silas  Dole 


GEORGETOWN. 


853 


estate,  including  the  ancient  Tlmrston  place,  and  at 
once  began  extensive  improvements.  He  built  a 
barn  of  an  octagonal  form,  at  an  expense  of  not  less 
than  ten  thousand  dollars,  the  most  costly  at  the  time 
in  the  county,  and  expended,  it  is  thought,  in  varied 
work,  not  less  than  sixty  thousand  dollars.  Since  the 
decease  of  the  owner,  and  the  destruction  of  this  im- 
mense barn  by  fire,  in  July,  1885,  with  a  succession  of 
peculiar  events,  much  of  the  expense  incurred  has  to 
the  outward  appearance  become  wasted,  and  the 
stimulus  to  the  agricultural  interests  of  the  town  lost. 
Byfield  at  present  shows  a  spirit  of  advancement  and 
sustains  a  Farmers'  Club.  C.  W.  Nelson,  the  Su2)er- 
intendent  of  the  Georgetown  Town  Farm,  is  president. 
They  meet  irequently  and  are  doing  a  good  work.  In 
harmony  with  this  work,  was  the  Village  Improvement 
Society  of  Georgetown,  which  existed  several  years 
ago,  accomplishing  as  its  work  an  improved  condi- 
tion of  East  Main  Street,  in  the  enclosed  square,  etc., 
and  the  building  of  several  sidewalks  in  different 
parts  of  the  town.  Deacon  Asa  Nelson  was  perhaps 
in  advance  of  any  other  farmer  at  one  time,  in  prac- 
tically encouraging  new  and  improved  farming. 
Marked  changes  in  methods  of  farming  are,  however, 
taking  place.  The  time  was  when  not  less  than  five 
hundred  tons  of  salt-hay  was  carted  annually  from 
Bj^field  and  Rowley,  for  use  in  this  town,  while  now, 
perhaps,  one  hundred  tons  would  be  the  entire 
amount.  Eight  silos  have  been  built,  and  ensilage 
is,  with  a  few,  a  popular  food  for  stock. 

Rev.  O.  S.  Butler,  of  this  town,  has  become  quite 
noted  for  his  public  advocacy  of  the  silo,  as  a  neces- 
sary adjunct  to  successful  farming. 

In  July,  1860,  the  Essex  Agricultural  Society  took 
the  initiative,  it  is  believed,  among  the  kindred  socie- 
ties of  the  State,  in  suggesting  "Fairs"  for  the  sale 
and  exchange  of  farm  stock  and  other  products,  on  the 
English  system.  A  trial  day  was  had  in  Georgetown, 
and  what  is  now  Lincoln  Park,  was  alive  with  a 
practical  exhibit  of  the  working  of  the  mowing-ma- 
chine, then  a  new  invention.  The  result  was  very 
unsatisfactory  in  the  use  of  the  machine,  as  the  grass 
was  wet,  and  the  whole  affair  was  an  experiment,  not 
again  repeated. 

The  two  lakes.  Rock  and  Pentucket,  just  on  the 
borders  of  the  "Corner"  village,  give  a  peculiar 
attractiveness  to  this  town,  that  it  seems  might  be 
made  of  advantage  to  the  future  growth  of  the  town. 

This  feature  in  the  natural  surroundings  of  George- 
town is  what  but  few  places  in  the  county  can  show, 
as  most  of  the  ponds  and  lakes  are  at  an  inconvenient 
distance  from  the  village  centres.  Both  lakes  were  par- 
tially stocked  with  black  bass  some  ten  years  ago,  but 
with  indifferent  success.  Experienced  anglers  say  that 
on  the  removal  of  the  prohibition  against  fishing, 
which  was  enforced  for  several  years,  the  "  luck  "  of 
former  times  has  never  returned.  Both  of  the  bodies 
of  water  are  very  pure.  Rock  nestles  at  the  foot  of 
gravelly  and  grassy  knolls,  and  Pentucket  for  nearly 


one-fourth  of  a  mile,  has  on  Pond  Street  a  pebbly 
beach,  as  its  eastern  limit.  The  maximum  depth  is 
doubtless  in  Rock,  and  perhaps  forty  or  more  feet, 
while  Lake  Raynor  (although  within  the  limits  of 
Boxford,  with  South  Georgetown  so  near  at  hand 
as  to  be  practically  claimed  by  it  as  their  pond),  has 
at  one  point  at  least  seventy-two  feet  depth  of  water. 
This  lake,  three-fourths  of  a  mile  in  length,  has 
about  eighty  acres  area,  is  largely  fed  by  springs  and 
nearly  enclosed  by  upland  ;  has  a  pebbly  bottom  and 
water  clear  as  crystal. 

From  Baldpate  Hill  near  by,  with  its  four  hundred 
feet  altitude,  and  said  to  exceed  in  height  any  laud 
between  it  and  the  "  Blue  Hills "  of  Milton,  al- 
most exactly  south,  a  wide  extent  of  country  is  visi- 
ble;  reaching  from  the  White  Mountain  district  on 
the  north  to  Bunker  Hill  Monument  at  the  south, 
old  ocean  and  Southeastern  Maine  on  the  east  to 
Mounts  Wachusett  and  Holyoke  beyond  at  the  west. 
The  present  year,  Boston  and  New  York  capitalists 
have  had  in  contemplation  the  erecting  of  a  boarding 
house  or  private  residence  upon  the  summit,  at  some 
future  day. 

Little's  Grove,  a  part  of  the  Silas  Dole  farm,  situ- 
ated just  west  of  the  B.  &  M.  R.  R.,  was,  for  Boston 
parties  and  for  people  from  other  places,  a  popular 
picnic  resort  from  about  1850  to  '00.  The  citizens 
of  this  town  have  had  several  Fourth  of  July  gath- 
erings in  this  Grove;  the  last  being  in  1858,  with 
music  by  Gilmore's  band.  A  fine  floral  procession 
by  the  public  schools,  was  arranged  and  partly  carried 
out,  but  a  torrent  of  rain  marred  the  beauty  of  the 
ati'air.  Abolition,  Comeouter  and  Moral  Reform  ga- 
therings, as  has  been  said,  frequently  met  here  on  Sun- 
days and  public  holidays.  In  August,  1854,  a  Know 
Nothing  C'onvention  atti'acted  many  ;  but  the  day  of 
days  was  October  16,  1856,  when  the  "Fremont  Mass 
Convention"  brought  together  the  masses,  who  formed 
a  procession  of  one  mile  or  more  in  length.  This  Con- 
vention was  attended  by  ten  thousand  persons.  All 
northern  and  eastern  Essex  were  well  represented. 

In  the  political  divisions  of  the  past,  this  parish 
was  largely  of  the  Federal  faith,  while  Old  Rowley 
had  many  Republicans.  The  Republicans,  or  Jefferson 
party,  gradually  gained  in  numbers  in  New  Rowley, 
absorbing  the  attendants  at  the  Baptist  meeting-house. 
Anti-Masonry  was  not  organized,  although  wordy  en- 
counters were  frequent  with  Dr.  Mighill  and  others  of 
the  craft.  After  Jackson  and  Van  Buren,  Democracy 
got  a  small  but  tenacious  foothold,  with  Major  Paul 
Dole  as  an  active  i^artisan.  Harrison  and  the  Whig 
party,  however,  swept  the  town.  The  great  September 
mass  meeting  in  Boston,  in  1840,  was  never  forgotten 
by  the  participants.  Those  living  speak  of  it  now 
with  pride. 

The  Birney  party  had  a  few  disciples,  departing 
from  Garrison's  teachings  in  part.  These  were  mostly 
young  and  ardent  men.  H.  N.  and  his  brother  A.  B. 
Noyes  early  embraced  this  faith,  as  did  Asa  Nelson, 


854 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Jr.,  J.  P.  Ooker,  Deacon  Moses  Merrill  and  others. 
In  1845,  the  Native  American  faith  was  accepted 
by  several,  and  the  Tocsin  read.  The  "Free  Soil" 
stir  of  1848  aroused  this  town,  and  the  third  party 
began  to  show  noticeable  strength.  Still  it  was  a 
AVhig  town,  with  Colonel  John  Kimball  especially 
prominent.  The  State  "  Know  Nothing"  movement, 
as  elsewhere,  however,  left  both  of  the  old  parties 
stranded. 

The  "  Republican"  party  of  185(3  embraced  all  but 
half  a  hundred  sturdy  Democrats,  as  J.  P.  Jones, 
Esq.,  the  brothers  J.  K.  and  W.  H.  Harriiuan,  Dr.  H. 
N.  Couch,  Seth  Hall  and  others ;  and  a  few  voters 
still  firm  in  the  "Know  Nothing"  faith.  That  year, 
Hon.  Moses  Tenney,  who  had  been  in  the  Senate,  was 
elected  State  Treasurer,  and  continued  in  office  the 
constitutional  term,  until  1861.  The  Republicans 
were  the  powerful  majority  until  18()4,  when  a  slight 
increase  of  their  opponents  began  to  be  seen  in  the 
McClellan  vote. 

The  Irish  strength  now  began  to  be  felt  as  a  new 
factor  on  the  Democratic  side,  and  continued  until 
the  Labor  Reform,  followed  by  the  Greenback  party, 
checked  the  rapid  Democratic  growth. 

The  Greenback  ideas  were  at  once  embraced  by 
Captain  Moses  Wright,  who,  as  an  abolitionist  and  a 
personal  friend  of  Garrison  and  all  the  early  reformers, 
remained  steadfast  to  the  faith.  He  died  suddenly, 
September  18,  1887,  at  the  age  of  eighty-one  years. 
At  the  last  anti-slavery  convention  ever  held  in 
this  town,  which  was  of  three  days'  continuance.  Cap- 
tain Wright  presided.  It  was  held  in  the  town  hall 
in  the  summer  of  1860,  and  was  addressed  by  J.  Ford 
Douglas,  C.  C.  Burleigh,  Remond,  of  Salem,  and 
others. 

Oak  Dell,  a  grove  in  South  Georgetown,  was  origi- 
nally opened,  for  a  Greenback  convention,  September 
8,  1881,  with  addresses  by  J.  N.  Bulfum,  of  Lynn, 
Wm.  Weaver,  of  Nashua,  N.  H.,  and  several  others. 
July  4,  1882,  at  another  convention  of  this  party,  the 
fall  campaign  was  opened,  in  the  same  grove,  with  an 
address  by  E.  Moody  Boynton,  which  was  immediately 
circulated  as  a  key-note  by  the  press  of  the  country. 
This  party  for  several  years,  had  in  this  town  a  large 
following  both  in  State  and  legislative  action,  but  of 
late  has  become  reduced  in  numbers. 

At  a  few  elections  in  recent  years,  some  members 
of  the  leading  parties  have,  on  personal  grounds, 
voted  independently,  and  the  result  has  been  the 
partial  success  of  the  Democratic  ticket;  but,  on 
general  principles,  the  Republicans  are  still  in  the 
ascendant.  The  distinctive  temperance  vote  is  usually 
a  very  small  minority.  Besides  the  groves  already 
alluded  to  as  noted  for  public  occasions,  there  was 
held  in  1860  a  celebration  of  the  4th  of  July,  in  a 
grove  near  the  Paul  Pillsbury  place  in  Byfield,  with 
Rev.  J.  C.  Fletcher  as  orator,  and  also  a  series  of  re- 
igious  meetings  in  the  summer  of  1868,  in  a  grove 
on  Nelson  Street,  near  the  residence  of  Henry  E. 


Perley.     The   various   clergymen  of  the   town   con- 
ducted the  services. 

The  town-house,  begun  in  1855,  was  com]>leted  the 
following  year  at  a  cost  of  twelve  thousand  dollars. 
The  cupola,  a  somewhat  unsightly  addition,  was  taken 
down  some  years  ago,  which  gave  an  improved  ap- 
pearance to  the  building.  The  engine-house  on  Mid- 
dle Street,  was  built  in  1875,  at  a  cost  including  fur- 
nishings, of  about  five  thousand  dollars.  In  this 
building  are  rooms  for  the  selectmen  and  the  fire  de- 
partment. Little's  Block,  at  the  corner  of  North  and 
West  Main  Streets,  was  erected  by  a  stock  company 
in  1871,  at  a  cost  of  about  forty  thousand  dollars. 
This  elegant  structure  for  business  purposes,  has  its 
fourth  floor  exclusively  occupied  by  Protection 
Lodge,  I.  O.  0.  F.  The  building  covers  the  site  of 
the  humble  store  and  shoe-shop,  built  and  occupied 
l)y  the  brothers  Joseph  and  Benjamin  Little,  about 
seventy-five  years  ago.  The  Masonic  block,  a  wooden 
structure,  stood  near  the  site  where  the  business  block 
built  in  1886  stands,  and  was  erected  in  1867.  Captain 
G.  W.  Boynton  was  a  large  owner  of  stock.  This  val- 
uable property  was  always  rented,  and  was  of  three  full 
stories,  besides  hall-room  above.  This  block  was  par- 
tially burned  in  1874,  and  completely  destroyed  by 
tliefireof  1885. 

The  skating  rink  on  Park  Street,  opposite  the  shoe 
factory  of  W.  M.  Brewster,  was  built  in  1883,  removed 
in  1886  to  North  Street,  near  the  mills,  and  has  been 
converted  into  a  double  tenement  dwelling-house. 
It  is  understood  to  have  been  originally  the  property 
of  members  of  the  Georgetown  Cornet  Band.  This 
musical  organization,  with  E.  A.  Chaplin,  leader,  is 
the  successor  of  several  similarly  organized  bodies, 
but,  unlike  those  preceding  it,  shows  a  determination 
to  "  stick,''  and  reap  the  reward  due  to  energy  and 
perseverance.  Their  efficiency  is  recognized  beyond 
this  immediate  locality.  The  talent  of  several  of  the 
members  is  such  that  special  engagements  are  of  con- 
stant occurrence. 

The  brick  blocks  of  four  and  five  stories,  with  the 
narrow  space  between  them  bridged,  of  which  the  one 
fronting  on  Main  Street  was  destroyed  in  the  fire  in 
18S5,  were  built  in  1875.  Steam-power  in  the  Main 
Street  building  was  supplied  to  both.  These  blocks 
extended  from  Main,  nearly  to  the  corner  of  Park  and 
Maple  Street. 

The  Pentucket  House,  as  it  now  is,  was  built  and 
occupied  by  Col.  J.  B.  Savory  in  1825.  For  hotel  and 
boarding  i)urposes  it  was  first  erected,  and  has  so  con- 
tinued as  "  Savory's  tavern,"  and  under  its  present 
name,  to  this  day.  The  original  Brocklebank  house, 
afterwards  Pillsbury  tavern,  a  one-and-a-half  story 
structure,  was  removed  to  the  rear,  and  converted,  it 
is  thought,  into  the  "L.''  Here  was  located  for  many 
years  the  Manufacturers  Bank,  into  the  vaults  of  which 
the  noted  bank  burglar,  "  Bristol  Bill,"  once  arranged 
to  enter,  but  was  deterred  from  his  design.  On  the 
second  floor  of  the  "  L"  is  the  hall,  which  has  been 


GEORGETOWN. 


855 


known  at  various  times  as  Savory's,  Mechanics',  and 
Grand  Army  hall,  where,  for  many  years,  Panoramas, 
Indian  shows,  learned  pigs,  etc.,  were  exhibited,  ad 
inJinitiDii.  This  hall  was  the  head-quarters  of  the 
Good  Templars  and  Sons  of  Temperance  for  a  long 
time. 

The  town  farm  was  bought  of  Thomas  Gage,  Esq., 
in  March,  1822,  and,  including  the  outlands,  cost 
three  thousand  dollars.  In  the  division  of  the  town, 
this  farm  was  included  within  the  limits  of  George- 
town. The  "  pound,"  au  important  institution  in  early 
times,  was  voted  by  the  parish,  March,  1740.  Joseph 
Nelson  gave  the  land  to  "set  the  pound  on.'' 
The  j)arish  were  to  have  it  for  the  purpose  as  "  long 
as  said  pound  shall  stand."  Estrays  were  common, 
and  early  colonial  action  was  intense  against  wan- 
dering swine,  goats,  asses  and  other  domestic  animals. 
The  pound-keeper's  office,  now  a  sinecure,  was,  until 
recently,  a  position  of  trust,  and  the  "  Field  driver" 
had  the  authority  of  an  English  beadle.  Personal 
piques  were  sometimes  taken  advantage  of  by  the 
tield-driver,  and  the  frequent  result,  here  as  well  as 
elsewhere,  has  been  neighborhood  (juarrels. 

At  the  present  time  there  are  no  public  flag- 
staffs,  or  "  Liberty  poles,"  in  town.  The  Everett  Pea- 
body  Post,  G.  A.  R.,  have  recently  taken  such  action, 
that  the  national  flag  will  float  from  their  headquarters 
in  future  on  public  occasions.  One  in  the  square 
where  the  Soldier's  Monument  now  stands  was  blown 
down  in  a  violent  gale,  July  4,  1807.  This  was  prob- 
ably set  about  1845.  There  have  also  been  one  or  two 
others  placed  in  front  of  one  of  the  early  engine  houses, 
which  stood  where  the  grocery  of  Dennis  Donaghue 
now  stands.  The  first  flag-staff  referred  to,  was  in 
front  of  the  Tenney  building,  now  the  residence  ol 
H.  N.  Harriman. 

On  the  ground  floor  of  this  building  were  kept  the 
first  machines  of  the  fire  department  of  that  town, 
viz.,  the  Watchman  and  Pentucket. 

The  annual  firemen's  parade,  forty-five  or  more 
years  ago,  was  always  quite  animated  and  enthusias- 
tic. The  engine-house  on  Main  Street,  just  above 
Little's  block,  was  removed  to  North  Street,  near  the 
Mills,  and  changed  into  a  tenement-house.  Anotht  r 
engine-house  on  Main,  very  near  Library  Street,  is 
now  owned  by  J.  E.  Bailey.  This,  for  about  twenty 
years,  was  occupied  by  Empire  or  No.  2  Company.  In 
1875,  Washington  No.  3  house  was  removed  to  South 
Georgetown.  For  some  years  from  1803  or  before, 
Warren  Street  was  provided  with  an  engine,  which 
was  then  known  as  No.  3 ;  and  North  Street  also, 
where  Erie  Company  No.  4  is  still  located;  this  com- 
pany now  has  horses  ready  at  a  moment's  warning, 
and  has  reached,  it  is  conceded,  marked  efficiency, 
The  Pentucket  Hook  and  Ladder  Company  was  or- 
ganized in  1872.  The  Steamer  No.  1  Company  was 
organized  in  1875.  Two  or  three  fall  parades,  with  a 
visiting  company,  have  been  held,  the  last  one  in  Oc- 
tober, 1884. 


Since  the  incorporation  of  the  town,  the  first  fire 
which  occurred  was  March  4,  1840,  when  the  barn  of 
S.  P.  Cheney  was  destroyed  by  lightning.   The  second 
was  the  house  of  Nath.  Sawyer,  in  1841  or  '42,  then 
just   comj)leted,  upon    the   site   of  which    the  brick 
house  now  owned  by  L.  G.  Wilson  was  at  once  built. 
This  was  an  incendiary  fire,  and  was  set  by  John  Saw- 
yer, an  insane  person.    On  the  night  following  the  4th 
of  July,  1859  or  '00,  there  was  a  partial  destruction  of 
the  stable  adjoining,  and  the  rear  portion  of  the  store 
building,  then  occupied  by  Nathaniel  Lambert's  gro- 
cery.  The  Dunbar  Hotel,  which  is  now  the  residence 
of  Dr.  R.  C.  Huse,  was  in  great  danger,  but  escaped 
harm.     The  next  fire  of  magnitude,  was  a  stable  on 
the  same  site,  Fast  morning,  some  eight  or  nine  years 
later.     The  building  and  several  horses  were  burned. 
October  20,  1874,  a  fire  occurred  in  the  stable  of  G.  J. 
Tenney,  soon  became  uiiconti'ollable,  and  raged   from 
seven   in  the  morning  until  about  noon,  destroying 
property  to  the  value  of  about  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars..    It  was  only  by  aid  from  other  places  that 
the  fire  was  stayed.     The  residence  and  shoe-factory 
of  G.  J.  Tenney,  with  the  store  building  in  danger  in  the 
former  fire,  were  entirely  consumed.  Stables  and  other 
store  buildings,  the  old  Boynton  among  them,  met  the 
common  fate,  and  only  held  in  check  at  the  Masonic 
Block  and  Pentucket  House  on  the  one   side,  and,  as 
before,  the  present  Dr.  Huse  house  on  the  other.    The 
fourth  and  latest  fire  in  that  same  locality,  was  on  the 
night  following  December  25,  1885.     Two  members 
of  the  Steamer  Comitany,  IMcssrs.  Chase  and  Illsley, 
met  their  sad   fate  at  the  outset,  the  brick    wall  of 
Adams  Block  falling,  and  crushing  them  instantly, 
and  injuring  several  others,  one  of  whom  was  E.  A. 
Yeaton,   who    was   after  a  time   restored   to  health, 
while  another,_C.  M.  Clark,  a  member  of  Empire  Com- 
pany, died  after  amputation  and  weeks  of  sutfering. 
This  calamity  was  followed  by  a  conflagration   much 
exceeding  the  former,  twelve  years   before.     The  fine 
brick   residence  of  G.  J.  Tenney  went  in  a  moment, 
after  the  burning  of  the   Main  Street  business  block, 
which  had  the  Banks,  National  and   Savings,  Post 
Office,  law  office  of  W.  A.   Butler  and   boot  and  shoe 
factories  of  A.  B.  Noyes  and  G.  J.  Tenney.     Steam 
power,  supplying  the  Brewster  block  on  the  rear,  was 
also  destroyed.     Again  the  Dr.  Huse  residence  was 
the  terminus  eastward,  and   the    Pentucket   House 
westward.     This  fire  exceeded  in  loss  the  former.     In 
August,  1882,  the  buildings  of  Amos  Ridley,  on  An- 
dover  Street,  were  burned  irom  lightning.    Other  fires 
have  been  mostly  of  barns  and  out-buildings. 

The  opening  of  Tenney's  field,  now  Lincoln  Park, 
for  the  erection  of  houses,  was  in  1808.  At  about  that 
l)eriod,  and  a  few  years  later.  Nelson  Avenue  was  ex- 
tended and  other  streets  opened.  Since  1880  nothing 
of  special  note  in  town  enlargement  has  been 
attempted. 

The  Georgetown  Savings  Bank  was  incorporated  in 
1868,  with  J.  P.  Jones,  president,  and  W.  H.  Harriman, 


856 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


treasurer.  The  office  was  at  Harriman's  drug  store, 
on  Central  Street,  which  is  now  owned  by  G.  L.  Met- 
calf.  It  was  removed  about  ten  years  later  to  the  Ten- 
ney  Block,  on  Main  Street,  O.  B.  Tenney,  Esq.,  elected 
treasurer,  who  is  still  in  office.  Mr.  Tenney  is  also  Trial 
Justice,  has  been  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Sen- 
ate, a  special  commissioner  for  Essex  County,  and  was 
for  many  years  one  of  the  selectmen  of  the  town.  The 
Georgetown  National  Bank  has  been  in  existence  some 
fourteen  or  more  years.  It  had  originally  a  capital 
of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  with  H.  P.  Chaplin 
as  president,  and  George  H.  Carlton,  cashier.  Lewis 
H.  Giles  is  cashier  at  present.  Both  of  these  institu- 
tions found  quarters  in  Little's  Block  after  they  were 
burned  out  in  the  late  fire,  and  are  now  in  Union  Block. 

Of  the  fraternal  societies  the  Free  Masons  are  first, 
in  point  of  seniority.  The  petition  of  thirty-four 
craftsmen  was  approved,  and  a  Dispensation  granted 
April  5,  1867,  to  constitute  a  lodge.  This  was  signed 
by  C.  C.  Dame,  then  Grand  Master,  whose  name  the 
lodge  afterward  assumed.  The  first  officers  were 
elected  April  15,  1867,  at  a  meeting  in  Empire  Hall. 
December  26th  of  the  same  year  the  Masonic  building 
and  elegant  lodge-rooms  having  been  completed,  the 
lodge  was  constituted,  the  officers  installed  and  the  hall 
dedicated.  Among  the  members  occupying  the  chair, 
have  been  Stephen  Osgood,  Sherman  Nelson,  H.  N. 
Harriman,  G.  H.  Tenney,  Isaac  Wilson,  W.  A.  Harn- 
den,  E.  A.  Chaplin,  M.  F.  Carter,  and  others. 

The  headquarters  of  the  earlier  Masons,  sixty  years 
ago,  was  at  the  old  Spoflbrd  homestead  on  Andover 
Street.  Twice  Charles  C.  Dame  Lodge,  because  ol 
being  burned  out,  found  in  the  hall  of  the  Odd  Fel- 
lows a  place  for  meeting.  During  Christmas  week, 
1879,  this  fraternity  had  a  very  successful  Fair. 

Protection  Lodge,  I.  O.  of  O.  F.,  was  instituted  Oc- 
tober 7,  1868,  by  Levi  F.  Warren,  Grand  Master  ol 
Grand  Lodge  of  Massachusetts,  with  Paul  R.  Picker- 
ing, N.  G.  Most  of  the  earlier  members  had  been 
previously  connected  with  the  order  in  Newburyport. 
Since  the  founding,  the  brothers  elected  to  the  position 
of  N.  G.  have  been  W.  H.  Harriman,  Jos.  E,  Bailey, 
D.  E.  Moultou,  J.  P.  Stickney,  J.  G.  Scates,  H.  L. 
Perkins,  E.  S.  Daniels,  G.  H.  Carleton,  W.  H.Illsley, 
Fred.  M.  Edgell,  M.  D.  Chase,  Perley  Bunker,  John 
Munroe,  H.  A.  Bixby,  W.  G.  Wadleigh,  I.  S.  C. 
Perley,  G.  E.  Dawkins  (Groveland)  S.  R.  White, 
Henry  Hilliard,  J.  H.  Scates,  G.  L.  Metcalf,  J.  T. 
Jackson,  A.  B.  Hull,  B.  A.  Hilliard,  W.  S.  Symonds, 
Clarence  Stetson  (Groveland),  Charles  H.  Pingree. 
Present  term,  G.  L.  Mighill.  They  occupy  an  elegant 
hall  in  Little's  Block,  with  the  furnishings  and  all  the 
surroundings  in  perfect  completeness.  This  hall  was 
dedicated  November  15, 1871,  by  the  Grand  Master,  A. 
B.  Plympton.  The  number  of  charter  members,  nine 
teen.  Present  number,  one  hundred  and  sixty-nine. 
This  lodge  had  a  successful  Fair  the  last  week  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1874.  A  Rebekah  Degree  Lodge  existed  atone 
time. 


Good  Will  Assembly,  2229  K.  of  L.,  was  organized 
in  Grand  Army  Hall,  September  13,  1882,  by  A.  A. 
Carlton,  of  Lynn,  now  of  the  General  Executive 
Board  of  the  Order,  with  thirteen  charter  members. 
This  order  has  had  as  meeting-places,  the  hall  where 
they  were  organized;  also  Empire  Hall,  a  hall  in 
Masonic  building,  where  they  were  burned  out  in 
1885,  and  have  met  frequently  in  Town  Hall.  At 
present  they  have  rooms  in  Union  Block. 

Tlie  latest  secret  order  of  the  town  is  the  A.  O.  of 
U.  W.,  organized  by  Clarence  E.  Embree,  and  insti- 
tuted December  20,  1886.  Present  officers  are  P.  M. 
W.,  S.  T.  Peakes  ;  M.  W.,  S.  K.  White.  Other  posi- 
tions are  held  by  W.  ITrquhart,  F.  V.  Noyes,  A.  B. 
Comins,  E.  S.  Daniels,  F.  M.  Vining,  L.  H.  Giles,  A. 
C.  Hall,  M.  L.  Hoyt,  L.  F.  Carter,  T.  F.  Hill,  and  M. 
N.  Boardman. 

One  or  two  other  organizations  of  a  local  character 
have  existed  here  in  the  past,  and  perhaps  do  at 
present.  At  the  outset  of  the  organization  of  Patrons 
of  Husbandry,  when  there  were  but  five  Granges  in 
existence — two  in  New  York  State,  two  in  Illinois 
and  one  in  Washington,  D.  C. — the  writer  labored  to 
start  a  Grange  in  this  town.  He  entered  into  corres- 
pondence with  an  officer  of  the  National  Grange  (just 
organized)  then  living  in  Ansonia,  N.  Y.,  and  hoped  to 
awaken  an  interest  here,  but  could  not  arouse  suffi- 
cient to  warrant  the  founding  officers  visiting  us. 

Among  the  officers  of  the  town,  one  or  two  names 
have  special  prominence.  One  is  that  of  Sherman  Nel- 
son, who  for  nearly  twenty  years  was  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Selectmen.  Another,  which  may  have  been 
already  stated,  is  that  of  J.  P.  Jones,  Esq.,  for  years 
deeply  interested  in  the  schools  and  prominent  on  the 
school  committee;  and  still  another  to  be  named  in 
this  connection  is  Gorham  P.  Tenney,  who,  as  visit- 
ing committee,  was  greatly  beloved  by  the  young  peo- 
ple of  the  town. 

The  first  election  of  town  officers  was  April  28, 
1838.  Robert  Savory  was  elected  moderator;  George 
Foote,  town  clerk ;  John  A.  Lovering,  Sewall  Spof- 
ford  and  G.  D.  Tenney,  selectmen  and  assessors ; 
James  Peabody,  Moses  Thurlow  and  Jeremiah  Clark, 
overseers  of  the  poor ;  Robert  Savory,  Moody  Cheney 
and  Charles  Boynton,  constables  ;  Benjamin  Winter, 
treasurer  and  collector;  Joseph  Little,  John  B.  Sa- 
vory and  Amos  J.  Tenney,  fire  wardens;  Rev.  Isaac 
Braman,  Rev.  John  Burden  and  Moody  Cheney, 
school  committee.  George  Foote's  term  of  office  as 
town  clerk  was  until  1841;  J.  P.  Stickney,  1841-45; 
H.  N.  Noyes,  1845-47 ;  Thomas  A.  Merrill,  1847-49 ; 
J.  P.  Jones,  1849-50;  L.  S.  Crombie,  1850-51,  and 
died  in  office ;  Otis  Thompson,  pro  tern.,  1851 ;  L.  H. 
Bateman,  1852-55;  J.  P.  Stickney,  1855-59;  C.  G. 
Tyler,  1859-60,  and  died  in  office;  Chaplin  G.  Tyler, 
pro  tern.,  1860  ;  C.  E.  Jewett,  1860-71 ;  O.  B.  Tenney, 
1871-73,  and  resigned  the  office;  J.  E.  Bailey,  1873- 
76  ;  Fred.  M.  Edgell,  1876-77,  and  died  in  office;  H. 
N.  Harriman,  pro  tern.,  1877-78;  J.  E.  Bailey,  1878- 


GEORGETOWN. 


857 


84 ;  H.  N.  Harriman,  1884,   and  also  present  incum- 
bent. 

The  post-office  in  Georgetown,  formerly  called 
"New  Rowley  Post-office,"  was  established  in  1824, 
with  Benjamin  Little  as  postmaster,  who  continued  to 
formally  discharge  the  duties  in  the  old  corner  gro- 
cery until  bis  death,  in  1851.  The  original  case  of 
boxes  is  now  preserved  in  the  gallery  of  Peabody  Li- 
brary. J.  P.  Stickney,  who  for  some  time  had  per- 
formed the  principal  work,  with  the  office  in  his  store 
at  Little  &  Noyes'  shoe  factory,  was  his  successor. 
Samuel  Wilson,  who  lived  in  the  house  now  G.  L. 
Metcalf's,  Avas  the  next  incumbent,  with  the  office  in 
what  is  now  the  store.  This  was  during  the  Pierce 
administration.  Captain  Joseph  Hervey  was  the 
official  for  a  time,  during  Pierce's  term,  in  the  corner 
grocery.  During  Buchanan's  term,  J.  P.  Jones,  Esq., 
was  the  official,  with  his  brother  Cyrus  as  clerk.  The 
election  of  Lincoln  placed  Richard  Tenney,  Esq.,  in 
the  office  and  in  a  building  which  was  located  in  what 
is  now  the  yard  of  the  Memorial  Church.  The  erec- 
tion of  the  church  caused  the  removal  of  this  build- 
ing to  North  Street,  filling  a  sjjot  now  covered  by  the 
extreme  northerly  end  of  Little's  Block.  Here  C  E. 
Jewett  for  a  time  had  the  office  on  the  lower  floor, 
and  with  Johnson  as  President,  C.W.  Tenney  assum- 
ed the  duties.  Dr.  R.  C.  Huse  rented  the  upper  floor 
on  his  settlement  as  physician  in  town.  The  next 
incumbent  was  Rev.  0.  S.  Butler,  holding  the  office 
for  sixteen  years  and  more,  or  during  the  Grant, 
Hayes,  Garfield  and  Arthur  terms.  The  location  of 
the  office  under  the  care  of  this  official  was  in  several 
places,  twice  at  least  in  different  parts  of  Masonic 
Block,  and  after  the  1874  fire  temporarily  in  the  Pen- 
tucket  House.  During  several  later  years  a  conve- 
nient room  in  the  Tenney  Block  on  Main  Street  was 
provided,  which  continued  as  the  office  under  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  present  official,  S.  A.  Donoghue, 
until  burned  out  in  the  late  fire.  The  office  was  then 
hastily  set  up  in  the  grocery  of  Dennis  Donaghue, 
and  from  there  removed  to  the  room  of  the  express- 
man, C.  W.  Tenney,  and  but  recently  has  been  estab- 
lished in  the  new  (Union)  block. 

Of  the  professions,  and  partially  allied  thereto,  the 
ministers  have  been  already  named.  Jeremiah  Rus- 
sell, from  New  Hampshire,  was  the  first  lawyer.  He 
built  and  occupied  what  is  now  the  Memorial  parson- 
age. J.  P.  Jones,  who  began  practice  about  1842  or 
'43,  was  also  from  New  Hampshire.  He  married  the 
youngest  daughter  of  Nathaniel  Nelson,  and  resides 
in  the  old  Nelson  home.  His  eldest  son,  Boyd  B.,  now 
of  Haverhill,  resided  in  town  for  some  years  after  his 
marriage.  The  office  of  father  and  son  is  in  Haver- 
hill. Benjamin  Poole  had  an  office  in  town  some  forty 
years  ago.  W.  A.  Butler,  son  of  the  late  postmaster, 
who  studied  at  Boston  University,  also  practices  here. 

Of  physicians,  besides   the   Spoffords — father  and 
son — and  David  Mighill,  already  named,  there  have 
been  Stephen  Mighill,  who  had  at  one  time  an  office 
54J 


on  the  second  floor  of  the  South  Georgetown  grocery, 
afterwards  removed  to  Boston ;  William  Cogswell, 
now  of  Haverhill ;  George  Moody,  on  Elm  Street  ; 
H.  N.  Couch,  on  North  Street  (at  one  time  taught 
the  winter  school  in  South  Georgetown) ;  Dr. 
Grosvenor,  on  Main  Street;  Martin  Root,  in  By- 
field  ;  De  Wolf,  with  an  office  in  the  Baptist  parson- 
age, who  went  West;  Spalding,  now  located  near 
Boston,  and  Drs.  R.  C.  Huse  and  R.  B.  Root,  the  two 
last-named  having  been  in  practice  here  since  1866. 
Others  in  the  past  were  Rogers,  Braman  and  Perley. 

The  only  practitioners  of  dentistry  ever  permanent- 
ly settled  in  town  were  Dr.  Reed,  about  1856,  for  a 
short  time,  and  Thomas  Whittle,  who  removed  here 
from  Ipswich  several  years  ago,  and  is  regarded  as 
very  successful  in  his  profession.  Dr.  Howard,  how- 
ever, has  for  a  long  time  resided  in  town,  but  has  an 
office  in  Haverhill. 

Photography  was  for  ten  years  or  more  the  partial 
employment  of  W.  H.  Harriman,  on  Central  Street,  in 
the  rooms  of  his  residence,  now  occupied  by  Mrs. 
Hoyt.  About  1872  or  '73  S.  C.  Reed,  of  Newbury- 
port,  an  artist  of  genius,  took  the  rooms  of  Mr.  Har- 
riman, and  resided  here  for  two  or  three  years.  The 
first  daguerreotypes  ever  taken  in  town  were  by  a 
Mr.  Atwood,  brother  of  Mrs.  David  Haskell.  This 
was  in  the  autumn  and  early  winter  of  1847,  in  the 
house  of  T.  J.  Elliott,  and  in  the  room  at  the  corner 
of  Central  and  Main  Streets.  It  is  very  easy  to  recall 
the  mystery  that  most  felt  at  the  report  of  this  new 
discovery,  and  the  peculiar  solemnity  experienced  in 
sitting  for  a  picture. 

If  space  permitted,  some  reference  to  the  changes 
in  country  life  on  the  farm,  and  in  the  country  home 
generally,  might  be  of  interest. 

It  is  said  that  the  first  cook-stove  used  in  town  was 
in  1815,  and  in  the  house  of  Thomas  Nelson,  formerly 
the  Perkins  house,  near  Lake  Raynor.  This  was  of 
the  old  James  pattern,  and  manufactured  in  New  York 
State.  John  Wood,  who  lived  in  James  Gordon's 
house,  near  the  mills,  was  the  next  to  buy  this  help 
in  the  farmer's  kitchen.  Much  fear  had  been  felt  that 
the  fuel  supply  would  fail,  from  the  great  consump- 
tion of  wood  in  the  New  England  States,  as  popula- 
tion increased,  and  this  invention,  greatly  lessening 
the  quantity  needed,  was  by  many  at  once  taken  ad- 
vantage of.  The  discovery  of  peat  early  in  the  cen- 
tury, for  use  as  fuel,  was  much  appreciated,  and  was 
constantly  used  in  many  families. 

The  first  carpet  ever  brought  into  the  town  was  of 
English  make  ;  was  bought  by  Deacon  Solomon  Nel- 
son and  wife  in  1816,  they  taking  a  special  journey  to 
Boston  for  the  purpose.  This  carpet  is  still  in  use  and 
in  good  condition.  Those  journeys  by  horse  and 
chaise  to  Boston,  and  on  visits  in  New  Hampshire, 
were  not  then  considered  at  all  wearisome  by  those 
making  them.  In  1804,  the  parties  just  named,  accom- 
panied by  friends  from  Spofford's  Hill,  journeyed  with 
horse  and  chaise  to  the  springs  at  Saratoga,  then  just 


858 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUN^^Y,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


becoming  known.  At  many  of  the  stopping-places  in 
New  Hampshire  and  Vermont,  they  found  relatives 
of  their  own  or  other  Rowley  families,  and  an  ac- 
quaintance was  easily  made. 

As  we  are  about  closing  this  sketch,  we  will  refer 
briefly  to  a  few  special  agricultural  features,  and  nat- 
ural productions  of  the  town. 

Apples  and  pears  were  formerly  largely  grown 
here.  A  few  of  those  original  fruit-trees  still  remain. 
Their  vigorous  growth  marks  a  century  from  the  seed. 
The  temperance  reform  of  fifty  years  ago  checked 
the  manufacture  and  use  of  cider,  and  the  old  trees 
which  had  borne  abundant  crops  of  natural  fruit,  were 
levelled  to  the  ground.  Every  farmer,  in  former  days, 
stored  from  twenty  to  a  hundred  barrels  of  cider,  and 
some  also  manufactured  many  barrels  of  perry.  One 
hundred  barrels  of  winter  pears  have  annually  been 
grown  on  a  single  farm  on  Nelson  Street.  There  were 
not  less  than  a  dozen  cider-mills  in  town. 

Of  forest  trees  of  special  size  there  are  several  in 
town  worthy  of  mention.  The  Pickett  Elm  on  And- 
over  Street,  and  the  Chaplin  or  Shute  Elm  on  Nelson 
Street,  must  have  attained  some  growth  at  the  first 
settlement  of  the  town.  Of  the  last  named,  Mrs. 
Huldah  Harriman,  whose  memory  went  back  to  about 
1750,  frequently  said  that  it  was  as  large  in  her  child- 
hood, as  in  the  last  years  of  her  life.  There  is  a  but- 
tonwood,  on  Nelson  Street,  in  front  of  the  site  of  the 
old  Nelson  house,  which  was  planted  one  hundred  and 
thirty-seven  years  ago  by  David,  the  great-grand- 
father of  Sherman  Nelson.  At  Henry  E.  Perley's 
there  are  two  immense  pasture  oaks  well  worthy  of 
note.  There  are  trees  near  Humphrey  Nelson's  said 
to  have  been  set  by  Rev.  Mr.  Chandler,  and  a  very 
large  elm  in  front  of  the  house  of  Mrs.  Sylvanus  Mer- 
rill, known  as  the  Searl  elm. 

Some  Sections  of  the  town,  and  especially  South 
Georgetown,  are  rich  in  botanical  treasures.  At  the 
last  field  meeting  of  the  Essex  Institute,  held  in  this 
town,  which  was  at  Oak  Dell,  June  17, 1883,  Mrs.  C.  M. 
Horner,  a  resident  of  this  town,  and  favorably  known 
to  students  of  nature  throughout  the  State  as  an  en- 
thusiastic botanist,  said  that  more  than  three  hundred 
species  of  plants  had  been  collected  by  her  in  that 
locality  alone. 

A  brief  mention  of  several  persons  who  are  natives 
of  Georgetown,  in  addition  to  those  previously  named, 
having  more  than  local  celebrity,  would  not  be  amiss. 

Mrs.  A.  W.  H.  Howard  is  a  regular  or  occasional 
contributor  to  the  press  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  and 
Philadelphia,  Pa.  She  and  her  sister,  Miss  Sarah  E. 
Horner,  have  been  unwavering  advocates  for  woman 
suffrage  for  years,  and  have  invariably  voted  for  school 
committee  at  the  March  meeting,  since  the  suffrage 
was  extended  to  women. 

The  Searl  and  Merrill  families,  in  the  village  of 
"Marlboro',"  gave  to  the  Baptist  and  Congregational 
ministry,  early  in  the  present  century,  six  of  their 
sons — three  from  each  family. 


George  Peabody  Russell,  a  native  of  the  town,  was 
a  favorite  nephew  of  the  banker  George  Peabody. 
He  resides  in  England,  and  has,  it  has  been  reported, 
a  home  in  the  Isle  of  Wight.  He  was  bequeathed  a 
large  fortune  by  his  uncle,  and  was  appointed  one  of 
the  trustees  of  the  Southern  Educational  Fund.  This 
mention  of  Mr.  Peabody  recalls  the  famous  public  re- 
ception given  to  him  at  the  old  meeting-house  in  April, 
1867,  when,  seemingly,  the  entire  population  of  the 
town  were  present  with  their  cordial  greetings.  Old 
and  young  entered  heartily  into  the  spirit  of  the  oc- 
casion, and  none  more  so  than  Mr.  Peabody  himself. 
J.  P.  Jones,  Esq.,  gave  the  address  of  welcome,  and 
Hon.  O.  B.  Tenney  was  master  of  ceremonies  and  in- 
troduced the  people  to  the  honored  guest. 

Augustus  M.  Cheney,  of  Byfield,  is  connected  with 
a  leading  publishing  house  in  the  West.  He  has  re- 
cently visited  the  old  homestead  on  Jackman  Street. 

Mrs.  Lavinia  Spofford  Weston,  having  considerable 
local  fame  as  a  poetess,  was  born  in  the  last  month  of 
the  last  century.  Is  actively  engaged  in  composition, 
equaling  in  vigor  the  production  of  her  early  years. 

Milton  P.  Braman,  D.D.,  a  prominent  theologian 
and  a  close  student  of  history,  the  son  of  Rev,  Isaac 
Braman,  was  a  clergyman  in  Danvers  many  years. 
To  alleviate  the  infirmities  of  her  husband  in  his  loss 
of  sight  and  declining  age,  Mrs.  Braman,  whose 
maiden-name  was  Parker,  and  born,  as  was  her  hus- 
band, on  Audover  Street,  acquired,  after  she  had 
reached  her  seventieth  year,  sufficient  knowledge  of 
the  Greek  language  to  read  it  to  him  with  readiness 
and  appreciatingly. 

Lyman  G.  Elliott  is  a  lawyer  in  California,  who  is 
highly  esteemed  as  a  citizen  in  his  adopted  State,  and 
has  achieved  success  in  his  chosen  profession. 

In  recent  years  several  teachers  of  prominence  have 
gone  out  from  this  town.  F.  E.  Merrill,  now  of  Utah, 
was  lately  nominated  as  superintendent  of  schools  for 
the  Territory.  B.  H.  Weston  recently  had  charge  of  au 
Indian  school  in  the  West,  and  was  at  one  time  prin- 
cipal of  Atkinson  Academy.  B.  C.  Noyes  has  been 
for  many  years  principal  of  the  high  school  in  Dayton, 
Ohio.  N.  Marshman  Hazen  is  prominently  connected 
with  the  publishing-house  of  the  Appletons.  As  a 
romantic  adventurer,  Nathaniel  Savory,  said  to  have 
been  born  in  the  lately  demolished  "Brook  house"  on 
Thurlow  Street,  achieved  a  fame  that  but  few  Ameri- 
cans ever  equaled.  His  career  as  an  island  king, 
and  his  projected  confederacy  of  the  Pacific  Islands 
make  a  unique  chapter  in  a  sailor's  life. 

As  we  have  already  given  the  list  of  the  first  officers 
of  the  town,  we  will  here  record  the  names  of  those 
who  are  at  present  in  office,  at  the  close  of  its  first 
half-century  :  Moderator,  O.  B.  Tenney  ;  Town  Clerk, 
H.  N.  Harriman;  Selectmen  and  Assessors,  J.  E. 
Bailey,  James  Donavan,  C.  E.  Tyler ;  Treasurer  and 
Collector,  J.  E.  Bailey ;  Overseers  of  the  Poor,  John 
A.  Hoyt,  James  Donavan,  A.  A.  Howe;  School  Com- 
mittee, G.  D.  Tenney,  O.  S.  Butler,   D.  D.  Marsh; 


Ms 


\^m- 


'^Lrii/ll/T^J-/       itj        uijhl'       r'lAiT  ,  ytiiw  ^    i.',\ri,w,     j~t     ,  ir-'.i  if-.nriA.rf   I    r  f     J* 


JCiiia^  '/dr 04ncio^^ , 


£om,  Julys'^'/ 770.     oruM/i^c/c /luu 7.    /7i/7 


GEORGETOWN. 


859 


Constables,  D.  M.  Bridges,  A.  B.  Hull,  Leon  S.  Gif- 
ford,  Frank  Riley,  C.  W.  Nelson,  S.  S.  Hardy. 

The  half-centennial  of  this  town  and  the  two  hundred 
and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  arrival  of  John  SpofFord 
with  the  Rowley  emigrants,  can  each  with  propriety  be 
celebrated  next  year  by  the  SpofFord  family  at  their 
proposed  gathering,  so  prominent  as  the  family  have 
been  in  the  early  history  of  the  town,  and  the  fore- 
going historical  sketch,  written  just  at  this  time, 
seems  to  be  appropriate  and  in  harmony  with  this 
event. 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


REV.   ISAAC  BRAMAN.^ 

Rev.  Isaac  Braman  was  born  of  God-fearing  par- 
ents in  Norton,  Bristol  County,  Mass.,  July  5,  1770. 
His  father  died  when  he  was  twelve  years  of  age.  He 
always  dwelt  with  peculiar  satisfaction  upon  the  fact 
that  his  mother  continued  family  worship  as  long  as 
her  children  remained  with  her,  and  he  often  ex- 
l^ressed  gratitude  to  that  Providence  that,  upon  their 
separation  after  her  second  marriage,  cast  his  lot  in  a 
family  where  the  voice  of  daily  prayer  was  heard. 

The  date  of  his  birth,  being  but  five  years  before 
the  beginning  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  his  memory 
was  full  of  the  struggles  and  hardships  preceding 
and  following  this  contest,  of  which  he  gave  many 
interesting  anecdotes  in  his  jubilee  sermon.  He  had 
a  great  desire,  in  early  life,  for  a  collegiate  education, 
but,  his  guardian  refusing,  the  matter  was  deferred. 
At  length  he  says,  "I  was  determined  to  break 
through  all  obstacles,  and  accomplish  my  object.  I 
commenced  my  studies  near  the  close  of  my  eigh- 
teenth year,  entered  Harvard  University  in  the  year 
1790,  graduated  in  1794,  being,  of  course,  twenty -four 
years  old."  Mr.  Braman's  modesty  prevented  any 
allusion  to  his  scholarship  and  social  standing  which 
were  so  remarkable  that  the  senior  class  considered  it 
an  honor  to  associate  with  him  while  he  was  still  a 
junior. 

"  Having,  with  prayerful  consideration,"  continued 
Mr.  Braman,  in  his  jubilee  discourse,  "chosen  the 
Gospel  ministry  for  my  profession,  though  sensible  of 
great  unworthiness,  I  did  not  long  neglect  to  seek  a 
place  where  -I  might  study  to  prepare  myself  for  the 
work.  It  is  doubtless  known  to  most  of  my  hearers 
that  there  were  no  theological  institutions,  at  that 
day,  in  which  young  men  might  be  educated  for  the 
ministry.  Those  who  sought  the  employment  were 
necessitated  to  put  themselves  under  the  tuition  of 
some  individual  minister  for  the  purpose.  There  were 
several  clergymen  in  the  vicinity  of  my  residence, 
who  were  in  the  habit  of  taking  pupils.  But  there 
was  no  small  difficulty  in  making  a   choice.     Some 

1  By  Apphia  Horner  Howard. 


were  called  Hopkinsians,  some  Calvinists,  some  mod- 
erate Calvinists  and  some  Arminians.  Between  the 
last  two  of  these,  moderate  Calvinists  and  Arminians, 
there  was  no  essential  difference.  They  both  held 
that  men  were  to  be  saved  by  their  virtuous  deeds 
without  any  radical  change  except  whpt  they  could 
effect  in  their  own  strength.  The  other  two  sects — 
Hopkinsians  and  real  Calvinists — held  to  what  are 
called  the  doctrines  of  grace,  though  there  were  some 
shades  of  difference  in  their  manner  of  explaining 
them.  But  against  Hopkinsianism  there  was  a  strong 
prejudice  ....  I  freely  confess  that  I  partook  of 
the  prejudices  of  the  time  and  place  in  which  I  lived, 
though  I  am  now  convinced  that  the  more  intelligent 
part  of  the  Hopkinsian  order  understood  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Gospel  as  well  as  did  the  most  who  op- 
posed them." 

These  are  noble  words  of  strength  and  liberality. 
"  In  memory's  sunset  air,"  the  points  over  which 
there  had  been  such  angry  contention,  seemed  to  the 
good  old  man  only  the  "  prejudices  of  the  time  and 
place  "  in  which  he  lived.  "  I  did  not,"  Mr.  Braman 
continued,  "  study  Avith  a  Hopkinsian,  but  with  sev- 
eral distinguished  men  who  did  not  harmonize  in  all 
things  with  that  denomination." 

Mr.  Braman  was  ordained  and  married  the  same 
year,  in  Georgetown,  June  7,  1797,  in  a  new  meeting- 
house, which  had  the  honor,  before  it  was  finished,  of 
a  dedication  sermon  by  the  great  Whitefield,  from  the 
text,  "  The  glory  of  the  Lord  hath  filled  the  house  of 
the  Lord."  1  Kings  8  :  11.  It  was  delivered  less  than 
a  month  before  his  death  at  Newburyport.  It  was 
probably  one  of  his  latest  efforts,  and  singularly 
enough  it  was  preached  the  very  year  the  future  pas- 
tor was  born.  The  church  was  organized  in  1732 
without  a  creed,  but  with  a  beautiful  covenant  of  du- 
ties Godward  and  manward.  This  identical  covenant 
is  still  in  use  at  the  present  day.  The  church  had 
but  one  pastor,  Rev.  James  Chandler,  before  Mr. 
Braman's  settlement.  But  in  the  sis  years'  interval, 
between  Mr.  Chandler's  death  and  that  event  there 
were  sixty-four  candidates,  Mr.  Braman  being  the 
last  and  the  final  choice  of  the  majority  of  a  divided 
people. 

"Do  you  inquire,"  said  Mr.  Braman,  "what  got 
this  people  into  this  divided  state  and  led  them  to 
think  so  differently  on  the  subject  of  religion?  I 
will  mention  one  thing  which  tended  greatly  to  pro- 
duce this  unhappy  effect.  There  was  in  the  vicinity 
a  theological  controversy  between  two  divines  of  dis- 
tinction, the  one  called  a  Calvinist,  the  other  a  Hop- 
kinsian. The  dispute  was  somewhat  Avarm,  a,nd  the 
people  here,  as  well  as  in  other  places,  took  sides. 
Some  were  Hopkinsians,  and  some  were  Calvinists. 
None  of  the  people  were  willing  to  be  thought  de- 
serving a  lower  name  than  one  of  these  ;  and,  having 
no  minister,  each  party  was  determined  to  obtain  one 
of  their  own  stamp.  As  for  myself,  I  had  not  studied 
divinity   systematically,   and  consequently  was   not 


860 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


particularly  well  versed  in  the  issues  which  prevailed 
here,  nor  in  any  other  theological  ism  of  the  day.  My 
object  was  to  exhibit  the  Gospel  in  its  purity  without 
considering  whom  it  might  please  or  displease.  The 
consequence  was  that  they  knew  not  on  which  side  to 
place  me,  and  some  of  the  more  prominent  persona 
of  both  sexes  favored  my  settlement,  and  some  of 
both  were  opposed.  Among  the  latter,  as  well  as  the 
former,  were  respectable  men  and  women  also." 

This  candid  statement  gives  a  hint  of  the  troubles 
that  met  the  young  minister  at  the  beginning  of  his 
career.  Indeed,  he  said  in  his  jubilee  sermon  that  he 
had  "  waded  through  a  sea  of  troubles."  Yet  they 
•were  only  the  troubles  incident  to  human  nature. 
He  survived  them  all,  celebrated  his  jubilee  with 
honor,  lived  harmoniously  with  three  successive  col- 
leagues, retained  his  office  sixty-one  years  and  died 
still  the  senior  pastor  of  the  church  he  loved  so 
well. 

There  stands  in  the  old  cemetery  in  Georgetown  a 
marble  desk,  on  which  rests  a  Bible  open  at  the  words 
"  Be  thou  faithful  unto  death,  and  I  will  give  thee  a 
crown  of  life."  On  one  side  are  the  dates  of  Mr- 
Braman's  birth,  collegiate  course,  settlement  and 
death,  December  26,  1858,  and  the  statement  that  the 
monument  is  erected  by  his  parishioners  and  friends. 
On  the  other  side  are  words  which  tell  the  story  of 
his  success  in  the  ministry  as  follows : 

"Rev.  Mr.  Braman  was  a  man  of  decided  piety,  of 
great  amiability  and  much  beloved.  He  possessed  a 
strong  mind,  sound  judgment,  uncommon  moral  cour- 
age and  remarkable  discretion.  He  was  well  versed 
in  theological  learning,  a  firm  believer  in  the  entire 
inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,  and  an  able  and  stren- 
uous advocate  of  the  primitive  orthodox  institutions 
and  general  principles  of  the  New  England  churches. 
In  his  preaching  he  presented  divine  truth  with  clear- 
ness and  a  close  application  to  the  consciences  of  his 
hearers.  In  giving  counsel,  both  public  and  private^ 
he  was  conspicuous  for  integrity  and  wisdom.  His 
love  for  his  people,  his  friends,  his  country  and  the 
whole  church  of  Christ  was  strong  and  sincere." 

"  In  the  pangs  of  his  last  sickness  he  was  patient 
and  submissive  to  the  divine  will,  and  if  not  in  tri- 
umph yet  in  hope  he  peacefully  yielded  up  his  soul 
to  the  God  who  gave  it." 

I  gained  an  intimate  knowledge  of  Mr.  Braman's 
blameless  and  consistent  life  from  the  feet  that  I  was 
born  and  lived  twenty-two  years  in  the  house  next  to 
the  home  of  his  later  years,  in  such  close  neighborhood 
that  the  two  families  could  speak  across  the  small  sep- 
arating yards.  Punctually  at  2  o'clock  every  Monday 
afternoon  Mr.  Braman,  in  long  flowing  gown,  left  the 
side  door  of  his  house,  crossed  the  yards  and  appeared 
at  the  side  door  of  our  house  for  an  informal  call  on 
my  mother.  Great  was  the  awe  of  the  young  children 
on  these  occasions,  often  repeated  though  they  were, 
especially  when  he  was  asked  to  offer  prayer. 

The  engraving  accompanying  this  sketch  is  a  strik- 


ingly exact  likeness  of  Mr.  Braman,  who  was  a  per- 
son of  very  imposing  presence,  though  his  clear  blue 
eye  always  had  a  kindly  gleam  for  children  and  young 
people. 

His  reticent  manner  was  the  result  of  a  shy  and 
sensitive  temperament.  Those  who  knew  him  well 
found  beneath  it  a  fund  of  wit,  humor,  appreciation, 
and  all  engaging  attributes,  while  his  sarcasm,  when 
he  considered  it  merited,  was  of  a  fine  and  keen  qual- 
ity. It  obtained  for  him  in  college  the  name  of  "  Ra- 
zor." 

Mr.  Braman's  punctuality  in  a  neighborly  call,  to 
which  I  have  referred,  was  the  habit  of  his  life  in  all 
things.     It  was  developed  in  a  severe  school. 

.  For  many  years  after  his  settlement  he  was  without 
a  time-piece.  The  rigid  economy  that  he  was  obliged 
to  practice  to  meet  the  demands  of  an  increasing  fam- 
ily and  the  hospitality  expected  in  his  profession,  for- 
bade the  possession  of  such  a  luxury.  Living  then 
as  he  said,  "a  large  mile"  from  his  church,  he  was 
guided  by  the  movements  of  a  neighbor,  who  was  al- 
ways in  season,  as  to  the  time  of  starting,  and  he  was 
never  known  to  be  late  at  church  or  on  any  other  oc- 
casion. His  promptness  in  opening  and  closing 
meetings  established  a  precedent  that  is  still  followed 
in  the  town,  while  the  tradition  of  his  brevity  at  wed- 
dings and  funerals  has  descended  from  parents  to 
children. 

Mr.  Braman  was  a  true  conservative.  He  walked 
in  the  safe  and  beaten  paths  of  the  fathers  of  the 
church.  He  disliked  controversy.  He  did  not  favor 
speculation.  His  answer  to  questions  from  those  who 
had  projected  their  imagination  beyond  the  written 
word  was,  "  The  Scriptures  are  silent  upon  those 
points."  Their  silence  was  to  his  reverent  nature  as 
impressive  as  were  their  affirmations. 

He  shrank  from  changes.  Yet  when  a  new  enter- 
prise commended  itself  to  his  mind  as  in  the  order  of 
Gospel  progress  he  welcomed  it.  Among  the  changes 
of  this  description  in  his  time  was  the  awakening  of 
interest  in  foreign  missions  and  the  formation  of  the 
American  Board.  The  first  copy  of  The  Missionary 
Herald  was  taken  in  Georgetown.  Women,  in  their 
zeal,  saved  money  for  the  cause  of  missions  by  deny- 
ing themselves  sugar  in  their  tea  and  coffee,  while 
little  children,  before  they  could  speak  plainly,  were 
taught  to  save  their  pennies  for  the  help  of  heathen 
babes. 

Mr.  Braman,  on  a  farm  of  about  forty  acres  and  on 
a  salary  of  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  (then 
reckoned  in  British  currency)  and  ten  cords  of  wood, 
kept  his  carriage,  his  cow  and  other  domestic  ani- 
mals. 

He  gave  the  three  survivors  of  his  five  children  the 
best  education  of  the  period,  and  they  did  ample 
credit  to  his  care. 

One  son,  James  Chandler,  named  by  Mr.  Braman 
with  a  pleasant  bit  of  sentiment  for  the  predecessor 
whom  he  never  saw,  died  in  his  youth.     His  father 


LAWRENCE. 


861 


could  never  mention  his  name  without  emotion.  One 
daughter  died  in  early  womanhood.  Two  sons,  Milton 
P.  and  Isaac  G.,  became  eminent  in  their  respective 
professions  of  divinity  and  medicine.  A  dautjhter, 
the  widow  of  Rev.  John  Boardman,  of  East  Douglas, 
returned  to  her  native  town,  where  she  became,  for 
many  years,  an  efficient  helper  in  the  church,  and  joined 
with  her  step-mother,  to  whom  she  was  tenderly  united 
by  sympathy  in  the  care  of  her  father,  whom  she  sur- 
vived twenty  years.  She  inherited  her  mother's  beau- 
tiful voice  and  her  father's  discretion.  She  was  noted 
for  fine  conversational  powers,  and  was  an  ornament 
to  every  circle  in  which  she  moved. 

Mr.  Braman  was  very  fortunate  in  his  domestic  re- 
lations. The  wife  of  his  youth,  Hannah  Palmer,  of 
his  native  town  of  Norton,  was  a  woman  of  beauty, 
energy,  demonstrative  manners  and  great  executive 
ability.  She  had  a  high  sense  of  the  importance  of 
the  pastoral  office  and  gladly  assumed  all  family  bur- 
dens to  allow  Mr.  Braman  time  for  the  preparation  of 
the  two  sermons  a  week  which  were  then  demanded. 
Mr.  Braman  wrote  his  sermons  carefully,  and  was  close- 
ly confined  to  his  notes  in  their  delivery,  which  was 
with  rapid  but  distinct  utterance. 

Mrs.  Braman's  domestic  generalship  enabled  her 
husband  to  accomplish  in  the  pulpit,  the  family,  the 
parish  and  at  his  hospitable  table  great  results  with 
small  means. 

She  died  in  1835,  and  in  tender  appreciation  of  her 
worth,  Mr.  Braman  placed  on  her  burial  stone  the 
tribute  Proverbs  31 :  10,  11,  from  King  Solomon's  de- 
scription of  "  the  virtuous  woman,"  in  whom  the 
"  heart  of  her  husband  doth  safely  trust." 

Mr.  Braman  married,  in  1837,  Miss  Sarah  Balch,  a 
lady  of  wealth,  gentle  birth  and  breeding,  from  the 
historic  old  city  of  Newburyport.  She  was  as  well 
adapted  to  the  emergencies  of  his  declining  powers, 
when  the  burdens  of  life  began  to  fall  heavily  upon 
him,  as  was  her  predecessor  for  the  pioneer  period  of 
his  ministry.  She  was  many  years  his  junior,  and 
still  lives,  after  a  residence  in  the  town  of  fifty  years, 
during  which  her  course  has  been  so  wise,  winning 
and  beneficent,  that  no  person  was  ever  known  to 
criticise  her.  This  unprecedented  record  makes  her 
jubilee  of  residence  in  the  town  as  noteworthy  as  was 
Mr.  Braman's  jubilee  of  service  in  the  sanctuary. 

Her  face  retains  much  of  the  comeliness  of  her  prime 
when  she  came  to  the  people.  It  has  also  the  added 
charm  of  that  beauty  which  sometimes  comes  to  the 
aged.  It  never  passes  away,  for  it  is  the  result  of  a 
life  of  sweetness  and  purity.  It  reminds  one  of  the 
heavenly  peace  which  Toemer  has  made  to  rest  upon 
the  brow  of  the  "Lady  Abbess,"  in  his  exquisite  pic- 
ture of  "  The  Last  Hours." 


CHAPTER    LXI. 

LAWRENCE. 
BY  JOHN   E.   ROLLINS. 

In  the  autobiography  of  Hon.  Daniel  A.  White, 
prepared  for  his  children  in  1836,  he  writes  of  his 
early  home  as  follows  : 

"The  situation  is  upon  a  broad  plain,  nearly  equidistant  from  the 
Merriniac  and  Spicket  Rivei-s.  My  father's  farm  was  bounded  south 
on  the  former,  and  north  on  the  latter  river — a  noble  farm  of  nearly 
three  hundred  acres,  abounding  in  wood  and  rural  scenery,  in  fruits, 
such  as  strawberries,  blackberries,  etc.,  with  a  fine  orchard  of  apples  at 
that  time  in  the  great  pasture,  now  wholly  gone.  The  prospect  all 
around  us  was  far  more  picturesque  and  beautiful  than  since  the  woods 
have  been  cleared  away. 

"  The  mral  beauty  of  the  farm,  especially  that  part  of  it  lying  between 
the  main  road  and  the  Merrimack,  consisting  of  almost  every  variety  of 
meadow  and  upland,  pasture,  mowing  and  woodland,  with  running 
brooks,  can  hardly  be  imagined  by  one  w'ho  sees  it  now,  stripped  bai'e 
of  its  grandest  folliage,  cut  up  by  turnpikes  and  made  a  public  thorough- 
fare by  the  roads  passing  through  it,  and  the  bridge  over  the  Merrimack, 
which  was  first  built  the  year  I  entered  college  {1T73)." 

Ten  years  after  this  was  written,  not  only  the 
woodland  and  running  brooks  had  disappeared,  but 
all  the  concomitants  of  the  farm  had  given  place  to 
large  manufacturing  establishments  and  the  numer- 
ous streets  of  a  bustling  town.  It  was  this  farm  of 
which  Judge  White  thus  pleasantly  wrote,  which 
covered  what  is  at  the  present  day  a  considerable  part 
of  the  very  heart  of  the  city  of  Lawrence. 

The  city  is  situated  on  both  sides  of  Merrimac 
River,  embracing  within  its  limits  somewhat  more 
than  four  thousand  acres  taken  in  nearly  equal  parts 
from  the  towns  of  Andover  and  Methuen.  The  north- 
erly portion,  which  is  the  most  densely  peopled,  is 
very  pleasantly  situated  on  a  gently  sloping  plain, 
partially  surrounded  by  hills  of  considerable  eleva- 
tion— Tower  Hill,  on  the  west,  Clover  Hill,  formerly 
called  Graves'  Hill,  on  the  north,  and  Prospect  Hill, 
on  the  east — all  of  which  are  dotted  with  pleasant 
residences  and  from  which  are  fine  views  of  the  town, 
the  river  and  the  adjacent  towns.  The  southerly 
portion,  which  is  quite  rapidly  increasing  in  popula- 
tion, of  more  level  character,  was  originally  covered 
with  pines,  and  was,  in  its  early  days,  known  as  the 
"  moose  country."  The  early  settlers  seem  to  have 
taken  pleasure  in  bandying  epithets,  the  northern 
people  giving  to  the  portion  of  Andover  lying  near 
the  river  the  title  of  "Sodom,"  while  in  turn  the 
north  side  was  "  Gomorrah,"  and  as  far  east  as  New- 
buryport  Methuen  was  known  as  "  The  End  of  the 
World,"  one  of  its  ponds  still  bearing  the  name  of 
World's  End  Pond. 

The  town  is  about  twenty-three  miles  from  the 
mouth  of  the  river,  twenty -six  miles  from  Boston,  ten 
miles  northerly  from  Lowell  and  eight  miles  west  of 
Haverhill.  The  Merrimack  River  passes  through  it, 
the  opicket  through  its  northerly  portion,  entering 
the  Merrimac  from  the  north,  within  the  bounds  of 
the  citv,  and  the  Shawshean  River  falls  into  the  Mer- 


862 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


rimack  from  the  south,  forming  a  part  of  the  south- 
eastern boundary.  The  hist  named  furnishes  no 
power  within  the  limits  of  Lawrence.  The  Spicket 
furnishes  water  to  establishments  in  Methuen,  and  to 
the  Arlington  Mills,  Stuart's  Dye  House,  the  Wame- 
sit  Mill  and  the  Globe  Worsted  Mill  in  Lawrence. 
The  Merrimack  is  the  principal  source  of  power,  sup- 
plemented in  seasons  of  drought  by  Lake  Winnipisi- 
ogee,  whose  waters,  as  well  as  those  of  its  many  tribu- 
tary streams,  are  retained  as  a  reserve. 

The  total  length  of  the  Merrimack,  from  its  origin, 
at  Franklin,  N.  H.,  to  its  mouth,  at  Newbiiryport, 
is  about  one  hundred  and  ten  miles,  and  the  total 
area  drained  is  about  four  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
sixteen  square  miles,  of  which  three  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  eighty  are  in  New  Hampshire  and  one 
thousand  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  in  Massachu- 
setts. The  average  fall  of  the  stream  is  two  hundred 
and  forty-five  feet  per  mile,  or  two  hundred  and  sixty- 
nine  feet  between  Franklin  and  the  sea. 

Before  the  river  was  harnessed  to  the  cars  of  indus- 
try along  its  banks,  it  was  well  stocked  with  fish. 
Shad,  salmon, alewives  and  sturgeon  abounded  in  their 
season,  and  immense  quantities  of  lamprey  eels  were 
to  be  found — in  fact  the  latter  were  so  abundant  that 
they  were  sold  by  the  wagon-load  instead  of  the 
pound. 

Hon.  R.  H.  Tewksbury,  in  his  history  of  Andover 
Bridge,  relates  the  following  story  of  one  of  the  di- 
rectors, who  was  a  large  farmer  and  fond  of  experi- 
ments,— "A  spring  freshet  brought  up  great  quanti- 
ties of  eels,  and  subsiding,  left  them  high  and  dry  in 
pools  and  hollows.  He  considered  the  idea  of  boiling 
them  and  feeding  to  swine,  of  which  he  had  many. 
His  'hired  man'  remonstrated,  telling  him  ''twas 
agin  natur  to  try  to  fatten  pork  with  fish  ; '  'besides. 
Deacon,'  he  said,  'if  you  succeed,  we  sha'n't  know 
what  we're  eatin',  pork  or  lamper  eels.'  But  the 
deacon  had  a  cart  load  of  eels  drawn  up  to  the  barn, 
and  filled  the  great  kettles  in  the  back  kitchen  with 
eels,  Indian  meal  and  water,  kindled  the  fire,  and 
laid  down  for  a  doze.  But  animals  that  squirm 
in  the  frying-pan  would  not  submit  to  boiling  with- 
out protest;  the  hot  water  revived  them,  and  each 
one  became  an  agonizing  serpent.  They  covered  the 
floor  of  the  old  room,  writhing  in  their  agony  and 
knocking  the  fire  brands  about  the  floor.  The  dea- 
con nerved  himself  for  the  contest  and  commenced 
the  slaughter  of  the  innocents.  An  old  negro,  a  new- 
comer, who  lived  with  a  neighbor,  and  knew  nothing 
of  live  eels,  heard  the  racket,  and,  looking  in,  saw  the 
sea  of  serpents  and  fire  brands,  and  the  good  man 
'laying  about '  him.  He  ran  howling  home,  saying 
that  more  than  a  thousand  devils  had  the  deacon 
penned  up  in  the  kitchen,  but  he  was  fighting  and 
prevailing  against  them,  calling  mightily  on  the  Lord 
for  help.  The  deacon  owned  that  though  they  were 
not  Satanic  foes,  it  was  the  hardest  job  of  his  life  to 
subdue  these  eels,  maintain  his  standing  as  a  deacon, 


and  at  the  same  time  express  himself  in  language  suf- 
ficiently emphatic." 

The  eels,  however,  were  not  usually  given  to 
swine;  they  formed  a  staple  article  of  food  for  the 
farmers  and  others  all  along  the  river  and  adjacent 
territory. 

William  Stark,  in  a  poem  delivered  at  the  Centen- 
nial celebration  at  Manchester,  thus  speaks  of  them, — 

"  The  fathers  treasured  the  slimy  prize, 
They  loved  the  eel  as  their  very  eyes, 
AtkI  of  one  'tis  said,  with  a  slander  rife, 
For  a  string  of  eels  he  sold  his  wife. 
From  eels  they  formed  their  food  in  chief, 
And  eels  were  called  the  Derryfield  beef ; 
And  the  marks  of  eels  were  so  plain  to  trace, 
That  the  children  looked  like  eels  in  the  face. 
And  before  they  walked,  it  is  well  confirmed. 
That  the  children  never  crept,  but  squirmed. 
Such  mighty  power  did  the  squirmers  wield 
O'er  the  goodly  men  of  Old  Derryfield, 
It  was  often  said  that  their  only  care. 
And  their  only  wish  and  their  only  prayer, 
For  the  present  world  and  the  world  to  come. 
Was  a  string  of  eels  and  a  jug  of  rum." 

That  the  territory  now  embraced  in  the  limits  of 
Lawrence  was  once  occupied  either  permanently  or 
temporarily  by  the  native  Americans  (Indians),  we 
have  abundant  proof,  in  the  multitudes  of  Indian 
implements  of  almost  every  variety,  which  have  been 
found  in  several  localities,  and  of  which  some  fine 
collections  have  been  made.  One,  perhaps  the 
largest  of  these,  in  possession  of  Mr.  Charles  Wingate, 
includes  arrow  and  spear  heads,  stone  axes,  gouges, 
pestles  and  other  implements,  some  rudely  and  others 
beautifully  finished. 

One  burial-ground  of  the  red  men  was  within  the 
city  limits,  in  the  westerly  part  of  South  Lawrence, 
and  quite  an  extensive  one  was  further  up  the  river  in 
Andover.  It  is  quite  probable  that  the  land  near  the 
river  was  occupied  in  many  places  as  a  summer  en- 
cimpment,  to  which  year  by  year  the  natives  re- 
turned on  account  of  the  abundance  of  fish  and  game. 
Most  of  the  stone  implements  found,  and  the  chips 
made  in  fashioning  them,  are  of  material  not  found 
in  this  locality. 

While  the  parent  towns,  Andover  and  HaTerhill, 
suffered  considerably  from  Indian  raids,  Lawrence  is 
not  historic  ground  in  that  regard.  It  is  said  that 
the  Indians  once  made  a  foray  along  the  banks  of 
the  river,  and  a  man  named  Peters,  who  lived  about  a 
mile  above  the  dam,  refusing  to  flee  with  his 
neighbors,  was  murdered  at  his  home. 

In  1676  a  party  of  savages  crossed  the  river  at  Bod- 
well's  Ferry  (about  a  mile  above  the  dam),  chased 
the  people  of  Andover,  killed  a  young  man  named 
Abbott,  and  took  his  brother  captive.  There  is  a  tradi- 
tion that  old  Mr.  Bodwell,  while  standing  near  the  jsres- 
ent  site  of  Mr.  Davis'  foundry,  saw  one  day  an  Indian 
prowling  upon  the  other  side  of  the  river,. evidently 
bent  on  mischief.  Mr.  Bodwell  instantly  suspected 
that  he  was  a  spy  sent  to  examine  the  settlement  for 
the  purpose  of  destroying  it.      Fortunately,  the  old 


LAWRENCE. 


863 


man  had  a  gun  of  extraordinary  length  and  range, 
and  he  resolved  to  let  the  Indian  report  go  no 
further.  As  soon  as  the  savage  discovered  Mr.  Bod- 
well  he  made  an  insulting  gesture,  thinking  himself 
fairly  out  of  the  range  of  the  enemy's  gun.  Mr.  Bod- 
well  immediately  fired,  and  the  Indian  fell.  At  dusk 
the  same  day  Bodwell  took  a  boat,  crossed  the  river 
carefully,  and  found  the  Indian  dead,  lying  in  the 
grass.  He  rolled  the  body  into  the  river,  having 
first  secured  a  valuable  beaver-skin  robe. 

Possibly  another  instance  of  savage  hostility  may 
have  occurred  here.  It  is  related  in  "  Chase's  His- 
tory of  Haverhill." 

"Feb.  22,  1698,  on  return  from  an  attack  upon  Andover  the  Indians 
killed  Jonathan  Haynes  and  Saml.  Ladd  of  Haverhill  and  captured  a  son 
of  each.  Haynes  and  Ladd  who  lived  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  town, 
had  started  that  morning  with  their  teams  consisting  of  a  yoke  of  oxen 
and  a  horse,  each  accompanied  by  their^  eldest  sons  Joseph  &  Daniel 
to  bring  home  some  of  their  hay  which  had  been  cut  and  stacked  the 
preceding  Summer  in  their  meadow,  in  the  extreme  western  part  of  the 
town.  While  they  were  slowly  returning,  little  dreaming  of  present 
danger,  they  suddenly  found  themselves  between  two  files  of  Indians 
who  had  concealed  themselves  in  the  bushes  on  each  side  of  the  path. 
Seeing  no  hope  of  escape  they  begged  for  quarter.  Young  Ladd  who 
did  not  relish  the  idea  of  being  quietly  taken  prisoner,  cut  his  father's 
horse  loose,  and  giving  him  the  lash,  started  off  at  full  speed,  tho  re- 
peatedly fired  upon,  and  succeeded  in  reaching  here  and  giving  an 
immediate  and  general  alarm.  Haynes  was  killed  because  he  was  too 
old  and  infirm  to  travel,  and  Ladd  who  was  a  fierce  stern  looking  man 
because,  as  the  Indians  said  '  he  so  sour.'  " 

Young  Haynes  was  carried  prisoner  to  Canada, 
where  he  remained  several  years,  and  was  at  last  re- 
deemed by  his  relatives.  A  cane  given  him  by  his 
Indian  master,  came  into  possession  of  Guy  C. 
Haynes,  of  East  Boston,  and  is  now  in  the  rooms  of 
the  New  England  Historico-Genealogical  Society.  As 
Haynes  resided  in  the  western  part  of  Haverhill,  and 
his  meadow  was  in  the  extreme  western  part,  this 
must  have  occurred  either  within  our  limits  or  in 
Methuen,  wjiich  was  set  off  from  Haverhill  and  in- 
corporated in  1725. 

Nearly  a  hundred  years  had  rolled  on  after  the  in- 
corporation of  Methuen,  and  this  territory  had  been 
converted  into  peaceful  farms,  occupied  by  less  than 
two  hundred  people.  Dams  had  been  built  upon  the 
Spicket  River,  and  small  paper  mills  and  the  mill  of 
the  Messrs.  Stevens,  for  the  manufacture  of  piano-forte 
cases,  now  the  site  of  the  Arlington  mills,  had  been 
erected,  but  the  Merrimack  Hiver  flowed  in  its  natural 
channel  unvexed  by  the  arts  of  man,  from  its  source 
to  the  sea. 

At  this  time  dwelling-houses  were  not  numerous, 
and,  as  in  other  farming  towns,  were  somewhat  remote 
from  each  other.  Most  of  those  on  the  north  side 
were  located  on  the  road  leading  from  Lowell  to 
Haverhill  (now  known  as  Haverhill  and  East  Haver- 
hill Sts),  and  on  the  "  Londonderry  Turnpike  "  (now 
Broadway).  One  of  the  oldest  houses  known  to  have 
been  built  within  the  city  limits  was  situated  on  the 
spot  which  is  now  the  corner  of  Newbury  and  Essex 
Streets.  One  of  the  old  houses  was  removed  to  make 
room  for  the  High  School  building  ;  another  was  de- 


stroyed to  make  room  for  the  dwelling  which  is  now 
115  Haverhill  Street;  this  was  the  house  in  which 
Hon.  Daniel  A.  White  was  born.  Another  stood  on  the 
corner  of  Haverhill  and  Amesbury  Streets.  Another 
was  near  the  spot  where  No.  264  Haverhill  Street  now 
stands.  No.  129  Bradford  Street,  at  the  corner  of 
Bradford  and  Broadway,  was  originally  the  farm-house 
of  the  Methuen  town  farm.  The  oldest  of  all  is  No. 
34  East  Haverhill  Street,  the  old  house  of  the  Bod- 
well family,  though  not  their  first  residence.  This 
house  is  more  than  one  hundred  and  thirty-three 
years  old,  perhaps  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty, 
and  is  the  only  monument  of  early  days  that  Lawrence 
can  boast.  "The  building  has  been  much  changed 
by  successive  repairs  and  alterations,  but  the  founda- 
tions are  made  as  if  to  last  forever.  The  chimney  is 
of  immense  proportions,  measuring  twenty  by  thirteen 
feet  at  the  base  ;  a  modern  chimney  in  the  city,  one 
hundred  feet  high,  measures  at  the  base  only  seven 
by  seven  feet."  ^  There  stands  in  the  front  yard  of 
this  house  a  noble  old  elm  tree,  which  has  braved  the 
storms  of  over  a  hundred  years,  and  is  to  day  ap- 
parently vigorous.  It  is  said  that  Mrs.  Bodwell  em- 
ployed a  man  to  bring  the  tree,  then  a  sapling,  from 
the  woods,  and  plant  it  in  front  of  her  door.  The  man 
was  a  soldier  of  the  French  War,  and  had  just  re- 
turned from  the  capture  of  Quebec.  In  return  for 
his  service  Mrs.  Bodwell  rewarded  him  with  a  quart 
of  molasses.  The  ancient  house  was  occupied  in 
recent  years  by  the  late  William  B.  Gallison,  and  is 
perhaps  better  known  to  the  present  generation  as  the 
Gallison  House,  and  it  is  at  present  the  residence  of 
Miss  Emily  G.  Wetherbee,  who  pleasantly  commemo- 
rates the  ancient  tree  in  verse  : 

"  I  love  thee,  Oh  !  thou  grand  old  tree, 

Thy  towering  branches  rise, 
As  if  they  held,  in  majesty, 

Deep  converse  with  the  skies. 
Could'st  thou  but  speak,  how  strange  a  tale 

Would  be  thy  theme  to-day, 
About  the  many  vanished  years 

That  God  has  rolled  away. 

"  The  hand  that  planted  thee  is  dust, — 

Thy  nurture  was  its  pride,  — 
And  many  generations  since 

Have  played  their  parts  and  died. 
The  peltings  of  unnumbered  storms, 

Unnumbered  years  thou'st  braved  ; 
And  still  we  see  thee  hale  and  green, 

Majestic  and  unscathed. 

"  From  out  your  antiquated  door. 

The  children  oft  have  strayed. 
And  trooped  along  in  merriment, 

To  gambol  in  thy  shade  ; 
W'hen  years  had  llown,  and  womanhood 

And  manhood,  brought  its  care. 
Again  they  came  with  burdened  heai'ts, 

Thy  sweet  relief  to  share. 

"  A  trystiiig  place  for  lovers,  too. 
Thy  arching  branches  made  ; 
When  night  was  silvered  by  the  moon. 
And  dew  shone  o'er  the  glade, 

1  Eev.  W.  E.  Park. 


864 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


And  often,  when  yon  brilliant  queen 

Bid  thee  and  them  good-night  ; 
Thou'Bt  heard  the  parting  kiss  they  gave, 

And  shared  in  their  delight. 

"  A  bride,  with  flowing  robes  of  white, 

And  garlands  in  her  hair, 
Came  forth  to  leave  the  deat<fld  home. 

Another's  lot  to  share. 
In  purity  and  innocence, 

She  chose  another  life, 
And  beautiful  that  summer  morn. 

Appeared  the  youthful  wife. 

"  The  morning  fresh  and  sweet,  and  clear, 

Began  the  quiet  day, 
The  birds  among  the  swaying  leaves, 

Trilled  out  their  roundelay. 
And  gladdened  by  the  glorious  sight, 

(Thy  branches  low  did  bend  ;) 
Her  heart  leaped  out  in  ecstaoy. 

To  thee,  her  childhood's  friend. 

"  From  infancy  her  radiant  eyes, — 

The  reflex  of  her  glee, — 
Had  scanned  each  bough  and  branch  and  leaf. 

Of  her  familiar  tree  ; 
And  now  like  one  who  sighs  to  think 

That  separation's  near. 
She  turned  her  saddened  face  away, 

And  shed  a  silent  tear. 

"  Alluring  scenes  of  other  climes. 

And  nature's  grand  displays. 
But  made  her  yearning  heart  still  more 

Exultant  in  thy  praise. 
Excitement  lent  its  glowing  whirl. 

Wherever  she  might  roam  ; 
But  with  a  longing  heart  she  sighed 

For  thee,  and  dear  old  home. 

"  The  aged  sire  and  matron  too, 

When  life  was  nearly  o'er. 
Have  leaned  against  thy  trunk,  and  talked 

Of  memories  of  yore. 
And  watched  the  same  old  sun  go  down. 

In  splendor  in  the  west, 
Nor  thought  how  fast  the  fleeting  hours. 

Were  bringing  them  to  rest. 

"  Oft  have  I  stretched  me  here  and  seen. 

With  faith's  far-seeing  eye, 
Thy  very  counterpart  old  tree, 

Implanted  in  the  sky. 
And  wished,  when  came  the  silent  voice 

From  dread  eternity. 
My  failing  sight  might  rest  at  last 

Complacently  on  thee. 

"  I  love  thee,  Oh  !  thou  grand  old  tree, 

Thj'  towering  branches  rise. 
As  if  they  held,  in  majesty, 

Deep  converse  with  the  skies. 
Could'st  thou  but  speak,  how  strange  a  tale 

Would  be  thy  theme  to-day, 
About  the  many  vanished  years. 

That  God  has  rolled  away." 

Roads  were  still  less  numerous  than  the  buildings. 
The  prominent  ones  were  the  old  Haverhill  road,  be- 
fore named,  the  road  at  the  west  part  of  the  town 
leading  to  Bodwell's  ferry,  near  the  pumping  station, 
the  road  at  the  easterly  end  leading  to  Marslon  Ferry, 
near  the  j^resent  gas  works,  and  on  the  construction 
of  Andover  Bridge,  a  road  leading  from  the  bridge  to 
the  corner  of  Amesbury  and  Haverhill  Streets.     On 


the  south  side  of  the  river  were  the  Salem  turnpike 
and  the  old  road  to  Lowell.  Here  was  a  more  com- 
pact settlement — the  Shawsheen  House,  the  Essex 
House,  converted  into  a  dwelling,  the  old  pioneer 
store  and  the  brick  building  occupied  by  the  late 
Daniel  Saunders  and  a  few  others  yet  remaining. 

Prior  to  1793  communication  between  the  two 
towns  was  by  means  of  the  ferries.  In  that  year  the 
Legislature  passed  an  act  incorporating  Samuel  Ab- 
bott, John  White,  Joseph  Stevens,  Ebenezer  Poor  and 
associates  as  a  body  politic,  under  the  name  of  "The 
Proprietors  of  Andover  Bridge,"  and  the  act  was  ap- 
proved by  John  Hancock,  Governor,  March  19th. 
The  charter  provided  that  the  building  should  be 
completed  within  three  years.  It  was  opened  for 
travel  Isovember  19th,  just  eight  months  from  the 
date  of  the  charter,  and  the  opening  was  celebrated 
with  great  rejoicing — the  clergy  of  the  two  towns,  the 
stockholders  and  the  prominent  men  of  Essex  and 
Eockingham  Counties  being  invited,  and  an  enter- 
tainment furnished  by  the  directors — the  militia,  in- 
fantry and  cavalry  parading  in  honor  of  the  event ; 
it  was  celebrated  still  further  by  killing  a  boy,  who 
was  bayonetted  by  one  of  the  soldiers  for  attempting 
to  pass  the  guard.  The  bridge  was  a  wooden  struct- 
ure, resting  on  wooden  piers,  and  after  a  short  life  of 
nine  years,  went  down  in  ruins  during  the  passage  of 
a  drove  of  cattle.  It  was  rebuilt  in  1802-03  ;  again 
travel  was  interrupted  by  the  fall  of  the  large  central 
span.  Thi.s  was  promptly  repaired  ;  but  four  years 
later,  in  1807,  a  heavy  freshet  again  destroyed  it. 
The  discouraged  proprietors  petitioned  the  Legisla- 
ture for  leave  to  raise  money  by  a  lottery,  but  were 
refused. 

The  bridge  was  rebuilt  upon  stone  piers,  and  moved 
further  up  the  river,  having  previously  spanned  the 
river  where  the  railroad  bridge  now  stands.  In  1837 
it  was  rebuilt  by  the  late  John  Wilson,  of  Methuen. 
It  was  rebuilt  again  by  the  Essex  Company  in  1848, 
into  whose  hands  the  franchise  had  then  passed,  and 
was  raised  to  its  present  level  by  Stone  and  Harris, 
contractors,  and  the  piers  were  thoroughly  repaired 
by  Stephen  P.  Simmons. 

In  1852  a  great  freshet  carried  away  the  toll-house, 
south  abutment  and  fi.shway  at  the  dam.  In  1858  it 
was  again  thoroughly  reconstructed  by  Morris 
Knowles.  In  1868,  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature,  it 
became  part  of  the  public  highway.  The  bridge  was 
in  a  peculiarly  unfavorable  location  for  durability. 
Situated  near  the  dam  where  it  was  alternately  ex- 
posed to  a  dry  and  then  a  moist  atmosphere,  the  tim- 
bers were  constantly  decaying,  and  after  many  more 
repairs  and  partial  rebuilding,  it  was  destroyed  by  fire 
July,  1881,  and  a  fine  new  iron-bridge  marks  the  rest- 
ing-place of  almost  the  only  historic  structure  in  the 
town. 

To  add  to  the  troubles  of  the  early  proprietors,  in 
1822  other  parties  petitioned  the  Legislature  for 
another  bridge  a  little  further  up  the  river.     In  op- 


LAWRENCE. 


865 


posing  this  petition  the  proprietors  made  a  formal 
statement  that  the  bridge  cost  originally  twelve  thou- 
sand dollars.  In  twenty-eight  years  the  cost  had 
been  twenty-nine  thousand  dollars  more,  with  only 
fifteen  thousand  dollars  of  income  from  tolls  ;  added 
to  this  was  the  loss  of  interest  and  their  property 
consisted  of  an  old  bridge  just  damaged  by  a  freshet 
to  the  amount  of  six  thousand  dollars. 

Had  the  old  bridge  been  charged  from  the  start 
with  accumulations,  interest  and  expense,  and  cred- 
ited with  income,  the  actual  cost  at  the  time  Lawrence 
was  formed  would  have  been  upwards  of  half  a  mil- 
lion dollars — a  practical  illustration  of  the  rare  econ- 
omy of  building  bridges  of  wood. 

The  first  toll-gatherer  was  Asa  Pettengill,  with  the 
enormous  salary  of  $33.33.  He  was  required  to  give 
a  bond  of  £400,  and  both  he  and  his  wife  were  sworn 
to  the  faithful  performance  of  their  duty.  After 
thirty  years,  the  salary  was  raised  to  $9.00  and  a 
gallon  of  oil  per  month,  and  the  use  of  the  proprie- 
tors' cooking-stove  for  .*3.00  rental  yearly.  Under 
the  Essex  Company,  James  D.  Herrick  was  collector 
for  twenty-two  years,  until  the  bridge  became  free. 
Among  the  officers  and  directors  of  the  old  corpora- 
tion were  Loammi  Baldwin,  the  first  President,  a 
noted  engineer ;  Benjamin  O.sgood,  of  Methuen  ; 
Gayton  P.  Osgood,  of  Andover;  Abbott  Lawrence, 
and  Charles  S.  Storrow.  The  Treasurers,  after  1845, 
were  Nathan  W.  Harmon,  Jno.  R.  Rollins  and  Henry 
H.  Hall. 

Lawrexce  Bridge. — In  1854,  for  the  purpose  ol 
better  accommodating  North  Andover  and  Lawrence, 
and  also  for  avoiding  the  railroad  crossing,  at  grade, 
near  the  Andover  Bridge,  a  charter  was  granted  for 
another  bridge,  at  the  east  end  of  the  cit\-,  to  George 
D.  Cabot  and  others.  This  bridge  was  built  in  1854- 
55,  and  remained  a  toll-bridge  till  1868,  when  this 
also,  with  the  other  bridges  across  the  Merrimac, 
became  free.  George  D.  Cabot  was  Treasurer,  and 
Nicholas  Chapman,  toll  gatherer,  from  the  beginning. 
This  bridge  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  1887,  and  will  be 
replaced  by  an  iron  bridge,  now  under  contract  with 
the  Boston  Bridge  Company. 

As  early  as  1820,  the  Merrimac  Canal  Company 
was  incorporated  for  the  purpose  of  building  a  canal, 
to  extend  navigation  from  tide-water  at  Haverhill  to 
the  new  town  then  forming  at  Pawtucket  Falls 
(Lowell) ;  their  charter  was  extended,  but  nothing 
was  done  toward  carrj'ing  the  plan  into  execution. 
An  attempt  was  made  a  few  years  since  to  render  the 
river  itself  navigable  from  Lawrence  to  Haverhill, 
and  much  money  was  expended  by  the  United  States 
Government  in  removing  boulders  and  deepening 
the  channel  at  the  rapids  between  the  two  cities.  The 
Pentucket  Navigation  Company  was  formed  ostensi- 
Vdy  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  the  Merrimac  valley 
with  coal,  it  being  claimed  that  water  transportation 
could  be  conducted  at  much  cheaper  rat«s,  and  con- 
sequently that  great  benefit  would  ensue  to  the  people 
55 


from  the  dimini-shed  price  of  ftiel.  By  the  use  of 
light-draught  steamboats  coal  was  brought  up  the 
river,  and  a  depot  for  its  sale  was  established  in  Law- 
rence ;  but  from  the  fact  that  the  river  remains  frozen 
for  four  or  five  months  in  the  year,  and  that  in  sum- 
mer droughts  it  could  not  be  made  navigable  without 
enormous  expense,  the  enterpri.se  was  abandoned. 
The  amount  of  coal  actually  transported  was  not 
sufficient  in  an  entire  season  to  supply  the  single 
corporation,  the  Pacific  Mills,  which  consumes  twenty- 
three  thousand  tons  per  year,  or  little  over  seventy- 
five  tons  per  day.  It  was  thought  by  many  that  the 
whole  scheme  was  inaugurated  rather  for  political 
purposes  than  with  any  hope  or  expectation  of  bene- 
fiting the  public. 

Nothing  had  been  done  toward  utilizing  the  power 
of  Merrimac  River,  until  Mr.  Daniel  Saunders,  then 
a  resident  of  Andover,  believing  that  valuable  power 
could  be  attained  at  this  point,  took  steps  to  interest 
capitalists  in  a  new  enterprise  here. 

Mr.  Saunders,  who  "  had  learned  the  business  of 
cloth-dressing  and  wood-carding  in  his  native  town, 
Salem,  N.  H.,  removed  to  Andover  in  1817,  and  after 
working  on  a  farm,  entered  the  mill  of  Messrs.  Abel 
and  Paschal  Abbott,  where  he  ultimately  obtained  an 
interest  in  the  business,  taking  a  lea.se  and  managing 
the  mill, — subsequently  returned  to  his  native  town 
and  started  a  woolen-mill  there,  but  returned  to  An- 
dover in  1825,  settling  in  the  North  Parish,  for  a 
time  leasing  the  Stone  Mill,  erected  by  Dr.  Kittredge, 
and  afterward  building  a  mill  on  a  small  stream  that 
flows  into  the  Cochichewick.  In  1839  or '40  he  pur- 
chased a  mill  in  Concord,  N.  H.,  and  carried  on 
manufacturing  there,  retaining  his  home  in  North 
Andover.  About  1842  he  relinquished  the  woolen- 
mill  at  N.  Andover,  sold  his  house  to  Mr.  Sutton  and 
removed  to  the  West  Parish,  now  South  Lawrence, 
nearly  opposite  the  Shawsheen  House.' "  Here  he 
passed  the  remainder  of  his  days,  ceasing  from  the 
labors  of  a  busy  life  October  8,  1872,  iet.  seventy-six. 
It  was  quite  natural  that  having  thus  been  engaged 
in  manufactures,  that  the  falls  in  the  Merrimac  so 
near  to  his  residence  should  suggest  to  him  the  po.s- 
sibilitiesand  capabilitiesof  the  river.  To  him,  there- 
fore, must  be  credited  the  foresight  and  sagacity  of 
securing  quietly  in  his  own  right  the  falls  above  the 
present  dam, — known  as  Peter's  Falls, — which  virtu- 
ally gave  him  control  of  the  water-power  of  the  river 
at  this  point.  The  development  of  this  i»ower  would 
require  a  large  outlay  of  money,  and  further  progress 
must  depend  upon  the  willingness  of  capitalists  to 
embark  in  such  an  enterprise.  Messrs.  J.  G.  Abbott, 
a  nephew  of  Mr.  Saunders,  Samuel  Lawrence  and 
John  Nesmith,  of  Lowell,  to  whom  Mr.  Saunders  had 
communicated  what  he  had  done,  readily  undertook 
to  interest  others,  and  in  1843  Samuel  Lawrence,  .J. 
G.  Abbott,  John  Nesmith,  Judge  Thomas  Hopkin- 

1  Sarah  L.  Bailey,  History  of  Andover. 


866 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


son,  Jonathan  Tyler,  Chas.  W.  Saunders,  of  Lowell, 
Daniel  Saunders,  Daniel  Saunders,  Jr.,  Gayton  P. 
Osgood,  Nathaniel  Stevens,  Joseph  Kittredge,  of  An- 
dover,  Edmund  Bartlett,  of  Newburyport,  John 
Wright,  Josiah  G.  White,  Joseph  H.  Billings  and 
Henry  Poor  (perhaps  others),  formed  the  Merrimac 
Water-Power  Association,  of  which  Samuel  LaAvrence 
was  chosen  president  and  treasurer,  and  Daniel  Saun- 
ders agent. 

At  the  winter  session  of  the  Legislature  of  1844-45 
this  company  petitioned  for  a  charter,  which  was 
granted,  and  the  act  was  a])proved  by  Gov.  Briggs  in 
March,  1845. 

"  Charter  1844. 

"  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  Ilouse  of  Kepresentatives  in  Gener- 
al Court  assembled,  and  bj'  the  authority  of  the  Same  as  follows  : 

"Sect.  I.  Samuel  Lawrence,  John  Nesmith,  Daniel  Saunders  and 
Edmund  Bartlett,  their  Associates  and  Successors,  are  hereby  made  a 
corporation,  by  the  name  of  the  Essex  Company,  lor  the  purpose  of 
constructing  a  dam  across  JMerriinark  river,  and  constructing  one  or 
more  locks  and  canals  iu  connection  with  said  dam,  to  remove  ob 
structions  in  said  river  by  falls  and  rapids,  from  Hunt's  Falls  to  the 
mouth  of  Shawsheen  river,  and  to  create  a  water-power  to  use,  or  sell, 
or  lease  to  other  persons  or  Corporations,  to  use  for  manufacturing  and 
mechanical  purposes  ;  and  for  these  purposes,  shall  have  all  the  powers 
and  privileges,  and  be  subject  to  all  the  duties  and  liabilities  and  re- 
strictions set  forth  in  the  38th  and  41th  Chapters  of  the  Revised  Sta- 
tutes. 

"Sect.  II.  Said  Corporation  may  hold  real  estate  notexceeding,  exclu- 
sive of  the  expenditure  for  the  dam  &  Canals,  three  hundred  thousand 
dollars.  And  the  whole  capital  stock  of  said  corporation  shall  not  ex- 
ceed one  million  dollars,  and  said  stock  shall  be  divided  into  shares  not 
exceeding  one  hundred  dollars  each. 

"Sect.  III.  The  said  corporation  is  hereby  authorized  and  empowered 
to  construct  and  maintain  a  dam  across  said  river,  either  at  Deer  Jump 
Falls,  or  Bodwell's  Falls,  or  some  point  in  said  river  between  said  falls, 
and  all  such  canals  and  locks  as  may  be  necessary  for  the  purposes 
aforesaid  ;  and  for  the  purpose  of  making  said  dam.  and  constructing  the 
main  canal  for  navigation  or  ti'ausporls,  may  take,  occupy  and  inclose 
any  of  the  lands  ailjoiuing  said  canals  and  locks,  or  dam,  which  may  be 
necessary  for  building  or  repairing  the  same,  for  towing  paths  and  other 
necessary  purposes,  not  exceeding  twenty  feet  on  each  side  of  said  canal 
or  locks,  and  may  blow  up  and  i-emove  any  rocks  in  said  river,  and  dig 
in  any  of  the  lands  near  the  said  river,  through  which  it  may  be  neces- 
sary to  pass  said  main  canal,  provided  that  said  corporation  shall  not 
obstruct  the  passage  of  rafts,  masts,  or  floats  of  timber  down  said  river, 
earlier  than  the  first  day  of  June,  in  building  said  dam,  nor  keep  the 
same  obstructed  for  a  longer  time  than  five  months  before  the  opening 
of  said  canal  for  the  passage  thereof. 

"  Sect.  IV.  If  there  shall  be  occasion,  in  the  prosecution  of  the  pow- 
ers and  purposes  aforesaid,  to  make  a  canal  across  any  public  highway, 
or  if  highways  shall  hereafter  be  laid  out  across  such  canal,  it  shall  be 
the  duty  of  said  corporation  to  make  sufficient  bridges  across  said  canal, 
and  to  keep  them  in  good  repair. 

"Sect.  V.  The  said  corporation  shall  make  and  maintain  iu  the  dam 
so  built  by  them  across  said  river,  suitable  and  reasonable  fishways,  to  be 
feept  open  at  such  seasons  as  are  necessary  and  usual  for  the  passage  of 
iish. 

"  Sect.  VI.  The  said  corporation  shall  erect,  and  foiever  maintain  such 
canal  and  locks  as  shall  be  necessary  around  any  dam  constructed  by 
them  ;  the  lock  to  be  not  less  than  twenty  feet  in  width,  and  ninety  feet 
in  length  ;  and  said  canal  shall  be  so  constructed,  that  there  shall  be 
easy,  safe  and  convenient  access  to,  and  egress  from,  the  same,  with 
fastenings  and  moorings  for  the  reconstruction  of  rafts  or  floats,  after 
the  egress  ;  and  shall  be  free,  and  not  subject  to  any  charges  whatever 
for  the  passage  of  rafts  of  wood  and  lumber,  masts  and  floats  of  timber, 
and  be  tended  by  a  keeper  employed  by  said  corporation,  and  opened  at 
all  reasonable  times,  promptly,  for  such  passage. 

Sect.  VII.  The  lishways  in  said  dam,  and  the  entrance  and  exit  of  said 
canal,  and  the  moorings  and  fastenings  at  the  exit,  shall  be  made  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  County  Commissioners  of  the  County  of  Essex,  who 
shall,  on  application  to  them  by  said  corporation,  after  due  notice,  in 


such  manner  as  they  shall  deem  reasonable,  to  all  persons  interested 
therein,  and  a  hearing  of  the  parties,  prescribe  the  mode  of  constructing 
the  same  ;  and  any  person  who  shall  be  dissatisfied  with  the  construction 
thereof,  when  the  same  are  completed,  may  make  complaint  to  said 
County  Commissioners,  setting  forth  that  the  same,  or  either  ot  them, 
are  not  constructed  according  to  the  prescription  of  said  commissioners  : 
and  said  commissioners,  after  due  notice  as  aforesaid,  shall  proceed  to 
examine  the  same,  and  shall  accept  the  same,  if  they  shall  be  of  opinion 
that  they  are  luilt  and  maile  according  to  such  prescriptions  :  or  if  they 
shall  be  of  opinion  that  the  same  are  not  made  according  to  the  pre- 
scription, may  require  the  same  to  be  further  made  and  completed 
till  they  shall  be  satisfied  to  accept  the  same :  and  the  expenses  of  said 
commissioners,  in  such  examination  shall  be  paid  by  said  corporation. 

"Sect.  VIII.  Any  person  wlio  shall  be  damaged  in  his  property  by 
said  corporation,  in  cutting  or  making  canals  through  his  land,  or  by 
flowing  the  same,  or  iu  any  other  way  in  carrying  into  efl'ect  the  powers 
hereby  granted,  unless  said  corporation  shall,  within  thirty  days  after  re- 
quest in  writing,  pay  or  tender  to  said  person  a  reasonable  satisfaction 
therefor,  shall  have  the  same  remedies  as  are  provided  by  law  for  persons 
damaged  by  railroad  corporations,  in  the  39tli  Chap,  of  the  Kevised 
Statutes. 

"Sect.  IX.  For  the  purpose  of  reimbursing  said  corporation  iu  part 
for  the  cost  and  expense  ol  keeping  said  locks  and  canals  in  repair,  and 
in  tending  the  s^me,  and  in  clearing  the  passages  necessary  for  the 
transit  of  boats  and  merchandise,  and  other  articles  through  said  canal, 
the  following  toll  is  hereby  established  and  granted  to  said  corporation, 
on  all  goods,  boats  and  merchandise,  except  rafts  of  wood  and  lumlier 
masts  and  floats  of  timber  passing  down  said  canal,  and  on  all  goods  car- 
ried up  through  said  canal,  namely  :  on  salt,  lime,  plaster,  bar  iron,  pig 
iron,  iron  castings,  anthracite  coal,  stone  and  hay,  eight  cents  per  ton  of 
twenty-two  hundred  and  forty  pounds;  on  bituminous  coal,  twelve  cents 
per  chaldron  of  thirty-si.x  bushels  ;  on  brick,  sixteen  cents  per  thousand  ; 
on  manure,  fifty  cents  per  load  ;  on  oak  timber,  thirty-five  cents  per  ton 
of  forty  cubic  feet ;  on  pine  plank  and  boards,  thirty  cents  per  thousand, 
board  measure  ;  on  ash  and  other  bard  stuff,  forty  cents  per  thousand, 
board  measure  ;  on  posts  and  rails,  fifteen  cents  per  hundred  ;  on  tree 
nails,  thirty  cents  per  thousand  ;  on  hop  poles,  twenty  cents  per  thou- 
sand ;  on  hard  wood,  twenty  cents  per  cord  ;  on  pine  wood,  sixteen  cents 
per  cord  ;  on  bark,  twenty  cents  per  cord  ;  on  white  oak  pipe  staves,  one 
dollar  per  thousand  ;  on  red  oak  pipe  staves,  sixty-seven  cents  per  thou- 
sand ;  on  white  oak  hogshead  staves,  sixty  cents  per  thousand  ;  on  red 
oak  hogshead  staves,  forty  cents  per  thousand  ;  on  white  oak  barrel 
staves,  twenty  cents  per  thousand  ;  on  hogshead  hoops,  si.xteen  cents  per 
thousand  ;  on  barrel  hoops,  twelve  cents  per  thousand  ;  on  hogshead 
hoop-poles,  thirty  cents  per  thousand  ;  on  barrel  hoop  poles,  twenty  cents 
per  thousand  ;  on  all  articles  of  merchandise  not  enumerated,  ten  cents 
per  ton  of  twenty-two  hundred  and  forty  pounds  ;  provided  that  the  rates 
of  toll  aforesaid  shall  be  subject  to  the  direction  of  the  Legislature. 

"Sect.  X.  The  said  dam  shall  not  be  built  to  flow  the  water  in  said 
river  higher  than  the  foot  of  Hunt's  Falls  in  the  ordinary  run  and 
amount  of  water  in  the  river,  and  a  commission  of  three  competent  per- 
sons, to  be  appointed,  one  by  the  said  corporation,  and  one  by  the  pro- 
prietors of  the  locks  and  canals  of  Merrimac  River  ;  and  a  third  by  the 
two  thus  appointed,  shall,  upon  the  application  of  either  party,  fix  and 
determine,  by  permanent  monuments,  the  point  in  said  river,  which  is 
the  foot  of  Hunt's  Falls;  and  shall  also,  upon  the  like  application,  fix 
and  determine  the  height  of  the  dam  of  this  corporation,  and  of  the  flash- 
boards  to  be  used  thereon,  whose  award  and  determination  shall  be  fiuaj 
and  binding  upon  all  parties  forever.  And  if  either  party  shall  refuse, 
after  request  in  writing  by  the  other,  for  the  space  of  thirty  days,  to 
name  such  commissioner,  or  in  case  of  a  vacancy  in  such  commission,  for 
any  cause,  either  party  may  apply  to  the  Governor  of  this  Common- 
wealth, who  is  hereby  empowered  to  fill  such  vacancy.  .\nd  the  said 
point  of  the  foot  of  Hunt's  Falls  shall  be  fixed  within  sixty  days  after 
such  application  to  the  commissionere,  and  the  height  of  the  permanent 
dam  shall  be  fixed  and  determined  within  one  year  after  such  applica- 
tion. 

Sect.  XI.  This  act  shall  take  effect  from  and  after  its  passage.  (Ap- 
proved by  the  Governor  March  20,  1845.)  " 

On  the  same  day  that  the  act  received  the  approval 
of  the  Governor,  a  party  of  gentlemen,  the  pioneers 
in  the  establishment  of  American  manufactures,  vis- 
ited the  Falls  at  Andover,  and  before  the  close  of  the 
day  had  purchased  of  the  Water-Power  Association 


LAWRENCE. 


867 


all  their  right  and  interests  in  the  Falls  for  the  stipu- 
lated sum  of  $30,000.  This  party  included  Abbott 
Lawrence,  William  Lawrence,  Samuel  Lawrence, 
John  A.  Lowell,  George  W.  Lyman,  Nathan  Apple- 
ton,  Theodore  Lyman,  Patrick  T.  Jackson,  William 
Sturgis,  John  Ncsmith,  Jonathan  Tyler,  and  the 
engineers,  James  B.  Francis  and  Charles  S.  Storrow. 

On  the  22d  (two  days  later),  subscriptions  were 
received  to  the  stock  of  the  new  company,  Mr.  Abbott 
Lawrence  heading  the  list  by  a  subscription  to  one 
thousand  shares  of  one  hundred  dollars  each  ;  others 
followed  in  varying  suras — fift}',  forty,  thirty,  twenty 
and  ten  thousand  dollars  each,  and  less,  until  the 
whole  amount  of  stock,  one  million  dollars,  was 
taken,  and  with  little  delay,  for  on  the  16th  of  April 
following  the  company  organized  by  the  choice  of 
Abbott  Lawrence,  Nathan  Appleton,  Patrick  T.  Jack- 
son, John  A.  Lowell,  Ignatius  Sargent,  William 
Sturgis  and  Charles  S.  Storrow  as  Directors. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Directors,  Abbott  Law- 
rence was  elected  President,  and  remained  in  office 
till  his  decease,  with  the  exception  of  the  time  when 
he  was  the  American  Minister  to  England,  when  J. 
Wiley  Edmands  occupied  the  position.  Mr.  Storrow 
was  the  Treasurer  and  General  Agent  of  the  Company 
till  1882,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  the  present 
Treasurer,  Howard  Stockton. 

A  very  cursory  glance  at  the  history  of  these  men 
will  suffice  to  show  that  they  were  eminently  qualiiied 
for  the  task  they  had  undertaken  of  founding  a  new 
town. 

Patrick  Tracy  Jackson,  the  youngest  son  of  Hon. 
Jonathan  Jackson,  of  Newburyport,  was  born  August 
14,  1780;  received  his  early  education  in  the  public 
schools  of  his  native  town,  and  afterward  at  Dummer 
Academy,  Byfield.  When  about  fifteen,  he  was  appren- 
ticed to  Mr.  William  Bartlett,  a  merchant  of  New- 
buryport. At  the  age  of  twenty-eight,  he  engaged  in 
mercantile  business  in  Boston,  his  acquaintance  with 
the  East  India  trade  (he  had  made  several  voyages 
to  India)  specially  fitting  him  for  that  branch  of 
business ;  and  he  continued  in  the  East  and  West 
Indies  trade  till  the  breaking  out  of  the  War  of  1812. 
At  this  time,  his  brother-in-law,  Francis  C.  Lowell, 
who  had  returned  from  a  long  visit  to  England  and 
Scotland,  conceived  the  idea  that  the  cotton  manu- 
facture, then  almost  monopolized  by  Great  Britain, 
might  be  advantageously  prosecuted  at  home.  We 
had  the  raw  material ;  and  the  character  of  our  popu- 
lation— educated,  moral,  enterprising — could  not  fail, 
he  thought,  to  secure  success,  though  England  had 
the  advantage  of  cheap  labor,  improved  machinery, 
and  reputation.^  Most  of  us,  at  the  present  day,  sur- 
rounded as  we  are  with  manufacturing  establishments, 
are  not  apt  to  realize  the  boldness  of  this  undertaking, 
or  the  obstacles  to  be  overcome.  Neither  machinery, 
patterns,  nor  drawings  could  be  had  from  England, 

1  Mrs.  E.  Tale  Smith's  History  of  Newburyport. 


for  we  were  then  at  war ;  and  even  in  time  of  peace,  it 
would  not  have  been  an  easy  task,  since  it  was  but  a 
few  years  before  (1809)  that  William  Hewitt  was  fined 
at  the  Middlesex  Sessions  in  the  sum  of  £500  and 
imprisoned  for  three  months,  for  enticing  an  English 
artificer,  John  Hutchinson,  a  dyer,  to  emigrate  with 
him  to  the  United  States,  to  be  employed  in  a  cotton 
manufactory  ;  and  Hutchinson  himself  was  put  under 
bonds  to  remain  at  home.  Messrs.  Knapp  &  Baldwin, 
attorneys  at  law,  in  writing  of  this  case,  proceed  to 
say :  "  This  is  an  offence  against  the  law,  of  which 
few  are  aware  of  the  consequences,  or  of  the  national 
loss  arising  from  its  infraction  ;  yet  it  is  a  statute 
which — as  a  nation  of  trade  and  agriculture,  of  the 
arts  and  sciences — is  highly  necessary  to  the  welfare 
of  our  country.  To  have  the  secrets  of  our  inventions 
clandestinely  carried  into  foreign  countries,  must  cei'- 
tainly  rob  us  of  a  part  of  the  fruit  of  our  ingenuity, 
and  consequently  reduce  the  price  of  labor, ''^  &c.^ 

At  this  time  there  was  not  a  power-loom  in  the 
United  States — mills  for  spinning  were  in  operation — 
but  weaving  was  performed  by  hand-looms.  Mr. 
Lowell  associating  with  himself  his  brother-in-law, 
Mr.  Jackson,  in  the  enterprise  which  he  proposed  to 
undertake,  gave  his  first  attention  to  the  invention  of 
a  power-loom.  Partially  successful  in  this,  he  called 
to  his  aid  Mr.  Paul  Moody,  an  ingenious  mechanic  of 
Newburyport,  subsequently  eminent  at  Lowell.  The 
loom,  after  some  alterations,  was  brought  to  comple- 
tion, other  machinery  invented,  and  in  1813  the 
"  Boston  Manufacturing  Company,"  at  Waltham,  was 
chartered,  and  erected  the  first  mill,  complete  in 
itself,  which  converted  the  raw  cotton  into  finished 
cloth.''  Of  this  company  Mr.  Jackson  became  Presi- 
dent. In  1817,  after  Mr.  Lowell's  death,  Mr.  Jackson 
relinquished  mercantile  pursuits  and  devoted  his 
attention  to  manufacturing.  In  1821  he  purchased 
the  Pawtucket  Canal,  and  secured  the  water-power  of 
the  Merrimack  at  Chelmsford,  and  thus  laid  the  foun- 
dation for  the  town,  which  was  incorporated  in  1825, 
under  the  name  of  Lowell,  in  honor  of  his  friend  and 
co-worker,  Francis  C.  Lowell.  On  the  completion  of 
the  Merrimack  Manufacturing  Company's  mills,  Mr. 
Jackson  became  a  director.  He  was  Treasurer  of  the 
Hamilton  Mills,  Lowell,  1829  to  1832;  also  Treasurer 
of  the  Proprietors  of  Locks  and  Canals,  1838  to  1845. 

In  1830,  better  facilities  being  needed  for  trans- 
porting the  products  of  the  new  mills  to  the  seaboard 
than  were  offered  by  the  old-time  canal  and  baggage- 
wagon,  Mr.  Jackson,  in  connection  with  Mr.  Kirk 
Boott,  determined  upon  the  new  project  of  a  Railway. 
They  had  watched  with  much  interest  the  proceedings 
of  Mr.  Stephenson  in  England,  and  the  apparent  suc- 


-  See  "  Newgate  Calendar,"  vol.  5,  London. 

3  The  first  mill  for  producing  yarn  by  machinery  was  built  at  Beverly, 
1789,  the  members  of  that  corporation  being  John,  George,  Andrew  and 
Deborah  Cabot,  Joshua  Fisher,  Henry  Higginson,  Moses  Brown,  Israel 
Thorndike  and  Isaac  Chapman.  This  was  a  brick  mill,  driven  by  horse- 
power, and  was  assisted  by  the  State. 


868 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


cess  of  Stephenson's  experiments  encouraged  the 
Legislature  to  grant  a  charter  for  the  purpose  of  car- 
rying out  the  project.  Engineers  were  consulted  here 
and  abroad,  and  the  first  passenger  railroad  in  New- 
England,  the  Boston  and  Lowell,  was  opened  for 
travel  in  1835. 

Nathan  Appleton  was  a  son  of  Deacon  Isaac  Ap- 
pleton,  of  New  Ipswich,  N,  H.,  and  a  descendant  of 
Captain  Samuel  Appleton,  of  Ipswich,  who  com- 
manded the  Massachusetts  troops  in  the  Indian  war 
known  as  King  Philip's  war,  1G75.  He  was  born  in 
1779,  and,  after  fitting  himself  at  the  New  Ipswich 
Academy,  entered  Dartmouth  College  at  the  age  of 
fifteen.  He  changed  his  plans  and  went  into  mer- 
cantile business  with  his  brother  Samuel  in  Boston. 
In  1810  he  made  a  visit  to  Europe  for  the  purpose  of 
extending  his  business  relations  ;  and  while  there  met 
with  Francis  C.  Lowell,  and  became  interested  in  his 
plans  of  introducing  manufactures  in  the  United 
States,  and  on  his  return  was  associated  with  Messrs. 
Lowell  &  Jackson  as  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the 
Waltham  Factory.  He  was  also  associated  with  Mr. 
Jackson  and  Kirk  Boott  in  the  purchase  of  the 
water-power  at  Pawtucket  Falls,  and  was  the  pro- 
jector and  largest  proprietor  of  the  Hamilton  Com- 
pany at  Lowell. 

Mr.  Appleton  was  in  the  Massach'jsetts  Legislature 
in  1815,  and  served  till  1827,  and  three  years  later 
(1830)  was  elected  to  the  House  of  Representatives  in 
the  United  States  Congress. 

On  the  expiration  of  his  term  he  declined  a  re- 
election, but  in  1842  was  again  elected  to  supply  the 
vacancy  caused  by  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Winthrop. 
He  was  the  author  of  several  pamphlets  on  currency, 
banking  and  the  tariff. 

Robert  C.  Winthrop  wrote  a  memorial  of  him,  in 
which  he  says, — 

"Persistent  courage  and  inflexible  integrity  were  indeed  the  two 
leading  elements  of  Mr.  Appleton's  character,  and  constituted  the  se- 
crets of  his  great  success.  To  these,  more  than  to  any  thing  else,  he 
owed  his  fortune  and  his  fame.  He  displayed  his  boldness  by  embarking 
in  untried  enterprises,  by  advocating  unpopular  doctrines,  by  resisting 
popular  prejudices,  by  confronting  the  most  powerful  and  accomplished 
opponents  in  oral  or  written  arguments,  and  by  shrinking  from  no  con- 
troversy into  which  the  independent  expression  of  his  opinions  might 
lead  him.  His  integrity  was  manifested  where  all  the  world  might  read 
it,  in  the  daily  doings  of  a  long  mercantile  career,  and  in  the  principles 
which  he  inculcated  in  so  many  forms  of  moxal,  commercial  and  finan- 
cial discussion." 

And  in  1861  Mr.  Winthrop  again  writes, — 

"  Not  many  men,  indeed,  have  exercised  a  more  important  influence 
among  us  during  the  last  half-century  than  the  late  Hon.  Nathan  Apple- 
ton  ;  not  many  men  have  done  more  than  he  has  done  in  promoting  the 
interests  and  sustaining  the  institutions  to  which  New  England  has 
owed  so  much  of  its  prosperity  and  welfare.  No  man  has  done  more 
by  example  and  by  ijrecept  to  elevate  the  standard  of  mercantile 
character,  and  to  exhibit  the  pursuits  of  commerce  in  proud  association 
with  the  highest  integrity,  liberality  and  ability."  i 

A  street  in  Lawrence  bears  his  name,  on  which  are 
located  two  of  the  public  buildings,  the  city  hall  and 
court-house. 

1  See  "History  of  New  Ipswich,"  N.  E.  H.  G.  Society  Biographies. 


John  Amory  Lowell  was  son  of  John  Lowell  and 
grandson  of  Judge  Lowell  of  the  United  States  Cir- 
cuit Court.  He  graduated  (Harvard  College  1815)  at 
the  age  of  sixteen,  and  commenced  his  business  edu- 
cation at  the  house  of  Kirk  Boott  &  Sons,  to  whose 
business  he  succeeded  in  partnership  with  the  eldest 
son,  Mr.  John  Wright  Boott. 

In  1827  he  was  treasurer  of  the  Boston  Manufactur- 
ing Company  at  Waltham,  succeeding  Patrick  T. 
Jackson,  and  held  that  position  till  1844.  In  1835  he 
built  the  Boot  mill  at  Lowell,  and  was  treasurer  of 
the  Boott  Company  thirteen  years,  and,  as  ])resident 
and  director  till  his  death,  contributed  largely 
to  its  success. 

In  1839  he  built  the  Massachusetts  Mills,  of  which 
he  was  also  the  treasurer  till  1848  and  a  director 
through  life ;  was  also  a  director  in  the  Lake  Com- 
pany and  the  Lowell  machine-sho]).  He  was  asso- 
ciated with  Abbott  Lawrence  and  others  in  the  crea- 
tion of  the  Essex  Company  at  Lawrence  and  a  di- 
rector of  the  Pacific  Mills  until  age  compelled  him  to 
relinquish  some  of  his  cares. 

Mr.  Lowell  was  also  for  fifty-nine  years  a  director 
of  the  Suffolk  Bank,  Boston,  and  in  1824  originated 
the  system  of  redemption  of  country  bank  notes.  He 
was  also  one  of  the  fellows  of  Harvard  College  for 
forty  years,  and  for  a  longer  period  trustee  of  the 
Lowell  Institute.  He  was  an  accomplished  cla.ssical 
scholar,  an  eminent  mathematician,  an  able  botanist 
and  a  rare  linguist.  Generous  in  his  impulse's,  he 
delighted  in  aiding  younger  men,  and  was  always 
ready  to  give  to  any  cause  that  appealed  to  his  gen- 
erosity. Such  a  union  of  business  capacity,  literary 
and  scientific  attainments,  unsullied  integrity  and  un- 
ostentatious generosity,  formed  a  rare  combination, 
and  enabled  him  in  a  long  life  of  untiring  industry  to 
do  much  for  the  advancement  of  his  generation,  and 
to  add  a  lustre  to  the  honored  name  he  bore.  Born 
November  11,  1798,  he  died  October  31,  1881.-' 

Hon.  Charles  S.  Storrow  graduated  from  Harvard 
College  1829,  and  subsequently  pursued  his  studies 
three  years  in  the  School  of  Engineers  and  Mines, 
at  Paris,  France.  He  was  one  of  the  engineers  en- 
gaged in  building  our  first  New  England  Railway, 
and  on  its  completion,  became  its  general  manager 
for  several  years,  and  until  the  new  enterprise  at 
Lawrence  was  commenced,  when  he  was  appointed 
agent  and  treasurer  of  the  new  company,  and  at  first 
its  engineer.  The  first  step  to  be  taken  was  the  con- 
struction of  the  dam,  and  this  was  planned  and  its 
construction  commenced  under  his  direction ;  and  if 
nothing  else  remained,  this  alone  would  be  an  endur- 
ing memento  of  his  thorough  and  skilful  work.  On 
the  completion  of  the  Atlantic  Cotton  Mills,  which 
were  built  by  the  Essex  Company,  Mr.  Storrow  be- 
came the  treasurer.  On  the  establishment  of  the 
first  Bank  (the  Bay  State),  he  was  its  first  president. 

iFrom  "  Records  of  Old  Residents'  Association,"  Lowell. 


LAIVRENCE. 


869 


And  when  the  town  adopted  a  City  charter,  he  was 
very  appropriately  elected  its  first  mayor.  In  the 
multifarious  duties  devolving  upon  him  in  the  prose- 
cution of  the  plans  of  the  company,  in  1846  he 
called  to  his  aid  as  engineer  Capt.  Charles  H.  Bige- 
low,  a  graduate  of  West  Point  Military  Academy, 
who  had  been  captain  in  the  Corps  of  United  States 
Engineers,  and  was  then  employed  on  the  forts  in 
Boston  Harbor,  and  Mr.  Storrow  gave  his  attention 
mainly  to  the  financial  and  general  affairs  of  the 
company.  Having  seen  the  City  grow  to  its  present 
proportions,  and  the  company  fully  and  successfully 
established,  he  removed  to  Boston.  He  resigned  his 
ofiice  as  treasurer  and  agent  in  1882,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Howard  Stockton,  but  retains  his  interest 
in  the  company,  being  its  president  at  the  present 
time.  He  was,  for  a  short  time,  one  of  the  Park 
Commissioners  of  the  City  of  Boston,  and  also  con- 
sulting engineer  at  one  time  of  the  Hoosac  Tunnel, 
and  in  1862,  at  the  request  of  the  Commissioners, 
made  a  visit  to  Europe,  to  examine  the  European 
tunnels, — upon  which  he  made  an  extremely  inter- 
esting and  elaborate  report,  which  was  published,  and 
furnished  much  valuable  information  in  the  prosecu- 
tion of  the  work. 

Abbott  Lawrence,  born  in  Groton  December  16, 
1792,  received  his  education  at  the  district  school  and 
academy  in  that  town,  now  known  in  consequence 
of  the  benefactions  of  the  family  as  Lawrence  Acade- 
my. At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  went  to  Boston  as  an 
apprentice  to  his  elder  brother,  Amos,  and  six  years 
later,  1814,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  he  became  a 
partner  in  the  house  of  A.  and  A.  Lawrence,  which, 
for  a  long  series  of  years,  deservedly  held  a  very  high 
place  in  the  mercantile  community  of  that  City. 

Under  the  influence  of  the  War  of  1812  the  manu- 
facture of  cotton  goods  in  New  England  had  largely 
increased,  but  the  methods  of  manufacture  were  im- 
perfect. The  return  of  peace  gave  the  movement  a 
severe  check.  It  took  a  fresh  start  in  connection  with 
improved  machinery,  and  made  a  prosperous  advance 
under  the  tariff  of  1816,  which  Messrs.  Calhoun  and 
Lowndes,  of  South  Carolina,  were  so  prominent  in 
framing  into  law,  and  in  connection  with  which  Mr. 
Clay  first  appeared  as  the  advocate  of  "  a  thorough 
and  decided  protection  to  home  manufactures  by 
ample  duties.''  The  tariff' of  1824  still  further  pro- 
moted the  manufacture  of  both  cotton  and  woolen 
fabrics. 

Originally  importers  of  foreign  goods,  the  Messrs. 
Lawrence  engaged  early,  in  the  sale  of  cotton  and 
woolen  goods  of  American  manufacture,  and  became 
large  proprietors  in  the  Lowell  Mills,  ceasing  to  im- 
port, and  becoming  for  a  long  period  the  leading 
house  for  the  sale  of  American  fabrics.  When  the 
new  enterprise  at  Lawrence  was  projected,  Mr.  Law- 
rence, as  has  been  previously  stated,  took  a  promi- 
nent part,  and  on  the  completion  of  the  Atlantic 
Cotton  Mills,  in   which  he  was  a  large  stockholder, 


he  became  president  of  that  company,  and  later,  in 
1853,  he  was  president  of  the  Pacific  Mills  Company, 
in  which  office  he  continued  till  the  close  of  his  life. 

During  the  year  following  the  organization  of  the 
company,  and  many  years  afterward,  the  territory 
was  a  scene  of  intense  and  phenomenal  activity. 
The  dam  and  canal  were  constructed,  boarding- 
houses  and  a  hotel  erected  (the  Franklin  House),  the 
large  machine-shop  constructed,  saw  and  planing-mills 
built,  and  the  entire  region  cut,  gashed  and  seamed 
in  the  laying  out  of  streets,  the  construction  of  sewers, 
building  gas-works  and  water-works,  and  in  sales  of 
land  and  in  planting  trees,  which  now  furnish  a 
grateful  shade  and  add  so  much  to  the  beauty  of 
many  of  the  principal  streets. 

Their  first  and  most  important  work  was  the  dam. 
This  was  designed  by  the  agent  of  the  company  (Mr. 
Storrow),  and  at  the  time  of  its  construction,  was  the 
longest  of  its  kind  in  the  world.  The  whole  length 
is  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  twenty-nine  feet  ; 
distance  between  the  wing  walls  nine  hundred  feet. 
It  is  thirty-five  feet  thick  at  the  base  and  three 
or  three  and  one-half  feet  at  the  top ;  built  of 
granite,  laid  in  cement,  arching  toward  the  stream 
fifteen  feet ;  the  lower  course  of  stone  bolted  to  the 
ledge  at  the  bottom  of  the  river.  Greatest  height 
forty  and  one-half  feet,  mean  height  thirty-two  feet, 
average  fall  of  water  twenty-six  feet.  Three  years 
were  occupied  in  the  construction,  and  it  is,  and  will 
remain,  an  enduring  monument  of  skill,  firm  as  the 
natural  ledges  upon  which  it  is  constructed. 

A  serious  accident  happened  during  its  construc- 
tion, by  the  partial  destruction  of  the  coflfer  dam. 
Two  men  were  killed  and  five  injured  by  the  acci- 
dent, and  the  engineer,  Capt.  Bigelow,  barely  escaped 
with  his  life.  He  was  temporarily  disabled,  and  the 
coffer  dam  was  repaired  by  Capt.  Phineas  Stevens. 

The  first  stone  of  the  dam  was  laid  on  the  19th  of 
September,  1845,  at  five  o'clock  p.m.,  near  the  centre 
of  the  river,  by  John  A.  Carpenter,  of  the  firm  of 
Gilmore  &  Carpenter,  the  contractors,  and  the  last 
stone  was  placed  on  the  19th  of  September,  1848,  at 

5  P.M. 

The  canal  on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  a  little 
more  than  one  mile  in  length,  runs  parallel  with  the 
river  and  four  hundred  feet  distant,  and  on  the  space 
thus  enclosed  are  constructed  the  large  mills  which 
occupy  the  entire  territory  as  far  as  Union  Street; 
while  below  are  the  Lawrence  Woolen-Mills,  Law- 
rence Machine  Company,  Davis'  Foundry,  Webster's 
Grist-Mills,  the  Wright  Braid  Company,  Dustin  & 
Webster's  machine-shop  and  others.  The  Everett 
Mills  receive  their  water  from  the  canal  and  dis- 
charge into  the  Spicket,  as  does  the  Russell  Paper 
Company  in  part,  while  below  the  terminus  of  the 
canal  other  establishments  receive  water  by  a  penstock 
carried  across  the  Spicket  River,  discharging  into  the 
Merrimac. 

The  total  cost  of  the  dam  and  canal,  including  in- 


870 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


terest,  damages,  detention  to  fisheries  and  naviga- 
tion, engineering  and  general  expenses  was  $525,- 
773.76.  The  canal  is  one  hundred  feet  wide  at  its  com- 
mencement, narrowing  to  sixty  feet  at  the  waste 
weir,  and  12  feet  deep,  and  is  connected  with  the 
Merrimac  by  guard-locks,  made  of  hammered  stone 
laid  in  cement,  ninety-five  feet  by  twenty-one  feet 
each.  • 

A  smaller  canal  on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  pro- 
jected to  extend  as  far  as  Union  Street,  has  been 
more  recently  built,  which  is  sixty  feet  wide  and  ten 
feet  deep,  furnishing  power  to  the  Lawrence  Bleach- 
ery,  the  Prospect  Worsted  Mills,  paper-mills,  leather 
board  mills  and  other  establishments. 

Other  larger  enterprises  of  the  company  were  the 
building  of  the  machine-shop  and  foundry,  the  first 
stone  for  the  foundry  being  laid  July  10,  1846.  The 
main  building  was  four  hundred  by  sixty,  and  four 
stories  high,  built  of  stone  ;  and  the  foundry,  also  of 
stone,  was  one  hundred  and  fifty  by  eighty-six, 
two  stories  in  height,  the  two  giving  employment  to 
six  hundred  or  eight  hundred  men. 

The  company  also  commenced  building  the  Atlan- 
tic mills  and  boarding-housen  in  1846,  and  have  since 
built  the  Pemberton,  Duck  and  Pacific  Mills.  They 
also  excavated  a  lumber-dock,  established  the  lumber- 
yai"d,  with  saw  and  planing-mills,  which  they  owned 
and  operated  till  they  ceased  building  mills,  when 
this  property  was  s^ld. 

Among  those  who  were  employed  by  the  Essex 
Company  to  execute  their  plans  were  Hiram  P.  Cur- 
tis and  Joseph  Bennett,  Benjamin  and  Thomas  B. 
Coolidge,  James  K.  Barker,  among  the  early  en- 
gineers, and  in  1846  Captain  Charles  H.  Bigelow  be- 
came chief  engineer,  with  the  Messrs.  Coolidge  as 
assistants.  Deacon  William  M.  Kimball  had  charge 
of  the  company's  lumber-yard,  with  Luther  Ladd  as 
foreman,  the  latter  of  whom  after  the  sale  of  the  yard 
became  agent  and  treasurer  of  the  Lawrence  Lumber 
Company.  The  late  Abiel  R.  Chandler  had  for 
twenty  years  the  care  of  the  dam  and  guard-locks 
(died  May  28,  1887),  and  George  Sanborn  had  charge 
of  the  company's  repairs  from  the  beginning  and  is 
still  in  service.  Among  those  who  as  contractors  or 
otherwise  were  engaged  in  building  were  John  A. 
Carpenter,  one  of  the  contractors  for  building  the 
dam,  Morris  Knowles,  Harrison  D.  Clement  and  his 
partner,  William  R.  Page,  Levi  Sprague,  Isaac 
Fletcher,  William  H.  Boardman,  Stephen  P.  Sim- 
mons, William  Sullivan  and  John  Hart. 

Of  these  Isaac  Fletcher,  born  in  Maine,  1809,  was 
in  partnership  with  William  H.  Boardman  in  Bangor 
till  1846,  when  they  came  to  Lawrence  and  engaged 
in  the  quarries  of  the  Essex  Company,  furnishing 
large  amounts  of  stone  for  the  dam,  and  continued  in 
that  business  together  or  separately  during  most  of 
the  time  of  their  residence.  In  1846  Mr.  Fletcher  es- 
tablished the  Monumental  Marble  Works,  now  con- 
ducted by  John  Leonard,  was  one  of  the  building 


committee  of  the  First  Baptist  Church,  and  superin- 
tended its  construction,  and  was  one  of  the  selectmen 
of  the  town  in  1849.     He  died  August  20,  1885. 

Harrison  D.  Clement  was  born  in  Warner,  N.  H., 
May  17,  1809,  a  lineal  descendant  of  Robert  Clement, 
one  of  the  earliest  settlers  of  Haverhill,  Mass.  At 
the  age  of  eighteen  he  learned  the  trade  of  carpenter 
and  joiner  at  Peterboro',  N.  H.,  and  in  1830  com- 
menced work  on  the  old  town-house  on  Merrimack 
Street,  Lowell,  and  at  the  Merrimac  Mills  and  Lowell 
Machine-shop.  In  1831  he  went  to  Baltimore,  and 
thence  ro  Washington,  where  he  was  employed  on 
the  old  post-office,  then  being  fitted  up.  Finding  the 
moral  atmosphere  uncongenial  he  returned  to  Lowell 
in  1832,  where  he  remained  five  years,  assisting  in 
building  the  Suffolk,  Tremont  and  Lawrence  corpora- 
tions, and  ten  years  longer  in  repairs  on  the  Lawrence 
corporation  :  removed  to  Lawrence  in  1846,  where  he 
built  for  the  Essex  Company  the  fifty  tenements 
forming  the  square  bounded  by  Union,  Orchard,  Gar- 
den and  Newbury  Streets,  and  in  partnership  with 
Wm.  R.  Page  (who  died  in  Kansas  October  19,  1879), 
also  from  Lowell,  fitted  up  the  shop  over  the  Essex 
Company's  Planing  Mill.  He  continued  in  partner- 
ship with  Mr.  Page  four  years,  engaged  in  building 
principally  for  the  Essex  Company,  boarding-house 
blocks,  also  mechanics'  tenements  for  the  Atlantic  cor- 
poration, the  First  Baptist  Church  and  dwelling- 
houses.  In  1851  the  partnership  was  dissolved,  and 
for  five  years  Mr.  Clement  was  engaged  in  building 
the  boarding-house  blocks  and  overseers'  tenements 
for  the  Pacific,  Pemberton  and  other  corporations,  a 
portion  of  the  Oliver  School-House,  and  private 
dwelling-houses  in  Lawrence  and  elsewhere.  In  1856 
he  entered  into  partnership  with  Leonard  F.  Creasy, 
and  continued  and  extended  the  building  of  board- 
ing-housea  and  tenements  for  the  Everett  and  Wash- 
ington corporations,  store-houses  and  tenements  for 
the  paper-mills,  etc.  They  also  extended  their  oper- 
ations beyond  Lawrence,  building  the  larger  class  of 
buildings,  such  as  churches,  school-houses,  court- 
houses, hotels  and  bank  buildings,  and  government 
buildings  in  the  navy  yards  at  Kittery,  Charlestown 
and  Norfolk,  Va.  The  partnership  with  Mr.  Creasy 
continued  for  twenty  years,  from  1856  to  1876.  He 
remained,  however,  a  silent  partner  in  the  firm  of 
Creasy  &  Noyes,  who  built  the  Insane  Asylum  at 
Dauvers,  and  a  cotton-mill  at  Dover,  N.  H.  After 
the  dissolution  of  this  late  partnership,  Mr.  Clement 
engaged  in  rebuilding  a  portion  of  the  Old  Catholic 
Cathedral  at  Cape  Haytien,  for  the  Repul)lic  of  Hayti, 
which  had  been  in  ruins  for  many  years. 

He  had  neither  time  nor  ambition  for  practical 
honors,  but  served  one  year  as  an  assessor  of  taxes, 
and  represented  the  city  in  the  Legislature  in  1861 
and  1862.     Mr.  Clement  died  1886. 

Hon.  James  K.  Barker  was  born  in  Londonderry, 
May,  1817,  removed  to  Methuen,  1838,  where  he  was 
employed  as  a  teacher  in  the  public  schools  (and  as 


LAWRENCE. 


871 


master  in  one  of  the  earliest  terms  of  the  grammar- 
school  in  Lawrence),  studied  engineering  and  archi- 
tecture, and  in  1845  removed  to  Lawrence  and  entered 
the  service  of  the  Essex  Company,  and  after  remain- 
ing with  the  company  several  years,  opened  an  office 
on  his  own  account.  Most  of  the  streets  and  building 
lots  and  sewers  up  to  the  time  of  his  decease  were 
surveyed  and  laid  out  by  him,  and  he  was  the  archi- 
tect of  the  Court-house  and  Central  Block.  He  was 
several  years  a  member  of  the  school  committee,  and 
in  1860  was  elected  mayor,  serving  during  the  first 
year  of  the  war.     Died  January  18,  1868. 

Morris  Knowles,  born  in  Northwood,  N.  H.,  came 
hither,  also  from  Lowell,  where  he  had  been  employed; 
and  superintended  all  the  wood-work  of  the  large 
machine-shop  buildings,  and  of  all  the  large  mills 
except  the  Bay  State,  and  during  the  past  year  has 
been  actively  at  work  for  the  Arlington  Company. 

Stephen  P.  Simmons,  a  native  of  Rhode  Island, 
came  to  Lawrence  in  1847.  He  assisted  in  work  on 
the  dam,  built  the  stone  chimney  of  the  Lawrence 
Machine-Shop  Company,  and  other  large  amounts  ot 
stone-work  for  the  Essex  Company.  He  also  con- 
structed Grace  Episcopal  Church,  the  stone  church  at 
Methuen  and  the  foundations  of  the  Lawrence  jail. 

William  Sullivan  was  contractor  for  most  of  the  ex- 
cavation and  filling  during  the  construction  of  the 
large  mills  and  boarding-houses. 

Levi  Sprague  constructed  the  brick-work  of  the  At- 
lantic mills  and  boarding-houses,  and  of  the  fifty 
brick  tenements  of  the  machine-shop,  and  was  largely 
engaged  otherwise  in  early  building. 

The  first  cashier  of  the  company  during  its  earliest 
and  busiest  years  was  Geo.  D.  Cabot,  who  resigned  in 
January,  185;j,  and  after  a  short  period  of  rest  became 
agent  of  the  Lawrence  Gas  Company.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  John  R.  Rollins  who  remained  somewhat 
more  than  eleven  years  till  the  summer  of  1864,  when 
Henry  H.  Hall  became  cashier,  succeeded  by  Hon. 
Robert  H.  Tewksbury.  Present  organization, — Hon. 
Chas.  S.  Storrow,  president;  Howard  Stockton,  treas- 
urer; Hiram  F.  Mills,  chief  engineer. 

The  first  dwelling-houses  erected  after  the  incorpor- 
ation of  the  company,  were  built  by  them  on  the 
westerly  side  of  Broadway^ — ^one  of  which  was  occu- 
pied by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Timothy  Osgood,  who  for  many 
years,  there  and  later  in  another  part  of  the  city,  kept 
an  exceedingly  good  and  popular  boarding-house. 

The  first  sale  of  land  was  made  in  April,  1846,  to 
Samuel  T.  Merrill,  who  came  from  Georgetown,  and 
on  this  he  erected  the  first  dwelling-house  in  town 
after  those  built  by  the  Essex  Company — others  fol- 
lowed rapidly.  But  many  came  without  pecuniary 
means,  among  them  many  Irish  laborers,  who  must 
in  some  way  be  provided  for — for  them  the  Essex 
Company  furnished  a  large  tract  on  the  south  side  of 
the  river  near  the  dam  on  which  they  might  erect 
shanties,  only  on  condition  that  liquors  should  not  be 
sold  on   the  premises.      And    the    settlement   thus 


formed  with  its  quaint  narrow  avenues  and  rustic 
division  fences  was  one  of  the  most  interesting  spots 
in  Lawrence,  one  which  visiting  strangers  were  al- 
ways pleased  to  see. 

These  shanties  were  originally  erected  on  the  north 
side,  but  as  the  water  was  raised  by  the  construction 
of  the  dam,  and  the  territory  west  of  the  railroad  was 
occasionally  overflowed,  the  occupants  removed  to 
the  south  side  to  higher  and  dryer  ground. 

The  writer  has  pleasant  recollections  of  one  of  these 
men  who  was  among  the  earliest  to  build  a  tasteful 
cottage,  about  which  he  arranged  a  pretty  flower 
garden,  and  surrounded  the  premises  with  a  neat, 
well-painted  fence ;  the  interior  wad  as  well  arranged 
as  the  exterior,  and  he  took  much  pride  in  this  ef- 
fort; some  of  his  neighbors,  however,  thought  he  was 
"  putting  on  too  many  airs,"  and  annoyed  him  at  first 
by  defacing  his  work.  This  did  not  long  continue  ; 
their  own  ambition  was  stimulated,  others  purchased, 
new  streets  laid  out,  and  the  original  shanties  in  a 
few  years  gave  place  entirely  to  substantial  buildings. 

The  first  brick  store  buildings  were  erected  by  J. 
N.  Gage  on  the  south  side  near  the  bridge  in  Septem- 
ber, 1846. 

The  first  on  the  north  side  by  Albert  and  Joseph 
Smith  and  Daniel  Floyd,  on  Common  Street,  below 
Newbury. 

Among  the  pioneers  was  Amos  D.  Pillsbury,  of 
Georgetown,  who  came  to  procure  a  shop  for  the 
manufacture  and  repair  of  boots  and  shoes  ;  but  find- 
ing no  place  wherein  to  commence  work,  he  went  to 
Newburyport,  purchased  a  gondola,  thirty-two  by 
twelve  feet,  on  which  he  built  a  "State-room,"  put  in 
a  stock  of  boots  and  shoes,  leather,  tools,  cooking  ap- 
paratus and  provisions,  arrived  at  the  "  New  City  " 
just  before  the  first  land  sale,  anchored  in  the  river 
below  the  bridge,  threw  out  his  plank  and  commenced 
work.  Here  he  continued  till  cold  weather,  when  he 
removed  to  a  store  on  Essex  Street,  which  was  then 
ready  for  his  occupancy. 

He  built,  in  1847,  a  building  near  the  lower  end  of 
Common  Street,  and  while  Mr.  H.  D.  Clement  was 
building  a  house  for  his  own  use  near  by,  he  boarded 
with  him  for  a  short  time.  In  a  paper  read  before  the 
Old  Residents'  Association,  Mr.  Clement  thus  speaks 
of  him  :  "  By  persistent  interviews  with  the  proprie- 
tor I  learned  that  the  building  was  intended  for  the 
promotion  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  for  the  physi- 
cal, mental  and  moral  impi'ovement  of  wayfaring  men, 
and  was  to  be  called  the  Montezuma  House.  The 
builder  himself  was  a  problem  past  finding  out.  From 
his  knowledge  of  ancient  lore,  and  his  love  of  the  fine 
arts,  he  might  have  been  a  pupil  of  some  of  the  old 
masters.  From  his  apt  quotations  of  Scripture,  his 
fluency  of  speech  and  his  broad  philosophy,  he  might 
have  been  mistaken  for  a  clergyman,  while  from  his 
good  looks,  his  pleasing  manners  and  his  generous 
sympathy  for  all  man  and  womankind,  he  might  have 
been   taken  for  one   of  our  pioneer  physicians;  and 


872 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


from  his  knowledge  of  law  and  politics,  and  his  skill 
in  mystifying  the  truth,  he  might  have  been  taken 
for  one  of  our  early  Lawrence  lawyers.  He  must 
have  been  intended  by  nature  for  one  of  our  greatest 
men,  with  some  unaccountable  mistake  made  in  fin- 
ishing. As  the  building  progressed,  I  noticed  the  ab- 
sence of  plan  or  system,  and  the  eccentric  oddity  of  its 
owner,  conspicuous  in  all  its  parts.  The  frame  from 
its  odd  appearance,  might  have  done  service  at  some 
remote  age  in  the  past;  the  usual  order  of  proceed- 
ing was  reversed  by  commencing  at  the  top  and  leav- 
ing off  at  the  cellar,  it  being  raised  and  the  roof  cov- 
ered before  the  cellar  was  dug,  and  although  I  could 
not  understand  tl^  principle  of  gravitation  and  cohe- 
sion that  was  to  keep  it  up  and  together,  yet  he  could 
explain  it  in  the  most  satisfactory  way.  After  a  slight 
application  of  Spanish  brown  paint,  and  the  word 
Montezuma  in  large  letters  somewhere,  though  not 
where  one  would  expect  to  see  it,  the  building  was 
completed. 

"  I  sought  shelter  there  late  one  night,  was  kindly 
received  by  the  proprietor,  who  seemed  to  combine 
within  himself  the  offices  of  usher,  steward,  male  and 
female  waiters,  and  sometimes  hostler,  wan  shown  to 
a  very  small  room,  and  was  soon  asleep,  without  ex- 
amining the  surroundings.  On  waking  the  next 
morning  I  found  the  room  had  been  newly  plastered 
the  day  previous,  the  bed  clothes  wet  and  slightly 
frozen,  and  myself  with  a  cold  in  the  head,  but 
thought  myself  fortunate  in  being  able  to  obtain  such 
accommodations,  and  secured  them  until  my  own 
house  should  be  finished. 

'•  The  furniture  was  of  unique  style  and  of  ancient 
date,  each  piece  having  a  history  of  its  own.  The 
ornaments  were  numerous  and  varied,  consisting 
largely  of  mottoes  and  emblems,  both  sacred  and  i>ro- 
fane,  usually  a  mixture  of  both  which  none  could  ex- 
plain or  interpret  so  well  as  the  host  himself.  He  had 
also  in  and  about  the  premises  a  good  supply  of  cats, 
dogs,  fowls  of  various  kinds,  also  several  kinds  of 
wild  animals,  whose  habits  he  could  explain  ad- 
mirably when  he  chose  to  do  so,  which  was  not  often. 

The  tables  were  an  important  part  of  the  domestic 
arrangements,  as  all  seemed  to  be  hungry  at  that  time, 
though  there  were  not  so  many  thirsty  ones  as  ap- 
peared later,  and  although  it  was  a  mystery  sometimes 
hard  to  solve  whether  our  food  was  flesh,  fish  or  fowl, 
and  harder  yet  to  learn  how  it  was  cooked,  and 
though  we  could  find  no  fault  with  the  tea  or  coffee, 
not  knowing  the  name  of  the  liquid  set  before  us,  it 
all  served  an  excellent  purpose'  and  was  sure  to  find 
a  ready  market. 

There  was  a  furnished  room  in  the  basement  front, 
but  for  what  purposes  it  was  used  were  beyond  my 
ability  to  discover.  Some  inquiries  were  made  if 
liquor  was  not  sold  there,  but  I  think  there  could  not 
be,  as  liquor  selling  and  liquor  drinking  seemed  to  be 
the  special  abhorrence  of  the  proprietor,  and  I  looked 
in  several  times  without  seeing  any  signs  of  the  traffic; 


besides  there  was  an  emblem  hanging  on  the  wall 
which  forbade  such  a  conclusion :  it  was  a  painted 
circle  with  a  black  dot  near  the  lower  edge,  which  by 
his  interpretation  signified  departed  spirits.  From 
some  of  the  religious  mottoes  on  the  wall,  and  the 
free  quotations  of  Scripture  by  the  proprietor,  the 
company  might  sometimes  be  taken  for  a  religious 
class-meeting;  from  the  pictures  of  fast  horses  and 
rare  animals,  and  the  appearance  of  the  company  at 
other  times  they  might  have  been  considered  sporting 
characters ;  while  from  the  mysterious  emblems 
around,  and  in  connection  with  remarks  and  expla- 
nations thereon  by  the  owner,  they  might  have  been 
mistaken  for  a  branch  of  the  Concord  School  of  Phil- 
osophy. 

Horace  Greeley  visited  the  new  city  about  this  time, 
and  on  inquiring  for  the  first  class  hotel  was  referred 
by  the  hackman  to  the  Shawsheen  house,  and  asking  if 
they  sold  liquor  there  was  answered  "  yes."  On  in- 
quiring for  the  second  class  hotel  he  was  referred 
to  the  Oak  Street  House,  and  repeating  his  inquiry 
was  again  answered  in  the  affirmative,  and  on  inquir- 
ing for  the  next  house  was  referred  to  the  Montezuma, 
and  asking  the  same  question  was  answered  in  the 
negative,  and  the  coachman  was  ordered  to  drive  him 
there.  I  did  not  witness  his  reception,  but  it  must 
have  been  interesting  if  the  host  knew  his  guest.  If 
this  original  genius  did  not  know  how  to  keep  a  hotel 
he  certainly  knew  many  other  things,  and  I  feel  sure 
we  shall  never  look  upon  his  like  again.  After  leav- 
ing Lawrence  he  purchased  an  island  near  where 
Rowley  River  enters  Plum  Island  Sound,  where  he 
spends  his  later  days  with  some  congenial  spirits  and 
calls  it  the  Isle  of  Patmos. 

The  first  dry  goods  dealer  on  the  ground  was  Arte- 
mas  W.  Stearns  (born  in  Hill,  N.  H.),  who  opened  a 
store  on  Amesbury  Street  in  1846.  Mr.  Stearns  erected 
the  building  on  Essex  Street  in  1854,  which  he  still 
occupies,  actively  engaged  in  business.  The  building 
was  enlarged  in  1877,  and  is  being  still  further  en- 
larged and  improved,  1887,  presenting  one  of  the 
finest  fronts  on  the  street. 

The  oldest  clothing  dealer  in  the  city  is  Captain 
William  R.  Spalding  (born  in  Milton,  N.  H.),  who 
came  also  in  1846,  and  still  continues  in  the  business. 

Another  early  trader  was  John  C.  Dow,  who  opened 
and  conducted  for  several  years  a  book  and  stationery 
store.  John  Colby  opened  one  a  few  months  pre- 
viously. Mr.  Dow  subsequently  (1872)  changed  to 
his  present  business,  a  dealer  in  crockery  and  glass- 
ware. 

Among  the  early  physicians  and  surgeons  the  first 
to  settle  here  was  Dr.  Moses  L.  Atkinson,  born  in  New- 
bury, Mass.,  July  14,  1814,  graduated  at  Dartmouth 
College,  1838,  and  Harvard  Medical  School,  1844 ; 
commenced  practice  in  Lawrence,  1846,  and  died  July 
13,  1852,  aged  thirty-eight.  Others  early  on  the 
ground  were  J.  S.  Curtis,  E.  W.  Morse,  G.  W.  San- 
born, J.  Brown,  Charles  Murch,  E.  B.   Allen,  A.  D. 


LAWRENCE. 


873 


Blauchard,  who  relinquished  practice  for  other  busi- 
ness; William  D.  Lamb,  who  has  retired  from  prac- 
tice and  removed  to  Southbridge  ;  Julius  H.  Morse, 
deceased ;  Seneca  Sargent,  born  1803,  commenced 
practice  1826,  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  Lawrence, 
where  he  died  August  7,  1873  ;  Isaac  Tewksbury,  born 
1795,  studied  with  Dr.  Robinson,  of  West  Newbury, 
and  Kittredge,  of  Andover,  commenced  practice  in 
New  Hampshire,  1817,  came  to  Lawrence  1847,  was  in 
continuous  practice  between  sixty  and  seventy  years  ; 
Aaron  Ordway,  born  1814,  came  to  Lawrence,  1847, 
as  an  apothecary  and  botanic  physician,  and  con- 
tinued in  the  business  for  about  twenty-five  years,  re- 
tiring and  devoting  himself  to  other  pursuits  ;  David 
Dana  graduated  from  Harvard  Medical  School  1847, 
and  after  practicing  a  year  in  public  institutions  in 
Boston  came  to  Lawrence,  and  is  the  only  one  re- 
maining of  the  early  physicians  now  in  active  prac- 
tice. He  served  in  the  Civil  War  two  years  as  sur- 
geon of  the  First  Massachusetts  Heavy  Artillery  ;  he 
was  the  first  city  physician  of  Lawrence,  and  also  the 
first  appointed  for  the  jail  and  house  of  correction. 

Among  the  early  attorneys  were  Daniel  Saunders, 
Jr.,  who  was  on  the  ground  before  the  Essex  Com- 
pany was  formed,  mayor  in  1860  ;  Joseph  Couch,  the 
first  trial  justice ;  Henry  Flanders,  afterwards  some- 
what prominent  in  Philadelphia;  Charles  Stark 
Newell,  Avho  removed  to  New  York  City;  Dan. 
Weed,  who  removed  to  Washington,  where  he  died 
September  5,  1884  ;  Parley  S.  Chase  ;  Joseph  F.  Clark ; 
Thomas  A.  Parsons,  retired  to  a  farm  in  Derry,  N.  H. ; 
David  J.  Clark,  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College 
1836,  came  to  Lawrence  1847,  removed  to  Manchester, 
N.  H.,  1850,  in  partnership  with  his  brother,  Hon. 
Daniel  Clark,  was  postmaster  at  Manchester  1866, 
deceased ;  Ivan  Stevens,  graduated  at  Dartmouth 
College  1842,  read  law  with  Hon.  James  Bell  and  Hon. 
Amos  Tuck,  commenced  practice  in  Lawrence  1846, 
died  April,  1880  ;  Thomas  Wright,  born  in  Lowell, 
educated  at  Harvard  University,  studied  law  with  his 
father,  a  very  prominent  lawyer  in  Lowell,  came  to 
Lawrence  1846,  represented  the  city  in  the  Massachu- 
setts House  of  Representatives,  and  the  district  four 
times  in  the  Senate ;'  VVm.  H.  P.  Wright,  brother  of 
the  preceding,  educated  at  Cambridge,  came  to  Law- 
rence 1847,  continued  his  studies  with  Hon.  Daniel 
Saunders  and  with  Wright  &  Flanders,  was  in  partner- 
ship with  his  brother  till  1861,  when  he  was  elected 
mayor  and  served  with  earnestness  and  marked  abil- 
ity during  two  years  of  the  war,  represented  the  city 
in  the  Legislature  1867-68,  and  w^as  one  of  the  asso- 
ciate justices  of  the  Police  Court;  Benjamin  Board- 
man;     Benjamin   W.    Ball;    Nathan    W.    Harmon.^ 

None  of  the  preceding  now  remain  in  Lawrence 
except  Mr.  Saunders  and  Judge  Wright. 

The  first  grocery  store  was  opened  in  1845,  on  the 
south  side  of  the  river,  by  Josiah  Crosby,  of  Billerica. 


1  Soe  Chapter  II.  Bench  and  Bar. 


This  ^as  the  only  store  of  its  kind  for  nearly  six 
months,  and  its  ledger  contained  upwards  of  six  hun- 
dred names  before  another  store  was  opened.  In  ad- 
dition to  groceries  Mr.  Crosby  appears  to  have  been 
the  first  ice  dealer,  offering  to  supply  ice  from  his  two 
ice  houses,  one  situated  on  the  south  side  of  the  river 
below  his  store,  the  other  at  his  farm  in  North  An- 
dover, filled  with  "lake  ice."  This  store  and  stock 
was  purchased  in  1850  by  Joseph  Shattuck,  who,  with 
his  brother,  Charles  W.  Shattuck,  have  conducted 
the  business  since,  first  at  South  Lawrence,  and  later 
in  a  new  brick  building  built  by  them  on  Essex 
Street,  till  1887,  when  thej^  retired,  and  were  suc- 
ceeded by  Henry  A.  Buell  &  Co.,  who  had  elsewhere 
in  the  city  been  long  engaged. 

Another  early  dealer  was  Charles  Smith,  who  came 
early  from  Lowell  and  yet  remains  here,  having  also 
retired  after  a  very  active  and  busy  life. 

The  first  lumber  dealer,  Mr.  Hezekiah  Plummer, 
born  in  that  part  of  Andover  now  included  in  Law- 
rence. He  was  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  sashes 
and  blinds,  &c.,  in  1846,  but  soon  erected  a  steam  mill 
in  South  Lawrence  for  supplying  lumber  for  the 
growing  wants  of  the  new  town.  Besides  those  not 
elsewhere  mentioned  many  others  have  been  promi- 
nent, many  of  them  residents  for  a  long  period  and 
actively  engaged  in  business,  contributing  their  share 
to  its  material  growth  and  prosperity.  Among  them 
may  be  named  one  of  the  earliest  dealers  in  dry  goods, 
Joseph  O'Hea  Cantillon,  born  in  Ireland,  1810,  came 
to  Lawrence,  1846,  was  a  leading  spirit  among 
his  countrymen  and  popular  with  all  classes  ;  be  was 
a  very  active  man  in  temperance  work  and  public  af- 
fairs, and  was  one  of  the  board  of  assessors  in  1854. 
He  removed  to  the  West,  was  at  one  time  mayor  of  the 
city  of  Dubuque,  Iowa,  died  in  1879.  John  J.  Do- 
laud,  born  in  Derry,  N.  H.,  August  29,  1826,  came  to 
Lawrence,  1849,  from  Manchester,  where  he  had  been 
employed  in  the  Amoskeag  Mills.  He  was  an  over- 
seer in  the  Atlantic  Mills  till  1871.  _Mr.  Doland  was 
a  descendant  of  patriotic  ancestors,  and  is  the  oldest 
lineal  descendant  of  one  who  fought  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary War.  He  was  a  member  of  the  distinguished 
military  order  of  the  Cincinnati.  Eben  L.  Chapman, 
J.  Merrill  Currier,  Milton  Bonney*  (mayor  in  1865), 
William  P.  Clark,  Peter  Holihan,  Patrick  Sweeney, 
Jordan  Bros.,  Henry  M.  Whitney,  J.  P.  Kent,*  Wil- 
liam H.  Bridgman,*  Dana  Sargent  (afterward  mayor 
of  Nashua,  died  November  23,  1884),  John  Beetle 
(died  June  20,  1879),  John  F.  Bingham,  George  B. 
Smart,  John  Kiley,*  John  B.  Atkinson,*  Alonzo 
Briggs  (deputy  sheriff),  Martin  Bros.,  Albin  Yeaw, 
Charles  R.  Mason,  E.  J.  Mason  (died  December  4, 
1880),  David  S.  Swan,*  James  A.  Treat  (died  April 
24,  1886),  Henry  Barton,  Byron  Truell  (House  of 
Representatives  1875,  1876,  Senator  1877,  1878), 
Simpson  &  Oswald,  Rufus  Reed  (died  1886),  Charles 

*  Deceased. 


55^ 


874 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


A.  Brown  (now  of  Portland),  Joseph  Norris,*  Carney 
Bros.,  William  A.  Kimball*  (died  March  6,  1880),  J. 
Smith  Field,  Horatio  Smith,*  Amasa  Bryant,*  John 
Gale,*  A.  A.  Lamprey,  James  E.  Simpson  (mayor 
1878,  '79,  '80,  '85),  J.  G.  Abbott,  J.  Clinton  White, 
M.  P.  Merrill*  (many  years  an  assessor,  died  June  14, 
1886),  Levi  Emery,*  George  W.  Hills,  John  F.  Cogs- 
well, William  E.  Gowing,  Lawson  Eice,  Eobert  E. 
Whittier,  Eobert  M.  Bailey,  N.  B.  Gordon.  Another 
of  the  oldest  residents  is  Samuel  M.  Davis,  who  was 
an  engineer  on  the  Boston  and  Maine  Eail- 
road,  came  to  Lawrence  in  1847,  and  ran  the  first  lo- 
comotive into  town  over  the  new  railroad  bridge. 
Captain  John  Smith,  one  of  the  earliest,  who  came  in 
1845,  died  September  19,  1879,  aged  eighty-seven. 
Ford  Bros.,  Joseph  Stowell,  Albert  Emerson,  G.  W. 
Chandler,  Walker*  and  Freeman  Flanders,  H.  J. 
Couch,  Alonzo  Winldey,  John  Daly,  Henry  A.  Pres- 
cott  and  Moses  Wingate. 

The  first  marriage  in  town  took  place  May  15, 1847. 
The  parties  were  Mr.  James  M.  Currier  of  Lawrence 
and  Miss  Mary  E.  Libbey  of  Conway,  N.  H.  Eev. 
John  C.  Phillips  was  the  officiating  clergyman.  The 
first  public  marriage  occurred  October  17,  1847,  at  the 
Baptist  Chapel.  Mr.  Edwin  E.  Gage  of  Lawrence 
and  Mrs.  Abby  B.  Eichardson  of  Methuen  were  mar- 
ried by  Eev.  John  G.  Eichardson  of  the  Baptist 
Church. 

Mr.  William  W.  Dean  of  the  firm  of  Dean  &  Haz- 
eltine,  on  Broadway,  is  the  first  child  born  of  Ameri- 
can parents  in  Lawrence,  having  been  born  in  April, 
1847.  Mr.  A.  Joplin  of  Hampton  comes  next,  who 
was  born  in  February,  1848. 

To  go  further  into  details,  or  to  name  even  the  vari- 
ous merchants  and  mechanics  who  have  grown  with 
the  growth  of  the  town  and  city  would  be  making  a 
directory,  which  would  be  foreign  to  the  purpose  of 
the  present  article. 

During  the  first  years,  communication  with  the 
outside  world  wa§  by  means  of  the  old-fashioned  stage- 
coaches. 

"  Stage  Register  for  1847. 

"  For  Manchester,  Tuesday,  Thursday  and  Saturday  8J/^  A.  M.,  L. 
W.  Currier,  Driver. 

"For  Salem,  every  day  except  Sunday  at  2%  P.  M.,  Shackley  &  Cle- 
ment, Proprietors. 

"  For  Lowell,  every  day  6  and  10  A.  M.,  2}4  and  4  P.  M.,  and  on  Sun- 
day 8  A.  M.,  Currier  &  Abbey,  Proprietors,  Chamberlain  &  Charles, 
Drivers. 

"  For  Andover,  6}4,  8,  10  A.  M.  ;  2}4,  5}4  P.  M.,  Morrison  &  Lougee, 
Proprietors  &  Drivers." 

Boston  and  Maine  Eailroad  was  extended  into 
Lawrence  early  in  1848.  Lowell  and  Lawrence  Eail- 
road was  opened  July  2,  1848,  and  extended  to  North 
Lawrence  in  1879.  Essex  Eailroad  to  Salem  opened 
September  4,  1848.  Manchester  and  Lawrence  com- 
pleted October,  1849.  The  Merrimack  Valley  Horse 
Eailroad  was  incorporated  in  1863,  charter  renewed 
1866.     The  incorporators  were  George  D.  Cabot,  Wm. 

*  Deceased. 


H.  P.  Wright  and  Wm.  E.  Spalding,  and  the  road 
was  opened  for  travel  from  the  Paper-Mills  to  Me- 
thuen, 1867 ;  extended  to  North  Andover,  1868;  and 
to  South  Lawrence,  1876.  Additional  facilities  for 
travel  have  been  furnished  by  further  extensions  in 
1887.  The  enterprise  of  doubtful  issue  at  first  has 
proved  remunerative,  and  the  stock  has  advanced 
materially  in  value.  Wm.  A.  Eussell  has  been  presi- 
dent and  James  H.  Eaton  treasurer  from  the  begin- 
ning. 

Hotels. — Before  operations  commenced  by  the 
Essex  Company,  there  were  two  hotels,  the  Shawsheen 
House  (now  called  Eevere)  and  the  Essex  House, 
since  converted  into  a  dwelling-house,  situated  in 
South  Lawrence,  on  the  old  Londonderry  turnpike 
(now  Broadway).  The  first  hotel  built  by  the  com- 
pany, the  Franklin  House,  was  opened  November  1, 
1847,  by  Major  T.  J.  Coburn,  previously  of  the  Eastern 
Exchange  Hotel,  Boston.  It  has  been  since  kept  by  J. 
L.  Huntress,  Charles  B.  Melvin,  JefTord  M.  Decker, 
Col.  Larrabee  (formerly  of  the  Merrimack  House, 
Lowell),  Thomas  W.  Huse  and  is  now  conducted  by 
Mrs.  C.  E.  Huse. 

The  Merrimack  House  was  built  about  the  same 
time  at  the  corner  of  Broadway  and  Tremont  Street ; 
this  was  burned  in  1849  and  was  not  rebuilt.  The  United 
States,  another  large  building  in  Essex  Street,  nearly 
completed  but  not  occupied,  was  also  burned  in  1859. 
It  was  somewhat  imposing  in  its  external  appearance, 
but  very  cheaply  built,  and  almost  as  soon  as  touched 
by  fire  fell  in  ruins,  as  it  deserved,  but  unfortunately 
causing  the  loss  of  life  of  three  persons.^  Hotels  have 
since  multiplied,  and  we  have  now  on  the  main  busi- 
ness street  the  Essex,  Central  and  Brunswick,  besides 
many  others  of  less  prominence  in  other  parts  of  the 
city. 

The  Lawrence  post-office  was  opened  for  the  first 
time  September  7,  1846,  by  George  A.  Waldo,  post- 
master. He  remained  in  office  three  years.  William 
Pierce,  of  Andover,  followed  for  six  months,  when 
Nathaniel  Wilson  followed  and  served  four  years. 
Mr.  Wilson  was  the  first  druggist  in  town,  and  was  for 
eight  years  city  treasurer.  By  a  change  of  adminis- 
tration Major  B.  F.  Watson  became  postmaster,  and 
held  the  office  eight  years.  He  was  succeeded  by 
Major  George  S.  Merrill,  who  retained  the  position 
twenty-six  years,  from  1861  to  1887,  when  Patrick 
Murphy,  who  had  been  city  treasurer  from  1883,  was 
appointed  to  the  place. 

From  the  first  sale  of  lands,  April  28,  1846,  to  Oc- 
tober 10,  1846,  the  growth  of  the  new  settlement  had 
been  so  rapid  that  the  population  had  increased  from 
less  than  two  hundred  to  about  twenty-five  hundred, 
and  there  had  been  erected  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
five  stores,  shops  and  dwelling-houses.  The  obvious 
inconvenience  of  taxation,  education,  etc.,  in  two  sep- 


1  George  Stanley,  a  printer  ;    Frank  Henry,  auctioneer  ;    Lj'man  H. 
Larkin,  miU-hand. 


LAWRENCE. 


875 


arate  townships  led  to  a  i^etition  to  the  Legislature 
for  a  charter  for  a  new  town  ;  this  petition  was  opposed 
by  the  town  of  Methuen. 

As  early  as  February,  1847,  a  town-meeting  was 
called  to  see  what  action  the  town  would  take  on  the 
petition  of  Chas.  S.  Storrow  and  others  to  be  set  off 
in  a  new  town  by  the  name  of  Lawrence.  The  meet- 
ing was  well  attended,  from  two  hundred  to  three 
hundred  being  present.  John  Davis  was  chosen  to 
preside,  and  the  meeting  was  addressed  by  George  A. 
Waldo,  J.  W.  Carlton  and  John  Tenney,  all  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  proposed  division.  Messrs.  Waldo  and 
Tenney  were  chosen  a  committee  to  take  all  honora- 
ble and  legal  measures  to  thwart  the  design  of  the  pe- 
titioners, and  to  employ  counsel  if  necessary. 

The  opposition  was  unavailing,  and  on  the  17th  of 
April,  1847,  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  granted 
a  charter  to  the  town  of  Lawrence,  of  which  the 
following  is  a  copy :  (Other  names  had  been  sug- 
gested, such  as  Essex  and  Merrimack,  but  Lawrence 
was  adopted  in  honor  of  the  original  founders.) 

"  SiiCTiON  I.  All  the  territory  now  within  the  towns  of  Methuen  and 
Andover,  in  the  County  of  Essex,  comprised  within  the  following  limits  : 
that  is  to  say,  by  a  line  beginning  at  the  mouth  of  Shawsheen  River,  at 
its  Easterly  bank,  thence  running  Southerly  by  Said  Easterly  bank  to  a 
Stake  at  the  bend  in  Said  River,  a  few  rods  westerly  of  the  bridge  where 
it  is  crossed  by  the  Salem  Turnpike,  thence  in  a  straight  line  westerly  to 
a  marked  stone  in  the  wall  at  the  Easterly  corner  of  the  intersection  of 
roads  by  Jacob  Barnai-d's  house:  thence  Northerly  in  a  straight  line 
across  Merrimack  River,  passing  between  the  house  of  Asa  Barker  and 
that  of  Ebenezer  Barker,  on  the  Tower  Hill  road,  leading  from  Me- 
thuen to  Lowell,  to  a  stake  about  21.iO  feet  Northerly  from  where  the 
line  crosses  said  road  :  thence  Northeasterly  to  a  monument  on  the 
Easterly  side  of  Londonderry  Turnpike,  passing  a  little  northerly  of 
the  house  of  Abiel  Stevens :  thence  Easterly  in  a  straight  line  to  a 
monument  at  the  intersection  of  Lawrence  Street  with  the  old  road 
which  runs  easterly  from  Stevens'  factory  toward  Haverhill  :  thence 
in  a  straight  line,  easterly,  passing  north  of  William  Swan's  house 
through  a  monument  about  400  feet  south  of  the  intersection  of  the 
roads  near  said  Swan's  house,  to  the  line  of  the  town  of  Andover 
in  Merrimack  River:  thence  running  by  the  said  line  of  Andover 
westerly  to  the  easterly  bank  of  the  Shawsheen  River  at  the  point 
of  starting:  is  hereby  incorporated  into  a  town  by  the  name  of  Law- 
rence :  and  the  said  town  of  Lawrence  is  hereby  invested  with  all  the 
privileges,  powers,  rights  and  immunities,  and  subject  to  all  the  du- 
ties and  requisitions  to  which  other  towns  are  entitled  and  subject, 
by  the  constitution  and  laws  of  this  Commonwealth. 

"  Section  2.  The  town  of  Lawrence  shall  make  and  maintain  all 
bridges  for  public  highways  over  the  Shawsheen  River,  so  far  as  the 
easterly  bank  of  said  river  is  a  boundary  of  the  said  town,  including 
the  masonry  of  said  bridges  on  the  easterly  bank  thereof. 

"  Section  3.  The  inhabitants  of  the  said  town  of  Lawrence  shall  be 
holden  to  pay  all  arrears  of  taxes  which  have  been  legally  assessed 
upon  them  by  the  towns  of  Methuen  and  Andover  respectively  :  and 
all  taxes  heretofore  assessed,  and  not  collected,  shall  be  collected  and 
paid  to  the  treasurer  of  the  towns  of  Methuen  and  Andover  respec 
tively,  in  the  same  manner  as  if  the  act  had  not  been  passed  :  and 
also  their  proportion  of  all  County  and  State  taxes  that  may  be  as- 
sessed upon  them  previously  to  the  next  State  valuation — that  is  to 
say,  two-thirds  of  the  State  and  county  taxes  that  may  be  assessed 
upon  the  town  of  Methuen,  and  one-eighth  of  the  State  and  County 
taxes  that  may  be  assessed  on  the  town  of  Andover,  till  the  next 
State  valuation. 

"  Section  4.  The  parts  of  the  said  town  of  Lawrence  now  belonging 
to  the  towns  of  Methuen  and  Andover,  respectively,  shall  remain  parts 
of  the  said  towns  of  Methuen  and  Andover,  for  the  purpose  of  elect- 
ing State  officers,  senators,  representatives  to  Congress,  and  electors  of 
president  and  vice-president  of  the  United  States  until  the  next  decen- 
nial census  shall  be  taken  in  pursuance  of  the  13th  Article  of 
Amendment  to  the  Constitution  :    and   the   meetings   for   the  choice   of 


such  representatives  and  other  officers  aforesaid,  shall  be  called  by 
the  selectmen  of  said  towna,  respectively :  the  selectmen  of  Lawrence 
shall  make  a  true  list  of  persons  belonging  to  the  territory  of  each 
of  said  towns  hereby  incorporated  into  the  town  of  Lawrence,  quali- 
fied to  vote  at  every  such  election,  and  the  same  shall  be  taken  and 
used  by  the  selectmen  of  said  respective  towns  for  such  elections,  in 
the  same  manner  as  if  prepared  by  themselves. 

Sections.  The  said  towns  of  Methuen,  Andover  and  Lawrence  shall 
be  respectively  liable  for  the  support  of  all  who  now  do  or  shall  here- 
afterstand  in  need  of  relief  as  paupers,  whose  settlement  was  gained  by,  or 
derived  from  a  residence  within  their  respective  limits  ;  and  the  said 
town  of  Lawrence  shall,  within  one  year  from  the  time  of  its  organiza- 
tion under  this  act,  pay  to  the  town  of  Methueh  one  thousand  dol- 
lars as  and  for  their  just  proportion  of  the  debts  of  the  town  of  Me- 
thuen, owing  at  the  time  of  the  passage  of  this  Act,  exclusive  of  the 
amount  of  the  surplus  revenue  of  the  United  States  in  the  treasury  of 
the  town  of  Methuen  :  and  the  town  of  Lawrence  shall  also  pay  two- 
thirds  of  the  amount  of  said  surplus  revenue  whenever  its  repayment 
shall  be  demanded  by  the  United  States  according  to  law:  and  shall 
also  pay  to  the  town  of  Methuen  the  amount  that  said  town  shall 
pay  for  building  Haverhill  Street,  so  called,  within  the  limits  of  the 
said  town  of  Lawrence,  as  ordered  by  the  County  Commissioners  for 
the  County  of  Essex. 

"Section  6.  Any  justice  of  the  peace  in  the  County  of  Essex  is 
hereby  authorized  to  issue  his  warrant  to  any  principal  inhabitant 
of  the  town  of  Lawrence,  requiring  him  to  notify  and  warn  the  in- 
habitants thereof,  qualified  to  vote  in  town  affairs,  to  meet  at  the 
time  and  place  therein  appointed,  for  the  purpose  of  choosing  all 
such  town  officers  as  towns  are  by  law  authorized  and  required  to 
choose  at  their  annual  meetings :  and  such  justice,  or,  in  his  absence, 
such  principal  inhabitant,  shall  preside  till  the  choice  of  a  moderator 
in  said  meeting. 

"  Section  7.  This  act  shall  take  effect  from  and  after  its  pas- 
sage." 

TOWN   OFFICERS   FROM    1847   TO    1853. 

1847.  Selectmen  :—'WiUieim  Swan,  Chas.  F.  Abbott,  Nathan  Wells, 
James  Stevens,  Lorenzo  D.  Brown.  School  Committee: — James  D.  Her- 
rick,  Dr.  William  D.  Lamb,  Dan.  Weed.  Toivn  Clerks  and  Treasurers : — 
E.  W.  Morse,  clerk,  Daniel  Saunders,  treasurer,  Bailey  Bartlett,  collect- 
or, Ivan  Stevens,  auditor. 

1848.  Selectmen  .-—Da.vid  J.  Clark,  Chas.  F.  Abbott,  Wm.  D.  Joplin, 
Levi  Sprague,  John  M.  Smith.  School  Committee: — Rev.  George  Pack- 
ard, Rev.  Lyman  Whiting,  Rev.  Henry  F.  Harrington,  Nathan  W.  Har- 
mon, James  D.  Herrick.  Tmim  Clerka  and  Treasnrers : — E.  W.  Morse, 
clerk,  Nathaniel  White,  treasurer,  Parker  Smith,  collector,  Ivan  Ste- 
vens, auditor. 

1840.  Selectmen:— Ch-AS.  F.  Abbott,  Levi  Sprague,  Isaac  Fletcher. 
School  Committee:— 'Rex.  George  Packard,  Rev.  Lyman  Whiting,  Rev. 
Henry  F.  Harrington,  Henry  K.  Oliver,  James  D.  Herrick.  Toun 
Clerks  and  Treasurers:— E.  W.  Morse,  clerk,  Daniel  Saunders,  treasurer, 
N.  G.  White,  collector,  Ivan  Stevens,  auditor. 

1850.  Selectmen ;— Artemas  Parker,  Jr.,  Wm.  Gile,  Wm.  R.  Page. 
School  Committee  .-—Rev.  George  Packard,  Rev.  Lyman  Whiting,  Rev. 
H.  F.  Harrington,  Rev.  Geo.  H.  Clark,  Rev.  J.  G.  Richardson.  Town 
Clerks  and  Treasurers  .-—Geo.  W.  Benson,  clerk,  Geo.  W.  Sanborn,  treas- 
urer, N.  G.  White,  collector,  Ivan  Stevens,  auditor. 

1851.  Selectmen:— Wm.  R.  Page,  Levi  Sprague,  Joseph  Norris. 
School  Committee  .-—Chas.  S.  Storrow,  Nathan  W.  Harmon,  Rev.  Geo. 
Packard,  James  D.  Herrick,  Dr.  Moses  L.  Atkinson.  Town  Clerks  and 
Treasurers  .-—Geo.  W.  Benson,  clerk,  Geo.  W.  Sanborn,  treasurer  and 
collector,  Ivan  Stevens,  auditor. 

1852.  Selectmen  :—'Wn\.  R.  Page,  Levi  Sprague,  Joseph  Norris. 
School  Committee:— Rev.  Geo.  Tackard,  A.  D.  Blanchard,  Rev.  Samuel 
Kelley,  Nathan  W.  Harmon,  John  A.  Goodwin.  Toivn  Clerks  and 
Treasurers  .-—Geo.  W.  Benson,  clerk,  Geo.  W.  Sanborn,  treasurer  and 
collector,  Ivan  Stevens,  auditor. 

During  the  continuance  of  the  town  government 
the  population  increased  from  six  thousand  in  1848 
to  nearly  thirteen  thousand  in  1853.  And  to  any  one 
familiar  with  the  routine,  of  town  government,  it  will 
be  apparent  that  the  officers  of  the  new  town  had  plenty 
of  employment,— constant  meetings  in  the  early  years, 
for  organization,  to  provide  for  schools,  cemetery,  po- 


876 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


lice  and  the  usual  concomitants  of  advancing  civili- 
zation, lockups  or  prisons  for  the  turbulent  and  un- 
ruly, erection  of  public  buildings,  building  of  roads, 
etc.,  all  expenditures  of  the  public  money  being 
voted  upon  by  the  people  in  town-meeting  assembled. 
The  inconvenience  of  this  method  of  conducting 
affairs  led  the  people  to  apply  for  a  city  charter, 
which  was  granted,  and  the  act  signed  by  Governor 
Clifford  March  21,  1853. 

Besides   the   inconvenience  of  attending   frequent 
meetings,  vexatious  delays  were  liable  to  occur,  in 
consequence  of  the  rancor  of  party  spirit,  and  the  old 
saying,  "in  the  multitude  of  counselors  ther.e  is  wis- 
dom," proved  not  always  true.     This  was  amusingly 
and  provokingly  illustrated  in  the  attempt  to  fix  the 
location  of  the  town  hall,  and  in  the  refusal  to  accept 
from  the  Essex  Company  the  gift  of  the  common. 
But  no  meeting  of  the  people  was  perhaps  more  ex- 
citing than  the  meeting  of  1852  (the  last  under  town 
government).     Mr.  Hayes,  in  his  "Sketches  of  Law- 
rence," printed  in  1868,  gives  the  following  account 
of  the  meeting :  "  Early  in  the  day  Mr.  B.  F.  Wat- 
son, the  leader  of  the  Democrats,  made  some  motion 
intended  to  give  advantage  to  his  party,  and  was  de- 
clared out  of  order.      Exasperated  at  his  failure,  he 
planted  himself  in  the  way  to  the  polls,  and  in  a  loud 
voice  announced,  '  There  shall  be  no  voting  here  to- 
day,' and  called  upon  his  friends  to  block  the  passage 
to  the  ballot-box.     The  hall  was  filled  with  excited 
men,  who  rushed  to  the  point  where  Watson  was 
standing.     A  party  fight  on  an  extended  scale  seemed 
almost  unavoidable,  when  above  the  din  of  the  angry 
tumult   the  clear,  calm   voice  of  William  R.  Page 
(chairman  of  the  selectmen)  echoed  through  the  hall, 
'Gentlemen   will    bring   in    their   votes.'      Instantly 
General  Oliver  started  for  the  ballot-box,  and,  after  a 
severe  struggle,  finally  arrived  at  the  object  of  his 
aim,  but  minus  his  coat-tail. 

"The  incident  opei'ated  like  magic  in  allaying  the 
disturbance.  All  parties  regarded  it  as  a  joke  worth 
laughing  at,  and  as  the  two  emotions — laughter  and 
anger — cannot  exist  together,  order  was  far  more 
easily  restored  than  the  coat-tail.  Probably  not  a 
man  in  Lawrence,  who  esteemed  order  as  a  law  of 
heaven,  felt  any  regret  that  a  town  organization, 
which  drew  together  in  one  hall  all  the  voters  of  the 
place,  was  to  give  way  to  a  division  of  these  voters 
into  wards  under  a  city  organization." 

The  first  election  of  city  officers  was  held  April  18, 
1853,  and  the  new  government  was  inaugurated  May 
10th.  Three  parties  presented  candidates  for  mayor, 
Charles  S.  Storrow,  treasurer  of  the  Essex  Company, 
being  the  candidate  of  the  Whig  party,  Enoch  Bart- 
lett  of  the  Democratic,  and  James  K.  Barker  of  the 
Free  Soil  or  Anti -Slavery  party.  Mr.  Storrow  was 
elected,  and  associated  with  him  in  the  Board  of  Al- 
dermen were  George  D.  Cabot,  Albert  Warren,  E.  B. 
Herrick,  Alvah  Bennett,  Walker  Flanders  and  S.  S. 
Valpey ;  and  in  the  Common  Council  were  Josiah 


Osgood  (president),  Nathaniel  G.  White  (many  years 
president  of  the  Boston  and  Maine  Railroad),  Dana 
Sargent  (subsequently  mayor  of  Nashua),  William  R. 
Spalding,  Elkanah  F.  Bean,  Daniel  Hardy,  Isaac  K. 
Gage  and  others,  the  members  of  both  boards  being 
selected  by  the  people  more  with  a  view  to  their  busi- 
ness capacity  than  to  their  political  activity,  and 
forming  an  exceptionally  capable  government  for 
starting  the  machinery  of  the  new  city. 

In  1848  the  classification  of  the  population  was  : 

Born  in  America 3766  Colored,  16. 

Ireland 2i:« 

England- 28 

Friince 3 

Wales 2 

Scotland  9 

Italy 1 

Germany 1 

5949 

In  1885,  according  to  the  State  Census: 

Born  in  United  States 21,7(15  Colored,  84. 

Ireland 7,t:43 

England 3,9-'8 

Srotland 832 

Germany 1,409 

Wales 31 

France 31 

Canada  (Englisli) 9(i9 

Canada  (Frencli) 1,921 

China 9 

Other  Countries 234 

38,862 
Male   population,  45  ^§5  per    cent.      Female    population,  Sl/jf^  per 
cent. 

CHANGES   IN   POPULATION,   VALUATION  AND   TAXA- 
TION. 


POPULA- 
LATION. 


VALUATION. 


18451 

1847 

1848 

1849 

1850 

1851 

1852 

1853 

1854 

1855 

1856 

1857 

18.i8 

1859 

1800 

18U1 

1S62 

1863 

1804 

1865 

1806 

1867 

1868 

1869 

1870 

1871 

1872 

1873 

1874 

1875 

1876 

1877 

1878 

1879 

1880 

1881 

1882 

1K83 

1884 

1885 

1886 

1887 


150 
3,577 
6,949 
7,225 
8,282 
9,(100 
10,5(10 
12,147 
14,951 
16,081 
1(!,800 
17,8(10 
15,3(10 
16,COO 
17,639 
18,4110 
18,500 
19,750 
20,500 
21,698 
23,750 
20,(1-0 
2(-,50J 
28  000 
28,921 
29,OmO 
31,0(10 
33,001) 
33,800 
34,  ■'le 
35,000 
36,000 
37,5(10 
38,000 
39,1512 


38,862  3 
39, 299  < 


$1,719,240 
3,814,426 
5,730.710 
5,902,741 
6,407,926 
6,374,3-5 
6,937,160 
8,842  915 
9,951,041 
10,483,725 
10,228,100 
10,249,009 
10,022,947 
10,584,023 
l(l,769,(il5 
10,777,920 
10,939,450 
11, "74, 430 
1^,783,273 
l:i,7J  8,285 
11,684,000 
15,570,000 
16,017,000 
17,912.507 
18,. 552,0  0 
20, 703, 693 
21,6X7.732 
22,918,775 
24,117,373 
23,903,598 
23,902,537 
23,714,017 
23,088,897 
21,142  724 
25  348,020 
26,277,223 
26,932.560 
27,369,095 
27,144,050 
27,105  590 
28,324,373 


SCHOOL 

CHILDREN. 

51 

33 

403 

497 

620 

1,321 

1,089 

2,318 

1,308 

2,249 

1,593 

2,542 

1,000 

2,511 

1,869 

3,006 

2,107 

3,:i66 

2,5(8 

3,0.59 

2,792 

3,525 

3,021 

3,898 

2,610 

2,962 

2,702 

3,0.7 

3,171 

3,609 

3,210 

3,906 

.3,310 

3,378 

3,384 

3,282 

3,495 

3,692 

3,613 

4,147 

4,026 

5,250 

4.462 

;i,714 

4,359 

5,960 

4,605 

6,336 

4,846 

6,606 

4,856 

6,025 

4,847 

7,100 

5,141 

7,5,57 

5,:<85 

7,728 

5,648 

8,120 

5,631 

8,026 

6,088 

8,1.39 

6,668 

8,542 

6,836 

8,707 

6,865 

9,024 

7,143 

10,023 

6,698 

10,435 

6,896 

10,735 

7,177 

10.538 

6,947 

9,981 

7,277 

9,907 

10,129 

Tax  per 

$1000. 


83  50 


20 
90 
90 
90 
31 

00 
00 

80 
60 


8  20 
8  40 

7  20 

8  40 

8  80 

9  00 
11  20 
11  60 
13  50 
13  50 
17  20 
13  50 
13  50 
17  20 
16  80 

15  80 

16  00 

16  20 

17  (iO 
19  00 
16  60 

15  00 

16  40 
16  80 
16  00 
16  60 
16  60 
16  80 
16  60 

16  40 

17  80 


1  A  part  of  Methuen  and  Andover.        -  Assessor's  estimate. 
3  U.  S.  Census.        *  State  Census. 


LAWRENCE. 


877 


CITY   OFFICERS,    1853,  TO   THE   PRESEXT   TIME. 


MATOBS. 

CITY    CLERKS. 

TRE.\S.  i  COLLECTORS. 

1853 

Chas  S.  Storrow 

Enoch  Bulk'tt 

Alheit  Will  Ten 

.\lbeit  Wanvii 

John  R.  Rullin.« 

.lobii  K.  Itollins 

Ileiirj'  K.  tHivcr 

Ban.  S^iumders,  .Jr.... 

JiUllPS  K.   liiuUtT 

Wm.  11.  P.  Wright.. 
Wni.  H.  P.  Wiifilit.. 

Alfred  .1.  French 

Milton  Bonnny 

Pardon  Armiiii^ton.. 

N.  P.  H.  JUdvin 

N.  P.  H.  Melvin 

Frank  Davis 

Geo.  W 
Henjan 
Willian 
Willian 
Geo.  R 
Geo.  K. 
Geo.  R. 
Geo.  R. 
Geo.  R. 
(Jeo.  B. 
Geo.  R. 
Geo.  R. 
Geo.  R. 
Geo.  R. 
Geo.  R. 
Geo.  R. 
(ieo.  R. 
Geo.  R 
(ieo.  R 
Geo.  R. 
Geo.  R 
Geo.  R. 
Walter 
Walter 
•lames 
.lames 
.lames 
James 
James 
.lames 

.  Benson 

Bracliett  H   Clark 

isru. 

1 85r,. 
i85i;. 

in  Boardman... 

1  Morse 

1  Blor.-ie 

Nicholas  Cliaiiman. 
Nathaniel  Wilson. 
Nathaniel  Wilson. 

1857. 
18. is. 

Rowe 

Nathaniel  Wilson. 

185!). 
1860. 

Rowe 

Rowe 

Nathaniel  Wilson. 
Nathaniel  Wilson. 

1 8(!  1 . 

Rowe 

Nathaniel  Wilson 

1  8(J-2. 
IS  63 

Rowe 

Rowe 

Nathaniel  Wilson. 
Nathaniel  M'ilson 

]S(U 

Rowe  

Robert  H.  Tevvkslmry. 
Robert  II.  Tewksburv 

1 865. 

Rowe 

1866. 

Rowe 

Robert  H.  Tewksburv. 

1867. 

Rowe 

Robert  H.  Tewksbnry 
Robert  H.  Tewksburv. 
Robert  H.  Tewksbiiry 
Robert  H  Tewksburv. 

1868. 
186'.). 

Rowo 

Rowe 

1871). 

N.   P.  H.  Melvin 

S.  B.  W.   D;ivis 

S.  B.  W.  Davis 

.iohn  K.  T.irbox 

Jolin  K.  Tarhox 

Rob.  II.  Tewksbnry.. 
Edmvind  R.  Ilayden. 

Caleb  .Sannders 

.lames  R.  Simiison... 
.lames  R.  .Simpson... 
James  R.  Simjison... 
Henry  K.  Webster... 
.John  l^reen         

Rowe  

1871. 

Rowe 

1872. 
1873. 
1874 

Rowe 

Rowe 

Robert  n.  Tewksburv 
Robert  H.  Tewksbury. 
Elihu  W.  Colcord. 

1875. 

R   Rowe 

Albert  V  Bu^bee 

1876. 

R.  Rowe 

Albert  V.  Bugbee. 
Albeit  V.  Bugbee. 
.\lbert  V.  Bugbee. 
Albert  V.  Bugbee. 
.\lbert  V.  Bngliee. 
.Albert  V.  Bugbee. 
Albert  V.  Bugbee. 
Patrick  Murphy. 
Patrick  JMnrpby. 
Patrick  Murphy. 
Patrick  3Inrphv 

1877. 
1878. 
187(1. 
188.1. 
18-1. 
188' 

E.  Shepard 

E.  Shepard 

E.  iShepard 

E.  Sliepard 

E.  Shepard 

E  Sliepard 

E.  Sliepjird 

v  Kane 

1883. 

1884 

John  Breen 

Timoth 
Willian 
Timoth 
Willian 

1885. 
1SS6 

James  R.  Simjison... 
Ale.xanderB.  Bruce 
Alexander  B.  Bruce. 

1  T.  Kimball... 
V  Knnp 

1887. 

1  T.  Kimball... 

Edward  P.  Poor. 

Two  of  the  citizens  of  Lawrence  have  represented 
the  district  in  the  United  States  Congress — Hon. 
John  K.  Tarbox  in  the  Forty-fourth  Congress,  and 
Hon.  Wm.  A.  Russell  in  the  Forty-sixth. 

In  the  Massachusetts  Senate  the  city  and  Senatorial 
district  has  been  represented  by  Daniel  Saunders,  Jr., 
Thomas  Wright  (four  terms),  Ben.  Osgood,  N.  W. 
Harmon,  John  K.  Tarbox,  Horace  C.  Bacon,  Byron 
Truell,  Edward  F.  O'Sullivan.  Members  of  the 
House  of  Representatives, — Wm.  A.  Russell,  Fred. 
Butler,  George  E.  Davis,  John  K.  Tarbox,  Robert 
Bower,  Patrick  Sweeny,  Henry  J.  Couch,  William  S. 
Knox,  Patrick  Murphy,  Horace  C.  Bacon,  Byron 
Truell,  Edwin  Aver,  Melvin  Beal,  Morris  Knowles, 
George  D.  Lund,  James  K.  Barber,  Thomas  Wright, 
Charles  Stark  Newell,  Josiah  Osgood,  E.  B.  Currier, 
Enoch  Bartlett,  David  Wentworth,  Enoch  Pratt, 
Amasa  Bryant,  Thomas  A.  Parsons,  John  A.  Good- 
win, Timothy  Y.  Coburn,  Benjamin  Harding,  John 
Gale,  Rev.  J.  R.  Johnson,  Thomas  W.  Floyd,  Walker 
Flanders,  Wm.  Hardy,  N.  W.  Harmon,  Cyrus  Wil- 
liams, Levi  Emery,  John  C.  Sanborn,  Michael  Rinn, 
Abel  Webster,  Jesse  Moulton,  John  C.  Hoadley,  A. 
J.  French,  Geo.  W.  Benson,  H.  D.  Clement,  John  J. 
Doland,  L.  A.  Bishop,  E.  J.  Sherman,  W.  H.  P. 
Wright,  Albert  Blood,  Henry  M.  Mclntire,  John  J. 
Nichols. 

Hon.  John  Kimball  Tarbox  was  born  in  that  part 
of  Methuen  now  within  the  limits  of  Lawrence  May 
6,  1838.  In  his  boyhood  he  resided  for  a  time  in 
North  Andover,  and  later  entered  the  drug-store  of 
Henry  M.  Whitney  in  Lawrence.  His  tastes  led  him 
to  the  study  of  law,  which  he  read  in  the  ofBce  of 
Colonel  B.  F.  Watson,   and   while  thus  engaged  he 


contributed  largely  to  the  editorial  columns  of  the 
Liiwrence  Senfinel,  and  was  for  a  considerable  period 
its  editor.  He  was  admitted  to  the  E-;sex  bar  in 
1860,  and  entered  into  partnership  with  Mr.  Watson, 
and  conducted  the  business  of  the  firm  while  the 
senior  partner  was  in  service  in  the  first  campaign  of 
the  Sixth  Regiment  in  1861.  In  the  fall  of  1861 
Colonel  Watson  was  appointed  paymaster  in  the 
army,  and  Mr.  Tarbox  went  with  him  as  clerk,  and 
was  engaged  in  that  and  the  following  year  in  pay- 
ment in  the  field  of  the  armies  of  the  Potomac  and 
Gulf  Department. 

In  the  summer  of  1861  he  united  with  Eben  T. 
Colby  and  George  S.  Merrill  in  raising  a  company  un- 
der the  call  of  the  President  for  nine  months'  troops. 
A  call  for  volunteers  was  issued,  which  appeared  on 
the  bulletin  boards  one  Sunday  morning,  and  Tues- 
day night  following  one  hundred  and  sixteen  men 
were  enrolled.  Mr.  Colby  was  chosen  captain,  Mr. 
Merrill  first  and  Mr.  Tarbox  second  lieutenants. 
This  company  and  one  other,  raised  immediately 
after  by  John  R.  Rollins,  James  G.  Abbott  and  Hi- 
ram Robinson,  Avent  into  camp  at  Wenham,  Avere  at- 
tached to  the  Forty-eighth  Regiment,  from  which 
they  were  detached,  OAving  to  the  exigencies  of  the 
service,  and  sent  to  complete  the  Fourth  Regiment, 
Avhich  had  for  the  second  time  volunteered  its  ser- 
vices to  the  government.  The  regiment  served  about 
a  year  in  the  army  in  Louisiana,  at  Brashear  (now 
Morgan)  City,  at  the  battle  of  Franklin  and  in  the 
siege  of  Port  Hudson,  and  A\'as  among  the  first  to  en- 
ter the  captured  Avorks.  Mr.  Tarbox  during  this  time 
was  once  acting  adjutant  of  the  regiment,  and  com- 
manded the  company  at  the  battle  of  Bisland  (or 
Franklin),  while  Captain  Merrill  was  in  hospital 
Avith  malarial  fever. 

After  the  return  of  his  regiment  Mr.  Tarbox  re- 
sumed the  practice  of  law,  but  his  taste  for  political 
affairs  and  his  ability  as  a  writer  and  speaker  brought 
him  prominently  before  the  public,  and  he  was  chosen 
representative  to  the  Legislature  in  18G8  and  again 
in  1870.  In  1872  he  A\'as  a  member  of  the  Senate, 
elected  mayor  of  LaAvrence  in  1873,  and  re-elected  in 
1874,  and  in  1875,  '76,  '77  he  Avas  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  in  the  United  States  Con- 
gress. In  1882  and  1883  he  Avas  city  solicitor  of 
Lawrence,  and  in  April,  1883,  was  appointed  by  Gov- 
ernor Butler  insurance  commissioner  of  the  com- 
monwealth, and  re-appointed  by  Governor  Robinson 
— a  position  in  which  he  displayed  marked  ability, 
and  conducted  the  affairs  of  the  office  so  as  to  Avin  the 
commendation  of  all  parties. 

In  public,  political  life  Mr.  Tarbox  Avas  an  earnest 
parfisan ;  in  his  business  transactions  he  was  a  man 
of  strictest  integrity  and  honorable  dealing,  and  in 
his  social  relations  Avarm-hearted  and  genial.  Edu- 
cated only  in  the  common  schools  of  New  England, 
but  possessing  a  refined  taste  and  poetic  tempera- 
ment, he  cultivated  and  improved  his  powers  by  ex- 


878 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


tended  reading  of  the  best  in  literature.  The  key- 
note of  his  short  life  may  be  found  in  his  own  words 
in  an  address  delivered  before  the  Old  Residents' 
Association.  In  speaking  of  Lawrence,  his  remarks 
were  as  follows  :  "  Lawrence  has  no  conspicuous  his- 
tory to  point  at  for  the  world's  marvel.  It  came  not 
out  from  some  mystic  past  of  romance  and  tradition. 
It  had  no  Theseus  or  Romulus  of  divine  progeny  for 
its  founder.  But  it  is  nobler  to  make  a  history  than 
to  inherit  one,  to  begin  than  to  end  an  ancestral  line, 
to  set  up  a  beacon  of  fame  than  to  shine  in  its  re- 
flected beam.'' 

Lieutenant  Tarbox  never  recovered  from  the  ma- 
larial effects  of  the  Louisiana  swamps,  and  died  in 
Boston  May  27,  1887. 

Public  Buildings  and  Parks. — Tn  1848,  the  year 
following  the  incorporation  of  the  town,  steps  were 
taken  for  the  construction  of  a  town  hall,  and  the 
foresight  of  its  projectors  was  manifested  in  the  con- 
struction of  a  building  which  should  be  adapted  not 
merely  to  the  necessities  of  a  township,  but  the  wants 
of  a  future  city.  The  plan  of  the  present  city  hall 
was  prepared  by  Ammi  B.  Young,  of  Boston,  and  the 
committee  appointed  to  take  charge  of  the  construc- 
tion was  Hezekiah  Plummer,  Wm.  M.  Kimball,  Capt. 
Charles  H.  Bigelow  and  J.  M.  Stone.  There  was  an 
angry  controversy  in  regard  to  the  location,  some 
desiring  to  place  the  building  at  the  corner  of  Law- 
rence and  Common  Streets,  some  on  Jackson  Terrace, 
others,  who  finally  prevailed,  in  its  present  compara- 
tively central  and  convenient  place.  Had  it  been 
built  on  Jackson  Terrace  our  citizens  would  have 
been  deprived  of  one  of  the  most  quiet  and  beautiful 
spots  for  private  residences;  the  other  location  would 
have  been  a  desirable  one,  but  only  a  few  feet  farther 
west,  and  at  this  day  it  is  difficult  to  understand  how 
so  much  controversy  could  have  taken  place  respect- 
ing the  difference  'twixt  tweedle-dum  and  tweedle- 
dee.  The  building,  which  is  a  very  substantial  one, 
of  brick,  with  a  ba'^ement  story  of  granite,  reflects 
credit  upon  the  architect  and  builders.  It  is  sur- 
mounted by  a  wooden  tower  of  pleasing  style,  in  which 
a  fine-toned  bell  for  many  years  summoned  the  peo- 
ple to  church  and  school,  and  to  fires  until  the  intro- 
duction of  the  fire-alarm  telegraph.  The  tower  is 
crowned  with  a  gilt  eagle  which  is  worthy  of  mention 
for  its  symmetry,  designed  and  carved  by  Mr.  John 
M.  Smith,  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Selectmen  for 
that  year.  The  eagle  measures  seventeen  and  a  half 
feet  from  tip  to  tip  of  the  outspread  wings,  and  ten 
feet  two  inches  from  the  beak  to  the  end  of  the  tail. 

A  great  defect  was  found  in  the  acoustic  properties 
of  the  large  hall,  rendering  it  very  annoying  to  public 
speakers.  This  was  partially  remedied  in  185^  by 
hanging  the  walls  with  drapery.  In  1872  the  hall 
was  entirely  remodeled  by  building  galleries,  and  the 
erection  of  stage  scenery,  and  now,  for  its  size,  it  is 
a  pleasant  hall  for  speakers  as  for  other  purposes ; 
second  only  to  the  opera-house,  a  private  establish- 


ment owned  by  the  Lowell  Railroad  Company,  and 
located  over  their  station-house. 

Lawrence  Jail  was  built  in  1853  on  the  southerly 
bank  of  the  Spicket  River,  on  land  purchased  by 
the  town,  a  substantial  building  of  stone  in  a  good 
location,  and  as  well  arranged  in  sanitary  respects  for 
its  unfortunate  inmates  as  the  dictates  of  humanity 
can  suggest,  while  the  front  portion,  occupied  by  the 
keeper,  opens  upon  spacious  ground  and  has  an  out- 
look upon  a  public  park  of  an  acre  in  extent.  The 
building  has  been  severally  in  charge  of  Sheriffs 
Thomas  E.  Payson,  James  Carey,  and  the  present 
sheriff,  Horatio  G.  Herrick. 

Lawrence  Court-House. — For  several  years  the  peo- 
ple of  Lawrence  in  civil  and  criminal  cases  were 
obliged,  at  considerable  inconvenience,  to  attend 
courts  either  in  Newburyport  or  Salem  ;  a  term  of  the 
courts  was  established  here  for  a  time,  and  the  ses- 
sions were  held  for  a  few  years  in  Lawrence  Hall, 
fitted  up  for  the  purpose  by  the  city.  The  building 
was  not  suitable  for  the  purpose,  and  after  considera- 
ble opposition  from  the  older  parts  of  the  county,  a 
board  of  county  commissioners  was  formed,  who  deter- 
mined that  Lawrence  furnished  a  sufficient  amount 
of  business  to  the  courts  to  entitle  it  to  some  degree 
of  consideration.  Accordingly,  in  1858,  by  united 
efforts,  a  court-house  was  built,  the  Essex  Company 
giving  the  land,  and  the  city  building  a  foundation 
acceptable  to  the  commissioners,  and  the  commis- 
sioners erecting  the  building.  The  architect  was 
James  K.  Barber  (then  city  engineer).  To  two  of  the 
commissioners  at  the  time — Mr.  Wilson,  of  Marble- 
head,  and  Ebenezer  B.  Currier,  of  Lawrence  (a  major- 
ity of  the  board) — Lawrence  is  indebted  for  its  con- 
struction. A  term  of  court  for  civil  cases  is  held  here 
in  March,  and  a  term  for  criminal  cases  in  October. 
The  Probate  Court  also  has  sessions  in  January, 
March,  May,  June,  July,  September  and  November. 
The  court-house  was  but  just  finished,  when  a  de- 
structive fire,  originating  in  the  new  United  States 
Hotel,  1859,  destroyed  it  completely.  It  was  rebuilt 
in  18G0. 

Police  Station. — The  building  now  occupied  by  the 
Police  Court  and  police  offices  was  built  in  1867. 
Prior  to  this  the  headquarters  of  the  police  was  at  the 
city  hall,  and  prisoners  were  confined  in  two  lock-ups, 
miserable  wooden  buildings,  confinement  in  which, 
before  trial,  was  greater  punishment  than  the  guilty 
suffered  subsequent  to  trial  in  the  vastly  better  quar- 
ters to  which  they  were  sentenced.  This  building  is 
well  arranged,  having  cells  in  the  basement,  offices 
on  the  first  floor,  a  court-room  and  offices  on  the 
second  floor,  and  a  hall  which  was  at  one  time  occu- 
pied as  an  armory ;  now,  convenient  for  many  pur- 
poses. 

Parks. — The  largest  of  these  is  the  Common,  a  fine 
tract  of  more  than  seventeen  acres  in  the  centre  of 
the  city,  reserved  by  the  Essex  Company  while  mak- 
ing their  plan  of  streets,  and  offered  to  the  town,  with 


LAWRENCE. 


879 


the  simple  restrictions  that  it  should  not  be  diverted 
from  its  purpose,  or  built  upon,  that  the  town  should 
expend  a  small  sum,  not  less  than  two  hundred  dol- 
lars, annually  for  its  improvement,  and  that  it  should 
be  under  the  care  of  a  committee  consisting  of  the 
chairman  of  the  selectmen  or  mayor,  the  agents  of 
the  Essex  Company,  the  Atlantic  and  Bay  State  Mills. 
At  a  town-meeting  in  September,  1848,  the  town,  on 
motion  of  some  scheming  politicians,  voted  not  to  ac- 
cept the  gift !  At  a  subsequent  meeting  in  October 
the  people,  awake  to  the  ridiculous  position  in  which 
the  town  had  been  placed,  reversed  the  decision,  for 
which  action  all  who  have  since  resided  here  have 
been  grateful.  The  several  committees  have  taken 
much  interest  in  improving  and  beautifying  it,  and 
much  larger  sums  of  money  have  been  appropriated 
for  the  purpose  than  were  required  by  the  terms  of 
the  gift.  Perhaps  no  one  in  the  earlier  days  devoted 
more  time  and  attention  to  the  planting  and  rearing 
of  the  noble  trees  which  now  shade  its  broad  avenues 
than  Levi  Sprague,  one  of  the  selectmen  in  1848,  '49, 
and  Gen.  H.  K.  Oliver,  then  agent  of  the  Atlantic 
Mills ;  though  others  have  in  various  ways  contrib- 
uted their  share.  The  trees  around  the  pond  were 
planted  under  the  direction  of  Mayor  W.  H.  P. 
Wright.  The  unsightly  wooden  fence  was  removed 
during  the  mayoralty  of  Hon.  John  K.  Tarbox,  and 
the  present  curbstone  substituted.  For  the  pond  on 
the  Common  the  citizens  are  indebted  to  the  exertions 
of  the  late  Dr.  J.  H.  Morse,  who  obtained  by  sub- 
scription half  of  the  cost,  the  city  appropriating  the 
balance  in  1857. 

Another  tract  of  ten  acres,  Storrow  Park,  on  Pros- 
pect Hill,  was  deeded  by  the  Essex  Company  to  the 
city  in  1853.  This  is  in  part  shaded  by  trees,  young 
oaks  of  native  growth,  is  on  high  land,  and  commands 
pleasant  views  of  the  busy  town  below. 

"The  Amphitheatre,"  so-called,  sometimes  named 
Happy  Valley,  was  dedicated  to  public  use  in  1873, 
by  the  company.  This  is  a  beautifully  located  tract 
in  the  western  part  of  the  city,  inclosed  on  three 
sides  by  a  ridge  of  hills  giving  it  the  resemblance 
from  which  it  was  named.  This  tract  embraces  seven 
acres,  and  forms  a  pleasant  and  quiet  retreat  for  the 
citizens  of  that  region. 

Another  park,  the  finest  of  all  except  the  Common, 
now  owned  by  the  Essex  Company  in  South  Law- 
rence, comprises  eleven  and  a  quarter  acres,  and  is 
named  Union  Park ;  bounded  by  South  Union,  Os- 
good, Salem  and  Market  Streets. 

Cemetery. — In  1847  the  town  purchased  five  acres 
of  land  in  the  western  part  of  the  city  for  burial  pur- 
poses. This  has  been  gradually  enlarged  until  Belle- 
vue  Cemeterrj  has,  by  judicious  management  and  con- 
stant, but  continued,  improvement  by  the  city  and 
the  good  taste  of  the  citizens,  become  a  very  beautiful 
resting-i:)lace  for  the  dead,  a  spot  where  the  grave  is 
robbed  of  half  its  horrors  by  the  beauty  of  the  sur- 
roundings, and  where  one,  in  the  language  of  Bryant, 


might  feel  that  he  "  could  wrap  the  drapery  of  his 
couch  around  him  and  lie  down  to  pleasant  dreams." 
West  of  this  is  St.  Mary's  Cemetery,  and  still  further 
west,  partly  in  Methuen  is  the  cemetery  of  the 
Church  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  both  of  which 
have  much  improved. 

The  city  also,  in  anticipation  of  prospective  wants, 
has  purchased  in  North  Andover  about  ninety 
acres,  at  a  spot  known  in  the  vicinity  as  Den  Rock. 
This  is  somewhat  difficult  of  access,  but  callable  of 
becoming  in  the  future  an  appropriate  place,  and 
from  its  natural  scenery  may  be  made,  by  the  aid  of 
art,  a  beautiful  ground  for  the  purpose  intended. 

Banks.— The  first  bank,  the  Bay  State,  incorpor- 
ated February  10,  1847,  was  located  at  a  point  very 
nearly  corresponding  with  the  geographical  centre  of 
the  city,  the  junction  of  Lawrence  and  Essex  Streets. 
Its  capital  was  originally  two  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars, increased  to  five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and 
subsequently  reduced  to  three  hundred  and  seventy-five 
thousand  dollars,  the  par  value  of  the  shares  being  at 
present  seventy-five  dollars  each.  The  first  president 
was  Hon.  Charles  S.  Storrow,  who  resigned  after 
twenty  years  of  service,  and  was  succeeded  in  1867  by 
Hon.  George  L.  Davis.  Nathaniel  White,  the  first 
cashier,  Avas  previous  to  this  cashier  of  the  Powow 
River  Bank  at  Salisbury,  to  which  office  he  was  ap- 
pointed on  the  organization  of  the  bank  in  1836. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Charles  A.  Colby,  who  had  been 
several  years  teller  of  the  bank,  and  on  Mr.  Colby's 
resignation  and  removal  to  New  York  City,  Mr. 
Samuel  White,  then  of  Haverhill,  was  elected  cashier 
and  is  still  in  service. 

Intimately  connected  with  this  bank  was  the  first 
institution  for  savings  in  Lawrence,  the  Essex  Sav- 
ings Bank.  This  bank  was  incorporated  in  March, 
and  organized  September,  1847,  and  for  a  long  period 
its  business  was  managed  by  the  prt-sident  and  cash- 
ier of  the  Bay  State  Bank  at  their  rooms.  James  H. 
Eaton  was  appointed  assistant  treasurer  in  1865,  and 
on  the  decease  of  Mr.  White  he  became  treasurer,  1866. 
George  D.  Cabot  succeeded  Mr.  Storrow  in  the  presi- 
dency, and  after  faithful  service  of  about  twenty-five 
years,  including  eleven  years  as  president,  he  re- 
signed, and  was  succeeded  by  Joseph  Shattuck,  who 
has  since  remained  in  office.  This  savings  bank  is 
the  oldest  in  the  city,  its  deposits  amount  to  more 
than  four  millions  of  dollars,  and  it  has  never  omit- 
ted a  dividend. 

The  National  Pemberton  Bank  was  organized  in 
1854,  Levi  Sprague  being  the  president  from  the  be- 
ginning to  the  present  time.  The  first  cashier  was 
Samuel  C.  Woodward,  who  was  succeeded  by  Wil- 
liam H.  .laquith.  James  M.  Coburn  followed  Mr. 
Jaquith,  and  remained  till  1879,  when  he  went  to  a 
more  promising  field  in  the  West,  and  J.  A.  Perkins 
has  been  cashier  since  that  date.  The  capital  of  this 
bank  is  one  hundred  and  fifty  thous^and  dollars. 
Number  of  shares,  fifteen  hundred. 


880 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


The  Lawrence  National  Bank  was  organized  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1872.  Dr.  A.  J.  French  was  president  till 
1878,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Artemas  W.  Stearns, 
who  yet  retains  the  office.  P.  G.  PilLsbury  was  cash- 
ier till  1879,  when,  having  been  turned  from  the  path 
of  duty  by  the  glittering  allurements  of  Western  min- 
ing; schemes,  his  connection  with  the  bank  ceased. 
No  loss  was  incurred  by  the  bank,  however,  as  the 
directors  paid  personally  all  remaining  deficiencies. 
John  R.  Rollins,  who  had  been  thirteen  years  cashier 
at  the  Pacific  Mills,  succeeded  Pillsbury,  and  after  a 
service  of  nearly  eight  years  was  succeeded  in  1887  by 
H.  Leslie  Sherman.  The  capital  stock  of  this  bank  is 
three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  in  three  thousand 
shares. 

The  Pacific  National  Bank  was  organized  January, 
1877.  President,  James  H.  Kidder  ;  Cashier,  William 
H.  Jaquith,  formerly  of  the  Pemberton.  Fifteen 
hundred  shares,  one  hundred  dollars  each. 

Lawrence  Savings  Bank,  organized  1868.  Milton 
Bonney  was  its  first  president.  Mr.  Bonney  died, 
and  Hezekiah  Plummer  has  since  been  president, 
while  William  R.  Spalding  has  been  the  treasurer 
from  the  beginning. 

The  Broadway  Savings  Bank  commenced  business 
in  1872.  John  Fallon,  then  agent  of  the  Pacific 
Mills,  was  chosen  president,  and  so  remains.  The 
treasurers  have  been  James  Payne,  John  L.  Brewster 
and  the  present  treasurer,  Gilbert  E.  Hood. 

All  these  banks  have  in  the  main  been  judiciously 
managed,  and  have  met  with  a  reasonable  share  of 
success. 

Fire  Department. — Before  the  organization  of 
the  town  the  Essex  Company  took  early  steps  to 
protect  themselves  against  fire  by  purchasing  the 
engine  "  Essex,"  which  was  manned  by  persons  in 
the  employ  of  the  company.  As  soon  as  the  town 
government  was  fairly  s'arted  fire-wards  were  ap- 
pointed, viz. :  William  M.  Kimball,  Josiah  Johnson, 
Nathaniel  Wilson,  Charles  Smith  and  Samuel  I. 
Thompson  ;  and  a  committee  consisting  of  William 
M.  Kimball,  Nathaniel  Wilson  and  Caleb  M.  Marvel 
was  appointed  to  purchase  engine  and  apparatus,  and 
erect  a  house  for  the  same. 

In  1848  the  Legislature  passed  an  act  establishing 
the  Fire  Department  of  Lawrence.  In  November, 
1847,  the  committee  above  named  purchased  two  en- 
gines— "Rough  and  Ready,"  located  on  Newbury 
Street,  afterward  removed  to  Garden  Street  (and  at  a 
still  later  date  the  name  was  changed  to  "  Niagara"), 
and  "Syphon,"  located  on  Oak  Street.  In  1850  a 
fourth  engine,  "Tiger,"  was  placed  in  South  Law- 
rence. 

In  1851  the  Essex  Company,  the  Atlantic  and  Bay 
State  Mills,  for  still  further  protection,  built  a  reser- 
voir on  Prospect  Hill,  holding  one  million  gallons, 
and  connected  it  by  proper  pipes  with  pumps  oper- 
ated by  the  mills ;  a  company  was  subsequently  formed 
under  the  name  of  the  Lawrence  Reservoir  Associa- 


tion, and  operated  by  associated  corporations.  The 
reservoir  was  designed  for  the  benefit  of  the  corpora- 
tion solely,  not  being  of  sufficient  capacity  for  general 
use;  but  the  company  generously  allowed  pipes  and 
hydrants  in  several  of  the  principal  streets  to  be  used 
exclusively  in  case  of  fire,  and  they  also  allowed  the 
use  of  water  without  charge  for  the  pond  on  the  Com- 
mon. Edward  B.  Herrick,  of  the  Bay  State  Mills, 
was  agent  for  the  company  from  the  beginning  till 
his  death,  November,  1878  ;  he  was  succeeded  by 
Mr.  Rollins,  who  served  till  June,  1879,  when  the 
care  of  the  reservoir  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  Mr. 
Rogers,  the  agent  of  the  City  Water  Works. 

The  first  chief  of  engineers  was  Williiim  M.  Kim- 
ball,— others  have  been  James  D.  Herrick,  Samuel  I. 
Thompson,  Luther  Ladd  (who  had  been  connected 
with  the  Fire  Department  from  the  beginning,  and 
served  in  all  seventeen  years  as  chief).  Colonel  L.  D. 
Sargent,  Benjamin  Booth,  George  K.  Wiggin,  Albert 
R.  Brewster,  Colonel  Melvin  Beal,  Michael  F.  Col- 
lins, Dennis  Wholley  and  William  E.  Heald.  The 
present  chief  is  Z.  Taylor  Merrill. 

Under  the  former  organization,  with  the  hand  en- 
gines, about  two  hundred  and  fifty  men  were  em- 
ployed, and  in  their  trials  of  skill,  as  well  as  at  fires, 
there  was  a  friendly  rivalry  among  the  companies, 
each  striving  to  be  first  on  the  ground  and  earnest  to 
get  the  first  stream  upon  the  fire,  plenty  of  noise  and 
fun,  not  only  among  the  firemen,  but  from  their  ad- 
herents, who,  proud  of  the  "  machine"  from  their 
own  district,  usually  accompanied  in  crowds  to  cheer 
them  on,  so  that,  whether  by  night  or  day,  with  bells 
ringing  and  the  cheers  of  crowds,  pandemonium 
seemed  to  have  broken  loose. 

After  the  invention  and  introduction  of  steam  fire- 
engines,  "  those  fleshless  arms  whose  pulses  beat  with 
floods  of  living  fire,"  all  this  was  changed,  and  while 
by  no  means  depreciating  the  promptitude  and  effi- 
ciency of  the  older  department,  fires  are  now  managed 
with  much  less  confusion,  with  far  greater  efficiency, 
and  with  less  than  half  the  number  of  men. 

The  department  now  embraces  five  powerful  steam- 
engines  (the  first  purchased  in  1860,  two  more  in 
1862,  the  fourth  in  1864,  fifth  in  1871),  one  chemical 
engine  with  double  tanks  of  seventy-five  gallons  each, 
built  in  1880,  two  hook-and-ladder  companies; — four 
engines  and  one  hook-and-ladder  company  in  active 
service,  the  others  held  in  reserve.  The  fire-alarm 
telegraph  was  introduced  in  1859,  and  the  apparatus 
was  put  up  by  Mr.  J.  H.  Stevens,  under  contract  with 
the  Gamewell  Fire-Alarm  Company,  at  a  cost  to  the 
city  of  eight  thousand  dollars.  This  has  been  grad- 
ually extended,  until  now  fifty  alarm-boxes  warn  the 
department  of  the  locality  of  a  fire,  and  avoid  many 
fatal  delays. 

Water-works. — As  early  as  1848  a  plan  was 
formed  for  supplying  the  town  with  water,  and  a 
charter  was  granted  that  year  to  John  Tenney,  of 
Methuen,   Alfred    Kittredge,  of  Haverhill,    Daniel 


LAWRENCE. 


881 


Saunders,  of  Lawrence,  and  others,  under  the  name 
of  the  Lawrence  Aqueduct  Company.  The  plan  of 
introducing  water  from  Haggett's  Pond  was  found 
impracticable  and  the  enterprise  abandoned.  In 
1858  a  petition  from  prominent  citizens  was  laid  be- 
fore the  city  government,  requesting  that  steps  be 
taken  for  a  supply  of  water.  The  formidable  ex- 
pense that  would  be  incurred  led  the  government  to 
consider  the  petition  as  premature,  and  nothing  was 
done. 

In  1871-72  the  subject  was  again  agitated,  and 
with  good  reason ;  in  twenty-five  years  of  rapid 
growth  large  numbers  of  the  wells  had  become  mere 
cesspools,  and  the  water  unfit  for  drinking  or  culina- 
ry purposes,  especially  in  the  compact  portions  of  the 
city.  A  petition  to  the  Legislature  resulted  in  an 
"  Act  to  supply  the  city  of  Lawrence  with  water  "  was 
passed  and  approved  by  the  Governor  March  8,  1872. 
This  act  was  accepted  by  the  legal  voters,  twelve  hun- 
dred and  ninety-eight  voting  in  favor  and  eight  hundred 
and  thirty  in  opposition.  In  June  a  joint  committee, 
consisting  of  Aldermen  James  Payne  and  James  A. 
Treat,  and  L.  D.  Sargent,  Henry  J.  Couch  and 
George  W.  Russell,  of  the  Common  Council,  was  ap- 
pointed to  obtain  estimates  of  cost,  etc.  An  engineer, 
L.  Frederick  Rice,  of  Boston,  was  consulted,  the  com- 
mittee made  an  elaborate  report,  and  in  April,  1873, 
an  ordinance  was  passed  providing  for  the  election  of 
water  commissioners,  and  in  May  the  Board  of  Com- 
missioners was  organized,  with  William  Barbour 
chairman,  Patrick  Murphy  clerk  and  Morris 
Knowles. 

Walter  F.  McConnell,  of  Boston,  was  appointed 
chief  engineer  and  James  P.  Kirkwood,  of  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.,  consulting  engineer. 

The  water  is  taken  from  the  Merriraac  River  at  a 
point  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  above  the  dam, 
where,  in  a  building  of  brick,  are  placed  two  pump- 
ing engines,  built  by  I.  P.  Morris  &  Co.,  of  Phihidel- 
phia  (Leavitt's  patent),  capable  of  forcing  two  hun- 
dred thousand  gallons  per  hour  each,  from  the  river 
to  the  reservoir  on  Bodwell's  Hill,  about  a  mile  irom 
the  centre  of  the  city,  the  water  being  conveyed  in 
a  pipe  thirty  inches  in  diameter  and  about  five  thou- 
sand feet  in  length. 

The  reservoir  is  constructed  in  two  divisions,  either 
of  which  may  be  used  independently  of  the  other — 
both  having  a  capacity  of  thirty-nine  million  gallons. 
From  this  reservoir  cast-iron  pipes  convey  the  water 
to  the  various  parts  of  the  city,  on  both  sides  of  the 
river. 

In  1875  an  ordinance  was  passed  establishing  rates 
and  providing  for  the  permanent  management  of  the 
works  ;  and  a  Water  Board  was  appointed,  consisting 
of  Milton  Bonney,  Robert  H.  Tewksbury,  N.  P.  H. 
Melvin,  William  Barbour  and  James  Payne — one 
member  retiring  each  year. 

The  total  cost  of  the  water-works  was  not  far  from 
one  million   five   hundred    thousand   dollars.     The 
56 


works  have  proved  of  great  value  to  the  city  in  fur- 
nishing an  abundant  supply  of  water  for  domestic 
purposes,  and  in  the  protection  afforded  against  tire. 
On  January  4,  1886,  nearly  five  hundred  hydrants 
had  been  placed  (Lowry  pattern),  seventeen  drinking 
fountains  established,  fifty-two  miles  of  main  pipe 
laid,  and  a  supply  of  water  furnished  to  about  thir- 
ty-five thousand  persons  in  families  and  boarding- 
houses. 

Sanitary  Arrakgements. — Early  provision  was 
made  by  the  corporation  for  the  cleanliness  of  their 
premises  and  the  sanitary  condition  of  dwelling- 
houses.  In  the  construction  of  sewers  the  Bay  State 
Mills  expended  thirty  thousand  dollars ;  and  in  the 
construction  of  other  blocks,  the  first  thing  was  to 
build  beneath  the  cellars  a  sewer,  through  which  a 
swift  current  of  water  flows,  carrying  away  at  once 
all  waste  into  the  Merrimac  River.  In  the  construc- 
tion of  sewers,  however,  some  mistakes  were  made  by 
the  different  city  governments.  Several  sewers  and 
many  drains  opened  into  the  Spicket  River;  this 
being  a  sluggish  stream,  especially  between  the  dams, 
and  oftentimes  low,  became  in  time  an  open  sewer, 
rendering  the  valley  in  its  neighborhood  not  only  of- 
fensive, but  dangerous  to  health.  One  of  our  local 
poets  (truly  not  a  yery  poetical  subject)  thus  wrote  of 
it: 

"  It  is  not  claimed  that  power  divine  ♦ 

Bid  Wiish  Cologne's  foul  river,  Rhiue ; 
Nor  will  benign   Supernal  powers 
Conspire  to  cleanse  this  Rhine  of  ours, 
Whose  sickening  tides,  it  is  well  known, 
Are  foul  as  ever  washed  Cologne. — 
They  scored  but  two  and  seventy  stenches  there. 

So  the  old  rhynister  in  the  canto  tells  ; 
We  count  a  hundred,  with  enough  to  spare 

To  hold  high  carnival  of  extra  smells  ! 

■1:  *  4:  *  :):  9)1 

Saints  dwelling  on  the  river's  bank 

Blaspheme  its  flood  like  impious  Thugs  ! 
With  smelling  all  its  impious  scents 

Our  noses  all  are  turned  to  pugs. 
Suri'ly  the  witches  of  Macbeth 

Ne'er  told  of  caldron's  mixture  worse, 
For  blind  worm's  sting,  and  adder's  breath 

Combined,  would  prove  a  lighter  curse." 

A  large  sewer  now  receives  all  these  drains,  and  the 
river  has  resumed  its  nearly  normal  condition. 

For  several  years  the  selectmen  and  Board  of  Al- 
dermen were  the  health  officers.  With  all  their  other 
duties,  proper  attention  could  not  be  given  to  sanitary- 
matters.  Since  the  organization  of  a  special  Board 
of  Health  much  more  time  has  been  devoted  to  thia 
subject,  and  the  city  will  compare  favorably  in  this 
regard  with  other  municipalities. 

Police  Department. — In  the  early  years  of  Law- 
rence every  one  was  too  busy  to  be  engaged  in  roguery, 
and  in  subsequent  years  a  vigilant  and  efficient  police 
has  preserved  good  order,  seldom  disturbed  by  any 
very  notable  events.  One  of  the  earliest  attempts 
at  burglary  was  an  effort  to  rob  the  Essex  Co.'s  safe. 
The  company  at  that  time  occupied  the  one-story 


882 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSxiCHUSETTS. 


building  near  the  guard  locks.  The  plan  was  frus- 
trated by  Marshal  Tukey,  of  Boston,  and  two  notori- 
ous burglars,  who  for  a  considerable  period  had 
baffled  the  marshal's  efforts,  were  captured. 

In  the  second  year  of  the  city  government  (1854)  a 
disturbance  occurred  which  came  near  proving  a  seri- 
ous riot.  A  flag  had  been  discovered,  Union  down, 
on  a  building  on  Oak  Street,  supposed  to  have  been 
raised  purposely  by  an  Irishman  (really  by  an  Amer- 
ican) as  an  insult  to  the  flag.  A  crowd  soon  assem- 
bled composed  of  the  more  excitable  element  of  the 
Know-Nothings  (literal  know-nothings,  since  they 
had  not  taken  the  trouble  to  ascertain  truth) ;  collision 
ensued,  and  on  Common  Street  the  front  of  one 
building  (Bangor  Block  so-called)  was  considerably 
damaged.  Stones  were  freely  used,  and  some  shots 
were  exchanged  ;  the  riot  act  was  read  by  Mayor 
Bartlett  and  the  crowd  dispersed.  Fearing  further 
trouble,  about  three  hundred  extra  policemen  were 
sworn  in,  but  no  further  disturbance  occurred,  and 
the  skies  once  more  shone  benignantly  over  a  blood- 
less field. 

Again,  in  1875  a  small  body  of  Orangemen,  return- 
ing from  a  picnic,  Avere  assaulted  by  a  crowd  of  the 
thoughtless  and  reckless  portion  of  the  people,  for- 
getting (if  it  ever  occurred  to  them)  that  it  is  a  free 
country,  where  all  have  equal  rights.  Seeking  pro- 
tection at  the  police  station,  the  mayor,  R.  H.Tewks- 
bury,  and  some  policeman  escorted  them  to  their  des- 
tination. Stones  and  other  missiles  were  pretty  free- 
ly used  and  some  pistol-shots  discharged.  Some  were 
slightly  wounded,  but  nothing  of  a  serious  nature  re- 
sulted. 

These  items  are  mentioned  merely  as  incidents  in 
history  and  not  as  possessing  any  serious  import.  In 
both  instances  the  collisions  were  the  natural  results 
from  the  impulses  of  unthinking  and  unreasoning  men. 
When  serious  trouble  came  in  1861  men  of  all  nation- 
alities— American  born  and  foreign  born,  Catholics 
and  Orangemen— vied  with  each  other  in  maintaining 
the  honor  of  our  national  banner  by  land  and  sea. 

The  city  has  been  the  scene  of  one  deliberate  mur- 
der. Albert  D.  Swan  was  shot  by  Henry  K.  Good- 
win '  August  27,  1885.  There  had  been  between  the 
two  men  a  dispute  of  long  standing  in  regard  to  the 
usfe  of  some  invention  connected  with  the  telephone 
in  which  both  were  interested,  and  for  the  use 
of  which  Goodwin  claimed  that  Swan  was  indebted 
(o  him  in  a  considerable  amount.  Swan  claimed  that 
he  owed  him  nothing.  On  the  day  above  named 
Goodwin  borrowed  a  pistol,  and,  going  to  the  count- 
ino--room  where  Swan  w:is  seated  at  a  desk,  he  renew- 
ed  his  demand,  and  as  it  was  not  responded  to  satis- 
factorily, he  fired  with  fatal  effect. 

Mr.  Swan  was  born  in  Tewksbury  May  10,  1845, 
and  came  with  his  father,  the  late  David  S.  Swan,  to 
Lawrence  in  1848.  He  was  educated  in  the  schools 
of  Lawrence  and  at  Comers'  Commercial  College, 
Boston  ;  commenced  life  as  a  clerk  in  the  banking- 


house  of  Hallgarten  &  Herzfield,  New  York,  and  was 
afterwards  gold  paying  teller  and  attorney  for  the 
firm  in  the  New  York  Stock  Board ;  entered  into 
partnership  with  his  father  under  the  name  of  D.  S. 
Swan  &  Son  in  Lawrence,  1866,  in  fire  insurance  bus- 
iness. The  father  died  1874,  and  the  business  was 
continued  by  the  son,  who  was  also  at  the  time  of  his 
death  a  director  in  the  Bay  State  Bank. 

Police  Court. — In  April,  1848,  the  Police  Court 
was  established  by  act  of  Legislature.  Prior  to  this, 
justice  had  been  dispensed  by  Trial  Justice  Joseph 
Couch.  The  first  judge  appointed  was  William  Ste- 
vens, who,  after  a  service  of  thirty  years,  resigned, 
and  was  succeeded  by  Hon.  Nathan  W.  Harmon  in 
1878.  After  a  service  of  nine  years  Judge  Harmon 
resigned  on  account  of  impaired  health,  and  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  present  judge,  Hon.  Andrew  C.  Stone. 
Associate  justices  have  been  Hon.Wm.  H.  P.  Wright, 
W.  Fiske  Gile,  Charles  IT.  Bell,  Gilbert  E.  Hood. 
Among  those  who  have  held  the  oftice  of  clerk,  for- 
merly appointed  by  the  mayor  and  more  recently 
elected  by  the  people,  have  been  Wm.  H.  Parsons, 
W.  H.  P.  Wright,  Edgar  J.  Sherman,  Henry  L.  Sher- 
man, Charles  E.  Briggs,  Jesse  G.  Gould  and  the  pres- 
ent incumbent,  Henry  F.  Hopkins. 

At  the  first  town-meeting  ten  constables  were  ap- 
i^ointed,  who  were  also  field-drivers — Oilman  F.  San- 
born, Bailey  Bartlett,  J.  N.  Gage,  Phineas  M.  Gage, 
C.  N.  Souther,  H.  T.  Nichols,  E.  Bartlett,  N.  Hazel- 
ton,  Nath'l  Ambrose,  W.  A.  Goodwin, 

Of  these,  three  —  Oilman  F.  Sanborn,  Nathan- 
iel Ambrose,  and  James  D.  Herrick — were  successive- 
ly at  the  head  of  the  town  police.  Phineas  M.  Gage 
was  the  owner  of  a  fine  larm  in  the  easterly  portion 
of  the  town,  embracing  what  is  now  Jackson  Court 
and  a  portion  of  the  Common, — On  hard  Street  tak- 
ing its  name  from  his  orchard,  and  Garden  Street 
from  his  garden. 

The  venerable  Bailey  Bartlett  (a  son  of  Hon.  Bailey 
Bartlett,  of  Haverhill,  who  was  appointed  sherifi'  of 
Essex  County  by  Gov.  John  Hancock)  resided  for 
several  years  in  Newburyport,  afterward  in  Salem  and 
came  thence  to  Lawrence.  He  was,  as  above  stated, 
one  of  the  first  constables  chosen  in  Lawrence,  and 
on  the  decease  of  Joshua  Buswell  (the  first  deputy 
here),  he  was  api^ointed  deputy-sheriff",  an  otiice  which 
he  filled  acceptably  for  many  years.  After  this  he 
was  appointed  a  constable  for  civil  service  by  success- 
ive city  governments,  and  was  remarkably  active  till 
a  year  or  two  before  his  decease,  which  occurred  1887, 
at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-two.  James  D.  Her- 
rick, educated  at  Phillips  Academy,  Andover,  entered 
Dartmouth  College,  but  did  not  continue  a  college 
course ;  was  a  teacher  till  1846,  when  he  came  to  Law- 
rence, and  for  twenty-two  years  was  in  the  employ  of 
the  Essex  Company  as  toll-keeper  at  Andover  Bridge. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  members  of  the  school  com- 
mittee and  served  on  the  committee  at  different  peri- 
ods for  ten  years  ;  was  at  one  time  chief  engineer  of 


LAWRENCE. 


883 


the  Fire  Department  and  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Aldermen. 

Under  the  city  government,  the  various  marshals 
(chiefs  of  police)  have  been  Harvey  L.  Fuller,  Chan- 
dler Bailey,  Leonard  Stoddard,  Joseph  H.  Keyes,  John 
S.  Perkins,  George  W.  Potter,  John  W.  Porter,  Ed- 
mund R.  Hayden  (afterward  mayor),  Noah  Parkman, 
Col.  Chase  Philbrick,  Capt.  James  E.  Shepard,  Ly- 
man Prescott,  James  M.  Currier,  Moulton  Batchelder 
and  James  T.  O'Sullivan. 

Industrial  School. — This  school  was  established 
in  1875,  to  jjrovide  a  place  for  boys  "  who  are  growing 
up  without  salutary  control,  or  no  control  at  all ;  who 
either  have  no  homes  or  homes  merely  in  name ;  who 
lead  idle  lives  and  are  habitual  truants;  who  may 
indeed  have  been  guilty  of  petty  offences,  but  who 
may  be  reformed  by  kind  treatment — a  place  where 
they  may  receive  useful  instruction  in  books  and 
manual  labor."  The  school  opened  with  two  boys 
July  3,  1875,  under  the  direction  of  Captain  H.  G. 
Herrick,  Rev.  George  Packard,  Hon.  Milton  Bonney, 
Rev.  John  P.  Gilmore  and  Frederick  E.  Clarke  as 
trustees.  The  school  has  proved  a  very  wise  and  use- 
ful establishment,  and  has  accomplished  much  good. 
Many  boys,  who  would  otherwise  have  grown  up  to 
become  pests  of  society,  have  gone  from  this  school 
to  become  usefiil  and  industrious  citizens.  It  is 
really  a  home,  and  by  no  means  a  prison,  and  is  and 
has  been  for  several  years  under  the  charge  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Robert  B.  Risk. 

Of  the  original  trustees,  Messrs.  Packard  and  Bon- 
ney have  died,  and  Rev.  J.  P.  Gilmore  has  left  the 
city.  Messrs.  Herrick  and  Clarke  have  from  the  be- 
ginning devoted  much  time  to  the  interests  of  the 
school. 

Judge  William  Stevens  was  born  in  North  Andover, 
Mass.,  1799;  entered  Harvard  College  at  the  age  of 
sixteen,  graduating  in  1819;  went  to  Nashville, 
Tenn.,  where  he  commenced  the  stud}-- of  law;  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  and  practiced  law  in  that  city  till 
1826,  when  he  removed  to  Belfast,  Me.,  and  became 
the  law  partner  of  John  Wilson.  The  copartnership 
was  dissolved  in  1829,  at  which  time  he  was  elected 
to  represent  Belfast  in  the  Legislature  of  Maine, 
nine  years  after  the  separation  of  Maine  from  Massa- 
chusetts. During  his  residence  in  Belfast  he  was  ac- 
tive in  public  affairs,  and  is  mentioned  in  the  history 
of  that  town  as  a  "distinguished  and  prominent" 
citizen  ;  was  a  leader  in  the  Debating  Society,  presi- 
dent of  the  Belfast  Lyceum,  editor  of  the  Maine 
Farmer  and  Political  Register,  and  a  leading  member 
of  the  Fire  Department.  Mr.  Stevens  removed  subse- 
quently to  his  native  town,  and  soon  after  was  elected 
to  the  Massachusetts  Legislature,  and  served  several 
terms.  In  1836  he  was  appointed  cashier  of  the  Es- 
sex Bank  in  Andover,  a  position  which  he  held  till 
November  20,  1847,  when  the  business  of  that  bank 
was  closed,  and  the  cashier  was  ordered  to  dispose  of 
the  notes  and  other  property.     He  removed  to  Law- 


rence July  3,  1848,  at  which  time  he  was  ajjpointed 
by  Governor  Briggs  judge  of  the  Lawrence  Police 
Court. 

This  jjosition  he  held  till  May,  1877,  and  during 
this  i^eriod  was  for  three  years  a  member  of  the 
School  Committee.  Failing  health,  loss  of  eye-sight, 
compelled  his  resignation,  and  on  the  4th  of  June, 
1878,  he  was  stricken  with  apoplexy  and  died  in  a  few 
hours. 

Judge  Stevens  was  a  gentleman  of  the  olden  time, 
very  urbane  in  manner,  kind  to  a  fault  to  the  unfor- 
nate  and  erring;  as  a  judge,  sometimas  deciding  cases 
according  to  equity,  rather  than  strict  law  ;  a  public- 
spirited  citizen  and  a  sterling  patriot.  Two  of  his 
sons,  fuU)^  imbued  with  the  father's  devotion  to 
country,  gave  their  lives  to  its  service  in  the  Civil 
War. 

Newspapers. — The  first  newspaper  in  Lawrence 
was  issued  in  October,  1846,  by  J.  F.  C.  Hayes,  and 
was  called  the  Merrimack  Courier.  It  continued  un- 
der the  editorial  management  of  Mr.  Hayes,  John  A. 
Goodwin  (subsequently  of  Lowell),  Homer  A.  Cook, 
Rev.  Henry  I.  Harrington  and  Nathaniel  Ambrose 
till  1862.  In  1848  a  Democratic  paper,  entitled  the 
Vanguard,  was  published  by  Fabyan  &  Douglas. 
The  name  was  subsequently  changed  to  The  Sentinel. 
This  paper  has  been  edited  in  the  course  of  its  exist- 
ence by  Harrison  Douglass,  Colonel  B,  F.  Watson, 
Geo.  A.  Gordon,  Benjamin  Bordman,  John  Ryan, 
Hon.  John  K.  Tarbox  and  Abiel  Morrison,  and  is  yet 
issued  as  a  weekly  j^aper. 

In  1855  the  Laivrence  American  was  commenced  by 
George  W.  Sargent  and  A.  S,  Bunker ;  it  was  con- 
tinued by  Mr.  Sargent  alone,  and  then  Major  Geo.  S. 
Merrill  became  associated  with  him,  and  has  since 
been  the  editor.  This  paper  is  Republican  in  pol- 
itics, and  is  issued  daily  under  the  title  of  Lawrence 
American,  an  evening  paper,  and  weekly  as  the  Law- 
rence American  and  Andover  Review.  This  is  be- 
lieved to  be  the  first  newsi^aper  and  printing-office  in 
the  world  where  the  presses  are  all  run  by  electric 
power,  introduced  in  1884. 

In  1867  the  Esse.v  Eagle  was  commenced  by  Mer- 
rill &  Wadsworth  ;  now  published  by  H.  A.  Wads- 
worth.  This  paper  has  two  editions — a  weekly  and 
morning  daily. 

The  Lawrence  Journal,  another  well-conducted  pa- 
per, was  commenced  by  Robert  Bower  as  the  organ 
of  workingmen.  It  was  purchased  in  1877  by  Mr. 
Patrick  Sweeney,  one  of  the  earliest  residents  of  the 
town  ,  Democratic  in  politics,  with  a  good  share  of 
independence. 

The  Sunday  Telegram  has  been  more  recently  es- 
tablished. Several  other  papers  have  had  an  ephem- 
eral existence. 

CHARITABLE  AND   OTHER   ORGANIZATIONS. 

Masonic. — Grecian  Lodge,  the  oldest  in  the  city, 
was  chartered  in  Methuen  December  10,  1825,  but  in 


884 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


consequence  of  the  opposition  to  secret  societies  in 
anti-Masonic  times,  ihe  meetings  were  practically 
abandoned.  December  14,  1846,  the  first  Masonic 
meeting  was  held  in  Lawrence,  and  at  an  adjourned 
meeting,  one  week  later,  it  was  determined  to  petition 
the  Grand  Lodge  for  a  charter  under  the  name  of 
Grecian  Lodge,  in  which  it  was  hoped  the  Methuen 
Masons  would  join,  and  it  was  proposed  that  they 
should  meet  weekly  from  the  28th  of  December.  Ben- 
jamin Boardman  was  proposed  for  M.,  Geo.  E.  Tyler 
for  S.  W.,  and  J.  F.  C.  Hayes  for  J.  W.,  and  a  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  take  steps  for  procuring  a 
charter,  which  was  granted  in  February,  1848. 

Tuscan  Lodge  was  chartered  December  10,  1863 ; 
Phoenician  Lodge  November  5,  1870. 

Mount  Sinai  Royal  Arch  Chapter  was  chartered  Oc- 
tober 1,  1861. 

Bethany  Commandery,  Knights  Templar,  was  char- 
tered December  29, 1864. 

Lawrence  Council,  R.  and  S.  M.,  was  chartered  De- 
cember 9,  1868. 

Lawrence  Masonic  Association  was  formed  November, 
187L 

Lawrence  Masonic  Mutual  Relief  Association  was 
chartered  'July  20, 1874. 

Odd  Fellows.— The  first  lodge  of  the  L  O.  O.  F. 
was  organized  May  10,  1847,  and  the  order  is  repre- 
sented in  Lawrence  by  the  following  :  United  Broth- 
ers Ljodge,  formed  in  1847  ;  Monadnock Lodge,l^o.  150, 
organized  1867;  I^awrence  Lodge,  in  1869;  Kearsarge 
Encampment,  No.  36,  September  11,  1868  ;  Lawrence 
Encampment,  No.  31,  in  1852,  and  re-instituted  1874' 
The  I^awrence  Odd  Fellows^  Building  Association, 
formed  in  1874-75,  erected  the  fine  brick  building  at 
the  corner  of  Essex  and  Lawrence  Streets  ;  the  lower 
floors  of  this  building  are  occupied  by  stores;  the 
second  floor  has  been,  for  several  years,  occupied  by 
the  Lawrence  Public  Library,  and  the  upper  stories 
have  been  finely  fitted  and  furnished  for  meetings 
and  banquet  halls  of  the  various  associations  of  the 
order. 

Among  the  Benefit  Insurance  Societies  are 
The  Knights  of  Honor  ;  Knights  and  Ladies  of  Honor  ; 
United  Order  of  Pilgrim  Fathers,  five  divisions;  The 
Royal  Arcanum;  The  Home  Circle;  The  American 
Legion  of  Honor  ;  The  Northern  Mutual  Relief  Associ- 
ation ;  Ruth  Lodge,  Daughters  of  Rebecca;  all  of 
which  are  recognized  by  the  State,  and  their  financial 
standing  reported  in  the  Insurance  Reports. 

Other  benevolent  societies  are  the  Knights  of  Pythias 
(a  secret  order) ;  the  Order  of  United  Friends,  repre- 
sented by  two  organizations, — Alpha  Council,  No.  7, 
and  Bay  State  Council,  No.  162;  Knights  of  St.  John; 
Knights  and  Ladies  of  the  Golden  Rule;  the  Golden 
Rule  Alliance  ;  United  Order  of  the  Golden  Cross,  in 
three  divisions, — the  Olive,  Eastern  Star  and  Loyalty 
Commanderies  ;  the  Ancient  Order  of  Foresters  ;  all 
having  for  their  object  mutual  assistance  to  sick  and 
.distressed  members. 


The  Ladies' Union  Charitable  Society,  incorporated 
1875,  has  the  charge  of  the  hospital  for  the  care  of 
acute  cases  of  sickness  and  accident ;  nursery  fiir  day 
care  of  small  children;  training-school  for  nurses. 

The  German  population  has  two  associations  of  the 
Order  of  Harugari,  known  as  Scldlltr  Lodge  and  Frei- 
heit  Lodge,  with  Masonic  features  and  benefits  ;  also 
an  Aid  Society,  a  Sick  Relief  Association,  and  the 
St.  Aloysius  Aid  Society  (Catholic). 

The  benevolent  societies  of  the  French  population 
are  L'  Union  St.  Joseph  and  La  Societe  St.  Jean  Bap- 
tiste. 

Other  large  benevolent  societies  are  The  Lrish  Cath- 
olic Benevolent  Society,  organized  October,  1863;  Two 
lodges  Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians ;  The  Protectory 
of  Mary  Lmmacnlate,  better  known  as  the  Orphan 
Asylum,  as  its  name  implies,  an  orphan  asylum  and 
home  for  invalids,  the  first  institution  ever  erected  in 
the  city  for  charitable  purposes  ;  and  the  Conference 
of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul. 

There  are  in  Lawrence  also  several  social  and  liter- 
ary clubs,  among  which  are  the  Home  Club,  with 
handsomely  furnished  rooms,  centrally  located  on 
Essex  Street ;  the  Caledonian  Society  (Scotch) ;  Sons 
of  St.  George  (English);  Le  Cercle  Montcalm 
(French) ;  the  Turn-Verein  (German)  ;  the  Knights 
of  St.  Patrick  and  the  Old  Residents'  Association,  to 
which  all  are  eligible  who  have  resided  in  Lawrence 
twenty-five  years  or  more.  Miss  E.  G.  Wetherbee, 
president. 

A  Natural  History  and  Archaeological  Society,  em- 
bracing nearly  one  hundred  members,  has  recently 
been  formed,  R.  H.  Tewksbury,  president;  John  V. 
Langshaw,  secretary  ;    G.  R.  Sanborn,  treasurer. 

Needham  Post  (No.  39)  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic  combines  the  two  objects  of  good-fellowship 
and  benevolence  to  needy  and  sick  comrades. 

The  post  was  named  after  Sumner  Henry  Need- 
ham,  a  member  of  the  old  Sixth  Regiment,  and  who 
was  among  the  first  martyrs  of  the  Rebellion.  He 
was  killed  at  Baltimore  on  the  19th  of  April,  1861. 
•His  remains  were  brought  to  Lawrence  and  interred 
in  Bellevue  Cemetery  with  public  honors.  Business 
was  suspended  throughout  the  city,  and  flags  at  half- 
mast,  with  other  demonstrations  of  grief,  marked  the 
public  respect  ibr  his  memory. 

He  was  born  at  Bethel,  Me.,  and  had  been  twelve 
years  in  Lawrence  when  the  war  broke  out.  With 
the  name  of  such  a  hero  as  its  patron,  Post  39  could 
not  help  but  increase  in  numbers  and  usefulness.  To- 
day its  membership  is  one  of  the  largest  of  any  post 
in  the  State  outside  of  Boston.  Its  roll  represents 
over  three  hundred  members  in  good  standing,  with 
fresh  accessions  coming  in  at  every  meeting.  It  has 
disbursed  for  charitable  purposes  during  the  last  ten 
years  from  seven  hundred  dollars  to  twelve  hundred 
dollars  annually. 

The  first  commander  was  Major  George  S.  Merrill, 
and  such  soldiers  as  Col.  L.  D.  Sargent,  Col.  E.  J. 


LAWRENCE. 


885 


Sherman,  Major  E.  A.  Fiske,  Col.  Chase  Philbrick, 
Major  L.  N-.  Duchesney,  Adjutant  Frank  O.  Kendall, 
Ex-Mayor  Davis,  Stephen  C.  Par-sons,  James  Noonan, 
Daniel  F.  Kiley,  David  Johnson,  William  H.  Coan, 
Hon.  A.  C.  Stone,  John  F.  Hogan,  James  J.  Stanley, 
George  H.  Flagg  and  Charles  H.  Couillard  were  his 
successors.  Of  the  above,  Mr.  F.  O.  Kendall  has  been 
appointed  and  served  as  adjutant  under  eleven  com- 
manders, this  being  a  longer  period  than  can  be  said 
of  any  other  member  of  a  G.  A.  R.  Post  in  the  State. 
The  charter  members  of  Needham  Post  were  Melvin 
Beal,  James  G.  Abbott,  Frank  Davis,  E.  L.  Noyes, 
Chase  Philbrick,  A.  A.  Currier,  George  S.  Merrill,  E. 
J.  Merriam  and  S.  M.  Decker.  The  charter  is  dated 
December  10,  1867.  The  present  commander  of 
Needham  Post  is  Charles  U.  Bell,  Esq. 

Musical  Association. —  77*6  Oldest  Musical  Asso- 
ciatio7i  in  the  city  is  the  Lawrence  Brass  Band, 
formed  in  February,  1849,  a  very  patriotic  association, 
which  in  the  Rebellion  sent  twelve  of  its  eighteen 
members  into  the  Union  army.^  For  many  years  it 
was  under  the  leadership  of  D.  Frank  Robinson.  The 
present  leader  is  Mr.  E.  T.  Collins. 

The  Lawrence  Cornet  Band,  F.  J.  O'Reilly,  leader; 
La  Bande  Canadienne,  J.  R.  Lafricaine,  leader;  the 
Lyra  and  Glocke  Singing  Societies  (German) ;  the 
Ladies'  Choral  Union,  under  the  direction  of  Mr. 
Reuben  Merrill  ;  two  Orchestral  Associations,  one 
directed  by  E.  T.  Collins,  the  other  by  C.  J.  A. 
Marier. 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association. — Organ- 
ized October  12,  1876  ;  incorporated  January  14, 
1880;  reorganized  February  6,  1883.  The  associa- 
tion has  pleasant  and  convenient  rooms,  which  are 
open  daily  from  8  a.m.  to  9^  p.m.  The  following 
privileges  are  free  to  all  persons  :  Reading-room  well 
supplied  with  papers  and  periodicals,  parlor  games 
boarding-house  register,  employment  bureau,  song 
service  and  facilities  for  letter-writing.  In  addition 
to  the  above,  members  of  the  association  are  entitled 
to  the  use  of  the  gymnasium,  bath-rooms,  members' 
parlor  and  admission  for  member  and  lady  to  the 
annual  course  of  entertainments.  Any  young  man 
of  good  moral  character,  regardless  of  religious  belief, 
may  become  a  member  on  payment  of  an  annual 
fee  of  two  dollars.  Fee  for  membership,  with  use  of 
the  gymnasium,  five  dollars. 

The  building  occupied  by  them  was  built  for  and 
occupied  by  the  Eliot  Church.  This  was  sold  when 
the  Eliot  and  Central  Churches  united,  and  was  pur- 
chased by  Hon.  Wm.  A.  Russell,  who  conveyed  it  to  the 
association,  generously  deducting  from  the  payment 
the  sum  of  ten  thousand  dollars  of  the  actual  cost. 

Lawrence  City  Mission.  —  In  the  great  influx 
of  population  naturally  attendant  upon  founding  of 
the  new  town  many  came  with  limited  means,  who, 
either  from  want  of  immediate  employment  or  illness, 

1  Tewksbiiry. 


needed  assistance.  Poor,  but  not  by  any  means 
paupers,  a  little  aid  from  those  more  fortunate  would 
help  them  on  in  their  struggle  for  success.  Among 
the  first  to  recognize  the  importance  of  system  in  the 
distribution  of  aid  was  Rev.  Henry  F.  Harrington, 
then  pastor  of  the  Unitarian  Church,  who  said  to  his 
people :  "  If  you  will  place  your  charity  money  in 
my  hands,  and  send  your  applicants  for  aid  to  me,  I 
will  look  up  the  cases  and  help  as  I  shall  see  help  is 
needed." 

December,  1854,  seven  gentlemen  met  for  the  pur- 
pose of  forming  a  "  Relief  Society."     These  men  were 
Rev.  George  Packard,  John  C.  Hoadley,  William  D. 
Joplin,  James  K.  Barker,  Rev.  Richard  S.  Rust,  Ebe- 
nezer  B.  Currier  and  Rev.  H.  F.  Harrington.     At  a 
subsequent   meeting   John    C.    Hoadley  was   chosen 
president,  the  city  was  divided  in  six  districts,  a  divi- 
sion committee  of  three  persons  from  each  ward  of 
the  city  was  appointed,  and  to  each  section  was  as- 
signed a  visitor.     The  first  general  agent  was  Wm. 
D.    Joplin    (who   died    August,    1870).      Mr.    Joplin 
served  one  year,  and  following  him  Henry  Withing- 
ton,  who  served  more  than  two  years,  both  devoted  to 
the  work  without  compensation,  the  last-named  giv- 
ing his  entire  time  during  the  winter  months.     The 
society  continued  four  years,  and  rendered  important 
aid,  particular  during  the  stagnation  of  business  in 
1857.     In  February,  1859,  the  society  voted  that  a 
committee  of  two  from  each  religious  society  be  invited 
meet  in  convention  with  a  committee  of  two  from  the 
association   to  consider  the  establishment  of  a  city 
mission.     The  first  meeting  was  held  March  3,  1859, 
in  which  twelve  religious  societies  Avere  represented. 
The  meeting  unanimously  decided  in  favor  of  form- 
ing a  mission,  and  a  committee  was  appointed  with 
Hon.  Chas.  Storrow  as  chairman,  who  reported  that 
the  proposed  measure  "  promises  results  of  a  most 
beneficial  character,  not  only  to  those  who  are  to  be 
more  particularly  the  object  of  the  labors  of  the  mis- 
sion, but  also  to  those  who,  by  joining  in  its  support, 
whatever  be  their  peculiarities  of  religious  opinion, 
thereby  create  and  strengthen  within  themselves  that 
bond  of  truly  Christian  fellowship  which  unites  all 
who  co-operate  in  good  work."     They  also  reported 
that  Geo.  P.  Wilson  (of  the  Methodist  Church)  was 
a  person  containing  in  an  unusual  degree  the  qualifi- 
cations and  experience  requisite  for  the  proper  dis- 
charge of  the  duties. of  city  missionary.     The  report 
was  unanimously  adopted,  and  the  wisdom  of  their 
choice  was  fully  j^roved, — beloved  and  trusted  by  all, 
Mr.  Wilson  devoted  all  the  energies  of  his  benevo- 
lent and  unselfish  nature  to  the  wants  of  the  unfortu- 
nate and  suffering,  and  during  thirteen  years  of  ser- 
vice, in  the  trying  times  that  succeeded  the  fall  of  the 
Pemberton  mill,  and  during  the  four  years  of  war,  in 
counsel  as  chaplain   at  the  jail,  and  in  every  way  in 
which  he  could,  he  was  always  found  ready  to  do  all 
in  his  power  for  the  benefit  of  suffering  humanity, 
and  in  all  his  charitable  work  he  had  the  full  sympathy 


886 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


and  aid  of  his  equally  devoted  wife.  He  resigned  in 
1872  and  went  to  Boston  in  the  service  of  the  Boston 
Missionary  and  Church  Extension  Society.  A  plain 
monument  in  Bellevue  Cemetery,  erected  by  the  citi- 
zens of  Lawrence,  marks  his  resting-place ;  it  bears 
this  simple  inscription  : 

"  To  the  memory  of 

Geo.  p.  Wilson 

City  Missionary  of  Lawrence  for  thirteen  yeare 

Born  Jany  29,  1830 

Died  July  10,  1873 

He  lived  for  others." 

April  1,  1872,  Rev.  Charles  U.  Dunning  was  ap- 
pointed to  succeed  Mr.  Wilson,  and  for  about  thir- 
teen years,  with  the  earnest  co-operation  of  Mrs. 
Dunning,  faithfully  and  judiciously  carried  on  the 
work  so  auspiciously  commenced,  and  was  succeeded 
by  Francis  S.  Longworth,  the  present  missionary. 
The  mission  is  sustained  by  voluntary  contributions, 
and  the  salary  of  the  missionary  is  paid  by  the  differ- 
ent manufacturing  corporations,  divided  in  proportion 
to  their  capital.  The  president  of  the  society,  Rev. 
George  Packard,  died,  after  eighteen  years  of  devoted 
service,  November  30,  1877,  and  Gilbert  E.  Hood  was 
chosen  to  succeed  him. 

The  mission  has  from  the  beginning  accomplished 
much,  and  by  its  usefulness  in  various  ways  has  com- 
mended itself  fully  to  the  people.  In  1885,  in  the 
hope  of  making  it  still  more  systematically  useful,  it 
became  a  bureau  of  charities  on  the  basis  of  associated 
charity,  having  for  its  objects,  "to  secure  harmonious 
co-operation  between  the  different  churches,  charities 
and  charitable  individuals  of  Lawrence,  in  order  to 
assist  the  deserving  poor,  prevent  begging  and  im- 
position, and  diminish  pauperism  ;  to  encourage  thrift 
and  self-dependence,  through  friendly  intercourse, 
advice  and  sympathy ;  to  aid  the  poor  to  help  them- 
selves, and  to  prevent  children  from  growing  up  as 
paupers."  Such  have  ever  been  the  aims  of  the  mis- 
sion, but  whether  all  the  societies  will  co-operate  is  a 
problem  for  the  future. 

Independently  of  the  city  mission,  yet  as  an  auxil- 
iary to  it,  several  benevolently  disposed  young  ladies 
had  for  several  years  maintained  a 

Flower  Mission,  the  object  of  which  has  been  to 
brighten  the  homes  of  the  sick  with  flowers,  and 
otherwise  distributing  among  them  fruits  and  delica- 
cies suitable  for  invalids,  and  in  this  work  they  have 
been  generously  aided  by  the  people  of  Andover  and 
North  Andover,  Early  in  October,  1875,  at  the  invi- 
tation of  the  City  Missionary,  a  number  of  ladies  met 
at  the  Inission  rooms  to  take  into  consideration  the 
formation  of  a  Day  Nursery,  for  the  care  of  chil- 
dren whose  mothers  were  emisloyed  in  the  mills,  and 
for  such  hospital  work  as  might  be  found  at  hand. 
And  on  the  8th  of  October  the  Ladies'  Union  Charit- 
able Society  was  formed,  and  organized  by  the  choice 
of  Mrs.  Alfred  P.  Clark,  president ;  Mrs.  Wm.  A.  Rus- 
sell, secretary  and  treasurer.  The  other  officers  rep- 
resenting the  different  churches  were  : 


Mrs  J.  Morrison Grace  Church 

Mrs.  N.  G.  White Lawrence  Street  Church 

Mrs.  Wm.  Shackford Second  Methodist  Church 

Mrs.  Joseph  Shattnck Unitarian  Church 

Mrs.  6.  D.  Armstrong First  Baptist  Church 

Mrs.  L.  Beach,  Jr Fir.st  Methodist  Church 

Mrs.  S.  Webster Parker  Street  Methodist  Church 

Mrs.  H.  F.  Mills Swedenborgian  Church 

Mrs.  A.  McFarlin Universalist  Church 

Mrs.  S.  W.  Wilder First  Baptist  Church 

Mrs.  Fred.  Butler St.   John's  Church 

Mrs.  C.  Payson  Second  Baptist  Church 

Mrs.  A.  C.  Clark Central  Church 

Mrs.  J.  Hogg Presbyterian  Church 

Mrs.  Clark  Carter South  Congregational  Church 

A  public  meeting  was  held  at  City  Hall  on  the 
19th,  and  at  this  meeting  sufficient  encouragement 
was  given  to  warrant  the  society  in  commencing 
work.  A  building  was  purchased,  completely  fur- 
nished, and  opened  to  receive  children  in  November. 
January  4,  1876,  the  society  was  incorporated,  and 
the  building  was  removed  to  land  of  the  Washington 
Mills,  and  enlarged  by  the  addition  of  three  rooms  in 
the  rear ;  but  as  there  was  no  room  to  be  spared  for 
the  care  of  the  sick,  an  invalid's  home  was  opened  on 
Montgomery  Street.  A  few  years  later  the  Washing- 
ton Mills  having  other  use  for  their  land,  removal  be- 
came necessary.  It  was  also  essential  that  the  nursery 
building  should  be  in  the  vicinity  of  the  mills,  and  it 
was  determined  to  purchase  a  lot  of  land  for  the  pur- 
poses required.  This  was  accomplished,  and  money 
raised  by  subscription  for  erecting  a  larger  building 
where  the  nursery  and  home  should  be  combined. 
The  different  manufacturing  companies  gave  three 
thousand  dollars.  Other  sums  were  obtained  from 
citizens,  and  the  front  of  the  building,  now  used  as  a 
hospital,  was  erected  and  dedicated  February  9,  1882, 
the  old  buildings  being  placed  in  the  rear  and  used 
for  culinary  purposes.  The  physicians  soon  began  to 
urge  upon  the  society  the  necessity  of  opening  the 
hospital  department  to  men  as  well  as  women,  as  most 
of  the  accidents  in  the  mills  occurred  among  the  men, 
and  there  was  no  place  in  town  for  the  care  of  many 
of  these  cases,  and,  heretofore,  it  had  been  customary 
to  send  to  hospitals  in  Boston.  This  movement 
created  the  need  of  a  larger  building,  and  the  society 
immediately  gave  their  attention  to  increasing  their 
accommodations.  May,  1885,  they  succeeded  in 
purchasing  a  lot  adjoining  the  hos2)ital  from  Mr.  Chas. 
A.  Brown,  which  was  enlarged  by  the  gift  of  an  un- 
known friend  of  twenty-five  feet  front  additional, 
thus  giving  them  a  lot  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-five 
by  seventy-eight  feet.  In  1885  the  home  for  children 
was  finished,  free  from  debt,  and  in  March,  1886,  the 
hospital  ell  was  completed  and  dedicated.  The  hos- 
pital, which  will  accommodate  twenty  patients,  and 
the  day  nursery  are  both  still  under  the  charge  of  the 
society,  and  both  have  proved  of  great  utility. 

Not  yet  satisfied  with  their  earnest  and  successful  ef- 
forts, the  society,  in  October,  1882,  established  a 
training-school  for  nurses,  which  is  yet  in  successful 
operation.     Eight  nurses  are  in  constant  attendance, 


LAWRENCE. 


887 


graduating  after  having  passed  a  successful  examina- 
tion and  two  years'  training  in  the  hospital.  A  di- 
rectory for  nurses  was  opened  in  1885,  aiming  to  as- 
sist persons  requiring  a  nurse,  and  to  aid  nurses  de- 
siring work  in  their  chosen  profession.  In  these  va- 
rious works  the  ladies  have  been  materially  aided  by 
the  physicians  of  the  city,  who  have  cordially  co- 
operated in  much  gratituous  service,  and  by  lectures 
and  aid  in  the  training-school.  One  pleasant  custom 
has  grown  up  in  connection  with  this  enterprise  which 
is  worthy  of  mention.  For  the  purpose  of  raising 
funds  in  support  of  the  nursery  and  hospital,  some 
one  (it  is  believed  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dunning)  suggested 
having  a  public  breakfast  on  the  1st  day  of  May  ;  this 
has  grown  gradually  in  favor,  and  seems  to  have  be- 
come a  permanent  institution,  the  City  Hall  being 
usually  filled  from  early  morning  till  the  middle  of  the 
forenoon,  where  the  citizens  meet  in  social  inter- 
course, and  no  inconsiderable  sums  are  realized  from 
the  entertainment. 

The  present  president  of  the  society  is  Mrs.  Wm.  E. 
Gowing,  and  for  the  past  four  years  Miss  A.  E.  An- 
drews has  been  the  efficient  head  of  the  hospital. 

Public  Schools, — Forty  years  ago,  1845,  there 
were  within  the  present  limits  of  Lawrence  three  of 
those  small  one-story  buildings  known  as  school- 
houses,  where,  as  in  other  district  schools  throughout 
New  England,  the  children  had  the  benefit  of  a  few 
weeks'  instruction  in  the  common  branches  of  educa- 
tion in  the  two  terms  of  summer  and  winter.  They 
were,  no  doubt,  like  their  prototypes,  plain,  rude  and 
neglected,  with  cold  floors,  a  uniform  pattern  of  desks 
for  pupils  of  all  sizes,  and  these  unpainted,  on  which, 
even  if  not  instructed  in  the  art,  the  male  portion  of 
the  pupils  were  self-educated  in  the  rudiments  of 
sculpture. 

In  1846  another  building  was  prepared  by  the  Es- 
sex Company,  and  under  the  direction  of  the  Meth- 
uen  school  committee — Dr.  Stephen  Huse,  James  D. 
Herrick  and  Rev.  Willard  Spalding — was  opened  for 
pupils,  with  Nathaniel  Ambrose  ^  as  teacher.  This 
school  soon  increased  in  numbers  from  twenty-five  to 
one  hundred  and  fifty,  and  was  continued  till  after 
the  acceptance  of  the  town  charter. 

At  the  first  town-meeting  Dr.  William  D.  Lamb, 
James  D.  Herrick  and  Dan  Weed  were  elected  mem- 
bers of  the  school  committee.  In  their  report  they  give 
the  record  of  five  schools,  located  on  Tower  Hill, 
Hampshire  Street,  Jackson  Street,  Prospect  Street 
and  "  Andover  side."  The  rapid  influx  of  scholars 
rendered  active  measures  necessary,  and  as  future 
success  depends  largely  on  right  beginnings,  the  agent 
of  the  Essex  Company,  Mr.  Storrow,  requested  Hon. 
Horace  Mann  (then  the  best  authority  in  educational 
affairs)  to  meet  the  committee  and  devise  with  them 


1  Mr.  Ambrose  died  September  30,  1878,  at  the  age  of  sixty-seven.  He 
was  chosen  annually  during  the  continuance  of  the  town  a  constable 
and  part  of  the  time  inspector  of  police  and  captain  of  the  watch. 


some  systematic  plan  adapted  to  the  groAving  wants  of 
of  the  city. 

The  plan  then  adopted  contemplated  the  establish- 
ment of  primary  and  intermediate  schools  scattered 
over  the  territory  of  the  town,  one  grammar  school 
upon  the  north  side  of  the  river,  one  grammar  school 
upon  the  south  side  and  one  high  school  for  the  town. 

At  the  town-meeting  of  1848  five  persons  were 
chosen  members  of  the  committee, — Rev.  Henry  F. 
Harrington  (now  superintendent  of  schools  in  New 
Bedford),  ^  Nathan  W.  Harmon  (since  judge  of  the 
Police  Court),  ^James  D,  Herrick,  Rev,  Lyman  Whit- 
ing and  Rev,  George  Packard, 

The  plan  matured  and  carried  into  execution  at 
that  early  day,  and  which  has  continued  to  the  pres- 
ent time,  of  dividing  the  schools  into  primary,  mid- 
dle, grammar  and  high  grades,  has  proved  by  time  to 
be  the  best  and  most  economical.  The  government, 
the  people  and  the  non-resident  owners  of  our  large 
manufacturing  establishments  were  liberal  in  the  ex- 
penditure for  schools,  as,  in  fact,  they  have  ever  been 
since.  The  manufacturing  companies  paying  at  that 
time  sixty-five  per  cent,  of  all  the  taxes,  expressed  their 
feelings  in  the  language  of  one  of  their  representa- 
tives, "  Let  the  schools  be  the  best  that  can  be  made 
at  any  cost,''  fully  realizing  the  importance  of  early 
discipline  in  habits  of  method  and  order,  of  those 
who  are  ultimately  to  be  the  sovereigns  of  the  State. 

This  same  year  the  committee  called  the  attention 
of  the  town  government  to  the  requirements  of  the 
statute  for  a  building  for  a  high  school ;  twelve  thou- 
sand five  hundred  dollars  was  promptly  appropriated 
for  the  purpose,  and  the  building  now  occupied  by 
the  Oliver  Grammar  School  was  erected,  and  named 
the  Oliver  School. 

Lawrence  High  School. — In  January,  1849,  T. 
W.  Curtis  was  elected  principal  of  this  school,  to 
which  seventeen  pupils  were  admitted  that  month. 
In  September  twenty-two  more  were  admitted,  and 
Miss  Sarah  B.  Hooker  was  elected  assistant  teacher. 
Mr.  Curtis  resigned  in  1851,  and  for  the  remainder  ot 
the  term  Rev.  H.  F.  Harrington,  of  the  committee, 
was  the  instructor.  In  1851  Mr.  C.  J.  Pennell  be- 
came principal.  Miss  Hooker  resigned  in  January, 
1852,  and  was  succeeded  by  Miss  Jane  S.  Gerrish,  of 
Newburyport,  who  remained  in  service  till  June,  1873. 
In  1853  Mr.  Pennell  resigned  to  accept  a  professorship 
in  Antioch  College,  Ohio. 

He  was  succeeded  by  Mr,  Samuel  John  Pike,  then 
a  tutor  in  Bowdoin  College,  After  a  service  of  three 
years  he  removed  to  Somerville,  For  a  few  months 
the  position  was  filled  by  Mr.  Wm.  H.  Farrar,  and,  in 
May,  1857,  Mr.  Wm.  J.  Rolfe  was  elected  principal. 
Mr.  Rolfe  remained  four  and  a  half  years,  and  re- 
moved to  Boston,  where  he  became  associate  editor  of 
the  Boston  Journal  of  Chemistry,  and  is  widely  known 
as  the  author  of  several  valuable  works.     For  three 


2  Now  deceased. 


888 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


months  after  the  withdrawal  of  Mr.  Eolfe,  Mr.  Thom- 
as G.  Valpey,  an  instructor  in  another  institution, 
spent  his  vacation  as  principal  of  the  High  School, 
and  in  December,  1861,  Mr.  Henry  L.  Boltwood  be- 
came principal.  He  was  succeeded  in  1863  by  Albert 
C.  Perkins.  Mr.  Perkins  remained  till  1873,  and  re- 
signed to  become  principal  of  Phillips  Academy,  Exe- 
ter (and  is  now  principal  of  the  Adelphi  Academy, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.).  The  subsequent  teachers  have 
been  Charles  T.  Lazelle,  1873  to  '75  ;  Horace  E.  Bart- 
lett,  1875  to  '79  ;  Edward  H.  Rice,  1879  to  '80  ;  Ed- 
win H.  Lord,  1880  to  '84  (recently  elected  principal 
of  the  new  Brewster  Academy  at  Wolfboro'),  and  the 
present  principal,  Frank  P.  McGregor. 

A  second  assistant.  Miss  Harriet  C  Hovey,  was 
elected  in  1856,  and,  after  a  faithful  service  of  seven 
years,  was  succeeded  in  1863  by  Miss  Marcia  Packard, 
who  left  the  service  in  1881.  Other  assistants  have 
been  Miss  Alice  E.  Birtwell,  1873  till  her  decease,  in 
1883 ;  Miss  Emily  G.  Wetherbee,  Mary  A.  Newell, 
Ada  Lear,  Katharine  A.  O'Keefe,  Louisa  S.  Halley 
and  Julia  J.  Underbill,  the  six  last  mentioned  being 
still  in  service. 

A  sub-mastership  was  created  in  1872,  and  the  po- 
sition has  been  held  by  Herbert  S.  Rice,  1872  to  '77  ; 
Parker  P.  Simmons,  to  1879;  Anson  M.  Richardson, 
1879  to  '85  ;  Edward  J.  Sartelle,  and  Edwin  H.  Lord, 
Edward  H.  Gulick. 

The  Oliver    Grammar ,  School   commenced   with    a 
little   over  one  hundred  and    forty   scholars   in  the 
spring    of  1848,    in   a   wooden   building    where   the 
Unitarian   Church  now  stands,  under   the   direction 
of  Mr.  Geo.    A.   Walton   (now  of  the  State  Board 
of    Education).    '  It   was   supposed   that   this   house 
would    accommodate     the    grammar   school   on   the 
north  side  of  the  river  for  an  indefinite  period ;  but 
before  the  walls  of  the  High   School  building  were 
up  it  was   found  necessary   to    alter  the  plan,  and 
as  soon  as  finished  the   grammar  school   was  placed 
in  the  upper  story,  with  seats  for  one  hundred  and 
eighty-four   scholars.     This  soon   proved   too    small, 
and    in     1851     the    three-story     transverse     section 
was   built;  again  in    1867  the    front   portion   of  the 
original  building  was  raised  to  its    present   height. 
Its  name,  Oliver  Grammar  School,  was  given  in  hon- 
or of  the  late  General  Oliver.     In   1865  Hon.  Milton 
Bonney,  then  mayor,  who   had   been   a   member   of 
the  school  committee  for  three  years  previous,  and 
foresaw  that  the  increasing  growth  of  the  grammar 
school    would   soon    demand  the   use   of  the   whole 
building,  called  the   attention  of  the  government  to 
the   necessity   of  providing  a  new  building   for   the 
High  School,  and  land  was  secured  for  the  jiurpose, 
on   which,  in   1866,  the   new    High  School   building 
was  erected ;  but  before  its  completion  the  sessions 
of  the  High  School  were  held  in  the  vestry  of  Trinity 
Church,   and  the  entire  original  building  was   given 
up  to  the  Oliver  Grammar  School. 

During  this  time  twelve  other  school-houses  had 


been   built  or  enlarged    in    different    parts  of   the 
city. 

The  committee  were  quite  fortunate  in  securing 
the  services  of  Mr.  Walton,  as  he  served  as  an  able 
coadjutor  in  carrying  into  effect  the  plan  adopted, 
and  being  zealous  in  his  chosen  profession,  he 
brought  the  school  to  a  high  state  of  excellence. 
The  Qiiincy  School  of  Boston  was  the  model  on 
which  the  grammar  school  was  built,  then  the  only 
one  of  its  kind  in  New  England.  Mr.  Walton  con- 
tinued in  the  mastership  of  the  school  from  April, 
1848,  for  sixteen  years,  till  the  summer  of  1864;  was 
succeeded  by  James  H.  Eaton,  who  had  been  assistant 
teacher  (now  treasurer  of  the  Essex  Savings  Bank), 
Mr.  with  Albert  F.  Scruton  as  assistant.  After  Mr. 
Eaton's  resignation,  Mr.  John  L.  Brewster  was  elect- 
ed (who  was  subsequently  superintendent  of  schools 
form  1880  to  1887).  Successiveprincipals  were  James 
Barrell,  Park  S.  Warren,  Barrett  B.  Russel  and  the 
present  principal,  Benjamin  F.  Dame. 

The  school,  commencing  with  two  classes  in  1848, 
has  now  eight  grades  under  sixteen  female  teachers, 
with  one  head  master  and  t-even  hundred  pupils ; 
the  building  will  accommodate  eight  hundred  and 
forty. 

Packard  School. — This  is  at  the  present  time  the 
grammar  school  of  South  Lawrence.  The  building 
was  originally  a  brick  building  of  eight  rooms  and 
was  first  occupied  1872.  In  March,  1885,  it  was 
destroyed  by  fire,  but  has  since  been  rebuilt  and  con- 
tains ten  rooms  and  a  hall.  The  other  buildings,  the 
Lawrence  and  Union  Street  School  buildings,  on  the 
south  side  of  the  river,  are  occupied  by  the  primary 
schools. 

The  grammar  school  has  been  successively  under 
the  charge  of  Isaiah  W.  Ayer,  Jonathan  Tenney,  John 
B.  Fairfield,  Wilbur  Fiske  Gile,  John  Orne,  Jr.,  J. 
Henry  Root,  Jefferson  K.  Cole,  Edward  P.  Shute 
and  Albert  P.  Doe. 

It  would  be  impracticable  in  the  limits  of  this  article 
to  give  a  more  extended  sketch  of  the  growth  of 
the  schools  of  Lawrence,  and  mention  the  various 
faithful  teachers  who  have  been  here  employed. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that,  in  addition  to  the  three  pre- 
viously named,  Lawrence  has  seventeen  public 
schools,  employing  seventy-two  teachers,  the  total 
number  of  teachers  being  one  hundred  and  eight  in 
active  employ ;  the  average  number  of  pupils  for 
the  year  1886  being  nearly  five  thousand;  average 
attendance,  96.42  per  cent. 

Free  evening  schools  were  established  in  1859 — 
for  the  benefit  of  those  who  are  unable  to  attend 
school  during  the  day — taught  at  first  by  volunteer 
teachers.  The  evening  school  started  as  an  experi- 
ment, under  the  direction  of  Mr.  George  P.  Wilson, 
the  city  missionary,  in  the  old  Odd  Fellows'  Hall.  It 
was  removed  later  to  the  basement  of  the  City  Hall. 
The  school  gradually  grew  in  favor,  has  become  a 
part  of  the  public-school  system,   and  the   expense 


LAWRENCE. 


889 


is  assumed  by  the  city.  There  are  now  maintained 
one  school  in  the  westerly  part  of  the  city,  one 
on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  and  a  large  one  in 
the  Oliver  building  for  ordinary  English  branches 
of  study,  and  a  High  School  for  instruction  in 
algebra,  chemistry  and  drawing. 

Sewing  has  also  become  a  permanent  addition  to 
the  work  of  the  middle  or  intermediate  schools,  and 
very  creditable  work  of  the  pupils  has  been  exhib- 
ited. 

A  sewing-school  had  been  established  in  April, 
1859,  by  the  city  missionary,  and  for  twenty-five 
3^ears  was  sustained  under  the  care  of  the  mission, 
charitable  and  competent  ladies  volunteering  their 
services  as  instructors  from  year  to  year. 

Training-School. — Among  the  schools  a  very 
valuable  addition  was  made  in  1869  by  the  establish- 
ment of  a  training-school  for  teachers,  in  which  per- 
sons who  could  not  perhaps  incur  the  expense  of  ab- 
sence from  home  in  the  normal  schools  of  the  State 
may  have  an  opportunity  to  educate  themselves  for 
the  business  of  instruction.  The  object  of  the  school 
is  to  fit  teachers  for  the  work  of  organizing,  govern- 
ing and  teaching  in  the  public  schools.  The  school 
has  been  under  able  management,  and  has  proved  of 
great  value.  The  first  instructors  were  Misses  L.  J. 
Faulkner  and  Fannie  A.  Reed,  the  latter  of  whom 
continued  in  the  school  for  about  ten  years.  In  1879 
Miss  Lily  P.  Shepard,  a  graduate  of  the  Westfield 
Normal  School,  a  teacher  of  experience  in  the  train- 
ing-school at  Springfield,  was  placed  at  the  head  of 
the  school,  and  has  continued  till  the  present.  Her 
first  assistant  was  Miss  Clara  Lear,  who  served  one 
year,  and  was  relieved  at  her  own  request,  succeeded 
by  Miss  Clara  T.  Wing.  Miss  Wing  resigned,  and 
was  followed  by  Miss  Janet  G.  Hutchins,  who,  in  1887, 
accepted  another  position  in  Lewiston,  Me. 

Private  Schools. — In  1847  several  private  schools 
supplied  the  wants  of  the  people,  in  addition  to  those 
under  charge  of  the  town.  Among  these  was  a  school 
opened  near  the  commencement  of  1847  by  a  Mr. 
Ward,  assisted  by  Misses  Proctor  and  Chapman, 
commencing  with  twenty-four  scholars,  which  in  its 
fourth  term  numbered  forty. 

Messrs.  Twomb'y  and  Judkins  had  also  a  flourish- 
ing school ;  another  was  taught  by  Messrs.  O'Connell 
and  Bresnahan  ;  and  still  another  was  opened  in  Feb  - 
ruary,  1848,  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Silas  Blaisdell.  This 
latter  school  continued  for  several  years  and  was  well 
patronized. 

At  the  present  time  the  St.  Mary's  parochial,  a  pri- 
vate school,  embraces  about  twelve  hundred  pupils. 

The  French  population  also  maintain  a  private 
school,  and  the  German  population  also  have  a  small 
school  of  sixty  pupils.  A  successful  private  school 
is  also  under  the  charge  of  Misses  Marcia  Packard 
and  Cornelia  Harmon.  Gordon  C.  Cannon  has  for 
several  years  conducted  a  flourishing  commercial 
school. 


manufacturing. 

The  Lawrence  Machine  Shop  was  built  and 
owned  by  the  Essex  Company,  the  main  building,  foun- 
dry and  chimney  being  very  substantial  structures  of 
stone,  commenced  in  1846  and  finished  in  1848.  The 
works  were  operated  by  the  Essex  Company  until  1852, 
Caleb  M.  Marvel  being  the  superintendent.  The 
machine  shop  played  an  important  part  in  the  early 
days  of  Lawrence,  was  su23plied  with  every  variety  of 
valuable  tools  and  machines,  and  gave  employment 
to  a  large  number  of  skillful  mechanics.  Some  of 
these  still  remained  in  Lawrence,  though  a  large 
number,  on  the  closing  ot  the  shop,  sought  other 
fields,  and  other  places  in  various  parts  of  the  Union 
have  had  the  benefit  of  their  skill.  Many  locomotive 
engines  were  built  here,  the  first  of  which  was  the 
"  Essex,"  which  was  used  on  the  railroad  between 
Lawrence  and  Boston.  Others  were  the"Welland" 
and  the  "Trent,"  which  went  to  Ogdensburg;  others 
went  to  the  Erie  Railroad,  and  many  others  later  to 
other  roads. 

The  Hoadley  Portable  Engine,  which  acquired  ex- 
tended celebrity,  was  first  built  here  by  John  C. 
Hoadley,  who  subsequently  established  his  works  on  the 
North  Canal,  whence  large  numbers  of  the  engines 
went  to  the  West  and  California.  Here  also  the 
steam  fire-engine,  which,  with  modifications,  is  now 
in  so  general  use,  was  first  brought  out  by  Thomas 
Scott  and  N.  S.  Bean.  The^rst  engine  built,  named 
the  "  Lawrence,"  was  purchased  by  the  city  of  Bos- 
ton. Mr.  Bean  subsequently  removed  to  Manches- 
ter, where  the  manufacture  of  these  engines  has  since 
been  carried  forward.  Considerable  amounts  of  cot- 
ton machinery  were  also  built  here. 

In  1852  the  property  of  ihe  machine-shop  was 
transferred  to  a  new  company — the  "Lawrence  Ma- 
chine-Shop  Company,"  having  a  capital  of  seven  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  the  value  of  shares 
being  fifty  dollars  each.  The  officers  were  Samuel 
Batchelder,  president;  J.  H.  W.  Paige,  treasurer; 
Gordon  McKay,  agent ;  and  John  C.  Hoadley,  super- 
intendent, who,  on  the  resignation  of  Colonel  McKay, 
became  agent. 

The  company  suffered  in  common  with  others  in 
the  general  depression  of  business  in  1857,  remained 
idle  two  years,  and  the  property  was  sold  to  the  Ever- 
ett Mills  Company. 

The  following  just  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Mr. 
Hoadley,  written  by  a  gentleman  in  Boston,  appeared 
in  the  Advertiser  soon  after  his  decease : 

John  Chipman  Hoadly,  born  in  Turin,  N.  Y., 
1818,  the  son  and  grandson  of  farmers,  passed  his 
youth  in  Utica,  N.  Y.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  was 
employed  in  preliminary  surveys  for  the  enlargement 
of  the  Erie  Canal,  and  his  ability  as  a  draughtsman 
brought  him  quick  promotion  and  more  responsible 
work.  In  1844  he  went  to  assist  Horatio  N.  and 
Erastus  B.  Bigelow  in  the  foundation  and  develop- 
ment of  the  manufactories  and  town  of  Lancaster  (now 


890 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MAS8ACHUSETTS. 


Clinton,  Mass.).  Four  years  later  lie,  with  Gordon 
McKay,  formed  a  partnership  for  the  manufacture 
of  engines  and  other  machinery  in  Pittsfield.  In 
1852  he  was  called  to  the  position  of  superintendent 
of  the  Lawrence  Machine-Shop,  and  soon  after  re- 
luctantly accepted  the  position  of  agent,  well  knowing 
that  the  failure  of  the  company  was  only  a  question 
of  time. 

After  the  closing  of  that  company  he  engaged  in 
the  manufacture  of  portable  engines,  then  but  little 
used  in  this  country.  Their  skillful  design  and  hon- 
est construction  soon  gained  a  name  and  a  large 
market  for  them  all  over  the  country,  especially  in 
California.  After  a  number  of  very  prosperous  years 
the  crisis  of  1873,  with  its  shrinkage  of  value  and  bad 
debts,  forced  the  company  to  close  its  affairs.  During 
a  part  of  this  time  Mr.  ijoadley  was  also  interested  in 
the  organization  of  the  Clinton  Wire-Cloth  Company, 
agent  of  the  New  Bedford  Copper  Company  and  the 
McKay  Sewing-Machine  Association,  and  was  one  of 
the  founders  and  president  of  the  Archibald  Wheel 
Company.  Since  1876  he  engaged  in  various  interests, 
especially  as  an  expert  in  mechanical  and  engineering 
questions,  serving  in  important  cases  in  the  courts 
and  in  responsible  positions  in  the  great  mechanical 
exhibitions. 

The  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  of 
which  he  was  one  of  the  original  trustees,  claimed  for 
many  years  a  part  of  his.  interest,  and  as  a  member  of 
the  State  Board  of  Health  during  more  than  seven 
years,  he  did  his  part  in  this  most  useful  work,  be- 
sides tilling  other  positions,  as  alderman  in  Lawrence, 
a  member  of  the  Legislature  in  1858,  and  Presidential 
elector  in  1862.  Commissioned  by  the  State  during 
the  Rebellion,  he  visited  England  to  inspect  ordnance 
for  harbor  defense. 

This  brief  summary  comprises,  however,  only  a 
fraction  of  Mr.  Hoadley's  real  interest.  The  unique 
featui'e  of  his  life  was  his  intense  enthusiasm  in  many 
paths  of  literature  and  in  the  higher  lines  of  thought. 
If  mechanics  was  his  pleasure,  literature  was  his  de- 
light; no  pressure  of  business  could  draw  him  wholly 
away  from  his  books. 

At  the  age  of  nineteen  supporting  a  mother  and  six 
sisters,  in  the  following  year  earning  a  reputation  and 
a  fortune,  he  kept  out  of  the  rut  of  a  mere  business 
man  ;  studied  French,  German,  Latin  and  Greek, 
and  was  as  familiar  with  Homer's  Odyssey  and  its 
translations  as  with  the  designs  of  his  engines.  Col- 
lecting about  him  a  rich  and  choice  library,  reading 
in  curious  and  out-of-the-way  lines,  as  well  as  in  the 
English  classics ;  of  marvelous  memory,  which 
seemed  to  retain  everything  he  ever  read,  he  be- 
came a  centre  around  whom  a  group  of  inquirers 
would  easily  gather,  and  from  whom  thej'  could 
always  draw  facts  most  correctly  stated  and  poetry 
most  musically  spoken. 

But  beyond  the  intelligence  and  learning  of  the 
man,  it  was  the  character  of  Mr.  Hoadley  that  im- 


pressed all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact.  He  was 
more  than  honest ;  there  was  a  touch  of  ancient  chiv- 
alry in  his  sense  of  honor.  He  trusted  men,  and  he 
expected  and  always  acted  as  if  he  expected  the  same 
honorable  sense  in  others  that  was  found  in  him  ;  and 
though  at  times  sadly  disappointed  and  cruelly 
treated,  he  never  lost  his  confidence  in  man. 

Many  civil  and  mechanical  engineers  throughout 
the  country  owe  to  Mr.  Hoadley  their  early  enthu- 
siasm, their  free  lessons  in  drawing  and  their  present 
positions. 

Politically  he  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Re- 
publican party  in  Lawrence,  and  on  the  breaking  out 
of  the  war  none  were  more  earnest  to  sustain  the  gov- 
ment,  furnishing  time  and  money  to  the  cause  of  the 
Union,  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  unfortunate  physi- 
cal defect  of  deafness,  he  would,  without  doubt,  have 
taken  a  still  more  active  part  in  the  military  service. 

Back  of  all  else  was  the  deep  religious  faith  which 
supported  his  principles,  and  was  revealed  in  every 
word  and  deed.  He  was  a  devout  member  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  and  for  many  years  was  warden  of 
Grace  Church,  Lawrence.  He  died  in  Boston  at  the 
age  of  sixty-seven  years  and  ten  months. 

Bay  State  Mills. — The  Legislature  of  1845  and 
'46  granted  charters  to  the  Bay  State,  with  one  mil- 
lion dollars  capital,  and  Atlantic  Mills,  with  two  mil- 
lion dollars  capital,  the  Union  Mills,  with  one  mil- 
lion dollars  capital,  and  the  Bleaching  and  Dyeing 
Company,  with  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  capital. 
The  two  latter  never  went  into  operation.  The  Bay 
State  was  the  first  of  the  manufacturing  corporations, 
commencing  in  April,  1846,  and  the  buildings  were 
so  far  completed  that  the  wheel  of  the  River  Mills 
was  first  set  in  motion  February,  1848,  and  the  man- 
ufacture of  cloth  commenced  in  June  following.  The 
buildings  of  this  company  were  planned  upon  a  large 
scale,  consisting  of  three  buildings,  each  of  them,  in- 
cluding the  attics,  nine  stories  in  height  ;  and  the 
River  Mill,  with  its  wings,  from  three  to  five  sto- 
ries high,  and  fourteen  hundred  and  eighty  feet  in 
length ;  all  erected  under  the  superintendence  of 
Captain  Phineas  Stevens,  of  Nashua,  an  experienced 
engineer.  These  mills  manufactured  many  varieties 
of  woolen  goods,  new  to  American  manufacture,  and 
at  one  time  were  especially  well  known  as  manufac- 
turers of  the  "  Bay  State  Shawls,"  made  of  wool  and 
at  a  moderate  cost,  of  varied  patterns,  making  in  a 
single  year,  1850,  three  hundred  and  fifteen  thousand. 
They  attracted  much  attention  and  commendation  at 
the  International  Exposition  of  1852,  and  at  the 
Paris  Exposition,  1867. 

The  first  treasurer  and  general  manager  was  Sam- 
uel Lawrence,  who,  as  well  as  his  brothers,  Amos  and 
Abbott  Lawrence,  had  taken  so  deep  an  interest  in 
the  development  of  American  manufactures,  and  had 
previously  acquired  much  experience  from  their  con- 
nection with  the  mills  at  Lowell.  The  first  resident 
agent  was  M.  D.  Ross.    Samuel  Webber  was  agent 


LAWRENCE. 


891 


for  a  short  time,  and  was  succeeded  by  Captain  Oliver 
H.  Perry,  After  a  long  service  he  was  succeeded  by 
Captain  Gustavus  V.  Fox,  the  efficient  Assistant  Sec- 
retary of  the  Navy  during  the  Civil  War. 

In  the  general  depression  of  trade  these  mills  failed 
in  1857,  remained  idle  two  years,  and  the  entire  prop- 
erty passed  into  the  hands  of  a  new  company,  formed 
largely  from  the  creditors  of  the  former  one,  and  took 
the  name  of 

Washington  Mills. — Chartered  in  1858  and  or- 
ganized with  a  capital  of  one  million  six  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  dollars.  They  introduced  several  va- 
rieties of  worsted  goods,  worsted  coatings  made  of 
combed  wool,  heretofore  imported  and  introduced  in- 
to American  mills  by  Hon.  E.  R.  Mudge ;  twilled 
blue  flannel  coatings  and  opera  flannels.  Joseph  S. 
Fay  was  first  treasurer  of  these  mills,  succeeded  by 
Jo'^hua  Stetson,  who  was  followed  by  Henry  F.  Coe. 

This  corporation  was  the  second  in  size  in  Law- 
rence, furnishing  employment  for  about  twenty-five 
hundred  persons.  The  plant  consisted  of  one  cotton 
mill,  19,000  spindles,  65  sets  of  cards,  320  broad 
looms  ;  one  worsted  mill,  8640  spindles,  885  looms ; 
five  woolen  mills,  weekly  product,  100,000  yards  cot- 
tons, 120,000  yards  dress  goods,  20,000  yards  worsted, 
40,000  yards  woolens  and  1000  shawls.  Motive-pow- 
er, seven  water-wheels  of  1025  horse-power,  and  two 
engines  of  1000  horse-power. 

The  resident  agents  have  been  Gustavus  V.  Fox, 
previously  agent  of  the  Bay  State  Mills  ;  Edward  D. 
Thayer,  William  H.  Salisbury,  who  engaged  in  other 
business  in  Chicago  ;  Parker  C.  Kirk  and  John  H. 
Needham,  who  yet  remains  in  Lawrence  engaged  in 
trade.  Mr.  Granville  M.  Stoddard,  for  a  long  time 
superintendent  of  the  worsted  department,  removed 
to  Worcester.  These  mills  furnished  employment  to 
about  twenty-five  hundred  people,  were  well  equipped 
with  machinery  and  employed  persons  skilled  in  man- 
ufiicturing;  and  produced  goods  of  excellent  quality  ; 
but  they,  as  well  as  their  predecessors,  failed  of  ulti- 
mate financial  success,  and  are  now  in  liquidation. 
The  mill  property  and  water-rights  have  been  trans- 
ferred in  1886  to  a  new  organization. 

The  Washington  Mills  Company. — This  com- 
pany is  now  making  a  radical  change.  They  have 
taken  down  the  old  buildings  and  replaced  them  with 
buildings  of  more  modern  style.  One  of  the  old  mills 
took  fire  and  was  burned  to  the  ground  in  1887,  but 
the  new  mills  were  so  far  advanced  that  but  little  de- 
lay ensued  in  continuing  the  operations  of  the  com- 
pany. The  treasurer  of  the  new  company  in  Fred- 
erick Ayer,  of  Lowell ;  Manager,  Thomas  Sampson, 
of  Lawrence  ;  Clerk  of  the  corporation,  Sidney  W. 
Thurlow ;  Paymaster,  Alfred  P.  Clark,  of  Lawrence, 
who  has  been  in  this  position  through  the  various 
vicissitudes  of  the  Bay  State  and  Washington  Mills. 

Thf  Atlantic  Cotton  Mills  Company  was 
incorporated  in  February,  1846.  Their  original  plan 
was  to  occupy  the  entire  territory  between  the  Bay 


State  and  Pacific  Mills.  The  westerly  and  easterly 
wings  of  the  present  building  were  built  indepen- 
dently, and  at  a  later  date  the  two  were  connected  by 
the  large  central  structure  ;  and,  as  this  gave  all  the 
room  required,  the  lower  part  of  the  territory  was  re- 
linquished to  the  Essex  Company,  and  subsequently 
sold  to  the  Pacific  Company  for  the  Lower  Pacific 
Mills  in  1864.  The  first  cotton  arrived  January, 
1849,  and  was  manufactured  by  the  Atlantic  in  May 
following.  Their  second  mill  was  manufacturing 
cloth  in  October  of  the  same  year.  The  Central  Mill 
was  commenced  in  February,  1850.  These  mills  were 
built  by  the  Essex  Company,  under  the  direction  and 
in  accordance  with  the  plans  of  Captain  Charles  H. 
Bigelow,  the  company's  engineer.  The  brick-work 
was  under  the  direction  of  Levi  Sprague  and  the 
wood-work  under  the  supervision  of  Morris  Knowles. 
The  Essex  Company  also  built  at  their  machine-shop 
the  machinery  for  the  middle  building. 

These  mills  were  constructed,  as  was  the  custom  in 
the  earlier  days  of  manufacturing,  more  with  a  view 
to  their  practical  utility  than  with  regard  to  beauty, 
and  the  addition  of  the  central  structure,  with  its  flat- 
roof  and  little  wooden  bell-tower  in  the  centre,  gave 
to  the  passer-by  the  idea  of  an  enormous  square  brick 
bottle  with  short  neck  and  stopper.  The  buildings 
were  subsequently  raised  by  the  addition  of  mansard 
roofs,  thereby  giving  additional  working  room,  and 
contributing  largely  to  the  architectural  appearance 
of  the  building,  further  improved  by  the  removal  ot 
the  old  central  bell-tower,  and  the  construction  of  a 
handsome  brick  tower  at  one  of  the  angles. 

Financially,  the  Atlantic  Mills  have  had  their 
trials,  as  well  as  the  others.  This  company,  in  com- 
mon with  all  others,  felt  seriously  the  depression  of 
1857,  and  in  1876  the  company  was  reorganized;  the 
capital  stock,  which  was  originally  one  million  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  was  reduced  to  one  million 
dollars,  the  stockholders  surrendering  five  shares  of 
old  stock  for  one  of  new  and  contributing  seven  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  in  cash,  to  make  up  the  new 
capital — looking  to  a  future  of  promise  and  hope. 
In  1886  they  were  again  somewhat  embarrassed  by 
the  crooked  proceedings  of  their  treasurer,  Wm. 
Gray,  Jr.,  and  are  at  the  present  time  moving  forward 
successfully,  it  is  believed,  under  new  auspices.  The 
mills  are  well-built,  substantial  buildings,  have  al- 
ways been  kept  in  thorough  repair,  and  under  the 
management  of  local  agents  have  been  models  of 
neatness  and  order.  The  number  of  spindles  is  over 
100,000  ;  the  number  of  looms  is  1921 ;  the  number 
of  persons  employed,  about  1100 ;  product,  500,000 
yards  per  week  of  sheetings  and  shirtings;  motive- 
power,  4  turbine  wheels  and  1  double  Corliss  engine, 
1000  horse-power. 

The  president  was  Abbott  Lawrence,  and  the 
Treasurer,  Charles  S.  Storrow.  Mr,  William  Gray 
succeeded  Mr.  Storrow  as  treasurer,  and  held  that 
position  for  thirty  years,  resigning  in  1877.     Henry 


892 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Saltonstall  served  as  treasurer  for  a  short  period,  and 
was  followed  by  William  Gray,  Jr.,  who,  by  the  be- 
trayal of  his  trust,  added  one  more  honored  name  to 
the  list  of  criminals  that  has  disgraced  American 
annals. 

For  the  first  ten  years  the  resident  agent  was  the 
late  Gen.  Henry  K.  Oliver,  well-known  and  esteemed 
by  all  who  knew  him  for  his  social  qualities  and  for 
his  active  interest  in  whatever  pertained  to  the  inter- 
est and  welfare  of  the  city.  He  was  succeeded  by 
Joseph  P.  Battles,  who  had  been  previously  cashier, 
who  served  the  comi^any  with  marked  fidelity  for 
twenty-nine  years,  till  his  resignation  in  1887. 

The  present  organization  is  as  follows :  President, 
Chas.  H.  Dalton,  of  Boston  ;  Treasurer,  William 
Hooper,  of  Boston;  Agent,  William  A.  Sherman,  of 
Lawrence;  Paymaster,  J.  C.  Bowker,  who  has  been 
in  the  employ  of  the  company  since  1856,  succeeding 
Mr.  Battles  as  paymaster  in  1858. 

Pacific  Mills. — Incorporated  1853,  with  a  capi- 
tal of  two  million  dollars,  increased,  since,  to  two 
million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  mills 
and  print-works  buildings  were  built  by  the  Essex 
Company  under  the  direction  and  superintendence 
of  Capt.  Charles  H.  Bigelow.  Large  additions  have 
since  been  made,  and  another  mill  for  the  Pacific  is 
now  in  process  of  construction.  This  corporation  is 
one  of  the  largest  textile  establishments  in  the  world, 
manufacturing,  printing  and  dyeing  ladies'  cotton, 
worsted  and  wool  dress  fabrics. 

The  number  of  cotton  spindles  is  120,000;  the  num- 
ber of  worsted  spindles,  30,000  ;  the  number  of  looms, 
4600  ;  the  number  of  printing-machines,  25  ;  the 
number  of  mills  and  buildings,  23,  covering  44  acres 
of  floor  si^ace,  independently  of  a  new  large  mill  in 
process  of  erection.  For  motive-power  and  other  pur- 
poses, there  are  in  use  in  these  mills:  11  turbine 
wheels  of  5000  horse-power,  4  large  steam-engines  of 
3500  horse-power,  42  small  steam-engines,  50  steam 
boilers.  The  annual  consumption  of  coal,  23,000 
tons ;  the  annual  consumption  of  gas  in  9000  burners, 
cost  $30,000 ;  the  annual  consumption  of  cotton, 
15,600  bales  ;  the  annual  consumption  of  wool, 
4,000,000  pounds.  The  annual  capacity  of  the  mills: 
Cottons  printed  and  dyed,  70,000,000  yards  ;  worsted 
goods,  30,000,000  yards ;  to  make  this  cloth  nearly 
200,000,000  miles  of  yarn  are  required ;  the  pay-roll 
for  the  year  ending  May,  1886,  was  $1,790,000  ;  the 
average  earnings  per  day  were  for  men  and  boys, 
$1.26  ;  for  women  and  girls,  90  cents. 

The  Pacific  Mills  Library  (connected  with  which  is 
a  reading-room  containing  daily  papers)  contains 
9000  volumes,  and  has  a  fund  of  over  $13,000. 

The  relief  society  has  expended  annually  for  several 
years  five  thousand  dollars  for  the  relief  of  the  sick 
and  disabled.  The  society  has  been  maintained  by  a 
contribution  of  two  cents  per  week  from  the  people 
employed,  and  a  weekly  contribution  of  $2.60  from 
the  corporation.     The  establishment  of  the  Lawrence 


Hospital  has  rendered  this  society  less  needful,  and 
it  has  been  dissolved. 

The  library  was  started  by  contributions  of  Mr. 
Lawrence  and  other  directors,  and  a  donation  of  one 
thousand  dollars  made  by  the  Pacific  Mills,  and  was 
maintained  by  a  contribution  of  one  cent  per  week 
from  the  people  employed.  The  further  increase  of 
this  library  has  also  been  relinquished,  the  much 
larger  public  library,  open  to  all  the  citizens,  affording 
larger  and  more  varied  opportunities  for  reading. 

There  was  also  a  savings  bank  connected  with  the 
mills,  the  deposits  amounting  at  one  time  to  nearly 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  city  having  now 
three  chartered  savings  banks,  the  company  have 
ceased  receiving  deposits,  and  all  the  accounts  have 
been  closed. 

Of  ten  prizes  (of  ten  thousand  fi-ancs  each)  given 
by  the  Emperor  Napoleon  III.,  at  the  Paris  Exposi- 
tion of  1867,  for  the  care  of  the  material,  intellectual 
and  moral  welfare  of  employees,  the  Pacific  Mills  re- 
ceived the  second  prize,  out  of  five  hundred  appli- 
cants; and  this  was  the  only  prize  awarded  to  the 
United  States  or  Great  Britain. 

The  first  treasurer  and  agent  of  these  mills  was 
Jeremiah  S.  Young,  who  was  the  lessee  and  manager 
of  the  Ballardvale  Mills,  at  Andover.  He  brought 
with  him  to  this  new  enterprise  many  skilled  work- 
men, and  devoted  himself  intensely  to  its  develop- 
ment. The  immense  cost  of  so  large  an  establish- 
ment, and  of  the  expensive  machinery  necessary  for 
its  equipment,  exhausted  the  capital  and  embarrassed 
its  progress ;  and  the  stock,  the  par  value  of  which 
was  one  thousand  dollars  per  share,  sold  at  onetime  at 
as  low  a  price  as  one  hundred  dollars  and  less.  Mr. 
Lawrence,  the  president,  resolute  and  enterjjrising, 
had  no  idea  of  seeing  the  word  "  Fail "  inscribed  upon 
its  banner.  In  his  own  name  he  raised  the  amount 
necessary  to  carry  the  enterprise  forward,  and  was 
actively  and  earnestly  engaged  in  its  interest  till  his 
death,  in  1855. 

The  treasurer,  Mr.  Young,  died  in  1857,  and  after 
a  short  interval,  when  the  duties  of  treasurer  were 
performed  by  Mr.  George  H.  Kuhn,  J.  Wiley  Ed- 
mands  was  chosen  treasurer  and  manager.  Mr.  Ed- 
mands  received  his  mercantile  education  in  the  firm 
of  A.  &  A.  Lawrence,  and  his  thorough  mercantile 
knowledge  contributed  not  a  little  to  the  subsequent 
success.  Associated  with  him,  William  C.  Chapin 
came  in  1853  from  Providence  to  superintend  the 
print-works,  and  subsequently  became  resident  agent, 
while  the  selling  agents  of  the  manufactured  goods, 
who  also  furnished  the  designs  and  patterns,  were 
Messrs.  Jas.  L.  Little  &  Co.,  of  Boston,  thus  combining 
rare  financial  ability,  excellent  power  of  organization 
and  skill  in  manufacture  and  taste  in  adapting  manu- 
factured goods  to  the  wants  of  the  public,  combined 
with  forecast  and  sagacity  in  sales. 

Under  this  combination  the  mills  enjoyed  a  period 
of  unusual  success,  the  market   value  of  the  stock 


LAWRENCE. 


893 


more  than  doubling  in  value.  Mr.  Chapin  resigned 
in  1871,  having  been  agent  eighteen  years,  and  re- 
turned to  Providence,  and  Mr.  John  Fallen,  who  was 
his  successor  as  chemist  and  superintendent  of  the 
print-works,  became  acting  agent.  Mr.  Edmands 
died  in  1877,  and  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  James  L.  Lit- 
tle as  treasurer.  After  Mr.  Little's  resignation  and  re- 
tirement from  active  business  Mr.  Henry  Saltonstall 
was  chosen  treasurer ;  Mr.  Joseph  Stone,  superin- 
tendent of  the  Lower  or  new  Pacific  Mills,  and  Mr. 
Walter  E.  Parker,  superintendent  of  the  Upper  or  old 
mills. 

Thepresent  organization  is  as  below, — Henry  Salton- 
stall, treasurer  and  general  manager;  Henry  Daven- 
port, clerk  of  the  corporation ;  Walter  E.  Parker, 
superintendent  ol  mills ;  Charles  T.  Main,  assistant 
superintendent  of  Lower  Pacific;  Francis  H.  Silsbee, 
assistant  superintendent  of  Upper  Pacific;  Samuel 
Barlow,  superintendent  of  print-works. 

The  cashiers  resident  in  Lawrence  have  been  suc- 
cessively Rev.  Alexander  H.  Clapp,  D.D.,  now  treas- 
urer of  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society,  New 
York;  Ebenezer  T.  Colby,  who  enlisted  in  1862  in 
the  Union  Army, — captain  and  later  lieutenant-colo- 
nel of  his  regiment,  and  since  the  war  in  the  Custom 
House  at  Boston  ;  Benjamin  T.  Bourne  from  1862  to 
1866,  now  of  Providence,  R.  I. ;  John  R.  Rollins 
from  1866  to  1879;  and  the  present  cashier,  William 
P.  Anderson.  Within  the  past  few  years  extensive 
repairs  have  been  made,  new  buildings  erected,  and 
new  machinery  of  the  most  modern  and  improved 
kind^  furnished,  to  adapt  the  mills  to  the  demands  of 
the  time,  and  the  mills  are  in  a  high  state  of  efficien- 
cy and  prosperity. 

Hon.  J.  Wiley  Edmands  was  born  in  Boston  March 
1,  1809,  received  his  education  at  a  Boston  grammar 
school  and  entered  the  High  School  when  it  was 
founded,  in  1821.  On  leaving  school  he  entered  the 
employ  of  Messrs.  A.  &  A.  Lawrence,  was  gradually  pro- 
moted and  in  1830  became  a  member  of  the  firm.  In 
184.3  he  retired  from  the  firm  and  for  several  years 
was  interested  in  the  Maverick  Woolen  Mills  at  Ded- 
ham.  Ill  the  fall  election  of  1852  he  was  elected  to 
the  House  of  Representatives  in  Congress  and  served 
one  term  of  two  years,  declining  a  re-election.  He 
was  not  politically  ambitious,  and  though  often 
sought  for  poliiical  positions,  the  only  one  which  he 
accepted  was  that  of  Presidential  elector  in  the  elec- 
tion of  1868.  In  1855,  when  the  Pacific  Mills  stock 
was  at  its  lowest  ebb,  Mr.  Edmands,  whose  well- 
known  energy  and  capacity  were  fully  appreciated 
by  Mr.  Lawrence  and  the  other  owners,  was  requested 
to  take  the  Ireasurership  of  these  mills,  and  under 
his  management,  aided  cordially  by  others  associated 
with  him,  the  value  of  the  stock  had  advanced,  until 
at  the  time  of  his  decease  it  had  more  than  doubled 
in  value. 

His  counsel  was  sought  by  many  institutions  aside 
from   the  Pacific  Mills.     He  was  a  director  in  the 


Arkwright  Mutual  Fire  Insurance  Company ;  the 
Massachusetts  Hospital  Life  Insurance  Company  ; 
and  of  the  Suffolk  Bank ;  vice-president  of  the  Prov- 
ident Institution  for  Savings  in  Boston,  and  director 
and  at  one  time  treasurer  of  the  Ogdensburg  Railroad. 
His  position  also  for  several  years  as  president  of  the 
National  Association  of  Wool  Manufacturers  brought 
his  knowledge  into  requisition  and  enabled  him  to 
exert  a  powerful  influence  upon  national  legislation. 
Moderate  and  conservative,  he  believed  that  the  least 
protective  duties  should  be  imposed  that  would  suffice 
to  make  our  national  industry  independent,  and  it 
was  in  consequence  of  his  advocacy  of  equal  protec- 
tion to  agricultural  and  manufacturing  interests  that 
he  was  as  well  known  in  other  parts  of  the  country 
as  in  New  England. 

Mr.  Edmands  was  a  sterling  patriot  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Civil  War.  He  gave  his  time,  in- 
fluence and  money  to  the  support  of  the  government, 
and  on  the  successful  termination  of  the  war  he  was 
president  of  the  convention  at  Boston  which  nomi- 
nated General  Grant  for  the  Presidency. 

Resolute  and  determined,  he  bore  beneath  a  some- 
what stern  exterior  a  very  kind  and  benevolent  heart. 
This  was  manifest  in  his  management  of  the  people 
in  his  employ,  all  of  whom  not  only  respected  his 
great  ability,  but  had  equal  confidence  in  his  justice, 
and  there  were  no  more  sincere  mourners  at  his  fu- 
neral than  in  the  large  delegation  from  the  Pacific 
Mills. 

To  the  city  of  Newton,  where  he  resided,  he  gave 
toward  the  founding  of  a  public  library  ten  thousand 
dollars  for  the  building  and  five  thousand  dollars  for 
books,  and  an  annual  contribution  of  five  thousand 
dollars  subsequently. 

Mr.  Edmands  died  in  the  midst  of  usefulness,  but 
not  unexpectedly,  of  heart-disease,  January  31st,  1877. 
His  funeral,  which  took  place  February  3d,  was  largely 
attended  by  official  delegations  of  all  the  organiza- 
tions with  which  he  was  connected,  and  a  detachment 
of  the  Grand  Army  Post  of  Newton ;  the  flags  of 
Newton  were  placed  at  half-mast,  the  bells  tolled 
during  the  funeral  and  business  was  generally  sus- 
pended,— while  at  Lawrence  the  bells  of  the  Atlantic, 
Pacific  and  Washington  Mills  were  tolled  from  one  to 
two  o'clock. 

Lawrence  Duck  Company. — This  company  was 
incorporated  in  1852,  with  a  capital  of  three  hundred 
thousand  ;  par  value  of  the  shares,  one  thousand  dol- 
lars. The  original  owners  were  Albert  Fearing,  Isaac 
Thatcher  and  David  Wliiton. 

For  more  than  twenty-five  years  the  mill  was  man- 
aged by  Isaac  Thatcher,  the  treasurer,  and  Isaac  Hay- 
den  as  local  agent,  the  latter-named  being  a  man  of 
considerable  inventive  genius,  to  whom  the  company 
are  indebted  for  improvements  and  inventions  in  the 
machinery  used.  The  company  manufactures  cotton 
duck  of  several  varieties,  and  sail  twine,  the  duck 
manufactured  being  of  superior  quality  and  finding 


894 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


ready  sale.  The  quality  of  the  duck  for  sails  has  been 
well  tested  on  some  of  the  favorite  yachts, — "Astor's," 
the  "Coronet"  and  others, — and  large  amounts  of  min- 
ing duck  manufactured  here  have  been  used  in  Cali- 
fornia and  Australia.  Harvesting  duck  for  our  Wes- 
tern harvesting  machines,  paper-makers'  cotton  felts 
and  tent  duck  are  also  manufactured. 

Treasurer,  Aaron  Hobart;  agent,  William  A.  Bar- 
rell ;  paymaster,  W.  L.  S.  Gilchrist. 

The  Everett  Mills  Company  was  incorporated  in 

1860,  and  commenced  operations  in  the  summer  of 

1861,  having  purchased  the  large  stone  building  for- 
merly owned  by  the  Lawrence  Machine-Shop  Co. 
The  company  was  formed  through  the  efforts  of  Mr. 
Samuel  Batchelder,  one  of  the  pioneers  in  the  Lowell 
enterprise,  and  who,  in  the  early  days  of  Lowell,  was 
the  first  agent  of  the  Hamilton  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany at  Lowell,  1825  to  1831.  The  capital  stock  of 
the  company  is  $800,000 ;  the  number  of  employees, 
1050  (male,  400  ;  female,  650);  goods  manufactured, 
ginghams  and  a  general  variety  of  colored  fabrics  of 
cotton,  cottonade,  cheviots,  denims  and  dress  goods. 

The  agents  have  been  Daniel  D.  Crombie,  who  was 
subsequently  treasurer,  1871-78;  John  R.  Perry;  Da- 
vid M.  Ayer,  who  has  retired  to  the  independent  life 
of  a  farmer;  Charles  D.  McDufEe,  now  in  Manchester; 
and  his  son,  the  present  agent,  Fred.  C.  McDufhe. 
The  paymaster  for  a  long  period  was  William  A.  Bar- 
rell,  who  resigned  in  1880  to  accept  the  agency  of  the 
Lawrence  Duck  Company.  The  mill  has  83,280  spin- 
dles, 1014  looms,  1050  employees,  and  the  product 
amounts  to  over  10,000,000  yards  per  annum,  using 
upwards  of  3,000,000  pounds  of  cotton.  Incorpora- 
tors, James  Dana,  Samuel  Bab  and  Charles  W.  Cart- 
wright. 

The  power  is  furnished  by  three  turbine  wheels 
driven  by  water  from  the  Essex  Company's  canal,  the 
raceway  discharging  into  the  Spicket  River  near  its 
entrance  into  the  Merrimack.  The  present  manage- 
ment,— Eugene  H.  Sampson,  treasurer ;  Fred'k  C. 
McDuffie,  agent;  Isaac  Wynn,  superintendent; 
George  M.  Doe,  paymaster. 

Mr.  Samuel  Batchelder,  a  native  of  JafFrey,  N.  H., 
was  born  June  8,  1784,  died  February,  1879,  at  the 
age  of  ninety-four  years,  seven  months  and  twenty- 
eight  days.  For  a  large  part  of  his  life  he  had  been 
connected  with  cotton  manufacturing  interests  as  a 
proprietor  and  inventor.  As  early  as  1807  he  helped 
to  establish  and  took  charge  of  a  cotton-spinning  mill 
of  five  hundred  spindles  in  New  Ipswich,  N.  H.,  and 
soon  became  known  as  a  skillful  manufacturer,  eager 
to  discover  and  apply  improved  methods  in  what  was 
at  that  time  the  infancy  of  manufacturing  in  America. 
In  1825  he  was  called  upon  to  assist  in  the  establish- 
ment of  the  second  factory,  on  the  site  of  the  present 
city  of  Lowell,  the  Hamilton  Manufacturing  Compa- 
ny, and  was  agent  of  the  same  until  1831.  In  1837 
he  united  with  gentlemen  in  Boston  in  the  purchase 
of  the  water-power  and  in  laying  the  foundations  of 


another  manufacturing  city  at  Saco,  Me.  He  resign- 
ed in  1846  and  retired  to  his  home  in  Cambridge,  but 
not  for  the  quiet  retirement  that  he  anticipated.  He 
soon  became  interested  as  one  of  the  proprietors  in 
the  new  enterprise  at  Lawrence  in  1847,  and  in  1855 
again  took  charge  of  the  York  Mills  at  Saco,  and 
continued  treasurer  and  manager  of  these  mills  and 
of  the  Everett  at  Lawrence  as  long  as  he  was  able  to 
attend  to  active  business,  after  he  had  passed  his 
eightieth  year. 

The  Pemberton  Mill  Company  was  incorpor- 
ated in  1853,  and  the  mill  was  built  the  same  year. 
The  architecture  of  the  mill  varied  from  the  old  style 
of  mill-buildings,  and  on  its  completion  was  consid- 
ered a  model  of  beauty  for  a  building  of  that  charac- 
ter; it  was  built,  however,  at  an  unfortunate  period, 
and  owing  to  the  growing  depression  in  manufactur- 
ing interests,  which  culminated  in  1857,  its  early  years 
were  unsuccessful,  and  it  remained  idle  from  1857  to 
1859,  when  Mr.  David  Nevins  and  George  Howe  pur- 
chased the  entire  property  for  three  hundred  and 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  and  operated  the  new 
organization  under  the  name  of  the 

Pemberton  Manufacturing  Company.  It  con- 
tinued under  the  new  owners  until  the  10th  of  Janu- 
ary, 1860,  when,  without  a  moment's  warning,  the 
main  building  fell,  burying  beneath  its  ruins  about 
six  hundred  persons,  of  which  a  fuller  account  is  else- 
where given. 

The  Pemberton  Company,  of  which  David  Nev- 
ins,^ George  Blackburn  and  Ebeu  Sutton  ^  were  con- 
trolling owners,  rebuilt  the  mill  upon  the  old  founda- 
tions in  1860,  and  commenced  operations  in  1861. 
The  capital  stock  of  this  company  is  four  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars. 

The  resident  agent  of  the  original  company  was 
John  E.  Chase,  who  continued  in  the  service  of  the 
company  until  after  the  fall  of  the  mill,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  the  present  agent,  Frederick  E.  Clarke, 
who  was  the  first  pay)naster.  Mr.  (Jlarke  was  followed 
as  paymaster  by  Samuel  M.  Newhall,  who  died  in  the 
service.  The  present  company  has  been  quite  suc- 
cessful, interrupted  only  by  a  fire,  which  destroyed 
the  dye-house  in  1886. 

This  mill  manufactures  a  large  variety  of  cotton 
goods,  running  twenty-eight  thousand  spindles,  eight 
hundred  and  twenty-five  looms  and  employs  about 
eight  hundred  and  fifty  persons. 

Present  organization, — Henry  S.  Shaw,  treasurer  ; 
Frederick  E.  Clarke,  agent ;  Miss  E.  L.  Gleason, 
cashier. 

January  10,  1860,  is  memorable  in  the  annals  of 
Lawrence  for  one  of  the  most  appalling  calamities 
that  had  ever  occurred  in  New  England — the  fall  of 
the  Pemberton  mill.  There  were  in  the  employ  of 
the  company  at  this  time  nine  hundred  and  eighteen 
persons.       In  the  main  mill  about  six  hundred  were 

'  Deceased. 


LAWRENCE. 


895 


industriously  employed  at  their  work,  when,  at  about 
5  o'clock  P.M.,  in  less  time  than  it  takes  to  record  the 
fact,  the  entire  mill  was  a  mass  of  ruins,  with  the  six 
hundred  buried  in  the  wreck.  But  very  few  moments 
elapsed  before  the  whole  city  was  in  commotion  ; 
crowds  rushing  to  the  scene  in  an  agony  of  fear  and 
suspense  to  learn  the  fate  of  friends  and  relatives,  and 
the  ruins  were  as  rapidly  covered  with  volunteers 
equally  anxious  and  earnest  to  rescue.  Many  suc- 
ceeded in  working  their  way  out  unaided.  Others 
were  saved  by  herculean  efforts.  As  darkness  closed 
in,  lanterns  and  bonfires  became  necessary  (fortunately 
the  gas-lights  were  all  extinguished  by  the  fall  of  the 
mill)  and  the  work  continued  far  into  the  night,  and 
the  larger  number  had  either  escaped  or  had  been 
rescued,  when  the  cry  of  fire  in  the  ruins  sent  a  thrill 
of  horror  through  all,  as  it  was  known  that  several 
yet  remained,  unable  to  escape.  Determined  and  al- 
most superhuman  efforts  were  made  in  their  behalf; 
a  deluge  of  water  was  poured  into  the  ruins  from  the 
Washington  Mills,  the  Fire  Department  and  a  steam 
fire-engine  from  Manchester,  even  the  women  taking 
turns  at  the  brakes  to  relieve  the  wearied  firemen,  but 
all  efforts  were  unavailing.  Fourteen  perished  in  the 
flames.  Eighty- seven  in  all  were  killed  or  died  from 
injuries,  forty-three  others  were  severely  injured,  and 
of  these,  two  were  disabled  for  life.  The  remainder 
escaped  unhurt,  or  with  slight  wounds. 

The  City  Hall  was  immediately  opened  for  the  re- 
ception of  the  dead  and  wounded,  and  not  only  the 
physicians  of  the  city,  but  tho>e  of  neighboring 
towns,  and  others  passing  through  in  the  cars,  volun- 
teered their  services  and  worked  with  unceasing 
energy  for  the  relief  of  the  sufferers. 

Equally  prompt  were  the  tokens  of  sympathy  and 
pecuniary  aid  that. began  to  pour  in  from  all  quarters. 
The  very  next  morning  the  New  England  Society  of 
Manufacturers  started  a  subscription,  and  before  night 
two  thousand  dollars  were  placed  by  J.  Wiley  Ed- 
mands  in  the  hands  of  the  mayor,  on  the  next  day 
three  thousand  dollars  more  came,  and  the  society 
continued  to  send  till  their  donation  amounted  to  over 
nineteen  thousand  dollars.  Other  clubs  and  citizens 
of  Boston  increased  the  amount  to  nearly  twenty-eight 
thousand  dollars ;  the  chords  of  sympathy  were  touched 
throughout  the  land,  and  from  many  neighboring 
towns  and  cities,  not  only  in  Massachusetts,  but  m  the 
New  England  States,  from  New  York  and  Phila- 
delphia, and  from  the  distant  States  of  Indiana,  Ala- 
bama, Georgia,  North  Carolina  and  Kentucky,  from 
old  and  young,  from  Jew  and  Gentile,  came  words  of 
sympathy  and  contributions  of  money,  until,  the 
thirteenth  day  after  the  event,  the  mayor  and  trus- 
tees issued  a  circular  requesting  that  no  more  should 
be  sent.  The  total  amount  of  gifts  sent  amounted  to 
$65,579.29. 

The  committee  in  charge  of  the  funds  were  the 
mayor,  Hon.  Chas.  S.  Storrow,  Henry  K.  Oliver,  Wm. 
C.  Chapin  and  John  C.  Hoadley.     They  organized  on 


the  15th,  with  the  mayor,  Hon.  Daniel  Saunders,  Jr., 
as  chairman  ;  Chas.  S.  Storrow,  treasurer  ;  and  Pardon 
Armington,  clerk,  appointed  an  inspector  for  each 
ward  of  the  city,  who  should  devote  his  entire  time  to 
looking  after  the  wants  of  the  sufferers  in  his  district, 
—Sylvester  A.  Furbush  for  Ward  1,  J.  Q.  A.  Batchel- 
der  for  Ward  2,  Wm.  D.  Joplin  for  Ward  3,  Henry 
Withington  for  Ward  4,  Elbridge  Weston  for 
Ward  5,  and  Daniel  Saunders  for  Ward  6. 

On  the  16th  of  January  the  committee  requested  of 
the  Pemberton  Company  the  use  of  one  of  their 
boaixiing-houses  for  a  hospital  for  those  who  could  not 
be  properly  cared  for  at  their  own  lodgings.  While 
they  were  debating  the  method  of  managing  this,  a 
letter  was  received  from  Mr.  James  M.  Barnard,  a 
Boston  merchant,  piroposing  to  come  with  a  corps  of 
nurses  and  physicians  at  his  own  expense,  and  to  ap- 
ply his  aid  wherever  it  would  be  most  efficient.  Mr. 
Barnard  conducted  the  "  Home  "  for  more  than  three 
mouths,  assisted  by  Dr.  J.  H.  Morse  as  attending  phy- 
sician, and  ladies  from  Boston  and  Lawrence,  at  an 
expense  to  himself  of  nearly  one  thousand  dollars. 

In  regard  to  the  cause  of  the  fire,  but  for  which 
fourteen  more  lives  could  have  been  saved,  it  should 
be  stated,  as  it  has  not  been,  that,  at  the  thoughtful 
suggestion  of  the  mayor  (Mr.  Saunders),  tlie  kerosene 
lanterns  in  use  on  the  ruins  had  all  been  carried  off 
and  exchanged  for  sperm-oil  lanterns,  as  less  liable 
to  cause  accident.  Notwithstanding  this,  a  lantern 
was  subsequently  broken  and  probably  ignited  readily 
the  floating  cotton  dust,  and  with  fatal  results. 

An  inquest  was  held,  commencing  Thursday  morn- 
ing, January  12th,  over  the  bodies  of  those  killed  by 
the  catastrophe,  and  a  large  amount  of  evidence  was 
taken,  occupying  the  time  of  ten  days.  Much  contra- 
dictory testimony  was  brought  forward,  almost  every 
witness  having  a  theory  of  his  own.  Some  thought 
the  foundations  were  not  sufficiently  strong  and  that 
they  were  not  deep  enough ;  but  an  examination  by 
experts  showed  that  the  foundations  were  in  perfect 
condition  and  undisturbed,  and  the  mill  was  subse- 
quently rebuilt  upon  them.  One  or  two  masons 
testified  that  the  mortar  in  the  walls  was  not  good 
and  that  it  had  to9  large  a  proportion  of  sand  ;  three 
other  practical  builders  of  great  experience  stated  an 
entirely  contrary  opinion ;  others  thought  the  walls 
were  not  thick  enough,  but  one  of  the  ablest  engi- 
neers, who  stands  at  the  head  of  his  profession,  and 
who  has  had  a  life-time  of  practical  experience,  testi- 
fied that,  in  his  judgment,  if  the  columns  had  been 
good,  the  walls  would  have  been  safe,  and  that  the 
perfect  running  of  the  lines  (of  shafting)  (and  it  ap- 
peared in  evidence  that  the  machinery  had  never 
been  running  more  perfectly  during  the  six  years 
it  had  been  in  operation  than  it  was  running  at 
the  time  of  the  fall)  would  give  him  additional  con- 
fidence, if  he  felt  any  apprehension,  while  it  would 
be  a  powerful  argument  that  the  trouble  did  not 
originate  in  the  walls.    And  still  another  experienced 


89  6 


HISTOKY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


engineer  testified  that  if  the  floors  should  fall,  they 
would  bring  down  the  walls  if  they  were  twice  as 
thick. 

A  large  number  of  witnesses  testified  to  the  imper- 
fect character  of  the  cast-iron  pillars,  the  remains  of 
which  were  found  in  the  ruins ;  and,  in  fact,  the 
broken  columns  exhibited  to  the  jury  were  the  best 
witnesses  of  all — very  many  of  them  showing  great 
inequality  of  thickness,  some  being  on  one  feide  no 
more  than  one-eighth  of  an  inch  in  thickness.  The 
question  was  asked,  "  Why  was  not  as  much  care 
taken  in  the  selection  of  the  columns  as  in  the  other 
parts  of  the  mill  ?"  The  answer  to  this  may  be  found 
in  the  testimony. 

Mr.  Geo.  W.  Smith  testified  that  he  was  a  dealer  in 
general  wrought-iron  works  for  store-fronts,  &c.,  and 
had  had  a  great  deal  of  experience  in  erecting  cast- 
iron  pillars;  he  never  applied  any  tests. 

Mr.  Joslyn,  superintendent  of  a  foundry  in  Law- 
rence and  previously  at  Lowell,  testified  that  the 
casting  must  have  been  badly  done  :  "  one  so  bad  as 
the  one  exhibited  we  could  have  discovered  and 
should  have  broken  it  up  ;  all  our  pillars  are  tested  " 
[i.  e.,  before  they  leave  the  foundry). 

Mr.  Hoadlcy,  superintendent  of  the  Lawrence  Ma- 
chine-Shop, testified  that  he  had  visited  the  ruijs  and 
seen  three  pillars,  which,  if  properly  tested,  should 
have  been  rejected.  "I should  not  willingly  send  out 
such  columns  myself." 

Mr.  Hinchley,  superintendent  of  the  Merrimac 
Manufacturing  Company,  at  Lowell,  described  the 
pillars  used  at  the  Merrimac — they  were  tested  at  the 
machine-shop;  "  we  never  used  any  test  ourselves." 

Mr.  Burke,  superiutendent  of  the  Lowell  Machine- 
Shop,  testified,  ''  No  test  is  employed  for  pillars,  ex- 
ceijt  such  as  they  receive  when  the  core  is  extracted, 
the  casting  being  slung  up  and  rapped  to  loosen  the 
core.  The  pillar  from  the  Pemberton  has  the  appear- 
ance of  being  defective  from  want  of  care  in  securing 
the  core;  never  knew  of  any  pillars  from  our  foundry 
broken  after  they  were  set  up ;  have  had  some 
returned  because  they  were  crooked,  caused  probably 
by  inequality  of  thickness  of  the  opposite  sides." 

Mr.  James  B.  Francis  testified,  '.'  As  far  as  I  know, 
there  has  been  no  method,  in  Lowell,  of  testing  col- 
umn.s  ;  this  is  the  first  time  I  ever  heard  or  read  of  an 
iron  column  breaking." 

From  all  the  above  testimony  it  is  very  evident  that 
columns  of  cast-iron  receive  whatever  test  is  given 
them  at  the  foundry.  The  columns  used  in  the  Pem- 
berton received  the  ordinary  inspection  ;  no  crooked 
ones  were  used  ;  they  were  received  in  good  faiih 
from  what  was  presumed  to  be  a  reliable  foundry  ; 
the  result  proved  far  otherwise,  notwithstanding  the 
agent's  letter  to  Mr.  Putman  given  in  the  evidence, 
stating  that  they  wqyq  first-rate  cohimns;  and  a  very 
significant  fact  in  connection  with  them  is,  that  the 
founders  could  not  be  found,  to  be  summoned  before 
the  jury. 


The  jury  found,  in  their  verdict,  that  the  cause 
of  the  fall  of  the  mill  was  found  in  the  defective 
columns,  and  then,  notwithstanding  the  preceding 
evidence,  laid  the  responsibility  of  the  fall  of  the 
building  upon  the  engineer,  Capt.  Bigelow,  for  not 
doing  what  no  one  else  had  ever  thought  of  doing 
before. 

On  the  strength  of  that  verdict  (presumably)  Mr. 
Nason,  in  his  "Gazetteer  of  Massachusetts,"  published 
1874,  speaking  of  the  Pemberton  Mill,  says  the 
"  original  structure  was  built  by  an  incompetent  archi- 
tect," and  then,  in  speaking  of  the  Pacific  Mills,  says, 
"  They  occupy  a  vast  area  and  present  a  very  impos- 
ing appearance,  and  taken  together  exhibit  much 
architectural  beauty  and  in  their  colossal  proportions 
indicate  the  vast  design,  &c.''  He  does  not,  however, 
seem  to  be  aware  that  these  colossal  mills,  as  well  as 
the  Atlantic  Mills,  the  Lawrence  Machine-Shop  and 
the  duck-mill,  were  all  built  by  the  same  "incom- 
petent architect." 

Of  the  killed  by  the  fall  of  the  Pemberton  Mill, 
thirteen  were  mutilated  past  recognition.  For  these 
a  burial-lot  was  purchased  in  Bellevue  Cemetery,  and 
they  were  buried  Sunday,  March  4,  1860,  Rev. 
Messrs.  Packard  and  Fisher  conducting  the  services. 

A  plain  granite  monument  marks  their  resting- 
place,  bearing  the  following  inscription  : 

"  In  nieniory  of  (he 

Unrecognized  dead, 

Who  were  killed  by  the  fall  of  the  Pemberton  Mill, 

January  10,  1800." 

For  the  two  persons  who  were  permanently  dis- 
abled annuities  in  trust  were  purchased  by  a  deposit 
of  $14,000  with  the  Massachusetts  Hospital  Life  In- 
surance Company,  in  two  separate  sums  of  $C500  and 
$7500,  to  create  these  annuities  of  $350  and  $400,  to 
be  paid  in  quarterly  payments  to  the  annuitants  for 
the  remainder  of  their  lives.  The  provisions  of  this 
trust  are  best  shown  in  Mr.  Storrow's  own  words  in 
his  final  report, — 

"For  persons  in  the  enjoyment  of  ordinary  health,  the  purchase  of  an 
annuitj-  is  a  very  simple  matter.  The  tables  of  mortality  show  with  suf- 
ficient accuracy  their  chance  of  life  according  to  their  age,  and  the  pay- 
ment once  fur  all  of  a  certain  sum  purchases  for  them  an  annuity  of  a 
stipulated  amount  to  be  paid  to  them  for  life.  But  what  human  sagacity 
could  calculate  the  chance  of  life  of  these  two  young  persons  in  our 
charge  ?  Would  it  be  one  year  or  fifty  ?  How  could  we  balance  on  th* 
one  hand  the  effect  of  wounded  limbs,  of  consequent  disease,  of  long-con- 
tinued suffering,  and,  on  the  other,  the  restoring  power  of  youth,  of  pa- 
tience and  of  comfortable  homes?  It  was  evidently  impossible  to  pur- 
chase outright  these  annuities,  because  it  was  evidently  impossible  to  es- 
timate their  duration  or  calculate  their  value.  The  only  mode  to  pro- 
vide for  these  persons  was  by  annuities  in  trust — that  is,  by  deposits,  tb© 
income  of  which  should  be  paid  to  them  as  long  as  they  live. 

"  ]5ut  a  difficulty  here  arose.  Upon  the  death  of  an  annuitant  in 
trust,  the  sum  deposited  reverts  to  the  person  who  placed  it  originally, 
or  to  such  persons  as  he  may  direct  in  the  deed  of  trust.  This  event  may 
not  happen  for  fifty  years,  and  where  will  the  committee  be  then  ?  The 
poor  patients  may  outlive  us  all.  To  provide  for  this  contingency,  it  was 
determined  that  upon  tlie  decease  of  either  of  the  two  annuitants,  the 
principal  sum  should  bo  ])aiil  to  the  members  of  the  committee,  or  the 
survivors  or  survivor  of  tliem,  or  to  the  executors  or  administrators  of 
the  last  survivor,  and  by  them  be  appropriated  to  such  charitable  pur- 
pose  or  purposes  as  shall   be  appointed  in  writing  by  the  actuary  o' 


LAWRENCE. 


897 


the  Massachusetts  Hospital  Life  Insurance  Company,  the  mayor  of  the 
city  of  Lawrence  for  the  time  being,  and  the  president  of  the  Essex 
Savings  Banlv,  or  any  two  of  them,  in  such  manner  as  they  shall  deenj 
most  conformable  to  the  original  charity  fer  whicli  the  moneys  were 
contributed. 

"  By  this  arrangement  we  secure  to  our  annuitants  what  is  necessary 
for  their  comfort  as  long  as  they  live,  without  paying  at  the  outset  an 
exorbitant  price.  We  provide  that  upon  their  decease  the  amount  no 
longer  needed  for  their  benetit  shall  again  be  applied  to  the  charitable 
purposes  for  which  it  was  intended,  and  that  this  shall  be  done  under 
the  direction  of  three  persons  who  must  all  be  in  existence,  whatever 
may  be  the  uncertainty  of  human  life,  two  of  whom,  from  the  offices 
they  hold,  must  inevitably  be  persons  especially  fit  to  discharge  the 
duties  of  a  triist,  and  the  third  of  whom  is  the  principal  representative 
of  the  city  whose  people  were  the  objects  of  the  original  charity.  Be- 
yond all  this,  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  has  power  to  regulate  and  en 
force  the  execution  of  this  tn.st  if  it  should  ever  hereafter  become  neces- 
sary to  do  so." 

The  Lawrence  Woolen-Mill,  kuowu  familiarl.\ 
as  Perry's  Mill,  was  projected  by  Captain  Oliver  H. 
Perry,  and  the  company  was  incorporated  in  1864  with 
a  capital  stock  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars. 
This  mill  contained  about  three  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty  spindles  and  forty-seven  looms,  and 
furnished  employment  to  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  persons.  The  product  was  a  variety  of  fancy 
woolens,  especially  cloakings  and  shawls.  Captain 
Perry,  its  founder,  was  a  son  of  Commodore  Oliver 
Hazard  Perry,  and  for  a  considerable  time  followed 
the  profession  of  his  father,  being  an  officer  in  the 
United  States  Navy.  In  the  Mexican  War  he  com- 
manded a  naval  battery  at  the  storming  and  capture 
of  Vera  Cruz.  He  resigned  his  position  in  the  navy 
in  1847,  and  gave  his  attention  to  the  peaceful  pur- 
suits of  industry.  In  1848  he  accepted  the  agency  ol 
the  Middlesex  Mills  at  Lowell,  where  he  remained 
till  he  became  agent  of  the  Bay  State  Mills  at  Law- 
rence in  1850.  In  1856  he  became  a  partner  in  the 
house  of  Lawrence,  Stone  &  Co.,  the  selling  agents  ol 
the  Middlesex  and  Bay  Slate  Mills.  On  the  failure 
of  that  firm  in  the  depressed  times  of  1857,  he  was  re- 
tained as  manfacturing  and  purchasing  agent  of  the 
Middlesex,  and  in  connection  with  Mr.  R.  Wendell 
as  selling  agent.  In  1862  the  firm  of  Perry  &  Wen- 
dell was  formed,  enlarged  by  the  addition  of  Mr.  S. 
W.  Fay  in  1869.  Captain  Perry  continued  to  operate 
the  Lawrence  Woolen-Mill  until  his  death,  August 
30,  1878.  The  paymaster  and  book-keeper  was 
Augustus  J.  Shove,  who  continued  in  the  employ  of 
the  company  till  his  decease,  June  17,  1885.  The 
original  company  has  been  dissolved,  and  it  is  now  a 
private  enterprise,  organized  1886,  owned  by  Messrs. 
Phillips  &  Kunhardt,  of  New  York.  Mr.  George  E. 
Kunhardt  is  the  local  manager,  and  the  goods  are 
sold  in  New  York  by  Mr.  F.  Stanhope  Phillips,  also 
the  financial  manager.      Frank  E.  King,  pay-master. 

The  Arlington  Mills,  the  youngest  of  the  large 
corporations  of  Lawrence,  is  located  on  the  Spicket 
River,  occupying  the  site  of  the  Stevens  Piano-Forte 
Factory. 

The   power   of  the    river   at  this   point  was  used 
nearly  sixty  years  since  by  Mr.  Abiel  Stevens,  and  a 
mill  built  for  the  construction  of  piano-forte  cases. 
57 


After  the  sale  of  the  property  by  Mr.  Stevens  the 
buildings  were  used  successively  for  the  manufacture 
of  hats,  then  for  the  manufacture  of  flax  and  for  other 
purposes  until  1865,  when  the  Arlington  Woolen- 
Mills  were  incorporated,  the  stockholders  and  incor- 
porators being  Robert  M.  Bailey  (formerly  in  busi- 
ness in  Lawrence),  Charles  A.  Lombard,  Joseph 
Nickerson  and  George  C.  Bosson. 

The  original  capital  of  the  mills  was  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  The  following  year,  1866,  the 
buildings  were  entirely  destroyed  by  fire.  A  new  mill 
was  built  in  1867,  and  the  capital  stock  was  increased 
to  two  hundred  and  forty  thousand  dollars.  In  1869, 
the  company  having  suffered  severe  losses,  the  stock- 
holders paid  in  the  whole  amount  of  two  hundred 
and  forty  thousand  dollars  of  the  then  existing  capi- 
tal stock,  and  changed  the  management  of  the  mills 
by  the  election  of  Joseph  Nickerson  for  president, 
and  William  Whitman  treasurer  and  manager,  under 
whose  management  the  company  has  made  great  ad- 
vances, additional  buildings  have  been  erected,  and 
the  corporation  at  the  present  time  is  one  of  the  most 
flourishing  in  the  city.  The  capital  stock  has  been 
increased  to  one  million  five  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars. 

The  articles  now  made  by  this  company  are  fine 
cotton  and  fine  worsted  yarns  for  manufacturers'  uses, 
women's  worsted  and  cotton  dress-goods,  fine  all- 
wool  dress-goods  and  worsted  suitings,  also  black  and 
colored  alpacas  and  mohairs,  for  all  of  which  the 
company  has  established  an  enviable  reputation. 
Mr.  Joseph  Nickerson  died  February  29,  1880,  and 
was  succeeded  as  president  by  his  eldest  son,  Albert 
W.  Nickerson,  who  now  fills  this  ofiiice.  The  other 
executive  officers  are:  William  Whitman,  treasurer; 
William  D.  Hartshorne,  worsted  superintendent; 
Charles  Wainwright,  paymaster ;  Robert  Redford, 
superintendent  cotton  department ;  James  M.  Beeley, 
paymaster. 

Lawrence  Gas  Company. — The  works  of  this 
company  were  built  by  the  Essex  Company,  the  Bay 
State  Mills  and  the  Atlantic  Cotton-Mills,  at  their 
joint  expense,  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  themselves 
with  light,  each  company  paying  towards  the  expense 
of  their  erection  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  their 
paid  capital  stock.  The  company  was  afterward  in- 
corporated in  1849,  with  a  capital  of  forty  thousand 
dollars ;  this  has  been  increased  from  time  to  time, 
with  the  growth  and  increasing  demands  of  the  city, 
to  four  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  the  works  have 
been  proportionately  extended.  The  first  agent  was 
Henry  G.  Webber,  succeeded  in  1853  by  George  D. 
Cabot,  to  whose  thorough  and  efficient  supervision 
are  due  the  improvements  and  extension  of  the  origi- 
nal plant.  The  company  has  now  thirty  miles  of 
mains,  seventeen  miles  of  service  pipe,  and  two 
thousand  five  hundred  meters.  The  retort-house 
contains  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  retorts,  capa- 
ble of  producing  seven  hundred  thousand  cubic  feet 


898 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


of  gas  in  twenty-four  hours,  and  holders  of  a  capacity 
of  seven  hundred  thousand  feet  for  storing  gas.  The 
amount  of  coal  used  per  annum  is  ten  thousand  tons, 
and  in  purifying  the  gas  ten  thousand  bushels  of  lime 
and  three  thousand  bushels  of  oxide  of  iron  are  used. 
Mr.  Cabot  resigned  the  agency  in  1884,  after  a  service 
of  thirty-one  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  C.  J.  E. 
Humphreys,  the  present  agent. 

Lawrence  had  two  electric  light  companies,  one  of 
which,  the  Lawrence  Electric  Light  Company,  has 
been  absorbed  by  the  gas  company,  who  will  here- 
after furnish  the  electric  light  to  those  who  desire  it  ; 
and  the  Edison  Electric  Light  Company,  by  whom  all 
the  streets  and  many  private  establishments  are  at 
present  lighted. 

The  Wright  Manufacturing  Company. — This 
company  originated  in  1864,  when  Algernon  S. 
Wright,  then  head  mechanic  of  the  Atlantic  Mills, 
proposed  to  Mr.  A.  W.  fStearus  and  Dr.  A.  J.  French 
to  become  partners  in  the  manufacture  of  woolen 
yarn,  and  a  copartnership  was  formed  under  the 
name  of  the  Wright  Manufacturing  Company,  and 
a  mill  was  leased.  The  idea  of  making  yarn  was 
abandoned,  and  instead,  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr. 
Stearns,  the  mill  was  equipped  with  machinery  for 
making  braids.  The  building  now  owned  by  the 
company  is  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long  and 
three  stories  high,  and  has  increased  from  fifty 
braiding  machines  to  eight  hundred. 

The  company  was  incorporated  in  1874,  with  a 
capital  of  sixty  thousand  dollars,  and  organized  by  the 
choice  of  Dr.  French  president,  Mr.  Wright  super- 
intendent, and  Mr.  Stearns  treasurer  and  selling 
agent,  who  continues  in  that  office  to  the  present 
time.  A  large  variety  of  braids  is  manufactured, 
especially  mohair  trimming  braid,  made  at  first  on 
imported  English  machinery,  but  recently  by  de- 
vices which  adapt  the  common  braiding  machinery  to 
the  production  of  the  mohair.  These  devices  have 
been  perfected  and  ]iatented  by  the  company. 
Number  of  people  employed,  one  hundred  and  fifty. 
Goods  manufactured,  five  hundred  thousand  dollars 
annually.  A.  S.  Wright,  president ;  A.  W.  Stearns, 
treasurer  and  selling  agent;  William  L.  Warden, 
clerk. 

The  Merrimac  Braid  Mill  has  more  re- 
cently been  established,  and  is  under  the  direction 
of  E.  W.  Pierce. 

The  Globe  Worsted  Mills,  taking  their  power 
from  the  Spicket  River,  manufacture  worsted  carpet 
yarns  of  all  description,  and  employ  about  one  hun- 
dred persons — Thomas  Clegg,  treasurer;  Samuel 
Robinson,  agent ;  Herbert  Robinson,  superintend- 
ent. 

The  Prospect  Worsted  Mills,  owned  by 
Frederick  Butler  and  Samuel  Robinson,  formerly 
located  on  the  Lower  Canal,  and  later  on  the  Spick- 
et River,  now  grown  to  larger  proportions,  occupy 
a  fine  mill  on  the  South  Canal,  employ  two  hundred 


hands,  and  their  monthly  product  amounts  to  forty 
thousand  dollars ;  manufacture  fine  worsted  yarns, 
using  about  eight  hundred  thousand  to  one  million 
pounds  of  wool  per  annum. 

The  Butler  File  CompA-NY,  originated  by  James 
and  Frederick  Butler  in  1844,  and  introduced  in 
Lawrence  in  earlier  days,  is  now  owned  and  operat- 
ed by  G.  M.  Murray  &  Co.,  and  manufactures 
hand-cut  files  and  rasps  of  every  variety.  They 
employ  fifteen  men,  manufacture  monthly  three 
hundred  dozen  files,  using  for  this  purpose  forty-five 
tons  of  steel  per  annum. 

Lawrence  Flyer  and  Spindle  Works  are 
situated  on  the  North  Canal,  and  commenced  work 
in  18(32,  as  a  private  enterprise;  organized  as  a 
stock  company  in  1807,  with  a  capital  of  fifty 
thousand  dollars.  They  were  at  first  engaged  main- 
ly in  the  manufacture  of  flyers  and  spindles,  the  in- 
vention of  Oliver  Pearl,  of  the  Atlantic  Cotton  Mills, 
in  addition  to  which  they  now  manufacture  skein 
winders,  card  strippers,  Jacquard  and  shedding 
engines  for  fancy  weaving,  and  other  cotton  ma- 
chinery— Treasurer,  Joseph  P.  Battles;  Superintend- 
ent, George  F.  Barker. 

The  Lawrence  Coffee  and  Spice  Mills,  G. 
H.  Hadley  &  Co.,  i)roprietors,  have  been  in  success- 
ful operation  for  several  years. 

Downing  Ruhber  Company,  L.  H.  Downing 
manager,  manufactures  gossamer  clothing,  estab- 
lished 1882  ;  monthly  product,  twelve  hundred  gar- 
ments ;  employing  twelve  hands. 

Stanley  Manufacturing  Company. — The 
buildings  owned  by  this  company  were  built  by  Gor- 
don McKay,  for  the  manufacture  of  the  well-known 
McKay  sewing-machines.  The  Stanley  Manufactur- 
ing Company  was  incorporated  1882,  with  a  capital  of 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  A.  P.  Tapley,  presi- 
dent; F.  F.Stan  ley,  treasurer;  men  employed,  onehun- 
dred  and  eighty.  They  manufacture  McKay  sewing- 
machines,  the  McKay  and  Bigelow  heeling-ma- 
chines, and  the  McKay  and  Co])eland  lasting-ma- 
chines, also  screw-machines,  and  a  general  line  of 
shoe  machinery.  The  agent  resident  in  Lawrence 
is  Mr.  M.  V.  B.Paige;  Paymaster,  Charles  E.  Hardy. 

Card  Clothing. — D.  Frank  Robinson  commenced 
business  in  1857,  occupying  for  many  years  a  wood- 
en building  on  Broadway  near  Essex  Street.  He 
has  recently  built  a  fine  brick  building  in  the  same 
street,  where  are  employed  eighty-two  machines 
operated  by  twenty  persons.  The  product  of  these 
machines  is  eighty  thousand  square  feet  of  clothing 
per  annum.  Leather  used  annually,  twelve  thou- 
sand sides;  cloth  rubber,  two  thousand  squai'e  yards; 
wire,  thirty-six  tons.  Mr.  Albert  Warren  (mayor 
1866)  was  at  one  time  associated  with  Mr.  Robin- 
son. Card  clothing  was  also  manufactured  here  for 
many  years  by  Messrs.  Stedman  &  Fuller.  The 
partnership  was  dissolved,  and  the  business  was 
conducted    by    the    Stedman    &    Fuller    Manufac- 


LAWRENCE. 


899 


turing  Company,  since  removed  to  Providence, 
Rhode  Island. 

Beside  the  Lawrence  Flyer  and  Spindle  Works, 
named  above,  there  were  other  works  for  similar 
purposes — James  MoCormick  &  Co.,  manufac- 
turing six  to  eight  hundred  flyers  and  pressers 
for  cotton  flyers  per  month,  and  employing  six  men  ; 
and  Thomas  Hall,  manufacturer  of  flyers,  spin- 
dles and  caps,  to  which  are  added  some  specialties 
and  improvements  of  his  own  invention. 

Lawrknce  Bleachery,  established  1877,  by 
Nathaniel  W.  Farwell  &  Son.  The  bleachery  and 
dye  works  are  located  on  the  South  Canal,  employ 
one  hundred  men,  and  have  a  monthly  product  of 
one  million  five  hundred  thousand  yards  of  bleached 
goods,  and  five  hundred  thousand  yards  of  colored 
goods — Kirk  W.  Moses,  superintendent. 

Spicket  Mill,  operated  by  John  W.  Barlow, 
manufactures  belt-lacing,  picker  straps,  rawhide 
baskets,  worsted  aprons  and  worsted  rolls. 

Wamesit  Mill,  situated  on  the  Spicket  River, 
was  formerly  used  for  the  manufacture  of  leather 
board  by  George  Ed.  Davis,  who  removed  to  Maine, 
and  was  succeeded  by  W.  B.  Hayden  &  Co.,  who 
carried  on  similar  business.  It  is  now  used  as  a 
shoddy  mill  operated  by  Tower,  Wing  &  Co. 

The  Lawrence  Machine  Company  was  incor- 
porated 1882.  Their  works  are  located  on  the 
North  Canal,  where  are  manufactured  printing 
presses,  dynamometers,  centrifugal  pumps,  etc. 
Eighty  persons  are  employed  here,  and  the  monthly 
product  is  about  fifty  thousand  pounds  of  machinery. 
Treasurer,  A.  A.  Brooks ;  Superintendent,  William 
O.  Webber. 

The  Merrimac  Machine-Shop  is  a  private  en- 
terprise ;  Albert  Blood,  proprietor ;  commenced  busi- 
ness in  1853.  From  twelve  to  twenty  persons  are 
employed  here  in  the  manufacture  of  heavy  iron- 
work, dye-house  machinery,  steam-engines,  steam 
fire  pumps,  etc.  This  is  an  outgrowth  of  the  old 
Lawrence  Machine  Shop,  Mr.  Blood  being  formerly 
in  charge  of  the  building  of  woolen  machinery  in 
that  establishment. 

Other  private  establishments  for  the  manufacture 
and  repair  of  machinery  are  those  of, — 

Stedman  &  Smith,  established  1882,  manufactur- 
ing worsted  machinery  and  employing  twenty  men; 
monthly  production,  twenty-five  hundred  dollars. 

Webster  &  Dustin,  located  on  the  North  Canal, 
manufacture  shafting  and  gearing  and  all  varieties  of 
mill  work. 

Joseph  E.  Watts,  machinist  and  brass  finisher  and 
manufacturer  of  steam  and  water-pressure  regulators 
of  his  own  invention,  which  are  extensively  used. 

Edward  McCabe,  boiler-maker  and  manufacturer 
of  bleachers  and  oil  tanks,  employing  twenty  men. 

Williams  &  Smith  manufacture  many  varieties  of 
mill  and  other  machinery. 

John  H.  Horne  &  Sons,  have  recently  erected 


a  large  shop  in  South  Lawrence  for  the  manufacture 
of  paper-mill  machinery,  in  which  they  have  been  en- 
gaged many  years. 

Lawrence  Line  Co.,  manufacturers  of  braided 
and  laid  cotton  lines,  and  silk  fish-lines;  bleached  and 
unbleached  chalk-lines.  Established  1881 ;  employ 
twenty  hands.  Hiram  F.  Mills,  president ;  L.  S.  Mills, 
treasurer;  J.  Marston,  clerk. 

Archibald  Wheel  Co.  manufactures  iron-hubbed 
wheels  by  Archibald's  patent  process.  Nine-tenths  of 
the  wheels  in  use  on  steam  fire-engines  in  the  United 
States  are  of  this  manufacture,  and  have  been  adopted 
to  a  certain  extent  after  severe  tests  by  the  United 
States  government.  D.  Arthur  Brown,  president; 
Hezekiah  Plummer,  treasurer ;  E.  A.  Archibald,  sup- 
erintendent.    Capital,  $GO,000. 

Lawrence  has  three  iron  foundries, — the  Merrimac 
Iron  Foundry,  founded  early  by  Elbridge  Joslyn  and 
Alvah  Bennett,  at  present  managed  by  William  H. 
Joslyn ;  the  foundry  of  Edmund  Davis  &  Son  on  the 
North  Canal,  now  managed  by  George  E.  Davis,  and 
the  foundry  of  Webster  &  Joslyn,  located  on  the 
Spicket  River. 

Here  are  also  two  brass  foundries,  one  established 
by  James  Byrom  and  one  of  more  recent  date  by  E. 
T.  Davis. 

The  L.  Spragite  Shuttle  Co.,  established  by  Levi 
Sprague  &  Co.  (1864),  for  the  purpose  of  making 
bobbins  and  spools  for  textile  manufacturing  pur- 
poses. The  business  was  commenced  in  a  small  wooden 
building,  which  has  given  way  to  a  two-story  brick 
building,  one  hundred  by  fifty  feet,  in  which  shuttle 
manufacturing  has  been  added  to  the  other  business. 
From  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  men 
are  employed. 

The  Union  Shuttle  Co.  manufacture  power-loom 
shuttles  of  every  description,  also  bobbins  and  spools 
and  patent  expanding  cop-spindles.  F.  G.  Page, 
agent;  George  F.  Barber,  treasurer. 

Other  manufacturers  of  bobbins  are  Samuel  E.  Bass, 
William  E.  Bass  and  Messrs.  T.  J.  Hale  &  Co. ;  the 
latter,  established  1881,  employs  twenty  to  thirty 
hands  and  manufactures  from  one  hundred  thousand 
to  three  hundred  thousand  bobbins  monthly. 

Loom  harness  is  also  manufactured  here  by  Thomas 
Clegg,  employing  fourteen  hands  and  with  a  monthly 
product  of  two  thousand  dollars;  Emmons  Loom 
Harness  Co.  (T.  A.  Emmons,  treasurer),  employing 
sixty  men  ;  and  Joseph  Sladdin. 

Leather  belting  is  manufactured  by  Charles  L.  Place 
and  by  E.  F.  Page  &  Co. 

Roll  covering  is  also  carried  on  by  F.  W.  McLana- 
than,  who  employs  thirty  men,  and  by  Robert  P.  Burn- 
ham. 

The  car-shop  of  the  Boston  &  Maine  Railroad  em- 
ploys one  hundred  and  forty  men  in  the  manufacture 
of  freight  and  passenger  cars. 

Lawrence  has  one  brewery,  owned  and  operated  by 
Messrs.  Stanley  &  Co.,  for  the  manufacture  of  ale, 


900 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


porter  and  lager  beer,  and  has  a  capacity  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty  barrels  per  day. 

Several  cracker  bakeries,  the  largest  that  of  Kent  & 
Bruce,  sending  out  four  thousand  barrels  of  crackers 
per  month. 

The  brush  factory  of  John  H.  Stafford  produces 
twenty  gross  of  brushes  per  month. 

A  broom  and  basket  factory  is  operated  by  Collins 
Brothers  (T.  F.  and  J.  H.  Collins). 

Beach  Soap  Co.  (Lurandus  Beach,  proprietor)  is 
one  of  the  oldest  establishments  in  Lawrence,  furnish- 
ing employment  to  twenty  men,  manufacturing  family 
and  toilet  soaps,  also  scouring  and  fulling  soaps.  The 
monthly  product  amounting  to  twelve  thousand  dol- 
lars monthly.  This  business  was  originally  established 
by  Beach  &  Varney. 

Briggs  &  Allyn  Manufacturing  Co.  manufac- 
ture doors,  sashes,  blinds,  mouldings,  frames  and  all 
descriptions  of  house  finishings,  also  counters,  tables, 
furniture,  etc.  The  company  is  thoroughly  provided 
with  tools  for  the  manufacture  of  every  variety  of 
wood-work,  employing  from  forty  to  seventy  men,  and 
turns  out  monthly  abovit  seventy-five  hundred  dollars 
worth  of  finished  work. 

Lawrence  Lumber  Co.— The  territory  occupied 
by  this  company  was  originally  owned  and  the  mills 
operated  by  the  Essex  Company.  After  the  company 
ceased  building  mills  the  property  was  sold  to  George 
W.  Ela  and  others,  and  by  them  sold  to  others  who 
organized  a  company  for  furnishing  lumber  and  manu- 
facturing packing  cases  for  the  large  mills.  The 
monthly  sales  of  the  company  are  a  million  and  a  half 
feet  of  manufactured  lumber  and  half  a  million  feet 
made  into  packing  cases.  They  employ  ninety  men- 
While  owned  by  the  Essex  Company,  William  M. 
Kimball  (afterward  of  Minneapolis)  was  the  super- 
intendent. When  the  new  company  was  organized 
Luther  Ladd,  who  had  had  long  experience  with  the 
Essex  Company,  became  agent  and  treasurer.  The 
present  treasurer  is  Alfred  A.  Lamprey.  The  other 
lumber  yards  are  those  of  Hezekiah  Plummer  (one  of 
the  earliest  settlers  in  Lawrence),  J.  H.  Prescott  & 
Co.,  and  Luther  Ladd,  who,  since  his  retirement  from 
the  Lawrence  Liunber  Co.,  has  established  a  yard  of 
his  own  in  South  Lawrence. 

The  Lawrence  Flour  Mill,  situated  in  South 
Lawrence,  was  built  by  Davis  &  Taylor,  and  had  ma- 
chinery for  producing  two  thousand  barrels  of  flour 
and  one  hundred  thousand  bushels  of  corn  meal  per 
month,  and  was  operated  for  several  years.  Improved 
methods  of  manufacturing  flour  have  rendered  tlie 
old  machinery  useless.  The  mill  has  passed  into  the 
hands  of  Frank  E.  Chandler,  of  Medford,  and  is  now 
fitted  entirely  for  the  production  of  corn  meal,  with 
Joseph  Chandler  as  superintendent.  One  other  grain 
mill  (built  in  1868)  is  situated  on  the  North  Canal 
and  is  owned  and  operated  by  Henry  K.  Webster  & 
Co.,  who  conduct  an  extensive  business. 

The  earliest  grain  and  flour  mill  in  Lawrence  was 


located  near  the  mouth  of  Spicket  River,  built  and 
owned  by  Messrs.  Furness  &  Giles.  This  mill  later 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Russell  Paper  Co.,  and 
Mr.  Giles  was  subsequently  foreman  of  Davis  &  Tay- 
lor's flour  mill. 

Besides  the  various  dye-houses  connected  with  the 
large  mills,  there  are  in  Lawrence — Trees'  Dye  House^ 
established  by  John  Trees,  Spicket  Rivpr,  Lawrence 
Street;  The  Essex  Dye  House,  by  William  Stuart  & 
Co.,  Spicket  River,  Vine  Street;  The  Lawrence  Dye 
Works,  by  L.  Sjorstrom  &  Son  and  J.  H.  Melledge, 
South  Canal. 

Paper  making  is  one  of  the  most  important  branch- 
es of  industry  in  Lawrence  and  has  grown  to  large 
proportions.  By  Tewksbury's  "  History  of  Lawrence," 
published  in  1878,  it  appears  that  "  soon  after  the 
Essex  Company's  Machine  Shop  started,  experiments 
were  made  in  the  building  of  paper  machinery  under 
the  superintendence  of  John  L.  Seaverns  ;  a  building 
was  erected  by  the  Essex  Company  in  the  machine 
shop  yard,  and  the  Charter  Paper  Company  was 
organized,  several  directors  of  the  Essex  Company 
forming  the  Association.  The  company  did  not 
manufacture  but  printed  and  embossed  papers.  Will- 
iam B.  Hurd  was  the  local  agent;  the  principal 
direction  being  in  the  hands  of  Samuel  H.  Gregory. 
The  capital  was  fifty  thousand  dollars.  The  mill 
furnished  fancy  velvet,  cloth,  gold-leaf,  bronze  and 
silver-leaf  papers — paper  hangings  from  six  and  a 
quarter  cents  to  seven  dollars  per  roll,  and  bordering 
of  every  grade;  the  enterprise  proved  unprofitable 
and  was  abandoned."  Several  persons  have  at  dif- 
ferent times  operated  paper  mills  for  the  manufacture 
of  paper.  Among  them  A.  &  A.  Norton  commenc- 
ing in  1853;  Samuels.  Crocker,  Salmon  P.  Wilder, 
Joseph  L.  Partridge,  Daniel  P.  Crocker  and  others. 
Prior  to  all  these  and  before  the  incorporation  of  the 
Essex  Company  the  late  Adolphus  Durant  operated 
a  small  mill  for  the  manufacture  of  paper — the  mill 
being  located  on  the  Spicket  River. 

The  Merrimac  Paper  Company,  in  South  Law- 
rence, was  organized  in  May,  1881,  the  incorporators 
being  A.  N.  Mayo,  Charles  S.  Mayo,  of  Springfield, 
and  S.  I.  Stebbins,  of  Holyoke  (deceased).  The 
comjjany  employs  two  hundred  hands  and  manufac- 
tures engine  sized  cap  paper,  book  aud  envelope 
paper,  producing  about  eleven  tons  daily.  The 
monthly  pay  roll  is  four  thousand  dollars.  Agent, 
Charles  S.  Mayo ;  Superintendent,  W.  G.  Finlay ; 
Paymaster,  G.  E.  Miller. 

The  Bacon  Paper  Company,  founded  by  Jerome 
A.  Bacon,  is  located  on  Marstou  Street,  receiving 
water  from  the  North  Canal.  Manufactures  machine 
aud  super  calendered  flat  cap  and  book  paper.  No. 
one  newspaper  and  colored  paper.  Daily  product 
about  six  tons.  Jerome  A.  Ripley,  Superintendent ; 
George  S.  Sherman,  Paymaster. 

The  Monroe  Felt  and  Paper  Company. — This 
company  is  located  in  South  Lawrence ;  was  incor- 


^I^j^^_ 

w^ 
f*-****. 


LAWRENCE. 


901 


porated  1881  with  a  capital  of  sixty  thousand  dollars. 
They  manufacture  ingrain  wall-papers  of  their  own 
invention,  which  have  found  an  extensive  sale ;  car- 
pet, manilla  and  roofing  paper — turning  out  twelve 
tons  daily.  William  T.  Mc Alpine,  Agent;  Henry 
T.  Hall,  Treasurer  and  Paymaster. 

At  the  present  time,  by  far  the  largest  paper  mak- 
ing establishments  are  those  of  the  Messrs.  Russell. 

William  Russell,  the  oldest  living  paper  maker  in  the 
United  States,  uearly  thirty  years  ago  was  compelled 
by  ill  health  to  retire  from  active  business :  but  he 
had  laid  the  foundation  of  the  paper  manufacturing 
establishment,  whose  principal  mills  are  at  Lawrence, 
and  which,  under  the  ownship  and  management  of 
his  son,  Hon.  William  A.  Russell,  has  become  one  of 
the  most  extensive  manufactories  of  the  kind  in  the 
United  States. 

William  Russell  was  the  son  of  a  farmer,  and  was 
born  in  Cabot,  Vt.,  in  1805.  He  received  his  educa- 
tion in  the  district  school  of  his  native  town.  When 
quite  young  he  went  to  Wells  River  to  learn  the 
trade  of  paper  manufacturing  and  served  an  appren- 
ticeship of  seven  years.  He  was  then  employed  as  a 
journeyman  in  Wells  River  and  Franklin,  N.  H., 
until  1848,  when  he  removed  to  Exeter,  N.  H.,  and 
engaged  in  business  for  himself,  operating  two  mills 
until  1851.  At  this  time,  his  son,  William  A.  Rus- 
sell, having  attained  his  majority,  leased  one  of  the 
mills,  operating  it  on  his  own  separate  account.  In 
1853  they  formed  a  copartnership,  purchased  grounds 
and  power,  and  built  a  one-machine  mill  in  Law- 
rence, removing  thither  their  entire  business.  Short- 
ly after  this  Mr.  Russell  withdrew  from  active  busi- 
ness and  retired  to  a  farm  which  he  had  purchased 
in  North  Andover,  retaining  however  a  small  interest 
in  the  establishment  which  was  thenceforth  carried 
on  by  his  son,  William  A.  Russell.  The  elder  Mr. 
Russell  from  early  life  was  characterized  by  untiring 
industry  and  acquired  a  thorough  knowledge  of  his 
chosen  pursuit.  Throughout  his  business  career  he 
was  esteemed  for  integrity  and  uprightness  in  all  his 
transactions. 

After  the  retirement  of  his  father,  William  A.  Rus- 
sell purchased  the  mills  of  Curtis  &  Partridge  on 
Marston  Street,  and  subsequently  the  A.  &  A.  Norton 
Mill  and  Hoyt  Mill  on  Canal  Street,  and  later  on  the 
Crocker  Mill.  The-e  mills  are  all  operated  by  the 
Russell  Paper  Company,  a  corporation  organized  in 
1864.  W.  A.  Russell,  President  and  Treasurer,  and 
George  W.  Russell,  SujDerintendent.  The  company 
employs  some  three  hundred  hands  and  produce 
about  twenty  tons  per  day  of  book,  news  and  blotting 
paper.  Connected  with  the  paper  mills  is  a  large 
plant  for  the  production  of  chemical  wood  pulp  both 
by  the  soda  and  sulphite  processes. 

Hon.  William  A.  Russell  was  born  in  Wells 
River,  Vt.,  April  22,  1831.  His  education  was  regu- 
larly pursued  in  the  public  schools  of  that  town,  and 
at  the  Academy  at  Franklin,  N,  H.,  applying  himself 


assiduously  to  his  studies  and  acquitting  himself  with 
credit.  He  occupied  his  vacation  with  labor  in  the 
paper-mills  in  Franklin. 

Subsequently  some  time  was  spent  at  a  private 
school  in  Lowell,  Mass.,  where  his  education  was  com- 
pleted. In  1848  he  commenced  work  in  his  father's 
mill,  and  remained  thereuntil  1852,  when  he  attained 
his  majority. 

By  diligence  and  marked  forethought  he  at  once 
established  his  reputation  as  a  successful  manufac- 
turer. Two  years  later  the  father  and  son  formed  a 
copartnership,  and  moved  their  works  to  Lawrence, 
Mass. 

The  senior  Mr.  Russell's  health  soon  failed,  and  he 
was  then  compelled  to  retire  from  active  life,  leaving 
the  entire  business  in  the  hands  of  his  son. 

After  the  retirement  of  his  father  from  the  business 
he  found  it  necessary  to  enlarge  his  facilities  for  man- 
facture  in  order  to  meet  the  demand  for  his  products. 
With  this  view  he  leased  and  put  in  operation  two 
mills  in  Belfast,  Me.,  and  subsequently  purchased 
another,  in  the  same  city. 

During  the  ensuing  five  years  the  business  was  suc- 
cessful, and  in  1861  he  purchased  a  mill  contiguous  to 
bis  former  one  in  Lawrence,  from  parties  who  had 
failed  in  business  as  manufacturers,  and  the  same 
year  received  his  brother,  George  W.  Russell  into 
partnership. 

A  year  later  two  other  mills  in  Lawrence  had 
stopped  for  the  same  reason,  and,  though  business  was 
to  some  extent  prostrated  on  account  of  the  Civil 
War,  Mr.  Rus-^ell,  looking  to  the  future,  availed  him- 
self of  the  opportunity  to  purchase  them.  His  confi- 
dence proved  well  founded,  and  after  a  short  period 
the  business  received  a  fresh  impetus  and  continued 
to  increase  each  year  in  importance. 

In  1869  he  established  a  wood-pulp  mill  in  Frank- 
lin Vt.,  with  the  view  of  supplying  the  manufactur- 
ers; but  they,  fearing  the  prejudice  against  paper 
manufactured  from  wood-fiber,  shrank  from  the 
undertaking.  Finding  it  impossible  to  sell  the  pulp, 
and  believing  that  the  prejudice  could  be  overcome, 
the  following  year  he  bought  what  was  known  as  the 
Fisher  &  Aiken  mill,  in  Franklin,  for  the  purpose  of 
manufacturing  the  paper  himself. 

His  expectations  were  fully  realized,  and  the  same 
year  he  purchased  the  Peabody  &  Daniel  mill,  the 
oldest  in  the  country,  and  employed  it  for  the  same 
purpose,  the  manufacture  of  paper  for  printing,  es- 
pecially of  newspapers.  In  the  same  year,  to  secure 
better  attention  and  more  sure  success  for  this  depart- 
ment of  the  business,  he  organized  the  Winipiseogee 
Paper  Company,  of  Franklin,  being  himself  its  treas- 
urer and  principal  owner.  It  now  employs  about  250 
hands  and  produces  about  twenty-five  tons  of  news 
paper  per  day. 

The  same  year  he  extended  his  interest  to  Bellows 
Falls,  building  there,  also,  a  wood-pulp  mill.  The 
water-power  was  held  at  that  place  by  a  "  lock  &  canal 


902 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Co."  In  the  winter  of  1870  the  dam  which  had  been 
built  some  eighty  years  previously,  suffered  serious  in- 
jury, and  Mr.  Russell  availed  himself  of  the  oportu- 
nity  to  secure  a  controlling  interest  in  the  entire 
water-power.  Since  that  time  he  has  been  president 
of  the  company  and  let  power  to  others. 

In  1872  he  built  and  put  in  oi)eration  a  large  paper- 
mill  himself.  In  these  various  establishments  in  Ver- 
mont, Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  and  others  in 
Maine,  are  employed  an  aggregate  of  upwards  of  1400 
hands,  producing  no  less  than  eighty-five  tons  of 
paper  per  day  ;  book  paper,  printing  paper,  for  news- 
papers, manilla  and  blotting  paper. 

Mr.  Russell,  during  his  residence  in  Lawrence, has 
been  a  very  active  and  public-spirited  citizen,  was  a 
member  and  very  large  contributor  to  the  Eliot 
Church,  and  when  the  society  united  with  the  Cen- 
tral to  form  what  is  now  Trinity  Church,  he  pur- 
chased the  building  and  conveyed  it  to  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association. 

In  politics  an  earnest  Republican.  In  18(>8  was  a 
member  of  the  city  government ;  in  1869  represented 
the  city  in  the  Legislature.  He  was  sent,  in  1868,  as 
one  of  the  delegates  from  Massachusetts  to  the  Na- 
tional Republican  Convention  at  Cincinnati.  In 
1878  he  was  elected  Representative  of  the  Seventh 
District,  to  the  Forty-sixth  United  States  Congress. 
He  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  committee  on 
commerce,  and  became  chairman  of  the  sub-commit- 
tee to  investigate  the  causes  of  the  decline  of  Ameri- 
can commerce,  with  the  view  to  investigate  some 
plan  to  restore  the  same  and  bring  about  closer  com- 
mercial relations  and  more  extensive  trade  with  other 
countries. 

His  report  showed  a  thorough  investigation  of  the 
subject.  It  set  forth  clearly  the  ditliculties  to  be 
overcome,  and  through  the  presentation  of  these  facts 
Massachusetts  led  off  in  removing  one  of  the  greatest 
obstacles  to  incorporated  maritime  investments  by 
the  change  of  the  laws  in  relation  to  the  taxation  of 
property  in  ships. 

He  was  renominated  by  acclamation  and  elected  to 
the  Forty-seventh  Congress,  and  promoted  to  service 
on  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee,  a  position  which 
he  was  so  w^ell  qualified  to  fill  through  his  long  and 
careful  observation  of  and  experience  in  the  indus- 
trial interests  of  the  country. 

The  tariff  question  being  prominently  before  Con- 
gress, he  gave  to  the  liouse  and  country  one  of  the 
most  carefully  prepared  and  exhaustive  presentations 
of  this  subject  that  was  submitted  from  the  protective 
standpoint.  IMr.  Russell's  interest  in  and  close  appli- 
cation to  business  have  characterized  his  political 
life. 

His  well  established  and  well  organized  business 
he  confided  to  others,  giving  his  whole  time  and 
energies  to  new  duties.  Yielding  to  a  very  general  de- 
mand of  his  constituents,  he  accepted  a  third  nomina- 
tion  which   was  made  by  acclamation,  and   he  was 


elected  to  the  Forty-eighth  Congress.  Though  earnestly 
solicited  by  his  constituents  to  accept  a  renomination 
to  the  Forty-ninth  Congress,  he  felt  compelled  to  de- 
cline, and  upon  the  close  of  his  three  terms  of  Con- 
gressional life  turned  his  attention  to  improving  and 
enlarging  the  various  paper-mills  in  which  he  is  in- 
terested, necessitated  by  the  increasing  demand  for 
their  products,  and  to  developing  the  water  powers  at 
Bellows  Falls,  Vt.,  and  Franklin,  N.  H. 

Another  manufacture,  operated  by  machinery  simi- 
lar in  character  to  that  of  paper  mills,  has  been  suc- 
cessfully conducted  here,  the  manufacture  of  leather- 
board.  Messi's.  Clegg  &  Fisher,  employing  twenty 
men  and  producing  monthly  fifty  tons.  Seth  F.  Daw- 
son, employing  about  the  same  number  of  men  and 
producing  eighteen  to  twenty  tons  per  week. 

Public  Library. — The  history  of  the  library 
dates,  in  one  sense,  from  the  beginning  of  the  town 
of  Lawrence. 

The  Franklin  Librarj^  Association  was  chartered 
by  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  April,  1847,  and 
the  following  letter  to  Captain  Charles  H.  Bigelow, 
its  first  president,  gives  in  very  concise  terms  not  only 
the  wishes  and  motives  of  the  donor  of  the  first  val- 
uable gift  to  the  library,  but  is  also  a  key  to  the  mo- 
tives which  inspired  its  founders' 

"  Boston,  .Tiily  5,  1847. 

"  Mv  Dkar  Sir. — I  was  gratifieJ  to  notice  an  act  passeJ  Ijy  the  last 
(i«ni>ral  (Jonrt  incoijiorating  the  Franklin  Library  A.ssoiialiou  in  the 
new  Town.  Subsequently  I  have  seen  in  the  newspapers  an  account  of 
its  organization,  and  that  you  were  elected  President.  I  am  happy  in  tlie 
kiiowle<lge  tliat  there  exists  among  the  peojile  a  .just  appreciation  of  the 
value  and  importance  of  early  attention  being  given  to  schools,  churches 
and  iiublii^  libraries.  It  is  no  less  the  duty  than  the  privilege  of  those 
who  possess  an  influence  in  creating  towns  and  cities,  to  lay  their  foun- 
dations dee])  and  strong.  Let  the  standard  lie  high  in  religious,  moral 
and  intellectual  culture,  and  there  can  be  no  well-grounded  fears  for  the 
results. 

"  There  will  soon  gather  around  you  a  large  number  of  mechanics  and 
others,  who  will  desire  to  obtain  a  knowledge  of  the  higher  mechanical 
arts.  You  will  probaldy  receive  into  your  large  machine-shop  (now  un- 
der coustruction)  a  number  of  apprentices,  who  are  to  be  trained  to  the 
use  of  tools.  The  more  thorough  the  education  you  give  them  ,  the  more 
skilfully  the  tools  will  be  used  when  jilaced  in  their  hands. 

"  If  you  possess  a  well-furnished  library,  containing  books,  drawings, 
etc.,  with  the  mechanical  and  scientific  periodicals  of  the  day,  to  which 
the  whole  body  of  those  engaged  in  all  the  varieties  of  mechanics  have 
access,  you  will,  I  am  quite  certain,  at  an  early  day  send  forth  into  the 
community  a  idass  of  well-educated  machinists,  whose  labors  and  influ- 
ence will  be  felt  throughout  the  country. 

"  I  feel  a  deep  interest  in  this  question  of  educating  men  who  can 
take  care  of  themselves  and  do  something  to  develop  the  mental  re- 
sources of  the  jiresent  and  future  generations,  as  well  as  to  make  con- 
tributions to  the  common  stock  of  practical  knowledge  and  national  re- 
sources of  this  great  Union. 

"  The  supply  of  well-educated,  scientific  mechauics  in  our  community 
is  entirely  inadequate  to  its  wants. 

"  I  wish  to  live  long  enough  to  see  the  experiment  fairly  tried,  wheth- 
er this  deticicniy  may  not  be  remedied,  and  am  therefore  in  favor  of 
placing  in  the  handsof  those  who  are  or  may  be  residents  in  the  new 
town,  all  the  appliances  to  obtain  such  an  object. 

"  In  furtherance  of  the  plan  proposed  by  yoiir  society,  I  offer,  through 
you,  for  the  ac(!eptance  of  the  Franklin  Library  Association,  the  sum  of 
one  thousand  dollars,  which  tlie  government  of  the  institution  will 
please  invest  in  such  scientific  and  other  works  as  will  tend  to  create 
good  mechauics,  good  Christians  and  good  patriots. 

"  Accept  the  assurances  with  which  I  remain 

"  Your  friend,  Abbott  L.vwrence. 

"ToCapt.  Chas.  H.  Bigelow." 


LAWRENCE. 


903 


Eight  years  later,  in  1855,  Mr.  Lawrence  "  rested 
from  his  labors,"  but  he  had  not  lost  his  interest  in 
the  new  city  to  which  so  much  of  his  attention  had 
been  given;  nor  did  he  forget  his  protege,  the  Frank- 
lin Library,  leaving  by  his  will  the  generous  sum  oi 
five  thousand  dollars  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  its 
value  and  utility. 

Other  gentlemen  had  made  some  valuable  presents 
of  books,  but  these  gifts  of  money  to  be  invested  in 
books  were,  it  is  believed,  the  only  ones  received. 

The  expenses,  rent,  librarian's  salary,  etc.,  must,  of 
course,  be  defrayed  from  the  income  received  from  the 
sale  of  shares  and  from  annual  assessments.  The 
price  of  shares  was  at  first  fixed  at  ten  dollars  each, 
the  annual  assessment  at  two  dollars  per  annum, 
and  the  library  was  open  to  any  person  willing 
to  unite  with  the  society  and  purchase  a  share.  As 
the  price  of  a  shai'e  proved  a  bar  to  many,  in  1850 
the  association  amended  the  constitution,  so  that  the 
use  of  the  library  might  be  granted  to  persons  not 
members  of  the  association,  subject  to  the  regula- 
tions thereof,  on  payment  of  an  annual  definite  sum, 
not  less  than  the  annual  assessment  of  members. 

The  membership  and  the  number  of  readers  still 
remaining  comparatively  small,  and  the  association 
being  still  desirous  of  enlisting  the  public  more  fully, 
early  in  1853  the  value  of  the  shares  was  reduced  to 
five  dollars  and  the  assessment  to  one  dollar  per  an- 
num. In  1857  a  vote  was  passed,  authorizing  the 
government  to  open  the  library  to  any  persons  not 
members  for  the  nominal  sum  of  one  dollar  per 
year. 

Other  efforts  had  been  made,  from  time  to  time,  by 
organizing  courses  of  public  lectures,  by  popular  lec- 
turers, at  low  rates,  for  the  purpose  of  attracting  at- 
tention to  the  library  and  reading-room,  with  indiffer- 
ent success, — the  association  in  some  instances  sus- 
taining pecuniary  loss. 

The  library  had  increased  to  nearly  four  thousand 
volumes;  the  readiug-room  connected  with  it  con- 
tained several  of  the  newspapers  of  the  time  and 
many  of  the  valuable  scientific,  mechanical  and  lit- 
erary periodicals;  but  the  main  object  of  the  original 
founders  was  not  attained. 

The  number  of  members  and  readers  was  still  small, 
and  the  annual  income  only  siitficient  to  pay  the  cur- 
rent expenses. 

In  1867  it  was  thought  advisable,  for  the  purpose 
of  extending  the  usefulness  of  the  library,  to  offer 
the  property  to  the  city,  under  suitable  conditions, 
for  a  free  library.  A  proj^osition  was  made  to  the 
city  government  of  1868,  but  it  was  not  accepted,  a 
difference  of  opinion  among  the  members  of  the  gov- 
ernment at  that  time  existing  as  to  the  expediency  of 
the  step. 

Four  years  later  aid  came  from  an  unexpected 
quarter.  Hon.  Daniel  A.  White,  of  Salem,  placed 
certain  property  in  Lawrence  in  the  hands  of  trus- 
tees, the  income  from  which  should  be  appropriated  to 


maintaining  a  course  of  lectures,  free  "  to  the  indus- 
trial classes  "  of  Lawrence,  and  for  the  purposes  of  a 
library. 

The  income  from  that  fund  had  furnished  a  course 
of  lectures  for  several  years,  from  the  best  talent  of  the 
land,  and  had  reached  a  point  where  it  was  more  than 
sufficient  to  defray  this  expense  and  could  furnish  a 
considerable  sum  annually  for  books. 

In  1872  the  Franklin  Library  Association  appointed 
a  committee  consisting  of  George  S.  Merrill,  John  R. 
Rollins  and  Johu  C.Dow  to  confer  with  the  city  gov- 
ernment, and  also  with  the  trustees  of  the  White 
Fund,  and  this  conference  (the  necessary  authority  to 
surrender  their  trust  having  been  previously  obtained 
from  the  Legislature)  resulted  in  a  renewed  offer  to 
transfer  the  property,  consisting  of  over  four  thousand 
volumes  and  nearly  three  thousand  dollars  in  money, 
to  the  city.  The  trustees  of  the  White  Fund  proposed 
to  contribute  the  first  year  the  sum  of  one  thousand 
dollars  for  the  purchase  of  books,  and  to  make  an  an- 
nual contribution  thereafter.  These  propositions  were 
accepted,  and  an  ordinance  was  passed,  1872,  estab- 
lishing the  Free  Library  of  the  city. 

Soon  after  the  transfer  of  the  property  the  Agricul- 
tural Library,  numbering  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven 
volumes,  and  owned  by  an  association  residing  in 
Lawrence  and  Methuen,  was  also  placed  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  city,  and  the  circulating  library  of 
Messrs.  Whitfbrd  &  Rice,  twenty-two  hundred  and 
fifty-seven  volumes,  was  also  purchased  and  trans- 
ferred. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  board  of  trustees,  held  August 
29,  1872,  Mr.  William  I.  Fletcher,  whose  experience 
in  the  Boston  Athemeum  and  in  the  Bronson  Library, 
of  Waterbury,  Ct.,  rendered  him  peculiarly  fitted  for 
the  position,  was  unanimously  elected  librarian. 

Mr.  Fletcher  remained  with  the  library,  arranging 
it  for  public  use,  and  preparing  a  catalogue,  till  1874, 
when  he  resigned  to  accept  a  more  favorable  position 
in  Hartford,  Ct.,  and  he  was  succeeded  by  Frederick 
H.  Hedge,  Jr.,  of  Cambridge,  the  present  librarian. 
The  library  now  embraces  twenty-five  thousand  five 
hundred  volumes,  or,  including  duplicates,  twenty- 
eight  thousand  seven  hundred  volumes.  Connected 
with  the  library  is  a  reading-room,  where  may  be 
found  many  of  the  leading  newspapers,  and  a  room  for 
books  of  reference,  where  the  people  may  freely  study 
upon  almost  any  subject  which  they  desire  to  investi- 
gate. 

The  various  boards  of  trustees  have  ever  kept  in 
miud  the  object  of  the  founders,  considering  the  lib- 
rary an  educational  institution  "rather  than  a  me- 
dium for  the  circulation  of  light  literature." 

The  mayor  and  president  of  the  Common  Council, 
together  with  the  trustees  of  the  White  Fund,  are 
permanent  members  of  the  board. 

The  library  now  occupies  the  entire  second  floor  of 
the  Odd  Fellows'  building.     It  needs  more  space  and 
'  greater  security  against  fire. 


904 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Daniel  Appleton  White  (LL.D.,  Harvard,  1837) 
was  of  the  sixth  generation  in  descent  from  William 
White,  who  emigrated  from  Norfolk,  England,  one  of 
the  leading  men  in  the  colony  at  Ipswich,  and  of  the 
founders  of  the  ancient  town  of  Newbury.  He  re- 
moved to  Haverhill  in  1640.  Judge  White  wa.s  born 
in  1776,  in  that  part  ofMethuen  (now  Lawrence)  edu- 
cated at  Atkinson  Academy  and  graduated  from  Har- 
vard College  1797.  He  returned  to  Cambridge  in 
1799,  and  pursued  the  study  of  law,  remaining  four 
years,  during  which  time  he  was  tutor  in  the  college  ; 
finished  his  legal  studies  in  Salem  ;  was  admitted  to 
the  Essex  bar  in  1804;  opened  an  office  in  Newbury- 
port,  soon  became  successful  in  his  profession  and  ad- 
vanced to  honors  ;  was  Senator  in  the  Massachusetts 
Senate  from  1810  to  1815  ;  Presidential  elector,  1816 ; 
was  elected  to  Congress  by  an  almost  unanimous  vote 
in  1814,  but  having  been  offered  by  Governor  Strong 
the  position  of  judge  of  Probate,  he  resigned  and  ac- 
cepted the  more  quiet  path,  which  was  more  congen- 
ial to  his  taste  and  feelings ;  this  office  he  held  for 
thirty-eight  years,  resigning  in  1853.  He  died  at 
Salem  in  1861,  having  removed  to  that  city  in  1817. 
An  excellent  account  of  his  life  may  be  found  in  a 
memorial  by  Rev.  Henry  W.  Foote,  of  Boston,  pub- 
lished by  the  New  England  Historico-Genealogical 
Society  in  their  series  of  memorial  biographies,  who 
concludes  his  sketih  in  these  words:  "To  those  who, 
in  the  city  which  was  his  home  for  forty-four  years,  use 
the  treasures  of  his  library,  or  who,  in  the  other 
city  which  covers  his  native  fields,  shall  receive  the 
benefit  of  his  noble  foundation,  the  value  of  his  gift 
would  be  enhanced  if  the  memory  of  the  giver,  as  he 
was,  could  be  impressed  indelibly  upon  it,  and  it  would 
be  his  best  gift  if  his  character  could  be  transmitted. 
He  was  a  patriot  of  the  lofty  type  of  the  founders  ol 
the  Republic;  a  Christian  in  the  deepest  spirit  of  the 
New  Testament ;  a  man  ruled  by  justice,  tempered 
with  mercy,  generous,  high-minded,  true,  with  a 
Puritan  conscience  and  a  heart  of  love,  the  faith  of  a 
disciple  and  the  trusting  soul,  simiile  and  pure  as  a 
little  child." 

Another  and  fuller  memoir  may  be  found  in  the 
Historical  Collections  of  the  Essex  Institute,  Vol.  VI. 
Nos.  1  and  2. 

As  the  history  of  the  White  Fund  is  misapprehended 
by  many,  the  following  account  is  repeated  here,  taken 
from  Tewksbury's  "  History  of  Lawrence,"  which  was 
obtained  from  the  original  sources  of  information: 

The  first  conveyance  by  Judge  White  embraced 
the  whole  of  his  lands  without  restrictions.  He  soon 
after  became  aware  that  provisions  in  old  deeds  re- 
tained a  portion  of  the  lands  for  a  family  burial- 
ground,  and  to  preserve  the  graves  of  his  ancestors 
from  any  possible  future  desecration,  at  his  earnest 
request,  the  associates,  in  taking  their  absolute  deed, 
March  28,  1845,  relinquished  all  claim  to  a  lot  of 
about  six  acres  nearly  in  the  centre  of  the  tract  they  had 
purchased.     It  was  provided,  however,  that  the  six 


acres  accepted  and  reserved  should  be  restricted  as  to 
use,  or  reserved  as  a  public  or  private  burial- 
grounds,  a  reservoir  or  some  other  public  work. 

Immediately  after  the  organization  of  the  Essex 
Company  the  associates  conveyed  to  that  company  all 
lands  they  had  purchased ;  consequently  their  deed 
contained  the  reservations  and  restrictions. 

Judge  White  seems  to  have  had  little  enjoyment  of 
this  property,  yet  being  in  possession  ;  constantly  in- 
creasing taxes  became  a  burden  ;  there  was  no  in- 
come from  the  property  ;  sanitary  considerations  pre- 
vented its  use  for  a  cemetery  ;  no  one  could  purchase 
any  part  of  it  in  the  condition  in  which  it  then  stood, 
and  it  became  evident  that  the  lands  could  only  be 
utilized  by  the  Joint  action  of  both  Judge  ]fhite  and 
the  Essex  Company. 

There  were  upon  the  land  but  three  graves  (now  un- 
disturbed and  surrounded  by  dwellings),  occupying 
together  a  space  not  larger  than  an  ordinary  burial- 
lot.  This  left  nearly  six  acres  of  unoccupied  land  in 
the  heart  of  the  city. 

Joint  action  of  the  two  parties  might  give  this  land 
a  value  of  many  thousand  dollars  to  be  divided  be- 
tween them.  Happily,  at  the  suggestion  of  Judge 
White,  cordially  acceded  to  by  the  Essex  Com- 
pany, both  joined  in  devoting  this  property  to  a  pur- 
pose which  would  benefit  not  a  class  or  a  single  gener- 
ation, but  all  who  might  dwell  here  in  time  to  eome. 
The  indenture  conveying  the  land  to  trustees,  with 
power  to  sell,  and  invest  isroceedsin  a  fund  for  a  pur- 
pose clearly  defined,  is  a  model  of  precise  wording 
and  clearness  of  detail.  So  far  as  it  relates  to  the 
character  of  the  lectures  and  use  of  the  fund  for  that 
purpose,  the  language  is  that  of  Judge  White. 

The  original  proposition  of  Mr.  White,  as  explain- 
ed in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Storrow,  June  19,  1852,  which 
first  opened  the  subject,  proposed  simply  the  estab- 
lishment of  an  annual  course  of  lectures,  the  special 
subjects  being  specified  in  the  deed  of  trust.  These 
subjects  were  :  1st.  "The importance  ofgotd  character 
to  success  in  life;"  2d.  "On  the  unsurpassable 
value  of  the  riches  of  character  to  the  young  of  both 
sexes;"  3d.  "On  the  virtues,  habits  and  principles 
most  essential  to  good  character  ;  "  4th.  "  On  the  best 
means  of  intellectual  and  moral  improvement." 

Being  confident  that  the  value  of  the  lands  and  the 
sum  eventually  derived  from  them  would  far  exceed 
the  expectations  of  Mr.  White,  Mr.  Storrow  suggested 
that  while  the  original  object  which  he  had  in  mind 
should  first  be  fully  provided  for,  precisely  as  IVIr. 
White  intended,  it  might  be  well  to  allow  the  trustees 
to  select  other  mode?  for  promoting  morality  and  ed- 
ucation, especially  to  authorize  liberal  appropriations 
from  the  income,  in  aid  of  a  free  library,  and  provide 
for  the  gift  of  a  building-site  for  such  an  institution. 

Judge  White  readily  assented  to  this,  and  the  in- 
denture of  August  23,  1852,  is  intended  to  carry  into 
effect  the  original  and  enlarged  purposes  of  the  trust. 
This  indenture  was  signed  by  Daniel  A.  White,  of  the 


LAWRENCE. 


905 


first  part,  the  Essex  Company  of  the  second  part,  and 
Charles  S.  Storrow,  Nathaniel  G.  AVhite  and  Henry 
K.  Oliver  as  trustees  accepting  the  trust.  Messrs. 
Storrow  and  Oliver  removed  from  the  city,  and 
George  D.  Cabot  and  James  H.  Eaton,  the  present 
trustees,  succeeded  them. 

RELIGIOUS  DEITOMIIfATIONS. 

In  the  beginning  of  Lawrence  the  directors 
of  the  Essex  Company,  true  to  the  policy  of 
the  early  settlers  of  the  country,  gave  their  attention 
to  the  moral  condition  of  the  new  town,  as  might  be 
expected  from  their  well-known  character.  The  pres- 
ident, Mr.  Lawrence,  writing  on  one  occasion  to  W. 
C.  Rives,  of  Virginia,  said:  "All  intellectual  culture 
should  be  founded  on  our  Holy  Religion.  The  pure 
precepts  of  the  Gosoel  are  the  only  safe  source  from 
which  we  can  freely  draw  our  morality  ;  "  and  in  the 
letter  which  accompanied  his  gift  to  the  library, — ''it 
is  no  less  the  duty  than  the  privilege  of  those 
who  possess  influence  in  creating  towns  and  cities, 
to  lay  the  foundations  deep  and  strong.  Let  the 
standard  be  high  in  religious,  moral  and  intellectual 
culture,  and  there  can  be  no  well-grounded  fear  for 
the  result." 

Accordingly,  governed  by  no  sectarian  bias,  they 
gave  to  the  first  churches  of  several  denominations  a 
lot  of  land  on  which  to  erect  their  building,  and  to 
others  later  they  made  a  discount  of  one-quarter  from 
regular  established  prices. 

The  first  building  devoted  to  public  worship  was 
the  Episcopal  Chapel ;  this  stood  on  the  ground  now 
occupied  by  Grace  Church,  and  was  so  far  completed 
that  services  were  held  there  on  the  second  Sunday  of 
October,  1846.  By  the  quarter-centennial  address  of 
Rev.  George  Packard,  who  was  the  founder  of  the 
church  and  its  rector  till  his  lamented  decease,  No- 
vember 30, 1876,  it  appears  the  first  building,  a  tempo- 
rary structure  of  wood,  was  completed  and  consecrated 
November  19,  1846.  The  cost  of  the  building  was 
estimated  to  be  one  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars,  of  which  sum  Mr.  Samuel  Lawrence  contrib- 
uted one  thousand  dollars,  and  the  balance  was  ob- 
tained from  friends  in  Boston,  the  proprietors  of  the 
difl'erent  manufacturing  companies  who  were  inter- 
ested in  the  moral  welfare  of  the  new  town.  A  lot  of 
land,  one  hundred  feet  square,  was  presented  to  the 
church  by  the  Essex  Company,  on  condition  that  in 
five  years  from  the  time  it  was  given,  a  church  of 
stone  or  brick  should  be  built  upon  it.  At  the  close 
of  the  first  year  the  number  of  families  worshipping 
was  twenty-five,  the  number  of  communicants  twen- 
ty-six; in  1849  the  number  of  communicants  fifty- 
three;  in  1850, seventy-eight;  and  in  1857  the  growth 
of  the  church  had  increased  so  much  as  to  require 
better  accommodations,  and  the  substantial  stone 
building  which  now  occupies  the  ground  was  erected, 
one-half  the  amount  of  the  cost  being  pledged  by  the 
members  of  the  parish,  and  the  other  half  by  friends 
57^ 


in  Boston,  Andover,  Lowell  and  Salem.  The  build- 
ing committee  were  Capt.  Oliver  H.  Perry,  Caleb 
IMarvel  and  Geo.  D.  Lund.  May  5,  1852,  this  build- 
ing was  consecrated  by  Rev.  Manton  Eastburn, 
bishop  of  the  diocese. 

In  1864  the  Sunday-school  statistics  were, — super- 
intendent, librarian  and  assistant;  teachers — male, 
ten  ;  female,  nineteen ;  scholars,  two  hundred  and 
seventy.  The  chapel,  the  first  place  of  worship  re- 
moved to  Garden  Street,  was  crowded,  and  in  Octo- 
ber of  that  year  a  mission  Sunday-school  and  service 
were  commenced  in  the  western  part  of  the  city, 
under  the  charge  of  Rev.  A.  V,  G.  Allen,  then  a  can- 
didate for  orders,  pursuing  his  studies  at  Andover. 
In  1865  the  parish  school-teachers  numbered  twenty- 
four;  scholars,  one  hundred  and  eighty;  missirn 
school-teachers,  twenty-two ;  scholars,  one  hundred 
and  seventy-five.  The  success  of  this  mission  work 
led  to  the  establishment  of  a  Second  Parish,  under 
the  name  of  St.  John's,  which,  in  1867,  was  admitted 
to  union  with  the  convention. 

Dr.  Packard,  who  was  so  long  the  rector  of  the 
church  and  devoted  to  its  welfare  with  untiring  zeal, 
was  also  during  his  useful  life  interested  and  active 
in  every  enterprise  conducive  to  the  general  good  of 
the  town  and  city.  Early  and  for  twenty  years  a 
member  of  the  school  committee  and  superintendent 
of  schools,  his  eflbrts  did  much  to  the  establishment 
of  our  present  system  of  schools  and  the  promoting 
of  their  usefulness.  He  was,  besides,  an  earnest 
worker  in  the  City  Mission  for  the  relief  of  the  poor 
and  unfortunate,  and  his  wise  counsel  was  always 
valued.  He,  as  well  as  three  of  his  brothers,  were 
graduates  from  Bowdoin  College, — one  brother,  the 
late  Rev.  Charles  Packard,  a  Congregational  clergy- 
man at  Lancaster,  Mass.;  and  the  Rev.  Alpheus 
Packard,  many  years  professor  and  later  president  of 
Bowdoin  College;  and  Rev.  Joseph  Packard,  for  fifty 
years  professor  at  the  Theological  School  of  Virginia,  at 
Alexandria,  one  of  the  American  members  of  the 
commission  for  the  recent  revision  of  the  Bible,  who 
survives  them.  During  the  later  years  of  Dr.  Pack- 
ard's residence  here,  owing  to  failing  health.  Rev. 
William  Lawrence,  of  Boston,  was  appointed  to  assist 
in  parochial  duties,  and  succeeded  as  rector  in  1876. 
Mr.  LawTence  remained  here  till  December,  1883, 
when  he  resigned  to  accept  a  professorship  in  Har- 
vard University,  followed  by  the  love  and  respect,  not 
only  of  his  own  people,  but  of  the  entire  community, 
and  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Augustine  H.  Amory,  of 
Boston,  the  present  rector. 

The  Lawrence  Street  Congregational 
Church  was  formed  April  9,  1847.  A  society  called 
the  Merrimac  Congregational  Society  was  organized 
August,  1846,  previously,  at  the  house  of  Nathaniel 
B.  Gordon,  its  founders  being  Dr.  Moses  L.  Atkinson 
(formerly  of  Newburyport),  W.  S.  Annis,  Nathan 
Wells,  Hiram  Merrill,  Timothy  Osgood,  Joshua  Bus- 
well  (deputy  sheriff"),  A.  Dickey,  Phineas  M.  Gage 


906 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


and  E.  C.  Bartlett.  The  society  commenced  building, 
October,  1846,  a  small  chapel  in  the  rear  of  the  pres- 
ent church  building.  The  cost  of  the  building  was 
one  thousand  dollars,  Mr.  Abbott  Lawrence  contrib- 
uting one  hundrtd  dollars,  other  friends  in  Boston 
three  hundred  and  thirty-five  dollars.  This  building 
was  dedicated  in  January,  1847,  and  seated  two  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five  persons.  After  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  church  Rev.  Lyman  Whiting,  who  had 
preached  to  the  society,  was  invited  to  become  the 
pastor.  He  remained  here  from  June  16,  1847,  till 
January  16,  185u.  During  his  ministry  the  present 
edifice  was  completed,  and  dedicated  October  11, 
1848.  The  church  remained  without  a  settled  pastor 
till  January,  1852,  when  Eev.  Henry  M.  Storrs  was 
ordained.  He  remained  till  March  1,  1855,  and,  re- 
signing, went  to  Cincinnati.  The  pulpit  was  then 
supplied  by  Eev.  Alexander  H.  Clapp,  D.D.  (now 
treasurer  of  American  Home  Missionary  Society),  and 
Rev.  Charles  Beecher.  The  former  of  these  declined  an 
invitation  to  become  their  pastor,  and  Rev.  George  B. 
Wilcox,  of  Fitchburg,  was  installed  in  September, 
1856.  He  resigned  in  1859,  and  was  succeeded  by 
Rev.  Caleb  E.  Fisher,  a  very  sincere  and  earnest  man, 
of  warm  sympathies,  devoted  not  only  to  the  spirit- 
ual welfare  of  his  parish,  but  interested  in  all  that 
pertained  to  the  welfare  of  the  city,  especially  in  edu- 
cational affairs.  Mr.  Fisher's  pastorate  continued 
more  than  fourteen  years,  till  October,  1873.  Rev. 
Joshua  Coit  was  installed  May  13,  1874,  remained 
till  February  25,  1885,  when,  after  repeated  solicita- 
tions, he  accepted  the  position  of  secretary  of  the 
Massachusetts  Home  Missionary  Society,  and  was 
succeeded  in  February,  1885,  by  the  present  pastor. 
Rev.  William  E.  Wolcott. 

The  Central  Congeegational  Church  (now 
known  as  Trinity  Congregational  Church)  was  or- 
ganized December  25,  1849,  commencing  their  public 
services  in  the  City  Hall,  which  they  continued  to 
occupy  till  August,  1854;  removed  to  their  new  build- 
ing, a  substantial  brick  building,  at  the  corner  of  Es- 
sex and  Appleton  Streets,  the  second  story  being  oc- 
cupied for  religious  service  and  the  lower  story  for 
stores, — a  union  of  sacred  and  secular  matters,  which, 
happily,  does  not  at  present  exist  in  the  city.  A  sim- 
ilar structure  once  existed  in  the  neighboring  city  of 
Lowell,  and  it  is  said  that  some  wag  chalked  the  fol- 
lowing couplet  upon  the  door: 

"  A  spirit  above  and  a  spirit  below, 
A  spirit  of  weal  and  a  spirit  of  woe  ; 
The  spirit  above  is  the  spirit  divine, 
The  spirit  below  is  the  spirit  of  wine." 

On  the  12th  of  August,  1859,  the  Central  Church 
building  was  destroyed  by  fire,  and  the  society  re- 
turned to  the  City  Hall,  where  they  remained  a  few 
months,  evening  services  being  held  in  the  chapel  of 
Grace  Church,  on  Garden  Street.  On  the  second 
Sabbath  in  January,  1860,  the  congregation  met  for 
worship  in  the  basement  of  the   new   stone   building 


erected  on  Haverhill  Street.     The  building  was  fin- 
ished and  dedicated  June  8,  1860. 

From  March  to  November,  1850,  Eev.  Lyman 
Whiting,  previously  of  Lawrence  Street  Church,  sup- 
plied the  pulpit,  and  Rev.  E.  C.  Whittlesey,  after- 
wards prominent  in  military  affairs  and  the  Freed- 
men's  Bureau,  from  February  to  October,  1851.  The 
first  pastor  was  Rev.  William  C.  Foster,  installed 
January  16,  1852,  a  very  earnest  preacher,  and  well 
remembered  for  his  fearless  and  bold  advocacy  of 
anti-slavery  sentiments.  His  successor  was  Rev. 
Daniel  Tenney,  installed  September  2,  1857.  After  a 
service  of  five  years  Mr.  Tenney  removed  to  the 
Springfield  Street  Church,  Boston,  and  Rev,  Christo- 
pher M.  Cordley  became  pastor,  and  remained  with 
the  church  till  his  death,  June  26,  1866. 

The  next  pastor  was  Rev.  William  E.  Park;  after 
a  service  of  nine  years, — 1866  to  '75, — he  resigned, 
and  removed  to  Gloversville,  N.  Y.,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  George  M.  Ide. 

Eliot  Congregational  Church  was  formed 
September  28,  1865.  Services  were  held  at  first  in 
the  City  Hall  and  in  Grace  Church  chapel.  The 
formation  of  this  church  resulted  from  a  joint  meet- 
ing of  the  Lawrence  Street  and  Central  Churches 
held  in  August,  at  which  meeting  it  was  unanimously 
resolved  that  a  third  church  was  needed ;  and  a  com- 
mittee, consisting  of  William  C.  Chapin,  George  A. 
Fuller,  Benjamin  T.  Bourne,  Benjamin  Coolidge  and 
William  A.  Russell,  was  appointed  to  consider  the 
matter  and  report.  Thirty-two  persons  constituted 
the  original  organization  of  the  society, — twelve  from 
Lawrence  Street,  sixteen  from  the  Central  Church 
and  four  from  other  towns.  The  church  and  society 
immediately  took  steps  for  the  erection  of  the  build- 
ing located  on  Appleton  Street,  near  Essex.  This 
building,  erected  at  a  cost  of  thirty-five  thousand 
dollars,  is  very  conveniently  arranged,  and, 
architecturally  considered,  it  would  be  an  ornament 
to  the  city,  but,  unfortunately,  it  is  surrounded  by 
tall  brick  buildings,  among  which  it  is  hidden.  It 
was  dedicated  September  6,  1866, 

The  first  pastor  was  Rev.  William  Franklin  Snow, 
born  in  Boston  in  1838;  at  the  age  of  ninehe  went  with 
his  fiither's  family  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  was  there 
fitted  for  Harvard  College  at  the  Royal  School  and  the 
Oahu  College,  of  Honolulu;  entered  Harvard  in  1857 
and  was  distinguished  as  a  classical  scholar  ;  gradu- 
ated with  high  rank  in  1861.  In  August,  1862,  he 
enlisted  as  a  private  soldier  in  the  Fifth  Massachu- 
setts Regiment,  was  elected  captain  and  served  one 
year.  After  the  expiration  of  his  service  in  the  army 
he  made  a  visit  to  his  father's  family  in  the  islands. 
In  May,  1864,  he  became  acting  pastor  of  the  Con- 
gregational Church  in  Grass  Valley,  Cal.,  returned  to 
Andover  in  1865  to  complete  his  studies  and  was  in- 
stalled pastor  of  the  Eliot  Church  September  13, 
1866.  Mr.  Snow  was  a  thorough  scholar,  an  indefati- 
gable student  and  thoroughly  devoted  to  the  work  of 


LAWRENCE. 


907 


the  Christian  ministry,  and  during  his  five  years  of  ser- 
vice ill  the  Eliot  Church  the  number  of  its  members 
increased  from  thirty-two  to  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
nine.  He  died  in  the  midst  of  his  usefulness,  at  the 
age  of  thirty-three,  January  11,  1871. 

On  the  14th  of  June,  1871,  Rev.  Theodore  T.  Mun- 
ger,  of  Haverhill,  Mass.,  was  installed  pastor.  He 
resigned  his  charge  January  20,  1875,  on  account  of 
ill  liealth  of  himself  and  family,  and  removed  to  the 
western  part  of  the  State.  His  resignation  was  a 
source  of  regret  to  his  people  and  many  others,  who 
prized  his  companionship  for  his  intellectual  power 
and  attainments.  He  has  become  widely  known  by 
several  volumes  which  have  issued  from  his  scholarly 
pen. 

March  14,  1875,  Rev.  John  H.  Barrows  commenced 
his  work  at  the  Eliot,  and  was  ordained  April  29th  ; 
remained  with  the  church  till  September  12,  1880. 
Rev.  Edward  P.  Hooker  was  installed  January  12, 
1881,  and  resigned,  after  a  short  residence,  to  become 
president  of  Rollins  College,  in  Florida.  The  Eliot 
and  Central  Churches  united  to  form  Trinity  Congre- 
gational Church  in  the  summer  of  1883.  The  Eliot 
Church  building  was  sold  to  Hon.  Wm.  A.  Russell, 
who  afterward  conveyed  it  to  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association.  The  present  pastor  of  Trinity 
Church  is  Rev.  John  L.  R.  Trask. 

The  Methodists. — The  first  preaching  was  in 
June,  184G,  at  Boarding-House  No.  5,  kept  by  Mr. 
Charles  Barnes,  who  built  on  his  own  account,  about 
twenty  years  before,  the  meeting-house  on  the 
corner  of  Lowell  and  Suffolk  Streets,  Lowell.  Their 
house  of  worship,  at  the  corner  of  Haverhill  and 
Hampshire  Streets,  was  dedicated  in  the  spring  of 
1848.  Their  first  pastor  was  Rev.  James  L.  Gleason. 
Since  the  erection  of  the  church  building  the  pastors 
have  been  Rev.  L.  D.  Barrows,  D.D.,  1847-48  ;  Rev. 
James  Pike,  D.D.,  1849;  Rev.  Moses  Howe,  1850; 
Rev.  Samuel  Kelley,  1851-52;  Rev.  R.  S.  Rust,  D.D., 
1853  and  '54;  Rev.  Jonathan  Hall,  1855  and  '56; 
Rev.  W.  A.  McDonald,  1857;  Rev.  F.  A.  Hughes, 
1858  ;  Rev.  J.  H.  McCarthy,  D.D.,  1859  and  '60 ;  Rev. 
S.  Holman,  1861  and  '62;  Rev.  R.  S.  Stubbs,  1863; 
Rev.  George  Dearborn,  1864;  Rev.  L.  J.  Hall,  1865- 
66 ;  Rev.  D.  C.  Knowles,  1867-69 ;  Rev.  F.  Pitcher, 
1870  and  '71;  Rev.  L.  D.  Barrows,  D.D.,  1872-74; 
Rev.  D.  Stevenson,  D.D.,  1875-77;  Rev.  D.  C. 
Knowles  again,  1878,  who  was  succeeded  in  April, 
1881,  by  Rev.  E.  0.   Bass,  who  served  three  years ; 

Rev. followed  from  April,  1884,  to  April,  1886, 

when  the  present  pastor,  Rev.  Madison  A.  Richards, 
commenced  his  labors.  The  church  is  in  a  flourish- 
ing condition,  and  the  Sabbath-school  contains  about 
two  hundred  scholars.  Rev.  D.  C.  Knowles  has  been 
for  several  years  principal  of  the  New  Hampshire 
Conference  Seminary  at  Tilton,  N.  H.,  and  Rev. 
Daniel  Stevenson  is  principal  of  a  seminary  at 
Augusta,  Kentucky. 

The  Garden  Street  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was 


organized  in  1853  by  young  men  and  women  residing 
in  the  easterly  part  of  the  town.  Meetings  were  at 
first  held  in  a  school-house  and  then  in  Pantheon 
Hall,  but  in  1855  the  brick  church  at  the  corner  of 
Newbury  and  Garden  Streets  was  erected.  The 
members  were  few,  and  the  task  they  had  undertaken 
was  a  difficult  one  to  complete,  and  no  doubt  ultimate 
success  depended  largely  on  the  efforts  of  George  P. 
Wilson,  then  a  layman,  a  man  of  indefatigable  en- 
ergy, who  was  i<  r  many  years  the  beloved  and  de- 
voted city  missionary.  The  first  settled  minister 
was  Rev.  Albert  C.  Mansur,  1853.  Since  that  the 
church  has  been  under  the  pastoral  care  of  Rev. 
John  McLaughlin,  1854  and  '55 ;  Rev.  Calvin  Hol- 
man, 1856  and  '57;  Rev.  Warren  F.  Evans,  1858; 
Rev.  Henry  H.  Hartwell,  1859  and  '60 ;  Rev.  Cadford 
M.  Dinsmore,  1861;  Rev.  Albert  C.  Mansur,  1862; 
Rev.  Andrew  J.  Church,  1863  and  '64 ;  Rev.  A.  P. 
Hatch,  1865;  Rev.  Charles  U.  Dunning  in  1866,  '67 
and  '68  (who,  after  an  absence  of  three  years,  returned 
to  Lawrence  and  succeeded  Mr.  Wilson  as  city  mis- 
sionary, resigning  that  service  on  his  appointment  as 
one  of  the  presiding  elders  of  the  New  Hampshire 
Annual  Conference);  Rev.  Truman  Carter,  1869  and 
'70 ;  Rev.  Lewis  P.  Cushman,  1871-73;  Rev.  George 
W.  Norris,  1874-75,  and  again  1880-82  ;  Rev.  William 
E.Bennett,  1876;  Rev.  A.  E.  Drew,  1877-79;  Rev. 
Charles  Parkhurst,  1883-85  ;  Rev.  Jesse  M.  Durrell, 
1886-87. 

First  Baptist  Society. — The  First  Baptist  So- 
ciety was  formed  in  1847.  Their  first  temporary 
house  of  worship  was  a  small  building  in  the  rear  of 
the  present  one  on  Haverhill  Street,  and  was  occupied 
the  first  time  in  April,  1847,  although  meetings  had 
been  previously  held  at  private  houses  and  in  an  old 
school  building  near  the  present  First  Methodist 
Church.  In  November  following  the  building  was 
enlarged  to  accommodate  the  increasing  number  of 
members.  The  increase  of  numbers  was  so  great  that 
it  was  soon  found  necessary  to  build  a  larger  and 
more  permanent  building.  Consequently,  in  1849, 
the  construction  of  the  present  edifice  on  Haverhill 
Street  was  commenced,  and  so  far  completed  that  ser- 
vices were  held  in  the  basement  in  January,  1850. 
The  first  pastor  of  this  church  and  society  was  Rev. 
John  G.  Richardson,  who  remained  with  them  till 
1853 ;  he  was  succeeded  in  December  by  Rev.  Arte- 
mas  W.  Sawyer.  In  1856  Rev.  Frank  Remington  fol- 
lowed, resigning  in  1859,  and  subsequently  was  in- 
stalled over  the  Second  Baptist  Church.  For  several 
months  the  pulpit  was  supplied  by  Rev.  J.  Sella  Mar- 
tin, formerly  a  slave.  Rev.  Henry  F.  Lane  was  the 
next  pastor,  who  remained  but  a  short  time,  leaving 
in  1862  to  accept  the  chaplaincy  of  the  Forty-first 
Massachusetts  Regiment.  Rev.  George  Knox  was  next 
installed,  but  the  same  year  became  chaplain  of  the 
Twenty- ninth  Maine  Regiment.  He  was  killed  in 
Washington  by  being  thrown  from  his  horse.  In 
September,  1865,  Rev.  George  W.  Bosworth,  D.D.,  be- 


908 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS 


came  the  pastor.     Dr.  Bossvorth  remained  three  and 
a  half  years;  removed  to  Haverhill. 

Eev.  John  B.  Gough  Pidge  was  ordained  in  Sep- 
tember, 1869.  After  laboring  with  marked  ability 
and  popularity  for  about  ten  years,  he  accepted  an  in- 
vitation to  Philadelphia,  and  was  succeeded  by  Rev, 
Richard  Montague,  now  of  the  Central  Congrega- 
tional Church,  Providence,  R.  I.,  who  was  followed 
by  the  present  pastoi-.  Rev.  O.  C.  S.  Wallace. 

Free  Baptist  Society. — This  was  one  of  the 
early  societies  formed  in  Lawrence.  A  small  number 
held  a  meeting  in  the  first  boarding-house  erected  by 
the  Essex  Company,  on  Broadway,  in  the  fall  of  1846, 
at  which  meeting  Rev.  Silas  Curtis  conducted  relig- 
ious service.  In  January,  1847,  twelve  persons  were 
duly  organized  as  the  Free- Will  Baptist  Church  of 
Lawrence,  with  Rev.  Jairus  E.  Davis  as  pastor.  Their 
services  were  conducted  in  public  halls  and  private 
houses,  until  a  small  plain  building  was  erected  at  the 
corner  of  Haverhill  and  White  Streets,  on  land  given 
them  by  the  Essex  Company.  Money  was  not  abun- 
dant among  the  members  of  this  society,  and  for 
many  years  they  had  a  hard  and  patient  struggle 
against  adverse  circumstances,  sustained  only  by 
Christian  faith  and  determined  perseverance.  It  was 
not  till  1857  that  their  new  church  of  brick,  at  the 
corner  of  Common  and  Pemberton  Streets,  was  dedi- 
cated. During  the  ministry  of  the  iirst  pastor,  who 
remained  with  them  three  years,  sixty-four  members 
were  added  to  the  church.  October  1,  1849,  Rev. 
Jonathan  Woodman,  sometimes  known  as  "  Father 
Woodman,"  a  prominent  and  influential  man  in  that 
denomination,  became  pastor,  remaining  three  years, 
during  Avhich  time  the  church  had  an  accession  of 
sixty-six  members.  The  succeeding  pastors  were 
Rev.  G.  P.  Ramsey,  two  and  a  half  years  ;  addition 
to  the  church  during  his  time,  sixty-seven  ;  Rev.  A. 
D.  Williams,  remained  two  and  a  half  years,  from  the 
spring  of  1855,  and  during  this  time  one  hundred  and 
eighty  members  were  added  to  the  membership.  Mr. 
Williams  resigned  in  consequence  of  failing  health, 
and  Rev.  E.  M.  Tappan  succeeded  him  in  1857,  and 
died  in  service,  December  12,  1860.  In  May,  1861, 
Rev.  J.  Burnham  Davis  became  pastor,  and  closed  his 
connection  with  the  church  January  1,  1866,  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-four  members  having  been  added  to 
the  church  during  his  ministry.  The  next  pastor  was 
Rev.  E.  G.  Chaddock. 

Other  pastors  of  this  church  have  been  Rev.  John 
A.  Lowell  and  Rev.  Alphonso  L.  Houghton. 

The  Parker  Street  Methodist  Church  is  lo- 
lated  in  South  Lawrence.  This  has  grown  gradually 
from  a  Sunday-school  or  Bible-class  formed  in  1869, 
through  the  instrumentality  of  Rev.  D.  C.  Knowles, 
of  the  First  Methodist  Church.  The  class  commenced 
with  five  members,  but  as  the  number  increased  a 
society  was  organized  September  16,  1870,  and  on  the 
20lh  a  small  lot  was  purchased  on  Blanchard  Street, 
and  a  building  twenty-two  by  forty  feet  was  erected — 


Rev.  Messrs.  Tilton,  of  Derry  ;  Keyes,  of  Woburn  ;  and 
Sargent,  of  Maiden,  supplying  the  desk.  The  first  pas- 
tor was  Rev.  W.  J.  Parkinson,  1873.  July  9th  ofthat 
year  the  corner-stone  of  the  church  on  Parker  Street 
was  laid.  Rev.  Mark  Trafton  and  Rev.  D.  C.  Knowles 
delivered  addresses  on  the  occasion.  Succeeding 
pastors  of  the  church  were  Rev.  Garrett  Beekman, 
Rev.  Allen  J.  Hall,  Rev.  Converse  L.  McCurdy,  Rev. 

J.  T.  Abbott,  Rev.  W.  A.  Braman,Rev. Hamble- 

ton,  one  year.  Rev.  C.  M.  Melden,  three  years,  fol- 
lowed in  1887  by  Rev.  Lewis  P.  Cushman. 

First  Unitarian  Church. — This  church  was  or- 
ganized August  30,  1847.  They  met  at  first  in  Odd 
Fellows'  Hall,  but  soon  erected  a  small  chapel,  in 
which  services  were  held  till  May,  1860,  when  the 
present  church  building  was  dedicated.  This  build- 
ing had  originally  a  tall  and  graceful  spire,  but  in  the 
fire  of  1859  it  was  set  on  fire  by  sparks  carried  across 
the  Common  from  the  fire  which  consumed  the  United 
States  Hotel  and  court-house,  and  damaged  to  such 
an  extent  that  it  was  taken  down  and  the  tower  fin- 
ished in  its  present  form. 

The  first  pastor  of  this  church  was  Rev.  Henry  F. 
Harrington,  the  present  superintendent  of  schools  in 
New  Bedford.  Mr.  Harrington  remained  seven  years 
devoted  not  only  to  his  pastoral  duties  to  the  church 
but  active  in  the  early  history  of  the  schools  of  the 
city  and  in  philanthropic  service  among  the  poor. 
He  resigned  in  1854.  Rev.  William  L.  Jenkins  was 
pastor  from  1855  to  1865  ;  then  Rev.  James  H.  Wig- 
gin,  who,  after  one  year  of  service,  was  succeeded  by 
Rev.  James  B.  Moore,  a  gentleman  of  much  forensic 
ability,  who  remained  for  several  years  until  his  de- 
cease, from  disease  contracted  in  the  military  service. 
Rev.  Charles  A.  Hayden  wa^^  settled  here  from  1873 
to  1876.  Rev.  Edmund  R.  Sanborn  was  the  next 
pastor,  and  after  his  resignation  the  pulpit  was  sup- 
plied from  time  to  time  until  the  present  year,  when, 
on  its  fortieth  anniversary.  Rev.  Edwin  C.  Abbott 
was  installed. 

The  First  Universauist  Society  (now  known  as 
the  Church  of  the  Good  Shepherd)  was  formed  Novem- 
ber 15,  1848.  Some  of  the  gentlemen  active  in  its  for- 
mation were  George  Littlefield,  Sullivan  Symonds, 
William  D.  Joplin,  Heaton  Bailey  and  Fairfield 
White.  Meetings  were  held  for  public  worship  for 
four  or  five  years  in  various  halls,  until  1853,  when 
services  were  held  in  the  vestry  of  the  new  church 
which  was  erected  on  Haverhill  Street  and  dedicated 
June  30th  of  that  year.  The  first  pastor  was  Rev. 
George  H.  Clark,  of  Lockport,  N.  Y.,  who  died  in 
Lawrence,  December,  1851.  The  succeeding  pastors 
were  Rev.  J.  R.  Johnson,  1852-55  ;  Rev.  J.  J.  Bray  ton, 
1855-58 ;  Rev.  Martin  J.  Steere,  1858-60 ;  Rev.  George 
S.  Weaver,  1861-73;  Rev.  George  W.  Perry,  1873-77; 
Rev.  A.  E.  White,  1877-86;  followed  by  the  present 
pastor.  Rev.  W.  E.  Gibbs.  The  church  building  was 
remodeled  in  1866  and  dedicated  1867- 
The   South    Congregational    Church. — This 


LAWRENCE. 


909 


church  originated  from  a  Sunday-school  convened  in 
a  school-house  on  Andover  Street,  by  M.  C.  Andrews 
and  J.  B.  Fairfield,  in  1852.  The  school  was  con- 
tinued by  its  founders  till  1857.  At  that  time 
George  A.  Fuller  became  interested  in  it,  and  it  was 
removed  to  the  engine-house  and  Boston  and  Maine 
passenger  station  until  friends,  prominent  among 
whom  were  Mr.  Fuller,  Deacon  Benjamin  Coolridge 
and  others,  erected  a  small  chapel  in  1859,  en- 
larged 1861.  In  1869  the  present  building  was 
erected  and  dedicated,  the  ceremony  occurring  on 
Christmas  day.  Regular  services  were  held  in  Oc- 
tober, 1865,  and  the  pulpit  was  supplied  for  three 
years  by  Professor  E.  A.  Park,  of  Andover.  This 
church  was  organized  May  18,  1868,  but  thus  far  there 
was  no  settled  minister.  Rev.  James  G.  Dougherty 
supplied  the  pulpit  one  year,  October,  1869,  to  March, 
1870,  and  Rev.  L.  Z.  Ferris  two  years. 

January  30,  1873,  the  present  pastor,  Rev.  Clark 
Carter,  was  installed.  The  church  comprises  about 
one  hundred  members,  and  the  Sunday-school  one 
hundred  and  forty-five. 

Presbyterian  Church. — In  June,  1854,  Rev.  A. 
McWilliams,  of  the  Presbytery  of  Boston,  organized 
a  church  in  Lawrence  of  forty-seven  members.  Ser- 
vices were  held  at  first  in  a  school-house,  but  in  1856 
a  church  was  built  on  Oak  Street,  and  Mr.  McWil- 
liams continued  with  the  church  till  1857.  The 
general  depression  of  business  at  that  time  and  the 
stoppage  of  mills,  weakened  the  congregation,  and 
for  a  time  the  church  was  left  without  a  pastor.     In 

1859  Rev.  James  Dinsmore  was  installed,  and  re- 
mained till  1862.  Meetings  was  suspended  and  the 
building  was  rented  to  the  city  for  a  school-house.  In 
1867  the  building  was  re-dedicated,  and  Rev.  John 
Hogg  became  the  pastor,  remaining  eight  years,  and 
during  his  ministry  the  present  church  building  on 
Concord  Street  was  built.  Rev.  John  A.  Burns  suc- 
ceeded him,  and  he  in  turn  was  succeeded  by  the 
present  pastor,  Rev.  Robert  A.  McAyeal,  D.D.,  from 
Ohio. 

St.  John's  Episcopal  Church. — The  first  meet- 
ings of  this  church  were  held  in  Essex  Engine-House, 
on  Morton  Street,  while  building  a  church  on  land 
adjoining.  The  building  was  first  opened  for  service 
in  May,  1866,  and  was  capable  of  holding  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  persons;  three  years  later  it  was  re- 
moved to  Bradford  Street.  The  rectors  have  succes- 
sively been  Rev.  A.  V.  G.  Allen,  Rev.  James  H.  Lee, 
Rev.  Charles  C.  Harris,  Rev.  Belno  A.  Brown,  Rev. 
William  G.  Wells. 

The  Second  Baptist  Church  was  organized  in 

1860  by  sixty-seven  members  from  the  First  Buptist 
Church,  a  natural  outgrowth  from  the  parent  stock. 
Their  first  pastor  was  Rev.  Frank  Remington,  who  had 
been  previously  settled  over  the  original  church. 
Services  were  held  for  a  time  in  the  City  Hall,  then 
in  the  wooden  building  erected  by  the  "  Christian  " 
Society,  on  Common  Street,  west  of  Lawrence,  which 


the  society  purchased  in  1861.  This  was  removed 
and  enlarged  in  1865,  rebuilt  and  further  enlnrged 
1874,  and  is  on  the  south  side  of  Common  Street,  a 
little  east  of  Lawrence  Street.  The  pastors  of  this 
church  have  been,  in  succession,  Rev.  Cyrus  F.  Tol- 
man,  Rev.  Henry  A.  Cooke  (1865,  afterward  settled 
in  Boston),  Rev.  L.  L.  Wood  (1870,  since  pastor  of  a 
Boston  church).  Rev.  George  \V.  Gile  (who,  after  a 
pastorate  of  over  six  years,  was  called  to  the  Baptist 
Church  in  Pittsfield),  Rev.  R.  B.  Moody  (from  Janu- 
ary 1,  1880,  who  remained  nearly  four  years),  and  the 
present  pastor,  Rev.  Frederick  M.  Gardner  (settled  in 
April,  1884).  D.  Frank  Robinson  was  superinten- 
dent of  the  Sunday-school  for  twenty-four  years,  suc- 
ceeded in  1887  by  Deacon  S.  F.  Sneil. 

The  Riverside  Congregational  Church  was 
organized  March  9,  1878.  This  church  has  grown 
from  a  Mission  Sunday-school,  established  in  April, 
1862,  with  thirty-eight  scholars.  In  June,  1875,  a 
church  was  formed  under  the  name  of  the  Union 
Evangelical  Church,  and  recognized  by  a  council 
representing  Congregational,  Methodist  and  Presby- 
terian Churches.  This  church  continued  as  a  Union 
Evangelical  body  for  nearly  three  years,  the  church 
and  mission-school  being  independent  of  each  other 
in  organization  and  government.  In  February,  1878, 
at  a  meeting  called  for  the  purpose,  the  members 
voted  that  the  church  should  take  charge  of  the  Sun- 
day-school, and  that  it  should  become  Congregational, 
and  in  March,  1878,  it  was  formally  recognized  as  the 
Riverside  Congregational.  The  acting  pastors  of  the 
Union  Church  were  Mr.  F.  H.  Foster,  J.  H.  Fowle 
and  C.  A.  Dickenson,  and  of  the  Congregational, 
Mr.  F.  S.  Adams,  D.  H.  Colcord,  William  E.  Wolcott. 

Bodayell  Street  Methodist  Church. — After 
the  dissolution  of  the  Union  Evangelical  Church  the 
Methodists,  who  had  formed  a  part  of  that  body,  with 
others  increasing  their  number,  formed,  in  1880,  this 
new  church.  This  was  formed  mainly  through  the 
instrumentality  of  Mr.  Seth  F.  Dawson,  who  had  been 
previously  a  superintendent  of  the  mission-school 
and  of  the  Union  Church.  Present  pastor,  Rev.  Wil- 
liam C.  Bartlett. 

A  little  prior  to  1872  the  German  population  who 
had  found  their  home  in  Lawrence  had  increased  so 
much  that  it  was  thought  desirable  to  have  a  church 
of  their  own,  in  which  services  could  be  held  in  their 
own  language,  and  a  school  for  teaching  the  children 
in  the  elementary  branches  ;  and  to  this  end  the 
German  Catholics,  as  well  as  Protestants,  had  plan- 
ned a  building  for  this  purpose;  but,  as  might  have 
been  expected,  the  plan  of  union  of  two  conflicting 
beliefs  did  not  succeed.  In  May,  1872,  a  meeting  of 
German  Protestants  was  held  in  what  was  then  the 
Free  Evening  School  Room,  in  the  City  Hall,  and  at 
the  meeting  a  resolution  was  adopted  establishing  a 
church  and  school.  Mr.  F.  M.  Victor  was  chosen 
chairman  of  the  society,  Mr.  Herman  Bruckmaun  sec- 
retary,  and   Mr.  William  Wiesner   treasurer.       The 


910 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Eliot  Chapel  was  rented,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Schwartz, 
of  Boston,  preached,  June  23,  1872,  for  the  first  time 
to  a  Lawrence  audience  in  German.  A  preaolier  was 
engaged  and  held  services  every  second  Sahbath,  and 
taught  the  school  twice  a  week  till  the  close  of  the 
year. 

June  5,  1873,  the  society  was  incorporated  as  a 
German  Church  and  School  Society.  The  society 
met  at  first  in  Scott  &  Victor's  Hall,  and  services 
were  conducted  by  Rev.  M.  Schwartz,  of  Boston, 
monthly,  till  May,  1874,  when  services  were  discon- 
tinued for  want  of  a  suitable  building.  In  August 
following  a  lot  was  purchased  on  East  Haverhill 
Street,  a  church  building  erected,  which  was  dedica- 
ted December  12,  1875.  Here  regular  Sunday  ser- 
vices was  conducted  by  Mr.  Victor  till  April,  1876, 
when  the  Methodist  Conference  designated  Rev.  F. 

F.  Hoppmann  as  pastor,  who  remained  till  April,  1878, 
when  a  meeting  was  held  by  the  society,  and  it  was 
voted  thereafter  to  dispense  with  the  services  of  a  min- 
ister sent  by  the  Methodist  Conference. 

November,  1878,  Rev.  A.  Herman  Hager,  of  Chi- 
cago, was  invited  to  become  the  pastor  of  the  church, 
and  he  was  installed  January,  1879.  The  church 
building  was  enlarged  in  the  summer  of  1881,  and  re- 
opened for  worship  December  4th. 

Mr.  Hager  resigned  June  loth  (became  pastor  of  Nor- 
folk Street  Church,  New  York  City),  and  died  in  New 
York  City,  October  21, 1884,  and  was  succeeded  by  Rev. 
Ferdinand  O.  Zesch,  of  Carlstadt,  N.  J.,  who  was  in- 
stalled October  24,1883;  the  intermediate  time  the 
pulpit  being  supplied  by  a  gentleman  from  the  The- 
ological School  of  Bloomfield,  N.  J.,  and  Rev.  Fred. 
Erhardt,  of  Manchester.  Mr.  Zesch  resigned  in  Au- 
gust, 1885,  to  take  charge  of  a  German  Reformed 
Church  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  was  succeeded  by 
the  present  pastor.  Rev.  Frederick  C.  Saure.  Num- 
ber of  Sunday-school  scholars,  one  hundred  and 
eighty. 

German  Methodists. — The  Methodists,  who  up 
to  this  time  had  associated  with  the  other  Protestants  in 
theKirchenverein,  formed  aseparate  congregation,  and 
services  were  held  with  Mr.  John  Lutz  as  preacher, 
the  society  numbering  eighteen  members  at  the  end 
of  nine  months.  Mr.  August  Wallon  (student) 
preached  two  years,  and  the  third  was  settled  as  pas- 
tor, and  the  society  commenced  the  erection  of  a 
church  on  Vine  Street.  The  building  was  dedicated 
December  11,  1881,  and  at  this  date  there  were  sixty- 
eight  members.     Mr.  Wallon  was  followed  by  Rev. 

G.  Hauler,  two  years ;  Rev.  Aldin  Wolflf,  two  years  ; 
Rev.  Philip  Stahl,  the  present  pastor,  who  commenced 
his  service  in  April,  1886.  The  church  has  now  one 
hundred  members. 

St.  Thomas  (Episcopal)  Church  is  located  in 
Methuen,  thouirh  its  members  are  mainly  from  Law- 
rence.    Their  first  pastor  was  Rev.  Belno  A.  Brown. 

There  are  also  in  Lawrence  several  smaller  socie- 
ties. 


The  United  Congregational  Church  organized 
1877,  Rev.  John  T.  Whalley. 

The  Primitive  Methodist,  the  Olive  Baptist,  the  Sec- 
ond Advent,  a  small  Swedenborgian  Society  and  a 
Society  of  "  Friends." 

Roman  Catholics. — In  1846  Rev.  Charles  D. 
French  came  to  Lawrence,  conducting  his  religious 
services  in  private  houses  at  first,  but  very  soon  after 
in  a  small  wooden  church  building,  thought  to  be 
sufficiently  large  for  the  purpose,  but  which,  in  1848, 
would  hardly  contain  half  of  those  who  sought  en- 
trance. From  a  valuable  work,  entitled  "Catholicity 
in  Lawrence,"  written  by  Miss  Katharine  A.O'Keefe, 
and  published  1882,  the  information  which  follows  is 
compiled.  Father  French  was  the  son  of  a  Protestant 
clergyman,  in  the  county  of  Galway,  Ireland;  shortly 
after  his  father's  death  he  came  to  this  country,  early 
in  the  present  century,  and  after  laboring  more  than 
forty  years  in  organizing  congregations  and  building 
churches,  in  various  places,  came  to  Lawrence  in 
1846.  He  died  in  1851,  having,  during  his  short  resi- 
dence, established  the  First  Church  and  organized  a 
school,  the  church  being  known  as  the  "Church  of 
the  Immaculate  Conception." 

Father  French  was  succeeded  in  the  ministry  by 
Rev.  James  H.  D.  TaafFe,  born  about  1800,  in  the 
county  of  Mayo,  Ireland.  When  ten  years  of  age  he 
went  with  an  uncle,  who  was  an  officer  of  high  rank 
in  the  British  Army,  to  India,  where  he  remained  sev- 
eral years.  Before  his  return  to  Ireland  he  entered 
upon  a  collegiate  course  of  study  at  Mauritius,  in  the 
Isle  of  France.  At  the  age  of  twenty-seven  he  again 
took  up  his  studies  in  the  Jesuit  College  at  Carlow. 
Here  he  remained  a  short  time,  when  he  went  to 
Tuam,  and  was  ordained  a  Dominican  friar;  was 
superior  of  a  monastery  in  that  neighborhood  eight 
years,  came  to  America  in  1849,  aud  in  October, 
1850,  to  Lawrence. 

During  Father  Taaffe's  ministry  the  wooden  church 
building  gave  place' to  the  large  brick  church  of  the 
same  name.  He  also  built  the  "  Protectory  of  Mary 
Immaculate,"  an  orphan  asylum  and  home  for  inva- 
lids, being  aided  in  this  latter  work  by  the  "Catholic 
Friends'  Society,"  a  society  organized  by  him  in  1856. 
This  asylum  was  completed  and  dedicated  February 
9,  1868,  and  on  its  completion  it  was  placed  under 
the  charge  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  or  "The  Grey 
Nuns." 

On  the  29th  of  March  following.  Father  Taafi"e 
closed  his  earnest  life  after  a  service  here  of  eighteen 
years. 

Some  time  before  the  death  of  Father  French,  and 
two  years  before  the  arrival  of  Father  Taaffe,  the 
Catholic  population  had  so  far  increased  that  another 
priest  was  needed,  and  in  1848  the  want  was  supplied 
by  the  advent  of  Rev.  James  O'Donnell.  Father 
O'Donnell  was  born  in  Cashel,  Tipperary  County, 
Ireland,  April  13,  1806,  was  ordained  to  the  priest- 
hood in  New  York,  1837,  was  soon  after  stationed  at 


REV.  JAMES  T.  O'REILLY,  RECTOR 


ST.  MaRY'S  R.  C.  church, 

LAWRENCE,  MASS. 


LAWRENCE. 


911 


St.  Augustine's  Church,  Philadelphia,  which  was 
burned  by  a  fanatical  mob  in  1844,  and  Father 
O'Donnell  was  obliged  to  flee  for  his  life.  He  went, 
for  a  time,  to  Europe,  visited  France  and  Italy,  re- 
turned, alter  a  short  absence,  to  America,  and  was  lo- 
cated in  Lawrence. 

On  the  first  Sunday  in  January,  1849,  services  were 
held  in  a  wooden  building  (unfinished),  which  gave 
place  later  to  the  old  St.  Mary's  Church,  a  stone 
structure  on  Haverhill  Street,  commenced  in  1851 
and  finished  in  1853 ;  this  building  was  subsequently 
enlarged  suflSciently  to  contain  one  thousand  more 
persons,  and  was  dedicated  January  10,  1861. 

Father  O'Donnell  Avas  a  very  active  and  zealous 
man  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  to  his  church,  es- 
tablishing schools  for  the  education  of  the  children, 
and  encouraging  associations  for  intellectual  improve- 
ment. The  Catholic  Literary  and  Benevolent  Society 
was  formed  in  August,  1853,  with  the  following  ofti- 
cers:  President,  John  Ryan;  Vice-President,  J.  T. 
Tancred  ;  Treasurer,  John  Kiley,  Sr.;  Secretary,  Pat- 
rick Foster;  Librarian,  Dan'l  C  O'SuUivan. 

A  second  society  of  similar  nature  was  formed  in 
1858,  the  St.  Mary's  Young  Men's  Society.  The  first 
year's  oflScers  of  this  society  were  John  Hayes,  Presi- 
dent; Patrick  Goodwin,  Vice-President;  James  T. 
O'Sullivan,  Secretary;  Michael  O'Callaghan,  Treas- 
urer ;  James  Kiley,  Librarian.  To  this  society  Father 
O'Donnell  made  a  donation  of  one  hundred  volumes, 
— the  nucleus  of  what  became  a  fine  library. 

The  societies  continued  for  several  years. 

Father  O'Donnell  also  inti'oduced  the  Sisters  of 
Notre  Dame  in  August,  1859,  who,  in  September  fol- 
lowing, opened  their  school  for  girls  (yet  in  existence), 
where,  independently  of  religious  teaching,  they 
Lave,  no  doubt,  in  a  quiet,  unostentatious  manner, 
exerted  a  favorable  influence  over  the  moral  charac- 
ter of  the  girls  committed  to  their  charge  and  in 
charitable  work  among  the  needy  and  unfortunate. 

But  it  was  not  alone  in  his  religious  works  that 
Father  O'Donnell  was  conspicuous  ;  he  was  a  public- 
spirited  citizen  and  an  excellent  man  of  business, 
interested  in  whatever  pertained  to  the  welfare  and 
good  order  of  the  city,  of  a  benevolent  disposition 
and  ever  ready  to  help  the  deserving  poor ;  he  had 
no  sympathy  for  the  drunken  and  lazy.  He  was  a 
liberal  friend  to  the  Lawrence  City  Mission,  contrib- 
uting to  its  relief  fund  and  aiding  its  investigations 
in  behalf  of  the  poor  ;  especially  was  this  the  case  in 
the  winter  of  1857,  when  the  mills  were  idle  and 
thousands  of  people  were  unemployed.  At  this  time 
Father  O'Donnell  and  Father  TaafTe  were  both  earn- 
estly engaged  in  collecting  funds  and  personally  dis- 
bursing the  necessaries  of  life  ;  and  at  this  time  also 
the  former  rendered  very  valuable  service  in  stopping 
a  senseless  run  upon  one  of  the  city  savings  banks. 

Father  O'Donnell  died  April  7,  1861,  aged  fifty- 
five,  much  lamented,  not  only  by  his  own  people,  but 
by  those  of  all  denominations,  and  bearing  with  him 


to  his  long  home  the  respect  and  esteem  of  the  en- 
tire community.  The  successor  of  Father  O'Donnell 
was  Rev.  Ambrose  Mullen,  who  remained  four  years, 
assisted,  at  different  times,  by  his  brother,  Rev.  Edward 
Mullen,  and  Fathers  Gallagher  and  Daley.  He  left 
in  1865  to  assume  the  presidency  of  Villanova  Col- 
lege, near  Philadelphia,  wher^he  remained  till  1869, 
when  failing  health  compelled  his  retirement  from 
its  active  duties,  and  in  August  of  the  same  year,  on 
the  death  of  Father  Gallagher,  he  was  sent  to  St. 
Augustine's  Church  in  Andover,  where  he  spent  the 
remainder  of  his  life.    He  died  July  7,  1876. 

Father  Mullen  was  succeeded  at  St.  Mary's  by 
Rev.  Louis  M.  Edge,  assisted  by  Fathers  William 
Hartnett,  John  P.  Giimore  and  M,  F.  Gallagher. 

Under  his  administration  the  corner-stone  of  the 
new  St.  Mary's  Church  was  laid  and  the  building, 
which  is  an  ornament  to  the  city,  and  one  of  the  fin- 
est buildings  in  the  country,  was  partially  completed. 
Father  Edge  was  born  in  1825,  came  to  America  at  the 
age  of  twenty-two  and,  shortly  after  his  arrival,  joined 
the  Franciscans  at  Loretto,  Pa.,  and  was  five  years 
professor  in  the  Catholic  College  there;  went  thence 
to  Philadelphia  and  entered  the  order  of  St.  Augus- 
tine and  spent  two  years  at  Villanova  College  in  the 
study  of  theology  and  qualifying  himself  for  the 
priesthood.  Being  particularly  fond  of  mathematics, 
he  was  retained  at  Villanova  as  professor  of  mathe- 
matics for  six  years,  and  then  went  to  Mechanicsville 
and  Schaghticoke,  N.  Y.,  at  which  latter  place  he  built 
fine  church,  coming  to  Lawrence  in  1865.  He  Avas 
interested  in  the  cause  of  general  education,  and  at 
the  time  of  his  decease  was  a  member  of  the  school 
committee  of  Lawrence.  He  went  to  Philadelphia  to 
make  arrangements  ibr  raising  the  cross  on  St.  Mary's 
on  the  following  July  4th,  and  there  was  thrown  from 
his  carriage,  receiving  injuries  which  resulted  in  his 
death  February  24,  1870. 

Very  Rev.  Father  Galberry,  superior  of  the  Augus- 
tinian  Order,  and  later  Right  Rev.  Bifhop  of  Hart- 
ford, was  the  successor  of  Father  Edge;  and  under 
him  the  church  (St.  Mary's)  was  completed,  and  dedi- 
cated September  3,  1871.  The  length  of  the  building 
is  two  hundred  and  ten  feet;  width,  eighty  feet,  ex- 
cept at  the  transept,  where  it  is  one  hundred  and  two 
feet.  The  steeple  is  two  hundred  and  twenty-five 
feet  high  and  the  top  of  the  cross  is  two  hundred  and 
thirty-five  feet  from  the  ground,  which  makes  the 
building  fifteen  feet  higher  than  Bunker  Hill  Monu- 
ment. It  is  in  Gothic  style  and  built  of  light  granite 
from  Westford  (Mass.),  Salem  (N.  H.)  and  Hallowell 
(Me.),  and  is  capable  of  seating  over  three  thousand 
persons. 

On  the  departure  of  Father  Galberry  Rev.  John  P. 
Gilraore  become  pastor,  during  whose  administration 
a  fine  chime  of  sixteen  bells  (from  the  foundry  of 
William  Blake  &  Co.)  was  placed  in  the  tower  and 
consecrated  with  imposing  ceremonies  on  Sun- 
day,  December  13th.      The   co^t  of  the  chime  was 


912 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


ten  thousand  dollars— three  thousand  of  the  amount 
having  been  bequeathed  by  the  will  of  the  late  Hugh 
Eafferty  and  the  remainder  raised  by  contributions 
from  the  members  of  the  church. 

Returning  to  the  first  church,  the  successors  of 
Father  Taaffe  in  this  church  were  Rev.  M.  J.  L.  Do- 
herty  and  C.  T.  McGfath,  the  former  of  whom  re- 
moved to  Millbury  in  1859  and  Rev.  William  Orr 
took  his  place.  Father  McGrath  removed  to  Somer- 
ville  in  1869  and  his  successor  was  Rev.  Father 
McShane.  During  Father  Orr's  pastorate  St.  Pat- 
rick's Church,  in  South  Lawrence,  was  built  and  ded- 
icated March  17,  1870,  and  St.  Lawrence's  Church, 
at  the  corner  of  Union  and  Essex  Streets  ;  this 
church  was  dedicated  by  Archbishop  Williams  in 
July,  1873. 

The  French  Catholics  began  agitating  the  subject 
of  gathering  a  church  in  1871,  holding  meetings  at 
first  in  Essex  Hall  and  soon  after  in  a  small  building 
purchased  on  Lowell  Street.  They  commenced  build- 
ing the  present  church  on  Haverhill  Street  in  1872-73, 
but  it  was  delayed  until  1875,  when,  under  the  pas- 
torate of  Rev.  Oliver  Boucher,  it  was  sufficiently  com- 
pleted to  be  used  for  divine  service,  and  received  the 
name  of  St.  Anne's. 

The  limits  of  this  article  will  not  admit  of  sketches 
of  the  many  able  and  earnest  clergymen  who 
have  been  active  in  the  diflerent  churches.  A  full 
record  may  be  found  in  Miss  O'Keefe's  work,  above 
referred  to.  The  various  Catholic  Churches  in  1875 
were  committed  by  the  Most  Rev.  Archbishop  to  the 
spiritual  care  and  direction  of  the  Augustinian  Order, 
and  Rev.  D.  D.  Regan,  who  had  been  stationed  at  St. 
Mary's  since  his  ordination  in  1874,  became  pastor  of 
the  Immaculate  Conception  Church,  succeeded  in 
1877  by  Rev.  John  H.  Devir. 

The  present  head  of  the  Augustinian  Order  here  is 
Rev.  James  T.  O'Reilly. 

Lawrence  in  the  Great  Rebellion. — From  a 
Lawrence  newspaper,  published  in  the  early  days  of 
Lawrence,  1846,  is  the  following  extract :  "  If  tbe  enor- 
mity of  a  man's  sin  is  just  cause  for  an  equal  enor- 
mity of  punishment,  the  monster  who,  for  the  pay  of 
a  common  soldier,  will  consent  to  turn  '  human 
butcher '  deserves  the  punishment  in  its  fullest  and 
broadest  extent." 

This  sentiment  did  not,  however,  seem  to  be  very 
deeply  seated  in  the  minds  of  the  people,  for  no 
sooner  had  the  echoes  of  the  first  guns  fired  upon 
Fort  Sumter  reached  their  ears,  than  Lawrence  was 
ready  to  respond.  The  Sixth  Massachusetts  Regi- 
ment, of  which  two  companies  belonged  in  Lawrence, 
was  at  this  time  commanded  by  Col.  Edward  F.  Jones, 
of  Pepperell ;  the  lieutenant-colonel  was  Walter  G. 
Shattuck,  of  Groton,  who  resigned  because  of  age 
and  infirmity;  and  the  major  was  Benjamin  F.  Wat- 
son, then  of  Lawrence,  now  of  New  York  City. 
Major  Watson  was  elected  lieutenant-colonel  on  the 
17th  May,  1861,  and  was  promoted  to  the  command 


of  the  regiment,  and  held  that  position  till  the  close 
of  the  campaign,  Capt.  Josiah  A.  Sawtelle,  of  Lowell, 
being  elected  major. 

The  President's  first  call  for  troops  to  defend  Wash- 
ington was  issued  on  the  15th  of  April,  1861,  reached 
Boston  on  the  16th,  and  the  entire  regiment,  scattered 
through  the  towns  of  Stoneham,  Lawrence,  Lowell, 
Acton,  Groton,  Worcester  and  adjoining  towns,  re- 
ported in  Boston  on  the  17th,  the  larger  portion  of 
the  regiment  having  arrived  there  before  sunset  of 
the  16th ;  arrived  in  New  York  on  the  morning  of 
the  18th,  at  Philadelphia  in  the  evening  of  the  same 
day ;  on  the  19th  made  their  memorable  passage 
through  Baltimore,  having  lost  four  kdled  and  thirty- 
six  wounded  ;  but  not  without  inflicting  a  heavy  loss 
upon  the  opposing  force;  and  arrived  in  Washington 
on  the  afternoon  of  the  19th.  Company  I,  of  Law- 
rence, was  under  the  command  of  Capt.  John  Picker- 
ing, and  Company  F,  under  Capt.  Benjamin  F.  Chad- 
bourne  and,  subsequently,  Capt.  Melvin  Beal. 

Of  the  four  killed  in  Baltimore,  Sumner  H.  Need- 
ham,  of  Lawrence,  was,  according  to  Hanson's  "His- 
tory of  the  Sixth  Regiment,"  the  first  to  fall  mortally 
wounded.  He  was  born  in  Bethel,  Me.,  March  2, 
1828,  and  had  resided  in  Lawrence  about  twelve 
years,  was  corporal  in  Company  I,  having  been  a 
member  of  the  company  about  five  years.  His  body 
was  brought  to  Boston  on  the  2d  of  May,  and  con- 
veyed to  Lawrence  May  3d,  by  a  committee  of  the 
city  government,  and  placed  in  the  city  hall,  where 
funeral  service  was  held.  The  hall  was  appropriately 
draped,  and  every  inch  of  room  occupied.  On  the 
rostrum  were  the  clergy  of  the  city,  and  an  eloquent 
sermon  was  preached  by  the  pastor  of  the  deceased, 
Rev.  G.  S.  Weaver,  of  the  Universal ist  Church — as- 
sisted by  Rev.  Caleb  E.  Fisher,  of  Lawrence  Street 
Congregational  Church  ;  Rev.  W.  L.  Jenkins,  of  the 
Unitarian  Church  ;  Rev.  Henry  F.  Lane,  of  the  First 
Baptist  Church;  Rev.  C.  M.  Dinsmore,  of  the  Garden 
Street  Methodist  Church ;  Rev.  Daniel  Tenney,  of 
the  Central  Congregational  Church ;  and  Rev.  George 
Packard,  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  in  the  devotional 
exercises. 

The  text  was  in  Hebrews  xi.  4:  "//e  being  dead,  yet 
speaketh." 

"  He  speaks  from  that  scene  of  conflict,  with  a  silent  yet  teirible  elo- 
quence, which  is  heard  all  over  our  great  country,  and  which  stirs  the 
moral  indignation  of  twenty  millions  of  freemen  at  home,  and  ten  times 
that  number  abroad.  That  blow  that  broke  in  upon  his  brain  struck 
upon  the  conscience  of  a  nation.  That  wound  has  a  tongue,  speaking 
with  a  trumpet  of  thunder  among  the  Northern  hills  and  along  the 
western  prairies.  The  blood  spilt  from  it  is  the  seed  of  a  mighty  har- 
vest of  patriots,  who  will  pour  upon  rebels  the  indigaation  of  their  out- 
raged souls.  His  shattered  form  calls  from  its  coffin  upon  an  outraged 
country,  to  arouse  in  its  might  and  crush  out  the  reckless  and  imperious 
spirit  of  treason  which  has  reared  itself  against  our  prosperous  land 
and  our  benignant  form  of  Government.  Yes,  being  dead,  our  brother 
calls  upon  us,  his  neighbors  and  friends,  to  stand  up  in  our  patriotism 
and  manhood,  and  maintain  and  defend  the  honor  of  that  country  for 
which  he  gave  bis  life.  He  calls  upon  our  State  to  prove  that  her  sons 
are  worthy  descendants  of  the  blood  of  Plymouth  Rock  and  Lexington  ; 
upon  our  country  to  prove  that  her  people  are  worthy  of  the  institutions 
under  which  they  live." 


LAWRENCE. 


918 


A  granite  monument  in  Bellevue  Cemetery  marks 
his  resting-place,  and  bears  the  folhiwing  inscription: 

"  By  the  City  Governmont  this  monument  is  erected,  to  endear  to 
posterity  the  memory  of  Sumner  H.  Needham,  of  Co.  I,  Gth  Regt. 
M.  V.  M.,  who  fell  a  victim  to  the  passions  of  a  Secession  mob  during  the 
passage  of  the  Regiment  through  the  Streets  of  Baltimore,  marching  to 
the  defence  of  the  Nation's  Capital  on  the  memorable  19th  of  April, 
A.D.  18G1,  Aet.  33.  A  loyal  north  la  common  with  his  widow  and  an 
only  child,  mourn  his  loss. 

A.D.  18G2." 

On  the  base  of  the  monument  is  this  word 

"  Needham." 

At  a  later  period  of  the  war  the  Sixth  Eegiment 
was  again  among  the  first  to  respond  to  the  call  for 
nine  months'  troops,  and  in  this  campaign  Lawrence 
furnished  one  company  (Company  I) ;  Company  F  was 
partially  recruited  (many  of  the  members  having  en- 
listed in  other  organizations  for  three  years),  and 
consolidated  with  Company  I,  under  the  command  of 
Capt.  Augustine  L.  Hamilton. 

Again,  between  the  expiration  of  service  of  the 
first  three  years'  regiments  and  the  organization  of 
new,  the  government  called  for  regiments  for  one 
hundred  days'  service.  A  third  time  the  Sixth  re- 
sponded, and  Lawrence  again  furnished  one  company 
(Company  K),  under  command  of  Capt.  Edgar  J. 
Sherman,  who  had  previously  served  in  the  nine 
months'  campaign. 

Prior,  however,  to  the  commencement  of  actual 
war,  when  General  Anderson,  in  consequence  of  the 
hostile  attitude  of  South  Carolina,  had  removed  his 
small  force  of  sixty  men  from  Fort  Moultrie  to  Fort 
Sumter,  in  January,  1861,  Captain  Gustavus  V.  Fox 
who  had  been  an  ofiicer  in  the  navy,  but  was  then 
resident  in  Lawrence,  originated  a  plan  for  carrying 
provisions  to  the  beleaguered  garrison ;  this  was  rejected 
by  President  Buchanan,  renewed  and  carried  into  ef- 
fect by  President  Lincoln,  but  failed  of  accomplish- 
ment for  reasons  too  Avell  known  to  be  related  here. 
Captain  Fox  gave  himself  thenceforward  to  the  cause 
of  the  Union  and  became  the  Assistant  Secretary  of 
the  Navy,  where,  by  his  energy  and  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  naval  affairs,  he  rendered  most  valuable  ser- 
vice to  the  end  of  the  war. 

While  the  three  months'  troops  (the  Third,  Fourth, 
Fifth,  Sixth  and  Eighth  Regiments,  Deven's  Rifles 
and  Cook's  Battery)  were  in  the  field,  it  became  appa- 
rent to  the  government  that  greater  eflTort  and  a  longer 
struggle  were  before  them,  and  on  the  3d  of  May 
1861,  a  call  for  troops  for  three  years'  service  was  is- 
sued. Under  this  call  Lawrence  had  representatives 
in  the  First,  Second,  Ninth,  Eleventh,  Twelfth,  Thir- 
teenth, Fourteenth,  Sixteenth,  Seventeenth,  Nine- 
teenth, Twentieth,  Twenty-second,  Twenty-fourth^ 
Twenty-sixth,  Twenty-eighth,  Thirtieth,  Thirty-sec- 
ond, Thirty-third,  Thirty-fifth,  Thirty-ninth,  Fortieth, 
Forty-first,  Fifty-sixth,  Fifty-seventh  and  Fifty-ninth 
Massachusetts  Infantry. 

Of  the  ten  men  enlisted  in  the  Second,  three  were 
killed  in  battle  or  died  in  service.     Of  the  forty  men 
58 


enlisted  in  the  Ninth,  five  were  killed  or  died  of 
wounds.  In  the  Tenth  Regiment  we  were  represented 
by  Lieutenant-colonel  Jeflbrd  M.  Decker.  In  the 
Fourteenth  Regiment,  which  became  the  First  Heavy 
Artillery,  were  more  than  three  hundred  from  Law- 
rence; of  these  forty-seven  were  killed  or  died  in  the 
service.  In  the  Seventeenth  Lawrence  had  sixty  men, 
Company  I  being  largely  recruited  from  Lawrence, 
and  of  these  nine  did  not  return.  In  the  Twenty- 
sixth,  Companies  F  and  I  were  mainly  composed  of 
Lawrence  men  ;  the  loss  in  this  regiment  being  twenty- 
one.  To  the  Thirtieth  Regiment  Lawrence  furnished 
sixty-seven  men,  the  majority  of  Company  G;  of 
these  twenty-two  were  killed  or  died  in  service.  To 
the  Fortieth  Regiment  Lawrence  furnished  a  full  com- 
pany (C)  of  one  hundred  men,  of  whom  nineteen  were 
killed  or  died  in  service.  In  the  Forty-first,  which 
became  the  Third  Cavalry,  Company  B  was  largely 
composed  of  Lawrence  men,  ninety-five  in  all,  with  a 
loss  of  sixteen,  nine  of  whom  were  killed  in  action. 
In  the  Fortieth  New  York  (Mozart  Regiment),  one 
company  was  recruited  by  Captain  William  Sullivan, 
of  Lawrence.  This  regiment  suffered  severe  loss  and 
Captain  Sullivan  was  killed  at  Fredericksburg. 

In  the  nine  months'  troops  Lawrence  was  again  re- 
presented by  two  companies  in  the  Fourth  Massachu- 
setts, one  in  the  Forty-eighth,  and  a  few  in  the  Fif- 
tieth and  in  the  Sixtieth  Infantry,  one  hundred  days' 
service;  also  in  the  First,  Fourth,  Sixth,  Seventh, 
Ninth  and  Fifteenth  Light  Artillery,  in  the  Second 
and  Third  Pleavy  Artillery,  three  years'  service;  in 
the  Fourth  Heavy  Artillery,  one  year's  service,  fifty 
men  ;  in  the  First  Battalion  Heavy  Artillery,  three 
years ;  in  the  First  and  Second  Cavalry  ;  in  the  Fifth 
Cavalry  (colored)  by  one  representative  bearing  the 
honored  name  of  George  Washington  ;  and  in  the 
First  Battalion  of  Frontier  Cavalry  attached  to  the 
Twenty-sixth  New  York  Cavalry  for  service  on  the 
Northern  frontier.  Besides  these,  one  hundred  and 
seventeen  men  enlisted  in  the  regular  array  and  a 
considerable  number  in  the  navy,  and  some  in  other 
State  organizations,  supplying  to  the  Union  force 
twenty-four  hundred  and  ninety-seven  men,  or  two 
hundred  and  twenty-four  more  than  were  required  by 
all  demands  of  the  government. 

While  men  were  eager  and  earnest  to  do  their  duty 
to  their  country  the  ladies  were  no  less  patriotic. 
Meetings  were  immediately  formed  for  supplying  the 
wants  of  those  who  had  sprung  to  arms  at  the  shortest 
notice,  and  who  had  sacrificed  all  the  comforts  of 
peaceful  homes  for  the  uncertain  and  unaccustomed 
life  of  the  soldier. 

Some  regular  associations  had  been  formed  on  the 
day  that  the  President  issued  his  first  call  for  seventy- 
five  thousand  men.  Sewing  circles  were  formed  all 
over  the  Northern  States  to  prepare  clothing,  band- 
ages, lint,  havelocks,  &c.,  and  to  furnish  delicacies  for 
the  hospitals.  Lawrence  was  not  behind  others  in 
these  patriotic  efforts.     But,  as  the  armies  increased 


914 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


in  numbers  and  the  war  assumed  its  gigantic  propor- 
tions, system  became  necessary.     The  ladies  of  New 
York  City  early  formed  the  Woman's  Central  Relief 
Society,  which  was  the  germ  of  the  Sanitary  Commis- 
sion.    Then  branches  of  this  association  were  formed 
in  different  parts  of  the  country,  the  New  England 
Branch  having  headquarters  in  Boston  with  Miss  Abby 
W.  May  as  chairman,  and  it  was  as  an  adjunct  to  this 
society  that  the  Lawrence  Soldiers'  Aid  Society  was 
formed.     Early  in  1862  some  Boston  friends  applied 
to  Mrs.  George  D.  Cabot  to  inaugurate  the  movement 
here,  a  work  which  she  would  have  been  glad  to  un- 
dertake but  for  physical  inability.     Mrs.  Cabot  called 
to  her  aid  Mrs.  George  A.  Walton,  a  lady  full-charged 
with  the  feeling  of  the  time,  and  of  marked  executive 
power.     Alter  consultation  with  Mrs.  Daniel  Saunders 
a  call  was  issued  for  a  meeting  of  ladies  at  the  City 
Hall  Council  Room;  the  room  was  filled  and  an  or- 
ganization at  once  effected  with  Mrs.  Walton  for  presi- 
dent, Mrs.  Saunders  for  vice-president  and  Miss  Annie 
Garland  (now  Mrs.  C.  N.  Chamberlain),  secretary  and 
treasurer.     Mrs.  Walton    and    Mrs.  Saunders  served 
till  the  end  of  the  war;  Miss  Garland  till  October, 
when  she  was  succeeded  by  Miss  Ella  Payne,  who 
continued  in  office  till  the  disbanding  of  the  society. 
Their  first  act  was  to  levy  an  assessment  on  each 
member  of  twenty-five  cents ;  in  this  way  fifty-two  dol- 
lars was  raised  with  which  to  purchase  materials  and  to 
commence  work.     Contributions  from  individuals  fol- 
lowed, contributions  from  the  various  churches  and  con- 
tributions from  people  employed  in  the  mills.  A  public 
entertainment  and  a  Union  Fair  yielded  good  results. 
Without  going  into  minute  details,  the  results  of  the 
society  may  be  summed  up  as  follows :    Forwarded  to 
the  Commission,  26-30  articles  of  clothing,  96-i  hand- 
kerchiefs, 774  articles  of  bedding,  54  boxes  of  lint  and 
bandages,  2  boxes  of  books,  besides  canned  fruit,  jel- 
lies, old  cotton  and  linen,  sponges,  soap,  &c.     Finan- 
cial statement:  received  from  churches,  $359.26;  from 
individuals,  $414.28 ;  proceeds  of  entertainment,  $227.- 
45 ;  proceeds  of  Union  Fair,  $6293.32 ;  ten  cent  con- 
tributions, $795.64;  total,  $8089.95.     Of  this  amount, 
$2447.32  was  expended  for  materials,  $3500  was  given 
to  the  Sanitary  Commission,  $500  was  given   to  the 
Christian  Commission,  and  the  balance  to  Rev.  George 
P.  Wilson,  the  city  missionary  for  soldiers  or  their 
families  in  Lawrence. 

The  finance  committee  of  the  Union  Fair  were  Dr. 
William  D.  Lamb,  Rufus  Reed  and  William  R.  Ped- 
rick.  The  executive  committee  consisted  of  the  above- 
named,  with  George  P.  Wilson  (city  missionary),  Pat- 
rick Murphy,  Mrs.  Daniel  Saunders,  Mrs.  George  R. 
Rowe,  Mrs.  George  A.  W^alton  and  Mrs.  A.  J.  French. 
The  city  government  was  prompt  in  appropriating 
money  to  meet  all  necessary  demands,  expending  dur- 
ing its  continuance,  exclusive  of  State  aid,  over  $115,- 
000,  and  for  State  aid  to  the  families  of  volunteers, 
afterward  repaid  by  the  State,  more  than  $192,000. 
It  would  be  invidious  to  attempt  an  account  of  the 


services  of  individuals  or  companies,  of  their  bravery 
in  battle,  or  the  hardships  endured  in  the  prisons  of 
the  South.  These  alone  would  make  a  volume,  inter- 
esting as  a  novel,  and  which  would  prove  the  saying 
that  "  truth  is  stranger  than  fiction." 

It  may  be  pardonable,  however,  to  mention  one 
regiment  which,  for  the  extent  of  its  travels  and  the 
number  of  its  engagements,  was  somewhat  notable. 
The  Forty-first  Infantry  was  mustered  in  November 
1,  1862,  and  served  under  General  Banks  in  Louisiana. 
In  April,  1863,  at  Opelousas,  they  were  converted  into 
mounted  riflemen,  drawing  their  horses  from  the  sur- 
rounding country.     June  17,  1863,  they  were  joined 
by  three  unattached  companies  of  Massachus-etts  cav- 
alry, and  the  whole  body  of  thirteen  hundred  were  or- 
ganized as  the  Third  Cavalry  and  served  in  the  Red 
River  campaign.  June  24, 1864,  they  were  dismounted 
by  special  order,  armed  as  infantry  again,  left  Louisi- 
ana July  15th  with  orders  to  report  to  General  Grant 
at  Fort  Monroe,  Va.,  serving  six  months  as  infantry 
in  Virginia.  February  15,  1865,  remounted  as  cavalry, 
and  May  23d  went  to  Washington  and  took   part  in 
the  grand  review  of  the  army  by  the  President.  June 
14th  Avere  sent  to  St.  Louis  and  thence  to  Fort  Leaven- 
worth, Kansas,  on  account  of  the  Indian  troubles  on 
the  Western  plains,  and  on  the  25th  turned  over  their 
horses  to  the  Fourth  Michigan  Cavalry.     On  the  21st 
of  July  the  regiment  was  consolidated  into  six  com- 
panies. Captain   Charles  Stone,  of  Lawrence,  com- 
manding Company  D.     On  the  23d  horses  were  drawn 
for  the  regiment  and  orders  were  received  to  report  at 
Fort  Kearney,  Nebraska.     August  23d  received  six 
months'  pay  and  on  the  24th  were  ordered  to  report 
to   Major-General   Connor,    at   Julesburg,    Colorado, 
reaching  Cottonwood  Springs  August  28th.     They  re- 
turned and  were  mustered  out  of  service  October  8, 
1865,  having  marched  fifteen  thousand  miles  and  hav- 
ing fought  in  more  than  thirty  engagements. 

Roll  of  Lawrence  Volunteers  in  the  Army  and  Navy, 
who  ivere  killed  in  battle  or  died  while  in  service  in  the 
Civil  War  : 

Adams,  Walter  T killed  Nov.  9,  1863,  White  Plains,  La. 

Adama,  James died  April  4,  18G3,  Baton  Rouge,  La. 

Alison,  Charles died  April  16,  186'.,  Baton  Rouge,  La. 

Ames,  Thomas  C killed  June  16,  1864,  Petersburg,  Va. 

Archibald,  William died  February  2\,  1863. 

Armstrong,  Thomas died  October.'^,  186.3,  Baton  Rouge,  La. 

Atkinson,  Robert  J killed  May  19,  1864,  Spottsylvania. 

Aylward,  William died  Dec.  12,  1862,  Philadelphia. 

Baker,  Edward died  Aug.  12,  1863,  Baton  Rouge. 

Barr,  Robert  G killed  Dec.  12,  1862,  Tanner's  Ford,  Va. 

Barker,  Asa killed  May  19,  1864,  Spottsylvania. 

Barry,  Michael  S died  in  prison  at  Danville,  Va. 

Bateman,  Samuel died  Aug.  22,  1862,  Carrollton,  La. 

Bean,  Chas.  T died  May  22,  1864,  Richmond,  Va. 

Berry,  Charles died  Nov.  14,  1863,  New  York. 

Berry,  Horace  S died  Oct.  28, 1862,  Miner's  Hill,  Va. 

Bingham,  James died  April  25,  1863,  Baton  Rouge. 

Blooil,  Milton  H missing  in  battle  May  16,  1864. 

Bodwell,  Leonard died  Dec.  26,  1862. 

Branch,  Geo.  L.  F died  Jan.  14,  1864,  Beaufort,  S.  C. 

Breen,  Timothy died  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 

Brown,  Moses died  March  12,  L863,  New  Orleans. 


LAWRENCE. 


915 


Brown,  Stephen died  Nov.  26, 1863,  Folly  Island,  S.  C. 

Buckley,  James died  of  wounds  July  25,  1862. 

Burns,  James  F killed  September  1,  1862,  Chantilly,  Ta. 

BuUen,  .Toseph  W died  Oct.  26,  1864,  Andersonville. 

Bushel,  Francis  A killed  Way  11, 1861,  Ashland,  Va. 

Carlton,  Edward killed  June  3, 1864,  Cold  Harbor,  Va. 

Can-,  Geo.  W died  Feb.  19, 1864,  Richmond,  Va. 

Chandler,  Gustavus  A. ..drowned  July  3,  18d4,  Mississippi  River. 
Clarendon,  Edw.  H..died  of  wounds  Oct.  17, 1864,  Winchester,  Va. 

Clark,  Miles died  Oct.  3, 1803,  Franklin,  La. 

Clifford,  Lucius died  May  2,  1865. 

dines,  Patrick killed  Dec.  13,  1862,  Fredericksburg,  Va. 

Cogger,  John killed  May  19,  1864,  Spottsylvania. 

Collins,  Wm.  H...died  of  wounds  June  17, 1864,Washington,  D.  C. 

Connor,  Thomas ....died 

Connors,  John. ..died  of  wounds  June  17, 1864,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Cook,  George died  Aug.  24,  1863,  Fort  Monroe,  Va. 

Cooper,  Thomas  H died  Dec.  5,1862,  New  Orleans. 

Crawshaw,  Richard killed  June  14,  1863,  Port  Hudson,  La. 

Creaden,  .John missing  in  action  Jul}'  2,  1863,  Gettysburg, 

Craffy,  Chas.  H died  Aug.  8, 1862,  New  Orleans. 

Crosby,  Robert killed  May  19, 1864,  Spottsylvania. 

Cummings,  Geo.  P..died  of  wounds  Sept.  9, 1864,  Alexandria,  Va. 

Cune,  Thomas missing  in  action  Dec.  13,  1862. 

Curry,  John died  July  14,  1802,  Baltimore. 

Curran,  Patrick killed  June  27, 1862,  Gaines'  MilU,  Va. 

Gushing,  William died  of  wounds  July  16,  1864. 

Cutter,  Chas.  H died  May  30,  1864. 

Cutter,  Geo.  S killed  June  16,  1864,  Petersburg,  A'a. 

Dacey,  Jeremiah killed  April  8,  1864,  Sabine  Cross  Roads,  La. 

Danahy,  Patrick died  Jan.  20, 1863,  New  Orleans. 

Davis,  Albert  A died  of  wounds  June  21,  1864,  Washington. 

Davis,  Thomas  B died  May  31,  1864,  Andersonville. 

Davis,  Benjamin killed  May  10,  1864,  Laurel  Hdl,  Va. 

Davis,  George died  Oct.  4,  1862. 

Donovan,  John died  of  wounds  Sept.  K,  1862,  Antietam. 

Donnelly,  Patrick died  Jan.  20, 1863,  New  Orleans. 

Dow,  Wesley  W died  Aug.  11,  1863,  Port  Hudson,  La. 

Doyle,  Jchn killed  May,  1864,  Yellow  Bayou,  La. 

Di'ew,  Israel  L died  !Nov.  6,  1861,  Annapolis,  Md. 

DriscoU,  John died  June  12, 1865,  New  Orleans. 

Duffy,  Owen died 

Durgin,  Alexander died  May  21,  1863,  New  Orleans. 

Durgin,  Geo.  C killed  May  19,  1804,  Spottsylvania. 

Edmundson,  James died  Aug.  18,  1863,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

Emmons,  Charles  L died 

Farrington,  Geo killed  May  19,  1864,    Spottsylvania,Va. 

Farren,  Joseph died  Aug.  16,  1863,  Baton  Rouge,  La. 

Finnessey,  Thomas died  Alexandria,  Va. 

Foye,  John  0 died  June  12,  1862,  New  Orleans. 

French,  Chase  C died  Aug.  1,  1863,  Port  Hudson,  La. 

Frazier,  Geo.  C killed  June  1,  1864,  Cold  Harbor,  Va. 

Freeman,  John  B died 

Gallagher,  Hugh. ..died  of  wounds  June  13, 1862,  South  Carolina. 

Gallison,  John  B died  Jan.  6,  1865,  Lawrence. 

Garland,  James  S died  Jan.  20,  1862,  Fort  Albany,  Va. 

Garrity,  John killed  June  27,  1802. 

Gauffy,  Charles  M died  Aug.  18,  1862,  New  Orleans. 

Gilleland,  James died  Oct.  19,  1864,  in  rebel  prison. 

Glidden,  Jasper  F killed  Sept.  19,  1864,  Winchester,  Va. 

Golden,  Michael died  Nov.  17,  1863. 

Golden,  James died 

Qoodall,  George died  Jan.  6,  1865,  Philadelphia. 

Goodwin,  Chas missing  inaction. 

Gray,  Timothy,  Jr died  Dec.  2,  1862,  Sharpsburg,  Md. 

Gray,  Alonzo died  July  16,  186;^,  New  Orleans. 

Greenwood,  Paul killed  June  27,  1862,  Gaines'  Mills,  Va. 

Griffin,  Jas.  R..went  down  with  his  vessel  before  Vicksburg,  Miss. 

Gunning,  Thomas. ..ship  "Congress;"  killed  in  action  with  the 
"Merrimack,"  Hampton,  Va. 

Hale,  John died  Oct.  18,  1804,  Andersonville  Prison. 

Hall,  Chas.  A died  Feb.  12,  1805,  Fort  Reno,  D.  C. 

Hall,  Wm.  S died  Sept.  30,  1864,  Andersonville. 

Hall,  Cornelius killed  May  19,  1864,  Spottsylvania. 

Ham,  Timothy died  Feb.  11,  1865,  Salisbury  Prison,  N.  C. 

Harding,  Dennis missing  in  the  battle  of  Chattanooga,  1864. 

Harding,  Michael died  of  wounds  July  3,  1803,  Gettysburg. 


Haskell,  Charles died  of  wounds  June  19,  1864. 

Hayes,  William died  March  1,  1865,  Lawrence. 

Hayes,  Patrick killed  June  15,  1862,  John's  Island,  S.  C. 

Hayes,  John  F. 

Helmer,  John died  of  wounds,  Lawrence. 

Henderson,  Roderick died  Aug.  16,  1864. 

Hickey,  John killed  1862,  Bull  Run. 

Hill,  Patrick died  May  5,  1865,  Morehead  City,  N.  C. 

Hinman,  Frank died  June  17,  1863,  Aldie,  Va. 

Hogle,  Wm.  H died  Sept.  5,  1863,  Fort  Albany,  Va. 

Holland,  Thomas died  June  15,  1864,  in  rebel  prison. 

Holt,  .\lfred  A killed  May  19,  1864,  Spottsylvania. 

Holt,  Wm.  T...died  of  wounds  July  12,  1863,  in  the  hands  of  the 
enemy. 

Horton,  Geo died  May  9,  1863,  New  Orleans. 

Houghton,  Geo died  July  30, 1862,  Baton  Rouge,  La. 

Howard,  Chas  W died  Oct.,  1862,  Davis  Island,  N.  T. 

Hughes,  Michael. 

Huntington,  Stephen  D died  July  28,  1862,  New  Orleans. 

Hutchins,  John  M died  June  30,  1862,  Savage  Station,  Va. 

Irish,  Chas.  S killed  March  25,  1865,  Petersburg,  Va. 

Jackman,  Frank  D killed  May  19, 1864,  Spottsylvania. 

Johnson,  Elisha  B died  May  17, 1862. 

Jones,  Fred.  O died  May  10, 1864,  Davis  Island,  N.  Y. 

Joy,  William  H. 
Joy,  Henry  G. 

Jones,  Irwin  W died  Mar.  2, 1865,  Annapolis,  Md. 

Jones,  Thomas died  Mar.  18,1865,  Pbiladelphia. 

Kelley,  Timothy killed  in  action. 

Kellej-,  Edward  J killed  June  3,  1864,  Cold  Harbor,  Va. 

Keefe,  John died  in  prison,  Andersonville,  Ga. 

Kenny,  Edward killed  Oct.  19,  1861,  Cedar  Creek,  Va. 

Kenny,  John killed  Dec.  13, 1862,  Fredericksburg,  Va. 

Kenny,  M.  B killed  in  the  battle  of  the  Wilderness,  Va. 

Kent,  Geo.  G killed  June  16,  1804,  Petersburg,  Va. 

Killoran,  Michael died  Apr  2,  1804,  Andersonville. 

Kimball,  Juseph  W killed  June  22, 1864,  Petersburg,  Va. 

Knox,  James  R died  Nov.,  1864,  Florence,  S.  C. 

La  Bounty,  Franklin killed  May  19, 1864,  Spottsylvania. 

Lamphere,  Wm.  N died  Oct.  13,  1863,  Folly  Island,  S.  C. 

Lane,  Wm.  A died  May  16,  1863,  Fort  Monroe,  Va.    ♦ 

Langley,  Geo.  W died  July  4, 1864,  Baltimore,  Md. 

Lavally,  Joseph died  Newbern,  N.  C,  June  24. 

Learned,  Jonas  G died  Sept.  2,  1864,  Andersonville. 

Learry,  Simon died  May  22,  1S62. 

Lovering,  John killed  July  3,  1863,  Gettysburg. 

Lovejoj',  James  K killed  Sept.  19,  1864,  Winchester,  Va. 

Makin,  Thomas. 

McBride,  Felix died  Nov.  8,  186.3,  New  Orleans. 

McCabe,  James died  Oct.  8,  1863,  New  Orleans. 

McCarthy,  Dennis,  accidentally  killed  Jan.   27,   1863,   Suffolk, 
Va. 

McCarthy,  Timothy died  Oct.,  1862,  Philadelphia. 

McCormick,  Patrick. 

McDonald,  Jlichael died  Sept.  29, 1863,  Port  Hudson,  La. 

McDonald,  John died  Aug.  19,  1862,  New  Orleans. 

McGowan,  Alden  T killed  May  19,  1864,  Spottsylvania. 

McKean,  Wm.  J died  Nov.  28,  1863,  St.  Augustine,  Fla. 

McNamara,  Jeremiah.. ..died  of  wounds  Nov.  28,  1864,  at  home. 

McNamara,  Patrick died  Apr.  13, 1804,  in  rebel  prison. 

McFee,  Angus died  Oct.,  1864,  Fort  Delaware. 

McQuade,  John killed  June  27,  186-',  Gaines'  Mills,  Va. 

Melvin,  John  H died  Oct.  13,  1863,  Fort  Albany,  Va. 

Melvin,  Samuel died  Sept.  20,  1864,  Andersonville. 

Merrill,  Geo.  W died  Apr.  29,  1862,  New  Orleans. 

Merrill,  Frank  H killed  May  10,  1864,  Drury's  Bluff,  Va. 

Merrow,  Geo.  W died  of  wounds  May  24,  1804,  Spottsylvania. 

Merrow,  George  0 died  June  28, 1862,  New  Orleans. 

Mills,  James  H died  June  16,  1863,  Brashear  City,  La. 

Minnehan,  Michael died  Nov.,  1862. 

Moore,  Joseph  W killed  June  16, 1804,  Petersburg,  Va. 

Morgan,  WillTam died  Aug.  24,  1863. 

Morgan,  Geo.  W killed  Apr.  8,  18R4,  Sabine  Cross-Roads,  La. 

Moriarty,  Daniel killed  July  13,  186.3,  Donaldsonville,  La. 

Morrison,  Ale.xander died  May  11,  1864,  New  Orleans. 

Morse,  Rosvvell  E.,    died  of  wounds  July  9,  1864,  Fairfax  Semi- 
nary, Va. 


916 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Hunger,  Fred died  Mar.  9,  186J,  Hilton  Head,  S  C. 

Miirdock,  Buclianan killed  Oct.  19,  1864,  Cedar  Creek,  Va. 

Murpliy,  Stephen killed  May  19,  1864,  Spottsylvania. 

Miiiphy,  Jeremiah died  May  9,  18C5,  Kaleigh,  \.  C. 

Murphy,  James died  Oct.  18, 1863,  New  Orleans. 

Murphy,  Philip. 

Nasou,  Hiram  P.,  died  of  wounds  Aug.  12,  1864,  at  New  Haven, 

Ct. 

Needhani,  Sumner  H killed  in  Baltimore,  April  19,  18C1. 

Newton,  Edwin  E. ...killed  Apr.  8,  1864,  Sabine  Cross-Roads,  La. 

Nichols,  Wm.  W died  Oct.  26,  1863,  New  Orleans. 

Noonan,  Patrick killed  May  27,  1863,  Port  Hudson,  La. 

O'Brien,  James died  Oct.  8,  1864,  Winchester,   Va. 

O'Brien,  Henry died  Dec.  6,  1863,  Baton  Rouge,  La. 

O'Brien,  Thomas killed  July  2,  1863,  Gettysburg. 

O'Learry,  John killed  May  12,  1862,  Newbern,  N.  C. 

O'Doyle,  Michael killed  June  17, 1865. 

Packard,  Henry died  Jan.  29,  1862,  off  Warsaw  Island,  Ga. 

Page,  Herman  L died  of  wounds  July  7,1864,  Washington. 

Parker,  Dennis  M died  Oct.  10,  1862,  New  Orleans. 

Parks,  John died  Oct.  30,  1864,  Newbern,  N.  C. 

Parshley,  Joseph  K died  at  sea  Jan.  20,  1863. 

Peaslee,  Alpheus,  died  of  wounds  Sept.  18,  1862,  Gaines'  Mills, 

Va. 

Phelps,  S.  G died  July  22,  1864,  Andersonville. 

Pierce,  Turner  E died  Oct  21,  1862. 

Pilie,  Wm.  H died  of  wounds  June  5,  1803,  Baton  Rouge. 

Pray,  Oliver  L died  July  5,  1802,  New  Orleans. 

Quimby,  Chas.  W drowned  Apr.  2,  1862,  Ship  Island,  Miss. 

Quimby,  Orin  J died  Apr.  2!'>,  1865,  Baltimore. 

Quinn,  Thomas. 

Rafferty,  Frank killed  May  19,  1864,  Spottsylvania. 

Rawson,  Orlando died  Aug.  16,  1863,  Indianapolis. 

Reed,  John died  of  wounds  May  18,  1864. 

Reed,  William killed  May  16,  1864,  Drury's  Bluff,  Va. 

Remick,  C.  H killed  May  19,  1864,  Spottsylvania. 

Reno,  Chas.  J died  at  sea,  Jan.  22,  1863. 

Richardson,  J.  Milton ;. missing  in  action  May  10, 1864. 

Richer,  Geo.  W died  Dec.  8,  1862,  New  Orleans. 

Richer,  Noah  C died  Feb.  6,  1803,  Acquia  Creek,  Va. 

Riddell,  Walter  S.,  drowned   Dec.  27, 1802,  Long  Island  Sound. 
Ripley,  Thomas  K. 

Roaf,  Thomas died  Nov.  17,  1862,  Fort  Warren,  Boston. 

Rolfe,  Frank  A killed  May  19,  1804,  Spottsylvania. 

Kowe,  Asa died  Aug.  10,  1804,  Andersonville. 

Russell,  ZIba  H killed  May  16,  1804,  Fort   Darling,  Va. 

Ryder,  Stanley died  of  wounds  June  12,  1864,  Washington. 

Searles,  Warren  P. 

Shea,  Thomas died  May  31,  1865,  Portsmouth  Grove,  R.  I. 

Shepard,  Augustus died  Aug.  3,  186f,  Port  Hudson,  La. 

Short,  James killed  Sept.    1,  1862,  Chantilly,  Va. 

Simonds,  Benjamin  W died  Jan.  29,  1863,  Harper's  Ferry,  Va. 

Slattery,  John. 

Slattery,  Jeremiah died  of  wounds  July  15, 1863,  Gettysburg. 

Small,  John  F died  of  wounds  June  29,  1864. 

Smith,  Stewart killed  May  19,  1804,  Spottsylvania. 

Smith,  C.  Allen killed  in  action  Aug.  3,  ISO"",  Jackson,  La. 

Smith,  Geo.  W died  July  18,  1802,  New   Orleans. 

Smith,  Michael  S died  July  17, 1862,  New   Orleans. 

Smith,  Charles  W died  Oct.  18,  1863,  Folly  Island,  S.  C. 

Spaulding,  Wm.  H killed  June  16,  1804,  Petersburg,  Va. 

Staffoid,  Geo.  W died  Nov.  10,1802,  Washington. 

Stead,  James died  June  4, 1803,  Baton  Rouge. 

Steele,  Wm.  H. 

Stevens,  Geo.  F; died  at  sea  Sept.  16, 1800. 

Stevens,  Gorham  P.,  died  of  wounds  received  at  Chancellorsville, 

prisoner. 
Stevens,  William  0. 

Stoddard,  Haverly  A killed  May  19,  1804,  Spottsylvania. 

Strong,  Henry  G died  at  sea  Mar.,  1804. 

Sullivan,  Wm killed  Dec.  13,  1862,  Fredericksburg,  Va. 

Sullivan,   John died  of  wound  May  22,  1804. 

Sullivan,  George died  Aug.  30,  1804,  Andersonville. 

Sullivan,  Michael,  died  of  wounds  J  une  29, 1802,  Savage  Station, 

Va. 

Sullivan,  John died  Oct.  20,  1862,  New  Orleans. 

Tainter,  William  H killed  June  10,  1864,  Petersburg,  Va. 


Taylor,  James  H died  Oct.  22,   1803,  Beaufort,  S.  C. 

Thompson,  Andrew  G died  Oct.  30,  186.',  at  home. 

Thompson,  John  B killed  June  3,  1864. 

Thome,  Francis  R died  June  28,  1864,  New  Orleans. 

Thyng,  Daniel  G died  Aug.  19, 1863,  Laconia,  N.  H. 

Varnum,  Isaac  S died  Mar.  5,  1803,  CarroUton,  La. 

AVallace,  Webster  W.,  died  of  wounds  July  20,  1804,  at  Ashburn- 
ham,  Mass. 

Walsh,  Martin died  Oct.  1, 1804,  Danville,  Va. 

Walsh,  Michael. 

Washburn,  Eleazer killed  May  19,  1804,   Spottsylvania. 

Webb,  James killed   May  3,  1863,  Chancellorsville. 

Webster,  Justus  W...  killed  June  16,  1864,  Petersburg,  Va. 

Welsh,  Patrick killed  Aug.  29,  1802,  Bull  Run,  Va. 

Wheeler,  Geo.  W .'.died  July  25,  1862,  New  Orleans. 

White,  Thomas died  Dec.  12,  1862,  New  Orleans. 

White,  Calvin  M died  Aug.  27,1862,  New  Orleans. 

Whittemore,  Daniel died   June  8,  1864,  Philadelphia. 

Whitten,  Joseph  L died  Aug.  10,  1863,  Baton  Rouge. 

Wiggin,  Mayhew  C died  Nov.  8,   1804,  Andersonville. 

AVing,  Thomas  A died  June  2,  186.3,  Brashear  Citj',  La. 

Withington,  James killed  in  action  May  15,  1864. 

Yeaton,  Daniel  S died  Nov.  28   1862,  New  Orleans. 

Yeaw,  Leonard died  Aug.  25,  1802,  New  Orleans. 

Yore,  Patrick di«d  Sept.  13,  1862,  New  Orleans. 

Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Monument. — A  monu- 
ment to  the  memory  of  the  soldiers  and  sailors  of 
Lawrence  was  erected  on  the  Common  in  1881.  The 
initiatory  steps  for  this  purpose  were  taken  by  Post 
39,  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  in  Septem- 
ber, 1879,  and  five  hundred  dollars  were  contributed 
by  the  members ;  but  it  was  early  evident  that  the 
government  or  the  citizens  must  be  enlisted  in  the 
enterprise,  in  order  to  build  a  structure  that  should 
be  appropriate  and  worthy  of  the  city.  At  a  meeting 
of  citizens  held  November  13,  1879,  a  committee  of 
eleven,  consisting  of  Hon.  William  A.  Ru?sell, 
Charles  D.  McDuffie,  Emily  G.  Wetherbee,  Corp.  J. 
Clinton  White,  David  C.  Richardson,  Thomas  Corne- 
lie,  Robert  H.  Tewksbury,  Frederick  T.  Lane,  H. 
Francis  Dunning,  Everard  H.  Kelley  and  Captain 
Daniel  F.  Dolan,  was  appointed  to  consider  the  sub- 
ject and  report.  This  committee  reported  to  a  largely 
attended  meeting  of  citizens  November  24th  that  a 
monument  of  granite  to  be  placed  in  some  central  po- 
sition on  Lawrence  Common  was  the  only  memorial 
structure  for  which  funds  could  be  readily  obtained, 
and  the  only  form  that  would  not  involve  questions  of 
location  and  future  management.  Their  report  was 
very  generally  endorsed,  and  it  was  further  decided 
that  it  would  be  desirable  to  ask  for  contributions  in 
very  small  sums,  that  the  monument  might  be  liter- 
ally the  people's  monument  to  the  memory  of  their 
dead.  The  committee  were  authorized  to  add  to  their 
number  the  names  of  other  citizens,  and  an  associa- 
tion was  at  once  formed  under  the  name  of "  The 
Monument  Association;"  President,  Robert  H. 
Tewksbury ;  Vice-Presidents,  John  R.  Rollins  and 
Thomas  Cornelie;  Secretary,  Frank  0.  Kendall; 
Treasurer,  Henry  F.  Hopkins;  Trustees  to  receive 
and  invest  the  funds,  Hon.  James  R.  Simpson,  Heze- 
kiah  Plummer,  Waldo  L.  Abbott,  Joseph  Shattuck, 
Frederick  E.  Clarke,  James  S.  Hutchinson,  Byron 
Truell,  John  Hart,  Hon.  Edmund  R.  Hayden. 


LAWRENCE. 


917 


General  Committee,  consisting  of  the  original  elev- 
en members  and  Major  Edward  A.  Fiske,  Major 
George  S.  Merrill,*  Hon.  John  K.  Tarbox,  Joseph 
Walworth,  Dr.  David  Dana,  Rev.  John  P.  Gilmore, 
Granville  M.  Stoddard,  John  Fallon,  Joseph  P.  Bat- 
tles, Robert  Scott,  James  A.  Treat,  William  R. 
Spaulding,  Colonel  Chase  Philbrick,  James  H. 
Eaton,  William  R.  Pedrick,  Hon.  Henry  K.  Webster, 
J.  C.  Bowker,  John  L.  Royer,  Colonel  J.  D.  Drew, 
John  H.  Gilman,  Hon.  Caleb  Saunders,  Captain  Ho- 
ratio G.  Herrick,  Dyer  S.  Hall,  James  E.  Shepard, 
Adolph  Vorholz,  Rev.  E.  R.  Sanborn,  David  C. 
Crockett,  James  Lane,  Patrick  Donahue,  R.  A.  Hai'- 
mon,  Lewis  G.  Holt,  D.  F.  Riley,  Albert  Emerson, 
Michael  Carney,  James  Noon  an,  Colonel  L.  D.  Sar- 
gent, W.  H.  Coan,  D.  F.  Robinson,  Hon.  John 
Breen,  Miss  Brassil,  Mrs.  C.  U.  Dunning,  Mrs.  E.  P. 
Poor,  M.  B.  Townsend,  John  Shehan,  R.  H.  Seaver 
and  E.  J.  Leonard. 

Subsequently  a  society  of  ladies  was  organized  in 
aid  of  the  association,  with  the  following  officers : 
President,  Mrs.  A.  J.  French  ;  Vice-President,  Mrs. 
E.  P.  Poor;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  J.  D.  Drew;  Secretary, 
Mrs.  J.  E.  Shepard ;  and  active  work  was  at  once 
commenced.  The  several  corporations,  by  their 
agents  and  treasurers,  generously  contributed  three 
thousand  dollars.  The  school  children,  through  the 
efforts  of  Captain  Herrick,  by  a  penny  and  dime 
contribution,  raised  over  two  hundred  dollars.  A 
concert  by  the  Ladies'  Choral  Union,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Mr.  Reuben  Merrill,  added  about  two  hun- 
dred dollars  more,  and  the  remainder  was  contributed 
by  the  citizens  generally,  in  the  mills,  work-shops, 
stores,  and  in  the  post-office,  police  and  other  depart- 
ments of  the  city,  the  Grand  Army  members  rais- 
ing their  donation  to  seven  hundred  dollars.  The 
total  cost  of  the  monument  was  $11,111.75, — the  to- 
tal number  of  subscribers  being  nine  thousand  one 
hundred  and  thirty-six,  and  in  this  list  may  be  found 
the  names  of  three  of  the  Chinese  residents. 

The  sub-committee  finally  appointed,  to  select  the 
design  of  a  monument  and  carry  out  the  work  were 
Major  George  S.  Merrill,  Major  E.  A.  Fiske,  Hon.  R. 
H.  Tewksbury,  Hon.  E.  R.  Hayden,  Dr.  David  Dana, 
Colonel  Chase  Philbrick  and  Captain  John  R.  Rol- 
lins. 

The  sub-committee  received  many  plans  from  some 
of  our  best  builders  and  artists,  many  of  them  beau- 


tiful, but  far  exceeding  the  means  at  the  disposal  of 
the  committee.  Three  important  matters  were  con- 
sidered :  1st,  To  select  good  and  durable  material ; 
2d,  To  agree  upon  a  design  acceptable  in  itself, 
proper  for  the  locality  and  not  exceeding  in  cost  the 
amount  of  funds  actually  at  their  disposal ;  3d,  To 
place  the  work  in  reliable  and  responsible  hands. 

The  contract  for  the  stone  was  finally  awarded  to 
Messrs.  Frederick  &  Field,  of  Quincy,  Mass.,  and 
for  the  bronze  to  Maurice  J.  Power,  of  New  York 
City,  and  both  parties  executed  their  work  in  a  very 
prompt  and  satisfactory  manner.  The  crowning  fig- 
ure of  the  monument  representing  "  Union  "  was  de- 
signed by  David  Richards  and  modeled  at  the  foun- 
dry of  Judge  Power.  The  figure  was  cut  from  Con- 
cord granite  by  Mr.  Theodore  M.  Perry  at  the  granite 
works  in  Quincy,  who  also  executed  the  carved  work 
on  the  capital.  The  shield  bears  the  legend  of  the 
Lawrence  municipal  seal,  "  Industria,"  and  the  em- 
blematic bee. 

On  the  buttresses,  at  the  base  of  the  column  stand 
three  figures  in  bronze  ;  the  first,  representing  an  in- 
fantry soldier,  is  nearly  a  duplicate  of  one  in  Albany, 
N.  Y.,  was  designed  and  modeled  by  Henry  Ellicott, 
of  New  York.  Two  others,  one  representing  a  sailor, 
the  other  a  dismounted  cavalry  officer,  were  modeled 
by  William  R.  O'Donovan,  at  the  foundry  of  Mr. 
Power,  where  all  were  cast. 

The  monument  was  dedicated  and  transferred  to 
the  city  on  the  evening  of  November  2d,  amid  a 
brilliant  display  of  fire-works  and  calcium  lights, 
and  was  accepted  by  the  mayor,  Hon.  Henry  K. 
Webster,  in  a  short  but  very  appropriate  address. 

The  monument  bears  the  following  inscriptions  : 

"  ErectPd  in  1881  by  the  people  of  Lawrence 
in  honor  of  Soldiers  &  Sailors 
who  fought  for  Liberty  &  Union. 
1801-1865." 

The  northeasterly  space  has  the  following  lettering 
in  bronze : 

"  Time  brightens  the  record  of  patriotism 

Establibhes  justice 

And  honors  sacrifice." 

The  easterly  tablet  bears  the  following: 

"  In  memory  of  brave  men 

Whose  sacrifice  and  death 

preserved  the  Union." 

Three  bronze  tablets  contain  the  names  of  those 
who  died  in  service  or  were  killed  in  battle. 


918 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


LIST  OF  LAWRENCE  SOLDIERS,  (as  compiled  from  the  Adjutant  General's  Reports). 


Abercrombie,  John Co.  C  50th 

Abbott,  James  G Lt.  Co.  H  4th 

Abbott,  Geo.  A Co.  0  4th  H.  A. 

Abbott,  Win.  H 2d  H.  A. 

Adams,  John  R..  Co.  K  6th  &  3d  Cav. 

Adams,  Walter  T.,  Co.  B  3d  Cav.;  killed  Nov. 

9,  18G3,  White  Plains,  La. 
Adams,  James,  Co.  B  4th  ;  d.  Apr.  4,  1863,  Ba- 
ton Rouge. 

Adler,  Christian Co.  I  6th 

Aiken,  Danl.  C unassigned 

Ahearn,  Wm 8th  Unat  Co. 

Airgood,  John V.  R.  C. 

Alison,  Charles,  Co.  H  4th  ;  d.  Apr.   16,    1863, 

Baton  Rouge. 

Aldred,  James Co.  B4th 

Allen,  Henry  H Co.  F  6th 

Allen,  Wm Co.  F  26th 

Ames,  Charles  J Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Ames,  Thomas   C,  Co.   K   Ist  H.  A.;    killed 

June  16,  1864,  Petersburg. 

Ambrose,  David Co.  B  3d  Cav.;  dead 

Annan,  Frank 1st  Lt.  Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Anderson,  Currie Co.  B  4th 

Archer,   Geo.    N.,   1st  Sergt.   Co.  K  6th  &  8th 

Inf. 

Archibald,  Wm d.  Feb.  21,  1863,  Lawrence 

Armstrong,  Thos.,  Co.  D  30th  ;  d.  Oct.  3,  1863, 

Baton  Rouge. 

Ashworth,  Thos 8th  Unat.  Co. 

Ashworth,  Chas Sergt.  Co.  K  let  H.  A. 

Ashworth,  Ralph,  Co.  C  40th  ;  d.  Sept.  29,  1872. 

Askland,  James  A 3dU.  S.Inf. 

Aspell,  Patrick  K IstU.  S.  A. 

Atkinson,  Robt.  J.,  Co.  K  1st  H.  A.;  killed  May 

19,  1864,  Sjiottsylvania. 

Atkinson,  Saml.  W 8th  Unat.  Co. 

Aylwood,  Martin 8th  Unat.  Co. 

Ayer,  Augustus  S Co.  I  -.iGth 

Aylward,  Wm.,  Co.  K  40th  N.  T.;   d.  Dec.  12, 

1862,  Philadelphia. 

Babb,  Joseph  A Co.  K  6th  &  Co.  H  4th 

Bailey,  Geo.  F Co.  F  6th  &  Co.  D  1st  Cav. 

Bailey,  Romanzo Co.  F  6th 

Bailey,  Wm.  A Co.  F  6th  &  Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Bailey,  Marcus  M Co.  G  11th 

Bailey,  Warren 8th  Uuat.  Co. 

Bailey,  Ambrose Co.  I  26th 

Bailey,  Geo.  B Co.  C  40th 

Bagley,  Thomas Co.  K  6th 

Bagley,  Wm.  M Co.  C  40th 

Baker,  Edward,  Co.  B  3d  Cav.;  d.  Aug.  12,  '63, 
Baton  Rouge. 

Baker,  John  A 2d  Lt.  6th  L.  Bat. 

Ballard,  Geo.  W 8th  Unat.  Co. 

Barrie,  Alexander Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Barr,  Robert  G.,  2d  Lt.  Co.  I  6th  ;    killed  Dec. 
12    1862,  Tanners  Ford,  Va. 

Barr,  Danl.  A 8th  Unat.  Co. 

Bardsley,  Wm.  E Co.Ifcth 

Barber,  Asa,  Co.  B  1st   H.  A.;    killed  May  19, 
1864,  Spottsylvania. 

Barry,  Joseph Co.  I  9th 

Barry,  Dennis Co.  F  26th 

Barry,  James Co.  H  4th 

Barry,  Michael,  Co.  F  57th  ;  d.  in  prison,  Dan- 
ville, Va. 

Barry,  James Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Barry,  Thos Co.  F  48th 

Barrett,  Robt Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Barlow,  Alfred Co.  CoOth 


Barnes,  Timothy  P Co.  F  20th 

Barnes,  James  E Co.  F  26th 

Barnes,  Wm Co.  B  4th 

Bartlett,  Alonzo  M Co.  B  1st  H.  A. 

Bartlett,  Marcus  M Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Bartlett,  Geo.  A Q.  M.  S.  1st  H.  A. 

Bates,  Henry  C Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Batchelder,  Moulton  W.,  1st  Lt.  Co.  K  6th  &  2d 

Lt.  Co.  C  40th. 

Batchelder,  Henry  W Co.  C  40th 

Bateman,  Saml.,  Co.  G  30th  ;    d.  Aug.  22,  1862, 

Carrollton,  La. 

Baxter,  John Co.  B  4th 

Beadle,  Bodwell  D Co.  H  4th 

Beal,  Henry Co.  F  6th 

Beal,  Melvin,  2d  Lt.  Co.  F  6th,  Capt.,  Lt.  Col. 

&Col. 

Bean,  Josiah Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Bean,  John Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Bean,  Jeremiah  R Co.  B  22d 

Bean,   Charles  T.,  Co.  C  40th  ;    d.  May  22,  '64, 

Richmond,  Va. 
Beardsley,  John  B.,  2d  &  1st  Lt.  &.  Capt.  1st  H. 

A. 

Besttie,  Wm Co.E3d  H.  A. 

Belrose,  Geo Co.  K  3d  H.  A. 

Bell,  Anderson Co.  I  11th 

Bell,  Thos Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Benson,  John  F let  Sergt.  Co.  H  4th 

Bennett,  Geo Co.  H  4th 

Begley,  Wm.  H V.  R.  C. 

Begor,  Lewis Sergt.  Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Belcher,  Chas.  I.  ...Co.  F  6th  &  Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 
Berry,  Chas  ,  Co.  K  Ist  H.  A.;    d.  Nov.  14,  '63, 

N.  y. 

Berry,  Chas.,  Jr Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Berry,  Horace  S Co.   16th 

Berry,  Horace  S  ,  Co.  C  40th  ;    d.  Oct.  28,  18G2, 
Miner's  Hill,  Va. 

Beasner,  Albert 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

Bethel,  Joseph,  Jr Co.  C  40th 

Bethel,  Joseph Co.  B  3d  Cav.;  dead 

Binns,  Cyrus Co.  M  1st  H.  A. 

Bingham,  James,  Co.  H  4th  ;    d.  Apr.  25,  1863, 
Baton  Rouge,  La. 

Birch,  Thos Co.  F  48th 

Blaisdell,  Ralph 9th  Lt.  Bat. 

Blake,  Uriah Co.  K  ad  H.  A. 

Blake,  Richard Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Blake,  John Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Blanchard,  Geo     Co.  I  6th 

Blood,  Milton  H.,  Co,  I  6th  &  Co.  C  40th;  miss- 
ing iu  batile  May  16,  '64. 

Blyth,  David  H 8th  Unat.  Co^ 

Blyth,  Wm Co.  K  6th 

Blyth,  Jonathan ...Co.  F  48th 

Boardmau,  E.  K Sergt.  Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Boardman,  James Co.  B  4th 

Bodwell,  Stephen  B.,  Co.  C  5uth  &  Co.  F  ;st  H. 

A. 
Bodwell,  Leonard,  Co.  B  48th  ;  d.  Dec.  26,  '62. 

Bodwell,  Geo.  A Co.G  30th 

Bohonnon,  Michael Co.  F  16th 

Booreman,  Fredk Co.  K  40th  N.Y. 

Boston,  Gorham  P Co.  F  26th 

Boyle,  John Co.  K  6th  &  Co.  B  4th 

Bower,  Robert Co.  C  50th 

Bouney,  Darius V.  R.  C. 

Boswell,  James 1st  D.  C.  Inf. 

Brachett,  Darius  G Co.  A  Frontier  Cav. 

Bradley,  Geo.  V Co.  1 1st  H.  A. 

Brachett,  Danl.  G Co.  I  6th 


Brady,  Frank Co.  1 17th 

Brady,  James Co.  I  17th 

Brady,  Hugh 3d  U.S.  Inf. 

Bradbury,  James Co.  C  40th 

Bradshaw,  Enoch Co.  B  4th 

Branch,  Geo.  L.  F...Co.  C.  4uth  ;  died  Jan.  14, 
1864,  Beaufort,  S.  C. 

Brannon,  Hugh Co.  C  40th. 

Brannon,  John Co.  K  6th  and  Co.  B  4th 

Breen,  Timothy. ..Co.  G  2d  H.  A.;  died  in  the 
hands  of  the  enemy. 

Brigham,  Stephen  H Co.  K  Ist  H.  A. 

Briggs,  Solon Co.  B  22d. 

Briggs,  Simeon 7th  Lt.  B. 

Brierly,  John  B Co.  K  6th 

Brisbois,  Gabriel  A  2d  U.  S.  Cav. 

Brannan,  Kyron 8th  U.  S.  Cav. 

Brennan,  James Go.  F  26th 

Brock,  Leonard Co.  C  40th 

Brown,  Ambrose  A Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Brown,  Otis  D Co.  K  Ist  H.  A. 

Brown,  John  B Co.  B  .3d  Cav. 

Brown,  Moses. ..Co.  B  3d  Cav.;  died  March  12, 
1863,  New  Orleans. 

Brown,  Francis  E Co.  A  16th 

Brown,  James  H Co.  I  17th 

Brown,  John Co.  D  20th 

Brown,  John Co.  C  40th  &  V.  R.  C. 

Brown,  Frank Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Brown,  James  P Co.  H  4th 

Brown,  Chas.  S Co.  F  48th 

Brown,  Joseph  B 9th  Lt.  B. 

Brown,  Stephen. ..Co.  C  40th;    died   Nov.   26, 
1863,  Folly  Island,  S.  C. 

Brown,  Ellas V.  R.  C. 

Bruton,  Robert Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Bryant,  Dan'l V.  R.  C. 

Bryant,  Henry Co.  I  17th 

Bryant,  James  L 8th  Unattached 

Buckley,  James. ..Co.  D  20th  ;  died  of  wounds 

July  25,  1862. 
Broughton,  Sam'l...Co.  K  6th,  Co.  C  40th,  Sergt. 
Co.  D  Frontier  Cav. 

Buckley,  James Co.  B  4th 

Buckley,  Robert Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Buckley,  Joseph Co.  K  6ih 

Bunby,  Joseph Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Burbank,  Geo.  W Co.  G  12th 

Burbank,  Nathan V.  R.  C. 

Burnham,  Edw'd  F 8th  Unattached 

Buruham,  Joseph  A Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Biirnham,  Wm.  H Co.  C  Fr.  Cav. 

Burke,  Philip Co.  F  26th 

Burke,  John Co.  F  28th  &  V.  R.  C. 

Burke,  David Co.  B  67th 

Burke,  Edward Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Burke,  Patrick Co.  F  48th  &  Co.  B  Fr.  Cav. 

Burns,  James  C Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Burns,  Peter Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Burns,  Wm Co.  1 9th  &  V.  E.  C. 

Burns,  Michael Ist  Lt.  17th 

Burns,  James  F...Co.  K  40th  N.  Y.;  killed  Sept. 

I,  1862,  Chantilly,  Va. 

Burns,  Patrick Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Burns,  Patrick 1st  U.  S.  Cav. 

Burns,  Patrick 8th  U.  S.  Cav. 

Bullen,  Joseph  W...Co.  C  40th  ;  died  Oct.  26, 
1864,  Anderson ville  Prison. 

Burbank,  Nathan V.  R.  C. 

Burrill,  Augustus Co.  F  6th  &  Co.  F  26th 

Bushee,  Francis  A... Co.  F  1st  Cav.;  killed  May 

II,  1864,  Ashland,  Va. 


LAWRENCE. 


919 


Buswell,  James  C.Co.  F  1st  H.  A.,  2d  Lt.,  1st 

Lt.  &  Capt. 
Butler,  Geo.  F-.-Co.  K  1st  H.  A.,  Sergt.,  1st  & 

2d  Lt. 

Butler,  Edward Co.  A  1st  H.  A. 

Butler,  Timothy Co.  K  2d  H.  A. 

Butler,  Austin  S...Co.  H  4th,  Co.  I  60th  &  Co. 

T>  Fr.  Cav. 

Butler,  Henry Co.  B  4th 

Butler,  Thomas  M Co.  B  4th 

Butler,  Chas.  W Sergt.  Co.  H.  4th 

Butler,  Coleman Co.  H  4th 

Butterfield,  A.  J Ist  Sergt.  Co.  F  6th 

Butterworth,  Wm Co.  C  50th 

Byrnell,  Wm  C 1st  U.  S.  Cav. 

Cadmus,  Wm.  B Co.  F  2d  H.  A. 

Ciihalan,  Dan'l Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Cahil!,  Maurice Co.  H  !)th 

Cain,  John Co.  I  0th 

Cain,  Michael 1st  U.  S.  Cav. 

Callahan,  Patrick Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Cullahan,  Thos Co.  H  4th 

Callahan,  Thos Co.  G  .59th  &  57th 

Callahan.  Bernard Co.JC  40th  N.  Y. 

Caffrey,  Dan'l Co  F  48th 

Campbell,  Joseph Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Campbell,  Duncan Co.  H  4th 

Campbell,  Solomon,  Jr Co.  G  30th 

Canfield,  Michael Co.  K  11th 

Cargill,  Thomas  M 3d  Lt.  B. 

Carlton,  Edward Co.  F  6th 

Carlton,  Edward. ..1st  Lt.  Co.   I  40th  ;   killed 
June  3,  1804,  Cold  Harbor,  Va. 

Carlton,  Frank  C Co.  K  6th 

Carlisle,  Orin  S Co.  I  Oth 

Carpenter,  Geo.  B Co.  E  Ist  H.  A. 

Carpenter,  George Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Carr,  John 8th  U.  S.  Cav. 

Carr,  Charles 8th  Unattached  &  K  1st  H.  A. 

Carr,  Geo.  W...Co.  B  3d  Cav.;   died  Feb.  19, 
1861,  Richmond,  Va. 

Carraway,  Tallas  F Co.  C  4th  H.  A 

Carroll,  Patrick Co.  I  9th 

Carroll,  James  Co.  I  17th 

Carroll,  John  J Co.  I  Oth 

Carruthers,  John Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Carter,  Austin  F Co.  Fist  H.  A. 

Carter,  Levi  H...Co.  K  1st  H.  A.;  died  August 
1,  1880. 

Carter,  Wm.  S Co.  K  1st  H.  A.  &  8th  Ilnat. 

Carter,  Sam'l Co.  F  26th 

Casey,  John Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Casey,  John Co.  B  4th 

Casey,  John. ..Co.  H  4th,  re-enlisted  9th  Maine, 
served  through  the  war. 

Casey,  Wm Co.  I  6th 

Casey,  Wm.  E Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Cassidy,  Peter Co.  D  9th 

Cass,  Michael Ist  U.  S.  Cav. 

Cate,  T.  J.. ..2d  Lt.  Co.  F  Oth  &  Lt.  U.  S.  Army. 

Cauffy,  Edward Co.  F  6th 

Cavanaugh,  Jamts Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Oavanaugh,  Michael Co.  1 17th 

Cavanaugh,  Joseph Co.  I  17th 

Chadbourne,  B.  F Capt.  Co.  F  6th 

Chadwick,  Fitz  Henry Co.  H.  4th 

Chaffin,Willard Co.  F  6th  &  1st  Lt.  B. 

Chamberlain,  Forest  B Co.  I  6th 

Chandler,  Gustavus  A...Co.  B  3d  Cav.;  drowned 
July  3,  1804,  Mississippi  River. 

Charnock,  Thomas Co.  A  1st  H.  A_ 

Chard,  John Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Chard,  Edw.  F Co.  F  26th,  tr.  1st  U.  S.  Art. 

Charlesworth,  Emanuel Co.  C  50th 

Chapin,  Milo  J Co.  H  4th 


Chapman,  Wm.  H Co.  C  2d  H.  A. 

Chapman,  Adelbert  0 V.  K.  C. 

Chase,  Silas  M Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Chase,  Edwin  E Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Chelly,  John Co.  K  Oth 

Cheney,  Bradford Co.  G  3uth 

Chinock,  Wm.  W Co.  F.  20th 

Clarendon,  James  A Co.  B  8th 

Clarendon,  Edw.  H..Co.  H.  4th  and  Co.  I  2(;th  ; 
d.  of  wounds  Oct.  17,  1804,  AVinchestei-, 
Va. 

Clark,  Alviu  S 8th  Unat. 

Clark,  Herbert  T Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Clark,  John Co.  1  17th 

Clark,  Enoch  6 Co.  G  30th 

Clark  Miles Co.  G  30th  ;  d.  Oct.  3,  1863, 

Franklin,  La. 

Clark,  Wm Co.  F.  35th 

Clark,  Alouzo  B Co.  C  40th 

Clark,  Seth  F Co.  I  Oth 

Clark,  Rufus  B Co.  C  40th 

Clark,  Edward Co.  F.  40th 

Clark  Geo.  H 4th  Lt.  Bat. 

Clair,  Robert Co.  D  20th 

Clary,  James 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

Cleary,  Timothy Co.  B  4th 

Cleworth,  Aaron 7th  Lt.  Bat. 

Clifford,  Wm Co.  D  56th 

Clifford,  Lucius Co.  I  1st  H.  A.  ;  d.  May  2, 

1805. 
Clifford,  Alouzo. ..Co.  I  16th  Wisconsin  ;  killed 
April  6,  1862,  Shiloh,  Tenn. 

Cline,  Patrick Co.  F  Ist  H.  A. 

Cliue,  Patrick Co.  H  4th 

Clines,  Patrick Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. ;  killed 

Dec.  13, 1862,  Fredericksburg,  Va. 

Clough,  Wm.  H Co.  G.  12th  ;  trans,  to  V. 

11.  0. 
Clough,  Wm.  H...C0.  C  40th  ;  d.  Aug.  21, 1882 

Cobert,  Richard Ist  U.  S.  Cav, 

Coburn,  Wm.  A Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Cochrane,  Thomas Co.  I  6th 

Cochrane,  Daniel  B Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Cocanech  Charles Co.  H.  4th 

Cogger.  Eugene 8ih  Unat. 

Cogger,  John. ..Co.  K  Oth  ;  killed  May  8,  1804, 
Spottsylvania. 

Colcord,   Daniel CoF.  IstH.  A. 

Collins,  Wm.  H..Co.  K  1st  H.  A.  ;  d.  of  wounds 
June  17,  1804,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Collins,  Timothy  H Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Collins,  Timothy  Co.  H.  4th 

Collins,  John  W Co.  A  33d 

Collins,  Timothy Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Colby,  Stephen  M Co.  I.  Oth  and  8th  Unat. 

Colby,  Edwin  H 8th  Unat. 

Colby,  Eben.  T Capt.  Co.  B4th  and  Lt.-Col. 

Colby,  W^m.  K 2d  and  1st  Lt.,  and  Capt.  Co. 

C40th 

Colbert,  Edward Co.  1 2d  H.  A. 

Colby,  Stephen  J D.  1st  N.  H.  H.  A. 

Colburn,  Geo.  W Co.  I.  6th 

Coleman,  Thomas Co.  B  4th 

CoUopy  Michael Co.  1 19th 

Condon,  James Co.  K  IstH.  A. 

Condon,  John Co.  H.  4th 

Couant,  James  H Co.  I  2d 

Conaut,  James  H Co.  H  4th 

Couant,  Albert  G Co.  I  26th 

Connor,  Chas.  G Co.  I  2d  H.  A. 

Connor,  Jeremiah Co.  H  1st  Cav. 

Connor,  Timothy Co.  G  1st 

Connor,  John Co.  G  30th 

Connor,  Chas.  G Co.  I  Oth 

Connurs,  John. ..Co.  IC  Ist  H.  A.  ;  d.  of  wounds, 
June  17,  1864,  Washington,  D.  C. 


Connors,  Matthew Co.  I  Oth 

Connors,  Thomas 8tli  Unat. 

Connolly,  John 8th  Unat. 

Constable,  W.  M l.st  U.  S.  Cav. 

Converse,  Gilbert  P Co.  F  Oth 

Connelly,  Michael Co.  C  Oth 

Cook,  Benj.  C Co.  H  4th 

Cook,  Thomas  N Co.  I  2Gth 

Cook,  George..  ..Co.  K  40th  N.  Y.  ;  d.  Aug.  24, 
18i;3,  Ft.  Monroe,  Va. 

Coolidge,  Baldwin Co.  K  6th 

Cooiiey,  Dennis 1st  U.  S.  Cav. 

Cooper,  Thos.  H....Co.  G  30th  ;  d.  Dec.  5,  1862, 

New  Orleans. 
Copp,  Joseph  F..Co.  C  40th  ;  trans,  to  V.  R.  C. 

Copp,  Geo.  E Co.  K  Ist  H.  A. 

Corey,  Chas 8th  Unat. 

Corcoran,  James..Co.  H  9th ;  trans,  to  V.  R.  C. 

Corning,  Samuel Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Corrigan,  Andrew Co  D.  28th 

Coughlin,  James Co.  I  9th 

Coupe,  Theophilus Co.  G  30th 

Cowdrey,  Oliver  W Co.  F  6th 

Coyne,  Patrick Co  E.  59th  and  57th 

Crawford,  Geo.  W V.  R.  C. 

Crane,  Peter 8th  Unat.  and  Co.  I  Oth 

Crawshaw,  Richard Co.  B  4th  ;  killed  June 

14,  1863,  Port  Hudson,  La. 

Creaden,  John Missing  in  action,  July  2, 

1863,  Gettysburg. 

Creaden,  John Co.  F  26th 

Craffy,  Chas.  M Co.  G  30th  ;  d.  Aug.  8,  1862, 

New  Orleans. 

Creighan,  John Co.  K  Oth 

Crocker,  Frank  T Co.  I  6th 

Crocker,  Fred.  W Co.  I  Oth 

Crockett,  Nelson  D Co.  F  20th 

Crockett,  Geo.  E Co.  B3d  Cav. 

Crockett,  Leander  F Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Crosby,  Robert Co.  Klst  H.  A. ;  killed  May 

19,  1864,  Spottsylvania. 

Crosby,  Alouzo 8th  Unat. 

Crosby,  Patrick Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Crosby,  James Co.  G  2d  H.  A. 

Crosdale,  Patrick Co.  1  3()th 

Grouse,  Wm.  E 2d  Lt.  1st  H.  A 

Crouse,  John  F Co.  K  Ist  H.  A. 

Crowell,  Daniel  D Co.  K  Ist  H.  A. 

Crowl'-y,  Dennis Co.  I  2d  H.  A. 

Crowley,  John Co.  E  19th 

Crowther,  Wm Co.  D  2oth 

Cruickshanks,  Thomas Co.  H  4th 

Cummings  Geo.  P Co.  K  1st  H.  A. ;  d.  of 

wounds  Sept.  9,  1864,  Alexandria,  Va. 

Curamiugs,  Chas.  E Ist  Lt.  Bat. 

Cumnock,  John Co.  B  4th 

Cune,  Thomas Co.  K  40th  N.  Y.  ;  missing  ia 

action  Dec.  13,  1862. 

Cunningham,  Michael  B Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Cunningham,  John Co.  I  17th 

Cunniughaui,  Edw CoK  4t)th  N.  Y. 

Curry,  Patrick Co.  K  Oth 

Curry,  John Co.  I  17th;  d.  July  14,  1862, 

Baltimore. 

Curtin,  Patrick Co.  I  6th 

Curtin,  John Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Curran,  Patrick Co.  I  9th  ;  killed  June  27, 

1802,  Gaines'  Mills,  Va. 

Currier,  Aaron  A Co.  B  4th 

Cushing,  William Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. ;  d.  of 

wounds  July  10,  1864,  Mt.  Pleasant  Hosp. 
Cutler,  Chas.  H....Co.  M  Ist  H.  A.  ;  d.  Jlay  30^ 
18u4. 

Cutter,  Geo.  S Co.  F  Ist  H.  A.  ;  killed  June 

10,  1804,  Petersburg,  Va. 
Cutter,  James  M Co.  K  Oth 


920 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Cutting,  Cliandler Co.  C  Jth  H.  A. 

Cutting,  Silas  H Co.  B  M  Cav. 

Dacey,  Jeremiah Co  B  3d  Cav.  ;  killed  Apr. 

8,  1804,  Siibitie  Cros^i  Roads,  La. 
Dacey,  Timothy 1st  Lt.  Co.  I  9th  ;  d.  Dec. 

Ill,  1880. 

Dacey,  Cornelius Co.  1  9th 

Dame,  Albert  L Co.  B.  1st  II.  A. 

Daley,  Maurice Co.  117th 

Daley,  John Co.  V  2uth 

Da'ey,  Patrick  C Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Dane,  Sylvanus  W Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Dane,  Richard  G Co.  F  2Gth 

Danforth,  Vespasian Co.  C  40tli 

Dauahy,  Patrick,   Co.   F  26th  ;   died  Jan.  2  ; 

18G3,  New  Orleans. 

Dana,  David,  M.D Surgeon 

Darrell,  Geo.  G Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Darlisle,  Timothy Co.  F  48th 

Daulton,  John  H Co.  K  2d  H.  A. 

Davis,  Albert  A.,  2d  Lt.  and  Capt.  Co.  K  1st  H. 

A. ;  died  of  wounds  June  21,  1864,  Wash- 
ington. 

Davis,  Daniel Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Davis,  Richard  H Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Davis,  Ti-.omaa  B.,  Co.  H  1st  Cav. ;  died  May 

31,  1864,  Andersonville. 

Davis,  W.  H.  H Co.  K  fith 

Davis,  Solomon  N Co.  K  Gth 

Davis,  Wm.  F Co.  C.  lUth 

Davis,  James  L Co   H  4th 

Davis,  Isaacs Co.  H  4th 

Davis,  Frank.,  Sergt.  to  Capt.  Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

and  Major  ;  died  May  19,  1875. 

Davis,  John  F Co.  G  3  ith 

Davis,  Benjamin,  Capt.  Co.  B  22d  Regt. ;  killed 

May  10,  1864,  Laurel  Hill,  Va. 

Davis,  George Co.  B  22d ;  died  Oct.  4, 18G2 

Dawson,  Firth Co.  H  4th 

Decker,  Daniel V.  R.  0. 

Decker,  Peter Co.  H  1st  H.  A. 

Decker,  Jefford  M Lt.-Col.  lUth 

Decker,  Smith  M Capt.  and  Col.  Co.  K  Gth 

Dean,  Simeon  P Co.  I  6th 

Degnan,  Matthew Co.  G  60th 

Dearborn,  La  Roy Co.  I  6th 

Delaney,  Dennis Co.  F  30th 

Dennett  Ira  B Co.  G  30th 

Dennis,  John Co. B  4th 

Devoy,  Lawrence Co.  B  1st  Cav. 

Deforce,  John V.  R.  C. 

Denton,  Alfred  M V.  R  C. 

Dill,  Knowles 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

Dillingham,  Perley  L Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Dilworth,  John 8th  Unattached 

Dilley,  David Co.  1 17th 

Dinneen,  John Co.  G  33d 

Dinneen,  Patrick Co.  H  4th 

Dinneen,  Jeremiah Co  I  Gth 

Dionne,  Remi Co.  K  Gth 

Dixon,  AlansoD Co.  C  40th 

Dodds,  Henry 1st  Dist.  Columbia  Inf. 

Dodge,  Joseph  W 8th  Unattached 

DoUiver,  Thomas  11 Co.  M  1st  H.  A. 

Doeffler,  John Co.  I  2d 

Dodge,  John  A Co.  B  11th 

Dolan,  Barnard Co.  F  26th  and  Co.  G  30th 

Dolan,  James Co.  E  3(Jth 

Dolloff,  David  C Co.  B  4th 

Dogan,  Meusar  B Co.  C  40th 

Donellan,  Michael 1st  U.  S.  Cav. 

Donovan,  Jerry  F Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Donovan,  John 8th  Unattached 

Donovan,  John,  Co.  H  2d ;    died   of  wounds 

Sept.  17,  1862,  Antietam. 


Donovan,  Florence Co.  I  17th 

Don  >van,  John Co.  I  17th 

Donnelly,  Thumas.Co.  0  Fr.  Cav.  and  Co.  K  Gth 
Donnelly,  Patrick,  Co.  F  26th;  died  Jan.  20, 

18G3,  New  Orleans. 

Donnelly,  Frank Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Donahue,  Thomas Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Dooley,  Morris Co.  G  28th 

Dorsey  Michael Co.  H  4th 

Dougherty,  John 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

Douglierty,  Patrick Co.  I  Gth 

Dougherty,  John Co.  I  26th 

Dow,- John  M  2d  Lt.  Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Dow,  Charles  E 8th  Unattaclied 

Dow,  Wesley  W.,  Co.  B  3d  Cav. ;  died  Aug.  11, 

1863,  Port  Hudson,  La. 

Dow,  Albert  1 2d  Lt.  Co.  B  4th 

Dow,  Albert Co.  C  40th 

Dowd,  Dominick Co.  I  17th 

Doyen,  Franklin  E  Co.  K  6th 

Doyle,  Wm,  M Co.  F.  6th 

Doyle,  Michael 8th  Unattached 

Doyle,  John Co.  I  17th 

Doyle,  Michael  O.,   Co.  H  59th  ;  killed  June 

17,  18G5. 
Doyle,  John,  Co.  B  3d  Cav.  ;  killed  May,  1864, 

Yellow  Bayou,  La. 
Drew,  Israel,  1st  Lt.  Co.  H  4th  N.  H. ;  died 

Nov.  6,  18G1,  Annapolis. 

Drew,  Edgar..... -Co.  H  4th  N.  H. 

Drew,  Clarence  E Co.  B  4th 

Drew,  Jeremiah  D Lt.-Col.  4th  N.  11. 

Drew,  James  W Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Drew,  Charles  E Co.  I  Gth 

Drew,  George  A Co.  I  Gth 

DriscoU,  John Co.  I  3d  Cav. 

Driscoll,  John,  Navy  ;  cied  June  12, 18G5,  New 

Orleans. 

Drummey,  Patrick Co.  F  20th 

Drummontl,  James Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Duchesney,  Lawrence  N.,  Co.  F  6th  ;  Sergt.,  2d 

and  1st  Lt.  Co.  H  1st  Cav.  ;  in  Libby ;  Capt. 

26th  N.  Y.  Cav.  ;  Capt.  1st  Batt'n  Frontier 

Cav. 

Duchesney,  Feli.x Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Duffy,  Owen 

Duffy,  Wm Co.  D  26th 

Duffy,  Patrick 3d  U.S.  Inf. 

Dnffin,  Richard Co.  D  20th 

Dufresne,  Edward Co.  B  4th 

Dugal,  Charles  E 1st  U.  S.  Cav. 

Dugan,  Dennis Co.  D  9th 

Dugan,  Jeremiah V.  R.  C. 

Dunby.  Cyrus  F Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Duncan,  James Co.  B  11th 

Duncan,  Edward 8th  Unattached 

Duncan,  James 8th  Unattached 

Duncan,  Wm Co.  B  4th 

Dunn,  John  M 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

Dunn,  John 8th  U.  S.  Inf. 

Dunn,  Edward Co.  I  Gth 

Duputrine,  Calvin  W Co.  M  1st  H.  A. 

Durgan,  Jacob  R Co.  H  4th  N.  H. 

Durgin,  Geo.  C,  Co.  A  Ist  H.  A.  ;  killed  May 

19,  1864,  Spottsylvania. 

Durgiu,  Charles  C Co.  F  1st  11.  A. 

Durging,  Chase  C Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Durgin,  A.  E Co.  K  Gth 

Durgin,  Alexander,  Co.  H  4th  ;  died  May  21, 

1863,  New  Orleans. 

Durrell,  Geo.  G Co.  I  Gth 

Dwyer,  Thomas Co.  I  9th 

Dwyer,  Patrick Co  D  28th 

Dyer,  Wm.  H Co.  F  Gth 

Dyer,  Lewis  R Co.  D  12th 

Dyer,  Joseph Co.  B  4th 


Dyson,  Thomas Co.  K  6th 

Eames,  James Co.  K  1st  EI.  A. 

Earl,  Robert  B Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Eastman,  John   F.,  Co.  M  32d,   from  2J   Co. 

Sharpshooters. 

Eaton,  J.  Frank Co.  B.  4th  &  Co.  K  Gth 

Eaton,  Wm.  C Co.  E  8th 

Eaton,  Willis  G 7th  Bat. 

Eddy,  David Co.  I  9th 

Edgerly,  Chas.  A Co.  C  4th  H.  A 

Edgecomb,  James..8th  Unattached  &  Co  F  48th 

Edmonds,  John Co.  A  3d  H.  A. 

Edmundson,  James,    Co.  B  4th  ;  died  Aug.  18, 

18G3,  Cleveland,  0. 

Edson,  Calvin  H.  N Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Edwards,  Wm Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Edwards,  Frank  A Co.  K  Gth 

Eldridge,  Hezekiah Co  H  4tb 

Eldridge,  James 8th  U.  S.  Cav. 

Eliof,  Alvin  D Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Eliot,  Russell  C Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Ellenwood,   Eben  H.,   3d   Lieut.    Co.    6th    (3 

months)  ;  1st  Lieut.  Co.  I  Gth  (9  months) ; 

1st  Lieut.  8th  Unattached. 

EUenwood,  Chas.  T Co.  I  6th 

Ellis,  Oliver Co.  H  SOth 

Ellis,  James Co.  B  4th 

Ellsworth,  Wm.  M 8th  Unattached 

Elmerwold,  Dearich 8th  U.S.  Cav. 

Emerson,  Horace Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Emerson,  Walter  F Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Emerson,  John  D..Co.  I  Gth  ;  2d  Lieut.  Co.  K  Gth 

Emerson,  Moses  W Co.  D.  47th 

Emery,  Solomon  D Co.  M  ?.d  Cav. 

Emory,  David  N Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Em  iry,  John  W Co.  I  2Gth 

Emmons,  Wm Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Enuis,  Wm Co.  F  2Gth 

Ephraiui,  Joseph  H Co.  K  31st 

Ewings,  Samuel 8th  Unattached 

Eylward,  William see  Aylward 

Fahey,  Nicholas 8th  Unattached 

Fales,  Henry  C Co.  F  Ist  H.A. 

Fagan,  Lawrence Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Fagan,  Christopher,  Co.  I  17th  ;  also  10th  N.  H. 
and  Navy. 

Fannon,  John  K Co.  M  3u 

Faris,  Allen  C Co.  I  26th 

Farrell,  James Co.  F  26th 

Farrow,  Robt Co.  F  48th 

Farringtou,  Geo  ,  Co.  B  1st  H.  A. ;  killed  May 
19,  1864,  Spottsylvania. 

Farmer,  Joseph  B Co.  K  IstH.  A. 

Farquhar,  James,  Co.  B  4th  ;  died  Feb.  25,  1882. 

Farwell,  Fred.  M Co.  I  Gth 

Favor,  Joseph  W 8th  Unattached 

Faul,  Herman U.  S.  Reg.  Band 

Fearnley,  John U.  S.  Reg.  Band 

Ferns,  Frank Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Ferren,    Joseph,   Co.   H.  4th  ;   died   Aug.   16, 
18G3,  Baton  Rouge,  La. 

Fernald,  Edward  I Co.  D  22d 

Finn,  John 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

Fiueral,  Patrick Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Finnessy,  Thomas,  Co.  K  40th  N.  Y.  ;  died  Al- 
exandria, Va. 

Fish,  John Co.  F  1st  H.  A 

Fisher,  James  A Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Fish,  Chas Co.  B  4th  ;  died  Nov.  15,  1884 

Fisher,  John  M Co.  K  Gth 

Fitts,  James  W Co.  I  6th 

Fitzgerald,  .lohn Co.  H  4th 

Fitzgerald,  Chas Co.  M  4th  Cav. 

Flagg,  Charles  H Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 


LAWRENCE. 


921 


Flanders,  Geo.  F.,  Co.  F  26th  ;  trans,  to  1st  U. 

S.  Art. 

Flanders,  Chas.  W Co.  C  40th 

Fletcher,  Wm.  F 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

Flavin,  Thomas Co.  B  1st  H.  A. 

Flemming,  James Co.  I  Cth 

Flynn,  John Co.  H  4th 

Flyun,  Thomas Co.  H  4th 

Flynn,  James,  2d Co.  D  12th 

Flynn,  Henry Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Flynn,  Patrick Co.  K  40th  N.  Y- 

Foster,  Edward U.  S.  Ordnance  Corps 

Forbes,  Wm'.  W Co.  I26th 

Follansbee,  Geo.  S 2d  Lieut  1st  H.  A. 

Folsom,  Chas.  H Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Foran,  John Co  Fist  H.  A. 

Forth,  Morris '. Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Forsyth,  John Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Ford,  Martin Co.  D  2d  Cav. 

Foster,  Chas.  H Co.  H  1st  H.  A. 

Foster,  Maurice Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Foster,  Wm.  K Co.  G.  3d  H.  A. 

Foster,  Chas.  H Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Foster,  H.  Willard Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Foster,  John  D Co.  C  30th 

Foster,  Richard  H Co.  F  26th 

Foster,  Charles Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Foss,  Gilnian  P Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Foy,  John,  Co.  G  30th  ;  died  June  12,  1802, 

New  Orleans. 

Fox,  Henry  L Co.  C  4th  H.  A 

Frederick,  Chas 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

French,  Allen  T Co.  B  4th 

French,  Horace  E Co.  F  1st  H.  A, 

French,  Chase  C,   Co.  H  4th  ;  died  Aug.   1. 

1863,  Port  Hudson,  La. 

French,  Henry  F Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

French,  Geo.  W Co.  E  19th 

Fredericks,  Theodore Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Fremmer,  Geo Co.  H  4th 

Fremmer,  Jacob Co.  H  4th 

Freeman,  Timothy Co.  F  26th 

Froora,  Mark Co.  B  4th 

Frost,  Orin  P 8th  Unattached 

Frazier,  Geo.,  Co.  C  40th  ;  killed  June  1,  1864, 

Cold  Harbor,  Va. 

Frye,  Ira Co.  I  6th 

Frye,  Geo Co.  K  Ist  H.  A. 

Furbur,  Lyman  V.  B.,   Co.  D  1st  Cav. ;  died 

Oct.  16,  1862. 
Furbush,  Chas.  H.,  Co.  F  6th  and  navy,  the 

"Brooklyn." 

Gallagher,  Patrick Co.  I  6th 

Gallagher,  Felix Co.  C  40th 

Gallagher,  Hugh,  Co.  D  28th  ;  died  of  vrounds 

June  13,  1862,  South  Carolina. 

Gallagher,  Patrick 8th  U.  S.  Inf. 

Gallagher,  John Co.  B  50th 

Gamon,  Archibald,  Co.  B  50th  ;  trans,  to  V.  R.  C. 
Gallison,   John   B.,  Co.  C  40th ;   died  Jan.  6, 

1865,  Lawrence. 

Gardner,  Joseph  W Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Garland;  James  S.,  Co  F  1st  H.  A. ;  died  Jan. 

20,  1862,  Fort  Albany,  Va. 

Garrity,  John Co  I  9th  ;  killed  June  27,  1862 

Garrity,  Peter  M Co  I  26th 

Garvin,  Michael Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Gatley,  Wm.  A U.  S.  hospital  steward 

GaufTy,  Chas.  M.,  Co.  G  30th  ;  died  Aug.  18, 

1862,  New  Orleans. 
Gearin,  Wm.  F....Co.  B  4th  ;  died  March,  1887. 

Geary,  John 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

George,  John  H Co.  D  Ist  Cav. 

George,  Daniel  D.,  Co.  D  1st   Cav.;  trans,  to 

Navy. 

58J 


Gessing,  Wm  E Co  I  2d  H.  A. 

Geureaux,  Edward Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Giddings,  James  H Co.  K  2d  Cav. 

Giles,  Geo Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Geluk,  Martin V.  R.  C. 

Giles,  Geo Co.  D  9th 

Giles,  Chas.H Co.  F261h 

Gilgan,  James Co  F26th 

Gilleland,  James,    Co.   D   17th  ;    died  Oct.  19, 
1864,  in  Confederate  prison. 

Gilford,  Henry Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Gilmore,  Robert Co.  K  2d  H.  A. 

Gilman,  John  H Co.  B  4th 

Gilmore,  Peter Co.  D  9th 

GUson,  Alpheus  L Co.  F  26th 

Gilloran,  Patrick Co.  I  17th 

Gingras  Victor  G.,  Co.  I  6th;  wounded  in  Bal- 

more  April  19,  1861. 
Gleason   Michael,   Co.   A   3d   H.   A. ;  trans  to 
Navy. 

Glover,  John  H 1st  Lt.  Ist  H.  A. 

Glidden,  Jasper  F.,  Co.    B.  3d  Cav.  ;    killed  in 
action  Sept  19,  1864,  Winchester,  Va. 

Golden,  James Co.  C.  1st  Bat.  H.  A. 

Golden,  Michael,  Co.  D  17th  N.  Y. ;  died  Nov. 
17,1863. 

Goldsmith,  Melvin  H Co.  I  1st  H.  A 

Goldsmith,  Chas 8th  U.  S.  Inf. 

Goodrich,  Stephen  W Co.  F  Ist  H.  A- 

Goodrich,  Edward Co.  B30th 

Goodiill,   George,   Co.   F.  26th ;    died  Jan.   6, 
1805,  Philadelphia. 

Goodwin,  Thomas Co.  C  50th 

Goodwin,  John  J Co.  B  30th 

Goodwin,  Edward Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Goodwin,  Chas.,  Ist  H.  A.  ;    missing  in  action 

Goodwin,  Ephraim  L Co.  F  48th 

Gordon,  Frank  A Co.  I  6th 

Gordon,  Asa  C Co.  H  4th 

Goulding,  Daniel Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Gould,  Isaac  W Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Gould,  Erastus Co.  H.  3d  Cav. 

Gould,  Israel Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Gower,  John  W Co.  E  3d  H.  A. 

Grady,  James 3d  U.S.  Inf. 

Graffum,  Samuel Co.  L  3d  Cav. 

Graham,  William Co.  I  6th 

Graham,  William Co  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Grant,  Albert  H Co.  B  1st  H.  A. 

Grant,  Lewis Co.  I  6th 

Gray,  Timothy,   Jr.,    Co.   A  2d  ;    died  Dec.  2, 

1862,  Sharpsburg,  Md. 
Gray,   Alonzo,  Co.   D  26  ;    died  July  16,  1862, 
New  Orleans. 

Gray,  William Co.  F  30th 

Gray,  Otis  W Co.  C  57th 

Greenlaw,  Chas.  E.,  Co.  F  6th,  and  Co.  H  4th 
Green,  Michael,  Co.  I  6th  ;   wounded  in  Balti- 
more. 

Green,  Michael  J Co.  I  26th 

Green,  M 8th  U.  S.  Cav. 

Greenough,  Wm.  S Co.  B.  4th 

Greenwood,  Paul,  Co.  I  22d  ;    killed  June  27, 
1862  ;  Gaines'  Mill,  Va. 

Greichen,  William Unassigned 

Griffin,  James  R.,  Navy  ;    went  down  with  his 
vessel  before  Vicksburg,  Miss. 

Grimshaw,  John Co.  B4th 

Grogan,  James 1st  U.  S.  Cav. 

Gurney,  Horace  M Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Guiney,  John Co  D  Ist  Cav. 

Gurney,  James  M Co.  D  Ist  Cav. 

Gunning,  Thomas,  Navy  ;  (ship  "Congress"), 
killed  in  action  with  the  Merrimack,  Hamp- 
ton Roads,  Va. 
Gustin,  Almon  D 8th  Unattached 


Hackett,  Jeremiah Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Hackett,  Jeremiah Co.  E  1st  Cav. 

Hager,John 1st  U.  S.  Cav. 

Haggerty,  John Co.  C  40th 

Haggerty,  Wm Co.  F  35th 

Hale,  John,   Co.  F  Ist  H.  A. ;    died  Oct.  18, 

1864,  Andersonville. 

Hale,  Joseph  F Co.  G  30th 

Hall,  Chae.   A.,    Co.  B  Ist   N.  H.  H.  A.  ;  died 

Feb.  12,  1805,  Fort  Reno,  D.  C. 
Hall,  Wm.  S.,  Co.  B  1st  N.   H.   H.  A.  ;    died 

Sept.  30,  1864,  Andereonville. 

Hall,  Abraham Co.  F  Ist  H.  A. 

Hall,  Gilson  A. 

Hall,   Cornelius  Co.  K  1st  H.  A.  ;  killed  May 

19,  1864,  Spottsylvania. 

Hall,  Samuel  A Co.  I  26th 

Hall,  Wm.  0 V.  R.  C. 

Halton,  Wm Co.  I  6th 

Ham,  John  F 8th  Unattached 

Ham,  Federal  B Co.  B4th 

Ham,  Timothy,  Co.  I  26th  ;  died  Feb.  11,  1865, 

in  prison,  Salisbury,  N.  C. 

Hamilton,  John Co  K  40th  N.Y. 

Hamilton,  Wm Co.  K  4Uth  N.  Y. 

Hivmilton,  A  Lawrence  ;    2d  Lt  Co.  I  6th  ;  and 

Capt  ;  also  Capt.  8th  Unattached ;  died. 

Hamilton,  Oliver  B Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Hammond,  Frank  E Co.  C40th 

Hanks,  John 8th  U.S.  Inf. 

Hannegan,  John Co.  D  28th 

Hannegan,  John Lt.  Co.  K  40th  Inf. 

Banning,  Obadiah V.   R.  C. 

Hannon,    Ellas Co.   G  33d 

Hannon,  Robt.  A Co.  F  35th 

Hanscomb,  Wm.  A Co.  C  40th 

Hanscomb,  Ivory  P Co.  I  26th 

Hanson,  James  W 2d  Lt.  1st  H.  A. 

Hardacre,  Aaron Co.  C50th 

Harding,   Dennis,    Co.  H  33d  ;    missing  at  the 

battle  of  Chattanooga,  1864. 

Harding,  Michael Co.K40thN.  Y 

Harding,  Michael Co.  H  33d 

Harding,  Michael  (2d),  Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. ;  died 

July  .3,1863,  of  wounds,  Gettysburg. 

Harkins,  Daniel Co.  I  6th 

Harmon,  John  M.,Co.  I  6th,  3  months,  and  Co. 

I  6th,  9  months. 

Harmon,  Rollin  E Co.  B  4th 

Harmon,  Edward Co.  I  17th 

Harper,  Charles Co.  K  1st  H.  A. ;  colored 

Harper,  Robt.,  Co.  H  19th,  and  Co.  E  2d  H.  A. 

Harper,  James Co.  B  11th 

Harper,  James  Co.  E  59th 

Harper,  James Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Harriman,  John  E Co.  I  6th 

Harriman,  Chas.  M 8th  Unattached 

Harrinton,  Daniel Co.  B  1st  H.  A. 

Harrington,  Thomas Co.  E  2d  H.  A. 

Harris,  Henry  A Co.  H  13th 

Harrison,  Wm Co.  I  6th 

Harrison,  John Co.   F  1st  H.  A. 

Hart,  Jeremiah Co.  6  28th 

Hart,  Michael Co.  G  28th 

Hart,  Daniel Co.  H  4th 

Hathaway,  Chas.  C Co.  B  2d  H.  A. 

Haskell,  Chas.,  Co.  C  1st  H.  A.  ;  died  of  wounds 
June  19,  1864. 

Haskell,  John  G Co.  B  4th 

Haskins,  John Cos.  B  and  1 17th 

Hayes,  Chas.  H.,    1st  Sergt.  Co.  K  1st  H.  A. ; 
2d  and  1st  Lt.  Capt.  and  Major. 

Hayes,  Gustavus  D Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Hayes,  William,  Co.  H  1st  Cav.  ;    died  Mar.  1, 

1865,  Lawrence. 
Hayes,  John  F Co.B4th 


922 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Hayes,  Patrick,  Co.  H  1st  Cav.;  killed  June  15, 
1862,  John's  Island,  S.  C. 

Hayes,  Robert  S Co.H4th 

Hayes,  .Tamos  L Co.  C  4(ith 

Hayfs,  Michael Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Hayworth,  Robt Co.  F  20th 

Heap,  William Co.  B  4th  and  Co.  K  6th  j 

Heath,  Edwin  C Co.  I  6th 

Heath,  Caleb  W Co.  F  35th 

Heavy,  J 3d  U.  S.  Inf 

Hehuer,  John...l6th  N.  Y.;  died  of  wounds; 
buried  in  Lawrence. 

Heenan,  John  C Co.  I)  9th 

Henderson,  Robert 2d  Lt.  Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Henilerson,  David Co.  K  6th 

Henderson,  Roderick. ..Co.   F  24th  ;  died  Aug. 
10,  18G4. 

Henderson,  Wm.  V Co.  H  4th 

Henderson,  Fredk Co.  F  28th 

Henderson,  Wm  Co.  F  28th,  tr.  to  15th  V.R.C. 

Heffernan  James  F Co.  R  Fr.  Cav. 

Heiithorne,  Chas Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Herlihy,   Dan'l Co.  G  30th 

Hernon,  Thomas Co.  K  (ith 

Hersom,  Isaac  L 4th  Lt.  Battery 

Hewes,  Robert Co.  H  1st  Cav. 

Hickey,  Edward Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Hickey,  Richard 8th  Unattached- 

Hickey,  Simon  P Co.  D  9th 

Hickey,  Thomas Co.  F  26th 

Hickey,  Simeon  P Co.  A  32d 

Hickey,  Michael  J Co.  B  .Vid 

Hickey,  John. ..Co.  K  40th  N.  Y.;  killed  1862, 
Bull  Run. 

Higffins,  Abner Co.  K  IstH.  A_ 

Higgins,  Sylvester Co.  B  3d  Cav 

Hig^'iiis,  Patrick Co.  I  20th 

Hildreth,  Seth  C.Co.  B  4th,  Co.  K  6th  and 
Co.  B  Fr.  Cav. 

Hill,  Euoa  T Co.  F  Cth  and  Co.  G  30th 

Hill,  Joseph Co.  M  2d  H.  A. 

Hill,  Nelson Co.  B  4th 

Hill,  Patrick... Co.  1  ITth,  died  May  5,  1865, 
Morehead  City,  N.  C. 

Hill,  Thomas Co.  I  2«h 

Hinman,  Frank. ..Co.  F  Otli  &  Co.  D  1st  Cav.; 
died  June  17,  1803,  Aldie,  Va. 

Hinmau,  David  M 8th  U.  S.  Inf. 

Hobbs,  Augustus  R Co.  K  1st  U.  A. 

Hoar,  Thomas Co.  H  22d 

Hoar,  Maurice Co.  H  22d 

Hodge,  Andrew  L Co.  I  OtU 

Hodgdon,  Benj.  F Co.  K  6th 

Hod. don,  John  M Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Uogle,  Wm.  H...C0.  K  1st  II.  A.;  died  Sept.  5^ 
1803,  Fort  Albany,  Va. 

Ilogle,  Lucius  E 8th  Unattached 

Hogle,  James  R Co.  I  6th 

Hohendal,  Joseph Ist  U.  S.  Cav. 

Hoit,  Martin  D 8th  U.  S.  Cav. 

Holland,  Thomas. ..Co.  I  17th  ;  died  June  15, 
18G4,  in  rebel  prison. 

Holland,  William Co.  H  4th 

Holden,  Wm.  G Co.  B  3uth 

Holmes,  Wm Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Holmes,  Stephen Co.  M  1st  II.  A. 

Holroyd,  Henry Co.  I  6th 

Homans,  Arthur  L Co.  B  4th 

Hommelsburg,  Wm 1st  U.  S.  Cav. 

Holt,  Sam'l Co.  A  1st  H.  A. 

Holt,  Amos  L Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Holt,  Sam'l  A Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Holt,  Altred  A. ..Co.  K  1st  H.  A.;  killed  Aug. 

19,  1804,  Spottsylvania. 
Holt,  Wm.  T...Co.  I  2Gth  ;  died  of  wounds  July 
12,  1803,  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 


Holt,  Arthur  M Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Holt,  Jeremiah Co.  G3  th 

Holt,  Albert  E Co.  F  48th, 

Holton,  Wm.  M Co.  A  3d  H.  A. 

Home,  Damon  G Co.  C  4(lth 

Home,  Joseph Co.  I  6th 

Home,  Geo.  F 8th  Unattached. 

Home,  Paul 8th  Unattached. 

Horner,  John 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

Horner,  Wm.  S Co.  C  40th 

Horton,  Geo...  Co.  B  4th  ;   died  May   9,  1803 

New  Orleans. 

Horrocks,  Thomas Co.  B  4th 

Hosmer.  Elbridge  E Co.  H  4th 

Houghton,  John  W 8th  Unattached. 

Houghton,  Geo...Co.G  30lh  ;  died  July  30, 1802, 

Baton  Rouge,  La. 

Howe,  Dennis  W Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Howard,  Richard Co.  F  1st  H.  A 

Howard,  Chas.  E Co.  K  1st  H.  A* 

Howard,  Charles  W Co.  G  12th 

Howard,  Charles  W...Co.  B2d  U.  S.  Artillery  ; 

died  Oct.,  1802,  Davis  Island,  N.  Y. 

Howard,  Eli Co.  I  6th 

Howard,  Bernard Co.  C  50th 

Howard,  Leander  F 1st  Battery  Lt.  A. 

Hudson,  James  F Co.  D  2eth 

Hughes,  Patrick Co.  M  let  H.  A. 

Hughes,  Thomas 4th  H.  A. 

Hughes,  Michael 

Hulford,  John  H Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Humphrey,  Henry Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Hunt,  John 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

Hunter,  Joseph V.  B.  C. 

Hunter,  Wm Co.  B3dCav. 

Hunter,  Wm.  A. ..Co.  B  3d  Cav.;  tr.  to  V.  R.  C. 
Huntington,  AVm.  A... Co.  I  6th  &  Co.  I  26th  . 

tr.  to  V.  R.  C. 

Huntington,  James  N Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Huntington,  Stephen  D...Co.  I  26th  ;  died  July 

28,  1862,  New  Orleans. 

Huntington,  David Co.  G  30th 

Hurley,  Wm.  H Co.  B  40th 

Hussey,  Woodbury Co.  C  4Uth 

Hussey,  Walter Co.  C  40th 

Hutchins,  John  M...Co.  I  22d  ;  died  June  30, 

1802,  Savage  Station,  Va. 
Hyde,  Wallace Co.  C  50th 

lies,  Wm Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Irish,  Chas.   S...Capt.  Co.  F  1st  H.  A.;  killed 
Mar.  25,  1805,  Petersburg,  Va. 

Ivory,  John Co.  1 17th 

Ivory,  William Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Jackman,  Frank... Co.  B  1st  H.  A.;  killed  May 

19,  1804,  Spottsylvania. 

Jackson,  Joseph Co.  B4th 

Jackson,  Samuel Co.  B  4th 

Jackson,  William Co.  C  50th 

Jager,  Edward 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

Jenkins,  Edmund  P Co.  C  Fr.  Cav. 

Jerald,  Chas.  H Co.  C  40th 

Jerald,  Albert Unassigned,  22d  Regt. 

Jewell,  Harry  J Co.  I  6th 

Johnson,  Elisha  B...Co.  F  1st  H.  A.;  died  May 

17,  1862. 

Johnson,  Augustus Co.  F  20th 

Johnson,  Samuel Co.  B  4th 

Johnson,  Alfred Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Jones,  Lorenzo Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Jones,  David Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Jones,  Irving Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Jones,  Charles Co.  A  2d  Cav. 

Jones,  Charles  0 Co.  B  22d 

Jones,  Amos  G Co.  F26th 


Jones,  Josiah  N Co.  F  6th 

Jones,  Fred.  0..  Co.  B  30th  &  Co.  L  3d  Cav.; 

died  May  10,  1804,  Davis  Island,  N.  Y. 
Jones,  Irwin  W.,  Co.  D  30th;  d.  March  2.  1865, 

Annapolis,  Md. 
Jones,  Ed  ward.. ..Co.  C  40th  ;  trans,  to  V.  B.  C. 
Jones,  Thomas,  Co.  C  40th;  d.  March  18,  1805, 

Philadelphia. 

Jordan,  Wm.  G Co.  C  40th 

Joslyn,  Elbridge  N.  B Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Jo.sselyn,  Wm.  N 8th  Unat. 

Joy,  Alonzo Co.  I  6th,  1st  Serg't  Co.  G  30th 

Joy,  William  H. 
Joy,  Henry  G. 

Joyce,  James  W Co.  I  6th 

Judge,  Bernard Co.  I  2d  H.  A. 

Judge,  James '. Slh  Unat. 

Judge,  Mark Co.  K  6th 

Keating,  Mortimer Co.  F  26th 

Kearneu,  Michael Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Kearns,  Thomas Co.  I  22d 

Keely,  Michael  J 1st  U.  S.  Car. 

Keeny,  Patrick 8th  U.  S.  Inf. 

Kellett,  Francis 8th  U.  S.  Inf. 

Kelley,  Wm.  B Co.  B  2d  Cav. 

Kelley,  Henry Co.  H  2d 

Kelley,  Timothy,  Co.  I  9th  ;  killed  in  battle— 

the  first  to  fall  in  his  regiment. 

Kelley,  Edward Co.  G  33d 

Kelley,  Edward  J.,  Co.  C  4oth  ;  killed  June  3, 

1864,  Cold  Harbor. 

Kelley,  William Co.  E  1st  H.  A. 

Keefe,  John,  Navy,  "The  Preble;"  d.  Ander- 

Bonville,  Ga. 

Kennedy,  Timothy Co.  —  4th  H.  A. 

Kennedy,  Michael Co.  H  2d 

Kennedy,  James Co.  D  20th 

Kennedy,  James Co.  K  30th 

Kennedy  M Co.  K  4('th  N.  Y. 

Kennedy,  James .Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Kennedy,  Timothy Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Kenny,  Thomas Co.  F  20th 

Kenny,  Edward,  Co.  E  30th  ;   killed  Oct.  39, 

1801,  Cedar  Creek,  Va. 

Kenny,  Matthew Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Kenny,  John,  Co.  K  40th  N.  Y.  ;   killed  Dec. 

13,  1862,  Fredericksburg,  Va. 
Kenny,  M.  B.,  Co.   K  40th  N.  Y. ;  killed  in 

battle  of  the  Wilderness,  Va. 

Kenny,  Stephen Co.  G  6th 

Kent,  Geo.  E Co.  B  Ist  H.  A.  and  Co.  F  0th 

Kent,  Geo.  S.,  Co.   F  H.  A.  ;  killed  June  16, 

1864,  Petersburg,  Va. 

Kent,  Justin  H Co.  B  3d  Cav.  and  Co.  F  6th 

Kent,  Charles  E 8th  Unat. 

Kemp,  Thomas  P Co.  H  4lh 

Kenuison,  Geo.  W Co.  B  1st  H.  A. 

Kerin,  John Co.  F  26th 

Kerr,  Peter Co.  H  4th 

Kerrigan,  Heniy Ist  Lieut.  Co.  G  2d  Cav. 

Kerton,  Levi,  Co.  F  Ist  N.  Y.  Cav.  and  Navy, 

"The  Sabine." 

Keyes,  Maurice 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

Keyser,  Charles  W Co.  D  6th 

Kiley,  Dan'l  F Co.  B  4th 

Killen,  Arthur  J 8th  Unat. 

Killoran,  Michael,  Serg't  Co.  I  17th  ;  d.  April 

2,  1864,  Andersonville. 

Killoran,  Patrick Co.  I  17th 

Kimball,  Joseph  AV.,  Captain  Co.  F  1st  U.  A. ; 

killed  June  22,  1864,  Petersburg,  Va. 

Kimball,  Stephen  P Co.  B  4th 

Kimball,  Charles  G Co.  H  4th 

King,  Oliver Co.  C  Fr.  Cav. 

King,  Walter  S Navy,  "The  Sassacus." 


LAWRENCE. 


923 


King,  Patrick 8th  U.  S.  Cav. 

Kingston,  Jeremiah Ist  D.  C.  Inf" 

Kirk,  James  E Co.  B  Fr.  Cav. 

Kirsch,  Dan'1 3d  U.S.  Inf. 

Kittredge,  David .Co.  I  6th 

Klem,  Anthony 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

Knowles,  Geo.  F Co.  F  1st  TT.  A. 

Knowles,  James  W Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Knowles,  Charles  E Co.  G  12th 

Knowles,  Geo.  H 8th  Unat.  &  Co.  I  6th 

Knott,  Wm.  G Co.  F  26th 

Knott,  Wm "o.  I6th 

Knowlton,  Wesley  W Co.  F  6th 

Knowlton,  Jas 8th  Unat.  Co. 

Knox,  James  R.,  Co.  C  40th  ;  died  Nov.,  1864, 
Florence,  S.  C. 

Knights,  Jas.  S Co.  I  6th  ;  3  nios.  &9  nios. 

Kohler,  Leo 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

Kraaslich,  Fred 8th  U.  S.  Inf. 

Kremer,  Adam 3d  U.S.  Inf. 

La  Bounty,  Franklin,  Co.   K  1st  II.  A.;  killed 
May  19,  1864,  Spottsylvania. 

Luffin,  John 8th  Unat.  Co. 

Lahan,  Michael Co.  I  59th  &  .i7th 

Lahlan,  John Co.  117th 

Lahlan,  Patrick Co.  C4()th 

Lakey,  Benj Co.  B  4th 

Lalley,  Thos Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Lalor,  Frank Co.  C  9th  ;  Sergt.  &  2d  Lt. 

Lamphere,  Wm.  N.,  Co.  C  40th  ;  d.  Oct.  13,'63, 
Fully  Island,  S.  C. 

Lamprey,  Geo.  H....Co.  Klst  H.  A.  &Q.  M.  S. 

Lamson,  Iia  P Co.  C  Ith  H.  A. 

Lane,    Wm.    A., '.;o.  C40th  ;    d.  May  16,  1863, 
Fort  Monroe. 

Lane,  Jesse  P Co.  H4th 

Lane,  Parker  W Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Langley,  Geo.  W.,  Co.  I  59th  ;  d.  July  4,  1861, 
Baltimore. 

Langmaid,  Samuel Capt.  Co.  —1st  H.  A 

Lannegan,  Andrew Co.  I  6th 

Lannon,  Walter Co.  B3dCav. 

Lapp,  Wm 3dU.  S.  Inf. 

Larrahee,  Jas.  H Co.  I  6th  ;  d.  Aug.  31, '73. 

Larson,  Carl  P 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

Lavally,  Joseph,  Co.  1 17th  ;  d.  Newborn,  N.  C, 
June  24th. 

Laveny,  Andrew 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

Lawler,  Joseph Co.  B  4th 

Lawlor,  Jas Navy,  "The  Marion." 

Lawless,  Nicholas 3d  U.  S,  Inf. 

Lawrence,  Wm 1st  U.  S.  Cav. 

Lawi-y,  Uranus Co.  I  6th 

Lazelle,  Albert  E Co.  K  6th 

Leach,  Jas Co.  K  6th 

Learned,  Jas.  N Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Learned,  Jonas  G.,  Co.  K  1st  H.  A.;  d.  Sept.  2. 
1804,  Andersonville. 

Learry,  Daniel 8th  Unat.  Co. 

Learry,  Simon Co.  1 17th  ;  d.  May  22,'62. 

Leavens,  Geo.  11 8th  Unat  Co 

Leavitt,  Lorenzo  S.,  23d  Maine  Kegt.  &  Co.  K 
6th. 

Leech,  Daniel Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Lever,  Jas Co.  H4th 

Levoch,  Danl Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Lewis,  Geo.  W Co.  F.  IstH.  A. 

Leighton,  Geo.  P Co.  F  6th 

Libbey,  Jos 8th  Unat.  Co. 

Lindsay,  Thos.  L Co.  F  28th 

Linn,  Hugh Co.  C  40th 

Lithgow,  John Co.  I2d  H.  A. 

Littlefield,  Chas.  H 1st  Sergt.  Co.  F  48th 

Livingstone,  t;has Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Locke,  Chas.  E Co.  I  6th  &  Co.  D  3d  H.  A. 


Logan,  John 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

Long.  Richard gthUnat.  Co. 

Looby,  Edward Co.  D  llth 

Looley,.John Co.  F  48th  &  Co.  G  2d  H.  A. 

Looney,  Patrick Co.  K  40th 

Lorenzo,  Gotfried 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

Lord,  Wm Co.  C  4i»th 

Lord,  Benjamin  E Co.  C  40th 

Lord,  Eben 8th  Unat.  Co. 

Lord,  Iliram  F Co.  B  4th 

Lord,  John  C Co.  A  3d  H.  A. 

Loveriug,  John,  Co.  D  20th  ;  killed  July  3,'63, 

Gettysburg. 
Lovejoy,  Jas.  H.,  Co.  B  3d  Cav.;  killed  Sept.  19, 

1804,  Winchester,  Va. 

Lowe,  Geo Co.  G  9th 

Lowe,  John Co.  G  9tb 

Lowe,  Henry Co.  F  26th 

Lowe,  Jas Co.  C  4  th 

Lowe,  Edward Co.  E  3d  H.  A. 

Lowrie,  Jas 8th  U.  S.  Cav. 

Lundy,  Mark Co.  I  6th 

Lunuey.  John Co.  I  17th 

Lyle,  Wm.  H Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Lyle,  Wm.  C Co.  H4th  ;  d.  Feb.  12,  1876. 

Lynch,  John 8th  U.S.  Inf. 

Lynch,  Patrick 1st  U.  S.  Cav 

Lynch,  Timothy Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Lyons,  Chas.  A Co.  B  4th 

Lyons,  Patrick Co.  K40th  N.  Y. 

Lyons,  Jas Co.  K40th  N.  Y. 

Mace,  Geo Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Madden,  Michael Co.  H  4th 

Madden,  Cornelius Co.  C  28th 

Madden,  Dennis Co.  A  32d 

Madden,  John Co.  G  30th 

Mahoney,  Thos Co.  K  48th 

Mahoney,  Michael Co.  F  48th 

Mahoney,  Thos Co.  I  2dH.  A. 

Maken,  Thos Co.  C  40th 

Makinson,  Wm.  G Co.  C  llth 

Malone,  John 8th  U.  S.  Cav. 

Maloue,  Danl Co.  G  28th 

Maloney,  Danl Co.  B  1st  H.  A 

Maloney,  John Co.  B  1st  H.  A. 

Maloney,  John  F Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Mallen,  Jas.  E Lt.  Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Maragan,  Michael Co.  B  4th 

Manning,  Thos Co.  I  6th 

Mansfield,  Wm Co.  H  llth 

Warlin,  Wm.  T Co.  C  40th 

Marchamer,  John  J V.  R.  C. 

Marron,  Philip Co.  K  IstH.  A. 

Marsh,  Aaron  B Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Marshall,   Bobt Co.  K  1st  M.  A. 

Marshall,  John Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Martin,  John  W Lt.  Co.  H  1st  Cav. 

Mason,  Cyrus V.  R.  C. 

Mason,  Eugene  J.,   Lt.   40th   &   Lt.  Co.  I  6th  ; 
dead. 

Masterson,  Thos 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

Masterson,   Wm Co.  F  26th 

Marston,  Henry  W Co.  I  26th 

Mttthes,  Isaac Co.  H  4th 

Matthews,  John  D Co.  C  40th 

May,  Alonzo Co.  A  1st  H.  A. 

May,  Wm.  W Co.  G  3d  H.  A. 

May,  Henry Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Maynard,  Geo.  H Co.  Klst  H.  A. 

Maynard,  Foster Co.  D  Fr.  Cav. 

Maynard,  AmosF Co.  I  6th 

Maynard,  Frank  W Co.  G  12th 

Maxwell,  Loammi... Co.  B  Ist  H.  A.  &  Co.  A  28th 

McAlpine,  Fred Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

McAlooD,  James Co.  I  6th 


McAlear,  Patrick Co.  I  6th 

McAlear,  John Co.  I  17th 

McBride,  Felix. ..Co.  F  i.6th  ;  died  Nov.  8, 1863, 

New  Orleans. 

McBurke,  Edward 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

McCabe,  James. ..Co.  F  26th ;  died  Oct.  8,  1863, 

New  Orleans. 

McCaffrey,  John  F Co.  C  9th 

McCarthy,  Charles 8th  Unat. 

McCarthy,  Patrick... Co.  G  3d  H.  A.  &  Co.  I  6th 
McCarthy,  Dennis. ..Co.   I    6th  ;    accidentally 

killed  Jan.  27,  1863,  Suffolk,  Va. 

McCarthy,  John Co.  I  6th 

McCarthy,  John Co.  F  29th 

McCarthy,  John Co.  G.  19th 

McCarthy,  Timothy. ..Co.  K  40th  N.  Y.;  died 

Oct.,  1862,  Philadelphia. 

McCarthy,  Patrick 1st  U.  S.  Art. 

McCarthy,  Patrick 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

McCarthy,  Charles Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

McCIary,  James  S Co.  H  4tU 

McCragiu,  John  H...Co.  C.  1st  B.  H.  A.,  tr.  to 

Navy. 

McCracken,  John  H 2d  Co.  Sharpshooters 

McCragin,  John  A Co.  C  40th 

McCriUis,  Culviu Co.  I  6th 

McCoruiick,  Patrick. 

McCullough,  Michael Co.  B  4th 

McCuUough,  John Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

McCune Co.  E  2d  U.  A. 

McDade,  John Co.  C  oOth 

BlcDouald,  Kobt Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

McDonald,  Michael. ..Co.  B  3d  Cav.;  died  Sept. 
29,  1863,  Port  Hudson. 

McDonald,  Michael Co.  I  9th,  tr.  to  Navy 

McDonald,  John. ..Co.  G  aOth  ;   died  Aug.  19, 

1862,  New  Orleans. 

McDonald,  James Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

McDougal,  Archibald Co.  I  2d  H.  A. 

McDuffie,  Henry  C Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

McEflroy,  John Co.  K.  32d  ;  tr.  to  Navy 

McFarlin,  Geo.  H 8th  Unat.;  dead. 

McGoldrick,  James Co.  K  4i)th  N.  Y. 

McGovern,  Lawrence. ..Co.  H  4th  &  Co.  M  2d 

H.  A. 

McGovern,  John Co.  F  26th 

McGowan,  John  A.  S Co.  I  6th  &  8th  Unat. 

MoGowan,  Alden  T...Co.  K  1st  H.  A.;  killed 

May  19,  186 1,  Spottsylvania. 

McGowan,  Thomas Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

McGuire,  Edward Co.  B  4th 

McGuire,  Francis Co.  F  26th 

McGuire,  Daniel Co.  G  3Jth 

McGuire,  John 1st  U.  S,  Cav. 

McGuire,  Joseph Co.  C  4th  If.  A. 

Mclntyre,  Henry  M Lt.  Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

McKean,  Wm.  J  ..Co.  I  24th  ;    died  Nov.  28, 

1863,  St.  Augustine,  Fla. 

McKay,  Geo Co.  C  50th 

McKay,  Edwd Co.  K  Ist  H.  A. 

McKeuzie,  M.  M Co.  K  6th 

McKering,  John Co.  H  4th 

McKuight,  John Co.  A  1st  H.  A. 

McLaughlin,  John Co.  C  1st 

McLaughlin,  James Co.  G  19th 

McLellan Co.  H  4th  &  Co.  G  3d  H.  A. 

McMahan,  Thos Co.  I  17th 

McMullen,  Warren. ..Co.  K  40th  N.  Y.,  tr.  to 

V.  B.  C. 

McMurray,  James Co.  F  20th 

McNamara,  Jeremiah. ..Co.  F  1st  H.  A.;  died  of 

wounds  Nov.  28,  1864,  Lawrence. 
McNamara,  Patrick. ..Co.  1 17th ;  died  Apr.  13, 

1864,  in  rebel  prison. 
McNaughton,  Alexander. 
McParlin,  Robt Co.  F  26th 


924 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


McPhee,  Angus. ..Co.  K  Cth  ;   died  Oct.,  1864, 

Fort  Delaware. 

McPoland,  Win Co.  I  9th 

McPoland,  Bernard Co.  E  9th 

McQuade,  .John. ..Co.   B  9th;   killed  June  27, 

1862,  Gaines'  Mills,  Va. 

BIcQuade,  James Co.  I  6th 

McQueeny,  John Co.  B3d  Cav. 

Meadowcroft,  Jos. ..Co.  H  4th  &  Co.  K  2d  H.  A. 

Mears,  Peter  C Co.  F  26th 

Meagher,  John Co.  F  26th 

Meaney,  James Co.  F  28th 

Melvin,  John   H...Co.   K  1st  H.  A.;  died  Oct. 

13,  1863,  Fort  Albany,  Ya. 
Melvin,  Saml...Co.  K  Ist  H.  A.;  died  Sept.  20, 
1864,  Anderson ville. 

Merrill,  Wm.  F Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Merrill,  Chas.  G Co.  F  6th 

Merrill,  Carleton  E Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Merrill,  Geo.  S Capt.  Co.  B  4th 

Merrill,  Wm Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Merrill,  Geo.  W...6th  Lt.  B  ;  died  Apr.  29,  1862, 

New  Orleans. 
Merrill,  Frank  11. ..Co.  C  40th  ;  killed  May  16, 
1864,  Drury's  Bluff,  Va. 

Merrill,  Albert  W Co.  C  40th 

Merrow,  Wm.  H...Capt.  Co.  K  1st  H.  A.  &  Q. 

M.  S. 
Merrow,  Geo.  W...Co.  K  1st   H.    A.;   died  of 
wounds  May  19,  1864,  Spottsylvania,  May 
24,  1864,  Bell  Plain,  Va. 
Merrow,  Joshua  C Co.  H  4th 

Merrow,  George  O...C0.  G  30th  ;  died  Juno  29, 
1862,  New  Orleans. 

Messer,  Chas.  F 8th  Unat. 

Miller,  Wm  •. 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

Miller,  Joseph 1st  Dist.  Columbia  Inf. 

Miller,  Goo.  L Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Miller,  Thos Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Miller,  Patrick Co.  F  Ist  H.  A. 

Miller,  Wm Co.  I  6th;  dead 

Miller,  Conrad Co.  B  4th 

Miller,  Wm.  S Co.  A  Fr.  Cav.;  dead 

Miller,  John Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Mile*!,  Chas.  H Co.  C  1st  Bat.  H.  A. 

Mills,  John  A Co.  F  6th 

Mills,  James  H...C0.  B  4th  ;  died  June  16, 1863, 
Brashear  City,  La. 

Mitchell,  Michael Co.  C  50th 

Miunehan,  Michael. ..Co.  B  30th  ;  died  at  Lav^- 
rence  Nov.,  1862. 

Moegel,  Christian Co.  C  20th 

Monroe,  Jesse Co.  C  40th  N.Y. 

Moore,  John  0 let  Dist.  Col.  Inf. 

Moore,  Wm.  H Co.  K  1st  II.  A. 

Moore,  John Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Moore,  Joseph  W...C0.  F  1st  H.  A.;  killed  June 
16, 1861,  Petersburg,  Va. 

Morache,  Joseph Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Morache,  Omer Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Moran,  Patrick...Co.  K  Ist  H.  A.,  tr.  to  V.  R.  C. 

Moran,  Francis Co.  F  26th 

Morgan,  Joseph  H Co.  B  4th 

Morgan,  James Co.  E  2d  H.  A. 

Morgan,  Henry Co.  B  4th 

Morgan,  Wm...Co.  B  4th  ;  died  Aug.  24,  1863, 
Lawrence. 

Morgan,  Geo.  W...C0.  B  3d  Car.  &  Co.  F  6th  ; 
killed  Apr.  8, 1864,  Sabine  Cross  Roads,  La. 

Morgan,  John  P Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Morgan,  Zachariah Co.  H  4th 

Morgan,  Wm Co.  G  11th 

Morgan,  Robt Co.  0  40th 

Morey,  S.  S Co.  F  Ist  H.  A. 

Moriarty,  John,  Jr Co.  B  3d  Cav. 


Moriarty,  Danl...Co.  F  30th;   killed  July  13, 

1863,  Donaldsonville,  La. 

Morrill,  Franklin  H Co.  I  26th  &  8th  Unat. 

Morrill,  Nathaniel  H Co.  C  1st  H.  A. 

Morrill,  Ralph  H Co.  Cist  H.  A. 

Morrill,  Oliver  E Co.  C  40th 

Morris,  William Co.  C  2d  Cav. 

Morris,  John Co.  K  4()th  N.Y. 

Morrissey,  James Co.  C  59th  &  57th 

Morrison,  Samuel  L Co.  K  1st  II.  A. 

Morrison,  Hiram  S Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Morrison,  Alexander,  Co.  I  26th  ;  died  May  11, 

1864,  New  Orleans. 

Morrow,  Wm Co.  K  40th  N.Y. 

Morse,  Benj.  G Co.  F  6th 

Morse,  James  A Co.  F  6th  &  Co.  A  3d  Cav. 

Morse,  Roswell  E.,  Co.  K  Ist  II.  A.  ;  died  of 

wounds  July  9,  1864,  Fairfax  Seminary, 

Va. 

Morse,  Charles  E Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Morse,  Geo.  W..Co.  B  4th  ;  trans,  to  48th  Co.  E 

Morse,  Wm.  H.  H Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Morse.  B.  H Co.  K  11th 

Morse,  Wm.  M Co.  C  40th 

Morse,  Julius  H.,  M.D Surgeon  San.  Com. 

Moylau,  Philip Co.  I  0th 

3Ioynahan,  Michael Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Mudgett,  Horatio  R Co.  H  4th 

Mudgett,  Thomas Co.  H  4th 

Mudgett,  Geo.  C Co.  H  4th 

Mudgett,  Wm.  H Co.  F  22d 

Mulcare,  John Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Mulbare,  Joseph  H Co.  H  4th 

MuUer,  Albert 8th  U.  S.  Cav. 

Mulineaux,  Patrick Co.  B  Ist  H.  A. 

MuUowney,  Michael Ist  U.  S.  Cav. 

Mulqueeny,  Patrick V.  R.  C. 

MuUaney,  Dominich Co.  C.  40th  N.  Y. 

Munger,  Fred.,  Co.  C  40th  ;  died  March  9, 1864, 

Hilton  Head,  S.  C. 

Munsey,  Jacob  W V.  R.  C. 

Murdock,  Buchan,  Co.  E  30th  ;  killed  Oct.  19, 

1864,  Cedar  Creek.  Vt. 

Murphy,  Patrick 6th  Regt 

Murphy,  Stephen,  Co.  K  1st  H.  A. ;  killed  May 
19,  1864,  Spottsylvania. 

Murphy,  Dennis Co.  F  2d  H.  A. 

Murphy,  Daniel Co.L2dH.A. 

Murphy,  James Co.  I  9th 

Murphy,  Jeremiah,  Co.  H  17th  ;  died  May  9, 

1865,  Raleigh,  N.  C. 

Murphy,  James,  Co.  F  26th  ;  died  Oct.  18,  1863, 
New  Orleans. 

Murphy,  Patrick Co.  A  28th 

Murphy,  Philip 

Murphy,  Hugh... Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Murray,  James 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

Murray,  Patrick 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

Murray,  James Co.  D  9th 

Murray,  John Band  9th 

Mutharb,  Casper 8th  U.  S.  Cav. 

Nason,  Hiram  P.,  Co.  F  28th  ;  died  of  wounds 
Aug.  12, 1864,  at  New  Haven,  Ct. 

Needham,  Sumner  H.,  Co.  I  6th  ;  killed  in  Bal- 
timore April  19, 1861. 

Newbert,  Charles  H Co.  I  6th 

Newtoo,  Edwin  E  ,  Co  B  3d  Cav.  ;  killed  April 
8,  1864,  Sabine  Cross  Roads,  La. 

Nichols,  Wm.  W.,  Co.  F  26th  ;  died  Oct.  26, 
1863,  New  Orleans. 

Nichols,  J.  seph  T Co  C  40th 

Nichols,  James Co.  H  4th 

Nicholson,  James Co.  K  4th  N.Y. 

Noble,  Herbert  A Capt.  Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Noble,  George  H Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 


Noble,  James  A Co.  G  30th 

Nolan,  Thomas Co.  C  Ist  Batt'n  H.  A. 

Noland,  Charles Co.  I  26th 

Noonan,    Patrick,   Co.  F  48th  ;  killed  May  27, 
1863,  Port  Hudson,  La. 

Norris,  Alonzo  S Co.  E  16th  &  Co.  E  11th 

Norris,  Joseph  H Co.  A  17th 

Norris,  William Co.  B  &  I17th 

Norris,  Thomas Co.  K  0th 

North,  James  D Co.  D  62d 

Norton,  John  H Co.  I  6th 

Norwood,  John  K 9th  Light  Battery 

Noyes,  Edward  L Co.  A  8th 

Oakes,  Edward  F...C0.  F  48th  &  Co.  D  3d  H.  A. 

O'Brien,  Jeremiah Co.  B  1st  H.  A. 

O'Brien,  Patrick Co.  B  1st  H.  A. 

O'Brien,  Cornelius Co.  C4th  H.  A. 

O'Brien,  Dennis Co.  B.  3d  Cav. 

O'Brien,  Thomas Co.  B  .3d  Cav. 

O'Brien,  James,  Co.  I  20th  ;  died  Oct.  8,  1864, 

Winchester,  Va. 
O'Brien,  Henry,  Co.  G  SOth  ;  died  Dec.  0,  1863, 

Baton  Rouge,  La. 
O'Brien,  Thomas,  Co.  K  40th  N.  Y.  ;  killed  July 

2,  1863,  Gettysburg. 

0'  Connell,  Daniel 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

O'Connor,  William  B Co.  I  17th 

O'Connor,  John Co.  I  6th 

O'Connor,  Daniel 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

O'Donald,  Thomas Co.  K.  40th  N.  Y. 

O'Donnell,  John Co.  M  1st  H.  A. 

O'Donnell,  John Co.  I  17th 

0"Dounell,  John Co.  D  28th 

O'Donnell,  Patrick .3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

O'Lcariy,   John,    Co.  I  17th  ;  killed  May  12, 

1862,  Newbern,  N.  C. 

O'Shea,  Michael Co.  C  50th 

O'Neil,  Charles Co.  11  4th 

O'Neil,  Michael  J 8th,  Unattached 

Oliver,  John Co.  I  6th,  and  Co.  B  4th 

Ordway,  Aaron  P...C0.  H  4th  N.  H.  and  Co.  K 

6th. 
Osgood,  Eldridge  B...C0.  H  4th  trans,  to  Co.  E 

48th 

Packard,  Henry,  Navy,  "  Isaac  Smith  ;"  died 

May  29,  1863,  off  Warsaw  Island,  Ga. 

Paddock,  James V.  R.  C. 

Page,  Herman  L.,  Co.  K  1st   H.  A.  ;    died  of 

wounds  July  7,  1864,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Page,  Frank Sth  Unattached 

Page,  John  A.,  4th    Lt.  Bat.  and   2d  Lt.    1st 

Louisiana  Native  Guard. 

Page,  Warren Co.  C  40th,  trans,  to  V.  R.  C. 

Parant,  Peter  Ed Co.  M  2d  H.  A. 

Parant,  Daniel  M Co.  D  3d  II.  A. 

Paine,  Albert  H 8th,  Unattached 

Parker,  Warren Co.  C  9tli,  tr.  to  32d  Co.  H. 

Parker,  Dennis  M.,  Co.  B  30th  ;  died  Oct.  10, 

1862,  New  Orleans. 

Parkman,  Noah Co.  B  4th 

Parr,  Charles  J 1st  U.  S.  Cav. 

Parks,  John,    Co.  I  2d  H.  A.  ;  died  Oct.  30, 

1864,  Newbern,  N.  C,  and  Co.  I  6th. 

Palmer,  William  A Co.  I  9th 

Parrish,  Thomas  D Co.  F  26th 

Parmeter,  La  Forest Co.  I  6th 

Partington,  James Co.  H  4th  and  Co.  K  6th 

Parton,  James Co.  I  6th 

Parshley,   Joseph,   Co.    F  48th  ;     died  at  sea 

Jan.  20,  1863. 

Parsons,  Philemon  C Co.  B  4th 

Parsons,  Thomas  A Co.  B  4th 

Parsons,  Stephen  C Co.  C  40th 

Patch,  Albia Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 


LAWRENCE. 


925 


Patrick,  James  0 Co.  L  3d  Cav. 

Patterson,  David Co.  M  2d  H.  A. 

Patterson,  Wm.  J.,  Co.  F  Gth  3  and  9  nios.  Co. 

I  and  Co.  G  3d  H.  A.     Died  Nov.  24,  '79. 

Payson,  Julin  C 8tb  Unattached 

Peabody,  Selwin  W Co.  C  4(lth 

Peaslee,   Alpheus,   Co.  I  22d,  died  of  wounds 

Sept.  18,  1862,  Gaines'  Mills,  Va. 

Peasner,  Wm 1st  U.  S.  Cav. 

Pearl,  Lloyd  W 8th  Unattached 

Pearsons,  Edwd.  G.,  Co.  B  3d  Cav.,  died  Oct. 

4,  1876. 

Pendiz,  John Co.  I  17th 

Perham,  Leander Co  C  4th  1£.  A. 

Perkins,  Wm....Co.  A  3d  H.  A.,  trans,  to  Navy 

Perkins,  Elbert  G Co.  D  61st 

Peters,  Christopher 8th  U.  S.  luf. 

Perry,  Franklin V.  R.  C. 

Pwttigrew,  Jno.  S Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Pfeiflfer,  John 1st  D.  C.  Inf. 

Phelps,   S.   G.,  Ist  Conn.   Cav.   died  July  22, 

1864,  Andersonville. 

Phillips,  Horace  M Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Pickles,  John Co.  F  26th 

Pickles,  Robert Co.  B  4th 

Pickering,  John. ..Captain  Co.  I,  6th  and  20th. 

Pierce,  Frank  B Co.  K  1st  H  A. 

Pierce,  Saml.  B Co.  I  6th  and  Co.  F  26th. 

Pierce,    Turner   E.,  Navy,   Ship   Preble,   died 

Oct.  21,  1862,  Lawrence. 

Pierson,  Joseph  N 1st  Lt.  Battery 

Piko,  Wm.  H.,  Co.  G  30th,  died  of  wounds  June 

5,  1863,  Baton  Rouge. 

Pilling,  Chas.  A Co.  A  11th 

Place,  J.  Frank Co.  B  4th 

Plummer,  Geo.  W Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Plummer,  Walter  S.,  Co.  K  1st  H.   A.  and  Co. 

M  2d  H.  A. 

Pond,  Aaron  B..    Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Poor,  Benj.  I Co.  B  2d  H.  A. 

Poor,  Geo.  W.,  Co.  L  4th  Cav.  1st  Lt.  &  Q.  M.  S. 

Poor,  Thos.  G Co.  A  17th 

Poor,  Alonzo  B Co.  B  22d 

Powell,  Alfred  G Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Powers,  James Co.  F  19th 

Powers,  Wm.  H Co.  I  17th 

Powers,  Frank Co.  I  17th 

Powers,  Thomas Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Powers,  James  H 8th  Unattached 

Pratt,  Edgar  G Co.  B  4th 

Pray,  Oliver  L.,  Co.  I  26th  ;  died  July  5,  1862, 

New  Orleans. 

Preston,  Wm.,  Captain Ist  H.  A. 

Priest,  Freeman  H Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Pulverman,  John Co.  K  4nth  N.  Y. 

Purcell.  Patrick Co.  C  11th 

Purcell,  Pa'-ick Co.  G  30th 

Putnam,  Hb'<,^i^sah  L 8tb  Unattached 

Putnam,  John  C Co  B  1st  H.  A. 

Quarrell,  Geo V.  B.  C. 

Quinn,  Wm ^  .t  U.  S.  Cav. 

Quinn,  Wm 3d  U.  8.  i..fantry 

Quinn,  Daniel Co.  H  4th 

(fcuinn,  John Co.  I  9th 

Quinn,  Patrick Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Quinn,  Thomas,  Co.  K  40th  N.  Y.;  died  June 

9,  1861. 
Quimby,   Charles    W.,  Co.   G   30tb;   drowned 

April  2,  1862,  Ship  Island,  Miss. 
Quimby,  Orin  J.,  Co.  F  33d  Maine  ;  died  April 

25,  1865,  Baltimore. 

Rachel,  Michael Co.  F  26th 

Ra.Terty,  John 8th  U.  S.  Infantry 

Ramsden,  Joshua  C Co.  F  6th 


RafTerty,  Frank,  Co.  K  1st  H.  A.  ;  killed  May 
19,  1861,  Spottsyhania. 

Rankin,  Peleg  L Co.  C  40th 

Ravvson,   Orlando,  Co.  B  4th;    died   Aug.   16, 

1863.  Indianapolis. 

Rea,  William 8th  U.  S.  Inf. 

Reagan,  Timothy Co.  F  26th 

Reagan,  John 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

Reardon,  Timothj' Co.  F  26th 

Redman,  James Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

_Reed,  Wm.  H Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Reed,  John,  Co.  D  9th  ;  died  of  wounds  May 

18,  1864. 
Reed,  Wm.,  Co.  C  40th  ;  killed  May  16,  1864, 

Drury's  Bluff,  Va. 

Regan,  Matthew Co.  K  40tb  N.  Y. 

Remick,  C.  H.,  Co.  B  1st  H.  A.  ;  killed  May  19, 

1864,  Spottsylvania. 

Reno,  Chas.  J.,  Co.  F  48th  ;  died  at  sea  Jan.  22, 

1863. 

Reynolds,  John  F Co.  I  6th 

Reynolds,  Wm.  B  2d  Regt.  U.  S.  Sharpshooters  ; 

promoted  to  surgeon. 

Rice,  Perry  M Co  B  4th 

Bice,  Warren  E Navy 

Richards,  John  A Co  H  4tb 

Richards,  Simeon  W Co.  C  40th 

Richards,  Charles Co.  B  1st  H.  A. 

Richardson,  Morton  W Co.  F  6th 

Richardson,  Abraham 8th  Unattached 

Richardson,  J.  Milton.,  Co.  G  4otb  ;  missing  In 

action  May  16,  1864. 

Richardson,  Samuel Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Bicker,  Geo.  W.,  Co.  G  30th  ;  died  L'ec.  8, 1802, 

New  Orleans. 
Ricker.  Noah  C,  Co.  G  33d  ;  died  Feb.  6, 1S63, 

Acquia  Creek,  Va. 
Ricker,  Oliver  A.,  Co.  C  30th  ;  died  Aug.  2, 1881 

Ricker,  Geo.  A 8lh  Unattached 

Riddell,  Walter  S.,  Co.  B  4th  ;  drowned  Dec. 

27,  1862,  Long  Island  Sound. 

Rines,  John  G Co  K  6th 

Bines,  Geo.  W Co.  C  4th  H.  A- 

Riuner,  Johau Co.  C  20th 

Riley,  Wm ■. Ist  U.  S.  Cav. 

Riley,  Patrick Co.  B  ,3d  Cav. 

Riley,  John 8th  Unattached 

Riley,  Judson 1st  H.  A.  hospital  stewai'd 

Riley,  Charles Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Riley,  James 1st  Dis.  Col.  Inf. 

Ripley,  T'aomas  K.,  Co.  A  20th  ;  died  April  9, 

1864. 

Roach,  Patrick Co.  I  17tb 

Roaf,  Thomas,  Co.  B  Ist  Bat.  H.  A.  ;  died  Nov. 

17,  1862,  Fort  Warren,  Boston. 
Roberts,  James  S.  Co.  I  6th  and  8th  Unattached 

Roberts,  Thomas Co.  K  40tb  N.  Y. 

Roberts,  John Co.  H  4th 

Robinson,   Horatio  G.,   Co.   B  3d   Cav. ;   died 

April  13,  1874. 

Robinson,  Alexander Co  F  16th 

Robinson,  John  G.,  8th  Unattached  and  Co.  1 6th 

Robinson,  Nathaniel  D 2d  Co  Sharpshooters 

Robinson,  Leander  A Co.  K  0th 

Bobinson,  Hiram 2d  Lieut.  Co.  H  4th 

Rogers,  Geo.  A Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Ro  ,-er8,  SamL  D.,  Co.  D  1st  Cav.  and  Co.  F  6th 

Roge.-s,  Peter Co.  I  17th 

Roddy,  iTdward Co.  F  48th 

Bolfe,  Henry  A Co.  I  6th  and  Co.  F  26th 

Rolfe,  Frasak  A.,  Capt.  and   Maj.  Ist  H.  A. ; 

killed  May  19,  1861,  Spottsylvania. 

Rollins,  Johu'  B Capt.  Co.  H  4th 

Rose,  Wm 8th  U.  S.  Inf. 

Ross,  James 1st  U.  S.  Cav. 

Rossiter,  Patrick  Co.  I  6th 


Rostron,  John Co.  B3d  Cav. 

Rostron,  Samuel Co.  H.  4th 

Rowe,  John Co.  B  4th 

Rowe,  Dauforlh  M Co.  C  40th 

Rowe,  Asa,  Co.  K  1st  H.  A.  ;  d.  Aug.  10,  1864, 

Andersonville. 

Rowell,  James  H Co.  K  6tli 

Rowton,  John  W Co.  M  2d  H.  A. 

Rudloff,  George 8th  U.  S.  Cav. 

Runck.  George 1st  U.  S.  Cav. 

Russ,  Frank  W Co.  B  4th 

Rushworth,  Wm Co.  K  6th 

Russell,  Frank Co.  F  Cth 

Russell,  Ziba  H.,  Co.  C  40th  ;  killed  May  16, 

1864,  Fort  Darling,  Va. 

Russell,  Edward  J 1st  Lt.  Co.  B  1st  Cav. 

Rutherford,    Allen,   Co.  H  4th ;  died  Nov.  9, 

1883. 

Bush,  Louis Band  U.  S.  A. 

Ryan,  John 8th  U.  S.  Inf. 

Ryan,  James 8th  Unattached. 

Ryan,  Patrick 26th  Regt. 

Ryan,  William .Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Ryder,  Stanley,  Co.  F  1st  H.  A.;  d.  ot  wounds 

June  12,  18C4,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Byrnes,  Albert  J 8th  Unattached 

Safford  Joseph  H..Co.  I  6th,  3  mos.  and  9  mos. 

Sampson,  Patrick Co.  B  56th 

Sanborn,  Silas  M. ;  Co.  G  30th  and  Co.  F.  2d 

H.  A. 

Sanderson,  Robt 8th  U.  S.  Inf. 

Sanderson,  Joseph  A Co.  F.  1st  H.  A. 

Sands,  Edward Co.  I  17th 

Sands,  James Co.  H.  30th 

Sandquist,  Andrew ...Co.  F  26th 

Sanford,  Josejih  A Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Sargent,  Albert V.  B.  C. 

iSargent,  Cnas.  F 8th  Unattiiched 

Sargent,  Geo.  W.,  M.D Surgeon  Co.  K  Gth 

Sargent,  George  I Co.  K  6th 

Sargent,  Warren Co.  B  4th 

Saunders,  Geo Co.  B  59  and  57th 

Saunders,  Caleb Co.  I  6th  &  Lt.  IstH.  A. 

Sawyer,  Chas.  H Co.  C  40th 

Sawyer,  Frank  J Co.  C40th 

Sauft,  .John Ist  U.  S  Cav. 

Scbeyler,  Arthur  T Co.  C  54th 

Schofield,  Joseph Co.  H  4th 

Schofield,  Henry Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Scott,  Henry Co.  H  4th 

Searles,  Caleb  S.,  Co.  F  Ist  H.   A.;  died  Feb. 

3, 1878. 

Searles,  Warren  P Co.  C  40th 

Seifert,  Hermann Co.  C  4oth 

Seaver,  D.  Owen... Lt.  Co.  C  40th 

Scanlan,  Matthew 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

Scanlan,  John Navy 

Scully,  Wm Navy 

Shackford,  Wm Co.  H  4th 

Shackleton,  Boger Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Shannahan,  Joseph Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Sharkey,  Chas Co.  F  19th,  trans,  to  U.  S.  A. 

Sharkey,  Barnard Co.  F  26th 

Sharrock,  AVm Co.  FlstH.  A. 

Shattuck,  Chas.  M Co  F  6th 

Shavers,  John let  U.  S.  Cav. 

Shaw,  Charles Co.  B  4th 

Shaw,  John Co.  B  4th 

Shea,  Thomas,   Co.  K  Ist  H.  A.;  d.   May  31, 

1865.  Portsmouth  Grove,  R.  I. 

Shea,  James Co.  D  9th,  trans,  to  32d 

Shea,  Daniel  Co.  K  4nth  N.  Y. 

Shehan,  John Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Shehan,  John Co   G  30th 

Shehan,  John Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 


926 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Shehan,  John  E Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Sheldon,  Moses Co.  E  2cl  H.  A. 

tjhepiird,   Augustus,   Co.    B  ith  ;    d.    Aug.    3, 

1863,  Port  Hudson,  La. 

Sherman,  Carlos  D 8th  Unattached 

Sherman,  Edgar  J.,  Capt.   Co.  K  6th  &  Co.  F 

48th. 

Sherman,  George  W Co.  H  Ist  Cav. 

Sherren,  Patrick V.  R.  C. 

Sherwood,  Wm Co.  B  1st  H.  A. 

Shevenall,  Wm.  H Co.  C  4'ith 

Shorey,  Geo.  W Co.  I  Gth  &  Co.  I  2Gth 

Short,  James,  Co.  H  28th;  killed  Sept.  1,  1SG2, 

Chantiliy,  Va. 

Shields,  John V.R.  C;  dead 

Sibley,  Kneeland Co.  I  6th 

Simmons,  Stephen  A.,  Co.  B  Ith;  died  Dec.  16, 

1883. 
SlnK.nds,  Benj.  W.,  Co.  B  1st  H.   A. ;  d.  Jan. 

29,  1863,  Harper's  Ferry,  Va. 

Simonds,  Solomon Co.  B  1st  H.  A. 

Simonds,  Richard 8th  Unattached 

Simpson,  John V.  R.  C. 

Simpson,  Danl.  L  Co.  I  6th 

Siner,   Wni.   H.,    Co.    A    36th;  wounded  and 

discharged,  re-in.  Co.  K.  Gth. 

Sisson,  John  J V.  R.  C. 

Slatlery,  Jeremiah,  Co.   K  40th   N.   Y.;  d.  of 

wounds  July  15,  1865,  Gettysburg. 

Slattery,  John Co.  C  40th  Mass. 

Slavin,  Wm Co.  H  4th 

Sline.  Richard Co.  H  2Lth 

Smadley,  Valentine Co.  K40th  N.  Y. 

Small,  ,)ohn  F.,  Co.  B  Ist  H.  A.;  d.  of  wounds 

June  29,  1864. 

Smart,  Geo.  H Co.  B2Gth 

Smith,  Ueury 1st  U.  S.  Cav. 

Smith,  James  B 8th  U.  S.  Cav. 

Smith,  Hiram  H V.  R.  C. 

Smith,  John Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Smith,  Robert  I Co.  F  6th 

Smith,  Geo.  W 8th  Unattached 

Smith,  Chas.  F.  G Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Smith,  Stewart,  Co.  K  1st  II.  A.;  killed  May 

19, 1864,  Spottsylvania. 

Smith,  Charles Co.  F  2d  H.  A. 

Smith.  Charles Co.  G  2d  H.  A.  <fe  Co.  I  Gth 

Smith,  William Co.  A  Ist  Cav 

Smith,  Wm.  C 8th  Unattached 

Smith,  Wm.  P 8th  Unattached 

Smith,  Wm.  P.  Jr 8th  Unattached 

Smith,  Melvin  E Co.  K.  6th 

Smith,  C.  Allen,   Co.  B  3d  Cav.;  killed  in  ac- 
tion Aug.  3,  18G3,  Jackson,  La. 

Smith.  Jason Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Smith,  Patrick Co.  I  2d;  transfd.  to  V.  R.C. 

Smith,  William Co.  F  19th 

Smith,  Geo.  W.,  Co.  I  26th;  died  July  18,  18G2, 

N.  Orleans. 
Smith,  Michaels.,  Co.  1  26th;  d.  July  17,  1862, 

N.  Orleans. 

Smith,  Russell Co.  I  26th 

Smith,  Frank  L Co.  I  6th 

Smith,  Barney Co.  G  30th 

Smith,  Charles  W.,  Co.  C40th;  d.  Oct.  18,  1863, 
Folly  Island,  S.  C. 

Smith,  Austins Co.  F  48th 

Smith,  James Co.  F  48th 

Smith,  John Co.  F  48th 

Smith.  Thomas Co.  C  5uth 

Smith,  Geo.  R 1st  Lt.  Battery 

Smith,  David Co.  D  61st 

Snell,  Henry  L Co.  H  4th 

Snell,  Smardus  F Co.  H  4th 

Soper,  Edmund  H Co.  F  26th 

Sorton,  Wm  Co.  K6th 


Soule,  John Co.  K  Gth 

Southwick,  Amos ('o.  KlstH.  A. 

SpauUliiig,  Wm.  H.,  Co.  F  1st  H.  A.;  killed  June 

IG,  lS*i4,  Petersburg,  Va. 
Spicer,  Christian,  Co.  H  20th  trans,  to  V.  R.  C. 

Spilane,  John Co.  I  9th 

Spofford,  Edivin  F.,    Co.  I  Gth  &  19th   Regt. 
Band  &  Lt.  Co.  M  1st  H.  A. 

Sprague,  Edwin  D Co.  I  Gth 

Spring,  Fichard Co.  1 17th 

Springer,  Saml.  B Co.  G  12th. 

Springer,  Chas.  S Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Spruch,  Ralph Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Stackpole,  Tobias,  Co.  K  1st  H.  A.;  trans,  to 

Navy. 
Stafford,  Geo.  W.,  9th  Lt.  Batt.;  d.  Nov.  10,'62, 
Washington. 

Standing,  Geo Co.  F  28th 

Stanley,  James   8th  Unat.  Co. 

Stanton,  John Co.  D  5'Jth  &  57th 

Staples,  Herbert  T.,  Co.  H32d&  Co.  D  3d  H.  A. 
Stead,  James.  Co.  H  48th  ;  d.  June  4,  18G3,  Ba- 
ton Rouge,  La. 

Stebbines,  .John 8th  U.  S.  Cav. 

Stearns,  Elbridge  G Gth  Lt.  Batt. 

Stearns,  Hiram  A Co.  B  4th  &  Co.  I  6th 

Steele,  Geo Co.  H4th 

Steele,  Wm.  H. 

Sterling,  Jas Co.  B.3d  Cav. 

Stevens,  Gilbert Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Stevens,  G.  Frank Capt.  Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Stevens,  Isaac,  Jr Co.  B  4th 

Stevens,  Joseph  B Co.  I  Gth 

Stevens,  Chas Co.  C  4i  th 

Stevens,  Anthony Co.  F44tli 

Stevens,  Geo.  F.,  Co.  B  3d   Cav.;    died  at  sea 

Sept.  IC,  1866. 
Stevens,  Gorliam  P.,  Co.  C  70th  N.  Y.;  d.  in  the 
hands  of  the  enemy  from  wounds  at  Chan- 
cellorsville. 

Stevens,  Wm 73d  N.  Y. 

Stewart,  Chas Co.  1 17th 

Stokes,  Stephen  D.,  Co.  I  6th  &  Capt.  40th  ; 

dead. 
Stoddard,  Haverly  A.,  Co.  K  1st  H.   A.;  killed 
May  19,  1864,  Spottsylvania. 

Stoddard,  .\lphonso Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Stone,  Joel  F Co.  F  1st  H.  A.;  Co.  F  48th 

Stone,  Chas Co.  F  6th 

Stone,  Hood  A Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Stott,Geo.  H Co.  I  17th 

Stout,  Jas 1st  U.  S.  Cav. 

Strafford,  Wm  P Co.  B  1st  H.  A. 

Straw,  Danl Co.  F  i;6th 

Strong,  Henry   6.,  Navy,    "  Cambridge  ;  "  d. 

Mar.,  1864,  at  sea. 
Sullivan,  W'm.,  Capt.  Co.  K  40th  N.   Y.;  killed 

Dec.  13, 1862,  Fredericksburg,  Va. 
Sullivan.  John,  Co.  M  1st  H.  A.;  d.  of  wounds 

May  2.',  1864. 
Sullivan,  Geo.,  2d  Co.  G  2d  H.  A.;    d.  Aug.  30, 

1864,  Andersouville. 
Sullivan,  Michael,   Co.  E  9th  ;  d.   of  wounds 
June  29,  186.',  Savage  Sta.,  Va. 

Sullivan,  Michael  F Co.  B4th 

Sullivan,  John  S Co.  F26th 

Sullivan,  John,  Co.  I  26th  ;  d.  Oct.  20, 1862.-  N. 
Orleans. 

Sullivan,  Simon Co.  F  48th 

Sullivan,  Jerome Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Sullivan,  Jeremiah Co.  R  40th  N.  Y. 

Sullivan,  Leonard Co,  K  1st  H.  A. 

Summers,  John Co.  K  Gth 

Swaine,  Chas.  M Co.  I  6t,h  &  Co.  I  2  ,th 

Sweeney,  Edward Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 


1 


Tainter,  Willard  H.,   Co.   A  1st  H.  A. ;  killed 

June  16,  1864,  Petersburg,  Va. 

Tarbox,  Walter  S Co.  C  5th  H.  A. 

Tarbox,  John  K Lt.  Co.  B  4th 

Tarrant,  Peter  A 1st  U.  S.  Cav. 

Tasker,  George  W Co.  G  30th 

Taylor,  John Co.  C  50th 

Taylor,  Isaac  L Lt.  Co.  K  4i)th  N.  Y. 

Taylor,  James  H...Co.  C  40th  Mass.;  died  Oct. 

22,  1863,  Beaufort,  S.  C. 

Taylor,  Abraham Co.  K  11th 

Taylor,  Edwd.  B Co.  K  Gth 

Terrio,  Ale.vander...Co.  B  3d  Cav.;  tr.  to  V.  R. 

C. 

Terrio,  Edwd Co.  B  4th 

Teller,  James Co.  D  20th 

Thayer,  Richard  F Co.  C  30th 

Thomas,  James Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Thomas,  Richard Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Thomas,  John Co.  F  2Gth 

Thomas,  John Co.  K  59th  &  57th 

Thompson,  Robert Co.  I  1st  H.  A. 

Thompson,   Andrew  G...Co.  B  3d  Cav.;   died 

Oct.  30,  1862,  Lawrence. 
Thompson,  John   B...Lt.  Co.   F  19th ;    killed 

June  3,  1864. 
Thompson,  Sumner. ..Co.  H  4th  ;  died  31arch, 

188(1. 
Thompson,  Wm.  L...lst  Lt.  Co.  C  5th  (previ- 
ously same  Co.  So.  Danvers). 

Thompson,  James V.  R.  C. 

Thorne,  Francis  R...Co.  I  2Gth  ;  died  June  28, 

1864,  New  Orleans. 

Thornton,  Geo V.  R.  C. 

Thornton,  Thos.  V...Co.  F  1st  H.  A.,  tr.  to  V. 

R.  C. 
Thyng,  Dan.  G...Co.  B  4th;  died  Aug.  19, 1863, 

Laconia,  N.  H. 

Tibbetts,  Edw'd Co.  H  GOth 

Tibbetts,  Sewall  F Co.  A  1st 

Tiernay,  Wm Co.  D  3d  H.  A.;  dead 

Tiernay,  John Co.K  2d  Cav. 

Tilton,  Jonathan  D V.  R.  C. 

Tobey,  Austin  B Co.  H  4th 

Towey,  Thos Co.  C  30th 

Towey,  Geo Co.  B  3(ith 

Towey,  Lewis Co.  B  30th 

Towle,  John  W Co.  H  4th 

Towne,  John  A do.  E  .Wth 

Travilla,  Robert Ist  D.  0.  Inf. 

Travis,  Sam'l Co.  C  40th,  tr.  to  V.  11.  C. 

Tredick,  Chas.  E Co.  G  .30th  &  8th  Unat. 

Trees,  Fred.  G Co.  H  4th  &  8th  Imat. 

Trombly,  Cyprine...Co.  G  2d  H.  A.,  tr.  to  20th 

Inf. 

Trueworthy,  Chas.  H Co.  I  Gth 

Tuck,  Chas C--  F  let  H.  A. 

Tufts,  David...Co.  F  Cth  (J  mos;;',  Co.  K  6th  (100 

days). 

Tuthill,  Geo.  H Hosp.  Stew.  U.  S.  A. 

Tuttle,  Thos.  P Co.  F  6th 

Twonie.v.  P>£i'l 8th  U.  C. 

Tylcv,Kred.  G...Co.  I  6th  (3  mos.),  Lt.  Co.  I 

6th  (9  mos.),  Lt.  8th  Unat. 
Tyrrell,  Elias Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Ure,  Dan'l Co.  H  6th  N.  H. 

Valery,  Jas Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Vatlencourt,  Jules Co.  C  32d 

Varnum,  Chas.  0 Co.  C  4  th 

Varn\im,  Jos.  C 8th  Unat. 

Varnum,  Isaac  S...Co.  B  4th  ;  died  March  5, 
1863,  Carrollton,  La. 

Varnum,  Ralph Co.  B  4th 

Vogel,  Henry Co.  C  20th 


LAWRENCE. 


927 


Vaughn,  Smith. ..Co.  I  6th  <fe  Co.  G  59th  &  57th 

Vatighn,  .John Co.  F  48th 

Vatter,  Henry Co.  I  2Gth 

Watldington,  James Co.  K  Gth 

Wadlin,  Gardner  E Co.  B  4th 

Walker,  Warren  G Co.  K  1st  H.  A 

Walker,  Robert Sth  Unat. 

Walker,  Wni.  G Co.  B3d  Cav. 

Walker,  Edwd.  K Co.  I  6th 

AVagner,  Augustus Co.  I  6th 

AVagner,  Ernest Co.  I  6th 

Wagner,  Ferdinand Co.  I  Gth 

AVallace,  Webster  W..  Sergt.  Co.  K  Ist  H.  A.  '' 

d.  of  wounds  July  26,   1S64,   Asbbunham, 

Mass. 
Walsh,  Wni.  M.,  Co.  K  1st  H.  A.;   trans,  to  V. 

R.  C. 

AValsh,  Joseph Co.  B  4th 

Walsh,  .John Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

Walsh,  Martin,    Co.    B  59th;    d.  Oct.  1,  186), 

Danville,  Va. 

Walsh,  James Co.  I  6th 

Ward, Peter Co.  1 26th 

Ward,  Peter Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Warner,  Alex Co.  F  26th 

Warner,  Frank Co.  Klst  H.  A. 

Warren,  Andrew Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Washburn,   Eleazer,   Co.  F  1st   H.  A.;  killed 

May  19,  18G4,  Spottsylvania. 
Washburn,  Alden....lst  H.  A.  Band  &  2d  H.  A. 

Washington,  Geo Co.  H  Sth  Cav.  (Col ) 

AVaterman,  ArthurO Co.  I  Gth 

Watson,  Benj.  F Lt.  Col.  Gth  Regt. 

Watts,  Francis Sth  U.  S.  Cav. 

Weare,  John  F Capt.  40th 

Webb,  Sanil Co.  F  48th 

AVebb,  James,  Co.  I  2d  ;    killed  May  3,  1863, 

Chancellorsvllle. 
AA'ebster,  Justus  AA'.,  Co.  K  1st  H.   A.;    killed 

June  16, 1864,  Petersburg,  A'a. 

AVebster,  Clias.  0 Co.  B4th 

AVebster,  Henry  A.,  Co.  H  4th  &  Co.   B  Front 

Cav. 
AVebster,  Walden  AA^,  Co.  B  3d  Cav.;  trans.  V. 

K.  C. 
Webster,  Henry  K.,  Co.  B  12th  ;    trans.  Co.  E 

38th. 

Webster,  Geo Co.  T  26th 

Wermers,  Frank Co.  U  4th 

AVelch,  Geo Co.  F  1st  H.  A- 

AVelch,  AVm Co.  G3d  H.  A. 

Welch,  Patrick,  Co.  K40lh  N.  Y.;  killed  Aug. 

29,  1862,  Bull  Run,  Va. 

AVelch,  Michael Co.  K.  40th  N.  Y. 

AVells,  Wm.  H Co.  H  4th  &  Co.  C  4th  H.  A. 

Wentworth,  Horace Co.  FGth  &  Co.  G  3Cth 


AVentwortb,  Edvrin  H.  C,   Co.   I  6th  &  Co.  F 

22d. 

AVeiitworth   Kussell Co.  K  6th 

Wentworlh,  Geo.  F Co.  E  2d  H   A. 

AVentworth,  David Co.  B3d  Cav. 

AVentworth,  Merrill Co.  L  3dCav. 

AA'est,  Ed«ar:l Co.  C  40th 

AA'est,  Geo.  AV Co.  F  2Hth 

AVest,  Chas.  E Co.  H  1st  Cav. 

AVestall,  Solomon Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

AVeston,  Geo Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

Weston,  Chas.  H Co.  H  IstC^av. 

AVeston,  John  G Co.  C  40th 

AVeston,  Justus  P Band  U.  S.  A. 

AVeymoiith,  Chas.  J.,  Co.  I  6th  &  Co.  I  26th  it 

Lt.  14tli  La.  Vol. 

Whatniore,  Robert Co.  B  4th 

Wheeler,  Kredk Co.  G  2d  H.  A. 

AVheeler,  Austin  E Sergt.  Co.  I  2d 

Wheeler,  Geo.  AV.,  Co.  I  2Gth  ;   d.  July  25,  '62, 

N.  Orleans. 

AVheeler,  Leonardo Co.I26th 

AVhite,  Josiah  C,  Sergt.  Co.  G  30th  &  Lt.  U.  S. 

C.  T. 
AVhite,  Thos.,  Co.  F  26th  ;  d.  Dec.  12,  1862,  N. 

Orleans. 
White,  Calvin  M.,  Co.  F  26th  ;  d.  Aug.  27,  '62, 

N.  Orleans. 

AVhite,  Henry  L Co.  F  26th 

AVhite,  Clarence Sth  U.S.  Inf. 

AVhite,  Patrick Sth  U.  S.  Inf. 

AVhitehill,  John  F Co.  K  6th 

Whitfield,  Angus... Co.  A  3rd  H.  A.  tr.  to  Navy 

Whitley,  John Co.  F  1st  H.  A. 

Whitney,  Charles  C Sth,  Unattached 

AVhittaker,   Samuel  G.,  Co.  C  4th  H.  A.    and 

Co.  E  30th. 

Whittemore,  AVilliam Co.  B  4th 

AVhittemore,  William  F Co.  C  3d  H.  A. 

AVhittemore,   Daniel,  Co.   K  1st  H.  A.  ;   died 

June  8,  1864,  Philadelphia. 

AVhitten,  Joseph  L Co.  H  4th 

AVhittier,  Charles Co.  I  7th 

AA'holla,  Christian 3d  U.  S.  Inf. 

AVholla,  James Co.  E  cOth 

AVicks,  James Co.  H  7th 

AViggin,   Mayhew  C,   Co.  K   1st  H.  A.;  died 

Nov.  8,  1864,  Andersonville. 

AViggin,  Oilman  P Co.  H  4th 

AVilde,  Joseph  B Co.  H  4th 

AVilde,  R.  Allen Co.  K  40th  Mass 

AVilder,  Henry  A Co.  B  1st  H.  A. 

AViley,  John  W Co.  C  40th 

Wilkin,  Joseph  A Co.  C  4t)th 

AVillard,  Benjamin  D Co.  I  26th 

AVilley,  Eben Co.  C  40th 

Willey,  Celestine  G Co.  F  1st  Bat.  H.  A. 


AVilliams,  John  T Co.  F  6th,  and  Co.  F  26th 

Williams,  Elias 1st  N.  J. 

AVilliams,  Albert  M Co.  K  1st  H.  A. 

AVilliams,  George  H Co.  F  2Gth 

AVilliams,  Charles  S Co.  B  ,32d 

AVilliams,  AVilliam  0 V.  R.  C. 

Willoughby,  Lament  C Co.  K  Sth 

Wills,  Thomas  P Co.  B.  4th 

AVilson,  AVilliam  J Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

AVilson,  Charles Co.  F  16th 

AVilson,  AVilliam Co.  I  17th 

AVillson,  John Co.  E  3d  II.  A. 

AVing,    Thomas  A.,   Co.  II  4th  ;  died  June  2, 

1>^63,  Brashear  City,  La. 

AVinn,  William  B Co.  B,  F.  Cav'. 

AVinn,  Ambrose  S Co.  F  Ist  H.  A. 

Winning,  James,  Co.  B  4th  ;  died  Nov  1,  1S85. 

AVinslow,  Almon  M 1st  U.  S.  (^av. 

Withington,  James,    Co.  B  3d  Cav. ,  killed  in 

action  May  15,  1864. 

Wolfe,  John Co.  I  6tb 

AVolfe,  Richard Co.  E  59th 

Wood,  AVilliam Co.  F  l.«t  H.  A. 

AVood,  Duncan Co  K  6th 

AVood,  Philander Co.  G  30th 

Wood,  Henry..  ..Co.  I  6th,  and  Co.  H  1st  H.  A. 

AVoods,  Peter Co.  K  2d  H.  A. 

Woodbury,  Charles Co.  I  Cth 

AVoodhouso,  James Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Worthing,  John  B.,  Co.  A  1st  H.  A.,  tr.  to  A'. 

R.  C. 

Worthley,  Daniel  E Co.  I  2Gth 

AVright,  Levi  P Col.  1st  H   A. 

Wright,  Dexter Co.  F  Ist  H.  A. 

Wright,  William  H Co.  K  H.  A. 

AVright,  David  Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

AVright,  George  A  Co.  B  3d  Cav. 

AVright,  Clinton  M Co.  H  4th 

AVright,  Nathaniel Co.  C  4tth 


Yates,  Eugene  S.,  Sth  Unattached,  and  Co.  D  ; 

Fr.  Cav.  ;  died  July  28,  IhSG, 
Yeaton,  Daniel  S.,  Capt.  Co.  I  Cth  ;  died  Nov. 

28,  1862,  New  Orleans,  and  Capt.  Co.  G. 

3(ith. 
Yeaw,  Leonard,  Co.  G  30th  ;  died  August  25, 

1862,  New  Orleans. 
Yerrington,  George  E.,  Co.  I  Gth  and  26th  and 

Major  13th  corps  D  'Afrique. 
Yore,  Patrick,  Co.  G  30th  ;  died  Sept  13,  1862, 

New  Orleans. 

Young,  Nicholas Co.  D  9th 

Young,  James  L Co.  D  22nd  tr.  to  V.  R.  C. 

Young,  AVilliam Co.  K  40th  N.  Y. 

Zeitter,  John  F 1st  U.  S.  Cav. 


928 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


ARTEMAS   W.    STEARNS. 

Artemas  W.  Stearns  was  born  in  Hill,  N.  H.,  March 
11,  1816.  He  was  left  fatherless  at  a  tender  age,  and 
supported  by  his  widowed  mother,  who  was  the  vil- 
lage milliner. 

When,  at  the  age  of  six,  his  mother  married  again, 
he  still  remained  at  home  until  the  death  of  his  step- 
father, who  was  accidentally  drowned.  Mr.  Stearns 
was  now  ten  years  of  age.  His  mother,  being  left 
with  two  other  children,  was  unable  longer  to  sup- 
port all  her  family  with  her  needle,  and  he  was  bound 
out  to  a  prosperous  farmer  in  Bridgewater  until  he 
became  of  age.  At  the  expiration  of  the  time  he 
was  to  have  one  hundred  dollars  and  a  freedom  suit. 
He  was  treated  by  lhe  farmer  as  one  of  his  family? 
attending  the  district  ?chool  during  the  winter  months. 
Mornings  and  evenings  he  chopped  firewood  and  took 
care  of  the  stock  of  cattle.  Being  a  trustworthy  boy, 
the  farmer  often  sent  him  to  market  from  Bridgewater 
to  Bristol,  a  distance  of  six  miles,  with  an  ox-team, 
carrying  butter,  cheese  and  sometimes  ashes,  which 
were  used  in  the  manufacture  of  potash.  Finally, 
becoming  dissatisfied  with  his  occupation,  he  bought 
the  remainder  of  his  time,  paying  five  dollars,  lor 
which  he  still  carries  the  receipt. 

In  August,  1833,  io  his  eighteenth  year,  he  went  to 
Nashua,  N.  H.,  and  entered  the  cotton  factory,  re- 
maining there  and  in  Lowell,  Mass.,  for  several 
years.  This  occupation  not  being  suited  to  him, 
he  decided  to  get  a  better  education,  and  to  this  end 
he  attended  the  academy  at  Newmarket,  N.  H.,  dur- 
ing the  fall  months,  washing  dishes  and  ringing  the 
academy  bell  for  his  board.  When  he  left  the  acade- 
my he  taught  in  the  district  schools  of  Dracut  and 
Andover,  Mass.,  and  Windham  and  Salem,  N.  H.  In 
Windham  he  had  a  class  in  algebra,  a  branch  which 
he  had  not  yet  taken  in  his  course  of  studies,  and  he 
was  on  this  account  in  a  dilemma,  but  his  will  came 
to  the  rescue,  and  he  determined  to  conquer  by  study- 
ing evenings  and  keeping  ahead  of  his  class,  which 
he  did,  and  no  one  ever  mistrusting  that  he  was  not 
a  thorough  master  of  the  higher  mathematics.  Thus 
it  has  been  all  through  life  by  hard  labor  and  close 
application  he  has  overcome  obstacles,  and  success 
has  crowned  his  efforts. 

In  1840  he  began  peddling  through  the  country, 
selling  silverw^are,  spectacles,  razors,  dress  silks,  &c., 
from  two  tin  trunks.  He  always  carried  the  finest 
goods  to  be  found  in  the  market,  and  would  also  take 
orders  for  shawls  or  anything  the  buyer  wanted,  and 
bring  it  with  him  on  his  next  trip.  He  also  did  the 
engraving  on  all  the  silverware  which  he  sold,  doing 
it  evenings,  denying  himself  all  pleasure  until  his 
work  was  done. 

March  5, 1843,  he  married  Lydia,  daughter  of  James 
and  Abi  (Duren)  Searles,  of  Nashua,  N.  H.,  and  set- 


tled in  Methuen,  Mass.,  continuing  his  peddling  until 
the  fall  when,  after  buying  his  stock  for  the  fall  trade, 
he  was  taken  with  lung  fever  and  his  physician  fur- 
bade  him  travelling  during  the  winter.  He  then  put 
his  goods  in  a  small  shop  quite  near  his  house  and 
hung  out  his  sign.  Success  attended  this  venture  and 
his  small  store  soon  became  the  scene  of  so  much 
activity  that  the  village  people  gave  it  the  name  of 
the  Bee  Hive.  Here  he  remained  about  eighteen, 
months,  when,  finding  his  business  had  outgrown  his 
accommodations,  he  sought  a  larger  place  for  it. 

In  1846  he  started  a  branch  store  in  the  new  city  of 
Lawrence,  remaining  in  a  store  on  Amesbury  Street 
two  years,  when  he  removed  to  Essex  Street  to  get 
more  room.  In  three  years  he  was  forced  to  move 
into  a  still  larger  store,  and  another  three  years  found 
his  business  so  much  increased  as  to  require  still  lar- 
ger accommodations. 

He  now  resolved  to  buy  land  and  build  for  himself 
which  he  did  on  his  present  site.  In  1877-78  he  en- 
larged and  beautified  his  store,  and  the  present  year 
he  has  again  remodeled  and  enlarged  his  building, 
Avhich  is  unquestionably  the  finest  business  structure 
in  Essex  County.  It  is  thirty  feet  wide,  ninety  feet 
deep,  four  stories  and  basement,  the  whole  being  oc- 
cupied by  him.  The  new  building  has  a  massive 
front  of  brown  stone,  with  heavy  plate  glass  windows. 
Mr.  Stearns  is  justly  proud  of  this  building,  which 
stands  as  a  monument  to  crown  the  long  years  of  un- 
tiring devotion  to  business. 

When  a  young  man  Mr.  Stearns  united  with  the 
Orthodox  Church  in  Methuen,  Rev.  John  C.  Phillips 
pastor.  On  coming  to  Lawrence  he  formed  one 
of  a  new  church,  called  the  Central  Congregational 
(now  Trinity),  and  has  always  been  one  of  its  most 
liberal  supporters.  He  has  been  chairman  of  the 
Board  of  Assessors  for  many  years,  but  has  never 
sought  public  office,  being  of  a  retiring  nature.  He 
was,  however,  in  the  Board  of  Aldermen  in  1861,  and 
has  been  very  generous  in  donations  for  public  en- 
terprises. 

In  1864  A.  S.  Wright,  the  head  mechanic  of  the 
Atlantic  Mills,  proposed  to  Mr.  Stearns  and  A.  J. 
French  to  become  partners  in  the  manufacture  of 
woollen  yarns.  At  Mr.  Stearns'  suggestion  the  ma- 
chinery for  yarn  was  sold,  and  the  mill  equipped 
with  machinery  for  making  braid ;  and  a  co-partner- 
ship formed  under  the  firm-name  of  the  Wright 
Manufacturing  Company.  At  first  fifty  braiders  were 
used.  In  1874  the  company  was  incorporated  with 
A.  J.  French,  president ;  A.  S.  Wright,  superinten- 
dent; Mr.  Stearns,  treasurer  and  selling  agent.  The 
company  are  now  running  more  than  one  thousand 
machines,  being  one  of  the  largest  and  most  com- 
plete works  of  the  kind  in  the  United  States,  a  large 
proportion  of  their  product  being  goods  of  high  class, 
heretofore  imported.  But  for  Mr.  Stearns'  pluck  and 
effort  this  venture  would  not  have  been  a  success. 

Mr.  Stearns  was  chosen  one  of  the  directors  of  the 


da/iy^/^ 


M- 


■5'  '^''^esAm.o^  &  Sms,P«^' 


/^Zy^^-^^^^^T^ 


^^ 


MIDDLETON. 


929 


Lawrence  National  Bank,  upon  its  organization  in 
1872,  and  in  1878  he  was  elected  its  president,  and 
still  holds  the  position.  He  is  also  one  of  the  trus- 
tees and  first  vice-president  of  the  Broadway  Savings 
Bank. 

He  is  one  of  the  original  stockholders  of  the 
Merrimack  Valley  Horse  Railroad,  and  has  been  one 
of  its  directors  since  its  organization,  and  is  at  pres- 
ent the  largest  stockholder. 


AARON   ORDWAY. 

Among  men  who,  during  a  long  residence  in  Law- 
rence, have  exhibited  strongly  marked  individuality 
and  intense  activity  in  business  and  in  general  af- 
fairs. Dr.  Aaron  Ordway  is  a  prominent  veteran.  A 
powerful  ally  in  any  cause  he  espoused,  he  has  been, 
also,  a  wily  and  determined  enemy  to  schemes  and 
plans  that  he  found  well-grounded  reason  to  oppose. 

He  came  to  the  city  in  1847,  having  previously 
been  a  trader  in  general  merchandise  at  Springfield, 
Mass.,  and  a  practicing  physician  in  Rumney,  N.  H. 
For  twenty  years,  after  coming,  he  was  one  of  the 
busiest  physicians  of  the  city,  and,  for  a  long  time, 
added  to  professional  duties  a  thriving  retail  drug 
business.  Faithful  care  of  these  interests  called  for 
uninterrupted  action,  and  the  doctor's  temperament 
and  physique  fitted  him  to  throw  a  vast  amount  of 
energy  into  the  conduct  of  his  private  business,  and 
yet  continue  active  in  matters  of  public  concern,  as 
a  private  citizen  and  as  an  alderman  during  two  terms 
of  service.  So  active  was  his  life  that  his  fellow-citi- 
zens wondered  when  he  slept  and  rested,  for  he  was 
the  last  man  seen  on  the  street  or  at  business  at  night 
and  the  first  abroad  in  the  morning.  Later  in  life  he 
became  financially  interested  in  timber-lands  and  in 
the  manufacture  of  lumber,  and  was  at  one  time  pres- 
ident of  Brown's  Lumber  Company,  of  Whitefield,  in 
Northern  New  Hampshire,  and  also  of  the  White- 
field  and  Jefferson  Railroad,  in  the  same  locality. 

In  religious  matters  Dr.  Ordway  has  never  been 
committed  to  any  form  of  doctrine  or  wording  of 
creeds,  because  of  others'  declaration,  having 
well-grounded  faith  and  opinion  of  his  own,  but  he 
has  liberally  assisted  many  a  struggling  church  and 
society  in  time  of  financial  strait.  He  has  also  been 
a  persistent  and  unswerving  friend  of  the  City  Hos- 
pital. 

In  politics  Dr.  Ordway  has  been  a  party  man  of  the 
intensest  kind  when  he  believed  his  party  right,  hold- 
ing that  right  cannot  be  too  boldly  asserted  or  vigor- 
ously advocated;  nevertheless,  he  could  see  a  party 
desert  its  principles  without  joining  in  the  stampede. 
He  was  a  pioneer  among  early  Abolitionists  and  an 
active  sympathizer  with  the  boldest  reformers,  wheth- 
er in  the  anti-slavery  or  woman's  suffrage  cause. 
Long-continued  intensity  of  action  has  undermined 
and  broken  a  strong  constitution  and  hardy  physique, 
and,  at  the  the  age  of  seventy-four,  he  is  an  invalid, 
yet  his  courage  is  unabated  and  his  mind  unclouded. 
59 


In  his  active  days  his  favor  was  much  courted  and 
his  opposition  feared  by  aspirants  for  political  hon- 
ors. Never  on  the  fence  or  slow  to  declare  himself, 
he  was,  in  politic.^,  as  in  all  else,  a  determined  oppo- 
nent and  a  fast  friend.  It  was  said  by  some,  that, 
when  he  appeared  in  a  political  contest  as  a  cavalry- 
man with  a  sorrel  charger  there  was  terror  in  the  host 
he  opposed. 

He  was  born  in  Hebron,  N.  H.,  May  4,  1814.  His 
father,  Stephen  Ordway,  went  from  Amesbury,  Mass., 
in  childhood,  to  Dunbarton,  N.  H.  From  thence,  at 
nineteen  years,  he  removed  to  the  northern  planta- 
tion of  "  Cockamouth "  (afterwards  called  Hebron), 
there  founding  a  home,  where  he  lived  to  the  age  of 
ninety-three  years.  John  Ordway,  brother  of  Ste- 
phen and  uncle  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  the 
clerk  and  historian  of  the  Lewis  and  Clark  Explor- 
ing Expedition,  an  enterprise  that  opened  up  hitherto 
unknown  regions  of  the  West  in  the  early  years  of 
the  century  and  made  the  participants  therein  famous 
in  American  History. 

Dr.  Ordway  married,  for  his  first  wife,  Mary  M. 
Kelley,  of  New  Hampton,  N.  H.,  and  four  children 
survive  her;  for  his  second  wife,  he  married  Mary 
Ann  Kelley,  of  Franklin,  N.  H.,  and  with  her  he  is 
enjoying  as  much  of  rest  and  quiet  as  broken  health 
allows. 


CHAPTER    LXIL 
MIDDLETON. 


BY  DAVID  STILES. 


FROM  THE  FIRST  GRANT  OF   LAND   BY   THE   GOVERN- 
MENT TO  RICHARD  BELLINGHAM,  ESQ.,  IN 
NOVEMBER,  1639  TO  1887. 

In  compiling  tliis  work  (for  I  do  not  claim  to  he  author),  I  have  se- 
lected material  according  to  my  best  judgment.  If  no  Aiult  is  found  I 
shall  accomplish  that  which  no  other  one  to  my  knowledge  hag  ever 
done  before  in  a  town  history.  Nearly  every  town  in  the  county  has  a 
published  history  by  some  qualified  author,  but  nothing  worthy  of  such 
a  title  has  ever  been  produced  of  this  town,  therefore  I  am  left  without 
any  help,  and  your  charitable  judgment  I  implore. 

In  making  up  chapters  some  repetitions  occur  of  persons  and  places, 
which  are  unavoidable  ;  some  mistakes  in  dates  no  doubt  have  been  madei 
though  not  very  far  away  from  the  truth.  In  many  cases  it  has  been 
almost  impossible  to  find  the  exact  times  and  places  of  even  some  of  the 
most  important  events.  — .  — . 

This  town  is  about  five  miles  long  from  north  to 
south,  and  about  three  miles  wide,  bounded  north  by 
Andover  and  North  Andover,  west  by  North  Read- 
ing, south  by  Danvers  and  east  by  Topsfield  and  Box- 
ford.  The  larger  part  of  the  town  is  on  the  left  bank 
of  Ipswich  River,  which  runs  from  southwest  to  north- 
east. Another  principal  stream  is  Beech  Brook, 
named  from  the  original  beech  trees  along  its  bank. 
Its  rise  is  in  Andover,  and  its  mouth  is  near  the  box- 
mill  of  J.   B.   Thomas,   into   Ipswich   River.     Pout 


930 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Pond  Brook  is  an  outlet  of  Swan  Pond,  in  North 
Reading ;  its  mouth  is  near  the  knife-factory  build- 
ings, into  Ipswich  River ;  and  there  are  other  small 
streams  of  less  note. 

The  largest  body  of  water  has  always  been  called 
Middleton  Pond,  which  now  supplies  Danvers  as  well 
as  our  village,  with  the  best  of  water.  Pout  Pond  is 
on  Pout  Pond  Brook,  a  sunken  hole  said  to  be  the 
centre  of  the  town.  There  are  also  other  small  bod- 
ies of  water. 

The  most  elevated  land,  Will's  Hill,  named  from 
the  last  Indian  inhabitant,  who  lived  and  died  upon 
its  summit,  and  whose  squaw  survived  till  after  the 
town  was  incorporated, — and  Bear  Hill,  near  Tops- 
field  line. 

The  town  is  well  diversified  by  hills  and  valleys, 
and  has  many  productive  farms. 

In  population  the  village  has  largely  increased 
within  the  last  fifty  years,  while  other  portions  have 
remained  nearly  the  same,  and  in  some  parts  gone 
back. 

The  wild  beasts  of  the  early  years  have  disap- 
peared.    A  few  of  the  smaller  varieties  still  remain. 

This  town  was  settled  sixty-eight  years  before  the 
act  of  incorporation.  After  passing  those  years, 
both  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  history  commence. 
We  then  take  up  the  latter  and  pursue  it  up  to  the 
present  time,  and  then  resume  the  civil  history,  after 
which,  items  of  interest. 

1639.  This  town  was  an  unbroken  wilderness,  save 
an  Indian  plantation  near  the  great  pond.  Richard 
Bellingham's  grant,  dated  November  5,  1639,  says : 
"in  it  is  a  pond  ^  and  an  Indian  plantation."  This 
grant  contained  seven  hundred  acres.  Some  years 
previous  to  this  time  it  is  supposed  that  there  were 
two  other  large  Indian  plantations,  one  at  the  east 
side  on  the  plains,  and  one  east  of  the  house  of  H. 
A.  Stiles ;  at  these  locations  many  Indian  imple- 
ments from  time  to  time  have  been  found. 

Other  grants  followed  that  of  Bellingham's ;  of 
Major  General  Daniel  Dennison,  of  Ipswich,  east  of 
Bellingham's,  running  north,  followed  by  Henry 
Bartholomew,  near  New  Meadows,  now  Topsfield. 
These  grants  from  General  Court  covered  the  larger 
portion  of  the  present  town. 

The  very  first  settler  within  the  present  limits  of 
the  town  was  William  Nichols,  in  1651,  near  William 
Peabody's,  then  New  Meadows,  from  whom  came  two 
of  our  church  ofiicers;  and. all,  so  far  as  we  know, 
by  that  name,  many  of  whom  have  blessed  the 
world  and  bear  an  honor  to  the  name. 

This  William  Nichols  bought  two  hundred  acres  of 
Henry  Bartholomew,  mostly  beyond  the  "  six-mile 
extent  "  (meaning  the  circuit  or  swing-round  bounds 
of  Salem,  which  reached  a  half-mile  south  of  our 
present  village).     William  Nichols  lived  to  the  age 


iThis  pond  was  subsequently  called  Wilkins'  Pond,  and  may  now 
rightfully  belong  to  Bray  Wilkins'  heirs. 


of  one  hundred  and  two,  and  for  many  years  his 
posterity  were  quite  numei'ous  in  town;  all  of  that 
name  have  now  left  town. 

Bray  Wilkins  came  from  Wales  and  was  among 
the  first  to  land  in  this  State.  He  was  a  very 
enterprising  man,  and  of  great  vigor  of  constitution, 
and  for  many  years  was  licensed  as  boatman  on 
Naponset  River,  and  to  charge  a  penny  a  person. 
He  subsequently  moved  to  Lynn,  Mass.,  and  was  en- 
gaged in  some  way  in  the  iron  business.  Then,  in 
1659,  he  entered  upon  the  bold  operation  (with  his 
brother-in-law,  John  Gingle),  of  buying  out  the 
claim  of  Bellingham,  amounting  to  seven  hundred 
acres,  paying  therefore  tAvo  hundred  and  fifty  pounds 
and  a  ton  of  bar-iron.  But  with  a  strong  constitu- 
tion and  six  stout  sons,  with  the  help  of  Gingle,  a 
tailor  by  trade,  and  two  trusty  kinsmen,  Aaron 
Way  and  William  Ireland,  conveyed  to  them  good 
farms.  Aaron  Way's  houses  were  on  the  site  of  the 
old  Estys  tavern,  now  standing;  subsequently  Mr. 
Wilkins  purchased  more  than  he  had  sold,  and  yet, 
in  1676,  the  mortgage  given  to  Bellingham  was  dis- 
charged, and  his  sons  had  bought  out  Gingle,  and 
the  work  was  done,  says  Upham. 

It  is  curious  to  note  that  Bellingham  inserted  in 
Wilkins'  deed  that  if  minerals  were  found  on  this 
claim  he  was  to  pay  him,  or  his  heirs,  ten  pounds 
per  year  more. 

Bray  Wilkins'  father  was  Lord  John  Wilkins,  of 
Wales,  and  the  family  had  borne  many  honorable 
titles  and  is  traced  back  to  1090,  or  nearly  eight 
centuries.     Wilkins  died  1702,  aged  ninety-seven. 

On  Dennison's  claim  was  found  iron-ore,  and  a 
mill  was  erected  on  the  site  of  the  knife-factory  ; 
and  Thomas  Fuller,  an  Englishman,  who  came  over 
about  1638,  and  had  resided  in  Cambridge,  was  en- 
gaged by  Dennison  to  run  the  mill,  and  subsequently 
became  owner  in  1663,  and  erected  his  dwelling  on 
the  site  of  the  house  now  owned  by  Charles  O.  Frost ; 
and  his  little  blacksmith-shop  stood  across  the  brook, 
called  Piercies  Brook,  near  the  present  tomb — the 
foundation  can  be  now  seen. 

This  iron-puddling  mill  remained  in  the  Fuller 
family,  in  company  with  the  Cave  family,  who  lived 
on  the  farm  now  owned  by  Mr.  0.  L.  Carltton  for 
many  years,  and  was  subsequently  set  on  fire,  as  is 
supposed,  and  destroyed  by  one  of  the  parties  to  the 
ownership,  then  in  a  quarrel. 

The  wealth  of  this  Thomas  Fuller  and  his  enter- 
prising spirit  and  sound  judgment  gave  to  his  pos- 
terity good  positions  in  society,  which  have  been 
sustained  wherever  they  have  been  scattered  over  the 
world. 

He  had  three  wives.  He  died  June  3,  1698.  He 
came  to  this  country  on  a  tour  of  observation,  in- 
tending to  return  in  one  year,  but  was  converted 
under  the  preaching  of  Rev.  Thomas  Shepard,  of 
Cambridge,  Mass.,  on  account  of  which  he  wrote  some 
verses,  the  last  of  which  is  as  follows : 


MIDDLETON. 


931 


"  Christ  cast  his  garments  over  me, 
And  all  mj*  sins  did  cover  ; 
More  precious  to  my  soul  was  He 
Than  dearest  friend  and  lover." 

Augustus  Shepard,  of  this  town,  is  a  descendant  of 
this  Rev.  Thomas  Shepard.  This  information  was 
obtained  in  Boston. 

The  farms  of  the  earlier  settlers  for  some  years  were 
but  imperfectly  fenced  and  their  cattle  and  flocks 
were  watched  by  herdsmen,  assisted  by  boys  and  girls. 
The  court  decreed  that  in  every  town  the  chosen  men 
are  to  take  care  of  such  "  as  are  sett  to  keep  cattle 
that  they  sett  some  other  employment  withall,  as 
spinning  upon  the  rock,  knitting  &  weaving  tape,  &c., 
that  boyes  and  girls  be  not  suffered  to  convers  to- 
gether." 

Thus  the  watchers  had  to  be  w^atched. 

Before  the  incorporation  of  this  town,  which 
was  sixty-eight  years  after  Wilkins  bought  Belling- 
ham's  claim,  several  occurrences  took  place  which  we 
shall  mention.  Wilkins,  and  those  owning  under 
him,  were,  in  1661,  annexed  to  Salem  Village,  which 
gives  the  long  and  peculiar  shape  to  the  village  boun- 
daries, and  there,  where  the  witchcraft  delusion  began, 
they  attended  church  and  were  identified  with  that 
people. 

The  families  of  Wilkins  and  Fuller  increased  rap- 
idly, and  with  others  who  had  moved  in,  it  is  suppos- 
ed that  in  1692  the  population  had  increased  to  nearly 
three  hundred.  At  the  above  date  Francis  Elliott 
lived  a  little  west  of  the  red  house  near  the  cemetery, 
and  William  Way  who,  with  his  wife  Percy,  united 
with  the  church  at  Salem  "Village  May  12,  1680,  lived 
in  H  house,  the  remnant  of  the  cellar  of  which  is  seen 
just  opposite  the  house  of  the  late  Addison  Tylor. 
These  houses,  however,  came  within  the  bounds  of 
Rowley  Village,  now  Boxford,  but  nearly  all  the  set- 
tlers as  far  away  as  William  Nichols'  farm  came  under 
the  name  of  Will's  Hill  men.  The  line  of  Rowley 
crossed  the  river  forty  rods  above  Indian  Bridge  on  a 
northwest  course,  passed  in  front  of  William  Way's 
house,  thence  by  Pout  Pond  to  Beech  Brook,  where 
two  brooks  meet  below  the  house  of  Mr.  Ogden. 

This  little  settlement  became  greatly  disturbed  by 
the  witchcraft  delusion,  and  one  man  of  no  little  note 
was  selected  as  a  victim  and  hung  on  Gallows  Hill, 
Salem,  and  here  we  insert  the  proceedings  from  Up- 
ham's  work  as  a  part  of  our  own  history  : — 

TRIAL   OF  JOHN   WILLARD. 

"May  10,  1692,  a  warrant  was  issued  against  John  Willard,  '  husband- 
man '  to  be  brought  to  Thomas  Beadle's  house  in  Salem.  On  the  12th 
John  Putnam,  Jr.,  constable,  made  return  that  he  had  been  'to  the 
house  of  the  usual  abode  of  John  Willard  and  made  search  for  him,  and 
in  several  other  places  and  houses,  but  could  not  find  him,'  and  that  his 
relations  and  friends  said  '  that  to  their  best  knowledge  he  was  fled.'  On 
the  15th  a  warrant  was  issued  to  the  marshal  of  Essex,  and  the  constable 
or  constables  within  this  their  majesty's  colony  or  territory  of  Massa- 
chusetts, iu  New  England,  requiring  them  to  apprehend  said  Willard 
'  if  he  may  be  found  in  your  precincts,  who  stands  charged  with  sundry 
acts  of  wichcraft,  by  him  done  or  committed  on  the  bodies  of  Bray  Wil- 
kins and  Samuel  Wilkins,  the  sou  of  Henry  Wilkins,  and  others,  upon 
complaint  made  by  Thomas  Fuller,  Jr.,  and  Benjamin  Wilkins,  Sr., 


yeoman,  who,  being  found,  you  are  to  convey  from  town  to  town, 
from  constable  to  constable,  .  .  .  to  be  prosecuted  according  to  the  di- 
rection of  Constable  John  Putnam,  of  Salem  Village,  who  goes  with  the 
same.'  On  the  ISth  of  May  Constable  Putnam  brought  in  WillarJ,  and 
delivered  him  to  the  nugistrates.  He  was  seized  in  Grotou.  There  is 
no  record  of  his  examination,  but  we  gather  from  the  papers  on  file  the 
following  facts  relating  to  this  interesting  case  :  It  is  said  that  Willard 
had  been  called  upon  to  aid  in  the  arrest,  custody  and  bringing  in  of 
persons  accused,  in  acting  as  deputy-constable;  and  from  his  observation 
of  the  deportment  of  tlie  prisoners,  and  from  all  he  heard  and  saw,  his 
sympathies  became  excited  in  tlieir  behalf,  and  he  expressed  in  more  or 
less  terms  his  disapprobation  of  the  proceedings.  He  seems  to  have  con- 
sidered all  hands  concerned  in  the  business — accusers,  accused,  magis- 
trates and  people — as  alike  bewitched.  One  of  the  witnesses  against  him 
deposed  that  he  said  in  a  '  discourse  '  at  the  house  of  a  relati\e, — '  Hang 
them  ;  they  are  all  witches.'  In  consequence  of  this  kind  of  talk,  in 
which  he  indulged  as  early  as  April,  he  incurred  the  ill-will  of  the  par- 
ties engaged  in  the  prosecutions,  and  it  was  whispered  about  that  he  was 
himself  in  the  diabolical  confederacy.  He  was  a  grandson  of  Bray  Wil- 
kins, and  the  mind  of  the  old  man  became  prejudiced  against  him,  and 
most  of  his  family  connections  and  neighbors  partook  of  the  feeling. 
When  Willard  discovered  that  such  rumors  were  in  circulation  against 
him,  he  went  to  his  grandfather  for  counsel  and  the  aid  of  his  prayers. 
He  met  with  a  cold  reception,  as  appeared  by  the  deposition  of  the  old 
man,  as  follows  :  '  When  John  Willard  was  first  complained  of  by  the 
afflicted  persons  for  afflicting  of  them,  he  came  to  my  house,  greatly 
troubled,  desired  me,  with  some  other  neighbors,  to  pray  for  him.  I 
told  him  I  was  then  going  from  home  and  could  not  stay,  but  if  I  could 
come  home  before  night,  I  should  not  be  willing.  But  it  was  near  night 
before  I  came  home  and  so  I  did  not  answer  his  desire,  but  I  heard  no 
more  of  him  upon  that  account.  Whether  my  not  answering  his  desire 
did  not  ofTduJ  him,  I  cannot  tell,  but  I  was  jealous  afterwards  that  it 
did.'  'Willard  soon  after  made  an  engagement  to  go  to  Boston  on 
election  week  with  Henry  Wilkins,  Jr.  A  son  of  said  Henry  Wilkins, 
named  Daniel,  a  youth  of  seventeen  years  of  age,  who  had  heard  the 
stories  against  Willard,  and  believed  them  all,  remonstrated  with  his 
father  against  going  to  Boston  with  Willai'd,  and  seemed  much  distressed 
at  the  thought,  saying,  among  other  things, — 'It  were  well  if  the  said 
Willard  were  hanged.'  Old  Bray  Wilkins  must  go  to  election,  too,  and 
so  started  off  on  horseback— the  only  mode  of  travel  then  practicable,  from 
Will's  Hill  to  Winnesimit  Ferry— with  his  wife  on  a  pillion  behind  him. 
He  was  eighty-two  yeareof  age,  and  she  probably  not  much  less  ;  for  she 
had  been  the  wife  of  his  youth.  The  old  couple  undoubtedly  had  an  ac- 
tive time  that  week  in  Boston.  It  was  a  great  ovation,  and  the  whole 
country  flocked  iu  to  partake  in  the  ceremonies  and  services  of  the  anni- 
versary. On  Election  day,  with  his  wife,  he  rode  out  to  Dorchester  to 
dine  at  the  house  of  his  brother.  Lieutenant  Richard  W^ay.  Deodat 
Lawson  and  his  new  wife,  and  several  more,  join  them  at  the  table. 
Before  sitting  down  Henry  Wilkins  and  John  Willard  also  came  In. 
Willard,  perhap.?,  did  not  feel  very  agreeably  towards  bis  grandfather  at 
the  time  for  having  shown  an  nnwillingness  to  pray  with  him.  The  old 
man  saw,  or  imagined  he  saw,  a  very  unpleasant  expression  in  Willard's 
countenance.  To  my, apprehension,  he  looked  after  such  a  sort  upon  me 
as  I  never  before  discerned  iu  any.  The  long  and  hard  travel,  the  fa- 
tigues and  excitements  of  election  week,  were  too  much  for  the  old  man, 
tough  and  rugged  as  he  w;is;  and  a  severe  attack  of  a  complaint,  to  which 
persons  of  his  age  are  often  subject,  came  on.  He  experienced  great 
sufferings,  and,  as  he  expressed  it,  '  was  like  a  man  on  a  rack.' 

"I  told  my  wife  immediately  that  I  was  afraid  that  Willard  had  done 
wrong;  my  pain  continuing,  and  finding  no  relief,  my  jealousy  contin- 
ued. Mr.  Lawson  and  others  there  were  all  amazed,  and  knew  not 
what  to  do  for  me.  There  was  a  woman  accounted  skilful  came,  hoping 
to  help  me,  and  after  she  had  used  means,  she  asked  me  whether  none 
of  those  evil  persons  had  done  me  damage.  I  said  I  could  not  say  they 
had,  but  I  was  sore  afraid  they  had.  She  answered  she  did  fear  so, 
too.  As  near  as  I  can  remember,  '  I  lay  in  this  case  three  or  four  days 
at  Boston,  and  afterward,  with  the  jeopardy  of  my  life  (as  I  thought),  I 
came  home.'  On  his  return  he  found  his  grandson,  the  same  Daniel 
who  had  warned  Henry  Wilkins  against  going  to  Boston  with  John 
Willard,  on  his  death-bed,  in  great  suffering.  Another  attack  of  his  own 
malady  came  on.  There  was  gruat  consternation  in  the  neighborhood, 
and  throughout  the  village.  The  devil  and  his  confederates,  it  was 
thought,  were  making  an  awful  onslaught  upon  the  people  at  Will's 
Hill.  Parris  and  others  rushed  to  the  scene.  Mercy  Lewis  and  Mary 
Walcot  were  carried  up  to  tell  who  it  was  that  was  bewitching  old 
Bray,  and  young  Daniel,  and  others  of  the  Wilkinses  who  had  caught 


932 


HISTOKY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


the  contagion  and  were  experiencing  or  imagining  all  sorts  of  bodily 
ails.  Tliey  were  taken  to  the  room  where  Daniel  was  approaching  his 
death  agonies  ;  and  they  botli  affirmed  that  they  saw  the  spectres  of  old 
Mrs.  BiK-kley  and  Jolin  Willard  upon  liis  throat  and  upon  his  breast, 
and  pressed  him  and  choked  him  ;  and  the  cruel  operation,  they  insisted 
upon  it,  continued  until  the  hoy  died.  The  girls  were  carried  to  the  bed- 
room of  the  old  man,  who  was  in  great  suffering;  and,  when  they  en- 
tered, the  quettion  was  put  by  the  anxious  and  excited  friends  in  the 
chamber  to  Mercy  Lewis,  whether  she  saw  anything.  She  said,  yes ; 
'  they  are  looking  for  John  Willard.'  Presently  she  pretended  to  have 
caught  sight  of  his  apparition,  and  exclaimed,  '  there  he  is  upon  his 
grandfather's  belley.'  This  was  thought  wonderful,  indeed,  for,  as  the 
old  man  says  in  a  deposition  he  drew  uj)  afterwards,  '  At  that  time  I  was 
in  grevious  pain  in  the  small  of  my  belly.'  Mrs.  Ann  Putnam  had  her 
story  to  tell  about  John  Willard.  Its  substance  is  seen  in  a  deposition 
drawn  up  about  the  same  time,  and  is  in  the  same  vein  as  her  testimony 
in  other  cases,  presenting  a  problem  to  be  solved  by  those  who  can  draw 
the  line  between  semi-insane  hallucination  and  downright  fabrication. 

"  Her  deposition  is  as  follows  : 

"  '  The  sliape  of  Samuel  Fuller  and  Lydia  Wilkins  tliis  day  told  me  at 
my  own  house  by  the  bedside  who  appeared  in  a  winding-sheet,  that  if 
I  did  not  go  and  tell  Mr.  Hathorne  that  John  Willard  had  murdered 
them,  they  would  tear' me  to  pieces.  I  knew  them  when  they  were  liv- 
ing, and  it  was  exactly  thnir  resemblance  and  shape.  And,  at  the  same 
time,  the  apparition  of  John  Willard  told  me  that  he  had  killed  Samue' 
Fuller,  Lydia  Wilkins,  Goody  Shaw  and  Fuller's  second  wife,  and  Aaron 
Way's  child,  and  Ben  Fuller's  child,  and  this  deponant's  child  Sarah,  six 
weeks  old,  and  Philip  Kniglit's  child,  with  tlie  help  of  William  Hobbs, 
and  Jonathan  Knight's  child  and  two  of  Ezekiel  Cheevers  children  with 
the  hel]>  of  William  Hobbs  ;  Anne  Eliot  and  Isaac  Nichols  with  the  help 
of  William  Hobbs  ;  and  if  Blr.  Hathorne  would  not  believe  them,— tha* 
is,  Samuel  Fuller  and  Lydia  Wilkins,  perhaps  they  would  appear  to  the 
magistrates.  Joseph  Fuller's  apparition  the  same  day  also  came  to  me, 
and  told  me  that  Goody  Covey  had  killed  him.  The  spectre  aforesaid 
told  me  that  vengeance,  vengeance,  was  cried  by  said  Fuller.  This  re- 
lation is  true,     Ann  Putnam.' 

"It  appears  by  such  pajiers  as  aro  to  be  found  relating  to  Willard's 
case,  that  a  coroner's  .jury  was  held  over  the  body  of  Daniel  Wilkins,  o' 
which  Nathaniel  Putnam  was  foreman. 

"  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  the  linding  of  that  jury  is  lost.  It 
wo\ild  be  a  real  curiosity.  That  it  was  very  decisive  to  the  point,  af. 
firmed  by  Mercy  Lewis  and  Mary  Walcot.  That  Daniel  was  choaked 
and  strangled  by  the  spectres  of  John  Willard  and  Goody  Buckley  is  ap 
parent  from  the  manner  in  which  Bray  Wilkins  speaks  of  it.  In  an  ar" 
gument  Iietween  him  and  some  persons  who  were  expressing  their  con_ 
fidence  in  tliat  John  Willard  was  an  innocent  man  he  sought  to  relieve 
himself  from  responsibility  for  Willard's  conviction  by  saying,  'It  wag 
not  I,  nor  my  son  Benjamin  Wilkins,  but  the  the  testimony  of  the  af_ 
flicted  persons,  and  the  jury  concerning  the  mui-der  of  my  grandson. 
Danitl  Wilkins,  that  would  fake  away  his  life,  if  anything  did.' 

"Mr.  Parris,  of  course,  was  in  the  midst  of  these  proceedings  at 
Will's  Hill ;  attended  the  visits  of  the  afflicted  girles  when  they  went  to 
ascertain  who  were  the  witches  murdering  youn^  Daniel  Wilkins  and 
torturing  the  old  man ;  was  present,  no  doubt,  at  the  solemn  examination 
and  investigations  of  the  sages  who  sat  as  a  jury  of  inquest  over  the 
former,  and,  in  all  likelihood,  made,  as  usual,  a  written  report  of  the 
same.  As  soon  as  he  got  hack  to  his  house  he  discharged  his  mind  and 
indorsed  the  verdict  of  the  coroner's  jury  by  this  characteristic  inser- 
tion in  his  church  records  :  '  Dan  Wilkins,  bewitched  to  death.'  The  very 
next  entry  relates  to  a  case  of  which  this  obituaiy  line  in  Mr.  Parris' 
church  book  is  the  only  intimation  that  has  come  down  to  us.  'Daugh- 
ter to  Anne  Douglas  by  witchraft  I  doubt  not.'  Willard's  examination 
was  at  Beadle's,  on  the  18th.  With  this  deluge  of  accusations  and  tempest 
of  indignation  beating  upon  bim,  he  had  but  little  chance,  and  was  com- 
mitted. While  the  marshals  and  constables  were  in  pursuit  of  Willard, 
the  time  was  well  improved  by  the  prosecutors." — Upham. 

This  is  a  part  of  our  town  history,  and  gives  a  very 
good  idea  of  the  prevailing  sentiment  on  the  public 
mind  in  regard  to  withcraft  at  that  time. 

John  Willard  appears  to  have  been  an  honest  and 
amiable  person,  an  industrious  farmer,  having  a  com- 
fortable estate,  with  a  wife  and  three  young  children. 
He  was  called  grandson  of  Bray  Wilkins,  but  whether 
by  marriage   or   blood   relation   we   know  not.     He 


came  from  Groton  ;  and  whether  he  was  a  brother  or 
relative  of  Eev.  Samuel  Willard,  of  Boston,  it  is  lor 
the  local  antiquaries  to  discover.  If  so  it  would  add 
still  greater  interest  to  this  narrative.  Margaret,  the 
widow  of  John  Willard,  married  William  Towne. 

1700.  -  Ebenezer  Stiles  (son  of  Robert,  who  married 
Elizabeth  Fry  October  4,  1660,  came  from  Yorkshire, 
England,  with  Rev,  Ezekiel  Rogers),  came  from  Box- 
ford  (born  on  the  site  of  Deacon  Covvles'  house),  and 
bought  a  tract  of  land  of  "Lawrence  Lacy,  of  Ando- 
ver,  and  in  the  township  of  Andover,  four-score  rods 
long  and  three-score  rods  wide."  Lacy,  in  deeding 
it  to  Stiles,  says  it  is  the  same  that  I  had  of  the  town 
of  Andover  for  "quality."  Duality,  a  state  of  being 
two,  most  of  the  laud  is  still  owned  by  his  dscendants. 
He  was  the  first  of  the  name  settled  here  (his  house 
stood  oa  the  left  bank  of  Beech  Brook,  cellar  now 
seen),  and  with  his  son  Ebenezer,  Jr.,  helped  form 
the  church  here  in  the  new  town  in  1729,  his  house 
just  coming  within  its  bounds.  This  son  Ebenezer 
married  Sarah  Howe  April  23,  1733,  and  built  the 
house  now  standing,  owned  by  H.  A.  Stiles,  brother 
of  the  writer. 

In  this  same  neighborhood,  soon  after,  was  Timo- 
thy Perkins,  now  G.  H.  Tufts'  place  (this  house  per- 
haps the  oldest  in  town),  and  further  down  that  of 
Joseph  Fuller,  grandson  of  Thomas — house  now 
standing  called  the  old  Fuller  farm-house,  and  quite 
ancient. 

As  this  town  belonged  in  four  parts  to  other  towns 
before  incorporated,  it  is  only  by  great  labor  that 
these  far  away  days'  doings  can  be  brought  to  light, 
mixed  as  they  are,  with  the  records  of  other  places 
and  people.  The  house  of  Bray  Wilkins  stood  near 
the  end  of  the  walk,  as  it  comes  down  the  hill  near 
the  Emerson  house,  on  Pond  Road.  An  old  house 
was  taken  down  by  Maj.  Solomon  Wilkins  (near  the 
Weston  place),  supposed  to  have  been  very  old,  and 
for  many  generations  the  home  of  Bray  Wilkins'  de- 
scendants, also  the  Thomas  house,  near  by,  belonged 
to  this  Wilkins  family,  and  is  very  ancient. 

The  house  in  which  Mr.  George  A.  Currier  now 
lives  was  built  about  1710,  by  a  son  or  grandson  of 
the  first  Thomas  Fuller  ;  also  the  gambrel-roof  house 
near  by  was  the  home  of  Timothy  Fuller's  son,  and 
is  older  than  the  town.  There  was  an  old.  house  a 
little  south  of  the  Esq.  Daniel  Fuller  house,  occu- 
pied by  the  Fuller's  descendants  of  the  first  Robert. 

The  Peabodies  and  Symonds  families  resided  in  the 
east  part  of  the  town.  Three  brothers  (Peabody's), 
as  follows:  Samuel  M.  Peabody  place,  Augu-stus 
Curtis  place  and  John  Averill  place.  Samuel  Symonds 
was  on  the  box-factory  place  many  years  before  the 
town  was  incorporated,  and  remained  in  the  family 
till  within  forty  years.  Samuel  H.  Wilkins'  house 
belonged  to  the  Elliot  family,  and  east  of  this  was 
John  Willard's,  the  victim  of  witchcraft. 

The  Asa  Howe  farm  has  long  been  in  the  family, 
and   the   house   was   the  residence   of  John    Howe, 


MIDDLETON. 


933 


father  of  Esquire  Asa  Howe,  who  was  the  grand- 
father of  said  Asa,  now  upon  the  place.  Just  be- 
yond this  place  (the  cellar  is  now  seen)  was  the 
residence  of  Isaac  Berry,  brother  of  Nathaniel  Berry, 
grandfather  of  the  late  Deacon  Allen  Berry. 

On  the  cross-road,  a  little  east  of  the  farm  of 
David  Richardson,  (whose  house  and  building  were 
recently  burned),  was  a  farm  owned  by  a  Berry 
famih',  all  of  whom  died  of  small-pox;  the  build- 
ings tumbled  down;  no  one  cared  to  go  near  the 
place.  Their  remains  were  buried  in  the  corner  of 
the  field  on  the  other  side  of  the  road.  The  disease 
was  conveyed  to  them  by  their  dog  from  Andover, 
at  the  house  of  Peter  Towne,  (the  house  is  now 
standing);  whose  wife  died  with  the  small-pox,  which 
is  supposed  to  have  been  given  her  in  a  pinch  of 
snuff  by  a  rejected  lover.  The  Berrys  owned  a 
wood-lot  a  little  beyond  this  house  and  the  dog,  in 
company  with  the  team,  rolled  as  is  supposed, 
on  some  of  the  waste  thrown  out  at  the  back-door. 
This  occurred  more  than  a  century  ago. 

The  original  home  of  the  Esty  family  was  across 
the  railroad,  east  of  the  house  of  Mr.  Walden 
Batchelder. 

The  town  records  of  Topsfield,  July  2d,  1728.  To 
see  what  the  town  will  do  concerning  the  families 
that  have  petitioned  not  to  be  set  off  to  Will's  Hill, 
(their  names),  Thomas  Robinson,  Job  Averill,  John 
Cummings  and  Daniel  Towne  (the  latter  probably 
was  the  one  chosen  for  schoolraa^ter),  which  might 
have  a  good  influence  at  that  time,  to  bring  them 
into  the  town  limits,  though  for  some  yeai'S  Tops- 
field  pretended  to  claim  to  the  foot  of  the  hill,  by 
the  road  below  the  house  of  Mr,  George  P.  Wilkins. 
All  these  families  resided  in  the  ne'ghborhood  of 
Nichols'  Brook.  There  are  quite  a  number  of  cellar 
holes  now  seen  in  this  portion  of  the  town. 

North  and  west  of  this  Nichols  Brook  settlement, 
was  Boxford,  which  lost  by  the  setting  off  of  Mid- 
dleton,  six  hundred  acres  of  land,  and  one  hundred 
of  their  population.  Incorporation  of  Middleton,  June 
20th,  1728. 

The  original  charter  has  recently  been  found, 
though  in  three  pieces,  can  yet  be  read  ;  it  is  written 
in  a  bold  and  elegant  hand.  After  briefly  stating 
the  boundary  lines,  two  years  are  allowed  "  to  pro- 
cure a  suitable  place  for  the  worship  of  God,  and 
likewise  to  settle  a  learned  orthodox  minister,  and 
hire  a  scho  )l-master  to  instruct  their  young." 

The  town  met  (as  they  then  had  a  suitable  place), 
at  the  house  of  Dr.  Daniel  Felch,  (cellar  now  seen 
opposite  house  of  the  late  Addison  Tyler).  (Formerly 
this  place  was  owned  by  William  Way). 

This  charter  was  presented  to  the  people  by 
Jonathan  Fuller  (a  grandson  of  Thomas).  Two 
years  previous  to  this  time  the  bounds  of  the  town 
had  been  contemplated,  and  probably  made  for  the 
action  of  the  court  to  grant  their  prayer  for  to  be 
organized  into  a  town,   and   had    mutually    engaged 


in  putting  up  an  oak  frame  building  for  a  place 
of  worship  forty  feet  square  and  about  twenty-two 
feet  post ;  the  frame  stood  several  years  before  being 
covered,  as  the  location  did  not  give  entire  satis- 
faction, but  subsequently  "  voted  to  finish  our  meet- 
ing-house where  it  now  stands,"  yet  it  was  in  bad 
condition  till  1731,  and  even  up  to  1802,  the  house 
was  in  the  form  of  a  barn  with  only  a  few  windows,  with 
no  inner  doors,  or  porche-i,  or  plasterinsr,  save  the 
walls,  which  were  plastered  to  the  gable-ends,  with 
no  plastering  over-head,  till  the  latter  date.  During 
this  time  the  great  braces  of  oak  timber  remained, 
which  went  from  the  floor  to  the  posts  about  mid- 
way up,  then  another  long  brace  from  the  same 
mortice  in  the  post  up  to  the  great  beam  overhead, 
and  these  beams  or  plates  were  only  eight  feet  dis- 
tance apart,  which  with  all  thc'^e  braces  must  have 
caused  the  interior  of  the  house  to  biok  like  a  dense 
wood  lot.  Doubtless  a  j-mall  boy  could  lay  close  upon 
one  of  these  braces  undiscovered  by  the  tithing  man 
through  the  service.  The  wall  pews  were  sold  when 
the  house  was  first  occupied,  and  the  seats  in  the 
body  of  the  house  gave  w^ay  to  pews  in  1802,  when 
there  were  added,  the  porches,  new  windows  and 
a  sounding-board  or  canopy,  and  all  was  newly 
painted,  even  the  roof,  after  which  it  went  to  decay, 
and  was  bought  by  the  writer  forty  years  ago,  and 
taken  down. 

The  First  Minister. — A  meeting  was  called 
Tuesday,  the  16th  day  of  November,  1729.  Lieuten- 
ant Thomas  Fuller  was  chosen  moderator,  and  the 
answer  of  Rev.  Andrew  Peters  to  the  town  accepted, 
and  the  second  Wednesday  in  November  appointed 
for  ordination.  A  committee  was  chosen  to  join  wiih 
Mr.  Peters  in  the  choice  of  some  neighboring  elders 
to  assist  in  the  ordination. 

Mr.  John  Berry,  Lieutenant  Thomas  Fuller  and 
Joseph  Wright  composed  the  committee. 

"  Voted,  to  support  the  charges  of  ordination  by  a  free  contribution. 
Voted,  to  raise  seven  shillinfjs  upon  single  votes  to  a  hundred-pound  vote. 
Mr.  Peters'  salary  was  a  hundred  pounds  per  year  in  province  bills  or 
passable  money  so  long  as  he  should  continue  his  work  among  us,  and 
that  his  salary  shall  rise  or  fall  as  money  shall." 

The  town  met  again  the  23d  of  October  (1729),  and 
chose  David  Kenney  moderator ;  Francis  Eliott,  Sar- 
geant  Jonathan  Fuller,  Isaac  Wilkins  and  Daniel 
Kenney  to  receive  both  money  and  provisions  for  the 
ordination  ;  the  house  of  Jonathan  Fuller  appointed 
for  entertainment  of  ministers  and  messengers,  and 
the  house  of  Francis  Eliott  for  the  scholars. 

The  next  thing  in  order  was  to  form  a  church. 
This  took  place  October  22,  1729,  with  fifty-two 
members;  eleven  more  were  added  the  following 
year.  From  this  we  judge  the  population  to  have 
been  about  four  hundred  or  four  hundred  and  fifty. 
The  November  26th  following,  Rev.  Andrew  Peters, 
a  graduate  of  Harvard  College,  and  son  of  Samuel 
Peters,  of  Andover,  was  settled  as  minister,  and  Dan- 
iel Towne  as  schoolmaster. 


934 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Of  those  who  formed  the  church,  twenty-five  came 
from  Salem  Village,  nine  from  Topsfield  and  eleven 
from  Boxford. 

The  ordination  of  a  minister,  which  was  for  life, 
was  a  great  event  in  those  day?.  From  all  the  towns 
around  they  flocked  to  Middleton  for  a  feast ;  all 
doors  were  opened,  and  tables  loaded  with  the  best  of 
good  things,  and  it  was  not  an  uncommon  thing  for 
individuals  to  boast  that  they  had  called  at  every 
hou>e  on  the  way  home,  and  took  something  to  eat  or 
drink  at  each,  and  in  some  cases  they  rested  on  the 
way  till  their  stomachs  were  relieved  of  its  unwonted 
burden. 

As  near  as  can  be  ascertained,  the  ordination  took 
place  on  the  26th  day  of  November,  1729.  Mr.  Pe- 
ters was  then  twenty-nine  years  of  age.  He  remained 
twenty-seven  years.  He  was  a  devoted  minister,  and 
the  church  prospered  under  his  ministry.  He  died 
October  6,  1756,  aged  fifty-five  years.  His  remains 
were  interred  in  the  Fuller  burying-ground,  and  a 
stone  marks  his  last  resting-place-  For  nearly  five 
years  before  his  death  he  was  unable  to  supply  the 
pulpit  from  sickness.  What  his  complaints  were  we 
have  not  learned.  Very  little  is  recorded  of  his  wife 
Hannah;  her  name  is  not  found  on  the  church 
records.  Mr.  Peters  w'as  of  a  very  social  nature,  and 
perhaps  a  little  eccentric. 

It  is  said  that  Mr.  Peters  had  a  negro  servant  that 
drove  his  muster's  cows  to  pasture  up  by  the  pond, 
and  at  that  time  the  road  went  round  by  the  old 
Timothy  Fuller  house  (now  standing  by  the  grave- 
yard). Fuller  was  rather  a  lawless  man,  and  often 
loved  to  bother  people,  especially  thise  whom  he 
could  intimidate.  The  negro  complained  to  his  mas- 
ter of  these  insults,  and  forthwith  Mr.  Peters  under- 
took to  drive  the  cows,  and  he  found  the  hectorer  of 
his  negro  and  expostulated  with  him,  but  without  sat- 
isfaction. Then  Mr.  Peters  took  off  his  coat  and  laid 
it  upon  a  stump,  saying,  "  Lay  there  divinity,  while  I 
whip  a  rascal,"  and  gave  him  a  sound  thrashing.  At 
another  time,  Avhen  looking  after  his  cattle  near 
Will's  Hill,  he  entered  the  hut  of  old  Willis,  the  In- 
dian (the  last  of  his  race  in  town),  and  his  squaw 
asked  him  to  take  dinner  with  her.  He  first  asked 
what  she  had ;  she  answered,  "  Skunk."  Well,  he 
thought  he  would  not  stop  then,  but  perhaps  some 
other  time  would.  Not  long  after  he  again  found 
himself  under  the  cover  of  her  tent  or  shanty,  and, 
knowing  that  he  loved  eels,  she  had  prepared  a  most 
tempting  dish,  which  he  did  not  decline,  and  ate 
heartily  ;  after  which  the  old,  cunning  squaw  came  to 
his  side  and  said, — "  You  say  you  no  eat  skunk,  but 
you  eat  rattlesnake,"  and  so  he  had,  but  without  any 
harm,  as  all  Indians  know  they  are  good  eating. 

Mr.  Peters  was  born  near  the  old  North  meeting- 
house, and  the  cellar  of  his  old  home  is  now  visible, 
and  still  in  the  Peters  possession  up  to  a  late  death. 
Mr.  Peters  bought  the  Dr.  Daniel  Felch  place,  took 
down  the  house,  and   built  a  new   one  back  of  the 


meeting-house,  which  was  taken  down  about  fifty  years 
since;    cellar  now  seen. 

We  will  now  follow  the  succession  of  pastors  and 
the  ecclesiastical  history  up  to  the  present  time. 

After  the  death  of  Mr.  Peters,  for  nearly  three 
years  several  votes  were  passed  by  the  town  to  supply 
the  pulpit  with  some  young  gentleman  from  month  to 
month  (Dana,  Brown  and  others  preached  in  turns); 
and  finally  gave  a  call  to  Rev.  Elias  Smith  (I  think 
he  was  from  Baintree;  not  sure).  Mr.  Smith  was 
then  thirty  years  of  age,  and  was  a  graduate  of  Har- 
vard College  and  a  successful  pastor.  He  was  settled 
January  10,  1759. 

We  notice  a  vote  passed  to  give  Mr.  Smith  one 
hundred  and  sixty  pounds  lawful  money  for  his  settle- 
ment (a  sort  of  bonus  in  those  days),  and  then  voted 
sixty-five  pounds,  thirteen  shillings  and  four  pence 
for  his  salary ;  and  at  a  subsequent  meeting  the  town 
voted  thirteen  shillings,  and  another  meeting  soon 
after  thirteen  shillings  more;  and,  to  add  more  at- 
tractiveness to  the  old  meeting-house,  voted  two 
pounds  for  repairs,  and  this  clinched  the  bargain,  and 
the  ordination  went  on,  and  money  was  voted  to  be 
taken  out  of  the  town  treasury  to  pay  its  expenses. 

Mr.  Smith  once  had  a  call  from  Marblehead,  which 
he  refused,  saying, — "  I  would  not  leave  my  little 
flock  in  Middleton  for  all  Marblehead."  He  was  one 
of  the  trustees  of  Philips  Academy,  and  so  remained 
till  his  death,  which  took  place  October  17,  1791, 
aged  sixty-one  years.  His  was  a  ministry  of  nearly 
thirty-three  years.  His  remains  were  placed  in  the 
tomb  near  his  house. ^  Two  of  his  daughters  were 
school-teachers,  and  one  of  them  taught  in  the  old 
Fuller  house,  which  stood  a  little  south  of  the  house 
now  occupied  by  Jeremiah  Fuller,  referred  to  before. 

Rev.  Elias  Smith  owned  the  farm  which  belonged 
to  the  late  Abijah  Fuller,  but  his  house  was  moved 
about  sixty  years  ago  to  the  turnpike  road,  and  now 
owned  by  George  A.  Currier.  This,  however,  is  but 
half  of  the  house;  the  other  half  was  the  same  size, 
and  stood  at  right  angles  with  the  othei',  one  facing 
south,  the  other  west.  Timothy  Fuller  owned  a  mill 
just  below  Smith's  farm  (the  old  dam  is  yet  visible), 
which  flowed  the  meadow  in  front  of  his  house.  Few 
men  dared  to  tackle  Fuller  in  the  law,  as  he  was 
almost  always  successful,  and  he  was  very  often  in 
the  law,  in  which  he  had  plenty  of  money  to  spend  to 
gratify  his  overbearing  spirit.  But  Mr.  Smith  beat 
him  this  time,  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  the  people. 
Smith  employed  as  counsel  John  Adams.  Probably 
this  trial  took  place  before  Adams  was  President  of 
the  United  States. 

Perhaps  it  would  be  well  here  to  state  that  it  was 
the  practice  in  those  early  times  in  New  England  to 
seat  the  meeting-house  (so-called)  once  in  a  year  ;  or 

1  This  tomb  was  built  about  a  century  ago  by  Captain  Joseiili  Peabody, 
of  Salem  (tlie  millionaire),  and  Mr.  Smith  in  company.  Peabody  mar- 
ried two  of  Smith's  daughters,  whose  remains  rest  in  the  tomb  with  their 
father. 


MIDDLETON. 


935 


twice,  at  most.  While  the  wall  pews  extended  all 
around  the  house,  and  were  sold  to  some  of  the  first 
families  in  town  (and  occupied  by  their  descendants 
till  since  the  remembrance  of  the  writer),  the  body 
of  the  house  contained  seats,  and  a  committee  was 
chosen  to  seat  the  meeting-house.  First,  regard  was 
had  for  old  age,  and  they  were  probably  seated  up 
towards  the  pulpit.  Next  in  order  were  those  who 
paid  the  highest  rates.  The  question  as  to  who  was 
the  richest,  and,  by  good  rights,  deserved  the  higher 
seat,  when  so  little  care  was  taken  in  assessing  taxes, 
for  which  no  compensation  was  made  (till  within  six- 
ty years),  was  a  most  difficult  question,  and  many 
were  dissatisfied  ;  and  on  some  dark  and  stormy  night 
the  seats  were  all  torn  down,  and  so  found  on  the  fol- 
lowing Sabbath  morning.  Says  an  old  lady  (who  first 
entered  the  church  on  Sunday  morning  and  the  first 
to  discover  the  wanton  act),  "  If  judgment  begin  at 
the  house  of  God  what  will  the  end  be  ?  "  The  town 
met  and  voted  to  build  them  up  ;  again  they  came 
down  ;  now  they  voted  to  build  them  up,  and  if  they 
come  down  again,  each  man  should  build  up  his  own 
seat.     After  this  they  stood  till  1802. 

After  the  death  of  Mr.  Smith,  the  town  hired,  from 
month  to  month,  preachers  till  October  23,  1793, 
when  they  settled  Rev.  Solomon  Adams,  a  graduate 
of  Harvard  College,  who  remained  twenty  years.  He 
died  September  4,  1813,  aged  fifty-two  years.  His 
remains  rest  in  the  tomb  with  his  predecessor,  and 
the  last  of  our  ministers,  whose  remains  are  found 
among  the  people  of  their  charge. 

The  health  of  Mr.  Adams  failed  some  few  years  be- 
fore he  gave  up  preaching,  and  with  great  difficulty 
be  ascended  the  high  pulpit,  by  reason  of  a  palsy 
shock,  and  an  extra  rail  was  spiked  on  to  the  great 
protruding  timbers  near  the  pulpit  to  raise  himself  up 
step  by  step.  He  would  often  forget  the  order  of  ex- 
ercises, and  put  the  singing  in  where  it  did  not  be- 
long. During  this  time  Deacon  Benjamin  Peabody 
(brother  of  old  Captain  Joseph,  the  millionaire  of 
Salem)  would  read  a  sermon  while  Mr.  Adams  would 
offer  the  prayers  and,  with  the  help  of  Peabody, 
would  conduct  the  other  exercises. 

Adams  owned  the  farm  of  his  predecessor,  which, 
•with  school-teaching  and  his  little  salary,  gave  him  a 
comfortable  support. 

"  There  is  an  intention  of  marriage,  entered  with  me,  between  the 
Eev.  Solomon  Adams,  of  Middleton,  and  Miss  Abigail  Fiske,  of  Walt- 
ham,  July  14th,  1794:. 

"Benjamin  Peabodt,  Town  Clerk.'''' 

Mrs.  Adams  and  her  young  family  the  writer  well 
remembers ;  their  pew  in  the  church  was  the  first  at 
the  foot  of  the  pulpit  stairs,  which  was  at  its  right- 
hand  side.  Some  ten  years  after  Mr.  Adams'  death 
the  widow  sold  the  farm  to  Mr.  Abijah  Fuller  (a  de- 
scendant of  the  first  Thomas  who  had  located  on  this 
very  site  one  hundred  and  sixty-one  years  before), 
who  took  down  half  of  the  old  house  and  sold  the 
other  half  to  be  moved  to  the  turnpike,   as  before 


mentioned,  and  built  the  house  now  standing,  owned 
by  Charles  O.  Frost.  Mrs.  Adams,  in  conveying  the 
house  and  farm  to  Fuller,  sold  also  the  old  eight-day 
clock,  supposed  to  have  been  bought  by  Adams  soon 
after  his  marriage.  This  clock  remained  in  the  fam- 
ily till  after  Mr.  Fuller's  death,  when  Mr.  Edward 
Page,  of  Boston  (who  married  a  daughter  of  Rev. 
Solomon  Adams,  of  Boston,  and  granddaughter  of 
the  old  minister),  and  moved  the  clock  to  Boston, 
where  it  now  gives  the  correct  time,  as  it  did  nearly  a 
a  century  ago. 

Then  again  the  town  was  without  a  minister  about 
three  years,  when  Rev.  Ebenezer  Hubbard  was  set- 
tled November  27, 1816,  and  dismissed  April  30, 1828, 
— he  remained  twelve  years.  His  salary  was  five 
hundred  dollars.  He  owned  a  farm  near  the  church, 
now  the  Richardson  place.  Mr.  Hubbard  was  a  very 
pleasant  speaker,  and  gave  great  satisfaction,  espe- 
cially to  those  who  liked  liberal  views  of  Christian 
doctrines.  Long  sermons  were  listened  to  by  a  full 
house,  discontented  ones  who  had  signed  to  other 
places  of  worship  out  of  town  (for,  by  the  law  then,  all 
all  must  pay  a  minister  tax  somewhere),  came  back, 
and  there  was  a  great  show  of  prosperity  outwardly, 
but  soon  the  storm  came,  by  the  unwise  speeches  and 
words  dropped  by  Mr.  Hubbard,  a  meeting  was 
called,  and,  as  Mr.  Hubbard  was  settled  for  life  (and 
the  last  of  our  ministers  so  settled),  they  voted  him 
five  hundred  dollars  to  relinquish  the  bargain  between 
them. 

We  well  remember  his  farewell  discourse,  in  which 
he  said  "  you  would  have  plucked  out  your  own  eyes 
and  have  given  them  to  me,  but  now  you  are  offended 
because  I  have  told  you  the  truth." 

Mr.  Hubbard  was  born  in  Marblehead,  and  a  grad- 
uate of  Harvard  College  of  the  class  of  1805.  He 
resided  for  some  time  in  Ipswich,  had  a  call  from 
Boxford  in  1808,  which  he  refused  on  account  of  in- 
sufficient salary  being  offered,  and  subsequently  set- 
tled in  West  Newbury  in  1811.  After  leaving  Mid- 
dleton he  was  settled  in  Lunenburgh,  Mass.,  and  re- 
mained but  a  few  years.  He  made  the  last  call  on  us 
in  Middleton  in  the  spring  of  1835.  He  had  an  in- 
teresting wife  and  family.  While  here  he  lost  a  son 
about  fourteen  years  of  age,  whose  remains  were  laid 
in  the  old  tomb,  with  the  consent  of  old  Captain 
Peabody  ;  and  when  the  latter's  widow  died,  a  few 
years  ago,  at  an  advanced  age,  and.  by  her  son 
George,  her  remains  were  brought  to  this  tomb  as  the 
last  to  be  laid  therein  (before  the  last  great  slab  was 
to  cover  it  forever),  the  body  of  Mr.  Hubbard's 
child  was  discovered,  and  great  inquiry  was  made  as 
to  who  it  was,  this  inquiry  was  soon  settled  by  the 
writer,  as  this  young  man  was  an  intimate  friend  of 
his. 

Then  for  the  fourth  time  the  three  years  again 
elapsed  before  the  call  was  given  to  Rev.  Forrest 
Jefferds,  in  1831.  Meanwhile,  students  from  An- 
dover,  and   a  Rev.  Mr.  Farley  and  others,  had  sup- 


936 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


plied  the  pulpit,  and  but  little  interest  was  taken  iu 
religious  matters,  except  by  a  few  who  had,  with  the 
Andover  students,  re-established  the  Sabbath-school, 
we  say  re-established,  because  Solomon  Adams,  son  of 
the  old  minister,  had  started  the  school  as  early  as 
1819,  but  it  was  soon  run  down  when  he  and  David 
Eussell,  its  main  supports,  left  town. 

This  call,  however,  was  subsequently  voted  down 
by  one  majority  (after  one  or  two  meetings  of  tie 
votes)  of  those  who  desired  unevangelical  preaching. 
When  the  last  vote  was  made  known,  Deacon  Joseph 
Peabody  said,  "Those  of  you  who  approve  of  such 
preaching  as  we  have  had  for  the  last  four  Sab- 
baths, please  to  withdraw  to  the  southeast  corner 
of  the  house,"  and  leading  the  way,  they  then  and 
there  resolved  to  leave  the  house  of  worship  occupied 
by  them  and  their  fathers  a  hundred  years.  Till 
within  a  few  years  the  house  had  no  warming  appar- 
atus ;  now  the  stove.  Sabbath-school  library,  church 
furniture  and  the  old  tankards  and  cups,  together  with 
the  church  funds  and  even  the  church  records  must 
be  given  up.  The  records  were  subsequently  return- 
ed, though  not  for  twenty  years,  and  after  the  death 
of  one  of  the  two  male  members  who  did  not  go  with 
the  church.  There  were  only  four  of  the  church 
members  left  behind.  Such  fidelity  in  bearing  testi- 
mony to  the  truth,  as  shown  by  these  now  outcasts, 
was  a  wonder  after  such  unevangelical  doctrines  had 
been  preached  by  the  two  last  settled  pastors.  Such 
occurrences,  however,  took  place  in  a  large  number  of 
towns  in  New  England  about  the  same  time. 

Those  few  left  behind  soon  died ;  none  were  even 
added  to  their  number ;  the  parisli  held  now  and 
then  a  meeting  on  the  Sabbath  ;  never  organized  a 
Sabbath-school,  or  held  a  meeting,  and  subsequently 
passed  a  vote  calling  themselves  the  First  Universal- 
ist  Society,  by  which  name  they  now  are  known.  The 
old  house  stood  some  fifteen  years  longer  and  became 
very  dilapidated,  and  was  sold  to  the  writer  for  sixty 
dollars  and  taken  down  and  sold  for  fire-wood.  A  few 
of  its  boards  and  timbers  are  still  preserved  as  relics. 

This  was  the  saddest  day  the  Church  had  ever 
seen.  They  hired  the  Centre  school-house  for  a  place 
of  worship.  Mr.  JefFerds  cast  in  his  lot  with 
them,  and  was  settled  May  2d,  1832.  The  same 
year  the  new  meeting-house  was  built  ;  the  builder 
was  Jacob  Dodge  Wenham,  (which  is  now  occupied 
as  a  dwelling-house  by  Mr.  Samuel  Peabody,  son  of 
Joseph,  before  mentioned),  costing  two  thousand 
dollars,  of  which  only  about  seven  hundred  dollars 
could  be  raised  on  account  of  the  poverty  of  the 
people.  The  balance  was  given  by  outside  parties, 
through  the  intercession  of  Mr.  Washington  Berry, 
(God  bless  their  memories),  whose  sympathies  were 
enlisted  in  our  behalf,  and  for  many  years  the  Home 
Missionary  Society  aided  us  in  the  sum  of  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars  per  year.  In  twenty-eight  years 
the  society  had  not  only  become  self-supporting,  but 
had   out-grown   their   house   of   worship,    purchased 


the  land  on  which  the  ancient  church  had  stood,  and 
erected  the  present  beautiful  place  of  worship,  and 
thus,  after  an  exile  of  twenty-eight  years  returned  to 
the  spot  once  dedicated  by  their  ancestors  to  the 
worship  of  God. 

Mr.  Jefferds  was  dismissed  May  15th,  1844,  and 
died  a  few  years  since,  in  South  Boston,  about  75 
years  of  age.  Mr.  Jefferds  was  a  most  faithful  pastor, 
proclaiming  the  doctrine  of  evangelical  truth  with- 
out fear  of  man  and  church  discipline  was  kept  up 
by  him,  without  which,  little  good  can  be  expected 
of  its  influence.  Mr.  Jefferds  spent  the  best  of  his 
days  here  and  laid  well  the  foundations  under  which 
we  have  prospered.  His  memory  should  ever  be  held 
by  this  people  in  grateful  remembrance. 

Mr.  Jefferds  was  settled  in  Epping,  N.  H.,  before 
coming  to  Middleton.  He  married  President  William 
Stearns'  sister,  by  whom  he  had  a  very  large  family 
of  children. 

Rev.  Thurston  Searle  settled  May  8,  1845;  dis- 
missed December  23,  1846.  Mr.  Searle  married  a 
daughter  of  Colonel  Jesse  Putnam,  of  Danvers, 
Mass.,  and  died  in  that  town  a  few  years  since. 

Rev.  J.  Augustin  Hood,  ordained  January  2,  1850  ; 
dismissed  May  17,  1854.  Mr.  Hood  was  son  of  Rev. 
Jacob  Hood,  Avho  died  a  few  weeks  since  in  Lynn- 
field,  Mass.,  aged  ninety-four  years. 

Rev.  A.  H.  Johnson,  ordained  January  1,  1857  ;  dis- 
missed April  5,  1865.  Mr.  Johnson  is  now  a  prac- 
ticing physician  in  Salem,  Mass. 

Rev^  James  M.  Hubbard,  installed  April  8,  18G5 ; 
resigned  December  28,  1868.  The  same  council  that 
dismissed  Mr.  Johnson  settled  Mr.  Hubbard. 

Rev.  Lucien  H.  Frary,  ordained  October  7,  1869; 
dismissed  March  16,  1875.  Mr.  Frary  went  from 
here  to  Weymouth,  and  is  now  settled  over  a  large 
and  flourishing  society.  Mr.  Frary  is  a  very  interest- 
ing preacher,  and  commanded  a  larger  salary  than 
this  people  could  pay.  The  church  and  society  pros- 
pered under  his  ministry. 

A  sad  event  took  place  just  before  Mr.  Frary  left, 
which  was  the  partial  burning  of  the  church  by  an 
incendiary.  A  fire  was  kindled,  as  is  supposed,  in  a 
cabinet  organ  standing  at  the  right  of  the  jjulpit, 
which  spread  to  the  adjoining  pews,  twelve  of  which 
were  consumed  ;  and  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  woolen 
carpet,  the  fire  would  have  spread  all  over  the  house. 
When  discovered  the  blaze  reached  the  plastering 
overhead,  and  so  great  was  the  heat  that  all  the  paint, 
even  to  the  entry,  was  blistered,  and  the  desk,  table, 
chairs  and  the  organ  in  the  gallery,  that  cost  some 
five  hundred  dollars,  was  destroyed.  The  damage 
was  about  two  thousand  dollars. 

This  fire  was  discovered  Saturday  morning  after 
Thanksgiving,  1873,  about  half-past  six  o'clock,  by 
Benjamin  Parker,  who  was  at  that  time  on  his  way  to 
work  at  J.  B.  Thomas'  box-mill.  It  is  thought  that 
in  less  than  ten  minutes  more  the  heat  was  so 
great  that  the  flames  would  have  flashed  all  over  the 


MIDDLETON. 


937 


house.  The  house  was  closed  tight ;  otherwise  it 
would  certainly  have  been  burned. 

After  Mr.  Frary  left  several  candidates  preached, 
among  them  Kingsly  F.  Norris,  of  New  York,  who 
received  a  call  which  he  declined,  it  being  his  inten- 
tion to  go  West. 

Rev.  A.  H.  Tyler  was  settled  October  24,  1877 ;  dis- 
missed April  29,  1880. 

For  the  last  three  years  the  pulpit  has  been  sup- 
plied by  Rev.  S.  K.  B.  Perkins,  who  is  a  scholarly 
preacher  and  faithful,  devoted  pastor.  Mr.  Perkins  ' 
was  born  in  Braintree,  Mass.,  where  his  father,  Rev. 
Jonas  Perkins,  was  pastor  for  more  than  forty-five 
years  over  the  same  church  where  Mr.  Frary  is  now 
settled. 

The  present  house  of  worship  was  erected  in  1859 
by  Abel  Preston,  of  Peabody,  Mass. ;  cost  about  five 
thousand  dollars.  Building  committee,  Wm.  A. 
Phelps,  David  Stiles  and  Francis  P.  Merriam. 


LIST   OF 

DEACONS. 

1729. 

John  Berry. 

1820. 

Joseph  Symonds. 

Sanmel  Syiiionds. 

1821. 

Joseph  Peal)ody. 

1738. 

Edward  Putnam,  Jr. 

1829. 

David  S.  Wilkins. 

1749. 

Samuel  Nichols. 

1831. 

David  Stiles,  Sr. 

1756. 

Francis  Peabody,  Jr. 

1840. 

Allen  Berry. 

1778. 

John  Flint. 

1859. 

William  A.  Phelps. 

1780. 

Samuel  Symonds. 

18G8. 

James  N.  Merriam. 

1794. 

Benjamin  Peabody. 
John  Nichols. 

1874. 

Edward  W.  Wilkins 

About  eight  years  since  a  Methodist  Society  started 
here,  built  a  neat  chapel,  and  are  now  in  a  flourishing 
condition.  A  new  house  of  worship  has  also  been 
erected  by  the  Universalist  Society. 

We  will  now  resume  the  civil  history.  The  first 
town  clerk  was  Mr.  Edward  Putnam,  son  of  first 
deacon  of  Salem  village,  and  lived  near  the  Craw- 
ford house,  the  site  of  which  was  his  father's  house. 
This  son  Edward's  house  came  within  the  new  town, 
which  stood  just  a  little  down  the  hill,  south  of  Mr. 
J.  J.  H.  Gregory's  present  farm-house. 

The  first  selectmen  were,  Thomas  Fuller,  Thomas 
Robinson,  John  Nichols,  Samuel  Symonds  and 
Edward  Putnam. 

The  second  pew  from  the  front  door  on  the  west 
side,  was  sold  to  Joseph  Fuller,  for  ten  pounds  more 
than  what  he  hath  recently  done,  (this  Joseph  was 
the  grandson  of  Thomas),  and  his  descendants 
occupied  this  pew,  so  long  as  it  was  used  as  a  place 
of  worship. 

Soon  after  incorporation  the  town  was  fined  for 
not  maintaining  a  public-school. 

"specimen  of  town  orders. 

"Mr.  Robert  Bradford  (Bradford  lived  on  the  Maj.  Elias  Wilkins 
place,  east  side),  Sir,  pies  to  pay  unto  .Joseph  Symonds  two  pounds  eight 
shillings,  it  being  for  Miss  Betsey  Bixby,  keeping  School  thx'ee  weeks, 
and  charge  tlie  same  to  tlie  town. 

"MiDDLETON,  January  ye  third  day,  1772. 

"  .\ndrew  Fuller,  Joseph  Symonds,  Archlaus  Fuller,  Selectmen.  An. 
drew  Fuller  was  called  Capt.,  and  built  the  house  near  the  church  in 
1775,  and  also  the  same  ye^r  built  the  Porter  Gould  house,  for  his  soni 

1  The  home  of  the  Perkins  family  was  Ipswich,  Mass. 

59^ 


David.      Archlaus   Fuller,   grandfather  of  Jeremiah  Fuller  now  occu- 
pies the  old  house  of  his  ancestoi's." 

1732, — There  was  a  long  and  bitter  contest  in 
regard  to  the  common  lands  with  Salem  village  peo- 
ple, and  General  Court  was  appealed  to.  These 
lands  lay  along  Nichols  Brook,  called  Stickey 
meadows,  (a  proper  name  certainly).  Afterwards  this 
territory  was  called  the  disputed  lands  between 
Topsfield  and  Middleton,  and  so  laid  down  in  maps. 
Notwithstanding  our  charter  laid  the  bounds  by  the 
northerly  branch  of  said  brook,  yet  as  it  could  not 
be  found,  and  that  the  other  branches  had  been  cut 
out  as  a  nearer  course  to  the  river,  to  drain  the 
meidows,  many  years  before,  had  caused  the 
northerly  branch  to  grow  over  in  bushes  and  nearly 
obliterated ;  but  finally  traced  out,  and  the  heap 
of  stones  found  on  the  meadow  completely  covered 
with  soil,  that  was  placed  there  by  those  who  run 
the  line  probably  two  years  before  the  act  of  incor- 
poration was  passed. 

In  the  early  settlement  of  this  place,  the  high- 
ways were  not  fenced,  and  gates  or  bars  to  be  opened 
or  taken  away  and  again  replaced  on  going  through 
every  man's  farm.  They  however  were  to  be  in  good 
condition.  The  roads  were  not  only  crooked,  but 
in  many  places  dangerous  to  travel,  and  so  narrow 
in  raised  places  that  it  was  often  with  great  diffi- 
culty that  teams  passed  each  other. 

Soon  after  incorporation,  alewives  were  taken 
from  Cochitwick  Brook,  Andover,  and  placed  in 
Middleton  pond  ;  then  again  in  1764,  and  at  several 
times  subsequently  till  within  a  few  years,  all  to  little 
purpose ;  and  black-bass  at  last,  of  which  few  of  the 
people  who  paid  for  the  operation  have  ever  seen 
one. 

A  clerk  of  market  for  many  years  was  annually 
chosen,  and  a  vote  passed  each  year,  whether  the 
hogs  should  go  at  large,  if  well  yoked  and  ringed ; 
this  vote  came  up  at  March  meeting  till  1814. 

Also  "  the  chooseing  of  a  man  to  take  care  of  ye 
Deer,  and  see  that  they  were  not  killed  in  an  impro- 
per time."  Mark  Howe  filled  this  office  several 
years.  He  was  the  father  of  Esquire  Asa,  who  was 
grandfather  of  Mr.  Asa  Howe,  now  living  on  the 
same  farm,  and  in  the  same  house. 

1736. — Another  specimen  showing  the  condition 
of  the  old  church. 

"To  seee  if  the  town  will  grant  ye  petition  of  Hannah  Nichols,  wife 
of  Joseph  Nichols,  and  Abigail  Burton,  wife  of  John  Burton,  Jr.,  to 
build  a  back  pew  over  the  womans  stairs  from  ye  womans  back  seet  in 
the  front  gallery  to  ye  east  corner  of  ye  meeting-house  and  from  thence 
to  ye  womans  sets  in  the  east  gallery"  (same  meeting),  "3d  to  see  if  ye 
town  will  grant  tlie  petition  of  Joseph  Wilkins  and  Ebenezer  Nichols 
for  their  two  daughters,  viz.:  Mary  Wilkins,  and  Keziah  Nichols,  and 
others  with  them  to  build  a  back  seat  in  ye  east  gallery  of  our  meeting- 
house." 

1739. — Two  men  were  sent  to  Boston  to  present 
a  petition  to  General  Court,  to  get  a  grant  passed 
to  abate  a  fine  imposed  for  not  sending  a  repre- 
sentative. 


938 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Till  within  almost  eighty  years  the  expense  of  a 
representative  to  General  Court  wa-t  borne  by  the 
towns,  and  for  eleveji  years  after  incorporation  voted 
not  to  send  every  year,  and  only  five  times  in  the 
first  sixty  years.  Timothy  Fuller  three  times,  and 
Archalaus  Fuller  twice.  Subsequently  Dr.  David 
Fuller  offered  his  services  gratuitous  at  an  informal 
town  meeting,  the  Court  refused  him  a  seat,  and 
afterwards  the  town  called  a  meeting  and  disowned 
him  as  its  representative.  Dr.  Fuller  lived  on  the 
B.  P.  Richardson  farm. 

1740. — "To  see  if  ye  town  will  vote  Land-Bank 
money,  to  pay  town  rates,"  and  was  unanimously 
passed,  "  that  Land-Bank  money  or  manufactory 
bills  should  pay  the  town  rates  for  time  to  come," 
was  also  passed. 

In  the  scarcity  of  money  in  those  days,  this  scheme 
to  make  paper  money  was  devised  by  leading 
wealthy  men  in  nearly  all  parts  of  the  State,  one 
of  whom  lived  in  Worcester.  Cornet  Francis  Pea- 
body  of  this  town,  a  wealthy  man,  and  of  much 
influence  in  the  county,  entered  deeply  into  it, 
and  pledged  his  property  to  defend  it,  and  the 
scheme  went  so  far  that  Parliament  had  to  take 
notice  of  it  and  pronounced  the  scheme  unlawful, 
and  in  the  name  of  the  Crown  they  were  all  pro- 
secuted, were  heavily  fined,  and  made  to  redeem 
every  particle  of  it. 

"  Cornet "  stood  for  "  Captain  of  the  troop  of 
Horse;"  for  the  county,  and  the  original  commis- 
sion issued  by  the  ofiicers  of  the  Crowe  of  England 
are  still  in  existence. 

1744. — "  Voted  Eev.  Andrew  Peters  fifty-three 
pounds,  six  shillings  and  eight  pence  lawful  money 
for  his  salary  this  present  year." 

1745. — "  Isaac  Wilkins  and  Timothy  Fuller  chosen 
to  keep  the  way  clear  for  fish  to  pass  to  the  great 
pond." 

1749. — Ezra  Putnam  was  given  liberty  to  cut  a 
window  in  the  back  part  of  his  pew  on  his  own  charge 
and  cost. 

1750. — "  Voted  to  pay  Asa  Foster,  of  Andover, 
twenty  pounds  lawful  money  if  he  would  keep  the 
long  cassway  in  good  repair,  that  it  may  be  good 
passing  at  all  times  in  the  year  for  twenty  years  to 
come."  This  was  Foster's  ofler,  because,  in  his  route 
to  Salem,  he  had  either  to  turn  ofi'  and  go  by  Emer- 
sen's  Mill,  or  turn  to  the  left  and  pass  over  at  the 
outlet  of  Pout  Pond,  and  go  out  by  the  Eoger 
Eliott's  place,  thence  over  to  John  King's  place  and 
thence  to  Indian  Bridge.  Four  years  before  the  town 
had  voted  to  discontinue  this  crossing,  and  an  appeal 
had  been  made  to  the  county  for  help,  and  even  a 
lottery  scheme  was  asked  for  from  the  State,  to  raise 
funds  to  fill  up  this  sunken  vale,  and  not  till  1808 
was  it  safe  at  "  all  times  of  the  year  "  for  public  trav- 
el. In  building  the  railroad  across  these  meadows 
one  morning  it  was  found  that  during  the  night  the 
road,  which  was  ^early  fitted  for  the  rails,  had  gone 


down  out  of  sight.  As  early  as  1688  the  people  of 
Andover  had  petitioned  court  to  fill  up  this  swamp 
as  the  diverging  roads,  before  named,  were  hilly  and 
rocky  at  that  time,  and  for  many  years  subsequently 
the  crossway  hill  was  avoided  by  a  road  east  of  it 
now  seen. 

1752. — "Isaac  Kenney  and  Andrew  Fuller  were 
chosen  to  go  to  ye  General  Court  held  at  Concord 
with  a  petition  to  get  ye  town  in  a  regular  way  or 
method  by  reason  of  the  warrants  granted  by  the  se- 
lectmen have  been  deficient  in  time  past." 

1755. — "  Voted  to  raise  forty  pounds  lawful  money 
in  raising  the  long  cassway  with  timber  and  gravel." 

1756. — "  Voted  to  supply  the  pulpits  of  those  min- 
isters who  were  bearers  at  Mr.  Peters'  funeral." 

1757. — "  Rev.  Mr.  Ames  preached  part  of  the  year 
also  Mr.  Dana  one  month,  and  tried  to  settle  him  on 
a  salary  of  sixty  pounds  a  year." 

1758. — December  7th  "  Voted  to  pay  charges  of  or- 
dination, also  charges  for  ministers,  messengers  and 
gentlemen  to  dine  "  (Mr.  Smith's  ordination). 

1759. — "  To  see  if  the  town  will  vote  to  have  Mr. 
Nathaniel  Peabody's  rates  abated,  that  is  to  say,  what 
he  was  rated  for  his  negro  servant," 

"  To  the  town  of  Middleton. 

"  Brethren — By  your  committee  I  am  informed  of  your  desire  that  I 
might  begin  my  salary  the  first  of  January,  which  I  now  tell  you  is 
very  agreeable  to  me,  and  then  there  can  be  no  difficulty  in  after  time 
relating  thereunto,  and  if  you  comply  I  expect  you  to  give  me  an  order 
upon  the  treasurer  for  eighty  two  pounds,  old  tenoi',  which  is  what  will 
be  due  to  that  time.  So,  brethren,  1  wish  you  peace  and  happiness  and 
that  you  will  not  forget  to  pray  for  your  unworthy  pastor, 

"  Elias  Smith. 

"  Middleton,  March  20,  1759  " 

1762. — "  Voted  to  repair  the  school-house  that 
stands  by  the  meeting-house,  provided  proper  papers 
be  given  of  the  house  to  the  town."  Said  house  was 
moved  to  Danvers  in  1819  by  John  Fuller. 

The  schools  were  often  kept  in  private  houses  or 
buildings  erected  by  individuals,  for  which  they  re- 
ceived a  small  income  besides  accommodating  their 
own  children  near  home,  and  do  some  work  while 
being  instructed,  as  at  an  early  age  they  were  required 
to  be  almost  self-supporting. 

1764. — "  At  a  vendue  at  John  Estys'  tavern  the 
town  sold  vacant  places  for  pews  in  the  west  end  of 
the  meeting-house  to  Captain  Andrew  Fuller  for  ten 
pounds  and  ten  shillings." 

1769. — Jonathan  Knight,  Benjamin  Peabody,  Jo- 
seph Symonds,  Eunice  Hobbs,  Elizabeth  Hobbs,  Sa- 
rah Fuller,  Phebe  Peabody,  Margaret  Peabody,  Sarah 
Russell,  Elizabeth  Peabody,  Mercy  Knight,  Susannah 
Wilkins,  Mary  Wilkins,  Rebecca  Holt  and  Lucy 
Kenney  were  appointed  to  say  how  the  seats  should 
be  moved  to  build  the  pew  as  mentioned  in  the  peti- 
tion of  Jonathan  Knight  and  others,  and  met  March 
13,  1770,  and  agreed  that  the  seats  should  be  moved 
to  the  pew  built  in  the  same  manner  as  they  are  done 
in  the  men's  gallery. 

1771. — "  Voted  to  give  liberty  tosundre  persons  be- 


MIDDLETON. 


939 


longing  in  towne  to  set  in  our  school-house  on  Sun- 
days between  meetings." 

1775. — "  Captain  Archealus  Fuller  was  chosen  to 
represent  the  town  in  the  Provincial  Congress  to  be 
liolden  at  Cambridge  Feb.  ye  first  day,  1775." 

Same  year,  on  account  of  the  oppressive  Post  Bill 
to  the  people  of  Boston,  the  people  met  at  Estys'  Tav- 
ern and  subscribed  for  their  relief.  Then  follows  the 
names  of  one  hundred  and  four  who  contributed  from 
four  pounds  ten  shillings  to  three  shillings  nine 
I)ence.  The  sum  total  exceeded  five  hundred  and 
sixty  pounds.  This  was  headed  by  Rev.  Elias  Smith, 
and  among  them  were  the  names  of  several  promi- 
nent ladies. 

The  killing  of  those  volunteer  farmers,  the  19th  of 
April,  by  the  order  of  the  British  commander,  pro- 
duced a  thrilling  effect  all  over  the  United  States. 
The  blood  of  the  patriots  was  stirred  as  never  before ; 
all  rushed  to  the  rescue  with  guns  or  no  guns,  and 
with  whatever  weapon  or  by  whatever  means  they 
were  intent  upon  driving  the  invaders  from  the  soil. 
As  the  news  reached  this  town,  old  Tim  Fuller  with 
his  characteristic  energy  and  bold  spirit  started  on 
his  old  white  horse  for  the  scene  of  action  ;  he  over- 
took the  army  on  the  retreat,  and  with  his  gun  blazed 
away  at  their  rear;  returning  a  short  distance  was 
furnished  with  a  fresh  loaded  gun,  then,  again,  put- 
ting spurs  to  his  horse  would  overtake  the  fast  re- 
treating army,  and  at  each  shot  would  produce  a 
startling  effect  in  their  ranks.  They  called  him 
death  upon  the  white  horse.  But  the  long  ride  and 
the  chafing  he  received  in  such  active  exhibitions, 
when  cooled  off  caused  such  a  soreness  that  he  walked 
home,  and  a  boy  from  Danvers,  who  was  there  by 
the  name  of  Daniel  Brown,  was  induced  to  take  the 
horse  home. 

Again,  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  the  old  man's 
blood  was  stirred  up,  and  mounting  his  old  mare  rode 
to  the  scene  of  action,  pushed  his  way  in  among  his 
countrymen  to  aid  them  in  the  fight.  How  many 
"  red-coats  "  he  killed  or  wounded  will  never  be 
known.  One  creature,  however,  bit  the  dust,  and  this 
time  it  was  his  old  mare. 

Mr.  Fuller's  widow  died  in  1824 ;  she  was  many 
years  younger  than  her  husband.  As  the  story  goes 
Mr.  Fuller  when  at  work  on  his  land,  near  where  the 
old  road  crosses  the  turnpike  at  Danvers  Centre, 
went  into  an  ordinary  (Tavern)  and  called  for  a  drink 
of  cider.  Mrs.  Smith  said  "  you  rock  the  cradle  while  I 
draw  the  cider."  "When  she  returned  Fuller  asked  for 
the  gift  of  the  child  ;  this  request  was  granted,  pro- 
vided he  would  wait  till  she  was  eighteen  years 
old.  True  to  his  promise  he  appeared  at  the  expira- 
tion of  the  time,  and  took  her  to  Middleton  and  ex- 
hibited her  before  his  forty  negroes  which  he  then 
owned,  little  and  great,  and  in  all  conditions,  and 
said  "  you  are  mistress  of  them  all."  "  What  can  I  do 
with  such  a  black,  dirty-looking  company  ?  "  The  an- 
swer came  quick  as  lightning,  "  get  one  nigger  to  lick 


another."  These  slaves  were  domiciled  in  the  house 
now  owned  by  Mr.  George  A.  Currier,  and  was  built 
in  1710.  Fuller  lived  in  the  gambrel-roof  house,  now 
standing  near  the  burying-ground.  We  have  no 
reason  to  doubt  the  above  statement.  The  dates 
upon  their  grave  stones  show  the  disparity  of  their 
ages. 

1776. — -A  company  of  Minute-Men  were  immed- 
iately formed,  and  the  town  voted  unanimously  "  if 
the  Continental  Congress  declares  Independence  upon 
the  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain,  that  we  the  inhabitants 
of  Middleton  solemnly  engage  with  our  lives  and 
fortunes  to  support  the  measure  so  far  as  we  are 
able." 

Colonel  Benjamin  Peabody  was  in  command  of  his 
company  at  West  Point,  and  assisted  in  laying  the 
second  cable,  the  first  having  been  broken.  This 
second  cable  was  made  in  the  form  of  a  clevis  instead 
of  welded  links  as  before. 

Col.  Peabody  was  a  leading  man  in  the  county,  and 
caused  the  widening  and  straightening  of  the  road 
between  the  present  village  and  Danvers  Plains,  in 
1811.  He  was  a  brother  of  Joseph,  the  merchant  of 
Salem  and  the  older  of  a  large  family ;  he  was  the 
son  of  Francis,  and  born  August  9,  1741. 

Dr.  Silas  Merriam,  of  Middleton,  married  his  sis- 
ter. 

Captain  Andrew  Fuller  was  an  officer,  and  his  son, 
John  Fuller,  also  served  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution. 
We  can  give  only  a  few  names  of  those  patriots,  in 
the  absence  of  the  muster  rolls  which  cannot  be 
found,  and  these  mostly  come  from  those,  now  living, 
who  have  heard  of  their  serving  from  their  own  lips. 
Samuel  Gould,  Robert  Picket,  Abner  Wilkins,  Jona- 
than Lemons,  David  Fuller  (sons  of  Andrew)  were 
taken  prisoners,  carried  to  England,  and  remained 
some  time  in  prison ;  Capt.  Andrew  died  in  the  year 
1802. 

One  man  when  he  heard  of  the  battle  of  Lexing- 
ton, was  on  his  way  to  Salem  with  a  load  of  wood ; 
he  immediately  threw  off  his  wood  and,  with  his  team 
started  for  home  in  great  haste,  stopj^ed  on  his  way 
at  Joshua  Wright's  blacksmith  shop,  (in  our  pre- 
sent village,  which  stood  just  north  of  Grothe's 
blacksmith  shop),  and  ordered  a  spear  and  hook 
combined,  made  to  use  against  the  invaders.  This 
circumstance  indicated  the  scarcity  of  fire-arms.  This 
man  lived  on  a  farm  now  owned  by  H.  A.  Stiles. 
When  he  arrived  home  his  wife  told  him  that  he 
had  more  courage  than  conduct,  and  bid  him  M'ait 
till  he  was  called  for.  What  became  of  the  savage 
weapon  he  had  ordered  we  never  knew.  Certainly 
if  it  had  ever  been  seen  in  his  home,  tradition  would 
have  made  it  known  to  us,  as  it  was,  the  fact  that 
two  of  his  family  went  to  the  war  and  had  died, 
and  when  the  procession  with  his  remains  were 
near  the  burying-ground  just  below  the  captain 
Ephraim  Fuller  house  they  met  the  other  soldier 
on  his  way  home  upon  a  litter  borne  on  the  should- 


940 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS 


ers  of  men.  He  lived  for  some  years,  but  had  so 
long  slept  on  the  ground  and  floors,  that  for  a  long 
time  he  would  not  sleep  on  a  feather-bed.'  This 
story  was  related  to  the  writer  more  than  sixty- 
five  years  since  by  an  aged  aunt.  An  old  French 
gun  of  the  best  make  was  a  few  years  since  in  the 
family,  and  had  been  for  many  years,  the  history 
of  which  if  known,  we  think  would  be  very  inter- 
esting. 

1777.— In  June 

"  The  town  made  prices  for  grain  of  all  kinds,  pi'oduce  and  merchan- 
dise of  every  kind,  for  days'  work,  prices  for  shoeing  horses,  tapping 
boots  and  shoes,  for  dinners,  supper  and  breakfast.  For  liquor  not  over 
one-fourth  part  water. 

"  By  order  of  the  Selectmen. 
"  Asa  Stiles,  Town  Clerk. 

"Stiles  lived  on  the  Upton  farm." 

In  war  time,  Washington  took  a  large  number 
of  prisoners,  and  eight  of  them  were  boarded  in 
this  town  as  their  portion.  By  some  reason  or  other 
one  of  them  by  the  name  of  Joshua  Daniels,  a 
Frenchman,  was  never  exchanged,  became  a  resident, 
lived  in  a  hut  a  little  east  of  the  house  of  John 
Smith ;  in  the  pasture  the  cellar  hole  is  now  seen. 
Daniels  was  a  weaver,  and  wove  twilled  cloth. 
The  art  was  then  unknown  by  the  girls  here,  and 
as  a  good  recommendation  for  house-keepers  they 
must  be  good  weavers,  and  young  girls  eagerly 
sought  to  acquire  all  they  could  in  this  line  of 
business. 

1779. — "  Voted  to  raise  Sogers  if  any  are  called  for, 
and  provisions  if  any  are  called  for." 

1780. — Now  they  vote  "  to  see  if  the  town  will 
procure  the  Beef  called  for  by  the  great  and  General 
Court,  or  pay  the  money  in  Lieu  of  said  Beef. 
Fourth  to  see  if  the  town  will  make  good  to  tlie 
committee  that  was  chosen  to  procure  the  Beef  that 
was  called  for  by  the  Court,  the  money  that  was 
condemned  to  be  counterfit." 

Among  the  state  papers  of  New  Hampshire  on 
the  muster  rolls  of  those  who  served,  in  1776,  are 
found  thirty-eight  pages  of  highly  interesting  diaries 
and  memoranda  of  Lieutenant  Jonathan  Burton,  of 
Wilton. 

Lewis  Burton  was  born  in  Middleton,  September 
18th,  1741,  a  third  of  a  mile  south  of  William  Pea- 
body's,  near  Topsfield  line.  He  married  Hulda 
Nichols,  (a  near  neighbor  as  is  supposed),  February 
29th,  1764,  by  whom  he  had  nine  children.  He 
was  appointed  Captain  in  1786,  by  president  John 
Sullivan,  and  Brigade-Major  August  5th,  1798.  Mr. 
Burton  filled  all  the  important  offices  in  Wilton,  and 
often  represented  the  town  in  General  Court.  He 
died  April  30th,  1811. 

In  1764,  Mrs.  Burton  united  with  the  church  in 
Middleton,  just  before  she  and  her  husband  left  for 

1  These  soldiers  might  Lave  served  in  the  French  and  Indian  Wars, 
instead  of  the  Revolution,  which  took  place  some  twenty  years  before. 


New  Hampshire,  (under  the  ministry  of  Mr.  Smith). 
The  late  Rev.  Warren  Burton,  once  chaplain  of  the 
Senate  in  Massachusetts,  and  a  grandson  of  this 
Jonathan  Burton,  informed  us  of  this  fact  himself, 
more  than  forty  years  since.  The  father  of  Jonathan 
Burton  was  the  adopted  son  of  William  Nichols, 
and  the  land  on  which  this  Jonathan  was  born,  was 
given  by  said  Nicholas  to  his  father,  which  was  a 
part  of  the  large  claim  from  Henry  Bartholomew. 

1779. — The  town  voted  to  choose  a  committee  to 
take  under  consideration  the  frame  of  government 
agreed  upon  by  the  delegates  of  the  people  of  the 
State  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  convention  began  and 
held  at  Cambridge  the  first  day  of  September,  1779, 
and  continued  by  adjournment  lo  the  second  of  March, 
1780.  This  committee  were  Rev.  Elias  Smith,  Lieut. 
Isaac  Kinney,  Lieut.  Amos  Curtis,  Mr.  Israel  Kinney, 
and  Lieut.  Jonathan  Lemon. 

The  above  committee  subsequently  laid  before  the 
town  the  doings  of  this  convention  or  in  other  words 
our  State  Constitution,  and  each  article  voted  on  with 
the  following  results  :  First  article,  35  for,  12  against ; 
second  article,  42  for,  5  against;  third  article,  36  for, 
9  against  ;  fourth  article,  32  for,  6  against ;  fiith  arti- 
cle, 85  for,  5  against.  Then  all  the  articles  from  the 
fifth  to  the  thirtieth  stood  31  for,  7  against.  Then  all 
the  articles  together  33  for,  7  against. 

This  meeting  was  held  May  30,  1780.  Benjamin 
Peabody  was  moderator ;  selectmen, — Asa  Stiles, 
Samuel  Wilkins,  Andrew  Eliott,  Asa  Howe. 

1780.  "To  see  if  the  town  will  pay  the  school-mas- 
ter to  learn  the  youth  the  rules  of  Psalmody." 

1781.  "  Voted  to  raise  nineteen  thousand  pounds  in 
old  Continental  currency  to  procure  beef  now  called 
for  by  the  Great  and  General  Court."  We  find  that 
Stephen  Richardson  paid  a  marriage  fee  of  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five  dollars  in  this  currency  about 
this  time. 

A  week's  board  then  cost  $105,  but  in  gold  $2- 
People  were  greatly  in  debt ;  there  was  but  little  coin 
in  circulation ;  those  taking  this  emission  money  in 
payment  for  sales  were  ruined.  Asa  Stiles  sold 
his  farm  (the  Upton  place)  and  took  his  pay  in  this 
money,  and  lost  it  all.  Said  Stiles  was  the  father  of 
the  late  David  Stiles,  Esq.,  of  New  Hampshire. 

At  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  the 
muskets  that  were  brought  home,  that  were  furnished 
by  the  town,  were  sold  at  auction  to  the  towns  peo- 
ple. 

1783.  Whoever  took  in  people  without  knowing 
their  financial  standing  were  required  to  have  their 
names  recorded  on  the  town-books,  that  the  town  offi- 
cers might,  at  their  discretion,  warn  them  out,  so  as 
to  prevent  their  gaining  a  residence. 

"  Middleton,  May  13th,  1783. 

"  Mr.  Benjamin  Berry  and  his  wife,  Sarah,  with 
the  following  children,  came  from  Andover  to  live  in 
the  house  of  the  Rev  Andrew  Peters,  late  of  Middle- 


MIDDLETON. 


941 


ton, — Mehitable,   Timothy,  Phebe,  Peabody,    Lucy, 
Betsey  and  Nancy  Robinson  Berry. 

"  Benjamin  Peabody. 
"  One  of  the  Selectmen. 
"  Middleton  May  9th." 

"  Nov.  13. 
1787.  "  To  the  selectmen,  Gentlemen  this  is  to  inform 
you  that  on  the  second  day  of  November,  Instant,  I 
hired  Frank  Francis  into  my  house  as  a  labor,  and  he 
came  last  from  Danvers,  his  circumstances  I  am  un- 
acquainted with. 
"  Rebecca  Hobbs.  "  Benjamin  Peabody. 

"  One  of  the  Selectmen. 

1787.  The  town  '^  voted  to  joiue  in  a  petition  with 
George  Cabot  and  others  that  a  Bridge  be  Bult  over 
the  River  near  Beverly  Ferry,  if  done  without  cost  to 
this  town."  This,  we  think,  must  be  beween  Salem 
and  Beverly,  near  railroad  bridge. 

1791.  "  Voted  to  allow  on  the  highways  a  team  of 
three  good  creatures,  Four  Shillings  per  day,  and  a 
greater  or  le!?s  team  in  proportion,  and  a  man  two 
shillings  per  day."  Same  meeting,  "  Voted  to  keep 
the  school  at  the  schoolhouse  by  the  meetinghouse 
this  season,  and  voted  to  repair  said  house." 

This  school-house  stood  a  little  east  of  the  church, 
on  the  site  of  Mrs.  Gillingham's  house,  and  from 
the  first  had  been  the  principal  school  in  town. 
Schools  had  been  kept  in  other  parts  of  the  town  in 
private  houses. 

1792.  Not  till  this  year  was  the  town  divided  into 
districts.  Even  after  that  date  private  individuals  for 
some  time  furnished  places  for  the  schools.  At  the 
Dean  Fuller  place,  on  the  North  Road,  was  A.  school- 
house  afterwards  used  by  said  Fuller  for  a  carriage- 
house,  and  now  said  building  is  used  for  a  dwelling- 
house  by  Mr.  Coleman,  near  the  depot. 

The  few  opportunities  aftbrded  the  children  of  a 
century  ago  to  obtain  an  education,  were  well  im- 
proved by  some  of  them.  Self-education  was  more 
practiced  then  by  those  who  really  desired,  an  educa- 
tion than  now. 

1793.  "  Voted  to  supply  the  pulpit,  Mr.  Smith  being 
unable  by  sickness.  Subsequently  "  voted  to  be  at  the 
cost  of  burying  Mr.  Smith  and  find  mourning  for  Mrs. 
Smith." 

1798.  "  Voted  to  sell  the  common  lands.  A  great 
part  of  these  lands  was  in  the  southwest  corner  of 
the  town,  near  the  old  Hutchinson  house,  and  part 
on  Nichols  Brook  (Stickey  Meadows). 

1786.  Up  to  this  date  the  red  deer  were  still  in  our 
forests,  and  were  protected  by  law  so  as  not  to  be 
killed  in  an  improper  time,  a  deer  rief  being  chosen 
annually  with  all  other  town  officers. 

"  Middleton,  Sept.  10th  1786. 

"  Mr.  Timothy  Farnum  of  Andover  made  applica- 
tion to  be  cryed  to  Miss  Susannah  Berry,  of  Middle- 
ton,  and  was  cryed."  ^ 

'This  couple  were  the  grandpaveuts  of  the  writer. 


The  method  of  crying  was  to  pass  round  the  meet- 
ing-house, outside  on  Sun'day,  three  times,  stop  and 
ring  the  hand-bell  and  declare  the  intention  of  mar- 
riage, and  make  a  record  of  that  fact. 

1796.  The  town  voted  unanimously  that  it  is  the 
opinion  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  town  that  the 
treaty  negotiated  between  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States  is  for  the  honor  and  interest  of  our 
country. 

1798.  "  Voted  to  allow  Capt.  Solomon  Wilkins  for 
powder  at  sixty  cents  per  pound  for  General  Muster." 

1802. — About  thirty  persons  petitioned  for  a  town- 
meeting  to  choose  an  agent  or  agents  to  confer  with 
the  petitioners  for  the  turnpike  road  leading  from 
Newburyport  to  Boston,  and  use  their  endeavors  to 
have  said  road  lead  through  this  town  by  or  near  the 
meeting-house.  Same  meeting  voted  to  paint  the 
pulpit  and  canopy  or  sounding-board.  Voted  that 
the  negroes  shall  have  the  north  end  of  the  second 
seat  in  each  end  gallery.  (These  seats  were  occupied 
by  colored  people  till  since  the  writer's  remem- 
brance). 

1803. — New  road  by  Asa  Howe's.  The  road  for- 
merly went  a  third  of  a  mile  west  of  this  place. 

*'  Voted  to  pay  for  the  powder  used  by  Captain 
Roger  Flint's  company  at  the  regimental  muster  (date 
1805)." 

The  long  crossway  was  made  safe  at  all  times  of 
the  year  1808,  when  about  seventy  men  from  Andover 
and  Middleton  gave  from  one  to  three  days'  work 
each  to  build  it  up.  Those  who  did  not  choose  to 
work  themselves  were  to  give  seventy-five  cents, 
which  would  then  secure  a  good  day's  work,^ 

1800.— Theodore  Ingalls  moderator.  "2d,  Voted  to 
take  notice  of  the  22d  of  February  agreeable  to  the 
recommendation  of  Congress  and  our  General  Court 
which  was  the  birthday  of  General  George  Washing- 
ton.'' "  3d,  Voted  that  it  be  the  desire  of  the  towne 
that  our  reverend  pasture,  Solomon  Adams,  deliver 
an  oration  on  the  22d  Feb.  Instant,  Beginning  the 
exercises  at  eleven  o'clock  on  said  day,"  "  4th,  Voted 
that  it  be  the  desire  of  the  town  that  the  melitia  of 
said  town  meet  at  half  past  ten  o'clock  at  the  '  pas- 
ture's house  with  their  badges  of  mourning  &  escort 
him  to  the  meeting-house  &  back  a  gain  after  the  so- 
Imnity  of  the  day.' "  "  5th,  Voted  that  the  melitia 
take  the  body  seats  in  the  said  meeting-house."  "6th, 
Voted  that  the  solemnity  of  the  day  should  be  opened 
by  prayer  &  musick,  then  an  oration  and  close  with 
prayer  and  musick  suitable  for  the  oration."  "  7th, 
Voted  to  choose  a  committee  to  require  the  Rev.  Sol- 
omon Adams  to  deliver  an  oration  and  also  desire  the 
melitia  to  attend  a  greable  to  the  vote  of  the  town." 
"  Voted  Samuel  Small,  Lieu.  John  Flint  and  Chaplain 
Joseph  Symonds  a  committee  to  arange  musick  on 
said  day." 

1802. — The  meeting-house  was  thoroughly  repaired, 

'-  Never  heard  of  any  one  of  them  striliing  for  higher  wages. 


942 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


porches  added,  new  windows,  pews  took  the  place  of 
seats  in  the  body  of  the  house  and  hewed  stones  for 
underpinning  instead  of  rough  stone,  which  were  re- 
moved and  the  ground  lowered  about  the  sides  of  the 
house,  leaving  the  floor  upon  the  timbers  that  laj^ 
upon  the  ground.  Stumps  of  a  heavy  forest  were  cut 
away  to  lay  down  these  timbers,  and  still  sound  above 
ground  when  the  house  was  taken  down  more  than  a 
century  afterward. 

A  committee  was  chosen  to  repair  the  house,  and 
tradition  says  that  John  Fuller  undertook  the  job 
without  specifications,  and  before  he  was  able  to  sat- 
isfy the  committee  had  expended  more  than  the  ap- 
propriation, and  lost  money.  Subsequently  his  farm 
was  sold  to  Rev.  Ebenezer  Hubbard. 

1806. — The  Essex  Turnpike  was  built  through 
town ;  toll-gates  were  placed,  according  to  law,  at 
each  end  of  the  town — one  stood  near  the  house  of 
Daniel  G.  Berry,  Andover,  the  other  below  Ipswich 
River,  on  the  hill.  This  road,  we  think,  never  paid 
a  dividend.  After  trying  to  keep  it  in  good  repair  for 
a  little  over  twenty  years,  the  stockholders  asked  the 
town  through  which  it  passed  to  take  it  off  their 
hands.  This  town  voted  to  take  the  gift  of  it,  but 
some  voted  against  it.  Daniel  Fuller,  Esq.,  was  a 
director  and  had  the  management  of  the  section  in 
this  vicinity.  It  was  intended  to  take  the  principal 
part  of  the  travel  from  Canada,  and  along  its  route 
to  the  great  markets  of  Salem  and  Boston.  At  the 
former  town  were  the  heavy  merchants  and  a  large 
foreign  trade,  and  this  market  had  a  wide  reputation. 
The  small  crafts  of  that  day  could  land  their  cargoes 
at  their  wharves  with  ease  ;  subsequently  larger  ves- 
sels were  employed,  and  they  were  obliged  to  seek 
ports  with  deeper  water, 

1811. — "  Voted  to  build  a  powder-house."  It  was 
built  of  brick  by  John  Fuller,  and  on  his  land,  on  a 
hill  southeast  of  the  present  church. 

"  Sold  the  right  to  take  Alewives  for  the  season  to 
Samuel  Wilkins  for  one  dollar  and  seventy-five 
cents,"  also  "the  right  ta  take  shad  in  Ipswich  River 
for  three  dollars  and  fifty  cents." 

1811. — "  Voted  that  the  commanding  oflicer  shall 
provide  for  the  company  when  called  out  of  town  on 
muster  days  at  the  expense  of  the  town,  not  to  ex- 
ceed two  shillings  each."  At  this  date  there  were  a 
few  over  one  hundred  voters. 

1812. — "  Voted  to  give  soldiers  35  cts.  a  piece  on 
muster  days  when  called  out  of  town  to  '  git '  dinner, 
and  one  dollar  and  a  half  to  drafted  men  if  they  train 
more  than  the  other  part  of  the  company,  and  when 
in  actual  service  fifteen  dollars  per  month  more  than 
the  continental  pay." 

1812. — William  Estey  was  chosen  clerk  of  market. 

War  of  1812-14.— In  1814  some  British  men-of- 
war  lay  off  Salem  harbor  and  old  Parson  Stone,  of 
North  Reading,  preached  one  Sabbath.  He  drawled 
out  his  words  (a  habit  of  many  preachers  in  the  early 
days,  and  talked  a  little  through  his  nose)  and  is  said 


to  have  used  in  his  prayer  these  words,  "  We  pray, 
Lord,  that  there  may  come  a  storm  and  sink  them  all 
in  the  deep."  It  is  said  that  soon  a  storm  did  come, 
and  they  moved  off,  and  many  thought  Stone's 
prayer  was  answered.  This  old  divine  was  the  father  of 
Deacon  Giles,  of  Deacon  Giles'  distillery  of  Salem. 

The  presence  of  these  men-of-war  was  the  cause  of 
an  alarm  (the  firing  of  three  cannon  in  succession  at 
Montserrat),  which  thrilled  this  whole  community. 
The  alai'm  came  about  by  a  little  misunderstanding 
and  bickerings  between  Colonel  Jesse  Putnam  of 
Danvers,  and  Captain  Jedediah  Farnham  of  Ando- 
ver. When  the  news  reached  this  town  the  minute-men 
rushed  to  arms.  Captain  Samuel  Wilkins  (father  of 
S.  H.  Wilkins)  was  in  command,  but  was  a  long  time, 
it  is  said,  in  putting  his  company  in  marching  order; 
it  was  at  last  accomplished,  and  the  command  given 
"  forward  march."  Just  at  that  moment  had  come 
"  fals  alarm." 

At  this  time  politics  ran  very  high,  and  the  town 
was  about  equally  divided  between  Republicans  and 
Federals ;  the  latter,  in  a  close  vote,  secured  an  old 
Republican,  a  negro  by  the  name  of  Charles  Snow, 
and  kept  him  secreted  till  election,  in  the  cellar 
at  the  house  of  John  Fuller,  near  the  meeting-house. 
The  Federal  party  was  what  is  now  called  the  Demo- 
crat party,  and  were  opposed  to  the  war.  When  the 
alarm  took  place  before-mentioned,  many  of  the  en- 
rolled militia  did  not  appear,  and  when  the  word 
came  that  it  was  a  false  alarm  the  soldiers  were  jub- 
lant,  and  felt  like  accomplishing  something,  and  it 
being  then  in  the  evening,  but  probably  moonlight, 
as  Ezra  Bradstreet,  a  soldier  that  did  not  respond, 
though  living  close  by,  and  in  the  house  now  stand- 
ing, occupied  by  Mr.  Benjamin  McGlaughlin,  was 
seen  to  run  into  the  swamp  in  his  night  dress  as  a 
soldier  came  into  his  yard,  which  very  much  fright- 
ened him,  not  knowing  but  that  he  was  about  to  be 
dragged  before  the  British  muskets  and  cannon. 
However,  his  mother,  an  old  woman,  came  to  the 
door  and  asked  what  the  matter  was,  when  a  rather 
excited  soldier,  by  name  of  James  Wilkins,  said  :  "  I 
will  let  you  know,"  and  then  fired  off  his  gun  near 
her  feet,  at  which  she  screamed  and  ran  into  the 
house ;  how  long  her  son  (whom  we  well  remember) 
remained  in  a  nearly  nude  state  in  the  swamp  was  not 
told. 

Others  of  these  soldiers  started  for  some  who  did 
not  respond  that  lived  in  the  east  part  of  the  town ; 
but  George  Drakes  (a  colored  man),  had  been  sent  by 
John  Fuller  (before  named),  to  warn  them  of  the 
proposed  raid  by  the  soldiers ;  they,  however,  caught 
Drakes,  and  while  some  held  him,  others  went  on 
and  gave  them  an  awful  fright,  broke  in  some  win- 
dows by  firing  off  guns  close  to  the  houses  and  so 
spent  nearly  the  whole  night  in  this  kind  of  sport. 

These  facts  were  told  the  writer  by  one  of  these 
raiders,  whose  word  was  never  doubted. 

1813. — "  To  see  if  the  town  will  defray  the  funeral 


MIDDLETON. 


943 


expenses  of  Rev.  Solomon  Adams."  "  Voled  to  con- 
tinue the  salary  of  Rev.  Solomon  Adams  untill  the 
lirst  of  January,  admitting  Mrs.  Adams  will  supply 
the  Desk." 

About  this  time  an  intention  of  marriage  was 
posted  on  the  meeting-house,  and  if  one  of  the  par- 
ties lived  in  another  town,  a  duplicate  had  to  be  pa-t- 
ed in  that  town.  These  notices  had  to  be  pasted  a 
specified  number  of  days  before  the  marriage  was  to 
take  place. 

In  the  early  history  of  New  England  it  was  the  du- 
ty of  the  sexton  to  ring  the  bell  at  noon  and  at  nine 
o'clock  in  the  evening,  and  keep  and  "turn  the 
glass,"  meaning  the  hour  glass,  that  stood  on  or  near 
the  pulpit,  and  it  was  understood  that  the  sermon  was 
to  be  one  hour  long.  Whether  the  glass  was  used  or 
not  in  this  town  we  are  not  informed,  but  certainly 
there  were  but  few  clocks  and  watches  among  the  first 
settlers,  and  the  glass  and  sun  dials  were  their  de- 
pendence, the  former  in  stormy  weather,  the  latter  as 
a  regulator  when  the  sun  shone.  This  town  was  with- 
out a  bell  till  1835,  when  the  writer  drew  up  a  sub- 
scription paper  and  obtained  about  two  hundred  dol- 
lars, with  which  a  bell  was  purchased,  of  the  Holl- 
brook  make,  weighing  five  hundred  and  twenty-seven 
pounds.  After  the  present  church  was  erected  the 
present  bell  was  purchased  (and  the  former  broken  up 
and  sold  for  old  metal).  Present  bell  was  bought  in 
Westboro,  Mass.,  where  it  had  done  service  on  a 
Unitarian  Church,  which  had  become  weak,  and  to 
strengthen  themselves,  offered  their  house  of  worship 
to  the  orthodox  society  (then  without  a  place  of  wor- 
ship), i^rovided  they  would  repair  the  house.  This 
offer  was  accejited,  and  the  bell  was  taken  down  and 
put  upon  the  cars,  to  be  transj^orted  to  Boston,  to 
have  the  wooden  yokes  removed  and  replaced  with 
one  of  cast-iron.  The  former  society  being  in  debt,  a 
few  of  its  leading  men  depended  on  the  sale  of  the 
bell  to  discharge  the  same,  but  the  orthodox  claimed 
the  bell  with  the  church,  and  a  dispute  arose,  which 
threatened  a  suit  and  disruption,  whereupon  a  delega- 
tion of  the  Unitarians,  with  a  good  team,  boarded  the 
cars,  and  by  force,  removed  the  bell  and  secreted  it 
in  an  old  shoemaker's  shop  ;  then,  after  the  other 
society  had  purchased  a  new  bell,  and  peace  pre- 
served, the  old  bell  was  advertised  for  sale  in  the 
Plowman,  and  the  writer  being  employed  to  go  and 
see  the  bell,  found  it,  as  before-mentioned ;  it  was 
raised  up  a  few  inches,  and  sounded,  and  found  to  be 
perfect ;  the  price  paid  was  the  same  as  for  old  metal. 
The  bell  is  one  of  Henry  N.  Hooper's,  of  Boston,  best 
make,  and  they  claim  that  it  would  injure  the  tone  of 
the  bell  to  have  a  cast-iron  yoke  placed  upon  it,  and 
the  old  yoke  of  wood  still  remains  upon  it. 

The  bell  weighs  about  twelve  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds,  and  the  people  of  Westboro  claimed  that  the 
bell  was  the  best  of  the  six  bells  that  had  been  hung 
in  that  town.  Its  present  location  is  unfavorable  on 
account  of  the  falling  away  of  the  ground  near  the 


church,  causing  the  sound  to   rise   in    the   air,  and 
therefore  is  not  heard  at  so  great  a  distance. 

1814. — "Let  out  the  care  of  the  meeting-house;  to 
be  swept  twelve  times  a  year  ;  to  be  unlocked  and 
locked  on  all  occasions,  both  public  and  private; 
shovel  snow  from  the  doors  when  necessary.  Set  up 
and  struck  off  to  John  Fuller,  Jr.,  for  seventy-five 
cents."  The  usual  price  paid  was  about  $2.50. 
Probably  there  was  a  little  steam  on  at  this  time. 

Trouble  began  about  religious  matters,  and  large 
numbers  flowed  into  a  new  society,  called  the  Chris- 
tian Society.  Others  joined  themselves  to  neighbor- 
ing societies  in  Danvers  and  other  places,  as  the  law 
at  that  time  compelled  all  to  pay  minister  rates  some- 
where. Asa  Howe,  Esq.,  signed  to  Danvers  under 
the  ministry  of  Rev.  Jeremiah  Chaplin  (Baptist)  ; 
Dr.  David  Fuller  to  St.  Peter's  Church,  Salem.  But 
in  1816,  when  Rev.  Ebenezer  Hubbard  commenced 
preaching  here,  he  was  liked,  and  they  all  came 
back,  and  things  went  on  very  smoothly  till  near  the 
close  of  his  ministry. 

1817. — All  the  poor  were  puL  up  at  auction  at  the 
annual  meeting  in  March,  and  struck  off  at  the  low- 
est bidder,  none  of  which  received  over  $1.50  per 
week.  Some  of  the  most  feeble,  who  were  nearly 
helpless,  were  bid  in  by  their  relatives  for  seventy- 
five  cents  per  week,  rather  than  have  them  go  into 
the  hands  of  unfeeling  strangers.  However,  this  was 
the  custom  in  all  towns  where  there  was  no  poor- 
farm.  A  century  ago  there  were  a  smalller  number 
of  poor  people  here  than  before  or  since;  also  more 
independent  farmers  according  to  the  population. 
The  lands  had  not  begun  to  be  exhausted,  and  they 
had  large  flocks  and  herds,  and  everywhere  these 
families  were  distinguished,  not  only  by  their  social 
acquirements,  but  by  their  dress  and  daily  deport- 
ment, from  the  poor  and  unfortunate. 

1832. — The  first  manufactory  started  here  (except 
the  little  grist  and  saw-mills,  of  which  there  were  a 
number)  was  the  paper-mill  on  Ipswich  River  by 
Colonel  Francis  Peabody,  of  Salem,  Mass.  (and  son 
of  Captain  Joseph  Peabody,  a  man  who  was  born 
here,  and  married  first  and  second  daughters  of  Rev. 
Elias  Smith),  and  has  continued  in  operation  since 
by  other  proprietors.  A  few  years  later  the  shoe 
business  was  started  by  Elias  T.  Ingalls  (father  of 
Senator  John  James  Ingalls,  of  Kansas),  who  soon 
after  removed  to  Haverhill,  the  home  of  his  wife,  and 
continued  in  the  business  with  success. 

About  1835  Francis  P.  Merriam  began  the  shoe 
business  here,  and  has  continued  the  same.  At  the 
present  time,  under  the  firm  of  Merriam  &  Tyler, 
employing  at  times  more  than  a  hundred  hands. 
Other  smaller  manufacturers  have  done  business 
here,  and  are  now  employed  in  other  business.  A 
knife-factory  was  started  here  a  few  years  ago  by 
S.  A.  Cummings  on  the  site  of  the  old  iron-works, 
which  was  started  by  Major-General  Daniel  Denni- 
son,  of  Ipswich,  about  1665,  who  employed  Thomas 


944 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Fuller  as  foreman,  who  afterward  bought  Dennison's 
claim,  which  was  bounded  south  by  Pierce's  Brook, 
and  near  this  brook,  on  the  site  of  the  house  of 
Charles  O.  Frost,  was  his  dwelling,  and  just  over  the 
stream  is  seen  the  foundation  of  his  blacksmith-shop. 

The  box-mill  of  J.  B.  Thomas  was  started  a  few 
years  since,  and  has  done  a  large  business,  employing 
quite  a  number  of  men  and  teams. 

With  the  business  of  the  firm  of  Merriam  &  Tyler, 
which  gives  employment  to  a  large  number  of  hands, 
the  village  has  grown  up  and  many  tasteful  dwellings 
erected,  and  bears  favorable  comparison  with  many 
other  places.  Churches  and  schools  are  well  main- 
tained, and  prosperity  seems  to  pervade  the  whole 
community ;  and  peace  follows  the  wars,  privations 
and  contentions  that  have  troubled  past  generations. 

If  those  who  complain  of  low  wages  would  look 
over  the  pages  of  history  written  by  past  generations, 
they  would  not  only  feel  contented,  but  thank  God 
that  their  lines  had  fallen  to  them  in  so  pleasant 
places.  As  I  cast  my  eyes  upon  the  portraits  of 
those  long  since  passed  away,  who  sacrificed  so  much 
to  lay  the  foundations  of  religious  and  civil  society,  I 
cannot  but  feel  to  maintain  and  perpetuate  these 
blessings. 

Graduates  or  Colleges. — This  town  compared 
with  others  about  the  same  size  in  the  county,  has 
produced  as  many  distinguished  men  as  any.  Little 
or  no  labor  has  been  employed  to  bring  their  names 
and  deeds  to  notice,  and  we  feel  that  we  shall  fail 
to  do  them  justice. 

Rev.  Daniel  Wilkins,  the  first  minister  of  Amherst, 
New  Hanipshire,  was  born  here,  (and  the  house  is 
now  standing  in  which  he  wa^i  born).  His  labors  in 
that  then  frontier  town  are  beyond  calculation.  Once 
or  twice  the  peoi^le  were  about  to  abandon  the  set- 
tlement on  account  of  the  depredations  of  the  In- 
dians, but  Wilkins  with  true  courage,  again  and 
again  rallied  the  people  in  calling  on  the  govern- 
ment to  sustain  them,  and  finally  lived  to  see  the 
town  in  a  flourishing  condition,  (grandson  of  Henry 
Wilkins). 

Rev.  Daniel  Fuller  born  here  was  settled  over  the 
second  church  in  Gloucester,  Massachusetts,  more 
than  a  century  ago.  His  wife  was  a  member  of  the 
church  here  in  1770. 

When  Phillips'  academy  was  established  a  century 
ago,  fourteen  young  men  from  this  place  entered^ 
and  their  names  stand  upon  this  catalogue.  All  but 
one  left  town  in  early  life  to  bless  other  places. 
Among  this  number  was  Andrew  Peabody,  born  here, 
father  of  Rev.  Andrew  P.  Peabody,  LL.  D.,  graduate 
of  Harvard  College,  class  of  1826,  editor  of  the 
North  American  Review  from  1853,  to  1863 ;  Plum- 
mer,  professor  of  Christian  morals.  Also  sons  of  Ben- 
jamin P.  Richardson, — Hazen  K.  and  Benjamin  Rich- 
ardson. 

Margaret  Fuller,  the  noted  authoress,  whose  ten- 
antless  grave    is  now  seen   in   Mount  Auburn,  (she 


was  lost  at  sea,  having  refused  to  be  saved  unless 
with  her  husband  and  child),  sprang  from  this  Fuller 
family  we  have  so  often  mentioned. 

The  father  of  Dr.  Andrew  Peabody  was  born 
here,  and  many  of  this  distinguished  family  of  Pea- 
body's  are  still  among  us.  "Cornet"  Francis  Pea- 
body and  Col.  Benjamin  Peabody,  afterwards  chosen 
deacon,  (and  died  since  my  remembrance),  a  leading 
man  in  the  county  who  took  an  active  part  in  the  Revo- 
lutionary War.  Other  names  deserve  honorable  men- 
tion, for  which  space  cannot  be  had.  But  I  would  not 
forget  the  matrons  and  maidens  of  that  early  day,  who 
spun  and  wove  to  clothe  the  family,  but  the  skilled 
weavers  went  further,  and  made  cloth  for  the  market. 
These  were  the  pioneers  in  manufacturing  industries 
of  the  country  And  the  beautiful  maidens  wlio 
were  not  afraid  of  work.     Hear  what  the  poet  says. 

' '  Then  as  he  opened  the  door,  he  beheld  the  form  of  the  maiden 
Seated  beside  her  wheel,  and  the  carded  wool  like  snow-drift 
Piled  at  her  knee,  her  white  hands  feeding  the  ravenous  spindle, 
While  with  her  foot  on  the  treadle  she  guided  the  wheel  in  its  motion. 
She  rose  as  he  entered,  and  gave  him  her  hand  in  a  signal  of  welcome. 
Saying,  I  knew  it  was  you,  when  I  heard  your  foot-step  in  the  passage. 
For  I  was  thinking  of  you  as  I  sat  here  singing  and  spinning." 

Charles  L.  Flint,  late  Secretary  of  the  State  Board 
of  Agriculture,  and  a  large  contributor  to  the  Flint 
library  was  born  here. 

Honorable  John  Haskell  Butler  of  Somerville,  was 
in  the  state  legislature,  is  a  lawyer,  and  was  born  in 
Middleton,  August  31st,  1841;  a  graduate  at  Yale 
College  in  1863  ;  in  1880  and  1881  was  a  member  of 
the  House  of  Representatives,  and  in  1884,  was 
elected  by  the  Legislature  to  fill  a  vacancy  in  the 
Council,  caused  by  the  death  of  Honorable  Charles 
R.  McLean  of  Boston.  He  was  elected  in  the  dis- 
trict at  the  ensuing  election. 

Benjamin  Peters  Hutchinson,  now  a  Chicago 
grain  dealer,  estimated  to  be  worth  twelve  million 
dollars,  was  born  here  in  1829. 

Dean  Peabody,  lawyer,  now  Clerk  of  Courts  in  this 
county,  was  born  here,  his  father  having  filled  the 
office  of  deacon  here  for  many  years. 

Franklin  O.  Stiles,  graduate  of  Amherst  College, 
class  of  1856,  died  the  same  year. 

Rev.  Henry  J.  Richardson,  graduate  of  Amherst 
College,  now  in  his  twenty-fifth  year  of  pastorate 
at  Lincoln,  Massachusetts.  Rev.  Daniel  W.  Rich- 
ardson, brother  of  the  above  graduate  at  Union 
College,  New  York,  late  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
Church  in  Derry,  New  Hampshire. 

Jesse  Fuller,  graduate  of  Amherst  College,  now 
residing  in  the  west. 

Rev.  Jesse  Wilkins  now  residing  in  Connecticut. 

Rev.  Solomon  Adams,  son  of  Rev.  Solomon  Adarag 
was  born  here ;   died  in  Boston  a  few  years  since. 

Dr.  Archelaus  Fuller,  a  college  graduate,  son  of 
Daniel  Fuller,  Esquire,  died  a  ie,w  years  since  in  the 
State  of  Maine,  aged  about  eighty  years. 

Edwin  Berry,  son  of  Jonathan  Berry,  now  a  law- 
yer in  New  York  city,  was  born  here. 


MIDDLETON. 


945 


William  Weston,  son  of  Samuel  W.  Weston,  gradu- 
ated at  Amherst  College  about  1868,  and  is  now  in  the 
employ  of  the  United  States  government. 

Sumner  B.  Stiles,  born  January  13th,  1851,  gradu- 
ated at  Phillips  Academy,  Andover,  Massachusetts, 
in  1872,  at  Harvard  University  in  1876,  and  at  the 
Harvard  Law  school  in  1881  ;  admitted  to  the  New 
York  Bar,  in  May,  1883 ;  married  September  10th, 
1884. 

James  H.  Flint  born  1852,  graduated  at  Phillips 
Academy,  Andover,  Massachusetts,  1871,  at  Harvard 
University  in  1876,  at  Boston  University  Law  School 
in  1881,  admitted  to  Suffolk  Bar,  Boston  in  1882. 

Andrew  Preston  Averill,  a  graduate  of  Harvard 
College  class  of  1882. 

Scholars  at  Phillips  Academy. — The  follow- 
ing is  a  list  of  the  first  scholars  at  Phillips  Academy, 
Andover  : 

1778.  Benjamin  Fuller,  aged  twelve  years.  Died 
in  Norway,  Maine,  son  of  Archelaus ;  Elias  Smith, 
aged  twelve,  son  of  the  minister  Smith. 

1779.  Andrew  Fuller,  aged  thirteen. 

1780.  Samuel  Symonds,  aged  twenty-four,  son  of 
the  deacon  ;  David  Putnam,  aged  ten. 

1785.  Daniel  Fuller,  aged  fourteen, son  of  Archelaus; 
Silas  Merriam,  aged  fifteen,  son  of  Dr.  Silas,  died  in 
Norway,  Maine,  at  a  great  age. 

1786.  John  Lamon,  aged  twenty,  moved  to  and  mar- 
ried in  Danvers,  Mass. 

1790.  Andrew  Peabody,  aged  sixteen,  father  of  Dr. 
Andrew  P.  Peabody,  of  Harvard  College. 

1791.  Benjamin  Smith,  aged  fourteen,  son  of  the 
minister. 

1792.  Simon  Kenney,  aged  twenty-five,  moved  to 
Milford,  N.  H. 

1795.  Israel  Fuller,  aged  seventeen,  son  of  Tim- 
othy. 

1812.  Solomon  Adams,  aged  fifteen,  son  of  the 
minister, 

1820.  William  Johnson  Curtis  Kenney,  aged 
eleven,  now  superintendent  of  the  freights  on  the 
Boston  and  Maine  Eailroad. 

This  list  might  be  continued  up  to  the  present 
time,  but  space  is  not  allowed. 

Post-Office. — It  is  now  only  a  little  more  than 
fifty  years  since  a  post-oflice  was  kept  in  this  town. 
Now  we  receive  and  discharge  two  mails  per  day. 
When  Abraham  wished  to  send  a  message  to  Lot  he 
put  a  man  upon  a  running  horse  and  it  was  conveyed 
with  a  speed  of  twelve  miles  an  hour,  and  since  the 
writer's  remembrance  we  could  do  no  better  than  that ; 
and  this  mode  of  sending  letters  was  the  only  way 
practiced  by  the  early  settlers  of  New  England.  At 
a  later  day  stage  routes  carried  the  mail  bags  to  the 
principal  cities  and  towns,  for  which  they  received 
large  pay,  while  the  small  out  of  the  way  towns  had 
no  post-ofiices,  and  this  town  was  one  of  them.  As 
a  sample,  while  in  Hallowell,  Me.,  in  1834,  we  sent  a 
letter  to  Middleton  ;  after  a  week  or  two  it  was  found 
60 


in  the  South  Danvers  (now  Peabody)  post-office, 
and  the  one  who  took  it  out  paid  twenty-five  cents 
postage ;  another  from  the  same  place  arrived  at 
Danvers  Plains,  and  some  one  informed  the  one  to 
whom  it  was  directed  that  a  letter  in  one  of  the 
grocery  stores  was  waiting  for  him.  The  postage  on 
that  letter  was  eighteen  cents. 

It  seems  that  all  the  improvements  for  two  thousand 
years  have  been  crowded  into  the  last  half  century. 

In  the  late  rebellion,  this  town  did  more  than  its 
full  share,  more  than  one-tenth  part  of  the  whole  po- 
pulation (one  hundred  and  four)  enlisted  in  the  army 
for  a  longer  or  shorter  time,  and  fifteen  of  their  num- 
ber either  fell  in  battle  or  died  of  disease  contracted 
in  the  war. 

Justin  Flint,  died  of  disease ;  Henry  A.  Smith,  died 
of  disease;  Joseph  M.  Richardson,  died  of  disease; 
Lemuel  F.  Esty,  died  of  disease;  George  W.  Peabody, 
died  of  disease ;  Asa  W.  Brooks,  killed  in  skirmish 
near  Richmond;  George  S.  Esty,  died  of  disease; 
Charles  Manning,  killed  in  battle  at  White  Hall, 
N.  C. ;  Joseph  A,  Guilford,  killed  in  battle  at  Freder- 
icksburg, Va. ;  Jeremiah  Peabody,  died  of  disease; 
Charles  H.  Guilford,  killed  in  battle  of  Gettysburg ; 
Solomon  Richardson  2d,  killed  in  battle  in  front  of 
Petersburg,  Va, ;  George  J.  Danforth,  died  at  Ander- 
sonville  Prison  ;  Abishai  A.  Higgins,  died  at  Ander- 
sonville  Prison;  Samuel  0.  Wilkins,  died  at  An- 
dersonville  Prison.  And  many  others  returned  with 
disease,  and  were  soon  laid  in  a  soldier's  grave  like 
their  fallen  comrades.  Others  still  now  linger  among 
us,  unable  by  reason  of  impaired  health  (due  to  ex- 
posure in  the  war)  to  enjoy  the  blessings  their  labors 
have  helped  to  purchase. 

Public-Houses  and  Stores. — The  old  tavern 
stand  was  purchased  from  a  man  by  the  name  of 
Goodale  by  John  Estey,  about  1760 ;  how  long  this 
Goodale  had  been  in  possession  is  not  known ;  but 
eighty  years  previously  was  in  possession  of  Aaron 
Way,  and  bought  by  him  of  Bray  Wilkins,  Sr. 
Estey  was  proprietor  till  1816,  when  his  son-in-law, 
Daniel  Fuller,  with  others,  bought  him  out  and  sold 
about  1824,  to  Capt.  Joseph  Batchelder,  of  Topsfield 
(grandfather  of  our  postmaster,  Joseph  A.  Batchelder, 
Esq.),  who  subsequently  let  it,  among  whom  was 
William  Goodhue ;  afterwards  Mr.  Batchelder's  son 
Joseph  was  proprietor  for  a  few  years,  and  then  his 
son  Amos,  and  since  his  death  it  has  ceased  to  be  a 
public  house. 

After  Mr.  Estey  sold  out,  his  son  William  erected 
across  the  way  what  is  now  the  Fuller  house,  which 
was  used  as  tavern  and  store  for  a  few  years  only, 
and,  subsequently,  this  place  was  purchased  by 
Ephraim  Fuller,  who  lived  in  it  for  many  years  and 
kept  a  store  in  a  building,  now  standing  south  of  the 
house  where  now  a  little  store  is  kept. 

1795. — About  this  time,  a  tavern  was  kept  in  an 
old  house  taken  down  some  years  ago  by  Samuel  F. 
Estey,  a  little  south  of  his  present  dwelling.     This 


946 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


was  then  owned  by  John  Stiles,  who  also  kept  a  lit- 
tle store  across  the  way  under  the  hill,  the  foundation 
of  which  is  now  seen. 

Francis  Peabody  kept  a  few  groceries  in  the  house, 
now  occupied  by  Mr.  Witham,  in  the  east  part  of  the 
town;  this  was  a  century  ago. 

Daniel  Fuller,  Esq.,  when  a  young  mati  (nearly  a 
century  ago)  kept  a  little  store  in  his  mother's  house, 
or  rather  the  lean-to,  now  occupied  by  his  daughter, 
Sophronia  Fuller. 

1780. — Dr.  Silas  Merriam,  about  the  same  time, 
kept  groceries  for  sale,  as  well  as  corn-meal  and  rye, 
and  run  the  grist-mill  the  year  round  to  accommo- 
date the  people,  so  say  the  town  records  as  they  gave 
him  liberty  to  put  on  flash  boards  for  this  purpose. 

1821. — Mr.  Daniel  Eichardsoa  built  a  grocery  store, 
and  continued  in  the  business  about  twelve  years. 
This  building  is  now  standing  and  is  a  jjart  of  the 
dwelling-house  of  the  writer. 

1838.—  Capt.  Stephen  Wilkins,  Amos  Batchelder 
and  Francis  P.  Merriam  &  Co.  kept  groceries  for  sale 
in  the  Ephraim  Fuller  store,  but  only  a  few  years. 

1845. — Daniel  Emer.-on  and  Hiram  Moore  carried 
on  the  store  business  in  a  building,  since  burned,  that 
stood  on  the  site  of  the  present  Merriam  &  Tyler's 
shoe-factory. 

1848. — Elisha  Wilkins  bought  out  the  above  store, 
and  it  took  fire  and  consumed  the  following  year. 

1850.— A  large  store  and  shoe-factory  was  run  by 
F.  P.  and  James  N.  Merriam  for  several  years,  and 
then  sold  to  W.  A.  Merriam,  who  continued  the  gro- 
cery-store. The  building  was  enlarged,  and  the 
previous  firm  of  Merriam  &  Co.  continued  the  .shoe 
business  exclusively,  which  was  nearly  the  first  shoe- 
factory  in  town,  and  subsequently  W.  A.  Merriam 
moved  to  the  new  building  which  was  erected  by 
Joseph  and  John  A.  Batchelder  for  a  grocery  and  shoe 
manufactory  (and  occupied  by  them  for  a  short  time), 
and  continued  the  general  store  business  for  about 
twenty-five  years,  and  then  sold  to  M.  E.  Tyler,  who 
soon  after  sold  out  to  Capt.  Thomas  Hoyt  and  John 
Beckford.  Beckford  soon  died,  and  the  business  was 
continued  by  Hoyt  for  some  years,  and  for  the  last 
eight  years  the  building  has  stood  unoccupied. 

After  selling  out  to  Hoyt  &  Co.,  M.  E.  Tyler 
erected  a  new  building  at  East  Middleton,  and  con- 
tinued the  grocery  business  there  a  few  years,  and 
subsequently  turned  the  building  into  a  dwelling- 
house,  and  put  up  another  store  building  near  the 
old  grist-mill  in  the  village  (which  building  has  re- 
cently been  moved  to  near  the  parsonage),  and  built 
a  little  store  near  his  present  stable,  and  continues 
both  the  store  business  and  livery  stable. 

1856. — Henry  Wilkins  and  Ruel  Phelps  carried  on 
the  shoe  business  and  grocery  store  in  the  same 
building,  now  occupied  by  Wilkins  &  Sons. 

1812. — A  store  was  kept  by  John  Fuller,  Jr.,  lo- 
cated on  the  site  of  the  carriage  house  of  the  late 
Daniel  Richardson.    A  dance  hall  in  the  upjjcr  story, 


and  in  1812  a  school  was  kept  for  a  short  time  by  the 
Rev.  Jacob  Hood  in  this  hall.  (Mr.  Hood  died  a  year 
since,  aged  ninety-four  years.)  This  building  was 
moved  across  the  way  about  1820,  and  was  used  for  a 
dwelling-house.  The  last  owner  was  Richard  Green, 
and  the  house  was  burned  about  1872. 

Some  fifteen  or  twenty  years  since  there  were 
several  small  manufactories  of  shoes  here.  Edward 
and  A.  A.  Averill,  near  the  town  hall  ;  Wm.  H. 
Hutchinson,  in  the  village;  and  Augustus  Hutch- 
inson, near  Howe  Station. 

In  the  early  days  there  were  no  butchers  in  town  ; 
each  farmer  killed  and  salted  his  own  meat,  and  when 
fresh  meat  was  wanted  a  neighbor  killed  and  lent  it 
around,  to  be  paid  for  in  the  same  way.  The  first 
butcher  to  set  up  here  was  Abraham  Shelden,  about 
1830 ;  and  six  years  subsequently  he  carried  on  a 
larger  business  and  extending  into  other  towns.  He 
had  several  good  double  teams  and  a  large  number  of 
men  employed.  He  owned  the  farm  now  owned  by 
Jesse  W.  Peabody,  and  built  the  large  barn  now  on 
the  place.  Subsequently  J.  Augustus  Estey  carried 
on  the  business  in  the  same  place.  Since,  the  busi- 
ness has  been  carried  on  by  Jesse  F.  Hay  ward  and  A. 
W.  Peabody. 

Cemetery. — The  land  was  bought  and  laid  out  by 
the  town  about  1858,  at  which  time  several  lots  \sere 
sold. 

Subsequently  the  remains  from  many  of  the  old 
burying-lots  in  town  were  removed  to  the  new  ceme- 
tery, and  stone  monuments  erected  or  the  old  stones 
reset.  There  are  yet  known  to  be  not  less  than  forty- 
five  old  family  burying-lots  in  town,  many  of  which 
are  indistinguishable,  being  hid  in  the  forests  and 
jungles.  Among  these  now  unknown  graves  must  be 
those  who  when  alive,  were  the  leading  men  in  our 
early  history. 

Public  Libraries. — A  social  library  was  formed 
here  in  1772  (just  forty  years  after  the  first  library  in 
the  city  of  Philadelphia).  The  Constitution  was 
drawn  up  by  Rev.  Elias  Smith,  and  contained  twen- 
ty-two articles.  The  officers  were  chosen  annually 
and  the  committee  were  required  to  meet  once  a 
quarter.  Library  to  be  kept  within  a  mile  of  the 
meeting-house.  No  book  to  be  kept  out  more  than 
three  months,  after  which  time  a  fine  was  imposed. 
The  library  at  first  contained  seventy-one  volumes ; 
some  of  these  were  given.  These  volumes  were  most- 
ly sermons  of  old  divines,  Morse's  Geography,  His- 
tory of  South  America  and  other  histories.  Mason 
on  "Self-knowledge  and  Family  Instruction,"  etc. 
Elias  Smith,  librarian ;  Archelaus  Fuller,  Silas  Mer- 
riam and  Elias  Smith,  committee.  Admission  fee, 
six  dollars,  according  to  the  value  of  money  of  that 
day.  Proprietors  could  sell  or  give  away  their  right, 
but  all  were,  if  able,  required  to  be  present  at  the 
annual  meeting,  or  not  allowed  to  take  out  a  book  for 
three  months.  All  through  the  years  from  1772  to 
1826  this  library  was  run  with  remarkable   success. 


MIDDLETON. 


947 


The  last  records  were  made  by  Rev.  Ebenezer  Hub- 
bard, who  left  town  two  years  subsequently,  and  the 
library  was  put  into  the  hands  of  Daniel  Fuller,  Esq., 
and  a  few  years  ago  handed  over  to  the  Flint  Library. 
A  few  of  these  old  volumes  are  still  well  preserved. 

In  1838  Dr.  E.  S.  Phelps  started  a  social  library  or- 
ganization with  forty  six  members  and  eighty-four 
volumes  of  books,  which  had  only  a  short  run,  as  but 
little  interest  was  taken  in  it. 

In  1865  an  association  was  formed,  of  which  John 
M.  Peabody  was  president.  Three  dollars  was  re- 
quired to  become  a  member,  and  one  dollar  annually. 
This  gained  in  importance  till  1879,  when  it  was 
given  to  the  town  and  valued  at  upwards  of  one  thou- 
sand dollars,  at  which  time  Charles  L.  Flint  made  a 
donation  of  about  one  thousand  dollars  and  four  hun- 
dred volumes  of  books,  and  the  library  was  made  free 
and  called  the  Flint  Library.  Since  that  time  Mr. 
Flint  has  made  other  donations,  aggregating  more 
than  fifteen  hundred  dollars.  Many  other  individuals 
have  contributed  valuable  volumes  to  this  library, 
which  is  now  in  a  very  prosperous  condition,  and 
numbers  three  thousand  one  hundred  and  thirty-sev- 
en volumes,  and  supported  by  the  town.  By  the  will 
of  Benjamin  Franklin  Emerson,  who  died  in  Boston 
April  5, 1887.  the  Flint  Library  receives  the  interest 
of  ten  thousand  dollars  after  the  decease  of  his  moth- 
This  sum  is  to  remain,  in  a  fund  to  be  called  the 


er 


B.  F.  Emerson  Trust  Fund,  with  six  trustees.  Mr. 
Emerson  was  the  son  of  Stephen  and  Sarah  Emerson, 
born  in  this  town,  received  his  early  education  here, 
and  subsequently  in  Oxford  and  Townsend  (Vt.), 
academies.  For  fifteen  years  he  was  superintendent 
of  the  Copper  Falls  Mining  Company,  Mich.  His 
death  was  caused  by  falling  from  a  coal  bridge  while 
giving  directions  for  extinguishing  a  forest  fire  that 
was  fast  approaching  their  quarters.  In  this  fell  he 
received  a  fracture  of  the  spine,  after  which  he  lived 
seven  mouths,  some  of  the  time  in  terrible  agony. 
His  age  was  forty-nine,  unmarried  and  highly  es- 
teemed by  all  who  knew  him. 

N.  B. — Since  writing  the  above,  Mrs.  Emerson,  the 
mother,  has  died. 

Schools. — A  century  ago  there  was  but  one  school- 
house  owned  by  the  town,  and  that  stood  by  the 
church,  and  was  moved  to  Danvers  in  1810  by  John 
Fuller.  Subsequently  the  town  owned  three,  and 
they  were  located  at  the  east  side,  on  the  north  road 
and  in  the  centre,  or  present  village.  For  a  short 
time  private  enterprise  maintained,  in  part,  a  school 
at  the  Paper  Mill  Village.  This  same  state  of  things 
prevailed  before  the  three  districts  were  set  off  as  be- 
fore mentioned,  at  which  time  the  east  side  of  the 
town  was  the  most  thickly  settled,  and  the  school 
there  and  at  the  North  District  had  double  the  schol- 
ars of  the  present  day.  The  manufacturing  of  shoes 
at  the  village  and  the  accommodation  of  the  railroad, 
stores,  churches  and  a  higher  grade  of  teaching  in  the 
schools  had  caused  many  to  abandon  the  farm  and 


move  to  the  village;  and  the  people  have  spent  their 
money  freely  to  make  these  schools  at  the  centre 
what  they  should  be.  while  the  others  have  not  been 
neglected,  and  the  advantages  to  gain  an  education 
here  are  as  good  as  in  any  town  in  the  county  of  the 
same  size. 

The  following  are  the  physicians  of  the  town,  with 
the  date  of  their  practicing  as  near  as  can  be  ascer- 
tained: Dr.  Daniel  Felch,  1728;  Dr.  Silas  Merriam  ^ 
came  from  Lexington,  Mass.  (his  birth-place  still 
standing  in  that  town),  about  1759  ;  Dr.  David  Ful- 
ler, an  old  resident,  1815 ;  Dr.  Smith,  1816;  Dr.  Wal- 
lis,  1818  ;  Dr.  Ezra  Nichols  came  here  about  1830, 
left  about  1837  ;  Dr.  E.  S.  Phelps  came  here  about 
1837,  died  1882  ;  Dr.  Odlin,  1870  ;  Dr.  Metcalf,  1874; 
Dr.  Knight,  1880;  Dr.  Henry  T.  Batchelder  came 
here  1884. 

The  following  are  a  few  persons  known  to  have 
held  the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace:  Captain  Eph- 
raim  Fuller,  1777  ;  Asa  Howe,  1815  ;  Daniel  Fuller, 
1825 ;  Ezra  Nichols,  1835  ;  E.  S.  Phelps,  1850 ;  W. 
A.  Phelps,  1880;  Joseph  A.  Batchelder,  1880. 

The  following  are  the  blacksmiths,  with  date  and 
place  of  location :  Thomas  Fuller,  shop  between 
Pierce's  Brook  and  the  tomb,  1663  ;  Joshua  Wright, 
shop  on  the  street  just  north  of  Grothe's  shop, 
1760 ;  Kenney  and  his  brother's  shop  on  the  John  B. 
King  farm,  1780  ;  Asa  Stiles,  shop  on  west  side  of  the 
road  at  Upton  place,  moved  to  New  Hampshire  1785  ; 
Eben  Putnam,  grandfather  of  Mrs.  Henry  Wilkins, 
his  shop  on  the  corner  by  the  house  of  Mr.  Augustus 
Hutchinson,  1790  ;  Theodore  Ingalls,  shop  at  Ingalls' 
place,  1798 ;  Silas  Lake,  of  Topsfield,  shop  at  shoe 
factory  corner,  1824;  Hammond  Berry,  from  North 
Andover  (same  shop  as  the  latter),  1825;  Moody  In- 
galls, son  of  the  above  T.  Ingalls,  shop  moved  down 
to  front  of  Captain  Hoyt's  house  1829,  and  subse- 
quently sold  to  Timothy  Sanders,  who  left  town  1833  ; 
John  Richardson,  shop  in  the  Bush  Corner  (so  called), 
1820;  George  W.  Winslow,  shop  as  above  stated, 
1834  ;  David  Stiles,  shop  of  the  above,  1835  ;  George 
Webb,  shop  now  the  house  of  Mrs.  Timothy  Wilkins, 
1837 ;  Gushing,  the  same  shop,  1839 ;  followed  by 
Whitney,  Shaugnessy  and  Grothe,  1875. 

Roads. — The  oldest  road  entered  town  over  the  hill 
by  the  Allen  Porter  place,  thence  near  William  Pea- 
body's  and  Nichols'  house  to  the  corner  east  of  Box 
factory,  thence  to  the  corner,  as  the  road  now  trav- 
eled, below  Samuel  H.  Wilkins',  and  so  on  to  North 
Andover,  by  Asa  Howe's.  This  road  is  supposed  to 
have  been  traveled  by  Richard  Belli  ngham,  Esq.,  and 
the  first  settlers  on  the  Cochichavvicke  (Andover)  in 
1639 ;  some  writers  put  it  five  years  earlier. 

The  next  road  through  town  is  the  old  north  road, 
as  now  traveled  till  it  came  to  the  sunken  hole  called 
the  long  causeway,  then  it  diverged,  part  of  the  travel 

1  Dr.  Silas  Merriam  was  born  in  Lexington,  Mass.,  and  the  house  in 
which  he  was  born  is  still  standing.  He  came  to  this  town  about  1759, 
died  suddenly  in  1812. 


948 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


going  to  the  left,  by  what  is  called  Black  Pole,  com- 
ing out  at  the  Roger  Eliott  place,  thence  across  the 
road  and  by  John  B.  King's  to  the  Indian  Bridge ; 
the  other  to  the  right,  going  by  Emerson's  Mill  and 
across  Andover  road  towards  the  great  pond,  and 
coming  out  by  the  William  Berry  place.  In  1802 
this  road  was  straightened  above  William  Berry's 
place,  and  not  till  1808  was  the  long  crossway  made 
perfectly  safe  for  travel.  As  the  country  began  to  be 
settled  further  in  the  interior  the  South  Andover 
road  (so-called)  was  opened,  and  settlements  along  its 
route  made.  The  Essex  turnpike  in  1806.  It  may 
be  well  to  state  that  the  v/est  branch  of  the  old 
North  road,  in  its  earliest  travel,  passed  the  present 
village  to  the  house  of  Benjamin  P.  Richardson, 
where  it  turned  a  short  angle  to  the  left  and  forded 
Ipswich  River,  coming  out  at  J.  J.  H.  Gregory's  Seed 
Farm,  and  thence  over  the  hills,  on  nearly  a  straight 
line,  by  Mr.  Gregory's  two  other  farms,  to  the  road 
first  mentioned  by  the  Allen  Porter  place.  This  old 
ford-way  and  the  entire  route  is  now  visible. 

The  road  from  the'  village  to  Danvers  Plains  was 
widened  and  straightened  in  1811,  and  took  most  of 
the  travel  to  Salem  ;  before  this  time  the  most  trav- 
eled was  by  the  old  log  bridge  and  Danvers  Centre, 
and  strike  the  great  traveled  at  Felton's  corner  and 
avoid  the  toll  gate  on  the  turnpike  just  over  Ipswich 
River. 

The  first  town  road  was  laid  out,  beginning  at  the 
Symonds'  place  and  Averill's,  thence  across  Beech 
Brook  at  Wilkins'  mill  and  knife  factory,  coming  out 
by  the  house  of  John  Gage.  The  Paper  Mill  road  is 
much  older  than  the  town,  and  was  used  by  the  first 
settlers.  No  records  are  anywhere  to  be  found  of  its 
being  laid  out.  Probably  it  went  through  the  com- 
mon lands,  and  for  its  commerce,  no  one  cared  to  dis- 
turb the  public  title. 

A  town  way  was  laid  out  in  1744  for  Joseph  Foy, 
then  living  in  Charles  Mason's  house  across  the 
woods  to  come  out  on  the  Andover  road  by  ye  saw- 
mill lately  erected.  This  mill  was  near  the  Dempsey 
place.  Subsequently  a  road  was  laid  out  through  the 
land  of  Ezekiel  Stiles  to  the  old  highway  to  North 
Andover,  by  Asa  Howe's.  Many  such  cart  ways  were 
laid  out  by  the  early  settlers  to  shorten  distance  from 
house  to  house,  all  the  roads  being  mere  cart  paths. 

The  Paper  Mill  road  to  North  Reading,  as  now 
traveled  is  much  older  than  the  incorporation  of  the 
town. 

The  Essex  Railroad  was  opened  September  5, 
1848. 

Mills. — There  has  been  but  one  mill  on  Ips- 
wich River,  though  it  runs  nearly  the  length  of 
the  town,  and  that  is  where  the  paper-mill  now 
stands,  and  for  several  generations  a  saw  and  grist- 
mill was  owned  by  the  Flint  family,  and  must  date 
back  further  than  the  mills  at  North  Reading,  as  the 
latter  were  obliged  to  hoist  their  gate  when  short  of 
water  at  the  former.  A  mill  once  stood  near  the  wood- 


shed of  Mr.  Sylvanus  Flint's.  On  thestream  from  Mid- 
dleton  Pond  two  mills  were  erected,  one  owned  by 
Silas  Merriam  and  the  other  a  little  below  the 
Abijah  Fuller  place,  owned  by  Timothy  Fuller.  Dr. 
Merriam's  was  a  grist-mill,  and  highly  valqed  by 
the  towns  people  to  purchase  grain  for  food,  and 
about  1770  the  tov^^n  voted  that  "  Dr.  Merriam  be  al- 
lowed to  put  on  flash  boards  and  raise  the  pond  three 
feet  that  he  might  be  able  to  grind  throughout  the 
year  to  accommodate  ye  people." 

M.  J.  Emerson's  mill  stands  on  Swan  Pond  Brook  and 
the  privilege  is  an  old  one  and  formerly  belonged  to 
John  Estey,  and  subsequently  to  his  son-in-law,  Daniel 
Fuller,  Esq.  On  the  same  stream  was  the  Nichols 
grist-mill,  and  last  owned  by  Stephen  Nichols  in 
1820,  and  soon  after  taken  down.  On  the  same 
stream  a  little  below  stood  the  ancient  iron-works 
owned  by  Major  Daniel  Dennison,  of  Ipswich,  of 
which  Thomas  Fuller  was  foreman  and  subsequently 
owner. 

A  saw-mill  was  erected  in  1740,  on  a  little  stream 
that  empties  into  Beech  Brook  near  the  Dempsey 
place,  owned  by  Timothy  Perkins,  who  lived  on  G. 
H.  Tuft's  place. 

Only  one  mill  on  Beech  Brook,  and  that  on  the 
site  of  E.  W.  Wilkins'  mill,  and  was  owned  by  a 
Peabody  family ;  here  more  than  a  century  ago  two 
brothers  quarrelled  and  one  lost  his  life  ;  the  survivor 
said  he  threw  him  a  crow-bar  which  his  brother 
failed  to  catch,  and  it  struck  him  in  the  head  and 
killed  him  ;  they  were  alone,  but  soon  it  is  said  that 
the  women  folks  appeared  upon  the  scene,  but  too 
late  ;  they  feared  there  would  be  trouble  between 
them ;  tradition  says  the  survivor  hastened  to  the 
brook  and  filled  his  hat  with  water  and  threw  in  his 
brother's  face,  but  without  effect. 

A  man  by  the  name  of  Gray  set  up  a  carding-mill 
about  1810,  near  Dr.  Merriam's  grist-mill,  but  other 
mills  in  larger  places,  with  better  machinery,  took 
the  business.  Mrs.  Sarah  Conlan's  house  was  former- 
ly a  saw-mill  which  had  been  moved  from  Bald  Hill 
woods. 

Earthquakes. — On  June  1,  1638,  about  two 
o'clock  P.  M.,  was  an  earthquake  throughout  New 
England,  which  caused  the  pewter  in  many  places  to 
be  thrown  off  the  shelves,  and  tops  of  chimneys  in 
some  places  to  be  shaken  down. 

Sabbath  day,  October  29,  1727,  a  little  more  than 
half  past  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening,  the  first  and 
great  shock  was  felt,  when  the  heavens  were  must 
serene  and  the  atmosphere  perfectly  calm,  and  it  was 
repeated  several  times  that  night,  and  afterwards 
to  January  6th,  next  following,  when  about  two 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  there  was  a  very  great  shock, 
which  exceeded  any  other  since  the  first  night.  This 
day  was  warm  and  calm.  This  has  been  denominated 
the  great  earthquake  in  New  England.  The  tops  of 
many  chimneys  were  thrown  down. 

On  November  18,  1755,  was  another  great  earth- 


3IIDDLET0N. 


940 


quake,  doing  much  damage  to  property.  On  March 
12,  1761,  between  the  hours  of  two  and  three  P.  M., 
there  was  a  slight  shock.  On  Sabbath,  March  1, 
1801,  about  half  past  three  o'clock,  P.M.,  was  a  slight 
shock,  resembling  a  coach  passing  over  frozen  ground. 
(Gage's  "  History  of  Eowley.") 

The  dark  day  took  place  May  19,  1780,  accounted 
for  by  a  peculiar  state  of  the  atmosphere  and  passing 
clouds. 

The  rude  appliances  for  the  performance  of  female 
labor  in  generations  past  severely  taxed  their  ener- 
gies and  patience,  yet  their  loveliness  still  remained  to 
bless  their  households  and  hand  down  to  us  the  fruits 
of  virtuous  lives. 

"  From  the  early  history  of  New  England  up  to 
within  a  little  more  than  half  a  century,  the  wearing 
apparel  lor  the  family  was  manufactured  by  the  fe- 
males. The  daughters  were  early  taught  to  run  the 
spinning  wheel,  and  as  years  and  strength  increased 
mounted  the  loom  and  drove  the  cloth  together  with 
the  great  swinging  beam  ;  such  exercise  produced  a 
muscular  frame  and  was  transmited  to  their  posterity. 
They  enjoyed  the  labor  and  ate  the  fruit  thereof  with 
joy;  nor  were  these  active  beings  content  only  with 
household  work  and  manufacturing,  but  were  often 
seen  in  the  field  doing  the  most  rugged  work  with  a 
cheerfulness  that  made  life  all  about  them  most 
pleasant ;  the  gentle  cow  was  still  more  gentle  when 
the  young  maiden  sat  by  her  side." 

All  good  farmers  kept  sheep,  sufficient  to  produce 
wool  for  clothing  and  bedding,  raised  beef,  mutton  and 
poultry,  with  i^lenty  of  grain  for  subsistence.  The 
cordwainer  once  a  year  came  round  with  his  bench 
and  tools,  sat  down  in  the  kitchen,  took  the  measure 
of  the  feet  of  not  only  the  little  ones  but  the  stalwart 
sons  and  daughters,  and  made  shoes  which  were 
supposed  to  last  from  November  to  November,  from 
leather  either  tanned  from  the  hides  of  their  own  cat- 
tle or  purchased  from  the  leather  store,  and  should  they 
not  last  a  whole  year,  even  the  great  girls  often  went 
barefoot  till  the  time  when  the  shoemaker  again  ap- 
peared on  his  yearly  rounds.  The  sandy  floor  of 
that  day  was  no  friend  to  shoe  leather,  but  many  a 
maiden  had  rather  go  barefoot  a  part  of  the  year  than 
to  lose  the  chance  of  a  good  dance  now  and  then. 

People  of  Color. — A  few  wealthy  farmers  owned 
servants,  of  which  Timothy  Fuller,  Sr.,  had  the 
largest  number  (about  forty);  other  families,  number- 
ing perhaps  half  a  dozen,  had  from  one  to  five  each, 
all  of  which  were  liberated  when  the  State  Constitu- 
tion was  adopted,  a  little  more  than  a  century  ago. 

By  a  vote  of  the  town,  the  second  seat  on  the  east 
gallery  was  set  apart  for  the  colored  people.  This 
was  a  long  seat  that  would  accommodate  perhaps  ten 
or  twelve  persons.  The  last  of  this  old  stock  of 
colored  people,  by  the  name  of  Snow,  lived  in  a  hut 
on  the  S2:)0t  now  occupied  by  the  house  of  Isaac  Gates. 

It  was  no  unusual  occurrence  seventy  years  ago  to 
see  an  Indian  tramp  on  the  road,  begging  bread  in 


Droken  Engli.'^h  language,  and  presenting  by  no 
means  a  pleasant  appearance. 

BuKiAL  Grounds.— The  oldest  in  town  is  near  the 
box- factory  of  J.  B,  Thomas,  which  was  a  part  of 
Rowley  Village  (now  Boxford),  and  contains  the 
remains  of  those  who  lived  beyond  the  Ipswich 
River.  The  latter  town  was  incorporated  fully  forty- 
three  years  before  Middleton.  The  one  known  as 
the  "Granny  Tim's,"  named  from  Timothy  Fuller's 
widow,  is  near  the  centre  of  the  town,  and  contains 
the  remains  of  many  of  this  ancient  family,  and  also 
of  the  first  minister — Rev.  Andrew  Peters.  There  are 
forty-five  places  where  the  dead  have  been  deposited, 
at  least.  Almost  every  old  farm  has  its  burying- 
ground.  About  1860  the  present  cemetery  was  laid 
out,  and  very  few  are  now  buried  elsewhere.  The 
tomb  near  the  residence  of  Charles  O.  Frost  was  built 
a  little  more  than  a  century  ago  by  Rev.  Elias  Smith 
and  his  son-in-law,  Joseph  Peabody,  of  Salem,  who 
married  two  of  Smith's  daughters,  both  of  whom  were 
interred  in  this  tomb.  This  tomb  also  contains  the 
remains  of  Rev.  Mr.  Smith,  Rev.  Solomon  Adams  and 
several  others.  This  tomb  was  finally  closed  about 
fifteen  years  since. 

These  partial  genealogies  are  inserted  to  give 
the  different  names  of  families  who  have  resided  in 
this  town.  A  full  genealogy  of  a  wingle  family  would 
fill  a  larger  volume  than  we  have  now  written. 

AvERiLL.— Of  the  Averill  family  there  appears  to 
have  been  two  brothers — Paul  and  Samuel.  Paul 
had  a  family  of  eight  children,  and  was  the  ancestor 
of  the  family  by  that  name  now  living  in  town.  His 
oldest  child  was  born  in  1738,  and  the  oldest  child  of 
Samuel  was  born  about  the  same  time,  and  his 
children  numbered  seven,  and  we  think  that  this 
family  soon  left  town.  Joseph,  born  1757  (son  of 
Paul)  ;  Benjamin,  born  1781 ;  Hannah,  1808.  This 
family  doubtless  settled  here  about  the  time  the  town 
was  incorporated,  while  the  Wilkins  and  Fuller 
family  were  here  sixty-eight  years  before  that  date. 
The  Averill  family  does  not  appear  to  be  so  numerous 
as  many  others  found  on  the  town  records. 

Adams. — Rev.  Solomon  Adams  and  Abigail,  his 
wife,  had  six  children  ;  the  oldest  was  born  in  the  year 
1795. 

Berry. — Joseph  Berry  and  Sarah,  his  wife,  had 
eight  children.  His  oldest  son,  John,  was  born  in 
1721;  Bartholomew,  born  1734,  whose  daughter 
Betty  married  Oliver  Perkins  1796.  Samuel  Berry 
appears  to  have  been  a  brother  of  this  Joseph,  as  his 
oldest  daughter  was  born  in  1721,  whose  children  num- 
bered eight,  and  among  them  was  Nathaniel,  who  was 
the  grandfather  of  the  late  Deacon  Allen  Berry.  Who 
their  father  was  is  not  known,  but  Joseph  names  his 
oldest  son  John,  and  perhaps  was  named  for  his 
grandfather  John,  who  was  the  first  deacon  chosen 
when  the  church  was  formed  eight  years  after.  Bar- 
tholomew Berry  lived  in  a  house  now  standing 
on  the  turnpike,  near  Andover  line,  now  owned  by 


950 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Mr.  Charles  Mason.     This  house  was  buill  by  Joseph 
Fry  in  1742,  and  sold  to  Joseph  Berry  in  1750. 

Nehemiah  Berry,  son  of  Bartholomew,  was  drowned 
March  5,  1811,  by  falling  from  a  stringer  (the  bridge 
being  gone)  on  going  in  the  night  acruss  Beech 
Brook,  just  above  the  mill-pond  of  Wilkins'  saw-mill, 
and  near  the  James  Wilkins'  house.  Mr.  Berry's  son 
Nehemiah,  a  well-known  citizen  of  Lynn,  Mass.,  died 
there  two  years  since,  eighty-four  years  of  age,  and 
of  his  children  was  A.  Hun  Berry,  late  of  the  Gov- 
ernor's staff. 

Burton. — John  Burton  lived  in  the  east  part  of 
the  town,  on  the  side  of  the  large  hill  near  Topsfield 
line,  and  a  little  west  of  Conant's  house  in  that  town. 
This  family  were  here  when  the  town  was  incor- 
porated, but  left  for  New  Hampshire  about  1750. 
The  late  Rev.  Warren  Burton,  chaplain  of  the  Sen- 
ate, was  a  descendant.  One  of  the  family  is  referred 
to  in  another  part  of  this  history  as  filling  an  import- 
ant position  at  the  time  of  the  Revolutionary  War 
from  New  Hampshire. 

Batchelder. — Captain  Joseph  Batchelder,  of 
Topsfield,  bought  the  old  tavern-stand  here  about 
1824,  which  was  subsequently  owned  by  his  son,  Col- 
onel Amos,  father  of  Joseph  A.  Batchelder,  Esq.,  who 
for  many  years  has  been  postmaster  here,  and  contin- 
ues to  occupy  the  old  tavern  house. 

Carroll — Crowe. — John  and  James  Carroll, 
brothers,  as  we  suppose,  were  here  before  the  incor- 
poration of  the  town,  both  of  whom  had  families. 
The  last  was  born  in  1745,  and  all  records  of  them 
cease.  Also  about  the  same  time  John  Crowe  and 
his  wife  Mary  had  three  chddren.  The  parents  were 
members  of  the  church  here,  and  that  is  all  we  know 
of  the  family. 

CuMMiNGS  — John  Cummings,  and  Mary,  his  wife, 
had  eight  children  ;  the  oldest  was  born  in  1717. 
His  son,  John  Cummings,  Jr.,  had  a  small  family, 
but  all  the  family  left  town  before  1740. 

Curtis. — Israel  Curtis,  and  Abigail,  his  wife,  eight 
children,  the  oldest  born  in  1744;  some  of  their  de- 
scendants are  still  living  here. 

Cod. — Wdliam  Cod,  and  Abigail,  his  wife,  had  two 
children,  date,  1743  and  1745,  a  name  long  forgotten. 

Case. — Humphrey  Case  (he  was  born  November 
17,  1753),  and  his  wife,  Elizabeth,  had  five  children ; 
the  first  was  born  in  1781,  and  named  Elijah,  and 
was  with  Nehemiah  Berry  when  he  was  drowned,  near 
Wilkins  Mill,  before  named,  but  was  unable  to  save 
him.     (Case  married  Berry's  sifter.) 

Crispan. — Richard  Crispan,  and  Seviah,  his  wife, 
had  four  children  ;  the.  last  was  born  in  1809.  He 
moved  to  Derry,  N.  H.,  more  than  fifty  years  since. 
John  W.  Dempsey  is  a  grandson  (now  of  this  town). 

Crane. — The  Crane  family  lived  here  in  1834,  and 
run  the  paper-mill. 

DwiNEL. — In  1786  Jonathan  Dwinel  had  three 
children,  and  subsequently  William  Dwinel,  having 
four  children,  in  1818  to  1828. 


Demsey. — Samuel  Demse}'  and  his  wife  had  five 
children,  of  whom  John  Wyman  Demsey  is  now  in 
town. 

Daniels.— Lucy  Daniels  had  six  children  from 
1820  to  1832.  Her  father  was  a  Frenchman,  and 
taken  by  Washington  in  time  of  war,  and  never  re- 
turned to  his  country. 

Dale. — Osgood  Dale,  and  Susannah,  his  wife,  had 
two  children,  1831  and  1832. 

EsTEY. — Jonathan  Estey  was  the  son  of  John  Es- 
tey,  who  was  the  son  of  Isaac,  whose  wife,  Mary,  was 
hung  for  witchcraft,  in  1692.  This  John  came  here 
from  Topsfield,  a  few  years  after  the  execution  of  his 
mother.  The  blood  of  the  family  has  been  quite 
generally  diffused  throughout  this  town,  and  they 
are  well  known  as  a  long-lived  race.  The  larger  part 
of  the  family  moved  to  Framingham  after  the  execu- 
tion of  the  wife  and  mother,  hoping  they  had  escaped 
the  laws  of  Massachusetts,  but  subsequently  found 
that  they  were  still  in  the  hated  State ;  but  they  had 
cleared  away  too  many  fields  to  take  up  stakes  again, 
and  have  remained,  some  of  them,  there  to  the 
present  day.  (This  also  has  been  referred  to  else- 
where). 

Eliott. — Francis  Eliott  was  one  of  the  original 
purchasers  of  land  here,  and  the  birth  of  his  eldest 
son  dates  1717,  and  though  the  name  does  not  appear 
now  upon  our  town  records,  yet  the  blood  of  the 
family  is  still  here;  the  family  was  once  quite  nu- 
merous. 

Stephen  Emerson,  father  of  Stephen,  Daniel,  and 
Darius,  and  others,  seven  in  all,  died  many  years  agi); 
a  grandson  now  owns  the  saw-mill  above  the  present 
village.  Stephen,  Jr.,  died  some  two  years  since, 
aged  seventy-five  years. 

The  Fuller  family  have  always  been  quite  numer- 
ous here,  and  among  the  leading  people  in  town,  and 
it  would  be  quite  interesting  to  trace  them  down  to 
1663. 

Felton. — Amos  Felton  and  Sarah,  his  wife,  had 
eight  children  from  1790  to  1804.  Felton  lived  on  the 
old  Samuel  Gould  farm,  now  owned  by  Mr.  Gre- 
gory. 

Fuller. — In  the  early  history  of  this  town  this 
family  were  quite  numerous,  and  held  important 
trusts  in  society.  All  of  this  name  in  town  can  be 
traced  to  Thomas  Fuller,  who  was  the  second  man 
to  settle  in  this  village.  The  Abijah  Fuller  family 
sprang  from  a  son  or  grandson  of  Thomas,  named 
Joseph,  and  the  family  of  Daniel  Fuller  sprang  from 
Benjamin,  grandfather  of  Daniel  Fuller,  Esq. 

Flint. — Stephen  Flint  and  Hannah,  his  wife,  had 
five  children,  the  youngest  of  whom  was  Hannah, 
born  in  1727,  married  John  Estey  about  1773,  whose 
family  of  ten  children  averaged  eighty-three  years 
of  age.  This  Flint  family  were  first  known  in  Salem 
Village;  the  original  one  known  there  built  the  first 
church  at  Salem  Village,  and  of  his  descendants 
several  large    families    were    residents    here  in    our 


MIDDLETON. 


951 


early  history,  of  whom  quite  a  number  still  live  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  paper-mill,  where  Charles 
L.  Flint,  late  secretary  of  the  State  Board  of  Agri- 
culture was   born. 

Fairfield.  —Moses  Fairfield  married  Polly  Rus- 
sell, had  ten  children,  married  about  1828  or  '29. 
He  and  his  wife    died  some  years  since  in  Kansas. 

Francis. — Charles  Francis  (a  man  of  color)  and 
his  wife,  Betsy,  had  ten  children,  the  youngest  of 
whom  was  Edmund,  who  was  born  in  1811  ;  he  wore 
a  fourteen  size  shoe,  and  is  remembered  by  some  now 
living.     All  the  family  have  passed  away. 

Fames. — John  Fames,  1820,  had  three  children  to 
1826 ;  moved  away. 

Fish. — Levi  Fish  married  Nancy  Wilkins,  had  two 
children  born  in  1839  and  1840  ;  moved  to  Danvers. 

GoODEL. — Thomas  Goodel  and  Hannah,  his  wife, 
had  one  child  born  here  (Joseph)  in  1745. 

Gage. — Abraham  Gage  and  Mary,  his  wife,  had 
four  children  ;  oldest  born  1767. 

GiDDiXGS. — Zaccheus  Giddings  and  his  wife,  Han- 
nah, had  ten  children ;  oldest  born  in  1783.  He 
built  the  red  house,  so  called,  near  the  cemetery. 

Gray. — William  Gray  and  his  wife,  Sarah,  had  five 
children  ;  oldest  born  1791,  He  built  a  carding-mill 
near  the  Merriam  grist-mill.  A  son  of  this  man  came 
here  in  1845,  and  erected  stones  at  his  parents'  graves 
in  the  Fuller  lot. 

Gould. — Nathaniel  Gould  and  I^ydia,  his  wife,  had 
three  children,  oldest  born  1796,  one  of  whom  was 
Henry  Lawrence  Gould,  born  in  1798.  The  home 
of  this  family  was  on  Bear  Hill,  now  owned  by  Mr. 
Gregory. 

Andrew  Gould  and  Pamela,  his  wife  had  seven 
children,  one  of  whom  was  born  1805,  and  is  now 
living  in  Topsfield,  viz.,  Andrew  Gould,  now  eighty- 
two  years  of  age,  and  is  yet  quite  a  smart  man.  Two 
other  families  by  the  name  have  lived  in  this  place 
since  this  Nathaniel's  day,  supposed  to  be  distant 
connections, 

GouLDTHWAiT. — Benjamin  Gouldthwait  and  Lucy, 
his  wife,  had  three  children — date  of  the  birth  of  the 
oldest  1824 — none  of  the  family  now  are  in  town. 

Goodhue  —  Hadlock.  —  William  Goodhue  and 
Sally,  his  wife,  had  one  child  born  here  1829 ;  none  by 
this  name  are  here  now.  Samuel  Hadlock  and  Pru- 
dence, his  wife,  had  one  child  born  1731. 

HOBBS. — Joseph,  Benjamin,  William  and  Hum- 
phrey Hobbs  had  respectively  four,  four,  seven  and 
four  children,  all  born  from  1735  to  1750,  William 
built  the  house  now  standing,  owned  by  John  Wallis 
Peabody.  They  were  probably  brothers  ;  all  the  fam- 
ily left  more  than  a  century  ago, 

Howe. — The  Howe  family  sprang  from  James 
Howe,  of  Ipswich,  Mass.  He  married  Elizabeth  Dane, 
1637;  John  Howe  (1st),  John  Howe  (2d)  and  Mary, 
his  wife,  (the  oldest  child  born  1737,)  seven  in  all ; 
Joseph  Howe  and  Sarah,  his  wife,  had  also  seven 
children  about  the  same  ages,  and  must  have  been  a 


brother  ;  al-^o  Mark  Howe  and  Dorothy,  his  wife,  had 
eleven  children,  and  all  born  from  1732  to  1756. 
From  this  family  we  have  those  of  that  name  now 
in  town.  These  families  lived  in  the  north  part  of 
the  town,  house  of  Mark,  now  standing.  Joseph  and 
Hannah  Hutchinson  had  five  children  from  1747-57. 

HOPPIN. — John  Hoppin  and  Abigail,  his  wife, 
one  son,  John,  born  in  1797. 

Hutchinson. — Joseph  and  Hannah,  his  wife,  had 
four  children,  the  oldest  born  in  1781.  This  family 
lived  in  a  house  now  standing  in  the  south  part  of 
the  town,  and  came  from  Danvers  Centre.  The  well- 
known  singers  by  that  name,  the  sons  and  daughters 
of  "  Jesse  "  sprang  from  this  family. 

Holt. — Timothy  Holt  and  his  wife  had  one  child 
1804.  Rev.  Ebenezer  Hubbard  and  Charlotte,  his 
wife,  had  four  children, — Charles  Augustus  Peabody, 
born  1818;  William  McKean,  1820;  Catharine  Eliz- 
abeth, 1823  ;  Ebenezer  Augustus,  1825. 

Haskel. — Daniel  Haskel  and  his  wife  had  two 
children  born  here  in  1824  and  1826. 

Hayward. — Octavius  Hayward  and  his  wife  had 
two  children  born  here  in  1831  and  1833. 

Ironson. — John  Ironson  and  Tabitha  had  two 
children,  1767  and  1769;  same  name  by  wife  Sarah, 
seven  children  from  1790  to  1800. 

Ingalls. — Edman  Ingalls  was  born  in  1627,  and 
died  1719,  aged  ninety-two  years.  He  was  a  tanner 
by  trade.  His  son  Henry  Ingalls,  of  Lynn,  moved  to 
Andover  in  1653,  married  Mary  Osgood,  and  in  1689 
married  again,  the  widow  of  George  Abbot,  and  died 
at  the  age  of  eighty-three.  (These  wives  were  And- 
over women.)  His  descendants  owned  a  large  tract 
of  land  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Farnham  District, 
and  not  far  from  the  residence  of  the  late  Jonathan 
Ingalls,  whose  brother,  Theodore  Ingalls,  commenced 
blacksmithing  at  this  place,  Middleton,  and  continued 
business  here  till  his  death  about  1814.  In  the  early 
days  of  manufacturing  edged  tools  Mr.  Ingalls  stood 
very  high  ;  his  axes  were  sent  to  Maine  to  cut  down 
those  great  forests ;  his  scythes  also  were  very  good, 
though  clumsy,  compared  with  those  made  at  the 
present  time.  The  writer's  father  well  remembered 
these  scythes.  Mr.  Ingalls  also  made  hoes  and  shov- 
els, etc.,  and  these  tools  were  made  in  a  common 
blacksmith-shop  which  stood  on  the  north  side  of  the 
long  crossway. 

This  Theodore  Ingalls  was  the  grandfather  of 
Senator  John  James  Ingalls,  He  was  married  three 
times.  His  first  wife  was  a  Berry,  by  whom  he 
had  two  sons,  and  subsequently  married  two  sisters 
of  Deacon  Addison  Flint,  of  North  Reading,  the  lat- 
ter of  which  was  the  grandmother  of  the  Senator. 

The  home  of  the  Ingalls  family  was  Lynn,  from 
whence  they  scattered  over  the  land,  some  remaining 
still  in  Lynn.  In  early  history  they  were  tanners, 
and  a  few  years  since  an  old  tan  vat  (in  Lynn)  was 
unearthed,  belonging  to  them,  containing  a  few  hides, 
which  were  still  somewhat  preserved. 


952 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


Jefferds. — Rev.  Forrest  JefFerds  and  Sarah  Caro- 
line had  eight  children  from  1828  to  1839. 

Jonathan  Knight,  and  Phoebe,  his  wife,  had  seven 
children  from  1751  to  1777.  But  Benjamin  Knight, 
and  his  wife,  Ruth,  appear  to  have  been  here  before 
the  act  of  incorporation  ;  we  find  him  with  a  family 
of  seven  children  born  from  1720  to  1734.  Though  the 
name  has  passed  from  our  books,  yet  some  of  their 
descendants  remain. 

Kekney. — The  Kenney  family  date  1735.  They 
lived  on  the  left  bank  of  Ipswich  River,  known  now 
as  the  King  place.  The  family  of  Simeon  numbered 
nine  from  1767  to  1789.     Moved  to  Milford,  N.  H. 

Merriam. — Dr.  Silas  Merriam,  by  his  first  wife, 
who  was  a  Deal,  or  Dale,  had  four  children  from 
1767  to  1772  ;  and  by  his  wife  Peabody,  sister  of 
Capt.  Joseph,  the  millionaire  of  Salem,  eight  children, 
born  from  1776  to  1790.  The  Merriam  house  is  still 
standing. 

McIntire. — The  Mclntire  or  Mackintire  family 
lived  in  the  northwest  part  of  the  town.  Benjamin 
and  his  wife.  Experience,  had  three  children  born 
from  1751  to  1755. 

Moore. — Thomas  Moore  and  Betsy,  one  son,  born 
here,  Hiram,  1811. 

Nichols. — William  Nichols  and  Elizabeth  had  four 
children,  from  1704  to  1714.  The  origin  of  the 
Nichols  family  dates  from  this  William  or  his  father 
of  the  same  name,  who  settled  in  the  east  part  of 
the  town,  near  Nichols'  Brook,  as  early  as  1652,  then 
known  as  New  Meadows,  Topsfield ;  none  of  this 
family  now  in  town. 

Perkins. — Timothy  Perkins  and  Phebe,  his  wife, 
had  five  children,  from  1744  to  1754.  This  man  lived 
on  the  Tufts  place,  where  the  house  still  stands,  one  of 
the  oldest  in  town.  Timothy,  Jr.,  had  ten  children, 
from  1760  to  1Z82;  the  family  not  numerous  here. 

Putnam. — Ezra  and  Lucy   had  six  children  from 
1751  to  1757  ;   lived, in  the  southeast  part  of  the  town. 
Perry. — Jonathan    Perry    and    Mehitable    three 
children,  from  1836  to  1840. 

Peabody. — This  family  has  always  remained  one 
of  the  largest  since  the  town  was  incorporated. 

Francis  Peabody,  of  St.  Albans,  Hertfordshire, 
England,  born  1614,  who  came  to  New  England  1635, 
and  traced  as  follows:  from  his  second  son,  Joseph, 
born  1644;  Samuel,  born  1678;  Moses,  born  1708; 
Samuel,  born  1741 ;  Joseph,  born  Aug.  3,  1770;  the 
last  named  was  the  deacon  here  for  some  years,  and 
father  of  Samuel  J.  Flint,  Ann,  Joseph  and  Dean,  the 
latter  now  clerk  of  court. 

All  the  others  bearing  the  name  of  Peabody  in  this 
town  can  be  traced  to  the  first  named  Francis. 

The  original  name  was  Boadie,  who  made  a  raid 
upon  the  tyrant  emperor  Nero,  of  Rome,  in  the  year 
of  our  Lord  61,  in  defence  of  the  Queen  of  the  Britons, 
who  had  been  publicly  whipped  before  her  grown  up 
daughters,  by  the  order  of  this  noted  ruler,  and  for  this 
exploit  and  others  of  like  character  the  Pea,  which 


means  the  big  hill,  or  mountain,  was  added,  "Big 
man,  or  mountain  man — Peabodie."  In  the  expedi- 
tion named  above  Boadie  entered  the  emperor's  palace 
and  carried  away  a  miniature  picture  of  Nero's 
wife,  which  was  retained  in  the  family  till  the 
eleventh  century. 

Robinson. — Daniel  Robinson  and  Elizabeth  had 
six  children  born  from  1730  to  1747. 

Rolf. — The  families  of  Daniel  and  Jesse  Rolf  had 
respectively  one  and  two  children  from  1726  to 
1756. 

Richardson. — Solomon  Richardson  and  Elizabeth 
had  three  children  from  1730  to  1735.  The  Richard- 
son family  have  lived  mostly  in  the  southeast  part  of 
the  town.     Several  of  them  had  large  families. 

Russell. — Joseph  Russell  and  Mary,  his  wife,  had 
thirteen  children  born  from  1793  to  1821,  one  of 
whom  was  David,  born  in  1795,  late  of  Amherst,  N. 
H. 

Ray.— Fry  Ray  and  Mary  had  four  children  from 
1801  to  1810. 

Stiles. — The  Stiles  family  came  from  Rowley 
Village  (Boxford)  in  1700 ;  commenced  settlement  in 
the  north  jiart  of  the  town  on  land  now  owned  by 
John  Brown.  The  cellar  of  the  house  is  now  seen 
across  the  meadows  east  of  the  Demsey  place. 

Symonds. — First  settled  in  Boxford,  subsequently 
near  the  box  factory  in  this  town  (then  a  part  of  Box- 
ford). There  were  several  families  from  first  settle- 
ments till  the  commencement  of  the  present  cen- 
tury. 

Smith. — Rev.  Elias  Smith  and  Catharine,  his  wife, 
had  nine  children  from  1760  to  1777. 

Smith. — Aaron  Smith  and  Mary  had  eight  chil- 
dren from  1766  to  1781. 

Stearns. — Samuel  Stearns  and  Dorothy,  his  wife, 
had  fourteen  children  from  1739  to  1757  ;  moved  to 
Salem,  Mass. 

Saunders. — Timothy  Saunders  and  Rhoda,  his 
wife,  had  two  children  from  1831  to  1832. 

Shelden. — Herman  Shelden  and  Angeline,  his 
wife,  had  four  children  from  1836  to  1841. 

Town. — Daniel  Town  and  Dorothy,  his  wife,  had 
eight  children  from  1722  to  1739 ;  he  lived  in  the 
east  part  of  the  town  once  belonging  to  Topsfield,  and 
was  chosen  schoolmaster  when  the  town  was  incor- 
porated.    He  opposed  the  annexation  to  Middleton. 

Thomas. — Rowland  Thomas,  and  Margaret,  his 
wife,  had  eight  children  from  1708  to  1731. 

Town. — Richard  Town,  and  Margery,  his  wife,  had 
three  children  from  1752  to  1756. 

Lewis  Tyler,  and  Sally,  his  wife,  had  three 
children  from  1834  to  1837. 

Upton. — Jeremiah  Upton,  and  Elizabeth,  had  six 
children  from  1788  to  1804. 

WiLKiNS. — This  family  has  always  flourished  here 
from  the  first.  The  children  of  Joseph  and  Mar- 
garet date  from  1710  to  1728.  This  man  was  doubt- 
less a  son  of  the  original  Bray  Wilkins,  whose  pos- 


XenoT!  c-iLEnraJn  :■ .: 


MIDDLETON. 


953 


terity  exceed  in  numbers  any  families  found  on  our 
town  books. 

Woodman. — Moses  Woodman,  and  Olive,  his  wife, 
one  son,  Moses,  1811. 

White. — Perley  AVhite,  and  Eliza,  his  wife,  had 
three  children  from  1827  to  1836. 

Weight.— Hiram  Wright,  and  Lydia,  his  wife, 
had  five  children  from  1830  to  1838. 

WiNSLOW. — Washington  W.  Winslow  and  Phcebe 
Ann,  his  wife,  two  children  from  1833  to  1835  ;  since 
moved  away. 

Weston. — Samuel  W.  Weston  and  Polly,  his  wife, 
four  children  from  1836  to  1842. 

Wakeham. — Samuel  G.  Wakeham  and  Lucy,  his 
wife,  three  children  from  1837  to  1840. 

"Trio,"  a  negro  servant  to  Jonathan  Wilkins,  and 
"  Cute,"  servant  to  Benjamin  Fuller,  of  Middleton, 
married  by  Rev.  Peter  Clarke  (of  Salem  village),  No- 
vember 22,  1757. 

The  number  of  deaths  since  the  first  settlement, 
and  that  have  been  buried  here,  is  estimated  at  about 
two  thousand.  The  average  for  the  last  sixty-five 
years  has  been  a  little  over  eleven  a  year,  or  about 
seven  hundred  and  fifty.  During  the  last  named 
period  the  death  rate  remained  about  the  same,  while 
the  population  nearly  doubled. 

Copied  from  Account  Book  of  Col.  Benjamin  Peabody. 

"March  2*,  1785.— Lent  Brother  Joseph  have  12  lbs."  (This  Joseph 
was  subsequently  the  millionaire  of  Salem,  Mass.) 

"Feb.  8"",  1793. — Lieu  Joseph  Wright  took  the  Jack  (mule  we  sup- 
pose)." 

"Apr.  16*,  1788. — Archelus  Kenney  took  a  cow  for  a"  year  atone 
pound." 

"Andrew  Peabody,  Dr.,  to  two  days'  work  at  the  sawmill,  8  sliillings, 
killing  a  calf  8  pence." 

"  1789.— Killing  cow  for  Mr.  Robert  Bradford  1  lb.  4  shillings." 

"  Nov.  2o«>,  1798.— Making  a  coffin  for  Mr.  Eobert  Bradford  that  day 
he  died,  3  shillings,  6  pence." 

"  Nov.  22'!. — To  a  quarter  of  tea  &  2  lbs.  shugar.  Same  day  one  shill- 
ing's worth  of  bread  and  two  quarts  Rum." 

"Nov.  19">  &  11^,  1792.— To  killed  two  cows  and  two  hogs,  three  shill- 
ings, 6  pence." 

"  1789.— Bought  2  bushels  Rie,  gave  8  shillings." 

"1789. — Bought  one  bushel  corn,  gave  6  shillings." 

"William  Wright  to  mend  plow  share,  one  lb." 

"  1797. — Hoeping  cyder  Barrels,  4  shillings." 

"1786. — Went  two  days  to  Salem  after  sherif,  did  not  find  him;  my 
two  days  10  shillings  ;  expenses  9  pence.  To  one  day  setting  glass  in 
Meeting  house  and  making  Old  Debory's  coffin." 

"  Joseph  Symonds,  Dr  ,  to  making  Coffing  8  shillings;  to  putting  in 
axle  and  drafts  3  shillings." 

"1799. — Making  small  coffing  3  shillings  ;  also  his  making  cyder  at 
my  mill." 

"  Dr.  Silas  Merriam,  Dr.  a  long  account  for  work  at  the  Dr.  grist 
mill  embracing  almost  every  part  of  the  machinery." 

"Nov.,  1790. — To  sitting  on  ai'bitration  three  times  and  expenses  7 
shillings  &  6  pence  " 

"  My  oxen  4  hours  k)4^%  pence." 

"Simeon  Kenney  to  killing  a  lamb  3  pence." 

"  To  building  back  to  chimney  3  shillings." 

"To  putting  nosle  to  pump  for  Amos  Felton  33  cts." 

"  Bimsely  Peabody,  Dr.,  1799.  To  half  bushel  apples  and  running 
four  spoons,  one  shilling  6  pence."  (We  find  a  long  account  against  the 
town,  some  of  the  charges  for  important  business.  Through  his  influ- 
ence the  road  between  this  village  and  Dan  vers'  Plain  was  widened  and 
straightened  in  1811.) 

"Oct.  28,  1799. — Mark  Avrill  borrowed  my  wheelbarrow,  brote  it 
home,  one  shilling. 

60^1 


Asa  Howe  to  putting  in  4  felloes  &  4  spokes  in  cart  wheel,  4  shillings." 

"  1797. — To  a  day  a  shoeing  oxen  at  Kimbal's."  (This  was  Moses 
Kimball ;  his  shop  was  Howe  road.) 

''  1797. — CoUering  chimney  &  other  things  4s.  6p." 

"  Dec.  12"",  1809. — Laying  hearth  in  his  oven  and  plastering,  one 
pound  (account  with  David  Peabody)." 

"  May  8"",  1800. — Archelus  Kenney,  Dr.,  to  24  spok»s  in  cart  wheel, 
8  shillings." 

"Feb.  20*  1802— To  making  coffin  for  W^.  Jerusha  Nichols  82.GG 
cts.,  also  wrighting  her  wi  1  66  cts." 

"  Oct.  17*,  1802  — Dr.  John  Merriam,  Dr ,  to  one  and  half  days  work 
on  his  barn  9  shillings  ;  to  a  eannow  (b  lat  we  suppose)  6  shillings  " 

"  1802. — Building  stages  round  the  meetinghouse  for  John  Fuller 
$1.50  ;  Sept.  25*  making  coffin  for  his  father  83.75." 

"1804. — Dr.  Silas  Merriam,  three  days  on  his  new  house,  83.00;  one 
day  and  half  stoning  sellar,  81.50. 

"18ii5. — Bloading  and  Roweling  his  horse,  33  cts.  Aug.  19  &  20, 
going  to  see  his  cow  that  was  shot,  and  another  journey,  &  taking 
of  her  hide  &  my  boys  coming  to  Symonds  for  me  SlOO. 

("  This  cow  was  accidentally  shot  by  the  Doctera  son  Jonas,  who  was 
driving  his  father's  cows  on  the  pond  road  to  pasture  tradition  says.) 

"  May  loth,  going  to  his  piggs,  25  cts.    Sick  one,  we  suppose. 

"Oct.  10,  1804. — Anne  Jane  and  Martha  Nickson  came  to  board  with 
me  19,  the  horse  and  curt  to  move  their  goods  50  cts.  These  children 
and  their  parents  came  from  Ireland  about  this  time  in  consequence  of 
the  Rebellion.  Anne  subsequently  became  the  wife  of  Dr.  Merriam's 
son,  Andrew,  and  now  their  posterity,  ai-e  among  our  most  honored  peo- 
ple. 

"  Dr.  Merriam  married  Col.  Benjamin  Peabody's  sister,  whose  daugh- 
ter is  now  102  years  old,  living  in  Danvers. 

"  1801. — Paid  $4.75  and  cost  in  Mr.  Capt.  Thomas  Cushens  office  to 
Mr.  Appletons  for  the  Salem  Gazette  and  discontinued  the  paper." 

This  most  wonderful  old  account  book  and  memorandum  runs  through 
about  thirty  years,  and  is  full  of  historical  events,  to  say  nothing  of 
what  this  man  undertook,  as  a  jack  of  all  trades,  and  in  filling  impor- 
tant offices.  He  must  have  made  nearly  all  the  coffins,  repaired  and 
built  buildings,  mill  machinery,  blacksmith,  wheelwright,  mason,  cow, 
and  horse  doctor,  etc.  He  was  an  honest  and  just  man.  He  died  since 
our  remembrance,  at  an  advanced  age.  His  height  was  full  six  feet  (we 
should  judge),  and  walked  very  erect.  Had  a  long  queue  that  reached 
halfway  down  his  back. 

Till  within  sixty  years  the  sexton  chosen  must  be  a  carpenter,  at  least 
enough  to  make  a  coffin,  for  which  and  digging  the  grave  and  attend- 
ing the  funeral,  he  received  a  fee  of  five  dollars. 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


CHARLES   L.    FLINT. 

Charles  Louis  Flint,  born  in  Middleton  on  the  8th 
of  May  1824,  was  the  second  son  of  Jeremiah  and 
Mary  (Howard)  Flint.  His  father  was  a  farmer,  and 
occupied  a  part  of  the  estate  that  had  been  the  ances- 
tral inheritance  for  several  generations. 

The  first  American  ancestor  of  this  branch  of  the 
Flint  family,  Thomas  Flint,  is  reported  to  have  come 
from  Wales  about  the  year  1640,  and  to  have  settled 
soon  after  in  what  was  then  known  as  Salem  village, 
now  called  Peabody.  The  farm  he  then  acquired  by 
purchase  was  held  till  recently  by  one  of  his  lineal 
descendants.  Charles  I^.  is  of  the  seventh  genera- 
tion by  direct  descent  from  this  agricultural 
colonist. 

Like  most  farmers'  sons,  his  early  years  were  spent 
on  the  farm  and  in  the  district  school,  and  were,  of 
course,  quite  uneventful,  given  to  acquiring  the  first 
rudiments  of  an  education,  and  to  the  innumerable 
chores  and  lighter  kinds  of  farm  work  which  usually 


954 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


fjill  to  the  lot  of  countrj^  boys.  These  occupations, 
though  often  irksome  and  gladly  shunned  as  distasteful 
by  most  boys  on  the  farm,  really  constitute  by  far  the 
best  foundation  for  the  practical  education  of  life. 
The  influences  of  the  farm  are  healthful,  mentally, 
morally  and  physically.  Other  things  being  equal, 
that  is  with  equal  natural  gifts,  equal  advantages  for 
education,  and  equal  opportunities  for  advancement 
and  mental  discipline,  the  boy  on  the  farm  will  in 
the  long  run  come  out  ahead  of  the  boy  in  the  city. 

At  the  age  of  twelve,  when  scarcely  able  to  realize 
the  loss,  came  the  great  misfortune  of  his  life — the 
death  of  a  devoted  mother.     This  led  to  some  change 
in  the  iamily,  and  at  the  age  of  fourteen  he  went  to 
live    with  an    uncle,    who  was    a    large    farmer,  in 
the    town    of   Norway,    Oxford    County,   in  Maine. 
There  too,  he  enjoyed  a  few  weeks  ofschooling  in  the 
winter,  and  for  the  rest  of  the  year  worked  diligently 
on  the  farm.     The  experience  then  acquired  enabled 
him  to  s^jeak  and  write  with  clearness  and  intelligence 
on  the  practical  as  well  as  the  scientific  elements  of  agri- 
culture in  subsequent  years  of  public  and  official  toil. 
Among  the  few  judicious  friends  with   whom  he 
there  came  in  contact,  and  who  inspired  him  with  a 
desire  to  obtain  a  liberal  education,  was  an  excellent 
teacher,   who  had  been   unable   to   realize  his  own 
wishes  in  that  direction,  and  by  his  advice,  at  the  age 
of  seventeen,  young  Flint  repaired  to  Phillips  Acad- 
emy at  Andover,  a  town  adjoining  his  native  town  of 
Middleton,  to  prepare  for  college.     Here,  almost  un- 
aided, and  in  the  midst  of  many  obstacles  arising 
from  the  want  of  means,  and  the  necessity  of  relying 
wholly  upon  his  own  resources,  he  fitted  for  college 
in  little  over  three  years,  and   entered   Harvard  in 
1845.     It   required   a   brave   heart,   a  clear  brain,  a 
strong  will  and  a  high  hope  and  trust  in  the  future, 
with  a  stubborn  determination  to  enter  upon  the  ac- 
tivities of  life  with  all  the  advantages  of  a  thorough 
intellectual  training,  to  lead  a  young  man  wholly  de- 
pendent upon  his  own  energy  to  enter  upon  a  long  and 
expensive  course  of  education  like  that  at  Harvard 
College,  but  with  native  vigor,  self-reliance  and  in- 
domitable persistence,  obstacles  are  apt  to  vanish  as 
we  approach  them,  and  it  is  a  question  whether  the 
very  effort  required  to  triumph  over  them  does  not 
result  in  a  firmer,  more  compact  and  more  complete 
manhood.     "  Where  there's  a  will  there's  a  way,"  and 
the  energy  that  finds  it  has  much  to  do  in  moulding 
the  character,  and  gives  increasing  self-confidence  to 
meet  and  overcome  future  difficulties  which  lie  in  the 
way  of  success  in  life.    A  busy  brain  can  devise  many 
ways  to  meet  emergencies,  and  to  work  one's  way 
through  college,  though  hard  and  unpleasant  enough 
at  times,  is  not  without  its  compensations.     By  writ- 
ing for  the  press,  by  utilizing  the  vacations  in  fram- 
ing essays,  stories,  poems,  anything  that  the  reading 
public  was  willing  to  pay  for,  the  object  was  accom- 
plished and  he  graduated,  not  without  honor  and  free 
fron^  debt,  in  1849. 


In  1850  Mr.  Flint  entered  the  Dane  Law  School  at 
Cambridge,  and  spent  two  years  there  in  preparing 
for  the  profession  of  the  law.  Previous  to  this  time 
he  had  competed  for  the  Bowdoin  prize  of  forty  dol- 
lars for  the  best  dissertation,  open  to  the  senior  class 
in  college,  and  had  won  it  triumphantly  against  the 
strongest  competition  in  his  class,  the  subject  as- 
signed being  "The  Different  Representations  of  the 
Character  of  Socrates,  by  Plato,  Xenophon  and 
Aristophanes."  This  essay,  prepared  under  difficul- 
ties, gained  for  the  earnest  student  the  highest 
commendations     from     a     wide     circle    of    friends. 

About  the  same  time  in  his  senior  year  in  college, 
he  had  competed  for  the  Boylston  prize  in  declama- 
tion, and  in  this  eflbrt  had  come  off  second  best,  re- 
ceiving a  second  prize.  While  connected  with  the 
Law  School  he  also  competed  for  the  post-graduate 
prize  of  fifty  dollars  for  the  best  essay  upon  the  "  Rep- 
resentative System  at  different  Times  and  in  different 
Countries,"  and  won  it. 

At  the  end  of  two  years  in  the  Law  School,  a  part 
of  which  time  he  was  connected  as  computer  with  the 
American  Nautical  Almanac  office,  then  located  at 
Cambridge,  under  the  superintendence  of  Commodore, 
afterwards  Rear  Admiral  Charles  Henry  Davis,  he 
entered  the  office  of  a  lawyer  in  New  York  City, 
studied  the  New  York  code  of  practice,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  New  York  bar  on  examination  in  Octo- 
ber, 1852. 

The  Massachusetts  State  Board  of  Agriculture  was 
organized,  as  a  department  of  State  government  by 
the  Legis'ature  of  1852.  It  was  designed  as  a  repre- 
sentative body,  but  ultimately  connected  with  the 
civil  government,  having  the  Governor,  the  Lieuten- 
ant Governor  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Commonwealth 
as  members  ex  nfficiis,  three  members  to  be  appointed 
by  the  Executive  for  the  purpose  of  bringing,  so  far 
as  possible,  a  scientific  element  into  the  Board,  and 
one  delegate  elected  by  each  of  the  County  Agricul- 
tural Societies,  each  member,  when  elected,  to  hold 
his  office  for  three  years.  Since  the  original  organi- 
zation of  the  Board,  the  members  ex  offieiis  have  been 
increased  by  the  addition  of  the  president  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Agricultural  College,  and  the  State  In- 
spector of  Fertilizers,  both  which  positions  were  cre- 
ated subsequently  to  the  establishment  of  the  State 
Board  of  Agriculture. 

After  the  organization  of  the  Board,  the  first  effort 
was  to  secure  the  services  of  a  competent  secretary. 
The  position  was  thought  to  be  of  great  importance, 
as  the  character,  reputation  and  usefulness  of  the  de- 
partment would  depend  very  largely  upon  its  execu- 
tive officer. 

Mr.  Flint  had  previously  become  somewhat  identi- 
fied with  agriculture,  and  had  gained  some  reputation 
from  having  written  for  and  received  two  j^rizes  for 
"  Essays  from  the  Essex  County  Agricultural  Socie- 
ty," a  diploma  and  a  silver  medal  from  the  New  York 
State  Agricultural  Society,  etc.,  and  the  attention  of 


MIDDLETON. 


1)55 


the  Board  was  thus  naturally  turned  to  him.  A  mem- 
ber of  the  Board  having  written  to  ask  for  his  opinion 
as  to  what  the  duties  of  such  a  position  ought  to  be,  he 
replied  at  considerable  length,  without  having  the 
slightest  idea  that  he  had  been  thought  of  as  a  candi- 
date. He  was  asked,  soon  after,  to  become  a  candi- 
date, when  he  promptly  and  positively  declined,  on 
the  ground  that  it  would  involve  a  complete  and  rad- 
ical change  of  his  plan  for  life,  and  that  his  educa- 
tion had  not  been  designed  as  a  preparation  for  such 
a  life's  work  as  its  accei>tance  would  involve,  and  that 
his  prospects  in  his  position  were  too  flattering  to  be 
given  ujj  for  any  salaried  position.  These  objections 
were  finally  overcome  by  the  committee  appointed  to 
consider  and  report  upon  a  candidate,  and  after  much 
persuasion  and  a  full  consultation  of  many  judicious 
friends,  he  finally  accepted  the  responsibility,  and 
entered  upon  the  performance  of  his  duties  as  secre- 
tary on  the  14th  of  February,  1853,  spending  the  first 
few  months,  however,  in  the  laboratory  of  the  Shef- 
field Scientific  School  at  New  Haven,  Conn. 

Agricultural  science  and  literature  were  then,  as 
they  always  had  been,  in  comparative  neglect.  Few 
agricultural  works  had  been  published  in  this  coun- 
try at  that  time,  and  most  of  those  were  reprints  of 
English  works,  with  little  pretension  to  finish  or 
beauty  of  style.  The  literature  of  the  farm  was  highly 
discreditable  as  compared  with  what  it  is  at  the  pres- 
ent time,  and  as  compared  with  what  it  was  in  other 
departments  of  labor  and  of  thought,  and  Mr.  Flint 
determined  to  bring  both  the  science  and  the  litera- 
ture of  the  subject  into  due  prominence. 

To  accomplish  this  he  planned  a  series  of  consecu- 
tive reports,  with  some  special  subject  to  be  developed 
in  each,  and  the  scheme  was  carried  out  with  only 
such  modifications  as  were  necessary  to  keep  the  re- 
ports within  proper  limits. 

The  fourth  Report,  for  example,  contained  a  prac- 
tical treatise  upon  "  Grasses  and  Forage  Plants," 
which  was  subsequently  made  the  basis  of  a  separate 
work,  which  has  passed  through  several  editions,  and 
had  a  wide  distribution  throughout  the  cnuntry.  Hon, 
P.  A.  Chadbourne,  President  of  the  Massachusetts 
Agricultural  College,  said  of  it:  "  Mr.  Flint's  treatise 
embodies  the  most  practical  and  scientific  information 
on  the  history,  culture  and  nutritive  value  of  the 
grasses  and  the  grains.  His  style  of  writing  is  plain, 
simple,  forcible  and  judiciously  adapted  to  the  ends 
he  has  in  view.  The  large  number  of  illustrations  of 
the  different  species  of  grasses  are  drawn  with  great 
care  and  accuracy,  and  greatly  facilitate  the  study 
and  identification  of  unknown  specimens."  A  re- 
vised edition  of  the  work  appeared  in  1887. 

His  next  publication  was  a  work  of  over  450  pages 
on  "  Milch  Cows  and  Dairy  Farming,"  which  also 
passed  through  many  editions  and  received  the  most 
intelligent  praise  for  its  {practical  and  scientific  value. 
At  the  request  of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture  he, 
with  George  B.  Emerson,  prepared  a  "  Manual  of  Ag- 


riculture for  the  use  of  Schools  and  Colleges,"  each 
writing  one-half  of  the  work.  This  has  also  passed 
through  several  editions. 

In  1859,  pursuant  to  a  Resolve  of  the  Legislature, 
he  issued  a  new  edition  of  Dr.  Harris's  admirable 
treatise  on  "Insects  Injurious  to  Vegetation,"  with 
very  numerous  additions  and  illustrations.  Neither 
pains  nor  labor  was  spared  to  secure  the  nearest  possi- 
ble approach  to  perfection,  and  the  work  commanded 
universal  admiration  as  the  finest  specimen  of  printing 
and  word-engraving  ever  produced  in  this  country. 
All  the  illustrations  were  prepared  under  Mr.  Flint's 
careful  supervision. 

In  1878,  after  holding  the  office  for  twenty-five 
years,  Mr.  Flint  thought  it  desirable  to  tender  his 
resignation,  and,  thanking  the  Board  for  the  entire 
cordiality,  confidence  and  unanimity  with  which  the 
members  had  always  co-operated  with  him,  he  did  so. 
The  re-*ignation  was  referred  to  a  committee  consist- 
ing of  Hon.  P.  A.  Chadbourne,  president  of  Williams 
College;  Hon.  William  S.  Clark,  president  of  the 
Massachusetts  Agricultural  College;  and  Messrs. 
Moore,  of  Concord  and  Phinuey,  of  Barnstable,  and 
Wakefield,  of  Palmer ;  who,  after  full  consideration, 
submitted  the  following  preamble  and  resolution  : 

"  Wheeeas,  Hon.  Charles  L.  Flint  has  presented  to  the  Board  a  state- 
ment concerning  his  connection  with  the  same  during  the  past  twenty- 
five  years,  and  has  offered  his  resignation  as  secretary  : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Board  desires  to  express  its  high  appreciation  of 
the  valuable  services  of  Secretary  Flint,  and  hereby  earnestly  requests 
him  to  withdraw  his  resignation  and  continue  the  good  work  in  behalf 
of  the  agricultural  interests  of  the  commonwealth,  in  which  he  has 
achieved  so  enviable  a  reputation." 

Hon.  Marshall  P.  Wilder  also  submitted  the  fol- 
lowing resolutions : 

"Resolved,  That  the  thanks  and  gratitude  of  the  Massachusetts  State 
Board  of  Agriculture  are  eminently  due  to  the  Hon.  Charles  L.  Flint  for 
the  ahilitj'  and  fidelit3'  with  which  he  has  discharged  the  duties  of  secre- 
tary for  the  last  twenty-five  years  in  a  manner  alike  honorable  to  the 
commonwealth  and  beneficial  to  its  people. 

"  Resolved,  That  we  tender  to  Mr.  Flint  our  personal  acknowledgment 
for  the  courtesy  and  kindness  which  have  ever  characterized  his  inter- 
course with  the  Board,  with  the  sincere  desire  that  the  remainder  of  his 
days  may  be  as  happy  and  prosperous  as  the  past  have  been  honorable 
and  useful." 

The  resolutions,  after  a  full  expression  of  opinion, 
were  unanimously  adopted,  and  Mr.  Flint  withdrew 
his  resignation. 

In  May,  1879,  Mr.  Flint  was  unanimously  elected 
president  of  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College 
at  Amherst,  but  without  relinquishing  his  duties  as 
secretary  of  the  Board,  He  held  the  office  one  year, 
during  which  the  college  was  freed  from  a  burdensome 
debt. 

But  the  annual  reports  to  the  Legislature,  twenty- 
seven  of  which  Mr.  Flint  prepared,  constituted  an 
essential  part  of  the  work  of  the  office.  They  were 
necessarily  written  and  prepared  out  of  regular  office 
hours,  and  were  chiefly  the  result  of  night-work,  the 
constant  calls  at  the  office  and  the  very  extensive 
correspondence  making  it  impracticable  to  do  any 
connected  literary  woi'k  in  office  hours.     Of  these  re- 


956 


HISTORY  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


ports  Col.  Marshall  P.  Wilder,  in   a  History  of  the 
Progress  of  the  State  Board,  said  : 

"  These  annual  volumes,  embracing  in  all  an  issue  of  more  than  two 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  copies,  have  gone  forth  not  only  to  the  far- 
mers of  this  commonwealth,  but  have  been  distributed  throughout  our 
own  and  foreign  lands.  They  constitute  a  comprehensive  library  in 
themselves,  embracing  essays,  reports  and  discussions  on  almost  every 
subject  in  agriculture,  and  are  eagerly  sought  for  with  every  issue. 
These  reports  have  greatly  promoted  the  objects  for  which  the  Board  was 
established,  and  extended  its  influence  far  and  wide.  No  similar  publi- 
cation within  my  knowledge  contains  more  practical  and  useful  informa- 
tion for  farmers.  Complete  sets  have  already  become  very  valuable,  and 
are  more  and  more  appreciated.  By  these  reports  young  men  have  been 
stimulated  to  become  farmers  and  by  the  example  of  the  Board  and  the 
correspondence  of  its  members,  other  States  have  been  led  to  establish 
Stata  Boards  of  Agriculture  on  the  plan  of  ours." 

Twelve  thousand  copies  of  these  reports  were  pub- 
lished annually  for  many  years  and  distributed 
throughout  the  State,  while  by  a  system  of  exchange 
with  other  States  and  countries,  they  have  reached 
nearly  every  farm-house  in  New  England,  and  found 
their  way  to  almost  every  part  of  the  civilized  globe. 

A  few  years  ago  the  Chilian  Government,  in  con- 
nection with  an  International  Exposition  held  at 
Santiago,  awarded  and  sent  Mr.  Flint  a  magnificent 
diploma  and  a  beautiful  bronze  medal,  in  recognition 
of  the  high  quality  and  value  of  his  reports. 

The  salary  attached  to  the  office  was  never  liberal. 
For  the  labor  required  and  the  re.sponsibility  of  the 
position  it  was  extremely  meagre.  In  1880,  having 
had  a  much  "  louder  call,"  Mr.  Flint  resigned  the 
office  to  assume  the  presidency  of  the  New  England 
Mortgage  Security  Company,  a  business  corporation 
established  to  loan  money  upon  real  estate  securities 
at  the  west  and  south. 

Mr.  Flint  was  married  on  the  14th  of  February, 
1857,  to  Ellen  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Joseph  and 
Charlotte  (Merriam)  Leland,  of  Grafton,  Mass.  His 
children  are, — 1,  a  daughter,  Charlotte  Leland,  born 
December  1,  1858 ;  2,  a  son,  Charles  Louis,  born 
March  9, 1861 ;  3,  a  second  son,  Edward  Rawsou,  born 
September  8,  1864. 

Mrs.  Flint  died  on  the  25th  of  September,  1875. 
She  was  a  direct  descendant  of  Edward  Rawson,  sec- 
retary of  the  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay  from  1650 
to  1686,  a  period  of  thirty-six  years. 


DANIEL   FULLER. 

Daniel  Fuller,  son  of  Col.  Archelaus  and  Betty 
Dale  (Putnam)  Fuller,  and  grandson  of  Benjamin 
and  Mary  Fuller,  great-grandson  of  Benjamin  and 
Sarah  (Bacon)  Fuller,  great-great-grandson  of  Thomas 
Fuller,  who  came  to  this  country  in  1638,  was  born 
November  14,  1771 ;  died  April  5,  1855.  He  was  a 
man  of  superior  natural  abilities,  honest,  upright  and 
conscientious  in  his  dealings.  He  was  a  farmer  and 
or  many  years  a  town  officer,  and  ever  manifested  a 
lively  interest  in  its  welfare.  From  time  to  time  he 
held  every  oflSce  of  importance  which  a  town  can 
confer  on  a  citizen. 


In  1820  he  was  constituted  and  appointed  to  be  one 
of  the  justices  of  the  peace,  within  and  for  the  county 
of  Essex,  for  the  term  of  seven  years,  by  Gov.  Brooks, 
by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Council. 
Commit'sion  renewed  by  Gov.  Levi  Lincoln,  by  and 
with  the  consent  of  the  Council  in  1833.  Commis- 
sion renewed  by  Gov.  Marcus  Morton,  by  and  with 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Council  in  1840.  Com- 
mission renewed  by  Gov.  George  N.  Brigg-*,  by  and 
with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Council  in  1847. 

In  politics  he  had  been  a  Whig — died  a  Republi- 
can. He  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  final  restoration 
of  all  mankind  to  holiness  and  happiness. 

At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  was  a  student  at  Phillips' 
Academy  in  Andover.  His  opportunity  for  a  more 
full  development  of  his  mental  energies  was  lost  by 
the  sudden  death  of  his  father,  who  was  born  May  4, 
1727,  in  that  part  of  Salem  which  was  incorporated 
as  a  town  and  called  Middleton  in  1728. 

His  father  (Archelaus)  was  a  member  of  the  first, 
second  and  third  Provincial  Congress.  From  the 
journal  of  the  Provincial  Congress  it  appears  that  he 
was  a  member  of  a  committee  over  sixty  times.  In 
the  Revolutionary  War  he  served  in  the  capacity  of 
colonel,  and  while  connected  with  the  army  was  at- 
tacked by  a  disease  of  which  he  died,  and  was  buried 
at  a  place  in  Cheshire  County,  N.  H.,  called  Charles- 
town  No.  4,  through  which  at  that  time  the  road  from 
Boston  to  Quebec  passed.  He  had  been  much  hon- 
ored and  was  much  lamented.  His  earthly  mission 
was  comparatively  short,  ending  in  forty-nine  years, 
three  months  and  twenty-one  days. 

Daniel  Fuller  married  Sally  Estey,  daughter  of 
John  and  Llannah  (Flint)  Estey,  and  granddaughter 
of  Samuel  Flint  and  Lydia  (Andrews)  Flint. 

Their  children  were, — Archelaus,  born  February  12, 
1799,  received  a  medical  education,  settled  as  a  physi- 
cian in  the  town  of  Fairfield,  Me.,  practiced  in  several 
towns  in  Kennebeck  County.  He  married  Elizabeth 
A.  Craig,  of  Fayette,  Me.  She  died  May  6,  1874. 
They  had  seven  children,  all  of  whom  died  before  the 
close  of  the  year  1863.  None  were  married.  He 
passed  away  October  6,  1880  ;  was  buried  in  Albion, 
Me.  Daniel,  born  February  2,  1801 ;  died  May  19, 
1801.  Nancy,  born  March  29,  1802;  married  Joseph 
W.  Batchelder,  of  Topsfield,  Mass. ;  died  August  6, 
1842.  He  died  May  19,  1887,  in  Topsfield.  Sophronia, 
born  December  19,  1803.  Thomas,  born  November 
29,  1806  ;  was  offered  the  command  of  a  ship  about  to 
sail  from  Boston,  Mass.,  but  declined  the  office,  and 
sailed  in  the  capacity  of  mate  for  Rio  Janeiro,  De- 
cember 4,  1830 ;  since  then  his  relatives  have  never 
heard  from  the  ship  nor  from  any  who  were  on  board; 
he  was  unmarried.  George  W.,  born  October  4, 1807 ; 
removed  to  Galena,  Illinois,  and  became  a  wholesale 
grocer.  He  married,  first,  Emeline  Fowler,  of  Guil- 
ford, Ct.  All  their  children  died  in  infancy;  married, 
second,  Sarah  W.  Putnam,  of  Danvers.  Their  child, 
Jessie  P.,  is  totally  blind.    He  died  February  1,  1884. 


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957 


Jeremiah,  born  June  17,  1809,  cultivates  the  home- 
stead acres  which  have  descended  through  a  long  line 
of  Fullers  to  him  and  his  sister,  Sophronia.  He 
married  Eunice  L.  Pike,  of  Ossipee,  N.  H.,  who  died 
June  30,  1886.  Sarah  P.,  born  August  23, 1811,  mar- 
ried Nathaniel  H,  Johnson,  of  Haverhill,  Mass.,  Oc- 
tober 6,  1836  ;  died  August  6,  1838.  He  died  July 
29,  1864.  Samuel,  born  November  25,  1814 ;  died 
August  16,  1848.  His  integrity  and  kindness  en- 
deared him  to  those  who  made  his  acquaintance ;  un- 
married. Caroline,  born  May  17,  1817  ;  died  Octo- 
ber 8,1821.  Elbridge,  born  August  11,1816;  died 
February  12,  1847;  unmarried.  Beloved  and  re- 
spected, he  gave  promise  of  a  useful  life. 

Sisters  and  brother  of  Daniel  Fuller.  Betty,  born 
February  6,  1760,  married,  first,  Nehemiah  Putnam, 
born  October  14,  1753  ;  died  December  14,  1792.  She 
next  married  Samuel  Wilkins,  November  13,  1796 ; 
he  died  September  11, 1803.  She  died  August  25, 
1838.  Sarah,  born  February  27,  1762;  married 
Eleazer  Putnam,  Esq.,  who  died  May  31,  1836 ;  she 
died  December  21,  1802.  Mary,  born  January  6, 
1764;  married  William  Symonds,  son  of  Joseph  Sy- 
monds  and  Lucy  Kimball ;  she  died  September,  1833. 
Benjamin,  born  September  13, 1767  ;  married  Abigail, 
daughter  of  Dr.  Silas  Merriam,  of  Middleton.  They 
removed  to  Norway,  Me.,  and  both  ended  their  days 
there,  she  in  March,  1838  ;  he  in  March,  1850.  In 
1794  no  roads  had  been  located,  but  settlers  cut  down 
trees  so  that  they  could  get  from  one  to  another. 
They  went  with  an  ox-wagon,  one  yoke  of  oxen  and 
two  horses. 

Mr.  Fuller  built  a  house  twenty  by  thirty-eight  feet, 


and  a  story  and  a  half  high,  and  a  barn  thirty-two  by 
fifty  feet.  His  was  the  largest  establishment  in  that 
I^lace. 

DAVID  STILES. 

David  Stiles,  son  of  the  deacon  of  the  same  name, 
was  born  in  Middleton,  Massachusetts,  June  19th, 
1813.  He  received  a  common  school  education,  and 
afterwards  chose  the  profession  of  farrier,  which 
he  has  pursued  for  fifty-three  years  in  his  native 
town.  He  has  lectured  on  the  subject  in  various 
places  in  Essex  County,  and  once  before  the  New 
England  Agricultural  Society  in  Boston.  He  has 
also  written  for  the  press  on  various  subjects  for 
more  than  fifty  years,  many  of  his  articles  being 
marked  with  originality  of  thought,  and  the  one  on 
"  The  Decay  of  Iron "  being  extensively  copied. 
He  has  been  especially  interested  in  genealogical, 
historical  and  agricultural  matters.  In  1850  he  ob- 
tained a  United  States  patent  on  a  hay  and  stalk 
cutter.  He  married  Miss  Rebecca  Perry,  of  Dan- 
vers,  by  whom  he  had  five  children.  He  passed  his 
golden  wedding,  April  21,  1886,  and  his  wife 
died  February  2,  1887.  Mr.  Stiles  is  more  than 
ordinarily  well  acquainted  with  the  history  and  in- 
terests of  Essex  County,  and  especially  of  the  town 
of  Middleton.  He  is  a  man  of  firm  convictions,  has 
always  maintained  a  lively  interest  in  public  and 
church  affairs,  and  is  a  good  representative  of  our 
steady.  New  England  country  life. 

In  December,  1887,  Mr.  Stiles  was  appointed  a  Jus- 
tice of  the  Peace  by  His  Exellency,  Oliver  Ames, 
(jovernor  of  Massachusetts. 


AQME 

BOOKBfNDiNGCOJNC. 

JUL   28    1993 

100  CAMBRIDGE  STREET 
CHARLESTOVi/N,  W^ 


